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Speaker 1: The volume. I am so excited. We are less than

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Speaker 1: to Hoops to night here at the volume heavy Tuesday. Everybody.

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Speaker 1: Hope all of you guys had a great weekend. It

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Speaker 1: is good to be back at a nice little break there.

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Speaker 1: Hopefu all of you guys enjoyed the tournament. My last

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Speaker 1: ski day of the year. We get lucky because we

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Speaker 1: had incredible conditions. On Sunday, A skied over twenty thousand

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Speaker 1: vertical feet, which is the most I've done in the

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Speaker 1: day this season. And then the temperature spiked by twelve

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Speaker 1: degrees the next day and all the snow was ruined,

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Speaker 1: so we got incredibly lucky. I was looking around at

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Speaker 1: all the different mountains around the country and ski season

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Speaker 1: I think is officially over at this point, but it

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Speaker 1: was another great season. It's good to be back though.

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Speaker 1: We had a lot of interesting basketball. We're gonna be

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Speaker 1: hitting on three teams today. A team that's ice cold,

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Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Lakers, who have dropped seven of their

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Speaker 1: last ten. After that, we're going to talk about two

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Speaker 1: teams that are red hot, the Suns, you have won

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Speaker 1: five out of six, and the Pacers, who have won

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Speaker 1: seven out of eight. I believe got another big win

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Speaker 1: last night against the Minnesota Timberwolve. So a couple of

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Speaker 1: hot teams and a cold team that we'll get out

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Speaker 1: of here for the day. You guys know the joke

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Speaker 1: before we get started. To subscribe to the Hoops and

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Speaker 1: I YouTube channels you don't miss any more of our videos.

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Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter at underscore JSNLT so you guys

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Speaker 1: don't misshow announcements. Some forget about a podcast feed wherever

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Speaker 1: you get your podcast on our Hoops tonight, so it's

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Speaker 1: also super helpful if you leave a rating and a

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Speaker 1: review on that front. We also have brand new social

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Speaker 1: media fees on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, where our guy

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Speaker 1: Jackson is creating some excellent content for us throughout the

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Speaker 1: rest of the year. Make sure you guys follow us

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Speaker 1: there in the last but not LEAs, keep dry up

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Speaker 1: in mailbag questions. I'm recording a mail bag tomorrow, so

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Speaker 1: we're gonna be taking questions from this episode as well

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Speaker 1: as some of the episodes from last week. Make sure

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Speaker 1: you guys drop your questions in the comments for that.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So first of all,

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Speaker 1: little disclaimer before we go any further here. I find

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Speaker 1: this phase of the season late March early April to

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Speaker 1: be the phase of the NBA season that has the

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Speaker 1: most noise. There are a few phases like this, Like

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Speaker 1: there's a phase like this that's kind of in late

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Speaker 1: December early January too, but this I think is probably

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Speaker 1: the worst of those phases where you're just gonna get

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Speaker 1: some wild oscillations and effort from teams. For instance, Minnesota

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Speaker 1: last night when I watched them against the Pacers, that

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Speaker 1: was one of the worst games I've seen Minnesota play

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Speaker 1: all season. They're one of the best transition defenses in

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Speaker 1: the league, and they straight up we're not running back

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Speaker 1: on defense to start that game. There's a lot of

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Speaker 1: that kind of stuff based on a couple of different factors.

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Speaker 1: Right like, you get to the trade deadline, and that

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Speaker 1: usually is a phase where a lot of teams hit

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Speaker 1: the gas, whether it's because they have new players or

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Speaker 1: it's because they realize they're not gonna get new players

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Speaker 1: and they have to kind of commit to what they

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Speaker 1: have and try to make a run. And usually from

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Speaker 1: that phase, from right after the deadline, right after the

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Speaker 1: All Star Break flowing into the first phase of March,

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Speaker 1: it's a lot of really high quality basketball where teams

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Speaker 1: are hitting the gas, teams are really pushing it. Once

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Speaker 1: we get to this late March phase, this is the

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Speaker 1: phase where a lot of teams let their foot off

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Speaker 1: the gas. In general, at various points, they're really other

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Speaker 1: than the teams that are playing in the play in

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Speaker 1: bracket area, the teams that are at real risk of

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Speaker 1: entering into the play in tournament. Those are the teams

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Speaker 1: that are still going absolutely crazy this time of year.

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Speaker 1: But a lot of teams are letting their foot off

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Speaker 1: the gas. A lot of teams are losing some of

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Speaker 1: that steam from the All Star break, and you're gonna

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Speaker 1: get a lot of really weird results, and so in general,

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to overreact to anything around this time

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Speaker 1: of year. That said, there are still lessons that can

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Speaker 1: be learned. One of the things that I've talked about

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Speaker 1: a lot is the idea that when a team struggles

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Speaker 1: in any sort of basketball game, it usually is a

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Speaker 1: combination of two factors. It's one the lack of urgency

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Speaker 1: and force that's causing them to struggle to inflict their

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Speaker 1: strengths right, They're not pushing their strengths to the forefront,

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Speaker 1: so as their strengths fade back, the weaknesses that have

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Speaker 1: always been there before. Every team, I think every team

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Speaker 1: in this league has weaknesses, even the Celtics and the

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Speaker 1: thunder the weaknesses that are there. When those strengths start

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Speaker 1: to recede, they start to come to the forefront. And

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Speaker 1: a lot of people can kind of hyper focus on

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Speaker 1: those things and view them as like a death sentence,

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Speaker 1: and I look at it more like these are just

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Speaker 1: the flaws of the basketball team that are important to understand,

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Speaker 1: that are important to focus on and try to rectify

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Speaker 1: if you're in that locker room. But at the same time,

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Speaker 1: a lot can be fixed just by bringing those strengths

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Speaker 1: back to the forefront. So in short, we can learn

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Speaker 1: stuff in March, but I don't find it to be

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Speaker 1: in late March, I should say, but I don't find

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Speaker 1: it to be the end all be all when we're

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Speaker 1: evaluating these teams. And on that front, let's start talking

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Speaker 1: about one of the two teams that's in my top

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Speaker 1: tier of contenders right now, in the Lakers and the Cavs,

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Speaker 1: that are struggling at this phase in the season. I

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Speaker 1: want to talk about the Lakers. After the Magic game

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Speaker 1: last night, JJ spent a good time amount of time

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Speaker 1: talking about how good the Magic are, and I'm glad

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Speaker 1: he did because that's kind of what happens in a

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Speaker 1: lot of these situations, Like the NBA has damn near

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Speaker 1: twenty really good teams, and so if on any given

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Speaker 1: night you go in to Rhode Arena and you don't

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Speaker 1: play your best basketball, you can get beat by anybody. Right, Like,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna talk a little bit about these struggles. The

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Speaker 1: Magic I think have a lot more firepower, so to speak.

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Speaker 1: But the Bulls just went in and beat Denver last night.

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Speaker 1: They've won seven out of nine. I think they're a feisty,

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Speaker 1: young team. In the NBA, if you don't play good basketball,

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Speaker 1: you get punished. That's just the way it is with

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Speaker 1: the depth of talent that there is. And the magic

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Speaker 1: has been they've been flying under the radar this year

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Speaker 1: mostly because of injuries, and even when they've been healthy,

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Speaker 1: they've just been kind of out of rhythm. But they

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Speaker 1: present some real matchup problems for teams with these two

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Speaker 1: really big forwards that are excellent at going through you

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Speaker 1: and over the top of you, which is kind of

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Speaker 1: something that you can't handle. Like Palo has a certain

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Speaker 1: ability to get to his spots and get certain shots

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Speaker 1: that nobody can really stop him. It's just a question

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Speaker 1: of whether or not he makes them. Same thing goes

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Speaker 1: for Frands. Like when Franz drives down that right lane

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Speaker 1: line and he just elevates over the top and shoots

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Speaker 1: that floating bank shop, your defense is just hope he misses.

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Speaker 1: That's what you do, because he's just that big and

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Speaker 1: strong and he's got that high release point on that

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Speaker 1: little floating hook and you kind of just sit there

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Speaker 1: and cross your fingers and hope he misses. And again,

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Speaker 1: like we've talked about, the magic, the rub with them

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Speaker 1: is they're the worst jump shooting team in the league

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Speaker 1: by a mile. It's not even close, and it's true,

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Speaker 1: but reputation doesn't mean shit once they toss the ball

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Speaker 1: up in the air at center court to start a

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Speaker 1: basketball game. The Magic have had more than a few

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Speaker 1: hot shooting games lately. In their last nine games, they've

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Speaker 1: gotten well over a point per jump shot in six

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Speaker 1: of them. In those games, they're five to one. In

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Speaker 1: the three of those nine games that they shot below

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Speaker 1: one point per jump shot, they went zero to three.

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Speaker 1: The Cavs gave them a bunch of open catch and

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Speaker 1: shoot looks too. They made them, and they lost. So

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Speaker 1: did the Bucks. They made them, and they lost. So

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Speaker 1: did the Lakers. They made them and they lost. The Magic.

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Speaker 1: When they're making jump shots, especially at home, riding all

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Speaker 1: that energy, with their size and athleticism, they're a really

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Speaker 1: difficult team to beat. And to make matters worse, the

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Speaker 1: Lakers just aren't playing good basketball right now again, three

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Speaker 1: and seven in their last ten. They're bottom ten in

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Speaker 1: both defense and rebounding in that span. That said, I'm

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Speaker 1: not really worried about it. They were decimated by injuries

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Speaker 1: for the majority of the early phase of that stretch, Like,

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Speaker 1: if you're down your entire starting front core, it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be hard for you to win games. It's gonna be

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Speaker 1: hard for you to defend and rebound, right, That's gonna

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Speaker 1: be difficult for anybody to imagine to manage. And then

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Speaker 1: the way they've responded to that is changing the way

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Speaker 1: they play a little bit, trying to outscore teams, really

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Speaker 1: leaning in on the offense of Luca and Austin. Well,

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Speaker 1: that was probably the right strategy to try to float

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Speaker 1: things in that stretch of games. But now they've got

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Speaker 1: everybody back, and these last two games, it's been difficult

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Speaker 1: for them to recapture that same identity, that same momentum

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Speaker 1: that they had before. And again, when your first two

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Speaker 1: games with the full squad are against a red hot

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Speaker 1: Bulls team that's kind of beating everybody right now, and

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Speaker 1: also is a bad matchup for the Lakers, which we'll

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Speaker 1: get into in a minute, and then a magic team

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Speaker 1: at home that, like we talked about, is really difficult

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Speaker 1: to beat when they're making jump shots. So yeah, like

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Speaker 1: if the Lakers and their first two games back with

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Speaker 1: Lebron James are gonna be playing at a level well

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Speaker 1: below what they're capable of. I think they're gonna get

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Speaker 1: beat against good NBA teams that are playing good basketball.

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Speaker 1: The point is is, I'm not going a bail on

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Speaker 1: a team because of a short term trend when the

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Speaker 1: team has been excellent in the long term. It's like

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Speaker 1: the exact same thing I talked about when we were

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Speaker 1: talking about the Calves. Their struggles in that three game

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Speaker 1: losing streak are just examples of their weaknesses. That's examples

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Speaker 1: of what it will look like if they do lose.

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Speaker 1: And by the way, almost everybody loses twenty nine to

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Speaker 1: the thirty teams will lose a playoff, will either lose

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Speaker 1: before the playoffs or lose a playoff series this year,

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Speaker 1: and so when they lose, it's usually those weaknesses that

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Speaker 1: rise to the surface. But most of it comes down

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Speaker 1: to the Calves just weren't leveraging their strengths the way

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Speaker 1: they normally do in those games. The Lakers right now

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Speaker 1: are struggling on both ends of the floor. We know

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Speaker 1: they can defend they did it for two months. Just

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Speaker 1: because they didn't do it for two games against a

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Speaker 1: mediocre team and a decent team doesn't mean that that

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Speaker 1: two months didn't happen. I believe Luka Dancis, Lebron James

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Speaker 1: and Austin Reeves and Ruya Tamura and Jackson As are

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Speaker 1: gonna be able to score the basketball. So I'm not

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Speaker 1: gonna overreact to them struggling to score in a little

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Speaker 1: stretch of games here in this late March stretch. Now, again,

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Speaker 1: like I said, the weaknesses were on display, there is

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Speaker 1: value in looking at what happened in those games. I

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Speaker 1: thought the second half of the Chicago Bulls game was

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Speaker 1: a great example of what we saw against Boston. And

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Speaker 1: one of the things that I've feared with this particular build,

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Speaker 1: which is their defense is predicated on swarming and helping

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Speaker 1: and rotating off of non shooters or shooters that JJ

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Speaker 1: Reddick is comfortable with giving up shots to. By the way,

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Speaker 1: all the good defenses in the league do that to

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Speaker 1: a certain extent, but in that sort of situation and

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Speaker 1: by the way, they're gonna be able to do that

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Speaker 1: against most teams. They're gonna be able to do that

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Speaker 1: against Denver. I think they're gonna be able to do

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Speaker 1: it against Okac too. There's gonna be three or four

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Speaker 1: guys that they're gonna be like, we'll live with this

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Speaker 1: guy taking a moderately contested catch and shoot three in

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Speaker 1: a tough playoff game when the game's super physical and

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Speaker 1: everyone's stressed and there's tons of pressure. Right, I think

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Speaker 1: they feel the same way. They're gonna feel that way

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Speaker 1: about any of those Western Conference teams that they face.

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Speaker 1: But Boston showed when they really space the floor, it's like,

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Speaker 1: oh shit, Austin's trying to guard that guy Tatum le

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Speaker 1: Brown in space and they can't help. Luca's trying to

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Speaker 1: guard this guy in space and they can't help. Now,

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden, those personnel limitations at the point

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Speaker 1: of attack defensively are brought to the surface. And one

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Speaker 1: of the things I thought was fascinating is the Bulls

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Speaker 1: just shot the basketball really well in that second half.

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Speaker 1: Kobe White, Modus buzzellis knocking down those shots off of

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Speaker 1: skips and swing passes. And so what ended up happening

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Speaker 1: is it presented a conundrum where it's like, Okay, we're

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Speaker 1: guarding Luca or Luca's guarding Josh Gitty in the right corner,

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Speaker 1: and we're used to gapping off of guys that were

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Speaker 1: comfortable with shooting so here's Lebron gapping into the driving

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Speaker 1: lane on Luca's right hand side. Well, there's just a

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Speaker 1: basic swing passed from Josh Gitty to Modus Buzzellis and

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Speaker 1: he knocks down the three. Oh, you're running a drop

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Speaker 1: coverage with Jackson Hayes and you're bringing over a low man. Help.

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Speaker 1: We're just gonna whip the ball across the course. There's

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Speaker 1: Modus Buzelis again, he's knocking down a three. Oh, you're uh.

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Speaker 1: You have a guard switched on to Nikola Vusevich underneath

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Speaker 1: the basket, and so you've got a guy kind of

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Speaker 1: bracketing him on both sides as they're trying to battle

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Speaker 1: a size mismatch. Oh, they skip the ball across the court.

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Speaker 1: There's Kobe White. There's another three, And what ends up

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Speaker 1: happening is, all of a sudden, everyone gets tentative, and

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Speaker 1: now everyone doesn't want to help, and so now they're

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Speaker 1: kind of staying closer to home. Now, all of a sudden,

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Speaker 1: it's Luka Doncic on a cleared side against Kobe White,

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Speaker 1: and Kobe White just beats him off the dribble and

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Speaker 1: he gets baseline and gets an easy too. Why because

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Speaker 1: the help isn't there. The help isn't there because they've

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Speaker 1: been shot into this spacing. And you look on the

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Speaker 1: floor and it's like Josh Gitty's been making threes. He

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Speaker 1: had two more massive ones in crunch time to end

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Speaker 1: the Nuggets game last night. You look at all these

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Speaker 1: sequences and it's somebody run in action and it's like

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Speaker 1: there's Boozellis in the corner and there's Kobe White on

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Speaker 1: the wing. It's like, who's helping. You don't want to

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Speaker 1: help in those situations. Oh, you know Jackson lingered in

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Speaker 1: the paint on a transition push ahead and there's Vusovich

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Speaker 1: in the left corner. Well, Vusovich can shoot. He knocked

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Speaker 1: down the three. And so again, like while we like,

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Speaker 1: the Lakers are gonna play the Bulls again on Thursday,

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Speaker 1: and in that game, they might leverage their strengths and

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Speaker 1: win because their strengths are undeniably stronger than Chicago's strengths.

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Speaker 1: Chicago's playing really good basketball and they'll be at home,

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Speaker 1: so they might win that game. The Lakers aren't playing

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Speaker 1: super well, but the Lakers are capable of winning that

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Speaker 1: game by leveraging their strength. That doesn't mean the weaknesses

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Speaker 1: aren't there, and so that's why I view it as

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Speaker 1: a value in the sense that, like if they end

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Speaker 1: up in a matchup with a team like ok See

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Speaker 1: and Oka See shoots the ball well, which again, as

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Speaker 1: we've talked about, is the big swing factor for oka See,

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Speaker 1: will they shoot the ball well. If they shoot the

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Speaker 1: ball well and start really space seeing the Lakers out,

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Speaker 1: they can have some issues because they've struggled with those

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Speaker 1: quicker guards that can get dribble penetration, and SHA's probably

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Speaker 1: the best in the world at it. Boston. That's the

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Speaker 1: one team in the top tier of contenders that I

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Speaker 1: look at as a really, really tough matchup for the

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Speaker 1: Lakers for them to handle because of their ability to

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Speaker 1: force them to guard in space versus guarding in the

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Speaker 1: swarming kind of help and recover defense that they use

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Speaker 1: with JJ Reddick, It's worth at least keeping an eye

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Speaker 1: on those things like defending in space, dealing with overwhelming size.

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Speaker 1: You saw quite a few examples in the Magic Game

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Speaker 1: of Orlando just going through and over the top of

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Speaker 1: the Lakers attacking a switching defense. This has been something

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Speaker 1: I've consistently talked about when the Lakers play teams that

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Speaker 1: have to run drop coverage, they're gonna score a million points.

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Speaker 1: Lucas too good at it, But when they face these

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Speaker 1: teams that can switch and force them to attack matchups,

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Speaker 1: the Lakers are still currently struggling with that. Now, they

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Speaker 1: should have the personnel. Theoretically, Austin, Lebron, and Luca would

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Speaker 1: be excellent switch beaters. They should be able to eventually

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Speaker 1: figure that out, but since the Luca trade in a

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Speaker 1: relatively large sample, we haven't seen them figure that out yet.

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Speaker 1: That is a weakness as of now. I'm still counting

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Speaker 1: that as a weakness. Now, if before the end of

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Speaker 1: the season they demonstrate the ability to handle switching defenses better,

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Speaker 1: that'll be something that reflects their personnel and it's something

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Speaker 1: we can account for. But right now it looks like

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Speaker 1: a struggle. They look a little out of rhythm. As

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Speaker 1: you bring Lebron back into the mix, there's still a

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Speaker 1: lot of weird possessions with the starting group, where like

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Speaker 1: I feel like they should just be playing through Luca

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Speaker 1: more in those sequences. But you gotta try to reincorporate Lebron.

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Speaker 1: You gotta find a way to keep Austin in the

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Speaker 1: rhythm in this stretch. Ruyacha Mura coming off the bench

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Speaker 1: as he works back from this injury, you can tell

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Speaker 1: he's struggling to find where his shots are coming from

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Speaker 1: and when he should be aggressive. There's just a lot

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Speaker 1: of stuff that they're still working out. And again, I

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Speaker 1: am of the belief that the two games with Lebron

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Speaker 1: back are the aberration of what this team is capable of,

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Speaker 1: in that the two months where they kicked everyone's ass

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Speaker 1: and they won what fourteen straight games against teams that

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Speaker 1: are five hundred are better. That to me is more

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Speaker 1: of a reflection of what this team is capable of.

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Speaker 1: But they're in a little bit of a funk right now.

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Speaker 1: Let's see if they can figure that out over the

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Speaker 1: course of the next couple of weeks. When it comes

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Speaker 1: to college basketball in March Mania, one thing is for sure.

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00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:29,439
Speaker 1: Nothing's for sure. Upsets, buzzer beaters, Cinderella is advancing top seeds,

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00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:32,680
Speaker 1: going home early. It's all gonna happen. Bet the unexpected,

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Speaker 1: born and raised here in Tucson, Arizona. I'm a little

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Speaker 1: skeptical about them on the offensive end of the floor,

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Speaker 1: but they looked really good on defense again last night

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Speaker 1: DKNG dot co slash Audio all Right's talk about the

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Speaker 1: Suns got a really fun win against the Milwaukee Bucks

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Speaker 1: last night. Devin Booker wins the game on a pull

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Speaker 1: up jump shot going towards his right around the right

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Speaker 1: elbow area. KDE had just hit a three that put

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Speaker 1: them up before Brook Lopez got fouled and went to

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Speaker 1: the line and tied it and they drew up to

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Speaker 1: play for KD, but Kyle Kuzma stunted off of the

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Speaker 1: inbounder and got into that passing lane and actually forced

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Speaker 1: the Suns to go a different direction. And what was

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Speaker 1: kind of funny about it is, you know, Devin Booker

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Speaker 1: has always talked about how he feels best shooting on

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Speaker 1: his move towards the right hand right because he can

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Speaker 1: really jump in that left right footwork and elevate and

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Speaker 1: knock that shot down. And he actually got the crazy

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Speaker 1: thing is he got two fantastic looks on similar plays

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Speaker 1: earlier in the fourth quarter, ball screens around the you know,

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Speaker 1: top of the wing, top of the key right wing

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Speaker 1: area extended out to like thirty feet good ball screens

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Speaker 1: from Nick So and just getting down to that right

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Speaker 1: hand side, and he just missed them. But they were

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Speaker 1: both threes. And one of the things that has been

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Speaker 1: kind of weird with Book this year is he's been

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Speaker 1: deadly from the mid range, but he's been struggling from threes.

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Speaker 1: Fifty one percent on all two point jump shots, but

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Speaker 1: he's thirty four point five percent on threes. And on

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Speaker 1: the game winner, he just took an extra dribble and

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Speaker 1: an extra side step to get a little bit closer

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Speaker 1: to the basket into that mid range area where he's

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Speaker 1: been more deadly, and he knocked it down. KD was

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Speaker 1: fantastic all night. He had thirty eight. He's had eighty

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Speaker 1: in the last two games. He's thirteen for eighteen from

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Speaker 1: three in that span. And you could tell it feels

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Speaker 1: good for him because he's hunting that shot. I thought

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Speaker 1: the shot that he hit against Kuzma, the one that

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Speaker 1: actually put the Suns up by one it's kind of

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Speaker 1: a funky break rhythm shot. It didn't look like the

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Speaker 1: kind of shot that you typically see KD take with

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Speaker 1: a ton of fluidity. But on the pullback dribble, he

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Speaker 1: realized that he was right at the three point line,

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Speaker 1: and like, he just knows that he's got that three

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Speaker 1: point shot that release dialed in, and so rather than

429
00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:00,840
Speaker 1: trying to hunt a different type of shot that had

430
00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:02,679
Speaker 1: a little bit more fluidity to it, He's just like,

431
00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:05,040
Speaker 1: I got my space. I like this shot. I just

432
00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:07,200
Speaker 1: made one on the left wing a few minutes earlier.

433
00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:09,080
Speaker 1: I'm going to rise up and knock this down. And

434
00:21:09,119 --> 00:21:12,760
Speaker 1: he did an unbelievable game from KD. Ryan Dunn had twelve.

435
00:21:13,359 --> 00:21:15,600
Speaker 1: He was great in the fourth quarter, operating off of

436
00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:18,000
Speaker 1: the attention that Kevin Durant and Devin Booker were getting.

437
00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:20,440
Speaker 1: Book had a beautiful two on the ball sequence where

438
00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:23,320
Speaker 1: he dropped it to Nick Richards short roll four on three,

439
00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:25,880
Speaker 1: and Ryan Dunn just cut right out of the right

440
00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:28,919
Speaker 1: corner and got a dunk. He had a huge above

441
00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:30,840
Speaker 1: the break three that he hit on the left wing.

442
00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:32,960
Speaker 1: On another sequence where they helped off of him to

443
00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:35,560
Speaker 1: defend a ball screen three on two, he by the way,

444
00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:38,880
Speaker 1: is in double figures six games in a row now,

445
00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:40,679
Speaker 1: which has been a huge part because this is the

446
00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:42,760
Speaker 1: five and one stretch for the Suns. This has been

447
00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:46,760
Speaker 1: coinciding with Ryan Dunn scoring the basketball better fourteen points

448
00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:49,680
Speaker 1: and six rebounds per game in that span, thirty five

449
00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:52,080
Speaker 1: percent from three, which isn't the best percentage in the world,

450
00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:54,800
Speaker 1: but the volume is up there. He's over six three

451
00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:57,679
Speaker 1: point attempts per game in that span. It was a

452
00:21:57,680 --> 00:22:01,480
Speaker 1: fun game though, too. They survived this hallacious late game

453
00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:05,040
Speaker 1: run from Yannis, who was just on one for whatever reason.

454
00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:08,639
Speaker 1: He ripped through Ryan Dunn and Nick Richards for baskets

455
00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:11,600
Speaker 1: right at the rim a few times he just calmly

456
00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:14,920
Speaker 1: stepped into a game tying pull up three in crunch time.

457
00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:17,960
Speaker 1: He had this crazy defensive possession down the stretch where

458
00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:20,520
Speaker 1: he like locked up Kdie and then like switched on

459
00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:22,760
Speaker 1: to Devin Booker and like locked up Devin Booker like

460
00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:27,040
Speaker 1: Janni's just even without Dame just threw a hell of

461
00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:30,000
Speaker 1: a punch in that game, and the Suns managed to

462
00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:32,639
Speaker 1: overcome it. So the question is, how are things coming

463
00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:35,880
Speaker 1: together for the Suns right now? Again five and one

464
00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:38,520
Speaker 1: In this last six game stretch and some impressive wins.

465
00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,320
Speaker 1: They got that big win against the Calves as well

466
00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:43,760
Speaker 1: as this win against the Bucks. They have a one Well,

467
00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:46,280
Speaker 1: here's the thing. Let's just make it very simple to start.

468
00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:50,760
Speaker 1: They're competing on the margins when they weren't earlier in

469
00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:53,760
Speaker 1: the season. They have a one to twelve defensive rating

470
00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:58,240
Speaker 1: in the span. That's solid. They're fifth in defensive rebounding

471
00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:01,679
Speaker 1: in the span. That's very good. They're winning the points

472
00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:05,920
Speaker 1: off of turnovers. Battle. If you defend and you rebound,

473
00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:09,240
Speaker 1: and you don't hemorrhage points by making mistakes and giving

474
00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:11,639
Speaker 1: the team pick sixes going the other way, you're gonna

475
00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:14,919
Speaker 1: give yourself a chance to win. And then when you

476
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:17,280
Speaker 1: add to that that Kevin Durant and Devin Booker are

477
00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:21,560
Speaker 1: playing super well, you're gonna win some basketball games. Katie's

478
00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:23,600
Speaker 1: a just on a crazy run. It's fifty four percent

479
00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:25,800
Speaker 1: from three on over seven attempts per game in the

480
00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:28,760
Speaker 1: six game span. It's insane. Him and Devin Booker are

481
00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:31,520
Speaker 1: combining for an efficient fifty one points per game between

482
00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:33,919
Speaker 1: the two of them. You're seeing them put defenses in

483
00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:35,879
Speaker 1: a bind. In the same way that I've talked a

484
00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:38,360
Speaker 1: lot about this year in terms of compromising the defense

485
00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:40,520
Speaker 1: at the point of attack by putting two on the ball.

486
00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:43,840
Speaker 1: They consistently are drawing these blitzes and at the level

487
00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:47,800
Speaker 1: coverages that are creating these advantages. And again they still

488
00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:50,320
Speaker 1: make their mistakes, they still throw the ball away too much.

489
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:53,080
Speaker 1: Kevin Porter Junior had this like wild run as an

490
00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:55,200
Speaker 1: off ball defender in the fourth quarter where he jumped

491
00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,439
Speaker 1: passing lanes three times. Firs steals where they're just like

492
00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:03,960
Speaker 1: a second late, a little bit too telegraphed, and then

493
00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:06,560
Speaker 1: a little bit too much of like a looping, loose

494
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,200
Speaker 1: pass that was easy to jump, and so again there's

495
00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:12,320
Speaker 1: stuff for them to tighten up. But they're doing the

496
00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:15,600
Speaker 1: job of getting the defense in rotation consistently, and then

497
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:17,720
Speaker 1: they have a pattern. They know how they want to play,

498
00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:20,800
Speaker 1: like OsO is getting more of like the defense minutes

499
00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:22,680
Speaker 1: like and he ended up actually closing the final few

500
00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,120
Speaker 1: possessions of this game. But you know they trust Nick

501
00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:27,399
Speaker 1: Richards Moore as a roleman, but like OsO can do

502
00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:30,600
Speaker 1: that as well. They have their kind of sequencing lined

503
00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:33,640
Speaker 1: up where they have Ryan done cutting or spacing out

504
00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:37,080
Speaker 1: of those lowman help situations to try to find the

505
00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:39,280
Speaker 1: right spot for him to make the defense pay and

506
00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:42,040
Speaker 1: Grayson Allen's out there doing his job, and it all

507
00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:45,199
Speaker 1: just kind of has come together for them with the

508
00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:47,479
Speaker 1: types of lineups that they want to close these games with.

509
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:49,320
Speaker 1: And again, when the Suns have been at their best

510
00:24:49,359 --> 00:24:52,680
Speaker 1: this year, they've been a dominant clutch team. When they've

511
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:54,520
Speaker 1: been at their best this year, it's just been something

512
00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:57,040
Speaker 1: they've struggled to maintain. Colin Gillespie has given them like

513
00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:00,640
Speaker 1: a version of Tys Jones that the start like that

514
00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:05,560
Speaker 1: is starting games, that makes fewer mistakes and like Tias

515
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:07,480
Speaker 1: Jones had another back cut that he gave up to

516
00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:10,000
Speaker 1: aj Green in this game where I just like couldn't

517
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:12,679
Speaker 1: believe that he wasn't paying attention. There's a lot of

518
00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:15,000
Speaker 1: those kinds of like off ball mistakes and just little

519
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,200
Speaker 1: decision making quirks with Tyas that undercut some of his success.

520
00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:21,120
Speaker 1: And they've just kind of found a little bit of

521
00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:23,439
Speaker 1: a groove here. And again, what I've talked about so

522
00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:26,000
Speaker 1: much this year with these teams that are in the

523
00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:29,720
Speaker 1: kind of middle to lower tier in the Western Conference

524
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:34,040
Speaker 1: is there's a lack of belief that is manifesting a

525
00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:38,359
Speaker 1: lot in ugly basketball for long stretches. But then what

526
00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:42,000
Speaker 1: happens is is they'll put a few games together where

527
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:45,240
Speaker 1: they play really good basketball, like, oh, here's a two

528
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,400
Speaker 1: week stretch where we're defending and rebounding and like, oh shit,

529
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:51,600
Speaker 1: we went five and one, right, But it's one of

530
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,840
Speaker 1: those things where, like as I've talked about, that happens

531
00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:58,000
Speaker 1: for all of those teams, whether it's the Sacramento Kings,

532
00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:01,120
Speaker 1: whether it's the San Antonio Spurs before Wemby got hurt,

533
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:05,480
Speaker 1: whether it's the Minnesota Timberwolves, these teams that are in

534
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:08,439
Speaker 1: that kind of lower echelon of the Western Conference, it's like,

535
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:11,200
Speaker 1: catch them in any two week span and you can

536
00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:14,240
Speaker 1: talk yourself into them winning the conference. But watch them

537
00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:16,159
Speaker 1: any other phase of the season and they kind of

538
00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:18,439
Speaker 1: let go of that rope. And so again that's going

539
00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:20,840
Speaker 1: to be the key. What I look for for is

540
00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:25,560
Speaker 1: like a prerequisite for any legitimate top tier championship contender

541
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:30,040
Speaker 1: is put together a long, extended stretch where you're kicking

542
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:34,760
Speaker 1: everybody's ass where for months on end, you are proving

543
00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:37,760
Speaker 1: that you are committed to the work that is necessary

544
00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:39,320
Speaker 1: to get to where you want to be as a

545
00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:42,160
Speaker 1: basketball team. They've done it for two weeks. The key

546
00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:45,720
Speaker 1: is sustaining I believe in the ability of that group

547
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,280
Speaker 1: to be better than they have been. This partnership that

548
00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:51,119
Speaker 1: they have now where it's like you can put OsO

549
00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:54,720
Speaker 1: Igadaro with Ryan Dunn and Kevin Durant all on the

550
00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:57,439
Speaker 1: floor at the same time. That's a hell of a

551
00:26:57,480 --> 00:26:59,920
Speaker 1: lot of versatile length and athleticism on the front line.

552
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:04,080
Speaker 1: They can't be good on the defensive end. Can they

553
00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:07,560
Speaker 1: be good enough to win the title? Obviously not? But

554
00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:11,120
Speaker 1: can they be good enough to be a respectable Western

555
00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:14,560
Speaker 1: Conference playoff team? Yes, they can, and that's gonna be.

556
00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:16,199
Speaker 1: Really the question is whether or not they want to

557
00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:19,119
Speaker 1: finish the season with that identity as they try to

558
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:22,199
Speaker 1: build towards next season, And like, look at it, it's like, oh,

559
00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:24,760
Speaker 1: Ryan Ryan Dunn as a rookie is just ripped off

560
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:27,199
Speaker 1: a six game stretch where he's been fourteen points per game,

561
00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:29,439
Speaker 1: knocking down threes at a decent rate and defending his

562
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,000
Speaker 1: ass off. What if he takes a leap next year?

563
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:34,800
Speaker 1: What if you hit on one or two veteran minimum signings.

564
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:37,240
Speaker 1: What if a couple of things change in terms of

565
00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:39,679
Speaker 1: the culture of the franchise and suddenly you have a

566
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:42,560
Speaker 1: more dead serious basketball team next year. But it starts

567
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,719
Speaker 1: with building that identity now in finishing the season with it,

568
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,680
Speaker 1: win or lose in the postseason, and that's gonna be

569
00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:51,240
Speaker 1: the thing I'm keeping an eye on. Here's a six

570
00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:53,879
Speaker 1: game stretch to them defending and rebounding. Let's check in

571
00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:56,199
Speaker 1: on them in another six games and let's see if

572
00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:58,960
Speaker 1: it's something that they're long term committed to. All right,

573
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:01,840
Speaker 1: let's move on to the Pacers. I thought last night's

574
00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:04,439
Speaker 1: game against the Wolves was a pretty thorough ass kicking.

575
00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:07,919
Speaker 1: If you look at the box score, things were pretty

576
00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:11,720
Speaker 1: even across the board in a bunch of specific areas,

577
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:15,040
Speaker 1: but there were three areas, or excuse me, two areas

578
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:18,600
Speaker 1: where things were very different. Both teams took thirty five threes,

579
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:23,159
Speaker 1: but the Pacers shot eleven percent better on those threes,

580
00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 1: and then the Wolves had five more turnovers and allowed

581
00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:30,120
Speaker 1: fifteen points off of those turnovers. Those were the two

582
00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:33,679
Speaker 1: big swing factors that sent this game in Indiana's favor.

583
00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:37,400
Speaker 1: But there were some very specific reasons why those two

584
00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:39,920
Speaker 1: dynamics went that way, and I think it's worth they're

585
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:42,640
Speaker 1: digging into a little bit. So let's start with this.

586
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:46,560
Speaker 1: Why did Indie shoot eleven percent better from three and No,

587
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:49,320
Speaker 1: my answer is not going to be shooting luck. It's

588
00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:54,680
Speaker 1: because they generated better threes. More specifically, Indiana generated eleven

589
00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:59,880
Speaker 1: more catch and shoot threes. Both teams took thirty five

590
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:03,320
Speaker 1: more of Indiana's were catching shoot threes thirty to nineteen.

591
00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:08,160
Speaker 1: Of those thirty catch and shoot threes, seventeen were unguarded,

592
00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:13,920
Speaker 1: compared to just six unguarded threes generated from Minnesota. This

593
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:16,040
Speaker 1: is one of the big ways that the difference between

594
00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:19,160
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton's play styles were on display

595
00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:23,120
Speaker 1: last night, and that ant has different strengths and had

596
00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:25,440
Speaker 1: a shit game. The Wolves as a team had a

597
00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:28,520
Speaker 1: shit game. I'm less focused on that right now. I

598
00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:31,560
Speaker 1: want to focus on specifically what allows the Pacers to

599
00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:35,120
Speaker 1: generate open threes the way that they do. Tyrese is

600
00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 1: a relentless advantage hunter. Early in the game, the Wolves

601
00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:42,240
Speaker 1: didn't seem too interested in running. They're a good transition

602
00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:45,400
Speaker 1: defense normally, but they weren't in that first quarter. Tyrese

603
00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:48,200
Speaker 1: identified it. Just kept pushing the ball up the floor

604
00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:50,600
Speaker 1: with kick ahead passes. The Pacers got a bunch of

605
00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:53,320
Speaker 1: open threes as a result out of that. Out of

606
00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:57,840
Speaker 1: those sorts of push aheads identifying actions, Tyrese is so

607
00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:00,440
Speaker 1: good at this. Finds like the two or three different

608
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:03,640
Speaker 1: actions that the team doesn't want to switch, meaning there's

609
00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:06,160
Speaker 1: baked in advantage, whether it's through putting two on the

610
00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:08,640
Speaker 1: ball or drop coverage where he can get downhill so

611
00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:11,480
Speaker 1: he can get baked in dribble penetration. It allows him

612
00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:14,720
Speaker 1: these openings that he's relentlessly going to hit. And there

613
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:16,880
Speaker 1: were a lot of those actions. They obviously weren't switching

614
00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:18,440
Speaker 1: the Turner pick and pop, so they went to that

615
00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:20,280
Speaker 1: a bunch. They got a bunch of advantages from Turner

616
00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:22,800
Speaker 1: at the top of the key. Turner just didn't shoot

617
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:24,160
Speaker 1: the ball super well in this game. He had three

618
00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:26,680
Speaker 1: wide open threes, went one for three on him. He

619
00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 1: was one for five from three. Overall, the Wolves were

620
00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:32,480
Speaker 1: being I don't know if these were boxed switches or

621
00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:34,000
Speaker 1: if it was the game plan. And again like the

622
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:36,840
Speaker 1: Wolves were just off all night. But the screening actions

623
00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:39,400
Speaker 1: that brought Mike Conley into the screen or Anthony Edwards

624
00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:42,400
Speaker 1: or Julius Randall, like they'd either put two on the

625
00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:45,240
Speaker 1: ball or they just botched the switch entirely, and Siakam

626
00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:47,480
Speaker 1: and Nie Smith and Nemhard were like slipping out of

627
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:50,680
Speaker 1: the screens and getting clean catches the out near the

628
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:55,360
Speaker 1: three point line, even just like simple passes where Minnesota

629
00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:57,160
Speaker 1: would make an unforced error, and there were plenty of

630
00:30:57,240 --> 00:30:59,840
Speaker 1: them these in this game. Like okay, like Rudy go

631
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:03,200
Speaker 1: Bear in a transition sequence, is gonna play the basket

632
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:05,680
Speaker 1: and forget about Miles Turner trailing. Well, we're just gonna

633
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:07,640
Speaker 1: pitch it back to him and he's gonna get a

634
00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:11,239
Speaker 1: wide open three. Like oh, like, adren Emhard's standing in

635
00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:15,080
Speaker 1: the right corner unguarded because Minnesota's just not matched up,

636
00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:17,480
Speaker 1: and so Tyrese isn't gonna run action or do something.

637
00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:20,640
Speaker 1: He just like threw a skip pass and adren Emhard

638
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:24,280
Speaker 1: drove the clothes out that forced Gobert to help. Miles

639
00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:26,480
Speaker 1: Turner just teed up right in front of the rim.

640
00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:28,760
Speaker 1: They dropped it off and the boom, a little easy

641
00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:31,640
Speaker 1: floating shot right in front of the rim for Miles Turner.

642
00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:35,800
Speaker 1: That's literally just a defensive breakdown that Minnesota made and

643
00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:38,400
Speaker 1: Tyree's just identified it. Just threw a simple skip pass

644
00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:40,120
Speaker 1: and got an easy two points out of it. Like

645
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:42,400
Speaker 1: all that stuff I talked about early in the game

646
00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:44,880
Speaker 1: in terms of like transition, kick aheads those are the

647
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:48,080
Speaker 1: exact same sort of thing. Like his basketball brain is

648
00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:50,360
Speaker 1: just programmed to be like open man, throw it every

649
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:52,800
Speaker 1: single time. But he also has such great court awareness

650
00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:55,440
Speaker 1: that he's aware of that sort of stuff every single

651
00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:57,440
Speaker 1: time that it happens. One of the big things that

652
00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:00,360
Speaker 1: stood out to me last night, but it's something that

653
00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:02,440
Speaker 1: I've always loved about Tyrese's game, is just the way

654
00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:06,160
Speaker 1: that he plays at full speed as much as possible,

655
00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:09,520
Speaker 1: Like Tyrese knows that one of his weaknesses is that

656
00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:12,719
Speaker 1: he doesn't have like an elite first step, Meaning if

657
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:17,400
Speaker 1: he's like heads up with an elite defensive player, he's

658
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:19,520
Speaker 1: going to struggle to get separation. It's like that king

659
00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:21,680
Speaker 1: of the court concept that I've talked about a lot. Right.

660
00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:24,320
Speaker 1: If I take two players and I put them in

661
00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:27,680
Speaker 1: a one on one situation on the wing, and the

662
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:31,080
Speaker 1: defender is just squared up ready to go, it's so

663
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:34,080
Speaker 1: much harder to score. But if I put that defender

664
00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:36,400
Speaker 1: on the midline and I give him the ball and

665
00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:38,000
Speaker 1: I say, you got to pitch him the ball and

666
00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:41,720
Speaker 1: close out. It's gonna be a lot harder for him

667
00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:44,240
Speaker 1: to get a stop because you can use his momentum

668
00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:47,000
Speaker 1: against him. His momentum is coming at you too hard.

669
00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:49,800
Speaker 1: Any sort of dribble move either way or a pump fake,

670
00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:52,000
Speaker 1: you're gonna get him to overcommit and you're gonna be

671
00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:54,880
Speaker 1: able to go around closes out too short. You can

672
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:58,040
Speaker 1: rise up and shoot. You can as he's sprinting. If

673
00:32:58,080 --> 00:33:01,760
Speaker 1: he's overplaying one angle, you can use that momentum against

674
00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:05,480
Speaker 1: him to try to get an advantage going the other way. Well,

675
00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:07,880
Speaker 1: there's kind of like an inverse of that concept with

676
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:10,600
Speaker 1: a running start. I found this really fascinating. So we

677
00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:13,200
Speaker 1: can all agree that it's harder to score when you're

678
00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:15,920
Speaker 1: all squared up. It's harder for the defender if he

679
00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:18,280
Speaker 1: has to sprint at you. But now imagine a different

680
00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:21,640
Speaker 1: scenario where the defender is standing still and the offensive

681
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,720
Speaker 1: players sprinting at him. Imagine the defensive players sitting in

682
00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:27,040
Speaker 1: his stance right at the top of the key, and

683
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:30,600
Speaker 1: I'm starting at half court and I get going downhill

684
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:32,640
Speaker 1: at you, and I hit a move as I'm getting

685
00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:35,880
Speaker 1: into your area a little bit it's going to be

686
00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:37,800
Speaker 1: so much harder for you to manage that because my

687
00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:41,080
Speaker 1: body's already moving at full speed and you've got to

688
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:44,120
Speaker 1: come from a complete stop to beat me to a spot.

689
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:48,400
Speaker 1: It's extremely difficult to do. And again, like Tyrese knows

690
00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:52,200
Speaker 1: that he doesn't have this elite start quickness to just

691
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:55,480
Speaker 1: beat people off the dribble super easily, so he plays

692
00:33:55,520 --> 00:34:00,000
Speaker 1: from a running start as much as possible. Semi transition

693
00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:01,520
Speaker 1: is a place where you'll see this a lot. Again,

694
00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:04,520
Speaker 1: This to me is like in the process of a

695
00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:07,400
Speaker 1: transition possession converting to half court, so everyone's kind of

696
00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:10,640
Speaker 1: running back. Everyone's not really set, but you do have

697
00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:14,400
Speaker 1: all ten players in the front court, and like Tyresee

698
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:16,160
Speaker 1: will just take a ball screen from like thirty feet

699
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:19,040
Speaker 1: from the basket before the defense is really set. But

700
00:34:19,080 --> 00:34:21,120
Speaker 1: it's because he's running like he's got the ball, he's

701
00:34:21,160 --> 00:34:23,640
Speaker 1: got the alet, he's running up the floor, and Turner

702
00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:25,640
Speaker 1: will just come up and set like a brush ball

703
00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:28,000
Speaker 1: screen like thirty thirty five feet from the basket while

704
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:31,880
Speaker 1: Tyresee is going full speed. This allows him to consistently

705
00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:36,160
Speaker 1: get downhill in those ball screen actions. Even in the

706
00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:39,520
Speaker 1: half court, like he'll use retreat dribbles, like he'll run

707
00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:41,319
Speaker 1: the ball screen, but he won't like what he has

708
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:43,600
Speaker 1: and so he'll retreat out to half court and then

709
00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:46,000
Speaker 1: he'll get a running start again as he starts to

710
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,920
Speaker 1: come downhill at you. He had a big one for

711
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:51,040
Speaker 1: a step back three that he hit over nas Red

712
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:53,640
Speaker 1: in the late third quarter of this game. Same type

713
00:34:53,680 --> 00:34:57,080
Speaker 1: of play, like retreat, dribble out attack again. He wants

714
00:34:57,120 --> 00:34:59,840
Speaker 1: to get that head of steam because once he gets going,

715
00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:04,080
Speaker 1: that neutralizes his weakness, which is that first step quickness,

716
00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:06,920
Speaker 1: and it accentuates his strengths, which is like he's pretty

717
00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:12,279
Speaker 1: damn fast, great ball handler, good shooter, guy that can

718
00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:14,080
Speaker 1: make all the passing reads that you need to make

719
00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:17,120
Speaker 1: in those situations. He'll run a lot of give and

720
00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:21,200
Speaker 1: go action. It's like, oh, Jada McDaniels is ball pressuring

721
00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:24,240
Speaker 1: me here, nakaile Alexander Walker's ball pressuring me, like thirty

722
00:35:24,239 --> 00:35:26,799
Speaker 1: seven thirty eight feet from the basket. I don't like

723
00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:29,719
Speaker 1: my advantage right now, we're trying to run a double drag. Well,

724
00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:32,640
Speaker 1: instead of me trying to dribble through all this ball pressure,

725
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:35,840
Speaker 1: he'll just pitch it to Miles Turner and then sprint

726
00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:38,719
Speaker 1: into a dh O. Steph has done this over the

727
00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:41,440
Speaker 1: years a lot as a counter to ball pressure, same

728
00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:44,880
Speaker 1: sort of thing. He can get from point A to

729
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:48,080
Speaker 1: point B faster without the basketball, so he'll give it

730
00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:50,480
Speaker 1: up and he'll sprint there and then he'll catch All

731
00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:52,319
Speaker 1: of a sudden, he's going downhill. He had to play

732
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:55,080
Speaker 1: like that in the second half. Double drag ball pressure

733
00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:57,359
Speaker 1: pitches it to Turner. By the time he catches it,

734
00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:01,440
Speaker 1: he's free and clear running downhill and easy breezy bank

735
00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:05,000
Speaker 1: shot off the glass when the drop coverage defender wasn't there.

736
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:09,440
Speaker 1: He's trying to make sure that he's consistently playing at

737
00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:14,279
Speaker 1: a running start, where he's most difficult to deal with. Ironically, though,

738
00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:16,480
Speaker 1: he actually put this game away as a score. He

739
00:36:16,520 --> 00:36:18,520
Speaker 1: got a wide open three off of an offensive rebound

740
00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:20,040
Speaker 1: in the early third quarter that he made along the

741
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:23,759
Speaker 1: left wing. Then he hit three super tough threes that

742
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:25,880
Speaker 1: blew the lead open to twenty. All of them were

743
00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:29,320
Speaker 1: running start action. He had one that was one of

744
00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:32,640
Speaker 1: those semi transition ball screens I was talking about. Got

745
00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:35,360
Speaker 1: a ball screen. Go Bear was the one in the

746
00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:38,719
Speaker 1: drop and he was coming so hard at him downhill

747
00:36:39,040 --> 00:36:42,240
Speaker 1: Gobart was in his retreat and then Tyres just stepped

748
00:36:42,239 --> 00:36:44,120
Speaker 1: back to the right wing and because he had that

749
00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:47,239
Speaker 1: running start, go Bear couldn't recover. Knocks down the pull

750
00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:49,520
Speaker 1: up three. The nas Red play we talked about, that

751
00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:52,319
Speaker 1: was one of those retreat dribble sequences where he pulled

752
00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:54,400
Speaker 1: the ball back out to half court to get his

753
00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:59,359
Speaker 1: momentum going again to play against He hit this ridiculous

754
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:02,759
Speaker 1: three again against Anthony Edwards where there's a DHO with

755
00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:05,959
Speaker 1: Siakam and you can literally see watch Tyres on this play.

756
00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:10,040
Speaker 1: He's on the right wing and as Pascal goes to

757
00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:13,360
Speaker 1: do the dhow you can see Tyree's gallop take like

758
00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:16,759
Speaker 1: a galloping step back towards half court so that he

759
00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:19,719
Speaker 1: can go into the DHO with speed. And when he

760
00:37:19,760 --> 00:37:22,880
Speaker 1: gets the dhho, he takes a hard dribble towards the

761
00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:25,560
Speaker 1: left and he snatches it back behind the back and

762
00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:29,239
Speaker 1: you can literally see Anthony Edwards break off towards that

763
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:32,960
Speaker 1: left handed dribble. Tyree's gets plenty of separation and he

764
00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:35,640
Speaker 1: just eases into a pull up three there at the

765
00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:37,160
Speaker 1: top of the key. That one put them up by

766
00:37:37,200 --> 00:37:43,960
Speaker 1: twenty again. It's just understanding these basic basketball advantage sequences

767
00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:47,560
Speaker 1: in understanding that he can get those advantages faster and

768
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:51,200
Speaker 1: more frequently when he plays with the running start. It

769
00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:53,880
Speaker 1: puts the primary focus on his strengths, which is that

770
00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:56,280
Speaker 1: he's fast and that he can dribble, shoot and pass,

771
00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:00,200
Speaker 1: and it takes the focus off of his weaknesses. Both

772
00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:01,799
Speaker 1: of the pacers. I wanted to shout out Miles Turner.

773
00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:03,239
Speaker 1: He didn't shoot the ball super well in this game,

774
00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:05,879
Speaker 1: but I thought his rim protection was super valuable. It's

775
00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:07,600
Speaker 1: a great matchup for him because of go Bear Like

776
00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:10,080
Speaker 1: he can really hawk the rim, and he just did that.

777
00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:11,960
Speaker 1: He did a great job. If he had four blocks,

778
00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:15,239
Speaker 1: he for several misses around the rim obi top and

779
00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:17,800
Speaker 1: he came in the game and immediately hit a movement

780
00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:19,880
Speaker 1: three out of the right corner. There was a a

781
00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:22,640
Speaker 1: I can't remember which team's broadcast I was watching because

782
00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:24,799
Speaker 1: I had the volume off, but they had like the

783
00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:29,000
Speaker 1: sideline camera angle like down on the floor of him

784
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:31,200
Speaker 1: running into that movement three out of the right corner,

785
00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:34,000
Speaker 1: and just beautiful footwork. You can see him plant that

786
00:38:34,120 --> 00:38:37,279
Speaker 1: left foot, swing that right foot around, gets straight up

787
00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:39,720
Speaker 1: and down out of a run and just calmly rises

788
00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:41,440
Speaker 1: up and knocks down the shot. I always find it

789
00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:44,920
Speaker 1: fascinating when really good athletes start to blossom as shooters,

790
00:38:45,280 --> 00:38:48,399
Speaker 1: because the toughest part about shooting is actually getting open

791
00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:50,840
Speaker 1: when you're a good shooter, and the athletes are the

792
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:54,160
Speaker 1: ones that can use their tools to actually get good

793
00:38:54,239 --> 00:38:56,880
Speaker 1: looks and situations that a lot of lesser athletes can't.

794
00:38:57,040 --> 00:38:59,080
Speaker 1: He ended up hitting six threes in this game. The

795
00:38:59,160 --> 00:39:01,640
Speaker 1: last one he hit on TJ McConnell's kickout was another

796
00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:05,280
Speaker 1: example of him like quickly resetting his base under duress

797
00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:07,839
Speaker 1: and rising up and getting good lift and knocking down

798
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:09,400
Speaker 1: a shot. He was awesome in this one. And then

799
00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:11,080
Speaker 1: I just want to shout out the team's defense. They

800
00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:15,240
Speaker 1: forced the Wolves into seventeen turnovers, mostly just by making

801
00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:18,920
Speaker 1: things difficult out front, like denying swing passes at the

802
00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:22,200
Speaker 1: top of the key, denying entry passes to the high post.

803
00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:26,000
Speaker 1: They prayed on Minnesota's just sloppy personality in that game

804
00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:27,920
Speaker 1: and forced him to throw the ball away a bunch.

805
00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:30,560
Speaker 1: I talked about the gap in the open threes right

806
00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:35,480
Speaker 1: like I have the numbers right here was the Pacers

807
00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:40,080
Speaker 1: generated seventeen unguarded threes in Minnesota generated six. A big

808
00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:43,239
Speaker 1: part of that was just their closeouts. It wasn't just

809
00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:46,680
Speaker 1: ty Reese's shot creation like on Minnesota's end of the floor.

810
00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:50,279
Speaker 1: The Pacers were just better and quicker at erasing the

811
00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:52,640
Speaker 1: openings that showed up as soon as they opened up.

812
00:39:52,719 --> 00:39:55,640
Speaker 1: Pacers have won seven out of eight, third in defense

813
00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:58,319
Speaker 1: and third in defensive rebounding over that span, which is

814
00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:00,200
Speaker 1: kind of a hilarious trend for a team that has

815
00:40:00,239 --> 00:40:04,279
Speaker 1: struggled mightily in those two areas during the Tyreese Halliburton era.

816
00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:06,080
Speaker 1: This has been a team that has struggled to defend

817
00:40:06,080 --> 00:40:08,160
Speaker 1: and rebound for the most part in this era. But

818
00:40:08,160 --> 00:40:10,960
Speaker 1: they're doing it right now and it's not hard to

819
00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:14,200
Speaker 1: figure out. They have that combination of perimeter athleticism. They

820
00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:16,160
Speaker 1: got two really good perimeter defenders and them Hard and

821
00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:18,160
Speaker 1: Nie Smith, and they've got rim protection that's going to

822
00:40:18,239 --> 00:40:21,760
Speaker 1: give you a pretty high baseline. Now. It's worth mentioning

823
00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:24,640
Speaker 1: the teams they've played in that span, aside from Milwaukee,

824
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:28,200
Speaker 1: have allowed Miles Turner to stay at the rim, which

825
00:40:28,239 --> 00:40:30,920
Speaker 1: has helped them to anchor their defense set in that

826
00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:34,279
Speaker 1: side of things. But they're competing on that end of

827
00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:37,200
Speaker 1: the floor. I think We're headed for a Pacers Bucks

828
00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:39,080
Speaker 1: first round series again, which would be a ton of

829
00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:42,480
Speaker 1: fun on the Minnesota front. I just thought they played

830
00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:44,920
Speaker 1: like shit. I thought Aunt settled for a lot of

831
00:40:44,920 --> 00:40:47,480
Speaker 1: tough shots and didn't make them. Dante was forcing a

832
00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:49,279
Speaker 1: lot of tough threes too. He's playing like he was

833
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:51,320
Speaker 1: Steph Curry. You could actually see some weird body language

834
00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:52,960
Speaker 1: stuff from some of the other Wolves during some of

835
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:56,560
Speaker 1: those shots. Their defense was abysmal right out of the gates,

836
00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:58,840
Speaker 1: one of the best transition defenses in the league, and

837
00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:00,319
Speaker 1: they just weren't running the floor again, and they gave

838
00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:03,760
Speaker 1: up eleven possessions in transition in the first quarter alone.

839
00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:07,120
Speaker 1: They only gave up thirteen points because Indy just happened

840
00:41:07,120 --> 00:41:09,080
Speaker 1: to miss some open looks. But they were really bad there.

841
00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:11,920
Speaker 1: They were not getting matched up a bunch. They gave

842
00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:14,720
Speaker 1: up wide open shots to Obi top And and Aaronee Smith

843
00:41:14,719 --> 00:41:16,520
Speaker 1: on plays where they just didn't get matched up in

844
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:20,200
Speaker 1: the half court, unnecessary overhelp situations where they're giving up

845
00:41:20,239 --> 00:41:23,759
Speaker 1: easy close out opportunities by just not paying attention. I

846
00:41:23,960 --> 00:41:26,640
Speaker 1: just didn't think it was a very sharp game from

847
00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:28,879
Speaker 1: them at all, and I think it follows falls under

848
00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:31,120
Speaker 1: that category I was talking about earlier in terms of

849
00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:34,680
Speaker 1: late March basketball, and I'm just not gonna overreact to

850
00:41:34,760 --> 00:41:37,440
Speaker 1: late March basketball with anybody. All Right, guys, it's all

851
00:41:37,480 --> 00:41:39,680
Speaker 1: have for today. As always, a sincerely appreciate you guys

852
00:41:39,680 --> 00:41:41,680
Speaker 1: for supporting me and supporting the show. We're gonna be

853
00:41:41,680 --> 00:41:45,319
Speaker 1: back tomorrow covering the jam packed Tuesday Night Slate. We're

854
00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:48,960
Speaker 1: also going live on Wednesday night after the final buzzer

855
00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:51,839
Speaker 1: of Celtic Suns, so I will see you guys then.

856
00:41:56,640 --> 00:41:59,080
Speaker 1: What's up guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening

857
00:41:59,080 --> 00:42:01,920
Speaker 1: to and supporting hoops tonight. It would actually be really

858
00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:03,840
Speaker 1: helpful for us if you guys would take a second

859
00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:06,600
Speaker 1: and leave a rating and a review. As always, I

860
00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:08,359
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys supporting us, but if you could take

861
00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:10,719
Speaker 1: a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it.