What do you think about the Laker team now?

You follow the box scores of the games every day?

Just the Lakers.

You're kidding.

That is really a compliment.

I was pleased to see you smile at the top bar show because once the game starts, you have a game face.

You don't smile much out there.

I don't think you have to do things for money anymore. Correct. What's up, Laker fans? Welcome to the Laker Filmroom podcast, brought you by the Blue Wire Podcast Network. I'm Pete, joined by Darius. And Lakers had a bad loss last night to the Houston Rockets, 114 to 110 in a game that Anthony Davis didn't play in. Second night of a back-to-back. We'll get into all the energy level and effort and all that stuff, D. But it was a game that was distorted by the Lakers' lack of bigs. Not only was AD out, but obviously Mo Bamba is out. LeBron, I think, is going to be our backup center come playoff time. We shall see. And so that left Wendian Gabriel is the only guy who's played the five really at all this year in that spot. But he didn't start. It was Rui that started. And Shengun was questionable coming into the game. We talked about him a little bit on yesterday's pod. And Lakers came out with low energy.

Shengoon kicks their butts for a bit. Lakers go right into a zone with their first unit,

which is very rare. And they give it a shot, go down 19 to 9, I think, just five minutes

into the game, give up 19 points in the first five minutes. And the Houston Rockets really

attacked the paint D in that game. And that was something that it really showed, I thought,

not just the lack of rim protection that we had, but kind of the size discrepancy. A lot of times

when we talk about not having a big, we focus on the five versus five matchup,

and that's where we put, why we put Shangoon in the spotlight yesterday, but really big

athletic guards and wings, I thought that really shone through guys like Kevin Porter Jr.

And Jalen Green wasn't particularly good last night, but even Jayshon Tate, Kenyon Martin Jr.,

all big,

stronger type of athletes. And we've talked so much about the skill guards and having more skill

on the team. A lot of times those guys aren't the best athletes. And I think that describes

D. Lo and Beasley and Austin. And so it was a game that by halftime, they had 46 or 48 points in the paint.

And to give you an idea of how many that is, the league leader averages 58.

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