Well, first of all, I want to echo what you said before I came on, because I I you know, I'm also parallel your disappointment.

Um, it seems like every marquee matchup we get any more in the n B.

A.

Uh, you don't get teams at full strength and particularly when it comes to the star players.

So you want to see these games to use them as a barometer in your analysis, you know, how did these teams match up with each other?

Where?

What's the pecking order in the N B A.

Right now, you don't have Kevin Durant on the floor.

You don't have Anthony Davis.

You know Dennis Schroder.

It's impossible really, to make the assessment.

But here's the here's, I guess, the biggest take away from me.

And it's not just last night.

It's the way the Nets played, uh, this entire West Coast trip.

Four games, 81 made threes.

They shot 49% from the three point line.

For me, that's right.

Now the focus with this team is when they move the basketball, and they include the rest of their roster and they don't dribble it quite as much.

And they're Mawr decisive what they do, and they're willing to make the extra pass.

They've got plenty of shooting on this team, and if they're going to knock down shots at that rate, that supporting cast, this team's gonna win a championship now, we don't know if they'll do that.

When the lights are brightest, when the stage is the biggest, we're gonna have to find out what that's gonna look like down the road.

But I think that, to me, is the most encouraging sign.

The way that that team is shooting the basketball playing off of their star talent, Harden and Kyrie in particular last night?

Um, it's just deadly.

What do you suppose to do if you don't have multiple players defending Kyrie Irving and James Harden on ball screener at the point of attack in isolation?

If you don't have multiple bodies in front of those guys, they're going to go ahead and do whatever they want to you.

So when you start to commit guys to the edge of the lane and now they start moving it around the perimeter, getting you to chase it.

Uh, Lakers look a little bit like Keystone cops last night trying to catch up to the basketball.

They never were able to the entire night.

And it's welcome to the club because they just did the same thing to Sacramento.

They just did the same thing, Uh, the other night as well.

So this is a team now.

I look at this that's starting to come together with their flow, their unselfishness, and it's it's a beautiful thing to watch offensively, and they're also playing harder defense.

So there's no way around that.

I don't think their schemes have gotten different.

They just care a little bit more than they did in the beginning of the year.

They're playing harder and they're forcing some turnovers and they're getting out in the open floor and letting that offense do they do its thing legs.

We We've mentioned that LeBron James is a machine, right?

And what I keep saying is that hey, if you have high usage for machine every once in a while ah, Bolt is gonna pop off.

Does that worry you about the usage rate for LeBron James?

Now that a D is not there and then going.

No, they have a tough stretch coming.

Oppa's Well, yeah, just about any other player in the league.

I would agree, but not this guy.

He's just different.

I mean, you know, the thing about LeBron last year that was amazing me every night was I understand his skill level is still gonna allow him to be the most skilled player on the floor some nights.

What didn't make sense to me last year was a guy in the 17th season being the most athletic guy on the floor.

That doesn't make any sense to me and being the fastest guy on the floor at times.

And he still can do that for stretches of games.

So for me, he's just built differently.

I don't really worry about him breaking down and the one luxury he has now, this is the deepest team in the N B A by far.

So you know you lose an A D for four.

Who could we plug in at the power forward spot now without a D?

Well, how about a guy like LeBron James playing the four?

How about a guy like Kyle Kuzma?

Mantra is Harold, You know you've got Marc Gasol that you added there in the front court.

So the depth is gonna help LeBron as well.

So that's one thing the Lakers aren't worried about right now.

During this stretch, Um, you know, they don't care where they finish record doesn't really matter.

Seating doesn't matter.

They know they have the best team in the n B A.

When everybody is healthy.

And obviously the Nets might have something to say about that when it's all said and done.

But I don't think they're too worried about LeBron's usage or 80 being out.

I just think they're gonna just cruise along and understand that if they have everybody healthy when the playoffs get here, they believe that they've got the deepest and best team in the N B.

A.