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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by Fan Duel
Speaker 1: here at the volume. Happy Monday, everybody. I hope all
Speaker 1: of you guys had a great weekend. We are live
Speaker 1: on AMP. Don't forget if you're watching on YouTube or
Speaker 1: listening on the podcast feeds that AMP is the very
Speaker 1: first place that you guys can get these shows. We
Speaker 1: have a Jampack show for you today. We're gonna hit
Speaker 1: three games from this past weekend. The New York Knicks
Speaker 1: went on the road to a red hot Lakers team
Speaker 1: and got a big win. Last night, the Brooklyn Nets
Speaker 1: went into Denver and got a big road win. I
Speaker 1: thought that was interesting from a tactical perspective because they
Speaker 1: went small in the second half and did a lot
Speaker 1: of damage to the Nuggets best five main groupings, which
Speaker 1: I want to dive into some of the basketball concepts
Speaker 1: surrounding that a little bit and just the danger that
Speaker 1: that presents Denver and some of the ways that they're
Speaker 1: going to have to adjust to that. And then, last,
Speaker 1: but not least, on Saturday night, the Sacramento Kings won
Speaker 1: in Phoenix. That was their eighth win and nine tries,
Speaker 1: which is the best record in the league since the
Speaker 1: All Star Break. Haven't talked a lot of Kings lately,
Speaker 1: so I want to dive into them a little bit
Speaker 1: deeper and talk about what I think their playoffs ceiling is.
Speaker 1: You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe
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Speaker 1: more of these videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore
Speaker 1: Jason lt so you guys don't miss any show announcements.
Speaker 1: And if for whatever reason, you guys miss one of
Speaker 1: these videos and you can't get back over to YouTube
Speaker 1: to finish. Don't forget. You can find them wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Under Hoops tonight, so let's talk some basketball.
Speaker 1: The Knicks got a huge win. They came in and
Speaker 1: threw an outstanding punch. I thought the Lakers were gonna
Speaker 1: win that game last night just because of the without
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson, them not having the same level of pull
Speaker 1: up shooting that you need to beat Darvin Hamm's defensive coverages.
Speaker 1: But you know a couple of things. Julius Randall, RJ.
Speaker 1: Barrett came in and just completely kicked the Lakers ass
Speaker 1: on offense. They combined for sixty three points, and I
Speaker 1: thought the story of the game was the perimeter defense
Speaker 1: of the Knicks versus the perimeter defense of the Lakers.
Speaker 1: I've talked a lot on this show about how I
Speaker 1: view the perimeter defense dynamic, like the line play dynamic
Speaker 1: and football Like a lot of times in football will
Speaker 1: talk about a quarterback and how he's getting rid of
Speaker 1: the ball too quickly and he's not throwing the ball
Speaker 1: down field and the offense is, you know, slowed down.
Speaker 1: But we won't acknowledge the fact that they can't run
Speaker 1: the ball because the defensive line is killing them, and
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks running for his life because the defensive line
Speaker 1: is killing them, and how that usually ends up being
Speaker 1: the primary driving force of how the game is going
Speaker 1: to play out. And we just as fans, focus on
Speaker 1: the skill players because that's just the easy way to
Speaker 1: direct our attention and we forget some of those details
Speaker 1: that are taking place. And basketball, the same thing happens
Speaker 1: all the time. You know, we'll be like, oh man,
Speaker 1: he missed that shot. This guy missed that shot, or
Speaker 1: oh man, this star is settling for this jumper settling
Speaker 1: for that jumper, and we don't acknowledge the fact that,
Speaker 1: like so many things about shot quality in the NBA,
Speaker 1: come down to dribble penetration. Are your guards getting downhill?
Speaker 1: Because if they're getting downhill, you're drawing in help defenders.
Speaker 1: If you're drawing in help defenders, the defenses in rotation.
Speaker 1: If the defense is in rotation, then your offensive players
Speaker 1: are attacking with an advantage. And if are attacking with
Speaker 1: an advantage, they're going to get higher quality shots. It's
Speaker 1: really that simple. And if you contain the basketball, suddenly
Speaker 1: those those downhill opportunities aren't there. You're not engaging help defenders,
Speaker 1: so no one's open, and since no one's open, the
Speaker 1: guy with the basketball ends up taking and settling for
Speaker 1: extremely difficult pull up jump shots. That's what that dynamic
Speaker 1: looks like, and way too often we ignore that dynamic.
Speaker 1: And you know, the Nicks have some really good perimeter
Speaker 1: defensive players, with Jalen Brunson out of manual quickly sliding
Speaker 1: into that starting point guard role. He's an outstanding perimeter defender.
Speaker 1: You know. RJ. Barrett, who's been an inconsistent offensive player
Speaker 1: in his career, is a good defensive player. Miles McBride,
Speaker 1: he's got a little bit undersize, but he's super quick,
Speaker 1: got as quick hands, is aggressive on the basketball, has
Speaker 1: got a good like stout low center of gravity, and
Speaker 1: is strong, so he's a good point of attack defender.
Speaker 1: And then one of the you know again, one of
Speaker 1: the more bizarre trades of his trade deadline, the Knicks
Speaker 1: going after Josh Hart, which was kind of like an
Speaker 1: all in type of move that none of us saw coming.
Speaker 1: Josh Hart is one of the better perimeter defenders in
Speaker 1: the entire game of basketball because he can do what
Speaker 1: those guards do and he can switch on to bigger
Speaker 1: wings and contain them on the perimeter. Not that he
Speaker 1: needed to do that last night against the Lakers much,
Speaker 1: although he had some battles with Ruby hat Chimura, but
Speaker 1: those that specific core for the Knicks put the Lakers
Speaker 1: guards in hell all night long. And the Laker guards
Speaker 1: are somewhat limited even with D'Angelo Russell Danzel, you know,
Speaker 1: with Lebron James being out and with Anthony Davis as
Speaker 1: great as he is, and he had a rough game
Speaker 1: last night, we'll talk about that in a little bit,
Speaker 1: but like as great as he is, he's not a
Speaker 1: guy that's a you know, that can break you down
Speaker 1: with the live dribble from the perimeter. I mean, he
Speaker 1: was struggling beating Isaiah Hartenstein off the dribble last night. Right, So,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you're looking at the guard corps
Speaker 1: as the primary offensive decision makers for the Lakers, And
Speaker 1: you know, D'Angelo Russell is a is a very good
Speaker 1: guard in this league, but he's not a top t
Speaker 1: your guard. And then all the other guys like Dennis
Speaker 1: Roeder and Austin Rees and Malik Beasley, like those are
Speaker 1: role player guards in this league. And so if you
Speaker 1: defend at an extremely high level on the perimeter, you
Speaker 1: can give the Laker offense a lot of problems, and
Speaker 1: they did. Any lineup they played three of three of
Speaker 1: those four guys for a good chunk of that game.
Speaker 1: Any lineup that had RJ. Barrett, Josh Hart, Miles McBride,
Speaker 1: and Isaiah Hartenstein, regardless of who the fifth man was,
Speaker 1: was plus fifteen in twelve minutes because of RJ. Barrett,
Speaker 1: Josh Hart, and Miles McBride and the job they were
Speaker 1: doing on the perimeter, and Isaiah Hartenstein containing Anthony Freakin.
Speaker 1: Davis I thought that was the difference in the game.
Speaker 1: There were a lot of wild swings, right like Julius
Speaker 1: Randall is red hot in the first half and De'angelo
Speaker 1: Russell was red hot in the first half, and there
Speaker 1: were these random swings there. RJ. Barrett kind of took
Speaker 1: over in the second half. But the primary driving force
Speaker 1: of the dynamic of that game and the way that
Speaker 1: the Knicks stayed in control for the most part was
Speaker 1: that perimeter defense and the fact that the Laker guards
Speaker 1: could not keep RJ. Barrett out of the lane, could
Speaker 1: not keep Emmanuel quickly out of the lane while on
Speaker 1: the other end of the floor. They were forcing D'Angelo
Speaker 1: russell and to pull up jump shots. They were forcing
Speaker 1: Dennis schroder and to pull up jump shots. The only
Speaker 1: guy that was really getting some dribble penetration was Austin Reeves.
Speaker 1: But even him, he struggled a little bit. He had
Speaker 1: three uncharacteristic turnovers trying to throw cross court passes over
Speaker 1: the Knicks length. That perimeter defense dynamic is what swung
Speaker 1: that game. Kind Of looking at the Knicks a little
Speaker 1: bit in the big picture, I think their defense is
Speaker 1: for real. When you combine what Mitchell Robinson kind of
Speaker 1: provides as an option in the front line, Isaiah Hartenstein
Speaker 1: is kind of a different type of option, and when
Speaker 1: you look at what they have on the perimeter defensively,
Speaker 1: their defense is for real. Everything for them comes down
Speaker 1: to shot creation. As I've talked about many times on
Speaker 1: this show. You know, obviously when they're healthy, it's Julius
Speaker 1: Randall and Jalen Brunson, but Emmanuel Quickly in RJ. Barrett
Speaker 1: in these recent weeks have done a pretty good job
Speaker 1: stepping into that that role in providing that little bit
Speaker 1: of offensive punch to give them a fighting chance in
Speaker 1: these games we've taught. I consider the Knicks to be
Speaker 1: their future to be entirely tied to their half court
Speaker 1: shot creation. I think they're gonna be able to fight
Speaker 1: in these rock fights with some of these other teams
Speaker 1: in the Eastern Conference. I know they're gonna be able
Speaker 1: to get enough stops. It's can they when they face
Speaker 1: a team like the Celtics, when they face a team
Speaker 1: like the Bucks, when they really lock down defensively, Whether
Speaker 1: it's the Bucks funneling everybody to Brook Lopez in the paint,
Speaker 1: or it's the Celtics in them having all the great
Speaker 1: perimeter defenders that they have. Regardless of which one of
Speaker 1: those teams it is they going, They're going to need
Speaker 1: to be able to get baskets consistently in the slowdown
Speaker 1: environment against those teams, and that comes entirely down to
Speaker 1: their shot creation. If they play the way they've been
Speaker 1: playing in the last month, they've got a chance. If
Speaker 1: they don't, they're going to get beat. That's really what
Speaker 1: it comes down to on the Laker front. Obviously, it's
Speaker 1: a disappointing loss because you've, you know, Laker fans and
Speaker 1: myself as someone who's been rooting for the Lakers. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you want to win that game. You're at home, it's
Speaker 1: the Knicks without Jalen Brunson, You've got an opportunity in
Speaker 1: the standing. So it's frustrating, But it was a weird night, Like, yes,
Speaker 1: the Knicks deserve a ton of credit, but there were
Speaker 1: a lot of Lakers that just had uncharacteristically bad nights.
Speaker 1: Like Anthony Davis seventeen points on eighteen shots. Wasn't nearly
Speaker 1: as impactful defensively around the rim as you would expect,
Speaker 1: and on offense, he really struggled with Isaiah Hartenstein. And
Speaker 1: I don't really think that's going to happen much in
Speaker 1: the future. Like that's a kind of a bizarre circumstance there.
Speaker 1: Troy Brown Junior, he came in shooting forty five percent
Speaker 1: from three on four attempts per game in his last
Speaker 1: seventeen games. He was over seven last night, and a
Speaker 1: lot of them were wide open looks. That's pretty unusual.
Speaker 1: Malike Beasley is shooting thirty two points six percent from
Speaker 1: three since coming to the Lakers on ninety two attempts.
Speaker 1: That there's got to be some positive regression there coming,
Speaker 1: and there's a separate conversation to have about whether Darvin
Speaker 1: Ham needs to cut his minutes a little bit, because
Speaker 1: when he's not making shots, he's just not nearly the
Speaker 1: same defensive player as the other Laker guards Jared Vanderbilt.
Speaker 1: That was the first time I've seen him really struggle
Speaker 1: with a defensive matchup since he came to the Lakers,
Speaker 1: really struggle with Julius Randall in the first half. I
Speaker 1: do want to say, though, that I thought that the
Speaker 1: whistle played a little bit of a factor. Julius Randall
Speaker 1: picked up I think he shot eight free throws in
Speaker 1: the first quarter. He picked up a couple of specific
Speaker 1: ticky tack fouls in the first quarter that I thought
Speaker 1: really kind of disrupted the rhythm of the game and
Speaker 1: got Julius Randall into rhythm. There was one where he
Speaker 1: kind of dropped his shoulder and just went to the
Speaker 1: left on Jared Vanderbilt, and Jared Vanderbilt took the contact
Speaker 1: in the middle of the chest and he got a foul.
Speaker 1: Didn't like that call. There's like a pump fake jumper
Speaker 1: in the lane in the first quarter that I didn't
Speaker 1: think was a foul. I think that one was on
Speaker 1: Ruby hat Tamura though, but that I do think that
Speaker 1: it was telling that in that specific matchup, again, Jared
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt's giving up some weight there, some size and strength
Speaker 1: to Julius Randall. He did struggle a little bit there.
Speaker 1: But what I will say though, is Lebron solves a
Speaker 1: lot of those problems, like Lebron giving them another big
Speaker 1: body to throw out Julius Randall, and we'll talk about
Speaker 1: what he does offensively in a little bit, but Jared
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt did struggle with that Julius Randall matchup. Austin Reeves,
Speaker 1: who's been surgical in the half court as of late,
Speaker 1: had three uncharacteristic turnovers. So a lot of guys had
Speaker 1: really bad nights. Honestly, the only guys for the Lakers
Speaker 1: that I thought played well last night were Ruey Hatchamura,
Speaker 1: Indiangelo Russell. And so when you have in a you know,
Speaker 1: nine ten man rotation or whatever it is, when you've
Speaker 1: got seven or eight guys playing poorly, it's just it's
Speaker 1: just gonna be really hard to win games. And honestly,
Speaker 1: I did. There were a lot of Laker fans that
Speaker 1: were criticizing Darvin Hamm. There were a lot of Laker
Speaker 1: fans that were criticizing their defensive effort. I didn't really
Speaker 1: think it was any of those things. Of course, the
Speaker 1: effort wasn't ideal, but effort is directly tied to the
Speaker 1: way the game is going to Like, when you can't
Speaker 1: get drivel penetration, it slows down your own rhythm, and
Speaker 1: when you're not playing as well off pensively, you're not
Speaker 1: as confident and energetic on the defensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: All those things are attached. I didn't think last night
Speaker 1: I had much to do with Darvin Hamm at all.
Speaker 1: There was a couple nitpicky things here, or they're rotation wise,
Speaker 1: or you know, I didn't like when they went zone
Speaker 1: when Julius Randall was off the floor, But those are
Speaker 1: just nitpicky things. I think Darvin Hamm's done a really
Speaker 1: good job, and that's not why they lost this game.
Speaker 1: The Knicks lockdown all of the Laker guards, a lot
Speaker 1: of Lakers played poorly, and the Lakers best players just
Speaker 1: didn't play well. If Anthony Davis goes out there and
Speaker 1: gives you thirty and seventeen, you win that game. That's
Speaker 1: just a fact. And so a lot of things just
Speaker 1: didn't go well. I don't want to overthink it. I
Speaker 1: will say though, like looking at the Lakers glass, I
Speaker 1: want to take a little bit of a zoom out
Speaker 1: look at the Lakers from a glass half full perspective
Speaker 1: and a glass fmty perspective. So glass half full. Obviously
Speaker 1: ad plays a bad game. He plays better, you win.
Speaker 1: He even said so after the game, He's like, we lost.
Speaker 1: That one's on me. I didn't play well. Specifically, some
Speaker 1: of the role player struggles were flukey, right, like Troy
Speaker 1: Brown Junior going over seven. That's not gonna happen often.
Speaker 1: Malik Beasley is going to be due for some positive regression.
Speaker 1: And then lastly Lebron being out. We just talked about
Speaker 1: how that might have helped as just another body to
Speaker 1: throw Julius Randall. But on the offensive end of the floor,
Speaker 1: when you have like why were the Knicks able to
Speaker 1: play three players six five and smaller on the perimeter defensively? Why? Well,
Speaker 1: the reason why is because the Lakers didn't have a
Speaker 1: real rim pressuring forward to attack those smaller guards. Like
Speaker 1: they went to Ruy Hatchimer in the post a few times,
Speaker 1: and you know he had a couple tough step backs
Speaker 1: and fade aways. But that's not a thing that you're
Speaker 1: gonna be able to run an entire offense around. And
Speaker 1: obviously Jared Vanderbilt is not an offensive weapon, and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis was matched up with the center all games. So
Speaker 1: like the real like, if your guards can't get dribble
Speaker 1: penetration and Anthony Davis can't create from with a live
Speaker 1: dribble from the perimeter, all of a sudden that rim
Speaker 1: pressuring forward becomes an absolutely vital position. And what ends
Speaker 1: up happening there is the way I talked about how
Speaker 1: you need to get the Knickson rotation right so you
Speaker 1: can get them flying around and get high quality shots.
Speaker 1: The only way you're doing that is throwing the ball
Speaker 1: to Lebron James and having him initiate stuff from the
Speaker 1: perimeter where even if they do contain him, he can
Speaker 1: pass over the top or he can back dudes down
Speaker 1: in the post to draw that help defender to then
Speaker 1: get the defense in rotation. Like Lebron fixes almost all
Speaker 1: of the problems that affected the Lakers last night. That's
Speaker 1: the glass half full way of looking at it. The
Speaker 1: glass half empty way is the Laker perimeter defense is
Speaker 1: not going to be fantastic, Like they'll have lineups that'll
Speaker 1: be good, like Dennis Schroeder and Austin Reeves. That's a
Speaker 1: good defensive backcourt that can hold their own. But offensively
Speaker 1: that's not enough. I think they're gonna probably end up
Speaker 1: going down in big games with DeAngelo Russell at the
Speaker 1: point and with Austin Reeves at the two. Austin Reeves
Speaker 1: solid perimeter defender, D'anzel Russell not so much right So, like,
Speaker 1: perimeter defense is going to be an issue for the Lakers,
Speaker 1: but that's set. They have an awesome backline defensively between
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt and Lebron James and Anthony Davis when they're healthy,
Speaker 1: they're gonna be okay there. They just can't afford Like
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis had a bad defensive game last night too.
Speaker 1: If Anthony Davis has a bad defensive game alongside poor
Speaker 1: perimeter defense, it's just gonna go poorly. But I do
Speaker 1: believe the Laker defense is going to be able to
Speaker 1: get a lot of stops when Anthony Davis is locked in,
Speaker 1: even with some limited perimeter defense, as we've literally seen
Speaker 1: in their defensive rating since the trade deadline. They've been
Speaker 1: able to get a lot of stops, but it's something
Speaker 1: to keep an eye on. And then lastly, the Lakers
Speaker 1: shot creation without Lebron. This is just the reality I
Speaker 1: have said many times over the course the last couple
Speaker 1: of weeks that the Lakers will struggle to consistently beat
Speaker 1: good teams until they have Lebron James back. And the
Speaker 1: main reason why is like they didn't have much of
Speaker 1: a chance at all without Daniel Russell. Now with Daniel Russell,
Speaker 1: they have a pretty decent chance in a lot of
Speaker 1: these battles, but they're not going to consistently win night
Speaker 1: in night out against good teams until they get Lebron.
Speaker 1: And it's really this simple. Anthony Davis cannot create offense
Speaker 1: with a live dribble from the perimeter. He needs to
Speaker 1: be set up, he needs to be tossed the ball
Speaker 1: on the block and provided the spacing to operate, and
Speaker 1: he needs to be a play finisher and pick and
Speaker 1: roll or working on the offensive glass. That's the only
Speaker 1: way he can really impact a game offensively. He is
Speaker 1: not a consistent spot up threat from the three point line,
Speaker 1: and he's not going to stare you in the face
Speaker 1: and break you down off the dribble. That's the biggest
Speaker 1: difference between between guys like him and Janis for instance.
Speaker 1: Right like that, that's going to be your fundamental difference there.
Speaker 1: I mean, even Joel Embiid throwing him the ball at
Speaker 1: the high post, he just has a whole other level
Speaker 1: that he can go to as an offensive initiator than
Speaker 1: a guy like Anthony Davis can. So that brings you
Speaker 1: to the guard corps. And again, Danzel Russell also reives
Speaker 1: Dennis Schroeder and Malik Beasley. They're fine. That's a perfectly
Speaker 1: fine guard core when you've got Lebron, James and Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: But when Lebron is out that that group has a
Speaker 1: certain ceiling to them, they'll win. I think they'll go
Speaker 1: about fifty fifty against good teams, and then they'll have
Speaker 1: a really good chance to win all the games against
Speaker 1: the bad teams. But until Lebron comes back, there's a
Speaker 1: certain ceiling to the way you can expect the Lakers
Speaker 1: to perform on the offensive end of the floor, especially
Speaker 1: when they run into teams with really good perimeter defenders.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's a coincidence that they lost to
Speaker 1: Minnesota the other night with Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards,
Speaker 1: and I don't think it's a coincidence. They lost last
Speaker 1: night to that Nick's defensive group that is so good.
Speaker 1: So they need Lebron back and they're going to need
Speaker 1: to kind of figure out how to address their perimeter
Speaker 1: defense concerns. I think the easy solution there is make
Speaker 1: sure you always have one of Austin Reeves or Dennis
Speaker 1: Schroeder out there in the big moments of the games
Speaker 1: at the end of games, which the easy solution there
Speaker 1: is you just go to Austin Reeves next to D'angela Russell.
Speaker 1: I think that's the direction they'll end up going. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on to Nets Nuggets. So the Nets won
Speaker 1: this game one twenty two to one twenty. The Nuggets
Speaker 1: were in pretty solid control. I think they were up
Speaker 1: seventy seven to seventy one at one point in the
Speaker 1: third quarter. They were really cooking the Nets with Yokis
Speaker 1: on the floor, especially in the first half. I think
Speaker 1: he was like a plus twenty in the first half
Speaker 1: of this game. But they Yokis picks up as a
Speaker 1: foul on Clackson gets him into foul trouble and Jack
Speaker 1: von audibles and goes small right. And I think the lineup,
Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, was Cam Johnson, Dorian Finney Smith,
Speaker 1: Spencer Dinwitty, and I believe it was Cam Johnson and
Speaker 1: Royce O'Neill. I think that was the five man group
Speaker 1: that they went with. And they immediately go on a
Speaker 1: twenty seven to ten run to end the third quarter.
Speaker 1: A couple of consistent problems that you would see. Centers
Speaker 1: in particular have notched have a different set of defensive
Speaker 1: instincts than guards do, right, Like, We've talked about this
Speaker 1: a lot from the Yoki's perspective on offense with inverted
Speaker 1: pick and roll, Like a lot of the reason why
Speaker 1: he has so much success running inverted pick and roll
Speaker 1: is like he's hands the ball and now you're asking
Speaker 1: a big man to navigate a ball screen as the
Speaker 1: on ball defender. It's just a weird thing for him
Speaker 1: to do, right Like, point guards have a certain tendency defensively,
Speaker 1: Wings have a certain tendency defensively. In bigs have a
Speaker 1: certain tendency defensively. The problem is is when you go
Speaker 1: five out offensively, suddenly there's no big man on the
Speaker 1: floor traditionally on the offensive end. So there's no guy
Speaker 1: screening and rolling to the rim, right, nobody's rolling to
Speaker 1: the rim. Ball screens are popping to the three point line,
Speaker 1: they're spacing you out. It's all driving kicked. The paint
Speaker 1: is unoccupied. And so one of the problems that big
Speaker 1: guys have in five out situations defensively is they default
Speaker 1: back to their natural big guy defensive principles when that's
Speaker 1: not gonna work because there's no big on the floor offensively.
Speaker 1: So a couple of consistent problems. We're hurting the Nuggets
Speaker 1: in this game. First of all, Spencer did what he
Speaker 1: kept getting Yokich on switches, and Yokis actually was doing
Speaker 1: okay against Spencer didn't. Now it's Spencer Dinwoody. If you
Speaker 1: get to a late round of a playoff series, it's
Speaker 1: not gonna be Spencer Dinwoody. It's gonna be someone like
Speaker 1: a you know, a Steph Curry. It's gonna be someone
Speaker 1: like a deer in Fox right, Like, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a much better guard that's gonna be on Yokich in
Speaker 1: those situations. But so let's let's look at it from
Speaker 1: this perspective, Denver was overhelping, right Like they were sending
Speaker 1: doubles to help Yokich every time he got switched on
Speaker 1: to Spencer Dinwoody, which was getting Brooklyn some open shots,
Speaker 1: and like, yeah, part of you as a Nuggets fan,
Speaker 1: like a lot of Nuggets fans, were like why were
Speaker 1: they doubling? Like I will live with Spencer Dinwoody Isoa
Speaker 1: Nickela Yokich all game long. Yeah, I agree with you,
Speaker 1: and it was a bad decision in this particular game,
Speaker 1: but that specific concept will happen in the late rounds
Speaker 1: of the postseason when it's not Spencer Dinwoody. It's a
Speaker 1: much better guard that is attacking Yokich in those switches.
Speaker 1: And then the second thing that was happening a lot
Speaker 1: is they would put Yokich in ball screens, and Yokich
Speaker 1: was guarding them the way a big man normally would
Speaker 1: in a ball screen, right like he would kind of
Speaker 1: do a catch headge, which is, you know, he basically
Speaker 1: is kind of like semi sort of in a high
Speaker 1: drop where he's containing the ball handler, but he's still
Speaker 1: kind of backpedaling and dropping back. And the Denver guards
Speaker 1: were chasing over the top, and they were leaving shooters
Speaker 1: open on those pick and pops because again, that big
Speaker 1: man's not rolling to the rim, it's a guard that's
Speaker 1: relocating to the three point line, and all five players
Speaker 1: in that Nets lineup could shoot, So they were relentlessly
Speaker 1: attacking Yokich. Some of it was decision making, right, Like
Speaker 1: I if I was Denver, I would have just switched
Speaker 1: all those screens and been like, try to iso Yokich
Speaker 1: all game long, be my guest, right, But that's not
Speaker 1: what happened, and they were really struggling because their defense
Speaker 1: was playing back to those four out one in principles
Speaker 1: despite them being in a five out situation. So that
Speaker 1: was the offensive side of the twenty seven to ten run.
Speaker 1: On the defensive end of the floor, Dorian Finney Smith
Speaker 1: did a really nice job fronting Yokis in the post
Speaker 1: and then the Nets were swarming around Yokis every time
Speaker 1: he catched the ball with doubles and then rotating out
Speaker 1: of it extremely well. That is a very good defensive group.
Speaker 1: Royce Neil excellent defensive player. Michael Bridges excellent defensive player.
Speaker 1: You know, Cam Johnson is Okay, Spencer Dinwood, he has
Speaker 1: actually been pretty good. You know, like they've got good defense,
Speaker 1: Dorian Finney Smith excellent defensive player, all really good defensive players,
Speaker 1: all really good athletes, so they can really fly around
Speaker 1: on the perimeter in those rotations, and they some of
Speaker 1: it was shot selection. Jamal Murray responded to the fronting
Speaker 1: of Yokich and the bracketing of Yokis by just jacking
Speaker 1: up a bunch of bad shots. That obviously is less
Speaker 1: than ideal. But they really struggled to score and that
Speaker 1: was kind of the genesis of the twenty seven to
Speaker 1: ten run. And I want to be clear, it wasn't
Speaker 1: just Yokich. They were like Michael Bridges was going right
Speaker 1: at Jamal Murray a lot on the offensive end of
Speaker 1: the flour Again, Denver's got entry points. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: a lot of Jamal Murray. It's gonna be a lot
Speaker 1: of Yokich having to guard on the ball when they
Speaker 1: get into the postseason. Then we get to the end
Speaker 1: of the game because Yokich comes back into the game
Speaker 1: in the middle of the fourth quarter and sends the
Speaker 1: Nuggets on a run and they get it back to
Speaker 1: I think it was one sixteen to one fifteen, So
Speaker 1: it was a winnable game. But when they got into
Speaker 1: one sixteen one fifteen, Nikola Yokis made two back to
Speaker 1: back defensive mistakes that cost them the game. The first
Speaker 1: one was both of them were Spencer didn't Wood he
Speaker 1: pick and rolls with Nikola Yokich's man, which I believe
Speaker 1: is Jordan Finney Smith. On the first one, Yokis comes
Speaker 1: up and sets the ball or Finney Smith comes up
Speaker 1: and sets the ball screen and didn't. He just comes
Speaker 1: off the ball screen and turns the corner on. Yokich
Speaker 1: actually beats him off the dribble, which is something that's
Speaker 1: going to happen, and he makes a kickout pass to
Speaker 1: the left wing. And what happens after he makes the
Speaker 1: kickout pass to the left wing, Spencer didn't. He kind
Speaker 1: of relocates to the short corner on the left side,
Speaker 1: and I can't remember who it was that had the ball,
Speaker 1: but they were being guarded by Christian Braun and they
Speaker 1: drive towards the middle, and in the process when they're
Speaker 1: driving towards the middle, Christian Braun kind of has it contained, right.
Speaker 1: But Yokis is a big man, and you know what
Speaker 1: big men are used to doing. They're used to guarding
Speaker 1: big men, and so they're used to lingering Aroun on
Speaker 1: the basket, and they're used to help in on drives,
Speaker 1: and so Yokeet's left Spencer Dinwoody just left him to
Speaker 1: go help Christian Braun on a drive that he didn't
Speaker 1: really need help with because that's his natural defensive instinct.
Speaker 1: Christian Braun made the nice little drop off past to
Speaker 1: Spencer Dinwoodie in the short corner, wide open, little sixteen
Speaker 1: foot jump shot, and he knocked it down. That was
Speaker 1: defensive mistake number one. The Nuggets actually go down and score.
Speaker 1: I think I think Yoki gets like an offensive remail
Speaker 1: put back on, like a misshook shot or something. They
Speaker 1: come back down. They were on the exact same action
Speaker 1: and on this play, Yokis takes a little bit more
Speaker 1: of an aggressive angle and has Spencer Dinwoody contained, but
Speaker 1: it's the same coverage and contagious called while Pope is
Speaker 1: chasing over the top of the screen and is staying
Speaker 1: with Spencer Dinwoody, So they're running basically like a high
Speaker 1: drop or a catch. Heage on Dinwoody and leaving Dorian
Speaker 1: Phinney Smith wide open on the right wing. Dinwood. He
Speaker 1: just does a spin back pivot, throws the passage Dorian
Speaker 1: Phinney Smith, he knocks down the three nets are up
Speaker 1: four with less than a minute left, and the game
Speaker 1: is over. And so again, even though they had some
Speaker 1: success there in the middle of the fourth quarter, Yokis
Speaker 1: was on the floor for that entire twenty seven to
Speaker 1: ten run, and he made the two biggest defensive mistakes
Speaker 1: down the stretch of that game, simply because they went
Speaker 1: to a five out offense for Brooklyn and Denver was
Speaker 1: kind of falling back on their natural four out one
Speaker 1: in defensive instincts. This is why I talk about this
Speaker 1: so much. You can put forth the facts simile of
Speaker 1: a decent defense in the NBA regular season. The Nuggets
Speaker 1: are sixteenth in defensive writing this season. That's not awful,
Speaker 1: like it's bottom half, but it's not awful, right, And
Speaker 1: there are only a few points away from being twelve
Speaker 1: or eleventh or whatever, right, So it's not like they're
Speaker 1: a bad defense in the regular season. But the way
Speaker 1: that they've been a decent defense in the regular season
Speaker 1: is they've found ways to keep Yokis around the rim
Speaker 1: and to cover for him in space and it hasn't
Speaker 1: been as much of an issue, but when you get
Speaker 1: to the postseason, it becomes a little bit more of
Speaker 1: a chess match, and there are specific ways to attack
Speaker 1: the Nuggets. It's going to take certain types of teams.
Speaker 1: It's gonna take a team that has the necessary perimeter
Speaker 1: talent to punish them, right, Like, I don't think the
Speaker 1: Memphis Grizzlies are going to be able to punish Nicola
Speaker 1: Yokich in the half court offensively. That's like, if they
Speaker 1: catch the right matchups, it might not even matter. But
Speaker 1: if they get against a team and they are a
Speaker 1: handful of teams, whether it's the Sacramento Kings, or if
Speaker 1: it's the Los Angeles Lakers or the Los Angeles Clippers
Speaker 1: or the Phoenix Suns, there are a handful of teams
Speaker 1: that will be able to put out some lineup groupings
Speaker 1: that are going to have enough perimeter talent to put
Speaker 1: this specific dynamic into play where they have to play
Speaker 1: five out basketball, and if they do, Denver can't rely
Speaker 1: on their base scheme that they use in the regular season.
Speaker 1: They're base scheme that they use in the regular season
Speaker 1: just got them absolutely barbecued by the Brooklyn nets they need.
Speaker 1: They need to be able to function five out. Their
Speaker 1: best bet is to be like fine, attack Yokich all
Speaker 1: game long, attack Murray all game long, Take bad isolation shots,
Speaker 1: and we'll probably still be able to win. But it's
Speaker 1: going they need to have more of that type of
Speaker 1: scheme prepared for that playoff situation. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: I'd like to see them here down the stretch of
Speaker 1: the regular season do a lot more switching. Put Yokis
Speaker 1: on an island more, at least practice it, because you're
Speaker 1: going to need to be able to do that in
Speaker 1: specific matchups when they get later into the postseason. You know,
Speaker 1: I had some Nuggets fans in my mentions earlier this morning,
Speaker 1: several of them that were like, like, oh, Yokis was
Speaker 1: a plus fourteen in this game, and like, look, man,
Speaker 1: Yokis is a plus plus minus machine. He's a positive
Speaker 1: and damn near every single one of his shifts the series.
Speaker 1: He's been the best player by plus minus in the
Speaker 1: league this year by a mile. But here's the reality
Speaker 1: of the situation. He was on the floor for that
Speaker 1: entire twenty seven to ten run, and he was directly
Speaker 1: responsible for the two biggest defensive mistakes of the game,
Speaker 1: and he was a six in the second half. So
Speaker 1: it's not like he could have run over to the
Speaker 1: scorers table and been like, hey, I was a plus
Speaker 1: fourteen tonight and they were going to switch the outcome
Speaker 1: in the standings. That's not how it works. I'm not
Speaker 1: concerned about the Nuggets as a whole in what they're
Speaker 1: capable of on both ends of the floor. In a
Speaker 1: eighty two game regular season, They've been the best team
Speaker 1: in the Western Conference by far. That goes without saying.
Speaker 1: What I am specifically saying is that they have some weaknesses.
Speaker 1: Every team in the West has weaknesses. That's why. And
Speaker 1: I said this. I went on with Mark Ryan with
Speaker 1: CBS Sports on a Saturday evening and one of the
Speaker 1: things I said to him was like, because his first
Speaker 1: question to me was like, why aren't people taking the
Speaker 1: Nuggets seriously? If the season ended today, I would pick
Speaker 1: the Nuggets to win the Western Conference. Yes I would,
Speaker 1: because Lebron's not healthy, Kevin Durant's not healthy, Andrew Wiggins
Speaker 1: is not even with the Warriors, and the Sacramento Kings
Speaker 1: are just a worse version of the Denver Nuggets. And
Speaker 1: the Clippers have this Russell Westbrook thing and they're a
Speaker 1: little bit inconsistent. There isn't anybody out there that looks
Speaker 1: better than the Nuggets, so they're the safest bet. And
Speaker 1: if the season ended today, I would pick the Nuggets,
Speaker 1: But obviously the season doesn't end today. Kevin Durant's coming back,
Speaker 1: Lebron James is coming back, right like the Clippers might
Speaker 1: decide to just bench Russell Westbrook entirely when they get
Speaker 1: into these specific situations, or maybe they figure out a
Speaker 1: way to use him in a way that's beneficial. I'd
Speaker 1: argue they already have to a certain extent. Maybe the
Speaker 1: Sacramento Kings start playing Kessler Edwards more and getting more stops,
Speaker 1: and maybe their offense suddenly becomes a bigger weapon. Things
Speaker 1: could change, And if they catch the right matchup, there
Speaker 1: is an opportunity there for teams to attack Denver in
Speaker 1: a five out setting by going after Jamal Murray, by
Speaker 1: going after Michael Porter Jr. And by going after Nicola Yokis.
Speaker 1: That's just a fact. And so we're going to talk
Speaker 1: about them and talk about what their upside is and
Speaker 1: what their downside is. They're upside is they win the West,
Speaker 1: and then they get into the finals and they you know,
Speaker 1: catch the They catch the Bucks and they're able to
Speaker 1: keep Nicola Yokis around the rim and everything works out
Speaker 1: fine defensively, and they win the title. That is an option,
Speaker 1: that is a real outcome. But it's also possible that
Speaker 1: they end up in a bad first round series against
Speaker 1: the Golden State Warriors and they pick them apart in
Speaker 1: five out. That's also on the table. And like, it
Speaker 1: is amazing to me how many Nuggets fans have ignored that.
Speaker 1: And I get it. You're a fan and you love Yokis.
Speaker 1: I know the feeling. Trust me, I get my own
Speaker 1: judgment clouded all the time with the Lakers and with
Speaker 1: Lebron right, But what I'm saying is is that, like,
Speaker 1: let's acknowledge, if, for what it is, they're the best
Speaker 1: team in the West, I pick them to win the
Speaker 1: conference today. They are extremely vulnerable. They are extremely vulnerable
Speaker 1: if they catch this a certain type of matchup. All right,
Speaker 1: before we get out of here today, let's talk King's sons.
Speaker 1: So the Kings of one eight out of nine instance,
Speaker 1: they all star break. That's the best record in the
Speaker 1: league over that span. Some quality wins in there too.
Speaker 1: They beat the Clippers twice, they beat the Pelicans, they
Speaker 1: beat the Knicks, they beat the Suns on Saturday. That's
Speaker 1: the game we're gonna talk about tonight. They won twenty
Speaker 1: eight to one. Nineteen seven Kings were in double figures
Speaker 1: in this game. Key adjustment down the stretches, Mike Brown
Speaker 1: went to Kessler Edwards. Didn't play very much of Keegan
Speaker 1: Murray or Kevin Hurder in this game, and Kessler Edwards
Speaker 1: did an outstanding job defending Devin Booker, and he made
Speaker 1: I think he made three two or three threes in
Speaker 1: the game as well, so like he was functional enough offensively,
Speaker 1: did not hurt them and was a much much better
Speaker 1: defensive player than Hurder or Kegan Murder. Right. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's funny because one of the things that one of
Speaker 1: the ways you can always tell a dude's playing really
Speaker 1: good defense on a star player is the type of
Speaker 1: shots that he's taking. Like there was a late isolation
Speaker 1: possession in the late fourth quarter where Kessela Edwards is
Speaker 1: matched up with Devin Booker, and Devin Booker ends up
Speaker 1: take like a ridiculously difficult step back three going to
Speaker 1: his right, and like, that's always the thing you can
Speaker 1: keep an eye on, when you can tell when a
Speaker 1: guy's got a really good matchup versus a guy who's
Speaker 1: doing a really good job defensively. I'll give you an
Speaker 1: example later. I can't remember if it was earlier or
Speaker 1: later in the game, but in the same crunch time period,
Speaker 1: there was a play where Darren Fox got switched on
Speaker 1: to Tory Craig, and Tory Craig is has no hope
Speaker 1: in hell at guarding Darren Fox, and Darren hit him
Speaker 1: with a left or right crossover and got like ten
Speaker 1: feet of separation and rose up and knocked down the shot.
Speaker 1: It was a straight up and down, wide open seventeen
Speaker 1: footer because he was able to get a ton of
Speaker 1: separation with Kessler Edwards and Devin Booker. Devin Booker couldn't
Speaker 1: get separation from him and so he had to take
Speaker 1: an extremely difficult, nearly impossible, stepping fading jumper to his
Speaker 1: right from three right. That's kind of like the way
Speaker 1: that dynamic looks for me. But shout out to Kesler Edwards.
Speaker 1: He hasn't played a ton since coming over, but he
Speaker 1: did a really good job and he was one of
Speaker 1: the big reasons why the Kings won this game knocked
Speaker 1: down the biggest shot of the game too, a kickout
Speaker 1: pass off of a double team in the right corner.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about that in just a minute. One of
Speaker 1: the things that stood out to me from the Sun's
Speaker 1: perspective in this game is just without Kevin Durant, how
Speaker 1: poor they look at the forward position. Big shock. I mean,
Speaker 1: when you trade all your forwards to get the best forward,
Speaker 1: maybe depending on who you ask, When you trade all
Speaker 1: of your forwards to get the best forward and then
Speaker 1: the best forward doesn't play, then suddenly you're playing all
Speaker 1: your bench forwards, right, So like I mean, there was
Speaker 1: a steady diet of like Tory Craig and Ishwayne Wright
Speaker 1: and Josh Akog and some Terrence Ross down the stretch
Speaker 1: of this game. And Terence Ross couldn't stay on the
Speaker 1: floor because he couldn't defend, and then the Kings just
Speaker 1: weren't even guarding the other three guys, Ishwayne Right, Josh
Speaker 1: Cog and Tory Craig were wide open pretty much the
Speaker 1: entire fourth quarter. They were loading up on the Booker
Speaker 1: and Paul actions, and those guys got great looks and
Speaker 1: they just couldn't make up those four guys combined to
Speaker 1: go two for ten from the field in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: Down the stretch particularly, they went with Jo Shakogi and
Speaker 1: Tory Craig, and they just couldn't get a quality look
Speaker 1: because they were just ignoring them. I think Josh Cog
Speaker 1: mister corner three. I think Tory Craig mister corner three.
Speaker 1: Just in those last few possessions it was bad. So
Speaker 1: like Katie coming back obviously helps that. And I always
Speaker 1: look at it as like the kind of like the
Speaker 1: aggregate ball handling of the group. I'll talk about this
Speaker 1: with the Lakers. A lot like Jared Vanderbilt is a
Speaker 1: real problem offensively, right, But if he's alongside Anthony Davis, Lebron,
Speaker 1: James Austin Reeves and DeAngelo Russell, there's so much offensive
Speaker 1: skill around him that it'll be fine. And that's kind
Speaker 1: of the way I look at it from the Sun's perspective.
Speaker 1: If Kevin Durant is in for Tory Craig and that's
Speaker 1: Josh Akogi is the one week link. Offensively, I think
Speaker 1: it all works. But when you have to put two
Speaker 1: guys like that out there, that's when things just kind
Speaker 1: of drop below that minimum level of acceptable offensive talent
Speaker 1: to be able to contend against good teams. But the
Speaker 1: Kings continue to be ridiculously good in clutch situations down
Speaker 1: the stretch. It was one fifteen, one fifteen, and the
Speaker 1: King scored on four straight possessions and three of them
Speaker 1: were outstanding shot quality, only one of them was tough.
Speaker 1: So I wanted to kind of go play by play
Speaker 1: through that really quick. So when it was one fifteen,
Speaker 1: one fifteen, they start by running a Molique Monk and
Speaker 1: Sabonis pick and roll, and this was the play that
Speaker 1: got Terrence Ross out of the game. The Molique Monk
Speaker 1: got downhill way too easy, engaged the screen defender, just
Speaker 1: throw a little shovel pass to Sabonis who got a
Speaker 1: wide open layup. Right next possession down the floor, Darren
Speaker 1: Fox runs a pick and roll with Demonus Sabonis and
Speaker 1: they actually defend it really well. This is the one
Speaker 1: possession that they forced the Kings into a tough shot.
Speaker 1: They contained the pick and roll. Deandreton recovers back to Sabonis.
Speaker 1: Sabonis is now stuck in the post shot, clocks winding down,
Speaker 1: and he just kind of like orients himself and hits
Speaker 1: Eton with the shoulder and comes way out wide with
Speaker 1: this lefty hook and he puts it in tough shot,
Speaker 1: you know. But from there, Darren Fox started going at
Speaker 1: Tory Craig, so he starts calling these ball screens to
Speaker 1: get switches. He gets switched on to Tory Craig. First
Speaker 1: play is the one I told you guys about early
Speaker 1: hits Tory Craig with the left or right crossover buckles.
Speaker 1: Zim gets all this separation knocks down the jump shot.
Speaker 1: So then the very next possession they go at Tory
Speaker 1: Craig again, get the switch, and the Suns had to double,
Speaker 1: and when they doubled, it was swing, swing, wide open
Speaker 1: three for Kessler Edwards that ended up being the dagger.
Speaker 1: So like the level of offense, it's not hard to
Speaker 1: see why this works. The Kings are now twenty two
Speaker 1: and fourteen in clutch games. That's the sixth best win
Speaker 1: percentage in the league in those situations. They have a
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty nine offensive rating in clutch situations, which
Speaker 1: is the best in the league by a mile. That's
Speaker 1: eleven point four points better than the second best clutch
Speaker 1: offense in the league. And to me, it's really simple.
Speaker 1: It's an outstanding pick and roll duo. Darren Fox, who
Speaker 1: you have to chase over the screen, which is going
Speaker 1: to get him downhill right, and Demonus a Bonus who
Speaker 1: can catch and finish everything around the rim, is an
Speaker 1: outstanding screener to get Darren Fox position. And you can't
Speaker 1: switch the pick and roll because if you switch it,
Speaker 1: Darren Fox is gonna kill you an ISO or Demonus
Speaker 1: a Bonus is gonna kill you in a post. So
Speaker 1: like that dynamic is just a huge pain in the
Speaker 1: ass for every team. And what makes it work is
Speaker 1: Sabonis can finish everything around the rim, and he can
Speaker 1: make all those quick little hook shots in the lane
Speaker 1: against switches and deer. And Fox has a great pull
Speaker 1: up jump shot that he can use in ball screens
Speaker 1: when he gets too much separation, and that he can
Speaker 1: beat people with an ISO, and he can get all
Speaker 1: the way to the rim to such a ridiculous extent
Speaker 1: that guys play off of him because how quick he is.
Speaker 1: Oh and even if he gets into your chest, he
Speaker 1: can stop short and kind of pull up and make
Speaker 1: that little short, little left handed float or in the lane,
Speaker 1: the offensive skill set of those two makes it extremely
Speaker 1: difficult to guard them, which starts bringing extra defenders into
Speaker 1: the play. And they're always surrounded by three great shooters,
Speaker 1: whether it's Harrison Barnes or whether it's Kevin Herder or
Speaker 1: today or last night it was you know, Kessler Edwards. Like,
Speaker 1: regardless regardless of who it ends up being, they went
Speaker 1: with a lot of Molik Monk in the clutch situations
Speaker 1: this year the league. Monka is obviously a dead eye shooter,
Speaker 1: can also run a little second side action if Daron
Speaker 1: Fox gives the ball up. They're just an extremely difficult
Speaker 1: team to guard in clutch situations. I don't think it's
Speaker 1: I don't think that's flukey. Like if if the Kings
Speaker 1: can somehow find themselves getting into late game situations and
Speaker 1: the clutch, obviously their defense is gonna be a problem,
Speaker 1: but their offense is going to give them a chance
Speaker 1: to win playoff games down the stretch. Darren Fox has
Speaker 1: made sixty five clutch field goals this year, which is
Speaker 1: twenty one more than the next best guy in the league.
Speaker 1: He's shooting fifty four percent in those situations. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: talked a little bit about what he can do an
Speaker 1: Ione pick and roll with his skill set. Here's where
Speaker 1: I'm at with the Kings. Do I think they can
Speaker 1: win the West? Sure, But that mainly has to do
Speaker 1: with the fact that the West is a shit show.
Speaker 1: I think that the Kings of like, there's no reason
Speaker 1: why I should theoretically believe in teams below them, right,
Speaker 1: Like the Warriors are incredibly unathletic without Andrew Wiggins, and
Speaker 1: who knows when he's gonna come back. Lebron's out, Kevin
Speaker 1: Durrant's out. We talked, We talked about all that stuff.
Speaker 1: Everybody below the top of the West has so many
Speaker 1: question marks that like, yeah, any of those teams could
Speaker 1: win the West, but they could just as easily lose
Speaker 1: in the play in or or lose in the first round,
Speaker 1: like all those teams. You know how much I believe
Speaker 1: in their ceiling. I think the Suns can win the title.
Speaker 1: I think the Clippers can win the title. I think
Speaker 1: the Warriors can win the title. I think the Lakers
Speaker 1: can win the title, but they just have so many
Speaker 1: question marks. And then between Denver and Sacramento, I think
Speaker 1: Denver's better and I'd picked them if they ended up
Speaker 1: in a Western Conference Finals matchup, but Sacramento presents some
Speaker 1: of those specific issues we talked about earlier with Denver
Speaker 1: in five out situations with a much better guard initiating
Speaker 1: things in deer and Fox, So they have a puncher's
Speaker 1: chance to win that series. And then yeah, in the finals,
Speaker 1: it gets extremely tough because now, like I think, I
Speaker 1: think they would have almost zero percent chance of beating
Speaker 1: Boston and Milwaukee. So I kind of put their ceiling
Speaker 1: at can they win the West, yes? Can they win
Speaker 1: the Finals? No? And the real thing that's holding them
Speaker 1: back once again continues to be the defense. Even in
Speaker 1: this eight in one stretch post All Star Break, they
Speaker 1: are twenty seventh in defensive rating. They haven't had a
Speaker 1: single encouraging stretch of defense during the season. Their best
Speaker 1: defensive month was December they were fourteenth, But they've been
Speaker 1: in the bottom half of the league every other month
Speaker 1: in four of the six seasons. This month or months
Speaker 1: this season, they've been in the bottom ten in defensive rating.
Speaker 1: It really comes down to front court. I actually think
Speaker 1: the guards have done a decent job. You've seen a
Speaker 1: little bit of Terrence Davis, You've seen a little bit
Speaker 1: of Davion Mitchell. Darren Fox is playing really good defensively
Speaker 1: as of late. Their guards are competing. But it comes
Speaker 1: down to that same concept that I've talked about forever.
Speaker 1: Look back at NBA history from now every year back
Speaker 1: who is the defensive front court? Last year Draymond Greene
Speaker 1: that one of the best defensive players of all time,
Speaker 1: with Kevin Luny a good defensive front court player. Year
Speaker 1: before Janison brook Lopez arguably the best defensive front court
Speaker 1: to ever win a championship, right depending on who you ask,
Speaker 1: Lebron and Anthony Davis in twenty twenty, Kawhi Leonard and
Speaker 1: Sergebaca in twenty nineteen, the Warriors again in twenty eighteen
Speaker 1: and twenty seventeen. Except for now it's Draymond and Kevin Durant.
Speaker 1: You know, Lebron James and Tristan Thompson in two thousand
Speaker 1: and sixteen, that back when Lebron was an otherworldly defensive player.
Speaker 1: Draymond green again in two thousand and fifteen, Tim Duncan
Speaker 1: in two thousand and fourteen, Boshon Lebron in two thousand
Speaker 1: and thirteen, boshon Lebron in two thousand and twelve. You
Speaker 1: know Sean Marion and Tyson Chandler in two thousand and
Speaker 1: eleven byonhum Gasol byonhum Gasol, Kevin Garnett, we like Tim Duncan,
Speaker 1: we can go on forever you need. You're not winning
Speaker 1: a championship in the NBA unless you have an outstanding
Speaker 1: defensive front court. The Kings, it's Harrison, Barnes and demonis
Speaker 1: a bonus. So that's ultimately what's holding them back. In
Speaker 1: the NBA, your forwards are what contain pick and roll actions.
Speaker 1: They're what help around the rim, and then when the
Speaker 1: defense gets in rotation, they have to be able to
Speaker 1: cover ground and drive and kick basketball. You can't win
Speaker 1: unless you have excellent players in those positions. That's what's
Speaker 1: holding them back. So I've enjoyed watching the Kings. We're
Speaker 1: gonna cover them very closely Kings fans. We will cover
Speaker 1: every single playoff game for the Kings this year. We'll
Speaker 1: do film, deep dives, we'll do instant reactions. It's just
Speaker 1: I mean, like, as I'm curious if you're a Kings fan,
Speaker 1: put it in the comments, like do you think they
Speaker 1: can win the title with the Harrison Barnes demonus a
Speaker 1: bonus front court defensively, do you think they can? And
Speaker 1: let's be honest and let's have a conversation about it.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, That's all I have for tonight. As always,
Speaker 1: that sincerely appreciate your support. Rest of the schedule for
Speaker 1: this week daytime shows Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, taking Friday off,
Speaker 1: probably gonna have a video Saturday night after Warrior's Grizzlies,
Speaker 1: and then taking Sunday off before we go into next week.
Speaker 1: As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys, and I will
Speaker 1: see you tomorrow morning. The Volume