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Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty 26 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: eight hours after issuance. See DKG dot com slash football 27 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:38,199 Speaker 1: for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gambling resources. 28 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:50,320 Speaker 1: All right, welcome to hop tonight. You're at the volume. 29 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: Happy Tuesday, everybody. Hope all you guys are having a 30 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: great week. We got a quick show for you today. 31 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:57,080 Speaker 1: We're gonna hit two games from last night. Doc Rivers 32 00:01:57,080 --> 00:01:59,720 Speaker 1: made his coaching debut with the Milwaukee Bucks in Denver 33 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:02,520 Speaker 1: and what was a very competitive and interesting game. There 34 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 1: was a fun little chess match at the end of 35 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: that one too that I want to get into. So 36 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 1: we're gonna be breaking that game down from the perspective 37 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:09,799 Speaker 1: of both teams. And then one of the best young 38 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:13,399 Speaker 1: rivalries in the NBA right now, the Thunder and the Timberwolves, 39 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: led by two guards that bring very different games to 40 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: the table, but that are both kind of similarly regarded 41 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: around the NBA. They put forth a fun show last night, 42 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:24,480 Speaker 1: so we're gonna break that game down. Then I have 43 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 1: about a half dozen mail bag questions for us to 44 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:29,080 Speaker 1: get to at the tail end of the show that 45 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: I'll have us bouncing around the league. You guys are 46 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:32,839 Speaker 1: the Joe Foberg started subscribe to a brandw YouTube channel. 47 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:33,639 Speaker 1: It I mean a lot to me if you guys 48 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:35,760 Speaker 1: would take a second to scroll down and hit that 49 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:38,359 Speaker 1: subscribe button. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you 50 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: get your podcast under Hoops tonight. I also found out 51 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:42,560 Speaker 1: the other day that it's really helpful for us when 52 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:44,919 Speaker 1: you rate and review the podcast. So those of you 53 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 1: guys who use the podcast feed, if you would take 54 00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: a second to do that, I really appreciate that as well. 55 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: Don't forget about my Twitter feed at underscore json lt 56 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:53,920 Speaker 1: that's where I put film threads in the mornings, as 57 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 1: well as show announcements, and the last but not least, 58 00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 1: keep dropping mail bad questions in the YouTube comments so 59 00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 1: we can keep hitting them throughout this season. All right, 60 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:04,440 Speaker 1: let's talk some basketball. So Doc's coaching debut with the 61 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:06,919 Speaker 1: Bucks last night, right, off the bat you could tell 62 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: the difference in kind of defensive intensity. There was an 63 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,960 Speaker 1: early possession where Dame was chasing Kentavious Callwell Pope off 64 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: of a dribble handoff in Nikola Jokic and actually like 65 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 1: sidled up over the top of the screen and beat 66 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: CACP to the spot, chested him up and like and 67 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:24,360 Speaker 1: shut the possession down, which ended up leaving leading to 68 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:27,239 Speaker 1: a late clock three from Nikola Jokic where he missed 69 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:29,920 Speaker 1: a three along the kind of like above the break 70 00:03:29,919 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: on the right side. And I remember as I was 71 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:34,480 Speaker 1: watching that, I've been watching a ton of Milwaukee Bucks 72 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: defensive tape all season, and there just aren't that many 73 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: possessions this year where Dame actually beats a guy over 74 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:42,360 Speaker 1: the top of the screen and does his job, you know. 75 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:45,600 Speaker 1: And the thing with Dame is, obviously there's an energy 76 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: conservation element to him being such a valuable offensive player. 77 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 1: But Dame, even though he's a bit undersized, is an 78 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 1: outstanding athlete. Even at this phase of his career where 79 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 1: he's declined a little bit, he's an outstanding athlete, and 80 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: so he's capable of doing a much better job than 81 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:00,840 Speaker 1: he had done. And one of the things I was 82 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: looking forward to with Doc Rivers was just a better 83 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:06,040 Speaker 1: defensive commitment, and I thought he did do a better job. 84 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 1: But I want to kind of start. We'll come back 85 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 1: to the Doc River stuff in a little bit. I 86 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: wanted to start with the Nuggets on the defensive end 87 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 1: of the floor. Obviously, they won the game, and some 88 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:16,440 Speaker 1: of the matchup stuff that they did did a good 89 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:19,440 Speaker 1: job of kind of slowing down Milwaukee's offensive attack because 90 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:22,719 Speaker 1: Milwaukee's an excellent offensive team as well, so the matchups 91 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: kind of went as you would expect. They went with 92 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:27,280 Speaker 1: Kntavi's called Pope on Damian Lillard and he did a 93 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 1: good job there. Aaron Gordon on Janis and this kind 94 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:33,480 Speaker 1: of dynamic is really interesting that the Aaron Gordon and 95 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:37,360 Speaker 1: Nicole Jokic front court, specifically for Giannis and brook Lopez, 96 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:40,039 Speaker 1: because the Bucks run a lot of inverted pick and 97 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:42,800 Speaker 1: roll where Jannis is actually the ball handler and they'll 98 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:44,880 Speaker 1: have like Brooks at the ball screen, and it works 99 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:47,159 Speaker 1: really well in a lot of cases because most teams 100 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:50,360 Speaker 1: don't have versatile enough defensive front courts to be able 101 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 1: to switch that action, and so a lot of times, 102 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: like you'll end up with some big guy who and 103 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: most big guys struggle with screen navigation because they're easy 104 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:00,560 Speaker 1: targets for screens, and mostly its guards and wings that 105 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:03,760 Speaker 1: grow up in the game learning how to navigate screens right. 106 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,719 Speaker 1: And one of the things that's that Milwaukee will weaponize 107 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:09,800 Speaker 1: a lot of times is a big defender on Giannis 108 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: and then have brook Sky set a screen. They don't 109 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:15,479 Speaker 1: want to switch that, and so like they'll set a 110 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:17,359 Speaker 1: good screen and that big guy just isn't good at 111 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 1: navigating it. Now Jannis is just barreling downhill and they 112 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 1: can have a lot of success there well the Nuggets 113 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 1: because Nicole Jokic has some experienced guarding Giannis, mainly just 114 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:28,560 Speaker 1: like giving him a ton of space for jump shots 115 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: and having the ability to withstand Janis's kind of like 116 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:34,159 Speaker 1: bully ball attack to the chest right and we've seen 117 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:36,160 Speaker 1: that not just in the NBA but in FIBA as well, 118 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:38,920 Speaker 1: and so they were able to basically switch any of 119 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:41,920 Speaker 1: the Yannis brook Lopez pick and rolls. The main kind 120 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:44,839 Speaker 1: of dynamic that we saw where Milwaukee had some success 121 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:47,880 Speaker 1: on offense was the Dame Brook Lopez pick and roll, 122 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 1: particularly in the first half, because Dame is one of 123 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: those guys that kind of brings the unique combination of 124 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:55,279 Speaker 1: speed and pull up shooting to bring Yokic out in 125 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:57,200 Speaker 1: his high drop coverage and to be able to have 126 00:05:57,240 --> 00:05:59,279 Speaker 1: some success there. And in the first half in particular, 127 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:02,240 Speaker 1: Dame was sneak and pocket passes through and splitting and 128 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:05,880 Speaker 1: going around Jokic and actually generating some high quality stuff. 129 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:08,719 Speaker 1: But we know Nikola Jokic is actually capable of being 130 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:11,320 Speaker 1: a pretty damn good pick and roll defender because he 131 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:14,359 Speaker 1: uses his brain, he uses his hands to disrupt plays 132 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: by kind of just seeing things before they happen. And 133 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:20,039 Speaker 1: in that second half, Nikola Jokic was way more active 134 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: in his high drop coverage forced Dame into three turnovers 135 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:26,760 Speaker 1: in the third quarters or in the third quarter. Overall, 136 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:29,600 Speaker 1: I thought Denver did a really nice job defensively. That 137 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:31,040 Speaker 1: was kind of the story of the game. I mean, 138 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:33,800 Speaker 1: Doc Rivers talked about after the game out was kind 139 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 1: of like an offensive loss, and we're going to get 140 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:38,560 Speaker 1: into some of those details here in a little bit, 141 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: but I want to give Denver credit. I thought they 142 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: played a really good defensive game, and then on the 143 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:43,880 Speaker 1: other end of the floor, it was kind of similar 144 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:46,400 Speaker 1: to the Celtics game in the sense that it kind 145 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:49,760 Speaker 1: of devolved into a heavy dose of Nikola Jokic and 146 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:52,840 Speaker 1: Jamal Murray two man game. And this is where I 147 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: want to talk about the chess match a little bit 148 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:57,600 Speaker 1: down the stretch, because Doc actually had a really sound 149 00:06:57,720 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 1: defensive game plan down the stretch that game. He put 150 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:05,120 Speaker 1: Joannas and Tenna Komball on Nikole jokicch that allowed him 151 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:08,359 Speaker 1: to switch the Murray jokicch pick and roll. And so 152 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:10,720 Speaker 1: what he did is he put Brook Lopez on whoever 153 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 1: the big forward was, whether it was Peyton Watson or 154 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon. And so one of the things Denver was 155 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: doing is they were running down the floor and they 156 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: were running quick early ball screens with Contavious Callwell Pope 157 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:25,080 Speaker 1: to get Damian Lillard switched onto Jamal Murray. Then once 158 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 1: Dame was on Jamal Murray, they'd run him off the 159 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:31,680 Speaker 1: Jokic ball screen. And that's where Milwaukee was countering by 160 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:34,040 Speaker 1: switching Giannis quickly onto Jamal Murray. Now, one of the 161 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: things that Denver will do to quickly attack that is 162 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:39,200 Speaker 1: to have Jamal quickly pull the ball out make a 163 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:42,840 Speaker 1: post entry to Jokic now that he has Damian Lillard 164 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: on him, But the Bucks were doing what's called a 165 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:48,200 Speaker 1: scram switch. For basically, right when the post entry is 166 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 1: getting made, Dame is turning and leaving, and because Brooke 167 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:53,960 Speaker 1: is in a perfect position to kind of do that 168 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:55,960 Speaker 1: kind of switch, think of it this way, like imagine 169 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon or Peyton Watson in the dunker spot. Imagine 170 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 1: and remember the ker spot is that spot that's like 171 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: just outside the block, just kind of behind the backboard, right, 172 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 1: And the idea behind that spot is that's where if 173 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: anybody steps up to help, someone can throw you a 174 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:11,440 Speaker 1: drop off pass and you can basically take a drop 175 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:13,840 Speaker 1: step into the basket and dunk it if you're a 176 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: really good athlete. Right, That's why it's called the dunker spot. 177 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 1: So because Brook Lopez is guarding a player in the 178 00:08:19,440 --> 00:08:23,160 Speaker 1: dunker spot, Brook is basically under the basket. So when 179 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:25,840 Speaker 1: Jokic gets a switch and he wants to walk the 180 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:28,280 Speaker 1: guard down to try to get to a good position 181 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:31,760 Speaker 1: for him to attack in that mismatch, he's going somewhere 182 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: within like ten feet of the rim, right, And so 183 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:37,000 Speaker 1: where he's ceiling ten feet from the rim, it's really 184 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: easy for brook Lopez to just take two steps up 185 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:42,240 Speaker 1: and now he's guarding Jokic. And basically there's a brief 186 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 1: kind of interchange there where Dame as soon as he 187 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:47,800 Speaker 1: switches on to Yokic will then sprint over to Aaron 188 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:51,120 Speaker 1: Gordon or Peyton Watson as brook Lopez is going up 189 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:53,480 Speaker 1: to Nicole Jokic. And so that was kind of the 190 00:08:53,559 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 1: chess match, right like the Nuggets running early screens to 191 00:08:56,559 --> 00:08:59,360 Speaker 1: get Damian Lillard onto Jamal Murray. Then they were running 192 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:01,880 Speaker 1: the two man game. On the backside. The Bucks were 193 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 1: scramming to prevent that switch to leading to a Jokic 194 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:08,160 Speaker 1: mismatch in the post. But this is where it gets 195 00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:12,480 Speaker 1: kind of unfair, because Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic can 196 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:15,120 Speaker 1: score regardless of what you do. There was a play 197 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 1: where they executed it perfectly. They scram switched Giannis kind 198 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:22,600 Speaker 1: of pressures Jamal Murray, brook Lopez gets back to Nikole Jokic. 199 00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:25,199 Speaker 1: But in all of that action, there's kind of a 200 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:27,199 Speaker 1: quite a bit of space that forms right in the 201 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:29,199 Speaker 1: middle of the floor, and Nikol Jokic just goes to 202 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: a hard dribble to his left drop step spin back 203 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 1: over his left shoulder, it makes a right handed hook 204 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:35,920 Speaker 1: and it like looked easy, and you're just like, oh, yeah, 205 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 1: we did everything right. But nikola Jokic just makes seventy 206 00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:41,360 Speaker 1: percent of his hook shots, so yeah, that sucks, right. 207 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:44,480 Speaker 1: And then on the very next possession, nikol Jokic, because 208 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 1: he identifies the coverage. Nikoliokic, again one of the smartest 209 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:49,480 Speaker 1: players in the league, he goes, oh, look, there's scram 210 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:53,319 Speaker 1: switching out of this post up, so there's going to 211 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:56,320 Speaker 1: be an interchange there where Damian Lillard has his back 212 00:09:56,400 --> 00:09:59,840 Speaker 1: turned and he's running to the cutter and he's small, 213 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:01,960 Speaker 1: so I'm just gonna turn throw it up to the rim. 214 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:03,360 Speaker 1: And if you watch in the very next possession, By 215 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:05,040 Speaker 1: the way, I clipped all of these plays so you 216 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:07,040 Speaker 1: can actually go to my Twitter feed at underscore json 217 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:09,360 Speaker 1: lt and see not just the video, but I give 218 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:11,320 Speaker 1: it like a word by word breakdown of what happens 219 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:14,880 Speaker 1: on these possessions as well. But very next possession, Yokic 220 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:17,959 Speaker 1: catches and turns and spots Peyton Watson cutting out of 221 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:21,400 Speaker 1: the dunker spot, and to Dame's credit, he made a 222 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 1: really impressive defensive play where he just jumped up and 223 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:27,760 Speaker 1: met Peyton Watson up at the rim and just gave 224 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:29,760 Speaker 1: enough of a disruption to the lob. I still thought 225 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:31,680 Speaker 1: it was a pretty good pass. And you run that 226 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:34,520 Speaker 1: same play five times, like Peyton Watson probably dunks it 227 00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:36,920 Speaker 1: four times. But to Dame's credit, he made that extra 228 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:39,320 Speaker 1: effort and he kind of broke the play up, and 229 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:41,480 Speaker 1: so or it got kind of funny because that was 230 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:44,079 Speaker 1: like where the dynamic of the game was going, was 231 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:46,480 Speaker 1: that scram switch and then basically Jokic working out of 232 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:49,400 Speaker 1: the post against brook Lopez with Dame guarding a big 233 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:53,560 Speaker 1: athlete along the baseline right well. In between this stretch, 234 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:58,080 Speaker 1: the Bucks hit a couple of threes. Brook Lopez hits 235 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:00,120 Speaker 1: like a three at the right wing was kind of on. 236 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:02,280 Speaker 1: Janis was a little frustrated after he throws the swing pass. 237 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 1: He's kind of like, what are you doing? And then 238 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:05,280 Speaker 1: it goes in and he's like, all right, great, and 239 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:07,200 Speaker 1: then Giannis hits a pull up three on the left 240 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:08,640 Speaker 1: side of the floor. All of a sudden, it's a 241 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:10,320 Speaker 1: three point game. So it's I think it was like 242 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:12,040 Speaker 1: one o eight to one oh five at this point 243 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:13,800 Speaker 1: in the game, and so now I'm sitting there thinking, 244 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:17,400 Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, uh, Denver's only up a three, so 245 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:21,400 Speaker 1: one possession game. Milwaukee just ran this coverage twice and 246 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:23,959 Speaker 1: they got a stop on the previous possession, and they 247 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:26,400 Speaker 1: forced Jokich into a hooksh I'll be one that he 248 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:28,160 Speaker 1: can make it a high clip. But they forced Yokitch 249 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:31,120 Speaker 1: into an ISO against brook Lopez. Like, okay, defense is 250 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:34,200 Speaker 1: kind of working pretty well well, Doc Rivers makes a 251 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:38,600 Speaker 1: bizarre adjustment. He switches brook Lopez onto Nicole jokicch and 252 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: puts Giannis onto Aaron Gordon and they run the exact 253 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:45,800 Speaker 1: same sequence. Contavious calboll Pope sets the screen, gets Dame 254 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:48,200 Speaker 1: switched on to Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray comes off the 255 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:52,079 Speaker 1: ball screen the Bucks switch. Now brook Lopez is guarding 256 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:56,760 Speaker 1: Jamal Murray and Dame's on on Nicole Jokich. Jannis SCRAMs 257 00:11:56,800 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: him out of the switch, runs over to guard to 258 00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:03,200 Speaker 1: guard Jokic. Dame goes back to Aaron Gordon. But here's 259 00:12:03,240 --> 00:12:07,120 Speaker 1: the problem. Now it's brook Lopez on Jamal Murray, not 260 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:10,959 Speaker 1: Jannis and Tenna Kompo, and so Jamal Murray just goes 261 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: his eyes just light up and he just hits him 262 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:16,040 Speaker 1: with a Gerbil combination into like a step back jump 263 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:18,360 Speaker 1: shot in the mid range, where Jamal gets plenty of 264 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:20,600 Speaker 1: separation and gets a really clean look at the basket 265 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:23,280 Speaker 1: and knocks it down. And what was so frustrating about 266 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:25,320 Speaker 1: it is the bucks go down and Yannis misses an 267 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:27,559 Speaker 1: easy hook shot, which it is what it is. They 268 00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:29,800 Speaker 1: go down to the other end and they run it 269 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:32,400 Speaker 1: the right way, this time with Brooke back on Aaron Gordon, 270 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:35,360 Speaker 1: with Yannis back on Jokic. They were on the same sequence. 271 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:38,320 Speaker 1: Jannis gets switched on to Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray tries 272 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:40,760 Speaker 1: another pull up jump shot on Giannis, but he's way 273 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:44,080 Speaker 1: up closer, much better contest forces a miss, but it 274 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: doesn't matter at that point because it's basically too late 275 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:49,000 Speaker 1: and the game is over. So that was like the 276 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:51,199 Speaker 1: weird thing in the Doc River's bit, which we'll get 277 00:12:51,200 --> 00:12:52,920 Speaker 1: to in a little bit, which which was like they 278 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 1: had this really good defensive game plan where they got 279 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:58,120 Speaker 1: two stops out of three possessions and on the third 280 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:01,160 Speaker 1: one forced Jokich into a pretty difficult hook shot and 281 00:13:01,200 --> 00:13:03,040 Speaker 1: then he bailed on it. The one time they had 282 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:06,280 Speaker 1: a one possession game, where they had an opportunity to 283 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:08,319 Speaker 1: get a stop and then go down and potentially get 284 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:10,520 Speaker 1: a tie, and so that was kind of weird. But 285 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:12,480 Speaker 1: I want to be clear, this is such a great 286 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:15,600 Speaker 1: example of how hard Denver is to guard, because even 287 00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:18,680 Speaker 1: in the event that I described, which is Doc River 288 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:22,120 Speaker 1: sticks with his defensive strategy that I mentioned with Yiannis 289 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:24,840 Speaker 1: on Aaron Gordon and excuse me, with Jannis on Jokichen, 290 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:27,080 Speaker 1: with Brook on Aaron Gordon and all that stuff, you 291 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:30,439 Speaker 1: still are conceding a lob pass to Peyton Watson That's 292 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:33,000 Speaker 1: a pretty high percentage play, and a hook shot for 293 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:35,640 Speaker 1: Nicole Jokic that's a pretty high percentage play. It was 294 00:13:35,679 --> 00:13:39,840 Speaker 1: really just the Yannis Iso on Jamal Murray where Jamal 295 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:42,080 Speaker 1: Murray Iso Giannison missed the three, where they got kind 296 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:44,480 Speaker 1: of like a clean stop where like you almost expected 297 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:46,960 Speaker 1: the shot to miss. And that, for the record, is 298 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:50,680 Speaker 1: exactly what makes Denver my championship favorite. Just when they 299 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:52,760 Speaker 1: get into these slow down environments and I've been beating 300 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:56,240 Speaker 1: this drum all season long, but they just they get 301 00:13:56,320 --> 00:14:00,920 Speaker 1: better shots down the stretch of games and it just 302 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 1: puts you into bind as the opponent. But again, I 303 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:06,560 Speaker 1: didn't agree with the strategy on that one. On that 304 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:08,839 Speaker 1: one singular possession from Doc Rivers, I thought it took 305 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:10,800 Speaker 1: away one of their chances to win. But it was 306 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:15,000 Speaker 1: a super interesting game. Both teams present unique personnel advantages 307 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:18,280 Speaker 1: and disadvantages for each other, but once again down the stretch, 308 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: it just came down to execution. Also, one of the 309 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:22,840 Speaker 1: things that stood out to me, Jamal Murray just has 310 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:26,160 Speaker 1: a clear ability to elevate his game for the best 311 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:29,200 Speaker 1: opponents in the league. He's only averaging twenty one points 312 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:32,440 Speaker 1: a game this year. He's only had thirty five plus 313 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:36,280 Speaker 1: points three times all season, but two of those were 314 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:39,000 Speaker 1: against Boston and Milwaukee, and I think that's a pretty 315 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 1: clear indicator. I mean, this is something we've known about 316 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:43,120 Speaker 1: Jamal for a while, but like just and he's having 317 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:48,000 Speaker 1: a very good regular season for the record, But that said, 318 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:50,400 Speaker 1: it's just very clear that when we get into these 319 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:53,400 Speaker 1: environments against the best teams in the league, where the 320 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:55,720 Speaker 1: other role players for Denver kind of like start to 321 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,320 Speaker 1: decline a little bit just in the overall intensity. Jamal 322 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:01,640 Speaker 1: Murray's one of the those rare guys and there's maybe, 323 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:04,120 Speaker 1: like you know, fifteen to twenty of them in the 324 00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:07,240 Speaker 1: league where when you get into those like super intense, 325 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:11,320 Speaker 1: super physical, super you know, competitive environments, he can take 326 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:14,040 Speaker 1: his game up a level. And that's you know, when 327 00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:16,200 Speaker 1: we talked about duos, you know, a lot of times 328 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:18,800 Speaker 1: Jamal Murray Nicole Jokic get kind of looked over because 329 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:21,280 Speaker 1: of the regular season stats from Jamal Murray, But like 330 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:24,280 Speaker 1: when push comes to shove in a really intense basketball game, 331 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:26,200 Speaker 1: there's just not a better duo in the league right 332 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:29,360 Speaker 1: now than Jamal Murray and Nicole Jokic, because Jamal Murray 333 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:34,239 Speaker 1: does play like a superstar shot maker in those environments, 334 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:36,120 Speaker 1: and Nikol Jokic is the best player in the world. 335 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:38,480 Speaker 1: And I thought last night was a great example of 336 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:40,440 Speaker 1: that against the one duo in the NBA that has 337 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:43,280 Speaker 1: a decent chance to be better than Nikol jokicch and 338 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:45,440 Speaker 1: Jamal Murray, and I thought they demonstrated that that was 339 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:48,320 Speaker 1: not the case last night on the Doc Rivers front, 340 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:53,320 Speaker 1: I thought it was one of Dame's best defensive games 341 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:56,400 Speaker 1: of the season. Like I mentioned earlier, that early stop 342 00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:59,360 Speaker 1: on KCP on that dribble handoff where he gets up 343 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:01,160 Speaker 1: over the screen and it takes that contact in the 344 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:03,640 Speaker 1: chest and shuts the play down. Like Dane has a 345 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:07,480 Speaker 1: lot of that potential, and it matters on two different levels. 346 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:10,440 Speaker 1: One obviously, it's important for Dame to commit a certain 347 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:13,920 Speaker 1: amount just for for Milwaukee to get to like kind 348 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:17,600 Speaker 1: of that mandatory minimum level of respectable defense to be 349 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:20,520 Speaker 1: able to contend. But the second big part of it 350 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:23,240 Speaker 1: is just this is a different team than the Blazers were, 351 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:25,280 Speaker 1: Like I've talked about this a lot on the show, 352 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:27,760 Speaker 1: but a lot of Dame's play type usage is down 353 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:31,120 Speaker 1: in terms of frequency from years past. Like he's running 354 00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 1: a few fewer picking roles than he did last year, 355 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:34,920 Speaker 1: a few fewer ISOs than he did last year. Just 356 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:37,640 Speaker 1: everything's down a little bit in terms of frequency. And 357 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:39,800 Speaker 1: a big reason for that is like he's not going 358 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:42,240 Speaker 1: your turn, My turn with CJ McCollum. He's not going 359 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:45,560 Speaker 1: your turn, my turn with Anthonty Simons. He's not going 360 00:16:45,760 --> 00:16:49,480 Speaker 1: your turn, my turn with LaMarcus Aldridge. He's got Yannis, 361 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:53,440 Speaker 1: he's got Chris Middleton who likes to go even Brook 362 00:16:53,480 --> 00:16:55,840 Speaker 1: Lopez is a guy that like will look to be 363 00:16:55,920 --> 00:16:58,200 Speaker 1: aggressive with the basketball in his hands. It's much more 364 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:00,800 Speaker 1: of an equal opportunity offense than what he had in Portland. 365 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:02,920 Speaker 1: And so that means two things. One, it's gonna disrupt 366 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:04,680 Speaker 1: his rhythm a little bit. It's gonna make it harder 367 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:06,520 Speaker 1: for him to kind of constantly stay in a rhythm 368 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:08,760 Speaker 1: and flow. But two, one of the ways to deal 369 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:10,960 Speaker 1: with that is like take that extra energy that you 370 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:13,000 Speaker 1: have and devote it towards the defensive end of the 371 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:16,080 Speaker 1: floor and just do a better job there than he 372 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:19,800 Speaker 1: had done. I've talked a lot about with Doc Rivers, 373 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:22,160 Speaker 1: in particular how he can help in some very key 374 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:27,919 Speaker 1: areas for for Milwaukee in terms of their details. Right, like, 375 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:31,560 Speaker 1: Milwaukee has some personal limitations they do, especially in the 376 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 1: back court and especially in terms of overall team speed 377 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,480 Speaker 1: and playable athleticism. Right what that means is they can't 378 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:41,800 Speaker 1: afford to hemorrhage points on the margins. They will have 379 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:44,920 Speaker 1: times where they do everything right and a guy makes 380 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:47,800 Speaker 1: a shot, whether that's Yokic hitting a hook shot over 381 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:50,560 Speaker 1: Brook Lopez or at some guard hitting a tough shot 382 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:53,040 Speaker 1: over Malik Beasley, even though he's doing his best to 383 00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:55,320 Speaker 1: try to get in the way, right, there are personnel 384 00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:58,440 Speaker 1: limitations that will be there. What you can't afford is 385 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:01,879 Speaker 1: to also lose points in execution, not sprinting back in 386 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:06,439 Speaker 1: transition defense, not communicating your matchups, bad floor balance on 387 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:10,800 Speaker 1: offense leading to those transition opportunities, right like just straight 388 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:14,640 Speaker 1: up punting defensive possessions with guys not doing their jobs. 389 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:17,280 Speaker 1: Like that's that's where they can run into some real 390 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: problems because again, like they don't need to be I think, 391 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:22,680 Speaker 1: I think Damon Giannis, if they optimize on the offensive 392 00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:25,000 Speaker 1: end of the floor, they have the potential to be 393 00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:27,160 Speaker 1: one of the very best offenses in the league right 394 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:31,240 Speaker 1: in a playoff setting, but they aren't gonna be good 395 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:33,200 Speaker 1: enough to win if they're one of the worst defenses 396 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:35,679 Speaker 1: in the league. They have to get that defense up 397 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:37,879 Speaker 1: to the point where it's kind of like what Denver 398 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:40,440 Speaker 1: was last year, where depending on the matchup, they could 399 00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:43,360 Speaker 1: just find a way to disrupt things enough to buy 400 00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:46,160 Speaker 1: them margin for error for their offense to carry them 401 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:49,280 Speaker 1: through the day. And again, I thought, I thought Dame's 402 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:52,640 Speaker 1: defensive effort last night was a great example of how 403 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:55,800 Speaker 1: Doc just by his aura in his ability to sit 404 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:57,960 Speaker 1: in a room and just kind of command the respect 405 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 1: and in the ear of the people in his locker room, 406 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:03,600 Speaker 1: he can go a long way to getting those guys 407 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:06,560 Speaker 1: to doing their job on defense, doing their job in transition, 408 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:09,760 Speaker 1: just more commitment to the details. And I thought between 409 00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:12,199 Speaker 1: that stop on KCP and then the breakup of the 410 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:15,159 Speaker 1: lob and that clutch sequence was just an example of 411 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,080 Speaker 1: just a little bit better commitment to those details from 412 00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:21,120 Speaker 1: Damian Lillard. I thought the game plan was sound too. 413 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,720 Speaker 1: Like Doc Rivers talked after the game about how he 414 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:25,919 Speaker 1: thought his half court defense was good and then it 415 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:28,160 Speaker 1: really came down to the offensive end. I agree with him. 416 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:32,000 Speaker 1: I thought, with exception to that one singular bizarre late 417 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:35,159 Speaker 1: game adjustment where he let Brook Lopez get onto Jamal Murray, 418 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:37,199 Speaker 1: which by the way, he quickly audibled out of, so 419 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:39,240 Speaker 1: it was only a two point mistake in the game. 420 00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:40,880 Speaker 1: Like it wasn't like he stuck with that for a while. 421 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:45,040 Speaker 1: He had Giannisan Jokic. He made one singular error there 422 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:46,719 Speaker 1: and then he immediately got out of it and got 423 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:49,879 Speaker 1: a stop. And again, like I agree with him, I 424 00:19:49,880 --> 00:19:52,560 Speaker 1: think the offense is where the biggest area of opportunity 425 00:19:52,840 --> 00:19:55,800 Speaker 1: for this team is. And it's weird because like it 426 00:19:56,080 --> 00:19:58,240 Speaker 1: feels so weird to talk about the Bucks offense because 427 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 1: you look at their metrics and they're great. You know, 428 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:03,480 Speaker 1: It's it's kind of like with the Lakers. Like with 429 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:07,280 Speaker 1: the Lakers, everyone's talking about their rebounding issues and they're 430 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:09,440 Speaker 1: actually one of the best defensive rebounding teams in the league. 431 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:12,400 Speaker 1: But it's specific lineups. It's like, if you run this 432 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:14,119 Speaker 1: group at an end of the game, will you be 433 00:20:14,119 --> 00:20:15,960 Speaker 1: able to get enough rebounds? And that's the thing is 434 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: like with the Bucks, it's not so much about how 435 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:21,280 Speaker 1: many points they score per one hundred possessions in an 436 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: eighty two game season. It's can they execute like Denver 437 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:28,040 Speaker 1: does at the end of a close game. Can they 438 00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:31,360 Speaker 1: get the Dame Giannis pick and roll to the point 439 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:35,600 Speaker 1: where it always generates a really high quality shot the 440 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:38,760 Speaker 1: way that Denver can. Because if they can do that, 441 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,199 Speaker 1: that is what buys them the margin for air to 442 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:44,000 Speaker 1: be a mediocre defense. And you know, when you look 443 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:45,560 Speaker 1: at the trade deadline of New Nos, maybe they'll be 444 00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:48,000 Speaker 1: able to pull something off. But with their asset situation, 445 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:50,439 Speaker 1: I don't necessarily think they're gonna have a super easy 446 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:56,159 Speaker 1: time tracking down some significant upgrade at the two guard spot, right. So, like, 447 00:20:56,680 --> 00:20:59,280 Speaker 1: with that being the reality, it's actually more important for 448 00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:01,639 Speaker 1: them to kind of into what they've got here and 449 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:04,680 Speaker 1: get the most offensively out of this group and then 450 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:07,960 Speaker 1: try to build a coherent enough defense to make that 451 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:10,640 Speaker 1: kind of like overall partnership work the way that Denver did. 452 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:12,880 Speaker 1: One last thing I wanted to talk about on the 453 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:16,159 Speaker 1: Milwaukee front is Bobby Portis. So Bobby Portis was like 454 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:19,359 Speaker 1: I want to say, like minus eighteen or mine it's 455 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:23,960 Speaker 1: fourteen I think in that game and really really struggled, 456 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:26,520 Speaker 1: And there were some specific stretches where for whatever reason, 457 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:31,080 Speaker 1: Doc Rivers had had him out there with Nikola Jokic, 458 00:21:31,119 --> 00:21:34,359 Speaker 1: which is like a recipe for disaster, and some of 459 00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:36,560 Speaker 1: that is like I think Jokic played like forty minutes 460 00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:39,040 Speaker 1: and you're not going to Playbrook forty minutes. So like 461 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:41,440 Speaker 1: there was just some natural overlap that took place there. 462 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:43,240 Speaker 1: But I saw a lot of Bucks fans last night 463 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:45,879 Speaker 1: talking about how Bobby Portis is the major issue and 464 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:47,600 Speaker 1: they got to find some sort of backup big Man 465 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:50,960 Speaker 1: and blah blah blahlah blah, And I don't necessarily disagree 466 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:54,600 Speaker 1: from the standpoint of it'd be great, it'd be great 467 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:56,560 Speaker 1: to have a better backup Big You know, like there's 468 00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:57,720 Speaker 1: a lot of teams in the league that are in 469 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:00,240 Speaker 1: that situation. The Warriors would love to have a better 470 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:03,840 Speaker 1: backup big, Lakers would love to have a better backup big, right, Like, 471 00:22:03,840 --> 00:22:07,679 Speaker 1: it's a consistent issue around the league. My thing is, 472 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:10,280 Speaker 1: I wanted to use this opportunity to talk about, you know, 473 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:13,880 Speaker 1: the difference in return on your investment when it comes 474 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:15,920 Speaker 1: to a bench player versus a player that can play 475 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:19,679 Speaker 1: in your core five. So one of the reasons I've 476 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:22,160 Speaker 1: been talking about this with the Lakers specifically is when 477 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:26,320 Speaker 1: you rank the Lakers top five players, it's like Austin Reeves, 478 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:29,280 Speaker 1: Lebron James, Anthony Davis, and it's probably like a ruiy 479 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:32,480 Speaker 1: Hachimura and like a D'Angelo Russell or Jared Vanderbilt, right. 480 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 1: And one of the problems is is like more often 481 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:36,920 Speaker 1: than not, they end up having to leave a couple 482 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:38,560 Speaker 1: of those guys on the bench, and they have lesser 483 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:42,960 Speaker 1: players playing in the starting lineup. And so I'm a 484 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:46,000 Speaker 1: big believer in the number one priority for a basketball 485 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: team is to figure out who your main five is. 486 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:51,159 Speaker 1: That's what matters the most. And then from there, if 487 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:55,679 Speaker 1: you can make inexpensive upgrades then great. My thing is like, 488 00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:59,159 Speaker 1: if I'm the Bucks and I have the opportunity to 489 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: make a signific trade where I use whatever assets I 490 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:06,480 Speaker 1: have remaining, I'd rather use it to upgrade my core 491 00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:09,920 Speaker 1: five into a group that makes more sense because you're 492 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:13,400 Speaker 1: gonna scale minutes up when you get to that point. Like, Yeah, 493 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,879 Speaker 1: Bobby Portis looked really rough, especially in specific stretches against 494 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,040 Speaker 1: Denver where he was on the floor with Jokisch, But 495 00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:21,960 Speaker 1: he's never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever ever going to 496 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:23,680 Speaker 1: be on the floor with Yokich in a playoff series, 497 00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:27,280 Speaker 1: Like chances are, at least not as the sole center. 498 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:32,000 Speaker 1: Chances are you're scaling minutes up to match denver starters minutes. 499 00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:34,919 Speaker 1: When you get into that environment, your core five matters 500 00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:39,080 Speaker 1: the most. If you can make ancillary upgrades for very 501 00:23:39,119 --> 00:23:42,639 Speaker 1: little in terms of investment of assets, I'm on board. 502 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:46,159 Speaker 1: But then there's the flip side there. Guess what Bobby 503 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:49,200 Speaker 1: portis is better than the vast majority of veteran minimum 504 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:52,119 Speaker 1: type centers around the league. Bobby Portis is much better 505 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:54,399 Speaker 1: than the types of centers you're gonna get for a 506 00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:58,639 Speaker 1: very small amount of asset spending in terms of the 507 00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:01,159 Speaker 1: trade market, right, that's the issue. If you want to 508 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:05,760 Speaker 1: get a really good center as a backup, it's just 509 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:08,320 Speaker 1: going to be difficult to pull off. And so I'm 510 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:11,440 Speaker 1: all for an upgrade at that position if it comes 511 00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:15,360 Speaker 1: available for relatively inexpensive but in the event of an 512 00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:18,080 Speaker 1: asset being put on the table for Milwaukee, I would 513 00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:20,439 Speaker 1: try to put that asset on the table for a 514 00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:23,960 Speaker 1: more specific need, which is a two way perimeter defender, 515 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:26,359 Speaker 1: a guy that can guard the other team's best guard 516 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:30,040 Speaker 1: and be a reliable floor spacing option for the Bucks. 517 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:33,600 Speaker 1: That's where I'd be putting my primary kind of efforts 518 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: in the trade market. And then yeah, if I can 519 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,480 Speaker 1: flip a second round pick and some salary filler for 520 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:39,840 Speaker 1: an upgrade at backup center, then great, But I wouldn't 521 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:44,640 Speaker 1: do it in any sort of significant expenditure. All right, 522 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:48,439 Speaker 1: Moving on to Timberwolves Thunder. So the key matchup in 523 00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:50,359 Speaker 1: this particular game that kind of changed the way that 524 00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:52,800 Speaker 1: Oklahoma City had to play offense is they put the 525 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:56,920 Speaker 1: Timberwolves put Jaden McDaniels on chet Holmgrin. One of the 526 00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:59,480 Speaker 1: biggest things that Oklahoma City does on offense is they 527 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:02,080 Speaker 1: run ball screens with chet and they have him popped 528 00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:03,760 Speaker 1: to the top of the key. I've talked about this 529 00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:05,720 Speaker 1: concept a lot on the show, but pick and pops 530 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:08,919 Speaker 1: are one of the hardest actions to guard in the 531 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:11,600 Speaker 1: NBA with modern pick and roll coverages. Think of it 532 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,040 Speaker 1: like this. If your guard can shoot a pull up 533 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:17,520 Speaker 1: jump shot, then my guard has to chase over the top. 534 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 1: If my guard has to chase over the top, then 535 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:24,160 Speaker 1: I need a screen defender to funnel him into. Because 536 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:26,400 Speaker 1: if there's no screen defender and I chase over the top, 537 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:28,680 Speaker 1: you can imagine what would happen if I'm guarding Shay 538 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:31,320 Speaker 1: and I'm chasing over the top of the screen. Shay's 539 00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:33,400 Speaker 1: just gonna go over the screen and go right at 540 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:36,800 Speaker 1: the basket, and if there's no help defender there, I'm 541 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:38,439 Speaker 1: not gonna be able to get there in time to 542 00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:41,439 Speaker 1: meet him at the rim. So that's why that screen 543 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,600 Speaker 1: defender is Essentially they're waiting for you, as the on 544 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:48,840 Speaker 1: ball guy, to funnel Shay into him. Well, that works 545 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:52,120 Speaker 1: pretty well in screen and roll because you can play 546 00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:54,920 Speaker 1: what's called no roller behind coverage, where like the rollers 547 00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:56,800 Speaker 1: coming this way, the ball handler's coming this way, and 548 00:25:56,840 --> 00:25:58,600 Speaker 1: I'm kind of splitting the difference between the two and 549 00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:00,959 Speaker 1: trying to make them make a decision. And if I'm 550 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,960 Speaker 1: a big athletic center, can kind of cover enough ground 551 00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:06,960 Speaker 1: to be a reasonable defensive option there. But if I 552 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:11,760 Speaker 1: pop to the three point line, I can't contain the 553 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:14,639 Speaker 1: ball handler as the big man and also guard the 554 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:16,159 Speaker 1: guy at the top of the key. It's one of 555 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:18,719 Speaker 1: the easiest ways to get a defense in rotation. And that, 556 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:21,879 Speaker 1: by the way, is why these really skilled bigs, guys 557 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 1: like Check, guys like Sabonus, guys like Anthony Davis, guys 558 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:27,560 Speaker 1: like Nikole Jokic, guys like Joel Embii, can cause so 559 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:30,439 Speaker 1: many problems for teams in pick and pop. It just 560 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,320 Speaker 1: immediately gets the defense into rotation. It's one of the 561 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:34,879 Speaker 1: reasons why, by the way, I've been talking so much 562 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:37,960 Speaker 1: about Nikole Jokic's jump shot this season, because last year 563 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:39,919 Speaker 1: he was just deadly on it, and so a lot 564 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:43,040 Speaker 1: of Denver's offense was pick and pop. Jokic pump fake 565 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:45,800 Speaker 1: as the guy sprinting at him. Now he's coming downhill, 566 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:49,359 Speaker 1: making decisions as he's barreling towards the rim. Right, So 567 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:51,639 Speaker 1: like having a big man that could set a ball 568 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:54,520 Speaker 1: screen and force a traditional pick and roll coverage and 569 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:56,040 Speaker 1: pop to the top of the key and make plays 570 00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:58,840 Speaker 1: there as huge. That is what Chet does for Oklahoma City. 571 00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:03,760 Speaker 1: You put Jaden McDaniels, who, because Chet is kind of thin, 572 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:08,360 Speaker 1: is strong enough to avoid getting bullied by Chet. Now 573 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:11,119 Speaker 1: they can switch any Chet ball screen with any of 574 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:14,000 Speaker 1: the ball handlers on the floor, and it completely changed 575 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:16,480 Speaker 1: the way that Oklahoma City had to play offense because 576 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,880 Speaker 1: now they're taking Chet off the ball and basically having 577 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 1: him spot up shake Guilds. Alexander ran twelve ISOs in 578 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,199 Speaker 1: this game. He typically only runs about seven or eight 579 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:31,320 Speaker 1: a game. As a team, Oklahoma City averages twenty seven 580 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:34,200 Speaker 1: assists per game this season. They only had twenty one 581 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:37,640 Speaker 1: against the Timberwolves. It became much more stagnant. It became 582 00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 1: a lot more Jalen Williams and Shake Guilds Alexander playing 583 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:43,960 Speaker 1: one on one. It just was a more challenging offensive 584 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:47,880 Speaker 1: game for Oklahoma City. Great example of some of the personnel, 585 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:50,680 Speaker 1: you know, kind of flexibility that you get by having 586 00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:53,119 Speaker 1: a guy like Jaden McDaniels, and then on the flip side, 587 00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:56,160 Speaker 1: having a guy like Chet that as great as he's 588 00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:58,080 Speaker 1: going to be at this phase of his career is 589 00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:00,880 Speaker 1: a little too skinny and can struggle in Somepacific matchups, 590 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:04,359 Speaker 1: and this was an example of one of those matchups 591 00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:07,840 Speaker 1: for Chet, and like Chet in general, just had a 592 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:09,800 Speaker 1: really bad game, and I thought the way that that 593 00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:11,879 Speaker 1: kind of dynamic kind of threw him out of whack 594 00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:14,639 Speaker 1: went a long way. But to shake Yos Alexander and 595 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:17,240 Speaker 1: jayaln Williams' credit, they still had a lot of success 596 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:20,159 Speaker 1: creating their own shot in this game. But Minnesota's defense 597 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:23,240 Speaker 1: just kind of dis dictated the flow of Oklahoma City's offense. 598 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:25,040 Speaker 1: They held him to just one hundred and one points. 599 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:29,600 Speaker 1: By the way, Oklahoma City is the sixth best offense 600 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:31,720 Speaker 1: in the league by offensive raiding, and they got shut down. 601 00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:34,960 Speaker 1: Minnesota has, according to Cleaning the Glass, a one to 602 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,680 Speaker 1: twelve point five defensive rating against the top ten offenses 603 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:41,280 Speaker 1: in the league. Only Cleveland has been better, and so 604 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:45,080 Speaker 1: Minnesota consistently has been able to get their defense to 605 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,760 Speaker 1: translate against the top tier offenses in the league. As 606 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:51,520 Speaker 1: I've said many times throughout the season, Minnesota's defense is 607 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:55,640 Speaker 1: for real. It was a really good Anthony Edwards and 608 00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: Carltown's decision making game talks a lot about this over 609 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:02,440 Speaker 1: the course of the seas. My main concern with Minnesota 610 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:04,840 Speaker 1: is there an average clutch offense and they're an average 611 00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:07,600 Speaker 1: half court offense, and when you get into those really 612 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:11,080 Speaker 1: slow down environments, that can be an issue, and specifically 613 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:13,440 Speaker 1: it gets worse than the playoffs when you've got Anthony Everwards, 614 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:15,840 Speaker 1: who's very very young, like very very young, and I 615 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:18,200 Speaker 1: think he's gonna be a very very good player for 616 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:19,680 Speaker 1: a very very long time. I think he's a bona 617 00:29:19,680 --> 00:29:22,440 Speaker 1: fide superstar in the making all that stuff. He's twenty one, 618 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:26,360 Speaker 1: so like he's just he's young. And then Carl Towns, 619 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:29,880 Speaker 1: who's historically been a pretty poor decision maker in those environments, well, 620 00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:31,920 Speaker 1: this game was not one of those games. I thought 621 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:34,960 Speaker 1: Carl Towns and Aunt were excellent on offense down the 622 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:37,320 Speaker 1: stretch of this game. They were making really good kickout 623 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:39,800 Speaker 1: passes to shooters. They weren't forcing things, which is a 624 00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:41,640 Speaker 1: thing that the two of them have done from time 625 00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:45,640 Speaker 1: to time in their careers. The Wolves had eight assists 626 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:48,239 Speaker 1: in eleven made field goals in that fourth quarter. They 627 00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:50,280 Speaker 1: shot fifty eight percent of the field from the field. 628 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 1: Six of those eight assists were from Carl Towns and 629 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:56,120 Speaker 1: from Anthony Edwards, but at the same time they brought 630 00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:58,560 Speaker 1: the aggression when it made sense. Carl Towns hit a 631 00:29:58,600 --> 00:30:00,200 Speaker 1: three off of like a flare screen at the top 632 00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:02,120 Speaker 1: of the key. Anthony Edwards had a pull up three 633 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:04,640 Speaker 1: and pick and roll when the defender was too far back. 634 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:07,000 Speaker 1: Then there was this I posted the clip of this 635 00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:09,720 Speaker 1: one where ant like rejected a ball screen like thirty 636 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:11,560 Speaker 1: feet from the basket and just rose up and just 637 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:13,680 Speaker 1: dunked it with two hands and probably got fouled on 638 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:17,200 Speaker 1: the play as well. I thought they were magnificent down 639 00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:19,880 Speaker 1: the stretch of this particular game. Anthony Edwards was complaining 640 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:22,440 Speaker 1: after the game about officiating. I think the plays he's 641 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:26,400 Speaker 1: referencing the dunk I mentioned he got hit by SGA 642 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:28,719 Speaker 1: that probably should have sent him to the line. Then 643 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:31,640 Speaker 1: there was a Jaden McDaniel's foul on Shay kind of 644 00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:35,800 Speaker 1: at the right block where Shaye kind of got into 645 00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:38,160 Speaker 1: his body and was using his off arm like literally 646 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,280 Speaker 1: like fighting Jaden off with his off arm, and Jaden 647 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:43,040 Speaker 1: was kind of grabbing at his off arm, so it 648 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:45,000 Speaker 1: was like hand fighting that should have been able to 649 00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:47,560 Speaker 1: go both ways, but Jaden got called for the foul, 650 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:49,200 Speaker 1: and so I think at was just kind of getting 651 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:52,160 Speaker 1: at some of the inconsistencies. And again I'm never gonna 652 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:55,120 Speaker 1: go in on one particular team and how they're affected, 653 00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:58,280 Speaker 1: but league wide, it is an issue league wide. I 654 00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:00,400 Speaker 1: think officiating is a massive issue around the league, So 655 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:03,000 Speaker 1: anytime a player brings it up, I'm obviously going to 656 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:05,760 Speaker 1: support them within the context of the league wide issue. 657 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:10,680 Speaker 1: But decision making, like I said, that specific, that specific 658 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:13,080 Speaker 1: dynamic of Ant and Carl Towns, like making the right 659 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:15,720 Speaker 1: driving kick reads and not forcing tough shots and making 660 00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:18,720 Speaker 1: sure guys stay in rhythm, goes a long way towards 661 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:22,720 Speaker 1: this team's championship potential. They had a one fifty seven 662 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:26,440 Speaker 1: offensive rating in the clutch situation against Oklahoma City last night. 663 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:30,880 Speaker 1: That's been an issue for them all season. They've been 664 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:33,360 Speaker 1: a mediocre I think there. I think I mentioned in 665 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:36,720 Speaker 1: yesterday's show they've been below one oh nine offensive rating 666 00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:40,080 Speaker 1: and clutch situations all season before last night really bad. 667 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,400 Speaker 1: In the last month or so, they were in that 668 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:46,240 Speaker 1: like a high nineties for offensive rating. That's not very good. 669 00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:50,400 Speaker 1: I've said before, but clutch offense and half court offense 670 00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:53,640 Speaker 1: are the two closest replicas we have in the NBA 671 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:57,160 Speaker 1: regular season of playoff offense, and that's why I keep 672 00:31:57,200 --> 00:31:59,480 Speaker 1: such a close eye on those two categories, and they've 673 00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:02,680 Speaker 1: been medio in both categories all season long. But I 674 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:05,400 Speaker 1: thought last night was a big step in the right 675 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:08,840 Speaker 1: direction on that front for Minnesota. A couple other shoutouts. 676 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:12,120 Speaker 1: Jaden McDaniels hit a huge corner three in the right 677 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:15,520 Speaker 1: tight space, too quick release and put a pass right 678 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:17,520 Speaker 1: in the shooting pocket and he knocked it down. He 679 00:32:17,560 --> 00:32:20,080 Speaker 1: also had a huge tip in late in the game 680 00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:23,520 Speaker 1: when the thunder needed to stop and Anthony Edwards was tired, 681 00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:25,120 Speaker 1: so he was like hiding in the right corner. They 682 00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:27,440 Speaker 1: ran a ball screen for Nikhil Alexander Walker on the 683 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:29,040 Speaker 1: left side and he ended up forcing up a tough 684 00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:32,400 Speaker 1: floater and he missed it. But shake Gilles Alexander was 685 00:32:32,400 --> 00:32:35,600 Speaker 1: guarding Jaden McDaniels on the right wing, and Jaden noticed 686 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:37,360 Speaker 1: Shay had his head turn and wasn't paying attention. He 687 00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:39,360 Speaker 1: just snuck right in front of him, got in there 688 00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:41,760 Speaker 1: and had a huge tap in with his left hand 689 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:44,760 Speaker 1: that ended up being basically the dagger in this particular game. 690 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:46,760 Speaker 1: And then also I wanted to shout out Jordan McLaughlin. 691 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:49,960 Speaker 1: He's shooting the ball much better this year than he 692 00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:52,760 Speaker 1: did last year. He had two massive threes in the 693 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:54,520 Speaker 1: second half, one off the catch and then one kind 694 00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:56,560 Speaker 1: of off a ball screen where the defender ducked underneath 695 00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:58,720 Speaker 1: the pick, and then as a result of that he 696 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:02,560 Speaker 1: had a pump fake driving really tough scoop shot over 697 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:06,440 Speaker 1: Chet Holmgren. That kind of came from him making those 698 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:08,120 Speaker 1: first two threes and getting the defender to kind of 699 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:09,960 Speaker 1: chase him off the line. I thought he had That 700 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,080 Speaker 1: was a really important sequence in this particular game, as 701 00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:16,040 Speaker 1: Oklahoma City was making the run in that second half. 702 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:20,160 Speaker 1: On the thunder front, the core players are still slumping 703 00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:23,000 Speaker 1: really hard. Josh Giddy started hot, made a few threes 704 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:25,240 Speaker 1: in a row, but then he finished cold. Lou Dort 705 00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:27,240 Speaker 1: missed a bunch of shots in the second half, some 706 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:30,120 Speaker 1: good looks too. Chet had a really rough game. We 707 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:32,280 Speaker 1: talked about this in the power rankings yesterday, but this 708 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:33,840 Speaker 1: has been a theme for a little while now for 709 00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:37,800 Speaker 1: ok See. Giddy, Dort, and Holmgren are all struggling right now, 710 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:40,160 Speaker 1: and as a result, Oklahoma City's offense is kind of 711 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:43,040 Speaker 1: tanking and you know. Some of this is like young 712 00:33:43,080 --> 00:33:45,440 Speaker 1: players can just be inconsistent, but I wanted to go 713 00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:47,880 Speaker 1: over some specific ways, you know, not just for the thunder, 714 00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:50,280 Speaker 1: but also for young basketball players out there, to help 715 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:53,360 Speaker 1: getting through a slump, because this is something that happens, 716 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:56,040 Speaker 1: So you can have slump. So I personally, I was 717 00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:58,680 Speaker 1: a very streaky shooter when I was playing in college. 718 00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:01,560 Speaker 1: I had a conference play sequence one of the seasons 719 00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:03,760 Speaker 1: I played where I shot like fifty percent from three, 720 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:06,680 Speaker 1: and then I had another stretch and non conference play 721 00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:08,880 Speaker 1: like the very next year where I remember, over the 722 00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:11,000 Speaker 1: course of a week in like four games, I missed 723 00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:15,760 Speaker 1: twenty two consecutive threes. So, like, you can slump, it happens. 724 00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:18,600 Speaker 1: It's part of the game, right, And I've learned as 725 00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:20,800 Speaker 1: I've gotten older, there are some specific things that I 726 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:22,759 Speaker 1: think work really well as it pertains to trying to 727 00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:24,799 Speaker 1: get out of a slump. First of all, lots more 728 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:26,759 Speaker 1: off court work to try to polish things up. I 729 00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:29,200 Speaker 1: know it sounds crazy, but you can derive confidence by 730 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:31,000 Speaker 1: knowing you've made that shot when you're standing in the 731 00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:33,200 Speaker 1: game and you go I made five hundred of these 732 00:34:33,239 --> 00:34:34,960 Speaker 1: in the last two days. I have a much better 733 00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:36,960 Speaker 1: chance of making it today. So off court work is 734 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:39,560 Speaker 1: a big one two better offensive process and some of 735 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:41,920 Speaker 1: this is matchup related. We talked about the switching that 736 00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:45,040 Speaker 1: the Okay se could do by using Jade McDaniels to 737 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:49,960 Speaker 1: switch any sort of of ball screen right involving Chad Holmgrend, 738 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:52,480 Speaker 1: and that can stagnate teams and prevent driving kick. But 739 00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:56,560 Speaker 1: you can still generate driving kick rotation situations by hunting 740 00:34:56,640 --> 00:34:59,359 Speaker 1: driving kick instead of hunting ISO. What I mean by 741 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:02,719 Speaker 1: that is like, rather than getting into your dribble combinations 742 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:04,640 Speaker 1: and trying to hunt to pull up jump shot, just 743 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:06,360 Speaker 1: think I got to beat this dude off the dribble 744 00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:08,080 Speaker 1: so that I can draw a help defender and get 745 00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:10,560 Speaker 1: the ball moving around. As the ball's popping around, it 746 00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:12,400 Speaker 1: just adds a rhythm and a flow to the offense 747 00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:14,360 Speaker 1: that gives guys a better chance of making shots and 748 00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:17,760 Speaker 1: then lastly gain confidence in other areas of the game. 749 00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:19,399 Speaker 1: This was a big one for me in my mid 750 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:21,279 Speaker 1: twenties that I kind of figured out, which is like, 751 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:25,080 Speaker 1: when you're not shooting well and you have another tool, 752 00:35:25,160 --> 00:35:28,839 Speaker 1: which is you're an athlete, go play hard, like make 753 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:32,680 Speaker 1: plays on defense, make plays on the glass, make plays elsewhere, 754 00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:36,560 Speaker 1: and you will gain confidence knowing that you're impacting winning 755 00:35:36,680 --> 00:35:39,040 Speaker 1: outside of the shot, which will put you in a 756 00:35:39,080 --> 00:35:42,399 Speaker 1: position when when you're shooting, you don't have as much 757 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:45,440 Speaker 1: pressure on your mind to make the shot because you know, 758 00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:48,279 Speaker 1: even if you miss it, you're helping the team elsewhere. 759 00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:50,359 Speaker 1: And so again, I just wanted to kind of throw 760 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:52,200 Speaker 1: that out. There is just a couple of different examples, 761 00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:54,960 Speaker 1: especially for young basketball players out there, for how to 762 00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:57,359 Speaker 1: deal with when you're in a slump. Work harder off 763 00:35:57,360 --> 00:35:59,839 Speaker 1: the court, work harder on the court, and then as 764 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:03,319 Speaker 1: a team, play better fluid in motion basketball to keep 765 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:05,920 Speaker 1: everybody involved. All right, before we get out of here, 766 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:10,960 Speaker 1: let's go to our mailbag. First question, Uh, maybe a 767 00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:14,640 Speaker 1: hot take, but the Celtics without Porzingis playing, the Celtics 768 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:18,040 Speaker 1: without Porzingis playing don't look like a contender. The drop 769 00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:21,440 Speaker 1: off from Kristaps Porzingis to Al Horford is huge at 770 00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:23,239 Speaker 1: this point, and I feel like, and I feel like 771 00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:26,560 Speaker 1: every time KP isn't playing, it's a really close win 772 00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:29,040 Speaker 1: or they lose if the opponent is a decent team. 773 00:36:29,239 --> 00:36:30,960 Speaker 1: Zubach was also out when they got blown out by 774 00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:34,560 Speaker 1: the Clippers, so pretty strange. It's an interesting thing to 775 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:38,360 Speaker 1: bring up. I agree for the record, like if Kristaps 776 00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:41,560 Speaker 1: Porzingis goes down, it's a gigantic blow to any title 777 00:36:41,680 --> 00:36:44,600 Speaker 1: chances for the Celtics. My thing is like, anytime someone 778 00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:47,600 Speaker 1: brings that up, I go okay, But like, is there 779 00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 1: a team out there that can withstand that sort of thing? Like, 780 00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:53,800 Speaker 1: let's look at Denver. They use Yo Yoki season over. Obviously, 781 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:56,719 Speaker 1: you lose Jamal Murray. Season's over. Obviously. There's just some 782 00:36:57,200 --> 00:36:59,440 Speaker 1: We've saw that in the two previous playoff runs, like 783 00:36:59,800 --> 00:37:02,560 Speaker 1: there's not enough offensive firepower, and that happens. You know, 784 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:04,880 Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior is like a rebounder, a help defender, 785 00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:06,520 Speaker 1: and a spot up guy. Like it's just a big 786 00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:09,000 Speaker 1: drop off going from him to like a Justin Holiday 787 00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:12,759 Speaker 1: or even if you go even if you go to 788 00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:15,439 Speaker 1: like a Peyton Watson. If you run Peyton Watson and 789 00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:18,520 Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon and Nikole Jokic, I think some of the bigger, 790 00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:21,360 Speaker 1: more athletic teams are gonna really pack the paint and 791 00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:24,000 Speaker 1: test Peyton and Aaron Gordon as shooters. Right, take Aaron 792 00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:26,440 Speaker 1: Gordon out of the situation. It's a significant drop off 793 00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:29,080 Speaker 1: down to Peyton Watson, who's a good young player. Aaron 794 00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:31,400 Speaker 1: Gordon's one of the best role players in the league. 795 00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:34,759 Speaker 1: KCP is their best perimeter defender. He's like literally the 796 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:36,600 Speaker 1: guy they throw on the other team's best guard every 797 00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:39,520 Speaker 1: single night. Like he's vitally important to them. So point being, 798 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:45,000 Speaker 1: Denver can't afford to lose anybody either. Milwaukee, like, if 799 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:48,399 Speaker 1: they lose if they lose Chris Middleton, they're like, who 800 00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:51,120 Speaker 1: like like Marjon Bouchampus, who you're going to Jay Crowder 801 00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:54,400 Speaker 1: like is like incredibly slow at this phase in his career. Obviously, 802 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:57,359 Speaker 1: Damion Giannis are vitally important. We just talked earlier about 803 00:37:57,360 --> 00:37:59,080 Speaker 1: how bad they are at backup center. So if Brook 804 00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:02,839 Speaker 1: Lopez is out, that's obviously catastrophic. Malik Beasley's out, Okay, 805 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:04,800 Speaker 1: you put in Andre Jackson junior. Now you're playing a 806 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:08,320 Speaker 1: kid in these environments like they're just a pack content, 807 00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:10,680 Speaker 1: I guess. I guess going from Malik Beasley to Pat 808 00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:12,680 Speaker 1: Content is like the one where you're like, it doesn't 809 00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:16,680 Speaker 1: affect their chances that much. But again, if Milwaukee loses 810 00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:20,040 Speaker 1: an important role player, they're in a tough spot. The Clippers. 811 00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:23,040 Speaker 1: You lose James Harden. James Harden changes that team, lose, 812 00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:25,799 Speaker 1: Paul George changes that team, lose, Kawhi Leonard changes that team, 813 00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:29,240 Speaker 1: louse Terrence Man changes that team, louse Zubatch changes that team. 814 00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:31,960 Speaker 1: The Lakers, they can't afford anybody either. Like none of 815 00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:35,080 Speaker 1: these teams can afford to lose a player. So like 816 00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:38,239 Speaker 1: the margins are too tight. So I agree with you 817 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:40,880 Speaker 1: as it pertains to porzingis my thing is like, I 818 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:43,360 Speaker 1: just don't think it's a problem that's unique to Boston. 819 00:38:44,440 --> 00:38:47,720 Speaker 1: Next question. I saw someone suggested Malcolm Brogden and Jeremy 820 00:38:47,719 --> 00:38:49,400 Speaker 1: Grant trade for the Lakers and was wondering what you 821 00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:51,120 Speaker 1: thought about it. It's doing the two things you said 822 00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:52,760 Speaker 1: you want for the Lakers that they're one in three. 823 00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:55,880 Speaker 1: I would love Jeremy Grant. I think he's actually a 824 00:38:55,960 --> 00:38:57,840 Speaker 1: much better defensive player than he's shown in Portland. I 825 00:38:57,880 --> 00:38:59,480 Speaker 1: think we saw some of that when he was in Denver. 826 00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:02,200 Speaker 1: I just don't think from what I've heard, Jeremy Grant 827 00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:04,640 Speaker 1: has much interest at all in playing a role for 828 00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:06,719 Speaker 1: a contender. That doesn't mean a trade can't be made there. 829 00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:10,040 Speaker 1: I'm just not sure that he's the right guy to 830 00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:12,319 Speaker 1: go after it because he doesn't necessarily want to do it. 831 00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:14,640 Speaker 1: But as a player, I think he'd be perfect. You 832 00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:17,440 Speaker 1: shoot the ball really well, he can attack mismatches, He's 833 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:20,440 Speaker 1: got perimeter defense capability. I love Jeremy Grant. Think he 834 00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:22,319 Speaker 1: can help a lot of teams, but I just don't 835 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:25,879 Speaker 1: necessarily see a team training for him. I don't think 836 00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:29,279 Speaker 1: Malcolm Brogden necessarily helps the Laker back court because he's 837 00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:32,440 Speaker 1: not athletic enough. He's a better athlete than Austin or Dilo, 838 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:35,200 Speaker 1: but he's not a great athlete the way that like 839 00:39:35,239 --> 00:39:37,200 Speaker 1: a Dejonte Murray or a Bruce Brown is is just 840 00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:40,080 Speaker 1: another skill guard, and so I wouldn't really necessarily see 841 00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:41,919 Speaker 1: Malcolm Brogden as a guy that could help too much. 842 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:43,600 Speaker 1: And I think someone else will end up hopping in 843 00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:48,240 Speaker 1: there to get him. Next question, when Jason says best, 844 00:39:48,320 --> 00:39:50,480 Speaker 1: don't take him seriously. He said Anthony Davis was the 845 00:39:50,520 --> 00:39:53,919 Speaker 1: best player in the world last playoffs a few days 846 00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:56,640 Speaker 1: before the Denver series, then said eighty isn't good enough 847 00:39:56,680 --> 00:39:59,200 Speaker 1: post Denver series to change his mind depends on what 848 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:02,680 Speaker 1: agenda he wants to say today. So this is a 849 00:40:02,719 --> 00:40:05,239 Speaker 1: consistent thing that I get criticism for on this show 850 00:40:05,239 --> 00:40:07,560 Speaker 1: that I wanted to bring up. There's a huge difference 851 00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:10,000 Speaker 1: between the way I rank players in a vacuum versus 852 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,000 Speaker 1: the way I rank players in terms of like the 853 00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:15,319 Speaker 1: amount of recognition they deserve. To me, the guy who 854 00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:17,839 Speaker 1: gets the trophy gets all the bragging rights. And at 855 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:21,200 Speaker 1: that point, before the Denver series last year, I was 856 00:40:21,239 --> 00:40:25,280 Speaker 1: speaking about the bragging rights. Anthony Davis was a player 857 00:40:25,360 --> 00:40:28,000 Speaker 1: who had a better playoff resume to that point than 858 00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:31,040 Speaker 1: Nikole Jokic. That's why I had him in that position. Myself, 859 00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:35,000 Speaker 1: nor anybody thought that Anthony Davis was a better player 860 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:37,279 Speaker 1: than Nikole Jokic in a vacuum. None of us thought 861 00:40:37,280 --> 00:40:39,840 Speaker 1: that that wasn't the situation. I thought it was the 862 00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:45,920 Speaker 1: kind of like standing, like ego related, resume related, you know, 863 00:40:46,280 --> 00:40:50,560 Speaker 1: like reputation related standing. Going into that series eighties Heriokitch 864 00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:52,879 Speaker 1: is here. Let's see what happens in the series. Oh wait, 865 00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:56,320 Speaker 1: Jokich is way up here. He's way better than Anthony Davis. 866 00:40:56,320 --> 00:40:58,800 Speaker 1: I also ranked Luka Doncic tenth in my player rankings 867 00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:00,640 Speaker 1: this summer. Do I actually I think Luca is the 868 00:41:00,640 --> 00:41:02,840 Speaker 1: tenth best player in the world. No, it has to 869 00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:06,319 Speaker 1: do with the way I do rankings based on reputation 870 00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:10,160 Speaker 1: and historical performance in the playoffs. That's just me as 871 00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:13,760 Speaker 1: it pertains to respect and acknowledging what actually has been done. 872 00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:17,160 Speaker 1: It's just kind of my overall for philosophy and philosophy 873 00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:22,600 Speaker 1: philosophy regarding winning. I'm a big believer in, like, winning 874 00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:25,880 Speaker 1: is why we do this. Let's acknowledge and respect and 875 00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:29,279 Speaker 1: give props to the winners in a vacuum is an 876 00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:35,440 Speaker 1: entirely different conversation to me. That it just is. It's 877 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:38,359 Speaker 1: like two completely separate conversations for lack of a better word. 878 00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:42,280 Speaker 1: And to Anthony Davis's credit, he did outplay nikolea Jokic 879 00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:44,920 Speaker 1: in the conference finals back in twenty twenty, which was 880 00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:47,080 Speaker 1: kind of the grounds for why that was the case. 881 00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:49,719 Speaker 1: But the other thing too, and this is the last 882 00:41:49,719 --> 00:41:52,000 Speaker 1: thing I'll say about it. I am never married to 883 00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:54,880 Speaker 1: an opinion. I'm always going to react to new information. 884 00:41:55,920 --> 00:41:58,400 Speaker 1: So like the idea that I have an agenda doesn't 885 00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:02,879 Speaker 1: actually make any sense. Because I had an agenda that 886 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:06,560 Speaker 1: a center couldn't win a title as a slow footed 887 00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:09,960 Speaker 1: player last year, because that was based on NBA history, 888 00:42:10,560 --> 00:42:13,680 Speaker 1: But then new information came to the table, and it's like, oh, 889 00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:16,600 Speaker 1: actually this can work as long as XYZ happens and 890 00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:18,960 Speaker 1: as long as the player can do ABC. And then 891 00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:20,920 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, I'm like, Okay, this new information 892 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:23,800 Speaker 1: is going to change my outlook. Now I do believe 893 00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:25,799 Speaker 1: you can win that way as long as these other 894 00:42:25,840 --> 00:42:28,799 Speaker 1: things happen, right, So, like again, like there. I know 895 00:42:28,840 --> 00:42:32,480 Speaker 1: it's really hard when you watch, like because I know 896 00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:35,319 Speaker 1: not everybody watches every single video, and so a lot 897 00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:37,680 Speaker 1: of times, like my overarching opinions can get kind of 898 00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:41,640 Speaker 1: disseminated into these like you know, out of context things, 899 00:42:42,080 --> 00:42:44,040 Speaker 1: and like those of you guys who actually do follow 900 00:42:44,080 --> 00:42:46,320 Speaker 1: the show more closely, I think have a better idea 901 00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:48,359 Speaker 1: of what I stand on this stuff. But I wanted 902 00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:50,279 Speaker 1: to use the mail bag today to clarify that kind 903 00:42:50,320 --> 00:42:54,280 Speaker 1: of thing. I usually will tell you beforehand, the difference 904 00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:57,759 Speaker 1: between like what kind of list I'm making versus a 905 00:42:57,760 --> 00:43:00,440 Speaker 1: different list. For instance, I have a contender's list and 906 00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:04,160 Speaker 1: I have power rankings. My contenders list is purely about 907 00:43:04,239 --> 00:43:07,360 Speaker 1: what I expect in the postseason. My power rankings is 908 00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:10,160 Speaker 1: a method for which I can with which I can 909 00:43:10,600 --> 00:43:14,080 Speaker 1: give props to players within the regular season. That's how 910 00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:18,640 Speaker 1: that works, right. My player rankings are almost always going 911 00:43:18,680 --> 00:43:22,799 Speaker 1: to be big picture, resume reputation based. I'm not much 912 00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:28,359 Speaker 1: into hypothetical player rankings. Hypothetically Nikole Jokic was the best 913 00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:30,319 Speaker 1: player in the world, because that's what he was at 914 00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:33,360 Speaker 1: that moment in time last year. But I wanted to 915 00:43:33,360 --> 00:43:35,600 Speaker 1: see him get the trophy first, because to me, the 916 00:43:35,640 --> 00:43:38,320 Speaker 1: trophy matters, and so hopefully that kind of kind of 917 00:43:38,320 --> 00:43:42,840 Speaker 1: clarifies that for you guys. Next question, Hey, Jason was wondering, 918 00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:45,080 Speaker 1: after another blowout loss to a true contender, how the 919 00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:48,359 Speaker 1: Celtics can be taken seriously as championship contenders. Last year, 920 00:43:48,400 --> 00:43:50,120 Speaker 1: they felt like they lost to bad teams and beat 921 00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:52,040 Speaker 1: good ones, which is why they played around too much 922 00:43:52,040 --> 00:43:55,200 Speaker 1: with the Hawks, Philly without Embiid in Miami. This year 923 00:43:55,239 --> 00:43:57,000 Speaker 1: is the opposite. They kill bad teams that They've been 924 00:43:57,000 --> 00:43:59,640 Speaker 1: blown out by the Clippers, the Bucks, the Thunder and 925 00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:02,239 Speaker 1: while they looked close after the losses, it still felt 926 00:44:02,239 --> 00:44:06,160 Speaker 1: like blowouts to Minnesota, Philly, and Denver. Just curious how 927 00:44:06,200 --> 00:44:08,080 Speaker 1: you can rationalize a team being the worst in the 928 00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:10,960 Speaker 1: league against top opponents winning in the Finals, since I 929 00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:13,279 Speaker 1: feel like they should be much closer to or be 930 00:44:13,360 --> 00:44:15,960 Speaker 1: closer to Dallas, Sacramento or the Caves tier of contenders 931 00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:17,800 Speaker 1: where they could get lucky and win, but it'd be 932 00:44:17,840 --> 00:44:20,080 Speaker 1: a long shot. Just don't feel like a very good team. 933 00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:22,600 Speaker 1: And honestly, I think the Celtics fans should expect a 934 00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:24,680 Speaker 1: full rebuild in the next year or two since Tatum 935 00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:26,879 Speaker 1: is just flat out not that good. Love the show 936 00:44:26,880 --> 00:44:28,759 Speaker 1: and things for all the great content. Wow, I have 937 00:44:28,800 --> 00:44:32,600 Speaker 1: to say that is one of the more negative views 938 00:44:32,600 --> 00:44:36,279 Speaker 1: of the Celtics that I've seen this season. I don't 939 00:44:36,280 --> 00:44:39,000 Speaker 1: think they're going to be rebuilding next year. I do 940 00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:41,799 Speaker 1: not think that they're in the Dallas, Sacramento, Calves tier. 941 00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:45,160 Speaker 1: Not saying you're wrong, I just disagree. I do think 942 00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:48,400 Speaker 1: that there's concerns that come from their performance against good teams. 943 00:44:48,440 --> 00:44:52,520 Speaker 1: I've mentioned this, like, They've played ten games recently. The 944 00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:55,359 Speaker 1: last ten games, seven of them have been against teams 945 00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:57,560 Speaker 1: that are not in my top five contenders. Three of 946 00:44:57,560 --> 00:44:59,759 Speaker 1: them are against teams that are in my top five contenders, 947 00:45:00,239 --> 00:45:02,319 Speaker 1: and they lost all three of the games against the 948 00:45:02,320 --> 00:45:04,160 Speaker 1: top five contenders, and they won all seven of the 949 00:45:04,200 --> 00:45:07,920 Speaker 1: games against the other teams. Obviously, that's concerning. Specifically, in 950 00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:11,360 Speaker 1: those three losses, it was their offense that struggled. That's concerning. 951 00:45:11,719 --> 00:45:13,960 Speaker 1: That ties back to a lot of the things we've 952 00:45:13,960 --> 00:45:16,640 Speaker 1: talked about all season and involving their offensive process. So 953 00:45:16,719 --> 00:45:20,520 Speaker 1: like obviously it's concerning. My thing is like in the 954 00:45:20,600 --> 00:45:24,160 Speaker 1: big picture, Boston has still been way more impressive in 955 00:45:24,200 --> 00:45:26,759 Speaker 1: this regular season than most of the teams that we've seen. 956 00:45:27,239 --> 00:45:29,600 Speaker 1: They still have, in my opinion, the most talented roster 957 00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:33,319 Speaker 1: in the NBA. Tatum is still a young wing in 958 00:45:33,400 --> 00:45:36,879 Speaker 1: his mid twenties who is yet to really truly hit 959 00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:40,640 Speaker 1: his ceiling or even close for that matter. I just 960 00:45:40,680 --> 00:45:43,120 Speaker 1: think it's foolish to count them out, and even though 961 00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:45,440 Speaker 1: they have big question marks, I still very much view 962 00:45:45,440 --> 00:45:50,200 Speaker 1: them as a top tier championship contender. Next question, did 963 00:45:50,200 --> 00:45:54,719 Speaker 1: the Rockets beat the Lakers? Ass yes or no? Yes 964 00:45:54,760 --> 00:45:58,160 Speaker 1: they did. I will say like I did. I said 965 00:45:58,160 --> 00:46:02,759 Speaker 1: this in January early January, I said it became clear 966 00:46:02,800 --> 00:46:06,080 Speaker 1: to me after the in season tournament that the Lakers 967 00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:08,120 Speaker 1: just completely let go the rope in terms of effort 968 00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:10,520 Speaker 1: and focus and energy. And I think there's a lot 969 00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:12,120 Speaker 1: of reasons for that. I think some of it is 970 00:46:12,239 --> 00:46:14,759 Speaker 1: natural human nature, Like you feel accomplished and no one 971 00:46:14,760 --> 00:46:17,080 Speaker 1: else does, so they're all coming at you, and that's 972 00:46:17,239 --> 00:46:19,960 Speaker 1: part of it. I think the core players are really 973 00:46:19,960 --> 00:46:22,680 Speaker 1: frustrated with their coach. There's a lot of bad body 974 00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:26,319 Speaker 1: language stuff still coming out of that situation. I think 975 00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:28,560 Speaker 1: there was a video going around of Anthony Davis walking 976 00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:31,759 Speaker 1: away from a huddle as Darvin was drawing up a 977 00:46:31,800 --> 00:46:35,839 Speaker 1: play in last night's game, all like. Another big part 978 00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:38,640 Speaker 1: of it, too, is like the starting lineup situation and 979 00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:42,240 Speaker 1: like they're being overwhelming evidence that Darvin Ham is making 980 00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:45,160 Speaker 1: a repeated poor decision by starting Torrian Prince next to 981 00:46:45,239 --> 00:46:47,600 Speaker 1: D'angela Russell and Austin Reason. He just doesn't give a 982 00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:50,200 Speaker 1: shit what any of us think, or what any of 983 00:46:50,200 --> 00:46:53,120 Speaker 1: the data says, or what the scoreboard says, and he's 984 00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:55,640 Speaker 1: just leaning into it, and I think that is causing 985 00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:58,400 Speaker 1: some of the discouraging stuff. But regardless of what the 986 00:46:58,719 --> 00:47:01,160 Speaker 1: actual cause is, there's no doubt that the Lakers are 987 00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:04,120 Speaker 1: a heavily up and down effort, energy and focused team, 988 00:47:04,120 --> 00:47:07,000 Speaker 1: which is why I said in early January I said 989 00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:11,319 Speaker 1: expect the Lakers to look awesome and terrible. Several more 990 00:47:11,320 --> 00:47:14,040 Speaker 1: times before the deadline. They have very much done that 991 00:47:15,239 --> 00:47:17,200 Speaker 1: before this last game that they just got their ass 992 00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:19,040 Speaker 1: beat in Houston. They were five and two in their 993 00:47:19,080 --> 00:47:21,920 Speaker 1: previous seven games, and their offense was turning around, like 994 00:47:22,000 --> 00:47:23,800 Speaker 1: this is what they do, This is what this Laker 995 00:47:23,840 --> 00:47:27,520 Speaker 1: team is now. A couple things. First of all, there's 996 00:47:27,520 --> 00:47:30,200 Speaker 1: a clear delineation between how they play at home and 997 00:47:30,200 --> 00:47:32,120 Speaker 1: on the road. The Lakers are seventeen and eight at 998 00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:34,880 Speaker 1: home and seven and sixteen on the road. Goes to 999 00:47:34,880 --> 00:47:36,920 Speaker 1: show you that they're not bringing that effort and energy 1000 00:47:36,920 --> 00:47:40,000 Speaker 1: in particular when they go away from home. I think 1001 00:47:40,040 --> 00:47:41,480 Speaker 1: a big part of that too is like the Laker 1002 00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:44,879 Speaker 1: faithful at Staple Center or Crypto dot Com Arena, they 1003 00:47:44,880 --> 00:47:47,560 Speaker 1: don't let that shit fly. They'll boo you so like, 1004 00:47:47,600 --> 00:47:50,279 Speaker 1: I think there's just more pressure to play harder when 1005 00:47:50,320 --> 00:47:52,799 Speaker 1: you're at home. I think also Lebron in particular when 1006 00:47:52,840 --> 00:47:54,719 Speaker 1: he's at home in front of Will Ferrell and all 1007 00:47:54,760 --> 00:47:56,759 Speaker 1: the celebrities and shit, like, I think he just you know, 1008 00:47:56,840 --> 00:47:59,640 Speaker 1: brings a better intensity in those environments. But the second 1009 00:47:59,680 --> 00:48:04,240 Speaker 1: thing is, I want to be clear, the Lakers will 1010 00:48:04,280 --> 00:48:06,920 Speaker 1: not be on my championship contender list at the end 1011 00:48:06,920 --> 00:48:09,960 Speaker 1: of the season if they don't put together an extended 1012 00:48:10,040 --> 00:48:13,920 Speaker 1: stretch of dominant basketball. End of story. I'm not married 1013 00:48:13,920 --> 00:48:16,319 Speaker 1: to the Lakers. If they end the season forty one 1014 00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:18,520 Speaker 1: and forty one, I will not pick them to win. 1015 00:48:18,640 --> 00:48:21,759 Speaker 1: I will not. I will give them no chance. There 1016 00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:25,800 Speaker 1: is no example in NBA history of a team bullshitting 1017 00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:27,520 Speaker 1: through the regular season and winning the title. It has 1018 00:48:27,640 --> 00:48:31,319 Speaker 1: never happened. The only time it even remotely happens is 1019 00:48:31,360 --> 00:48:34,880 Speaker 1: when there is a defending champion that goes into the 1020 00:48:34,920 --> 00:48:37,680 Speaker 1: next season and then bullshits, but they are the defending champion. 1021 00:48:37,840 --> 00:48:40,600 Speaker 1: This Lakers team is not the defending champion. They do 1022 00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:42,799 Speaker 1: not have that kind of margin for error. I do 1023 00:48:42,880 --> 00:48:45,399 Speaker 1: not give them that leeway. I am just leaving them 1024 00:48:45,400 --> 00:48:47,719 Speaker 1: on the contender list because I believe they will. I 1025 00:48:47,800 --> 00:48:51,640 Speaker 1: believe that after the deadline, after Lebron and ad accept 1026 00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:54,360 Speaker 1: the reality that Darvin Ham's not going anywhere, after a 1027 00:48:54,400 --> 00:48:57,359 Speaker 1: little bit of personnel turnover, I think they'll rip off 1028 00:48:57,400 --> 00:49:00,719 Speaker 1: a eighteen game stretch or twenty games stretch where they 1029 00:49:00,719 --> 00:49:03,560 Speaker 1: win two thirds to three fourths of their games. That's 1030 00:49:03,560 --> 00:49:06,000 Speaker 1: what I think is going to happen eventually in the 1031 00:49:06,080 --> 00:49:09,359 Speaker 1: short term, though, especially as Darvin Ham is leaning into 1032 00:49:09,360 --> 00:49:12,920 Speaker 1: this unathletic lineup, which is Austin di Lo Torren Prince, 1033 00:49:13,680 --> 00:49:15,840 Speaker 1: especially in a game like last night where Jared Vanderbilt 1034 00:49:15,840 --> 00:49:21,400 Speaker 1: gets ejected. They are specifically going to struggle against really 1035 00:49:21,480 --> 00:49:25,200 Speaker 1: athletic teams that have size. Houston's one of those teams. 1036 00:49:25,400 --> 00:49:27,719 Speaker 1: They're big and strong on the perimeter, they have a 1037 00:49:27,760 --> 00:49:31,160 Speaker 1: lot of athleticism, and so they can expose the Lakers 1038 00:49:31,200 --> 00:49:33,640 Speaker 1: for their weaknesses, especially on nights when they don't bring 1039 00:49:33,680 --> 00:49:37,399 Speaker 1: great effort. And so again, don't really expect any sort 1040 00:49:37,400 --> 00:49:40,040 Speaker 1: of consistent success from the Lakers until we get through 1041 00:49:40,080 --> 00:49:43,520 Speaker 1: this deadline a week from Thursday. From there, if they 1042 00:49:43,520 --> 00:49:46,360 Speaker 1: don't put it together, then they don't have a chance 1043 00:49:46,440 --> 00:49:48,759 Speaker 1: to put it. Simply, they've got to show that. You've 1044 00:49:48,760 --> 00:49:50,920 Speaker 1: got to show an extended stretch of you playing a 1045 00:49:50,960 --> 00:49:55,080 Speaker 1: championship level. Two questions left. Wonder if in Beats sitting 1046 00:49:55,200 --> 00:49:57,439 Speaker 1: is a strategic move by the team to not allow 1047 00:49:57,480 --> 00:50:00,479 Speaker 1: Denver to make any adjustments. So this is an interest question, 1048 00:50:00,600 --> 00:50:03,399 Speaker 1: especially as it relates to what happened in the game 1049 00:50:03,440 --> 00:50:05,960 Speaker 1: in Philly, which was Joel and bid down the stretch 1050 00:50:06,280 --> 00:50:09,960 Speaker 1: ball denial on Nikola Jokic which really heavily disrupted Denver's offense. 1051 00:50:10,480 --> 00:50:13,359 Speaker 1: Here's the thing, though, I'm a big believer that if 1052 00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:16,120 Speaker 1: you are the better team, the more you play, the 1053 00:50:16,120 --> 00:50:18,400 Speaker 1: more it will bear out. That's why seven game series 1054 00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:20,080 Speaker 1: are a thing in the NBA. They want it. They 1055 00:50:20,120 --> 00:50:23,160 Speaker 1: want it so that there's not shooting variants determining the 1056 00:50:23,239 --> 00:50:26,319 Speaker 1: NBA champion. They want the best team to win right 1057 00:50:26,800 --> 00:50:29,600 Speaker 1: over a large sample size. If you are better, you are, 1058 00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:32,840 Speaker 1: you're going to win. So in terms of like showing 1059 00:50:32,880 --> 00:50:36,919 Speaker 1: off any sort of schematic whatever, to me, if you're 1060 00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:41,000 Speaker 1: scared of that, then you don't believe you're better. That's 1061 00:50:41,160 --> 00:50:44,360 Speaker 1: you problem. If you believe you're better, go beat Denver, 1062 00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:47,480 Speaker 1: and Denver if they bring an adjustment in game one 1063 00:50:47,480 --> 00:50:49,760 Speaker 1: of a playoff series because of something in that game, 1064 00:50:50,120 --> 00:50:53,319 Speaker 1: you would have to figure it out anyway. Like, if 1065 00:50:53,320 --> 00:50:56,680 Speaker 1: you're better than Denver, go beat Denver. If you believe 1066 00:50:56,760 --> 00:50:59,960 Speaker 1: you're better than Denver, you're not afraid about adjustments because 1067 00:51:00,120 --> 00:51:01,799 Speaker 1: you think you're gonna have more adjustments at the end 1068 00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:05,239 Speaker 1: of the day. So I thought that was a good 1069 00:51:05,320 --> 00:51:07,400 Speaker 1: question and an interesting kind of way of looking at it. 1070 00:51:07,640 --> 00:51:09,799 Speaker 1: But in my opinion, it's not an excuse for them 1071 00:51:09,800 --> 00:51:13,400 Speaker 1: not playing in the game. Last question, You being so 1072 00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:16,280 Speaker 1: high on the Clippers is going to backfire. Trust. Okay, 1073 00:51:16,640 --> 00:51:19,040 Speaker 1: So the reason why I clipped this one out of 1074 00:51:19,040 --> 00:51:25,520 Speaker 1: the comments is when it comes to predictions, in my opinion, 1075 00:51:27,320 --> 00:51:29,600 Speaker 1: predicting that a team is not going to win the 1076 00:51:29,640 --> 00:51:35,319 Speaker 1: title is not really much of a prediction. Twenty nine 1077 00:51:35,360 --> 00:51:38,799 Speaker 1: of the thirty teams don't win the title. You could 1078 00:51:38,840 --> 00:51:41,480 Speaker 1: have come out of twenty twenty and been like Man Lakers, 1079 00:51:41,560 --> 00:51:44,279 Speaker 1: Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Nobody's beating these guys up. 1080 00:51:44,280 --> 00:51:46,200 Speaker 1: Picking them in twenty twenty one, you would have been wrong. 1081 00:51:46,760 --> 00:51:49,160 Speaker 1: You could have been like man Giannis, top of the world. 1082 00:51:49,360 --> 00:51:51,120 Speaker 1: He's coming back next year, He's gonna win it. In 1083 00:51:51,160 --> 00:51:53,319 Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, you would have been wrong. You could 1084 00:51:53,360 --> 00:51:55,920 Speaker 1: have been like Man, the Warriors, Andrew Wiggins, Steph Curry, 1085 00:51:56,000 --> 00:51:59,560 Speaker 1: Jordan Poole on the rise, Jonathan Minge is coming, They're 1086 00:51:59,560 --> 00:52:01,560 Speaker 1: gonna win. Twenty twenty three, you would have been wrong. 1087 00:52:02,280 --> 00:52:05,480 Speaker 1: Denver is my championship favorite. I'm picking them to win 1088 00:52:05,520 --> 00:52:08,160 Speaker 1: the title this year. It is more likely than not 1089 00:52:08,360 --> 00:52:12,520 Speaker 1: that I am wrong, because only one team gets to 1090 00:52:12,560 --> 00:52:15,440 Speaker 1: hoist Hilari O'Brien Trophy. And so the reason why I 1091 00:52:15,440 --> 00:52:18,000 Speaker 1: say that is like, when I believe in a team's 1092 00:52:18,040 --> 00:52:20,879 Speaker 1: ability to win the title, doesn't mean I'm saying they're 1093 00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:24,200 Speaker 1: going to win the title. Every team out there has 1094 00:52:24,239 --> 00:52:26,680 Speaker 1: a small chance. I think Denver has the best chance, 1095 00:52:26,680 --> 00:52:29,239 Speaker 1: and it's probably only like a twenty percent chance. It's 1096 00:52:29,280 --> 00:52:31,239 Speaker 1: in the Vegas hots. They're like I haven't looked in 1097 00:52:31,280 --> 00:52:33,320 Speaker 1: a couple of weeks, but DraftKings had him at like 1098 00:52:33,320 --> 00:52:35,640 Speaker 1: plus four something last time I looked. Meaning, if you've 1099 00:52:35,640 --> 00:52:37,319 Speaker 1: bet one hundred dollars on the Nuggets win the title, 1100 00:52:37,360 --> 00:52:41,560 Speaker 1: you win four hundred something dollars. So like, nobody has 1101 00:52:41,600 --> 00:52:44,799 Speaker 1: a great chance. So like if you say if you 1102 00:52:44,840 --> 00:52:47,239 Speaker 1: get on, if you get on online, and you'd be like, 1103 00:52:47,280 --> 00:52:50,640 Speaker 1: the Clippers suck, I guarantee you they're gonna lose. Yeah, 1104 00:52:50,640 --> 00:52:53,560 Speaker 1: you're probably right, But that doesn't mean they're not a 1105 00:52:53,600 --> 00:52:57,080 Speaker 1: championship contender. And in my opinion, when you attack the 1106 00:52:57,120 --> 00:52:59,279 Speaker 1: regular season the way they have, and when you've won 1107 00:52:59,320 --> 00:53:01,360 Speaker 1: as many games as they've had and as they have, 1108 00:53:01,480 --> 00:53:04,000 Speaker 1: and you look as impressive as they have, it's a 1109 00:53:04,040 --> 00:53:07,200 Speaker 1: clear sign that they have a chance to win the title. 1110 00:53:07,239 --> 00:53:09,120 Speaker 1: And I think we'd be foolish to count the Clippers out. 1111 00:53:09,320 --> 00:53:10,839 Speaker 1: All right, guys, that is all I have for today 1112 00:53:10,960 --> 00:53:14,360 Speaker 1: is always as sincerely appreciate you supporting the show. Big day. Tomorrow, 1113 00:53:14,360 --> 00:53:15,799 Speaker 1: I'm going to react to a couple of games from 1114 00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:18,640 Speaker 1: tonight's slate, and then in the afternoon, I'm recording with 1115 00:53:18,680 --> 00:53:21,480 Speaker 1: Carter Rodriguez from the Chase Down Pod. Those of you 1116 00:53:21,480 --> 00:53:24,040 Speaker 1: guys who were hoping we would talk about Clippers calves, 1117 00:53:24,640 --> 00:53:26,440 Speaker 1: That's why I didn't hit that game today because we're 1118 00:53:26,440 --> 00:53:28,799 Speaker 1: gonna be talking with Carter tomorrow. I appreciate you, guys, 1119 00:53:28,800 --> 00:53:57,440 Speaker 1: and I'll see you then. The volume