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Speaker 1: welcome to Lakers Tonight, presented by Fan Duel here on

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Speaker 1: the volume. Happy Friday, everybody. I hope you all had

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Speaker 1: a great week. I hope you have big plans for

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Speaker 1: the weekend. That was a hugely important Laker win for

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Speaker 1: so many different reasons, not the least of which is

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Speaker 1: the fact that because the Pelicans lost tonight, they now

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Speaker 1: have a two and a half game lead on the

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Speaker 1: ten seat, which is immensely important for what they're trying

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Speaker 1: to accomplish. I guess if they intend to to try

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Speaker 1: to get out of the playing tournament, having that game

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Speaker 1: at home is obviously a very big deal. This was

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Speaker 1: a thirteen point win. You'd have to go all the

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Speaker 1: way back to January seven against the Atlanta Hawks for

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Speaker 1: the last time the Lakers won a game this convincingly.

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Speaker 1: That's how rare this kind of thing has been. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna break it all down tonight. I want to spend

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Speaker 1: a good amount of time on Lebron and and just

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Speaker 1: because he deserves it for what he's putting forth here

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Speaker 1: in the last couple of weeks. We're also gonna talk

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Speaker 1: a little bit about Russ and his struggles and a

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Speaker 1: little bit of a you know, seeing it juxtaposed against

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Speaker 1: what he was sent away for is obviously frustrating in

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Speaker 1: a lot of different ways. We're gonna talk about Taylor

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Speaker 1: Horton Tucker, who flashed some crazy All Star place tonight.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk, we'll dig into him a little bit, and

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Speaker 1: then if you guys stick around for the end. I

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Speaker 1: want to share my thoughts after rewatching Brooklyn Philly in

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Speaker 1: some of the nitty gritty details about that matchup and

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Speaker 1: what it might look like in a playoff series. But

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Speaker 1: I have to start with Lebron. So he finishes with

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Speaker 1: fifty points, seven rebounds and six six assists a team

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Speaker 1: for twenty five from the field. He is now currently

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Speaker 1: leading the NBA in scoring, which is ridiculous. I talked

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Speaker 1: about this the other day. There are four players in

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Speaker 1: the NBA right now averaging at least twenty nine points

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Speaker 1: on at least true shooting, which is insane. That's just

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Speaker 1: the We're in a golden age of NBA talent. You

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Speaker 1: could argue there are six or seven guys that are

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Speaker 1: top tier superstars right now. With the rise of Nicola Yokich,

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Speaker 1: and with the rise of Joel Embiide, and with the

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Speaker 1: rise of Luca don Chech. That's how deep the top

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Speaker 1: of the league is. And we are having some all

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Speaker 1: time great seasons that are being put forward by Janie Santana, Coopo,

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Speaker 1: by Joel Embiat, young superstars in their absolute primes. Then

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Speaker 1: we have Kevin Durant, who's also on that list of guys,

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Speaker 1: who's averaging at least twenty nine and at least six

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Speaker 1: true shooting. He is not quite as old as Lebron.

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Speaker 1: He is a little older, but he's very much in

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Speaker 1: his prime. He's putting forth an all time great offensive season,

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Speaker 1: and Lebron is right there with them. It's you know,

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Speaker 1: Lebron went on his show. I think it was the shot,

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Speaker 1: but I can't even remember where I saw this clip,

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Speaker 1: to be honest with you, but it was recent and

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Speaker 1: he was lamenting his reputation as a score and the

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Speaker 1: fact that he never gets credit for that kind of thing.

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Speaker 1: And I understand the sentiment behind where those people come from,

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Speaker 1: the people that feel like Lebron is not a great score,

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Speaker 1: because what Lebron does lack is just that really really

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Speaker 1: fine tuned polish. Obviously, if you watch a guy like

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Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving dribbled the basketball, and you watch a guy

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Speaker 1: like Kyrie Irving and his footwork and his shooting ability,

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Speaker 1: it looks a little sharper. I wouldn't even say a little.

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Speaker 1: It looks a lot sharper than what you see from Lebron.

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Speaker 1: But too often that simple detail, that one esthetic detail,

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Speaker 1: is used to undercut everything else about what makes Lebron score.

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Speaker 1: Because even though he's not the most polished guy in

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Speaker 1: the league, he absolutely is skilled, as you've seen, especially

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Speaker 1: there down the stretch, that crazy fade away he made

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Speaker 1: over Kyle Kuzma over his right shoulder. That's an extremely

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Speaker 1: difficult shot. That running, one legged, fading, floating double pump

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Speaker 1: shot that he banked in off the glass in the

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Speaker 1: third quarter in his run. That is an incredibly difficult

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Speaker 1: shot that takes a great deal of touch. Obviously, what

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Speaker 1: he does behind the three point line takes a great

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Speaker 1: deal of skill, So there is skill there, even if

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Speaker 1: it's not the prettiest and most polished skill in the league.

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Speaker 1: And then obviously there's the physical element. The dude is

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Speaker 1: like shock as a forward. He has this unbelievable physical

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Speaker 1: set of physical tools that he can use to impose

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Speaker 1: his will on the game. But the most important part

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Speaker 1: of it that people glance over is the way that

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Speaker 1: Lebron uses his brain to score the basketball. And he

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Speaker 1: does so in two ways. One is with passing his

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Speaker 1: willingness as a passer. Throughout his career, his his relentless

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Speaker 1: pursuit of making the right read on every single play

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Speaker 1: has made it so that teams are reluctant to send

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Speaker 1: help at him a lot of the time. Not all

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Speaker 1: the time, but a lot of the time, especially when

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Speaker 1: his teammates have it going the way they did tonight,

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Speaker 1: and in those situations because he has passed himself into

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Speaker 1: single coverage, he is facing less individual defensive attention that

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Speaker 1: helps him score. Another huge part of it is understanding angles.

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Speaker 1: How many guys have you guys seen in your lifetime

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Speaker 1: at any level of basketball, including the NBA. The example

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Speaker 1: I think of all the time, it's like Ben McLemore.

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Speaker 1: If you watched Ben McLamore do a workout, you would

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Speaker 1: think he's the most skilled player you know. You think

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Speaker 1: he's a top level skill, top top tier skilled level

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Speaker 1: shooting guard in the league. The problem is is that

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Speaker 1: he just never understood the angles and how to utilize

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Speaker 1: that skill to create shots. That's kind of what Lebron

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Speaker 1: has absolutely down to a science. If he gets just

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Speaker 1: that little bit of an inch of a step on you,

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Speaker 1: he knows when he can press the issue when he

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Speaker 1: cannot press the issue. He understands the idea of leverage

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Speaker 1: and getting even bigger, stronger defenders out of position so

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Speaker 1: that he can get to where he needs to go.

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Speaker 1: There are so many elements to what makes Lebron such

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Speaker 1: a great score, and so many people gloss over those

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Speaker 1: elements to try to undercut it as stat padding or

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Speaker 1: he's just bullyball, He's just bullying people. And what they

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Speaker 1: don't understand is he does have a great deal of skill.

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Speaker 1: He does use his passing ability to get open. He

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Speaker 1: does have a scores mentality. He has that understanding of

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Speaker 1: the intricacies of how to locate and identify opportunities in

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Speaker 1: a defense to get to your own shot. And I

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Speaker 1: hope that at some point, either soon or maybe it's

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Speaker 1: after he retires, I don't know, but I hope that

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Speaker 1: at some point Lebron gets the respect that he deserves,

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Speaker 1: which is that he absolutely no question belongs on the

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Speaker 1: Mount Rushmore of NBA scores of all time. You have

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Speaker 1: to put him on that list and it will be signed, sealed,

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Speaker 1: and certified as soon as he passes Kareem at some

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Speaker 1: point in the next season. I was really happy for

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Speaker 1: him that he had that kind of night, you know,

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Speaker 1: and and I'm hopeful that over time he will convert

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Speaker 1: people into understanding what he brings to the table. For

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Speaker 1: those of you who are just joining us, this is

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Speaker 1: Lakers Tonight, presented by FanDuel Here. On the volume, we

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Speaker 1: were just talking about Lebron scoring. I wanted to take

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Speaker 1: a second to talk about his engagement level because I

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Speaker 1: thought it was immensely important at the beginning of the game.

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Speaker 1: I've been incredibly critical of Lebron over since the All

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Speaker 1: Star break for his lack of intensity on the defensive

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Speaker 1: end of the floor and the way that that percolates

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Speaker 1: down the rest of the roster and has caused some

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Speaker 1: of the defensive issues that we've seen from the Lakers.

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Speaker 1: It's caused some of the un serious demeanor that we've

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Speaker 1: seen from the Lakers. Those things are all related. That's

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Speaker 1: part of following your leader. And one of the things

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Speaker 1: that's frustrating to me about that is I understand the

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Speaker 1: idea that Lebron is in his nineteen season. I understand

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Speaker 1: the idea that it insane to ask him to be

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Speaker 1: one of the best players in the league after all

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Speaker 1: of the mileage that he has on his body. I

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Speaker 1: get that. But even under those qualifiers, what he was

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Speaker 1: giving wasn't enough, and it was directly impact in the team.

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Speaker 1: I understand the sentimentalit, like I understand why, like tonight,

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Speaker 1: he tried in the first half and they were down

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Speaker 1: seven after after two quarters. That's got to be frustrated

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Speaker 1: when you're one of the best basketball players on the

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Speaker 1: planet and you push your foot down on the gas

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Speaker 1: and it's not enough against the Washington Wizards on your

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Speaker 1: home floor. That's frustrating. So I acknowledge and understand why

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Speaker 1: it's difficult. I know why he struggles with that. I'm

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Speaker 1: just saying it's not enough anyway, because had they lost

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Speaker 1: tonight for whatever reason, some shots don't go down, he

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Speaker 1: gets thirty five instead of fifty. You know, to Allen

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Speaker 1: doesn't get to hit some of the shots he hits.

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Speaker 1: You know, Malik doesn't hit some of the shots he

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Speaker 1: hits in the fourth quarter. There's a version of that

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Speaker 1: story where they lose, but at least then you go

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Speaker 1: back to the locker room with the dignity and the

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Speaker 1: respect of the fans because you try and again, no

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Speaker 1: one's asking you to leave your absolute heart and soul

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Speaker 1: out there. That's unfair at this point in your career.

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Speaker 1: But what he was giving wasn't enough. And like we

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Speaker 1: talked about it earlier, with where they are situated in

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Speaker 1: the standings right now, they're actually still is a little

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Speaker 1: bit of a chance. Look at Brooklyn. Brooklyn last night

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Speaker 1: going into the game was below five hundred. But all

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Speaker 1: it takes is get your talent back on the floor.

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Speaker 1: And play good basketball and play into your strengths. Now

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Speaker 1: I don't think they have enough, but hell, you're gonna

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Speaker 1: put the mileage on your body anyways, chasing Kareem, go

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Speaker 1: for it? Why not try? Did you know that next

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Speaker 1: Wednesday will be one month to the day since Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis sprained his foot. We're pretty close, probably about two

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Speaker 1: weeks away from getting Anthony Davis back. You could probably

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Speaker 1: get seven or eight regular season games in with Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis in preparation for a playoff from why not go

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Speaker 1: for it especially? And this is the most important part,

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Speaker 1: it seems to me. Although I'm a little worried after

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Speaker 1: he had to take some time off after Golden State,

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Speaker 1: he's starting to look a little bit more athletic as

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Speaker 1: time is passing by. I don't know if that's related

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Speaker 1: to his conditioning and just getting back into shape. I

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Speaker 1: don't know if that's some healing going on with this knee.

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Speaker 1: I don't know. A big part of it will be like,

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Speaker 1: if we get the report from Shams tomorrow or from

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Speaker 1: from David McManaman that Lebron doesn't plan on playing on Sunday,

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Speaker 1: then forget all of this. But if he really is

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Speaker 1: starting to trend in the right direction physically, and if

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis is right around the corner, why not. If

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Speaker 1: you lose, you lose, you go home, you rest up,

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Speaker 1: you try again next year. But why not go for it?

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Speaker 1: And I hope they do. The bottom line is what

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Speaker 1: you saw from Lebron defensively tonight, which was nothing crazy.

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Speaker 1: He wasn't out there like Draymond. He just put a

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Speaker 1: respectable effort on that side of the floor. And that

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Speaker 1: is enough for this team to look competent. And that's

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Speaker 1: all I ask for from Lebron. It's literally it. I

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Speaker 1: don't even care if he takes a few possessions off

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Speaker 1: here and there, that's not the issue. It's that unbelievable,

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Speaker 1: you know, embarrassing, let letting go of the rope that

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Speaker 1: was taking place right after the alcar break. That's what

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Speaker 1: can't happen, regardless of how many miles you have in,

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Speaker 1: regardless of how great your resume is. But a big

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Speaker 1: night for Lebron and I'm glad we were able to

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Speaker 1: get to see that, and we gotta enjoy this for

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Speaker 1: as long as we can. I wanted to move on

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Speaker 1: to Russ because he obviously had a really rough game.

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Speaker 1: He's had a handful of decent games as of late.

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Speaker 1: I I I almost cracked myself up sometimes with the

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Speaker 1: bar that I evaluate Russ with, I pretty much say

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Speaker 1: he played okay if he didn't actively sabotage the team.

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Speaker 1: One of the most frustrating parts of this season has

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Speaker 1: been not even just Russ fans, but the pockets of

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Speaker 1: fans that have tried to convince us that he's been

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Speaker 1: good when he very much has not. The good games

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Speaker 1: have been the outliers, the games where he has, like,

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Speaker 1: you know, a thirty point triple double like you did

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Speaker 1: against the Rocket, those are the outlier performances. More often

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Speaker 1: than not, that hasn't been the case, and that's typical

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Speaker 1: for an aging star. That's what happens. You tend to

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Speaker 1: have a handful of moments where you can kind of

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Speaker 1: look like your old self, but for the most part

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Speaker 1: you can. And even in that Houston Rockets game, which

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Speaker 1: was one of his better games, as you saw in

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Speaker 1: the video I tweeted out earlier, he was bad and

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Speaker 1: crunch Time took two really bad jump shots, smoked three

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Speaker 1: layups right at the ram, two of which were remarkably

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Speaker 1: easy layups. You know that's that's just kind of the

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Speaker 1: reality of where we're at with the Russell Westbrook experience

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Speaker 1: me too? As I really look back at this, which

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Speaker 1: is normal to do when you're playing against the team

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Speaker 1: that you traded these guys too, that you traded these

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Speaker 1: guys four, you know there there is a case to

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Speaker 1: be made that the two worst trades in NBA history

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Speaker 1: involved Russ at Westbrook. And it's wild because a normal

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Speaker 1: terrible NBA trade is like what you saw with the

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Speaker 1: Boston Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets in the early two

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Speaker 1: thousand tents. It's we want to win now, so we

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Speaker 1: cash in a ton of assets for some older established players.

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Speaker 1: They come in were relevant for a little while. That

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Speaker 1: Brooklyn Nets team was you know, they were winning at home,

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Speaker 1: trailing two games to one. You know, they had a

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Speaker 1: chance to tie that series before Lebron dropped forty nine

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Speaker 1: on him and knocked them out. That was a good

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Speaker 1: basketball team. They cashed in for that moment, and then

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Speaker 1: they fell apart, and then it became one of the

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Speaker 1: worst trades ever because they lost all those assets. That's

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Speaker 1: usually what a bad NBA trade looks like. Or it'll

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Speaker 1: be like James Harden, you know, like the Harden trade.

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Speaker 1: We thought, yeah, maybe James Harden might become a superstar,

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Speaker 1: but he just played horrible on the Finals, like we

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Speaker 1: didn't know what he was gonna be like. Usually, that's

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Speaker 1: what a bad NBA trade looks like. What is so

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Speaker 1: unusual about these trades. Let's go back to Chris Paul.

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Speaker 1: The Houston Rockets are so unbelievably good that they had

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Speaker 1: the one of the in my opinion, the most talented

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Speaker 1: roster of all time, that two thousand seventeen, two thousand

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Speaker 1: eighteen Warriors roster. They had them on the ropes. That's

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Speaker 1: how good that Houston Rockets team was. But because James

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Speaker 1: Harden had a personal beef with Chris Paul, they shipped

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Speaker 1: Chris Paul and two first round picks and two pick

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Speaker 1: swamps for Russell Westbrook. So not only was Russell Westbrook

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Speaker 1: the not the best player in the trade, but there

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Speaker 1: were assets attached to it. And here we are again.

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Speaker 1: Since December, Kyle Kuzma is averaging twenty one point eight points,

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Speaker 1: nine point four rebounds, and four assists on percent true shooting.

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Speaker 1: In the same span, Russell Westbrook is averaging sixteen point

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Speaker 1: eight points, seven point four rebounds in six point one

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Speaker 1: assists on forty eight point one percent true shooting. He's

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Speaker 1: below when we wait everything with his three point shots

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Speaker 1: in his free throws. That's how ridiculously bad he's been

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Speaker 1: in this stretch. And Kyle Kuzma is a much better

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Speaker 1: defensive player. There are thirty one NBA players this year

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Speaker 1: that have attempted at least five shots in the restricted

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Speaker 1: area per game. Russ would be dead last in that group.

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Speaker 1: If it wasn't for Damian Lillard trying to play through

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Speaker 1: an abdominal injury for a part of the season this year,

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Speaker 1: Dame was dead last Russ Smith is three point two

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Speaker 1: shots in the restricted area per game. That's how bad

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Speaker 1: he's been this year. Kyle Kuzma very clearly was the

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Speaker 1: best player the trade, and he was attached to a

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Speaker 1: really good role player in Contavious Caldwell Pope, another really

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Speaker 1: good role player in Montrez Harrold, and a first round

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Speaker 1: draft pick, and the Lakers took back more salary. Now,

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Speaker 1: to be clear, it's Genie Buss's fault that they didn't

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Speaker 1: pay Alex Crusoe, but we also know, because Alex admitted it,

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Speaker 1: they offered him six millions. So if they didn't take

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Speaker 1: more money back in the Russell Westbrook trade, there simply

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Speaker 1: would be more money available to try to counter the

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Speaker 1: bulls and try to make a deal with Alex Crusoe. So,

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Speaker 1: as far as I'm concerned, maybe it's a partial casualty,

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Speaker 1: but it's absolutely, at the very least a partial casualty

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Speaker 1: that Alex Caruso was part of this trade. And it's

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Speaker 1: just wild to me that twice in the last the

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Speaker 1: last handful of years teams have made this mistake. And

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Speaker 1: it goes to show you that the reputation that Russell

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Speaker 1: Westbrook passed around the league vastly, vastly super recedes what

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Speaker 1: his on court product is, you know, and and it's

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Speaker 1: and it's just frustrating for the fans to watch because

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Speaker 1: it's like in that game tonight, everything for the Lakers

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Speaker 1: was humming on all cylinders except for Russ. It was

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Speaker 1: actively hurting the team in so many different ways. Those

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Speaker 1: were gut punches, those mislayups he had in transition, him

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Speaker 1: getting into the lane and picking up his dribble, which

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Speaker 1: is the turnover damn near every single time, it's one

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Speaker 1: of the you know, it's wild, and you know, I

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Speaker 1: think it's over this, this sequence of Russ getting traded

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Speaker 1: for more than what his value is worth. My guess

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Speaker 1: is that the Lakers will finally have to attach assets

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Speaker 1: to him this summer. But man, what a wild ride

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Speaker 1: this Russell Westbrook experience has been as a basketball fan,

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Speaker 1: I can't remember anything like it. I I can't ever

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Speaker 1: remember watching a player as infuriating as Russ. And it's

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Speaker 1: funny because I've been accused by many people, mostly Russ

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Speaker 1: stand of using Russ for engagement baiting or you know,

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Speaker 1: making it about something that it's not and I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: just make this as perfectly clear as I possibly can.

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Speaker 1: I generally forget that one of the time I tell

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Speaker 1: you guys exactly what I think, I am authentic with you,

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Speaker 1: But I would argue the most authentic opinion I have

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Speaker 1: is the way I feel about Russ. He offends my

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Speaker 1: basketball character as a basketball as a person who grew

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Speaker 1: up around the game of basketball, and right now, I

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Speaker 1: trained kids, I coach kids. I I live and breathe

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Speaker 1: the game of basketball, and the way he plays the

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00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:41,800
Speaker 1: game is offensive to me. It's real. I'm not making

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Speaker 1: it up. I have to be honest in the sense

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Speaker 1: that it affects me. It's a bias, for sure, but

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Speaker 1: I've also gone to great lengths this year to try

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Speaker 1: to circumvent that bias. You guys have heard me on

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Speaker 1: this show. Like I said, I hold him to a

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00:22:55,600 --> 00:23:00,240
Speaker 1: ridiculously low bar. When he doesn't actively shave point, it's

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Speaker 1: I credit him after the game. I try hard to

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Speaker 1: be positive about Rus. It's just really really difficult for me.

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Speaker 1: One last Lakers note before we move on, h Taylor Horton.

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00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:16,040
Speaker 1: Tucker continues to show ridiculous All Star flash. He had

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Speaker 1: to move on Corey Kissberg on the right wing right

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Speaker 1: in front of the Lakers bench, where he just did

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Speaker 1: a standard ripped through and then a pullback dribble and

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00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:25,680
Speaker 1: Kissberg went out of bounds and he made the shot.

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00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:28,760
Speaker 1: And then they're that one in the in the late

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Speaker 1: fourth quarter where he did that like to dribble spin move,

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Speaker 1: which is one It's like it's almost like a full

405
00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,600
Speaker 1: court post uff. It's what Lebron uses all the time.

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Speaker 1: But he like initiates contact with that first dribble, spins

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Speaker 1: and hits you with his left shoulder, and then takes

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Speaker 1: his second dribble into the lane and then I think

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Speaker 1: he might have pumped baked or it might have been

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Speaker 1: I can't remember what it was, but he had an

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Speaker 1: acrobatic finish in the lane. He in retrospect, if there's

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Speaker 1: there are a couple of silver linings to try to

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Speaker 1: gather from this season, this disaster of a season. One

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00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:58,360
Speaker 1: of them is Austin Reeves and finding him the way

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00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:01,200
Speaker 1: that the Lakers did. Another one Stanley Johnson and getting

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Speaker 1: him on a team control veteran minimum contract for next year.

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Speaker 1: I actually really like when you and Gabriel, he showed

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Speaker 1: a lot of really interesting flashes. Tonight, he made a

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00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,280
Speaker 1: corner three. His ability to run up and down the

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Speaker 1: floor and hang with the pace of the game is amazing,

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Speaker 1: but a huge net positive here. I would have traded

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Speaker 1: Taylor because I didn't think Anthony Davis was gonna sprain

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Speaker 1: his foot, and I thought the Lakers needed more talent

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00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:24,879
Speaker 1: in order to go after what they were going after.

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Speaker 1: But now in retrospect, now that we know Anthony Davis

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Speaker 1: was hurt, now that we know this team can't go anywhere,

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Speaker 1: I'm glad we get one more year to look at Taylor.

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Speaker 1: And maybe we tried him at the next trade deadline,

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Speaker 1: because that's just what the sixth situation dictates. Maybe he

430
00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:42,800
Speaker 1: gets moved this summer, I don't know, but at the

431
00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:44,560
Speaker 1: very least we get to look at him a little

432
00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:47,320
Speaker 1: while longer. Because this kid just continues to make me

433
00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:49,680
Speaker 1: a believer. He's a little bit tunnel vision. He goes

434
00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:52,399
Speaker 1: through like a couple of weeks spans where he's looking

435
00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:54,399
Speaker 1: for his teammates and the flow is good, and he

436
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:56,800
Speaker 1: it's when he has the ball in his hands as

437
00:24:56,800 --> 00:24:59,800
Speaker 1: a primary initiator, he's actually a pretty good pass or

438
00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:02,879
Speaker 1: he's looking first teammates when he's playing off ball as

439
00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:05,639
Speaker 1: a scoring guard, then he starts to get tunnel vision.

440
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:07,760
Speaker 1: And there were several plays today where you could tell

441
00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:11,359
Speaker 1: even Lebron was getting discouraged just by some of the

442
00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:13,439
Speaker 1: shots Tailand was taking as he was kind of getting

443
00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:15,680
Speaker 1: out of the flow. But I am still a big

444
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:18,040
Speaker 1: believer in Tailand, and I'm glad we get to evaluate

445
00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:21,640
Speaker 1: him for a little bit longer before we decide whether

446
00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:23,040
Speaker 1: or not we're gonna move on from him or not.

447
00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:25,399
Speaker 1: Al Right, before we get out of here tonight, I

448
00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:27,199
Speaker 1: wanted to take a couple of minutes to take a

449
00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:29,840
Speaker 1: look at, uh, some of the things that I learned

450
00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:33,200
Speaker 1: when I dove into the tape from that amazing basketball

451
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:35,520
Speaker 1: game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Philadelphia seventy Sixers

452
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:39,520
Speaker 1: last night, which, by the way, the the NBA regular

453
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:43,360
Speaker 1: season completely lacks urgency. It's the biggest flaw. When you

454
00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:46,640
Speaker 1: put on that game last night and you're watching Sixers Nets,

455
00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:50,720
Speaker 1: there's a feeling to that game and like a tenasy tent, uh,

456
00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:54,720
Speaker 1: you know, an intensity that is lacking in like of

457
00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:56,720
Speaker 1: NBA regular season games. And I'm not sure that it

458
00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:59,040
Speaker 1: can ever be fixed because of the length of the

459
00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:01,280
Speaker 1: regular season. It's one of the reasons why I'm actually

460
00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:03,320
Speaker 1: open to some of the ideas the league has about

461
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:06,800
Speaker 1: potentially shortening the regular season, adding a mid season tournament,

462
00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:09,160
Speaker 1: anything that you might be able to do to make

463
00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:12,680
Speaker 1: individual regular season basketball games more meaningful. I think another

464
00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:14,800
Speaker 1: big part of that is spacing games out a little

465
00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:19,440
Speaker 1: bit because load management is a concern. Uh James Harden

466
00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:22,000
Speaker 1: missed a huge matchup with the Miami Heat earlier in

467
00:26:22,040 --> 00:26:25,640
Speaker 1: the week, which was directly related to hamstring management. If

468
00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:28,360
Speaker 1: you had teams playing twice a week or three times

469
00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:30,479
Speaker 1: a week at the max instead of these, you know,

470
00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:33,240
Speaker 1: seven games every fourteen days kind of deal, I think

471
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:35,680
Speaker 1: you might have more stars appearing in the games, which

472
00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:37,640
Speaker 1: would give you a better television product. That's a whole

473
00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,359
Speaker 1: other thing, but I just I took a minute last

474
00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:44,199
Speaker 1: night to appreciate what was a rare example of a

475
00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:48,000
Speaker 1: very intense and very important regular season basketball game. If

476
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:50,080
Speaker 1: you go on my Twitter feed and you scroll down,

477
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:53,359
Speaker 1: I took the entire first quarter and I cut it

478
00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:55,800
Speaker 1: up and gave some notes on what I noticed in

479
00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:57,560
Speaker 1: the game. I encourage you to go to look at

480
00:26:57,600 --> 00:26:59,480
Speaker 1: that if you're interested in getting into the weeds a

481
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:01,480
Speaker 1: little bit, but I wanted to share just a couple

482
00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:03,920
Speaker 1: of quick notes from that game. So, first of all,

483
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:07,560
Speaker 1: in retrospect, looking back at that game, watching it in detail,

484
00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:11,840
Speaker 1: James Harden kind of has two personas. He has his

485
00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:17,200
Speaker 1: engaged persona in his disengaged persona. His engaged persona is

486
00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:19,639
Speaker 1: extremely difficult to deal I think about like in two

487
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,240
Speaker 1: thousand nineteen when he had that game winner on the

488
00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:26,679
Speaker 1: road in Golden State. He's animated, he's talking shit, he's

489
00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:29,760
Speaker 1: actively looking for a shot all over the place. He's

490
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:33,320
Speaker 1: getting into the paint. He's super, super aggressive. There is

491
00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:38,480
Speaker 1: a tenacity to him. But the disengaged James Harden, he

492
00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:42,800
Speaker 1: it's like it's like he's floating through the game. It's

493
00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:45,639
Speaker 1: like he's actively hoping that somebody else will do the

494
00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:49,119
Speaker 1: job for him. He'll make a simple read out of

495
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:50,640
Speaker 1: the top of the key, and he's not even really

496
00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:54,359
Speaker 1: putting any pressure on the defense. I thought it was really,

497
00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:58,480
Speaker 1: really really bad on the defensive end last night, especially

498
00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:01,240
Speaker 1: in that first quarter one. Things are falling apart. The

499
00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:04,919
Speaker 1: same James Harden, who actually defended pretty well in his

500
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:08,159
Speaker 1: first few games with the Sixers. So it's like again,

501
00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:13,920
Speaker 1: his entire his entire persona. It seems to be directly

502
00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:17,760
Speaker 1: tied to these kinds of moments, whether it's post he's

503
00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:20,840
Speaker 1: in pressure, or a game like last night, or he's

504
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:23,520
Speaker 1: going up against his former team and they're looking at

505
00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:26,440
Speaker 1: him in the eyes like screw you, man, We're gonna

506
00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:28,760
Speaker 1: show you how stupid you were for not wanting to

507
00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:31,720
Speaker 1: be a part of what we're building here. And that

508
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 1: kind of seemed, that vibe seemed to shut James Harden down.

509
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:39,400
Speaker 1: You know, there's it's like the difference between going down

510
00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:44,120
Speaker 1: fighting and going down floating. James Harden is gonna go

511
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:49,040
Speaker 1: down floating when things get tough, and we have so much,

512
00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:52,360
Speaker 1: so many examples of that that I don't think it's

513
00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:55,560
Speaker 1: up for debate anymore, to be honest, the next thing

514
00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:57,320
Speaker 1: I wanted to hit on him was the foul drifting

515
00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:00,200
Speaker 1: from em beating heartened obviously look bad for all of

516
00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:02,800
Speaker 1: us watching it live, but on rewatch it was even

517
00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:05,600
Speaker 1: worse than you guys think. There were probably a half

518
00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:09,120
Speaker 1: dozen possessions in that first quarter where either in beat

519
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:12,640
Speaker 1: or Harden had an opportunity to make a normal basketball

520
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:15,280
Speaker 1: play that had a good chance of working and they

521
00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:17,920
Speaker 1: bailed on the normal basketball play to do something. Jane,

522
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:21,520
Speaker 1: there's a play Joel empiads isolating Nick Clackson on the

523
00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:23,680
Speaker 1: right elbow. He's got a live dribble or he's gotta

524
00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:27,080
Speaker 1: he's in a triple threat and Clason's play off of it,

525
00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:29,440
Speaker 1: and and Beat could just go up into his jump shot,

526
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:32,680
Speaker 1: but instead of doing that, he did weird little pump

527
00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:36,160
Speaker 1: fakes and like fake rip throughs, like four times trying

528
00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:38,560
Speaker 1: to elbow Nick Claxton in the face so that he

529
00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:41,080
Speaker 1: can draw foul, and he ended up turning the ball over.

530
00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:43,760
Speaker 1: I'm like, as I'm watching the tape, I'm looking at

531
00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:48,360
Speaker 1: my laptop, like, play basketball. Just play basketball. You're literally

532
00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:50,680
Speaker 1: one of the best basketball players in the world. If

533
00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:53,760
Speaker 1: you play basketball, people can't deal with you. It's when

534
00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:55,880
Speaker 1: you do this Jankee stuff. Yeah, it has there are

535
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:57,880
Speaker 1: days where it works. Hell are you shot thirteen three

536
00:29:57,880 --> 00:29:59,880
Speaker 1: throws in the first quarter, But we all know that

537
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,440
Speaker 1: doesn't work in the postseason. Lean into what you're good at,

538
00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,520
Speaker 1: which is basketball. There's another player, James Harden, did the

539
00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:07,800
Speaker 1: same thing several times twice right at the end of

540
00:30:07,800 --> 00:30:09,560
Speaker 1: the game. Right at the end of the first quarter

541
00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:13,560
Speaker 1: where he had reads. James Harden is a great passer,

542
00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:16,160
Speaker 1: one of the best passers in the league. I know

543
00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:20,240
Speaker 1: he saw the open man, but instead he was diving

544
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:22,360
Speaker 1: into bodies, trying to draw contact, trying to get a

545
00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:25,960
Speaker 1: foul because again he's floating through the game. And mark

546
00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:29,280
Speaker 1: my words, if Embeat and James Harden go down foul

547
00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:32,960
Speaker 1: drift ng, they'll go down. But if they go down

548
00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:36,080
Speaker 1: playing basketball, they have a chance to win. I am

549
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:39,080
Speaker 1: still a believer in that core. The other thing I

550
00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:41,280
Speaker 1: thought was interesting was the way the role players approached

551
00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:42,920
Speaker 1: the game. And this was typical when you bring in

552
00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:45,640
Speaker 1: a guy like James Harden, who is a high usage

553
00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:49,080
Speaker 1: perimeter initiator, and you have guys like Tyres Maxie and

554
00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:52,760
Speaker 1: who Tobias Harris, who were very very important parts of

555
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:57,440
Speaker 1: their offense before the trade. They now have to find

556
00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:01,880
Speaker 1: out how they fit and I thought too often because

557
00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:04,560
Speaker 1: they were relegated to off ball rolls when Harden and

558
00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:07,040
Speaker 1: Beat had the ball. When they did get the ball,

559
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:10,640
Speaker 1: they really tried to force the action and both Tyres

560
00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:13,280
Speaker 1: Maxie and and and Tobias Harris took a lot of

561
00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:15,880
Speaker 1: bad shots over the course of that game. Several of

562
00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:20,920
Speaker 1: which involved opportunities to make easy reads to move the basketball. Meanwhile,

563
00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:23,560
Speaker 1: on the other and Seth Curry, this was the example

564
00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:25,400
Speaker 1: that I that stood out the most to me. He's

565
00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:29,360
Speaker 1: playing off of two really high usage perimeter players, but

566
00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:32,800
Speaker 1: he let the game come to him. He he there

567
00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:34,840
Speaker 1: was two plays where he used a dribble handoff and

568
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:36,840
Speaker 1: a pick and roll to get down to the elbow

569
00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:39,160
Speaker 1: and he just simply pump faked and Tyres Maxie went

570
00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:43,280
Speaker 1: way past him and he had wide open seventeen foot

571
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:45,960
Speaker 1: jump shots, which is a great shot for Seth Curry.

572
00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:49,680
Speaker 1: He built his rhythm on that. Then he made a

573
00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:53,320
Speaker 1: wide open three coming off of a dribble handoff, so

574
00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:56,080
Speaker 1: he got into the game with easy shots rather than

575
00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:58,920
Speaker 1: forcing the action. Then he was in a really good rhythm,

576
00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:00,760
Speaker 1: and then he could start kind of confer a shot

577
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:03,600
Speaker 1: more during the staggered lineups when either Durant or Irving

578
00:32:03,640 --> 00:32:06,120
Speaker 1: was off the floor. There's a little detail there that

579
00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:08,520
Speaker 1: Tyres Maxie Tobias Harris have to figure out over the

580
00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:12,680
Speaker 1: next couple of weeks. In general, the Sixers, if you

581
00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:14,240
Speaker 1: will go back and watch that film that I put

582
00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:17,320
Speaker 1: on my Twitter feed, the amount of easy reads that

583
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:19,800
Speaker 1: the Sixers missed, not just the role players but James

584
00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:22,440
Speaker 1: Harden and Joe elm Bad. The amount of easy reads

585
00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:25,640
Speaker 1: that those guys missed forcing the action was crazy, and

586
00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:27,160
Speaker 1: I thought it was a huge part of why their

587
00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:30,560
Speaker 1: offense was stilted and a huge part of how Brooklyn

588
00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:34,560
Speaker 1: kept getting out in transition. Meanwhile, on the other end,

589
00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:39,840
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant welcomed any extra defender that came in consistently

590
00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:42,840
Speaker 1: made the right read, yet he still was able to

591
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:45,560
Speaker 1: get to his shot. The Nets offense just had a

592
00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:48,800
Speaker 1: way better flow, and as KD mentioned after the game,

593
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:50,560
Speaker 1: a huge part of what they did was pushed the

594
00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:53,200
Speaker 1: ball and transition. When you got lazy guys like James

595
00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:55,880
Speaker 1: Harden and slow guys like Joe el embiid, if you

596
00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:58,200
Speaker 1: can run up and down the floor, you can beat

597
00:32:58,240 --> 00:32:59,800
Speaker 1: them down the floor a lot of times before they

598
00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:02,200
Speaker 1: can set their defense and get a lot of quality shots.

599
00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:05,440
Speaker 1: That way to put a bow on it. You know,

600
00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:07,600
Speaker 1: I said some pretty strong words last night, like I

601
00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:10,760
Speaker 1: and I believe them. I do believe Brooklyn would win

602
00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:16,120
Speaker 1: that series, but after rewatching, I do think Philly is

603
00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:20,080
Speaker 1: capable of playing a lot better than they did. But again,

604
00:33:20,120 --> 00:33:24,840
Speaker 1: they got absolutely trounced last night, so they have to

605
00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:27,520
Speaker 1: play a lot better in order for that to work out,

606
00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:31,680
Speaker 1: and Brooklyn's got reinforcements coming Ben Simmons. You know, A

607
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:35,080
Speaker 1: huge part, like the one big glaring negative from Brooklyn

608
00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:38,000
Speaker 1: in that first quarter was Bruce Brown really really struggled

609
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:41,080
Speaker 1: offensively and he was put in a short role position

610
00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:43,360
Speaker 1: where he had to finish around Philly's size a lot,

611
00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:45,640
Speaker 1: and he struggled with it. There were multiple possessions where

612
00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:50,760
Speaker 1: Bruce Brown panicked and threw a garbage around the basket. Now, obviously,

613
00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:53,120
Speaker 1: if it's game seven of a playoff series, maybe Ben

614
00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:57,440
Speaker 1: Simmons does have to But I trust Ben Simmons offensively

615
00:33:57,480 --> 00:33:59,400
Speaker 1: a lot more than that role. Andy's a much better

616
00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:02,040
Speaker 1: defensive player. There's some little kinks that gotta work out,

617
00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:04,360
Speaker 1: like you can't play Drummond if you're gonna play Ben Simmons.

618
00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:06,320
Speaker 1: We saw that being an issue with Bruce Brown even

619
00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:08,520
Speaker 1: last night. So there's little details I gotta work out.

620
00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:11,840
Speaker 1: But I'm that that Brooklyn Hett's team is gonna just

621
00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:14,880
Speaker 1: continue to get better when Ben Simmons gets integrated into

622
00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:18,600
Speaker 1: the picture. But Philly far from their best punch last night.

623
00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:22,040
Speaker 1: They definitely have more. I don't know if it'll be enough,

624
00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:24,880
Speaker 1: but they're definitely capable of playing a lot better than

625
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:27,040
Speaker 1: they did. All right, guys, that is all I have

626
00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:29,560
Speaker 1: for tonight. Thank you so much, sincerely for coming to

627
00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:32,720
Speaker 1: hang out. As always, we will be back on Sunday

628
00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:36,320
Speaker 1: night post game Laker Sons. Hopefully Lebron plays, Hopefully we

629
00:34:36,400 --> 00:35:00,040
Speaker 1: get a good game. I will see you guys. It