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Speaker 1: and responsible gaming resources. All right, welcome to tonight. You're

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Speaker 1: at the volume. Happy Saturday, everybody. Hope all of you

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Speaker 1: guys are having an incredible weekend. Well, Day one of

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Speaker 1: the NBA Playoffs is officially in the books. We're gonna

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Speaker 1: keep it really simple tonight. We're just gonna do it.

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Speaker 1: Reactions to all four games in reverse order, starting with

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Speaker 1: Lakers Nuggets and finishing with calvs. Magic. You guys know

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Speaker 1: the drill before we get started. Subscribe to a brand

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Speaker 1: new YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of

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Speaker 1: our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT.

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Speaker 1: That's gonna be important over the next couple of months

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Speaker 1: because I'm gonna be doing a bunch of impromptu film

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Speaker 1: sessions in the mornings when I have time to kind

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Speaker 1: of go over some actual visual examples of the things

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Speaker 1: that we talk about at night in the live shows.

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Speaker 1: And again, those are gonna be just kind of like

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Speaker 1: short notice types of things that don't really plan on.

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Speaker 1: We're just gonna do them when we have some time

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Speaker 1: in the mornings, but I'm gonna announce them and tweet

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Speaker 1: out links and stuff from my Twitter feeds. So make

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Speaker 1: sure you follow me on Twitter at underscore jsonlt. Don't

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Speaker 1: forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts

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

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Speaker 1: a rating and a review on that front. In the

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Speaker 1: last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions in the

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Speaker 1: YouTube comments will probably hit one or two mail bags

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Speaker 1: a week during those film session pods during the day.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So, starting with Lakers Nuggets,

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Speaker 1: I said before the series in our series preview that

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Speaker 1: there were two major dynamics working in Denver's favor. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: the first piece is that Yo Kitchen Murray at this

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Speaker 1: phase of their careers, are a better duo than Lebron

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Speaker 1: James and Anthony Davis, who at this phase in their

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Speaker 1: careers are slower, less consistent athletically. Lebron and ad met

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Speaker 1: their level tonight. They combined for fifty nine points on

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Speaker 1: just forty one shots that twenty rebounds and thirteen assists.

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Speaker 1: Nicole Yokitchen Jamal Murray at fifty four, eighteen and seventeen.

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Speaker 1: I thought all four of those guys dominated different stretches

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Speaker 1: of the game. Obviously, you know, Jo Kic was really

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Speaker 1: aggressive in the first quarter, then wasn't super aggressive in

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Speaker 1: the middle portion of the game, and then got aggressive

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Speaker 1: late right like Lebron. James was super aggressive early in

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Speaker 1: the game. Anthony Davis was super aggressive late in the game,

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Speaker 1: different phases of the game, different guys in that group

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Speaker 1: of four all took over, and really high level basketball

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Speaker 1: was being played by those guys. But as I said,

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Speaker 1: there are two dynamics that are working in Denver's favor.

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Speaker 1: They also have a better rest of their starting lineup.

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Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior and KCP as well as Aaron Gordon,

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Speaker 1: in my opinion, are a better trio of basketball players

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Speaker 1: than Austin Reeves, D'Angelo Russell and ruiy Haachi Mura. And

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Speaker 1: they got completely blitzed in today's game, those three outscored

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Speaker 1: the Lakers trio forty three to thirty three. And here's

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Speaker 1: the big one killed them on the glass twenty one

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Speaker 1: to ten rebound advantage between those three guys and those

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Speaker 1: Lakers three. And so I kind of want to start

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Speaker 1: with the del matchup because that obviously was the biggest

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Speaker 1: swing factor that went against the Lakers last year and

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Speaker 1: was my major point of concern coming into this series.

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Speaker 1: And one of the main reasons why is that when

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Speaker 1: Delo's not hitting shots, because he's also not a good,

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Speaker 1: you know, kind of attentive off ball defender, and that's

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Speaker 1: such an important thing to be against Denver in particular,

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Speaker 1: as soon as you have to take d out because

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Speaker 1: when he's not making shots, he becomes borderline damaging as

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Speaker 1: a basketball player. You have to bring in one of

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Speaker 1: those backup guards, somebody like Gabe Vincent or Spencer Dinwiddie,

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Speaker 1: and those guys are just nowhere near the level offensive player,

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Speaker 1: and they allowed Denver a lot more leeway with how

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Speaker 1: to guard the Lakers. And so I had my eye

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Speaker 1: on this matchup coming in and again specifically, there's two things,

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Speaker 1: three things excuse me that we're looking at with Delo one,

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Speaker 1: can he actually make shots in an environment this physical?

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Speaker 1: And what was he one for nine from three tonight?

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Speaker 1: Just couldn't make them. Some bad misses in there too.

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Speaker 1: That's the thing with Delo, Like he's an outstanding shooter

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Speaker 1: that for whatever reason, when the intensity and the physicality

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Speaker 1: picks up, the shots just tend to not go in

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Speaker 1: decision making. For the most part today, I didn't think

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Speaker 1: it was that bad of a decision making making game

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Speaker 1: from del had a really bad transition kick ahead pass

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Speaker 1: to Ruy Hatchamura took a couple really really tough shots

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Speaker 1: in pick and roll that were in the mid range

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Speaker 1: and at the rim that I didn't think were good shots.

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Speaker 1: But like, that wasn't the worst part of his game today.

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Speaker 1: But on the defensive end of the floor, we saw

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Speaker 1: that off ball attentiveness. Now again, usually what the Lakers

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Speaker 1: have been able to do with del is put him

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Speaker 1: onto a pretty limited offensive player and so he can

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Speaker 1: kind of roam around and play passing lanes and just

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Speaker 1: kind of do the de Lo float around thing. Can't

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Speaker 1: do that with KCP. KCP is an extremely active offensive player,

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Speaker 1: running his lane and transition, cutting and screening off the ball.

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Speaker 1: He's a guy that can hit movement jump shots, which

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Speaker 1: requires you to be engaged in lock and trail situations.

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Speaker 1: I tweeted out a clip today of a player de

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Speaker 1: Lo after literally CACP had already made I think two

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Speaker 1: or three threes at this point. A Delo's guarding KCP,

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Speaker 1: CACP setting him up for a screening action. Delos not

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Speaker 1: paying attention when KCP makes the cut. Delo's just the

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Speaker 1: split second late to start his lock and trail. KCP

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Speaker 1: breaks free again to hit another shot. Now, it's just

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Speaker 1: one game, and Delo has been better in some leverage

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Speaker 1: games this year, not the least of which were the

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Speaker 1: New Orleans Pelicans game, a team that also brings a

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Speaker 1: lot of length and athleticism on the perimeter and can

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Speaker 1: cause problems. So again, that dynamic just has to switch

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Speaker 1: around the other way. You saw that KCP just flat

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Speaker 1: out out played D'Angelo Russell today. That's a matchup that's

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Speaker 1: swung heavily in that favor, I in Denver's favor, I

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Speaker 1: don't want to go too hard on Ruy. Ruy is

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Speaker 1: being put in a really, really difficult spot in this series.

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Speaker 1: He's being asked to guard Nicole Yokich. Lebron and Ad

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Speaker 1: are basically just leaving him out, hung out to dry there.

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Speaker 1: There was a little bit more AD on Jokic in

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Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, but for the most part they've just

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Speaker 1: kind of let him go down there and get barbecued.

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Speaker 1: And one of the problems there is like he can't

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Speaker 1: help you on the glass like that, and Lebron and

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Speaker 1: Ad are getting caught in a lot of cross matches anyway,

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Speaker 1: where they're getting pulled away from the rint. One of

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Speaker 1: the things I talked about during the game for those

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Speaker 1: of you guys who follow me on Twitter, like these

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Speaker 1: cross matches were like Ad fall down in the backcourt

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Speaker 1: and then runs down the floor and ends up guarding

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Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior. Those are totally disastrous because either his

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Speaker 1: instincts as a helper bring him into the lane and

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Speaker 1: then Michael Porter Junior hits a three over him, which

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Speaker 1: happened in this game, or Ad is stuck contesting threes

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Speaker 1: are guarding him at the three point line, which leaves

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Speaker 1: Ruey and Lebron by themselves underneath the basket to contend

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Speaker 1: with Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic, which is gonna end

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Speaker 1: the same way just about every single time. And this

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Speaker 1: is something with Ad where like he falls down a

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Speaker 1: lot on layup attempts and it's a grifting thing. Like

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Speaker 1: I know, all there's a small I'm gonna reference them

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Speaker 1: as a small segment of the fan base because I

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Speaker 1: don't necessarily think it's a prevailing opinion among normal basketball fans.

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Speaker 1: But there are some people out there that think the

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Speaker 1: Lakers get basically conspiracy theory whistle and that the league

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Speaker 1: is trying to give them a free throw advantage, and like, really,

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Speaker 1: all it is is the Lakers are a defense that

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Speaker 1: doesn't commit fouls and then they score almost all their

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Speaker 1: points in the pain and they have a bunch of

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Speaker 1: guys who are good at grifting, right, Austin Reeves is

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Speaker 1: a grifter. Anthony Davis is a grifter. But when you grift,

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Speaker 1: there's a downside to it. Anthony Davis, when he takes

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Speaker 1: shots around the rim and he falls down, sometimes he

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Speaker 1: gets a call and the other team is perplexed and

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Speaker 1: they look over the sideline and they wonder what's going on,

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Speaker 1: And yeah, obviously that's where it works out for Ad.

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Speaker 1: But then when he falls down and he doesn't get

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Speaker 1: the call. The Nuggets are extremely good at pushing out

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Speaker 1: the other way. Yokic. You can always see Yokic like

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Speaker 1: look behind him, identify the ads on the ground, and

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Speaker 1: he immediately starts pushing the other way. And if they

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Speaker 1: don't get a basket in transition, they get a cross match,

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Speaker 1: and then the cross match ends up causing problems. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: they had twenty one fast break points in this game.

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Speaker 1: They dominated the offensive glass and dominated those fast break situations.

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Speaker 1: Those are execution related mistakes, and like, you know, this

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Speaker 1: is gonna be something we talk a lot about with

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Speaker 1: the Lakers in particular in the series. Denver is the

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Speaker 1: best execution team in the league. In my opinion. They

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Speaker 1: had just four turnovers in this game. Every time they

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Speaker 1: found a favorable matchup that they liked, they immediately looked

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Speaker 1: to attack it, even like little things like I noticed

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Speaker 1: that when Michael Porter Junior or Jamal Murray would get

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Speaker 1: ad on a switch, whether it was in a screening

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Speaker 1: action or in transition, those guys just know to get

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Speaker 1: a shot up because it doesn't matter if they miss.

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Speaker 1: Because the Lakers are such a bad back line rebounding team,

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Speaker 1: and you know, like if Lebron is engaged in a

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Speaker 1: box out with nikolea Jokic or ruy Hachamura is engaged

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Speaker 1: in a box out with nicolea Jokic. Even if you

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Speaker 1: happen to keep him ground bound, he's either gonna reach

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Speaker 1: over the top and grab it or any other location

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Speaker 1: for the rebound is gonna be a favorable situation for

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Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon. And so that's gonna be a big thing

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Speaker 1: that we're gonna be looking at for the Lakers that

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Speaker 1: have any chance to keep this series competitive in the

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Speaker 1: long run, they have to execute better. We talked about d'angela,

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Speaker 1: Russell and KCP. We talked about cross matches in transition situations.

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Speaker 1: It's almost more important for Ad to just sprint back

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Speaker 1: every time than anything else that he can get on

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Speaker 1: the offensive end, attacking the offensive glass or trying to

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Speaker 1: get to the foul line, because again, those are possessions

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Speaker 1: that Denver is scoring at an extremely efficient rate. I

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Speaker 1: wanted to shout out DeAndre Jordan, you know, so he

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Speaker 1: ended up having to come into this game because I

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Speaker 1: thought the Lakers came out really well early. They came

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Speaker 1: out super physically aggressive. Lebron and Ad were out playing

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Speaker 1: Yokichen Murray. In the early portion of the game. They

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Speaker 1: were playing super physical defense. Austin Reeves, even though he

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Speaker 1: struggled in specific stretches, I thought he did a solid

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Speaker 1: job chasing Jamal Murray around. They had control early. They

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Speaker 1: got two fouls apiece on both Peyton Watson and Aaron Gordon,

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Speaker 1: and so Mike Malon's in a little bit of a predicament.

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Speaker 1: He ends up having to go to DeAndre Jordan. I

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Speaker 1: thought DeAndre Jordan was really good, setting good ball screens

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Speaker 1: and rolling into space. He scored on the roll twice,

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Speaker 1: once with a dunk, once with a foul. He held

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Speaker 1: up well against Anthony Davis and Iso. This is actually

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Speaker 1: ironic because ad in isolation was a huge issue for

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Speaker 1: the Lakers last year, and that was something that I

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Speaker 1: talked about in our series preview. Jokic I can't remember

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Speaker 1: the exact number, but Jokic just like completely put ad

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Speaker 1: in jail in one on one situations last year, and

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Speaker 1: that was a huge problem. One of the encouraging pieces

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Speaker 1: here was Anthony Davis, especially in that fourth quarter run,

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Speaker 1: was like going right at nicolea Jokic and scoring relatively easily,

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Speaker 1: which is if you're if you're looking for silver lining

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Speaker 1: as a Lakers fan, Lebron and Ad looked great, and

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Speaker 1: so if you're all you really need is for your

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Speaker 1: role players to play better. But again, like this is

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Speaker 1: the thing. It's it's so funny. This is the one

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Speaker 1: series that I'm watching as a fan, right, Like I

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Speaker 1: have a rooting interest in this series for the Lakers.

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Speaker 1: All these other series I'm just covering as an analyst, right,

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Speaker 1: But like as a fan, I've got my basketball brain

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Speaker 1: behind it, right, and all of my experience with the

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Speaker 1: game and all of my film study, and I know

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Speaker 1: the result, right, Like I know how this movie ends.

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Speaker 1: This movie ends the way Tonight ended in you know,

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Speaker 1: five or six games, you know as at some point

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Speaker 1: over the course of the next couple of weeks, right, So,

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Speaker 1: like it's kind of like watching a car crash in

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Speaker 1: slow motion when you know exactly what needs to be done,

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Speaker 1: but you know that those guys struggle to do that,

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Speaker 1: and so like you're hoping for something that can't actually happen.

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Speaker 1: There's a certain helplessness and a hopelessness that you feel

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Speaker 1: as a fan watching Denver. But honestly, to get that

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Speaker 1: type of performance out of DeAndre Jordan. Those are just

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Speaker 1: that's just found money in a playoff series. I thought

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Speaker 1: that was big time, you know. Getting back to the

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Speaker 1: execution thing. One of the things that the Lakers have

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Speaker 1: done all season long, and you Lakers fans will know

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Speaker 1: exactly what I'm talking about here, is they can go

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Speaker 1: through these like three four minute stretches where they literally

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Speaker 1: lose their fucking mind, like on both ends of the floor,

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Speaker 1: horrible execution mistakes, not sprinting back in transition, giving up

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Speaker 1: cross matches, not sticking to the game plan, bad closeouts,

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Speaker 1: all this kind of stuff, and then on the other

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Speaker 1: end of the floor also losing their mind in offensive execution.

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Speaker 1: Do you guys remember the Jamal Murray three, the three

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Speaker 1: in the corner. It was a transition play. He was

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Speaker 1: in the deep corners, a transition kick ahead. It was

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Speaker 1: the one where the pass went got kicked up the

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Speaker 1: floor to Aaron Gordon and Lebron was there and kind

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Speaker 1: of like funneled him behind the backboard and then Aaron

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Speaker 1: Gordon kicked it to Jamal Murray in the right corner.

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Speaker 1: D Loo and Austin both quit on that play. They

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Speaker 1: were both jogging back and neither of them of them

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Speaker 1: were getting matched up. Lebron did his job and forced

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Speaker 1: the kick ahead pass into a position where he couldn't score.

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Speaker 1: From there, your transition defense has to spread out and

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Speaker 1: get matched up. And it's like that, that's not oh,

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Speaker 1: we lost because Jokic is amazing. That's not oh we

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Speaker 1: lost because Jamal Murray keeps hitting shots. That's you not

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Speaker 1: doing your job. And when you don't do your job,

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Speaker 1: Denver makes you pay. And then they'll go through these

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Speaker 1: rolls on the offensive end of the floor where it's

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Speaker 1: like their success offensively comes through five out and horn

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Speaker 1: sets and three man actions at the top of the

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Speaker 1: key to get the defense into rotation and then playing

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Speaker 1: off of each other with your aggregate offensive skill. But

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Speaker 1: they'll lose their damn minds and just walk the ball

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Speaker 1: up the floor and run a ball screen, and di

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Speaker 1: Lo will miss some shot, or Lebron will get a

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Speaker 1: switch and take a bad step back three or something

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Speaker 1: like that, and like, really, if you zoom out of

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Speaker 1: the game. The Lakers stayed really competitive throughout, except for

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Speaker 1: a bad stretch in the middle of the second quarter,

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Speaker 1: in a bad stretch in the middle of the third quarter,

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Speaker 1: but that's what Denver does. They don't stop executing. They

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Speaker 1: just keep playing Denver nugget basketball until you let go

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Speaker 1: of the rope. And then as soon as you let

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Speaker 1: go of the rope, all hell breaks loose and you

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Speaker 1: end up in a really bad position. So again, like

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Speaker 1: as a fan, it was tough to watch, But this

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Speaker 1: is kind of more or less what we expect in

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Speaker 1: this series, right, Like Denver is their duo. Like again,

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Speaker 1: Lebron and ad were able to match Jamal Murray and

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Speaker 1: then Koliokich in a one game setting. Will they be

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Speaker 1: able to do that throughout the series? I think that's

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Speaker 1: gonna tilt towards Jamal Murray and Nikoliokich over the course

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Speaker 1: of the series. Do I think Ruey and DL and

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Speaker 1: Austin will have a game or two in this series

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Speaker 1: where they outplay the Nuggets role players. Yeah, I think

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Speaker 1: they'll have a game or two where they do so,

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Speaker 1: and when they do, Lakers have a good chance to win.

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Speaker 1: But chances are, over the course of the five, six, seven,

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Speaker 1: however long the series goes, chances are those dynamics are

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Speaker 1: gonna tilt towards Denver. It's not just a one game thing.

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Speaker 1: This is what they've been doing all season. Like the

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Speaker 1: Lakers have had issues with three four minutes stretches of

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Speaker 1: bad basketball that cost them ten points on the scoreboard

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Speaker 1: all season long. It's part of their basketball character. It's

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Speaker 1: who they are. So again, like we like to pretend

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Speaker 1: like this stuff doesn't matter, but it does matter because

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Speaker 1: you ended up in a big game here, you threw

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Speaker 1: a great punch, you had a double figure lead, and

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Speaker 1: you choked it away in a matter of minutes in

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Speaker 1: the second quarter. It wasn't like a long drawn out

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Speaker 1: Denver run. It was a handful of possessions and the

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Speaker 1: game was tied. And like it. Like again, so believe

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Speaker 1: teams when they tell you who they are over the

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Speaker 1: course of the regular season. So good win for Denver again.

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Speaker 1: Expect a couple of adjustments I expect from the Lakers.

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Speaker 1: I think they will eventually have Lebron James and Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis take more of than Nicola Jokic assignment. I think

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Speaker 1: offensive execution is going to be a big one from

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Speaker 1: them too, just in the sense that they're going to

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Speaker 1: need to stay into their five out and run action

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Speaker 1: and make sure they don't get stagnant and then Lastly,

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Speaker 1: I think Darvin Ham's gonna have to make a call

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Speaker 1: on nights like tonight when d Lo just doesn't have it.

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Speaker 1: You know, maybe you get instead of getting one for

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Speaker 1: nine out of de Lo, you get one for four

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Speaker 1: out of Gabe Vincent, but he doesn't lose KCP four times. Right, So, like,

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Speaker 1: those are the types of decisions that Darvin's gonna have

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Speaker 1: to make over the course of the series. You want

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Speaker 1: to give Delo another chance, you needd Lo out there.

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Speaker 1: He's a swing piece in the series, but if he

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Speaker 1: doesn't have it, you gotta pivot, all right. Moving on

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Speaker 1: to Sixers Nicks, I saw so much of what I

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Speaker 1: liked about both teams in this matchup. Right, Like I

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Speaker 1: said in our series preview, the Knicks are the tougher,

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Speaker 1: more physical team that has better basketball character. Right, they

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Speaker 1: get twenty three offensive rebounds, and they dominate the fast

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Speaker 1: breakpoint advantage twenty seven to eleven. What I say about

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Speaker 1: the Sixers, they are the more talented team, especially when

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Speaker 1: it comes to offensive skill. Well, the Sixers in this

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Speaker 1: game had a ninety nine offense of rating in the

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Speaker 1: half court and the Knicks had just a seventy seven

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Speaker 1: offensive rating. In the half court. So that's right. The

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Speaker 1: Knicks lost the half court battle by over twenty two

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Speaker 1: points per one hundred possessions. Yet they won the game

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Speaker 1: because they absolutely dominated on the margins twenty six to

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Speaker 1: eight in second chance points, twenty seven to eleven in

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Speaker 1: fast break points. That's a fifty three to nineteen advantage.

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Speaker 1: So like, the reality is for the Sixers that they

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Speaker 1: have to kind of remember here is like the toughness

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Speaker 1: from the Knicks is not going away. It's their basketball identity,

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Speaker 1: it's who they are. So if the Sixers want to

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Speaker 1: have a chance to win the series, they absolutely have

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Speaker 1: to hold up better on the glass and in transition,

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Speaker 1: better box outs, better efforts for contested rebounds, sprinting back

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Speaker 1: in transition. Now, one thing I'll say for the Sixers,

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Speaker 1: I did think they got a little shook up by

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Speaker 1: the Embiid injury there in that late first half situation,

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Speaker 1: and obviously it was a deluge of a run from

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Speaker 1: the New York Knicks there, but they had a similar

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Speaker 1: kind of issue there in the fourth quarter where they

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Speaker 1: were getting pushed around. So that's something that they're gonna

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Speaker 1: have to deal with. But despite all of that, the

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Speaker 1: Sixers did have a fourth quarter lead, it was the

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Speaker 1: game plan that burned them. We talked about in our

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Speaker 1: series preview that I think that I thought the Sixers

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Speaker 1: had to kind of close out short on Josh Hart,

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Speaker 1: to try to shrink the floor on Jalen Brunson and

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Speaker 1: try to make things tougher on him. And you know,

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Speaker 1: Josh Hart this season shot just thirty two point eight

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Speaker 1: percent on catch and shoot jumpers, but he made four

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Speaker 1: of them in this game, including a couple of massive

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Speaker 1: ones late in the game. And so some of that

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Speaker 1: is like you just got to tip the cat because

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Speaker 1: as part of the game plan, if you start chasing

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Speaker 1: Josh Hart off the three point line, that's just gonna

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Speaker 1: make things easier for Jalen Brunson. You have to kind

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Speaker 1: of hope that over the course of the series that

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Speaker 1: that works in your favor. I thought the Sixers generally

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Speaker 1: did a good job on Jalen Brunson. I was initially

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Speaker 1: kind of annoyed at how often they were giving up switches. So,

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Speaker 1: like we talked about this in our series preview, but

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Speaker 1: like what the Knicks will do is they'll run a

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Speaker 1: guard guards screen at the beginning of the possession to

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Speaker 1: get the matchup they like with Jalen Brunson, then they

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Speaker 1: will go run the ball screen right, And so what

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Speaker 1: they were doing in this game is they were bringing

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Speaker 1: up Tyrese Maxey every single time and getting him switched

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Speaker 1: on to Brunson, and then Brunson was going to work,

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Speaker 1: which was irritating me just because I feel like there's

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Speaker 1: I feel like you can get better screen navigation out

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Speaker 1: of Kelly Ubray and Nick Batum, and I felt like

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Speaker 1: it was just too much of the game plan to

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Speaker 1: concede those switches. But then Tyrese Vaxi just did a

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Speaker 1: really good job. I think he blocked Jalen Brunson from

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Speaker 1: behind with back pressure at least two or three times. Like,

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Speaker 1: did a good job, and they shrunk the floor. They

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Speaker 1: Embiid when he was on the floor, did an amazing

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Speaker 1: job protecting the rim. It was a very good defensive

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Speaker 1: effort from Philly in the half court. It was on

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Speaker 1: the margins where they lost this game. But easily the

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Speaker 1: biggest story of this game in my opinion, was Mitchell

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Speaker 1: Robinson induced McBride. So one of the things we talked

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Speaker 1: about in the series preview was Deuce McBride being more

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Speaker 1: capable of hanging with Tyrase Maxie in terms of his quickness.

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Speaker 1: And I showed you guys some clips in the film session,

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Speaker 1: if you guys remember, but I also talked about how

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Speaker 1: Deuce McBride actually has like a little bit more offensive

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Speaker 1: pop than what he gets credit for. And he's a

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Speaker 1: guy he's one of those like classic guards who like

429
00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:23,560
Speaker 1: wasn't viewed as an NBA level kind of initiator, but

430
00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:26,840
Speaker 1: was viewed as an NBA level defender, And so his

431
00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,240
Speaker 1: role in the NBA was kind of like defensive focused.

432
00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:32,760
Speaker 1: But he is a guard, a guard that has a

433
00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:35,520
Speaker 1: lot of experience doing work off the bounce, and he

434
00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:37,760
Speaker 1: has some of that in his game, and a little

435
00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:39,560
Speaker 1: by a little over the course of the last couple

436
00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:42,199
Speaker 1: of years, you just see, like on any given night,

437
00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:43,760
Speaker 1: you just see a little bit more of Deuce and

438
00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:46,000
Speaker 1: a little bit more of what he can do offensively,

439
00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:50,959
Speaker 1: especially after they traded away everybody in the OG and

440
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,360
Speaker 1: ANDOBI deal, right like that just kind of put them

441
00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:56,200
Speaker 1: in a situation where Deuce had to be more aggressive offensively,

442
00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:58,120
Speaker 1: and he's taken advantage of that. He had some big

443
00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:01,000
Speaker 1: shots in this one, including that big pull up three

444
00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:02,639
Speaker 1: at the middle of the at the top of the

445
00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:05,199
Speaker 1: key there in that fourth quarter run, like and you

446
00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:08,560
Speaker 1: saw it in the minutes Duce played more than Dante DiVincenzo.

447
00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:11,000
Speaker 1: That clearly is the direction that they're looking to go.

448
00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:13,080
Speaker 1: I also thought he did a good job flattening out

449
00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:16,359
Speaker 1: Tyres Maxi Drives. Talked a lot about Tyre's Maxi dribble

450
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:18,639
Speaker 1: penetration in the series preview. It's one of the biggest

451
00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:21,360
Speaker 1: factors for how I think Philly can keep New York

452
00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:23,520
Speaker 1: in rotation when they get into the half court, and

453
00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:26,200
Speaker 1: you saw that, like, especially in that third quarter run.

454
00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:29,879
Speaker 1: My god, Tyre's Maxi was just dusting everybody off the

455
00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:32,159
Speaker 1: dribble and getting into the lane. But again, when you

456
00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:34,080
Speaker 1: flatten out the drive a little bit, just imagine like this,

457
00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:36,239
Speaker 1: instead of a straight line drive, a little bit more

458
00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:38,280
Speaker 1: of a banana route to get to where you're going.

459
00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:42,040
Speaker 1: That buys time for your back line to actually recover

460
00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:45,320
Speaker 1: and to get into position defensively. And I thought, I thought,

461
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:47,600
Speaker 1: you know, honestly, like it's gonna be one of those

462
00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:49,399
Speaker 1: things where I think, over the course of the series,

463
00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:51,440
Speaker 1: we're going to see a lot more of Duce McBride,

464
00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:55,040
Speaker 1: either in the starting lineup or just playing more minutes

465
00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:59,000
Speaker 1: and certainly closing the game. As far as Mitchell Robinson goes,

466
00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:02,040
Speaker 1: I thought he was a revel. I want to shout

467
00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:04,560
Speaker 1: out Joel Embiid. I thought he dominated this basketball game

468
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:07,520
Speaker 1: for the most part, and like you saw it from

469
00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:10,760
Speaker 1: the opening tip, he was being physically aggressive, like he

470
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,119
Speaker 1: made some jump shots, but like he was looking to

471
00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:15,479
Speaker 1: play bullyball towards the rim, which is something we've all

472
00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:17,560
Speaker 1: been begging for with him Beid for a really long time,

473
00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:20,360
Speaker 1: right getting where he wanted to go, having a lot

474
00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:25,000
Speaker 1: of success in that. In that fourth quarter run in particular,

475
00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:29,280
Speaker 1: you saw the advantage that Mitchell Robinson brings in terms

476
00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:33,879
Speaker 1: of his size. So one of the things that I noticed,

477
00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:35,879
Speaker 1: and I'll kind of share this as an example just

478
00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:39,800
Speaker 1: with my experience playing, so like when I'm looking across

479
00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:43,440
Speaker 1: my across the way at a defender and I know

480
00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:46,160
Speaker 1: that I can get a shot over him whenever I want,

481
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:50,240
Speaker 1: there's a very comfortable feeling I have where I know that,

482
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:53,120
Speaker 1: like I can at any moment, even if I make

483
00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:54,640
Speaker 1: a move and I get cut off, I can get

484
00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:56,280
Speaker 1: to this pull up jump shot or this step back

485
00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:58,480
Speaker 1: jump shot or this whatever off the dribble jump shot

486
00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:01,439
Speaker 1: to get a decent look over the top. But whenever

487
00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,399
Speaker 1: I do play against a really lanky wing someone that

488
00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:07,680
Speaker 1: can actually kind of like provide that contest to where

489
00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:10,440
Speaker 1: I have to get separation to get to my pull

490
00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:13,440
Speaker 1: up jump shot, it changes everything about my approach offensively.

491
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:15,680
Speaker 1: Now I almost always have to call in a screening action,

492
00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:19,080
Speaker 1: because why would I try to take an extremely difficult

493
00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:21,640
Speaker 1: shot over a lanky contest when I can try to

494
00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:23,240
Speaker 1: navigate him through a screen to try to get to

495
00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:25,440
Speaker 1: a different spot on the floor. That gap there is

496
00:24:25,480 --> 00:24:28,119
Speaker 1: about the length. If the length isn't there, I'm always

497
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:29,840
Speaker 1: comfortable because I know it can get over the top.

498
00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:32,320
Speaker 1: If the length is there, it fundamentally changes the way

499
00:24:32,359 --> 00:24:35,439
Speaker 1: you have to approach things offensively. Right, did you notice

500
00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:39,440
Speaker 1: the difference in the Joel Embiid jumpers when Mitchell Robinson

501
00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:42,720
Speaker 1: was on him in the second half. They weren't just misses,

502
00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:47,520
Speaker 1: they were bad misses. Mitchell Robinson's contest was damn near

503
00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:51,720
Speaker 1: at Embiid's release point, significantly bothering him, and he was

504
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:55,240
Speaker 1: missing him like way short, barely grazing the front of

505
00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:58,000
Speaker 1: the rim. On some of these. Why does that matter,

506
00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:00,840
Speaker 1: Because when Embiid is in those like when he's catching

507
00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:03,080
Speaker 1: at the top of the key in the pick and pop,

508
00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:05,760
Speaker 1: or when he's working in that you know, eighteen foot

509
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,399
Speaker 1: area off of the short roll and he's catching and

510
00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:11,720
Speaker 1: he's jab stepping. Typically what happens the dynamic that he

511
00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:14,520
Speaker 1: runs into with other defenders around the league is the

512
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:17,840
Speaker 1: guy either is too far off and Embiid can just

513
00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:20,280
Speaker 1: easily jab step to gain his rhythm and rise up

514
00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:21,920
Speaker 1: over the top and knock down that shot at a

515
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:25,680
Speaker 1: high percentage, or the guy has to pressure because he

516
00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,000
Speaker 1: doesn't have the length to bother the shot, so he

517
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:30,640
Speaker 1: has to bother the shooting pocket. That's when they get

518
00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:35,040
Speaker 1: into issues committing fouls. Right. What gives Mitchell Robinson the

519
00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:39,000
Speaker 1: advantage in this matchup is he can actually play off

520
00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:42,400
Speaker 1: a little bit while also getting a great contest. He

521
00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:45,520
Speaker 1: blocked him beat on a three earlier in the game.

522
00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:48,080
Speaker 1: I showed a clip in a film session a while

523
00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:50,800
Speaker 1: back of a play of him blocking Damian Lillard in

524
00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:53,600
Speaker 1: drop coverage once when he was sprinting back in transition.

525
00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:57,840
Speaker 1: His reach when he gives a contest is freaking insane

526
00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:01,560
Speaker 1: and he can really cause problem there. And so now

527
00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:05,240
Speaker 1: like Embiid is going to have to solve that, and

528
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:07,640
Speaker 1: he did draw. He drew a foul on Mitch Robinson

529
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:09,280
Speaker 1: late in the game on a rip through move when

530
00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:11,919
Speaker 1: he just got really physically aggressive. But that's gonna be

531
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:13,639
Speaker 1: his kind of like chess match that he's gonna have

532
00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:16,560
Speaker 1: to solve Mitchell Robinson. And by the way, this is

533
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:19,359
Speaker 1: this is part of what it takes, you know, reaching

534
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:21,360
Speaker 1: where you want to reach as a basketball player. It's

535
00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:24,520
Speaker 1: not always going to be easy. Even the best players

536
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:28,280
Speaker 1: in the world, they have advantages over the vast majority

537
00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:29,960
Speaker 1: of players in the league, but they end up running

538
00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:33,960
Speaker 1: into a guy or a handful of guys that can

539
00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:37,040
Speaker 1: kind of hang with them physically, and then it becomes

540
00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:39,600
Speaker 1: more of a challenge. Think like Lebron James in his

541
00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:44,480
Speaker 1: prime against Kawhi Leonard or Andre woodall Right, it's like

542
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:48,359
Speaker 1: these guys can really match up with Lebron athletically, which

543
00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:50,199
Speaker 1: makes it so that he has to work a lot

544
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:53,480
Speaker 1: harder for his buckets. Right. We've even seen it with Jokic.

545
00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:56,159
Speaker 1: With some of the bigger, stronger centers around the league,

546
00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:59,200
Speaker 1: like Embiid, like use off Nerkic. When there are guys

547
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:02,159
Speaker 1: that can kind of, you'll kitchen some of his size

548
00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:05,720
Speaker 1: and strength, it just makes the game a little bit tougher, right,

549
00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:08,560
Speaker 1: And so Embiid is running into a challenge here. Mitchell

550
00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,040
Speaker 1: Robinson can kind of sort of hang with him physically,

551
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:15,119
Speaker 1: and so that's the advantage, that's the the swing factor

552
00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,040
Speaker 1: that he has to deal with. Right. Deuce McBride can

553
00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:21,280
Speaker 1: kind of hang with Tyres Maxey's speed, Mitchell Robinson can

554
00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:24,560
Speaker 1: kind of hang with Joel Embiid's size. So adjustments for

555
00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:27,560
Speaker 1: Philly moving forward in the series. Philly has to match

556
00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:30,320
Speaker 1: New York's toughness at some level. They can't keep letting

557
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,160
Speaker 1: Josh Hart run rough shot over them for every offensive rebound,

558
00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:35,440
Speaker 1: and they have to make their box out so they

559
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:38,000
Speaker 1: have to get back and transition all of those details, right,

560
00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:40,679
Speaker 1: But secondly, Joel Embiid has to find a way to

561
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:43,760
Speaker 1: solve the Mitchell Robinson problem. And again, like I said,

562
00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:46,560
Speaker 1: I think what it's gonna be is physical, physical aggression

563
00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:48,719
Speaker 1: and trying to get him into foul trouble because if

564
00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:50,240
Speaker 1: he can get him off the floor of foul trouble,

565
00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:53,840
Speaker 1: He's had a lot of success against Hartenstein in this

566
00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:58,320
Speaker 1: particular game. All Right, moving on to Suns Wolves. So

567
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:02,320
Speaker 1: there are two endulums in this series that we're going

568
00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:04,919
Speaker 1: to see swing back and forth. And so I want

569
00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:07,040
Speaker 1: to start with the Suns on offense. If you guys

570
00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:09,320
Speaker 1: remember all season long, I've been talking about with the

571
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:13,240
Speaker 1: Suns the difference between when they play advantage basketball versus

572
00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:15,880
Speaker 1: when they play one on one or two on two basketball.

573
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:18,320
Speaker 1: One on one obviously meaning ISO post ups, two on

574
00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:22,160
Speaker 1: two obviously meaning ball screens, right, And they've been really

575
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:24,760
Speaker 1: good with that this year. Right, they're sixty four percent

576
00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:29,160
Speaker 1: in assist percentage this season. They were fifty seven percent

577
00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:31,680
Speaker 1: in the postseason last year. Obviously they're the data, and

578
00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:34,760
Speaker 1: the regular season's messed up because of the Kevin Durant trade,

579
00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:37,640
Speaker 1: but post All Star Break this year they've been even better.

580
00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:42,000
Speaker 1: They've been at sixty six percent in assist percentage. But

581
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:44,640
Speaker 1: they had just sixteen assists on thirty three made field

582
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:48,280
Speaker 1: goals against Minnesota. That's just a forty eight point five

583
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:52,360
Speaker 1: percent assists percentage. So, like that is the pendulum for

584
00:28:52,400 --> 00:28:56,080
Speaker 1: Phoenix offensively? Are they playing advantage basketball, playing driving kick

585
00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:59,120
Speaker 1: and getting guys close out opportunities or are they trying

586
00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:01,120
Speaker 1: to make tough contests to pull up jump shots over

587
00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:04,160
Speaker 1: elite individual defenders, right, And you saw that today and

588
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:06,880
Speaker 1: the Stars mostly struggled. Kad was great, but he had

589
00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:09,800
Speaker 1: by far the most favorable matchup, right. Minnesota went with

590
00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:11,920
Speaker 1: Carl Towns on him to start the game. He went

591
00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:14,560
Speaker 1: eleven for seventeen from the field with thirty one points. Right.

592
00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:17,080
Speaker 1: But Bradley Beal was just six for ten with fifteen

593
00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:20,160
Speaker 1: points and Devin Booker was just five for sixteen with

594
00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:23,360
Speaker 1: eighteen points. Right, So that's what that's eleven for twenty

595
00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:26,000
Speaker 1: six for thirty three points. That's just not good enough

596
00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:28,920
Speaker 1: from those two guys, right. I want to shout out

597
00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:31,560
Speaker 1: the Wolves primiitter defenders. I thought Anthony Edwards was incredible.

598
00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:34,760
Speaker 1: I thought Jaden McDaniels did an insanely good job. Nikaile

599
00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:38,080
Speaker 1: Alexander Walker was really good. And then Mike Conley, you know,

600
00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:40,120
Speaker 1: for you know, a guy that doesn't really have a

601
00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:42,640
Speaker 1: reputation as being a quality perimeter devender. I thought he

602
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:46,800
Speaker 1: defended extremely well in this game. So here's the question, though, Jason,

603
00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:49,120
Speaker 1: you also said in your series preview that Minnesota's game

604
00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:50,880
Speaker 1: plan should be to guard those things one on one

605
00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:52,480
Speaker 1: and two on two, stay home off the ball, and

606
00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:54,920
Speaker 1: bait them into that you are correct. And that is

607
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:58,680
Speaker 1: absolutely what Minnesota is trying to do. So Minnesota won

608
00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:03,000
Speaker 1: that game plan battle in this particular situation. Right. They're

609
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:06,120
Speaker 1: trying to make Phoenix make shots tough contested shots in

610
00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:08,560
Speaker 1: one on one and two on two situations. So how

611
00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:10,840
Speaker 1: do you counter that? How do you counter when a

612
00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:14,040
Speaker 1: defense is trying to make you play one on one

613
00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:15,800
Speaker 1: on two on two and stay home off the ball.

614
00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,680
Speaker 1: You have to take advantage of the little tiny windows

615
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:22,960
Speaker 1: that do materialize. Right, So the way that you avoid

616
00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:26,240
Speaker 1: those those one on one and two v two situations

617
00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:29,720
Speaker 1: is when they're running their screening actions, you do a

618
00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:32,480
Speaker 1: good job communicating switches and pursuing over the top so

619
00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:36,320
Speaker 1: that you don't leave openings right. And when the openings appear,

620
00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:39,280
Speaker 1: you chase them off by closing out right, and you

621
00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:41,760
Speaker 1: quickly close those openings and you get back into your

622
00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:44,440
Speaker 1: one on one situations, and then it's just about not overhelping.

623
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:46,400
Speaker 1: So if you see guy working downhill or a guy

624
00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:48,840
Speaker 1: rolling and pick and roll, instead of tagging the roller,

625
00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:51,320
Speaker 1: you stay home instead of digging down on the driver,

626
00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:54,320
Speaker 1: you stay home, and essentially you bank on the fact

627
00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:56,720
Speaker 1: that Rudy Gobert and Jade McDaniels or Rudy Gobar and

628
00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:58,840
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards are going to be able to make those

629
00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,960
Speaker 1: into low enough per percented shots. Right. That's kind of

630
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:05,400
Speaker 1: like the game plan version of it. Right. But even

631
00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:08,280
Speaker 1: when that's happening, and we're gonna do a film session

632
00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:09,720
Speaker 1: on this, I don't know if I'll be able to

633
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:11,800
Speaker 1: get one in tomorrow, but we'll certainly have a film

634
00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:13,640
Speaker 1: session on Monday, So at some point in the next

635
00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:16,440
Speaker 1: two days, certainly before game two of all these series.

636
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:19,360
Speaker 1: I'll give you guys some visual examples to demonstrate what

637
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:22,840
Speaker 1: I'm talking about. But there are openings that do briefly

638
00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:26,200
Speaker 1: kind of appear in Minnesota's defense. Those have to be

639
00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:29,440
Speaker 1: capitalized on every single time. If there's a hedge and recover,

640
00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:31,480
Speaker 1: even if it's only a little bit open, throw the

641
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,920
Speaker 1: swing pass, because even if the defenders closing out, there's

642
00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:38,680
Speaker 1: usually a baked in rip through right hedge recover. He's

643
00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:42,400
Speaker 1: recovering on the let's just say the ball handlers on

644
00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:44,640
Speaker 1: the left wing and the screeners on the right wing,

645
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:46,920
Speaker 1: and it's Grayson Allen and he sets a brush screen

646
00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:50,640
Speaker 1: and he slips out and the you know on ball

647
00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:54,760
Speaker 1: defender throws a or the Grayson Allen's defender throws quick

648
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:57,640
Speaker 1: hedge and recovers out. He's closing out on Grayson Allen's

649
00:31:57,680 --> 00:32:01,640
Speaker 1: right hand, so Grayson has to catch and it little

650
00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:05,160
Speaker 1: examples like when Kevin Durant was getting doubled in the

651
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:08,840
Speaker 1: post on Carl Towns and Jade McDaniels was guarding Grayson

652
00:32:08,880 --> 00:32:10,760
Speaker 1: Allen on the left wing and Grayson Allen's playing that

653
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:14,400
Speaker 1: stupid back and forth re enter kickout, re enter kickout game.

654
00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:18,360
Speaker 1: At one point, Grayson Allen pump faked, McDaniels jumped out

655
00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:21,440
Speaker 1: of his shoes and Grayson Allen just threw another post entry.

656
00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:23,040
Speaker 1: It's like no, no, no, no, no, that's it. That's it,

657
00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:26,120
Speaker 1: the job is done. He left his feet. You drive now.

658
00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:28,080
Speaker 1: As soon as you drive, you wait for the next

659
00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:30,280
Speaker 1: offender to come up. You make the read. That is

660
00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:31,960
Speaker 1: when the Suns are at their best because they have

661
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:34,480
Speaker 1: such amazing driving kick talent, and I really do think

662
00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:36,800
Speaker 1: they're the most talented driving kick team in the league

663
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:39,320
Speaker 1: when they actually play that way. But they get away

664
00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:42,640
Speaker 1: from that too. Frequently, so obviously taking advantage of those

665
00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:46,440
Speaker 1: little openings that show up any three man action that

666
00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:50,200
Speaker 1: causes switching, so like it talks about this with the Lakers,

667
00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:52,240
Speaker 1: but being deliberate about running your sets at the beginning

668
00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:54,880
Speaker 1: of the possession to create those small openings. So like,

669
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:57,880
Speaker 1: usually when there's a switch, there's usually a small like

670
00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,760
Speaker 1: a small gap in time right when the defender switches

671
00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:03,560
Speaker 1: where the new defender on the ball is not quite

672
00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:05,960
Speaker 1: in position to take advantage of it. Those have to

673
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:09,280
Speaker 1: be quickly taken. Advantage of getting multiple actions in the

674
00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:11,480
Speaker 1: same possession. Those of you guys have followed our film

675
00:33:11,520 --> 00:33:14,440
Speaker 1: sessions have seen when you run action on the strong

676
00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:17,360
Speaker 1: side and then move it around and run action again,

677
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:21,840
Speaker 1: that second side action is almost always more effective because

678
00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:24,880
Speaker 1: the defense isn't loaded up, it's rotating over as you're

679
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:28,080
Speaker 1: running the action, versus loaded up as you're running the

680
00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:31,400
Speaker 1: action right, So like, be deliberate about playing with more pace.

681
00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:35,800
Speaker 1: Get the ball across half court, quickly, run something, reverse

682
00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:39,040
Speaker 1: the ball to the other side, run it again, and

683
00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:40,840
Speaker 1: then you'll have a better chance of getting the defense

684
00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:45,120
Speaker 1: in rotation. Lastly, find an entry point. So for instance,

685
00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:48,520
Speaker 1: Kat was on Kevin Durant and Kevin Durant was mainly

686
00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:50,760
Speaker 1: using that as an opportunity to hunt his own shot.

687
00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:54,560
Speaker 1: Totally fine, Katie's super efficient. Those are efficient possessions. What

688
00:33:54,600 --> 00:33:57,200
Speaker 1: I would do is use Kadi on Kat as an

689
00:33:57,360 --> 00:33:59,360
Speaker 1: entry point, use it as a means with which to

690
00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:01,560
Speaker 1: get the defense in rotation. Those double teams like I

691
00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:04,000
Speaker 1: was talking about Grace and Al pump fake get out

692
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:08,839
Speaker 1: of his shoes, drive the clothes out right Katie using

693
00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:12,000
Speaker 1: those dribble combinations to get catoff balance and then beat

694
00:34:12,040 --> 00:34:14,600
Speaker 1: him off the dribble, get into the lane, draw second defender,

695
00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:18,640
Speaker 1: kick out. Use entry points to get the defense in rotation. Again,

696
00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:22,560
Speaker 1: you've got to generate closeout opportunities for Bradley Beal and

697
00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:25,760
Speaker 1: Devin Booker. They're not going to be efficient enough against

698
00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:30,200
Speaker 1: the top tier perimeter defense talent that Minnesota has. And

699
00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:32,000
Speaker 1: then I want to shout out Rudy Gobert in a

700
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:34,760
Speaker 1: lot of these two on two situations. So again, we've

701
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:37,120
Speaker 1: talked so much about the one on one element in

702
00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:40,000
Speaker 1: ball screens. In two on two, Ridy Gobert's ability to

703
00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:43,560
Speaker 1: credibly defend on the ball screen while also we're defending

704
00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:45,960
Speaker 1: the role man is what makes this work. And then

705
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,640
Speaker 1: in a lot of situations when the Phoenix ball handlers

706
00:34:48,640 --> 00:34:51,920
Speaker 1: were dragging the ball screens out, like go Bear, sliding

707
00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:54,279
Speaker 1: with him and switching and then guarding these guys on

708
00:34:54,360 --> 00:34:57,279
Speaker 1: an island, and then they're comfortable, you know, kind of

709
00:34:57,320 --> 00:34:59,640
Speaker 1: just keeping Nurkic off the glass by just kind of

710
00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:02,520
Speaker 1: peeling off and boxing him out. Right, So like that

711
00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:05,480
Speaker 1: that dynamic, it's the bracket coverage that I always talked about.

712
00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:07,319
Speaker 1: And you're not going to find a better bracket in

713
00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:10,279
Speaker 1: the league, then Go Bare and Jaden McDaniels, right, Like,

714
00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:13,240
Speaker 1: those are two of the very best at that specific dynamics.

715
00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:16,440
Speaker 1: So that pendulum is gonna be with Phoenix on offense,

716
00:35:16,680 --> 00:35:18,560
Speaker 1: is going to swing back and forth over the course

717
00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:21,640
Speaker 1: of the series, with Phoenix gets Minnesota in rotation a

718
00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:27,600
Speaker 1: lot and gets really fluid, beautiful basketball, beautiful shots in

719
00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:31,520
Speaker 1: high level offense, or back the other way, stagnant one

720
00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:33,799
Speaker 1: on one and two on two, really tough contested pull

721
00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:37,920
Speaker 1: up jumpers against outstanding individual defenders. Minnesota on offense, the

722
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:41,440
Speaker 1: pendulum is Anthony Edwards, his playmaking and his pull up shooting.

723
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:43,319
Speaker 1: You saw the Phoenix game play early. We talked about

724
00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:46,120
Speaker 1: this in the series preview, when Anthony has the ball,

725
00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:49,480
Speaker 1: they're running a high drop with Nurkic and they're hedging

726
00:35:49,719 --> 00:35:53,320
Speaker 1: with uh with U Banks, and they're tagging the roller.

727
00:35:53,560 --> 00:35:57,720
Speaker 1: They're digging down in driving lanes. They're overloading on Ant

728
00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:00,800
Speaker 1: and basically trying to bait him in to not making

729
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:03,560
Speaker 1: the reads and settling for bad shots, either driving into

730
00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:06,080
Speaker 1: traffic and turning it over, which he did six times tonight,

731
00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:10,320
Speaker 1: or picking early bad pull up jump shots. Right, that's

732
00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:15,480
Speaker 1: the pendulum. And then with Mike Conley, they're doing a

733
00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:17,440
Speaker 1: low drop, staying home off the ball, trying to bait

734
00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:19,400
Speaker 1: him into being a score, trying to take advantage of

735
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:21,680
Speaker 1: his lack of aggressions to two very different game plans for

736
00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:24,680
Speaker 1: two very different types of ball handlers. Now, early in

737
00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:26,719
Speaker 1: the game, Anthony Edward struggled, and you saw that on

738
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:29,960
Speaker 1: the scoreboard as Phoenix was hanging around. He wasn't hitting shots.

739
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:32,640
Speaker 1: He was turning the basketball over. It was bad, right,

740
00:36:33,040 --> 00:36:35,439
Speaker 1: But this is where it gets weird. The game plan

741
00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:38,719
Speaker 1: is set up to get Ant to settle for bad shots,

742
00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:43,600
Speaker 1: but consistently Ant has made him in the postseason. That's

743
00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:45,840
Speaker 1: where it gets tricky. He's been one of the worst

744
00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:48,759
Speaker 1: volume pull up jump shooters in the league over the

745
00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:52,200
Speaker 1: last few years in the regular season, but he consistently

746
00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:54,560
Speaker 1: turns around and hits them in the postseason. So twenty

747
00:36:54,600 --> 00:36:57,839
Speaker 1: twenty two zero point nine to one points per pull

748
00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:02,520
Speaker 1: up jumper, point one four against Memphis in the playoffs.

749
00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:05,480
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty three, zero point nine to one again over

750
00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:08,400
Speaker 1: the course of the regular season, one point zero nine

751
00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:12,040
Speaker 1: against Denver in the playoffs. This year even worse, zero

752
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:15,120
Speaker 1: point eight to eight points per shot attempt and pull

753
00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:19,000
Speaker 1: up jump shot situations. Today he was eight for fourteen.

754
00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:23,600
Speaker 1: It came out to one point three six points per

755
00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:26,279
Speaker 1: pull up jumper. He hit three in a row, right

756
00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:29,719
Speaker 1: in Katie's face, Like, there's no game plan for that

757
00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:33,080
Speaker 1: with Ant. If he's gonna hit those, they're not just

758
00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:35,400
Speaker 1: gonna win this series. They have a good chance to

759
00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:37,919
Speaker 1: win it all because part of the thing with An

760
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:42,320
Speaker 1: is his downhill force is so oppressive that every defender

761
00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:44,680
Speaker 1: is back on their heels. So all he really needs

762
00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:46,520
Speaker 1: to do is kind of do one of these and

763
00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:48,719
Speaker 1: he can get into a pull up jumper. He can

764
00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:50,640
Speaker 1: he can do a step back, he can do some

765
00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:52,719
Speaker 1: sort of fancy footwork, but he really doesn't need to.

766
00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:56,040
Speaker 1: When he's hitting that high hesitation dribble, guys are on

767
00:37:56,080 --> 00:37:59,080
Speaker 1: their heels worried that he's gonna hit the jets and

768
00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:01,719
Speaker 1: get downhill. So he It's like again we talked about

769
00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:04,080
Speaker 1: this Jaylen Williams with the Thunder as well, Like when

770
00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:07,520
Speaker 1: you have real downhill force, it creates really high quality

771
00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:09,640
Speaker 1: pull up jump shots. But for the most part Ant

772
00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:11,560
Speaker 1: hasn't been able to hit them, but he has been

773
00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:13,920
Speaker 1: able to hit them in the postseason. This again, all

774
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:17,000
Speaker 1: that's relatively small sample, only one series in twenty twenty two,

775
00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:19,879
Speaker 1: only one series in twenty twenty three. Obviously only one

776
00:38:19,960 --> 00:38:23,360
Speaker 1: game so far in this series. But I mean, I

777
00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:26,160
Speaker 1: don't from a game plan standpoint, I don't really think

778
00:38:26,719 --> 00:38:30,319
Speaker 1: that a Phoenix can do anything with Ant making pull

779
00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:32,719
Speaker 1: up jump shots. Like I mean, I suppose you can

780
00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:34,759
Speaker 1: go to flat out blitzing to get the ball out

781
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:37,280
Speaker 1: of his hands, but I mean those are much easier

782
00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:40,080
Speaker 1: reads for Ant to make than the higher level reads

783
00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:42,560
Speaker 1: and a loaded up pick and roll coverage. So what

784
00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:44,439
Speaker 1: does it look like when the pendulum swings the other

785
00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:46,759
Speaker 1: way with Ant? That's when he's kind of like what

786
00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:49,280
Speaker 1: you saw in the first half right like missing those shots,

787
00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:52,439
Speaker 1: missing reads, turning the basketball over. I actually I'll show

788
00:38:52,440 --> 00:38:53,960
Speaker 1: you guys in the when we do some film. But

789
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:58,080
Speaker 1: Ant was actually reasonably solid making reads in the first half,

790
00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:00,560
Speaker 1: taking advantage of the easy kickout passes that were there.

791
00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:02,880
Speaker 1: Naz Reid hit a left wing three off of a

792
00:39:02,920 --> 00:39:04,560
Speaker 1: guy digging down on him once he made a really

793
00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:06,120
Speaker 1: nice skip pass into the right corner. I think to

794
00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:08,600
Speaker 1: Nikil Alexander Walker for a big three early in the game.

795
00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:11,960
Speaker 1: He had some of those reads go through for him.

796
00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:14,160
Speaker 1: But the bad version of that pendulum is when he's

797
00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:16,240
Speaker 1: not making those reads and when he's missing those shots,

798
00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:19,920
Speaker 1: and not only does that affect Minnesota's offense, but it

799
00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:23,160
Speaker 1: also gets opportunities for Phoenix to get out in transition.

800
00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:26,200
Speaker 1: One last shot out for Minnesota. I thought Alexander Walker

801
00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:28,799
Speaker 1: was amazing on both ends of the floor in this game.

802
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:31,160
Speaker 1: I obviously finished some spot up plays, but he also

803
00:39:31,239 --> 00:39:33,600
Speaker 1: ran some action for some buckets as well, and then

804
00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:36,760
Speaker 1: defended super well on the perimeter. Big time win for Minnesota.

805
00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:40,080
Speaker 1: That was like their best version of themselves in this matchup,

806
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:43,240
Speaker 1: just dominating the physical part of the game. In Anthony

807
00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:47,320
Speaker 1: edwards out playing the opposing Stars. Adjustments for Phoenix again,

808
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:49,839
Speaker 1: play with more pace, run more action, get the ball

809
00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:53,000
Speaker 1: to the opposite side, find entry points, do all those

810
00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:56,200
Speaker 1: little things to get Minnesota in rotation. You want to

811
00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:59,680
Speaker 1: see that assist percentage tick up into the sixty percent range,

812
00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:03,439
Speaker 1: sixty percent using Kevin Durant as an entry point rather

813
00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:05,920
Speaker 1: than as a score. He's got the most favorable matchup

814
00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:08,120
Speaker 1: in the series. He's the guy who's most capable of

815
00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:11,080
Speaker 1: getting Minnesota's defense in rotation. And then lastly, I think

816
00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:13,000
Speaker 1: you kind of have to just trust the defensive game

817
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:15,280
Speaker 1: plan with Ant and hope you get a better result.

818
00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:18,799
Speaker 1: And especially like when you're on the road, he's just

819
00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:21,440
Speaker 1: got to get one of these in Minnesota. Anyway, all right,

820
00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:22,879
Speaker 1: moving on to Magic Cavs, and then we're gonna get

821
00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:24,960
Speaker 1: out here for the night. So sorry of the game

822
00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:28,360
Speaker 1: was Magic's half court offense. They had just a sixty

823
00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:32,160
Speaker 1: two point seven offensive rating in the half court according

824
00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:34,760
Speaker 1: to Cleaning the Glass. In this game. They were twenty

825
00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:38,200
Speaker 1: first in half court offense in the regular season, so

826
00:40:38,360 --> 00:40:40,399
Speaker 1: that's kind of what they are. Right. As a matter

827
00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:43,280
Speaker 1: of fact, their half court offensive rating was dead last

828
00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:47,440
Speaker 1: out of all twenty teams that made either the playoff

829
00:40:47,600 --> 00:40:51,160
Speaker 1: or the play in tournament. The Magic also got only

830
00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:54,440
Speaker 1: zero point six to four points per jump shot in

831
00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:57,400
Speaker 1: this game. They are twenty fourth in the NBA in

832
00:40:57,520 --> 00:41:01,080
Speaker 1: jump shot efficiency. That was deadline last out of all

833
00:41:01,120 --> 00:41:03,880
Speaker 1: twenty teams that made the playoff or the play And

834
00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:06,920
Speaker 1: so what you saw from Orlando in this game a

835
00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:10,080
Speaker 1: sixty three offensive rating in the half court and zero

836
00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:12,480
Speaker 1: point six to four points per jump shot. That's more

837
00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:17,160
Speaker 1: or less a continuation of a regular season trend with Orlando.

838
00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:20,520
Speaker 1: Halo determines most of their possessions. He's their primary ball handler.

839
00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:22,520
Speaker 1: He had nine turnovers as he's trying to learn how

840
00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:24,640
Speaker 1: to do this on the fly and the playoffs, there

841
00:41:24,719 --> 00:41:27,840
Speaker 1: is a possession in I want to say it was

842
00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:30,200
Speaker 1: in I want to say it was in the third quarter,

843
00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:32,000
Speaker 1: might have been the second quarter, I can't remember, but

844
00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:34,840
Speaker 1: both Wagner brothers were on the court and Palo was

845
00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:36,440
Speaker 1: on the court, and they're all standing at the three

846
00:41:36,440 --> 00:41:38,840
Speaker 1: point line and they're just throwing swing passes back and

847
00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:40,839
Speaker 1: forth to each other, and all the Cavs are just

848
00:41:40,960 --> 00:41:44,319
Speaker 1: closing out short. So there's no advantage because you know

849
00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:46,640
Speaker 1: the advantage is that they're being left open to shoot,

850
00:41:47,040 --> 00:41:50,040
Speaker 1: but they can't shoot, so there's not really anything being

851
00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:52,400
Speaker 1: gained there. And so even when they do look to

852
00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:55,040
Speaker 1: drive and play their bully ball, they're just doing it

853
00:41:55,080 --> 00:41:57,239
Speaker 1: in an insane amount of traffic and it's leading to

854
00:41:57,239 --> 00:42:00,520
Speaker 1: misshots and turnovers. It just Orlando has a major half

855
00:42:00,520 --> 00:42:04,560
Speaker 1: court offensive production issue in this series. Honestly, it's funny.

856
00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:06,959
Speaker 1: I picked against the Calves in the Knixt series last

857
00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:09,399
Speaker 1: year because I thought Brunson would be a better half

858
00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:12,960
Speaker 1: court shot creator than Donovan Mitchell. And it's ironic because

859
00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:16,799
Speaker 1: I picked Cleveland in this series against Orlando because I

860
00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:19,280
Speaker 1: think their half court shot creation is just so so

861
00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:22,040
Speaker 1: so much better than Orlando's. Now on the other end

862
00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:24,200
Speaker 1: of the floor, I thought the Calves did an amazing

863
00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:27,600
Speaker 1: job of baiting Orlando's rim protectors in pick and roll.

864
00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:30,799
Speaker 1: So again, because Orlando went with the look that they

865
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:32,239
Speaker 1: went with a couple times at the end of the

866
00:42:32,239 --> 00:42:34,200
Speaker 1: season where they went with Jonathan Isaac and the starting

867
00:42:34,200 --> 00:42:36,920
Speaker 1: lineup next to Pala Boncaro and then basically like they

868
00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:39,280
Speaker 1: did some switching, but a lot of times Jonathan Isaac

869
00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:42,400
Speaker 1: and Palo Buoncaro running deep drop coverages like and with

870
00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:46,880
Speaker 1: that deep drop coverage it allows Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell,

871
00:42:46,920 --> 00:42:49,640
Speaker 1: and Karris Lovert to get downhill. And one of the

872
00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:51,280
Speaker 1: things that you saw in this game, did it feel

873
00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:53,319
Speaker 1: like to you guys that the Calves got a bunch

874
00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:56,440
Speaker 1: of dunks on dumpoffs and drop offs and pocket passes.

875
00:42:56,880 --> 00:42:59,560
Speaker 1: Part of the reason for that is they were engaging

876
00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:03,360
Speaker 1: Jonathan Isaac and Pwa Bancaro with their ball handlers close

877
00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:07,040
Speaker 1: to the rim. And once you engage the rim protector,

878
00:43:07,560 --> 00:43:10,640
Speaker 1: the role man becomes open. You have to engage him,

879
00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:12,520
Speaker 1: though if you allow him to split the difference or

880
00:43:12,520 --> 00:43:15,520
Speaker 1: stay home, that puts the onus on the guard to

881
00:43:15,560 --> 00:43:18,200
Speaker 1: actually make a shot. But as soon as you engage

882
00:43:18,239 --> 00:43:21,200
Speaker 1: that rim protector, and you saw a lot of them, Mitchell,

883
00:43:21,239 --> 00:43:24,600
Speaker 1: LeVert and Garland were getting deep penetration, like behind the

884
00:43:24,640 --> 00:43:28,040
Speaker 1: backboard before they would drop it off to Jared Allen

885
00:43:28,080 --> 00:43:31,799
Speaker 1: or Evan Mobley around the rim for a dunk they had.

886
00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:36,040
Speaker 1: The Calves had thirty nine points on forty two pick

887
00:43:36,080 --> 00:43:38,839
Speaker 1: and rolls in this game. They had eighteen points on

888
00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:41,520
Speaker 1: twelve rolls and cuts to the rim. And if you

889
00:43:41,560 --> 00:43:44,320
Speaker 1: remember that was a huge issue last year in the

890
00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:47,600
Speaker 1: Knick series, very different coverage, which we'll get into in

891
00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:50,839
Speaker 1: a second, but they were much more successful in pick

892
00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:54,560
Speaker 1: and roll against Orlando today. Just to juxtapose this for you,

893
00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:57,560
Speaker 1: So again, the Calves ran forty two pick and rolls,

894
00:43:57,600 --> 00:44:00,799
Speaker 1: the Magic ran thirty seven. The Calves got thirty nine

895
00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:03,640
Speaker 1: points out of those forty two pick and rolls including passes.

896
00:44:03,880 --> 00:44:07,720
Speaker 1: The Magic only got fourteen points out of those thirty

897
00:44:07,719 --> 00:44:11,040
Speaker 1: seven pick and rolls including passes for comparison, so obviously

898
00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:13,239
Speaker 1: that was a major issue on a coverage standpoint, though

899
00:44:13,239 --> 00:44:15,560
Speaker 1: I mentioned there's a different coverage. So one of the

900
00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:20,040
Speaker 1: reasons why the series last year with New York went

901
00:44:20,160 --> 00:44:23,400
Speaker 1: south for Cleveland and pick and roll was the Knicks

902
00:44:23,440 --> 00:44:25,600
Speaker 1: brought Julius Randall up to the level of the screen

903
00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:29,520
Speaker 1: every single time. That forced the short role pass to

904
00:44:29,600 --> 00:44:34,960
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley. Evan Mobley was then working downhill with Mitchell Robinson,

905
00:44:35,120 --> 00:44:37,680
Speaker 1: kind of splitting the difference between him and Jared Allen,

906
00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:41,319
Speaker 1: and that two on one was very rarely ending in

907
00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:45,480
Speaker 1: a basket, and so Cleveland's offense fell apart. One of

908
00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:48,640
Speaker 1: the advantages with aggressive pick and roll coverages so high

909
00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:52,239
Speaker 1: drop blitz hedge anything that involves the screen defender coming

910
00:44:52,239 --> 00:44:56,439
Speaker 1: out high. That puts the onus on the short role

911
00:44:56,520 --> 00:45:01,200
Speaker 1: man to be the playmaker. When you run low, it

912
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:03,799
Speaker 1: puts the onus on the guard to be the playmaker.

913
00:45:04,640 --> 00:45:08,920
Speaker 1: The Cavs guards are good playmakers. The Cavs forwards and

914
00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:12,239
Speaker 1: centers are not good playmakers. And so honestly, that's gonna

915
00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:14,279
Speaker 1: be the biggest adjustment that I want to see from

916
00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:17,160
Speaker 1: Orlando is either, first of all, either just have Paalo

917
00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:19,759
Speaker 1: and Jonathan Isaac switch those ball screens, which they did

918
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:21,800
Speaker 1: do more of in the second half of this game.

919
00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:25,360
Speaker 1: But I would just be aggressive up at the level

920
00:45:25,440 --> 00:45:28,520
Speaker 1: consistently in all their pick and roll coverages, because that

921
00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:31,680
Speaker 1: actually bates Cleveland into their biggest weakness offensively, which is

922
00:45:31,680 --> 00:45:34,440
Speaker 1: their short role playmaking and scoring. And so again, like that,

923
00:45:34,600 --> 00:45:36,399
Speaker 1: that's kind of a little coverage thing that I think

924
00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:39,360
Speaker 1: that Orlando can do to try to kind of turn

925
00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:41,560
Speaker 1: the tide in this particular series. But shout out to

926
00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:44,000
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell, though I thought he was amazing in this game.

927
00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:45,960
Speaker 1: He came out guns blazing. I think he's the best

928
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:48,160
Speaker 1: player in the series and he played like it today.

929
00:45:48,719 --> 00:45:50,680
Speaker 1: All Right, So there we go, All four games in

930
00:45:50,719 --> 00:45:53,960
Speaker 1: the books for day one. Again, these night time shows

931
00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:56,000
Speaker 1: are gonna be a little more surface level, a little

932
00:45:56,040 --> 00:45:59,040
Speaker 1: bit more kind of big picture. The film sessions will

933
00:45:59,080 --> 00:46:01,279
Speaker 1: be more in the we more in the weeds. I

934
00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:03,520
Speaker 1: may or may not do one tomorrow morning. Keep an

935
00:46:03,520 --> 00:46:05,400
Speaker 1: eye on the feeds my schedule for tomorrow, just so

936
00:46:05,440 --> 00:46:08,200
Speaker 1: you guys know, I'm gonna do an upload after the

937
00:46:08,239 --> 00:46:12,880
Speaker 1: final buzzer of MAVs Clippers. That's just gonna go on YouTube,

938
00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:16,760
Speaker 1: and then we're going with Colin Cowherd after Pacers Bucks.

939
00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:19,840
Speaker 1: So we'll have two shows tomorrow for sure, potentially a

940
00:46:19,880 --> 00:46:21,920
Speaker 1: third in the morning film session. Just keep an eye

941
00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:23,319
Speaker 1: on my Twitter feed. I'll let you guys know if

942
00:46:23,320 --> 00:46:24,880
Speaker 1: we get to that point. All right, guys, that's all

943
00:46:24,920 --> 00:46:26,320
Speaker 1: I have for today, Day one of the books. This

944
00:46:26,360 --> 00:46:27,719
Speaker 1: is gonna be fine. It's gonna be crazy a couple

945
00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:29,400
Speaker 1: of months, but I appreciate you guys rocking with me.

946
00:46:29,800 --> 00:46:32,000
Speaker 1: We're gonna have a good time along the way. I

947
00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:58,560
Speaker 1: will see you guys tomorrow. The volume