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  • What would you say?

  • You know what I mean?

  • If you're a Lakers fan and what's gonna be this team without a D on the floor?

  • So some terrific teams in the league that I respect that are contending the Nets in the East in particular the sixes.

  • I wanna put them in that conversation.

  • The Jazz, the Clippers and the Lakers with a d the Lakers, to me, are still invincible.

  • Without him, they're vulnerable and they won't win the West if he's not healthy and how they're gonna look different is gonna be more minutes for mantra as more minutes for Kyle Kuzma.

  • They're not necessarily defenders upfront, which other teams big.

  • They're probably gonna have their way against them.

  • It's gonna be high volume LeBron at his age because he gotta try to protect them from seeding in the tough Western Conference.

  • So if you're the Lakers, LeBron, he's gonna keep you in the race.

  • But if you're going to get their eighties, got to be healthy.

  • Well, it's interesting because Paul Pierce, you've actually dealt with this.

  • We talk about game winners, but talk about wanting to win back to back championships and you and your Celtics were on pace to do that.

  • But then kg gets hurt at the back half of the season.

  • Yeah.

  • So you've been through it?

  • I mean, what was going through your mind during that time, Knowing that a big cornerstone of winning the title a season ago wasn't gonna be able to play with you?

  • Well, we knew we couldn't win without him.

  • So our whole mindset was like, All right, I'm gonna have to step up Mawr Ray is gonna have to doom or everybody is gonna have more responsibility and hopefully we get him back later in the season.

  • We didn't care about home quarter at that point.

  • We just want to be healthy and get into the playoffs like that.

  • And I think that's the same mindset that you're seeing from the Lakers.

  • They just wanna be healthy going into the playoffs.

  • They don't care what see they're gonna be because they've shown they could be dominant on the road.

  • A swell Azad home.

  • They just wanna get their healthy.

  • And hopefully a d doesn't do a K G because kg didn't come back that year and it cost us from having a second title.

  • So Hopefully he gets health and he comes back for the second run.

  • Well, the most consecutive games a D has missed is 14.

  • That was back in 2016.

  • But let's talk about the mindset then of LeBron.

  • What?

  • What should it be?

  • Moving forward, Both of you?

  • Paul in jail.

  • And I'd love to hear well, I've seen LeBron live his best life in short, with a game at the N B.

  • A game with a glass of wine.

  • That's when he knew that they were that deal.

  • They were invincible.

  • If he's having that same glass tonight, he looking at his confidence and saying, I know a D has dealt with some injuries in the past, and I brought him here to carry the load the regular season so I could rest now.

  • He got me carrying the load in the regular season.

  • Hopefully, I'm not burned out.

  • Watch when the playoffs come.

  • Well, listen, the Lakers air saying four weeks and I talked to Anthony Davis's agent Rich Paul uh, this evening, and he says that four weeks is a conservative estimate that listen, they're going to hold out a d A zloty as they need to until they feel like Hey has passed this.

  • It's not lingering, but the good news is, you know is rich.

  • Paul said that the 10th, the Achilles tendon is strong and there's no damage to it.

  • Um, when he played Sunday and got hurt, he had come back after having that lingering pain and felt 100% before he bumped legs with Nicola Yoke it.

  • So, uh, there's no reason to believe that Anthony Davis is going to be out months that it's in question whether he comes back, but they're going to take their time.

  • And it will be, though, the second half of the season, which starts March 10th March 11th.

  • You know, before you see the Lakers really start to consider the possibility of bringing a D back.

  • All right, so you're down 22 points a game.

  • He was averaging 32 minutes a game.

  • So the guys that have to step up one Jalen, I know you always talk about Cal Kuzma, but Uncle P, who do you want to see more of?

  • Who do we have to see more of from the Lakers?

  • I think we're going to get more out of their sixth Man of the year from a year ago mantra as Harold.

  • But let's check this out.

  • This is the opportunity for LeBron to put a stranglehold on the M V P this year because he's head and shoulders there now.

  • But without a d, he's gonna show the world he's an M v p at the age of 36.

  • And I look for him to go out there and show the world like this should have been mine last year.

  • He's probably saying he's definitely gonna do it this year, and I just think this is a huge opportunity right now for him, especially.

  • We're gonna look at Anthony Davis being out if they could just play solid basketball, you know, just maybe seven out of 10 wins, you know, not fall too far behind in the standings.

  • And he continued to be dominant.

  • He'll have this M V P trophy wrapped up with like 20 games left in the season, and LeBron also knows if he averages what he averages right now.

  • For the next 130 games, he'd be the NBA s all time leading score.

  • And so he understands that place in history and he's also moving up there on the assist list.

  • But Paul is exactly right.

  • He's gonna force the media to make him and BP this year.

  • Like y'all dismissed me way too much.

  • You all know I'm the best player in the game.

  • E don't wanna hear nothing about low management.

  • I'm playing every night way One of the best teams watch, and I'm putting up numbers.

  • You're gonna be upset if y'all way put a little self in there, don't you?

  • All over here, Thio.

  • Okay?

  • LeBron James has played 1555 career games.

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What would you say?

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