1
00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:17,400
Speaker 1: The volume. All right, welcome to Hipsonight. You're at the

2
00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:19,680
Speaker 1: volume heavy Tuesday, everybody. Hope all you guys are having

3
00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:21,720
Speaker 1: a great start to your week. We have an absolutely

4
00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:24,600
Speaker 1: jam packed show for you guys. This morning. I had

5
00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:29,680
Speaker 1: put together ten big takeaways from a wild Monday night

6
00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:32,360
Speaker 1: in the NBA. We were going to literally bounce around

7
00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:35,680
Speaker 1: to every single game. I watched bits and pieces of

8
00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:38,880
Speaker 1: every single game from last night. We had all sorts

9
00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:43,080
Speaker 1: of game winners and clutch shots and wild statistical performances

10
00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:45,879
Speaker 1: and so many interesting things to get into. And then

11
00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:47,920
Speaker 1: right before I was about to press record this morning,

12
00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:51,320
Speaker 1: Nico Harrison got fired. So we're going to lead with

13
00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:55,440
Speaker 1: my quick thoughts on the Nico Harrison firing, and then

14
00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:58,440
Speaker 1: we will finish the show today with ten big takeaways

15
00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:02,240
Speaker 1: from a wild Monday Night in the NBA. You guys

16
00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:03,920
Speaker 1: know the job before we get started. Subscribe to the

17
00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:05,640
Speaker 1: Hoops to Night YouTube channels you don't miss any more

18
00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:08,120
Speaker 1: of our videos. Follow me on Twitter and underscore JCNLT

19
00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:10,560
Speaker 1: so you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about

20
00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:12,880
Speaker 1: our podcast feed, where you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight.

21
00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:14,800
Speaker 1: It's also super helpful if we leave a rating and

22
00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:17,200
Speaker 1: a review on that front. Jackson's doing incredible work on

23
00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:19,920
Speaker 1: our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

24
00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:22,760
Speaker 1: Keep following us over there for more content throughout the season,

25
00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,679
Speaker 1: and then keep dropping mail back questions in the YouTube comments.

26
00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,480
Speaker 1: Full episodes on YouTube, go into the comments, write mail bag, colon,

27
00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:33,040
Speaker 1: write your question. We get to them on Fridays throughout

28
00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:36,080
Speaker 1: the regular season, and then, last but not least, before

29
00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,959
Speaker 1: we get started today, we have started a new partnership,

30
00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:44,120
Speaker 1: a continuation of our partnership with Playback. This year geared

31
00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:46,960
Speaker 1: around watch parties watch alongs. We did our first one

32
00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:48,800
Speaker 1: on Saturday night, just kind of a little test run

33
00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:51,360
Speaker 1: with Hawks Lakers. Learned a lot. We're gonna make some

34
00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,360
Speaker 1: tweaks as we move forward, but we are continuing not

35
00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:58,240
Speaker 1: tonight with the Showdown or excuse me, that's tomorrow night.

36
00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:01,640
Speaker 1: Excuse me, tomorrow night, Wednesday night. We are continuing that

37
00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,200
Speaker 1: with the Showdown between the Lakers and the Thunder. We'll

38
00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:08,000
Speaker 1: have three more watch parties this week. We're doing Lakers

39
00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:12,480
Speaker 1: Thunder on Wednesday night, Spurs Warriors on Friday night, and

40
00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:16,280
Speaker 1: then Lakers Bucks on Saturday night. But make sure you

41
00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:19,200
Speaker 1: make sure you guys come join us on Wednesday night

42
00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:21,440
Speaker 1: for watch long. We're gonna be focused on the games.

43
00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:23,560
Speaker 1: We're gonna be breaking it down as it all goes down.

44
00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:26,040
Speaker 1: We'll be taking callers and stuff along the way. So

45
00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:28,680
Speaker 1: make sure you guys come hang out on Wednesday night.

46
00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:31,240
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So not too much

47
00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:33,720
Speaker 1: to say here about the Nico Harrison firing. I thought

48
00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:37,640
Speaker 1: Nico actually did a decent job with the MAVs until

49
00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:40,480
Speaker 1: he didn't. Like for a guy who didn't believe in

50
00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:44,240
Speaker 1: Luka Doncic, he did know how to build around him.

51
00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:49,160
Speaker 1: He basically invented the Luk Adancic team construct that we

52
00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,560
Speaker 1: all think about today, right. Athletic centers that he can

53
00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:55,600
Speaker 1: hit for lobs in a four out one in spacing concept,

54
00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,400
Speaker 1: a secondary ball handler that can roughly approximate his style,

55
00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,480
Speaker 1: that doesn't necessarily need to be a superstar, but that

56
00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:05,919
Speaker 1: can kind of fit into the same sort of four

57
00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:09,280
Speaker 1: out one in iso pick and roll, make the decisions,

58
00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:12,920
Speaker 1: make the shots type of system, and then surround him

59
00:03:12,919 --> 00:03:16,480
Speaker 1: with athleticism and guys that can knock down open catch

60
00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:18,919
Speaker 1: and shoot threes, drive closed out. It's basically athletic three

61
00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:20,560
Speaker 1: and d guys, and I mean, come on, they won

62
00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:25,320
Speaker 1: five playoff series over the previous three seasons of the

63
00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:29,160
Speaker 1: Luca era before the trade. That's not all bad, but

64
00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:33,160
Speaker 1: ultimately he just galaxy brained himself out of the perfect situation.

65
00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:37,160
Speaker 1: To be clear, I'm not in any way justifying the trade.

66
00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:40,560
Speaker 1: It's the dumbest trade in NBA history. There's absolutely no

67
00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:44,040
Speaker 1: excuse for it. But I can at least see the

68
00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:48,400
Speaker 1: genesis of where his brain started to go. Luca was

69
00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:51,080
Speaker 1: clearly leaving a lot of meat on the bone with

70
00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:54,960
Speaker 1: his potential. As crazy as that sounds, without good, he

71
00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:57,840
Speaker 1: was through the first five to six years of his career.

72
00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:01,160
Speaker 1: He wasn't taking care of his body. He was playing

73
00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:04,920
Speaker 1: at a weight that was affecting his performance negatively. He

74
00:04:05,040 --> 00:04:07,920
Speaker 1: was starting to succumb to nagging injuries that even began

75
00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:10,360
Speaker 1: in the twenty twenty four season, as he was banged

76
00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:12,640
Speaker 1: up with his knee throughout that playoff run, and he

77
00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:16,200
Speaker 1: looked like he hadn't learned his lesson, and he kind

78
00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:18,679
Speaker 1: of hit rock bottom last year, right like even after

79
00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:22,039
Speaker 1: the Lakers trade. He was soundly outplayed by Anthony Edwards

80
00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:25,520
Speaker 1: in that first round playoff series. But the crucial flaw

81
00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:29,280
Speaker 1: in Nico's logic and I can't even believe this needs

82
00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:33,159
Speaker 1: to be explained, but he failed to realize that Luca

83
00:04:33,320 --> 00:04:35,919
Speaker 1: was inevitably going to figure it out at some point.

84
00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:41,240
Speaker 1: He failed to account for Luca's best trait, which is

85
00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:46,440
Speaker 1: his alpha dog competitiveness. If he was fat and lazy,

86
00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:50,360
Speaker 1: and if he was losing ground against his peers, it

87
00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:57,960
Speaker 1: would inevitably overtime lead to disappointing losses. Those disappointing losses

88
00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:03,520
Speaker 1: would inevitably lead to to Luca getting pissed off, and

89
00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:07,680
Speaker 1: if he got pissed off, he would finally eventually look

90
00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:11,880
Speaker 1: in the mirror, take accountability, and make the changes he

91
00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:15,320
Speaker 1: needed to make to become the best version of himself.

92
00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:19,320
Speaker 1: And by the way, he was obviously very close to

93
00:05:19,400 --> 00:05:22,080
Speaker 1: reaching that point. He got his butt kicked by Anton

94
00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:25,520
Speaker 1: the Wolves he changed last summer. Now he's averaging thirty

95
00:05:25,560 --> 00:05:28,280
Speaker 1: seven to nine to nine on sixty three percent true

96
00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:31,000
Speaker 1: shooting for an eight to three team in the West,

97
00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:33,880
Speaker 1: despite them being pretty light on talent. With the Lebron

98
00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:36,360
Speaker 1: James injury and the other injuries they've dealt with this year,

99
00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:38,600
Speaker 1: He's looking like the best player in the world, or

100
00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:46,039
Speaker 1: at least in the conversation. Nico essentially committed the unforgivable sin.

101
00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:53,440
Speaker 1: He took a franchise that was legitimately a perennial championship

102
00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:59,160
Speaker 1: contender on the strength of a transcendently great star that

103
00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:03,599
Speaker 1: was just barely entering his prime, and he chopped it

104
00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:08,480
Speaker 1: off at the knees. And he should be incredibly thankful

105
00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:11,880
Speaker 1: that the MAVs won the lottery and that MAVs fans

106
00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:15,719
Speaker 1: at least have the tiny glimmer of hope that is

107
00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:17,960
Speaker 1: Cooper Flagg, who by the way, had an amazing night

108
00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:22,400
Speaker 1: last night against Giannis and the Bucks, because otherwise this

109
00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:27,440
Speaker 1: team would be in the dark ages for years to come. Now,

110
00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:31,680
Speaker 1: MAVs fans, it's not over. You have a terribly unbalanced roster,

111
00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:34,880
Speaker 1: but you have Cooper Flag, a player that I truly

112
00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:37,880
Speaker 1: believe in, and you do have the assets to quickly

113
00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:42,279
Speaker 1: pivot into an advanced stage of a rebuild. But the

114
00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:44,680
Speaker 1: bottom line is you should never have had to make

115
00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:48,240
Speaker 1: that pivot to begin with. You should be contending for

116
00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:53,000
Speaker 1: the title out West right now, and you're not because

117
00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:57,279
Speaker 1: Nico outsmarted himself and made the dumbest trade in NBA history.

118
00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:00,920
Speaker 1: I'm sorry that that happened to you, guys. I'm sure

119
00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:05,279
Speaker 1: you're all very happy to see Nico finally gone from

120
00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:09,120
Speaker 1: the organization. All right, let's dig into our ten big

121
00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:14,000
Speaker 1: takeaways from last night's Wild Monday Night NBA Slate. So,

122
00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:19,320
Speaker 1: first of all, first takeaway, Caid Cunningham had an all

123
00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:23,200
Speaker 1: time empty the clip game last night in a big

124
00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:27,160
Speaker 1: win against the Washington Wizards in overtime. The box score

125
00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:30,960
Speaker 1: watchers were upset last night Cad missed thirty one shots.

126
00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:33,640
Speaker 1: I was seeing all sorts of takes flying around about

127
00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:35,600
Speaker 1: the way he was playing and the shot chucking, and

128
00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:38,320
Speaker 1: so I was excited to go watch because I obviously,

129
00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:40,960
Speaker 1: like I've watched Kate a bunch this year, and he's

130
00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:43,840
Speaker 1: been a guy that's been pretty quick to take the reads,

131
00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:46,120
Speaker 1: especially as he's faced a lot of blitzes and doubles,

132
00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:48,080
Speaker 1: and so I just wanted to see why. I knew that.

133
00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:51,920
Speaker 1: It wasn't like Cad just woke up yesterday and was like, shit, guys,

134
00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:54,240
Speaker 1: I'm going to be a ballhog today like that. That's

135
00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:57,360
Speaker 1: not how basketball works, and that's not how Cad operates.

136
00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:00,320
Speaker 1: So I was just curious to see what happened that

137
00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:03,120
Speaker 1: caused him to play that style. And here's the thing.

138
00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:06,920
Speaker 1: Did I love every single shot that he took last night? No,

139
00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:08,960
Speaker 1: there's some tough ones in there, there were some settles,

140
00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:12,840
Speaker 1: but literally every star in the NBA takes a half

141
00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:17,600
Speaker 1: dozen or so really tough shots every game. What immediately

142
00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:20,480
Speaker 1: stood out to me was that the Pistons needed him

143
00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:25,240
Speaker 1: to score, and he kept consistently generating great looks for

144
00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:30,280
Speaker 1: himself and he was just missing them. The Pistons were

145
00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:33,160
Speaker 1: on their third game in four nights. Kars Lavert was out.

146
00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:36,200
Speaker 1: That's their backup guard right now. Asar Thompson was out,

147
00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:39,640
Speaker 1: Tobias Harris was out, Jade and Ivy obviously still out.

148
00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:42,559
Speaker 1: Isaiah Stewart was out. Marcus Sasser is one of the

149
00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:45,600
Speaker 1: backup guards. He's out. So many of the guys who

150
00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:48,520
Speaker 1: they usually depend on to share the offensive load with

151
00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:52,640
Speaker 1: Caid were just out. And again, I thought Caid was

152
00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:56,680
Speaker 1: getting good looks. The Wizards, unlike many of Detroit's opponents

153
00:08:56,679 --> 00:08:59,680
Speaker 1: as of late, they were playing some pretty passive coverages

154
00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:02,679
Speaker 1: with Cak, a lot of drop coverage looks, a lot

155
00:09:02,679 --> 00:09:06,000
Speaker 1: of single coverage, so a lot of Caid's shoot pass

156
00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:11,240
Speaker 1: reads were skewing towards him shooting the ball. They were

157
00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:14,960
Speaker 1: high percentage shots for him. There have been other games

158
00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:18,120
Speaker 1: this year where the coverages have dictated He's faced a

159
00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:20,720
Speaker 1: lot of blitzes and doubles this year. The coverages have

160
00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:23,760
Speaker 1: dictated him to become more of a passer. I've talked

161
00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:26,760
Speaker 1: to him, talked about literally yesterday in the show about

162
00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:31,680
Speaker 1: how he had essentially made opportunities for himself to be

163
00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:34,120
Speaker 1: aggressive in spite of the double team so that he

164
00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:36,920
Speaker 1: could stay involved offensively. But he's been a guy who's

165
00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:40,960
Speaker 1: been facing super aggressive coverages. He wasn't last night. He

166
00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:44,280
Speaker 1: needed to be a score, especially with the way that

167
00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:47,040
Speaker 1: the roster shaped up with the three games and four

168
00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:50,120
Speaker 1: nights and the injuries they've been dealing with. Clearly Washington

169
00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:52,240
Speaker 1: was like, you're gonna have to score a million points.

170
00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:54,120
Speaker 1: We don't think you have the legs for it without

171
00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:57,560
Speaker 1: the support that you have, And that gamble almost paid

172
00:09:57,559 --> 00:10:04,160
Speaker 1: off for Washington. His thirty one misses, there were twenty

173
00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:08,720
Speaker 1: or so that were really good looks for him, Like

174
00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:12,400
Speaker 1: he missed some tough layups, but he also there were

175
00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:16,600
Speaker 1: at least a half dozen that were like super high

176
00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:19,960
Speaker 1: percentage layups, like layups he'd make ninety percent of the time,

177
00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:24,240
Speaker 1: usually another half dozen layups that were like he probably

178
00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:26,720
Speaker 1: is gonna make that fifty to fifty five percent of

179
00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:29,880
Speaker 1: the time that all just went out. He got a

180
00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:32,960
Speaker 1: ton of good looks on short jumpers and threes that

181
00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:37,960
Speaker 1: he just left short, presumably because he was gassed. And

182
00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:41,280
Speaker 1: most importantly, they got to win a couple of huge

183
00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:44,760
Speaker 1: threes late in regulation from Danis Jenkins, including a buzzer

184
00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:46,520
Speaker 1: beater out of the right corner that sent the game

185
00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:49,280
Speaker 1: to overtime. There's a really fun crowd pop at ot

186
00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:52,680
Speaker 1: as Javonte Green drove along the left along the baseline

187
00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:54,920
Speaker 1: out of the left corner and threw down a nasty

188
00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:57,680
Speaker 1: tomahawk dunk and the Pistons fans got to go home happy.

189
00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:03,040
Speaker 1: So what I saw was a superstar player who was

190
00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:06,640
Speaker 1: physically available for his team during a brutal part of

191
00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,840
Speaker 1: their schedule where much of the roster wasn't and he

192
00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:13,160
Speaker 1: absorbed a ton of usage because he had to, And

193
00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:15,720
Speaker 1: he dropped forty six, twelve and eleven with just two

194
00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:18,120
Speaker 1: turnovers and got to win. And by the way, if

195
00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:20,680
Speaker 1: he has the more normal shooting performance on the quality

196
00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:25,400
Speaker 1: of shots that he got, he'd had sixty. I think

197
00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:28,359
Speaker 1: the pace the Pistons have a good one with Kay Cunningham.

198
00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:31,000
Speaker 1: They had the superstar they need to lead their team

199
00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,199
Speaker 1: through the next era of Pistons basketball. He keeps hitting

200
00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:38,079
Speaker 1: every single checkpoint along the way. Second big takeaway from

201
00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:42,280
Speaker 1: last night Victor woman Yama has his groove back. The

202
00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:44,880
Speaker 1: Bulls were without Josh Giddy last night, but that didn't

203
00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:47,080
Speaker 1: stop them from giving the Spurs a really tough battle.

204
00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:50,160
Speaker 1: They wrote some hot shooting from Kevin Herder and some

205
00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:53,160
Speaker 1: good advantage creation from Trey Jones and Nikola Vusevich, and

206
00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:56,360
Speaker 1: they really play fun driving kick hoops, and they played

207
00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:58,600
Speaker 1: beautiful basketball, and they gave the Spurs some issues. They

208
00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:00,560
Speaker 1: controlled most of the second half, and they led by

209
00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:04,600
Speaker 1: as much as thirteen in this game. But Victor wemin

210
00:12:04,679 --> 00:12:08,199
Speaker 1: Yama finally woke up from his double team induced slump

211
00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:11,720
Speaker 1: in a big way in that second half. Victor had

212
00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:16,480
Speaker 1: averaged just seventeen points per game over his previous four games.

213
00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:20,679
Speaker 1: He had eighteen points just in the fourth quarter last night.

214
00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:24,400
Speaker 1: He got going off of a skip pass from Luke Cornett.

215
00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:26,080
Speaker 1: We talked a lot about how deeron. Fox was going

216
00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:29,520
Speaker 1: to help victors start generating some easier shots for himself

217
00:12:29,559 --> 00:12:31,200
Speaker 1: where he doesn't have to do all the work, but

218
00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:33,880
Speaker 1: he can kind of be a beneficiary of the attention

219
00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:36,520
Speaker 1: that Dieren draws. Ran a little ball screen on the

220
00:12:36,559 --> 00:12:39,959
Speaker 1: left side of the floor, Fox in Cornett, and Fox

221
00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:42,760
Speaker 1: hits Cornette in the pocket. The low man had already

222
00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:45,280
Speaker 1: stepped over to help. Cornette makes the skip to Wemby.

223
00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:48,000
Speaker 1: Wemby gets a wide open three in the right corner

224
00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:50,040
Speaker 1: that gets him going. But from there it was a

225
00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:54,800
Speaker 1: steady diet of one on one basketball. The Bulls. We've

226
00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:57,320
Speaker 1: talked about how the Spurs have faced a lot of

227
00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:01,200
Speaker 1: putting a wing on Wemby, who gets up underneath them,

228
00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:04,840
Speaker 1: and then aggressive gapping in double teaving right, a lot

229
00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:08,520
Speaker 1: of doubles testing Wemby's ability to handle the ball through

230
00:13:08,559 --> 00:13:12,240
Speaker 1: physicality and just making him uncomfortable by getting up underneath him.

231
00:13:12,679 --> 00:13:17,280
Speaker 1: The Bulls went with a very different approach. They basically

232
00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:21,880
Speaker 1: guarded him with centers so Jalen Smith and Nikola Vusovich,

233
00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:25,400
Speaker 1: and rather than sending double teams or pressuring the ball,

234
00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:29,040
Speaker 1: they were sagging off and they were playing in the gaps.

235
00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:33,160
Speaker 1: So basically allowing Victor wembin Yama to work comfortably in

236
00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:35,480
Speaker 1: his face up game and in is off the dribble game,

237
00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:37,959
Speaker 1: as long as he was willing to settle because the

238
00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:40,280
Speaker 1: driving lanes weren't there because they were playing in the gaps.

239
00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:43,880
Speaker 1: They were essentially in we're going to just let Wenby

240
00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:48,280
Speaker 1: take jump shots mode, and Wemby burned them. He hit

241
00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:50,000
Speaker 1: a little face up mid ranger in the middle of

242
00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:52,480
Speaker 1: the floor against Jalen Smith. He hit another one over

243
00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:55,720
Speaker 1: Nikola Vusovich on the right elbow extended, and then he

244
00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:58,240
Speaker 1: basically won the game with two pull up threes over

245
00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:01,120
Speaker 1: Nikola Vusovich won in transition and one in the half

246
00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:03,640
Speaker 1: court where he waived everybody off and once again Vucevich

247
00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:05,240
Speaker 1: was giving him space and he just kind of got

248
00:14:05,280 --> 00:14:07,839
Speaker 1: into his bag and got into a little step back

249
00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:11,120
Speaker 1: going to his left and knocked it down, all while

250
00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:14,800
Speaker 1: doing doing the usual Wemby defensive damage. On the other

251
00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:17,240
Speaker 1: end of the floor. There was an interesting play late

252
00:14:17,280 --> 00:14:19,120
Speaker 1: in the game where Trey Jones got a really nice

253
00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:22,160
Speaker 1: driving lane down the left lane line and Victor was

254
00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:24,920
Speaker 1: guarding in the strong side corner. And the general principle

255
00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:27,120
Speaker 1: is don't help off the strong side corner. There are

256
00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:30,480
Speaker 1: some teams that do it, but generally speaking, you're not

257
00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:33,360
Speaker 1: supposed to. And Victor was kind of staying home, like

258
00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:36,800
Speaker 1: he was in the driving lane a tiny bit, but

259
00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:39,400
Speaker 1: for the most part he wasn't offering help on the drive.

260
00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:43,640
Speaker 1: But Trey Jones just panicked because he thought Wemby might

261
00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:46,360
Speaker 1: go for it, and so instead of taking the wide

262
00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:49,000
Speaker 1: open left handed layup he had on the left lane line,

263
00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:51,240
Speaker 1: he went like up and under and tried this super

264
00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:53,840
Speaker 1: difficult reverse layup on the right side, and he smoked it.

265
00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:57,000
Speaker 1: An example of the defensive impact of Wemby that'll never

266
00:14:57,080 --> 00:15:00,880
Speaker 1: show up in the box score. But Wemby again, you

267
00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:05,040
Speaker 1: can call it coverage specific because again there wasn't the wing,

268
00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:08,920
Speaker 1: the big forward on the ball, there wasn't the aggressive

269
00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:11,880
Speaker 1: double teaming. But I thought it was just at the

270
00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:15,720
Speaker 1: very least good for his confidence. The coverage challenge remains.

271
00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:18,200
Speaker 1: He's going to face teams that put forwards on him,

272
00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:21,640
Speaker 1: that get up underneath him, that bring double teams. But

273
00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:24,360
Speaker 1: on the one hand, this is a reminder that you

274
00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:26,600
Speaker 1: kind of have to guard him that way, Like if

275
00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:29,640
Speaker 1: you let him work single coverage against your center. He's

276
00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:32,240
Speaker 1: just gonna fry those dudes, and that's what he did.

277
00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:34,520
Speaker 1: But on the other hand, it kind of gives Wemby

278
00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:37,080
Speaker 1: a little confidence boost as he continues to work through

279
00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:40,000
Speaker 1: the challenge that is that coverage and what he's gonna

280
00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:42,640
Speaker 1: have to deal with as he continues to develop in

281
00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:46,160
Speaker 1: his young career. Today's show is brought to you by

282
00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:49,320
Speaker 1: our new presenting sponsor, hard Rock Bet. We've entered into

283
00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:51,920
Speaker 1: our favorite time of the year between the NBA and

284
00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:55,480
Speaker 1: college hoops. There's basketball on every night, and every night

285
00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:57,480
Speaker 1: is a shot to score a major bucket on hard

286
00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:00,320
Speaker 1: Rock Bet your home for hoops action, I'll see long.

287
00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:01,960
Speaker 1: If you haven't tried your first bet on hard Rock

288
00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:03,920
Speaker 1: Bet yet, there's still time for you to get one

289
00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:06,000
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if you win.

290
00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:08,880
Speaker 1: Just place a five dollars bet and if it hits,

291
00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:10,920
Speaker 1: you get not only your winnings, but one hundred and

292
00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:13,680
Speaker 1: fifty dollars in extra bonus bets. And if you're not

293
00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:15,800
Speaker 1: sure what to place your first bet on, check out

294
00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:19,480
Speaker 1: the hard Rock Bet Stats Hub. It's loaded with trends, streaks,

295
00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:22,880
Speaker 1: and stats to help guide your picks. Numbers don't lie,

296
00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:26,280
Speaker 1: and neither does the data in there. Check out the

297
00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:29,160
Speaker 1: stats hub now, get the edge and bet with confidence.

298
00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:31,200
Speaker 1: The hard Rock Bet sports book app is the only

299
00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:33,920
Speaker 1: legal sports book for whenever you're in Florida, and it's

300
00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:39,119
Speaker 1: also live in Arizona, Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Illinois,

301
00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:42,720
Speaker 1: and Colorado. Coming soon to more states too. Plus, hard

302
00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:45,440
Speaker 1: Rock Bet offers new promos every single day, so whenever

303
00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:47,880
Speaker 1: you're listening, just open the app and check out what

304
00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:50,040
Speaker 1: you've got. Any day of the week, download the hard

305
00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:53,080
Speaker 1: Rock Bet app and make your first deposit, payble and

306
00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:56,160
Speaker 1: bonus bets not a cash offer offered by the Seminal

307
00:16:56,200 --> 00:16:58,600
Speaker 1: Tribe of Florida and Florida offered by the Seminal hard

308
00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:01,840
Speaker 1: Rock Digital LLC in other states. Must be twenty one

309
00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:05,640
Speaker 1: plus and physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana,

310
00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:08,800
Speaker 1: New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia to play. Terms and

311
00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:12,320
Speaker 1: conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida called one eight

312
00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:15,960
Speaker 1: three to three play wise. In Indiana, if you or

313
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,439
Speaker 1: someone you know has gambling problem and wants help, call

314
00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:22,480
Speaker 1: one eight hundred and nine with it gambling problem called

315
00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:26,720
Speaker 1: one eight hundred gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio,

316
00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:33,879
Speaker 1: Tennessee or Virginia number three and other spurs takeaway. Steph

317
00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:39,520
Speaker 1: Castle is an absurdly gifted interior passer. Another eleven assists

318
00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:43,159
Speaker 1: for Stefan Castle last night, his third straight game with

319
00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:46,520
Speaker 1: double digit assists. I believe he has thirty seven assists

320
00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:51,520
Speaker 1: over the previous three games. He's averaging eight assists per

321
00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:55,600
Speaker 1: game on the season. Now. After having some turnover issues

322
00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:57,560
Speaker 1: to start the year, we had talked about that earlier,

323
00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:01,119
Speaker 1: like last week, he has just three turnovers over his

324
00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:03,240
Speaker 1: last two games. And again that's in a stretch where

325
00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:06,920
Speaker 1: he has twenty four assists in thirty two field goal

326
00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:10,080
Speaker 1: attempt So that's a lot of usage with him mostly

327
00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:11,639
Speaker 1: taking care of the ball. So I thought that was

328
00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:13,560
Speaker 1: a good step forward for him as well. But the

329
00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:16,480
Speaker 1: interior passing is what amazes me. It dawned on me

330
00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:18,600
Speaker 1: early in the season with the lob passes. He just

331
00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:22,760
Speaker 1: has a really natural gift for timing where and when

332
00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:25,720
Speaker 1: to hit a vertical spacer in their jump. He hit

333
00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:28,240
Speaker 1: like a half dozen more lobs tonight. It's not just

334
00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:31,320
Speaker 1: Wemby either, He's got wonderful chemistry with Luke Cornett. I

335
00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:33,640
Speaker 1: think like three or four of the lobs he connected

336
00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:37,400
Speaker 1: on last night were just from last night. We're to Cornett,

337
00:18:37,480 --> 00:18:39,760
Speaker 1: and obviously it's very nice to have Cornett back. Him

338
00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:41,879
Speaker 1: being out of the lineup was definitely a problem for

339
00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:44,200
Speaker 1: the Spurs over that little bit of a losing streak

340
00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:48,240
Speaker 1: that they had. But it's it's not just the lobs. Like,

341
00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:51,880
Speaker 1: he has a lot of touch on his interior passes,

342
00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:54,240
Speaker 1: especially on the bounce, Like he hit Cornett on a

343
00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:57,240
Speaker 1: couple of beautiful bounce passes last night in the fourth quarter,

344
00:18:57,640 --> 00:18:59,480
Speaker 1: a pocket passed that got him one. Another one in

345
00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:02,760
Speaker 1: crunch time where like he was on the left block

346
00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:05,159
Speaker 1: and the defender was walled up on him and he

347
00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:08,359
Speaker 1: saw Cornet and throw a beautiful wrap around bounce past

348
00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:10,720
Speaker 1: the Cornet for an easy one right underneath the basket.

349
00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:16,439
Speaker 1: He just has a great feel for hitting vertical spacers,

350
00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:19,040
Speaker 1: either down low or up high, and in a lot

351
00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:21,240
Speaker 1: of ways that makes him the perfect fit for Wemby

352
00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:23,960
Speaker 1: and Cornett because there's gonna be a lot of roll

353
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:26,439
Speaker 1: and cut opportunities with the way the spacing works on

354
00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:28,200
Speaker 1: this team, and with the team that can struggle to

355
00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:32,400
Speaker 1: shoot the basketball from time to time, unlocking vertical spacing

356
00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:35,240
Speaker 1: is a huge thing to help with that lack of

357
00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:37,879
Speaker 1: shooting that they can show sometimes. I mean, there are

358
00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:40,119
Speaker 1: a lot of players in the league that struggle to

359
00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:43,280
Speaker 1: pass to vertical spacers, like they can't see the reds,

360
00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:46,679
Speaker 1: or they just can't time the passes properly, or they

361
00:19:46,680 --> 00:19:48,800
Speaker 1: don't know how to put the appropriate touch on them.

362
00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:52,520
Speaker 1: Like I've been watching a lot of the Lakers obviously,

363
00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:54,800
Speaker 1: and like with Austin and Luca, Like as great as

364
00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:57,480
Speaker 1: Austin is, it's crazy to see the difference in like

365
00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:02,040
Speaker 1: the natural passing ability they have to vertical spacers. Austin

366
00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:04,760
Speaker 1: had a lob last night that he threw I think

367
00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:07,840
Speaker 1: the Jackson that was like way too late and ended

368
00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:10,840
Speaker 1: up just going carroning off the backboard. It's like it's

369
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,920
Speaker 1: very much a difficult pass to make, and like Steph

370
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:17,120
Speaker 1: Castle is just very naturally good at it, and it's

371
00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:18,520
Speaker 1: something that has stood out to me in a big

372
00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:20,560
Speaker 1: way over the early part of the season. Again, thirty

373
00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:24,160
Speaker 1: seven assists in his last three games and just three

374
00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:27,639
Speaker 1: turnovers in his last two games. Big step for steps

375
00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:33,639
Speaker 1: forward for Stefan Castle as a playmaker number four. The

376
00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,639
Speaker 1: Kyle kuz Ma trade is beginning to pay dividends for

377
00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:39,360
Speaker 1: the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks won a really fun one

378
00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:42,480
Speaker 1: last night against the Mavericks. Cooper Flagg had his best

379
00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:44,600
Speaker 1: game of his young NBA career. He poured in twenty

380
00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:47,159
Speaker 1: six points, made several huge plays down the stretch and

381
00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:50,000
Speaker 1: crunch time, drawing a big foul on like a low

382
00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:53,119
Speaker 1: gather step through move against PJ. Washington, and then a

383
00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:55,960
Speaker 1: crazy finish off of a nasty spin move on the

384
00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:58,879
Speaker 1: right wing where he got into Giannis's chest and just

385
00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:02,679
Speaker 1: powered through him and fished off the glass. What for

386
00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:05,360
Speaker 1: what was a lead changing shot in the final minute.

387
00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:08,760
Speaker 1: Really nice game from Cooper flag Giannis had a big

388
00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:11,479
Speaker 1: bounce back. He was kind of disappointing at the end

389
00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:13,800
Speaker 1: of the Houston game. He's great statistically throughout the game,

390
00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:15,800
Speaker 1: but he kind of fell apart a little bit down

391
00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:18,440
Speaker 1: the stretch, and Yanni's just completely made up for it

392
00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:20,920
Speaker 1: last night. He picked the MAVs apart in the fourth quarter,

393
00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:23,399
Speaker 1: generated a bunch of clean looks on the weak side

394
00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:26,200
Speaker 1: from three for guys like Bobby Portis and Kyle Kuzma,

395
00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:28,399
Speaker 1: just with the attention he was gathering in the paint

396
00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:31,000
Speaker 1: those guys were knocking those shots down, and then just

397
00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:34,200
Speaker 1: being his usual indomitable self around the rim. He even

398
00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:36,159
Speaker 1: hit a pull up three along the left wing that

399
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,280
Speaker 1: was a huge shot in crunch time. Just another magnificent

400
00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:41,840
Speaker 1: Giannis performance in a season that's been full of them

401
00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:44,800
Speaker 1: so far. And then Ryan Rowlins, who continues to impress

402
00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:46,960
Speaker 1: night in and night out the season. He hit what

403
00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:49,480
Speaker 1: was essentially the game winner. Kind of a weird sequence

404
00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:54,639
Speaker 1: where Cooper Flag ran up to rotate to Ryan Rollins.

405
00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,520
Speaker 1: Naji Marshall was kind of up on Ryan's right arm

406
00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:01,000
Speaker 1: of the right hand side, and then Cooper like bailed out,

407
00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:04,080
Speaker 1: and when he bailed out, Naje didn't have time to

408
00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:06,600
Speaker 1: get squared up again. He was like still sitting up

409
00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:10,520
Speaker 1: on Ryan's right hand. So Ryan just had an easy

410
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:14,760
Speaker 1: driving lane, good read from him, hits the gap, hits

411
00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:17,040
Speaker 1: a little left handed layup off the glass that basically

412
00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:19,200
Speaker 1: ended up being the game winner. But I wanted to

413
00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:21,399
Speaker 1: shout out Kyle Kuzmi here. I was high on the

414
00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:24,520
Speaker 1: Kusma trade when it happened. When it happened, if you guys.

415
00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:26,159
Speaker 1: Remember I talked a lot about what it was like

416
00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:28,840
Speaker 1: when I was rooting for him with the Lakers, like

417
00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:31,240
Speaker 1: he was sneaky good at role player stuff for a

418
00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,280
Speaker 1: guy that was kind of like a good stats, bad

419
00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:37,480
Speaker 1: team guy before Lebron came when he when the team

420
00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:39,760
Speaker 1: got serious and it became like a Hey, you're not

421
00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:43,480
Speaker 1: gonna play over a Danny Green unless you show the

422
00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:46,240
Speaker 1: You're not gonna play over any of these guys that

423
00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,360
Speaker 1: are playing on the wing unless you do these little things,

424
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,439
Speaker 1: unless you defensive rebound, unless you play help side defense,

425
00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:55,320
Speaker 1: unless you make good reads on cuts and in spot

426
00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:59,760
Speaker 1: up situations. And essentially, Kyle Kuzma was forced through trial

427
00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:03,000
Speaker 1: by fire to become a good role player, and right

428
00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,639
Speaker 1: before the trade to Washington he had become that. In

429
00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:09,600
Speaker 1: that twenty twenty one season I've haught Kyle Kuzma had

430
00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:14,800
Speaker 1: become a very well rounded, dependable role player in the NBA.

431
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:17,560
Speaker 1: But it hadn't been pretty to start in a Bucks jersey.

432
00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:19,920
Speaker 1: And I think part of that was he had become

433
00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:24,040
Speaker 1: a little mistake prone over the years playing unserious basketball

434
00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:26,879
Speaker 1: in Washington, and he had really struggled hitting catch and

435
00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:28,800
Speaker 1: shoot threes, and so it just kind of looked like

436
00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:32,160
Speaker 1: a poor fit to start with Milwaukee, but he has

437
00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:35,840
Speaker 1: blossomed this year into one of the most important players

438
00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:38,440
Speaker 1: on the team. In addition to doing all those little

439
00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:40,560
Speaker 1: things that we talked about earlier, the defensive rebound in

440
00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:44,520
Speaker 1: the helpside defense, the smart cutting and relocating off the ball,

441
00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:47,719
Speaker 1: he's actually starting to score the ball consistently now and

442
00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:51,720
Speaker 1: with efficiency. He's been in double figures seven games in

443
00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:55,000
Speaker 1: a row. He had twenty six again last night. He's

444
00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:58,320
Speaker 1: averaging sixteen points per game over the course of that

445
00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:01,399
Speaker 1: seven gamespan on fifty six percent from the field, and

446
00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:03,200
Speaker 1: he's starting to get his three point shot going. Over

447
00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:06,200
Speaker 1: his last four games, on five attempts per game, he's

448
00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:08,639
Speaker 1: hitting forty two percent of his three hees hit a

449
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:10,960
Speaker 1: couple of huge ones in the fourth quarter last night,

450
00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:13,600
Speaker 1: And like again, there are many guys that have popped

451
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:16,040
Speaker 1: for Milwaukee this year as they've kind of researched from

452
00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:19,719
Speaker 1: what looked like a team that was really disappointing on

453
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:21,879
Speaker 1: paper to like kind of out kicking their coverage a

454
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:23,880
Speaker 1: little bit. And there's a lot of different reasons for that,

455
00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:29,119
Speaker 1: some basic like basketball fit stuff with the athletes on

456
00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:32,119
Speaker 1: the perimeter alongside a more athletics center next to Giannis

457
00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:36,800
Speaker 1: and obviously Ryan Rollins and the way that he's blossomed

458
00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:38,159
Speaker 1: this year. But a big part of it has been

459
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:40,359
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma. He's been one of the guys that has

460
00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:43,480
Speaker 1: popped this year and that has helped Milwaukee have perform

461
00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:45,399
Speaker 1: better than many of us thought that they would before

462
00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:50,680
Speaker 1: the start of their season. Number five. Meanwhile, the John

463
00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:54,840
Speaker 1: Collins trade is not looking like it's paying dividends for

464
00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:58,720
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Clippers. Now, this isn't John's fault. He's

465
00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:00,879
Speaker 1: been very good for them, and he continues to be

466
00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:03,040
Speaker 1: one of their best plus minus guys. Their plus one

467
00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:05,479
Speaker 1: on plus one with him on the floor over their

468
00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:09,080
Speaker 1: last two losses and minus fifteen with him off the floor.

469
00:25:09,119 --> 00:25:12,800
Speaker 1: He's been their second best on off guy points by

470
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:15,080
Speaker 1: points per one hundred possessions, according to Cleaning the Glass

471
00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:18,240
Speaker 1: behind James Harden. But they look like as a team

472
00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:21,640
Speaker 1: they sorely missed the offensive pop they were getting from

473
00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:26,800
Speaker 1: Norman Powell. The idea was Bradley Beal would effectively step

474
00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:29,399
Speaker 1: into that role and be able to handle it reasonably

475
00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:32,000
Speaker 1: close to as well, with maybe a little bit more

476
00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:34,960
Speaker 1: on ball pop in the games where like Kawhi Leonard

477
00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:36,919
Speaker 1: can't play. That was the idea, Like, you're not just

478
00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:39,680
Speaker 1: trading Norman Power for John Collins. You're trading Norman Paler

479
00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:42,000
Speaker 1: for John Collins and Bradley Beal. And when you look

480
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:44,080
Speaker 1: at what happened in the Denver series and how they

481
00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:46,480
Speaker 1: needed a little bit more athleticism in their front court

482
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:50,560
Speaker 1: in transition and the ability to play more functional two

483
00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:54,040
Speaker 1: big lineups against some bigger teams like Denver, you look

484
00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:55,920
Speaker 1: at that and you go, I see what they're thinking.

485
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,400
Speaker 1: You'd send out Norm Powell Bradley Beal can roughly approximate

486
00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:02,480
Speaker 1: it actually need Bradley to score, unlike what it was

487
00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:04,920
Speaker 1: like in Phoenix where he was kind of a redundancy.

488
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:07,639
Speaker 1: Like this should make some sense, and now we have

489
00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:11,199
Speaker 1: John Collins to bring that extra athleticism and pop in

490
00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:14,919
Speaker 1: the front court. But unfortunately, Bradley Beal has been the

491
00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,359
Speaker 1: disastrous combination of bad when he's on the court and

492
00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:21,960
Speaker 1: generally unavailable. And now he has a weird hip injury

493
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:23,920
Speaker 1: that is allegedly going to keep him out for a while.

494
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:26,680
Speaker 1: So like this is a pretty extended stretch of him

495
00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:30,040
Speaker 1: just not being able to play without his body falling apart.

496
00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:33,320
Speaker 1: So what was supposed to be a swap of Norman

497
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:37,080
Speaker 1: Powell for a reasonable replacement player and John Collins has

498
00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:41,080
Speaker 1: effectively amounted to a one for one swap for John Collins.

499
00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:45,600
Speaker 1: And now the Clippers look like they sorely miss Norman

500
00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:48,080
Speaker 1: Powell shooting an off ball scoring. There's so many different

501
00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:50,280
Speaker 1: things that he did for them. He was an excellent

502
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:52,960
Speaker 1: transition scorer who would run the floor and get quick

503
00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:56,760
Speaker 1: little close out opportunities in transition, in semi transition to

504
00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:59,280
Speaker 1: hit threes and drive closeouts. He was a guy that

505
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:01,920
Speaker 1: could run balls screen action as like a DHO guy,

506
00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:05,400
Speaker 1: also straight up on ball screens, curling off of off

507
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:08,880
Speaker 1: ball screens, and essentially just create basic reads like, oh

508
00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:10,800
Speaker 1: you're in a drop, I can hit this shot. Oh

509
00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:12,800
Speaker 1: you're chasing me over the top. Well, but you're in

510
00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:15,119
Speaker 1: a deeper drop. I can get downhill off the curl.

511
00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:17,320
Speaker 1: Oh you show at the level, I can throw the

512
00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:20,320
Speaker 1: pocket pass to Zoo or whoever it is that I'm

513
00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:22,879
Speaker 1: getting the screen from there. He just had like a

514
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:25,560
Speaker 1: lot of utility in a bunch of parts of their game,

515
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:31,080
Speaker 1: and now you're getting none of that essentially nothing from Beale,

516
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:34,320
Speaker 1: and as much as John has done, he's a guy

517
00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:37,440
Speaker 1: that anchors specific lineup groups. And I know ty Low's

518
00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:39,200
Speaker 1: planning on starting him for a while and we'll see

519
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:41,159
Speaker 1: if that ends up giving the Clippers a look that

520
00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:45,600
Speaker 1: makes some sense. But it just it's really unfortunate because

521
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:48,320
Speaker 1: now he's off in Miami and he's averaging a career

522
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:50,840
Speaker 1: high twenty five points per game on sixty four percent

523
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:54,560
Speaker 1: true shooting, had thirty three points last night against the Calves,

524
00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:56,879
Speaker 1: and it's looking like a disaster of a trade. And

525
00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:59,160
Speaker 1: when you look at it in the context of all

526
00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:01,600
Speaker 1: of the other things that have gone wrong for the

527
00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:05,359
Speaker 1: Clippers to start the season, Kawhi coming out looking very

528
00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:09,920
Speaker 1: much like a second tier star, then getting hurt tweaking

529
00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:13,320
Speaker 1: his ankle. James Harden's been better as of late, but

530
00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:15,800
Speaker 1: you know, not quite as sharp as he was to

531
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:18,160
Speaker 1: start the season last year. James was great last night

532
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:20,479
Speaker 1: as he tried to dig that game out, But like,

533
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:23,320
Speaker 1: they just look old now, and they look like they're

534
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:26,679
Speaker 1: missing Pop. They look like they sorely miss that Norman

535
00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:29,720
Speaker 1: Powell Pop as an off ball scorer, transition weapon and

536
00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:31,399
Speaker 1: a guy that can run some action for them in

537
00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:34,560
Speaker 1: the half court, and so that John Collins tray definitely

538
00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:36,480
Speaker 1: not looking good for the Clippers. And there was a

539
00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:39,440
Speaker 1: risk there with Bradley Beal, and that risk has gone

540
00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:43,880
Speaker 1: in the negative direction. Number six, really bad night to

541
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:48,000
Speaker 1: be a Cleveland Cavaliers fan. Darius Garland goes down with

542
00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,960
Speaker 1: what looked like to be a toe injury, and if

543
00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:53,640
Speaker 1: he re injures that toe, that's a disaster for Cleveland.

544
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:55,480
Speaker 1: As I've talked about many times over the course the

545
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,640
Speaker 1: last few months, when Darius is healthy, I view the

546
00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:01,000
Speaker 1: Cavs as far and away the best team in the East.

547
00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:04,080
Speaker 1: Like if Darius was healthy in moving the way he

548
00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:07,600
Speaker 1: was during the regular season last year, I'd be legitimately

549
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:10,480
Speaker 1: surprised if any other team came out of the Eastern Conference.

550
00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:15,000
Speaker 1: But I've also talked about how Darius has generally struggled

551
00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:16,960
Speaker 1: to stay healthy in his career, and that's what makes

552
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:19,000
Speaker 1: the East feel so wide open is they have a

553
00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:22,320
Speaker 1: clear best team, but who knows if that team's going

554
00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:25,920
Speaker 1: to actually be able to operate at their individual peak

555
00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:29,680
Speaker 1: because of the Darius Garland injury history. And here's the thing.

556
00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:33,400
Speaker 1: When Darius is not healthy either not on the court

557
00:29:33,560 --> 00:29:36,680
Speaker 1: or not as mobile as he needs to be. They're

558
00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:38,680
Speaker 1: just firmly in the middle of the pack with the

559
00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:42,120
Speaker 1: rest of those Eastern Conference teams now as far as

560
00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:45,080
Speaker 1: looking forward, like who cares about the regular season standings?

561
00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:47,520
Speaker 1: Keep Darius out as long as it takes to get

562
00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:49,959
Speaker 1: him healthy. You just need him one hundred percent in April.

563
00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:52,120
Speaker 1: You're gonna beat all these teams even if you don't

564
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,440
Speaker 1: have home court as long as you're at one hundred percent.

565
00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:57,560
Speaker 1: But it's just super discouraging to see him go down

566
00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:00,640
Speaker 1: again after already taking his sweet time I'm getting back

567
00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:02,880
Speaker 1: from the injury that took place in the postseason last year.

568
00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:06,920
Speaker 1: And then, to make matters worse, the Calves lost in

569
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:10,600
Speaker 1: absolutely heartbreaking fashion last night. It looks kind of dead

570
00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:13,880
Speaker 1: in the water, but then Sam Merrill bangs four consecutive threes,

571
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:17,080
Speaker 1: including a bomb like a thirty five footer off of

572
00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 1: a drop off pass from Donovan Mitchell at the top

573
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:21,200
Speaker 1: of the key that ties the game, and all of

574
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:23,160
Speaker 1: a sudden they're right in it. And then they look

575
00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:25,320
Speaker 1: dead in the water again in the final minute, and

576
00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:29,040
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell hits like an off an offensive rebound, hits

577
00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:32,320
Speaker 1: like an insane running sprinting like people have no idea

578
00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:34,520
Speaker 1: how difficult the shot is. He's a right handed shooter

579
00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:38,080
Speaker 1: who's sprinting from under the basket at full speed to

580
00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:42,440
Speaker 1: the left corner. Plants's left foot spins his whole body around.

581
00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:45,959
Speaker 1: Plants's right foot gets squared up into mid air and

582
00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:47,960
Speaker 1: chucks it up in the air against the contest and

583
00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:50,160
Speaker 1: just drains a three that ties the game. Just an

584
00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:54,400
Speaker 1: unbelievable shot from Donovan Mitchell to tie it with four

585
00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:57,120
Speaker 1: tenths of a second left, and then Sam Marril and

586
00:30:57,120 --> 00:31:00,000
Speaker 1: DeAndre Hunter bought a switch on a sideline. Out of

587
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:04,640
Speaker 1: bounce play, Eric Spoltzer draws up essentially a play where

588
00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:08,920
Speaker 1: you've got two guys that are standing there at the

589
00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:11,480
Speaker 1: top of the key. Andrew Wiggins is the guy that's

590
00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:15,200
Speaker 1: at the top, like by the top of the key essentially,

591
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:17,520
Speaker 1: and then they have a shooter come running off the

592
00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:21,000
Speaker 1: two guys, and then a quick backscreen for Wiggins as

593
00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:23,440
Speaker 1: he goes towards the basket. So essentially a screen the

594
00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:26,480
Speaker 1: screen reaction, and there's a couple of different ways to

595
00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:28,600
Speaker 1: defend that. There's only four tenths of a second left,

596
00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:30,560
Speaker 1: so the guy who's sprinting out to half court is

597
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:34,120
Speaker 1: essentially not a threat. He's gonna have to catch and

598
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:38,080
Speaker 1: fire in the shortest possible amount of time while sprinting

599
00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:41,240
Speaker 1: away from the basket at like thirty five feet, so

600
00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:44,960
Speaker 1: he's a non threat, so over considering him makes no sense.

601
00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:48,280
Speaker 1: And then with the other two guys involving the little

602
00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:53,760
Speaker 1: backscreen for Wiggins, just switch it. There's no worry for

603
00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:55,760
Speaker 1: them to be able to turn around and fire. They

604
00:31:55,760 --> 00:31:59,440
Speaker 1: basically have to catch already squared up because if they don't,

605
00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:02,360
Speaker 1: it'll release will take more than four tenths of a second.

606
00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:05,160
Speaker 1: And Sam Merrill basically just I don't even know what

607
00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:08,640
Speaker 1: Sam was doing, kind of jumps towards the inbounder guarding nobody,

608
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:12,720
Speaker 1: and DeAndre Hunter gets back picked, and so Andrew Wiggins

609
00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:14,400
Speaker 1: the sense of running right to the front of the rim.

610
00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:17,800
Speaker 1: Yovic throws a perfect lob and Wiggins dunks it at

611
00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:21,080
Speaker 1: the buzzer and the Miami Heat wins. So unfortunate because

612
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:23,360
Speaker 1: Meryl was the only reason they had a chance to

613
00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:25,240
Speaker 1: win the game because of the job that he did

614
00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:27,240
Speaker 1: knocking down threes at the start of the fourth quarter.

615
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:30,160
Speaker 1: But just an absolutely brutal way to lose a game,

616
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:33,760
Speaker 1: and you lose one of your most important players. Just

617
00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:36,760
Speaker 1: a really rough night to be a Cleveland Cavaliers fan.

618
00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:41,760
Speaker 1: Number seven, Anthony Edwards is shooting the absolute shit out

619
00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:45,920
Speaker 1: of the basketball again. Exploded for twenty one points in

620
00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:47,960
Speaker 1: the third quarter against the Jazz last night on his

621
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:50,040
Speaker 1: way to a thirty five point night, hitting all sorts

622
00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:51,840
Speaker 1: of jumpers from three and from the top of the

623
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:54,840
Speaker 1: key in the mid range. Twenty three of his thirty

624
00:32:54,840 --> 00:32:57,600
Speaker 1: five points last night were on jump shots. And it's

625
00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:00,600
Speaker 1: fascinating because last year was the best jump footing season

626
00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:05,880
Speaker 1: of his career. He made made five jump shots per

627
00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:10,440
Speaker 1: game at one point zero seven points per shot, and

628
00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:14,080
Speaker 1: this year that's up to six made jump shots per

629
00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:19,479
Speaker 1: game at a preposterous one point two eight points per shot.

630
00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:22,960
Speaker 1: And he's been deadly all over the floor. Off of

631
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:26,360
Speaker 1: the catch from three, He's seven for eleven. That's insane.

632
00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:29,760
Speaker 1: He's getting one point one seven points per pull up

633
00:33:29,840 --> 00:33:33,440
Speaker 1: jump shot. Off the dribble jump shots. He's making forty

634
00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:39,840
Speaker 1: five percent of his pull up threes, making three point

635
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:43,480
Speaker 1: one pull up threes per game, which leads the NBA.

636
00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:45,840
Speaker 1: He's been okay from the mid range twelve for twenty eight,

637
00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:48,520
Speaker 1: still pretty strong. He hit several more of those last night.

638
00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:51,080
Speaker 1: He started cold this season, is starting to get it going.

639
00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:53,000
Speaker 1: And I mean, here's the thing. He's one of the

640
00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:57,080
Speaker 1: league's best athletes, and he's on a long run of

641
00:33:57,200 --> 00:33:59,760
Speaker 1: essentially being the best volume jump shooter in the league

642
00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:03,280
Speaker 1: not named Steph Curry. Just a ridiculous turn of events

643
00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:05,200
Speaker 1: for a guy with his level of athleticism. And by

644
00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:06,880
Speaker 1: the way, the Wolves have won five out of six.

645
00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:11,080
Speaker 1: They're second in offense over that span, and their defense,

646
00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:13,160
Speaker 1: which was brutal to start the year, is tenth in

647
00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:20,399
Speaker 1: defensive rating over that six game span. All right, three

648
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:24,680
Speaker 1: more Number eight Palamoncaro and Desmond Bain saved the Magic

649
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:28,560
Speaker 1: from a disaster last night. The Manas have been super

650
00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:30,880
Speaker 1: disappointing to start the year relative to the amount of

651
00:34:30,920 --> 00:34:33,839
Speaker 1: talent that they have and the expectations that sat over

652
00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:35,720
Speaker 1: the team coming in. I talked about how I thought

653
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:37,840
Speaker 1: they were the team that had the best chance to

654
00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:40,520
Speaker 1: hang with Cleveland and the standings in the regular season,

655
00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:44,480
Speaker 1: and they just underachieved. And they almost continued that disaster

656
00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:47,600
Speaker 1: last night another Denny Avdia a late game run the

657
00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:50,799
Speaker 1: Magic led the Blazers by nine with two point five

658
00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:54,520
Speaker 1: minutes left, and Denny Avdia hits two tough catch and

659
00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:58,120
Speaker 1: shoot threes. They run a really cool sideline out of

660
00:34:58,120 --> 00:34:59,680
Speaker 1: bounds play kind of similar to what we talked about

661
00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:02,600
Speaker 1: with Miam with a backscreen for Jeremy Grant, and Jeremy

662
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:05,680
Speaker 1: Grant finishes a tough lob plus the foul against Palo

663
00:35:05,719 --> 00:35:08,680
Speaker 1: Bancaro that ends up putting the Blazers up by two

664
00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:11,799
Speaker 1: with ten seconds left. So, after leading by nine with

665
00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:14,839
Speaker 1: two and a half minutes left, they trailed by two

666
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:19,000
Speaker 1: with ten seconds left. Palo makes two plays and Bain

667
00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:23,280
Speaker 1: makes one play that snatches victory from the jaws of defeat.

668
00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:26,400
Speaker 1: So starts with Palo getting Tomani Kamara one on one

669
00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:28,560
Speaker 1: out front about thirty feet from the basket at the

670
00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:30,960
Speaker 1: top of the key, and I thought Tomani made a

671
00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:33,920
Speaker 1: critical mistake here, like Pallo's a guy that, like you

672
00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:35,799
Speaker 1: want to give space and try to force to take

673
00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:39,319
Speaker 1: a difficult jump shot. But he pressured Palo thirty feet

674
00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:42,120
Speaker 1: from the basket, and Palo just blew right by him

675
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:45,480
Speaker 1: and finished through the rim through some contact and got

676
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:51,239
Speaker 1: an and one that ended up putting the Magic that

677
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:53,719
Speaker 1: ended up tying the game. And then Palo defends Drew

678
00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:57,840
Speaker 1: Holliday on the very next possession and just rips the

679
00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:01,200
Speaker 1: ball away from Drew tries to drive and Pala just

680
00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:04,840
Speaker 1: takes it away from him. So huge driving layup, huge

681
00:36:04,840 --> 00:36:08,879
Speaker 1: steal on Drew Holiday, then honestly on the sideline out

682
00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:11,000
Speaker 1: of bounds on the final play there, the final sequence,

683
00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:13,400
Speaker 1: there was like two seconds left. I thought they defended

684
00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:16,839
Speaker 1: it really well. Tamani Kamaras switched off onto Desmond Bain,

685
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:20,440
Speaker 1: got a great two handed contest right up in Desmond

686
00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:25,520
Speaker 1: Bain's face without fouling, and Baine just drilled a like

687
00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:31,560
Speaker 1: thirty foot drifting fading three, moving to his right in

688
00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:33,880
Speaker 1: front of that right sideline and ends up stealing the

689
00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:37,759
Speaker 1: game for the Magic. So from sitting at four and

690
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:41,520
Speaker 1: seven with another blown lead, sitting outside the play into

691
00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:45,000
Speaker 1: what ended up being a huge couple of plays there

692
00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:48,640
Speaker 1: from Bain and Pallo to get them back into the

693
00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:51,719
Speaker 1: win column at five and six. Long way to go

694
00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:53,360
Speaker 1: to get to where they need to go, especially in

695
00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:56,960
Speaker 1: the offensive end, but a couple of big plays to

696
00:36:57,040 --> 00:37:01,120
Speaker 1: save them from a travesty. Last night, number nine, the

697
00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:05,160
Speaker 1: sixth quarter, los Angeles Lakers slumber ended in the third

698
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:08,160
Speaker 1: quarter last night in Charlotte. The Lakers laid an absolute

699
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:10,879
Speaker 1: egg in Atlanta. We talked about that yesterday. I won't

700
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:12,560
Speaker 1: get into more detail now, but they followed it up

701
00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:15,080
Speaker 1: with an ugly first half against the short handed Hornets

702
00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:18,120
Speaker 1: in Charlotte. They're really struggling to contain the ball. They've

703
00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:20,120
Speaker 1: been having issues. This is something I've seen throughout the

704
00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:23,320
Speaker 1: last few games. They're really helping off the corner, including

705
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:26,120
Speaker 1: the strong side corner. And one of the things, one

706
00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:27,800
Speaker 1: of the reasons why many teams don't help off the

707
00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:31,520
Speaker 1: strong side corner is the specific reason having to do

708
00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:33,120
Speaker 1: with how easy of a pass that is. So if

709
00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:36,520
Speaker 1: someone drives to the right off of the right wing

710
00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:40,400
Speaker 1: and you help off of the right corner for a

711
00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:43,480
Speaker 1: right handed ball handler, it's like, Okay, there's just the

712
00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:46,879
Speaker 1: easiest little kickout pass in the world for a wide

713
00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:48,560
Speaker 1: open corner. Three. That's why you want to help off

714
00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:50,640
Speaker 1: the weak side corner and stay home on the strong

715
00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:52,719
Speaker 1: side corner, because at the very least you're going to

716
00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:56,400
Speaker 1: make them make a very difficult kickout pass across the court.

717
00:37:56,680 --> 00:38:00,239
Speaker 1: The Lakers have been really gapping, really trying to in

718
00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:02,360
Speaker 1: those driving lanes, and so there's a lot of easy

719
00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:05,520
Speaker 1: opportunities for teams through basic swing passes to knock down

720
00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:08,320
Speaker 1: threes or to drive close outs and get opportunities. And

721
00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:11,520
Speaker 1: they were getting burned throughout the last six quarters. And

722
00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:14,120
Speaker 1: really it's been a consistent trend over the last couple

723
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:15,960
Speaker 1: of weeks, as the Lakers have dipped down to twenty

724
00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:18,759
Speaker 1: third in defensive rating to start the season. But right

725
00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:22,640
Speaker 1: before the half, Luca hits a step back three and

726
00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:24,360
Speaker 1: then the Lakers get to stop and Ruey makes a

727
00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:26,640
Speaker 1: beautiful kick head pass to Austin who gets a layup

728
00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:28,839
Speaker 1: at the buzzer, and the Lakers end up going into

729
00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:31,920
Speaker 1: the half with a two point lead. And then jjmiss

730
00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:34,080
Speaker 1: to chewed them out or something, because they came out

731
00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:36,440
Speaker 1: to start that third quarter and looked like the Lakers

732
00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:38,359
Speaker 1: that we saw for the first few weeks of the year.

733
00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:41,600
Speaker 1: Just completely dominated the third quarter and blew the game open.

734
00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:44,040
Speaker 1: The starters went several minutes to start the second half

735
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:47,560
Speaker 1: without giving up a single straight line drive, consistently chesting

736
00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:49,839
Speaker 1: up on drives and keeping the ball in front. Their

737
00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:52,919
Speaker 1: rotations were sharp, they rebounded the ball well, they ran

738
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:55,560
Speaker 1: for good looks. Ruey paid off several sequences in that

739
00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:58,080
Speaker 1: early third quarter with catch and shoot threes that helped

740
00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:00,879
Speaker 1: blow things open and the Lakers cruise to double digit win.

741
00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:03,800
Speaker 1: One of the things I've talked about with on athletic

742
00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:08,120
Speaker 1: teams is you can't afford to be disengaged mentally or

743
00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:12,920
Speaker 1: physically if you're not athletic, because you're already behind in

744
00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:16,400
Speaker 1: terms of the mobility factor. So if you're also a

745
00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:20,600
Speaker 1: step behind mentally and you're also not playing to your

746
00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:24,840
Speaker 1: physical peak because you're not playing hard enough, you're really

747
00:39:24,840 --> 00:39:27,120
Speaker 1: gonna look bad. And we saw that for six quarters

748
00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:31,359
Speaker 1: against Atlanta and against Charlotte. But when they do hang

749
00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:33,879
Speaker 1: on to the rope in those areas, they're so good

750
00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:35,960
Speaker 1: on offense, so they can be a real problem. Another

751
00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:39,880
Speaker 1: sixty two points, eleven rebounds and fourteen assists from Austin

752
00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:43,040
Speaker 1: Reeves and Luka Doncic last night, despite going seven for

753
00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:45,279
Speaker 1: twenty five from three. They're both cooling off a little

754
00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:48,880
Speaker 1: bit from downtown. Big show down with Oklahoma City again

755
00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:51,880
Speaker 1: on Wednesday night. We will be watching that on playbacks.

756
00:39:51,960 --> 00:39:54,480
Speaker 1: Make sure you guys come hang out with us on

757
00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:58,919
Speaker 1: playback to watch that. Showdown lastly today quickly number ten

758
00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:01,160
Speaker 1: the Phoenix Sun. They're beginning to look as good on

759
00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:03,320
Speaker 1: defense as they looked on paper to start the season.

760
00:40:04,080 --> 00:40:05,880
Speaker 1: The Sun's got to blow out win against the Pelicans

761
00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:09,360
Speaker 1: last night. Grayson Allen came out guns blazing. He finished

762
00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:11,359
Speaker 1: with forty two. The Suns really blew the game open

763
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:13,200
Speaker 1: in the second quarter. They were getting a bunch of stops.

764
00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:15,239
Speaker 1: Then on the other end of the floor a good

765
00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:17,600
Speaker 1: a unit without Devin Booker, where they were running really

766
00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:19,600
Speaker 1: good dribble weave and moving the ball side to side,

767
00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:22,040
Speaker 1: and the threat of Grayson Allen, who at that point

768
00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:24,960
Speaker 1: already had like eighteen points, had kind of like started

769
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:26,800
Speaker 1: to generate a lot of attention as he was running

770
00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:28,759
Speaker 1: off of screening action, and so they generated a lot

771
00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:31,960
Speaker 1: of clean looks for Grayson and Verrois O'Neill over that

772
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,000
Speaker 1: second quarter stretch, and they kind of blew the game

773
00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:36,279
Speaker 1: open in that stretch and they never looked back from there.

774
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:39,400
Speaker 1: But the Sons held the Pelicans to just ninety eight points.

775
00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:42,240
Speaker 1: It was the fourth time in the last six games

776
00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:44,080
Speaker 1: that they've held their opponents to one hundred and three

777
00:40:44,120 --> 00:40:47,160
Speaker 1: points or fewer. They are now the fourth best defense

778
00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:49,360
Speaker 1: in the league over the course of their last six games.

779
00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:52,759
Speaker 1: I did a preseason pod with Benjamin Garcia covers he

780
00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:56,640
Speaker 1: works for. It covers the Phoenix Suns. He also covers

781
00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:59,359
Speaker 1: the Arizona Cardinals. Is a bunch of stuff in the

782
00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:02,680
Speaker 1: Phoenix air and he asked me a question on that show.

783
00:41:02,719 --> 00:41:04,600
Speaker 1: He said, do you think the Suns are capable of

784
00:41:04,600 --> 00:41:07,040
Speaker 1: being a top five defense? And one of the things

785
00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:08,840
Speaker 1: I talked to him about was like, Hey, it's complicated,

786
00:41:08,880 --> 00:41:10,680
Speaker 1: like do they end up tanking, how much of their

787
00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:12,640
Speaker 1: young guys do they play, blah blah blah. But one

788
00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:14,440
Speaker 1: of the things I said to Benjamin was they certainly

789
00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:17,000
Speaker 1: have that capability, and the reason why is because they

790
00:41:17,000 --> 00:41:19,480
Speaker 1: have a strong foundation and the key areas you need

791
00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:22,839
Speaker 1: to be good on defense. Do you have guys who

792
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:24,719
Speaker 1: can guard the opposing best players? He had, They have

793
00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:27,600
Speaker 1: two great ones in the starting lineup between Dylan Brooks

794
00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:30,480
Speaker 1: and Ryan Dunn that are kind of different types of players.

795
00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:33,600
Speaker 1: Dylan's a little bit more of like a fire hydrant,

796
00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:36,080
Speaker 1: like beat you to spots, you can't power through me

797
00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:39,080
Speaker 1: kind of guy. Ryan Dunn's got like, certainly a great

798
00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:40,959
Speaker 1: deal of strength, but he's got a lot of length

799
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:44,320
Speaker 1: and athleticism at the position. I think that their guards

800
00:41:44,360 --> 00:41:46,960
Speaker 1: are all pretty good defenders, like Devin Booker is a

801
00:41:46,960 --> 00:41:50,319
Speaker 1: good defender. Grayson Allen is a guy who's gonna do

802
00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:52,600
Speaker 1: his job in the defensive game plan and compete on

803
00:41:52,640 --> 00:41:55,960
Speaker 1: the defensive end of the four. Royce O'Neil plays physical defense.

804
00:41:56,239 --> 00:41:58,640
Speaker 1: And then in the front court. You know, obviously with

805
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:01,879
Speaker 1: Common Molowich you ever protection element, and he hasn't been

806
00:42:01,880 --> 00:42:04,360
Speaker 1: in the rotation. But you've got bigs that have some

807
00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:08,440
Speaker 1: capability to switch, and that has given them the flexibility

808
00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:11,240
Speaker 1: with also a Gadaro to do some switching. Mark Williams

809
00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:13,960
Speaker 1: is mistake prone, but he's been okay. Like there is

810
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:18,000
Speaker 1: a good amount of defensive talent with this group, especially

811
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:20,560
Speaker 1: on the perimeter that gives them a fighting chance every

812
00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:23,319
Speaker 1: night defensively, and they're showing that over the course of

813
00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:25,560
Speaker 1: the last six games. All Right, guys, it's all I

814
00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:27,839
Speaker 1: have for today is always to sincerely appreciate you guys

815
00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:30,440
Speaker 1: for supporting us and supporting the show. We'll be back

816
00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:33,160
Speaker 1: tomorrow morning with more game reaction and then again tomorrow

817
00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:36,479
Speaker 1: night on playback for Lakers Thunder. I will see you guys,

818
00:42:36,480 --> 00:42:36,640
Speaker 1: then