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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at the Volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Tuesday, everybody, Happy New Year, Oh ball. The guys
Speaker 1: are kicking the new year off right, having productive weeks.
Speaker 1: We got a jam pack show for you today. I
Speaker 1: wanted to cover Bradley Beal returning to the Suns, but
Speaker 1: I wanted to cover a quality the opponent. In doing so,
Speaker 1: We're gonna hit Magic Suns from a few days ago.
Speaker 1: The Pacers got another win over the Bucks last night
Speaker 1: in Milwaukee and really dominated them in the second half,
Speaker 1: So we're gonna break down that game. I thought it
Speaker 1: revealed a lot of stuff about both teams. I wanted
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about ogn and Obe's debut
Speaker 1: with the New York Knicks, which was interesting in some
Speaker 1: ways while also demonstrating some area of opportunity. And the
Speaker 1: last but not least, we have our latest edition of
Speaker 1: the Power Rankings. You guys are the joppopt we get started.
Speaker 1: Subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel. It mean a
Speaker 1: lot to me if you guys would take a second
Speaker 1: to scroll down and hit that subscribe button. Don't forget
Speaker 1: about our podcast feeds. Wherever you get your podcasts under
Speaker 1: Hoops Tonight, follow me on Twitter at Underscore Jason LT
Speaker 1: so you guys don't miss any show announcements or the
Speaker 1: film threads that I do. I did a extensive film
Speaker 1: thread this morning on the issues that the Milwaukee Bucks
Speaker 1: were having at the point of attack. Also some highlights
Speaker 1: of the Pacers guards barbecuing them. You can find that
Speaker 1: on my Twitter feed. In the last but not least,
Speaker 1: keep dropping mailbag Russians in the YouTube comments so that
Speaker 1: we can hit them later on in the week. All right,
Speaker 1: let's talk some basketball. So there's a concept that I
Speaker 1: talk about a lot on this show, the concept of
Speaker 1: aggregate ball handling. What that means is like if you
Speaker 1: take any five main grouping and you have one outstanding
Speaker 1: ball handler, but the other four guys can't dribble, Well,
Speaker 1: you have great top end ball handling, but you don't
Speaker 1: have great down the roster like aggregate ball handling. Teams
Speaker 1: like that that would to demonstrate that would be a
Speaker 1: team like the Dallas Mavericks, for instance, right where you
Speaker 1: know where Luka Doncic is this incredible ball handler, but
Speaker 1: down the roster they don't have great ball handling. One
Speaker 1: of the advantages of aggregate ball handling is it gives
Speaker 1: you the ability to make multiple attacks at an elite defense,
Speaker 1: which sometimes is the best way to beat an elite defense.
Speaker 1: A lot of times when it comes to the top
Speaker 1: tier defenses in the league, your first action is not
Speaker 1: going to get the job done. Your first action might
Speaker 1: get you a little bit of an advantage somewhere on
Speaker 1: the floor, and you need to take that little advantage
Speaker 1: and expanded into a greater advantage, and so on and
Speaker 1: so forth until you get a great shot. And I
Speaker 1: actually clipped two examples this morning on my Twitter feed
Speaker 1: at underscore json lt, where you guys can see some
Speaker 1: video examples of this where it's you know, Katie is
Speaker 1: running a ball screen and he kind of gets downhill
Speaker 1: and he makes a kickback pass to Devin Booker on
Speaker 1: the wing, who then rips to the left and gets
Speaker 1: downhill and makes a kickout pass to Bradley Beale, who
Speaker 1: makes one extra pass to the wing to Grayson Allen
Speaker 1: who pump fakes and drives to the lane and finishes
Speaker 1: at the rim. And it's like, if you watch the
Speaker 1: defense on that possession, it's a very well defended play
Speaker 1: by an Orlando Magic team that has a ton of
Speaker 1: athletes and is excellent in help side. That is their strength.
Speaker 1: That's what the Magic do best. Even in this recent
Speaker 1: stretch where the Sun where the Magic are really struggling,
Speaker 1: they're defending really well. They're huge, they're athletic, they have
Speaker 1: high motor, they have excellent point of attack defenders, and
Speaker 1: so you're not going to just get a lot of
Speaker 1: easy shot right And the Suns just did an immaculate
Speaker 1: job in this particular game of that high level closeout attacking.
Speaker 1: And what helps is like we talk so much about
Speaker 1: the off ball rolls and we focus so much on shooting,
Speaker 1: and it's actually a misconception when it comes to spacing
Speaker 1: where people just think, oh, I need to have a
Speaker 1: forty five three point shooter on the weak side, well,
Speaker 1: if you've got a team, especially a defensive scheme that
Speaker 1: rotates really hard and chases guys off the line, all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, spot up shooting doesn't mean nearly as
Speaker 1: much as the actual ability to make reads and attack
Speaker 1: closeouts right that it becomes more valuable. And you know
Speaker 1: what's interesting is guys like Devin Booker and Bradley Beale
Speaker 1: and Kevin Durant. Those are guys that we primarily see
Speaker 1: in on ball rolls, but by virtue of having three
Speaker 1: of them on the floor, you get to see lots
Speaker 1: of examples of them playing with an advantage. And when
Speaker 1: you give top tier scorers like that in advantage, like
Speaker 1: a defense under sprinting at them, they can make the
Speaker 1: game look really easy at times. And they and they
Speaker 1: did as they stiff armed the Magic throughout this game,
Speaker 1: even when the Magic. The Magic briefly took a lead
Speaker 1: in the early fourth quarter where franz Wagner was picking
Speaker 1: on Chemezzi Metsu and switches and was just beating him
Speaker 1: off the dribble, and then the Sons had to try
Speaker 1: to blitz to try to prevent that switch, and then
Speaker 1: franz Wagner hit the short role man which led to
Speaker 1: a quick kickout three I think for Gary Harris on
Speaker 1: the left wing, and they briefly took a one point lead,
Speaker 1: but then Bradley Beale got a couple of buckets and
Speaker 1: the Sons just regained control of the game. Never really
Speaker 1: felt like they didn't have the more functional half court
Speaker 1: offense in this particular game, as they ran away with it,
Speaker 1: and you even saw at stretches after the Sons were
Speaker 1: driving kicking them to death early. Then you saw these
Speaker 1: possessions where it's like Kevin Durant running a pick and
Speaker 1: roll off of the right wing and getting downhill, and
Speaker 1: it's Bradley Beal and Devin Booker on the left wing,
Speaker 1: left corner, and they're guys are just hugged up on them,
Speaker 1: and so Kd's just working by himself getting into the lane.
Speaker 1: And on this particular possession he ended up smoking the layup,
Speaker 1: but he engaged Bitadze at the rim, and so Nurkich
Speaker 1: ended up getting a put back. Anyway, But like if
Speaker 1: you watch Bradley Beal and Devin Booker on the weak
Speaker 1: side and the magic just aren't helping. There's another one
Speaker 1: where Bradley Beal is driving off of a left wing
Speaker 1: pick and roll, and Kevin Durant and Devin Booker are
Speaker 1: on the weak side on Kevin Durant's on the right
Speaker 1: wing extended and he's been deadly with above the break
Speaker 1: three point shooting this year right Devin Booker in the
Speaker 1: right wing magic players glued up to him. As a result,
Speaker 1: Bradley Beal got to get all the way downhill and
Speaker 1: patiently worked to get a shot off at the rim
Speaker 1: against Anthony Black. I actually trimmed both of those clips
Speaker 1: as well. You guys can see them on the Twitter fee.
Speaker 1: But the moral of the story here is is when
Speaker 1: you have this much offensive skill on the floor, the
Speaker 1: game gets a lot easier and again a lot of
Speaker 1: the struggles that the Suns had earlier in the year.
Speaker 1: You take brad Beale out of the equation, you put
Speaker 1: in a much lesser offensive player. It starts to look
Speaker 1: more like a traditional two star, you know, configuration like
Speaker 1: we see everywhere around the league. And suddenly those weak
Speaker 1: side players they don't seem like they have enough firepower
Speaker 1: to make it work. Kevin Durant, Devin Booker fatigue. They
Speaker 1: get into the fourth quarter, the aggressive defense starts to
Speaker 1: force turnovers. The Suns start to miss even the open
Speaker 1: shots that they get, and it can crater right. But
Speaker 1: then you throw brad Beial into the equation. Even the
Speaker 1: guys like Rayson Allen and Eric Gordon, Yusuf Nurkic Jamezi
Speaker 1: Met who's actually been playing a lot for the group lately,
Speaker 1: those guys suddenly get slotted into more achievable roles. You've
Speaker 1: got Bradley Beal, Devin Booker consistently working in close out opportunities,
Speaker 1: everything looks a lot easier. The other thing I like
Speaker 1: about brad Beal is he brings a very different type
Speaker 1: of attack to what Kevin Durant Devin Booker brings to
Speaker 1: the table. You know, Devin Booker is a good athlete,
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant is a has a great physical frame. But
Speaker 1: neither of those guys are like outstanding slashers. But Bradley
Speaker 1: Beal is actually a top tier athlete for his position
Speaker 1: when he's healthy, and he brings a lot of downhill
Speaker 1: forced to the table. And you know when Franz Wagner
Speaker 1: went on that run in the fourth quarter as the
Speaker 1: Magic took the lead, it was Bradley Beal's rim pressure
Speaker 1: that actually got them back into the lead. There was
Speaker 1: a possession where he got Wendell Carter Junior on a
Speaker 1: switch and he was able to just beat him off
Speaker 1: the dribble, like just toast him off the dribble and
Speaker 1: get all the way to the rim. That's a downhill athlete.
Speaker 1: Play like that probably ends up in a pull up
Speaker 1: jump shot if it's Kevin Durant or Devin Booker. Right.
Speaker 1: There was another play where they picked him up full court.
Speaker 1: It was like the very next possession and they're trying
Speaker 1: to apply ball pressure. One of the best ways to
Speaker 1: beat ball pressure is to just be the bigger, stronger
Speaker 1: athlete and go past him to the rim. And Bradley
Speaker 1: Beal just toasted him off the dribble and got all
Speaker 1: the way to the rim. I think that fit makes
Speaker 1: a ton of sense. You even saw. One of the
Speaker 1: things I talked about a lot when the Sons were
Speaker 1: struggling was that Kd's defense wasn't as good as it
Speaker 1: can be, and a lot of that came down to workload.
Speaker 1: I thought KD had one of his best defensive games
Speaker 1: of the season against the Magic. Early in the game,
Speaker 1: he had a couple of steals, and just the first
Speaker 1: few possessions playing in passing lanes, he was bothering a
Speaker 1: ton of shots at the rim. You have to have
Speaker 1: the energy to do that, though, and when he's required
Speaker 1: to do that much more offensively, you can expect his
Speaker 1: defensive effort to wane. That's just normal, especially for a
Speaker 1: guy in his late thirties. And so I thought all
Speaker 1: of it just seems to make a lot more sense
Speaker 1: with Bradley Beal in the group, a very very encouraging
Speaker 1: sign and one of the big reasons why I've been
Speaker 1: saying all year. But the Suns, like, my concerns with
Speaker 1: them are still there as it pertains to the bigger
Speaker 1: matchups in the Western Conference, right, teams like the Wolves,
Speaker 1: teams like the Nuggets, teams like the Lakers. But I
Speaker 1: think writing them off was silly because the entire configuration
Speaker 1: of the team was designed to involve all three of
Speaker 1: those guys. Like they know, they're not as big and
Speaker 1: strong on the front, but they're gonna have a ton
Speaker 1: of offensive skill on the floor, more offensive skill on
Speaker 1: the floor than just about anybody they play, and that's
Speaker 1: gonna be their advantage if they can play to that advantage.
Speaker 1: If they can drive and for layups and threes more
Speaker 1: often than they drive for tough mid range pull up
Speaker 1: jump shots, and they fit that offensive shot profile that
Speaker 1: they need to fit, they have a chance. They have
Speaker 1: a chance with that kind of talent on the floor.
Speaker 1: On the magic front, Palo and Franz were both great.
Speaker 1: Like I said, Franz had this really cool stretch in
Speaker 1: the middle fourth quarter where he was picking apart the Suns,
Speaker 1: particularly attacking him as he met to the major thing
Speaker 1: that kind of got in the way for them, as
Speaker 1: Jalen Suggs was really struggling to knock down spot up threes,
Speaker 1: especially on the wings, and as a result, after he
Speaker 1: missed a couple, especially in the fourth quarter, the Suns
Speaker 1: just started ignoring him and then throwing that third defender
Speaker 1: and two man game or extra defender in ISOs and
Speaker 1: they were able to slow down the Magic offense, which
Speaker 1: the magic offense, which we'll get to when we get
Speaker 1: to power rankings, is really really struggling as of late.
Speaker 1: All right, moving on to the Pacers and the Bucks.
Speaker 1: Classic matchup of speed versus size, a matchup that we've
Speaker 1: seen a lot over the last couple of weeks between
Speaker 1: the Ncason Tournament the week after and then last night's game.
Speaker 1: And you know, speed manifests in very different ways than
Speaker 1: speed manifest beating the floor to the team down the
Speaker 1: floor in transition, and manifests when a guy cuts to
Speaker 1: the rim, like there's a late cut from Ben Matherin
Speaker 1: down the stretch of this game, where like when he
Speaker 1: hit the jets to cut into that opening, it just
Speaker 1: caught everybody off guard because of how fast he is.
Speaker 1: Right like speed attacking the glass, the Pacers performed better
Speaker 1: on the offensive glass than the Bucks did, which you
Speaker 1: would expect would be an advantage to the Bucks with
Speaker 1: their size, but with so much three point shooting in
Speaker 1: the NBA now, rebounding is gone from a size game
Speaker 1: to a ball pursuit game, and having speed on the
Speaker 1: floor helps you pursue the ball easier, as the Pacers
Speaker 1: outworped the Bucks in many cases. But the biggest example
Speaker 1: of the speed advantage for the Pacers in this game
Speaker 1: was at the point of attack, primarily Tyrese Halliburton and TJ. McConnell,
Speaker 1: but also Ben Matherin as well. All three of those
Speaker 1: guys were just consistently nothing fancy, just go down the floor,
Speaker 1: beat the guy off the dribble, play basketball from there.
Speaker 1: TJ McConnell in particular, he's been doing this all year.
Speaker 1: It's so funny because teams have been, you know, I
Speaker 1: think overlooking him in a certain way as a bench guard,
Speaker 1: but like TJ McConnell's been one of the best dribble
Speaker 1: drive guys. Just beating that first line of defense and
Speaker 1: getting the defense into rotation, combined with his ability to
Speaker 1: pass and obviously everything that brings to the table. They
Speaker 1: were they were running a little interchange there in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter where basically Tyres Saliburton would come and do
Speaker 1: a little dribble handoff to TJ McConnell, and he'd get
Speaker 1: Malik Beasley on a switch and just barrel right through
Speaker 1: him to the basket and get all the way to
Speaker 1: the ram. He had like a little short turnaround jumper
Speaker 1: and drew a foul on him that way. He's also
Speaker 1: like deceptively big and strong. They're just they're just they're
Speaker 1: just really really fast, difficult to contain, and they have
Speaker 1: guys that can finish plays and it makes them that
Speaker 1: much tougher to guard. Tyre's Halliburton in his last five
Speaker 1: games twenty six points, five rebounds, and sixteen assists with
Speaker 1: only two turnovers per game on fifty two percent from
Speaker 1: the field forty percent from three. They've won four games
Speaker 1: in a row, all against really good teams. Nobody can
Speaker 1: keep them from generating quality shots. It's funny because, like
Speaker 1: a lot of people, you know, we're not gonna talk
Speaker 1: about the Lakers today, but a lot of people have
Speaker 1: been going on the Lakers and the Pacers since the
Speaker 1: n season tournament as both teams obviously by virtue of
Speaker 1: the tough schedule, they're kind of dipped a little bit.
Speaker 1: I think people got off the Pacers sent again. I
Speaker 1: think people are off the Lakers cent too. You know,
Speaker 1: as bad as the Lakers have been, they're still top
Speaker 1: ten in both half court offense and defense. They have
Speaker 1: a trade to make, and they have two top ten
Speaker 1: players in the league. I think it's foolish to write
Speaker 1: them off. I think it's foolish to write the Pacers off.
Speaker 1: These are teams that in season tournament schedule was brutal,
Speaker 1: and to turn around and to play a tough schedule
Speaker 1: the following week. The Pacers took a dip, but they
Speaker 1: are a good team. They're not a serious championship contender
Speaker 1: with the lack of frontline athleticism in size, but there
Speaker 1: they could be a player in the trade deadline this year,
Speaker 1: like Tyre's. Halliburton, in my opinion, is an all time
Speaker 1: great in the making. I've said this on the show before,
Speaker 1: but I don't look at him as just a guy
Speaker 1: who could be a superstar. I look at him as
Speaker 1: a guy who could be like Steph and Nikola Jokic,
Speaker 1: as transformative offensive talents that are engines for top five
Speaker 1: offenses for a decade and a half and just surefire
Speaker 1: Hall of Famers, guys who could be in the pantheon
Speaker 1: one day. That's what I look at as Tyres Haliburton.
Speaker 1: As I know I'm on the high end there. I
Speaker 1: know some people are a little bit lower on him,
Speaker 1: but I think he's that special. He completely picked the
Speaker 1: Bucks apart down the stretch, just taking a little fifteen
Speaker 1: foot pull up jump shots over the top of Brook
Speaker 1: Lopez in his drop coverage. He's just unbelievable and what
Speaker 1: like we talked about all the time on the show,
Speaker 1: step one in the process of team building for an
Speaker 1: NBA Championship is find the guy, and he's got to
Speaker 1: be one of the guys. Now, Tyre's Halliburton is not
Speaker 1: that guy necessarily yet He's got to polish up some
Speaker 1: things defensively, and obviously we'll see how his game translates
Speaker 1: to the postseason. But I think he's on a freight
Speaker 1: train to that level and I'd be shocked if he
Speaker 1: doesn't get there. It's super, super encouraging on the Bucks front,
Speaker 1: just a complete and total lack of resistance at the
Speaker 1: point of attack. The Bucks had a significant they had
Speaker 1: were up fifteen in the middle of the third quarter,
Speaker 1: and it was like, not only did the wheels come off,
Speaker 1: it was like every single time down the floor, the
Speaker 1: Pacers got whatever they wanted. It was one of the
Speaker 1: most like problematic and concerning defensive performances I've seen from
Speaker 1: a serious champion, a serious championship contender in a long time.
Speaker 1: I clipped a thread of all the plays this morning,
Speaker 1: and it's like twenty clips long of like, oh, you
Speaker 1: guys got a bucket. Cool TJ McConnell brought the ball
Speaker 1: up the floor and just beat his man off the
Speaker 1: dribble for a layup. Oh you got another bucket. TJ
Speaker 1: McConnell came up the floor, just toasted by Chris Middleton
Speaker 1: and dropped it off to Ben Mathern at the basket.
Speaker 1: Like they get a stop here. Here they come down
Speaker 1: the floor. TJ McConnell attacking Malik Beasley. Again. Here's Tyres
Speaker 1: Halliburton getting wherever he wants. Oh, Ben matherin left wing
Speaker 1: against Damian Lillard, cleared side. I'm just gonna dribble right
Speaker 1: through him to the basket for a layup. It was
Speaker 1: kind of embarrassing. And one of the things that I've
Speaker 1: said consistently with the Bucks is like I view them again.
Speaker 1: I look at all the teams kind of in tiers,
Speaker 1: and to me, the Celtics and the Nuggets are in
Speaker 1: the top tier as teams that, as currently constructed, have
Speaker 1: serious chances to win the title. And even though the
Speaker 1: Bucks have been a very good regular season team, I
Speaker 1: view a drop off from that tier to the Bucks,
Speaker 1: to the Lakers, to the Timberwolves to the Suns. That
Speaker 1: next group, to me is every one of those teams
Speaker 1: needs to make a trade. They just do. I don't
Speaker 1: care how many regular season team games the Bucks win.
Speaker 1: I don't care that the Lakers won the nd season Tournament.
Speaker 1: I don't care that the Wolves are the number one
Speaker 1: seed in the West. To me, the Wolves aren't good
Speaker 1: enough in half court defense. The Lakers don't have a
Speaker 1: point of attack defenders that can also score, and the
Speaker 1: the Bucks have zero point of attack defenders. And so
Speaker 1: it becomes a serious issue when like every single team
Speaker 1: you play against, their guards are just comfortable. And again
Speaker 1: there's a difference because a lot of times people buy
Speaker 1: into this like shot result thing. It's like, oh, we
Speaker 1: made Tyree s saliburt and take contested pull up twos
Speaker 1: down the stretch of a close basketball game, and you
Speaker 1: might have your analytics professionals telling you, like, oh, man,
Speaker 1: contested pull up twos are only worth x points per shot.
Speaker 1: We'll live with that. But there's again the statistic means
Speaker 1: have you ever heard the expression the statistic means nothing
Speaker 1: to the individual. The statistic means nothing to the individual possession, Like,
Speaker 1: it's not a contested fifteen footer as one of a
Speaker 1: thousand contested mid range pull ups that are all the same,
Speaker 1: all of them are different. Sometimes there's really good ball
Speaker 1: pressure and the guy has to work really hard to
Speaker 1: get separation over the screen, and the contest on the
Speaker 1: mid range is better. Maybe there's back pressure. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of these things that make him uncomfortable that will
Speaker 1: lead to a miss. Whereas if the dude's just walking
Speaker 1: into pull up jump shots with zero back pressure, with
Speaker 1: zero physical ball pressure with zero like a very mild
Speaker 1: contest from brook Lopez coming out of the drop. I
Speaker 1: don't care what your analytical professionals say. That's a high
Speaker 1: percentage shot. And he made three of them down the
Speaker 1: stretch of the game and beat you guys, and you
Speaker 1: can like again to me like that is why point
Speaker 1: of attack defense is such a vitally important part of
Speaker 1: an NBA defense. Like, it's not just about forcing a
Speaker 1: team to take the right shots from the opening tip
Speaker 1: of the game. You have to make the opposing ball
Speaker 1: handler feel uncomfortable in some way, shape or form. If
Speaker 1: you do, he'll have to work harder and fight through it,
Speaker 1: and he'll take some bad shots. He'll not feel as confident.
Speaker 1: And that's how you can force a guy into a
Speaker 1: you know, a ten for twenty three night instead of
Speaker 1: a fifteen for twenty three night. That's the difference, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, it's comfort. It's rhythm, like when you go
Speaker 1: to the gym and you do cone shooting if you're
Speaker 1: a young basketball player that's working on perimeter shot creation.
Speaker 1: You know, like when I do my shooting drills, like
Speaker 1: I will that rip through pull up shooting drill that
Speaker 1: I've told you guys about on the show before, Like
Speaker 1: I catch and I rip to the right, and I
Speaker 1: do a counter move and I go back to the
Speaker 1: left and I take a pull up jump shot. You know,
Speaker 1: it's great. When I'm shooting by myself, it's comfort. I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm doing a shooting drill right because I'm
Speaker 1: by myself. When the defense in an NBA game is
Speaker 1: allowing Tyrese Halliburton to feel like he's shooting in cone drills,
Speaker 1: he's gonna make shots at a much higher percentage relative
Speaker 1: to what the giant sample size might tell you over
Speaker 1: the course of the season because the other pull up
Speaker 1: fifteen footers Tyrese is taking is against better point of
Speaker 1: attack defense. It's a significant issue. To put it simply,
Speaker 1: you are not beating Boston unless you find a way
Speaker 1: to make ball handlers more uncomfortable, like Derek Is. Has
Speaker 1: anybody seen how well Derek White is playing this year.
Speaker 1: He's killing teams with the combination of beating guys off
Speaker 1: the dribble and making reds finishing at the rim, and
Speaker 1: he's shooting his pull up three point shot really really well.
Speaker 1: Like that's just Derek White. It's like, Okay, we have
Speaker 1: Giannis and we have Chris Middleton for Jalen Brown and
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum. Great who's guarding drew In and Derek White. Like, meanwhile,
Speaker 1: on the other end of the floor, Derek White is
Speaker 1: going to be in Damian Lillard's personal space forty eight minutes. Well,
Speaker 1: however long he plays seven games in a seven game series,
Speaker 1: see how that one matchup could call it? Like, and
Speaker 1: what will happen is at the end of the series,
Speaker 1: people will be like, Dame didn't shoot very well. It's
Speaker 1: shot variants And it's like, no, the Celtics are just
Speaker 1: better at making your guards feel uncomfortable than the Bucks
Speaker 1: are at making your guards feel uncomfortable. To me, it
Speaker 1: is a it is a it is a fatal flaw. Like,
Speaker 1: are the the teams in that other tier, the Suns
Speaker 1: and the Timberwolves and the and the Bucks and the Lakers.
Speaker 1: Can they win the titles currently constructed. Sure, but it's
Speaker 1: a super long shot. You need a ton of stuff
Speaker 1: to go well. You need a bunch of guys to
Speaker 1: play above their pay grade, you need your opponents to
Speaker 1: shoot poorly. You need a bunch of things to go
Speaker 1: your way, and it's just unrealistic to expect it to
Speaker 1: go that way. All those teams need upgrades. And for
Speaker 1: the Bucks, they need an athletic guard that they can
Speaker 1: put next to Dame that's at least okay on the
Speaker 1: offensive end of the floor, to the point where he's
Speaker 1: not a liability. That's what they need. A guy that
Speaker 1: can pick up primary point of attack assignments, that's what
Speaker 1: they need so that they always are slotted properly. And
Speaker 1: that everything makes sense. I said in training camp, Malik
Speaker 1: Beasley can shoot. Didn't shoot well for the Lakers. Maybe
Speaker 1: he'll shoot well. He has shot well for the Bucks,
Speaker 1: but he was never at any point a reliable point
Speaker 1: of attack defender, and the Bucks were relying on him
Speaker 1: to be that. It was doomed to fail. And again
Speaker 1: I understand that the standings look good, and the Bucks
Speaker 1: have the second best record in the East, and the
Speaker 1: you know, third or fourth best record, in the league.
Speaker 1: But it's not about winning regular season games. It's can
Speaker 1: you beat Boston in a seven game series? And right
Speaker 1: now I think that flaw gets them beat against Boston.
Speaker 1: One last thing on the Bucks. Damian Lillard had some
Speaker 1: comments after the game about his offensive role because the
Speaker 1: Bucks offense really struggled down the stretch as well. They
Speaker 1: had a one oh five offensive rating in the second half,
Speaker 1: and Dame had this interesting comment after the game, basically
Speaker 1: talking about him being off the ball more. And to
Speaker 1: be clear, he's right about that, Like there is a
Speaker 1: reality to like when your touches change, like when you
Speaker 1: go from feeling the ball in your hands all the
Speaker 1: time to where like you're still involved a lot, but
Speaker 1: it's like a lot more like sometimes I'm giving the ball,
Speaker 1: I'm giving the ball to Giannis and Chris a lot.
Speaker 1: Brooke is a guy that's pretty aggressive offensively, so like
Speaker 1: it's much more of an equal opportunity type of offense.
Speaker 1: And it is a struggle for Dame and he's really struggling.
Speaker 1: He's cratered again in his last you know, in shooting
Speaker 1: over the list couple of weeks, we'll dive into that
Speaker 1: a little bit further when we get into the power rankings.
Speaker 1: But like he is right, like, this is a different
Speaker 1: role and it does take time, and quite frankly, they
Speaker 1: need to figure that out because I don't think this
Speaker 1: defense is gonna be good enough to be the foundation
Speaker 1: for them to win a championship. They're going to have
Speaker 1: to enter into that Denver level of inevitability on offense,
Speaker 1: and it's just gonna take time. They've got another fifty
Speaker 1: games or so, but they're gonna have to figure out
Speaker 1: how to get Dame comfortable in his new role. All right. Lastly,
Speaker 1: before we get to the power rankings, I wanted to
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about og and Andobi's first game
Speaker 1: with the Knicks. Impressive win. As the next beat the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Timberwolves. On offense, you saw the benefit of og
Speaker 1: and Andobi right away hit what three corner threes. I
Speaker 1: talked a lot about how so many Knicks games in
Speaker 1: recent weeks or ended like it's like a tic tac
Speaker 1: toe right, Like it's like Jalen Brunson makes a play
Speaker 1: at the point of attack that draws multiple defenders. You know,
Speaker 1: he hits the role man, or hits the guy on
Speaker 1: the wing who drives and kicks or the role man
Speaker 1: you know, makes a read out of the short role
Speaker 1: and then the ball just ends up in RJ. Barrett's
Speaker 1: hands on the wing and he can't shoot, especially against
Speaker 1: the closeout, and so just so many of those possessions
Speaker 1: would end that way. And it's like og An Andobi
Speaker 1: is just a much better both contested and uncontested catch
Speaker 1: and shoot shooter, and it like he's going to make
Speaker 1: the corner threes in a way that RJ. Barrett can't.
Speaker 1: The second big thing that stood out to me is
Speaker 1: just his athleticism. Again, this is a type of athlete
Speaker 1: that the Knicks just did not have on the roster,
Speaker 1: like an actually perimeter quick, tall guy. They just didn't
Speaker 1: have this right and like you see, you saw it
Speaker 1: in a bunch of different ways. Specifically, they worked him
Speaker 1: in the dunker spot a lot, where like he would
Speaker 1: just kind of meander down there when he saw an opening,
Speaker 1: and he has that ability to on the catch just
Speaker 1: immediately go up and dunk it with two hands. And
Speaker 1: he's got the strength to fight through contact, which is
Speaker 1: just a it's like a release valve in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways. When he's cutting to the rim. He had
Speaker 1: a cut on like a little banana cut over the
Speaker 1: right into the middle of the floor, where he caught
Speaker 1: and went up and dunked it with two hands. I
Speaker 1: think he got a foul on that one too, Like
Speaker 1: he just has like it's almost like a real rim
Speaker 1: pressure from the off ball positions, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And then as just an athlete in transition, he had
Speaker 1: a big one handed dunkin transition where he was running
Speaker 1: his lane. I think he's just gonna make them so
Speaker 1: much better on the offensive end of the floor. And
Speaker 1: I thought you saw that immediately. Now defensively was a chore.
Speaker 1: They put him on. Anthony I works to start the game,
Speaker 1: and the Timberwolves are an excellent screening team, and Og
Speaker 1: was really struggling to fight over the top of screens,
Speaker 1: and so Ant did get downhill a lot. I've talked
Speaker 1: about this before, but like the Knicks might want to
Speaker 1: experiment with switching just because of the size of their
Speaker 1: front line and Og and Andobi being a big body
Speaker 1: that can be easy to screen sometimes. And we'll see,
Speaker 1: maybe it's just one game, so I don't want to overreact,
Speaker 1: and we'll see what kind of scheme ends up working
Speaker 1: best for them. The other thing too, is the Knicks
Speaker 1: that's currently constructed or not a rim ptet team. They
Speaker 1: don't have like a big old rim protector, especially since
Speaker 1: Mitchel Robinson's hurt and so an over the top chasing
Speaker 1: kind of on ball scheme is serves to funnel, and
Speaker 1: you only really want a funnel when you have excellent
Speaker 1: rim protections. So it might be interesting we'll see over
Speaker 1: a larger sample size, but it might be interesting to
Speaker 1: see the Knicks try to do some more switching because
Speaker 1: oj and Obe can guard bigger players because they can
Speaker 1: have like a team wide help and recover scheme to
Speaker 1: try to help them do okay in mismatches. They also
Speaker 1: have some guards that are like surprisingly big and strong,
Speaker 1: and that can be something that is useful in switching
Speaker 1: as well. But we'll see in the big picture what
Speaker 1: they decide to do. Got in foul trouble too, a
Speaker 1: couple of really bad causes of rebounding foul that I
Speaker 1: didn't like, and then his sixth voul is just an
Speaker 1: atrocious call. He was just fighting through a gober screen
Speaker 1: and it was pretty innocuous contact and the ref just
Speaker 1: took him out of the game. Something I'm not a
Speaker 1: huge fan of but it is what it is. But overall,
Speaker 1: I thought it was an impressive debut for og And and
Speaker 1: Obi clear demonstration of the ceiling raising ability that he has.
Speaker 1: All Right, moving on to our power rankings, So we
Speaker 1: have two teams dropping out this week. The Orlando Magic
Speaker 1: went one in two this week. They've lost eight of
Speaker 1: their last thirteen games and their twenty sixth in offense
Speaker 1: over that span, so they're out of the power rankings
Speaker 1: for the time being. Also, the Dallas Mavericks, they went
Speaker 1: one in two this week, lost seven of their last
Speaker 1: eleven games in that span. It's weird. They're twenty fifth
Speaker 1: in offense and sixteenth in defense over that span. But
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving is back now that should help them settle down.
Speaker 1: He played his first game last night, looked rusty, but
Speaker 1: with him coming back, that should help them get back
Speaker 1: on track offensively alrighty Number ten the New Orleans Pelicans.
Speaker 1: They've won seven of their last ten games, culminating in
Speaker 1: a quality win over the Lakers on Sunday. Their top
Speaker 1: five in offense and defense over that span. Branding Ramsign
Speaker 1: Williamson and CJ. McCollum are all averaging over twenty points
Speaker 1: per game very efficiently over that span. They're rebounding super well,
Speaker 1: the third in defensive rebound percentage over that span. And
Speaker 1: on defense, couple of guys I want to shout out.
Speaker 1: Brandon Ingram is having a ridiculous stretch of off ball defense,
Speaker 1: getting a ton of deflections and blocks and steals and
Speaker 1: blowing up plays. It's been a theme all season. Those
Speaker 1: of you guys who've been listening to the show have
Speaker 1: heard me talk about it, but recently it's gone even
Speaker 1: up a level. Brandon Ingram has the tools, kind of
Speaker 1: like we've talked about with Kevin Durant, to be an
Speaker 1: outstanding defensive player. It's just a question of commitment, and
Speaker 1: there have been stretches where he does, in stretches where
Speaker 1: he doesn't. He's in a stretch where he has been
Speaker 1: doing it and it's made them that much more formidable
Speaker 1: on defense. Josey Alvarado was a menace in that Lakers
Speaker 1: game as well, just a literal wrecking ball, blowing things up,
Speaker 1: not just the from behind steels, but also just attacking
Speaker 1: the basketball when it's in front of him. In transition.
Speaker 1: He was having success there as well. Pelicans are playing
Speaker 1: some good ball right now the first time in the
Speaker 1: first time under Power Rankings at number ten, number nine,
Speaker 1: the Indiana Pacers. They've won four in a row, all
Speaker 1: four wins against good teams. They went down to huge
Speaker 1: Houston and beat the Rockets in Houston, not easy to do.
Speaker 1: They went into Chicago and beat a red hot Bulls team,
Speaker 1: that's not easy to do. Then they beat the Knicks.
Speaker 1: The Knicks are a good team. And then they went
Speaker 1: into Milwaukee and beat the Bucks. Like we mentioned earlier,
Speaker 1: ty Tyres Haliburton in his last five games twenty six points,
Speaker 1: five rebounds, and sixteen assists with only two turnovers per
Speaker 1: game on fifty two percent from the field and forty
Speaker 1: percent from three. And then I wanted to shout out
Speaker 1: TJ McConnell. He's just been such a good bench guard
Speaker 1: this year, not just at the point of attack offensively
Speaker 1: beating people off the dribble and making plays, but he's
Speaker 1: also been a very very good point of attack defensive player,
Speaker 1: and just an overall disruptor and energizer bunny that just
Speaker 1: continues the wave the onslaught of what the Pacers bring.
Speaker 1: As part of that, Tyres Haliburton experience, and then they
Speaker 1: even play the two of them together, and then they
Speaker 1: just start to pick you apart, driving and kicking. I
Speaker 1: did a lot of Pacers talk earlier in the show.
Speaker 1: For those of you guys are watching the breakout clips,
Speaker 1: so make sure you check out the Pacers Bruck Pacers
Speaker 1: Bucks down from earlier today. Number eight the Denver Nuggets.
Speaker 1: They beat the Grizzlies and Hornets, but then they got
Speaker 1: demolished by the Thunder at home. Now, Aaron Gordon was
Speaker 1: out for that game because of the unfortunate dog bite
Speaker 1: that he suffered over Christmas. But as I've said frequently
Speaker 1: about the Nuggets, you know, when it comes to their
Speaker 1: top five, I trust them more than anyone else in
Speaker 1: the league. That's why they're my number one championship favorite
Speaker 1: at this point. But their vulnerability is a lack of depth.
Speaker 1: If you lose Aaron Gordon, you're nowhere near as physically
Speaker 1: imposing as you are with him. If you lose Michael
Speaker 1: Porter Junior, you're weak side shooting craters and suddenly it's
Speaker 1: a lot easier to throw multiple bodies at the Yokich
Speaker 1: Murray two man game. No. Kentavious called well, Pope, now
Speaker 1: you have to play your point of attack defenders that
Speaker 1: are nowhere near as good offensively. Same issue. You can
Speaker 1: start to load up on the two man game. No
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray, there is no two man game. The offense
Speaker 1: becomes way easier to guard, or at least that you
Speaker 1: go to a much lower level two man game. So
Speaker 1: the point is like, this is the best team in
Speaker 1: the league, but great example. Like they I've always said
Speaker 1: that five man grouping is the most perfect assembly of
Speaker 1: basketball talent that I can remember seeing in terms of
Speaker 1: reaching the value higher than the sum of their parts. Right,
Speaker 1: and Jokic is the best player in the world, but
Speaker 1: each of those role players next to him is immaculately
Speaker 1: a perfect fit for what they need out of that position.
Speaker 1: And I thought, I thought the thunder just destroying the
Speaker 1: Nuggets in Denver was a strong indicator of just how
Speaker 1: important Aaron Gordon is to this particular team. Number seven,
Speaker 1: the Sacramento Kings the loss of the Blazers, but they
Speaker 1: beat the Hawks and grizz easier stretching their schedules. So
Speaker 1: I wanted to just take a second to shout out,
Speaker 1: deer in Fox doesn't get nearly enough credit for massively
Speaker 1: increasing his scoring volume while not dropping inefficiency. Went from
Speaker 1: twenty five points per game last year to thirty this year,
Speaker 1: while staying at sixty percent true shooting. And it's on
Speaker 1: the strength of him just turning into a dead eye
Speaker 1: jump shooter. Not just that, but like a high vault
Speaker 1: guy who's hunting those shots. Like there was a clip
Speaker 1: going around on Twitter the other day of Darren Fox
Speaker 1: shooting like an early clock pull up thirty footer I
Speaker 1: think against the Grizzlies, and it was in like the
Speaker 1: early first quarter, and everyone's like, oh my gosh, what
Speaker 1: is Darren Fox doing. People don't realize he's just hunting
Speaker 1: jump shots. Now He's attempting ten threes per game over
Speaker 1: his last eleven games and hitting them at a forty
Speaker 1: five percent clip. Like not just off, not just off
Speaker 1: the catch either. In that span six pull up threes
Speaker 1: a game, six of them, and he's making them at
Speaker 1: a forty one percent clip. This guy was already a
Speaker 1: star based on his ability to beat people off the dribble,
Speaker 1: to make that floater, some of the mid range pull
Speaker 1: up jump shooting in the finishing at the rim. If
Speaker 1: this dude is now just like a dead eye pull
Speaker 1: up three point shooter. Like. Now we're talking about a
Speaker 1: guy that can enter into the realm of top tier superstardom.
Speaker 1: He is a capable, if not excellent, point of attack
Speaker 1: defender when he's locked in. This is a dude I've
Speaker 1: seen in the season. No one can keep him in
Speaker 1: front off the dribble. Now he's adding not just a
Speaker 1: good jump shot, but the bet one of the most
Speaker 1: effective jump shots in the league this year. He's up
Speaker 1: over one point one points per points per shot attempt
Speaker 1: in both catch and shoots and pull up jump shots
Speaker 1: this year. This is incredibly high level shooting paired with
Speaker 1: one of the best downhill athletes in the league. So
Speaker 1: shout out to Deerren Fox Like legitimately one of the
Speaker 1: most improved players in the league this year. Number six
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia seventy six Ers. They beat the Magic Rogets
Speaker 1: Rockets and lost to the Bulls, but Embiid's been out,
Speaker 1: but it looks like Joel Embid will be returning tonight
Speaker 1: against the against the Bulls again. Tyre Smax's efficiency is
Speaker 1: tanked a little bit, but he's still scoring at a
Speaker 1: high volume. Number five the Milwaukee Bucks. They beat the
Speaker 1: Nets and the Cavs, but lost to the Pacers. Giannis
Speaker 1: continues to obliterate everyone, but Dame has cooled way off
Speaker 1: again in the last six games, twenty two points per game,
Speaker 1: thirty nine percent from the field in thirty three percent
Speaker 1: from three. As I mentioned in the Pacers Bucks breakdown
Speaker 1: early in today's show, I don't think their defense is
Speaker 1: going to be very good, and so they need to
Speaker 1: find a way to get Dame into a groove, a
Speaker 1: consistent groove offensively. Number four the Los Angeles Clippers. Kawhi
Speaker 1: Leonard is back and they are back to winning. They
Speaker 1: have an undefeated week, capped off with an impressive handling
Speaker 1: of the Miami Heat yesterday. Seventeen and five since November sixteenth,
Speaker 1: which is the second best record in the league, second
Speaker 1: to the Celtics over that span. The offense is coming around.
Speaker 1: Remember I was talking about early like the even when
Speaker 1: they were winning, I was like, watch out. Their offense
Speaker 1: hasn't even really gotten going well. They're third in offense
Speaker 1: over their last ten games, seventh in offense since November sixteenth,
Speaker 1: and that seventeen and five stretch. James Harden is the
Speaker 1: guy I wanted to shout out here what I said
Speaker 1: before the trade, and this is something I feel very
Speaker 1: strongly about. James Harden has limitations when we get to
Speaker 1: the postseason and they're real. Can't finish at the rim,
Speaker 1: doesn't make enough pull up threes to be a super
Speaker 1: efficient score, really inefficient in his impact on a night
Speaker 1: to night basis bad defensive player, right, but he is
Speaker 1: still one of the very best regular season innings eaters
Speaker 1: in the league, and there is real value in there.
Speaker 1: Twenty points five rebounds in tennysis per game since November sixteenth,
Speaker 1: forty seven percent from the field, forty five percent from
Speaker 1: three in two point six stocks per game. Excellent basketball
Speaker 1: from James Harden, especially helping to float the ship. While
Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard has been out number three the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Speaker 1: They are starting to drop some games in this intense
Speaker 1: stretch of their schedule. They're seven to four in their
Speaker 1: last eleven, but all the losses are in really tough
Speaker 1: games at New Orleans, tough place to win at Philly,
Speaker 1: tough place to win at Oklahoma City, tough place to
Speaker 1: win in Madison Square Garden, tough place to win. I
Speaker 1: actually think all things considered, we knew this stretch was
Speaker 1: really tough, but I think they've held up pretty well.
Speaker 1: Like I talked about earlier, when right before this actual
Speaker 1: stretch of their schedule, I was saying, don't expect him
Speaker 1: to go undefeated, but if you're comfortably over five hundred
Speaker 1: in that stretch, really strong indicator of a championship threat.
Speaker 1: I thought they've demonstrated it to that point. Main concern, though,
Speaker 1: is just their half court offense. They only score zero
Speaker 1: point nine to nine points per half court possession or
Speaker 1: zero point nine to eighty five excuse me, points per
Speaker 1: half court possession. That ranks eighteenth in the NBA. I
Speaker 1: would like to see them get that up over one hundred.
Speaker 1: That to me is kind of like a prerequisite to
Speaker 1: be able to score in the playoffs. That's my main
Speaker 1: concern for them at this point. You've seen it before,
Speaker 1: like teams just can pack the paint on them and
Speaker 1: force them into taking jump shots, and like win Ants
Speaker 1: making all of his pull up jump shots. It looks good,
Speaker 1: but they can get into some ruts offensively. But holding
Speaker 1: up pretty well over a tough schedule. Number two Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City Thunder undefeated week with all quality wins. They beat
Speaker 1: the Knicks, the Nets, and went into Denver and smacked
Speaker 1: the Nuggets. So we've moved them all the way up
Speaker 1: to number two. They have won seven of their last
Speaker 1: eight games. They beat the Nuggets twice in that span.
Speaker 1: They beat the Timberwolves, they beat the Clippers, they beat
Speaker 1: the Knicks. Playing excellent basketball, Shay Gills, Alexander's playing like
Speaker 1: an MVP thirty two, six and six on fifty five
Speaker 1: percent shooting over that span. Over the eight game span
Speaker 1: chet last eight games, twenty points per game, fifty nine
Speaker 1: percent shooting and forty seven percent from three. The dude
Speaker 1: is exploding. I think he's a superstar in the making.
Speaker 1: I think he has the potential to be one of
Speaker 1: the best players in the league one day. And Jalen
Speaker 1: Williams just quietly putting up twenty points per game on
Speaker 1: fifty seven percent from the field and fifty two percent
Speaker 1: from three. This team has a super super bright future.
Speaker 1: Won twenty three offensive rating over the last eight games,
Speaker 1: number one in half court offense for the season according
Speaker 1: to Cleaning the last number three in half court defense.
Speaker 1: Number one, where they always have been or for the
Speaker 1: most part this year, the Boston Celtics They've had a
Speaker 1: really weak schedule this week, but they handled their business.
Speaker 1: They beat the Pistons, the Raptors in the Spurs. The
Speaker 1: Celtics have played a much tougher schedule to this point
Speaker 1: than both Philly and Milwaukee, and despite that, they are
Speaker 1: two and a half games up on the Bucks and
Speaker 1: four games up on the Sixers. They have the fifth
Speaker 1: easiest remain schedule, So get ready for a lot more
Speaker 1: weeks like this and look for the Celtics to run
Speaker 1: away with the number one overall seed. As I said
Speaker 1: before the season, I think you're going to see a
Speaker 1: hefty gap between them and everybody else by the time
Speaker 1: we get to the end. The only reason it's looked
Speaker 1: as close as it has is the Celtics have had
Speaker 1: a very front loaded schedule when it comes to the
Speaker 1: tougher games and their peers the Sixers in the Bucks
Speaker 1: have played two of the easiest schedules in the league,
Speaker 1: fueled in large part because the bottom of the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference is super weak. But Boston gets to take the
Speaker 1: benefit of that down the stretch. So look for Boston
Speaker 1: to run away in the standings for the rest of
Speaker 1: the For the rest of the year, we will be
Speaker 1: back tomorrow, big time game. We got Thunder Celtics going
Speaker 1: to be covering that one, a couple other games from
Speaker 1: tonight as well as always. I appreciate your guys' support
Speaker 1: and I will see you then. The volume