Speaker 1: M hm, And this is some high level basketball, and
Speaker 1: this is fun, really fun. It's really fun to watch.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of fun watching basketball when you don't
Speaker 1: care who's gonna win or lose. Right, Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: a genuinely very interesting basketball game with a lot of
Speaker 1: back and forth. And I really thought that even though
Speaker 1: Atlanta one and made me feel more confident that Milwaukee
Speaker 1: is gonna win, um uh, probably in six games. But
Speaker 1: that's kind of where I'm at right now. That was
Speaker 1: my initial takeaway about you. I'm not really sure, to
Speaker 1: be honest, Like, I feel like if they keep playing
Speaker 1: brook Lopez, we'll get into it. But like I feel
Speaker 1: like Trey Young kind of does exactly what Brook Lopez
Speaker 1: and the Milwaukee but regular defense gives up. It's it's
Speaker 1: kind of an interesting clash there where Buddha Holzer is
Speaker 1: really going to have to change his his theories like
Speaker 1: what he originally likes to do, so I think he'll
Speaker 1: be fascinating. I don't think this Hawks team is like
Speaker 1: you know, some this is some fake run. I think
Speaker 1: they're legit. I think they have a lot of talent
Speaker 1: even with that with the guys they're injured. So yeah, well,
Speaker 1: we'll kind of get into it. Yeah, So I thought
Speaker 1: the entire game swung on an adjustment from Mike Buddenholzer
Speaker 1: to to start switching screen and roll, which obviously required
Speaker 1: them to take Brook Lopez out. But I tweeted during
Speaker 1: the game, you can't run any sort of of drop
Speaker 1: coverage against really high end ball handlers, whether that's a
Speaker 1: you know, a Trey Young or or a Lebron or
Speaker 1: anybody like that. Anybody that can either pass really well
Speaker 1: out of screen and roll or shoot really well at
Speaker 1: a screen and roll. Anybody that's that's high end in
Speaker 1: that regard. And it's funny that teams even try it, Like,
Speaker 1: why would you even go into that game and say, hey,
Speaker 1: let's just see how this goes when we already know
Speaker 1: how that's gonna go. And I think they were hopeful
Speaker 1: that that Drew Holiday would be able to kind of
Speaker 1: chase over the top and bother Trey Young from behind.
Speaker 1: But what they don't realize is as good as Drew
Speaker 1: Holiday is, Ben Simmons is better. In one of the
Speaker 1: ways that Trey Young adjusted to that last series was
Speaker 1: to try to get ahead his team off of that screen,
Speaker 1: Like as soon as he got that first bit of
Speaker 1: separation takes a really hard dribble to get that space,
Speaker 1: and that's how he adjusted to Ben Simmons and and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, it was just all day long,
Speaker 1: just floating floater, floater, blah blah blab and Milwaukee couldn't
Speaker 1: do anything with it. And then as soon as they
Speaker 1: switched to that switching scheme, all of a sudden, he
Speaker 1: was jacking up bad threes. And really Atlanta stole that
Speaker 1: game on the strength of that crazy and one he
Speaker 1: had and like ah and uh, like an offensive rebound
Speaker 1: put back from John Collins and a couple crazy like
Speaker 1: that multiple offensive redound play that ended in the John
Speaker 1: Collins corner three. Like they really stole that game even
Speaker 1: though they weren't getting anywhere near his high quality shots
Speaker 1: in the half court there at the end. Yeah, So, like,
Speaker 1: I guess we can kind of start with the beginning
Speaker 1: of the game. So I felt like Trey just consistently
Speaker 1: attacked brook Lopez and that drop coverage. He just kept
Speaker 1: getting to that floater and I'm looking here a brook
Speaker 1: Lopez was a minus four teen tonight in a in
Speaker 1: a three point game, then kind of showed a lot
Speaker 1: um like I feel like when you get let a
Speaker 1: guy like Trey Young just get in rhythm like that,
Speaker 1: it's tough to slow down as the game goes on,
Speaker 1: right Like, even as a person who's who's played, like
Speaker 1: you let a guy just feel that good. He felt
Speaker 1: he looks so comfortable out on the floor, Like he
Speaker 1: looked like he knew exactly what he wanted to do.
Speaker 1: Um And I love how he kind of uses the other,
Speaker 1: like the defense's physicality against them, right Like, I feel
Speaker 1: like he did that to Drew Holiday a lot tonight.
Speaker 1: Drew's a real physical defender that really gets into you,
Speaker 1: and he really uses them against them. He got those
Speaker 1: kind of Trey Young fouls tho those ones that the
Speaker 1: league is going to look at, but like he got
Speaker 1: a field of those and it it really kind of
Speaker 1: loose in him up and he got a he got
Speaker 1: to the free throw line a couple of times, And
Speaker 1: I feel like you just can't let them get that comfortable.
Speaker 1: Um what do you see there? Like, like, do you
Speaker 1: think they can continue to start brook Lopez um in
Speaker 1: going on into Game two? So again, I mean maybe
Speaker 1: if you want to try it in the uh in
Speaker 1: the non train minutes that's one thing. It's just a
Speaker 1: matter of the way they want to attack. Like, so
Speaker 1: what we learned from that Clippers Jazz series was that
Speaker 1: the only way that the or the way that is
Speaker 1: switching defense degrades the game and turns it into a
Speaker 1: one on one contest. If you can't win those matchups,
Speaker 1: you're gonna struggle. And when they go to that all
Speaker 1: five at the Jannie at the five lineup, it's like,
Speaker 1: you want to try on your honest be my guest,
Speaker 1: You want to try Drew be my guest, You want
Speaker 1: to try p J. Tucker be my guest. You want
Speaker 1: to try Chris Middleton be my guest. Your best bet
Speaker 1: is maybe Pat Commerton, And even he will is not
Speaker 1: exactly just a sieve that's gonna let you go right
Speaker 1: around him every time. So it's one of those things.
Speaker 1: And Reggie Miller actually called it out at one point.
Speaker 1: He said, Trey cannot get by through holiday and one
Speaker 1: on one, and so they would get him into those
Speaker 1: screening actions use his over aggressiveness against him. Like you said,
Speaker 1: he actually did get that crazy and one on that
Speaker 1: the third or fourth to last play of the game.
Speaker 1: But I tend to think that the brook Lopez stuff.
Speaker 1: Any time you have him on the court, you're gonna
Speaker 1: have to run the traditional pick and roll coverage and
Speaker 1: Trey is just gonna pick you apart in those moments.
Speaker 1: So it feels like, you know, giving an advantage to
Speaker 1: Atlanta that you don't have to give them, if that
Speaker 1: makes sense. No, Yeah, for sure. It's cool to watch
Speaker 1: kind of the adjustments to the adjustments and like what
Speaker 1: you kind of have to give and take. Right, So
Speaker 1: they took brook Lopez out, Joanna's went to the five.
Speaker 1: Jana's got a bunch of lobs. But I feel like
Speaker 1: the gift there is now like you give up a
Speaker 1: lot of offensive rebounds, right, Like, I feel like that
Speaker 1: kind of the Atlanta back in the game as well.
Speaker 1: Now Janice is the main health defender and then you
Speaker 1: have of you know, p J. Tucker is the biggest
Speaker 1: guy left, but him had a bunch of guards trying
Speaker 1: to you know, I think Capella is the best offensive
Speaker 1: rebounding big in the league in terms of like percentage.
Speaker 1: And you have also Collins as well, a real athletic dude.
Speaker 1: So it's just like a fun kind of back and forth.
Speaker 1: That's why I think Atlanta can definitely win this series.
Speaker 1: I just think like their matchups even with Bugnanovich, who
Speaker 1: I guess we can talk about later, but like mcdonovitch
Speaker 1: not looking like himself even without Hunter. They yeah, he
Speaker 1: does not look comfortable out there, but they just have
Speaker 1: a lot of like problems they give them. And then
Speaker 1: try Young is just a different Obviously, Kevin Durant is
Speaker 1: the best player probably in the playoffs that was left,
Speaker 1: but try Young is just a different type of animal
Speaker 1: there where he's attacking you purely on ball strings and
Speaker 1: your rotations have to be kind of crisp every time,
Speaker 1: and his flutter game just going at you. I just
Speaker 1: think it's like a fun kind of adjustments, uh, the
Speaker 1: adjustments back and forth, and coach Bud always has you
Speaker 1: know he's getting He gets a lot of flak for
Speaker 1: not making them, so I think it's funny. Like people
Speaker 1: are yelling honest at the five. I just think like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's probably the best option. But there are also things,
Speaker 1: right that you have to give up when you put
Speaker 1: him there. Well depth too, you can put him there
Speaker 1: all game long, right the the you you mentioned the
Speaker 1: offensive rebounding, which is key, like when you're when you're
Speaker 1: attacking and switching defense. You could do it on the
Speaker 1: ball through isolation and attacking matchups, but you can also
Speaker 1: do it off the ball in offensive rebounding and the
Speaker 1: two the two last, the last two baskets. The last
Speaker 1: two made field goals Atlanta had were an offensive rebound,
Speaker 1: multiple offensive rebounds that led to the John Collins corner three.
Speaker 1: And then on the final play, when clinck Apella had
Speaker 1: the offensive remount put back, he sets the ball screen
Speaker 1: out at half court on Drew Holiday, they switch it.
Speaker 1: Janice is there. Janice is a bit slow to get
Speaker 1: out there and switch, and he meets him at the
Speaker 1: free throw line rather than at the three point line,
Speaker 1: so Trey gets a head of steam. Trey uses the
Speaker 1: head of steam to get to one of his floaters,
Speaker 1: but immediately after setting the screen, click Appella just turned
Speaker 1: and sprinted to the rim. If you watch the replay,
Speaker 1: it's pretty remarkable because Drew Holiday, it doesn't see it coming.
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday just kind of hugs onto Clinton just kind
Speaker 1: of way to half court. Clint Hella just sprints to
Speaker 1: the rim from half court and gets the offensive rebound
Speaker 1: put back that literally won the game. And and again,
Speaker 1: that's that's not just a dude miss a box out.
Speaker 1: That's a way to attack a switching defense. If the
Speaker 1: Clippers used to do that all the time with Montrese
Speaker 1: when you would get they try to get Lebron or
Speaker 1: a d switched out onto one of their wings, and
Speaker 1: then montrez a just bully whoever is under the basket
Speaker 1: to try to get offensive rebounds. It's it's one of
Speaker 1: the best ways through attack a switching defense is if
Speaker 1: you have size, just bury yourself under the rim and
Speaker 1: get lots of offensive rebounds. Yeah, and to your point,
Speaker 1: Capella had four offensive rebounds, Collins had five, and it
Speaker 1: feels like they got a bunch more just like tip
Speaker 1: outs and you know, just a bunch of second chance
Speaker 1: points there. And I think that's like the that's the
Speaker 1: thing you have to give up. But I think that's
Speaker 1: the only thing they can really go to their Middleton
Speaker 1: really struggled tonight. But how about Drew Holiday many I
Speaker 1: think it's I think that's really tough for the Bucks
Speaker 1: to lose a game where you know, they get thirty
Speaker 1: three from Drew Holiday. Um that that's like really tough
Speaker 1: to lose. They felt like Atlanta the only person they
Speaker 1: had going was was Trey Young who had who had
Speaker 1: forty eight himself. Wid didn't know he had forty eight, Um,
Speaker 1: he had forty eight himself. Um, So like what's the
Speaker 1: I guess their answer for for Trey Young going forward?
Speaker 1: Like is it you said you can't go honest at
Speaker 1: the five full time? I'm just wondering, like where they
Speaker 1: go you if you trap him? Like I feel like
Speaker 1: his passing is even better than his scoring in my opinion,
Speaker 1: Like his passing is what makes them special to me.
Speaker 1: Where do you kind of go with that? Like what
Speaker 1: where's their answer there? Um? Other than just honest at
Speaker 1: the five? I guess. So it's the switching, right because
Speaker 1: like you could tell, like when he would get uh
Speaker 1: into those possessions at the end of the game where
Speaker 1: the Milwaukee was switching, he was dribbling out front and
Speaker 1: he didn't really know what to do, and his default
Speaker 1: isolation move is just to step back three. And now
Speaker 1: some of this is just a problem with the regular
Speaker 1: season because in the red season, the vast majority of
Speaker 1: teams that they encounter aren't going to switch. They're going
Speaker 1: to play a traditional screening roll coverage. So he can
Speaker 1: you Trey Young stuff ball season, but he might be
Speaker 1: in a situation here for the rest of the series
Speaker 1: where he has to attack in isolation. Now, if you're Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: it's all about matchups, right, Like, as long as as
Speaker 1: long as you can try to keep you know, p J. Tucker, Janice,
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday, Chris Middleton out there for the big key
Speaker 1: moments and then for the rest of the game, you
Speaker 1: just gotta do a lot of help and recover if
Speaker 1: he does attack a you know, uh like uh, someone
Speaker 1: like Pat Conathan. You need to have that back line
Speaker 1: set up to help in those isolation situations. But at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, like they're gonna turn Trey
Speaker 1: into an ice player at some point in the series.
Speaker 1: They did at the end of that game, and if
Speaker 1: they can force him to take tough step back three
Speaker 1: is then they're gonna win. Uh that that's the the
Speaker 1: What you had mentioned that was interesting is Drew Holiday
Speaker 1: going off the the the the the point of optimism
Speaker 1: for Atlanta as a way to improve over the course
Speaker 1: of the series. I didn't think they defended particularly well,
Speaker 1: and ironically, right at the same time Milwaukee went to switching,
Speaker 1: Atlanta got burned on a bunch of lobs to Janice
Speaker 1: at the end of the game, because they were in
Speaker 1: some sort of funky you know, in between drop coverage
Speaker 1: where they were giving up lobs to Janice and that
Speaker 1: drew Janice pick and roll. So it's it's like Atlanta
Speaker 1: can play a lot better defensively than they did. I
Speaker 1: just tend to think that over the course of the
Speaker 1: series it's going to devolve into a bunch of switching,
Speaker 1: and I do think that with Middleton, Drew, and Janice,
Speaker 1: especially considering the fact that Bogdanovich is still obviously hurt.
Speaker 1: I just don't think Atlanta has enough ability to generate
Speaker 1: quality looks in those situations compared to the way that
Speaker 1: that Milwaukee can. As the series progresses, Yeah, no, for sure,
Speaker 1: And I think that's where they'll have to go to
Speaker 1: it because I think there are ways for Atlanta also
Speaker 1: to kind of punish those switches. Like we talked about
Speaker 1: the offensive rebounding. Um, I think Drake can kind of
Speaker 1: get by. He hit his three tonight, so I don't
Speaker 1: know if feels to you that well from three again, UM,
Speaker 1: I think he was actually was four for thirteen, so
Speaker 1: not grateful he missed a bunch at the end of
Speaker 1: the game. Yeah, I think he missed his last five
Speaker 1: and they were none of them were pretty. They were
Speaker 1: all tough stepbacks. So what do you think of like
Speaker 1: how Atlanta kind of defended you, honest for most of
Speaker 1: the game. I thought Clint Capella did an awesome job, Like,
Speaker 1: I wonder how much do you think defending kind of
Speaker 1: embead helped him with that because I felt like he
Speaker 1: kind of did the similar thing where em Beat obviously
Speaker 1: is a much better shooter, but I think if embiad
Speaker 1: is taking you know, step back, mid range fadeaways contested,
Speaker 1: you kind of lived with that. I think he kind
Speaker 1: of did a similar thing to be honest as well.
Speaker 1: Jannest obviously is a little bit more pound your head
Speaker 1: into the wall trying to get to the rim. But
Speaker 1: how did you see how they defended it. I feel
Speaker 1: like Cappella should kind of match his minutes with the
Speaker 1: Honest as much as he could. Um, I'm not sure
Speaker 1: any minutes you honestly, honest played forty one minutes. I
Speaker 1: don't know Capella can played forty one minutes, But I
Speaker 1: just thought he was the best defender on him tonight.
Speaker 1: Did you see that as well when they were. He
Speaker 1: defended him well in the regular season too, U Copella. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and know, and when you're a you know, I think
Speaker 1: I think the honest is actually an easier job for
Speaker 1: him than himbid was, because when you're in a situation
Speaker 1: where you're going to guard a guy the entire series, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, over seven games, he's gonna get even better
Speaker 1: at predicting where his first step is gonna go, where
Speaker 1: his counters are gonna go, because he doesn't really have
Speaker 1: to worry about anything other than him loading up and
Speaker 1: trying to take him to the basket. Whereas with m
Speaker 1: B there was that wrinkled him taking those little midrange
Speaker 1: jump shots, of which he tended to make a lot
Speaker 1: of them. Uh, you know, he and be burnt him
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways with those jump shots. I
Speaker 1: think I think that he's absolutely the best option. And
Speaker 1: and you know, when when when Janice is the ball
Speaker 1: handler in screen and roll, when he is the ball handler,
Speaker 1: they don't have to, uh, they don't have to worry
Speaker 1: about him really picking them apart, so they don't have
Speaker 1: to like a drop coverage works against nice, if that
Speaker 1: makes sense, because he's not gonna burn you with floaters
Speaker 1: and mid range jump shots and because he's not gonna
Speaker 1: burn you as a passer. There actually was a play
Speaker 1: randomly where they switched Trey Young on him, and you
Speaker 1: could tell that there wasn't within their defensive scheme because
Speaker 1: Trey was like looking around to his teammates, like, what's
Speaker 1: the deal, guys, anybody canna help me out here? And
Speaker 1: then and then Janice ended up turning into taking a
Speaker 1: turnaround fade away from twelve feet missing it anyway, But
Speaker 1: that will be the interesting thing to to see, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: as a counter for Milwaukee is Janice wasn't getting anything
Speaker 1: as the ball handlers, so they started using him as
Speaker 1: the screener, and they got a bunch of dunks out
Speaker 1: of it at the end, because Capella can guard Janice
Speaker 1: in isolation. But if you put Capella in a drop
Speaker 1: coverage against someone like Drew and now he has to
Speaker 1: worry about towing that line between blocking the lob and
Speaker 1: defending Drew on at the point of attack, that's a
Speaker 1: much much bigger challenge for Capella. And I tho, I
Speaker 1: think I could shots out of that at the end,
Speaker 1: So I looked for a lot more of your honest
Speaker 1: as a screener to try to get Compella off of him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure, And I feel like we saw a lot
Speaker 1: more of that tonight. Janice also only only two three
Speaker 1: point attempts tonight for him. Um, he hit that little
Speaker 1: mid range bade. It was like a clutched jumper, and
Speaker 1: I thought like that was a good shot. But I
Speaker 1: feel like that's and I think he missed another one
Speaker 1: as we went forward there. But the last thing I
Speaker 1: guess I had for this game, you've got anything else?
Speaker 1: I was wondering if the Bucks could like pick on
Speaker 1: Tray a little bit more than Philly could. Right, Philly
Speaker 1: couldn't really pick on trade Young on defense. I saw
Speaker 1: them try to do it. I just like when you
Speaker 1: try to do it with Pat Connachon and like brim Fords,
Speaker 1: I just like, I don't think that worries the Hawks.
Speaker 1: Like Trey was able to kind of hedge and then
Speaker 1: recover back to his man. I thought Drew Holiday also
Speaker 1: wasn't able to do it as much either. He tried
Speaker 1: to put him in the post. Thought Atlanta held pretty nicely. Um,
Speaker 1: so did you see like anything there where they can
Speaker 1: kind of work on that? I felt like they couldn't
Speaker 1: really attack him the way I thought they would be
Speaker 1: able to. They tried to with the honest and Drew Holiday.
Speaker 1: I just thought, like, didn't really hurt him that way.
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday sickly heard him on jump shots, which I
Speaker 1: don't think is punishing tray Young as much as they can't, Like,
Speaker 1: do you see anything that they can do there to
Speaker 1: kind of punish him more on defense? So well, this
Speaker 1: is the same problem they were having with Brooklyn, right
Speaker 1: because with Brooklyn, they they would we're going against a
Speaker 1: lesser version of this switching defense, and they couldn't get
Speaker 1: high quality looks because they kept attacking the wrong guy.
Speaker 1: And so I mean, they were going up against you know,
Speaker 1: James Harden with a torn hamstring, which is every bit
Speaker 1: as limited defensively as the Tray Young is in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways, and and they weren't even going out
Speaker 1: of their way to attack James Hardy. This is where
Speaker 1: guys like Chris Paul and Lebron and Luca don Chips
Speaker 1: are so valuable, or Nicola Yokits are so valuable because
Speaker 1: they're they're patient enough to work the shot clocked down
Speaker 1: to get to the right spot against the right defender.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing is like, even even on the
Speaker 1: play where Janice Goot Trey Young, Trey Young had time
Speaker 1: to look around talk to his teammates, be like what's
Speaker 1: the deal, because you honest is like I got Tray
Speaker 1: on me. What do I do? Like, uh, you know
Speaker 1: a post move? You know, Like he just he just
Speaker 1: doesn't he just doesn't know what to do because he's
Speaker 1: not that's not his game is he's he operates at
Speaker 1: his best when decisions are simplified for him. And and
Speaker 1: that's what's so advantageous about that, Like you need to
Speaker 1: literally look at the floor. Oh look, they're switching stuff
Speaker 1: on the back end to try to keep Tray out
Speaker 1: of screening actions. Okay, so we need to run like
Speaker 1: a pin down on that side so they can't you know,
Speaker 1: do this before we set the screen whatever it is,
Speaker 1: you need to have something set up and as part
Speaker 1: of the play you have twenty four seconds is a
Speaker 1: lot of times as long as you get to the
Speaker 1: match up with you know, five seconds on the shock clock,
Speaker 1: that's plenty of time to go to a really quick,
Speaker 1: high percentage move, you know what I mean? So I
Speaker 1: I I just I Tray is there for the attacking.
Speaker 1: I'm just not sure that anybody outside of Phoenix is
Speaker 1: going to be able to properly attack him because all
Speaker 1: of these teams lack super high i Q guys basketball.
Speaker 1: And I'm just talking about that very top tier basketball,
Speaker 1: like you guys, because like even Trey, when Milwaukee started switching,
Speaker 1: even Trade was like, what do I do? You know
Speaker 1: you could tell you could tell he was struggling. Now,
Speaker 1: I think Trey will get a little better at it
Speaker 1: as the series progresses, once they do more switching. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think I think there's a reason why
Speaker 1: Brooklyn got away with it. I think there's a reason
Speaker 1: why Atlanta got away with it tonight. For the most part,
Speaker 1: it's just it takes to really dissect the switching defense.
Speaker 1: You have to have that top tier basketball i Q
Speaker 1: type of the type of guy. And it's funny you
Speaker 1: bring up that possession where like he had Honest on him,
Speaker 1: and Honest was like I'm not sure what to do
Speaker 1: and he's looking at Collins and Capella and the help
Speaker 1: and he just takes his like one arm hook right
Speaker 1: and it just I think it almost air balls and
Speaker 1: it goes way off. I thought, like that's the best.
Speaker 1: That's the best shot you can do. I thought Chris
Speaker 1: Middleton would be the guy to kind of pick on
Speaker 1: Trey Young, right, Like I thought more like maybe like
Speaker 1: a Janis Chris Milton pick and roll. But Milton China
Speaker 1: with six three. Um, he seems very like feast famine
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. So you probably won't get a six
Speaker 1: for twenty three game again. But I mean I don't
Speaker 1: think you'll get a bunch of like high percentage efficiency
Speaker 1: games either, so that that can be tough for them
Speaker 1: to kind of overcome if he's not playing well. Um,
Speaker 1: that's kind of all I had. What did Do you
Speaker 1: have anything else from this this Bucks Hanks kind of
Speaker 1: game game one? No, not really, I mean, uh, the
Speaker 1: the Middleton stuff he said. The last thing I'd say
Speaker 1: is that I kind of trust Middleton to eventually show up.
Speaker 1: He is. You know, I have seen him over the
Speaker 1: last several years, have tons of bad games, excuse me,
Speaker 1: tons of bad games in playoff series and then still
Speaker 1: bounce back. I mean, don't forget like he hit the
Speaker 1: shot that beat Brooklyn. You know, he knocked Brooklyn out
Speaker 1: of the playoffs with a turnaround fade away on the
Speaker 1: post in overtime, you know, in game seven, and I
Speaker 1: I tend to think that, you know, he's a guy
Speaker 1: that that kind of eases his way into playoffs series
Speaker 1: as he really builds his rhythm and and I'm not
Speaker 1: necessarily worried about about him in the long run. And
Speaker 1: you know, it's not so much about him, uh you know,
Speaker 1: he's not really like a dribble out front, set himself
Speaker 1: up type of guy. He kind of needs to be
Speaker 1: put into spots. So some of that's on Drew, Like
Speaker 1: Drew needs to do what is necessary to get Trey
Speaker 1: onto Middleton and then be like get to the post.
Speaker 1: Shooters on the opposite end, go to work, you know,
Speaker 1: like some of that needs to be set up for him.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm I'm, I'm, I'm super into this series.
Speaker 1: I think it's super interesting, super uh interesting chess match
Speaker 1: type of series because both teams have distinct advantages that
Speaker 1: can go to um, you know, but Trey Young is
Speaker 1: so much better and pick and roll than anybody Milwaukee has.
Speaker 1: That's an advantage and we you know, we've discussed it
Speaker 1: at length, but I I personally am leaning Milwaukee in
Speaker 1: six because I think it's gonna degrade into a ton
Speaker 1: of switching and get really physical as a series goes on.
Speaker 1: And I think that, uh, I think that Milwaukee is
Speaker 1: gonna have a little bit better time generating better quality
Speaker 1: shots over over the course of the series. Yeah, me too.
Speaker 1: I probably have Milwaukee probably in seven. I still think
Speaker 1: it's just a really tossed up, really close series that
Speaker 1: I think Atlanta has like the perfect kind of personnel
Speaker 1: to uh attack Milwaukee what they what they do well.
Speaker 1: So I'm kind of I'm really interested to see it. Um.
Speaker 1: I don't really trust the other guys, I guess as
Speaker 1: much in Milwaukee to just score enough, um they can
Speaker 1: win on the road. Of course. I just think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a really long series. Um. I guess you
Speaker 1: can kind of move to this like Clippers Clippers Son series.
Speaker 1: What did you kind of see from the first two games?
Speaker 1: Like what was your kind of main first kind of
Speaker 1: takeaway from from those from those two games? So, first
Speaker 1: of all, I think that the Clippers are a case
Speaker 1: study and how modern basketball, you know, I can succeed
Speaker 1: even in absence of talent. That's not to say that
Speaker 1: the Clippers on a town, because they do. But but
Speaker 1: Phoenixes has a lot more talent in my opinion, um,
Speaker 1: and I think Utah even pre even with the injury
Speaker 1: to to Mike Conley, I thought Utah had more talent
Speaker 1: than the Clippers without Kawhi Leonard. But they've won on
Speaker 1: the strength of dribble drive creation from from Reggie Jackson
Speaker 1: and from Paul George and just spacing the hell out
Speaker 1: of the floor was shooting, and then a switching defensive
Speaker 1: scheme that has caused teams to have a lot of problems. Um.
Speaker 1: Paul George continues to to really impress me. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, Lakers fans have their fun um uh and
Speaker 1: and he walked right into it with those two free
Speaker 1: throw misses. But I thought he was so good at
Speaker 1: the end of that game before the misses, and that's
Speaker 1: just a really unfortunate It's an unfortunate turn of events
Speaker 1: for a player that has really stepped up to the plate. Um.
Speaker 1: But I think I continue to be incredible. Phoenix has
Speaker 1: not lost the game since since uh since Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: pulled his growing um. At the end of that game too,
Speaker 1: everybody was making plays. You had you know eight and
Speaker 1: making a tough hook shot over Zubos. You had Michail
Speaker 1: Bridges hitting the three coming off the screen at the
Speaker 1: top of the key. You had you know, Campaign driving
Speaker 1: scooping layup. You know, like like as amazing as Devin
Speaker 1: Booker is like that, they don't need him to do everything.
Speaker 1: I think he only made five shots in game two
Speaker 1: because the role players for that Phoenix in retrospect might
Speaker 1: be in that top tier of talent in the league,
Speaker 1: not with their stars. Their stars are both you know,
Speaker 1: in that ten to fifteen tend to twenty range in
Speaker 1: the league. But down the roster, they're stacked at every position.
Speaker 1: Everybody's really good. Campaign is like a really good guard
Speaker 1: and you know they've awesome three and d guys. Eighten
Speaker 1: is on his way to being a star like Phoenix.
Speaker 1: Phoenix is really really good, and I think I think
Speaker 1: they deserve a lot of credit for the way things
Speaker 1: have broken, even though they've had some injury lock. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. I guess before I get into it, like
Speaker 1: I got kind of killed for going to a Clipper game.
Speaker 1: What a what a crime that was? But going to
Speaker 1: the I know, how dare I go watch a basketball game?
Speaker 1: But like going to the game and going seeing like
Speaker 1: what the playoffs are in person, that crowd like really
Speaker 1: did change the game, like we make fun of like
Speaker 1: Kipper fans, but like that crowd was so into it.
Speaker 1: I saw it affect Utah on the floor, like I
Speaker 1: saw Royce O'Neill get like, holy crap, Like this crowd
Speaker 1: game super loud. I can't hear anything, and he turned
Speaker 1: the ball over. Like That's where I think it's so
Speaker 1: interesting this game. Going back for game three, those those
Speaker 1: players really pick it up at home. They really feed
Speaker 1: off the crowd. Terrence Man dropped forty in that final
Speaker 1: Game six to kind of make an advance. So I
Speaker 1: don't think this series series is over, but I do
Speaker 1: think like I agree with I think Phoenix has the
Speaker 1: more talent um. I've been kind of banging this drum,
Speaker 1: like I feel like they're way deeper than I guess
Speaker 1: we even thought Michal Bridges is just one of the
Speaker 1: best three in D. I don't even think he's just
Speaker 1: three and D, but just one of the best three
Speaker 1: D players. Cam Johnson and then like for this series
Speaker 1: to me, like I thought the key was DeAndre Aden
Speaker 1: and he forced them to go big in Game two
Speaker 1: reaches Zoo Bag played thirty five minutes, he was a
Speaker 1: plus zero. I just think as the series goes on,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you would agree, but that's kind
Speaker 1: of a win for Phoenix if you make the Clippers
Speaker 1: go big. Um, it takes away the driving lanes from
Speaker 1: Paul George. Um. He he had a bad shooting bad
Speaker 1: shooting nine in Game two when they went big. Some
Speaker 1: of that circumstantial, Some of that is not. Some of
Speaker 1: that isn't coincidence to me. I think his driving lanes
Speaker 1: getting shut off by them having to go big. I
Speaker 1: think it's a win. And then you allow Devin Booker
Speaker 1: to got to get to his spots, which is that
Speaker 1: like mid range kind of mid range area, Like would
Speaker 1: you agree with that? Like, let getting the Clippers to
Speaker 1: go big, even if it neutralizes eight and a bit,
Speaker 1: which it really didn't. I think it was ten for
Speaker 1: fourteen even when they went big. But like I feel
Speaker 1: like that's a win for them as we go forward
Speaker 1: in this series and made them it made them abandon
Speaker 1: what the identity they had taken. And this goes to
Speaker 1: that question that was that arose after Game six of
Speaker 1: the Clippers Jazz series. You know is DeAndre Eten a
Speaker 1: better basketball player than Rudy Gobert, and I don't think that.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's a case to be made in
Speaker 1: the regular season, but you but you are seeing and
Speaker 1: I don't even necessarily have an opinion on this. I
Speaker 1: don't want this to be taken out of out of
Speaker 1: context here, but I do think that there is a
Speaker 1: case to be made that Eten is a better playoff
Speaker 1: player than Gobert because he's more mobile on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: He's better at defending in space. Gobert is much better
Speaker 1: at the rim, sure, but but Eaton has has shown
Speaker 1: a better ability to rotate around on the perimeter, and
Speaker 1: Eton is just a bigger physical presence in the pain. Offensively,
Speaker 1: he's better at offensive rebounding, He's better at the little
Speaker 1: push and hook shots around the bast He's got great hands,
Speaker 1: he rolls hard to the rim. Guys bounce off of
Speaker 1: him because he's stronger than Gobert, and he's just a
Speaker 1: bigger problem on the back end of those rotations. If
Speaker 1: you trap, you know a if you trapped Booker coming
Speaker 1: up the screen, if you trap Campaign coming up the screen,
Speaker 1: and even if the back line defender is there to
Speaker 1: bump and Chuck and as he's coming down the lane,
Speaker 1: he's just so big. He raises his arms, makes himself available,
Speaker 1: and he's got great hands and he just catches and
Speaker 1: finishes everything. So again, like I'm not saying he's better
Speaker 1: than Gobert, but he's shown himself to be extremely valuable
Speaker 1: in the playoffs in his first attempt in a modern
Speaker 1: form of basketball, in a way that Gobert hasn't really
Speaker 1: shown um over the time. And so I think that's
Speaker 1: been really interesting. And like you said, like you said,
Speaker 1: it forced the Clippers to play differently. In the last series.
Speaker 1: It was a lot of Marcus Morris and a lot
Speaker 1: of Nick Patu, you know, but instead you're seeing zoobots
Speaker 1: plan even though he was, you know, mostly a non
Speaker 1: factor against Utah, and then you're seeing, uh, I'm blinking
Speaker 1: on his name, the left handed shooter um on for
Speaker 1: for the Clippers. Yes, thank you. You had big minutes
Speaker 1: in that game. Uh, you know, the Clippers had to
Speaker 1: kind of switch gears in a lot of ways. And
Speaker 1: so I thought, I thought that that was really interesting.
Speaker 1: And that's just the problem that Phoenix presents to you.
Speaker 1: They they they do not allow you to go small
Speaker 1: because Aton can punish you. I mean hell Eton literally
Speaker 1: physically demolished Anthony Davis for a playoff game in game
Speaker 1: one of that first round series. So I think Eton
Speaker 1: Eaton kind of allows them to have multiple identities as
Speaker 1: like this modern basketball team with tons of shooting and dribbling,
Speaker 1: while also having that physical presence inside. Yeah, and Jason.
Speaker 1: It's not just like a just being able to catch
Speaker 1: and hit a jump hook just changes everything, Like going
Speaker 1: to go in there in person and watching Gobert catch
Speaker 1: it two feet in the paint, double pump, fake twice
Speaker 1: and throw up you know nothing. It's just super frustrating
Speaker 1: to watch. Yeah, Like no, but not even just that,
Speaker 1: Like I feel like a seven footer like you should be,
Speaker 1: Like they would switch and they'd have like Reggie Jackson
Speaker 1: on Golbert and he can't do anything with it. The
Speaker 1: Clippers aren't scared of it at all, and like the
Speaker 1: the Utah players don't even look at him either. Though.
Speaker 1: That's the other part about this. Donovan Mitchell attacks his
Speaker 1: own switch rather than trying to get Gobert to the ball.
Speaker 1: So it's just Aten is just such a different monster
Speaker 1: in that, like you can't switch Kennard, Reggie Jackson, guys
Speaker 1: like that on him because he'll just eat You'll just
Speaker 1: eat them alive. It's just really interesting to watch the
Speaker 1: difference there. Obviously, go Beart is a much better, I
Speaker 1: guess defender in the in the regular season, but I
Speaker 1: think Aten has done a good job like that they
Speaker 1: weren't able to pick on him as they were gobert Um.
Speaker 1: I think I think Phoenix has better probably perimeter defenders,
Speaker 1: right because he would say that, like they have a
Speaker 1: lot better perimeter defenders in Utah. But still though, watching
Speaker 1: Aiden just like demolished him inside, I think it's really interesting.
Speaker 1: I'm curious, like, do you think Tyler continues to go
Speaker 1: big um as we as we go to l A.
Speaker 1: I think you'll have to um because of the Aden problem.
Speaker 1: It's the same it's the same problem that the Lakers
Speaker 1: were dealing with, you know, like they couldn't play someone
Speaker 1: like Montrese after a d went down because of the
Speaker 1: fact that Aiden was such a big physical problem for them.
Speaker 1: And you know the you mentioned the defense, and I
Speaker 1: think that was one of the big takeaways I had
Speaker 1: from this series and just this playoff run in general.
Speaker 1: You know, Utah was a better regular season defense because
Speaker 1: of their funneling in to go Bear and the fact
Speaker 1: that teams couldn't properly attack him. Um but they Utah
Speaker 1: wasn't good at the point of attack in that series.
Speaker 1: They were getting killed off the dribble by everybody Roy,
Speaker 1: So Neil was getting killed, Ingles was getting killed. Jordan
Speaker 1: Clarkson was basically just a turnstile. Like the the Phoenix,
Speaker 1: perimeter defenders do a much better job of keeping guys
Speaker 1: in front of them, which makes it so that Aidan's
Speaker 1: job is easier, which makes it that he doesn't have
Speaker 1: to guard in space as much. Like that, a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff is being set up for eight and playing
Speaker 1: into his strengths like that was part of the issue
Speaker 1: for Gobert is like half the time he's constantly helping
Speaker 1: at the rin because somebody just gave up a straight
Speaker 1: line drive with no resistance, and then you know he helps,
Speaker 1: but then the ball gets swung around and he can't
Speaker 1: get back out to the perimeter. And you know with
Speaker 1: by by just by putting up just a little bit
Speaker 1: more resistance on the ball, you make it. You make
Speaker 1: it a lot easier for your for your back line
Speaker 1: defenders to do their jobs. And I feel like for Utah,
Speaker 1: like all season, they've kind of funneled everything to go
Speaker 1: Bear right, Like that's basically been their game plan. When
Speaker 1: you watch Utah, like their their guards funnel it to
Speaker 1: go Bart. It's his job to kind of help. But
Speaker 1: you don't play these five our lineubs in the regular season.
Speaker 1: So when the Clippers went to this, they just had
Speaker 1: no adjustment to it. But like my other thing I
Speaker 1: wrote here is like Devin Booker is putting himself into
Speaker 1: like the superstar shop maker category, right, Like this is
Speaker 1: like this is high level of shot making. I thought
Speaker 1: Devin Booker was really good. I thought he should have
Speaker 1: been you know, all NBA or whatever. I didn't think
Speaker 1: he was this level of high quality shotmaker. Like he's
Speaker 1: he's raising, waiting for the defender to kind of come down,
Speaker 1: and then releasing like he's changing his shot in mid air.
Speaker 1: He's he has a spot where like once he raises,
Speaker 1: it's over. Like what are you seeing from like him? Um?
Speaker 1: And do you think he can kind of keep this up?
Speaker 1: But obviously Chris Paul looks like he'll be back by
Speaker 1: game three. But do you see this as sustainable this
Speaker 1: level of shot making. Well, he didn't shoot well in
Speaker 1: game two, but I thought game one he really went off.
Speaker 1: Do you see, like, do you see anything that the
Speaker 1: Clippers in game two to make him struggle a little
Speaker 1: bit more, or like, do you think it's just he
Speaker 1: just kind of missed his shots. I thought he got
Speaker 1: to the line as well to kind of keep them alive.
Speaker 1: But like, what do you see from Devin Booker in
Speaker 1: this series? Well, I think Booker, So first of all,
Speaker 1: I think Booker belongs on the same tier as someone
Speaker 1: like Kyrie Irving. And by that I mean, like at
Speaker 1: his specific skill, which is that the lead high end
Speaker 1: three level scoring, he's one of the one of that
Speaker 1: top tier of guys. Um, he needs to get better
Speaker 1: at the other stuff, the defensive stuff and the although
Speaker 1: he's defended pretty well this year, uh, in the playmaking
Speaker 1: stuff to really kind of be considered among the best
Speaker 1: of the best. But I think I think he belongs
Speaker 1: in that Kyriet here, And what that means is in
Speaker 1: any given one game sample, he's a high threat to
Speaker 1: be the best player on the floor, and we've seen
Speaker 1: that a bunch of different times, including that close out
Speaker 1: Game six against the Lakers where it's like, yeah, a
Speaker 1: d went down. You know, the Lakers are trying to
Speaker 1: get their legs back. There's not a whole lot going
Speaker 1: on with them knocking down shots. But what really killed
Speaker 1: them was Devin Booker was literally on fire and there
Speaker 1: was nothing they could do with him. You know, I
Speaker 1: have a big believer in what he brings to the table.
Speaker 1: You know, in game two, I thought the Clifflippers just
Speaker 1: mucked it up. I thought they had made it a
Speaker 1: ton more physical. They made it a point of like
Speaker 1: we're gonna put Pat Beverley on him. Pat Beverley is
Speaker 1: gonna pick up some fouls. It's gonna get ugly, but
Speaker 1: we just want to kind of throw Devon off. And
Speaker 1: for the record, in the long run, it worked in
Speaker 1: their face Fiver because their role players had confidence to
Speaker 1: make big plays at the end of the game. Like
Speaker 1: you know, in in that specific role, Devin Booker is
Speaker 1: kind of a decoy. Yeah, he only made five shots.
Speaker 1: Although I did think that one dribble pull up or
Speaker 1: the you know several dribble pull up, the one you're
Speaker 1: talking about at the end of the game, Um, that
Speaker 1: was such a gigantic shot. But for the most part,
Speaker 1: he's playing decoy. He's he's just trying to be himself,
Speaker 1: but to draw as much attention in on him as
Speaker 1: possible so that his teammates can get going. And uh,
Speaker 1: and you know, really quickly before before we're done with
Speaker 1: this game, you know, I that that was such an
Speaker 1: officiating atrocity, I thought, and so many different examples of
Speaker 1: what's wrong with the way the game is officiated. Happened
Speaker 1: at the end of that game between the Infamous you know. Uh,
Speaker 1: there's a collision at a ball screen off off ball screen,
Speaker 1: and no one knows what to do where Paul George
Speaker 1: just ran and and Devin Booker's literally just trying to
Speaker 1: hold his ground and Paul George just hooks his arm
Speaker 1: and just flops and falls to the ground and gets
Speaker 1: two free throws to the to the Uh. Patrick Beverley
Speaker 1: literally reaching in, like when you reach in aggressively your face,
Speaker 1: your face follows your shoulder, you know why, because it's attached,
Speaker 1: it's attached to your shoulder. And he reached in and
Speaker 1: on the play, Devin Booker's natural arm motion barely bumps
Speaker 1: him in the face, and he just flails and flops
Speaker 1: and even on review, it becomes an offensive foul, and
Speaker 1: then you've got the uh, the the awful play where
Speaker 1: the ball was knocked out of bounds and in every
Speaker 1: single level of basketball, including the NBA, that's ball to
Speaker 1: the offense. But we're gonna review it and overturn it,
Speaker 1: like I just I thought. And then the replay reviews
Speaker 1: just slowing down the game and making it last for
Speaker 1: everything I think. I think they said the last two
Speaker 1: minutes took thirty three minutes of real time, Like I
Speaker 1: just something. These playoffs have been fantastic, So I don't
Speaker 1: want to reign on a parade, but something has to
Speaker 1: be done. So something has to be done to get
Speaker 1: the egos of these officials in check, to to to
Speaker 1: do something to counteract what the way the game is
Speaker 1: being officiated. UH two reactionary to flopping and and and
Speaker 1: I don't I don't know what needs to be done,
Speaker 1: but something needs to be done. That's all I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say about it. My solution is, I feel like the
Speaker 1: referee should have a twenty four second shot clock to
Speaker 1: like get those reviews done for us. On teach, we
Speaker 1: see two reviews, we see two close replays, and you know,
Speaker 1: we kind of decided I feel like it shouldn't take
Speaker 1: that long, And I agree with you. On the first
Speaker 1: of all, that flop by Patrick Beverley was absolutely awful,
Speaker 1: Like he did kind of get touched, but I felt
Speaker 1: like it was an awful flop. And then I thought
Speaker 1: Jeffund Gunny, who kind of made the point there is
Speaker 1: the way. The rule says it's the person who causes
Speaker 1: the ball to go out of bounds, right, so it's
Speaker 1: not called that way, but the referees are kind of
Speaker 1: told to call it this way. It's a it's a
Speaker 1: tough thing to kind of navigate through there. But Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is a really interesting series. Man. I'm really excited
Speaker 1: to see where this kind of goes. I don't I
Speaker 1: don't think they're done. Um, I don't know if Kauai
Speaker 1: will I'm back, he's already out, I believe for game three. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm just wanting like what adjustments I guess um the
Speaker 1: Clippers will kind of do to keep going, Like what
Speaker 1: other adjustments do they have? I guess um campaign dropping
Speaker 1: twenty nine on them, Like I feel like they believe
Speaker 1: that won't happen again. Although like these Guards have really
Speaker 1: big fans yeah, man, watching him just do exactly what
Speaker 1: he did to us kind of felt a little bit better.
Speaker 1: He just attacked the rim man and you know he
Speaker 1: I mean he kind of played out crisp I mean
Speaker 1: he might even outplayed what Chris Paul would have done
Speaker 1: in terms of production. Just watching him drive to the
Speaker 1: rim hit hit threes, it kind of gave us. Give
Speaker 1: me a little PTSD. But where do where the Clippers
Speaker 1: kind of go to kind of steal I guess to
Speaker 1: kind of take Game three, well, I think they I
Speaker 1: think they need to kind of mimic what the Lakers
Speaker 1: did in Game two, which is they need to do
Speaker 1: a better job of of of making eight and play
Speaker 1: in the crowd and rotating on the back end, which
Speaker 1: for the most part, it's just about doing a better job.
Speaker 1: It's not necessarily doing anything different. It's just doing what
Speaker 1: you're doing at a higher level. I think Game three
Speaker 1: is a must win for Phoenix in a lot of
Speaker 1: ways because I don't know what the I don't know
Speaker 1: what the intel is on the Kauai thing. And let
Speaker 1: let me clarify why I think it's a must win.
Speaker 1: It will make more sense after I say anyway, I
Speaker 1: don't know what the intel is on the Kauai thing,
Speaker 1: because you know, part of me says, you know, prior
Speaker 1: knowledge would tell us that Kauai would never even dare
Speaker 1: lace up unless his knee was because of the fact
Speaker 1: that that's the way he's approached that throughout his career.
Speaker 1: He's terrified of getting hurt, it seems, so he's always
Speaker 1: waited longer than usual. But at the same time, like
Speaker 1: Bill Simmons keeps talking about how he has reason to
Speaker 1: believe that he's going to try to come back in
Speaker 1: this series. And one thing is if if you go
Speaker 1: up three oh, Kauai is not coming back. If you
Speaker 1: go up three oh, Kauai's flying back down to San
Speaker 1: Diego and he's resting, he's going into rehab. So like
Speaker 1: game three to me is a chance to to to
Speaker 1: get there. Like if if if the Clippers yet game three,
Speaker 1: and if the series drags on and Kauai has a
Speaker 1: chance to come back, that could get sketchy, uh for
Speaker 1: Phoenix because because the Clippers do play really well at
Speaker 1: the end of these series, as we've seen so far
Speaker 1: in this playoff run, and if Kauai really does just
Speaker 1: have a knee sprain, one of the things with a
Speaker 1: knee sprain is that you know you're not you're not. Uh,
Speaker 1: you don't have to deal with the long term weakening
Speaker 1: of the knee muscles because you're still in shape. You
Speaker 1: have pain in the ligaments. But if he does try
Speaker 1: to come back, as long as he doesn't re injure himself,
Speaker 1: he could still be a decent percentage of himself, like
Speaker 1: we saw with Steph in two thousands, sixteen and so
Speaker 1: on and so forth. And the last thing you need is,
Speaker 1: you know, Game five, series tied at two and here
Speaker 1: comes Kauai, you know what I mean. So I think
Speaker 1: I think Game three is a is a good chance
Speaker 1: for for the Suns to just put the Clippers out
Speaker 1: of their misery and send him into the summer and
Speaker 1: make sure that Kauai doesn't try to come back. I
Speaker 1: can steal this thing. Yeah, that's why it's so interesting
Speaker 1: that Chris Paul is coming back, because, like I keep
Speaker 1: thinking back, it is kind of crazy, right, the Lakers
Speaker 1: beat them twice actually, and they're the only team to
Speaker 1: beat Phoenix UM in the playoffs, so it's a really
Speaker 1: kind of interstring. But Chris Paul coming back, and like
Speaker 1: the Lakers kind of game plan. Remember we kind of
Speaker 1: talked about it. They were kind of living with eight
Speaker 1: and scoring right as long as they were able to
Speaker 1: take away Um Booker and Chris Paul's effectiveness. And it
Speaker 1: kind of worked for the first two games and for
Speaker 1: the game two. In Game three they won while still
Speaker 1: not shooting well from three. I just don't think the
Speaker 1: Clippers have the personnel to do that, like to where
Speaker 1: they can let a and eat while just living with
Speaker 1: zoobas trying to defend Chris Paul and Devin Booker on
Speaker 1: the perimeter. And like, that's where I'm so interested to see.
Speaker 1: That's what makes Phoenix so tough. Like we're watching Devin
Speaker 1: Booker hit these shots and we forget, like the best
Speaker 1: mid range score ever maybe is about to come back.
Speaker 1: And that's the shots the Clippers kind of have to
Speaker 1: give up going big because if you go big, Zoobach
Speaker 1: can't switch out. You know, Chris Paul is gonna draw
Speaker 1: a million fouls he tries to hedge hard. Patrick Beverley
Speaker 1: and Chris Paul is gonna be a fun matchup. Rondo
Speaker 1: and Chris Paul too, who ate each other. But I'm
Speaker 1: just so curious to see how the Chris Paul. Chris
Speaker 1: Paul obviously gonna be super fired up coming back for
Speaker 1: his team who won those first two games. I'm just
Speaker 1: interested in how they defend that, especially without Kauaire basically
Speaker 1: Paul George Um and you know, Paul Joys trying to
Speaker 1: defend Devin Booker and I don't know who guards Chris Paul,
Speaker 1: but that's where I'm interested to see. Like I feel
Speaker 1: like going big neutralizes eating to an extent, but then
Speaker 1: you have to kind of guard their guards on top,
Speaker 1: and Phoenix isn't such a sync right now. They're you know,
Speaker 1: they're double drag screens are like on point. Jake Crowder's
Speaker 1: making shots with cole Bridges that love to Aidan man
Speaker 1: what like? Have you seen that? Like that play, Like,
Speaker 1: I think I've seen it one time before, but I
Speaker 1: thought that was just an amazing kind of play. The
Speaker 1: end the game to where Aidan got the dunk. It's
Speaker 1: just they look like they're they're gonna they're gonna put
Speaker 1: this away. But I think there's gonna be a long series,
Speaker 1: but it looks like they're they're up for it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I did that play. We've seen it a handful of times.
Speaker 1: I've seen variations of it. I saw Vince Carter get
Speaker 1: one ages ago. I saw the Tyson Chandler one that's famous.
Speaker 1: You know what's funny is I remember thinking the Tyson
Speaker 1: Chandler one was a goldpend and but I didn't watch
Speaker 1: it live and I didn't really research it. So apparently
Speaker 1: that was when the rule was originally uh you know,
Speaker 1: kind of like that people learned about the rule um
Speaker 1: because I thought, you know, when the lab is originally thrown,
Speaker 1: I thought like, oh, I think that I think that
Speaker 1: that got over the rim enough for Eighton to get
Speaker 1: a good clean dunk on it. Like I just thought
Speaker 1: it would have counted anyway. And then when I heard
Speaker 1: about the rule, I was like, oh, this is over,
Speaker 1: Like like, if that's the rule, then there's nothing to
Speaker 1: even look at here, you know what I mean? But yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what you're talking about, the adjustments the This
Speaker 1: is the beauty of having a team that makes you
Speaker 1: pick your poison. And it's what makes me looks so
Speaker 1: good and it's what made the Lakers so good. Is
Speaker 1: it's like when you're when you as a defense have
Speaker 1: to choose between two crappy options, you know that that's
Speaker 1: when you when you really you have power as a
Speaker 1: as an NBA contender, because you know, the hera the Clippers,
Speaker 1: a team that just destroyed the one seed without Kauai
Speaker 1: because of matchups, because the Jazz did not have a
Speaker 1: good option to counter what the Clippers were doing. And
Speaker 1: flip around to the other end, and here you are
Speaker 1: in a different series against a different team, but now
Speaker 1: they have presented matchup problems for you, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: be sitting in there watching film, going, Okay, we gotta
Speaker 1: play zoobots because Etan's killing us. But if we play
Speaker 1: zobots and Chris Paul comes back, they're going to attack
Speaker 1: the living hell out of him, you know, And and
Speaker 1: that's the that's the the discussion to be had. My
Speaker 1: guess is by the end, the Clippers are going to
Speaker 1: go down playing small, Like if they go down, they're
Speaker 1: gonna go down. I think playing small. I think they're
Speaker 1: just gonna try to really swarm around eight and try
Speaker 1: to get him before he goes up. Stuff along those lines.
Speaker 1: But that's what the Lakers tried to and they didn't
Speaker 1: have a ton of success. I can't tell you how
Speaker 1: many times I saw Crusoe or Cacp comes flying by
Speaker 1: from the opposite corner on an entry pass to eighton
Speaker 1: and tried to knock the ball the way. But he's
Speaker 1: just got big, strong hands and and he's really coordinated
Speaker 1: and he's quick in decisions. When I said Gobart is
Speaker 1: too slow, I'm talking about his decisions around the basket,
Speaker 1: like go Beart catches and thinks about it. He doesn't
Speaker 1: know what to do, like like eating catches and it's
Speaker 1: like just it's all fluid, natural motion to the basket
Speaker 1: with those little scoop shots and layups and floaters and stuff,
Speaker 1: and and that's where where he gets going. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: would say, yeah. And he's a number one pick for
Speaker 1: a reason, right, Like that's why it's weird. We kind
Speaker 1: of we kind of kind of forget that sometimes watching him,
Speaker 1: just because of his kind of draft class. But like
Speaker 1: he's the number one pick though he's supposed to be
Speaker 1: more skilled. It's just while I'm watching, like going from
Speaker 1: watching like Gobert catch it download not be able to
Speaker 1: do anything, or even Derrick Favre is a guy like
Speaker 1: that to like Eton who just punishes you every single
Speaker 1: time les jump hooks turned around. Um, he's able to
Speaker 1: make layouts. It just changes the whole game. It's he's
Speaker 1: can't go small against him, and he's a force, Like
Speaker 1: he actually attacks the offensive rebounds and he cuts. He
Speaker 1: dives with like intention to like dunk on you, you know,
Speaker 1: like and you know, go bears a lob threat, but
Speaker 1: like his lobs are like so like he has to
Speaker 1: be open. I feel like right, like go BET's not
Speaker 1: catching and dunking on you a lot of the times.
Speaker 1: Aten will like catch and finish in like and ones
Speaker 1: in a way there where he got just doesn't put
Speaker 1: pressure like that. So it's really just stronger. He's stronger. Yeah, um,
Speaker 1: and I think I think Bonnie Williams deserves his flowers
Speaker 1: to uh yeah, like every every little for him to
Speaker 1: be drawing up plays for role players at the end
Speaker 1: of games out of time out, like like he did
Speaker 1: for uh Michail Bridges on that big three at the
Speaker 1: top of the Key, which was literally an aftertime outplay,
Speaker 1: you know, for him to the way he adjusted to
Speaker 1: the Beverly stuff in Game one by by having them
Speaker 1: set the screen out near half court in Booker just
Speaker 1: picked him apart, you know, uh, with a more space
Speaker 1: to his last second play design for DeAndre Ayton genius
Speaker 1: to have Booker set the back screen because Booker had
Speaker 1: just made the shot on the previous possession. And and
Speaker 1: also so this is stuff that like stuff that you
Speaker 1: you notice that you can do a better job of
Speaker 1: noticing on on rewatch, like he Booker makes the pull
Speaker 1: up jump shot that gives him the lead. And on
Speaker 1: the next possession, they openly double Devin Booker on the
Speaker 1: right wing and it leads to the wide open Michale
Speaker 1: Bridges corner three that he missed. But that is Tyler
Speaker 1: showing that he's doubling Booker. If you're doubling Booker, chances
Speaker 1: are if you use him as a screener, you might
Speaker 1: get someone to bite and take and double down on Booker.
Speaker 1: And and Zoobo didn't double Booker, but he lunged at
Speaker 1: him on the screen. He lunged to the right, got
Speaker 1: himself out of position. And eighton was if you watch
Speaker 1: eighton had plenty of space to really load up into
Speaker 1: a jump. And that's all play design. That's Monty Williams
Speaker 1: noticing that they're doubling Devin Booker on the previous possession,
Speaker 1: understanding that if they had Booker set the screen, He's
Speaker 1: probably gonna draw an extra defender with him and that
Speaker 1: leading to the game winner. And then I think, you know,
Speaker 1: like I said, money, money, Money has to get his
Speaker 1: flowers for the way he's coached so far at this postseason. No, absolutely,
Speaker 1: And that was a beautiful play design. They had like
Speaker 1: point seven uh seven seconds left, so I honestly thought
Speaker 1: the Clippers had that. Um, it was funny watching Cousins
Speaker 1: like not take away the one pass you're supposed to
Speaker 1: or like that's the whole point of being there is
Speaker 1: to take away that specific pass. And he just did
Speaker 1: you see the baseline angle? Did you see that on
Speaker 1: the baseline? Oh my god, Like he still almost got
Speaker 1: a hand on it, and he was out of position.
Speaker 1: That's the crazy part. That's why you have to be
Speaker 1: in the right spot. Like he was way out of position,
Speaker 1: but he's so big he almost blocked the past anyway. Yeah, no, exactly.
Speaker 1: That's just just a crazy finish and it's kind of
Speaker 1: the Clippers. Um left there. We'll see how it goes. Um,
Speaker 1: do you have anything else from this game? I just
Speaker 1: have one last kind of thing for you. Are you done?
Speaker 1: I'm done for this game. What do you alright last
Speaker 1: thing tonight? Like we haven't I don't think we've spoken
Speaker 1: since the Philly um Hawks game seven, right, um have
Speaker 1: have you? Have you ever seen anything like the Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons kind of thing that went on, not just maybe
Speaker 1: that game, that series, Like I've been watching hoops for
Speaker 1: like since like two thousand and seven thou eight. I
Speaker 1: haven't seen like a player go through that, especially like
Speaker 1: I've seen players pass up open shots here and there.
Speaker 1: I've never seen a guy like with that much talent
Speaker 1: go through this kind of mental hurdle where he takes
Speaker 1: four shots in the whole fourth quarter of a seven
Speaker 1: game series. Like is there anything that you've seen that
Speaker 1: you can relate to that? Or like where does he
Speaker 1: go from here? Or like anything, like what do you
Speaker 1: what do you think about Ben Simmons from there? Because
Speaker 1: I think that's just a really fascinating thing that kind
Speaker 1: of happened to him, and obviously his value absolutely tinked
Speaker 1: from there. We'll see what He's obviously not going to
Speaker 1: be back with Philly in my opinion, But like, have
Speaker 1: you seen anything like that or or what are your
Speaker 1: thoughts on that? So, first of all, no, I haven't
Speaker 1: seen anything like that. I mean the kind of thing
Speaker 1: that I've seen, you know, a half dozen times, you know,
Speaker 1: in my time watching basketball is the the Janice against
Speaker 1: Miami last year type of deal. The up and coming superstar,
Speaker 1: usually early to mid twenties, has unbelievable dominant regular seasons,
Speaker 1: but gets into the playoffs and struggles against playoff defensives
Speaker 1: that we see all the time. That's kind of like
Speaker 1: par for the course, so to speak. What we don't
Speaker 1: see often, what we never see is like like Lebron's
Speaker 1: game for against the Mavericks where he had eight points
Speaker 1: in two thousand and eleven, but every single game like
Speaker 1: that was like Lebron did that once and it was
Speaker 1: considered like unbelievably insane, Like we we just don't see
Speaker 1: players of his talent level just like do this. And
Speaker 1: and as far as the explanation for it, I think
Speaker 1: it's just the way he's wired. And you know, there's
Speaker 1: I think it's like his work ethic, because he obviously
Speaker 1: doesn't work on his game. Like there was that executive
Speaker 1: that came out after the game and was like, can
Speaker 1: you tell me one thing that Ben Simmons is better
Speaker 1: at now than he was when he was drafted, and
Speaker 1: the answers. No, you could argue he's gotten worse at
Speaker 1: some things, like you know, even though he may not
Speaker 1: have a jump shot, but it's like he doesn't need
Speaker 1: a jump shot. Would he necessarily be nice for him
Speaker 1: to have a jump shot, but he needs to have
Speaker 1: floaters and scoop shots and hook shots and push shots
Speaker 1: and anything that he could get off against specific matchups
Speaker 1: in the uh you know, inside fifteen ft he doesn't
Speaker 1: have any of that. You know that that's the that
Speaker 1: that's the embarrassing part. But like the other half of
Speaker 1: it is the way he's wired. I genuinely certain people
Speaker 1: are just you know, it's like the Lebron verse KD thing.
Speaker 1: You know, Lebron, He's at the end of the game,
Speaker 1: he's gonna drive and if he draws a second defender,
Speaker 1: he's gonna kick it. That's the way he's wired. You
Speaker 1: could tell him to do something different, but he doesn't
Speaker 1: want to. That's not the way he likes to play basketball.
Speaker 1: You know. The way Kevin Durant plays basketball is a
Speaker 1: more assassin menality, and he might take a bad shot
Speaker 1: over to defenders. That's just kind of the way he's wired.
Speaker 1: The same thing goes like for Ben Simmons, he's wired
Speaker 1: like Jason Kidd. He wants to rebound, he wants to defend,
Speaker 1: he wants to set up his teammates, he wants to
Speaker 1: occasionally take a shot when it really fits in with
Speaker 1: the offense. But he doesn't have that aggression gene. So
Speaker 1: even if he did get good at that stuff, I
Speaker 1: just don't know that he'd necessarily start doing it. I
Speaker 1: just I just don't think it's really wired into his game.
Speaker 1: And and you don't he In the postgame presser, someone
Speaker 1: asked him, you know, about him not playing well, you know,
Speaker 1: compared to the regular season, and he looked over at
Speaker 1: the assistant and he goes, you know, hey, uh, you
Speaker 1: know how many assists did I have tonight? And there
Speaker 1: was like fifteen or something, and then he was like,
Speaker 1: how many What a Trey What a Trey Young? Shoot?
Speaker 1: You know there's five for twent three or whatever it was.
Speaker 1: And he goes like, yeah, I feel like I feel
Speaker 1: like I did pretty well. And he's not wrong, like
Speaker 1: he's like he did a good job within that Jason
Speaker 1: Kidd type of role. The question is, is is he's got
Speaker 1: the talent of Jason Kidd mixed with a little bit
Speaker 1: of Lebron you know, so he should be more than
Speaker 1: Jason Kidd. He just I just said, I don't think
Speaker 1: he wants to, and I don't think he works hard
Speaker 1: enough to do that even if you wanted to. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like my thing was, he never had a jump shot,
Speaker 1: right like that this idea that like a jump shot
Speaker 1: is the cure all Like he was a good player
Speaker 1: before even without jump shot. It's just like he used
Speaker 1: to have an actual like inside game where like I
Speaker 1: remember when we used to play Philly would be like,
Speaker 1: who are you putting on Ben Simmons? Because you can't
Speaker 1: just put like a k CP on Ben Simmons, because
Speaker 1: he would take you to the post. He would punish
Speaker 1: you inside, you know what I mean, Like you would
Speaker 1: he'd finish in there. And now like in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: it's like where you putting on Ben Simmons, it doesn't
Speaker 1: really matter because he's gonna go stand in dunker spot.
Speaker 1: Like but and maybe that's like a team kind of
Speaker 1: building thing. Maybe need more space, But I feel like
Speaker 1: that just gives him like too much credit. Like I
Speaker 1: I don't know, like putting it's not really feasible to
Speaker 1: just build a team around Ben Simmons, especially a primary
Speaker 1: ball handler who can't shoot. It's just so weird to
Speaker 1: watch like him like that that like dunk that he
Speaker 1: had that he passed him and his size bowl, which
Speaker 1: like obviously was the biggest play of that, but there
Speaker 1: were a bunch of other players where like, you know,
Speaker 1: he'd he'd get the rebound, like sprint up court, fly
Speaker 1: down there, and then just do a handoff like it's
Speaker 1: like this like fake kind of drive, you know, just
Speaker 1: like sprint up the court and then no, not at
Speaker 1: all and hand off to Purk on cork Mas, you know,
Speaker 1: like and then go stand in the dugas bross Like
Speaker 1: what was the point of like doing that speed, going
Speaker 1: all the way to it and then just go and
Speaker 1: stand on the dunks. But like his skill and like
Speaker 1: at six ten, it's not like he's undersized. He's not
Speaker 1: like Donovan Mitchell size. You know, he's just six ten dude.
Speaker 1: Like if you get to the rim in transition, Like
Speaker 1: he can't even do ten percent of what Janice is
Speaker 1: doing in these fourth quarters. That's the crazy part to me,
Speaker 1: is like there's there should be in a level of
Speaker 1: aggression from a I was this good? Who was you know,
Speaker 1: put on a pedestal Pretty early in his career. He
Speaker 1: was the best player on all his teams up until
Speaker 1: he got into the n B. A um, you could
Speaker 1: even argue maybe that first year he was the best,
Speaker 1: he was the best player, but like, just it's just
Speaker 1: really weird to watch a guy who I feel like
Speaker 1: was better his rookie year than he is now. So like,
Speaker 1: it's just fascinating. I just wanted your, uh, your thoughts
Speaker 1: on that, because I don't know where he goes from here.
Speaker 1: Well really quickly. The last thing I'll say about it
Speaker 1: is that that famous play that he got made fun
Speaker 1: of for at the end on the baseline where he
Speaker 1: missed the dunk or didn't take the dunk. What was
Speaker 1: so funny is that kind of got portrayed too as
Speaker 1: like a choking kind of thing, like he got scared
Speaker 1: or like something along those lines. I literally think that's
Speaker 1: just an extension of his mentality. It's not that it's
Speaker 1: not that he looked at the rim, looked at Trey Young,
Speaker 1: thought I can dunk this, but I'd rather not. He
Speaker 1: spun in immediately was looking for teammates because his mentality
Speaker 1: is I'm not here to shoot, I'm here to set
Speaker 1: people up, which that balance is so far on that
Speaker 1: side now that it's hurting him as a player. And
Speaker 1: that's a separate conversation, but that's all it was. Like,
Speaker 1: if anything, that play was just the embodiment of his
Speaker 1: mentality as a basketball player. That's just the way he
Speaker 1: is is he He's the guy that beats his man
Speaker 1: in a post up spin and gets to the baseline
Speaker 1: and immediately thinks, who am I passing this too? You
Speaker 1: know what I mean? So but anyway, we we went
Speaker 1: a little bit longer than I wanted to tonight, but
Speaker 1: I also want to eventually get around to having some
Speaker 1: people on. So let's try to do another one of
Speaker 1: these uh soon, and let's be a little bit quicker
Speaker 1: on the games, and let's get to some of our listeners.
Speaker 1: But do you have anything else you want to add
Speaker 1: tonight before we call it? Now? This is fundamental, but
Speaker 1: it's good to be back on the head, back in
Speaker 1: the group of these things. Okay, man, all right, everybody,
Speaker 1: I will have the recording of this on our podcast
Speaker 1: speech shortly, thank you as always for you guys, support
Speaker 1: and uh We will see you guys in the next
Speaker 1: couple of days. Thanks for Yeah, Thanks to everyone