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Speaker 1: hundred gambler dot net in West Virginia. All right, welcome

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Speaker 1: to Hoops Tonight, presented by Fan Duel here at the volume.

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Speaker 1: Happy Thursday, everybody. I hope all of you guys are

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Speaker 1: having a fantastic week. We have three great games to

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Speaker 1: dive into today, an awesome early slate, a comeback win

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Speaker 1: for the Sixers against the Memphis Grizzlies, and then the

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Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets notching an impressive road win against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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Speaker 1: But we're gonna start with the Warriors and the Lakers,

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Speaker 1: and the Lakers being a good, a legitimately good basketball team.

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Speaker 1: They might not be great yet, We're gonna find out

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Speaker 1: over the course of the next month or so. But

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Speaker 1: the Lakers are good and that's good for us. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: that's a team that I roote for, but it's also

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Speaker 1: just good for the league when the Lakers are a

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Speaker 1: functional basketball team rather than the disaster they were over

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Speaker 1: the course the last couple of years. I had a

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Speaker 1: lot of fun. Tonight, I gotta say I had a

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Speaker 1: little bit of a moment this early evening when I

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Speaker 1: was watching those two early games. I cannot tell you

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Speaker 1: how incredibly excited I am for the stretch of this season.

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Speaker 1: I think the league's wide open. There's a ton of

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Speaker 1: interesting teams, a lot at stake. It's just gonna be

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Speaker 1: a wild ride, and I'm super super excited for it.

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

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

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

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

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Speaker 1: And last but not least, for whatever reason, you guys

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Speaker 1: miss one of these shows and you can't get back

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Speaker 1: over to YouTube to finish, don't forget. You can find

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Speaker 1: them wherever you get your podcasts. Under Hoops tonight, all right,

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Speaker 1: let's talk some basketball. So what I say after the

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Speaker 1: Pelicans game when the Lakers beat the Pelicans on the

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Speaker 1: eve of the All Star Break, I said, this was

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Speaker 1: what margin for error looks like. They led by double

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Speaker 1: digits throughout the game. They were able to weather a

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Speaker 1: run from the Pelicans in the middle portion of the game,

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Speaker 1: a run that put them in a position where the

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Speaker 1: game was close, but not where they were in a

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Speaker 1: big hole they had to dig out of. Lebron and

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis were able to keep their minutes down. I

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Speaker 1: think Anthony Davis played the most minutes on the team,

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Speaker 1: and it was fewer than thirty one minutes in that game,

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Speaker 1: and they were able to get a comfortable victory against

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Speaker 1: a good team, a good New Orleans Pelicans team. And

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Speaker 1: that same thing happened tonight. Lebron James and Anthony Davis

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Speaker 1: combined to go for go just for twenty five from

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Speaker 1: the field. They combined for twenty five points. D'Angel Russell

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Speaker 1: tweaked his ankle in the first half and had to

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Speaker 1: leave the game. But now you have a balanced roster

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Speaker 1: of complimentary players as opposed to an imbalanced roster of

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Speaker 1: clunky fitting players, and so as a result, you can

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Speaker 1: win without everything going perfectly right for you. There's a

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Speaker 1: good balance of offensive and defensive talent on this team

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Speaker 1: and they can win playing a bunch of different ways now,

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Speaker 1: so that has given them a margin for air. Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis didn't even have to play in the fourth quarter.

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Speaker 1: Lebron and Anthony Davis each only played twenty six minutes,

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Speaker 1: and you win a game by double digits. This is so,

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Speaker 1: this is obviously. We've had two games now of Lebron

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Speaker 1: and ad playing together post Westburg trade, and both of

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Speaker 1: them have been double digit victories. I went back and looked,

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Speaker 1: because I just can't remember how many times that had happened,

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Speaker 1: and it had just twice in the Westbrook era for

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Speaker 1: a season and a half. For more than a season

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Speaker 1: and a half, and three of those four wins or

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Speaker 1: against teams that were actively tanking at that point, like

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Speaker 1: the Orlando Magic or the Houston Rockets. Last year, the

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Speaker 1: Lakers were able to get a couple double digit wins. Now,

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Speaker 1: the Warriors were down a bunch of guys tonight, but

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Speaker 1: still Jordan Poole, Draymond green John and than cominga Clay Thompson.

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Speaker 1: Like that's a serious basketball team, right, Like again, no

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Speaker 1: one's holding the Warriors accountable for that loss. You're down

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Speaker 1: your two best players. But the point is is this

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Speaker 1: is two good teams that the Lakers beat comfortably, and

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Speaker 1: that's something that literally had not happened at all during

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Speaker 1: the Russell Westbrook era. You know, it's funny. There was

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Speaker 1: literally a quote, as I think it was, when the

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Speaker 1: Lakers went up twenty four and Lebron is getting ready

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Speaker 1: to check out of the game. You could literally see

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis telling Lebron on the sideline. You guys can

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Speaker 1: find this quote off to retweet it out later. Actually

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Speaker 1: I will, so just go to my Twitter feed and

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Speaker 1: you'll find the actual video footage here. You can see

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Speaker 1: Lebron saying to or Anthony Davis saying to Lebron, like, dude,

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Speaker 1: I can't remember the last time we were up twenty

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Speaker 1: four with this much time left. And you even see

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Speaker 1: it in like the runs, the up and down runs

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Speaker 1: of the game. Lakers were up thirteen or so in

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Speaker 1: the second quarter and the Warriors went on a run

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Speaker 1: because they're a good basketball team. Jordan Pool was making plays,

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Speaker 1: Dramon Graam was making plays. Defensively, They've made a bunch

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Speaker 1: of plays. The Lakers let their foot off the gas

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Speaker 1: a little bit and they got it back to three.

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Speaker 1: But instead of it being you know, the runs of

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Speaker 1: the game taking place with you digging yourself a hole

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Speaker 1: and then having to claw back before the other team

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Speaker 1: grows that lead on you. Now the Lakers are on

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Speaker 1: the other side of that equation, and now when they

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Speaker 1: let their foot off the gas a little bit, when

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Speaker 1: the dust settles on that, they're still up by three.

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Speaker 1: So when they come out to start the third quarter

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Speaker 1: and guys start making plays again, suddenly you're up double

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Speaker 1: digits again. And I think that that I think that

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Speaker 1: type of situation just makes everything so easy, so much

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Speaker 1: easier for this particular core who has struggled. Lebron and

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Speaker 1: a d have struggled staying on the court because of

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Speaker 1: the fact that they've had to play high thirty minutes

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Speaker 1: and do everything to give their team a chance to win.

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Speaker 1: This is why I've been begging for this type of

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Speaker 1: trade ever since. For those of you were listening to

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Speaker 1: Lakers Tonight before it was Hoops Tonight, when I first

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Speaker 1: started with the volume, like way back then, I was

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Speaker 1: begging for this at last year's trade deadline, and it's

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Speaker 1: because I've always been such a big believer in Lebron

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Speaker 1: James and Anthony Davis, so surrounded by quality role players,

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Speaker 1: and instead they flipped a bunch of those quality role

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Speaker 1: players for a poor fit and it didn't go well.

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Speaker 1: And but this is what I this is what I've

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Speaker 1: been begging for. It's good to see the results taking

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Speaker 1: place on the court now. Like I said, I think

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Speaker 1: the Lakers are legitimately very good. Now are they great?

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Speaker 1: Are they gonna be good enough to go on a

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Speaker 1: playoff run? Are they gonna be good enough to contend

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Speaker 1: with the teams like Denver and Boston in Milwaukee? I

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Speaker 1: do not know yet. We're gonna find out because they

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Speaker 1: have to hit the Jets to make up ground in

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Speaker 1: the standings over the last month than half of the season,

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Speaker 1: and we're gonna find out quickly whether or not this

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Speaker 1: team is dead serious. But they used to be a

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Speaker 1: bad team that could be good, and now they are

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Speaker 1: a good team that could be great. And that's a

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Speaker 1: hell of a lot better of a position to be

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Speaker 1: in a couple of specific Lakers. I want to shout

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Speaker 1: out Malik Beasley. I pointed out after the last Lakers

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Speaker 1: win that even with as good as everything was going,

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Speaker 1: that Malik Beasley had been missing some good shots and

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Speaker 1: he started making them tonight, and you saw how that

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Speaker 1: bought even more margin for error he has. You know,

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Speaker 1: I'm always is a big believer in offensive skill around

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Speaker 1: rim pressuring stars because the Lebron and a D types

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Speaker 1: are gonna dictate defenses to pack the paint so aggressively

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Speaker 1: that you're going to get these super high quality spot

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Speaker 1: up opportunities. And Malik Beasley was wide open most of

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Speaker 1: the night, and that's what it's gonna be like for

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Speaker 1: him playing with this core. I thought he flashed a

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Speaker 1: good mix of aggressive spot up shooting, which is something

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Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about later when we get to Michael

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Speaker 1: Porter Jr. In the Nuggets, but a good mix of

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Speaker 1: aggressive spot up shooting with playmaking in the in the

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Speaker 1: mid range attacking closeouts. Anthony Davis, that was the best

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Speaker 1: he's looked physically since coming back from the injury. There

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Speaker 1: was a aggressiveness physically that just has not been there.

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Speaker 1: I always talk about like out of area plays like

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis when he's good, can block shots when people

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Speaker 1: come right at him right. But when Anthony Davis is

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Speaker 1: right and he's locked in, he covers so much damn

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Speaker 1: ground that he can block shots that you wouldn't even

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Speaker 1: expect any NBA player to block. There was a play

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Speaker 1: in this game where Jordan Poole attacked Anthony Davis along

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Speaker 1: the baseline. And what you tell any offensive player as

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Speaker 1: you're coaching them when they're younger, it's like, hey, when

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Speaker 1: you're driving, if you have a rim protector or a

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Speaker 1: shot blocker pursuing, you just go to the other side

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Speaker 1: of the rim. You can use the rim basically as

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Speaker 1: a shield from the rim protector. Anthony Davis somehow chase

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Speaker 1: Jordan Poole all the way under the rim. Jordan Poole

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Speaker 1: attempted a wild reverse layup on the like from two

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Speaker 1: or three feet on the other side of the rim,

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Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis swatted the hell out of it. That

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Speaker 1: I always talk about the difference between like like, oh,

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis has you know, twenty two and eight, and

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Speaker 1: you know, he made a couple of these specific plays

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Speaker 1: and it's like, Okay, yeah, that's that's Anthony Davis's floor,

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Speaker 1: But Anthony Davis's ceiling is best player in the league. Now.

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Speaker 1: He didn't have it offensively tonight. A bunch of different

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Speaker 1: reasons for that. He also wasn't just being very aggressive.

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Speaker 1: He just was kind of letting the game come to

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Speaker 1: him in the flow of the offense. I think he

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Speaker 1: only attempted five shots, but defensively, that was AD's ceiling.

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Speaker 1: That's what it looks like when he's truly engaged and

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Speaker 1: effective on that side of the floor. Austin Reeves seventeen

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Speaker 1: points on six for six shooting plus ten and nineteen minutes.

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Speaker 1: I've talked a lot about him being that connective piece.

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Speaker 1: I was a buddy of mine, Luke, the guy who

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Speaker 1: recorded my Star Wars podcast with he's staying Him and

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Speaker 1: his wife are staying with us temporarily because they're doing

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Speaker 1: some remodeling at their house for the next couple of days.

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Speaker 1: So I was watching the game with him tonight and

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Speaker 1: he was kind of we were talking and I was

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Speaker 1: explaining to him. I'm like, man, it's hard to explain

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Speaker 1: but this, but Austin Reeves is that guy that when

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Speaker 1: you have him as the fifth guy in any lineup

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Speaker 1: with good players, he just ties it all together with

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Speaker 1: his skill set. And it's impossible to explain because if

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Speaker 1: you put Austin Reeves in a one on one battle

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Speaker 1: against another average two guard in the NBA, he's probably

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Speaker 1: gonna lose. But that's not his game. His game is

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Speaker 1: five on five basketball and connecting everything together for good

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Speaker 1: basketball players, and he's gonna have a long NBA career

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Speaker 1: because of that. Lebron had a nightmare shooting night, but

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Speaker 1: he was able to weaponize the other areas of his

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Speaker 1: game defensive playmaking, pushing the pace in transition. Had a

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Speaker 1: really nice shift there to start the fourth quarter, just

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Speaker 1: making plays for his teammates. And you're already seeing like

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Speaker 1: a little bit of a chemistry and connection between him

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Speaker 1: and Ruey Hatchamura. That's super interesting. It just it's I

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Speaker 1: will say, as someone who's been rooting for the Lakers,

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Speaker 1: this is the most optimistic I've been about them in

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Speaker 1: a very long time, and I'm very excited to see

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Speaker 1: what else they can show us over the course of

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Speaker 1: the next few months. The Warriors, I mean, you're down

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Speaker 1: Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins on the road against a

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Speaker 1: very good team that's desperate for wins. I'll be honest

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Speaker 1: with you. I came into this game thinking the Warriors

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Speaker 1: had a zero percent chance of winning, So I don't

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Speaker 1: want to give them, you know, I don't want to

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Speaker 1: hold them to some sort of ridiculous standard in this game.

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Speaker 1: I thought there are a couple of specific goals. It's

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Speaker 1: almost like a practice because you're coming back from All

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Speaker 1: Star Break. I thought Steve Kurge did an ice job,

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Speaker 1: like punting when he needed to punt and keeping the

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Speaker 1: minutes down because you got to turn around and play

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Speaker 1: Houston tomorrow night, and that's the game you have to win.

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Speaker 1: That's you were if you were going to split this

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Speaker 1: back to back, that was the way you had to

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Speaker 1: manage it, and I think he managed it well. I

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Speaker 1: do want to give one shout out though, to Cavan Looney,

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Speaker 1: who I thought was the best warrior in this game.

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Speaker 1: They were most competitive when he was on the floor.

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Speaker 1: They were just minus one. In his minutes, he had

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Speaker 1: seven offensive rebounds, and he's consistently given Anthony Davis problems

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Speaker 1: with this. But there's a difference between. I always talk about, like,

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Speaker 1: you know, when you have a athletic disadvantage, you have

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Speaker 1: to disrupt someone's base. You know, like if if if

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Speaker 1: I was trying to guard, you know, brandon ingram At

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Speaker 1: shooting fadeaways over the top of me, I'm stupid. If

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Speaker 1: I try to contest him up top, I'm just not

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Speaker 1: gonna be able to bother him there. But if I

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Speaker 1: push on his base and try to mess with his balance.

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Speaker 1: I might be able to get him to miss shots.

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Speaker 1: And Kevin Luney has figured out with Anthony Davis is

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Speaker 1: he has a huge, like physical advantage on the ground

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Speaker 1: against Anthony Davis to push him off of his spots,

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Speaker 1: and he had a lot of success just crashing the

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Speaker 1: offensive glass in this game. I think it's really interesting

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Speaker 1: how he's carved out like a dead serious, successful, winning

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Speaker 1: impact NBA career despite being one of the less physically

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Speaker 1: skilled centers that we have in the league. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to overthink anything from the Warriors in

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Speaker 1: this game when I didn't really think it was a

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Speaker 1: winnable game for them. They will be in a bunch

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Speaker 1: of winnable games here down the stretch, especially as they

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Speaker 1: start to get healthy. And I guess it's looking like

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Speaker 1: early March, like March fifth ish first Deff to come back,

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Speaker 1: So we're talking about another week and a half and

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Speaker 1: then they're going to be a very similar position to

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Speaker 1: the Warriors. They're going to have to hit the Jets

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Speaker 1: and there's very little margin for error and they need

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Speaker 1: to make up as much ground in the standings as

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Speaker 1: they can. And we're gonna be covering that very closely.

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Speaker 1: Nugget Nuggets. A very interesting game because Nicola Yokets really

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Speaker 1: struggled in this game for three and a half quarters.

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Speaker 1: I thought Cleveland did a really nice job disguising their

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Speaker 1: double teams. There's a huge difference between like easy double

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Speaker 1: teams that are easy to manage versus double teams that

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Speaker 1: are hard demandaged. So, for instance, down the stretch in

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Speaker 1: this game, there were two assists I believe that Yokas

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Speaker 1: had in the fourth quarter where they doubled one pass

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Speaker 1: away from a post up on the left block. So

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Speaker 1: Yokas has that he's looking over his left shoulders, he's

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Speaker 1: dribbling the basketball. They double from one pass away. His

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Speaker 1: head is already looking in that direction, and if I

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Speaker 1: remember correctly, the first one was a kick out one

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Speaker 1: pass away for an easy three. And then the next

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Speaker 1: one was a different rotation to KCP on the left wing,

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Speaker 1: but are on the opposite wing. But like those are

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Speaker 1: easy double teams to read because you're you're not having

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Speaker 1: to really worry about your backside because you can see

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Speaker 1: the entire floor. You already have the ball in your

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Speaker 1: right hand where you can easily make passes. But Cleveland

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Speaker 1: did a really nice job for most of the game

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Speaker 1: coming at him when he would turn his back. So

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Speaker 1: when Yokis would catch in the short roll and then

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Speaker 1: start barreling down the rim and turning his head to

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Speaker 1: kind of like work his angles into the lane, they

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Speaker 1: would double immediately when he turned his head and shoot

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Speaker 1: that gap and try to catch him off guard, and

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Speaker 1: they actually had a lot of success. They forced him

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Speaker 1: into seven turnovers in this game, which is very uncharacteristic

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Speaker 1: for Nickela. Yokich I thought Yokis had one of his

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Speaker 1: worst defensive games that I can remember him playing. He

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Speaker 1: was really kind of just doing the bare minimum within coverages,

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Speaker 1: super deep in his drop, not really impactful around the rim.

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Speaker 1: Guys were just looking at him right in the face

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Speaker 1: and scoring like Evan mobiley went right at him a

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Speaker 1: bunch of times in this game. But three and a

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Speaker 1: half bad quarters, Cleveland's up one O five, one oh

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Speaker 1: one with six minutes left, and Yokis made three massive

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Speaker 1: plays that won the game. There's a right when it

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Speaker 1: was one of five one on one, it felt like

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Speaker 1: the game was getting away from Denver pick and roll

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Speaker 1: with Jamal Murray, pocket pass to Yoki, drops that shoulder

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Speaker 1: into Jared Allen just moves him out of the way,

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Speaker 1: easy left handed layup. Couple possessions later, he hits a

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Speaker 1: deep three at the top of the key. He's been

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Speaker 1: shooting the three. It's weird. He'll go like several games

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Speaker 1: without taking one, but then he'll take a couple and

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Speaker 1: he'll make him. But he's been shooting the three a

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Speaker 1: lot better as of late. Hit a massive three to

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Speaker 1: put him up one nine, one five, and then a

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Speaker 1: couple possessions after that. One of those double teams I

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Speaker 1: was talking about posting up on the left block. The

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Speaker 1: double comes from one pass away off at Jamal Murray.

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Speaker 1: Darius Garland rotates over to take away Jamal Murray, which

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Speaker 1: leaves Contavious Cobble Pope is like that second level read

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Speaker 1: on the opposite wing hits KCP. Isaac Accorra rotates out

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Speaker 1: of the corner off of Michael Porter Jr. Extra pass

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Speaker 1: to MPG wide open. Three games over. I got him

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Speaker 1: up to one, fourteen, one or nine, and it was

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Speaker 1: enough to win the game because the Calves couldn't score

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Speaker 1: after that, which we'll get too later, but again, a

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Speaker 1: nightmare night by Yokich's standards, But he made the big

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Speaker 1: plays at the end of the game to win. And

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Speaker 1: that's what makes the superstars different from the players that

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Speaker 1: are off of that tier. They're off nights, they can

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Speaker 1: make enough winning impact plays to win games. So we're

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Speaker 1: gonna talk about this a little bit more, even when

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Speaker 1: we get to Joel Embiid later tonight, who had an

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Speaker 1: even worse game than Nicola Yokich did. But I thought

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Speaker 1: it was an impressive night, because if your bad night

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Speaker 1: is that, then you're gonna be pretty good most of

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Speaker 1: the time. I want to spend some time talking about

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Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior because I thought this was a very

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Speaker 1: interesting example of synergy between two players that can completely

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Speaker 1: screw up an NBA defense. So Michael Porter Junior absolutely

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Speaker 1: torched the Calves in this game on the backside of

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Speaker 1: their defense. He made six threes, which, by the way,

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Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior is now averaging one point three one

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Speaker 1: points per spot up possession. That's outrageously good. He's number

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Speaker 1: one in the entire NBA out of fifty players who

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Speaker 1: have logged at least two hundred spot up possessions, and

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Speaker 1: there's a couple of specific things. He's very aggressive, like

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Speaker 1: he will not he will not pass up shots, and

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Speaker 1: he has a quick, high release, which means he doesn't

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Speaker 1: need much space, which makes the defensive rotation harder. There

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Speaker 1: are a lot of guys around the league who in

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Speaker 1: that weekside corner, if they don't catch it right, if

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Speaker 1: they don't have time to kind of get into their

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Speaker 1: shooting pocket and load up their release, they're gonna pump,

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Speaker 1: fake or not take the shot, and that buys lots

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Speaker 1: of time for that defensive rotation to close out. But

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Speaker 1: MPJ is going to quickly catch and rise and fire

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00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:48,680
Speaker 1: from a high release point, which makes that defensive rotation

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00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:52,480
Speaker 1: almost impossible. And if you don't get out there, he's

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Speaker 1: converting those possessions at almost a point and a half.

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00:20:56,400 --> 00:21:01,840
Speaker 1: That's outrageous. And again, this combo, it's the combination of

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Speaker 1: what Michael Porter Junior does and Yoki's together that completely

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00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:10,600
Speaker 1: screws up NBA defenses because most NBA defenses want to

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Speaker 1: help out of the week side corner. And the reason

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Speaker 1: why it's simple, if you can bring that guy out

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Speaker 1: of that corner to help elsewhere, then you can have

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Speaker 1: three guys contain the pick and roll, which suddenly makes

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00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:24,280
Speaker 1: it a lot easier for your drop coverage big or

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00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:26,920
Speaker 1: your guard chasing over the top of the screens when

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Speaker 1: that third guy can tag the rollers so that your

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00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:32,280
Speaker 1: center can spend more time up at the level of

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Speaker 1: the screen to dissuade that pull up, which then buys

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Speaker 1: your guard time to get over the top of the screen.

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Speaker 1: That's why defenses like to do that, and they do

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Speaker 1: it because that cross court pass to the weak side

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Speaker 1: corner is a very difficult pass to make. And if

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Speaker 1: it's a difficult pass and you can make it be

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Speaker 1: a looping deflected pass, then you have tons of time

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Speaker 1: to rotate out of it. And that works pretty damn

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Speaker 1: well on most nights against most teams. But Nicola Yokich

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00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:04,960
Speaker 1: is so damn good at extending the ball out and

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Speaker 1: throwing those rifle passes right into the shooting pocket for

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Speaker 1: Michael Porter Jr. And they always situate him on that

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Speaker 1: side of the floor and he's converting those a's such

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00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:17,480
Speaker 1: an outrageous rate that you just can't do that anymore.

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Speaker 1: You cannot help out of the week's side corner against Denver,

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Speaker 1: and he just time and time again. Just Barbecued the

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Speaker 1: Calves that one of the best defenses in the league

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Speaker 1: with that specific dynamic, And I think it's super interesting

430
00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:36,920
Speaker 1: because putting that those two guys together in that specific

431
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:41,320
Speaker 1: dynamic across the court will fundamentally make teams change the

432
00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:44,080
Speaker 1: way they play defense in the playoffs. So, for instance,

433
00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:46,160
Speaker 1: like if you're the Lakers and you end up getting

434
00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:48,399
Speaker 1: the eighth seed and you've got Denver in round one,

435
00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:52,200
Speaker 1: you will have to conceive an entirely new defensive scheme

436
00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:56,280
Speaker 1: offering help out of different spots on the floor. And now,

437
00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:59,480
Speaker 1: who knows, maybe the Lebron James Anthony Davis dynamic defensively

438
00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:01,960
Speaker 1: will allow them some more leeway there. But the point

439
00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:04,320
Speaker 1: is is, like, whoever that team is that gets that

440
00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:09,199
Speaker 1: eight seed, they can't just run a traditional fundamental backside

441
00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:12,200
Speaker 1: help NBA defense against the Nuggets. They will get killed.

442
00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:15,760
Speaker 1: And it's because of that give and take between Michael

443
00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:18,520
Speaker 1: Porter Jr. The best spot up player in the league,

444
00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:21,639
Speaker 1: and Nickel Yokich, the guy who's gonna make the right

445
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:25,840
Speaker 1: read every single time. Evan Mobley was awesome in this game.

446
00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:29,159
Speaker 1: He had thirty one points and nineteen shots. He was

447
00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:32,520
Speaker 1: killing Yokich individually in this game. Now, Yokis had a

448
00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:35,280
Speaker 1: bad defensive night, but knocking down three point shots and

449
00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:37,320
Speaker 1: a lot of these like little pop shots and floaters

450
00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:39,240
Speaker 1: going downhill. Now, this is where he reminds me of

451
00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:42,960
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, because you don't need to get overly creative

452
00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:45,359
Speaker 1: when you have that type of physically physical advantage, like

453
00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:50,240
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis kills teams when he's really right by catching

454
00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:53,119
Speaker 1: in that ten to five feet range and instead of

455
00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:55,960
Speaker 1: doing any sort of move or anything, just rolling kind

456
00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:57,960
Speaker 1: of towards the rim and elevating and just kind of

457
00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:00,160
Speaker 1: extending his arm out and shooting that little pop shot

458
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:03,000
Speaker 1: over the top. And when he Anthony Davis is such

459
00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:05,440
Speaker 1: good touch on that shot that he'll when he's really good,

460
00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:08,520
Speaker 1: he'll make three or four of those every game. And

461
00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:10,560
Speaker 1: Evan Mobiley made a bunch of them in this game,

462
00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:12,000
Speaker 1: and it was a big part of what made him

463
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,080
Speaker 1: so effective scoring. Again, he's young, he's raw. It's been

464
00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:17,120
Speaker 1: an uneven season for him. He hasn't shot the ball

465
00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:20,920
Speaker 1: well from three in the aggregate this season. But seeing

466
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:23,479
Speaker 1: games like that, you gotta feel good about yourself as

467
00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:26,640
Speaker 1: a Cavs fan. Cavs late game offense became a big

468
00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:28,840
Speaker 1: problem again. This is something I've talked about ad nauseum,

469
00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:31,280
Speaker 1: and we're gonna talk about it again with Memphis here

470
00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:33,760
Speaker 1: in a little bit. Cleveland and Memphis each had a

471
00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:37,600
Speaker 1: chance tonight to beat a good team and prove everything

472
00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:39,640
Speaker 1: that I've been saying about them against good teams wrong,

473
00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:43,600
Speaker 1: and both of them succumbed to their usual problems tonight.

474
00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:47,200
Speaker 1: They scored just four points over the final five minutes

475
00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:50,040
Speaker 1: and forty eight seconds of the fourth quarter, and it

476
00:24:50,119 --> 00:24:52,719
Speaker 1: was exactly as I expected. They closed up until they

477
00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:58,159
Speaker 1: ended up subbing out a Choro. They ended up taking

478
00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:00,800
Speaker 1: out a chor for Caress Laver with like a minute

479
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:02,359
Speaker 1: and a half left, but it was too late at

480
00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,080
Speaker 1: that point, but they went with a coro, Evan Mobley

481
00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:06,800
Speaker 1: and Jared Allen in the front court. The Nuggets just

482
00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:09,240
Speaker 1: completely loaded up in the paint, and like I've been saying,

483
00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:12,280
Speaker 1: the Calves guards have a choice there. It's do we

484
00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:16,000
Speaker 1: pass out to guys who are probably gonna miss shots,

485
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:20,520
Speaker 1: or do we take extremely difficult pull up jump shots.

486
00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:23,640
Speaker 1: And they opted for that, and the two of them

487
00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:26,119
Speaker 1: combined for forty four points on forty two shots and

488
00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:27,879
Speaker 1: down the stretch of the game couldn't make those shots.

489
00:25:28,359 --> 00:25:30,639
Speaker 1: And it just comes down to a simple question of,

490
00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:33,040
Speaker 1: like who's getting higher quality shots down the stretch, And

491
00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:36,520
Speaker 1: it was Yokich actions for wide open looks on one

492
00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:39,040
Speaker 1: end for good shooters, and on the other end, it

493
00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:42,760
Speaker 1: was Cleveland's guards forcing up high difficulty shots that they're

494
00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:45,600
Speaker 1: probably not gonna make on a lot occasions, at least

495
00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:49,359
Speaker 1: not in a super efficient right right, So yeah, it's

496
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:51,439
Speaker 1: just something to keep an eye on. That's a similar

497
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:53,520
Speaker 1: thing with Grizzly Sixers, So let's move on to that game.

498
00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:57,760
Speaker 1: The Grizzlies absolutely punked the Sixers early in this game,

499
00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:00,600
Speaker 1: and Bead was nightmarishly bad. It looked like Joel Embid

500
00:26:00,640 --> 00:26:03,080
Speaker 1: hadn't even touched a basketball at all over the All

501
00:26:03,119 --> 00:26:06,119
Speaker 1: Star break. Dylan Brooks ended up getting into it with

502
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:08,480
Speaker 1: James Hardened on an early possession. Then he had like

503
00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:10,560
Speaker 1: a post up play where he was guarding Joel Embiid

504
00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:13,080
Speaker 1: and forced Joel Embid to travel, and then he's walking

505
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:15,159
Speaker 1: down the court like I'm locking both of you up,

506
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:18,760
Speaker 1: you know, talking shit, doing his normal thing. Jaren Jackson Jr.

507
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:21,960
Speaker 1: Was having a monster defensive game at the rim, Desmond

508
00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:24,800
Speaker 1: Bain had a really nice offensive game. He's got this

509
00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:27,800
Speaker 1: like running scoop shot lay up off the glass at

510
00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:30,840
Speaker 1: full speed where he's not even going at the rim.

511
00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:33,360
Speaker 1: He's going like parallel to the rim, and he can

512
00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:35,960
Speaker 1: just he has this touch going off the backboard as

513
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:39,880
Speaker 1: he's flying out past the baseline. That is just ridiculous

514
00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:41,320
Speaker 1: and it allows him to kind of use that off

515
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:43,919
Speaker 1: arm to create space and make that scoop shot. He

516
00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:46,840
Speaker 1: was great in this game. They were up by seventeen,

517
00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:49,879
Speaker 1: and I tweeted at one point while I was watching

518
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:52,199
Speaker 1: the game, I'm like, you know, Memphis is punching him

519
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:56,520
Speaker 1: in the mouth, Philly's slapping back. At a certain point,

520
00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:59,359
Speaker 1: They're gonna have to fight in this game physically, and

521
00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:02,520
Speaker 1: I'll admit I was not optimistic that they would. You know,

522
00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:05,080
Speaker 1: both James Harden and Joel Embid have shown a little

523
00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:07,160
Speaker 1: bit of a tendency to back down from that type

524
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:10,440
Speaker 1: of confrontation over the years, but both of them were

525
00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:13,800
Speaker 1: absolutely fantastic leading the comeback. And it wasn't just then.

526
00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:16,040
Speaker 1: There are a couple other guys. Tobias Harris was great

527
00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:19,679
Speaker 1: and made some big offensive rebound plays. Had a hit

528
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,679
Speaker 1: a couple of crucial corner threes. Tyrese Maxie had a

529
00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:24,919
Speaker 1: rough shooting night, but he made some plays in transition

530
00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:28,080
Speaker 1: that like like quick runouts in transition that stemmed runs.

531
00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:30,879
Speaker 1: So those guys helped obviously in a lot of ways.

532
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:34,879
Speaker 1: But James Harden just with his classic shot creation and

533
00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:38,480
Speaker 1: Joel Embid just diverting his energy towards protecting the rim.

534
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:42,080
Speaker 1: They slowed the game down, executed on both ends of

535
00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:48,280
Speaker 1: the floor, and won the game pretty comfortably. Like even

536
00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:49,840
Speaker 1: when the game was close down the stretch, they were

537
00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:51,359
Speaker 1: just getting better shots. And we're gonna get to that

538
00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:52,720
Speaker 1: in a little bit when we get to the Grizzlies.

539
00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:56,119
Speaker 1: But James Harden finished with thirty one, seven and seven

540
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:59,800
Speaker 1: on sixteen shots. Hit counts, make countless big plays. There's

541
00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:02,639
Speaker 1: a assive corner three he hit in the fourth quarter

542
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:04,680
Speaker 1: to rescue a possession at the end of the shot

543
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:08,679
Speaker 1: clock that took away a big play from Memphis. He

544
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:11,560
Speaker 1: had a bunch of big plays driving to the rim,

545
00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:14,080
Speaker 1: just getting his head downhill and beating people off the dribble.

546
00:28:14,240 --> 00:28:16,520
Speaker 1: He's had a fantastic season. I've talked about that at

547
00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:19,400
Speaker 1: nauseum Joel Embid couldn't make a shot to save his life,

548
00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:21,320
Speaker 1: but he had some big ones down the stretch, including

549
00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:23,400
Speaker 1: a big shot at the free throw line. But most importantly,

550
00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:25,080
Speaker 1: like I said, he shut down the Rim as a

551
00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:27,640
Speaker 1: Rim protector. There's a big play where he stepped over

552
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:31,680
Speaker 1: to help and then came back to the rim. I'm

553
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 1: planking on his name, but the backup center for the

554
00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:37,080
Speaker 1: backup center for Memphis, the one who has been playing

555
00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:40,200
Speaker 1: off Steven Adams minutes, he came back in and blocked

556
00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:42,320
Speaker 1: him at the rim. And then there was this ridiculous

557
00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:46,320
Speaker 1: play where John Morand tried to elevate through the damn

558
00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:49,880
Speaker 1: ceiling to dunk on Joel Embiid, and Joel Embead just

559
00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:53,320
Speaker 1: completely palmed it and through John Morand to the ground.

560
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:57,200
Speaker 1: It was it was a remarkable defensive performance down the

561
00:28:57,200 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 1: stretch from Joel Embid, and it was you know, that's

562
00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:03,040
Speaker 1: a team Memphis that relentlessly attacks the rim and Joel

563
00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,360
Speaker 1: Embid shutting down the Rims shut down their offense down

564
00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:09,520
Speaker 1: the stretch of this game. I was really impressed by

565
00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:13,880
Speaker 1: the fight that Philly showed, like the Grizzlies directly went

566
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:18,760
Speaker 1: at them mentally and tried to snatch their heart, and

567
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:22,280
Speaker 1: rather than laying there and taking it, they fought back

568
00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 1: and won. And it's funny because the Sixers have been

569
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:28,280
Speaker 1: the best team in the league since December six They're

570
00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:31,120
Speaker 1: twenty seven and seven. That's a sixty five win pace.

571
00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:34,920
Speaker 1: That's nearly a half season sample size, and the Nuggets

572
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:37,680
Speaker 1: are second during that span, a game and a half

573
00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:40,080
Speaker 1: back of them. So the Sixers have been comfortably the

574
00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:42,880
Speaker 1: best team in the league for a while. But my

575
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,640
Speaker 1: one concern was do Joel Embiid and James Harden and

576
00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:49,040
Speaker 1: have what it takes to maintain that level of play

577
00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:51,000
Speaker 1: in the postseason, which they've struggled with in the past,

578
00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 1: And to me, what I saw today demonstrates to me

579
00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:57,960
Speaker 1: that they might be ready for that fight this time,

580
00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:00,640
Speaker 1: because it's going to be a fight for two months

581
00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:02,800
Speaker 1: and they've got the talent to do it. But they

582
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,880
Speaker 1: need those two guys to go down swinging, and I

583
00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:09,520
Speaker 1: believe that they're showing us that they intend to, and

584
00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:12,920
Speaker 1: that's exciting for the Sixers. The Grizzlies late game offense

585
00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:14,960
Speaker 1: completely fell apart again. They were up twelve with eight

586
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:18,160
Speaker 1: minutes and thirty six seconds left, but down the stretch,

587
00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:20,760
Speaker 1: it was just John more charging into a packed paint

588
00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:22,920
Speaker 1: on one end of the floor, and on the other

589
00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:25,520
Speaker 1: end of the floor it's James Harden, Joel Embide pick

590
00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:29,480
Speaker 1: and roll consistently getting great shots. So of course, when

591
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:31,960
Speaker 1: the game slowed down and stuck in the half court late,

592
00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:34,800
Speaker 1: Philly got better shots. They outscored them twenty one to

593
00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:37,080
Speaker 1: fourteen over the last eight eight and a half minutes

594
00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:39,440
Speaker 1: of the game, and they won. This is something I've

595
00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:44,200
Speaker 1: talked about at like all season long with Cleveland and

596
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:48,520
Speaker 1: Memphis in the flow of the game, they can have

597
00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:50,880
Speaker 1: a certain amount of success because of their defensive talent

598
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,640
Speaker 1: on both for both of the teams, and because their

599
00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:56,320
Speaker 1: guards can make plays. John Morey, you know, Darius Garland

600
00:30:56,440 --> 00:31:00,360
Speaker 1: and Donovan Mitchell, But outside of those three guys, both

601
00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:03,160
Speaker 1: teams are just about devoid of offensive skill as it

602
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:06,000
Speaker 1: pertains to shot creation. Desmond Baine, to me, is an

603
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,840
Speaker 1: off ball player primarily, so as a result, when teams

604
00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:11,960
Speaker 1: can slow them down and trap them in the half court,

605
00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:15,440
Speaker 1: you've got small guards to attack when you're attacking them,

606
00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:17,960
Speaker 1: and when they're coming at you, you can ignore most

607
00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:22,080
Speaker 1: of their off ball players to pack the paint, and

608
00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:25,360
Speaker 1: it's way too much pressure on their guards to make

609
00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:27,720
Speaker 1: plays down the stretch. That is why they've struggled against

610
00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:31,360
Speaker 1: winning teams all season long, and they're going to have

611
00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:33,760
Speaker 1: to overcome that conundrum for me to take them seriously

612
00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:38,080
Speaker 1: despite their really effective regular season records. All right, guys,

613
00:31:38,080 --> 00:31:39,640
Speaker 1: that's all I have for tonight's schedule for the rest

614
00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:43,480
Speaker 1: of the week. Tomorrow Night's games, I'm covering on Saturday morning,

615
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:47,040
Speaker 1: and then we will have a show on Sunday afternoon

616
00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:50,920
Speaker 1: after Maverick's Lakers, breaking down Saturday evenings games as well

617
00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:55,680
Speaker 1: as the Sunday afternoon ABC Slate. It's gonna be a

618
00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:58,040
Speaker 1: whole lot of this, guys for the next four months,

619
00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:02,120
Speaker 1: just game breakdowns, reactions in the weeds of the footage.

620
00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:05,400
Speaker 1: I am very, very excited. This is my favorite time

621
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:07,400
Speaker 1: of year. I'm excited to go on this journey with

622
00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:09,360
Speaker 1: you guys. As always, I appreciate you rocking with me,

623
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:19,680
Speaker 1: and I'll see you guys tomorrow. The volume