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Speaker 1: old coon hoops and I here at the volume heavy Monday.

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Speaker 1: Everybody'll ball if you guys had a great weekend and

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Speaker 1: then you're having a great start to your week at

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Speaker 1: a jampackshow for you. Today, we're gonna hit a game

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Speaker 1: reaction off the top between the Milwaukee Bucks and the

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Speaker 1: Brooklyn that's interesting game. The Nets had them against the Ropes,

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Speaker 1: but the Bucks fought back and got a big win

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Speaker 1: thanks to Giannis who kind of got them going in

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Speaker 1: the late third quarter and they rode that to the finish.

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Speaker 1: Some interesting stuff in crunch time in that game too.

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Speaker 1: After that, I want to talk a little bit about

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Speaker 1: Nicole and the level he's hitting offensively right now and

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Speaker 1: where it ranks for me all time, and especially some

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Speaker 1: specific kind of schematic stuff that's helping to unlock it

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Speaker 1: all in a little bit of his partnership with Russell Westbrook.

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Speaker 1: And then at the tail end of the show, as

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Speaker 1: we do every Monday, Power Ranking is going to hit

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Speaker 1: the top ten teams in the league, talk a little

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Speaker 1: bit about each of them. You guys are the job.

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Speaker 1: Before we get started, subscribe to the Hoops to Night

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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 JSNLTC. You guys, don't

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Speaker 1: miss you announcements. Sont forget about our podcast feed wherever

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Speaker 1: you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight, don't forget. It's

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

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Speaker 1: feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook that are for the

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Speaker 1: Hoops Tonight channel where we're releasing more contents to make

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Speaker 1: sure you follow us there, and last but not least,

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Speaker 1: keep dropping mail back questions in the YouTube comments. We

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Speaker 1: have a really small slate tonight. I think it's just

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Speaker 1: Raptors at NICK. So tomorrow morning, we're probably just going

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Speaker 1: to do a brief kind of like preview of the

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Speaker 1: n season tournament. Obviously, it's single elimination, so anything can happen,

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Speaker 1: but I'll give you guys a prediction anyway, And then

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Speaker 1: at the tail end of that show, we're just going

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Speaker 1: to answer some mailback QUI questions to kill some time

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Speaker 1: before we get to the games that evening, and then

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Speaker 1: we'll be breaking them down obviously as we get further

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Speaker 1: into the week. All right, let's talk some basketball. So

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Speaker 1: Bucks Nets was an interesting game to me on a

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Speaker 1: bunch of different levels. First of all, the nets and

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Speaker 1: just what makes them so scrappy, and the simple fact

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Speaker 1: that they just have a lot of players that are

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Speaker 1: good at things that are mandatory to succeed in the

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Speaker 1: modern NBA in terms of covering ground on the perimeter,

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Speaker 1: pressuring the ball to make an offense feel uncomfortable, being

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Speaker 1: able to chase people off of the three point line

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Speaker 1: into lower percentage shots that are contested twos. They've got

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Speaker 1: a lot of guys that can do that at a

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Speaker 1: pretty high level. And like, again, this is a team

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Speaker 1: that I'd keep an eye on in the trade market.

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Speaker 1: There's just a lot of guys there that can help

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Speaker 1: really good teams around the league, and I'm I'm curious

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Speaker 1: to see where some of these guys end up over

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Speaker 1: the course of the next few months. But they have

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Speaker 1: the Bucks on the rope. On the ropes, they're defending

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Speaker 1: Dame extremely well. Dennis Schroeder's applying a lot of ball pressure.

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Speaker 1: It's got good quickness to stay in front of Dame,

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Speaker 1: but also the length to contest his pull up jump shot.

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Speaker 1: They were defending really well, and it kind of looked

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Speaker 1: like things were kind of looked like things were teetering

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Speaker 1: for the Bucks a little bit there in the late

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Speaker 1: third quarter as the Nets kept making runs. I think

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Speaker 1: they went up by as much as eleven in that

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Speaker 1: kind of late third quarter stretch. But then Yannis just

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Speaker 1: refused to let them lose that game and completely took

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Speaker 1: things over. He was doing a lot of work in

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Speaker 1: the post, hitting that little hook shot over his left shoulder.

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Speaker 1: And again, this is something I've been dying for Giannis

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Speaker 1: to build out over the course of the last few years,

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Speaker 1: because I just think it's a more reliable over the

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Speaker 1: top shot. Like, what is the purpose of the over

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Speaker 1: the top shot. It's for when you're fatigued or when

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Speaker 1: you run into an elite defender that takes away the

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Speaker 1: easy stuff that you can get at the rim as

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Speaker 1: a power player, right, Like, there's a certain amount of

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Speaker 1: like through schematic approach and just through Jannis's indomitable will,

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Speaker 1: that he's going to be able to get to the

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Speaker 1: basket a certain amount of the time. But when you

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Speaker 1: run into certain types of defenders that can slide their feet,

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Speaker 1: absorb contact and make you shoot over the top, that's

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Speaker 1: where it brings value. To have something that you can

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Speaker 1: make over the top, it just has to be a

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Speaker 1: high enough percentage shot to be valuable. And that's where,

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Speaker 1: like when Giannis was taking a lot of off the

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Speaker 1: dribble jump shots, and a lot of them were threes,

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Speaker 1: he was not able to hit enough of them to

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Speaker 1: justify it even in the large volume, let alone the

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Speaker 1: small volume. But now because he's gotten pretty decent at

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Speaker 1: that little pull up elbow jump shot, and because he's

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Speaker 1: starting to really turn to that left shoulder hook and

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Speaker 1: hit it at a higher percentage, he's got something that

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Speaker 1: he can go to to both make things easier for

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Speaker 1: him in terms of fatigue, but also something he can

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Speaker 1: go to when the team needs a bucket. And it

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Speaker 1: turned into a situation where in crunch time, the Nets

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Speaker 1: really had no choice but to start double teaming Giannis.

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Speaker 1: And this is where it turned into what I thought

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Speaker 1: was a really gutsy call from Doc Rivers and what

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Speaker 1: I thought was the right decision under the circumstances. Dennis

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Speaker 1: Schroeder was giving them a ton of issues, so they

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Speaker 1: closed with Andre Jackson on the ball. You would think

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Speaker 1: in a lot of cases, depending on the matchup, maybe

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Speaker 1: you'd want a better offensive player there. But I thought

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Speaker 1: it was the right call, especially with how successful Dennis

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Speaker 1: Schroeder was kind of getting to his spots. And then

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Speaker 1: the second piece of it was, even though brook Lopez

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Speaker 1: can shoot, he was not having a confident game if

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Speaker 1: I remember correctly, didn't even hit a three in this

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Speaker 1: particular game. But Bobby Portis was feeling good and comfortable

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Speaker 1: on those above the break threes, especially at the wing.

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Speaker 1: And so when you're double teaming out of the post,

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Speaker 1: there are a couple of like simple reads that come

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Speaker 1: out of it, right, Like the first read is the

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Speaker 1: guy who makes the pass right, so the guy makes

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Speaker 1: the post entry. He's sitting one pass away, but he

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Speaker 1: usually has to be pretty far away. It's got to

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Speaker 1: be like a twenty five twenty six footer. Bobby hit

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Speaker 1: one of those off of a basic double team off

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Speaker 1: the left block. Giannis is dribbling, Here comes the guy

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Speaker 1: digging down into the post, whip it back out. Bobby

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Speaker 1: knocks down the shot. But then there's also the swing

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Speaker 1: passes that come out of that. But what it ended

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Speaker 1: up being was above the breakthrees on the wings a

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Speaker 1: little bit further out, but that were moderately contested, and

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Speaker 1: so you needed someone that could confidently step into a shot.

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Speaker 1: You needed somebody that wasn't going to to you know,

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Speaker 1: because if you catch at twenty six feet and the

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Speaker 1: guy's closing out at you and you pump fake and

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Speaker 1: you swing it, it might not be open anymore and

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Speaker 1: the advantage could be gone. It wasn't gonna get It

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Speaker 1: wasn't gonna end in some sort of completely wide open,

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Speaker 1: uncontested three. They needed somebody to step up and knock

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Speaker 1: down moderately contested threes off of those Giannis double teams.

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Speaker 1: And Bobby just got hot and he made three after three,

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Speaker 1: after three, Chris Middleton made one in that stretch as well,

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Speaker 1: and on the other end of the floor. To Bobby's credit,

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Speaker 1: the nets we're picking on him quite a bit. It

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Speaker 1: was a kind of a steady stream of like Cam

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Speaker 1: Johnson and Dennis Schroeder just picking on Bobby in switches,

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Speaker 1: and Cam hit like a pretty tough side stepping three

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Speaker 1: above the break, and then Dennis just barely turned the

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Speaker 1: corner on Bobby. It kind of took a bump and

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Speaker 1: knocked down a little bank shot and it looked like, oh,

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Speaker 1: this could get a little ugly here with the nets

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Speaker 1: attacking Bobby, but he sat in a stance and he

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Speaker 1: got some big stops down the stretch, forced Cam Johnson

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Speaker 1: into a really ugly miss flat out just blocked Dennis

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Speaker 1: Schroeder on driving floater. So Bobby ended up being kind

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Speaker 1: of the hero in this game with the key stops

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Speaker 1: down the stretches. The nets were trying to hunt him

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Speaker 1: and hitting those big above the break threes off of

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Speaker 1: those Jannis double teams. But I really want to zoom

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Speaker 1: in on on Giannis for as second, because what he

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Speaker 1: did in that game is something that I've been harping

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Speaker 1: at harping on for a while, which is like, there

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Speaker 1: is a certain amount of there's a certain amount of

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Speaker 1: malaise that is inherent in the NBA regular season. I mean,

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Speaker 1: the Bucks just ran into it in that Hawks game

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Speaker 1: in particular, where they just got ran off the floor

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Speaker 1: in transition and it's like, clearly, you're just not engaged.

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Speaker 1: You're not running, you're not sprinting, you're not picking up

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Speaker 1: the ball, you're not defending the basket. It's a little

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Speaker 1: basic details in transition defense, and you end up taking

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Speaker 1: a loss. Right, But like, that's part of the NBA season.

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Speaker 1: It's long, it drags on. And so this is where

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Speaker 1: like well Yannis did in that third quarter when things

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Speaker 1: were teetering, he is the guy who has the ability

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Speaker 1: to change the tenor of a game and get his

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Speaker 1: teammates reinvested in a way where you can then follow

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Speaker 1: that through to a win. This is where I was

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Speaker 1: being so critical with Lebron James and Anthony Davis last week.

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Speaker 1: There's no doubt that there were some injuries, right, Austin

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Speaker 1: Reeves is out of the lineup. You got you know,

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Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilts hurt. You're dealing with some guys out and

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Speaker 1: it makes things tougher, right, But that's exactly when you

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Speaker 1: need your superstar players to leverage their gifts even more

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Speaker 1: because the more you leverage your gifts, the easier you

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Speaker 1: make things for your teammates. Then they start to succeed,

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Speaker 1: and then the whole team starts to take off. It's

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Speaker 1: the rising tide that lifts all boats, right, It's like

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Speaker 1: you're seeing this with Nikole Jokic all season two. And

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Speaker 1: that's the thing, Like Giannis, He's playing at an insanely

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Speaker 1: high level right now. That was another MVP level performance yesterday.

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Speaker 1: He's at thirty three twelve and six on the season

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Speaker 1: at sixty three percent true shooting. That's just completely outrageous

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Speaker 1: and might not even be enough with how well Nikole

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Speaker 1: Jokic is playing right now. But like, I just thought

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Speaker 1: that was such a great reminder last night, but from

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Speaker 1: Yannis of like what you expect from the real top

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Speaker 1: tier guys in the league, which is like no matter

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Speaker 1: what night, what night of the season, it is, no

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Speaker 1: matter what the schedule has been looking like maybe you're

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Speaker 1: co star and older guy like Dame just doesn't have

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Speaker 1: it going. Things are just looking a little bit bleak,

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Speaker 1: and to have a guy that can just step up

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Speaker 1: and just kind of gain control of the situation and

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Speaker 1: turn a loss into a win is the differentiator in

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Speaker 1: a lot of cases. And most importantly, it comes down

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Speaker 1: to establishing habits. The teams that let games like that

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Speaker 1: slip and just go, ah, screw. It's an eighty two

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Speaker 1: game season. It's marathon, not a sprint. We'll make it

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Speaker 1: up when we need to. And you know whatever, seating

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Speaker 1: doesn't really matter. We can go beat anybody if we

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Speaker 1: have to. And it's like, yeah, theoretically all of those

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Speaker 1: concepts are true, Like, yeah, the season is long, and

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Speaker 1: as long as you feel like you can beat any

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Speaker 1: of the teams in your conference, it doesn't really matter

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Speaker 1: who you play first or where you go play him.

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Speaker 1: But the bottom line is the teams that win multiple

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Speaker 1: playoff rounds, the teams that play the level of basketball

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Speaker 1: necessary to go through that grind in the postseason, tend

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Speaker 1: to be the teams that find themselves in a tough

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Speaker 1: game in the third order against the team that they

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Speaker 1: should beat and fight and get the win rather than

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Speaker 1: roll over and lose. And I thought that that was

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Speaker 1: just a great justa position of Jannis compared to some

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Speaker 1: of the other players around the league, and just the

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Speaker 1: way you're supposed to attack things in the middle of

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Speaker 1: December when you have the types of big picture goals

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Speaker 1: that the Milwaukee Bucks have. So shout out to Jannis

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Speaker 1: and Tennkople. Let's talk about Yokic for a minute, though.

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Speaker 1: So he goes for fifty six in Washington, probably the

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Speaker 1: worst loss of any team in the NBA this season,

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Speaker 1: as the Nuggets lose to the two win Wizards at

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Speaker 1: that point, but Jokic goes for fifty six. He goes

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Speaker 1: for forty eight in Atlanta, when for thirty eight last

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Speaker 1: week in Golden State. So his last four games, Yokic

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Speaker 1: is averaging forty two points, fifteen rebounds, and eight assists

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Speaker 1: on fifty six percent from the field, fifty percent from three,

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Speaker 1: and seventy eight percent from the free throw line. He's

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Speaker 1: also averaging three steals per game over that span. There's

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Speaker 1: a couple of specific things that are driving this. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: I've talked a lot about Yokic's jump shot, and I

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Speaker 1: don't need to get too far into that. Didn't shoot

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Speaker 1: the ball super well last year, started to hurt him

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Speaker 1: with teams leaving him open on pops and in spot

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Speaker 1: up situations. We won't get any further into that. He

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Speaker 1: is shooting extremely well this season one point three five

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Speaker 1: points per jump shot. Among all players in the NBA

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Speaker 1: that have attempted at least one hundred jump shots this year,

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Speaker 1: that one point three to five points per shot mark

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Speaker 1: ranks second in the entire league. That's how good Yoki

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Speaker 1: just shooting the basketball. Anybody want to guess who's number one?

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Speaker 1: Aj Green from the Milwaukee Bucks was number one front

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Speaker 1: players who have attempted at least one hundred shots, but

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Speaker 1: just obviously shooting the ball extremely well. He's especially shooting

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Speaker 1: the ball well as of late in face up situations.

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Speaker 1: This has been a big part of both the Atlanta

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Speaker 1: game and the Washington game. Whether it's like catching at

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Speaker 1: the elbow and just turning and facing up, coming off

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Speaker 1: of screening actions and kind of like flowing into ISOs

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Speaker 1: around that like foul line area. But all he does

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Speaker 1: is he just kind of jabs and just leans back

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Speaker 1: and just shoots right over the top. He's shooting seventy

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Speaker 1: eight percent so far here on those face up jump shots,

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Speaker 1: according to Synergy that's been a big thing that's boosted

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Speaker 1: his scoring. Again. Like when you can accentuate your scoring

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Speaker 1: with jump shooting, that's when you can hit some really

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Speaker 1: high scoring numbers because it's easier to counter, you know,

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Speaker 1: like crazy paint scoring with health defense than it is

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Speaker 1: to deal with the guy who's just shooting over the

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Speaker 1: top of you every single time. He scored over ten

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Speaker 1: points on jump shots in four of the last five games.

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Speaker 1: It's been a huge part of his success. And then

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Speaker 1: he's just absolutely crushing teams rolling in ball screens, and

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Speaker 1: this is something that was not really working for the

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Speaker 1: Nuggets in the early part of the season. I want

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Speaker 1: to dive into that concept a little bit. He didn't

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Speaker 1: have a single game all season before this weekend where

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Speaker 1: he had over ten points in a single game in

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Speaker 1: rollman possessions, meaning like catching the ball in a ball

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Speaker 1: screen in the pocket and scoring out of those situations,

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Speaker 1: not a single game with over ten. He had twenty

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Speaker 1: seven points on rollman possessions in the Washington and Atlanta

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Speaker 1: game games combined. This is where I want to shout

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Speaker 1: out Rush Westbrook. So think of it like this, what

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Speaker 1: opens up the pocket in a ball screen? So like

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Speaker 1: if Jamal's dribbling at the top of the key, or

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Speaker 1: if he's coming off of a dribble handoff, whatever you

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Speaker 1: want to call it, that two man game and his

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Speaker 1: defender is chasing over the top and Yo Kicic's defender

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Speaker 1: is defending in you know, kind of a typical ball

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Speaker 1: screen coverage where he's kind of splitting the difference between

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Speaker 1: both guys. What's going to get the opening for Yo

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Speaker 1: Kitchen the pocket on ball defenders behind whoever's the ball handler,

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Speaker 1: screen defender is splitting the difference usually like that no

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Speaker 1: roller behind coverage, Right, how do you get Yokic open there?

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Speaker 1: That screen defender has to lean towards the ball handler.

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Speaker 1: If he doesn't lean towards the ball handler, the pocket's

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Speaker 1: not open. If the pocket's not open, Yo kich isn't

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Speaker 1: going to get his opportunities to score there. Jamal Murray

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Speaker 1: when he was at his best, and what made this

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Speaker 1: so effective was Jamal was cooking teams coming off of

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Speaker 1: these scoring acts, these screening actions, whether it was with

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Speaker 1: curling and getting into floater range and making shots there.

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Speaker 1: If he's coming off and shooting pull up jump shots, right,

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Speaker 1: Jamal hasn't been as good this year, so it's been

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Speaker 1: harder to unlock that part of the game. Russell Westbrook

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Speaker 1: has been getting downhill in these ball screens, and it's

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Speaker 1: become such a problem for teams that he's either engaging

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Speaker 1: the screen defender and getting that pocket, or they're trying

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Speaker 1: to meet Jim. They're trying to meet Russ at the

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Speaker 1: screen to stop him from turning the corner, because once

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Speaker 1: he gets ahead of Steam he can be such a

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Speaker 1: problem there. And so Russ's ability to engage the screen

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Speaker 1: defender by actually getting downhill in those screens is forcing

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Speaker 1: Jokic's defender to account for us, which is leaving Yokic

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Speaker 1: with all these super easy opportunities in the short range

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Speaker 1: where he's so deadly with that floater or quick isolation

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Speaker 1: moves on the catch where can just spin over one

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Speaker 1: of his shoulders and knock down a shot. It is

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Speaker 1: completely unlocked, something that was missing during the early part

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Speaker 1: of this season. Again, twenty seven rollman points in two

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Speaker 1: games after not having a single game over ten points

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Speaker 1: to start the season. Russell Westbrook with twenty three assists

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Speaker 1: in the last two games. Fourteen of those assists or

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Speaker 1: to Nikolea Jokich. It's been a really interesting partnership. And again,

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Speaker 1: like a simple basketball concept, a two man game requires

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Speaker 1: two threats, and it's not going to be as effective

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Speaker 1: if one of the guys is not a threat. And

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Speaker 1: say what you want about Russell Westbrook and some of

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Speaker 1: his weaknesses at this point in his career, he's still

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Speaker 1: a great athlete that can turn the corner and get

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Speaker 1: downhill and wreck ha havoc for a defense, and he's

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Speaker 1: done a lot to help Nikole Jokic get going in

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Speaker 1: the role area, that short roll area on the floor.

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Speaker 1: This brings me to something I was talking about or

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Speaker 1: thinking about I should say when I was watching Jokics

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Speaker 1: this weekend. I don't know that Jokic will ever be

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Speaker 1: able to reach Lebron's two way peak because Lebron for

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Speaker 1: over a decade was a top three defender in the league,

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Speaker 1: maybe not in terms of regular season awards, but like

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Speaker 1: especially in playoff settings from the mid two thousands to

365
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Speaker 1: the mid twenty tens, and really it's still in spurts

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Speaker 1: up until twenty twenty, was able to leverage himself as

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Speaker 1: an athlete on the floor in transition and on defense

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Speaker 1: in a way that Jokic never will be able to do.

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Speaker 1: And overall, Lebron and Jokic are just so different as

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Speaker 1: players that there's just a huge subjectivity element. And this

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Speaker 1: is probably something that we'll just argue about forever, but

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Speaker 1: I will say this, I have never seen a basketball

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Speaker 1: player more easily generate offense for his team than Nikole

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Speaker 1: Jokic is doing right now. Not Lebron, not Kobe, not

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Speaker 1: kd not Steph. It may not have the aesthetic flair

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Speaker 1: that some of those guys do, it may not look

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Speaker 1: the same as some of the great offensive players of old,

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Speaker 1: but it is brutally effective. There isn't a soul in

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Speaker 1: the league that can guard him one on one. He's

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Speaker 1: the best passer in the league. There's very little variance

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Speaker 1: in his game compared to his peers. Again, he's an

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Speaker 1: elite shooter, but he doesn't take a lot of jump shots.

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Speaker 1: He's not depend on whether or not jump shots go

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Speaker 1: in or don't go in. His short range scoring has

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Speaker 1: sky high field goal percentage. Another way to put it

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Speaker 1: is like this, a Jokic iso or a ball screen

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Speaker 1: or a post up has a score percentage, meaning percentage

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Speaker 1: of possessions that end in points have his score percentage

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Speaker 1: well over fifty percent, so in late game situations, they

390
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Speaker 1: have the safest bet to generate points out of anybody

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Speaker 1: in the league, which is another part of why they've

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Speaker 1: been a top five clutch offense this year. Here's another

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Speaker 1: basic stat to explain just how effective Jokich has been

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Speaker 1: as an offensive player to start this year. In Jokic's

395
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Speaker 1: minutes this year, the Nuggets have a one twenty four

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Speaker 1: offensive rating despite not having a single teammate that can

397
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Speaker 1: reliably provide twenty points a game on the offensive end

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Speaker 1: of the floor. We got to call it like we

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Speaker 1: see it. Nobody has ever been this effective on the

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Speaker 1: offensive end of the floor in the history of basketball.

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Speaker 1: This is unprecedented. Again, I'm a big Lebron fan, I'm

402
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Speaker 1: a big step fan, and Steph's had some really special moments,

403
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Speaker 1: and Lebron was a really damn good offensive player at

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Speaker 1: his peak, pretty close to this, but I don't think

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Speaker 1: he was this good on the offensive end even at

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Speaker 1: his absolute peak. Thirty two points fourteen rebounds tennisis per

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Speaker 1: game on sixty five percent tru shooting so far to

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Speaker 1: start this year. It's just completely ridiculous. I don't know

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Speaker 1: what else to say. I just can't. We can't lie

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Speaker 1: about what we're seeing right now. No one's ever done this.

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Speaker 1: This is unprecedented in terms of offensive production on the

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Speaker 1: at the NBA level. All right, let's get into our

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Speaker 1: power rankings, and again, all of our odds that I

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Speaker 1: go over today are provided by our partner DraftKings, in

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00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:54,959
Speaker 1: case you're interested in jumping on any of these teams.

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Speaker 1: In terms of futures, starting with number ten, the Miami Heat,

417
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Speaker 1: they've won three in a row, seven other last ten

418
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Speaker 1: some quality wins in there too. They beat the Caves,

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Speaker 1: they beat the Lakers, the Suns, and the MAVs all

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Speaker 1: over that ten game span. In this last ten games,

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Speaker 1: they are eleventh in offense, ninth in defense, sixth and

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Speaker 1: net rating, and ninth in rebounding. Tyler Harrow has been hooping.

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Speaker 1: He was unreal during the win against Cleveland yesterday. Really

424
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Speaker 1: was the primary offensive initiator. A lot of action where

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Speaker 1: they were looking to attack Garland, going through him, shooting

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Speaker 1: over the top of him, that sort of thing. Thirty

427
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Speaker 1: four points, six rebounds, and seven assists for Tyler Harrow

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Speaker 1: in the win. He's also averaging twenty four, six and

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Speaker 1: five in this seven and three stretch. Also little known fact,

430
00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:35,920
Speaker 1: Tyler Harrow has been the best pull up jump shooter

431
00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:37,959
Speaker 1: in the league this year. Remember that was something that

432
00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:40,080
Speaker 1: was kind of a weakness for him in the early

433
00:20:40,119 --> 00:20:41,919
Speaker 1: part of his career, where he was like capable of

434
00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:43,800
Speaker 1: getting hot as a pull up shooter, he just was

435
00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:46,960
Speaker 1: never consistent with it. But he's been getting one point

436
00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:49,000
Speaker 1: two to three points per pull up jump shot this year,

437
00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:51,960
Speaker 1: number one in the league among the thirty six players

438
00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:54,359
Speaker 1: that have attempted at least one hundred pull up jump shots.

439
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:57,320
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler came back from his injury. They've started playing

440
00:20:57,359 --> 00:20:59,120
Speaker 1: through him more and he's found a really nice rhythm.

441
00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:02,600
Speaker 1: He's at twenty two, six and five on sixty three

442
00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:05,119
Speaker 1: percent from the field and fifty eight percent from three

443
00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:07,080
Speaker 1: over this ten game stretch, and they're getting some really

444
00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:09,879
Speaker 1: nice contributions down the roster. They moved Terry Rozier to

445
00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:12,160
Speaker 1: the bench, and he's been shooting the ball better because

446
00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:14,440
Speaker 1: he can just come in and be aggressive without fear

447
00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:17,200
Speaker 1: of stepping on other guys toes. Drew Smith has been

448
00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:19,199
Speaker 1: giving them good minutes off the bench too. He's just

449
00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:22,040
Speaker 1: an athletic guard who plays super hard. He slides his feet,

450
00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:25,320
Speaker 1: guards the ball well, he completes competes on the glass,

451
00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:27,399
Speaker 1: and he's been shooting the ball well as well. And

452
00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:30,920
Speaker 1: they're just that usual pesky Miami Heat type of defense,

453
00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:35,199
Speaker 1: mixing up scheme, randomly picking up full court, randomly going zone.

454
00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:38,000
Speaker 1: They were doing a really good job yesterday of bogging

455
00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:40,880
Speaker 1: down the Cavs pick and roll attack by digging down

456
00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:43,160
Speaker 1: on the rollman and causing some issues there. They held

457
00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:46,880
Speaker 1: Cleveland to just eight points on rollman possessions yesterday. They

458
00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:49,080
Speaker 1: are the fourth best team in the league at scoring

459
00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:51,760
Speaker 1: on rollman possessions and had double figures in three straight

460
00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:54,359
Speaker 1: games on rollman possessions, and the Heat held them to

461
00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:58,240
Speaker 1: eight just by digging down, slapping at the ball, disrupting

462
00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:00,400
Speaker 1: the rhythm of those guys on the catch. They defended

463
00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:02,639
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell really well. Good mix of Jimmy Butler and

464
00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:05,840
Speaker 1: Hayward Highsmith there. The biggest thing for them by far, though,

465
00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:09,479
Speaker 1: is they're getting consistent offensive production on two fronts now

466
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:11,840
Speaker 1: with Jimmy getting going. If you remember, to start the

467
00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:14,040
Speaker 1: year was all Tyler, Harrow and Jimmy and Bam were

468
00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:16,520
Speaker 1: floundering and a lot of bad body language, a lot

469
00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:19,879
Speaker 1: of weird shots selection and now Jimmy and Tyler have

470
00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:21,600
Speaker 1: it going and they look more like a good team.

471
00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:23,399
Speaker 1: And if you believe in the heat right now, they

472
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,240
Speaker 1: are plus forty five hundred to win the title and

473
00:22:26,359 --> 00:22:30,640
Speaker 1: plus sixteen hundred to win the Eastern Conference. Number nine

474
00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:33,120
Speaker 1: the Golden State Warriors a two and two week los's

475
00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:34,760
Speaker 1: a tough one to Denver. They were up eight with

476
00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:36,560
Speaker 1: four and a half minutes left, but then Jokic walked

477
00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:38,240
Speaker 1: them down, and then the Nuggets got a couple of

478
00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:41,200
Speaker 1: good defensive possessions against Steph where they denied him. The

479
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:44,600
Speaker 1: basketball got some stops. Nuggets got that win. But then

480
00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:48,240
Speaker 1: the Warriors bounced back by beating Houston without Stephan Draymond,

481
00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:50,440
Speaker 1: one of the biggest wins for them this season. Johnavicamingo

482
00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:53,520
Speaker 1: went off in that game. Really impressive defensive effort from

483
00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:55,920
Speaker 1: the whole group. Just found money to win a game

484
00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:58,480
Speaker 1: like that against a really good Western Conference team without

485
00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:01,320
Speaker 1: your two best players. They split a two game home

486
00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:04,440
Speaker 1: set against Minnesota to very different games. Like Draymond came

487
00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:06,240
Speaker 1: off the bench in the first game and then Wiggins

488
00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:08,000
Speaker 1: was out for the second game, and it was all

489
00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:11,000
Speaker 1: basically to facilitate a return for Jonathan Kaminga to the

490
00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:14,960
Speaker 1: starting lineup. And the idea here is they desperately need

491
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:18,800
Speaker 1: someone that can become that consistent secondary score next to Steph,

492
00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:23,120
Speaker 1: and statistically, in theory, it's doing that, and his four

493
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:26,359
Speaker 1: games that he started here consecutively started all of these

494
00:23:26,440 --> 00:23:29,080
Speaker 1: last four games, it's averaging twenty one points on forty

495
00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:31,280
Speaker 1: nine percent from the field and thirty eight percent from three.

496
00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:33,800
Speaker 1: But it is inconsistent, like he was unbelievably good in

497
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,119
Speaker 1: the Houston game and then pretty uneven in the Minnesota games.

498
00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:39,160
Speaker 1: And so I think part of it is to try

499
00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:42,480
Speaker 1: to drive some rhythm for Kaminga, to try to get

500
00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:44,879
Speaker 1: him going so that they get some more consistent scoring

501
00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:47,200
Speaker 1: next next to Steph. But I also think it serves

502
00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:49,600
Speaker 1: a second purpose, and that is there have been a

503
00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:51,880
Speaker 1: lot of reports going around that the Warriors are looking

504
00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:54,280
Speaker 1: for a second start to pair with Steph. Not a

505
00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:55,879
Speaker 1: big shock. This has been one of the biggest talking

506
00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:59,520
Speaker 1: points surrounding this team to start this season. But changes

507
00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:01,560
Speaker 1: in value you can go a long way to facilitate that.

508
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:05,040
Speaker 1: So even if someone like me doesn't think Jonathan Kaminga

509
00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:08,199
Speaker 1: is ready to be of secondary scoring option on a

510
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:11,320
Speaker 1: championship level team. He can certainly do it during the

511
00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:14,440
Speaker 1: regular season for a middle of the pack Western Conference team,

512
00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:17,480
Speaker 1: and then in the process he can increase his trade value.

513
00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:19,480
Speaker 1: Then on the other end, like for instance, we talked

514
00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:21,960
Speaker 1: about Brandon Ingram a lot in the mail bag. If

515
00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:25,160
Speaker 1: Brandon Ingram has a series ankle injury like this, that

516
00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:28,640
Speaker 1: could affect his trade value. So maybe something like Kaminga's

517
00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:32,040
Speaker 1: value going up in Ingram's value going down could facilitate

518
00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:33,920
Speaker 1: something like that. Or if it's not brandon Ingram, maybe

519
00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:35,920
Speaker 1: it's someone else. But I think that's a big part

520
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:38,199
Speaker 1: of it too, Just trying to drive rhythm, trying to

521
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:41,080
Speaker 1: provide some secondary scoring for Steph, and trying to increase

522
00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:44,080
Speaker 1: Jonathan Kaminga's trade value by getting him as much opportunity

523
00:24:44,119 --> 00:24:47,399
Speaker 1: as possible. Last thing I wanted to hit before we

524
00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:50,239
Speaker 1: move on, there's a really funny moment at the end

525
00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:53,400
Speaker 1: of the second Timberwolves game. Everyone's seeing the highlight of

526
00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,679
Speaker 1: Dreymond Green getting that dunk and then doing the night

527
00:24:56,800 --> 00:24:58,960
Speaker 1: Night celebration as he runs down the floor. But there

528
00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:02,800
Speaker 1: was a really funny a basketball concept at play there

529
00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:06,200
Speaker 1: because they ran an inverted ball screen. Was Steph screening

530
00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:10,000
Speaker 1: for Draymond as he was getting downhill. And it's kind

531
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:11,720
Speaker 1: of genius if you think about it, because we all

532
00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:14,199
Speaker 1: know I should say I shouldn't say genius. It's kind

533
00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:17,320
Speaker 1: of like diabolical and evil to do this, but that's

534
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:21,280
Speaker 1: what's so funny about it. So Draymond obviously doesn't like

535
00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:24,119
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert. Not a big shock. He's openly put him

536
00:25:24,119 --> 00:25:27,199
Speaker 1: in a headlock on national television and then he if

537
00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:29,760
Speaker 1: you guys remember in the Western Conference Finals last year,

538
00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:32,240
Speaker 1: in Game two, he's like throwing a party in the

539
00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:36,440
Speaker 1: stands as he's covering the Luka Doncic game winner over

540
00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:38,520
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert to put the MAVs up two zero in

541
00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,200
Speaker 1: that series. So not exactly a big shock that Draymond

542
00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:44,000
Speaker 1: doesn't like Rudy Gobert. That said, though, this was the

543
00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:47,720
Speaker 1: perfect way to try to humiliate him. So again, like

544
00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:50,280
Speaker 1: what do we always talk about with inverted ball screens?

545
00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:53,600
Speaker 1: The big guy who's guarding the ball doesn't have a

546
00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:57,760
Speaker 1: lot of experience navigating screens because he's usually the screen defender,

547
00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:01,480
Speaker 1: not the guy fighting through the screen. Right then you've

548
00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,639
Speaker 1: got a shooter screening for Draymon, in this case, the

549
00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:08,280
Speaker 1: best shooter in the world. So Jad McDaniels, who's guarding Steph,

550
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,359
Speaker 1: is not going to want to help off of Steph

551
00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:14,600
Speaker 1: to stop Draymond Green driving to the basket. So it's

552
00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:16,960
Speaker 1: a genius play design because all Draymond has to do

553
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:18,600
Speaker 1: and you could see he saw the coming the whole time.

554
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:22,000
Speaker 1: He's high stepping up the four, just starting to get

555
00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,119
Speaker 1: his groove going before he even starts attacking. And then

556
00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:26,399
Speaker 1: as he starts driving, all Steph has to do is

557
00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:29,320
Speaker 1: hit go bear with a good screen. Jada McDaniels is

558
00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:32,000
Speaker 1: not going to help, and Draymond just turns the corner,

559
00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:33,919
Speaker 1: goes up there and jackhammers it with one hand and

560
00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:36,800
Speaker 1: goes down the floor doing the Night Night. Just hilarious because,

561
00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:39,720
Speaker 1: like again, this is the type of pettiness that we

562
00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:43,320
Speaker 1: all live for, right as a beef between two players,

563
00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:46,800
Speaker 1: a play design specifically to humiliate that player, and then

564
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:49,159
Speaker 1: Draymond gets to take his victory lap on Rudy Gobert.

565
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:51,240
Speaker 1: If you're looking to bet on the Warriors futures right now,

566
00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:54,160
Speaker 1: they're plus eighteen hundred to win the title, plus nine

567
00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,480
Speaker 1: hundred to win the Western Conference. Number eight. The Milwaukee

568
00:26:57,520 --> 00:26:59,240
Speaker 1: Buck's not gonna spend too much time on him because

569
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:00,680
Speaker 1: we just talked about them at the top of the show.

570
00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:03,000
Speaker 1: But two and two this week blew out the Pistons

571
00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,040
Speaker 1: in Detroit. Then they got ran off the floor against Atlanta,

572
00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:07,280
Speaker 1: just a really sloppy game for their transition defense that

573
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:10,200
Speaker 1: just got ran by all night long by Jalen Johnson.

574
00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:12,280
Speaker 1: Then they lost a tough game in Boston, and that

575
00:27:12,359 --> 00:27:14,720
Speaker 1: one was disappointing because they were in that game really

576
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:17,880
Speaker 1: until late and then just made some execution errors. Dame

577
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:20,320
Speaker 1: tried to like grift a foul and a three point

578
00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:23,760
Speaker 1: shot against Jalen Brown on the ensuing miss, Giannis like

579
00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:26,960
Speaker 1: gambled in the backcourt. Boston scored in transition. I thought

580
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:29,400
Speaker 1: Giannis took two really bad pull up jump shots down

581
00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:30,960
Speaker 1: the stretch of that game that he didn't need to take.

582
00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:33,160
Speaker 1: I just got tay him out played him both down

583
00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:35,080
Speaker 1: the stretch in that game. So a little bit disappointing there,

584
00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:37,200
Speaker 1: But then they got to bounce back win against Brooklyn

585
00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:39,040
Speaker 1: that we talked about off the top, which was a

586
00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:41,840
Speaker 1: really impressive game, and really impressive show of fight from

587
00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:43,840
Speaker 1: that team. Bucks right now plus seventeen hundred to win

588
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:48,000
Speaker 1: the title, plus eight hundred to win the Eastern Conference.

589
00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:50,639
Speaker 1: Number seven the Orlando Magic two and two week, a

590
00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,639
Speaker 1: couple of losses in New York and Philly, got some

591
00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:55,840
Speaker 1: really a couple losses in New York and Philly, and

592
00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:57,800
Speaker 1: then they won in Philly, and then they got to

593
00:27:57,840 --> 00:27:59,880
Speaker 1: win at home against the Suns. Got some really bad

594
00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:03,080
Speaker 1: news on the fran Franz Wagner front. He torez oblique.

595
00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:05,640
Speaker 1: Kind of crazy because I've never even I can't even

596
00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:07,800
Speaker 1: remember the previous time I heard of that injury happening

597
00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:09,640
Speaker 1: to an NBA player, and now it's happened to two

598
00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:11,960
Speaker 1: of the best players on the same team, like a

599
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:14,320
Speaker 1: month apart, So that's really strange. But they still have

600
00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:16,120
Speaker 1: a super high floor because they still have a ton

601
00:28:16,119 --> 00:28:17,840
Speaker 1: of perimeter speed and a lot of guys who can

602
00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:20,800
Speaker 1: guard the ball at multiple positions. And they already won

603
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:23,239
Speaker 1: their first game without Franz coming back to beat the

604
00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:27,400
Speaker 1: Suns yesterday. Jalen Suggs really took over the creation load

605
00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:31,000
Speaker 1: in that game. He's hit four threes in three consecutive games,

606
00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:34,600
Speaker 1: a lot of really impressive footwork from Jalen Suggs in

607
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:36,399
Speaker 1: that game, a lot of like again, it's always interesting

608
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:38,720
Speaker 1: when you see guys get hurt and guys step into

609
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:40,800
Speaker 1: larger roles, you get to learn more about some of

610
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:44,280
Speaker 1: their more advanced skill development. And Jalen Suggs a lot

611
00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:47,920
Speaker 1: of like nifty like step throughs and pivots and like

612
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:51,600
Speaker 1: pump bakes leading into to counters and just a lot

613
00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:54,320
Speaker 1: of really impressive scoring chops that he showed in the

614
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:57,120
Speaker 1: short to mid range in that game against the Suns.

615
00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:00,360
Speaker 1: But unfortunately, this Franz Wagner injury comes at the worst

616
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,600
Speaker 1: possible time because Orlando's next six games are at Milwaukee

617
00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:07,600
Speaker 1: and then a home stand, but a home stand against OKCE, Miami, Boston,

618
00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:11,080
Speaker 1: Miami again, and the New York Knicks. So Mike drop

619
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:13,680
Speaker 1: some games here in the standings. It'll be really interesting

620
00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:16,960
Speaker 1: to see with the high floor I'm talking about at home,

621
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:18,440
Speaker 1: playing in front of their home crowd, if they could

622
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:21,120
Speaker 1: just somehow eke out two or three of those wins,

623
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:22,800
Speaker 1: they could be in pretty good shape moving forward. The

624
00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:25,120
Speaker 1: magic right now plus forty five hundred to win the title,

625
00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:28,160
Speaker 1: plus fifteen hundred to win the Eastern Conference Number six.

626
00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:31,360
Speaker 1: The Houston Rockets one and two week for them, they

627
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:33,240
Speaker 1: lost on the road in Sacramento, and then they suffered

628
00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:37,840
Speaker 1: a bad loss to Golden State in San Francisco. Without

629
00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:40,960
Speaker 1: Steph or Draymond playing, offense really bogged down in that one.

630
00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:43,120
Speaker 1: That's one of the big things I've noticed with Houston

631
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 1: this year is the inconsistency of Jalen Green and Fred

632
00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:49,600
Speaker 1: Van Vliet. When those two guys are like good, bad

633
00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:52,479
Speaker 1: and everything in between on any given night, it just

634
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:56,160
Speaker 1: is really difficult for them to have like steady offensive production,

635
00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:58,360
Speaker 1: and like when both of them struggle, they can lose

636
00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:01,479
Speaker 1: to anyone. That Warriors game, Jalen Green and Fred Van

637
00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:03,520
Speaker 1: Vliet combined to go nine for thirty two from the

638
00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:05,720
Speaker 1: field for just twenty seven points. And again I went

639
00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:08,520
Speaker 1: over some examples last week, but whenever those two struggle,

640
00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:11,000
Speaker 1: it's like a guaranteed loss, regardless of who they're playing,

641
00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:14,360
Speaker 1: just because of their offensive limitations. But Ema Udoka jumped

642
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,600
Speaker 1: on them after that game and basically called them soft,

643
00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:19,080
Speaker 1: and then they had a nice little bounce back win

644
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:22,080
Speaker 1: against the Clippers, who are missing James Harden. The Rockets

645
00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:25,240
Speaker 1: right now are plus five thousand to win the NBA

646
00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:28,280
Speaker 1: title and plus two thousand to win the Western Conference.

647
00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:30,600
Speaker 1: Number five the Memphis Grizzlies. They've won three in a

648
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:32,920
Speaker 1: row and now nine out of ten. Should have beat

649
00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:34,560
Speaker 1: Dallas too. They were up big in the fourth quarter,

650
00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:37,040
Speaker 1: but they really lost their composure in that game, committed

651
00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:40,440
Speaker 1: several silly fouls, and then they lost Spencer Dinwoody twice

652
00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:43,320
Speaker 1: in crunch time for threes. Somewhat discouraging because they had

653
00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:45,240
Speaker 1: won six in a row against some bad teams and

654
00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:48,000
Speaker 1: that could have been like that legitimizing win. But then

655
00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:51,040
Speaker 1: they got their legitimizing win against Boston. They bounced back,

656
00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:53,040
Speaker 1: first of all beating the Kings, then they beat the

657
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,920
Speaker 1: Celtics in Boston. John Morangoes for thirty two to nine

658
00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:58,400
Speaker 1: and nine has one of the best highlights I've seen

659
00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:00,880
Speaker 1: in the last few years. That double hump reverse dunk.

660
00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:04,280
Speaker 1: Like he's been putting on a show every night and

661
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:08,080
Speaker 1: he's just becoming musty television. But I watched that dunk,

662
00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:11,520
Speaker 1: that driving baseline dunk, like twenty times that night. It's legitimately,

663
00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:14,200
Speaker 1: legitimately one of the best highlights I've seen in recent years,

664
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:16,440
Speaker 1: and just goes to show the incredible show that John

665
00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:19,000
Speaker 1: Moran is. And then Jared Jackson Junior, he put on

666
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:23,000
Speaker 1: an absolute show, a fundamentally great basketball in that second half,

667
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:26,760
Speaker 1: just carrying the Memphis offense for stretches, hitting threes, He's

668
00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:29,600
Speaker 1: putting every Boston wing in the blender and just pivoting

669
00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:33,800
Speaker 1: over both shoulders for spinning hook shots and just a

670
00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:37,080
Speaker 1: clinic of post moves. He had three steals and four blocks.

671
00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:40,240
Speaker 1: He's been playing really, really well for this team, and

672
00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:43,760
Speaker 1: it just him giving them like real balance to their

673
00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:48,479
Speaker 1: scoring because again, like Bain provides like screening action scoring right,

674
00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:50,680
Speaker 1: like shooting coming off of screens. The guy can get

675
00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:53,560
Speaker 1: downhill on curls, stuff like that. John Moran's just kind

676
00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:56,320
Speaker 1: of a unicorn, right, But like Jared Jackson brings the

677
00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:59,840
Speaker 1: bully ball, he brings the big mismatch attacking forward to

678
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:04,000
Speaker 1: beat switches with size, and again that just rounds everything

679
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:08,120
Speaker 1: out for them offensively. That's their third in offense overall

680
00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:11,160
Speaker 1: over this ten game span, seventh in defense over this

681
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:14,000
Speaker 1: ten game span. They're fast on the perimeter, they have

682
00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:16,840
Speaker 1: rim protection, they're defending the three point line incredibly well.

683
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:19,120
Speaker 1: In the streak They're allowing fewer than twelve mad threes

684
00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:21,560
Speaker 1: per game, which is third best in the NBA over

685
00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:24,760
Speaker 1: this ten game span. They're also ten top ten enforcing

686
00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:28,240
Speaker 1: turnovers and scoring on turnovers over this span. The only

687
00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:30,400
Speaker 1: weird thing is the Marcus smart fit has looked a

688
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:33,040
Speaker 1: little odd as of Lady's been coming off the bench.

689
00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:36,480
Speaker 1: He's taken some funky shots, his rotation minutes seemed to

690
00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:39,040
Speaker 1: be shrinking a little bit. It's not as good defensively

691
00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:40,600
Speaker 1: as he used to be. He was the culprit of

692
00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:42,960
Speaker 1: a lot of those bad fouls at the end against Dallas.

693
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:44,640
Speaker 1: Just something I'm keeping an eye on because I wonder

694
00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:46,400
Speaker 1: if he ends up getting moved before the end of

695
00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:48,600
Speaker 1: this year. The Grizzlies are plus three thousand to win

696
00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:52,600
Speaker 1: the title, plus fourteen hundred to win the Western Conference.

697
00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:56,760
Speaker 1: Number four. The Dallas Mavericks quickly becoming one of the

698
00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,360
Speaker 1: teams that I'm highest on here around the NBA. They've

699
00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:01,600
Speaker 1: won seven in row and eleven out of twelve. They

700
00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:03,400
Speaker 1: have the best record in the league over the last

701
00:33:03,440 --> 00:33:06,440
Speaker 1: twelve games for any team. Third in offense, seventh and

702
00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:10,440
Speaker 1: defense second net rating, first in rebounding and since returning

703
00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:13,240
Speaker 1: from injury, Luca has looked more like Luca thirty one

704
00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:15,640
Speaker 1: eleven to ten on fifty one percent from the field

705
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:18,440
Speaker 1: in forty three percent from three, basically the MVP level

706
00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:20,360
Speaker 1: Luca that we all knew Luca could be, but that

707
00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:23,480
Speaker 1: he wasn't being to start this year. I wasn't particularly

708
00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:25,000
Speaker 1: worried about. I figured it would just takes some time,

709
00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:27,640
Speaker 1: and it seems to be that he's coming around. And

710
00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:30,640
Speaker 1: then after going nineteen for thirty from the field over

711
00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:33,040
Speaker 1: the last two games, Kyrie Irving is now up to

712
00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:36,320
Speaker 1: sixty three percent true shooting on the season. Remember how

713
00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:38,880
Speaker 1: we talked about Tyler Harrow in his pull up jump shooting.

714
00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:41,960
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving's been the third best pull up jump shooter

715
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:43,840
Speaker 1: in the league to start this year. Thirty six players

716
00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,240
Speaker 1: have attempted at least one hundred Kyrie is getting one

717
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:49,320
Speaker 1: point one to nine points per attempt, which ranks third.

718
00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:52,120
Speaker 1: They're also super deep. They have a half dozen different

719
00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:54,040
Speaker 1: role players that can be a star on any given

720
00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:56,239
Speaker 1: night as star in their role I mean, and then

721
00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:59,400
Speaker 1: they're versatile. They're huge on the front line, fast on

722
00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:01,600
Speaker 1: the perimeter. I was a little concerned about their perimeter

723
00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:04,440
Speaker 1: speed to start the year, but then a couple guys popped,

724
00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:06,800
Speaker 1: like Quintin Grimes has pop, Spencer Dinwitodi has popped, and

725
00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:10,920
Speaker 1: like getting two athletic guards that basically were considered fringe

726
00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:13,759
Speaker 1: rotation guys to start the year. That's really alleviated that

727
00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:15,879
Speaker 1: concern for me. I feel like they have a ton

728
00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:18,720
Speaker 1: of matchup flexibility. They have a lot more ball handling

729
00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:23,640
Speaker 1: and shooting than last year. Again, I believe that Luca

730
00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:25,920
Speaker 1: and Kyrie will play better in the postseason this year

731
00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:27,560
Speaker 1: than they did last year. I think they're the third

732
00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:31,680
Speaker 1: most likely championship contending team in the league this year.

733
00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:33,440
Speaker 1: I think they have a favorable schedule for the rest

734
00:34:33,520 --> 00:34:35,880
Speaker 1: of this month, so like I'd be looking out for

735
00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:38,239
Speaker 1: Boston or for Dallas, excuse me, to potentially be the

736
00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:41,160
Speaker 1: number one seed in the West going into the new year,

737
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:43,560
Speaker 1: especially if they can win in Oklahoma City tomorrow night

738
00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:45,640
Speaker 1: and gain a game on them heading into that stretch.

739
00:34:45,680 --> 00:34:48,320
Speaker 1: So if you believe in the Maps plus eleven hundred

740
00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:51,719
Speaker 1: right now to win the title according to DraftKings, plus

741
00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:54,640
Speaker 1: five point fifty to win the Western Conference number three

742
00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:57,160
Speaker 1: the Oklahoma City Thunder, really easy schedule for them this week,

743
00:34:57,200 --> 00:34:59,160
Speaker 1: just the Jazz, the Raptors, and Pelicans. They went three

744
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:01,920
Speaker 1: to zero. Put on an offensive masterclass in the first

745
00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:05,120
Speaker 1: half against Orlando as Shay and Jalen combined for thirty

746
00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:07,959
Speaker 1: nine points on eighteen shots to start that game. Alex

747
00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:09,960
Speaker 1: Cruso got off to a rough start to start this

748
00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:12,439
Speaker 1: Year's hit multiple threes in backback games for the first

749
00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:14,680
Speaker 1: time this season, so that's a good sign. Much more

750
00:35:14,719 --> 00:35:16,800
Speaker 1: fun week for the Oklahoma City Thunder coming up with

751
00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:19,839
Speaker 1: the n Season Tournament starting with Dallas tomorrow night. Will

752
00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 1: be covering that game in the Wednesday morning show The

753
00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:24,560
Speaker 1: Thunder Right Now. Plus three to eighty to win the

754
00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:27,880
Speaker 1: NBA title, plus one ninety five to win the Western Conference.

755
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:30,440
Speaker 1: Number two the Boston Celtics. It started the week three

756
00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:32,680
Speaker 1: to zero, including an impressive win over the Bucks where

757
00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:34,600
Speaker 1: I just thought they out executed him down the stretch.

758
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:38,200
Speaker 1: Tatum continues to just do a really nice job executing

759
00:35:38,239 --> 00:35:39,960
Speaker 1: in the half court. I thought his second half against

760
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:42,040
Speaker 1: Milwaukee was one of his best that he's played in

761
00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:44,880
Speaker 1: a long time. Continues to show just a ton of

762
00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:48,520
Speaker 1: growth as that surgeon in the half court decision making.

763
00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:50,759
Speaker 1: When things really slowed down, they dropped a tough one

764
00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:52,640
Speaker 1: of the Memphis Grizzlies where they just got outshot. It

765
00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:54,640
Speaker 1: was a super funky game. They stuck Jaron Jackson and

766
00:35:54,719 --> 00:35:58,080
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday and just completely ignored him and Drew Holiday

767
00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:00,520
Speaker 1: like shot sixty percent on corner threes last year, but

768
00:36:00,520 --> 00:36:02,480
Speaker 1: he's just having a weird year with corner threes this

769
00:36:02,560 --> 00:36:05,960
Speaker 1: year and down to thirty one percent, obviously a huge

770
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:07,920
Speaker 1: drop off from last year, but he just kind of struggled.

771
00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:09,880
Speaker 1: They kind of threw them out a rhythm as a team,

772
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:13,719
Speaker 1: and the Celtics went eighteen for sixty from three in

773
00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:16,520
Speaker 1: that game. The Grizzlies only made three fewer threes on

774
00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:19,800
Speaker 1: twenty seven fewer attempts. I had a lot of people

775
00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:22,279
Speaker 1: send me questions on Twitter like are you concerned at

776
00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:25,000
Speaker 1: all with the Celtics and their number in the three

777
00:36:25,040 --> 00:36:27,520
Speaker 1: point volume that they're taking, And I'm just not. I

778
00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:30,799
Speaker 1: just I've They've just shown too often that they can

779
00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:33,160
Speaker 1: rain things in and get the right shots when they

780
00:36:33,239 --> 00:36:37,160
Speaker 1: need to. This is again like slippage and execution happens

781
00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:40,240
Speaker 1: for every single team in the league. For super talented

782
00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:42,080
Speaker 1: teams like Boston, It's not going to look like it

783
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:43,560
Speaker 1: did for the Lakers. It's not going to look like

784
00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:46,040
Speaker 1: them quitting in Miami and getting blown out by forty.

785
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:48,200
Speaker 1: For them, it's going to be like, yeah, they settle

786
00:36:48,239 --> 00:36:50,520
Speaker 1: a little bit more than they should, maybe they don't

787
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:53,239
Speaker 1: defend as sharp as they should, and things get a

788
00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:56,040
Speaker 1: little funky. But like that's the equivalent of a funk

789
00:36:56,080 --> 00:36:58,640
Speaker 1: for the Celtics team. Like, I'm not concerned about their

790
00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:01,319
Speaker 1: shots selection. They've shown a pretty extended sample to me

791
00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:03,359
Speaker 1: of them getting that under control when they need to.

792
00:37:03,719 --> 00:37:05,960
Speaker 1: Tatum again, is just playing at the highest level I've

793
00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:08,880
Speaker 1: seen him play in the half courts, So to be honest,

794
00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:11,280
Speaker 1: I'm more confident in the Celtics as a championship favorite

795
00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:13,439
Speaker 1: than ever. I think they're just better than last year. Again,

796
00:37:13,480 --> 00:37:16,719
Speaker 1: Tatum is substantially better than last year, both statistically and

797
00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:19,279
Speaker 1: in his overall feel for the game. Peyton Pritchard has

798
00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:22,160
Speaker 1: become arguably the best backup guard in the league. Sam

799
00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:25,040
Speaker 1: Hauser as of late, is shooting the ball as confidently

800
00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:27,640
Speaker 1: and effectively as anyone in the league. He's at forty

801
00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:30,080
Speaker 1: six percent from three on six attempts per game in

802
00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:32,760
Speaker 1: just twenty three minutes per game over his last eight games,

803
00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:35,560
Speaker 1: and it's like full on green light, like if he

804
00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:37,719
Speaker 1: gets any space, it's going up type of stuff, and

805
00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:39,960
Speaker 1: he's just hitting him at a crazy high rate. Like

806
00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:43,440
Speaker 1: these are just influxes of talent. Howser getting better, Pritchard

807
00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:47,479
Speaker 1: getting better, Tatum getting better. These already make a team

808
00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:50,239
Speaker 1: that is was the best team in the league talent

809
00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:53,839
Speaker 1: wise into an even more talented team. And again, I've

810
00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:56,160
Speaker 1: seen people complaining about Drew and about Jalen and some

811
00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:58,439
Speaker 1: of their struggles that they're having. I'm just not worried

812
00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:00,320
Speaker 1: about them. In the big picture. They're gonna be fine.

813
00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:03,239
Speaker 1: And so I'm just having a hard time conceptualizing any

814
00:38:03,239 --> 00:38:06,600
Speaker 1: team beating Boston four times in two weeks. If you

815
00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:08,480
Speaker 1: agree with me, the Celtics right now are plus two

816
00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:10,720
Speaker 1: to sixty five to win the title, plus one twenty

817
00:38:11,160 --> 00:38:13,000
Speaker 1: to win the Eastern Conference, and the number one the

818
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:15,520
Speaker 1: Cleveland Cavaliers. They won three straight to start the week,

819
00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:18,319
Speaker 1: including just eviscerating the Nuggets and picking Rowledge couldn't guard

820
00:38:18,360 --> 00:38:20,480
Speaker 1: him in ball screens. Then they dropped a really tough

821
00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:22,719
Speaker 1: one on the road in Miami, some similar stuff to

822
00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:25,320
Speaker 1: what we've seen of late, like Miami just attacking Garland

823
00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:27,520
Speaker 1: a lot in ball screens and in ISO's and then

824
00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:30,160
Speaker 1: the offensive glass, which is something that has periodically popped

825
00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:32,640
Speaker 1: up for this team over the years. But they started

826
00:38:32,719 --> 00:38:35,000
Speaker 1: really good on the defensive glass at the beginning of

827
00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:37,960
Speaker 1: the season, like they were top ten defensive rebounding team

828
00:38:38,239 --> 00:38:40,160
Speaker 1: to start the season in the first month or so.

829
00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:42,759
Speaker 1: In the last month, though, they've been a bottom ten

830
00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:45,880
Speaker 1: defensive rebounding team. They give up ten offensive rebounds to

831
00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:48,680
Speaker 1: Miami in nineteen second chance points. It was basically the

832
00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:50,520
Speaker 1: difference in the game. And if you remember going back

833
00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:53,919
Speaker 1: even to the to the Knick series in the first

834
00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:56,239
Speaker 1: round last or two years ago, this has been something

835
00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:58,319
Speaker 1: that's popped up for them a little bit periodically as

836
00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:00,879
Speaker 1: their ability to defensive rebounds. Something to keep an eye

837
00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:03,640
Speaker 1: on the Cavaliers right now. Or plus fourteen hundred to

838
00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:05,160
Speaker 1: win the title and plus six hundred to win the

839
00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:09,960
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference. All odds are provided by our partner Draft Kings,

840
00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:12,200
Speaker 1: and that will do it for today's power rankings, and

841
00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:13,600
Speaker 1: that will do it for today's show. As always, as

842
00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:16,760
Speaker 1: sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting Oops tonight.

843
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:18,759
Speaker 1: We'll be back tomorrow with a little bit of an

844
00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:21,040
Speaker 1: end season tournament preview as well as well as a mailbag.

845
00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:23,040
Speaker 1: Make sure you get those questions dropped in the comments.

846
00:39:23,280 --> 00:39:28,080
Speaker 1: I'll see you guys, then the volume. What's up guys.

847
00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:30,920
Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting

848
00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:33,520
Speaker 1: hoops tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us

849
00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:35,440
Speaker 1: if you guys would take a second and leave a

850
00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:38,120
Speaker 1: rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys

851
00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:39,759
Speaker 1: supporting us, but if you could take a minute to

852
00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:41,640
Speaker 1: do that, I'd really appreciate it.