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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to tonight. You're at the ball. You
Speaker 1: have your Monday everybody hope all of you guys are
Speaker 1: having a great start to your week. Got a jam
Speaker 1: packshow for you tonight. We're hitting both of the TNT
Speaker 1: games as the Lakers get a big win against the
Speaker 1: red hot Houston Rockets team. The Celtics are peaking offensively
Speaker 1: right now. We're gonna be talking about them in their
Speaker 1: big win against the Memphis Grizzlies, and then, like we've
Speaker 1: done for our last two live shows, the tail end
Speaker 1: of the show, Jackson's gonna hop on with us and
Speaker 1: we're gonna take questions from the chat for about ten
Speaker 1: to fifteen minutes. Remember, if you want to get questions
Speaker 1: in the chat, you gotta subscribe to the channel. So
Speaker 1: subscribe to the channel, drop your questions in the chat.
Speaker 1: We'll get to them at the tail end of the show.
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Speaker 1: incredible work with film stuff. Make sure you guys follow
Speaker 1: us there. Then, last, but not least, keep dropping mail
Speaker 1: bag questions in the YouTube comments. Tomorrow morning, we're recording
Speaker 1: a mail bag. Since we're covering tonight's games, this episode
Speaker 1: will be your last chance to drop mailbag questions for
Speaker 1: tomorrow's mail bag as well. All right, let's talk some basketball.
Speaker 1: So the Rockets have been a team that I've been
Speaker 1: interested to see play the Lakers for several different reasons. One,
Speaker 1: they present probably the biggest physical mismatch for the Lakers
Speaker 1: on the perimeter. But they also have this Shanguon problem,
Speaker 1: and I've been watching Shangoon kick everyone's ass seemingly as
Speaker 1: of late. And they have these big, strong athletes that
Speaker 1: can wear on the you know, somewhat lesser athletes that
Speaker 1: the Lakers have on the perimeter. The Lakers have good
Speaker 1: size on the perimeter, but they're not particularly athletic, and
Speaker 1: I think you saw a lot of examples of that today.
Speaker 1: There were a couple of plays with Dorian Finney Smith
Speaker 1: where like Dorian Phinney Smith is one of the better
Speaker 1: athletes on the Lakers, And there were a couple of
Speaker 1: plays today that The one that comes to mind are
Speaker 1: that Tarry Easton driving Iso smash in his face, just
Speaker 1: the two handed crunch right in his face off of
Speaker 1: that little low gather move. And then the play where
Speaker 1: Men Thompson, who just every time I watched Men Thompson.
Speaker 1: I'm just completely blown away. But he had this euro
Speaker 1: step on the bastine where he left Dorian Infinny Smith
Speaker 1: just in the mud. And there were other examples where
Speaker 1: it's like Lebron's trying to back down Dylan Brooks, and
Speaker 1: like I always talk about those back down situations of
Speaker 1: like a contest to see who can dislodge the other
Speaker 1: player's base first is what those contests usually come down to.
Speaker 1: And Dylan Brooks is dislodging Lebron's base, He's dislodging Luca's base,
Speaker 1: and so there's a bunch of physical mismatches at play.
Speaker 1: They're a team that can do quite a bit of switching,
Speaker 1: as you saw down the stretch as the Lakers were
Speaker 1: attacking Fred van Vliet quite a bit. And they also
Speaker 1: run a lot of zone defense as a late they
Speaker 1: didn't run. I pulled the stat on the show a
Speaker 1: couple of days ago or last week, but the Rockets
Speaker 1: for like fifty something games this year ran zero possessions
Speaker 1: of zone and then suddenly in the last month they've
Speaker 1: just been running a ton of it, and they run
Speaker 1: a couple of different variations of it. But this was
Speaker 1: gonna be a good test for the Lakers on a
Speaker 1: bunch of different fronts, and I thought in general they
Speaker 1: passed the test in a lot of ways. I thought
Speaker 1: the main reason today didn't look more like a convincing
Speaker 1: win or ten to fifteen point Laker win is none
Speaker 1: of the Lakers stars played well on offense. None of
Speaker 1: them provided volume scoring. But some of that is because
Speaker 1: they did the job, which is hanging with Houston physically.
Speaker 1: And there were a couple stretches, like in the early
Speaker 1: part of the game, and the Lakers were missing shots
Speaker 1: against the zone, or they gave up some transition kick
Speaker 1: ahead stuff where guys are just standing wide open under
Speaker 1: the basket. Some of those kinds of mistakes, But for
Speaker 1: the most part, the Lakers held up on the margins.
Speaker 1: They tied them in offensive rebounds both teams at ten.
Speaker 1: They held them to just thirteen fast break points. Those
Speaker 1: are the two main areas where they can get thrashed
Speaker 1: by this type of team, and they held up there.
Speaker 1: But there is something to be said about the cumulative
Speaker 1: wear and tear that happens when you play against a
Speaker 1: team like the Houston Rockets. Like I talked about this
Speaker 1: all the time, I talked about it earlier this morning
Speaker 1: when we were I think it was when we were
Speaker 1: talking at the tail end of the show about Zachary
Speaker 1: Rossauche but talked about the difference between like what causes
Speaker 1: a shot to miss, while also acknowledging that there is
Speaker 1: a certain amount of luck in shooting. Generally speaking, I
Speaker 1: think that there's far more controllable in shot result than uncontrollable.
Speaker 1: What kinds of shots are you getting? What else are
Speaker 1: you having to do in the gate? Like if you're
Speaker 1: getting worn down physically because you're fronting the post against
Speaker 1: Shane Goon and doing all this crackdown, rebounding to deal
Speaker 1: with their bigs underneath the basket, and sprinting back in transition,
Speaker 1: every single time there's a certain amount of it's difficult
Speaker 1: to then get the lift you need into a shot.
Speaker 1: Did you see Austin Reeves leaving that jumper short off
Speaker 1: the front of the rim? Do you see that last
Speaker 1: wide open Rui Hachimura three that literally airballed short. Luca
Speaker 1: on all of his step backs couldn't get the ball
Speaker 1: to the rim. He had a couple alligator arm shots
Speaker 1: in this game that were well short of the front
Speaker 1: of the rim. Those are connected. That is a product
Speaker 1: of that cumulative wear and tear that a team like
Speaker 1: Houston puts on your legs. And as I always talk about,
Speaker 1: the jump shot is an energy transfer from the floor
Speaker 1: all the way through to the release. If you disrupt
Speaker 1: the base or you disrupt the gather, it doesn't even
Speaker 1: feel like the same shot at the top. And there's
Speaker 1: a lot of that sort of thing where you could
Speaker 1: just feel the Lakers struggling to get their lift, and
Speaker 1: I do think there's a certain amount of like they're
Speaker 1: gonna have to overcome that if they run into Houston
Speaker 1: in a second round series. There's a chance here if
Speaker 1: the way things shake out that the Lakers and the
Speaker 1: Rockets end up at the two three, and if the
Speaker 1: Rockets beat whoever comes out of that seven seed, there's
Speaker 1: a chance that it ends up being La Houston in
Speaker 1: round two. And if that happens, it's going to be
Speaker 1: important that Lebron, Luca, and Austin find a way to
Speaker 1: contribute at a higher rate offensively while also winning these
Speaker 1: physical battles that they're gonna have to win, or losing
Speaker 1: fewer of the physical battles than you can lose to
Speaker 1: a team like Houston, same thing goes for the spot
Speaker 1: up shooters. There are a couple guys try really well tonight, right,
Speaker 1: like Dorian Finney Smith and gave Vincent May twelve threes
Speaker 1: between the two and that that was massive, just absolutely
Speaker 1: massive for them in this game. Gabe was getting a
Speaker 1: ton of open threes in the corner out of their
Speaker 1: zone attack, and then Dorian Finney Smith was getting a
Speaker 1: ton of threes at the top of the key out
Speaker 1: of the pick and pop. But everyone else shot poorly,
Speaker 1: you know, Ruy Hatcha Mura goes one for six, Austin
Speaker 1: Reeves goes oh for three, Jordan Goodwin gets two fantastic
Speaker 1: wide open looks and he goes oh for two. There's
Speaker 1: a certain amount of that, where like the Lakers are
Speaker 1: going to have to make shots and generate offense while
Speaker 1: they're dealing with a very difficult physical ask to box
Speaker 1: out and run the floor in transition and do all
Speaker 1: of those things. I thought they handled the zone really well.
Speaker 1: I thought they consistently generated great shots. There's a certain
Speaker 1: there's a bunch of different stuff that happens with zone
Speaker 1: to everybody involved. Defenses tend to struggle with rebounding why
Speaker 1: because they're not matched up, there's not clean box outs.
Speaker 1: Zones tend to breed passivity, meaning like guys feel like
Speaker 1: they're just in their spot and they don't need to
Speaker 1: cover a ton of ground, so they're less crashy, and
Speaker 1: so they can give up some offensive rebounds. And then
Speaker 1: on offense, it fundamentally changes the way your shots come
Speaker 1: from right. Like we're gonna talk about this when we
Speaker 1: get into the Celtics, when we talk about Al Horford
Speaker 1: and chrisops Porzingis. But like, you run into a very
Speaker 1: different style of game, a very different style of offense,
Speaker 1: a very different style of defense. It can catch you
Speaker 1: off guard and it can be difficult to adjust to. So,
Speaker 1: for instance, like where do the Lakers usually get their
Speaker 1: catch and shoot threes. They're typically coming out of skips
Speaker 1: and ball screens, like maybe an extra pass up the wing,
Speaker 1: but a lot of weak side wing, week side corner threes,
Speaker 1: a lot of picking pop threes in ball screens when
Speaker 1: they have a big on Dori and Finney Smith. That's
Speaker 1: where they tend to get their threes from right. Once
Speaker 1: you bring in a zone, it changes the way you
Speaker 1: get your threes. There's more threes off of swing passes,
Speaker 1: so you're not getting the ball out of the paint
Speaker 1: as often. A lot of times it's off of a
Speaker 1: sideway's pass. You're changing your perspective on the basket as
Speaker 1: you turn to shoot. The closeouts tend to be different.
Speaker 1: A lot of times those gaps are with a defender
Speaker 1: closing out at you on your side as opposed to
Speaker 1: closing out at your face. It's a very different type
Speaker 1: of feel, and often even when you get great shots
Speaker 1: against zone, it can take time for you to kind
Speaker 1: of like get comfortable taking and making shots in those situations.
Speaker 1: That said, this is why I feel so strongly about
Speaker 1: that concept. I talked earlier about shot quality and how
Speaker 1: variance plays a role, but ultimately it's about the kind
Speaker 1: of basketball that you're playing on both ends of the floor.
Speaker 1: If you continue to generate great shots for great shooters,
Speaker 1: they're gonna go in. And Gabe was off early in
Speaker 1: the game. They had a couple bad misses out of
Speaker 1: the corner, but he just kept getting clean looks. Two
Speaker 1: damn good of a shooter. He's a pro. These guys
Speaker 1: are in the gym every damn day, shooting hundreds of shots.
Speaker 1: If you let him just sit there and set his feet,
Speaker 1: get his rhythm, he's gonna eventually knock him down. And
Speaker 1: that's the thing. Like these were like wide open looks
Speaker 1: for Dorian Finney Smith at the top of the key.
Speaker 1: These were wide open looks for Gave gay Vinson hit
Speaker 1: a couple of more tightly contested ones out of the corner,
Speaker 1: but he got going with these wide open shots, and
Speaker 1: so to the Lakers credit, they trusted their shot. Qual
Speaker 1: I thought that was kind of like the theme of
Speaker 1: the game for the Lakers, like trusting the process. Like
Speaker 1: there's a certain amount of like you'll see a lot
Speaker 1: of old heads do this. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: guys have ever played with an older guy when you're
Speaker 1: playing pickup, where like you take a couple of wide
Speaker 1: open threes and you miss them, and the old guy
Speaker 1: goes like, we need to stop settling, we need to
Speaker 1: go to the basket. Like it just starts yelling at
Speaker 1: you that kind of shit, Like we've all dealt with
Speaker 1: that before. But it's like a lot of times that
Speaker 1: can be the worst thing you can do because a
Speaker 1: lot of times those threes are open because the defense
Speaker 1: is packing the paint the defense is conceding those threes
Speaker 1: in a lot of cases. Case in point, the Dorian
Speaker 1: Finney Smith picking pop. Dorrian Finney Smith is gonna hit
Speaker 1: about five percent of those wide open above the break threes.
Speaker 1: As Luke is coming off of that ball screen, whether
Speaker 1: it's Steven Adams or Alpern Shangoon, he's got two on
Speaker 1: the ball, he is driving to the basket. There's red
Speaker 1: jerseys or Rockets jerseys all around them. And so ultimately,
Speaker 1: what you need to do in that situation instead of
Speaker 1: trying to ram your head through the brick wall, is
Speaker 1: take what the defense is giving. Now, I agree with
Speaker 1: the old heads. If you're settling for bad shots, that's
Speaker 1: a totally different game. Like if you're coming down the
Speaker 1: floor and you're doing the Jalen Green thing where it's
Speaker 1: like you're coming off of the top of the screen
Speaker 1: and you're getting off the dribble three with a rear
Speaker 1: view contest and you make a couple, but then you
Speaker 1: start missing. Like I, as a coach would probably be like, hey,
Speaker 1: like let's try to generate more clean catch and shoot
Speaker 1: looks instead of these like lower percentage types of shots.
Speaker 1: But if you're getting if your offense is generating clean
Speaker 1: catch and shoot looks for good shooters, you don't bail
Speaker 1: on that just because they miss three or four early
Speaker 1: in the game. You trust that shot quality. Dorian Finney,
Speaker 1: Smith and Gabe Vincent total twenty four to three point
Speaker 1: attempts tonight. That is relentless faith in the shot quality
Speaker 1: that they were generating, And so I just thought that
Speaker 1: was a really like there's a certain amount of it
Speaker 1: too with Houston, where it's like you can tell, like Lebron,
Speaker 1: you could literally see it in the body language of
Speaker 1: every Laker tonight, whether it's Luca dealing with Dylan Brooks
Speaker 1: or Lebron dealing with Dylan Brooks, or all those guys
Speaker 1: dealing with the men. Thompson and DFS got into it
Speaker 1: with Steven Adams. No matter who beats the Rockets, whether
Speaker 1: it's the Lakers or it's somebody else, whoever gets rid
Speaker 1: of them, that's gonna be a shitty two weeks like that.
Speaker 1: You're going to be dealing with pain in the ass,
Speaker 1: physical athletes that are gonna talk shit like Jalen Green's
Speaker 1: rocking the baby every time he gets a driving layup
Speaker 1: in this game. Dylan Brooks every time he stonewalls Lebron
Speaker 1: or Luca is like talking shit. I literally saw him
Speaker 1: call Lebron trash after he got knocked over on the
Speaker 1: last one. Like there's a certain amount of like this
Speaker 1: is gonna suck under any circumstances for anybody to play.
Speaker 1: And you could see the Lakers kind of in survival
Speaker 1: mode tonight, where they're like, can we just get out
Speaker 1: of here with a win and not see these guys
Speaker 1: for a while. But the reality is they might see them.
Speaker 1: And that's why I think it's just so important for
Speaker 1: the Lakers to attack these final Cup weeks to improve
Speaker 1: their conditioning, to improve their ability to handle the physicality,
Speaker 1: because ultimately they're gonna need to against a big, physical
Speaker 1: athletic team. If it's not Houston, it'll be okay See,
Speaker 1: who's just a much better version of Houston. And in
Speaker 1: that sort of situation, they're gonna have to be able
Speaker 1: to make good decisions, make good reads, and get their
Speaker 1: legs up into these shots so that they can knock
Speaker 1: some of these shots down if they're going to beat
Speaker 1: a team like Okay See. One of the things that
Speaker 1: stood out to me in this game was just in
Speaker 1: general the effort that the Lakers gave holding like finding
Speaker 1: ways to contribute even when they're not making shots, and
Speaker 1: all the three stars I thought deserved some credit for this. So,
Speaker 1: for instance, like Austin reeves brutal shooting game. Jackson and
Speaker 1: I were talking before the show, like he definitely has
Speaker 1: a lower floor and he's more inconsistent against these really
Speaker 1: athletic teams just because they can wear on him physically
Speaker 1: to a certain extent. But one of the things I'll
Speaker 1: give Austin credit for is like he can identify when
Speaker 1: he's having that type of game, he'll just find ways
Speaker 1: to make plays. There was a big sequence late in
Speaker 1: this game where he gets a pretty good look off
Speaker 1: of a nasty left right snatchback crossover against Jalen Green
Speaker 1: right around the right elbow, leaves it short off the
Speaker 1: front of the rim. It misses, and Jalen Green, you
Speaker 1: could tell, is just like, oh yeah, well watch this.
Speaker 1: So he goes down the other end and he starts
Speaker 1: go right at Austin's chest and Austin cleanly strips him,
Speaker 1: absorbs the contact, slides open, waits for Jalen to expose
Speaker 1: the ball in his shooting pocket and reaches out and
Speaker 1: he strips him clean. Look at the way Austin was
Speaker 1: flying around on rebounds. He had a contest on a
Speaker 1: Dylan Brooks left shoulder fade away, which, by the way,
Speaker 1: like there are a lot of guys in this league
Speaker 1: where if Dylan Brooks went to take a left shoulder
Speaker 1: fade away, they'd be like, all right, bro, Like you
Speaker 1: go ahead and shoot that, We'll just grab the rebound.
Speaker 1: Austin was like, no, Like, I am not leaving this
Speaker 1: to chance. I am going to get the best possible
Speaker 1: contest I can get, and he damn near blocked Dylan
Speaker 1: Brooks on that left shoulder fade along the baseline. Lebron
Speaker 1: making that defensive play against Shangun. Shang Gun spins off
Speaker 1: of Austin, gets him in a switch. There's no help
Speaker 1: out of that right corner because it's vacant. Shangun has
Speaker 1: an easy drop step to his right hand on that
Speaker 1: right side of the basket. He makes that. It's the
Speaker 1: exact same situation they were just in where they were
Speaker 1: struggling to get the ball in bounds and they could
Speaker 1: potentially turn the ball over there like they did against Chicago,
Speaker 1: or have to go make more free throws. Lebron said, nah,
Speaker 1: fuck that, I'm gonna make a defensive play here. He
Speaker 1: read the whole thing from the start. You know, Shanegun,
Speaker 1: he really is Jokich light and I really enjoy watching
Speaker 1: him for a lot of the same reasons. But the
Speaker 1: two biggest differences is he's just not as big as
Speaker 1: Yokich and he's just not as good a passer as
Speaker 1: Jokich is. And like Shanggun really just telegraphed and mailed
Speaker 1: in that move to where Lebron just saw it coming
Speaker 1: a mile away, got up there and make the block.
Speaker 1: He had those two clutch free throws at the end
Speaker 1: of the game. Luca, like we talked about it the
Speaker 1: shot making earlier, like he was leaving everything short. Was
Speaker 1: just brutally bad as a shot maker in this game.
Speaker 1: But he was the guy that was consistently generating those
Speaker 1: fantastic looks for Dorian Finney Smith at the top of
Speaker 1: the key. He also hit Gabe a few times on
Speaker 1: skips in ball screens. Like to Luca's credit, he generated
Speaker 1: great shots for his team in this game as best
Speaker 1: as he could, even though the shot making wasn't there,
Speaker 1: and so all in all, I thought it was an
Speaker 1: impressive effort for the Lakers, while at the same time
Speaker 1: revealing of the fact that there's a certain amount of
Speaker 1: wear and tear that these young athletic teams can inflict
Speaker 1: on this Lakers roster. And so there's a certain amount
Speaker 1: of like that war of attrition, which is, like how
Speaker 1: much can the athletes wear down the Lakers stars versus
Speaker 1: how much can the Lakers Stars solve these defenses to
Speaker 1: the point where it starts to get easier for them.
Speaker 1: And so there's a certain amount of that sort of
Speaker 1: like tug of war that's going to be an important
Speaker 1: swing factor for the Lakers as they head into the postseason,
Speaker 1: which is, are they willing and able to survive a
Speaker 1: two week series against a super athletic, super young team
Speaker 1: and gets stronger as the series progresses, because that can
Speaker 1: also go the other way, and we've seen, like I mean,
Speaker 1: just like at Minnesota versus Phoenix last year, where sometimes
Speaker 1: the physicality ratchets up, those athletes really start to get
Speaker 1: their hands on you, and it can turn into something
Speaker 1: that gets ugly pretty quick. But yeah, so it was
Speaker 1: a good win for them. I think they're trending in
Speaker 1: the right direction. This was one of their better physical,
Speaker 1: competitive types of games in the last week or so,
Speaker 1: But this was also the game where their offense took
Speaker 1: a step back after their offense had been starting to
Speaker 1: gain some ground in recent weeks. So ultimately, for the Lakers,
Speaker 1: it's about putting it all together and getting to the
Speaker 1: point where all these different facets of what make them
Speaker 1: good are all available and reliable at the same time.
Speaker 1: Moving out to Boston Memphis, I talked earlier about running
Speaker 1: into an opponent that plays a dramatically different style, right
Speaker 1: with the Lakers running into a zone defense. I talked
Speaker 1: about this concept with Porzingis and Horford in the Suns game.
Speaker 1: If you guys remember, they're just a matchup problem for
Speaker 1: most front courts in the NBA. They had Zach Edy
Speaker 1: and Santi Aldamin hell tonight. There was a stretch at
Speaker 1: the beginning of this game for about quarter and a
Speaker 1: half or the Grizzlies were hooping, John Morant was cooking,
Speaker 1: and most of Boston's perimeter players were cold. Derek White
Speaker 1: and Drew Holliday had like zero points through the first
Speaker 1: you know, twelve fourteen minutes or so of this game,
Speaker 1: and Al Horford and Chris hops Porzingis literally kept them
Speaker 1: in the game until their offense finally got going in
Speaker 1: that late second quarter stretch and Drew Halliding and Derek
Speaker 1: White started hitting three, Jason Tatum started getting aggressive. That
Speaker 1: was when they took over and they were able to
Speaker 1: kind of slowly and methodically take control of the game
Speaker 1: from there. But they were hanging on for dear life
Speaker 1: early on as none of their perimeter players can get
Speaker 1: anything going, and John Morant was really going and guys
Speaker 1: were hitting threes, and it just was one of those
Speaker 1: things where they needed somebody to keep them attached, and
Speaker 1: it was Horford and Porzingis. The Celtics make you play
Speaker 1: a different type of game. So many teams that run spread,
Speaker 1: pick and roll in the NBA allow teams to kind
Speaker 1: of set their defense up in a way that is repetitive. Right,
Speaker 1: So say you're guarding Luca Jackson ball screen. Right, You're
Speaker 1: gonna have a guy chase over the top, your BIG's
Speaker 1: gonna come up to the level or whatever. You're gonna
Speaker 1: tag the roller. That means a skip is open. But
Speaker 1: there's a classic rotation from the wing to the skip
Speaker 1: and the two on the ball have to disengage and
Speaker 1: someone's got to rotate to the wing, and there's a
Speaker 1: certain amount of like when you're facing these spread, pick
Speaker 1: and roll teams, where like you play sixty games a
Speaker 1: year playing that type of defense, and so you kind
Speaker 1: of get really good at it. You kind of get
Speaker 1: your reads down, you get your your it kind of
Speaker 1: becomes instinctual, like what you're gonna do in all these
Speaker 1: different types of situations. One of the things that the
Speaker 1: Celtics do is they allow them They allow their team
Speaker 1: to play with Horford and porzingis they allow their team
Speaker 1: to play a brand of driving kick basketball that is
Speaker 1: positionless in the purest sense of where guys are on
Speaker 1: the floor, meaning like sometimes it is Tatum in the
Speaker 1: corner and Horford on the wing and a guard in
Speaker 1: the dunker spot and porzingis on the opposite wing. But
Speaker 1: then sometimes Horford's in the corner and sometimes porzingis is
Speaker 1: operating out against a switch in the middle of the floor.
Speaker 1: Everyone's in a different spot all the time. It happening
Speaker 1: is like everybody on the team is like doing these
Speaker 1: weird things like oh, you're a guard and now you're
Speaker 1: making a help side rotation underneath the basket because your
Speaker 1: bigs are out above the break and there's a guard
Speaker 1: in the dunker spot, so like it's your help rotation.
Speaker 1: So now you're protecting the rim as like a six
Speaker 1: foot two athletic thin guard or whatever it might be, right,
Speaker 1: or you're as a big man like all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: like you're defending in a driving kick situation where it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm dealing with Horford and a pick and pop, or
Speaker 1: now I'm Zach Edy, I'm switched on to Derek White
Speaker 1: on the left wing, and like now I'm like trying
Speaker 1: to slide my feet against Derek White, and all he
Speaker 1: has to do is kind of shimmy a little bit
Speaker 1: and he back pedals too much and then he rises
Speaker 1: up and knocks down a pull up three right in
Speaker 1: his face. It just puts everybody in these like really
Speaker 1: awkward situations, and you could tell the Celtics new that
Speaker 1: that was their best option because they were hunting it relentlessly.
Speaker 1: They even ran in action at one point, it was
Speaker 1: in the second quarter if I remember correctly, where they
Speaker 1: had Horford and Porzingis run an off ball action off
Speaker 1: of the wing and Horford screens Santiel Dama and Porzingis
Speaker 1: cuts or kind of kind of curls it and they
Speaker 1: defend it like a drop coverage. So Santel Dama is
Speaker 1: like chasing over the top and Edie is in a
Speaker 1: kind of like a drop right around like ten feet
Speaker 1: from the basket. Porzingis catches the ball in the move
Speaker 1: and he's going downhill right at Edie's face, and he
Speaker 1: just spins into it, just dunks it with two hands
Speaker 1: right in his head. And I'm like, like, this is
Speaker 1: not normal stuff you expect to deal with when you're coaching.
Speaker 1: Zach Edy like like, all right, you know how you
Speaker 1: ran drop coverage for the last two weeks, Well tonight,
Speaker 1: we need you to be defending off ball action for
Speaker 1: a big who can shoot twenty seven footers and post
Speaker 1: up and do all and spin into dunks in your
Speaker 1: face and all this different kind of stuff. Al Horford,
Speaker 1: it's not just the shooting. It's it's confident and aggressive shooting,
Speaker 1: which are two very different things. I'm able to knock
Speaker 1: down to catch and shoot three. It's not the same
Speaker 1: as if you leave me open, I'm gonna shoot it
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna hit you know, close to forty percent
Speaker 1: of them, and that just puts you in all these
Speaker 1: different predicaments. Like I watched Horford tonight jab into the corner,
Speaker 1: drive middle hit a little fling hook shot in the lane.
Speaker 1: That's a guard move. That's a guard move that you're
Speaker 1: asking your bigs to defend in space. Like it just
Speaker 1: ultimately puts you in all of these uncomfortable positions. And
Speaker 1: like I thought, Zach Eatie in particular and santi all
Speaker 1: Dom in particular just looked completely lost on the floorida night.
Speaker 1: And that's what Horford and Porzingis do to you. And
Speaker 1: they were spamming that advantage. Boston was a lot of
Speaker 1: Porzingis post ups in this game. I thought Porzingis gave
Speaker 1: them issues with his rim protection as well. It's just
Speaker 1: been really fun in the last few weeks to watch
Speaker 1: those guys give teams fits. The CEA's perimeterive players finally
Speaker 1: got going that second quarter as well. I've been talking
Speaker 1: a lot lately about the Celtics in their pursuit of
Speaker 1: great shots right, and this might have been their best
Speaker 1: offensive process game of the season. Thirty assists on thirty
Speaker 1: nine midfield goals, They generated thirty two unguarded catch and
Speaker 1: shoot jump shots in that game that was by far
Speaker 1: their highest total of the season. They've general at least
Speaker 1: twenty unguarded catch and shoots in five consecutive games, and
Speaker 1: that's the exciting part. Like most of this is shaping
Speaker 1: up exactly like you would hope for a title defense.
Speaker 1: They're having an excellent regular season, but at the same time,
Speaker 1: they're not over extending themselves trying to keep up with
Speaker 1: a couple of young athletic teams in Cleveland and OKC.
Speaker 1: They're taking care of their bodies, sitting guys when they
Speaker 1: need to sit guys, while also maintaining their identity while
Speaker 1: also giving young guys a lot of opportunity. We've seen
Speaker 1: a lot more Baylor shiremen as of late. They're allowing
Speaker 1: themselves to have a multifaceted approach to this regular season,
Speaker 1: while at the same time, right now March thirty first,
Speaker 1: turning up their intensity in time for the playoffs. They've
Speaker 1: won nine in a row, just had their best shot
Speaker 1: quality game of the season, five consecutive games of just
Speaker 1: a lot of really good catch and shoot looks, which
Speaker 1: to me are like the number one barometer for the
Speaker 1: Celtics in their offense. There's just a lot to get
Speaker 1: excited about if you're a Celtics fan. They are peaking
Speaker 1: at the right time on the Memphis front. Their defense
Speaker 1: has been awful in the skid. They have a one
Speaker 1: to twenty point three defensive rating in this one and
Speaker 1: six stretch, and I'm not surprised at all that they
Speaker 1: were the team that gave up the most wide open
Speaker 1: threes to Boston. This was an issue throughout the entirety
Speaker 1: of the Taylor Jenkins era, and we've talked about this
Speaker 1: on the show many times. They're an overhelped team. There's
Speaker 1: a huge difference between digging and recovering and just sitting
Speaker 1: in driving lanes and conceiting threes. Over the course of
Speaker 1: this span. I checked before the show it's either fifth
Speaker 1: or sixth, But in the seven game span, they've given
Speaker 1: up the fifth or sixth most unguarded catch and shoot,
Speaker 1: jump shot or wide open PERMBA dot Com at least
Speaker 1: six feet away defenders or defender at least six feet away.
Speaker 1: They've given up, let's just say, the sixth most in
Speaker 1: the league over this seven game span. There's a certain
Speaker 1: amount of that where you're going to allow teams to
Speaker 1: pick you apart and get great looks, and it's just
Speaker 1: gonna be really difficult for you to get enough stops.
Speaker 1: If you're deliberate with your shot selection in ball movement
Speaker 1: against Memphis, you can absolutely get open looks against them.
Speaker 1: They look a little bit like a team that's letting
Speaker 1: go of the rope right now, doing the exact opposite
Speaker 1: of what we talked about with Boston. They're losing team
Speaker 1: as we had for the postseason. I don't think they're
Speaker 1: good enough on either end of the floor to win
Speaker 1: four playoff rounds. Definitely looking a little bleak in Memphis.
Speaker 1: All right, Jackson, let's get into that mail bag. What
Speaker 1: do you got for us?
Speaker 2: All right, let's do it. We are going to start
Speaker 2: off with a question from JM, who's in the chat
Speaker 2: super chatting sending us a few dollars, Thank you, JM.
Speaker 2: Do you think Denver will fall to the four seed
Speaker 2: and rest players to avoid a potential Warriors or Timberwolves
Speaker 2: matchup in the first round of the playoffs, And we
Speaker 2: can sort of expand the question I think generally to like,
Speaker 2: do you think teams actually do this try to intentionally
Speaker 2: lose games or intentionally how much do these teams think
Speaker 2: about seeding and their potential first round matchups against teams
Speaker 2: they might struggle with.
Speaker 1: I think there's a certain amount of they should have
Speaker 1: a certain awareness of Minnesota and Golden State coming out
Speaker 1: of that six to seven slot. At the same time, though,
Speaker 1: knowing the competitors that are in that locker room, the
Speaker 1: champions that they are, I just doubt they're wired that way.
Speaker 1: I generally tend to think that the basketball gods will
Speaker 1: reward you most when you attempt to play the best
Speaker 1: possible basketball, and that ultimately, even if you were able
Speaker 1: to avoid Minnesota or a Golden State in the first round,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to face somebody that attacks your weaknesses
Speaker 1: at some point in the postseason. The best thing you
Speaker 1: can do to prepare for that is to be the
Speaker 1: best basketball team that you can be, and the only
Speaker 1: way to do that is to attack every day in
Speaker 1: the process of becoming a better basketball team. So, like
Speaker 1: I think there's a fan case for it, I just
Speaker 1: don't think there's a basketball case for it, just simply
Speaker 1: because it's just bad process for a basketball team. What
Speaker 1: do you think, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Think I just think there's too much unpredictability like it's
Speaker 2: you just don't know if if if you have a
Speaker 2: hot shooting series, you're If Denver has a hot shooting series,
Speaker 2: they're rolling through Minnesota. Like if if Denver has a
Speaker 2: cold shooting series, they're they're probably getting beat by the
Speaker 2: team with that much size. Like it's it's there's so
Speaker 2: much variance, and you need to be trying to play
Speaker 2: your best basketball. I think going into the playoffs and
Speaker 2: in those early parts of the playoffs, if you want
Speaker 2: it's it's not like Denver's a team that would be
Speaker 2: happy to win one one round, right, If you're a
Speaker 2: genuine title contender, you want to be playing your best
Speaker 2: basketball because whoever you get. If you're if you're Denver,
Speaker 2: you're thinking a lot more about how do you beat
Speaker 2: Okay see than you are how you beat If you're
Speaker 2: if you're stressing about how do you beat Minnesota, you're
Speaker 2: not beating Okay. So so exactly, yeah, all right, next question,
Speaker 2: we'll do this one's sort of about tonight's connected tonight's game,
Speaker 2: because it does feel like there was a lot of
Speaker 2: talk on the broadcast about Jalen green Is sitting at
Speaker 2: the end of the game. Uh, do you think the
Speaker 2: Rockets will look target a veteran star they can help
Speaker 2: them score in crunch time this offseason. Who do you
Speaker 2: think the ideal fit would be. I know, Kevin Durant
Speaker 2: sort of be obvious, he's been rumored to them in
Speaker 2: the past. But what's the sort of solution, potential solution
Speaker 2: to their late game execution offensive sort of struggles.
Speaker 1: I think Katie's the only one that makes sense. I mean,
Speaker 1: if there was the only other thing I can see
Speaker 1: is if, like if they've ended up pulling some sort
Speaker 1: of crazy deal where like Golden State ended up like
Speaker 1: flipping Jimmy for Katie or something like that, and suddenly
Speaker 1: Jimmy was available. He's a guy that I think would
Speaker 1: fit that role pretty well. But like I first of all,
Speaker 1: I thought the benching a Jalen Green was interesting. I
Speaker 1: thought it was the right call. Layton games are gonna
Speaker 1: play through Shangun and Fred Van Vliet. I thought Jabari
Speaker 1: Smith was amazing in this game on the glass and
Speaker 1: then his timely jump shooting. That three hit in transition
Speaker 1: on the right wing was huge. That little shot he
Speaker 1: hit from Shaneguon in the like ten twelve feet there
Speaker 1: in the lane that little soft jump shot he shot,
Speaker 1: and then Dylan obviously you need him for defense. Shangon
Speaker 1: was your biggest matchup advantage, and then a men Thompson
Speaker 1: was crushing everybody, So like, who who are you taking
Speaker 1: out for Jalen Green when you're gonna be running the
Speaker 1: offense to Fred Van Vliet anyway, So I thought that
Speaker 1: was the right call. But yeah, ultimately I think there
Speaker 1: I was advocating for this around the deadline. This was
Speaker 1: before you started working with us Jackson, but I was
Speaker 1: like NonStop. I was like, I was like, should the
Speaker 1: Rockets be training for some of these guys? Like there's
Speaker 1: do you remember that stretch in the early part of
Speaker 1: the or middle part of the season where they just
Speaker 1: beat great teams every single night for like a month.
Speaker 2: On some nights they look unstoppable because of all their athletes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and like like because they've had a pretty light
Speaker 1: schedule here down the stretch, and like they deserve it
Speaker 1: because they went through the gauntlet earlier and they beat everybody.
Speaker 1: But during that stre stretch, I kept thinking, I'm like,
Speaker 1: with this defense, with all this depth of athleticism, if
Speaker 1: you give these guys a surgical half court scorer, they
Speaker 1: can beat anybody, and so obviously they're not gonna do
Speaker 1: it this year, and we'll see ultimately. I mean, their
Speaker 1: offense looked so brutally bad at times tonight, and it
Speaker 1: always tends to do that and just about every single game.
Speaker 1: So there's a certain amount of like I think Houston
Speaker 1: need their GM, their front office needs to see just
Speaker 1: how bad their offense looks in April before they end
Speaker 1: up understanding just how serious they need to get about
Speaker 1: chasing down that type of scoring talent.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they have such a weird roster that they have
Speaker 2: so many very good players, but they don't have any
Speaker 2: true superstar. And not just that, they don't have really
Speaker 2: any guys that I think project to be an offensive
Speaker 2: superstar like that. I think I'm in Thompson obviously has
Speaker 2: you know, crazy high ceiling, but I don't know what
Speaker 2: he's going to be, right, But even Jalen Green and Sengoon,
Speaker 2: who are are awesome at times, like I don't think
Speaker 2: either of those guys because of Sengoon sort of passing
Speaker 2: in size struggles and that per your point about the
Speaker 2: Yoakic comparison and Jalen Green sort of consistency and efficiency struggles.
Speaker 2: I don't know if either of those guys project to
Speaker 2: be legitimate playoff go to scorers in the half court,
Speaker 2: and if and if they don't have even one of
Speaker 2: those guys, it's like, what.
Speaker 1: Is their roster.
Speaker 2: It's I don't know, it's strange. I mean, if someone
Speaker 2: in the chat said, this isn't exactly the type of
Speaker 2: guy I think we're talking about, but that if the
Speaker 2: if the Sixers blow it up, maybe they should make
Speaker 2: a run at Maxi, and like that's sort of he'd
Speaker 2: be fantastic, he'd be awesome with them, even if he's
Speaker 2: not like a big wing sort of score type that
Speaker 2: is sort of a prototype a lot of times. But
Speaker 2: like it does feel like they have an okay, see
Speaker 2: like build, But that's without Shay. You know, they like
Speaker 2: don't have They need to cash in some of their
Speaker 2: hips to try to go after someone who can actually
Speaker 2: lift them over the top and the half court offensively.
Speaker 1: Well, to your point, there's just not enough long term growth.
Speaker 1: Like Shanegon. One of the things I've noticed with Shanegon
Speaker 1: is like if you don't have elite defenders in your
Speaker 1: front court, he's gonna crush you. Like Shaneguon is a problem.
Speaker 1: But like it seems just about every time he runs
Speaker 1: into like a real good defensive front court that all
Speaker 1: of a sudden he can't get as much separation for
Speaker 1: that little right left shoulder hook or he just there's
Speaker 1: a certain like ceiling with him that's there. And so
Speaker 1: to your point, like if you don't have somebody that's like, oh,
Speaker 1: this guy, Like it's like the Anthony Edwards conundrum with Minnesota,
Speaker 1: it's like a certain amount of their a certain amount
Speaker 1: of their like game plan for the franchise is like
Speaker 1: we expect Aunt to make dramatic leaps every year for
Speaker 1: the next like five years, whereas like I think aman
Speaker 1: Thompson's gonna take those kinds of leaps, but I just
Speaker 1: don't see him as the surgical There's not a guy
Speaker 1: in there that's gonna be that surgical offensive player. And
Speaker 1: so if you're not gonna get that player through the draft,
Speaker 1: then you gotta find that guy out in free agency
Speaker 1: or in u in the trade market. And so ultimately,
Speaker 1: I think I think it's just a matter of when
Speaker 1: they pulled the trigger.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree, let's do this one. Who in the
Speaker 2: West do you think has the best matchup has the
Speaker 2: best chance to beat okay See.
Speaker 1: Oh that's a good question, very good question. I really
Speaker 1: like the way Golden State matches up with Okay See.
Speaker 1: They have on several different occasions shown they just Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City has a like a Golden State, I should say,
Speaker 1: has an underrated trait, which is that they are pretty
Speaker 1: fast on the perimeter and they can fly around in rotation.
Speaker 1: And they also have this like anchored front court with
Speaker 1: Raymond Green protecting the rim, and so there's a certain
Speaker 1: amount like with with Golden State, they can make them
Speaker 1: feel uncomfortable on defense while also having the jimmy to
Speaker 1: attack matchups of various perimeter size matchups. And Steph has
Speaker 1: just been really comfortable against them, and he's made a
Speaker 1: lot of plays against them, and so I think Golden
Speaker 1: State's an interesting example. Minnesota would be another example with
Speaker 1: like really good rim protection, because we've seen we've seen
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City struggle in the Dallas series last year against
Speaker 1: really good rim protection. The Lakers are another example of
Speaker 1: a team that they have the Luca Lebron, who are
Speaker 1: you gonna Who's gonna guard them? Type of problem. The
Speaker 1: thing that scares me for the Lakers with Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: is their turnover to transition problem. Yeah, And like I
Speaker 1: could see that series having a little bit of a
Speaker 1: Minnesota Denver type of feel where there are these games
Speaker 1: where the Lakers methodically beat okay See, but then there
Speaker 1: are these games where Okay Se just kicks the shit
Speaker 1: out of them because they let go of the rope
Speaker 1: and they start turning the ball over and it's just
Speaker 1: a track meet and transition.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Those are the three teams that I think have good chances.
Speaker 1: That said, I think if I had to pick one
Speaker 1: team that could upset okay See from down there and
Speaker 1: that part of the bracket, I'd say Golden State.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's hard because it sort of feels okay See.
Speaker 2: It sort of has created this basketball machine that feels
Speaker 2: almost unmeetable in a seven game series at this point.
Speaker 2: But I mean depending on the shot and making in
Speaker 2: the playoffs. But I I those three teams feel like
Speaker 2: the right answer just because you need some sort of
Speaker 2: transcendent to something it feels like to beat the thunder.
Speaker 2: And whether it's the Luca Lebron plot problem, the stuff problem,
Speaker 2: or they ok problem, Like those three teams have some
Speaker 2: sort of skeleton key that can just unlock a playoff
Speaker 2: series in a way that the other Western Conference teams
Speaker 2: don't really have offensively.
Speaker 1: But I don't know, man, I should have included Denver too.
Speaker 1: Denver I think has a chance to beat them. Those
Speaker 1: are the four teams that I think have a chance.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's do this one. When it comes to defense,
Speaker 2: what do you believe is the most important factor? Rim
Speaker 2: protection or being able to contain the ball.
Speaker 1: I'm going to say the ability to contain the ball,
Speaker 1: because ultimately we talked about it earlier. With the way
Speaker 1: that Boston can like get you out of your kind
Speaker 1: of base defensive scheme and force you to play an
Speaker 1: uncomfortable style, You're inevitably going to run into somebody that
Speaker 1: can pull your room protector away from the rim. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and if you can't guard on the perimeter, you have
Speaker 1: no chance. I think the best example of this in
Speaker 1: NBA history is the twenty twenty one Jazz. Like right,
Speaker 1: I was going to say all season long they were
Speaker 1: able to maintain a certain baseline with their defense because
Speaker 1: of Rudy Gobert. In the large sample, it was really
Speaker 1: effective until the Clippers were like, let's see how you guys,
Speaker 1: garden space. Yeah, and I mean they beat them without
Speaker 1: Kawhi like that. That was like a pretty dramatic type
Speaker 1: of upset. So I think I think, like overall, athletic
Speaker 1: perimeter speed is more valuable than rim protection. Like Boston
Speaker 1: I think is a great example. Like I think Boston's
Speaker 1: defensive look with Horford at center, with the with the
Speaker 1: their four other great perimeter players, that's the look where
Speaker 1: it's like we're switching everything and it's like take your pick,
Speaker 1: who do you want to try to score on. You
Speaker 1: don't really have a good option here. I think that
Speaker 1: that has more resilience in the playoffs than just pure
Speaker 1: rim protection. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean I think if you said rim protection with
Speaker 2: that player also being able to be switchable, then it's
Speaker 2: like that's kind of how you unlock it. Like it's
Speaker 2: the Draymond Green versus Rudy Gobert problem, Like one of
Speaker 2: those guys is the best rim protector in the league.
Speaker 2: One of them can guard five positions, and the guy
Speaker 2: who can guard five positions is just more valuable.
Speaker 1: Very well, people just couldn't more Yeah, very well. Put
Speaker 1: like you ultimately like you should, like your dream should
Speaker 1: be to have multiple defensive looks and the only way
Speaker 1: that's going to be possible is if you have a
Speaker 1: good rip protector rim protector that can also switch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, speaking of the Celtics, this is an interesting one
Speaker 2: just to humor me as a Celtics fan. Uh, there
Speaker 2: as there was, and also because there was a report
Speaker 2: I can think it was last week about the Celtics
Speaker 2: getting expensive at some point in the next couple of years,
Speaker 2: and maybe they're gonna have to trade one of Drew
Speaker 2: Holiday or Christas Perzingis in a year or two, depending
Speaker 2: on on how their contracts and how the new owners
Speaker 2: feel and YadA YadA. And then there's also people also
Speaker 2: doing these Cooper flag to the Celtics after his Ricky
Speaker 2: dealer rumors. So the Celtics are going to be really
Speaker 2: expensive moving forward. What lottery team, if any, would accept
Speaker 2: a Drew Holliday, Jalen Brown and a couple first round
Speaker 2: picks for the number one overall pick to get Cooper
Speaker 2: flag to the Celtics.
Speaker 1: Okay, so uh read me the package one more time.
Speaker 2: Drew Holiday, Jalen Brown and whatever amount of first round
Speaker 2: picks feel so appropriate.
Speaker 1: Holiday, Brown and a bunch of first round picks would
Speaker 1: Washington be stupid enough to do that? Would they? Would
Speaker 1: Washington say give me Drew Holiday, Jalen Brown and Alex
Speaker 1: Aar with these couple of these other young dudes that
Speaker 1: we have that are hooping with Jordan Poole Washington. Maybe,
Speaker 1: So theoretically it would be a team that already is
Speaker 1: kind of anchored at the four spot Charlotte.
Speaker 2: Maybe I was gonna say, Charlotte's a weird one.
Speaker 1: I the Yeah, New Orleans they're like they but then
Speaker 1: they would.
Speaker 2: Like it's yeah, like the Pelicans both have like theoretically
Speaker 2: foundational pieces at the four, but neither of them feel
Speaker 2: like guys that they're like truly wed to.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, like married to. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: that's interesting. Yeah, if you're let's take Utah for example, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you already have Lori Markinen and Walker Kessler. Boston calls
Speaker 1: you and offers Drew Holliday, Jalen Brown, and a bunch
Speaker 1: of first round.
Speaker 2: Draft any this is your guy you drafted Jalen Brown, Danny.
Speaker 2: You love Jaylen Brown, Danny.
Speaker 1: So it's you'd have Colin Sexton, Drew Holliday, You'd have
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown next to Lori Markin and with Walker Kessler,
Speaker 1: and you've already got a million draft picks and you
Speaker 1: can go after whatever you like. That teams. Actually would's
Speaker 1: not a bad one.
Speaker 2: Like you you stick a couple of like strong perimeter
Speaker 2: defenders who can play on obviously offensively, as well as
Speaker 2: Jalen Brown next to Lowry Markin who needs some defensive help,
Speaker 2: and next to Walker Kessler, who's not one of those
Speaker 2: switchabowl guys. It's not the worst one. It's not the worst.
Speaker 1: So let's take it a step further though. If you're Boston,
Speaker 1: Cooper Flagg and Jason Tatum effectively play the same position
Speaker 1: in my opinion, so there's a certain there's a certain
Speaker 1: diminishing return you could face. There there are ways to
Speaker 1: account for it, Like I think we overthink this sometimes
Speaker 1: where it's like, can Cooper Flag and Jason Tatam play
Speaker 1: basketball together? Yes, they can, like they can't, there's no doubt.
Speaker 1: But there's a certain amount of, like your foot speed.
Speaker 1: If you have a center with those two guys playing
Speaker 1: at three four, there's a certain like foot speed, like
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown's fastest ship and guards the other team's best
Speaker 1: player every day. Yeah, like there's a like can Cooper
Speaker 1: Flag do that? You know, there's a certain amount of
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. But this is an interesting thought exercise,
Speaker 1: and I think I think you. I think Utah. You
Speaker 1: talked to me into Utah. That makes it. That's a
Speaker 1: that that one makes a little bit of sense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know we have some some people in the
Speaker 2: chat saying this, that's our second Aprin team. This is
Speaker 2: not gonna it's it's almost it's a sure, they're not
Speaker 2: gonna have can we have some fun? But it's a
Speaker 2: it's a fun thought exercise. Let's do Let's do one more.
Speaker 2: Jason big Fan from Argentina, what is the most shout
Speaker 2: out to our international listeners? What is the most favorable
Speaker 2: parentheses and realistic first round matchup for the Lakers? Okay,
Speaker 2: that's a really lot of Memphis because they feel like
Speaker 2: the easiest first round matchup forever.
Speaker 1: Bet Yeah Memphis. Yeah, Memphis is just like about to
Speaker 1: crash and burn here. I think it's so much of
Speaker 1: this you and I were talking about it before the show.
Speaker 1: So much depends on where all these teams shake out.
Speaker 1: It looks if you look at things, man, Houston's one
Speaker 1: loss ahead of Denver, who's one loss ahead of the Lakers,
Speaker 1: who's two losses ahead of Memphis, tied with Golden State,
Speaker 1: who's only one loss ahead of the eight seed. Like
Speaker 1: the Lakers at the four seed are only three losses
Speaker 1: ahead of the Clippers at the eight seed, So like
Speaker 1: it could literally be anybody. Yeah, I think I think
Speaker 1: the Lakers would do destroy Memphis because they run too
Speaker 1: many traditional coverages. Golden State is a tricky one because
Speaker 1: they haven't played since Jimmy Butler came on board. I
Speaker 1: personally am scared of Golden State as a fan who's
Speaker 1: rooting for the Lakers. Golden State is a team I'd
Speaker 1: rather not play. Minnesota is a team I'd rather not play.
Speaker 1: I just know that they can, like really physically alter
Speaker 1: a series to the point where it becomes a big problem.
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers would beat Denver. I know Nugget
Speaker 1: Nuggets fans will kill me for saying that, but I
Speaker 1: think I think the Lakers are a better team than
Speaker 1: Denver right now. I think they also, I think Luca
Speaker 1: just fundamentally changes the matchup. Yeah, Like, like Luca just
Speaker 1: goes from Denver's defense can hold up reasonably well against
Speaker 1: the Lakers to now, Denver's defense is hopeless to stop
Speaker 1: the Lakers from generating wide open threes every single time
Speaker 1: down the floor. So I think the Lakers would define
Speaker 1: against Denver. I think the Lakers would do fine against Memphis.
Speaker 1: I'd say Golden State in Minnesota would be the two
Speaker 1: that I'd be worried about in first round matchups.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I tend to agree.
Speaker 1: I think the.
Speaker 2: It doesn't feel like this is particularly possible because the
Speaker 2: way that this standing sit right now, but like you said,
Speaker 2: there's so many ways could check out. I think the
Speaker 2: Lakers should be looking for the Clippers. I think I
Speaker 2: think if they get the Clippers the first round, they're
Speaker 2: they're taking out the Clippers. They're getting they're getting every
Speaker 2: games a home game that I think. I think that's
Speaker 2: probably their their best first round matchup.
Speaker 1: So they get up to two, get up or the
Speaker 1: Clippers can Clippers Clippers can get up.
Speaker 2: Could also end up in six, like relatively easily. So
Speaker 2: I do think that's true. Like Jenny, it's not off
Speaker 2: the table anyway.
Speaker 1: All of this is possible except for Dallas and Sacramento.
Speaker 1: You're right, yeah, And even then Dallas and Sacramento is
Speaker 1: possible if you sing if the Lakers get up to
Speaker 1: Tuesdays right, how Phoenix is still possible.
Speaker 2: It is gonna be crazy last couple of weeks in
Speaker 2: the Western Conference.
Speaker 1: Yeah, anything else that we're good for this, let's call
Speaker 1: it all right, guys. As always, sincerely appreciate you guys
Speaker 1: for supporting me and supporting the show, supporting us and
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Speaker 1: mail bag questions if you got a question that we
Speaker 1: didn't get to tonight. We are literally waking up tomorrow
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Speaker 1: that night. So make sure you guys drop those questions,
Speaker 1: and then I will see you guys for the mail
Speaker 1: bag on Onenesday morning and then also live on Wednesday night. Again,
Speaker 1: we appreciate you, guys, and we'll see you next time.
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Speaker 2: The volume