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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to tonight. You're at the ball. You

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Speaker 1: have your Monday everybody hope all of you guys are

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Speaker 1: having a great start to your week. Got a jam

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Speaker 1: packshow for you tonight. We're hitting both of the TNT

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Speaker 1: games as the Lakers get a big win against the

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Speaker 1: red hot Houston Rockets team. The Celtics are peaking offensively

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Speaker 1: right now. We're gonna be talking about them in their

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Speaker 1: big win against the Memphis Grizzlies, and then, like we've

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Speaker 1: done for our last two live shows, the tail end

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Speaker 1: of the show, Jackson's gonna hop on with us and

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Speaker 1: we're gonna take questions from the chat for about ten

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Speaker 1: to fifteen minutes. Remember, if you want to get questions

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Speaker 1: in the chat, you gotta subscribe to the channel. So

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Speaker 1: subscribe to the channel, drop your questions in the chat.

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Speaker 1: We'll get to them at the tail end of the show.

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Speaker 1: You guys are the joke before we get started, subscribe

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Speaker 1: to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss any

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Speaker 1: more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore JCNLTS.

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Speaker 1: You guys, don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about a

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Speaker 1: podcast fet wherever. You'ture podcasts on our Hoops Tonight so

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Speaker 1: also super helpful if you leave a rating in a

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Speaker 1: review on that front. We also have brand new social

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Speaker 1: media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook where Jackson's doing

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Speaker 1: incredible work with film stuff. Make sure you guys follow

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Speaker 1: us there. Then, last, but not least, keep dropping mail

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Speaker 1: bag questions in the YouTube comments. Tomorrow morning, we're recording

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Speaker 1: a mail bag. Since we're covering tonight's games, this episode

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Speaker 1: will be your last chance to drop mailbag questions for

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Speaker 1: tomorrow's mail bag as well. All right, let's talk some basketball.

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Speaker 1: So the Rockets have been a team that I've been

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Speaker 1: interested to see play the Lakers for several different reasons. One,

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Speaker 1: they present probably the biggest physical mismatch for the Lakers

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Speaker 1: on the perimeter. But they also have this Shanguon problem,

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Speaker 1: and I've been watching Shangoon kick everyone's ass seemingly as

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Speaker 1: of late. And they have these big, strong athletes that

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Speaker 1: can wear on the you know, somewhat lesser athletes that

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Speaker 1: the Lakers have on the perimeter. The Lakers have good

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Speaker 1: size on the perimeter, but they're not particularly athletic, and

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Speaker 1: I think you saw a lot of examples of that today.

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Speaker 1: There were a couple of plays with Dorian Finney Smith

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Speaker 1: where like Dorian Phinney Smith is one of the better

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Speaker 1: athletes on the Lakers, And there were a couple of

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Speaker 1: plays today that The one that comes to mind are

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Speaker 1: that Tarry Easton driving Iso smash in his face, just

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Speaker 1: the two handed crunch right in his face off of

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Speaker 1: that little low gather move. And then the play where

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Speaker 1: Men Thompson, who just every time I watched Men Thompson.

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Speaker 1: I'm just completely blown away. But he had this euro

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Speaker 1: step on the bastine where he left Dorian Infinny Smith

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Speaker 1: just in the mud. And there were other examples where

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Speaker 1: it's like Lebron's trying to back down Dylan Brooks, and

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Speaker 1: like I always talk about those back down situations of

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Speaker 1: like a contest to see who can dislodge the other

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Speaker 1: player's base first is what those contests usually come down to.

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Speaker 1: And Dylan Brooks is dislodging Lebron's base, He's dislodging Luca's base,

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Speaker 1: and so there's a bunch of physical mismatches at play.

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Speaker 1: They're a team that can do quite a bit of switching,

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Speaker 1: as you saw down the stretch as the Lakers were

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Speaker 1: attacking Fred van Vliet quite a bit. And they also

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Speaker 1: run a lot of zone defense as a late they

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Speaker 1: didn't run. I pulled the stat on the show a

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Speaker 1: couple of days ago or last week, but the Rockets

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Speaker 1: for like fifty something games this year ran zero possessions

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Speaker 1: of zone and then suddenly in the last month they've

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Speaker 1: just been running a ton of it, and they run

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Speaker 1: a couple of different variations of it. But this was

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Speaker 1: gonna be a good test for the Lakers on a

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Speaker 1: bunch of different fronts, and I thought in general they

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Speaker 1: passed the test in a lot of ways. I thought

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Speaker 1: the main reason today didn't look more like a convincing

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Speaker 1: win or ten to fifteen point Laker win is none

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Speaker 1: of the Lakers stars played well on offense. None of

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Speaker 1: them provided volume scoring. But some of that is because

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Speaker 1: they did the job, which is hanging with Houston physically.

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Speaker 1: And there were a couple stretches, like in the early

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Speaker 1: part of the game, and the Lakers were missing shots

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Speaker 1: against the zone, or they gave up some transition kick

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Speaker 1: ahead stuff where guys are just standing wide open under

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Speaker 1: the basket. Some of those kinds of mistakes, But for

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Speaker 1: the most part, the Lakers held up on the margins.

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Speaker 1: They tied them in offensive rebounds both teams at ten.

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Speaker 1: They held them to just thirteen fast break points. Those

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Speaker 1: are the two main areas where they can get thrashed

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Speaker 1: by this type of team, and they held up there.

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Speaker 1: But there is something to be said about the cumulative

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Speaker 1: wear and tear that happens when you play against a

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Speaker 1: team like the Houston Rockets. Like I talked about this

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Speaker 1: all the time, I talked about it earlier this morning

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Speaker 1: when we were I think it was when we were

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Speaker 1: talking at the tail end of the show about Zachary

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Speaker 1: Rossauche but talked about the difference between like what causes

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Speaker 1: a shot to miss, while also acknowledging that there is

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Speaker 1: a certain amount of luck in shooting. Generally speaking, I

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Speaker 1: think that there's far more controllable in shot result than uncontrollable.

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Speaker 1: What kinds of shots are you getting? What else are

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Speaker 1: you having to do in the gate? Like if you're

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Speaker 1: getting worn down physically because you're fronting the post against

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Speaker 1: Shane Goon and doing all this crackdown, rebounding to deal

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Speaker 1: with their bigs underneath the basket, and sprinting back in transition,

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Speaker 1: every single time there's a certain amount of it's difficult

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Speaker 1: to then get the lift you need into a shot.

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Speaker 1: Did you see Austin Reeves leaving that jumper short off

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Speaker 1: the front of the rim? Do you see that last

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Speaker 1: wide open Rui Hachimura three that literally airballed short. Luca

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Speaker 1: on all of his step backs couldn't get the ball

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Speaker 1: to the rim. He had a couple alligator arm shots

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Speaker 1: in this game that were well short of the front

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Speaker 1: of the rim. Those are connected. That is a product

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Speaker 1: of that cumulative wear and tear that a team like

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Speaker 1: Houston puts on your legs. And as I always talk about,

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Speaker 1: the jump shot is an energy transfer from the floor

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Speaker 1: all the way through to the release. If you disrupt

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Speaker 1: the base or you disrupt the gather, it doesn't even

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Speaker 1: feel like the same shot at the top. And there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of that sort of thing where you could

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Speaker 1: just feel the Lakers struggling to get their lift, and

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Speaker 1: I do think there's a certain amount of like they're

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Speaker 1: gonna have to overcome that if they run into Houston

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Speaker 1: in a second round series. There's a chance here if

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Speaker 1: the way things shake out that the Lakers and the

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Speaker 1: Rockets end up at the two three, and if the

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Speaker 1: Rockets beat whoever comes out of that seven seed, there's

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Speaker 1: a chance that it ends up being La Houston in

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Speaker 1: round two. And if that happens, it's going to be

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Speaker 1: important that Lebron, Luca, and Austin find a way to

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Speaker 1: contribute at a higher rate offensively while also winning these

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Speaker 1: physical battles that they're gonna have to win, or losing

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Speaker 1: fewer of the physical battles than you can lose to

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Speaker 1: a team like Houston, same thing goes for the spot

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Speaker 1: up shooters. There are a couple guys try really well tonight, right,

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Speaker 1: like Dorian Finney Smith and gave Vincent May twelve threes

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Speaker 1: between the two and that that was massive, just absolutely

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Speaker 1: massive for them in this game. Gabe was getting a

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Speaker 1: ton of open threes in the corner out of their

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Speaker 1: zone attack, and then Dorian Finney Smith was getting a

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Speaker 1: ton of threes at the top of the key out

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Speaker 1: of the pick and pop. But everyone else shot poorly,

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Speaker 1: you know, Ruy Hatcha Mura goes one for six, Austin

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Speaker 1: Reeves goes oh for three, Jordan Goodwin gets two fantastic

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Speaker 1: wide open looks and he goes oh for two. There's

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Speaker 1: a certain amount of that, where like the Lakers are

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Speaker 1: going to have to make shots and generate offense while

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Speaker 1: they're dealing with a very difficult physical ask to box

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Speaker 1: out and run the floor in transition and do all

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Speaker 1: of those things. I thought they handled the zone really well.

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Speaker 1: I thought they consistently generated great shots. There's a certain

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Speaker 1: there's a bunch of different stuff that happens with zone

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Speaker 1: to everybody involved. Defenses tend to struggle with rebounding why

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Speaker 1: because they're not matched up, there's not clean box outs.

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Speaker 1: Zones tend to breed passivity, meaning like guys feel like

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Speaker 1: they're just in their spot and they don't need to

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Speaker 1: cover a ton of ground, so they're less crashy, and

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Speaker 1: so they can give up some offensive rebounds. And then

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Speaker 1: on offense, it fundamentally changes the way your shots come

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Speaker 1: from right. Like we're gonna talk about this when we

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Speaker 1: get into the Celtics, when we talk about Al Horford

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Speaker 1: and chrisops Porzingis. But like, you run into a very

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Speaker 1: different style of game, a very different style of offense,

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Speaker 1: a very different style of defense. It can catch you

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Speaker 1: off guard and it can be difficult to adjust to. So,

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Speaker 1: for instance, like where do the Lakers usually get their

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Speaker 1: catch and shoot threes. They're typically coming out of skips

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Speaker 1: and ball screens, like maybe an extra pass up the wing,

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Speaker 1: but a lot of weak side wing, week side corner threes,

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Speaker 1: a lot of picking pop threes in ball screens when

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Speaker 1: they have a big on Dori and Finney Smith. That's

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Speaker 1: where they tend to get their threes from right. Once

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Speaker 1: you bring in a zone, it changes the way you

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Speaker 1: get your threes. There's more threes off of swing passes,

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Speaker 1: so you're not getting the ball out of the paint

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Speaker 1: as often. A lot of times it's off of a

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Speaker 1: sideway's pass. You're changing your perspective on the basket as

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Speaker 1: you turn to shoot. The closeouts tend to be different.

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Speaker 1: A lot of times those gaps are with a defender

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Speaker 1: closing out at you on your side as opposed to

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Speaker 1: closing out at your face. It's a very different type

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Speaker 1: of feel, and often even when you get great shots

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Speaker 1: against zone, it can take time for you to kind

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Speaker 1: of like get comfortable taking and making shots in those situations.

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Speaker 1: That said, this is why I feel so strongly about

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Speaker 1: that concept. I talked earlier about shot quality and how

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Speaker 1: variance plays a role, but ultimately it's about the kind

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Speaker 1: of basketball that you're playing on both ends of the floor.

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Speaker 1: If you continue to generate great shots for great shooters,

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Speaker 1: they're gonna go in. And Gabe was off early in

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Speaker 1: the game. They had a couple bad misses out of

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Speaker 1: the corner, but he just kept getting clean looks. Two

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Speaker 1: damn good of a shooter. He's a pro. These guys

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Speaker 1: are in the gym every damn day, shooting hundreds of shots.

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Speaker 1: If you let him just sit there and set his feet,

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Speaker 1: get his rhythm, he's gonna eventually knock him down. And

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Speaker 1: that's the thing. Like these were like wide open looks

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Speaker 1: for Dorian Finney Smith at the top of the key.

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Speaker 1: These were wide open looks for Gave gay Vinson hit

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Speaker 1: a couple of more tightly contested ones out of the corner,

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Speaker 1: but he got going with these wide open shots, and

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Speaker 1: so to the Lakers credit, they trusted their shot. Qual

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Speaker 1: I thought that was kind of like the theme of

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Speaker 1: the game for the Lakers, like trusting the process. Like

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Speaker 1: there's a certain amount of like you'll see a lot

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Speaker 1: of old heads do this. I don't know if you

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Speaker 1: guys have ever played with an older guy when you're

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Speaker 1: playing pickup, where like you take a couple of wide

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Speaker 1: open threes and you miss them, and the old guy

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Speaker 1: goes like, we need to stop settling, we need to

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Speaker 1: go to the basket. Like it just starts yelling at

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Speaker 1: you that kind of shit, Like we've all dealt with

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Speaker 1: that before. But it's like a lot of times that

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Speaker 1: can be the worst thing you can do because a

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Speaker 1: lot of times those threes are open because the defense

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Speaker 1: is packing the paint the defense is conceding those threes

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Speaker 1: in a lot of cases. Case in point, the Dorian

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Speaker 1: Finney Smith picking pop. Dorrian Finney Smith is gonna hit

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Speaker 1: about five percent of those wide open above the break threes.

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Speaker 1: As Luke is coming off of that ball screen, whether

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Speaker 1: it's Steven Adams or Alpern Shangoon, he's got two on

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Speaker 1: the ball, he is driving to the basket. There's red

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Speaker 1: jerseys or Rockets jerseys all around them. And so ultimately,

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Speaker 1: what you need to do in that situation instead of

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Speaker 1: trying to ram your head through the brick wall, is

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Speaker 1: take what the defense is giving. Now, I agree with

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Speaker 1: the old heads. If you're settling for bad shots, that's

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Speaker 1: a totally different game. Like if you're coming down the

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Speaker 1: floor and you're doing the Jalen Green thing where it's

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Speaker 1: like you're coming off of the top of the screen

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Speaker 1: and you're getting off the dribble three with a rear

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Speaker 1: view contest and you make a couple, but then you

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Speaker 1: start missing. Like I, as a coach would probably be like, hey,

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Speaker 1: like let's try to generate more clean catch and shoot

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Speaker 1: looks instead of these like lower percentage types of shots.

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Speaker 1: But if you're getting if your offense is generating clean

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Speaker 1: catch and shoot looks for good shooters, you don't bail

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Speaker 1: on that just because they miss three or four early

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Speaker 1: in the game. You trust that shot quality. Dorian Finney,

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Speaker 1: Smith and Gabe Vincent total twenty four to three point

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Speaker 1: attempts tonight. That is relentless faith in the shot quality

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Speaker 1: that they were generating, And so I just thought that

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Speaker 1: was a really like there's a certain amount of it

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Speaker 1: too with Houston, where it's like you can tell, like Lebron,

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Speaker 1: you could literally see it in the body language of

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Speaker 1: every Laker tonight, whether it's Luca dealing with Dylan Brooks

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Speaker 1: or Lebron dealing with Dylan Brooks, or all those guys

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Speaker 1: dealing with the men. Thompson and DFS got into it

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Speaker 1: with Steven Adams. No matter who beats the Rockets, whether

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Speaker 1: it's the Lakers or it's somebody else, whoever gets rid

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Speaker 1: of them, that's gonna be a shitty two weeks like that.

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Speaker 1: You're going to be dealing with pain in the ass,

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Speaker 1: physical athletes that are gonna talk shit like Jalen Green's

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Speaker 1: rocking the baby every time he gets a driving layup

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Speaker 1: in this game. Dylan Brooks every time he stonewalls Lebron

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Speaker 1: or Luca is like talking shit. I literally saw him

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Speaker 1: call Lebron trash after he got knocked over on the

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Speaker 1: last one. Like there's a certain amount of like this

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Speaker 1: is gonna suck under any circumstances for anybody to play.

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Speaker 1: And you could see the Lakers kind of in survival

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Speaker 1: mode tonight, where they're like, can we just get out

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Speaker 1: of here with a win and not see these guys

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Speaker 1: for a while. But the reality is they might see them.

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Speaker 1: And that's why I think it's just so important for

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Speaker 1: the Lakers to attack these final Cup weeks to improve

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Speaker 1: their conditioning, to improve their ability to handle the physicality,

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Speaker 1: because ultimately they're gonna need to against a big, physical

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Speaker 1: athletic team. If it's not Houston, it'll be okay See,

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Speaker 1: who's just a much better version of Houston. And in

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Speaker 1: that sort of situation, they're gonna have to be able

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Speaker 1: to make good decisions, make good reads, and get their

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Speaker 1: legs up into these shots so that they can knock

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Speaker 1: some of these shots down if they're going to beat

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Speaker 1: a team like Okay See. One of the things that

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Speaker 1: stood out to me in this game was just in

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Speaker 1: general the effort that the Lakers gave holding like finding

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Speaker 1: ways to contribute even when they're not making shots, and

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Speaker 1: all the three stars I thought deserved some credit for this. So,

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Speaker 1: for instance, like Austin reeves brutal shooting game. Jackson and

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Speaker 1: I were talking before the show, like he definitely has

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Speaker 1: a lower floor and he's more inconsistent against these really

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Speaker 1: athletic teams just because they can wear on him physically

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Speaker 1: to a certain extent. But one of the things I'll

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Speaker 1: give Austin credit for is like he can identify when

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Speaker 1: he's having that type of game, he'll just find ways

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Speaker 1: to make plays. There was a big sequence late in

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Speaker 1: this game where he gets a pretty good look off

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Speaker 1: of a nasty left right snatchback crossover against Jalen Green

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Speaker 1: right around the right elbow, leaves it short off the

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Speaker 1: front of the rim. It misses, and Jalen Green, you

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Speaker 1: could tell, is just like, oh yeah, well watch this.

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Speaker 1: So he goes down the other end and he starts

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Speaker 1: go right at Austin's chest and Austin cleanly strips him,

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Speaker 1: absorbs the contact, slides open, waits for Jalen to expose

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Speaker 1: the ball in his shooting pocket and reaches out and

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Speaker 1: he strips him clean. Look at the way Austin was

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Speaker 1: flying around on rebounds. He had a contest on a

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Speaker 1: Dylan Brooks left shoulder fade away, which, by the way,

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Speaker 1: like there are a lot of guys in this league

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Speaker 1: where if Dylan Brooks went to take a left shoulder

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Speaker 1: fade away, they'd be like, all right, bro, Like you

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Speaker 1: go ahead and shoot that, We'll just grab the rebound.

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Speaker 1: Austin was like, no, Like, I am not leaving this

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Speaker 1: to chance. I am going to get the best possible

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Speaker 1: contest I can get, and he damn near blocked Dylan

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Speaker 1: Brooks on that left shoulder fade along the baseline. Lebron

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Speaker 1: making that defensive play against Shangun. Shang Gun spins off

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Speaker 1: of Austin, gets him in a switch. There's no help

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Speaker 1: out of that right corner because it's vacant. Shangun has

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Speaker 1: an easy drop step to his right hand on that

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Speaker 1: right side of the basket. He makes that. It's the

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Speaker 1: exact same situation they were just in where they were

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Speaker 1: struggling to get the ball in bounds and they could

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Speaker 1: potentially turn the ball over there like they did against Chicago,

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Speaker 1: or have to go make more free throws. Lebron said, nah,

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Speaker 1: fuck that, I'm gonna make a defensive play here. He

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Speaker 1: read the whole thing from the start. You know, Shanegun,

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Speaker 1: he really is Jokich light and I really enjoy watching

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Speaker 1: him for a lot of the same reasons. But the

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Speaker 1: two biggest differences is he's just not as big as

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Speaker 1: Yokich and he's just not as good a passer as

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Speaker 1: Jokich is. And like Shanggun really just telegraphed and mailed

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Speaker 1: in that move to where Lebron just saw it coming

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Speaker 1: a mile away, got up there and make the block.

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Speaker 1: He had those two clutch free throws at the end

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Speaker 1: of the game. Luca, like we talked about it the

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Speaker 1: shot making earlier, like he was leaving everything short. Was

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Speaker 1: just brutally bad as a shot maker in this game.

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Speaker 1: But he was the guy that was consistently generating those

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Speaker 1: fantastic looks for Dorian Finney Smith at the top of

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Speaker 1: the key. He also hit Gabe a few times on

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Speaker 1: skips in ball screens. Like to Luca's credit, he generated

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Speaker 1: great shots for his team in this game as best

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Speaker 1: as he could, even though the shot making wasn't there,

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Speaker 1: and so all in all, I thought it was an

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Speaker 1: impressive effort for the Lakers, while at the same time

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Speaker 1: revealing of the fact that there's a certain amount of

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Speaker 1: wear and tear that these young athletic teams can inflict

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Speaker 1: on this Lakers roster. And so there's a certain amount

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Speaker 1: of like that war of attrition, which is, like how

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Speaker 1: much can the athletes wear down the Lakers stars versus

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Speaker 1: how much can the Lakers Stars solve these defenses to

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Speaker 1: the point where it starts to get easier for them.

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Speaker 1: And so there's a certain amount of that sort of

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Speaker 1: like tug of war that's going to be an important

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Speaker 1: swing factor for the Lakers as they head into the postseason,

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Speaker 1: which is, are they willing and able to survive a

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Speaker 1: two week series against a super athletic, super young team

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Speaker 1: and gets stronger as the series progresses, because that can

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Speaker 1: also go the other way, and we've seen, like I mean,

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Speaker 1: just like at Minnesota versus Phoenix last year, where sometimes

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Speaker 1: the physicality ratchets up, those athletes really start to get

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Speaker 1: their hands on you, and it can turn into something

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00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:08,879
Speaker 1: that gets ugly pretty quick. But yeah, so it was

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00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:11,159
Speaker 1: a good win for them. I think they're trending in

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Speaker 1: the right direction. This was one of their better physical,

382
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Speaker 1: competitive types of games in the last week or so,

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Speaker 1: But this was also the game where their offense took

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Speaker 1: a step back after their offense had been starting to

385
00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:23,639
Speaker 1: gain some ground in recent weeks. So ultimately, for the Lakers,

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Speaker 1: it's about putting it all together and getting to the

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Speaker 1: point where all these different facets of what make them

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Speaker 1: good are all available and reliable at the same time.

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Speaker 1: Moving out to Boston Memphis, I talked earlier about running

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Speaker 1: into an opponent that plays a dramatically different style, right

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Speaker 1: with the Lakers running into a zone defense. I talked

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Speaker 1: about this concept with Porzingis and Horford in the Suns game.

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Speaker 1: If you guys remember, they're just a matchup problem for

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Speaker 1: most front courts in the NBA. They had Zach Edy

395
00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:58,520
Speaker 1: and Santi Aldamin hell tonight. There was a stretch at

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Speaker 1: the beginning of this game for about quarter and a

397
00:18:59,880 --> 00:19:04,600
Speaker 1: half or the Grizzlies were hooping, John Morant was cooking,

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00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:08,960
Speaker 1: and most of Boston's perimeter players were cold. Derek White

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Speaker 1: and Drew Holliday had like zero points through the first

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Speaker 1: you know, twelve fourteen minutes or so of this game,

401
00:19:15,320 --> 00:19:17,760
Speaker 1: and Al Horford and Chris hops Porzingis literally kept them

402
00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:20,919
Speaker 1: in the game until their offense finally got going in

403
00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:23,320
Speaker 1: that late second quarter stretch and Drew Halliding and Derek

404
00:19:23,359 --> 00:19:25,560
Speaker 1: White started hitting three, Jason Tatum started getting aggressive. That

405
00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:27,240
Speaker 1: was when they took over and they were able to

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00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:29,800
Speaker 1: kind of slowly and methodically take control of the game

407
00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:31,760
Speaker 1: from there. But they were hanging on for dear life

408
00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:33,600
Speaker 1: early on as none of their perimeter players can get

409
00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,360
Speaker 1: anything going, and John Morant was really going and guys

410
00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:38,160
Speaker 1: were hitting threes, and it just was one of those

411
00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:40,800
Speaker 1: things where they needed somebody to keep them attached, and

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Speaker 1: it was Horford and Porzingis. The Celtics make you play

413
00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:48,000
Speaker 1: a different type of game. So many teams that run spread,

414
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Speaker 1: pick and roll in the NBA allow teams to kind

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Speaker 1: of set their defense up in a way that is repetitive. Right,

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Speaker 1: So say you're guarding Luca Jackson ball screen. Right, You're

417
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Speaker 1: gonna have a guy chase over the top, your BIG's

418
00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:05,200
Speaker 1: gonna come up to the level or whatever. You're gonna

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Speaker 1: tag the roller. That means a skip is open. But

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Speaker 1: there's a classic rotation from the wing to the skip

421
00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:12,159
Speaker 1: and the two on the ball have to disengage and

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00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:14,320
Speaker 1: someone's got to rotate to the wing, and there's a

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Speaker 1: certain amount of like when you're facing these spread, pick

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00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:19,920
Speaker 1: and roll teams, where like you play sixty games a

425
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Speaker 1: year playing that type of defense, and so you kind

426
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Speaker 1: of get really good at it. You kind of get

427
00:20:24,080 --> 00:20:26,359
Speaker 1: your reads down, you get your your it kind of

428
00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:28,520
Speaker 1: becomes instinctual, like what you're gonna do in all these

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Speaker 1: different types of situations. One of the things that the

430
00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:36,399
Speaker 1: Celtics do is they allow them They allow their team

431
00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:40,000
Speaker 1: to play with Horford and porzingis they allow their team

432
00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:42,399
Speaker 1: to play a brand of driving kick basketball that is

433
00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:44,960
Speaker 1: positionless in the purest sense of where guys are on

434
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,240
Speaker 1: the floor, meaning like sometimes it is Tatum in the

435
00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:50,520
Speaker 1: corner and Horford on the wing and a guard in

436
00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:52,960
Speaker 1: the dunker spot and porzingis on the opposite wing. But

437
00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:55,399
Speaker 1: then sometimes Horford's in the corner and sometimes porzingis is

438
00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:57,240
Speaker 1: operating out against a switch in the middle of the floor.

439
00:20:57,359 --> 00:21:00,520
Speaker 1: Everyone's in a different spot all the time. It happening

440
00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:02,600
Speaker 1: is like everybody on the team is like doing these

441
00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:05,720
Speaker 1: weird things like oh, you're a guard and now you're

442
00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:08,600
Speaker 1: making a help side rotation underneath the basket because your

443
00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:10,880
Speaker 1: bigs are out above the break and there's a guard

444
00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:13,399
Speaker 1: in the dunker spot, so like it's your help rotation.

445
00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:16,760
Speaker 1: So now you're protecting the rim as like a six

446
00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:20,840
Speaker 1: foot two athletic thin guard or whatever it might be, right,

447
00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,119
Speaker 1: or you're as a big man like all of a sudden,

448
00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:26,600
Speaker 1: like you're defending in a driving kick situation where it's like, oh,

449
00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:29,040
Speaker 1: I'm dealing with Horford and a pick and pop, or

450
00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:32,240
Speaker 1: now I'm Zach Edy, I'm switched on to Derek White

451
00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:34,280
Speaker 1: on the left wing, and like now I'm like trying

452
00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:36,199
Speaker 1: to slide my feet against Derek White, and all he

453
00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:37,720
Speaker 1: has to do is kind of shimmy a little bit

454
00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:39,520
Speaker 1: and he back pedals too much and then he rises

455
00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:42,679
Speaker 1: up and knocks down a pull up three right in

456
00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:45,280
Speaker 1: his face. It just puts everybody in these like really

457
00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:49,560
Speaker 1: awkward situations, and you could tell the Celtics new that

458
00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:52,240
Speaker 1: that was their best option because they were hunting it relentlessly.

459
00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:54,879
Speaker 1: They even ran in action at one point, it was

460
00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:57,080
Speaker 1: in the second quarter if I remember correctly, where they

461
00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,680
Speaker 1: had Horford and Porzingis run an off ball action off

462
00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:04,280
Speaker 1: of the wing and Horford screens Santiel Dama and Porzingis

463
00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:06,560
Speaker 1: cuts or kind of kind of curls it and they

464
00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:08,399
Speaker 1: defend it like a drop coverage. So Santel Dama is

465
00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:10,439
Speaker 1: like chasing over the top and Edie is in a

466
00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:13,080
Speaker 1: kind of like a drop right around like ten feet

467
00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:15,280
Speaker 1: from the basket. Porzingis catches the ball in the move

468
00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:17,480
Speaker 1: and he's going downhill right at Edie's face, and he

469
00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:19,840
Speaker 1: just spins into it, just dunks it with two hands

470
00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:21,840
Speaker 1: right in his head. And I'm like, like, this is

471
00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:25,879
Speaker 1: not normal stuff you expect to deal with when you're coaching.

472
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,119
Speaker 1: Zach Edy like like, all right, you know how you

473
00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:30,040
Speaker 1: ran drop coverage for the last two weeks, Well tonight,

474
00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:32,040
Speaker 1: we need you to be defending off ball action for

475
00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:34,680
Speaker 1: a big who can shoot twenty seven footers and post

476
00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,080
Speaker 1: up and do all and spin into dunks in your

477
00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:39,320
Speaker 1: face and all this different kind of stuff. Al Horford,

478
00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:43,359
Speaker 1: it's not just the shooting. It's it's confident and aggressive shooting,

479
00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:46,080
Speaker 1: which are two very different things. I'm able to knock

480
00:22:46,119 --> 00:22:47,720
Speaker 1: down to catch and shoot three. It's not the same

481
00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:49,639
Speaker 1: as if you leave me open, I'm gonna shoot it

482
00:22:50,320 --> 00:22:52,160
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna hit you know, close to forty percent

483
00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:53,719
Speaker 1: of them, and that just puts you in all these

484
00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:57,720
Speaker 1: different predicaments. Like I watched Horford tonight jab into the corner,

485
00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:01,240
Speaker 1: drive middle hit a little fling hook shot in the lane.

486
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:03,280
Speaker 1: That's a guard move. That's a guard move that you're

487
00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:07,600
Speaker 1: asking your bigs to defend in space. Like it just

488
00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:11,080
Speaker 1: ultimately puts you in all of these uncomfortable positions. And

489
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:13,879
Speaker 1: like I thought, Zach Eatie in particular and santi all

490
00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:17,760
Speaker 1: Dom in particular just looked completely lost on the floorida night.

491
00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:21,400
Speaker 1: And that's what Horford and Porzingis do to you. And

492
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:24,080
Speaker 1: they were spamming that advantage. Boston was a lot of

493
00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:27,119
Speaker 1: Porzingis post ups in this game. I thought Porzingis gave

494
00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:29,840
Speaker 1: them issues with his rim protection as well. It's just

495
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:31,359
Speaker 1: been really fun in the last few weeks to watch

496
00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:35,080
Speaker 1: those guys give teams fits. The CEA's perimeterive players finally

497
00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:37,080
Speaker 1: got going that second quarter as well. I've been talking

498
00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:39,760
Speaker 1: a lot lately about the Celtics in their pursuit of

499
00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:43,240
Speaker 1: great shots right, and this might have been their best

500
00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:47,480
Speaker 1: offensive process game of the season. Thirty assists on thirty

501
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:53,159
Speaker 1: nine midfield goals, They generated thirty two unguarded catch and

502
00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:56,359
Speaker 1: shoot jump shots in that game that was by far

503
00:23:56,520 --> 00:24:00,800
Speaker 1: their highest total of the season. They've general at least

504
00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:07,639
Speaker 1: twenty unguarded catch and shoots in five consecutive games, and

505
00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,720
Speaker 1: that's the exciting part. Like most of this is shaping

506
00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:14,000
Speaker 1: up exactly like you would hope for a title defense.

507
00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:18,640
Speaker 1: They're having an excellent regular season, but at the same time,

508
00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,960
Speaker 1: they're not over extending themselves trying to keep up with

509
00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:24,439
Speaker 1: a couple of young athletic teams in Cleveland and OKC.

510
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,320
Speaker 1: They're taking care of their bodies, sitting guys when they

511
00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:32,520
Speaker 1: need to sit guys, while also maintaining their identity while

512
00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:35,360
Speaker 1: also giving young guys a lot of opportunity. We've seen

513
00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:38,640
Speaker 1: a lot more Baylor shiremen as of late. They're allowing

514
00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:42,240
Speaker 1: themselves to have a multifaceted approach to this regular season,

515
00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:46,280
Speaker 1: while at the same time, right now March thirty first,

516
00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:48,680
Speaker 1: turning up their intensity in time for the playoffs. They've

517
00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:51,639
Speaker 1: won nine in a row, just had their best shot

518
00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:55,840
Speaker 1: quality game of the season, five consecutive games of just

519
00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:58,360
Speaker 1: a lot of really good catch and shoot looks, which

520
00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:00,240
Speaker 1: to me are like the number one barometer for the

521
00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:02,840
Speaker 1: Celtics in their offense. There's just a lot to get

522
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:05,600
Speaker 1: excited about if you're a Celtics fan. They are peaking

523
00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:09,359
Speaker 1: at the right time on the Memphis front. Their defense

524
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:10,719
Speaker 1: has been awful in the skid. They have a one

525
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:12,760
Speaker 1: to twenty point three defensive rating in this one and

526
00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:16,360
Speaker 1: six stretch, and I'm not surprised at all that they

527
00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:18,760
Speaker 1: were the team that gave up the most wide open

528
00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:21,600
Speaker 1: threes to Boston. This was an issue throughout the entirety

529
00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:24,119
Speaker 1: of the Taylor Jenkins era, and we've talked about this

530
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:28,560
Speaker 1: on the show many times. They're an overhelped team. There's

531
00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:31,600
Speaker 1: a huge difference between digging and recovering and just sitting

532
00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:35,720
Speaker 1: in driving lanes and conceiting threes. Over the course of

533
00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:37,800
Speaker 1: this span. I checked before the show it's either fifth

534
00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:40,320
Speaker 1: or sixth, But in the seven game span, they've given

535
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:43,359
Speaker 1: up the fifth or sixth most unguarded catch and shoot,

536
00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:46,160
Speaker 1: jump shot or wide open PERMBA dot Com at least

537
00:25:46,200 --> 00:25:49,119
Speaker 1: six feet away defenders or defender at least six feet away.

538
00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:53,800
Speaker 1: They've given up, let's just say, the sixth most in

539
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,600
Speaker 1: the league over this seven game span. There's a certain

540
00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:00,920
Speaker 1: amount of that where you're going to allow teams to

541
00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:02,879
Speaker 1: pick you apart and get great looks, and it's just

542
00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:04,960
Speaker 1: gonna be really difficult for you to get enough stops.

543
00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:07,760
Speaker 1: If you're deliberate with your shot selection in ball movement

544
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:10,440
Speaker 1: against Memphis, you can absolutely get open looks against them.

545
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:12,240
Speaker 1: They look a little bit like a team that's letting

546
00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:14,920
Speaker 1: go of the rope right now, doing the exact opposite

547
00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:16,880
Speaker 1: of what we talked about with Boston. They're losing team

548
00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:19,280
Speaker 1: as we had for the postseason. I don't think they're

549
00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:20,960
Speaker 1: good enough on either end of the floor to win

550
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:25,000
Speaker 1: four playoff rounds. Definitely looking a little bleak in Memphis.

551
00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:27,240
Speaker 1: All right, Jackson, let's get into that mail bag. What

552
00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:27,920
Speaker 1: do you got for us?

553
00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:32,080
Speaker 2: All right, let's do it. We are going to start

554
00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:35,600
Speaker 2: off with a question from JM, who's in the chat

555
00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:39,040
Speaker 2: super chatting sending us a few dollars, Thank you, JM.

556
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:42,800
Speaker 2: Do you think Denver will fall to the four seed

557
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:47,440
Speaker 2: and rest players to avoid a potential Warriors or Timberwolves

558
00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:49,119
Speaker 2: matchup in the first round of the playoffs, And we

559
00:26:49,119 --> 00:26:51,520
Speaker 2: can sort of expand the question I think generally to like,

560
00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:55,360
Speaker 2: do you think teams actually do this try to intentionally

561
00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:58,399
Speaker 2: lose games or intentionally how much do these teams think

562
00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:01,720
Speaker 2: about seeding and their potential first round matchups against teams

563
00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:02,600
Speaker 2: they might struggle with.

564
00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:06,760
Speaker 1: I think there's a certain amount of they should have

565
00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:09,640
Speaker 1: a certain awareness of Minnesota and Golden State coming out

566
00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:12,520
Speaker 1: of that six to seven slot. At the same time, though,

567
00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:16,960
Speaker 1: knowing the competitors that are in that locker room, the

568
00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:20,040
Speaker 1: champions that they are, I just doubt they're wired that way.

569
00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:25,280
Speaker 1: I generally tend to think that the basketball gods will

570
00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:28,920
Speaker 1: reward you most when you attempt to play the best

571
00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:34,359
Speaker 1: possible basketball, and that ultimately, even if you were able

572
00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:37,000
Speaker 1: to avoid Minnesota or a Golden State in the first round,

573
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:39,840
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to face somebody that attacks your weaknesses

574
00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:42,280
Speaker 1: at some point in the postseason. The best thing you

575
00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:44,119
Speaker 1: can do to prepare for that is to be the

576
00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:45,840
Speaker 1: best basketball team that you can be, and the only

577
00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:47,919
Speaker 1: way to do that is to attack every day in

578
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:50,320
Speaker 1: the process of becoming a better basketball team. So, like

579
00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:53,480
Speaker 1: I think there's a fan case for it, I just

580
00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:55,800
Speaker 1: don't think there's a basketball case for it, just simply

581
00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:59,080
Speaker 1: because it's just bad process for a basketball team. What

582
00:27:59,119 --> 00:27:59,879
Speaker 1: do you think, Yeah, I.

583
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:04,640
Speaker 2: Think I just think there's too much unpredictability like it's

584
00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:07,840
Speaker 2: you just don't know if if if you have a

585
00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:11,080
Speaker 2: hot shooting series, you're If Denver has a hot shooting series,

586
00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:14,439
Speaker 2: they're rolling through Minnesota. Like if if Denver has a

587
00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:16,520
Speaker 2: cold shooting series, they're they're probably getting beat by the

588
00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:18,760
Speaker 2: team with that much size. Like it's it's there's so

589
00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:21,520
Speaker 2: much variance, and you need to be trying to play

590
00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:24,280
Speaker 2: your best basketball. I think going into the playoffs and

591
00:28:24,119 --> 00:28:26,120
Speaker 2: in those early parts of the playoffs, if you want

592
00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:28,480
Speaker 2: it's it's not like Denver's a team that would be

593
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:31,720
Speaker 2: happy to win one one round, right, If you're a

594
00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:34,000
Speaker 2: genuine title contender, you want to be playing your best

595
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,200
Speaker 2: basketball because whoever you get. If you're if you're Denver,

596
00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:39,640
Speaker 2: you're thinking a lot more about how do you beat

597
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:41,760
Speaker 2: Okay see than you are how you beat If you're

598
00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:43,680
Speaker 2: if you're stressing about how do you beat Minnesota, you're

599
00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:48,760
Speaker 2: not beating Okay. So so exactly, yeah, all right, next question,

600
00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:52,600
Speaker 2: we'll do this one's sort of about tonight's connected tonight's game,

601
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:54,040
Speaker 2: because it does feel like there was a lot of

602
00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:56,959
Speaker 2: talk on the broadcast about Jalen green Is sitting at

603
00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:58,920
Speaker 2: the end of the game. Uh, do you think the

604
00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:01,920
Speaker 2: Rockets will look target a veteran star they can help

605
00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:04,880
Speaker 2: them score in crunch time this offseason. Who do you

606
00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:06,880
Speaker 2: think the ideal fit would be. I know, Kevin Durant

607
00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:09,360
Speaker 2: sort of be obvious, he's been rumored to them in

608
00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:12,840
Speaker 2: the past. But what's the sort of solution, potential solution

609
00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:16,920
Speaker 2: to their late game execution offensive sort of struggles.

610
00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:19,680
Speaker 1: I think Katie's the only one that makes sense. I mean,

611
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:21,800
Speaker 1: if there was the only other thing I can see

612
00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:23,760
Speaker 1: is if, like if they've ended up pulling some sort

613
00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:26,840
Speaker 1: of crazy deal where like Golden State ended up like

614
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:29,360
Speaker 1: flipping Jimmy for Katie or something like that, and suddenly

615
00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:31,280
Speaker 1: Jimmy was available. He's a guy that I think would

616
00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:34,800
Speaker 1: fit that role pretty well. But like I first of all,

617
00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:36,840
Speaker 1: I thought the benching a Jalen Green was interesting. I

618
00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:39,640
Speaker 1: thought it was the right call. Layton games are gonna

619
00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:42,719
Speaker 1: play through Shangun and Fred Van Vliet. I thought Jabari

620
00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,400
Speaker 1: Smith was amazing in this game on the glass and

621
00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:50,000
Speaker 1: then his timely jump shooting. That three hit in transition

622
00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:52,720
Speaker 1: on the right wing was huge. That little shot he

623
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,360
Speaker 1: hit from Shaneguon in the like ten twelve feet there

624
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:57,400
Speaker 1: in the lane that little soft jump shot he shot,

625
00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:00,480
Speaker 1: and then Dylan obviously you need him for defense. Shangon

626
00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:03,960
Speaker 1: was your biggest matchup advantage, and then a men Thompson

627
00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:06,840
Speaker 1: was crushing everybody, So like, who who are you taking

628
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,000
Speaker 1: out for Jalen Green when you're gonna be running the

629
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:10,720
Speaker 1: offense to Fred Van Vliet anyway, So I thought that

630
00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:14,000
Speaker 1: was the right call. But yeah, ultimately I think there

631
00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:18,560
Speaker 1: I was advocating for this around the deadline. This was

632
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:20,400
Speaker 1: before you started working with us Jackson, but I was

633
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:22,600
Speaker 1: like NonStop. I was like, I was like, should the

634
00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:25,840
Speaker 1: Rockets be training for some of these guys? Like there's

635
00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:27,680
Speaker 1: do you remember that stretch in the early part of

636
00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:29,440
Speaker 1: the or middle part of the season where they just

637
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,880
Speaker 1: beat great teams every single night for like a month.

638
00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:36,520
Speaker 2: On some nights they look unstoppable because of all their athletes.

639
00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:39,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, and like like because they've had a pretty light

640
00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:42,120
Speaker 1: schedule here down the stretch, and like they deserve it

641
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:45,240
Speaker 1: because they went through the gauntlet earlier and they beat everybody.

642
00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:47,880
Speaker 1: But during that stre stretch, I kept thinking, I'm like,

643
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:52,240
Speaker 1: with this defense, with all this depth of athleticism, if

644
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:54,600
Speaker 1: you give these guys a surgical half court scorer, they

645
00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:57,160
Speaker 1: can beat anybody, and so obviously they're not gonna do

646
00:30:57,160 --> 00:30:59,280
Speaker 1: it this year, and we'll see ultimately. I mean, their

647
00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:01,880
Speaker 1: offense looked so brutally bad at times tonight, and it

648
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,240
Speaker 1: always tends to do that and just about every single game.

649
00:31:04,560 --> 00:31:08,360
Speaker 1: So there's a certain amount of like I think Houston

650
00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:13,719
Speaker 1: need their GM, their front office needs to see just

651
00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:17,719
Speaker 1: how bad their offense looks in April before they end

652
00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:20,320
Speaker 1: up understanding just how serious they need to get about

653
00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:22,000
Speaker 1: chasing down that type of scoring talent.

654
00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:24,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, they have such a weird roster that they have

655
00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:28,000
Speaker 2: so many very good players, but they don't have any

656
00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:31,400
Speaker 2: true superstar. And not just that, they don't have really

657
00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:34,400
Speaker 2: any guys that I think project to be an offensive

658
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:36,560
Speaker 2: superstar like that. I think I'm in Thompson obviously has

659
00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:38,720
Speaker 2: you know, crazy high ceiling, but I don't know what

660
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:41,280
Speaker 2: he's going to be, right, But even Jalen Green and Sengoon,

661
00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:44,240
Speaker 2: who are are awesome at times, like I don't think

662
00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:47,320
Speaker 2: either of those guys because of Sengoon sort of passing

663
00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:49,680
Speaker 2: in size struggles and that per your point about the

664
00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:53,640
Speaker 2: Yoakic comparison and Jalen Green sort of consistency and efficiency struggles.

665
00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:55,520
Speaker 2: I don't know if either of those guys project to

666
00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:58,920
Speaker 2: be legitimate playoff go to scorers in the half court,

667
00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:02,120
Speaker 2: and if and if they don't have even one of

668
00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:03,880
Speaker 2: those guys, it's like, what.

669
00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:04,840
Speaker 1: Is their roster.

670
00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:07,760
Speaker 2: It's I don't know, it's strange. I mean, if someone

671
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:09,680
Speaker 2: in the chat said, this isn't exactly the type of

672
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:11,640
Speaker 2: guy I think we're talking about, but that if the

673
00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:13,520
Speaker 2: if the Sixers blow it up, maybe they should make

674
00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:15,920
Speaker 2: a run at Maxi, and like that's sort of he'd

675
00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:17,720
Speaker 2: be fantastic, he'd be awesome with them, even if he's

676
00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:20,160
Speaker 2: not like a big wing sort of score type that

677
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:22,080
Speaker 2: is sort of a prototype a lot of times. But

678
00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:26,480
Speaker 2: like it does feel like they have an okay, see

679
00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:28,760
Speaker 2: like build, But that's without Shay. You know, they like

680
00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:30,720
Speaker 2: don't have They need to cash in some of their

681
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:32,920
Speaker 2: hips to try to go after someone who can actually

682
00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:35,360
Speaker 2: lift them over the top and the half court offensively.

683
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:39,040
Speaker 1: Well, to your point, there's just not enough long term growth.

684
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:41,920
Speaker 1: Like Shanegon. One of the things I've noticed with Shanegon

685
00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:44,920
Speaker 1: is like if you don't have elite defenders in your

686
00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:49,400
Speaker 1: front court, he's gonna crush you. Like Shaneguon is a problem.

687
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:52,240
Speaker 1: But like it seems just about every time he runs

688
00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:55,080
Speaker 1: into like a real good defensive front court that all

689
00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,320
Speaker 1: of a sudden he can't get as much separation for

690
00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:00,400
Speaker 1: that little right left shoulder hook or he just there's

691
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,840
Speaker 1: a certain like ceiling with him that's there. And so

692
00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:06,520
Speaker 1: to your point, like if you don't have somebody that's like, oh,

693
00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:09,400
Speaker 1: this guy, Like it's like the Anthony Edwards conundrum with Minnesota,

694
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:11,880
Speaker 1: it's like a certain amount of their a certain amount

695
00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:13,720
Speaker 1: of their like game plan for the franchise is like

696
00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:18,040
Speaker 1: we expect Aunt to make dramatic leaps every year for

697
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:21,480
Speaker 1: the next like five years, whereas like I think aman

698
00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:23,680
Speaker 1: Thompson's gonna take those kinds of leaps, but I just

699
00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:26,160
Speaker 1: don't see him as the surgical There's not a guy

700
00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:28,040
Speaker 1: in there that's gonna be that surgical offensive player. And

701
00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:29,880
Speaker 1: so if you're not gonna get that player through the draft,

702
00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:32,320
Speaker 1: then you gotta find that guy out in free agency

703
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:35,920
Speaker 1: or in u in the trade market. And so ultimately,

704
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:37,720
Speaker 1: I think I think it's just a matter of when

705
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:38,479
Speaker 1: they pulled the trigger.

706
00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:41,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, let's do this one. Who in the

707
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:44,600
Speaker 2: West do you think has the best matchup has the

708
00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:46,280
Speaker 2: best chance to beat okay See.

709
00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:51,600
Speaker 1: Oh that's a good question, very good question. I really

710
00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:54,680
Speaker 1: like the way Golden State matches up with Okay See.

711
00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:59,640
Speaker 1: They have on several different occasions shown they just Oklahoma

712
00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:03,480
Speaker 1: City has a like a Golden State, I should say,

713
00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:06,760
Speaker 1: has an underrated trait, which is that they are pretty

714
00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:09,600
Speaker 1: fast on the perimeter and they can fly around in rotation.

715
00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:13,239
Speaker 1: And they also have this like anchored front court with

716
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:15,959
Speaker 1: Raymond Green protecting the rim, and so there's a certain

717
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:19,640
Speaker 1: amount like with with Golden State, they can make them

718
00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:24,880
Speaker 1: feel uncomfortable on defense while also having the jimmy to

719
00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:30,239
Speaker 1: attack matchups of various perimeter size matchups. And Steph has

720
00:34:30,239 --> 00:34:31,880
Speaker 1: just been really comfortable against them, and he's made a

721
00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:34,320
Speaker 1: lot of plays against them, and so I think Golden

722
00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:38,000
Speaker 1: State's an interesting example. Minnesota would be another example with

723
00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:42,840
Speaker 1: like really good rim protection, because we've seen we've seen

724
00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:46,240
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City struggle in the Dallas series last year against

725
00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:51,480
Speaker 1: really good rim protection. The Lakers are another example of

726
00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:56,000
Speaker 1: a team that they have the Luca Lebron, who are

727
00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:59,000
Speaker 1: you gonna Who's gonna guard them? Type of problem. The

728
00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:01,360
Speaker 1: thing that scares me for the Lakers with Oklahoma City

729
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:05,239
Speaker 1: is their turnover to transition problem. Yeah, And like I

730
00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:08,759
Speaker 1: could see that series having a little bit of a

731
00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:13,480
Speaker 1: Minnesota Denver type of feel where there are these games

732
00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:17,600
Speaker 1: where the Lakers methodically beat okay See, but then there

733
00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:19,359
Speaker 1: are these games where Okay Se just kicks the shit

734
00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:20,759
Speaker 1: out of them because they let go of the rope

735
00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:22,200
Speaker 1: and they start turning the ball over and it's just

736
00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:23,400
Speaker 1: a track meet and transition.

737
00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:23,759
Speaker 2: Right.

738
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:27,560
Speaker 1: Those are the three teams that I think have good chances.

739
00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:29,919
Speaker 1: That said, I think if I had to pick one

740
00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:33,600
Speaker 1: team that could upset okay See from down there and

741
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:35,560
Speaker 1: that part of the bracket, I'd say Golden State.

742
00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:38,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's hard because it sort of feels okay See.

743
00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:41,200
Speaker 2: It sort of has created this basketball machine that feels

744
00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:43,520
Speaker 2: almost unmeetable in a seven game series at this point.

745
00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:45,600
Speaker 2: But I mean depending on the shot and making in

746
00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:48,800
Speaker 2: the playoffs. But I I those three teams feel like

747
00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:51,120
Speaker 2: the right answer just because you need some sort of

748
00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:54,760
Speaker 2: transcendent to something it feels like to beat the thunder.

749
00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:59,160
Speaker 2: And whether it's the Luca Lebron plot problem, the stuff problem,

750
00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:01,920
Speaker 2: or they ok problem, Like those three teams have some

751
00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:05,040
Speaker 2: sort of skeleton key that can just unlock a playoff

752
00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:07,160
Speaker 2: series in a way that the other Western Conference teams

753
00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:08,520
Speaker 2: don't really have offensively.

754
00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:11,799
Speaker 1: But I don't know, man, I should have included Denver too.

755
00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:13,759
Speaker 1: Denver I think has a chance to beat them. Those

756
00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:15,279
Speaker 1: are the four teams that I think have a chance.

757
00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:20,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's do this one. When it comes to defense,

758
00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:24,359
Speaker 2: what do you believe is the most important factor? Rim

759
00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:29,640
Speaker 2: protection or being able to contain the ball.

760
00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:31,959
Speaker 1: I'm going to say the ability to contain the ball,

761
00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:38,919
Speaker 1: because ultimately we talked about it earlier. With the way

762
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:42,359
Speaker 1: that Boston can like get you out of your kind

763
00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:44,560
Speaker 1: of base defensive scheme and force you to play an

764
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:48,200
Speaker 1: uncomfortable style, You're inevitably going to run into somebody that

765
00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:50,000
Speaker 1: can pull your room protector away from the rim. Yeah,

766
00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:51,759
Speaker 1: and if you can't guard on the perimeter, you have

767
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:53,560
Speaker 1: no chance. I think the best example of this in

768
00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:56,319
Speaker 1: NBA history is the twenty twenty one Jazz. Like right,

769
00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:57,840
Speaker 1: I was going to say all season long they were

770
00:36:57,880 --> 00:37:00,200
Speaker 1: able to maintain a certain baseline with their defense because

771
00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:02,480
Speaker 1: of Rudy Gobert. In the large sample, it was really

772
00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:05,439
Speaker 1: effective until the Clippers were like, let's see how you guys,

773
00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:08,560
Speaker 1: garden space. Yeah, and I mean they beat them without

774
00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:12,319
Speaker 1: Kawhi like that. That was like a pretty dramatic type

775
00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:17,239
Speaker 1: of upset. So I think I think, like overall, athletic

776
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:22,240
Speaker 1: perimeter speed is more valuable than rim protection. Like Boston

777
00:37:22,239 --> 00:37:24,960
Speaker 1: I think is a great example. Like I think Boston's

778
00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:28,400
Speaker 1: defensive look with Horford at center, with the with the

779
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:31,080
Speaker 1: their four other great perimeter players, that's the look where

780
00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:33,399
Speaker 1: it's like we're switching everything and it's like take your pick,

781
00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:34,880
Speaker 1: who do you want to try to score on. You

782
00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:36,920
Speaker 1: don't really have a good option here. I think that

783
00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:38,960
Speaker 1: that has more resilience in the playoffs than just pure

784
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:39,960
Speaker 1: rim protection. Yeah.

785
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:42,719
Speaker 2: I mean I think if you said rim protection with

786
00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:45,120
Speaker 2: that player also being able to be switchable, then it's

787
00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:47,239
Speaker 2: like that's kind of how you unlock it. Like it's

788
00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:51,160
Speaker 2: the Draymond Green versus Rudy Gobert problem, Like one of

789
00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:53,040
Speaker 2: those guys is the best rim protector in the league.

790
00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:55,080
Speaker 2: One of them can guard five positions, and the guy

791
00:37:55,120 --> 00:37:57,000
Speaker 2: who can guard five positions is just more valuable.

792
00:37:57,840 --> 00:38:01,160
Speaker 1: Very well, people just couldn't more Yeah, very well. Put

793
00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:06,160
Speaker 1: like you ultimately like you should, like your dream should

794
00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:09,759
Speaker 1: be to have multiple defensive looks and the only way

795
00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:11,360
Speaker 1: that's going to be possible is if you have a

796
00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:13,600
Speaker 1: good rip protector rim protector that can also switch.

797
00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:20,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, speaking of the Celtics, this is an interesting one

798
00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:23,920
Speaker 2: just to humor me as a Celtics fan. Uh, there

799
00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:26,480
Speaker 2: as there was, and also because there was a report

800
00:38:26,719 --> 00:38:29,200
Speaker 2: I can think it was last week about the Celtics

801
00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:31,520
Speaker 2: getting expensive at some point in the next couple of years,

802
00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:33,080
Speaker 2: and maybe they're gonna have to trade one of Drew

803
00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:35,280
Speaker 2: Holiday or Christas Perzingis in a year or two, depending

804
00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:37,120
Speaker 2: on on how their contracts and how the new owners

805
00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:39,800
Speaker 2: feel and YadA YadA. And then there's also people also

806
00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:43,080
Speaker 2: doing these Cooper flag to the Celtics after his Ricky

807
00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:45,480
Speaker 2: dealer rumors. So the Celtics are going to be really

808
00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:49,040
Speaker 2: expensive moving forward. What lottery team, if any, would accept

809
00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:53,359
Speaker 2: a Drew Holliday, Jalen Brown and a couple first round

810
00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:56,479
Speaker 2: picks for the number one overall pick to get Cooper

811
00:38:56,480 --> 00:38:57,560
Speaker 2: flag to the Celtics.

812
00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:01,080
Speaker 1: Okay, so uh read me the package one more time.

813
00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:05,040
Speaker 2: Drew Holiday, Jalen Brown and whatever amount of first round

814
00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:06,120
Speaker 2: picks feel so appropriate.

815
00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:13,640
Speaker 1: Holiday, Brown and a bunch of first round picks would

816
00:39:13,719 --> 00:39:19,160
Speaker 1: Washington be stupid enough to do that? Would they? Would

817
00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:22,360
Speaker 1: Washington say give me Drew Holiday, Jalen Brown and Alex

818
00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:26,040
Speaker 1: Aar with these couple of these other young dudes that

819
00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:29,840
Speaker 1: we have that are hooping with Jordan Poole Washington. Maybe,

820
00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:32,480
Speaker 1: So theoretically it would be a team that already is

821
00:39:32,560 --> 00:39:36,840
Speaker 1: kind of anchored at the four spot Charlotte.

822
00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:38,880
Speaker 2: Maybe I was gonna say, Charlotte's a weird one.

823
00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:44,680
Speaker 1: I the Yeah, New Orleans they're like they but then

824
00:39:44,719 --> 00:39:45,400
Speaker 1: they would.

825
00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:50,920
Speaker 2: Like it's yeah, like the Pelicans both have like theoretically

826
00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:53,680
Speaker 2: foundational pieces at the four, but neither of them feel

827
00:39:53,719 --> 00:39:55,400
Speaker 2: like guys that they're like truly wed to.

828
00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:58,200
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, like married to. Yeah, that

829
00:39:58,239 --> 00:40:01,960
Speaker 1: that's interesting. Yeah, if you're let's take Utah for example, Yeah,

830
00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:06,920
Speaker 1: you already have Lori Markinen and Walker Kessler. Boston calls

831
00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:13,399
Speaker 1: you and offers Drew Holliday, Jalen Brown, and a bunch

832
00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:14,200
Speaker 1: of first round.

833
00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:16,600
Speaker 2: Draft any this is your guy you drafted Jalen Brown, Danny.

834
00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:18,520
Speaker 2: You love Jaylen Brown, Danny.

835
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:24,080
Speaker 1: So it's you'd have Colin Sexton, Drew Holliday, You'd have

836
00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:28,920
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown next to Lori Markin and with Walker Kessler,

837
00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:31,239
Speaker 1: and you've already got a million draft picks and you

838
00:40:31,239 --> 00:40:33,960
Speaker 1: can go after whatever you like. That teams. Actually would's

839
00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:34,800
Speaker 1: not a bad one.

840
00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:37,880
Speaker 2: Like you you stick a couple of like strong perimeter

841
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:40,680
Speaker 2: defenders who can play on obviously offensively, as well as

842
00:40:40,719 --> 00:40:43,600
Speaker 2: Jalen Brown next to Lowry Markin who needs some defensive help,

843
00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:45,359
Speaker 2: and next to Walker Kessler, who's not one of those

844
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:48,799
Speaker 2: switchabowl guys. It's not the worst one. It's not the worst.

845
00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:52,080
Speaker 1: So let's take it a step further though. If you're Boston,

846
00:40:53,440 --> 00:40:56,280
Speaker 1: Cooper Flagg and Jason Tatum effectively play the same position

847
00:40:56,280 --> 00:40:59,480
Speaker 1: in my opinion, so there's a certain there's a certain

848
00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:02,960
Speaker 1: diminishing return you could face. There there are ways to

849
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:04,960
Speaker 1: account for it, Like I think we overthink this sometimes

850
00:41:04,960 --> 00:41:07,200
Speaker 1: where it's like, can Cooper Flag and Jason Tatam play

851
00:41:07,200 --> 00:41:10,319
Speaker 1: basketball together? Yes, they can, like they can't, there's no doubt.

852
00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:12,400
Speaker 1: But there's a certain amount of, like your foot speed.

853
00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:16,000
Speaker 1: If you have a center with those two guys playing

854
00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:18,040
Speaker 1: at three four, there's a certain like foot speed, like

855
00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:20,600
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown's fastest ship and guards the other team's best

856
00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:22,879
Speaker 1: player every day. Yeah, like there's a like can Cooper

857
00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:24,920
Speaker 1: Flag do that? You know, there's a certain amount of

858
00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:27,560
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. But this is an interesting thought exercise,

859
00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:30,239
Speaker 1: and I think I think you. I think Utah. You

860
00:41:30,239 --> 00:41:31,800
Speaker 1: talked to me into Utah. That makes it. That's a

861
00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:33,600
Speaker 1: that that one makes a little bit of sense.

862
00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:35,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know we have some some people in the

863
00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:37,960
Speaker 2: chat saying this, that's our second Aprin team. This is

864
00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:39,759
Speaker 2: not gonna it's it's almost it's a sure, they're not

865
00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:43,080
Speaker 2: gonna have can we have some fun? But it's a

866
00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:47,160
Speaker 2: it's a fun thought exercise. Let's do Let's do one more.

867
00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:51,520
Speaker 2: Jason big Fan from Argentina, what is the most shout

868
00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:54,960
Speaker 2: out to our international listeners? What is the most favorable

869
00:41:55,160 --> 00:42:01,280
Speaker 2: parentheses and realistic first round matchup for the Lakers? Okay,

870
00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:02,640
Speaker 2: that's a really lot of Memphis because they feel like

871
00:42:02,640 --> 00:42:03,919
Speaker 2: the easiest first round matchup forever.

872
00:42:03,960 --> 00:42:08,480
Speaker 1: Bet Yeah Memphis. Yeah, Memphis is just like about to

873
00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:10,600
Speaker 1: crash and burn here. I think it's so much of

874
00:42:10,640 --> 00:42:12,200
Speaker 1: this you and I were talking about it before the show.

875
00:42:12,200 --> 00:42:14,520
Speaker 1: So much depends on where all these teams shake out.

876
00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:20,160
Speaker 1: It looks if you look at things, man, Houston's one

877
00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:22,480
Speaker 1: loss ahead of Denver, who's one loss ahead of the Lakers,

878
00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:26,120
Speaker 1: who's two losses ahead of Memphis, tied with Golden State,

879
00:42:26,480 --> 00:42:28,520
Speaker 1: who's only one loss ahead of the eight seed. Like

880
00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:31,000
Speaker 1: the Lakers at the four seed are only three losses

881
00:42:31,040 --> 00:42:34,279
Speaker 1: ahead of the Clippers at the eight seed, So like

882
00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:39,279
Speaker 1: it could literally be anybody. Yeah, I think I think

883
00:42:39,320 --> 00:42:42,400
Speaker 1: the Lakers would do destroy Memphis because they run too

884
00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:48,680
Speaker 1: many traditional coverages. Golden State is a tricky one because

885
00:42:48,719 --> 00:42:53,239
Speaker 1: they haven't played since Jimmy Butler came on board. I

886
00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:57,160
Speaker 1: personally am scared of Golden State as a fan who's

887
00:42:57,239 --> 00:43:00,280
Speaker 1: rooting for the Lakers. Golden State is a team I'd

888
00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:03,920
Speaker 1: rather not play. Minnesota is a team I'd rather not play.

889
00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:08,120
Speaker 1: I just know that they can, like really physically alter

890
00:43:08,239 --> 00:43:10,480
Speaker 1: a series to the point where it becomes a big problem.

891
00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:13,080
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers would beat Denver. I know Nugget

892
00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:15,080
Speaker 1: Nuggets fans will kill me for saying that, but I

893
00:43:15,120 --> 00:43:16,759
Speaker 1: think I think the Lakers are a better team than

894
00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:18,840
Speaker 1: Denver right now. I think they also, I think Luca

895
00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:22,239
Speaker 1: just fundamentally changes the matchup. Yeah, Like, like Luca just

896
00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:25,440
Speaker 1: goes from Denver's defense can hold up reasonably well against

897
00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:27,879
Speaker 1: the Lakers to now, Denver's defense is hopeless to stop

898
00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:30,120
Speaker 1: the Lakers from generating wide open threes every single time

899
00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:33,320
Speaker 1: down the floor. So I think the Lakers would define

900
00:43:33,320 --> 00:43:36,960
Speaker 1: against Denver. I think the Lakers would do fine against Memphis.

901
00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:39,399
Speaker 1: I'd say Golden State in Minnesota would be the two

902
00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:41,600
Speaker 1: that I'd be worried about in first round matchups.

903
00:43:41,680 --> 00:43:42,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, I tend to agree.

904
00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:43,560
Speaker 1: I think the.

905
00:43:45,239 --> 00:43:47,360
Speaker 2: It doesn't feel like this is particularly possible because the

906
00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:49,040
Speaker 2: way that this standing sit right now, but like you said,

907
00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:51,560
Speaker 2: there's so many ways could check out. I think the

908
00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:54,960
Speaker 2: Lakers should be looking for the Clippers. I think I

909
00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:57,080
Speaker 2: think if they get the Clippers the first round, they're

910
00:43:57,160 --> 00:44:00,000
Speaker 2: they're taking out the Clippers. They're getting they're getting every

911
00:44:00,080 --> 00:44:03,239
Speaker 2: games a home game that I think. I think that's

912
00:44:03,239 --> 00:44:05,320
Speaker 2: probably their their best first round matchup.

913
00:44:05,560 --> 00:44:08,080
Speaker 1: So they get up to two, get up or the

914
00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:10,360
Speaker 1: Clippers can Clippers Clippers can get up.

915
00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:12,400
Speaker 2: Could also end up in six, like relatively easily. So

916
00:44:12,440 --> 00:44:14,600
Speaker 2: I do think that's true. Like Jenny, it's not off

917
00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:15,560
Speaker 2: the table anyway.

918
00:44:15,719 --> 00:44:18,080
Speaker 1: All of this is possible except for Dallas and Sacramento.

919
00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:20,800
Speaker 1: You're right, yeah, And even then Dallas and Sacramento is

920
00:44:20,800 --> 00:44:22,440
Speaker 1: possible if you sing if the Lakers get up to

921
00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:25,080
Speaker 1: Tuesdays right, how Phoenix is still possible.

922
00:44:25,239 --> 00:44:27,640
Speaker 2: It is gonna be crazy last couple of weeks in

923
00:44:27,640 --> 00:44:28,480
Speaker 2: the Western Conference.

924
00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:31,799
Speaker 1: Yeah, anything else that we're good for this, let's call

925
00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:35,160
Speaker 1: it all right, guys. As always, sincerely appreciate you guys

926
00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:37,080
Speaker 1: for supporting me and supporting the show, supporting us and

927
00:44:37,120 --> 00:44:39,719
Speaker 1: supporting the show. Also, make sure you continue to drop

928
00:44:39,719 --> 00:44:41,239
Speaker 1: mail bag questions if you got a question that we

929
00:44:41,239 --> 00:44:43,680
Speaker 1: didn't get to tonight. We are literally waking up tomorrow

930
00:44:43,719 --> 00:44:45,920
Speaker 1: morning and recording a mail bag. I think that's going

931
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:50,560
Speaker 1: to air on Wednesday morning, and then we're actually going

932
00:44:50,600 --> 00:44:53,680
Speaker 1: live again on Wednesday night and covering the ESPN slate

933
00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:56,360
Speaker 1: that night. So make sure you guys drop those questions,

934
00:44:57,640 --> 00:44:59,439
Speaker 1: and then I will see you guys for the mail

935
00:44:59,480 --> 00:45:02,560
Speaker 1: bag on Onenesday morning and then also live on Wednesday night. Again,

936
00:45:02,600 --> 00:45:04,080
Speaker 1: we appreciate you, guys, and we'll see you next time.

937
00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:06,480
Speaker 1: But so guys, as always, I appreciate you for listening

938
00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:09,320
Speaker 1: to and supporting OOPS tonight. It would actually be really

939
00:45:09,360 --> 00:45:11,240
Speaker 1: helpful for us if you guys would take a second

940
00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:14,000
Speaker 1: and leave a rating and a review. As always, I

941
00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:15,759
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys supporting us, but if you could take

942
00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:18,160
Speaker 1: a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it.

943
00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:20,799
Speaker 2: The volume