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Speaker 1: in West Virginia. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented

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Speaker 1: by Fandel here at the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody. I

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Speaker 1: hope all of you guys are having an incredible week.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna be breaking down three games from last night.

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Speaker 1: The Boston Celtics continue their absolute wrecking ball tour around

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Speaker 1: the NBA by destroying the Phoenix Suns in Phoenix. Then

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Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about the Warriors and the Jazz and

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Speaker 1: kind of a wild ending where the Warriors basically punted

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Speaker 1: the game, resting all their stars and then they damn

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Speaker 1: near one and then the Jazz told it again with

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Speaker 1: a couple of scrappy plays on the defensive end. And then,

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Speaker 1: last but not least, the Brooklyn Nets. They beat the

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Speaker 1: New Orleans Hornets last night, but we're also gonna just

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Speaker 1: talk about how good the Brooklyn Nets have been playing

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Speaker 1: in general, taking advantage of some soft spots in their schedule.

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Speaker 1: You guys know the drill before we get already subscribed

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Speaker 1: to the volumes YouTube channels. You don't miss any more

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Speaker 1: of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason Lts.

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Speaker 1: You guys, don't miss any show announcements, footage breakdowns, live

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Speaker 1: tweeting games, all the above going on on that front.

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

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Speaker 1: guys miss one of these videos and you can't get

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Speaker 1: back over to YouTube to finish. Remember you can find

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Speaker 1: them wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops tonight. So

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Speaker 1: Phoenix kept this game close for all of about nine

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Speaker 1: minutes before Boston just completely and utterly embarrassed them. There's

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Speaker 1: a little bit of a thing going on with Phoenix

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Speaker 1: where when the going gets tough, they have a tendency

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Speaker 1: to let go of the rope. You saw that obviously

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Speaker 1: famously in game seven last year against Luca don Chets,

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Speaker 1: but it's kind of a recurring theme and it's happened

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Speaker 1: a few times this year. You know. It was back

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Speaker 1: and forth, and uh, Malcolm Brogden checked in about halfway

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Speaker 1: through the first quarter and immediately scored eight quick points,

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Speaker 1: a couple of pull up threes, like a jab step

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Speaker 1: pull up three in the left corner, and then a

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Speaker 1: dribble pull up three on the right wing, and then

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Speaker 1: a really nice left hand did reverse layup and that

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Speaker 1: was kind of the difference maker early on, and then

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Speaker 1: from there it was just a complete avalanche. You know.

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Speaker 1: We talked about this a little bit two days ago

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Speaker 1: when we were talking about the Lakers, uh and them

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Speaker 1: playing without Anthony Davis against the Calves, and we were

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Speaker 1: just joke talking about their starting lineup and how there's

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Speaker 1: kind of like a stagnation that plagues that group. And

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Speaker 1: one of the nice things that you see around the

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Speaker 1: league in that sixth man role is stagnation in a

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Speaker 1: lot of cases is a product of sometimes just overpassing

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Speaker 1: and waiting for something easy to pop up instead of

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Speaker 1: somebody being aggressive and trying to get downhill and make

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Speaker 1: something happen. And you see that a lot with starting

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Speaker 1: lineups because they're stacked with talent. You usually have most

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Speaker 1: of your best players in those groupings, right, So like

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Speaker 1: even with the Celtics group, it's like, it's Jayson Tatum,

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Speaker 1: it's Jalen Brown, it's Marcus Smart. There's a lot of

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Speaker 1: talent there, right, And so sometimes those guys will look

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Speaker 1: at each other and be like, do you want to

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Speaker 1: be aggressive? Or should I be aggressive? Like which one

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Speaker 1: of us is supposed to hit the jets here? No,

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Speaker 1: the sixth man. It's like, your role is very clear.

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Speaker 1: You come into the game and you are aggressive, and

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Speaker 1: there are guys that embrace that role and they thrive

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Speaker 1: in it, and you can pretty quickly see the tone

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Speaker 1: of games shift when they get into the game. Just

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Speaker 1: like Malcolm Brogden has been so damn good for the

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Speaker 1: Celtics this year, kind of kickstarting their offense with that

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Speaker 1: second unit. It's kind of similar to what Russell Westbrook

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Speaker 1: has been doing with the Lakers, Right, Lebron and a

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Speaker 1: d kind of float through that first shift and you

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Speaker 1: end up with random guys like Dennis Shrewder being aggressive

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Speaker 1: or Patrick Beverley being aggressive. In this game, it was

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Speaker 1: Grant Williams, Like all the Celtics were kind of standing

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Speaker 1: around looking at each other, and Grant Williams was the

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Speaker 1: guy who was like, okay, fine, I'll shoot and like

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Speaker 1: took a really nice jab step three on the left wing,

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Speaker 1: or bullied his way to the basket one time, like

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Speaker 1: cave DeAndre Ayton's chest in with a power dribble. It

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Speaker 1: made like a little hook in the lane. Like a

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Speaker 1: lot of times, those starting lineups are a little indecisive

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Speaker 1: and you need someone that can be decisive and that

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Speaker 1: sixth man come in and changes that. And that's exactly

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Speaker 1: what Malcolm Brock didn't in yesterday. And then you saw

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Speaker 1: what happened. Jayson Tatum came back in towards the end

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Speaker 1: of the first quarter. Then he starts being super aggressive,

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Speaker 1: and you see that a lot on the Lakers team

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Speaker 1: as well, with their six man. Russ comes in changes

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Speaker 1: the dynamic of the game. Then Lebron will come back

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Speaker 1: in for that second shift and he's much more aggressive,

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Speaker 1: looking to get downhill, looking to get his shot. It's

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Speaker 1: kind of like a natural staggering from there. And you know, um,

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Speaker 1: that's what makes a sixth man so valuable, Like a

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Speaker 1: Malcolm Brogden. He can come in and change the tone

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Speaker 1: of your offense and get you playing more aggressive. Um.

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Speaker 1: Grant Williams was awesome last night. He went six for

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Speaker 1: six and he's starting to demonstrate more of that high

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Speaker 1: level shot making. Like I said, that jab step that's

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Speaker 1: an is so move him scoring and basically a late

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Speaker 1: clock rescue possession situation against DeAndre Aten by powering him

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Speaker 1: into the rim. Like that's really impressive stuff. Again, he

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Speaker 1: took a bet on himself by turned down that extension

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Speaker 1: this last summer, and it's got to pay off because

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Speaker 1: he's been one of the best two way wings in

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Speaker 1: the league this year. Um. On the defensive end, you know,

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Speaker 1: the Celtics have been really uneven up and down for

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Speaker 1: the first chunk of the season, and I kept talking

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Speaker 1: about how they kept showing that switch flipping. Well, even

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Speaker 1: that's gone out the window now because they're really defending

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Speaker 1: at a high level for entire games now, and they

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Speaker 1: were This was an A plus defensive effort from Boston.

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Speaker 1: You know, they have a really seamless transition from coverage

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Speaker 1: to coverage, so they've got all these different groups and

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Speaker 1: these different defensive identities, like they go. They've been positive

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Speaker 1: without any centers on the floor this year. So when

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Speaker 1: they go real five out with like Grant Williams at

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Speaker 1: the five, they've been a positive this year. And a

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Speaker 1: big part of that is that when they switch everything

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Speaker 1: with those groups, they can really stagnate teams. And then

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Speaker 1: when they go with Al Horford this year, they've been

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Speaker 1: doing a lot more switching than they did last year,

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Speaker 1: but then they can seamlessly go to like, Okay Horford's

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Speaker 1: out tonight, here comes Blake Griffin and Luke Cornet, you know,

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Speaker 1: running the the big for most of the night, and

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Speaker 1: we're just gonna run drop coverage and they'll switch one

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Speaker 1: through four and there's so seamless in that coverage, like

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Speaker 1: you'll see uh the Sun's with their classic transitions into

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Speaker 1: their pick and roll where it's like a dribble handoff

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Speaker 1: that flows into the pick and roll, and it'll be

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Speaker 1: like Tatum and Brown will switch it. But then Brown

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Speaker 1: when he switches out, well then immediately fight over the

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Speaker 1: top of the screen because he knows it's a pick

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Speaker 1: and roll and Blake Griffin's hanging back. That takes a

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Speaker 1: lot of focus and a lot of sharpness in your

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Speaker 1: communication and on the details, and then they're so sharp

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Speaker 1: on their uh defensive rotations on the back end too.

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Speaker 1: One of the things I did really well against Phoenix

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Speaker 1: and this game was digging down from that strong side wing.

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Speaker 1: You know, like the guy comes over the top of

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Speaker 1: the screen, maybe it's Devin Booker comes over the top

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Speaker 1: of the screen from the left wing, and whoever it

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Speaker 1: is that's guarding the shooter on the right wing will

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Speaker 1: just dig down to the elbow and make them get

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Speaker 1: rid of the basketball. That only works if you're low

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Speaker 1: man is capable of making a rotation out to stop

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Speaker 1: a shooter. And what the Celtics do a really good

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Speaker 1: job of actually at a clip of this from Derek White,

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Speaker 1: but they close out to passing lanes, which is a

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Speaker 1: really smart way to deal with a two shooter situation.

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Speaker 1: So if a guy comes over the top of a

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Speaker 1: ball screen and you dig out of the strong side wing,

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Speaker 1: I've got a shooter in the corner and a shooter

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Speaker 1: on the wing, and I've got one defender who has

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Speaker 1: sunk down to the block and he's got to close

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Speaker 1: out to one of those two guys. And what Derek

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Speaker 1: White did on this specific play that you can find

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Speaker 1: on my Twitter feed. Is he closes out between the

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Speaker 1: two shooters. I think it was Tory Craig on the

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Speaker 1: right wing, and might have been Campaign in the corner

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Speaker 1: I can't remember, might have been Langer sham it with

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Speaker 1: somebody like that, and he closes out to the passing lane,

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Speaker 1: and Tory Craig thinks that Derek White is closing out

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Speaker 1: at him, so instead of looking to catch and shoot,

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Speaker 1: he's looking to catch and swing, and he ends up

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Speaker 1: catching and throwing the swing pass directly into Derek White

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Speaker 1: because he closes out into the passing lane. I thought

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Speaker 1: that was really cool because that's a specific coverage that

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Speaker 1: the high school team that I coach you uses when

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Speaker 1: we're closing out on the backside, we always close out

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Speaker 1: to the passing lane. Boston is a really nice job

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Speaker 1: of that, and that allows them to over help because

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Speaker 1: they're doing a nice job of closing out and rotating

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Speaker 1: on the back end. And then once you shut down

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Speaker 1: Phoenix's actions and they did a lot of it with

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Speaker 1: no center last night where they were just switching everything,

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Speaker 1: but also just by fighting over the top of the

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Speaker 1: screens and digging down, it kind of stagnates Phoenix and

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Speaker 1: turns them into an isolation team. And then all night long,

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Speaker 1: Boston did a really good job of contesting Devin Booker

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Speaker 1: without fouling and then staying home off ball. On ISOs.

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Speaker 1: It's one thing on a pick and roll to dig

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Speaker 1: down from the wing to contain the ball, but it's

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Speaker 1: another thing when it's an ISO and he's not really

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Speaker 1: going downhill and instead he's going against a set defender

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Speaker 1: that's sliding his feet and maybe chest the shoulder with

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Speaker 1: him and riding him into the basket. You don't need

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Speaker 1: to overhelp there. So they're staying home. And now Devin

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Speaker 1: Booker is struggling to knockdown shots over the top of

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Speaker 1: the defense or he's trying to make kickout passes two

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Speaker 1: guys that are open because the help defenders are staying home.

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Speaker 1: Then Phoenix started turning the basketball over. They forced Phoenix

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Speaker 1: into twenty twenty turnovers, which led to twenty points for

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Speaker 1: Boston on the other end of the floor by just

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Speaker 1: because they were able to get out in transition. It

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Speaker 1: was a really impressive defensive performance. And to be clear,

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Speaker 1: this is no longer a switch flipping thing. They've kind

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Speaker 1: of figured things out that Boston Celtics are fifth in

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Speaker 1: the entire league in defense since November. That's a solid

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Speaker 1: three week sample size of them being damn good defensively.

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Speaker 1: I'm actually kind of worried about the Robert Williams thing.

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Speaker 1: I've been kind of lower on Robert Williams than most

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Speaker 1: Celtics people for this entire kind of era here. Um,

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Speaker 1: I've talked about this before. I think he's a little

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Speaker 1: bit too much of a gambler on defense. I think

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Speaker 1: there's some mixed results there. And I really think he

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Speaker 1: janks up there spacing because I mean, obviously he's a

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Speaker 1: good vertical spacer, but vertical spacing is just not the

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Speaker 1: same type of spacing as five out spacing. And the

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Speaker 1: Boston offense is just operating at such a high level.

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Speaker 1: When Horford is at the center and he can space

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Speaker 1: to the corner, or when they just go pure five

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Speaker 1: out and it's Grant will Hims at the five, they're

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Speaker 1: getting just better stuff there. So, like with how well

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Speaker 1: they're defending now without Rob Williams, obviously you want Rob Williams.

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Speaker 1: You want to have that look. It helps to have

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Speaker 1: a legit, big look with Horford and Williams on the

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Speaker 1: floor together. But I hope they keep his minutes down

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Speaker 1: because this particular version of Boston is so much better offensively,

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Speaker 1: and now they're defending at an extremely high level UM

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Speaker 1: plus when they're doing more switching, especially with Horford, I

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Speaker 1: think that gives you a better chance to succeed in

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Speaker 1: a playoff environment. And I thought their stubborn nous as

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Speaker 1: it pertained to Golden State and that drop coverage is

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Speaker 1: one of the things that beat them. We started the

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Speaker 1: year with three contenders. If you guys remember, I had

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Speaker 1: the Bucks, the Warriors in the Celtics, and I ranked

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Speaker 1: them in order. I had Golden State number one, I

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Speaker 1: had Milwaukee number two, and Boston number three. I thought

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Speaker 1: Boston was the most talented team of those three, but

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Speaker 1: I was worried about their ability to execute, particularly in

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Speaker 1: late game situations and things along those lines. In Golden

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Speaker 1: States just a super experienced team that's been there and

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Speaker 1: done that, and you can count on that. But ever,

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Speaker 1: like all all all season long, from the from the

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Speaker 1: first jump ball back in October eight, Boston has clearly

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Speaker 1: been on a tier by themselves on top of the league.

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Speaker 1: Milwaukee's only two games back, but Boston has been way

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Speaker 1: more dominant. Their net rating is about twice as much.

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Speaker 1: Boston's outscoring teams by about nine points per hunter possessions

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Speaker 1: and Milwaukee's outscoring teams by less than five points per

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Speaker 1: one hunter possessions, so they've been more dominant. And Milwaukee

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Speaker 1: has also had a really, really easy schedule. They've had

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Speaker 1: the third easiest schedule in the league, So their win

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Speaker 1: loss record it's not fake, but it's not as dominant

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Speaker 1: as Boston's played tougher teams and has been more dominant

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Speaker 1: on the scoreboard. I'm not changing my playoff picks by

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Speaker 1: any stretch of the imagination. It's too early. But if

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Speaker 1: this holds, Boston will eventually become my favorite to win

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Speaker 1: the Titler. You gotta pay attention to what's happening here,

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Speaker 1: Like let's let's zoom out here to this entire calendar year.

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Speaker 1: So we're on December eight, and this really started for Boston.

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Speaker 1: I want to say it was the January three or

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Speaker 1: January eight, but it was that first ten days of January.

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Speaker 1: So we're gone eleven months here now, and what actually

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Speaker 1: happened in this eleven months from the beginning of January

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Speaker 1: to the start of the playoffs, Boston was the best

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Speaker 1: offense and the best defense in the entire league, and

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Speaker 1: they kicked everyone's ass, and then they took that into

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Speaker 1: the playoffs and they won their conference. It's a little

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Speaker 1: sloppy because of their issues with execution. They damn near

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Speaker 1: blued against Milwaukee. They damn near blued against Miami, but

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Speaker 1: damn near doesn't mean anything. They won the Eastern Conference, okay.

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Speaker 1: Then they dominated Golden State through three games. They were

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Speaker 1: up two games to one. Then Golden State on the

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Speaker 1: strength of an absolutely heroic performance by by Steph Curry

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Speaker 1: and a really solid defensive effort from Golden State's wings,

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Speaker 1: namely Andrew Wiggins, Clay Thompson and Draymond Green, they were

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Speaker 1: able to pull out three straight wins against that Boston

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Speaker 1: Celtics team. Then ever since then, Boston has whooped everybody's

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Speaker 1: ass again, and they've been the best offense in the

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Speaker 1: league and now in the last three weeks their top

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Speaker 1: five defense again. So as we zoom out, it's a

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Speaker 1: whole lot of Boston's whooping everybody's ass. It's a whole

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Speaker 1: lot of Boston being the best offense in basketball and

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Speaker 1: one of the best defenses in basketball. I still think

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Speaker 1: they're the best half court defense that I've ever seen.

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Speaker 1: That's all there. There's just that three game stretch against

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Speaker 1: Golden State. Now that's an important stretch. That's execution. I

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Speaker 1: still don't trust Boston in big playoffs situations to execute

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Speaker 1: at an extremely high level. They will have to prove

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Speaker 1: that to me. But they look better than last year.

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Speaker 1: Maybe Malcolm Brogden can help them with on ball situations

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Speaker 1: and crunch time, and maybe it won't even matter. I'm

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Speaker 1: not gonna change my pick yet, but at a certain point,

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Speaker 1: we've got to acknowledge that Boston is playing better basketball

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Speaker 1: than everyone else in the league by a pretty significant margin.

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Speaker 1: Quick notes on Phoenix. This is Chris Paul's first game back,

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Speaker 1: so I don't want to overreact, but he looked completely

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Speaker 1: out of place. Um looked like he was really struggling

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Speaker 1: to get to his spots in a way that he

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Speaker 1: didn't use to. Devin Booker had forty plus three nights

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Speaker 1: in a row last week, but in the last three

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Speaker 1: games he's averaging sixteen points per game on thirty seven

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Speaker 1: percent shooting. I was very complimentary of Devin Booker. I

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Speaker 1: obviously view him Um. I always obviously have a ton

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Speaker 1: of respect for him and where he is in the

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Speaker 1: league right now. But consistency is a big part of

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Speaker 1: being a superstar. You gotta keep your foot on the

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Speaker 1: pedal alright. Moving on to the Warriors in the Jazz,

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Speaker 1: This was kind of a fun game for how many

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Speaker 1: players were missing on both teams, like Lori markin and

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Speaker 1: was out, Mike Connolly's out, so they're down a bunch

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Speaker 1: of guys. Um. The Warriors sat Steph Draymond and Andrew Wiggins,

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Speaker 1: so the Warriors were basically punting this game. Um. But

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Speaker 1: Jordan Pool and Johnathan cominga to the Warriors young players

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Speaker 1: combined for sixty points and really kept this thing close.

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Speaker 1: And then at the end of the game it kind

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Speaker 1: of turned into a Jordan Pool versus Jordan Clarkson shot

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Speaker 1: creation contest, and both of them made some nice passing reads,

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Speaker 1: but neither of them can really make a shot. Jordan

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Speaker 1: Clarkson made a nice little floater, but there in the

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Speaker 1: final minutes they both kind of went cold and the

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Speaker 1: Warriors were scrappy as hell on both ends of the floor.

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Speaker 1: They grabbed a bunch of offensive rebounds, they had some

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Speaker 1: critical defensive stopped some blocked shots. There's a Jonathan cominga

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Speaker 1: is So possession on Jordan Clarkson where he blocked him

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Speaker 1: kind of at the elbow, and then Uh Clay Thompson

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Speaker 1: had a really nice block that actually saved the Warriors

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Speaker 1: on a potentially game tying three. They played well enough

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Speaker 1: to grind out an ugly win, but Clay Thompson and

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Speaker 1: Jordan Pool were sloppy with the basketball and a couple

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Speaker 1: of late inbounds possessions and it costs them the gate.

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Speaker 1: Shout out, you know to Nikil Alexander Walker from the

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Speaker 1: Jazz two massive plays at the end of that get

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Speaker 1: that game. There was an extra past the Malik Beasley

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Speaker 1: where Warriors up four. I think it was like one thirteen,

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Speaker 1: one on nine and Nikil gets it down the hill. Downhill,

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Speaker 1: he has an opportunity to take a left handed lay

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Speaker 1: up and I want it looked nice on the box

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Speaker 1: score for him, but it's game probably over there. You

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Speaker 1: know you're you're still down too. He makes a left

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Speaker 1: handed hook pass that hits uh Molik Beasley on the

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Speaker 1: right wing and he nails at the three. Is a

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Speaker 1: good pass to a wide open shooter that puts you

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Speaker 1: back within one. Then on the inbounds pass to Jordan Pool,

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Speaker 1: he kind of comes over Jordan Pool's left shoulder, and

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Speaker 1: I think he was actually trying to foul, but hey,

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Speaker 1: when you're trying to foul, go for the basketball because

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Speaker 1: you might be able to make a play. And he

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Speaker 1: came hacking down with his left arm and just happened

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Speaker 1: to get all ball on Jordan Pool and knocked the

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Speaker 1: ball loose, which led to the run out and uh

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Speaker 1: Fontacio ends up getting a dunk and the game was over.

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Speaker 1: So a couple of massive plays Benekiel Alexander Walker to

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Speaker 1: steal that game. I get it as a Warriors fan,

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Speaker 1: that's a heartbreaking loss, but you gotta remember you were

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Speaker 1: playing with house money. You were expecting to lose that

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Speaker 1: game when you sat all those guys, And even though

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Speaker 1: it still sucks to take that loss in the stay innings,

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Speaker 1: especially when it was an execution couple of execution errors

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Speaker 1: at the end, there was a lot of really exciting

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Speaker 1: stuff from the Warriors young players in that game. First

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Speaker 1: of all, James Wiseman came in and played a really

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Speaker 1: interesting five minute shift. There was a bit of a

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Speaker 1: mixed bag. He really struggled and dropped coverage. He he

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Speaker 1: was trying to get up to the level of the

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Speaker 1: screen on Jordan Clarkson for pull up jump shots, but

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Speaker 1: he guessed wrong because Jordan was able to reject the

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Speaker 1: screen and get away from him. Then he wasn't back

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Speaker 1: in drops. He needs to be a little bit more

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Speaker 1: kind of like in a middle area where he can

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Speaker 1: wait for Jordan to come over and then come up

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Speaker 1: and contest. He gave up a layup to Jordan Clarkson

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Speaker 1: and a foul to Jordan Clarkson. There. He also had

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Speaker 1: to play with Rudy Gobert or excuse me, Ruddy Gay

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Speaker 1: drove to the basket and went up with a left

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Speaker 1: handed lay up and he got his hand like cought

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Speaker 1: in the net which stopped him from being able to

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Speaker 1: get a block a block. He also had a missed

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Speaker 1: box out on Walker Kessler, who, by the way, Walker

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Speaker 1: Kessler is a really tough big for James Wiseman to

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Speaker 1: deal with at this phase of his career because he's

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Speaker 1: just he struggles with physicality and Walker is just a

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Speaker 1: big physical center that works really, really har hard. But

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Speaker 1: other than those things, it honestly was a lot of

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Speaker 1: good from Wiseman. I thought he did a much better

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Speaker 1: job screening. Get a nice uh pick and roll with

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Speaker 1: Clay Thompson up on the right wing where he got

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Speaker 1: a good contact on his screen that freed Clay Thompson

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Speaker 1: up for a wide open three that he made. And

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Speaker 1: then look and this is a big part of it.

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Speaker 1: Why do you guys, You guys who have listened to

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Speaker 1: the show for a while, you know that I'm not

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Speaker 1: a big fan of traditional centers. And one of the

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Speaker 1: big reasons why is they don't run, or when they

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Speaker 1: do try to run, they're not fast enough to really

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Speaker 1: hang in an up and down game and they struggle

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Speaker 1: to cover ground. This I thought was James Wiseman's best

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Speaker 1: game as a pro in terms of just running the

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Speaker 1: floor up and down. And when you have a big

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Speaker 1: man who legit runs the floor, sprints the floor up

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Speaker 1: and down, so much good comes from that. There was

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00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:48,600
Speaker 1: a play where you got a quick seal on Fontechio

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Speaker 1: because he ran out Ryan Walker Kesler down the floor

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Speaker 1: which led to a transition mismatch, dumped it into him

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Speaker 1: and he got a dunk. There was a play where

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Speaker 1: he beat Walker Kesler down the floor, got underneath a basket.

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Speaker 1: I can't remember who was I think it was Anthony Lamb.

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Speaker 1: Someoneho misses the three walker. Kesler tries to box him out,

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Speaker 1: but he's out of position because Wise been beat him

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Speaker 1: down the floor. He got an offensive rebound on that play,

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Speaker 1: kicked it out. He actually kicked it out to Anthony

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Speaker 1: Lamb after that, and he missed the three um. And

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Speaker 1: then there was another play where he sprinted back on

431
00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:20,240
Speaker 1: defense and got back in time to dissuade Kelly Olynnik

432
00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:23,080
Speaker 1: at the rim and forced to stop. But like, if

433
00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:24,960
Speaker 1: he can do those kinds of things, those are because

434
00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:27,720
Speaker 1: those are under his control. He can sprint up and

435
00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:30,760
Speaker 1: down the floor, and if he can set good screens

436
00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:33,280
Speaker 1: and if he can make some improvements and drop coverage,

437
00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:36,199
Speaker 1: that's functional stuff, especially with the way Golden State has

438
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,359
Speaker 1: been staggering their starters where he might be useful. But again,

439
00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,080
Speaker 1: I know it's a tough night, tough loss, but a

440
00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:44,119
Speaker 1: nice little five minute shift from Wiseman. You can tell

441
00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:45,800
Speaker 1: the G League reps are starting to work for him

442
00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:48,080
Speaker 1: a little bit. But I still needs so those are

443
00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:51,000
Speaker 1: ways to go, but it's a positive step for sure.

444
00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:53,840
Speaker 1: Moses Moody hit two big threes in the fourth quarter.

445
00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:56,360
Speaker 1: Um one of them was a really nice movement three

446
00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:58,160
Speaker 1: where he came off of like a double screen, caught

447
00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:00,800
Speaker 1: the top of the key and had planted his left

448
00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:02,720
Speaker 1: foot and had to square up in mid air, get

449
00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:04,800
Speaker 1: that right foot around, rise up and knock it down.

450
00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:07,440
Speaker 1: I had talked to somebody who is connected with the

451
00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,639
Speaker 1: Warriors and and he told me that Moses Moody all

452
00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:13,879
Speaker 1: summer long, the primary areas of work where movement threes

453
00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:16,199
Speaker 1: and dribble three's, and you can see that we're kind

454
00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:18,440
Speaker 1: of paying off. Both of those shots were massively important.

455
00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:21,680
Speaker 1: And then Jonathan Cominga just an absolute monster on both

456
00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:24,600
Speaker 1: ends last night. Continues to be the most impressive of

457
00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:28,159
Speaker 1: the Warriors young players. You know, I said before the season,

458
00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:30,600
Speaker 1: earlier in the season that they might not have a

459
00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:34,320
Speaker 1: real superstar talent in any of these young players. Jonathan

460
00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:39,160
Speaker 1: Cominga is flashing legit to a superstar upside. He's so

461
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:43,640
Speaker 1: good defensively on ball, and he showed some flashes off ball,

462
00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:47,000
Speaker 1: but he's so good defensively on ball that like that

463
00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:49,159
Speaker 1: that he kind of could enter. You could see him

464
00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:51,480
Speaker 1: in a few years entering into that conversation among the

465
00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:53,960
Speaker 1: best perimeter defenders in the league. If he can get

466
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:55,800
Speaker 1: to the point where he can be a little bit

467
00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:58,560
Speaker 1: smarter offensively, especially in the Warrior system, you could see

468
00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:02,159
Speaker 1: a legit two way superstar upside there with Jonathan comingo.

469
00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:06,560
Speaker 1: But again, depressing, frustrating loss for the Warriors, but a

470
00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:09,240
Speaker 1: lot of optimism um in a game that you didn't

471
00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:11,840
Speaker 1: intend to win. Really when you intended, but you didn't

472
00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:15,320
Speaker 1: expect to win, but you had a chance because you're young.

473
00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:19,720
Speaker 1: Players are starting to show some development um. The Brooklyn

474
00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:21,080
Speaker 1: Nets was the last team that I wanted to talk

475
00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:24,080
Speaker 1: about today. They beat the Hornets sixteen last night. They

476
00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:26,800
Speaker 1: really dominated on both ends. They get it, let it

477
00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:28,359
Speaker 1: get close at the end, just with slopping this, but

478
00:23:28,359 --> 00:23:31,520
Speaker 1: they were never truly threatened. Kyrie Irving thirty three and nine,

479
00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:33,800
Speaker 1: did a lot of work at the rim in this

480
00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:35,960
Speaker 1: game and in mid range, out of is and out

481
00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:38,879
Speaker 1: of post ups. For the season, Kyrie is eighty second

482
00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:42,240
Speaker 1: percentile and picking rolls in seventy six percentile and ISOs

483
00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:45,200
Speaker 1: including passes. He's having a really good creation season and

484
00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:47,560
Speaker 1: he's starting to find his groove as of late. In

485
00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,280
Speaker 1: his last eight games, Kyrie Irving's averaging twenty five points

486
00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:54,000
Speaker 1: per game. In the last eight teen games, the Brooklyn

487
00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:58,160
Speaker 1: Nets are twelve and six. That's the second most wins

488
00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:02,840
Speaker 1: in the entire league during that span. Their ninth in offense,

489
00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:06,400
Speaker 1: fifth and defense, sixth and net rating, and they've gone

490
00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:09,120
Speaker 1: three and one since Ben Simmons went down. There's some

491
00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:11,359
Speaker 1: quality wins in there, like they beat Toronto twice and

492
00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:13,239
Speaker 1: they beat the Clippers with Paul George. But mostly it's

493
00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:15,760
Speaker 1: been a soft schedule. Memphis was playing without their three

494
00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:19,960
Speaker 1: top guys, um Portland was playing without Dame, and then

495
00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:21,879
Speaker 1: they lost to the better teams on their schedule. They

496
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:24,879
Speaker 1: lost to Philly, they lost to Boston, they lost the Dallas.

497
00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:28,320
Speaker 1: They they got killed by Sacramento. They lost to Anthony

498
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:30,199
Speaker 1: Davis in that first game of the Lakers kind of

499
00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:33,200
Speaker 1: rejuvenation when A d started his wrecking ball tour. The

500
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:35,920
Speaker 1: Nets lost that game. Overall, on the season, the Nets

501
00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:38,760
Speaker 1: are eight and ten against five and above teams and

502
00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:42,119
Speaker 1: six and two against losing teams. But that's part of

503
00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:45,040
Speaker 1: the pathway of the NBA regular season. You're gonna, you know,

504
00:24:45,080 --> 00:24:47,080
Speaker 1: struggle a little bit against the better teams when you're

505
00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:49,040
Speaker 1: a mediocre team and then you're gonna you have to

506
00:24:49,119 --> 00:24:52,480
Speaker 1: rack up the wins against the bad teams to to

507
00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:56,240
Speaker 1: gain ground in the standings. And as a result of

508
00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:58,159
Speaker 1: this reason stretch, the Nets are up to fourth in

509
00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:01,359
Speaker 1: the East. So after every that happened, after a Kyrie

510
00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:04,440
Speaker 1: Irving suspension, Ben Simmons kind of being in and out

511
00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:06,760
Speaker 1: of the lineup and and not being what you expected,

512
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:08,960
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff has gone wrong. T J. Warren

513
00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:12,080
Speaker 1: just came back, you know, Seth Curry missed time at

514
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:13,440
Speaker 1: the start of the year. A lot of stuff went

515
00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:15,399
Speaker 1: wrong for the Nets, and they're sitting at fourth in

516
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:19,240
Speaker 1: the East, so it could be a lot worse. Um,

517
00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:21,679
Speaker 1: the schedule stays easy for the next week or so,

518
00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:25,280
Speaker 1: but then they play the Warriors, Bucks and Calves back

519
00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:27,720
Speaker 1: to back to back. So that's that's like kind of

520
00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:29,520
Speaker 1: like we were talking about earlier with the Kings or

521
00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:32,639
Speaker 1: with the Lakers. This is their chance to prove and

522
00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:34,880
Speaker 1: add some legitimacy to their success. They need to get

523
00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:38,040
Speaker 1: a couple of signature wins to give the team confidence

524
00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:39,639
Speaker 1: to know that they can hang with the better teams

525
00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:42,119
Speaker 1: in the league. And the last but at least I

526
00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:46,040
Speaker 1: wanted to throw a shout out to k d Um.

527
00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:48,119
Speaker 1: You know, as I was talking about with the Lakers

528
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:50,439
Speaker 1: to start the year, as I was talking about the

529
00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:53,520
Speaker 1: Warriors for most of the year, when you have roster

530
00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:56,119
Speaker 1: limitations for the Warriors, it's the bench for the Lakers,

531
00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:58,320
Speaker 1: it's the entire damn roster. For the Nets, it's a

532
00:25:58,320 --> 00:25:59,840
Speaker 1: little bit of the entire it's a little bit of

533
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:04,720
Speaker 1: both of um. But the when you have those kinds

534
00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:08,480
Speaker 1: of problems, so many things can be cured by a

535
00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:12,560
Speaker 1: superstar playing like a superstar. The reason why is, like

536
00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:15,520
Speaker 1: I always say, there's a list of responsibilities on both

537
00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:19,320
Speaker 1: ends of the floor, shot creation, shot finishing, screening, you know,

538
00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:22,600
Speaker 1: whatever it might be. On the defensive end, on like

539
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:26,760
Speaker 1: perimeter defense, back line defense, communication, all those different things.

540
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,040
Speaker 1: You know, guys who can guard wings and and and

541
00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:31,800
Speaker 1: when they try to pressure their way to the rim

542
00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:35,240
Speaker 1: and things along those lines. There's all these responsibilities. And

543
00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:39,199
Speaker 1: when you have a player that fills a ton of responsibilities, like,

544
00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:43,200
Speaker 1: for instance, look at Anthony Davis, what he's doing anchoring

545
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:45,320
Speaker 1: the back line of the Lakers defense. What he's doing

546
00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:50,520
Speaker 1: as an isolation score, cleaning up things in garbage, garbage

547
00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:53,160
Speaker 1: baskets around the rim with offensive rebounds. What he's doing

548
00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:57,080
Speaker 1: screening and rolling to the basket, He's checking so many

549
00:26:57,119 --> 00:27:00,399
Speaker 1: of those boxes that suddenly these other lake Kers are

550
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:04,199
Speaker 1: able to easily achieve these smaller responsibilities around them. And

551
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:06,600
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant is doing the same thing for the Brooklyn Nets.

552
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:10,719
Speaker 1: By being the all world is so guy that he is,

553
00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:12,720
Speaker 1: By being as good as he has been in pick

554
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:14,560
Speaker 1: and roll, by being as good as a passer as

555
00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:18,600
Speaker 1: he's been, He's generating a ton of high quality spot

556
00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:23,320
Speaker 1: up opportunities and role opportunities. And those opportunities are so

557
00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:27,440
Speaker 1: high quality and so frequent that the team, even though

558
00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:31,800
Speaker 1: they have some inferior role players, are succeeding in those roles.

559
00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:35,960
Speaker 1: This is Kevin Durant's best defensive season since two thousand seventeen.

560
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:38,720
Speaker 1: So now when you've got enough length in athleticism with

561
00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:41,359
Speaker 1: him and Nick Claxton and all these guys competing on

562
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:45,680
Speaker 1: the defensive end of the floor, Kevin Durant's taking so

563
00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:48,600
Speaker 1: many of those defensive responsibilities that suddenly gets a lot

564
00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:52,280
Speaker 1: easier for your lesser guards. When you can ask Kyrie

565
00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:55,000
Speaker 1: Irving and and and Patty Mills and Seth Curry to

566
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:58,159
Speaker 1: pressure the ball more because they have enough length on

567
00:27:58,200 --> 00:27:59,800
Speaker 1: the back end to kind of clean some of those

568
00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:04,639
Speaker 1: men his up. That simplifies their responsibilities. That's why a

569
00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:09,640
Speaker 1: superstar playing like a superstar can clean up so many messes.

570
00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:11,959
Speaker 1: And that's why more often than not, we do too

571
00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:15,439
Speaker 1: much deflecting two role players when superstars aren't holding up

572
00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:17,920
Speaker 1: their end of the bargain. But shout out to Katie

573
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,399
Speaker 1: because this year he's doing that, and he's patching a

574
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,359
Speaker 1: lot of holes on a flawed roster. Now they're starting

575
00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:26,760
Speaker 1: to get their guys back. T J. Warrens back in

576
00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:29,240
Speaker 1: the lineup. That dude, when he gets into groove, he's

577
00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:32,880
Speaker 1: a bucket. You know, Ben Simmons is not healthy right now,

578
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:34,880
Speaker 1: but if he gets healthy over the course of the season,

579
00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,800
Speaker 1: you bank on by the time April comes around everything

580
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:42,840
Speaker 1: clicking into place. But you need to be successful enough

581
00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:46,400
Speaker 1: in the standings until then to give yourself a real

582
00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:50,000
Speaker 1: chance with a legitimate playoff path. And Katie's doing his

583
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,760
Speaker 1: job there right now. It's just like with Anthony Davis

584
00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:55,360
Speaker 1: and the Lakers. He's floating them in the standings long

585
00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:58,120
Speaker 1: enough for Rob blinkin Genie Bus to pull their heads

586
00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 1: out of their butt. Go make a trade so that

587
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:03,240
Speaker 1: they have the pieces. I kept telling you guys, Lebron

588
00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:06,840
Speaker 1: needs to get it together. Anthony Davis held the ship

589
00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:09,160
Speaker 1: together long enough for Lebron to get it together. And

590
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:11,320
Speaker 1: now Lebron looks good. So you can kind of see

591
00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:13,160
Speaker 1: how that pathway goes along. So shout outs k D.

592
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:16,320
Speaker 1: If the nets continue to move up the standings and

593
00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:17,760
Speaker 1: he keeps playing like this, he's gonna end up being

594
00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:21,880
Speaker 1: an MVP candidate before too long. Looking to get more

595
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,360
Speaker 1: out of this NBA season, well, now is the perfect

596
00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:27,760
Speaker 1: time to download FanDuel America's number one sports book because

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602
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603
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Speaker 1: right now, he's honest to win m v P at

604
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605
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:52,720
Speaker 1: a bunch of starters and guys out of the lineup.

606
00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:54,959
Speaker 1: Now they're getting healthy. I think they're gonna rip off

607
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 1: an a bunch of wins, and he's the best player

608
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Speaker 1: in the world and he hasn't one a m v

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619
00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:31,600
Speaker 1: of the NBA is the Dallas Mavericks going on the

620
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:35,320
Speaker 1: road and beating Denver on a huge shot by Dorian

621
00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:39,120
Speaker 1: Finney Smith. Late, the Los Angeles Lakers lose to the Calves.

622
00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:41,400
Speaker 1: Kind of a disappointing game because Anthony Davis goes out

623
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:43,920
Speaker 1: with flu like symptoms early on, and then all of

624
00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:45,560
Speaker 1: a sudden, you're trying to beat a really good team

625
00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:47,520
Speaker 1: on the road without your best player. And then the

626
00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:50,360
Speaker 1: Miami Heat without Jimmy Butler got their butt kicked by

627
00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:53,520
Speaker 1: a terrible Detroit Pistons game will touch on that as well.

628
00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:55,480
Speaker 1: You guys know the Joe before we get started. Subscribe

629
00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:57,160
Speaker 1: to the Volumes YouTube channel so we don't miss any

630
00:30:57,160 --> 00:30:59,800
Speaker 1: more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at Underscore

631
00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:02,480
Speaker 1: j sent Lt so you guys don't miss any show announcements.

632
00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:04,840
Speaker 1: That's also where I live. Tweet through some games and

633
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,880
Speaker 1: put some video footage breakdowns as well. And then, last

634
00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:09,800
Speaker 1: but not least, for whatever reason, you guys miss one

635
00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:11,480
Speaker 1: of these videos and you can't get back over to

636
00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:14,040
Speaker 1: YouTube to finish. Remember you can find them wherever you

637
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:20,600
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Under Hoops tonight. Well, so back and

638
00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:22,920
Speaker 1: forth shot making at the end of this game came

639
00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:26,360
Speaker 1: down to a couple of double teams. Luca uh Nickel

640
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:30,480
Speaker 1: yokits posting up on the left block. Dallas sends a double,

641
00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:34,040
Speaker 1: generates a wide open three for Bruce Brown. He knocks

642
00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:36,960
Speaker 1: it down. They go the other way. Luca don Chech

643
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:39,920
Speaker 1: runs a pick and pop with Dorian Finney Smith. Nice

644
00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:44,360
Speaker 1: little behind the back feed. Uh an interesting decision that

645
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:48,640
Speaker 1: Denver decided instead of running to Dorian Phinney Smith, they

646
00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:51,000
Speaker 1: ran to Spencer Dinwoodie on the right wing. I think

647
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:53,960
Speaker 1: I would have rather had Spencer take that shot, especially

648
00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:56,440
Speaker 1: with how well Dorian Finney Smith was shooting. He knocks

649
00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:59,280
Speaker 1: it down, Yoki goes down, draws a foult, he misses

650
00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:01,880
Speaker 1: a free throw. Then pretty much the game is over.

651
00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:04,520
Speaker 1: This game was really came down at three point shot result.

652
00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:06,320
Speaker 1: Denver was better in a bunch of different phases of

653
00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:07,800
Speaker 1: the game. They were better on the glass, they were

654
00:32:07,840 --> 00:32:10,479
Speaker 1: better in the paint, they shot better from the field,

655
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:14,560
Speaker 1: they had more assists. But the Mavericks were seventeen for

656
00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:18,040
Speaker 1: twenty excuse me, seventeen for thirty six from three, and

657
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:20,200
Speaker 1: that was enough to get the job done. Uh. The

658
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:22,200
Speaker 1: big guy that got going, you know here in this

659
00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:24,200
Speaker 1: last week and a half for Dallas, which has really

660
00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:26,960
Speaker 1: changed out look at their entire season. As Tim Hardaway Jr.

661
00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:29,800
Speaker 1: If you remember we talked about this, uh the night

662
00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:33,240
Speaker 1: they beat the Warriors. Uh. Tim got off to a

663
00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:36,840
Speaker 1: horrific shooting start this season, not entirely uncommon. He was

664
00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:39,680
Speaker 1: dealing with foot issues last year. I actually broke my

665
00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:41,920
Speaker 1: foot myself between two seasons when I was playing in

666
00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:46,440
Speaker 1: college and had a nightmare shooting. Uh, first half of

667
00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:49,040
Speaker 1: the season before I really got my confidence back. It's

668
00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:52,200
Speaker 1: just your base is so important as a shooter. That's

669
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:54,760
Speaker 1: where you get your lift. That's how you convert different

670
00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:58,760
Speaker 1: footwork into high quality shots, whether that's you know, movement

671
00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:00,760
Speaker 1: shooting or off the dribble, shoe eating or anything along

672
00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:03,960
Speaker 1: those lines. And you just everything is just a little

673
00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:06,360
Speaker 1: bit funky when you're coming back from foot injuries. And

674
00:33:06,360 --> 00:33:08,600
Speaker 1: then also when you get away from NBA basketball for

675
00:33:08,640 --> 00:33:11,360
Speaker 1: a while, there's a rhythm and a speed um that

676
00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:13,720
Speaker 1: you're you have to grow accustomed to to get back

677
00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:16,560
Speaker 1: to where you feel comfortable on the basketball court as

678
00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:19,280
Speaker 1: a shooter. And you got going early in that Golden

679
00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:22,240
Speaker 1: State Warriors game. And in the five games since then,

680
00:33:22,480 --> 00:33:25,080
Speaker 1: Tim Hardaway Jr. Is averaging twenty four points per game,

681
00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:29,080
Speaker 1: shooting fifty five percent from three on eleven attempts. He's

682
00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:31,719
Speaker 1: been a net positive in every single game in plus minus,

683
00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:33,960
Speaker 1: and the MAVs are four and one in those games.

684
00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:36,760
Speaker 1: And if you remember, I think one of the big

685
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:40,320
Speaker 1: reasons why Dallas let Jalen Brunson go is they were

686
00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:43,520
Speaker 1: under the opinion that Tim Hardaway Jr. Could kind of

687
00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:46,560
Speaker 1: slot into that third creator role because he does have

688
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:49,320
Speaker 1: a little bit of that higher level off the dribble

689
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:51,920
Speaker 1: creation and he's starting to flash that a lot. In

690
00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:55,360
Speaker 1: this last five games, he's shooting fift on four pull

691
00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:58,800
Speaker 1: up jump shots per game, including eight for eleven on

692
00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:01,800
Speaker 1: pull up threes overall in the season. Although it's in

693
00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:04,920
Speaker 1: really low volume, he's averaging one point one four points

694
00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:08,160
Speaker 1: per isolation possession, which is in the eight percentile. So

695
00:34:08,200 --> 00:34:10,279
Speaker 1: they might need to get a little bit more on

696
00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:12,799
Speaker 1: ball reps for for Tim Hardaway Jr. Now that he's

697
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:15,880
Speaker 1: got his rhythm and see if maybe that helps them.

698
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:19,200
Speaker 1: But him getting going offensively completely changes this basketball team.

699
00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:22,600
Speaker 1: Remember the Mavericks were really struggling mainly on the offensive

700
00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:24,520
Speaker 1: end of the floor. Their defense has been pretty good

701
00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:27,200
Speaker 1: even through their struggles when they went below five hundred briefly.

702
00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:31,839
Speaker 1: There another huge driving force behind Luca's recent success. Although

703
00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:34,680
Speaker 1: he had a nightmare shooting night last night against Denver,

704
00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:38,080
Speaker 1: but lucas starting to shoot the ball better off the dribble.

705
00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:40,719
Speaker 1: You know, he started the year like he does most seasons,

706
00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:43,600
Speaker 1: really poorly with this step back jump shot. That step

707
00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:47,520
Speaker 1: back three is such an athletic move. It doesn't seem

708
00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:50,080
Speaker 1: like it because it seems like settling, but kind of

709
00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:52,160
Speaker 1: like we were talking about earlier with Tim Hardaway Jr.

710
00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:54,279
Speaker 1: You need to get a ton of lift on a

711
00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:57,879
Speaker 1: shot like that, especially when you're stepping back, and so

712
00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:00,520
Speaker 1: it can be a thing that requires can isstioning and

713
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:05,000
Speaker 1: rhythm to really get going. He's taken seven pull up

714
00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:07,400
Speaker 1: threes during this five game stretch and he's made twenty

715
00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:11,239
Speaker 1: three of them, which is so him getting going there

716
00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:13,279
Speaker 1: is obviously helping them a lot as well on the

717
00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:17,000
Speaker 1: offensive end of the four that's bumped up his ISO numbers,

718
00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:19,359
Speaker 1: So he's up to two four points on two hundred

719
00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:21,279
Speaker 1: and fifty six ISOs this year, which is in the

720
00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:24,080
Speaker 1: seventy nine percentile. And he's doing a really nice job

721
00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:25,600
Speaker 1: and pick and roll and pick and pop. So many

722
00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:28,080
Speaker 1: teams are starting to double or hard hedge on all

723
00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:31,839
Speaker 1: these Luca picking rolls. Um, it's just their teams are

724
00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:33,880
Speaker 1: coming to terms with the fact that Dallas doesn't have

725
00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:36,920
Speaker 1: a ton of dribble creation outside of Luca and that

726
00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:39,160
Speaker 1: their best bet to chance, the best bet to win,

727
00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:42,239
Speaker 1: is to double him. That really wasn't the case last year,

728
00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:45,480
Speaker 1: you know, last year with how much dribble creation they

729
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:48,200
Speaker 1: were getting from Jalen Brunson and Spencer Dinwoodie. A lot

730
00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:50,239
Speaker 1: of times it made sense to stay home and turn

731
00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:53,040
Speaker 1: Luca into a score, but teams are more willing to

732
00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:55,400
Speaker 1: send extra attention to Luca and force him to be

733
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:57,879
Speaker 1: a passer, and he's been doing a really nice job there.

734
00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:00,840
Speaker 1: Um he's up to five d ex three points on

735
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:03,520
Speaker 1: five pick and rolls this year. That's one point one

736
00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:06,880
Speaker 1: two points per possession, which is the percentile, which is

737
00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:10,440
Speaker 1: not only amazing from efficiency, but that's just absurd volume.

738
00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:13,080
Speaker 1: That's basically where they're getting the vast majority of their offense.

739
00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:17,640
Speaker 1: Denver tried to really interesting coverage last night that actually

740
00:36:17,719 --> 00:36:19,480
Speaker 1: worked pretty well on Luca that I'd like to see

741
00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:22,160
Speaker 1: some other teams try. It's kind of like a bracket

742
00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:25,279
Speaker 1: ISO coverage. So most teams don't want you to get

743
00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:29,319
Speaker 1: middle penetration because of the fact that when you get

744
00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:31,719
Speaker 1: middle penetration it's a lot harder for the defense to

745
00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:35,799
Speaker 1: rotate out of it and uh the corner that you know,

746
00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:37,719
Speaker 1: you you try to funnel team towards the corner. But

747
00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:39,799
Speaker 1: one of the bad things there is those corner jump

748
00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:42,560
Speaker 1: shots are a little bit easier because they're shorter distance right,

749
00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:45,680
Speaker 1: and most NBA role players just rep out and rep

750
00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:48,000
Speaker 1: out tons and tons of corner threes because that's the

751
00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:50,759
Speaker 1: easiest shot that you can get from three point uh

752
00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:52,960
Speaker 1: from three point range in the game. So what I

753
00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:55,279
Speaker 1: thought was really interesting was denver when when Luca would

754
00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:57,160
Speaker 1: get these ISOs on the wing, whether it was light

755
00:36:57,320 --> 00:37:00,160
Speaker 1: right wing or left wing, they were actually shading him

756
00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:03,880
Speaker 1: heavily towards the middle. And then whoever it was that

757
00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:05,319
Speaker 1: was at the top of the key if they were

758
00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:07,239
Speaker 1: in a five out or on the opposite wing, if

759
00:37:07,239 --> 00:37:09,600
Speaker 1: they were in a four out, that defender would dig

760
00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:13,240
Speaker 1: down almost like like one dribble away from where Luca

761
00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:16,160
Speaker 1: would get downhill. And the problem is is all a

762
00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:18,600
Speaker 1: lot of these Naverick shooters have a little bit of

763
00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:21,000
Speaker 1: a slow release and they need to be comfortable and

764
00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:23,960
Speaker 1: have lots of time to gather. And so they were

765
00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:27,000
Speaker 1: having some success like forcing Luca to drive right into

766
00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:29,680
Speaker 1: that extra defender kick out and then he could easily

767
00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:31,719
Speaker 1: close out and dissuade the three. It was kind of

768
00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:34,000
Speaker 1: like a you could see them hard bracketing because that

769
00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:37,640
Speaker 1: on ball defenders hard on his uh, you know, sideline

770
00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:40,759
Speaker 1: shoulder and then that help defenders just sitting right there

771
00:37:40,840 --> 00:37:42,520
Speaker 1: in that driving lane. I'd like to see some more

772
00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:45,399
Speaker 1: teams try that specifically to try to slow them down.

773
00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:49,480
Speaker 1: Denver's defense continues to be a huge problem. They are

774
00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:52,439
Speaker 1: twenty six in the league now after last night, that's

775
00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:55,600
Speaker 1: bottom five defense in the league. As a result, they're

776
00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:58,120
Speaker 1: really struggling with the good teams in the league. They're

777
00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:00,479
Speaker 1: five and seven against teams that are five in better.

778
00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:03,120
Speaker 1: Um kind of reminds me of Sacramento. We were talking

779
00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:05,279
Speaker 1: about this earlier. They score ship ton of points, they

780
00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:07,319
Speaker 1: beat up on the bad teams in the league, but

781
00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:10,200
Speaker 1: Sacramento is six and eight versus teams that are five

782
00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:13,440
Speaker 1: are better. You know that defensive pieces so vital to

783
00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:16,240
Speaker 1: any good team being able to beat other good teams.

784
00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:18,799
Speaker 1: This is why there's that stat that goes around every

785
00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:20,480
Speaker 1: year where if you're not a top ten defense, you

786
00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:22,799
Speaker 1: really don't have a chance to win a title. Historically

787
00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:26,760
Speaker 1: in the NBA, why defense travels. You know, role players

788
00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:29,400
Speaker 1: feel comfortable at home, so it's hard to win on

789
00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:32,759
Speaker 1: the road, But the one thing that certainly travels on

790
00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:35,879
Speaker 1: the road is your defense. Because it's just about athleticism

791
00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:38,680
Speaker 1: and playing hard and much less about you know, things

792
00:38:38,719 --> 00:38:42,000
Speaker 1: going your way, so to speak. Defense keeps games close

793
00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:44,880
Speaker 1: so as you struggle, like look at you know, the

794
00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:48,560
Speaker 1: Lakers countless time this season have been close in games

795
00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:51,600
Speaker 1: just because they defend well for certain stretches, especially when

796
00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:54,719
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis is available. So it travels, it keeps games close,

797
00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:58,000
Speaker 1: and it closes games. When you get into crunch time situations,

798
00:38:58,000 --> 00:38:59,520
Speaker 1: you need to be able to get stops, and once

799
00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:02,399
Speaker 1: again over last night could not get stopped. So what's

800
00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:04,800
Speaker 1: confusing about it is they added Contavious called Hope and

801
00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:07,440
Speaker 1: Bruce Brown specifically to help with that, and it just

802
00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:10,920
Speaker 1: hasn't been enough. Alright, moving on to the Lakers and

803
00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:13,359
Speaker 1: the Calves. So Adie leaves like what a few minutes

804
00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:16,000
Speaker 1: into his first shift with flu like symptoms. It's really

805
00:39:16,080 --> 00:39:19,200
Speaker 1: unfortunate because like in a normal season, guy goes out

806
00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:20,960
Speaker 1: with the flu, you don't think twice about it. But

807
00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:23,160
Speaker 1: this is a Laker team that that dug themselves in

808
00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:25,799
Speaker 1: a two and ten hole. You know, when you dig

809
00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:28,200
Speaker 1: yourself in that big of a hole, these losses are

810
00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:30,320
Speaker 1: that much more painful, you know. If it's it's like

811
00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:32,319
Speaker 1: we were talking about with the Clippers, yesterday. They've had

812
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:35,040
Speaker 1: all this bad health luck, but they're sitting there at

813
00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:37,279
Speaker 1: fourteen and eleven or whatever it is that they are.

814
00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:40,520
Speaker 1: You know, it's like you can weather that storm when

815
00:39:40,560 --> 00:39:44,080
Speaker 1: you've won enough games to remain, you know, in a

816
00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:47,160
Speaker 1: in a decent position within the standings. The Lakers dug

817
00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:49,840
Speaker 1: themselves in a hole. And so now when Anthony Davis

818
00:39:49,920 --> 00:39:53,000
Speaker 1: leaves a winnable game on the road against Cleveland with

819
00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:55,239
Speaker 1: Lebron and Russ playing as well as they are and

820
00:39:55,239 --> 00:39:58,319
Speaker 1: with you know, um getting enough defensively to win these

821
00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:01,000
Speaker 1: types of games, that's the law us that hurts you

822
00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:03,600
Speaker 1: more because of where you're at in the standings. You know,

823
00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:05,520
Speaker 1: you could be eleven and twelve today or you could

824
00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:07,480
Speaker 1: be ten and thirteen and you lost a player to

825
00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:11,760
Speaker 1: flew like symptoms. Hurts you in the standings. Jared Allen

826
00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:14,239
Speaker 1: was an absolute monster in this game. He towards the

827
00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:17,560
Speaker 1: Lakers in uh in the short role. You know, there

828
00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:19,680
Speaker 1: was this dynamic that was taking place. And we're gonna

829
00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:21,279
Speaker 1: talk about the Lakers starters here in a minute, but

830
00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:26,040
Speaker 1: when they start Dennis and Pat, you expect them to

831
00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:29,440
Speaker 1: be excellent defensively, and you specifically expect them to be

832
00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:32,839
Speaker 1: great chasing guards over the top of screens in pick

833
00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:35,200
Speaker 1: and roll. But what was happening in this game was

834
00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:39,160
Speaker 1: they were getting caught on those screens. And because Cleveland

835
00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:42,319
Speaker 1: was running two bigs, whichever big Lebron ended up on,

836
00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:44,759
Speaker 1: whether it was mostly Jared Allen but sometimes it was

837
00:40:44,800 --> 00:40:48,239
Speaker 1: Evan Mobile, whichever big Lebron ended up on, they would

838
00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:50,440
Speaker 1: just call him up into the screen. Because obviously Lebron

839
00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:52,279
Speaker 1: is a good defensive player, but he's not in the

840
00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:55,279
Speaker 1: same stratosphere as Anthony Davis as a drop coverage big.

841
00:40:55,360 --> 00:40:58,320
Speaker 1: So what would happen is those guards Pat Pat Beverley

842
00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:00,320
Speaker 1: and Dennis Shoulder would get caught on those screen. Means

843
00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:03,560
Speaker 1: the guard would get downhill, Lebron would have to step

844
00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:06,480
Speaker 1: up to contain the basketball. Then it's a drop off

845
00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:08,560
Speaker 1: pass to Jared Allen for a dunk or a floater

846
00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:11,280
Speaker 1: or short jump shot every single time down the floor.

847
00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:14,400
Speaker 1: And that's the advantage of having Anthony Davis. And this

848
00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:17,480
Speaker 1: is why, like after last night, you've got a you know,

849
00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:19,680
Speaker 1: at least see a little bit more my case for

850
00:41:19,719 --> 00:41:21,800
Speaker 1: why Anthony Davis has been the defensive player of the

851
00:41:21,880 --> 00:41:24,520
Speaker 1: year to this point. But Anthony Davis has such freak

852
00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:27,160
Speaker 1: physical tools he can kind of even both places at once,

853
00:41:27,160 --> 00:41:29,600
Speaker 1: which solves a lot of those problems. Lebron is not

854
00:41:29,719 --> 00:41:31,920
Speaker 1: that guy. He's a little bit, you know, he's a

855
00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:33,960
Speaker 1: little bit more of a one place type of defender.

856
00:41:34,080 --> 00:41:36,799
Speaker 1: Right he steps over to help Jared Allen's getting all

857
00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:40,799
Speaker 1: these layups. If you're gonna start Dennis Schroeder and Patrick Beverley,

858
00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:44,719
Speaker 1: especially with their offensive limitations as shooters, you need them

859
00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:47,640
Speaker 1: to be excellent defensively, and they just weren't last night.

860
00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:51,160
Speaker 1: But Jared Allen, you know, I have these moments, and

861
00:41:51,200 --> 00:41:53,480
Speaker 1: I've talked about this before on the show, because of

862
00:41:53,520 --> 00:41:55,400
Speaker 1: what he does offensively, I have these moments where I

863
00:41:55,400 --> 00:41:57,680
Speaker 1: think he's a better player than Rudy Gobert. And then

864
00:41:57,680 --> 00:42:00,120
Speaker 1: I sent out a tweet. I was like, hey, who

865
00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:02,120
Speaker 1: would you guys rather have on your basketball team? Rudy

866
00:42:02,160 --> 00:42:04,319
Speaker 1: Gobert and Jared Allen, And last I checked, it was

867
00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:06,960
Speaker 1: like ninety to ten in favor of Jared Allen, which

868
00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:08,879
Speaker 1: might be a little too ridiculous. And I know there's

869
00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:11,719
Speaker 1: a lot of anti Gobert sentiment out there, but there's

870
00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:14,839
Speaker 1: some real legitimacy to that case because of how much

871
00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:18,400
Speaker 1: better he is than Rudy Offensively, He's super crafty around

872
00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:20,960
Speaker 1: the rim. He's got great touch with his floater, but

873
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:22,799
Speaker 1: also with that little short jump shot you saw him

874
00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:27,080
Speaker 1: breaking out yesterday. Um, he can score against switches in

875
00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:29,359
Speaker 1: post ups. And he's actually he's he's got a really

876
00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:31,839
Speaker 1: good instinct for relocation in the dunker spot. We went

877
00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:34,520
Speaker 1: over this. I can't remember which day it was, but

878
00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:35,719
Speaker 1: it was in the last couple of weeks. We went

879
00:42:35,760 --> 00:42:37,960
Speaker 1: over the different like dunker spot responsibilities. So like, if

880
00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:40,440
Speaker 1: you're in the dunker spot opposite of the basketball, in

881
00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:43,840
Speaker 1: the ball crosses the midline, you have to relocate towards

882
00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:46,600
Speaker 1: the other block, right, because you always want to make

883
00:42:46,640 --> 00:42:49,160
Speaker 1: that big man step up and leave you. Whereas if

884
00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:50,839
Speaker 1: you're on the same side as the ball, he can

885
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:53,680
Speaker 1: be in two places at once. Right. But what Jared

886
00:42:53,680 --> 00:42:56,080
Speaker 1: Allen was doing really nice last night too, is that

887
00:42:56,200 --> 00:42:58,600
Speaker 1: other piece of dunker spot relocation that I talked about

888
00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:01,000
Speaker 1: that day, which is when you drop i've baseline, you

889
00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:03,920
Speaker 1: need to relocate up to the top, almost like at

890
00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:07,560
Speaker 1: the charge circle, where you can um give yourself a

891
00:43:07,600 --> 00:43:10,200
Speaker 1: release valve like a bounce pass in the lane for

892
00:43:10,239 --> 00:43:12,840
Speaker 1: a short, little floater, and he just has he always

893
00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:16,800
Speaker 1: knows where to position himself to get those easy opportunities.

894
00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:19,680
Speaker 1: Jared Allen has scored seventy two points on fifty five

895
00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:22,480
Speaker 1: roll man possessions this season, which is in the SIXTI

896
00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:25,200
Speaker 1: I thought he dominated this basketball game every bit as

897
00:43:25,239 --> 00:43:28,200
Speaker 1: much as Donovan Mitchell did. Grabbed a bunch of offensive rebounds.

898
00:43:28,239 --> 00:43:30,359
Speaker 1: The Laker guards were spooked every time they got into

899
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:32,520
Speaker 1: the lane, and then, like I said, he scored almost

900
00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:35,120
Speaker 1: every time he caught it in the role um. Austin

901
00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:37,640
Speaker 1: Reeves got the Donovan Mitchell assignment last night, and Mitchell

902
00:43:37,719 --> 00:43:40,400
Speaker 1: just completely had his way with him. You know, Austin

903
00:43:40,480 --> 00:43:43,439
Speaker 1: is a positional defender. He's not aggressive on the ball.

904
00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:46,799
Speaker 1: He gives ground and forces you to shoot over the

905
00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:49,560
Speaker 1: top of him. That's what makes him a generally a

906
00:43:49,560 --> 00:43:53,120
Speaker 1: positive defender depending on the matchup. But Donovan Mitchell is

907
00:43:53,200 --> 00:43:56,759
Speaker 1: so damn quick that that positional defense doesn't work because

908
00:43:56,760 --> 00:43:59,040
Speaker 1: he can just get around his shoulder and then he

909
00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:02,480
Speaker 1: can't um give too much ground because Donovan is such

910
00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:04,719
Speaker 1: a good pull up jump shooter. But you know that

911
00:44:04,719 --> 00:44:07,640
Speaker 1: that dynamic just becomes really difficult without Anthony Davis. You

912
00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:11,759
Speaker 1: know that responsibility changes if Anthony Davis is out there.

913
00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:14,080
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis is out there, you don't even have to

914
00:44:14,120 --> 00:44:16,560
Speaker 1: worry about the rim necessarily. You just have to take

915
00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:18,719
Speaker 1: away those pull up jump shots and the pull up

916
00:44:19,040 --> 00:44:22,560
Speaker 1: mid range shots. Right That simplifies Austin's role. It may

917
00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:25,160
Speaker 1: be an achievable task for him at that point, but

918
00:44:25,239 --> 00:44:28,120
Speaker 1: you take Anthony Davis out of the equation, all of

919
00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:30,759
Speaker 1: a sudden, it's not an achievable task. That's not something

920
00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:34,959
Speaker 1: Austin's physically capable of doing. No disrespect to Austin, that's

921
00:44:35,120 --> 00:44:37,480
Speaker 1: something the vast majority of defensive players in the NBA

922
00:44:37,520 --> 00:44:40,440
Speaker 1: would be incapable of doing. And Donovan Mitchell's just playing

923
00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:42,520
Speaker 1: at a ridiculous level right now. I've had a lot

924
00:44:42,520 --> 00:44:45,680
Speaker 1: of people compare Austin Reeves to to Alex Caruso over

925
00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:49,360
Speaker 1: the years, and I think they're pretty equal overall his players.

926
00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:52,600
Speaker 1: I think Austin's is significantly better offensive player, but Alex

927
00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:55,600
Speaker 1: Cruzo is a significantly better defensive player, and he might

928
00:44:55,640 --> 00:44:58,000
Speaker 1: have had a better chance in a matchup like that.

929
00:44:59,200 --> 00:45:01,920
Speaker 1: But overall, um, you know, I thought that the Lakers

930
00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:04,240
Speaker 1: hung pretty tough. I thought it was an impressive effort,

931
00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:06,719
Speaker 1: you know, if you really factor in a d being

932
00:45:06,719 --> 00:45:10,719
Speaker 1: out and then they shot like absolute shit. Um, you know,

933
00:45:10,800 --> 00:45:12,160
Speaker 1: and we're gonna get to that shooting thing here in

934
00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:13,520
Speaker 1: a little bit. One last guy on the calves I

935
00:45:13,560 --> 00:45:15,440
Speaker 1: wanted to shout out was Carris Laverte. He only had

936
00:45:15,440 --> 00:45:19,879
Speaker 1: seven points, but he generated a ton of quality shots. Um.

937
00:45:19,920 --> 00:45:23,280
Speaker 1: Looking at the Lakers, poor shooting has been a story

938
00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:26,080
Speaker 1: all year this year, but it's it's starting to become

939
00:45:26,080 --> 00:45:29,160
Speaker 1: a problem, specifically with the starters. So the Lakers starting

940
00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:31,560
Speaker 1: lineup what you saw last night, Patrick Beverley, Dennis Shruder

941
00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:34,600
Speaker 1: with Lonnie Walker, Lebron James, and Anthony Davis. They have

942
00:45:34,640 --> 00:45:38,200
Speaker 1: a minus ten net rating, albeit in a somewhat small

943
00:45:38,239 --> 00:45:41,520
Speaker 1: sample size this year because Dennis Shrewder only recently came back.

944
00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:44,040
Speaker 1: But a big part of it is just stagnation and

945
00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:46,880
Speaker 1: a lack of shooting. You know, starting Patrick Beverley and

946
00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:49,479
Speaker 1: Dennis Shrewder makes some sense in theory. I talked about

947
00:45:49,520 --> 00:45:51,040
Speaker 1: it a lot this summer as a lineup that I

948
00:45:51,040 --> 00:45:53,759
Speaker 1: actually thought made some sense. But at the time I

949
00:45:53,800 --> 00:45:56,040
Speaker 1: thought Patrick Beverley would be able to knock down some

950
00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:59,320
Speaker 1: threes and he's Patrick Beverley is having such a horrific

951
00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:02,840
Speaker 1: shooting season that that whole lineup is just falling apart.

952
00:46:02,880 --> 00:46:06,360
Speaker 1: From a functionality standpoint, Lebron and a d Are trying

953
00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:08,560
Speaker 1: to make things happen, but the teams are packing the

954
00:46:08,600 --> 00:46:11,000
Speaker 1: paint and the best shot they can get is these

955
00:46:11,080 --> 00:46:14,680
Speaker 1: kickouts to Dennis Shrewder and uh and Patrick Beverley, and

956
00:46:14,719 --> 00:46:16,920
Speaker 1: they're just not making them. I think that starting lineup

957
00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:20,080
Speaker 1: with like one for five on threes with those two

958
00:46:20,320 --> 00:46:22,719
Speaker 1: in that opening shift last night, and next thing you know,

959
00:46:22,800 --> 00:46:25,480
Speaker 1: you've spotted the other team another big lead. And one

960
00:46:25,480 --> 00:46:27,200
Speaker 1: of the things that's nice is when they go to

961
00:46:27,320 --> 00:46:30,040
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook, they take you know, some of the non

962
00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:32,879
Speaker 1: shooting out and Russ kind of gets that pace going

963
00:46:32,880 --> 00:46:35,600
Speaker 1: and starts getting downhill. I'd I'd rather have them go

964
00:46:35,760 --> 00:46:39,040
Speaker 1: with guys like Austin Reeves and Troy Brown Jr. In

965
00:46:39,040 --> 00:46:41,960
Speaker 1: the starting lineup at this point with the way they're playing,

966
00:46:42,040 --> 00:46:45,879
Speaker 1: or maybe just Dennis Schroeder. That way, it's a little

967
00:46:45,880 --> 00:46:47,480
Speaker 1: bit more of a functional group. And then you just

968
00:46:47,520 --> 00:46:50,000
Speaker 1: basically put the onus on Lebron, James and Anthony Davis

969
00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:52,279
Speaker 1: to be aggressive. The way that Russ is being with

970
00:46:52,360 --> 00:46:57,719
Speaker 1: that second unit. Um, you know, Patrick Beverley has been

971
00:46:57,760 --> 00:47:01,080
Speaker 1: so incredibly bad this year and and Darvin Ham is

972
00:47:01,080 --> 00:47:03,840
Speaker 1: clearly very loyal to him that a trade may be

973
00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:06,360
Speaker 1: the only way to save Darvin Ham from himself a

974
00:47:06,440 --> 00:47:09,600
Speaker 1: little bit there, because we've seen such a large sample

975
00:47:09,640 --> 00:47:11,520
Speaker 1: size over a quarter of the season now that he's

976
00:47:11,560 --> 00:47:14,880
Speaker 1: just not helping the team really, at least with Dennis Schroder,

977
00:47:14,920 --> 00:47:16,640
Speaker 1: he's given you some scoring pop and he's got some

978
00:47:16,680 --> 00:47:18,879
Speaker 1: good chemistry with Anthony Davison pick and roll. I think

979
00:47:18,920 --> 00:47:21,440
Speaker 1: you can get away with starting Schroeder. I just don't

980
00:47:21,480 --> 00:47:25,279
Speaker 1: think you can get away with starting both of those guys. Um.

981
00:47:25,320 --> 00:47:27,799
Speaker 1: But like, let's pay attention really quickly too, Like, because

982
00:47:27,840 --> 00:47:31,120
Speaker 1: this game two in the fourth quarter, how is it

983
00:47:31,160 --> 00:47:33,719
Speaker 1: that the Lakers stay close in this game? They stay

984
00:47:33,760 --> 00:47:38,279
Speaker 1: close because Lebron James and Russ Russell Westbrook are both

985
00:47:38,320 --> 00:47:41,120
Speaker 1: playing damn good basketball right now. Like Anthony Davis has

986
00:47:41,120 --> 00:47:42,799
Speaker 1: been the best player on the team, maybe even the

987
00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:44,840
Speaker 1: best player in the world over these last three weeks.

988
00:47:45,040 --> 00:47:47,000
Speaker 1: But it goes deeper than that. Lebron and Russ are

989
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:50,680
Speaker 1: also playing great basketball right now as shot creators. But

990
00:47:50,880 --> 00:47:54,160
Speaker 1: despite them generating a ton of high quality shots. The Lakers,

991
00:47:54,360 --> 00:47:57,000
Speaker 1: especially last night, have just been unable to finish off

992
00:47:57,040 --> 00:48:00,400
Speaker 1: those plays. Last night on spot up possessions. If you

993
00:48:00,480 --> 00:48:02,480
Speaker 1: thought it looked like the Lakers were missing a ton

994
00:48:02,520 --> 00:48:05,719
Speaker 1: of shots, the Lakers scored zero point four or four

995
00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:08,040
Speaker 1: points per spot up possession last night. It's just gonna

996
00:48:08,040 --> 00:48:11,439
Speaker 1: be hard to win on nights like that. Um looking

997
00:48:11,480 --> 00:48:13,640
Speaker 1: at Russ, you know, specifically because of how good he's

998
00:48:13,680 --> 00:48:15,719
Speaker 1: been lately, I just wanted to kind of zoom out

999
00:48:15,800 --> 00:48:17,840
Speaker 1: and and and talk about where I'm at with Russ

1000
00:48:17,920 --> 00:48:21,120
Speaker 1: right now. I think he's been more than good enough

1001
00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:25,920
Speaker 1: to justify keeping him unless the perfect deal arises. I

1002
00:48:25,920 --> 00:48:29,440
Speaker 1: thought it was a ridiculous gamble from Rob Polinka to

1003
00:48:29,520 --> 00:48:33,360
Speaker 1: do so to keep him. But credit to Russ, he's

1004
00:48:33,400 --> 00:48:36,279
Speaker 1: just been a much better player this year, you know.

1005
00:48:37,080 --> 00:48:39,880
Speaker 1: I I it sounds weird because I was so critical

1006
00:48:39,920 --> 00:48:42,560
Speaker 1: of Russ last year, but again, it was never personal

1007
00:48:42,640 --> 00:48:45,359
Speaker 1: with me and Russ. I don't dislike the guy. It's

1008
00:48:45,360 --> 00:48:49,000
Speaker 1: a simple question of analyzing basketball games. Last year, Russ

1009
00:48:49,080 --> 00:48:53,000
Speaker 1: played horrifically bad on most nights. This year, Russ has

1010
00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:55,840
Speaker 1: been pretty good on most nights and great on others.

1011
00:48:56,960 --> 00:49:00,279
Speaker 1: In that case, it changes the the entire dynamic. Again,

1012
00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:02,640
Speaker 1: I thought it was a reckless gamble, but that gabble

1013
00:49:02,680 --> 00:49:05,759
Speaker 1: appears to have worked out for Rob Polinka. He's just

1014
00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:08,520
Speaker 1: been an outstanding shock creator this year. So in pick

1015
00:49:08,560 --> 00:49:11,200
Speaker 1: and roll he scored two and sixty three points on

1016
00:49:11,200 --> 00:49:13,160
Speaker 1: two and sixty four possessions, which is in the fifty

1017
00:49:13,239 --> 00:49:16,080
Speaker 1: nine percentile, so just slightly above average. In is a

1018
00:49:16,239 --> 00:49:18,440
Speaker 1: hundred nine points on a hundred four possessions, which is

1019
00:49:18,440 --> 00:49:21,560
Speaker 1: in the sixty seven percentile, so top third right. And

1020
00:49:21,560 --> 00:49:23,400
Speaker 1: then in post ups, and this is where he's been amazing.

1021
00:49:23,520 --> 00:49:25,759
Speaker 1: Sixty one points on forty one possessions, which is in

1022
00:49:26,520 --> 00:49:30,560
Speaker 1: percentile for thirty six from the field is what he's shooting.

1023
00:49:30,560 --> 00:49:32,560
Speaker 1: In post ups he scored on two post ups again

1024
00:49:32,680 --> 00:49:35,399
Speaker 1: last night. He's scoring on bigger defenders down there too,

1025
00:49:35,440 --> 00:49:37,520
Speaker 1: which is just a testament to how much strength he has.

1026
00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:41,120
Speaker 1: So you actually now have to seriously weigh what it

1027
00:49:41,160 --> 00:49:46,600
Speaker 1: looks like to lose um Russ and what specifically you'd

1028
00:49:46,640 --> 00:49:50,680
Speaker 1: be getting back. What he's doing generating quality spot up

1029
00:49:50,680 --> 00:49:53,719
Speaker 1: opportunities for the role players is super valuable, So now

1030
00:49:53,760 --> 00:49:56,279
Speaker 1: you have to weigh that against what you're bringing back,

1031
00:49:56,360 --> 00:49:59,160
Speaker 1: So I keep it on the table because there are

1032
00:49:59,160 --> 00:50:01,319
Speaker 1: still a lot of re ndon seas, especially with Lebron.

1033
00:50:01,360 --> 00:50:03,480
Speaker 1: When Lebron and Russ are on the floor together this year,

1034
00:50:03,480 --> 00:50:06,160
Speaker 1: it's been pretty bad. And five possessions, which is a

1035
00:50:06,239 --> 00:50:11,040
Speaker 1: huge sample size, they are minus six points per one possessions,

1036
00:50:11,040 --> 00:50:13,400
Speaker 1: so there are some issues there. But he's been really

1037
00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:15,759
Speaker 1: good off the bench, so you can still have that

1038
00:50:15,840 --> 00:50:18,160
Speaker 1: option on the table trading Russ, but it needs to

1039
00:50:18,160 --> 00:50:20,319
Speaker 1: be a great deal. You can be more picky about that.

1040
00:50:21,239 --> 00:50:23,640
Speaker 1: So what I would do is I would kind of

1041
00:50:23,640 --> 00:50:26,839
Speaker 1: treat this as a two phase trade season. I think

1042
00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:30,720
Speaker 1: right now the Lakers need to move Patrick Beverley, Kendrick

1043
00:50:30,800 --> 00:50:33,879
Speaker 1: Nunn in another minimum contract, someone like Damien Jones with

1044
00:50:33,960 --> 00:50:36,600
Speaker 1: one of the picks for somebody that can help you

1045
00:50:36,680 --> 00:50:40,120
Speaker 1: right away. Then you hang onto that other option, which

1046
00:50:40,200 --> 00:50:43,000
Speaker 1: is Russ and another one of the picks around the

1047
00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:46,520
Speaker 1: trade deadline. Should something pop up or should things go

1048
00:50:46,600 --> 00:50:49,040
Speaker 1: south with Russ, that's when you look at that potentially

1049
00:50:49,560 --> 00:50:51,920
Speaker 1: as an option. The question becomes who do you target?

1050
00:50:52,719 --> 00:50:55,960
Speaker 1: Do you target someone like Miles Turner, oh I think

1051
00:50:56,080 --> 00:50:59,480
Speaker 1: is actually the best player available overall this season? That

1052
00:50:59,520 --> 00:51:02,280
Speaker 1: I've seen engined in trades, or do you target someone

1053
00:51:02,440 --> 00:51:04,799
Speaker 1: that's a wing, And really, to me, it just comes

1054
00:51:04,800 --> 00:51:08,440
Speaker 1: down to who that wing is because in theory, good center,

1055
00:51:08,680 --> 00:51:11,520
Speaker 1: good wing presents you with the issue of do you

1056
00:51:11,560 --> 00:51:13,600
Speaker 1: want to raise your ceiling or do you want to

1057
00:51:13,640 --> 00:51:16,600
Speaker 1: have a better chance of competing on nights without Anthony Davis,

1058
00:51:16,640 --> 00:51:18,399
Speaker 1: because if you go big, if you go with someone

1059
00:51:18,440 --> 00:51:21,279
Speaker 1: like Miles Turner, you have a much better chance of

1060
00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:24,240
Speaker 1: winning that game against the calves um. You give yourself

1061
00:51:24,239 --> 00:51:26,120
Speaker 1: a legit, a D at the four look, which the

1062
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:28,520
Speaker 1: Lakers don't really have this year, that would be more

1063
00:51:28,520 --> 00:51:32,000
Speaker 1: similar to what they had in right, But then you

1064
00:51:32,000 --> 00:51:33,960
Speaker 1: have the crunch time issues. Do you want to close

1065
00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:36,400
Speaker 1: with Miles Turner. I think Miles Turner's ability to shoot

1066
00:51:36,400 --> 00:51:38,480
Speaker 1: from the perimeter makes him a player that can close,

1067
00:51:38,520 --> 00:51:41,560
Speaker 1: but it's at least a debate there. With a legit wing,

1068
00:51:42,280 --> 00:51:44,680
Speaker 1: you still struggle on nights where Anthony Davis goes out.

1069
00:51:44,719 --> 00:51:47,880
Speaker 1: You have some issues with depth, but that ultimate ceiling

1070
00:51:47,960 --> 00:51:50,040
Speaker 1: gets bigger because then you have some of those lineups

1071
00:51:50,040 --> 00:51:52,400
Speaker 1: that resemble the Lakers when they put a D at

1072
00:51:52,400 --> 00:51:54,560
Speaker 1: the five, when they have Lebron at the four, and

1073
00:51:54,600 --> 00:51:57,479
Speaker 1: another big wing. But it really just depends on how

1074
00:51:57,520 --> 00:52:01,520
Speaker 1: good that wing is, because a ridge wing or a

1075
00:52:01,560 --> 00:52:05,120
Speaker 1: below average wing, even if that functionally makes more sense.

1076
00:52:05,560 --> 00:52:08,200
Speaker 1: If he's not nearly as good at basketball as Miles

1077
00:52:08,280 --> 00:52:12,719
Speaker 1: Turner overall, then the center becomes a better option. That's

1078
00:52:12,719 --> 00:52:14,279
Speaker 1: why I keep an eye out if things go really

1079
00:52:14,320 --> 00:52:17,800
Speaker 1: south for Washington on Kyle Kuzma. Again, it's a long shot.

1080
00:52:18,719 --> 00:52:20,360
Speaker 1: You might even have to throw in two pics for

1081
00:52:20,440 --> 00:52:24,320
Speaker 1: something like that. But if you could somehow get Kyle Kuzma,

1082
00:52:24,719 --> 00:52:27,440
Speaker 1: now you suddenly become such a big line up with

1083
00:52:27,480 --> 00:52:31,080
Speaker 1: a D at the five that allows you to potentially

1084
00:52:31,120 --> 00:52:33,080
Speaker 1: capture some of that to a ceiling that you had

1085
00:52:33,080 --> 00:52:36,439
Speaker 1: in So again that's a super long shot and and

1086
00:52:36,680 --> 00:52:38,960
Speaker 1: a lot of things would have to break right. Um,

1087
00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:40,759
Speaker 1: But those are the two different directions that the Lakers

1088
00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:42,720
Speaker 1: are gonna have to look at. Looking at Miles Turner

1089
00:52:43,320 --> 00:52:46,240
Speaker 1: as a clear you know, floor raising move that helps

1090
00:52:46,239 --> 00:52:49,160
Speaker 1: you like in the standings during the regular season, or

1091
00:52:49,200 --> 00:52:51,400
Speaker 1: targeting a wing which is more of like a ceiling

1092
00:52:51,880 --> 00:52:57,120
Speaker 1: a ceiling raising deal. So um, the Detroit Pistons were

1093
00:52:57,120 --> 00:52:59,040
Speaker 1: two and eleven before they went to Miami last night,

1094
00:52:59,040 --> 00:53:00,640
Speaker 1: and if you guys, remember I talk a lot about

1095
00:53:00,640 --> 00:53:05,520
Speaker 1: how Um specifically when they lost p J. Tucker, that

1096
00:53:05,600 --> 00:53:07,920
Speaker 1: the Miami Heat, we're gonna really struggle any night that

1097
00:53:07,960 --> 00:53:10,640
Speaker 1: either Jimmy Butler or Bamata Bio misses, because when one

1098
00:53:10,680 --> 00:53:12,759
Speaker 1: of those guys are out, they just become a comically

1099
00:53:12,800 --> 00:53:16,040
Speaker 1: small basketball team. And Jimmy Butler was out last night,

1100
00:53:16,360 --> 00:53:18,400
Speaker 1: bama A Bio had to play the five, especially in

1101
00:53:18,440 --> 00:53:21,000
Speaker 1: crunch time, with like four guards, and and even some

1102
00:53:21,040 --> 00:53:23,600
Speaker 1: of your taller players like Tyler Harrow or Duncan Robinson

1103
00:53:23,680 --> 00:53:26,080
Speaker 1: that get out there are not good defensive players that

1104
00:53:26,080 --> 00:53:29,879
Speaker 1: aren't really physically imposing on the basketball game, They're gonna

1105
00:53:29,880 --> 00:53:32,800
Speaker 1: really struggle. And what do you know, the Detroit Pistons

1106
00:53:32,800 --> 00:53:35,799
Speaker 1: lit them on fire. Uh, blew them out in that

1107
00:53:35,880 --> 00:53:38,600
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. Lots of shot making over the top, like

1108
00:53:38,840 --> 00:53:42,319
Speaker 1: Sediq Bay posting up Victor Oladipo and just getting an

1109
00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:45,040
Speaker 1: easy basket, or Alec Burke's hitting a pull up jump shot.

1110
00:53:45,280 --> 00:53:49,760
Speaker 1: You know, Corey Joseph attacking Tyler Harrow in ISO. And

1111
00:53:49,800 --> 00:53:52,160
Speaker 1: you know, this whole situation is starting to remind me

1112
00:53:52,200 --> 00:53:54,720
Speaker 1: of the Lakers a little bit, where there's a clear

1113
00:53:54,800 --> 00:53:57,719
Speaker 1: need and they have the means with which to make

1114
00:53:57,760 --> 00:54:00,640
Speaker 1: an upgrade, but they're being really picked about trying to

1115
00:54:00,640 --> 00:54:03,919
Speaker 1: find the right guy. But in the process you're sacrificing

1116
00:54:03,960 --> 00:54:06,600
Speaker 1: ground in the standings, and that's that delicate balance. Like

1117
00:54:06,640 --> 00:54:08,200
Speaker 1: the Lakers might be able to be like, hey, look,

1118
00:54:08,360 --> 00:54:11,160
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook looks better, or hey, look at this guy

1119
00:54:11,239 --> 00:54:13,000
Speaker 1: we got in this trade. That's a better thing than

1120
00:54:13,080 --> 00:54:15,440
Speaker 1: what was being thrown out this summer. Okay, cool, but

1121
00:54:15,480 --> 00:54:17,879
Speaker 1: where are you in the standings? Because how much does

1122
00:54:17,920 --> 00:54:20,040
Speaker 1: that matter if you end up in a seven game

1123
00:54:20,320 --> 00:54:23,440
Speaker 1: like slug fest with the with the Golden State Warriors

1124
00:54:23,560 --> 00:54:26,080
Speaker 1: or the Phoenix Suns in the first round and you're

1125
00:54:26,120 --> 00:54:28,040
Speaker 1: banged up and you end up losing to somebody else

1126
00:54:28,080 --> 00:54:29,719
Speaker 1: in the second round. Like at a certain point, you've

1127
00:54:29,719 --> 00:54:33,640
Speaker 1: got a factor in like ground in the standings when

1128
00:54:33,640 --> 00:54:36,239
Speaker 1: you're talking about these kinds of things and the mind,

1129
00:54:36,320 --> 00:54:38,960
Speaker 1: he just simply need front court depth, and they're gonna

1130
00:54:39,040 --> 00:54:40,960
Speaker 1: and Jimmy Butler, for as long as he's been in

1131
00:54:40,960 --> 00:54:43,480
Speaker 1: the league, has been in and out of the lineup,

1132
00:54:43,800 --> 00:54:45,520
Speaker 1: and so he's probably gonna continue to be in and

1133
00:54:45,520 --> 00:54:48,320
Speaker 1: out of the lineup. And if you don't fix that problem,

1134
00:54:48,440 --> 00:54:50,480
Speaker 1: you know it's gonna be an issue throughout the season

1135
00:54:50,520 --> 00:54:52,680
Speaker 1: and you might find yourself in the playing tournament at

1136
00:54:52,760 --> 00:54:56,080
Speaker 1: that point. Alright, guys, that is all I have for today.

1137
00:54:56,080 --> 00:54:57,279
Speaker 1: Here's the plan for the rest of the week. We're

1138
00:54:57,280 --> 00:54:59,480
Speaker 1: gonna actually take tomorrow off because we have a stacked

1139
00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:03,120
Speaker 1: slate on Friday and Saturday. So on Saturday morning, we're

1140
00:55:03,120 --> 00:55:05,080
Speaker 1: gonna break down the Friday night games. There's a bunch

1141
00:55:05,120 --> 00:55:08,120
Speaker 1: of big ones there, and then Saturday night is Celtics

1142
00:55:08,120 --> 00:55:10,480
Speaker 1: Worriers rematch the NBA Finals. So Sunday morning, we're just

1143
00:55:10,480 --> 00:55:13,439
Speaker 1: gonna do a short instant reaction video to that game

1144
00:55:13,480 --> 00:55:15,920
Speaker 1: as well. As always, I sincerely appreciate your guys support

1145
00:55:16,400 --> 00:55:28,440
Speaker 1: and I will see you on Saturday morning. The volume