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Speaker 1: The volume. It's Hoops Tonight presented by FanDuel. The NBA

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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to hoops tonight for sentif Danduel here

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Speaker 1: at the volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody. I hope all of

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Speaker 1: you guys had a great weekend. I just got back

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Speaker 1: in last night from a weekend of skiing up in Flagstaff,

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Speaker 1: an old dormant volcano up there. We had a huge

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Speaker 1: winter storm come through on Saturday, so it was like

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Speaker 1: fifteen inches of fresh powder and blizzard conditions with no visibility.

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Speaker 1: I've become a decent skier over the course of the

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Speaker 1: last half decade or so, but man, did that kick

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Speaker 1: my ass. It just was a completely different type of challenge.

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Speaker 1: It was so different than like groomed skiing, and so

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Speaker 1: it was a fun experience, but man, I got my

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Speaker 1: butt kicked. I'm excited to be home though, and to

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Speaker 1: talk some basketball. We took a little break last week

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Speaker 1: to zoom out and do some mid season, mid season

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Speaker 1: review type of Stuff. We're gonna get back into our

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Speaker 1: normal cadence this week with instant reactions and deep dives

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Speaker 1: into specific teams and things along those lines. So today

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Speaker 1: we're gonna be covering the Warriors, Wizards, UM and just

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Speaker 1: the way they've been playing the Warriors in particular since

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Speaker 1: Steff went out or since Stuff came back. The Boston

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Speaker 1: Celtics on a seven game win streak and the Memphis

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Speaker 1: Grizzlies on a ten game win streaks. We're gonna tie

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Speaker 1: in on those two teams, the best team in the

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Speaker 1: East and the best team in the West right now.

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Speaker 1: And then the Los Angeles Lakers. Even though they beat

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Speaker 1: the Rockets last night, they did lose back to back

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Speaker 1: games involving clutch situations to the Mavericks and the Sixers,

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Speaker 1: and those clutch situations have been a problem for the

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Speaker 1: Lakers all year, So I wanted to dive deep into

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Speaker 1: that specific topic. And then tomorrow we'll have three instant

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Speaker 1: reaction videos to wraps, Bucks, Blazers, Nuggets, and seventies Sixers Clippers.

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Speaker 1: We've got a good slate of games tonight. You guys

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Speaker 1: know the drill before we get started. Subscribed to the

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Speaker 1: volumes YouTube channels. So you don't miss any more of

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Speaker 1: our videos, follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lt s.

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Speaker 1: You guys don't miss any show announcements. And for whatever

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Speaker 1: reason you guys miss one of these videos and you

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Speaker 1: can't get back over to YouTube to finish, you can

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Speaker 1: find them wherever you get your podcasts Under Hoops Tonight,

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Speaker 1: let's talk some basketball. So the Warriors, they were trailing

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Speaker 1: the Wizards mid fourth quarter, kind of a recurring theme

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Speaker 1: this season. They were trailing them one oh six. Then

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Speaker 1: Draymond got them back in the game of the couple

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Speaker 1: of big plays. He hit a hockey assist out of

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Speaker 1: a split cut that ended in a Dante DiVincenzo lay up,

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Speaker 1: and then he ended up hitting a three on a

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Speaker 1: pick and pop at the top of the key. Kind

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Speaker 1: of an encouraging trend for the Warriors with Draymond. Draymond

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Speaker 1: is shooting thirty five percent from three in his last

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Speaker 1: twenty seven games. If you really look back to what

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Speaker 1: a Draymond and All NBA guy like when he was

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Speaker 1: second team All NBA back in two thousand and sixteen,

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Speaker 1: it was all the playmaking. It was all of the

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Speaker 1: defensive stuff that he can do, the defensive versatility in particular,

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Speaker 1: but it was also this kind of semi reliable, totally

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Speaker 1: respectable pick and pop shooting from three that really tied

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Speaker 1: it together. It kind of was that was you know,

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Speaker 1: that's become his one real weakness over the years, but

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Speaker 1: it's starting to trend in the right direction. He's been

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Speaker 1: shooting pretty damn well over his last twenties seven games.

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Speaker 1: That's super encouraging for the Warriors in the grand scheme

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Speaker 1: of things. And then from there, when Draymond got it

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Speaker 1: back to a close game, Steff just took over a

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Speaker 1: huge step back three, just a ridiculous, high difficulty step

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Speaker 1: back three that gave him the lead. G had a

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Speaker 1: couple more threes or jumper into three that were daggers

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Speaker 1: later on in the game. And he also there was

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Speaker 1: kind of a fun sequence where, um, they were running

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Speaker 1: a pick and roll at the on the right wing

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Speaker 1: and it was Porzingis. That was in an ice coverage

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Speaker 1: on steph So whenever you run pick and rolls on

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Speaker 1: the wing, usually teams are gonna try to force you

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Speaker 1: towards the baseline because the rotations are easier. So Draymond

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Speaker 1: comes up and tries to set the screen towards the middle,

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Speaker 1: but the on ball defender is forcing I think it

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Speaker 1: was Monty Morris, but he was forcing Steph away from

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Speaker 1: the screen, and Christaps Porzingis was way out on the

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Speaker 1: left side waiting for steps so they're basically trying to

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Speaker 1: funnel step towards that right side of the floor from

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Speaker 1: the right wing and Draymond. It was kind of a

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Speaker 1: really smart play from Steff because Draymond's like trying to

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Speaker 1: find an angle to set the screen so that Steph

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Speaker 1: can get back towards the middle, and instead Steph just

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Speaker 1: leads him with like a push pass that catches Draymond

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Speaker 1: in a run towards the rim. And because Christaps Porzingis

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Speaker 1: was way over on the left side to wait towards

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Speaker 1: the right side of your face in the basket to

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Speaker 1: try to contain in that ice coverage, Draymond got a

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Speaker 1: wide open uh lay up with his left hand. I

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Speaker 1: think it ended up getting goaltended or actually this one

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Speaker 1: I think ended in a foul, and then he had

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Speaker 1: a separate layup and a Jordan Pool pick and roll.

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Speaker 1: But it's kind of been cool over the years to

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Speaker 1: see we've all we've seen with Draymond and Steph just

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Speaker 1: all of the repetition that they've had over a decade

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Speaker 1: of the high level basketball that has given them just

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Speaker 1: a counter to use in every single one of these situations.

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Speaker 1: We've seen the way that Draymond can punish teams by

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Speaker 1: going to quick dribble handoffs with Steph when they're not

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Speaker 1: guarding Draymond appropriately, or in the traps with Steph, you

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Speaker 1: see Draymond in the short role making play staff throwing

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Speaker 1: that loop pass over the top. They're trying to sneak

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Speaker 1: a bounce pass into the pocket so that Draymond can

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Speaker 1: make a read, and then it's kind of cool to

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Speaker 1: see them beat that ice coverage with basically just like

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Speaker 1: a super unique little leading pass towards the rim, all

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Speaker 1: Draymond's unguarded. That's just the advantage that comes from continuity

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Speaker 1: in years and years of practice. Step finished with forty

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Speaker 1: one point shots. It felt good to see him get

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Speaker 1: back to that level because it really wasn't that good

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Speaker 1: the first three games back, which was to be expected.

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Speaker 1: He's a skill oriented player and rhythm is a huge

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Speaker 1: part of the game of basketball. For skill oriented players,

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Speaker 1: you need to kind of calibrate your lift and calibrate

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Speaker 1: your touch to mb a speed which is impossible to

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Speaker 1: replicate anywhere off of an NBA game, even in Actus,

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Speaker 1: So it was it's good to see him kind of

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Speaker 1: get back to that. That's his fourth forty point game

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Speaker 1: of the season. Andrew Wiggins also did excellent defensive work

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Speaker 1: on Kyle Kuzma, forced him into a bunch of bad

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Speaker 1: shots and two turnovers down the stretch, and then Anthony Lamb,

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Speaker 1: I thought one of the biggest players of the game

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Speaker 1: is one eighteen one fourteen, and Kuzma's isolating on Andrew Wiggins.

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Speaker 1: He's driving towards the right with Wiggins on his hip,

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Speaker 1: and Anthony Lambs steps in and takes a charge, and

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Speaker 1: Kuzma actually made a little floater and it was called

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Speaker 1: an and one on the floor, but they challenged it

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Speaker 1: and they ended up overturning it and calling it a charge.

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Speaker 1: But because Steph went down and hit a jumper on

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Speaker 1: the next possession, it was like a five point swing

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Speaker 1: and a four point game. So just like the you know,

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Speaker 1: Austin Rivers. One of the things, there's three specific topics

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Speaker 1: that I want to hit just kind of random today.

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Speaker 1: It's something I all the time. I'm like scrolling through

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Speaker 1: Twitter and I have like a quick take on something

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Speaker 1: that I see, and uh, it's not enough of a

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Speaker 1: take to squeeze into a segment on this show, but

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Speaker 1: I don't really have a chance to talk about it,

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Speaker 1: so I like to try squeez him in. Why I can.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys saw that Austin Rivers

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Speaker 1: video that was going viral from a podcast this week

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Speaker 1: where he basically talked about how highlight culture is ruining

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Speaker 1: basketball at the lower levels. Essentially, he was like, you know,

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Speaker 1: I got a hoop mix tape, but it was because

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Speaker 1: I was one of the top end guys. It was

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Speaker 1: like an honor and it was based on you being

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Speaker 1: like literally one of the best players in the in

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Speaker 1: the country for high school. Whereas now like everyone's getting filmed,

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Speaker 1: they're actively hunting highlights and trying to make these like

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Speaker 1: social media clips based on you know, dunking on someone

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Speaker 1: or crossing somewhere over whatever it might be. And Austin's

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Speaker 1: point was like, actually, we should be celebrating winning basketball

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Speaker 1: plays because those are the things that actually make a

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Speaker 1: good basketball player, which is the kind of thing that

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Speaker 1: actually makes it to the m b A. There are

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Speaker 1: a lot of guys in the world that can dribble

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Speaker 1: the hell out of the basketball, they can shoot the

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Speaker 1: hell out of the basketball. They can do a lot

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Speaker 1: of things, but they're not in the NBA because they

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Speaker 1: can't functionally do a play a role on an NBA

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Speaker 1: court by providing a bunch of winning responsibilities. Anthony Lamb

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Speaker 1: is not the prettiest looking basketball player in the world

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Speaker 1: when it comes to his skills to but he has

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Speaker 1: found a role on this team doing dirty work. And

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Speaker 1: that is just a small play sliding over and taking

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Speaker 1: a charge in a pivotal moment in a four point

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Speaker 1: game down the stretch that frequently gets overlooked and never

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Speaker 1: gets enough attention. And that's what I liked about what

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Speaker 1: Austin Rivers had said, and so I just wanted to

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Speaker 1: kind of hammer that home, like that's a play that

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Speaker 1: went under the radar in this game. But Anthony Lamb

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Speaker 1: taking one charge was just a massive play to help

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Speaker 1: the Warriors win this game. Uh. The Warriors are two

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Speaker 1: and two since Steph came back. If you look at it,

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Speaker 1: it's that awful lost of Phoenix where they really didn't try. Uh.

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Speaker 1: There was the blowout win in the Alamo Dome against

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Speaker 1: the NBA's record largest crowd against the Spurs. Then they

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Speaker 1: lost to Chicago, which we're gonna talk about here in

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Speaker 1: a minute, and then they beat Washington, so kind of

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Speaker 1: an uneven start. I wanted to zoom in on that

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Speaker 1: Chicago loss because it was kind of frustrating, uh tactically,

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Speaker 1: you know, you guys know, I think like a coach.

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Speaker 1: I coach high school kids, and then obviously just with

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Speaker 1: my playing background, I always I always think that way.

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Speaker 1: I think from the perspective of the coach, and I

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Speaker 1: was really frustrated with their strategy on Nick Lusovich because

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Speaker 1: Vusovich just absolutely torched the Warriors in this game. He

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Speaker 1: had forty three points, but it was all out of

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Speaker 1: picking pop like just picking pop threes, picking pop pump,

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Speaker 1: fake attacking the clothes out, making a little shot U

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Speaker 1: scoring in the short role. Because you know, Nick Luseovich

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Speaker 1: is a flawed player, but he is a good player,

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Speaker 1: and there's specific things that he's very good at, and

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Speaker 1: it's that shooting touch, it's that little bit of post work,

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Speaker 1: and it's that little bit of short roll stuff that

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Speaker 1: he can do. Um, you have to switch against that

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Speaker 1: type of big I always tell you, guys, v kryptonite

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Speaker 1: for a drop coverage is either a guard that can

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Speaker 1: regularly hit pull up jump shots or a big that

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Speaker 1: can hit pick and pop jump shots. As soon as

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Speaker 1: you run into that type of personnel, you have to switch.

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Speaker 1: Switch up your coverage in some way, shape or form,

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Speaker 1: because if you don't, you're going to give high quality shots.

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Speaker 1: Two players that are in the league specifically because they

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Speaker 1: can hit that type of shot you you switch, you

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Speaker 1: at least forced them to beat you with an isolation

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Speaker 1: or a post stop. It gives you. It also gives

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Speaker 1: you a much better chance to load up and help

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Speaker 1: side and rotate out of it, and at least forced

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Speaker 1: them to take a contested spot up three somewhere else

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Speaker 1: on the floor rather than a wide open one. Only

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Speaker 1: four of nick Vussovitch's points came out of post ups

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Speaker 1: against switches and pick and roll. There was one in

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Speaker 1: the first quarter where Clay Thompson got switched on to

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Speaker 1: him and he hit a little hook shot, and there

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Speaker 1: was another one in the second half where Anthony Lamb

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Speaker 1: got switched onto him and on the post entry pass

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Speaker 1: he tried to like reach around in front and they

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Speaker 1: ended up calling a pass on the entry path, foul

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Speaker 1: on the entry pass, But twenty three a Vussovich's forty

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Speaker 1: three points we're picking and popping or a pick and

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Speaker 1: pop that got worked around and he was wide open

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Speaker 1: for three on the back end. That's more than half.

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Speaker 1: So like schematically, that cost you a game. A flaw

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Speaker 1: in the coverage that every single person in the world

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Speaker 1: knows exists and personnel that can explicitly exploit that flaw.

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Speaker 1: The Warriors didn't make the switch in their coverage, So

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Speaker 1: there's kind of two ways to look at that. One.

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Speaker 1: In a playoff series, the Warriors would switch out of

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Speaker 1: that in all likelihood if if Vusovitch is torching you

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Speaker 1: and pick and pop, you're gonna end up switching or

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Speaker 1: heading and recovering or anything else other than what they did.

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Speaker 1: Um you know, in in a playoff series in general,

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Speaker 1: teams are more inclined to switch when they need to.

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Speaker 1: But in this game, failure to make that adjustment cost

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Speaker 1: you a game and puts you at twenty two, which

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Speaker 1: was below five hundreds. You had to go beat Washington

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Speaker 1: to get above five hundred. And if you just take

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Speaker 1: care of business against Nick Luseovich with the simple adjustment.

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Speaker 1: You win that game, and now you're two games over

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Speaker 1: five hundred and so that that's where it's frustrating, is like,

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Speaker 1: I get it. You know that's not gonna be an

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Speaker 1: issue in the playoffs. I'm not worried about the Warriors

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Speaker 1: somehow getting to the finals and losing to the Bulls

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Speaker 1: because the Nick Lusivich. It's just a matter of of

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Speaker 1: the reality of their predicament, which is there what the

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Speaker 1: seventh seed right now or and twenty two. They need

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Speaker 1: to make up ground in the standings to make sure

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Speaker 1: they stay out of the plan and hopefully give themselves

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Speaker 1: a home court advantage series, which is so important to

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Speaker 1: this team that struggles a little bit on the road.

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Speaker 1: There is urgency for them to get going, and it

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Speaker 1: kind of was frustrating to see them trick off a

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Speaker 1: game against the Bulls because of a simple coverage that

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Speaker 1: should have been audibled out of tip off. The new year,

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Speaker 1: actually playing good basketball, and Dallas is super thin in

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Speaker 1: the front court and on the wing because of injuries,

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Speaker 1: so I think it's a game that where Atlanta's talent

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Speaker 1: of the NBA. Um You know, there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: people pointing to the Warriors and they're two and twenty

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Speaker 1: two record as if the sky is falling. I continue

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Speaker 1: to not be in that camp. I just think there

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Speaker 1: are some specific realities about their situation because they don't

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Speaker 1: have a ton of depth, which won't matter as much

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Speaker 1: when they get to the playoffs, but now it does.

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Speaker 1: You can't take nights off anymore. Like the Phoenix Suns game,

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Speaker 1: that just can't happen. If you're playing the Suns without

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Speaker 1: all their guys, you have to win that game because

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Speaker 1: of where where you're at in the standings, and you

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Speaker 1: might have to be a little bit more aggressive in

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Speaker 1: your in game adjustments instead of just trying to eat

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Speaker 1: innings in the regular season because you don't have that

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Speaker 1: margin for error anymore in the standings. It's just the

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Speaker 1: reality of their situation. Alright, So we're gonna talk about

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Speaker 1: the Lakers, but really quickly, I want to hit my

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Speaker 1: second random take that I was telling you guys about

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Speaker 1: that I'm trying to hit from Twitter. Uh So, one

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Speaker 1: of the things that I've seen is Lebron after his

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Speaker 1: interview or in his interview with Dave McManaman, he was

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Speaker 1: asked about him being about like the the all time

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Speaker 1: scoring record with Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Lebron, but up

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Speaker 1: brought up the fact that he doesn't that he views

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Speaker 1: himself as a pass first player, and then that turned

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Speaker 1: into this whole thing where all the people don't like

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Speaker 1: Lebron were like, that's b s. Look at how many

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Speaker 1: field goal attempts he takes, like this is ridiculous, and

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Speaker 1: then all the Lebron fans coming in and being like, no, no,

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Speaker 1: he really is passed first, and everyone just gets dumber

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Speaker 1: as a result, because let's actually think about what that says.

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Speaker 1: To say that you're a past first basketball player would

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Speaker 1: imply that given the decision to take a high quality

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Speaker 1: shot yourself or to get a high quality shot for

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Speaker 1: your teammate, that you would pass the ball to your

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Speaker 1: teammate instead of looking for your own shot. And not

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Speaker 1: only does that situation very rarely take play sent an

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Speaker 1: NBA game because the defense is kind of designed to

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Speaker 1: take away one of the two, but in general, the

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Speaker 1: only pass first players that I can remember in NBA

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Speaker 1: history where they're actively hunting passes are guys that can't score.

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Speaker 1: I'm talking about like Jason Kidd or Region Rondo, you know,

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Speaker 1: or a modern example that. And it's not that he

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Speaker 1: can't score. Tyris Alliburn is a much better score, but

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Speaker 1: Tyris Halliburton is hunting his passes a lot because he's

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Speaker 1: not a you know, thirty point per game type of guy.

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Speaker 1: You know, and so like, who are the top tier

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Speaker 1: playmakers in the league. I've always said four guys, right,

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Speaker 1: and Chris Paul is kind of falling off this list.

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Speaker 1: But it's Chris Paul, Nicola Yoga, Lebron James, and Luca Donche.

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Speaker 1: Those are the four guys that I see incredibly high

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Speaker 1: level reads from consistently. But they're all high volume scores.

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Speaker 1: All three of those guys have been thirty point per

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Speaker 1: game guys over the last few months. So are they

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Speaker 1: None of them are passed first? They're the best player

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Speaker 1: on the floor and most of their games. Why would

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Speaker 1: they give the ball to lesser basketball players if they

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Speaker 1: didn't need to. So the semantics of that this goussion

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Speaker 1: is stupid, and I say that to Lebron as well,

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Speaker 1: like Lebron shouldn't be saying past first because that doesn't

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Speaker 1: make any damn sense. But it's not a criticism of

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Speaker 1: him that he shoots a lot. He's Lebron James. He

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Speaker 1: should shoot a lot. The dude's averaging like thirty seven

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Speaker 1: since he turned thirty eight years old, which is completely ridiculous.

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Speaker 1: But let's call it what it is. It's not that

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Speaker 1: Lebron is a pass first player. It's that he's a

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Speaker 1: great passer. And so what you're getting from Lebron is

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Speaker 1: he is the all time leading score, going to be

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Speaker 1: the all time leading score. And what's cool about it

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Speaker 1: is that's just one of his great skills, and he

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Speaker 1: has all these other great skills. That's what's interesting about

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Speaker 1: the Lebron thing, not some weird semantic angle about being

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Speaker 1: passed first. All right, that's it for my little mini

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Speaker 1: Lebron tic. Okay, So the Lakers have had a really

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Speaker 1: interesting four game stretch since they're huge backed back wins

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Speaker 1: against Atlanta and in Sacramento. They rested Lebron in Denver

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Speaker 1: and lost. Then they lost a double overtime heartbreaker to

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Speaker 1: the Dallas Mavericks. Luca hit two separate step back three's

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Speaker 1: uh I think one in regulation and one in ot

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Speaker 1: that elongated the game um and then Lebron really had

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Speaker 1: his first bad game in a month against Dallas, just

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00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:05,199
Speaker 1: really struggled, particularly from the field in that game. And

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Speaker 1: then they lost another heartbreaker to the seventy six or

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00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:11,000
Speaker 1: two Nights ago, Lebron goes for thirty five, eight and ten,

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Speaker 1: their plus nineteen in Lebron's minutes, but go minus twenty

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Speaker 1: when he's off the floor and lose by one. And

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Speaker 1: obviously we had the ridiculous possession with russ on Joel

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Speaker 1: Embiad at the end, which we'll talk about here in

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Speaker 1: a minute. And then last night they beat Houston, Lebron

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Speaker 1: goes for forty eight, eight and nine and their plus

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Speaker 1: nineteen again in his minutes, but they only lose the

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Speaker 1: Lebron minutes by eleven this time, so they're able to

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Speaker 1: win the game by eight points. So really, if you

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Speaker 1: look at it's a punt against Denver, a quality win,

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Speaker 1: and then too heartbreaking clutch losses. And that's what I

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Speaker 1: want to zoom in on today is the Lakers in

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Speaker 1: clutch situations. So they are ten and eleven in games

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Speaker 1: that involved clutch situations this year, so twenty one games,

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Speaker 1: eleven losses, and they've been bad on both ends of

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Speaker 1: the floor. One fourteen point five offensive rating which is

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Speaker 1: only okay, kind of middle of the pack for that

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Speaker 1: type situation, and one two point six defensive writing, which

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Speaker 1: is the third worst defensive rating in the entire league

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Speaker 1: for teams that are in clutch situations. So there's a

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Speaker 1: bunch of that I want to get into here, but

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Speaker 1: I'm just gonna split it really simply into the Lakers

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Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the floor and the Lakers

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Speaker 1: on the offensive end of the floor. So you know,

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Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the floor. What do I

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00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:26,320
Speaker 1: always say about clutch situations. Clutch situations in the regular

431
00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:29,520
Speaker 1: season are the closest thing we get to playoff basketball,

432
00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:31,960
Speaker 1: and there's a couple of specific reasons why. One, both

433
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,680
Speaker 1: teams are more dialed in with their effort and execution.

434
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,240
Speaker 1: What that means is everyone's playing hard, no one's taking

435
00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:40,880
Speaker 1: possessions off. And if they have details in their scheme,

436
00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:43,679
Speaker 1: whether that's sprinting back in transition defense or that's you know,

437
00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:45,520
Speaker 1: this pick and roll coverage or this way to handle

438
00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:47,679
Speaker 1: off ball screens, those are the times of the game

439
00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:49,760
Speaker 1: when they're going to be especially sharp, at least the

440
00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:53,240
Speaker 1: good teams that you're going to play. Also, both teams

441
00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:57,040
Speaker 1: have their best players on the floor. It's your closing five, right,

442
00:20:57,160 --> 00:20:59,000
Speaker 1: That's why I talked about the playoffs differently as well.

443
00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:00,800
Speaker 1: There are a lot of guys that get NBA regular

444
00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:04,320
Speaker 1: season rotation minutes that would never play in a playoff

445
00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:06,919
Speaker 1: series unless injuries forced them to. You shrink down the

446
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,800
Speaker 1: rotations and you only play the guys that you trust

447
00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:12,040
Speaker 1: to have out there. All the superstars bump up to

448
00:21:12,119 --> 00:21:14,920
Speaker 1: like forty minutes, most of the mid level starters bump

449
00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:16,960
Speaker 1: up to like thirty six thirty seven minutes, and a

450
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:18,239
Speaker 1: lot of the guys that come off the bench might

451
00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:20,920
Speaker 1: only play ten twelve minutes. They're like one shift players.

452
00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:22,840
Speaker 1: You have your starters, you have a few guys that

453
00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:24,680
Speaker 1: come in for one shift, and then you go back

454
00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,200
Speaker 1: to your starters, and then you repeat in the second half.

455
00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:29,400
Speaker 1: That's the way the closing lineups are too. It's your

456
00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:33,320
Speaker 1: five best guys, so there aren't as many weaknesses for

457
00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:35,639
Speaker 1: you to exploit on any end of the floor. And

458
00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:37,760
Speaker 1: when you couple that with the effort in the execution,

459
00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:40,720
Speaker 1: the game is super slow. None of the sets work,

460
00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:43,960
Speaker 1: and it just becomes about personnel and matchups and which

461
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:48,080
Speaker 1: guys you have in that setting that can beat coverage

462
00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:51,640
Speaker 1: is in a tight half court environment. This is why

463
00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:55,000
Speaker 1: I never get super critical of brute force offenses during

464
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:56,960
Speaker 1: the regular season. A lot of you guys. Remember during

465
00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,199
Speaker 1: my preseason previews I talked about specific teams like the

466
00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:03,240
Speaker 1: Nets and the Clippers as teams that were brute force offenses.

467
00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:05,159
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've noticed this, but every time

468
00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:08,200
Speaker 1: I've been critical of the Clippers this year, I've never said, like, oh,

469
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:10,119
Speaker 1: I don't think they're gonna be able to score, even

470
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:13,239
Speaker 1: though their offensive rating is trash. And it's because I

471
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:16,040
Speaker 1: actually think that when they get into the postseason, they

472
00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:18,600
Speaker 1: will be able to score because if they have Kawhi

473
00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:21,760
Speaker 1: Leonard and Paul George healthy, They're just gonna be able

474
00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:23,960
Speaker 1: to create advantages better than most teams, and they just

475
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,680
Speaker 1: have more aggregate offensive skill. Yeah. I can get ugly

476
00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:29,040
Speaker 1: in the regular season when their offense is super rudimentary

477
00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:30,159
Speaker 1: and it's just a lot of high pick and roll

478
00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:34,320
Speaker 1: in ISO, but during the playoffs, like that's literally what

479
00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:36,159
Speaker 1: you need to do to succeed in The Clippers just

480
00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:37,760
Speaker 1: have a lot of really good players that can do

481
00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:40,399
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. I always just say I'm worried

482
00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:43,400
Speaker 1: about the Clippers health. That's where I'm concerned. I don't

483
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,720
Speaker 1: really concern myself with brute force offenses in the regular season.

484
00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:50,320
Speaker 1: I'm concerned about that slow down environment and what your

485
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:54,760
Speaker 1: specific matchups are. Now. During the regular season, there is

486
00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:57,639
Speaker 1: a lot of fast and loose basketball where you'll see

487
00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:01,240
Speaker 1: random lineups, guys that don't usually play that much, guys

488
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:04,919
Speaker 1: you would never see in the playoffs, lots of transition possessions,

489
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:07,159
Speaker 1: very little half court defense, a lot of fast and

490
00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:11,320
Speaker 1: loose basketball. That's time when you can really succeed playing

491
00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:14,560
Speaker 1: hard or just sprinting up and down the floor and transition,

492
00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:18,080
Speaker 1: or having guys that have big weaknesses when you can

493
00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:20,840
Speaker 1: focus them into their strengths in that fast and loose

494
00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:23,560
Speaker 1: phase of the game. And the Lakers have been able

495
00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:26,080
Speaker 1: to do a lot of good things in those environments

496
00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:28,760
Speaker 1: because of how good Russell Westbrook is in transition, because

497
00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:31,440
Speaker 1: how good Lebron James has been playing, how good Thomas

498
00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:33,800
Speaker 1: Bryant has been running up and down in transition. They've

499
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:36,480
Speaker 1: been able to manufacture a lot of wins and they've

500
00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:38,359
Speaker 1: been hovering around well. I think they're nine and eight

501
00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:41,639
Speaker 1: since Anthony Davis went out. That's awesome, but it should

502
00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:43,320
Speaker 1: be better than it is. And it's because of those

503
00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:46,720
Speaker 1: clutch situations when you get defensively down into the end

504
00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:50,440
Speaker 1: of these games, you can't gimmick your way around anymore.

505
00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:53,840
Speaker 1: Suddenly it's like, a wait, we can't play Thomas Bryant

506
00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:59,880
Speaker 1: against Philly, they went with when you and Gabriel against Houston,

507
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,720
Speaker 1: they went with no center, Lebron James at center because

508
00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:05,239
Speaker 1: they can't actually play him, you'll get attacked too much

509
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:07,679
Speaker 1: in those situations. Now the game is slowed down in

510
00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,159
Speaker 1: the half court, and you've got Dennis Shrewder and Russell

511
00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,600
Speaker 1: Westbrook with Troy Brown Jr. Who's more of a two

512
00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:17,200
Speaker 1: guard playing a three, and Juants Oscano Anderson who's literally

513
00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:19,480
Speaker 1: six six and like two d and fifteen pounds, so

514
00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:23,360
Speaker 1: he's smaller than me playing power forward for the Lakers.

515
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:25,840
Speaker 1: And then Lebron James, who, yeah, he can play some

516
00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:28,120
Speaker 1: small ball center, but it only like if he goes

517
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,080
Speaker 1: up against a really big guy. There's some limitations there, right,

518
00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:33,840
Speaker 1: So like defensively, they can gimmick their way to a

519
00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:37,159
Speaker 1: solid defense, like the Lakers are twelfth in defense in January.

520
00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:40,520
Speaker 1: That's solid. Guys have been fighting, guys have been competing,

521
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:43,399
Speaker 1: but in clutch situations they still can't get stops because

522
00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:45,920
Speaker 1: in that setting, it's no more about it's no longer

523
00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:48,720
Speaker 1: about gimmicks. It's about your personnel, and the Lakers just

524
00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:51,479
Speaker 1: don't have the type of personnel they need when they

525
00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:53,640
Speaker 1: played when you and Gabriel against Philly at center, he's

526
00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,560
Speaker 1: two hundred and five pounds. I literally weighed twenty five

527
00:24:56,600 --> 00:24:58,280
Speaker 1: pounds more than when you and Gabriel and he was

528
00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:02,439
Speaker 1: battling with olm beat Like, like, what exactly do you

529
00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:05,720
Speaker 1: guys expect to happen in those situations. So at the

530
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:08,800
Speaker 1: end of the day, like um, when the game slows

531
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:11,080
Speaker 1: down for the Lakers, you can attack to instruder because

532
00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:14,000
Speaker 1: he's small. You're gonna attack Kuantas, Kana Anderson, Lebron James

533
00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:16,480
Speaker 1: and Winning Gabriel on the interior because you're just bigger

534
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:20,359
Speaker 1: than those guys. And most importantly, there's absolutely no rim protection.

535
00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:22,840
Speaker 1: So if you beat somebody off the dribble from the perimeter,

536
00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:25,560
Speaker 1: there's nobody waiting for you that's gonna block your shop

537
00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:27,480
Speaker 1: around the rim. And and that's just what makes the

538
00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:29,679
Speaker 1: Lakers so easy to score on in crunch time. They

539
00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:33,000
Speaker 1: will not get stops in crunch time until Anthony Davis

540
00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:35,119
Speaker 1: gets back, and then when they get to the highest

541
00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:37,440
Speaker 1: levels in the playoffs, they're going to need that forward

542
00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:40,560
Speaker 1: position to be bigger, to have a bigger perimeter player

543
00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:43,480
Speaker 1: in order to alleviate some of those postgame defense concerns.

544
00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:44,879
Speaker 1: And then on the offensive end of the floor, it's

545
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:46,760
Speaker 1: really comes down to three things. There's their spot up

546
00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:49,640
Speaker 1: shooting problem, which we've talked to death, there's a Russ problem,

547
00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:51,960
Speaker 1: and there's a Lebron problem. So no one's really off

548
00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:54,679
Speaker 1: the hook um as it comes to spot up shooting.

549
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:59,320
Speaker 1: Like I said, like game situations mimic playoffs situations, They're

550
00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:02,239
Speaker 1: going to be trapping you in the half court and

551
00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:05,160
Speaker 1: loading up in the paint, and none of your sets

552
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:09,679
Speaker 1: are gonna work. So no matter what your your best option,

553
00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:11,600
Speaker 1: you really are only gonna have two options as a

554
00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:14,200
Speaker 1: primary ball handler. If I'm Lebron James and I'm in

555
00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:16,200
Speaker 1: a late game situation for the Lakers are in a

556
00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:19,800
Speaker 1: postseason environment, I'm gonna be dribbling. The paint is going

557
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,639
Speaker 1: to be completely packed with bodies, and I'm gonna have

558
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:25,560
Speaker 1: two options. Either I can take an off the dribble

559
00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:28,560
Speaker 1: jump shot overall of that congestion, or and I can

560
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:30,840
Speaker 1: swing it to the wing to a spot up shooter

561
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:34,440
Speaker 1: that can make that make the other team pay for

562
00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:39,200
Speaker 1: overloading in the paint. But the Lakers are on uncontested

563
00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:41,639
Speaker 1: threes this year. That's twenty seven in the NBA, so

564
00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:44,800
Speaker 1: they're the fourth worst wide open three point shooting team

565
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:47,720
Speaker 1: in the league. They are also just seven percent on

566
00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:50,399
Speaker 1: threes in clutch situations when the games within five with

567
00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:53,399
Speaker 1: less than five minutes left, that's twenty four in the NBA.

568
00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:56,720
Speaker 1: So when teams load up on the Lakers and Lebron

569
00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:59,960
Speaker 1: and Russ are making kickout passes, they just can't make

570
00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:03,120
Speaker 1: teams pay for that. There's no penalty for you going

571
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:05,359
Speaker 1: against the Lakers to load up the paint. So that

572
00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:08,040
Speaker 1: is problem number one. The lack of competent spot up

573
00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:10,800
Speaker 1: shooting on the wing. That that gives them problems. And

574
00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:13,080
Speaker 1: you know, and first of all, there's a huge difference

575
00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 1: between like I occasionally knocked down to three and what

576
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:18,680
Speaker 1: a real knockdown shooter is like. And I'll give you

577
00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:22,160
Speaker 1: an example. So Boyan mcdonovitch plays for the Pistons. He's

578
00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:25,120
Speaker 1: shooting just forty one point five percent from three this year,

579
00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:27,000
Speaker 1: And if you're a Laker fan, you might be like, oh,

580
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:30,200
Speaker 1: that's only three percent higher than Lonnie Walker. But there's

581
00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:32,280
Speaker 1: a huge difference because of the way they are guarded,

582
00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:34,120
Speaker 1: which is something I talked about all the time. It's

583
00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:36,359
Speaker 1: not just about your three point percentage, it's like your

584
00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:39,159
Speaker 1: ability to convert three point shots into point based points

585
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:41,359
Speaker 1: based on the quality of the three point shots. So,

586
00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:45,320
Speaker 1: for instance, more than half of Lonnie Walker's three point attempts,

587
00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:49,000
Speaker 1: about six are wide open, meaning the defender is at

588
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:54,560
Speaker 1: least six ft away, and he's only shooting thirty on him. Right,

589
00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:58,639
Speaker 1: that's an issue. Okay, Now we go to boyan Vigdanovitch.

590
00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:01,840
Speaker 1: He takes six rea's a game. Most of them are

591
00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:05,880
Speaker 1: heavily guarded, but when he's wide open, he shoots fift

592
00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:08,480
Speaker 1: When the defenders at least six ft away from boy

593
00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:11,480
Speaker 1: and Beganovitch, so he's completely unguarded. He knocks down half

594
00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:13,359
Speaker 1: of them. So that's the difference when I'm looking at

595
00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:16,040
Speaker 1: boy and mcgdanovich and Lonnie Walker. Yeah, he's only three

596
00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:19,320
Speaker 1: percent better from three, but he's deadly accurate when he's

597
00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:22,600
Speaker 1: wide open, and he's still shooting a higher percentage even

598
00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:26,120
Speaker 1: on the contested threes than than than Lonnie Walker can get.

599
00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:28,439
Speaker 1: So that's why I've been saying the Lakers need to

600
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,359
Speaker 1: target like a real shooting forward because in those crunch

601
00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:35,600
Speaker 1: time situations, now boy On mcdonovitch's man cannot leave him

602
00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:38,080
Speaker 1: because in two possessions he's gonna make one of them,

603
00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:40,360
Speaker 1: which is three points in two possessions, which is a

604
00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:43,080
Speaker 1: one fifty offensive rating, which is going to win you

605
00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:45,320
Speaker 1: a lot of basketball games. That's why that position is

606
00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:50,840
Speaker 1: so specifically important. So step one spot up shooting to

607
00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:55,080
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook. Again. He thrives in that open floor nature

608
00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:57,440
Speaker 1: of the middle portions of the game of basketball. That's

609
00:28:57,440 --> 00:28:59,520
Speaker 1: why he's done so well coming off the bench for

610
00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:01,800
Speaker 1: stretch is this year for the Lakers. He pushes the

611
00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:04,080
Speaker 1: pace really well. That that that allows him to avoid

612
00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:06,840
Speaker 1: those half court sets and he creates a boatload of

613
00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:10,360
Speaker 1: good shots with rim pressure. But when we get to

614
00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:14,520
Speaker 1: clutch situations, he's twelve for thirty five from the field,

615
00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:17,160
Speaker 1: and he's really inefficient when he has the ball in

616
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:19,600
Speaker 1: his hands, and he can't make you pay when he's

617
00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:21,720
Speaker 1: off the ball. He's also really poor decision makers. So

618
00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:24,600
Speaker 1: for instance, that last play against Philly, I know Darvin

619
00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:27,000
Speaker 1: Ham's like, oh, I'll take my chances with Russ on

620
00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:29,200
Speaker 1: their center any day of the week, and it's like, Okay,

621
00:29:29,200 --> 00:29:32,120
Speaker 1: that's cool that you think that, but the other team

622
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:36,640
Speaker 1: is freaking ecstatic that you're attacking him beat because the

623
00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 1: book is out on Russell Westbrook. His only real success

624
00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:41,800
Speaker 1: at this point is bullying smaller guards. When it comes

625
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:46,280
Speaker 1: to half court environments, most teams are willingly putting their

626
00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:49,480
Speaker 1: center on Russ because he can help off when someone

627
00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:51,200
Speaker 1: else has the ball and they don't have to worry

628
00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:53,880
Speaker 1: about him beating beating you with spot up shooting. And

629
00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:56,480
Speaker 1: then in isolation situations, Russ is such a bad pull

630
00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:58,960
Speaker 1: up jump shooter that and Bead can just back off

631
00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:02,320
Speaker 1: and protect Rim And like, yeah, I've seen a lot

632
00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:04,840
Speaker 1: of Lakers fans complaining about foul calls. Ruscott fouled on

633
00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:06,960
Speaker 1: that play, Yes, Joel Embiad was grabbing his wrist, that's

634
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:09,800
Speaker 1: a foul. Lebron got fouled on a drive against the Mavericks.

635
00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:11,880
Speaker 1: Christian would elbowed him down on his left arm when

636
00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:14,880
Speaker 1: he was trying to gather. But historically in NBA history,

637
00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:17,840
Speaker 1: especially at the end of games and very much so

638
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:20,280
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, when you drive to the basket, there's

639
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:22,960
Speaker 1: a ship ton of contact and they're probably not gonna

640
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:26,640
Speaker 1: call it, so I mean we can say that, hey,

641
00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:29,320
Speaker 1: it was a foul, but they didn't blow the whistle.

642
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:31,680
Speaker 1: They usually don't blow the whistle, which means you have

643
00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:35,760
Speaker 1: to be prepared for that. Russell Westbrook isolating a center

644
00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:38,120
Speaker 1: and Joel Embiid but not just the center, one of

645
00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:40,880
Speaker 1: the best defensive centers in the league was just a

646
00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:46,920
Speaker 1: really obnoxiously poor decision, and it ending poorly was very predictable. Russ,

647
00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:50,320
Speaker 1: if he's going to stay with the Lakers, has to

648
00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:52,320
Speaker 1: play in just the middle portion of the games, which

649
00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:55,560
Speaker 1: is exactly what almost every sixth man type of guy

650
00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:57,840
Speaker 1: has done in NBA history. They play him in the

651
00:30:57,840 --> 00:30:59,520
Speaker 1: fast and loose portions of the game, and then they

652
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:02,240
Speaker 1: don't playin crunch time. Now, usually for six men it

653
00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:05,440
Speaker 1: has to do with defensive limitations, but for Russ, it

654
00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:08,440
Speaker 1: has to do with those offensive limitations in the half court.

655
00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:12,200
Speaker 1: When you combine that with his volatility, which volatility will

656
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,840
Speaker 1: get you beat, it just makes him really tough to

657
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:18,120
Speaker 1: play in crunch time. There's some crazy stats with Russ

658
00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:20,040
Speaker 1: and crunch time. The Lakers have played twenty one games

659
00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:22,640
Speaker 1: this year that involved clutch situations. Now, again, that's less

660
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:25,960
Speaker 1: than five minutes. Within five points. They are seven and

661
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:29,240
Speaker 1: eleven when Russ plays in those clutch games, and when

662
00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:31,680
Speaker 1: Russ doesn't get any clutch minutes, they're three and uh.

663
00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:35,880
Speaker 1: Overall this season in clutch minutes, their minus sixteen with

664
00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:37,920
Speaker 1: Russ on the floor and plus four with him off.

665
00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:40,200
Speaker 1: So if the Lakers are gonna keep Russ, they need

666
00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:42,480
Speaker 1: to use him like every other sixth man in NBA history.

667
00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:44,800
Speaker 1: Play him is twenty five minutes during the middle porsons

668
00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:46,840
Speaker 1: of the game. Don't have him in there when we

669
00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:50,000
Speaker 1: get to crunch time. And then, lastly, is Lebron um

670
00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:52,560
Speaker 1: so accepting the reality that the Lakers don't have good

671
00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:54,680
Speaker 1: spot up shooting and they're going to pack the paint.

672
00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:57,720
Speaker 1: What do I always say about beating teams that pack

673
00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:00,400
Speaker 1: the paint? You have to be able to either kicked

674
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:03,200
Speaker 1: to put spot up shooters which aren't gonna make shots

675
00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:05,720
Speaker 1: right now, or you can knock down pull up jump

676
00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:07,560
Speaker 1: shots over the top of the defense. And this is

677
00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,800
Speaker 1: where Lebron's shooting slump has been a big problem this year.

678
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:13,960
Speaker 1: He's shooting just thirty three percent on pull up jump shots,

679
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:16,160
Speaker 1: and in particular, his three point shot has failed him,

680
00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:19,520
Speaker 1: especially in crunch time. He's just three for eighteen and

681
00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:23,000
Speaker 1: crunch time situations for the Lakers from three, that's a

682
00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:25,719
Speaker 1: huge problem. And what's sad about it is he's actually

683
00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:29,760
Speaker 1: been really damn good in every other way during clutch situations.

684
00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:33,520
Speaker 1: He is twenty one for thirty six from two during

685
00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:36,600
Speaker 1: crunch time situations this year. That's fifty percent. He has

686
00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:40,160
Speaker 1: eighteen assists to just three turnovers. But if your spot

687
00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:42,400
Speaker 1: up shooters aren't gonna hit shots, you need to be

688
00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:44,720
Speaker 1: able to knock down pull up jump shots to win

689
00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:47,280
Speaker 1: games in crunch time, just like he did last night

690
00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:49,680
Speaker 1: against the Rockets, two biggest players of the game. The

691
00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:53,480
Speaker 1: last two possessions too high picking rolls with Lebron, James

692
00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:55,840
Speaker 1: won a pull up jump shot going to his left

693
00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:57,880
Speaker 1: and another a pull up jump shot going to his

694
00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,360
Speaker 1: right where he banked it in off the glass. He

695
00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:03,280
Speaker 1: needs to knock that shot down in order to help

696
00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:06,560
Speaker 1: the Lakers in crunch time situations. That's what the other

697
00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:10,040
Speaker 1: top tier stars in the league. Do. It's bizarre Lebron

698
00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:12,960
Speaker 1: is just having a bad jump shooting season, but it's

699
00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:16,240
Speaker 1: something to keep an eye on. So like as we

700
00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:18,160
Speaker 1: kind of zoom out really quick. For the Lakers, they

701
00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:21,080
Speaker 1: have four issues and crunch time. They don't have Anthony Davis,

702
00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:23,560
Speaker 1: which makes it impossible for them to get stops. They

703
00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:25,880
Speaker 1: have no spot up shooting, which makes it really difficult

704
00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:28,120
Speaker 1: for them to uh to make teams pay for packing

705
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:31,840
Speaker 1: the paint. Russ's value significantly declines when he gets into

706
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:34,160
Speaker 1: the half court, so he shouldn't play any clutch minutes.

707
00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:36,400
Speaker 1: And Lebron's pull up shooting slump has been an issue,

708
00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,160
Speaker 1: although he shot really well last night, so really get

709
00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:41,520
Speaker 1: a d healthy. The report is that he's gonna be

710
00:33:41,560 --> 00:33:43,400
Speaker 1: back for several games before the All Star breaks, so

711
00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:45,280
Speaker 1: that's encouraging. Probably in the next two weeks or so,

712
00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:48,120
Speaker 1: they need a trade for a competent forward like a

713
00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:50,520
Speaker 1: boy and mcdonovitch or Kyle Kuzma to give Lebron and

714
00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:52,840
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis real spot up threats to throw out too,

715
00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:56,160
Speaker 1: and then don't play Russ and crunch time and have

716
00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:58,760
Speaker 1: Lebron hit more pull up jump shots. That's really the

717
00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:02,320
Speaker 1: recipe to cleaning up these crunch time situations. Dude. Look

718
00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:04,800
Speaker 1: at the schedule, look at where they're at in the standings.

719
00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:07,840
Speaker 1: You convert three or four of these crunch time losses

720
00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:10,759
Speaker 1: into wins. All of a sudden, they're up around there.

721
00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:12,960
Speaker 1: They're like the fifth seed in the West right now.

722
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:15,279
Speaker 1: So that's a lot that can be cleaned up there,

723
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:18,600
Speaker 1: just by some some execution stuff and game plan stuff

724
00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:24,480
Speaker 1: with the Lakers. Alright, moving on to the Memphis Grizzlies.

725
00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:26,160
Speaker 1: So before we talk about the Grizzlies, I want to

726
00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:29,080
Speaker 1: do my last little quick hitter. So um, I've seen

727
00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:33,040
Speaker 1: a lot of people complaining about Janice and acting as

728
00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:34,960
Speaker 1: though he's fallen off a cliff and he's not the

729
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:38,680
Speaker 1: same player. Now. There are some statistics to watch out for.

730
00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:42,520
Speaker 1: He's shooting like scent outside the restricted area this year.

731
00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:47,120
Speaker 1: That's awful. But everything comes down to the fact that

732
00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:51,480
Speaker 1: the team, because of injuries, is significantly less talented than

733
00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:55,120
Speaker 1: Janice is usually playing with. Way too often when we're

734
00:34:55,160 --> 00:34:58,600
Speaker 1: discussing individual player performance, especially with the box score, we

735
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:02,759
Speaker 1: don't appropriately actor in the circumstances around you. This is

736
00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:05,279
Speaker 1: why I've been so high on Lebron lately and why

737
00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:07,080
Speaker 1: I keep telling you guys, he's still a top five

738
00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:08,880
Speaker 1: player in the league. He's playing with one of the

739
00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:12,560
Speaker 1: worst supporting casts in basketball and playing at an extremely

740
00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:16,080
Speaker 1: high level and winning all of his shifts. That's why

741
00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:19,120
Speaker 1: I've been pushing that so much. But what like what

742
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:22,400
Speaker 1: happens when you lose all of your spot up shooting

743
00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:25,719
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, teams can pack the paint. If

744
00:35:25,719 --> 00:35:28,520
Speaker 1: I'm an on ball defender and I'm guarding Janice and

745
00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:30,600
Speaker 1: they have lots of spot up shooting, I need to

746
00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:34,800
Speaker 1: give ground and concede shots to Janice for the sake

747
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:36,600
Speaker 1: of me being able to protect the room at least

748
00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:39,200
Speaker 1: as best as I can against that enormous human being.

749
00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:41,960
Speaker 1: But if all the guys are behind me and they've

750
00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:45,320
Speaker 1: got my back, I can now press up into Janice

751
00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:48,040
Speaker 1: in a way that I can't usually do. Now all

752
00:35:48,080 --> 00:35:50,880
Speaker 1: of those perimeter jump shots are more contested. Now I

753
00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:52,920
Speaker 1: can get into his handle a little bit more, which

754
00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:55,920
Speaker 1: allows me to disrupt his rhythm. And so as a result,

755
00:35:55,960 --> 00:35:59,239
Speaker 1: his perimeter shooting has gone down one. Lebron's having a

756
00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:02,680
Speaker 1: really rough perimeter shooting season. You want to know why,

757
00:36:02,719 --> 00:36:06,000
Speaker 1: because he's on his worst shooting team since he came

758
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:08,719
Speaker 1: into the league, which literally for a long time, which

759
00:36:08,719 --> 00:36:10,840
Speaker 1: has put him in a situation where defenders are pressing

760
00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:13,000
Speaker 1: up on him his shot quality is lower and the

761
00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:15,680
Speaker 1: jumpers are missing. When was the last time Lebron had

762
00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:18,799
Speaker 1: a really poor jump shooting season? Two thousand fifteen, when

763
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:20,840
Speaker 1: half the year j R. Smith wasn't there before the

764
00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:22,799
Speaker 1: trade deadline and we got to the playoffs and Kevin

765
00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:24,759
Speaker 1: Love got hurt, and then Kyrie Irving was playing hurt

766
00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:27,080
Speaker 1: the entire time, and then eventually did get hurt. The

767
00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:29,120
Speaker 1: worst shooting team he was around a lot of Mozgov,

768
00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:31,160
Speaker 1: a lot of Matthew Dellavedova, a lot of Sean Marion.

769
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:35,279
Speaker 1: Suddenly they're helping up, helping behind Lebron, pushing up onto

770
00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:37,920
Speaker 1: him on the ball. The shot quality goes down. So

771
00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:41,040
Speaker 1: all I'm saying is like, look, is it true that

772
00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:44,120
Speaker 1: Janice is not a very good perimeter shooter. Yeah, but

773
00:36:44,239 --> 00:36:46,040
Speaker 1: you knew that in two thousand twenty one when he

774
00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:50,360
Speaker 1: was holding up a trophy. Okay, so don't don't overthink

775
00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:53,280
Speaker 1: this guy's The Bucks are down all their spot of shooting.

776
00:36:54,239 --> 00:36:56,360
Speaker 1: That makes it a lot harder for team for Johannice

777
00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:58,920
Speaker 1: to play the same way that he played before. That's

778
00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:01,279
Speaker 1: why he's shooting poorly. He's still the best player in

779
00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:03,480
Speaker 1: the world in my opinion. I'm not going to change

780
00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:05,320
Speaker 1: that unless he goes into the postseason with a healthy

781
00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:07,920
Speaker 1: Bucks and doesn't play well, or unless I see somebody

782
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:11,880
Speaker 1: visibly play better in a postseason run. Let's not rehash

783
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:15,000
Speaker 1: the history of Janice over a little bit of bad basketball,

784
00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:17,160
Speaker 1: all right, Let's get moving. So the Grizzlies. They beat

785
00:37:17,239 --> 00:37:19,640
Speaker 1: up on the Suns yesterday for their tenth consecutive win.

786
00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:21,520
Speaker 1: Some quality wins in there too. They beat the Kings,

787
00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:23,200
Speaker 1: the Pelicans, and the Pacers. But they are in a

788
00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:27,080
Speaker 1: relatively easy stretch of their schedule. Since the start of December,

789
00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:29,400
Speaker 1: the Memphis Grizzlies are eighteen and four, which is the

790
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:32,320
Speaker 1: best record in the NBA. They are ninth in offense,

791
00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:34,760
Speaker 1: which is driven by the fact that they get twenty

792
00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:37,920
Speaker 1: fast breakpoints per game over this stretch, which is second

793
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:40,640
Speaker 1: in the NBA. In that span, their first in defense

794
00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:42,759
Speaker 1: and fourth and rebounding. So they're winning the way they

795
00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:45,279
Speaker 1: usually do. They're defending really well, they're forcing a lot

796
00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:47,840
Speaker 1: of turnovers, they're running it down your throat in transition,

797
00:37:48,040 --> 00:37:49,880
Speaker 1: and then when they get into that half court environment,

798
00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:53,640
Speaker 1: it's a steady diet of John Morant, with everybody relentlessly

799
00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:57,080
Speaker 1: attacking the offensive glass. A couple of specific things I

800
00:37:57,080 --> 00:37:59,239
Speaker 1: wanted to hit on John Morant's m v P push

801
00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:03,759
Speaker 1: and the Jaring's X and Brandon Clark grouping. So um,

802
00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:05,920
Speaker 1: Memphis Grizzlies fans are gonna want jhn morn to get

803
00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:07,759
Speaker 1: a lot of MVP consideration. But I wanted to kind

804
00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:09,399
Speaker 1: of go over his case a little bit with you guys,

805
00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:10,839
Speaker 1: and I want to and I'm really curious to hear

806
00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:13,320
Speaker 1: you guys opinion, So please drop your opinions in the comments.

807
00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:17,400
Speaker 1: Jaws averaging and eight this year on fifty century shooting,

808
00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:19,919
Speaker 1: which is fine. The Grizzlies are four points better provene

809
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:22,160
Speaker 1: Hunter possessions when he's on the floor versus when he's off,

810
00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:23,799
Speaker 1: and they have the second best record in the league,

811
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:27,640
Speaker 1: two games back of Boston. So on the surface, looks

812
00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:29,440
Speaker 1: like a really damn good m v P case. But

813
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:31,600
Speaker 1: let's take a closer look. What is my m v

814
00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:34,320
Speaker 1: P criteria? If you guys, remember best player in the league?

815
00:38:34,520 --> 00:38:36,359
Speaker 1: Are you in that conversation? Are you the best player

816
00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:38,600
Speaker 1: in the best team in the league, So basically individual success,

817
00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:42,520
Speaker 1: team success, and then lastly, value like how desperately does

818
00:38:42,560 --> 00:38:46,040
Speaker 1: the team needs you? In order to succeed. So let's

819
00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:47,680
Speaker 1: look at the best player in the league. Thing. First,

820
00:38:48,120 --> 00:38:50,440
Speaker 1: I think Jaws having an unbelievable season, but there are

821
00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:54,799
Speaker 1: probably eight players who are absolutely playing better all around basketball.

822
00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:57,640
Speaker 1: And then John Moran, j Honese playing better ball than

823
00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:00,799
Speaker 1: Job this year, Nicola Yokis play better ball than Job

824
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:03,600
Speaker 1: this year, Joel and Beat playing better ball than Job

825
00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:06,839
Speaker 1: this year. Kevin Durant playing better bald than Jaw this year.

826
00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:10,120
Speaker 1: Lebron James, Yeah he's playing. He's a better player than

827
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:13,000
Speaker 1: Jah right now. Luca don Chi, Yeah, he's better than John.

828
00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:15,919
Speaker 1: Steph Curry better than Job, Jason Tatum better than Job

829
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:19,040
Speaker 1: right now. Now. Five of those guys are also on

830
00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:22,400
Speaker 1: great teams that will get m VP consideration. Janice Yokichen

831
00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:25,680
Speaker 1: beat Katie and Tatum. All five of those guys are

832
00:39:25,719 --> 00:39:27,520
Speaker 1: also right near the top of the standing, so you're

833
00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:30,440
Speaker 1: not gonna get any sort of leg up there with

834
00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:33,239
Speaker 1: the Grizzlies in their record. And all five of those

835
00:39:33,239 --> 00:39:37,040
Speaker 1: guys are much much, much better defensive players than John Rand.

836
00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:39,680
Speaker 1: So if all of those other factors are relatively close,

837
00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:41,719
Speaker 1: John is just gonna lose to those five guys. He

838
00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:44,680
Speaker 1: probably won't even get a top he probably won't even

839
00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:46,880
Speaker 1: finish top five and voted. Now we move on to

840
00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:50,840
Speaker 1: the most valuable portion. So this Grizzlies roster is insanely talented.

841
00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:52,799
Speaker 1: So they're pretty damn good without him, just like they

842
00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:54,879
Speaker 1: were last year. They've won four straight games when John

843
00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:57,239
Speaker 1: Urant doesn't play, and there are only four points better

844
00:39:57,239 --> 00:39:59,560
Speaker 1: proe hundred possessions when John Morant is on the floor,

845
00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:03,240
Speaker 1: which you honese. There plus five on off with Yokich,

846
00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:07,040
Speaker 1: their plus twenty four on off with Embiid, their plus

847
00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:09,759
Speaker 1: twelve on off with Kevin Durant, their plus twelve on

848
00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:12,880
Speaker 1: off with Jayson Tatum. There plus six on off. So

849
00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:15,480
Speaker 1: you get the point once again. If the teams are

850
00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:18,959
Speaker 1: all close and all five of those guys are gonna

851
00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:21,080
Speaker 1: get the nod over John Moran. So this is where

852
00:40:21,080 --> 00:40:23,239
Speaker 1: his opportunity is. It's the best team in the league.

853
00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:26,520
Speaker 1: Phase here. If the Grizzlies are this good and they

854
00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:28,600
Speaker 1: stay healthy and they maintain that for the rest of

855
00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:31,799
Speaker 1: the season, they might be able to separate themselves from

856
00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:33,600
Speaker 1: the rest of the field in the standings. If the

857
00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:36,560
Speaker 1: Grizzlies finish with the best record in the league with

858
00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:40,120
Speaker 1: several games separating them and the next best team. Now

859
00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:42,319
Speaker 1: you've got to start thinking about John Moran is a

860
00:40:42,360 --> 00:40:46,480
Speaker 1: dead serious m VP candidate. But right now, I'm sorry,

861
00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:49,120
Speaker 1: Memphis fans, it's not a take about Jaw. He's young,

862
00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:51,799
Speaker 1: he's incredible, he's exciting. That Dunkey had the other night

863
00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:56,200
Speaker 1: was just completely absurd. I'm a huge Jaw fan, but

864
00:40:56,760 --> 00:40:58,560
Speaker 1: he's not m v P this year, at least not yet,

865
00:40:58,560 --> 00:41:00,040
Speaker 1: and he needs a lot more to go as a

866
00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:04,000
Speaker 1: in order to really truly enter that conversation. Jared Jackson Jr.

867
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:07,480
Speaker 1: Seventeen five and seven UM leads the league in stocks

868
00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:10,560
Speaker 1: that steals plus blocks. He is now the runaway favorite

869
00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:12,319
Speaker 1: for Defensive Player of the Year. FANDUL has him at

870
00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:15,000
Speaker 1: minus one thirty five to win and Brook Lopez in

871
00:41:15,040 --> 00:41:17,960
Speaker 1: second place at plus five fifty. He's also giving you

872
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:20,439
Speaker 1: one point one six points per possession in ISSO, which

873
00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:22,239
Speaker 1: is eighteenth in the league among players who have run

874
00:41:22,239 --> 00:41:24,879
Speaker 1: at least fifteen ISOs, and he's shooting thirty seven percent

875
00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:26,719
Speaker 1: from three on four attempts, which gives you that pick

876
00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:28,200
Speaker 1: and pop stuff that I was talking about. But he's

877
00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:30,600
Speaker 1: also been getting a lot of threes trailing the play

878
00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:33,279
Speaker 1: in transition. It's a classic way to attack teams in

879
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:36,200
Speaker 1: their transition defense. The center loves to run back to

880
00:41:36,239 --> 00:41:38,400
Speaker 1: the rim. It's where they train him ever since he

881
00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:40,919
Speaker 1: was a kid. It's the first responsibility for the big

882
00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:44,120
Speaker 1: and transition defense. And if the big trails the play

883
00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:46,560
Speaker 1: on offense, he's probably gonna get some wide open threes

884
00:41:46,560 --> 00:41:47,759
Speaker 1: from the top of the key and that's where John

885
00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:50,640
Speaker 1: Jaren Jackson Jr. Does a lot of damage. But what

886
00:41:50,719 --> 00:41:52,080
Speaker 1: I wanted to but the reason why I brought up

887
00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:56,120
Speaker 1: Jaren Jackson is the pairing with Brandon Clark is super interesting.

888
00:41:56,120 --> 00:41:58,759
Speaker 1: If you guys, remember after the Grizzlies beat the Pelicans,

889
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:00,640
Speaker 1: which I believe is like a week or so ago,

890
00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:03,840
Speaker 1: I talked about how I really liked the Jaren Jackson

891
00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:08,480
Speaker 1: and uh Jaren Jackson and Brandon Clark pairing in that lineup,

892
00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:10,480
Speaker 1: and it was a huge part of how the Grizzlies

893
00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:13,279
Speaker 1: won that game. But if you remember, I looked into

894
00:42:13,320 --> 00:42:16,279
Speaker 1: their their numbers when the two of them played excuse me,

895
00:42:16,520 --> 00:42:18,160
Speaker 1: when the two of them played together that year, and

896
00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:21,840
Speaker 1: it really wasn't that great um and there was you know,

897
00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:23,400
Speaker 1: the data didn't really match up with what I had

898
00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:25,520
Speaker 1: seen with my eye test, But what I said was,

899
00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:27,040
Speaker 1: I hope they go to that line up more frequently

900
00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:29,360
Speaker 1: because I think it could work. And they've been writing

901
00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:32,640
Speaker 1: that combination a ton during this wind streak and now

902
00:42:32,719 --> 00:42:36,040
Speaker 1: for the season. In five hundred and forty eight possessions

903
00:42:36,080 --> 00:42:38,400
Speaker 1: with Brandon Clark and Jaren Jackson on the floor together,

904
00:42:38,719 --> 00:42:43,040
Speaker 1: the Grizzlies are plus twelve per one possessions, which is fantastic,

905
00:42:43,080 --> 00:42:45,360
Speaker 1: and they have a one hundred and two defensive rating,

906
00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:48,600
Speaker 1: which is absolutely stifling. When you put two athletes of

907
00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:52,000
Speaker 1: that caliber in your front cord and they're consistently flying

908
00:42:52,040 --> 00:42:56,000
Speaker 1: around trying to block shots, it's terrifying. It dissuades people

909
00:42:56,040 --> 00:42:57,879
Speaker 1: from even trying to drive to the basket, and it's

910
00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:00,399
Speaker 1: a huge part of what has made this Grizzlies defense good.

911
00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:02,960
Speaker 1: And then lastly, Desmond Baine. He's the biggest swing factor

912
00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:04,880
Speaker 1: for this team. I've been talking about that on stop

913
00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:07,719
Speaker 1: because the one glaring weakness with the Grizzlies is their

914
00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:11,279
Speaker 1: half court offense. And it's been a little concerning because

915
00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:13,560
Speaker 1: even though John is still playing really well, his jump shooting,

916
00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:18,160
Speaker 1: particularly from three, has really really uh declined and so

917
00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:20,600
Speaker 1: that's gonna be concerning in a half court environment. You

918
00:43:20,680 --> 00:43:24,880
Speaker 1: need Desmond Bain to be a legitimate second side creator

919
00:43:25,120 --> 00:43:26,960
Speaker 1: or a guy that can create when jaws on the

920
00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:28,799
Speaker 1: bench in order to give you a chance to win

921
00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:33,279
Speaker 1: UH significant um to make a significant playoff run. UH.

922
00:43:33,360 --> 00:43:37,279
Speaker 1: Desmond Baine's first nine games back from the injury UH

923
00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:40,759
Speaker 1: seventeen points per game on thirty nine percent shooting, which

924
00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:42,400
Speaker 1: is not very good. But he's a rhythm based player.

925
00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:46,000
Speaker 1: Last two games twenty seven points per game on sixty

926
00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:48,480
Speaker 1: five percent shooting, So he's starting to get his rhythm back.

927
00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:51,719
Speaker 1: The Grizzlies desperately need him to be great. And when

928
00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:54,640
Speaker 1: they get into the postseason, they're going to attack John

929
00:43:54,640 --> 00:43:56,960
Speaker 1: Moran defensively and try to get out in transition and

930
00:43:56,960 --> 00:44:00,000
Speaker 1: avoid the Grizzlies half court environment, and then they're gonna

931
00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:03,040
Speaker 1: try to stop the Grizzlies from their transition attack. So

932
00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:05,440
Speaker 1: you need to have another guy who can create shots

933
00:44:05,440 --> 00:44:07,960
Speaker 1: off the bounce, and Desmond Baine is going to be

934
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:09,439
Speaker 1: the guy to watch when they get to that point.

935
00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:11,719
Speaker 1: All right, quickly before we get out of here, the

936
00:44:11,719 --> 00:44:14,239
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics, so they want again in Charlotte last night,

937
00:44:14,320 --> 00:44:17,520
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum fifty one nine in five. It's his first

938
00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:20,400
Speaker 1: fifty point game of the year, but that's Jayson tatum

939
00:44:20,600 --> 00:44:23,320
Speaker 1: seventh forty point game of the year, which is insane.

940
00:44:23,440 --> 00:44:26,439
Speaker 1: He's plus five hundred twin m v P right now,

941
00:44:26,840 --> 00:44:28,719
Speaker 1: which I think is the fourth best odds. I think

942
00:44:28,760 --> 00:44:31,359
Speaker 1: that's a really good value play that people should look at,

943
00:44:31,440 --> 00:44:33,160
Speaker 1: if for no reason other than the fact that the

944
00:44:33,160 --> 00:44:35,400
Speaker 1: Celtics have the most talent and if they end up

945
00:44:35,480 --> 00:44:37,600
Speaker 1: running away with the best record in the league. Similarly

946
00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:39,839
Speaker 1: to what I said with John Morant, you know you're

947
00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:43,520
Speaker 1: not gonna care about Yokich or you know, uh, you're

948
00:44:43,520 --> 00:44:45,440
Speaker 1: not gonna care about Yoki or Kevin Durant or any

949
00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:48,480
Speaker 1: of those guys if the Celtics just are five games

950
00:44:48,520 --> 00:44:51,040
Speaker 1: better than everybody in the standings. And so I'm not

951
00:44:51,080 --> 00:44:53,759
Speaker 1: saying I Predictatum will win m VP. I still my gut,

952
00:44:53,800 --> 00:44:55,319
Speaker 1: still says j Honice. I think he's gonna go on

953
00:44:55,320 --> 00:44:59,080
Speaker 1: a run to end the season. But plus five hundred,

954
00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:01,680
Speaker 1: it's pretty day him good odds. Considering, I think there's

955
00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:04,280
Speaker 1: there's a better than one in five chance that Tatum

956
00:45:04,360 --> 00:45:07,480
Speaker 1: ends up winning the award. Um that's seven straight wins

957
00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:10,120
Speaker 1: for Boston, their third in offense and fifth and defense

958
00:45:10,200 --> 00:45:13,040
Speaker 1: during this win streak. The reason why that's encouraging is

959
00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:15,040
Speaker 1: this is the first time this is this season they've

960
00:45:15,080 --> 00:45:17,840
Speaker 1: been consistently good on both ends of the floor. To

961
00:45:17,880 --> 00:45:19,800
Speaker 1: start the year, it was all offense and their defense

962
00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:22,400
Speaker 1: wasn't very good. During the stretch where they were struggling,

963
00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:24,760
Speaker 1: they were actually defending crazy well. It was their offense

964
00:45:24,760 --> 00:45:26,640
Speaker 1: that fell apart on on account of just them missing

965
00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:29,439
Speaker 1: a ton of threes um. But during this stretch they're

966
00:45:29,520 --> 00:45:31,200
Speaker 1: killing it on both ends of the floor, So that's

967
00:45:31,200 --> 00:45:35,719
Speaker 1: super encouraging. Malcolm Brogden is playing ridiculously well during the

968
00:45:35,719 --> 00:45:38,040
Speaker 1: win streak. I want to show you his per thirty

969
00:45:38,040 --> 00:45:40,880
Speaker 1: six numbers because I think he's only averaging like nineteen

970
00:45:40,920 --> 00:45:44,200
Speaker 1: points per game, But per thirty six, Malcolm Brogden during

971
00:45:44,200 --> 00:45:47,480
Speaker 1: this win streak is averaging twenty six points, six rebounds,

972
00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:51,360
Speaker 1: and five assists on from the field, fifty seven percent

973
00:45:51,440 --> 00:45:56,359
Speaker 1: from three and from the line. Just outrageous efficiency. Why

974
00:45:56,400 --> 00:45:58,799
Speaker 1: am I bringing up per thirty six because when you

975
00:45:58,800 --> 00:46:02,279
Speaker 1: get into the postseason rotations shrink, they will play him

976
00:46:02,320 --> 00:46:05,200
Speaker 1: more minutes, and right now on a per minute basis,

977
00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:09,480
Speaker 1: he's playing like a superstar. So do I expect him

978
00:46:09,480 --> 00:46:11,200
Speaker 1: to play like a superstar for the entire postseason. No.

979
00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:14,000
Speaker 1: But my point is is they have added a significant

980
00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:18,640
Speaker 1: perimeter piece that makes them way better, and they're going

981
00:46:18,680 --> 00:46:20,400
Speaker 1: to be able to play him thirty plus minutes in

982
00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:22,319
Speaker 1: the playoffs. They're keeping his minutes down now because he's

983
00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:23,840
Speaker 1: got a little bit of an injury history, but I

984
00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:26,200
Speaker 1: expect them to bump his minutes up in the playoffs,

985
00:46:26,239 --> 00:46:28,239
Speaker 1: and so that's really encouraging. The last thing I want

986
00:46:28,239 --> 00:46:30,840
Speaker 1: to say about the Celtics. I had a lot of

987
00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:33,799
Speaker 1: Celtics fans complain at me last week and the on

988
00:46:33,840 --> 00:46:37,560
Speaker 1: Twitter and on the YouTube comments about my criticisms of

989
00:46:37,560 --> 00:46:40,080
Speaker 1: them as it pertains to their postseason struggles. And I

990
00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:41,640
Speaker 1: see a lot of things like, oh, Jason will just

991
00:46:41,680 --> 00:46:43,839
Speaker 1: never be convinced that the Celtics are right no matter

992
00:46:43,880 --> 00:46:47,880
Speaker 1: how many games they win, and and and what one

993
00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:50,120
Speaker 1: person in particular was like, Oh, there, there, He's only

994
00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:52,239
Speaker 1: gonna finally get on board when they get the trophy.

995
00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:55,840
Speaker 1: That's not necessarily true. There's a reason why I feel

996
00:46:55,880 --> 00:46:58,200
Speaker 1: the way I do about the Celtics, and it stems

997
00:46:58,200 --> 00:47:00,279
Speaker 1: from the conversation we had at the beginning of the show.

998
00:47:01,880 --> 00:47:04,960
Speaker 1: What happens in the postseason versus the regular season. It's

999
00:47:05,040 --> 00:47:08,240
Speaker 1: very different. Winning seven games in a row is impressive

1000
00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:10,719
Speaker 1: in the regular season, but it doesn't change the way

1001
00:47:10,719 --> 00:47:13,600
Speaker 1: that I feel about this team in the postseason. In

1002
00:47:13,719 --> 00:47:16,799
Speaker 1: last year's postseason, even when they were winning in the

1003
00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:21,080
Speaker 1: Bucks Series and in the Heat Series, they were demonstrating

1004
00:47:21,280 --> 00:47:27,960
Speaker 1: significant um inconsistency in their decision making. So why did

1005
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:30,960
Speaker 1: I pick the Warriors to win the Finals in seven

1006
00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:34,000
Speaker 1: games last year, even though the Celtics I said were

1007
00:47:34,040 --> 00:47:38,800
Speaker 1: more talented, Is because I saw in playoff basketball, really

1008
00:47:38,840 --> 00:47:43,160
Speaker 1: informative playoff basketball. I saw the Celtics struggle against good

1009
00:47:43,160 --> 00:47:47,680
Speaker 1: teams with their consistency and execution and decision making. So

1010
00:47:48,280 --> 00:47:50,880
Speaker 1: that was very informative to me about how the finals

1011
00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:55,239
Speaker 1: would go, and that's literally what got them beat. So

1012
00:47:55,800 --> 00:47:58,279
Speaker 1: what I need to see for me to trust the

1013
00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:01,480
Speaker 1: Celtics is not necessarily for them to get the trophy.

1014
00:48:01,520 --> 00:48:03,920
Speaker 1: But hey, let's say they play the Bucks in the

1015
00:48:03,960 --> 00:48:06,520
Speaker 1: first round or second round, or let's say they play

1016
00:48:06,560 --> 00:48:08,279
Speaker 1: the Nets in the second round. Let's say they play

1017
00:48:08,400 --> 00:48:12,239
Speaker 1: the UM the Celtics or the U the sixers in

1018
00:48:12,239 --> 00:48:14,600
Speaker 1: the second round. I want to see the Celtics put

1019
00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:19,280
Speaker 1: together a seven game series against the Kevin Durant Janice

1020
00:48:19,320 --> 00:48:23,160
Speaker 1: and beat somebody like that and consistently execute for seven

1021
00:48:23,200 --> 00:48:26,480
Speaker 1: games where if they lose, it's because the other team

1022
00:48:26,719 --> 00:48:30,600
Speaker 1: had played really damn well and not because Jayson Tatums

1023
00:48:30,600 --> 00:48:34,160
Speaker 1: stopped trying to drive and kick or Jalen Brown turned

1024
00:48:34,160 --> 00:48:37,520
Speaker 1: the ball over six times. That's what I want to see.

1025
00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:40,440
Speaker 1: I just want to see them show what they didn't

1026
00:48:40,440 --> 00:48:43,400
Speaker 1: show against the Bucks in Miami last year, which is

1027
00:48:43,520 --> 00:48:46,360
Speaker 1: take care of business. When you have a significant talent advantage,

1028
00:48:46,640 --> 00:48:49,239
Speaker 1: execute on a on a game by game basis, to

1029
00:48:49,360 --> 00:48:51,799
Speaker 1: demonstrate that you're dead serious about what you need to

1030
00:48:51,800 --> 00:48:56,000
Speaker 1: do to get the final trophy. Against Miami and Milwaukee

1031
00:48:56,080 --> 00:48:58,800
Speaker 1: last year, they were so talented that it didn't matter.

1032
00:49:00,120 --> 00:49:02,279
Speaker 1: Then they got to Golden State, who is nearly as

1033
00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:05,160
Speaker 1: talented as them, and it did matter, and they lost

1034
00:49:05,200 --> 00:49:08,319
Speaker 1: three games in a row. And when everybody knew they

1035
00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:10,040
Speaker 1: had to take care of the ball in the game six,

1036
00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:12,279
Speaker 1: they turned it over twenty times or whatever it was

1037
00:49:12,320 --> 00:49:15,520
Speaker 1: that they did. That's so I'm not over here like

1038
00:49:15,840 --> 00:49:18,799
Speaker 1: screw the Celtics. I'm not gonna cheer for them or

1039
00:49:18,960 --> 00:49:20,919
Speaker 1: or appreciate them until they get the trophy. No, no, no,

1040
00:49:21,920 --> 00:49:23,879
Speaker 1: we just gotta what is the best indicator of future

1041
00:49:23,920 --> 00:49:27,480
Speaker 1: performance past performance. The last time we saw the Celtics

1042
00:49:27,520 --> 00:49:30,239
Speaker 1: play and that playoff environment, they put together three bad

1043
00:49:30,239 --> 00:49:32,560
Speaker 1: playoff series in a row, where they won two of

1044
00:49:32,560 --> 00:49:37,080
Speaker 1: them because they were way more talented. Show me some

1045
00:49:37,160 --> 00:49:41,239
Speaker 1: good playoffs series. That's when I'll get on board. Alright, guys,

1046
00:49:41,320 --> 00:49:42,680
Speaker 1: that is all I have for today. Like I said,

1047
00:49:42,719 --> 00:49:44,960
Speaker 1: we're gonna be back tomorrow. Um tomorrow, We're gonna be

1048
00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:49,840
Speaker 1: covering three games instant reaction Style Raptors, Bucks, Blazers, Nuggets

1049
00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:52,560
Speaker 1: and seventy sixers Clippers. As always, I sincerely appreciate your

1050
00:49:52,560 --> 00:50:07,120
Speaker 1: support and I'll see you guys. Then the volume