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Speaker 1: to Hoops Tonight, visited by Fan Duel here at the volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Wednesday, everybody. We are live on AMP. Don't forget
Speaker 1: if you guys are watching on the podcast feed or
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Speaker 1: guys can get these shows. We have an unbelievably jam
Speaker 1: packed show tonight. We're going to talk about Kevin Durant's
Speaker 1: debut with the Phoenix Suns, the Boston Celtics getting a
Speaker 1: dominant win over the Cleveland Cavaliers that I think is
Speaker 1: very telling about the one seed race in the Eastern Conference,
Speaker 1: and then the Golden State Warriors ripped off three consecutive
Speaker 1: wins without Steph Curry or Andrew Wiggins to rise up
Speaker 1: to the fifth seed. And a shocking come from behind
Speaker 1: victory against the Portland Trailblazers last night, and so much
Speaker 1: more NBA talk from around the league that we're going
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Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So you know, one
Speaker 1: of the things that everyone is always said about Kevin Durant,
Speaker 1: which is absolutely true, is that he's the best plug
Speaker 1: in play superstar in the league. And I really think
Speaker 1: it comes down to two reasons why. Offensive versatility and
Speaker 1: defensive versatility. It's that simple. What does versatility mean. It's
Speaker 1: the ability to play different ways right, or to not
Speaker 1: just play different ways, but to be good or effective
Speaker 1: in different ways. On the defensive end of the floor,
Speaker 1: you can ask Kevin Durant to guard on the permitter.
Speaker 1: It's not his best strength, but he can do a
Speaker 1: decent job of it. And you can ask him to
Speaker 1: protect the rim in a pick and roll type of role,
Speaker 1: or you can ask him to be a backside help,
Speaker 1: kind of like Loman type of responsibility, helping out of
Speaker 1: the week side corner. He can do a bunch of
Speaker 1: different things. He can switch onto a bunch of different
Speaker 1: types of offensive players. He has versatility there, but that
Speaker 1: extends to the offensive end of the floor, and I
Speaker 1: thought that that was immediately apparent in him playing with
Speaker 1: the Phoenix Signs. Coming into the game, I had three predictions.
Speaker 1: I thought that you would see josh Akogi end up
Speaker 1: being the fifth starter, just because I thought he had
Speaker 1: demonstrated he is their best point of attack defender over
Speaker 1: the course of this recent stretch of the season, and
Speaker 1: that was the specific need that they need out of
Speaker 1: that fifth starter position, and that ended up being true.
Speaker 1: And then I thought that Kad would primarily operate in
Speaker 1: an off ball roll to try to make a seamless
Speaker 1: transition into him coming on board with this Phoenix Suns offense.
Speaker 1: And then lastly, I thought he'd be super active on
Speaker 1: the defensive end, which he was. He had two blocks
Speaker 1: in his first shift. But I thought that that specifically,
Speaker 1: that offensive versatility plugging into Phoenix's offense was immediately apparent.
Speaker 1: His first shot that he took, he missed it, but
Speaker 1: it's just a little shot off of a wide pin down.
Speaker 1: I means he's kind of started in the corner, worked
Speaker 1: his man down to the block, caught a down screen
Speaker 1: I believe it was from Deandreyton, came up to the elbow,
Speaker 1: caught and shot a little fifteen footer. He ended up
Speaker 1: missing it, But that's movement shooting. It's really easy to
Speaker 1: plug the movement shooting into any offense in the NBA.
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant amazing at that. There was a play where
Speaker 1: he dribbled up the left wing in transition and had
Speaker 1: a lot of space to rise up into a Hesitantitian
Speaker 1: pull up three. That's a great example of Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: being able to succeed in the transition elements of the game.
Speaker 1: When he came back in his second shift with Devin
Speaker 1: Booker and Chris Paul both off the floor, Charlotte came
Speaker 1: in in his zone and Kevin Durant knocked down to
Speaker 1: three on the right wing and a gap in the zone.
Speaker 1: That's a weapon, a zone beater in the form of
Speaker 1: a seven foot tall, sharp shooting wing. Kevin Durant Cotton
Speaker 1: knocked it down easy. Then they went back to man
Speaker 1: demand and they posted up Kevin Durant. As soon as
Speaker 1: he posted up on that left block, Damian Lee cut
Speaker 1: down the middle of the floor. Kevin Durant hit him
Speaker 1: for a layup, and then later in that shift he
Speaker 1: transitioned into an on ball pick and roll role and
Speaker 1: immediately knocked down two pull up jump shots in pick
Speaker 1: and roll as the lead ball handler. Now there's a
Speaker 1: side conversation to have eventually on the biggest stage. I
Speaker 1: think that Kevin Durant needs to be primarily featured in
Speaker 1: that on ball type of role. I really I predicted
Speaker 1: that he would primarily operate off ball to start with Phoenix,
Speaker 1: just because that's Kevin Durant's personality. He doesn't want to
Speaker 1: rock the boat. He wants to fit in, and he's
Speaker 1: so versatile that it's honestly the easiest way to quickly
Speaker 1: be good is to have Chris Paul and Devin Booker
Speaker 1: play the way they're used to playing, have Campaign play
Speaker 1: the way he's used to playing and have Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: slot into that mcale bridges role. But the thing is,
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant is the best pick and roll ball handler
Speaker 1: in the NBA this year on a points per possession basis,
Speaker 1: so unbelievably good at the pull up jump shot. He's
Speaker 1: an entire stratosphere above everybody else in the entire league
Speaker 1: literally that As a result, he's been consistently drawing multiple
Speaker 1: defenders in that action and his team has been getting
Speaker 1: great stuff. So in the long run, I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna have to lean on that a little bit. But
Speaker 1: it's I do understand why he's going that way to
Speaker 1: start with Phoenix, just to make the transition easier, but
Speaker 1: they were always going to click quickly on offense. We're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about this a lot tonight, specifically this idea,
Speaker 1: but a natural basketball fit. You know, everyone talks about
Speaker 1: like building chemistry and that continuity and things like that,
Speaker 1: and that stuff does matter. Make make no mistake, it
Speaker 1: absolutely matters. But it is easier to quickly generate that
Speaker 1: continuity in chemistry when there is a natural basketball fit
Speaker 1: than when it's more difficult. Russell Westbrook, he might have
Speaker 1: played three straight consecutive good games with the Lakers, maybe
Speaker 1: twice or maybe three times total in the year and
Speaker 1: a half. He's three for three with the Los Angeles Clippers. Now,
Speaker 1: they lost all three of those games, but not because
Speaker 1: of Russ, and Russ has been good in all three games.
Speaker 1: Why natural basketball fit. They needed somebody to operate with
Speaker 1: the ball in his hands. They have tons of jump
Speaker 1: shooting around him, so he has more space to get
Speaker 1: to the rim, and he's been impactful pushing the pace
Speaker 1: and generating quality shots. You're seeing that immediately with Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant too. He could become a facsimile of Mikail Bridges
Speaker 1: and easily just slot into that position. But then at
Speaker 1: the same time, you could put him on the ball
Speaker 1: and he's going to generate a bunch of high quality
Speaker 1: shots there and then on the other end of the floor. Defensively,
Speaker 1: he's just capable of filling any specific defensive role, and
Speaker 1: that's why you've seen that immediate natural fit. The first
Speaker 1: four games of their schedule are pretty damn easy to
Speaker 1: get to win against Charlotte, they play the Bulls on
Speaker 1: the road next, then after that they have home games
Speaker 1: back to back against the MAVs and the Thunder, So
Speaker 1: it's a good opportunity for them to build up some
Speaker 1: defensive chemistry before they go into a stretch of really
Speaker 1: tough games. They play the Kings, they play the Warriors,
Speaker 1: they play the Bucks back to back to back, which
Speaker 1: should teach us a lot more about them on the
Speaker 1: defensive end from a personnel standpoint. That's three completely different
Speaker 1: high powered offenses. That's a dribble drive, pick and roll
Speaker 1: attack from Sacramento that's going to really test their point
Speaker 1: of attack defense and their pick and roll defense. Then
Speaker 1: there's the Golden State Warriors, which are much more of
Speaker 1: like a blender of offensive sets, and it's really going
Speaker 1: to test their ability to lock and trail as shooters
Speaker 1: are flying off of screens or if they're gonna end
Speaker 1: up switching those actions will end up seeing. And then
Speaker 1: when they play Milwaukee, that's your powerful rim assault that
Speaker 1: janis dropping his shoulder going through you time and time again.
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday a power guard in the backcourt. It's going
Speaker 1: to be a different type of matchup there. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna learn a lot about the Suns here in about
Speaker 1: a week and a half when they go through that
Speaker 1: tough stretch against the King's Warriors and Bucks. But they've
Speaker 1: got a good stretch here in the next three games
Speaker 1: to continue to build some of that chemistry and continuity,
Speaker 1: which I expect to be easy for them. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on to that ESPN early game tonight. The
Speaker 1: Celtics first the calf So you know, I was having
Speaker 1: a conversation. I want to say it was it was
Speaker 1: either yesterday or the day before, but I was talking
Speaker 1: with a buddy of mine who was a Celtics fan,
Speaker 1: and I had made the point that I thought that
Speaker 1: you guys have heard me make this point on the show,
Speaker 1: but I think that the Sixers are a monumentally more
Speaker 1: dangerous second round opponent than the Cleveland Cavaliers. Like I
Speaker 1: don't even think it's remotely close. I think that Milwaukee
Speaker 1: and Boston would handle Cleveland. I'd give them no chance
Speaker 1: to win, but against the Sixers, like I give them
Speaker 1: a legitimate puncher's chance to win, Like if and Bade
Speaker 1: comes in and plays really well, and Harden plays really well,
Speaker 1: I think they can win. And this particular Celtics fan
Speaker 1: disagreed with me and said that he thought the Calves
Speaker 1: were a bigger threat because the Celtics had struggled with
Speaker 1: their guards earlier in the season, and he's mainly referencing
Speaker 1: the two overtime wins at the beginning of the year
Speaker 1: when the Celtics lost. But my counter to it was,
Speaker 1: you know, the Celtics weren't really playing great defense at
Speaker 1: that point in the season and in a series. I
Speaker 1: keep looking at it tactically as the problem of the
Speaker 1: Calves in their front court offensive skill with Jared Allen
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley, and they've been playing a lot Isaac Coorro
Speaker 1: at the small forward position. With that specific lineup, it's
Speaker 1: just too easy for them to load up the paint,
Speaker 1: which makes the job of your perimeter defenders guarding Darius
Speaker 1: Garland and Donovan Mitchell so much easier. And I thought
Speaker 1: you saw that specific gap and offensive skill manifest itself
Speaker 1: in this game as it progressed, because early in the
Speaker 1: game tonight, the Calves hung tough, in large part because
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland made a lot of really
Speaker 1: tough shots. They were playing incredible basketball. Like I've said,
Speaker 1: the predicament that Cleveland is in is their guard are
Speaker 1: either going to kick to shooters that cannot make the
Speaker 1: shot at a high clip, or they're going to have
Speaker 1: to opt to take higher difficulty shots themselves. And when
Speaker 1: you're on that type of shot diet, many times this
Speaker 1: season they've opted to take those shots, which I totally understand.
Speaker 1: I mean, eventually, as a ball handler, you're gonna get
Speaker 1: sick of kicking to a shooter in the corner that
Speaker 1: can't knock down the shot even if he is wide open,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna think to yourself, I've got the best
Speaker 1: chance of converting this play. But the problem is, over
Speaker 1: the course of a game, it's really difficult to continually
Speaker 1: make those extremely difficult shots. So they hung in for
Speaker 1: a half, but they're in that third quarter. You sought
Speaker 1: shift quickly, and I thought it was really interesting Boston
Speaker 1: put one of either Al Horford or Robert Williams on
Speaker 1: Isaac Okoro or Chetty Osman, whoever it was that was
Speaker 1: in that three spot. They put one of those guys
Speaker 1: on him the entire game and then just sat them
Speaker 1: on the block. So if like the balls on the
Speaker 1: strong side that's called the right side of the floor,
Speaker 1: and the choros in the left corner, then Robert Williams
Speaker 1: the hofer is just sitting on the block the entire game,
Speaker 1: stepping into the lane, stepping out of the lane, stepping
Speaker 1: into the lane, stepping out of the lane to avoid
Speaker 1: that three second call, and he's effectively zoning up at
Speaker 1: the rim, which just makes everything so much more difficult
Speaker 1: for Cleveland's guards and so much easier for Boston's perimeter defenders.
Speaker 1: And you know what's funny is, for the most part
Speaker 1: during that third quarter, they just weren't even trying to
Speaker 1: hit him when he was open Isaac Acoro, and when
Speaker 1: they did, Akoro was over three. And then on the
Speaker 1: other end of the floor, Boston's shot quality was sky high.
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown really set the tone to start the third quarter,
Speaker 1: driving the ball to the basket. He had an aggressive
Speaker 1: move on Darius Garland and semi transition, got to the
Speaker 1: rim and threw a pass into the corner. I believe
Speaker 1: it was Marcus Smart who knocked down the three. He
Speaker 1: had another play where he missed the layup at the rim,
Speaker 1: but it occupied the rim protectors and opened I think
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum ended up getting an offensive rebound put back,
Speaker 1: and then Tatum had one of his better offensive quarters
Speaker 1: in a while because he's been slumping just a tiny
Speaker 1: bit as of late hit a couple of step back threes.
Speaker 1: Had a really nifty play to start the half where
Speaker 1: he cut back door on a design play in the
Speaker 1: lob was off target and he somehow corralled the lob
Speaker 1: and through his slave shot pass Al Horford in the
Speaker 1: week side corner for three really cool improvisational play, got
Speaker 1: to the rim and finished over Jared Allen attacked the
Speaker 1: offensive glass on that play, a referenced earlier with Jalen Brown,
Speaker 1: and pretty quickly, when you have that type of gap
Speaker 1: in shot quality wide open catch and shoot threes, big
Speaker 1: strong athletes finishing at the rim versus small guards taking
Speaker 1: extremely difficult shots over contests, or bad shooters shooting wide
Speaker 1: open threes, eventually you're going to see that shot quality shift.
Speaker 1: It's that classic small sample versus large sample size. As
Speaker 1: the sample size increased over the course of the game,
Speaker 1: it turned in Boston's favor and they turned a one
Speaker 1: point lead into a twenty point lead in about seven
Speaker 1: minutes of game clock, which was a really really impressive turnaround.
Speaker 1: And that's what I would expect to happen in a
Speaker 1: playoff series. I don't think it would get any easier
Speaker 1: for Cleveland in that setting, especially as the series progressed.
Speaker 1: To be honest, I think Boston or Milwaukee would both
Speaker 1: beat Cleveland in five games or less. So that's like,
Speaker 1: there are predictions that I don't feel great about, and
Speaker 1: there are predictions I feel great about. I feel great
Speaker 1: about the fact that Boston or Milwaukee would dispatch of
Speaker 1: Cleveland very quickly. I I just don't think it's a
Speaker 1: good matchup for them at all whatsoever. Philly not so much.
Speaker 1: You know, I'd pick Boston, and I picked Milwaukee to
Speaker 1: win that series, but I think it'd be a much
Speaker 1: tougher series. And so this is where it brings us
Speaker 1: to the race for the one seed, because Milwaukee ended
Speaker 1: up taking the one seed earlier this week, and now
Speaker 1: Boston's a half game back, and so I think this
Speaker 1: race really matters because that Milwaukee Boston Conference finals matchup
Speaker 1: is going to be a blood bath and it's going
Speaker 1: to be extremely demanding physically, and so I think it's
Speaker 1: going to be very important to secure that one seed
Speaker 1: to lock yourself up a much easier second round opponent
Speaker 1: in Cleveland. So we're gonna be watching that very closely
Speaker 1: down the stretch. All right, let's move on to the
Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors. The Warriors are the five seed in
Speaker 1: the Western Conference. Can you believe it? It was. It
Speaker 1: was looking really bad when they got rolled by the
Speaker 1: Lakers a little while back, and they had slipped I
Speaker 1: believe they had slipped into the play in actually, and
Speaker 1: obviously was Steph still being a week away from coming back.
Speaker 1: It didn't look good. But then they beat the Rockets,
Speaker 1: you know, in a game that they were supposed to win.
Speaker 1: And then they came from behind to win a tough
Speaker 1: game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. And then they turned a
Speaker 1: twenty three point deficit against the Trailblazers into an eighteen
Speaker 1: point win in a wild game last night. They fell
Speaker 1: down big early in the game, in large part because
Speaker 1: Clay Thompson and Jordan Pool were both ice cold and
Speaker 1: everybody for Portland was knocking down shots. I want to
Speaker 1: say they were like eight for nineteen from three in
Speaker 1: the first half. But you know, there was a couple
Speaker 1: of specific things that I wanted to hit on as
Speaker 1: part of their comeback. First of all, right, before the half,
Speaker 1: they won on a little bit of a run, not
Speaker 1: much of one, but they got it from twenty three
Speaker 1: to seventeen. There's a player where lay Thompson was able
Speaker 1: to draw foul and get two free throws. Jordan Pool
Speaker 1: had a late driving layup right before the half. They
Speaker 1: got a couple of stops. You go into the half
Speaker 1: down seventeen, which makes it seem so much more achievable.
Speaker 1: You know, this happened with the Lakers the other day.
Speaker 1: They were down twenty seven or whatever, but they got
Speaker 1: it down to fourteen at the half, which made it
Speaker 1: so that in the second half they could make the
Speaker 1: necessary adjustments. Again, the coaching staff can make adjustments in
Speaker 1: the halftime period in a way that they can't during timeouts.
Speaker 1: If you're down twenty three twenty four, those adjustments aren't
Speaker 1: going to have that much of an impact. It's just
Speaker 1: too big of a hole to dig out of. But
Speaker 1: if you get it relatively close, you give your coaching
Speaker 1: staff and your players a fighting chance. And you know,
Speaker 1: not only did you establish hope, but you gave Steve
Speaker 1: Kerr to make an adjustment. And the big adjustment that
Speaker 1: Steve Kerr went with in the second half, as he
Speaker 1: went all in on his three two zone, he ran
Speaker 1: it every single time that the Warriors had a dead
Speaker 1: ball situation or off of a made basket, and it
Speaker 1: was extremely effective. So they ran their three two zone
Speaker 1: on just nine possessions in the first half. They ran
Speaker 1: it on twenty four possessions in the second half. In
Speaker 1: Golden States, three two zone is super interesting. You don't
Speaker 1: see a lot of three two zone because it's a
Speaker 1: much more difficult zone than a two three zone. If
Speaker 1: you think of it as a two three zone, you
Speaker 1: have a center directly under the basket, your other two
Speaker 1: forwards on the wing, and your guards up top. Your
Speaker 1: center can linger around the basket. That's your least mobile
Speaker 1: player that doesn't have to move very much. When you
Speaker 1: invert that into a three two, it's kind of like
Speaker 1: a five out zone. All five players have responsibilities at
Speaker 1: the three point line, as opposed to in a two
Speaker 1: three zone, the center is never going to come out
Speaker 1: except for maybe to contest a shot around the semicircle
Speaker 1: or around the free throw line. Right, So in a
Speaker 1: three two zone you're much more you have much more
Speaker 1: mobility responsibilities to cover ground out to the three point line.
Speaker 1: When the ball's on one side of the floor, like
Speaker 1: if the ball gets into the right corner and Draymond
Speaker 1: Greens in the bottom of the zone. Draymond Green has
Speaker 1: to go out to the corner and Kemon Luney has
Speaker 1: to get all the way over under the basket. If
Speaker 1: they reverse it, Kemon Luney has to rotate all the
Speaker 1: way out to the three point line and Draymond Green
Speaker 1: has to come over. It's a very difficult zone to run,
Speaker 1: but when you run it right, it has it can
Speaker 1: be really impactful, especially with Looney and Draymond at the
Speaker 1: rim when they're in those rotations, because you've taken away
Speaker 1: the three point line. And in the modern NBA, there
Speaker 1: just aren't that many players these days that are comfortable
Speaker 1: working out of the middle of the floor, and the
Speaker 1: three two zone has a gaping hole right around the
Speaker 1: free throw line where people can go to work if
Speaker 1: they're comfortable there. You just don't see too many guys
Speaker 1: there now. That'll be interesting when they play the Clippers,
Speaker 1: I think tomorrow night, because the Clippers have several guys
Speaker 1: that are comfortable operating out of the middle of the floor.
Speaker 1: So I'll be curious to see how much Steve Kirk
Speaker 1: can go to the three two zone in that specific game,
Speaker 1: but it was really really impactful against Portland. They were
Speaker 1: completely flummixed. None of those three point shots were open.
Speaker 1: Nobody wanted to attack the rim, nobody wanted to work
Speaker 1: out of the mid range, and they fell apart quickly.
Speaker 1: Portland scored just eleven times in thirty three chances against
Speaker 1: Golden States three two zone, and I thought that was
Speaker 1: a huge part of how they got back into the game.
Speaker 1: Then on the other end, in the third quarter, Clay
Speaker 1: Thompson and Jordan Pool finally started making shots and thing
Speaker 1: he turned around really quickly. Also, special shout out to
Speaker 1: Klown Luney. He was super aggressive towards the raim in
Speaker 1: the third quarter. He had a really nice fake, drible
Speaker 1: handoff all the way to the rim. He was crashing
Speaker 1: the offensive glass. The Warriors cut the lead from sixteen
Speaker 1: to two in less than two and a half minutes.
Speaker 1: It was a very remarkable come back and they rode
Speaker 1: that wave to a comfortable victory. I also wanted to
Speaker 1: a shout out Jonathan Kaminga. He had sixteen points on
Speaker 1: ten shots in this game. Obviously he had the two
Speaker 1: monster dunks. Obviously we saw the one on social media.
Speaker 1: Everywhere where. He rose up over you know, Shaden Sharp
Speaker 1: and somebody else I can't remember who, but that nasty
Speaker 1: down the lane dunk kind of reminded me of DeAndre
Speaker 1: Jordan over Palcasol and Andrew bind him. Some of you
Speaker 1: guys might remember that one. But then he had another
Speaker 1: dunk shortly after there where he ripped through the baseline
Speaker 1: and rose up and went up of one off of
Speaker 1: one foot and dunked it with two hands. He's kind
Speaker 1: of starting to come to terms with the fact that
Speaker 1: when he elevates, nobody is actually capable of jumping with him,
Speaker 1: and it can get pretty scary once you mentally accept that,
Speaker 1: because then you're just gonna aren't jumping, you know, even
Speaker 1: when like you're gonna be way less timid around the rim,
Speaker 1: which I think is gonna open things up. But he
Speaker 1: had a really he had a really, really nice play
Speaker 1: in the late fourth quarter that I wanted to highlight
Speaker 1: real quick. There was like something like two minutes left
Speaker 1: and it was garbage time. The game's basically over. But
Speaker 1: this is just a demonstration of the basketball IQ that
Speaker 1: Jonathan Kiming is gaining, specifically kind of operating as a
Speaker 1: big man on the offensive end of the floor. So
Speaker 1: Golden State runs a set and involves a cross screen
Speaker 1: out of the post. Essentially like imagine two post players
Speaker 1: on the block. One post player sets across screen that
Speaker 1: allows the other post player to come across the floor.
Speaker 1: One of the main reasons why you do that is
Speaker 1: because a lot of times people will fight post mismatches
Speaker 1: by fronting the post. But if I have to trail
Speaker 1: you through a screening action, it's impossible for me to
Speaker 1: front the post. I've now just given you lock and
Speaker 1: trail position, which is going to give you the ability
Speaker 1: to seal me. Right, So Jonathan goes out there and
Speaker 1: he gets a seal, but Moses Moody doesn't make the
Speaker 1: post entry pass, and so the Blazers defender I can't
Speaker 1: remember who it was. I think it might have been Reddish,
Speaker 1: but I can't remember. But he fights around coming and
Speaker 1: actually fronts him and in that position, like a lot
Speaker 1: of players would just quit on that play. No, Jonathan
Speaker 1: cominga like, turned and switched his leverage back towards the rim,
Speaker 1: and then Anthony Lamb flashed to the high posed Moody
Speaker 1: hit him, and now that high low action is open.
Speaker 1: You flipped the angle, the ball reversed. Now that guy
Speaker 1: who's fronting you is suddenly on your backside. They dropped
Speaker 1: it off to him and he got another dunk. I
Speaker 1: think it's really interesting how Golden State has converted Jonathan
Speaker 1: Cominga into basically a center or a big man on
Speaker 1: the offensive end of the floor while deploying him as
Speaker 1: a wing defensively. It's allowed them to turn a player
Speaker 1: that might be several years away from being an impactful
Speaker 1: offensive wing to being someone they could use right away
Speaker 1: in specific matchups as an offensive big. The Warriors are
Speaker 1: in great shape. He could not have asked to be
Speaker 1: in better position, and was Steph returning. They've got this
Speaker 1: tough game against the Clippers tomorrow. They're gonna be hungry
Speaker 1: for a win. It's gonna be a really hard one
Speaker 1: for them to win. I'd give them a very small chance,
Speaker 1: but Steph is supposed to return in the upcoming road trip,
Speaker 1: so things are starting to look up for the Warriors,
Speaker 1: and I just wanted to take this chance to make
Speaker 1: a little tip of the cap to Clay Thompson, to
Speaker 1: Jordan Pool, to Draymond Green and Cavon Looney and the
Speaker 1: others for the work they've done over the course of
Speaker 1: this stretch of the season, these two stretches of the
Speaker 1: season where they've been down their guys in floating the
Speaker 1: ship and giving them a real chance to go on
Speaker 1: a stretch run. Lineups this year that have had Draymond Green,
Speaker 1: Cavan Looney, Clay Thompson, Jordan Pool with no Steph Curry
Speaker 1: and no Andrew Wiggins are plus zero point three points
Speaker 1: per one hundred possessions. Doesn't sound like much, but being
Speaker 1: positive with that group is insane to me. That's championship
Speaker 1: level will to win. So tip of the cap to
Speaker 1: those guys. They are set up in a great position
Speaker 1: to make a stretch run. Bet the NBA on TNT
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Speaker 1: in the Fandel Sportsbook AP. My favorite bet on Thursday
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Speaker 1: of the NBA. All right, let's move on to the Lakers.
Speaker 1: So just gonna talk about them for just a minute. They.
Speaker 1: I was genuinely confused when I saw that Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: was out tonight. All the reports said that he was painfree.
Speaker 1: Apparently this was planned rest, which I understand, but at
Speaker 1: the same time, like this is a must win game
Speaker 1: and a game that they very well could have lost
Speaker 1: without Anthony Davis. They trailed by I believe eight points
Speaker 1: or seven points in the third quarter of this game
Speaker 1: on the road. It could have gone south for them quickly.
Speaker 1: So I was confused by this strategy of resting a
Speaker 1: d But that gamble paid off for the Lakers. A
Speaker 1: bunch of guys made big plays. Ruey Hatchamura had a
Speaker 1: great game, one of those games that you don't really
Speaker 1: look at the box score four because he was really
Speaker 1: impactful defensively and on the glass, and just a handful
Speaker 1: of really smart, savvy offensive plays. Austin Reeves and Dennis
Speaker 1: Schroeder took over ball handling responsibilities in an excellent way.
Speaker 1: I thought that when you in Gabriel had a great game,
Speaker 1: just dirty work as the backup center. They grinded out
Speaker 1: a win against Okay City, Oklahoma City, which was a
Speaker 1: big time and it helps him a lot in the
Speaker 1: standing to specially considering you just bought Anthony Davis two
Speaker 1: days of rest before a game in Minnesota where they're
Speaker 1: going to need him to be fantastic. But what I
Speaker 1: wanted to briefly touch on in this particular segment was
Speaker 1: the Grizzlies game. You know, I talked to Colin Coward
Speaker 1: last night. For those of you guys who haven't seen
Speaker 1: it yet, Colin and I went for about forty five
Speaker 1: minutes and talked just a shit ton of NBA around
Speaker 1: the league. Check that out if you haven't done so yet.
Speaker 1: It's on the Volumes YouTube channel. But in that conversation,
Speaker 1: we talked a lot about the Memphis Grizzlies, or excuse me,
Speaker 1: about the Los Angeles Lakers. And one of the things
Speaker 1: I said to Colin was like, all is not lost. Now.
Speaker 1: The D'Angelo Russell injury was unfortunate. We're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: that here in just a second, but he's coming back
Speaker 1: on Friday. This team is a good basketball team without
Speaker 1: Lebron James. Now, that is one of the advantages of
Speaker 1: the job that Rob Polinka did at the deadline. Nick.
Speaker 1: We've talked about it. They paid a dear price for that.
Speaker 1: Lebron All reporting says that he suffered this exact injury
Speaker 1: in January opted to play on it rather than resting it.
Speaker 1: As a result of the predicament the team was in
Speaker 1: in the standings, and he literally floated the ship during
Speaker 1: that stretch. The only reason the Lakers have a chance
Speaker 1: is because of what Lebron James did during that stretch
Speaker 1: in late December, January, early February without Anthony Davis. So
Speaker 1: he deserves a boatload of credit for that. But one
Speaker 1: of the advantages of net gamble is they've now built
Speaker 1: a talented roster that is capable of winning games without
Speaker 1: Lebron James. The problem is is they will not be
Speaker 1: able to beat good teams unless the Angelo Russell is available.
Speaker 1: And you saw that in that Grizzlies game. I tweeted
Speaker 1: after the game that I thought the Lakers had really
Speaker 1: good half court defense in that game, and I thought
Speaker 1: they lost it in transition. But I didn't get a
Speaker 1: chance to see the data until today, and it was
Speaker 1: exactly what happened. They held the Grizzlies to a ninety
Speaker 1: two point two offensive rating in the half court, which
Speaker 1: is great for perspective. The Charlotte Hornets have a ninety
Speaker 1: two point two offensive rating in the half court all season,
Speaker 1: which ranks twenty ninth in the NBA. So the Lakers
Speaker 1: did their job in the half court. But without D'Angelo
Speaker 1: Russell and without Lebron James, all the ball handling responsibilities fell.
Speaker 1: They got slotted improperly. Now Schroeder is a primary ball
Speaker 1: handler right now, Austin Reeves is a secondary ball handler.
Speaker 1: You know. Now Lonnie Walker is getting a lot of
Speaker 1: ball handling responsibilities. And they just couldn't take care of
Speaker 1: the basketball. They had twenty six turnovers, gave up forty
Speaker 1: one points off of those turnovers. According to Synergy, they
Speaker 1: had thirty six points in this game just in transition,
Speaker 1: which is the story of the Memphis Grizzlies all season.
Speaker 1: Keep him in the half court, you can stop them.
Speaker 1: Let him get out in transition and they'll kill you.
Speaker 1: And that's what happened in this game. But De'angelo Russell
Speaker 1: is supposed to return Friday. That should slot everybody properly. Now,
Speaker 1: De'angelo Russell's a primary ball handler, which he's capable of being.
Speaker 1: Not for a great team, but he can be that
Speaker 1: for a good team, which is all the Lakers need.
Speaker 1: While Lebron James is out of the lineup, that puts
Speaker 1: Dennis Shrewder in a secondary ball handler role. That puts
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves in a tertiary ball handling role that puts
Speaker 1: Lonnie Walker in a position where you hopefully don't have
Speaker 1: to start any possessions with him, which which were rough
Speaker 1: in this particular game. So it should slot everybody properly
Speaker 1: and give them a much better chance to fight through
Speaker 1: this next stretch of their schedule. All right, let's move
Speaker 1: on to the Clippers. So they're owing three without Westbrook.
Speaker 1: But I think Russ has been good in all three games.
Speaker 1: This isn't like what it was with the Lakers, where
Speaker 1: the fit was clunky. You know Lebron James as an
Speaker 1: on ball shot creator. He can work off the ball,
Speaker 1: but his best impact is on the ball. That's the
Speaker 1: opposite of what the idea is with the Clippers. Kawhi
Speaker 1: Leonard can work on the ball, but he's best if
Speaker 1: he fights for position down in the post and someone
Speaker 1: makes a post entry and he can finish plays as
Speaker 1: a score in specific matchups and specific spots on the
Speaker 1: floor with specific spacing. That's when Kawhi is at his best.
Speaker 1: That flipped dynamic makes a much more natural fit for
Speaker 1: Russ as a point guard. Right, you saw the opposite
Speaker 1: of that effect with the Lakers, he was operating much
Speaker 1: more off the basketball, so his weaknesses were highlighted, whereas
Speaker 1: with the Clippers, his strengths have been high lighted, and
Speaker 1: I think that's a big part of why that fit
Speaker 1: has been so good so far. He is not responsible
Speaker 1: for why the Clippers have lost these three games in
Speaker 1: a way that he was responsible for a lot of
Speaker 1: not directly responsible, but he did have a lot of
Speaker 1: bad games with the Lakers that helped contribute to losses.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's had a bad game yet with
Speaker 1: the Clippers. We'll see what happens in the long run,
Speaker 1: but I think it's been a good start so far.
Speaker 1: My only gripe with the Westbrook thing is Tyler's closed
Speaker 1: with him twice and we've seen what happened. We saw
Speaker 1: what happened against the Kings last night. He took a
Speaker 1: bad shot late in the game in an isolation against
Speaker 1: Mike Conley, just went rogue and took a wonderable fade
Speaker 1: away one like fade away over Conley and just barely
Speaker 1: graze the left side of the rim. Like those are
Speaker 1: the things that they're going to have to sort out.
Speaker 1: But I don't blame Russ for that. I blame Tylu.
Speaker 1: The book is out on Russell Westbrook as a closing player.
Speaker 1: They have to figure that out. That's on the coaching staff.
Speaker 1: The reason why I want to talk about the Clippers
Speaker 1: tonight is Paul George. He had a super insightful interview
Speaker 1: with JJ Reddick that gets released on all platforms tomorrow,
Speaker 1: I believe if I was reading the social media correctly,
Speaker 1: but they released a little clip and it was a
Speaker 1: really insightful, you know, four or five minute bit with
Speaker 1: JJ and Paul talking about the transition from him being
Speaker 1: a basically the guy in Indiana to playing alongside a
Speaker 1: star and Russell Westbrook with the Thunder, to playing alongside
Speaker 1: a star in Kawhile Leonard with the Clippers, and now
Speaker 1: two stars technically with Russell Westbrook and Kawhi Leonard, and
Speaker 1: just what that transition has been like. He talked a
Speaker 1: lot about how, you know, how good the game of
Speaker 1: basketball has been to him, and how he's made tons
Speaker 1: of money and now he just wants to win, and
Speaker 1: how he doesn't have an ego and he likes being
Speaker 1: in that secondary role and I appreciate the sentiment. I do.
Speaker 1: And there's some truth to that idea, particularly at the
Speaker 1: end of games. But the basketball has changed so much
Speaker 1: that there's no such thing as like who's the one
Speaker 1: and who's the two. How many times over the course
Speaker 1: the last few, you know, five six years, have you
Speaker 1: heard like, oh, man, Chris Paul is gonna go play
Speaker 1: with James Harden. There's only one basketball. How's that going
Speaker 1: to work? It worked great? You know, Oh, Kevin Durant's
Speaker 1: going to the Suns. It's him, Chris Paul and Devin Booker.
Speaker 1: There's one basketball. They looked awesome on offense tonight, right Like,
Speaker 1: So it's just one of those things where as the
Speaker 1: game of basketball has changed and it's become so much
Speaker 1: more about like advantage creation and you need multiple ball
Speaker 1: handlers on the floor. It's no longer about we have
Speaker 1: one basketball that collective talent only it's like a rising
Speaker 1: tide that floats all boats. And and so I never
Speaker 1: really have bought into that specific concept. And right now,
Speaker 1: regardless of what Paul George views as the psychological dynamic
Speaker 1: of the team, they need more out of him. The
Speaker 1: Clippers are two and five in their last seven games,
Speaker 1: and Paul George is averaging just twenty four points per
Speaker 1: game on below forty five percent shooting. That's just not
Speaker 1: good enough for the level of talent that Paul George is,
Speaker 1: and on film it stands out in a couple of
Speaker 1: specific ways. In my opinion, it's all about his approach
Speaker 1: and his mentality on the ball. He went up a
Speaker 1: level in the twenty twenty one postseason. Some of you
Speaker 1: guys remember that that was when he pulled out that
Speaker 1: Utah Jazz series without Kawhi Leonard and then took the
Speaker 1: Suns to six without Kawhi Leonard. And a big part
Speaker 1: of that specific playoff run was Paul George was bought
Speaker 1: into the physicality, like imposing your will physically on the
Speaker 1: offensive end of the floor. He was attacking the rim
Speaker 1: like crazy. In that playoff run, he actually averaged three
Speaker 1: point one restricted area makes per game, which is a
Speaker 1: higher mark than I think he's ever hit during a
Speaker 1: regular season, at least in recent in his recent career history.
Speaker 1: So he just had a very clear approach, which was
Speaker 1: I am going to get to the basket and build
Speaker 1: everything else on my game off of that. I think
Speaker 1: that that's gone the opposite direction in this particular season
Speaker 1: when I'm watching Paul George now he's taking a lot
Speaker 1: of really tough shots when he doesn't need to. Now,
Speaker 1: there's a time in a place for tough shot making,
Speaker 1: right Like if you're in a groove, like you've made
Speaker 1: a couple in a row and you're in a rhythm,
Speaker 1: Hell yeah, man, go to work that. Take your step backs,
Speaker 1: take your tough fall away twos, and and you're difficult
Speaker 1: off the dribble threes. If you're in a position where
Speaker 1: you have to rescue a possession, yeah, there's no choice,
Speaker 1: nobody's open, there's two seconds on the shot clock. Yeah,
Speaker 1: uncork one of those really difficult shots that you work on.
Speaker 1: But for Paul George right now, those shots are just
Speaker 1: a regular part of his shot diet, and I think
Speaker 1: that's partially why he's struggling to really get into a rhythm.
Speaker 1: And the problem is is those shots, even for the
Speaker 1: best players in the world, those really difficult like two
Speaker 1: three dribble combination into a step back contested to No
Speaker 1: matter how good you are at those, it's like thirty
Speaker 1: seven percent shot thirty six percent shots, So you're gonna
Speaker 1: miss a lot of them. And that thing can that
Speaker 1: can compile with your and your confidence in your rhythm
Speaker 1: and lead to a bad shooting night. I'll give you
Speaker 1: guys an example. So in that game against Denver the
Speaker 1: other night, Kawai is going off in regulation down the
Speaker 1: stretch and Paul George isn't really involved. He he took
Speaker 1: one late pull up jump shot that he missed. But
Speaker 1: we get into ot, he just like takes some early
Speaker 1: clock behind the back dribble contested three, like a really
Speaker 1: difficult shot that he missed and led to a runout
Speaker 1: for Denver where Jamal Murray hit a three because they
Speaker 1: didn't get matched up in transition, and then he had
Speaker 1: a turnover on the following possession. But like that shot
Speaker 1: is a great example of the approach that I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: I want to say, there was like twelve or thirteen
Speaker 1: seconds on the shot clock. There was no immediate need
Speaker 1: for him to take that shot. He wasn't in rhythm
Speaker 1: offensively at that point. It was just I'm gonna put
Speaker 1: this up and live with the result. And chances are
Speaker 1: statistically that you're going to miss that shot. If he's
Speaker 1: made a couple in a row, now all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: he's in a groove that ticks up into a fifty
Speaker 1: percent shot because he's confident and he's feeling good about
Speaker 1: himself and that sort of thing. I've always believed that
Speaker 1: sort of thing really matters with shot result in the NBA.
Speaker 1: I know all the nerds don't believe in in the
Speaker 1: hot hand theory, but I very much do. And so
Speaker 1: I think that that's a specific thing with his approach
Speaker 1: that he needs to address. When he's attacking the rim
Speaker 1: primarily and using his tough shot, making his a counter
Speaker 1: to that, he's a bona fide two way superstar, but
Speaker 1: when he's not, he's much much less than that, and
Speaker 1: he gets away from that way too frequently. I understand it,
Speaker 1: you know, like you, I've worked really hard on those
Speaker 1: shots over the course of the last four or five
Speaker 1: years in my life, and I use them a lot
Speaker 1: when I play. And there's a tendency when you've worked
Speaker 1: on that kind of thing because it's easier, not in
Speaker 1: shot result, but it's easier to just take a contested
Speaker 1: shot than it is to physically impose your way to
Speaker 1: the rim. So I get it where it's like sometimes
Speaker 1: it's almost like a curse of your own skill that
Speaker 1: you'll as of almost like a laziness take the tougher shot.
Speaker 1: I understand it, but the bottom line is that's not
Speaker 1: going to be his best chance to win a championship, which,
Speaker 1: according to his interview with Paul with JJ Reddick, is
Speaker 1: this primary concern. So I really want to look over
Speaker 1: the course of the home stretch of the season at
Speaker 1: Paul George being more physically aggressive to the rim. I
Speaker 1: think that would turn things around for him, all right,
Speaker 1: really quickly. Before we get out of here tonight, we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk a little bit about the Sixers in the
Speaker 1: Heat and their little home and home. So the Sixers
Speaker 1: went into Miami tonight without Joel Embiid and got revenge
Speaker 1: for their close loss. Harden and Maxie combined for fifty points.
Speaker 1: They put together excellent defensive effort and they won comfortably.
Speaker 1: But I don't want to talk about that particular game.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about this game the other night,
Speaker 1: just an absolute rock fight of a game that the
Speaker 1: Heat won in Philly one o one to ninety nine.
Speaker 1: And the reason why I want to talk about it
Speaker 1: is this, to me, is a great example of what
Speaker 1: a rock fight looks like. And you see a lot
Speaker 1: of rock fights in the playoffs, and I think it's
Speaker 1: very interesting how teams win those games. So I wanted
Speaker 1: to kind of break it down a little bit. So
Speaker 1: Philly was down big in the middle of the fourth,
Speaker 1: I think they were down eleven. Both teams are running
Speaker 1: a ton of zone. Philly got really hot for just
Speaker 1: a second. Tyrese Maxie hit a three, He had a
Speaker 1: couple of transition runouts. They got it back to a
Speaker 1: close game, and then there was a lid on the
Speaker 1: rim for both teams and down the stretch. I think
Speaker 1: the last like four or five minutes of the game,
Speaker 1: neither team could make a shot and no one was
Speaker 1: feeling comfortable. And to me, that is the foundational aspect
Speaker 1: of what a rock fight is. And those of you
Speaker 1: who have played basketball at any level, we'll know what
Speaker 1: I'm talking about. There is a type of basketball game.
Speaker 1: It's usually extremely physical, but it's the type of game
Speaker 1: where no offensive player on the floor feels good about
Speaker 1: their perimeter game. Right. So like the pull up shooters
Speaker 1: don't feel comfortable going into their pull up shots. The
Speaker 1: you know, catch and shoot guys all have sweaty palms
Speaker 1: and they don't feel comfortable going into their shots. No
Speaker 1: one's feeling confident, nothing feels good, and it kind of
Speaker 1: gets stagnant and nobody knows what to do. In those environments,
Speaker 1: it becomes a rock fight, and in that environment, it's
Speaker 1: so much about just forcing the ball into the basket
Speaker 1: by any means necessary around the rim, and I thought
Speaker 1: it was really interesting. It came down to a final possession.
Speaker 1: It was I believe ninety eight and Jimmy Butler had
Speaker 1: the ball with just over a minute left and the
Speaker 1: Sixers were in their two three zone, but Jimmy Butler
Speaker 1: got it on the right wing and it kind of
Speaker 1: functionally turned into like an ice coverage because PJ. Tucker
Speaker 1: basically sat back like he was a pick and roll big.
Speaker 1: And I believe it was d' Anthony Melton, who was
Speaker 1: the top guy in the zone, who was kind of
Speaker 1: sitting on Jimmy's high side, and he calls Caleb Martin
Speaker 1: to come over and set a screen. But Caleb Martin
Speaker 1: can't set the screen because he's effectively icing it, which
Speaker 1: means you're denying the ball handler the ball screen, right,
Speaker 1: You're forcing him towards his help on the baseline, So
Speaker 1: he's in this awkward position where he can't drive to
Speaker 1: the left around the screen because d' anthony Melton is
Speaker 1: just literally waiting there for him. PJ. Tucker's waiting under
Speaker 1: the like like four or five feet off of him
Speaker 1: in the short corner, none of the like. Yeah, there's
Speaker 1: some shooters open on skip passes, but nobody feels good
Speaker 1: about their catching shoot shot. We just talked about that
Speaker 1: it's a rock fight, those shots probably aren't going in.
Speaker 1: And Joel Empads waiting directly under the rim, so you
Speaker 1: would think, like driving to the rim is an extremely
Speaker 1: low percented shot, but this is rock fight basketball, and
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler just does a heart dribble to his left,
Speaker 1: does a hard spin move like steps on PJ. Tucker's foot,
Speaker 1: almost sprains his ankle like like in the spin move,
Speaker 1: loses control of the basketball a little bit and beads there.
Speaker 1: He goes up in under he literally as he's trying
Speaker 1: to finish on the other side of the rim, the
Speaker 1: ball is disconnected from his hand temporarily and he somehow
Speaker 1: manages to regain control and just flip it up into
Speaker 1: the basket and it's the lead changing shot. The other
Speaker 1: end of the flour, James Harden tries to bully his
Speaker 1: way to the rim, leaves it short on the front rim,
Speaker 1: they get a stop, they go down the other end.
Speaker 1: Joel Embiad tries to take bam At a Bio off
Speaker 1: the dribble and bam At a Bio just smothers him
Speaker 1: and blocks him along the baseline. Then on the final possession,
Speaker 1: Jimmy Joel Embiad actually did a really nice job navigating
Speaker 1: a double team and hit James Harden at the top
Speaker 1: of the key and he had a wide open three.
Speaker 1: I shouldn't say wide open. It was kind of a
Speaker 1: chase contest and he had a pretty decent look. But
Speaker 1: he had a decent look and he missed it. But
Speaker 1: like I said, in those environments, those types of shots
Speaker 1: just don't go in. And that's why I wanted to
Speaker 1: talk about this particular game because it's not again. The
Speaker 1: Sixers got revenge tonight. They went in and kicked the
Speaker 1: Heat's ass without joe El Embiid. And you guys know me,
Speaker 1: I'm way higher on the Sixers than most people. I
Speaker 1: think they have a real chance to win the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference if James Harden and Joel and Bed both play well.
Speaker 1: But I just I wanted to talk about that particular
Speaker 1: game and what happened down the stretch, just because that,
Speaker 1: to me, is such a great example of what a
Speaker 1: rock fight is. And I often talk about how you
Speaker 1: have to win in different ways in the postseason. Different
Speaker 1: games take on different feels. Sometimes the final scores ninety
Speaker 1: three to eighty seven, sometimes the final scores one seventeen
Speaker 1: to one thirteen. There's different stuff, like, there's different styles,
Speaker 1: and so much of it just depends on how people
Speaker 1: feel on any given night. Does your pull up jump
Speaker 1: shot feel good? Do your skill players feel comfortable? Or
Speaker 1: is everyone off? And now it's a fist fight. And
Speaker 1: the teams that can win both of those ways have
Speaker 1: the best chance to make it far in the postseason.
Speaker 1: And say what you want about the Miami Heat, and
Speaker 1: they've got a boatload of personnel shortcomings, way too many
Speaker 1: undrafted guys and buy out guys and guys that people
Speaker 1: around the league didn't want. But they've got amount a
Speaker 1: bio and they've got Jimmy Butler, and the two of
Speaker 1: those guys are two of the best rock fight basketball
Speaker 1: players that we have in the NBA. And their ability
Speaker 1: to win that type of game will always keep them
Speaker 1: a threat no matter what their regular season record is,
Speaker 1: no matter who their postseason matchup is. I didn't give
Speaker 1: them any chance to beat the Celtics last year, and
Speaker 1: Jimmy was one shot away from getting them to the
Speaker 1: NBA Finals. And that's why I just can never get
Speaker 1: off to Miami Heat bandwagon. Alright, guys, that is all
Speaker 1: I have for today. Gosh, that was a lot of
Speaker 1: basketball to get into. We are taking tomorrow off and
Speaker 1: then on Friday, we're gonna be doing five Big Questions
Speaker 1: with Carson. You guys seem to like that show last week,
Speaker 1: so we're gonna do that again, and then we'll get
Speaker 1: back into our instant reaction stuff this weekend. As always,
Speaker 1: I sincerely appreciate your support. We'll see you guys next time.