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Speaker 1: The Volume. All right, welcome to hoops tonight. You're at

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Speaker 1: the Volume. Happy Monday, everybody. We are live on AMPS,

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Speaker 1: So if you're watching on YouTube or listening on the

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Speaker 1: podcast feeds, don't forget that AMP is the very first

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Speaker 1: place that you guys can get these shows. What an

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Speaker 1: unbelievable basketball game that we just watched between the Memphis

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Speaker 1: Grizzlies and the Los Angeles Lakers. Desmond Bade and John

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Speaker 1: Moran soundly outplay Lebron James and Anthony Davis, and then

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Speaker 1: somehow Lebron James and Year twenty digs down and steals

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Speaker 1: the game. We have. I don't even know where to start.

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Speaker 1: I've got tons of thoughts on this particular game. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna hit it from every single angle. You guys know

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Speaker 1: the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Volumes

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

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Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason ltus. You guys

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Speaker 1: don't miss any show announcements. And if, for whatever reason,

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Speaker 1: get back over to YouTube to finish, don't forget you

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Speaker 1: can find them wherever you find your podcasts under Hoops tonight. Last,

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Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So you know I

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Speaker 1: talked a lot about rock fights over the course of

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Speaker 1: the regular season. The rock Fights happen a lot in

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Speaker 1: the NBA playoffs, and it's a huge part of why

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Speaker 1: I've always been such a big believer in the Lebron

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Speaker 1: James and Anthony Davis corp and my skepticism surrounding the Lakers.

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Speaker 1: And we're gonna talk a lot about my skepticism surrounding

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Speaker 1: the Lakers in the second half of this video, But

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Speaker 1: my skepticism surrounds more this specific iteration of the Lebron

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Speaker 1: James Anthony Davis tuo and some of the issues with

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Speaker 1: this particular roster and with their particular kind of like

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Speaker 1: their makeup and their basketball character. But at its core,

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Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis is my favorite duo that

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Speaker 1: you could possibly have for these types of basketball games.

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Speaker 1: And the reason why I think that's so dangerous is

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Speaker 1: so many NBA games, especially in the playoffs, devolve into

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Speaker 1: this type of basketball. There are games that are more

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Speaker 1: free flowing, there are games where skill players dominate, and

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Speaker 1: you will see games like that, and this Lakers team

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Speaker 1: will lose games like that sometimes. As a matter of fact,

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Speaker 1: there was one guy in this game that had all

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Speaker 1: of his skill shots going. It was Desmond Baine in

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Speaker 1: Big shock. He was like the best player on the

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Speaker 1: floor for most of the night, right because in a

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Speaker 1: game where nobody can make a wide open three and

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Speaker 1: so much contacts being allowed at the rim, those little, short,

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Speaker 1: little fifteen foot pull up jump shots in the mid

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Speaker 1: range were kind of where things were opening up. And

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Speaker 1: Desmond Bain was the only guy confidently stepping into jump

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Speaker 1: shots tonight, and that's what made him so valuable in

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Speaker 1: this particular game. But usually over the tons of physicality

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Speaker 1: wears on everyone's legs, takes everyone out of rhythm, and

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Speaker 1: even really skilled players can struggle to put the ball

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Speaker 1: in the basket. I think you saw that even among

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Speaker 1: the many skilled players that play for both of these

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Speaker 1: teams in this particular game. And here's the advantage environment

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Speaker 1: where it's a fistfight and everything is allowed, and if

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Speaker 1: you go to the basket and you take some contact

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Speaker 1: and you miss a layup and you fall on the ground,

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Speaker 1: they're running the other way while you're complaining to the rest.

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Speaker 1: And there was a lot of that from John Morant tonight,

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Speaker 1: there was a lot of that from Anthony Davis tonight.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of that from everybody on both teams tonight.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of falling down and complaining when nothing

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Speaker 1: was getting called. And the reality was is that's just

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Speaker 1: the kind of game it was. And having guys that

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Speaker 1: are built like a truck that can finish through contact

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Speaker 1: around the rim becomes immensely valuable in this setting. And

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Speaker 1: so Lebron's credit because Lebron was being kind of hesitant

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Speaker 1: he was being guarded by Xavier Tillman down the stretch

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Speaker 1: of this game, and I kept thinking to myself, like, man, like,

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Speaker 1: he's got to be able to beat Xavier Tillman off

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Speaker 1: the dribble, but he kept calling for action to get

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Speaker 1: John Morant into the screen, and like Rowey Hotcha, Murrow

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Speaker 1: would set the screen and Ruey would roll to the basket,

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Speaker 1: and Jah would do what a lot of teams do

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Speaker 1: when they don't want to switch their w your defender

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Speaker 1: onto another team's best player, they will hedge and recover.

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Speaker 1: So John would like kind of hedge out on Lebron

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Speaker 1: that would kind of temporarily dissuade Lebron from taking that

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Speaker 1: quick three, and then Xavier Tillman would just kind of

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Speaker 1: wait there at the three point line and Ruey hat

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Speaker 1: Chimura is rolling to the basket, but he's not open

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Speaker 1: because everything's congested in the basket, because nobody can make

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Speaker 1: a three in the damn game. And so I kept

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Speaker 1: thinking to myself, like these John Moran go these ghost

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Speaker 1: screens with Ruy Hatchamura aren't doing anything, Like he's gotta

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Speaker 1: eventually just beat Xavier Tillman off the dribble. And there

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Speaker 1: was last possession down to six seconds left. Lebron James

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Speaker 1: dug way deep in his reservoir and beat Xavier Tillman

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Speaker 1: off the dribble and elevated as high as he possibly

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Speaker 1: could over a rapidly approaching Jaron Jackson Junior and somehow

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Speaker 1: finished over the top. And then he did it two

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Speaker 1: additional times in overtime. But like all of these are ugly.

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Speaker 1: They're going into traffic, guys like riding his hip and

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Speaker 1: he's throwing an off arm. The other guy's hitting him

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Speaker 1: with his hands. He's getting hacked on the way, like

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Speaker 1: everyone's getting found. It's just go put the ball in

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Speaker 1: the basket by any means necessary. It almost devolves into

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Speaker 1: like American gladiator. Like I remember when my brother, you know,

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Speaker 1: my brothers and I were we all played sports in college.

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Speaker 1: Were all athletes were all bigger guys. We used to

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Speaker 1: like throw a laundry basket on the ottoman in the

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Speaker 1: living room, and like ball have a bald up sock,

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Speaker 1: and you're like tackling each other to get and put

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Speaker 1: the bald up sock in the in the laundry basket

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Speaker 1: when you're a kid just trying to find something to

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Speaker 1: occupy yourself. Or I've talked about pool basketball and how

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Speaker 1: violent that can be. Like that's what these games devolved

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Speaker 1: down into. And Lebron's two hundred and seventy pounds and

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Speaker 1: six foot nine and is used to finishing through contact.

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Speaker 1: So suddenly what happened down the stretch of this game

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Speaker 1: after Desmond bay was so skilled and knocking down all

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Speaker 1: these shots, and big shout out to D'Angelo Russell, who

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Speaker 1: I thought had a really rough night on both of

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Speaker 1: the floor, but he had three massive threes down the

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Speaker 1: stretch of this game that completely erased the damage that

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Speaker 1: Desmond Bain had been doing and gave the Lakers a

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Speaker 1: fighting chance before he fouled out of the game. But

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Speaker 1: what happened from there then Desmond Bain went cold. John

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Speaker 1: Moran who kind of got going at various points in

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Speaker 1: the game went cold. So now Desmond Bain is cold,

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Speaker 1: John Morant's cold, Lebron James is cold, Anthony Davis is cold.

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Speaker 1: Nobody knows what to do in that environment. Lebron ascended

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Speaker 1: and became the best player on the floor in a

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Speaker 1: night where for forty six minutes or so, Desmond Bain

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Speaker 1: and John Morant were the two best players on the

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Speaker 1: floor in the last two minutes or last few possessions,

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Speaker 1: and then all of overtime, all of a sudden, Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis and Lebron James became the best players on the floor.

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Speaker 1: I was a little critical of them earlier in the

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Speaker 1: game because I didn't think Lebron and Nadi were bringing

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Speaker 1: enough athletic effort. There was a huge play down the

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Speaker 1: stretch of the game where Desmond Bain hit a three

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Speaker 1: to put Memphis up seven, and if you remember, on

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Speaker 1: that play, Xavier Tillman crashed out of the corner on Lebron.

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Speaker 1: Lebron didn't box him out, and then Jared Jackson was

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Speaker 1: in a battle with Anthony Davis for rebounding position and

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis just kind of let him go around him,

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Speaker 1: and Jared Jackson got an offensive rebound kick out to

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Speaker 1: Desmond Bay pump fake Ausin Reeves lives by knocks down

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Speaker 1: the three. A couple possessions later, though, Lebron and Ad

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Speaker 1: finally engaged themselves. D'Angelo Russell rims out of three from

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Speaker 1: the top of the key. Lebron comes flying in and

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Speaker 1: taps it back out because guess what, he's still one

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Speaker 1: of the best athletes on the floor. Ends up in

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Speaker 1: dangel Russell's hands again. Another wide open three misses it again.

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Speaker 1: Now Anthony Davis comes flying in and grabs the offensive

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Speaker 1: rebound and goes up and draws a foul on Xavier Tillman.

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Speaker 1: As soon as Lebron and Ad started to match Memphis'

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Speaker 1: effort and physicality, they ascended and became the best players

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Speaker 1: on the floor in a rock fight. Now what's in

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Speaker 1: this game became monumentally important for the Lakers. They're not

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Speaker 1: gonna face the team as physical as this team. Probably

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Speaker 1: the rest of their time in the Western Conference, they

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Speaker 1: might find something like that. Out of the East. They're

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Speaker 1: gonna be bigger and stronger than Golden State at every position.

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Speaker 1: They're gonna be bigger and stronger than Sacramento at every position,

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Speaker 1: They'll probably be bigger and stronger. They will be bigger

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Speaker 1: and stronger than Phoenix at every position, and they're gonna

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Speaker 1: have some advantages against Denver, But in this particular matchup,

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Speaker 1: physicality rules the day, and it was so important for

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Speaker 1: them to end this series quickly. Memphis has a really

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Speaker 1: good chance to win Game five, and they should feel

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Speaker 1: good about their chances, especially if they play with a

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Speaker 1: similar effort that they played with tonight. But getting into

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Speaker 1: three to one gives you a guaranteed closeout game in

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Speaker 1: game six, So massive win for the Lakers, And if

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Speaker 1: you want on a bright side of things, like I

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Speaker 1: will say that in an environment like this where you

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Speaker 1: get Ruy Hachimura's first so so game of the series,

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Speaker 1: Lebron James struggling in a bunch of specific shot making areas,

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis with like one of the worst games I've

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Speaker 1: ever seen him play, certainly in the playoffs up until

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Speaker 1: the final few minutes to win that game. That to

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Speaker 1: me is an indicator of some of the strengths of

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Speaker 1: this roster overall, because one of the things that this

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Speaker 1: particular group has is depth, which is something they did

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Speaker 1: not have in the past. And they could not weather

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Speaker 1: bad lebron games, in bad Anthony Davis games. But in

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Speaker 1: a night where Austin Reeves kind of struggled to make

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Speaker 1: rim decisions, he made a couple of plays at the end,

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Speaker 1: and I think you finished with twenty something points. They

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Speaker 1: got enough out of Austin Reeves. They got enough out

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Speaker 1: of D'Angelo Russell even ruly, for as much as he

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Speaker 1: struggled in certain phases of the game, I thought he

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Speaker 1: grabbed a couple of massively important, contested defensive rebounds down

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Speaker 1: the stretch of this game. But I mean, like you

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Speaker 1: got to really bad game at a Dennis he was

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Speaker 1: just throwing the ball away like like a lot of

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Speaker 1: things did not go the Lakers' way in this game,

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Speaker 1: and they won. But I do I do want to

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Speaker 1: like point out some of the realities of the way

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Speaker 1: I view this team in the grand scheme of things,

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Speaker 1: because I got a lot of Laker fans on my

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Speaker 1: case today because with Colin Coward yesterday, I basically just said, like, hey,

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Speaker 1: like their inconsistent effort has the potential to get them

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Speaker 1: beat and again, like we're not just talking about Lakers Grizzlies.

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Speaker 1: It's there are thirty NBA teams, one gets the trophy.

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Speaker 1: They're twenty that make the postseason. One gets the trophy.

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Speaker 1: There are sixteen that are guaranteed to have to be

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Speaker 1: beaten four times. At a seven, one gets the trophy.

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Speaker 1: There are a lot of teams with lots of talent,

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Speaker 1: Like we can talk about the good with the Lakers,

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Speaker 1: like Lebron James and Anthony Davis. They've got skilled players

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Speaker 1: around them. They've got two different forwards that they can

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Speaker 1: go to that have kind of different archetypes that can

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Speaker 1: help in different ways. They've got three really good guards,

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Speaker 1: where like any two of them kind of make an

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Speaker 1: interesting kind of combination. They've got some shooting and some

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Speaker 1: other guys that can do some things off the bench.

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Speaker 1: They've got lots of players. But guess what, So do

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Speaker 1: the Celtics, So to the Bucks, so to the Sixers,

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Speaker 1: so to the Warriors, The Warriors of Steph Curry and

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Speaker 1: Klay Thompson and Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole,

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Speaker 1: Sacramento Kings have a lot of good A lot of

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Speaker 1: all these teams have good players, and so it becomes

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Speaker 1: like tiny, tiny margins that we're talking about here, Like, look,

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Speaker 1: look at this game in particular the Lakers. I expect

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Speaker 1: Memphis to win Game five. I think that they're playing

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Speaker 1: at a level that in the last couple of quarters

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Speaker 1: that I don't know if the Lakers are gonna be

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Speaker 1: able to match that on the road. That might actually

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Speaker 1: be the first game that I say bet a large

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Speaker 1: scoring margin, since the Lakers have a tendency to lay

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Speaker 1: down sometimes. But like the Lakers are gonna have a

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Speaker 1: chance to close them down and close them out in

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Speaker 1: Game six, that goes down differently, Lebron misses that layup.

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Speaker 1: Now it's two two on the road in Game five

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Speaker 1: in Memphis, where they're probably going to be a slight favorite.

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Speaker 1: Now all of a sudden, you lose that game. Now

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Speaker 1: your back is against the wall. All these playoff series

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Speaker 1: are defined by the tiniest of margins, and the margins

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Speaker 1: get tinier the further you get along when you start

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Speaker 1: to play against better teams, and so like little things

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Speaker 1: like like I thought the Laker effort for the most

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Speaker 1: part was good tonight. There were a handful of bad stretches.

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Speaker 1: There was a bad stretch in the middle of the

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Speaker 1: fourth quarter, and there was a bad stretch at the

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Speaker 1: end of the second quarter when they blew that thirteen

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Speaker 1: or fifteen point lead or whatever, and Memphis got it

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Speaker 1: back to two before the half. But like that stretch

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Speaker 1: before the end of half, that to me is what

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Speaker 1: changed the entire game. Desmond Baines started being super aggressive,

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Speaker 1: really started trying to put his head down and go

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Speaker 1: to the rim, and he gained his confidence in that

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Speaker 1: late second quarter run, including hitting that three right for

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Speaker 1: the end of the half. The Lakers relaxing a little bit,

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Speaker 1: bought a player in Desmond Baine who has been pretty

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Speaker 1: consistently bad in his playoff career, got him into rhythm,

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Speaker 1: and then he had confidence. Confidence is a real thing,

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Speaker 1: a couple of specific adjustments, you know, especially in the

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Speaker 1: Laker front. Speaking of confidence, one of the big reasons

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Speaker 1: why I think Anthony Davis is having such a bad

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Speaker 1: series offensively is he's playing extended stretches of the game

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Speaker 1: with Jared Vanderbilt on the floor, especially with the starting

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Speaker 1: lineup when Memphis is huge. I tweeted out a picture.

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Speaker 1: I tweeted out a picture with the like kind of

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Speaker 1: line score off the ESPN app and you'll see two

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Speaker 1: flat stretches there's like a flat Laker stretch at the

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Speaker 1: beginning and then a lot of scoring, and then a

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Speaker 1: flat Laker stretch at the end in the first half,

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Speaker 1: and those two flat stretches are the Jared Vanderbilt stretches,

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Speaker 1: because when Jared Vanderbilt is on the floor, they put

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Speaker 1: Xavier Tillman on Anthony Dave and they put Jared Jackson

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Speaker 1: on Jared Vanderbilt, and they just ignore Jared Vanderbilt and

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Speaker 1: it gives them the ability to hawk them. And again, like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: Jared made two threes, that's great. Here's the problem. That's

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Speaker 1: six points. Okay, every other possession he's not being guarded.

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Speaker 1: So if it's dramatically affecting the Lakers offensive production in

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Speaker 1: all of the other possessions too, that six points is

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Speaker 1: not enough to make up for it. I've been talking

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Speaker 1: for a while about how the major adjustment I expect

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Speaker 1: Darvinham to eventually make, and I don't know when he's

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Speaker 1: gonna make it, but it's to put Ruy Hachimura in

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Speaker 1: the starting lineup. He's a better player than Jared Vanderbilt

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Speaker 1: right now. And I mean Dennis Schroeder at least gives

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Speaker 1: you an option another guy that you can put on

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Speaker 1: a John Rance. You don't necessarily have to have Ruy

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Speaker 1: or you don't necessarily have to have Jared in that position.

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Speaker 1: But it's just a big it's a big part of

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Speaker 1: starting the game. Like that is gonna naturally get Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis more space, which is gonna naturally get him in

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Speaker 1: a better rhythm. Like what ends up happening is you

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Speaker 1: go these long stretches without touching the ball, and then

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Speaker 1: the handful of times you do, you're getting swarmed, and

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Speaker 1: so you turn it over and you miss a shot.

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Speaker 1: You don't feel great about yourself. Look at the difference

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Speaker 1: in just the way John Moran Desmond Bain played from

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Speaker 1: the beginning of the game when they didn't feel comfortable

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Speaker 1: and they didn't feel confident, versus when they got their

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Speaker 1: rhythm and then suddenly they're just confidently working to their spots.

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Speaker 1: I believe it go a long way just simply moving

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Speaker 1: Ruey Hachimura into the starting lineup. But this is this

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Speaker 1: is this series is not over the thing. One of

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Speaker 1: the biggest reasons why I've been hesitant to consider the

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Speaker 1: Lakers a legitimate championship contender is that effort piece they

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Speaker 1: just don't get it. This Memphis team in particular, you

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Speaker 1: have to play forty eight minutes of good basketball to

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Speaker 1: beat them. They will not lay down. You could play

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Speaker 1: thirty good minutes and then as soon as you relax,

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Speaker 1: they will just drive the ball to the basket relentlessly

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Speaker 1: and run it down your throat and transition and suddenly

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Speaker 1: you're gonna find yourself in a seven or eight point game,

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Speaker 1: and that that is gonna even go up a level

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Speaker 1: when they play against better teams. One other thing I

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Speaker 1: wanted to talk about, just in general, was the Darvin

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Speaker 1: Ham situation. I noticed this with every team around the league.

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Speaker 1: They're very quick to be critical of coaches, and I

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Speaker 1: believe it stems from just the passion of fan hood.

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Speaker 1: You know, so I want to cut people some slack,

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Speaker 1: but I've typically been very hesitant to be critical of coaches.

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Speaker 1: And one of the main reasons why is like, to me, like,

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Speaker 1: it's so easy to Monday morning quarterback this stuff, and

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Speaker 1: coaches have really tough decisions, and sometimes it's like it's like, well,

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Speaker 1: why aren't you playing this guy off the bench, or

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Speaker 1: why aren't you playing that guy off the bench, And

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Speaker 1: it's like, well, the gap between that guy and the

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Speaker 1: guy we're talking about is usually pretty small, and like

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Speaker 1: real like he probably has some strength that the coach

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Speaker 1: is seeing that he fits into the rotation in that

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Speaker 1: specific spot. And every fan base hates their rotation, and

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Speaker 1: so I'm typically very slow to jump onto that train.

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Speaker 1: But I want to be critical of Darvin Hans tonight

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Speaker 1: because Ruey Hatchimura has been your third best player in

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Speaker 1: the series. Lakers called a timeout with seven and a

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Speaker 1: half minutes left in the third quarter because Memphis was

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Speaker 1: on a run. There had been twenty nine and a

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Speaker 1: half minutes of gameplay, or twenty eight and a half

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Speaker 1: minutes of gameplay, and in that twenty eight and a

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Speaker 1: half minutes, Jared Vanderbilt had played twenty, Troy Brown Junior

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Speaker 1: had played twelve, and Ruy Hotchi Mura had played eight

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Speaker 1: minutes out of twenty nine minutes. He's one of your

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Speaker 1: three best players in this series. That's self sabotage. You're

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Speaker 1: keeping one of your best players on the bench, which

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Speaker 1: and and like I was, I was just genuinely, genuinely

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Speaker 1: confused by that. The way he's been rotating the guards

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Speaker 1: has been confusing to me too, just these super long

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Speaker 1: shifts for guys who are struggling. When the whole advantage

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Speaker 1: of having four guards that can play and Malik Beasley, Austin,

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Speaker 1: Austin Reeves, d'angela Russell, and Dennis Schroeder is like, you

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Speaker 1: can kind of play him based on who's playing well. Okay,

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Speaker 1: Dlo doesn't have it tonight. Dennis is a starting level

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Speaker 1: guard that can play thirty five minutes. Let's go with him. Okay,

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Speaker 1: Dennis doesn't have it tonight. Dangela Russell is a starting

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Speaker 1: level guard that can play thirty five minutes. Let's lean

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Speaker 1: on him heavily. Okay, Austin doesn't have it tonight. You know,

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Speaker 1: you guys get the point. And then lastly, just the

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Speaker 1: the inability to adjust on the fly and make and

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Speaker 1: slow down runs with a timeout. There were a lot

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Speaker 1: of my Bucks fans are critical of Mike Budenholzer as

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Speaker 1: they blew their late twelve point lead against the Miami Heat.

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Speaker 1: And by the way, we are going to break that

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Speaker 1: game down tomorrow. But the whole run, he just didn't

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Speaker 1: call a time out, and same thing down the stretch

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Speaker 1: of the first half in this game, I think the

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Speaker 1: Lakers were up forty eight to thirty three or something

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Speaker 1: like that, and Memphis is going on a run and

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Speaker 1: Darvin Ham's just sitting there with his hands in his pockets, like,

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Speaker 1: call a time out, identify what the issue is, Discuss

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Speaker 1: with your players what's going on. Do something, and if

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Speaker 1: for no reason other than to just disrupt the rhythm

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Speaker 1: of the team that is scoring on you every time

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Speaker 1: down the floor, make them go sit down and cool

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Speaker 1: off for a minute. Again, I'm not the kind of

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Speaker 1: guy that's typically very critical of coaches, but tonight I

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Speaker 1: thought it was like fifteen percent those handful of possessions

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Speaker 1: where they're a handful of stretches where the Lakers let

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Speaker 1: their foot off the gas, Like forty percent Anthony Davis

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Speaker 1: just really having a bad game, and then the rest

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Speaker 1: of it, the forty five percent remaining Darvin Ham, I

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Speaker 1: thought was respond for a big chunk of the predicament

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Speaker 1: that they were in. Play your best players, play complimentary players.

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Speaker 1: Jared Jackson, Taylor Jenkins is deliberately stubbing Jaron Jackson out

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Speaker 1: of the game early so that when Anthony Davis goes

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Speaker 1: to the bench, he can bring Jaron Jackson back in

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Speaker 1: to play like six or seven consecutive minutes against the

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Speaker 1: Lakers bench, and they happen to farewell against him in

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Speaker 1: this game, but in the other three games they've been

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Speaker 1: getting destroyed in those minutes. It's a simple adjustment. Taylor

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Speaker 1: Jenkins is like, Okay, Darvin Ham is just gonna stick

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Speaker 1: with his scheduled rotation, so I might as well play

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Speaker 1: Jared Jackson against them, and Darvin Ham will not make

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Speaker 1: that adjustment. So, I mean, Laker fans have been complaining

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Speaker 1: about that all season. I've had many Laker fans, even

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Speaker 1: something that I'm very close with, say I don't believe

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Speaker 1: in this team because of Darvin Ham, and I've been like, Eh,

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Speaker 1: you're fine. Tonight was the first night where I was like, whoa,

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Speaker 1: he's doing some like serious damage here. And it's something

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Speaker 1: that again, like when the margins get tighter, that can

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Speaker 1: be a problem. Like I said earlier, we're gonna break

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Speaker 1: down heat Bucks at some point tomorrow or Wednesday. Keep

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Speaker 1: an eye on my Twitter feed as I let you

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Speaker 1: guys know the rest of the schedule. But that's all

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Speaker 1: we have for Tonight was always I sincerely appreciate your guys' support,

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Speaker 1: and we'll see you Guys. Later this week, the volume