WEBVTT - Timberwolves/Lakers Postgame Spaces 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:18.320 M m all right. Welcome to the State of the Lakers, 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:20.520 presented by Dash Radio. Thank you guys so much for 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:24.400 coming to hang out on a Sunday consecutive Laker wins, 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:29.360 which is something that has happened only six times this season. 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:31.200 I'm gonna need you guys to bear with me a 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:34.760 little bit. I'm currently in my truck hurdling on the 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:38.120 road down towards Tucson from a weekend of skiing with 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:40.479 my wife and some friends up in Flagstaff. But I 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:44.120 was fortunately able to catch the game and its entirety. Um, 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:46.800 I'm a little more optimistic than most, but we'll get 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:48.720 into that rog. How you doing, buddy, how's your weekend been. 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:52.080 It's good, It's good. I appreciate you know you coming 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:54.360 for me and Jason Maple is coming on on Friday. 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:56.480 Although it did get cut short. I saw there with 0:00:56.520 --> 0:01:00.760 some technical difficulties. But yeah, man, two days of partying, dancing, 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:04.160 you know, and to music and stuff will get you exhausted. 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:06.399 So I'm back though, ready to talk to some Lakers 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:08.360 basketball here. Yeah, you do sound like you're in a 0:01:08.360 --> 0:01:10.400 truck or some pink so I was gonna let you know, 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:13.280 I hear some background noise there. Okay, I'll do I'll 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:15.240 do the best I can to keep when I'm not 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:18.119 talking for that effect. Um, knew, your buddy, It's good 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:21.280 to have you back. So again, I'm I'm a little 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:24.920 more optimistic than most. You know, Minnesota's young and athletic, 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:29.120 and they played really good defense tonight, playoff style defense 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:32.680 with really a lot of like adjustments that have been 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:35.399 made from previous matchups between these two teams. You saw 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:39.440 a lot of packing the paint, ignoring Russell Westbrook, putting 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:41.400 a lot of pressure on Lebron both on the ball 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:42.800 and off the ball. I thought that was a big 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:46.200 part of why his shot attempts were down, um relative 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:48.200 to the way he's been shooting the ball throughout the game, 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:53.360 making Lebron into a passer, and little stretches of impressive 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:56.920 shot making from Minnesota at various points in the game. 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:59.120 And you know, to get a bad game out of 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:04.200 Russ like a just horrendous, terrific, horrible I saw of 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:06.680 a basketball game from Russell westbrooken to get a win 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.080 with no Anthony Davis, I'm gonna go positive here. How 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.239 are you feeling right now? Yeah, I do feel a 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:15.040 little bit more positive. I think, you know, we're not 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:18.520 in any position to be picky about wins right now. 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:21.440 It's a team that's under five, a game under five 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:24.040 or something, no position to be picky. Man, A win 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:27.040 is a win. We're starting to get guys back at least. 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:29.760 I thought the wing rotation is a lot better. I 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:32.200 would still like to see Dwight Howard play the backup 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:34.960 center role, especially with a guy like nas Ree just 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:37.240 killing us. I would like the rotation to be a 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:40.160 little less rigid, but again that's kind of nitpicking. Um. 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:42.160 I feel like they're going to the small ball thing 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:44.160 and going to try to make it work. I thought 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:46.679 Russell was really bad in the first half. There's a 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:48.359 lot better than the second half. You have five three 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:50.600 point attempts in the first half, it was over five, 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:52.960 didn't take one in the second half. Um, I think 0:02:52.960 --> 0:02:55.280 only two turn I think he had nine turnovers on 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:57.280 the game or something, but I think only like two 0:02:57.400 --> 0:02:59.280 or three were in the second half. So he did 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:01.800 pick his spot a little bit better. And Lebron just 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:05.320 continues to be incredible. He didn't score thirty tonight, ending 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:09.000 his seventh straight I believe it, seven straight thirty point games. Um. 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:11.960 He ended that street tonight, finishing I think with twenty 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:14.600 six or something. But he was incredible in the fourth 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:18.480 on defense as well. He looked tired to uh just 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:21.000 be having to cover all that ground at the five, 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:23.120 but had a lot of strip balls away. And then 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:25.720 tonight lake Mont Carmelo. We'll get into it, but those 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.040 guys kind of saved us. Every Bradley as well, who 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:30.000 I think we could talk about who's been kind of consistent, 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:32.320 who's been consistent, um, a little bit low key, but 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:35.040 has been consistently playing well. So that's kind of what 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:38.040 I thought from tonight. Man, two straight wins, uh, two 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:40.400 teams that aren't very good right Portland I think is 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:41.920 on a slide, even though they have a bunch of 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:45.960 players back. And then tonight Minnesota obviously missing call Anthony 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:48.960 Towns and D'Angelo Russell. But now you get a win. 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:51.080 I thought the So ESPN came out with the spread 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:53.480 today the Lakers were eight points favorites tonight, I thought 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:56.320 that was insanity, even with the people that even with 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:59.040 the people that Minnesota was getting back. Um, but yeah, 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:00.400 I thought was a good win. Man, we can we 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:02.320 can kind of pick pick up on this one, but 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:05.080 at least it's something to build off. T straight wins 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:07.480 is at least something to kind of get the thing 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.760 rolling here because we're getting guys bad again. You can't 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:12.760 ever take a game at face value. You know, it's 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:14.520 easy to look at it from the surface and be like, oh, 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:18.560 Karl Anthony Towns didn't play. You know, D'Angel Russell didn't play. No, 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:22.400 that was a big athletic basketball team that has seen 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:24.200 the Lakers play a couple of times this year. That 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:26.960 has made into adjustments. Like I said, the game resembled 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:29.000 the playoff game in a lot of ways. That's what 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:32.320 playoff basketball feels like when they take away everything that 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:35.599 you want to do and force you to adapt. And 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:38.839 that's important because you know, we look at these games recently, 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:41.800 like beating the heck out of Portland's two nights ago 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.919 or winning that game in Houston, like that game important, 0:04:45.000 --> 0:04:47.040 that's not real basketball. Did you see some of the 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:49.800 defensive breakdowns that Portland was having in that game. That's 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:53.120 not what playoff defenses look like. So as much, yeah, 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:55.120 they were awful. So as much as it feels good, 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:58.039 as much as it's exciting and fun to watch, and 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:00.440 you're watching Lebron dunk on everybody, and yeah, that's fun 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:03.240 and that's cool, but that doesn't translate to what they 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:06.200 need in order to succeed when they get to the 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:08.480 end of the season, when they're playing against playoff quality 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:11.360 teams time after time, when they can make adjustments. And 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.120 what you saw tonight was a playoff type of defensive strategy. 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:18.000 And again, I know that seems laughable to say about 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:21.000 that specific team, but watch the games. If you watch 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:22.680 the games and you see what they're doing, the type 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:24.760 of athletes they have on the floor, the way their 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:26.920 help defense was set up, the way they were packing 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.279 the paint, that's what playoff basketball looks like. And you 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:31.760 know what happens in situations like that, You have to adapt, 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:34.279 and I thought, you know, some guys didn't do a 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:36.640 good job of that, Like Russ really struggled with it tonight. 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:38.920 You could tell he just didn't really understand when he 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.480 would get into the paint what to do because they 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:43.920 were taking away his easy reads. And then you know, 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:46.560 as the game progressed, you saw Lebron kind of make adjustments, 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:48.680 right because they're at the end of the game, especially 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:52.120 in that fourth quarter, he was magnificent defensively, and he 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:54.520 saw that even though Lebron wasn't able to score at 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:57.280 the rate that he's been scoring in recent weeks, he 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:00.320 impacted the game all over the floor as a defensive player. 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:02.120 And then, yeah, I don't know if you noticed this too. 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:04.080 We had a lot of hockey assists in that fourth quarter, 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:07.360 plays where he would generate an advantage, collapse the defense, 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:10.560 kick out to a guy, but because Minnesota was so 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:13.240 good in their health rotation, they would take away that 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:15.799 first option with the rotation. With the rotation, but there'd 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:18.360 be swing swing or cutter here, cutter there, and they 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:20.520 get a really good shot. And that, to me is 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.280 the kind of stuff that does translate to the playoffs. 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:26.640 And in games like that against teams that are really 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:29.120 really good in their health defense and against teams that 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:31.640 take away what you like to do easily, that's more 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:35.160 supreme talent becomes such a factor, and that's why you 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:37.880 need guys like Anthony Davis on the floor with you 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:40.960 with Lebron to succeed in that environment. But I could 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:44.120 take this another direction, and this is where I get 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:47.400 concerned with Russ because one of the things I fear 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:51.960 with Russ is against teams that do this to him, 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.360 completely ignore him off the ball and then pack the 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:57.440 paint on him when he has the ball and try 0:06:57.480 --> 0:06:59.800 to turn him into a jump shooter. It could look 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:02.560 like this a lot in that setting, and that concerns 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:05.560 me and I'd like to see you know, he used 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:07.480 to watch some Avery Bradley tape and look at the 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:10.000 way that Avery Bradley is stayed a threat even when 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:11.960 he's not at the three point line. But you know, 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:13.800 so I look at it. There's pros and cons, and 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:16.080 you look at it and you say, Okay, they solved 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:19.160 the puzzle. Lebron played great, but I'm concerned about the 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:21.880 rust thing, and I'm I'm tonight. It was just another 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:25.480 example of how that fit gets clunky when you play 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:28.080 against teams that take away all of the easy things 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:31.760 that you like to do on the basketball court. Yeah, 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:33.760 I mean, Russ definitely struggled, and again I thought he 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:36.120 played a lot better um in the second half than 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:38.080 that first half. Rust to me, though, what he does 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:40.440 is he likes to pass to areas right instead of players, 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:42.360 So that's kind of what he does. He'll drive and 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:44.480 like look for the corner, look for the wing or 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:46.040 look for the top of the key, and when players 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:47.960 aren't there, that's when he gets in trouble. Right, he 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:50.040 gets in the air and he'll do passively like what 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:51.800 are you looking for? But I think that's where he's 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:54.440 going for And he's always going like a step faster 0:07:54.560 --> 0:07:57.520 than I think what his body and his mind aren't 0:07:57.520 --> 0:07:59.440 like connected in a way where he's going faster than 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:01.400 his mind lots to go, where his mind is going 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:03.040 faster than his body wants to go, and he's in 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:05.760 transition and players aren't catching up with him. But again, 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:07.480 second half, I thought it was a lot better. Was 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:10.559 seeing some stuff kind of progress now where he's become 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:13.240 a screener for for Lebron, or he's really the only 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:15.960 non shooter because since we've gone small full time, he's 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:18.120 pretty much the only non shooter on the floor, And 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:20.520 I like that th HD now comes in for him 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:22.360 as the first sub where again now th h T 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:25.000 is the only non shooter on the floor. But yeah, man, 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:27.080 then I've always said with with Russ and this is 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:29.400 something that we've talked about all season and we're probably 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:31.520 going to continue to talk about, like this is just 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:33.679 what you're gonna get when you up his ships like this, 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:35.800 like you have a d now off the floor, which 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:39.480 means he's the full second time offensive possession guy who's 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:41.560 taking up all these possessions, and your turnovers are going 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:44.400 to go up. Nine turnovers, of course is way too much, 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:46.400 but again, you're gonna put the ball in his hands 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:48.280 this much like that's what you're gonna get. You're just 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:50.719 gonna have him have super high turnover games. I think 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:52.440 it's great that they were able to win in a 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:54.839 game where he couldn't hit a shot at all, again 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:56.720 over five from three but didn't take one in the 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:59.240 second half. Those mid range full ups are what they are. 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:00.840 Hit a few of them him get a big one, 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:03.360 lad to get an an one and uh to me, like, 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:06.439 you can't temper down Russ. You just lower his uses 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:08.880 and possessions. And you talked about that's where Anthony Davis 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:10.720 comes in. And I think that second unit is super 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:14.600 interesting too. We have like Russ Reeves, a Resa Mellow 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:16.920 and THHT and I think a d can kind of 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:19.439 subb in for Mellow or th HT whoever. And I 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:22.760 think that's an interesting second unit. There Reeves and Reeves 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:25.240 and a reason. I like that combination. But yeah, man, 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:26.800 that's just what you're gonna get with Russ right now. 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:28.760 You're gonna have up and down games. I think he's, 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:30.720 you know, starting to find his rhythm a little bit more. 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:33.040 He's still getting into the basket a ton, even though 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:35.480 even if he's not finishing all that well and he's 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:37.280 getting to the line. He hit his free throws tonight. 0:09:37.320 --> 0:09:39.480 To turnovers were too much, but again only like I 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:41.760 think two or three turnovers in the second half really 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:44.600 improved his game. Minnesota a team again that packs the paint. 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:48.319 They're super athletic. Vanderbilt as well. Um, Vanderbilt is a 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:51.080 guy who defends Lebron really well. I feel like, but yeah, man, 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:52.840 Russ is gonna be like this all season. We're just 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.240 kind to kind of live with that until a d 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:57.640 gets back. But I think having all our wings back 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:00.760 has really helped, especially helped him as well. But that's 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:02.760 where we gonna see it from now. I think it's 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:04.880 been interesting to see the way that Frank has stayed 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:06.920 away from Dwight with the second unit, because this is 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:09.560 something that I personally have disagreed with leading into this, 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:13.880 because Dwight is a quality NBA center, especially as a 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:16.400 bench center, and so it doesn't make sense to leave 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:18.920 a quality NBA player on the bench when as a 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:21.040 team you've kind of struggled with talent throughout the season. 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:23.400 But I think there's an interesting strategy that Frank is 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:25.680 going with there. I think he's leaning into this five 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:28.440 out concept and trying to make it so that all 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:31.600 of his lineups are playing that style and so that 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:33.439 they can get good at it. Now, there's a flip 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:35.560 side to that, like versatility is part of the game. 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:38.320 You'd like to have an opportunity to change your game 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:40.760 plan if something is not working, But then you can 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:42.280 look at it from the other side and look at 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:43.880 the end of the game, they ended up taking nas 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:46.160 Read out, So as much as nos Read was punishing 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:49.480 them in those smaller lineups, they went away from him late. 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:51.720 It was like it was waiting to see who would blink, 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:54.679 and the Timberwolves blinked first, if that makes sense. They 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:58.200 came down to our style and played five out at 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:00.920 the end. And you know, early on in the game, 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:03.480 you know that tug of war was happening, and Frank 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:05.760 did not blink. And I think part of the reason 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:08.240 why what I thought was interesting, especially as we got 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:10.480 to the fourth quarter. I thought we were a bad 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:12.559 help team to start this game. There were a lot 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:15.120 of plays where we could give up dribble penetration or 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:17.680 a cunt or something and there would either be no 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:20.040 help at all, or if the first helper would come over, 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:22.200 we'd do a really poor job of helping the helper 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:24.520 and then everyone would be kind of standing around staring 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:27.319 at each other. And they really they really turned that 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:29.720 up in that fourth quarter to take away all of 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:33.040 those easy reads that that Minnesota was attacking early in 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:34.920 the game. And that was where, you know, I saw 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:36.640 a lot of people on Twitter because I'm kind of 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:38.640 coming around to this five out concept as you know, 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:41.920 just from you know, following the show. But like I 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:43.480 thought it was I thought it was really interesting to 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:46.760 see as that game progressed, people Laker fans getting a 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:50.440 little upset that Dwight wasn't out there because they don't 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:53.520 see the overall picture. They just see one thing. They'll 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:56.480 see an offensive rebound put back, or they'll see Nasri 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:59.600 doing a power dribble into a guard in him bouncing 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:01.400 off and laying the ball up and they think, oh, 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:03.640 we're getting killed by size, but they don't see all 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.160 of the other benefits that come from being small. So, 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:10.080 for instance, if a team like Minnesota is utterly packing 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:14.120 the pain and completely ignoring Russell Westbrook, having Dwhite out 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:17.480 there in that lineup only compounds that problem. So even 0:12:17.520 --> 0:12:19.480 if you do keep nas Read off the glass, even 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:22.080 if you do secure a few more defensive rebounds, you 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:24.400 suffer in a lot of the other areas of the game. 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:26.280 And so that that's what I thought was really interesting 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:29.480 about that idea ideology is when you go small, you 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:32.960 understand that you're giving up something to get something. And 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:35.600 I'm coming around to that ideology. And I was impressed 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:38.040 by Frank tonight because he had an easy trigger he 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:40.280 could pull at any point in that game. He could 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:42.640 have gone to Dwight, put him on nas Read and 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:44.600 tried to fight him off the glass a little bit more. 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:46.520 But he's stuck with the game plan. And at the 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.160 end of that game, you had two teams playing five out, 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.240 nas Read on the bench, and one of the teams 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:53.640 playing five out had Lebron freaking James at the top 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.160 of the key, calling for screens from guards and making 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:59.079 reads and and and generating quality shots, while on the 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:01.720 other end, you had lesser basketball players trying to do 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:04.640 the same thing. So I think I think it's interesting 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:07.080 to see where that that direction, that the direction this 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:10.960 takes the team moving forward, and especially with Anthony Davis 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:12.920 coming back kind of you know, I've seen a couple 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:14.559 of people say this, like, that's why it's so important 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:16.760 when Anthony Davis comes back, that we don't just start 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:20.240 force feeding him in the post NonStop, because we need 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:24.120 to try to maintain this style of play, almost using 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:27.960 Anthony Davis as a wing, you know that, and posting 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:30.240 him when it makes sense, but not getting out of 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:32.440 this style of basketball, because I am a believer in 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:34.839 this style, and I think it could work, especially now 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:36.439 that we have some of our wings back, because it's 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:38.560 easy to look at the schedule and say, Okay, you 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:41.720 played Portland's, Okay, you played Minnesota without their you know, 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:44.120 two of their better three players. But the flip side 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:46.280 of that is we also got Trevor Rees back and 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:48.839 Austin Reaves back, and we're much more functional small ball 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:51.560 basketball team now because we have more wings. So I'm 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:53.320 curious to see over the next few weeks if this 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:56.040 translates to wins against better teams. That will be a 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:58.280 good indicator of whether or not the style will work. 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.240 Um moving forward with me, he was coming back. Yeah, 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:04.280 And I think the Dwight thing is super interesting because 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:06.520 obviously they lean fully into the small ball, and you'd 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:08.720 rather have it be this way right, rather than be 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:10.839 fully into the small ball. And maybe they don't, or 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:12.920 they do go into a few bigs rather than on 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:14.920 their way around that. It was when we started the season, 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:17.040 when we were starting with two bigs. The Dwight thing 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:18.920 to me is only I would like him out there 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:21.640 just when it's like Carmelo at the five and we're 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:24.880 kind of filling out Carmelo with Stanley Johnson or Carmelo 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:28.000 with Trevor Reza. Trevor's only played twelve minutes tonight, Carmelo 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:30.080 getting hit a bunch of huge shots. I still think 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:32.160 thirty minutes though it's too much for him, but I 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:33.600 just don't think he doesn't have it doesn't have to 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:35.600 be as rigid. I think Dwight can still play ten 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:37.720 to twelve minutes just to give them a break, because 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.120 you can tell having Lebron be the guy who has 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:42.440 to pick up nas Read full time and then we've 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:45.360 gone into the you know how it's easier for him 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:47.640 to play more physical rather than being on the perimeter. 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:49.720 All that's true, he still look kind of tired to 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:51.560 me at the end there. You could see him kind 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:53.520 of hands on his knees. Having to be the guy 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:56.440 who rotates every time, also be the physical matchup guy 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:59.040 who wins the physical battles right on the boards, have 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:01.120 to box out nas Read. All that stuff is tough 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:03.800 for him to do, especially when he's playing forty minutes tonight, 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:05.560 forty minutes like he did tonight. And that's where I 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:07.760 think just sprinkling in Dwight for a little bit, let 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:10.920 him kind of battle, let him kind of battle, uh windows, 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:13.600 physical battles against guys Black Nosfreed, who was having a 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:16.160 career game. He had like twenty one and seven. I think, 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:17.560 I'm not sure if it was the middle of the 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:19.960 third or by halftime something like that. He was having 0:15:20.120 --> 0:15:22.000 a crazy battle. They were winning the points in opinion 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:24.200 as well, fifty two to thirty eight or fifty two 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:26.720 to twenty eight at one point. That's the only thing 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:28.280 I would like to see Dwight put a little bit. 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:30.360 But I understand it, Like, again, this is nitpicking to me. 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:32.640 They've gone all into the small ball. I think once 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:34.720 the reasons minutes come up a little bit, I think, 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:36.560 you know, twelve minutes because he was out for COVID, 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:38.960 so maybe that's maybe that's why they're still kind of 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:42.680 uh sprinkling his minutes down for now. But I just 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:44.480 would like to see Dwight maybe play a little bit. 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:46.800 But you're right leaning all the way into the small ball. 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:48.400 I think it's great. I think it's helped the offense 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:50.320 as well. We have a bunch of shooters out there, 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:52.880 we're really only playing like one non shooter at the time. 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:55.000 I've talked about Russ is the nonshooter really in the 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.480 starting lineup, and then you have THHC coming in for 0:15:57.560 --> 0:15:59.560 him as a non shooter there, and then I think 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:01.680 Dwight and kind of come in for maybe tich He 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:04.960 or something, just keeping that as one non shooter on 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:06.760 the floor. But yeah, they've leave it to it. I 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:11.160 love the randomly they went to both HD at Russ 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:12.440 at the same time in the middle of the fourth 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:16.440 quarter in the offense completely fell apart almost immediately right right. 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:18.640 But I like him not playing with all three right, 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:21.680 all three of Lebron. Uh, well it's not Lebron rust 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:23.800 uh and t HD on the floor. I think that 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.320 does help Tylon and Taylan still kind of in his head. 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:27.840 I was happy he was able to see a step 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:30.400 back jumper go. He get some nice defensive plays as 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:32.680 well in the fourth. I think he'll eventually get his 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:35.200 rhythm going. But yeah, man, that's where I'm at with 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:36.600 the Dwight thing. I would like him to play at 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:38.440 least like maybe if it's not like it doesn't have 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:40.360 to play twenty minutes of game, ten minutes a game, 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:42.200 just to give a little bit break on the physical 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:44.520 battle rare Carmelo or Lebron don't have to be the 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:46.680 only one down there. But you know, going to small ball, 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:48.640 I think it's great. I think it's something we're gonna 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:53.080 do until a d gets back in February. Yeah. Again, 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:55.800 there's a good argument for it. It's the same argument 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:57.960 I've been making over the course of the last couple 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:00.520 of weeks on here. I just I'm coming around to 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.960 see what Frank's ideology is. You can see how if 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:06.320 you played five out for forty eight minutes, but then 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:10.080 randomly turned eight of those minutes into Dwight Howard springing 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:13.840 roll basketball with you know, totally different vibe guy in 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:16.280 the dunker spot, that kind of thing that you can 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:18.439 see how that could disrupt the rhythm and flow of 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:20.400