1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:16,760 Speaker 1: The volume. All right, old good hoops to night here 2 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:18,919 Speaker 1: at the volume heavy Monday, everybody hopeful. If you guys 3 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:20,880 Speaker 1: had an incredible weekend. I hope you guys got a 4 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:23,160 Speaker 1: chance to watch as much basketball as I did this 5 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 1: weekend because we had a bunch of highly entertaining NBA games, 6 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:30,160 Speaker 1: a jam packed weekend of college oops. We're gonna talk 7 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:31,680 Speaker 1: a little bit about all that today. I figured the 8 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:33,479 Speaker 1: best format for us to hit on all the things 9 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:35,239 Speaker 1: I wanted to hit at would be for us to 10 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:39,760 Speaker 1: do ten takeaways from a wild weekend of basketball. We're 11 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:41,760 Speaker 1: gonna say focused on the NBA at the top, I'm 12 00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:44,879 Speaker 1: gonna be hitting a bunch of teams from both conferences 13 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: for our first eight takeaways, and then at the end, 14 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: I'm gonna talk a little bit about my initial takeaways 15 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:52,199 Speaker 1: from this weekend of college hoops. You guys know the 16 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:55,080 Speaker 1: joke before we started. Subscribe to Oops on YouTube channels 17 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:56,920 Speaker 1: you don't miss any more of our videos. Make sure 18 00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: you like this video and sign up for post notifications. 19 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 1: That helps us a lot, at least if you want 20 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 1: to get mail bag questions into our mail bags, dropped 21 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 1: them in our full episodes on YouTube in the comments 22 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:06,959 Speaker 1: underneath them. We'll get to them throughout the remainder of 23 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:10,200 Speaker 1: the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. Number one 24 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,800 Speaker 1: first takeaway from a while the weekend, the Minnesota Timberwolves 25 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: continue to be a weirdly feisty, at least regular season 26 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:23,399 Speaker 1: team without Anthony Edwards. The Timberwolves wrote a massive fourth 27 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,800 Speaker 1: quarter run to essentially blow out the Celtics in Boston yesterday. 28 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 1: They went up by as many as sixteen points in 29 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. The run started after Boston had gone 30 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: up three on a Derek White driving layup. The run 31 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:38,039 Speaker 1: started with Bones Highland cooking up Boston's drop coverage look 32 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:40,480 Speaker 1: with Nimi Kita on the floor. Very simple stuff, just 33 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:44,760 Speaker 1: some good solid set screens, some quick moves from Bones 34 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: to get Hugo Gonzalez Hugo Gonzalez into a trail position, 35 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: and then from there just you know, you doing classic 36 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: drop coverage stuff right, like putting him in jail, bumping 37 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 1: in with that off shoulder, gets to a little short 38 00:01:56,760 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: jump shot on the right side. On the next one, 39 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:02,000 Speaker 1: it's like, okay, who go knows the bump is coming, 40 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:04,240 Speaker 1: so he's overplaying it a bit and he's kind of 41 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: like draped and leaning on Bones, so Bones just doesn't 42 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:09,520 Speaker 1: even bother going for the bump. He just jumps straight 43 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: up into him picks up a foul. Minnesota was defending 44 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: really well all night. They were doing a lot of 45 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:18,720 Speaker 1: switching when Gobert was off the floor. Now I've talked 46 00:02:18,720 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: about this before, Boston can be a little bit vulnerable 47 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:23,880 Speaker 1: against drop coverage looks, but the Gobar units were actually 48 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: getting cush last night because they couldn't score, and so 49 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:28,760 Speaker 1: NOAs Reed ended up a plus twenty six in this game. 50 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: Chris Finch tucked nos Reed away on Hugo Gonzalez in 51 00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: the corner, and he put Kyle Anderson on Nimi Kta 52 00:02:36,919 --> 00:02:38,640 Speaker 1: and then essentially what he was doing was he was 53 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:41,920 Speaker 1: having Kyle Anderson switch any of those ball screens, and 54 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 1: then when Jalen Clark would get switched on to Nimikyda, 55 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: as Nimi Kida would roll to the basket to try 56 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 1: to get offensive rebound position, then nos Reed and Jalen 57 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:53,919 Speaker 1: Clark would switch, and so that way nas Reed could 58 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 1: keep Nemi Kyda off the glass and Jalen Clark could 59 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:00,080 Speaker 1: close out to who Go Gonzalez in the corner. So 60 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:04,520 Speaker 1: it was just basically putting the Celtics into a lot 61 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:07,360 Speaker 1: of one on one situations, and they were not good 62 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:09,920 Speaker 1: at it at all last night. Kyle Anderson is kind 63 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: of the perfect switch defender for a Boston matchup because 64 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 1: he can just give space and he's long enough to 65 00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: give good contests on pull up jump shots. The Celtics 66 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,680 Speaker 1: took like a half dozen pull up shots over Kyle 67 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:25,280 Speaker 1: Anderson yesterday and they literally missed every single one of 68 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:27,800 Speaker 1: them because Kyle just has the length to close that 69 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:31,639 Speaker 1: space and make them uncomfortable. Jason Tatum, Dalen Brown, Derek White, 70 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: and Peyton Pritchard combined to score seventy points on sixty eight. 71 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:38,680 Speaker 2: Shots, which just isn't gonna cut it. 72 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: Boston shot poorly from three, but it was kind of 73 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: a classic bad Boston shooting game where when you dig 74 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 1: into the numbers, it was like they were four for 75 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: nine on unguarded catch and shoot threes, which is over 76 00:03:48,840 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: forty percent. That's one point three to three points per attempt. 77 00:03:51,600 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: But they were five for twenty four on contested catch 78 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 1: and shoot threes and off the dribble three. So the 79 00:03:56,760 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 1: defensive game plan worked really well for Minnesota. Minnesota scored 80 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 1: in transition quite a bit off of some of those misses. 81 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: In the fourth quarter, Bones Highland got a three on 82 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: the right wing in transition, Nasried had an and one 83 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: trailing a play in transition. Julius Randall had a brutal 84 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:13,280 Speaker 1: shooting night overall. He started the game one for ten, 85 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 1: but he got a couple of his ISOs to go late. 86 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: He drew a foul on Luka Garza and the lane 87 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:19,919 Speaker 1: hit a pull up three in his face, and the 88 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: Wolves basically just methodically pulled away and Boston looks pretty 89 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:26,400 Speaker 1: helpless there in that fourth quarter. And so the Wolves 90 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:29,520 Speaker 1: are now nine to five this season when Anthony Edwards 91 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: is out of the lineup. Now, just like I've said 92 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:34,400 Speaker 1: with so many other star players this year, I don't 93 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 1: think the Wolves are a better team without Anthony Edwards. 94 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: I'd give them almost no shot to win a playoff 95 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:42,839 Speaker 1: series if he was injured for whatever reason in a 96 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 1: playoff series. But I do think the fact that they 97 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:49,279 Speaker 1: do have a higher win percentage with ANT or without 98 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:51,520 Speaker 1: Ant then with ANT. So they're about sixty four percent 99 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,279 Speaker 1: without Ant this year about sixty percent with ANT. I 100 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:58,160 Speaker 1: think that's interesting and informative as to where Minnesota's potential 101 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:01,280 Speaker 1: fixes are in the future. So the question is what 102 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 1: drives this success, And I actually think the answer is 103 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,480 Speaker 1: pretty simple. I think it comes down to effort. This 104 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 1: is an extraordinarily arrogant Wolves team, and when they are 105 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,279 Speaker 1: fully healthy, they seem to think they can just coast 106 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:16,480 Speaker 1: to victories. And there isn't really any team in the 107 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:18,840 Speaker 1: league that can coast to victories with how talented the 108 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:21,919 Speaker 1: league is, not even Oklahoma City. They just happen to 109 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:24,560 Speaker 1: have an extremely strong culture where they play super hard 110 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:27,400 Speaker 1: all the time. Where you see that Anthony Edwards off 111 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 1: the floor numbers really show up is on the defensive 112 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:33,760 Speaker 1: end of the floor. The Timberwolves defense is seven and 113 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: a half points better per one hundred possessions with an 114 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:39,160 Speaker 1: off versus on. Now, before you just go oh, it's 115 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: because Ant's a bad defender and is a very limited 116 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,839 Speaker 1: defender that has some real shortcomings, particularly off the ball. 117 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: Like if you ask Aunt, like, hey, just go guard 118 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:50,560 Speaker 1: shake Gilles Alexander on an island for this one possession. 119 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: He might be the best guy in the league for that, 120 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:55,720 Speaker 1: But like, that's just not basketball. Basketball is movement and 121 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:58,480 Speaker 1: flow and on and off ball sequences and a lot 122 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:01,600 Speaker 1: about attentiveness and game discipline and all these little things, 123 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:03,880 Speaker 1: and Ant can be pretty weak in those areas. But 124 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:07,080 Speaker 1: that seven and a half point discrepancy is a discrepancy 125 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:09,920 Speaker 1: is way too large of a discrepancy to just simply 126 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:13,200 Speaker 1: blame on Anthony Edwards. I think some of it is 127 00:06:13,240 --> 00:06:16,560 Speaker 1: on Chris Finch and the way that he has failed 128 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:19,840 Speaker 1: to motivate this group to play super hard when Ant 129 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:21,560 Speaker 1: is on the floor. And I also think some of 130 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: this is on Ant and a lack of maturity and 131 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 1: him not being the leader that is driving the level 132 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:30,560 Speaker 1: of defensive effort. The bottom line is, when Ann is 133 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: off the floor, they go, we have to win with 134 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:37,640 Speaker 1: defense because we're not good enough on offense. The Wolves 135 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:39,920 Speaker 1: offense is way better with Ant on the floor versus 136 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:42,680 Speaker 1: off It's not like the Wolves are just getting absolutely 137 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:45,120 Speaker 1: destroyed when Ant's on the floor and winning when he's off. 138 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: It's just their defense gets way better when he's off 139 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: the floor. And so I've said this before, but I 140 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:53,640 Speaker 1: think the Wolves probably need a coaching change. I just 141 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:57,599 Speaker 1: think Chris Finch, between one his susceptibility to switching schemes 142 00:06:57,600 --> 00:06:59,720 Speaker 1: on the way his team can just get really stagnant. 143 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:02,640 Speaker 1: I think that that just shines a light on him 144 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:06,400 Speaker 1: not getting the group to move and flow enough to 145 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: actually make defenses pay for those for those schemes, and 146 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:12,280 Speaker 1: how stagnant they can get in those situations. And I 147 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: just think in general, between the effort stuff and how 148 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 1: rudimentary their offense can look at times, I think they 149 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: probably need a different voice in front of the team. 150 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:21,080 Speaker 1: And I do think that if the Wolves end up losing, 151 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:24,240 Speaker 1: especially in the first round, that we'll probably see Chris 152 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 1: Finch get fired this summer. But I also think Ant 153 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:29,480 Speaker 1: has a lot of maturing to do. Like this is 154 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: again like when you're talking about leadership, it's one thing 155 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:36,520 Speaker 1: when we're looking at really old stars like the Steph 156 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:40,280 Speaker 1: Curry with the Warriors this year, or Lebron James with 157 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:43,800 Speaker 1: some of those older last couple of years flawed Lakers teams, 158 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:46,120 Speaker 1: or Kevin Durant on that Suns team where you're like, Okay, 159 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:49,000 Speaker 1: I'm thirty eight or forty years old and this team 160 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:51,440 Speaker 1: has no shot, Like okay, I'm not bringing my best 161 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:53,320 Speaker 1: effort every single night. Like that I see and I 162 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:55,680 Speaker 1: go like, oh that, I can kind of see why 163 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:56,280 Speaker 1: those guys. 164 00:07:56,120 --> 00:07:56,560 Speaker 2: Are doing that. 165 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: But when you're a twenty three year old star, twenty 166 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 1: four year old star who's like ascending and has the 167 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 1: energy and the wherewithal to actually bring it every single night, 168 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:10,520 Speaker 1: and you have a team that has legitimate championship potential, it's. 169 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:12,560 Speaker 2: On you to bring that energy. 170 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:16,280 Speaker 1: Like what is Lebron doing now when he sees, oh, crap, 171 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 1: we have a chance to win the title this year. 172 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:21,160 Speaker 1: Lebron's like bringing it every night and setting the example, 173 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 1: like Steph Curry before the Jimmy Butler injury. Look at 174 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: how engaged he was at the tail end of the 175 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:29,960 Speaker 1: season last year on that stretch run. Like leadership is 176 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,560 Speaker 1: when you know you have a shot, you've got to 177 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:34,680 Speaker 1: set the example and you've got to bring it. And 178 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:36,440 Speaker 1: I think that Ant has a lot of maturing to do, 179 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:38,760 Speaker 1: especially with the example that he sets night and night 180 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 1: out in the regular season with his effort. We've talked 181 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:43,280 Speaker 1: about this a lot, but like margin for error in 182 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: the playoffs is extremely small, and so if you practice 183 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 1: playing bad basketball, even if you are a good switch 184 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 1: flipping team, and there are good switch flipping teams, Denver 185 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:54,080 Speaker 1: can flip the switch, Minnesota can flip the switch. We 186 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:56,760 Speaker 1: know that right, But like, if you're a switch flipping team, 187 00:08:57,120 --> 00:08:59,480 Speaker 1: you're not gonna be as good as you could be 188 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:03,000 Speaker 1: simply practiced playing good basketball every single night. And so 189 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:05,040 Speaker 1: I do think that some of this is on ant 190 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:08,360 Speaker 1: and a lack of maturity there. Last know, before we 191 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:11,240 Speaker 1: move on, I do love Kyle Anderson on this particular team. 192 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: So funny how like we're gonna talk about this a 193 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:14,520 Speaker 1: little bit when we get to lu Kenard later in 194 00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:16,840 Speaker 1: the show. But your value as a basketball player is 195 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:18,840 Speaker 1: unique to your team and what they need from you. 196 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:21,560 Speaker 1: And it's so interesting to see how Kyle Anderson has 197 00:09:21,559 --> 00:09:23,719 Speaker 1: been kind of like an odd man out everywhere he's 198 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:26,440 Speaker 1: been recently, but in Minnesota, it's like he's just a 199 00:09:26,559 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 1: super valuable role player here and unlocks a lot of 200 00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:32,240 Speaker 1: their defensive versatility. We talked yesterday about his ability to 201 00:09:32,280 --> 00:09:35,160 Speaker 1: play alongside nas Red and put Naz Reed on a 202 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:38,000 Speaker 1: week side shooter because Kyle Anderson can switch ball screens, 203 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:40,040 Speaker 1: but he's also big and strong enough to hold up 204 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:43,960 Speaker 1: reasonably well on the glass. The Nas Red Kyle Anderson 205 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:47,199 Speaker 1: lineups without Anthony Edwards are outscoring teams by seven points 206 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:48,319 Speaker 1: per one hundred possessions. 207 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:48,920 Speaker 2: So far. 208 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:51,200 Speaker 1: I also think he's just a natural ball mover, which 209 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:53,160 Speaker 1: I think helps grease the wheels a little bit for 210 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:55,720 Speaker 1: Minnesota's offense. It's been fun watching Kyle Anderson in this group. 211 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:58,040 Speaker 1: He had this hilarious play last night where he hit 212 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 1: like four in and out dribbles with his li hand consecutively, 213 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,679 Speaker 1: and like I think it, Luca Garza was guarding him 214 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:06,560 Speaker 1: fronm ever correctly and he was just buckling the whole 215 00:10:06,559 --> 00:10:08,160 Speaker 1: time before he hit his little float floater. 216 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:12,760 Speaker 2: Just classic slow mo stuff from Kyle Anderson. Number two. 217 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:16,440 Speaker 1: The Boston Celtics continue to really struggle against the best 218 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:20,280 Speaker 1: teams in basketball, even with Jason Tatum. After last night, 219 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:23,240 Speaker 1: Boston fell to just six and fourteen against teams in 220 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:26,000 Speaker 1: the top ten in point differential, a dynamic that has 221 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:28,920 Speaker 1: continued even after adding Jason Tatum to the formula, and 222 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 1: it happens on both ends of the floor. Their offensive 223 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:33,959 Speaker 1: rating plummets down to one to twelve in those games, 224 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:37,920 Speaker 1: and their defensive rating rockets up to one eighteen. We 225 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:39,959 Speaker 1: saw a lot of their flaws on display last night. 226 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:44,640 Speaker 1: Their bigs can be vulnerable in drop coverage, their struggles 227 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,880 Speaker 1: generating quality three point looks, part. It's a combination of 228 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:51,360 Speaker 1: several things, like they all of their stars with except 229 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:54,240 Speaker 1: like Jalen Brown is their best first step quickness guy, 230 00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:58,400 Speaker 1: but he's the worst passer. And then Derek White, Peyton Pritchard, 231 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:00,440 Speaker 1: and Jason Tatum are way better at making the reads, 232 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,560 Speaker 1: but they struggle with first step quickness. So against really 233 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:06,400 Speaker 1: good defenses that can switch, they can get into matchup hunting, 234 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:08,800 Speaker 1: and then they can struggle to score in their one 235 00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:11,480 Speaker 1: on ones as Jalen Brown just forces the issue into 236 00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:14,680 Speaker 1: traffic and misses easy reads, or their other three ball 237 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:18,440 Speaker 1: handlers can struggle to generate advantage some of its confusing 238 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:21,160 Speaker 1: process too. Like I rewatched the start of that fourth 239 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:23,600 Speaker 1: quarter again last night or this morning after I watched 240 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:25,160 Speaker 1: the game, I went back and just rewatched the fourth 241 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 1: quarter because I'm like, why weren't they targeting nas read 242 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:29,959 Speaker 1: More and Nasriet's just standing in the corner guarding who 243 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:32,440 Speaker 1: go Gonzales? And I'm like, that's the one guy there 244 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:34,520 Speaker 1: that like, you're all your dudes have the first step 245 00:11:34,559 --> 00:11:36,200 Speaker 1: quickness to get a step on, and they just weren't 246 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:39,440 Speaker 1: really insistent on attacking him. Instead, they kept going at 247 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: Kyle Anderson, which just felt like a suicide mission. So 248 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:45,720 Speaker 1: it's a process thing, it's a personnel thing. They're really 249 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:48,559 Speaker 1: weak at the center position in terms of their scheme versatility. 250 00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:52,360 Speaker 1: There's been a lot of buzz surrounding the Celtics since 251 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:55,240 Speaker 1: Tatum's return, and a lot of it is well founded. Right, Like, 252 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:57,240 Speaker 1: the top tier in the East has really flawed. I 253 00:11:57,360 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: was super high in Cleveland post trade deadline, but they've 254 00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 1: looked arrible since the herd and trade. They've been awful 255 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:05,560 Speaker 1: on defense. Part of that is the Jared Allen injury. 256 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:07,640 Speaker 1: I'm not writing Cleveland off because I want to see 257 00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:09,760 Speaker 1: what they look like with Jared Allen, and apparently he 258 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:11,760 Speaker 1: might come back at the end of this road trip. 259 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:15,679 Speaker 1: But the consensus seems to be, oh, like, Boston's the 260 00:12:15,720 --> 00:12:18,000 Speaker 1: best team, they're gonna win it. And here's the thing, Like, 261 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:19,120 Speaker 1: if you put a gun to my head and you 262 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:21,480 Speaker 1: were like, who's gonna win the East and I had 263 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:25,480 Speaker 1: to pick somebody right now, I'd probably pick Boston, but 264 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:28,320 Speaker 1: I wouldn't feel super confident about it. I don't think 265 00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:31,400 Speaker 1: they've shown anything that would separate them from that group 266 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:35,000 Speaker 1: of four teams. They just seem like another flawed contender. 267 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:37,760 Speaker 1: At the top of the East, just like Cleveland, just 268 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:40,920 Speaker 1: like Detroit, just like New York. I don't think any 269 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:43,520 Speaker 1: of those four teams has demonstrated themselves as above the 270 00:12:43,559 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 1: rest at this point. Again, that doesn't mean they can't win, 271 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:47,400 Speaker 1: and as I said, if you told me to pick one, 272 00:12:47,679 --> 00:12:50,760 Speaker 1: I'd probably pick Boston. But I separate from the consensus 273 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:52,720 Speaker 1: a bit. And the thing that I in the way 274 00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:54,760 Speaker 1: that I don't think that they're like on some other 275 00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:57,520 Speaker 1: tier than those three teams. I think they're equally as 276 00:12:57,559 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 1: flawed as those three teams. And I think we've underrated 277 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:03,080 Speaker 1: over the last few years just how important now Horford 278 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:08,040 Speaker 1: was to their defensive versatility. I'm super excited to tell 279 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 1: you guys about our new partnership with Viory. Those of 280 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:13,160 Speaker 1: you guys who are familiar with VIORI have noticed that 281 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:15,360 Speaker 1: I've been wearing it on the show almost every day 282 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:18,280 Speaker 1: now for several years. 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Visit the website for full 316 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:04,120 Speaker 1: terms and conditions. Number three Luke Canard is the classic 317 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:08,280 Speaker 1: example of a basketball player and how their value is 318 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:12,520 Speaker 1: unique to what that specific team needs from them. The 319 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:14,840 Speaker 1: Los Angeles Lakers extended their win streak to nine on 320 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:18,000 Speaker 1: Saturday with an incredibly entertaining win against the Orlando Magic. 321 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:21,400 Speaker 1: It was an ugly game, extremely poorly officiated. Shout out 322 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:23,280 Speaker 1: to Mark Davis. I'd be cool if I'd never had 323 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:26,520 Speaker 1: to see him officiate a big playoff game, but unfortunately 324 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:28,320 Speaker 1: that's probably what we're gonna have to see for the 325 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:31,320 Speaker 1: next several years. The Magic, I thought got hosed on 326 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:32,680 Speaker 1: a couple of late calls, and then there are two 327 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:35,000 Speaker 1: fifty to fifty calls the Lebron strip on Palo, Like 328 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:37,400 Speaker 1: if they call it off Lebron, it doesn't get overturned, 329 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:39,400 Speaker 1: so it would go back to Orlando, but they called 330 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:41,720 Speaker 1: it off of Palos, so it didn't get overturned, so 331 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:43,680 Speaker 1: it stayed with the Lakers. And then that other fifty 332 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:46,280 Speaker 1: to fifty call on the Palo Bankara strip on the baseline, 333 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:49,080 Speaker 1: where like it was a classic like Rorshach test play, 334 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:52,400 Speaker 1: where like Palo gets ball first, so if you're a 335 00:15:52,440 --> 00:15:54,320 Speaker 1: Magic fan, you're like, oh, he got ball first. That's 336 00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:58,120 Speaker 1: off of Lebron. But then like Palo like blatantly rakes 337 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:00,440 Speaker 1: across Lebron's arm with his left hand, like one of 338 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:04,080 Speaker 1: the most egregious rake calls there. So like it's all 339 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:07,960 Speaker 1: an interpretation thing because I wouldn't call that marginal contact, 340 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 1: So like you could go again, it's a fifty to 341 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:13,360 Speaker 1: fifty call. If you would have said, hey, Palo stripped 342 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:15,400 Speaker 1: it clean, it's off of Lebron, I'd been like, Okay, 343 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:17,160 Speaker 1: I get it. Or if you would have been like, hey, 344 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:20,360 Speaker 1: Palo rakes Lebron across the arm, I would have got 345 00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:23,680 Speaker 1: that too, so like the ref's kind of compromised by 346 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: just giving the Lakers a base one out of bounds. 347 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:28,160 Speaker 1: But Orlando definitely got hosed on a couple of calls 348 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:30,400 Speaker 1: late in the game. I thought the Lakers got hosed 349 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 1: for a lot of sequences throughout the game, like Austin 350 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:37,600 Speaker 1: Reeves just getting absolutely like a truck sticked by Wendell 351 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:39,840 Speaker 1: Carter Junior a few times, and then Austin getting called 352 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:42,440 Speaker 1: for fouls there. Marcus Smart picked up a technical on 353 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:45,320 Speaker 1: a play where he did absolutely nothing to Goga Bitadze. 354 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:48,320 Speaker 1: I thought that the double techs on Goga and Luca 355 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,240 Speaker 1: were ridiculous, Like players trash talking is part of the 356 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:53,520 Speaker 1: game of basketball, like what are we doing? There's a 357 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:56,320 Speaker 1: conversation to be had about how Luca talks to the refs, 358 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,120 Speaker 1: and him getting fifteen texts to this point is a 359 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:02,600 Speaker 1: valid criticism him. He'll eventually get suspended and he'll probably 360 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:04,960 Speaker 1: deserve it. But I thought that particular set of text 361 00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:07,160 Speaker 1: was ridiculous, Like those refs just need to grow up. 362 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:10,120 Speaker 1: It was a very poorly officiated game, but the game 363 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:12,320 Speaker 1: basically came down to a series of baseline out of 364 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:15,800 Speaker 1: bounds plays drawn up by Lakers assistant coach Greg Saint Jean. 365 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:20,199 Speaker 1: The plays were designed to cause several quick interchanges and 366 00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:24,840 Speaker 1: force Orlando to rapidly make several switches, and in both cases, 367 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:28,680 Speaker 1: Orlando botched the switches. On the first one, they lost 368 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:30,680 Speaker 1: Lebron on the slip. That's where we got that fifty 369 00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:32,879 Speaker 1: to fifty call that went towards the Lakers after Palo 370 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:36,840 Speaker 1: made that impressive recovery, and then they ran it again 371 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:39,040 Speaker 1: a different play, but they ran another baseline out of 372 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:42,639 Speaker 1: bounds and the Magic botched yet another switch. Has Palo 373 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:45,119 Speaker 1: tried to, I don't know, get another play on Lebron? 374 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:47,240 Speaker 1: So as Lebron cut down the middle, Palo ran with 375 00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:49,960 Speaker 1: him and left Canard wide up. And Palo was fantastic 376 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,320 Speaker 1: down the stretch and then made a brutal defensive mistake 377 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:55,560 Speaker 1: on that specific play left Luke Canard wide open. 378 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:55,920 Speaker 2: And guess what. 379 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:58,960 Speaker 1: Luke Canard is shooting fifty five percent this year on 380 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:01,280 Speaker 1: unguarded catch and shoot three, so you know that one 381 00:18:01,359 --> 00:18:04,359 Speaker 1: was going in. He made it and the Lakers escaped 382 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:06,200 Speaker 1: with the win. My last take on the officials, again, 383 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:08,920 Speaker 1: if you're a Magic fan, I totally understand why you'd 384 00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:11,560 Speaker 1: be upset that two fifty to fifty calls went LA's 385 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:12,919 Speaker 1: direction in the final minute. 386 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:14,880 Speaker 2: If you're a Lakers fan, I totally. 387 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:16,920 Speaker 1: Understand why you'd be upset about the other calls throughout 388 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:19,840 Speaker 1: the game and just the general physicality that Orlando got 389 00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:22,880 Speaker 1: away with. But what do I always say, complaining about 390 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:27,000 Speaker 1: officiating is a loser's mentality. As a basketball player or 391 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:30,119 Speaker 1: as a basketball team, you know every time you go 392 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:32,760 Speaker 1: play a game that there will be bad calls, and 393 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:35,080 Speaker 1: there might be some bad calls at the end that 394 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:38,639 Speaker 1: might go against you. There's an eventuality that you have 395 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:40,959 Speaker 1: to be prepared for, and especially when you know that 396 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:43,679 Speaker 1: Mark Davis is in control of the game, you know 397 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:46,400 Speaker 1: damn well that that game is going to probably have 398 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:50,080 Speaker 1: a dozen calls that are awful that go both ways. 399 00:18:50,119 --> 00:18:52,639 Speaker 1: And that's exactly what happened. And the bottom line is, 400 00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:56,560 Speaker 1: if you guys could inbound the ball cleanly, you get fouled, 401 00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: you go make free throws, and you win. If you 402 00:18:59,119 --> 00:19:03,439 Speaker 1: can successful execute your switches on those baseline plays, you 403 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:07,359 Speaker 1: probably forced the Lakers into a heavily contested heave. Luca 404 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:09,800 Speaker 1: was way out of a rhythm down the stretch. Austin's 405 00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:12,000 Speaker 1: probably not athletic enough to get a good look, you 406 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:14,840 Speaker 1: probably win that game. So as a team and as 407 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:17,080 Speaker 1: a player, you got to focus on what you can control. 408 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:19,159 Speaker 1: And for those of you who think I'm just being 409 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:22,240 Speaker 1: base biased towards the Lakers here, just ask Lakers fans. 410 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:25,560 Speaker 1: I've said this exact same thing to them several times 411 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:27,960 Speaker 1: over the years when they've been on the wrong end 412 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:31,320 Speaker 1: of late game bad calls, but alas Luke hits the 413 00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:34,440 Speaker 1: shot and the Lakers win. Luke Canard has brought real 414 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 1: value to the Lakers because of how bad this team 415 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:40,439 Speaker 1: needed three point shooting. Pre All Star Break, the Lakers 416 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:44,280 Speaker 1: were twentieth in three point percentage. Post All Star Break, 417 00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:46,959 Speaker 1: they are fourth, and Luke Canard is a big part 418 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:49,080 Speaker 1: of that. There's other elements of it. Lebron's shot the 419 00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:53,480 Speaker 1: three better since he came back from his couple of injuries, Marcus. 420 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 2: Smart has shot dramatically better. 421 00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:57,920 Speaker 1: Obviously, Austin Reeves being healthy and back in the lineup 422 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:00,720 Speaker 1: has helped their three point shooting, but Luke Cannard is 423 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:02,919 Speaker 1: a big part of that. I've been critical of Rob 424 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:07,760 Speaker 1: Polink over the years, as you guys know, I think 425 00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:09,919 Speaker 1: that if you look at the big picture and what 426 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:11,520 Speaker 1: he's done with this team over the last few years. 427 00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:14,840 Speaker 1: It's been a gross mismanagement of superstar level talent. But 428 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:17,119 Speaker 1: this was a move I liked for the Lakers immediately 429 00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:20,719 Speaker 1: after it happened for several reasons. First of all, I 430 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:24,080 Speaker 1: didn't think the Lakers really demonstrated enough before the deadline 431 00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:27,280 Speaker 1: to be worth a large aggressive investment like some sort 432 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:29,639 Speaker 1: of like if they would have let's say that, for instance, 433 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:31,720 Speaker 1: they would have made a first round pick for like 434 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 1: Io to Soon moose swap, like they would have won 435 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:36,920 Speaker 1: the bidding war with Minnesota, they would have put a 436 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:38,360 Speaker 1: first round pick on the table. That would have been 437 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:41,720 Speaker 1: super aggressive, right. I thought it was completely defensible to 438 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 1: be like, we're not trading to first for out to 439 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:46,080 Speaker 1: Soon move, We're not trading to first for Andrew Wiggins. 440 00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:49,840 Speaker 1: Like this team isn't close enough, let's just wait. I 441 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:52,560 Speaker 1: thought this move, the Luke Canard move was a really 442 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 1: nice compromise from Rob in that it clearly helped the 443 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:57,920 Speaker 1: team in the short term, but it was also relatively 444 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:00,800 Speaker 1: inexpensive in that it only caught than a second round 445 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:02,959 Speaker 1: pick and a player in Gabe Vincent that was deeply 446 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:06,440 Speaker 1: frustrating for the Lakers over the last few years. And secondly, 447 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:09,240 Speaker 1: it represented the Lakers doubling down on his strength. This 448 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:12,560 Speaker 1: Lakers team was really good on offense, but they lacked 449 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 1: jump shooting talent. In other words, they could generate shots, 450 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:17,639 Speaker 1: but they couldn't make the shots. As I always say, 451 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:20,520 Speaker 1: your value is unique to your team. So while I 452 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:23,200 Speaker 1: think Luke would be far less valuable in other situations, 453 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:26,720 Speaker 1: he's very valuable in a Lakers jersey because he represents 454 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:30,480 Speaker 1: something they didn't have, a knockdown three point shooter. I 455 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:32,520 Speaker 1: try to be as fair as I can. I don't 456 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:34,280 Speaker 1: think Rob has done a good job running the Lakers 457 00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:39,200 Speaker 1: basketball ops, but that criticism is unfair and falls flat 458 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:42,119 Speaker 1: if we just pan every single movie makes regardless of 459 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:42,520 Speaker 1: what it is. 460 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:43,320 Speaker 2: We have to be fair. 461 00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:46,520 Speaker 1: Luke Canard helps this team, at least in a regular 462 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:49,600 Speaker 1: season context, and he cost almost nothing, so it was 463 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:50,600 Speaker 1: a savvy move. 464 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:52,760 Speaker 2: On Rob Polinka's part. Number four. 465 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:56,120 Speaker 1: The Orlando Magic are an example of why the Minnesota 466 00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:59,600 Speaker 1: matchup is so tough. Was so tough on the Lakers 467 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:03,000 Speaker 1: last year, and it represents something that they might potentially 468 00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:06,639 Speaker 1: have to overcome this year. The Lakers struggled a bit 469 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:09,600 Speaker 1: with Orlando. As I mentioned earlier, the Lakers got two 470 00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:11,440 Speaker 1: big fifty to fifty calls to go their way late 471 00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:13,800 Speaker 1: in the game. As I've talked about in that last segment, 472 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:17,840 Speaker 1: that's part of the eventuality of playing in a basketball game. 473 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:19,760 Speaker 1: You calls could go with you, they could go against you. 474 00:22:19,800 --> 00:22:22,359 Speaker 1: So like, if that Lebron strip gets called off of 475 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:24,119 Speaker 1: Lebron and they review it and they go, hey, we 476 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:26,800 Speaker 1: can't overturn this, then Orlando gets the ball and they 477 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 1: probably win, right. Or if the baseline official when both 478 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:33,240 Speaker 1: teams were out of challenges calls that ball off of Lebron, 479 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:35,720 Speaker 1: when Palo rakes Lebron on the arm, they give the 480 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:38,920 Speaker 1: ball to Orlando, Orlando wins the game, right. So it's 481 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:43,240 Speaker 1: at least worth digging into why the Lakers streak almost 482 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,240 Speaker 1: was snapped. The Lakers were obviously tired from a long 483 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:48,040 Speaker 1: road trip. Is their third game in four nights, a 484 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:50,680 Speaker 1: lot of travel. But that's not all that happened. Orlando's 485 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:54,119 Speaker 1: very big and physical, and they switched most of the Lakers' 486 00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:56,280 Speaker 1: screening actions. Orlando switches more than just about any team 487 00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:57,800 Speaker 1: in the league. I was talking about this in the Lakers' 488 00:22:57,800 --> 00:23:00,600 Speaker 1: collective pod on Friday. But like, if you look at 489 00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:03,919 Speaker 1: the top of the NBA and isolations defended, Luka Dancic 490 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:05,679 Speaker 1: is number two on that list because the Lakers do 491 00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:07,640 Speaker 1: a ton of switches and the teams have been hunting Luca, 492 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:09,720 Speaker 1: although it's worth mentioning they hunt Luca a lot less 493 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:11,920 Speaker 1: than they used to. But number one on that list 494 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:13,920 Speaker 1: is Wendell Carter Junior, and it's by a gap by 495 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:18,320 Speaker 1: like almost thirty ISOs. Wendell defends a ton of ISOs, 496 00:23:18,359 --> 00:23:20,520 Speaker 1: and he defends them pretty well. He holds teams to 497 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:23,679 Speaker 1: just over zero point eight points per iso when they 498 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:26,400 Speaker 1: attack him on an island. Orlando does a lot of switching. 499 00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:28,360 Speaker 1: They tend to stay home off the ball to take 500 00:23:28,359 --> 00:23:30,439 Speaker 1: away easy three point looks, and they ask you to 501 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,679 Speaker 1: beat them one on one. And after Luca torched them 502 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:35,480 Speaker 1: in the first half, they made an adjustment in the 503 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:37,960 Speaker 1: second half where they pressed up a little bit more 504 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,119 Speaker 1: on him on the three point line, kind of chased 505 00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:42,639 Speaker 1: him off the line into some drives, and so Luca 506 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:47,560 Speaker 1: forced it over some of those press up defensive sequences 507 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,320 Speaker 1: and took some really tough contested threes, which kind of 508 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:52,680 Speaker 1: got him out of rhythm, and on a lot of 509 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:56,080 Speaker 1: those drives, Orlando rotated pretty well and the Lakers were 510 00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:59,040 Speaker 1: struggling to convert them, and so Luca had his first 511 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:01,760 Speaker 1: bad half in a long time. The Lakers offense stalled 512 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:05,440 Speaker 1: out and they almost lost. It wasn't all bad. Austin 513 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:07,360 Speaker 1: found some nice rhythm in the second half after having 514 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:09,720 Speaker 1: a rough first half. He had some really impressive shots 515 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:11,920 Speaker 1: off the dribble, a nasty step back three over Polo 516 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,760 Speaker 1: and Caro, a nasty like hesitation driving lefty layup over 517 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:18,040 Speaker 1: Tristan da Silva, had another like kind of soft touch 518 00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:22,040 Speaker 1: floater driving down the lane on another one, like Austin 519 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:25,200 Speaker 1: found some rhythm. As a team, the Lakers were able 520 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:28,040 Speaker 1: to score in crunch time on a couple of those 521 00:24:28,119 --> 00:24:31,040 Speaker 1: Luca drives after they overplaying his three. Lebron had a 522 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:34,000 Speaker 1: really nice driving up and under finish off of a 523 00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:36,480 Speaker 1: Luca drive down the stretch. And a win is a win, 524 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:39,000 Speaker 1: So it wasn't all bad, but it was an example 525 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:41,159 Speaker 1: of a challenge that the Lakers could face in this 526 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:46,640 Speaker 1: year's playoff front. Orlando is big and they can switch now. 527 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:49,280 Speaker 1: The Lakers will almost certainly not play the magic in 528 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:51,480 Speaker 1: a playoff series. The Magic are entirely too flawed to 529 00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:54,520 Speaker 1: win their conference, but Minnesota brings a lot of those 530 00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:59,280 Speaker 1: similar conundrums to the table. They're big and they can switch. Now, 531 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:01,200 Speaker 1: when the Lakers be them a couple weeks ago, they 532 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:04,600 Speaker 1: didn't switch in that game. They ran drop with Rudy Gobert. 533 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:06,840 Speaker 1: But I actually thought Chris Finch did that on purpose. 534 00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:09,480 Speaker 1: I thought he did that on purpose to prevent LA 535 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:13,159 Speaker 1: from getting reps against that look we saw in the 536 00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:16,320 Speaker 1: first round series last year. He was switching with Gobert, 537 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:18,439 Speaker 1: so I would expect him to do the same if 538 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,280 Speaker 1: they were to match up this season. Now, the Lakers 539 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:24,240 Speaker 1: could end up avoiding Minnesota this year too. Minnesota could 540 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:25,680 Speaker 1: end up landing in the four or five. As a 541 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:28,360 Speaker 1: matter of fact, I think that is not entirely likely, 542 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:30,439 Speaker 1: but it's very possible, especially if Minnesota can win their 543 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:31,840 Speaker 1: head to head against Houston coming up. 544 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:33,600 Speaker 2: I think they play here in the next week. 545 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,160 Speaker 1: But like if Minnesota gets up to the four or five, 546 00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:40,119 Speaker 1: and they would have to beat Denver and beat Oklahoma 547 00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:42,159 Speaker 1: City in order to meet the Lakers, so it's possible 548 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:44,399 Speaker 1: that they don't have to play Minnesota either. But We 549 00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: saw a Houston look in that Monday game last week 550 00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:50,720 Speaker 1: where they went small without a big on the floor, 551 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:52,960 Speaker 1: and they switched everything and they cost some issues for 552 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:56,400 Speaker 1: the Lakers' offense. Now, I would argue with Houston in particular, 553 00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:59,720 Speaker 1: they would just really struggle to score if they went small. 554 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:01,840 Speaker 1: I think the Lakers would fare better in that type 555 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:04,560 Speaker 1: of matchup. But the point is it's worth mentioning the 556 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:08,920 Speaker 1: Lakers have shown some vulnerability against really big teams that 557 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:11,159 Speaker 1: can switch, and the two teams in the West that 558 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:13,440 Speaker 1: they could face that could end up doing that are 559 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:17,800 Speaker 1: teams like Houston and Minnesota. Now teams like Oklahoma City 560 00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:20,640 Speaker 1: if they were to switch, the Lakers could attack Smalls. 561 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:23,040 Speaker 1: Denver is gonna have Yokic on the floor so much 562 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:24,720 Speaker 1: so they're not going to switch as much. So it's 563 00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:27,160 Speaker 1: more of a Houston Minnesota problem. But it's at least 564 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,440 Speaker 1: worth discussing that the Lakers have shown some vulnerability against 565 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:32,720 Speaker 1: that look. The key is going to be getting Austin 566 00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:34,600 Speaker 1: and Luca to be in rhythm at the same time. 567 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:37,840 Speaker 1: On the Monday night game against Houston, Austin was off, 568 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:40,639 Speaker 1: but Luca was able to carry them home. On Saturday, 569 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:43,440 Speaker 1: Luca was off, but Austin was able to get them 570 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:45,119 Speaker 1: going in that fourth quarter. I think in order to 571 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:47,600 Speaker 1: win a series against those teams, the Lakers will need 572 00:26:47,640 --> 00:26:52,400 Speaker 1: those two guys to be great. Number five, Cam Johnson 573 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,840 Speaker 1: is starting to find his footing in Denver's offense. The 574 00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 1: Nuggets got a couple of big wins this weekend against 575 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:01,800 Speaker 1: a feisty Toronto rap team in a Portland Trailblazers team 576 00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:04,040 Speaker 1: last night. It was their bench groups that carried them 577 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:07,080 Speaker 1: against Toronto and their starters that carried them against Portland. 578 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:08,879 Speaker 1: But I want to zoom in on Cam Johnson for 579 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:11,840 Speaker 1: a minute. In the last seven games, he's averaging sixteen 580 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:15,359 Speaker 1: points on fifty nine percent from the field, in fifty 581 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:18,240 Speaker 1: seven percent from three. But the biggest thing that's standing 582 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:20,520 Speaker 1: out to me is actually his level of aggression. Go 583 00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:22,879 Speaker 1: look at his shots that he was taking against Portland 584 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:25,800 Speaker 1: last night. They were aggressive off the dribble, pull up 585 00:27:25,800 --> 00:27:30,440 Speaker 1: three in transition a step back three along the kind 586 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:33,320 Speaker 1: of like right wing area off of an offensive rebound. 587 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:35,679 Speaker 1: He took like a jab step three off of a 588 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,800 Speaker 1: triple threat from like twenty nine feet from the basket 589 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:43,119 Speaker 1: off of the right wing, like very very aggressive in general. Lately, 590 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:46,600 Speaker 1: the threshold of what Cam Johnson considers to be a 591 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:51,640 Speaker 1: good shot has shifted towards being more aggressive. I thought 592 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:54,000 Speaker 1: early in the year Cam was just way too focused 593 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:58,440 Speaker 1: on not rocking the boat, taking the open catch and 594 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:00,919 Speaker 1: shoot looks that would come natural in the offense. And 595 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:03,680 Speaker 1: the problem is is that that small forward spot is 596 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:07,600 Speaker 1: a very important spot in Denver's offense where they need 597 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:10,080 Speaker 1: him to be aggressive, I think, especially for them to 598 00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:12,920 Speaker 1: reach their ceiling this season. And so it's just been 599 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:15,760 Speaker 1: really good to see Cam Johnson power through that shooting 600 00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:17,760 Speaker 1: slump he had when he came back from his injury 601 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:21,439 Speaker 1: and to find some groove as an aggressive score in 602 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:23,520 Speaker 1: that Denver offense. Like we talked about this a lot 603 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:26,040 Speaker 1: with san Antonio, but there's an empowerment thing that can 604 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:28,280 Speaker 1: happen when every guy on the floor feels like he 605 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:31,720 Speaker 1: can be aggressive, especially when you trust your defense. Now 606 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:34,480 Speaker 1: Denver obviously has some ground to gain on the defensive 607 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:37,080 Speaker 1: end of the floor, but like when every player on 608 00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:39,800 Speaker 1: the floor feels empowered, like you watch it with the 609 00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:42,440 Speaker 1: Spurs right, Victor will take any open three he gets. 610 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:43,640 Speaker 2: Uh. 611 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:46,280 Speaker 1: Harrison Barnes and Julian Schimpenny will take any opening three 612 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:48,640 Speaker 1: open three he gets. Steph Castle has been more aggressive 613 00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:51,080 Speaker 1: from three as of late, even like Keldon Johnson will 614 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:53,320 Speaker 1: be like super aggressive on catch and shoot threes even 615 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:55,640 Speaker 1: when he's not like super super open, right. But what 616 00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:58,600 Speaker 1: happens is is it pushes up their volume and guys 617 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:01,560 Speaker 1: feel more confident. When guy hesitant, when they don't want 618 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:04,320 Speaker 1: to shoot, that's when you can really get into some slumps. 619 00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:06,280 Speaker 1: And so I think it's very important for the Nuggets 620 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:09,000 Speaker 1: to reach their ultimate ceiling. If you look at the lineup, 621 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:11,520 Speaker 1: and it's like, if Jamal gets a look, he's taken it. 622 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:14,200 Speaker 1: If Christian Brown gets a look, he's taken it. If 623 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,320 Speaker 1: Cam gets a look, he's taken it. If Aaron Gordon 624 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:18,240 Speaker 1: gets a look, he's taken it. And if Jokic gets 625 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:20,360 Speaker 1: a look, he's taken it. When you've got a guy 626 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:23,040 Speaker 1: in there, in one guy in the mix that's hesitant, 627 00:29:23,400 --> 00:29:25,800 Speaker 1: that's when things can start to tilt in that direction 628 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:27,880 Speaker 1: in a bad way. And so I think, you know, 629 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:29,480 Speaker 1: and especially when you look at what it looked like 630 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:31,719 Speaker 1: with Michael Porter Junior, I mean, he was arguably the 631 00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:34,400 Speaker 1: most aggressive catch and shoot player on the team, so 632 00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:36,600 Speaker 1: I think Cam kind of tilting in that direction has 633 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:39,920 Speaker 1: been good for the team. Lastly, I think people are 634 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:43,000 Speaker 1: underestimating how good this Denver Nuggets team is because they've 635 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:45,440 Speaker 1: succumbed to their schedule a little bit. Obviously, the peak 636 00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:49,000 Speaker 1: being that bad loss in Memphis against a team that's 637 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:51,720 Speaker 1: basically trying to lose. But I saw some stats the 638 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:55,080 Speaker 1: other day shared by my friend Adam Marrez, who was 639 00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:59,320 Speaker 1: demonstrating just how insane Denver's schedule has been this season. 640 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:01,680 Speaker 1: I have the most back to backs and the most 641 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:04,840 Speaker 1: road back to backs in the league. They have three 642 00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:08,520 Speaker 1: more back to backs than twenty two of the NBA teams. 643 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:12,360 Speaker 1: Their longest home stand this entire season has been just 644 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:17,760 Speaker 1: four games. They've had eleven one game home stands. Imagine that, 645 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:20,440 Speaker 1: like you're on a road trip and you come home 646 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:22,920 Speaker 1: and it's like, all right, we're home, We're with our family. 647 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:26,360 Speaker 1: I'm sleeping in my own bed. Play a game back 648 00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:31,280 Speaker 1: on the road. They had a six week stretch without 649 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:34,200 Speaker 1: playing two games in a row in the same city. 650 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:36,880 Speaker 1: Think about how insane that is. Think about how hard 651 00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:39,760 Speaker 1: that would be on you mentally to be away from 652 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:41,240 Speaker 1: home for six weeks. 653 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:41,800 Speaker 2: It's so funny. 654 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:44,880 Speaker 1: My wife and I we we rewatched at Astra yesterday 655 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:47,840 Speaker 1: I watched Project Hill Mary and so we were in 656 00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 1: a little bit of like a sci fi space travel kick. 657 00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:53,320 Speaker 1: And I really did not like ad Astra the first 658 00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:54,000 Speaker 1: time I watched it. 659 00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:54,640 Speaker 2: Neither did my. 660 00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:57,080 Speaker 1: Wife, but we were like, let's try giving it just 661 00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:00,400 Speaker 1: like one more shot. I equally did not like it 662 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:03,240 Speaker 1: the second time. But it's got this like interesting kind 663 00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:05,680 Speaker 1: of plotline in the sense that you know, brad Pitt's 664 00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,480 Speaker 1: father goes out to Neptune on this mission to try 665 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:12,920 Speaker 1: to pursue evidence of extraterrestrial life, and his crew mutinies 666 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:16,040 Speaker 1: on him because they're too far away from home. And 667 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:17,880 Speaker 1: it gets a little bit more complicated because you find 668 00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:19,520 Speaker 1: out when you get to the end that the reason 669 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:21,720 Speaker 1: why they mutin Need is that he didn't find any 670 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:25,120 Speaker 1: evidence of extraterrestrial life, so they had essentially completed the mission, 671 00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:27,800 Speaker 1: so it was time for them to go home, and 672 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:29,800 Speaker 1: brad Pitt's dad would not let them go home, so 673 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:31,880 Speaker 1: they mute Need and he ended up killing all of them, right. 674 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:33,560 Speaker 2: But throughout the movie there's these weird like. 675 00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:37,720 Speaker 1: Psychological evails where they're like constantly causing making Brad Pitt 676 00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 1: do these like quick like interviews essentially with what seems 677 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:44,000 Speaker 1: to be like an artificial intelligence entity, where he's just 678 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:46,440 Speaker 1: answering these questions about his mental state. And then you 679 00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:48,480 Speaker 1: find out, Oh, the reason why they're doing these psyche 680 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:51,640 Speaker 1: evals is Brad Pitt's dad basically said, the reason why 681 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:54,200 Speaker 1: they mute need is they all went crazy, and so 682 00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:57,440 Speaker 1: the government is now essentially focused on keeping them mentally 683 00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:00,040 Speaker 1: healthy as they travel across the solar system. And I 684 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:01,560 Speaker 1: was literally thinking about that when I was looking at 685 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:03,960 Speaker 1: that stat this morning. I'm like, I would probably go 686 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 1: insane if, like I didn't get to spend any large 687 00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:11,320 Speaker 1: chunk of time in my house for six straight weeks, 688 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:13,560 Speaker 1: if I was just popping in for a day or 689 00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:15,120 Speaker 1: two and then I had to get back out on 690 00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:18,480 Speaker 1: the road. Like it was a not like every NBA 691 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:21,760 Speaker 1: team goes through tough stretches of schedule, but what Denver 692 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:25,040 Speaker 1: had to go through this year was an extraordinary stretch 693 00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:29,640 Speaker 1: of extremely tough schedule. And like, as I said this 694 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:31,520 Speaker 1: with Golden State early in the year, and that ended 695 00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:33,560 Speaker 1: up being derailed because Jimmy Butler got hurt and then 696 00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:35,840 Speaker 1: Steph Curry got hurt. So no one really knows how 697 00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:38,120 Speaker 1: good that Golden State Warriors team was, But I think 698 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:40,480 Speaker 1: they got really beat down by their schedule early in 699 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:42,600 Speaker 1: the year, and it has chewed up and spit out 700 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:45,080 Speaker 1: various teams at various points this year. It's one of 701 00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:47,960 Speaker 1: the weird things that has me kind of optimistic about 702 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:51,840 Speaker 1: this Lakers team is their March is their brutal stretch 703 00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:53,560 Speaker 1: of the schedule. They had eleven games in the first 704 00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:55,360 Speaker 1: nineteen days of the month. They're on this long road 705 00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:57,480 Speaker 1: trip now and they're just chewing up and spitting out 706 00:32:57,520 --> 00:32:59,760 Speaker 1: every team that they run into. But a lot of 707 00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:01,840 Speaker 1: these teams, especially the thing with the difference with the 708 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:05,200 Speaker 1: Lakers is the Lakers are like discovering their ceiling right now. 709 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:07,480 Speaker 1: So they're all stoked, they're addicted to winning, they're having 710 00:33:07,480 --> 00:33:10,400 Speaker 1: a great time. Denver won the championship at twenty twenty three. 711 00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:12,920 Speaker 1: Golden State won the championship in twenty twenty two. When 712 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:14,880 Speaker 1: you've like already been there and you already know what 713 00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:16,640 Speaker 1: the ceiling is and you're kind of just getting to 714 00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:19,560 Speaker 1: the finish line, it's really hard to slog through some 715 00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:22,040 Speaker 1: of these stretches, and Denver definitely succme to their schedule 716 00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:25,520 Speaker 1: a little bit. I haven't checked it since before these 717 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:29,040 Speaker 1: last two weekend games. But before the Toronto Portland games 718 00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:33,240 Speaker 1: this weekend, Denver starting lineup went healthy, was outscoring teams 719 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:36,800 Speaker 1: by twenty points per one hundred possessions. So take a 720 00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:39,120 Speaker 1: chill pill and relax. I do think Denver is a 721 00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:41,880 Speaker 1: lot better than their record would lead you to believe 722 00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:43,880 Speaker 1: at this point in time. I still think they're in 723 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:47,440 Speaker 1: that same tier with San Antonio and Okay see at 724 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:48,640 Speaker 1: the top of the league. If you ask me if 725 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:50,200 Speaker 1: the Lakers are in that tier, I don't know yet. 726 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:52,040 Speaker 1: I need to see a little bit more over the 727 00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:54,040 Speaker 1: course of the next couple of weeks. I'm really keyed 728 00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:56,400 Speaker 1: in on that Oklahoma City matchup that's coming up here 729 00:33:57,120 --> 00:34:00,320 Speaker 1: in the next week or two. 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In Indiana, if 757 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:09,440 Speaker 1: you or someone you know has a gambling problem and 758 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:11,879 Speaker 1: wants help, call one eight hundred and nine with it. 759 00:35:12,239 --> 00:35:15,520 Speaker 1: In Ohio, call one eight hundred my reset gambling problem 760 00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:19,960 Speaker 1: called one hundred gambler. In Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Tennessee, 761 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:21,040 Speaker 1: or Virginia. 762 00:35:22,680 --> 00:35:23,200 Speaker 2: Number six. 763 00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:26,319 Speaker 1: The Darius Garland trade is starting to pay dividends for 764 00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:29,120 Speaker 1: the LA Clippers. So when we talked about the James 765 00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:33,359 Speaker 1: Harden trade, very clearly up front, it was not like a, oh, 766 00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:36,680 Speaker 1: James Harden's just better than Darius Garland. This is the easiest, 767 00:35:36,719 --> 00:35:40,120 Speaker 1: simplest trade ever. No, like the it was a health 768 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:43,600 Speaker 1: versus upside trade off. I've talked extensively about how like, 769 00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:46,000 Speaker 1: when Darius Garland is healthy, he's one of the most 770 00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:48,719 Speaker 1: gifted offensive engines in the league because he can get 771 00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:52,280 Speaker 1: so much trible penetration and he's such a great passer 772 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:55,040 Speaker 1: at times. Over the last couple of years, when he 773 00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:57,120 Speaker 1: was healthy in Cleveland, it looked like the best offense 774 00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:00,520 Speaker 1: in the NBA. But he could never sustain his health 775 00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:03,120 Speaker 1: long enough, and so for Cleveland it became a very 776 00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:07,040 Speaker 1: simple proposition. We feel urgency to try to win right 777 00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:09,600 Speaker 1: now with the group that we have, especially given how 778 00:36:09,640 --> 00:36:13,880 Speaker 1: expensive our roster is. So why don't we flip Garland 779 00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:16,840 Speaker 1: for a player that might have a slightly lower ceiling, 780 00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:20,040 Speaker 1: but that's definitely having a better season and that's far 781 00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:22,440 Speaker 1: more likely to be healthy when we get down the line, 782 00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:25,960 Speaker 1: because last year Darius Garland got hurt in the postseason. 783 00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:28,759 Speaker 1: In all the previous seasons, Darius Garland was kind of 784 00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:31,360 Speaker 1: banged up and didn't look very good in the postseason. 785 00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:34,480 Speaker 1: So they thought, whatever the known commodity of what James 786 00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:37,240 Speaker 1: Harden is is a healthy ball handler was a safer 787 00:36:37,239 --> 00:36:40,040 Speaker 1: bet for Cleveland than the up and down kind of 788 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:44,399 Speaker 1: risky nature of having Darius Garland as your secondary ball handler. Right, 789 00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:47,399 Speaker 1: but we all know Darius Garland when he's healthy, can 790 00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:50,200 Speaker 1: be an excellent player. That's why it made some sense 791 00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:52,960 Speaker 1: for the Clippers in the sense that they were staring 792 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:54,840 Speaker 1: down the barrel of a matchup with a one or 793 00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:56,839 Speaker 1: two seed at the top of the conference. That's if 794 00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:58,840 Speaker 1: they get out of the play in right and so 795 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:01,880 Speaker 1: the Clippers are like, well, we can trade Zubots get 796 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:05,040 Speaker 1: all this draft compensation. We still have Brook Lopez, where 797 00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:07,279 Speaker 1: he can trade James Harden, get a second round pick 798 00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:09,440 Speaker 1: out of it, and we still get Darius Garland, and 799 00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:12,040 Speaker 1: we could take a chance like, maybe Darius Garland gets healthy, 800 00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:14,200 Speaker 1: maybe we end up with a player that is a 801 00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:17,680 Speaker 1: foundational player for us in the coming years. Darius Garland 802 00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:21,680 Speaker 1: looks very healthy right now. Twenty four points and eight 803 00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:24,600 Speaker 1: assists on sixty three percent true shooting in his last 804 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:28,440 Speaker 1: seven games, dropped a forty piece since joining the Clippers. 805 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,520 Speaker 1: They are outscoring opponents by thirteen points per one hundred 806 00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:34,200 Speaker 1: possessions when he's on the floor, shooting the shit out 807 00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:36,680 Speaker 1: of the basketball, sixty two percent on pull up threes, 808 00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:40,080 Speaker 1: fifty two percent on catch and shoot threes, has that 809 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:42,480 Speaker 1: burst where it feels like he's getting wherever he wants 810 00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:45,480 Speaker 1: to on the floor. They're getting in one hundred and 811 00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:48,759 Speaker 1: fifty eight ball screens including passes with Darius Garland, they're 812 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:52,720 Speaker 1: getting one point twenty four points per possession including passes. 813 00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:56,160 Speaker 1: Really really impressive shot creation from him. So the Clippers, again, 814 00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:58,640 Speaker 1: it'll all depend on whether or not he stays healthy. 815 00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:01,319 Speaker 1: And that's the risk, right, Like, if you don't think 816 00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:03,600 Speaker 1: Cleveland knew that Darius was capable of that of course 817 00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:05,359 Speaker 1: they did. They made the trade because they didn't think 818 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:08,319 Speaker 1: he could stay healthy long enough to actually achieve that 819 00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:10,279 Speaker 1: sort of production when they got to the postseason. But 820 00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:12,759 Speaker 1: for the Clippers, they're getting to see that upside now, 821 00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:14,680 Speaker 1: and if he can sustain that health, it all of 822 00:38:14,719 --> 00:38:18,640 Speaker 1: a sudden becomes a very useful trade for the Clippers. Now, 823 00:38:19,080 --> 00:38:23,600 Speaker 1: if the Clippers can stay healthy, they're staring at Phoenix 824 00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:26,000 Speaker 1: is pretty much locked into that seventh spot, so they'd 825 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:27,360 Speaker 1: have to go on the road and beat Phoenix. 826 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:29,240 Speaker 2: That'd be a tough matchup. Phoenix is a good team. 827 00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:32,040 Speaker 1: But if they can beat Phoenix, if they lose to 828 00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:34,560 Speaker 1: Phoenix and they have to win that second playing game 829 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:36,160 Speaker 1: to get into the eight matchup, and then now you're 830 00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:40,440 Speaker 1: looking at Oklahoma City. You're not beating Oklahoma City, even 831 00:38:40,480 --> 00:38:42,759 Speaker 1: with how good Kawhi is, just Oklahoma City's got too 832 00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:45,440 Speaker 1: much of a talent advantage there. But san Antonio, as 833 00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:47,160 Speaker 1: we talked about, I'm higher on San Antonio as a 834 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:50,800 Speaker 1: playoff team, but like san Antonio is at least young 835 00:38:51,239 --> 00:38:54,440 Speaker 1: and unfamiliar with that setting, and so they would have 836 00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:57,520 Speaker 1: an upset shot versus a team like San Antonio because 837 00:38:57,560 --> 00:39:01,640 Speaker 1: of a guy like Kawhi Leonard thin like, look, Kwi 838 00:39:01,719 --> 00:39:03,960 Speaker 1: looks amazing. He seems to have recovered from that ankle injury. 839 00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:05,680 Speaker 1: It was amazing down the stretch that MAVs game. Had 840 00:39:05,719 --> 00:39:08,040 Speaker 1: a big driving layup that sent the game to overtime 841 00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:10,960 Speaker 1: and then dominated the game in ot His ability to 842 00:39:11,040 --> 00:39:12,960 Speaker 1: just beat that first man off the dribble and a 843 00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:15,560 Speaker 1: playoff two feet around the basket was really difficult for 844 00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:18,200 Speaker 1: Dallas to guard in that particular game. But if they 845 00:39:18,200 --> 00:39:20,799 Speaker 1: can somehow beat Phoenix in that first playing game, they 846 00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:23,600 Speaker 1: have a shot against San Antonio. If you beat San Antonio, 847 00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:26,200 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you're playing against that middle tier 848 00:39:26,239 --> 00:39:29,400 Speaker 1: of the West that's pretty flawed, and you know I 849 00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:31,600 Speaker 1: wouldn't count them out in either of those matchups. So 850 00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:34,040 Speaker 1: this is actually shaping up kind of nicely for the 851 00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:38,160 Speaker 1: Clippers in the sense that, like you managed to convert 852 00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:42,840 Speaker 1: James Harden and if he's a Zubots into draft assets, 853 00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:48,400 Speaker 1: and you also get Ben Mathern upside potential guard, we 854 00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:51,920 Speaker 1: get Darius Garland upside potential guard. And because you have 855 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:54,640 Speaker 1: Kawhi and you have the Brook Lopez insurance on Zubots, 856 00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:56,560 Speaker 1: like you still have a shot to at least be 857 00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:59,600 Speaker 1: a fun playoff team. So for how bad things started 858 00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:02,560 Speaker 1: this and for the Clippers to be looking at like, hey, 859 00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:05,080 Speaker 1: we have potential to have a fun playoff run and 860 00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:07,839 Speaker 1: we're now stocked up with stuff that we can use 861 00:40:07,880 --> 00:40:10,000 Speaker 1: to improve the team in the future. Not a bad 862 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,080 Speaker 1: spot to be in if you're a Clippers fan. And 863 00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:14,480 Speaker 1: with how good Kawhi Leonard looks like now all of 864 00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:16,160 Speaker 1: a sudden, you can look at your building as you 865 00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:19,200 Speaker 1: move forward as like, hey, let's just keep building around Kawhi. 866 00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:20,000 Speaker 2: Why not? Right? 867 00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:25,360 Speaker 1: Number seven, the Jonathan Kaminga revenge Bowl just made everyone 868 00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:29,320 Speaker 1: look bad. Kaminga ends up going one for nine, looks 869 00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:32,239 Speaker 1: largely ineffective against the Golden State defense that looks like 870 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:35,839 Speaker 1: they really wanted him to not score, especially with ball 871 00:40:35,840 --> 00:40:37,880 Speaker 1: pressure just kind of making him uncomfortable and testing his 872 00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:41,200 Speaker 1: handle just you know, as Steve Kerr knows what Jonathan 873 00:40:41,239 --> 00:40:43,520 Speaker 1: Kaminga sucks at. And so the game plan was very 874 00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:48,000 Speaker 1: much built towards trying to play Jonathan into those negative tendencies. 875 00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:49,920 Speaker 1: But at the same time, it didn't feel like much 876 00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:52,800 Speaker 1: of a victory lap when the Warriors roster without Steph 877 00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:55,960 Speaker 1: is just so devoid of high end offensive talent that 878 00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:59,080 Speaker 1: they have been a chore to watch since Steph Curry 879 00:40:59,080 --> 00:41:00,480 Speaker 1: went down, and so it's just it's kind of like 880 00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:03,239 Speaker 1: this weird empty feeling. As I was watching some of 881 00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:05,840 Speaker 1: the tape from that game, and I'm like, JK. 882 00:41:05,719 --> 00:41:08,600 Speaker 2: Looks bad. The Warriors look bad. Now. 883 00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:13,680 Speaker 1: Christaps Porzingis is back and playing. Steph Curry is allegedly 884 00:41:13,760 --> 00:41:16,000 Speaker 1: ramping up and scrimmaging, so he could be back soon. 885 00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:19,000 Speaker 1: And the Warriors, similar to the Clippers, if they could 886 00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:21,759 Speaker 1: somehow find a way to get into a playoff series, 887 00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:24,120 Speaker 1: they always have that upset shot. But the problem is 888 00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:25,400 Speaker 1: is the Warriors, if you kind of look at the 889 00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:27,920 Speaker 1: way that the tail end of the season goes, Portland 890 00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:31,359 Speaker 1: has this incredibly easy schedule and who knows when Steph 891 00:41:31,480 --> 00:41:33,680 Speaker 1: is actually coming back, so it looks like could be 892 00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:35,880 Speaker 1: really difficult for them to get out of the ten seed. 893 00:41:36,239 --> 00:41:37,040 Speaker 2: And if Golden. 894 00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:38,960 Speaker 1: State's a ten seed, they have to win two play 895 00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:42,360 Speaker 1: in games just to face an Oklahoma City team in 896 00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:43,880 Speaker 1: the first round. So I don't think they have anywhere 897 00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:46,239 Speaker 1: near the potential for the fun playoff run that a 898 00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:49,839 Speaker 1: team like the Clippers have, But at least they get 899 00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:52,319 Speaker 1: to be at least feeling somewhat confident that they made 900 00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:55,879 Speaker 1: the right decision. As it pertains to Jonathan Minga Number eight, 901 00:41:56,680 --> 00:42:00,440 Speaker 1: the Charlotte Hornets might get the fifth seed. They've won 902 00:42:00,480 --> 00:42:02,759 Speaker 1: five out of six some nice wins in that run too. 903 00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:05,920 Speaker 1: They beat Orlando, and they beat Miami, and those Grizzlies 904 00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:07,359 Speaker 1: and Blazers. Seems that they beat have been a lot 905 00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:08,560 Speaker 1: feistier than people realize. 906 00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:09,080 Speaker 2: As of late. 907 00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:12,560 Speaker 1: LaMelo Brandon, Miller, Kobe White, konk Nip, and Miles Bridges 908 00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:14,919 Speaker 1: are all averaging over sixteen points a game in that span, 909 00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:17,560 Speaker 1: and they're all shooting over forty percent from three. That's 910 00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:21,760 Speaker 1: been the formula for Charlotte during this entire run. Like Charles, 911 00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:24,120 Speaker 1: Lee's running, a lot of really savvy action that gets 912 00:42:24,160 --> 00:42:27,120 Speaker 1: the guys into positions that accentuate their strengths. There's this 913 00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:29,600 Speaker 1: incredible depth of ball handling and shooting talent that makes 914 00:42:29,640 --> 00:42:33,000 Speaker 1: them extremely difficult to guard. They're bigs just absolutely feast 915 00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:36,240 Speaker 1: on the offensive glass from all the advantageous inside position 916 00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:38,000 Speaker 1: they get as bigs have to show at the level 917 00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:39,839 Speaker 1: to handle all of their shooting, and they're a lot 918 00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:42,600 Speaker 1: better defensively than you would think because they're scrappy and 919 00:42:42,600 --> 00:42:45,120 Speaker 1: they're athletic and they can beat Now they're the ten 920 00:42:45,200 --> 00:42:48,200 Speaker 1: seed right now, but only three losses separate them from 921 00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:51,960 Speaker 1: the five seed. And most importantly, I don't really trust 922 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:53,560 Speaker 1: any of the teams above them, Like, if you ask 923 00:42:53,640 --> 00:42:55,800 Speaker 1: me right now, who's the best team in that group? 924 00:42:55,840 --> 00:42:58,160 Speaker 1: If you're looking at Toronto, you're looking at Atlanta, you're looking 925 00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:01,200 Speaker 1: at Miami, you're looking at Orlando. I think Charlotte might 926 00:43:01,239 --> 00:43:03,960 Speaker 1: be the best team in that group. Now, well, they 927 00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:06,399 Speaker 1: actually get up to five, it's statistically unlikely. We talked 928 00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:08,840 Speaker 1: about this when we talked about the Lakers on the 929 00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:11,319 Speaker 1: three seed, where when you have that much of a 930 00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:15,399 Speaker 1: game advantage with you know, ten games left, eleven games left, 931 00:43:15,719 --> 00:43:17,400 Speaker 1: you just have to go like five hundred and then 932 00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:19,680 Speaker 1: the other team basically has to go undefeated. So it's 933 00:43:19,719 --> 00:43:21,920 Speaker 1: statistically unlikely, but I think they'll climb out of ten. 934 00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:24,560 Speaker 1: I think they'll be somewhere in that like seven eight range. 935 00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:26,200 Speaker 1: I think that should be your goal if you're Charlotte, 936 00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:27,880 Speaker 1: is to get into the seven seed so that you 937 00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:30,360 Speaker 1: can win one play in game to advance to that 938 00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:32,960 Speaker 1: first round of the postseason. But the fact that They're 939 00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:37,200 Speaker 1: like realistically in reach of the five seed is just 940 00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:40,880 Speaker 1: a truly amazing feat for a young and talented Charlotte 941 00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:42,319 Speaker 1: Hornets team here down the. 942 00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:43,120 Speaker 2: Stretch of the season. 943 00:43:44,040 --> 00:43:45,560 Speaker 1: Before we get out of here today, we're gonna talk 944 00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:47,759 Speaker 1: briefly about the NCAA tournament, and as always, all of 945 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:50,160 Speaker 1: our lines are provided by our partner hard Rock Bed 946 00:43:50,360 --> 00:43:53,680 Speaker 1: number nine. The Michigan wolverinees for the best team that 947 00:43:53,719 --> 00:43:56,719 Speaker 1: I watched this weekends. This weekend, and I'm a little 948 00:43:56,719 --> 00:43:59,719 Speaker 1: bit worried about Arizona. Watch a lot of college troops 949 00:43:59,719 --> 00:44:02,439 Speaker 1: this week and I really enjoyed it. High Point versus 950 00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:05,000 Speaker 1: Arkansas was my favorite game of the weekend. Just incredible 951 00:44:05,040 --> 00:44:08,080 Speaker 1: pace up and down, incredible athleticism. The shot making from 952 00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:10,879 Speaker 1: both teams basically came down to shot making at the end. 953 00:44:10,960 --> 00:44:14,359 Speaker 1: That Johnston kid ended up getting two pretty decent looks. 954 00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:16,600 Speaker 1: For him, they look like super tough shots, but for 955 00:44:16,680 --> 00:44:19,640 Speaker 1: him they're like makeable shots. He missed both of those, 956 00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:21,799 Speaker 1: and a Cuff ends up hitting a pull up three 957 00:44:21,840 --> 00:44:22,960 Speaker 1: at the top of the key. He got a couple 958 00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:24,960 Speaker 1: of big driving layups to go late, and so Arkansas 959 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:26,719 Speaker 1: gets out of there with the wind. But that was 960 00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:28,600 Speaker 1: like such an incredible basketball game. If you guys had 961 00:44:28,640 --> 00:44:29,960 Speaker 1: a chance to watch that one, I think that was 962 00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:31,799 Speaker 1: the most entertaining game of the weekend. And as an 963 00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:34,239 Speaker 1: Arizona fan, I'm a little nervous about acuff in that 964 00:44:34,480 --> 00:44:36,640 Speaker 1: Sweet sixteen game. But as we look at the one 965 00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:40,279 Speaker 1: Seeds real quick, I was very unimpressed by Duke hard 966 00:44:40,360 --> 00:44:42,400 Speaker 1: rock Back currently has them at plus four point fifty 967 00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:45,680 Speaker 1: to win the national championship. I you know, all the 968 00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:48,400 Speaker 1: talk about cam Boozer as I started to dip my 969 00:44:48,440 --> 00:44:51,960 Speaker 1: toe into the draft earlier a couple a couple of 970 00:44:51,960 --> 00:44:54,879 Speaker 1: weeks ago, all the talk was about kam Boozer being 971 00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:57,640 Speaker 1: like kind of like the power forward version of Yolkic, right, 972 00:44:57,719 --> 00:44:59,239 Speaker 1: like really good touch, the like can shoot threes, can 973 00:44:59,239 --> 00:45:01,120 Speaker 1: shoot mid range show shots, can handle the ball better 974 00:45:01,160 --> 00:45:03,120 Speaker 1: than you think, has good touch on hooks and floaters, 975 00:45:03,600 --> 00:45:05,520 Speaker 1: and like a guy that can physically dominate players, but 976 00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:08,319 Speaker 1: that reads the floor really well. What's been really disappointing 977 00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:10,640 Speaker 1: for me is I don't think cam Boozer has handled 978 00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:14,120 Speaker 1: the double teams and handling the ball in traffic as 979 00:45:14,160 --> 00:45:17,280 Speaker 1: well as a lot of the scouts had been leading 980 00:45:17,360 --> 00:45:19,520 Speaker 1: us to believe coming into this process, and I think 981 00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:22,600 Speaker 1: so far in this tournament he's been downright bad at 982 00:45:22,680 --> 00:45:25,640 Speaker 1: handling double teams and like seeing how the defense is 983 00:45:25,719 --> 00:45:29,040 Speaker 1: overloading on him when he's trying to attack in the post. Generally, 984 00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:32,160 Speaker 1: I think their offense is pretty limited. It wasn't all bad. 985 00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:35,399 Speaker 1: I thought Cayden Boozer saved their ass against Sienna. Dame 986 00:45:35,440 --> 00:45:37,760 Speaker 1: Sarr is a really interesting kind of like defensive athlete 987 00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:39,960 Speaker 1: who made several huge plays over the weekend. But I 988 00:45:39,960 --> 00:45:43,440 Speaker 1: think Duke is destined to lose at some point. Florida 989 00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:45,200 Speaker 1: was the obvious week link out of all the one 990 00:45:45,239 --> 00:45:48,239 Speaker 1: seeds before the tournament started. They're a great defensive team, 991 00:45:48,239 --> 00:45:50,120 Speaker 1: but they can't shoot, and they were like the most 992 00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:53,000 Speaker 1: limited offensive team out of the four to one seeds. 993 00:45:53,239 --> 00:45:55,640 Speaker 1: They can go cold, and they ended up losing to Iowa. 994 00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:58,319 Speaker 1: I thought the final play was really fascinating. They had 995 00:45:58,320 --> 00:46:01,040 Speaker 1: been running a lot of denial on Bennett's starts, and 996 00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:03,279 Speaker 1: they ran a really fascinating play where they ran him 997 00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:05,360 Speaker 1: off of a set of screens around the opposite elbow. 998 00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:08,399 Speaker 1: Opposite elbow meaning furthest away from their basket, and as 999 00:46:08,400 --> 00:46:10,799 Speaker 1: he curled around him, they were still kind of in 1000 00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:13,040 Speaker 1: a lock and trail, which was a really dangerous thing 1001 00:46:13,080 --> 00:46:15,040 Speaker 1: to do, but that's part of taking advantage of the 1002 00:46:15,040 --> 00:46:17,840 Speaker 1: way Florida was guarding him all game, and the inbounds 1003 00:46:17,920 --> 00:46:20,359 Speaker 1: pass was perfect, catches him in stride. It was a 1004 00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:22,760 Speaker 1: really tight window, and since it hit him in stride 1005 00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:24,960 Speaker 1: and because the defender was locking and trailing, all of 1006 00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:27,200 Speaker 1: a sudden he is ahead of steam rocketing. 1007 00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:27,400 Speaker 2: Up the floor. 1008 00:46:27,719 --> 00:46:30,520 Speaker 1: Alvaro Folgeris is hanging out in that right corner and 1009 00:46:30,520 --> 00:46:33,040 Speaker 1: he does that ray Allen footwork, really nice pass from Bennetts. 1010 00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:35,759 Speaker 1: Sert's that ray Allen footwork, steps behind the line while 1011 00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:38,360 Speaker 1: keeping his eyes on the rim, knocks down the three. 1012 00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:40,640 Speaker 1: Then on that final play, I really didn't like it. 1013 00:46:40,680 --> 00:46:42,640 Speaker 1: They go the length of the floor and I thought 1014 00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:46,319 Speaker 1: they overpenetrated just too Like there wasn't enough time to 1015 00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:49,319 Speaker 1: drive all the way to the basket and not shoot right. 1016 00:46:49,400 --> 00:46:51,440 Speaker 1: So like as soon as he realized he didn't have 1017 00:46:51,480 --> 00:46:53,680 Speaker 1: an angle, he either needed to pull up or get 1018 00:46:53,800 --> 00:46:56,080 Speaker 1: rid of the basketball. And then there's a really impressive 1019 00:46:56,120 --> 00:46:58,080 Speaker 1: read from Tavion Banks. He's guarding a shooter at the 1020 00:46:58,120 --> 00:47:00,000 Speaker 1: top of the key and he reads the whole thing happened, 1021 00:47:00,080 --> 00:47:02,840 Speaker 1: and he sees, Okay, he's driving and he doesn't have 1022 00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:05,359 Speaker 1: an angle. He's not going to see my man way 1023 00:47:05,360 --> 00:47:07,040 Speaker 1: across the court, and they don't even have time to 1024 00:47:07,120 --> 00:47:09,239 Speaker 1: kick all the way back there. His only shot is 1025 00:47:09,280 --> 00:47:11,120 Speaker 1: something at the rim, and so he ends up coming 1026 00:47:11,160 --> 00:47:13,200 Speaker 1: down and so when the drop off pass gets made, 1027 00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:15,840 Speaker 1: he's able to disrupt the drop off pass in Iowa 1028 00:47:16,120 --> 00:47:18,960 Speaker 1: ends up winning the game. So Florida obviously weak link 1029 00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:20,759 Speaker 1: of all the one seats, they end up going down 1030 00:47:21,600 --> 00:47:23,680 Speaker 1: as in Arizona fan I was a little disappointed against 1031 00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:26,960 Speaker 1: Utah State in the second half, especially they ran this 1032 00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:30,040 Speaker 1: like full court zone press, and a lot of issues 1033 00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:34,319 Speaker 1: with just dribbling into bad spots on the floor like that. 1034 00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:37,320 Speaker 1: You always want to avoid against the press, the corners, 1035 00:47:37,360 --> 00:47:40,400 Speaker 1: particularly the corner closest to your basket, so like the 1036 00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:45,200 Speaker 1: two corners after you inbound, the corners right after half court, 1037 00:47:45,239 --> 00:47:48,000 Speaker 1: you want to avoid that, and then the deep corners. 1038 00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:49,640 Speaker 2: On the opposite end of the court. 1039 00:47:49,640 --> 00:47:52,480 Speaker 1: Those are the six areas on the floor you really 1040 00:47:52,560 --> 00:47:54,640 Speaker 1: want to avoid when you're going against his zone press, 1041 00:47:54,960 --> 00:47:56,880 Speaker 1: and they just kept dribbling right into those spots. 1042 00:47:56,920 --> 00:47:57,239 Speaker 2: I thought. 1043 00:47:57,400 --> 00:48:00,279 Speaker 1: Anthony Dela orso and Brayden Burray's in particular were really 1044 00:48:00,280 --> 00:48:02,719 Speaker 1: sloppy against the press in that stretch, getting them into 1045 00:48:02,719 --> 00:48:06,920 Speaker 1: some issues. Utah State is famous for turning opponents over. 1046 00:48:07,040 --> 00:48:08,920 Speaker 1: That's what their defense does. They forced a ton of 1047 00:48:08,920 --> 00:48:12,399 Speaker 1: turnovers against Arizona, got out going in transition against it, 1048 00:48:12,719 --> 00:48:14,760 Speaker 1: and Arizon almost blew that game. They were up eighteen 1049 00:48:14,800 --> 00:48:16,680 Speaker 1: and I think I think Uta State cut it to 1050 00:48:16,760 --> 00:48:20,880 Speaker 1: four before Arizona regained control. Now I'm not counting them out. 1051 00:48:21,160 --> 00:48:24,080 Speaker 1: Arizona's plus three to twenty five to win the title 1052 00:48:24,160 --> 00:48:26,879 Speaker 1: right now on hard rock bet. They're really mentally tough. 1053 00:48:26,920 --> 00:48:28,839 Speaker 1: That's been a thing all season long. They've had these 1054 00:48:28,920 --> 00:48:33,200 Speaker 1: cold stretches on offense where they can't score and they 1055 00:48:33,239 --> 00:48:35,320 Speaker 1: give up big leads. That's been happening a lot, especially 1056 00:48:35,320 --> 00:48:37,279 Speaker 1: in their Big twelve schedule, and part of the reason 1057 00:48:37,280 --> 00:48:39,000 Speaker 1: for that is they don't really have an elite athlete 1058 00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:41,759 Speaker 1: who can get get to his spots like Bury's can 1059 00:48:41,840 --> 00:48:45,160 Speaker 1: really shoot, but he's not an apex athlete like beating 1060 00:48:45,200 --> 00:48:47,719 Speaker 1: people off the dribble. Jayden Bradley's got a little bit 1061 00:48:47,719 --> 00:48:49,680 Speaker 1: more of that quickness shiftiness to get to the basket, 1062 00:48:49,719 --> 00:48:51,799 Speaker 1: but he's nowhere near the shooter that Bradon Burry's is, 1063 00:48:52,560 --> 00:48:54,800 Speaker 1: and their bigs are very skilled, but not as skilled 1064 00:48:54,840 --> 00:48:57,560 Speaker 1: as say Michigan's bigs are right so like they can 1065 00:48:57,600 --> 00:49:00,680 Speaker 1: go cold on offense. Thankfully, they're meant tough and they 1066 00:49:00,760 --> 00:49:03,600 Speaker 1: powered through it. Krevos was a monster in the offensive 1067 00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:05,040 Speaker 1: glass down the stretch. I also thought he had a 1068 00:49:05,040 --> 00:49:08,319 Speaker 1: bunch of clutch free throws, Jayden Bradley a couple of 1069 00:49:08,440 --> 00:49:11,920 Speaker 1: huge late driving buckets, Braydon Burrays hits that massive step 1070 00:49:11,920 --> 00:49:13,239 Speaker 1: back three at the top of the key, and they're 1071 00:49:13,280 --> 00:49:16,240 Speaker 1: just so physically imposing that they can dominate the offensive 1072 00:49:16,239 --> 00:49:18,560 Speaker 1: glass and keep them in games, and very mentally tough. 1073 00:49:18,560 --> 00:49:21,120 Speaker 1: They powered through they got the win. But I think 1074 00:49:21,120 --> 00:49:23,239 Speaker 1: Michigan was the best team that I saw out of 1075 00:49:23,280 --> 00:49:25,160 Speaker 1: all the teams I watched this weekend. They're plus three 1076 00:49:25,239 --> 00:49:27,839 Speaker 1: hundred currently the favorite to win on hard Rock Bet. 1077 00:49:28,200 --> 00:49:31,239 Speaker 1: They have this combination of three bigs that has a 1078 00:49:31,280 --> 00:49:34,200 Speaker 1: lot of the physically imposing defense that you get from Arizona, 1079 00:49:34,560 --> 00:49:37,719 Speaker 1: but a lot more of the refined skill at those positions, 1080 00:49:37,760 --> 00:49:40,000 Speaker 1: and so that gives them a lot more ability to 1081 00:49:40,040 --> 00:49:43,560 Speaker 1: create offense. When things really bogged down in the half 1082 00:49:43,600 --> 00:49:46,960 Speaker 1: court a Demarra Yoxa Landenberg and Morris Johnson feel like 1083 00:49:47,000 --> 00:49:48,560 Speaker 1: the best trio of the tournament. 1084 00:49:48,600 --> 00:49:48,799 Speaker 2: To me. 1085 00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:51,960 Speaker 1: Again, I'm holding that hope for Arizona. I still think 1086 00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:54,760 Speaker 1: they can win, but I think Michigan's the best team. 1087 00:49:54,800 --> 00:49:56,640 Speaker 1: Just being objective, I thought that was the best team 1088 00:49:56,640 --> 00:50:00,560 Speaker 1: that I watched this weekend. Number ten, College basketball is 1089 00:50:00,600 --> 00:50:03,840 Speaker 1: loaded with more skill than ever before. The size and 1090 00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:07,480 Speaker 1: skill of modern college basketball is really starting to reflect 1091 00:50:07,680 --> 00:50:09,560 Speaker 1: some of the improvement that we've seen in the NBA 1092 00:50:09,640 --> 00:50:12,120 Speaker 1: over the last ten years, which again inspires the youth 1093 00:50:12,600 --> 00:50:15,880 Speaker 1: to get them to improve in some specific skill areas 1094 00:50:15,880 --> 00:50:17,600 Speaker 1: that are starting to reflect in college ships. I just 1095 00:50:17,600 --> 00:50:19,160 Speaker 1: wanted to share some stats with you guys that I 1096 00:50:19,160 --> 00:50:22,759 Speaker 1: thought were really interesting. So there are one hundred and 1097 00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:25,160 Speaker 1: twenty seven Division IE players this year that made at 1098 00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:27,280 Speaker 1: least fifty jump shots off the triple. 1099 00:50:28,640 --> 00:50:29,319 Speaker 2: Ten years ago. 1100 00:50:29,480 --> 00:50:31,960 Speaker 1: In the twenty sixteen season, the number was seventy six, 1101 00:50:33,040 --> 00:50:36,120 Speaker 1: so fifty one more players did it than ten years ago. 1102 00:50:36,640 --> 00:50:39,359 Speaker 1: There were five players this season that made over one 1103 00:50:39,440 --> 00:50:42,400 Speaker 1: hundred off the dribble jump shots. Ten years ago that 1104 00:50:42,480 --> 00:50:47,000 Speaker 1: number was one. The emphasis on just pace and playing 1105 00:50:47,040 --> 00:50:49,960 Speaker 1: fast like we saw in that high point game. There 1106 00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:52,560 Speaker 1: were one hundred and seven teams this year that attempted 1107 00:50:52,600 --> 00:50:56,479 Speaker 1: at least two thousand shots. Ten years ago the number 1108 00:50:56,560 --> 00:51:00,520 Speaker 1: was eighty three, so massive increase in pace. Nowhere near 1109 00:51:00,560 --> 00:51:04,400 Speaker 1: as many post ups. There were only nineteen teams this 1110 00:51:04,480 --> 00:51:06,280 Speaker 1: year that took two hundred shots out of the post. 1111 00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:11,400 Speaker 1: Ten years ago that number was sixty eight. Despite the 1112 00:51:11,440 --> 00:51:13,760 Speaker 1: massive increase in pace, I just thought it was interesting 1113 00:51:13,760 --> 00:51:16,760 Speaker 1: to see just the improved level of skill ball handling 1114 00:51:16,760 --> 00:51:19,000 Speaker 1: and shooting that we see all over the floor and 1115 00:51:19,040 --> 00:51:22,680 Speaker 1: the way that that's manifested in like a very refined 1116 00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:25,920 Speaker 1: skill level in college basketball that was missing in previous seasons, 1117 00:51:25,920 --> 00:51:27,279 Speaker 1: and I think it makes it more fun to watch. 1118 00:51:27,280 --> 00:51:30,360 Speaker 1: As we all know, the industry just continues to get better, 1119 00:51:30,600 --> 00:51:33,239 Speaker 1: the game of basketball continues to get better. All right, guys, 1120 00:51:33,280 --> 00:51:34,800 Speaker 1: It's all I have for today is always to sincerely 1121 00:51:34,800 --> 00:51:37,040 Speaker 1: appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the show. 1122 00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:40,359 Speaker 1: We'll be back tomorrow with some game reaction. I will 1123 00:51:40,400 --> 00:51:48,080 Speaker 1: see you guys then,