Speaker 1: The Volume.
Speaker 2: All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the Volume,
Speaker 2: Happy Monday, everybody. Round two coverage of the NBA Playoffs.
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Speaker 1: What a game?
Speaker 2: Who had Lonnie Walker saves the Lakers from Steph Curry
Speaker 2: on their prediction card for this game?
Speaker 1: Not me.
Speaker 2: I had close game that the Lakers would win, but
Speaker 2: I hadn't. I did not expect it to look anything
Speaker 2: like that.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: I have so many thoughts, so many different things we're
Speaker 2: gonna get into. And then I have some thoughts on
Speaker 2: that Nick's heat game as well as that series goes
Speaker 2: to three to one in the early slate. You guys
Speaker 2: know the Joe before we get started. Subscribe to the
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Speaker 2: Hoops Tonight, Last but not least before we get started.
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Speaker 2: All right, let's talk some basketball. Such an unusual game.
Speaker 2: I predicted that the Lakers would win in a close one,
Speaker 2: but like I said, it when nothing like I expected.
Speaker 1: The Lakers.
Speaker 2: I'm used to seeing them win ugly, right, Like I
Speaker 2: talked about this with Colin yesterday.
Speaker 1: But they've won.
Speaker 2: I think this is gonna be the sixth game in
Speaker 2: this postseason run that they've won shooting below thirty percent
Speaker 2: from three.
Speaker 1: This is what they do. They muck it up. It's ugly.
Speaker 2: Laker fans are constantly screaming at the television for ugly,
Speaker 2: stagnant offense, Lebron jacking up jumpers, guys refusing to throw
Speaker 2: the ball to Anthony Davis in the post. It's always ugly,
Speaker 2: but they just somehow find a way to win by
Speaker 2: keeping the scoring low and make.
Speaker 1: Enough plays to win.
Speaker 2: At the end, it was the bizarre Lonnie Walker performance
Speaker 2: fifteen fourth quarter points that ended up closing this deal,
Speaker 2: which made it so unusual. We're gonna get to Lonnie,
Speaker 2: but I want to uh, We're gonna get to him
Speaker 2: in just a second. I want to start with this
Speaker 2: dynamic between Anthony Davis and Steph because this is the
Speaker 2: dynamic that the entire series hinges on. You're gonna see
Speaker 2: random outlier performances across the board, right Like you get
Speaker 2: a bagel from Jordan Poole, but you get a pretty
Speaker 2: great night from Moses Moody, right Like, that's completely random.
Speaker 2: The Lakers get absolutely nothing from D'Angelo Russell in this game,
Speaker 2: one for ten from the field, but they get this
Speaker 2: incredible performance from Lonnie Walker. Those sorts of things are
Speaker 2: super random, super difficult to project forward in the series,
Speaker 2: so I don't really see the point in focusing on
Speaker 2: them from an adjustment standpoint. We will talk about them,
Speaker 2: but I want to focus on this Anthony Davis versus
Speaker 2: Steph Curry thing, because, like I said, that's the dynamic
Speaker 2: that's actually determining the outcome of this series, and it
Speaker 2: starts with this progression of pick and roll coverages.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: So in the first game, the Lakers put Jared Vanderbilt
Speaker 2: on Steph Curry and they put Anthony Davis on Draymond Green,
Speaker 2: and they basically run their standard drop coverage, or they put,
Speaker 2: excuse me, they put Anthony Davis on Kavan Looney. They
Speaker 2: run their standard drop coverage, and the Warriors run almost
Speaker 2: no pick and roll. They run their motion offense. They're
Speaker 2: constantly being top locked and forced to back cut into
Speaker 2: Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: It's a disaster. Right.
Speaker 2: So Game two they go to Steph high pick and
Speaker 2: roll and they picked the war the Lakers apart with
Speaker 2: Draymond Green in the short role.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: So Game three adjustment from Darvin hand they put Jared
Speaker 2: Vanderbilt on Dreymond so they could switch to Steph Draymond
Speaker 2: pick and roll, and now Steph is running his pick
Speaker 2: and rolls with lesser roll men. It becomes a disaster
Speaker 2: for them in game three and then game four, the
Speaker 2: adjustment from Steve Kerr, which I thought was super interesting,
Speaker 2: is he brings Gary Payton the second into the starting lineup,
Speaker 2: and I immediately after the news came down, I got
Speaker 2: on Twitter and I said two things that I expected
Speaker 2: to look for in this game. One, They're gonna put
Speaker 2: Gary Payton in a ton of ball screens. I played
Speaker 2: in the same junior college conference from Gary Payton, and
Speaker 2: I'm super familiar with this game. And he's an outstanding passer.
Speaker 2: He won conference Player of the Year the year after
Speaker 2: I left that conference in large part because of his
Speaker 2: ability to dissect defenses with the pass. That's one of
Speaker 2: the strengths in his game. And he's a great athlete
Speaker 2: that can roll hard to the rim and force the
Speaker 2: defense to collapse. So it's another guy that you're trying
Speaker 2: to bait Anthony Davis into guarding because he's a non shooter,
Speaker 2: so that you can bring him up into ball screens.
Speaker 2: It was a super interesting adjustment. Another big adjustment well,
Speaker 2: and I also thought they put Gary Payton in the
Speaker 2: lineup to try to force more turnovers and get out
Speaker 2: in transition. It's like going all in on defense to
Speaker 2: try to get turnovers and get running. They had seventeen
Speaker 2: fast break points in this game after just four in
Speaker 2: Game three, so I thought the Gary Payton adjustment was
Speaker 2: a really smart one from Steve Kerk. Another adjustment just
Speaker 2: in terms of execution from Steph Curry. So in this coverage,
Speaker 2: it's again, I got into an argument with somebody about
Speaker 2: this yesterday about what the coverage is called, and to me,
Speaker 2: that's so irrelevant because even just calling, even within specific
Speaker 2: labels on specific teams, the rules changed from team to team.
Speaker 2: It doesn't really make any sense. Each coverage is unique
Speaker 2: to each team. But call it a high drop, call
Speaker 2: it a hedge caught, whatever you want to call it.
Speaker 2: Anthony Davis is coming out to the level of the
Speaker 2: screen to dissuade Steph Curry's pull up jump shot and
Speaker 2: then recovering back to the role man as the guard
Speaker 2: is chasing over the top of the screen. And in
Speaker 2: game three, Anthony Davis was getting a boatload of deflections
Speaker 2: on that pocket pass and it was blowing everything up
Speaker 2: for the Warriors and pick and roll. So one of
Speaker 2: the adjustments that you saw from Steph Curry in this
Speaker 2: game is when he got the ball screen, he dribbled
Speaker 2: laterally like to the sideline, usually to his right hand,
Speaker 2: to drag Anthony Davis with him, so that he's so
Speaker 2: far away from the role man that Steph could throw
Speaker 2: a looping pass over the top. He could do whatever
Speaker 2: he wants because he's a massive window to throw Gary
Speaker 2: Payton too, because no longer is it a cluster of
Speaker 2: players that he's trying to slip a pocket pass through.
Speaker 2: He's now dragging Ad so far over and Austin Reeves
Speaker 2: so far over that Gary Payton's just standing completely unguarded
Speaker 2: in the middle of the lane.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: So I thought that was a really interesting adjustment from Steph,
Speaker 2: and he absolutely barbecued them in this game. And for
Speaker 2: the record, it could have been so much worse, Like
Speaker 2: Steph was twelve for thirty from the field, three for
Speaker 2: fourteen from three. I did tell you, guys, I said
Speaker 2: Game four was gonna come down to the Anthony Davis
Speaker 2: Lebron James bully ball defense dynamic versus Steph's shot making,
Speaker 2: and Steph's shot making just didn't quite rise to the occasion.
Speaker 2: He had two looks at the end. We're gonna get
Speaker 2: to that in a second. He was just barely short
Speaker 2: of the goal of tying up the series, So that
Speaker 2: dynamic very easily could have gone the other way if
Speaker 2: he's thirteen for thirty, or he's fourteen for thirty or
Speaker 2: four for fourteen from three, So it could have been
Speaker 2: so much worse. But I thought Steph absolutely destroyed the
Speaker 2: Lakers in pick and roll. Then at halftime, Darvin Ham
Speaker 2: tries to switch Anthony Davis onto Andrew Wiggins in hopes
Speaker 2: of just putting a different role man there that's maybe
Speaker 2: not as good of a decision maker. They got a
Speaker 2: few more stops, but I thought I thought for the
Speaker 2: most part, the Lakers improve defensive effort in the second
Speaker 2: half mostly came down to better effort on the back line,
Speaker 2: Guys just making better rotations and be like Lebron being
Speaker 2: more active, everybody being more active in their rotations on
Speaker 2: the back line. And then the other thing that Steph
Speaker 2: was doing that I thought was smart, as he was
Speaker 2: having Andrew Wiggins in particular, slip the screen, so by
Speaker 2: slipping the screen, you can catch ad while he's still
Speaker 2: running up and slip it past him before Anthony Davis
Speaker 2: gets up into a position where he can actually get
Speaker 2: a deflection. It was such an interesting, just genius offensive
Speaker 2: performance from Steph Curry that goes so much further than
Speaker 2: the than the box score, what do you have like
Speaker 2: thirteen assists? Like literally, if he shot any better, he
Speaker 2: would have just completely decimated the Lakers in this game.
Speaker 2: I thought it was such an unbelievable performance from Steph Curry.
Speaker 2: But down the stretch, remember what I said, there are
Speaker 2: three ways to guard the Steph Curry pick and roll.
Speaker 2: You can run drop coverage and hope your guards get
Speaker 2: over the top. You can come up to the level
Speaker 2: of the screen and open yourself up to the short role.
Speaker 2: And what's the final option. It's the switch. This is
Speaker 2: where Anthony Davis just says, screw it. I'm taking Steph.
Speaker 2: Whoever gets screened by Draymond Green or Andrew Wiggins or
Speaker 2: Cavon Looney or Gary Payton just run with him down
Speaker 2: to the basket and we leave Steph Curry on Anthony
Speaker 2: Davis on an island to determine the outcome of these possessions.
Speaker 2: And there was a possession early in the game where
Speaker 2: they ended up in a switch and Steph hit a
Speaker 2: step back three on Anthony Davis. There's another possession in
Speaker 2: the second half where he drove past Anthony Davis and
Speaker 2: ad he actually kind of forced him into a bad pass.
Speaker 2: To Lebron, but it like bounced right back into STEP's
Speaker 2: hands and he laid it in. But those are the
Speaker 2: only two seat switches they ran that I can remember
Speaker 2: in the first three and a half quarters or so.
Speaker 2: There's a reason why teams don't want to switch Anthony
Speaker 2: Davis onto Steph. I would imagine it's about trying to
Speaker 2: prevent back end action, right, so Steph is guarding Anthony
Speaker 2: Davis out at the rim, then you can run all
Speaker 2: your shit on the back end with no Anthony Davis.
Speaker 2: And we know how bad the Lakers defense is without
Speaker 2: rim protection. And the second thing is offensive rebounding, right,
Speaker 2: So you end up with Austin Reeves on Draymond Green
Speaker 2: on that final possession, the second to last possession, and
Speaker 2: Anthony Davis gets a stop on Steph Curry, but Raymond
Speaker 2: Grae just jumps over the top of crabs an offensive
Speaker 2: rebound kicks it back. So those are the reasons why
Speaker 2: most coaches don't like to switch as much as they can.
Speaker 2: It's also just a lot of work for Anthony Davis
Speaker 2: to slide his feet, but they had no choice but
Speaker 2: to go to it at the end of the game,
Speaker 2: and we end up in a possession where it's a
Speaker 2: one point game, and we have our clash of superpowers. Right,
Speaker 2: So I just have broken down in great detail how
Speaker 2: Steph Curry's superpower nearly murdered the Lakers tonight, right, and
Speaker 2: then he had a similar game in game two. And
Speaker 2: then we have two heroic Anthony Davis performances in Game
Speaker 2: one in game three. Obviously, Anthony Davis was amazing offensively
Speaker 2: in Game one, but defensively was where Anthony Davis controlled
Speaker 2: the game in Game one. In game three, so I've
Speaker 2: got Steph Curry's offensive superpower versus Anthony Davis's defensive superpower
Speaker 2: in a game that I believe was the one that
Speaker 2: was gonna determine the outcome of this series. And we're
Speaker 2: gonna get to this in a second. I do not
Speaker 2: think this series is over. But that said, the Lakers
Speaker 2: are into commanding position. This was the one they had
Speaker 2: to win, right, So everything came down to that possession,
Speaker 2: and Anthony Davis forced Steph into an extremely difficult step
Speaker 2: back one leg at three and he gets a stop
Speaker 2: in and out too, like it was right there. I mean,
Speaker 2: against the quality of defender that Anthony Davis is Steph,
Speaker 2: I'm sure likes that look. And then on the offensive
Speaker 2: rebound kickback, I thought it was super interesting Steph settled
Speaker 2: for such a difficult step back. What was that like
Speaker 2: a thirty footer or so? Thirty five footer or so
Speaker 2: off the dribble against Anthony Davis. That goes to show
Speaker 2: you that he thought that was the best he could
Speaker 2: get under the circumstances. So when the clash of the
Speaker 2: superpowers at the end of the game, even though Steph
Speaker 2: I thought out played Anthony Davis throughout the night, Anthony
Speaker 2: Davis made two plays at the end with the superpower
Speaker 2: overcoming Steph Curry and the Lakers get to win. We're
Speaker 2: gonna talk more about the Lakers and their adjustments with
Speaker 2: pick and roll here in just a minute, and how
Speaker 2: I expect him to go the rest of the series,
Speaker 2: but I wanted to start with that because I thought
Speaker 2: that was the most interesting dynamic in the game. Lonnie Walker.
Speaker 2: After Game three, I was extremely upset with myself because
Speaker 2: I noticed Lonnie Walker and what he did in the
Speaker 2: game defensively, but I didn't talk about it on the show.
Speaker 2: A lot of times, especially when we go live on AMP.
Speaker 2: This one's not live. But when we go live, I'll
Speaker 2: typically on many nights go without notes because we're going
Speaker 2: right after the final buzzer, and so I'm just going
Speaker 2: off the top of the head. I might have like
Speaker 2: three or four things written down. It's not the same
Speaker 2: as when I do those full shows in the morning,
Speaker 2: right And I just forgot to get to Lonnie Walker,
Speaker 2: and so I was super pissed off. And I get
Speaker 2: on Twitter later that night and I'm like, man, forgot
Speaker 2: to talk about Lonnie. Loved the work he did defensively,
Speaker 2: Glad to see him in the rotation. I want to
Speaker 2: talk about Lonnie Walker tonight because this has been such
Speaker 2: an incredible story and an example of this Laker team
Speaker 2: and their basketball character throughout this season. The team that
Speaker 2: I didn't really like their basketball character last year in
Speaker 2: some of the mood, in things that some of the
Speaker 2: dynamics that were going on in that locker room. This
Speaker 2: team has had so much more fight and ziliency than
Speaker 2: that last year's team. Lonnie Walker was removed from the
Speaker 2: rotation because of his offense. He was a guy that
Speaker 2: routinely had bad shot selection, and he was a guy
Speaker 2: that was not a very good defensive player at least
Speaker 2: he wasn't engaged enough on that end as he needed
Speaker 2: to be. He ended up losing his rotation spot after
Speaker 2: the trade deadline, in large part because you brought in
Speaker 2: two additional guards in Malik Beasley and D'Angelo Russell and
Speaker 2: Troy Brown Junior actually was really good in the middle
Speaker 2: of the season and kind of took that specific a
Speaker 2: spot as like their best know perimeter defensive guard that
Speaker 2: they would kind of unleash in that bench unit. Right,
Speaker 2: So Lonnie Walker falls out of the rotation, but it
Speaker 2: largely had to do with the defensive end of the floor.
Speaker 2: So in Game three he gets into the rotation because
Speaker 2: he's so damn fast. We noticed this a lot in
Speaker 2: that Sacramento King series, but Lonnie Walker's speed reminds me
Speaker 2: of some of the stuff with Malik Monk and darreon
Speaker 2: Fox and just them just sprinting like crazy. Davion Mitchell
Speaker 2: round chasing these Warriors guards around. And he did a
Speaker 2: great job in game three, locking and trailing, staying attached,
Speaker 2: did great work on Jordan Poole, had some great possessions
Speaker 2: on Klay Thompson. It was just an excellent defensive performance
Speaker 2: from Lonnie Walker. What's so interesting is I have been
Speaker 2: hearing behind the scenes, I say, just from all the
Speaker 2: people that do great work covering the Lakers that Lonnie
Speaker 2: Walker during this entire stretch where he's been out of
Speaker 2: the rotation, has just stayed extremely diligent with his work
Speaker 2: and he's actually been like a pretty solid spot up
Speaker 2: shooter for the Lakers this year when they've needed him
Speaker 2: to be. But what's so interesting to me is not
Speaker 2: only does he make a monumental three to start the
Speaker 2: fourth quarter that turns a seven point game into a
Speaker 2: four point game, and you could tell visibly engaged Lebron
Speaker 2: in that quarter as he's a quarter assistant. On the
Speaker 2: next four points, I think to tie it, but he
Speaker 2: starts hitting off the dribble jump shots again. One of
Speaker 2: the weird plot lines of this particular Laker playoff run
Speaker 2: is Lebron James and a. Anthony Davis have been super
Speaker 2: unaggressive offensively for long stretches. They've just been willing to
Speaker 2: give the ball to the guards, usually Dennis Schroder, D'Angelo
Speaker 2: Russell and o Ausin Reeves set ball screens and get
Speaker 2: out of the way and LR It's a couple of
Speaker 2: different things. Anthony Davis is carrying a massive defensive load
Speaker 2: and Lebron James just doesn't have a ton left in
Speaker 2: the tank, and so he's picking his spots, and so
Speaker 2: they need their guards to be a certain amount of aggressive.
Speaker 2: It's actually something that I'd like to see them eventually
Speaker 2: flip if they're going to try to win this series.
Speaker 2: We'll get to that later, but when they've needed somebody's
Speaker 2: step up and get and generate quality shots. In this game,
Speaker 2: it was Lonnie Walker fifteen fourth quarter points. He had
Speaker 2: a baseline out of bounds play where he flew off
Speaker 2: of a screen and knocked down at eighteen footer on
Speaker 2: the baseline. He hit multiple pull up jump shots over
Speaker 2: the top of the over the top of contests, including
Speaker 2: I think at least two over steph Curry in isolations.
Speaker 2: He just whilled that ball into the basket. And so
Speaker 2: what's so interesting to me about the Lonnie Walker thing
Speaker 2: is it's such a great example for any young basketball
Speaker 2: player for how to be a professional in any locker room,
Speaker 2: your offense will come and go. It's part of the
Speaker 2: basketball player's journey. Look at Lebron James, he's the second
Speaker 2: best basketball player of all time cannot make a jump
Speaker 2: shot to save his life. You're gonna have struggles, but
Speaker 2: there are things that you can control, particularly on the
Speaker 2: defensive end, particularly with rebounding and effort execution shot selection.
Speaker 2: Lonnie Walker got his opportunity with what he can do defensively,
Speaker 2: and then through the natural flow of the game, it
Speaker 2: gave him an opportunity to demonstrate the hard work that
Speaker 2: he's been putting in behind the scenes on his jump shot,
Speaker 2: and it rose to the surface in what is just
Speaker 2: an iconic playoff moment, completely out of the rotation two
Speaker 2: games ago, iconic playoff moment fifteen points in the fourth
Speaker 2: quarter of a pivotal two one series league game between
Speaker 2: the Lakers and the Warriors that puts the Lakers in
Speaker 2: a commanding position to win the series, where now the
Speaker 2: Warrior have to win three games consecutively to win the series.
Speaker 1: Just big shout out to Lonnie Walker.
Speaker 2: Great example of professionalism and an example of what every
Speaker 2: young basketball player should try to replicate, especially as they
Speaker 2: go through the natural ebbs and flows that take place,
Speaker 2: especially when you get on deep teams like young high
Speaker 2: school players. You're gonna end up on a college team
Speaker 2: one day. That's eleven twelve guys deep, and the rotation's
Speaker 2: gonna be weird, and there are gonna be games where
Speaker 2: you're out of it.
Speaker 1: And if you.
Speaker 2: Focus on your shooting, if you focus on those things,
Speaker 2: you will fall out of the rotation. If you focus
Speaker 2: on the things that coaches pay attention to, defending, executing,
Speaker 2: playing hard every single possession, good shot selection that will
Speaker 2: buy you time on the floor for your offensive skill
Speaker 2: set to eventually shine through. Austin Reeves also excellent in
Speaker 2: that fourth quarter. He had a four point run after
Speaker 2: the Warriors went up like ninety four to ninety you know,
Speaker 2: pull up jump shot and pick and roll, similar type
Speaker 2: of thing Lebron and Ad kind of standing around waiting
Speaker 2: for somebody to make a play.
Speaker 1: Hits a pull up jumper and pick and roll.
Speaker 2: Then on the next pos I think it was the
Speaker 2: next possession, maybe two possessions later, gets to the foul line,
Speaker 2: attacking a closet, drawing contact on Andrew Wiggins. He all
Speaker 2: said three threes in the game as well. Awesome kind
Speaker 2: of snapback game from Austin Reeves after a really rough
Speaker 2: start in the beginning of the game with the shot
Speaker 2: making and then Lebron James twenty seven points, nine rebounds,
Speaker 2: and six assists. Its insane considering the way that massive
Speaker 2: areas of his game are failing him. He was struggling
Speaker 2: to score in the post over Steph Curry, couldn't make
Speaker 2: a jump shot to save his life. Still just wheeled
Speaker 2: his way to twenty seven points. It's funny. I tweeted
Speaker 2: this out during the game, and I truly believe it's
Speaker 2: so funny as we've painted this series, and not we
Speaker 2: in particular. I was anti this right from the series preview,
Speaker 2: but so many media personalities and TV shows and stuff
Speaker 2: have painted this as versus Lebron or as some sort
Speaker 2: of like rubber match between Lebron James and Steph Curry.
Speaker 2: And it's so silly because Steph Curry's at the absolute
Speaker 2: peak of his powers. He had a bad shooting night
Speaker 2: and still was masterful offensively. He has complete command of
Speaker 2: the game right now. Lebron James is a shell of
Speaker 2: himself who's just trying through sheer force of will basketball
Speaker 2: IQ and whatever he's got left in those legs, trying
Speaker 2: to will himself to helping his team win games. And
Speaker 2: in that effort, twenty seven, nine, and six, attacking out
Speaker 2: of the post, attacking steph in switches, getting opportunities, going
Speaker 2: to the rim hard in the short rolling to the rim.
Speaker 2: That was a big element in his offense tonight. You
Speaker 2: saw that and one that he got on the baseline
Speaker 2: I think it was with an Austin Reeves screen. He
Speaker 2: had another one in the first half where he got downhill,
Speaker 2: like just screening and rolling to the rim, like hey, shit,
Speaker 2: I can't make it. I can't make a damn jump shot.
Speaker 2: My post up hook shots are missing. Let me do
Speaker 2: something to help the team. I'll just screen and roll
Speaker 2: hard to the rim because I'm still big as shit
Speaker 2: and I'm still strong and i can still finish around
Speaker 2: the rim with the best of them. Like it was
Speaker 2: just it's just sheer force of will from Lebron James
Speaker 2: in this particular game, attacking the offensive glass when he
Speaker 2: had every when he had an opportunity. I just that's
Speaker 2: like a straight up heart of the Champion type of
Speaker 2: game from Lebron, And you know, we got to enjoy
Speaker 2: it for as long as we can because the end
Speaker 2: is near with Lebron playing at nearly this level and
Speaker 2: he's given us everything he's got left in the gas
Speaker 2: tank right now, probably because he thinks this team has
Speaker 2: a chance to win a championship. One last note, I
Speaker 2: want to hit before we go to an adjustments, before
Speaker 2: we call it a night. There's a downside to relying
Speaker 2: heavily on Steph pick and roll. And I would imagine
Speaker 2: if you asked Steve Kerr with trucierum, because Warriors fan's
Speaker 2: been begging for this forever and I'm a big believer
Speaker 2: in like, do it when you have to. But there's
Speaker 2: a downside to spamming high pick and roll, and it
Speaker 2: stops the Warrior motion offense from keeping the other offensive
Speaker 2: players engaged in the game. Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole
Speaker 2: will go a combined three for fifteen from the field
Speaker 2: for nine points. Jordan Poole was a bagel zero for four. So,
Speaker 2: like when you go Steph high pick and roll, you
Speaker 2: allow your guys to stay glued up to Klay Thompson
Speaker 2: off ball and he's not involved in screening actions. He's
Speaker 2: just spotting up. So he's just uninvolved in the offense. Now,
Speaker 2: Clay is just such a ridiculous, you know, confident shooter
Speaker 2: that he still made a massive clutch three in the
Speaker 2: right corner down the stretch. I don't know how he
Speaker 2: made it without how out of rhythm he was, but
Speaker 2: then he had a missing one on the left wing later,
Speaker 2: like one of the downsizes. You just put a lot
Speaker 2: of pressure on Steph to make shots because Clay's not
Speaker 2: going to be able to help you just as a
Speaker 2: spot up guy when they can stay glued up to him.
Speaker 2: Jordan Poole has been just a nightmare offensively in this
Speaker 2: entire playoff run relative to last year, where he was
Speaker 2: basically a fifty to forty ninety guy. And so it
Speaker 2: comes down to Steph shot making and when that's all
Speaker 2: you rely on, you live with the result. And he
Speaker 2: went twelve for thirty, and he went three to fourteen
Speaker 2: from three, and so that's what ends up happening, as
Speaker 2: as ugly as that is. And again that all I'm
Speaker 2: doing is explaining the reason why I believe Kerr goes
Speaker 2: that route. I still think that's the best chance for
Speaker 2: the Warriors to win. We go looking two adjustments moving
Speaker 2: forward for the Warriors. I think you got to stick
Speaker 2: with the Steph II pick and roll and just hope
Speaker 2: for a better shot result, which you're almost certainly going
Speaker 2: to get at home. As a team, they were twelve
Speaker 2: for forty one from three. Again, you're consistently pulling Anthony
Speaker 2: Davis away from the rim, and I think that gives
Speaker 2: you your best chance to win, even defensively. I thought
Speaker 2: the Warriors were great. You're Alannie Walker hot shooting performance
Speaker 2: away from being in a tied to two series, you know,
Speaker 2: and again it doesn't it doesn't matter. You know, the
Speaker 2: the Memphis Grizzlies, where a Lebron James layup away from
Speaker 2: being two two in the series, they don't get to
Speaker 2: go back and get that win.
Speaker 1: You have to.
Speaker 2: It's just to win on A win is a win
Speaker 2: is a win, and so it is what it is.
Speaker 2: You're down three to one, but you're defending well enough
Speaker 2: to disrupt this Laker offense, and you are generating higher
Speaker 2: quality shots and the Steph II pick and roll than
Speaker 2: you are in anything else in your offense. So it
Speaker 2: is your best bet to win, and you just have
Speaker 2: to hope that for three straight games Steph can make
Speaker 2: enough plays for his teammates and make enough shots on
Speaker 2: the lake front. Here's the thing, none of your pick
Speaker 2: and roll coverages are working except for the switch, and
Speaker 2: ideally you don't want to switch all game. And I again,
Speaker 2: I still think we got five Steph points on Forest
Speaker 2: eighty switches if I remember correctly. Off to go back
Speaker 2: and look at the film tomorrow. But like, there's no
Speaker 2: good solution, so I would stick with the high drop
Speaker 2: for now and go to switching at the end of
Speaker 2: the game for Anthony Davis and just hope to God
Speaker 2: that Steph doesn't play as well as he did tonight,
Speaker 2: and hope to God he doesn't make more shots. I
Speaker 2: think that's their best chance guarding and pick and roll
Speaker 2: more Lebron James and Anthony Davis post ups. I thought
Speaker 2: the the guards tonight for the Lakers were really really
Speaker 2: uneven offensively, and I get it from a fatigue standpoint
Speaker 2: with everything Anthony Davis has on his plate and everything
Speaker 2: that Lebron James is dealing with physically. But again, even
Speaker 2: if you're not shooting, go to Lebron in the post,
Speaker 2: go to Anthony Davis in the post and run dummy
Speaker 2: post like like decoy action, meaning like have Lebron just
Speaker 2: pound pound draw that second defender, then swing out to
Speaker 2: whoever's on the wing and let them attack close outs
Speaker 2: to do something to warp the defense other than just
Speaker 2: running these pick and rolls with these Laker guards that
Speaker 2: have just been so inconsistent. There was a play on
Speaker 2: the left wing where Dennis Roeder gets the ball. It's
Speaker 2: an offensive rebound situation. He gets the ball. Anthony Davis
Speaker 2: has dream On Greene in the post and is calling
Speaker 2: for the ball. Dennis looks him off, drives middle, and
Speaker 2: just throws it behind the back pass out of bounds.
Speaker 2: Like again, like you're gonna get so much more bad
Speaker 2: with the good. With the Laker guards.
Speaker 1: You need them. They're an important part of the offense.
Speaker 1: They need to be involved.
Speaker 2: But especially as things really bogged down at the end
Speaker 2: of games, I would run through Lebron James and Anthony
Speaker 2: Davis in the post almost exclusively. Moving forward, I said
Speaker 2: that the winner of this series would win the game,
Speaker 2: or the winner of this game would win the series.
Speaker 2: I do believe the Lakers are in a obviously in
Speaker 2: a commanding position. Here's the problem in this game. The
Speaker 2: scoreboard does not appropriately reflect the gap in shot quality.
Speaker 2: You get an extremely poor shooting night from the Warriors
Speaker 2: on what I thought was good looks twelve for forty
Speaker 2: one from three, you have one of STEP's worst shot
Speaker 2: making performances of the postseason. He goes twelve for thirty
Speaker 2: three for fourteen from three, and you get this random
Speaker 2: Lonnie Walker heater at the end of the game. He
Speaker 2: scores fifteen points. There's a version of this exact same
Speaker 2: game where the Warriors win by twenty and so, even
Speaker 2: though the Lakers are in commanding position and it's extremely
Speaker 2: difficult to be any team in the playoffs three consecutive times,
Speaker 2: I still think the Warriors have a good chance. I
Speaker 2: wouldn't say a fifty to fifty chance. I'd say like
Speaker 2: a thirty percent chance that the Warriors can win this series.
Speaker 2: And it's this simple. You demonstrated tonight that you can
Speaker 2: get better shots than this team for a full forty
Speaker 2: eight minute game by a significant margin. Go home in
Speaker 2: Game five and do that and win. Then it's all
Speaker 2: the marbles. In Game six, you're gonna get a hillacious
Speaker 2: Laker defensive effort. It's gonna be extremely difficult. You're gonna
Speaker 2: need an all time great Steph game. But he can
Speaker 2: do it. We've seen him do it. He did it
Speaker 2: in Game four against Boston last year. If he wins
Speaker 2: that game, then it's Game seven at home or you're
Speaker 2: gonna be favored. So the Lakers won the game they
Speaker 2: had to win. They're in commanding position. I'd give them
Speaker 2: about a seventy percent chance to win the series. Right now,
Speaker 2: I'm sticking with my pick of Lakers and six. But
Speaker 2: if you're a Warriors fan, there is a lot to
Speaker 2: be encouraged by even in the loss tonight, and it's
Speaker 2: gonna be extremely difficult. The deck is stacked against him,
Speaker 2: but they absolutely still have a chance to win the series.
Speaker 2: All Right, guys, that is all I have for tonight.
Speaker 2: We will be back tomorrow night after the final buzzer
Speaker 2: of Nuggets Suns Game five. As always, I appreciate you, guys,
Speaker 2: and I'll see you then.
Speaker 1: The volume