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Speaker 1: welcome to tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Friday, everybody.
Speaker 1: I hope all of you guys had a great week
Speaker 1: in the you have big plans for the weekend. Just
Speaker 1: gonna do a quick show tonight. We're gonna do fifteen
Speaker 1: minutes on Lakers Suns and then we'll get out of here.
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Speaker 1: hitting them throughout the season. All right, let's talk some basketball.
Speaker 1: So the Lakers keep forgetting their identity. You know, this
Speaker 1: is a consistent theme that has happened as I've covered
Speaker 1: this team very closely over the Lebron James Anthony Davis era.
Speaker 1: Every time they've won for an extended period of time,
Speaker 1: it's been on the strength of their defense. It was
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty an outstanding defense anchored by Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: many times next to another six ' ten plus human.
Speaker 1: Right twenty twenty one season, that identity continued throughout the year.
Speaker 1: They just ran into injury issues right with the Lebron's
Speaker 1: ankle and Anthony Davis's groin, right, But then they had
Speaker 1: a long period of struggle after that, and it wasn't
Speaker 1: until they kind of rebot into their defensive identity around
Speaker 1: the trade deadline last year that they were able to
Speaker 1: rip off a bunch of wins again and then once
Speaker 1: again post deadline, second in the league in defense, fourth
Speaker 1: and rebounding. They were an excellent defense and rebounding team,
Speaker 1: and then they rode that defense to knock off the
Speaker 1: two seed and the defending champs in the Western Conference
Speaker 1: on their way to the Western Conference Finals. Every time
Speaker 1: they've been good, it's been because of defense. But there
Speaker 1: have been a couple of times over the course of
Speaker 1: this era where for whatever reason, they've tried to reconfigure themselves,
Speaker 1: and I, honest to God, don't know why. But the
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook trade, it was like, we're gonna become fast.
Speaker 1: We're gonna take the ball out of Lebron's hands, who
Speaker 1: won the game and won the champion championship as a
Speaker 1: point guard, and we're going to play up and down
Speaker 1: fast break basketball, right And then even this most recent time,
Speaker 1: it's like, we're gonna add all this offensive skill and
Speaker 1: we're gonna be this like, you know, super skilled five
Speaker 1: ball handlers, five shooters read and react, you know, Golden
Speaker 1: State Warriors style offense, and they suck at offense because
Speaker 1: they don't have anybody who's that good of a jump
Speaker 1: shooter or that good of a you know, quickness threat,
Speaker 1: like guys like Darren Fox and Malik Monk are to
Speaker 1: actually have that sort of offensive system work for them, right.
Speaker 1: And what's been really funny is even as they sit
Speaker 1: here at four and five, they've been deep in the hole.
Speaker 1: And all four of those wins, we had the Suns game,
Speaker 1: down big in the second half, hillatious fourth quarter defensive
Speaker 1: and rebounding effort to come back and win, the Orlando
Speaker 1: Magic game, literally down big in the second half, hillatious
Speaker 1: defense and rebounding effort in the second half on their
Speaker 1: way to a win. Then we had the Clippers game,
Speaker 1: same sort of thing, looked like shit in the first half,
Speaker 1: down big in the second half, hillatious defense and rebounding
Speaker 1: effort in the fourth quarter as they come back to win.
Speaker 1: And then once again against the Phoenix Sun, same thing,
Speaker 1: down big in the second half and have to ride
Speaker 1: a hillacious defense and rebounding effort in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: to win. I don't know what it's gonna take for
Speaker 1: them to kind of understand that that's their identity and
Speaker 1: lean into that more. But it's been a struggle so
Speaker 1: far for that team this year. They held the Suns
Speaker 1: twenty three points in the fourth quarter, finally started to
Speaker 1: get control of the defensive glass down the stretch. They
Speaker 1: actually punished the Suns with a couple of big offensive
Speaker 1: rebounds and crunch time on the other end of the floor.
Speaker 1: That's what they're capable of. I mean, again, this largely
Speaker 1: was the same core. You know, more Ruiye Hotsumura Minutes,
Speaker 1: who's had trouble getting into Darbenham's rotation this year for
Speaker 1: whatever reason, and more Jared Vanderbilt Minutes because he was
Speaker 1: healthy last year. But aside from that, and Dennis Schroeder
Speaker 1: is a small guard who wasn't helping you on the
Speaker 1: glass that much anyway. They are just a they just
Speaker 1: the same group of guys, Austin Dilo Lebron, Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: That group is not competing on the glass as well
Speaker 1: as they used to, and so they've had a lot
Speaker 1: of issues there, right, And so again I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be really important for Darvin Ham to do what
Speaker 1: he did in that second half, which is like lean
Speaker 1: into the guys that are doing their jobs. You know,
Speaker 1: Cam Reddish for all of the flak that he caught
Speaker 1: for missing threes early in the season and struggling offensively,
Speaker 1: the dude has been one of their best point of
Speaker 1: attack defenders to this point in the season. They struggled
Speaker 1: in the first half of this game, got in some
Speaker 1: foul trouble, but in the second half he was excellent
Speaker 1: defensively disrupting the ball, getting in between and like in
Speaker 1: between screening actions and getting steels and getting out in
Speaker 1: transition and obviously hit four corner threes and hit that
Speaker 1: big time transition pull up three. But like again, he
Speaker 1: got big minutes because Darvin Ham saw him competing defensively
Speaker 1: and on the glass. Ruyach Shimura finally got like extended
Speaker 1: run in the second half of this game. Why because
Speaker 1: he was competing defensively, jumping passing lanes in the right
Speaker 1: place at the right time, competing on the glass, and
Speaker 1: it helps when he's making shots the way he was
Speaker 1: as well. Same thing goes with Christian Wood, who repeatedly
Speaker 1: has cracked into the rotation this year on the strength
Speaker 1: of him competing on the glass in particular, and Christian
Speaker 1: Wood's defense has been a little bit of a mixed
Speaker 1: bag and pick and roll. He's been bad, but he's
Speaker 1: been really good in help and he's been okay on
Speaker 1: the ball, right, But I thought it was interesting that
Speaker 1: Darvin ham like it was a lot less of D'Angel
Speaker 1: Russell in the second half. It was a lot more
Speaker 1: of just sizing up and playing the guys that were
Speaker 1: competing defensively. And then one of the things that's been
Speaker 1: a good trend for the Lakers, and this is something
Speaker 1: that I've talked about in some of our ramp sessions
Speaker 1: that we've done, But like last year, Lebron had a
Speaker 1: really bad crunch time season, and one of the main
Speaker 1: reasons why is, especially after his foot injury, he just
Speaker 1: wasn't as explosive as he used to be. But he
Speaker 1: used to just kind of like get switches on bigs
Speaker 1: and then settle for his pullback three and miss it
Speaker 1: the vast majority of the time. And he just wasn't
Speaker 1: as dominant down this stretch of games as he's shown
Speaker 1: himself to be this year. This year, it's been a
Speaker 1: steady diet of like he keeps making timely jump shots,
Speaker 1: like he just keeps doing it once again tonight, late
Speaker 1: clock situation, gets a switch against against Grayson Allen on
Speaker 1: the left elbow, and what do I always say is
Speaker 1: my favorite Lebron James jump shot that I actually think
Speaker 1: he has a good chance of making most of the time,
Speaker 1: the right shoulder fade pretty much unless he's taking it
Speaker 1: against an outstanding wing defender on the baseline, He's gonna
Speaker 1: make that right shoulder fade it. It's the jump shot
Speaker 1: that he makes most frequently. Got to it late in
Speaker 1: the game, knocked it down consistently, was hunting switches and
Speaker 1: baiting Phoenix into double teams and making the right feeds
Speaker 1: out of that, and then kept trusting Cam Reddish again.
Speaker 1: Like he got so much flak after that Miami heat
Speaker 1: game for making a pass to a wide open corner
Speaker 1: three point shooter which was objectively a better shot than
Speaker 1: him forcing it over a double team, and he got
Speaker 1: a bunch of shit for it, And then he did
Speaker 1: the same thing tonight and it worked. What did I
Speaker 1: tell you after that heat game? I was like, he
Speaker 1: did the same thing in the playing game against Minnesota
Speaker 1: and it worked. Like everyone wants to call out Lebron
Speaker 1: for his late game passing the ball only when guys
Speaker 1: miss shots. But he has literally won championship after championship
Speaker 1: after championship after championship. Don't forget He's got four of
Speaker 1: those things largely on the strength of him being that
Speaker 1: type of decision maker. He leaned into it again at
Speaker 1: the end of the game tonight and it carried it
Speaker 1: him home. I thought it was particularly interesting that cam
Speaker 1: Reddish had just missed back to back corner threes, because
Speaker 1: he made one early in the game, and then he
Speaker 1: made three in a row early in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: and he also made that bailout three at the end
Speaker 1: of the third quarter. But then he missed two in
Speaker 1: a row in crunch time, and Lebron went back to
Speaker 1: him and he made the big one and like again,
Speaker 1: Like That's one of the unique things about Lebron as
Speaker 1: a late game decision maker is like he trusts the
Speaker 1: best advantage available on the court. Right. For instance, do
Speaker 1: you guys remember that stretch there where he was like, Hey, Austin,
Speaker 1: you just go run pick and roll with Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: and take advantage of Nicole of a use of nurkitchen
Speaker 1: his weak drop coverage for a few possessions and Austin
Speaker 1: made some plays, right, Like he just like what he's
Speaker 1: doing is he's looking at the floor, identifying his team's
Speaker 1: best opportunity for offense, and he's leaning into that. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it's him, sometimes it's Austin, Sometimes it's Ad in a
Speaker 1: post up. Sometimes it's him just driving and kicking and
Speaker 1: trying to get a shooter an open look, especially when
Speaker 1: the team that they're playing against is giving that shot up.
Speaker 1: I think I think Lebron has been amazing in clutch
Speaker 1: situations this year, which is a very encouraging trend after
Speaker 1: how bad he was on that end in that area
Speaker 1: last year just wasn't as explosive for whatever reason, and
Speaker 1: then the jump shot had failed him time and time again.
Speaker 1: So I've said this on the show before, but like
Speaker 1: all these other issues the Lakers have had, are come
Speaker 1: somewhat fixable, right. But like Lebron and his individual ceiling,
Speaker 1: I've said since the summer, him getting back to roughly
Speaker 1: what he was in twenty twenty is an absolute requirement
Speaker 1: if this Laker team is going to compete for a championship.
Speaker 1: And once again we saw Lebron outplay He outplayed Kawhi
Speaker 1: and Paul Georgie in crunch time in the Clippers game.
Speaker 1: He outplayed Kevin Durant in crunch time twice now against
Speaker 1: the Suns, so that is really encouraging on that front.
Speaker 1: Show Ruy Hatchamura got a really unfair shake. Unfair is
Speaker 1: the wrong word, but he's gotten an unfortunate shake in
Speaker 1: the early part of this season, with him being hyped
Speaker 1: up as the starter going into the season and then
Speaker 1: losing that job, to then kind of being in the
Speaker 1: doghouse in the rotation for whatever reason, to then getting
Speaker 1: injured this like freaky you know, eye contusion that turned
Speaker 1: into a concussion protocol thing, and then even again tonight,
Speaker 1: like only eight minutes in the first half as he
Speaker 1: seems to be kind of buried in the back of
Speaker 1: the rotation, but came in in that second half Tonight
Speaker 1: played his ass off, made a bunch of big defensive plays,
Speaker 1: made a couple of huge threes, got a big transition dunk.
Speaker 1: Rui was awesome. Anthony Davis first came back from an injury,
Speaker 1: looked like he wasn't quite as a mobile as you
Speaker 1: would expect. He missed a couple bunnies early where you
Speaker 1: could tell he was kind of hesitant jumping. So clearly
Speaker 1: whatever's going on with this hip is still bothering him
Speaker 1: a little bit. That's the Again. One of those things
Speaker 1: is like, this team also isn't going anywhere unless Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis plays like one of the best players in the world,
Speaker 1: and so to get a win in a game where
Speaker 1: he was mostly bad is actually really really basically just
Speaker 1: one gigantic silver lining in this situation. Is you hope
Speaker 1: to eventually get more out of Anthony Davis in the
Speaker 1: long run as well, I shouldn't even say hope, you
Speaker 1: expect to get more out of Anthony Davis. And then
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves is the last individual player that I wanted
Speaker 1: to shout out. He also got a really unfortunate set
Speaker 1: of circumstances tonight. Austin Reeves is the third best player
Speaker 1: on the Lakers. I've been saying this forever. I believe
Speaker 1: is sincerely one of the top fifty players in the NBA.
Speaker 1: He was one of the very best players on Team
Speaker 1: USA again this summer. So it's not a Laker jersey thing.
Speaker 1: I bet you if you asked the coaches on Team USA,
Speaker 1: that's literally what they would tell you, and honest to
Speaker 1: God like for him to go through what he did tonight,
Speaker 1: which is basically like he's struggling. He's not playing good,
Speaker 1: struggling on offense outside of a three game stretch recently
Speaker 1: where he looked good and then he played really poorly
Speaker 1: against Houston, and then he struggling defensively and on the glass. Right,
Speaker 1: But so is d Angela Russell. He's been a little
Speaker 1: bit better offensively, but he's also been inconsistent, has made
Speaker 1: a lot of mistakes, and has been just as bad
Speaker 1: as Austin defensively and on the glass, and in the
Speaker 1: big picture, Austin is the guy that the Lakers lean
Speaker 1: on the most. You literally saw that at the end
Speaker 1: of that game when when the shit went down, Darvin
Speaker 1: went with Austin not d Lo and Austin was the
Speaker 1: guy that Lebron trusted to run the late game actions
Speaker 1: and he made the shots right, and yet he got
Speaker 1: benched in large part because they just expected him to
Speaker 1: accept it right, And that's kind of unfortunate. He's in
Speaker 1: a situation where he belongs in the starting lineup and
Speaker 1: his coach sits down with him and goes, hey, not
Speaker 1: only am I benching you, but I'm benching you for
Speaker 1: a journeyman forward. It can't play it excellent tonight, but
Speaker 1: a journeyman forward that was a expected to not even
Speaker 1: be in the Lakers rotation at the beginning of the season,
Speaker 1: and now he's starting for you, in large part because
Speaker 1: we believe you'll handle it better than if we bench
Speaker 1: the other guy. And that's basically what happened him, and
Speaker 1: he came out and played one of his better halves
Speaker 1: of the season in that second half effort and including
Speaker 1: that stretch in crunch time where he kind of took
Speaker 1: over the offense. So shout out to Austin. I thought
Speaker 1: he got dealt a pretty unfortunate set of cards this evening,
Speaker 1: and he handled it really well. I understand what Darvin
Speaker 1: Ham was going for because in the big picture, the
Speaker 1: Lakers still have a lot of issues. I was texting
Speaker 1: with the buddy during the game, and literally both of
Speaker 1: these teams look like they're not even close to as
Speaker 1: good as they're going to be. Like the Suns, we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about them in a minute. Still really struggle
Speaker 1: with rim pressure, so really struggle with off ball players
Speaker 1: getting ignored. Right. Devin Booker is one of the best
Speaker 1: rim pressuring guards in the league, and also is a
Speaker 1: just another awesome offensive player at the end of games.
Speaker 1: That's gonna make it much harder to throw the kitchen
Speaker 1: sink at Katie the way that they did tonight. Right, So, like, again,
Speaker 1: both teams have a boatload of issues. The Lakers just
Speaker 1: came out with a victory in this one. The Lakers
Speaker 1: defensive rebounding still a massive problem, and it's like mostly
Speaker 1: like I said, it's about competitiveness and effort. There is
Speaker 1: a personnel element, right Jared Vanderbilt seven rebounds a game
Speaker 1: last year. Ruey Hachimur in a bigger role last year,
Speaker 1: five rebounds a game last year. So, like they're missing
Speaker 1: some of the rebounding, you know, contribution that they got
Speaker 1: from some of those guys. But as a group, they're
Speaker 1: still capable of doing way better than they have been doing.
Speaker 1: It's something that they have to do a better job of.
Speaker 1: I think I think Darvinham might have to consider sizing
Speaker 1: up more frequently at the expense of his perimeter defense,
Speaker 1: especially when the perimeter defense hasn't been as good as
Speaker 1: you need it to be. But the perimeter defense is
Speaker 1: an issue, and like that's kind of where I was
Speaker 1: confused on the on the Austin Reeves benching. I've said
Speaker 1: on my show several times, I believe dangel Russell getting
Speaker 1: traded at the deadline is one of the safest bets
Speaker 1: this season. And it's really a simple they He is
Speaker 1: a good, good player. I do believe Dangela Russell is
Speaker 1: a good player. Just don't think he's a good fit
Speaker 1: on the Lakers. He's a good player who's on an
Speaker 1: affordable deal, and so like there's but he also plays
Speaker 1: the same core position group as another player in Austin Reeves,
Speaker 1: who's more or less the same type of player, just
Speaker 1: a better version of it. But he also struggles athletically.
Speaker 1: He also can struggle at the point of attack from
Speaker 1: time to time. Right, So, like Austin's had a really
Speaker 1: bad defensive season for the record, and I say that
Speaker 1: because he legitimately was a plus defender for the Lakers
Speaker 1: last year and he is struggling this year. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's his legs. I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: his confidence or what the deal is. He's gonna have
Speaker 1: to figure that out, because if he keeps defending and
Speaker 1: rebounding like this, then you know, a lot of the
Speaker 1: things that I say optimistically about Austin just become not true,
Speaker 1: and he's gonna have to He's gonna have to improve
Speaker 1: in those areas. But Austin and Di Loo are redundant.
Speaker 1: And so because they're both redundant, and because Delo is
Speaker 1: a good player on an affordable deal, and because the
Speaker 1: Lakers believe that Austin is a better player, They're gonna
Speaker 1: probably end up trading Delo. Right, So, like at the deadline,
Speaker 1: there's a version of this where the Lakers have a
Speaker 1: different lineup configuration with a better athlete in the backcourt,
Speaker 1: but that's not happening for a long time. Likedlo's contract
Speaker 1: doesn't even become available to be traded until January fifteenth.
Speaker 1: So at the end of the day, like this group
Speaker 1: has to figure out how to compete better on the
Speaker 1: glass than they have done so to this point offensively
Speaker 1: as well, just in terms of their approach, I thought
Speaker 1: you saw in that first half in particular, the Lakers
Speaker 1: are starting to generate higher quality looks. They're starting to
Speaker 1: run more spread pick and roll. They're starting to clear
Speaker 1: the side more and give their best players more room
Speaker 1: to work they're starting to match up hunt the right way,
Speaker 1: and they're starting to get higher quality looks. And you
Speaker 1: saw in that first half shots weren't falling, but then
Speaker 1: they started falling in that second half. I've been saying
Speaker 1: this for a while, guys, but like the Lakers have
Speaker 1: a lot of really good shooters that are not shooting well.
Speaker 1: Like Torian Prince not a great NBA player, but he
Speaker 1: is a great catch and shoot player. Hasn't been able
Speaker 1: to make catch and shoot threes this year, right, Dangelo Russell,
Speaker 1: like one of the things he's great at is catch
Speaker 1: and shoot threes, not making them this year. Austin Reeves
Speaker 1: one of the things he's great at catch and shoot threes.
Speaker 1: I think he's two for four tonight, but over the
Speaker 1: course of the season, he hasn't been making them. Right.
Speaker 1: It's actually ironic that it ended up being Cam Reddish
Speaker 1: that kind of busted them out of their slump, because
Speaker 1: there were a lot of really good shooters for the
Speaker 1: Lakers that were missing shots. But again, like you saw
Speaker 1: what happens when they start making shots, it almost invigorates
Speaker 1: the team. They start to play better defense, they start
Speaker 1: to compete more on the glass, and then other things
Speaker 1: start to kind of click into place. So long way
Speaker 1: to go for the Lakers, just like there's a long
Speaker 1: way to go for the Suns. But I think these
Speaker 1: four fourth quarter kind of comeback explosions that they've had,
Speaker 1: fueled by defense, are a good indicator of what this
Speaker 1: team is capable of if they can get some of
Speaker 1: their other shit together. But I could tell you as
Speaker 1: a fan, and again everyone who listens to the show knows,
Speaker 1: like this is the one team that I actually root for. Like,
Speaker 1: as a fan, they're miserable to watch. They're a miserable team.
Speaker 1: I have so much more fun watching other NBA teams
Speaker 1: right now, and thankfully for my job, I get to
Speaker 1: watch good basketball, Like I've watched a ton of Timberwolves film.
Speaker 1: Today I rewatched the Celtics game for a second time,
Speaker 1: and then I watched this Pelicans game again, and like,
Speaker 1: I just have so much fun watching that team because
Speaker 1: of the way they play. They play a likable brand
Speaker 1: of basketball. And there are you know, a half dozen
Speaker 1: other teams that I've been covering this year that I've
Speaker 1: really grown to like watching. I do not like watching
Speaker 1: this Laker team right now, But at the same time,
Speaker 1: I do think they're capable of becoming a team that
Speaker 1: plays a better brand of basketball. It's just a matter
Speaker 1: of commitment on their front movie out of the Suns.
Speaker 1: So one of the things that kind of really stood
Speaker 1: out in this game was the ignoring of the off
Speaker 1: ball shooters. This is something we knew was gonna happen.
Speaker 1: This is something that happened in the playoff series last year.
Speaker 1: This is something happened that happened even during the regular
Speaker 1: season last year. But it's kind of been exacerbated this
Speaker 1: season by the injuries. But specifically Keda Bates Job, Josh
Speaker 1: Kogi and Jordan Goodwin, and those guys are bringing a
Speaker 1: bunch of other good to the table. I thought a
Speaker 1: keya base Job did a pretty decent job playing good
Speaker 1: physical on the ball defense against Lebron tonight. Joshacog and
Speaker 1: Jordan good would have been excellent on the offensive glass
Speaker 1: throughout the season, and they've applied rim pressure and they've
Speaker 1: played good point of attack defense, but they're just getting
Speaker 1: completely ignored on the other end. And those three guys
Speaker 1: went two for thirteen from three tonight, And when I
Speaker 1: tell you they're all wide open, looks like they are
Speaker 1: literally all wide open looks. There was a wide open
Speaker 1: three out of the right corner that Joshacoci shot like
Speaker 1: two feet over the back of the rim. So like, again,
Speaker 1: one of the things that you have to understand here
Speaker 1: is like injuries do play a role. Like what I'm
Speaker 1: looking for a lot in the regular season when guys
Speaker 1: are in and out of the lineup is more just
Speaker 1: identity stuff, like what are their habits one of the
Speaker 1: things that they like to do on every single possession,
Speaker 1: right And like, just like the Lakers were missing a
Speaker 1: bunch of forwards and it was impacting their rebounding, the
Speaker 1: Suns are missing their offensively minded stars that are forcing
Speaker 1: them to play defensively minded players that struggle to knock
Speaker 1: down spot up shots and play off the ball, and
Speaker 1: as a result, their offense is starting to run in
Speaker 1: some issues, right and so like again, like if Devin
Speaker 1: Booker is out of the lineup and Bradley Beal is
Speaker 1: out of rhythm coming back from injury, when we get
Speaker 1: to April, the Sons are just gonna lose. Right Like,
Speaker 1: whenever we talk about the Suns, we're trying to envision
Speaker 1: what they're gonna be in April, and what they're gonna
Speaker 1: be in April is a team that hopefully has Devin
Speaker 1: Booker healthy, with Bradley Beal healthy and Kevin Durant healthy.
Speaker 1: Like I don't think Grayson Allen is gonna be out
Speaker 1: there for Lebron to match up Hunt in a playoff series, potentially,
Speaker 1: not at the end of a game, not in the
Speaker 1: late fourth quarter phase, right, Like that's what's always weird
Speaker 1: about these regular season games, Like it probably won't be
Speaker 1: Cam Reddish wide open in the corner. Like it'll probably
Speaker 1: be either Torny and Prints alongside Jared Vanderbilt, or it
Speaker 1: might be a traded player that they get back in
Speaker 1: the D'Angelo Russell deal, Like who knows, right, But what
Speaker 1: we're more interested in is what kind of basketball are
Speaker 1: these teams playing? Right? And that's the thing, Like when
Speaker 1: I look at the Suns, like and I look at
Speaker 1: how well Kevin Durant has handled double teams, particularly out
Speaker 1: of the post this year. He's been so good out
Speaker 1: of the post this year. His uh rim finishing has
Speaker 1: been ridiculous. Like there are so many like good things
Speaker 1: that Kevin Durant's bringing to the table, and like, really,
Speaker 1: your ability to throw the kitchen sink and get the
Speaker 1: ball out of his hands. Is kind of irrelevant when
Speaker 1: you get to the postseason because if it ends up
Speaker 1: being you know, Kadi Booker, Beal and Nurkic and you know,
Speaker 1: Eric Gordon, like, I don't think you're gonna be able
Speaker 1: to get away with that at the end of games.
Speaker 1: And so like, again, we gotta we kind of got
Speaker 1: to separate the realities of what the team is is
Speaker 1: going to look like from what they are right now.
Speaker 1: And what I'm seeing from a Sun's team is a
Speaker 1: team that competes defensively. I'm seeing a team that that
Speaker 1: knows how to get their superstars into situations where they
Speaker 1: can make reads out of double teams. And I'm seeing
Speaker 1: a team that's struggling to finish plays. They're they're they're
Speaker 1: struggling to knock down the shot at the end of
Speaker 1: the play. We call that like the tip of the spear, right,
Speaker 1: that's you have your play initiators and you have your
Speaker 1: play finishers. And like, one of the reasons why I've
Speaker 1: always liked, you know, the playmaking forwards is when push
Speaker 1: comes to shove, they always throw the kitchen sink at
Speaker 1: the star and it ends up being somebody else that's
Speaker 1: wide open, and like, again, you've got to have someone
Speaker 1: that can knock that shot down. Now, one of the
Speaker 1: things you look at from a game like tonight is
Speaker 1: it could have easily gone the other way because Cam
Speaker 1: Reddish is also one of those guys. Camradish is very
Speaker 1: much in that same level as Keita Bate's job and
Speaker 1: Josh Cogi and Jordan Goodwin in terms of the fact that, like,
Speaker 1: if you leave them open, you kind of expect him
Speaker 1: to miss, but tonight he made them right. And again
Speaker 1: like that that ended up being a significant role in
Speaker 1: this game. One of the things that happened in this
Speaker 1: game for the Suns that is a consistent theme that
Speaker 1: I've seen from the Suns this year is they get
Speaker 1: off to pretty good starts and then Katie in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter makes a bunch of shots in the middle
Speaker 1: of the fourth quarter, but then eventually Cadie runs out
Speaker 1: of gas because consistently making shots over like four defensive
Speaker 1: players is incredibly difficult and fatigm And even in just
Speaker 1: the two Laker games, KD had crazy stretches in the
Speaker 1: late fourth but then in the final minute or two
Speaker 1: has had misses and it's not because Kadie's like not
Speaker 1: clutch or anything like that. It's just it's really hard
Speaker 1: to continually hit those shots time and time again against
Speaker 1: a set defense that's throwing the kitchen sink at you.
Speaker 1: And so again, like like Booker being back goes such
Speaker 1: a long way to alleviating that problem. He also helps
Speaker 1: with the rim pressure. So like again, we talked about
Speaker 1: this with the Clippers. I told you guys after the
Speaker 1: regulation of the Clippers Lakers game that I felt pretty
Speaker 1: confident that the Lakers are gonna win an ot. One
Speaker 1: of the main reasons why was the one thing the
Speaker 1: Clippers had going for them was Paul George making impossible
Speaker 1: pull up jump shots, whereas the Lakers were executing and
Speaker 1: getting quality shots. That's kind of the way I feel
Speaker 1: about the Suns right now, Like it's just really difficult
Speaker 1: to win games if the two shots you can get
Speaker 1: from your offense are a heavily contested pull up jump
Speaker 1: shot from Kevin Durant or a wide open catch and
Speaker 1: shoot jump shot from a player that's probably gonna miss it, right.
Speaker 1: And so one of the things I like about Devin
Speaker 1: Booker in particular is he's really good at getting all
Speaker 1: the way to the rim for layups. He's got excellent quickness,
Speaker 1: and he's got great touch off the glass when his
Speaker 1: body's moving full speed, and then from there he's actually
Speaker 1: even better, is an even better playmaker than Kevin Durant,
Speaker 1: and so like, I think that getting Devin Booker back
Speaker 1: just fixes so many of their problems. The question is
Speaker 1: is just can he ever come back and play for
Speaker 1: more than a game or two without suffering some other
Speaker 1: nagging injury. I hope they let him take his time
Speaker 1: to get like way back to one hundred percent and
Speaker 1: then ease him back in it and keep his minutes down.
Speaker 1: Do what you gotta do to keep Devin Booker on
Speaker 1: the court because he need him. That's at least Bradley Beal.
Speaker 1: I've talked to you guys a lot about this specific
Speaker 1: concept on this show, but like, there is a huge
Speaker 1: difference between a basketball player returning to the court and
Speaker 1: returning to form. It's trust in whatever your injured issue was,
Speaker 1: So like I thought it was. I actually did think
Speaker 1: it was a good sign that Bradley Beal had that
Speaker 1: nasty two handed dunk in the first half, because that's
Speaker 1: one of those plays where like if you have a
Speaker 1: bad back, you don't do something like that, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. So that was encouraging, But just in general,
Speaker 1: from there, there's like a timing and like a like
Speaker 1: a there's a timing and a rhythm element to it.
Speaker 1: It's funny. I've been dealing with this achilles soreness thing
Speaker 1: that has literally ruined my basketball life over the course
Speaker 1: of the last few months as I've tried to come
Speaker 1: back from it twice now and then had to shut
Speaker 1: it down. But I came back from it because I
Speaker 1: made a commitment to play in this money tournament with
Speaker 1: this guy here in town named Luiz who does a
Speaker 1: great job kind of organizing basketball events. And he's like, hey,
Speaker 1: like I put the money down while you play in
Speaker 1: this tournament, and I said yes, And it was like
Speaker 1: two months in advance. Then I get this achilles injury.
Speaker 1: It's just like severe soreness in the achilles basically, and
Speaker 1: so I shut it down for like two weeks and
Speaker 1: then I'm like, I have to play in this money
Speaker 1: tournament because he's counting on me to play, and I
Speaker 1: am and like, if I just leave him hanging, it's
Speaker 1: literally gonna cost him money, right and so there were
Speaker 1: five games. Was one game the first night, and then
Speaker 1: there's four games the second night. And it was crazy
Speaker 1: because like what I did in the days leading up
Speaker 1: to the tournament was a shot a lot, and so
Speaker 1: like I was constantly in the gym shooting, but I
Speaker 1: wasn't playing, as I was trying to take it easy
Speaker 1: on my achilles. But I actually went to the tournament
Speaker 1: and I told Louis, I'm like, hey, man, like I'm
Speaker 1: ready to go, Like I've polished up my shot in
Speaker 1: my handle, like I'm ready to go. I'm just in
Speaker 1: kind of bad shape right now in terms of like
Speaker 1: cardio shape, and like when I tell you, I played
Speaker 1: so horrible in the first game, like it was legitimately
Speaker 1: comical how bad I played. And then I played a
Speaker 1: little bit better in the second game, and I played
Speaker 1: a little bit better in the third game, and then
Speaker 1: I played a little bit better in the fourth game,
Speaker 1: and then we won the championship and I won MVP
Speaker 1: and we got the cash, and like literally it was
Speaker 1: like this steady progression to me getting back to what
Speaker 1: I was. And the main reason why is like even
Speaker 1: though I had my jumper, like feeling good, I hadn't
Speaker 1: really established the timing of like five on five like
Speaker 1: a real basketball and like what it's like when someone's
Speaker 1: got their hands on you and hand checking and like
Speaker 1: when you're freaking tired from running up and down the floor.
Speaker 1: And then god, if any of you guys have ever
Speaker 1: played the Money Tournament, like literally how it goes is
Speaker 1: everyone puts in like a three to five hundred dollars
Speaker 1: entry feet and then there's like a pot that's like
Speaker 1: anywhere from two thousand dollars to like seven thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: And I've played in a bunch of them. I've won
Speaker 1: like four or five of them in my life, and
Speaker 1: like they are some of my favorite basketball in the
Speaker 1: world because they're like super insanely intense, Like like everyone
Speaker 1: plays so damn hard because cash is on the line, right,
Speaker 1: and like none of us are rich out here on
Speaker 1: these streets, right, so like literally literally we all want
Speaker 1: the cash, right, So, like, I like it was it
Speaker 1: was such a crazy like the latest example to me
Speaker 1: of like this simple concept of like whenever we see
Speaker 1: a player come back from injury, we have to kind
Speaker 1: of accept that there's a there's a long runway there.
Speaker 1: It's gonna take a while for them to get to
Speaker 1: the form of basketball player that we're expecting. Right we're
Speaker 1: literally watching Anthony Davis struggle. He's coming back from this
Speaker 1: this groin spasm that's kept him out for basically two games. Right,
Speaker 1: Like we're watching Bradley Beal like like just silly things,
Speaker 1: like you had two bad late game turnovers, and it's like, like,
Speaker 1: Bradley Beal is a good ball handler, He's not going
Speaker 1: to make those mistakes when he kind of has a
Speaker 1: better feel for the for the timing of a game. So, like,
Speaker 1: I'm not worried about the Suns. Again, when it comes
Speaker 1: to the Lakers and the Suns, I think both of
Speaker 1: these teams are pretty bad right now in the big picture.
Speaker 1: I mean, just look at their records. They're both what
Speaker 1: four and five right now, So like, these are two
Speaker 1: teams that are that are really bad right now, but
Speaker 1: that both have top end potential. They just have to
Speaker 1: get healthy, they have to get in rhythm, they have
Speaker 1: to figure out how to play together. They've gotta build
Speaker 1: good habits, they've gotta get in better shape than they're in. Like,
Speaker 1: they just have a lot of problems that they've gotta fix.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, that's why you play eighty
Speaker 1: two games, and that's why so many players come into
Speaker 1: the season and try to play their way into shape
Speaker 1: instead of instead of coming into season in shape. All Right, guys,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take a couple of days off. We're gonna
Speaker 1: go Saturday Sunday off, and then we'll come back on
Speaker 1: Monday with a breakdown of the weekend's games and as
Speaker 1: well as some of the other action from the play
Speaker 1: in tournament this Friday that I didn't get to watch tonight.
Speaker 1: As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys rocking with me
Speaker 1: and supporting the show. And I'll see you guys in
Speaker 1: a couple of days. The volume