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Speaker 1: welcome to tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Friday, everybody.

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Speaker 1: I hope all of you guys had a great week

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Speaker 1: in the you have big plans for the weekend. Just

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Speaker 1: gonna do a quick show tonight. We're gonna do fifteen

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Speaker 1: minutes on Lakers Suns and then we'll get out of here.

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Speaker 1: Busy week on the channel. In case you missed it

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Speaker 1: earlier today we did an hour doing a deep dive

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Speaker 1: on the Minnesota Timberwolves as well as Anthony Edwards and

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Speaker 1: his progressions as a passer. We hit an eleven mail

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Speaker 1: bag questions that bounced all around the league. That was

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Speaker 1: just recorded earlier today. That's a little bit further back

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Speaker 1: on the feed. We also did a half dozen or

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Speaker 1: so deep dives on particular teams that you got can

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Speaker 1: find on the feed, and then a bunch of instant reactions,

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Speaker 1: so don't forget to go back and look and see.

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Speaker 1: In case you've missed anything, We've been doing like seven

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Speaker 1: eight shows a week so far to start the season.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna take some time off around Thanksgiving, so I

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Speaker 1: wanted to load up on that front. The again, just

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Speaker 1: gonna hit fifteen minutes on suns Lakers tonight. You guys

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Speaker 1: are the Joe for we get started. Subscribe to our

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Speaker 1: brand new YouTube channel. In case you missed it, we

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Speaker 1: are doing a giveaway Laker tickets for Sunday Lakers Blazers,

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Speaker 1: and all you have to do is take a screen

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Speaker 1: shot that you subscribe to the channel and go to

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Speaker 1: my Twitter or the Volumes Twitter feed and find the

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Speaker 1: tweet from the volume where we talked about the giveaway.

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Speaker 1: It was just in the last couple of days. Drop

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Speaker 1: that screenshot there. We're gonna be doing that giveaway. But

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Speaker 1: even if you don't live in the Los Angeles area.

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Speaker 1: It would mean a lot to me if you just

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Speaker 1: took a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button.

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Speaker 1: Don't forget about our podcast feed, review your podcast and

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Speaker 1: our hoops tonight. Follow me on Twitter at underscore json lt.

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Speaker 1: That's where I do my film breakdowns as well as

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Speaker 1: my show announcements. In the last but not least, keep

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Speaker 1: dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments so we keep

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Speaker 1: hitting them throughout the season. All right, let's talk some basketball.

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Speaker 1: So the Lakers keep forgetting their identity. You know, this

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Speaker 1: is a consistent theme that has happened as I've covered

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Speaker 1: this team very closely over the Lebron James Anthony Davis era.

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Speaker 1: Every time they've won for an extended period of time,

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Speaker 1: it's been on the strength of their defense. It was

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty an outstanding defense anchored by Anthony Davis

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Speaker 1: many times next to another six ' ten plus human.

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Speaker 1: Right twenty twenty one season, that identity continued throughout the year.

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Speaker 1: They just ran into injury issues right with the Lebron's

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Speaker 1: ankle and Anthony Davis's groin, right, But then they had

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Speaker 1: a long period of struggle after that, and it wasn't

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Speaker 1: until they kind of rebot into their defensive identity around

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Speaker 1: the trade deadline last year that they were able to

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Speaker 1: rip off a bunch of wins again and then once

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Speaker 1: again post deadline, second in the league in defense, fourth

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Speaker 1: and rebounding. They were an excellent defense and rebounding team,

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Speaker 1: and then they rode that defense to knock off the

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Speaker 1: two seed and the defending champs in the Western Conference

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Speaker 1: on their way to the Western Conference Finals. Every time

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Speaker 1: they've been good, it's been because of defense. But there

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Speaker 1: have been a couple of times over the course of

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Speaker 1: this era where for whatever reason, they've tried to reconfigure themselves,

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Speaker 1: and I, honest to God, don't know why. But the

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Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook trade, it was like, we're gonna become fast.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna take the ball out of Lebron's hands, who

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Speaker 1: won the game and won the champion championship as a

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Speaker 1: point guard, and we're going to play up and down

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Speaker 1: fast break basketball, right And then even this most recent time,

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Speaker 1: it's like, we're gonna add all this offensive skill and

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Speaker 1: we're gonna be this like, you know, super skilled five

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Speaker 1: ball handlers, five shooters read and react, you know, Golden

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Speaker 1: State Warriors style offense, and they suck at offense because

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Speaker 1: they don't have anybody who's that good of a jump

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Speaker 1: shooter or that good of a you know, quickness threat,

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Speaker 1: like guys like Darren Fox and Malik Monk are to

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Speaker 1: actually have that sort of offensive system work for them, right.

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Speaker 1: And what's been really funny is even as they sit

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Speaker 1: here at four and five, they've been deep in the hole.

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Speaker 1: And all four of those wins, we had the Suns game,

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Speaker 1: down big in the second half, hillatious fourth quarter defensive

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Speaker 1: and rebounding effort to come back and win, the Orlando

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Speaker 1: Magic game, literally down big in the second half, hillatious

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Speaker 1: defense and rebounding effort in the second half on their

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Speaker 1: way to a win. Then we had the Clippers game,

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Speaker 1: same sort of thing, looked like shit in the first half,

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Speaker 1: down big in the second half, hillatious defense and rebounding

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Speaker 1: effort in the fourth quarter as they come back to win.

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Speaker 1: And then once again against the Phoenix Sun, same thing,

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Speaker 1: down big in the second half and have to ride

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Speaker 1: a hillacious defense and rebounding effort in the fourth quarter

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Speaker 1: to win. I don't know what it's gonna take for

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Speaker 1: them to kind of understand that that's their identity and

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Speaker 1: lean into that more. But it's been a struggle so

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Speaker 1: far for that team this year. They held the Suns

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Speaker 1: twenty three points in the fourth quarter, finally started to

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Speaker 1: get control of the defensive glass down the stretch. They

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Speaker 1: actually punished the Suns with a couple of big offensive

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Speaker 1: rebounds and crunch time on the other end of the floor.

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Speaker 1: That's what they're capable of. I mean, again, this largely

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Speaker 1: was the same core. You know, more Ruiye Hotsumura Minutes,

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Speaker 1: who's had trouble getting into Darbenham's rotation this year for

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Speaker 1: whatever reason, and more Jared Vanderbilt Minutes because he was

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Speaker 1: healthy last year. But aside from that, and Dennis Schroeder

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Speaker 1: is a small guard who wasn't helping you on the

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Speaker 1: glass that much anyway. They are just a they just

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Speaker 1: the same group of guys, Austin Dilo Lebron, Anthony Davis.

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Speaker 1: That group is not competing on the glass as well

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Speaker 1: as they used to, and so they've had a lot

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Speaker 1: of issues there, right, And so again I think it's

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Speaker 1: gonna be really important for Darvin Ham to do what

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Speaker 1: he did in that second half, which is like lean

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Speaker 1: into the guys that are doing their jobs. You know,

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Speaker 1: Cam Reddish for all of the flak that he caught

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Speaker 1: for missing threes early in the season and struggling offensively,

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Speaker 1: the dude has been one of their best point of

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Speaker 1: attack defenders to this point in the season. They struggled

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Speaker 1: in the first half of this game, got in some

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Speaker 1: foul trouble, but in the second half he was excellent

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Speaker 1: defensively disrupting the ball, getting in between and like in

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Speaker 1: between screening actions and getting steels and getting out in

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Speaker 1: transition and obviously hit four corner threes and hit that

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Speaker 1: big time transition pull up three. But like again, he

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Speaker 1: got big minutes because Darvin Ham saw him competing defensively

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Speaker 1: and on the glass. Ruyach Shimura finally got like extended

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Speaker 1: run in the second half of this game. Why because

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Speaker 1: he was competing defensively, jumping passing lanes in the right

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Speaker 1: place at the right time, competing on the glass, and

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Speaker 1: it helps when he's making shots the way he was

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Speaker 1: as well. Same thing goes with Christian Wood, who repeatedly

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Speaker 1: has cracked into the rotation this year on the strength

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Speaker 1: of him competing on the glass in particular, and Christian

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Speaker 1: Wood's defense has been a little bit of a mixed

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Speaker 1: bag and pick and roll. He's been bad, but he's

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Speaker 1: been really good in help and he's been okay on

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Speaker 1: the ball, right, But I thought it was interesting that

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Speaker 1: Darvin ham like it was a lot less of D'Angel

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Speaker 1: Russell in the second half. It was a lot more

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Speaker 1: of just sizing up and playing the guys that were

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Speaker 1: competing defensively. And then one of the things that's been

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Speaker 1: a good trend for the Lakers, and this is something

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Speaker 1: that I've talked about in some of our ramp sessions

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Speaker 1: that we've done, But like last year, Lebron had a

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Speaker 1: really bad crunch time season, and one of the main

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Speaker 1: reasons why is, especially after his foot injury, he just

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Speaker 1: wasn't as explosive as he used to be. But he

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Speaker 1: used to just kind of like get switches on bigs

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Speaker 1: and then settle for his pullback three and miss it

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Speaker 1: the vast majority of the time. And he just wasn't

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Speaker 1: as dominant down this stretch of games as he's shown

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Speaker 1: himself to be this year. This year, it's been a

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Speaker 1: steady diet of like he keeps making timely jump shots,

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Speaker 1: like he just keeps doing it once again tonight, late

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Speaker 1: clock situation, gets a switch against against Grayson Allen on

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Speaker 1: the left elbow, and what do I always say is

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Speaker 1: my favorite Lebron James jump shot that I actually think

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Speaker 1: he has a good chance of making most of the time,

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Speaker 1: the right shoulder fade pretty much unless he's taking it

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Speaker 1: against an outstanding wing defender on the baseline, He's gonna

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Speaker 1: make that right shoulder fade it. It's the jump shot

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Speaker 1: that he makes most frequently. Got to it late in

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Speaker 1: the game, knocked it down consistently, was hunting switches and

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Speaker 1: baiting Phoenix into double teams and making the right feeds

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Speaker 1: out of that, and then kept trusting Cam Reddish again.

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Speaker 1: Like he got so much flak after that Miami heat

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Speaker 1: game for making a pass to a wide open corner

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Speaker 1: three point shooter which was objectively a better shot than

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Speaker 1: him forcing it over a double team, and he got

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Speaker 1: a bunch of shit for it, And then he did

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Speaker 1: the same thing tonight and it worked. What did I

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Speaker 1: tell you after that heat game? I was like, he

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Speaker 1: did the same thing in the playing game against Minnesota

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Speaker 1: and it worked. Like everyone wants to call out Lebron

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Speaker 1: for his late game passing the ball only when guys

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Speaker 1: miss shots. But he has literally won championship after championship

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Speaker 1: after championship after championship. Don't forget He's got four of

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Speaker 1: those things largely on the strength of him being that

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Speaker 1: type of decision maker. He leaned into it again at

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Speaker 1: the end of the game tonight and it carried it

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Speaker 1: him home. I thought it was particularly interesting that cam

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Speaker 1: Reddish had just missed back to back corner threes, because

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Speaker 1: he made one early in the game, and then he

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Speaker 1: made three in a row early in the fourth quarter,

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Speaker 1: and he also made that bailout three at the end

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Speaker 1: of the third quarter. But then he missed two in

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Speaker 1: a row in crunch time, and Lebron went back to

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Speaker 1: him and he made the big one and like again,

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Speaker 1: Like That's one of the unique things about Lebron as

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Speaker 1: a late game decision maker is like he trusts the

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Speaker 1: best advantage available on the court. Right. For instance, do

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Speaker 1: you guys remember that stretch there where he was like, Hey, Austin,

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Speaker 1: you just go run pick and roll with Anthony Davis

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Speaker 1: and take advantage of Nicole of a use of nurkitchen

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Speaker 1: his weak drop coverage for a few possessions and Austin

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Speaker 1: made some plays, right, Like he just like what he's

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Speaker 1: doing is he's looking at the floor, identifying his team's

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Speaker 1: best opportunity for offense, and he's leaning into that. Sometimes

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Speaker 1: it's him, sometimes it's Austin, Sometimes it's Ad in a

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Speaker 1: post up. Sometimes it's him just driving and kicking and

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Speaker 1: trying to get a shooter an open look, especially when

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Speaker 1: the team that they're playing against is giving that shot up.

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Speaker 1: I think I think Lebron has been amazing in clutch

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Speaker 1: situations this year, which is a very encouraging trend after

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Speaker 1: how bad he was on that end in that area

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Speaker 1: last year just wasn't as explosive for whatever reason, and

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Speaker 1: then the jump shot had failed him time and time again.

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Speaker 1: So I've said this on the show before, but like

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Speaker 1: all these other issues the Lakers have had, are come

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Speaker 1: somewhat fixable, right. But like Lebron and his individual ceiling,

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Speaker 1: I've said since the summer, him getting back to roughly

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Speaker 1: what he was in twenty twenty is an absolute requirement

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Speaker 1: if this Laker team is going to compete for a championship.

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Speaker 1: And once again we saw Lebron outplay He outplayed Kawhi

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Speaker 1: and Paul Georgie in crunch time in the Clippers game.

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Speaker 1: He outplayed Kevin Durant in crunch time twice now against

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Speaker 1: the Suns, so that is really encouraging on that front.

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Speaker 1: Show Ruy Hatchamura got a really unfair shake. Unfair is

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Speaker 1: the wrong word, but he's gotten an unfortunate shake in

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Speaker 1: the early part of this season, with him being hyped

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Speaker 1: up as the starter going into the season and then

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Speaker 1: losing that job, to then kind of being in the

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Speaker 1: doghouse in the rotation for whatever reason, to then getting

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Speaker 1: injured this like freaky you know, eye contusion that turned

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Speaker 1: into a concussion protocol thing, and then even again tonight,

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Speaker 1: like only eight minutes in the first half as he

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Speaker 1: seems to be kind of buried in the back of

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Speaker 1: the rotation, but came in in that second half Tonight

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Speaker 1: played his ass off, made a bunch of big defensive plays,

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Speaker 1: made a couple of huge threes, got a big transition dunk.

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Speaker 1: Rui was awesome. Anthony Davis first came back from an injury,

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Speaker 1: looked like he wasn't quite as a mobile as you

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Speaker 1: would expect. He missed a couple bunnies early where you

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Speaker 1: could tell he was kind of hesitant jumping. So clearly

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Speaker 1: whatever's going on with this hip is still bothering him

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Speaker 1: a little bit. That's the Again. One of those things

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Speaker 1: is like, this team also isn't going anywhere unless Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis plays like one of the best players in the world,

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Speaker 1: and so to get a win in a game where

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Speaker 1: he was mostly bad is actually really really basically just

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Speaker 1: one gigantic silver lining in this situation. Is you hope

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Speaker 1: to eventually get more out of Anthony Davis in the

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Speaker 1: long run as well, I shouldn't even say hope, you

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Speaker 1: expect to get more out of Anthony Davis. And then

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Speaker 1: Austin Reeves is the last individual player that I wanted

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Speaker 1: to shout out. He also got a really unfortunate set

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Speaker 1: of circumstances tonight. Austin Reeves is the third best player

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Speaker 1: on the Lakers. I've been saying this forever. I believe

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Speaker 1: is sincerely one of the top fifty players in the NBA.

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Speaker 1: He was one of the very best players on Team

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Speaker 1: USA again this summer. So it's not a Laker jersey thing.

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Speaker 1: I bet you if you asked the coaches on Team USA,

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Speaker 1: that's literally what they would tell you, and honest to

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Speaker 1: God like for him to go through what he did tonight,

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Speaker 1: which is basically like he's struggling. He's not playing good,

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Speaker 1: struggling on offense outside of a three game stretch recently

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Speaker 1: where he looked good and then he played really poorly

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Speaker 1: against Houston, and then he struggling defensively and on the glass. Right,

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Speaker 1: But so is d Angela Russell. He's been a little

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Speaker 1: bit better offensively, but he's also been inconsistent, has made

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Speaker 1: a lot of mistakes, and has been just as bad

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Speaker 1: as Austin defensively and on the glass, and in the

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Speaker 1: big picture, Austin is the guy that the Lakers lean

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Speaker 1: on the most. You literally saw that at the end

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Speaker 1: of that game when when the shit went down, Darvin

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Speaker 1: went with Austin not d Lo and Austin was the

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Speaker 1: guy that Lebron trusted to run the late game actions

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Speaker 1: and he made the shots right, and yet he got

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Speaker 1: benched in large part because they just expected him to

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Speaker 1: accept it right, And that's kind of unfortunate. He's in

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Speaker 1: a situation where he belongs in the starting lineup and

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Speaker 1: his coach sits down with him and goes, hey, not

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Speaker 1: only am I benching you, but I'm benching you for

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Speaker 1: a journeyman forward. It can't play it excellent tonight, but

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Speaker 1: a journeyman forward that was a expected to not even

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Speaker 1: be in the Lakers rotation at the beginning of the season,

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Speaker 1: and now he's starting for you, in large part because

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Speaker 1: we believe you'll handle it better than if we bench

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Speaker 1: the other guy. And that's basically what happened him, and

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Speaker 1: he came out and played one of his better halves

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Speaker 1: of the season in that second half effort and including

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Speaker 1: that stretch in crunch time where he kind of took

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Speaker 1: over the offense. So shout out to Austin. I thought

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Speaker 1: he got dealt a pretty unfortunate set of cards this evening,

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Speaker 1: and he handled it really well. I understand what Darvin

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Speaker 1: Ham was going for because in the big picture, the

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Speaker 1: Lakers still have a lot of issues. I was texting

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Speaker 1: with the buddy during the game, and literally both of

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Speaker 1: these teams look like they're not even close to as

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Speaker 1: good as they're going to be. Like the Suns, we're

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Speaker 1: gonna talk about them in a minute. Still really struggle

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Speaker 1: with rim pressure, so really struggle with off ball players

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Speaker 1: getting ignored. Right. Devin Booker is one of the best

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Speaker 1: rim pressuring guards in the league, and also is a

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Speaker 1: just another awesome offensive player at the end of games.

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Speaker 1: That's gonna make it much harder to throw the kitchen

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Speaker 1: sink at Katie the way that they did tonight. Right, So, like, again,

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Speaker 1: both teams have a boatload of issues. The Lakers just

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Speaker 1: came out with a victory in this one. The Lakers

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Speaker 1: defensive rebounding still a massive problem, and it's like mostly

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Speaker 1: like I said, it's about competitiveness and effort. There is

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Speaker 1: a personnel element, right Jared Vanderbilt seven rebounds a game

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Speaker 1: last year. Ruey Hachimur in a bigger role last year,

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Speaker 1: five rebounds a game last year. So, like they're missing

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Speaker 1: some of the rebounding, you know, contribution that they got

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Speaker 1: from some of those guys. But as a group, they're

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Speaker 1: still capable of doing way better than they have been doing.

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Speaker 1: It's something that they have to do a better job of.

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Speaker 1: I think I think Darvinham might have to consider sizing

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Speaker 1: up more frequently at the expense of his perimeter defense,

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Speaker 1: especially when the perimeter defense hasn't been as good as

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Speaker 1: you need it to be. But the perimeter defense is

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Speaker 1: an issue, and like that's kind of where I was

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Speaker 1: confused on the on the Austin Reeves benching. I've said

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Speaker 1: on my show several times, I believe dangel Russell getting

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Speaker 1: traded at the deadline is one of the safest bets

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Speaker 1: this season. And it's really a simple they He is

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Speaker 1: a good, good player. I do believe Dangela Russell is

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Speaker 1: a good player. Just don't think he's a good fit

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Speaker 1: on the Lakers. He's a good player who's on an

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Speaker 1: affordable deal, and so like there's but he also plays

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Speaker 1: the same core position group as another player in Austin Reeves,

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Speaker 1: who's more or less the same type of player, just

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Speaker 1: a better version of it. But he also struggles athletically.

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Speaker 1: He also can struggle at the point of attack from

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Speaker 1: time to time. Right, So, like Austin's had a really

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Speaker 1: bad defensive season for the record, and I say that

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Speaker 1: because he legitimately was a plus defender for the Lakers

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Speaker 1: last year and he is struggling this year. I don't

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Speaker 1: know if it's his legs. I don't know if it's

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Speaker 1: his confidence or what the deal is. He's gonna have

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Speaker 1: to figure that out, because if he keeps defending and

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Speaker 1: rebounding like this, then you know, a lot of the

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Speaker 1: things that I say optimistically about Austin just become not true,

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Speaker 1: and he's gonna have to He's gonna have to improve

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Speaker 1: in those areas. But Austin and Di Loo are redundant.

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Speaker 1: And so because they're both redundant, and because Delo is

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Speaker 1: a good player on an affordable deal, and because the

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Speaker 1: Lakers believe that Austin is a better player, They're gonna

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Speaker 1: probably end up trading Delo. Right, So, like at the deadline,

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Speaker 1: there's a version of this where the Lakers have a

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Speaker 1: different lineup configuration with a better athlete in the backcourt,

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Speaker 1: but that's not happening for a long time. Likedlo's contract

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Speaker 1: doesn't even become available to be traded until January fifteenth.

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Speaker 1: So at the end of the day, like this group

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Speaker 1: has to figure out how to compete better on the

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Speaker 1: glass than they have done so to this point offensively

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Speaker 1: as well, just in terms of their approach, I thought

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Speaker 1: you saw in that first half in particular, the Lakers

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Speaker 1: are starting to generate higher quality looks. They're starting to

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Speaker 1: run more spread pick and roll. They're starting to clear

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Speaker 1: the side more and give their best players more room

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Speaker 1: to work they're starting to match up hunt the right way,

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Speaker 1: and they're starting to get higher quality looks. And you

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Speaker 1: saw in that first half shots weren't falling, but then

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Speaker 1: they started falling in that second half. I've been saying

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Speaker 1: this for a while, guys, but like the Lakers have

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Speaker 1: a lot of really good shooters that are not shooting well.

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Speaker 1: Like Torian Prince not a great NBA player, but he

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Speaker 1: is a great catch and shoot player. Hasn't been able

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Speaker 1: to make catch and shoot threes this year, right, Dangelo Russell,

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Speaker 1: like one of the things he's great at is catch

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Speaker 1: and shoot threes, not making them this year. Austin Reeves

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Speaker 1: one of the things he's great at catch and shoot threes.

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Speaker 1: I think he's two for four tonight, but over the

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Speaker 1: course of the season, he hasn't been making them. Right.

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Speaker 1: It's actually ironic that it ended up being Cam Reddish

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Speaker 1: that kind of busted them out of their slump, because

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Speaker 1: there were a lot of really good shooters for the

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Speaker 1: Lakers that were missing shots. But again, like you saw

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Speaker 1: what happens when they start making shots, it almost invigorates

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Speaker 1: the team. They start to play better defense, they start

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Speaker 1: to compete more on the glass, and then other things

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Speaker 1: start to kind of click into place. So long way

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Speaker 1: to go for the Lakers, just like there's a long

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Speaker 1: way to go for the Suns. But I think these

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Speaker 1: four fourth quarter kind of comeback explosions that they've had,

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Speaker 1: fueled by defense, are a good indicator of what this

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Speaker 1: team is capable of if they can get some of

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Speaker 1: their other shit together. But I could tell you as

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Speaker 1: a fan, and again everyone who listens to the show knows,

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Speaker 1: like this is the one team that I actually root for. Like,

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Speaker 1: as a fan, they're miserable to watch. They're a miserable team.

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Speaker 1: I have so much more fun watching other NBA teams

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Speaker 1: right now, and thankfully for my job, I get to

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Speaker 1: watch good basketball, Like I've watched a ton of Timberwolves film.

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Speaker 1: Today I rewatched the Celtics game for a second time,

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Speaker 1: and then I watched this Pelicans game again, and like,

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Speaker 1: I just have so much fun watching that team because

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Speaker 1: of the way they play. They play a likable brand

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Speaker 1: of basketball. And there are you know, a half dozen

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Speaker 1: other teams that I've been covering this year that I've

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Speaker 1: really grown to like watching. I do not like watching

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Speaker 1: this Laker team right now, But at the same time,

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Speaker 1: I do think they're capable of becoming a team that

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Speaker 1: plays a better brand of basketball. It's just a matter

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Speaker 1: of commitment on their front movie out of the Suns.

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Speaker 1: So one of the things that kind of really stood

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Speaker 1: out in this game was the ignoring of the off

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Speaker 1: ball shooters. This is something we knew was gonna happen.

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Speaker 1: This is something that happened in the playoff series last year.

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Speaker 1: This is something happened that happened even during the regular

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Speaker 1: season last year. But it's kind of been exacerbated this

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Speaker 1: season by the injuries. But specifically Keda Bates Job, Josh

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Speaker 1: Kogi and Jordan Goodwin, and those guys are bringing a

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00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:01,199
Speaker 1: bunch of other good to the table. I thought a

430
00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:04,560
Speaker 1: keya base Job did a pretty decent job playing good

431
00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:08,000
Speaker 1: physical on the ball defense against Lebron tonight. Joshacog and

432
00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:10,000
Speaker 1: Jordan good would have been excellent on the offensive glass

433
00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:12,640
Speaker 1: throughout the season, and they've applied rim pressure and they've

434
00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:14,720
Speaker 1: played good point of attack defense, but they're just getting

435
00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:17,440
Speaker 1: completely ignored on the other end. And those three guys

436
00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:20,679
Speaker 1: went two for thirteen from three tonight, And when I

437
00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:22,679
Speaker 1: tell you they're all wide open, looks like they are

438
00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:26,440
Speaker 1: literally all wide open looks. There was a wide open

439
00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:28,440
Speaker 1: three out of the right corner that Joshacoci shot like

440
00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:31,119
Speaker 1: two feet over the back of the rim. So like, again,

441
00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:33,000
Speaker 1: one of the things that you have to understand here

442
00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:35,520
Speaker 1: is like injuries do play a role. Like what I'm

443
00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:37,600
Speaker 1: looking for a lot in the regular season when guys

444
00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:39,000
Speaker 1: are in and out of the lineup is more just

445
00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:41,239
Speaker 1: identity stuff, like what are their habits one of the

446
00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:43,280
Speaker 1: things that they like to do on every single possession,

447
00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:45,679
Speaker 1: right And like, just like the Lakers were missing a

448
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:48,480
Speaker 1: bunch of forwards and it was impacting their rebounding, the

449
00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:52,439
Speaker 1: Suns are missing their offensively minded stars that are forcing

450
00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:55,320
Speaker 1: them to play defensively minded players that struggle to knock

451
00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:57,560
Speaker 1: down spot up shots and play off the ball, and

452
00:21:57,640 --> 00:21:59,920
Speaker 1: as a result, their offense is starting to run in

453
00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:03,600
Speaker 1: some issues, right and so like again, like if Devin

454
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,720
Speaker 1: Booker is out of the lineup and Bradley Beal is

455
00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:09,000
Speaker 1: out of rhythm coming back from injury, when we get

456
00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:12,479
Speaker 1: to April, the Sons are just gonna lose. Right Like,

457
00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:14,600
Speaker 1: whenever we talk about the Suns, we're trying to envision

458
00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:17,480
Speaker 1: what they're gonna be in April, and what they're gonna

459
00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:20,400
Speaker 1: be in April is a team that hopefully has Devin

460
00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:23,639
Speaker 1: Booker healthy, with Bradley Beal healthy and Kevin Durant healthy.

461
00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:26,720
Speaker 1: Like I don't think Grayson Allen is gonna be out

462
00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:30,680
Speaker 1: there for Lebron to match up Hunt in a playoff series, potentially,

463
00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:32,280
Speaker 1: not at the end of a game, not in the

464
00:22:32,359 --> 00:22:35,800
Speaker 1: late fourth quarter phase, right, Like that's what's always weird

465
00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:38,280
Speaker 1: about these regular season games, Like it probably won't be

466
00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:41,560
Speaker 1: Cam Reddish wide open in the corner. Like it'll probably

467
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:45,320
Speaker 1: be either Torny and Prints alongside Jared Vanderbilt, or it

468
00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,240
Speaker 1: might be a traded player that they get back in

469
00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:50,720
Speaker 1: the D'Angelo Russell deal, Like who knows, right, But what

470
00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:53,040
Speaker 1: we're more interested in is what kind of basketball are

471
00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:55,560
Speaker 1: these teams playing? Right? And that's the thing, Like when

472
00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:57,080
Speaker 1: I look at the Suns, like and I look at

473
00:22:57,119 --> 00:23:01,520
Speaker 1: how well Kevin Durant has handled double teams, particularly out

474
00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:03,040
Speaker 1: of the post this year. He's been so good out

475
00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:06,400
Speaker 1: of the post this year. His uh rim finishing has

476
00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:09,399
Speaker 1: been ridiculous. Like there are so many like good things

477
00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:11,879
Speaker 1: that Kevin Durant's bringing to the table, and like, really,

478
00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:13,919
Speaker 1: your ability to throw the kitchen sink and get the

479
00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:15,800
Speaker 1: ball out of his hands. Is kind of irrelevant when

480
00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:18,239
Speaker 1: you get to the postseason because if it ends up

481
00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:23,679
Speaker 1: being you know, Kadi Booker, Beal and Nurkic and you know,

482
00:23:24,359 --> 00:23:27,959
Speaker 1: Eric Gordon, like, I don't think you're gonna be able

483
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,359
Speaker 1: to get away with that at the end of games.

484
00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:32,200
Speaker 1: And so like, again, we gotta we kind of got

485
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,800
Speaker 1: to separate the realities of what the team is is

486
00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:37,160
Speaker 1: going to look like from what they are right now.

487
00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:39,320
Speaker 1: And what I'm seeing from a Sun's team is a

488
00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:44,480
Speaker 1: team that competes defensively. I'm seeing a team that that

489
00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:47,240
Speaker 1: knows how to get their superstars into situations where they

490
00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:49,560
Speaker 1: can make reads out of double teams. And I'm seeing

491
00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,240
Speaker 1: a team that's struggling to finish plays. They're they're they're

492
00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:54,800
Speaker 1: struggling to knock down the shot at the end of

493
00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:57,159
Speaker 1: the play. We call that like the tip of the spear, right,

494
00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:00,119
Speaker 1: that's you have your play initiators and you have your

495
00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:02,919
Speaker 1: play finishers. And like, one of the reasons why I've

496
00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:07,160
Speaker 1: always liked, you know, the playmaking forwards is when push

497
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:09,600
Speaker 1: comes to shove, they always throw the kitchen sink at

498
00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:11,680
Speaker 1: the star and it ends up being somebody else that's

499
00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:14,480
Speaker 1: wide open, and like, again, you've got to have someone

500
00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:16,399
Speaker 1: that can knock that shot down. Now, one of the

501
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:18,159
Speaker 1: things you look at from a game like tonight is

502
00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:20,000
Speaker 1: it could have easily gone the other way because Cam

503
00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:22,560
Speaker 1: Reddish is also one of those guys. Camradish is very

504
00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:24,840
Speaker 1: much in that same level as Keita Bate's job and

505
00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:27,199
Speaker 1: Josh Cogi and Jordan Goodwin in terms of the fact that, like,

506
00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:29,520
Speaker 1: if you leave them open, you kind of expect him

507
00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:32,679
Speaker 1: to miss, but tonight he made them right. And again

508
00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:35,119
Speaker 1: like that that ended up being a significant role in

509
00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:38,080
Speaker 1: this game. One of the things that happened in this

510
00:24:38,119 --> 00:24:40,239
Speaker 1: game for the Suns that is a consistent theme that

511
00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:43,120
Speaker 1: I've seen from the Suns this year is they get

512
00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:47,399
Speaker 1: off to pretty good starts and then Katie in the

513
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:49,880
Speaker 1: fourth quarter makes a bunch of shots in the middle

514
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:53,399
Speaker 1: of the fourth quarter, but then eventually Cadie runs out

515
00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:57,880
Speaker 1: of gas because consistently making shots over like four defensive

516
00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:02,399
Speaker 1: players is incredibly difficult and fatigm And even in just

517
00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:05,960
Speaker 1: the two Laker games, KD had crazy stretches in the

518
00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:09,200
Speaker 1: late fourth but then in the final minute or two

519
00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:11,919
Speaker 1: has had misses and it's not because Kadie's like not

520
00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:14,280
Speaker 1: clutch or anything like that. It's just it's really hard

521
00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:17,439
Speaker 1: to continually hit those shots time and time again against

522
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:19,639
Speaker 1: a set defense that's throwing the kitchen sink at you.

523
00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:23,720
Speaker 1: And so again, like like Booker being back goes such

524
00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,280
Speaker 1: a long way to alleviating that problem. He also helps

525
00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:28,680
Speaker 1: with the rim pressure. So like again, we talked about

526
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:31,120
Speaker 1: this with the Clippers. I told you guys after the

527
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:33,919
Speaker 1: regulation of the Clippers Lakers game that I felt pretty

528
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:35,720
Speaker 1: confident that the Lakers are gonna win an ot. One

529
00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:38,800
Speaker 1: of the main reasons why was the one thing the

530
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:42,360
Speaker 1: Clippers had going for them was Paul George making impossible

531
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:45,480
Speaker 1: pull up jump shots, whereas the Lakers were executing and

532
00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:47,600
Speaker 1: getting quality shots. That's kind of the way I feel

533
00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:51,360
Speaker 1: about the Suns right now, Like it's just really difficult

534
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:53,880
Speaker 1: to win games if the two shots you can get

535
00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:56,560
Speaker 1: from your offense are a heavily contested pull up jump

536
00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,280
Speaker 1: shot from Kevin Durant or a wide open catch and

537
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:02,280
Speaker 1: shoot jump shot from a player that's probably gonna miss it, right.

538
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:04,240
Speaker 1: And so one of the things I like about Devin

539
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,440
Speaker 1: Booker in particular is he's really good at getting all

540
00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:10,560
Speaker 1: the way to the rim for layups. He's got excellent quickness,

541
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:13,000
Speaker 1: and he's got great touch off the glass when his

542
00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:16,399
Speaker 1: body's moving full speed, and then from there he's actually

543
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:19,280
Speaker 1: even better, is an even better playmaker than Kevin Durant,

544
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:22,080
Speaker 1: and so like, I think that getting Devin Booker back

545
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:25,359
Speaker 1: just fixes so many of their problems. The question is

546
00:26:25,359 --> 00:26:27,119
Speaker 1: is just can he ever come back and play for

547
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:29,400
Speaker 1: more than a game or two without suffering some other

548
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:31,880
Speaker 1: nagging injury. I hope they let him take his time

549
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:33,680
Speaker 1: to get like way back to one hundred percent and

550
00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:36,320
Speaker 1: then ease him back in it and keep his minutes down.

551
00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:37,879
Speaker 1: Do what you gotta do to keep Devin Booker on

552
00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,520
Speaker 1: the court because he need him. That's at least Bradley Beal.

553
00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:43,480
Speaker 1: I've talked to you guys a lot about this specific

554
00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:46,600
Speaker 1: concept on this show, but like, there is a huge

555
00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:49,959
Speaker 1: difference between a basketball player returning to the court and

556
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:54,439
Speaker 1: returning to form. It's trust in whatever your injured issue was,

557
00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:56,920
Speaker 1: So like I thought it was. I actually did think

558
00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:59,080
Speaker 1: it was a good sign that Bradley Beal had that

559
00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:01,480
Speaker 1: nasty two handed dunk in the first half, because that's

560
00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:03,119
Speaker 1: one of those plays where like if you have a

561
00:27:03,119 --> 00:27:05,080
Speaker 1: bad back, you don't do something like that, you know

562
00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:07,919
Speaker 1: what I mean. So that was encouraging, But just in general,

563
00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:10,719
Speaker 1: from there, there's like a timing and like a like

564
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:14,040
Speaker 1: a there's a timing and a rhythm element to it.

565
00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:17,040
Speaker 1: It's funny. I've been dealing with this achilles soreness thing

566
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:20,520
Speaker 1: that has literally ruined my basketball life over the course

567
00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:22,679
Speaker 1: of the last few months as I've tried to come

568
00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:24,440
Speaker 1: back from it twice now and then had to shut

569
00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:27,840
Speaker 1: it down. But I came back from it because I

570
00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:30,639
Speaker 1: made a commitment to play in this money tournament with

571
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:33,240
Speaker 1: this guy here in town named Luiz who does a

572
00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:36,840
Speaker 1: great job kind of organizing basketball events. And he's like, hey,

573
00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:38,679
Speaker 1: like I put the money down while you play in

574
00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:39,960
Speaker 1: this tournament, and I said yes, And it was like

575
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:42,520
Speaker 1: two months in advance. Then I get this achilles injury.

576
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:46,040
Speaker 1: It's just like severe soreness in the achilles basically, and

577
00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:48,280
Speaker 1: so I shut it down for like two weeks and

578
00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:50,040
Speaker 1: then I'm like, I have to play in this money

579
00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:53,920
Speaker 1: tournament because he's counting on me to play, and I

580
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,920
Speaker 1: am and like, if I just leave him hanging, it's

581
00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:01,200
Speaker 1: literally gonna cost him money, right and so there were

582
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:03,040
Speaker 1: five games. Was one game the first night, and then

583
00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:05,639
Speaker 1: there's four games the second night. And it was crazy

584
00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:07,639
Speaker 1: because like what I did in the days leading up

585
00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:09,480
Speaker 1: to the tournament was a shot a lot, and so

586
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:12,199
Speaker 1: like I was constantly in the gym shooting, but I

587
00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:13,800
Speaker 1: wasn't playing, as I was trying to take it easy

588
00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:16,040
Speaker 1: on my achilles. But I actually went to the tournament

589
00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:17,600
Speaker 1: and I told Louis, I'm like, hey, man, like I'm

590
00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:19,840
Speaker 1: ready to go, Like I've polished up my shot in

591
00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,320
Speaker 1: my handle, like I'm ready to go. I'm just in

592
00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:24,119
Speaker 1: kind of bad shape right now in terms of like

593
00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:27,080
Speaker 1: cardio shape, and like when I tell you, I played

594
00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:30,480
Speaker 1: so horrible in the first game, like it was legitimately

595
00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:33,200
Speaker 1: comical how bad I played. And then I played a

596
00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:34,960
Speaker 1: little bit better in the second game, and I played

597
00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:36,320
Speaker 1: a little bit better in the third game, and then

598
00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:37,920
Speaker 1: I played a little bit better in the fourth game,

599
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:40,280
Speaker 1: and then we won the championship and I won MVP

600
00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:42,560
Speaker 1: and we got the cash, and like literally it was

601
00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:45,040
Speaker 1: like this steady progression to me getting back to what

602
00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:46,880
Speaker 1: I was. And the main reason why is like even

603
00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:51,200
Speaker 1: though I had my jumper, like feeling good, I hadn't

604
00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:56,000
Speaker 1: really established the timing of like five on five like

605
00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:59,400
Speaker 1: a real basketball and like what it's like when someone's

606
00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:01,560
Speaker 1: got their hands on you and hand checking and like

607
00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:04,800
Speaker 1: when you're freaking tired from running up and down the floor.

608
00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:06,560
Speaker 1: And then god, if any of you guys have ever

609
00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:08,520
Speaker 1: played the Money Tournament, like literally how it goes is

610
00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:11,440
Speaker 1: everyone puts in like a three to five hundred dollars

611
00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:13,800
Speaker 1: entry feet and then there's like a pot that's like

612
00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:16,800
Speaker 1: anywhere from two thousand dollars to like seven thousand dollars.

613
00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:19,160
Speaker 1: And I've played in a bunch of them. I've won

614
00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:22,000
Speaker 1: like four or five of them in my life, and

615
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:24,040
Speaker 1: like they are some of my favorite basketball in the

616
00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:27,520
Speaker 1: world because they're like super insanely intense, Like like everyone

617
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:30,880
Speaker 1: plays so damn hard because cash is on the line, right,

618
00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:32,880
Speaker 1: and like none of us are rich out here on

619
00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:35,680
Speaker 1: these streets, right, so like literally literally we all want

620
00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:39,200
Speaker 1: the cash, right, So, like, I like it was it

621
00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:42,240
Speaker 1: was such a crazy like the latest example to me

622
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:45,120
Speaker 1: of like this simple concept of like whenever we see

623
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:48,240
Speaker 1: a player come back from injury, we have to kind

624
00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:51,000
Speaker 1: of accept that there's a there's a long runway there.

625
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:53,040
Speaker 1: It's gonna take a while for them to get to

626
00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:55,920
Speaker 1: the form of basketball player that we're expecting. Right we're

627
00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:01,760
Speaker 1: literally watching Anthony Davis struggle. He's coming back from this

628
00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:04,840
Speaker 1: this groin spasm that's kept him out for basically two games. Right,

629
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:08,160
Speaker 1: Like we're watching Bradley Beal like like just silly things,

630
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,280
Speaker 1: like you had two bad late game turnovers, and it's like, like,

631
00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:14,160
Speaker 1: Bradley Beal is a good ball handler, He's not going

632
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:15,960
Speaker 1: to make those mistakes when he kind of has a

633
00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:19,560
Speaker 1: better feel for the for the timing of a game. So, like,

634
00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:21,720
Speaker 1: I'm not worried about the Suns. Again, when it comes

635
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:23,160
Speaker 1: to the Lakers and the Suns, I think both of

636
00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:25,320
Speaker 1: these teams are pretty bad right now in the big picture.

637
00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:27,000
Speaker 1: I mean, just look at their records. They're both what

638
00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:29,560
Speaker 1: four and five right now, So like, these are two

639
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:32,640
Speaker 1: teams that are that are really bad right now, but

640
00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:35,320
Speaker 1: that both have top end potential. They just have to

641
00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:37,640
Speaker 1: get healthy, they have to get in rhythm, they have

642
00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:41,360
Speaker 1: to figure out how to play together. They've gotta build

643
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:44,400
Speaker 1: good habits, they've gotta get in better shape than they're in. Like,

644
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:46,600
Speaker 1: they just have a lot of problems that they've gotta fix.

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00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:49,080
Speaker 1: But at the same time, that's why you play eighty

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00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:51,160
Speaker 1: two games, and that's why so many players come into

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00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:53,320
Speaker 1: the season and try to play their way into shape

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00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:57,560
Speaker 1: instead of instead of coming into season in shape. All Right, guys,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna take a couple of days off. We're gonna

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Speaker 1: go Saturday Sunday off, and then we'll come back on

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Speaker 1: Monday with a breakdown of the weekend's games and as

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00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:09,000
Speaker 1: well as some of the other action from the play

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00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,320
Speaker 1: in tournament this Friday that I didn't get to watch tonight.

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Speaker 1: As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys rocking with me

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00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:16,320
Speaker 1: and supporting the show. And I'll see you guys in

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Speaker 1: a couple of days. The volume