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Speaker 1: welcome to hoops tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody.
Speaker 1: Hope all of you guys are having a great day
Speaker 1: so far. Got a jam pack show for you today.
Speaker 1: We're hitting two games from last night, the Kings and
Speaker 1: the Warriors, who can't seem to play anything other than
Speaker 1: a highly entertaining basketball game. We have another Warriors game
Speaker 1: winner in that matchup, this time from Klay Thompson. The
Speaker 1: Minnesota Timberwolves finally snap out of whatever early season funk
Speaker 1: they were in and beat the living shit out of
Speaker 1: the Denver Nuggets that was a super interesting game that
Speaker 1: I want to dive into from the perspective of both teams.
Speaker 1: Then we're going to do a deep dive into the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics. They unleashed an absolutely epic beat down a
Speaker 1: fifty one point victory over the Indiana Pacers last night,
Speaker 1: and they are playing some of the highest level basketball
Speaker 1: that you will see. And I have a bunch of
Speaker 1: numbers I want to go over with you guys to
Speaker 1: demonstrate just how crazy good the Celtics have been to
Speaker 1: start this year. For those of you guys, I mentioned
Speaker 1: last night, I was going to do a deep dive
Speaker 1: on the Bucks. Had a little bit of a time
Speaker 1: crunch today, didn't get around to that, but I'm going
Speaker 1: to do that one tomorrow. So if you're looking for
Speaker 1: a deep dive into the Bucks and their defensive and
Speaker 1: offense struggles and a lot of interesting stuff going on
Speaker 1: on that front, we're going to hit that in tomorrow's show,
Speaker 1: in addition to a couple breakdowns of games in the
Speaker 1: Thursday Night Slate. You guys are the joke for we
Speaker 1: get started. Subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel. We're
Speaker 1: trying to get this thing launched off the ground. It
Speaker 1: would mean a lot to me if you guys would
Speaker 1: take a few seconds of scroll down and hit that
Speaker 1: subscribe button. Don't forget about social media TikTok, Instagram, especially Twitter.
Speaker 1: That's where I post a lot of the video clips
Speaker 1: when I'm doing my film sessions in the mornings, and
Speaker 1: it's a great way to kind of get a visual
Speaker 1: representation of a lot of the concepts that I talk about.
Speaker 1: Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your
Speaker 1: podcast under Hoops tonight. And last, but not least, don't
Speaker 1: forget to keep dropping mail bag questions and the YouTube
Speaker 1: comments so we can hit them at the end of
Speaker 1: the show. I don't have time for mailbag questions today,
Speaker 1: but we will be hitting them three four times a
Speaker 1: week throughout the season. That's what I usually grab. And
Speaker 1: in the YouTube comments, add that mail bag question moniker
Speaker 1: at the front, so as I'm scrolling through, it's easier
Speaker 1: for me to find than when I'm looking for questions.
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So no darreon Fox
Speaker 1: brain his ankle late in the game against the Layers, Right,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be out. I guess at least a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks they started Davion Mitchell in that spot, and
Speaker 1: you know, he's always been an outstanding perimeter defender, a
Speaker 1: guy who's made Steph Curry work, but he was, you know,
Speaker 1: too limited offensively to be enough of a weapon in
Speaker 1: that playoff series against the Warriors last year. Right, Well,
Speaker 1: he's been shooting the ball really well this season, a
Speaker 1: trend that I'd noticed starting in preseason. So far through
Speaker 1: the regular season to this point, fifty six percent effective
Speaker 1: field goal percentage on catch and shoot jump shots and
Speaker 1: fifty eight percent on pull ups. So he's added just
Speaker 1: enough of that shot making piece to make him a
Speaker 1: viable piece. I thought he kind of set the tone
Speaker 1: on both ends of the floor for the Kings last night,
Speaker 1: and then the entire group just played extremely hard defensively.
Speaker 1: Like again, it's funny with this Kings team. They're almost
Speaker 1: like a they're almost cursed by their own offensive skill,
Speaker 1: right with some bonus with three athletic wings that can
Speaker 1: all shoot and put the ball on the floor, a
Speaker 1: deer and fox at the helm, with Malik Mounk coming
Speaker 1: off the bench and some of the bench scoring options
Speaker 1: they have, they just are so gifted offensively that a
Speaker 1: lot of times they can win games without being a
Speaker 1: team that's super dedicated on the details defensively. But they're
Speaker 1: actually a better defensive team in terms of personnel than
Speaker 1: you would think, especially if you look at the perimeter,
Speaker 1: guys like Kevin Herder flying around on the perimeter, especially
Speaker 1: on the glass. Keegan Murray I thought had a bunch
Speaker 1: of good quality perimeter defense possessions. They still fall asleep. Sometimes.
Speaker 1: There was a Keegan Murray badly died on a screen
Speaker 1: late that gave Steph Curry a wide open look on
Speaker 1: the right wing. There was a Kevin Herder play where
Speaker 1: he was top locking Klay Thompson and wasn't paying attention
Speaker 1: to the to the ball and got bet on a
Speaker 1: back cut from a pass from Draymond Green. So like,
Speaker 1: they're not perfect, they have their limitations, but they've got
Speaker 1: the athleticism and when they actually try, they can be
Speaker 1: an impactful perimeter defenders right. And then when you couple
Speaker 1: that with like a game like this where without Darren Fox,
Speaker 1: they know they have to play like that to have
Speaker 1: any chance. They actually did a pretty decent job of
Speaker 1: throwing the Warriors out of whack and turning the game
Speaker 1: into a rock fight. It was a physical game. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of uncalled fouls against both teams. They got
Speaker 1: big time games out of both Malik Monk and Demona Sabonis.
Speaker 1: In terms of shot creation, Sabonis has really really struggled
Speaker 1: in this matchup, and I think for him personally, I
Speaker 1: think it's it's important for him him to have a
Speaker 1: few more games like this in the regular season where
Speaker 1: he plays well, so that if he does have another
Speaker 1: opportunity to go up against the Warriors in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: he just kind of has some of his confidence back,
Speaker 1: because I thought the Warriors kind of sapped him of
Speaker 1: that throughout that series last year. So the Warriors were
Speaker 1: actually down by eleven in the second half and it
Speaker 1: looked like they were in good shape, but once again
Speaker 1: it was that bench line up there in that early
Speaker 1: fourth quarter that kind of worked it down. Chris Paul
Speaker 1: had a couple of big plays early fourth quarter, a
Speaker 1: nasty left handed drive on Sashava Ankoff just kind of
Speaker 1: I remember watching that and thinking like, that's gonna be
Speaker 1: tough if if Sasha can't contain, like on a simple
Speaker 1: closeout someone like Chris Paul there, and then he had
Speaker 1: another one of those classic pick and pops with Dario
Speaker 1: Sarich on the left wing. That got Dario Sarich a
Speaker 1: wide open three, and the Warriors kind of briefly took
Speaker 1: a lead and then it turned into a classic kind
Speaker 1: of back and forth type of game, right and from there,
Speaker 1: you know, it was funny because they couldn't get a stop.
Speaker 1: And this has been an issue for the Warriors throughout
Speaker 1: this particular season. Even though they're three to one in
Speaker 1: games involving crunch time, they've really struggled to guard down
Speaker 1: the stretch of these games. You saw that specifically in
Speaker 1: the Suns game. They have a one hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: four defensive rating. When the game is within five with
Speaker 1: less than five minutes left. A couple of things are
Speaker 1: just breakdowns, right, Like last night, you let Kevin Herder
Speaker 1: get a driving layup and pick and roll. That's just
Speaker 1: a mistake from the back line. Right, there was a
Speaker 1: play where a Malik Monk just did a basic rip
Speaker 1: through to the right on Gary Payton and got all
Speaker 1: the way to the rim for a layup. It was
Speaker 1: a tough finish, but it's like, got to probably make
Speaker 1: Malik Monk see a little bit more of a crowd there,
Speaker 1: considering he's their best offensive player in that specific situation. Right, Well,
Speaker 1: they got a couple of buckets late, and next thing
Speaker 1: you know, they're up by down by one, and the
Speaker 1: Warriors actually, very smartly credit to Steve Kerr, did not
Speaker 1: call timeouts in this situation down the stretch, and Steph
Speaker 1: actually ended up scoring on Malik Monk and kind of
Speaker 1: a semi transition possession, hit him with the crossover right
Speaker 1: to left and made that scoop shot in the lane
Speaker 1: to put him back up by one. But then Sabonis
Speaker 1: banks in a jump shot at the top of the
Speaker 1: key to put the King's back up by one. And
Speaker 1: then once again Steve Kerr smartly not calling a time out,
Speaker 1: letting them kind of figure it out. The Kings ended
Speaker 1: up throwing a double team with Sabonis on Steph Curry
Speaker 1: up at the extended right wing right. Steph ends up
Speaker 1: cutting through Klay Thompson's being guarded by Davion Mitchell in
Speaker 1: the right corner, and you know, kudos to him to
Speaker 1: not just standing there and waiting for Steph to get involved.
Speaker 1: He noticed that things were breaking down and so he
Speaker 1: kind of cut up to the top of the key
Speaker 1: and Draymond hit him, and then from there is identifying
Speaker 1: your advantage, know your advantage. He had Davion Mitchell, a
Speaker 1: small defender on him that was definitely going to be
Speaker 1: able to beat him to a spot, but that would
Speaker 1: not be able to bother him if he got to
Speaker 1: a enough space where he can rise up and take
Speaker 1: a jump shot over the top of him. And so
Speaker 1: Clay just hits that hard dribble to his left, bumps
Speaker 1: him off with that right shoulder step back, and then
Speaker 1: from there like that's just an easy shot for Clay.
Speaker 1: He knocks it down two tenths of a second left
Speaker 1: and the game is over. So a couple things there,
Speaker 1: Like I really liked again, Mike Brown is a guy
Speaker 1: that's one of the best defensive coaches in the league.
Speaker 1: He's deeply familiar with everything that Golden State does. He's
Speaker 1: been there and a lot of those late game huddles.
Speaker 1: That's not to say that Kurt doesn't have new stuff,
Speaker 1: but like, at the end of the day, take Mike
Speaker 1: Brown out of the equation there by not calling the
Speaker 1: time out and force the Kings to kind of figure
Speaker 1: it out on the fly. You had that sloppy semi
Speaker 1: transition possession where Steph got that easy layup, and then
Speaker 1: you get a sloppy double of stef Curry that basically
Speaker 1: just removes him from the play but leaves all of
Speaker 1: this open space for Klay Thompson to catch and go
Speaker 1: to work against Davion Mitchell. There was a If you
Speaker 1: haven't heard it yet, I encourage you guys to go
Speaker 1: listen to Steph Curry's postgame comments. He talked a lot
Speaker 1: about the kind of how cool it was for him
Speaker 1: in that left corner to watch Klay Thompson make the
Speaker 1: shot and then to have him turn and Draymond Green's
Speaker 1: right there. Draymond hugs him and they're, you know, hyping
Speaker 1: each other up on the sideline, and you know, like
Speaker 1: Steph basically just says, like, it's really cool that after
Speaker 1: all these years, they're still the same guys and they're
Speaker 1: still doing it and it is cool and and I
Speaker 1: agree with Steph. And he used the word poetry to
Speaker 1: break it down. And I talk about this all the
Speaker 1: time on so many different levels. Obviously, I have a
Speaker 1: certain romantic approach when it comes to the game of basketball,
Speaker 1: but I even feel that way when it comes to
Speaker 1: this schematic approach. I always talk about how the game
Speaker 1: of basketball is more in art than a science, right, Like,
Speaker 1: that's why I think that, you know, an overly focus
Speaker 1: of proach on analytics can be a problem when you
Speaker 1: don't factor in the synergy between basketball players and how
Speaker 1: that's difficult to quantify, right. And you know, one thing
Speaker 1: I appreciated about that is like, and this is something
Speaker 1: I think both Steph and Lebron appreciate and why I
Speaker 1: think they've been such good faces of the league over
Speaker 1: the last decade. They just have such an appreciation for
Speaker 1: the history, and they have such an appreciation for like
Speaker 1: how cool these moments are, and they take they take
Speaker 1: full advantage of appreciating them. This is Lebron used to
Speaker 1: do this back if you remember, when he'd win the
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference for the whatever many many a time in
Speaker 1: a row. You'd always just say, like, don't take this
Speaker 1: moment for granted, enjoy this moment. And I felt like
Speaker 1: that was kind of like a that type of moment
Speaker 1: from Steph last night, just like not taking for granted again,
Speaker 1: it's a random October, well, I guess November first game
Speaker 1: against a King's team without their best player. The Warriors
Speaker 1: didn't really play all that well, especially on the offensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor, but it was another Klay Thompson
Speaker 1: game winner, another really cool moment where the Warriors just
Speaker 1: felt like the Warriors in a lot of big ways.
Speaker 1: I mean, the down eleven in the second half. How
Speaker 1: many times have you seen the Warriors come back and
Speaker 1: win in a furious second half, comeback when they're down
Speaker 1: double digits. It's been one of the most you know,
Speaker 1: kind of iconic elements of the Warriors dynasty. Right again,
Speaker 1: a couple of specific things that they need to work on.
Speaker 1: That defensive rating in the in clutch time is a
Speaker 1: little bit of a concern. A lot of three guard
Speaker 1: lineups in the clutch. I shouldn't even say three guard.
Speaker 1: Clay is kind of like a forward, but they've played
Speaker 1: a lot of Chris Paul with Stephan Clay in the
Speaker 1: closing group. They actually played they played a three guard
Speaker 1: lineup last night with Gary Payton as a guard as
Speaker 1: well and for Andrew Wiggins, which was weird because Andrew
Speaker 1: Wiggins was actually playing a decent game and got kind
Speaker 1: of his slashing game going. So I was actually surprised
Speaker 1: that Wiggins didn't get the knot down the stretch, but
Speaker 1: I think they just wanted to have a better option
Speaker 1: to contain Maleik Monk on the perimeter. Right, that's the idea,
Speaker 1: but I mean Gary Payton ended up getting beat anyway.
Speaker 1: But they have a thirty one percent defensive rebounding percentage
Speaker 1: in clutch situations so far this year. Think about that
Speaker 1: they are only grabbing thirty one percent of available defensive
Speaker 1: rebounds when the scores within five with less than five
Speaker 1: minutes left, and so that might be one of those
Speaker 1: things where hey, maybe you'll lean a little bit more
Speaker 1: on Andrew Wiggins in that situation. You might want to
Speaker 1: consider going big. They've been scoring really well with the
Speaker 1: clutch group and it's hard to get two upset when
Speaker 1: you're three to one, but a one to twenty four
Speaker 1: defensive rating, I guarantee you that group isn't satisfied with
Speaker 1: that particular number. And who knows, maybe Draymond being back
Speaker 1: in the big picture will help. But Draymond was on
Speaker 1: the flour last night when they gave up those three
Speaker 1: late buckets after STEP's driving floater in the lane, the
Speaker 1: one on Malik Monk, the one before Clay's game winner.
Speaker 1: He's now shooting six for nine from the field in
Speaker 1: clutch situations, including five for eight from three, and he
Speaker 1: has twenty clutch points, which is the third most in
Speaker 1: the league behind Lebron James and Luka Doncic on the
Speaker 1: King's front, I thought that was, like, again, like I
Speaker 1: talked about earlier, I thought that was a really fun
Speaker 1: example of what this Kings team is capable of as
Speaker 1: a perimeter defense, and they can really be a pest.
Speaker 1: They have a lot of length and athleticism, and they
Speaker 1: have depth on the perimeter as well. And like I mean,
Speaker 1: even Kolby Jones had a couple of really nice moves
Speaker 1: there in that first half and looked like he had
Speaker 1: enough athletic pop to hang in that environment. Dave's Mitchell,
Speaker 1: Davion Mitchell shooting is exciting again, Sabonis having a good
Speaker 1: game to kind of beef up his confidence there a
Speaker 1: little bit. I thought that was, like, I guarantee you,
Speaker 1: Mike Brown went into the locker room after that game
Speaker 1: and said, like, Hey, I know that sucked, but if
Speaker 1: we play like that, we're gonna win a shit ton
Speaker 1: of basketball games. And I really think that that needs
Speaker 1: to be an important part of their identity moving forward
Speaker 1: this season. All Right, Nuggets, Wolves, this was a really
Speaker 1: interesting game. I was excited to watch this one. I
Speaker 1: wasn't planning on hitting any other games from Wednesday Night
Speaker 1: Slate because I wanted to do more deep dives. But
Speaker 1: not often do you have a team like the Nuggets
Speaker 1: kind of kick everyone's ass to start the season and
Speaker 1: then run into a buzz saw. And again, like, you know,
Speaker 1: it's funny. There's been a lot of things that I've
Speaker 1: been right about so far the season, and then there's
Speaker 1: been a lot of things that I've been wrong about
Speaker 1: so far this season, and at least in the small
Speaker 1: sample size to be expected. I'm not some nostradamis, dude.
Speaker 1: I'm you know, I think it'd be weird if anybody
Speaker 1: was capable of predicting something that's supposed to be as
Speaker 1: random as the NBA. But you know, I predicted that
Speaker 1: the Bucks would really struggle to start the season. They
Speaker 1: have struggled. I predicted that the Celtics would run away
Speaker 1: with the league, and it looks like they're well on
Speaker 1: their way to doing that. But there were a couple
Speaker 1: of other teams, specifically the Lakers and the Timberwolves that
Speaker 1: I said would be very good regular season teams that
Speaker 1: both came out the gates playing pretty bad basketball, and
Speaker 1: both of them got on track last night with really
Speaker 1: good games. We talked about the Lakers last night, but
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves, they had lost a really ugly game. So
Speaker 1: they Atlanta Hawks where they blew us a late lea,
Speaker 1: they lost to the Toronto Raptors. They haven't quite looked
Speaker 1: like the Timberwolves, particularly on the defensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: So I've been looking for them to kind of snap
Speaker 1: out of it and kind of regain some of their
Speaker 1: identity that they had in the tail end of last season, right,
Speaker 1: And so this was a great chance for that at
Speaker 1: home against an undefeated Nuggets team. And then again, like
Speaker 1: if I were to tell you guys, like those of
Speaker 1: you guys who have listened to the show, if I
Speaker 1: were to ask you guys, like how would the Timberwolves
Speaker 1: beat the Nuggets, It's a pretty straightforward process. Like you
Speaker 1: stick Jaden McDaniels on Jamal Murray and you erase him
Speaker 1: from the game, and then you make Jokic work hard
Speaker 1: and make things difficult with him, with kat on him,
Speaker 1: and with Rudy Gobert and help right, and then you
Speaker 1: run it down their throat and transition. That's that's what
Speaker 1: it would look like. And that's exactly what it looked like.
Speaker 1: And it was funny because I remember thinking before I
Speaker 1: started watching the tape, I'm like, I wonder if this
Speaker 1: is what it's gonna be like. And it was an
Speaker 1: absolute masterpiece from the opening tip of perimeter defense from
Speaker 1: Jaden McDaniels, just taking away all of the easy shots
Speaker 1: that Jamal Murray gets in the offense, just by navigating
Speaker 1: screens and staying attached with all the lengthd and athleticism
Speaker 1: that he has. I you know, I sometimes I feel
Speaker 1: like something screams at us in the face and we
Speaker 1: just need to accept it for what it is. I
Speaker 1: don't think there's anybody in the league who's playing better
Speaker 1: defense on the perimeter right now than Jade McDaniels. I
Speaker 1: would say he's probably the very best perimeter defender in
Speaker 1: the league. And I thought him kind of like throwing
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray out of whack right from the start. Was
Speaker 1: it was a huge part of how they got off
Speaker 1: to an early lead in this game, and then it
Speaker 1: was like a steady diet of bodies coming in right,
Speaker 1: like Nikhil Alexander Walker came in and did a good
Speaker 1: job on Jamal Murray. That they had switches where it
Speaker 1: would end up being Kyle Anderson on Jamal Murray would
Speaker 1: do a good job. They just constantly had length and
Speaker 1: athleticism up in Jamal Murray's face from the opening tip
Speaker 1: of the game. And then Carl Towns is funny. Carl
Speaker 1: Toowns is not a good defensive player, but the Jokic
Speaker 1: matchup is weird because he's so damn big and stromp.
Speaker 1: You know, I talked about this about the embiid concept, right,
Speaker 1: Like Embiid's not in the same stratosphere as a defensive
Speaker 1: player as Anthony Davis, but he's kind of uniquely equipped
Speaker 1: to handle Yokis because he's just big, right. That's kind
Speaker 1: of the thing with Kat, Like, like Kat was big
Speaker 1: enough to absorb some of the Jokics blows and just
Speaker 1: kind of make it a little bit tougher on him.
Speaker 1: As matter of fact, if you go watch this game,
Speaker 1: especially focus in on that first shift there in the
Speaker 1: first like six minutes, watch how often Jokicic tried to
Speaker 1: post Kat up and Kat was able to flatten him
Speaker 1: out a little bit, meaning make him go side to
Speaker 1: side versus actually downhill towards the rim. And when you
Speaker 1: couple that with Rudy Gobert and his unique ability as
Speaker 1: a backline defender to kind of like play that middle
Speaker 1: ground between Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic, they did a
Speaker 1: really nice job. And even nas Reed, who's not, as
Speaker 1: you know, a big and strong I would say, as
Speaker 1: Kat I thought, he came in and did a decent
Speaker 1: job on Jokic. As a group, that front court held
Speaker 1: Jokics below fifty percent shooting and he had more turnovers
Speaker 1: than assists. You can't do a better job than that
Speaker 1: on Jokic. Now, again, like what exactly is you would
Speaker 1: expect when when when it was clear to Jokic the
Speaker 1: other guys didn't have it, When Jamal didn't have it,
Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior took some really tough shots early and
Speaker 1: was missing him, it kind of became clear that Jokic
Speaker 1: needed to be aggressive, and he did. He looked to
Speaker 1: be aggressive, and he made a bunch of shots to
Speaker 1: kind of keep them close in the game. That's what
Speaker 1: the best player in the world is going to do right.
Speaker 1: But for the most part, you made Jokic work and
Speaker 1: you made him less efficient than he usually is, which
Speaker 1: is what you want to do. And then on those
Speaker 1: stops and turnovers they got out in transition. They had
Speaker 1: twenty seven points in transition in this game, on their
Speaker 1: way to a convincing blowout. They spent the majority of
Speaker 1: the game up by twenty. They killed the Nuggets bench
Speaker 1: group by playing both nose Red and Carl Towns in
Speaker 1: that group together, and then they just posted up those
Speaker 1: two guys every single time, and Kat would like back
Speaker 1: his man down and get a bucket, and then nas
Speaker 1: Reed would back his man down and get a bucket.
Speaker 1: It was like they would they just in a weird way.
Speaker 1: They made the Nuggets look small, and the Nuggets aren't small.
Speaker 1: But that's kind of the beauty of matchups in the NBA, right,
Speaker 1: Like I was talking about how matchups dictate things in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, and like, the Nuggets I think are the
Speaker 1: best team in the league, and we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: that more in a minute, but like the truth of
Speaker 1: the matter is is like even if the Nuggets are
Speaker 1: the best, that's they're not an unbeatable basketball team. And
Speaker 1: there's gonna be one of the twenty nine teams that's
Speaker 1: more equipped to beat them than the others. And if
Speaker 1: they catch them in the right matchup and enough guys
Speaker 1: play well, they can beat them. Right And like we
Speaker 1: actually saw the Wolves last year give the Nuggets some
Speaker 1: trouble without Jaden McDaniels, who had broken his hand in
Speaker 1: that Lakers game, and without nasried As that backup center
Speaker 1: option to throw at Jokich, and so like this is
Speaker 1: as of right now, I would say that they're probably
Speaker 1: the most well equipped physically to handle the Nuggets offense
Speaker 1: because of Jaden McDaniels being the best perimeter defender in
Speaker 1: the NBA, having two big bodied centers that they can
Speaker 1: put on Jokic to keep him from bullying his way
Speaker 1: to the rim, and having that legitimate backside defensive weapon
Speaker 1: in Ruby Gobert playing that back line causing problems in
Speaker 1: their ability to get down the floor in transition on
Speaker 1: the Nuggets front, really poor offensive approach early on. I
Speaker 1: thought Jamal Murray in particular seemed intent on demonstrating that
Speaker 1: he could score on Jaden McDaniels, and so he took
Speaker 1: a lot of really tough jump shots over really good
Speaker 1: contests by Jada McDaniels, and almost all of them came
Speaker 1: up short on the rim. They turned the ball over
Speaker 1: way too much. They had eleven turnovers in the first
Speaker 1: half that led to twenty points for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Speaker 1: And then they just dug themselves into too big of
Speaker 1: a hole. And then from there, like not enough of
Speaker 1: their guys played well to try to dig it to
Speaker 1: dig out of it. Non Jokic starters were eleven for
Speaker 1: thirty four from the field and had six turnovers. So again, like,
Speaker 1: I think they're capable of playing a lot better than
Speaker 1: they did, But credit to the Timberwolves. Like, that's what
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves are supposed to look like. They're supposed to
Speaker 1: be just an unbelievably good defensive team. That's why I've
Speaker 1: been so excited about them. That's why I believed they
Speaker 1: could be a great regular season team this year. They
Speaker 1: did not bring that regular season defensive intensity to start.
Speaker 1: Jada McDaniels missed the first couple games as well. Now
Speaker 1: that he's back, hopefully they can recapture that identity and
Speaker 1: maintain that throughout the season. The Nuggets ran into their
Speaker 1: first buzz saw. I think the Nuggets are the best
Speaker 1: team in the league. But what did I say at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the year. I said, right now, they're
Speaker 1: way ahead of everybody because they know exactly who they are.
Speaker 1: Everyone else is kind of figuring things out, right. I
Speaker 1: still think when we get to the end of this road,
Speaker 1: the Nuggets are gonna be the best team in the league,
Speaker 1: but only by a small amount. And what that means
Speaker 1: is is that I don't think they're gonna run rip
Speaker 1: off sixty sixty five wins. I think they're gonna rip
Speaker 1: off fifty three to fifty five wins, right, and which
Speaker 1: is in the Western Conference. That's amazing, right, And I
Speaker 1: think they're probably gonna get the one seed. But I mean, like,
Speaker 1: they're not gonna beat everybody. And this was a good
Speaker 1: example of the type of talent that you run into
Speaker 1: in a night in, night out basis in the NBA,
Speaker 1: and when they play like they're capable of playing, you
Speaker 1: can lose to anybody in the NBA. And I think
Speaker 1: that's gonna be a consistent theme throughout the season. All right,
Speaker 1: before we get out of here, we are going to
Speaker 1: do a deep dive on the Boston Celtics. So they
Speaker 1: had a fifty one point win over the Indiana Pacers yesterday.
Speaker 1: As of now for the season, they are first in
Speaker 1: offensive ratings, scoring, and astonishing one hundred and twenty five
Speaker 1: points per one hundred possesions. I'm gonna give you guys
Speaker 1: a shit ton of numbers here in the next ten minutes,
Speaker 1: and my goal here is just to help you guys
Speaker 1: understand and statistically how good the Celtics have been, not
Speaker 1: just within the concept of this particular season and their peers,
Speaker 1: but even in the all time sense. This is this
Speaker 1: team is dominating at a crazy level right now. They
Speaker 1: are seventh in defensive rating, allowing just one hundred and
Speaker 1: five points per one hundred possessions, and they are first
Speaker 1: in net rating. They're outscoring teams by twenty points per
Speaker 1: one hundred possessions twenty point one points, to be exact.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about both ends of the four. We're
Speaker 1: gonna start on the offensive end, and for me, everything
Speaker 1: with the Celtics team starts with getting out in transition
Speaker 1: off of stops and turnovers. This is why I've been
Speaker 1: such a big proponent of them getting back to their
Speaker 1: defensive identity. From the twenty twenty two season, like that's
Speaker 1: when they're at their best. This team, excuse me, well,
Speaker 1: they get to great late playoff scenarios. They're not gonna
Speaker 1: be as good of a half court offense as some
Speaker 1: of the other teams in the league. So they need
Speaker 1: to have part of their identity being the best defense
Speaker 1: in the league trying to get out and transition as
Speaker 1: much as possible. They had thirty six and transition against
Speaker 1: the Pacers. For the season, they are averaging twenty eight
Speaker 1: points in transition per game, which is the third most
Speaker 1: in the league. The Hawks are at number one. That
Speaker 1: was the team that I begged to run more in
Speaker 1: transition over the summer and they have been doing so,
Speaker 1: and then the Thunder at number two. But the Celtics
Speaker 1: are scoring one point two to three points per transition
Speaker 1: play as well, so they're third in the league and
Speaker 1: transition points per game and sixth in transition efficiency. It's
Speaker 1: a huge part of their offensive success right now. They're
Speaker 1: running the rim. They're run into the corners as shooters,
Speaker 1: and then they have trailing three point shooters, and so
Speaker 1: they just put their heads down and try to get
Speaker 1: to the rim if they can and then they make
Speaker 1: really good reads out of that for wide open threes.
Speaker 1: And then they've been a devastating matchup attacking team. They're
Speaker 1: scoring twenty six points per game in ISOs and post
Speaker 1: ups including passes. Thirteen points per game in ISO, that's
Speaker 1: the fifth most in the league. One point one to
Speaker 1: three points per possession, sixth best in the league in
Speaker 1: terms of efficiency. Thirteen point per game out of the post,
Speaker 1: that's the second most in the league, only to the Nuggets.
Speaker 1: One point two to one points per possession, which is
Speaker 1: the fourth most efficient. So they've been really good beating
Speaker 1: individual matchups in the posts and in ISO, and then
Speaker 1: they've been really really efficient in pick and roll thirty
Speaker 1: two points per game and pick and roll that's the
Speaker 1: fourteenth most, so not a heavy volume, but one point
Speaker 1: zero six points per posession. That's the fifth highest mark
Speaker 1: for efficiency in pick and roll this season. Porzingis and
Speaker 1: Horford as ball screeners, that's adding this other pick and
Speaker 1: pop element to a higher level than they've had in
Speaker 1: the past. They're scoring nine points per game out of
Speaker 1: the role or pop that's the eighth most in the league.
Speaker 1: One point twenty six points per rollman possession which is
Speaker 1: the eighth most efficient. Credit to porzingis here, he's been
Speaker 1: one of the best role men in the league one
Speaker 1: point one point five points per rollman possession. Think about
Speaker 1: how I'm saying that is it's good for a point
Speaker 1: and a half every time they pass him the ball
Speaker 1: in the roll, shooting seventy five percent in effective field
Speaker 1: goal percentage, thanks the large part to those picking pop threes.
Speaker 1: He has scored twenty one points out of the role
Speaker 1: so far of the season. That's fifth most in the
Speaker 1: league for a ball screener, behind Shangun Vucevich, Nikole jokicch
Speaker 1: and Joel Embiid. As a team, the Celtics are shooting
Speaker 1: forty percent from three over forty percent. That's the fifth
Speaker 1: highest mark in the league. They're making seventeen to threes
Speaker 1: per one hundred possessions, that's the second most in the league.
Speaker 1: They are just good at absolutely everything. They're even eighth
Speaker 1: in the league in offensive rebounds per one hundred possessions.
Speaker 1: I can't find opportunity there. They're just good at everything.
Speaker 1: They shoot the ball well, they attack the rim, well,
Speaker 1: they attack out of the post, well, they attack isolation
Speaker 1: matchups well, they score and pick and roll well, they
Speaker 1: run in transition really well. They kill you on the
Speaker 1: offensive glass. They are good at everything, and it all
Speaker 1: starts with Jason Tatum at the forefront. If you guys,
Speaker 1: remember I said before the season, Tatum can win MVP,
Speaker 1: but he needs to have this crazy statistical season and
Speaker 1: the Celtics have to win just a shit ton of
Speaker 1: games because everything's going to be graded on a curve,
Speaker 1: and Tatum's curves. He has the most talented supporting cast
Speaker 1: in the league right well, so far in the four
Speaker 1: to ZH start, he's averaging thirty points, nine rebounds, and
Speaker 1: four assists, sixty seven percent through shooting, and I want
Speaker 1: to credit three specific things here so far that are
Speaker 1: monumentally improved over last year. First of all, he's making
Speaker 1: his pull up jump shot. He's converting them at fifty
Speaker 1: six percent in effective field goal percentage. He was at
Speaker 1: forty percent last year, very bad pull up shooting season
Speaker 1: last season. He's finishing at the rim better than ever.
Speaker 1: He's shooting seventy five percent at the rim this year
Speaker 1: compared to sixty five percent last year. And he's added
Speaker 1: a reliable post game. Last year, he generated just two
Speaker 1: points per game. Out of the post including passes two
Speaker 1: points per game. This year he's at five point three.
Speaker 1: And on those possessions, he's got an efficiency of one
Speaker 1: point twenty four points per possession including passes. So more
Speaker 1: than twice as impactful as a post player this year
Speaker 1: than he was in last season. And he's been the
Speaker 1: eighth most efficient post up player in the league so
Speaker 1: far to run at least ten post ups. So Jason Tatum,
Speaker 1: for all intents and purposes, is playing like an MVP,
Speaker 1: and even within the context of this talented roster. And
Speaker 1: again like this, there's a very specific reason why that
Speaker 1: efficiency matters. He averaged thirty points per game last year.
Speaker 1: This year he's averaging thirty points per game on significantly
Speaker 1: lower usage. This is his lowest usage rate in three years.
Speaker 1: It's at thirty point six. That's pretty standard for a star.
Speaker 1: Last year he's thirty two point seven. The year before
Speaker 1: that thirty two point one. Why does that matter? This
Speaker 1: is a large group of players that all need touches.
Speaker 1: You're fitting in porzingis as a much more aggressive offensive
Speaker 1: option like you've already seen Jalen Brown, for instance, He's
Speaker 1: taken a little bit of a hit in terms of
Speaker 1: like his offensive aggression, He's down to twenty three points
Speaker 1: per game after averaging twenty seven last year. He's having
Speaker 1: to do a lot more work as a slasher and
Speaker 1: as a spot up player, which has helped, Like Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown's having one of his best spot up seasons ever
Speaker 1: one point one five points per pose, just because he's
Speaker 1: driving closeouts a lot. He's you know, he's contributing with
Speaker 1: pull up three point shooting, particularly in transition. He's six
Speaker 1: for eleven un pull up three so far. But he's
Speaker 1: taking some sacrifice in terms of offensive touches. Well, so
Speaker 1: is Jason Tatum. He's just so damn efficient that he's
Speaker 1: still averaging thirty points per game, just like he did
Speaker 1: last year, which was his career high. And so I think,
Speaker 1: I think, like it's hard to it's hard to overstate
Speaker 1: how good Jason Tatum's been and how easy it's made
Speaker 1: things for the Celtics offensively, especially with like again, Porzingis
Speaker 1: is averaging nineteen points per game. You got to fit
Speaker 1: that into the whole mix of things at a certain point. Now,
Speaker 1: one thing offensively is the bench guys haven't been shooting
Speaker 1: super super well, right, Like Peyton Pritchard hasn't shot as
Speaker 1: well as he did in preseason Al Horford has struggled
Speaker 1: with his transition to the bench, but it hasn't mattered
Speaker 1: because the starters have been that good the holiday Derek White,
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum, chrisops porzingis lineup so far seventy
Speaker 1: two minutes, one hundred and twenty six offensive rating, eighty
Speaker 1: nine defensive rating. That's like unbelievably good, outscoring opponents by
Speaker 1: thirty seven points per one hundred possessions. That is the
Speaker 1: very best five man lineup in the NBA to play
Speaker 1: at least fifty five minutes so far this year. Just
Speaker 1: they're just kicking everyone's ass. And that's why I feel
Speaker 1: pretty strongly that at least within the regular season context,
Speaker 1: they're going to run away in the standings. And again,
Speaker 1: that defense element, that's the part that I want to emphasize.
Speaker 1: Here's that eighty nine defensive rating. That's the type of
Speaker 1: number that has me feeling like this group is closer
Speaker 1: to that twenty twenty two group in terms of their
Speaker 1: defensive identity. You could see it on the screen. Tatum
Speaker 1: and Brown in particular, are playing a much better defense
Speaker 1: than they did last year as a team. Here's some
Speaker 1: defensive stats for you guys. Seventh in defensive rating, third
Speaker 1: and a half court defense, according to Cleaning the Glass,
Speaker 1: allowing just eighty six point two points per one hundred possessions.
Speaker 1: They've been the very best rebounding team in the league,
Speaker 1: grabbing fifty five point four percent of available rebounds. They
Speaker 1: are the third best paint defense, allowing just forty three
Speaker 1: point seven points per one hundred possessions. In the paint,
Speaker 1: they're allowing the ninth fewest fast break points per one
Speaker 1: hundred possessions. The two big areas of opportunity on their
Speaker 1: defense right now is the three point line. They're allowing
Speaker 1: twelve point three made threes per one hundred possessions. That's
Speaker 1: the seventeenth most in the league, or seventeenth least in
Speaker 1: the league, i should say. And they could also stand
Speaker 1: to force a lot more turnovers given the amount of
Speaker 1: the athleticism they have. They're forcing just eleven point five
Speaker 1: turnovers per one hundred possessions, which is the third worst
Speaker 1: mark in the league. Again with the transition offense that
Speaker 1: they already have, supplementing that by forcing more turnovers that
Speaker 1: could go a long way as well. I think they're
Speaker 1: capable of being even more disruptive than they have been.
Speaker 1: But they're hitting several key markers that make me feel
Speaker 1: a lot better about this team than last year's team.
Speaker 1: The defense, with at least with the starters, the defense
Speaker 1: looks more like it did two years ago. Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: looks like he's made strides as a half court shot creator,
Speaker 1: improved pull up jump shooting, and a much more dynamic
Speaker 1: post up attack. And then drewp Holiday and chrisops Sporzingis
Speaker 1: have been seamless fits on both ends of the floor.
Speaker 1: This team again, like the same question will be there
Speaker 1: in terms of their half court execution when we get
Speaker 1: down the line. The better their defense is, the more
Speaker 1: margin for error they'll have in that area. But I
Speaker 1: feel pretty good about my preseason prediction that the Celtics
Speaker 1: are gonna run away with the regular season. I think
Speaker 1: they're gonna win the standings by at least five games.
Speaker 1: I think they're going to be able to comfortably get
Speaker 1: away with the number one overall seed, and I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see them play some tougher matchups down
Speaker 1: the line, but they've passed with flying colors so far
Speaker 1: here early in the season. All right, guys, that is
Speaker 1: all I have for today. We're gonna be back tomorrow
Speaker 1: covering some Thursday night games as well as a deep
Speaker 1: dive on the Milwaukee Bucks, maybe another team as well.
Speaker 1: We'll see how things go with time, but as always,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys, and I will see that the
Speaker 1: volume