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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to hoops tonight for sentif Danduel here
Speaker 1: at the volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody. I hope all of
Speaker 1: you guys had a great weekend. I just got back
Speaker 1: in last night from a weekend of skiing up in Flagstaff,
Speaker 1: an old dormant volcano up there. We had a huge
Speaker 1: winter storm come through on Saturday, so it was like
Speaker 1: fifteen inches of fresh powder and blizzard conditions with no visibility.
Speaker 1: I've become a decent skier over the course of the
Speaker 1: last half decade or so, but man, did that kick
Speaker 1: my ass. It just was a completely different type of challenge.
Speaker 1: It was so different than like groomed skiing, and so
Speaker 1: it was a fun experience, but man, I got my
Speaker 1: butt kicked. I'm excited to be home though, and to
Speaker 1: talk some basketball. We took a little break last week
Speaker 1: to zoom out and do some mid season, mid season
Speaker 1: review type of Stuff. We're gonna get back into our
Speaker 1: normal cadence this week with instant reactions and deep dives
Speaker 1: into specific teams and things along those lines. So today
Speaker 1: we're gonna be covering the Warriors, Wizards, UM and just
Speaker 1: the way they've been playing the Warriors in particular since
Speaker 1: Steff went out or since Stuff came back. The Boston
Speaker 1: Celtics on a seven game win streak and the Memphis
Speaker 1: Grizzlies on a ten game win streaks. We're gonna tie
Speaker 1: in on those two teams, the best team in the
Speaker 1: East and the best team in the West right now.
Speaker 1: And then the Los Angeles Lakers. Even though they beat
Speaker 1: the Rockets last night, they did lose back to back
Speaker 1: games involving clutch situations to the Mavericks and the Sixers,
Speaker 1: and those clutch situations have been a problem for the
Speaker 1: Lakers all year, So I wanted to dive deep into
Speaker 1: that specific topic. And then tomorrow we'll have three instant
Speaker 1: reaction videos to wraps, Bucks, Blazers, Nuggets, and seventies Sixers Clippers.
Speaker 1: We've got a good slate of games tonight. You guys
Speaker 1: know the drill before we get started. Subscribed to the
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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
Speaker 1: the Wizards mid fourth quarter, kind of a recurring theme
Speaker 1: this season. They were trailing them one oh six. Then
Speaker 1: Draymond got them back in the game of the couple
Speaker 1: of big plays. He hit a hockey assist out of
Speaker 1: a split cut that ended in a Dante DiVincenzo lay up,
Speaker 1: and then he ended up hitting a three on a
Speaker 1: pick and pop at the top of the key. Kind
Speaker 1: of an encouraging trend for the Warriors with Draymond. Draymond
Speaker 1: is shooting thirty five percent from three in his last
Speaker 1: twenty seven games. If you really look back to what
Speaker 1: a Draymond and All NBA guy like when he was
Speaker 1: second team All NBA back in two thousand and sixteen,
Speaker 1: it was all the playmaking. It was all of the
Speaker 1: defensive stuff that he can do, the defensive versatility in particular,
Speaker 1: but it was also this kind of semi reliable, totally
Speaker 1: respectable pick and pop shooting from three that really tied
Speaker 1: it together. It kind of was that was you know,
Speaker 1: that's become his one real weakness over the years, but
Speaker 1: it's starting to trend in the right direction. He's been
Speaker 1: shooting pretty damn well over his last twenties seven games.
Speaker 1: That's super encouraging for the Warriors in the grand scheme
Speaker 1: of things. And then from there, when Draymond got it
Speaker 1: back to a close game, Steff just took over a
Speaker 1: huge step back three, just a ridiculous, high difficulty step
Speaker 1: back three that gave him the lead. G had a
Speaker 1: couple more threes or jumper into three that were daggers
Speaker 1: later on in the game. And he also there was
Speaker 1: kind of a fun sequence where, um, they were running
Speaker 1: a pick and roll at the on the right wing
Speaker 1: and it was Porzingis. That was in an ice coverage
Speaker 1: on steph So whenever you run pick and rolls on
Speaker 1: the wing, usually teams are gonna try to force you
Speaker 1: towards the baseline because the rotations are easier. So Draymond
Speaker 1: comes up and tries to set the screen towards the middle,
Speaker 1: but the on ball defender is forcing I think it
Speaker 1: was Monty Morris, but he was forcing Steph away from
Speaker 1: the screen, and Christaps Porzingis was way out on the
Speaker 1: left side waiting for steps so they're basically trying to
Speaker 1: funnel step towards that right side of the floor from
Speaker 1: the right wing and Draymond. It was kind of a
Speaker 1: really smart play from Steff because Draymond's like trying to
Speaker 1: find an angle to set the screen so that Steph
Speaker 1: can get back towards the middle, and instead Steph just
Speaker 1: leads him with like a push pass that catches Draymond
Speaker 1: in a run towards the rim. And because Christaps Porzingis
Speaker 1: was way over on the left side to wait towards
Speaker 1: the right side of your face in the basket to
Speaker 1: try to contain in that ice coverage, Draymond got a
Speaker 1: wide open uh lay up with his left hand. I
Speaker 1: think it ended up getting goaltended or actually this one
Speaker 1: I think ended in a foul, and then he had
Speaker 1: a separate layup and a Jordan Pool pick and roll.
Speaker 1: But it's kind of been cool over the years to
Speaker 1: see we've all we've seen with Draymond and Steph just
Speaker 1: all of the repetition that they've had over a decade
Speaker 1: of the high level basketball that has given them just
Speaker 1: a counter to use in every single one of these situations.
Speaker 1: We've seen the way that Draymond can punish teams by
Speaker 1: going to quick dribble handoffs with Steph when they're not
Speaker 1: guarding Draymond appropriately, or in the traps with Steph, you
Speaker 1: see Draymond in the short role making play staff throwing
Speaker 1: that loop pass over the top. They're trying to sneak
Speaker 1: a bounce pass into the pocket so that Draymond can
Speaker 1: make a read, and then it's kind of cool to
Speaker 1: see them beat that ice coverage with basically just like
Speaker 1: a super unique little leading pass towards the rim, all
Speaker 1: Draymond's unguarded. That's just the advantage that comes from continuity
Speaker 1: in years and years of practice. Step finished with forty
Speaker 1: one point shots. It felt good to see him get
Speaker 1: back to that level because it really wasn't that good
Speaker 1: the first three games back, which was to be expected.
Speaker 1: He's a skill oriented player and rhythm is a huge
Speaker 1: part of the game of basketball. For skill oriented players,
Speaker 1: you need to kind of calibrate your lift and calibrate
Speaker 1: your touch to mb a speed which is impossible to
Speaker 1: replicate anywhere off of an NBA game, even in Actus,
Speaker 1: So it was it's good to see him kind of
Speaker 1: get back to that. That's his fourth forty point game
Speaker 1: of the season. Andrew Wiggins also did excellent defensive work
Speaker 1: on Kyle Kuzma, forced him into a bunch of bad
Speaker 1: shots and two turnovers down the stretch, and then Anthony Lamb,
Speaker 1: I thought one of the biggest players of the game
Speaker 1: is one eighteen one fourteen, and Kuzma's isolating on Andrew Wiggins.
Speaker 1: He's driving towards the right with Wiggins on his hip,
Speaker 1: and Anthony Lambs steps in and takes a charge, and
Speaker 1: Kuzma actually made a little floater and it was called
Speaker 1: an and one on the floor, but they challenged it
Speaker 1: and they ended up overturning it and calling it a charge.
Speaker 1: But because Steph went down and hit a jumper on
Speaker 1: the next possession, it was like a five point swing
Speaker 1: and a four point game. So just like the you know,
Speaker 1: Austin Rivers. One of the things, there's three specific topics
Speaker 1: that I want to hit just kind of random today.
Speaker 1: It's something I all the time. I'm like scrolling through
Speaker 1: Twitter and I have like a quick take on something
Speaker 1: that I see, and uh, it's not enough of a
Speaker 1: take to squeeze into a segment on this show, but
Speaker 1: I don't really have a chance to talk about it,
Speaker 1: so I like to try squeez him in. Why I can.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys saw that Austin Rivers
Speaker 1: video that was going viral from a podcast this week
Speaker 1: where he basically talked about how highlight culture is ruining
Speaker 1: basketball at the lower levels. Essentially, he was like, you know,
Speaker 1: I got a hoop mix tape, but it was because
Speaker 1: I was one of the top end guys. It was
Speaker 1: like an honor and it was based on you being
Speaker 1: like literally one of the best players in the in
Speaker 1: the country for high school. Whereas now like everyone's getting filmed,
Speaker 1: they're actively hunting highlights and trying to make these like
Speaker 1: social media clips based on you know, dunking on someone
Speaker 1: or crossing somewhere over whatever it might be. And Austin's
Speaker 1: point was like, actually, we should be celebrating winning basketball
Speaker 1: plays because those are the things that actually make a
Speaker 1: good basketball player, which is the kind of thing that
Speaker 1: actually makes it to the m b A. There are
Speaker 1: a lot of guys in the world that can dribble
Speaker 1: the hell out of the basketball, they can shoot the
Speaker 1: hell out of the basketball. They can do a lot
Speaker 1: of things, but they're not in the NBA because they
Speaker 1: can't functionally do a play a role on an NBA
Speaker 1: court by providing a bunch of winning responsibilities. Anthony Lamb
Speaker 1: is not the prettiest looking basketball player in the world
Speaker 1: when it comes to his skills to but he has
Speaker 1: found a role on this team doing dirty work. And
Speaker 1: that is just a small play sliding over and taking
Speaker 1: a charge in a pivotal moment in a four point
Speaker 1: game down the stretch that frequently gets overlooked and never
Speaker 1: gets enough attention. And that's what I liked about what
Speaker 1: Austin Rivers had said, and so I just wanted to
Speaker 1: kind of hammer that home, like that's a play that
Speaker 1: went under the radar in this game. But Anthony Lamb
Speaker 1: taking one charge was just a massive play to help
Speaker 1: the Warriors win this game. Uh. The Warriors are two
Speaker 1: and two since Steph came back. If you look at it,
Speaker 1: it's that awful lost of Phoenix where they really didn't try. Uh.
Speaker 1: There was the blowout win in the Alamo Dome against
Speaker 1: the NBA's record largest crowd against the Spurs. Then they
Speaker 1: lost to Chicago, which we're gonna talk about here in
Speaker 1: a minute, and then they beat Washington, so kind of
Speaker 1: an uneven start. I wanted to zoom in on that
Speaker 1: Chicago loss because it was kind of frustrating, uh tactically,
Speaker 1: you know, you guys know, I think like a coach.
Speaker 1: I coach high school kids, and then obviously just with
Speaker 1: my playing background, I always I always think that way.
Speaker 1: I think from the perspective of the coach, and I
Speaker 1: was really frustrated with their strategy on Nick Lusovich because
Speaker 1: Vusovich just absolutely torched the Warriors in this game. He
Speaker 1: had forty three points, but it was all out of
Speaker 1: picking pop like just picking pop threes, picking pop pump,
Speaker 1: fake attacking the clothes out, making a little shot U
Speaker 1: scoring in the short role. Because you know, Nick Luseovich
Speaker 1: is a flawed player, but he is a good player,
Speaker 1: and there's specific things that he's very good at, and
Speaker 1: it's that shooting touch, it's that little bit of post work,
Speaker 1: and it's that little bit of short roll stuff that
Speaker 1: he can do. Um, you have to switch against that
Speaker 1: type of big I always tell you, guys, v kryptonite
Speaker 1: for a drop coverage is either a guard that can
Speaker 1: regularly hit pull up jump shots or a big that
Speaker 1: can hit pick and pop jump shots. As soon as
Speaker 1: you run into that type of personnel, you have to switch.
Speaker 1: Switch up your coverage in some way, shape or form,
Speaker 1: because if you don't, you're going to give high quality shots.
Speaker 1: Two players that are in the league specifically because they
Speaker 1: can hit that type of shot you you switch, you
Speaker 1: at least forced them to beat you with an isolation
Speaker 1: or a post stop. It gives you. It also gives
Speaker 1: you a much better chance to load up and help
Speaker 1: side and rotate out of it, and at least forced
Speaker 1: them to take a contested spot up three somewhere else
Speaker 1: on the floor rather than a wide open one. Only
Speaker 1: four of nick Vussovitch's points came out of post ups
Speaker 1: against switches and pick and roll. There was one in
Speaker 1: the first quarter where Clay Thompson got switched on to
Speaker 1: him and he hit a little hook shot, and there
Speaker 1: was another one in the second half where Anthony Lamb
Speaker 1: got switched onto him and on the post entry pass
Speaker 1: he tried to like reach around in front and they
Speaker 1: ended up calling a pass on the entry path, foul
Speaker 1: on the entry pass, But twenty three a Vussovich's forty
Speaker 1: three points we're picking and popping or a pick and
Speaker 1: pop that got worked around and he was wide open
Speaker 1: for three on the back end. That's more than half.
Speaker 1: So like schematically, that cost you a game. A flaw
Speaker 1: in the coverage that every single person in the world
Speaker 1: knows exists and personnel that can explicitly exploit that flaw.
Speaker 1: The Warriors didn't make the switch in their coverage, So
Speaker 1: there's kind of two ways to look at that. One.
Speaker 1: In a playoff series, the Warriors would switch out of
Speaker 1: that in all likelihood if if Vusovitch is torching you
Speaker 1: and pick and pop, you're gonna end up switching or
Speaker 1: heading and recovering or anything else other than what they did.
Speaker 1: Um you know, in in a playoff series in general,
Speaker 1: teams are more inclined to switch when they need to.
Speaker 1: But in this game, failure to make that adjustment cost
Speaker 1: you a game and puts you at twenty two, which
Speaker 1: was below five hundreds. You had to go beat Washington
Speaker 1: to get above five hundred. And if you just take
Speaker 1: care of business against Nick Luseovich with the simple adjustment.
Speaker 1: You win that game, and now you're two games over
Speaker 1: five hundred and so that that's where it's frustrating, is like,
Speaker 1: I get it. You know that's not gonna be an
Speaker 1: issue in the playoffs. I'm not worried about the Warriors
Speaker 1: somehow getting to the finals and losing to the Bulls
Speaker 1: because the Nick Lusivich. It's just a matter of of
Speaker 1: the reality of their predicament, which is there what the
Speaker 1: seventh seed right now or and twenty two. They need
Speaker 1: to make up ground in the standings to make sure
Speaker 1: they stay out of the plan and hopefully give themselves
Speaker 1: a home court advantage series, which is so important to
Speaker 1: this team that struggles a little bit on the road.
Speaker 1: There is urgency for them to get going, and it
Speaker 1: kind of was frustrating to see them trick off a
Speaker 1: game against the Bulls because of a simple coverage that
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Speaker 1: of the NBA. Um You know, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: people pointing to the Warriors and they're two and twenty
Speaker 1: two record as if the sky is falling. I continue
Speaker 1: to not be in that camp. I just think there
Speaker 1: are some specific realities about their situation because they don't
Speaker 1: have a ton of depth, which won't matter as much
Speaker 1: when they get to the playoffs, but now it does.
Speaker 1: You can't take nights off anymore. Like the Phoenix Suns game,
Speaker 1: that just can't happen. If you're playing the Suns without
Speaker 1: all their guys, you have to win that game because
Speaker 1: of where where you're at in the standings, and you
Speaker 1: might have to be a little bit more aggressive in
Speaker 1: your in game adjustments instead of just trying to eat
Speaker 1: innings in the regular season because you don't have that
Speaker 1: margin for error anymore in the standings. It's just the
Speaker 1: reality of their situation. Alright, So we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: the Lakers, but really quickly, I want to hit my
Speaker 1: second random take that I was telling you guys about
Speaker 1: that I'm trying to hit from Twitter. Uh So, one
Speaker 1: of the things that I've seen is Lebron after his
Speaker 1: interview or in his interview with Dave McManaman, he was
Speaker 1: asked about him being about like the the all time
Speaker 1: scoring record with Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Lebron, but up
Speaker 1: brought up the fact that he doesn't that he views
Speaker 1: himself as a pass first player, and then that turned
Speaker 1: into this whole thing where all the people don't like
Speaker 1: Lebron were like, that's b s. Look at how many
Speaker 1: field goal attempts he takes, like this is ridiculous, and
Speaker 1: then all the Lebron fans coming in and being like, no, no,
Speaker 1: he really is passed first, and everyone just gets dumber
Speaker 1: as a result, because let's actually think about what that says.
Speaker 1: To say that you're a past first basketball player would
Speaker 1: imply that given the decision to take a high quality
Speaker 1: shot yourself or to get a high quality shot for
Speaker 1: your teammate, that you would pass the ball to your
Speaker 1: teammate instead of looking for your own shot. And not
Speaker 1: only does that situation very rarely take play sent an
Speaker 1: NBA game because the defense is kind of designed to
Speaker 1: take away one of the two, but in general, the
Speaker 1: only pass first players that I can remember in NBA
Speaker 1: history where they're actively hunting passes are guys that can't score.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about like Jason Kidd or Region Rondo, you know,
Speaker 1: or a modern example that. And it's not that he
Speaker 1: can't score. Tyris Alliburn is a much better score, but
Speaker 1: Tyris Halliburton is hunting his passes a lot because he's
Speaker 1: not a you know, thirty point per game type of guy.
Speaker 1: You know, and so like, who are the top tier
Speaker 1: playmakers in the league. I've always said four guys, right,
Speaker 1: and Chris Paul is kind of falling off this list.
Speaker 1: But it's Chris Paul, Nicola Yoga, Lebron James, and Luca Donche.
Speaker 1: Those are the four guys that I see incredibly high
Speaker 1: level reads from consistently. But they're all high volume scores.
Speaker 1: All three of those guys have been thirty point per
Speaker 1: game guys over the last few months. So are they
Speaker 1: None of them are passed first? They're the best player
Speaker 1: on the floor and most of their games. Why would
Speaker 1: they give the ball to lesser basketball players if they
Speaker 1: didn't need to. So the semantics of that this goussion
Speaker 1: is stupid, and I say that to Lebron as well,
Speaker 1: like Lebron shouldn't be saying past first because that doesn't
Speaker 1: make any damn sense. But it's not a criticism of
Speaker 1: him that he shoots a lot. He's Lebron James. He
Speaker 1: should shoot a lot. The dude's averaging like thirty seven
Speaker 1: since he turned thirty eight years old, which is completely ridiculous.
Speaker 1: But let's call it what it is. It's not that
Speaker 1: Lebron is a pass first player. It's that he's a
Speaker 1: great passer. And so what you're getting from Lebron is
Speaker 1: he is the all time leading score, going to be
Speaker 1: the all time leading score. And what's cool about it
Speaker 1: is that's just one of his great skills, and he
Speaker 1: has all these other great skills. That's what's interesting about
Speaker 1: the Lebron thing, not some weird semantic angle about being
Speaker 1: passed first. All right, that's it for my little mini
Speaker 1: Lebron tic. Okay, So the Lakers have had a really
Speaker 1: interesting four game stretch since they're huge backed back wins
Speaker 1: against Atlanta and in Sacramento. They rested Lebron in Denver
Speaker 1: and lost. Then they lost a double overtime heartbreaker to
Speaker 1: the Dallas Mavericks. Luca hit two separate step back three's
Speaker 1: uh I think one in regulation and one in ot
Speaker 1: that elongated the game um and then Lebron really had
Speaker 1: his first bad game in a month against Dallas, just
Speaker 1: really struggled, particularly from the field in that game. And
Speaker 1: then they lost another heartbreaker to the seventy six or
Speaker 1: two Nights ago, Lebron goes for thirty five, eight and ten,
Speaker 1: their plus nineteen in Lebron's minutes, but go minus twenty
Speaker 1: when he's off the floor and lose by one. And
Speaker 1: obviously we had the ridiculous possession with russ on Joel
Speaker 1: Embiad at the end, which we'll talk about here in
Speaker 1: a minute. And then last night they beat Houston, Lebron
Speaker 1: goes for forty eight, eight and nine and their plus
Speaker 1: nineteen again in his minutes, but they only lose the
Speaker 1: Lebron minutes by eleven this time, so they're able to
Speaker 1: win the game by eight points. So really, if you
Speaker 1: look at it's a punt against Denver, a quality win,
Speaker 1: and then too heartbreaking clutch losses. And that's what I
Speaker 1: want to zoom in on today is the Lakers in
Speaker 1: clutch situations. So they are ten and eleven in games
Speaker 1: that involved clutch situations this year, so twenty one games,
Speaker 1: eleven losses, and they've been bad on both ends of
Speaker 1: the floor. One fourteen point five offensive rating which is
Speaker 1: only okay, kind of middle of the pack for that
Speaker 1: type situation, and one two point six defensive writing, which
Speaker 1: is the third worst defensive rating in the entire league
Speaker 1: for teams that are in clutch situations. So there's a
Speaker 1: bunch of that I want to get into here, but
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna split it really simply into the Lakers
Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the floor and the Lakers
Speaker 1: on the offensive end of the floor. So you know,
Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the floor. What do I
Speaker 1: always say about clutch situations. Clutch situations in the regular
Speaker 1: season are the closest thing we get to playoff basketball,
Speaker 1: and there's a couple of specific reasons why. One, both
Speaker 1: teams are more dialed in with their effort and execution.
Speaker 1: What that means is everyone's playing hard, no one's taking
Speaker 1: possessions off. And if they have details in their scheme,
Speaker 1: whether that's sprinting back in transition defense or that's you know,
Speaker 1: this pick and roll coverage or this way to handle
Speaker 1: off ball screens, those are the times of the game
Speaker 1: when they're going to be especially sharp, at least the
Speaker 1: good teams that you're going to play. Also, both teams
Speaker 1: have their best players on the floor. It's your closing five, right,
Speaker 1: That's why I talked about the playoffs differently as well.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of guys that get NBA regular
Speaker 1: season rotation minutes that would never play in a playoff
Speaker 1: series unless injuries forced them to. You shrink down the
Speaker 1: rotations and you only play the guys that you trust
Speaker 1: to have out there. All the superstars bump up to
Speaker 1: like forty minutes, most of the mid level starters bump
Speaker 1: up to like thirty six thirty seven minutes, and a
Speaker 1: lot of the guys that come off the bench might
Speaker 1: only play ten twelve minutes. They're like one shift players.
Speaker 1: You have your starters, you have a few guys that
Speaker 1: come in for one shift, and then you go back
Speaker 1: to your starters, and then you repeat in the second half.
Speaker 1: That's the way the closing lineups are too. It's your
Speaker 1: five best guys, so there aren't as many weaknesses for
Speaker 1: you to exploit on any end of the floor. And
Speaker 1: when you couple that with the effort in the execution,
Speaker 1: the game is super slow. None of the sets work,
Speaker 1: and it just becomes about personnel and matchups and which
Speaker 1: guys you have in that setting that can beat coverage
Speaker 1: is in a tight half court environment. This is why
Speaker 1: I never get super critical of brute force offenses during
Speaker 1: the regular season. A lot of you guys. Remember during
Speaker 1: my preseason previews I talked about specific teams like the
Speaker 1: Nets and the Clippers as teams that were brute force offenses.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you've noticed this, but every time
Speaker 1: I've been critical of the Clippers this year, I've never said, like, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't think they're gonna be able to score, even
Speaker 1: though their offensive rating is trash. And it's because I
Speaker 1: actually think that when they get into the postseason, they
Speaker 1: will be able to score because if they have Kawhi
Speaker 1: Leonard and Paul George healthy, They're just gonna be able
Speaker 1: to create advantages better than most teams, and they just
Speaker 1: have more aggregate offensive skill. Yeah. I can get ugly
Speaker 1: in the regular season when their offense is super rudimentary
Speaker 1: and it's just a lot of high pick and roll
Speaker 1: in ISO, but during the playoffs, like that's literally what
Speaker 1: you need to do to succeed in The Clippers just
Speaker 1: have a lot of really good players that can do
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. I always just say I'm worried
Speaker 1: about the Clippers health. That's where I'm concerned. I don't
Speaker 1: really concern myself with brute force offenses in the regular season.
Speaker 1: I'm concerned about that slow down environment and what your
Speaker 1: specific matchups are. Now. During the regular season, there is
Speaker 1: a lot of fast and loose basketball where you'll see
Speaker 1: random lineups, guys that don't usually play that much, guys
Speaker 1: you would never see in the playoffs, lots of transition possessions,
Speaker 1: very little half court defense, a lot of fast and
Speaker 1: loose basketball. That's time when you can really succeed playing
Speaker 1: hard or just sprinting up and down the floor and transition,
Speaker 1: or having guys that have big weaknesses when you can
Speaker 1: focus them into their strengths in that fast and loose
Speaker 1: phase of the game. And the Lakers have been able
Speaker 1: to do a lot of good things in those environments
Speaker 1: because of how good Russell Westbrook is in transition, because
Speaker 1: how good Lebron James has been playing, how good Thomas
Speaker 1: Bryant has been running up and down in transition. They've
Speaker 1: been able to manufacture a lot of wins and they've
Speaker 1: been hovering around well. I think they're nine and eight
Speaker 1: since Anthony Davis went out. That's awesome, but it should
Speaker 1: be better than it is. And it's because of those
Speaker 1: clutch situations when you get defensively down into the end
Speaker 1: of these games, you can't gimmick your way around anymore.
Speaker 1: Suddenly it's like, a wait, we can't play Thomas Bryant
Speaker 1: against Philly, they went with when you and Gabriel against Houston,
Speaker 1: they went with no center, Lebron James at center because
Speaker 1: they can't actually play him, you'll get attacked too much
Speaker 1: in those situations. Now the game is slowed down in
Speaker 1: the half court, and you've got Dennis Shrewder and Russell
Speaker 1: Westbrook with Troy Brown Jr. Who's more of a two
Speaker 1: guard playing a three, and Juants Oscano Anderson who's literally
Speaker 1: six six and like two d and fifteen pounds, so
Speaker 1: he's smaller than me playing power forward for the Lakers.
Speaker 1: And then Lebron James, who, yeah, he can play some
Speaker 1: small ball center, but it only like if he goes
Speaker 1: up against a really big guy. There's some limitations there, right,
Speaker 1: So like defensively, they can gimmick their way to a
Speaker 1: solid defense, like the Lakers are twelfth in defense in January.
Speaker 1: That's solid. Guys have been fighting, guys have been competing,
Speaker 1: but in clutch situations they still can't get stops because
Speaker 1: in that setting, it's no more about it's no longer
Speaker 1: about gimmicks. It's about your personnel, and the Lakers just
Speaker 1: don't have the type of personnel they need when they
Speaker 1: played when you and Gabriel against Philly at center, he's
Speaker 1: two hundred and five pounds. I literally weighed twenty five
Speaker 1: pounds more than when you and Gabriel and he was
Speaker 1: battling with olm beat Like, like, what exactly do you
Speaker 1: guys expect to happen in those situations. So at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, like um, when the game slows
Speaker 1: down for the Lakers, you can attack to instruder because
Speaker 1: he's small. You're gonna attack Kuantas, Kana Anderson, Lebron James
Speaker 1: and Winning Gabriel on the interior because you're just bigger
Speaker 1: than those guys. And most importantly, there's absolutely no rim protection.
Speaker 1: So if you beat somebody off the dribble from the perimeter,
Speaker 1: there's nobody waiting for you that's gonna block your shop
Speaker 1: around the rim. And and that's just what makes the
Speaker 1: Lakers so easy to score on in crunch time. They
Speaker 1: will not get stops in crunch time until Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: gets back, and then when they get to the highest
Speaker 1: levels in the playoffs, they're going to need that forward
Speaker 1: position to be bigger, to have a bigger perimeter player
Speaker 1: in order to alleviate some of those postgame defense concerns.
Speaker 1: And then on the offensive end of the floor, it's
Speaker 1: really comes down to three things. There's their spot up
Speaker 1: shooting problem, which we've talked to death, there's a Russ problem,
Speaker 1: and there's a Lebron problem. So no one's really off
Speaker 1: the hook um as it comes to spot up shooting.
Speaker 1: Like I said, like game situations mimic playoffs situations, They're
Speaker 1: going to be trapping you in the half court and
Speaker 1: loading up in the paint, and none of your sets
Speaker 1: are gonna work. So no matter what your your best option,
Speaker 1: you really are only gonna have two options as a
Speaker 1: primary ball handler. If I'm Lebron James and I'm in
Speaker 1: a late game situation for the Lakers are in a
Speaker 1: postseason environment, I'm gonna be dribbling. The paint is going
Speaker 1: to be completely packed with bodies, and I'm gonna have
Speaker 1: two options. Either I can take an off the dribble
Speaker 1: jump shot overall of that congestion, or and I can
Speaker 1: swing it to the wing to a spot up shooter
Speaker 1: that can make that make the other team pay for
Speaker 1: overloading in the paint. But the Lakers are on uncontested
Speaker 1: threes this year. That's twenty seven in the NBA, so
Speaker 1: they're the fourth worst wide open three point shooting team
Speaker 1: in the league. They are also just seven percent on
Speaker 1: threes in clutch situations when the games within five with
Speaker 1: less than five minutes left, that's twenty four in the NBA.
Speaker 1: So when teams load up on the Lakers and Lebron
Speaker 1: and Russ are making kickout passes, they just can't make
Speaker 1: teams pay for that. There's no penalty for you going
Speaker 1: against the Lakers to load up the paint. So that
Speaker 1: is problem number one. The lack of competent spot up
Speaker 1: shooting on the wing. That that gives them problems. And
Speaker 1: you know, and first of all, there's a huge difference
Speaker 1: between like I occasionally knocked down to three and what
Speaker 1: a real knockdown shooter is like. And I'll give you
Speaker 1: an example. So Boyan mcdonovitch plays for the Pistons. He's
Speaker 1: shooting just forty one point five percent from three this year,
Speaker 1: And if you're a Laker fan, you might be like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's only three percent higher than Lonnie Walker. But there's
Speaker 1: a huge difference because of the way they are guarded,
Speaker 1: which is something I talked about all the time. It's
Speaker 1: not just about your three point percentage, it's like your
Speaker 1: ability to convert three point shots into point based points
Speaker 1: based on the quality of the three point shots. So,
Speaker 1: for instance, more than half of Lonnie Walker's three point attempts,
Speaker 1: about six are wide open, meaning the defender is at
Speaker 1: least six ft away, and he's only shooting thirty on him. Right,
Speaker 1: that's an issue. Okay, Now we go to boyan Vigdanovitch.
Speaker 1: He takes six rea's a game. Most of them are
Speaker 1: heavily guarded, but when he's wide open, he shoots fift
Speaker 1: When the defenders at least six ft away from boy
Speaker 1: and Beganovitch, so he's completely unguarded. He knocks down half
Speaker 1: of them. So that's the difference when I'm looking at
Speaker 1: boy and mcgdanovich and Lonnie Walker. Yeah, he's only three
Speaker 1: percent better from three, but he's deadly accurate when he's
Speaker 1: wide open, and he's still shooting a higher percentage even
Speaker 1: on the contested threes than than than Lonnie Walker can get.
Speaker 1: So that's why I've been saying the Lakers need to
Speaker 1: target like a real shooting forward because in those crunch
Speaker 1: time situations, now boy On mcdonovitch's man cannot leave him
Speaker 1: because in two possessions he's gonna make one of them,
Speaker 1: which is three points in two possessions, which is a
Speaker 1: one fifty offensive rating, which is going to win you
Speaker 1: a lot of basketball games. That's why that position is
Speaker 1: so specifically important. So step one spot up shooting to
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook. Again. He thrives in that open floor nature
Speaker 1: of the middle portions of the game of basketball. That's
Speaker 1: why he's done so well coming off the bench for
Speaker 1: stretch is this year for the Lakers. He pushes the
Speaker 1: pace really well. That that that allows him to avoid
Speaker 1: those half court sets and he creates a boatload of
Speaker 1: good shots with rim pressure. But when we get to
Speaker 1: clutch situations, he's twelve for thirty five from the field,
Speaker 1: and he's really inefficient when he has the ball in
Speaker 1: his hands, and he can't make you pay when he's
Speaker 1: off the ball. He's also really poor decision makers. So
Speaker 1: for instance, that last play against Philly, I know Darvin
Speaker 1: Ham's like, oh, I'll take my chances with Russ on
Speaker 1: their center any day of the week, and it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's cool that you think that, but the other team
Speaker 1: is freaking ecstatic that you're attacking him beat because the
Speaker 1: book is out on Russell Westbrook. His only real success
Speaker 1: at this point is bullying smaller guards. When it comes
Speaker 1: to half court environments, most teams are willingly putting their
Speaker 1: center on Russ because he can help off when someone
Speaker 1: else has the ball and they don't have to worry
Speaker 1: about him beating beating you with spot up shooting. And
Speaker 1: then in isolation situations, Russ is such a bad pull
Speaker 1: up jump shooter that and Bead can just back off
Speaker 1: and protect Rim And like, yeah, I've seen a lot
Speaker 1: of Lakers fans complaining about foul calls. Ruscott fouled on
Speaker 1: that play, Yes, Joel Embiad was grabbing his wrist, that's
Speaker 1: a foul. Lebron got fouled on a drive against the Mavericks.
Speaker 1: Christian would elbowed him down on his left arm when
Speaker 1: he was trying to gather. But historically in NBA history,
Speaker 1: especially at the end of games and very much so
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, when you drive to the basket, there's
Speaker 1: a ship ton of contact and they're probably not gonna
Speaker 1: call it, so I mean we can say that, hey,
Speaker 1: it was a foul, but they didn't blow the whistle.
Speaker 1: They usually don't blow the whistle, which means you have
Speaker 1: to be prepared for that. Russell Westbrook isolating a center
Speaker 1: and Joel Embiid but not just the center, one of
Speaker 1: the best defensive centers in the league was just a
Speaker 1: really obnoxiously poor decision, and it ending poorly was very predictable. Russ,
Speaker 1: if he's going to stay with the Lakers, has to
Speaker 1: play in just the middle portion of the games, which
Speaker 1: is exactly what almost every sixth man type of guy
Speaker 1: has done in NBA history. They play him in the
Speaker 1: fast and loose portions of the game, and then they
Speaker 1: don't playin crunch time. Now, usually for six men it
Speaker 1: has to do with defensive limitations, but for Russ, it
Speaker 1: has to do with those offensive limitations in the half court.
Speaker 1: When you combine that with his volatility, which volatility will
Speaker 1: get you beat, it just makes him really tough to
Speaker 1: play in crunch time. There's some crazy stats with Russ
Speaker 1: and crunch time. The Lakers have played twenty one games
Speaker 1: this year that involved clutch situations. Now, again, that's less
Speaker 1: than five minutes. Within five points. They are seven and
Speaker 1: eleven when Russ plays in those clutch games, and when
Speaker 1: Russ doesn't get any clutch minutes, they're three and uh.
Speaker 1: Overall this season in clutch minutes, their minus sixteen with
Speaker 1: Russ on the floor and plus four with him off.
Speaker 1: So if the Lakers are gonna keep Russ, they need
Speaker 1: to use him like every other sixth man in NBA history.
Speaker 1: Play him is twenty five minutes during the middle porsons
Speaker 1: of the game. Don't have him in there when we
Speaker 1: get to crunch time. And then, lastly, is Lebron um
Speaker 1: so accepting the reality that the Lakers don't have good
Speaker 1: spot up shooting and they're going to pack the paint.
Speaker 1: What do I always say about beating teams that pack
Speaker 1: the paint? You have to be able to either kicked
Speaker 1: to put spot up shooters which aren't gonna make shots
Speaker 1: right now, or you can knock down pull up jump
Speaker 1: shots over the top of the defense. And this is
Speaker 1: where Lebron's shooting slump has been a big problem this year.
Speaker 1: He's shooting just thirty three percent on pull up jump shots,
Speaker 1: and in particular, his three point shot has failed him,
Speaker 1: especially in crunch time. He's just three for eighteen and
Speaker 1: crunch time situations for the Lakers from three, that's a
Speaker 1: huge problem. And what's sad about it is he's actually
Speaker 1: been really damn good in every other way during clutch situations.
Speaker 1: He is twenty one for thirty six from two during
Speaker 1: crunch time situations this year. That's fifty percent. He has
Speaker 1: eighteen assists to just three turnovers. But if your spot
Speaker 1: up shooters aren't gonna hit shots, you need to be
Speaker 1: able to knock down pull up jump shots to win
Speaker 1: games in crunch time, just like he did last night
Speaker 1: against the Rockets, two biggest players of the game. The
Speaker 1: last two possessions too high picking rolls with Lebron, James
Speaker 1: won a pull up jump shot going to his left
Speaker 1: and another a pull up jump shot going to his
Speaker 1: right where he banked it in off the glass. He
Speaker 1: needs to knock that shot down in order to help
Speaker 1: the Lakers in crunch time situations. That's what the other
Speaker 1: top tier stars in the league. Do. It's bizarre Lebron
Speaker 1: is just having a bad jump shooting season, but it's
Speaker 1: something to keep an eye on. So like as we
Speaker 1: kind of zoom out really quick. For the Lakers, they
Speaker 1: have four issues and crunch time. They don't have Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: which makes it impossible for them to get stops. They
Speaker 1: have no spot up shooting, which makes it really difficult
Speaker 1: for them to uh to make teams pay for packing
Speaker 1: the paint. Russ's value significantly declines when he gets into
Speaker 1: the half court, so he shouldn't play any clutch minutes.
Speaker 1: And Lebron's pull up shooting slump has been an issue,
Speaker 1: although he shot really well last night, so really get
Speaker 1: a d healthy. The report is that he's gonna be
Speaker 1: back for several games before the All Star breaks, so
Speaker 1: that's encouraging. Probably in the next two weeks or so,
Speaker 1: they need a trade for a competent forward like a
Speaker 1: boy and mcdonovitch or Kyle Kuzma to give Lebron and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis real spot up threats to throw out too,
Speaker 1: and then don't play Russ and crunch time and have
Speaker 1: Lebron hit more pull up jump shots. That's really the
Speaker 1: recipe to cleaning up these crunch time situations. Dude. Look
Speaker 1: at the schedule, look at where they're at in the standings.
Speaker 1: You convert three or four of these crunch time losses
Speaker 1: into wins. All of a sudden, they're up around there.
Speaker 1: They're like the fifth seed in the West right now.
Speaker 1: So that's a lot that can be cleaned up there,
Speaker 1: just by some some execution stuff and game plan stuff
Speaker 1: with the Lakers. Alright, moving on to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Speaker 1: So before we talk about the Grizzlies, I want to
Speaker 1: do my last little quick hitter. So um, I've seen
Speaker 1: a lot of people complaining about Janice and acting as
Speaker 1: though he's fallen off a cliff and he's not the
Speaker 1: same player. Now. There are some statistics to watch out for.
Speaker 1: He's shooting like scent outside the restricted area this year.
Speaker 1: That's awful. But everything comes down to the fact that
Speaker 1: the team, because of injuries, is significantly less talented than
Speaker 1: Janice is usually playing with. Way too often when we're
Speaker 1: discussing individual player performance, especially with the box score, we
Speaker 1: don't appropriately actor in the circumstances around you. This is
Speaker 1: why I've been so high on Lebron lately and why
Speaker 1: I keep telling you guys, he's still a top five
Speaker 1: player in the league. He's playing with one of the
Speaker 1: worst supporting casts in basketball and playing at an extremely
Speaker 1: high level and winning all of his shifts. That's why
Speaker 1: I've been pushing that so much. But what like what
Speaker 1: happens when you lose all of your spot up shooting
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, teams can pack the paint. If
Speaker 1: I'm an on ball defender and I'm guarding Janice and
Speaker 1: they have lots of spot up shooting, I need to
Speaker 1: give ground and concede shots to Janice for the sake
Speaker 1: of me being able to protect the room at least
Speaker 1: as best as I can against that enormous human being.
Speaker 1: But if all the guys are behind me and they've
Speaker 1: got my back, I can now press up into Janice
Speaker 1: in a way that I can't usually do. Now all
Speaker 1: of those perimeter jump shots are more contested. Now I
Speaker 1: can get into his handle a little bit more, which
Speaker 1: allows me to disrupt his rhythm. And so as a result,
Speaker 1: his perimeter shooting has gone down one. Lebron's having a
Speaker 1: really rough perimeter shooting season. You want to know why,
Speaker 1: because he's on his worst shooting team since he came
Speaker 1: into the league, which literally for a long time, which
Speaker 1: has put him in a situation where defenders are pressing
Speaker 1: up on him his shot quality is lower and the
Speaker 1: jumpers are missing. When was the last time Lebron had
Speaker 1: a really poor jump shooting season? Two thousand fifteen, when
Speaker 1: half the year j R. Smith wasn't there before the
Speaker 1: trade deadline and we got to the playoffs and Kevin
Speaker 1: Love got hurt, and then Kyrie Irving was playing hurt
Speaker 1: the entire time, and then eventually did get hurt. The
Speaker 1: worst shooting team he was around a lot of Mozgov,
Speaker 1: a lot of Matthew Dellavedova, a lot of Sean Marion.
Speaker 1: Suddenly they're helping up, helping behind Lebron, pushing up onto
Speaker 1: him on the ball. The shot quality goes down. So
Speaker 1: all I'm saying is like, look, is it true that
Speaker 1: Janice is not a very good perimeter shooter. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: you knew that in two thousand twenty one when he
Speaker 1: was holding up a trophy. Okay, so don't don't overthink
Speaker 1: this guy's The Bucks are down all their spot of shooting.
Speaker 1: That makes it a lot harder for team for Johannice
Speaker 1: to play the same way that he played before. That's
Speaker 1: why he's shooting poorly. He's still the best player in
Speaker 1: the world in my opinion. I'm not going to change
Speaker 1: that unless he goes into the postseason with a healthy
Speaker 1: Bucks and doesn't play well, or unless I see somebody
Speaker 1: visibly play better in a postseason run. Let's not rehash
Speaker 1: the history of Janice over a little bit of bad basketball,
Speaker 1: all right, Let's get moving. So the Grizzlies. They beat
Speaker 1: up on the Suns yesterday for their tenth consecutive win.
Speaker 1: Some quality wins in there too. They beat the Kings,
Speaker 1: the Pelicans, and the Pacers. But they are in a
Speaker 1: relatively easy stretch of their schedule. Since the start of December,
Speaker 1: the Memphis Grizzlies are eighteen and four, which is the
Speaker 1: best record in the NBA. They are ninth in offense,
Speaker 1: which is driven by the fact that they get twenty
Speaker 1: fast breakpoints per game over this stretch, which is second
Speaker 1: in the NBA. In that span, their first in defense
Speaker 1: and fourth and rebounding. So they're winning the way they
Speaker 1: usually do. They're defending really well, they're forcing a lot
Speaker 1: of turnovers, they're running it down your throat in transition,
Speaker 1: and then when they get into that half court environment,
Speaker 1: it's a steady diet of John Morant, with everybody relentlessly
Speaker 1: attacking the offensive glass. A couple of specific things I
Speaker 1: wanted to hit on John Morant's m v P push
Speaker 1: and the Jaring's X and Brandon Clark grouping. So um,
Speaker 1: Memphis Grizzlies fans are gonna want jhn morn to get
Speaker 1: a lot of MVP consideration. But I wanted to kind
Speaker 1: of go over his case a little bit with you guys,
Speaker 1: and I want to and I'm really curious to hear
Speaker 1: you guys opinion, So please drop your opinions in the comments.
Speaker 1: Jaws averaging and eight this year on fifty century shooting,
Speaker 1: which is fine. The Grizzlies are four points better provene
Speaker 1: Hunter possessions when he's on the floor versus when he's off,
Speaker 1: and they have the second best record in the league,
Speaker 1: two games back of Boston. So on the surface, looks
Speaker 1: like a really damn good m v P case. But
Speaker 1: let's take a closer look. What is my m v
Speaker 1: P criteria? If you guys, remember best player in the league?
Speaker 1: Are you in that conversation? Are you the best player
Speaker 1: in the best team in the league, So basically individual success,
Speaker 1: team success, and then lastly, value like how desperately does
Speaker 1: the team needs you? In order to succeed. So let's
Speaker 1: look at the best player in the league. Thing. First,
Speaker 1: I think Jaws having an unbelievable season, but there are
Speaker 1: probably eight players who are absolutely playing better all around basketball.
Speaker 1: And then John Moran, j Honese playing better ball than
Speaker 1: Job this year, Nicola Yokis play better ball than Job
Speaker 1: this year, Joel and Beat playing better ball than Job
Speaker 1: this year. Kevin Durant playing better bald than Jaw this year.
Speaker 1: Lebron James, Yeah he's playing. He's a better player than
Speaker 1: Jah right now. Luca don Chi, Yeah, he's better than John.
Speaker 1: Steph Curry better than Job, Jason Tatum better than Job
Speaker 1: right now. Now. Five of those guys are also on
Speaker 1: great teams that will get m VP consideration. Janice Yokichen
Speaker 1: beat Katie and Tatum. All five of those guys are
Speaker 1: also right near the top of the standing, so you're
Speaker 1: not gonna get any sort of leg up there with
Speaker 1: the Grizzlies in their record. And all five of those
Speaker 1: guys are much much, much better defensive players than John Rand.
Speaker 1: So if all of those other factors are relatively close,
Speaker 1: John is just gonna lose to those five guys. He
Speaker 1: probably won't even get a top he probably won't even
Speaker 1: finish top five and voted. Now we move on to
Speaker 1: the most valuable portion. So this Grizzlies roster is insanely talented.
Speaker 1: So they're pretty damn good without him, just like they
Speaker 1: were last year. They've won four straight games when John
Speaker 1: Urant doesn't play, and there are only four points better
Speaker 1: proe hundred possessions when John Morant is on the floor,
Speaker 1: which you honese. There plus five on off with Yokich,
Speaker 1: their plus twenty four on off with Embiid, their plus
Speaker 1: twelve on off with Kevin Durant, their plus twelve on
Speaker 1: off with Jayson Tatum. There plus six on off. So
Speaker 1: you get the point once again. If the teams are
Speaker 1: all close and all five of those guys are gonna
Speaker 1: get the nod over John Moran. So this is where
Speaker 1: his opportunity is. It's the best team in the league.
Speaker 1: Phase here. If the Grizzlies are this good and they
Speaker 1: stay healthy and they maintain that for the rest of
Speaker 1: the season, they might be able to separate themselves from
Speaker 1: the rest of the field in the standings. If the
Speaker 1: Grizzlies finish with the best record in the league with
Speaker 1: several games separating them and the next best team. Now
Speaker 1: you've got to start thinking about John Moran is a
Speaker 1: dead serious m VP candidate. But right now, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: Memphis fans, it's not a take about Jaw. He's young,
Speaker 1: he's incredible, he's exciting. That Dunkey had the other night
Speaker 1: was just completely absurd. I'm a huge Jaw fan, but
Speaker 1: he's not m v P this year, at least not yet,
Speaker 1: and he needs a lot more to go as a
Speaker 1: in order to really truly enter that conversation. Jared Jackson Jr.
Speaker 1: Seventeen five and seven UM leads the league in stocks
Speaker 1: that steals plus blocks. He is now the runaway favorite
Speaker 1: for Defensive Player of the Year. FANDUL has him at
Speaker 1: minus one thirty five to win and Brook Lopez in
Speaker 1: second place at plus five fifty. He's also giving you
Speaker 1: one point one six points per possession in ISSO, which
Speaker 1: is eighteenth in the league among players who have run
Speaker 1: at least fifteen ISOs, and he's shooting thirty seven percent
Speaker 1: from three on four attempts, which gives you that pick
Speaker 1: and pop stuff that I was talking about. But he's
Speaker 1: also been getting a lot of threes trailing the play
Speaker 1: in transition. It's a classic way to attack teams in
Speaker 1: their transition defense. The center loves to run back to
Speaker 1: the rim. It's where they train him ever since he
Speaker 1: was a kid. It's the first responsibility for the big
Speaker 1: and transition defense. And if the big trails the play
Speaker 1: on offense, he's probably gonna get some wide open threes
Speaker 1: from the top of the key and that's where John
Speaker 1: Jaren Jackson Jr. Does a lot of damage. But what
Speaker 1: I wanted to but the reason why I brought up
Speaker 1: Jaren Jackson is the pairing with Brandon Clark is super interesting.
Speaker 1: If you guys, remember after the Grizzlies beat the Pelicans,
Speaker 1: which I believe is like a week or so ago,
Speaker 1: I talked about how I really liked the Jaren Jackson
Speaker 1: and uh Jaren Jackson and Brandon Clark pairing in that lineup,
Speaker 1: and it was a huge part of how the Grizzlies
Speaker 1: won that game. But if you remember, I looked into
Speaker 1: their their numbers when the two of them played excuse me,
Speaker 1: when the two of them played together that year, and
Speaker 1: it really wasn't that great um and there was you know,
Speaker 1: the data didn't really match up with what I had
Speaker 1: seen with my eye test, But what I said was,
Speaker 1: I hope they go to that line up more frequently
Speaker 1: because I think it could work. And they've been writing
Speaker 1: that combination a ton during this wind streak and now
Speaker 1: for the season. In five hundred and forty eight possessions
Speaker 1: with Brandon Clark and Jaren Jackson on the floor together,
Speaker 1: the Grizzlies are plus twelve per one possessions, which is fantastic,
Speaker 1: and they have a one hundred and two defensive rating,
Speaker 1: which is absolutely stifling. When you put two athletes of
Speaker 1: that caliber in your front cord and they're consistently flying
Speaker 1: around trying to block shots, it's terrifying. It dissuades people
Speaker 1: from even trying to drive to the basket, and it's
Speaker 1: a huge part of what has made this Grizzlies defense good.
Speaker 1: And then lastly, Desmond Baine. He's the biggest swing factor
Speaker 1: for this team. I've been talking about that on stop
Speaker 1: because the one glaring weakness with the Grizzlies is their
Speaker 1: half court offense. And it's been a little concerning because
Speaker 1: even though John is still playing really well, his jump shooting,
Speaker 1: particularly from three, has really really uh declined and so
Speaker 1: that's gonna be concerning in a half court environment. You
Speaker 1: need Desmond Bain to be a legitimate second side creator
Speaker 1: or a guy that can create when jaws on the
Speaker 1: bench in order to give you a chance to win
Speaker 1: UH significant um to make a significant playoff run. UH.
Speaker 1: Desmond Baine's first nine games back from the injury UH
Speaker 1: seventeen points per game on thirty nine percent shooting, which
Speaker 1: is not very good. But he's a rhythm based player.
Speaker 1: Last two games twenty seven points per game on sixty
Speaker 1: five percent shooting, So he's starting to get his rhythm back.
Speaker 1: The Grizzlies desperately need him to be great. And when
Speaker 1: they get into the postseason, they're going to attack John
Speaker 1: Moran defensively and try to get out in transition and
Speaker 1: avoid the Grizzlies half court environment, and then they're gonna
Speaker 1: try to stop the Grizzlies from their transition attack. So
Speaker 1: you need to have another guy who can create shots
Speaker 1: off the bounce, and Desmond Baine is going to be
Speaker 1: the guy to watch when they get to that point.
Speaker 1: All right, quickly before we get out of here, the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics, so they want again in Charlotte last night,
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum fifty one nine in five. It's his first
Speaker 1: fifty point game of the year, but that's Jayson tatum
Speaker 1: seventh forty point game of the year, which is insane.
Speaker 1: He's plus five hundred twin m v P right now,
Speaker 1: which I think is the fourth best odds. I think
Speaker 1: that's a really good value play that people should look at,
Speaker 1: if for no reason other than the fact that the
Speaker 1: Celtics have the most talent and if they end up
Speaker 1: running away with the best record in the league. Similarly
Speaker 1: to what I said with John Morant, you know you're
Speaker 1: not gonna care about Yokich or you know, uh, you're
Speaker 1: not gonna care about Yoki or Kevin Durant or any
Speaker 1: of those guys if the Celtics just are five games
Speaker 1: better than everybody in the standings. And so I'm not
Speaker 1: saying I Predictatum will win m VP. I still my gut,
Speaker 1: still says j Honice. I think he's gonna go on
Speaker 1: a run to end the season. But plus five hundred,
Speaker 1: it's pretty day him good odds. Considering, I think there's
Speaker 1: there's a better than one in five chance that Tatum
Speaker 1: ends up winning the award. Um that's seven straight wins
Speaker 1: for Boston, their third in offense and fifth and defense
Speaker 1: during this win streak. The reason why that's encouraging is
Speaker 1: this is the first time this is this season they've
Speaker 1: been consistently good on both ends of the floor. To
Speaker 1: start the year, it was all offense and their defense
Speaker 1: wasn't very good. During the stretch where they were struggling,
Speaker 1: they were actually defending crazy well. It was their offense
Speaker 1: that fell apart on on account of just them missing
Speaker 1: a ton of threes um. But during this stretch they're
Speaker 1: killing it on both ends of the floor, So that's
Speaker 1: super encouraging. Malcolm Brogden is playing ridiculously well during the
Speaker 1: win streak. I want to show you his per thirty
Speaker 1: six numbers because I think he's only averaging like nineteen
Speaker 1: points per game, But per thirty six, Malcolm Brogden during
Speaker 1: this win streak is averaging twenty six points, six rebounds,
Speaker 1: and five assists on from the field, fifty seven percent
Speaker 1: from three and from the line. Just outrageous efficiency. Why
Speaker 1: am I bringing up per thirty six because when you
Speaker 1: get into the postseason rotations shrink, they will play him
Speaker 1: more minutes, and right now on a per minute basis,
Speaker 1: he's playing like a superstar. So do I expect him
Speaker 1: to play like a superstar for the entire postseason. No.
Speaker 1: But my point is is they have added a significant
Speaker 1: perimeter piece that makes them way better, and they're going
Speaker 1: to be able to play him thirty plus minutes in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. They're keeping his minutes down now because he's
Speaker 1: got a little bit of an injury history, but I
Speaker 1: expect them to bump his minutes up in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: and so that's really encouraging. The last thing I want
Speaker 1: to say about the Celtics. I had a lot of
Speaker 1: Celtics fans complain at me last week and the on
Speaker 1: Twitter and on the YouTube comments about my criticisms of
Speaker 1: them as it pertains to their postseason struggles. And I
Speaker 1: see a lot of things like, oh, Jason will just
Speaker 1: never be convinced that the Celtics are right no matter
Speaker 1: how many games they win, and and and what one
Speaker 1: person in particular was like, Oh, there, there, He's only
Speaker 1: gonna finally get on board when they get the trophy.
Speaker 1: That's not necessarily true. There's a reason why I feel
Speaker 1: the way I do about the Celtics, and it stems
Speaker 1: from the conversation we had at the beginning of the show.
Speaker 1: What happens in the postseason versus the regular season. It's
Speaker 1: very different. Winning seven games in a row is impressive
Speaker 1: in the regular season, but it doesn't change the way
Speaker 1: that I feel about this team in the postseason. In
Speaker 1: last year's postseason, even when they were winning in the
Speaker 1: Bucks Series and in the Heat Series, they were demonstrating
Speaker 1: significant um inconsistency in their decision making. So why did
Speaker 1: I pick the Warriors to win the Finals in seven
Speaker 1: games last year, even though the Celtics I said were
Speaker 1: more talented, Is because I saw in playoff basketball, really
Speaker 1: informative playoff basketball. I saw the Celtics struggle against good
Speaker 1: teams with their consistency and execution and decision making. So
Speaker 1: that was very informative to me about how the finals
Speaker 1: would go, and that's literally what got them beat. So
Speaker 1: what I need to see for me to trust the
Speaker 1: Celtics is not necessarily for them to get the trophy.
Speaker 1: But hey, let's say they play the Bucks in the
Speaker 1: first round or second round, or let's say they play
Speaker 1: the Nets in the second round. Let's say they play
Speaker 1: the UM the Celtics or the U the sixers in
Speaker 1: the second round. I want to see the Celtics put
Speaker 1: together a seven game series against the Kevin Durant Janice
Speaker 1: and beat somebody like that and consistently execute for seven
Speaker 1: games where if they lose, it's because the other team
Speaker 1: had played really damn well and not because Jayson Tatums
Speaker 1: stopped trying to drive and kick or Jalen Brown turned
Speaker 1: the ball over six times. That's what I want to see.
Speaker 1: I just want to see them show what they didn't
Speaker 1: show against the Bucks in Miami last year, which is
Speaker 1: take care of business. When you have a significant talent advantage,
Speaker 1: execute on a on a game by game basis, to
Speaker 1: demonstrate that you're dead serious about what you need to
Speaker 1: do to get the final trophy. Against Miami and Milwaukee
Speaker 1: last year, they were so talented that it didn't matter.
Speaker 1: Then they got to Golden State, who is nearly as
Speaker 1: talented as them, and it did matter, and they lost
Speaker 1: three games in a row. And when everybody knew they
Speaker 1: had to take care of the ball in the game six,
Speaker 1: they turned it over twenty times or whatever it was
Speaker 1: that they did. That's so I'm not over here like
Speaker 1: screw the Celtics. I'm not gonna cheer for them or
Speaker 1: or appreciate them until they get the trophy. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: we just gotta what is the best indicator of future
Speaker 1: performance past performance. The last time we saw the Celtics
Speaker 1: play and that playoff environment, they put together three bad
Speaker 1: playoff series in a row, where they won two of
Speaker 1: them because they were way more talented. Show me some
Speaker 1: good playoffs series. That's when I'll get on board. Alright, guys,
Speaker 1: that is all I have for today. Like I said,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be back tomorrow. Um tomorrow, We're gonna be
Speaker 1: covering three games instant reaction Style Raptors, Bucks, Blazers, Nuggets
Speaker 1: and seventy sixers Clippers. As always, I sincerely appreciate your
Speaker 1: support and I'll see you guys. Then the volume