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Speaker 1: The Volume. All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at

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Speaker 1: the Volume. Happy Friday, everybody. I hope all of you

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Speaker 1: guys had a great week. One last video before we

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Speaker 1: head into the playoffs tomorrow. I just logistically, with me

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Speaker 1: traveling out of the country tomorrow, I can't stay up

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Speaker 1: late tonight to wait for the play in games. So

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Speaker 1: what I'm gonna do is kind of similar to what

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Speaker 1: i did with the Celtics and Sixers yesterday. I'm just

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Speaker 1: gonna focus on what I'll be looking for with the

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Speaker 1: Bucks and the Nuggets in their first round series. They're

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Speaker 1: going to be massive favorites no matter what, very very

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Speaker 1: likely to advance to the second round, So the matchup

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Speaker 1: doesn't matter so much as what I'll be looking for

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Speaker 1: from these teams as they progress into tougher matchups into

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Speaker 1: the future. You guys know the drill before we get started.

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Speaker 1: Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss

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Speaker 1: any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at

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Speaker 1: underscore Jason lt so you guys don't miss any show

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Speaker 1: announcements or video breakdowns that I do. And last but

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Speaker 1: not least, for whatever reason, you guys miss one of

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Speaker 1: these videos and you can't get back over to YouTube

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Speaker 1: to finish. Don't forget. You can find them wherever you

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Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Under Hoops tonight, all right, so the

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Speaker 1: Milwaukee Bucks. I expect the Bulls to win tonight, but

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Speaker 1: I'll be rooting for Miami just because I think Miami,

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Speaker 1: from a matchup perspective, should be able to give the

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Speaker 1: Bucks at least a little bit more of an entertaining series.

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Speaker 1: But both teams are gonna get beat. In the season

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Speaker 1: series it was a two to two for both matchups.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna be picking the Bucks in five, regardless of

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Speaker 1: who they face. Generally speaking, I'm gonna go in five,

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Speaker 1: regardless of the advantage, just because of home court in

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Speaker 1: the NBA playoffs and teams riding that wave to an

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Speaker 1: upset win. Typically, as you guys noticed the two sweeps

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Speaker 1: I picked in the first round, or the Nets and

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Speaker 1: the Clippers, teams that I viewed a big disadvantage and

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Speaker 1: that don't have a great home court advantage to lean

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Speaker 1: on to try to win a big game. A couple

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Speaker 1: of things I'm gonna be looking for for the Bucks

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Speaker 1: as like indicators of them being prepped or ready for

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Speaker 1: a long playoff run. Number one. How does Chris Middleton look?

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Speaker 1: We know this Bucks team is much better off the

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Speaker 1: ball than they were last year. Right, Obviously, Chris Middleton

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Speaker 1: being there after not being there, regardless of what's going

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Speaker 1: on with him in his ability to score, he's gonna

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Speaker 1: be able to knock down open threes. Javon Carter is

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Speaker 1: shooting better than he did last year. Joe Ingles is

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Speaker 1: shooting forty one percent from three in a Bucks uniform.

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Speaker 1: Jay Crowder's not the same physical presence that PJ. Tucker

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Speaker 1: was a couple of years ago, but he's a better

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Speaker 1: offensive player in my opinion. And the Bucks as a

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Speaker 1: team are eighth in spot up efficiency. But why I'm

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Speaker 1: looking at Chris Middleton is you know, Boston's gotten a

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Speaker 1: little bit better. The reality is is last year's series

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Speaker 1: with the Celtics really came down to just a very

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Speaker 1: slight gap and half court efficiency. When the Celtics could

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Speaker 1: keep the Bucks out of transition, they were a better

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Speaker 1: team in the half court. And like we've talked about

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Speaker 1: all season long, obviously the spot up shooting is a

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Speaker 1: part of it, but there are little things you can

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Speaker 1: do to grind out additional points over the course of

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Speaker 1: a game. You know, I've always talked about the difference

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Speaker 1: between like a one to twelve offensive rating and a

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Speaker 1: one to seventeen to one to eighteen offensive rating in

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Speaker 1: many cases is shot making. Having guys that can rescue

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Speaker 1: possessions late shot clock situations or late game situations, or

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Speaker 1: a guy when a defense is perfect, because at the

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Speaker 1: end of a game, a locked in defense is not

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Speaker 1: going to give up anything easy. You need guys who

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Speaker 1: can make tough shots. And that's what Chris Middleton does

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Speaker 1: for this specific team. That's going to be the difference

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Speaker 1: between the Bucks hoisting the trophy and them losing somewhere

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Speaker 1: on the way. And my opinion is going to be,

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Speaker 1: can Chris Middleton get eighty percent of to where he

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Speaker 1: was in that twenty twenty one playoff series. So he's

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Speaker 1: got a month to get there, two full series, because

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Speaker 1: they're going to be heavy favorites in the first round

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Speaker 1: and in the second round. As much as I like

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Speaker 1: that Knicks team that I'm picking to beat the Cavs,

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Speaker 1: and is much as I like the Cavs team, those

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Speaker 1: two teams are not gonna beat the Bucks in all likelihoods.

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Speaker 1: So they've got a month here to try to get

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Speaker 1: him rounded into shape. He did tweak his knee and

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Speaker 1: he had underwent an MRI, But it looks like he's

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Speaker 1: gonna play in Game one, so that's good. But I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna be really watching just the way his lift looks,

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Speaker 1: and how he's able to get separation, and just how

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Speaker 1: he looks overall athletically in that first round series number two,

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Speaker 1: can Joe Ingles and Jay Crowder contain on the perimeter specifically,

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Speaker 1: I'm worried about this with Boston. Boston's gonna have the ability,

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Speaker 1: especially when they go small with Al Horford, to pull

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Speaker 1: brook Lopez away from the rim and really attack them

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Speaker 1: from a five out standpoint. There's gonna be lineups out

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Speaker 1: there where it's gonna be Horford Tatum Brown with like

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Speaker 1: Marcus Martin Malcolm Brogden or Marcus Martin Derek White or

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Speaker 1: Derek White and Malcolm Brogden. And in those situations like

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Speaker 1: conceding corner threes to Al Horford is a errand. And

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Speaker 1: it's even possible that Milwaukee may even have to go

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Speaker 1: small and put Yannis at center. And in that case,

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Speaker 1: so because of that, the further brook Lopez is away

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Speaker 1: from the basket or if he's off the floor, the

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Speaker 1: more important it is to contain on the perimeter. And

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Speaker 1: Joe Ingles, in his absolute athletic prime, was an excellent

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Speaker 1: perimeter defender, and so is Jay Crowder. But those both

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Speaker 1: of those guys are a little bit on the other

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Speaker 1: side of the hill, and I think specifically with Ingles,

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Speaker 1: Crowder could end up not playing much at all over

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Speaker 1: the course this playoff run we'll see, But specifically with Ingles,

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Speaker 1: I think his second side shot creation, his ability to

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Speaker 1: run action with the basketball in his hands, and him

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Speaker 1: being lights out from three makes him an option that

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Speaker 1: needs to be on the table as an offensive adjustment,

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Speaker 1: and he needs in order for him to be playable.

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Speaker 1: He can't be a target on the other end of

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Speaker 1: the floor if he can at least provide some resistance

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Speaker 1: at the point of attack. If he gets switched onto

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Speaker 1: a guard or against against one of the for Boston,

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Speaker 1: it could be a problem. So I'm really gonna be

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Speaker 1: watching athletically just how Joe Ingles in particular, but also

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Speaker 1: a little bit of Jay Crowder, how those two guys

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Speaker 1: perform on the perimeter defensively, and last but not least,

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Speaker 1: how consistent will Drew Holliday be with his shot making.

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Speaker 1: Last year in the playoffs, Drew Holiday went for twenty

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Speaker 1: plus five times. He had some big games, made some

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Speaker 1: big shots, but he shot below forty percent in seven

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Speaker 1: of the twelve games and had some nightmarishly poor shooting nights.

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Speaker 1: And again, part of that is Chris Middleton being out

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Speaker 1: him being the only real secondary shot creator on that team.

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Speaker 1: But Joe Drew Holiday in general tends to be a

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Speaker 1: little bit inconsistent with his shot making, and so I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna be watching him just to see how efficient he is,

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Speaker 1: how he can rain things back now that they have

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Speaker 1: Chris Middleton. Look at his shot selection Drew Holiday as

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Speaker 1: a tendency sometimes to just for no particular reason, take

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Speaker 1: extremely difficult pull up jump shots, almost as like a

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Speaker 1: regular part of his shot diet, which when you do

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Speaker 1: that and you're talented player, sometimes they go in and

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Speaker 1: sometimes they don't. Guys who are regularly efficient are guys

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Speaker 1: that rely on extremely difficult shot making only when they

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Speaker 1: have to. It's a supplementary piece, not a core piece

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Speaker 1: of their offense. I'll be watching Drew Holliday. I do

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Speaker 1: think that getting the one seed was big time for Milwaukee.

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Speaker 1: I talked a lot about this during the season, but

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Speaker 1: they're gonna be in a series where they're heavily favored

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Speaker 1: against the Cavs or Knicks team in the second round,

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Speaker 1: while Boston and Philly are beating the shit out of

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Speaker 1: each other, and that's a big advantage. So nice work

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Speaker 1: from the Bucks to fight for that one seed throughout

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Speaker 1: the season. Denver, I think that very similarly to what

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Speaker 1: I said about the Bulls and Heat. I think Minnesota

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Speaker 1: is gonna win tonight against the Thunder, but I actually

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Speaker 1: think the Thunder are the more dangerous team for the

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Speaker 1: Nuggets because of their aggregate offensive skill and the trouble

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Speaker 1: they can give to defenses that perform well statistically but

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Speaker 1: have some personnel limitations, like the Pelicans. We talked a

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Speaker 1: lot about in this morning's show. If you guys remember,

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Speaker 1: I talked about how the Pelicans were third in defense

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Speaker 1: or fourth and defense post deadline, sixth and defense for

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Speaker 1: the season, but the Thunder just lit them on fire

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Speaker 1: because they spaced him out and drove and kicked them

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Speaker 1: to death. You know, in the playoffs, your base defensive

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Speaker 1: scheme becomes less important than your defensive versatility and the

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Speaker 1: overall strength of your defensive personnel. That's gonna be an

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Speaker 1: issue here with Denver. Denver overall this season defensively wasn't

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Speaker 1: good enough. And one of the big reasons I didn't

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Speaker 1: pick them out of the West is that in this

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Speaker 1: tail end of the season they really let slip a

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Speaker 1: lot of their habits on the defensive end of the

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Speaker 1: floor and got sloppy as they kind of punted the

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Speaker 1: last you know what twenty percent of the season or

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Speaker 1: whatever it was. And the problem there is is when

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Speaker 1: you don't have outstanding defensive personnel, your details have to

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Speaker 1: be extremely sharp. My favorite example of this is the

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Speaker 1: twenty sixteen Calves versus the twenty seventeen Calves. That team

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Speaker 1: did not have great defensive personnel. Kyrie Irving is an

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Speaker 1: average to blow average defender. Jr. Smith is an average

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Speaker 1: to blow average defender. You know, Kevin Love is an

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Speaker 1: average to blow average defenders. Thompson was only okay. Lebron

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Speaker 1: James and whoever they played it like, Richard Jefferson at

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Speaker 1: the time were the only two like really good defensive

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Speaker 1: players on that team. But as a team, they really

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Speaker 1: worked hard during the season to dial up those defensive details,

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Speaker 1: and they finished as a top ten defense in the

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Speaker 1: regular season. So when they got to the Golden State Series,

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Speaker 1: even though they got a little bit shell shocked at

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Speaker 1: the beginning of the series, they were locked in enough

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Speaker 1: to get the necessary amount of stops for Lebron James

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Speaker 1: and Kyrie Irving to carry them home offensively. Then in

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Speaker 1: twenty seventeen they just said screw it and they stopped trying,

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Speaker 1: and the same defensive team that was so good in

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Speaker 1: twenty sixteen was really bad in twenty seventeen with basically

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Speaker 1: the same personnel. And that's because habits matters so much

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Speaker 1: more when you don't have great defensive personnel. If you

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Speaker 1: have excellent defensive personnel, at a certain point, you just

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Speaker 1: flying around athletically is gonna make a lot of things happen.

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Speaker 1: That's kind of the way I feel about Denver. If

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Speaker 1: you're gonna have Nikol Jokich as a below average rim protector,

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Speaker 1: and you're gonna have basically two good defensive players in

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Speaker 1: your best lineup, which is basically Aaron Gordon and Genthavious

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Speaker 1: Calwell Pope, you have three entry points there. So the

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Speaker 1: only way that's gonna work. Is if all five of

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Speaker 1: those guys are just dialed in and locked in throughout

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Speaker 1: the entire season working on those details so they're ready

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Speaker 1: to go when the time comes. And that's just not

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Speaker 1: what they did this year. That was a big part

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Speaker 1: of why I did not pick them out of the West.

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Speaker 1: The Thunder in particular, are going to force them to

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Speaker 1: guard in a way that goes away from their defensive

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Speaker 1: scheme as opposed to Minnesota is going to allow them

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Speaker 1: to stay in a lot of the coverages that they

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Speaker 1: used throughout the regular season. So Denver should absolutely Denver

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Speaker 1: fans should absolutely be rooting for Minnesota tonight. That said,

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Speaker 1: regardless of who they face, even with those limitations, I

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Speaker 1: still would pick them in five over both of these teams.

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Speaker 1: If the Nuggets get exposed offensively, it'll be by Phoenix

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Speaker 1: in the next round. But that's step one of what

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna be watching in this first round series. How

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Speaker 1: locked in is Denver gonna be on the defensive details,

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Speaker 1: Because this is basically a two week practice. You're gonna

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Speaker 1: get probably five games, four or five games here to

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Speaker 1: maybe six if you're not sharp enough, but you're gonna

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Speaker 1: get two weeks here to sharpen up your defense and

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Speaker 1: try to undo the damage that you did during the

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Speaker 1: regular season. I'd almost treat it like a training camp

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Speaker 1: in that regard. But they're going to have to be

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Speaker 1: sharp or they're going to get beat by Phoenix. So

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna be watching their defense at all three levels

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Speaker 1: in this series to see how dedicated they are to

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Speaker 1: tightening those things up. Nikola Jokic, how high is he

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Speaker 1: willing to come out of his drop, because he's gonna

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Speaker 1: have to come high out of his drop to have

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Speaker 1: any hope of defending against the Phoenix Suns. When he

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Speaker 1: does so, can he do so effectively? How active is

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Speaker 1: he overall defensively sprinting back in transition and covering ground

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Speaker 1: on the floor. How active is Jamal Murray at the

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Speaker 1: point of attack? Is he up to that challenge? I

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Speaker 1: know Contavius Callwell Pope is up to the challenge. I

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Speaker 1: know Aaron Gordon's gonna be up to the challenge as

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Speaker 1: a help defender and as a primary wing defender. But

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Speaker 1: is Jamal Murray up to the challenge as a point

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Speaker 1: of attack defender? Is Michael Porter Junior up to the

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Speaker 1: challenge as a help defender? Are they going to have

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Speaker 1: to go with options like Bruce Brown because of defensive

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Speaker 1: limitations that takes away from their offensive ceiling. Those are

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Speaker 1: the kinds of things that I'm going to be paying

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Speaker 1: very close attention to in that first round series. Number two,

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Speaker 1: Jamal Murray's shot making. It's been a very up and

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Speaker 1: down season for him. Not his fault necessarily. First chunk

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Speaker 1: of the season. He's working his way back from knee injury.

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Speaker 1: Second chunk of the season, he had some brief stretches

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Speaker 1: where his knee kind of flared up a little bit,

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Speaker 1: So I'm not blaming him per se. But the reality

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Speaker 1: is is if the Nuggets are going to get out

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Speaker 1: of the Western Conference and have a chance to win

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Speaker 1: an NBA championship, they need Joal Murray to play at

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Speaker 1: a like, not a superstar, but an all star level.

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Speaker 1: They need him to efficiently average twenty three to twenty

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Speaker 1: four points per game. So I'm gonna be watching him

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Speaker 1: and how he looks athletically. Two more things, Jokic's aggression

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Speaker 1: when his teammates are missing. One of the things that

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Speaker 1: I've been critical of Jokic this year is some of

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Speaker 1: that early Lebron stuff where He's playmaking to death, but

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Speaker 1: there are some times when like your team just doesn't

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Speaker 1: have it. Damn Jokic, you're one of the top five

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Speaker 1: players in the league. You need to go make something

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Speaker 1: happen off the bounce. And there have been a couple

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Speaker 1: of games this year where I've seen him kind of

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Speaker 1: continue to pass, and I'm really going to be watching him,

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Speaker 1: especially on nights when his teammates are not making shots,

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Speaker 1: to see if he steps up his level of aggression.

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Speaker 1: And last, but not least, the bench. The bench has

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Speaker 1: been a huge issue for the Nuggets all season long.

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Speaker 1: The Thomas Bryant acquisition has not worked. Reggie Jackson has

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Speaker 1: been really inconsistent since he came aboard. They're going to

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Speaker 1: have to play the starters big minutes and do some

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Speaker 1: more staggering to bolster that bench unit, or they could

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Speaker 1: be in some trouble there as well. But either way,

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Speaker 1: I'm picking the Bucks and the Nuggets to win in five.

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Speaker 1: So again, predictions are just predictions. Probably gonna get a

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Speaker 1: certain amount of them right, probably gonna get a certain

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Speaker 1: amount of them wrong. That's just the nature of the business.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure I'll be made. I'm sure all have people

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Speaker 1: crying about it my mentions no matter what. But that's

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Speaker 1: just life. Final predictions, though, I have the Bucks winning

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Speaker 1: their first round series in five games, Celtics in five games,

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Speaker 1: Sixers in four games, Nicks in six games. Out in

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Speaker 1: the Western Conference, I have the Nuggets in five games.

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Speaker 1: I have the Lakers beating the Grizzlies in six games.

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Speaker 1: I have the Warriors beating the Kings in six games,

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Speaker 1: and I have the Suns sweeping the Clippers. As of

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Speaker 1: right now, I have the Golden State Warriors coming out

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Speaker 1: of the West, the Bucks coming out of the East,

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Speaker 1: and the Bucks hoisting the trophy when it's all said

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Speaker 1: and done. That said, like, I don't see any point

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Speaker 1: in going down with the ship. With every passing new

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Speaker 1: piece of information that we get, I am going to

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Speaker 1: tell you what my new opinion is, and maybe at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day it'll still be Bucks Warriors,

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Speaker 1: but I'm gonna react to new information. And so after

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Speaker 1: the first round we'll kind of circle back to those

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Speaker 1: topics and see where we stand at that point. All right,

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Speaker 1: really quickly before we get out of here, I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: do quick hitters on Hawk Celtics. So Hawk Celtics and

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Speaker 1: Net Sixers. I'm not gonna spend a lot of time

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Speaker 1: on these series because I expect them to be over quickly.

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Speaker 1: The issue specifically, Like again, I'm going out of town

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Speaker 1: on Saturday morning, and I'm gonna be arriving at our

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Speaker 1: destination in Canada at like eleven thirty PM, so we're

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Speaker 1: still covering the playoffs, but I'm losing my entire day Saturday,

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Speaker 1: and it's actually gonna bleed into Sunday morning. We're gonna

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Speaker 1: do like a quick instant reaction on Saturday night, and

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Speaker 1: then we're gonna do a much more in depth reaction

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Speaker 1: on Sunday morning after I get some sleep. But we

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Speaker 1: don't know the one to eight matchups until tomorrow evening.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna have a really short video that I'll release tomorrow,

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Speaker 1: but I'm not gonna spend a ton of time diving

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Speaker 1: into these one eight matchups or the Celtic Sixers series,

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Speaker 1: just because they're just such big favorites, like the Celtics

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Speaker 1: are a minus twelve hundred favorite and the Sixers are

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Speaker 1: a minus one thousand favorite ten to one odds, So

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna spend a half hour breaking down those

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Speaker 1: particular series, but I'll give you some quick notes. So

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Speaker 1: on the Hawk sixers. The Celtics are a gigantic favorite.

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Speaker 1: Like I said, minus twelve hundred. They swept the season

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Speaker 1: series in March day at a game in Atlanta. They

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Speaker 1: played more recently than that, but everyone rested in March.

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Speaker 1: They played in Atlanta. Watch that game this morning. The

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Speaker 1: entire thing. Oh my god, it was an iesore. There

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Speaker 1: was no defense from either team out the gates. Finally,

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Speaker 1: in the second half, Boston started switching everything and started

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Speaker 1: locking in defensively, and they immediately generated some separation and

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Speaker 1: pulled away. But there are a couple of specific things. Atlanta

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Speaker 1: did have some success on the offensive glass. Trey Young

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Speaker 1: had a lot of success getting to his spots. They

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Speaker 1: guarded Jalen Brown with de Jonte Murray, and they guarded

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Speaker 1: Jason Tatum with DeAndre Hunter. I do think that that's

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Speaker 1: a specific set of matchups that they'll have to tinker

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Speaker 1: with a little bit. I'm picking the Celtics to win

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Speaker 1: the series in five games. They're just better on both

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Speaker 1: ends of the floor by mile, and they're athletic enough.

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Speaker 1: I think when they really lock in to survive Atlanta's

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Speaker 1: offensive rebound attack. However, that's step one to an Atlanta upset.

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Speaker 1: Guys like John Collins, Cacapella and Onyeka Congo will have

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Speaker 1: to absolutely destroy them on the offensive glass. Obviously, Trey

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Speaker 1: Young and de Jontay Murray need to have a massive series.

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Speaker 1: I would consider going away from from John Collins early

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Speaker 1: in the series and playing Sidik Bay heavily for two reasons. One,

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Speaker 1: I think that is a better matchup for Jalen Brown

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Speaker 1: and putting sidek Bay and DeAndre Hunter on the two

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Speaker 1: Boston Celtics wings. You free up de Jontay Murray to

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Speaker 1: save his legs for the offensive end of the floor,

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Speaker 1: although those Boston guards are always looking to attack to

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Speaker 1: but it's a little bit more of a straightforward matchup.

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Speaker 1: And then also with the amount of switching that Boston

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Speaker 1: will do, close out attacking is going to be viotently important.

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Speaker 1: Like Trey Young and de Jontay Murray just getting a

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Speaker 1: little bit of dribble penetration and kicking, and then having

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Speaker 1: guys like Sidik Bay extend the advantage, having guys like

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Speaker 1: DeAndre Hunter extend the advantage. Atlanta did not have good

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Speaker 1: spacing in the game that I watched earlier today. That

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Speaker 1: is something they've gotten a lot better at over the

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Speaker 1: course of the end of the season, so I think

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Speaker 1: they might have a little bit more success there. But

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Speaker 1: it's just from a talent perspective. They're just overmatched in

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Speaker 1: this series, especially once you go past the starting lineup

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Speaker 1: for the Celtics. Things that I'll be watching is their

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Speaker 1: defense as sharp as it was last year in the postseason.

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Speaker 1: They came in locked in defensively against Brooklyn. They need

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Speaker 1: to defend at that level to win the title. I'll

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Speaker 1: be watching that very closely. Secondly, are they gonna make

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Speaker 1: good rim decisions. Clint Capella runs a drop coverage for

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Speaker 1: the Hawks. He's gonna be around the rim probably most

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Speaker 1: of the series unless they go small with Al Horford,

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Speaker 1: and even then they'll probably concede those shots to try

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Speaker 1: to keep Capella at the rim and try to rotate

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Speaker 1: around him. And it's gonna be vitally important, not just

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Speaker 1: for this series, but as a process thing as they

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Speaker 1: go forward into the rest of the postseason for Boston

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Speaker 1: to look to driving kick and not necessarily challenge Copella

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Speaker 1: at the rim all series long, which is typically what

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Speaker 1: causes them to miss layups and give up transition opportunities.

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Speaker 1: So rim decisions. I'm gonna be watching, and is their

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Speaker 1: defense as sharp as it was to start last year?

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Speaker 1: In the postseason Net Sixers, the Sixers are minus one

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Speaker 1: thousand favorite. They swept the season series four oh including

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Speaker 1: two oh after the trades. They had a close win

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Speaker 1: in Brooklyn and then they beat the hell out of

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Speaker 1: them a different time. I'm picking the Sixers to sweep

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Speaker 1: this series. The Nets are twenty third in defense or

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Speaker 1: in offense post trades, to be expected. Guys like Michal

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Speaker 1: Bridges are you know, they can put up numbers, they

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Speaker 1: can score efficiently, but they don't attack the rim enough

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Speaker 1: or playmake enough to be like a really well rounded

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Speaker 1: offensive engine. And then Spencer Dinwoodie has a ceiling to

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Speaker 1: what he can do, especially a series get more physical.

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Speaker 1: He really struggled last year in the postseason, especially finishing

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Speaker 1: around the rim. So it's not a big surprise that

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Speaker 1: their offense is fallen off. But here's the big thing.

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Speaker 1: They loaded up on wings and this kind of goes

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Speaker 1: back to what I was talking about earlier with New

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Speaker 1: Orleans and with Toronto. But they loaded up on wings

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Speaker 1: and they can't guard. They are seventeenth in defense post deadline,

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Speaker 1: and that goes back to what I was talking about

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Speaker 1: about balancing point of attack defense with length and athleticism

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Speaker 1: on the wing. They have no hope of guarding Joel Embiid.

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Speaker 1: I think Spencer Dinwoodie, McHale Bridges, and Cam Johnson are

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Speaker 1: going to struggle to generate quality shots and they don't

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Speaker 1: have much of a home court advantage. It's like I've

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Speaker 1: only picked two sweeps in the first round, and it's

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Speaker 1: the Clippers and the Nets. And it's because you generally

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Speaker 1: would say in five, but you usually get that big

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Speaker 1: upset win in Game three or Game four because of

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Speaker 1: a raucous home crowd and a high energy environment. The

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Speaker 1: Clippers in the Nets probably have the two worst home

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Speaker 1: court advantages of any serious basketball teams in the NBA

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Speaker 1: except for maybe the Miami Heat, but even the Miami

417
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Speaker 1: Heat that they show up late to the game. But

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Speaker 1: they'll get invested in a real way if they once

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Speaker 1: they finally make their way to their seats, whenever that

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Speaker 1: actually happens. The other thing, too, Nick Claxton is just

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Speaker 1: going to allow Joel Embiid to hang out at the

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Speaker 1: rim The biggest susceptibility in the Philly defense is if

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Speaker 1: you can get em beat on the perimeter. He's not

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Speaker 1: good at containing driving like slashing. Toronto had a lot

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Speaker 1: of success slashing by him last year, and I just

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Speaker 1: with Nick Claxton out there, I just don't think that's

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Speaker 1: going to be an option. Here's the path of victory

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Speaker 1: for the Nets, the very slim paths of victory. They

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Speaker 1: need to double the hell out of Joel Embiid and

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00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:54,960
Speaker 1: tighten up their rotations over the court of the course

431
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:57,000
Speaker 1: of the series. They need to leave James Harden on

432
00:20:57,000 --> 00:20:59,520
Speaker 1: an island and turn him into a score. They need

433
00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:01,879
Speaker 1: to get back in transition to make sure Tyrese Maxey

434
00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:04,960
Speaker 1: doesn't get those easy runouts. And they need to completely

435
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:07,119
Speaker 1: ignore PJ. Tucker and pray to God that he misses

436
00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:10,760
Speaker 1: every shot that he takes out of the corner on offense.

437
00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:13,159
Speaker 1: Just spread him out, spread them out as much as

438
00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:16,400
Speaker 1: you can take advantage of their weak perimeter defense by

439
00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:20,000
Speaker 1: driving and kicking them to death. You can have there

440
00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:22,800
Speaker 1: are spacing concepts within four out one end. You know

441
00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:26,240
Speaker 1: you put you do the best you can to keep

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00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:29,199
Speaker 1: Guys like Dorian Phinney Smith in one corner as an

443
00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:32,640
Speaker 1: easy outlet at any given moment, and you know, maybe

444
00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:35,199
Speaker 1: you go high on offensive skill and play Cam Johnson

445
00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:38,439
Speaker 1: and Spencer Dinwitty because of the little bit of undersized

446
00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:40,840
Speaker 1: Philly backcourt that doesn't play a lot of defense and

447
00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:43,400
Speaker 1: doesn't do a ton of dirty work, and you put

448
00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:45,359
Speaker 1: McHale Bridges in the other corner. Yeah, you're gonna have

449
00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:47,480
Speaker 1: to navigate him beat around the rim, but you put

450
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:49,400
Speaker 1: Claxton in a position where you can catch and dunk

451
00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:52,879
Speaker 1: really quick. He's also excellent offensive rebounder, and you just

452
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:55,679
Speaker 1: overload on offensive skill and take advantage of Philly's lack

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00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,720
Speaker 1: of perimeter defense. But it's extremely unlikely things I'll be

454
00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:03,320
Speaker 1: watching from Philly. How engaged is James Harden in the

455
00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:05,560
Speaker 1: physicality of the playoffs on both ends of the floor, Like,

456
00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:08,840
Speaker 1: is he ready for a damn war? Because this is

457
00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:12,320
Speaker 1: gonna be a war, not necessarily this series, but next

458
00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:15,800
Speaker 1: series is gonna be a damn war against the Boston Celtics,

459
00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:18,560
Speaker 1: and Boston is gonna do everything they can to make

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00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:21,520
Speaker 1: him feel uncomfortable. And if he just tries to do

461
00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:23,399
Speaker 1: the James Harden thing where he kind of floats his

462
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,879
Speaker 1: way through the games, they're gonna lose pretty quick. So

463
00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:29,359
Speaker 1: I'm really gonna be watching James Harden and his overall

464
00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:33,040
Speaker 1: competitive energy. How well does Joel Embiid handle double teams.

465
00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:35,080
Speaker 1: I think this is gonna be a good sample of

466
00:22:35,119 --> 00:22:37,240
Speaker 1: it against the Nets, and I think you're gonna see

467
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:40,080
Speaker 1: it a lot against the Sixers. Joel and b destroyed,

468
00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:43,720
Speaker 1: excuse me, against the Celtics. Joel andbi destroyed the Celtics

469
00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:45,240
Speaker 1: the last time they played when they left him in

470
00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:47,560
Speaker 1: single coverage and then they started doubling him at the

471
00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:49,080
Speaker 1: end of the game and he made some good reads

472
00:22:49,119 --> 00:22:52,199
Speaker 1: to PJ. Tucker. I think it'll be very important for

473
00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:55,600
Speaker 1: him to demonstrate a capable handling of double teams in

474
00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:57,760
Speaker 1: order to win a championship. And last, but not least,

475
00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:01,080
Speaker 1: Phillies weakness in their defense is perimeter de So I

476
00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:02,840
Speaker 1: just want to look at guys like Tyras Maxey and

477
00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:05,879
Speaker 1: James Harden and just how like I just want to

478
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:09,080
Speaker 1: see how locked in they are in their ability to

479
00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:12,760
Speaker 1: contain the basketball, because especially against Boston, when the matchups

480
00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:15,280
Speaker 1: work out, you know you're gonna see de Anthony Melton

481
00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,240
Speaker 1: guarding one of tayt and Tatum Brown, Right, you're gonna

482
00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:21,200
Speaker 1: see are You're gonna see Tobias Harris and PJ. Tucker

483
00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:23,119
Speaker 1: guard one of Tatum bar Brown, a lot of d

484
00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:25,720
Speaker 1: Anthony Melton too when they go to when they took

485
00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:29,119
Speaker 1: put PJ. Tucker on the bench. But like Derek White's

486
00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:30,840
Speaker 1: gonna be out there, Marcus Smart's gonna be out there,

487
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,280
Speaker 1: Malcolm Brogden's gonna be out there, and guys like Tyras

488
00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:35,840
Speaker 1: Maxey and James Harden are going to have to slide

489
00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:38,520
Speaker 1: their feet. And in that particular game, Derek White and

490
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:40,960
Speaker 1: the one I mentioned where Joel Embiid went off, Derek

491
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:42,960
Speaker 1: White and Malcolm Brogden did a lot of damage to them.

492
00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:45,120
Speaker 1: So that's something I'll be keeping an eye on. All Right, guys,

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00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:46,600
Speaker 1: that's all I have for today. We'll have one last

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00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:49,600
Speaker 1: video before the playoffs late tomorrow night, just a quick

495
00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:51,680
Speaker 1: little breakdown of the one to eight matchups. Won't spend

496
00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:53,399
Speaker 1: that video will be like ten to fifteen minutes. I'm

497
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:55,359
Speaker 1: not gonna invest a ton of a ton of energy

498
00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:59,520
Speaker 1: in massive favorite playoff series like that, but guys, right

499
00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:01,919
Speaker 1: around the corner two days we are going to be

500
00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:04,840
Speaker 1: in the grind and I'm very, very excited. I thought

501
00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:08,000
Speaker 1: the playing tournament was super entertaining, a nice little teaser

502
00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:12,080
Speaker 1: for what we're getting into. Tons of you guys supported

503
00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:13,760
Speaker 1: the show over the course of this week, and I

504
00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 1: can't tell you how much I appreciate. I've been looking

505
00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:19,720
Speaker 1: at some of our year over year growth from February

506
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:22,280
Speaker 1: to March and April, and it's been really really cool

507
00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:24,200
Speaker 1: to see this show grow and I have you guys

508
00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:26,840
Speaker 1: to thank for that. So thank you guys for supporting

509
00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:30,160
Speaker 1: me and the rest of the team, and hey, let's

510
00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:55,960
Speaker 1: have some fun over the next couple of months. The

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Speaker 1: volume