Speaker 1: Mmmmm, what's going on? Not a whole lot? How was
Speaker 1: it tough? Liney that's frustrating, Yeah, it was, but I
Speaker 1: thought it was interesting all the same. Yeah, for sure,
Speaker 1: we can get into it. The timeline obviously is all
Speaker 1: at Vogel and everyone's heads tonight. It looks like Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember when I um when I played
Speaker 1: at Arizona Christian, the last school I played at, there
Speaker 1: was always we had eleven guys in our rotation who
Speaker 1: were legitimately very good. And I felt really bad for
Speaker 1: the coach in retrospect because making the decisions he had
Speaker 1: to make in an night and night out basis on
Speaker 1: who's gonna play who wasn't gonna play, and knowing that
Speaker 1: pretty much anybody you put out there belongs. Putting someone
Speaker 1: out there that belongs it means you have to take
Speaker 1: someone out who also belongs. Like, for instance, playing Mark
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter that comes with the counter effect
Speaker 1: of benching Drummond in the fourth quarter and how that
Speaker 1: might impact his psyche. And you know, going away from
Speaker 1: like playing a lot of th h t uh to
Speaker 1: try to get dribble creation means that you're gonna end
Speaker 1: up leaving Ben Mcamore on the bench and how that
Speaker 1: affects you're facing and all of it is like this,
Speaker 1: given this take, and all you're doing is making these
Speaker 1: decisions that no matter what you do, you'll be judged
Speaker 1: on the results. So you know, no one said a
Speaker 1: damn thing about the rotation, you know, when they won
Speaker 1: five of their last eight games. But you know, now
Speaker 1: he's getting micromanager. And it. Don't get me wrong, Like
Speaker 1: I was confused by some of the decisions he made
Speaker 1: tonight too, but at the end of the day I
Speaker 1: sympathized with him for is it just an extremely difficult job? Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: I mean I felt like Mark was It was pretty
Speaker 1: clear that Mark wasn't gonna play like that was just
Speaker 1: the thing that he was going to do for right
Speaker 1: now to get Drummond and Treads minutes. But Tres was
Speaker 1: playing so bad that he got you know, Mark some
Speaker 1: running there. I I don't know, I'm not really I
Speaker 1: can't really blame the rotations, Like, I don't know how
Speaker 1: I watched this game and think like, yeah, Mark would
Speaker 1: have helped, I'm not sure he would have really changed
Speaker 1: the outcome of tonight. The Knicks were just so much
Speaker 1: more physical on their defense was on point, the rotations
Speaker 1: were there um, and then all those turnovers. Just our
Speaker 1: margin for error is just not high enough to where
Speaker 1: if we get nothing on offense from our front court.
Speaker 1: I think Drummond and Tres had three points combined or
Speaker 1: something tonight, Like our margin FAYR is just not high
Speaker 1: enough to get nothing from them and still be able
Speaker 1: to win these type of games, especially when we're not
Speaker 1: shooting especially well from three either. And then all those
Speaker 1: turnovers from Shooter and just reckless passes that just had
Speaker 1: no chance these lobs that I mean, Shooter through one
Speaker 1: lb to Kuzman tonight that looked like it was gonna
Speaker 1: hit the ceiling. I mean, it's just just a bunch
Speaker 1: of those plays really hurt us uh in this one.
Speaker 1: And let's see from the chat here, Yeah, Kuzmo this
Speaker 1: three point shooting. Yeah, it's his first game back, I
Speaker 1: guess from his injury tonight, So that was he had
Speaker 1: a he had a rough He had the worst plus
Speaker 1: minus something tonight. He was like a minus twenty six
Speaker 1: or something. So that was a rough game from cous
Speaker 1: He's getting back into it though. I mean, like the
Speaker 1: thing with Kuzmas, he like he's been basically away from
Speaker 1: basketball for a week and popped into it against one
Speaker 1: of the best defenses that you'll run into on a
Speaker 1: night and night outfit basis here in the league. Um,
Speaker 1: there was a lot of really interesting stuff to happen.
Speaker 1: I was I was really confused by how poor Montrese looked. Um.
Speaker 1: It's funny because TODJ. Gibson is kind of like, even
Speaker 1: even at TODJ. Gibson's very best, he was like a
Speaker 1: lesser version of Montrese. It's kind of an undersized, super
Speaker 1: super lanky, a little bit more defensive oriented than than
Speaker 1: tres Is, but like that kind of like undersized type
Speaker 1: of forward guy that uh had a lot of success, um,
Speaker 1: you know in the league. And and he just got
Speaker 1: absolutely bullied on both ends of the floor. Uh. Taj
Speaker 1: always does a really good job of defending in like
Speaker 1: a kind of a foully physical type of way that
Speaker 1: for whatever reason just doesn't get called. And he's been
Speaker 1: that ever since he was in Chicago. And uh, and
Speaker 1: he just totally totally um psyched Mantras out. It looked
Speaker 1: like he wouldn't it wasn't able to get off the
Speaker 1: ground around the basket and just because of the physicality
Speaker 1: that todj was given him. You know, the turnovers that
Speaker 1: you mentioned a second ago. It was interesting because like
Speaker 1: they turned ball over a lot back when Lebron and
Speaker 1: Navy were playing too. But back then you could be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: well Lebron is very aggressive pastor, like he's always trying
Speaker 1: to create stuff around the rim, and you know, turnover
Speaker 1: for Lebron as a kid to like a misst wide
Speaker 1: open shot because he's trying to create stuff right at
Speaker 1: the rim. And then there was some of the stuff
Speaker 1: with like integrating all these new players, you know, all
Speaker 1: these guys that weren't around last year, and and some
Speaker 1: of the growing pains that come with that, and then
Speaker 1: they go out and the turnovers that they're experiencing now
Speaker 1: we're just slopping this like an inability to handle ball pressure,
Speaker 1: like a bunch of guys who aren't great dribble creators
Speaker 1: being forced into dribble creation type of roles. So I
Speaker 1: think it's a different type of turnover that they're getting
Speaker 1: plagued by now compared to what it was, you know
Speaker 1: before the injuries. Yeah, I thought the Knicks hit the
Speaker 1: Lakes was some of their own medicine. Right, they were
Speaker 1: very physical. They were trapping, Um, they were trapping Shooter
Speaker 1: off screen rolls, and they were also trapping drumming in
Speaker 1: the post. And uh, every time he would catch the ball,
Speaker 1: they would absolutely swarm and then they would kick out.
Speaker 1: The kickoff passes would be really bad. They would be
Speaker 1: at the feet like Cruise had a bunch of passes
Speaker 1: at his feet. Shooter as well, Um, really bad on
Speaker 1: point passes to the three point shooters. And then Taj
Speaker 1: Gibson like I've never seen treads and even drum into
Speaker 1: their body languages was just really bad tonight. Like they
Speaker 1: felt like they could tell they were getting manhatt old
Speaker 1: and then it just crept through. Like like when Tres
Speaker 1: caught that ball before he got swatted by Gibson, you
Speaker 1: could tell he had zero confidence in that shot. Like
Speaker 1: he threw up some soft little floater and Gibson sent
Speaker 1: that back. Um, he threw that bag really easily. But yeah,
Speaker 1: the body language is off, but I've never really seen.
Speaker 1: This is probably the worst game I've seen from Treds
Speaker 1: and that that happens in a you know, in a
Speaker 1: two game season. Um, he you're gonna have bad nights.
Speaker 1: But um, yeah, and the Lakers Martin Peri Joe, it's
Speaker 1: just not large enough to to take that from those guys,
Speaker 1: so hopefully picked it up. But yeah, the nixt and
Speaker 1: you got to give them credit. Julius Randall hit like
Speaker 1: six mid range contested jumpers in the first quarter. And
Speaker 1: you know, I think you said it too on Twitter.
Speaker 1: You you live with those shots like those are ones
Speaker 1: you can live with. It's all the offensive rebounds. Um,
Speaker 1: they almost felt like they got every single misshot that
Speaker 1: came off the rim. And yeah, that that's where you
Speaker 1: lost the game tonight. That that their defense was was great. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I want to pay a compliment to Julius rand because
Speaker 1: I mean, he's been good all season, so this isn't, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, some sort of new revelation. But tonight he
Speaker 1: was just the best player on the floor by a
Speaker 1: country mile. And uh he did it by making tough shots,
Speaker 1: but he also did it by generating easy shots. He
Speaker 1: was great defensively. Uh in the fourth quarter when they
Speaker 1: got it back to within five, he just went right
Speaker 1: back to work. Like right after that, they had a
Speaker 1: player where Alfred Payton attacked Marcus al and pick and
Speaker 1: roll gotta lay up. And then and then when it
Speaker 1: was seven and they went down and got to stop Julie'
Speaker 1: trandall came down and just absolutely bullied Mark Keith Morris
Speaker 1: for the and one and just like that, it was
Speaker 1: it was back to ten. And and that's like feeling
Speaker 1: the moment type of stuff, like super impactful baskets that
Speaker 1: come in moments of the game when things are kind
Speaker 1: of teetering one way or the other. And I was
Speaker 1: really really impressed. He just like that that's not fake
Speaker 1: jump shooting, Like all season long, he's been consistently good
Speaker 1: as a jump shooter, even as his numbers have come
Speaker 1: down a little bit as of late. Like he just
Speaker 1: his he's a really good shooter now and that that
Speaker 1: takes a lot of hard work, especially for a guy
Speaker 1: like him that coming out of college didn't really have
Speaker 1: great form. It wasn't really a great like he wasn't
Speaker 1: the type of guy you would expect to become a
Speaker 1: good shooter. And he just he just worked his as
Speaker 1: often and became that guy and just absolutely manhandle the
Speaker 1: Lakers tonight um really quickly. Something I thought was really
Speaker 1: interesting that Jason Maples brought up and By the way,
Speaker 1: I reached out to Maples today and he couldn't make
Speaker 1: it tonight because he had some stuff going on. But
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna hop on the next time we
Speaker 1: do one of these, and he's obviously always great with
Speaker 1: this kind of stuff, and it'll be fun to have
Speaker 1: him on UM. But he made a good point. He
Speaker 1: was talking about how like the Knick's defense, it just
Speaker 1: takes every single type of basic action and and and
Speaker 1: neutralizes it. Right like you run, you run your sets
Speaker 1: when you don't have great offensive talent. You run your
Speaker 1: sets to try to get something going, and then when
Speaker 1: the sets don't work, maybe you'll run pick and roll
Speaker 1: with drumming, then with shrewder, and by the end, by
Speaker 1: the by, by the middle of the third order, basically
Speaker 1: they had completely shut all of that down. None of
Speaker 1: it was working. And if you noticed, like th HT, Shrewder,
Speaker 1: Caruso in particular k CP a little bit too, what
Speaker 1: they kept doing was making two or three aggressive dribbles,
Speaker 1: getting to like and then immediately having to pick up
Speaker 1: their dribble because the defense would shut off their driving line.
Speaker 1: And then constantly they'd be like moving around on their
Speaker 1: pivot foot because the other four guys fall immediately get
Speaker 1: into denial. Nobody's open. They're stuck in no man's land
Speaker 1: with like eight ft from the rim, nothing really they
Speaker 1: can do, and they end up throwing some like looping
Speaker 1: pass and try to get the ball back out. That's
Speaker 1: because none of those guys have the ability to really
Speaker 1: gain an advantage in those matchups because of the players
Speaker 1: at the Knicks play. And if you look at what
Speaker 1: it would look like if a guy like Lebron or
Speaker 1: a guy like Anthony Davis is out there, you actually
Speaker 1: simplify things. You stopped running sets. You you don't even
Speaker 1: necessarily run pick and roll. You just get to get
Speaker 1: the worst defender that's on the floor onto Lebron or
Speaker 1: enforce them either double or leave that guy in a
Speaker 1: ireland where they're going to get a good shot every time,
Speaker 1: and you can you can attack that type of defense.
Speaker 1: But tonight, once the Knicks really dialed it in like that,
Speaker 1: I knew the Lakers are gonna have a really hard
Speaker 1: time scoring. Yeah, and they had a bunch of strips
Speaker 1: on the ball too, right. I think there was like
Speaker 1: three straight possessions where like I think Shrewder drove twice
Speaker 1: and then I think Kuzma also where they got the
Speaker 1: hand on the ball. They're super aggressive and they're showing
Speaker 1: the highlights here Um on spectrum on the replay, and yeah,
Speaker 1: they're just they're just trapping everywhere, doubling, and it really
Speaker 1: looked like the Lakers defense, Like it looks like I'm
Speaker 1: watching a mirror, like a mirror of what the Lakers do,
Speaker 1: because that's what they do to teams, right, They trapped,
Speaker 1: make them, make them sped up, and make them go
Speaker 1: faster than they want to. And that's definitely what what
Speaker 1: happened with the with the Lakers tonight. They looked like
Speaker 1: they were going one extra speed then they wanted to
Speaker 1: like shrewder th HD Caruso. None of them look comfortable
Speaker 1: at all, Um Kuzma and when Drummond would catch it
Speaker 1: as well, Um he did not handle any of those
Speaker 1: double teams. Well, his us is all, we're really bad
Speaker 1: passes out to the three point line, treads as well,
Speaker 1: all those guys trying to shoot over like three people
Speaker 1: and it just wasn't working. The Knicks obviously game plan
Speaker 1: to clog up the middle, right, they weren't gonna let
Speaker 1: anyone get to the rim. I think Shrewder took a
Speaker 1: couple of mid range jumpers, but other than that, the
Speaker 1: guys really struggled with the Knicks defense. So credit to them.
Speaker 1: That was that was a great game plan by them.
Speaker 1: There's it's not a coincidence that they're the fourth best
Speaker 1: net rating defense of the league. I think they're also
Speaker 1: second in points allowed since like March, since the end
Speaker 1: of March or something like that, behind the Lakers. So
Speaker 1: their defense is legit. And they have a star in
Speaker 1: Julius Rando and he he put well and the Lakers
Speaker 1: just turned the ball over way too much to to
Speaker 1: get a win out from tonight. Yeah, and like you know,
Speaker 1: I wanna it's like give the Knicks credit because, like
Speaker 1: you said, they defended at a Laker type of level,
Speaker 1: just flying around all over the place. There was nothing easy.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing if you can't get the easy stuff,
Speaker 1: Like think about all the easy shots that the Nets
Speaker 1: were giving up the or night, you know, just by
Speaker 1: their sloppiness because they weren't cohesive in their rotations. If
Speaker 1: there was any breakdown, there was no second and third
Speaker 1: effort to try to shut that down. It was just
Speaker 1: it was just smooth sailing and in the next it's
Speaker 1: just nothing like that is easy. You have to do.
Speaker 1: You have to create the easy shots through a lade
Speaker 1: high end offensive talent. They just they just didn't have
Speaker 1: that snipe. But I wanted to kind of go through
Speaker 1: some of the players. So what if let's just start
Speaker 1: with you, what did you think of th h t
Speaker 1: s performance tonight? Because I thought it was an interesting,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of microcosm of some of the things
Speaker 1: I've said about them all year, but I wanted to
Speaker 1: hear what you had to think about it. Yeah, so,
Speaker 1: like he's really the second only guy that can dribble
Speaker 1: and playmate right on the team, especially if you're not
Speaker 1: playing Marcosol, which they did until late, especially him and Shrewder.
Speaker 1: Some whe Shrewder goes out. Is THHD taking over a
Speaker 1: little bit of Alice Caruso. I thought he played well
Speaker 1: really in the first half, like I thought he'd tried
Speaker 1: to get things going. He was attacking the rim. He
Speaker 1: got a really nice alley from Caruso as well, um
Speaker 1: and he got it. He got some jumpers to go
Speaker 1: down to I think he had I don't know if
Speaker 1: he hit two threes or he hit one three. I
Speaker 1: thought he was fine. Um, he did kind of go
Speaker 1: into his bad habits of trying to drive and finish
Speaker 1: at the basket when they're just loading up at the rim.
Speaker 1: So I get a couple of wild shots, um that
Speaker 1: he thought he got fouled on. But I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it's tough when he's the again, like when you have
Speaker 1: a guy like that. He's twenty right, Um, he's not
Speaker 1: gonna play well every night, but like these games are
Speaker 1: tough when he's the second primary initiator behind Shrewder, especially
Speaker 1: when Shrewder goes off the floor. He's dependent and the
Speaker 1: knicks are really good. That's what they do. They take
Speaker 1: away the basket, and that's what that's what a dig
Speaker 1: he wants to do. I thought I thought he played Okay,
Speaker 1: I mean, don't I don't think. I don't think he
Speaker 1: was a reason they lost tonight. How about you. Well,
Speaker 1: I don't mean to say that he was the reason
Speaker 1: they lost. That's not kind of what I'm getting at here.
Speaker 1: What what I mean is like the stuff that I've
Speaker 1: said about THD all season, you know, like just a
Speaker 1: ridiculous NBA superstar type of reverse allee in transition that
Speaker 1: just literally had everybody who was watching the game like, damn,
Speaker 1: I had no idea you could do that, you know,
Speaker 1: like I knew he could jump. He caught it and
Speaker 1: actually brought it down a little bit, just just barely,
Speaker 1: but he brought it down a little bit more and
Speaker 1: then flushed it behind his head like just an unbelievable play.
Speaker 1: First half, he had like a really hard dribble right
Speaker 1: and then crossed back between his legs step back to
Speaker 1: the three point when he actually fumbled the ball a
Speaker 1: little bit. But it reminded me of the game winner
Speaker 1: that Terry reminded me that game winner that Terry Rozier
Speaker 1: had against the Bucks in the playoffs like three years ago,
Speaker 1: or um uh, we're just completely broke off, Eric bloodsoe,
Speaker 1: but like literally that's what it looked like. And I
Speaker 1: was just watching. I was like, you don't get that
Speaker 1: kind of separation unless dudes are just completely terrified if
Speaker 1: you going to the rim. He had another play in
Speaker 1: the second half where kind of got a guy on
Speaker 1: his hip and he does this like almost like a
Speaker 1: three sixty with a live dribble where he just like
Speaker 1: he can he dribbles left and like gets you his
Speaker 1: right shoulder all the way into you and then just
Speaker 1: kind of like just reverse pivots, like right right at
Speaker 1: the rim. He has all of this potential, but there
Speaker 1: was an unbelievable amount of sloppiness and inability to decipher
Speaker 1: what the Knicks were doing defensively. He still murders their spacing.
Speaker 1: There was a play where you know, marcusol had the
Speaker 1: ball or Marcusol was an opposite corner of Kyle Kuzmo
Speaker 1: is trying to create something and they had you know,
Speaker 1: shrewder and the KCP shrewder and uh, I think it
Speaker 1: was Wes Matthews on the other end of the floor
Speaker 1: or that was th HD and TC just didn't know
Speaker 1: where to stand and at one point like he just
Speaker 1: ran to the dunker spot and and no one, no
Speaker 1: one guarded him there because they knew that he wouldn't
Speaker 1: be able to finish and be caught at there anyway.
Speaker 1: Over All the size and he just it really like
Speaker 1: neutered what they were trying to do with Kuzma isolating
Speaker 1: at the top of the key just because the spacing
Speaker 1: was all messed up. So because teams don't respect his
Speaker 1: ability to shoot, because he struggles to decipher lead defense,
Speaker 1: because he's that guy that puts his head down and
Speaker 1: and leaves his feet with no idea where he's going
Speaker 1: with the ball and just launch is it out of bounds?
Speaker 1: That kind of thing. That kind of thing seems to
Speaker 1: show more when he plays these really elite defenses, and
Speaker 1: I think it's just a sign of the fact that
Speaker 1: when we get into the nitty gritty here in the
Speaker 1: playoff run, that's what he's gonna see every night. And
Speaker 1: I don't know necessarily that the good outweighs the bad
Speaker 1: with him this year, but I always want to frame
Speaker 1: that with that unbelievable potential that he shows with these
Speaker 1: ridiculous highlight plays, that there's something there. I just these
Speaker 1: nights like tonight remind me of why I wouldn't necessarily
Speaker 1: go that route in the postseason. Yeah, that that could
Speaker 1: be right. And again, like right now, the role he's
Speaker 1: playing is Lebron's role, right, That's the Lebron does for
Speaker 1: this team. He creates offense, and that's where they're they're
Speaker 1: kind of give it to him and telling him to
Speaker 1: run screen role at the top and try to create
Speaker 1: or attack in isolation. And it's gonna work some nights
Speaker 1: when he has his jumper going, especially, but when he doesn't,
Speaker 1: it's gonna look like this. But the ones that that's terrible,
Speaker 1: it's like the passes in transition, Like he had a
Speaker 1: really bad one I think too for out he was
Speaker 1: throwing it too, but he threw it out of bounds.
Speaker 1: Those are the ones you can't have. But like, I'll
Speaker 1: live with a kind of the mistakes in the half
Speaker 1: court for right now because the Lakers need him, like
Speaker 1: he's a guy who can create offense. And uh, with
Speaker 1: the guys on the on the floor right now, a
Speaker 1: lot of them are like specialists, like guy like Ben
Speaker 1: McLamore as well. Just he's not gonna you can't just
Speaker 1: put the ball in his hand and tell him to create.
Speaker 1: So U'm she was gonna have two turnovers, He's gonna
Speaker 1: have miss shots at the rim. Uh. He had one
Speaker 1: play tonight, right because I think the teammates are trying
Speaker 1: to figure out when he drives that players can cut
Speaker 1: right like he's he's actually looking. He does a lot
Speaker 1: of he gets in trouble by like jumping to pass
Speaker 1: a lot. But he had one place to night, him
Speaker 1: and Cruso where he drove baseline, and I think Crusoe
Speaker 1: was supposed to drift to the corner and then a
Speaker 1: cruiser just stayed on the three and he got threw
Speaker 1: it out of bound. So plays like that are gonna happen.
Speaker 1: But like in the playoffs, I don't think this is
Speaker 1: the role he's gonna be in, right Like, maybe for
Speaker 1: a few minutes I'll throw him in there, but it
Speaker 1: won't be for this long. It's gonna be Lebron and
Speaker 1: a d creat an offense. So he's gonna have to
Speaker 1: fit in as a defender and off ball guy, which
Speaker 1: he did last year in the playoffs for a little bit.
Speaker 1: So I'm not sure how his mint will be once
Speaker 1: we get into a like nitty greedy as you said.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think for right now, like they need
Speaker 1: him to create offense because this is just that. You
Speaker 1: see what it looks like without him, I mean, you
Speaker 1: have it's either thrown into on your drummond or or treads.
Speaker 1: He just did not have it tonight, so he I
Speaker 1: think he tried to create more. But yeah that he
Speaker 1: saw like both sides of him, right. You see that
Speaker 1: super highlight dunk and you see all the turnover, So
Speaker 1: there's a there's a there's a take. There's a give
Speaker 1: and take with him for sure. Yeah, and I mean
Speaker 1: you said that they absolutely they by virtue of their predicament,
Speaker 1: they have to play him more. But they the Lakers
Speaker 1: have guard options that are better options when they have
Speaker 1: their playmaking back, you know, like the like Wesley Matthews,
Speaker 1: um is struggling still a little bit offensively because he's
Speaker 1: not getting high quality looks, but Westerlen Matthews is still
Speaker 1: a really really good defensive player. UM. I actually think
Speaker 1: Ben McLamore has shown that he's more than adequate at
Speaker 1: doing what they need him to do defensively. Yet another
Speaker 1: really nice play today and transitions right for his first
Speaker 1: three where where he uh once was really randomed I
Speaker 1: can't remember exactly who it was, but he just jumps
Speaker 1: completely vertical at the rim on the rotation, so he
Speaker 1: wasn't even involved in the play and he was, you know,
Speaker 1: had his instincts brought him into the play and he
Speaker 1: went vertical and forced to miss ran the floor maybe
Speaker 1: three in the corner. Um. I think that those are
Speaker 1: the kinds of guys that you'll see more of when
Speaker 1: they don't need th HDS playmaking, because like there were
Speaker 1: stretches there in the third quarter where it was like
Speaker 1: the Knicks were on a run. Teach, she's got the
Speaker 1: ball out front. All the other guys are just kind
Speaker 1: of looking at him like we need you to create something,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, And and and you know,
Speaker 1: and then I thought it was really messed up, a
Speaker 1: frank kinda to bring in Marcasol at the end of
Speaker 1: the game the way he did, because like I mean,
Speaker 1: anybody who's ever played knows that there's such thing as
Speaker 1: like a second wind. And at that point in the game,
Speaker 1: like everybody that's out there is has their second wind
Speaker 1: already there. Their bodies are warm, they're good to go.
Speaker 1: And you just throw a Mark in against this ridiculously
Speaker 1: fast team and he's barely like he's got to be
Speaker 1: just completely winded, no no legs, no nothing, just because
Speaker 1: he's not. He wasn't ready for that, And immediately they
Speaker 1: just started attacking him and pick and roll Derek Rose
Speaker 1: had to lay up on him, Alfred Payton had to
Speaker 1: lay up on him. He just was a step slow
Speaker 1: around the rim. That's not to say that he's going
Speaker 1: to be, you know, a perfect fit. And and uh
Speaker 1: and solve all their problems. But like I thought it
Speaker 1: was kind of messed up to not use him all
Speaker 1: night and then all of a sudden just throw him
Speaker 1: into the fire at the end. Yeah, I mean, honestly,
Speaker 1: like I don't think the planet was to play Marc Gasol,
Speaker 1: especially in these coming games. I just think tress and drumming,
Speaker 1: especially their body language, not just how they were playing,
Speaker 1: just the way they were looking on the court. Um
Speaker 1: that I think that's why Marcusol playing, And he played
Speaker 1: well in his minutes. I like alp paint, he I
Speaker 1: gotta lay up on him, but like I think him
Speaker 1: just being a spacer um and give give them like
Speaker 1: a release valve. Right, I call him like a release valve,
Speaker 1: Like when Shooter has nowhere to go, he can just
Speaker 1: give it back to Mark and Mark and try to
Speaker 1: find him. He caught him on a nice back cut um.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean the I mean Twitter is kind
Speaker 1: of going crazy with Marc Gasol's minutes, but I just
Speaker 1: wouldn't look too deep into that right now. Like I
Speaker 1: don't think Vogel is going game the game and match
Speaker 1: up hunting, Like I don't think he's looking at the
Speaker 1: Knicks roster and going. Okay, Gassul would fit here well,
Speaker 1: and or treads and drum would fit here well. I
Speaker 1: think he's just rolling out the lineups. I just think
Speaker 1: those two played so bad tonight that that's why Mark
Speaker 1: got in. But you see why he's still good, Like
Speaker 1: he's obviously still a really good rotation player. I don't
Speaker 1: think he's out of the rotation. I think this is
Speaker 1: just the way the minutes are are breaking right now.
Speaker 1: So I think this is a good problem to have.
Speaker 1: And you talked about earlier with your experience with having
Speaker 1: I think it's better to have too many good players
Speaker 1: right then than not. So I think this is the
Speaker 1: this is the problem you'd rather have here, and I
Speaker 1: think they'll they'll walk the fine line with it, obviously.
Speaker 1: But you saw Mark when he hit that three. He
Speaker 1: was fired up right like he was obviously excited to
Speaker 1: be in the game. Um, It's not like Mark was like,
Speaker 1: oh man, I gotta get in here now. So uh,
Speaker 1: it was good to see him at least get a minute.
Speaker 1: But it was weird that he got pulled so early.
Speaker 1: I thought five minutes was really quick, so that was
Speaker 1: really strange. Um, but they got drumming back in and
Speaker 1: the game just got away from there. But I thought
Speaker 1: might might played well, Yeah, I think I think they
Speaker 1: took him out because he was getting attacked and pick
Speaker 1: and roll and he was a step slow just because
Speaker 1: he wasn't warm. But I mean, you're right. I mean, like,
Speaker 1: it's amazing how the whole like optics of the game,
Speaker 1: the whole optics of the floor shifted when he went in.
Speaker 1: But all of a sudden, all of a sudden, TODJ.
Speaker 1: Gibson's standing, you know, seventeen ft from the rim, trying
Speaker 1: to decide where to go, and and now all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, they're running these like super extensive, drible handoff
Speaker 1: actions all of a sudden, like Dennis Shreoter's cutting back door.
Speaker 1: There's all this stuff happening on the floor that just
Speaker 1: wasn't happening before he got in the game. And that
Speaker 1: goes to show you, you know something you and I
Speaker 1: talked about a lot having to do with his versatility
Speaker 1: and the ability to go in different directions. As you know,
Speaker 1: a game dictates it. Because you know, that game wasn't
Speaker 1: a must win, and the Lakers simply lacked the personnel
Speaker 1: to get the win. But let's pretend you know, it's
Speaker 1: Game three, you know, against in the first round series
Speaker 1: against the Clippers, and they're down by twelve in the
Speaker 1: middle of the third quarter. Drummonds, you know, shooting the
Speaker 1: bed for lack of a better term, and you know
Speaker 1: Tread's is having a rough night, he's getting bullied by
Speaker 1: a baker or whatever it is. You know, it's that
Speaker 1: ability to be like, let's try Mark and see what
Speaker 1: happens and put him at the top of the key,
Speaker 1: get Lebron off the ball, whatever it is you need
Speaker 1: to do to to try to just mix things up.
Speaker 1: And when you combine that with the you know, the
Speaker 1: ability of Lebron and Navy to go to that extra level, um,
Speaker 1: you know, offensively, I think it's just I think it's
Speaker 1: it's an absolute value add And that's why, you know,
Speaker 1: any talk he won't be he won't be bought out
Speaker 1: anyway because the deadline has passed. But that's why that
Speaker 1: talk never made any sense to me, because he was
Speaker 1: he while they had a sudden depth in the front court,
Speaker 1: Marcosol was the only player of his archetype, you know
Speaker 1: that stretched the floor. Really smart position, old offender who
Speaker 1: can run your offense really with the ball in his
Speaker 1: hands at the top of key like that. They didn't
Speaker 1: have anybody else like that, so giving that up never
Speaker 1: made any sense. It's like, it's the reason why you
Speaker 1: need to have an Alex Crusoe or a PhD on
Speaker 1: your team. But at the same time, you need your
Speaker 1: Wesley Matthews and you're in your Ben Naclimore. You need
Speaker 1: your guys who can feel different roles. So it's like
Speaker 1: we're going all in on spacing with Lebron Pep playing
Speaker 1: all these shooters, or like we're going all in on
Speaker 1: running the floor and transition and just flying around on defense,
Speaker 1: We're gonna play a lot of you know, Crusoe and debts,
Speaker 1: you know like that those are the different looks that
Speaker 1: you need to hit different gears in a playoff series. Uh,
Speaker 1: and it could be the difference between winning and losing
Speaker 1: quite frankly. Yeah, And I guess my only critique with
Speaker 1: Bogo is that, um, I would have loved to see
Speaker 1: I think this would have been a perfect game to
Speaker 1: see treasing this alve play together. I Mean, none of
Speaker 1: the big really had it going yet, so it's not
Speaker 1: like you were gonna take any menage from someone who
Speaker 1: was playing well. I thought it had been and it's
Speaker 1: just not. This is not taking my word for it.
Speaker 1: He's the one that said he would try this. So
Speaker 1: it's the only reason why I'm still pushing on it
Speaker 1: because he's the one that said he would try some
Speaker 1: good soul and tres minutes together. But yeah, but that's
Speaker 1: the only thing I would say with him, Like, I
Speaker 1: don't know people are blaming Vogel for this loss. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think it's tough, but that the Knicks played really
Speaker 1: well and our big just had nothing going. Maybe Marcusol
Speaker 1: coming in earlier helps that, but I just don't think
Speaker 1: that would have switched this game. That the Knicks played
Speaker 1: really well, and uh yeah, I just would have loved
Speaker 1: to see those two at least get it shot at
Speaker 1: some minutes together because not having any miss together with
Speaker 1: what like fifteen sixteen games left or something whatever games
Speaker 1: are left, um, is strange. For two guys who are
Speaker 1: so so much a part of the rotation to not
Speaker 1: share the floor is a really strange thing to be
Speaker 1: in this late into the season, especially when you factor
Speaker 1: in the Frank has like literally said, I can't like
Speaker 1: I'm gonna play are exactly together, Like it just doesn't
Speaker 1: make any sense. And especially in the game like tonight
Speaker 1: where nothing's working, Like, man, throw something, like throw something
Speaker 1: at the wall and see if it sticks. You know,
Speaker 1: that's like the type of attitude that I think you
Speaker 1: gotta have. But again, like we talked about earlier, you know,
Speaker 1: it just has an impossible job in my opinion, and
Speaker 1: you know, he's got this ravenous fan base behind him,
Speaker 1: and he's in a position where it's difficult to win games,
Speaker 1: and the team still has championship expectations, so it's it's tough.
Speaker 1: And again, I want to give a lot of credit
Speaker 1: to the New York Mix because, like you know, I
Speaker 1: was actually thinking before the game, you know, kind of
Speaker 1: bridging the gap over to talking about what happened with Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: You know, the Lakers beat Brooklyn's asked because they just
Speaker 1: played so much harder than them, like, so so much
Speaker 1: harder than them, and it punched him in the mouth.
Speaker 1: I mean Kevin Kevin Kevin Durant basically said so much
Speaker 1: in his postgame interview, and uh, and to me that
Speaker 1: that was kind of like this new identity that took
Speaker 1: over the team because like last season, and then for
Speaker 1: the first half of this season, even with as good
Speaker 1: as they were, their effort was inconsistent. Like they would
Speaker 1: lock in some nights and just absolutely smother teams, and
Speaker 1: then they played team like Portland and kind of just
Speaker 1: bs their way through the game and then get beat
Speaker 1: by hot Hand, you know, And that was just kind
Speaker 1: of their identity was like, you know, we can turn
Speaker 1: it on whenever we want, but you know, like we're
Speaker 1: we're kind of inconsistent. And then when Lebron and a
Speaker 1: d went down, all of a sudden, like, dude, every
Speaker 1: night they're they're bringing it, like every night they they
Speaker 1: I like, I feel confident that they're going to come
Speaker 1: out and defend, and tonight I thought their defense was
Speaker 1: actually good. It was more there the other hustle stuff,
Speaker 1: like the rebounds, the focus, the physicality. I thought that's
Speaker 1: where they got kind of beat um. But it is
Speaker 1: interesting how their new identity has shifted towards being like
Speaker 1: this really consistent, like like blue collar type of team.
Speaker 1: Even Frank Frank said after the next game, he's like,
Speaker 1: I just love the way this team is playing right now,
Speaker 1: and it's kind of been cool to see and It's
Speaker 1: kind of fun to think about how bringing Lebron and
Speaker 1: a D back in when the identity has kind of
Speaker 1: shifted towards being like, now, all these other guys are
Speaker 1: so consistent in their hard work that they kind of
Speaker 1: have to match that. Yeah, exactly, And that's the point
Speaker 1: of this team is like they're not going to give up, right.
Speaker 1: I think the Knicks had a couple like double digit
Speaker 1: leads that the Lakers kind of came back on. I
Speaker 1: thought the defense was fine tonight. Honestly, other than the
Speaker 1: offensive rebounding like that, they defended pretty well. And again,
Speaker 1: when you get nothing from you know, Treds, who who's
Speaker 1: the double double Jude score under Drummond, gave him nothing
Speaker 1: on offense tonight, and they still had They still had
Speaker 1: a chance to win this one and with a hopefully
Speaker 1: a D can come back pretty soon. Yeah, I guess
Speaker 1: the Nets, I mean, going from LaMarcus Alders and Blake
Speaker 1: Griffin to like TODJ. Gibson and even though TODJ. Gibson
Speaker 1: is also as older, but um, TODJ. Gibson and New
Speaker 1: Orleans done well and guys like that against this also
Speaker 1: knickst events that prides themselves on there, you know, and
Speaker 1: how hard they play on that end as well. Um,
Speaker 1: it's just a total different, you know, team that you
Speaker 1: play against. But I don't think that takes away from
Speaker 1: how impressive you know what I mean that that Nets
Speaker 1: win was. I mean, that's a team that again was
Speaker 1: spotting Kevin Durant on the other side and Kyrie Remming
Speaker 1: for a half tonight. The Lakers just didn't didn't score enough.
Speaker 1: But yeah, when you when you think about putting Lebron
Speaker 1: and a d back on this team, hopefully, it's just
Speaker 1: it should be a seamless fit. Right when you pit
Speaker 1: superstars back in um, and you have now two guys
Speaker 1: who are also just probably the best defenders of their
Speaker 1: position as well. UM, putting them onto a team that's
Speaker 1: already locking down, Um, it should be. It should be
Speaker 1: really good and they should be able to pick up
Speaker 1: more wins going. So it's a winnable game tomorrow as well.
Speaker 1: They play Charlotte tomorrow on the road, and I think
Speaker 1: they can get that one. No, LaMelo, LaMelo's out for
Speaker 1: the year obviously, and we'll see. But yeah, I think
Speaker 1: that pretty much sums this game. That Knicks just they
Speaker 1: played a lot better, a lot harder. You can tell
Speaker 1: the difference between the Knicks and Nets on what they
Speaker 1: prioritize on their teams. What was your biggest takeaway from
Speaker 1: the Nets game? I want to touch on that game
Speaker 1: just for a few minutes before we start getting other
Speaker 1: people involved here. Yeah. For me, I think it's like
Speaker 1: the Lakers, obviously they play hard every night. I think
Speaker 1: that that's what it showed, right, showed their culture is
Speaker 1: just to play really hard on defense and if they
Speaker 1: can get open shots to go in, like they can
Speaker 1: blow teams out, like don't come with the requisite effort.
Speaker 1: And obviously the Nets didn't. You know, obviously with with
Speaker 1: how shorthand the Lakers are in Superstar, they didn't come
Speaker 1: with the records the effort as if Lebron and he
Speaker 1: were playing. And if you don't do that, Lakers are
Speaker 1: gonna defend well. And I thought their game plan was
Speaker 1: great rewatching that game, how they defended Kevin Durant, especially
Speaker 1: when Kyrie went out. Their double teams and traps rotations
Speaker 1: were pretty perfect that night, and then they got open
Speaker 1: threes to go t hit a bunch of threes. Ben
Speaker 1: Malcolmore obviously got hot, uh and then there I guess
Speaker 1: I want to ask you, I guess about Ben Malcolmore
Speaker 1: really quickly, because I thought it was impressive tonight that
Speaker 1: even though he started like one for four, um, he
Speaker 1: still takes those like tough threes even though he's not
Speaker 1: having it going. I think that's something this team needed.
Speaker 1: I know you're hot, You're hot on Ben Malkimore. Um,
Speaker 1: so what do you think of him these last least
Speaker 1: as two games. Yeah, I'm super high in him. I
Speaker 1: think he makes so much sense with this roster. I
Speaker 1: thought Maples again had had something that he said in
Speaker 1: his podcast on on Sunday that was super interesting, having
Speaker 1: to do with just his aggression, Like this is something
Speaker 1: we all talked about with KCP. Like when KCP is
Speaker 1: in a rhythm and he's really going, it's like he's
Speaker 1: flying up the floor and transition like he's got a
Speaker 1: really quick trigger. He's got a really quick trigger. Hit
Speaker 1: a quick trigger tonight, like I man, if he had
Speaker 1: any space, it was going up and he just looked
Speaker 1: really confident in his decisions. And then it just all
Speaker 1: kind of fades. When he's not playing well, you know,
Speaker 1: everything FA's his defense made. He'll like he'll start getting gunshy,
Speaker 1: like he'll pass up on open shots, we'll start pump
Speaker 1: making a ghost and whereas like when he's really in
Speaker 1: a rhythm, he doesn't even need much space and he'll
Speaker 1: just go up. But Ben Ben just has a completely
Speaker 1: different ideology and it comes from his whole approach to
Speaker 1: the game, but it also comes from the confidence that
Speaker 1: the group feeds him. But he just basically is ready
Speaker 1: to fire if there's even an inch of space, and
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter that he's over four. You know, that's
Speaker 1: his whole mentality. And to me, you know, everything is
Speaker 1: about the perception of space. Like a th hd actually
Speaker 1: shot from three, it's not going to change the fact
Speaker 1: that teams aren't gonna guard him. Like that's the difference
Speaker 1: There's it was the Rondo effect from last year, Like
Speaker 1: Rondo would make some threes, but the possessions where Rondo
Speaker 1: would make a three, we're like this really stupid stagnant
Speaker 1: possession where everybody's kind of standing around, and then Rondo's like, dad, fine,
Speaker 1: I guess I'll shoot it, and like he made of them.
Speaker 1: But like it was I don't want to say it
Speaker 1: was a net negative to the offense, but it wasn't
Speaker 1: like a really cool, like popping around possession that ended
Speaker 1: in somebody making a shot. It was always like a
Speaker 1: different type of deal. And you know, McLamore gives you
Speaker 1: some of that really fluid shooting that's gonna really generate
Speaker 1: real space for the shooters and the Lebron's and the
Speaker 1: in the Anthony davis Is of the world to get
Speaker 1: to work around the paint um. And then you know
Speaker 1: what a couple of huge takeaways I had from that
Speaker 1: Brooklyn Nets game. First of all, like Kyrie Irving is
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving. He's You're not stopping him. I mean, like
Speaker 1: as someone who as someone who watched him every single
Speaker 1: night for years, like you, you're not going to stop
Speaker 1: that guy. And I've watched him against the very best
Speaker 1: defenses in the league, like against Clay Thompson in the
Speaker 1: Golden State Warrior defense that was all over the place.
Speaker 1: He's gonna get to his shots. But there's a difference
Speaker 1: between like Kyrie making it look too easy and making
Speaker 1: him work for his stuff. And I thought the Lakers
Speaker 1: demonstrated in that game, especially through Dennis Shooter at the
Speaker 1: point of attack, just picking him up full court, making
Speaker 1: things difficult for him. That that it like legitimately made
Speaker 1: him work hard. And then one of the craziest things
Speaker 1: I've ever seen um And I know there was another
Speaker 1: story surrounded this, and I don't even want to get
Speaker 1: into it, but the like Dennis got in his head
Speaker 1: a little bit and legitimately psyched him out because I've
Speaker 1: never ever in my time watching Kyrie seen him do that.
Speaker 1: I have never seen him lose his cool and start
Speaker 1: like cutting a player out and like freaking out and
Speaker 1: leaving the floor. That just was never his personality. He
Speaker 1: was so like his on court demeanor was always so
Speaker 1: different and and I think Shrewder deserved some credit for
Speaker 1: that just by being a test Like he just irritated
Speaker 1: him all night and then whatever was said that was
Speaker 1: said that put him over the edge, that's a separate story.
Speaker 1: But what got him to that point of irritability was
Speaker 1: then as Shrewder and the work he was putting in defensively,
Speaker 1: and I thought that that was really really interesting in
Speaker 1: the way that it affected him, and that's something stupid
Speaker 1: like that is something that can have a significant impact
Speaker 1: on the playoff series to where you feel comfortable in
Speaker 1: that matchup, Like yeah, Kyrie is going to get his
Speaker 1: twenty four tonight, but Dennis is gonna make him work,
Speaker 1: and it's not going to be as impactful as it
Speaker 1: would be if we were giving up a significantly worse matchup,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. Yeah, and Shrewder was scoring right
Speaker 1: back on him, right like. I think that's where the
Speaker 1: crustation was going on. I don't think any of that
Speaker 1: probably well, I mean what happened with him is a
Speaker 1: different story, as you said, But yeah, Screwder was scoring
Speaker 1: on him. They were kind of hunting him, making him defend,
Speaker 1: making him go around screens, um, and just making him
Speaker 1: work for his points right like he had PhD had
Speaker 1: an awesome defensive posession on him. Kyrie just hit a
Speaker 1: ridiculous shot, But yeah, Shooter was magic him bucket for bucket,
Speaker 1: And I think that's what important. What's important. You're not
Speaker 1: gonna match Kyrie's production with Shooter, I don't think. But
Speaker 1: I like, he puts up twenty four and Shooter can
Speaker 1: put up seventeen eighteen. Um. I think that's a win
Speaker 1: in that kind of in that kind of series, and
Speaker 1: they're gonna make him work. I think that again, the
Speaker 1: Lakers Nets matchup we've been through as a really fascinating
Speaker 1: kind of difference in styles. Um, and like the Lakers
Speaker 1: want to kind of bully you, and I thought Drummond
Speaker 1: and Uh kind of showed that right, Like I like
Speaker 1: my one of my big takeaways from the game is
Speaker 1: I don't think LaMarcus Arger just playable, you know Lakers
Speaker 1: Net series, Like, I just don't think you can run
Speaker 1: him out with against like even just Andre Drummond. But
Speaker 1: when a d gets to Lebron, Uh, those guys are
Speaker 1: just gonna feast at the rim. So they're gonna have
Speaker 1: to rely on thirty five year old Aldredge or how
Speaker 1: rold Blake Griffin is or twenty twenty one year old
Speaker 1: Ceedie Claxton. So that's a thing that they're going to
Speaker 1: have to figure out or just run Jeff Green at
Speaker 1: the five. So um, that's that's kind of my main
Speaker 1: takeaway from that NETS game that Lakers are gonna pretty
Speaker 1: much get to the room and they want obviously harder
Speaker 1: and Kyrie Katie are hell to defend. But like that
Speaker 1: that was my main takeaway is like this, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a Lakers are gonna try to make that a
Speaker 1: bruising matchup while the Nets are going to try to
Speaker 1: make that like a speed kind of run run down
Speaker 1: the core offensive game. Yeah, so that was the second
Speaker 1: thing I was going to get at, and I think
Speaker 1: you at the nail on the head. It just has
Speaker 1: to do with the way the matchups worked out. And
Speaker 1: if you remember when when when Ben McLamore got signed,
Speaker 1: I told you that one of the main reasons why
Speaker 1: I wasn't as concerned about him defensively is that the
Speaker 1: way that the way that the Laker defense was set
Speaker 1: up was different from the Houston defense. Because the Houston defense,
Speaker 1: which is more or less the same as the Brooklyn defense,
Speaker 1: the switch everything defense, it's all about leaving guys on
Speaker 1: an island. And they do it on purpose because even
Speaker 1: if you do score, um, the idea is it stagnates you.
Speaker 1: They want they want you to not move the ball around.
Speaker 1: They want you to continue to attack in isolation. And
Speaker 1: I'll give you two quick examples to kind of show
Speaker 1: the juxtaposition between the two. So Andre Drummond gets a
Speaker 1: post up against LaMarcus Aldridge, they're not sending help. It's
Speaker 1: like you got on LaMarcus. We'll see what happens because
Speaker 1: it's gonna it's gonna bog down their offense or whatever
Speaker 1: it is that they're hoping to do, and and Andre
Speaker 1: just just completely bullies him. So and Tonight's in tonight's game,
Speaker 1: Ben McLamore gets a switch and he ends up on
Speaker 1: Julius Randall immediately the Lakers Lakers and a double in
Speaker 1: the double, there's a chaotic rotation that leads to a
Speaker 1: contested r J. Barrett corner three. Because the Laker defense
Speaker 1: is completely different from the way that that Brooklyn Nets
Speaker 1: defense is set up. They are all about helping each
Speaker 1: other and they never want to give up a mismatch
Speaker 1: if they can avoid it. And it's all about trusting,
Speaker 1: like making up for personnel weaknesses with extra effort plays.
Speaker 1: That's like the whole way that their their their system
Speaker 1: is set up, and ironically that the Knicks are set
Speaker 1: up the same way, because guess what, like Andre Drummond
Speaker 1: can just as easily bully Newlands Noel as he can
Speaker 1: uh LaMarcus Audreys. The differences is the Knicks were like,
Speaker 1: we're not gonna let bully Netherlands Noel, Like we're gonna
Speaker 1: dig at him, We're gonna dive at the ball like that,
Speaker 1: every time you put the ball on the floor, there
Speaker 1: were hands in there like it was it was congestion,
Speaker 1: and it was it was. It was just just a
Speaker 1: total chaotic environment around the paint that made it so
Speaker 1: that LaMarcus was man every time you put them on
Speaker 1: the floor. It seems like something bad happened, you know.
Speaker 1: But that's the difference between those two defensive concepts. And
Speaker 1: when I look at that series now, you know, the
Speaker 1: Lakers had and the Dennish Shrewder stuff in the first
Speaker 1: half of that game where he was just absolutely destroying,
Speaker 1: you know, like you make Claxton and in all Dredge
Speaker 1: and all these guys on switches and then every single
Speaker 1: time they drop into the paint, he just made them
Speaker 1: pay from the three point line. Shruder is just yet
Speaker 1: another option that the Lakers can go to against that
Speaker 1: switching defense to attack specific mismatches, like now you can
Speaker 1: throw it down to Al Dredge in the post against
Speaker 1: the Katie or against LaMarcus Aldridge. You can get Shrewder
Speaker 1: working in switches against the Bigs on the perimeter. You
Speaker 1: can get Lebron in the post. You can get Lebron
Speaker 1: on the perimeter you can get Anthony Davis in the post.
Speaker 1: Anything Davids can spot up at the three point line.
Speaker 1: They have all these different methods of attack and and
Speaker 1: I think like in a weird way, you know, in
Speaker 1: the same way that the next events kind of shut
Speaker 1: down the Lakers tonight, you know, the Brooklyn Nets defense
Speaker 1: is going to kind of keep things open for the
Speaker 1: Lakers and played directly into their hands because the Lakers
Speaker 1: are not a heavy motion type of offense. They've always
Speaker 1: even with Lebron and maybe they've always been attacking certain
Speaker 1: matchups type of offense. And so like, I have my
Speaker 1: big takeaway from that game as I think they're built
Speaker 1: for that, yeah, for sure. And that's why I think
Speaker 1: even just a D coming back would help this team
Speaker 1: so much, because you could tell, like there are so
Speaker 1: many possessions where they'll just look at each other like
Speaker 1: what are we running here? And you know you could
Speaker 1: see Shooter move his hand a lot, like all right,
Speaker 1: let's just let's run this, you know, a little little
Speaker 1: double drag here for KCP or get Kuzma coming off
Speaker 1: the screen or something like just to run sets. And
Speaker 1: I think with a D coming back, just have a
Speaker 1: guy that you know like, Okay, he's the first option here,
Speaker 1: like this is what we're going to and then play
Speaker 1: out of that would would help them so much against
Speaker 1: the Nets. Again, like that's their defense is just like
Speaker 1: I see the Lakers as a team that if you
Speaker 1: get an advantage against them, you have to take it.
Speaker 1: You can take an advantage of that in like a
Speaker 1: split second, right, So let's say when they trap, you
Speaker 1: have like to you have like a split second to
Speaker 1: decide where you want the balls to go, and they
Speaker 1: make guys who aren't making decisions like that have to
Speaker 1: make those decisions, so like Bruce Brown had to make
Speaker 1: those Bruce trying to make those decisions, Jeff Green, et cetera. Again,
Speaker 1: when when they have all their stars back, it'll be tougher.
Speaker 1: But again, I think that's what they want to do,
Speaker 1: is all their traps are going to try to make
Speaker 1: guys who don't who aren't good at making really quick
Speaker 1: first read high i Q pass read decisions have to
Speaker 1: make those passes at a high level. And you can
Speaker 1: see what happens, especially against the nets. Um they had
Speaker 1: really trouble creating good offense and uh yeah, that's what
Speaker 1: the Lakers doing. The Nets with their defense. When I
Speaker 1: was rewatching the game, it was like, once they get
Speaker 1: once they get beat, once it's over, they just let
Speaker 1: the advantage stay. Like when th Hd would come with
Speaker 1: pick and roll and Aldridge would would help. No one's bat,
Speaker 1: no one's on the back line, so it would just
Speaker 1: be a layup for Drummond or or Treads whoever was there.
Speaker 1: Treads got like five dunks on just sitting in the
Speaker 1: dunker spot waiting for the ball because the rim protection
Speaker 1: just wasn't there off the help. So, yeah, these two teams,
Speaker 1: like the Knicks and the Nets, are just totally different
Speaker 1: in terms of their identities and what they're kind of
Speaker 1: going for right now, and that I think that was
Speaker 1: a difference in the two games. Yeah, And the microcosm
Speaker 1: of the of the Brooklyn Nets kind of like lack
Speaker 1: of cohesive defense was that play after Ben McLamore made
Speaker 1: all the threes where they had basically Montres Harold's said
Speaker 1: a pin down for um for Ben coming off the
Speaker 1: screen and and then basically Tries just slipped the pin
Speaker 1: down and too Brooklyn Nets guys ran with Lackamore and Treads,
Speaker 1: Treads was wide open for the back doorality of dunk
Speaker 1: like that to me is it reminded me of watching
Speaker 1: like the two seventeen Calves who were so sloppy in
Speaker 1: their defensive cohesiveness, and that just seeing those two different
Speaker 1: defenses two nights apart, the nets in the mix, there's
Speaker 1: such a huge difference between the two of them, and
Speaker 1: I I think that that stuff matters in a playoff
Speaker 1: series where each possession carries so much value, that team
Speaker 1: that is more cohesive defensively is going to gain a
Speaker 1: significant advantage. Or Now whether or not that's enough to
Speaker 1: make up for the difference between you know, a team
Speaker 1: that has James Harden, Kevin Durant, m Kyrie iring on it,
Speaker 1: we'll find out. But that's why I like your chances
Speaker 1: in that matchup. But Roger, I made you do your
Speaker 1: host so you want to get some people involved in here? Yeah? Sure.
Speaker 1: So if anyone wants to come up and uh talk,
Speaker 1: give a comment, question which whichever, or just you know
Speaker 1: Ben thought about the game or anything, just request the
Speaker 1: speak and I'll add you up. Meanwhile, I'll go through
Speaker 1: the chat here. Um, they said, one of them says
Speaker 1: where the Lakers turnovers mostly on force. Um said they
Speaker 1: shot themselves on the foot. I would agree with that, right, Jason.
Speaker 1: Most of these were on force turnovers. I mean, the
Speaker 1: next defense was good, but a lot of these were
Speaker 1: just I think he spoke a while Eli there. They
Speaker 1: were just bad passes. Are you know, bad ideas, just
Speaker 1: things with very very high risk, low reward kind of
Speaker 1: passes exactly. It's the it's the difference between what the
Speaker 1: end result of the past would be. Like when you
Speaker 1: throw a turnover on a swing pass or in any
Speaker 1: sort of bailout pass where you've got into the paint,
Speaker 1: no one's really open, and you're just throwing the ball
Speaker 1: up in the air, and it's a turnover. It's an
Speaker 1: unforced error, but it's also a turnover that carry absolutely
Speaker 1: no potential for reward, whereas like if Lebron throws a
Speaker 1: full core pass the k CP streaking the floor and
Speaker 1: the dude picks it off, it's like, if that pass
Speaker 1: gets through, it's a dunk. You know, there's a there's
Speaker 1: a difference there, So at least you can you can
Speaker 1: paint that as as as part of the process of
Speaker 1: trying to generate offense. But yeah, I think I think
Speaker 1: the Lakers absolutely had as of late, a lot of
Speaker 1: unforced turnover, a lot of un first errors, and a
Speaker 1: lot of turnovers that don't carry the benefit um that
Speaker 1: could come when the pass act really is completed. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: And again, anyone wants to come up, let me know,
Speaker 1: or you can just type a question in the chat.
Speaker 1: I'll read as well. Um. So another one. Drummond looked
Speaker 1: bad tonight. There are points where he looked a little disinterested.
Speaker 1: I wonder if that was a lack of post ups.
Speaker 1: I don't think it was from a lack of post ups.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think he understood how he was being defended.
Speaker 1: They were just trapping him. He did have some bad
Speaker 1: body language, but I think that was just he could
Speaker 1: tell he wasn't playing well. And him and Tres both
Speaker 1: they looked like they were coming from the same kind
Speaker 1: of energy tonight. They just didn't have it, and that
Speaker 1: that happens sometimes. Yeah. No, Roger had mentioned earlier that
Speaker 1: you just had bad audio language, and so did Montres.
Speaker 1: And I thought they both got discouraged just by how
Speaker 1: badly they were getting outplayed. And you know, some of
Speaker 1: that is like the pressure that comes with being in
Speaker 1: the position they're in, you know, I think I think
Speaker 1: it's a lot of pressure to know, like like it was,
Speaker 1: I'm one of the players when montrese like I think
Speaker 1: it was the one that you mentioned earlier, he tried
Speaker 1: to shoot that little whimpy floater over TODs and got blocked,
Speaker 1: Like like see him running down the floor thinking like
Speaker 1: for the people on Twitter hate me for that one,
Speaker 1: you know, like that's just kind of the vibe that
Speaker 1: surrounds him sometimes. But yeah, I mean, as far as
Speaker 1: his role in the offense goes and getting touches, like,
Speaker 1: I would hope that there's communication coming from the alpha's
Speaker 1: in that locker room that would prevent anybody from getting
Speaker 1: to how it might be for for what their role
Speaker 1: is going to be, you know what I mean exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and another one, um Trez was too small tonight. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we just touched on it. I'm not sure if it's
Speaker 1: how it was mostly the thing. I think he just
Speaker 1: had a bad night, but Gibson and uh Nobel really
Speaker 1: really put it to him very hard to rebound with
Speaker 1: Tress on the floor. If there's no gang rebounding, it's curtains.
Speaker 1: I mean, Tress is a pretty good offensive rebounder, which
Speaker 1: I was kind of surprised why he struggled so much.
Speaker 1: I think I think again, I think the side just
Speaker 1: got to him tonight. But the whole team kind of
Speaker 1: struggled with that. They weren't really boxing out, and the
Speaker 1: Knick star team that really crashed the boards. I haven't
Speaker 1: looked at the numbers, but I believe they're one of
Speaker 1: the best offensive rebounding teams um in the league. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that that was just tough. What do you think about
Speaker 1: the offensive rebounding, Jason? Was that just the Lakers not
Speaker 1: boxing out? Was that um uh, the Nicks just attacking
Speaker 1: the boards or just maybe a mixture of both there
Speaker 1: like that. Like I said earlier, I thought that that
Speaker 1: was the area where their effort was lacking. Like I thought,
Speaker 1: thank you and I both agreed that their defense was
Speaker 1: was dialed in plenty. It was more just all of
Speaker 1: this stuff on the periphery of that where they got
Speaker 1: out worked by New York. As far as Montrez's offensive
Speaker 1: rebunding goes, it's interesting because guys who are really really
Speaker 1: good offensive rebounders, a lot of them don't do it
Speaker 1: with positioning like that. You know, there's different types of rebounders.
Speaker 1: There's you know, your your Moses Malone type of a
Speaker 1: rebounder or just did it in his entire career by
Speaker 1: by gaining position on guys. And then there's the Kyle
Speaker 1: Kuzma type that the Montrese Harold type. You guys who
Speaker 1: get offensive rebounding get offensive rebounds basically by crashing. You know,
Speaker 1: they're they're relentless crashers. And the differences is, you know,
Speaker 1: h on the other end, they you know, when you
Speaker 1: when you're a positional rebounder, you dig the contact. You're
Speaker 1: constantly involved in box outs and you're seeking bodies and
Speaker 1: you're always trying to gain position on people. Well, when
Speaker 1: you're a crash you're like, you're you're kind of anti
Speaker 1: contact in a lot of ways because your your whole
Speaker 1: purpose of what you're doing is to avoid bodies. And
Speaker 1: I think I think Montrese just he's bad at boxing
Speaker 1: out and and it's because his whole you know, embracing
Speaker 1: you know, the physicality of the game, he's all about
Speaker 1: avoiding that contact in order to slip by guys the rebounds.
Speaker 1: Even as a post up player, he's not like a
Speaker 1: Mantrese is not necessarily like a put it for your
Speaker 1: chest type of post up player, Like he's the guy
Speaker 1: that will face you up and new crossovers and do
Speaker 1: sweeping hooks and things like that. He's more of a
Speaker 1: like he can do like a power dribble finish, you know,
Speaker 1: when when he's gonna catch and finish type of role.
Speaker 1: But he's he's you know, he's not the kind of
Speaker 1: guy that that is is great at the actual you know,
Speaker 1: physicality of rebounding, you know, getting attached to people's bodies,
Speaker 1: squatting load and pushing them out of the paint so
Speaker 1: that they can't jump, because more often than not, dudes
Speaker 1: are just reaching and jumping over the top of him
Speaker 1: and getting it. And if you do a good box out, like,
Speaker 1: no one's getting that. No one involved in the box
Speaker 1: out is getting the rebound, even the guy who's doing
Speaker 1: the boxing out. You leave it to the guards to
Speaker 1: come in and crash. And I just think that that's
Speaker 1: a personal weakness of his. And you know, Mantrese, just
Speaker 1: like you and I have talked to so many times,
Speaker 1: you mentioned like if Montrese was an amazing defensive rebounder,
Speaker 1: an amazing offensive rebounder, and an amazing defender who also
Speaker 1: gave me twenty points and sixty shooting every night, he'd
Speaker 1: be an All Star, Like he'd be a super Max
Speaker 1: player like that, like the all of these dudes. When
Speaker 1: you're getting down these depth charts come with positives and negatives,
Speaker 1: and if they didn't, they would be thirty million dollar
Speaker 1: year superstars. And so Mantrese's weakness, one of his weaknesses
Speaker 1: has got a few. But one of his weaknesses is
Speaker 1: that he's not great as a physical, boxing out type
Speaker 1: of of of big that can help secure defensive rebounds.
Speaker 1: It's a little area of weakness with this game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And what's funny about him is like, um, I think
Speaker 1: I said the statuar that he's passed out like four
Speaker 1: times after getting the pall in the post like all
Speaker 1: season or some some low number like that. But he's
Speaker 1: like he tries to dunk when you know there's like
Speaker 1: four people around him, so he'll be like physical then,
Speaker 1: but when it's like a one on one matchup, he'll
Speaker 1: like drive and then fade away doing like a hook
Speaker 1: shot or something like that. So it's funny when he
Speaker 1: gets physical. Beyond the boards, he's not really much especially
Speaker 1: defensive rebounding is where he struggles. Um, he's a better
Speaker 1: offensive rebounder. He has nice touch around the rim. Um
Speaker 1: let me see here yet, shout out James. He said,
Speaker 1: I think this is the point that we kind of
Speaker 1: agree with Bogol just collecting data points right now, um
Speaker 1: finishing up. The politics of playing Trey and Tres overmark
Speaker 1: playoffs will be different. I think we agree. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure how much politics of it is, but I mean,
Speaker 1: I think Bogol's getting data points. I don't think he's
Speaker 1: going into these um matchup you know, matchup dependent right now. Lakers,
Speaker 1: I don't even think have the talent for that to
Speaker 1: be matu depending. But I don't think he's doing that.
Speaker 1: Would you agree with that the playoffs will be different?
Speaker 1: I probably played a lot more. You know, treads is
Speaker 1: out or you know, whatever matchup we go, weever matchup decides. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean think I think of it this way, like,
Speaker 1: how how often last year did we get frustrated with
Speaker 1: available kings mints right and then and then when push
Speaker 1: came to shove, those minutes just ceased to exist because
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, you know, like there's
Speaker 1: there's a sense of urgency that clicks in at specific
Speaker 1: moments in the postseason where it's time to stop messing around.
Speaker 1: But but I agree that I think he's just kind
Speaker 1: of trying to see what works and and getting a
Speaker 1: feel for specific lineups and try to see because some
Speaker 1: of some of its natural fit and some of it's
Speaker 1: not natural fit, and you just kind of gotta feel
Speaker 1: things out. Like there's that moment earlier this year where
Speaker 1: they started every fourth quarter with you know, talent Horton, Tucker,
Speaker 1: Von Tres Harrell and and Lebron and they just would
Speaker 1: blitz teams to start the fourth quarter, like you just,
Speaker 1: oh crap, Like there's something there that works and we
Speaker 1: need to kind of see what's going on there. Like
Speaker 1: I think that's that's all it is. And I want
Speaker 1: to reiterate what I said at the beginning of the show,
Speaker 1: which is a Frank Vocal has an impossible job. He's
Speaker 1: he's a head coach of a team with the largest
Speaker 1: and most ravenous fan base in the n b A,
Speaker 1: with championship expectations and playing without the two stars that
Speaker 1: the entire roster was built around um and and he
Speaker 1: has vastly exceeded expectations in this stretch and you know,
Speaker 1: I always talked like with the with the I used
Speaker 1: the Warriors as an example, Like teams like the Warriors
Speaker 1: fan base has been so relentless in criticism of Steve
Speaker 1: Kerr and in criticism of everybody on that roster, and
Speaker 1: it's so ridiculous because it's like, Dude, they lost Clay
Speaker 1: Thompson and they lost Kevin Durant in the last two
Speaker 1: off seasons and they're basically playing with a duct taped roster.
Speaker 1: And if you anybody that knows basketball that you asked
Speaker 1: before the season, you'd have been like, yeah, they're fighting
Speaker 1: for the eighth seed. And guess what, they're fighting for
Speaker 1: the eight seed. And so the idea that they're actually
Speaker 1: in terms of what the end results of these games are,
Speaker 1: they're doing fine, but people are so obsessed with, you know,
Speaker 1: micromanaging what's an impossible job that Speaker has now, which
Speaker 1: is winning games in a ridiculously stacked Western Conference without
Speaker 1: the talent advantage. He's more or less doing exactly has
Speaker 1: as we expected him to do. And that's kind of
Speaker 1: what Frank is dealing with right now. Like he literally
Speaker 1: was dealt a crap handed cards where his two best
Speaker 1: players went down with an injury. Kuzma has been down
Speaker 1: with an injury at some points. You know, Gasol went
Speaker 1: down for a little bit, you know, Dennis getting ejected
Speaker 1: in the middle of the game. He's been dealt crappy
Speaker 1: handed cards over the last twelve games. And if you
Speaker 1: would have told us before that stretch, with all of
Speaker 1: the personnel issues that they'd have, that they would go
Speaker 1: five and seven and have like huge wins along the way,
Speaker 1: we'd all be like, absolutely, sign where where do we sign?
Speaker 1: We'll take that, you know, And I think like we
Speaker 1: all need to kind of understand and adjust our expectations
Speaker 1: and and and cut Frank a lot of slack for
Speaker 1: what it's just a really difficult job that he has
Speaker 1: right now. Yeah, exactly. I Mean, no one was talking
Speaker 1: rotations when they were up twenty on the nets, right
Speaker 1: I Mean I tweeted today like did we already forget
Speaker 1: that Nets game happened? I mean that was Saturday, Saturday,
Speaker 1: which is like two days ago. And people are like, man,
Speaker 1: big Voga doesn't know how to coach, Like, come on, man,
Speaker 1: he's coaching the number one defense right now without Lebron
Speaker 1: James Anthony Davis take seventy million dollars cap Forget the
Speaker 1: two players, take seventy millions of dollars of cap room
Speaker 1: off of any team and see how they played. So
Speaker 1: I think they've definitely overgone expectations. Um, shout out. Michael
Speaker 1: Moraless says, when Bron and a D come back, what
Speaker 1: role do you see drumm and playing on the offense.
Speaker 1: He was like, we won't see too many drumm and
Speaker 1: post ups when they get back, So I think his
Speaker 1: impact on offense is kind of muted. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think we've talked about this a lot. I mean,
Speaker 1: his role is gonna change. He's not gonna be a
Speaker 1: post up guy. Guy that throw it into that's gonna
Speaker 1: be Lebron. That's gonna be a D. And then he's
Speaker 1: gonna guy that's gonna be able to crash offensive rebounds. Um,
Speaker 1: the nick sent like two guys to him, and if
Speaker 1: you saw this Jay today on the offensive, on the
Speaker 1: defensive rebounding, they sent two guys to box him out specifically,
Speaker 1: and he couldn't get any offensive I think he got
Speaker 1: only like one or two offensive rebounds tonight. I have
Speaker 1: to check and check the numbers, but it felt like
Speaker 1: he didn't get um that many. And yeah, I think
Speaker 1: his role is gonna change. He's gonna buy a guy
Speaker 1: that taxes the boards, sit in the dunker spot, um
Speaker 1: get very little. He's gonna get like the jabail kind
Speaker 1: of like, hey here's a possession, go go nuts, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. But other than that, I think
Speaker 1: he's going to be a guy who just fits into
Speaker 1: the fits into the role. And uh, yeah, he got
Speaker 1: one offensive rebound tonight, so he had not nine defensive
Speaker 1: rebounds one offensive rebound, which kind of fit the tape
Speaker 1: for me that they really went to box him out.
Speaker 1: And yeah, so what do you think his role will
Speaker 1: be when they get back, when when the two Stars
Speaker 1: get back? Well so, more or lesser. His entire career,
Speaker 1: he's been either the primary focus of the defense or
Speaker 1: the secondary focus of the defense. And and just about
Speaker 1: every lineup he'll be exposed to in this postseason run,
Speaker 1: he'll be the third or fourth, you know, pity defensive defensively,
Speaker 1: the other team, they're not gonna be able to throw
Speaker 1: multiple guys at him. And I kind of see him
Speaker 1: doing exactly what he did against the Nets, which is
Speaker 1: specific mismatches when there's lots of space around him for
Speaker 1: him to go to work, because he's just sloppy with
Speaker 1: the ball. But when he has lots of space to
Speaker 1: go to go to work, not as much congestion and
Speaker 1: surrounded by other high i Q players, I see them
Speaker 1: feeding him to attack specific match up. But also just
Speaker 1: you know, like I mentioned in our last pod, just
Speaker 1: fatigue oriented possessions like the you know, the Lebron's out
Speaker 1: there with the bench shooter in eighty year on our
Speaker 1: are on the bench getting rest, and you know, Lebron
Speaker 1: has been aggressive on three or four straight possessions, and
Speaker 1: they feed Drummond almost as like a like an on
Speaker 1: core type of rest situation for Lebron to just try
Speaker 1: to generate something that's kind of what I mainly see
Speaker 1: for him. Um. And then like he's literally never ever, ever, ever, ever,
Speaker 1: ever ever come close to playing with anybody who remotely
Speaker 1: resembles what the Ron can do as a ball handler.
Speaker 1: Ver So I don't think we know what it's gonna
Speaker 1: look like. I think there's a whole other part of
Speaker 1: this game that we're going to be exposed to. Um.
Speaker 1: Just as you know, a pick and roll uh screener
Speaker 1: with a new elite decision maker. That's something that he
Speaker 1: never had before. I mean, we just look at what
Speaker 1: Lebron helped do for a D last year. It's just
Speaker 1: kinda kind of just think of a similar type of
Speaker 1: of of development for for Drummond as well. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: forget Adie. Look what he did for Damien Jones this year.
Speaker 1: I mean Jones fifteen or sixteen from the field of
Speaker 1: the Laker and it still wasn't enough for sit for
Speaker 1: that rest of the season signing. But yeah, I think
Speaker 1: he's gonna be fine when Learn and a D come back,
Speaker 1: He's gonna be able to fit his role. UM shout out.
Speaker 1: Ryan was colleague to the Clippers, scare you they added Rondo,
Speaker 1: but to unsay're gonna trying to play with the Collegian
Speaker 1: I really liked the Rondo signing for them. I think
Speaker 1: he really helps them, Like especially when Paul Joe Jin
Speaker 1: Kauai kind of get midrange happy, He's able to kind
Speaker 1: of decide where the ball goes. But again, I think
Speaker 1: there's a regular season rondo, there's a playoff rondo, and
Speaker 1: then there's a myth that kind of puts both of
Speaker 1: those together. Um, Like, I think he played well in
Speaker 1: the I think he played well in the playoffs, I think,
Speaker 1: but you know, I think that was kind of mythologized
Speaker 1: even more because of the history, and you know, he
Speaker 1: had a great Game six. I mean, he watched that
Speaker 1: and he played really well. But I think those spurts
Speaker 1: kind of weren't showed. But I think he's gonna help them.
Speaker 1: What do you think of the additions, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't think they scare. I mean, you're the big
Speaker 1: Clipper guy that they don't like, but um, I don't
Speaker 1: think scare is the right word. But you know, have
Speaker 1: you seen a few of their games lately? Do you
Speaker 1: think they're They're playing a little bit better and they
Speaker 1: match up better now with with a surgeon Rondo, but
Speaker 1: the tune against the Lakers so consistently since the beginning.
Speaker 1: I said that I thought the Clippers were the greatest
Speaker 1: threat to the Lakers. I think it. I think it
Speaker 1: just has to do with matchups. I don't think that
Speaker 1: I think the Clippers would lose that Nuggets in a
Speaker 1: playoff series that started tomorrow. I think they would struggle
Speaker 1: against the Jazz. I think they would. I think it'd
Speaker 1: be a coin flip type of deal with the Sons,
Speaker 1: but I think the Nuggets would flat out beat them. Um.
Speaker 1: But that said, of all of those teams I mentioned,
Speaker 1: I think the Clippers have the best chance. We actually
Speaker 1: talked about this in the pot the other day, like
Speaker 1: a D is this a D is this neutralizing effect
Speaker 1: for for Gobert that that throws the whole series off
Speaker 1: and they just don't have the wing defenders to guard Lebron.
Speaker 1: And then you look at the Nuggets, It's like their
Speaker 1: greatest action that they run is like a Yo Kitchen
Speaker 1: Murray pick and roll, and it works because they're so
Speaker 1: different in their size that teams can't switch it. With
Speaker 1: the Lakers and and uh, Lebron and Navy are just
Speaker 1: gonna switch that action and shut them down. And they
Speaker 1: have the problem of having to put Aaron Gordon on
Speaker 1: either Lebron or a D which leaves Michael Porter Jr.
Speaker 1: To have to guard either Lebron or a D which
Speaker 1: is just a huge mismatch for them. And we went
Speaker 1: down that and go any further, but we went down
Speaker 1: the list with all those other guys. With the Clippers,
Speaker 1: you can actually kind of draw out how they would
Speaker 1: guard the Kers, and you can see how they kind
Speaker 1: of do like a more coherent version of what the
Speaker 1: Nets do where they switch everything, but they have like
Speaker 1: less weakness on the floor. So I've always believed that
Speaker 1: they presented threat as far as the Rondo signing goes. Like,
Speaker 1: you know, I we all had to eat our words
Speaker 1: a little bit with the Rondo stuff because he was
Speaker 1: so bad for two entire regular seasons. He had good
Speaker 1: moments in the playoffs, but that kind of took on
Speaker 1: a life of its own and became this huge narrative
Speaker 1: that he had, you know, somehow become like the third
Speaker 1: member of this big three. And I think that that
Speaker 1: was totally ridiculous because he's still The thing with Rondo
Speaker 1: is that he for every night that he has where
Speaker 1: he's transcendent offensively, he has another night where he's completely inept,
Speaker 1: and then defensively he is the number one, like the
Speaker 1: most likely candidate to throw your defense off by being
Speaker 1: by making his upwoard decision. He's a textbook like gambler
Speaker 1: gets himself out of position kind of like kind of
Speaker 1: at the same time slacks like he's a fifteen year superstar,
Speaker 1: but he's not a fifteen year superstar, and he quits possessions,
Speaker 1: like he there's a lot of stuff with Rondo that
Speaker 1: that comes at to negative And he went from being
Speaker 1: an absolute nightmare in the regular season to being a
Speaker 1: serviceable backup guard in the playoffs. But I think I
Speaker 1: think a lot of his impact was overstated. And and and
Speaker 1: guess what, he looks fantastic against Chris Paul the other night.
Speaker 1: He hates Chris Paul. I don't know what the deal is.
Speaker 1: He absolutely destroyed Chris Paul. That's one night, and every
Speaker 1: Laker fan out there knows what that experience is, like
Speaker 1: the one night Rondo renaissance. We've all seen it. And
Speaker 1: then and then they'll disappear into the ether for the
Speaker 1: next week and they may win or lose in the
Speaker 1: in these games, but like, like Rondo's gonna have some
Speaker 1: really bad ones mixed in there, you know, like, and
Speaker 1: it will never be the story, right. And I think
Speaker 1: the most interesting to me thing about the Clippers of
Speaker 1: the zoo Bog chrisions Staredge, because I think zoo bo
Speaker 1: Is actually is better and he should be starting. But
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know what happens when Serge Bobby
Speaker 1: gets back. He's a guy that Lebron has picked on
Speaker 1: in playoff series in the past, and has has really
Speaker 1: struggled against Lebron as a guy that is going to
Speaker 1: try to defend in space, He's obviously gonna spread out.
Speaker 1: He gives them that three point shooting. But I think
Speaker 1: that's a fascinating thing that they'll be able to. UM.
Speaker 1: Kind of they'll have to decide once the playoffs comes around,
Speaker 1: because he's he's really picked up their defense. But we're
Speaker 1: we're past an hour here, UM, and I guess that
Speaker 1: no one, no one wants to speak or try to
Speaker 1: request to speak. UM. There's just one last question here
Speaker 1: that's kind of funny to me. Shot out. DJ mcindogg says,
Speaker 1: in the summer of if Lebron goes to Golden State,
Speaker 1: how many ring does he have now and what team
Speaker 1: and what team is not at this moment if that happens,
Speaker 1: so I guess they have Steph Clay Iggy, and then
Speaker 1: I guess Lebron joins that team somehow. I don't think.
Speaker 1: I don't think the cap spiked yet during that season,
Speaker 1: so but again done some kind of like signing trade
Speaker 1: something like that. I have a really hard time figuring
Speaker 1: that kind of thing out because I think Lebron is
Speaker 1: all about the narrative. And you know, like notice when
Speaker 1: he went to Cleveland, even though there was a clear
Speaker 1: basketball x's and those things, he went when they were
Speaker 1: in a playoff team, so he knew that he'd get
Speaker 1: credit for their success. Right, Like it became Lebron took
Speaker 1: this perennial loser Kyrie Irving and turned him into a winner.
Speaker 1: Lebron took this perennial loser and Kevin Love and turn
Speaker 1: him into winner. And then there was the coming home
Speaker 1: part of it. Well, the Lakers is the same thing.
Speaker 1: It was like Lebron is resurrecting this this this historic
Speaker 1: franchise that has completely gone to ship and they're terrible
Speaker 1: and and he and now like Lebron is literally regarded
Speaker 1: as the person who fixed the Lakers, you know, like
Speaker 1: like he's all about the narrative. And if there's one
Speaker 1: thing that Kevin Durant screwed up, you know, because Kevin
Speaker 1: dur had the team part down. Like Kevin Durrant knows
Speaker 1: how to put himself in a position where he's on
Speaker 1: a kid gas basketball team that's just almost guaranteed to
Speaker 1: win that he's better at that than Lebron on But
Speaker 1: Kevin Durrett has completely butchered the narrative part of it,
Speaker 1: like completely butchered it. Like he he has completely put
Speaker 1: himself in the position where he's experiencing the exact opposite
Speaker 1: effect of those Lebron narratives. It's it's, you know, I
Speaker 1: joined this powerhouse team and and they had already won
Speaker 1: a championship. You know, we're like I went to Brooklyn
Speaker 1: and it was kind of sloppy, and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, James Harden comes on and we're beating the
Speaker 1: hell out of everybody. I'm not I'm not even playing,
Speaker 1: you know, Like he just that that narrative part ends
Speaker 1: up kind of carrying more weight because people just want
Speaker 1: to know what the story is. It's it's twenty years
Speaker 1: from now when we're sitting by a water cooler and
Speaker 1: we're happy to be talking basketball, Like, how do we
Speaker 1: tell the story of Katie's career? How do we tell
Speaker 1: the story of Lebron's career? And and like, regardless of
Speaker 1: results and regardless of all the machinations that go on
Speaker 1: behind the scenes, like there's a narrative part of it
Speaker 1: that Lebron knocked out of the park. He never would
Speaker 1: have gone to Golden State in two douzen four team
Speaker 1: for that reason. You know what I mean. Do we
Speaker 1: have any other questions that were good? I think we're good.
Speaker 1: I think I think we went and went draw shout
Speaker 1: out James san Diego, Thank you for questions, Michael um, Wholos, Rob,
Speaker 1: DJ mcindog, Mr Sli, Thank you guys all for questions
Speaker 1: for tonight. Yeah, and thanks for tuning in. Guys. Like
Speaker 1: I said, don't be don't be gun shy, hit the
Speaker 1: button and and come join us and talk some hoops
Speaker 1: next time. Um, and I'm going to immediately after closing
Speaker 1: this out, I'm gonna go onto my laptop and uh
Speaker 1: and put this into a podcast and I will release
Speaker 1: it for you guys to listen to tomorrow when it's entirety.
Speaker 1: But Roger and I are gonna try to do this
Speaker 1: every week and um, next week will we have in
Speaker 1: Jason Maple's come on as well, so that'll be fine,
Speaker 1: and then Roger and I will be bringing you a
Speaker 1: full length podcast on Friday morning as well. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys. Thanks everyone, alight, guys, have a good night.
Speaker 1: S