Speaker 1: The Volume. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight, here at
Speaker 1: the Volume, Happy Monday, everybody. Round two coverage of the
Speaker 1: NBA Playoffs. Here at Hoops Tonight is brought to you
Speaker 1: by Chase Freedom Unlimited. How do you cash back? All right?
Speaker 1: This series that we all were hoping for, the one
Speaker 1: that's going to end the basketball world as we know
Speaker 1: it and cause the Internet to go up in flames
Speaker 1: all at once, Lakers versus Warriors, We're gonna do a
Speaker 1: series preview that hits it from a bunch of different angles.
Speaker 1: Do you guys know the drill? Before we get started,
Speaker 1: Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channels. You don't miss any
Speaker 1: more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter and underscore
Speaker 1: Jason LT so you guys don't miss any sho announcements.
Speaker 1: And if, for whatever reason, you guys miss one of
Speaker 1: these videos and you can't get back over to YouTube
Speaker 1: to finish, don't forget. You can find them wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Under Hoops Tonight, all right, let's talk
Speaker 1: some basketball. So before we get into our our traditional
Speaker 1: kind of series preview structure where I go over like
Speaker 1: kind of overarching notes and then we hit some key matchups.
Speaker 1: And then I give a pick I want to. I
Speaker 1: have a little bit of a rant that I want
Speaker 1: to do surrounding the some of the narratives that are
Speaker 1: going to be involved in this series. So one of
Speaker 1: the most discouraging things to me as a basketball fan
Speaker 1: with the way that the media has covered the game.
Speaker 1: And it's not just media. A lot of it has
Speaker 1: to do with just social media and the way people
Speaker 1: behave on Twitter and other social media apps. There's a
Speaker 1: stand culture that is taking over. It's an obsession with
Speaker 1: players to the point of reverence that goes to the
Speaker 1: point where it actually, I think does a disservice to
Speaker 1: the game of basketball. So, for instance, we are going
Speaker 1: to get the two largest fan bases in the NBA
Speaker 1: pitted against each other in this particular series. And now
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about Lakers versus Warriors. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: stepf fans versus Lebron fans, and that's going to be
Speaker 1: the narrative direction that this series goes in. And I
Speaker 1: don't really like that because I'll give you an example.
Speaker 1: So Lebron James is my favorite player. He's the reason
Speaker 1: why I got into the game of basketball. I was
Speaker 1: raised on baseball and football happened across Lebron James on
Speaker 1: the television, and my entire life changed as a result
Speaker 1: because I fell in love with the game. It ended
Speaker 1: up being what paid for my schooling and ended up
Speaker 1: being what I do for a living. And so Lebron
Speaker 1: is my favorite player. For a lot of Lebron fans,
Speaker 1: they despise Steph Curry and everything he stands for because
Speaker 1: he represents some kind of threat to Lebron and his
Speaker 1: legacy and things along those lines. I think that is
Speaker 1: so juvenile and stupid. Like Steph is my second favorite player.
Speaker 1: He's an incredible basketball player. If you love the game
Speaker 1: of basketball, you should watch Steph and enjoy it, and
Speaker 1: you should watch Lebron and enjoy it if you dislike
Speaker 1: watching some of the best basketball players in the world.
Speaker 1: And I get it when it's certain things that have
Speaker 1: nothing to do with their performance, Like I get irritated
Speaker 1: sometimes by you know, foul grifting and things along the lines.
Speaker 1: But I can get on that to a certain extent
Speaker 1: against a lot of players. Even Lebron and Steph, even
Speaker 1: though they're way better than most, both of them tend
Speaker 1: to flop from time to time to try to draw fouls.
Speaker 1: I can get annoyed by stuff like that, but when
Speaker 1: it comes to the skill sets and the way that
Speaker 1: they impact winning, all of these guys at the top
Speaker 1: of the league are incredible and you should appreciate certain
Speaker 1: things about their game if you love the game of basketball.
Speaker 1: And so to me, like, it's not about Lebron versus Steph.
Speaker 1: It's about the Lakers versus the Warriors. And there are
Speaker 1: a bunch of different basketball dynamics that are taking place,
Speaker 1: and I hope we don't miss all of that beautiful
Speaker 1: basketball for the sake of a stupid narrative debate that
Speaker 1: doesn't make any sense because one of the dudes is
Speaker 1: thirty eight and the other is thirty five. And by
Speaker 1: the way, it's over, Steph is the best player in
Speaker 1: the league. Now, he's just better than Lebron. Now has
Speaker 1: nothing to do with Lebron. Lebron's just old. He's thirty eight.
Speaker 1: And I have so many Lebron fans and they'll be like, Oh,
Speaker 1: he's not old, he's just injured. His foot is hurt. Huh.
Speaker 1: That's interesting. I wonder if they're related. Is it possible
Speaker 1: that the fact that he's played more minutes than any
Speaker 1: basketball player to ever touch an NBA court not named
Speaker 1: Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Maybe that has something to do with
Speaker 1: the fact that when he did a regular jump stop
Speaker 1: in the third quarter after three full days rest, his
Speaker 1: foot popped like he's old. It's not about Lebron versus Steph.
Speaker 1: It's the Lakers versus the Warriors. And I promise you,
Speaker 1: for the Steph fans who would take victory laps if
Speaker 1: Lebron lost, you wouldn't be in the same position if
Speaker 1: Steph was thirty eight and Lebron was thirty five, Because
Speaker 1: Lebron won a Finals MVP when he was thirty five,
Speaker 1: he was at a completely different level than where he's
Speaker 1: at right now. And for you Lebron fans, if Lebron
Speaker 1: were to lose, you'd be just as upset if they
Speaker 1: were taking victory laps. So let's try to set the
Speaker 1: narratives aside. Let's try to be grown ups, and let's
Speaker 1: try to appreciate what should be an extremely interesting series
Speaker 1: of basketball with lots of players that have great resumes
Speaker 1: and legacies that go beyond Lebron, James and Steph. And
Speaker 1: even as we focus on the Lebron James and Steph
Speaker 1: element of this series. They're the two greatest players of
Speaker 1: this era. They are two of the five greatest players
Speaker 1: of all time. I Colin Coward did a really interesting
Speaker 1: rant about Steph Curry and Magic Johnson. I would agree.
Speaker 1: I think Steph has surpassed Magic and Larry at this point.
Speaker 1: I would put Lebron, MJ somewhere one. Two. I still
Speaker 1: have MJ one, Lebron two. I put Kobe three, and
Speaker 1: then I'd put Steph four. And you guys know, I
Speaker 1: don't really keep centers on the same list as my
Speaker 1: perimeter players. So I think Steph is the fourth best
Speaker 1: perimeter player of all time and Lebron is no lower
Speaker 1: than the second best perimeter player of all time. These
Speaker 1: two guys, in my opinion, their legacies are completely stamped,
Speaker 1: and so the outcome of this series can only serve
Speaker 1: to improve one of those two guys legacies and do
Speaker 1: nothing in terms of damage to either. And to be clear,
Speaker 1: it's possible that Steph could be the best player in
Speaker 1: the series and still lose. You know how, That's how
Speaker 1: basketball games work. They're five on five with benches and
Speaker 1: coaches and home court advantage. And shot variants and all
Speaker 1: these different things that can go a bunch of different directions.
Speaker 1: So I'd like to keep it, at least for the
Speaker 1: sake of this show focused on the basketball as much
Speaker 1: as possible. All Right, I am off my soapbucks. Let's
Speaker 1: get into the series notes. So we had a very
Speaker 1: successful first round. We picked seven of the eight first
Speaker 1: round series correctly, not exactly by games, but we picked
Speaker 1: the outcomes of the series correctly. And of course the
Speaker 1: one we miss is that stupid Miami Heat upset of
Speaker 1: the Bucks where Giannis missed three of the games. But
Speaker 1: what does that mean. It just means I got lucky,
Speaker 1: and chances are will be wrong a lot at some
Speaker 1: point later on in this postseason. That said, I am
Speaker 1: very pleased with how we kind of set up the
Speaker 1: first round. We had some good reads on some specific
Speaker 1: series and picked a couple of good upsets. As of
Speaker 1: right now, the Warriors are minus one fifty eight favorites
Speaker 1: in on FanDuel. That makes sense to me. Both teams
Speaker 1: had impressive upset wins in the first round. Both teams
Speaker 1: are pretty evenly matched, but the Warriors are the defending
Speaker 1: champions and they have home court advantage, and they have
Speaker 1: the best player in the series, so I think it
Speaker 1: makes sense to make the Warriors of a discernible but
Speaker 1: slight favorite. At minus one fifty eight. The Lakers won
Speaker 1: the season series three to one. They lost on opening
Speaker 1: night when it was that whole other team with Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook and a bunch of guards. They went three to
Speaker 1: zero against Golden State post deadline, but important players missed
Speaker 1: every game. On February eleventh, we had no Lebron or Steph,
Speaker 1: on February twenty third, we had no Steph or Andrew Wiggins,
Speaker 1: and on March fifth, we had no Lebron or Andrew Wiggins.
Speaker 1: But we did learn enough to at least have a
Speaker 1: general idea of the game plans that both teams are
Speaker 1: going to employ. So for our major matchups. This is
Speaker 1: gonna be three points brought to you by Chase Freedom Unlimited.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna target three major matchups in this series, so
Speaker 1: number one. Can Golden State handle the Los Angeles Lakers?
Speaker 1: Size advantage matchups are pretty straightforward. I expect Kevon Looney
Speaker 1: to guard Anthony Davis and to be extremely physical. I
Speaker 1: actually like this matchup for Anthony Davis on the offensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor when AD's looking to score. I
Speaker 1: think he's got enough physical advantages over Loonie, and I've
Speaker 1: seen this manifest on film to where he's in good shape.
Speaker 1: Where I think the Looney matchup can be really tough
Speaker 1: on AD is on the other end of the floor,
Speaker 1: when AD's busy doing all this rim protection stuff and
Speaker 1: Kevon Looney is crashing the offensive glass. You guys saw
Speaker 1: Kevon Looney be a massive swing factor in the Sacramento
Speaker 1: King series with the work that he did on the
Speaker 1: offensive glass. So Looney AD like that matchup for AD
Speaker 1: on the offensive end, I'm a little concerned about it.
Speaker 1: On the defensive end. I do think Andrew Wiggins will
Speaker 1: guard Lebron goes without saying and try to ball pressure
Speaker 1: him as much as possible. They usually have Andrew pick
Speaker 1: him up, you know, three quarter court and just try
Speaker 1: to make Lebron wear out his legs as he's working
Speaker 1: the ball up the floor. I think a huge aspect
Speaker 1: in this particular series will Lebron's ability to weaponize his
Speaker 1: size against Andrew Wiggins. I think if he goes with
Speaker 1: the Luka Doncic approach and tries to navigate everything with
Speaker 1: a live dribble from thirty feet. I think Andrew Wiggins,
Speaker 1: in his physical ball pressure is gonna wear Lebron out,
Speaker 1: and the quickness issue is gonna be a problem, and
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna go poorly for Lebron. So I
Speaker 1: think it's important for Lebron to give the basketball up,
Speaker 1: let Austin and d Lo navigate the ball pressure to
Speaker 1: save his legs. And I think Lebron needs to work
Speaker 1: on Wiggins in the post as much as possible. Dylan
Speaker 1: Brooks has a lower center of gravity than Andrew Wiggins,
Speaker 1: so he's a different type of defender as a big
Speaker 1: part of why he's given tons of people struggles all
Speaker 1: series long. Dylan Brooks has given Steph struggles, He's given
Speaker 1: Lebron struggles. He's given every single star player that he's
Speaker 1: run into this year, except for maybe Kyrie Irving, legitimate
Speaker 1: struggles during the regular season. Dylan Brooks is like that.
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins is another one of those guys. He's on
Speaker 1: that tier with Jason Tatum and Jade mc daniels and
Speaker 1: all those big wings that can guard multiple positions. Andrew
Speaker 1: Wiggins is a top tier defender on that list. But
Speaker 1: He's a little bit more upright, a better He's a
Speaker 1: million times better athlete than Dylan Brooks. He's taller, longer arms,
Speaker 1: but his center of gravity is just a little bit taller.
Speaker 1: So Lebron's advantage against Stillan brook or excuse me, against
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins, in my opinion, is going to be in
Speaker 1: the post. And so a significant factor in this series
Speaker 1: will be how much Lebron seeds ball handling responsibilities to
Speaker 1: the other Laker guards and works down to the block
Speaker 1: so he can use his physicality on Andrew Wiggins. Another
Speaker 1: huge matchup in this series Klay Thompson versus Austin Reeves.
Speaker 1: I think they're both going to guard each other. This
Speaker 1: is a matchup that Austin dominated in the three games
Speaker 1: post deadline. So in three games post trade deadline, Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves fourteen points per game on seven field goal attempts,
Speaker 1: sixty five percent from the field and sixty three percent
Speaker 1: from three with four assists per game. That was kind
Speaker 1: of before he really stepped up his ball handling too.
Speaker 1: It wasn't until the late portion of the season that
Speaker 1: Austin started being more aggressive. He's more of like an
Speaker 1: eighteen point per Game nine a guy now and he
Speaker 1: is every bit is capable of going for twenty in
Speaker 1: any given game as d'An angelo, Rustler, Lebron or Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: He's a guy that has become a volume initiator for
Speaker 1: the Lakers, and even in the time since since these
Speaker 1: earlier Warriors matchups. In February, Klay Thompson in the same
Speaker 1: matchup three games post deadline twenty points per game on
Speaker 1: nineteen field goal attempts, so only six more points on
Speaker 1: twelve additional field goal attempts, thirty six percent from the
Speaker 1: field and thirty two percent from three with just two
Speaker 1: assists per game. Austin did a really nice job locking him,
Speaker 1: trailing him over screens, doing a nice job hanging tight
Speaker 1: on that tough step back jump shot that Clay goes to.
Speaker 1: Austin flat out won that matchup to end the season.
Speaker 1: In their three matchups, Clay is a better player, So
Speaker 1: Clay has to find a way to win that matchup.
Speaker 1: He should, He's the better player. He just has to
Speaker 1: do so. They're like, I'm sorry, but like with with
Speaker 1: what Steph has to contend with trying to match the
Speaker 1: production of Lebron, James and Anthony Davis as Superstars, Klay
Speaker 1: Thompson needs to soundly outplay Austin Reeves. So that's a
Speaker 1: matchup that I'd keep an eye on over the course
Speaker 1: of the series. Clay's the better player, he just needs
Speaker 1: to hold it up in his play on the court.
Speaker 1: I expect Steph to guard d'angela Russell is another kind
Speaker 1: of sneaky important matchup because the Lakers in the first round,
Speaker 1: they did a lot of stuff through their guards when
Speaker 1: they realized that Lebron and Ad didn't have the same
Speaker 1: types of matchups. It allowed them to work more off
Speaker 1: ball and save their legs, be more impactful defensively, and
Speaker 1: it just didn't make sense for Lebron and Ad to
Speaker 1: try to bully these players that just had better physical
Speaker 1: matchups with them than what the guards were dealing with.
Speaker 1: Steph is a great defensive player who is more than
Speaker 1: capable of giving d'angela Russell tons of problems. It's more
Speaker 1: about wearing out his legs. D Lo running a ton
Speaker 1: of action towards Steph can try to affect him physically
Speaker 1: in a way that could manifest down the on the
Speaker 1: other end of the floor in his shooting, but For
Speaker 1: whatever that's worth, it didn't seem to matter much in
Speaker 1: the King series. Indiangelo Russell's not in the same stratosphere.
Speaker 1: But it's just a little tiny thing that the Lakers
Speaker 1: can do to try to make things a little bit
Speaker 1: harder on Steph. But this is where everything could come
Speaker 1: crashing down for the Lakers. Draymond Green is gonna guard
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt. He's going to completely ignore him and aggressively
Speaker 1: help everywhere else on the floor. This is something Golden
Speaker 1: State has always liked to do, but they're almost exaggerative
Speaker 1: with the way they handle it with non shooters. You
Speaker 1: saw Draymond Green sitting back in the paint when Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook was navigating with a live dribble on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: Draymond just doesn't care. He's going to ignore those non
Speaker 1: shooters and fly around. There's a given a take there.
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt is one of the Lakers' best defensive players. I
Speaker 1: think he's gonna actually end up guarding Steph Curry for
Speaker 1: a good chunk of this series. But at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, like if having him out there and
Speaker 1: Draymond Green roaming around destroys your offense. If the Warriors
Speaker 1: can play Jared Vanderbilt off the court. Suddenly the level
Speaker 1: of defensive personnel that the Lakers have becomes a problem,
Speaker 1: because I think there's two guys on this entire roster
Speaker 1: that can actually make Steph work. Similarly to the King series,
Speaker 1: like Darren Fox had good stretches on Steph. Davion Mitchell
Speaker 1: had good stretches on Steph. But those were the only
Speaker 1: two guys. And if it was like Terrence Davis Barbecue Chicken,
Speaker 1: if it was Malik Munk barbecue Chicken, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, Like Steph was killing everybody else on that roster.
Speaker 1: That's kind of the way this Laker roster is. Like
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt is gonna be able to do an okay job,
Speaker 1: Dennis Schroeder is gonna be able to do an okay job,
Speaker 1: but everyone else. If Austin Reeves ends on Steph, that's
Speaker 1: a problem. If D'Angelo Russell's on Steph, that's a problem.
Speaker 1: Even Anthony Davis on switches. Just Steph is so good
Speaker 1: at beating bigs off switches, off the dribbles. So like
Speaker 1: a lot of it's gonna come down to at some point,
Speaker 1: at any point in the series. Darvin Ham's gonna have
Speaker 1: to when Steph is on the floor, have one of
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt or Dennis Schroeder on the floor. And if the
Speaker 1: Warriors can play Jared Vanderbilt off the floor as a
Speaker 1: non offensive threat, then it becomes a Dennis Schroeder series.
Speaker 1: If it's a Dennis Schroder series, now you have less
Speaker 1: offensive skill on the floor because D'angela Russell probably can't
Speaker 1: play it, and it just becomes an issue. So I'd
Speaker 1: keep an eye on that Draymond Vanderbilt matchup. How much
Speaker 1: damage Draymond can do, how well Lebron James and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis and the Guards can make the Warriors pay for
Speaker 1: ignoring Jared Vanderbilt. That's gonna be an interesting matchup to watch.
Speaker 1: The Lakers have a lot of ways to attack. They
Speaker 1: can attack with Lebron, Ad pick and roll, guard, Ad
Speaker 1: pick and roll Guard, Lebron pick and roll, Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: and Lebron in the post. They run a lot of
Speaker 1: like off ball action for Anthony Davis to get him
Speaker 1: on the move. But none of that's gonna work if
Speaker 1: Draymond Green, who is one of the best defensive players
Speaker 1: in the history of the NBA and still still to
Speaker 1: this day in the league is allowed to just mess
Speaker 1: everything up off the ball, so that that's where that's
Speaker 1: where I think the Lakers could go through some extended
Speaker 1: slumps offensively. Is just having Draymond Green roam around and
Speaker 1: don't be surprised if even if ruy Hotchi Mura comes in,
Speaker 1: if you see Draymond Green help a lot even off
Speaker 1: of ruy hot Chia Mura and basically or him to
Speaker 1: shoot and see if he's up to the scale of
Speaker 1: what this series is gonna be in terms of pressure.
Speaker 1: Another thing to keep an eye on is Lebron James
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis's jump shooters. One of the ways you
Speaker 1: can counter a team that is aggressively packing the paint
Speaker 1: is by hitting shots over the top. Lebron James and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis were extremely inconsistent as jump shooters in that
Speaker 1: first round series. That could be a big problem. They don't.
Speaker 1: I'll just put it this way. I'm I'm kind of
Speaker 1: proceeding in this series as though Lebron James and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis are still gonna be inconsistent as jump shooters. But
Speaker 1: if both of them come in and knock down a
Speaker 1: bunch of jump shots that can help them a lot.
Speaker 1: I think Lebron in the post against Wiggins is another
Speaker 1: is gonna have to be a bread and butter thing
Speaker 1: because I think Lebron's better at beating double teams. So
Speaker 1: Lebron you actually saw a little bit of this against Memphis,
Speaker 1: but he's really good at posting and getting someone to
Speaker 1: commit and then hitting Jared Vanderbilt as a cutter, so
Speaker 1: I think you'll see I think Lebron in the post
Speaker 1: is another great way to counter Draymond and help because
Speaker 1: Lebron could try to bait him into certain situations and
Speaker 1: try to get Vanderbilt open. But at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, it's probably gonna have to be quite a
Speaker 1: bit of guard ad pick and roll like they did
Speaker 1: at the end of the Memphis series, just because they
Speaker 1: have better matchups and getting those guys downhill to get
Speaker 1: the Warriors in rotation will help Lebron and Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: find advantage situations. All right. Number two, our second matchup,
Speaker 1: can the Laker guards defend the Golden State Guards. Here's
Speaker 1: how I expect the Lakers to match up again. I
Speaker 1: expect Vanderbilt to start on Steph Curry. He's good at
Speaker 1: navigating screens. He's got quick feet. I really like him
Speaker 1: against Stefan off ball situations. So as Golden State's running
Speaker 1: like their motion offense, I think Vanderbilt is gonna do
Speaker 1: a good job of chasing and applying back pressure and
Speaker 1: all of those different things. Where I get a little
Speaker 1: worried is in straight up ISO or in high pick
Speaker 1: and roll, so Vanderbilt still has a high center of gravity,
Speaker 1: kind of a similar thing we were talking about with
Speaker 1: Wiggins on Lebron. Steph is going to be able to
Speaker 1: get him to hop one way or the other and
Speaker 1: then attack the gap that he creates in that opening.
Speaker 1: And so I'm a little worried about Steph just dribbling
Speaker 1: the ball off the floor and just beating Vanderbilt off
Speaker 1: the dribble and having that be the way that Golden
Speaker 1: State starts their offense. But in screening actions, Vanderbilt's is
Speaker 1: very good at navigating screens. Austin Reeves on Klay Thompson,
Speaker 1: we talked about that earlier. I won't get into it again.
Speaker 1: D'Angel Russell. I think they're gonna tuck him away on
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins and That's gonna be another key matchup for
Speaker 1: the Warriors because Wiggins is great at attacking mismatches there.
Speaker 1: D Lo's a little bigger than he looks, but he's
Speaker 1: not as big as Andrew Wiggins, so that's gonna be
Speaker 1: That's gonna be one of those key matchups where if
Speaker 1: Wiggins can get to eighteen to twenty points a game,
Speaker 1: just attacking D'Angelo Russell on random possessions, especially at the
Speaker 1: end of the shot clock, I think that can help
Speaker 1: a lot. I expect Lebron James on Draymond Green kind
Speaker 1: of in a similar role, just roaming, and Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: on Kevon Looney. Now, before we get to the scheme element,
Speaker 1: this is where I want to touch on the Looney
Speaker 1: offensive rebounding piece. What happens is is if you can
Speaker 1: just stay on Looney and box him out, you're gonna
Speaker 1: be fine, right, But what ends up happening is guys
Speaker 1: get downhill because they're chasing the guards, are chasing the
Speaker 1: Golden State Guards over the top of screens, and as
Speaker 1: someone's coming downhill, Anthony Davis has to step up to contest.
Speaker 1: Looney is so good as soon as Anthony Davis or
Speaker 1: whoever that big is takes one step out of position
Speaker 1: to contain a ball handler, Looney will just bury his
Speaker 1: ass underneath the basket and get offensive rebounding position. And
Speaker 1: so that's gonna be a huge part in this series,
Speaker 1: is gang rebounding from the Lakers as a team, especially
Speaker 1: around Looney, because Anthony Davis is gonna get pulled all
Speaker 1: over creation trying to clean up messes in this Golden
Speaker 1: State motion offense attack. Now, so we know what the
Speaker 1: Warriors are gonna do, right, They're gonna they're gonna run
Speaker 1: drop coverage. They're gonna chase over the top of screens.
Speaker 1: They're gonna funnel to Looney, and Draymond's gonna help, right,
Speaker 1: Draymon's gonna completely ignore Vanderbilt. He's gonna help. That's gonna
Speaker 1: be their scheme. The Lakers scheme is gonna be a
Speaker 1: little bit different. They're gonna have Lebron James and to
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis constantly back at the basket as much as possible,
Speaker 1: ignoring Draymond and Kavon Looney. What they're gonna do with
Speaker 1: the guards is do what it's called top locking. So
Speaker 1: if I'm guarding Steph Curry, and Steph's in the corner,
Speaker 1: and you know it's a horn set. So Draymond Green's
Speaker 1: at the elbow and he goes over to set a
Speaker 1: pin down on Steph Curry. Rather than locking and trailing,
Speaker 1: which would mean positioning myself behind Steph and chasing him
Speaker 1: over the top of the screen, what the Lakers are
Speaker 1: gonna do is top lock. So they'll tell Jared Vanderbilt
Speaker 1: to position himself between Steph Curry and the screen and
Speaker 1: give up a backcut at the expense of preventing him
Speaker 1: from coming off of the screen, with the expectation being
Speaker 1: that as he cuts back door, he's cutting into Lebron
Speaker 1: James and Anthony Davis at the rim. This is how
Speaker 1: the Lakers beat the Warriors three straight times at the
Speaker 1: end of the season, top blocking and funneling Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: at the rim, cleaning up everything because he's the best
Speaker 1: defensive player in the world when he's locked in. So
Speaker 1: this is where I think it becomes a high pick
Speaker 1: and r series. I think the Lakers are gonna be
Speaker 1: able to handle the Golden State motion offense pretty well
Speaker 1: with that top lock in funnel scheme, sending everybody back
Speaker 1: to Anthony Davis and Lebron James at the basket. However,
Speaker 1: when you just space the team out, let's let's let's
Speaker 1: take a look at a high pick and roll for
Speaker 1: Steph Curry and Draymond Green. Right, so I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: Kevon Looney kind of in the dunker spot, right, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have shooters spacing the floor. The Anthony Davis is
Speaker 1: gonna be at the rim, and then they're gonna have Lebron,
Speaker 1: They're gonna have Draymond Green come up and set the screen,
Speaker 1: or they're gonna have probably called They'll probably call Kevon
Speaker 1: Looney to set the screen because they want Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: to come up. Right. This is where this is where
Speaker 1: it becomes an issue, because Anthony Davis has to come up.
Speaker 1: What did we see in the Celtics series with better
Speaker 1: guard defenders, by the way, that was Marcus Smart, Derek White,
Speaker 1: better guard defenders than these Laker guards. If you send
Speaker 1: your guards over the top of screens on Steph Curry
Speaker 1: and he gets to play against drop coverage, he will
Speaker 1: light your ass on fire, just as the Boston Celtics
Speaker 1: and what happened in Game four. You need your big
Speaker 1: guys to be way up at the level of the screen.
Speaker 1: Now in the blender, when they can just lock and trail,
Speaker 1: lock and trail or deny and force back cuts, Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis can stay at the basket more right, But if
Speaker 1: it's straight up high pick and roll and Steph can
Speaker 1: dance around with the basketball until he gets Jared Vanderbilt
Speaker 1: to commit to one direction, then Loony quick reverses the
Speaker 1: angle of the screen or whatever. Steph is going to
Speaker 1: get separation from those guys, It's guaranteed, and so at
Speaker 1: that point, Anthony Davis will have to show high. As
Speaker 1: soon as he shows high, that's when the basket will
Speaker 1: open up. If the Warriors allow Anthony Davis and Lebron
Speaker 1: James to hawk the basket all series long, there's a
Speaker 1: decent chance that they'll lose. But if they can pull
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis away from the rim, that's when they're gonna
Speaker 1: get in that Golden State blender and start causing a
Speaker 1: lot of problems. So I think this is a series
Speaker 1: where they're gonna have to go heavy on Steph high
Speaker 1: pick and roll so that Steph can beat Jared Vanderbilt
Speaker 1: and Dennis Schroeder by pinning them on the opposite sides
Speaker 1: of screens, forcing Anthony Davis to come up. If he's
Speaker 1: too far back, it's pull up jump shot city. If
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis comes up, he can split that pick and roll,
Speaker 1: beat him off the dribble, or hit the pocket pass,
Speaker 1: and now you're playing four on three in the back end.
Speaker 1: I think this is gonna be a huge Steph Curry
Speaker 1: high pick and roll series against this locked in Laker
Speaker 1: half court defense. A couple other things, Dennis Schroeder. How
Speaker 1: much are the Lakers gonna have to play Dennis Schroeder?
Speaker 1: Because if they have to play Dennis Schroeder, you either
Speaker 1: have to downsize to keep your offensive skill or the
Speaker 1: overall offensive skill of the lineup goes down because Dennis
Speaker 1: Schroeder is not the same type of shooter as someone
Speaker 1: like D'Angelo Russell can ruey Hotcha Murra guard Andrew Wiggins.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be another key one, because I think their
Speaker 1: best lineup in terms of offense defense balance is to
Speaker 1: take Vanderbilt out to put Ruby Hatcha Mura in because
Speaker 1: he's a much better offensive player. But then you need
Speaker 1: someone to guard Steph, so you have to take D'Angelo
Speaker 1: Russell out and plug in Dewnroeder. So I think the
Speaker 1: best Laker lineup will be Dennis with Austin and Rui,
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis. But that only works if
Speaker 1: a wee hot to Mura can successfully guard Andrew Wiggins.
Speaker 1: Rui's another guy, high center of gravity, big and strong,
Speaker 1: doesn't slide his feet super well. Andrew's quicker than him,
Speaker 1: so that could be a problem. Another thing to keep
Speaker 1: an eye on his golden state going small doing things
Speaker 1: like Draymond with Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole with Klay
Speaker 1: Thompson and Steph Curry. That's where it's gonna be critical
Speaker 1: for Lebron James to play defense because Anthony Davis is
Speaker 1: gonna be on Draymond, but Lebron's gonna have to follow
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins around, and Lebron typically likes to rest and
Speaker 1: roam on defense, so that can be a problem. But
Speaker 1: I think both teams are uniquely equipped to cause both
Speaker 1: teams problems. Between the Draymond roaming thing, between Loony being
Speaker 1: a physical matchup for ad Wiggins being one of the
Speaker 1: best perimeter defenders in the league, They're gonna stick the
Speaker 1: get the Lakers stuck in the mud sometimes. But with
Speaker 1: the Lakers, with their insane amount of rim protection and
Speaker 1: with their ability to top lock and force into back cuts,
Speaker 1: it's not Sacramento Like. Look at the end of the
Speaker 1: Sacramento series. What happened in Game seven, Steph just beating
Speaker 1: Terrence Davis off the dribble, just going to the rim,
Speaker 1: but there's no rim protection like. This is going to
Speaker 1: be an entirely different type of series. The Lakers will
Speaker 1: also cause the Warriors to have extended draughts as Steph
Speaker 1: and Klay struggle to get free on the perimeter and
Speaker 1: have to get downhill into a bunch of trees around
Speaker 1: the basket. So I expect both teams to have extended
Speaker 1: defensive runs because of the damage they can do to
Speaker 1: the opposing offenses. All right, last matchup in our chase
Speaker 1: three points, who will win the Battle of the Stars.
Speaker 1: This is where the series will be won and lost.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, I think the Lakers are the better
Speaker 1: defensive team. I think they're bigger and more athletic. I
Speaker 1: think Anthony Davis is playing better defense than anybody in
Speaker 1: the world right now. I think the Lakers are a
Speaker 1: little bit deeper. But here's the thing. Steph Curry is
Speaker 1: the best player in this series, and it matters because again,
Speaker 1: we talked about this all the time, but why do
Speaker 1: stars matter when everything bogs down and it's a rock
Speaker 1: fight and nothing is working. Your stars are the only
Speaker 1: guys that can create shots. Game four, Lakers Grizzlies, it's
Speaker 1: stuck in the mud, no one is playing well. Lebron
Speaker 1: James just overcomes it all and makes four big plays
Speaker 1: down the stretch, steals a loss from the jaw, steals
Speaker 1: a win from the jaws of defeat, and closes the
Speaker 1: game in overtime. Like that's what a superstar can do.
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis in Game six, as a superstar, just utterly
Speaker 1: destroys the Memphis Grizzlies defensively in a game. That's what
Speaker 1: a superstar can do. Steph Curry Game seven on the
Speaker 1: road in Sacramento, drops a fifty piece because nobody on
Speaker 1: the floor can guard him. That's how superstars can determine
Speaker 1: the outcomes of series. They can transcend the scheme and
Speaker 1: impact the game in a way that is truly inevitable.
Speaker 1: But it's tricky because there's a difference. I just laid
Speaker 1: out three superstar performances. Here's the difference. I know for
Speaker 1: a fact that's Steph is going to play to that level.
Speaker 1: He's going to be incredible, He's going to average thirty
Speaker 1: plus efficiently, and he's generally gonna wreck havoc on the
Speaker 1: Laker defense. That's a sure thing. But what are we
Speaker 1: gonna get from Ad? Two games before AD's Game six masterclass,
Speaker 1: he laid a dud in Game four at home. Luckily
Speaker 1: they were able to win. Lebron James, after being a
Speaker 1: hero in Game four, laid a dud in Game five.
Speaker 1: For the series, both of them were incredibly inconsistent offensively.
Speaker 1: With Lebron James and Anthony Davis, there is a ton
Speaker 1: of variants at their peaks. All three of them are legitimate,
Speaker 1: bona fide top tier superstars. Any one of them has
Speaker 1: a case to be the best player in the league
Speaker 1: when they're at their peak. But I know Steph will
Speaker 1: be at his peak, and I don't know with Lebron
Speaker 1: James and Anthony Davis. So I actually think Lebron and
Speaker 1: AD will end up determining the outcome of this series.
Speaker 1: If Lebron and AD both consistently play likes top tier superstars.
Speaker 1: The Lakers are going to win the series because they
Speaker 1: will have more star talent, they will have a better defense,
Speaker 1: more depth. They're just gonna win. But if Steph is
Speaker 1: at a superstar level every game and Lebron and Ad
Speaker 1: are hot and cold, the Warriors are gonna win the series.
Speaker 1: So I'll be keeping an eye on that star matchup
Speaker 1: very closely. So I've been on the fence about this
Speaker 1: all week. I think it's either gonna be Lakers and
Speaker 1: six or Warriors and seven. I texted my producer this morning,
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm still one. On the fifty yard line,
Speaker 1: my head says Warriors and my heart says Lakers. But
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be a stupid fan and I'm gonna follow
Speaker 1: my heart and I'm gonna pick the Lakers in six.
Speaker 1: Don't feel good about it, But on the fifty yard line,
Speaker 1: since I'm a fan of the Lakers, I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: with the Lakers. I'm picking the Lakers in six. The
Speaker 1: case for the Lakers to win better defense, they're bigger,
Speaker 1: they're deeper, they have more super star depth. But the
Speaker 1: case for the Warriors, Steph Curry is the best player
Speaker 1: in the world and if he clearly demonstrates that, if
Speaker 1: he clearly demonstrates that he's a level above Lebron James
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis, then the Warriors will win this series.
Speaker 1: A lot of times we focus on role players and
Speaker 1: we focus on scheme, but stars are who set them
Speaker 1: up for success. Lebron and Ad playing like superstars generates
Speaker 1: higher quality opportunities for the role players that they are
Speaker 1: more likely to succeed in. If they don't play like superstars,
Speaker 1: the opportunities for the role players become more difficult. They
Speaker 1: struggle to succeed in them. It trickles down to everything.
Speaker 1: Schematics just simply do not matter when it comes down
Speaker 1: to brute force. At the end of playoff games, when
Speaker 1: you're just spacing teams out, they matter to a very
Speaker 1: small extent compared to compared to early in the series
Speaker 1: or in the regular season. I think it just comes
Speaker 1: down to step first, Lebron and AD. If Lebron and
Speaker 1: Ad soundly win that matchup, they win. If Steph Sanley
Speaker 1: wins that matchup, he wins. So again, I'm gonna pick
Speaker 1: Lakers in six, but I don't feel good about it.
Speaker 1: So quick quick recap for our second round. I've got
Speaker 1: Nuggets in seven, Lakers and six, Celtics in five, and
Speaker 1: Heat in six over excuse me, the Knicks in six
Speaker 1: over the Miami Heat. My three points were brought to
Speaker 1: you by Chase. Freedom Unlimited earned five percent on travel
Speaker 1: purchased through Chase, three percent on dining including takeout, three
Speaker 1: percent at drug stores, and one point five percent on
Speaker 1: everything else. How do you cash back? All right, guys,
Speaker 1: that is all I have for today. Man, I'm so
Speaker 1: excited for this series. We are gonna be back later
Speaker 1: tonight after a couple of game tues and then we'll
Speaker 1: be covering this series on Tuesday Night as well, so
Speaker 1: we'll be working Monday and Tuesday night this week as always.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys. Now, I'll see you later. To
Speaker 1: the volume