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

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Speaker 1: Happy sun to everybody. Hop while you guys are having

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Speaker 1: an incredible weekend, I have a bonus episode for you

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Speaker 1: guys today. So my wife's out of town. She's back

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Speaker 1: in our hometown in Tucson doing some stuff with her family,

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Speaker 1: and so I was just hanging out watching Lakers Nuggets

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Speaker 1: and I had to come on here during the playoffs

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Speaker 1: two years ago after those Jamal Murray game winners, so

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Speaker 1: I figured I should be able to do the same thing.

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Speaker 1: I'm actually recording this on Saturday night as Luka Doncic

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Speaker 1: wins the game at the buzzer just before the buzzer

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Speaker 1: against the Denver Nuggets in a absolutely wild, drunk game

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Speaker 1: between the Lakers and the Nuggets. And I know it's

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Speaker 1: not a playoff game. I'm just having some fun, you

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Speaker 1: guys know the drill. But I'm gonna dig into this

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Speaker 1: game from a bunch of angles because I thought it

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Speaker 1: was super fascinating as we saw the team guarding each

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Speaker 1: other in different ways throughout, and I kind of want

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Speaker 1: to dig into some of those details and talk about

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Speaker 1: some of the specifics that I think we'll see if

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Speaker 1: these two teams happen to face off in the postseason

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Speaker 1: at some point down the line. You guys know the

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Speaker 1: joke before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops and

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Speaker 1: Out YouTube channels you don't miss any more of our videos.

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Speaker 1: Make sure you like this video and sign up for

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Speaker 1: post notifications. That helps us a lot. The last, but

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Speaker 1: not least, if you guys want to leave mailbag questions

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Speaker 1: into our mail bag, drop them in our full episodes

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Speaker 1: on YouTube in the comments, and we'll get to them

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Speaker 1: in our mail bags throughout the rest of the season.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So the final sequence

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Speaker 1: is crazy, right, So we get the Lakers end up

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Speaker 1: going small down the stretch, and I want to come

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Speaker 1: back to that in a minute, because it's part of

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Speaker 1: the way that these two teams are trying to guard

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Speaker 1: each other. They go small down the stretch and they're

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Speaker 1: getting cooked because they're having a double team. Yokich and

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Speaker 1: guys are just hitting threes off of that, right. Aaron

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Speaker 1: Gordon was phenomenal in the second half, just absolutely nails

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Speaker 1: on his catch and shoot threes. Tim Hardaway Junior hits

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Speaker 1: an absolutely massive one. They're in the left corner, right,

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Speaker 1: so JJ Redick makes an adjustment to start overtime and

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Speaker 1: he goes back to DeAndre Ayton, and throughout most of

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Speaker 1: the game, Ayton and Hayes both really struggled, and part

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Speaker 1: of the reason why is that the Lakers do a

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Speaker 1: lot of switching, and they were having a hard time

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Speaker 1: guarding three point shooters right, So, like it just it

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Speaker 1: seemed like whether it was on Jokic straight up or

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Speaker 1: whether it was on like Aaron Gordon in the switch,

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Speaker 1: they were just pulling those guys out and able to

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Speaker 1: just hit little basic moves to hit threes over the top.

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Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon hits another massive three over DeAndre and in

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Speaker 1: the right corner. That's basically the last we see of

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Speaker 1: him down the stretch that we get a little bit

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Speaker 1: of Jackson Hayes and then it's a small ball group,

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Speaker 1: right So at J. J. Reddick, after the double teams

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Speaker 1: don't work, he makes the adjustment. We see DeAndre Ayton

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Speaker 1: in overtime, and to DeAndre Ayten's credit, like he starts

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Speaker 1: getting stops one on one against Jokic, actually gets three

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Speaker 1: of them, the third of which was a really impressive

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Speaker 1: block on kind of a recover along the baseline and

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Speaker 1: Ayton inexplicably doesn't grab the basketball even though it's right

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Speaker 1: there for him to grab right, so he doesn't grab

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Speaker 1: it out of bounds back to the Nuggets, and so

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Speaker 1: Jokic has a chance to solve the puzzle. Right, So,

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Speaker 1: like he's seen this eate and look three times already

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Speaker 1: in overtime, he patiently takes his time, throws a little

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Speaker 1: lefty jab step right, and do you guys remember when

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Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon hit the three against Deandretan in the right corner.

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Speaker 1: Tim Legler, very smartly on the call, pointed out that

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Speaker 1: all Aaron Gordon had to do is just kind of

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Speaker 1: throw a little jab and it got eaten to kind

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Speaker 1: of back up enough for him to get to a shot.

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Speaker 1: Similar kind of thing happened on that Jokic jab right

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Speaker 1: to sideways, jab to his left. Eton just shifts a

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Speaker 1: little bit and that just gives Jokis just enough space

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Speaker 1: to hit the gap and get to that little right

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Speaker 1: hand or off the glass right that ties the game.

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Speaker 1: We go go down to the other end of the floor.

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Speaker 1: Nikole Jokich ends up getting the amounts passed from Spencer's

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Speaker 1: Jones Denver inexplicably doesn't take their foul to give to

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Speaker 1: try to eat some more clock and force Luca into

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Speaker 1: a tougher spot. But Luka just drives away from the

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Speaker 1: double team. He gets to his little step back there

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Speaker 1: along the baseline, hits it and effectively wins the game.

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Speaker 1: We get a heave from Tim Hardaway Junior that gets

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Speaker 1: left short, but really really impressive little bit of Iso

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Speaker 1: shot making from Luka Doncic to win the game. And

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Speaker 1: I want to stay on Luca for a second. There's

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Speaker 1: a bunch of differ stuff I want to get into here.

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Speaker 1: But I didn't think Luca was very good in the

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Speaker 1: second half. I thought he was very good in the

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Speaker 1: first half, just super locked in, miss some shots that

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Speaker 1: we know he's capable of making, but he was very focused,

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Speaker 1: very intense, was generating a lot of really good shots.

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Speaker 1: And then one of the things that I thought happened

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Speaker 1: in the second half was Christian Brown got into his like,

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Speaker 1: got into his space in a way that made Luca

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Speaker 1: uncomfortable attacking him one on one, and so Luca had

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Speaker 1: to go to ball screens. And when Luca was going

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Speaker 1: to ball screens, Denver was putting two on the ball,

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Speaker 1: and he had a pretty extended stretch there where he

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Speaker 1: was just struggling. He was just struggling to generate good

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Speaker 1: shots against the two on the ball look. And in

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Speaker 1: that third quarter, Nikola Jokicic went like he had this

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Speaker 1: time out. He got on his teammates, and Jokic like

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Speaker 1: looked laser focused that second half, and Luca is fading

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Speaker 1: a little bit. And I thought, for the most part

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Speaker 1: in that second half, Jokic actually outplayed him. But one

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Speaker 1: of the things I talk about all the time is

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Speaker 1: like the beautiful thing about the game of basketball is

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Speaker 1: it's usually gonna give you another opportunity to make a play, right,

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Speaker 1: And I'd even extend that outside of a game, Like

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Speaker 1: let's say that Austin doesn't get that little shot off

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Speaker 1: the rim that sends the game to overtime. Like, if

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Speaker 1: Austin doesn't make that play, they lose, Jokiic out plays Luca,

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Speaker 1: Denver wins. They could theoretically meet down the line and

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Speaker 1: Luca could have another chance, right, Like even if you

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Speaker 1: get eliminated in the playoffs, you could do it next season.

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Speaker 1: That's my favorite thing about the game of basketball. There's

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Speaker 1: just all what you live to fight another day. But

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Speaker 1: I'd even take that within the singular game, like generally speaking,

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Speaker 1: especially in a team sport like this, where your team

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Speaker 1: can pick you up when you're not necessarily having your

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Speaker 1: best game, you get another opportunity presents itself. And I

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Speaker 1: thought there were two distinct sequences, say is where Luca

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Speaker 1: just made big plays that helped U. I'm gonna actually

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Speaker 1: expand that to three. There's three distinct sequences where I

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Speaker 1: thought Luca just made the plays down the stretch of

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Speaker 1: the game that wiped out everything else, because here's the thing.

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Speaker 1: You make a play, you win the game. Nobody cares

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Speaker 1: what happened before that, right, So lucas this tough second half,

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Speaker 1: but he has a six to zero burst right towards

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Speaker 1: the end of regulation when the Lakers look dead in

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Speaker 1: the water, hits a three, draws a foul on Jamal Murray,

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Speaker 1: hits three more free throws that ties the game. That

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Speaker 1: was a huge sequence in that second half. Two. He

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Speaker 1: had been struggling with the two on the ball sequences,

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Speaker 1: but one of the ways that he finally kind of

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Speaker 1: figured it out in that second half was with the

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Speaker 1: Marcus Smart picking pop, which I want to get back

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Speaker 1: to in a minute. They put Jokic on Marcus, Marcus

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Speaker 1: picks and pops. Finally, Luke had a couple of plays

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Speaker 1: where he handled the two on the ball well, didn't

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Speaker 1: turn the ball over, actually hit the ball on time,

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Speaker 1: our target to Marcus Marcus hit some threes, and then

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Speaker 1: on that final possession Againstpencer Jones hitting that little step

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Speaker 1: back on the baseline. I say this. I always harp

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Speaker 1: on this point because I think it's a really valuable

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Speaker 1: point for young basketball players. You're not always gonna play

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Speaker 1: your best. Luca, We've talked about it on the show.

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Speaker 1: He's been amazing for a couple of weeks now. Luca's

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Speaker 1: been really really good. And sometimes you just go out

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Speaker 1: and the shots don't fall. Sometimes your body doesn't respond

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Speaker 1: the way you want to, you don't have as much

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Speaker 1: energy as you usually do. Like sometimes things just don't

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Speaker 1: fire on all cylinders the way you want them to.

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Speaker 1: But there's still a lot of basketball left. Sometimes you

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Speaker 1: look up at the scoreboard and you're like, man, like

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Speaker 1: I have six turnovers and I'm missing my threes, and

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Speaker 1: like the other team's got a five point lead, and

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Speaker 1: it's like hang in there, keep your head in the game,

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Speaker 1: make a stop, make a play, do something. Hang in there.

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Speaker 1: There's more basketball to be played, and you can find

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Speaker 1: yourself on top at the end and no one's gonna care. Like,

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Speaker 1: you know what, I see a Luca thirty point triple double.

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Speaker 1: I see thirty eleven and thirteen in a w That's

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Speaker 1: what I see, just because he was able to make

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Speaker 1: a few plays down the stretch that he raced an

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Speaker 1: otherwise rough second half. So I just wanted to shout

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Speaker 1: out Luka Doncicz for that. Austin reeves Man another thirty

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Speaker 1: two points to go with seven rebounds and six that

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Speaker 1: says had two brutal mistakes down the stretch of this game.

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Speaker 1: He gets this huge steal on a He was doing

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Speaker 1: a great job in the Lakers small ball looks of

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Speaker 1: fronting the post on on Nikola Jokic, right, So like,

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Speaker 1: I want to set that stuff to the side for

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Speaker 1: a minute because I want to dig into the different

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Speaker 1: ways that the teams guarded each other, because I thought

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Speaker 1: that was fascinating. But he gets a steal on No

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Speaker 1: Kohlijokic has a brutal a full court pass that was

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Speaker 1: just a terrible idea gets stolen goes down, Aaron Gordon

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Speaker 1: hits a three, just a just an absolute sledgehammer to

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Speaker 1: the chest type of mistake, and then as another one

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Speaker 1: a few minutes later or a few seconds later where

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Speaker 1: he exposes the basketball in front of nikolijokicch and Nikoljokic

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Speaker 1: strips him. So he has two pretty bad turnovers down

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Speaker 1: the stretch, but same sort of thing. Just make a

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Speaker 1: damn play, make a damn play and nobody will care,

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Speaker 1: right like, and Austin ends up making that brilliant play,

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Speaker 1: throwing the ball off of the side of the rim

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Speaker 1: in a way that went in a direction where there

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Speaker 1: wasn't as much traffic, where he felt like he had

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Speaker 1: a chance to get it, composed himself and hit a

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Speaker 1: really nice floater. Kind of reminded me of that floater

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Speaker 1: that Kobe Bryant hit back in two thousand and six

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Speaker 1: in Game five against the Suns. After the I think

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Speaker 1: it was this must Parker Steel if I remember correctly,

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Speaker 1: runs along the sideline. It's like this hectic final sequence

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Speaker 1: and just somehow composes himself to knock down like a

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Speaker 1: just an easy little floater. That was what that Austin

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Speaker 1: floater reminded me of but same sort of thing, Like

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Speaker 1: Austin just made a play and it alleviated some of

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Speaker 1: the mistakes. Lebron had a bad turnover on a pick

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Speaker 1: and roll where he tried to force a pass to

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Speaker 1: I think it was to Jackson Hayes down the lane.

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Speaker 1: He didn't. I thought Lebron in particular looked kind of

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Speaker 1: tired in the second half of this game, but just

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Speaker 1: made a couple of plays, like you know, diving on

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Speaker 1: a loose ball that of one close out that he

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Speaker 1: attacked off of the right wing when he dropped it

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Speaker 1: off to DeAndre in overtime for the little hook shot

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Speaker 1: in the lane. Like, Lebron just found a little bit

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Speaker 1: of opportunities to make little plays here or there to

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Speaker 1: help the team win. Big rebound here, big defensive rotation there. Right. So, like,

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Speaker 1: I just thought this game showed a lot of resilience

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Speaker 1: from the Lakers stars, even Deandrayten, Like Deandrayden was having

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Speaker 1: a rough game and to come in and like cold

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Speaker 1: come in like a real time between in the middle

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Speaker 1: of the fourth quarter when he left to when he

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Speaker 1: came back in and overtime. We're probably talking about fifteen

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Speaker 1: twenty thirty minutes a real time. I'm not sure exactly

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Speaker 1: what it was, but a large chunk of real time

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Speaker 1: that he was out of the game and to just

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Speaker 1: get dropped back into overtime and to lock in and

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Speaker 1: make several plays that helped the team win. I I

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Speaker 1: just thought the Lakers showed an impressive level of resilience

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Speaker 1: and I wanted to give them a lot of credit

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Speaker 1: eight hundred gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, mission again in

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Speaker 1: New Jersey, Tennessee, or Virginia. So let's dig into some

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Speaker 1: of the ways that the two teams were guarding each other.

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Speaker 1: And I want to start with the with the nuggets

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Speaker 1: on offense because these are the kinds of things when

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Speaker 1: we actually talk about these two teams potentially meeting in

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Speaker 1: a playoffs series like, let's say the Lakers get the

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Speaker 1: three seed and the Nuggets get the six seed, which

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Speaker 1: is certainly a possibility. I think it's I think the

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Speaker 1: Nuggets are gonna end up higher than six because they

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Speaker 1: have a pretty easy schedule down the tail end of

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Speaker 1: the season, So I think they'll rack up some wins,

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Speaker 1: and I wouldn't be surprised if the Nuggets ended up

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Speaker 1: three or four. But even then, the Lakers are about

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Speaker 1: to go on this like brutal road trip. They play

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Speaker 1: Houston twice, they're about to play Orlando, they're about to

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Speaker 1: play Miami, They're about to play in Detroit. Like, the

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Speaker 1: Lakers are about to go on this tough road trip.

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Speaker 1: So this thing could hold. This whole thing could flip,

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Speaker 1: and it could be three to six, Denver at the

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Speaker 1: three and the Lakers at the six. Right, So there's

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Speaker 1: a chance these two teams play each other. So I

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Speaker 1: want to dig into some of the ways that the

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Speaker 1: two teams were guarding each other. So when Denver had

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Speaker 1: the ball, when when they were going with their centers

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Speaker 1: through the majority part of the game, as they were

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Speaker 1: switching in the first half, in particular, the Lakers were

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Speaker 1: doubling and rotating really well, but the Nuggets were missing

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Speaker 1: some pretty good looks that shifted in the second half.

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Speaker 1: If you guys remember and in that second half, you know,

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Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon gets going. You know he Bruce Brown's hitting three's,

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Speaker 1: Tim Hardaway Junior's hitting threes out that Cam Johnson was

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Speaker 1: really good for the most part. Tonight, they're capitalizing on

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Speaker 1: those double teams and hitting threes. Right, So the trick

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Speaker 1: is they go small. I actually like the Lakers going

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Speaker 1: small if they're going to switch and allow Jokic to

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Speaker 1: pick on matchups. Right, So like in theory, if DeAndre

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Speaker 1: Ayton can guard Nicole Yokic one on one, which I

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Speaker 1: want to set that aside because I don't necessarily think

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Speaker 1: that's true. I think Jokic could solve that problem. But

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Speaker 1: if you Aydon could guard him one on one and

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Speaker 1: you could avoid switches, then it makes some sense, right,

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Speaker 1: But it doesn't matter if the big is guarding Jokic

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Speaker 1: to start the possession. If all it takes is a

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Speaker 1: simple guard guard screen, and now you've got Austin on

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Speaker 1: the ball anyway, right, And so when that when that happens,

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Speaker 1: when you're switch, when you're switching and allowing a small

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Speaker 1: to get on Jokic, it creates the exact same problem.

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Speaker 1: You're two on the ball, now you're in rotation, except

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Speaker 1: for now you're slower. Right. So my whole thing is,

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Speaker 1: especially in this particular matchup, it works when Deandreton's able

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Speaker 1: to stay on Nicole Jokic. So like when they're throwing

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Speaker 1: the ball to Jokic against eight and one on one

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Speaker 1: without even trying to get eight and off of him,

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Speaker 1: it works to their advantage, which was which is what

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Speaker 1: we saw in overtime. But in my opinion, if the

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Speaker 1: Lakers are gonna switch, they actually would be. It would

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Speaker 1: behoove them to be faster. And so with that being

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Speaker 1: the case, like the like you're gonna be in rotation,

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Speaker 1: foot speed actually benefits you there. I'd even take it

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Speaker 1: a step further to say, like, again, what happened on

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Speaker 1: that last possession, the last defensive possession, Ayton, who defended

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Speaker 1: Yokic well for most of overtime. Jokic solves it right

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Speaker 1: jab step gets to his right hand, goes to that

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Speaker 1: little soft floater off the glass, and so I don't

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Speaker 1: necessarily think that Ayton would be able to guard Yokic

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Speaker 1: one on one a Ton in general, But I think

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Speaker 1: the Lakers should try, if they're gonna guard Jokic with

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Speaker 1: the center, to not switch and allow Ayton to at

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Speaker 1: least try to compete there one on one. If you're

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Speaker 1: gonna switch, you're better off being faster, Go with Jackson

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Speaker 1: if you're gonna go with the center, or go center

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Speaker 1: lists like they did down the stretch, the Lakers had

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Speaker 1: a centerless look. It was the exact starting lineup, so

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Speaker 1: eight and Smart, Doncic reeves a Lebron but instead of Ayton,

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Speaker 1: they had Ruey in there, and I think they went

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Speaker 1: with it for just a few minutes in the fourth quarter,

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Speaker 1: and I think there were plus four in that game

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Speaker 1: if I remember correctly. What that ends up doing when

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Speaker 1: they go small is on the other end, it causes

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Speaker 1: Jokic to guard Marcus Smart to kind of file that

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Speaker 1: away for later. But I do think that the Lakers

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Speaker 1: are gonna have to to play small against Denver a

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Speaker 1: little bit more than we'd think, simply because they're gonna

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Speaker 1: be in rotation. So how do you guard Jokic on

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Speaker 1: the double teams? He's gonna eventually see where the Reeds

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Speaker 1: are right the final pass to Tim Hardaway Junior is

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Speaker 1: a classic example. They press way up on Jokic. Jokic

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Speaker 1: just whips a beautiful cross court pass to Tim Hardaway

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Speaker 1: Junior in the left corner. He knocks it down right.

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Speaker 1: Like over time, as Jokic sees those double teams over

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Speaker 1: and over and over again, he's gonna get better at it.

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Speaker 1: The Lakers were doubling Jokic a ton in Denver a

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Speaker 1: couple weeks ago. Right, If you guys remember in that game,

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Speaker 1: Jokic had nine turnovers. Tonight he only had four, right,

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Speaker 1: Because he's gonna make the adjustment. He's gonna see it.

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Speaker 1: He's gonna be able to make those reads quicker on time,

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Speaker 1: and the Nuggets are gonna be prepared to knock down

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Speaker 1: shots off of that. So going smaller just gives you

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Speaker 1: a little bit more speed in rotation. So again, I think,

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Speaker 1: as I look at the Lakers guarding Denver, if I've

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Speaker 1: eaten on Jokic, I would explore not switching to see

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Speaker 1: if we could get more of those one on ones

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Speaker 1: where you don't necessarily have to double Jokic at least

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Speaker 1: unless he gets it going right. And then if you're

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Speaker 1: going to go to double team prefer to be faster

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Speaker 1: Jackson or going small on the other end of the floor.

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Speaker 1: One of the things that gets really fascinating is when

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Speaker 1: the Lakers do go small, Denver puts Jokic on Marcus Smart.

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Speaker 1: That leads to this dynamic where the Lakers are gonna

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Speaker 1: get a lot of pick and pop threes for Marcus Smart.

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Speaker 1: Now here's the thing. This is two games now, dating

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Speaker 1: back to the game in Denver and this game where

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Speaker 1: Marcus Smart has hit eight threes. Between the two games,

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Speaker 1: Marcus Smart has been hitting I don't have the numbers

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Speaker 1: right in front of me, but Marcus has been hitting

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Speaker 1: about forty percent for a few months now. Marcus has

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Speaker 1: become a much better shooter than he was in the

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Speaker 1: early portion of the season, and so that gets a

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Speaker 1: little tricky for Denver. If Denver's gonna guard Marcus Smart,

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Speaker 1: and the Lakers are essentially guaranteed to get a wide

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Speaker 1: open three for Marcus Smart whenever they want, when the

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Speaker 1: centers are on the floor. This is where it gets

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Speaker 1: really fascinating, because when the centers are on the floor,

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Speaker 1: Lucas going to be able to get the ball to

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Speaker 1: the weak side, and how many times tonight, did we

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Speaker 1: see skip to Austin rip a closeout, driving layup, skip

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Speaker 1: to Ruey ball, fake one dribble, mid range pull up,

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Speaker 1: knock it down. He's three for three on those today.

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Speaker 1: He came into the game fifty eight percent on the season,

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Speaker 1: which is number one in the entire NBA among players

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Speaker 1: who have taken at least one hundred off the dribble

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Speaker 1: twos like that Lebron late in the game in overtime

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Speaker 1: attacks that close out off of the right wing drops

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Speaker 1: it off to eight and for the little bucket in

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Speaker 1: the lane. And so I kept coming back to this

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Speaker 1: when I was watching that game. Neither of these two

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Speaker 1: teams can really guard each other. The only way that

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Speaker 1: they can guard each other is by putting two on

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Speaker 1: the ball. Even when Denver had an extended stretch of

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Speaker 1: success against the Lakers def against the Lakers offense in

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Speaker 1: that third quarter, it was putting two on the ball.

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Speaker 1: Luca just wasn't handling it very well. So if they

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Speaker 1: have to put two on the ball on Luca when

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Speaker 1: the Lakers are small, and they have to put two

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Speaker 1: on the ball on Luca when the Lakers are big,

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Speaker 1: and then on the other end of the floor like

401
00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:02,720
Speaker 1: less eight and miraculously just becomes a Jokic stopper, which

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00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:05,399
Speaker 1: I do not think he is. They're gonna constantly have

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Speaker 1: to put two on the ball on Jokic, right, And

404
00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:10,159
Speaker 1: so so many of these games are going to come

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Speaker 1: down to just like how well do you shoot the

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Speaker 1: ball from three? How well for a Lakers team, they're

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Speaker 1: going to attack it more from two point land, But

408
00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:20,439
Speaker 1: how well are they converting those closeouts for pull up

409
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Speaker 1: twos and for driving layups and things along those lines, Right,

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Speaker 1: It bodes for a really entertaining series. It would always

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Speaker 1: be super entertaining to see two teams that can't guard

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Speaker 1: each other. But like, I think that was a big

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Speaker 1: part of why these games that this game had so

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Speaker 1: many kind of like bizarre back and forth runs. It's

415
00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:39,920
Speaker 1: because at any given moment, they're getting so many good

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Speaker 1: looks that you just hit two or three threes in

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Speaker 1: a row, you get two or three easy buckets in

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Speaker 1: a row, and suddenly you have a seven zer run

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Speaker 1: and eight oh run, And like that's really the dynamic

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Speaker 1: between these two teams. That's very different from when Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis was here versus when Luka Doncic was here right

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Speaker 1: when Anthony Davis was here. It was like, oh man,

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Speaker 1: they can't guard the Lebron eighty pick and row with Jokic,

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Speaker 1: But we'll just put ad On on I will put

425
00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:07,240
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon on, you on Anthony Davis, and we'll switch

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00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:09,080
Speaker 1: that pick and roll. Now, all of a sudden, we're

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Speaker 1: running pick and rolls with Ruey Hatcha Mura because that's

428
00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:14,240
Speaker 1: who Jokic is guarding, and they could successfully guard that

429
00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:17,240
Speaker 1: two on two, everything falls apart. The Lakers have to

430
00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:19,000
Speaker 1: put two on the ball on the other end, the

431
00:20:19,080 --> 00:20:22,879
Speaker 1: Nuggets don't. It's a huge mismatch. That's why the Nuggets

432
00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:25,680
Speaker 1: kick their ass here and year out right. This dynamic

433
00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,000
Speaker 1: is very different because of Luca and because of what

434
00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:30,800
Speaker 1: he can do in ball screens. The Nuggets have to

435
00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:32,840
Speaker 1: put two on the ball on Luca. The Lakers have

436
00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,040
Speaker 1: to put two on the ball on Nikole Jokich, and

437
00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:36,480
Speaker 1: so it just makes it so that they can't guard

438
00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:43,680
Speaker 1: each other overall. With the Lakers, because I think they've

439
00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:45,920
Speaker 1: won eight out of nine now, this is their third

440
00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:48,840
Speaker 1: straight win against a team that is a like at

441
00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:50,600
Speaker 1: what we consider to be a contender, so to speak,

442
00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:53,399
Speaker 1: a really really good team in the upper echelon in

443
00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:55,879
Speaker 1: the league. They've got more chances in the coming weeks

444
00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:59,160
Speaker 1: on their road trip. I thought tonight was a really

445
00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:01,159
Speaker 1: good step forward for them, even if they would have lost,

446
00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:03,440
Speaker 1: in the sense that there were these extended stretches where

447
00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:06,280
Speaker 1: they looked like a dead serious team. Like I texted

448
00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:07,880
Speaker 1: a couple of buddies while I was watching that game.

449
00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:10,760
Speaker 1: Can you imagine if somebody would have taken footage of

450
00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:14,479
Speaker 1: that Lakers defense in that first half in particular, and

451
00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:18,560
Speaker 1: showed it to you back in like December, You'd be like,

452
00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:22,600
Speaker 1: this is Ai generated, Like what is this basketball team?

453
00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:24,600
Speaker 1: It doesn't look anything like the Lakers we saw in

454
00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:27,760
Speaker 1: the early part portion of the year. They are capable

455
00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:31,919
Speaker 1: now of bursts of really good defense, but as we

456
00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:34,280
Speaker 1: saw in that third quarter, they let go of the

457
00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:37,679
Speaker 1: rope for a few minutes, particularly in transition defense, but

458
00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:40,200
Speaker 1: also their defensive rotations got a little sloppier in the

459
00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:42,520
Speaker 1: second half as they gave up more openings from the

460
00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:45,680
Speaker 1: three point line. It's harder to hang onto the rope

461
00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:47,639
Speaker 1: for forty eight minutes than it is to hang on

462
00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,240
Speaker 1: the rope for twelve minutes or for twenty four minutes

463
00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:52,120
Speaker 1: and so the next step. So, like, what's the next

464
00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:55,480
Speaker 1: step for the Lakers, right, because, like, you know, we

465
00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:58,520
Speaker 1: have our I don't think anybody listening to this show

466
00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:00,680
Speaker 1: thinks that the Lakers are gonna go home the trophy.

467
00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:03,760
Speaker 1: I don't either, But like, there's somewhere between a team

468
00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:06,439
Speaker 1: that's going to get blown out in the first round,

469
00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:09,560
Speaker 1: to a team that could compete in the first round,

470
00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:12,040
Speaker 1: to a team that could win a first round series,

471
00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:14,399
Speaker 1: to hey, maybe a team that can win two series.

472
00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:19,159
Speaker 1: Bear with me, this cold is still kicking my ass.

473
00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:23,480
Speaker 1: But like that pathway, there are steps along that way

474
00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:26,560
Speaker 1: that the Lakers have to clear to get from a

475
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:29,000
Speaker 1: team that'll get beat in the first round to a

476
00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:30,680
Speaker 1: team that'll compete in the first round to a team

477
00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:32,520
Speaker 1: that can win the first round, so on and so forth.

478
00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:39,399
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers have made that first sleep. Good God,

479
00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:43,719
Speaker 1: the Lakers have made that first sleep. I don't think

480
00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:46,920
Speaker 1: they're gonna get embarrassed in the first round anymore. They

481
00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:48,320
Speaker 1: look like a team that's going to compete in the

482
00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:50,720
Speaker 1: first round. The next leap is going from a team

483
00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:52,280
Speaker 1: that can compete in a first round series to win

484
00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:54,480
Speaker 1: a first round series, and it's that kind of shit

485
00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:56,400
Speaker 1: in the third quarter that they have to clean up.

486
00:22:57,160 --> 00:23:00,520
Speaker 1: They've got to avoid the easy transition, kick ahead backts,

487
00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:04,879
Speaker 1: the boxed rotations, the mistakes, the bad fouls, the the

488
00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:07,040
Speaker 1: big All season long, I've been bad on ISO threes,

489
00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:08,720
Speaker 1: but they have to do a much better job defending

490
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,160
Speaker 1: those ISO threes. Those are the kinds of things they

491
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:13,480
Speaker 1: have to clean up in order to get to the

492
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,119
Speaker 1: point where they can win a first round here like

493
00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:19,520
Speaker 1: legitimately advance to the second round. To go from a

494
00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:21,080
Speaker 1: team that can advance the second round to a team

495
00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:22,959
Speaker 1: that can advance to the third round, I think they

496
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:25,360
Speaker 1: need more out of Lebron. That's the last piece here,

497
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:27,360
Speaker 1: Like if Lebron can get to a point where he

498
00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:30,040
Speaker 1: has like he got stonewalled in a couple of post

499
00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:32,720
Speaker 1: ups tonight. Overall, thought Lebron was great. He defended really well.

500
00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:34,840
Speaker 1: He made a lot of really good connective plays on

501
00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:37,720
Speaker 1: both ends of the floor. But you got stone walled

502
00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:39,760
Speaker 1: on a couple of post ups, a couple sloppy turnovers.

503
00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,280
Speaker 1: If Lebron could bump his on ball stuff up to

504
00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:44,040
Speaker 1: a guy that in a night like tonight, goes for

505
00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:48,399
Speaker 1: twenty five instead of seventeen and gets rid of a

506
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:50,919
Speaker 1: couple of those turnovers. I suddenly look at this as

507
00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:53,479
Speaker 1: a team that could potentially win two series and you know,

508
00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:57,960
Speaker 1: eventually lose to a real championship contender in that third round.

509
00:23:58,040 --> 00:24:00,760
Speaker 1: And so good step in the right direction. A lot

510
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,120
Speaker 1: to still work on, a lot of really tough games

511
00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:06,119
Speaker 1: in the future. Again, coming up on Monday against Houston,

512
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:08,440
Speaker 1: they got a tough one, so a lot of progress

513
00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:10,840
Speaker 1: still to be made. But this is the first time

514
00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:15,000
Speaker 1: I tweeted this earlier this morning. This is the first

515
00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:18,720
Speaker 1: time in months, many months, that I actually feel like

516
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:21,119
Speaker 1: this Lakers team can win a playoff series. And I

517
00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:22,920
Speaker 1: think that is a testament to these guys in the

518
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,280
Speaker 1: level of focus that they've had after the All Star break,

519
00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:27,600
Speaker 1: and they just seem hell bent on squeezing as much

520
00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:30,800
Speaker 1: as they can out of the sponge and maximizing this thing,

521
00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:34,560
Speaker 1: which I respect about that, which I respect about the

522
00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:36,480
Speaker 1: guys in that locker room. All right, guys, that's all

523
00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:38,520
Speaker 1: I have for tonight. Again, I just wanted to give

524
00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:40,680
Speaker 1: you guys my kind of instant reaction to this game.

525
00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:45,879
Speaker 1: Tomorrow we have thunder Wolves. I'm going to record a

526
00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:48,760
Speaker 1: reaction to that that's gonna run on Monday. We are

527
00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:51,600
Speaker 1: not gonna have a usual show on Monday. The reason

528
00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:53,359
Speaker 1: why is, I don't know if you guys heard, but

529
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:56,520
Speaker 1: there's a massive heat wave coming in that is like

530
00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:00,960
Speaker 1: historic in the Western United States and it's going to

531
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:03,240
Speaker 1: be so crazy that I think all the ski resorts

532
00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:07,199
Speaker 1: are going to close for the season. So I'm going

533
00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:08,840
Speaker 1: to go skiing on Monday, and that's going to be

534
00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:10,720
Speaker 1: my last ski day of the season. So we have

535
00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:14,920
Speaker 1: obviously this reaction, will have a thunder Wolves reaction that'll

536
00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:17,160
Speaker 1: run on Monday that I'm recording tomorrow, and then we'll

537
00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:19,640
Speaker 1: get back to our usual schedule on Tuesday again. As always,

538
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:21,320
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys for rocking with us and rocking with

539
00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:28,920
Speaker 1: the show. Now, I'll see you guys on Monday