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Speaker 1: to hoop tonight here at the volume heavy Thursday.
Speaker 2: Everybody, opeall.
Speaker 1: If you guys are having a great week, we have
Speaker 1: a jam pack show for you today. We're hitting four
Speaker 1: games from the Wednesday Night slate. The Suns and the
Speaker 1: Clippers played a classic game. In the later portion of
Speaker 1: the ESPN slate, the Pacers and the Pistons played a
Speaker 1: fun game out East. We're going to talk about that one.
Speaker 1: The Golden State Warriors the most dominant defense of the
Speaker 1: first game played for any NBA team This year kick
Speaker 1: the shit out of the Blazers. We're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: that game, and then I have some thoughts on this
Speaker 1: year's iteration of the Dame Jannis two man game as
Speaker 1: the Bucks get a big win over a short handed
Speaker 1: sixer squad. And then I have nineteen clips for a
Speaker 1: session of Timpf's tape at the tail end of the show,
Speaker 1: where I'll give you guys some visual examples of all
Speaker 1: the things that we've been talking about on the show.
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Speaker 1: podcasts under Hoops tonight, and then keep dropping mailbag questions
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Speaker 1: throughout the remainder.
Speaker 2: Of the season.
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Speaker 2: All right, let's talk some basketball.
Speaker 1: So we are starting out west with you know, we
Speaker 1: had a rough couple of National TV games on the
Speaker 1: season opening nine on Tuesday, right, Boston kicks the crap
Speaker 1: out of the New York Knicks and then the Lakers.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a little bit more entertaining with Minnesota,
Speaker 1: but more or less a game that the Lakers controlled throughout. Obviously,
Speaker 1: we have our first game in ESPN Slate with Paul
Speaker 1: George and Joel and Bierre and Joel nbied are out,
Speaker 1: which is certainly not a good look after everything last offseason.
Speaker 1: But we finally got an instant classic between the Suns
Speaker 1: and the Clippers in the later night slate on ESPN.
Speaker 1: Brand new arena for the Clippers. Really cool, a lot
Speaker 1: of fan engagement. That wall of fans that's on the
Speaker 1: defensive side of the floor in the second half, that's
Speaker 1: a really really cool concept. The display, the circle display
Speaker 1: that goes around, very very cool. Kevin Duran shouted out
Speaker 1: after the game that it was possibly the coolest arena
Speaker 1: that he's ever played in. Definitely turned out really good
Speaker 1: on TV two. It's fun to watch, but really an
Speaker 1: entertaining game. The Clippers were up ninety nine to ninety
Speaker 1: with less than four minutes left. We got this really
Speaker 1: fun little chess match. As the Suns go small, they
Speaker 1: put in Royce O'Neill and take use of dirkis out
Speaker 1: and so it's basically Royce O'Neil Tias Jones with the
Speaker 1: big three right, and quickly they start matchup hunting on
Speaker 1: James Harden. Devin Booker ends up hitting a step back
Speaker 1: three over Harden. It's ninety nine to ninety three. We're
Speaker 1: gonna talk a big picture in the game in a minute.
Speaker 1: I just want to kind of focus on this final
Speaker 1: run that the Suns used to send the game to ot.
Speaker 1: James Harden, who was really really good in the second
Speaker 1: half and for the most part all games, did a
Speaker 1: nice shot creating shots. You could tell he was really
Speaker 1: tired and it really started to show down. The stretch
Speaker 1: settles for like a really deep thirty five footer on
Speaker 1: the next possession, and then they have really bad floor balance.
Speaker 1: He's the only guy above the break. Norman Powell's kind
Speaker 1: of on the right wing but closer to the corner.
Speaker 1: In both guys get caught in limbo where when the
Speaker 1: shot goes up, neither of them crashed, but neither of
Speaker 1: them turn and sprint either. They both just kind of backpedal,
Speaker 1: and KD just outruns all of them up the right
Speaker 1: side of the floor suddenly gets a layup. It's ninety
Speaker 1: nine to ninety five. Then same sort of thing on
Speaker 1: the next possession. James Harden's picking on matchups, picks on
Speaker 1: Tyas Jones, but he gets down into lane and actually
Speaker 1: gets a little bit of separation, but he leaves the
Speaker 1: floater way short off the front of the rim once
Speaker 1: again because you can tell he's very, very tired going
Speaker 1: down to the other end of the floor. They commit
Speaker 1: an off ball foul and Devin Booker he goes one
Speaker 1: for two from the foul line. All of a sudden,
Speaker 1: it's ninety nine to ninety six. And then one of
Speaker 1: the big, one of the big kind of like subplots
Speaker 1: of the tail end of this game is when the
Speaker 1: Suns went small. The Clippers did try to do a
Speaker 1: lot of force feeding of Zubats and he did draw
Speaker 1: some fouls in particularly ended up fouling Devin Booker out
Speaker 1: of the game on a foul that I personally disagreed with.
Speaker 1: I thought Booker was just kind of banging for position.
Speaker 1: I didn't think he did anything that was deserving of
Speaker 1: him getting ejected from the game. But that's a whole
Speaker 1: other side conversation about officiating. And you know, I kind
Speaker 1: of have this theory that, like a lot of officials,
Speaker 1: some specific guys from last night, haven't ever played in
Speaker 1: a basketball game, so they don't know what it's like
Speaker 1: to like, oh, you have a Seis mismatch and you're
Speaker 1: battling in the post, and they just kind of lack
Speaker 1: that basic understanding, and so then they make calls that
Speaker 1: they that should not be made in basketball games just
Speaker 1: because they don't understand.
Speaker 2: But don't get me started. That's a whole soap box
Speaker 2: for another time.
Speaker 1: So on the next possession, ninety nine ninety six, they're
Speaker 1: trying to post up Zubach against Royce O'Neil on the
Speaker 1: left block, and a mere Coffee is being guarded by
Speaker 1: Tias Jones on the left wing. After the post entry,
Speaker 1: a mere Coffee cuts through and then Tyas Jones pulls
Speaker 1: kind of like the Michael Jordan in Game six of
Speaker 1: the nineteen ninety eight finals, Like he fakes like he's
Speaker 1: gonna follow the cutter, but then as soon as James
Speaker 1: Harden throws the post entry pass, he cuts right back
Speaker 1: out and steals it. They run out the other way
Speaker 1: and they get another layup. Now it's ninety nine to
Speaker 1: ninety eight. Both teams exchange a couple of offensive fouls.
Speaker 1: Now we're down to just two minutes left, and the
Speaker 1: Suns make another adjustment. They end up putting Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: on James Harden. Now, James Harden responds to that by
Speaker 1: trying to attack Tias Jones on switches again, but he
Speaker 1: turns it over. The Sons did a really nice job
Speaker 1: down the stretch of the game of crowding James Harden
Speaker 1: when he got into like the short to mid range.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of contact that you can get away
Speaker 1: with in there because there's just not a lot of
Speaker 1: great sight lines for the officials, right. That was one
Speaker 1: of the things James Harden on this particular possession complained
Speaker 1: to the refs after about how he got hit on
Speaker 1: the arm, and it's like he probably did, but it's
Speaker 1: just really hard to see when there's all that congestion
Speaker 1: in there. They did a great job swarming. They get
Speaker 1: a stop, go down to the other end of the floor,
Speaker 1: and then the Sons get a really easy shot for
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant off of a switch where they have Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant screen the ball and then slip into open space.
Speaker 1: Norm Powell ends up on his bottom side, gets right
Speaker 1: into the lane and James Harden, just a step slow
Speaker 1: on his rotation, doesn't quite get outside of the charge circle.
Speaker 1: Katie runs him over, but he gets a layup and
Speaker 1: because he's in the charge circle, it's an easy and one.
Speaker 1: Now we are back to the Suns being in front
Speaker 1: by two one oh one to ninety nine. Now James
Speaker 1: Harden once again attacks Tyes Jones on the next possession,
Speaker 1: gets a really nice look for mid range and it's
Speaker 1: kind of like a weird moment of growth for James
Speaker 1: Harden over the last couple of years to see how
Speaker 1: like almost everything for him was a step back three
Speaker 1: or driving into the lane for maybe a floater, but
Speaker 1: for the most part getting into the lane into layup range, right,
Speaker 1: And like one of the things you notice in a
Speaker 1: game like this is like, yeah, step back three might
Speaker 1: be a more efficient shot in the large scale where
Speaker 1: I've got one hundred reps, and yeah, if I make
Speaker 1: thirty six of them, then I'm gonna end up with
Speaker 1: well over a point per attempt, right, But like in
Speaker 1: the small sample less than two minutes left, you need
Speaker 1: a bucket. You're down by two. Actually what matters is
Speaker 1: a shot with the higher field goal percentage. And he
Speaker 1: ends up working closer to the rim. And again those
Speaker 1: step back three is when you're trying to get lift
Speaker 1: in separation from twenty five feet from the basket. It's
Speaker 1: just really hard to do. But instead he works his
Speaker 1: way into the lane, gets a nice little foul line
Speaker 1: jump shot, knocks it down. Easy shot for James Harden right,
Speaker 1: not to mention this right around the foul line where
Speaker 1: he's been shooting a lot. When he gets to the
Speaker 1: foul line, you know, on free throw attempts ties the
Speaker 1: game at one to one. This possession for the Suns
Speaker 1: ends up falling apart just because Kdi slips tries this
Speaker 1: like crossover move his foot just kicks a way off
Speaker 1: from under him. It looks like he steps on a
Speaker 1: banana peal falls. Grayson Allen ends up having to kind
Speaker 1: of just chuck something up in the basket and he misses.
Speaker 1: And then on the next possession it's one on one,
Speaker 1: one o one, James Harden gets Kad with the left
Speaker 1: to right crossover and he kind of buckles over. And
Speaker 1: then James Harden, smartly on that possession, as soon as
Speaker 1: he sees that KD is compromised, just drives right into
Speaker 1: his chest and Katie tries to tie up the basketball
Speaker 1: but gets a bunch of arm ends up being a foul.
Speaker 1: One oh three, one oh one. Now the Clippers just
Speaker 1: need one stop and they're getting out of here with
Speaker 1: the wind. But Kevin Durant ends up hitting a ridiculous
Speaker 1: right shoulder fade away as James Harden tries to double
Speaker 1: team him from the opposite end of the floor, falling down.
Speaker 1: Crazy jump shot knocks it down. We're tied. James Harden
Speaker 1: actually got a decent look from float range to try
Speaker 1: to win it in regulation, but he ends up missing
Speaker 1: and we're going to overtime, and from there, Kad and
Speaker 1: brad Beale really took over. They both ended up drawing
Speaker 1: fouls on like mid range jump shot attempts. Bradley Beal
Speaker 1: had a really nice three against drop coverage. He was
Speaker 1: great all night, but he really stepped up after Devin
Speaker 1: Booker went out and just tried to just tried to
Speaker 1: create offense wherever he could, and I thought he did
Speaker 1: a really nice job. Clippers stayed in it because they
Speaker 1: got some big stops late in the game and then
Speaker 1: a couple of big buckets. Derek Jones Junior had a
Speaker 1: really nice driving layup in transition. Norman Powell had a
Speaker 1: little bucket against Bradley Beal in an ISO situation, so
Speaker 1: they kind of stayed in it. James Harden ends up
Speaker 1: drawing a foul with five seconds left on That was
Speaker 1: kind of an iffy call two as he got into
Speaker 1: the lane, but he ends up drawing the foul goes.
Speaker 1: The line ends up going one for two once again
Speaker 1: to sign a fatigue, and the Suns get out of
Speaker 1: there with a win. For the Suns, the offense functioned
Speaker 1: when it needed to. They actually only had a one
Speaker 1: two point seven offensive rating for the game as a whole,
Speaker 1: but the Clippers are scrappy. I've been talking about this.
Speaker 1: I've been talking about this a lot in preseason and
Speaker 1: even just going into our season previews. You got to
Speaker 1: see last night why I was so high on the
Speaker 1: Clippers in the world where Kawhi was healthy. They're just
Speaker 1: so damn fast on the perimeter. They have so much length,
Speaker 1: they get into the ball, they pressure their physical They're
Speaker 1: just a really difficult team to deal with on the
Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor. James Harden brings such a
Speaker 1: high offensive floor. It just kind of came apart as
Speaker 1: James Harden fatigued at the end of the game. But
Speaker 1: you can imagine a universe where Quis in there and
Speaker 1: it just kind of eases off that offensive burden. And
Speaker 1: we're talking about a really good basketball team here. But
Speaker 1: they did a good job on the Suns, held them
Speaker 1: to one two point seven for the game. However, I
Speaker 1: thought the offense functioned when it needed to. They had
Speaker 1: several really good possessions throughout the game where they created
Speaker 1: initial advantage, made good reads and got great shots out
Speaker 1: of it. I grabbed a bunch of those and put
Speaker 1: them in the TIMPs tape segments. So when we get
Speaker 1: to the film at the end you get you guys
Speaker 1: will get to see some examples of good Suns offense.
Speaker 1: They had a sixty six percent assist percentage. Remember that's
Speaker 1: the benchmark for me that I've been talking about all summer.
Speaker 1: Anything over two thirds for me, an assist percentage for
Speaker 1: the Suns is a good offensive performance from them. It
Speaker 1: means they're turning more good shots into great shots by
Speaker 1: trusting each other and kick out situations. Got a lot
Speaker 1: of three point attempts up. I thought it was a
Speaker 1: better shot profile for them, And then in eight minutes
Speaker 1: of clutch basketball a one to seventeen offensive ratings. So
Speaker 1: once again when they needed to, it came through. They
Speaker 1: generated some easy shots through smart transition pushes capitalizing on
Speaker 1: their defense. Again, that's smart. Don't fuck around in the
Speaker 1: half court if you don't have to get up the
Speaker 1: floor and see if you can get easy shots. That
Speaker 1: Katie and one that he had very simple action taking
Speaker 1: advantage of a switch where he got inside position and
Speaker 1: was able to get into the lane and get there
Speaker 1: before James Harden could rotate some gamesmanship. Both Katie and
Speaker 1: Bradley Beal drew fouls on mid range pull ups taking
Speaker 1: advantage of over aggressive defenders and then superstars making superstar
Speaker 1: shots like Katie hitting a shot over a double team.
Speaker 1: There's not really anything you can do about that except
Speaker 1: for lose. Like that's just the that's just what you're
Speaker 1: up against when you get into a matchup with the Suns.
Speaker 1: If you end up in a late game where it's
Speaker 1: a one or two possession game, you might play great
Speaker 1: defense and they might just make shots and you might
Speaker 1: just get to lose. Bradley Beal in overtime that that
Speaker 1: was a big time shot, that shot that he hit
Speaker 1: out of drop coverage as Zubach kind of hung back
Speaker 1: to the elbow and he knocked it down. Those are
Speaker 1: superstar shots, and that's how you end up just generating
Speaker 1: offense in transition when it's smart, a couple of easy
Speaker 1: baskets out of some smart action, and then superstars making
Speaker 1: superstar shots. All of a sudden, you have a one
Speaker 1: seventeen offensive rating. When the game was really up for
Speaker 1: grabs there in clutch time, I thought the Suns defended
Speaker 1: really well. Tyas Jones held up well when Harden was
Speaker 1: non stop attacking him down the stretch of the game.
Speaker 1: He also had that huge steal on the post up
Speaker 1: at Zubach. They did a good job of crowding hardened
Speaker 1: in ball screens like I talked about earlier, forcing turnovers,
Speaker 1: and then KD just what a weapon to be able
Speaker 1: to take one of your back line defenders and put
Speaker 1: him on the other team's best player at the end
Speaker 1: of a game. Obviously he got some switches on to Tias,
Speaker 1: but Tias held up fine anyway. But also there were
Speaker 1: several drives on that in that final sequence in crunch
Speaker 1: time where James Harden tried to probe into the lane
Speaker 1: against KD and KD just shut him off and James
Speaker 1: ended up having to pass out the basketball. And so
Speaker 1: really nice defensive performance from KD. And then when they
Speaker 1: went small, I thought all of their guys the team
Speaker 1: did a nice job holding up against Zubach in the post.
Speaker 1: And again, aside from a couple of those foul calls
Speaker 1: that I disagreed with, I thought they did a pretty
Speaker 1: good job avoiding taking too much damage in those situations.
Speaker 1: Biggest areas of opportunity for the Suns through the first
Speaker 1: game limiting turnovers. They had twenty two turnovers tonight, led
Speaker 1: to sixteen points for the Clippers KD in particular struggle
Speaker 1: to take care of the basketball and then rebounding. The
Speaker 1: Clippers had thirteen offensive rebounds for thirteen second chance points.
Speaker 1: But some of that is just the reality of going small.
Speaker 1: You're gonna give up some more offensive rebounds, but you're
Speaker 1: gonna have more advantages in transition, right, So like they
Speaker 1: got transition buckets where they were out running Zubach, But
Speaker 1: then there are also possessions where they give up offensive rebounds.
Speaker 1: So again, sometimes it's more complicated than just looking at
Speaker 1: one statistical category. But I thought it was impressive resilience.
Speaker 1: Like a win is a win as a win, not
Speaker 1: all basketball games are the same. Most teams are gonna
Speaker 1: have to win ugly against the Clippers because of how
Speaker 1: good they are on the perimeter defensively and specifically from
Speaker 1: a matchup perspective, they match up well with the Suns
Speaker 1: because they have a lot of perimeter talent and they
Speaker 1: have guys that can match up with them right on
Speaker 1: the Clippers front, You guys, I had a really good
Speaker 1: look and why I'm so high on the Clippers as
Speaker 1: a team that can just be scrappy in the regular
Speaker 1: season as long as Kawhi Leonard is healthy, the defense
Speaker 1: is filthy. Harden just gives you such a high floor
Speaker 1: on offense. He generated thirty two points last night out
Speaker 1: of ball screens and ISOs struggled at the rim. Otherwise
Speaker 1: he would have had a great night. I think he
Speaker 1: was like two for nine at the rim. But they
Speaker 1: just ran out of gas at the end of the game.
Speaker 1: And that's the reality. Like Powell and Harden were both
Speaker 1: leaving shots short off the front of the rim. Harden
Speaker 1: in particular just looked completely wiped out by the end
Speaker 1: of the game. It's just such a heavy offensive load
Speaker 1: on him.
Speaker 2: This year.
Speaker 1: If Kawhi was out there, they have more juice on offense.
Speaker 1: They look like more of a you know, kind of
Speaker 1: classic good NBA team at that point. But a last
Speaker 1: Kawhi was not out there, and who knows when he
Speaker 1: will be, and so they're just scrappy at this point.
Speaker 1: And I still think they'll beat you if you don't
Speaker 1: bring your best, But without Kawhi, it's just going to
Speaker 1: be a consistent problem for them offensively at the end
Speaker 1: of games as they start to wear down. Moving on
Speaker 1: to Pacers Pistons, Pistons played really well to start and
Speaker 1: led most of the game. Kay Cunningham at twenty eight
Speaker 1: points and eight assists, all five starters were in double figures.
Speaker 1: Tobias Harris was great in the first half. The Pistons
Speaker 1: had a nice little lead to start the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: but then an awesome bench shift led by TJ McConnell
Speaker 1: and Ben Mather and quickly closed the gap. TJ McConnell,
Speaker 1: it's like, it's so crazy. Every time I'm watching him,
Speaker 1: it's amazing how easily he just toasts everyone off the dribble.
Speaker 1: The main thing that I see with TJ is he
Speaker 1: brings the ball across half court with pace, gets his
Speaker 1: head of steam while bringing the ball up the floor,
Speaker 1: and then he's really good at crossing over or changing
Speaker 1: direction at full speed, so he'll just come right at
Speaker 1: you at full speed and then boom right to left,
Speaker 1: or maybe just a hard in and out dribble. He
Speaker 1: just keeps it real simple, and then he just beats
Speaker 1: you off the dribble going to either side, and he's
Speaker 1: getting all the way to the rim, or he's making
Speaker 1: those drop off passes driving layups. To start the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: He had another one where he got into the lane
Speaker 1: and spun and reverse pivoted out of it and hit
Speaker 1: Ben Mathern a cutting to the basket for a layup.
Speaker 1: Ben was great all game. He ended up getting the
Speaker 1: closing minutes over Aaron Nesmith, which I thought was fascinating.
Speaker 1: Kind of an interesting offensive option for them there in
Speaker 1: those situations. He had a couple of huge catch and
Speaker 1: shoot threes in the fourth quarter, really nice shift from them.
Speaker 1: All of a sudden, we end up in a close game,
Speaker 1: and the game got stuck at one to one to
Speaker 1: one hundred for a while, neither team could score the basketball.
Speaker 1: And then finally Pascal Siakam kind of breaks that that
Speaker 1: kind of like ugly phase of the fourth quarter by
Speaker 1: hitting a really tough step back jumper over Tobias Harris
Speaker 1: on the left wing. It's one o three to one hundred.
Speaker 1: Go down to the other end. Uh. Jayden Ivy actually
Speaker 1: does a nice job setting Ben Mathern up for a screen.
Speaker 1: Ben Mathern kind of trips and falls, comes back over
Speaker 1: the screen, gets into the lane and makes a layup.
Speaker 1: It's one O three, one oh two. And then we
Speaker 1: got to see a classic example of the pick and
Speaker 1: pop problem that is presented to any drop coverage. The
Speaker 1: Pacers go down the floor. They run two man game
Speaker 1: with Haliburton and Siakam. Siakam pops and remember when you're
Speaker 1: in a drop coverage that pop is always wide open.
Speaker 1: Tyrese Probes makes the kick back to Siakam. They have
Speaker 1: to rotate from the weak side. When they rotate from
Speaker 1: the weak side, because man, you can do it one
Speaker 1: of two ways. You can have the big man who's
Speaker 1: in drop coverage close out, in which case you could
Speaker 1: give up a drive and to Sam that could be
Speaker 1: a huge problem. Or you can rotate from the weak side,
Speaker 1: in which case the swing passes open. They rotate from
Speaker 1: the weak side. Haliburton swings to Siakam, Siakam swings to
Speaker 1: Ben Matherin and biggest shot of the game, wide open
Speaker 1: right wing three out of the pick and pop, Mathurine
Speaker 1: knocks it down, puts them up by four. They go
Speaker 1: down to the other end. Jad and Ivy misses a
Speaker 1: tough look from the mid range around the right elbow,
Speaker 1: and then Pascal Siakam outruns everyone down the floor, including
Speaker 1: Jalen Duran. He was sprinting and ends up getting a
Speaker 1: dunk and the game is over. So just bang bang bang,
Speaker 1: a kind of like a four possession sequence where the
Speaker 1: Pacers had a couple of really good plays on both
Speaker 1: ends of the floor, all of a sudden the game
Speaker 1: is over, So good win for the Pacers. To start
Speaker 1: the season. They defended really well in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: They had a seventy nine defensive rating in that fourth
Speaker 1: period after being pretty bad defensively through the first three quarters.
Speaker 1: They rebounded better too. They got beat up on the
Speaker 1: glass in the first three quarters. Jalen Dern was doing
Speaker 1: a bunch of damage to Miles Turner's kind of an
Speaker 1: impressive Jalen Dern, just physical game with just how imposing
Speaker 1: he is. Like you could actually see Miles Turner when
Speaker 1: he checked out after his first shift, like being visibly
Speaker 1: frustrated with himself for not holding up better in that
Speaker 1: particular matchup. They were attacking Tyres Halliburton with off ball
Speaker 1: action with Tim Hardaway Junior to start the game, just
Speaker 1: running him through a bunch of screens and having success there.
Speaker 1: Like they were physically kind of bullying Indiana through the
Speaker 1: first three quarters, but they held up way better at
Speaker 1: the end. The Pistons rebounded thirty nine percent of their
Speaker 1: own misses in the first half that dropped to twenty
Speaker 1: six percent in the second half, came together, did what
Speaker 1: they needed to do to hold up physically, ended up
Speaker 1: getting a win. Ben Matherin looked really solid, nineteen points,
Speaker 1: several big shots. I thought he was fining defensively from
Speaker 1: the play where he tripped on that Jad and Ivy
Speaker 1: like was just playing trying to set him up for
Speaker 1: a screen and he kind of overreacted to it and
Speaker 1: fell over. But otherwise I thought he held up well.
Speaker 1: Kind of an interesting option for them. Think of him
Speaker 1: as like a sixth starter in the sense that, like
Speaker 1: when they need more offense, they can go to him
Speaker 1: instead of nee Smith. But when they need someone who's
Speaker 1: a little bit bigger of a wing defender than Andrew Nemhard,
Speaker 1: they can go with Knees Smith. Right, But like Matherin
Speaker 1: just has more off the dribble pop. He's he's just
Speaker 1: a better offensive player.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Even in the fourth quarter he had this play where
Speaker 1: he like had a step back jump shot where he
Speaker 1: made a dude completely fall over and kind of around
Speaker 1: the top of the key. Just whenever they need a
Speaker 1: little bit more offensive juice, that's an option. And then
Speaker 1: Pascal Siakam just gives them the athletic shot creator upside
Speaker 1: that they desperately needed, and kind of like what was
Speaker 1: happening in the middle of the fourth quarter there where
Speaker 1: it's one a, one, one hundred, no one can score,
Speaker 1: both defenses are locked in. It's really difficult to get separation.
Speaker 1: Having a six ' nine athlete that can hit a
Speaker 1: step back move to get separation from an elite defender
Speaker 1: and knock down a jump shot like that is that
Speaker 1: is an upset that comes from Siakam that you can't
Speaker 1: get out of skill guards, like a lot of times
Speaker 1: skill guards like Tyree Saliburn. I mean, we're talking about
Speaker 1: this with James Harden earlier. You get to the end
Speaker 1: of the game, gets really physical and intense, and those
Speaker 1: guys can struggle to get separations. Sometimes a great counter
Speaker 1: there is to have a bigger athlete foward that can
Speaker 1: hunt matchups to create shots in those situations. It's two
Speaker 1: big plays in this one, the step back over Tobias
Speaker 1: and then I talked earlier after the Jad and Ivy
Speaker 1: miss jump shot, that transition runout where he beats everybody
Speaker 1: up the floor and gets the dunk. That's athletic upside
Speaker 1: to raise the ceiling of this team. Tyree's had a
Speaker 1: rough shooting night, but he was his typical efficient shot
Speaker 1: creating self. He ran twenty pick and rolls in ISOs,
Speaker 1: including passes that led to twenty two points. That's one
Speaker 1: point one points per possession. Pretty solid for a night
Speaker 1: where he basically couldn't make a jump shot to save
Speaker 1: his life. So still pretty solid floor for Tyree's. Good
Speaker 1: start for the Pacers.
Speaker 2: Again.
Speaker 1: The Pistons I think are going to be a little
Speaker 1: bit of a tougher out this year. They demonstrated that
Speaker 1: last night. Pistons story of the offseason was them adding
Speaker 1: some veteran role players, right, guys that can do more offensively,
Speaker 1: the idea being there that they can create more space
Speaker 1: and more play finishing options for Cad. But I actually
Speaker 1: thought the story of the game was the Pistons defense.
Speaker 1: They were really competing, they were bringing physicality, they were
Speaker 1: containing the ball. That was the big thing that stood
Speaker 1: out to me in the first quarter, like the Pacers
Speaker 1: are a team that can really get you in rotation
Speaker 1: and driving kick you to death. I thought they did
Speaker 1: a great job containing the basketball and staying out of rotation.
Speaker 1: That's a testament to their perimeter defensive talent. And then,
Speaker 1: like we mentioned earlier, they kind of kicked Indiana's ass
Speaker 1: in the physical areas of the game for the first
Speaker 1: three quarters. Their offense just really fell apart at the
Speaker 1: end of the game. Cad had a big box score game.
Speaker 1: He had twenty eight to eight, crazy high volume, like
Speaker 1: he ran thirty three pick and rolls in ISOs and
Speaker 1: he got thirty seven points out of it, which is
Speaker 1: a good efficiency number for shot creation in the half court.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the game he wasn't really
Speaker 1: creating quality shots. He had one really nice spin move
Speaker 1: on Pascal Siakam out of the left corner in like
Speaker 1: a straight ISO situation that was nice, but just wasn't
Speaker 1: really generating quality offense down the stretch of the game.
Speaker 1: It's early, there's a bunch of new guys, but I'm
Speaker 1: hoping to see more potent offense out of the Pistons
Speaker 1: before too long. To justify the direction that they went
Speaker 1: in the offseason Warriors Blazers. The Warriors start huge. They
Speaker 1: go Wiggans at the two, Trey Sjackson Davis at the five.
Speaker 1: Kind of an interesting look, right that lineup really struggled
Speaker 1: to score. They basically had Draymond run the point guard.
Speaker 1: They got just eighty eight point five points per one
Speaker 1: hundred possessions in eleven minutes, So not a good offensive
Speaker 1: stretch for that group. But they dominated the game physically.
Speaker 1: With that group, they grabbed sixty four percent of all
Speaker 1: available rebounds. That's completely outrageous. They had a ninety six
Speaker 1: defensive rating, which is obviously very good. The Warriors bench
Speaker 1: came in and then just immediately kind of turned the
Speaker 1: game around by forcing turnovers and getting out in transition.
Speaker 1: Gary Payton had two quick steals. That unit is kind
Speaker 1: of it was like an interesting unit. It was anchored
Speaker 1: by like Gary Payton, Brandon Pizemski and Buddy Healed, and
Speaker 1: that unit was actually really good. They were plus ten
Speaker 1: and five minutes a lot of again just forcing turnovers,
Speaker 1: getting out of transit, getting out in transition. That's the
Speaker 1: true identity of this Warriors team beyond Steph Curry. Like
Speaker 1: the identity of the team is Kerr Curry, Draymond and
Speaker 1: everything that they've been doing for over a decade, right,
Speaker 1: But the identity of the team beyond Steph Curry, the
Speaker 1: identity of the roster in terms of the supporting cast
Speaker 1: around those guys is they are fastest shit on the perimeter,
Speaker 1: and they bring waves and waves of these guys in
Speaker 1: off the bench that can wreck havoc. On the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor, the Warriors posted a ninety six
Speaker 1: defensive rating last night that was the best out of
Speaker 1: any NBA team in their first game, only held their
Speaker 1: They were the only team that held their opponent below
Speaker 1: one hundred points per one hundred possessions. They dominated the glass.
Speaker 1: They grabbed thirty nine percent of their own misses. That's crazy, right,
Speaker 1: You're getting yourself all sorts of additional opportunities that way.
Speaker 2: Corner crashes.
Speaker 1: Again, We've been talking a lot about this concept on
Speaker 1: the show over the last few months, But when you
Speaker 1: have those athletes, that's a great way to just supplement
Speaker 1: your offense, to just have those athletes crash for the
Speaker 1: corner and get offensive rebounds. But the Warriors get a
Speaker 1: lot offensive rebounds from their bigs for different reasons. Like
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of teams will get offensive rebounds
Speaker 1: from their bigs just because they're bigger. Right, They're just
Speaker 1: big and they're taking up space. Underneath the basket. But
Speaker 1: for the Warriors a lot of times it's because screen
Speaker 1: defenders have to show. So like if I'm Looney or
Speaker 1: if I'm Draymond or if I'm Trace Jackson Davis, all
Speaker 1: guys who had monster offensive rebounding games last night, You
Speaker 1: set a screen and there's a shooter coming off. So
Speaker 1: my defender, as the screener, is going to have to show.
Speaker 1: And so as I roll, I'm not just rolling as
Speaker 1: an offensive threat on the role, I'm also rolling as
Speaker 1: a rebounding threat. And so you get a lot offensive
Speaker 1: rebounds out of those situations because the big guys who
Speaker 1: are showing now have outside position and the rollers that
Speaker 1: have inside position in rebounding situations and they do some
Speaker 1: damage that way. They forced eighteen turnovers as a team
Speaker 1: that led to twenty two points. As I mentioned earlier,
Speaker 1: the Healed Pazemski Payton guard look three guard look was
Speaker 1: plus ten and five minutes. Healed has just been such
Speaker 1: a seamless fit for the Warriors offense all prese and
Speaker 1: again last night he had twenty two points. It's five
Speaker 1: or eight on jump shots. He got to the rim
Speaker 1: three times for layups. He hit his only off screen
Speaker 1: attempt he had to pull up three out of pick
Speaker 1: and roll. One of the big things, you know. I
Speaker 1: was actually texting with my buddy Samas Fontiri about this morning,
Speaker 1: Like he pointed out, like, hey, like Steve Kerr is
Speaker 1: basically the only guy that's been able to produce this
Speaker 1: kind of production out of Buddy Heeld. Now it's early,
Speaker 1: but throughout preseason and the first game of the regular season,
Speaker 1: Buddy Heield has been really.
Speaker 2: Really good, like really really good.
Speaker 1: And he's generally in his career been a very inconsistent
Speaker 1: offensive player, So we'll see if it lasts in the
Speaker 1: long term. But he was pointing out that, like Steve
Speaker 1: Kerr system is just so perfectly catered to what he
Speaker 1: does and how he's kind of maximizing Buddy heel. And
Speaker 1: one of the things I was talking with same about
Speaker 1: that I think that stood out to me on tape
Speaker 1: is Kevon Looney is just such a great screener. And
Speaker 1: on both of those two plays that I talked about
Speaker 1: him coming off of the wide pin down out of
Speaker 1: the right corner and then the ball screen with Looney
Speaker 1: on the left wing, Kevin Looney set monster screens on
Speaker 1: both of those plays and got so much separation for
Speaker 1: Buddy again. One of the most underrated details of the
Speaker 1: Warriors offensive success since the beginning of this era is
Speaker 1: excellent screening. Excellent screening from Andrew Boget, excellent screening from
Speaker 1: Draymond Green, excellent screening from Andre Gadala, from Kevon Looney,
Speaker 1: all of those guys just being really, really good screeners
Speaker 1: is a huge part of what makes Golden State's offense function.
Speaker 1: I'm going to show you guys some examples of that
Speaker 1: in the TIMPs tape segment, so you guys will see.
Speaker 2: That later on today.
Speaker 1: Steph really struggled to hit shots early, but they were
Speaker 1: like literally wide open looks, like the first two threes
Speaker 1: he missed were legitimately unguarded. There was one in the
Speaker 1: right corner and then one at the top of the
Speaker 1: key that he just happened to miss. He missed like
Speaker 1: a scoop shot that he normally makes. But then he
Speaker 1: settled down, finished with seventeen points and ten assists on
Speaker 1: only ten shot attempts. A lot of that classic kind
Speaker 1: of Warriors tic tac toe action where they end up
Speaker 1: getting easy dunks and layups out of Steph coming off
Speaker 1: of screening actions.
Speaker 2: Only two overs.
Speaker 1: He ran eight pick and rolls, including passes that led
Speaker 1: to fourteen points. That's a really really efficient shot creating night.
Speaker 1: Steph was plus twenty three in twenty five minutes. Overall,
Speaker 1: a really solid night for him, even if he didn't
Speaker 1: necessarily fill up the box score a couple other guys.
Speaker 1: I wanted to shout out Andrew Wiggins, good night for him,
Speaker 1: just kind of classic Andrew Wiggins on a good night,
Speaker 1: Like that's what a good Andrew Wiggins knight looks like.
Speaker 1: Like good perimeter defense, nice transition attacks, just using his
Speaker 1: athleticism when he sees kind of a gap to hit
Speaker 1: in transition, hitting threes at the end of possessions. He
Speaker 1: had a pull up three out of a ball screen
Speaker 1: at the top of the key. That was a really
Speaker 1: nice shot. Just kind of a classic good Andrew Wiggins game.
Speaker 1: And then a really nice first showing for Moses Moody
Speaker 1: in his first night of the season, plus ten and
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes. He had fifteen points, two rebounds, and two assists.
Speaker 1: He had a driving layup out of the right corner
Speaker 1: where he showed some real athletic pop and he kind
Speaker 1: of got into the rim protector's chest and shielded him
Speaker 1: with his left shoulder and banked it in with his
Speaker 1: right hand off the glass. This is going to be
Speaker 1: a fun Warriors team. You know. I kind of look
Speaker 1: at them as a better version of the Clippers right
Speaker 1: now in the sense that, like the like, Steph is
Speaker 1: just a much much better player than James Harden. But
Speaker 1: they're similar to the Clippers in the sense that they
Speaker 1: just have all of these waves of athleticism on the
Speaker 1: perimeter that you're dealing with right just like it's just
Speaker 1: there's five or six guys that you're seeing on any
Speaker 1: given night that are just super scrappy. Andrew Wick and scrappy.
Speaker 1: Moses movie is scrappy, granted, Brandon pazemskis scrappy, Gary Payton
Speaker 1: the second scrappy, the Anthony Melton scrappy. Jonathan Kaminga. You know,
Speaker 1: he still had kind of an iffy off ball defensive night.
Speaker 1: I saw a couple possessions of him just kind of
Speaker 1: getting caught in limbo off ball, but he had a
Speaker 1: couple of really good on ball possessions defensively. I still
Speaker 1: think that's when he's at his best is when he's
Speaker 1: just focused on somebody on the ball, so he gets
Speaker 1: a singular focus instead of like trying to track multiple
Speaker 1: things at the same time. But they're gonna be a
Speaker 1: really fun team. And like the other big difference between
Speaker 1: them and the Clippers is Draymond Green is just not
Speaker 1: only just a better player than Zubats, but a better
Speaker 1: a much much better defensive anchor at that center position.
Speaker 1: So gonna be a fun team. Obviously, you're not gonna
Speaker 1: be playing the Blazers every single night, but that's about
Speaker 1: as impressive a first night of the season as you
Speaker 1: can see. The Warriors have been super sharp from the
Speaker 1: start of training camp. They might not have as much
Speaker 1: talent as some of the top teams in the league,
Speaker 1: but they are in terms of just the quality of
Speaker 1: basketball they're playing. They're playing some of the best basketball
Speaker 1: in the NBA right now. Buck Sixer is not gonna
Speaker 1: spend too much time here. Joel Embiid and Paul George
Speaker 1: did not play a big talent mismatch as a result,
Speaker 1: but Dame just continues to look super super sharp, which
Speaker 1: is encouraging. He was thirty points, nine rebounds, and six
Speaker 1: assists on just nineteen shot attempts. Ran twenty eight ball
Speaker 1: screens including passes, generated thirty seven points one point three
Speaker 1: to two points per possession. That's incredible. Legit just looks
Speaker 1: like he has more burst than he did last year,
Speaker 1: getting more separation on those step back moves, getting more
Speaker 1: lyft on his movement jump shots, more downhill verve as
Speaker 1: he's trying to attack out of ball screens. Had some
Speaker 1: nice kickout passes at Toryan Prince. Really nice first game
Speaker 1: for Toryan Prince. He's four for five from three, but
Speaker 1: it gives him a really nice kind of outlt on
Speaker 1: those kickout passes when he's operating and pick and roll.
Speaker 1: Dame was six for twelve on off the dribble jump shots,
Speaker 1: including five pull up three, so he's at one point
Speaker 1: four to two points per pull up jump shot. Just
Speaker 1: really really nice first game from Dame. And then Yiannis
Speaker 1: was just a complete monster. He ran thirteen ISOs in
Speaker 1: post ups for twenty two points, including passes one point
Speaker 1: six to nine points per possession. I talked a lot
Speaker 1: in preseason about variations for the dam Giannis two man
Speaker 1: game involving more dribble handoffs, and I have a couple
Speaker 1: of clips in the TIMPs tape segment that I'm gonna
Speaker 1: show you guys to kind of demonstrate this, But they
Speaker 1: ran a lot of like interesting drible handoff stuff. There
Speaker 1: was kind of like a two man game that they
Speaker 1: ran at the top of the key where they the
Speaker 1: Sixers were aggressively switching and Jannis like threw of like
Speaker 1: went like he was gonna do a dribble hand off
Speaker 1: with Dame and then did a keeper and then I
Speaker 1: think Caleb Martin was the guy that showed hard on him,
Speaker 1: but he showed so hard that Giannis was able to
Speaker 1: quickly just turn the corner on him going to his
Speaker 1: right hand, got all the way to the rim for
Speaker 1: a layup. And it's like aggressive switches are basically like closeouts,
Speaker 1: so if you attack them quickly, you can get dribble penetration,
Speaker 1: and you're only going to get those through a You're
Speaker 1: only going to get an opportunity like that through the
Speaker 1: size mismatch that comes from a damianis two man game
Speaker 1: because they're guarded by such different defenders. And then you
Speaker 1: know I talked about in preseason the cleared side dribble
Speaker 1: handoff right ran one of those I'll show you guys,
Speaker 1: in the film session, Drible handoff to Dame Dame gets
Speaker 1: the ball off the handoff, both defenders go with Dame
Speaker 1: Dame floats it over the top to Giannis Jannis ends
Speaker 1: up getting an easy finish on the roll. That's the
Speaker 1: kind of stuff that I'm really excited about in terms
Speaker 1: of the ceiling for this team offensively when they get
Speaker 1: into slow down half court environments, if they can perfect
Speaker 1: that Damianis two man game, that's that's what gives them
Speaker 1: that championship potential. Right, so good first showing for the Bucks.
Speaker 1: Let's get into our film. If you're listening on the
Speaker 1: podcast Feen, you're going to want to head over to
Speaker 1: YouTube to see that part to actually get the visual
Speaker 1: representations of what we're talking about. All right, first clip,
Speaker 1: Remember yesterday when I was talking with the Lakers about
Speaker 1: the Finland action that JJ Redick and Lebron James were
Speaker 1: talking about in the Mind the Game podcast, and all
Speaker 1: that is is a backscreen for a rim runner that
Speaker 1: flows into a shooter coming off of a screen. This
Speaker 1: was one of the ways that the Pistons were attacking
Speaker 1: Tyrese Haliburton in off ball screening actions. So I want
Speaker 1: to show it in full speed first, and then I'll
Speaker 1: talk about what I was talking about. So Hardaway backscreens
Speaker 1: for Tobias and then comes off of Jalen Durn and
Speaker 1: gets a three. Now what makes this action work? The
Speaker 1: backscreen always causes a reaction from the shooters defender. So
Speaker 1: watch as Tim Hardaway Junior comes to set the first backscreen.
Speaker 1: So as he goes to set the backscreen, watch Haliburton pause,
Speaker 1: so Hardaway backscreen, Seacam, look at Halliburton. Now Halliburton had
Speaker 1: as his weight shifted backwards because he's helping on the
Speaker 1: lob to Tobias. If Tyree stays glued up, then Cade's
Speaker 1: read changes. Notice we have a cleared corner here, so
Speaker 1: there's no helper that can come from that side. If
Speaker 1: tyree'see doesn't hang back, Tobias can come off with the
Speaker 1: screen and Cade just has to float anything up in
Speaker 1: this general vicinity and Tobias is getting a layup. But
Speaker 1: instead Tyres Aliburton hangs because he hangs back. Now he's
Speaker 1: completely out of position for this action. Right, Hardaway can
Speaker 1: come curl off of his screen, and Duran has plenty
Speaker 1: of space to lay a screen on Halliburton and Hardaway
Speaker 1: comes right off and knocks it down. So that's an
Speaker 1: example of what makes that action so difficult to guard
Speaker 1: for a shooter anybody that can hit a movement jump shot,
Speaker 1: and also an example of how the Pistons were looking
Speaker 1: to attack Tyrese Haliburton. Here's an example of a slot
Speaker 1: cut from Ben Mathern that I talked about with TJ
Speaker 1: McConnell that I thought was really smart. So the key
Speaker 1: here is you've got weak side spacing, right, So Ben
Speaker 1: Shepherd's trying to clear out to this corner because he
Speaker 1: knows the spacing is messed up, and Ben Matherin is here.
Speaker 1: But one of the things that is really smart about
Speaker 1: this cut, Ben Matherin is going to cut here. And
Speaker 1: one of the main reasons why is if you watch,
Speaker 1: TJ doesn't really have a passing angle. He's getting smothered
Speaker 1: on this like kind of three quarter side here, and
Speaker 1: then Malik Beasley is on his front side. It'd be
Speaker 1: extremely difficult for TJ to even make this kickout pass.
Speaker 1: So Ben Mathern is making himself available by cutting. TJ
Speaker 1: can reverse pivot out of it and ends up hitting
Speaker 1: the cut. And then also notice is that Ron Holland
Speaker 1: or is that Sasser? I think I can't tell him
Speaker 1: this one. I think that's I think that's Holland. But
Speaker 1: so notice Holland too, like as he's reverse pivoting out
Speaker 1: his first shot, his first thought is to close back
Speaker 1: out to the wing because that's where he thinks Matherin
Speaker 1: is a Mathern ends up capitalizing it on the cut.
Speaker 1: A really nice example of like a lot of times
Speaker 1: we think of spacing as like just standing out by
Speaker 1: the three point line. That's not spacing at all. It's
Speaker 1: just being a threat. It has nothing to do with shooting.
Speaker 1: It's a threat. It could be shooting, it could be cutting,
Speaker 1: it could be vertical spacing. There's so many different things
Speaker 1: you can do off ball. Screening is a way to
Speaker 1: create spacing. That's an example of creating spacing as a cutter.
Speaker 1: All right, Here is that spin move that I talked
Speaker 1: about with Kate Cunningham against Pascal Siakam. So we got
Speaker 1: a cleared side ISO again, kind of a rough shot
Speaker 1: creating fourth quarter for Kate. But I thought this was
Speaker 1: a superstar move that he hit on Siacam. Really nice
Speaker 1: right to left crossover into the spin. Good contests from
Speaker 1: Siakam still hits the shot. Here's that pick and pop.
Speaker 1: That ice is a game. This is the big shot,
Speaker 1: biggest shot of the game in the Pacers game. Classic
Speaker 1: example of how difficult it is to guard picking pop. Okay,
Speaker 1: so we're going to reset the ball screen. We're gonna
Speaker 1: go to Halliburton. Okay, so we have Tobias Harris. They're
Speaker 1: not switching right, They're chasing. So because they're chasing and
Speaker 1: not switching, we have two on the ball. Pascal Siakam pops.
Speaker 1: This forces the weak side rotation, extra pass to Ben
Speaker 1: matth That's what makes the pick and pop so hard
Speaker 1: to guard. If you ask Tobias Harris to close out,
Speaker 1: Tobias Harris closes out here, Siakam has an opportunity to drive.
Speaker 1: But because you rotate from the weak side, you create
Speaker 1: this two on one here and Ben Mathern gets an
Speaker 1: easy look. That was the ballgame for you. Here's just
Speaker 1: an example of how fast the Los Angeles Clippers defense is.
Speaker 1: So let's watch as they're running. We have Kai Jones
Speaker 1: come up to the level of the screen. He switches
Speaker 1: out onto Tyas Jones. Terrence Man is on the ball,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get a double drag here with Tias and Plumbley.
Speaker 1: Just switch aggressive switch from Harden Terrence Man lingers for
Speaker 1: a second. We have a little bit of a week
Speaker 1: side opportunity for Tys Jones. Look at the close out
Speaker 1: from Kai Jones. He's there on the catch. Derek Jones
Speaker 1: is up on KD, swipes it off of Kd's leg.
Speaker 1: I stopped at a bunch of times. I'm gonna run
Speaker 1: it in full speed. But just watch how fast the
Speaker 1: Clippers perimeter defenders are and Kai Jones just I have
Speaker 1: bringing that mobility to that front court spot too. They're
Speaker 1: just gonna be They're gonna be scrappy, they're gonna be fast.
Speaker 1: Ball this ball pressure from Terrence Man too. Now we've
Speaker 1: got Eleven's actions left him. We're way out forty feet
Speaker 1: from the basket. Really nice defensive possession from the Clippers.
Speaker 1: Here's an example of the Phoenix Suns at their best
Speaker 1: when they play advantage basketball. So we have Katie driving
Speaker 1: at the top of the key. It's going to be
Speaker 1: a ball screen with Plumblee, We're going to get two
Speaker 1: on the ball. So again, this stems from the threat
Speaker 1: of Katie being able to hit the pull up jump shot.
Speaker 1: Because of the threat of Katie being able to pull
Speaker 1: a bump pull it up, hit a pull up jump shot.
Speaker 1: Kai Jones has to show high. Kai Jones shows high,
Speaker 1: we get Plumbly on the switch. That's where we get
Speaker 1: our week side two on one. I've been talking about
Speaker 1: this concept a lot in preseason. These week side two
Speaker 1: on ones are where you generate high quality three point shots.
Speaker 1: Plumbley then makes the swing to Booker. Derek Jones closes
Speaker 1: to Booker, we get Bradley be a wide open in
Speaker 1: the corner. That's the beauty of the Suns when they're
Speaker 1: playing at their best. It's a guy on the ball
Speaker 1: that is going to bring two defenders because of his
Speaker 1: pull up jump shot. And you're running week side two
Speaker 1: and ones with two of the best offensive players in
Speaker 1: the league, and Bradley Beal and Devin Booker, thats just
Speaker 1: extremely difficult to guard. There's a really cool set from
Speaker 1: the Clippers that I liked, and it's about triggering switches.
Speaker 1: So when you're targeting teams that do a lot of
Speaker 1: switching a lot of times, you can catch them in
Speaker 1: between switches where they make mistakes. So this whole play
Speaker 1: is designed to get Derek Jones junior lob on the
Speaker 1: weak side. Here's what we're gonna get off of Harden.
Speaker 1: Here we're clearing out here to the right side corner.
Speaker 1: And then Kai Jones is gonna set a backscreen for
Speaker 1: Norm Powell, backscreen for Norm Powell. But the main thing
Speaker 1: Norm Powell is trying to do here is set a
Speaker 1: screen on Royce O'Neil, not to get Derek Jones open,
Speaker 1: but to get these guys to think about a switch.
Speaker 1: So he goes and hits Royce O'Neil. After he hits
Speaker 1: Royce O'Neil, he just runs back. And now Royce O'Neill
Speaker 1: is thinking, wait, am I supposed to follow him? Or
Speaker 1: is Booker following him? They don't know. There's a hesitation,
Speaker 1: there's a miscommunication. And look at Dereck Jones once again.
Speaker 1: Watch Derek Jones go right as Royce O'Neil gets triggered
Speaker 1: into the switch. Royce O'Neil thinks, oh, I'm switching. I'm
Speaker 1: going out. Then Devin Booker's like, no, no, no, actually I
Speaker 1: got him, but it's too late. Derek Jones is getting
Speaker 1: full head of steam. Perfect lob pass from James Harden.
Speaker 1: We got ourselves a dunk. I'm gonna run it in
Speaker 1: full speed. I want you guys to watch how quickly
Speaker 1: this develops off of that fake backscreen. All a decoy
Speaker 1: backscreen makes you think you're going to pal runs into O'Neil,
Speaker 1: and then comes back These two bots the switch. Now
Speaker 1: we get a dunk, another really nice Phoenix Suns possession.
Speaker 1: This is going to be a clear side two man
Speaker 1: game between use of Nurkic and Bradley Beal. Let's fast
Speaker 1: forward a little bit, all right, So here's our clear
Speaker 1: side two man game, right. Pick and pop. I talk
Speaker 1: all the time about how the pick and pop is
Speaker 1: the best. Is one of the best counters for any
Speaker 1: sort of ball screen coverage that involves a drop because
Speaker 1: it actually forces it makes it so that the big
Speaker 1: man can't guard put both people at once. If he rolls,
Speaker 1: then he can kind of keep the roleman and the
Speaker 1: ball handler in front. But Nurkic pops. Now we have
Speaker 1: two on the ball. This is again the beginning of
Speaker 1: everything great that happens for the Suns starts with two
Speaker 1: on the ball. This forces James Harden. Watch the rotation
Speaker 1: here James Harden's guarding Tias Jones, but when the two
Speaker 1: go to the ball, Harden rotates to the popper, same
Speaker 1: sort of weak side rotation we were just talking about
Speaker 1: the Pistons game. This triggers a cut from Tias Jones.
Speaker 1: When Tias Jones cuts, that occupies Chris Dunn. So Chris
Speaker 1: Dunn sees Tias and goes to the cutter right, So boom.
Speaker 1: Now essentially bringing two to the ball forces Done and
Speaker 1: Harden to rotate instead of being on Tias and Royce
Speaker 1: O'Neil to being on Nurkicchen Tias. We get our skip
Speaker 1: pass that goes to Royce O'Neil that forces a mere
Speaker 1: Coffee to rotate. He makes the extra pass. Now we're
Speaker 1: getting a wide open three for Kevin Dury. Katie actually
Speaker 1: misses this shot, but that's really really good offense that
Speaker 1: once again starts from the simple concept of getting two
Speaker 1: on the basketball. Love cleared side action. Have always been
Speaker 1: a big fan of it. One more example of a
Speaker 1: really nice advantage basketball possess for the Suns. We get
Speaker 1: a switch as Booker snakes the ball screen right, so
Speaker 1: now he's got Zobach on him. Now a lot of
Speaker 1: times you'll see teams in this situation think I have
Speaker 1: a favorable matchup. Let me just iso this dude and
Speaker 1: try to take a contested jump shot over the top
Speaker 1: of him. That's not what Booker thinks. Booker thinks, Actually,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna beat him off the dribble to get
Speaker 1: the defense in rotation. He just drives, gets into the lane.
Speaker 1: Defense collapses. We have our week side two on one.
Speaker 1: Booker makes the kickout pass swing, swing, easy jump shot
Speaker 1: for Royce O'Neil. And one of the things too, is
Speaker 1: like washing out Norman Powell on the drive too. Essentially
Speaker 1: just tries to double team again. Devin Booker's done his job.
Speaker 1: At that point, You've collapsed the defense. Just play advantage
Speaker 1: basketball on the weak side. End up getting a wide
Speaker 1: up and shot for a good shooter. Here's that possession
Speaker 1: of bad Clippers transition defense. So James Harden tired settles
Speaker 1: for like a thirty five footer. But this is limbo.
Speaker 1: Shot is up. These two guys are your two guys back.
Speaker 1: These guys can crash out of the corner. Fine, these
Speaker 1: two guys have to sprint. Watch both of them just
Speaker 1: slowly backpedal. That's limbo. None of them are in position
Speaker 1: now they're able to throw an easy kick add pass
Speaker 1: to KD. KD ends up getting a layup. That's bad
Speaker 1: transition defense. Here's that play that reminded me in the
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety eight NBA Finals where Tyas Jones like cuts
Speaker 1: a mere Coffee cuts through on the post entry right,
Speaker 1: So mere Coffee cuts through. Watch Tyas Jones fake like
Speaker 1: he's gonna follow him and then be like nope, never mind,
Speaker 1: and then come right back and steal the post entry pass.
Speaker 1: Beautiful work from Tyas Jones, end of getting another transition layoup.
Speaker 1: Here's that mid range jump shot I was talking about
Speaker 1: James Harden again, Like instead of attacking the mismatch and
Speaker 1: trying to hit a really tough twenty five foot step back.
Speaker 1: It's one and a half minutes left, there's only a
Speaker 1: handful of possessions. Field goal percentage matters more. James Harden
Speaker 1: works him into the foul line and gets a nice
Speaker 1: little look from mid range, knocks it down. Here's that
Speaker 1: ridiculous Kevin Durant fade away to tie the game. Nice
Speaker 1: little like impromptu double team from James Harden. Notice He
Speaker 1: waits until after Kevin Durant turns his back, so he's
Speaker 1: kind of in help. He's in help, in help. Katie
Speaker 1: turns his back, and then James Goes gets a great contest,
Speaker 1: but kt is just one of the best scorers of
Speaker 1: all time. Knocks down the jump shot all right. Moving
Speaker 1: on to the Warriors and the Blazers, here's an example
Speaker 1: of just how I prefer. This is one of the
Speaker 1: two wide open threes that Steph Curry missed at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the game. I prefer Jonathan Kaminga on the
Speaker 1: ball because he actually has great tools in these situations,
Speaker 1: and it's a better situation for him because it doesn't
Speaker 1: divide his focus. Nice job sliding his feet, not fouling,
Speaker 1: absorbing contact, and then beating Denny to the offensive rebound.
Speaker 2: Here's a little.
Speaker 1: Classic Warriors basketball as Steph comes off of a hand
Speaker 1: off at the top of the key, because I think
Speaker 1: he was a handoff. Let's see, okay, so ball screen
Speaker 1: two on the ball. What are we going to do
Speaker 1: in our two on the ball situation? Looney's rolling. Here's
Speaker 1: our low man, right, Looney catches Gary Payton smartly. He's like,
Speaker 1: I don't have to turn this into a three. I'll
Speaker 1: just cut along the baseline dunk or not a dunk
Speaker 1: but a layup. Very nice finish from Gary Payton. Here
Speaker 1: are the two off screen actions that Buddy Heald hit shots.
Speaker 1: I want you guys to pay attention to Looney screens.
Speaker 1: So this first one is the wide pin down I
Speaker 1: believe if I remember correctly, Yeah, okay, oh no, this
Speaker 1: is the ball screen. Okay, so we're coming off to
Speaker 1: Healed here wash the screens from Looney Boom just squares
Speaker 1: him up and basically forces him to go under. Look
Speaker 1: at the screening angle. Look at how he angles it
Speaker 1: so that he basically can't chase over the top, has
Speaker 1: to go under. And remember with these shooters, now his
Speaker 1: rhythm is clean. I talk about this all the time
Speaker 1: with my young players like you. Once the hand like
Speaker 1: a good shooter doesn't see your hand. The hand doesn't
Speaker 1: bother a good shooter. The only way you're bothering a
Speaker 1: good shooter is if you bother the base or the gatherer.
Speaker 1: And the only way you're gonna do that is if
Speaker 1: you effectively stay attached over the top of screens. Great
Speaker 1: screen from Looney forces him to go under Buddy hits
Speaker 1: the shot, and the same sort of thing here on
Speaker 1: the right side. Look at this monster screen from Looney Wash.
Speaker 1: The screen from Looney Boom creates plenty of separation and
Speaker 1: Buddy's able to come off and hit again. Most underrated
Speaker 1: part of the Warriors offensive success over the last several
Speaker 1: years over the last decade is the screening from Looney
Speaker 1: All right, a couple of quick two man game possessions
Speaker 1: from the Bucks and then we'll be out of here
Speaker 1: for the day. So this one is a dribble handoff
Speaker 1: with Dame and Jannis. Notice how will we get an
Speaker 1: aggressive switch? So this is again very classic Nick Nurse.
Speaker 1: They're not just switching, their aggressively switching. Watch as both
Speaker 1: Ubre Ubra shoots out on Dame and then Caleb comes
Speaker 1: way out on Giannis, and that's just not good defense
Speaker 1: on Giannis because he's so big and strong. Jannis now
Speaker 1: at this point has you dead to rights because he's
Speaker 1: just going to go right through you to the basket.
Speaker 1: So I like that as a way of basically using
Speaker 1: Dame's defender in a quick switch situation to get Jannis downhill.
Speaker 1: Love those dribble handoffs. Here's that classic cleared side dribble
Speaker 1: handoff that we saw a bunch of in preseason, same
Speaker 1: sort of thing, Yannis flashing. Sometimes we'll have Yanni's backscreen
Speaker 1: for Torrian Prince first and then they'll run it. But
Speaker 1: in this case it's just a basic post entry cleared
Speaker 1: side Dame comes off the dho, we bring two to
Speaker 1: the ball. Now we have Giannis rolling, and notice who's
Speaker 1: on the back line guards. Giannis is going to go
Speaker 1: right through those guys every single time. Another smart spacing
Speaker 1: concept too. This is something the Celtics do a really
Speaker 1: nice job of. They'll put their centers above the break
Speaker 1: instead of in the corner. Because see how Caleb Martin
Speaker 1: is your low man. If that's Yabusele Yabuseli in the
Speaker 1: low man spot, he's bigger and stronger and is going
Speaker 1: to present a bigger challenge for Yannis there. But instead
Speaker 1: it's Caleb Martin. He's able to just power right through it.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, that is all I have for today.
Speaker 1: As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me
Speaker 1: and supporting the show. We are back tonight after the
Speaker 1: final buzzer of Nuggets Thunder. I'm also going to be
Speaker 1: doing a mailbag at the tail end of that show,
Speaker 1: so make sure you guys come hang out, bring your questions.
Speaker 2: Oh see you guys, then.
Speaker 1: The volume.
Speaker 2: What's up guys.
Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
Speaker 1: OOPS tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us
Speaker 1: if you guys would take a second and leave a
Speaker 1: rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys
Speaker 1: supporting us, but if you could take a minute to
Speaker 1: do that, I'd really appreciate it.