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Speaker 2: All right, welcome to hoops to night here at the volume.
Speaker 1: Have you Monday? Everybody?
Speaker 2: Ohbal, You guys are having a great start to your week.
Speaker 2: Got a jam pack show for you tonight. We're gonna
Speaker 2: do a breakdown of that epic showdown between the Thunder
Speaker 2: and the Mavericks. Really weird game, stuck in the mud,
Speaker 2: but shake Gilles, Alexander makes a couple of big shots,
Speaker 2: a couple of big kickout passes, case On Wallace and
Speaker 2: chet holmg gonna hit some big threes and Oklahoma City
Speaker 2: gets out of there with the win and we're two
Speaker 2: to two, headed back to Oklahoma for Game five. We're
Speaker 2: gonna be breaking that game down from the perspective of
Speaker 2: both teams. And then at the end of the show
Speaker 2: today I had mentioned I sent out a tweet with
Speaker 2: a mail bag earlier today. We got a bunch of questions,
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna go through probably a dozen or so
Speaker 2: mail back questions at the tail end of the show.
Speaker 2: You guys did the Joe before we get started. Subscribe
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Speaker 2: Hoops tonight, and keep dropping mail back questions in those
Speaker 2: YouTube comments. We keep hitting them throughout the rest of
Speaker 2: the postseason. All right, let's talk some basketball. So this
Speaker 2: was a bizarre game and what's been a pretty bizarre series.
Speaker 2: Both teams are really really struggling to score. These are
Speaker 2: two teams that have a plethora of perimeter speed and
Speaker 2: outstanding perimeter defenders.
Speaker 1: Derek Jones Jr.
Speaker 2: Has been probably the best veteran minimum signing in the
Speaker 2: league this year. Just an outstanding perimeter defender that's doing
Speaker 2: a good amount of damage in spot up situations and
Speaker 2: in transition. On the other end of the floor, obviously PJ.
Speaker 2: Washington's competing really well on that end, Josh Green's competing
Speaker 2: really well on that end, Kyrie Irvings competing really well
Speaker 2: on that end. Then you go to Oklahoma City, they
Speaker 2: got a bunch of professional perimeter defenders like Lou Dort.
Speaker 2: That's a guy that's going to be in this league
Speaker 2: for a long time doing what he's doing to Luka Doncic.
Speaker 2: In this series, same thing goes for case on Wallace.
Speaker 2: Aaron Wiggins comes in the game and he brings perimeter defense.
Speaker 2: Jalen Williams has done a really nice job as well.
Speaker 2: And so all these guys are really struggling to get
Speaker 2: their game off, and I really think it's coming down
Speaker 2: to decision making in a lot of cases. We're going
Speaker 2: to get into some of those details, but both teams
Speaker 2: are really struggling to score. Both teams were below eighty
Speaker 2: eight points per one hundred half court plays according to
Speaker 2: Cleaning the Glass. According to Cleaning Glass, in this game,
Speaker 2: these are two teams that were both over one hundred
Speaker 2: points per one hundred half court plays during the regular
Speaker 2: season for the series. Now through four games, Oklahoma City
Speaker 2: is winning that battle rather convincingly. They're up ninety six
Speaker 2: to eighty nine in terms of points per one hundred
Speaker 2: half court plays. All four stars were struggling today. Kyrie
Speaker 2: was having a poor shooting game. He was only four
Speaker 2: for eleven, only scored nine points. JDub was five for nineteen.
Speaker 2: Was really struggling with reading the floor, challenging rim protectors,
Speaker 2: missing extra defenders that were coming over, a lot of
Speaker 2: young basketball player stuff from Oklahoma City that they bought
Speaker 2: through at the end of the day. But you could
Speaker 2: see them struggling. With Luka Doncic was six for twenty.
Speaker 2: He's just having a nightmare of a time dealing with
Speaker 2: lou Dorort has him in the torture chamber right now.
Speaker 2: Schaikyo just Alexander was really struggling up until about the
Speaker 2: last fifteen minutes or so, and he was the one
Speaker 2: guy who broke out, and that's really what determined this game.
Speaker 1: That said, as much as.
Speaker 2: Shay broke out as a shot maker, I did think
Speaker 2: that Luca and Kyrie were doing a much better job
Speaker 2: hunting their teammates for spot up opportunities. This is an
Speaker 2: interesting trend for Oklahoma City. A big part of how
Speaker 2: they got going down the stretch of this game was
Speaker 2: taking advantage of easy reads that are available when Dallas
Speaker 2: is collapsing on them around the rim. And they've done
Speaker 2: mostly a poor job in this series of making those
Speaker 2: kickout raids, while even though Luca has struggled with missing
Speaker 2: shots and with turnovers, he's making those kickout raads a lot.
Speaker 2: Even though Kyrie hasn't been really scoring all that much,
Speaker 2: he's been making those kickout raads. And again, like this
Speaker 2: game was one hundred to ninety six and came down
Speaker 2: to one, it was tied, It was tied late before
Speaker 2: that last three that Chet Holmgren hit, So like this
Speaker 2: game could have gone either way. And obviously the free
Speaker 2: throws were a huge issue for Dallas in this game.
Speaker 2: Oklahoma City was struggling with their decision making, like everyone
Speaker 2: was really struggling, but Shay was the one guy that
Speaker 2: broke out. And a lot of those little short textbook
Speaker 2: step back jumpers going left and right that is in
Speaker 2: that short range that I talk about, like long tues
Speaker 2: out by like seventeen eighteen, nineteen feet, Those can dip
Speaker 2: in percentage considerably.
Speaker 1: But Shay gets good separation.
Speaker 2: Around like you know, fifteen fourteen feet, and he gets
Speaker 2: to these looks that are actually pretty high percentage, and
Speaker 2: he was struggling to make them for the most part
Speaker 2: in this series. But really he caught a little hot
Speaker 2: streak at the right time there in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 2: and then he finally made some good kickout reads. This
Speaker 2: is something like again when you are how many times
Speaker 2: did it seem like you saw a thunder player, whether
Speaker 2: it was Shay or Chet or a guy driving a
Speaker 2: close out like get into the lane and then try
Speaker 2: to try to just throw their body into traffic with
Speaker 2: all of the rim protection that Dallas has and force
Speaker 2: something up and then get blocked. Dallas had thirteen blocks
Speaker 2: in this game. I pulled up the numbers in the
Speaker 2: first three games of the series. Oklahoma City shot just
Speaker 2: sixty two percent and they're restricted it. They were sixty
Speaker 2: nine percent in the restricted area in the regular season.
Speaker 2: It's a substantial dip from where they're usually the AD
Speaker 2: And so again I put in my notes, Oklahoma City
Speaker 2: has the talent to win this series, they have more
Speaker 2: offensive talent in my opinion, they have more off ball shooting,
Speaker 2: more guys that are better at attacking closeouts.
Speaker 1: Obviously, PJ.
Speaker 2: Washington and Derek Johnes Junior have capitalized on the fact
Speaker 2: that Luca and Kyrie keep hunting them and they're making shots.
Speaker 2: But Shae and Jalen Williams, they've got to do a
Speaker 2: better job of making those kickout raids. And finally at
Speaker 2: the end of that game, Shay started making those raids.
Speaker 2: There was a strong side corner help from Luca for
Speaker 2: the big one that Cheed Holmgren hit. Luca was helping
Speaker 2: a lot off of Kason Wallace on that week side
Speaker 2: down the stretch of that game, and they were missing
Speaker 2: that raid. So there's a lot more opportunity there.
Speaker 1: In that third.
Speaker 2: Quarter, there were a lot of plays where like Shay
Speaker 2: would collapse the defense and like make the right read,
Speaker 2: but he'd throw like a kind of a janky pass
Speaker 2: that either get get deflected or he'd lose his balance
Speaker 2: and throw a bad pass. I did a video on
Speaker 2: the on the Nuggets Timberwolve series today where I talked
Speaker 2: about the importance of making the pass to the shooting pocket.
Speaker 2: And the reason why it's very simple because these are
Speaker 2: elite defenses with a ton of speed that are closing
Speaker 2: out at you. And so like, again, if I'm starting
Speaker 2: twenty feet away from you, or let's say fifteen feet
Speaker 2: away from you, and I throw the pass at your feet,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna close out well and I'm gonna be able
Speaker 2: to chase you off of the line. But if someone
Speaker 2: throws the pass directly into your shooting pocket, it's really
Speaker 2: difficult for me to get out there in time. And
Speaker 2: so like, honestly, like there's a lot of room for
Speaker 2: improvement for Oklahoma City, which is what's kind of scary,
Speaker 2: is like like they're missing a lot of reads. They're
Speaker 2: not making good kickout passes. Jalen Williams is still like
Speaker 2: really struggling to read the floor out there. Totally predictable
Speaker 2: for a guy in just his second year playing NBA
Speaker 2: basketball and his first time playing in the playoffs at
Speaker 2: this level. Right, Shay, his first playoff run, is the
Speaker 2: number one option on the playoff team, and you know,
Speaker 2: there's just so much more room for improvement there for them.
Speaker 2: But Shay finally did make some plays down the stretch
Speaker 2: of this game. Some good kickout passes, some good short
Speaker 2: mid range jumpers, and on the other end of the floor,
Speaker 2: like lou Dort just continues to with his like just
Speaker 2: overwhelming physicality. Just you can tell it's really starting to
Speaker 2: rattle Luca. He's starting to He's complaining at the rest constantly,
Speaker 2: he's constantly on the ground, he's constantly The big one
Speaker 2: for Luca that's the surprise to me is the turnovers
Speaker 2: and what he's doing is he's over penetrating and then
Speaker 2: he's getting himself surrounded by bodies and he's throwing kickout
Speaker 2: passes when he's being swarmed that are getting deflected or
Speaker 2: going right to the next guy in the rotation that
Speaker 2: are getting it and running out the other way. Like
Speaker 2: Luca really needs to just calm the hell down and
Speaker 2: just kind of kind of like what we were talking
Speaker 2: about with Jamal Murray early in the in the Wolves series,
Speaker 2: where it's like, hey, you've handled ball pressure before. Luca
Speaker 2: has seen a good perimeter defender before, he has seen
Speaker 2: physical ball pressure before, he has seen a guy that
Speaker 2: he can't overpower physic before. He's capable of handling this
Speaker 2: a lot better than he has. And I'm going to
Speaker 2: say the exact same thing to Luca or about Luca
Speaker 2: that I said about Jamal Murray. When it comes to
Speaker 2: Jamal Murray, yeah, I get it, you got a calf injury, man,
Speaker 2: but everyone in the playoffs is hurt.
Speaker 1: You better just find a way.
Speaker 2: And when I went and looked at the tape, it
Speaker 2: really looked like Jamal just wasn't handling the ball pressure well,
Speaker 2: even though I know he can handle it. Then he
Speaker 2: goes into the two games in Minnesota, does a masterful
Speaker 2: job of handling the ball pressure and everything comes together.
Speaker 2: Luca's in that phase kind of where Jamal Murray was
Speaker 2: in Game two, where he's getting super worked up and
Speaker 2: he's super involved with the officials, and he is capable
Speaker 2: of handling this a lot better than he is not.
Speaker 2: Over penetrating better shot selection, playing and taking what the
Speaker 2: defense is giving you. He's capable of turning this series around.
Speaker 2: Both teams are capable of playing a lot better than
Speaker 2: they have been. But I did think it was super
Speaker 2: impressive that Shade broke out. It felt like his first
Speaker 2: real kind of playoff moment, didn't It Obviously hit that
Speaker 2: game winner against the Pelicans, but the Pelicans are the
Speaker 2: worst team out of all the Western Conference teams that
Speaker 2: got into the playoffs. Right, So, like, given the stakes,
Speaker 2: given the situation, down to one on the road, you're
Speaker 2: trailing in the second half. I think it went down
Speaker 2: by thirteen fourteen points in the early portion of the
Speaker 2: third quarter, if I remember correctly, Like they were really
Speaker 2: in a tough spot, and they just kept chugging along
Speaker 2: and they kept making plays and then Shaye hit a
Speaker 2: level there in that fourth quarter run that was able
Speaker 2: to carry his team home to the finish line. Again,
Speaker 2: Oklahoma City does have the talent to win this series.
Speaker 2: It's all going to be about being sharper with their
Speaker 2: decision making. When you get into the lane and multiple
Speaker 2: bodies converge on you, your percentages will dip. And again,
Speaker 2: like it's all about shot value, right, You don't want
Speaker 2: to just take threes if they're chasing you off the
Speaker 2: three point line and they're not high quality threes. Yeah,
Speaker 2: three points is worth more than two, but not if
Speaker 2: it's contested, and not if it's a good shot. Same
Speaker 2: thing goes for the rim. The rim is the highest
Speaker 2: value shot in the NBA, but you're not if you're
Speaker 2: shooting like fifty nine percent down there, right, or I
Speaker 2: think of sixty two percent or whatever. I'll have to
Speaker 2: pull the numbers from from this particular game. But they
Speaker 2: shot thirty eight percent from the field in this game.
Speaker 2: I would imagine after they got blocked thirteen times. I
Speaker 2: would imagine after I go back and look at the tape,
Speaker 2: or excuse me, look at the numbers when the when
Speaker 2: the analytics update, I would venture to guess that they're
Speaker 2: they're shooting percentage in the restricted area has dipped below
Speaker 2: sixty percent.
Speaker 1: Now we're not talking about you know.
Speaker 2: One point three or one point four points per shot
Speaker 2: down there. Now, we're talking about barely over a point
Speaker 2: per shot, and that that's not the best value that's
Speaker 2: available there on the floor. You have the talent, you
Speaker 2: just have to make those kickout passes. Play advantage basketball again,
Speaker 2: Like it's very simple. If you are playing one on
Speaker 2: one against an elite perimeter defender, it's generally going to
Speaker 2: be a pretty low percentage shot. If you're challenging athletics
Speaker 2: seven footers at the rim, it's generally going to be
Speaker 2: a low percentage shot. But if I give case on
Speaker 2: Wallace or lou Dord or any of these guys a
Speaker 2: defender closing out at them, it infinitely increases their or
Speaker 2: dramatically increases their efficiency on those plays. And so that
Speaker 2: to me is the encouraging part for Oklahoma City. You
Speaker 2: played like shit most of this game, and you got
Speaker 2: out of there with the win and tied the series.
Speaker 2: Shout out to kase On Walla's a bunch of big
Speaker 2: shots there down the stretch. Shout out to Chet Holmgren
Speaker 2: as well. He was getting He was a victim of
Speaker 2: a lot of that physicality as well. There's a swim
Speaker 2: move that Derek Lively hit him with in the second
Speaker 2: half where he just elbowed him right in the side
Speaker 2: of the temple and just kept hanging around, kept making plays,
Speaker 2: hit that big three, and then ice the game at
Speaker 2: the foul line late on the Dallas front again. Luca
Speaker 2: the shot, the shot selection. I understand why he's taking
Speaker 2: those shots. He's trying to get his rhythm back.
Speaker 1: I get it.
Speaker 2: I think he can be a little bit better there.
Speaker 2: The big one is the mistakes. I think Kyrie and
Speaker 2: Luca are both doing a really good job of what
Speaker 2: Oklahoma City's not doing, which is making those kickout passes
Speaker 2: and generating closeout opportunities for their teammates which they are
Speaker 2: taking advantage of. For Luca, it's the mistakes against Oklahoma City.
Speaker 2: With how good they are in transition, turnovers are a
Speaker 2: death sentence. That is the entire way their offense. I
Speaker 2: shouldn't say the entire way. That is a significant significant
Speaker 2: portion of their basketball identity, playing passing lanes, physical aggression
Speaker 2: on the ball and in passing lanes, forcing turnovers, getting
Speaker 2: out in transition and getting easy looks. Luca has to
Speaker 2: cut down on his mistakes. And I know what every
Speaker 2: Mavericks fan in the world is going to be saying,
Speaker 2: Luca's knee is hurt. Yeah, you're right, everyone's hurt.
Speaker 1: Though.
Speaker 2: He's got to find a way to play right Blue
Speaker 2: George's fouling them, Yeah, you're right. So is every elite
Speaker 2: perimaterive veender in the league. In every series. Everyone's found
Speaker 2: the hell out of everybody. Luca is not the only
Speaker 2: primary ball handler out there who's getting hacked and slashed
Speaker 2: on every single drive to the basket. It's happening to everybody.
Speaker 2: He has to find a way to weather through that
Speaker 2: and make them a bigger impact on this game. I
Speaker 2: also thought Jason Kidd, it was interesting that he leans
Speaker 2: so much on Tim Hardaway Junior late. Derek Jones Junior
Speaker 2: is playing really well seventeen points in this game, he
Speaker 2: had four blocks, he was plus nine, only played twenty
Speaker 2: seven and I get it, Tim Hardaway hit a huge
Speaker 2: three late in the game. But Derrek Jones Junior is
Speaker 2: the guy that's been doing the best job guarding Shay and.
Speaker 1: Tim Hardaway.
Speaker 2: Tim Hardaway Junior made a critical mistake at the end
Speaker 2: of the game on that little post entry to Luka
Speaker 2: Doncic up on the right wing, so like, like I
Speaker 2: just I didn't really understand that specific move there. I
Speaker 2: get kind of the offense defense sub angle, but like
Speaker 2: Derek Jones is, in my opinion, like someone that has
Speaker 2: to be on the floor as much as possible when
Speaker 2: you get into these situations. So tough to get a
Speaker 2: real feel for this game at this series. Because here
Speaker 2: this is I'll just put it this simply. Both of
Speaker 2: these teams have so much room for improvement that I
Speaker 2: really could see this series going either way. Like Dallas
Speaker 2: is capable of playing so much better, Like Kyrie and
Speaker 2: Luca combined for twenty seven points tonight, Like you bet
Speaker 2: your ass they're due for a fifty five to sixty
Speaker 2: point night between those two, right, And also Oklahoma City
Speaker 2: is capable of much better offensive process, getting more more
Speaker 2: advantage basketball type of possessions where guys are attacking closeouts
Speaker 2: and it's just gonna be the simple. Whichever team snaps
Speaker 2: out of it and starts playing more to their to
Speaker 2: their advantages is going to win this series. No one's
Speaker 2: playing well and it's two two, so like this is
Speaker 2: there for the taking. Somebody's just got to rise from
Speaker 2: the pack. Tonight Shae was the guy who rose. We'll
Speaker 2: see what happens in Game five obviously will be their
Speaker 2: live on YouTube after the final buzzer on Wednesday night.
Speaker 2: The volume