Speaker 1: The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight. You're at
Speaker 1: the volume heavy Monday, everybody, O bam. You guys are
Speaker 1: having a great start to your weekend. We are going
Speaker 1: to be reacting to Game two of the NBA Finals,
Speaker 1: doing a deep dive into the film that I watched
Speaker 1: this morning. You guys know the drill. Before we get started,
Speaker 1: subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss
Speaker 1: any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at
Speaker 1: underscore Jason LT so you guys don't miss show announcements.
Speaker 1: Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your
Speaker 1: podcast on our Hoops Tonight, and then keep dropping mailbag
Speaker 1: questions in the YouTube comments so we can keep hitting
Speaker 1: them throughout the remainder of the Finals and into the summer.
Speaker 1: And then, last, but not least, before we get started,
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you guys about game time.
Speaker 1: Not too late to get out and see an NBA
Speaker 1: Finals game in person. As fun as it is watching
Speaker 1: on TV, there's nothing like being at a basketball game
Speaker 1: with that kind of stakes, in that kind of star power.
Speaker 1: I had a great experience with game time earlier this year.
Speaker 1: I went to Michale Center to watch the Arizona Wildcats
Speaker 1: play and got a last minute deal on a great seat.
Speaker 1: Knew exactly what I was getting myself into. I highly
Speaker 1: recommend you guys check it out. It's not a convoluted process.
Speaker 1: You can check out and as few as two taps.
Speaker 1: They have all in pricing, so there's no trying to
Speaker 1: hide how expensive things are. And they have all kinds
Speaker 1: of deals like flash deals and zone deals. I love
Speaker 1: the zone deals. You just pick a section in the arena,
Speaker 1: game Time will pick the seats for you in that section.
Speaker 1: You get additional savings. That way, take the guess work
Speaker 1: out of buying Basketball Finals tickets with game Time. Download
Speaker 1: the game Time app, create an account and use code
Speaker 1: Hoops for twenty dollars off your first purchase. Terms apply again.
Speaker 1: Create an account for deem code Hoops. That's Hops for
Speaker 1: twenty dollars off your first purchase. Download Game Time Today,
Speaker 1: last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk
Speaker 1: some basketball so quickly, just an update on the game
Speaker 1: plan for the next couple of days. I didn't do
Speaker 1: film in this particular episode, mainly just because all of
Speaker 1: the concepts that took place in game two were very
Speaker 1: similar to the concepts that took place in Game one,
Speaker 1: where we went ad nauseum over these specific things. So
Speaker 1: if you're looking for visual representations of Al Horford being
Speaker 1: able to switch out on to Luka Doncic, or the
Speaker 1: problem with Jason Tatum being at the center position, the
Speaker 1: dry the hunting of Luka Dancic hunting Luca is going
Speaker 1: to be a big part of the show today, Like
Speaker 1: I have lots of clips of that in the Game
Speaker 1: one film session, So if you're looking for visual representations,
Speaker 1: you can see them there. We're going to break it
Speaker 1: all down, just no film in this particular episode. Later
Speaker 1: this afternoon, Sam Vassini from The Athletic one of the
Speaker 1: basketball minds that I respect the most in the world
Speaker 1: right now, someone that's extremely well connected in the league.
Speaker 1: Always makes me a smarter basketball fan. We're having him
Speaker 1: on the show later this afternoon to break down the
Speaker 1: NBA Finals. I'm going to be asking him what adjustments
Speaker 1: Dallas can make, so on and so forth. That's going
Speaker 1: to be airing tomorrow morning. So Tuesday morning, So today
Speaker 1: we got our little film session without the film. Then
Speaker 1: tomorrow we've got Sam Bessini coming on the show, and
Speaker 1: then obviously Wednesday, we're back with Colin after the final
Speaker 1: buzzer of Game three. So a little schedule stuff for
Speaker 1: you there, all, right. Before we get into the specifics,
Speaker 1: I want to kind of go over some of the metrics,
Speaker 1: like I usually do. The data takes a little while
Speaker 1: to update after the game ends, and so I don't
Speaker 1: really get to get into that data the night of
Speaker 1: the show, but the next day I get to kind
Speaker 1: of go back and look at some of the numbers.
Speaker 1: And so I've got a bunch of numbers to share
Speaker 1: from you guys, not just from last night, but also
Speaker 1: kind of looking at the series as a whole. And
Speaker 1: then we'll get into the specific basketball concepts that took
Speaker 1: place in the game last night. So first of all,
Speaker 1: jump shooting. Dallas out shot Boston last night. They got
Speaker 1: zero point eight to one points per jumper. Not a
Speaker 1: good shooting night by any means, but Boston shot worse
Speaker 1: zero point seventy five points per jump shot. And I
Speaker 1: thought they got better quality looks for better shooters too,
Speaker 1: So that's obviously discouraging if you're Dallas. If you get
Speaker 1: that type of shooting night from Boston and you lose, Like,
Speaker 1: if you're contump lighting a pathway for Dallas to win
Speaker 1: this series, it probably involves you winning the game that
Speaker 1: Boston gets zero point seventy five points per jump shot.
Speaker 1: But they did not, and not only that, they were
Speaker 1: really not in even a position to try to win
Speaker 1: that game. Boston seemed to control it throughout spot up opportunities.
Speaker 1: Talked a lot about this in game one, right, Like,
Speaker 1: if you engage a help defender and you kick to
Speaker 1: a person on the perimeter, that is a spot up opportunity.
Speaker 1: That is a great indicator that you are compromising the defense.
Speaker 1: You're getting the defense into rotation by pulling a help
Speaker 1: defender in and making a quality read to a shooter
Speaker 1: out by the three point line. Right. Well, in game one,
Speaker 1: like we talked about, it was something like what thirty
Speaker 1: two to sixteen in favor I think it was thirty
Speaker 1: four to twelve in favor of Boston, So yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what it was. Boston had thirty four spot up
Speaker 1: opportunities in game one, Dallas had twelve. In Game two,
Speaker 1: Boston had thirty four again and Dallas had only sixteen.
Speaker 1: So we're at sixty eight to twenty eight in favor
Speaker 1: of Boston for spot up opportunities for the series so
Speaker 1: far through two games. So Boston is getting more than
Speaker 1: double forty additional spot up opportunities for their role players
Speaker 1: or stars or whatever you want to call them on
Speaker 1: the perimeter as opposed to Dallas, and they're converting him
Speaker 1: at a much higher rate too. In Game two, Boston
Speaker 1: converted spot up possessions at zero point nine to seven
Speaker 1: points per possession Dallas at zero point four to four.
Speaker 1: That even goes beyond the shooting, because again, if you
Speaker 1: are standing at the three point line and a guy
Speaker 1: closes out at you and you beat him off the
Speaker 1: dribble and get to some sort of scoop shot in
Speaker 1: the lane, may not be worth as many points as
Speaker 1: a three, but it still is converting a spot up
Speaker 1: possession into two points. It's effectively amounting to spacing because
Speaker 1: you're a threat when someone helps off of you. So
Speaker 1: Boston is compromising the defense more than twice as often
Speaker 1: as Dallas is, they are converting those at a much
Speaker 1: higher rate. It is just a complete mismatch in terms
Speaker 1: of the quality of low books that Boston is getting
Speaker 1: compared to Dallas in this game. Isolation We talked a
Speaker 1: lot about this. We're going to talk about the specifics
Speaker 1: here in a minute in terms of the geometry of
Speaker 1: the floor and why it's leaning towards more ISO. But
Speaker 1: Dallas is not converting in ISO. They had zero point
Speaker 1: five to four points per possession including passes in game
Speaker 1: one in isolation in game two only a little bit
Speaker 1: better zero points seventy to nine points per possession including passes.
Speaker 1: That's just not going to cut it, considering you're not
Speaker 1: getting the defense in rotation either. Kyrie has run nineteen
Speaker 1: ISOs so far including passes through two games, they've led
Speaker 1: to just twelve points at zero point six to three
Speaker 1: points per possession. He's the main guy that has to
Speaker 1: improve offensively as they head home to Dallas, zooming out
Speaker 1: on the series on cleaning the glass. Half court offense
Speaker 1: through two games, points per play ninety six to eighty
Speaker 1: seven points per one hundred plays in favor of Boston
Speaker 1: if you include offensive rebounds one fourteen to one oh
Speaker 1: one points per one hundred possessions. So Boston just completely
Speaker 1: dominating in the half court. Rebounds are dead, even though
Speaker 1: both teams have grabbed fifty percent of available rebounds, so
Speaker 1: there's a bunch of just kind of numbers for you
Speaker 1: guys to get a feel for some of the specific
Speaker 1: concepts the concepts that I'm that I'm talking about again,
Speaker 1: like you want to always try to tie the eye
Speaker 1: test to the numbers and vice versa. They can't exist
Speaker 1: without each other. If you're relying entirely on that and
Speaker 1: you're not paying attention to the data, you're missing out.
Speaker 1: If you're paying a ton entirely to the data and
Speaker 1: you're not paying attention to what's happening on film, you're
Speaker 1: missing out. We got to try to tie those two
Speaker 1: concepts together whenever we can. And again, when I'm talking
Speaker 1: about Dallas struggling to get those skip passes to shooters
Speaker 1: or kickout the clean kickout passes to the corner, you're
Speaker 1: seeing that manifest in the lack of spot up opportunities
Speaker 1: for Dallas. So we're going to talk about three major
Speaker 1: concepts that are kind of playing playing out in this series.
Speaker 1: The first is the main issue. This is the number
Speaker 1: one issue that I think is determining the outcome of
Speaker 1: the series more than any other concept. Dallas can't contain
Speaker 1: the basketball. What that means is the guy dribbling with
Speaker 1: the singular defender in front of him when the defense
Speaker 1: is loaded up, Meaning if the guy's dribbling on the
Speaker 1: right wing and there's a guy kind of digging down
Speaker 1: a little bit from the corner, and there's a guy
Speaker 1: digging down a little bit from the wing, and there's
Speaker 1: a guy on the ball, and on the weak side,
Speaker 1: you've got two guys with a foot in the paint
Speaker 1: kind of stepping in and out to avoid the defense
Speaker 1: of three seconds are loaded up. Right from that position,
Speaker 1: Dallas cannot contain the initial ball handler. Now, A big
Speaker 1: part of it is match up hunting, right, Like they're
Speaker 1: hunting Luca, they're hunting Daniel Gafford, they're hunting the specific
Speaker 1: matchups that they can go at. And you know, we're
Speaker 1: going to talk about it in a little bit more
Speaker 1: detail in a minute. But it's like it's a little weird,
Speaker 1: right because Luca is the primary culprit here and yet
Speaker 1: he's doing so much for his team on the offensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor. But Boston just has a really
Speaker 1: simple entry point, like just get Luca onto the basketball,
Speaker 1: beat him off the dribble. Now, once he gets beat
Speaker 1: off the dribble, right, once he got, it's beat off
Speaker 1: the dribble, he engages a help defender. Once he engages
Speaker 1: a help defender, one of these guys on the weak
Speaker 1: side is wide open and there's a single defender that's
Speaker 1: trying to kind of navigate that two on one on
Speaker 1: the weak side. Right, the kickout pass is made from there.
Speaker 1: It's either a wide open catch and shoot three or
Speaker 1: a guy closing out at him. And when a guy's
Speaker 1: closing out at him, he has an opportunity to beat
Speaker 1: that guy off of the dribble. Right. I told his
Speaker 1: story in a very short version with Colin Cowhard last night,
Speaker 1: but I want to give a little bit of longer
Speaker 1: version of it because this, to me is a very
Speaker 1: interesting basketball concept. So again, when you're dealing with young
Speaker 1: basketball players like I do when I'm coaching my high
Speaker 1: school kids, you're always trying to help them become better
Speaker 1: decision makers, right, like read and reacts like the number
Speaker 1: one thing that you need to work on with kids
Speaker 1: so that they can learn how to play with other
Speaker 1: basketball players. Right. And a simple concept that I use
Speaker 1: to try to emphasize the value of passing, meaning like
Speaker 1: emphasize why it's so important for you to when you're
Speaker 1: getting into traffic to notice when there's a guy standing
Speaker 1: on the wing who's wide open. The reason why you
Speaker 1: have to throw that pass consistently is because of this concept.
Speaker 1: What I would do is I'd set the kids up
Speaker 1: in King of the Court, right, and usually we go
Speaker 1: five spots, right, but generally speaking we start in the
Speaker 1: corner because that's the most frequent kind of spot up
Speaker 1: opportunity you'll see. But we'll go from the wing as well, right,
Speaker 1: And like you'll start in the corner, and I'll have
Speaker 1: the kids start with a defender right up on them, right,
Speaker 1: so they hand the basketball and they're playing isolation defense.
Speaker 1: And we'll play King of the Court for like five
Speaker 1: ten minutes, and then I'll stop the game and I'll
Speaker 1: bring everybody in and I'll be like, how often are
Speaker 1: you guys scoring right now? And they'll be like, not often,
Speaker 1: because it'll be like twenty twenty five possessions and they'll
Speaker 1: have like two buckets between all of the players. And again,
Speaker 1: this is the high school level, right, And like at
Speaker 1: this particular level, the talent isn't as developed as you
Speaker 1: see at later levels, right, but they're not scoring very often, right,
Speaker 1: And so then I'll back them away and I'll be like,
Speaker 1: all right, start underneath the basket, throw the pass, close out,
Speaker 1: and now they're sprinting out to the perimeter. And if
Speaker 1: they close out short, the dude's shooting a three. And
Speaker 1: the kids can knock down a three point shot right
Speaker 1: when they're open. Right, if they close out too hard,
Speaker 1: they can make a move and beat that person off
Speaker 1: the dribble and make a play. And I'll pause them
Speaker 1: again after a few minutes, and I'll say bring it in, guys,
Speaker 1: and It'll be how often have you guys been scoring?
Speaker 1: And it's like a lot more often. It's like forty
Speaker 1: to fifty percent of the time that they're scoring when
Speaker 1: the defender is sprinting out at them. And I use
Speaker 1: that to kind of hammer home a very simple concept.
Speaker 1: That's why you make that pass. Because none of you
Speaker 1: are good enough to just consistently beat your man one
Speaker 1: on one when he's engaged and up on you in
Speaker 1: a set defensive situation consistently. But if you make that pass,
Speaker 1: you infinitely increase your chances of being able to score
Speaker 1: the basketball. Now, again, at the NBA level, that gap shrinks, right,
Speaker 1: the gap between the ability to score against a set
Speaker 1: defensive player that's loaded up on you versus in a
Speaker 1: spot up situation is a smaller gap, but it's still
Speaker 1: a gap. Like there's no isolation player in the league
Speaker 1: that's getting you know, one point twenty five one point
Speaker 1: three points per possession in like not including passes, just
Speaker 1: straight like buckets on an island. No one's doing that.
Speaker 1: But spot up players at the top of the league
Speaker 1: do the good spot up players there at one point
Speaker 1: two one point three points per possession. Right, in general,
Speaker 1: if you took all of the league's possessions for spot
Speaker 1: ups versus isolations, there's a gap there. And so that
Speaker 1: that's the concept that I'm referring to here. Boston is
Speaker 1: able to beat that first player off the dribble. From there,
Speaker 1: everything is closed out basketball. They are playing basketball with
Speaker 1: a defender sprinting out at them. And these are thirty
Speaker 1: million dollar players. These are thirty million dollar players that
Speaker 1: are making these types of decisions with the players sprinting
Speaker 1: out at them. The second concept that I use from
Speaker 1: that high school group, we work a couple of different
Speaker 1: types of setups in King of the Court. So, for instance,
Speaker 1: when I try to get them used to working in
Speaker 1: tight space. I'll have them work from the top of
Speaker 1: the key, and the rule is they're not allowed to
Speaker 1: go outside the lane lines. So they have to try
Speaker 1: to make an efficient move in a tight space situation.
Speaker 1: And then when they see an angle, it's not going
Speaker 1: to be a big angle that you can go swooping around.
Speaker 1: It's usually a little bit of an angle that you
Speaker 1: have to shoot through the gap with physicality, and the
Speaker 1: defender is going to catch your shoulder and you have
Speaker 1: to power through that because if you go too far
Speaker 1: outside of that, you end up outside of the lane line,
Speaker 1: and then it's an automatic turnover. In this game that
Speaker 1: I play with the kids, right, so it's like a
Speaker 1: tight space setting where they're learning how to work when
Speaker 1: they can't veer off into the other parts of the floor.
Speaker 1: Why is that important Because in a real basketball game,
Speaker 1: you're not playing in a wide open space where half
Speaker 1: the floor is cleared and there's nobody else there. There
Speaker 1: is a defender digging down from the wing. So making
Speaker 1: them stay inside the lane line is how I demonstrate
Speaker 1: to them that they can't go too far out to
Speaker 1: where the help defender would be swiping down at the
Speaker 1: basketball that's the second piece of what makes Boston so
Speaker 1: hard to guard. It's not just advantage basketball, it's advantage
Speaker 1: basketball in space they're doing it. It's like, if you
Speaker 1: conceptualize that drill, just imagine if the lane lines were
Speaker 1: like an extra three four feet further apart. Because that's
Speaker 1: the advantage of having Derek White in the strongside corner
Speaker 1: that you can't help off. Of having Drew Holliday, of
Speaker 1: having Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum, all these different guys, Al Horford,
Speaker 1: Chris Topsporzingis, Sam Houser, Peyton Pritchard, all eight of their
Speaker 1: core rotation players are great shooters. So like, as a result,
Speaker 1: there is just so much they're operating with an advantage
Speaker 1: with tons of space to work, and that is what
Speaker 1: makes them so difficult to beat. Now, what if we're
Speaker 1: talking about Boston and their roster weakness, what's the one
Speaker 1: roster weakness they have. They don't have a Luca, they
Speaker 1: don't have have a like, just a transcendently great offensive player.
Speaker 1: So if you can contain the basketball and you can
Speaker 1: force them to constantly play against a loaded up defense,
Speaker 1: some of those players shortcomings might come to the surface.
Speaker 1: But the primary problem is is Dallas can't contain the basketball.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter how good of a defensive player Derek
Speaker 1: Jones Junior is if he's closing out all the time,
Speaker 1: because Luca gets switched on to Jason Tatum or Jalen Brown,
Speaker 1: and Tatum or Brown just cleanly beats Luca off the dribble,
Speaker 1: engages the health defender gets kicked out, and now Derek
Speaker 1: Jones is trying to cover a player when he's at
Speaker 1: a complete disadvantage, right, And so that is the fundamental
Speaker 1: basketball concept that is breaking Dallas's defense. They cannot contain
Speaker 1: that initial drive because they're getting switched with Gafford or Luca,
Speaker 1: one of their lesser defensive players out on the perimeter
Speaker 1: against one of the J's. One of the Jays is
Speaker 1: beating that guy off the dribble driving kick from there.
Speaker 1: That's the problem. It's not just Luca. Everyone's getting beat.
Speaker 1: Gafford's getting beat, Kyrie was getting beat, Kleebo is getting beat.
Speaker 1: He was the one who got beat at that on
Speaker 1: that late possession. That kind of was the dagger, Like
Speaker 1: they're getting beat all over the place and Boston is
Speaker 1: exposing not the top end of Dallas's perimeter defense. The
Speaker 1: top end of Dallas's perimeter defense is fine. Derek Jones
Speaker 1: Junior is great. He did an amazing job on Anthony Edwards. PJ.
Speaker 1: Washington has been okay, but he's a capable perimeter defender.
Speaker 1: It's not about that. It's the depth. It's Boston tests
Speaker 1: the depth of your perimeter defense, and Dallas does not
Speaker 1: have depth of perimeter defense, and that is how they're
Speaker 1: getting exposed in this particular situation. I don't know how
Speaker 1: they fix that issue. There's not really a schematic thing
Speaker 1: that they can do. They just simply have to do
Speaker 1: a better job. Luca on those possessions with Jalen Brown
Speaker 1: and Jason Tatum has to find a way to keep
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown from engaging health defense. And
Speaker 1: that's difficult. If I asked you, guys, how is it
Speaker 1: that you can prevent? Like, if I ask you guys
Speaker 1: just straight up, like, do you think over the next
Speaker 1: five games which Dallas has to win for Dallas has
Speaker 1: to win for the next five do you think Lucas
Speaker 1: just going to contain all these guys on the dribble
Speaker 1: at some point? It's hard to imagine now there are
Speaker 1: a couple of schematic things they can do. They can
Speaker 1: try pre switching, meaning when Luca's man comes up, let's
Speaker 1: imagine those bench units when Luca's guarding Hauser. When Howser
Speaker 1: goes up to set the screen, you have to send
Speaker 1: somebody else up there. But the problem is is it
Speaker 1: is legitimately a depth of talent issue. If that became
Speaker 1: a thing, they would just go to Derek White and
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday. Those guys would beat somebody off the dribble.
Speaker 1: There is a lack of depth of perimeter contain on
Speaker 1: this roster, and Boston is exposing it again. Like if
Speaker 1: you had to look at all the teams that could
Speaker 1: come out of the Western Conference, Dallas is probably the
Speaker 1: worst possible matchup out of the top teams in the
Speaker 1: West that Boston could have faced. I mean worse for Dallas.
Speaker 1: I mean in the sense that their defense is just
Speaker 1: not set up to be able to contain this type
Speaker 1: of attack from Boston. Boston's driving kick decisions have been
Speaker 1: mostly excellent. Turning back to the Boston side of things,
Speaker 1: like juxtaposed with twenty twenty two, I remember talking about
Speaker 1: rim decisions constantly. With that Boston team, like they would
Speaker 1: drive and engage the help defender and then try to
Speaker 1: shoot over them. They beg for a foul and fall
Speaker 1: into camera row and then they go out the other way.
Speaker 1: And that Boston team, this Boston team is an excellent
Speaker 1: transition defense. That Boston team was a bad transition defense.
Speaker 1: And one of the big things that would happen is
Speaker 1: they were an excellent half court defense. But you know,
Speaker 1: Golden State in particular, but a bunch of teams, even
Speaker 1: Milwaukee did this a lot too. They would just get
Speaker 1: out going in transition off of bad rim decisions by
Speaker 1: the Jays right and by Marcus Smart. And they've just
Speaker 1: done a much better job of that in this season.
Speaker 1: It just kind of looks like a more grown up
Speaker 1: version of the Celtics. They've generated thirty six wide open
Speaker 1: threes so far through two games of the series. That's
Speaker 1: eighteen per game. That's an outstanding Drew Holliday's been doing
Speaker 1: some really interesting stuff in spacing as a cutter. He
Speaker 1: had six points again in this game just on cuts.
Speaker 1: He had two of them out of the dunker spot,
Speaker 1: where like he just staying kind of just outside the
Speaker 1: block and catch and then drop step and go reverse
Speaker 1: on the opposite side of the basket, even in traffic,
Speaker 1: even against bigger players. By the way, Drew Holliday was
Speaker 1: amazing last night. He had twenty six points without a
Speaker 1: single bucket in iso, pick and roll or in the post.
Speaker 1: Every single one of his twenty six points was in
Speaker 1: the flow of the offense, transition, screening and popping or
Speaker 1: rolling out of the dunker spot. He had a cut
Speaker 1: off of the weak side wing on a table a
Speaker 1: Tatum double team in the post in the second half
Speaker 1: on the offensive glass, just got to the foul line
Speaker 1: just by sprinting in to crash the offensive glass. Like
Speaker 1: he just it was such a beautiful example of like
Speaker 1: a like superstar role player game. Like he just did
Speaker 1: everything without having to co op the offense and still
Speaker 1: led the team and worning with twenty six points. It
Speaker 1: was just an unbelievable night from Drew Holliday. But yeah,
Speaker 1: they're doing a really solid job of making the right decisions.
Speaker 1: Like there was an interesting quote from Joe Missoula after
Speaker 1: the game last night. It was not after the game,
Speaker 1: is during the game. It was one of the like
Speaker 1: kind of video clips of him in the huddle during
Speaker 1: a timeout, and he talked about how they can't be
Speaker 1: going fast before they've manipulated this spacing. And to make
Speaker 1: that simple, it's like when they get up the floor
Speaker 1: and they have a tendency to trust their talent too
Speaker 1: much and they just quickly look to attack. It limits
Speaker 1: their success. But when they're deliberate, when they get up
Speaker 1: the floor, they get a favorable matchup. Take the time
Speaker 1: to get Luke on an island, then set everything up
Speaker 1: so did you have your shooters in the places where
Speaker 1: they're most comfortable, and then look to go like you'll
Speaker 1: see that You'll see there was a i want to
Speaker 1: say it like it was a Derek Lively switch and
Speaker 1: Tatum actually missed a pull up three on this one.
Speaker 1: But you can see them like they get the switch
Speaker 1: they want and then Tatum kind of slides further over
Speaker 1: to the wing and he does that so that you
Speaker 1: can't have as much nail help from the opposite wing, right,
Speaker 1: and he'll push the shooter deeper down into the corner.
Speaker 1: Like they'll take their time to get their spacing set
Speaker 1: and then go to work. And then from there it's
Speaker 1: just about it's about being deliberate in that execution, which
Speaker 1: dramatically increases your shot value, especially for a team like
Speaker 1: this that's leaning a lot on like the aggregate, they're
Speaker 1: leaning on the possession battle, they're leaning on the math, right,
Speaker 1: and so by taking the time to be deliberate with
Speaker 1: that spacing, it's gone a long way towards raising the
Speaker 1: ceiling of their offense. And then Tatum and Brown just
Speaker 1: you know, aside from the occasional bad pull up jumper
Speaker 1: that Tatum's taking, and again, like Tatum's it's a very
Speaker 1: up and down postseason from him. He's doing all these
Speaker 1: things incredibly well, but then his shot selection and his
Speaker 1: jump shooting has just been atrocious, right, and struggled finishing
Speaker 1: at the RAM last night too. But aside from the
Speaker 1: occasional bad pull up jumper that Tatum's taking, like both
Speaker 1: him and Jaylen Brown have been been doing a masterful
Speaker 1: job of just getting the defense in rotation, which is
Speaker 1: their job. Their job is just to engage the help
Speaker 1: defender from there. That's where Drew Holiday, Derek White, all
Speaker 1: these guys, that's where their value comes to the surface.
Speaker 1: You've got to get them those advantage situations. And the
Speaker 1: Jays are doing their job. We're this close to crowning
Speaker 1: a new NBA champion, and with the action heating up
Speaker 1: on the court, it's even hotter. At Draft Kings Sportsbook,
Speaker 1: an official sports betting partner of the NBA and Draft
Speaker 1: Kings Sports Beck, has you covered every step of the
Speaker 1: way with same game parlays, live betting odds, boosts in
Speaker 1: so much more. Don't miss out as the NBA postseason
Speaker 1: winds down. It's super easy to get started with DraftKings.
Speaker 1: If you're a first timer, try betting on something like
Speaker 1: a team to win. Go to the Draft Kings Sportsbook app,
Speaker 1: select your team and place your first bet. It's that simple.
Speaker 1: The odds in the NBA Finals right now you can
Speaker 1: get the Celtics to win at minus two ten or
Speaker 1: if you're into the underdog Dallas Mavericks, they're at plus
Speaker 1: one seventy five. And if you're new to DraftKings, you
Speaker 1: gotta check this out. New customers bet five bucks to
Speaker 1: get one hundred and fifty in bonus bets instantly download
Speaker 1: the Draft King Sportsbook app now and use code hoops
Speaker 1: that's hops, that's code hoops for new customers to get
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty in bonus bets. When you bet
Speaker 1: just five bucks only on DraftKings. The crown is yours.
Speaker 1: Gambling problem called one eight hun undred gambler or in
Speaker 1: West Virginia visit www dot one eight hundred gambler dot net.
Speaker 1: In New York, call eight seven seven eight hope and why,
Speaker 1: or text hope and why to four six seven three
Speaker 1: six nine. In Connecticut, help us available for problem gambling
Speaker 1: call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven
Speaker 1: seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on
Speaker 1: behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas twenty one
Speaker 1: plus age varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus bets
Speaker 1: expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. See
Speaker 1: dkg dot co slash bball for eligibility and deposit restrictions,
Speaker 1: terms and responsible gaming resources. So I want to move
Speaker 1: over to Dallas on the offensive end, because this is
Speaker 1: the second major topic that I want to do, or
Speaker 1: the third. I should say. The second was decision making.
Speaker 1: Dallas just doesn't have many options to counter Boston's defensive
Speaker 1: game plan. Joe Mizula has quite literally put together a
Speaker 1: scheme that is designed perfectly designed to slow down this
Speaker 1: Mavericks team. I talked a lot in the series preview.
Speaker 1: If you guys remember about tilting Dallas's offense towards their
Speaker 1: lowest value shots, which are above the break threes for
Speaker 1: Derek Jones Junior, PJ. Washington and Mexicoliba. Right, that's if
Speaker 1: you're gonna beat Dallas, that's what you have to do,
Speaker 1: and Missoula has done a great job of that. We've
Speaker 1: talked a lot about Tatum on the Center. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to get too much further into that, but Tatum
Speaker 1: on the Center makes it so that if you want
Speaker 1: to attack Porzingis and Horford, you have to use Derek
Speaker 1: Jones or you have to use PJ. Washington if they
Speaker 1: attack Horford, Horford switching on to Luca and doing an
Speaker 1: amazing job on an island guarding Luca. If it's Porzingis.
Speaker 1: They mixed in a lot of blitzing last night. But
Speaker 1: like when they're blitzing with Porzingis, Derek Jones Junior and PJ. Washington,
Speaker 1: whoever it is, it usually is Derek Jones is popping
Speaker 1: above the break and he can't make it now. They
Speaker 1: did get a couple lobs last night for Derek Jones
Speaker 1: off of plays where he rolled to the rim, but
Speaker 1: it was on places where Tatum got a little distracted
Speaker 1: on his backside defense and he just wasn't in the
Speaker 1: right spot. But that's something I think Boston can take
Speaker 1: away too. But when Derek Jones is in the screening action,
Speaker 1: he's popping above the break where he's a bad shooter,
Speaker 1: and Luca is trying to navigate that situation with Tatum
Speaker 1: parked right underneath the basket. So putting Tatum on the
Speaker 1: center has butchered the four out one in spacing. The
Speaker 1: entire point of the four out spacing is you've got
Speaker 1: shooters in the corners, shooter on the opposite wing, Lively
Speaker 1: comes up in sets, you both roll into the drive
Speaker 1: and roll into open space underneath the basket. So the
Speaker 1: screen defender is backpedaling. How many times do we see
Speaker 1: Gobert backpedaling as Gafford is dunking on his head because
Speaker 1: he's got a running start coming downhill and Luca's throwing
Speaker 1: in the basketball right By putting Tatum on the center,
Speaker 1: it fucks all that up because now you've got shooters
Speaker 1: in the corners. But instead of Lively coming up to
Speaker 1: set the screen. He's standing down in the dunker spot,
Speaker 1: and the guy that's above the break is now setting
Speaker 1: the screen, and now you're either both rolling downhill into
Speaker 1: all that mess because Lively and Tatum are down there,
Speaker 1: or he's having to pop back out above the break
Speaker 1: where he's not a very good shooter. Right. So that's
Speaker 1: the first single adjustment that's done the most damage to
Speaker 1: Dallas's offense. But they're doing it with help too. There
Speaker 1: were a couple possessions last night. Usually transition cross matches
Speaker 1: this is where we're seeing it happen the most, But
Speaker 1: transition cross matches where porzingis or Horford will end up
Speaker 1: on the center, right, transition cross match just means everyone's
Speaker 1: pushing up the floor with pace and you're just grabbing
Speaker 1: the closest player, right, Like transition defense principles are very different.
Speaker 1: You just grab the nearest player. Well, you get the
Speaker 1: basket first, then the ball, then the nearest player, right,
Speaker 1: So like you get these cross matches in those situations
Speaker 1: then like Luca is looking to attack and they're just
Speaker 1: sagging way off of the wing. Like there was a
Speaker 1: play that I clipped an example of him put on
Speaker 1: Twitter this morning where Luca is running a ball screen
Speaker 1: on the right wing and attacking Porzingis. But on the
Speaker 1: play here comes here comes Derek White, just basically ignoring PJ.
Speaker 1: Washington on the left wing and guarding the action. Three
Speaker 1: on two. Now Luca made the kickout pass and PJ.
Speaker 1: Washington actually drove on Derek White and made a nice
Speaker 1: little contested floater in the lane, but it wont a
Speaker 1: great look. That's the main Again, everything is tilted either
Speaker 1: through Tatum on the center or through their help side
Speaker 1: defense to try to end with the ball in PJ.
Speaker 1: Washington or Derek Jones or Josh Green or Maxic Kaliba
Speaker 1: standing out twenty five feet from the basket, where they're
Speaker 1: mediocre shooters and mediocre clothes out attackers. That is what's
Speaker 1: making all of this work. Even with the post up stuff.
Speaker 1: Like I talked about a bunch of adjustments for Dallas
Speaker 1: after game one, they really didn't do any of them,
Speaker 1: Like they didn't run rams screens like. The one thing
Speaker 1: they did do is Luca did look to attack the
Speaker 1: guards more. Remember I talked about that after game one,
Speaker 1: like try rather than attacking Horford, go after Derek White
Speaker 1: and Drew and he did, and they scored a lot
Speaker 1: more in the post in this game than they did
Speaker 1: in Game one. But even in those situations, they're digging
Speaker 1: down to try to have the possession end with one
Speaker 1: of those mediocre players catching out above the break. So
Speaker 1: it's really a brilliant game plan from Joe Mizzoula that
Speaker 1: has tilted Dallas's offense towards their lowest value plays. There's
Speaker 1: a quote from Missoula post game. It was kind of
Speaker 1: a cool moment because he's rambling and he's like literally
Speaker 1: like talking super fast and just listing all these different
Speaker 1: things at like lightning speed, and you could just tell
Speaker 1: he's got like a photographic memory. But he was listing
Speaker 1: out the first quarter and he was like, I'm paraphrasing,
Speaker 1: but he was like, yeah, you know, we fould Josh
Speaker 1: Green on thre point blah blah blah blah buth. Really,
Speaker 1: for the most part, we defended extremely well, like everything
Speaker 1: was ending with above the break shots. PJ. Washington hit one,
Speaker 1: blah blah blah, and you could tell like Missoula was
Speaker 1: happy with the result. What was the score was like
Speaker 1: twenty eight to twenty five, I think after the first quarter,
Speaker 1: But Missoula was like, who cares, we're giving up the
Speaker 1: right shots. We're giving up the right shots. Luca contested
Speaker 1: pull up jumpers. PJ. Washington above the break three is
Speaker 1: like they were giving up the right shots. And again
Speaker 1: it's process over results results. Anything can happen in a
Speaker 1: single game sample size. Process is what gets you four wins.
Speaker 1: And Joe Miszula is it has a good game plan,
Speaker 1: he's sticking to it and it's done a brilliant job.
Speaker 1: Is slowing down this Dallas team. Now this is the
Speaker 1: reality reality of Dallas's predicament. Dallas's role players can play better,
Speaker 1: they absolutely can't. But they've received just twenty eight spot
Speaker 1: up opportunities total in two games. It's hard to get
Speaker 1: your confidence as a shooter when you're not getting many opportunities.
Speaker 1: And like that's the thing. Like Kyrie and Luca can
Speaker 1: play better, for sure. Kyrie has been atrocious on offense.
Speaker 1: He's gotta get it going. Luca's been atrocious on defense.
Speaker 1: He has to do a better job those two. Flipping
Speaker 1: those two sides of the script would go a long
Speaker 1: way towards flipping the dynamic of the series. But in
Speaker 1: terms of game plan Missoula is not going to overreact.
Speaker 1: Even if Derek Jones and PJ. Washington hit seven above
Speaker 1: the break threes in Game three and they win, Missoula's
Speaker 1: not going to overreact. The corner threes will not be there,
Speaker 1: The lobs will not be there. If they are, it's
Speaker 1: going to be because Boston let their foot off the
Speaker 1: gas in terms of their defensive execution, but in terms
Speaker 1: of the well executed Boston game plan, those things will
Speaker 1: not be there. So the reality of the pathway for
Speaker 1: Dallas is the only way they can win this series.
Speaker 1: There are a couple of schematic things we'll talk about,
Speaker 1: but only two things will turn the series around. You
Speaker 1: have to contain the basketball better to stay out of rotation,
Speaker 1: and you have to when you get stops, push the
Speaker 1: ball with pace, force those cross matches that disrupt boston
Speaker 1: set defensive scheme. And then Luca and Kyrie have to
Speaker 1: go full twenty sixteen Lebron and Kyrie and just hit
Speaker 1: super nova status on the offensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: That's the only dynamic ship that can turn the series around.
Speaker 1: There are some schematic things I wrote them down ram screens.
Speaker 1: We didn't see any in Game two that's where you
Speaker 1: just have Derek Jones hard down screen for Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: as Lively flows into the ball screen. Then as Lively
Speaker 1: sets it and you're going downhill, I would just have
Speaker 1: Derek Jones turn around and set a stack screen as
Speaker 1: he pops back out to the three point line. Just
Speaker 1: mess up the Tatum angle of that pick and roll
Speaker 1: to try to create some space for lobs. But they
Speaker 1: are not doing it for whatever reason, I don't know why.
Speaker 1: Be more deliberate with your spacing. I talked about that
Speaker 1: play where PJ. Washington drove on Derek White and hit
Speaker 1: the floater. On that possession, Derek Jones was in the
Speaker 1: left corner. PJ. Washington was on the left wing. Kyrie
Speaker 1: was in the right corner. Kyrie is a good above
Speaker 1: the brake shooter. PJ. Washington's a good corner shooter. Flip it.
Speaker 1: Have PJ in the corner, have Kyrie on the wing.
Speaker 1: If you're lucky enough to get Porzingis on too Lively.
Speaker 1: You need to have the right spacing. We talked about
Speaker 1: it with Missoula. Be deliberate about your spacing. Those are
Speaker 1: little things that they can do better. One of the
Speaker 1: listeners actually recommended this after the Game one show, and
Speaker 1: I thought it was a really smart idea. What if
Speaker 1: you run your pick and roll with a cleared side,
Speaker 1: So have Derek Jones set the pick, have Lucas starred
Speaker 1: on the right wing. Okay, clear the side so that
Speaker 1: you have all three guys kind of situated on the
Speaker 1: opposite end or you know, dunker spot corner opposite wing. Okay,
Speaker 1: you can add that guy setting a pin and flair
Speaker 1: to try to create a skip pass for the corner three.
Speaker 1: And then basically, when Luca comes off towards the middle,
Speaker 1: have Derrek Jones pop to the corner where he is
Speaker 1: a capable three point shooter from the corner. Do the
Speaker 1: same thing with PJ. Washington when he's in those spots.
Speaker 1: Those are a couple of schematic examples of things you
Speaker 1: can do, but none of those three are trump cards.
Speaker 1: None of those three are going to magically turn things around.
Speaker 1: The only thing that's going to magically turn the series
Speaker 1: around is contain the basketball. Better, get more stops, get
Speaker 1: out in transition to avoid Boston set defense as much
Speaker 1: as possible, and then Luca and Kyrie have to be
Speaker 1: better offensively. That's the only thing that's going to turn
Speaker 1: the series around. All right. Before we get out of here,
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk for a few minutes about the
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown Jason Tatum debate. So, Jalen Brown has been
Speaker 1: playing better basketball than Jason Tatum for a few weeks. Now,
Speaker 1: you won the Eastern Conference Finals, MVP, and he's been
Speaker 1: the best player the Celtics in the NBA Finals to
Speaker 1: this point, and so naturally it's turning into like a
Speaker 1: discussion about, you know, which is the best player on
Speaker 1: the team. Now here's the thing. Tatum's better than he's
Speaker 1: showing right now. He's in a bad shooting slump. There's
Speaker 1: some weird stuff there too, Like this is the in
Speaker 1: the last four seasons in the playoffs, he's declined as
Speaker 1: a jump shooter. He was like one point one points
Speaker 1: per jump shot in twenty twenty one, he was like
Speaker 1: one point zero eight in twenty twenty two, he was
Speaker 1: like zero point ninety five in twenty twenty three, and
Speaker 1: then he's zero point eight something, zero point eight two
Speaker 1: I think in this playoff run. So like his jump
Speaker 1: shot is just kind of trending down. God knows why.
Speaker 1: I literally couldn't explain it. To you. But he's in
Speaker 1: a shooting slump right now, like he's we all know
Speaker 1: that Jason Tatum is not a very good pull up shooter,
Speaker 1: and we all wish that he would lean on that
Speaker 1: less and lean more on his physical gifts. But he's
Speaker 1: not this bad either. He's better than this. This is
Speaker 1: he's badly slumping right. That goes without But I still
Speaker 1: think that Jason Tatum is in that tier of superstars
Speaker 1: that right, that's right below the top guys. For me,
Speaker 1: the top tier right now is basically just Jokic, Luca,
Speaker 1: and Jannis. It's like those three guys, and then there's
Speaker 1: another group beyond that which is all like the flawed superstars.
Speaker 1: It's like Shay, we'll see he's just too young. I
Speaker 1: don't know what to make of him until we see
Speaker 1: more stuff out of him over the next couple of years.
Speaker 1: But I was super impressed by him in this playoff run.
Speaker 1: But Tatum Emba Anthony Davis Lebron, Like, that's the group
Speaker 1: that we're looking at that's beyond that top tier, right.
Speaker 1: I think the more interesting thing here is not a
Speaker 1: negative Tatum angle. It's a positive Jylen Brown angle. Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown is just playing at an extremely high level, and
Speaker 1: he's entering into that tier, the tier that Jason Tatum's in,
Speaker 1: which is the tier of superstars that's below the top guys.
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown is making a case to be in that tier.
Speaker 1: He's having the best perimeter defensive season of his career.
Speaker 1: We started to talk about it on our show over
Speaker 1: the tail end of the season. Jalen Brown just took
Speaker 1: a personal interest in guarding the other team's best player
Speaker 1: every single night. He's been doing a masterful job on
Speaker 1: Luka Doncic in this series in general on the defensive end,
Speaker 1: he had that awesome possession against Kyrie Laid. He's been
Speaker 1: great at the rim. Jalen Brown's been incredible, right, But
Speaker 1: it's a lot of like just being really smart about
Speaker 1: his dribble drive attacks. He's been one of the primary
Speaker 1: guys that's been getting the defense in rotation, consistently making
Speaker 1: good decisions when he gets there. He got a couple
Speaker 1: turnovers more than you'd like to see last night, but
Speaker 1: a very very good offensive initiation type of game. So really,
Speaker 1: instead of it being going into the season, you would
Speaker 1: have said Jalen Brown's a third tier superstar. Tatum's a
Speaker 1: second tier superstar right well, now it looks like they
Speaker 1: have two second tier superstars, and that's a credit to
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown's development. But again, Tatum's better than he's looking
Speaker 1: right now. He's in a bad jump shooting slump that
Speaker 1: is kind of exacerbating some of the stuff. But again,
Speaker 1: both of them, and I tweeted this out out last night,
Speaker 1: the box score watching with Tatum and Brown has to stop,
Speaker 1: like these are not These guys are athletic weapons as well,
Speaker 1: and so much of what they're doing goes beyond the
Speaker 1: box score. Jalen Brown's individual defense on Jason Tatum and
Speaker 1: elsewhere on an Island has been incredible. Jason Tatum guarding
Speaker 1: the other the opposing center while holding up on the glass,
Speaker 1: while also holding up on switches. I mean, Luca hit
Speaker 1: some tough, contested shots over him in the first half,
Speaker 1: but like they were well defended it. I saw a
Speaker 1: lot of Dallas fans saying this, like it's like, oh, well,
Speaker 1: Luca's attacking Tatum. On the other end, there is a
Speaker 1: huge difference between Tatum forcing Luca into tough over the
Speaker 1: top shots that he's making, which he would make over
Speaker 1: everybody compared to on the other end of the floor,
Speaker 1: Luca just getting cleanly beat off the dribble, which is
Speaker 1: leading to high quality shots. Okay, Luca's hunting Tatum and
Speaker 1: hitting really tough shots. Tatum and Brown are hunting Luca
Speaker 1: and consistently generating wide open catch and shoot threes and
Speaker 1: driving layup attempts. It is not the same. But again,
Speaker 1: like we can't keep watching the box score with those
Speaker 1: two guys, they are doing so much more. Tatum's individual
Speaker 1: defense at the center position against Gafford on switches on
Speaker 1: the defensive glass, that is, it's the primary chess piece
Speaker 1: that is screwing up everything for Dallas' offense. That cannot
Speaker 1: be underestimated. Jason Tatum has been one of the guys
Speaker 1: like Jaylen Brown that's consistently getting the defense in rotation
Speaker 1: so they can play drive and kick. So like, again,
Speaker 1: stop looking at the box score. Both of those guys
Speaker 1: are hooping. Do I think they're on the same level
Speaker 1: as Luca. No. I mean both of them are being
Speaker 1: asked to fill relatively small roles that they're both probably
Speaker 1: a bit overqualified for, but they're excelling as a result,
Speaker 1: and that's a credit to Brad Stevens. I said this
Speaker 1: with Colin last night. Like Brad Stevens, Brad Stevens knows
Speaker 1: that Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown are both not as
Speaker 1: good as the top guys. He knows that they're both
Speaker 1: pretty flawed, and so at the expense of future flexibility,
Speaker 1: he's gone all in on this group because he knows
Speaker 1: they need a lot of support with talent, and he's
Speaker 1: probably gonna get a trophy as a result. So it
Speaker 1: was clearly the right thing to do. But again, like,
Speaker 1: I don't think this Jalen Brown Jason Tatum thing is
Speaker 1: like a negative Tatum thing. Jalen Brown's getting a lot
Speaker 1: better and Tatum's just in a shooting slump, and it's
Speaker 1: making the gap between the two look different than it
Speaker 1: did going into the season. And look, here's the deal.
Speaker 1: If you're a Celtics fan, Let's say Jalen Brown is
Speaker 1: as good as Tatum. Now I ain't a bad thing.
Speaker 1: That's not a bad thing. That's a really good thing
Speaker 1: for the future of that basketball team. All right, guys,
Speaker 1: that is all I have for today. As I said,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be recording with Sam Vassini year later this afternoon.
Speaker 1: That'll be up tomorrow morning, so I'll have that and
Speaker 1: then I will see you guys, also with Colin Live
Speaker 1: after the final blazer of Game three on Wednesday. The
Speaker 1: volume