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Speaker 1: hope all of you guys are having a great weekend
Speaker 1: so far. Enjoyed a couple of good nights away from
Speaker 1: the game of basketball, but I'm excited to dive back
Speaker 1: into it. We're gonna hit three games from the last
Speaker 1: two nights. The Golden State Warriors dropping their eleventh consecutive
Speaker 1: game against the Memphis Grizzlies, who were super impressive on
Speaker 1: both ends of the floor. So I want to spend
Speaker 1: some time talking about the Grizzlies. Today, the Los Angeles
Speaker 1: Lakers lost a heartbreaker to the Dallas Mavericks on the
Speaker 1: back of Maxi kleiba In an awesome fourth quarter from
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving. We're gonna dive into that game from the
Speaker 1: perspective of both teams. And then, last but not least,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go over the Eastern Conference. The New York
Speaker 1: Knicks won their third consecutive game in very impressive fashion
Speaker 1: over the Denver Nuggets. So lots of good basketball to
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Speaker 1: So Memphis just absolutely bludgeoned Golden States defense last night.
Speaker 1: They scored one hundred and thirty three points. They shot
Speaker 1: fifty five percent from the field, forty seven percent from three,
Speaker 1: and that's sixty points in the paint. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's interesting because the Grizzlies have always been good without
Speaker 1: John Morant, but usually it's because of the physicality areas
Speaker 1: of the game. This is a great defensive team. John
Speaker 1: Morant is one of the weakest defensive links in the
Speaker 1: entire league. So when you take him out of the
Speaker 1: equation and put a bigger, stronger guard in entirest Jones
Speaker 1: into that spot, and when you're playing more wing talent,
Speaker 1: you're just gonna get a better, more physically imposing team.
Speaker 1: But what's been really impressive in this particular run, and
Speaker 1: they're five and three since John Morant went out, is offensively,
Speaker 1: they've been getting a lot of high level production from guys.
Speaker 1: Ty's Jones has been amazing. He's got excellent pick and
Speaker 1: pop chemistry with Jaron Jackson Junior that we're gonna get
Speaker 1: to in a little bit. Desmond Bain has been playing
Speaker 1: at extremely high level. Dylan Brooks is finally starting to
Speaker 1: hit some shots after a rough start to the season.
Speaker 1: He hit a bunch of huge threes in this particular
Speaker 1: game to swing things on the offensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: And so with everything that they're getting out of that group,
Speaker 1: they're actually scoring at a pretty damn effective level. Jaron
Speaker 1: Jackson Junior thirty one points last night, hating threes, attacking closeouts.
Speaker 1: Like I said, he was running that picking pop with
Speaker 1: Tys Jones a lot, and what it's helping there is
Speaker 1: he's attacking guys like Kevan Luni with an advantage. And
Speaker 1: when Kevon Luny, you know, one of the things that
Speaker 1: he's a very good defensive player, but one of the
Speaker 1: things that he doesn't do a lot is have to
Speaker 1: close out to shooters and it's just completely different footwork.
Speaker 1: And Jaren Jackson has been really good driving clothesouts this
Speaker 1: year and getting into the lane. He scored ten points
Speaker 1: justin pick and pop stuff with Tys Jones in this game.
Speaker 1: And you know, since John Morant went down, they've needed
Speaker 1: extra scoring punch out of him, and he's been great,
Speaker 1: shooting fifty percent from the field in averaging twenty two
Speaker 1: points per game, up from his typical average, which is
Speaker 1: around seventeen. Right, So everybody's stepping up and they're really
Speaker 1: impressive on both ends of the floor right now. You know,
Speaker 1: when I was watching the film this morning, the most
Speaker 1: impressive thing to me was Memphis's interior defense. You know,
Speaker 1: a lot of Golden State's actions. You know, we always
Speaker 1: talk about Steph's gravity, but it's kind of like their
Speaker 1: whole system in the form and the gravity that it
Speaker 1: generates between Steph Clay and Jordan Pool, where guys are
Speaker 1: flying off these dribble handoffs and off ball actions and
Speaker 1: you get a lot of slips to the rim for
Speaker 1: guys of Kavan Looney, for guys like Draymond Green, and
Speaker 1: for guys like Jonathan Cominga right, but like all night long,
Speaker 1: Jaren Jackson, Junior Xavier Tillman just digging down at the basketball,
Speaker 1: disrupting things before they go up to the rim, then
Speaker 1: contesting high above the rim. They help. This is a
Speaker 1: crazy stat. Golden State missed twenty six shots just in
Speaker 1: the paint in this game. They were twenty two for
Speaker 1: forty eight on field goal attempts in the paint in
Speaker 1: this game. That is an insane level of defensive impact
Speaker 1: from Memphis front court. And again, you gotta remember that's
Speaker 1: with most of their defense extended out to the three
Speaker 1: point line, dealing with all the Golden States shooters. So like,
Speaker 1: the job that those two guys did cleaning up everything
Speaker 1: around the basket was extremely impressive in this game. Jared
Speaker 1: Jackson junior man, every single month just takes a little
Speaker 1: bit of a step towards becoming that perennial All Star
Speaker 1: that we know he's going to be. So, you know,
Speaker 1: shout out to Memphis, like I good. Like, here's the thing,
Speaker 1: Memphis is not my favorite team. You know, like, I
Speaker 1: really don't like Dylan Brooks. I have no patience for
Speaker 1: somebody who actively tries to hurt basketball players. And I've
Speaker 1: seen a lot of Memphis fans be like, oh, but
Speaker 1: it's like Draymond No, no no, no, Draymond has a lot
Speaker 1: of hard fouls in his career and he's done some
Speaker 1: jankie stuff, but it's not the same Draymond Green was
Speaker 1: never going to clothesline a guy on a breakaway dunk
Speaker 1: and break his elbow. That's just Dylan Brooks. Draymond Green
Speaker 1: isn't gonna deliberately do extra barrel rolls on the ground
Speaker 1: to roll up into a guy's ankles and knees. That's
Speaker 1: just Dylan Brooks. You know. Draymond Green is never going
Speaker 1: to shove a cameraman for no particular reason other than
Speaker 1: to just be an asshole. That's a Dylan Brooks thing.
Speaker 1: So don't compare those two guys to me. They're not
Speaker 1: the same. Like, yeah, yeah, Draymond's a little bit of
Speaker 1: a He's a guy that plays an extremely physical brand
Speaker 1: of basketball and he does some jankie stuff that's outside
Speaker 1: of the rules, not in the same stratosphere as what
Speaker 1: Dylan Brooks does, So stop comparing them. You know, don't
Speaker 1: like Dylan Brooks. Yeah, it bothers me that they talk
Speaker 1: a bunch of shit for a team that hasn't really
Speaker 1: accomplished much. So there are some things that I dislike
Speaker 1: about the team, But I'm not like a just a
Speaker 1: blind hater. I know they're good. I know Memphis can play.
Speaker 1: Their defense is an incredible foundation for them to build
Speaker 1: on over the course of the next couple years. My
Speaker 1: pessimism surrounding them as a playoff team set stems from
Speaker 1: just the way that I look at basketball teams and
Speaker 1: what I think they need to be good at to
Speaker 1: succeed in the playoffs. I think you need to be
Speaker 1: excellent defensively, particularly in the front court. They have that
Speaker 1: box resoundingly checked. Jaron Jackson Junior to me, is absolutely
Speaker 1: a guy who can be a foundational defensive piece for
Speaker 1: a championship team. You need to have excellent perimeter defense.
Speaker 1: Dylan Brooks has been doing a number on stars around
Speaker 1: the league all season long. They've got that checked. Really,
Speaker 1: John Morand, is that one little weak entry point, But
Speaker 1: I don't think that necessarily would be enough to get
Speaker 1: them beat if they had everything else checked. The reason
Speaker 1: why I'm not super high on Memphis is shot creation.
Speaker 1: Their half court shot creators are a little bit limited. Yes,
Speaker 1: John Morand's really really good, Desmond Bain's really good. Ties
Speaker 1: Shones is really good. In every playoff series in the
Speaker 1: later rounds, they're going to be going against higher level
Speaker 1: shot creators, that's an issue. And then off ball, they
Speaker 1: just they're one of the worst spot up teams in
Speaker 1: the league, so their shot creators are generating shots for
Speaker 1: guys that can't knock them down. They are less than
Speaker 1: a point per possession on spot up possessions this year,
Speaker 1: that's twenty sixth in the league. So yeah, I dislike Memphis,
Speaker 1: but I also think they're good. But at the same time, like,
Speaker 1: I don't put them in that list of eight teams
Speaker 1: that can potentially win the title simply because I don't
Speaker 1: think they have the shot creation or the off ball
Speaker 1: shot finishing to be able to score well enough to
Speaker 1: win the title. I look at them as Cleveland of
Speaker 1: the Western Conference, Like, yes, if John Morant goes absolutely
Speaker 1: insane in the playoffs, they have a chance to win,
Speaker 1: but it's extremely slim. If Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland
Speaker 1: go absolutely insane in the playoffs, they have a chance
Speaker 1: to win, but it's very slim. And Cleveland has more
Speaker 1: shot creation and is better as a spot up team.
Speaker 1: So like, I actually think Cleveland's a better version of
Speaker 1: Memphis in the West. So yeah, I'm not a fan
Speaker 1: of the Grizzlies, but there's a basketball reason why I
Speaker 1: feel the way that I feel about them. On the
Speaker 1: Warriors front, it was a frustrating game because they really competed,
Speaker 1: and you know, they got within two in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarters one o eight, one oh six, and then Dylan
Speaker 1: Brooks comes down and takes and makes a transition pull
Speaker 1: up three that sucks. It happens big time shot. Like
Speaker 1: I said, Dylan Brooks was a huge swing factor in
Speaker 1: this game on the offensive end of the floor. But
Speaker 1: then there were two absolutely critical errors from Jordan Pool
Speaker 1: from the one eleven one oh six point that I
Speaker 1: thought costs the Warriors the game. There was a play
Speaker 1: where at one eleven one oh six where Jordan Pool
Speaker 1: gets Downhill, drives to the basket and Clay Thompson is
Speaker 1: wide open in the left corner, like just completely unguarded.
Speaker 1: Desmond Bain I believe, is guarding Steph on this particular play,
Speaker 1: panics and leaves and is like going to Clay because
Speaker 1: he thinks he's gonna get that shot, and he would
Speaker 1: have been too late. If Jordan would have made the past,
Speaker 1: he would have knocked it down. But instead Jordan throws
Speaker 1: up this like crazy wild left handed layup that had
Speaker 1: no chance of going in Clay Thompson's super discouraged kind
Speaker 1: of jogs back in transition defense that down the other end,
Speaker 1: I think Luke Kennard gets a wide up and three.
Speaker 1: He misses it, but David Roddy gets an offensive rebound
Speaker 1: in large part because they're not matched up, and he
Speaker 1: gets fouled under the rim and he makes one of
Speaker 1: the free throws could two possessions later, Jordan Poole just
Speaker 1: dribbles the ball at the floor on the right wing
Speaker 1: and just throws an aimless skip pass across the court
Speaker 1: and gets picked off and goes the other way for
Speaker 1: Desmond Bayd to hit a three in the corner, which
Speaker 1: effectively was the dagger. Steph hit a three after that,
Speaker 1: but then Desmond Baine hit a three right after that
Speaker 1: where Steph kind of ran into Dylan Brooks and Dillon
Speaker 1: Brooks like fell on the ground almost into Clay Thompson's legs,
Speaker 1: so Clay Thompson stopped running, Steph is looking at the
Speaker 1: refs instead of paying attention, and Desmond band comes off
Speaker 1: free and clear and hits a three. They just were
Speaker 1: so not sharp in the details defensively in this game.
Speaker 1: But those two, those two a rim read from Jordan
Speaker 1: Pool and that skip pass I thought were the two
Speaker 1: play because it was right there for the taking. And again,
Speaker 1: like with the Jordan Pool thing, I've always said, like
Speaker 1: his limitations just come to the surface in a bigger
Speaker 1: way when you're dealing with issues with personnel. When you
Speaker 1: have your full roster, you can contend with some of
Speaker 1: those issues. But when the when the personnel limitations are there,
Speaker 1: Jordan Poole's decision making issues come to the surface. Jordan
Speaker 1: Poole's issues defense and in defense and rebounding situations, they
Speaker 1: come to the surface more. It's it's just, it's just
Speaker 1: the unfortunate reality of their predicament. Like I mean, I
Speaker 1: told you guys this from the beginning. I I know
Speaker 1: how what this core is capable of. But when you
Speaker 1: take Andrew Wiggins out of the equation, and you take
Speaker 1: Gary Payton out of the equation, they are too small
Speaker 1: and too unathletic to consistently win on the road. At home,
Speaker 1: they just play with a ferocity in front of their
Speaker 1: home crowd that can overcome those issues to a certain extent.
Speaker 1: But on the road they can't match that effort differential
Speaker 1: in the personnel issues shine to the surface. And you know,
Speaker 1: here's the thing. I can never write them off completely
Speaker 1: because they're gonna be in the play. And my guess
Speaker 1: is it's gonna end up being something like Lakers Warriors,
Speaker 1: kind of similar to twenty twenty one where they're Lakers
Speaker 1: Warriors playing in that seven eight playoff game. That's just
Speaker 1: my guess. But like they're you know, I can't completely
Speaker 1: write them off because as long as that group is there,
Speaker 1: we know what they're capable of. And if Andrew Wiggins
Speaker 1: comes back, you know, like I've heard, I've heard some
Speaker 1: Warriors fans complaining about the vibes, and yeah, they're bad vibes.
Speaker 1: The team doesn't seem happy. Everyone seems pissed at Jordan Pool.
Speaker 1: Everyone's you know, showing bad body language. But that's just
Speaker 1: everyone overreacts to that stuff. Who likes to lose basketball games? Seriously,
Speaker 1: show me, show me the person who likes to lose
Speaker 1: basketball games. They've lost six out of eight. They're not
Speaker 1: going to be running around Stoke tie fiving each other
Speaker 1: and acting all happy. That's not how it works. And like, yeah,
Speaker 1: if if Andrew Wiggins comes back before the end of
Speaker 1: the season and they win two three games in a row,
Speaker 1: all the energy of the team is going to turn over.
Speaker 1: That That's why I can't completely write them off. But
Speaker 1: make no mistake, it looks bleak because there's certainly no
Speaker 1: word coming that Andrew Wiggins is on his way back
Speaker 1: like they're they're hoping, but there's no there's nothing substantial there.
Speaker 1: They're only one and a half games up on the
Speaker 1: eleventh seed, so they could just as easily miss the
Speaker 1: play in if they don't come together and win some games.
Speaker 1: And looking at their schedule, there's some easy ones in there,
Speaker 1: but there's also some hard ones. At Houston. Houston's beating
Speaker 1: everybody right now. They just beat the Pelicans and the
Speaker 1: Lakers and the Celtics back to back to back at home.
Speaker 1: They're hard to beat in Houston. You're playing on the road.
Speaker 1: They're a big they're a lot more athletic on the
Speaker 1: perimeter than you think, and they actually present some physical
Speaker 1: mismatches they're gonna be That's not an easy game. I'd
Speaker 1: pick Golden State to win, but that's not an easy
Speaker 1: game at Dallas. Now that Kyrie Irving's back and playing,
Speaker 1: Now that Maxi Kleiba's back in point, Maxie's be back
Speaker 1: for a little while, but Maxie clee but just kinda
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about this a little bit with Dallas
Speaker 1: when we talk about the Lakers. But he resolves just
Speaker 1: enough of their front court issues on both ends of
Speaker 1: the floor to make them a serious basketball team, even
Speaker 1: though I don't think they can win the title, like
Speaker 1: they're not. That's not an easy game. Okay, then you
Speaker 1: come home, but who do you play? Philly? That's not
Speaker 1: an easy game. Then Minnesota and maybe if you're lucky,
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards is still out with an ankle injury at
Speaker 1: that point and you still have a chance to win
Speaker 1: that game. Then Pels and Spurs. So there's three easy
Speaker 1: wins there at home probably, But then you go right
Speaker 1: back on the road to Denver, not an easy game.
Speaker 1: Then you have Oklahoma City at home, that's probably a win.
Speaker 1: But then you go to Sacramento, not an easy game.
Speaker 1: To Portland, not an easy game. Maybe if you get lucky,
Speaker 1: Sacramentos resting players in that game, but like, look, they
Speaker 1: could just as easily go below five hundred in that
Speaker 1: stretch if they don't get it together. Everything comes down
Speaker 1: to Wiggins as it pertains to their ceiling. But they're
Speaker 1: never getting to that ceiling if they can't secure a
Speaker 1: playoff spot. And they aren't securing a playoff spot unless
Speaker 1: they just lock in and win some of these games.
Speaker 1: They've got to get a few of these games, all right,
Speaker 1: Let's move on to MAVs Lakers. So the MAVs win
Speaker 1: one eleven to one ten. Kyrie was just unbelievable in
Speaker 1: this game, especially down the stretch, making reads and making
Speaker 1: little floaters and getting to the basket and drawing free
Speaker 1: throw attempts. He had thirty eight, six and six. On
Speaker 1: the other end of the floor, the Lakers were running
Speaker 1: good stuff. But Danel they it's so funny and this
Speaker 1: is just shot result, man, like some of this stuff,
Speaker 1: some of this stuff is just the way it shakes
Speaker 1: out over an eighty two games season, right Like D'Angel
Speaker 1: Russell got several wide open shots in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: of this game. He just couldn't make a single one
Speaker 1: of them. And then down the stretch of the game,
Speaker 1: in spite of all that, because Dennis Schroeder made some
Speaker 1: big plays, you know, Anthony Davis made a couple of
Speaker 1: big plays. They were defending well. They were still up
Speaker 1: by four with less than a minute left, and three
Speaker 1: crucial mistakes from Anthony Davis cost them the game, losing
Speaker 1: Maxi Cliba off ball and making a reckless close out.
Speaker 1: We talked about this a lot. You know, in that
Speaker 1: Minnesota game against Brooklyn. If you like a week ago
Speaker 1: execution wins and loses basketball games, you know, it's funny.
Speaker 1: I've I've played in so many basketball games in my life,
Speaker 1: at so many different levels, and every time you lose
Speaker 1: a game, it haunts you, right, And when I think
Speaker 1: back to games that I've lost in my life, that
Speaker 1: what haunts me is always a little thing. It's always
Speaker 1: like a miss box out here, or like one play
Speaker 1: towards the end where you didn't quite sprint back in
Speaker 1: transition and you gave up a layup, or you know,
Speaker 1: a bad foul, a miss defensive rotation, a play where
Speaker 1: you had a chance to make a play and maybe
Speaker 1: you held back. There's always these little things that end
Speaker 1: up swinging basketball games. It's one of my favorite things
Speaker 1: about the game of basketball. I love that complex nature
Speaker 1: of it. I love that chess match. But like it
Speaker 1: can be painful, it can cost you. And we talked
Speaker 1: about against in that Minnesota Brooklyn game overhelping on contained drivers.
Speaker 1: A contested shot has significantly less value than an uncontested shot,
Speaker 1: regardless of where it is at the floor. These are pros,
Speaker 1: they make them so if you if Rudy Gobert is
Speaker 1: contesting a really tough spencer, didn't what he stepped through,
Speaker 1: You've got a better chance getting a stop there. Then
Speaker 1: if you overhelp and give a wide open shot to
Speaker 1: Roy Soneil like we talked about, or when Rudy Gobert
Speaker 1: helped off of Dorian Phinney Smith, that cost them a
Speaker 1: game that they should have won. And you saw the
Speaker 1: same thing in this Lakers game. The Lakers played better,
Speaker 1: they were in position to win up forward less than
Speaker 1: a minute left, containing the ball, they had Kyrie corralled,
Speaker 1: but they abandoned Maxi Kleber twice off the ball Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: and he's one of the best. He's one of the
Speaker 1: best defensive players in the history of the league. So
Speaker 1: it's just bizarre. And that's what makes it such a
Speaker 1: brutal loss for the Lakers. Was you do everything right,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't a personnel shortcoming. It wasn't you did
Speaker 1: everything right, but then they stuck their center on Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook and suddenly you couldn't score and you lost. It
Speaker 1: wasn't you did everything right, but you generated high quality
Speaker 1: shots for bad shooters, and so personnel no, no no, no,
Speaker 1: you had all the right guys, You did all the
Speaker 1: right things in your very best player toasted the game
Speaker 1: away at the end with three mistakes. It's just it's
Speaker 1: super unfortunate. He fouls Maxi Kleba on a three at
Speaker 1: the top of the key. Maxie goes the line, makes
Speaker 1: all three underrated element of that. Maxie Cleban makes all
Speaker 1: three of those free throws. He gets his rhythm and
Speaker 1: he's now practiced his release three times immediately before the
Speaker 1: game winning shot. Then on the final possession, Kyrie is
Speaker 1: double teamed. The only open asses the skip pass and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis drops way down into the lane, leaves maxically
Speaker 1: bow but just eerily reminiscent to the game they lost
Speaker 1: against the Pacers earlier this year, when Lebron James made
Speaker 1: the exact same mistake and overhelped on a contained ball handler,
Speaker 1: leaving I believe Andrew Nemhart wide open on the left wing,
Speaker 1: I will say, on the Dallas front. You know, obviously
Speaker 1: Kyrie brings in that shot. Creation again it Kyrie's won
Speaker 1: a lot of games. I think this is at least
Speaker 1: the third that I can think of this year where
Speaker 1: Kyrie's won a game without Luca because of what he
Speaker 1: can do as a shot creator. Like it's just so
Speaker 1: funny to me how every time we have discussions about
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving, everyone just massively glosses over just how damn
Speaker 1: good he is at basketball, Like he outplayed Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: last in that game. I said, just as an idea
Speaker 1: with Colin Coward, if Anthony Davis got hurt, they might
Speaker 1: have to consider using him to get Kyrie, and everyone
Speaker 1: lost their freaking mind. And I don't. I wouldn't even
Speaker 1: necessarily do that. I was just pitching that as like, hey, like,
Speaker 1: if any gets hurt three years in a row, maybe
Speaker 1: flipping him for a star wouldn't be the end of
Speaker 1: the world, because you're like, you're not getting a star.
Speaker 1: You never get a star. You always get picks and
Speaker 1: young prospects, like whatever it is you do. Even if
Speaker 1: you want to say that I'm wrong, and you know what,
Speaker 1: for the record, I probably wouldn't do that. I was
Speaker 1: just presenting the idea. But at least can we be
Speaker 1: honest in the conversation. Kyrie's freaking good, man, He's really
Speaker 1: really good, and that's what he's capable of as a
Speaker 1: ceiling raising player. A couple that with Maxi Kleibo, which
Speaker 1: gives you just a really good defensive front court player
Speaker 1: that can guard switches onto the perimeter and can guard big,
Speaker 1: strong forwards, can compete in the physicality areas of the game,
Speaker 1: and a legitimate pick and pop threat on the other
Speaker 1: end of the floor. Just bringing him back into the fold,
Speaker 1: I think it's been about a month that he's been
Speaker 1: back now. Just bringing him back into the fold just
Speaker 1: makes so many things make sense for Dallas on both
Speaker 1: ends of the floor. Again, it's not enough. They have
Speaker 1: massive depth issues on the front line that will cost them.
Speaker 1: I do not think this team can win a championship,
Speaker 1: but just getting Kleiba back and having him play like
Speaker 1: that on both ends of the flour just kind of
Speaker 1: makes everything makes sense more for Dallas. I want to
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about Anthony Davis for a minute, because, like,
Speaker 1: this is the Lakers have lost three out of four now,
Speaker 1: and this is what it went This is what went down.
Speaker 1: He got resoundingly outplayed by Julius Randall and mightily struggled
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter against Isaiah Hartenstein in a loss
Speaker 1: against the Knicks. At the time, I kind of glossed
Speaker 1: over it. Why because he had been playing great pulling
Speaker 1: into that stretch, right, and so it was just like, hey,
Speaker 1: like eighty had a bad night, first bad night in
Speaker 1: a while, Let's not think too much about it. Denny
Speaker 1: goes into New Orleans and just obliterates the Pelicans, has
Speaker 1: like twenty points in the first half, just kills him.
Speaker 1: Then he has to sit out a game against Houston,
Speaker 1: which directly costs them a game. They give up seventy
Speaker 1: something points in the paint, and then he botches the
Speaker 1: end against Dallas, and all of that adds up to
Speaker 1: one in three. And here's the problem. Everyone else in
Speaker 1: the West is flopping all over the place, losing games,
Speaker 1: Clippers losing games, Warriors losing games, Minnesota losing games. Everyone's losing.
Speaker 1: And so there's like, if Anthony Davis plays against Houston
Speaker 1: and they win that game and he doesn't make those
Speaker 1: mistakes against Dallas, the Lakers are now the sixth seed.
Speaker 1: They would be the sixth seed right now with a
Speaker 1: favorable upcoming schedule and be in great position to avoid
Speaker 1: the play in and like, lucky for them, they still
Speaker 1: have a chance because everyone keeps losing and they might
Speaker 1: still get up there, but they are blowing opportunities here.
Speaker 1: And what's unfortunate is a lot of this is coming
Speaker 1: down to Anthony Davis. And you know, it's funny. I
Speaker 1: was talking with some of the guys on my team
Speaker 1: here at the volume, just kind of like bouncing the
Speaker 1: idea of kind of players that remind me of Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: because it's such a bizarre experience comes to La and
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty, just start to finish dominance. From game
Speaker 1: one to when they hoisted the trophy, Anthony Davis was
Speaker 1: fantastic the whole damn time. I think I ranked him
Speaker 1: the fourth best player in the world at that point,
Speaker 1: and he deserved that recognition. He was incredible. His defensive
Speaker 1: performance in Game six of the NBA Finals was one
Speaker 1: of the best defensive games I've ever seen a player play.
Speaker 1: Completely shut Miami's water off. But since then, it's been
Speaker 1: a recurring theme, these escalations and then a complete drop off.
Speaker 1: There's no maintaining that top level of play. Two thousand
Speaker 1: and one, or excuse me, two twenty one. He gets
Speaker 1: back in time for the playoffs, just obliterates Phoenix twice
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. You're up two games to one. You're
Speaker 1: in great shape, ad they just have no answer for
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, and then he pulls us growing can't finish
Speaker 1: the series. Twenty twenty two is just a disaster of injuries.
Speaker 1: Here's how bad two twenty two was. Aidie never even
Speaker 1: managed to score thirty points three games in a row,
Speaker 1: which is something he's done three times already this year,
Speaker 1: but comes back into two twenty three, gets up to
Speaker 1: that ceiling twice he did earlier this season and just recently,
Speaker 1: but he can't stay there. Earlier this year culminating in
Speaker 1: a fifty point game in Washington, just a month of
Speaker 1: just incredibly dominant MVP level basketball. Then he leaves the
Speaker 1: next game sick. Then he gets into foul trouble against
Speaker 1: Joel Ebid and really struggles, actually has a chance to
Speaker 1: win that game at the line, misses another clutch free throw,
Speaker 1: and then he gets hurt and misses a month and
Speaker 1: a half. So we got there and just couldn't stay there.
Speaker 1: And then again this recent stretch, dominant nine and four
Speaker 1: post trades, playing great basketball, and then you drop three
Speaker 1: out of four games because you get badly outplayed by
Speaker 1: two inferior players against the Knicks can't even play on
Speaker 1: the back to back in a must win game against Houston,
Speaker 1: and crucial mistakes down the stretch, not paying attention to
Speaker 1: cost you a game the other night against Alice, and
Speaker 1: so it's like he gets there, but he just can't
Speaker 1: stay there. And it's it's really bizarre because like I
Speaker 1: can't think of another player that I have seen come
Speaker 1: through the NBA that they're ceiling. Is best player in
Speaker 1: the world, but no team would probably take him as
Speaker 1: a foundational piece to try to win a championship because
Speaker 1: he can't stay there. So it's it's a really interesting conundrum. Again,
Speaker 1: they'd be the sixth seed right now if they get
Speaker 1: two of those games. It's not over. Like I said,
Speaker 1: they still have plenty of chance opportunity here down the stretch.
Speaker 1: Like I said, Golden State has no wings because of
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins, They're gonna keep falling. Their schedule is tough. Dallas, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Maxie Cleeb was playing great, but they don't want the
Speaker 1: front court depth. Anthony Edwards just sprained his ankle. That
Speaker 1: helps on the Minnesota front although hopefully he's not out
Speaker 1: for too long because I really want to see Minnesota
Speaker 1: play in a playoff series. Oklahoma City keeps resting Jalen
Speaker 1: Williams and Shake Hill just Alexander randomly as like a
Speaker 1: pseudo tank job. But they're not going to gain any
Speaker 1: ground on that group unless Anthony Davis gets it together.
Speaker 1: And this isn't even a health issue. He's just not
Speaker 1: playing well enough. He needs to get back up to
Speaker 1: that level. And there's a specific reason why I think
Speaker 1: the Lakers have to finish at least eighth. One gives
Speaker 1: you two chances at the plan. If you're in the
Speaker 1: eight seed or the seventh seed and you lose that game,
Speaker 1: you get another chance. If you're in the nine ten,
Speaker 1: it's single elimination from the Star and you have to
Speaker 1: win two games, so it's a significant better position. Also,
Speaker 1: if you win the seven eight matchup, then you get
Speaker 1: to play the two seat, which is likely going to
Speaker 1: be Sacramento in a much easier opponent in the first
Speaker 1: round than Denver. In my opinion, they're one of the
Speaker 1: worst defensive teams in the league. And if you can
Speaker 1: get up to seven, you get home court for that
Speaker 1: playing game, and if you get up to six, you
Speaker 1: get out of it entirely. So there is still a
Speaker 1: lot of incentive for the Lakers to try to claw
Speaker 1: their way up that stretch of the standings, and I'm
Speaker 1: curious to see if they can put it together. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move over to the Eastern Conference a little bit.
Speaker 1: The New York Knicks beat the Nuggets one sixteen to
Speaker 1: one ten yesterday. Super interesting game is chess match down
Speaker 1: the stretch on both ends of the floor. When the
Speaker 1: Knicks had the ball, they were relentlessly attacking Jamal Murray
Speaker 1: Nikola Yok, which was actually doing a really nice job
Speaker 1: and drop coverage protecting the rim. In this particular game,
Speaker 1: they were funneling pretty well, but they just kept, you know,
Speaker 1: it was it was funny. You'd see Jalen Brunson dribbling
Speaker 1: on the right wing and he'd be being guarded by
Speaker 1: Contavious callball Pope, and you'd literally hear Tom Thibodeau screaming
Speaker 1: from the sideline two two two, which I'm assuming was
Speaker 1: him asking for a two one ball screen, which means
Speaker 1: the pick point guard is your one right and you're
Speaker 1: shooting guard is your two. And in this case, I
Speaker 1: want to say it was Emmanuel Quickly, but he was
Speaker 1: being guarded by Jamal Murray and he's just calling for
Speaker 1: a ball screen to try to get a switch, and
Speaker 1: then Jalen Brunson would get onto Jamal Murray and then
Speaker 1: just immediately go to work. I think he scored on
Speaker 1: him three times down the stretch of this game, including
Speaker 1: icing the game by getting him up in the air
Speaker 1: and with a pump fake and getting to the foul line.
Speaker 1: Then on the other end of the floor, it was
Speaker 1: a steady diet of Murray Yoket's pick and roll, and
Speaker 1: it was It's kind of an interesting adjustment from New
Speaker 1: York because Yokis was killing them in the role. Just
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray dragging that second defender around, dropping off to
Speaker 1: Yoki's yoke. It's just doing that hard power dribble into
Speaker 1: his spin move back towards his right hand to make
Speaker 1: that little floating hook shot that he makes. And they
Speaker 1: were having a lot of success there, but then Julius
Speaker 1: Randall just started completely ignoring Aaron Gordon and parking in
Speaker 1: the paint. So then Yokich's adjustment was to pop to
Speaker 1: the three point line and out there the first time,
Speaker 1: like Jamal Murray just didn't even look at Yokich and
Speaker 1: shot like a floater over a double team that he missed.
Speaker 1: Some of Jamal Murray's late game decision making hasn't been great.
Speaker 1: And then on another one, they kicked it out too many,
Speaker 1: pump faked and he missed to three, So that a
Speaker 1: little adjustment from the Knicks got them the two big
Speaker 1: stops that they needed at the end of the game.
Speaker 1: And you're starting to see a lot of teams now
Speaker 1: really ignoring Aaron Gordon, really ignoring Christian Braun, really ignoring
Speaker 1: Jeff Green in the week side corner. The Knicks were
Speaker 1: doing that the entire second half, and you know, guys
Speaker 1: like Christian Braun and Jeff Green, they're making shots, but
Speaker 1: teams aren't guarding them, and that fundamentally changes the way
Speaker 1: that it feels offensively with congestion in the paint. And
Speaker 1: then Tavia's called Pope, has just kind of gone cold
Speaker 1: and he missed several wide open looks in the second
Speaker 1: half of this game that would have changed the dynamic.
Speaker 1: And KCP is one of the most reliable guys in
Speaker 1: the league. So some of that's just bad luck. But
Speaker 1: you know what, you can't you can't take bad luck
Speaker 1: to the standings. It's a loss at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, the Knicks have won three straight. Really nice
Speaker 1: response because they won nine straight. Then Jalen Brunson gets
Speaker 1: hurt and you lose three tough road games in the
Speaker 1: Western Conference. But then you just get it together. You
Speaker 1: get a big win over the Lakers the other night,
Speaker 1: and then you rip off a three game winning street,
Speaker 1: culminating with that really impressive win against Denver. So that's
Speaker 1: you know, what's that twelve out of fifteen. It's of
Speaker 1: an impressive streak from the Knicks. Their identity really starts
Speaker 1: is really starting to make sense to me. They're an
Speaker 1: outstanding perimeter defense team. Like that. They went on a
Speaker 1: run early fourth quarter with Yokich on the bench, in
Speaker 1: large part once again because Josh Hart Emmanuel quickly RJ
Speaker 1: Barrett just containing the ball in really causing issues for
Speaker 1: Denver's offense. They're lucky they got a three out of
Speaker 1: Jeff Green and Christian Braun on skip passes, because if
Speaker 1: those shots didn't go in, they would have been in
Speaker 1: big trouble in that bench run. But that's a big
Speaker 1: part of New York's identity defensively, outstanding perimeter defense. They
Speaker 1: are ninth overall in defensive rating over their last fifteen games,
Speaker 1: which is impressive for a team that doesn't have a
Speaker 1: great defensive front court. They're pushing in transition a lot
Speaker 1: on misses and steals. They're not turning the ball over.
Speaker 1: They're not turning other teams over that much because they're
Speaker 1: more of a slide your feet, keep the ball in
Speaker 1: front type of team instead of a gamble and be
Speaker 1: aggressive type of team. But they are pushing and their
Speaker 1: tenth and fast breakpoints per game scored over their last
Speaker 1: fifteen games. And then in the half court, they're just
Speaker 1: attacking matchups. It's just Julius Randall and Jalen Brunson picking
Speaker 1: on your weakest defender every time down the floor, which
Speaker 1: has worked well for them because both of those guys
Speaker 1: can get to pull up jump shots in the mid range,
Speaker 1: so some of the spacing can earns from off ball
Speaker 1: shooting in Mitchell Robinson don't really bother them as long
Speaker 1: as they can get to their spots and they're pull
Speaker 1: up jump shots. Julius Randall has run over five hundred
Speaker 1: ISOs this year, over a point per possession. He's isoing
Speaker 1: seven times per game. Jalen Brunson two hundred and forty
Speaker 1: ISOs this year, four times per game, one point one
Speaker 1: eight points per possession on ISOs. For Jalen Brunson, that's
Speaker 1: third best in the league out of the twenty players
Speaker 1: to attempt at LEAs two hundreds, so he's one of
Speaker 1: the very best high volume ISO players in the league.
Speaker 1: So they're defending, they're running when they can. Then when
Speaker 1: they get into the half court, it's a steady diet
Speaker 1: of matchup attacking with Jalen Brunson and Julius Randall, and
Speaker 1: then they're crashing the hell out of the offensive glass.
Speaker 1: Julius Randall, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Mitchell Robinson are all top
Speaker 1: twenty eight in the league in total offensive rebounds this year.
Speaker 1: Josh Hart there are two guards in the league this
Speaker 1: year that have at least one hundred offensive rebounds. It's
Speaker 1: Josh Hart and Josh Kiddy, who's six foot eight. So
Speaker 1: they're just extremely relentless on the offensive glass as well.
Speaker 1: They have an identity, and again everything comes down to
Speaker 1: Julius Randall Jalen Brunson making enough plays offensively in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: but it's cool to see their identity forming and you
Speaker 1: could see Nicks basketball becoming a cultural thing that they
Speaker 1: can build on by supplementing with talent moving forward. Now
Speaker 1: it's fun time to be a Knicks fan. The Nuggets
Speaker 1: have now lost five out of six, with their only
Speaker 1: win being against the Pistons. When I started recording this video,
Speaker 1: they were they were up double digits in Brooklyn and
Speaker 1: the tail end of a back to back, So they
Speaker 1: might be getting right today, we'll see. But their twenty
Speaker 1: ninth and defense over that span, and again we've talked
Speaker 1: a lot about Yokich, and again the Yokich thing is
Speaker 1: just a lot of conversational It's been heavy as a
Speaker 1: conversational topic. But the reality is is that has to
Speaker 1: do with MVP and comparing him to MBID and Jannis. Like,
Speaker 1: one of the biggest defensive weak links for the Nuggets
Speaker 1: right now is Jamal Murray's. This has been something I've
Speaker 1: been talking about all season, but he's one of their
Speaker 1: one of their biggest entry points, and he was getting
Speaker 1: targeted non stop down the stretches this game, and he
Speaker 1: hasn't been playing well enough offensively to cover for it.
Speaker 1: Although he did get going offensively against the Knicks and
Speaker 1: made a bunch of big plays until he missed that
Speaker 1: late floater. The Nuggets are also struggling to rebound. They're
Speaker 1: twenty fourth and defensive rebound percentage. They're losing thirty percent.
Speaker 1: Thirty percent of the time they force ay miss the
Speaker 1: other team is getting the offensive rebound. That's a problem
Speaker 1: right now. But here's the other thing. They usually cover
Speaker 1: for all that stuff with offense, and they're fifteenth and
Speaker 1: offense over this span. Big part of that is KCP
Speaker 1: and Jamal Murray cooling off from three. That's a big
Speaker 1: part of their offensive punt punch. Yokich I think, you know, again,
Speaker 1: it's hard to be super critical because he's averaging twenty nine,
Speaker 1: but there's still I think that when the team is
Speaker 1: struggling to make shots that Yokis needs to try to
Speaker 1: be a little bit more aggressive. It kind of reminds
Speaker 1: me of early Lebron, and Lebron's much better at this now,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure Yokich will be in his future. But
Speaker 1: there comes a time in a place where making the
Speaker 1: right play is no longer the option, and now it's yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm I know that guy's open, but I'm Nickel Yokich
Speaker 1: and these dudes can't guard me. And I need to
Speaker 1: score a little bit more. And that's the thing, Like
Speaker 1: I'd like to see Yoka s hit that higher gear
Speaker 1: in stretches like this, try to get up to thirty
Speaker 1: four thirty five points per game and try to carry
Speaker 1: the offense until guys start making shots again. Then you
Speaker 1: can kind of settle back into the background and then
Speaker 1: something to keep an eye on again. As teams are
Speaker 1: ignoring that week side corner, they're conceding shots to guys
Speaker 1: like Aaron Gordon and Christian Brown and Jeff Green and again,
Speaker 1: like I said, sometimes they're making them, but it's not
Speaker 1: just about that. It's about the way teams are guarding
Speaker 1: you in the way that disrupts all of your other actions.
Speaker 1: Hopefully they'll get back on tracking. It's Brooklyn today, but
Speaker 1: they have a tough schedule in the next two weeks.
Speaker 1: They play the Bucks, the Sixers, and the Suns. And
Speaker 1: you know, one last thing I'll say about the Nuggets
Speaker 1: because everyone a lot of people are saying, like, hey,
Speaker 1: it's an urgency thing. They had a big League Like
Speaker 1: even after all of this, they're just three losses or
Speaker 1: they still have a three loss advantage over the Kings
Speaker 1: with like eleven games left or whatever, so they're still
Speaker 1: in pretty solid shape, right, But like I don't necessarily
Speaker 1: buy that as an excuse. Is particularly because of what
Speaker 1: Denver needs. Denver has personnel shortcomings when it comes to
Speaker 1: rebounding in defense. That's just a fact. So they need
Speaker 1: to be extremely sharp on the details to get enough
Speaker 1: stops and to secure enough for rebounds to win in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. So details do matter for them. Habits do
Speaker 1: matter for them, and them not being sharp going into
Speaker 1: the postseason is a very bad omen for them. So
Speaker 1: I would be I'm going to be paying very close
Speaker 1: attention to Denver here down the stretch, just to see
Speaker 1: if they can get sharp in time to be ready
Speaker 1: for that playoff run. All right, guys, it's all I
Speaker 1: have for tonight. We're taking another day off tomorrow. That
Speaker 1: the NBA schedule is a little weird here around the
Speaker 1: NC Double A tournament. They don't have a lot of
Speaker 1: nationally televised games. It's a lot of lesser matchups. But
Speaker 1: if things pick up again during the middle of the week,
Speaker 1: So these these next two weekends are a little weird.
Speaker 1: But we're taking tomorrow off. We're gonna be doing a
Speaker 1: show on Tuesday morning. That covers Monday nights games, and
Speaker 1: then we're gonna be working Wednesday night, I believe, after
Speaker 1: the final buzzure of Suns Lakers. So uh see you
Speaker 1: guys on Tuesday. As always, I appreciate your support. The
Speaker 1: volume