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Speaker 1: responsible gambling resources. All right, welcome to Hoop tonight. You're

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Speaker 1: at the volume. Happy Monday, everybody, help all of you. Guys.

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Speaker 1: Had an incredible weekend. It's good to be back. Love skiing.

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Speaker 1: Park City was like blizzard conditions the entire time we

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Speaker 1: were there, so it was kind of challenging skiing tons

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Speaker 1: of powder, visibility, stuff like that, but it was great

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Speaker 1: to spend some time with family. I'm actually heading out

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Speaker 1: again on Saturday, this time with my friends to go

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Speaker 1: up the Breckrage. Very very excited about that. But we're

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Speaker 1: in town for the normal week this entire week. It's

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Speaker 1: gonna be pretty straightforward today for a Monday show, I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna hit a couple of instant reactions. We're gonna react

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Speaker 1: to Bucks Kings from last night, an absolutely wild game

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Speaker 1: capped off by a Damian Lillard game winner. Then we're

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Speaker 1: gonna talk about the Clippers and the Timberwolves, an interesting

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Speaker 1: matchup that I thought taught us a lot about the

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Speaker 1: Clippers potentially as it pertains to playoff matchups. And then,

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Speaker 1: last but not least, at the end of the show,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna be doing our latest edition of Power Rankings.

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Speaker 1: You guys are the Joe Porba get started. Subscribe to

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Speaker 1: our brand new YouTube channel. It mean a lot to

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Speaker 1: me if you guys would take a second to scroll

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Speaker 1: down and hit that subscribe button. Don't forget about our

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Speaker 1: podcast feeds. Wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops tonight

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Speaker 1: follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lt so you

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Speaker 1: guys don't miss any show announcements or the film threads

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Speaker 1: that I do this morning to two long film threads

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Speaker 1: on the two games that we're covering today. And then last, finally,

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Speaker 1: don't forget to keep dropping mail bag questions in YouTube comments.

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Speaker 1: I plan on hitting some mailbag questions intomorrow's show, so

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Speaker 1: drop them in the comments of this video so that

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Speaker 1: we can get to them and tomorrow show. Remember that's

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Speaker 1: the way that you guys can kind of direct the

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Speaker 1: show in your guys' directions. Specific teams you guys want

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Speaker 1: to talk about specific non basketball things. You guys want

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Speaker 1: to talk about. That's what the mailbags are for. That's

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Speaker 1: where I want to be more interactive. All right, let's

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Speaker 1: talk some basketball. So Bucks Kings, very weird basketball game.

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Speaker 1: Keegan Murray leaves early with an injury, it doesn't come

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Speaker 1: out for the second half. The Bucks run a ton

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Speaker 1: of zone. They on the season typically run fewer than

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Speaker 1: four possessions of zone defense per game. Now they've dabbled

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Speaker 1: in it here or there as they've been trying to

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Speaker 1: figure out a way to play defense with this group,

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Speaker 1: but it's never been anything that they've leaned super heavily into.

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Speaker 1: And last night, after they gave up thirty seven points

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Speaker 1: in the first quarter, they ran zone thirty three times

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Speaker 1: in the second, third, fourth quarter, and in overtime. It

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Speaker 1: basically was their base defense at that point forward. They

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Speaker 1: were in man and transition situations or after missed shots,

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Speaker 1: but basically any dead ball or made basket, the Bucks

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Speaker 1: were dropping into the zone. And it was a really

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Speaker 1: bizarre game. The Kings basically had the game one. In overtime,

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Speaker 1: Malik Monk randomly missed two free throws. He's eighty five

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Speaker 1: percent free throw shooter. He missed two free throws down

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Speaker 1: the stretch, and then Deer and Fox, who's a seventy

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Speaker 1: three percent free throw shooter, he misses one as well.

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Speaker 1: Next thing you know, Brook Lopez hits a corner three

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Speaker 1: in transition, and Damian Lillard bombs a three at the buzzer,

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Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, the Bucks won. But there's

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Speaker 1: that's typical regular season weirdness. That's the kind of thing

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Speaker 1: that can happen, right, But there was a lot of

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Speaker 1: interesting basketball in there from both teams that I want

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Speaker 1: to dive into. So let's start with Milwaukee's zone. Now

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Speaker 1: it's I'm not sure if they're calling it, and I

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Speaker 1: haven't done the appropriate digging in terms of like searching

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Speaker 1: through to see if any Bucks beat reporter as asked

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Speaker 1: one of the coaching staff about it or not. But

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Speaker 1: judging from the tape, it looks like either a two

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Speaker 1: to one to two or a two three where the

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Speaker 1: big man, the low the center who's typically underneath the

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Speaker 1: basket is playing much higher up at like the foul line.

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Speaker 1: To you know, show on any sort of guy coming

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Speaker 1: off of a screen at the top of the key

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Speaker 1: to try to contest or to prevent the high post touch,

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Speaker 1: which is usually a dangerous part in a two three zone, right,

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Speaker 1: But I'm not really concerned with necessarily what it's called.

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Speaker 1: Just schematically, that's what it looks like. Two guys at

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Speaker 1: the top, two guys in the corners, and then that center,

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Speaker 1: instead of being directly under the rim, was playing up

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Speaker 1: around the foul line. But it was an incredibly sloppy zone.

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Speaker 1: The Bucks players didn't really seem to know who to

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Speaker 1: guard or how to rotate when any sort of player

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Speaker 1: movement happened. One of the specific themes that kept happening,

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Speaker 1: and I clipped like a half dozen examples of this,

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Speaker 1: but when the Kings would just cut a guy through

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Speaker 1: to the opposite side of the floor. So let's say

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Speaker 1: Kevin Herder on the right wing and the ball is

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Speaker 1: on the left wing, and he'll just cut through, and

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Speaker 1: like the guy for the Bucks in that you know,

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Speaker 1: right side corner is kind of pointing like someone else's

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Speaker 1: got to go get him, and no one would get him,

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Speaker 1: And because Brooke would be up at the foul line,

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Speaker 1: they would just drop the ball underneath the basket for

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Speaker 1: Herder for a lamp or one of the guys would

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Speaker 1: run with that guy, but no one would kind of

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Speaker 1: rotate around and then they'd give up a wide open

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Speaker 1: shot on the wing or in the corner. It was

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Speaker 1: just it was kind of sloppy in that sense. Basically,

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Speaker 1: anytime the Kings cut a man through the zone, they scored.

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Speaker 1: Anytime the Kings went with like an odd front. There's

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Speaker 1: a play where, like, you know, Malik Monk had the

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Speaker 1: ball on the right wing and Darreon Fox is on

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Speaker 1: the left wing, and Malik Beasley's just face guarding him

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Speaker 1: and Dame's on the ball, and Kevin Herder just kind

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Speaker 1: of settles right at the top of the key in

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Speaker 1: between those two guys, and because Malik's off ball face

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Speaker 1: guarding Darren Fox, and because Dame is on the ball,

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Speaker 1: there's just nobody there and Brook, even at the foul line,

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Speaker 1: isn't in a position to contest or just toss it

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Speaker 1: over to Kevin Herder and he makes a three. That said,

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Speaker 1: one of the reasons why the Bucks were able to

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Speaker 1: stick in the zone as long as they did is

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Speaker 1: the Kings did not do a really good job of

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Speaker 1: attacking it by maintaining those specific things player movement, odd

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Speaker 1: man fronts to try to take advantage of the two

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Speaker 1: man front in the zone. Right for the most part,

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Speaker 1: they just kind of set up in their four out

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Speaker 1: kind of a dynamic where they have a shooter in

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Speaker 1: each corner and shooter on the wing, ball handler on

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Speaker 1: the opposite wing, and they just have sa bonus come

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Speaker 1: screen the top man. And so they took a lot

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Speaker 1: of like kind of contested floaters in mid range jump shots,

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Speaker 1: which just on a points per possession basis, aren't super valuable.

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Speaker 1: So even though the Bucks ran thirty five possessions of

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Speaker 1: a zone and only gave up thirty four points in

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Speaker 1: the numbers, it seems fine, But when it came down

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Speaker 1: to the end of the game situations when they needed

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Speaker 1: to get stops, it was just really easy for darreon

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Speaker 1: Fox to just come off of that top ball screen

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Speaker 1: brook Is sitting back, shoot that little floater over the top,

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Speaker 1: or shoot that little short mid range jump shot. So

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Speaker 1: to get to that when we talk big picture, Bucks,

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Speaker 1: because this is not a team I think that can

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Speaker 1: get away with running massive amounts of zone I just

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Speaker 1: don't think it'll work against really really good playoff offenses.

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Speaker 1: But in this small sample size, it actually ended up

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Speaker 1: being one of their more effective defenses up until the

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Speaker 1: end of the game when they really needed to get stops.

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Speaker 1: And so what's interesting I had what I was doing

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Speaker 1: my film thread this morning, there was a Bucks fan,

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Speaker 1: I believe a Bucks fan who commented on Twitter and

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Speaker 1: they were asking, like, Hey, why do you think the

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Speaker 1: Bucks went to the zone? Do you think it was

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Speaker 1: just because they were sick of tired, sick and tired

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Speaker 1: of chasing the King's guards around and they just wanted

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Speaker 1: to not have to do that anymore. And the reality is, like,

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Speaker 1: I think that was the idea. Like, I think the

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Speaker 1: idea was, how do we make it so that Buck

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Speaker 1: so that Brooke is always at the rim for every

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Speaker 1: single one of these deer and Fox and Malik Monk,

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Speaker 1: you know, ball screens basically or at least not necessarily

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Speaker 1: at the rim, but waiting in help so that at

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Speaker 1: least if Dame or Malik gets beat so over the

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Speaker 1: top of the screen, at least he's running into another body.

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Speaker 1: Just by the configuration of the defense, all of the

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Speaker 1: damage they were having at the rim where they were

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Speaker 1: getting wide open layups and back cuts and things like that,

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Speaker 1: they were cuts. It was it was guys cutting behind Brooke,

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Speaker 1: but it was not a typical layup line of Deer

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Speaker 1: and Fox and Malik Monk getting downhill because of the

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Speaker 1: configuration of the zone. That's why they did it. That said,

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Speaker 1: it still has a very similar job in the sense

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Speaker 1: that if you don't have Malik Monk or excuse me,

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Speaker 1: Malik Beasley or Damian Lillard doing a good job chasing

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Speaker 1: over the top, then those guys are getting really comfortable

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Speaker 1: floaters in push shots, which are kind of typical drop

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Speaker 1: coverage dynamics anyway. Right, So, like when push came to

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Speaker 1: shove at the end of the game, is dame in

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Speaker 1: particular that Deer and Fox kept going at and just

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Speaker 1: getting wide open easy shots in rhythm against Milwaukee and

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Speaker 1: Brook Lopez kind of sitting in that drop in the zone, right,

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Speaker 1: And this is where I want to kind of draw

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Speaker 1: a dynamic between the diffference between like effort related issues

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Speaker 1: and personnel related issues, because it was interesting watching this

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Speaker 1: game because there were dozens of opportunities for Damian Lillard

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Speaker 1: and Malik be easily to chase over the top of

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Speaker 1: a screen in their zone to try to funnel guys

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Speaker 1: into Brook Lopez. Now, one of the concepts we talk

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Speaker 1: about a lot on the show is the idea of

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Speaker 1: back pressure. Right, So in that bracketing coverage, right, I'm

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Speaker 1: chasing over the top of the screen, Brooke is waiting.

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Speaker 1: So we're the two ends of the coverage. But if

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Speaker 1: there's only one end of the coverage, which is Brooke

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Speaker 1: offering some sort of contest, then the on ball player,

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Speaker 1: the ball handler, is not concerned about what's going on

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Speaker 1: behind him, and so basically when he gets over the

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Speaker 1: top of the screen, he can kind of get into

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Speaker 1: his bag and he's comfortable. And now it's like I've

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Speaker 1: talked about so many times on the show. Now it's

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Speaker 1: like a shooting drill. Now it's like when darreon Fox

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Speaker 1: is in the gym by himself over the summer, and

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Speaker 1: he's coming off of, you know, one of his trainers

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Speaker 1: as a fake ball screen and kind of settling into

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Speaker 1: that easy shot that he likes to take there in

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Speaker 1: the short range when the back side bracket is included. Now,

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Speaker 1: when he comes off of that screen, he's not comfortable

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Speaker 1: because he's worried about what's happening behind him and worried

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Speaker 1: about what's happening in front of him. It becomes a

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Speaker 1: much more complicated dynamic. And you know, Malik Beasley has

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Speaker 1: got a lot of flak this year, and he has

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Speaker 1: some limitations. Well, interestingly enough, like Malik Beasley's actually a

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Speaker 1: pretty good athlete. Like he's got quickness, he's got you know,

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Speaker 1: a little bit of vertical pop, He's got some of

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Speaker 1: that stuff. He's a little undersized, right like that that

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Speaker 1: he's not a very big guard, but he's capable of

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Speaker 1: doing a better job than what we've seen for the

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Speaker 1: most part this season. To Malik Beasley's credit, as he

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Speaker 1: said in his postgame pressers, like he's like, no, no,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna figure this out. We don't need a trade,

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Speaker 1: Like we just need to figure out how to play

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Speaker 1: defense as a group. And he's putting his money where

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Speaker 1: his mouth is from the same point of effort he

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Speaker 1: really is. He's trunk. Like most of most of Malik's

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Speaker 1: issues are focus related. There were like three or four

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Speaker 1: clips that I put in that thread today where it's

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Speaker 1: like he's just not paying attention, or he's not seeing

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Speaker 1: man in ball, or like there's the occasional possession he'll

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Speaker 1: take off. But you can see him trying, and so

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Speaker 1: I wanted to highlight two plays to kind of demonstrate

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Speaker 1: to you guys the difference in effort versus just conceding

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Speaker 1: that at the point of attack. And it's two Dearon

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Speaker 1: Fox shots, and both of these plays are in that

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Speaker 1: thread on my Twitter feed at underscore jsonltiser, guys, I

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Speaker 1: want you guys to see that. So Malik Beasley on

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Speaker 1: the ball, so Bonus is coming to set the screen.

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Speaker 1: Darren Fox has the ball. They're out further away from

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Speaker 1: the basket, probably like thirty five feet from the rim,

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Speaker 1: and Malik Beasley's trying to deny him the use of

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Speaker 1: the ball screen, so he's sitting up high on the

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Speaker 1: ball screen trying to force Dearon Fox to go back

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Speaker 1: towards his right hand right. So Dearon Fox does what

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Speaker 1: every good guard does when they want to set their

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Speaker 1: man up for a screen, so he takes a hard

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Speaker 1: dribble towards his right and then does it behind the

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Speaker 1: back dribble to then go use the screen, basically getting

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Speaker 1: Malik to abandon his deny position and try to get

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Speaker 1: back in front of Dearon Fox so that he can

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Speaker 1: beat him back over the top of the screen, which

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Speaker 1: he does right, but Malik, instead of giving up on

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Speaker 1: the play, uses kind of like a nifty spin move

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Speaker 1: to get underneath the screen and gets back in front

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Speaker 1: of Darren Fox. Darren Fox, though, when he comes off

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Speaker 1: the screen, he's screaming downhill with that left hand drive,

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Speaker 1: so he gets all the way down past the foul line,

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Speaker 1: and when Beasley gets back into the play, Darren Fox

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Speaker 1: is almost surprised, and on the play, Darren Fox takes

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Speaker 1: his power dribble Emlik. Beasley takes the contact in his

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Speaker 1: chest and goes flying and like literally he's out of

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Speaker 1: the play, and Darren Fox ends up standing completely unguarded

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Speaker 1: ten feet from the basket and he's like, oh shit,

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Speaker 1: I'm wide open, and he takes this like weird left

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Speaker 1: handed Yeah he's a lefty, but he takes this weird

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Speaker 1: little short jump shot that looks just kind of like

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Speaker 1: a break rhythm jump shot, and he misses it. And

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Speaker 1: what's interesting to me about that play is even though

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Speaker 1: it was a wide open shot, it was a disrupted

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Speaker 1: rhythm shot because Malik fought to get back into the play,

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Speaker 1: put his body on the line and throw off the

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Speaker 1: entire rhythm of Daron Fox's attack in the pick and roll,

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Speaker 1: so that even when he got a good look, it

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Speaker 1: wasn't a good look that he typically practices, and so

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Speaker 1: it was just weird like he was in an NBA

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Speaker 1: game in the I think it was in the fourth

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Speaker 1: quarter too, and he's just rising up completely unguarded at

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Speaker 1: ten feet. It was just weird like it, and off

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Speaker 1: of the different footwork and kind of handled than he expected.

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Speaker 1: Right now, I want to fast forward and we'll come

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Speaker 1: back to that plane a second. Now, I want to

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Speaker 1: fast forward to the final minutes. Bucks are off by five,

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Speaker 1: I think, with like a minute and a half left

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Speaker 1: or something, same exact setup in the zone. Damian Lillard

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Speaker 1: is this as the guy that's on ball this time

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Speaker 1: and Darren Fox, which, by the way, was because of

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Speaker 1: the way it was organized in their zone, whether or

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Speaker 1: not Fox or Beasily was on ball was typically just

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Speaker 1: based on which side of the floor of the Kings

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Speaker 1: decided to attack from right. So on this play, Darren

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Speaker 1: Fox comes off the ball screen and Dame just concedes

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Speaker 1: it so like kind of sort of takes a lunch

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Speaker 1: step to kind of get over the top of the screen.

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Speaker 1: But once Daron actually beats him over the top, he

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Speaker 1: literally stops playing, and so because he stops playing, Darren Fox,

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Speaker 1: completely unconcerned with what's happening behind him, kind of goes

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Speaker 1: into this like nifty rhythm pull up fifteen footer brook

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Speaker 1: Lopez actually gets a better contest on it, a much

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Speaker 1: better contest than on the wide open one that Malik

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Speaker 1: Beasley made him take earlier. Right, The difference is that

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Speaker 1: little pull up fifteen foot jump shot that Darren Fox

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Speaker 1: took is the kind of shot he practices all summer,

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Speaker 1: the same footwork, the same handle and everything that he

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Speaker 1: practices all summer. Because Dame did nothing to break his

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Speaker 1: rhythm as he's fighting over the top of the screen.

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Speaker 1: So I thought it was a really interesting kind of

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Speaker 1: example of two different plays, like one play where Beasley

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Speaker 1: kind of gave up an open shot and one play

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Speaker 1: where Dane gave up a contested shot but because of

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Speaker 1: back pressure, one shot was missed and the other shot

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Speaker 1: was not. One play, Malik Beasley disrupts rhythm and forces

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Speaker 1: a miss. The other play, Damian Lillard does nothing to

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Speaker 1: disrupt rhythm and Darren Fox makes a tough shot. Again,

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Speaker 1: like we always focus on shot ras and we look

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Speaker 1: at all these different things, but more often than not,

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Speaker 1: it's cana defense disrupture rhythm, because if they can disrupture rhythm,

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Speaker 1: that will lead to differences in shot results, something that

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Speaker 1: we talk about all the time on the show, and

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Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about again when we get to Clippers

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Speaker 1: Wolves later, because they didn't shoot. The Clippers didn't shoot

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Speaker 1: particularly well, and a lot of Clippers fans, even the

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Speaker 1: Clippers broadcast, was like, oh, you know, the Clippers are

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Speaker 1: just not shooting well, and it's like, are you watching

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Speaker 1: what Minnesota is doing to disrupt rhythm? Actually, there was

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Speaker 1: a there was a specific clip that I pulled in

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Speaker 1: the Clippers Wolves thread. That's another great example of back pressure,

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Speaker 1: this time actually by Terrence Man on Anthony Edwards. And

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Speaker 1: one of the interesting things that Terrence Man did right

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Speaker 1: as he was running over the top of the screen,

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Speaker 1: he swipes around the back and clips some of the basketball.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't actually get a steal, but make sure Aunt

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Speaker 1: knows he's there. Then as Aunt is going downhill, Terrence

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Speaker 1: Man reaches out and just puts his left hand on

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Speaker 1: Ant's hip. He's touching it, And I thought it was

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Speaker 1: a really interesting example of like disrupting rhythm, because all

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Speaker 1: that's doing is it's freaking Ant out, you know, in

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Speaker 1: terms of his decision making process in a really short

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Speaker 1: period of time, because he's like, oh shit, like tears

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Speaker 1: a man's right behind me, right, and on that play,

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Speaker 1: Ant drives like headlong into Daniel Tyson, gets stripped and

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Speaker 1: turns the ball over. And that's kind of a great

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Speaker 1: example of what I'm talking about. Like the hand on

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Speaker 1: the hip. That's not going to actually cause Ant to

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Speaker 1: miss a shot if he decides to rise up and shoot,

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Speaker 1: but what it does is it gets in the ball

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Speaker 1: handler's head. It starts to disrupt their typical decision making process.

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Speaker 1: It's such an important part of any sort of a

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Speaker 1: coverage that involves a big man waiting in ball screens

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Speaker 1: to help at the rim. Now, one of the big

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Speaker 1: reasons why I brought this particular example up and went

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Speaker 1: into such detail is this is where I want to

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Speaker 1: talk about the Bucks defense in the big picture, because

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Speaker 1: they beat the Celtics the other night, right, And what

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Speaker 1: was really interesting to me about that game was early

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Speaker 1: on in the game, Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown kind

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Speaker 1: of co opted the offense and they were really really

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Speaker 1: hunting their own shot, and they were constantly settling for

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Speaker 1: these tough mid range jump shots over Chris Middleton and Giannis, who,

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Speaker 1: by the way, in a matt just purely from a

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Speaker 1: matchup standpoint, Tatum on Middleton or Brown on Giannis or

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Speaker 1: vice versa is not actually as good of a matchup

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Speaker 1: as Derek White or Drew Holliday against Damian Lillard and

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Speaker 1: Malik Beasley. That's where those matchups are. And so what

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Speaker 1: I thought was really interesting about that is, like we've

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Speaker 1: talked a lot about We've talked a lot about Boston's

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Speaker 1: offensive approach, right and whether or not they're they're like

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Speaker 1: gonna be able to out execute a lot of these teams.

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Speaker 1: And that was an interesting example to me in a

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Speaker 1: Boston Milwaukee matchup of like, yeah, we talked a lot

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Speaker 1: about Malik Beasley and Damian Lillard is perimeter defenders, But

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Speaker 1: what if Boston's not deliberate enough to attack those guys,

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Speaker 1: and what if they do have Jalen Brown and Jason

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Speaker 1: Tatum just constantly try to attack better defenders and that

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Speaker 1: leads to problems for them. But we're gonna get to

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Speaker 1: that a little bit more in a little bit when

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Speaker 1: we talk about the Boston Celtics matchup, which I want

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Speaker 1: to get to later on in the show, but specifically, though,

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Speaker 1: to win four playoff series, you're probably gonna have to

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Speaker 1: go through a skill guard of some kind. Like let's

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Speaker 1: say you beat Boston and you end up in a

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Speaker 1: series against Denver. Who's the guy that you're putting on

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Speaker 1: Jamal Murray? Right, So, like this is a consistent issue

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Speaker 1: that we're gonna see, and what I find encouraging about

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Speaker 1: it is Malik is trying and Dame is capable of

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Speaker 1: playing a hell of a lot better than he did.

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Speaker 1: Thought like, Dame saved the day he made the bomb,

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Speaker 1: he made the prayer. He won the game, but they

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Speaker 1: should have lost, and if Sacramento makes their free throws,

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Speaker 1: they lose. And Dame had a huge role to play

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Speaker 1: in that down the stretch because he wasn't even trying.

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Speaker 1: There were I talked about the one at the end

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Speaker 1: of regulation, there's another one in overtime that's like borderline embarrassing.

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Speaker 1: And I clipped that play and I put it on

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Speaker 1: my Twitter feed again, a two point game in overtime,

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Speaker 1: and Dame is just like, nah, I'm not even gonna

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Speaker 1: get back in the play, Like I'm just like he

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Speaker 1: just there's like almost no effort taking place there. And

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Speaker 1: like this is where it gets interesting, because like I,

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Speaker 1: I don't know that the Bucks have the assets necessarily

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Speaker 1: to go bring back a really high level two way

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Speaker 1: player to replace Malik Beasley. And Malik is shooting the

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Speaker 1: shit out of the basketball this year and attacking close

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Speaker 1: out as well, like Malik really is, and so at

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Speaker 1: a certain point, Malik Beasley just kind of getting better

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Speaker 1: at this might be the best hope for Milwaukee in

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Speaker 1: the long run. That said, it's going to require two things.

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Speaker 1: They're going to have to get more effort from Dame

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Speaker 1: and maybe this is just handling the you know, eating

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Speaker 1: regular season innings, so to speak, but when they get

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Speaker 1: to the postseason, at least Dame is going to have

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Speaker 1: to at least try to do some of this stuff.

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Speaker 1: Doesn't have to do a ton of it, but he's

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Speaker 1: gonna have to do a better job than he's been doing.

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Speaker 1: And then secondly, on offense, they're going to have to

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Speaker 1: reach that Denver esque level of inevitability because I don't

428
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:18,080
Speaker 1: think this team is fast enough on the perimeter. Defensively,

429
00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:21,000
Speaker 1: to be a dominant defense, right, this is where I

430
00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:24,800
Speaker 1: want to get to the Bucks offense down the stretch.

431
00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:28,520
Speaker 1: So once again they closed with a lot of Dame

432
00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:32,000
Speaker 1: Giannis pick and roll and Sacramento was blitzing them for

433
00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:35,520
Speaker 1: the most part. And there you know, at first Dame

434
00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:37,159
Speaker 1: was having some trouble with the blitz because they were

435
00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:40,040
Speaker 1: doing a really aggressive job blitzing him and preventing that

436
00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:42,720
Speaker 1: easy pass. But then Dame countered that by using a

437
00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:45,600
Speaker 1: nice mix of like swing passes along the perimeter to

438
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:50,359
Speaker 1: make the role man pass or at one point he

439
00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:52,520
Speaker 1: used like a really nifty reverse pivot to kind of

440
00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:56,080
Speaker 1: get out of that mess. But like basically with the blitz,

441
00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:59,280
Speaker 1: they were generating these short role opportunities for Giannis. And

442
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:01,439
Speaker 1: then from there there were two things that stood out

443
00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:03,600
Speaker 1: to me. One a little bit of indecisiveness from Yannis.

444
00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:06,240
Speaker 1: Like there was a play where Pat Connaton's wide open

445
00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:08,200
Speaker 1: in the corner and he like didn't want to throw

446
00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:10,919
Speaker 1: it to him, and then like he hesitated, and then

447
00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:12,520
Speaker 1: he did finally throw it to him, but he threw

448
00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:14,840
Speaker 1: it way too high and so the advantage was gone.

449
00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:18,160
Speaker 1: And then like a couple possessions later, he does actually

450
00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:20,040
Speaker 1: throw the ball to Pat Content in the corner, but

451
00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:22,200
Speaker 1: he misses the three, and it's like he'd be in

452
00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:24,399
Speaker 1: rhythm if you just keep feeding him there. Like, trust me,

453
00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:27,119
Speaker 1: if your offense keeps generating wide open corner threes for

454
00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:29,000
Speaker 1: Pat Content, like you're gonna score a lot of points

455
00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:31,480
Speaker 1: like that. That's a shot he's going to hit at

456
00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:34,080
Speaker 1: over well over a point per possession. Right, they're a

457
00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:36,280
Speaker 1: little bit was like the layout of the floor, Like

458
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:38,920
Speaker 1: I've talked about this before, I really really like the

459
00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:43,400
Speaker 1: cleared side picking rolls for Damon Giannis. So like when

460
00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:45,679
Speaker 1: you clear the side, let's say Dame has the ball

461
00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:47,199
Speaker 1: on the left wing and Yanis comes and sets the

462
00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:49,399
Speaker 1: screen and he kind of short rolls off to the left,

463
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,359
Speaker 1: you know, elbow extended or left wing kind of short

464
00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:54,240
Speaker 1: range like twenty feet from the basket on the left

465
00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:56,520
Speaker 1: side of the floor. Then with the Kings, all their

466
00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:58,080
Speaker 1: health defenders are on the other side of the floor

467
00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:00,359
Speaker 1: or in the paint. And even if they're in the paint,

468
00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:03,440
Speaker 1: Giannis would have a head of steam going downhill towards them,

469
00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:06,800
Speaker 1: and so Dame Dame can bring the two defenders over

470
00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:08,440
Speaker 1: and just kind of hook a looping pass over the

471
00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:10,200
Speaker 1: top and Giannis can just kind of catch and rip

472
00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:12,000
Speaker 1: to his left. But they're running it in the middle

473
00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:13,880
Speaker 1: of the floor, and one of the things that sucks

474
00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:15,840
Speaker 1: about operating in the middle of the floor is it's

475
00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:17,560
Speaker 1: just really hard to see both sides of the floor.

476
00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:20,040
Speaker 1: There was a play that I clipped it and added

477
00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:22,960
Speaker 1: to that to that thread where Yanna's short rolls. It's

478
00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:24,760
Speaker 1: a Damianis pick and roll in the middle of the floor.

479
00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:28,239
Speaker 1: Blitz comes easy pocket pass. But on the play when

480
00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:33,160
Speaker 1: when Giannis catches it, Malik Monk is ignoring Malik Beasley

481
00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:35,159
Speaker 1: in the left corner and comes over to kind of

482
00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:37,240
Speaker 1: like help and like build a wall on Yannis and

483
00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:40,080
Speaker 1: Malik Beasley standing wide open in the corner, a guy

484
00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:42,960
Speaker 1: who's shooting what dam you're fifty percent from three this year, right,

485
00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,880
Speaker 1: and well over fifty percent in the last few games, right,

486
00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:49,320
Speaker 1: And Giannas just doesn't see it because it's behind him,

487
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:51,960
Speaker 1: and he ends up dribbling into the lane and taking

488
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:53,680
Speaker 1: one of those you know, kind of hook shots that

489
00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:55,840
Speaker 1: like a push floater in the lane from like twelve

490
00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:58,679
Speaker 1: feet out that he ends up missing. And that's an

491
00:23:58,680 --> 00:24:01,880
Speaker 1: example of what I'm talking about like it. Yeah, it's

492
00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:05,600
Speaker 1: it's true that if you run it on the cleared side,

493
00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:07,960
Speaker 1: the rotations are a little easier for the defense on

494
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:10,480
Speaker 1: the on the weak side, but that doesn't matter if

495
00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:14,200
Speaker 1: Jannis can't actually make the pass to that guy, right.

496
00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:17,280
Speaker 1: And so what I like about clearing the side is

497
00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:19,960
Speaker 1: it simplifies the decision making process, and any sort of

498
00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:23,359
Speaker 1: negative impact of making the defensive rotations easier because the

499
00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:26,320
Speaker 1: shooters are more closely packed on the weak side is

500
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:28,480
Speaker 1: undone by the fact that it's just easier to see.

501
00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:31,280
Speaker 1: It's just easier to see for Yannis in those situations.

502
00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:33,879
Speaker 1: And I clipped a bunch of examples of the Damianis

503
00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:35,720
Speaker 1: pick and roll, and like there were a bunch of

504
00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:40,720
Speaker 1: examples of them just not really being as as as

505
00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:43,840
Speaker 1: kind of locked in in terms of making the reads

506
00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:46,439
Speaker 1: as they could be. I talked about the Yannis missing

507
00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:49,359
Speaker 1: content in the corner. I talked about Yannis missing Malik

508
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:51,879
Speaker 1: Beasley in the corner. There was a play where Dame

509
00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:54,280
Speaker 1: just decided to snake the pick and roll, which means

510
00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:56,160
Speaker 1: he tried to get back over to the other side

511
00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:59,000
Speaker 1: after he went over the screen as Jannis was rolling,

512
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,280
Speaker 1: and they like ran into each other. There was a

513
00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:03,600
Speaker 1: play where they did run a clear side pick and

514
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:06,480
Speaker 1: roll for Giannis and Giannis was open on the left wing,

515
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,360
Speaker 1: and instead of Dame making the pass, he dribbled into

516
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:12,400
Speaker 1: traffic and forced a floater over four bodies and missed it.

517
00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:16,600
Speaker 1: Right point being like, they can get so much better

518
00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:19,960
Speaker 1: at this stuff, and so kind of to bring it

519
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:24,600
Speaker 1: all back into the big picture here, what's encouraging to

520
00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:28,639
Speaker 1: me about the Bucks is three things. One, Malik Beasley's trying,

521
00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,280
Speaker 1: and he can get way better at defense, so condemned

522
00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:37,080
Speaker 1: Dame is not trying yet, but he's capable. And as

523
00:25:37,119 --> 00:25:38,639
Speaker 1: a unit, I don't think they're gonna be able to

524
00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:41,080
Speaker 1: run zone, but I do think that they're capable of

525
00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:43,479
Speaker 1: at least getting to a higher level of defense than

526
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:47,200
Speaker 1: where they are currently. Two, their offense can still get

527
00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:51,600
Speaker 1: so much better. Sacramento flat out out executed Milwaukee down

528
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,360
Speaker 1: the stretch in this game in overtime zero zero. Basically,

529
00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:58,080
Speaker 1: the Kings outplayed him until they choked at the foul

530
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:01,320
Speaker 1: line like in a big part that was the Damiannis

531
00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:04,760
Speaker 1: pick and roll not quite generating the consistent offense that

532
00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,320
Speaker 1: it needed to generate. They can get better there. That's encouraging.

533
00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:11,120
Speaker 1: And then three, what we learned in that Celtics game,

534
00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:16,320
Speaker 1: which is like Boston definitely has the personnel to expose

535
00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:19,520
Speaker 1: all of Milwaukee's flaws and to beat them in a

536
00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:21,240
Speaker 1: seven gamer. I think they do. I think they're the

537
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:22,680
Speaker 1: personnel to do that every team in the league. I

538
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:26,720
Speaker 1: think they're the most talented roster. Right. Problem is will

539
00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:29,520
Speaker 1: they be diligent enough to do so? And I thought

540
00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:32,280
Speaker 1: that the Milwaukee Boston game where Milwaukee jumped them early,

541
00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:35,520
Speaker 1: heavy dose of pull up, tough jump shots from Tatum

542
00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:38,320
Speaker 1: and Brown early, not a lot of stuff through Derek

543
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:40,400
Speaker 1: White and Drew Holliday early to just try to get

544
00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:43,639
Speaker 1: the defense in rotation against Milwaukee's guards, and it was

545
00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:45,920
Speaker 1: a big part of how Milwaukee ran away with that game. Obviously,

546
00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:49,399
Speaker 1: schedule played a role Celtics fans. I'm fully aware it

547
00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:51,720
Speaker 1: was a really tough schedule back to back. I'm just

548
00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:55,000
Speaker 1: talking schematically. In that game, Boston didn't have a super

549
00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:57,879
Speaker 1: smart approach, and I think that's a great indicator of like,

550
00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:00,440
Speaker 1: if I was trying to make the case for how

551
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:05,639
Speaker 1: Boston and Milwaukee could go Milwaukee's way, it would be

552
00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:10,560
Speaker 1: Milwaukee reaches their individual defensive ceiling. The Damianis pick and

553
00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:14,800
Speaker 1: rolls unguardable and consistently generates high quality shots, and Boston

554
00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:17,040
Speaker 1: just has bad process. That would be how it would

555
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,560
Speaker 1: break down. And so again, an encouraging week of basketball

556
00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:23,399
Speaker 1: for the Milwaukee Bucks from the standpoint of like day one, undefeated,

557
00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:27,800
Speaker 1: you beat the Celtics, You've manhandled the Celtics. Encouraging stuff. Obviously,

558
00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:30,160
Speaker 1: getting a Damian Lillard game winning three is a big

559
00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:32,800
Speaker 1: deal for just you know, kind of legitimizing the trade

560
00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:35,800
Speaker 1: and showing why you trade for Damian Lillard. But there's

561
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:37,919
Speaker 1: just so much room for improvement. I choose to go

562
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:41,439
Speaker 1: positive there. There's so much more room for improvement for

563
00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,280
Speaker 1: this particular team. All right, the Kings, that is game

564
00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:48,040
Speaker 1: one again in regulation. They came back by getting stops

565
00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:50,520
Speaker 1: in the half court against the Damianis pick and roll,

566
00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:52,840
Speaker 1: and by Deer and Fox getting buckets. On the other end.

567
00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:54,960
Speaker 1: I talked about the ones against Dame and his little

568
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,600
Speaker 1: drop coverage game tying shot was kind of a transition

569
00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:01,360
Speaker 1: possession and it was really interesting. Good defense from Milwaukee

570
00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:03,840
Speaker 1: because you're down two or you're up to so you

571
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:06,879
Speaker 1: just don't want to lose like it's overtime, or or

572
00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:10,080
Speaker 1: win the game basically, right, And Yannis ended up picking

573
00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:12,680
Speaker 1: up Darren Fox in transition, and he had to press

574
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:14,760
Speaker 1: up on Darren Fox's Darren Fox is shooting the shit

575
00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:16,080
Speaker 1: out of pull up threes this year, so you got

576
00:28:16,119 --> 00:28:18,159
Speaker 1: to take that away. And then all the help defenders

577
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:20,080
Speaker 1: were glued up off the ball, as they should be

578
00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:21,560
Speaker 1: because you don't want to give up a three that

579
00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:23,560
Speaker 1: could beat you, right, But I just wanted to shout

580
00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:25,919
Speaker 1: out Darren Fox because he ended up getting an angle

581
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:28,520
Speaker 1: on Giannis and finishing above him at the rim, and

582
00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:30,240
Speaker 1: there's just not many players in the league who can

583
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:32,800
Speaker 1: do that against an athlete like Giannis. And then in

584
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:35,640
Speaker 1: overtime they out executed Milwaukee and then and just choke

585
00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:37,879
Speaker 1: the game away at the foul line. To put it simply,

586
00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:41,479
Speaker 1: that's just what happened. I mean, Darren Fox, uh, seventy

587
00:28:41,480 --> 00:28:43,600
Speaker 1: three percent shooter goes one for two, Milik Munk eighty

588
00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:47,320
Speaker 1: five percent shooter goes ohver two. So you know obviously

589
00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:49,360
Speaker 1: that that that's that's tough. That's tough way to lose

590
00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:51,360
Speaker 1: a game. And they're six and six in their last

591
00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:54,480
Speaker 1: twelve fifteenth in offense, sixteenth in defense. Over that span,

592
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:57,160
Speaker 1: Darren Fox has cooled off quite a bit. Darren Fox's

593
00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:00,719
Speaker 1: first twenty one games thirty points, four rebounds and six

594
00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:02,760
Speaker 1: assists on forty eight percent from the field and forty

595
00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:05,280
Speaker 1: percent from three. In this six and six stretch over

596
00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:08,520
Speaker 1: the last twelve, twenty five points per game, four rebounds

597
00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:10,920
Speaker 1: and five assists per game on forty four percent from

598
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:12,960
Speaker 1: the field and thirty seven percent from three. So Darren

599
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:16,080
Speaker 1: Fox is cooled off, but Demonus Bonas is playing at

600
00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:18,680
Speaker 1: the highest level of his career in my opinion, twenty

601
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:21,920
Speaker 1: three points, fourteen rebounds and nine assists over the last

602
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:25,120
Speaker 1: twelve games, sixty six percent from the field and fifty

603
00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:27,840
Speaker 1: six percent from three. And again, kind of looking a

604
00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:30,800
Speaker 1: big picture with the Kings, I trust Darren Fox in

605
00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:32,720
Speaker 1: the league Monk to be able to generate quality shots

606
00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:34,960
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, I do. They just need to bracket

607
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:38,720
Speaker 1: their defense properly. Again, when you don't have really high

608
00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:41,320
Speaker 1: level rim protection, you need to be excellent at the

609
00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:43,960
Speaker 1: point of attack and excellent in weakside help in rebounding.

610
00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:46,719
Speaker 1: And that's where that athletic forward archetype comes in. And

611
00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:48,640
Speaker 1: this is why I was happy with them at least

612
00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:51,480
Speaker 1: talking about Siakam because it's it reveals to me that

613
00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:53,320
Speaker 1: the King's front office at least has their mind in

614
00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:55,920
Speaker 1: the front place. Like to me, that archetype of player,

615
00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:58,520
Speaker 1: that big athletic forward that can clean up as a

616
00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:01,400
Speaker 1: low man and rim protect and defensive rebounding is like

617
00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:04,600
Speaker 1: a prerequisite for this team to have any sort of

618
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:08,080
Speaker 1: real championship potential. And so in my opinion, like if

619
00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:10,960
Speaker 1: you get Deer and Fox at the level he was

620
00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:13,720
Speaker 1: playing to start the year, and you get a Pascal

621
00:30:13,760 --> 00:30:16,120
Speaker 1: Siakam on that front line, like they're not in the

622
00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:19,680
Speaker 1: Denver tier, but they they enter into that tier of

623
00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:22,040
Speaker 1: teams that could win the conference of things go right,

624
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:23,959
Speaker 1: and so I'll be really curious to see what they

625
00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:27,800
Speaker 1: end up doing here at the deadline, all right. Clippers

626
00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:31,360
Speaker 1: Wolves first of the two crazy Clippers tests that we

627
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:33,800
Speaker 1: talked about this week. They play the Thunder tomorrow, which

628
00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:37,120
Speaker 1: we'll learn a lot about. The Wolves completely controlled this game.

629
00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:38,880
Speaker 1: There was a late comeback from the Clippers in the

630
00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:40,920
Speaker 1: final minutes, but they never actually had the ball with

631
00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:42,840
Speaker 1: the chance to tie the game, and it was a

632
00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:44,480
Speaker 1: lot of the classic stuff you see in the NBA,

633
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:47,320
Speaker 1: where like a team controls and gets up by fifteen,

634
00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:48,680
Speaker 1: and then they kind of let their foot off the

635
00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:50,040
Speaker 1: gas a little bit, and the other team kind of

636
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:52,480
Speaker 1: gets going and they make it semi close late, but

637
00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:54,320
Speaker 1: then the other team gets a couple of key stops

638
00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:56,000
Speaker 1: and a couple of key plays and they win the game. Right.

639
00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:59,520
Speaker 1: The Timberwolves defense held the Clippers to a one thirteen

640
00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:03,160
Speaker 1: offense of rating. Jade McDaniels did an awesome job on Kawhi.

641
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:06,680
Speaker 1: Leonard Rudy Gobert had four blocks, including blocking Kawhi twice.

642
00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:11,320
Speaker 1: The Minnesota Timberwolves ran this like one random possession of

643
00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:14,160
Speaker 1: zone and Rudy Gobert got a block on Kawhi on it.

644
00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:17,640
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards guarding Paul George flying around in general, just

645
00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:20,560
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards was like his ability to like dig down

646
00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:22,600
Speaker 1: and help and then like contest a three point shot

647
00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:25,680
Speaker 1: with his athleticism is just insane. Kyle Anderson had a

648
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:28,520
Speaker 1: bunch of good defensive possessions. All these guys can switch

649
00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:30,840
Speaker 1: onto any of the other guys that are on the floor.

650
00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:33,120
Speaker 1: And I want to get to this in a minute.

651
00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:35,560
Speaker 1: When we taught Clippers, because this is a specific dynamic

652
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:38,480
Speaker 1: that I think is troubling for the Clippers. Anthony Edwards

653
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:42,640
Speaker 1: completely dominated the third quarter. He started by like, because

654
00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:44,800
Speaker 1: I talked to earlier about Terrence Man's back pressure in

655
00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:47,040
Speaker 1: the job he was doing against Anton pick and roll. Well,

656
00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:48,640
Speaker 1: one of the things that Anthony Edwards did, which I

657
00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:51,120
Speaker 1: thought was really smart, was he came out to start

658
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:53,920
Speaker 1: the third quarter and just started posting up Terrence Man

659
00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:57,160
Speaker 1: and he's too big and strong for him, specifically low

660
00:31:57,200 --> 00:31:59,520
Speaker 1: center of gravity and quick lateral movement, so he's able

661
00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:01,800
Speaker 1: to make these like quick pivot moves to get around

662
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:04,440
Speaker 1: Terrence Man and get at the rim and finish close

663
00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:08,640
Speaker 1: to the basket. That actually forced the Clippers to make

664
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:11,040
Speaker 1: a to make a switch and to put Kawhi Leonard

665
00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:12,760
Speaker 1: on Anthony Edwards, which kind of changed some of the

666
00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:15,360
Speaker 1: configuration of their defense. He also hit the two biggest

667
00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:17,360
Speaker 1: shots of the game in my opinion, at the end

668
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:20,320
Speaker 1: of the third quarter, this ridiculous pull up bank shot

669
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:22,920
Speaker 1: over Kawhi Leonard and then a transition three after a

670
00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,600
Speaker 1: pretty ugly Russell Westbrook turnover. You know, one of the

671
00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:29,560
Speaker 1: things that's really interesting to me about Aunt long term.

672
00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,360
Speaker 1: We talk a lot about his defense but like this dude,

673
00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:36,040
Speaker 1: straight up against the best defenders in the league, can

674
00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:38,920
Speaker 1: get to his shot, like he can get to a

675
00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:43,760
Speaker 1: relatively high quality, high separation pull up to any time

676
00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:48,040
Speaker 1: he wants or pull up three And because like I

677
00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:50,200
Speaker 1: talked about the the pull up jumps out over Kawhi,

678
00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:52,080
Speaker 1: like Kawhi is guarding him when I want, and he

679
00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:54,600
Speaker 1: just hits a hard move to the right and elevates,

680
00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:56,920
Speaker 1: and when he elevates, he's got clear's day vision of

681
00:32:56,920 --> 00:33:01,720
Speaker 1: the rim like Kawhi Leonard. He'sn't smothering Anthony Edwards in

682
00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:05,120
Speaker 1: isolation and it's getting into his spots and everyone in

683
00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:09,320
Speaker 1: the league is like, I hope he misses. That's basically

684
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:11,480
Speaker 1: what's happening with Anthony Edwards. There's a possession, a couple

685
00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:14,760
Speaker 1: possessions before this one where he hit like this half

686
00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:18,440
Speaker 1: spin move step back against Paul George and like it's

687
00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:22,160
Speaker 1: crazy footwork and it looks tough, but when he elevates

688
00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:24,760
Speaker 1: he gets great lift in great separation and a great

689
00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:26,880
Speaker 1: look at the rim. He just smokes a bank shot.

690
00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:28,800
Speaker 1: And it's really interesting to me because like as we

691
00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:31,320
Speaker 1: go in the long term with Anthony Edwards, like when

692
00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:33,160
Speaker 1: I think about Anthony Edwards in like his mid to

693
00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:36,080
Speaker 1: late twenties. That's what gets really exciting, because what if

694
00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:37,440
Speaker 1: he does get to a point where he can knock

695
00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:40,840
Speaker 1: that shot down fifty five percent of the time, like consistently,

696
00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:43,800
Speaker 1: especially the ones close to the rim. I really like

697
00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:47,040
Speaker 1: close to the rim shot making because that's such a

698
00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:49,240
Speaker 1: valuable tool and you get to later rounds of the playoffs.

699
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:51,640
Speaker 1: That's what it's exciting to me with Anthony Edwards. Like

700
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:55,160
Speaker 1: right now, we're gonna talk big picture Wolves here in

701
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:56,600
Speaker 1: a minute, but they're done with this tough part in

702
00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:59,800
Speaker 1: their schedule, and they did really well over this eighteen

703
00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:02,720
Speaker 1: game stretch, but their offense still struggle. Their twentieth in

704
00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:05,280
Speaker 1: offense in this eighteen game stretch, which we'll talk about

705
00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:07,440
Speaker 1: in a little bit. But like in the future, the

706
00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:09,680
Speaker 1: you know, kind of cure for that could just be

707
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:11,960
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards becoming one of the better half court shot

708
00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:13,840
Speaker 1: makers in the league based on the fact that no

709
00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:15,560
Speaker 1: one can keep him from getting to his spots, which

710
00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:18,480
Speaker 1: I think is encouraging. Carl Town's just playing really good basketball.

711
00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:20,440
Speaker 1: He's operating a lot as a hub from the elbow

712
00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:22,759
Speaker 1: in this game, beating mismatches. He had this like kind

713
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:24,960
Speaker 1: of like chicken wing move on Russell Westbrook where he

714
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:26,920
Speaker 1: dunked it with his right hand that was super nasty.

715
00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:29,480
Speaker 1: And then running high low with Rudy Gobert there again,

716
00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:32,440
Speaker 1: you imagine a situation where Carl catches at the top

717
00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:34,840
Speaker 1: of the key and the floor is spread around and

718
00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:37,120
Speaker 1: he as an opportunity to like kind of make post

719
00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:39,480
Speaker 1: entries to Rudy Gobert underneath the basket. There was play.

720
00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:42,759
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert like pushed Daniel Tice I think it was

721
00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:45,200
Speaker 1: up the lane and created a passing angle Carl Towns

722
00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:47,920
Speaker 1: through the pass over the top. He drove a close

723
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:51,000
Speaker 1: out late against Paul George in that third quarter run

724
00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:52,440
Speaker 1: that he get where he got all the way to

725
00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:55,040
Speaker 1: the rim. Against the Clippers in particular because they's somewhat

726
00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:57,759
Speaker 1: undersized and they do a lot of switching. Having that

727
00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:00,000
Speaker 1: kind of like matchup attacking forward that can do work

728
00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:03,480
Speaker 1: closer to the basket with bully ball is super super valuable.

729
00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:07,400
Speaker 1: And Anthony Edwards and Carltown's can do that, which brings

730
00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:10,840
Speaker 1: me to the Clippers. The reason why I wanted to

731
00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:15,440
Speaker 1: see this Wolves game and the thunder game tomorrow was

732
00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:18,720
Speaker 1: this specific type of matchup. And by the way, Wolves fans,

733
00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:20,879
Speaker 1: I did want to talk a little bit about their

734
00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:24,360
Speaker 1: this recent stretch, but I'm gonna do that in the

735
00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:28,120
Speaker 1: power Rankings segment later on in the show. But on

736
00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:30,319
Speaker 1: the Clippers front. One of the reasons why I said

737
00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:32,279
Speaker 1: last week, because those are you guys who follow the show.

738
00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:34,720
Speaker 1: I said last week, I plan on putting the Clippers

739
00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:37,319
Speaker 1: in my Championship contenders, just a question of where, and

740
00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:40,360
Speaker 1: I wanted to wait until after the Timberwolves game in

741
00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:42,600
Speaker 1: the Thunder game. The reason why is there are two

742
00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:45,839
Speaker 1: very different challenges. To me, the Thunder are a very

743
00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:49,839
Speaker 1: similar version of a basketball team. To them, They're a

744
00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:52,440
Speaker 1: heavy ball handling team, tons of guys that can dribble,

745
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:55,359
Speaker 1: shoot and pass right, they're a bit undersized, a bunch

746
00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:57,759
Speaker 1: of guys who can really work in ISO. A lot

747
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,000
Speaker 1: of similarities between the Clippers and the Thunder. They're not

748
00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:02,759
Speaker 1: exactly the same. Obviously, center position is very different. The

749
00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:05,160
Speaker 1: perimeter players for the Clippers are bigger, but it's a

750
00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:07,919
Speaker 1: similar kind of like identity of a basketball team, right,

751
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:10,919
Speaker 1: and both teams are excellent point of attack defense teams.

752
00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:13,440
Speaker 1: They have excellent on ball defenders, and so it's basically

753
00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:16,000
Speaker 1: like an on ball contest. We're gonna beat you on

754
00:36:16,040 --> 00:36:17,319
Speaker 1: the ball on one end of the floor, and we're gonna

755
00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:18,320
Speaker 1: beat you on the ball at the other end of

756
00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:20,960
Speaker 1: the floor. Defensively, that's kind of like the those two teams, right.

757
00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:26,080
Speaker 1: The Wolves represent much more of a traditional playoff powerhouse. Right.

758
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:29,520
Speaker 1: They're an older, veteran team with a lot of experience.

759
00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:33,120
Speaker 1: They're huge on the front line. They hang their hat

760
00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:35,840
Speaker 1: on defense. They and not just on the perimeter, but

761
00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:39,200
Speaker 1: at every phase of defense. They have a singular superstar

762
00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:42,400
Speaker 1: that controls the show. That's very traditional contender, right, And

763
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:44,560
Speaker 1: they can turn games into rock fights. That's what the

764
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:46,839
Speaker 1: Timberwolves do. That's what they've been doing since even before

765
00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:50,200
Speaker 1: they were this good this season, right. And so again

766
00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:52,160
Speaker 1: when we talk about playoff teams and we talk about

767
00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:54,480
Speaker 1: what they can do in the future, a lot of

768
00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:57,279
Speaker 1: it has to do with, you know, being able to

769
00:36:57,280 --> 00:37:00,440
Speaker 1: win in different types of matchups, because you have to

770
00:37:00,440 --> 00:37:03,080
Speaker 1: be four teams four times out of seven. And so

771
00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:04,719
Speaker 1: if you match up really well with a team that

772
00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:06,440
Speaker 1: might have done better than you in the regular season

773
00:37:06,920 --> 00:37:08,640
Speaker 1: and you win, great, but you could run into a

774
00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:09,840
Speaker 1: team that didn't do as good as you in the

775
00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:12,040
Speaker 1: regular season, but it's a bad matchup for you, and

776
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:14,560
Speaker 1: you can lose, right, And so that's why we when

777
00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:16,839
Speaker 1: we're looking at the regular season, you know, you have

778
00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:19,880
Speaker 1: to sift through everything, right, There are a lot of

779
00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:22,400
Speaker 1: people out there that get really carried away with regular

780
00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:25,120
Speaker 1: season results. I'm not that guy. Those of you who

781
00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:27,480
Speaker 1: followed the show for a while know that. Like, there

782
00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:29,080
Speaker 1: are guys out there where it's like, oh my gosh,

783
00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:30,799
Speaker 1: this team won ten games in a row, like watch

784
00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:32,359
Speaker 1: out for them. So and so is the best player

785
00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:35,040
Speaker 1: in the league. This team's got to be a championship contender.

786
00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:38,000
Speaker 1: And it's like I just have seen so many times

787
00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:41,960
Speaker 1: over the years, the regular season results not mean anything.

788
00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:44,480
Speaker 1: I mean, even just last year. As we look, it's

789
00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:47,799
Speaker 1: like Miami bs is through the regular season, even kind

790
00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:49,600
Speaker 1: of bs is through the playing tournament and then suddenly

791
00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:52,040
Speaker 1: goes to the finals. Right. Lakers start the season two

792
00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:54,759
Speaker 1: and ten are literally floundering. People are talking shit about

793
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:57,680
Speaker 1: them NonStop all year, just like this year, and then

794
00:37:57,719 --> 00:37:59,960
Speaker 1: they end up making a run to the Western comp

795
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:02,279
Speaker 1: Ferend's finals, right like Golden State, you know, kind of

796
00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:05,360
Speaker 1: a little bit of a of a mediocre regular season

797
00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:07,439
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden they beat the Sacramento Kings,

798
00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:10,239
Speaker 1: who kick everyone's ass during the regular season. Right, And

799
00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:13,240
Speaker 1: part of the issue is is like motivation just plays

800
00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:15,839
Speaker 1: a huge role in the NBA regular season. It just does.

801
00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:20,479
Speaker 1: Like I was talking about this with my buddy Pete

802
00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:23,680
Speaker 1: the other day, Like the difference between different types of

803
00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:28,600
Speaker 1: regular season teams, Like there are these young, energetic, talented

804
00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:31,879
Speaker 1: teams that love playing together, and they're young, and they're

805
00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:35,839
Speaker 1: full of all this you know, energy, and they win

806
00:38:35,840 --> 00:38:38,719
Speaker 1: a shit ton of regular season games. Right, this year,

807
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:43,040
Speaker 1: we're looking at teams like the uh, the Oklahoma City Founder, Right,

808
00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:46,160
Speaker 1: We're looking at teams like Memphis last year. Right, Like

809
00:38:46,360 --> 00:38:48,480
Speaker 1: that sort of thing does happen in the NBA where

810
00:38:48,480 --> 00:38:50,680
Speaker 1: you get a young, super talented team, they win a

811
00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:52,640
Speaker 1: shit ton of games, and then generally what happens is

812
00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:56,040
Speaker 1: that team runs into like an older veteran team in

813
00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:59,400
Speaker 1: the playoffs that didn't take the regular season is seriously

814
00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:02,640
Speaker 1: and then they get beat. Rights, the Warriors did it

815
00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:04,520
Speaker 1: to the Grizzlies two years ago. The Lakers did it

816
00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:06,520
Speaker 1: to the Grizzlies last year. I don't know who's gonna

817
00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:08,520
Speaker 1: do it to the Thunder this year. We'll see, But like,

818
00:39:09,040 --> 00:39:11,840
Speaker 1: I think the Thunder are championship contender, but I wouldn't

819
00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:13,560
Speaker 1: be surprised if they lose this year in the first

820
00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:16,680
Speaker 1: or second round to an older veteran team. Right then

821
00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:19,440
Speaker 1: you have like these veteran teams that are like that,

822
00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:22,919
Speaker 1: are are are? They hate regular season basketball and they're

823
00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:24,879
Speaker 1: just trying to get through it. And as the league

824
00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:28,200
Speaker 1: has gotten deeper with talent, it's even worse on that front.

825
00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:31,080
Speaker 1: I mean, the thing with the Lakers is so funny

826
00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:34,239
Speaker 1: because so many people point to the trade deadline last year.

827
00:39:34,239 --> 00:39:38,080
Speaker 1: They're like, oh, they traded Russell Westbrook and they've flipped

828
00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:40,080
Speaker 1: the roster, and then look at them go they go

829
00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:42,880
Speaker 1: to the Western Conference Finals. Who started the Western Conference Finals?

830
00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:45,680
Speaker 1: Who started Game four of the Western Conference Finals between

831
00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:48,399
Speaker 1: the Nuggets and Lakers. It was Austin Reeves on the

832
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:52,200
Speaker 1: roster before the Russell Westbrok trade, Dennis Schroeder on the

833
00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:55,080
Speaker 1: roster before the Russell west Prok trade, Ruey Hachimura on

834
00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:57,800
Speaker 1: the roster before the Russell west Pro trade, Lebron James

835
00:39:57,800 --> 00:39:59,840
Speaker 1: on the roster before the Russell West prok trade Anthony

836
00:39:59,880 --> 00:40:02,840
Speaker 1: di on the roster before the Russell Westbrook trade, because

837
00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:06,680
Speaker 1: the reality is is what happens is a lot of

838
00:40:06,719 --> 00:40:09,759
Speaker 1: these veteran teams when they don't like playing together, and

839
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:12,800
Speaker 1: when they're irritated and they're all pissy and emotional and

840
00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:16,880
Speaker 1: and and and they're you know, kind of passive aggressively

841
00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:19,200
Speaker 1: making their way through the season, they play shit basketball.

842
00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:21,640
Speaker 1: While the young twenty three year olds that all that

843
00:40:21,719 --> 00:40:24,520
Speaker 1: all are are you know, just super energetic and talented

844
00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:26,160
Speaker 1: and all this shit, they win a lot of regular

845
00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:29,280
Speaker 1: season games, right, Like, that's the thing. The Lakers didn't

846
00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:33,160
Speaker 1: just get dramatically better at the deadline last year. Lebron

847
00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:35,920
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis got healthy and they started trying every night.

848
00:40:36,320 --> 00:40:38,280
Speaker 1: And when they started trying every night, they started winning.

849
00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:41,080
Speaker 1: Guys in the Rustburt Russell Westbrook trade did help in

850
00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:42,720
Speaker 1: that span. I'm not trying to pretend like that stuff

851
00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:46,200
Speaker 1: doesn't matter, but effort plays a huge role. Like I

852
00:40:46,280 --> 00:40:49,000
Speaker 1: expect the Lakers to make some sort of personnel change

853
00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:52,640
Speaker 1: around the deadline this year, and who knows what will

854
00:40:52,640 --> 00:40:54,719
Speaker 1: happen with the coach. They'll either fire them or they won't.

855
00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:58,000
Speaker 1: But at this point. I don't think they will, but

856
00:40:58,200 --> 00:41:00,920
Speaker 1: like what will happen is is they'll be like, all, right, shit, guys,

857
00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:04,520
Speaker 1: like we're, you know, two games below five hundred with

858
00:41:04,840 --> 00:41:07,080
Speaker 1: thirty games left, we gotta get it together. And then

859
00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:09,239
Speaker 1: they go and then they end up running into some

860
00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:11,800
Speaker 1: young team in the playoffs and they're just better because

861
00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:14,200
Speaker 1: they're older, they're more experienced, they're bigger, and they're stronger.

862
00:41:14,239 --> 00:41:16,120
Speaker 1: They just they just know how to do this stuff.

863
00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:18,560
Speaker 1: And so we all have to like work on sorting

864
00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:21,799
Speaker 1: through the noise of the regular season because there are

865
00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:26,520
Speaker 1: lots of teams like this around the league. Like, the

866
00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:30,520
Speaker 1: one thing that we always have to really really pay

867
00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:33,680
Speaker 1: close attention to is when you do get a older

868
00:41:33,760 --> 00:41:39,080
Speaker 1: veteran team that also loves to attack the regular season

869
00:41:39,719 --> 00:41:43,360
Speaker 1: and that also loves to play together, and that also

870
00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:48,560
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to be miserable in January, right, and typically

871
00:41:48,719 --> 00:41:51,400
Speaker 1: if that team also has a top tier superstar, like

872
00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:53,880
Speaker 1: you should really be looking at that team as a

873
00:41:53,920 --> 00:41:56,480
Speaker 1: championship contender. That, for the record, is why I have

874
00:41:56,560 --> 00:42:01,120
Speaker 1: Denver as my like they reminded owe championship contender before

875
00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:03,920
Speaker 1: the season, and that hasn't changed, but recently I told you, guys,

876
00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:07,919
Speaker 1: I personally would be surprised if Denver did not win

877
00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:12,000
Speaker 1: as long as their core five guys are healthy. And

878
00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:14,480
Speaker 1: that's the reason why I feel that way, because they're

879
00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:17,359
Speaker 1: and that's why I refer to Denver as a special team.

880
00:42:17,719 --> 00:42:19,560
Speaker 1: They have guys that have been around for a while,

881
00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:23,319
Speaker 1: they've already been to the mountaintop. Because that's the other

882
00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:25,200
Speaker 1: thing that always happens with these veteran teams, Like don't

883
00:42:25,400 --> 00:42:27,880
Speaker 1: don't think for a second the fact that the like,

884
00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:30,000
Speaker 1: look at what happened to Anthony Davis the minute he hoisted

885
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:31,719
Speaker 1: the Larry O'Brian Trophy. You won it once and then

886
00:42:31,760 --> 00:42:35,920
Speaker 1: just like it's a completely different guy from a motivation standpoint, right,

887
00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:37,839
Speaker 1: So when you got a guy that already has won

888
00:42:37,920 --> 00:42:41,080
Speaker 1: it all in Jokic, and a team of guys that

889
00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:44,480
Speaker 1: has already won it all, won it comfortably and they

890
00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:47,440
Speaker 1: know they don't really need to take the regular season seriously,

891
00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:52,120
Speaker 1: and yet they still do. That's like big shining red lights.

892
00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:54,360
Speaker 1: It's like, this team's really fucking good and we should

893
00:42:54,360 --> 00:42:55,920
Speaker 1: and we should keep an eye on them. And that's

894
00:42:55,960 --> 00:42:58,680
Speaker 1: why I have Denver as my number one championship contender.

895
00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:00,600
Speaker 1: But the point of that whole rant is to say,

896
00:43:00,640 --> 00:43:04,799
Speaker 1: like we have to sort through regular season noise. There

897
00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:08,320
Speaker 1: are going to be teams every year that massively overachieve,

898
00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:12,600
Speaker 1: that massively underachieve, and we have to kind of piece

899
00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:15,800
Speaker 1: and through all that stuff to kind of figure it out, right.

900
00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:18,680
Speaker 1: And then there's a matchup element too, like we talked

901
00:43:18,719 --> 00:43:20,959
Speaker 1: about that was Nicks Calves last year, Like a bad

902
00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:23,319
Speaker 1: matchup for Cleveland wipes away a good regular season. Like

903
00:43:23,560 --> 00:43:27,520
Speaker 1: all sorts of stuff like this can change playoff outcomes

904
00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:30,880
Speaker 1: because we just don't pay attention to the details of

905
00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:33,160
Speaker 1: what's happening in the regular season, right, So we have

906
00:43:33,200 --> 00:43:36,200
Speaker 1: to sort through that now. On the Clippers front, this

907
00:43:36,239 --> 00:43:38,160
Speaker 1: is why I was looking at these two particular teams,

908
00:43:38,680 --> 00:43:42,359
Speaker 1: because the Clippers are a team you have Kawhi Leonard

909
00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:44,239
Speaker 1: and Paul George as healthy as they've been in a

910
00:43:44,239 --> 00:43:46,719
Speaker 1: regular season forever, so they're like just more locked in

911
00:43:46,719 --> 00:43:50,160
Speaker 1: and engage. You have James Harden and a new destination, right,

912
00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:54,200
Speaker 1: new team also in a contract year, like he's gotta

913
00:43:54,239 --> 00:43:56,840
Speaker 1: take this regular season seriously because it could dramatically affect

914
00:43:56,880 --> 00:43:59,640
Speaker 1: how much he gets paid this summer, right, Like so

915
00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:03,279
Speaker 1: much more is motivating the Clippers on a night in

916
00:44:03,320 --> 00:44:05,319
Speaker 1: a night out basis in the NBA, and they went

917
00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:07,960
Speaker 1: and won what seventeen out of their last twenty games

918
00:44:08,280 --> 00:44:11,439
Speaker 1: before this, Timberwolves won, right, So, like they're kicking everybody's ass.

919
00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:14,120
Speaker 1: So how do we sort through that noise and try

920
00:44:14,160 --> 00:44:17,120
Speaker 1: to figure out the Clippers as a playoff team now

921
00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:19,360
Speaker 1: with the hard and trade right when it happened, Remember

922
00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:21,360
Speaker 1: they lost six games in a row, and one of

923
00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:25,560
Speaker 1: the things I said on the show is like, don't overreact. Yes,

924
00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:28,279
Speaker 1: I have concerned about the Clippers as a playoff team,

925
00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:30,839
Speaker 1: but if you remember in that moment, I said, like

926
00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:34,640
Speaker 1: James Harden is way too good of a regular season

927
00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:37,319
Speaker 1: offensive player, and Paul George and Chuire way too good

928
00:44:37,320 --> 00:44:39,160
Speaker 1: as regular season players. These guys are gonna figure it

929
00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:41,319
Speaker 1: out and win a lot of regular season games. Now,

930
00:44:41,360 --> 00:44:44,000
Speaker 1: they've won more than I expected, But I did expect

931
00:44:44,000 --> 00:44:45,960
Speaker 1: them to be a good regular season team. I mean, like,

932
00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:49,160
Speaker 1: during the oh and six stretch they couldn't score. Was

933
00:44:49,239 --> 00:44:51,600
Speaker 1: anybody under the impression that the Clippers weren't gonna be

934
00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:54,799
Speaker 1: able to score the basketball this year? Like again, like

935
00:44:54,840 --> 00:44:57,319
Speaker 1: that was obviously one of the things that was taking

936
00:44:57,360 --> 00:45:00,160
Speaker 1: place during that oh and to six stretch. So they

937
00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:03,040
Speaker 1: have been a better regular season team than I have expected.

938
00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:05,200
Speaker 1: But I did expect them to kind of turn things around.

939
00:45:05,360 --> 00:45:07,919
Speaker 1: But as we look through a playoff lens, it gets

940
00:45:08,120 --> 00:45:11,480
Speaker 1: very different. What typically goes wrong for the Clippers in

941
00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:14,080
Speaker 1: the playoffs over the years, one of two things has

942
00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:16,520
Speaker 1: happened to them. Either one or both of their stars

943
00:45:16,520 --> 00:45:20,760
Speaker 1: gets hurt, right, or they run into a big, strong,

944
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:25,000
Speaker 1: bullyball team and they miss pull up jump jump shots

945
00:45:25,320 --> 00:45:27,759
Speaker 1: while the other team generates really high quality shots at

946
00:45:27,760 --> 00:45:30,239
Speaker 1: the rim and catch and shoot threes out of double teams. Right.

947
00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:32,960
Speaker 1: That's basically what happened with Denver in twenty twenty. Now,

948
00:45:33,120 --> 00:45:35,799
Speaker 1: you might tell me long time ago, and I agree

949
00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:39,560
Speaker 1: with you, but same exact principle, and unfortunately every year

950
00:45:39,600 --> 00:45:41,560
Speaker 1: since then, the stars have gotten hurt. So it's hard

951
00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:43,560
Speaker 1: to say. So I'm not even gonna talk about the

952
00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:45,400
Speaker 1: injury thing because there's no point if I want to.

953
00:45:45,520 --> 00:45:48,520
Speaker 1: It's not brave to sit up there and be like, oh,

954
00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:50,799
Speaker 1: the Clippers are gonna lose because they're gonna get hurt.

955
00:45:50,880 --> 00:45:53,520
Speaker 1: Like that, to me is not basketball analysis. So that's

956
00:45:53,520 --> 00:45:56,160
Speaker 1: not what I'm gonna say in the event where they're healthy, though,

957
00:45:56,800 --> 00:45:59,800
Speaker 1: this is the type of matchup that can cause them problems.

958
00:46:00,239 --> 00:46:02,359
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are two guys that don't

959
00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:04,759
Speaker 1: get to the rim a ton and they take a

960
00:46:04,800 --> 00:46:08,360
Speaker 1: lot of pull up jump shots. Right. James Harden is

961
00:46:08,400 --> 00:46:10,560
Speaker 1: a guy that generates a ton of quality shots, but

962
00:46:10,640 --> 00:46:13,719
Speaker 1: tends to not do so when he gets to the postseason.

963
00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:17,680
Speaker 1: One of the main reasons why is when the intensity

964
00:46:17,719 --> 00:46:21,439
Speaker 1: picks up, in the physicality picks up, in the overall

965
00:46:21,680 --> 00:46:25,000
Speaker 1: and athletic kind of profile of the defense they're going

966
00:46:25,040 --> 00:46:29,160
Speaker 1: against goes up a level, James Harden's impact declines. We

967
00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:31,600
Speaker 1: saw that last year when he suddenly couldn't finish at

968
00:46:31,600 --> 00:46:34,000
Speaker 1: the rim when he got to the postseason. Right, well,

969
00:46:34,680 --> 00:46:38,640
Speaker 1: last night, James Harden four to fourteen from the field,

970
00:46:38,840 --> 00:46:42,640
Speaker 1: four turnovers. Typically in his career, this is what happens

971
00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:47,080
Speaker 1: against the really, really good, physical defenses in these really

972
00:46:47,120 --> 00:46:51,279
Speaker 1: big games. He can struggle to generate quality shots. That

973
00:46:51,320 --> 00:46:53,279
Speaker 1: doesn't have anything to do with the regular season for

974
00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:55,799
Speaker 1: the most part, because you don't play the Timberwolves every night,

975
00:46:57,320 --> 00:47:00,200
Speaker 1: and that's why they can go seventeen and three or

976
00:47:00,239 --> 00:47:03,919
Speaker 1: twenty game stretch right, But they might have to beat

977
00:47:03,920 --> 00:47:06,160
Speaker 1: Minnesota four out of seven. They might have to beat

978
00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:08,160
Speaker 1: the Lakers four out of seven. They might have to

979
00:47:08,160 --> 00:47:11,040
Speaker 1: beat the Nuggets four out of seven. Right. Those three

980
00:47:11,120 --> 00:47:14,040
Speaker 1: matchups are what concerned me for the Clippers, because they

981
00:47:14,080 --> 00:47:18,680
Speaker 1: have big perimeter defenders that can offer really good contests

982
00:47:18,719 --> 00:47:21,200
Speaker 1: on their pull up jump shots. Right. Aaron Gordon on

983
00:47:21,280 --> 00:47:25,560
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard Right, Like the Lakers, they're slow on the perimeter,

984
00:47:25,640 --> 00:47:27,680
Speaker 1: but they're big on the perimeters, so they have guys

985
00:47:27,680 --> 00:47:31,960
Speaker 1: that can contest shots against these Clippers guys right, Minnesota

986
00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:35,000
Speaker 1: Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards and Kyle Anderson. It's like

987
00:47:36,120 --> 00:47:40,080
Speaker 1: when teams have really long perimeter defenders that can contest

988
00:47:40,160 --> 00:47:42,560
Speaker 1: Paul George and Kauhi and pull up jump shots, and

989
00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:45,440
Speaker 1: physical guards that can take James Harden out of his

990
00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:50,080
Speaker 1: typical regular season efficacy and real rim protection on the backside,

991
00:47:50,360 --> 00:47:53,240
Speaker 1: while on the other end of the floor, being able

992
00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:58,880
Speaker 1: to punish a switching Clippers team with physical interior play

993
00:47:59,320 --> 00:48:02,600
Speaker 1: like Denver, like the Lakers do. That's where the Clippers

994
00:48:02,600 --> 00:48:04,520
Speaker 1: start to have some problems. I don't think it's a

995
00:48:04,520 --> 00:48:08,399
Speaker 1: coincidence that Kawhi Leonard and Paul George went well were

996
00:48:08,400 --> 00:48:11,160
Speaker 1: they were fourteen for thirty eight from the field last night.

997
00:48:11,520 --> 00:48:14,120
Speaker 1: That's a really good defense. And Kawhi Leonard and Paul

998
00:48:14,160 --> 00:48:18,320
Speaker 1: George typically take a lot of tough shots right even

999
00:48:18,360 --> 00:48:22,239
Speaker 1: further guys. Six games this year for the Clippers against

1000
00:48:22,400 --> 00:48:25,239
Speaker 1: the Lakers, the Timberwolves, and the Nuggets, they're one in

1001
00:48:25,520 --> 00:48:29,560
Speaker 1: five in those matchups. So that's what's concerning to me.

1002
00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:32,520
Speaker 1: They play the Thunder tomorrow, the Thunder team is right

1003
00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:35,880
Speaker 1: up their alley. They will have significant size advantages in

1004
00:48:35,920 --> 00:48:37,840
Speaker 1: terms of they're over the top shot making. They're not

1005
00:48:37,880 --> 00:48:40,240
Speaker 1: gonna be shooting over long defenders. They're gonna be shooting

1006
00:48:40,239 --> 00:48:42,920
Speaker 1: over short, stocky defenders. Right on the other end of

1007
00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:44,640
Speaker 1: the floor, it's gonna be other guys trying to do

1008
00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:46,279
Speaker 1: what they do. Mix them up off the dribble. They

1009
00:48:46,320 --> 00:48:49,560
Speaker 1: have the perimeter defensive talent to handle that. Right Oklahoma

1010
00:48:49,560 --> 00:48:51,640
Speaker 1: City is a small interior team. They're not gonna be

1011
00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:54,520
Speaker 1: the team that bullies the Clippers inside the way that

1012
00:48:54,560 --> 00:48:57,680
Speaker 1: some of these other teams can. So like, I actually

1013
00:48:57,680 --> 00:49:00,600
Speaker 1: expect them to fare really well against the wouldn't be

1014
00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:02,279
Speaker 1: surprised that they won it all as a matter of fact,

1015
00:49:02,360 --> 00:49:04,680
Speaker 1: I'll pick the Clippers to win that game. But I

1016
00:49:04,680 --> 00:49:07,640
Speaker 1: think that's a great example of the matchups in the

1017
00:49:07,680 --> 00:49:10,440
Speaker 1: different types of teams and why it's different when we're

1018
00:49:10,480 --> 00:49:14,880
Speaker 1: evaluating a playoff opponent. It's like, on the Lakers front,

1019
00:49:15,320 --> 00:49:17,920
Speaker 1: really quickly to kind of tie this idea together, Like

1020
00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:21,920
Speaker 1: I like them against skinny, smaller teams like the Thunder,

1021
00:49:22,120 --> 00:49:25,040
Speaker 1: but when they play against other big teams that they

1022
00:49:25,120 --> 00:49:28,319
Speaker 1: can't bully, but on the other end have a better

1023
00:49:28,360 --> 00:49:31,279
Speaker 1: offensive players like Denver, they get their ass kicked all

1024
00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:35,160
Speaker 1: the time, you know, And so it's a pretty it's

1025
00:49:35,200 --> 00:49:37,640
Speaker 1: a pretty consistent issue down the line when we're evaluating

1026
00:49:37,640 --> 00:49:40,080
Speaker 1: these teams like and that's something I'm gonna factor in

1027
00:49:40,080 --> 00:49:42,000
Speaker 1: when we do add the Clippers to our contenders list.

1028
00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:44,960
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna wait until after that Thunder game. All right,

1029
00:49:45,040 --> 00:49:47,400
Speaker 1: Let's move on to our power rankings. One team dropping

1030
00:49:47,440 --> 00:49:50,280
Speaker 1: out this week the Dallas Mavericks. They drop two games

1031
00:49:50,320 --> 00:49:53,520
Speaker 1: last week, both without Luca, to Memphis and New Orleans,

1032
00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:55,920
Speaker 1: and they're currently I'm not watching the game, but I

1033
00:49:55,960 --> 00:49:57,399
Speaker 1: saw it was on when I was doing my notes.

1034
00:49:57,400 --> 00:50:00,480
Speaker 1: They're currently trailing the Pelicans again, but Lucas out, so

1035
00:50:00,520 --> 00:50:02,440
Speaker 1: obviously I expect him to return at some point. He's

1036
00:50:02,480 --> 00:50:05,200
Speaker 1: resting an ankle injury. I believe and I expect that

1037
00:50:05,239 --> 00:50:07,920
Speaker 1: they'll be back on this list within a few weeks.

1038
00:50:09,160 --> 00:50:12,120
Speaker 1: Number ten the Miami Heat our new team this week.

1039
00:50:12,320 --> 00:50:14,480
Speaker 1: They're eight and four in their last twelve games and

1040
00:50:14,480 --> 00:50:16,680
Speaker 1: they have the third best defense in the league over

1041
00:50:16,719 --> 00:50:20,120
Speaker 1: that span. Tyler Harrow and jim Hawks Junior in that

1042
00:50:20,239 --> 00:50:23,400
Speaker 1: span are combining to average thirty eight points, ten rebounds,

1043
00:50:23,400 --> 00:50:25,839
Speaker 1: and seven assists in two point five steals per game,

1044
00:50:25,840 --> 00:50:28,680
Speaker 1: getting really high quality perimeter play from those two guys,

1045
00:50:28,719 --> 00:50:30,560
Speaker 1: which has helped a lot with Jimmy Butler being out again.

1046
00:50:30,600 --> 00:50:33,239
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler has played just one game and played hurt

1047
00:50:34,000 --> 00:50:36,600
Speaker 1: over this twelve game span, so super encouraging on that front.

1048
00:50:36,960 --> 00:50:38,600
Speaker 1: I still think they need to trade for a really

1049
00:50:38,680 --> 00:50:42,120
Speaker 1: high powered offensive player, and the play off Hakez and

1050
00:50:42,239 --> 00:50:44,000
Speaker 1: Harrow has kind of made that a little bit bit

1051
00:50:44,040 --> 00:50:46,279
Speaker 1: more possible because I think those guys are desirable in

1052
00:50:46,280 --> 00:50:48,839
Speaker 1: a way that they may not have been over the offseason. Right,

1053
00:50:48,880 --> 00:50:50,800
Speaker 1: But it remains to be seen if Miami will actually

1054
00:50:50,840 --> 00:50:53,239
Speaker 1: make that sort of aggressive move. Number nine the new

1055
00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:57,080
Speaker 1: York Knicks. They finally took a loss in the ogn

1056
00:50:57,120 --> 00:50:59,759
Speaker 1: and Obi era on the road in Dallas that came

1057
00:50:59,800 --> 00:51:02,319
Speaker 1: out flat and got ran off the floor. Battled back,

1058
00:51:02,360 --> 00:51:04,120
Speaker 1: but didn't really have enough gas at the end of

1059
00:51:04,160 --> 00:51:06,880
Speaker 1: the day. Ojananobe so far with the next two hundred

1060
00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:11,240
Speaker 1: and thirty eight minutes plus one thirty two. That's insane.

1061
00:51:11,840 --> 00:51:14,080
Speaker 1: He was even plus fourteen in the Dallas lost. The

1062
00:51:14,160 --> 00:51:18,000
Speaker 1: Knicks are defending ninety seven point four defensive ratings so

1063
00:51:18,080 --> 00:51:22,719
Speaker 1: far with Ojan Andobi on the floor since the trade. Also,

1064
00:51:22,760 --> 00:51:25,560
Speaker 1: the Knicks have a really light end of their January

1065
00:51:25,560 --> 00:51:28,640
Speaker 1: on the schedule, mostly at home, and they should be

1066
00:51:28,680 --> 00:51:31,040
Speaker 1: favored in every single game except for the Nuggets game.

1067
00:51:31,160 --> 00:51:32,920
Speaker 1: And I believe that game is in MSG, which I

1068
00:51:32,920 --> 00:51:35,319
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised if the Knicks came out and won

1069
00:51:35,360 --> 00:51:37,920
Speaker 1: that one. So don't be surprised if we come come

1070
00:51:37,960 --> 00:51:40,520
Speaker 1: on the show in February and the Knicks are significantly

1071
00:51:40,560 --> 00:51:43,439
Speaker 1: higher on this list and in the standings. Number eight,

1072
00:51:43,480 --> 00:51:46,799
Speaker 1: the New Orleans Pelicans. They got smacked by Denver, but

1073
00:51:46,880 --> 00:51:50,960
Speaker 1: they beat Sacramento, and they beat Golden State and they

1074
00:51:50,960 --> 00:51:54,600
Speaker 1: beat Dallas. Great example of that same thing. I was

1075
00:51:54,719 --> 00:51:56,920
Speaker 1: just talking about with the Clippers as it pertains to

1076
00:51:57,000 --> 00:52:00,799
Speaker 1: championship contention and matchups, right like, they it's like the

1077
00:52:00,800 --> 00:52:05,160
Speaker 1: difference between like these long, athletic, heavily polished teams with

1078
00:52:05,200 --> 00:52:08,000
Speaker 1: like really good ball handling and pull up shooting versus

1079
00:52:08,120 --> 00:52:11,440
Speaker 1: the power and strength teams, right Like, that's kind of

1080
00:52:11,480 --> 00:52:14,040
Speaker 1: the difference there. And I think it's really interesting that

1081
00:52:14,400 --> 00:52:17,399
Speaker 1: the Pelicans when they play other finesse teams, like when

1082
00:52:17,400 --> 00:52:19,879
Speaker 1: they play Sacramento, they beat their ass. When they play

1083
00:52:19,880 --> 00:52:22,440
Speaker 1: Golden State, they beat him. When they beat play Dallas,

1084
00:52:22,440 --> 00:52:25,319
Speaker 1: although Luca's out, they beat him, right. But then they

1085
00:52:25,320 --> 00:52:27,359
Speaker 1: go and play one of those big, strong, bullyball teams

1086
00:52:27,400 --> 00:52:30,040
Speaker 1: and they get their ass kicked. So like, among those

1087
00:52:30,120 --> 00:52:32,040
Speaker 1: finast teams, the Pelicans are one of the best in

1088
00:52:32,080 --> 00:52:34,759
Speaker 1: the league. But I don't think it's a good sign

1089
00:52:34,800 --> 00:52:37,160
Speaker 1: in general for these teams that they keep getting their

1090
00:52:37,160 --> 00:52:38,839
Speaker 1: ass kicked when they go to play the bigger teams

1091
00:52:38,880 --> 00:52:44,080
Speaker 1: around the league. Number seven, the Philadelphia seventy six ers.

1092
00:52:45,280 --> 00:52:47,520
Speaker 1: They beat Sacramento and lost to Atlanta, but Joel Embiid

1093
00:52:47,640 --> 00:52:49,680
Speaker 1: was out and beat his back today against Houston and

1094
00:52:49,760 --> 00:52:53,000
Speaker 1: is currently whooping their ass, and tomorrow they play Denver

1095
00:52:53,239 --> 00:52:56,160
Speaker 1: at home. Hopefully Joel Embiid will play in the tail

1096
00:52:56,200 --> 00:52:58,239
Speaker 1: end of the back to back. Good opportunity for him

1097
00:52:58,239 --> 00:53:00,600
Speaker 1: to make a big step forward in his MVPK So

1098
00:53:00,600 --> 00:53:03,920
Speaker 1: if you can out play Nicola Jokic. Number six the

1099
00:53:03,960 --> 00:53:07,000
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Clippers. They dropped a couple of games against

1100
00:53:07,000 --> 00:53:09,680
Speaker 1: big teams like we mentioned earlier in Minnesota and the

1101
00:53:09,719 --> 00:53:12,800
Speaker 1: Lakers that have me a bit concerned about their playoff potential.

1102
00:53:13,120 --> 00:53:15,520
Speaker 1: They are now one in five this season against the

1103
00:53:15,560 --> 00:53:19,160
Speaker 1: three massive Western Conference teams that I always talk about, Denver, Minnesota,

1104
00:53:19,600 --> 00:53:22,680
Speaker 1: and the Lakers. Number five the Milwaukee Bucks. They have

1105
00:53:22,680 --> 00:53:25,680
Speaker 1: an undefeated week. They beat Boston, Golden State, and Sacramento,

1106
00:53:26,080 --> 00:53:28,799
Speaker 1: but Boston was on a back to back after a

1107
00:53:29,040 --> 00:53:32,279
Speaker 1: overtime win against Minnesota. Golden State Sat Sefster and Steph

1108
00:53:32,360 --> 00:53:36,279
Speaker 1: Curry can't talk today, and Sacramento basically wins that game

1109
00:53:36,320 --> 00:53:38,920
Speaker 1: if Malik Monk and Darren Fox can make some free

1110
00:53:38,920 --> 00:53:40,560
Speaker 1: throws at the end of the game. So I'm only

1111
00:53:40,560 --> 00:53:43,840
Speaker 1: moving them up one spot. That said, two big silver linings,

1112
00:53:43,880 --> 00:53:46,279
Speaker 1: three big silver linings. Their defense can still get so

1113
00:53:46,360 --> 00:53:48,440
Speaker 1: much better, their offense can still get so much better,

1114
00:53:48,760 --> 00:53:50,920
Speaker 1: and that Celtics matchup was a strong indicator of the

1115
00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:56,719
Speaker 1: Basketball IQ advantage that Milwaukee has. Number four the Minnesota Timberwolves.

1116
00:53:57,640 --> 00:54:00,520
Speaker 1: They lost a tough overtime game in Boston. They led

1117
00:54:00,520 --> 00:54:02,920
Speaker 1: by nine with three and a half minutes left without

1118
00:54:02,960 --> 00:54:05,960
Speaker 1: Conley or Rudy Gobert, so as impressive a loss as

1119
00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:08,440
Speaker 1: you'll see. But they followed it up with a complete

1120
00:54:08,480 --> 00:54:11,239
Speaker 1: dismantling of the Clippers, where they basically made all four

1121
00:54:11,280 --> 00:54:14,439
Speaker 1: of the Clippers stars play well below their standards. They're

1122
00:54:14,480 --> 00:54:17,680
Speaker 1: officially done with their hillacious stretch in their schedule, eighteen

1123
00:54:17,800 --> 00:54:20,920
Speaker 1: straight games against really good teams. And what did I

1124
00:54:20,960 --> 00:54:23,480
Speaker 1: say during that stretch. I was like, you don't go

1125
00:54:23,560 --> 00:54:26,200
Speaker 1: undefeated in these runs. You don't rip off eighteen straight

1126
00:54:26,239 --> 00:54:29,240
Speaker 1: against good teams. It's you wanted just a decent chunk

1127
00:54:29,280 --> 00:54:31,520
Speaker 1: over five hundred. That's literally what I said. And they

1128
00:54:31,560 --> 00:54:35,399
Speaker 1: went eleven and seven, So really really encouraging stretch from

1129
00:54:35,440 --> 00:54:38,480
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves. They were third in defense over that stretch,

1130
00:54:38,520 --> 00:54:41,640
Speaker 1: so their defense is very legitimate, and they've demonstrated so

1131
00:54:42,480 --> 00:54:45,479
Speaker 1: twentieth in offense over that span though, So everything really

1132
00:54:45,480 --> 00:54:48,240
Speaker 1: comes down to Anthony Edwards as a playoff shot creator.

1133
00:54:48,239 --> 00:54:50,880
Speaker 1: Because this team still struggles to score so much, nobody

1134
00:54:50,920 --> 00:54:52,640
Speaker 1: can really stop him from getting to his spots. If

1135
00:54:52,640 --> 00:54:54,719
Speaker 1: you can make enough shots and make enough good decisions,

1136
00:54:54,960 --> 00:54:58,440
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves have a chance. Number three the Denver Nuggets.

1137
00:55:00,040 --> 00:55:04,040
Speaker 1: They got absolutely blitzed in Utah, but everyone's been getting

1138
00:55:04,040 --> 00:55:06,560
Speaker 1: blitzed in Utah for a while. Utah has won eleven

1139
00:55:06,640 --> 00:55:09,000
Speaker 1: straight home games for the record. But then they beat

1140
00:55:09,040 --> 00:55:11,520
Speaker 1: the breaks off the Pelicans, and they beat the Pacers.

1141
00:55:12,040 --> 00:55:14,160
Speaker 1: This is a great example of a veteran team that

1142
00:55:14,200 --> 00:55:17,520
Speaker 1: attacks the regular season and has a top tier superstar.

1143
00:55:18,040 --> 00:55:21,320
Speaker 1: Great indicator of my opinion of a championship contender. Still

1144
00:55:21,360 --> 00:55:24,040
Speaker 1: by far my number one championship favorite at this point.

1145
00:55:24,080 --> 00:55:27,200
Speaker 1: Number two the Oklahoma City thunder Yeah undefeated week. They

1146
00:55:27,200 --> 00:55:29,960
Speaker 1: beat the Miami Heat, the Portland Trailblazers, and the Orlando Magic.

1147
00:55:30,320 --> 00:55:32,720
Speaker 1: Best offense in the league over the last ten games

1148
00:55:32,719 --> 00:55:35,760
Speaker 1: a one twenty five point two offensive rating. Shay Gills

1149
00:55:35,640 --> 00:55:38,280
Speaker 1: with Alexander has gone for thirty plus points in twenty

1150
00:55:38,360 --> 00:55:40,759
Speaker 1: eight of his thirty seven games this year, and has

1151
00:55:40,920 --> 00:55:43,840
Speaker 1: five forty point games, more than everyone in the league

1152
00:55:44,040 --> 00:55:47,280
Speaker 1: not named Giannis Luca or Embiid. If he keeps playing

1153
00:55:47,280 --> 00:55:49,880
Speaker 1: like this, he's got a good shot at winning the

1154
00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:54,800
Speaker 1: MVP Award this season and the number one the Boston Celtics.

1155
00:55:54,840 --> 00:55:57,160
Speaker 1: They dropped a game to Milwaukee that felt very much

1156
00:55:57,239 --> 00:55:59,320
Speaker 1: like a schedule loss on the heels of a big

1157
00:55:59,600 --> 00:56:03,440
Speaker 1: win against Minnesota. In that game against Minnesota, Jason Tatum

1158
00:56:03,480 --> 00:56:06,520
Speaker 1: hit a really tough pull up three over Carl Towns

1159
00:56:06,560 --> 00:56:08,200
Speaker 1: late that made it a two point game, helped send

1160
00:56:08,239 --> 00:56:10,839
Speaker 1: the game to overtime. Last week we talked about Jason

1161
00:56:10,840 --> 00:56:13,040
Speaker 1: Tatum's pull up three and what it means for Boston's

1162
00:56:13,080 --> 00:56:16,320
Speaker 1: offense and whether or not he could maintain it over time. Well,

1163
00:56:16,640 --> 00:56:20,840
Speaker 1: one more week, three more games, six for thirteen on

1164
00:56:20,960 --> 00:56:23,120
Speaker 1: pull up threes. That's forty six percent. So it's a

1165
00:56:23,120 --> 00:56:25,640
Speaker 1: few weeks now where Jason Tatum has had that pull

1166
00:56:25,680 --> 00:56:27,480
Speaker 1: up three going very very encouraging. We'll see if he

1167
00:56:27,520 --> 00:56:30,280
Speaker 1: can maintain it. That shot is now worth. His overall

1168
00:56:30,280 --> 00:56:32,120
Speaker 1: pull up jump shooting is worth zero point nine to

1169
00:56:32,160 --> 00:56:35,000
Speaker 1: four points per shot ticking up in the right direction.

1170
00:56:35,200 --> 00:56:36,799
Speaker 1: All right, guys, that is all I have for today.

1171
00:56:36,840 --> 00:56:39,839
Speaker 1: As always, I sincerely appreciate you for supporting the show.

1172
00:56:40,040 --> 00:56:42,080
Speaker 1: We'll be back tomorrow to break down a Jay Impact

1173
00:56:42,160 --> 00:57:11,520
Speaker 1: Monday slate. I will see you guys. Then the volume