1
00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:06,200
Speaker 1: The volume. We're this close to crowning a new NBA champ,

2
00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:07,960
Speaker 1: and with the action heating up on the court, it's

3
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:10,600
Speaker 1: even hotter. At DraftKings sports Book, an official sports betting

4
00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:13,200
Speaker 1: partner of the NBA. There's only so many games left,

5
00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:16,160
Speaker 1: and Draftking Sportsbook has you covered with same game parlays,

6
00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:19,319
Speaker 1: live betting odds, boosts in so much more. Don't miss

7
00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:21,320
Speaker 1: out or you'll have to wait until next NBA season

8
00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:24,200
Speaker 1: to place your bets. It's super easy for first timers

9
00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:26,880
Speaker 1: to get started. Try betting on something simple like picking

10
00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,360
Speaker 1: a team to win. Go to the Draftking Sportsbook app,

11
00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:32,519
Speaker 1: select your squad, and place your first bet. It's that simple.

12
00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:34,920
Speaker 1: The championship odds right now as we head into the

13
00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,479
Speaker 1: conference finals according to DraftKings, Boston's at minus one point fifty,

14
00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:41,640
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves at plus two to seventy five, the Mavericks

15
00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:43,920
Speaker 1: at plus five hundred, and the Indiana Pacers a long

16
00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:47,519
Speaker 1: shot at plus twenty five hundred. New to DraftKings, listen up.

17
00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,000
Speaker 1: New customers can get a no sweat bet up to

18
00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:55,560
Speaker 1: fifteen hundred bucks. Just deposit at least five bucks and

19
00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,080
Speaker 1: you'll get a bonus bet back equal to your first

20
00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:01,400
Speaker 1: bet if it doesn't hit alough the DraftKings sportsbook gap

21
00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,520
Speaker 1: now and use code hoops that's h oops. That's code

22
00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:08,840
Speaker 1: hoops for new customers to get a no sweat bet

23
00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:11,760
Speaker 1: up to fifteen hundred bucks if your first bet doesn't

24
00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:15,080
Speaker 1: hit only on DraftKings, the Crown is yours. Gambling problem

25
00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:18,199
Speaker 1: called one eight hundred gambler or in West Virginia, visit

26
00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,839
Speaker 1: www dot one eight hundred gambler dot net. In New York,

27
00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:26,240
Speaker 1: call eight seven seven eight hope and why, or text

28
00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:29,279
Speaker 1: hope and why to four six seven three sixty nine.

29
00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:31,920
Speaker 1: In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling called eight

30
00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:35,680
Speaker 1: eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or

31
00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:39,880
Speaker 1: visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of

32
00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:43,559
Speaker 1: Boothill Casino and resort In Kansas twenty one plus age

33
00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:47,520
Speaker 1: varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. One no sweat bet

34
00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:50,800
Speaker 1: per new customer issued as one bonus bet based on

35
00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:54,320
Speaker 1: amount of initial losing bet. Bonus bets expire one hundred

36
00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:58,240
Speaker 1: and sixty eight hours after issuance. See DKNG dot co

37
00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:03,440
Speaker 1: slash bball for l eligibility, wagering and deposit restrictions. Terms

38
00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:16,520
Speaker 1: and responsible gambling resources. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight

39
00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:18,519
Speaker 1: here at the Volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody up. All you

40
00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:20,280
Speaker 1: guys are having a great start to your week. We're

41
00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:23,720
Speaker 1: doing our second series preview for the Western Conference Finals,

42
00:02:23,720 --> 00:02:26,959
Speaker 1: the Dallas Mavericks taking on the Minnesota Timberwolves. Going to

43
00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,839
Speaker 1: get into all the details of that series, you guys

44
00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:31,840
Speaker 1: know the drill before we get started. To subscribe to

45
00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:33,840
Speaker 1: the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels so you don't miss any

46
00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:36,440
Speaker 1: more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore

47
00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,320
Speaker 1: jsonlt so you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget

48
00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:41,200
Speaker 1: about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts on

49
00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:43,560
Speaker 1: our Hoops Tonight, and then keep dropping mail bad questions

50
00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:45,400
Speaker 1: in those YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them.

51
00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:46,560
Speaker 2: Throughout the rest of the postseason.

52
00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:49,720
Speaker 1: All right, Last, but not least, before we get started,

53
00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:51,440
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you guys about game time.

54
00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:53,639
Speaker 1: We have two rounds left for you guys to get

55
00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:56,920
Speaker 1: out and see some of these NBA stars in person. Obviously,

56
00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:59,360
Speaker 1: we love watching basketball, but there's nothing like being there

57
00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:02,760
Speaker 1: in per and the urgency, the star power, the environment

58
00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:05,400
Speaker 1: in those arenas. You guys got to get out and

59
00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:09,560
Speaker 1: see these guys live in person. This is where game

60
00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:12,520
Speaker 1: Time can give you, guys, a great experience buying tickets,

61
00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:15,880
Speaker 1: especially at the last minute. They have all in pricing,

62
00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:17,920
Speaker 1: so you know exactly what you're going to be paying,

63
00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:19,960
Speaker 1: no surprises. When you go to check out, you can

64
00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:22,280
Speaker 1: check out and as soon as two clicks, so there's

65
00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:24,880
Speaker 1: no sort of convoluted process. You also get a great

66
00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:27,079
Speaker 1: view of your seat before you even show up to

67
00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:28,720
Speaker 1: the arena. I had a great experience with them earlier

68
00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:30,920
Speaker 1: this year when I went to McHale Center to watch

69
00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:34,760
Speaker 1: the Arizona Wildcats, and again Last Minute, got a great deal,

70
00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:36,680
Speaker 1: got a great seat. It was just a great experience.

71
00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:38,920
Speaker 1: I want you guys to check it out. Take the

72
00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:43,520
Speaker 1: guess work out of buying professional basketball tickets with game Time.

73
00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:46,280
Speaker 1: Download the game Time app, Create an account and redeem

74
00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:50,360
Speaker 1: code hoops that's hoops for twenty dollars off your first

75
00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:54,760
Speaker 1: purchase terms apply again. Create an account, redeem code hoops

76
00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:59,520
Speaker 1: Hoops for twenty dollars off. Download Game Time today. Last

77
00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:04,120
Speaker 1: minute ticket gets lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk

78
00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:08,240
Speaker 1: some basketball. So the season series between the Wolves and

79
00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:11,520
Speaker 1: the MAVs almost useless for us in terms of results

80
00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:15,400
Speaker 1: at least Minnesota one three to one. But I think

81
00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:17,520
Speaker 1: Kyrie and Luca only played in one of the games

82
00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:19,320
Speaker 1: and it happened to be the one that Dallas won.

83
00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:23,320
Speaker 1: The two of the games Luca and Kyrie missed entirely

84
00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:27,520
Speaker 1: none of the games involved PJ. Washington or Daniel Gafford.

85
00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:30,039
Speaker 1: So not really anything to look at in terms of

86
00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:31,560
Speaker 1: the results or the number. As a matter of fact,

87
00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:33,479
Speaker 1: as I've done with some of the other series, I'm

88
00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:35,600
Speaker 1: not even going to list some of the numbers. There's

89
00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,440
Speaker 1: just no point when two of the games that are

90
00:04:38,440 --> 00:04:44,120
Speaker 1: basically poisoning the data didn't involve either of Dallas's stars, right,

91
00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:46,080
Speaker 1: So not going to get into that. I think Kyrie

92
00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:48,359
Speaker 1: missed three of the four games, so we're not going

93
00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:50,320
Speaker 1: to go through the numbers. But there was a lot

94
00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:52,800
Speaker 1: of interesting stuff in the film. I have twelve clips

95
00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:54,280
Speaker 1: of film We're going to go over at the tail

96
00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:56,560
Speaker 1: end of this video to kind of demonstrate some of

97
00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:59,719
Speaker 1: the coverage concepts that I'm talking about when we get

98
00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:03,800
Speaker 1: in to the matchups. On the gambling front. According to DraftKings,

99
00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:08,320
Speaker 1: Minnesota is currently favored at minus one seventy. That's pretty substantial.

100
00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:11,479
Speaker 1: They're viewing them as a clearly discernibly better team at

101
00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:14,919
Speaker 1: least going into the series. Not hard to imagine why

102
00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:18,320
Speaker 1: after they impressively take down the defending champs on the

103
00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:21,000
Speaker 1: road in Game seven and at many points made them

104
00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:23,000
Speaker 1: look like they were really, really struggling.

105
00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:23,280
Speaker 2: Right.

106
00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,279
Speaker 1: We went into extensive detail in a film session yesterday

107
00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:30,680
Speaker 1: about what Minnesota did to shake Denver's foundation. In case

108
00:05:30,720 --> 00:05:32,600
Speaker 1: you guys missed that, you can find that a little

109
00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:34,599
Speaker 1: bit further back on our feet. So let's start with

110
00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:39,000
Speaker 1: Minnesota on offense. Early in the season, there was a

111
00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:41,400
Speaker 1: lot of Josh Green on Ant, but for the most

112
00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:43,120
Speaker 1: part it was Derrek Jones Junior. And I think that's

113
00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:45,360
Speaker 1: the matchup we'll see to start this series. I think

114
00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:49,680
Speaker 1: Kyrie will guard Mike Conley, Luca will probably guard Jaden McDaniels,

115
00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:52,360
Speaker 1: and then we'll see PJ. Washington on Karl Anthony Towns,

116
00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:57,279
Speaker 1: and then obviously Daniel Gafford or Derek Lively on Rudy Gobert.

117
00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:01,720
Speaker 1: Very different challenge for the Wolves than what Denver was, right,

118
00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:07,320
Speaker 1: because Denver obviously is very fundamentally sound defense, and they

119
00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:09,440
Speaker 1: have a lot of big bodies and a lot of length,

120
00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:12,520
Speaker 1: but they're not a particularly athletic team, and they're not

121
00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:16,240
Speaker 1: a good rim protection team. Dallas is much more athletic

122
00:06:16,279 --> 00:06:19,080
Speaker 1: on the perimeter and much more athletic at the rim.

123
00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,960
Speaker 1: Derek Jones Junior is a longer and better athlete than KCP.

124
00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:25,320
Speaker 1: You could make a case that KCP is a better

125
00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:28,080
Speaker 1: perimeter defender depending on who you ask, the very different types.

126
00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:30,719
Speaker 1: But Derek Jones Junior has been an excellent perimeter defender

127
00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:33,120
Speaker 1: this season and most of this postseason, and I more

128
00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:36,039
Speaker 1: or less view him on that same tier. And I

129
00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:38,160
Speaker 1: think he's got a little bit more length than athleticism.

130
00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:41,040
Speaker 1: His weakness is he's a little thin, right, and that'll

131
00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:43,760
Speaker 1: manifest in some different ways with Anthony Edwards, which we'll

132
00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:46,120
Speaker 1: get to in a minute. But Derek Jones Junior is

133
00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:48,839
Speaker 1: a much better athlete on the perimeter than most of

134
00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:51,560
Speaker 1: the guys that Anthony Edwards has been going against in

135
00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:55,480
Speaker 1: this postseason run. Also, Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford represent

136
00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:57,560
Speaker 1: a rim protection element and we saw that in a

137
00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:00,960
Speaker 1: big way in the Oklahoma City Series flat out cause

138
00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:04,520
Speaker 1: problems for the Thunder. And so when we look back

139
00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:07,960
Speaker 1: at the Denver team, you know, not only is are

140
00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,640
Speaker 1: there a weak rim protection team under any circumstances, and

141
00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:14,360
Speaker 1: Yokic had a bad defensive playoff run, so not anywhere

142
00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:16,200
Speaker 1: near the same level of rim protection. You can see

143
00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:18,640
Speaker 1: that in the stats. By the way, Dallas has allowed

144
00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:21,920
Speaker 1: just forty two points in the paint per game in

145
00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:25,080
Speaker 1: this postseason run. Denver has allowed fifty. So it's another

146
00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:29,280
Speaker 1: level of rim protection, another level of perimeter athleticism. I

147
00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:33,280
Speaker 1: do think that's going to present some challenges for the Timberwolves.

148
00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:36,120
Speaker 1: Now let's take a look at the individual matchup of

149
00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:40,080
Speaker 1: Derek Jones on Ant to start, So again, I think

150
00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:42,680
Speaker 1: his length will be more of a factor in ball

151
00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:45,320
Speaker 1: screens than it will in ISO situations. One of the

152
00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:47,760
Speaker 1: things with ISO situations for Derek Jones, and I noticed

153
00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:50,680
Speaker 1: this on the film, He's a little thin, so when

154
00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:53,720
Speaker 1: Ant gets angles on him. You know, we talk a

155
00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:55,640
Speaker 1: lot about these leverage battles those are you guys who

156
00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:59,320
Speaker 1: watched the show yesterday will remember I demonstrated a couple

157
00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:02,440
Speaker 1: of plays where At drove by Jokic, and there was

158
00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:04,400
Speaker 1: one at the top of the key where Kat Pump

159
00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:07,000
Speaker 1: faked and then ripped to the right and then Jokic

160
00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:09,520
Speaker 1: slid and took the contact more or less on his

161
00:08:09,640 --> 00:08:13,160
Speaker 1: left shoulder. But kat won that battle and blew through

162
00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:15,400
Speaker 1: Jokic's left shoulder and got all the way to the

163
00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:17,720
Speaker 1: rim and drew a foul on Aaron Gordon. That's that

164
00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:20,800
Speaker 1: leverage battle. It doesn't matter how quick Derek Jones Jr.

165
00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:23,840
Speaker 1: Is to beat Anthony Edwards to a spot if he

166
00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:27,080
Speaker 1: doesn't cleanly get his shoulder in the center of his sternum,

167
00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:29,920
Speaker 1: if it's anywhere off to that side, and it will

168
00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,760
Speaker 1: just blow through that shoulder because he's so damn strong

169
00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:35,000
Speaker 1: and has so much downhill force that he brings to

170
00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:38,240
Speaker 1: the equation right. So like in ISO situations, I more

171
00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:40,600
Speaker 1: or less think it'll look like what it looked with KCP,

172
00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:43,800
Speaker 1: which is he's just too small to handle all of

173
00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:47,080
Speaker 1: that downhill force. But I do think Derek Jones his

174
00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:50,280
Speaker 1: length will be a factor in ball screen. So when

175
00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:53,679
Speaker 1: A's running, let's just say a traditional pick and roll

176
00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:56,840
Speaker 1: with Gobert and go, Bear's rolling hard and Ant's coming

177
00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:59,280
Speaker 1: over the top of the screen. In those situations, Derek

178
00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:02,960
Speaker 1: Jones being able to stay relatively attached over the top

179
00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:06,079
Speaker 1: his long arms and his ability to get contests from

180
00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:09,600
Speaker 1: behind can be a factor on ANT in ball screens.

181
00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:13,240
Speaker 1: I'm actually really curious to see how often ANT avoids

182
00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:17,040
Speaker 1: ball screens altogether for that specific reason, because of that

183
00:09:17,160 --> 00:09:19,360
Speaker 1: bracket that they can bring into the equation. In terms

184
00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:22,000
Speaker 1: of coverages, they ran a lot of ice, which means

185
00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:23,960
Speaker 1: they tried to deny Ant the use of the screen

186
00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:27,439
Speaker 1: and funnel him away from the screen, particularly towards the sideline,

187
00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:30,440
Speaker 1: and then a lot of deep drop, but there was

188
00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:34,000
Speaker 1: some high drop mixed in. Now where that becomes different.

189
00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:39,160
Speaker 1: That's very different than the aggressive high drop trapping that

190
00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:40,040
Speaker 1: we saw from Denver.

191
00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:41,760
Speaker 2: Denverhead Yokic up at.

192
00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:44,160
Speaker 1: The level to start the series, and over the course

193
00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:46,920
Speaker 1: of the series brought him even further out to try

194
00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:48,880
Speaker 1: to get Ant to get rid of the basketball. There

195
00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:51,560
Speaker 1: were traps and then in io situations they were straight

196
00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:54,000
Speaker 1: up doubling him. Now, this is where the difference. This

197
00:09:54,080 --> 00:09:58,280
Speaker 1: is a difference between personnel. Right, Jokic's strength on defense

198
00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:00,800
Speaker 1: is he's got high IQ and he's with his hands.

199
00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:02,880
Speaker 1: So it actually makes sense to bring him up to

200
00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:05,840
Speaker 1: the level because he's gonna be more disruptive there than

201
00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:07,439
Speaker 1: he could ever be at the rim because he's not

202
00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:11,560
Speaker 1: a vertical athlete, right, Derek Jones or excuse me, Daniel

203
00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:15,640
Speaker 1: Gafford and Derek Lively. They are vertical athletes, so they

204
00:10:15,679 --> 00:10:18,760
Speaker 1: actually can be more impactful back at the rim than

205
00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:20,600
Speaker 1: they can be up at the level. And so I

206
00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:23,080
Speaker 1: do think we'll see, at least to start the series,

207
00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:26,840
Speaker 1: a deep drop coverage icing side ball screens, trying to

208
00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:30,600
Speaker 1: force him towards away from the screen and towards the sideline.

209
00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:33,960
Speaker 1: But we'll see, similar to what happened with Michael Malone,

210
00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:36,880
Speaker 1: if Aunt gets going in some sort of serious way,

211
00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:39,720
Speaker 1: we could see kid mix things up and be more

212
00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:42,760
Speaker 1: aggressive again. The challenge there for Aunt is, do you

213
00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:45,760
Speaker 1: guys remember the Milwaukee Bucks game earlier this year where

214
00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:48,559
Speaker 1: the Bucks ran deep drop the entire game and then

215
00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:51,720
Speaker 1: Aunt and Mike Connley couldn't score enough in the mid range,

216
00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:53,959
Speaker 1: couldn't hit enough pull up jumpers. That's kind of the

217
00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:56,760
Speaker 1: nature of that coverage. It allows you to defend things

218
00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:58,920
Speaker 1: too onto. The main reason why is when you're in

219
00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:02,320
Speaker 1: a deep drop coverage, you keep the roller and the

220
00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:04,959
Speaker 1: ball handler in front of you, and when the roller

221
00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:07,200
Speaker 1: and the ball handler are in front of you, you

222
00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:09,920
Speaker 1: don't have to bring that third guy in to tag

223
00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,640
Speaker 1: the roller, which allows you to defend the action two

224
00:11:12,760 --> 00:11:16,360
Speaker 1: on two and stay home off the ball right in

225
00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:19,240
Speaker 1: a high drop. As soon as go Bear rolls, you

226
00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:22,480
Speaker 1: have to tag from the weak side, which essentially is

227
00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:25,800
Speaker 1: defending the action three on two, which leaves openings for

228
00:11:25,880 --> 00:11:29,080
Speaker 1: the skip pass right. And so that deep drop could

229
00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:32,160
Speaker 1: make actually force Mike Conley and Anthony Ewards to beat

230
00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:35,640
Speaker 1: the coverage by scoring and again driving into rimp protection.

231
00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:38,240
Speaker 1: That can be a problem, as we saw for Oklahoma

232
00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:41,160
Speaker 1: City in the last round. So I think they'll start

233
00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:43,880
Speaker 1: with a deep drop coverage and then if Ant just

234
00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:46,400
Speaker 1: gets cooking and starts averaging, you know, thirty seven to

235
00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:48,400
Speaker 1: thirty eight a game in the early portion of the series,

236
00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:50,560
Speaker 1: that's where I think we could see them get a

237
00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:53,440
Speaker 1: little bit a little bit more aggressive in their coverages

238
00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:56,760
Speaker 1: for Karl Anthony Towns. We didn't get to see PJ

239
00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:00,240
Speaker 1: Washington with Dallas against Minnesota this year, but it's a

240
00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:02,640
Speaker 1: similar challenge to what Aaron Gordon faced, right, and Pj's

241
00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:05,040
Speaker 1: a similar type of athlete. You got to flatten out

242
00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:08,880
Speaker 1: cats drives, beat him to spots with physicality, and force

243
00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:11,200
Speaker 1: him to make shots over the top. Because when it

244
00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:13,000
Speaker 1: comes time to make shots over the top. Cat can

245
00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:17,360
Speaker 1: be somewhat inconsistent. That's what breeds is inconsistency. But we've

246
00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:20,360
Speaker 1: seen Kats won that battle a lot over the years

247
00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:24,400
Speaker 1: over this playoff run. I should say specifically in game seven,

248
00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:26,640
Speaker 1: like he beat Christian Brown to the basket, he beat

249
00:12:26,679 --> 00:12:28,640
Speaker 1: Reggie Jackson too the basket, he beat Jokic to the

250
00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:33,120
Speaker 1: basket twice, like he was slashing a lot in Game seven,

251
00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:35,280
Speaker 1: And so if you lose control of that situation, that

252
00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:36,200
Speaker 1: can go south for you.

253
00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:36,839
Speaker 2: But PJ.

254
00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:40,520
Speaker 1: Washington's challenge is going to be to contain that. I

255
00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:42,800
Speaker 1: think a big story of this series is going to

256
00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:45,600
Speaker 1: be in the event that Ant runs into some issues

257
00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:48,120
Speaker 1: with the rim protection and Derek Jones Jr. One of

258
00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:51,920
Speaker 1: the other advantages Denver Dallas has. Excuse me, Minnesota, I'm

259
00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:54,079
Speaker 1: getting all my teams confused. One of the advantages of

260
00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:57,280
Speaker 1: Minnesota has is they've got Cat and nasried to attack

261
00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:00,720
Speaker 1: size mismatches, and they're just a lot more size mismatches

262
00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:04,240
Speaker 1: for Minnesota to attack in this series than they had

263
00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:06,400
Speaker 1: in the Denver series. So that'll be a different direction

264
00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:08,520
Speaker 1: for them to go. Keys for both teams on the

265
00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:11,079
Speaker 1: Dallas front again, I think you start with deep drop,

266
00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:13,839
Speaker 1: try to keep the bracket tight around Ant. That means

267
00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:16,960
Speaker 1: back pressure from Derek Jones, the drop coverage, just offering

268
00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:20,079
Speaker 1: those contests on those mid range shots, right. I think

269
00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:22,680
Speaker 1: you start there and just wait to see if Aunt

270
00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:26,840
Speaker 1: can burn you consistently with the straight ISOs when Aunt

271
00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:28,960
Speaker 1: wants to try to attack Derek Jones just in like

272
00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:31,800
Speaker 1: a slashing situation without a screen. That's where you're going

273
00:13:31,880 --> 00:13:34,439
Speaker 1: to have your rim protectors sitting off of Gobert, just

274
00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:36,400
Speaker 1: sitting in the paint. It's more or less the same

275
00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:38,800
Speaker 1: type of coverage situation, right, and it's going to have

276
00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:41,320
Speaker 1: to beat people off the dribble and then make contested

277
00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:44,640
Speaker 1: mid range jump shots, flatten out Karl Anthony Town's drives

278
00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:46,720
Speaker 1: like we talked about. And then lastly, this kind of

279
00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:49,880
Speaker 1: is connection between both ends of the floor. But offensive

280
00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:52,080
Speaker 1: process for Dallas is going to be huge in this series.

281
00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:55,240
Speaker 1: They have struggled to turnovers at times during this postseason run,

282
00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:57,000
Speaker 1: and if you do that against Minnesota, that's a death

283
00:13:57,040 --> 00:13:58,600
Speaker 1: sentence just like it was against Okay.

284
00:13:58,640 --> 00:13:59,760
Speaker 2: See, because they can get.

285
00:13:59,679 --> 00:14:02,839
Speaker 1: Out and transition so well on the Minnesota front, don't

286
00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:05,520
Speaker 1: fall for the trap that Oklahoma City fell for, don't

287
00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:08,640
Speaker 1: drive and repeatedly try to finish over their rim protection.

288
00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:11,280
Speaker 1: We'll see maybe Aunt is just such a superior athlete

289
00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:13,720
Speaker 1: that he just cooks those guys at the rim all series.

290
00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:16,720
Speaker 1: Maybe that's what he does. But if early in the

291
00:14:16,760 --> 00:14:20,760
Speaker 1: series it becomes clear that you can't relative like regularly

292
00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:24,040
Speaker 1: finish over the rim protection, that's where rim decisions will

293
00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:27,000
Speaker 1: become a huge factor. Once you get into that spot,

294
00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:30,400
Speaker 1: making the right kickout passes and not falling for the

295
00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:35,040
Speaker 1: trap that Oklahoma City ran into, repeatedly challenging the rim protectors.

296
00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:38,560
Speaker 1: Rim protectors catenance shot making, and I'm gonna throw Conley

297
00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:41,640
Speaker 1: in here too. Elite rim protection calls for more mid

298
00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:44,480
Speaker 1: range shot making. That's just kind of the natural kind

299
00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:46,760
Speaker 1: of order of things, right, Like Jason Kid's gonna do

300
00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:49,400
Speaker 1: everything he can to keep that length directly under the

301
00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:52,200
Speaker 1: basket and to make things difficult for you around the rim,

302
00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:55,320
Speaker 1: so over the top shot making will be key. And then, lastly, similarly,

303
00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:59,080
Speaker 1: similarly to what we talked about with Dallas transition opportunities,

304
00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:01,560
Speaker 1: so Minnesota needs to look to run as much as

305
00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:04,400
Speaker 1: possible to avoid that loaded up rim protection.

306
00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:06,160
Speaker 2: Moving to Dallas.

307
00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:08,640
Speaker 1: On offense, I think we'll see Jade McDaniels on Luca,

308
00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:12,440
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards on Kyrie Irving, Mike Conley will probably guard

309
00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:16,440
Speaker 1: Derek Jones Junior, Carl Anthony Towns will likely guard PJ. Washington,

310
00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:23,600
Speaker 1: and then obviously go bear on Gafford or Lively. Let's

311
00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:25,760
Speaker 1: talk about go bear ball screens first. So one of

312
00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:27,760
Speaker 1: the things I noticed on film they were a little

313
00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:31,119
Speaker 1: bit more aggressive with Gobert than I was expecting. There

314
00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:34,400
Speaker 1: was some high drop, some trapping, some low drop, but

315
00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:37,720
Speaker 1: mostly against Kyrie. Then I noticed in the film Luca,

316
00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:40,200
Speaker 1: though for the most part, didn't look to target Gobert,

317
00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:44,000
Speaker 1: he was mostly going after Carl Anthony Towns in ball screens,

318
00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:46,480
Speaker 1: and in those situations, at first they were doing a

319
00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:48,720
Speaker 1: lot of switching, but Luca was just easily getting to

320
00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:50,880
Speaker 1: a step back jump shot on Cat and then they

321
00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:53,040
Speaker 1: started hedging, and then when they got to the hedging,

322
00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:57,000
Speaker 1: they would just basically drive. Luca would drive past Cat

323
00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:58,680
Speaker 1: and then try to turn the corner and try to

324
00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:01,720
Speaker 1: kind of keep that head of same going against Jaden,

325
00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:04,640
Speaker 1: which obviously opens up things in the slip as well.

326
00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:06,200
Speaker 1: And I think that's gonna be kind of the direction

327
00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:09,360
Speaker 1: this series goes is a lot of attacking Conley and

328
00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:13,080
Speaker 1: attacking Cat, those guys hedging and then guys like PJ.

329
00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:16,200
Speaker 1: Washington and Derek Jones slipping out of that and them

330
00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:19,560
Speaker 1: trying to play four on three against Minnesota and rotation.

331
00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:22,000
Speaker 1: So the rotations are going to be the key of

332
00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:25,720
Speaker 1: the series defensively for Dallas. Let's get to those keys.

333
00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:29,920
Speaker 1: So with Dallas, hunt the entry points again if you

334
00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:34,320
Speaker 1: similar to what we were talking about with Minnesota on offense,

335
00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:36,400
Speaker 1: if you play into their bracket, meaning if you just

336
00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:39,880
Speaker 1: keep attacking go Beart and Jada McDaniels and Anthony Edwards

337
00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:42,600
Speaker 1: all series long, I think you're gonna run into some issues.

338
00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:44,600
Speaker 1: I do think you want to attack ant for a

339
00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:46,840
Speaker 1: reason we're going to talk about in a minute. But

340
00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:49,440
Speaker 1: if you attack their best defensive players, especially in the

341
00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:51,880
Speaker 1: biggest moments when they're really really engaged, I think that

342
00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:55,680
Speaker 1: could go south pretty quickly. So attacking Conley and Kat,

343
00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:58,480
Speaker 1: they're gonna hedge or trap. So that's where you're gonna

344
00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:00,440
Speaker 1: get your four on threes by slipping out of those,

345
00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:02,840
Speaker 1: and then it's gonna be about decision about decision making

346
00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:06,080
Speaker 1: and shot making in those four on threes. The second

347
00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:09,360
Speaker 1: piece put Anthony Edwards in screens. He has a lot

348
00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:12,120
Speaker 1: of offensive responsibility for this team, right, and as we've

349
00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:14,919
Speaker 1: seen throughout this playoff run, when he gets tired, his

350
00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:16,720
Speaker 1: screen navigation tends to suck.

351
00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:17,200
Speaker 2: Right.

352
00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:20,000
Speaker 1: You can get a lot of switches that way where

353
00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:21,520
Speaker 1: Ant will die on the screen and then you end

354
00:17:21,600 --> 00:17:25,240
Speaker 1: up having to put you know, a Karl Anthony Towns

355
00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:27,560
Speaker 1: or somebody like that on the ball, which is where

356
00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:29,560
Speaker 1: Kyrie and Luca can look to go to work, so

357
00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:32,600
Speaker 1: especially in lower leverage moments, because we know what Ant

358
00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:34,920
Speaker 1: can do when the high leverage moments are there. As

359
00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:38,680
Speaker 1: bad as Ant was navigating screens early in the series,

360
00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,120
Speaker 1: like in Game three and four, in particular, in Game

361
00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:47,119
Speaker 1: six and seven, An was just an absolute menace on

362
00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:49,880
Speaker 1: the ball, And like we talked about in that video yesterday,

363
00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:52,720
Speaker 1: straight up removed Jamal Murray from the game by chasing

364
00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:54,560
Speaker 1: him over the top of screens and funneling him into

365
00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:56,679
Speaker 1: their size. So like, I don't see that as an

366
00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:58,720
Speaker 1: issue when the shit hits the fan, I don't see

367
00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:00,880
Speaker 1: that as an issue in the big, high leverage moments.

368
00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:04,040
Speaker 1: But during the meat and potatoes of the series. Put

369
00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:06,040
Speaker 1: it in a bunch of screens, because if he dies

370
00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:09,840
Speaker 1: on screens, that'll generate some openings for you on offense.

371
00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:12,960
Speaker 1: And then last, take care of the basketball. If you

372
00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:15,840
Speaker 1: start turning the basketball over, it will be a problem. Again,

373
00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:20,160
Speaker 1: Dallas was the highest turnover percentage team of the remaining

374
00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:23,280
Speaker 1: four teams that we have in the conference finals. Use

375
00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:26,480
Speaker 1: your length, use your athleticism, you can cause some problems there. Right,

376
00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:29,439
Speaker 1: So Dallas has to take care of the ball. On

377
00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:32,760
Speaker 1: the Minnesota front game playing discipline for Conlee and Kat Again,

378
00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:35,280
Speaker 1: what that means is good hedges that cut off the

379
00:18:35,359 --> 00:18:38,440
Speaker 1: driving lanes. If you throw a good hedge, you will

380
00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:41,200
Speaker 1: cut off the drive and force them to quickly pass

381
00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:44,320
Speaker 1: from there. It's just rotation basketball. That's like being on

382
00:18:44,359 --> 00:18:47,399
Speaker 1: a string, every guy knowing what their next rotation is

383
00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:50,399
Speaker 1: and just getting back into your spots out of it,

384
00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:52,800
Speaker 1: which is something I think that Minnesota has demonstrated they

385
00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:55,639
Speaker 1: can do, especially through all their double teams of Jokic.

386
00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:58,280
Speaker 2: Over the course of the last round.

387
00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:01,440
Speaker 1: Dallas showed some vulnera vulnerability to turnovers like I talked

388
00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:04,080
Speaker 1: about earlier. So just using your length and athleticism to

389
00:19:04,119 --> 00:19:06,919
Speaker 1: get out in transition, and then lastly, physical ball pressure

390
00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:10,320
Speaker 1: on Luca, like we saw last last round with Loudort.

391
00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:13,280
Speaker 1: If you just like just beat the hell out of

392
00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:16,320
Speaker 1: Luca all series long, He's going to have moments, especially

393
00:19:16,359 --> 00:19:18,320
Speaker 1: when he's missing shots, where he gets super frustrated. He

394
00:19:18,359 --> 00:19:20,880
Speaker 1: starts focusing on the refs, he starts to like kind

395
00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:25,200
Speaker 1: of his body linguage, starts to overly emphasize what's going

396
00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:26,800
Speaker 1: on with his knee. He just he just kind of

397
00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:28,879
Speaker 1: loses focus on the game hand. We saw that a

398
00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:31,200
Speaker 1: couple of times in the last round, and so try

399
00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:35,160
Speaker 1: to play Luca into those tendencies by being physical, by

400
00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:37,879
Speaker 1: trying to frustrate him, kind of similar to what we

401
00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:40,359
Speaker 1: saw from Jamal Murray in game two in the last round.

402
00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:42,760
Speaker 1: Like they can you can fluster a team, you can

403
00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:47,800
Speaker 1: fluster a player with extensive ball pressure. My predictions, again,

404
00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:50,240
Speaker 1: I viewed this as a very different type of series

405
00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:53,600
Speaker 1: than the last round because Dallas is just an entirely

406
00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:59,000
Speaker 1: different type of athletic matchup for for Minnesota. Dallas, again,

407
00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:01,440
Speaker 1: we don't think of them as an elite defense because

408
00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:03,199
Speaker 1: of some of their metrics from the regular season, but

409
00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:05,639
Speaker 1: they were an elite defense to end the season. They

410
00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:08,360
Speaker 1: were elite defense in the first round against the Clippers,

411
00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:10,720
Speaker 1: and they were an elite defense in the last round

412
00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:12,960
Speaker 1: against Oklahoma City. We have to start thinking of them

413
00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:15,160
Speaker 1: as one of those top tier defenses in the league,

414
00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:17,920
Speaker 1: and it all stems around elite point of attack defense

415
00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:21,480
Speaker 1: from Derrek Jones and PJ. Washington and Josh Green when

416
00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:24,960
Speaker 1: he's in the game, and rim protection from Daniel Gafford

417
00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:27,240
Speaker 1: and Derek g Liively. I think it's a very different challenge,

418
00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:30,240
Speaker 1: and I do think they will play Minnesota into some

419
00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:33,680
Speaker 1: really bad offensive stretches, which is why I'm picking Minnesota.

420
00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:36,440
Speaker 1: But in six games, I do think that Dallas is

421
00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:40,280
Speaker 1: going to get some wins against Minnesota by playing their

422
00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:43,960
Speaker 1: offense into bad stretches. That said, I think the overwhelming

423
00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:47,320
Speaker 1: physical assault of Minnesota, just like we saw with Denver,

424
00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:50,760
Speaker 1: has the ability to rattle the foundation of an offense.

425
00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:54,480
Speaker 1: They can go through some stretches where they absolutely strangle

426
00:20:54,880 --> 00:21:00,600
Speaker 1: even truly elite offenses. Denver again has that has been

427
00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:02,480
Speaker 1: one of the best half court execution teams of the

428
00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:05,760
Speaker 1: last five years, and there were stretches where Minnesota didn't

429
00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:09,199
Speaker 1: just slow them down but made them lose composure. That

430
00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:13,000
Speaker 1: is the ability that Minnesota has to break your foundation.

431
00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:15,840
Speaker 1: And I do believe that in the aggregate of this

432
00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:20,479
Speaker 1: series they will have more wins against Dallas's offense than

433
00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:23,960
Speaker 1: Dallas's defense does against Minnesota's offense. The last kind of

434
00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:27,000
Speaker 1: piece to look at here is Anthony Edwards versus Luca.

435
00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:30,399
Speaker 1: I did a thing with the Nerd SESSH guys on Friday,

436
00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:32,840
Speaker 1: I think last week was after Game six of Minnesota Denver,

437
00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:35,520
Speaker 1: and in that stretch, if you guys remember, I talked

438
00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:39,600
Speaker 1: about how like for me, Anthony Edwards is like fast

439
00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:42,800
Speaker 1: on the rise, the like I would probably take a

440
00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:45,679
Speaker 1: healthy Luca over him at number two right now. I

441
00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:47,320
Speaker 1: just think he's a little bit better as like a

442
00:21:47,359 --> 00:21:48,480
Speaker 1: half court surgeon.

443
00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:48,800
Speaker 2: Right.

444
00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:51,639
Speaker 1: But the problem is is Luca's knee has been messed

445
00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:55,199
Speaker 1: up and he hasn't been nearly as consistently good as

446
00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:58,560
Speaker 1: he's been in previous playoff runs, right, And so with

447
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:01,520
Speaker 1: the knee injury kind of being factored in, I think

448
00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:03,560
Speaker 1: that ant is more or less like kind of on

449
00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:05,840
Speaker 1: the same level as Luca and has a chance to

450
00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:08,080
Speaker 1: outplay him here. And that's the thing is like if

451
00:22:08,119 --> 00:22:10,360
Speaker 1: you were trying to if you were trying to put

452
00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:13,080
Speaker 1: together a pathway for Dallas to win the series, it's

453
00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:17,080
Speaker 1: pretty simple. Darre Jones Junior in rim protection, stifle Minnesota's offense,

454
00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:20,800
Speaker 1: and Luca gets back to that like consistent, top tier,

455
00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:23,439
Speaker 1: superstar level that he just hasn't been at in this

456
00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:26,359
Speaker 1: postseason run. So like that's the thing, is, like he

457
00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:29,560
Speaker 1: wasn't able to get there against Oklahoma City often, he

458
00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:31,760
Speaker 1: wasn't able to get there often against the Clippers. He

459
00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:34,440
Speaker 1: had moments, but it was not the same consistently great

460
00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:36,760
Speaker 1: Luca that we're accustomed to seeing in the playoffs for

461
00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:39,720
Speaker 1: the most part. Right, So what makes you think he's

462
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,840
Speaker 1: gonna suddenly figure it out against Minnesota? Right, Minnesota is

463
00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:45,920
Speaker 1: just a better defense than any of these other defenses

464
00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:49,760
Speaker 1: that he's faced. That said, Luca conquering that challenge is

465
00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:52,360
Speaker 1: the pathway. If he can conquer that challenge, I do

466
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:56,320
Speaker 1: believe Dallas's defense will slow Minnesota down for extensive stretches.

467
00:22:56,320 --> 00:23:00,760
Speaker 1: So if Luca can solve this Minnesota defense consistently, that

468
00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:03,840
Speaker 1: is Dallas's pathway to win the series. That said, I

469
00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:07,359
Speaker 1: am picking Minnesota in six. I'm super excited for this series.

470
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:11,399
Speaker 1: Lots of interesting basketball, kind of chess pieces moving around,

471
00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:15,480
Speaker 1: tons of star power between Anthony Edwards, Kyrie Irving, Luca,

472
00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:17,359
Speaker 1: and I think we got to include Karl Anthony Towns

473
00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:19,000
Speaker 1: in there now after how he's been playing in this

474
00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:22,080
Speaker 1: postseason run. Can't wait to get into it live on

475
00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:26,000
Speaker 1: YouTube after the final buzzer of Game one on Wednesday night.

476
00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:28,320
Speaker 1: So I want to be clear picking Minnesota. Absolutely think

477
00:23:28,359 --> 00:23:30,560
Speaker 1: Dallas can win the series. They have advantages that they

478
00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:32,680
Speaker 1: can go to, particularly on the defensive end of the floor,

479
00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:35,119
Speaker 1: and if Luca plays well enough, they can do it.

480
00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:37,280
Speaker 1: But I think this Minnesota team is playing on a

481
00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:39,520
Speaker 1: special level right now, so I do believe they will win.

482
00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:41,600
Speaker 1: Our guests, that is all I have for today. I

483
00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:43,919
Speaker 1: will see you guys tonight after the final buzzer of

484
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:46,600
Speaker 1: Celtics Pacers, and then again tomorrow morning for a film

485
00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:48,239
Speaker 1: session on that game before we get to Game one

486
00:23:48,280 --> 00:24:14,720
Speaker 1: of this series on Wednesday night. The volume