 at Pelicans. Man they've been out in New Orleans for a minute. This one's at 7.30 Eastern. A lot of Lakers fans yesterday with some theories on what they should do. ESPN's Mike Greenberg-Greeny said the Lakers should sit LeBron and AD. You know these are theories, these are strategies that we're thinking, but it's all to avoid facing. They're just picking fights with Chandler. Yeah, you avoid Greeny's back at it. Isn't that crazy though to think about trying to avoid the nuts? Yeah it is. Why is it why? You're gonna have to go through them anyway. So why mess with the basketball guides? Why you're not good enough first of all to sit here and rest this game and then have to go and then beat the Warriors or the Kings. Not like that's a layup anyways. Not like it's the Eastern Conference where they possibly have the Bulls or the Hawks. No matter what happens in this game, sure would it be a more favorable matchup if that happened to work out where they just organically lost the game tonight and then they won against the Kings or the Warriors and then drew the Thunder side of the Nuggets? Yes, I think that would make more sense. I think they have a better chance to win that series, but you can't risk in a one game all or nothing to sit your guys or to load manage them when they're fully healthy just to get the chance at possibly having a more favorable matchup. You cannot do that. That is... Yeah, it's not like this is a seven game series or they got a bunch of games where they can have opportunities to get over that hump. All the gimmicks and all of that playing chess and trying to put yourself in the position to have the right seed. Those games are done. At this point the best basketball teams are going to win the games. Simple as that. Should they want to lose a game on purpose at this point? Absolutely not. It's a reason all of these teams are in the position that they're in in this play in tournament. You don't mess with the game. You don't mess with the basketball. I agree with the thoughts. If they were good enough to do this, they would have done this earlier. Not when it's a one game, basically March Madness elimination where your whole season's on the line. You just absolutely cannot do that. You have to win this game and then you have to take your chance against the Nuggets. Oh, it's a chance. But that's what you have to do. You can't just let it come down to one game because then anything can happen. Then you could be in Cabo next week instead of playing the Nuggets. How stupid would you feel? But isn't it daunting? First of all, you think, okay, the Nuggets swept them in the conference finals. Boom. They also beat them in all three games this season. Boom. So yeah, you go in there tonight. You play this game, but is that not sitting on top of your mind the entire entirety of this game that, okay, we win this. This is our prize. I mean, yeah, you go into a feeling like that and just making sure you go win the basketball game. But I'm laughing because it's saying the internet yesterday was filled with Laker fans. They were down for them trying to lose on purpose. It's like that doesn't sound like the Laker faithful to me. Yeah, that doesn't sound like the Lakers attitude. I've worn that uniform before. They want to win at all costs, win everything. They've never learned. They've never tried to lose anything on purpose. So I'm calling BS on that. Yeah. And again, out loud, when you say it, sure, they would rather the Oakland City Thunder because of their inexperience because they have never been there before because of how youthful they are. Yeah, that makes more sense, but they're not in the position to do this. And we can't just act like they're this team that can flip the switch. Okay, we're going to lose this game. We won't get this game or they would not be in this dogfight of the play and tournament that they are in. So that makes no sense. It's too risky to do. Do you think the nuggets right now are sitting at home going, we would rather play blank? I mean, I don't think they care. I think they think I don't think they care. But if I'm going to take a shot at guessing, they would like the Pelicans to win this game. I mean, what team would want to play against the best basketball player in the world, no matter what phase of his career that he's in, you don't want to match up with the best basketball player in the world. Simple as that. Yeah, if I'm on the nuggets, I want New Orleans just because of that reason. I don't want to play against LeBron James, Anthony Davis for possibly seven games. I don't want to go Laker Nations everywhere. There's going to be Laker fans tonight in New Orleans. There's going to be Laker fans in Denver. They're going to have a home game in New Orleans. It's going to be a home game tonight. So I will say the Lakers, I think have a huge advantage in that. Listen, the Lakers fans, they travel regular season games. Again, that means so much right now. I guarantee you it's going to be uncomfortable for the New Orleans Pelicans. Are those not just bandwagon people in different cities that have Lakers? They're still loud. They're still there. I'm just making sure I understand what the rules are. The Lakers are America's team. It's one of, if you're, if you're a home team, it's one of the most annoying things to go through is run out of your tunnel on your home court and get booed by a bunch of Laker fans. It's one of the most annoying things you can ever go through. Historically, New Orleans doesn't have this crazy home court. They don't have a crazy fan base like that. So it's not like their fans are going to be outrageous and put them over the top. There's probably going to be louder Laker fans in there than Pelicans. They're getting a lot of motivation this morning. No, they have motivation. They're getting a lot of motivation. Hopefully, they're in tune, Chandler, but I understand what you're saying. They don't have this, this, this rich history of not like going to court later, going to Boston where these crazy atmospheres are going to be a normal game for LeBron. Yeah, I understand what you're saying, but they are motivated. They will be there. Shout out to New Orleans. Shout out, Smoothie King. You get a smoothie when you go there as a member of the media and a big fan of that. Shams, the AD of it all. I know injury reports and all that. Is there a, is there a world in which we don't see him tonight? I don't see a scenario where Anthony Davis doesn't play. He himself came out after the game on Sunday and said, there's no doubt I'm going to play. I've had some conversations in the last 24 hours. The plan is for him to play. I don't see any other way, but for sure. The Lakers have to play for seven. You don't, you don't tank this idea of tanking for eight. I don't see the Lakers do that. You, you play to win. There's too much to risk. The other thing is by playing Denver, this, or if you do win and you do play Denver in that two seven matchup, can you at least get them early in the playoffs? Last year, there's a lot of wear and tear on LeBron, Gene. There's a lot of wear and tear throughout that roster. You get them early. You're going to have to play them anyway. Get that out of the way. And can you imagine the confidence they have moving forward if they knock off Denver in the first round? That opens up everything. I'm saying it's a, it's a, it's a long stretch. What percentage are you giving that? No, this escalated fast. Less than three percent. Less than three percent. I mean, I don't, I don't think they're, but again, anything could happen. It's, the Lakers are a talented team. I'm just saying if you, like Shamsa said too, they're going to be healthy. They're going to, it's early. If they can happen to knock them off, then they're going next, the next round and the next round, they're going to have the most confidence knowing they just beat the best team in the Western Conference. Obviously, we're getting way far ahead It was a sweep last year, but there were a couple of games that were close last year against Denver. I mean, the Lakers can make a case that they're going to make this series more competitive. The Lakers are dangerous. You, nobody, you like them, you hate them, they are dangerous. It's not going to be an easy series. I'm going to laugh if they don't even win this game tonight and we're sitting here. I think we're looking ahead a little, a bit much. This is a mile high now and we're talking about right now. They got to win tonight for us to even have this conversation. All I'm saying is like why fear the dugouts, why fear the Celtics, if you have goals and you have like aspirations of winning that conference. Go on, Whitney. I'm just saying, if you have that, you're going to have to beat eventually, so why not in the first round? If you have goals. Stay positive, Lakers. Keep going. You've got this. Lou, does AD have to be the best player on the court for anything to happen? I don't think, I don't think so. I think LeBron James has been the best player on that team this year and he's been, he's been the leader. Anthony Davis has to be the best version of Anthony Davis. Now does he have to put the pressure on himself is I have to go out there and out play everybody on both teams? Absolutely not, but he has to be the second best player on the floor for them to be really successful, but I don't think he has to be the best. We got a, oh, were you going to say something? No, I searched on his phone, something was happening. It's scrolling Instagram. Okay, so here's the deal. AD had 30 points, 11 rebounds and 33 minutes against New Orleans. That was on Sunday. There's a two leg parlay, you know I'm going to do this, 25 or more points and 12 or more rebounds plus 137. That dropped down already. Man, you should take it now. How are we feeling about it? I love that and I have one little stat here that I love for this game. The Lakers ranked second in the league in points in the paints at 56 points game and Anthony Davis has 16 of those points. They don't only have a guy to guard him. Valentinus is just great big, but he's not as mobile to guard him. Herb Jones is too small and Zion I would assume is going to start on him. He's going to make him have to work on both ends. So I think Anthony Davis does have to be the dominating force. I think you have to get him the ball no matter who starts on him, especially if it's Zion, I think you try and get him an early foul trouble. But yeah, this this is the key for Anthony Davis. He's got to get going early and I do think he gets the spotlight. You don't feel like he has to be the best player, but he has to absolutely be dominant. He has to be forceful when playing. Impose his will early, get to the free throw line, get on the offensive glass. He should be the most dominant player and that stat with the points in the paint that's huge because they can run. They can do but when it slows down on the offensive glass, Anthony Davis has got to be dominant. Brandon Ingram, by the way, made his return with the knee injury thing on Sunday. And he played 23 minutes. So is he full time? Go? No restrictions? His minutes are going to go even higher, I think tonight. I think he's going to be more of a full go than not. To me, the biggest thing though with this Pelicans team is now that you reintegrated B.I., who I believe Louisville played with. Yep. You reintegrate him into the lineup. Play whatever bite. That's true. Zion was so comfortable when Brandon Ingram was out with having the ball in his hands, playing that point forward role. I think for the Pelicans, the big question is always with this team when Zion's healthy is how do you blend these two guys, how do you make both of them fit next to each other and play at a high level? And tonight will be another example for them to try to figure that out. Chandler. It's really hot. This hoodie is so thick and warm. I'm just, there's a lot going on. It's almost like you didn't know that it's always hot in here. I'm sweating too, makes everyone feel better. And I'm sure it does. Let's talk about stealing for the Pelicans. There are certain teams that I think we just sort of assumed that there's a very low ceiling. I don't know what you're putting over New Orleans here. I mean contender seems I don't think they're real contenders. I loved this team early last year when we were talking about Willie Green coach of the year and they have all these young assets with, you know, with Murray and Murphy and her Jones and Alvarado and then they have these stars when they're healthy. They're really, really good. And now as of lately, C.J. McCollum has found his rhythm. He's gotten hot. Valentinous, you know what you're going to get from him. You're going to get solid double, double pretty much every single night with that guy. And then they have two elite players that can get out and transition. They can go get you bucket and Brandon anger and Zion Williamson. So I think they do have a lot of talent. They are on the right trajectory. I just don't think with the Western Conference being so deep this year, this is their year. But I wouldn't be either way. This game could go either way tonight. They've had a great year. They're now with Brandon anger back to that. That kind of gives another layer. If I had to pick, I think I'm going Lakers tonight. So I think the Lakers get more. I think the Lakers get more calls. I think the NBA wants the Lakers. The Lakers get more calls. I think the Lakers get more calls. I think the NBA wants the Lakers get more calls. I think the Lakers get more calls. I think the Lakers get it done tonight. I don't think the home court advantage is going to be too big of a deal. And you know what I was thinking too? This is the closest thing to like March Madness we got with LeBron. It feels like it's like the one game elimination. Never played college basketball. This is his March Madness. This is his March Madness. That's a good point. In April. Let's look at the odds. I know they're fluctuating back and forth left and right. Pelicans right now are the favorite. Oh yeah. Yeah. Minus one and a half right there over under of 224 and a half. And the Lakers have won three of the four games that they've played against New Orleans. So let's just go Lou. Who wins? Yeah. Who you got? Who you got? It's going to be the Lakers. Like I said, I'm one of those guys. I don't bet against LeBron James. I don't bet against Steph Curry when it comes down to it for the money. If it comes down to winning the basketball game for the money for to move on to do anything special. Those are two guys I've just learned to never bet against. So I got Lakers tonight. I agree. And you know we never played in a plan but when you if you whoever loses this game that pressure has got to be crazy on the next game. You know what I mean? Like you had a chance to block in the seventh seed and now you have the one game later you're going home. So this is such a big game and whoever it is is not going to have an easy game next round whether it's going to be Sacramento or Golden State. You know what? Let's just I'm going to say New Orleans just to be I mean they look good. It's not really good. I mean that's not a bad thing. I don't know what it is though but like Lakers, Pelicans they've had their number. They beat them in the end season tournament and they beat them on Sunday for the for the chance to play seven eight. I like to say they're due. This is for the money. This really is. This is different for everything. Yes. Well for to go get beat by the Nuggets but yeah it's for everything. Sick reward. It's like a weird prize.