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Speaker 1: welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by Fan Duel here at
Speaker 1: the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody. I hope all of you
Speaker 1: guys are having a great week. Huge win for Boston
Speaker 1: last night to take a two one series lead in
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals. Obviously, I went live with Colin Cowherd
Speaker 1: after the game last night. If you missed any of that,
Speaker 1: you can find it on the Volumes YouTube channel, which
Speaker 1: you guys absolutely should subscribe to so you don't miss
Speaker 1: any more of our content, or if you can't get
Speaker 1: on YouTube today, it should be on the Calling Cowherd
Speaker 1: podcast feed. A couple other notes before we get started,
Speaker 1: please follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lt S.
Speaker 1: You guys can see when I live tweet the games,
Speaker 1: as well as the little clips that I pull and
Speaker 1: tweet out while I'm doing my film sessions. And then,
Speaker 1: last but not least, for whatever reason, you miss a
Speaker 1: part of this show or any of our shows and
Speaker 1: you don't have the time to get onto YouTube, you
Speaker 1: can find these shows in their entirety on my podcast feed,
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Speaker 1: all of your podcast platforms wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1: So let's get started. We're gonna get into the weeds today.
Speaker 1: A bunch of XS and o's a bunch of adjustments,
Speaker 1: particularly some adjustments that I think will help Golden State
Speaker 1: moving forward in this series. I wanted to start tonight
Speaker 1: though with Boston's big adjustment, which I think was uh
Speaker 1: an excellent indicator of their defensive versatility and uniquely with
Speaker 1: their personnel on this roster. There are good and great
Speaker 1: defenses all around the league, but there are great defenses
Speaker 1: that rely a lot on scheming and a lot of
Speaker 1: on effort and focus and attention to detail. And then
Speaker 1: there are defenses that have that in conjunction with superior
Speaker 1: personnel down the roster that allows them flexibility to give
Speaker 1: them more chess move when they get into series is
Speaker 1: like this. Boston's big adjustment in Game three was putting
Speaker 1: Jayson Tatum on Draymond Green. The Warriors were getting fantastic
Speaker 1: stuff out of the high pick and roll with Draymond
Speaker 1: and Steph in this entire series. A huge part of
Speaker 1: that is Al Horford and Rob Williams when they're in
Speaker 1: their drop coverage has been way too low, and as
Speaker 1: Steff is coming off of these screens, he's getting wide
Speaker 1: open threes. It's been a huge part of why he's
Speaker 1: been so successful in this series compared to some of
Speaker 1: the other stars that have gone against this Boston defense,
Speaker 1: which is a tactical thing that I disagree with. And
Speaker 1: even though they made this adjustment, they still dropped way
Speaker 1: too often with Horford and Rob Williams, and that is
Speaker 1: something we are definitely going to get into in detail
Speaker 1: here later on in the show. But early in the game,
Speaker 1: that initial switch putting Jason Tatum onto Draymond allowed them
Speaker 1: to switch that action. The reason why that's so important
Speaker 1: is because having Draymond Green in the pick and roll
Speaker 1: with Steph is a problem for most teams because of
Speaker 1: how good of a passer Draymond Green is. So if
Speaker 1: you do something like hedge or drop or anything like
Speaker 1: that and Steph can hit him with the pocket pass,
Speaker 1: or if you do a you know, a trap if
Speaker 1: you're trying to just get the ball out of his hands,
Speaker 1: Draymond rolling down the middle of the floor. He's just
Speaker 1: too good of a passer and he can cause big
Speaker 1: problems for you there. We've talked about it on the show,
Speaker 1: but Draymond is one of the top tennis this guys
Speaker 1: in NBA Finals history in large part because of his
Speaker 1: ability to work in that spot of the floor. Out
Speaker 1: of that particular action, putting Jayson Tatum on Draymond allowed
Speaker 1: them just to switch it because you trust Marcus Smart
Speaker 1: on Draymond, and you trust Jayson Tatum on Steph and
Speaker 1: allows them to shut that action down. They still got
Speaker 1: a lot of good stuff out of Drop, but they
Speaker 1: had to do it with Kevon Looney or with other guards,
Speaker 1: and as a result, it just made it a little
Speaker 1: bit harder for the Golden State to get into Warriors
Speaker 1: basketball where you're just seeing the ball just popping around
Speaker 1: and lots of guys getting wide open layups and dunks
Speaker 1: and threes and things along those lines. I thought it
Speaker 1: was a really really smart adjustment, and once again it's
Speaker 1: just an indicator of Boston's defensive personnel and the flexibility
Speaker 1: that it gives them, because in order to put Tatum
Speaker 1: on Draymond, you have to be able to put al Horford,
Speaker 1: one of your big men, onto one of Golden State's wings,
Speaker 1: which is Andrew Wiggins. And Andrew Wiggins did hit a
Speaker 1: tough step back jump shot over al Horford early in
Speaker 1: the game, but he didn't have a ton of success
Speaker 1: attacking Al Horford and that so that defensive versatility, the
Speaker 1: ability to put your big on their wing and their
Speaker 1: wing on your big, gives you just that that that flexibility.
Speaker 1: It's a chess move again. It's like in these playoffs
Speaker 1: series It's like you got a hand of cards at
Speaker 1: the poker table, and you just have more options when
Speaker 1: you have that type of defensive personnel. Meanwhile, we look
Speaker 1: over at Golden State and you know, the They're big
Speaker 1: adjustment in game two was taking Draymond Green and putting
Speaker 1: them on Jalen Brown because they literally had to because
Speaker 1: Golden State does didn't have big enough or physical enough
Speaker 1: wings and guards to contain both Jayson Tatum and Jaln Brown,
Speaker 1: which I have a specific idea that I think might
Speaker 1: help them there, but I'm gonna get to that later on.
Speaker 1: But that's the difference in that that that flexibility. They
Speaker 1: had to take Draymond, their best rim protector, a guy
Speaker 1: who is vitally important because of their lack of perimeter
Speaker 1: size with what he can clean up on the back end.
Speaker 1: They had to take him away from the back end
Speaker 1: and put him guarding someone on the perimeter, which not
Speaker 1: only took him and put him in a situation where
Speaker 1: it was harder for him to help when Jalen Brown
Speaker 1: is spotting up, but when Jalon Brown is attacking off
Speaker 1: the dribble like he did early in that game, there's
Speaker 1: nobody behind Draymond Green to help, and that was my
Speaker 1: second biggest adjustment from Boston. Jalen Brown's approach offensively. If
Speaker 1: you guys remember in game two, the very first two
Speaker 1: touches that Jalen Brown had were catch early in the
Speaker 1: clock on the left wing, no advantage, no space, just
Speaker 1: rise and fire throughease, and he made both of them.
Speaker 1: He was feeling himself. They were beautiful shots, incredible talent,
Speaker 1: all of that, but it was bad approach. We talked
Speaker 1: about this a lot in the last episode of Hoops Tonight,
Speaker 1: just you know the separating results from process. Those are
Speaker 1: beautiful shots from Brown. They added six points in two possessions,
Speaker 1: which is amazing, but he wasn't being intentional about driving
Speaker 1: to the basket. Same thing goes for Jayson Tatum. Jayson
Speaker 1: Tatum took five pull up jump shots in game one.
Speaker 1: He took eleven pull up jump shots in game two.
Speaker 1: You should never, under any circumstances as a big forward
Speaker 1: with physical advantages like Jayson Tatum has only take eleven
Speaker 1: or excuse me, take eleven of your shots as pull
Speaker 1: up jump shots. That's settling, that is letting the defense
Speaker 1: off the hook. Both of them. Jalen Brown and Jayson
Speaker 1: Tatum were way more intentional about getting into the lane
Speaker 1: to create those driving kick opportunity. He's in this game,
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown. Early in the game, he uh pull is
Speaker 1: attacking uh Draymond Green from the top of the key.
Speaker 1: Derek White is coming over to try to set a pick,
Speaker 1: and Jalen Brown says, no, get back. Yes, I know
Speaker 1: I have a better match up there, but if I
Speaker 1: get past Draymond, there's no Draymond on the back end.
Speaker 1: And so what did he do? He backed away to
Speaker 1: half court, got ahead his theme and was intentional about
Speaker 1: taking him to the basket, and he made a lay up.
Speaker 1: Later on, there was a play where Draymond Green kinda
Speaker 1: Jalen attacked him in transition and Draymond blocked him. That
Speaker 1: blocked him out of bound and started talking trash to him.
Speaker 1: On the very next possession, on the baseline out of bounds,
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown caught the ball on the right wing, did
Speaker 1: a hard jab to the right and then went left,
Speaker 1: went right around Draymond and made a left handed lay up,
Speaker 1: going to all the way to the rim. He was
Speaker 1: also I think he had three assists just in the
Speaker 1: first quarter. Again, super intentional about putting his head down,
Speaker 1: getting into the paint and either finishing with his physical
Speaker 1: advantages or moving the ball around and getting Boston into
Speaker 1: their driving kick game, which is where they're so good.
Speaker 1: It was. It was a huge adjustment and just the
Speaker 1: approach that those two guys had as they were going
Speaker 1: into this game. That initial penetration is vitally important to
Speaker 1: Boston because guys like Marcus Smart and Derek White and
Speaker 1: Al Horford are not good enough to just stare straight
Speaker 1: eye to eye against a good defensive player when they're
Speaker 1: set with no advantage and create for themselves. But if
Speaker 1: you get them or the defender is closing out at them,
Speaker 1: they have an advantage, and they do have enough offensive
Speaker 1: skill to persistently attack in further extent that advantage when
Speaker 1: they are given that initial advantage. That approach has been
Speaker 1: a bellweather for this Celtics team this entire season. Did
Speaker 1: you guys know that when Jason Tatum has at least
Speaker 1: seven assists, Austin has one fifteen consecutive games. That's how
Speaker 1: important it is for Tatum in particular, but Brown as
Speaker 1: well to have that type of offensive approach intentional about
Speaker 1: getting into the lane to collapse the defense so that
Speaker 1: they can get into their driving kick game. So how
Speaker 1: can Golden stay to just so? I The issue here
Speaker 1: and I talked about this we call him last night,
Speaker 1: is Clay Thompson can't guard Jalen Brown and he probably
Speaker 1: can't guard Jason Tatum either, But I do think he
Speaker 1: has a better chance in that particular matchup. It was
Speaker 1: really cool with Draymond did in Game two going out
Speaker 1: to the perimeter and shutting down Jalen Brown the way
Speaker 1: he did, but Jalen Brown exposed that as a limited
Speaker 1: because here's the thing. Draymond Green is one of the
Speaker 1: best back line defenders in the history of basketball. But
Speaker 1: on the perimeter, he's just good. He's above average good
Speaker 1: defensive player on the perimeter. What he's not is a
Speaker 1: lockdown perimeter defender. That's no slight to him. There are
Speaker 1: very few, if any, big guys like the guys who
Speaker 1: play back line defense that are phenomenal perimeter defenders. You're
Speaker 1: looking at maybe Janice and maybe Anthony Davis, and maybe
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert for being really nice, But like I would say,
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert is even closer to Draymond those types of guys,
Speaker 1: they bring way more value to your defense under the
Speaker 1: basket than they do on the perimeter. So as as
Speaker 1: cool as it was in Game two, I don't think
Speaker 1: it's sustainable. So I suspect Draymond Green to be back
Speaker 1: on either Al Horford or on Rob Williams in Game four.
Speaker 1: So what do you do with the wing matchups? Well,
Speaker 1: the reason why Jalen Brown is having so much success
Speaker 1: against Clay Thompson is Jalen Brown is your textbook jacked,
Speaker 1: big strong, super quick first step slashing forward, and he's
Speaker 1: just not quick enough or big enough for strong enough
Speaker 1: to survive that matchup. Jason Tatum is much more of
Speaker 1: a finesse forward. He's still a slasher, and he still
Speaker 1: will beat Clay Thompson to the basket sometimes, but he
Speaker 1: plays around with his dribble more, and most importantly, he's skinnier,
Speaker 1: and Clay Thompson, just like everybody else in this series,
Speaker 1: will be allowed to play defense using their hands. I
Speaker 1: think Clay Thompson has a better chance of physically containing
Speaker 1: Tatum and turning him into a jump shooter than he
Speaker 1: did against Jaylen Brown. So that means I would take
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins, and I'd move him over to Jaylen Brown.
Speaker 1: To twitchy athletes very similar physical profiles. Andrew Wiggins will
Speaker 1: have a much better chance containing Jalen than anybody on
Speaker 1: this Golden State roster. Clay Thompson, I think has a
Speaker 1: better chance of containing Tatum than he does at containing
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown. And then now we're getting Draymond Green back
Speaker 1: into his natural position as a back line defender. Now
Speaker 1: the question becomes, do you put him on Al Horford
Speaker 1: to Rob Williams. I would put him on Rob Williams.
Speaker 1: Rob Williams hang is out in the dunker spot for
Speaker 1: the most part, or sets high screens. Draymond Green is
Speaker 1: an excellent screen and roll defender as the big man,
Speaker 1: and he's one of the best in the league in
Speaker 1: drop coverage at stunting up to the ball handler to
Speaker 1: trick them into thinking he's defending, but then getting back
Speaker 1: to defend the guy in the dunker spot. I would
Speaker 1: have Kevon Looney stay home on Al Horford, who's gonna
Speaker 1: be roaming around the perimeter more. It's a little bit
Speaker 1: more difficult because you don't love the idea of positioning
Speaker 1: Kevin Luney away from the basket, but I think Draymond
Speaker 1: Green is a better back line defender, better rim protector.
Speaker 1: That's the way that I would do it. Draymond Green
Speaker 1: on Rob williams Looney on on Al Horford Wiggins on
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown, and Clay Thompson on Jayson Tatum. It's not perfect,
Speaker 1: it's not guaranteed to work, but I do think it's
Speaker 1: a better option than any of the things that they've
Speaker 1: tried to this point. You are limited in your personnel
Speaker 1: in this series, even though you might very well win.
Speaker 1: And I'm not jumping off the Golden State bandwagon. I
Speaker 1: picked them in seven, and I think everything comes down
Speaker 1: to Game four. If Boston wins Game four, it's not
Speaker 1: over over, but I would give it. I would start
Speaker 1: picking Boston to win the series at that point. If
Speaker 1: Golden State wins Game four with a to two series
Speaker 1: with two of the last three games on their home floor,
Speaker 1: I still feel very confident about Golden State winning in seven.
Speaker 1: So this series is not over and I am not
Speaker 1: changing my pick. But through three games, Boston has proven
Speaker 1: that they have a personnel advantage. Golden State's advantage is
Speaker 1: up here. It's experience in understanding how to win in
Speaker 1: these environments. You saw that last night Boston gave up
Speaker 1: an eight oh run in thirty seven seconds. That's something
Speaker 1: bad teams do. Boston gave up seven points on a
Speaker 1: single possession. Stupid drop coverage Againsteph Curry where Al Horford
Speaker 1: at a late contest and committed a foul, and then
Speaker 1: they ran a drop coverage on Klay Thompson on a
Speaker 1: baseline out of balance after the flagrant foul call and
Speaker 1: he came off free and clear knockdown to three. That
Speaker 1: is bad defense. That's what inexperienced, undisciplined teams do in
Speaker 1: thirty seven seconds in one possession. Uh literally a fifteen
Speaker 1: points wing. So I'm not off of Golden State by
Speaker 1: any stretch of the imagination. But make no mistake, Boston
Speaker 1: has the personnel advantage to this point. They've demonstrated that clearly,
Speaker 1: they have more flexibility, they have better too A players
Speaker 1: than the Golden State Warriors do. One last adjustment for
Speaker 1: Golden State, I think they need to continue to run
Speaker 1: as much pick and roll in as possible, getting Boston's
Speaker 1: bigs in the action, either off ball with like dribble
Speaker 1: handoffs or or pin downs or off ball with the
Speaker 1: pin downs, are on ball with the dribble handoffs for
Speaker 1: the high screening roll. The main reason why is Boston's
Speaker 1: demonstrated that Rob Williams and Al Horford will come high
Speaker 1: to the level of the screen and do a better
Speaker 1: job of contesting in their drop when the game's in
Speaker 1: the balance. They've been fantastic in the fourth quarter. Will
Speaker 1: get to that in a little bit, but for the
Speaker 1: most part throughout the game, they're sitting too low and
Speaker 1: Jordan Pool, Steph and Clay are getting fantastic looks against
Speaker 1: that drop coverage. And so what I would do if
Speaker 1: I was Golden State is can teem you to run
Speaker 1: that because particularly when they get fatigued, and you saw
Speaker 1: this a lot with Al Horford last night in the
Speaker 1: late third quarter, as he started to get tired, his
Speaker 1: drop fell further and further back. On the last three
Speaker 1: that Steph Curry made to make a three eight two
Speaker 1: and give Golden State the lead, Al Horford was damn
Speaker 1: near at the free throw line in his drop and
Speaker 1: Email Judoka immediately subbed him out to get him some rest.
Speaker 1: But that's your best bet if you're Golden State, capitalize
Speaker 1: on Boston stupid coverage that they keep running for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: continue to go out those guys until they get fatigued,
Speaker 1: because as they fatigued, they sit further back, and that's
Speaker 1: your option to get that's your best chance to get
Speaker 1: those clean looks out of screen and roll. It's just
Speaker 1: it's I would spam that action every time down the floor.
Speaker 1: But I did want to talk about this Boston drop
Speaker 1: coverage thing because if you guys, for those of you
Speaker 1: have been following the show since before this series, you
Speaker 1: remember in my series preview, this was my biggest concern
Speaker 1: for Boston. They ran it in the regular season on
Speaker 1: everything dribble handoffs, pinned downs, and high ball screens. If
Speaker 1: Al Horford or Rob Williams was in the action, they
Speaker 1: were dropping. I thought it was crazy. I even said
Speaker 1: in my in my breakdown that I thought it would
Speaker 1: be suicide for Boston to attempt to do this. And
Speaker 1: it hasn't beaten them yet, but a damn sure came
Speaker 1: close because it was then barbecuing the drop coverage that
Speaker 1: allowed Golden State to get back into that game in
Speaker 1: that third quarter. I'm sure you guys saw J. J.
Speaker 1: Reddick tweet out this has become you know, obviously I've
Speaker 1: been on this for weeks, but this has become a
Speaker 1: huge story in this series. J J. Reddick tweeted out
Speaker 1: through two games of the Finals. So through game one.
Speaker 1: In game two, Steph Curry was scoring one point seven
Speaker 1: points per possession against Boston's drop coverage. Guys, that's a
Speaker 1: one seventy offensive rating. That's an outrageous number. I just
Speaker 1: simply don't understand why they're doing why they're doing it,
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong. Just like it is with every
Speaker 1: great player in the league. It's like if I asked
Speaker 1: you how to guard Lebron James, there's not a good option.
Speaker 1: He's gonna beat you and drop coverage, he's gonna beat you.
Speaker 1: If you switch, he's gonna be to you if you trapped.
Speaker 1: The same goes for step The same goes for all
Speaker 1: of the greatest players in the game. But there's usually
Speaker 1: a better option against each guy. Right, So, for instance,
Speaker 1: teams have figured out Lebron a D pick and roll,
Speaker 1: we're gonna switch it because usually it's like size because
Speaker 1: they're two big guys, and at least then we commit
Speaker 1: to isolation, even though Lebron is probably gonna take your
Speaker 1: big guy off the bounce or Anthony Davis is gonna
Speaker 1: take your little guy into the post. But that's just
Speaker 1: a better option than some of the other things that
Speaker 1: if you run drop coverage against Lebron and a d,
Speaker 1: Lebron's gonna pick you apart with pocket passes and lobs
Speaker 1: to a d or dunk on you himself all night long.
Speaker 1: And the same thing goes for step. If you switch it,
Speaker 1: he's gonna attack your big guy off the bounce in
Speaker 1: all likelihood, right, If you run drop coverage, he's going
Speaker 1: to pull up threes all night long if you come
Speaker 1: high on the screen, and if you run drop coverage
Speaker 1: at the level of the screen, he's gonna hit pocket
Speaker 1: passes all night long to the Draymond Greens of the world,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna make plays. If you trap him, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be the same thing. So there is no good option,
Speaker 1: but anything is better. The worst option is running a
Speaker 1: low drop so that the best shooter to ever touch
Speaker 1: a basketball can come off of these ball screens wide
Speaker 1: open every single time. And again this is the key
Speaker 1: difference because you're seeing there's some contest there. You know,
Speaker 1: Marcus Smartin, Derrick White are fighting over the top of
Speaker 1: the screen and they're applying some back pressure, you know,
Speaker 1: contesting from behind, and Al Horford and Robert Williams are
Speaker 1: getting late contests after staff is already rising up there,
Speaker 1: coming up and putting a hand up. But for all
Speaker 1: of you who are listening, who are who are good shooters?
Speaker 1: If you're a good shooter, you understand if you get
Speaker 1: into your shot and you get your release off, the
Speaker 1: contest means nothing doesn't bother you at all. The only
Speaker 1: thing that bothers a shooter is being in his airspace
Speaker 1: in front, meaning like as you're gathering up into your shot,
Speaker 1: you're disrupting the ball during the gather, or you're paranoid
Speaker 1: about your feet because the guy's up in your airspace.
Speaker 1: Those are the only that's the only way to bother
Speaker 1: a great shooter is to bother him before he gets
Speaker 1: up into his release. So you can trick yourself watching
Speaker 1: the tape, like, oh, Steph's hitting contested three is over
Speaker 1: the top, But no, he's not. He's hitting threes over
Speaker 1: late contests with minimal back pressure, and as a result,
Speaker 1: he's just he's the he's the best shooter of all times.
Speaker 1: Who's gonna make him. I I just simply don't understand
Speaker 1: why through three games, despite everything that happened, that that
Speaker 1: continues to be their approach. That's how Clay got going.
Speaker 1: Clay got going against drop coverage. Against drop coverage is
Speaker 1: not just a pick and roll coverage. They run variations
Speaker 1: of drop coverage against off ball screens. Just imagine, here comes,
Speaker 1: you know, Kevon Looney down the floor. Rob Williams is
Speaker 1: on it. Kevon Looney sets up pinned down for Clay
Speaker 1: Thompson in the corner. Rob Williams is sitting way back
Speaker 1: on the block. So whoever's guarding Clay Thompson, let's say
Speaker 1: it's Derek White, or let's say it's Jason Tatum, or
Speaker 1: whoever it is Rob Williams. Uh, Kievan Lunis. That's a
Speaker 1: good physical screen because this is a physical series, and
Speaker 1: they're letting a lot of physicality go the guys getting
Speaker 1: caught on the screen. Klay Thompson is coming off open.
Speaker 1: He's coming off open. Rob Williams is not doing anything
Speaker 1: in that drop. Now, to their credit, in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarters of this series, when the game has been close enough,
Speaker 1: they have brought that drop way up higher and when
Speaker 1: they've brought that drop up higher. Because this is the thing, guys,
Speaker 1: in order to get that clean look off of a
Speaker 1: ball screen or a pinned down you have to catch
Speaker 1: the defender on the screen, and the only way to
Speaker 1: catch the defender on the screen is to curl it
Speaker 1: a little bit, because if you go parallel to the screen,
Speaker 1: then a good lock and trail defender is just gonna
Speaker 1: be right behind you the whole way. But if you
Speaker 1: curl around the screen, you give your screen or a
Speaker 1: chance to just kind of stick his shoulder out a
Speaker 1: little bit just as you're curling and get caught. The
Speaker 1: ball handler has to come around the screen just to touch.
Speaker 1: So if your pick and roll defender is up higher,
Speaker 1: he doesn't have to be all the way up. But
Speaker 1: if he's up higher, then when that guy curls around,
Speaker 1: he will curl around and see Rob Williams in his
Speaker 1: airspace or see Al Horford in his airspace. Then he
Speaker 1: will be dissuaded from shooting that shot and maybe try
Speaker 1: to back it out and do something else. But they're
Speaker 1: only doing that in the fourth quarter to this point,
Speaker 1: which again it's worked. You're up to one. But my
Speaker 1: concern is there's a version of this story where Golden
Speaker 1: State makes a couple more of these shots, or maybe
Speaker 1: you don't make as many of yours and you don't
Speaker 1: have an opportunity to be in the game at the end.
Speaker 1: I'm not a big and most importantly, Clay Thompson got going.
Speaker 1: Clay Thompson started making tough shots later in the game.
Speaker 1: The last shot Steph Curry made was an impossible step
Speaker 1: back over Grant Williams on a switch, but he made
Speaker 1: that because he got going. He got his confidence in
Speaker 1: his rhythm against your drop coverage. Clay Thompson got going
Speaker 1: and got his confidence in his rhythm against your drop coverage.
Speaker 1: I I just I just don't understand it. There were
Speaker 1: a couple of players with Clay Thompson where Andrew where
Speaker 1: Jayson Tatums guarding Draymond Green and he's dropping way back,
Speaker 1: and Marcus Smart was ducking under picks. He was ducking
Speaker 1: under picks on Clay Thompson. Clay Thompson got two wide
Speaker 1: open threes in this game and made both of them
Speaker 1: against Marcus Smart ducking under picks with with Jayson Tatum,
Speaker 1: whoever it was dropping off the ball. It's just inexcusable
Speaker 1: for one of the best defenses that I've ever seen,
Speaker 1: especially against a guy like Clay who's not exactly slashing
Speaker 1: to the rima game long. So what I would do
Speaker 1: if I was Boston. Now, you guys know how I feel.
Speaker 1: If you've listened to my show before, you know how
Speaker 1: I believe in switching. I don't care if Steph makes
Speaker 1: a tough step back three over Grant Williams. He's gonna
Speaker 1: make a bunch of those. He's one of the best
Speaker 1: players and to ever play the game of basketball. But
Speaker 1: it's a lot harder, it takes a lot more effort
Speaker 1: to get enough separation, it's fatiguing, and most importantly, it
Speaker 1: stagnates their offense. So that's the approach that I would take.
Speaker 1: I don't think Boston's going to do that. What I
Speaker 1: expect them to do is to continue to drop. And
Speaker 1: if that's the case, you have to drop higher. Your
Speaker 1: defender has to be up at the level of the
Speaker 1: screen if you're gonna have any chance. If they do
Speaker 1: that in Game four, if they drop at the level
Speaker 1: of the screen, I think they will have their first
Speaker 1: game in this series where they can where they get
Speaker 1: all of the Splash Brothers to play poorly. But I
Speaker 1: just I figured they would have learned that lesson in
Speaker 1: game one. I thought they would have learned that lesson
Speaker 1: in game one, they didn't. I thought they would learn
Speaker 1: that lesson in game two. They didn't, And they got
Speaker 1: bird Bide in Game three. Again, it just didn't cost
Speaker 1: him the game. So I expect that to keep going,
Speaker 1: which is why, like I said, for a Golden State
Speaker 1: as an adjustment, I want to see them continue to
Speaker 1: spam that pick and roll as much as humanly possible
Speaker 1: and continue to fatigue Gal Horford and Rob Williams and
Speaker 1: try to get them to the point where they continue
Speaker 1: to drop further and further back. All Right, I wanted
Speaker 1: to talk about the fourth quarter for a minute, because
Speaker 1: the fourth quarters in particular are starting to become a
Speaker 1: little bit of an issue for Golden State now. In
Speaker 1: Game two, the game was basically over right, like the
Speaker 1: Warriors sealed that deal in the third quarter, in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter was irrelevant. But in eighteen minutes of this series,
Speaker 1: with Steph Curry on the floor in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: the Warriors have a seventy five offensive rating and the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics have a one sixty seven offensive rating. Again,
Speaker 1: that's eighteen minutes of fourth quarter basketball with Steph Curry
Speaker 1: on the floor in this series, cannot get a stop,
Speaker 1: cannot score the basketball. A plus ninety four net rating
Speaker 1: for Boston in those minutes, outscoring the Warriors by basically
Speaker 1: a point per possession. It's insane. It's become a huge problem.
Speaker 1: So why why is it becoming a huge problem? Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, to all the criticism I just levied
Speaker 1: on Boston and he made Udoka for their drop cover.
Speaker 1: Their their drop coverage. It has been really, really good.
Speaker 1: In the fourth quarters of this series, Rob and al
Speaker 1: Horford finally come up to the level of the screen.
Speaker 1: They dissuade those easy pull ups. Every every Boston Garden
Speaker 1: wing is fighting harder to get over the top of
Speaker 1: the screens. Tatum and Brown in particular, were flying around
Speaker 1: making plays. There was a massive block from Jalen Brown
Speaker 1: on Clay Thompson where Clay got a step on him
Speaker 1: and Jalen just had an outrageous recovery defense play to
Speaker 1: block him out of bounds. Jason Tatum how to play
Speaker 1: where he was um, I believe he was guarding Steph.
Speaker 1: If I remember correctly, but he was off ball and
Speaker 1: he noticed that Clay was coming off of an off
Speaker 1: ball screen and the drop was too low. Rob was
Speaker 1: way out of the play on this one. He was
Speaker 1: down almost by the by the charge circle. I think
Speaker 1: he was helping on a different rotation before that play.
Speaker 1: Tatum read that play in abandon his man just as
Speaker 1: Clay was going up into his shot and got a
Speaker 1: late contest and forced Clay Thompson into a funky relief
Speaker 1: east that he ended up missing. That's that athleticism from
Speaker 1: Tatum and Brown when they're really flying around, that can
Speaker 1: be such a problem that in conjunction with the bigs
Speaker 1: being up higher. Marcus Smart doing a great job on
Speaker 1: Steph at that initial defense, just making things difficult for
Speaker 1: him to get into his spots. Made it really difficult
Speaker 1: for Golden State to score. It's been it's been really,
Speaker 1: really fascinating, and most importantly, Jayson Tatum finally got going.
Speaker 1: I was watching the tape today. I went out with
Speaker 1: call him last night. I was like, oh, yeah, Tatum
Speaker 1: kind of got going and made a couple of laps
Speaker 1: in that fourth quarter. Again, I was under selling that
Speaker 1: when I went back and looked at the tape. Jayson
Speaker 1: Tatum was magnificent in that fourth quarter on both ends
Speaker 1: of the floor. It was the first stretch of this
Speaker 1: series where I thought he played better than Steph Curry.
Speaker 1: He was better than Steph in that fourth quarter. Now,
Speaker 1: some of that is step Steph had a step had
Speaker 1: a rough fourth quarter, guys. He had three awful turnovers
Speaker 1: during a run that put Boston up by twelve. He
Speaker 1: had a play where he was running high pick and
Speaker 1: roll and tried to throw a pocket past that threw
Speaker 1: it right into Marcus Smart's hand. It led to a runout.
Speaker 1: Next possession down the floor, he tried to throw a
Speaker 1: pocket past to Draymond, but threw it like at his knee,
Speaker 1: like way too low, and Draymond reached down to try
Speaker 1: to catch it and fumbled it. Boston went down again.
Speaker 1: They actually ended up getting a stop on that one.
Speaker 1: Steph got the rebound and threw the ball away on
Speaker 1: a full court outlet pass that Rob Williams took away,
Speaker 1: took a stole, and Boston went down and scored called
Speaker 1: a time out. There up twelve games basically over now,
Speaker 1: step has been magnificent in the series. He's been by
Speaker 1: far the best player, but he wasn't good enough in
Speaker 1: that fourth quarter. It was the first time Tatum outplayed him,
Speaker 1: and they lost an opportunity to win a game on
Speaker 1: the road when they went into the fourth quarter only
Speaker 1: down four, and that's something that might end up haunting
Speaker 1: them later on in this series. But Tatum just relentless
Speaker 1: getting into the basket, driving and kicking the players. He
Speaker 1: had eight points and two assists in the quarter, but
Speaker 1: he had a couple of hockey assists as well where
Speaker 1: he created that initial advantage and swung the ball around.
Speaker 1: He was attacking Steph Curry on switches almost every time
Speaker 1: down the floor, and Golden State either was having to
Speaker 1: scram double Steph out of the of the out of
Speaker 1: that matchup, or Tatum was going right around him for
Speaker 1: layups and kickouts for threes. It was a huge problem
Speaker 1: for Golden State in that quarter. That can combination of
Speaker 1: Tatum out playing Steph in that quarter, Steph throwing the
Speaker 1: ball all over the place, turning it over, Boston's bigs
Speaker 1: being higher in their drop Tatum Brown and Smart flying
Speaker 1: around making defensive plays led to what has been too
Speaker 1: through three games, an incredibly dominant performance from Boston in
Speaker 1: these fourth quarters. Again, in the fourth quarter of this series.
Speaker 1: Fourth quarters of this series, with Steph Curry on the floor,
Speaker 1: the Warriors are getting outscored by nine four points per
Speaker 1: one possessions. Just insane. One last note before I get
Speaker 1: into uh, so I'll just rip through the adjustments real quick,
Speaker 1: and that I had one last note on Gold States personnel.
Speaker 1: Uh you guys know, I'd like to trash track half
Speaker 1: court offense. It's a great stat that I can get
Speaker 1: from cleaning the glass. It's to me, it's the best
Speaker 1: indicator of your ability to score in a static environment
Speaker 1: when you're not just gifted advantages. So coming into Game three,
Speaker 1: So through the first two games of the series, the
Speaker 1: teams were pretty even in their half court offense, both
Speaker 1: scoring just under one point per half court possession, right
Speaker 1: around offensive ratings. But in Game three, Boston's offering offensive
Speaker 1: rating in the half court one fourteen point one Golden
Speaker 1: States point eight. So through two games, that static environment,
Speaker 1: staring each other eye to eye, no advantages, just your
Speaker 1: defense versus my offense, who can score? Boston dominated game
Speaker 1: three after the first two games were dead even that
Speaker 1: that once again scares me. If I'm a Golden State fan,
Speaker 1: you know, and and this comes down to I talked
Speaker 1: about this a little bit with Colin last night, but
Speaker 1: I wanted to dig a little bit further into it today.
Speaker 1: Joe Lacob took a victory lap before the finals when
Speaker 1: in the press conference and was like, Oh, we were
Speaker 1: under all this pressure to trade people. You know, everyone
Speaker 1: was saying we should we should have traded our piece
Speaker 1: as pieces. Look at us now we're in the finals,
Speaker 1: and we got Steph Clay and Draymond and Andrew Wiggins,
Speaker 1: and we've got these young kids that are all really good.
Speaker 1: Jordan Pool, great player, Jonathan Cominga looks like a better
Speaker 1: version of Jeff Green to me in the future, you know,
Speaker 1: at Moses Moody Textbook three and D player James Wiseman,
Speaker 1: who the hell knows what he's gonna be, but he's
Speaker 1: probably gonna be pretty good at least, you know, he's
Speaker 1: a number two overall pick h might not be an
Speaker 1: All Star, but he's probably gonna be on the low
Speaker 1: end a very good two way center. Right, They've got
Speaker 1: all those young guys. Here's the problem. How many of
Speaker 1: them are playing in this series? Jordan Pool, that's it.
Speaker 1: So you're you basically have your your future, your trade
Speaker 1: assets whenever you want to call them, are useless in
Speaker 1: this series. And I would argue, and any Golden State fan,
Speaker 1: being truly honest with themselves, would agree with me. Golden
Speaker 1: State has a personnel disadvantage in this series. I thought
Speaker 1: it was so bizarre that he took that victory lab.
Speaker 1: No One, no one on the no one on the
Speaker 1: Warriors was worried about you guys beating the Mavericks. Now
Speaker 1: I know, I picked the Mavericks. I had no idea
Speaker 1: what was gonna happen in that series. You guys heard me,
Speaker 1: I said, I had no good feel for it. I
Speaker 1: leaned slightly toward Dallas because I thought they're driving kick
Speaker 1: game and Luca as a matchup would cause them problems.
Speaker 1: I was wrong. But you Golden State fans were supremely
Speaker 1: confident against Dallas. You were not worried about them, So
Speaker 1: I didn't understand the victory lab. No one was worried
Speaker 1: about whether or not you'd be able to beat Dallas.
Speaker 1: Boston is a much better team than Dallas. We all
Speaker 1: knew it before this series even started. We all knew
Speaker 1: it before the Conference finals even started. We knew Austin
Speaker 1: was the best team in the Eastern Conference, and we
Speaker 1: knew they would be the biggest challenge for Golden State.
Speaker 1: You took a victory lap a Joe Lake up about
Speaker 1: your personnel, and now you don't have enough personnel. You guys,
Speaker 1: you've you've heard me talk about this when I was
Speaker 1: covering the Lakers, when I would talk about how they
Speaker 1: needed to trade Taylor Horton Tucker for another piece. You've
Speaker 1: heard me talk about it recently when I talk about
Speaker 1: how they need to trade their first round draft picks
Speaker 1: this summer, even if they have to attach them to Russ.
Speaker 1: I am a huge believer in pushing your chips into
Speaker 1: the middle of the table. Why because it's really difficult
Speaker 1: to win an NBA championship. These margins are razor thin.
Speaker 1: You might lose to Boston in six or seven games.
Speaker 1: Where if you had traded James Wiseman or one of
Speaker 1: Wiseman and cominga and a draft pick or whatever it
Speaker 1: is in salary filler, if you would have traded those
Speaker 1: guys for a Bradley Beal or a Jeremy Grant or
Speaker 1: some sort of like. Of course, they'd be overpaid of
Speaker 1: course they'd be in a smaller role. They're not gonna
Speaker 1: be able to produce for you the same way they
Speaker 1: would on their own team. But that might be the
Speaker 1: difference between you losing to Boston in six or seven games,
Speaker 1: or are you beating Boston in six or seven games.
Speaker 1: And I thought the goal of this to win was
Speaker 1: to win an NBA championship. I just didn't. Again, I'm
Speaker 1: not even necessarily saying I disagree with the strategy. I
Speaker 1: just was confused by the victory lab I. I didn't
Speaker 1: understand why Joe lacub before he had the trophy, he
Speaker 1: wanted to be like, look at me, guys. I did
Speaker 1: the right thing. And this is the last. This is
Speaker 1: the last thing I'll say about it. Steph Curry is
Speaker 1: a top ten basketball player to ever play in the
Speaker 1: n b A. That's why you're in the NBA Finals
Speaker 1: right now. He's been the second best player in this
Speaker 1: entire playoff field behind Joannice. That's why you're in the finals.
Speaker 1: There is no guarantee. I would argue it's statistically improbable
Speaker 1: that Jonathan Cominga or James Wiseman, or Moses Moody or
Speaker 1: Jordan Pool will amount to being a top ten player
Speaker 1: in NBA history. That that's the catastrophic mistake here. Yes,
Speaker 1: you have young talent in the pipeline. They might all
Speaker 1: be all Stars, but they might also never It's also
Speaker 1: possible that none of them are all stars. It's a gamble,
Speaker 1: you don't know. It's up to player development, and they're
Speaker 1: the psychology of those guys and how committed they are
Speaker 1: to the work. So I just in general, I just
Speaker 1: I just was confused by that approach. This is why
Speaker 1: I why I keep saying this. With the Lakers this summer,
Speaker 1: I would cash in those draft picks. Steph Curry and
Speaker 1: Lebron James are two of the ten greatest basketball players
Speaker 1: to have ever played the game. You are not guaranteed
Speaker 1: to get another one of those guys. You might never
Speaker 1: get one. If you do, it's probably ten twenty years
Speaker 1: from now because they're once in a generation type of players.
Speaker 1: Those are the guys who get all the trophies. Those
Speaker 1: guys have combined for seven trophies in the last decade
Speaker 1: seven I think seven of the last eleven trophies went
Speaker 1: to those two guys. So if you don't have one
Speaker 1: of those guys, you might you're probably not gonna win,
Speaker 1: so you need to commit to now. You need to
Speaker 1: commit to Steph Curry because he's the guy that's going
Speaker 1: to get to the trophy. You are far, far, far
Speaker 1: more likely to get a trophy with Steph Curry in
Speaker 1: trading your pieces right now than you are to straddle
Speaker 1: both lines or to lean heavily into the future. I just,
Speaker 1: I just I disagree with the approach, and I certainly
Speaker 1: don't understand. Yeah, I think it's a defensible approach, even
Speaker 1: though I wouldn't do it. But I very much, I
Speaker 1: very much was confused by lake Up taking the victory
Speaker 1: lap the way that he did. All right before we
Speaker 1: get out of here tonight, I wanted to take a
Speaker 1: couple of minutes, really quickly to just rip through the
Speaker 1: adjustments I expect from both teams in Game four. Let's
Speaker 1: start with Boston. On every dribble, handoff, every wide pin down,
Speaker 1: everyhigh eyeball screen, either switch it or have Alan rob
Speaker 1: in their drop way higher, because you cannot let the
Speaker 1: two greatest shooters to ever touch a basketball continue to
Speaker 1: get these clean looks running free and clear off of screens.
Speaker 1: That's just suicide. And lastly, show Jason Tatum. The stat
Speaker 1: I showed you guys earlier. The Celtics have won fifteen
Speaker 1: consecutive games when Tatum has at least seven assists. His
Speaker 1: approach needs to be that of a playmaker and not
Speaker 1: a guy who was hunting his own shot. That's how
Speaker 1: they play into their strengths rather into their weaknesses. For
Speaker 1: Golden State, switch Andrew Wiggins onto Jalen Brown. He has
Speaker 1: a great physical profile to be able to contain that
Speaker 1: matchup in a way that nobody else on the Golden
Speaker 1: State roster can. And most importantly, Clay Thompson has a
Speaker 1: much better chance of defending Jayson Tatum than he does
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown. I know that sounds crazy, but it's about
Speaker 1: the physicality. Tatum is a little thinner, He's not as quick,
Speaker 1: he plays around with the ball more, and most importantly,
Speaker 1: the refs are letting you play physical in the series.
Speaker 1: Clay using his hands to play defense while have a
Speaker 1: better chance containing Tatum than he does Brown. And most importantly,
Speaker 1: that gets Draymond Green back into back line help. He
Speaker 1: is a He's arguably the best help defender in this era.
Speaker 1: He's much more valuable to the Golden State defense there
Speaker 1: than he is containing Jalen Brown on the perimeter. Also,
Speaker 1: continue to spam high pick and roll against Al Horford
Speaker 1: and Robert Williams because as they fatigue, they drop further
Speaker 1: and further back in their drop coverage, and that is
Speaker 1: your best chance to get quality looks for Steph and
Speaker 1: Clay in this series. And last, but not least, if
Speaker 1: you need an influx of athleticism and you need to
Speaker 1: tap into your bench, just play Jonathan Cominga. You can
Speaker 1: on defense unleash him in an on ball roll like
Speaker 1: on Jason Tatum, so you don't have to worry about
Speaker 1: him getting lost in help side as a young kid.
Speaker 1: And then on offense, just play him with experienced high
Speaker 1: i Q lineups. Playing with Steph, Clay and Draymond on
Speaker 1: the offensive end, they will make things easier for him
Speaker 1: and simplify things for him. I think that's the best
Speaker 1: chance for Golden State if they need to bring athleticism
Speaker 1: onto the floor to better compete with the physical mismatches
Speaker 1: that Boston brings to the table. All Right, So, if
Speaker 1: I had to make a pick, I see this game
Speaker 1: as a coin flip, and I have Golden State winning
Speaker 1: in seven. So I would pick Golden State by a hair,
Speaker 1: but I do not feel good about it. I do
Speaker 1: think Boston is a better basketball team in terms of
Speaker 1: overall talent. They just you know. I expect them, as
Speaker 1: they've done throughout this playoff run, to come out unfocused
Speaker 1: and to make a lot of mistakes in game forward
Speaker 1: from gold Golden State to make them pay for it.
Speaker 1: But it's a very possible outcome that Boston comes out
Speaker 1: and finally puts a couple of good performances together and
Speaker 1: takes a three one lead in this series. As a
Speaker 1: better I would be on Golden State because since I
Speaker 1: see the game as a coin flip, you're getting odds
Speaker 1: on the money line with Golden State and you're getting
Speaker 1: points on the spread with Golden States. So that's where
Speaker 1: i'd be if I was a better But who knows.
Speaker 1: This is the game that determines the series. If Golden
Speaker 1: State wins, I think they end up winning in seven.
Speaker 1: If Boston wins, I think they end up winning in
Speaker 1: five or six. So this is the pivotal game that
Speaker 1: will determine the outcome of the series. That's all I
Speaker 1: have for you guys tonight. As always, I sincerely appreciate
Speaker 1: your support. We will be back with our normal hoops
Speaker 1: tonight postgame show on Friday, so I hope to see
Speaker 1: you guys there. I'm looking forward to it. As always,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys rocking with us and I will
Speaker 1: see you tomorrow. The Volume