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Speaker 2: All right, well hoops tonight you're at the volume. Happy
Speaker 2: two to everybody. Hop all of you guys are having
Speaker 2: a great start to your week. Got a jam packs
Speaker 2: show for you guys.
Speaker 1: Today.
Speaker 2: We're hitting both of the games that we're in series
Speaker 2: that I view as more competitive that being the Bucks
Speaker 2: Pacers and the Lakers Wolves. Obviously, thanks to the NBA
Speaker 2: TV conundrum, had to pick one of the two early
Speaker 2: Slate games, and I think, okay, so he's just gonna
Speaker 2: kick the shit out of Memphis as they've continued to do.
Speaker 2: So we're gonna be focusing on Bucks Pacers and Lakers
Speaker 2: Wolves tonight, and then, like we did last night, at
Speaker 2: the tail end of the show, Jackson's gonna come on
Speaker 2: and we're gonna take you know, ten to fifteen minutes
Speaker 2: worth of questions. So make sure you guys stick around.
Speaker 2: All you gotta do is subscribe to the channel and
Speaker 2: then drop your questions in the chat and then we'll
Speaker 2: hit them at the end. You guys know the job
Speaker 2: before we get started. Subcribe to the Hoops and Oight
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Speaker 2: Follow me on Twitter at underscore JSNLT so you guys
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Speaker 2: also super helpful if we leave a rating and a
Speaker 2: review on that front. Jackson's doing incredible work on our
Speaker 2: social media feeds. On Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Make sure
Speaker 2: you guys follow us there. In the last but not least,
Speaker 2: keep dropping mail back questions in the YouTube comments so
Speaker 2: we can get to them in our mail bags throughout
Speaker 2: the remainder of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So,
Speaker 2: as I mentioned after Game one, after I rewatched the
Speaker 2: game and I went down and I took the time
Speaker 2: to really sift through the tape, the number one thing
Speaker 2: that stood out to me there were some schematic things, like,
Speaker 2: you know, over helping off of nas Red in particular
Speaker 2: nas Reed, the specific offensive approach of focusing on attacking bigs,
Speaker 2: particularly with Lebron versus attacking in the post. There were
Speaker 2: a couple like things that stood out to me, but
Speaker 2: by far the biggest one was just the intensity. They
Speaker 2: just did not meet the moment. They didn't look ready
Speaker 2: for playoff basketball, and so we all knew the Lakers
Speaker 2: were going to bring the requisite intensity coming into Game two,
Speaker 2: and so honestly, coming into tonight, I didn't have a
Speaker 2: good feel for what tonight was gonna look like. I
Speaker 2: viewed tonight as kind of more of like an introductory
Speaker 2: look at what it looks like when both of these
Speaker 2: teams are playing with insane intensity and what it looks like,
Speaker 2: and it turned into just an incredibly ugly basketball game
Speaker 2: and a knockdown, drag out fistfight of a game. And
Speaker 2: I'll lead with this because I said coming into the
Speaker 2: series that I thought this was a good matchup for
Speaker 2: the Lakers on both ends of the flour and this
Speaker 2: is going to be the first series that I'm gonna
Speaker 2: just admit that I'm wrong already. I don't see any Obviously,
Speaker 2: the Lakers could theoretically could win both in Minnesota and
Speaker 2: then come home and close it out and win five.
Speaker 2: I would be shocked if the Lakers won this series
Speaker 2: in five games. I think if the Lakers get it done,
Speaker 2: it's going to be more like a six or seven
Speaker 2: game type of series. This is definitely not going to
Speaker 2: be easy for either team. The reality is is that
Speaker 2: when the Lakers really tighten the screws defensively, Minnesota struggles
Speaker 2: to score. But as we saw at least through two games,
Speaker 2: when Minnesota really tightens the screws, the Lakers really struggle
Speaker 2: to score. And that's really the give and take that
Speaker 2: I always talk about in these series. Which team can
Speaker 2: cause more problems for the other team, and I've seen
Speaker 2: plenty from the first two games to feel like Minnesota
Speaker 2: can cause some real problems for this team really on
Speaker 2: both ends of the floor. And so with that being
Speaker 2: the case, I think this is gonna be just an
Speaker 2: absolute knockdown, drag out, two week long fistfight of a series.
Speaker 2: And this is where if you're rooting for the Lakers,
Speaker 2: it's an upside that you ran into this type of
Speaker 2: matchup in the first round because you have a little
Speaker 2: bit more rest, right Like, as the series drags on,
Speaker 2: that rest becomes a little bit harder to come by,
Speaker 2: but you have two days off now between tonight in
Speaker 2: Game three, So like Game three is your opportunity to
Speaker 2: try to regain home court off of two full days
Speaker 2: of rest that they're gonna get, or at least one
Speaker 2: full day, but if they practice on the other day.
Speaker 2: And so I think it's gonna be one of those
Speaker 2: things where if you're a Lakers fan, you gotta be
Speaker 2: thinking about surviving this series in a way that when
Speaker 2: you run into let's say it's Golden State in round two.
Speaker 2: Golden State's an elite defense, but they're substantially smaller, and
Speaker 2: you run into potentially an OKC in the Conference finals.
Speaker 2: They're an elite defense, but they're substantially smaller. The specific
Speaker 2: problem that the Lakers are running into is that they're
Speaker 2: a little bit they're having a little bit of a
Speaker 2: problem compromising the size mismatches on the floor. Now, there's
Speaker 2: a certain element to this that we can get into
Speaker 2: involving the process.
Speaker 1: The Lakers are.
Speaker 2: Still just not even looking to attack Dante DiVincenzo, Mike Conley, Nikkeil,
Speaker 2: Alexander Walker, any of Minnesota's smalls, and so maybe that's
Speaker 2: the dynamic that could be something that the Lakers pull
Speaker 2: out later in the series. I've been thinking a lot
Speaker 2: about this, like why hasn't Lebron been posting up? I
Speaker 2: don't understand why he hasn't been looking to do it
Speaker 2: at all. He did it once late in the game
Speaker 2: to Nikkeile Alexander Walker. That was a play where he
Speaker 2: knocked him over, and as as Nikil fell over, it
Speaker 2: just caused Lebron to lose his rhythm and then he
Speaker 2: ended up shooting that awful looking super short jump shot.
Speaker 2: But like Lebron pretty much hasn't gone to that. My
Speaker 2: working theory is that it has to do with the
Speaker 2: specific way that he heard his growing if you remember
Speaker 2: he heard his groin on a pivot move against Al
Speaker 2: Horford in that Celtics game. And so there might be
Speaker 2: a certain amount of Lebron just not trusting is groin
Speaker 2: to post up. But it's very possible, especially if Minnesota
Speaker 2: wins this tug of war over the course of the
Speaker 2: next few games, that Lebron has to take that out
Speaker 2: of the bag and that Luca has to take it
Speaker 2: out of the bag. Luca talked after the game Taylor
Speaker 2: Rooks asked him about attacking Gobert and the crowd getting
Speaker 2: all hyped, and he's like, you know, I love to
Speaker 2: attack centers, and it's like that's great. But you know,
Speaker 2: over the course of that game, go Bear held up
Speaker 2: pretty well at times, and they were bringing late help
Speaker 2: to the Wolves, were bringing like right at the last second,
Speaker 2: if Luca got into the short to mid range just
Speaker 2: right as he was going up with the shot, someone
Speaker 2: else would come in. He ended up drawing a foul
Speaker 2: on one of those early in the game. But there's
Speaker 2: a certain amount of right now, this Lakers approach of
Speaker 2: hunting the Minnesota bigs in space. You scored ninety four
Speaker 2: points tonight, there were some highlights. You know, Luca at
Speaker 2: one point looked over at the Minnesota bench and started
Speaker 2: yelling about how you need a sub him out of
Speaker 2: the game, and it's like, overall the strategy is still
Speaker 2: from Minnesota, making things difficult at a certain point. I
Speaker 2: think Lebron and Luke are gonna have to make a
Speaker 2: more concerted attempt to attack the Minnesota smalls a little
Speaker 2: bit closer to the basket where their size is more
Speaker 2: of a factor. I mean, even when you factor in
Speaker 2: just the way this series is playing out physically, it
Speaker 2: would just be easier if you didn't have to, you know,
Speaker 2: take those extra bumps and bruises on ISOs against Biggs,
Speaker 2: But if you were taking those against a player that's,
Speaker 2: you know, forty to fifty pounds lighter than you, it's
Speaker 2: something to look into just in general. But yeah, again,
Speaker 2: like my first series prediction that I want to change,
Speaker 2: I don't think the Lakers are winning this thing in five.
Speaker 2: I think it's going to be much more of a knockdown,
Speaker 2: drag out fight type of series. And that was just
Speaker 2: a misread on my part before the series, not accounting
Speaker 2: enough for just the unrelenting physicality that Minnesota brings to
Speaker 2: the table. I brought it up so many times during
Speaker 2: the regular season too. It's probably just a little bit
Speaker 2: of fangoggles there from Jason, but the Lakers strategy a
Speaker 2: couple of interesting things.
Speaker 1: A little more staying home.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you guys noticed that, a little
Speaker 2: less just obsessively packing the paint, a little bit more
Speaker 2: counting on guys to defend on an island. So as
Speaker 2: a result, Aunt and Julius got some easier opportunities. The
Speaker 2: two of them had high scoring totals in this game.
Speaker 2: Ant was able to get into the paint for easy
Speaker 2: layups a bunch of times in this game. Julius Randall
Speaker 2: did a ton of damage in the post. Those two
Speaker 2: guys go for fifty two, but there isn't a single
Speaker 2: Timberwolveh scored over ten points. And so going back to
Speaker 2: what we saw in game one, just on a real
Speaker 2: basic level, strategically, just look at the total of points.
Speaker 2: You just were able to hold Minnesota down, even though
Speaker 2: Aunt and Julius were more comfortable over the course of
Speaker 2: the game. But even within that context, there was a
Speaker 2: lot of mixing up coverages, a lot of zone defense.
Speaker 2: I shouldn't say a lot, but there are a few
Speaker 2: possessions of zone defense mixed in, a few random doubles
Speaker 2: mixed in, but the majority of it was just meeting
Speaker 2: the moment with the requisite intensity right right out the gates.
Speaker 2: The Lakers finally showed up to the playoffs physically, and
Speaker 2: as you saw over the course of the series or
Speaker 2: over the course of the game, Minnesota does have substantial
Speaker 2: strength advantages in a bunch of different spots on the
Speaker 2: floor that are manifesting with wearing them down at times.
Speaker 2: But the Lakers obviously have this clear aggregate skill advantage.
Speaker 2: The Lakers just have a little bit more at every
Speaker 2: position in terms of skill. Lebron is just a smarter,
Speaker 2: connective playmaker, just an overall smarter player than Julius Randall,
Speaker 2: Lucas just a more polished half court surgeon than Anthony Edwards,
Speaker 2: like Austin Rui, these guys, they're a little bit better offensively,
Speaker 2: and so that's going to be the tug of war
Speaker 2: of this series. As the Lakers match Minnesota's physicality, They're
Speaker 2: going to be able to take control for stretches right
Speaker 2: as Minnesota's physicality overwhelms the Lakers. That's when Minnesota will
Speaker 2: take control of the series, and that's going to be
Speaker 2: the tug of war. And that's one of the big
Speaker 2: reasons why I talked about earlier the specific cadence of
Speaker 2: the first round as an upside for the Lakers in
Speaker 2: this particular series. But again, like as I talked about
Speaker 2: in the episode that we did last night talking Clippers Nuggets, like,
Speaker 2: so much of this is not about coming up with
Speaker 2: some game plan adjustment, Like, yeah, the staying home, letting
Speaker 2: Aunt and Julius have a little bit more space. That
Speaker 2: was a strategy that had some positive impact tonight, the
Speaker 2: mixing up coverages that had some positive impact tonight. But
Speaker 2: the reality is they could have gone with the exact
Speaker 2: same game plan from Game one, but brought this level
Speaker 2: of intensity and it could have worked better, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean. Like, ultimately, especially when you're looking at
Speaker 2: the difference between those two performances for the Lakers, most
Speaker 2: of it came down to them just inevitably getting to
Speaker 2: the point where they showed up in the series physically
Speaker 2: and started to compete. Austin Reeves, really I was impressed
Speaker 2: by what he did in the second half, specifically with
Speaker 2: just finding ways to score. He did a lot more work.
Speaker 2: He did score finally on a couple of switches. He
Speaker 2: was able to get nas Red on one. He's able
Speaker 2: to get Rudy gop Bear on one. He just kind
Speaker 2: of dances with the ball on the perimeter until there's
Speaker 2: an over commitment one way or another, and then he's
Speaker 2: hitting that gap hard and getting out extended with that
Speaker 2: right handed finished before the rint protector can get there.
Speaker 2: He was able to get a couple there. I thought
Speaker 2: he looked specifically comfortable against nas Reed again over the
Speaker 2: course of this series. That's really how things will will
Speaker 2: sort out for the Lakers offensively. They have to find
Speaker 2: pet actions in different phases of the game based on
Speaker 2: the lineup. So, for instance, in the first shift, I'm
Speaker 2: okay with Lebron attacking go Bet in a drop coverage
Speaker 2: the way he did for that first lob to Jackson
Speaker 2: Hayes that he made it was a drop coverage look.
Speaker 2: That makes some sense. I'm okay with Luca attacking bigs
Speaker 2: in space. That works right with that unit. With the
Speaker 2: starting unit, it makes sense to lean heavily on Luca
Speaker 2: attacking fives and mix in some Lebron attacking and drop coverage, right,
Speaker 2: But as you go through different phases of the game,
Speaker 2: your approach needs to change, and so it's like, Okay,
Speaker 2: early fourth quarter, Austin has this matchup with nas Reed.
Speaker 2: This is the time where Austin can look to attack
Speaker 2: fives and switches like, Okay, early second quarter, early fourth quarter,
Speaker 2: this is when Nikil Alexander Walker's on the floor. This
Speaker 2: is when Lebron needs to start looking to post Nikil
Speaker 2: Alexander Walker. You got to find the pet actions that
Speaker 2: you can run in different parts of the game to
Speaker 2: get comfortable, and that's gonna be That's gonna be the
Speaker 2: chess match on the Lakers front for the Wolves, it's
Speaker 2: so much just about maintaining that physicality. If the Wolves
Speaker 2: just maintain the physicality that they maintained over the course
Speaker 2: of the majority of the first two games, they're gonna
Speaker 2: give themselves a great chance to win the series. Because
Speaker 2: the Lakers chance to win the series depends entirely on
Speaker 2: them hanging onto the rope for dear life, Like, as
Speaker 2: a Laker fan, did you feel like you kind of
Speaker 2: survived that game tonight? Did you get out of that
Speaker 2: and to just take a deep breath and go a
Speaker 2: good God, that was a fucking nightmare, right like that.
Speaker 2: But that's that's what it feels like when you're in
Speaker 2: those situations where they're bigger, they're stronger, and are trying
Speaker 2: to meet their physicality and meet them at that level.
Speaker 2: You can do it, but you are going to fatigue.
Speaker 2: You're going to fatigue faster. The Lakers will let go
Speaker 2: of the rope for stretches of this series. That's when
Speaker 2: Minnesota is going to gain heavy amounts of ground. And
Speaker 2: so again, Minnesota, like the biggest factor for them in
Speaker 2: this series in terms of their ability to win is
Speaker 2: just to maintain that physicality and capitalize on the stretches
Speaker 2: when the Lakers let go of the rope and start
Speaker 2: to give up those like transition opportunities. A classic example
Speaker 2: late third quarter, just a couple of bad Luca possessions
Speaker 2: and easy three on two to two on one fast breaks, layups,
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden, it's a sixteen point game
Speaker 2: when it was twenty one a few possessions earlier. Like
Speaker 2: that's the they can make up ground so quick, whereas
Speaker 2: the Laker bleed building process feels more slow and methodical.
Speaker 2: A couple other specific things with Laker role players. I
Speaker 2: heard a lot of people talking about wanting more Jackson
Speaker 2: Hayes in this game. I have no seeing the upside there.
Speaker 2: I think Jackson is just a really poor decision maker
Speaker 2: time and time again. He doesn't really know how to
Speaker 2: be physical without fouling on offense. It's inconsistent in terms
Speaker 2: of like his ability to set screens without setting illegal screens,
Speaker 2: his ability to be a vertical spacer on defense. It's
Speaker 2: the fouling, but it's also like he'll just do what
Speaker 2: he did on that Julius or that it was either
Speaker 2: I think it was nas Reed who took that little
Speaker 2: floater in the lane and Jackson comes flying in in
Speaker 2: volleyball spike sitting. Everyone in the arena is like, what
Speaker 2: the hell are you doing. It's like this is a
Speaker 2: series where mistakes. Look at the Scots ninety four to
Speaker 2: eighty five. These games are really low scoring. I don't
Speaker 2: think mistakes are going to be something that they can
Speaker 2: withstand in those Jackson A's minutes. So I didn't blame
Speaker 2: JJ for holding his minutes down. Again, Ruby Hatchamura only
Speaker 2: took two threes in this game, and I thought there
Speaker 2: were at least like three or four of them where
Speaker 2: Rudy was closing out. But like, that's playoff basketball, Ruy, like,
Speaker 2: you gotta be able to take a three against the closeout.
Speaker 2: You got to be able to take a three with
Speaker 2: a hand in your face. If I was the Lakers
Speaker 2: coaching staff, I'd spend the next two days and get
Speaker 2: somebody one of those long arm like pads, and I'd
Speaker 2: have r Ruey shoot a bunch of catch and shoot
Speaker 2: threes against a tall man contest, because he is getting
Speaker 2: good looks and he's turning them down. And then what
Speaker 2: ends up happening is the Lakers get into a late
Speaker 2: clock sequence, and when they're in there that late clock sequence,
Speaker 2: they're struggling to get openings as Minnesota starts to leverage
Speaker 2: their athleticism more so, I really think Ruy's gotta be
Speaker 2: more aggressive in his catch and shoot situations. For how
Speaker 2: open he was as often as he was tonight, only
Speaker 2: two three point attempts isn't going to cut it as
Speaker 2: far as the bench group goes. I thought most of
Speaker 2: it worked relatively well. The Jared Vanderbilt stuff, same sort
Speaker 2: of thing. Jared's active, but he's just a little mistake
Speaker 2: prone right now. All in all, the story for this
Speaker 2: series for the Lakers is going to be finding those
Speaker 2: pet actions. They've got to find different spots in the
Speaker 2: game where they can go to a specific action that
Speaker 2: works effectively and then spam it over the course of
Speaker 2: the series. You do have an IQ advantage in this
Speaker 2: series with your starting groups if you make the better
Speaker 2: adjustments over the course of the series in terms of
Speaker 2: how you attack offensively. I'm less concerned about Aunt and
Speaker 2: Julius being able to solve those puzzles at a higher
Speaker 2: rate than you are. It's a battle of physicality versus IQ,
Speaker 2: and that is going to be the puzzle for the
Speaker 2: Lakers to solve over the course of the series. On
Speaker 2: the Wolves front, there's some really encouraging stuff there. Julius
Speaker 2: Randall and I talked about this before the series. There's
Speaker 2: this reputation that Julius Randall has as like a bad
Speaker 2: playoff player, when every single time I've watched Julius Randall
Speaker 2: in his career, he's been a guy that, like if
Speaker 2: you give him a long runway, like when he's played
Speaker 2: twenty regular season games in a row and he's like
Speaker 2: got his legs, his conditioning and his rhythm. He can
Speaker 2: be a really impactful all NBA level player, but then
Speaker 2: when he gets hurt, even when he comes back, it
Speaker 2: just takes him a long time to find his rhythm.
Speaker 2: It's not entirely uncommon. I feel the same way about Lebron.
Speaker 2: I feel the same way about Austin. There are guys
Speaker 2: like that, especially Lebron at this age in his career
Speaker 2: when he's not his athletic right. But like I think
Speaker 2: it's I think it's a great sign for Minnesota fans.
Speaker 2: How Julius Randall has looked through these first two games,
Speaker 2: he looks fantastic. I think he looks fantastic on both
Speaker 2: ends of the floor. Luca did finally get him once
Speaker 2: with a scoop layup tonight, but he continues to hold
Speaker 2: up really well on switches. He's doing a ton of
Speaker 2: damage in the middle.
Speaker 1: Of the floor.
Speaker 2: He had some key help side defense possessions. Got beat
Speaker 2: on a back door a cup by Dorian Finney Smith
Speaker 2: in the first half, but had a huge backside rotation
Speaker 2: to block Austin Reeves at the rim on a key
Speaker 2: possession late. I think you're getting a lot out of
Speaker 2: Julius Randall. As you go home, you're going to be
Speaker 2: able to get more out of the role players as well.
Speaker 2: Game three to me is the big swing game of
Speaker 2: this series. It's going to be arrested Lakers group obviously,
Speaker 2: that mattering with Lebron and with Luca not being in
Speaker 2: the best shape of his life right now, that Game
Speaker 2: three is going to be the one where I see
Speaker 2: as a good opport unity for the Lakers to try
Speaker 2: to steal home court back. Where it gets tricky is
Speaker 2: if the Wolves do get Game three, it's a really
Speaker 2: quick turnaround before Game four. I think it's only one
Speaker 2: night off, so that Game four becomes all of a
Speaker 2: sudden a must win game for the Lakers, and they
Speaker 2: would be playing two nights after another one of these knockdown,
Speaker 2: drag out fights like they had in Game three. So
Speaker 2: I think it's not a must win per se, but
Speaker 2: I think that Game three in Minnesota is the one
Speaker 2: that the Lakers got to get if they're going to
Speaker 2: remain in control of this series. All right, let's talk
Speaker 2: a little bit of Bucks Pacers, and then we'll get
Speaker 2: to our mail bag and then we'll get out of
Speaker 2: here for the night. So the main adjustments I noticed
Speaker 2: from the Bucks they started switching almost everything, especially with
Speaker 2: Lopez with Brook Lopez and ball screens with Tyres Halliburton.
Speaker 2: With Damian Lillard, they used basically kind of a switch
Speaker 2: in scram scheme, so like if Dame ever ended up
Speaker 2: on a big whether it was Siakam or Turner or
Speaker 2: someone like that, they would just basically have him rotate
Speaker 2: out of it and bring another one of Milwaukee's bigger
Speaker 2: wings to come in and rescue Dame out those mismatches
Speaker 2: and the Pacers just absolutely fried every single coverage the
Speaker 2: Bucks tried in this game. Tyreese went absolutely crazy against
Speaker 2: Brook and switches, and like that sort of thing would
Speaker 2: only work with Brook Lopez if you are a strong
Speaker 2: backside rotation team, and the Bucks just aren't. They haven't
Speaker 2: been a strong backside rotation team all year, and he
Speaker 2: just started cooking. Brooke immediately drove right past him on
Speaker 2: an early possession, kicked to the corner for Nie Smith
Speaker 2: for an easy bucket, had like a really nifty step
Speaker 2: through Lefty Scoop shot off the glass on a switch
Speaker 2: against Brook Lopez had a play where he kind of
Speaker 2: hesitated and looked at the rim like he was going
Speaker 2: to take a jumper, and Brooke took like two steps
Speaker 2: out to the top of the key and Tyree's just
Speaker 2: went right around and made it literally made him look
Speaker 2: like he was stuck in the mud, had a dunk.
Speaker 2: He blew by him for a drop off to Siakam
Speaker 2: in the second half. Finally, late in the game, Brooke
Speaker 2: was like, I can't keep getting beat off the dribble,
Speaker 2: so he just played way back and then Tyre's burned
Speaker 2: him by hitting a three right in his face at
Speaker 2: the top of the key, so like that didn't work.
Speaker 2: The Pacers even looked super prepared for the scram switches,
Speaker 2: and this is something I want to credit the Indiana
Speaker 2: coaching staff, Rick Carlisle and his guys. We saw the
Speaker 2: Bucks do that with Dame quite a bit in the
Speaker 2: regular season, and so they clearly scouted it and they
Speaker 2: were ready for it. There was one where Dame scrammed
Speaker 2: out to the left corner to get Obi topping, but
Speaker 2: right as he was scramming, right as he was sprinting
Speaker 2: over there, Obi just cut back door through the lob
Speaker 2: and he got a dunk. There's another one where he
Speaker 2: was sprinting like literally he was in the process of
Speaker 2: sprinting to go to Nie Smith in the right corner.
Speaker 2: The Pacers identified it immediately. Swing swing hit Nee Smith
Speaker 2: in the right corner. He knocked down a three. They
Speaker 2: were going at Dame just one on one. They realized
Speaker 2: that he can't get a great contest on pull up
Speaker 2: jump shots, so they were hitting pull up jump shots
Speaker 2: in his face. They just were prepared for every single
Speaker 2: thing that the Bucks tried to do. Still did a
Speaker 2: lot of just just damage in transition in this game.
Speaker 2: Out of their one hundred and eight possessions, forty five
Speaker 2: of them were logged by Synergy as pushing the ball
Speaker 2: with pace, and on those possessions they logged in one
Speaker 2: twenty four offensive rating.
Speaker 1: TJ.
Speaker 2: McConnell did a bunch of damage on like semi transition
Speaker 2: drives in those situations before the help defense was set up.
Speaker 2: And I remained just completely impressed by Indiana's collective team
Speaker 2: jump shooting. They were seventh as a team in jump
Speaker 2: shooting in the regular season. They averaged one point zero
Speaker 2: seven points per jump shot as a team throughout the
Speaker 2: unit throughout the season, they got one point two to
Speaker 2: three points per jump shot. In Game one and one
Speaker 2: point two to two points per jump shot. In game two,
Speaker 2: they have just consistently burned the Bucks every single time
Speaker 2: they've made a mistake. And that was, honestly the larious
Speaker 2: part about the late game comeback. Right, So the Bucks
Speaker 2: actually cut this lead down to three, I believe late
Speaker 2: it was at least as two or three. I think
Speaker 2: they actually cut it to two. It was one fifteen
Speaker 2: to one to thirteen. A couple of things that were
Speaker 2: working offensive the same Giannis offensive rebound, put backs around
Speaker 2: the basket. Bobby Portus hit a couple threes, Dame hit
Speaker 2: a big three at the top of the key. They
Speaker 2: hit some shots, but on the other end of the floor,
Speaker 2: pacers were still getting great looks and they just missed them.
Speaker 2: Like Tyres Halliburton got a wide open look in that
Speaker 2: stretch that he missed, Miles Turner got a wide open
Speaker 2: look in that stretch that he missed. Pascal Siakam got
Speaker 2: a wide open look in that stretch that he missed.
Speaker 2: They were just open looks that the pacers were missing.
Speaker 2: And so what was funny is Dame hits the shot
Speaker 2: that cuts it to three, and then on the very
Speaker 2: next possession they leave Pascal Siakam wide open again and
Speaker 2: this time he makes it and effectively ends the game.
Speaker 2: Is a really weird kind of like double low man
Speaker 2: look from Bobby Portis and Kyle Kuzma. Miles Turner was
Speaker 2: sitting around the right block and Kuzma went way inside
Speaker 2: of Miles Turner, and so Portis and Kuzma were both
Speaker 2: standing inside of Miles Turner while Siakam was outside of
Speaker 2: Miles Turner way out at the three point line, just
Speaker 2: to try to kind of set up the geometry for
Speaker 2: you guys, like, and it was as good a look
Speaker 2: as the Pacers got all game. And so it's one
Speaker 2: of those things where like it felt more like a
Speaker 2: fake comeback there from the Bucks late because they were
Speaker 2: still conceding the same shots they had been conceded all game.
Speaker 2: They were just hitting on one end of the floor
Speaker 2: and the Pacers went cold for a little bit on
Speaker 2: the Bucks front. It's really hard to come up with
Speaker 2: real solutions. There isn't really a coverage they can run
Speaker 2: with Brook Lopez that that works. Like if you run
Speaker 2: a drop coverage, that's suicide against Tyrese Haliburton. He's got
Speaker 2: all the mid range and floater shot making right if
Speaker 2: you run a high drop coverage. Tyrese is arguably a
Speaker 2: top three or four pick and roll passer in the league,
Speaker 2: probably closer to two or three pick and roll passer
Speaker 2: in the league in terms of just making basic reads
Speaker 2: on where the low man is and where the screen
Speaker 2: defender is, and if you come up and put two
Speaker 2: on the ball with him, whether it's a high drop
Speaker 2: or a blitz or anything like that, he's going to
Speaker 2: pick you apart with the pass. Then if you switch.
Speaker 2: He's just way too slow footed to be able to
Speaker 2: handle Haliburton in space. And the team doesn't really have
Speaker 2: a backside kind of like rotational fly around athleticism element
Speaker 2: to copy to compensate for the dribble drives that Lopez
Speaker 2: is going to give up, so they don't really have
Speaker 2: a coverage there that works. Portis and Kuzma aren't exactly
Speaker 2: defensive answers. Like I talked about it, the Pacers were
Speaker 2: still getting open looks. I would probably still go with
Speaker 2: them and still switch like they have been, especially with
Speaker 2: as well as Bobby Portis has been shooting the ball
Speaker 2: Kyle Kuzma did. Finally, I felt bad for Kyle early
Speaker 2: in the game. He smoked two wide open layups. No,
Speaker 2: I shouldn't say wide open laps are tough layups. He
Speaker 2: had a kind of like a step through layup against
Speaker 2: a small attacking mismatch, and then he had a pass
Speaker 2: from Giannis where he was right at the rim that
Speaker 2: he just smoked, and it looked like it was going
Speaker 2: to keep spiraling, but he just kept being aggressive and
Speaker 2: he did finally manage to bring some scoring pop to
Speaker 2: the table. I do like the idea of leaning into
Speaker 2: those two more and switching. Most of it is going
Speaker 2: to be about process from there. You have to run
Speaker 2: good offense to avoid precarious transition situations. So like someone
Speaker 2: tell Kevin Porter Junior that he shouldn't even look at
Speaker 2: taking a shot unless there's like three seconds on the
Speaker 2: shot clock, or if it's like a wide open shot
Speaker 2: in the coverage, like it's a drop coverage and they
Speaker 2: stay with Giannis and you've got a layup, or they
Speaker 2: die on the screen and you've got like an all
Speaker 2: day a pull up three something like that. That's fine,
Speaker 2: but there were way too many possessions. There was one
Speaker 2: where like Giannis was calling, like demanding the ball on
Speaker 2: the block and Kevin Porter Junior took a pull up
Speaker 2: three on the right wing, and the Pacers just ran
Speaker 2: out and got a bucket off of it. Like there's
Speaker 2: there's certain like offensive process stuff that you have to
Speaker 2: do in order to avoid those transition situations, and then
Speaker 2: just in general just setting up your floor spacing in
Speaker 2: a way that you still have guys that are back
Speaker 2: and ready to contend with the pacers in transition. The
Speaker 2: Dame thing is interesting. I thought Dame was an absolute
Speaker 2: nightmare on defense tonight. He ended up providing what like
Speaker 2: fourteen points on thirteen shots if I remember correctly. I
Speaker 2: don't have the box score up, but he wasn't exactly
Speaker 2: a super efficient score. I get it, like you almost
Speaker 2: feel like you have to play Dame. I don't know
Speaker 2: how you explain to Dame or to your fans the
Speaker 2: idea that like you're to like sit him or limit
Speaker 2: his minutes in a series like this, because if you
Speaker 2: lose and you have Dames just sitting on the bench,
Speaker 2: that's a really, really tough pill to swallow if you're
Speaker 2: a fan, right, But it's just tough because Dame is
Speaker 2: out of rhythm clearly, and he brings a lot of
Speaker 2: defensive issues and so honestly, it's just a gamble.
Speaker 1: I get it.
Speaker 2: I'd probably make the same gamble, but like I wish
Speaker 2: there was a way to manage it in a way
Speaker 2: where like you almost like come up with a minute
Speaker 2: restriction or something to kind of ramp him up. Over
Speaker 2: the course of the series. It's far more likely that
Speaker 2: in a game five, six, or seven that Dame brings
Speaker 2: more offensive pop than he did at this phase in
Speaker 2: the series, And tonight I thought he probably did a
Speaker 2: little bit more damage than good. And so it's just
Speaker 2: honestly a really, really tough position to be in if
Speaker 2: you're Milwaukee, And as you dig into it, it really
Speaker 2: just comes.
Speaker 1: Down to roster issues. Now this one.
Speaker 2: I'm not ready to bail on my pick yet. The
Speaker 2: Bucks could certainly regain control of things in Milwaukee, especially
Speaker 2: if Dame gets going. But it look good for them,
Speaker 2: and the matchup continues to present some clear problems for
Speaker 2: their defensive scheme that have been on display throughout the
Speaker 2: first two games. All right, let's do ten fifteen minutes
Speaker 2: of questions with Jackson.
Speaker 3: Let's do it. Let's do it. We are going to
Speaker 3: start with Jason does a physical rock fight series like
Speaker 3: this favor the Lakers or the Warrior or the Wolves
Speaker 3: as the series goes, for it.
Speaker 2: The more physical the series is, the more the refs
Speaker 2: let both teams get away with, the better it is
Speaker 2: from Minnesota, for sure. I think that I think that
Speaker 2: goes without saying. I think if there happened to be
Speaker 2: a game in the series, and you know how it is,
Speaker 2: there's different officiating crews, right, Like I thought tonight was
Speaker 2: a game where they actually called quite a few fouls
Speaker 2: on both teams, but at the same time, there were
Speaker 2: a lot of uncalled fouls. But it was one of
Speaker 2: those games where there was like at least a dozen
Speaker 2: fouls on like every possession, like everyone's just getting hacked
Speaker 2: all over the place. And I do think that favors Minnesota.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, like that is playoff basketball,
Speaker 2: and so at the end of the day, like that
Speaker 2: is the challenge for the Lakers. And I mean, if
Speaker 2: you can somehow survive this series, even though Golden State
Speaker 2: in round two or Houston, like Houston I actually think
Speaker 2: presents similar problems to the Lakers that that Minnesota does.
Speaker 2: But if you get a Golden State, if you get
Speaker 2: an OKC in later rounds. Those teams don't have the
Speaker 2: sheer size that can cause problems for you. But Minnesota.
Speaker 2: Minnesota definitely is benefiting from the whistle.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I definitely agree they were. I mean it, there
Speaker 3: were There's a lot of online chatter and today about
Speaker 3: how the refs were handing the Lakers that game, and
Speaker 3: I think that, whether that's true or not, I think
Speaker 3: it's a it's an encapsulation of the fact that when
Speaker 3: the whistle is tighter, it's gonna benefit the team that's
Speaker 3: less physical because those some of those more physical players
Speaker 3: are getting called.
Speaker 2: The Blakers got called for two more fouls in Minnesota.
Speaker 2: That's literally fantasy Land.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't I don't really have any issues with
Speaker 3: the way the game is refree. I thought it was
Speaker 3: the whistle was a little tight, but it was equally
Speaker 3: tight both ways.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was tight in a way that was
Speaker 2: like they were like there were a lot of foul calls,
Speaker 2: but there were also a lot of uncalled foul calls
Speaker 2: like like but yeah, dude, any converse surrounding the Lakers
Speaker 2: and in officiating is like completely disingenuous. I saw that
Speaker 2: all day today during the game, and it's like literally
Speaker 2: throughout the entire game, the Lakers had more foul called
Speaker 2: fouls called against them in Minnesota. It's like it's legitimately
Speaker 2: fantasy land. But as you if you do any even
Speaker 2: just like a little bit of basic research on the
Speaker 2: Laker foul disparity thing, it's completely horseshit. It's just fantasy
Speaker 2: land from other fan base.
Speaker 3: This is a supertat from jam. Thank you for the
Speaker 3: supertach question. How can Ant get more point in the
Speaker 3: paint against LA's defense Outside of the poster dunk, it
Speaker 3: almost seemed like Luca was more aggressive driving to the
Speaker 3: rim than An.
Speaker 2: I feel like Ant got to the basket quite a
Speaker 2: bit tonight. The way that the Lakers were guarding him.
Speaker 2: They were I thought Ruey actually did a pretty decent job,
Speaker 2: but I want to credit Rui a little bit, Like
Speaker 2: he was able to cut off Ant's first drive a
Speaker 2: bunch of times and then flatten out his second drive,
Speaker 2: So credit to Ruie. I actually thought he played some
Speaker 2: really good defense tonight. He had a huge sequence late
Speaker 2: in the game too, where he had i'll help side
Speaker 2: rotation at the rim and got a stop and then
Speaker 2: leaked out in transit the other way and got a.
Speaker 1: Layup like Ruey.
Speaker 2: I was frustrated with the three point shooting, but he
Speaker 2: made a lot of really nice plays tonight. As far
Speaker 2: as Ant getting into the paint, like a lot of
Speaker 2: it is lineup structure too, Like every single minute that
Speaker 2: Rudy Gobert is on the floor, he's gonna run into
Speaker 2: his second defender. That's just how it goes. If you're
Speaker 2: looking at these Luca drives. They played Jackson Hayes for
Speaker 2: eight minutes, and they play nine minutes, and they played
Speaker 2: you know, vandover like even less. So if you really
Speaker 2: dig into it, thirty minutes of the game, you have
Speaker 2: five shooters on the floor. So as a result of that,
Speaker 2: there's less help at the basket on some of these
Speaker 2: Luca drives compared to what you're seeing from the Lakers.
Speaker 2: And that's how it looks like Lucas getting there easier.
Speaker 2: But most of this is schematic, yeah for sure.
Speaker 3: Next question, do you think Minnesota will use different actions
Speaker 3: to get Ant the ball and get him to the
Speaker 3: rim in other ways? Pinned downs, cutting, inverted pick and roll,
Speaker 3: et cetera. Basically, how how do we feel like the
Speaker 3: Wolves can try to get at going a little more
Speaker 3: considering some of these lineup restrictions and some of the
Speaker 3: way the Lakers are defending him.
Speaker 2: It's a good question, I mean a good percentage of
Speaker 2: it is like I thought, I thought i Aint and
Speaker 2: Julius were great tonight, Like guys like we have to
Speaker 2: completely reconfigure the way we.
Speaker 1: Look at box scores.
Speaker 2: This is this has been an issue that I've been
Speaker 2: looking at a lot over the course of the last
Speaker 2: few years. Like we talked so much, it's about like
Speaker 2: this guy's averaging thirty four points a game, and it's
Speaker 2: like the teams are averaging like one hundred and twenty
Speaker 2: something points a game, Like this was a game that
Speaker 2: ended ninety four to eighty five. So just do like
Speaker 2: do a like a basic ratio type of calculation. So
Speaker 2: let's say the Lakers scored ninety four and in a
Speaker 2: typical regular season game, it's more like, you know, one
Speaker 2: fourteen to you know, uh to like one oh four
Speaker 2: or something like that. If you count, if you account
Speaker 2: for that, that increase in scoring volume. That night from
Speaker 2: Anthony Edwards isn't a twenty five point night, It's a
Speaker 2: thirty two point night at that night From Julius Randalls.
Speaker 2: Not a twenty seven point night, it's a thirty two
Speaker 2: point night. Like I thought, Aunt and Julius were great tonight.
Speaker 2: The key there is Jaden McDaniels missed the threes that
Speaker 2: he took in game one, Mike Conley missed the threes,
Speaker 2: Nas Reed missed the threes like nikiel Like, they just
Speaker 2: didn't shoot as well. And credit to Lakers, like, I mean,
Speaker 2: what did I say after Game one? I said, if
Speaker 2: you're just sitting here cross from your fingers hoping the
Speaker 2: Wolves are gonna miss, it's not gonna happen. You have
Speaker 2: to bring the requisite intensity to force misses. And it
Speaker 2: goes both ways, Like you want to know why Lebron's
Speaker 2: leaving jumpers short and Luca's leaving jumpers short and no
Speaker 2: one can make anything and both teams shot twenty twenty
Speaker 2: one percent from three. It's because the game is so
Speaker 2: damn physical that everyone's legs are fucking exhausted and no
Speaker 2: one has the power or the energy to knock down shots.
Speaker 2: That's usually how it goes. It's just like there were
Speaker 2: a few more shots that went down for the Lakers tonight.
Speaker 2: It's literally the difference in the game but I actually
Speaker 2: thought Aunt and Julius both played really well tonight.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, especially as scorps like I thought ten
Speaker 3: twenty two and yeah, in a playoff game that physical
Speaker 3: is not all that bad a shooting night. I think
Speaker 3: the bigger number if you're looking at if you're going
Speaker 3: to box for our watch and combine it with the
Speaker 3: way that actually watching the game. Zero assists for Ant
Speaker 3: is the glaring number compared to nine in Game one. Yeah,
Speaker 3: oh sure, you know a lot of that is not
Speaker 3: his fault. It's shot making, a lack of shot making,
Speaker 3: but combined with those more intense closed outs from the Lakers.
Speaker 3: But that's if the Timberwolves want to be at as
Speaker 3: close to optimal offensively as they as they can be.
Speaker 3: It's twenty five thirty points ran and five plus assists.
Speaker 3: It doesn't need to be nine every game, I don't
Speaker 3: think for them from their win the series, but it's
Speaker 3: got to be more than zero.
Speaker 1: No, I totally agree. That's a that's a great point.
Speaker 2: I get there is a little bit of a game
Speaker 2: plan element to that, in the sense that the Lakers
Speaker 2: were playing closer to shooters off ball and the reads
Speaker 2: for Ant in Game one were a little bit easier,
Speaker 2: but I agree with you, like it's got to be
Speaker 2: more balanced there. Julius brought up Julius had six assists tonight,
Speaker 2: but yeah, like I I didn't think. I all, we're
Speaker 2: gonna do a film session tomorrow morning, and whoever it
Speaker 2: is that asked that question, if you come back tomorrow,
Speaker 2: I will make a pointed effort to dig into Minnesota's
Speaker 2: offense better and see if I can't find some more
Speaker 2: detailed answers for you about how to go from there.
Speaker 3: We had a couple questions about connect and about Jackson
Speaker 3: Hayes and will should those guys get in connect case
Speaker 3: any minutes? But should Jackson Hayes get more minutes? And
Speaker 3: you know, there's a lot of lively debate in the chat.
Speaker 3: Shout out to the chat for those arguing and debating
Speaker 3: on both sides, but just in general, your take on
Speaker 3: why some of these guys who feel like they can
Speaker 3: be contributors because of a specific skill they might have,
Speaker 3: but why are they not getting more playing time or
Speaker 3: any playing time you know in Connects case?
Speaker 2: So as you, as we talked about in the in
Speaker 2: the initial reaction, things can go south so fast if
Speaker 2: you've got a guy who makes mistakes, Like this game
Speaker 2: wouldn't even have been remotely close late if Jackson Hayes
Speaker 2: doesn't set a completely unnecessary backcourt screen where you just
Speaker 2: straight up trip Jaden McDaniels and then goaltended. Like if
Speaker 2: you look at the Lakers offensive rating, let's just call
Speaker 2: it one point. And then Jackson Hayes blocking a shot
Speaker 2: that literally would have been a miss that would have
Speaker 2: led to another transition possession going the other way, Like
Speaker 2: that was a huge swing there, and a four point
Speaker 2: swing or whatever in a game that finished ninety four
Speaker 2: to eighty five. The field literally it's like a touchdown.
Speaker 2: It's like when you watch it's like when you were
Speaker 2: watching that Houston Golden State game, Like every step three
Speaker 2: feels like a shotgun blast to the chest because the
Speaker 2: score is so low that, like relative to what we
Speaker 2: look at as regular season scoring, those are massive shots
Speaker 2: in the game, Like Fred van Vliet finally hits a
Speaker 2: three at the end of the game, and all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, it's close because there's no real margin, there's
Speaker 2: no real separation because of how physical and how intense
Speaker 2: these games are. But yeah, like I like, do I
Speaker 2: think that Dalton Connect is gonna suddenly step into this
Speaker 2: obscenely physical series and just suddenly bring a bunch of pop. No, like,
Speaker 2: you bring him out the same way you would, like
Speaker 2: we talked about with Jonathan Kminga for Golden State. If
Speaker 2: it's Game three and it's mid third quarter and you're
Speaker 2: down seventeen, and there's a clear guy who's really struggling,
Speaker 2: like let's say Dorian Finney Smith is just straight up
Speaker 2: not having a good night on either end of the floor,
Speaker 2: then yeah, by all means, throw Dalton out there, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean. But like, I don't think Jackson
Speaker 2: Hayes is the answer. I don't think Dalton Connect is
Speaker 2: the answer this. This feels very much like a six
Speaker 2: and a half man rotation that the Lakers actually trust,
Speaker 2: and it's basically the core five with Dorian Finney Smith
Speaker 2: gave Vincent a little bit of like Jordan Goodwin, Jared Vanderbilt,
Speaker 2: whatever you want to call that extra guy.
Speaker 1: But like, I don't.
Speaker 2: Think they really have a I don't think they have
Speaker 2: an answer on the bench beyond the fact that Austin's
Speaker 2: gotta play better. Austin and I bounced back nicely in
Speaker 2: the second half. But Austin's got to hit some spot
Speaker 2: up threes Lebron Like Austin and Lebron won for eleven
Speaker 2: from three. Those guys gotta knock down shots. Like, I
Speaker 2: don't think this is an end of the bench answer.
Speaker 2: I think this is your core guy's gotta play better.
Speaker 2: Look at the minutes Ruy thirty four minutes with a
Speaker 2: with a facial injury that took him out for his
Speaker 2: normal early second quarter shift, Lebron forty, Luca forty two,
Speaker 2: Austin forty three, Dorian Finny Smith thirty nine. Like you're
Speaker 2: going down with those guys. Those are the guys you
Speaker 2: got to look for.
Speaker 1: Answers from J.
Speaker 3: J Riddick saying, first playoff series as a coach, I'm
Speaker 3: running my guys out there. I think, just to sort
Speaker 3: of put a period on the point, though. I saw
Speaker 3: someone say this on Twitter the other day that the
Speaker 3: NBA has shifted in a way away from just which
Speaker 3: team has the best player to which team has the
Speaker 3: worst player on the floor. And it's why Jordan Goodwin
Speaker 3: is getting minutes, not that he's getting a lot, but
Speaker 3: he's getting some minutes over a guy like Dalton connect
Speaker 3: He's not obviously the offensive player that Dalton Connect is,
Speaker 3: but you're not picking on him in a way that
Speaker 3: you would, you know, someone like that, someone Connect.
Speaker 2: Jordan had some incredible defensive sequences tonight. He's good on team,
Speaker 2: great closeouts, beaten guys to spots, fighting for contested rebounds,
Speaker 2: tapping the ball around Like I Jordan played seven minutes.
Speaker 2: I thought he was good when he was out there, Like,
Speaker 2: and that's the thing, like you're these rock fight games
Speaker 2: are an entirely different animal. It is so much more
Speaker 2: about IQ and physicality than it is about top end skill.
Speaker 1: Like it just is. That's just how it works, which.
Speaker 3: By the way, is yet another reason why the Lakers
Speaker 3: need to attack Mike Conley and Dante DiVincenzo.
Speaker 1: Dude, Jackson, it's killing me, man, it's killing me.
Speaker 2: Watch like I I all I can say is I
Speaker 2: hope this is like a Lebron and Luca know deep down,
Speaker 2: like we're gonna go to the post later in the
Speaker 2: series if there was, If you're Lakers fans and you're
Speaker 2: looking for, you know, something to drive home that point.
Speaker 2: I think about Game six against the Warriors two years ago,
Speaker 2: when Lebron wouldn't post up at all, and then finally
Speaker 2: in Game six, he just lived down there and just
Speaker 2: annihilated Andrew Wiggins. Like, that's what you gotta hope for,
Speaker 2: is that Lebron's just saving that for a late series punch,
Speaker 2: and the advantage there would be if you if Lebron
Speaker 2: breaks that out and breaks it out effectively in like
Speaker 2: a pivotal Game five or something like that. It could
Speaker 2: literally be something that happens late enough in the series
Speaker 2: that the Wolves don't have enough time to really game
Speaker 2: plan or adjust to it. But I tend to think
Speaker 2: more urgently. I tend to think, like, let them figure
Speaker 2: out how to adjust to it, but let's throw our
Speaker 2: best punch early. That's more my philosophy. But who knows,
Speaker 2: it could literally be the growing Like we don't know
Speaker 2: what's going on with Lebron mentally and what he trust him,
Speaker 2: what he doesn't.
Speaker 3: Let's take a couple from some other series. We had
Speaker 3: a lot of Lakers questions, Uh, if Tatum's wrist is
Speaker 3: a factor for the whole postseason, A, what does that
Speaker 3: change your outlook for the Celtics? And B is there
Speaker 3: a way for the Celtics to game plan around that he's.
Speaker 3: Last I checked, he's doubtful or maybe upgrade to questionable
Speaker 3: for Game two. But my guess is he's not gonna
Speaker 3: play tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Did he get upgraded to questionable?
Speaker 3: Someone in the chat said he's questionable last I saw.
Speaker 2: I saw doubtful. Yeah, I did see the doubtful thing.
Speaker 2: My first thing that I thought when I saw the
Speaker 2: Tatum is doubtful thing is like, oh shit, Like Jalen
Speaker 2: Brown's a little banged up, Tatum's a little banged up.
Speaker 2: A couple guys aren't shooting as well as last year,
Speaker 2: Like there's some obvious signs for concern. But the more
Speaker 2: I thought about it, Uh, it could almost be a
Speaker 2: blessing in disguise if it gets Tatum to take less
Speaker 2: jump shots, you know what I mean, Like, like if
Speaker 2: it if it turns into a thing where Tatum goes
Speaker 2: like man like I don't really trust my jumper or
Speaker 2: further away from the basket because of this wrist issue,
Speaker 2: and he just becomes a physical bullyball playmaker, it could
Speaker 2: still manifest Well.
Speaker 1: I would actually say that I'm more worried.
Speaker 2: About I would be more worried about a different Celtic,
Speaker 2: like Horford or porzingis going down, or Jalen Brown just
Speaker 2: not bringing the requisite scoring pot because of his knee.
Speaker 2: Tatum is just so versatile and so much of his
Speaker 2: game is predicated on like all these little things that
Speaker 2: he does well. And the jump shooting is like kind
Speaker 2: of one of those things where it's like Tatum can
Speaker 2: go three for twelve on jump shots and have a
Speaker 2: great game. I mean, I feel like that's half of
Speaker 2: Tatum's games. Like, so the reality is is like Tatum
Speaker 2: doesn't necessarily need his jump shot to be great, and
Speaker 2: so I'm less concerned about him in his wrist, if
Speaker 2: that makes sense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree. I mean I think that the first
Speaker 3: for this series shouldn't you gotta assume it's not going
Speaker 3: to matter whether Orlando looks. You know, they got a
Speaker 3: tough defense, they're physical, they present some matchup challenges. But
Speaker 3: if you got the aspirations of the Celtics too, you
Speaker 3: gotta be able to get past his team with the
Speaker 3: hobbled Tatum or with him missing a couple of games.
Speaker 3: So I think you gotta think about it more in
Speaker 3: the long term. But I don't know, risks are weird.
Speaker 3: It's hard, it's tough. I hope it's not. It doesn't
Speaker 3: become this this cloud over the postseason run, Like, well,
Speaker 3: if only Tatum's risk was healthy, you know what I mean, Like,
Speaker 3: I it's tough if they if they are able to
Speaker 3: get a sweep here without him and he gets some
Speaker 3: time off hopefully, I'm hoping it just is not a
Speaker 3: non issue.
Speaker 1: My next Have you ever had a risk injury?
Speaker 3: I have, yeah, go ay quickly.
Speaker 2: I haven't had a severe one until recently. And then I, uh,
Speaker 2: my guy Daniel Knorka, one of my favorite players here
Speaker 2: in town that I compete with and against, big dude,
Speaker 2: like six four two forty, and I kind of like
Speaker 2: caught him on a transition possession. He was coming full
Speaker 2: speed at me, and I like inverted my risk this way.
Speaker 2: And that was like six months ago. And it hurts
Speaker 2: worse now than it ever has. It lingers, and it
Speaker 2: it's like, thankfully it's my non shooting hands, so it
Speaker 2: hasn't had that big of an impact, but like there
Speaker 2: are so many different little things that I'll try to
Speaker 2: do and it hurts, and I'm like, fuck, this sucks,
Speaker 2: Like it's just such a pain in the ass, Like
Speaker 2: wrist injuries. They just linger and they linger and they linger.
Speaker 2: Like it's very possible that he's dealing with this for
Speaker 2: the rest of the playoff run. It's at least worth considering.
Speaker 2: I'm just if there was a star in this league
Speaker 2: that could withstand something like that, it'd be Tatum because
Speaker 2: of his versatility.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's a great point. I think that's
Speaker 3: a great point.
Speaker 1: Do you think Dame.
Speaker 3: Would be better off coming off the bench and running
Speaker 3: the second unit?
Speaker 2: No, uh, I would, And I mean I feel like
Speaker 2: they did do this tonight, Like I felt like they
Speaker 2: more or less played through Jianis when he was on
Speaker 2: the floor. I think Dame should be more aggressive with
Speaker 2: the bench units, like that's his time to look to
Speaker 2: be aggressive. What I would have done is I would
Speaker 2: have limited his minutes earlier in the series, still starred him,
Speaker 2: but limited his minutes. Play him off the ball when
Speaker 2: he's with Yiannis, play him on the ball when he's
Speaker 2: without Yannis. The I don't think the answer is like,
Speaker 2: like people focus on this like coming off the bench
Speaker 2: like were to me, like doing that with Dame doesn't
Speaker 2: solve the problem. You can stagger to deal with that.
Speaker 2: So like for instance, you could have Dame come out
Speaker 2: at like the seven minute mark of the first quarter,
Speaker 2: bringing Kevin Porter Junior, then bring Dame back in to
Speaker 2: start the second quarter when Giannis comes out, or something
Speaker 2: along those lines. There are ways to work around it
Speaker 2: so that you can still keep Dame with bench units
Speaker 2: without necessarily having to bring him off the bench.
Speaker 3: I agree with you. All right, let's see one more
Speaker 3: question this. I like the way the way this question
Speaker 3: was worded was funny. Said, assuming Cleveland wins the East,
Speaker 3: quite the assumption, but assuming Cleveland wins the East, who
Speaker 3: would you have facing them in the NBA Finals? And
Speaker 3: I think a more apt question is if we if
Speaker 3: we end up with two one seeds in the finals,
Speaker 3: certainly possible, who would you have in okay See Cleveland matchup?
Speaker 2: I would say you okay See. I think okay See
Speaker 2: is like the ultimate like antidote for everything Cleveland does.
Speaker 2: They have just a shit ton of fast, like great
Speaker 2: perimeter defenders that aren't necessarily big, and Cleveland just doesn't
Speaker 2: have the ability to punish like.
Speaker 1: DeAndre Hunter can do it a little bit.
Speaker 2: You can see, you know, Evan Mobley do it a
Speaker 2: little bit, but they're not necessarily a big like matchup
Speaker 2: attacking team. In terms of attacking like smaller players, that's
Speaker 2: not something that they do extremely well. They're more of
Speaker 2: a speed attack and Oka See is just like the
Speaker 2: ultimate speed and fly around team. I'd like as far
Speaker 2: as matchups go, I can't think of a worst matchup
Speaker 2: for Cleveland than Oka See. I am also like really
Speaker 2: intrigued by just how good Golden State is, by how
Speaker 2: good this Minnesota and LA these two teams are. If
Speaker 2: you told me right now, like OKAC or the field
Speaker 2: in the West, it's pretty much a coin flip to me. So, like,
Speaker 2: I still think there's a pretty solid chance that we
Speaker 2: don't see Okace in the finals.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that OKAC versus the Field question is really really interesting.
Speaker 3: I think I would get at the field as well.
Speaker 3: Okay See does so many things better than so many teams,
Speaker 3: but the West is looks strong. The West looks really strong.
Speaker 2: Yeah, to your point, you can be the favorite and
Speaker 2: still be statistically unlikely to do something like that. That's
Speaker 2: a very important thing to understand. Like, as far as
Speaker 2: I understand, okay See is currently the championship favorite in Vegas,
Speaker 2: but but they are statistically unlikely to win the championship,
Speaker 2: like it's more likely that it's somebody else, and so
Speaker 2: it's it's one of the that it's just something to
Speaker 2: keep in mind. But I yeah, I think okay See
Speaker 2: would I think okay See would handle Cleveland. I think
Speaker 2: they'd deal with him in you know, five or six games.
Speaker 3: The DraftKings answer to our question is what is okay
Speaker 3: See versus the field? Is okay See is a minus
Speaker 3: one sixty five conference favorite right now, so they're slightly
Speaker 3: favorite over the field.
Speaker 1: That's crazy to me. That is crazy to me.
Speaker 3: You want to guess who's second? Golden State indeed plus
Speaker 3: six hundred.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's really fascinating.
Speaker 3: Very fascinating. I'm surprised the Clippers are at plus one thousand,
Speaker 3: they're fourth, Lakers are at a fifty.
Speaker 2: A dude, I like weirdly came away from the first
Speaker 2: two games of Nuggets Clippers like like a little bit,
Speaker 2: like just a tiny bit down on both of them,
Speaker 2: Like like it's it's weird, Like I shouldn't say a
Speaker 2: tiny bit down on both of them. I've viewed the
Speaker 2: Clippers as like closer to OKC and Denver is like
Speaker 2: well below them, and I viewed the Clippers a little lower,
Speaker 2: and I view the Nuggets higher, but they still now
Speaker 2: both are are substantially below. It's just it's more just
Speaker 2: all of them, like Minnesota, La, Golden State, Denver Clippers.
Speaker 2: One of those five is going to survive this mess
Speaker 2: and end up in a knockdown, drag out fight with
Speaker 2: OKC that could go either way, is the point, and
Speaker 2: that that's where I see it, as like the field
Speaker 2: has an advantage there. I shouldn't even say advantage, I
Speaker 2: mean coin flip, but you get the point.
Speaker 3: All right, let's call it for the night. We'll be
Speaker 3: back tomorrow morning.
Speaker 2: All right, Day four in the books. We're chugging right along, guys.
Speaker 2: We will have the film session up tomorrow. I want
Speaker 2: to focus a little bit on Bucks Pacers. I want
Speaker 2: to show you, guys some of the stuff that Indiana
Speaker 2: was doing to beat the defensive scheme that Milwaukee deployed,
Speaker 2: which I thought was fascinating. So we'll cover some stuff there,
Speaker 2: and then as promised, I'll dig into Minnesota's offense and
Speaker 2: see if I can find some missed opportunities there. We'll
Speaker 2: get a film session in and then we'll be back
Speaker 2: tomorrow night. For Golden State Houston Game two. As always,
Speaker 2: I appreciate you guys for supporting us and for supporting
Speaker 2: the show.
Speaker 1: We'll see you tomorrow morning. What's up guys?
Speaker 2: As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
Speaker 2: OOPS tonight. They would actually be really helpful for us
Speaker 2: if you guys would take a second.
Speaker 1: And leave a rating and a review.
Speaker 2: As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if
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