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Speaker 1: Slash b ball. All right, we'll coome to Hoop Tonight.
Speaker 1: You're at the ball.
Speaker 2: You'd have you Monday, everybody, I'll ball you guys. Had
Speaker 2: an incredible weekend. Got a jam pack Monday show for
Speaker 2: you guys. I've got four big takeaways from this weekend
Speaker 2: off the top, and then at the tail end of
Speaker 2: the show, like we always do on Monday, our power
Speaker 2: rankings as we go through the top ten teams in
Speaker 2: the league. You guys know the joke before we get started.
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Speaker 2: like we do every Friday, we're going to be doing
Speaker 2: a mail bag, So drop questions in the YouTube comments
Speaker 2: for the mail bag by the time we get there
Speaker 2: on Friday. All right, let's talk some basketball. So my
Speaker 2: number one big takeaway from the weekend, the Los Angeles
Speaker 2: Lakers have reinvented themselves as a staunch defensive team. This
Speaker 2: team has pretty much only had weird seasons ever since
Speaker 2: they made the decision to trade for Russell Westbrook, whether
Speaker 2: it's been like that first Russ here where it's a
Speaker 2: lot of injuries, or that second rush here where it's
Speaker 2: more injuries, but then you're kind of a completely different
Speaker 2: team in the post deadline phase of the season to
Speaker 2: the quitting on Darvin Ham in the middle of the
Speaker 2: season for a month to everything that went wrong in
Speaker 2: that late November early December stretch this year, But this
Speaker 2: might actually be the weirdest thing that I've seen the
Speaker 2: Lakers do post trading for Russell Westbrook. In the Lakers'
Speaker 2: first twenty three games before this four to one stretch,
Speaker 2: they were twenty sixth in defensive rating, meaning they allowed
Speaker 2: the fifth most points in the league per one hundred possessions,
Speaker 2: twenty fifth in defensive rebounding percentage, twenty seventh in fast
Speaker 2: break points allowed, meaning basically for the first twenty three
Speaker 2: games of the season, for more than a fourth of
Speaker 2: the season, they were getting absolutely crushed in every athleticism category. Defending, rebounding,
Speaker 2: and running the floor. Those are all things that come
Speaker 2: down to your willingness to compete athletically on the floor,
Speaker 2: bottom six in all three of those categories. In the
Speaker 2: lakers last five games, they are the number one defense
Speaker 2: in the league, allowing just ninety nine point two points
Speaker 2: per one hundred posessions, or the only team in the
Speaker 2: league allowing less than one hundred points per one hundred possessions.
Speaker 2: In that span, They are ninth in defensive rebounding percentage,
Speaker 2: and tenth in fast break points allowed. So from bottom
Speaker 2: six in all three categories to number one in defense
Speaker 2: and top ten in all three categories. Most impressively, they've
Speaker 2: done it against teams that specifically attack their weaknesses. In
Speaker 2: this stretch of games they've had to play their last
Speaker 2: three against Memphis and Sacramento, those are all top ten
Speaker 2: offenses predicated on speed, which is a weakness for the Lakers,
Speaker 2: right and especially in transition weaknesses for the Lakers, and
Speaker 2: they shut both offenses down and kept both teams out
Speaker 2: of transition. That's a Memphis Grizzlies team that's been kicking
Speaker 2: everybody's butt and the Lakers kind of led them wire
Speaker 2: to wire. And it mostly comes down to the team
Speaker 2: rediscovering its competitive nature. Like there are some schematic things
Speaker 2: that have changed, Max Christy is starting now right, the
Speaker 2: Lakers have been more picky with their switching essentially, just
Speaker 2: they're not just conceding guard guard switches unless it's necessary,
Speaker 2: meaning unless there's actually a good pick that is set.
Speaker 2: And then usually if there's an action between a guard
Speaker 2: an AD instead of switching that action, which they had
Speaker 2: done in the past, they're having that guard chase over
Speaker 2: the top in AD's meeting them at the level a
Speaker 2: more traditional pick and roll coverage. This has allowed Anthony
Speaker 2: Davis to be at the rim more frequently, which is
Speaker 2: important for protecting the rim and for defensive rebounding. One
Speaker 2: of the things with the Lakers, you know, I'm actually
Speaker 2: generally a believer in switching as a scheme. I think
Speaker 2: it stagnates teams and baits them into a lot of
Speaker 2: bad basketball. But in order for switching to function, you
Speaker 2: need five man units that are generally pretty athletic across
Speaker 2: the board. The reason why is teams are going to
Speaker 2: attack switching by picking on mismatches and by doing damage
Speaker 2: on the offensive glass. Right, So like you switch, you know,
Speaker 2: you get a bad guard like d Lo onto the
Speaker 2: ball and they're looking to attack, right, that's a mismatch.
Speaker 2: Or Okay, Anthony Davis switched the ball screen and now
Speaker 2: he's on their best guard. But now that guard is
Speaker 2: taking Anthony Davis away from the player, and now you
Speaker 2: don't have rim protection or anybody that can clean up
Speaker 2: the defensive glass.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: Like the Lakers, in terms of their personnel, should be
Speaker 2: more picky with their switching. They have been more picking
Speaker 2: picky with their switching, and that has helped. Those things
Speaker 2: have certainly played a role, but by far the biggest
Speaker 2: change has just been in their competitive nature, right, like
Speaker 2: a tweak Like that's not the difference between the Lakers
Speaker 2: being one of the very worst defensive teams in the
Speaker 2: league and being the best defensive team in the league.
Speaker 2: That's not the kind of difference that'll come from that
Speaker 2: kind of change that helps, But most of it comes
Speaker 2: down to their just fighting. The NBA is like a
Speaker 2: never ending onslaught of good basketball teams pitted against you.
Speaker 2: There's always just another one waiting, right, and you have
Speaker 2: to be ready to compete every night. The Lakers went
Speaker 2: through an extended stretch where they were literally not competing,
Speaker 2: and they got.
Speaker 1: Rolled a bunch.
Speaker 2: There are five factors that I think have led to
Speaker 2: this turnaround for the Lakers. Number one embarrassment. The loss
Speaker 2: in Miami in particular is one of the low points
Speaker 2: of the lebron ad era. I wasn't the one, I
Speaker 2: wasn't the only one being very critical of them. It
Speaker 2: was a pretty big story. Like you guys spent all
Speaker 2: training camp passive aggressively shitting on Darvin Ham for him
Speaker 2: not being competent, and now you're openly quitting in the
Speaker 2: first quarter of an important game against a mediocre team
Speaker 2: in the Miami Heat and getting smacked by forty for
Speaker 2: your sixth loss in eight tries. That was embarrassing. Embarrassment
Speaker 2: is a natural motivator. Number two. There is a trickle
Speaker 2: down effect that comes from minor schematic changes when they
Speaker 2: lead to success. It's like momentum. We talked about it earlier.
Speaker 2: The switching wasn't a good fit for this particular roster,
Speaker 2: at least to do it as much as they had
Speaker 2: been doing. You make a tweak in your approach. Suddenly
Speaker 2: you start getting more stops. You start getting more stops.
Speaker 2: Players start to believe in the scheme more, players start
Speaker 2: to believe in the scheme more, they start to buy
Speaker 2: in more. Suddenly you're getting even more effort, even more
Speaker 2: Stopsuddenly he start to win some games. Now it starts
Speaker 2: to believe, the roster starts to believe even more, and
Speaker 2: it can really turn into a momentous kind of thing. Right, So,
Speaker 2: there's no doubt that the schematic changes have led to
Speaker 2: some of the turnaround in the competitiveness of the Lakers three.
Speaker 2: Several Lakers are just playing better basketball than they did
Speaker 2: to start the season. I talk about this concept all
Speaker 2: the time on the show, but sometimes the best solution
Speaker 2: for a struggling basketball team is guys just have to
Speaker 2: play better, you know, Like it's crazy for the Milwaukee
Speaker 2: Bucks this year, what happened when Jannis and Brook were
Speaker 2: just like, Hey, what if you and I just go
Speaker 2: back to completely shutting teams down on defense? And what
Speaker 2: if that just snowballs into a bunch of good stuff
Speaker 2: for our team? And that's what happened, right, same things
Speaker 2: happening for the Lakers. Lebron James. A big part of
Speaker 2: the two and six stretch was Lebron was terrible. He
Speaker 2: wasn't scoring much, he wasn't scoring very efficiently, he was
Speaker 2: turning the ball over too much, and he wasn't engaged
Speaker 2: defensively or on the glass. I think he got embarrassed
Speaker 2: by that whole thing. He took ten days off, and
Speaker 2: when he came back, he just started playing super hard.
Speaker 2: This is something I talked about a lot during Lebron's slump.
Speaker 2: Those are you guys who followed the show during the time,
Speaker 2: We'll remember this, But I talked about one of the
Speaker 2: best ways to get out of a slump is to
Speaker 2: build momentum and confidence by making winning plays. Lebron is
Speaker 2: still huge, Lebron is still fast. He's still a excellent
Speaker 2: NBA athlete with a ton of skill in IQ. So
Speaker 2: if he just is focused and plays hard, it's kind
Speaker 2: of impossible for him to have a bad game because
Speaker 2: of all the little things he can do that don't
Speaker 2: really rely on variants, right, he just had to lock
Speaker 2: in and do his job, and so he starts playing hard.
Speaker 2: All of a sudden, he starts to feel better about himself.
Speaker 2: He's almost playing angry right now. And even though the
Speaker 2: box score production hasn't been that good, since he's come back,
Speaker 2: he's been awesome. His box score numbers in the last
Speaker 2: three games are more or less the same as they
Speaker 2: were in the stretch before, but he is so much
Speaker 2: more engaged on defense, so much more engaged on the glass,
Speaker 2: so much more focused and making better decisions on the offense.
Speaker 2: The flour Lebron has been really good again. With Lebron,
Speaker 2: it always goes beyond the box score. You could go
Speaker 2: back to when he was struggling and it's like, oh,
Speaker 2: he's still you know, twenty three, you know, eight and
Speaker 2: seven or whatever it was that he was averaging. It's
Speaker 2: all good numbers, right, but like when Lebron's not engaged,
Speaker 2: it can really be draining on a team. He's been
Speaker 2: so engaged since he's come back, and it's made a
Speaker 2: world of difference. One stat to demonstrate this difference. In
Speaker 2: Lebron's first twenty two games this year, he averaged just
Speaker 2: one point one stocks per game that.
Speaker 1: Steals plus blocks.
Speaker 2: Right in his last four games, he's averaging three point
Speaker 2: three stocks per game, so he's tripled his output on
Speaker 2: steals and blocks. And again, it even goes well beyond
Speaker 2: the box score in terms of the efforts that he's making,
Speaker 2: communicating the rotations that he's making. I think it's the
Speaker 2: hardest I've seen Lebron play consistently three games in a
Speaker 2: row in like a mid season stretch like this in
Speaker 2: December since the twenty twenty one team. It's one thing
Speaker 2: to do it opening week, it's one thing to do
Speaker 2: it right before the playoffs. But Lebron for the most
Speaker 2: part in this time of year, is very select dive
Speaker 2: with his effort and he's playing really hard every night
Speaker 2: that has been working. Max Christy very uneven start to
Speaker 2: the season. He's been in the starting lineup for five
Speaker 2: games now. He's starting to find his footing on defense.
Speaker 2: He'd struggled on defense to start the year, and he's
Speaker 2: shooting forty three percent from three in this five game span.
Speaker 2: He's just being solid in his starting role. Gabe Vincent.
Speaker 2: Gabe Vincent has always been a rock solid role player
Speaker 2: who does his job on both ends of the floor.
Speaker 2: But he's kind of small, so when he's not hitting shots,
Speaker 2: he's not good enough on defense to overcome those that
Speaker 2: issue with him making shots. He's a guy that like
Speaker 2: when he's hitting, and in his last nine games, he's hitting.
Speaker 2: In his last nine games, gave his forty nine percent
Speaker 2: from three on four attempts. Suddenly he looks like a
Speaker 2: very useful role player because he does his job. He's
Speaker 2: a legitimate two way player. He just hadn't hit shots
Speaker 2: the entirety of his Lakers' tenure up until this recent stretch.
Speaker 2: Ruy Hachimura three blocks and twenty two rebounds in his
Speaker 2: last three games. He's been a huge part in their
Speaker 2: defensive uptick. He also had a huge tap out rebound
Speaker 2: to save Anthony Davis after he missed a couple free
Speaker 2: throws against Sacramento Austin Reeves. He was out of the
Speaker 2: lineup for the last three losses in that ugly stretch.
Speaker 2: Getting him back has been huge. In his four games
Speaker 2: since returning, he's averaging twenty points, five rebounds, and six assists.
Speaker 2: That's damn near all star level production. D'Angelo Russell Delo
Speaker 2: can be an infuriating player sometimes, especially when he's not
Speaker 2: hitting shots because of all of his shortcomings. In his
Speaker 2: first seventeen games this year, he had six to three
Speaker 2: point attempts per game and only made twenty eight percent
Speaker 2: of them. In his last ten games, on six attempts,
Speaker 2: he's hitting forty two percent of them. A lot more
Speaker 2: of d Lo's upside is on display, and then AD
Speaker 2: has massively improved on the defensive end in this stretch
Speaker 2: by virtue of that scheme change that we talked about
Speaker 2: and also him just kind of devoting some resources to
Speaker 2: that end of the floor. In this five game stretch,
Speaker 2: AD is averaging fourteen point four rebounds per game, with
Speaker 2: one point four steals and three point six blocks per game. So, again,
Speaker 2: a bunch of key Lakers are playing better and as
Speaker 2: a result of that, it amounts to an influx of
Speaker 2: talent and you're gonna make yourself look like a better team.
Speaker 2: For Lebron and Ad are now primarily directing their energy
Speaker 2: towards the defensive end. Scoring an efficiency has dipped for
Speaker 2: both of them, but both of them in a bit
Speaker 2: have been amazing on defense, and the roster is actually
Speaker 2: more capable of supporting Lebron and Ad on the offensive end,
Speaker 2: So it's actually the smartest way for them to use
Speaker 2: their resources. Austin and Di lo are stepping up on
Speaker 2: the offensive end. They're getting enough buckets to win. We're
Speaker 2: gonna talk about their offense in a minute. Their offense
Speaker 2: is actually dead last in this span as well. So
Speaker 2: it's been like a complete and total trade off, and
Speaker 2: that's gonna take some That's gonna be something that takes
Speaker 2: some time because again, like when you go from like
Speaker 2: not competing on defense to competing on defense, it's gonna
Speaker 2: drain your legs. They've got to condition themselves now to
Speaker 2: be in a position where they can do that while
Speaker 2: also having the legs they need to make shots. But
Speaker 2: that's the exciting part because this team does have the
Speaker 2: potential to be good on both ends if they get
Speaker 2: to that point where that's a habit for them. And
Speaker 2: then number five, and this is the probably the most
Speaker 2: concerning part for me in terms of how I look
Speaker 2: forward for the Lakers. The schedule has not been demanding
Speaker 2: on them in this stretch in terms of wear and tear.
Speaker 2: That's the big question mark. Like they've played these five
Speaker 2: games this four and one stretch over a sixteen day span.
Speaker 2: There's eleven rest days mixed in. As we mentioned earlier,
Speaker 2: the NBA is an onslaught of good basketball teams over
Speaker 2: and over and over again in the normal parts of
Speaker 2: the schedule that don't center around the Ncason Tournament. Right
Speaker 2: Like the schedule stays tough, the Lakers have Detroit tonight.
Speaker 2: They have the size to make things tough on Lebron
Speaker 2: and Ad. They beat the Lakers earlier this year. If
Speaker 2: you remember at Golden State on Christmas Day, that's a
Speaker 2: road game versus a team that has a lot more
Speaker 2: perimeter speed than the Lakers. That's a tough matchup for them.
Speaker 2: Sacramento on Saturday. It's really hard to beat a team
Speaker 2: four times in a row. And again this is the
Speaker 2: same team that was four and oh against the Lakers
Speaker 2: last year, the Calves. They beat the shit out of
Speaker 2: the Lakers earlier this year in Cleveland second week of January.
Speaker 2: They have road games at Houston and at Dallas. So
Speaker 2: like this is going to go back to playing every
Speaker 2: other night against good teams. And this is where it's
Speaker 2: going to come down to their willingness to hang on
Speaker 2: to the rope. Right Like I said when I had
Speaker 2: my Lakers melt down a few weeks ago, that they
Speaker 2: would have more good stretches this year.
Speaker 1: That's all this is.
Speaker 2: I knew this was gonna happen, even when I was
Speaker 2: bitching and moaning about that heat game. I said, they
Speaker 2: will have more good stretches this year. They will have
Speaker 2: stretches where they beat good teams. This is one of
Speaker 2: those stretches. But any sort of ambition this team has
Speaker 2: to make a deep playoff run is contingent on their
Speaker 2: commitment to the daily process, even when it's not easy,
Speaker 2: even when you're not playing five games in sixteen days.
Speaker 2: It will only get harder as the season progresses, and
Speaker 2: they need to hang on to the rope for a
Speaker 2: long time before I have any sort of real belief
Speaker 2: in this team. Again, so again, they're on a good
Speaker 2: stretch four and one, defending like crazy, lot of exciting stuff.
Speaker 2: But championship teams don't do it for a week and
Speaker 2: a half or for two weeks. They do it month
Speaker 2: after month after month until they get to April, and
Speaker 2: by virtue of that process, they are so buttoned up
Speaker 2: that they are so good with their execution for two
Speaker 2: straight months that they put themselves in a chance in
Speaker 2: a position to win the title. This is not a
Speaker 2: two week week journey. They are what four months I
Speaker 2: think roughly until the playoffs start. They've got to figure
Speaker 2: out how to get this into an extended part of
Speaker 2: their basketball identity. I am skeptical, but a good job
Speaker 2: over the last couple of weeks. Second big takeaway from
Speaker 2: the weekend there is no point in taking standings victory
Speaker 2: laps in the Western Conference unless you can separate from
Speaker 2: that group that's in the middle of the standings. I
Speaker 2: saw a lot of Laker fans after the Sacramento game
Speaker 2: the other night. They're like, we have the ninth best
Speaker 2: record in the league. We are the five seed in
Speaker 2: the West, and in the Western Conference. Only sustain success
Speaker 2: is gonna give you any sort of real breathing room.
Speaker 2: Even without playing, They've dropped to the tenth best record
Speaker 2: in the league and sixth in the West. Everyone in
Speaker 2: that five to eleven group in the West is separated
Speaker 2: by one point five games, so to be clear, Like,
Speaker 2: I think it's the Suns that are at eleven. The
Speaker 2: eleven seed. Suns feels like a catastrophe, right, They're one
Speaker 2: good week away from being the five seed. The Denver Nuggets,
Speaker 2: they're the five seed right now, looks great, They're one
Speaker 2: bad week away from being the eleven seed. So, like,
Speaker 2: no one needs to be taking victory laps over this
Speaker 2: crazy shuffling that's taking place week by week in that
Speaker 2: middle portion of the Western Conference. All of those teams
Speaker 2: have significant flaws. Like, yeah, some more than others. Sure,
Speaker 2: like Denver's got Nikola Jokic. That's gonna be a big advantage, right,
Speaker 2: But if any of those teams are actually going to
Speaker 2: win the title, they're going to need to find a
Speaker 2: way to build separation from that group. It's Denver, the Lakers,
Speaker 2: Golden State Warriors, the Clippers, the Spurs, the Timberwolves, and
Speaker 2: the Suns. That's that group and all of them are flawed.
Speaker 2: The Nuggets, they either need Jamal Murray to keep improving
Speaker 2: the way he has been, or they'll need to make
Speaker 2: a trade for a reliable perimeter score. They're also going
Speaker 2: to have to get more consistent with their defensive effort.
Speaker 2: A couple of pretty mediocre teams that they've played against
Speaker 2: recently that have scored on them relatively easily. The Lakers,
Speaker 2: they need a trade or an upgrade at the two
Speaker 2: or three in their starting lineup, and they need consistent
Speaker 2: commitment to the work throughout the regular season. The Warriors
Speaker 2: they need to trade for a secondary score behind Steph.
Speaker 2: The Clippers they need Kawhi Leonard to come back and
Speaker 2: play at an MVP level. The Spurs, they probably should
Speaker 2: start considering making a hyper aggressive trade, like if they
Speaker 2: made a deal for dearon Fox, they could enter into
Speaker 2: the contention. We're going to talk about the Spurs here
Speaker 2: in just a minute. The Timberwolves, they got to find
Speaker 2: a way to create space for their stars so they
Speaker 2: can attack the rim in this two and three stretch.
Speaker 2: In their last five games, Julius Randall and Anthony Edwards
Speaker 2: are combining to attempto point six shots per game in
Speaker 2: the restricted area. Jason Tatum, by himself in the same
Speaker 2: span is attempting eight shots per game in the restricted area.
Speaker 2: There's no space to operate within Minnesota. They've got to
Speaker 2: figure that out. That's going to probably be a more
Speaker 2: substantial shuffle at some point this season then the Suns.
Speaker 2: The Suns are allowing just one hundred The Suns are
Speaker 2: allowing over one hundred and twenty two points per one
Speaker 2: hundred possessions in the four games since Kde came back
Speaker 2: from injury. They just aren't defending. So all of those groups,
Speaker 2: they might, by virtue of the schedule, or by virtue
Speaker 2: of a couple role players getting hot, or by virtue
Speaker 2: of just brief moments where they're more locked in than usual,
Speaker 2: might rack together a three to oh four to ozer
Speaker 2: week and gain ground in the standings. But all of
Speaker 2: that is going to continue to get jumbled, And really
Speaker 2: for me is if any team is going to make
Speaker 2: a substantial playoff run this year, meaning like winning at
Speaker 2: least two rounds, they're gonna have to separate themselves from
Speaker 2: that pack in the regular season. That will be the
Speaker 2: way they demonstrate that they've improved in the necessary areas
Speaker 2: in order to make that kind of run. If none
Speaker 2: of them do, all of those teams are going to
Speaker 2: be eliminated in the first two rounds by better teams.
Speaker 1: Again, could they beat a Houston or.
Speaker 2: A Memphis, one of the flawed, younger teams at the top, Sure,
Speaker 2: But teams like Dallas and OKC they're beating all these
Speaker 2: teams in a playoff series with the type of basketball
Speaker 2: they're playing right now. If you want to get through
Speaker 2: one of those teams, and you might have to get
Speaker 2: through both of them, you're gonna have to play better basketball,
Speaker 2: and it's going to have to come through a combination
Speaker 2: of roster upgrades and improved attention to detail over the
Speaker 2: court and competitiveness over the course of the regular season.
Speaker 2: That to me is the dead giveaway. Who's going to
Speaker 2: be that five seed. Who's going to be the five
Speaker 2: seed that separates and builds margin between them and the
Speaker 2: rest of that pack? That to me is a team
Speaker 2: that is serious. If you're in that pack when we
Speaker 2: get to April, I'm going to have a hard time
Speaker 2: believing that you can win multiple playoff rounds. Number three,
Speaker 2: Victor Webinyama is already good enough to justify the Spurs
Speaker 2: getting aggressive and going for In Victor webin Yama's last
Speaker 2: thirteen games, he's averaging thirty points, ten rebounds in five
Speaker 2: assists with four point five stocks per game on fifty
Speaker 2: one percent from the field, thirty eight percent from three,
Speaker 2: and eighty five percent from the line. The Spurs are
Speaker 2: nine to four in those thirteen games. When Victor plays,
Speaker 2: he's shooting thirty eight percent from three on eleven attempts
Speaker 2: per game. Has this habit of just rising and firing
Speaker 2: over guys, even in clutch time, and all you can
Speaker 2: do is really just pray he misses. He's four for
Speaker 2: nine on clutch threes over this span too, doing a
Speaker 2: ton of damage in pick and pop. He's popping almost exclusively.
Speaker 2: This is a big thing that stood out to me
Speaker 2: over the course of the last couple of weeks. On his
Speaker 2: last twenty shot attempts that have come in out of
Speaker 2: pick and roll as the role man, teen of them
Speaker 2: have been threes. He's popping above the break almost exclusively
Speaker 2: in ball screens, and then from there he's looking to
Speaker 2: shoot or to drive closeouts. He's getting one point two
Speaker 2: to two points per roleman possession for the season. That
Speaker 2: ranks fifth among all NBA players to log at least
Speaker 2: seventy five roll man possessions. This season, He's up to
Speaker 2: thirty nine percent overall on unguarded catch and shoo jumpers,
Speaker 2: So like, if he's got his feet set, feels like
Speaker 2: it's going in. He's also in addition to the pick
Speaker 2: and pop stuff stuff, he's doing a ton of damage
Speaker 2: out of the triple threat around the elbows. So like,
Speaker 2: sometimes it'll be like a ball screen switch and he'll
Speaker 2: take the guard down to the elbow. But even if
Speaker 2: you like it, even in his like regular matchup, if
Speaker 2: he likes that matchup, he'll just catch around the elbow.
Speaker 2: What they'll usually do is they'll load up his left
Speaker 2: hand side so that he's got, you know, a bunch
Speaker 2: of bodies over there. But then they'll just put like
Speaker 2: one guy in the strong side corner, so like it
Speaker 2: creates a little bit more space for him. And he's
Speaker 2: basically ripping through to the right and then turning back
Speaker 2: over his right shoulder, and he's doing a lot of
Speaker 2: step through moves, a lot of like spinning into a
Speaker 2: pump fake and then stepping through because and all that
Speaker 2: is for step through if you imagine, like my right
Speaker 2: foot's my pivot right, and I bring my left foot
Speaker 2: around and plant it for a fade away, but I
Speaker 2: pump fake and then further bring that foot around, I
Speaker 2: can step all the way through towards the basket. He's
Speaker 2: got such a long stride there that he's like turning
Speaker 2: like he's gonna fade at like twelve feet, and then
Speaker 2: when he's doing a step through move, he's getting easy,
Speaker 2: easy layups because of how much ground he can cover
Speaker 2: towards the rim there, but doing a ton of damage
Speaker 2: around the elbows. He's ran one hundred and eighty nine
Speaker 2: post ups and ISOs this year, including passes, and it's
Speaker 2: generated one hundred and ninety one points, So that's over
Speaker 2: a point per possession as a static half court initiator, again,
Speaker 2: a major benchmark for young shot creators in this league.
Speaker 2: He's not even old enough to order a beer yet, guys,
Speaker 2: and he's playing at a surefire top ten level at
Speaker 2: this point and right now off of it, Wembe, it's
Speaker 2: a lot of like kind of random contributions. They have
Speaker 2: seven guys averaging double figures for the Spurs in this span,
Speaker 2: but nobody is averaging over seventeen points per game in
Speaker 2: these last thirteen games that Wemby's played. So like, if
Speaker 2: I was the Spurs, I'd be keeping an eye on
Speaker 2: the Deer and Fox situation. They have the assets to
Speaker 2: make a real push for him if he becomes available.
Speaker 2: The Kings had another disappointing blowout loss at home to
Speaker 2: the Indiana Pacers last night. I also think he's just
Speaker 2: the perfect guard to partner with Victor wemen Yama. Like, yes,
Speaker 2: Deer and Fox is twenty seven years old, but that's
Speaker 2: in the heart of his prime with a solid, you know,
Speaker 2: five to seven good years left, and Wemby is good
Speaker 2: enough to lead a championship team right now thirty ten
Speaker 2: and five. On his level of efficiency with what he
Speaker 2: does defensively, he's a bona fide top ten player in
Speaker 2: the league at this point. So the timeline is now.
Speaker 2: Forget about the age. Yeah, he's twenty Yeah, Fox is
Speaker 2: twenty seventy seven years older.
Speaker 1: Who cares.
Speaker 2: He's good enough to actually help Wenby win games right now.
Speaker 2: I also think Fox is the perfect pick and roll
Speaker 2: partner for him. It's difficult to switch right. Fox is
Speaker 2: too fast for bigs and Wemby can punish guards around
Speaker 2: those elbows with the face up game that we talked
Speaker 2: about earlier. He's got a lot of experience playing with
Speaker 2: a good pick and roll partner in Demanda Sabonis, and
Speaker 2: he's got a lot of experience feeding the pocket, which
Speaker 2: is something that's important in that matchup. Right, His ability
Speaker 2: to pop as a more deadly shooter will create more
Speaker 2: driving space for Darren Fox, which is something that has
Speaker 2: been an issue with Sabonis at times. His teams kind
Speaker 2: of ignore him, right, It's just it's just an easy,
Speaker 2: easy fit. Fox defensively is at his best when he's
Speaker 2: able to be aggressive with ball pressure rather than trying
Speaker 2: to contain. It's another thing that makes him a little
Speaker 2: funky fit with Sabonis, right, Like with Victor wem Minyama,
Speaker 2: you couldn't script a better type of fit defensively for
Speaker 2: him to be able to be aggressive on the ball
Speaker 2: to try to force deflections and turnovers, knowing that he's
Speaker 2: got the greatest mess cleaner up er behind him.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: In addition to that, I just think Darren Fox is awesome.
Speaker 2: I had him in my top twenty five last summer.
Speaker 2: He's had a rough start to the season shooting the ball,
Speaker 2: but I think he's a good shooter. And again they
Speaker 2: mixed everything up again by bringing in de Rosen. It's
Speaker 2: kind of tweaked things. He's specifically good at hitting short
Speaker 2: to mid range jump shots and it's a major weapon
Speaker 2: to having your bag for clutch situations. As a matter
Speaker 2: of fact, Deeran Fox is leading the league in clutch
Speaker 2: field goals made with twenty five. Second place is twenty
Speaker 2: so he's got a pretty hefty lead there, shooting forty
Speaker 2: eight percent from the field in thirty nine percent from
Speaker 2: three in clutch situations. I think Deeron Fox and Victor
Speaker 2: wemen Yama could compete for a title right away. I
Speaker 2: think that's the move that they need to look to
Speaker 2: make if it becomes available this year. Number four, My
Speaker 2: last big takeaway from this weekend. The Indiana Pacers are
Speaker 2: starting to look like the Indiana Pacers. They've won five
Speaker 2: out of six. They're fourth in offense over that span.
Speaker 2: Defense was the big issue in the early part of
Speaker 2: the season. Andrew Nemhard was out of the lineup, but
Speaker 2: also their frontline guys weren't doing a very good job.
Speaker 2: They've been ninth in defense over this six game span,
Speaker 2: very equal opportunity on offense. Like no one's averaging twenty
Speaker 2: points a game over this span, but seven guys are
Speaker 2: averaging double figures. Tyres Aliburn's looking more like himself because
Speaker 2: his shot is following. He's shooting forty four percent from
Speaker 2: three on nine attempts over this span. He's also averaging
Speaker 2: nineteen points in ten assists. That's more in line. It's
Speaker 2: not like the whatever it was twenty four and fourteen
Speaker 2: he was averaging, or what he was at the beginning
Speaker 2: of last season. But he's getting a little closer to
Speaker 2: what we grow to expect from Tyree Saliburton. He also
Speaker 2: has six steals and six blocks in the span. He
Speaker 2: was one of the big culprits in their bad defense
Speaker 2: in the early part of the year. Is just competing
Speaker 2: a little bit better. That's really the thing. The whole
Speaker 2: team is competing on defense. Andrew Nemhart is back now.
Speaker 2: He has stabilized them at the point of attack defensively.
Speaker 2: I talked with the Nerd Sash guys about how I
Speaker 2: expected the Pacers to have some potential to turn their
Speaker 2: defensive round because they just have good defensive players like
Speaker 2: Pascalsi ho comes a good defensive player. He did an
Speaker 2: amazing job on De Marti Rosen last night, right, Like
Speaker 2: Miles Turner's capable of being a very good defensive player.
Speaker 2: He did a number on demonasabonus last night.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: So, like you get a good point of attack defender
Speaker 2: with a good four to five defensively, you should be
Speaker 2: pretty good defensively as as long as you can get
Speaker 2: Ben Matherin and tires Aliburton to do their job, which
Speaker 2: they have. Thomas Bryant has come in and kind of
Speaker 2: provided some stability at the backup center spot. I covered
Speaker 2: him with the Lakers. He's a really fun offensive player.
Speaker 2: Like he plays super hard, He runs the floor super well.
Speaker 2: You guys have already seen that. He's legit good at
Speaker 2: like finishing in traffic for a guy who's mostly a
Speaker 2: below the rim player. He just has good at angles
Speaker 2: and he's got good touch, and he's a pretty solid
Speaker 2: jump shooter. He's got his defensive limitations, but he will
Speaker 2: bring some stability to that spot. The Pacers are playing
Speaker 2: some serious basketball, but their schedule is about to get
Speaker 2: really tough. They're just two games back in the five seed,
Speaker 2: but their next five games at Golden State, home for
Speaker 2: Oklahoma City, at Boston, at Boston, and then home for Milwaukee.
Speaker 2: So definitely a tough stretch for them coming up on
Speaker 2: the schedule. Getting into our power rankings, and again all
Speaker 2: odds are provided by our partner Draft Kings. Number ten
Speaker 2: the Los Angeles Lakers four and one in their last
Speaker 2: five games, the number one defense in the league over
Speaker 2: that span. We covered them in the opening segment, so
Speaker 2: we won't go any further here. Lakers fans who are
Speaker 2: looking for a deep dive on the Laker, you can
Speaker 2: find that just by clicking on our full episode for
Speaker 2: this Monday show and you'll it was the first segment
Speaker 2: that I went into and I did like a solid
Speaker 2: fifteen to twenty minutes on him, so you can see
Speaker 2: him there. The Lakers right now, if you want to
Speaker 2: make a bet, they're plus thirty five hundred to win
Speaker 2: the title, plus eighteen hundred to win the Western Conference.
Speaker 2: Number nine the Denver Nuggets, two in one week. The
Speaker 2: Nuggets have been playing some lower level competition on the road,
Speaker 2: and they've been playing down to that competition and it's
Speaker 2: led to a lot of close games. They beat the
Speaker 2: Kings in a classic Nuggets walk down, they score on
Speaker 2: seven possessions in a row down the stretch. The Yokich
Speaker 2: Murray two man game scores on four consecutive possessions down
Speaker 2: the stretch, and Jamal Murray hits the eventual game winner.
Speaker 2: They lose to the Blazers on a game winning layup
Speaker 2: by Infanty Simons.
Speaker 1: Really weird sequence.
Speaker 2: The Blazers were attacking with dribble penetration from Anferny Simons
Speaker 2: off of the right wing, and they went a bunch
Speaker 2: of times down the stretch. Earlier on in clutch time,
Speaker 2: they were going at Jamal Murray, but it was kind
Speaker 2: of like this weird sequence where like they were loading
Speaker 2: up on Anthony Simons's left hand, like Yo Kicch when
Speaker 2: he was offering his help, he was kind of coming
Speaker 2: higher up the lane line. They were doubling, so like
Speaker 2: they got Jamal Murray on Anthony Simons and for Simons
Speaker 2: loads up to drive and they sent the double from
Speaker 2: Russell Westbrook on Anthony Simons's left hand side and the
Speaker 2: and Anthony Simons is driving to the right, And it
Speaker 2: was kind of like a weird foreshadowing moment because Jamal
Speaker 2: Murray slides over and takes the contact and it gets
Speaker 2: a really good contain on Anthony Simons and they end
Speaker 2: up getting a stop. But on the game winner, they
Speaker 2: end up going back to On the game winner, they
Speaker 2: end up going back to that same action, but they
Speaker 2: go at Russ instead of Jamal, same sort of thing.
Speaker 2: Jamal Murray's coming to double from the left hand side.
Speaker 2: Yo Kich is kind of high up the lane line,
Speaker 2: Aaron Gordon is staying home in the strong side corner,
Speaker 2: and Russell Westbrook is opened up to the left, like
Speaker 2: straight up opened up with his body just giving a
Speaker 2: right handed drive. Well, guess what, Anthony Simons just hit
Speaker 2: a right handed drive and went right down the Yokic
Speaker 2: wasn't even close to being able to get over there
Speaker 2: in time and gets a layup. So like there's a
Speaker 2: lot of blaming going on there. There's a lot of like, oh,
Speaker 2: Yokic can't protect the rim, A lot of like, oh, uh,
Speaker 2: Russell Westbrook can't guard on the perimeter. I thought everyone
Speaker 2: had blood on their hands there. Like Russ, you can't
Speaker 2: just get like cleanly toasted. You got to do something
Speaker 2: to flatten out that drive. Nicole Yoki, your job is
Speaker 2: to protect the rim and help, So like you got
Speaker 2: to do better than you did there, And Mike Malone,
Speaker 2: why are you sending all the help from the left
Speaker 2: side while also funneling him to the right, Like that
Speaker 2: doesn't make any sense. Like your team defense isn't really
Speaker 2: set up there. So like that ended up being a
Speaker 2: really disappointing loss, and then they bounce back by beating
Speaker 2: the Pelicans in overtime another huge Jamal Murray shot to
Speaker 2: send the game to overtime there.
Speaker 1: That's really the huge development with Denver.
Speaker 2: If you're looking for positivity, Jamal is starting to get
Speaker 2: his legs back underneath him. In his first seventeen games
Speaker 2: this hear he averaged eighteen points, four rebounds, and six
Speaker 2: assists on forty two percent from the field and thirty
Speaker 2: three percent from three. In his last four games twenty
Speaker 2: five five and six, forty six percent from the field
Speaker 2: thirty nine percent from three. This brings me to like
Speaker 2: the kind of trade topic with Denver. There's been a
Speaker 2: lot of talk about making a move with Michael Porter
Speaker 2: Junior going after someone like a zach Lavine. If Jamal
Speaker 2: continues this trajectory and gets to the point where he's
Speaker 2: basically averaging twenty three to twenty five points per game efficiently.
Speaker 2: From here to the trade deadline, I would not make
Speaker 2: an aggressive trade. There's just no point Jamal being Jamal
Speaker 2: is all they really need. Outside of that, I would
Speaker 2: bet on continuity in this weird Western Conference with all
Speaker 2: these flawed teams, For every team, you want to bet
Speaker 2: on continuity and just getting sharper or making some sort
Speaker 2: of trade for aggressive upside. And it depends on the
Speaker 2: team in that tier of teams. For me, for Denver,
Speaker 2: if Jamal Murray keeps this up to the deadline, I'd
Speaker 2: bet on continuity. We've just seen how devastating this team
Speaker 2: can be in the playoffs when Yokich and Murray are
Speaker 2: at that special level. Last year, neither of them were.
Speaker 2: If both of them are this year, you're right back
Speaker 2: in it. The Nuggets right now. Plus fifteen hundred to
Speaker 2: win the Western Conference, excuse me, Plus fifteen hundred to
Speaker 2: win the title. Plus seven hundred to win the Western Conference.
Speaker 2: Number eight the Memphis Grizzlies two to oh week.
Speaker 1: They beat the living shit out of the Warriors. On Thursday.
Speaker 2: They hold Steph Curry and Raymond Green without a midfield
Speaker 2: goal in twenty four minutes. Got a nice win in
Speaker 2: Atlanta without John Morant. Seven guys in double figures in
Speaker 2: that game. Excellent defense last week. They had a ninety
Speaker 2: five point eight defensive rating in the two games. That
Speaker 2: was the best out of any NBA team last week.
Speaker 2: Starting to look like the regular season buzz saw that
Speaker 2: we talked about the Grizzlies being before the season. They
Speaker 2: are now plus twenty five hundred to win the title,
Speaker 2: plus eleven hundred to win the Western Conference. Number seven
Speaker 2: the Houston Rockets super light week the games against the
Speaker 2: Pelicans and the Raptors. Struggled a bit with the Raptors
Speaker 2: last night, but they pulled away with their bench group
Speaker 2: in the fourth quarter. A couple guys who haven't had
Speaker 2: much opportunity this year, and Jayshon Tate and Cam Whitmore
Speaker 2: ended up leading the charge for their bench unit in
Speaker 2: the early fourth quarter. A lot of downhill force. Jayshon
Speaker 2: Tate in the half court bringing downhill force in ball screens,
Speaker 2: and then Cam Whitmore in transition. He also had a
Speaker 2: little bully ball possession in the half court as well.
Speaker 2: Another light week this week for the Rockets. They're at
Speaker 2: Charlotte at New Orleans and then home for Minnesota, and in
Speaker 2: Miami they go three and one that week, they'll be
Speaker 2: in a good spot in the standings. The Rockets plus
Speaker 2: sixty five hundred to win the title, plus twenty two
Speaker 2: hundred to win the conference. That's actually the worst odds
Speaker 2: out of anybody in the Power Rankings. Are the longest odds,
Speaker 2: I should say it, of anybody in the Power Rankings
Speaker 2: this week. Number six the New York Knicks. The New
Speaker 2: York Knicks that are playing defense. The second quarter run
Speaker 2: that the Knicks went on against the Wolves in Minnesota
Speaker 2: on Thursday was one of their best stretches of basketball
Speaker 2: this season. It's a unit with Campaign Duce McBride, Michael Bridges,
Speaker 2: og And and Obi and Karl Anthony Towns, and they put
Speaker 2: a straight jacket on the Wolves defensively, perpetually got out
Speaker 2: in transition off of it. Great shot after great shot.
Speaker 2: Off of those pushes, they went from trailing to being
Speaker 2: up by twenty eight in the same quarter. A great
Speaker 2: example of what I've been talking about a lot over
Speaker 2: the course of this Knicks saga posts, the Karl Anthony
Speaker 2: Towns trade, which is all this obsession with rim protection.
Speaker 2: There's a great counter for rim protection, and it's perimeter defense.
Speaker 2: I would argue perimeter defense is more important than rim
Speaker 2: protection in the modern NBA and the Knicks, there was
Speaker 2: a lot of not weaponizing their defensive talent in the
Speaker 2: early part of the season the way they're capable of,
Speaker 2: and it's been their defense that has turned their season around.
Speaker 2: They also got wins against Orlando and New Orleans and
Speaker 2: the three and zero road trip. They've now won eight
Speaker 2: out of ten. They have a one oh four point
Speaker 2: four defensive rating in those ten games. That's good for
Speaker 2: third best in the league over that span. Mchael Bridges
Speaker 2: is back guarding at a high level and it's just
Speaker 2: trickled down from there. This is the path for the Knicks,
Speaker 2: like not just scoring a million points. Their offensive rating
Speaker 2: in the span is only one fifteen point five. That's
Speaker 2: down considerably from where they were before that span, right,
Speaker 2: but they're winning more games. You're not trying to outscore teams.
Speaker 2: You're trying to be a better version of last year's Nicks,
Speaker 2: the gritty, hard nosed, physical squad that defends and drags
Speaker 2: the game down in the mud and kicks your butt
Speaker 2: on the glass. That's how the Knicks win. But if
Speaker 2: you infuse that with additional offensive skill, that's where the
Speaker 2: real championship potential is. That team can win the title.
Speaker 2: Last year's Nicks with better offensive skill the team that
Speaker 2: started this year, they can't win the title. But it's
Speaker 2: been a nice little proof of concept there with what
Speaker 2: we've seen from the Knicks in the last ten games.
Speaker 2: They are plus nine to fifty to win the title,
Speaker 2: plus four to twenty five to win the Eastern Conference
Speaker 2: Number five. The Milwaukee Bucks took a loss without Dame
Speaker 2: to the Cavs after the Ncason Tournament, but I'm choosing
Speaker 2: to go positive with them. I thought the Ncason Tournament
Speaker 2: win was huge. It was also a proof of concept
Speaker 2: in the sense that they're capable of being a team
Speaker 2: that's a lead on both ends when they're committed to
Speaker 2: the task. Giannis's ability to pick defenses apart with his passing,
Speaker 2: was on full display in that thunder game Dame going
Speaker 2: toe to toe with some of the best shot makers
Speaker 2: in the league. Like I thought it was just a bit,
Speaker 2: I thought it was a huge positive sign of what
Speaker 2: this Bucks team is capable of with their ceiling They
Speaker 2: do have a relatively easy schedule in the next few weeks, though,
Speaker 2: which is huge because I watched with the Lakers last year,
Speaker 2: the n season tournament kind of drained them and they
Speaker 2: played really bad basketball for the next month. Obviously a
Speaker 2: disappointing performance against Cleveland, but this easier stretch of their
Speaker 2: schedule will give them some time to cool off from
Speaker 2: the Ncason Tournament, which probably wore them down a little bit.
Speaker 2: But I'm really high on the Bucks. Giannis is playing
Speaker 2: at a special level, as close to Jokic as anybody
Speaker 2: in the league is. Right now, They're bought in, they're defending.
Speaker 2: I think they have real championship potential if you agree
Speaker 2: with me. The Bucks right now are plus eighteen hundred
Speaker 2: to win the title, plus eight hundred to win the
Speaker 2: Eastern Conference. Number four the Dallas Mavericks one in one week.
Speaker 2: Both games were at home against the Clippers. Luca and
Speaker 2: Kyrie both sat out the first game and they lost,
Speaker 2: but then Kyrie comes back for the second game they
Speaker 2: win comfortably. Kyrie had an offshooting night, but the rest
Speaker 2: of the guard court was great. Clay Quinton Grimes and
Speaker 2: Naji Marshall went nine for thirteen from three. In that game,
Speaker 2: Spencer Dinwoody dished out six assists five offensive rebounds for Lively.
Speaker 1: I pulled this Dowt. This is crazy.
Speaker 2: Both Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford are top five in
Speaker 2: the NBA in offensive rebounds per thirty six for thirty
Speaker 2: six minutes among the two hundred and two players to
Speaker 2: play at least five hundred minutes. A huge part of
Speaker 2: Dallas's ability to win on the margins. They've got two
Speaker 2: really good centers that they don't have to play big minutes,
Speaker 2: so when they go out there, they can play their
Speaker 2: asses off just on end and they do a lot
Speaker 2: of damage on the offensive glass.
Speaker 1: With that.
Speaker 2: They have the Timberwolves and Suns this week for a
Speaker 2: couple tough games for them. They're plus eleven hundred to
Speaker 2: win the title, plus five point fifty to win the conference.
Speaker 2: Number three the Boston Celtics. One in one week, they
Speaker 2: dropped a game at home to the Bulls. They completely
Speaker 2: lost control of the game in the fourth quarter. One
Speaker 2: of the worst shifts I've ever seen Jalen Brown play.
Speaker 2: He legitius was not competing at the point of attack
Speaker 2: and just he was the main point of attack eye
Speaker 2: in that group. So the Bulls were just getting downhill
Speaker 2: every single time down the floor, and it was they
Speaker 2: were just slicing and dicing the Celtics. The Celtics also
Speaker 2: went cold from three in that game. They missed forty
Speaker 2: two three, so they ended up getting a loss. But
Speaker 2: then two nights later they went on the road into
Speaker 2: Chicago and just demolished the Bowls in one of their
Speaker 2: better performances this season. I talked last week about how
Speaker 2: Jason Tatum was in a slump and how it probably
Speaker 2: had mostly to do with his knee, and then I
Speaker 2: expected him to explode out of his slump soon. Well,
Speaker 2: thirty seven points, thirteen rebounds, and seven assists per game
Speaker 2: last week on fifty seven percent from the field and
Speaker 2: fifty percent from three to eighty two percent from the line,
Speaker 2: that's pretty dominant. Forty three to thirteen to ten in
Speaker 2: the win in Chicago, and now, shooting numbers are right
Speaker 2: back up where they needed to be, back up over
Speaker 2: a point per pull up jump shot when he had
Speaker 2: dipped below up to one point zero five points per
Speaker 2: jump shot on the season. So, as I talked about
Speaker 2: last week, just a random shooting slump, Tatum red Hot
Speaker 2: got right back out of it. The Celtics right now
Speaker 2: plus two forty to win the title, plus one oh
Speaker 2: five to win the Eastern Conference. Number two the Oklahoma
Speaker 2: City Thunder obviously a disappointing end to the n season tournament.
Speaker 2: He lose to the Bucks in a way that specifically
Speaker 2: exposes some flaws that have been concerning about the Thunder
Speaker 2: for a while, right lack of consistent perimeter shooting, questionable
Speaker 2: decision making from their ball handlers. I also thought it
Speaker 2: exposed a hole in their defense as a defense that
Speaker 2: while they're very good with blitzing and rotating and putting
Speaker 2: two on the ball in that context, they struggle a
Speaker 2: little bit with hard help on drives and hard help
Speaker 2: on post ups. The rotations were not nearly as sharp.
Speaker 2: I thought that was something that stoock out dug into
Speaker 2: the numbers. To their ability to defend in rotation out
Speaker 2: of the post and on dribble drives is more middle
Speaker 2: of the pack compared to the rest of their defense.
Speaker 2: They did bounce back though, with a couple of wins
Speaker 2: against Orlando and Miami, still just a one toh eight
Speaker 2: offensive rating in those two games, so I'm wondering if
Speaker 2: the Thunder need to at least consider being more aggressive
Speaker 2: at this deadline in pursuit of offensive firepower or off
Speaker 2: ball scoring. Like even just a guy like Cam Johnson
Speaker 2: could be a huge asset to this team as a
Speaker 2: guy that's just like aggressively looking for his shot off
Speaker 2: the ball. The Thunder right now are plus three p
Speaker 2: forty to win the NBA title and plus one to
Speaker 2: sixty five to win the Western Conference. Lastly, this week
Speaker 2: number one, the Cleveland Cavaliers back in the top spot
Speaker 2: after a three to zero week to beat easier schedule again.
Speaker 2: They got some injury luck too. They played the Bucks
Speaker 2: without Dame and the Sixers without Joel Embiid, but continuing
Speaker 2: to just beat the shit out of teams. They have
Speaker 2: the second best net rating in basketball. I talked about
Speaker 2: their offense struggling a little bit last week. It exploded
Speaker 2: out of that slump this week. As a team, they
Speaker 2: shot forty five percent from three last week. That's gonna
Speaker 2: They made sixty one threes total in the three games.
Speaker 2: That's gonna get your offense right. Evan Mobley, a monster
Speaker 2: twenty two to thirteen and seven game against Philly, had
Speaker 2: a ridiculous left handed dunk over kJ Martin Andre dummend
Speaker 2: On like a drive out of the elbow, his inverted
Speaker 2: ball screens where he has a guard screen for him
Speaker 2: and then pop out. They're up to seventy four points
Speaker 2: on sixty nine possessions this season. That's one point zero's
Speaker 2: one point zero seven points per possession including passes. That's
Speaker 2: an excellent half court play. Max Struce made his return
Speaker 2: in the Bucks game and was plus twenty and nineteen minutes,
Speaker 2: hit three threes, still forcing a ton of turnovers, still
Speaker 2: getting out in transition and running it down everyone's throat.
Speaker 2: Their tough West Coast road trip starts this Friday, though,
Speaker 2: and remember that's the one.
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 2: It's like Golden State, Dallas Lakers, and Denver I think,
Speaker 2: but they really tough games consecutively on the road in
Speaker 2: the West where they're gonna play some tough teams. Now
Speaker 2: here's the deal. I want to be clear. I believe
Speaker 2: in this Calves team. I currently have them above the
Speaker 2: Knicks and the Bucks out east. That said, this road
Speaker 2: trip to me will be really revealing about their proximity
Speaker 2: to Boston. This is the type of road trip that
Speaker 2: if the Celtics went on it, they'd go three and
Speaker 2: one for sure, and they'd probably have a good chance
Speaker 2: to go four and zero. I think three and one
Speaker 2: should be the goal for this Calves team. You go
Speaker 2: three and one on that West Coast road trip, I
Speaker 2: think that's a strong statement about how, yes, you're in
Speaker 2: the Eastern Conference, but you're still head and shoulders above
Speaker 2: these teams out in the West. I think that'd be
Speaker 2: a good chance for them to send that message.
Speaker 1: Calves right now.
Speaker 2: Plus sixteen hundred to win the title, plus six fifty
Speaker 2: to win the Eastern Conference again, all odds provided by
Speaker 2: our partner DraftKings. All right, guys, so quick little heads
Speaker 2: up on the schedule. I've been given orders from on
Speaker 2: High to take Tuesday and Wednesday off this week and
Speaker 2: next week. I have a tendency to work work, work, work, work,
Speaker 2: and we need to take some time off for the holidays.
Speaker 2: We need our staff to take some time off for
Speaker 2: the holidays.
Speaker 1: So no new.
Speaker 2: Episode on Tuesday or Wednesday this week. But we'll be
Speaker 2: reacting to the Christmas Day games on Thursday, Jampac slate.
Speaker 2: We'll get into that and then we'll have a usual
Speaker 2: mail bag on Friday before we get into next week.
Speaker 2: As always to sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me
Speaker 2: and supporting the show. I hope you guys get to
Speaker 2: spend some time with family over the course of the
Speaker 2: next couple of weeks, and I will see you guys
Speaker 2: on Thursday.
Speaker 1: The volume