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Speaker 2: co slash audio. Wellcome to tonight. You're at the Vallume
Speaker 2: Havy Tuesday. Everybody. Hope all of you guys are having
Speaker 2: a great start too a week. We are going to
Speaker 2: be talking a little bit about Game five of the
Speaker 2: NBA Finals today. I want to get into some of
Speaker 2: the content, some of the specific angles from the game
Speaker 2: that we didn't get to get into Last Night with Colin,
Speaker 2: so we're gonna be breaking that down. I want to
Speaker 2: at I want to dive into a little bit looking
Speaker 2: forward in the series, what I expect to happen in
Speaker 2: Game six. I want to talk about some of the
Speaker 2: specific areas where the Pacers have lost control of this series,
Speaker 2: specific swing factor, some of which we discussed coming into
Speaker 2: the series, tests that Indiana had to pass in order
Speaker 2: to thrive in this particular matchup. Lots of stuff we
Speaker 2: want to get into in the NBA Finals. You guys
Speaker 2: know the joke before we get started. Subscribe to the
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Speaker 2: guys want to get mailed back questions in in our
Speaker 2: live shows. But our next live show is on Thursday night.
Speaker 2: Just show up to the live show, drop your questions
Speaker 2: in the chat, then we'll get it to the mail
Speaker 2: bag at the tail end of the show, and then
Speaker 2: obviously once we get out of the finals, will shift
Speaker 2: back towards taking them from the YouTube contents. All right,
Speaker 2: let's talk some basketball. So last night was the J
Speaker 2: Dubbs Show. We talked a little bit about it last
Speaker 2: night with Colin Coward. I focused on the idea of
Speaker 2: his downhill power and kind of in the context of
Speaker 2: what we saw TJ McConnell succeed with the general idea
Speaker 2: being that there's a lot of handsy, physical defense on
Speaker 2: the perimeter in the NBA playoffs and big, strong players
Speaker 2: tend to thrive in those settings. I don't think it's
Speaker 2: a coincidence. As you look back through NBA history, the
Speaker 2: best player on championship teams has been a power player
Speaker 2: in basically every single series for the last decade and
Speaker 2: a half, other than Steph you know, like you Obviously
Speaker 2: last year for the Celtics, it was more of like
Speaker 2: a bi committee by a kind of thing. But who
Speaker 2: was the best player for the Celtics in the playoffs
Speaker 2: in terms of of you know, winning Eastern Conference Finals
Speaker 2: MVP and Finals MVP. It was Jalen Brown a power player,
Speaker 2: even Tatum in his contributions as a defensive player and
Speaker 2: as a playmaker in that in that playoff run power,
Speaker 2: Luka Doncic was the best player in that postseason power
Speaker 2: Right twenty twenty three, Nikole Jokic Power twenty twenty two. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Steph He's your exception twenty twenty one, Giannis Power twenty twenty,
Speaker 2: Lebron Power twenty nineteen, Kawhi Power. We can go back
Speaker 2: throughout time and you're going to see a pretty consistent
Speaker 2: trend of like Steph Curry being the exception, the one
Speaker 2: kind of like finesse perimeter oriented player that thrives in
Speaker 2: these settings. But it's a lot of power that thrives here.
Speaker 2: Last night, Jadob had forty points right, but nineteen of
Speaker 2: those forty points came either in transition runouts or backdoor cuts.
Speaker 2: His cutting was incredibly impressive last night. I counted four
Speaker 2: separate buckets and nine points total because he had an
Speaker 2: and one on one with Nie Smith, or he just
Speaker 2: backdoor like just beat like red the defender saw that
Speaker 2: he was in denial and just cut really hard back door,
Speaker 2: using that power physical swim move to get around the
Speaker 2: defender and ended up getting easy stuff at the basket.
Speaker 2: He did some beautiful work out of ball screens too
Speaker 2: in the fourth quarter, showcasing similar downhill force in both
Speaker 2: actions attacking bigs and guards. But he got himself into
Speaker 2: a rhythm in this game because that stuff didn't happen
Speaker 2: until late late in the game, Like, he got himself
Speaker 2: into a rhythm just by using his Basketball IQ to
Speaker 2: identify runways opportunities for him to get ahead of steam
Speaker 2: without the ball, a transition lane, a back door cut opportunity.
Speaker 2: Those are areas where in a system like this where
Speaker 2: the ball, you know, I think the ball will shift
Speaker 2: towards being in Jdubb's hands more and more over the
Speaker 2: years as he improves and as Shay kind of like
Speaker 2: starts to feel a little bit more of like an
Speaker 2: open partnership with Jdubb. But even in that context, it's
Speaker 2: going to be useful for him to be a weapon
Speaker 2: off the ball, and in this context it's a super
Speaker 2: valuable weapon. And he did a ton of damage in
Speaker 2: this game again, nineteen of his forty points literally just
Speaker 2: running lanes right then he tied it all together with
Speaker 2: his jump shooting, which is really the piece that separates
Speaker 2: him from the other similar types of playmaking forwards in
Speaker 2: the league. He had three open catch and shoot threes
Speaker 2: that were all very important last night. That little right
Speaker 2: shoulder fade, that classic Dwayne Wade half spin right at
Speaker 2: the top of the key, that was kind of the
Speaker 2: cherry on top of his finals masterpiece. But we just
Speaker 2: don't have very many players in the league that bring
Speaker 2: the combination of downhill power, high level playmaking, and high
Speaker 2: level shooting. Right you look at Paolo. He brings some
Speaker 2: high level shooting at least from the mid range, and
Speaker 2: he brings a lot of power, but he can be
Speaker 2: a little bit of a tunnel vision guy that can
Speaker 2: struggle to make the kickout Raads Franz Wagner another kind
Speaker 2: of big forward. He brings the high level playmaking and
Speaker 2: he brings the downhill power, but his jump shot is
Speaker 2: like an absolute adventure and in many case is downright bad.
Speaker 2: Jaylen Brown a little bit inconsistent as a jump shooter,
Speaker 2: but I think he brings that jump shooting piece, and
Speaker 2: he brings the downhill power piece, but he can struggle
Speaker 2: to process the defense and to make the appropriate kickout.
Speaker 2: Read Zion Williamson obviously more in a super like like
Speaker 2: a juiced up version of that downhill power, but Zion
Speaker 2: Williamson again doesn't bring that kind of counterbalance of the
Speaker 2: shooting right. Like then we have some of the slender forwards,
Speaker 2: guys like Brandon Ingram and Paul George. They bring the playmaking,
Speaker 2: they bring the shooting ability, but they don't bring the power,
Speaker 2: that real downhill power. It's a pretty unique combination to
Speaker 2: have a player that does all three of those things.
Speaker 2: I think that's what makes me think of him as
Speaker 2: kind of a Jimmy Butler esque type of player. Jimmy Butler,
Speaker 2: especially in this last half decade, has become that guy,
Speaker 2: the downhill power guy, the versatile defensive weapon, the playmaker,
Speaker 2: the guy that can knock down shots over the top,
Speaker 2: and again, like he's doing all of this right now,
Speaker 2: Ja Dub in a supporting context. As he continues to
Speaker 2: round out the details in his game, he'll get more
Speaker 2: opportunities to showcase this stuff, like that tough right shoulder
Speaker 2: fade or some of the tough like step back jump
Speaker 2: shots that he's been hitting at various points in this postseason.
Speaker 2: This is a fantastic Finals performance for JDub to add
Speaker 2: to his resume, and again he's still just barely getting
Speaker 2: into that groove that he's capable of getting to in
Speaker 2: this thunder Championship era. Shay's four game this has been
Speaker 2: one of the more interesting subplots of the series. In
Speaker 2: my opinion, I think SGA's two highest scoring games in
Speaker 2: this series were his two worst games. Outside of Game three.
Speaker 2: Game one, he goes for thirty eight. I didn't think
Speaker 2: he was particularly good compared to some of his other
Speaker 2: games in this postseason. Game four he has thirty five.
Speaker 2: Those are his two highest scoring games in this series,
Speaker 2: and I didn't think he was particularly good compared to
Speaker 2: some of his other games. Like it reminds me of
Speaker 2: some of the other rate stars that have come through
Speaker 2: the NBA. And I mean this as a compliment. I
Speaker 2: am comparing Shay to some all time greats here, But
Speaker 2: like when Jokics would have a bad game, when Lebron
Speaker 2: would have a bad game, and against all relative when
Speaker 2: I say bad games for these guys, a bad game
Speaker 2: for prime Lebron, a bad game for prime Jokich. When
Speaker 2: I talk about a bad game for Prime SGA. It
Speaker 2: is not the same as a bad game for Tyrese
Speaker 2: Haliburton from last night or some of these other guys
Speaker 2: that we talked about. It's all relative for the record,
Speaker 2: but this is the conversation that Shay has put himself in.
Speaker 2: He has put himself in as an MVP, a leader
Speaker 2: of a sixty eight win team, as soon to be
Speaker 2: finals MVP. He is now entering into conversations he's being
Speaker 2: evaluated at a different standard. And like jokicch and Lebron
Speaker 2: would have these games where they'd go for like twenty
Speaker 2: four thirteen and eleven, and you could look at the
Speaker 2: box score and you could be like, man, it's twenty
Speaker 2: four thirteen and eleven and sixty three percent true shooting,
Speaker 2: Like that's an incredible game. But if you watch those
Speaker 2: games sometimes you'd feel like, man, like they're just not
Speaker 2: asserting themselves as much as they need to. They're not
Speaker 2: bringing that like high level scoring imposition that they're capable
Speaker 2: of bringing. Lebron had to ultimately in big spots win
Speaker 2: by scoring the basketball game six against Boston down three
Speaker 2: to two, comes in had to score forty five that
Speaker 2: game seven against the Spurs, the need to hit jump
Speaker 2: shots that San Antonio was a conceding team. Obviously, making
Speaker 2: the right play has always been a huge part of
Speaker 2: Jokic in Lebron's games, but they have to bring the
Speaker 2: balance and when they're at their best, when they're at
Speaker 2: the high end of their spectrum, it's always the combination
Speaker 2: of overwhelming scoring force and that high level playmaking that
Speaker 2: they bring. Now, Shay is a very different archetype of player. Right,
Speaker 2: He's closer to the MJ and Kobe group. But like
Speaker 2: MJ and Kobe would have some of these games where
Speaker 2: they'd have now different right, for Lebron and Jokic, it
Speaker 2: would be these like triple double efficient games where they
Speaker 2: didn't bring the requisite scoring pop. For guys like MJ
Speaker 2: Kobe in this case, say it's the games where they
Speaker 2: have thirty something, thirty five, thirty eight, thirty seven points,
Speaker 2: but they do a poor job managing the flow of
Speaker 2: the game, and so they'll have these high scoring totals,
Speaker 2: but it manifests as poor team offense. Right, Similarly with
Speaker 2: Lebron and Jokic high assist totals, but it manifests as
Speaker 2: poor team offense. There is a balance that scores need
Speaker 2: to have where they bring the requisite playmaking and floor
Speaker 2: game and managing the flow of the game that is
Speaker 2: required for them to be effective as scores. Just like
Speaker 2: for the Jokic Lebron archetype, there's got to be a
Speaker 2: certain amount of scoring, imposition and aggression that balances out
Speaker 2: their elite floor game in flow game, which is what
Speaker 2: they do really really well. SGA's credit, he very clearly
Speaker 2: identified his poor process in each of those two games,
Speaker 2: because in each case he responded immediately out the gates
Speaker 2: with brilliant performances, much better floor game, much better managing
Speaker 2: of the flow of the offense. I think his Game
Speaker 2: two in Game five performances were his best two games
Speaker 2: of the series by far. Once again, in both games
Speaker 2: just a super deliberate effort to take the available kickout
Speaker 2: reads early in possessions. He had eighteen assists in those
Speaker 2: two games. In the other three games of the finals combine,
Speaker 2: he had seven assists. Huge difference in process. The Thunder
Speaker 2: generated more threes in the first half last night than
Speaker 2: they generated the entirety of Game four. They generated eighteen
Speaker 2: unguarded catch and shoot jump shots. According to Synergy, they
Speaker 2: generated just six in Game four, that's tripling the output
Speaker 2: of open catch and shoot jump shots. Overall, as a team,
Speaker 2: the Thunder scored forty two points on catch and shoot
Speaker 2: jump shots after scoring just nine points on catch and
Speaker 2: shoot jump shots in Game four, and most importantly, according
Speaker 2: to Cleaning the Glass, in Game two and in Game five,
Speaker 2: those were the only two games in this series where
Speaker 2: the Thunder managed and offensive rating over one fifteen. They
Speaker 2: had a one twenty seven offensive rating in Game two
Speaker 2: a one twenty offensive rating in Game five. Every single
Speaker 2: other game of the series they've been below a one
Speaker 2: fifteen offensive rating. The team's offense, the Thunder offense flows
Speaker 2: based on how Shay approaches the game, and the idea
Speaker 2: that it needs to affect his scoring is foolish. He
Speaker 2: managed sixty five points in those two games, thirty four
Speaker 2: in Game two and thirty one last night. He ends
Speaker 2: up inevitably finding opportunities to score as the defense loosens
Speaker 2: up from him setting the tone by taking those easy reads.
Speaker 2: And the scary part is, I really do think that
Speaker 2: Shay has learned some valuable lessons on this front in
Speaker 2: this postseason run. I talk about this all the time.
Speaker 2: Young basketball players tend to struggle to identify what's not
Speaker 2: working and cut it out and identify what's working and
Speaker 2: repeat it. A lot of times. They'll bounce back and
Speaker 2: forth between the two because they struggled to tie process
Speaker 2: to results. Over time. With this experience, Shay is gonna learn.
Speaker 2: He's gonna look back and go like, I remember what
Speaker 2: happened in game one when I came out hunting my
Speaker 2: own shot, and then suddenly none of my teammates were
Speaker 2: in rhythm, and at the end of the game when
Speaker 2: I did start making those kickouts, guys couldn't knock down shots.
Speaker 2: I remember Game four when I generally just did a
Speaker 2: horrible job of managing the flow of the game, and
Speaker 2: it took me having to make some crazy shots at
Speaker 2: the end to bail my team out of a game
Speaker 2: we probably should have won by fifteen to twenty points.
Speaker 2: He'll remember Game two in him coming out immediately hunting
Speaker 2: his teammates, the same thing in game five, and how
Speaker 2: it resulted in this free flowing offense where more people
Speaker 2: are involved and his co stars playing better, and more
Speaker 2: guys are getting catching shoot looks and guys are knocking
Speaker 2: down shots, and the team lights up the scoreboard. He'll
Speaker 2: remember those things, he'll replicate those things, and it'll just
Speaker 2: make this Thunder team that much harder to beat in
Speaker 2: the coming years. Shay also was amazing on defense in
Speaker 2: this game. He had four blocks, had this insane help
Speaker 2: side rotation on Obi Toppin in the late second half
Speaker 2: where he blocked him at the rim. Had a couple
Speaker 2: of nice blocks in transition, including one on a like
Speaker 2: a little euro step from Tony Bradley. Just really, really
Speaker 2: impressive game from Shae Gilvis Alexander two of the better
Speaker 2: games I've seen him play in his career in game two.
Speaker 2: In Game five of this playoff run, he got lost
Speaker 2: in the flow because of Ja Dubbs massive game. Jada
Speaker 2: was incredibly deserves to be recognized as the hero, but
Speaker 2: I thought Shay really set the tone with his overall
Speaker 2: approach to start last night's game.
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Speaker 2: I thought Shet was amazing defensively again last night. He
Speaker 2: had three blocks. We've seen so much of the switch
Speaker 2: defense of him switching onto ball screens and the damage
Speaker 2: that he's done, and he's been awesome by the way
Speaker 2: in that regard. I was pulling up the big picture
Speaker 2: numbers on Synergy today. Chet has defended twenty nine ISOs
Speaker 2: in this playoff run. Including passes. In those twenty nine ISOs,
Speaker 2: he's allowed just eighteen points zero point six to two
Speaker 2: points per possession. There are forty six players in this
Speaker 2: playoff field that have defended at least fifteen ISOs, and
Speaker 2: Chet's efficiencies defensive efficiency in those ISOs ranks fifth out
Speaker 2: of those forty six players. Been one of the best
Speaker 2: ISO defenders in the league in this playoff run. Just
Speaker 2: for those who are curious, Anthony Edwards ranked number one
Speaker 2: on that list. Cason Wallace, ranked at number two on
Speaker 2: that list, had another big time steal on Siakam in
Speaker 2: the post last night, Austin Reeves always has been an
Speaker 2: underrated defender, was number three on that list, and then
Speaker 2: Russell Westbrook was number four. But yeah, chet right there
Speaker 2: at number five out of forty six players to defend
Speaker 2: at least fifteen ISOs in this playoff run. But last night,
Speaker 2: obviously there was still some good defense and switches, but
Speaker 2: we got to see a lot more of the rim
Speaker 2: protection side of his game. Last night. Erased two offensive
Speaker 2: rebound put backs and help side rotations. His length is
Speaker 2: part of the layering of Oklahoma City's defense. We talked
Speaker 2: about this a lot in the series preview. Having to
Speaker 2: pass the tests that Oklahoma City presents. The first step
Speaker 2: is ball pressure, get the ball up the floor. The
Speaker 2: second step is denial. So in order to get the
Speaker 2: ball into your offense, you got to get the ball
Speaker 2: to your screeners because they run so many dribble handoffs
Speaker 2: and dribble pitches right and Oklahoma City's constantly denying off ball.
Speaker 2: Every time someone picks up their dribble. They're just immediately
Speaker 2: denying those off ball sequences. Once you get the ball
Speaker 2: into the paint in any way, shape or form, you're
Speaker 2: immediately getting swarmed. You've got to be able to process
Speaker 2: those kickouts out of those swarming help side rotations from
Speaker 2: Oka see. And then the fourth layer is shooting, like
Speaker 2: finishing the play either against an intense closeout on the
Speaker 2: three point line or against the contest at the rim
Speaker 2: with chet holmgrin. And every time Indiana was able to
Speaker 2: work through those first three layers, chet Holmgren is just
Speaker 2: waiting behind it to clean up the mess. But what
Speaker 2: I want to amp size here as I thought, Oklahoma
Speaker 2: City really blew this game open in the fourth quarter
Speaker 2: with the first two layers of their defense, the ball
Speaker 2: pressure and the denials. They forced eight turnovers in the
Speaker 2: fourth quarter, several just guarding the ball handler up the
Speaker 2: floor and rushing him into either traveling or coughing up
Speaker 2: the basketball. Several in denials. They turned over Andrew Nemhard
Speaker 2: three different times where they forced him to pick up
Speaker 2: his dribble and then denied the kickout passes and he
Speaker 2: threw the ball away. We talked earlier about Indiana needing
Speaker 2: to pass the test of Oklahoma City's ball pressure, and
Speaker 2: after four games and three quarters in that fourth quarter,
Speaker 2: they were just as far away from solving that test
Speaker 2: as ever, it was just a masterclass from the Oklahoma
Speaker 2: City defense. If Indiana can't survive the basic element of
Speaker 2: getting the ball into their offense, they're dead on arrival.
Speaker 2: Looking forward in the series, I obviously don't want to
Speaker 2: count Indiana out. They are absolutely capable going home and
Speaker 2: pushing this series to seven games. But I think Oklahoma
Speaker 2: City has found the perfect formula in this matchup. They
Speaker 2: have multiple actions that they can work with a two
Speaker 2: man game with Ja dub and Shaye to attack guards
Speaker 2: and switches, high ball screens attacking bigs. This works for
Speaker 2: both Shaye, but especially for Jay Dubbs had most of
Speaker 2: his success attacking bigs downhill and switches using those ball
Speaker 2: screens against ball pressure like the extended ball screens out
Speaker 2: to thirty five to forty feet. When they get early
Speaker 2: dribble penetration off of that, they get great stuff every
Speaker 2: single time. Shae just his process as long as he
Speaker 2: passes through the help defense for those quality closeout opportunities
Speaker 2: and then laid in the clock. That's when they can
Speaker 2: lean on the shot making from Shaye and Jay dub
Speaker 2: which is just so much more reliable than the shot
Speaker 2: making from tyres In Pascal Siakam. And then on defense,
Speaker 2: like we talked about before the series, Indy gonna We
Speaker 2: talked about before the series, like, is Oklahoma City gonna
Speaker 2: have to change their defense because Indiana gets the ball
Speaker 2: through their ball pressure gets the ball to the high post,
Speaker 2: gets into their ball screen, whirling blender attack gets the
Speaker 2: ball into the middle of the floor, makes the appropriate kickouts,
Speaker 2: knocks down all these threes. Would Oklahoma City have to adjust,
Speaker 2: start switching everything and stay home. No, Their base scheme
Speaker 2: has consistently, up to the fourth quarter of the fifth
Speaker 2: game in the series, has managed to shake the foundation
Speaker 2: of Indiana's offense. They haven't had to change anything. The
Speaker 2: Indiana ultimately hasn't been able to solve that test. I
Speaker 2: believe Oklahoma City will go in there on Thursday and
Speaker 2: beat the Pacers for the trophy. But even if they don't,
Speaker 2: I think Oklahoma City wins big in Game seven. The
Speaker 2: fear like if you're a Pacer fan and you're looking
Speaker 2: for some sort of hope. The hope is you go
Speaker 2: home and you win a game which you know you're
Speaker 2: capable of. Then just like tonight, you have one of
Speaker 2: those late second half runs. Siakam hits a three off
Speaker 2: of an offensive rebound, it's ninety five nine. Maybe it
Speaker 2: just goes the other way and you pull out a
Speaker 2: game seven. But every time it's been in that situation,
Speaker 2: every time it's been like, here's this five minutes that's
Speaker 2: gonna determine who wins this game. Okahoma City tightens the
Speaker 2: screws and Indiana falls apart. In Game four, Okahoma City
Speaker 2: tightened the screws. Indiana couldn't score last night, ninety five,
Speaker 2: ninety three, that's cute. You got it back to two.
Speaker 2: Then you turn the ball over on four consecutive possessions
Speaker 2: against the first two layers of Oklahoma City's defense. Because
Speaker 2: their defense, every time it's needed to be, becomes indomitable.
Speaker 2: And that's why they're gonna be the champions. Now. As
Speaker 2: I zoom out from the series, there are several areas,
Speaker 2: some specific areas, where I just didn't think the Pacers
Speaker 2: were good enough if there was any chance for them
Speaker 2: to win this series. Tyre's Halliburton I talked about before
Speaker 2: the series. One of the major storylines is like what
Speaker 2: if Oklahoma City just like kind of embarrasses him. Now,
Speaker 2: Tyres has had some nice games in the series. I
Speaker 2: thought he was great in Game three. Obviously, hits a
Speaker 2: game winner at the end of Game one. He's had
Speaker 2: his moments, I would argue Tyrese has not been embarrassed
Speaker 2: in this series. But outside of those moments, it's been
Speaker 2: pretty rough. I saw a tweet from buddy mind Jamal
Speaker 2: Christopher shout out, Jamal does good work covering the Clippers,
Speaker 2: big Clippers fan, And I'm reading this tweet because I
Speaker 2: think it is an important kind of like bit of
Speaker 2: context to what happened last night. To me, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: it's pretty disingenuous to act like Halliburton isn't capable of
Speaker 2: some dangerous lows even when he's at one hundred percent.
Speaker 2: And that was my big takeaway from last night. I
Speaker 2: agree with Jamal completely. Yeah, Tyres Halliburton was a little
Speaker 2: banged up. You can see that really awkward step that
Speaker 2: he took where his foot kind of slipped out from
Speaker 2: underneath him. We know he's been dealing with some some
Speaker 2: sort of ankle, achilles something in his right foot. Clearly
Speaker 2: he tweaked it a little bit more last night on
Speaker 2: that move. I'm not gonna sit here and pretend like
Speaker 2: Tyrese wasn't a little banged up. But again, I agree
Speaker 2: with Jamal. I think Tyrese is just as capable of
Speaker 2: that type of game even when he's at his best.
Speaker 2: And we've talked about it before. It's the reason why
Speaker 2: he's not a top tier superstar. In order to get
Speaker 2: up into that you know, five to six range, he's
Speaker 2: got to become substantially more reliable as a scorer. To me,
Speaker 2: this kind of just is the reality of what can
Speaker 2: happen with Tyrese. If he runs into a really good defense,
Speaker 2: with a really good defensive guard that can beat him
Speaker 2: over the top of screens and a big that can
Speaker 2: guard him in switches, it's gonna render him borderline ineffective
Speaker 2: as a score. And we saw an exaggerated version of
Speaker 2: it last night because of the issues that were going
Speaker 2: on with this calf muscle. But I agree. I think
Speaker 2: just writing off Tyrese's game last night is like, oh,
Speaker 2: he was hurt, that's the only reason that happened. I
Speaker 2: agree with Jamal. I think that's disingenuous. I think they're
Speaker 2: there's so many examples over the years, over the last
Speaker 2: couple of years, to where Tyrese can have some to
Speaker 2: quote Jamal dangerous lows in these sorts of situations, lows
Speaker 2: that can be difficult to overcome. And thankfully the Pacers
Speaker 2: got a ton out of Pascal Siakam last night. Ear
Speaker 2: could have gotten particularly ugly, but Tyrese ultimately wasn't good
Speaker 2: enough in this series in order to give his team
Speaker 2: a better chance to win. Miles Turner's offense. I talked
Speaker 2: about it before the series, as he was the biggest
Speaker 2: swing factor for Indiana. He was going to need to
Speaker 2: be able to hit the open threes. He was just
Speaker 2: four for nineteen through the first five games of this
Speaker 2: series on catch and shoot jump shots. Just not good enough.
Speaker 2: He wasn't good in his ball screen coverages. We're about
Speaker 2: to talk about it in a minute, but I want
Speaker 2: to cut him some slack on that because I blame
Speaker 2: Carlyle more than I blame him. But on the offensive end,
Speaker 2: that was where he needed to be better. If he goes,
Speaker 2: you know, eight for nineteen on those catch and shoot
Speaker 2: jump shots, it might have been the difference in this series.
Speaker 2: Potentially that was a missed opportunity. The ball screen coverages.
Speaker 2: I've been mentioning about this the entire series. The specific
Speaker 2: thing I've been complaining about is on especially extended ball screens.
Speaker 2: It's one thing in the half court in a situation
Speaker 2: where Shae doesn't have ahead of steam, or he's standing,
Speaker 2: you know, twenty four feet from the basket on the
Speaker 2: left wing, and here comes the ball screen and he
Speaker 2: comes off the ball screen and Turner's at the level.
Speaker 2: That's one thing where Turner has a fighting chance to
Speaker 2: keep Shaye in front because Shae doesn't have ahead of steam.
Speaker 2: I would have been more okay with that coverage. But
Speaker 2: in these extended ball pressure screens where Hart and Stein
Speaker 2: and shd or screening for Shay sometimes beyond half court
Speaker 2: sixty feet from the rim, sometimes in front of half
Speaker 2: court forty thirty five feet from the rim. For Turner
Speaker 2: to be up that high, for Tony Bradley to be
Speaker 2: up that high on a ball screen is foolish. And
Speaker 2: they were giving up dribble penetration where where Shaye or
Speaker 2: Jadub was getting past Turner or getting past Bradley so
Speaker 2: far out from the basket that they're just parading down
Speaker 2: the lane for layups, fouls, easy kickouts, while Turner and
Speaker 2: Bradley are jogging in from behind the play and it's
Speaker 2: stupid because Miles Turner's best attribute on defense is his
Speaker 2: length that has value at the rim. It is a
Speaker 2: non factor out that far from the basket. You know
Speaker 2: what is a factor that far from the basket his
Speaker 2: slow foot speed, which was consistently exploited. If he's out
Speaker 2: underneath the basket, it's a much more achievable defensive job
Speaker 2: for Miles Turner to do. And Guys, I don't think
Speaker 2: we've seen this again. We saw this with Minnesota, to
Speaker 2: a more exaggerated version of it. This extended pressure against
Speaker 2: Oklahoma City hasn't worked. Guys, Guess who has been the
Speaker 2: most efficient defense against Oklahoma City in these playoffs. Guess
Speaker 2: which team has done the best job guarding the Thunder.
Speaker 2: The Denver Nuggets. They've lo likeed a one to thirteen
Speaker 2: point eight defensive rating against the Thunder in seven games.
Speaker 2: And what did they do. They sagged back, they gapped,
Speaker 2: They ran a ton of zone. They forced Oklahoma City
Speaker 2: to beat them by processing and by hitting jump shots,
Speaker 2: not by allowing them to get easy, easy dribble penetration
Speaker 2: over and over again with a foolishly over extended defense.
Speaker 2: And again, I wasn't even necessarily against the ball pressure.
Speaker 2: I understood some of the fatigue advantages there. I just
Speaker 2: did not understand Rick Carlyle's approach bringing his bigs out
Speaker 2: that far for the entire series. I thought that was
Speaker 2: a mistake. The pathways there for the Pacers, It's not
Speaker 2: over by any stretch of the imagination. It's just so narrow.
Speaker 2: And then even if they end up in a situation
Speaker 2: where like they win Game six and they have a
Speaker 2: tie game with four minutes left in Game seven, I
Speaker 2: just don't think they've established anything that is reliable to
Speaker 2: score against Oklahoma City's defense. And it just seems like
Speaker 2: such a narrow pathway for me at this point. All right, guys,
Speaker 2: That's all I have for today is always a sincerely
Speaker 2: appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show.
Speaker 2: We will be back live on YouTube on Thursday night
Speaker 2: for Game six of the NBA Finals. I will see
Speaker 2: you guys there. What's up guys? As always, I appreciate
Speaker 2: you for listening to and supporting OOPS tonight. They would
Speaker 2: actually be really helpful for us if you guys would
Speaker 2: take a second and leave a rating and a review.
Speaker 2: As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if
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Speaker 1: The volume