11-7-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

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That's betterhelp.com slash positive. How about it? Did you survive your Manic Monday?

Maybe. As long as your ears are still working. That's all you need to listen to the show. Just your ears. Your ear balls, as I call them. We want more of your ear balls more engaged than ever. Week 9, now in the books.

Wowsers. And the New York Jets surprisingly are 4-4, though admittedly looked pretty anemic on the offensive side of the ball. And even special teams didn't play particularly well on Monday night either. But give credit to the Chargers. It's not the formula that you would expect for the Chargers. To have all of 136 passing yards from Justin Herbert and still end up with a victory.

If you like defense, Monday Night Football was definitely for you. 13 total sacks in the game on Monday night between the two defenses. 13 total sacks. 8 by the Chargers. 5 for the Jets. And then take into account the extra QB hits. Another 21 of those.

It was a game and a stage dominated by defense. And now here we are through the midway point of the NFL season. 9 down, 9 to go.

Whew. Let's hope that there is far more health and offensive success, offensive highlights than we had in the first half. Because it's clear that the first half of the NFL season was severely affected by the number of starting quarterback injuries. As I said on last night's show and have underscored this point now, 9 different rookie quarterbacks have started in the NFL this season. And then you take into account some of the second year guys. So in that case it would be a Desmond Ritter or it would be, who else am I thinking of, Sam Howell. Meaning they're into their second year starting but this is their first full season as starters.

Kind of. Ritter's now been replaced there in Atlanta. The number of starters under the age of 25, they're all over the league. There's been a major transition at the position and not necessarily for the better.

Which is why the Jets so desperately want their old dude to come back and quarterback for them. So we'll talk about the midway point. Sitting now dead center.

Oh it's kind of like the hump show that we do every week here on After Hours. Dead center of the work week. We're now dead center of this NFL season. Though some teams have played 8 games, some have played 9. We're exactly at the midway point of the season itself with still 9 weeks to go.

I don't even know how we got here to be perfectly honest. Nor do I have any idea how we're sitting just 2 weeks away from Thanksgiving. I never did decorate for the fall. Now Thanksgiving is upon us. My future husband likes to decorate for Christmas even before Thanksgiving. Thankfully we are not already sharing an abode this year. Because I do not have any interest in decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving. I suppose that could be one compromise I make once we are sharing space.

Maybe. Well here's the deal. He has always had a fake Christmas tree and there are no fake Christmas trees where I live. I do not have fake Christmas trees as a good New Hampshire girl. Also don't have gas grills. Now he has a pellet grill. I suppose that will be allowed.

I'm just kidding. We're going to make major compromises but one area where I'm not willing to compromise is a fake Christmas tree. And I'm excited about the pellet grill. Though he insists we'll keep the charcoal grill. One area where I may have to compromise is decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving.

Oi. Let's hope he doesn't listen to this show. I'm just kidding. He already knows. He already knows I'm not quite as gung ho about Christmas decorations as he is. He wants to decorate in every room. Including the two bathrooms.

I just don't think that's necessary. Jay how many rooms in your house does your family decorate for Christmas? I feel like there may be sort of little knick knacks here and there. Is that considered decorating? Is it decorating if we use hand towels that have Christmas themes? Is that considered decorating to replace the hand towels with Christmas hand towels?

That's what I'm saying. There might be some sort of little statue or snowman somewhere in the corner. Is that decorating? Yeah that kind of counts. So I'll say hand towels does count then.

Okay. So I suppose there are Christmas decorations in most every room in my house. I do not decorate the pets room.

I don't think they care. The utility room slash pets room. That doesn't get any Christmas decorations. But I guess, although that's where the Christmas cactus is located.

Oh there you go. But it's organic. It's not a decoration.

I didn't have to put it up. It just blooms whenever it blooms. It just happens to bloom closer to Christmas. It actually does now have its first pink flowers that are getting set to open. The pink blooms. Weirdly enough I still have plants outside. And yet the Christmas cactus is getting ready to bloom. So all that to say, compromise and communication.

I'm learning more than ever about those two things. It's definitely early though I will say. Yeah it is. Before Christmas, or before Thanksgiving to decorate for Christmas. Too early. Way too early. Like I said yesterday, I was at the mall this weekend and they were blasting Christmas music throughout Macy's. No. No. Oh it's way too early for Christmas music. Way too early. That makes me want to... No.

But to each his own, it just happens that to each his own will soon be sharing a house with me. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Hello. Happy Monday. Pretty soon a happy Tuesday.

We can do this. Actually many of you tell me that you're struggling with the time change. Because now it is dark by 5.15, 5.30 Eastern Time. Or wherever, whatever time zone you're in. It's definitely getting darker around that 5 o'clock hour.

And I would agree with you that's tough. Because now if I don't wake up early, I can't get enough sunlight to take care of the dog. And to get a workout, a run in before it gets dark. But one of the benefits, if you haven't seen the photos.

Actually Jay, would you mind sharing those on Facebook as well. If you haven't seen the morning photos that I took. Alright, I'll just admit it. I was taking photos while I was driving.

I was. It's not like you can't see the roadway in my photos. So I suppose I can't lie about the fact. I did not pull over and take the photos.

The photos were taken while I was driving. Alright, so yell at me if you must. But while you're yelling at me, appreciate the wonder of a glorious morning sunrise.

Pink, purple, orange. It was mesmerizing. And all that to say, even though it gets darker earlier now. I am thankful because I now get to see the sun before I go to bed. Before the time change, I guess there was enough light that I could walk Penny without having to carry a flashlight in my neighborhood. But this morning, I actually had to wear sunglasses to walk Penny. So I appreciate a little more sunlight, a little more of the bright light before I go to bed.

I also know that many of you feel like you got hit by a truck. And also my dog did not observe the time change, nor did the cat. So I was still up super early, even earlier. I get very excited every year about having an extra hour of sleep, and I never get an extra hour of sleep. I stayed up too late the night before, I'll blame Bob for that. And the pets woke me up far too early, I'll blame them for that.

So yeah, it wasn't actually as enjoyable as I was anticipating. Boo. But now we're through Monday, and it is what it is.

There's no way now to fight the system, buck the system in 2023, and refuse to turn your clocks back. So onward we go. On Twitter, check out those photos. I'm telling you, they are beautimous.

They're worth it. ALawRadio and then Producer J is putting them up on our Facebook page after hours with Amy Lawrence. Before we dive into the final game of week number nine, what do you think? Should we do, you know what, we'll do mid-season awards in the middle of the work week. How about that?

But on this edition of the show, now that we are completely through nine weeks, let's do a game of the good, the bad, and the UGLY. U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no ala by your ugly. I wasn't speaking to you personally. But I think that type of a cheer now would be completely politically incorrect. Cheerleaders in junior high and high school would not be allowed to chant that. No, that wouldn't go well today.

Could you imagine? In 2023, using some of the cheers that were common when I was in school. But no, actually, what about when you were in school, Jay, were cheerleaders allowed to chant things like U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no ala by your ugly? It was on the way out when I was in school. It was like you could maybe still get away with it, but people would be like, oh, should you really be saying that? And now you just can't even do it. Yeah, we're not allowed, even if it's not directed at any one person specifically, no longer allowed to chant any type of personal insults.

Frowned upon in today's society. It's offensive, if you will. Anyway, good, bad, ugly from the first half of the NFL season. And as we know, sports fans definitely do direct those insults at people specifically. In fact, I'm constantly deleting them from my Facebook page because I don't want to be associated with some of your personal insults that you hurl.

Use your own Facebook page. All right, so you can find us on Twitter and Facebook, the good, the bad, the ugly from the first half of the NFL season. I suppose we can give you some examples, if you like. We don't have to look very far. Monday Night Football at MetLife Stadium, the Jets offense certainly ugly. Not that the Chargers offense was a whole lot better, but they happened to get a pair of touchdowns from Austin Eckler, so they were two for two in the red zone. But how many drops did Eckler have? I think he had two catches on seven targets. He was not necessarily in his zone either.

So there was plenty of ugly offense to go around on Monday Night Football. But the first touchdown of the game, a perfect special teams moment for Darius Davis. A gentle punt from left to right and 37-year-old Thomas Morstead will get the belt-high long snap and a right-footed punt is sent down the far side. Backpedaling is Davis. The catch on a squat at the 12, breaks a tackle 15 up the middle of the 20, breaks a tackle 30, foot race to the 40, down the near side 50, on the numbers the 40.

He's going to go, the 20, the 10, they'll chase him, but they will not catch him. It's a punt return touchdown. 87-yard return.

Our friend Kevin Harlan on Westwood 1. That is how the scoring began. You'll take a special teams touchdown anytime they want to open up the Red Sea or part the Red Sea and let you through. He wasn't touched very often. He had clean air, to use an NASCAR term or a car racing term, for a good half of the football field. So that's demoralizing because the Jets were already in a 7-0 hole at that point. But man, what a boost for the other sideline and the Chargers. And it wasn't long before they also had the benefit of a fumble and another short field.

Second and goal. Handoff to Eckler following Everett. Hit into the end zone. Touchdown Chargers. Wilson-Eckler put some punctuation on that run that got him all the way down there. It's easy to blame Zach Wilson for everything that's going wrong with the Jets, but that was a Garrett Wilson fumble. That was not a Zach Wilson fumble. It was the other Wilson. Wilson! What's wrong with me?

Something's definitely wrong with me. I'm the only one that thinks that whenever I hear the name Wilson yelled or even spoken. I'm mad I don't have that in the system at my fingertips right now.

Wilson! One of my favorite movies of all time. I'm not going to tell you what it is. I'm going to let you guess, but I feel like it's an iconic movie so people should know.

Either way, are you sensing a theme that some of my favorite movie scenes of all time come courtesy of the same actor? Back to the game. The Chargers. The Chargers on back to back drives or back to back possessions I should say. Go 87 yards for a punt return TD and then force a fumble. Strip the ball from Garrett Wilson and are able to... Actually a Garrett Wilson and a Zach Wilson fumble in the first quarter. And are able to get seven points off a turnover. So before the first quarter is done. The Chargers already have seven special teams points and seven points off turnovers. Not only is that a huge lift for them on the road.

But it's also, as I say, the type of hole that the Jets aren't likely to come back from. Fourteen points in the first quarter were enough for the Chargers to win this game. Offensively. They still had to play D and play D they did extremely well.

It was impressive to see what that Chargers defense did against, to be fair, a makeshift offensive line. Wilson to throw. Flushed from the pocket here comes Tooley. He's got him. And he's down.

Tooley, Tooey pillow two. His second sack of the game. Chargers seven on the line of scrimmage. And they rush four and Wilson is hit. And look at that he's down.

Oh, had him by the jersey. Joey Bosa picks up where he left off last week. We said it was his best game last week.

No, it is this week. The calls there with Matt Smith on Chargers radio. Eight sacks. Eight. Now, if you were watching the game, you may have seen or heard the number of times that Troy Aikman and Joe Buck pointed out. How the offensive line for the Jets has gone through, what, ten different starting combinations?

Well, I guess that's not possible. Ten different combinations. A lot of different iterations. Guys moving all over the place. The way they intended the starting offensive line to look to begin the season is nothing like what it looks at this point. So that's a major issue. But it's not all on the O line. Zach Wilson has got to learn, like many young quarterbacks do, that hanging on to the football does you no good when you're about to get pummeled. And in addition to that, he's got to take care of the football. I know he's under pressure and I know there's big dudes, much bigger than he is, who are coming after him attempting to swipe that football. But ball security is the most important thing.

If that means you get rid of it and you throw it away, well then that's what you got to do. Because anything is better than losing the football and giving your opponent a short field. So credit to the Chargers. Their defense was fierce and physical and aggressive and ball hawking. Joey Bosa with two and a half sacks.

Man, he looks healthy and scary. And Khalil Mack with two sacks of his own. And he actually said they were having a lot of fun on the field Monday night. Solid performance, man. A lot of things we could have did better. But all in all, man, we were able to pack the defense and help the offense out.

Everybody capitalized and was able to eat on the inside, on the outside. And the guys in the backhand, they did their job, man, and held it down. I just thought we played for four quarters. I thought from the first whistle to the last one, I thought we competed. I thought we did the things that good defenses do. I thought we were physical tonight. We did a really good job against the run game.

I thought we rushed the passer. We limited the explosions in the deep part of the field and we were really good in the red zone. So it was a team win and our guys, you know, they practiced at a high level all week. And they carried it to the field tonight. You can imagine Zach Wilson is going to be sore come Tuesday and through the next couple of days. Again, he had two fumbles.

Garrett Wilson had another one. And something else that jumps out, too, is how many times the Chargers were able to get to him on third down. Talk about rising to the occasion on the most critical moments of the game for them on the defense.

There's a definite issue with the Jets on third down, but the Chargers made it a lot more challenging. And so Zach understands. I mean, you can't be hanging on to the ball, except sometimes I wonder if he's remembering that when he's out there on the field. My job is to get the ball out of my hands as quickly as I can. You know, I promise I'm always trying to do that with those guys up front. I'm always trying to help out the O-line with that up front. You know, you got to give those guys credit that they did a good job. You know, really, you know, if there's an opportunity to watch this film and find something, I can point you to get the ball out faster.

Well, for sure. But it's going to continue to be a problem until he actually does it. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Now, coming up at the top of the hour, Dan Leberfeld, who has Jets Confidential magazine, jetsconfidential.com, will ask him about the smiling Aaron Rodgers on the sidelines.

How realistic that Aaron might actually be ready to play before the season is done, even though he tore his Achilles eight weeks ago. Is it eight weeks ago or nine? I guess it was nine weeks ago because they've had their bye. They're eight and eight or eight and eight.

They're four and four. But he's out there and he's. Moving around without crutches, no longer uses a golf cart to get underneath the stadium. He was caught on tape. It's not real clear, so we won't play it for you. But he was caught on tape telling Derwin Janes after the game, just give me a few more weeks. Big grin on his face.

It's going to be hard to cancel me. Yeah. You know he's chomping at the bit, but is he going to be able to return after a torn Achilles sometime this season? So we'll ask our Jets insider. Plus, is there any indication they're willing to make a change at quarterback? And their frustration in the locker room. We know there are Jets who are tired of losing or tired of this type of play. So this style of play where it's all on the defense because it is all on the defense. But I will give the Jets credit for posting a 500 record through this point.

I wasn't sure they could do that when they lost Aaron Rodgers four snaps into their season. The defense is dynamic. Alright, so we're just getting started. Coming up, a moment, a milestone. It's jaw-dropping.

You'll want to watch it over and over. On Twitter, After Hours, CBS or my Twitter, ALawRadio, where is the good, the bad, the ugly in the first half of the season? And also on our Facebook page. Good to have you with us. We will make the case of the Monday blahs a little easier to manage. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. He spun all the way around with one arm. Is able to haul that in. What an amazing catch.

And what a way to go for 10,000 yards. He's such a big fan of his game. I think every coach is. But then every year I've been here, I've had a greater appreciation for how special he is. He's got a really unique skill set. And I think he's so dedicated to his craft. And I think that the real offensive coaches, defensive coaches know that his ability to separate and set people up and how he understands leverage and how he understands coverages and his hands. And he's a lot bigger than people think. He's 6'3". And he can just do everything. He can play everywhere. He's a clutch player.

He's a competitor. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. If you have not seen this catch by Keenan Allen, do yourself a favor and check it out on my Twitter, ALawRadio.

I shared the video. And it's really quick. It's just five seconds. But it's a ball that appears to be out of his reach. He lifts up a huge paw, left-handed. He catches the ball with the one hand. And then because his momentum is carrying him over, he secures it with his right. Keeps it up off the ground and does a barrel roll out of bounds. That's how he manages to secure the football. As I say, he almost has to lay out backwards. And his momentum carries him backwards where he's prone. He's parallel to the ground as he's falling down. And he comes down in a barrel roll, ends up with the ball tucked into his chest and his stomach.

I mean, it's a thing of beauty. And on that catch, he goes over 10,000 career yards with the Chargers. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio The Call with Matt Smith on Chargers Radio. And then Brandon Staley talking about Keenan Allen.

And yeah, same thing. Justin Herbert marvels at what this veteran can do. Not surprised by the great things that he does and the plays that he makes. It's just huge having him out there on our offense. He's a big part of our offense. And to see him make plays like that, we see that all the time in practice as well.

So he just goes up there and he does what he does. Consistency, man, hard work. Resiliency, man, I done been through a couple injuries that kept me off the field. And just hats off to the guys, to the coaches, everybody that I play with. Phillip Rivers, Justin Herbert for sure, quarterbacks.

Just everybody that's been around and been a part of the process. You can hear in the background the highlights because that was on SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt. So we borrowed the audio from there so you could hear Keenan Allen. Haven't seen any other post-game reaction yet, but hopefully we can bring some to you. I didn't realize his middle name is Alexander Keenan, Alexander Allen.

I like it. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. He's in his early 30s. He does reference the various injuries that he's gone through. And yeah, they've stripped some major chunks of time away from him. But he's been with the Chargers first as San Diego now in L.A. His entire career going back to 2013. And because he's so big and when he's healthy, of course, he's able to make these types of plays because he is so athletic.

And will leap or stretch out and go for broke when it comes to securing the football. He's just so smart as well and doesn't take it for granted, which I love about older athletes. 31 certainly isn't old, but the fact that he's been through so much and he's missed large chunks of other seasons in the past.

And this goes back to when they were in San Diego. But yeah, he was frustrated not being able to be out there and to participate. Feeling like he lost some time. I can remember some of the injuries for him, but now healthy. Last year played in 10 games. So not the entire season, but before that in 16 games.

And man, it was a magical moment. So find it on Twitter. It's after hours on our Facebook page as well as our show Twitter.

What we're asking you is the good, the bad, the ugly from the first half of the NFL season. And while you're on our social media, you can vote for Monday MVP. It still has a day left. So Jay kind of left it with a two day voting. Yeah, just because our game of the week poll that usually stretches for about two and a half days so we can take it on through the weekend. So we're doing the same here with Monday MVP, though will likely award it before this show is done. But you can still cast your vote.

So that poll is still live as well. I know coming up at the top of the hour, we'll check in on the New York Jets. I mean, the Jets defense can be proud of its effort, too. But I don't know how much more you can ask of that side of the ball. Certainly telling when sauce Gardner, your young, well, reigning offensive or excuse me, defensive rookie of the year, but also young, brash cornerback points out that they can't get into holes like they did tonight. I know it was down by two touchdowns early in the game.

He was in a hole. We can't keep getting ourselves in a hole and trying to dig ourselves out of it. You know, like especially like when it's teams that we feel like we should be able to blow out or something like that.

Like it's got to be you got to score on defense. I mean, that's fairly telling from him. Sauce Gardner says we can't get in a hole that early. And while he doesn't say it, the implication there is we're not coming back when we do.

We're not coming back. And they didn't have an offensive touchdown in this game, though it is the first one in which they've not had an offensive touchdown. But they're also among the worst in the league in points per game.

They're not even averaging 17 points per game. It's got to be killing Aaron Rodgers, just killing him. And you do have guys on the defense who will say, hey, we need to be doing even more, but I don't know how much more you can ask. It's not as though the Chargers were running roughshod up and down the field. The defense was making life miserable for Justin Herbert. As a team, the Chargers only had 270 yards. Oh, no, I take that back. As a team, they only had 190 yards.

Sorry, looking in the wrong column. They were able to get the two Austin Eckler touchdowns. But they didn't look great either. There were a ton of punts in this game more than anything. What more can you ask of the New York D? And the frustration definitely boils over well as it may not be directed at Zach Wilson. You can hear it with the offense, especially Garrett Wilson, who's a little more emotional, wears his heart on his sleeve and is a wide receiver who we know can do damage if the ball is in his hands. I don't do the moral victories, none of that. In week one, week three, we ain't been good enough on the offensive side of the ball this year. We can keep staying close. We can go out there and put it on the field on Sunday. That's what is going to happen. Not into moral victories, and I'm not sure there would be a moral victory at any point.

I don't know where you would see a moral victory, actually. Our one-time colleague here on CBS Sports Radio, Mark Belousis, was part of the media scrumble, asking Zach Wilson questions following the game, and Moose asked him, that's his nickname Moose, where he's grown since last season. I feel like I'm a different player. I feel like I'm in the best position I've ever felt mentally, my understanding of the game. I feel ready to be out there and be competing, and so that's what's so frustrating, just not getting things done.

It's frustrating, and it starts with me finding a way, but I'm ready for the opportunity in the moment, and we've got to find a way to get it done. He says all the right things now, whereas last year he did not. So last year he came across much more as a punk.

It's not me, entitled, kind of spoiled, coddled, if you will, much more of this, I think my poo doesn't smell the same way as everybody else does. I got the best hands on the team. He was icky last year, and really no reason for him to be arrogant or entitled because he hadn't done a darn thing except got drafted number two overall. But once you're in the league, nobody else gives a crap. So I will give him credit for a change in tone, for his humility, for his desire to work. He really does want it to work. Maybe he hasn't had enough reps, maybe he hasn't had enough snaps, maybe it will get better, but it's slow progress, and the offensive line doesn't help any.

Really doesn't. On Twitter, after hours, CBS, and on our Facebook page, what and where do you find the good, the bad, the ugly in the NFL so far this season halfway through? Also in the New York metro on Monday night, James Harden made his Clippers debut. How ironic that it was also in New York. Was it any better offense than what we got from the Jets?

I guess we'll find out. 23-19, 11.30 to go, second quarter. Many more of those to come for James Harden playing here in the garden. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. That's the new play-by-play voice of the Los Angeles Clippers. His name is Carlo Jimenez, replacing Noah Eagle, who's now doing football, and you'll hear him a lot more with the Nickelodeon broadcast and everything else that he'll be doing. So Noah has moved on to Greener Pastures, and Carlo takes over. As I understand, Carlo is also right out of school, not that long, having graduated recently, same as Noah. So the Clippers, they pluck young play-by-play voices out of obscurity to be able to put them as their radio announcers, and probably not pay them a whole lot is also part of the equation. Seems to happen more and more in corporate America and my industry these days, where if you can get someone who won't cost you as much money and save that, well, you're willing to sacrifice a little when it comes to quality. And I'm not saying that's Carlo, just in general.

I know you all can identify with that probably in many cases. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. That was really not about him or corporate America. That was about James Harden and the fact that he made his Clipper debut, and it happens at Madison Square Garden, where, kind of funny, he played multiple times as a member of the Sixers, obviously played there as a member of the Nets. Now he's back as a member of the Clips, and we're talking three teams in three seasons. I feel kind of weird out there, but just not really having a preseason game or an opportunity to participate in a full training camp or none of that. It was just out there just basically winging it. But I try to go off my basketball instincts and what I've been doing for the last few years or whatnot. I just went out there and playing and thinking the game and try to make the game easier for everybody else. I got tired of a couple of stints or whatever and had to come out, but I thought overall just orchestrating, making the right play, making the right pass and picking roles, he was really good. It's going to take a little time to get in game shape, we understand that, but his presence on the floor was definitely felt. Harden goes for 17 points. Actually had a good shooting night, just didn't take a ton of shots.

6 for 9 from the field, hit a couple of triples, had six assists in there as well. And we know as long as James Harden is happy, well then he's more than willing to give it everything he's got on the basketball court. There was a lot going on through my mind, but I'm just happy to be out there again in the hoop. Now we kind of iron things out, watch the film get better.

It's a process with this group, but like you said, we got unlimited opportunities. Before the trade we felt we were a team that could play for a trophy. After the trade we felt like a team that could play for a trophy, so no added pressure.

We got the same pressure as every other team to go and win it. Paul George with 10 points on this night, so not a great shooting performance for him. 2 for 11 from the floor and missed all but one of his half dozen three-point attempts. The team doesn't shoot real well. They don't get over, actually they shot okay in terms of their percentage, nearly 50% just didn't have nearly as many shots as did the Knicks, which is saying something. And ended up with a ton of turnovers, 22 turnovers in this game. You want to talk about a veteran team that is supposed to know the value of taking care of the basketball, but 22 turnovers, wowzers. And the Knicks had nearly 20 themselves, so this was a messy, sloppy Monday night game at the Garden.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. As it turns out, the Lakers are also on the East Coast taking on the Miami Heat in what's a rematch of NBA Finals from the bubble. Tyler stepping into three, ripping the net and bouncing around, letting everybody know what the deal is as Tyler Hero drill-ins the 20-point Sports Club.

Heat 105, Lakers 97. Jumper, Jimmy, got it! Mid-range, Jimmy, goodness!

Just inside the arc on the right-hand side. Give us enough time, that big three is going to be a problem. You know, they're already working diligently to figure this out.

They complement each other, which is great. And the most important thing is, you know, this year it's really clicking for them to understand that they're the key. Huh, interesting considering they were trying to trade for Demian Lillard. But Eric Spolstra, who admittedly is not in charge of personnel himself, believes that the big three, as he calls them, of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Hero will be as good as any other core three in the NBA. But wait a minute, though.

Wasn't Tyler Hero essentially out the door? Wow. Jimmy Butler, he takes it personally. He takes everything personally. He wanted to guard LeBron James the whole game. I respect LeBron so much, you know, arguably the greatest player of all time. And I really enjoy going up against him all of these years, no matter what uniform he was in.

It was always a constant battle, and I will say that he's gotten the best of me whenever it counts. But I think it's a privilege to be able to play against him, to be able to guard him, just being able to compete and learn so much at the same time, but more often than not just compete. 28 points for Butler. So he still had enough energy left to guard LeBron. Six assists in there.

But how about this? Adebayo, 22 points and 20 rebounds to go along with 10 assists. That's the Miami Heat big man with a triple double to the tune of 22, 20 and 10. So, yeah, if you're looking for a new big three, maybe this is where you can plant your flag.

I'm emo. Leave me alone. 22 points for Tyler Hero as well, and they edged the Lakers by a single point. I remember last year when the Golden State Warriors couldn't win on the road to save their lives. Well, the Lakers have started out over four on the road. It's early.

It's so early. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. This series premieres streaming November 10th on Paramount Plus.

Only with the Paramount Plus with Showtime plan. Commuting to work again? Welcome back.

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