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Speaker 1: Slash b ball. All right, wellcome to Hobes tonight here

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Speaker 1: at the volume. Happy Saturday, everybody, O BALLF You guys

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Speaker 1: are having a great start to your weekend. Quick show

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Speaker 1: for you guys today we're covering Nicks Thunder, a showdown

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Speaker 1: between two of the hottest teams in the league. After that,

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Speaker 1: Victor wemen Yama versus NICOLEA jokicch did not disappoint. Both

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Speaker 1: guys put up monster box score games. Spurs get the

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Speaker 1: last laugh, though Wemby gets a big stop on Jokis

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Speaker 1: late in the game. We're gonna break that game down,

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Speaker 1: and then at the tail end of the show, the

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Speaker 1: Los Angeles Lakers went two and oh on a back

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Speaker 1: to back two Monster Lebron games. They are now seven

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Speaker 1: and two in their last nine games. We're going to

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Speaker 1: talk a little bit about what's been turning things around

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Speaker 1: for them. You guys have the jope before we get

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Speaker 1: started to subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so

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Speaker 1: you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me

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Speaker 1: on Twitter at underscore JCNLTS. You guys, don't miss you announcements.

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Speaker 1: Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever get your podcast

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Speaker 1: under Hoops Tonight. It's also helpful if you leave a

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Speaker 1: rating and a review on that front. We also have

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Speaker 1: brand new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

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Speaker 1: where we're releasing content throughout the year. Make sure you

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Speaker 1: guys follow us there and the last not at least

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Speaker 1: keep dropping mail bag questions and those YouTube comments. I'm

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Speaker 1: probably going to record my mail bag this afternoon. Again.

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Speaker 1: The schedules a little weird this weekend because I'm getting

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Speaker 1: ready to head out of town for a ski trip

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Speaker 1: on Sunday. That's why we're doing a show on Saturday,

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Speaker 1: because we're probably not going to have shows on at

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Speaker 1: least Monday, and probably not Tuesday as well. So little

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Speaker 1: funky schedule here, but still time to drop mail bag

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Speaker 1: questions for that mail bag episode later this weekend. All right,

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Speaker 1: let's talk some basketball. So New York played a really

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Speaker 1: nice game in Oklahoma City, specifically the second quarter, just

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Speaker 1: a really nice job defensively running out in transition. Michael

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Speaker 1: Bridges was brilliant in that stretch. I talked a lot

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Speaker 1: yesterday when we were talking about Boston Minnesota about the

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Speaker 1: concept of spacing being more than just shooting. It's also

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Speaker 1: about like how to position players off the ball when

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Speaker 1: someone's trying to attack, how to relocate or move without

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Speaker 1: the ball when one you see your help defender doing

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Speaker 1: something that should trigger a certain type of reaction. Or two,

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Speaker 1: as somebody cuts, as somebody drives, as you have to

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Speaker 1: kind of like be in a mebo with your spacing

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Speaker 1: around that right, Like if someone cuts down the lane

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Speaker 1: and you're sitting in the dunker spot, you should probably

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Speaker 1: clear out right. A simple way to think of it

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Speaker 1: is like if you've got a dude isoing on the

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Speaker 1: right wing and they're shooting in the corner shooter in

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Speaker 1: the corner, shooter opposite wing, shooter opposite dunker spot. And

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Speaker 1: let's say as that ISO's happening, the guy on the

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Speaker 1: left wing just cuts right through to the basket. If

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Speaker 1: he cuts through to the basket, the dude in the

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Speaker 1: left corner needs to relocate up to that above the

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Speaker 1: break spot. The dude in the dunker spot probably needs

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Speaker 1: to relocate out to the corner so that that cutter

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Speaker 1: can kind of fill in in the dunker spot. Right.

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Speaker 1: It's important for to stay for you to stay in

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Speaker 1: motion because whenever you have two off ball offensive players

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Speaker 1: just staying in the same spot, you make yourself easy,

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Speaker 1: easy to guard. And that was something you know, Michael Bridges,

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Speaker 1: I thought just did a brilliant job of that all

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Speaker 1: game last night, but especially in that second quarter stretch

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Speaker 1: where like every single time there was a rotation, every

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Speaker 1: single time there was help, every single time his defender

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Speaker 1: turned his head, any single time somebody cut or drove

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Speaker 1: in his direction, that changed his spacing. He's always cutting

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Speaker 1: and relocating. It's like, oh, my man turned his head,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna flash right to the middle of the floor.

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Speaker 1: Might make myself available for a quick cut like, Oh,

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Speaker 1: I'm in the left corner, but I saw my man

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Speaker 1: step up high to head to a tager roller. I'm

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Speaker 1: going to cut along the baseline and make myself available

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Speaker 1: right there in the dunker spot, like Oh, I was

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Speaker 1: in the corner, but my defender's not paying attention. I'm

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Speaker 1: going to slide up more towards the above the brake

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Speaker 1: line to create a longer close out and to make

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Speaker 1: a clear passing window for Jalen Brunson. Whoever it is

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Speaker 1: to make that kickout pass just did a really really

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Speaker 1: nice job in that quarter, just demonstrating the instinct side

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Speaker 1: of spacing. Part of it is shooting, part of it

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Speaker 1: is scheme in terms of the coaching staff always having

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Speaker 1: a plan for different types of double teams and help

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Speaker 1: out of different spots on the floor, But a big

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Speaker 1: part of it is just instincts and guys just having

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Speaker 1: a natural feel for getting open. When I talk about

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Speaker 1: off ball scoring, this is a concept I've talked about

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Speaker 1: a lot. What is off ball scoring versus on ball scoring.

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Speaker 1: Off ball scoring is literally the ability to be a

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Speaker 1: threat to score even though the action's not being run

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Speaker 1: for you, and so part of that is like having

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Speaker 1: a natural ability to find open spots on the move.

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Speaker 1: It's one of the big reasons why for a team

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Speaker 1: like Denver, I'm against trading Michael Porter Junior for Jimmy Butler.

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Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior's off ball scoring is uniquely valuable to

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Speaker 1: Denver because you're usually running through the Jokich Murray two

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Speaker 1: man game. Jimmy Butler, you're not gonna get as much

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Speaker 1: of the on ball stuff out of him because of

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Speaker 1: what they already do on ball, and if he's off ball,

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Speaker 1: he's not going to be as much of a threat

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Speaker 1: to score, not just to shoot, but to score off

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Speaker 1: the ball the way that Michael Porter Junior does. It's

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Speaker 1: brilliant effort from og Anobi and mchal Bridges in that stretch,

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Speaker 1: but it was it kind of turned into a war

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Speaker 1: of attrition in the second half, where all Knicks starters

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Speaker 1: played over forty minutes in this game, and Shay and

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Speaker 1: j Dubb in particular both played thirty seven minutes. The

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Speaker 1: other Thunder starters played in the low thirties, so there

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Speaker 1: was a substantial gap in workload between the Oklahoma City

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Speaker 1: starting lineup and the Knick starting lineup. Not to mention

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Speaker 1: the fact that for Oklahoma City, they have a tendency

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Speaker 1: to kind of like put starters in and out based

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Speaker 1: on what the game calls for Aaron Wiggins, for instance,

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Speaker 1: getting a lot of run down the tail end of

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Speaker 1: this one. So as a result, all of these effort

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Speaker 1: and fatigue related battles started to go towards Oklahoma City.

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Speaker 1: In that fourth quarter, they started to win all of

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Speaker 1: the loose ball battles. Isaiah Hartenstein got a huge save

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Speaker 1: on a ball that was going out of bounds that

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Speaker 1: led to Aaron Wiggins hitting a three. The Knicks lost

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Speaker 1: a huge offensive rebound out of late on the week

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Speaker 1: side where it was Josh hart and Karl Anthony Towns

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Speaker 1: versus Isaiah Hartenstein and Aaron Wiggins. And Aaron Wiggins and

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Speaker 1: Isaiah Hartenstein just beat those guys to the spot, forced

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Speaker 1: them to fumble it out of bounds and it was

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Speaker 1: a possession for the thunder that went that turned immediately

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Speaker 1: into another three for Actually, you know Shay Gildas Alexander

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Speaker 1: hit a little jump shot against Karl Anthony Towns and

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Speaker 1: drop off of that, so like another offensive rebound that

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Speaker 1: led you an extra two points, it's five extra points

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Speaker 1: that the thunder got in the fourth quarter just off

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Speaker 1: of like effort and energy stuff. Like every Knicks jumper

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Speaker 1: seemed to be short off the front of the rim

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Speaker 1: down the stretch of the game. That's always a big

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Speaker 1: sign that your legs are starting to get tired. And

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Speaker 1: then the Nick started to get sloppy with their execution,

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Speaker 1: like they weren't matched up in transition. A few times

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Speaker 1: they left Aaron Wiggins wide open on the left wing

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Speaker 1: on a transition runout. Jalen Brunson, who was doing a

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Speaker 1: really good job handling pressure for the most part, like

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Speaker 1: made a couple really sloppy mistakes late in the game.

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Speaker 1: The one in particular where he tried to fire that

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Speaker 1: bounce pass I think to Josh Hart and the dunker

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Speaker 1: spot that one was obviously fatigue. To me. It wasn't open.

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Speaker 1: And when you see offensive players start to kind of

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Speaker 1: like get rid of the ball even though people aren't open,

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Speaker 1: it's a sign that they're just tired and they're kind

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Speaker 1: of just like looking for somebody else to do something

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Speaker 1: to try to help them hit another turnover against some

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Speaker 1: ball pressure late in the game. So you could just

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Speaker 1: tell that the fatigue element really started to work against

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Speaker 1: New York late in the game, which, by the way,

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Speaker 1: is the strength of Oklahoma City. They have that depth.

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Speaker 1: They don't need to lean on those players as much.

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Speaker 1: You go to the Knicks and it's like Landry Shamitt,

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Speaker 1: Precious Shia, and Campaign are the only guys playing for

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Speaker 1: them off the bench, and those guys all have big issues.

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Speaker 1: They're just they're not as good as the guys coming

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Speaker 1: off of the bench. For Oklahoma City. They just have

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Speaker 1: a depth advantage there, and that manifested over the course

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Speaker 1: of this game. Aaron Wiggins was really the guy who

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Speaker 1: iced it. He hit the three off of the Hartenstein

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Speaker 1: offensive rebound. He hit the three on the play where

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Speaker 1: the Knicks didn't get matched up in transition. He hit

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Speaker 1: the three on a relocation another kind of similar type

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Speaker 1: of relocation. He was in the corner. Lou Dort slipped

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Speaker 1: out of a ball screen, and when he slipped out

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Speaker 1: of the balls screen, all this congestion happened right at

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Speaker 1: the basket. Aaron Wiggins just slid up the lane line

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Speaker 1: or up the corner three point line and came up

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Speaker 1: to the above the brake line. Dort was able to

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Speaker 1: hit him. He knocked down a big three. He got

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Speaker 1: an and one slipping out of a screen of his own.

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Speaker 1: That was kind of the story of the game in

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Speaker 1: terms of late game execution for Oklahoma City, everything was

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Speaker 1: really just about Shae attacking Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony

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Speaker 1: Towns and specifically in hedges. And so what was happening

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Speaker 1: is Shaye would just like call lou Dort up into

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Speaker 1: the screen. Lou Dort's being guarded by Brunson, Brunson would hedge,

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Speaker 1: and right when Brunson would hedge, Dort would slip. And

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Speaker 1: as he's slipping, you can imagine if Shay's dribbling at

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Speaker 1: the top of the key and his on ball defender

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Speaker 1: Michael Bridges is on him and Brunson is briefly on

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Speaker 1: him in a hedge, you have two on the ball

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Speaker 1: and Dort slips out of that you hit him in stride.

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Speaker 1: All of a sudden, it's a four on three on

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Speaker 1: the backside. All the knicks help at the rim. That

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Speaker 1: leads to the wide open three for Aaron Wiggins, Aaron

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Speaker 1: Wingins and the and one that he got, same exact

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Speaker 1: thing he on that play, I believe was being guarded

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Speaker 1: by Carl Anthony Towns. He Carl Anthony Towns tosses a hedge,

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Speaker 1: Wiggans slips out of it, boom bounce pass hits him

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Speaker 1: right in the the pocket. He goes right up with

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Speaker 1: it and he ends up getting that and one. Even

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Speaker 1: the final the final little jumper that Shake Gilds of

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Speaker 1: Alexander hit kind of coming off of that curl on

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Speaker 1: the sidelines sideline out of bounds. It was a drop

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Speaker 1: coverage play for Karl Anthony Towns, Like Carl Anthony Towns

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Speaker 1: was dropping. Shay's got his defender chasing him over the top.

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Speaker 1: He knocks down that little mid range jump shot. So

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Speaker 1: that was kind of like the half court surgery part,

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Speaker 1: Like the thunder we're defending the thunder, we're getting out

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Speaker 1: in transition. They were causing a lot of havoc on

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Speaker 1: those offensive rebound sequences, on those transition sequences, But it

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Speaker 1: was a big, a big part of like the half

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Speaker 1: court element. Down the stretch of the game was just

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Speaker 1: Shay picking on Carl Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson and

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Speaker 1: then the dagger, you know, the one that kind of

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Speaker 1: ended up icing the game. It was like one O eight,

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Speaker 1: one O three, and they again they had been hedging

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Speaker 1: and slipping and getting stuff out of the hedge with

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Speaker 1: the slip, right, So on this last possession, Jalen Brunson

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Speaker 1: just switched right. So like if Jalen Brunson is hedging

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Speaker 1: and again all the hedges is as the screen is

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Speaker 1: coming and Shay's trying to come off the screen. The

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Speaker 1: guy who's hedging, his one job is just to show,

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Speaker 1: like to get out there and stop him from turning

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Speaker 1: the corner, right, because if you aren't there, he's gonna

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Speaker 1: come off the screen and he's gonna go downhill. So

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Speaker 1: you get out there to stop him from turning the

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Speaker 1: corner and then you sprint like hell back to your man.

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Speaker 1: That's how hedge and recover works. But that brief little

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Speaker 1: instance where he's hedging, if the guy slips, he can

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Speaker 1: get open, and that's how they were causing the problems, right,

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Speaker 1: So on that final one, Jalen just switches, so allowing

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Speaker 1: the defender that was guarding Jalen to follow the screener. Right. Now,

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Speaker 1: it's a one on one situation, but the advantage is

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Speaker 1: Shae has New York's weakest perimeter defender on him. He

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Speaker 1: just goes right through Jalen Brunston and gets to the

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Speaker 1: basket and gets a layup. It was really just like

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Speaker 1: a really well closed game for the Thunder. I thought

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Speaker 1: Ja Dubb was brilliant in the early fourth quarter stretch

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Speaker 1: with his athletic aggression. He was just going downhill every

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Speaker 1: time he saw an opening, which was usually on chaos, like, oh,

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Speaker 1: semi transition, I'm going downhill and I'm attacking. Oh, I

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Speaker 1: missed a three, but the ball came right back to me.

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Speaker 1: There's a runway. I'm going right downhill. I'm attacking. Oh,

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Speaker 1: I'm on the weak side. Guys closing out at me.

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Speaker 1: I'm going right downhill. I'm attacking. Even on defense with

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Speaker 1: that huge block on og Anobi at the rim, he

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Speaker 1: had another big play where he drove and drew a

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Speaker 1: foul and got two free throws. Like JDub, just his

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Speaker 1: straight line athleticism. His powerful straight line athleticism caused all

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Speaker 1: sorts of problems for the next down the stretch of

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Speaker 1: this game, and then like again, once things got stuck

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Speaker 1: in the half court, because that was the thing. There

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Speaker 1: was a lot of that pressure from J Dub, a

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Speaker 1: lot of really good defense, forcing turnovers, getting out in transition,

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Speaker 1: attacking the offensive glass, all of that stuff that's made

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Speaker 1: Oka see okce over this stretch and then just that

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Speaker 1: surgical approach from Shay down the stretch, attacking mismatches whenever

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Speaker 1: he could get a chance to Other notes on the

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Speaker 1: thunder the value of depth within their play style again,

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Speaker 1: like this is the value of having a guy like

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Speaker 1: aj Mitchell that can step band, a guy like Aaron Wiggins,

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Speaker 1: a guy like case on Wallace. They have so many

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Speaker 1: different guys Kenrich Williams. They can go Jalen Williams, I

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Speaker 1: thought had a nice stretch. He hit a big pick

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Speaker 1: and pop three early in the game. Like, they have

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Speaker 1: so many good players that can come in and play

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Speaker 1: that it allows them the ability to play a style

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Speaker 1: like what they play. Because when you do apply a

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Speaker 1: lot of ball pressure, when you do a lot of blitzing,

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Speaker 1: when you do a lot of like existing in rotation

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Speaker 1: and covering the ground, running up and down the floor

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Speaker 1: in transition, that tasks your body with a lot right,

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Speaker 1: and so if you can alleviate that by keeping minutes

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Speaker 1: down and keeping guys in and out of the game

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Speaker 1: so that you have fresh legs, that goes a long

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Speaker 1: way towards affording you the ability to play that play style.

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Speaker 1: Teams that aren't as deep aren't going to play nearly

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Speaker 1: as aggressive defensively in those situations, like the Knicks are

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Speaker 1: running an eight man rotation to be really really tough

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Speaker 1: to try to play with like good defense of pressure

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Speaker 1: for an entire game in that sort of situation, right,

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Speaker 1: the value of making shots. Oklahoma City shot lights out

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Speaker 1: in this one. They converted ketch and shoot jump shots

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Speaker 1: at one point five to seven points per possession. For

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Speaker 1: the game. They were eight for eleven on catch and

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Speaker 1: shoot jump shots in the second half. They were five

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Speaker 1: for five on catch and shoot jump shots in the

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Speaker 1: fourth quarter. I've talked about this a lot this year,

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Speaker 1: but this, to me is the factor that will determine

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Speaker 1: the fate of Oklahoma City's season for the entire season.

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Speaker 1: According to Synergy, their ability to convert unguarded catch and

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Speaker 1: shoot jump shots ranks eighteenth. Even after last night, they've

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Speaker 1: been a bottom third type of team or a bottom

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Speaker 1: half type of team in terms of the ability to

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Speaker 1: knock down those concession jump shots, the shots that teams

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Speaker 1: are giving up when they make them, they look unbeatable.

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Speaker 1: When they don't, their offense can stall out, and by

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Speaker 1: virtue of that number eighteen rank, that is one of

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Speaker 1: those things that goes to show you that that's a

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Speaker 1: potential outcome. But that's going to be the thing that

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Speaker 1: termins whether or not Oklahoma City can win for playoff rounds.

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Speaker 1: They're gonna have to hit shots. They're gonna need Aaron

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Speaker 1: Wiggins to hit shots. They're gonna need Lou Dort to

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Speaker 1: hit shots. They're gonna need Keeson Wallace to hit shots.

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Speaker 1: They're gonna need Chet Holmgren to hit shots. That was

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Speaker 1: a huge swing factor down the stretch of that game.

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Speaker 1: When you connect everything Shaye does as when you connect

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Speaker 1: everything Shaye does as a half court surgeon, with everything

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Speaker 1: this team can do defensively, with everything about their spacing principles,

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Speaker 1: the way they run their running principles in transition, when

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Speaker 1: you combine all that with guys paying off the shots

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Speaker 1: at the tail end of those sequences, that's what turns

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Speaker 1: this Thunder team into a championship threat, a legitimate championship threat.

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Speaker 1: Shaye and j dubb I thought, you know, one of

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Speaker 1: the things that we talk about is we talk about

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Speaker 1: all these things on the margins. Oh, here's what this

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Speaker 1: role player did. Here's what here's this you know, random margin,

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Speaker 1: whether it's offensive rebounding or transition scoring, turnovers, whatever it is,

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Speaker 1: here's this area where they're doing damage. But a lot

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Speaker 1: of things come down to, like you need guys to

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Speaker 1: just get buckets in certain matchups. Right, Like there was

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Speaker 1: a lot of Karl Anthony Towns and drop coverage, and

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Speaker 1: how do you beat that coverage? Like a deeper drop

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Speaker 1: coverage where Karl Anthony Towns is not letting the roller

349
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Speaker 1: get behind him. A no roller behind coverage is defending

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Speaker 1: a pick and roll two on two. If you're defending

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Speaker 1: a pick and roll two on two, the kickout reads

352
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Speaker 1: aren't there. If the kickout reads aren't there, then you

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Speaker 1: have to beat the coverage by knocking down shots. And

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Speaker 1: throughout the game, a lot of good mid range shot

355
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Speaker 1: making from Shae from j dub in that drop coverage

356
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Speaker 1: like that, that's what you have to do. That is

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Speaker 1: what the Knicks were conceding within that coverage. That big

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Speaker 1: shot late that Shay Gilders Alexander hit against Cat and drop,

359
00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:40,360
Speaker 1: that's a big one. Another big one is just like

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Speaker 1: attacking your defender, Like there were times there's a big

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Speaker 1: one in the fourth quarter where Shaye was like, I

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Speaker 1: got Mchal Bridges on me, I'm just gonna take him

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Speaker 1: to the basket and get a bucket here. There's a

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Speaker 1: certain amount of like, there's a certain amount of like

365
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Speaker 1: you have to just beat the coverage sometimes, and there

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Speaker 1: was a great amount of that from Shay and j

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Speaker 1: dubb in last night's game, and then Aaron Wiggins, Like

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Speaker 1: we talked about the shooting stretch that add at the

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Speaker 1: end of the game, and it was cool when he

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Speaker 1: hit that last the last three, the one that I

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Speaker 1: think it was the one that tied the game. But

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Speaker 1: he had a bunch of threes down the stretch. I

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Speaker 1: can't even remember all of them, but he hit that

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Speaker 1: one on the left wing. He's like running up and

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Speaker 1: down the floor, like jumping and screaming. I was like, dude,

376
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Speaker 1: it's such a good feeling when like you put in

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Speaker 1: a bunch of hard work behind the scenes and then

378
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Speaker 1: shots start to fall and then it just feels like

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Speaker 1: the a lot of stuff coming to fruition. But I

380
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Speaker 1: thought his success started in his first shift. He came

381
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Speaker 1: in and Michale Bridges was red hot and Kail Bridges

382
00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:28,919
Speaker 1: was doing a bunch of damage attacking like Shay and

383
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Speaker 1: Isaiah Joe and the post. He came in and cooled

384
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Speaker 1: him off, force him into a really tough one like

385
00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:35,840
Speaker 1: fade away that kind of disrupted mckail bridge's rhythm. He

386
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Speaker 1: started to miss some shots during that stretch. He broke

387
00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:42,120
Speaker 1: up a transition run out with a steel against Landry Shammitt.

388
00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:44,840
Speaker 1: He blocked Josh Hart at the rim and an iso

389
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Speaker 1: like he got into the game and he started to

390
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Speaker 1: impact things defensively. And again that builds confidence, which makes

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Speaker 1: you feel better about yourself and less pressure to knock

392
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Speaker 1: down shots, which can lead to you knocking down shots.

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Speaker 1: Very very impressive when for this red hot Oklahoma City

394
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Speaker 1: Thunder team again that everything's gonna come down to knocking

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Speaker 1: down shots. That's gonna be the story of the season

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Speaker 1: for this particular team. On the next front, a couple

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Speaker 1: of things. Fatigue is the reality of running an eight

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Speaker 1: man rotation. You know, obviously everyone kind of strengths their

399
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Speaker 1: rotation to a certain extent when you get into the postseason,

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Speaker 1: but depth is not a strength of this Knicks team.

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Speaker 1: And that's just something to keep in mind. It's a

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Speaker 1: it's a reality as we discussed them compared to other

403
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Speaker 1: teams around the league, like they will get tired if

404
00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:28,760
Speaker 1: they run that type of rotation. And by the way,

405
00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:30,239
Speaker 1: that's kind of what happened last year. They just ran

406
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Speaker 1: out of gas, got hurt against Indiana the attacking of

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00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:36,760
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns in action. It was

408
00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:38,840
Speaker 1: how Olgoame City got all their shots late in the game,

409
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Speaker 1: other than the ones that were in chaos situations. And again,

410
00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:44,359
Speaker 1: that problem is not going away. You're gonna have to

411
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Speaker 1: come up with a plan to deal with that. Team

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Speaker 1: Slipping out of hedges is a problem because you're constantly

413
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Speaker 1: getting compromised. You gotta be more active with your hands

414
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Speaker 1: there to try to Like, here's the thing. If a

415
00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:57,200
Speaker 1: team's gonna slip out of a hedge, then a camp

416
00:18:57,200 --> 00:18:58,760
Speaker 1: be ahedge. You might as well blitz at that point

417
00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:00,440
Speaker 1: because if you're gonna be stuck with two on the ball,

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Speaker 1: you need to try to disrupt that first pass. If

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Speaker 1: you disrupt that first pass, meaning like if you make

420
00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:07,400
Speaker 1: it deflected or make them throw a weird looping pass

421
00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:09,320
Speaker 1: over the top, that buys you a chance to rotate.

422
00:19:09,359 --> 00:19:11,720
Speaker 1: But if they're cleanly getting out of those hedges with

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Speaker 1: pocket passes, you're gonna be picked apart in those four

424
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Speaker 1: on threes. So like whether it's implementing a little bit

425
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Speaker 1: more of an aggressive blitz in those sorts of situations

426
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Speaker 1: to try to disrupt that action, like just tell Brunson,

427
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Speaker 1: like as soon as the screen comes, just sprint at

428
00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:26,560
Speaker 1: the ball handler and attack the basketball as hard as

429
00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:29,000
Speaker 1: you can, like that sort of thing. But that they're

430
00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:31,119
Speaker 1: they're doing that, They're attacking bruns and they're attacking Cat.

431
00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:33,080
Speaker 1: They're gonna have to come up with a plan for

432
00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:35,680
Speaker 1: how to deal with that in late playoff situations because

433
00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:37,600
Speaker 1: that's a reality. And then I just want to shout

434
00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:39,040
Speaker 1: up to Kilbridge. It's that he played a great game.

435
00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:40,960
Speaker 1: I talked about his spacing principles earlier in the game.

436
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:43,399
Speaker 1: He's doing a bunch of damage posting small guards. His

437
00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:46,600
Speaker 1: off ball scoring ability is still, in my opinion, one

438
00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:48,440
Speaker 1: of the most valuable traits in the league for a

439
00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:52,480
Speaker 1: guy who's also playing pretty damn good defense as of late.

440
00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:08,480
Speaker 1: All Right, moving on to Spurs Nuggets Wenby, I thought

441
00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:10,880
Speaker 1: the story of this game was him posting mismatches. It's

442
00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:13,000
Speaker 1: an interesting type of thing that he's gonna have to do,

443
00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:16,119
Speaker 1: especially as a playoff score, because it's the type of

444
00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:18,840
Speaker 1: chess match piece that you're gonna end up running into

445
00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:20,960
Speaker 1: a lot a team that feels comfortable putting someone on

446
00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:23,399
Speaker 1: Chris Paul and someone on Wemby that they can switch

447
00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:25,760
Speaker 1: the action to prevent him from getting easy picking pop

448
00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:28,600
Speaker 1: threes or easy slips to the rim. Okay, well, how

449
00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:30,480
Speaker 1: do you attack that? You take that person to the post.

450
00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:32,400
Speaker 1: And he was doing a ton of damage in this game,

451
00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:34,960
Speaker 1: particularly on the left block, although he also got a

452
00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:37,440
Speaker 1: big one on the left elbow late against Christian Brown

453
00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:39,320
Speaker 1: where he hit a little step back, but a lot

454
00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:42,080
Speaker 1: of damage on the left block against guys like Russell Westbrook,

455
00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:44,720
Speaker 1: against guys like Peyton Watson, against guys like Jamal Murray,

456
00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:48,879
Speaker 1: just smaller defenders quickly getting good position, identifying when a

457
00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:50,840
Speaker 1: guy who was trying to front and creating a passing

458
00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:52,679
Speaker 1: angle for that over the top pass or for that

459
00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:55,440
Speaker 1: like more of an angled pass, and then just quick

460
00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:59,480
Speaker 1: efficient moves to get easy baskets to beat those switches.

461
00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:01,239
Speaker 1: I thought he just did a wonderful job of that

462
00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:03,560
Speaker 1: all game and then the transition threes, which ended up

463
00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:06,200
Speaker 1: being a huge part of the game late because he

464
00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:08,480
Speaker 1: hitting him off the dribble, just like kind of dribbling

465
00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:10,640
Speaker 1: up the floor, catching a screen at like twenty seven

466
00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:12,679
Speaker 1: feet and just like crossing over and knocking down a

467
00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:15,960
Speaker 1: three or those trailer threes. The transition trailer threes are

468
00:21:16,200 --> 00:21:17,879
Speaker 1: what all the best stretch bigs in the league do

469
00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:20,200
Speaker 1: because opposing centers have a tendency to run back and

470
00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:22,439
Speaker 1: transition to the rim. But he's hitting a bunch there,

471
00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:24,399
Speaker 1: and then he was able to weaponize that with his

472
00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:26,920
Speaker 1: passing ability to get Keldon Johnson a big and one. Late,

473
00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:29,960
Speaker 1: he took like a faked like he was gonna take

474
00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:32,639
Speaker 1: like a thirty five footer up above the break. Three

475
00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:35,280
Speaker 1: Nuggets jumped at him, and all of a sudden, there

476
00:21:35,359 --> 00:21:37,359
Speaker 1: was just a literally a four on two on the backside.

477
00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:40,080
Speaker 1: He hits Keldon Johnson in stride and he gets the

478
00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:42,960
Speaker 1: end one. He made a bunch of huge defensive plays late.

479
00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:45,680
Speaker 1: He forced Jokich to settle for a bad three above

480
00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:47,080
Speaker 1: the break, but there was still like eight or nine

481
00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:49,200
Speaker 1: seconds on the shot clock, and he just like heaved

482
00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:52,280
Speaker 1: one up over over the top of Wemby and then

483
00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:54,879
Speaker 1: the double, the late play, the play that led to

484
00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:58,359
Speaker 1: the the Devin Vessel steel and the transition dunk. Really

485
00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:03,040
Speaker 1: smart double team that doubled two Jokicic's right shoulder, and

486
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:05,480
Speaker 1: they had one. And this is some of the reality

487
00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:08,120
Speaker 1: of when Aaron Gordon's out and you're closing with Russell Westbrook,

488
00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:10,640
Speaker 1: you don't have your spacing principles that you've had literally

489
00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:13,560
Speaker 1: for the last five years or not quite five years,

490
00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:16,000
Speaker 1: but for the last you know, very long time. And

491
00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:18,520
Speaker 1: so as a result, the Spurs were able to kind

492
00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:21,119
Speaker 1: of effectively double Jokic out of post ups in the

493
00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,560
Speaker 1: last few possessions without any trouble. So Jokic had no

494
00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:27,320
Speaker 1: choice when the double came on the final possession, he

495
00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:29,600
Speaker 1: had to turn over his left shoulder. Double's coming at

496
00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:31,879
Speaker 1: his right shoulder, has to turn over his left shoulder.

497
00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:35,840
Speaker 1: Wemby immediately identifies it and just sells out to that

498
00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:40,840
Speaker 1: left shoulder move ends up getting that steal on Nicole Jokic,

499
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:44,240
Speaker 1: which leads to the runout. Just a monster game from Wemby.

500
00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:46,479
Speaker 1: I thought he showed some growth as a passer. I know,

501
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:48,240
Speaker 1: you see the turnovers, and yeah, he needs to turn.

502
00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:49,719
Speaker 1: He needs to stop turning the ball over too much.

503
00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:52,000
Speaker 1: Reminds me of KD where like when he was younger,

504
00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:54,639
Speaker 1: where like he's just so far off the ground that

505
00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:57,520
Speaker 1: every time he's dribbling, the ball's exposed. And then he's

506
00:22:57,520 --> 00:22:59,920
Speaker 1: got such long arms that the ball's always exposed because

507
00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:02,000
Speaker 1: how far the ball is away from his body. Some

508
00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:04,360
Speaker 1: of that is just the reality, but he'll get better

509
00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:06,360
Speaker 1: at that in the long run. I still thought late

510
00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:07,760
Speaker 1: in the game he was getting rid of the ball

511
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:10,639
Speaker 1: quickly against doubles, which was leading to good shots. They

512
00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:13,640
Speaker 1: were getting good stuff out of wemby drawing double teams

513
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:15,200
Speaker 1: and just quickly getting rid of the ball. The Julian

514
00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:19,119
Speaker 1: Champagnee three on the left wing or left corner. Victor

515
00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:23,200
Speaker 1: draws a double team. Jokic is the double Victor gets

516
00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:25,880
Speaker 1: rid of the ball to Chris Paul. Jokic rotates back

517
00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:28,240
Speaker 1: down to the paint. Chris Paul just rifles a pass

518
00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:32,400
Speaker 1: to Julian Champagnee in the left corner, who caught Jokic sleeping,

519
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:34,719
Speaker 1: and he knocks down the three. That was something that

520
00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:37,359
Speaker 1: came out of the positive effect of Wenby drawing a

521
00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:40,160
Speaker 1: double team, He's just playing at an insanely high level,

522
00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:41,680
Speaker 1: and that really was the big thing. I was texting

523
00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,720
Speaker 1: my buddy dumb On about this last night. I don't

524
00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:49,160
Speaker 1: think since Lebron we've had a player that has been

525
00:23:49,320 --> 00:23:53,800
Speaker 1: more of a sure thing to be a at least

526
00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:58,560
Speaker 1: five years as the best player in the world than

527
00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:01,400
Speaker 1: Victor woman Yama. Since Lebron, we haven't had a guy

528
00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,440
Speaker 1: like that, And I don't think there's a safer bet

529
00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:06,840
Speaker 1: in all the players that we've looked at since then.

530
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:14,119
Speaker 1: There's this combination of talent which is obviously freaky. You know,

531
00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:17,440
Speaker 1: Jokic just makes it look so easy against everyone else.

532
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:19,120
Speaker 1: And by the way, Yokic still made it look easy

533
00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:21,840
Speaker 1: against Wemby a few times last night where he just

534
00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:24,560
Speaker 1: pump fakes a little bit, gets Wenby off his feet

535
00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:26,400
Speaker 1: and leans back a little bit, knocks down a bank

536
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,040
Speaker 1: shot or just that drop step into his left shoulder

537
00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:31,520
Speaker 1: where he can just dislodge Wemby and get to where

538
00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:32,919
Speaker 1: he needs to go. There were times where he made

539
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:35,159
Speaker 1: it easy, but there were times where Wenby won that battle.

540
00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:38,359
Speaker 1: And he's got the talent to smother a player that

541
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:43,879
Speaker 1: seemingly seems unsmotherable. Right in Nikole Jokic, he has the talent, Like,

542
00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:46,160
Speaker 1: you know, it's crazy. I was actually thinking last night.

543
00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:48,960
Speaker 1: I remember when I watched the first Victor wemen Yama

544
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:52,560
Speaker 1: game that I watched, which was that the exhibition game

545
00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:56,199
Speaker 1: against Scoot Henderson, the two games that they played that

546
00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:58,800
Speaker 1: were on ESPN, and I remember the first thing that

547
00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:00,800
Speaker 1: stood out to me. Those of you guys who were

548
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:02,520
Speaker 1: following the show at that point, we'll remember this. I

549
00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:05,760
Speaker 1: was like, this is a movement shooter. Like everyone was

550
00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:07,639
Speaker 1: talking about him as like the next grade center in

551
00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:10,000
Speaker 1: the league, and I was like, watching that game, I'm like,

552
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:11,800
Speaker 1: this is a movement shooter. This is a guy who's

553
00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:16,840
Speaker 1: very comfortable stepping both directions, like right footwork going right right,

554
00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:19,920
Speaker 1: left footwork going left off, the move off the dribble,

555
00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:22,160
Speaker 1: turning over each shoulder. Like this was a guy who

556
00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:25,280
Speaker 1: very clearly was headed on a trajectory of being an

557
00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:28,520
Speaker 1: advanced shot maker. Now we're watching him like getting NBA

558
00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:32,280
Speaker 1: teams to triple team him thirty plus feet from the basket.

559
00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:35,960
Speaker 1: The talent is obviously there, but then you combine it

560
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,920
Speaker 1: with the fact that he has that like competitive obstinence

561
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:43,000
Speaker 1: that all the grades have had, that like like, oh yeah,

562
00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:45,480
Speaker 1: they beat us, but they're not better than us. That

563
00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:47,840
Speaker 1: oh yeah, none of these guys work hard enough. I'm

564
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:51,160
Speaker 1: better than these guys. Even last night, just like putting

565
00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:53,159
Speaker 1: his hand on Russell Westbrook's shoulder and kind of like

566
00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:56,920
Speaker 1: talking down to him a little bit. There's just a

567
00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:03,840
Speaker 1: audaciousness with Victor Weminyam, that competitive fierceness that combined with

568
00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:07,480
Speaker 1: his talent makes him a sure thing. And then the

569
00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 1: big concern with all tall guys's injuries and I don't

570
00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:10,960
Speaker 1: want to like we want to knock on wood here.

571
00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:12,680
Speaker 1: I don't want to sit here and pretend like he's

572
00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:14,920
Speaker 1: incapable of getting hurt. But this is a guy who

573
00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:17,960
Speaker 1: spends an enormous amount of time on pliability and stretching

574
00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:22,439
Speaker 1: and prepping his body for this. It is obsessive work ethic,

575
00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:27,000
Speaker 1: obsessive competitiveness, and insane natural ability. It makes him the

576
00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:28,920
Speaker 1: surest thing to be the best player in the world

577
00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:33,000
Speaker 1: for a long time, Like it feels a certainty that

578
00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,439
Speaker 1: he will win multiple MVPs. It feels a certainty that

579
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:38,639
Speaker 1: he will be the undisputed best player in the world

580
00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:41,800
Speaker 1: for a five to ten year stretch. And it's because

581
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:43,720
Speaker 1: of the combination of all those factors. We've seen a

582
00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:46,080
Speaker 1: lot of guys in the league that have all of

583
00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:48,920
Speaker 1: the talent, all of the work ethic, but don't seem

584
00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:50,920
Speaker 1: to have the personality. We've seen all the guys. We've

585
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:53,520
Speaker 1: seen guys that have the personality, have the talent, but

586
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,160
Speaker 1: don't have the work ethic. We've seen combinations of those.

587
00:26:56,600 --> 00:27:00,840
Speaker 1: It's exceptionally rare to have a player that has transcendently

588
00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:04,760
Speaker 1: great talent, transcendently great competitiveness, and a transcendently great work ethic,

589
00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:07,320
Speaker 1: and it just makes him a sure thing to be

590
00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:11,000
Speaker 1: a truly dominant player in NBA history, and I'm excited

591
00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:13,120
Speaker 1: to see what he can do. Other Spurs. I wanted

592
00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:15,600
Speaker 1: to shout out Julian Champagne had fifteen points. He's one

593
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:17,480
Speaker 1: of their most trustworthy catch and shoot guys, so he's

594
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:20,080
Speaker 1: been getting a lot of like big late game opportunities.

595
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:22,640
Speaker 1: Hit that huge corner. Three also had a big play

596
00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:24,760
Speaker 1: where he met Jamal Murray at the rim late on

597
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:26,560
Speaker 1: a play coming off of a screening actional he forced

598
00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:29,320
Speaker 1: him into a big miss. Really solid role player. Minutes

599
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,200
Speaker 1: from Julian Champagne, Chris Paul too, so many big plays

600
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:34,760
Speaker 1: hit that huge pull up three over Jokich late, he

601
00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:37,320
Speaker 1: had that pass to Champagne, which was genius. Just caught

602
00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:39,840
Speaker 1: Jokic sleeping like jokicch as soon as he got out

603
00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:41,919
Speaker 1: of the double, he just relaxed for a second and

604
00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:43,840
Speaker 1: just sat in the paint for a second, and Chris

605
00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:46,280
Speaker 1: Paul made him paid for it. That late blowby of

606
00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:48,160
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook, which you want to be like, Okay, what's

607
00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:50,479
Speaker 1: up with all these blowbuys that Russell Westbrook's giving up

608
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:54,359
Speaker 1: in late game situations, But very old Chris Paul just

609
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:56,840
Speaker 1: toasted Russell Westbrook one on one off the dribble for

610
00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:59,440
Speaker 1: a scoop shot late. That was a huge bucket in

611
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,240
Speaker 1: that game. Having competent ball handling next to victim women

612
00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:04,199
Speaker 1: Yam has made such a huge difference this year. And

613
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:06,960
Speaker 1: then Devin Vessel he had that runout dunk late obviously

614
00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,639
Speaker 1: had this beautiful driving dunk late off of this nasty

615
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:13,840
Speaker 1: hesitation dribble against nicolea Jokic in a switch. But I

616
00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:16,240
Speaker 1: was really impressed by his off ball defense in this one.

617
00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:18,360
Speaker 1: He's got really good size and quickness and he can

618
00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:21,160
Speaker 1: cover some ground in rotation. He had a couple plays

619
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:23,880
Speaker 1: where he was chasing multiple shooters off the line. He cares,

620
00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:27,440
Speaker 1: he makes the effort, and specifically his combination of length

621
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:31,040
Speaker 1: and effort and athleticism made him an interesting groundcoverage option

622
00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:33,200
Speaker 1: late in that game, which I thought was an interesting

623
00:28:33,640 --> 00:28:35,119
Speaker 1: kind of like thing to keep an eye on in

624
00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:37,080
Speaker 1: terms of the Spurs and the big picture and how

625
00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:40,560
Speaker 1: to use Devin Vassel as an off ball defender on

626
00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:43,040
Speaker 1: the Denver front. So Jokic goes for forty one eighteen

627
00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:45,280
Speaker 1: to nine, and yeah, winby won some battles, but Yokic

628
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:46,880
Speaker 1: won some battles too. There were three or four times

629
00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:48,480
Speaker 1: in this game where Yokic scored on him one on

630
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:51,080
Speaker 1: one and made it look easy, which was obviously fun

631
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:53,480
Speaker 1: to watch it, and that's an unbelievable box score. The

632
00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:55,800
Speaker 1: main frustrating thing for me with Denver watching that game

633
00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:59,360
Speaker 1: was just their defense, just several sloppy mistakes late, like Jokics,

634
00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:01,160
Speaker 1: like I talked about, lingering in the paint for too

635
00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:03,640
Speaker 1: long when Julian Champagne was wide open in the corner.

636
00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:06,320
Speaker 1: There was a random play towards the middle of the

637
00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:10,280
Speaker 1: fourth quarter where like Zach Collins just took Yokich one

638
00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:12,320
Speaker 1: on one and just busted his ass with a drop

639
00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:14,520
Speaker 1: set and hit a little bank shot, And I'm like, dude,

640
00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:17,640
Speaker 1: you got like you gotta stop Zach Collins there, right,

641
00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:19,480
Speaker 1: And it's not even like Wenby or it's not even

642
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:21,560
Speaker 1: like Jokic can. Of course he can't, or of course

643
00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:24,240
Speaker 1: he can. He just he was falling asleep. He's falling

644
00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:26,959
Speaker 1: making mistakes in those situations. And I understand there's fatigue,

645
00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:29,000
Speaker 1: he's taking thirty plus shots, he's tired. There's a lot

646
00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:31,400
Speaker 1: into it, but like he just has to do better.

647
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:34,520
Speaker 1: And then like that drive that Russell Westbrook gave up again,

648
00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:37,320
Speaker 1: Like like that's multiple times this year where it's a

649
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,320
Speaker 1: late game situation and Russ is like opening up his

650
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:43,200
Speaker 1: stance and just letting good a guy go right around him,

651
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:47,080
Speaker 1: like Chris Paul like no resistance, just went right around

652
00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:50,120
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook. There. They've got to find a way to

653
00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:52,040
Speaker 1: defend at a higher level. That's been the biggest thing

654
00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:53,280
Speaker 1: to keep an eye on with them this year. And

655
00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:55,040
Speaker 1: then san Antonio was able to double the ball out

656
00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:58,600
Speaker 1: of Yokic's hand a few times without getting without giving

657
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:00,600
Speaker 1: up an advantage, especially late in the game, and again

658
00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:02,480
Speaker 1: part of that's the deal when you're closing with Russ

659
00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:04,240
Speaker 1: instead of Aaron Gordon. But I thought that that was

660
00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:07,240
Speaker 1: just something to keep an eye on. I said this

661
00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,320
Speaker 1: last night about Contenders. Is the last thing I'll say

662
00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:14,240
Speaker 1: about Denver Boston kind of trying to trick us into

663
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:16,040
Speaker 1: thinking they're bad. I think they're just tricking us. I

664
00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:20,080
Speaker 1: still think Boston is the favorite. Like, mixed in with

665
00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:22,120
Speaker 1: all of these bad losses that they've had have been

666
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:25,800
Speaker 1: these incredibly dominant wins. So it's clear that like even

667
00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:27,840
Speaker 1: though they're having a lot of nights where they're relaxing,

668
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:29,960
Speaker 1: they just lock in and they get the job done.

669
00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:31,960
Speaker 1: Which makes you feel like even if you were to

670
00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,120
Speaker 1: take an early playoff series lead against them, that they

671
00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:36,200
Speaker 1: would be able to just kind of engage themselves and

672
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:37,960
Speaker 1: get to the level they need to get to. But

673
00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:40,640
Speaker 1: at least Boston's at least trying to trick us into

674
00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:42,680
Speaker 1: thinking things are more wide open. And as a result,

675
00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:46,440
Speaker 1: they've been all these peaks, right like Milwaukee and what

676
00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:48,240
Speaker 1: they did to Oklahoma City and the n Season Tournament

677
00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:50,280
Speaker 1: and everything they did during that massive win streak that

678
00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:52,880
Speaker 1: they had that was like a really interesting peak. As

679
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:55,160
Speaker 1: a contender Oklahoma City and the run that they're on

680
00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:57,640
Speaker 1: right now. The Knicks have had a couple stretches this

681
00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:01,040
Speaker 1: year where they've looked really, really good years, winning at

682
00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:04,040
Speaker 1: a seventy two win pace. Right, Like, all of these

683
00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:06,360
Speaker 1: teams are like lining up Denvers or Dallas as a

684
00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:08,120
Speaker 1: team that, like, even though they haven't really had a

685
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:10,080
Speaker 1: peak because of injuries, it's a roster that I feel

686
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:14,120
Speaker 1: pretty strongly about. Everything feels pretty open. It's again, I

687
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:15,840
Speaker 1: think it's a little bit of fools goal because I

688
00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:19,479
Speaker 1: think Boston's clearly better, but like there's everything feels open,

689
00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:21,920
Speaker 1: and Denver's one of those teams that, like, I can't

690
00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:25,800
Speaker 1: count out because I know Jokic is capable of doing

691
00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:28,000
Speaker 1: things that no one else in this league is capable of.

692
00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:31,120
Speaker 1: But it's a little concerning that they haven't had that

693
00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:33,720
Speaker 1: stretch yet where they put together, you know, ten to

694
00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:36,000
Speaker 1: fifteen games where they just look like that type of

695
00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:39,040
Speaker 1: excellent basketball team. And I'm hoping, I'm hoping that we

696
00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:41,000
Speaker 1: see that from them at some point here soon, because

697
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:43,479
Speaker 1: it feels like they're due for that type of stretch.

698
00:31:57,280 --> 00:31:58,480
Speaker 1: All right. Before we get out here, we'll talk a

699
00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:01,200
Speaker 1: little bit of Lakers. So Lakers go back to back,

700
00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:03,240
Speaker 1: they go to and Zho, they beat a bad Portland team,

701
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:06,000
Speaker 1: and then they controlled a pretty good Atlanta Hawks team

702
00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:07,800
Speaker 1: last night. They are now seven to two in their

703
00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:12,719
Speaker 1: last nine games, seventh in offense, twelfth in defense, eighth

704
00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:15,840
Speaker 1: in net rating over the course of this nine game span.

705
00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:17,160
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the offense for a minute.

706
00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:19,200
Speaker 1: So obviously there's seventh in offense during the stretch. They're

707
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:21,680
Speaker 1: also tenth in offense since losing d Lo, which was

708
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:25,280
Speaker 1: a major concern, right and again, when you go that direction,

709
00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:27,800
Speaker 1: when you go towards defensive personnel as a team, they've

710
00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:30,640
Speaker 1: gone towards a defensive focus. I was concerned about their

711
00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:33,240
Speaker 1: offense being able to stay afloat, but it's been pretty

712
00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:36,400
Speaker 1: solid so far. And the main thing is when when

713
00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:38,640
Speaker 1: Delo went out, it just put a lot of pressure

714
00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:41,120
Speaker 1: on Austin Reeves and Lebron James to be their primary

715
00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:44,200
Speaker 1: shot creators, and those two guys have just been absolutely

716
00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:47,360
Speaker 1: crushing it. Look at these numbers Lebron's last six games again,

717
00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:50,520
Speaker 1: forty year old Lebron James last six games thirty points,

718
00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:53,600
Speaker 1: five rebounds and eight assists fifty eight percent from the

719
00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:57,640
Speaker 1: field forty six percent from three to eighty eight percent

720
00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:01,120
Speaker 1: from the line. That's that's insane. Just two point seven

721
00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:04,120
Speaker 1: turnovers too, Like member focus was the big thing that

722
00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:06,640
Speaker 1: he was having a problem with in that bad stretch

723
00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:08,160
Speaker 1: that he was having. Just turning the ball over just

724
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:10,560
Speaker 1: seemed like he wasn't really paying attention. He's been so

725
00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:13,440
Speaker 1: locked in and so good since he came back from

726
00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:15,600
Speaker 1: that little break that he took. And again, fifty eight

727
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:18,440
Speaker 1: forty six, eighty eight splits on thirty five and eight.

728
00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:20,720
Speaker 1: That's like top five player in the world type of

729
00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:23,240
Speaker 1: production from Lebron James. Those are the types of numbers

730
00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:26,320
Speaker 1: that Lebron was putting up post All Star Break last year.

731
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:28,960
Speaker 1: That's when I was screaming from the mountaintops, like Lebron's

732
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:31,480
Speaker 1: playing at a top five level, Like is anybody skiing this?

733
00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:35,120
Speaker 1: And again, those two guys, Lebron and Nadi were monsters

734
00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:37,800
Speaker 1: against Denver. Just wasn't enough because of the issues with

735
00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:40,760
Speaker 1: their supporting cast. But like this, this is the kind

736
00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:43,880
Speaker 1: of thing that if Lebron can sustain, this team has

737
00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:46,560
Speaker 1: an upside that I think we need to recalculate. This

738
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:48,840
Speaker 1: is the player that we didn't get over the course

739
00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:50,640
Speaker 1: of the beginning stretch of the season. Again, it's only

740
00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:52,800
Speaker 1: six games, so I'm not about to say that this

741
00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:55,560
Speaker 1: is like feels like a dependable thing at this point.

742
00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:57,640
Speaker 1: But Lebron seems to be getting his legs underneath him

743
00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:01,280
Speaker 1: and he's playing some really special basketball over the course

744
00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:05,640
Speaker 1: of this stretch. Austin Reeves last ten games twenty one points,

745
00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:09,680
Speaker 1: seven rebounds, and eight assists. He's now averaging eighteen point

746
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:12,840
Speaker 1: three points per game this season, four point six rebounds

747
00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:15,880
Speaker 1: and five point nine assists. There are only fourteen players

748
00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:18,920
Speaker 1: in the entire league that are hitting those numbers eighteen

749
00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:21,600
Speaker 1: point three, four point six and five point nine, Like

750
00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:23,600
Speaker 1: that's the type of production that Austin's giving you. And

751
00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:25,640
Speaker 1: then what like twenty one to seven to eight in

752
00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:29,240
Speaker 1: the last ten games, some absolutely monster games, a triple

753
00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:32,600
Speaker 1: double like Austin is hooping his ass off. And so

754
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:36,120
Speaker 1: since Lebron, James and Austin Reeves have been playing this

755
00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:40,359
Speaker 1: well on offense, it has allowed Anthony Davis to refocus

756
00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:43,200
Speaker 1: his energy as a defense first player, and as a result,

757
00:34:43,239 --> 00:34:45,320
Speaker 1: he's back to playing some of the most special defense

758
00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:47,920
Speaker 1: that he's played over the course of this season. He

759
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:52,040
Speaker 1: had another six stock game last night, six steals in blocks.

760
00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:55,239
Speaker 1: He's averaging four stocks per game over his last ten.

761
00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:58,200
Speaker 1: The Lakers have a one hundred and six defensive rating

762
00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:01,600
Speaker 1: with Anthony Davis on the floor over that stretch, so

763
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:03,880
Speaker 1: as a result, you're getting defensive Player of the Year

764
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 1: type of play from Anthony Davis, extremely high level offense

765
00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:11,520
Speaker 1: from Lebron. Lebron and Austin are basically giving you fifty

766
00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:16,759
Speaker 1: plus points and sixteen plus assists hyper efficiently over the

767
00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:19,640
Speaker 1: course of this stretch. As a result of that, it

768
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:24,319
Speaker 1: is creating these small achievable roles for everyone else, and

769
00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:27,480
Speaker 1: several guys have started to play really well Max Christy,

770
00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:30,440
Speaker 1: including what he's doing on the defensive end. He's averaging

771
00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:32,960
Speaker 1: twelve points a game over the seven and two stretch,

772
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:35,279
Speaker 1: fifty one percent from the field, forty five percent from

773
00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:38,160
Speaker 1: three excuse me, ninety three percent from the foul line.

774
00:35:38,600 --> 00:35:41,560
Speaker 1: That's really really good. He's doing a lot of work

775
00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:44,279
Speaker 1: on inverted ball screen screening for Lebron and slipping out

776
00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:46,120
Speaker 1: of it. He had another dunk last night where he

777
00:35:46,239 --> 00:35:48,000
Speaker 1: post as a dude with two hands. He's so good

778
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:51,239
Speaker 1: at like quickly bouncing off the floor, regardless of the

779
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:54,400
Speaker 1: you know, the the regardless of the footwork that feeds

780
00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:56,120
Speaker 1: into it. He could just pop up off the ground

781
00:35:56,200 --> 00:35:58,600
Speaker 1: off of two feet and dunk on anybody. He's playing

782
00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:01,040
Speaker 1: really good basketball. Dalton only broke out of his slip

783
00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:04,080
Speaker 1: last night. Joan Finney Smith, he's you know, he hit

784
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,759
Speaker 1: a three last night. He's not quite hitting shots at

785
00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:08,560
Speaker 1: the level that you would hope for as a Lakers

786
00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:11,440
Speaker 1: fan yet, but just having a guy out there that's

787
00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:13,839
Speaker 1: a good defensive player, that seems to know what he's

788
00:36:13,840 --> 00:36:16,080
Speaker 1: supposed to do offensively and as a guy that's guarded

789
00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:19,719
Speaker 1: as a shooter is already revealing itself as a huge

790
00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:22,120
Speaker 1: value add to this team. He's closed the last couple

791
00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:24,120
Speaker 1: of games, which I think is interesting as Rui's kind

792
00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:27,319
Speaker 1: of been struggling a little bit. I'll say, I don't

793
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:29,719
Speaker 1: know if it was the embarrassment, I don't know if

794
00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:31,920
Speaker 1: it was something else, but the Lakers have been playing

795
00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:35,600
Speaker 1: the most consistent stretch of serious basketball I've seen them

796
00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:38,680
Speaker 1: play in the first half of a season since they

797
00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:41,000
Speaker 1: were fighting through those injuries in the Western Conference Finals

798
00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:43,840
Speaker 1: season last year. It was a lot of like just chillin'

799
00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:46,239
Speaker 1: until it got desperate and then they locked in and

800
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:48,320
Speaker 1: they played really good every night for a long time.

801
00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:52,000
Speaker 1: But like that last year it was or the year

802
00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:53,399
Speaker 1: before that, the year they made it to the Western

803
00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:56,000
Speaker 1: Conference Finals, they were doing that earlier in the season,

804
00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:57,520
Speaker 1: but it was because of injuries. Lebron was out for

805
00:36:57,520 --> 00:36:59,120
Speaker 1: a while, Anthony Davis was out for a while, you

806
00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:01,120
Speaker 1: knew a trade was on the and those guys were

807
00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:04,120
Speaker 1: fighting every night just to stay afloat in the standings.

808
00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:07,960
Speaker 1: This is like, they're in a good spot in the standings.

809
00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:10,440
Speaker 1: They have the fourth best record in the Western Conference,

810
00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:13,080
Speaker 1: they have the seventh best record in the league, and

811
00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:17,040
Speaker 1: they're just staying focused and I think that is encouraging.

812
00:37:17,120 --> 00:37:20,040
Speaker 1: It's way too small of a sample size to take

813
00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:24,440
Speaker 1: them seriously, but it is absolutely a positive trend for

814
00:37:24,480 --> 00:37:27,160
Speaker 1: this team. I was listening to JJ Redick's postgame presser

815
00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:29,640
Speaker 1: last night and he said a lot of things that

816
00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:34,400
Speaker 1: were really interesting to me. First of all, heavy emphasis

817
00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:38,359
Speaker 1: on game plan discipline. He was bitching about the boy

818
00:37:38,640 --> 00:37:41,839
Speaker 1: the Bogdn mcdonovic slip it slips. So we were talking

819
00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:43,840
Speaker 1: about this earlier with Hedgen Recover. As it pertains to

820
00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:47,040
Speaker 1: guys like Jalen Brunson with the Knicks, right, But like

821
00:37:47,239 --> 00:37:50,600
Speaker 1: what they do is they have Brogden just excuse me,

822
00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:54,759
Speaker 1: Bogden Mcgdanovic run into pretend like he's screening for Trey

823
00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:57,200
Speaker 1: and then he'll just sprint, pass or run to the

824
00:37:57,239 --> 00:37:59,160
Speaker 1: three point line. The idea there is you hope they

825
00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:01,920
Speaker 1: confuse like are about to switch, and then in that

826
00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:04,560
Speaker 1: interchange Bogdanovitch has a chance to sprint and get open.

827
00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:07,640
Speaker 1: And JJ Reddick went to his guys before the game

828
00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:11,120
Speaker 1: and was like, the last five times to Bogdan Bogdanovic

829
00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:13,200
Speaker 1: has played. Every single time he's run up to set

830
00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:15,720
Speaker 1: that ghost screen on Trey Young, he hasn't set the screen,

831
00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:19,000
Speaker 1: He's just run past. So as a game plan, just

832
00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:21,480
Speaker 1: stay attached the on ball guy doesn't need to do

833
00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:23,160
Speaker 1: anything the guy who's running up with the screen or

834
00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:26,000
Speaker 1: tell him, you know, whatever their identifier was, if they

835
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:28,200
Speaker 1: say ghost or stay home or whatever it is, they

836
00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:30,160
Speaker 1: yelled that identify her out and they just sprint and

837
00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:33,200
Speaker 1: they stay. Guys not open. Right in the first half,

838
00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:35,760
Speaker 1: they were fucking that coverage up time and time again.

839
00:38:36,239 --> 00:38:38,920
Speaker 1: JJ Redick was super pissed about it. JJ Reddick was

840
00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:41,480
Speaker 1: super pissed about some of their basic game plan discipline stuff.

841
00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:44,640
Speaker 1: He's calling dudes out in press conferences. Max Chrissy, I

842
00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:47,719
Speaker 1: didn't like your shift the other night, Dori Infinney Smith,

843
00:38:47,719 --> 00:38:49,520
Speaker 1: I didn't think you did a good job defensively in

844
00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:52,759
Speaker 1: the first half. He's calling dudes out, he's holding him accountable.

845
00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:55,400
Speaker 1: He's understanding the importance of the game plan. He had

846
00:38:55,440 --> 00:38:57,000
Speaker 1: a speech. He goes to the guys and he goes,

847
00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:01,000
Speaker 1: he goes, you know why we why we need you

848
00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:02,759
Speaker 1: guys to pay attention to this game plan, because I

849
00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:04,160
Speaker 1: don't want to coach a good team. I want to

850
00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:07,719
Speaker 1: coach a great team. JJ is appealing to their pride.

851
00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:10,960
Speaker 1: He's appealing to their pride, and he's holding them accountable

852
00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:13,800
Speaker 1: as part of a goal to play real basketball. And

853
00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:15,520
Speaker 1: the part, the last thing I'll say about it, and

854
00:39:15,520 --> 00:39:17,000
Speaker 1: the thing that stood out to me the most was

855
00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:19,799
Speaker 1: his comment about playing pickup versus serious basketball. And he

856
00:39:19,840 --> 00:39:21,919
Speaker 1: was talking about the Hawks, and he was talking about

857
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:23,960
Speaker 1: the Kings and some of these teams that play up

858
00:39:24,040 --> 00:39:27,320
Speaker 1: and down in transition. They're teams that defend and weaponize

859
00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:29,839
Speaker 1: their athletes in the open floor, and they just kind

860
00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:32,480
Speaker 1: of play off of the advantages that that creates, right,

861
00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:34,279
Speaker 1: And one of the things that JJ said is like,

862
00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:36,680
Speaker 1: if we play that type of game, if we play

863
00:39:36,719 --> 00:39:39,680
Speaker 1: a pickup game with these guys, we're gonna lose. Why

864
00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:43,000
Speaker 1: we're not as athletic or not. We don't have like

865
00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:45,040
Speaker 1: a bunch of dudes that can just like thrive in

866
00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:47,319
Speaker 1: that type of setting. And so what JJ said is like,

867
00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:50,960
Speaker 1: we have to play serious basketball. What does that mean?

868
00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:53,080
Speaker 1: That means we do have to get back in transition

869
00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:54,919
Speaker 1: every single time when we get into the half court,

870
00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:57,040
Speaker 1: we have to be organized, meaning like we got to

871
00:39:57,120 --> 00:39:59,440
Speaker 1: run action. We have to set good screens. We have

872
00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:02,000
Speaker 1: to sell every part of the play, every cut, every screen,

873
00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:04,640
Speaker 1: every fake, every relocation. Everything has to be a sprint.

874
00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:08,480
Speaker 1: Everything has to be a good, solid screen. Everything has

875
00:40:08,520 --> 00:40:10,759
Speaker 1: to be executed for this team to get to where

876
00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:13,120
Speaker 1: they want to go. This is something that I've been

877
00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:17,800
Speaker 1: screaming about from the mountaintops forever. JJ kept emphasizing in

878
00:40:17,840 --> 00:40:24,719
Speaker 1: the postgame presser habits, establishing habits. Why Because when you

879
00:40:24,760 --> 00:40:28,040
Speaker 1: get into a big spot against a great team in

880
00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:31,799
Speaker 1: a late playoff series, everyone on the floor is good,

881
00:40:32,040 --> 00:40:33,960
Speaker 1: all the players are good. You know what ends up

882
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:37,120
Speaker 1: being a big determining factor over the course of the

883
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:40,400
Speaker 1: hundreds of possessions that take place in a playoff series.

884
00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:45,040
Speaker 1: How often do you not do your job? How often

885
00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:48,080
Speaker 1: do you give up a wide open something because you're

886
00:40:48,120 --> 00:40:51,799
Speaker 1: not sharp, because you don't have good habits compared to

887
00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:54,520
Speaker 1: the other team. If they have an advantage there against

888
00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:56,520
Speaker 1: you on that front, it's a problem. And as JJ's

889
00:40:56,520 --> 00:41:00,000
Speaker 1: pointed out, he kept saying, this Western Conference is really good. Everybody,

890
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:02,279
Speaker 1: they can beat everybody. He's right. I've been saying for

891
00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:04,919
Speaker 1: the last couple of days, this conference is wide open

892
00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:07,799
Speaker 1: because Oklahoma City can go so cold as perimeter jumpshooters.

893
00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:10,719
Speaker 1: This conference is wide open. And the Lakers are not

894
00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:14,439
Speaker 1: the most talented team in the conference. So if they're

895
00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:17,560
Speaker 1: going to win, if they have a real goal, if

896
00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:20,880
Speaker 1: the guys in that locker room really want to hoist

897
00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:25,960
Speaker 1: I Larry O'Brien Trophy, it starts now, or more appropriately,

898
00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:28,399
Speaker 1: in the Portland Trailblazers game, when they started to turn

899
00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:32,239
Speaker 1: the season around. It started then, and it has to

900
00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:34,520
Speaker 1: go to mid April. That doesn't mean it has to

901
00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:36,440
Speaker 1: be perfect. You can have a bad night here there.

902
00:41:36,760 --> 00:41:39,319
Speaker 1: It's like I talked about what concerned me early on

903
00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:42,440
Speaker 1: is weeks. You go two and five in a seven

904
00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:47,759
Speaker 1: game stretch and then quit in against Miami. I had

905
00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:50,399
Speaker 1: a many comments like, why are you so much more

906
00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:53,080
Speaker 1: forgiving of Golden State than the Lakers. You guys are

907
00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:55,720
Speaker 1: missing the point. I think the Lakers have more talent

908
00:41:55,760 --> 00:41:58,000
Speaker 1: on the roster right now than Golden State. Golden State

909
00:41:58,080 --> 00:41:59,960
Speaker 1: is a more serious basketball team, or at least they

910
00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:02,680
Speaker 1: were over the course of the entire season. They have

911
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:07,120
Speaker 1: overachieved relative to their talent. The Lakers help. They should

912
00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:08,960
Speaker 1: probably be a couple games better than they are right

913
00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:11,839
Speaker 1: now when you look at the games they've blown. I

914
00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:15,840
Speaker 1: am talking about the overall effort and focus. Golden State

915
00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:18,600
Speaker 1: doesn't have that issue. They have a talent issue. If

916
00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:21,359
Speaker 1: they address the talent issue in the trade market, they

917
00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:23,040
Speaker 1: have a chance to go on a run. It's a

918
00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:26,960
Speaker 1: slim chance, sure, but it's a chance for the Lakers.

919
00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:29,520
Speaker 1: They have the talent. They also could use some more talent,

920
00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:32,000
Speaker 1: but they have more talent. They in the early part

921
00:42:32,000 --> 00:42:33,880
Speaker 1: of the season. They won those first three games, and

922
00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:36,560
Speaker 1: they were in chill mode for the next month. That's

923
00:42:36,600 --> 00:42:39,040
Speaker 1: not how you play championship basketball. That's not how you

924
00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:43,480
Speaker 1: establish those habits. This Lakers team has to be so

925
00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:47,560
Speaker 1: sharp that they keep every game close against the best

926
00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:49,920
Speaker 1: teams at the top of the league, so that maybe,

927
00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:52,800
Speaker 1: just maybe the thing that won you would chip Lebron

928
00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:55,920
Speaker 1: James and Anthony Davis with the shot creation of Austin

929
00:42:56,000 --> 00:42:58,200
Speaker 1: Reeves can squeeze out a little bit more than the

930
00:42:58,239 --> 00:43:01,440
Speaker 1: other team and you can advance. But they are not

931
00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:06,160
Speaker 1: going to overcome execution errs. Lebron James, Anthony Davis and

932
00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:08,440
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves are not going to be able to outplay

933
00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:14,239
Speaker 1: Luca and Kyrie, Jada Shay and chet of like Yo

934
00:43:14,360 --> 00:43:17,200
Speaker 1: Kitchen Murray, these guys at the top of the West.

935
00:43:17,239 --> 00:43:19,840
Speaker 1: They're not going to be able to outplay them enough

936
00:43:20,120 --> 00:43:24,080
Speaker 1: to make up for a bunch of executioners. The only

937
00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:27,640
Speaker 1: pathway for them is attack the regular season and become

938
00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:31,960
Speaker 1: the sharpest team that they could possibly be. That's what

939
00:43:32,080 --> 00:43:35,000
Speaker 1: JJ is preaching. It's up to the players to stick

940
00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:37,799
Speaker 1: with it and to build that identity out over the

941
00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:40,480
Speaker 1: remainder of this season. I think Rob Polinka, by supporting

942
00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:42,680
Speaker 1: them with Dorian Phinney Smith, has provided them with a

943
00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:46,200
Speaker 1: little bit more belief. I think he needs to further

944
00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:48,840
Speaker 1: that by continuing to anchor this. I've seen a lot

945
00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:50,239
Speaker 1: of people talk about, like, oh, you don't want to

946
00:43:50,239 --> 00:43:52,040
Speaker 1: trade make a trade that takes Max out of the

947
00:43:52,040 --> 00:43:54,360
Speaker 1: starting lineup. I'm not necessarily saying that you need to

948
00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:57,360
Speaker 1: take Max out of the starting lineup, but I would

949
00:43:57,400 --> 00:44:00,600
Speaker 1: like to have another option for a veteran guy there

950
00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:03,240
Speaker 1: in case you get to a playoff series in Max

951
00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:05,400
Speaker 1: Pee's down his leg and you need to have somebody

952
00:44:05,440 --> 00:44:08,799
Speaker 1: that you can go to at that two spot. But like,

953
00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:11,640
Speaker 1: that's the type of move that I still think the

954
00:44:11,680 --> 00:44:14,480
Speaker 1: Lakers should make at the deadline, Just something preferably to

955
00:44:14,480 --> 00:44:17,720
Speaker 1: turn Ruie into a starting caliber two guard that doesn't

956
00:44:17,719 --> 00:44:19,520
Speaker 1: necessarily need to start. If you want to invest in

957
00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:21,040
Speaker 1: Max and give them all the starting reps and all

958
00:44:21,040 --> 00:44:22,680
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. But if it's a close game

959
00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:24,480
Speaker 1: late and Max isn't the guy, you need to have

960
00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:26,920
Speaker 1: an option, a starting caliber two that you can go

961
00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:29,239
Speaker 1: into that spot. If you bring in that talent, if

962
00:44:29,239 --> 00:44:31,799
Speaker 1: you make another talent play, if you're Rob Polinka, you

963
00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:35,320
Speaker 1: will further incentivize Lebron James Anthony Davis to stay bought

964
00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:38,960
Speaker 1: in by virtue of them believing that there's an opportunity

965
00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:41,360
Speaker 1: here to get this thing done. Excellent stretch from the

966
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:45,439
Speaker 1: Lakers to get back on track. Confusing ass basketball team.

967
00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:47,239
Speaker 1: I can't believe this is the same group that did

968
00:44:47,239 --> 00:44:50,520
Speaker 1: what they did in Miami. But it's not about ten games,

969
00:44:50,560 --> 00:44:53,000
Speaker 1: it's about eighty two. Got a lot of work to

970
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:54,799
Speaker 1: go to get to where they want to go. All right, guys,

971
00:44:54,840 --> 00:44:56,400
Speaker 1: It's all I have for today is always a sincerely

972
00:44:56,400 --> 00:44:58,160
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show.

973
00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:00,080
Speaker 1: Remember to drop those mailback questions for the mailbag that

974
00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:03,400
Speaker 1: we're recording later this afternoon, and then I'll show you

975
00:45:03,440 --> 00:45:05,280
Speaker 1: guys when I get I'll see you guys for the mailbag,

976
00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:06,920
Speaker 1: and then after that, when I get back from Flagstaff

977
00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:12,839
Speaker 1: the volume. What's up guys? As always, I appreciate you

978
00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:15,840
Speaker 1: for listening to and supporting hoops tonight. It would actually

979
00:45:15,880 --> 00:45:17,759
Speaker 1: be really helpful for us if you guys would take

980
00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:20,920
Speaker 1: a second and leave a rating and a review. As always,

981
00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:22,600
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if you could

982
00:45:22,600 --> 00:45:25,120
Speaker 1: take a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it.