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Speaker 1: the Volume, Happy Thursday, everybody, hope all if you guys
Speaker 1: are having an incredible week at a jam packshow for
Speaker 1: you guys today, we are going to finish up our
Speaker 1: contender rankings with three to two and one to start
Speaker 1: the show, and then after that for the YouTube audience,
Speaker 1: we're gonna do deep film sessions on the two esp
Speaker 1: games last night, which we're both highly entertaining. We had
Speaker 1: our showdown in the Western Conference top of the Conference
Speaker 1: between Minnesota and Denver. Is Denver just classic Denver style
Speaker 1: out executed Minnesota down the stretch and pulled out a
Speaker 1: win to give themselves sole possession of the number one
Speaker 1: seed in the Western Conference. And then after that, the
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks went into Miami and kicked their ass in
Speaker 1: a highly entertaining two way performance from them in the
Speaker 1: first half. So we're gonna do a film session on
Speaker 1: the entire game from the Minnesota Denver game and then
Speaker 1: just the first half of that Miami Dallas game. And
Speaker 1: then at the end of the show, I've got four
Speaker 1: mail bag questions from you guys that we're gonna hit,
Speaker 1: talking a little bit of Celtics, a little bit Laker,
Speaker 1: some other stuff, some thunder, and some other stuff around
Speaker 1: the league. You guys know the Joe four we get started.
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Speaker 1: throughout the rest of the season. We also have a
Speaker 1: fun surprise for you guys tomorrow, the Nerd Sash guys
Speaker 1: are coming on the show. We're going to do a
Speaker 1: We're going to do a preview of the Clippers MAVs
Speaker 1: first round series, as well as some other topics from
Speaker 1: around the league. That should be fun before we head
Speaker 1: into our final weekend. All right, let's talk some basketball.
Speaker 1: So my number three contender, and you know, this was
Speaker 1: a spot that I've been arguing with myself about for weeks.
Speaker 1: At this point, I've probably had five or six different
Speaker 1: teams in this spot at different points in the season.
Speaker 1: I've thought about the Bucks in this spot in the
Speaker 1: early portion of the season, thought a lot about the
Speaker 1: Clippers in this spot in the middle portion of the season.
Speaker 1: In the recent stretch of games. A couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 1: I was really high on the Suns just because of
Speaker 1: how well they match up with Denver, which I view
Speaker 1: as basically a prerequisite to get out of the Western Conference.
Speaker 1: Not a big shock, obviously, but the team that I
Speaker 1: ended up landing on here and they won me over
Speaker 1: ironically with their defense, because it's a team that I've
Speaker 1: already believed in what Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving can do,
Speaker 1: but the unbelievable backline athleticism and the way they can
Speaker 1: impact the game with guys like PJ. Washington and Maxi Kliba,
Speaker 1: and then Derrek Jones Jior has been a very good
Speaker 1: perimeter defender for them during this stretch. This defense and
Speaker 1: rebounding run that they've been on has got me all
Speaker 1: bought in on the Dallas Mavericks. And so the team
Speaker 1: that I landed on is my team that leads the
Speaker 1: second tier of championship contenders because I have view Denver
Speaker 1: and Boston on their own tier. The team that leads
Speaker 1: that second tier of contenders for me is the Dallas Mavericks.
Speaker 1: So they are fifty to thirty right now. They are
Speaker 1: locked into the five seed in the Western Conference. For
Speaker 1: the season, they are seventh in offense and seventeenth in defense,
Speaker 1: twenty second in defensive rebounding. But since the trade deadline,
Speaker 1: since bringing in PJ. Washington and Daniel Gaffer, they are
Speaker 1: twenty one and seven. That is the second best record
Speaker 1: in the league behind Boston. Over that span, they are
Speaker 1: third in offense in that span, sixth in defense, and
Speaker 1: sixth in defensive rebounding. Since March seventh sixteen to two,
Speaker 1: best record in the league over that span, fourth in offense,
Speaker 1: number one defense in the league by a pretty sizable
Speaker 1: margin about two points per one hundred possessions over that span,
Speaker 1: so basically the last fourth of the season they've been
Speaker 1: the very best defense in basketball. Rebounding has slipped a
Speaker 1: little bit in that span their eleventh in defensive rebounding,
Speaker 1: but playing some unbelievably good basketball right now. They also
Speaker 1: are tied for the best clutch record in the league
Speaker 1: with the Lakers at twenty three to nine. An excellent
Speaker 1: late game execution team, they're strengths. Lukadancic is the second
Speaker 1: best offensive engine in the league behind Nikole Jokic. I
Speaker 1: would also personally have him second in my MVP rankings
Speaker 1: behind nikol Jokic. I know MAVs fans are convinced that
Speaker 1: he should be the MVP, and I do think he
Speaker 1: has a very good case, but to me, this is
Speaker 1: literally the difference. There are six games back in the standings,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I know Dallas has had injury issues, but
Speaker 1: IML Murray has missed twenty three games as well for
Speaker 1: the Nuggets, And to me, like, if you're going to
Speaker 1: make up a gap for six games. Luca needs to
Speaker 1: be like, clearly indiscernibly better than Nikola Jokic, and he's
Speaker 1: just not so. With them both playing at a similar
Speaker 1: level in the regular season and Denver just being that
Speaker 1: far ahead in the standings, I think you got to
Speaker 1: give the nod to Jokic, But a very very good
Speaker 1: MVP type of campaign from the from Luka Doncic, and
Speaker 1: I expect him to get what, if not won multiple
Speaker 1: over the course of the next few seasons. He's averaging
Speaker 1: a career high thirty four points per game on a
Speaker 1: career high sixty two percent true shooting, a career high
Speaker 1: nine point eight assists per game, a career high forty
Speaker 1: one percent unpull up jumpers, a career high thirty eight
Speaker 1: percent unpull up threes. So just an unbelievable season from him.
Speaker 1: The best part is, too, is we know that Luca's
Speaker 1: game translates extremely well to the postseason. We've seen him
Speaker 1: in multiple playoff runs with his size and his strength
Speaker 1: and the versatile way that he attacks continue to caught
Speaker 1: massive problems for playoff defenses. If anything, he goes up
Speaker 1: a level when he gets to that point instead of
Speaker 1: many of his peers around the league that tend to
Speaker 1: actually struggle when they get to that point. They have
Speaker 1: a perfectly complimentary secondary shot creator and Kyrie Irving. He's
Speaker 1: struggled in the postseason since leaving Cleveland, but I still
Speaker 1: think he has that level in him. And this is
Speaker 1: a better team than some of the other teams that
Speaker 1: he's been on, so I don't think that'll be as
Speaker 1: big of an issue. They have solid perimeter defense personnel.
Speaker 1: Derek Jones Junior is a really good option for guards,
Speaker 1: really quick, really long, really athletic PJ. Washington for forwards,
Speaker 1: and that again is going to be a big deal
Speaker 1: in the Western Conference when you have to go through
Speaker 1: the likes of Lebron and Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard
Speaker 1: and so on and so forth. And he's probably going
Speaker 1: to get that Kawhi Leonard matchup to start the LA
Speaker 1: Clippers series. But they also have excellent back line personnel PJ.
Speaker 1: Washington and maxic Leeb. I've got a bunch of examples
Speaker 1: today that I'll be showing you guys about the level
Speaker 1: of impact they can have as defensive rebounders and help
Speaker 1: side defenders on the back line of Dallas's defense, they
Speaker 1: actually remind me of the KCP. The Derek Jones Junior PJ.
Speaker 1: Washington dynamic actually reminds me a lot of what Denver
Speaker 1: has with KCP and Aaron Gordon in the sense that,
Speaker 1: like they can construct a quality defense with some limited personnel,
Speaker 1: like because Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Junior are averaged
Speaker 1: to slightly below average defensive players, right, and then you
Speaker 1: go to Nicola Jokic and he's the guy that's in
Speaker 1: that average to slightly above average type of level. But
Speaker 1: they construct a top ten defense because they have excellent
Speaker 1: defensive personnel. And then the other three guys just do
Speaker 1: their job within the scheme. They have excellent scheme discipline
Speaker 1: and Dallas, you know, to their credit, to Kyrie and
Speaker 1: Luka Doncic's credit, they've had great scheme discipline all season,
Speaker 1: doing their jobs on the majority of the Knights. And
Speaker 1: then when you add that again, when you add that
Speaker 1: perimeter defense dynamic of de Derrek Jones Junior, and PJ.
Speaker 1: Washington with options off the bench too, guys like Josh Green,
Speaker 1: they can guard on the perimeter with back line guys
Speaker 1: like Maxi Kleiba and Daniel Gafford and Derek Lively. Gafford
Speaker 1: and Lively, it's been a mixag with them this season,
Speaker 1: but for the most part, I think they've been fine.
Speaker 1: I just think that all of those athletes. That is
Speaker 1: what actually moved Dallas ahead of Phoenix. For me, is
Speaker 1: there just ability to hold up in rock fights. I've
Speaker 1: watched Phoenix a couple of times in the last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks get punched in the mouth by really physically
Speaker 1: aggressive teams and then kind of failed to meet that challenge.
Speaker 1: That was the big one for me that ended up
Speaker 1: pushing Dallas over the top. They're also a much better
Speaker 1: transition offense than they were last year. They were twenty
Speaker 1: seventh in transition frequency last year. They're eighth in transition
Speaker 1: frequency this year. And there's two factors that play into that.
Speaker 1: Much better athletes like we talked about earlier, but also
Speaker 1: better defense. You've got to get stops to get out
Speaker 1: in transition. That was a huge part of Dallas's second
Speaker 1: quarter run against the Miami Heat. We're going to get
Speaker 1: to that when we get to our film session at
Speaker 1: the end of the show. And then, lastly, on their
Speaker 1: strengths late game execution, They've been tied with the Lakers
Speaker 1: for the best clutch team in the league. Just combination
Speaker 1: of that defensive personnel we talked about and just having
Speaker 1: two incredibly high level shots creators that excel in that
Speaker 1: part of the game. Their weaknesses again, Kyrie Irving and
Speaker 1: Luka Doncis. Has been solid within the scheme defensively this year,
Speaker 1: but they do represent entry points for opposing offenses and
Speaker 1: teams will target them. That is going to be a
Speaker 1: situation that could get them into rotation a little bit.
Speaker 1: But again, it's going to be about game plan discipline.
Speaker 1: As long as they stick to their like let's say
Speaker 1: they need to hedge and recover or front the post
Speaker 1: or whatever it is. As long as they do that job,
Speaker 1: there's good enough personnel around them that it shouldn't be
Speaker 1: a problem. Their backside offensive personnel has some guys that
Speaker 1: you're okay with shooting threes, So guys like Maxic Kleb,
Speaker 1: but PJ. Washington, Derek Jones Jr. Derek Jones Junior shot
Speaker 1: well when he's completely unguarded this year, but you can
Speaker 1: he's got a little bit of a slower release. You
Speaker 1: can chase him off the line a little bit, and
Speaker 1: then some of their short role guys, guys like Daniel Gafford, Maxicalle,
Speaker 1: But like if you challenge them to make reads in
Speaker 1: that short role in four on three, they're good, not
Speaker 1: great at it, right, So like this, it's it's interesting
Speaker 1: with teams like Phoenix, I think teams are gonna try
Speaker 1: to guard actions one on one and two on to
Speaker 1: try to force their scorers to make shots because they
Speaker 1: have such unbelievable shooting talent off the ball. Dallas, I
Speaker 1: think teams are gonna be more willing to double and
Speaker 1: trap against them and just try to bait their lower
Speaker 1: level offensive players to try to make plays. And again,
Speaker 1: like I think it's worth it, Like I would rather
Speaker 1: have Dallas's configuration. I'd rather have the athletes, and I'd
Speaker 1: rather have the defensive ceiling that they have than to
Speaker 1: have the offensive ceiling that Phoenix has. And so I
Speaker 1: think it's a trade off that is more than worth
Speaker 1: it for Dallas. But that to me is like their
Speaker 1: one offensive weakness is like if you if you get
Speaker 1: the ball out of Kyrie and Luka Doncic's hands, you
Speaker 1: can get the right guys to take shots in the
Speaker 1: right spots for your defense? What does the path look like?
Speaker 1: All about defense and rebounding. I trust Kyrie and Luka
Speaker 1: Doncic to win that shot quality battle over the course
Speaker 1: of a seven game series. But the West have some
Speaker 1: really has some really high powered and high IQ offenses
Speaker 1: at the top. They're gonna need to figure out a
Speaker 1: way to sold them down for their offense push them
Speaker 1: over the top. That's gonna be the challenge. Will Dallas
Speaker 1: defense hold up when they get to the later rounds
Speaker 1: of the postseason. Number two in my list of contenders,
Speaker 1: the Boston Celtics sixty two to seventeen best record in
Speaker 1: the league with a six and a half game lead
Speaker 1: over the rest of the field first and offense, second
Speaker 1: in defense, ninth in defensive Rebounding their strengths, they are
Speaker 1: the most talented roster in the league by a mile.
Speaker 1: Each of their top six players is a high level
Speaker 1: two way player. Jason Tatum is a top ten player
Speaker 1: in the league and one of the best perimeter defenders
Speaker 1: in the league. Jalen Brown came into the year as
Speaker 1: a top twenty player, but he's been playing at a
Speaker 1: top ten level for the last couple of months of
Speaker 1: big development as He's built out a really successful post
Speaker 1: up game in playing some of the best defense of
Speaker 1: his career. Derek White is one of the best three
Speaker 1: and D guards in the league and also a solid
Speaker 1: second side creator. Drew Holliday one of the best defensive
Speaker 1: guards in the league with the versatility to guard bigger players,
Speaker 1: and he's shooting forty six percent on catch and shoot
Speaker 1: threes this year. Then Christaps Porzinge's thirty nine percent on
Speaker 1: catching shoot threes, and he's been the best volume post
Speaker 1: up player in the league this year. They're twenty five
Speaker 1: players in the league that have run at least two
Speaker 1: hundred post upsps. Porzingis is number one at one point
Speaker 1: three to one points per possession. Yokich is at number
Speaker 1: two with one point one five, although he's run eight
Speaker 1: hundred and twelve possessions, so he's preposterously high volume. Porzingis
Speaker 1: is at only two thirty one, But to the point
Speaker 1: is in his mismatch attacking post up situations, especially against
Speaker 1: switching defenses, Chrisops Porzingis has been deadly and then Al Horford,
Speaker 1: the sixth best guy on the team, still an excellent
Speaker 1: positional defender at the center position and a plus offensive
Speaker 1: player at thirty seven years old. They constantly have mismatches
Speaker 1: on the offensive end of the floor, and outside of
Speaker 1: like the very best guys in the league, the you know,
Speaker 1: Jokic Luca types. Outside of those guys, they really match
Speaker 1: up well defensively with everybody in the league. And there's
Speaker 1: not really many guys in the league that can match
Speaker 1: up with Jokich or Luca anyway. So that's not a
Speaker 1: problem that's unique to the Boston Celtics. They are one
Speaker 1: of the best on paper basketball teams I can remember
Speaker 1: seeing in the NBA. But they have one weakness. They're
Speaker 1: extremely reliant on jump shooting, and they have a tendency
Speaker 1: to go cold, especially in big games. Their last nine
Speaker 1: losses this year, six of them were to the Nuggets,
Speaker 1: the Clippers, the Bucks, and the Lakers, all in major
Speaker 1: national TV showdowns, and in each one of them, they
Speaker 1: went cold shooting jumpers, especially down the stretch of the game,
Speaker 1: and could not find another way to consistently score. There
Speaker 1: was kind of a brief stretch there post All Star
Speaker 1: Break where they were scoring better in the paint and
Speaker 1: being a little bit more versatile, but that didn't last.
Speaker 1: They are now eighteenth and points in the paint per
Speaker 1: game post All Star Break, and twenty ninth in points
Speaker 1: in the paint scored per game in the NBA for
Speaker 1: the season. It's really a simple for Boston. This is
Speaker 1: their path. If they can keep the cold stretches of
Speaker 1: jump shooting few and far between, they're just gonna win
Speaker 1: the title. They're that good. They're too good for everybody.
Speaker 1: If they're hitting their shots. I think they have a
Speaker 1: higher ceiling than Denver by a pretty significant margin. I
Speaker 1: just trust Denver to be at their ceiling more consistently,
Speaker 1: which is why I have them higher on this list.
Speaker 1: They have more resiliency in their ability to maintain their
Speaker 1: production offensively on a possession by possession basis, regardless of matchup,
Speaker 1: regardless of circumstance. That's why I have them higher. However,
Speaker 1: there's one other factor that works very heavily in Boston's favor.
Speaker 1: That is something I want to keep an eye on
Speaker 1: in this postseason run. If Jannis can't play in the
Speaker 1: first round of the postseason, and obviously we know Julius
Speaker 1: Randall can't go, they're gonna annihilate everyone in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 1: Like if Jannis can't go. I think Milwaukee's gonna lose
Speaker 1: in the first round in all likelihood, and then you
Speaker 1: look at like the Knicks without Julius Randall. I think
Speaker 1: they'll be really good, but I don't think they can
Speaker 1: beat Boston without them. Miami always has the talent in
Speaker 1: the ability to kind of throw Boston at a whack,
Speaker 1: but with the development of Chris porzil at, addition of
Speaker 1: christophs Porzingis, and the development of Jalen Brown as post threats,
Speaker 1: they're more equipped to handle some of the switching stuff
Speaker 1: that Miami does. This is just a better team than
Speaker 1: the Boston team last year that lost to the Miami
Speaker 1: Heat in seven games, And so I just think I
Speaker 1: think that there's a pretty solid chance that Boston just
Speaker 1: annihilates everyone in the Eastern Conference, and if they do,
Speaker 1: on the other end of that, Denver's almost certainly going
Speaker 1: to have to go through three great teams before they
Speaker 1: get there. So, for instance, I have a feeling by
Speaker 1: the odds that the Lakers are in all likelihood canna
Speaker 1: end up with the ten seed. They could very well
Speaker 1: get eliminated. I'd say it's like about a coin flip chance,
Speaker 1: But I do think the Lakers are the best team
Speaker 1: in the playoff in the play in bracket when they're healthy,
Speaker 1: so they should be capable of going and winning that
Speaker 1: road game and then winning the next one. If they do,
Speaker 1: they're the eight seed. So Denver would have to face
Speaker 1: the eight seed, which is my sixth best contender, which
Speaker 1: is the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. If
Speaker 1: they won that series, they'd play the winner of Clippers MAVs,
Speaker 1: and that is literally my fifth and third best contenders
Speaker 1: on the list. When that on the other end of
Speaker 1: the bracket, they're gonna be facing someone like a Phoenix,
Speaker 1: someone like an Oklahoma City, Minnesota so like. And then
Speaker 1: if they if they happen to get through all those series,
Speaker 1: they're gonna be looking at Boston waiting for them on
Speaker 1: the other end. So they could have to deal with
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis for seven games and then
Speaker 1: turn around and deal with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George
Speaker 1: or Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irvin for seven games and
Speaker 1: then at the end of that, Kevin Durant and Bradley
Speaker 1: Beal and Devin Booker or Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobaert and
Speaker 1: Carl Towns like. It's just an entirely different level of
Speaker 1: competition in that Western Conference, and so there's a chance
Speaker 1: that when Denver gets to June, they could just be
Speaker 1: worn out compared to where Boston is in the level
Speaker 1: of difficulty they're gonna face in that Eastern Conference. There's
Speaker 1: a chance that Boston could literally sweep and just go
Speaker 1: twelve oh through the East, and that's on the table.
Speaker 1: That's not happening for Denver. Denver's not going to through
Speaker 1: the West. They're going to drop five or six games
Speaker 1: on their way out if they even get out of
Speaker 1: the Western Conference with how good it is, and so
Speaker 1: I think that's an advantage that works really heavily in
Speaker 1: Boston's favor. I think it's easily their best chance to
Speaker 1: win the title since they had Kevin Garnett on the
Speaker 1: squad in the late two thousands. Number one, though the
Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets fifty six and twenty four sole possession of
Speaker 1: the number one seed in the Western Conference, seventh in offense,
Speaker 1: eighth in defense for the season. So that's what's crazy.
Speaker 1: They continue to ride that wave of defense that they
Speaker 1: kind of built in the postseason run last year and
Speaker 1: just brought it into this season. Their strengths. They have
Speaker 1: by far the best basketball player on earth in my opinion,
Speaker 1: Literally nobody in the league can stop him from getting
Speaker 1: to a shot that he will make more than half
Speaker 1: the time. I'm not talking about points per possession. I'm
Speaker 1: not talking about shot value based on the addition of
Speaker 1: the of that extra point that you get from a
Speaker 1: three point shot. I'm talking about straight field goal percentage.
Speaker 1: He's the most reliably great offensive player for a small
Speaker 1: handful possessions that I've seen in my time watching the league.
Speaker 1: Not even Steph for Lebron had the ability to get
Speaker 1: to a go to move with a field goal percentage,
Speaker 1: not a shot value, but a field goal percentage over
Speaker 1: sixty percent. Jokic is shooting sixty one percent on hooks
Speaker 1: this year. He's shooting sixty two percent on floaters. He's
Speaker 1: shooting seventy percent at the rim. Every other star in
Speaker 1: NBA history has had a certain like shot variance element
Speaker 1: that plays a role in their game. Sometimes MJ got
Speaker 1: a good look and he just missed. Sometimes Steph got
Speaker 1: a great look and he just missed. Lebron. Even with
Speaker 1: Lebron as great as he is, and I think Lebron
Speaker 1: at his peak is a better player than Jokic at
Speaker 1: his peak when you factor in his abilities on the
Speaker 1: defensive end of the four and in transition. But even
Speaker 1: Lebron didn't have a short turnaround jumper or a hook
Speaker 1: shot that he could get to and finish at over
Speaker 1: fifty percent from the field. There is an inevitably, an inevitability,
Speaker 1: excuse me, with Nikole Jokic that you literally feel helpless.
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert is. I don't think he's the best player
Speaker 1: defensive player in the world, but he's clearly a top
Speaker 1: five defensive player in the world. And Jokic just dog
Speaker 1: walked him under the basket every single time he wanted to.
Speaker 1: Last night, it was it was absolutely insane. I couldn't
Speaker 1: believe what I was watching. I have all the clips
Speaker 1: in the film session. We're gonna be going over it
Speaker 1: here in just a few minutes. But like, here's the thing.
Speaker 1: You can beat Jokic when your shot is falling, like
Speaker 1: Phoenix when they went in and beat Denver in overtime
Speaker 1: in that game, if you make your shots, you have
Speaker 1: a chance to beat them, right, Because yeah, in shot value,
Speaker 1: situations when they go in. Sometimes those threes are worth more.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you're gonna beat them. But over a seven game series,
Speaker 1: Jokic's shot is far more likely to go in more
Speaker 1: often than yours, and that's what makes him so difficult
Speaker 1: to deal with in those situations. And he's surrounded by
Speaker 1: a perfectly complimentary set of role players. Jamal Murray as
Speaker 1: the two man game kind of shot maker or matchup hunter.
Speaker 1: He shoots forty six percent on pull up jump shots.
Speaker 1: That's not effective Fielgal percentage percentage. So even Jamal Murray,
Speaker 1: his shot making peace goes in damn near half the time,
Speaker 1: and that adds to the inevitability of that offense. Both
Speaker 1: KCP and Michael Porter Junior are up over one point
Speaker 1: one to seven points per spot up possession, so they're
Speaker 1: both top tier spot up guys in the league. So
Speaker 1: you just can't leave them open, and they both can
Speaker 1: run second side action with NICOLEA Jokic Aaron Gordon as
Speaker 1: the vertical spacer and matchup attacker. We've seen Denver you
Speaker 1: put a small guy on Gordon, they'll just abandon their
Speaker 1: offense and just throw the ball to Gordon down low
Speaker 1: and bully ball until you find a way to counter it,
Speaker 1: like them working along the baseline. Any sort of help
Speaker 1: against Jokic, whether it's a pass to Gordon under the rim,
Speaker 1: or even Jokic can just throw up a hook and
Speaker 1: God forbid Jokic misses the one out of three times
Speaker 1: he takes that hook over his left shoulder, Gordon's gonna
Speaker 1: probably clean up the mess. On the back line, they
Speaker 1: have a good backup guard and Reggie Jackson that can
Speaker 1: help in the very small spurts that they'll need him
Speaker 1: to in this postseason. And then athletes off the bench,
Speaker 1: Christian Brown and Peyton Watson, who really anchor that switching
Speaker 1: defense that they use in the minutes that Yokich is
Speaker 1: off the floor. And they had an excellent night last
Speaker 1: night against the Timberwolves. They actually there was a few
Speaker 1: minutes there to start the fourth quarter where they extended
Speaker 1: the lead by one without Yokich and without Murray on
Speaker 1: the floor, mainly on the strength of their defense and
Speaker 1: Christian Brown, Payton Watson were just wrecking balls last night,
Speaker 1: So you got to see that up close and personal.
Speaker 1: And then execution. Everybody knows their role, Nobody steps out
Speaker 1: outside of it. Everyone has good scheme, discipline, and does
Speaker 1: what the coach asks them to do. They have counters
Speaker 1: on top of counters for any defensive coverage they run into.
Speaker 1: They're also a very good defensive team. They have multiple
Speaker 1: coverages that we're gonna actually go over a bunch of them,
Speaker 1: all of them in today's film session. They have a
Speaker 1: good high drop with Tag, they have a good deep drop,
Speaker 1: and then they can switch when Yokich is off the floor.
Speaker 1: Their weakness, they really only have one, just like Boston,
Speaker 1: but Denver's weakness is different. Their bench units struggle. They
Speaker 1: are minus eleven point two per one hundred possessions without
Speaker 1: Yokich on the floor. They go to this lineup with
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray out there and they just switch everything and
Speaker 1: Jamal really just looks to hunt his own shot and
Speaker 1: they kind of get killed in those minutes. But here's
Speaker 1: the thing. They were minus twelve without Jokic on the
Speaker 1: floor last year, and the way they addressed it is
Speaker 1: they ramped up the minutes for everybody. So they only
Speaker 1: had three hundred and ten possessions last year in the
Speaker 1: postseason with Jokic off the floor, and then they just
Speaker 1: ratchet up the defensive intensity in those really short bursts,
Speaker 1: and they were actually plus four net per one hundred
Speaker 1: possessions in those three hundred and ten possessions with Jokic
Speaker 1: off the floor last year in the postseason run, so
Speaker 1: scale the minutes up. Jokic actually played forty two minutes
Speaker 1: per night in the Western Conference finals and finals last year.
Speaker 1: So you're only talking about a six minute window, basically
Speaker 1: three minutes per half the start of the second quarter,
Speaker 1: start of the fourth quarter every night, and they just
Speaker 1: ratchet up the defense in those minutes. They get enough stops,
Speaker 1: they keep the game close. Yokic comes back in and
Speaker 1: does all the damage to end the night. There, So
Speaker 1: even their biggest weakness doesn't necessarily concern me. Again, I
Speaker 1: think Boston does have a higher ceiling when they are
Speaker 1: healthy or excuse me, when they're hitting their three point shots.
Speaker 1: Misspoke there, when they're hitting their shots, they have a
Speaker 1: higher ceiling than Denver. But I think that Denver is
Speaker 1: more consistently at their ceiling, more reliable at their ceiling.
Speaker 1: That makes them my number one championship favorite. The NBA
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Speaker 1: code hoops. The crown is yours. On that note, let's
Speaker 1: dig into the film from last night's Minnesota Denver game.
Speaker 1: And so just to give you guys a heads up,
Speaker 1: this is gonna be This is gonna look a lot
Speaker 1: more like what the format is going to be when
Speaker 1: we get to the postseason. So when we get to
Speaker 1: the postseason at we're gonna go live on YouTube after
Speaker 1: the final buzzer of these games when we go, we'll
Speaker 1: just mostly be doing just just monologues. Right. We might occasionally,
Speaker 1: like a major sequence at the end of a game,
Speaker 1: we might grab the footage and go over it for
Speaker 1: the sake of just adding a little production quality in
Speaker 1: those game in those shows, but for the most part,
Speaker 1: those are gonna be audio only, or I should say
Speaker 1: without film. The next morning, though, I'm going to wake
Speaker 1: up and watch film and I'm just going to drop
Speaker 1: clips into a folder and then basically we'll do this.
Speaker 1: We'll do like film satchs won't be every morning, It'll
Speaker 1: probably only be a few times a week, but I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna drop clips and then kind of just share
Speaker 1: with you guys my findings in film. It's not gonna
Speaker 1: be as structured as the shows at night. It's more
Speaker 1: gonna just be for you guys to follow along with
Speaker 1: me as we're doing our postseason coverage. And so this
Speaker 1: is a good example of that. I have something crazy
Speaker 1: like forty clips from this particular game that we're gonna
Speaker 1: go through, and it's just gonna just demonstrate a bunch
Speaker 1: of specific concepts that I have my eye on. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be it's gonna bounce around. We're not gonna stay
Speaker 1: in specific topics. It's gonna go in a linear fashion
Speaker 1: through the game. It's just a way for me to
Speaker 1: kind of share with you guys what my film sessions
Speaker 1: look like when I'm watching through these games. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get to the film. So this is the opening
Speaker 1: possession against Minnesota, and it's gonna give you, guys an
Speaker 1: example of the base coverage that Denver is going to
Speaker 1: use most likely against most teams. The one of the
Speaker 1: big topics that we're gonna be going through today in
Speaker 1: this film session is the pros and cons of going
Speaker 1: with the high drop with the tag versus the low
Speaker 1: drop where everyone stays home. And you're gonna see some
Speaker 1: examples of both of them in this film session. So
Speaker 1: here this first possession, this is what high drop with
Speaker 1: the tag looks like. So we got a little screen there.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a dribble handoff with Gobert and Conley,
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray on the ball. NIKOLEA. Jokic, the slipper in
Speaker 1: this case, is gonna be go bear the difference between
Speaker 1: a low drop and a high drop. In the deep
Speaker 1: drop or load drop, Jokic is gonna keep go Bear
Speaker 1: in front of him, and because he keeps Go Bear
Speaker 1: in front of him, you don't need to tag the
Speaker 1: roller from the weak side. But when Yokic comes up
Speaker 1: into a high drop, go Bear is gonna get behind him.
Speaker 1: And so when go Bear gets behind him, and in
Speaker 1: this case, Minnesota is actually trying to run stack, pick
Speaker 1: and roll. They're trying to screen Yokics, but it doesn't
Speaker 1: serve a purpose because Jokic is so high. In this case,
Speaker 1: the tag is coming from Michael Porter Junior. Okay, so
Speaker 1: as you can see, Go Bear slips behind Nikole, Jokic
Speaker 1: is up at the level. MPJ is gonna tag Go
Speaker 1: Bear as soon as the pass goes to anywhere else
Speaker 1: or by the time Jokic recovers, Michael Porter Junior will
Speaker 1: then close out on the weak side. Here's a good
Speaker 1: close out. He's able to contain Jaden McDaniels. The ball
Speaker 1: gets rotated around to nas Reid, who ends up missing
Speaker 1: a shot at the basket. So that's basically the base
Speaker 1: concept of the high drop. Essentially, Jokic comes up to
Speaker 1: the level to dissuade the pull up jump shot and
Speaker 1: to cut off the driving lane. Somebody on the weak side,
Speaker 1: depending on who's most well positioned for it, is going
Speaker 1: to tag the roller and then rotate back out. Here's
Speaker 1: an example of the read and react offense from Denver.
Speaker 1: So on this side of the floor, Gordon has the
Speaker 1: ball and Yokic is gonna run down and Jamal Murray's
Speaker 1: gonna run a little screening action with him. But Jaden
Speaker 1: McDaniels is going to cheat the action and come over
Speaker 1: onto this strong side of the screen. So again you
Speaker 1: can see Jamal Murray getting set up to screen Jokic. Yo.
Speaker 1: Get they're kind of just getting in here and mucking
Speaker 1: things up. But when Jada McDaniels jumps way out to
Speaker 1: the high side, you can actually see Jamal Murray make
Speaker 1: a read. He goes you can see Jamal Murray's looking,
Speaker 1: he sees Jay McDaniels all the way in the so
Speaker 1: he just slips back out to the three point line.
Speaker 1: And that's one of the cool things that makes Denver's
Speaker 1: defense offense so hard to guard, Like they have these
Speaker 1: set actions, but everyone has the freedom to make reads
Speaker 1: out of it, and if you see a guy overplaying,
Speaker 1: you just slip. And all of their guys are good
Speaker 1: enough passers to be able to capitalize on those slips.
Speaker 1: Here's another example of the tag with a or a
Speaker 1: high drop with the tag. Okay, so we're going back
Speaker 1: to Conley with Aaron Gordon on the ball. This time,
Speaker 1: Jokis is gonna come high. Go Bear is going to
Speaker 1: slip behind. Michael Porter Junior is gonna come tag off
Speaker 1: of Jade McDaniels. And then here again, this is one
Speaker 1: of those ones where Go Bear should never have put
Speaker 1: the ball on the floor. He should have read that
Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior was there and thrown the pass instead.
Speaker 1: When he puts the ball on the floor, Michael Porter
Speaker 1: Junior is able to kind of disrupt him enough for
Speaker 1: him to throw a bad pass and to turn it over.
Speaker 1: And so again, one of the things that's an advantage
Speaker 1: of running the high drop is it puts the onus
Speaker 1: on the guy in the short role to be able
Speaker 1: to reads and that's not a strength of Go Bears,
Speaker 1: and that allowed them to force a turnover on that
Speaker 1: specific play. And again I went back and forth about
Speaker 1: this because I was thinking at first, I was like, well,
Speaker 1: deep drop, it's like what Minnesota did, or excuse me,
Speaker 1: what Milwaukee did to Minnesota. That one time, and Conley
Speaker 1: and Aunt weren't able to make enough shots, and so
Speaker 1: like that's like the upside to that style. But the
Speaker 1: upside of the high drop is it puts the onus
Speaker 1: on their playmaking, which can be a weakness on this
Speaker 1: particular team. And so we'll see some more examples of that.
Speaker 1: And I kind of came around over the course of
Speaker 1: this film session. I kind of came around to the
Speaker 1: high drop being the best option. And I'm curious to
Speaker 1: hear you guys thoughts as well. If you disagree, drop
Speaker 1: them in the comments. This is an example of Minnesota's
Speaker 1: base coverage against Denver, and so what we got here,
Speaker 1: and it'll be Carl Towns instead of nas Reid when
Speaker 1: they're healthy. But it's the power forward on Jokic with
Speaker 1: go bear on Gordon and sitting in help. And the
Speaker 1: idea here is you're forcing Yokic to make over the
Speaker 1: top shots instead of pivot through shots that are at
Speaker 1: the rim, because again, Jokic is gonna shoot sixty percent
Speaker 1: on a He's gonna shoot seventy percent when he gets
Speaker 1: underneath the basket, and so you're basically buying that extra
Speaker 1: ten percent by leaving Gobert and help. But here's the problem.
Speaker 1: Jokic is gonna make that shot sixty percent. That's just
Speaker 1: an example of how there's not really a good option
Speaker 1: for guarding Nikola Jokich. This is another high drop against
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards, and I really liked it against Ant. Our
Speaker 1: first two examples were against Conley. I really liked it
Speaker 1: against Aunt surprisingly because it baited him into his biggest weakness,
Speaker 1: which is playmaking, and so it's gotten better, and it's
Speaker 1: gotten a lot better at playmaking this season. We've talked
Speaker 1: about it. But he's twenty two years old and he's
Speaker 1: got to score first mentality, and so this is gonna
Speaker 1: be a journey over the next few years for him
Speaker 1: to kind of figure this stuff out. Now, when we
Speaker 1: get a high drop high drop with Tag, you see
Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior coming over right, Gordon's pointing. They're communicating,
Speaker 1: we're in the drop right. The read here to actually
Speaker 1: beat this coverage is the skip pass. And I think
Speaker 1: in the entire game, if I remember correctly, I think
Speaker 1: Ant only made the skip pass twice with the you know,
Speaker 1: probably a dozen or so times he saw this coverage,
Speaker 1: which I think goes to show you how it challenges
Speaker 1: the playmaking there. Ant has a tendency when he gets
Speaker 1: these high drops or blitz is to just get rid
Speaker 1: of the basketball. So in this case, he comes off,
Speaker 1: he sees the high drop, so he knows there's not
Speaker 1: really an opportunity for him to score. He just throws
Speaker 1: a swing pass to Conley, so essentially the advantage is
Speaker 1: taken away from that. Here is an example of Cacp's
Speaker 1: incredible defensive ability, holding up on Nasried in the post,
Speaker 1: stripping him clean as he tries to again, he's absorbing
Speaker 1: the contact, absorbing the contact, and then as soon as
Speaker 1: Nasrid exposes the basketball and his step through to get
Speaker 1: to that hook shot, he just reaches in and grabs it.
Speaker 1: Watch expose the ball, grab it again. When you're guarding
Speaker 1: a bigger player, it's all about attacking the pocket rather
Speaker 1: than trying to contest up top. If you can test
Speaker 1: up top, you're not gonna have much success because they're
Speaker 1: just taller than you. Attack the pocket. You can capitalize
Speaker 1: on their weakness, the weakness of most larger basketball players,
Speaker 1: which is ball handling. Here's an example of deep drop
Speaker 1: against Ant Okay. So they run the first action with
Speaker 1: high drop or no, so this is deep drop. So again,
Speaker 1: notice Ant's Jokic is not at the level of the screen,
Speaker 1: and so because he's not at the level of the screen,
Speaker 1: he can keep Gobart in front. As a result, Michael
Speaker 1: Porter Junior doesn't need to tag. Jamal Murray doesn't need
Speaker 1: to tag, so because everyone's home. That leaves Ant on
Speaker 1: an island with Gobert and Michael Porter Junior throws kind
Speaker 1: of a token tag there, but he didn't really need to.
Speaker 1: So this puts Ant on the island as a scorer.
Speaker 1: But Ant's just an unbelievable player and he's gonna make
Speaker 1: shots there sometimes. This is an example of excellent back
Speaker 1: pressure from Jaden McDaniels on Jamal Murray and pick and roll.
Speaker 1: So again, as Jamal comes around here, Gordon's gonna step
Speaker 1: in because go Bear is gonna end up offering some helping.
Speaker 1: Gordon is gonna step in for like a little baseline cut.
Speaker 1: But Jamal Murray throws a bad pass because he's pressured
Speaker 1: by mcdaniels's. McDaniels was all over him. He's knocking him
Speaker 1: off balance and he ends up throwing a pass way
Speaker 1: too low, which turns into a turnover. Jane McDaniels, again,
Speaker 1: in my opinion, is the best perimeter defender in the league.
Speaker 1: Here's an example of Aunt beating the high drop. Again.
Speaker 1: I only saw this twice in the game, but this
Speaker 1: is what it looks like when it's done right. So
Speaker 1: here we go. We're gonna get ant with the ball screen.
Speaker 1: Go Bear is gonna set ag is gonna tag Go
Speaker 1: Bear on the slip, so we have it actually rejects
Speaker 1: the screen, but Yokic is still up at the level.
Speaker 1: Gordon tags Go Bear Ant makes the skip pass to Conley.
Speaker 1: So again this ball screen, he could come this way
Speaker 1: and Yokah is being drop over there, but Yokic comes
Speaker 1: in high drop. On the rejection of the ball screen,
Speaker 1: Go Bear slips, Gordon tags skip past to Conley. That's
Speaker 1: the read that you have to make to actually beat
Speaker 1: this coverage, but it just he didn't make that read
Speaker 1: often enough. This is kind of a funny little action.
Speaker 1: I thought this was interesting and I don't know if
Speaker 1: they did this on purpose, but you could talk me
Speaker 1: into it if you were a Denver fan. This they
Speaker 1: just kind of lazily walk up the floor, which baits
Speaker 1: all these Minnesota players into lazily walking up the floor,
Speaker 1: which puts Jokic on an island against Nasrid underneath the basket.
Speaker 1: Notice none of the Denver players are running up because
Speaker 1: if they did, these Minnesota players be running with him.
Speaker 1: It clears all this space for Yokic to quit go
Speaker 1: to work against a reed underneath the basket. Again, that
Speaker 1: might just be an impromptu, accidental thing, but you could
Speaker 1: also talk me into that being on purpose. Here's one
Speaker 1: of the downsides of the high drop, and that is
Speaker 1: that if Yokic is further back, so let's wait till
Speaker 1: he comes off the screen first. So if Yokic is
Speaker 1: back here and ant hits the jets, he has a
Speaker 1: better chance of like anticipating the drive direction and beating
Speaker 1: him to a spot. But when he's up this high
Speaker 1: aunt can use his quickness to just go around him.
Speaker 1: And so in this case he just goes around him
Speaker 1: and gets all the way to the rim, and it
Speaker 1: just puts more it puts more responsibility on that back line.
Speaker 1: Help all right, This is an example of how in
Speaker 1: ball screens with Jokic, your job as the guard is
Speaker 1: just to occupy the rim protector and get a shot
Speaker 1: up on the rim. So Reggie Jackson with Kyle Anderson
Speaker 1: on him, we're gonna get a Yokic ball screen. Here
Speaker 1: as Reggie Jackson moves down, all he has to do
Speaker 1: is occupy go bet to buy Yokic an opportunity to
Speaker 1: crash the offensive glass, so he gets in. This is
Speaker 1: a layup that he's missing. It's a really difficult layup.
Speaker 1: But now you have Monni Morris and Kyle Anderson trying
Speaker 1: to contend with Yokic underneath the basket, which is just
Speaker 1: too much of a challenge. Here is the first of
Speaker 1: Peyton Watson's six blocks, and I think I have all
Speaker 1: of them in this feed, but like it just unbelievable stuff.
Speaker 1: Here the ball gets worked around to nas or excuse me,
Speaker 1: this is a Nikkeil Alexander Walker. So Nikil Alexander Walker
Speaker 1: is rejecting the screen and he needs to do a
Speaker 1: better job of setting up Peyton Watson for the screen.
Speaker 1: So he's trying to cross away from the screen just
Speaker 1: like that. What he needs to do is actually work
Speaker 1: his way closer to Kyle Anderson because if he does,
Speaker 1: Peyton Watson will have to prep to fight over the screen.
Speaker 1: If he has to prep to fight over the screen.
Speaker 1: He's gonna have to take this left foot and put
Speaker 1: it way on Kyle Anderson's high side. And as soon
Speaker 1: as he does that, if Nikil Alexander Walker crosses over,
Speaker 1: he's gonna toast Peyton Watson because because he's just way
Speaker 1: out of position to contain that drive back to that side. Instead,
Speaker 1: he rejects the screen way too early and Peyton Watson
Speaker 1: just slides with him and meets him at the rim.
Speaker 1: There are some absolutely preposterous defensive plays from Peyton Watson
Speaker 1: in this game. Here's another one where he helps on
Speaker 1: a double team. Go Bear's gonna get a switch here
Speaker 1: onto Christian Brown if I remember correctly, yep gets a switch.
Speaker 1: He runs down to the post and gets the touch,
Speaker 1: makes an aggressive move into the lane and Peyton Watson
Speaker 1: offers help, literally leaves his feet, leaves his feet and
Speaker 1: help so he's literally off the ground. Here, Go Bear's
Speaker 1: made the feed and somehow Peyton Watson literally meets him
Speaker 1: back at the rim and blocks him. Just a ridiculous
Speaker 1: defensive play. He's like in two places at once. It's
Speaker 1: like having a sixth defender on the floor. Here's another
Speaker 1: just completely absurd defensive recovery from Peyton Watson. This one
Speaker 1: didn't even count as a block because they called him
Speaker 1: for a foul. So Peyton Watson is completely dealing with
Speaker 1: Conley Here. There's a bounce past to Kyleie Anderson. Just
Speaker 1: watch the speed with which he recovers back to Kyle Anderson.
Speaker 1: That's completely ridiculous. That is an absurd defensive play. Like
Speaker 1: Peyton Watson is going to be so good as soon
Speaker 1: as he figures out how to be a plus offensive
Speaker 1: player in Denver scheme. This is an example of something
Speaker 1: that Minnesota desperately needs, and that's Jaden McDaniel's scoring. So
Speaker 1: in this kind of broken offensive rebound sequence, Jade McDaniel's
Speaker 1: catches and just goes straight to work on a switch
Speaker 1: against Aaron Gordon. So we get a switch Aaron Gordon.
Speaker 1: Remember these these Denver units without Jokic are going to
Speaker 1: go to a switching attack. This is one of the
Speaker 1: best foward defenders in the league. And Jade McDaniels just
Speaker 1: gets into his body and leans back and makes a
Speaker 1: little floater over the top. Jaden's got great length and
Speaker 1: the way that he kind of scores is by like
Speaker 1: leaning back to shoot over the top. He always has
Speaker 1: done a good job of that. Here's another Peyton Watson
Speaker 1: block of Naz Reed on a curl on a pin down.
Speaker 1: So there's a simple basic basketball action that you see
Speaker 1: at every level. Jordan McLaughlin's gonna set a pin down,
Speaker 1: Nasorita is gonna curl around it. Peyton Watson is chasing
Speaker 1: and just meets him at the rim. These plays are
Speaker 1: so ridiculous. This is an example of both coverages. So
Speaker 1: we're gonna get a high drop on Ant that doesn't
Speaker 1: amount to anything, and then we're gonna get a low
Speaker 1: drop that Aunt actually gets a bucket. So again, here
Speaker 1: we go. Here's the high drop. We have Peyton Watson
Speaker 1: on the ball. Jokic comes up high as he comes off,
Speaker 1: go Bear slips behind Yokic. We have a tag from
Speaker 1: Michael Porter Jr. And Ant doesn't make the skip pass. Instead,
Speaker 1: he just turns around and throws an exit pass here
Speaker 1: at to Moni Morris. Advantage is gone. So again that's
Speaker 1: another high drop that you're able to shut down the
Speaker 1: action by basically taking advantage of Anthony Edwards in some
Speaker 1: of his limited playmaking. Then we're gonna go right back
Speaker 1: to Ant. This time, Jokic doesn't bother and stays in
Speaker 1: a low drop. Because he's in a low drop, there's
Speaker 1: a like kind of a token tag from KCP, but
Speaker 1: he stays home. Yoka just here. Everyone's Everyone's home. Yokic
Speaker 1: is on Gobert CACP is on Nasried, Michael Porter Juniors
Speaker 1: on jad McDaniels, Jamal Murray's on Monti Morris. But Anthony
Speaker 1: Edwards just gets a bucket. Now, there's a case to
Speaker 1: be made that the two buckets that he got in
Speaker 1: the deep drop coverage were both really tough shots. And
Speaker 1: so that's the upside is you're gonna turn it into
Speaker 1: a tough shot maker. And by the way, I mean
Speaker 1: this is one of the reasons why I'm lower on
Speaker 1: Minnesota than most is like I don't trust their ability
Speaker 1: to consistently beat any coverage when it comes to the postseason,
Speaker 1: and that's a big part of why I'm not as
Speaker 1: high on them as other teams. Here's an example of
Speaker 1: relentless pursuit by Jaden McDaniels on Jamal Murray to force
Speaker 1: a turnover. So he's chasing, chasing, chasing, chasing, gets caught
Speaker 1: a little bit, chase Chase, Chase, No let up here.
Speaker 1: He's still going, still going. And then as soon as
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray slows down, Jade McDaniels shoots in there and
Speaker 1: forces a turnover. I can't even imagine how much of
Speaker 1: a pain in the acid be going against him for
Speaker 1: forty eight minutes. All right, this is the first Rudy
Speaker 1: Gobert was just on the menu tonight for Nicolo or
Speaker 1: last night for Nicola Joki. It's just barbecue him all
Speaker 1: over the place. And this is the first example of
Speaker 1: that in transition. Just this is again top five defensive
Speaker 1: player in the world. He just doesn't even see him there.
Speaker 1: He just goes right throughom. That's an easy basket. That's
Speaker 1: just easy. Here's another nice bucket from Jaden McDaniels, scoring
Speaker 1: on an island. So we have the high drop, the
Speaker 1: high draft gets swing swung back to Jade McDaniels, and
Speaker 1: Jade McDaniels just hits Jamal Murray with the series of
Speaker 1: moves and gets to the basket. Again. They're really gonna
Speaker 1: need that from him. Here is a really really good
Speaker 1: high drop possession from Denver. All right, so we have
Speaker 1: Conley coming out there. Gobar sets the screen. Yokic comes
Speaker 1: into high drop, Go Bear slips behind. We have the
Speaker 1: tag from KCP. Conley makes the swing pass to Anderson.
Speaker 1: Anderson is going to make the extra pass to Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 1: Look at that rotation from Michael Porter Jr. Michael Porter Jr.
Speaker 1: Identifies the rotation. He starts making his rotation as soon
Speaker 1: as the swing pass has made boom. So Anderson doesn't
Speaker 1: even have the ball yet, but mpj knows that Edwards
Speaker 1: is the next rotation, and he's already out there. And
Speaker 1: so here we are. They ran ball screen and we're
Speaker 1: at two point six seconds on the shot clock and
Speaker 1: there's no advantage. That's just a really good defensive possession
Speaker 1: from Denver. Here's an example of one of the ways
Speaker 1: that you can beat This is the second time that
Speaker 1: that Ant made the skip pass in the high drop,
Speaker 1: but this time they don't actually beat it with a shot.
Speaker 1: They beat it on the offensive glass. So high drop,
Speaker 1: Go Beart slips and PJA tags. Ant finally makes the
Speaker 1: skip pass that I've been calling for. Skip pass gets made.
Speaker 1: Kyle Anderson not a good shooter, he misses it, but
Speaker 1: watch Jokich. Jokic is here, Go Bear is here. So
Speaker 1: Gobart has a massive offensive rebounding advantage here and he's
Speaker 1: able to get that position on jokicch and finish easily
Speaker 1: at the rim. Here's an example of the classic Denver
Speaker 1: tic tac toe that we see on offense so often.
Speaker 1: So again, in the high drop coverage, your job is
Speaker 1: to stop them from turning the corner just as much
Speaker 1: as it is to stop them from taking the pull
Speaker 1: up jump shot. And so when Jamal Murray really drags
Speaker 1: the ball ball screen around. He's watched Jamal Murray here.
Speaker 1: He's going to drag this all the way around, which
Speaker 1: forces Gobert to go pretty far in that direction to
Speaker 1: contain that drive because he has to, because Jade McDaniels
Speaker 1: gets caught a little bit and so he drags it out.
Speaker 1: And because he drags it out, Jokic gets a really
Speaker 1: good clean catch here. And on this clean catch, Nase
Speaker 1: Reid has to tag. When he tags Aaron Gordon is
Speaker 1: going to easily slip along the baseline for the reverse dunk.
Speaker 1: That's a very very important part of dealing with the
Speaker 1: high drop coverage. That dragging the defender as far over
Speaker 1: as you can. That was the big if you guys
Speaker 1: remember correctly, that was the big counter that Steph Curry
Speaker 1: used in Game four of the Western Conference Semis last
Speaker 1: year against the Lakers. After they got dominated in Game three,
Speaker 1: Steph started really dragging that ball screen action out further
Speaker 1: to make ad go further away from the play. This time,
Speaker 1: Denver is going to beat a high drop coverage by
Speaker 1: using Aaron Gordon flashing to the high post. So here's
Speaker 1: our ball screen, here's our high drop. Jade McDaniels is
Speaker 1: trying to recover. Go Bear is tagging off of Gordon
Speaker 1: on Jokic. Gordon just kind of sits in that soft
Speaker 1: spot right there in the middle of the floor, and
Speaker 1: then on the catch, he takes an advanced dribble to
Speaker 1: draw Anthony Edwards in and make the swing pass to
Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior on the week side. Again, like Denver,
Speaker 1: you're on the high drop, they're finding a way to
Speaker 1: get it to the soft spot. Every single time Minnesota
Speaker 1: against the high drop, they're struggling to get the ball
Speaker 1: to the right spots. Ant had some good success going
Speaker 1: through Jokic at the rim in this game, and I
Speaker 1: thought this was another example just sticking his arms out.
Speaker 1: He drew some fouls this way too, just didn't really
Speaker 1: wasn't really bothered by Jokic at the rim. That was
Speaker 1: an advantage for Minnesota in this matchup. Here's another example
Speaker 1: of Jokic just powering right through Rudy Gobert like he's
Speaker 1: not even there. Again, like I said, it was almost
Speaker 1: like he was trying to make a point in this game.
Speaker 1: Here's another advantage that I thought. This is another matchup
Speaker 1: advantage for Minnesota. KCP is the primary defender on Aaron
Speaker 1: Gordon to start the game, but really he struggled when
Speaker 1: Ant just tried to power through him. So again, KCP
Speaker 1: is doing everything right. He's absorbing contact, he's meeting him
Speaker 1: at spots, he's in the right spot. But Ant can
Speaker 1: just power through him to get where he wants to go.
Speaker 1: When I saw this play, it reminded me of one
Speaker 1: earlier in the game, and so I went back and
Speaker 1: pulled that one too. This is in the first quarter,
Speaker 1: if I remember correctly. Yeah, so end of the first quarter,
Speaker 1: Ant catches here on the weak side, he just hits
Speaker 1: KCP with a jab step and then powers right through him.
Speaker 1: So like that's the thing I would imagine over the
Speaker 1: course of a series like that could be a matchup
Speaker 1: where Denver might have to get a little more creative
Speaker 1: and have to use someone like a Christian Brown a
Speaker 1: little bit more, or someone like a Payton Watson a
Speaker 1: little bit more. Maybe even have to put Aaron Gordon
Speaker 1: excuse me on Anthony Edwards for stretches, or just like
Speaker 1: I said, capitalize on his limited playmaking ability by just
Speaker 1: kind of throwing the kitchen sink at him and not
Speaker 1: leaving him on an island as often as you can.
Speaker 1: Here's another Jokic possession, powering right through Gobert, this time
Speaker 1: on a pick and roll situation. So actually it was
Speaker 1: a broken play, so he kind of runs over Gobert.
Speaker 1: That should have probably been an offensive foul, but he
Speaker 1: just goes like. The point here is that Jokic sees
Speaker 1: Gobert at the rim and he just has no problem
Speaker 1: going right through him. Here's another example of Gobert struggling
Speaker 1: to handle a Jokic. This is here's the setup for
Speaker 1: this play. Jokic is six for seven on threes in
Speaker 1: the last three games. So we get a double team,
Speaker 1: a kickout, and we're gonna get a ball screen so
Speaker 1: or ex Yeah, we get an off ball screen. On
Speaker 1: the off ball screen, though, watch Gobert close out. Because
Speaker 1: Jokic has literally been dead eye from three as of late.
Speaker 1: He has to leave his feet on the close out.
Speaker 1: That gets him completely out of position. As soon as
Speaker 1: you watch Jokic, he understands his size advantages. The strength
Speaker 1: is his advantage. So you can see him kind to
Speaker 1: drop in that shoulder and getting low. Now watch, he
Speaker 1: just wants to get leverage inside leverage on Gobart, so
Speaker 1: you see right there. As soon as he gets this angle,
Speaker 1: he leans into him and creates that advantage. Here we
Speaker 1: have yet another example of Anthony Edwards failing to beat
Speaker 1: the high drop coverage. Okay, so again Yokic high drop,
Speaker 1: go bear slip justin Holiday tag and we're just gonna
Speaker 1: get a straight swing pass around him. Monti Morris, no advantage.
Speaker 1: Look here though, count the Nuggets. We have Nikhil Alexander
Speaker 1: Walker completely unguarded this whole possession. You can't even see him.
Speaker 1: He's just standing over here, unguarded. But that read isn't
Speaker 1: getting made now. I want to give the Nuggets a
Speaker 1: little bit of credit here. This is not an easy
Speaker 1: pass and when you apply good ball pressure like this,
Speaker 1: it's even harder to make that pass. That's what makes
Speaker 1: the those big playmaking forwards that I talk about such
Speaker 1: an advantage when you get to the postseason. These guys
Speaker 1: are staying in six ' eight, six ' nine, and
Speaker 1: they can just throw those over the top passes that
Speaker 1: much easier. Another high drop, another contested shot, and then
Speaker 1: here we're gonna get another example of Yokis just powering
Speaker 1: through go Bear going in transition the other way. Little
Speaker 1: a nice little feed here from Peyton Watson and just
Speaker 1: again Jokicic just just doesn't even see go Bear underneath
Speaker 1: the basket. Here's an example of the high drop when
Speaker 1: it gets botched, primarily from being laid on the tag.
Speaker 1: So this actually is a slip a switch because we're
Speaker 1: in the we're in the early fourth quarter period here,
Speaker 1: and Yokic is off the floor, so this Denver lineup's
Speaker 1: gonna be switching everything. But on the switch, Reggie chased
Speaker 1: a little too far over the top and so nas
Speaker 1: Reed got an easy slip. But mpj's late. I want
Speaker 1: to cut MPJ some slack here. So it's not a
Speaker 1: traditional pick and roll coverage. It's a botched slip, but
Speaker 1: he does need to be paying a little bit better attention.
Speaker 1: All right, This is an example of the one of
Speaker 1: the most important stretches of the game in my opinion.
Speaker 1: So Jamal Murray was on a minutes restriction. So usually
Speaker 1: this stretch of the game you're getting Jamal Murray out
Speaker 1: there with Jokic off switching everything in and Jamal Murray
Speaker 1: trying to create all the offense. Right, But because of
Speaker 1: the minutes restriction, Jamal Murray's not out there. So it's
Speaker 1: the same bench unit that struggled all year with Jamal Murray,
Speaker 1: except for this time it's Reggie Jackson. And like I
Speaker 1: talked about in our contender rankings, the way that this
Speaker 1: group managed to kind of float the boat last year
Speaker 1: without Yokic in the postseason, because remember they were plus
Speaker 1: four per one hundred in the postseason after being minus
Speaker 1: twelve per one hundred without Yokich in the regular season.
Speaker 1: They ratcheted up their defensive intensity and so the defense
Speaker 1: was everything for the Denver Nuggets in this run. They
Speaker 1: went into start the fourth quarter at eighty three to
Speaker 1: eighty the two points for the Michael Porters in your
Speaker 1: late tag. But they're gonna go this stretch and Yo,
Speaker 1: Kitch and Murray are gonna check back into the game
Speaker 1: with about seven minutes left and the lead is going
Speaker 1: to increase from three to four. So they actually won
Speaker 1: this shift mostly because of their work on the defensive
Speaker 1: end and some great chemistry between Eric Aaron Gordon keep
Speaker 1: calling him Eric Gordon. The some great chemistry between Aaron
Speaker 1: Gordon and Peyton Watson operating on the on the low
Speaker 1: block on the other end. So again switching everything right,
Speaker 1: Gordon switches on to Conley, and then we're gonna get
Speaker 1: naz Reid setting a screen on on Gordon. That's gonna
Speaker 1: get switched Watson on to Conley. Watch Watson absorb the
Speaker 1: contact and force the turnover again, the same kind of
Speaker 1: thing that that happened to Jamal Murray earlier in the
Speaker 1: game with Jade McDaniel's physicality, fall pressure gonna make a
Speaker 1: guy more likely to make a mistake. Here we have
Speaker 1: Peyton Watson blocking Naseerit again, this time in a straight
Speaker 1: post up on his move. So he gets beat on
Speaker 1: this move, gets beat to the baseline side, and he's
Speaker 1: just so athletic he just meets him at meets him
Speaker 1: at the rim. Every time I see these highlights, it's
Speaker 1: just unbelievable. Christian Brown gets a block as well. In
Speaker 1: the broken part of the of the play, we go
Speaker 1: the other way and transition. This is an example of
Speaker 1: the wave after wave of athleticism you face with Michael
Speaker 1: Porter Junior and Aaron Gordon. So erin. Gordon's gonna make
Speaker 1: a movie here against Nikkeile Alexander Walker, and he's gonna
Speaker 1: miss Watch Michael Porter Junior just sneak in there and
Speaker 1: get the offensive rebound. And again a big part of
Speaker 1: that there is Gordon's Gordon misses this shot, but he
Speaker 1: has drawn. He's on Jordan McLaughlin has drawn to Kiele
Speaker 1: Alexander Walker and help, and Rudy Gobert comes and makes
Speaker 1: a late attempt to try to block the shot. That
Speaker 1: is what clears this space for Michael Porter Junior to
Speaker 1: get in there and work. This is a beautiful spinning
Speaker 1: feed from Peyton Watas and to get a dunk for
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon. So catch us here on the wing rip through.
Speaker 1: McLaughlin comes over, spins around, drop off past to Gordon
Speaker 1: for a dunk. Really good chemistry there between the two.
Speaker 1: Here's a really nice possession of switching defense from the Nuggets.
Speaker 1: Brown switches on to McLaughlin, Gordon switches on to McLaughlin,
Speaker 1: but as a result we end up with nase Reid on.
Speaker 1: Christian Brown got a hold up guards on switches against
Speaker 1: the Bigs and again this will probably be Carl Towns
Speaker 1: in a real series, but still the same kind of principle,
Speaker 1: and Christian Brown just Steymy's naseried forces him to take
Speaker 1: a shot over the top and he misses. Great work
Speaker 1: there from Christian Brown. Underrated, kind of like strong low
Speaker 1: center of gravity athlete. Christian is this time, Eric, I
Speaker 1: did it again. I don't know why I'm doing that.
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon returns the favor to Peyton Watson makes a move,
Speaker 1: draws the help drop off, draws the foul, So now
Speaker 1: Yokic is gonna come back into the game. Peyton Watson
Speaker 1: goes one for two, so Yokic is back in the
Speaker 1: game and the lead is gone from eighty three eighty
Speaker 1: to ninety one eighty seven in a literally a five
Speaker 1: minute stretch without your two best players on the floor.
Speaker 1: Really really impressive stretch there. From the Denver bench. Here's
Speaker 1: an example of the unstoppable Yokich Murray two man game.
Speaker 1: As he comes off here, he's gonna pull it back
Speaker 1: out and they're gonna run it again, and this time
Speaker 1: Gobert he draws go beart In and Yokic instead of
Speaker 1: rolling into the tag, he just kind of finds that
Speaker 1: soft spot around the foul line and knocks down a jumper.
Speaker 1: This is so Anthony Edwards is just checked back into
Speaker 1: the game. It's a six point game, largest lead for
Speaker 1: Denver in a while, six minutes left. You desperately need
Speaker 1: a good shot. But he's twenty two years old and
Speaker 1: he's got a score first mentality, and he's got to
Speaker 1: learn that this is not a good shot. Comes off
Speaker 1: of like a little screen here for Mike Conley and
Speaker 1: Jael Murray's right there and he just takes a contested
Speaker 1: pull up three as soon as he steps in. Just
Speaker 1: just don't like the shot selection there from Ann This
Speaker 1: is you remember earlier when we were talking about that
Speaker 1: Nikhil Alexander Walker play on Peyton Watson where he did
Speaker 1: a bad job setting up his man for the screen.
Speaker 1: Here's an example of a much better job setting up
Speaker 1: your man for the screen. So again, watch Jamal Murray
Speaker 1: wants to get Jaden McDaniels to the point where he's
Speaker 1: starting his footwork to fight over the top before he
Speaker 1: crosses over. So notice that see that little hop Jada
Speaker 1: McDaniels took that hop is because he worked over to
Speaker 1: the screen right there. Hop he's hopping that left. Just
Speaker 1: like I told you earlier, you got to take your
Speaker 1: screen side foot and you have to get it over
Speaker 1: the top of the screener's top foot. That's the footwork
Speaker 1: for fighting over the top of the screen. You've got
Speaker 1: to make him engage that footwork before you cross back over.
Speaker 1: The Alexander Walker did not do that. Jamal Murray did,
Speaker 1: and as a result, he's able to beat Jada McDaniels
Speaker 1: cleanly off the dribble. Then from there, Yo Kicch is
Speaker 1: rolling hard, which keeps Gobert back pedaling, which opens up
Speaker 1: the floater, and Jamal Murray's just so good at all
Speaker 1: those coverage beaters shot like the shot making pieces to
Speaker 1: beat coverages. Yo kich torches go bear again here with
Speaker 1: a spin move towards the baseline. Now our leads up
Speaker 1: to nine and then here's an example of how hard
Speaker 1: it is to guard Denver because of their three man
Speaker 1: actions and their ability to slip. So as we're getting
Speaker 1: ready to run our two man game here, but they're
Speaker 1: setting it up with a quick pin down, right, So essentially,
Speaker 1: Christian Brown is setting a screen on Jada McDaniels to
Speaker 1: try to generate a little bit of separation so that
Speaker 1: when Jamal Murray comes off this dribble hand off, he's
Speaker 1: just in a better position with Jaden trailing more. Right,
Speaker 1: So in this case, Mike Conley is trying to help
Speaker 1: guard that he's pointing. You could see immediately he identifies it.
Speaker 1: Mike Conley right away knows this is going to be
Speaker 1: Jaul Murray coming down and a pin down setting into
Speaker 1: the dribble handoff. Conley points, hold up, here comes here,
Speaker 1: it comes here. Comes Everyone's keyed up this way, everyone is.
Speaker 1: And because everyone's keyed up this way, Mike Conley is
Speaker 1: getting ready to hedge. And because Mike Conley's up like
Speaker 1: that and Jada McDaniels is still chasing, Christian Brown has
Speaker 1: inside position on everybody to slip to the basket. And
Speaker 1: this is the one guy on the planet that'll never
Speaker 1: miss that pass. And there are a few guys a
Speaker 1: few other guys in the league, but Yo Kich is
Speaker 1: in the short list of guys that are never going
Speaker 1: to miss this read. Christian Brown slips it dunks on
Speaker 1: Gobert for the first of two times in this game.
Speaker 1: There's a little full court pressure from Minnesota late in
Speaker 1: the game. Game is already basically over, but little full
Speaker 1: court pressure. And on this action they're gonna make a
Speaker 1: kick head pass to Christian Brown. Christian Brown jumps right
Speaker 1: into go Bear's chest and then finishes over and with
Speaker 1: his left hand. Just fucking disgusting part of my language.
Speaker 1: Then we get a Brown lob in transition, this time
Speaker 1: from Michael Porter Junior game games out of reach here,
Speaker 1: But these are just highlights. We're showing you some highlights
Speaker 1: for fun. And then lastly, this was a really fun
Speaker 1: one as they run a little screening action for nasried Peyton,
Speaker 1: Watson recovers blocks, it, gets the kick ahead pass, throws
Speaker 1: down the dunk. All right, we're moving on to MAVs
Speaker 1: heat now a quick run a quick little like follow
Speaker 1: up on that Minnesota Denver one. So again, I think
Speaker 1: the takeaways from that film session are the high drop
Speaker 1: is probably their best option against limited playmakers against guys
Speaker 1: that are, but then against that same type of archetype,
Speaker 1: baiting them into taking tough shots is also a good option.
Speaker 1: They have good individual defenders that can defend there. I
Speaker 1: talk about scheme versatility as an advantage all the time.
Speaker 1: Scheme versatility, to me is the ability to adjust your
Speaker 1: coverage based on the matchup, and there are a lot
Speaker 1: of teams out there that can only defend in one
Speaker 1: or two different coverages. The Nuggets have a bunch of
Speaker 1: different ways that can defend even in those bench groups.
Speaker 1: With yokichaff the floor really good switching individual defense that
Speaker 1: is the anchor of that type of defensive group. And again,
Speaker 1: they won those minutes last year after being terrible in
Speaker 1: the regular season. They're gonna need to do it again
Speaker 1: this year. Just ratchet up the minutes for your best
Speaker 1: players so that you have these brief, small windows where
Speaker 1: you need those guys to lock in and they're capable
Speaker 1: of doing so. But yeah, I thought it also just
Speaker 1: kind of shined a light on some of the offensive
Speaker 1: limitations of Minnesota as it pertains to just kind of
Speaker 1: baiting them into their worst tendencies, settling for bad jump shots,
Speaker 1: not having the high enough level playmaking to beat coverages.
Speaker 1: But great example of why I think Denver is the
Speaker 1: best team in the league, and a game where they
Speaker 1: anchored down that one spot heading into the postseason. All right,
Speaker 1: let's head over to MAVs heat. So Luca It hits
Speaker 1: two threes in a row to start the game. I
Speaker 1: don't have those in here, but this was just a
Speaker 1: funny one. The third three point attempt he takes, he
Speaker 1: takes it against Jimmy Butler just to step back in ISO.
Speaker 1: This is just funny to me because the guy who
Speaker 1: always identifies where the miss is coming first is the shooter.
Speaker 1: He knows because he knows what it felt like coming
Speaker 1: off of his hands. So he misses the shot, but
Speaker 1: he knows he left it short, and so as soon
Speaker 1: as he shoots it, you can see he's like, oh,
Speaker 1: shoot ball still in there. He's like, ah, I left
Speaker 1: that way short. So he just runs right after it
Speaker 1: and ends up getting the offensive rebound put back. Here's
Speaker 1: an example of Derek Jones Junior in his high level
Speaker 1: close out attacking. So Derek Jones Junior actually is a
Speaker 1: forty percent unguarded catch and shoot three point shooter. Although
Speaker 1: you can chase him off the line. Luka Donc just
Speaker 1: draws a straight double from the top. It goes down
Speaker 1: to a Gafford. Gafford draws three kicks out to Derek
Speaker 1: Jones Junior. He gets chased off the line, but he
Speaker 1: rips through and hits a little tough, little right shoulder
Speaker 1: fade in the lane. Derek Jones Jr. Is a very
Speaker 1: good spot up player. He's really good at ripping through,
Speaker 1: finishing the ram, and he's got those little in between shots.
Speaker 1: He's getting one point zero seven points per possession in
Speaker 1: spot up situations, which is well above average. That is
Speaker 1: what's made him their best kind of like option as
Speaker 1: that perimeter defender slash guy that can function as a
Speaker 1: spot up player in their offense. This is an example
Speaker 1: of Luca playing advantage basketball, which I think is something
Speaker 1: we haven't seen a ton from him in his career.
Speaker 1: But he's gonna pass this off and this is what
Speaker 1: it looks like when Luca attacks a close out. So
Speaker 1: he's gonna flash back over here, pump fake, get the
Speaker 1: defender out of position, and again you can kind of
Speaker 1: see this whole possession because he's closing out, he's at
Speaker 1: a position his first thought is Luca's gonna drive. So
Speaker 1: you see him kind of like lean back right, boom,
Speaker 1: he takes that big retreat step. Then Luca leans back
Speaker 1: in pump fakes. Now he leaves his feet and then
Speaker 1: he just beats him off the dribble. Then we get
Speaker 1: the pass fake, right, we get the little pass fake,
Speaker 1: the look away pass fake, the Kliba which gets gets
Speaker 1: him the angle to get around Bam and finish at
Speaker 1: the basket. And he's just playing a lot more. He's
Speaker 1: already like I think fifteen to twenty more spot up
Speaker 1: possessions this season than he did last year. So obviously
Speaker 1: he's just getting more of those opportunities with a more
Speaker 1: talented roster. Here's an example of Maxi Kleba making a
Speaker 1: help side play down on the block. So BAM's going
Speaker 1: to work against Luca, He's gonna go take a shot
Speaker 1: and then Kleeba's gonna come over and block him at
Speaker 1: the rim. And again, like the big thing for me
Speaker 1: that pushed Dallas to that third spot in my contender
Speaker 1: list was Maxi Klebu and PJ. Washington and just the
Speaker 1: wrecking ball defensive players that they're capable of being here's
Speaker 1: PJ Washington blowing up an inbounds pass pass over the top.
Speaker 1: The BAM's trying to create a seal there for that
Speaker 1: little or not Bam Jimmy's trying to create the angle
Speaker 1: for that over the top pass. PJ breaks it up,
Speaker 1: then Luca gets the loose ball, and then we get
Speaker 1: a dunk from PJ Washington. Again, defensive playmaking. There's an example.
Speaker 1: This is a bucket for Miami, but this is an
Speaker 1: example of PJ Washington's defensive potential. He leaves his feet
Speaker 1: on a pump fake from Caleb Martin, boom off the ground.
Speaker 1: Caleb Martin is one of the faster kind of wing
Speaker 1: players that we have in the league, especially in straight
Speaker 1: line speed. PJ Washington is in the air and somehow
Speaker 1: manages to get back in front of Caleb Martin. Look
Speaker 1: at that, and again those guys are helping because they're
Speaker 1: thinking he's gonna get beat, and like he just somehow
Speaker 1: doesn't get beat, which just goes to show you the
Speaker 1: level of defensive potential that PJ. Washington has. Here's an
Speaker 1: excellent MAVs ball movement possession that begins with the Kyrie
Speaker 1: Irving backcut. So again. They're clearing the side here, and
Speaker 1: they're basically setting this up for Kyrie to fake like
Speaker 1: he's running out and then he's setting his man up
Speaker 1: and then he's gonna bang backcut right there, draws the
Speaker 1: help kick out past the Dante xem xam pump fakes.
Speaker 1: This is that advantage basketball I'm talking about. You can
Speaker 1: actually see Luca pointing Hey the next read, but he
Speaker 1: ends up throwing it to Luca anyway. Luca drives it.
Speaker 1: Luca makes the kick out to Kyrie back to PJ.
Speaker 1: Washington on the wing for three. Nice little ball movement
Speaker 1: possession there from Dallas. Here's Luca beating a coverage with
Speaker 1: the pull up three, this time Hey with high Smith
Speaker 1: ducks underneath the pick and Bam is too far back.
Speaker 1: This also might have just been a switch. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a switch. So it's a switch and Bam is too
Speaker 1: far back on the switch and Luca just beats it
Speaker 1: with a pull up again. This is This is like
Speaker 1: an example of a soft switch instead of a more
Speaker 1: aggressive switch, leaving Luca two open. This is it's so funny.
Speaker 1: As I watched MAVs film, it's so much less about
Speaker 1: like sets and you know, nifty actions and slips and
Speaker 1: things like that, and it's so much more about like
Speaker 1: individual greatness. And this is just a great example of
Speaker 1: a little detailed in ball handling that goes a long
Speaker 1: way with Kyrie Irving. So he's going to do it
Speaker 1: behind the back dribble here on Heywood Heismith and then
Speaker 1: I want you guys to watch how quickly he pivots
Speaker 1: his body to catch the behind the back drible. I
Speaker 1: want to shout out my first Juco assistant coach, Chris Klass,
Speaker 1: and he taught me this kind of like principle. But
Speaker 1: we used to do a cone dribbling drill. It's actually
Speaker 1: still to this day my first warm up drill that
Speaker 1: I do, and on it there's the actual drible combination
Speaker 1: you do to start the drill, but there's always an
Speaker 1: advanced dribble. And what he taught was like you'd hit
Speaker 1: like an in and out behind the back, but then
Speaker 1: you'd follow that up with an immediate advanced dribble with
Speaker 1: your left hand right and then in and out behind
Speaker 1: the back, and then an immediate advanced drible with your
Speaker 1: right hand, and then the purpose behind it is like
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter if you do the behind the back
Speaker 1: drible and you shed the defender if you can't immediately
Speaker 1: capitalize in the driving angle that it creates. And so
Speaker 1: there are these little details, especially on the higher level
Speaker 1: dribble combinations, that you need to have down in order
Speaker 1: to be able to actually take the advanced dribble after
Speaker 1: you make the move. So Kyrie's going to make it
Speaker 1: behind the back move. Here. Watch how he turns his
Speaker 1: body Boom. Okay, look at this. Look at how fast
Speaker 1: it is. So he makes the behind the back dribble.
Speaker 1: But because he pivots so quickly, now the ball is
Speaker 1: in his left hand and his body is positioned to drive,
Speaker 1: and so he's able to take advantage of that little
Speaker 1: angle he creates. The vast majority of offensive players in
Speaker 1: this league will make that behind the back dribble and
Speaker 1: then Heywood high Smith would just be able to recover
Speaker 1: and cut him off. But like Kyrie, that little pivot
Speaker 1: there's just a little detail in ball handling that I
Speaker 1: don't think people realize is a big part of what
Speaker 1: makes Kyrie so hard to guard. Here's another little piece
Speaker 1: of iso fundamental work here. Kyrie Irving's gonna start on
Speaker 1: the right wing out of a triple threat. Josh Green drives,
Speaker 1: We're gonna get a kick back here now Kyrie Heywood
Speaker 1: high Smith. He wants to make a rip through move.
Speaker 1: The idea rip through a move is you have to
Speaker 1: be lower than the defensive player to actually get that advantage.
Speaker 1: Watch how low Kyrie Irving gets. We'll slow it down here.
Speaker 1: Watch how low Kyrie Irving gets on this rip through
Speaker 1: that allows him to get the angle, and then from
Speaker 1: there he's going to go to a euro step on
Speaker 1: Kevin Love to find the little gap on the other
Speaker 1: side of the rim for the reverse layup. Just ridiculous
Speaker 1: stuff from Kyrie Irving. Here's an example of scheme discipline
Speaker 1: from Dallas and just some really good individual defense from
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving. So in a transition cross match, we get
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler on Kyrie Irving right, and it's clear that
Speaker 1: they want him to try to deny that catch if
Speaker 1: he gets that switch. So as he comes over here,
Speaker 1: Kyrie's going to go to a three quarter front, and
Speaker 1: he's in a three quarter front to not allow that
Speaker 1: pass gets worked back around. Now Kyrie again squatting down
Speaker 1: low fronting the post. This force in over the top pass.
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving does not try to catch the pass. Instead,
Speaker 1: he turns around and immediately tries to find a spot
Speaker 1: where Jimmy's gonna expose the basketball. So again he's not
Speaker 1: going for the ball, he's staying down waiting for Jimmy
Speaker 1: to catch, waiting for him to expose it, and he
Speaker 1: swipes it clean. Really really good individual defense there from
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving, and then he actually turns it the other
Speaker 1: way into a transition pull up three, which this has
Speaker 1: been one of Kyrie's big go to moves over the
Speaker 1: second half of the season. Here, all right, I've got
Speaker 1: five more clips from this game and then we're gonna
Speaker 1: go into our mailbag. So this time we have Derek
Speaker 1: Jones Jr. And Help coming off of the strong side
Speaker 1: quarter and blocking Caleb Martin's strong side corner. Help is
Speaker 1: really difficult because it's sketchy to leave a guy this open,
Speaker 1: But if a guy's got his back completely turned, it's
Speaker 1: kind of it's a risk. It's a high risk play,
Speaker 1: but he's able to turn it into a positive result.
Speaker 1: Here MAVs run out in transition and we get a
Speaker 1: dunk from Tim Hardaway Junior. Again, theme of this part
Speaker 1: of the the video is Dallas using their defense to
Speaker 1: get out in transition. And again, if you guys remember
Speaker 1: I mentioned this in the Contender rankings. They're twenty seventh
Speaker 1: in transition frequency last year eighth this year. A big
Speaker 1: part of that is their defense allowing them to get
Speaker 1: out and transition more. Here's a horn set for Kyrie.
Speaker 1: We don't really see Dallas run this too many like
Speaker 1: set actions like this, but this is an example of
Speaker 1: something good that they get out of it. We get
Speaker 1: a backscreen for Tim Hardaway flowing into a pin down
Speaker 1: that flows into a dribble handoff and that bits Jimmy
Speaker 1: Butler into offering tag help. So again Jimmy Butler's coming
Speaker 1: over here to deal with Gafford on the tag and
Speaker 1: that just gives Kyrie Irving a wide open catching three
Speaker 1: on the week set, catching you three on the weak side.
Speaker 1: Here we get another stop here, Dante Exum does a
Speaker 1: good job absorbing the contact from Bam. Gafford offers a
Speaker 1: eight minute a last minute contest. Here's an example of
Speaker 1: the athleticism on the back line that I talk about here.
Speaker 1: So if Gafford offers help, uh oh, you're screwed on
Speaker 1: the glass right no, because PJ. Washington is there to
Speaker 1: clean it up. PJ. Washington gets it kick ahead pass,
Speaker 1: Gafford runs his lane, gets a dunk, and once again
Speaker 1: just really good defense and rebounding leading to transition opportunities.
Speaker 1: Miami went zone in the middle of the second quarter
Speaker 1: and Daniel Gafford here actually scores out of the middle
Speaker 1: of his zone. I thought this was impressive catches when
Speaker 1: he catches here, he didn't bring any of the corner
Speaker 1: guys in and so as a result, he has to
Speaker 1: kind of go to work and he just manages to
Speaker 1: hit a little left shoulder hook. And then here's our
Speaker 1: last play of the set. Tyler Harrow misses a wide
Speaker 1: open three from the top of the key. We have
Speaker 1: a transition possession the other way, and Tim Hardaway Junior
Speaker 1: is not going to miss his pull up transition three.
Speaker 1: Now the Dallas Mavericks are up by twenty points in
Speaker 1: this game is over. So I thought that was just
Speaker 1: I thought that game in particular was just a really
Speaker 1: good example of how Dallas' defense has allowed them to
Speaker 1: get out and transition a lot more. And again, like
Speaker 1: I want to be clear, like I've always believed in
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving. I've always believed in Luka Doncic. I was
Speaker 1: a fan of the Kyrie Irving train, and if you
Speaker 1: guys remember what I said at the time, I was like,
Speaker 1: don't judge this this year. They need a summer to
Speaker 1: add a summer in a deadline to add all the
Speaker 1: pieces they need. But you need a best player, you
Speaker 1: need a number two, and then you need role players
Speaker 1: that accentuate what they bring to the table. They've done
Speaker 1: a beautiful job putting that together since the Kyrie Irving trade.
Speaker 1: This defensive personnel is what's giving them, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: the best chance to win the title outside of the
Speaker 1: top tier of contenders. All right, let's get to our
Speaker 1: mail back. Then we'll get out of here. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be relatively quick. I get that the thunder are young
Speaker 1: and match up poorly against the Lakers, Nuggets, and Wolves.
Speaker 1: The Nuggets, that can be said for every team in
Speaker 1: the West, really, but really, but they're literally a better
Speaker 1: and deeper version of the Suns and Clippers. They've shown
Speaker 1: throughout the season in the head to head games against
Speaker 1: both these teams that they deserve to be higher in
Speaker 1: these rankings, including stomping the healthy Sons with no shak
Speaker 1: Kilds Alexander. Plus they have health, Plus they have less
Speaker 1: health concerns than both of those teams. So first of all,
Speaker 1: I again my concerns with the Thunder are youth in size.
Speaker 1: The Clipper have of each Azubach. The Suns have use
Speaker 1: of Nurkic that gives them an infinitely better chance of
Speaker 1: hanging physically with some of the bigger front lines in
Speaker 1: the Western Conference, especially Denver. That's really it, guys, like
Speaker 1: there's a level of fist fight, rock fight, you know,
Speaker 1: just kind of degenerated basketball down into an ugly mess
Speaker 1: of a game. And in those situations, your offensive skill
Speaker 1: and speed tend to matter less than your size, physicality,
Speaker 1: and experience. And that's why I lean to those teams
Speaker 1: in those specific situations. I agree you're right, Like if
Speaker 1: the Clippers played the Suns in a series, it'd be close.
Speaker 1: I'd still pick Phoenix, but the Thunder half some advantages
Speaker 1: in those series. My contender rankings are a reflection of
Speaker 1: their best chance to get out of the conference, and
Speaker 1: I think that Phoenix and the Clippers, because of their
Speaker 1: frontline size, have a better opportunity to hang in those
Speaker 1: situations than the Thunderdoo to potentially win three three rounds
Speaker 1: to get out of the Western Conference. What's up? Jason,
Speaker 1: big fan of the show, was having an art with
Speaker 1: a buddy at work. He thinks a Lonzo Ball from
Speaker 1: his first season with the Bulls when they had decent
Speaker 1: success and lost to the Bucks in the first round
Speaker 1: would be a top ten point guard in the league
Speaker 1: this season. I disagree. He also says that he would
Speaker 1: be a better playmaker than most of the point guards
Speaker 1: I use As a rebuttal, I explained to him that
Speaker 1: in the NBA, the most important form of playmaking, depending
Speaker 1: on the role, of course, is out of the pick
Speaker 1: and roll, and while Lonzo is a good passer, I
Speaker 1: don't view him as a pick and roll creator on
Speaker 1: the level of guys like Brunson and Halliburton, and then
Speaker 1: of course the most elite guys. Would love to hear
Speaker 1: your take on this, even if it doesn't make the show.
Speaker 1: Keep up the great work. So first of all, thank
Speaker 1: you for the support. Here's the thing. I think Lonzo
Speaker 1: Ball is a really good basketball player, but I view
Speaker 1: him as an off ball guard for the most part,
Speaker 1: like he can defend really well He's a good transition playmaker.
Speaker 1: What I mean by that is like making those kick
Speaker 1: ahead passes. He's a good play connector. He can run
Speaker 1: ball screens and set guys up with some advantage situations,
Speaker 1: but he just never was gifted enough on the ball
Speaker 1: as a score to enter into those best point guard conversations.
Speaker 1: Really turned into a good off ball shooter over the years,
Speaker 1: and was able to hit a three if someone ducked
Speaker 1: under a pick from time to time, but as an
Speaker 1: on ball shot creator, he never had that like scoring
Speaker 1: threat that the Jalen Brunson and Tyres Haliburton guys that had.
Speaker 1: Right Like Tyre's, Halliburton has a lot of the same
Speaker 1: kick ahead pass playmaking stuff that Lonzo had, but like Tyre's,
Speaker 1: is just a guy that can beat switches consistently and
Speaker 1: will hit pull up threes at an insanely high rate.
Speaker 1: So that is really the fundamental difference between those two guys.
Speaker 1: With Delo playing this way, how big of a deal
Speaker 1: is the outcome of his performances in the playoffs for
Speaker 1: his future as a Laker? Do you think there's a
Speaker 1: chance the Lakers keep this backcourt duo next season? This
Speaker 1: has been a tough one for me this season because
Speaker 1: Delo has won me over in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: Like he I genuinely think he's gotten better. He got
Speaker 1: humiliated by Bruce Brown, he got in the gym, got
Speaker 1: his legs a bit stronger, which I think has helped
Speaker 1: with his rim finishing and his ability to get to
Speaker 1: his spots a little bit. Definitely has become a better shooter,
Speaker 1: has become one of the better shooters in the league
Speaker 1: this year, but his weaknesses are still the same. When
Speaker 1: the physical intensity ratchets up and you put a long
Speaker 1: athletic defender on him, he can't get to his spots
Speaker 1: as well as he used to, and then everything comes
Speaker 1: down to is he hitting his catch and shoot threes
Speaker 1: and if he's not, his impact tanks. And what really
Speaker 1: concerned me is they desperately needed that Minnesota game, and
Speaker 1: they desperately needed that Golden State game, obviously with some
Speaker 1: issues with Anthony Davis. But in both games, Delo was
Speaker 1: bad on both ends of the floor. He struggled to
Speaker 1: get to his spots and create shots against the longer
Speaker 1: athletic defenders that Minnesota and Golden State had, and he
Speaker 1: wasn't able to knock down his catch and shoot shots
Speaker 1: in a more physical environment when his legs were more tired.
Speaker 1: And that's more or less the same thing that happened
Speaker 1: last year. And so even though I admired Delo and
Speaker 1: that he's won me over in all these different ways
Speaker 1: and I've gained to I've come to an appreciation of him,
Speaker 1: I still don't think he's a guy that you can
Speaker 1: have in your starting lineup if you're a serious NBA
Speaker 1: championship contender. And so unless he manages to reverse that
Speaker 1: trend when we get to the postseason, I still think
Speaker 1: he's the guy that they need to eventually move and
Speaker 1: put an athletic, you know, kind of like bulldog of
Speaker 1: a two guard next to Austin Reeves to give them
Speaker 1: a more balanced dynamic in that backcourt. Last question, how
Speaker 1: many more years do Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown have together?
Speaker 1: If they can't win a championship this year, ie they
Speaker 1: lose in the finals or losing the Eastern Conference finals,
Speaker 1: do you trade one of them? Love the Show, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't trade Jason Tatum or Jalen Brown under any circumstances,
Speaker 1: not unless, like you know, obviously, there was some sort
Speaker 1: of big, you know, mental emotional falling out and it
Speaker 1: became like a chemistry issue. That'd be another thing. But
Speaker 1: as long as everyone's happy, you stick with it, because again,
Speaker 1: you stand to gain more by these guys entering their
Speaker 1: prime in their late twenties and just getting better than
Speaker 1: you do buy rebuilding. Because like Jalen Brown, like it
Speaker 1: or not, is a top fifteen player in this league.
Speaker 1: He's playing at an insane level in the last couple
Speaker 1: of years, and so you just you have a better
Speaker 1: chance of that of Jalen Brown just kind of fixing
Speaker 1: some of his flaws, or Jason Tatum developing into a
Speaker 1: higher level superstar than you do, of you know, going
Speaker 1: out into the trade market and trying to get something better. Right, So, like,
Speaker 1: I will break up the Jalen Brown Jason Tatum duo
Speaker 1: unless there was some sort of real crisis involved that
Speaker 1: pushed you in that direction. All right, guys, that is
Speaker 1: all I have for today. We'll be back tomorrow with
Speaker 1: the Nerd SESSH guys for a preview of Clippers MAVs
Speaker 1: as well as some other topics from around the league.
Speaker 1: I'll see you guys then. The volume