Speaker 1: The volume. All right, wellcod to Hoops Tonight. You're at
Speaker 1: the volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody, if all of you guys
Speaker 1: are having a great start to your week. Just a
Speaker 1: quick show today, we're hitting two games from the Tuesday's slate.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be hitting the Nuggets and the Kings and
Speaker 1: then the Heat and the Pistons, two absolutely crazy games.
Speaker 1: You guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe
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Speaker 1: that you guys should follow so you can get more
Speaker 1: content throughout the year. And the last but not least,
Speaker 1: keep dropping mail back questions in the YouTube comments so
Speaker 1: that we can hit them on Fridays the rest of
Speaker 1: the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So Nuggets
Speaker 1: Kings just an absolutely wild game. My wife ended up
Speaker 1: having a girl's night with one of her friends last night,
Speaker 1: so I got to just kind of sit down by
Speaker 1: myself and watch basketball all night, and I chose two
Speaker 1: games and chose Piston's Heat and I chose Nuggets Kings,
Speaker 1: and both of them did not disappoint. The Nuggets come
Speaker 1: out and just smack the Kings from the opening tip.
Speaker 1: They go up by as many as twenty three points,
Speaker 1: and then right at that beginning of the second quarter,
Speaker 1: Denver just completely stops playing defense and it turns into
Speaker 1: this really weird game where it's very up and down.
Speaker 1: Both teams are getting shots up within the first seven
Speaker 1: or eight seconds of the shot clock. Kind of felt
Speaker 1: like whoever was at the point of the tack was
Speaker 1: just giving up on the first move, and both guys
Speaker 1: on both teams were responsible, but it was like it
Speaker 1: was like, if there's a ball screen, the guy would
Speaker 1: just either die on the screen, or if the guy
Speaker 1: rejected the screen, he just let him drive past, or
Speaker 1: if his a one on one move, it would just
Speaker 1: be one quick move and then downhill, and when he
Speaker 1: gets downhill, you're either just getting into whatever easy shot
Speaker 1: along the way that you want or screaming downhill and
Speaker 1: driving help and kicking out to somebody. It just kind
Speaker 1: of felt like every team or every possession was just
Speaker 1: easy for both offenses, and Denver allows eighty two points
Speaker 1: in the second and third quarter. Twenty six of those
Speaker 1: were in transition. Tomart de Rozan was the guy kind
Speaker 1: of really started to get them going in the second quarter.
Speaker 1: Darreon Fox and Sabonis kind of took over from there,
Speaker 1: and it was just it was just a weird game
Speaker 1: because in that entire middle portion it just felt like
Speaker 1: neither team could guard each other. It's very, very sloppy.
Speaker 1: But then Sabonis hits a three on a pick and
Speaker 1: pop with about three minutes left that puts the Kings
Speaker 1: up by eight. It's one twenty two to one fourteen.
Speaker 1: And then, in classic Denver Nuggets fashion, they score on
Speaker 1: seven consecutive possessions to end the game. They score sixteen
Speaker 1: points in three minutes, and they get a win in Sacramento.
Speaker 1: Here's all seven of the possessions. Number one, Sabonis bites
Speaker 1: on a pump fake against Jamal Murray on the left wing.
Speaker 1: He drives past him, draws a quick falther in the penalty,
Speaker 1: knocks down two free throws. Second one, Jokic's posting up
Speaker 1: some bonus in the middle of the floor. Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: is in the right corner and Kean Ellis is guarding
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook and Kean ellen this starts to kind of
Speaker 1: meander over to where Yokic is and is not paying
Speaker 1: attention to Russ. Russ smartly cuts right along the baseline.
Speaker 1: Jokic hits him, Russ gets an easy layup. I will
Speaker 1: admit that I was annoyed having rooted for Russ when
Speaker 1: he was with the Lakers, because he would just never cut. Ever,
Speaker 1: when he was off the ball, he would just stand
Speaker 1: and wait for the ball at the three point line.
Speaker 1: And so whatever it is, he learned his lesson. Nice
Speaker 1: little baseline cut with Jokic gets a nice layup. Then
Speaker 1: this really bizarre possession where Russell Westbrook and Jamal Murray
Speaker 1: run into each other in the back court, like just
Speaker 1: incapacitated in the back court. It's a five on three
Speaker 1: in the front court and Aaron Gordon just walks into
Speaker 1: excuse me, a three on five and Aaron Gordon just
Speaker 1: walks into an off the dribble three from like well
Speaker 1: above the brake on the left side knocks it down.
Speaker 1: It was funny because it was just like a total
Speaker 1: Champ shot, the Nuggets were back within four. It just
Speaker 1: felt like this big momentum shot Aaron Gordon's mean muggin
Speaker 1: after the shot, and like I actually had somebody on
Speaker 1: Twitter be like that was a bad shot, and like,
Speaker 1: I technically, yeah, because it's off the dribble three for
Speaker 1: one of your worst off the dribble three point shooters.
Speaker 1: But I actually thought it was a pretty smart shot
Speaker 1: from Aaron Gordon in retrospect, because like it was a
Speaker 1: three on five and Russ and Jamal were basically incapacitated,
Speaker 1: so like any second after that, the Kings were gonna
Speaker 1: realize they had a two man advantage and they were
Speaker 1: just gonna start doubling and swarming, and that could have
Speaker 1: turned into a really ugly possession or a turnover and
Speaker 1: a run out three or something like that run out
Speaker 1: layup for the Kings like that. So, like, honestly, I
Speaker 1: thought it was a pretty smart shot from Aaron Gordon.
Speaker 1: And then from there we got four straight possessions of
Speaker 1: the Jamal Murray Nicole Jokich two man game, all of
Speaker 1: which ended in buckets. The first one Sabonis and Ellis switch,
Speaker 1: so Kean Ellis is guarding Jamal Sabonis is guarding Jokic.
Speaker 1: They switched the action. Jokic is now on Ellis. Jamal
Speaker 1: whips it back to Jokic at the top of the key,
Speaker 1: and then he clears out and Jokic starts posting up
Speaker 1: Ellis right in the middle of the floor. As he
Speaker 1: posts him up, he draws a double team from Deer
Speaker 1: and Fox, who is guarding Russell Westbrook on the right wing.
Speaker 1: Now Fox and Ellis are both on Jokic and Russ
Speaker 1: is standing wide open on the wing. Jokic throws it
Speaker 1: out to Russ and then both Fox and Ellis fan
Speaker 1: out to shooters for whatever reason, leaving Jokic. So Russ
Speaker 1: just throws it right back to Jokic and Jokic hits
Speaker 1: a little floater in the lane. The next time down.
Speaker 1: It's a Jamal Murray Nicole Jokic two man game, kind
Speaker 1: of a ball screen out like twenty five feet from
Speaker 1: the basket, and on the play, Deer and Fox was
Speaker 1: kind of overplaying the high side, meaning he was like
Speaker 1: overplaying the screen side, trying to force Jamal Murray to
Speaker 1: reject the screen. Kind of like an ice coverage, but
Speaker 1: typically in ice you want your big man dropping back
Speaker 1: to help, because you're basically conceding a dry if you
Speaker 1: overplay the screen, they can just reject the screen and
Speaker 1: get downhill. So Bonus was glued up to Jokic. So
Speaker 1: Jamal crossed over and got dribble penetration on Darren Fox.
Speaker 1: Darren Fox tried to recover with his athleticism, but Jamal Murray,
Speaker 1: really smart gamesmanship, waited till Darren Fox got right back
Speaker 1: in front of him and then went to the step back.
Speaker 1: And that was like the perfect time to hit that
Speaker 1: move because in that little bit of contact, it just
Speaker 1: sent Darren Fox flying because his momentum was so out
Speaker 1: of control going towards the basket, got just this completely
Speaker 1: uncontested little ten footer around the left elbow and knocks
Speaker 1: it down. Then we go to the next possession, Darren
Speaker 1: Fox goes under the pick, but on the pick, when
Speaker 1: Darren Fox goes under, Jamal Murray hesitates and just kind
Speaker 1: of throws a head fake and a hesitation dribble up
Speaker 1: at the basket. Darren Fox takes one bad step, just
Speaker 1: literally one bad step that gets him out of position.
Speaker 1: As a result, Jamal Murray's able to get really really
Speaker 1: heavy downhill in that specific situation, because remember what happened
Speaker 1: on the previous possession when Jamal Murray rejected the screen,
Speaker 1: Sabonis did not help. He stayed glued up to Jokich
Speaker 1: at the three point line, Jamal Murray got the wide
Speaker 1: open ten footer. This time, Sabonis sees Jamal Murray compromise
Speaker 1: Fox and hard helps right so hesitation dribble, Fox takes
Speaker 1: a bad step, Jamal gets downhill. Sabonis has to step
Speaker 1: over and help. What's wide open in that situation, Nikole
Speaker 1: Jokic popping above the break on the left side. Jamal
Speaker 1: whips it back. Jokic had missed five threes that game,
Speaker 1: he was zero for five, but he got his legs
Speaker 1: into this one and it was right down the pipe,
Speaker 1: knocks it down, puts the Nuggets back up, and in
Speaker 1: the final possession, this crazy Jamal Murray Yokich two man
Speaker 1: game where they interchanged three separate times, a dribble handoff
Speaker 1: into a ball screen, into another dribble handoff, and finally
Speaker 1: on the third one, after defending it really well, Jokicic
Speaker 1: gets a little bit of contact on darreon Fox on
Speaker 1: the screen, which gives Jamal Murray just enough of an
Speaker 1: edge turning the corner, he elevates right at the foul line,
Speaker 1: knocks down the jumper, and Denver gets the win. There
Speaker 1: was a crazy sequence on the final possession where Yokic
Speaker 1: came up to the level and they let Sabonis get
Speaker 1: screaming downhill on a rollman touch and both Nuggets low
Speaker 1: men stepped over and DeMar de Rosen was right there,
Speaker 1: but Jokic had kind of recovered and Demarta rozen. If
Speaker 1: you would have just caught the ball and went up
Speaker 1: with it, he probably gets a dunk or draws a foul,
Speaker 1: but he got spooked. He got spooked by Nikolea Jokich
Speaker 1: dropping into the lane and fumbled the basketball away and
Speaker 1: Denver ends up getting a win. And honestly, what happened
Speaker 1: last night is why I can't quit the Denver Nuggets,
Speaker 1: even with their uneven start and even with their obvious
Speaker 1: talent limitations. I just subsceen this too many times, where
Speaker 1: the Nuggets can generate such insanely high quality shots that
Speaker 1: they can literally score on you every single possession down
Speaker 1: the stretch of a game. I mean, I watched it
Speaker 1: happ into my Lakers. Remember Game two of the Nuggets
Speaker 1: series last year, the Nuggets Lakers first round series. Denver
Speaker 1: scores on nine of their last ten possessions. Like, it's
Speaker 1: just really difficult to win when a team is just
Speaker 1: going down the floor and scoring every single time. And
Speaker 1: really it just comes down to the Yokich Murray Murray
Speaker 1: two man game, which again went four to four down
Speaker 1: the stretch in the final four possessions. Because Jokic is
Speaker 1: shooting over fifty percent from three this year, he was
Speaker 1: before the game last night. Jokic is hitting half as threes,
Speaker 1: so that's not a shot you can really concede. There
Speaker 1: isn't a shot that you can concede in the Jokich
Speaker 1: two man game that isn't gonna go in about fifty
Speaker 1: percent of the time. Like, Okay, you leave Jokic open
Speaker 1: on the pop. He's hitting about half of his threes
Speaker 1: this year, and that's worth an extra point. Okay, Well
Speaker 1: what if we just let Jamal Murray shoot coming off
Speaker 1: the screen. That's kind of what the Kings did on
Speaker 1: the final possession. Well, when Jamal Murray's right, he's hitting
Speaker 1: that shot about half the time. Okay, Well, what if
Speaker 1: we show at the level to stop Jamal from coming
Speaker 1: off and shooting. All right, well, he's just gonna throw
Speaker 1: the pocket past to Jokic. Jokic hits the floater in
Speaker 1: that pocket about seventy percent of the time. Okay, you
Speaker 1: want to switch it. Oh, well, now you have Keon
Speaker 1: Ellis on Jokic. He's backing him down, drawing a double
Speaker 1: team and dropping it off to a cutter. Or he's
Speaker 1: gonna little hit a little hook shot over the top
Speaker 1: that he's gonna hit seventy percent of the time. The
Speaker 1: point is is there's just no answer for the Jokich
Speaker 1: Murray two man game other than to just send a
Speaker 1: third defender over. And yeah, that's easier now than it
Speaker 1: used to be for the Nuggets when they had Contaviouskbwopope
Speaker 1: and everyone was kind of playing at a higher level,
Speaker 1: But that's still not a great option. They did that
Speaker 1: and Russell Westbrook cuts on the baseline and gets an
Speaker 1: easy layup. So yeah, like there's just not really an
Speaker 1: option to make that anywhere uncomfortable for the Denver Nuggets.
Speaker 1: And with Jokics playing at the level that he's playing again,
Speaker 1: I actually thought so Bonus outplayed Jokis for the majority
Speaker 1: of the game last night. But that's what the all
Speaker 1: time greats do, even on their off nights, even when
Speaker 1: they don't really have it, They kind of just find
Speaker 1: a way to get the job done and make a
Speaker 1: few plays down the stretch and get out of there
Speaker 1: within and that's what Jokic did. But with the yok
Speaker 1: with the level that Jokic is playing at, if you
Speaker 1: give him a partner that can be a real threat
Speaker 1: in the two man game, they're just borderline impossible to
Speaker 1: stop on offense when they're in the half court. And
Speaker 1: that's why I can't quit them, and that's why I
Speaker 1: still view them as a championship threat even with all
Speaker 1: their limitations. This was a huge win for the Nuggets
Speaker 1: on several levels. One, it's their third in a row
Speaker 1: after they had dropped five and eight, so it's kind
Speaker 1: of like a good momentum builder for him, a little
Speaker 1: pallet cleanser. Two, that twenty eight points from Jamal Murray
Speaker 1: matches his season high, and he's starting to build some momentum.
Speaker 1: He's averaging twenty points per game over his last seven games.
Speaker 1: And then three, you demonstrated that the Jokich Murray two
Speaker 1: man game is still a reliable staple in this league.
Speaker 1: It was a big step forward for the Denver Nuggets
Speaker 1: last night. Just need to clean up that defensive effort
Speaker 1: in that middle portion of the game they can be
Speaker 1: in better shape. I also wanted to shout out Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 1: I thought he was really good on the offensive end
Speaker 1: last night. He got absolutely fried by Malik Monk and
Speaker 1: Darren Fox on the other end, but everybody got fried
Speaker 1: in this game. Like there wasn't a player that and
Speaker 1: get fried in this game. So I'm not going to
Speaker 1: be too critical of that. But I thought Russ was
Speaker 1: really really good for them on offense at multiple portions
Speaker 1: of the game. Again, more activity off ball than you
Speaker 1: typically see from him. Really really good creation in the
Speaker 1: non Yolkic groups, just with rim pressure. A lot of
Speaker 1: really good looks that he set up Jokic with because
Speaker 1: of his ability to get downhill in their two man game.
Speaker 1: Really nice work in the start. I think they're five
Speaker 1: and one now. When Russell Westbrook starts, he's again when
Speaker 1: you can afford when you pay him four million instead
Speaker 1: of forty million, and when he's more willing to play
Speaker 1: a role on a team. You can get some real
Speaker 1: positive impact out of Russ and he's been better than
Speaker 1: I expected him to be so far this year for
Speaker 1: the Nuggets. On the Kings front, there's so much fun
Speaker 1: to watch. They play so fast, they're very difficult to guard.
Speaker 1: No one can keep Dearon Fox from getting to his spots.
Speaker 1: He's playing at an insanely high level this year. He's
Speaker 1: torched the Nuggets over and over again. In crunch time
Speaker 1: last night, Sabonus is such a great connective center. He
Speaker 1: was great all game, even dropped a beautiful pass a
Speaker 1: de rozen that might have won the game had Drozen
Speaker 1: up fumblded away, and then DeRozan carried them for large
Speaker 1: portions of that game. He was a big part of
Speaker 1: how they got back into it. Had a big clutch
Speaker 1: bucket too on just like a baseline rip on a catch.
Speaker 1: It's kind of this weird sequence. Jokic's been burned by
Speaker 1: this a few times this year, where like he's helping
Speaker 1: off of the strong side corner and he sits just
Speaker 1: a little too high, and I actually wonder if it's
Speaker 1: a game plan thing, because Derozean caught an immediately ripped
Speaker 1: baseline and Joki has given up that a few times
Speaker 1: this year, but he got a big dunk on the baseline,
Speaker 1: big play from Derozane. They're fun team. The biggest issue
Speaker 1: with the Kings right now is their ability to find
Speaker 1: lineups that actually balance defense and offense. So, for instance,
Speaker 1: when they play Sabonis, Fox, Monk, and DeRozan together, they
Speaker 1: are really scoring a one to twenty one offensive rating,
Speaker 1: but in those groups they can't guard a one to
Speaker 1: eighteen defensive raiding right, and you saw that pop to
Speaker 1: the surface last night. But we've also seen large samples
Speaker 1: because of injuries to Malik, Munken, deer and Demart Derozen,
Speaker 1: we've seen large samples of more defensive groups around Fox
Speaker 1: and Sabonis, And in those groups they have a one
Speaker 1: zho six defensive rating, which is great, that's amazing, but
Speaker 1: they have only a one oh seven offensive rating in
Speaker 1: that group, which is terrible. And so that's really the
Speaker 1: biggest issue with this roster build. When you build the
Speaker 1: roster around guys like Deeron, like Malik, Monk and Demarta Rosen,
Speaker 1: who are legitimate one way players, like they are really
Speaker 1: high level offensive players that are just not going to
Speaker 1: do all that much fighting or competing on the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor. And then you have Sabonis who
Speaker 1: fights and competes on the defensive end but doesn't really
Speaker 1: have the ability. And then you have deeron Fox, who
Speaker 1: has the ability but has such a big offensive burden
Speaker 1: that it's hard to expect him to be an elite
Speaker 1: defensive player. He was really bad at the point of
Speaker 1: attack against Jamal Murray and crunch time last night, right, Like,
Speaker 1: but it's just a lot to ask because he's the
Speaker 1: guy who's got to generate the offense on the other
Speaker 1: end of the floor. But like, that's the thing is,
Speaker 1: like there's a lot of guys on this roster that
Speaker 1: either specialize in playing defense or specialize in playing offense.
Speaker 1: And if you can't put groups together that have guys
Speaker 1: that are willing to play on both ends of the floor,
Speaker 1: you're going to continue to have a lot of up
Speaker 1: and down results like the Kings have had all season
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Speaker 1: the Heat Pistons game just another wild game. So Bam
Speaker 1: hits a three above the break on the left wing,
Speaker 1: kind of a concession three at the beginning, and it
Speaker 1: puts the Heat up three and they never let again.
Speaker 1: In regulation, Kay Cunningham was doing a lot of work
Speaker 1: early in the game, attacking Tyler Harrow screening actions. When
Speaker 1: he gets switches, he'd take him to the block. He'd
Speaker 1: either draw a double team and kick out to a shooter,
Speaker 1: or he'd just shoot that little left shoulder hook over
Speaker 1: the top of Tyler Harrow or Miami started trying to hedge,
Speaker 1: meaning like have Tyler Harrow cut off Kad Cunningham's drive
Speaker 1: and then try to rotate. But then Kate started beating
Speaker 1: him by hitting the guy slipping out of that screen.
Speaker 1: A lot of early success for them with those actions,
Speaker 1: and then the Heat offense was sputtering early. Tyler Harrow
Speaker 1: was missing some good looks in the early part of
Speaker 1: the game. Jimmy wasn't very aggressive in the first few
Speaker 1: minutes of the game, so the Pissons end up taking
Speaker 1: a little bit of a lead. Kid did a lot
Speaker 1: of damage to the Heat with his passing, beating basic
Speaker 1: overhelp like he burned Jimmy Butler for helping off of
Speaker 1: Maligue Beasley a few times skip passes in ball screens.
Speaker 1: But he also did a ton of damage in transition,
Speaker 1: like kick ahead passes to rim runners, kick ahead passes
Speaker 1: to guys running in transition, and kind of like looping
Speaker 1: along the backside, kickhead passes to shooters run in the wing.
Speaker 1: He hit Simon Fontechio with the three on the left wing,
Speaker 1: and the first half is a nice little bit of
Speaker 1: four shadowing for what ended up happening in overtime, which
Speaker 1: we'll get to in a little bit. But the Pistons
Speaker 1: basically controlled things throughout. They survived all of Spolster's weirdness,
Speaker 1: They survived the zone that the Heat went to, and
Speaker 1: they tried to slow things down. They survived the full
Speaker 1: court presses that sort of thing, but then when they
Speaker 1: were up by nineteen with eight minutes left, they started
Speaker 1: to get really sloppy. Miami kept playing hard, and then
Speaker 1: things kind of went off the rails a few sloppy turnovers.
Speaker 1: Caide got ripped out by half court. They turned it
Speaker 1: over against Miami's full court press. One time, Simone Fotechio
Speaker 1: threw a kickout pass out of bounds when Malik Beasley
Speaker 1: was kind of relocating up the wing, and then they
Speaker 1: just completely let go of the rope on defense, like
Speaker 1: Tim Hardaway Junior had two possessions of really lazy defense
Speaker 1: against Tyler Harrow in one on one situations and he
Speaker 1: got like an easy mid range jump shot and an
Speaker 1: easy little eurostep floater. More foreshadowing because it kind of
Speaker 1: helped Tyler Harrow get a rhythm. And Tim Hardaway was
Speaker 1: just not playing good defense on those possessions, and then
Speaker 1: some really bad transition defense not running getting to the rim.
Speaker 1: Jalen Duran had a really bad one in that stretch
Speaker 1: where he was just jogging up the floor as they
Speaker 1: gave up a layup. I think to Terry Rogier if
Speaker 1: I remember correctly, but Miami started to cut the lead
Speaker 1: down and then suddenly it turned into like a single
Speaker 1: digits game. And then two things happened from there. Tyler Harrow,
Speaker 1: who was off all night again other than those two
Speaker 1: shots at Tim hard that he got on Tim Hardaway
Speaker 1: Junior there a few minutes prior, just gets unconsciously hot
Speaker 1: for a couple of minutes. Hit three straight really really
Speaker 1: difficult movement threes, one off the dribble, two off of
Speaker 1: the run that ended up the last one ended up
Speaker 1: tying the game and sending it to overtime. And again
Speaker 1: like rhythm is connective, Like I'm a big believer that,
Speaker 1: like if you let him get comfortable with a couple
Speaker 1: easy ones, he starts to confidence. That's a big part
Speaker 1: of how he ends up making big ones later. It's
Speaker 1: why you have to stay attentive throughout the entirety of
Speaker 1: the game and why it's so dangerous to get lazy
Speaker 1: at the end. And then while Tyler Harrow was hitting
Speaker 1: those shots on the other end of the floor of
Speaker 1: the Pistons offense really start stalled out, in large part
Speaker 1: because of a Star Thompson. Jimmy Butler was guarding usar
Speaker 1: Thompson for most of clutch time at the end of
Speaker 1: regulation and was just ignoring him and roaming around helping
Speaker 1: on CAID. And one of the things Asar did which
Speaker 1: is a problem and he's gonna have to learn about this,
Speaker 1: he was just parking himself in the weak side corner
Speaker 1: and not moving. Jalen Duran was setting what's called pinin flares.
Speaker 1: So basically Jimmy Butler is guarding Usar Thompson ignoring him
Speaker 1: to go help on CAD. Jalen Duran is backscreening his
Speaker 1: own man to make it so that he can't close
Speaker 1: out to Asar Thompson on the skip pass. And they
Speaker 1: did hit that skip pass once, but Kay didn't want
Speaker 1: to throw it. You know why Kate didn't want to
Speaker 1: throw it because Asar Thompson is a mediocre at best shooter,
Speaker 1: and so it's not what you want down the stretch.
Speaker 1: You don't want to have Usar Thompson shooting threes. And
Speaker 1: so this is where he needs to make better use
Speaker 1: of his talents as a cutter in those situations instead
Speaker 1: of sitting in the weak side corner and waiting on
Speaker 1: that pin and flare in the past to come over
Speaker 1: the top. Just flash flash to the high post. If
Speaker 1: you flash to the high post and you make yourself available,
Speaker 1: you'll catch as soon as you can. You turn and
Speaker 1: face the rim. When you turn and face the rim,
Speaker 1: Jalen Duran's man is probably going to step up. If
Speaker 1: he doesn't, you just shoot that little floater right in
Speaker 1: front of the rim and you have a two on
Speaker 1: one to get to the offensive glass. If he does show,
Speaker 1: you're dropping it off to Jalen Duran for a dunk.
Speaker 1: Make yourself available, cut move without the basketball. That's much
Speaker 1: better use of your athleticism than to just go stand
Speaker 1: in the corner where you're basically cutting the Miami Heat
Speaker 1: a break. The Pistons in general were very stagnant down
Speaker 1: the stretch of this game. Every time Caid was looking
Speaker 1: to attack a matchup, everyone was just standing around. Even
Speaker 1: on the possession where Cad did score at the end
Speaker 1: of regulation, the two free throws that he hit, it
Speaker 1: was a play where Drew Smith I think he was
Speaker 1: attacking Jimmy. Drew Smith was on Asar Thompson, completely ignores
Speaker 1: Lasar Thompson and goes in double teams. Cade just happens
Speaker 1: to trip over him and he ends up getting two
Speaker 1: foul shots, but like it was really stagnant, not a
Speaker 1: lot of movement. As I was watching the game, I
Speaker 1: was like, I bet you the Detroit Pistons are really
Speaker 1: bad cutting team. I went to Synergy and yes they are.
Speaker 1: They are twenty sixth in made baskets off of cuts
Speaker 1: this year. That's a sign that they need to just
Speaker 1: really improve their off ball movement. In overtime, Miami really
Speaker 1: methodically walked them down, actually went up by eight. But
Speaker 1: our second bit of foreshadowing comes into the occasion because
Speaker 1: all night long, Cad Cunningham had been throwing these beautiful
Speaker 1: kick ahead passes. In transition, he hits Tim Hardaway Junior
Speaker 1: on the left wing, who just rises up into a
Speaker 1: long like twenty seven footer and he nails it. All
Speaker 1: night long, Caate had been beating nail help and overhelp
Speaker 1: with swing passes. The second Tim Hardaway Junior three, Cad
Speaker 1: drives Tim Hardaway Junior's man helps at the nail kickout passes.
Speaker 1: Tim knocks down the three. That's the second one, and
Speaker 1: then the third one another transition kickhead three on the
Speaker 1: left wing that Tim Hardaway Junior hits just a textbook
Speaker 1: example of just hunting the hot hand and just taking
Speaker 1: the easy opportunities that were available there In transition, Bang
Speaker 1: bang bang. All of a sudden, Detroit is up by
Speaker 1: one point. Jimmy gets the lead back on a put
Speaker 1: back after Bam misses this really weird kind of fadeaway
Speaker 1: that I just don't know why he took. But then
Speaker 1: Caid makes a really nice read on a Terry Rogier
Speaker 1: a drive against Terry Rozier. It's kind of an interesting
Speaker 1: play because I believe Jimmy was fixing his shoe, so
Speaker 1: he's in the back court, so it's like a five
Speaker 1: on foward for the Pistons. On offense, Caid starts to
Speaker 1: drive down the right lane line and Tim Hardaway Junior
Speaker 1: is wide open on the left wing, and Malik Beasley
Speaker 1: is wide open on the right wing, and Bam had
Speaker 1: a bio's in help, and BAM's like Tim just hit
Speaker 1: three threes, so he's kind of lingering back towards Tim's
Speaker 1: side and as a result, he's just a step late.
Speaker 1: Cad identifies it, gets into Rogier's body and goes right
Speaker 1: to the rim and makes a little bank shot. Bam
Speaker 1: tries to come over and block it at the end,
Speaker 1: but he's just a step late because he was worried
Speaker 1: about that. Tim Hardaway junior piece really really smart read
Speaker 1: from Cad to take an easy two right at the
Speaker 1: rim rather than leaving it to shot variance at that point.
Speaker 1: And then Tyler Harrow missed a couple of easy looks
Speaker 1: down the stretch, and the Pistons ended up getting a win.
Speaker 1: Kind of felt like the right team won, like the
Speaker 1: Pistons outplayed them all night. There was just two crazy
Speaker 1: shooting streaks, right, like Harrow goes crazy hot and turns
Speaker 1: the surefire loss into an overtime win, and then Hardaway
Speaker 1: gets super hot and turns the Surefire loss in overtime
Speaker 1: to a Detroit win. But on the Detroit front, I thought,
Speaker 1: I thought this was a great example of how much
Speaker 1: the internal improvement is going to help the Pistons in
Speaker 1: the long run. I heard Kaden op presser, I think
Speaker 1: it was I think it was actually right after the
Speaker 1: game last night, but he was talking about how you
Speaker 1: can still get so much better, and he was talking
Speaker 1: about how when he watches film, he just constantly see
Speaker 1: things that like, man, I should have just done that,
Speaker 1: or I should have just done this, and it's like
Speaker 1: He's right, he still has so much to improve on,
Speaker 1: Like he had a couple of turnovers in the final
Speaker 1: five minutes of the fourth quarter, he lost track of
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler on a double team where he kind of
Speaker 1: like spun back into him, or just his floor awareness
Speaker 1: wasn't there, missed a couple of easy mid rangers down
Speaker 1: the stretch, and regulation, Like, there's a lot of things
Speaker 1: that he's gonna continue to get better at as time
Speaker 1: goes on. Asar Thompson learning how to be a threat
Speaker 1: off the ball, like we talked about, like screening and
Speaker 1: cutting instead of always spotting up. Cade, by the way,
Speaker 1: can really help with this coaching on the floor, like hey,
Speaker 1: come on, man, flash to the high post, make yourself available.
Speaker 1: We can do this easier. Jalen Duran just being sharper
Speaker 1: with his running habits, like staying on those details throughout
Speaker 1: the game. They just need a few more years of
Speaker 1: playing serious basketball to cut more and more of those
Speaker 1: mistakes out. And then lastly, you can see the natural
Speaker 1: fit of off ball scoring with Cade. All night long,
Speaker 1: Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Junior were capitalizing on really
Speaker 1: smart kickout rads from Caid cutting am this is why
Speaker 1: I've been talking about them drafting off ball scores. This
Speaker 1: is where as they slip down the draft order as
Speaker 1: they start to win more and more games. When you
Speaker 1: get start picking in that seven to fifteen range, that's
Speaker 1: where you have to start hunting the off ball scoring types,
Speaker 1: the six to seven to six to nine role players
Speaker 1: who at the D one level I've just been taking
Speaker 1: catch and shoot threes, driving closeouts, and competing on the
Speaker 1: defensive end of the flour. Those are the types of
Speaker 1: guys they need to be hunting now to complement the
Speaker 1: on ball scoring provided by Cad and Jaden. Again, just
Speaker 1: supplementing with those types of off ball scorers to kind
Speaker 1: of anchor them on the offensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: On the Miami Front, forget about all the wildness and
Speaker 1: crunch time. They just couldn't guard Detroit in the first
Speaker 1: three quarters. They got absolutely shredded in ball screens, they
Speaker 1: got absolutely shredded in transition, and then on the other end,
Speaker 1: they weren't really generating quality looks. Yeah, they went twelve
Speaker 1: for forty three from three, but they only generated ten
Speaker 1: unguarded catch and shoot jump shots in that whole game.
Speaker 1: They typically generate fourteen which is top ten in the league,
Speaker 1: but they were not generating them last night. But there
Speaker 1: are two pieces of upside I have for Heat fans. One,
Speaker 1: Tyler Harrow just continues to hit shots. Yes, he had
Speaker 1: a bad shooting night overall, but again, he hit five
Speaker 1: touch shots in the late fourth quarter that sent the
Speaker 1: game to overtime. That's a real hot streak. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's what's what's that thirteen points? Like it just on
Speaker 1: shot making there down the stretch and on the season now,
Speaker 1: like he's over forty one percent from three on over
Speaker 1: ten attempts per game. Both are career highs a career
Speaker 1: high forty eight percent from the field, a career high
Speaker 1: sixty three percent for shooting. It's six point two percent
Speaker 1: higher than his previous career high. He's their most reliable
Speaker 1: and dependable offensive player, which is crazy because it simply
Speaker 1: did not use to be the case. Very very optimistic
Speaker 1: sign for the Miami Heat's future. Good timing too, because
Speaker 1: I think this is a real pivot point for them
Speaker 1: and Jimmy Butler just massively increased his trade value last night.
Speaker 1: If a team like Phoenix or a team like Golden
Speaker 1: State was on the fence, Jimmy just dropped a thirty
Speaker 1: five nineteen to ten. Several huge buckets late did a
Speaker 1: lot to help Miami get a chance to win that game.
Speaker 1: Five steals in blocks in that game. Just such a
Speaker 1: high impact player, a couple of pieces of upside for
Speaker 1: the Miami Heat. All right, guys, that's all I have
Speaker 1: for today. As always, as sincerely appreciate you guys for
Speaker 1: supporting me and supporting the show. We'll be back tomorrow
Speaker 1: with a breakdown of the nd Season Tournament championship game.
Speaker 1: I'll see you guys. Then the volume