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Speaker 2: to hoo tonight here at the volume, Happy Tuesday, everybody.
Speaker 1: Hope all of you guys are having a great week
Speaker 1: so far.
Speaker 2: Jampack Show for you today. We're gonna go throw back style.
Speaker 2: We're just gonna do instant reaction videos. We're gonna hit
Speaker 2: on four games from the perspective of all eight teams,
Speaker 2: a very very exciting early season. Monday Night in the
Speaker 2: NBA Last night, we're gonna hit Clippers, Nicks and James
Speaker 2: Harden's debut alongside Russell Westbrook with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George,
Speaker 2: which did not go particularly well. The Minnesota Timberwolves handed
Speaker 2: the Boston Celtics their first loss of the season, and
Speaker 2: what was a highly entertaining game capped off by an
Speaker 2: Anthony Edwards barrage in the fourth quarter. Then the Lakers
Speaker 2: and the Warriors in the tail end of the show.
Speaker 2: We got the Lakers going on the road and losing
Speaker 2: back to back games last night to the Miami Heat,
Speaker 2: and then the Golden State Warriors notching a win on
Speaker 2: the tail end of a back to back in Detroit
Speaker 2: against the Pistons as Chris Paul gets his offense going
Speaker 2: all right, four games, eight teams, No mail back questions today,
Speaker 2: We'll be getting to those later in the week. You
Speaker 2: guys know the Joe before we get started, subscribe to
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Speaker 2: down and hit that subscribe button. Don't forget about our
Speaker 2: podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts under oops tonight.
Speaker 2: Social media, especially Twitter, but also TikTok and Instagram. I
Speaker 2: upload a lot of video clips on there, as well
Speaker 2: as show announcements during my film sessions. I'm basically putting
Speaker 2: every interesting clip that I find on Twitter. It's a
Speaker 2: great way to kind of follow along with my film
Speaker 2: sessions and to get a visual representation of some of
Speaker 2: the things that we talk about on the show. And
Speaker 2: the last but not least, don't forget mail bag questions.
Speaker 2: Keep dropping those in the YouTube comments so we can
Speaker 2: hit them at the end of these shows. All right,
Speaker 2: let's talk some basketball. So Clippers Nicks close game for
Speaker 2: the most part throughout until a big Nis run in
Speaker 2: the fourth quarter that put it away. Dante DiVincenzo in
Speaker 2: particular sparked the run. Had a big play at the
Speaker 2: point of attack where he got a steal and then
Speaker 2: a run out layup over Russell Westbrook, big play where
Speaker 2: he was in the left corner on a missed three
Speaker 2: on the right wing where he crashed the offensive glass
Speaker 2: cott James Harden sleeping got the offensive rebound, made a
Speaker 2: kickoff pass, sprinted all the way around to the right wing,
Speaker 2: and then knock down a three, and then he made
Speaker 2: a tightly contested corner three over James Hardy contest later on.
Speaker 1: RJ.
Speaker 2: Barrett was also big in the run. Julius Randall kind
Speaker 2: of sort of started to get his rhythm back. It's
Speaker 2: been kind of a mixed bag from the Knicks so
Speaker 2: far this year on the offensive end of the floor,
Speaker 2: especially from the standpoint of their stars, which we'll get
Speaker 2: to in a minute, but that was a big time
Speaker 2: win for the Knicks coming back in that fourth quarter
Speaker 2: to basically just slam the door shut on the Clippers.
Speaker 2: Their defense has been excellent this season. Their second in
Speaker 2: defensive rating, ninth and half court defense according to Cleaning
Speaker 2: the Glass, second best team in the league right now
Speaker 2: in defending the paint. They're allowing the second fewest points
Speaker 2: in the paint per one hundred possessions, and they are
Speaker 2: first in rebounding. Make the mistake, this team is a
Speaker 2: royal pain in the ass to deal with in the
Speaker 2: physicality areas of the game. It's their best trait. But
Speaker 2: they're three and four right now on the year in
Speaker 2: the standings in large part because of their issues on offense.
Speaker 2: They're twenty eighth in offensive rating, and it's all about
Speaker 2: shot creation. They're actually shooting the better at least from
Speaker 2: the standpoint of attacking closeouts in off ball situations than
Speaker 2: they did last year by a lot. Their tenth and
Speaker 2: spot up efficiency so far, it's not a question about
Speaker 2: finishing plays. It's a question about getting the defense into
Speaker 2: rotation and that initial bit of shot making. And like
Speaker 2: both Julius Randall and Jalen Brunson came into the year
Speaker 2: just out of rhythm, out of shape, injured. I'm not
Speaker 2: sure what the deal was, but both of them kind
Speaker 2: of came in a shell of themselves. Jalen Brunson kind
Speaker 2: of sort of got it together for a couple of games,
Speaker 2: but then he was had a rough night last night,
Speaker 2: and then Julius Randall has been like historically bad to
Speaker 2: start the year and then he finally gets it going
Speaker 2: last night, but it happens to be on the night
Speaker 2: when Jalen Brunson kind of doesn't have it going.
Speaker 1: And you know, RJ.
Speaker 2: Barrett's been good twenty two points per game on sixty
Speaker 2: percent through shooting, but almost all of that damage is
Speaker 2: being done in catch and shoot situations or attacking closeouts.
Speaker 2: He's sixty nine percent in effective field goal percentage on
Speaker 2: catch and shoot jump shots, and his converting spot up
Speaker 2: possessions at one point three to five points per possession,
Speaker 2: which is outstanding, but he's not doing much of anything
Speaker 2: at least in terms of efficiency on the ball. So
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, this NIXT team And
Speaker 2: this is basically what I've been saying for years now.
Speaker 2: But you guys remember that was the big thing going
Speaker 2: into last year's playoff run. I said, as long as
Speaker 2: Randall and Brunson can play like superstars, they're very, very
Speaker 2: very good, and at various points over the last couple
Speaker 2: of years, both of them have done so. Jalen Brunson
Speaker 2: basically produced like a superstar in the playoffs last year.
Speaker 2: That's why I had him so high in my player rankings,
Speaker 2: and Julius Randall at various points a lot last year,
Speaker 2: a lot three years ago, not so much the year
Speaker 2: in between, not so much in the playoffs last year.
Speaker 2: But Julius Randall has that capability as well. And it's
Speaker 2: like a really nice, you know, kind of like CounterPunch
Speaker 2: to what Jalen Brunson provides in terms of his ability
Speaker 2: to match up attack and get closer to the rim,
Speaker 2: do work on the offensive glass, etc. So like again,
Speaker 2: I would argue that it's a very very good foundation
Speaker 2: this year for the Knicks, and even better foundation than
Speaker 2: last year. The Dante de Vincenzo pickup has been a
Speaker 2: home run for their point of attack defense. In general,
Speaker 2: this team is just so much more physically imposing than
Speaker 2: they were last year, at least in terms of their
Speaker 2: production defensively, but they're just not getting enough out of
Speaker 2: their stars, and that's going to be the thing to
Speaker 2: keep an eye on over the course of this season
Speaker 2: for the Clippers. One pretty I didn't like the offense
Speaker 2: with James Harden. It was a lot of you know,
Speaker 2: I was talking with Sam Vessini from The Athletic about
Speaker 2: this yesterday. We went for an hour hitting a bunch
Speaker 2: of stuff. I tweeted that link out, so I highly
Speaker 2: recommend you guys check that out. Sam's great, He's gonna
Speaker 2: be coming on our show at some point in the
Speaker 2: next couple weeks too. But we were talking about how
Speaker 2: James Harden is kind of obsessed with running pick and
Speaker 2: roll with centers. I think there's a couple of specific
Speaker 2: reasons why. First of all, he likes working with really
Speaker 2: good screeners. Second of all, he likes working against drop coverage.
Speaker 2: And you're more likely to face a drop coverage against
Speaker 2: a big man than you are against a wing.
Speaker 1: Why.
Speaker 2: It's simple personnel and game plan. A lot of times
Speaker 2: a team will go out on the floor and they'll
Speaker 2: be like, hey, we're switching one through four, and when
Speaker 2: they set ball screens with the point guard, we want
Speaker 2: to hedge and recover so that we don't switch a
Speaker 2: guard on to a bigger defender.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: But then they'll be like, the big man is gonna
Speaker 2: run a drop with some sort of qualifier in terms
Speaker 2: of the level of the screen, like how far they're
Speaker 2: going up into the drop coverage as far, and then
Speaker 2: the backside help like how hard they're gonna be helping
Speaker 2: off the weak side. So there's like little details about that,
Speaker 2: but for the most part, it's gonna be a drop
Speaker 2: coverage with a big some kind of drop coverage with
Speaker 2: a big and it's gonna be some sort of like
Speaker 2: other coverage, a switch or a hedge and recover in
Speaker 2: some sort of any sort of guard guard screen or
Speaker 2: guard wing screen. So that's why Harden always kind of
Speaker 2: targets big men in his ball screens. And he ran
Speaker 2: nineteen pick and rolls in this game, resulting in twenty
Speaker 2: three points super productive one point two to one points
Speaker 2: per possession. That's what James Harden does. I just would
Speaker 2: like to eventually see him run some of that stuff,
Speaker 2: particularly with Kawhi, but also Paul George and Russ as well,
Speaker 2: just running more of the guard guard action guard wing action.
Speaker 2: Particularly Kawhi. He's so good at that like high post
Speaker 2: face up game that, Like I love the idea of
Speaker 2: almost you using him the way they used Embiid and
Speaker 2: like setting him up at the foul line. If teams
Speaker 2: run some sort of hedge and recover or drop, you're
Speaker 2: going to get wide open pocket passes to Kawhi at
Speaker 2: the foul line. If they switch it, you're putting a
Speaker 2: small onto Kawhi Leonard, Who's going to eat that person
Speaker 2: alive at the foul line. Right If you blitz James Harden,
Speaker 2: you're giving a Kawhi Leonard a four on three on
Speaker 2: the backside. So like it's just really really difficult to
Speaker 2: guard that action, and so I'd like to see them
Speaker 2: do that. But all of of the of the nineteen
Speaker 2: pick and rolls, there was one PJ. Tucker ball screen
Speaker 2: in there, and then the rest of them were all
Speaker 2: the centers Zubac, Plumb Lee and Mussa Diabate. After Plumbing
Speaker 2: got hurt, so that was just interesting. But like, for
Speaker 2: the most part, you can imagine if James Harden's going
Speaker 2: to run a big pick and roll with the center,
Speaker 2: everyone else is just kind of standing around, right, And
Speaker 2: you saw that with the starters, and then Tyler went
Speaker 2: out of his way to kind of like make sure
Speaker 2: that that James Harden got a bunch of possessions without
Speaker 2: any of the stars out there, so that he could
Speaker 2: just kind of play Harden ball, and you definite only
Speaker 2: had some success there. Harden himself looked great five for
Speaker 2: eight on jump shots. I think that's a really good
Speaker 2: sign that he has his legs underneath him. He's There
Speaker 2: were a couple in there too that were like really
Speaker 2: tough step back jump shots, including a tough step back
Speaker 2: mid range jump shot. I think there's two mid range
Speaker 2: jump shots actually, So like those are all good signs
Speaker 2: about where he's at in terms of his body. But
Speaker 2: I did I would like to see just a little
Speaker 2: bit more movement with the starters and then a lot
Speaker 2: more James Harden initiating in ball screens with the other
Speaker 2: stars in the ball screen action with him. One thing
Speaker 2: to keep an eye on the late game Hardened Snafus
Speaker 2: so There was a two plays in particular that stood
Speaker 2: out during the Knicks run when things went bad. It
Speaker 2: was an eight point game at one point, and then
Speaker 2: I mentioned the Dante DiVincenzo offensive rebound out of the
Speaker 2: left corner that led to the three on the right wing.
Speaker 2: On that play, James Harden just straight up didn't box out,
Speaker 2: like he just kind of meandered into the lane and
Speaker 2: wasn't even paying attention and and Dante DiVincenzo low around
Speaker 2: the backside for an offensive rebound. Both Harden and Russ
Speaker 2: are two of the least aware stars in the league
Speaker 2: from the standpoint of off ball tracking shooters, boxing out
Speaker 2: crashers from the perimeter or things like that. That's a weak
Speaker 2: point for them. We saw in the Laker Clipper game
Speaker 2: two times that Russell Westbrook just got beat back door
Speaker 2: because he just wasn't paying attention by D'Angelo Russell. We
Speaker 2: saw the miss box out in this particular game. There's
Speaker 2: another play where like James Harden was guarding RJ. Barrett
Speaker 2: in a ball screen on the left wing and r J.
Speaker 2: Barrett's a lefty. I tweeted this link out so you
Speaker 2: could find this link on my Twitter feed. But you
Speaker 2: can see James Harden turn completely sideways, so his body
Speaker 2: is effectively perpendicular to Barrett, and he's kind of like
Speaker 2: leaning on the Hartenstein ball screen and he's got his
Speaker 2: back turned to r J. Barrett's left hand. Now, I
Speaker 2: think what Harden's trying to do in this situation is
Speaker 2: basically get physically in position, basically with his hands on
Speaker 2: Hertenstein to quickly do a swim move to duck under
Speaker 2: the pick so he can meet r J. Barrett on
Speaker 2: the other side. Chances are they're probably in the scouting
Speaker 2: report going under against RJ. Barrett because he's shooting terribly
Speaker 2: on pull up jump shots. I think he's like three
Speaker 2: for thirteen on pull up jump shots this year, right, So,
Speaker 2: like you, that's probably what they're going for.
Speaker 1: But RJ.
Speaker 2: Barrett's also one of the best left hand drivers in
Speaker 2: the league, and so he just does a rip through
Speaker 2: to the left and beats him to the basket, makes
Speaker 2: a little floater off the glass, and it's like, this
Speaker 2: is the thing. When you've got Kawhi Leonard and Paul George,
Speaker 2: it's actually very very important to have guys that are
Speaker 2: good with the dirty work. Not that Paul George and
Speaker 2: Kawhi can't contribute there, but like their top tier shot
Speaker 2: creation makes it so that the top tier shot creation
Speaker 2: of the other players on the floor is less valuable
Speaker 2: and role player contributions are more valuable. That was the
Speaker 2: interesting direction that this went and all it doesn't mean
Speaker 2: it can't work. It just means for the same thing
Speaker 2: with the Suns with Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, all
Speaker 2: of these stars have to embrace the dirty work. James
Speaker 2: Harden and Russell Westbrook are going to have to be
Speaker 2: better defensive players, better rebounders, and jenneral in terms of
Speaker 2: their off ball awareness in order for this team to
Speaker 2: reach its its eventual ceiling. But again, first game sloppy.
Speaker 2: Two NBA teams aren't practicing a lot during the regular season,
Speaker 2: so not trying to overreact to anything.
Speaker 1: Lots to be encouraged about.
Speaker 2: Just a lot of stuff that the Clippers are gonna
Speaker 2: have to sharpen up over the course of the season.
Speaker 2: Big win for the Knicks though. Knicks, though they're due
Speaker 2: for a there are a couple of wins away from
Speaker 2: getting a deep dive, especially with how good that defense is.
Speaker 2: All right, moving on to Celtics Wolves, such an unbelievably
Speaker 2: entertaining regular season game. Tatum and Ant were just battling
Speaker 2: down the stretch of the game, talking shit to each other,
Speaker 2: getting each other's faces, guarding each other one on one.
Speaker 2: I thought Tatum was magnificent down the stretch in this game,
Speaker 2: the especially in the fourth quarter. He you know, it's
Speaker 2: interesting because there was a lot to kind of look
Speaker 2: at that was like Derek White was out right. So
Speaker 2: al Horford had to start and close the game, which
Speaker 2: ended up being a big problem. Anthony Edwards basically attacked
Speaker 2: Al Horford in overtime. We're gonna talk about that. So,
Speaker 2: like from the basketball standpoint, it's a loss. There were
Speaker 2: some issues with the late game offense, again mainly in overtime,
Speaker 2: just shot selection, a little bit of like your turn,
Speaker 2: my turns. Like there was a Drew Holliday just didn't
Speaker 2: have it going and he just co opted an overtime
Speaker 2: possession to try to bully Mike Condly to the rim
Speaker 2: and he missed the shot. But like that's the thing
Speaker 2: with Drew Holliday, Like he's kind of prone to those
Speaker 2: four for sixteen type of knights. You know, So a
Speaker 2: lot of negative with Boston, But I was so impressed
Speaker 2: by Jason Tatum strictly from the standpoint of how well
Speaker 2: he handled the Jaden McDaniels matchup. Because Jade McDaniels, in
Speaker 2: my opinion, is the best perimeter defender in the league.
Speaker 2: That's something that I've kind of come around on over
Speaker 2: the course of the start of the season. And in
Speaker 2: addition to that, like the outstanding rim protection of that
Speaker 2: Minnesota Timberwols team, for him to consistently kind of get
Speaker 2: to his spots, he's put on so much muscle. It's
Speaker 2: another thing we talked about with Sam Vessini, this idea
Speaker 2: of like Tatum just kind of turning into a bigger
Speaker 2: and stronger player and how that has allowed him to
Speaker 2: not only compete defensively and on the glass, but to
Speaker 2: dislodge players when he's fighting for a position. There were
Speaker 2: two players I put both of these on my Twitter
Speaker 2: feed where Tatum was able to like drop his shoulder
Speaker 2: and like bump Jaden McDaniels off and get really quality
Speaker 2: looks at mid range jump shots, which are like really
Speaker 2: reliable shots to go to at the end of games
Speaker 2: when things really bogged down and it's hard to generate openings.
Speaker 2: So like really really impressive down the stretch from Tatum
Speaker 2: as he brought the Timberwolves kind of back into things
Speaker 2: after the excuse me, the Celtics back into things after
Speaker 2: the Timberwolves went up by seven or so in the
Speaker 2: fourth quarter. But then Ant just took over the game
Speaker 2: in overtime. It's funny because he got several of the
Speaker 2: same looks at the end of regulation on full of
Speaker 2: jump shots and he missed them, but then he got
Speaker 2: them in overtime and he made them all and like
Speaker 2: a pretty consistent theme. Get into a ball screen and
Speaker 2: then take advantage of Val Horford being on his heels,
Speaker 2: either in a drop coverage or in a switch. Now again,
Speaker 2: in both situations, Al Horford has to give ground. And
Speaker 2: that's also in the scouting report. You'd rather see to
Speaker 2: pull up jump shot to Anthony Edwards. He's shooting really,
Speaker 2: really well. We're gonna talk about that in a minute,
Speaker 2: but in terms of the scouting report, that's just the
Speaker 2: best option. If you can get Ant to settle, you've
Speaker 2: done your job as a defensive player.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: Al Horford has to give up too much ground and
Speaker 2: and it was just rising up into these quality pull
Speaker 2: up jump shots over the top, and he just made
Speaker 2: them all in ot aside from one kind of you know,
Speaker 2: random prayer that he heaved up at the very end, right.
Speaker 2: But you know what's funny is I talked a lot
Speaker 2: about what got me excited about this Minnesota Timberwolves team
Speaker 2: coming into this season. I talked about it with Chris
Speaker 2: Mannix from here at the Volume.
Speaker 1: We did a whole thing.
Speaker 2: I told him I thought the Wolves were going to
Speaker 2: be a top five defense, and he disagreed with me.
Speaker 2: A lot of people were down on the Wolves in general,
Speaker 2: but like to me, it's just a simple combination of
Speaker 2: like what Anthony Edwards, Jada McDaniels, Kyle Anderson, Nikhil, Alexander Walker,
Speaker 2: what those guys are capable of as perimeter defenders alongside
Speaker 2: true rim protection in Rudy Gobert sets the stage for
Speaker 2: what can be a truly dominant defense, and the Wolves were.
Speaker 2: They had a one toh one defensive rating, first in
Speaker 2: the NBA after last night, eighty two points per one
Speaker 2: hundred half court possessions. That's first in the NBA per
Speaker 2: cleaning the glass, fourth in paint points allowed per one
Speaker 2: hundred possessions, so they're locking down the paint. Sixty two
Speaker 2: percent opponent shooting in the restricted area, that's sixth best
Speaker 2: in the NBA. They forced the tenth most turnovers per
Speaker 2: one hundred possessions. They have allowed the tenth fewest three
Speaker 2: pointers made per one hundred possessions. They have allowed the
Speaker 2: third lowest opponent three point percentage. They are ninth in rebounding,
Speaker 2: so they're basically top ten in every major defensive category.
Speaker 2: The one area of opportunity is transition defense. They're in
Speaker 2: that bottom third kind of in that like fifteen to
Speaker 2: twenty range, So that's the one area of opportunity. Not
Speaker 2: to be not too shocked by that, just simply by
Speaker 2: the fact that they're playing a two big system, especially
Speaker 2: with Nasried kind of cycling through there. So with two
Speaker 2: bigs on the floor most of the time, you're gonna
Speaker 2: struggle in transition just in terms of foot speed. But
Speaker 2: they've been really, really good defensively. Now offense, you don't
Speaker 2: need them to be great if they're gonna be that
Speaker 2: great on defense, you just need them to be good enough,
Speaker 2: and then you need aunt to carry you home and
Speaker 2: crunch time. Eighteenth in offense, that's been good. That's the
Speaker 2: identity right all world defense, good enough on offense with
Speaker 2: aunt carrying you home. I told you guys before the season,
Speaker 2: I really wanted to see Anthony Edwards weaponize his driving, rim, pressure, gravity,
Speaker 2: whatever you want to call it, more this year as
Speaker 2: a passer, and it was really encouraging to me to
Speaker 2: see him make a couple of really good late game
Speaker 2: reads to Jada McDaniels on the weak side. There was
Speaker 2: one on the left wing where he was or left
Speaker 2: corner where he was isolating Chris tops Porzingis and got
Speaker 2: him to leave his feet on a pump bake, ripped
Speaker 2: through to the right into the middle and hit Jada
Speaker 2: McDaniels in the shooting pocket for a big time three
Speaker 2: point shot on the right wing. And then there was
Speaker 2: another one that actually tied the game lad where he
Speaker 2: just drove hard to his right and Jada McDaniels was
Speaker 2: in the corner and he drew strong side corner help,
Speaker 2: which you're definitely not supposed to do for the Celtics.
Speaker 2: But again, that's the type of a ring gravity than
Speaker 2: Anthony Edwards has easy swing pass to Jada McDaniels for
Speaker 2: another big three pointer and so like that to me
Speaker 2: is a great indicator of just some of the bigger
Speaker 2: lessons that Anthony Edwards is learning about how to make
Speaker 2: the game easier on himself. Like, dude, you're a freak.
Speaker 2: You're one of the best players in the league, and
Speaker 2: everyone's going to overreact to what you're doing. So if
Speaker 2: you can weaponize that to make good reads and generate
Speaker 2: quality shots, it's going to help your team in the
Speaker 2: big picture. And then it kind of helps you get
Speaker 2: single coverage opportunities more frequently laid in the game for
Speaker 2: you to be able to knock down shots. Jay McDaniel's
Speaker 2: big late game isolation move on Christops Porzingis into the lane.
Speaker 2: Christops kind of tripped. It looked like he stepped on
Speaker 2: Gobear's foot as he was kind of backpedaling into the lane.
Speaker 2: But that's kind of thing, you know, like you take
Speaker 2: take him off the dribble and get him into traffic
Speaker 2: where it's a little bit more difficult for him to navigate.
Speaker 2: And Jada McDaniels, this is really good with that little
Speaker 2: pop shot, that little kind of short range pull up
Speaker 2: jump shot. He's seven for thirteen this year on catch
Speaker 2: and shoot jump shots and six for twelve on pull
Speaker 2: up jump shots. So getting some big time offensive contribution
Speaker 2: from Jada McDaniels and with everything he does defensively, that's
Speaker 2: really really exciting on the Celtics front. Again, a little
Speaker 2: bit of an example of what they can deal with
Speaker 2: in terms of a lack of depth when one of
Speaker 2: their five core guys gets hurt. Not that Horford's not
Speaker 2: a good depth piece there, but he's certainly a drop
Speaker 2: in terms of overall athleticism, right, And like, no matter
Speaker 2: who they put in that fifth spot when guys are out,
Speaker 2: it's going to be someone who's either a really good
Speaker 2: offensive player with defensive limitations or a guy who's a
Speaker 2: decent athlete that has offensive limitations. And it ended up
Speaker 2: being the entry point for Anthony Edwards to target. So
Speaker 2: it just goes to show you how health is going
Speaker 2: to be an important factor for the Celtics this year.
Speaker 2: Really really encouraged by Jason Tatum's play overall, just continuing
Speaker 2: to play like an MVP.
Speaker 1: They use him as.
Speaker 2: A screener a lot down the stretch of this game,
Speaker 2: which I thought was interesting. With Drew Holliday, there was
Speaker 2: a play where he got the ball in a short
Speaker 2: roll and threw the ball out of bounds, and instead
Speaker 2: of going away from that action, they just went right
Speaker 2: back to it. The second time they ran it, Anthony
Speaker 2: Edwards tagged Tatum as the roller, which left Jalen Brown
Speaker 2: wide open in the corner for the three that actually
Speaker 2: put the Celtics up by three late, the one that
Speaker 2: before Jada McDaniels tied it. It's actually a great example of, like,
Speaker 2: you know, just how easy offense can be for the
Speaker 2: Celtics when Tatum's involved, and how they don't necessarily have
Speaker 2: to generate rim pressure through the ball.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: So, like we think about Tatum beating people off the dribble,
Speaker 2: drawing multiple defenders and kicking, but one of the best ways,
Speaker 2: and we talked about this a lot last year too,
Speaker 2: but one of the best ways for the Celtics to
Speaker 2: start their offense is Tatum's slipping ball screens because he's
Speaker 2: just such a good passer out of that short role.
Speaker 2: He didn't even make a pass on this play, but
Speaker 2: the defense reacted to him, which is what generated the
Speaker 2: opening for Jalen Brown out of the week side corner.
Speaker 2: So again, like no one's going undefeated this year, it's
Speaker 2: a tough road game against the best defense in the
Speaker 2: league and one of the best young players in the league.
Speaker 2: Celtics dropped this one, but I thought they impressed in
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Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: A couple quick hitters on Warriors Pistons and Lakers heat.
Speaker 2: So a classic kind of Warriors physical dominance game in
Speaker 2: Detroit against the Pistons. Again, seventeen offensive rebounds leading to
Speaker 2: twenty six second chance points allowed them to overcome a
Speaker 2: kind of a pedestrian offensive game from Klay Thompson and
Speaker 2: Andrew Wiggins. Those two guys combined for just twenty one points.
Speaker 2: Andrew Wiggins is in a little bit of slump. He's
Speaker 2: averaging eleven points per game after averaging seventeen the previous
Speaker 2: two years for Golden State, shooting just eighteen percent from three.
Speaker 2: I went on with Steiny and Guru in San Francisco
Speaker 2: this morning and we were talking about it, and they
Speaker 2: asked me what they think is going on with Andrew
Speaker 2: or what I think is going on with Andrew Wiggins,
Speaker 2: And I don't really see too much schematically. It's just
Speaker 2: to me the kind of convoluted nature of the rotation,
Speaker 2: as Moses Moody, and Andrew and Jonathan Kaminga have been
Speaker 2: getting more minutes, even Gary Payton kind of getting a
Speaker 2: lot of the closing reps instead of Andrew Wiggins, so
Speaker 2: his minutes are a little bit more sporadic, a little
Speaker 2: less consistent, and I think that, in common with Kaminga,
Speaker 2: just truly playing well has affected his confidence. Like once again,
Speaker 2: down the stretch of that game, big play Steph and
Speaker 2: Jonathan kmena pick and roll on the left wing.
Speaker 1: He gets a switch.
Speaker 2: Steph trusts Jonathan Kaminga in a fourth quarter close game
Speaker 2: to take his smaller matchup down to the block, feed
Speaker 2: him on the post. He just hits him with the dribble,
Speaker 2: move into the lane and makes a little shot over
Speaker 2: the top like that. Kamina's just playing really well and
Speaker 2: playing super confident and playing free. And Andrew Wiggins is
Speaker 2: playing kind of timid. I think you see it a
Speaker 2: lot when he's attacking the rim too. I think he's
Speaker 2: just kind of not going up with that same ferocity
Speaker 2: that we're accustomed to seeing from him. Right I don't
Speaker 2: think it's necessarily a big picture concern. It's just something
Speaker 2: that's happening right now and something to keep an eye on.
Speaker 2: Over the course of the season. Andrew Wiggins was the
Speaker 2: second best player on the championship team. He needs to
Speaker 2: get his confidence back doesn't really matter if kaminga blossoms.
Speaker 2: If you're starting three, man is a shell of himself.
Speaker 2: So something to keep an eye on. We just talked
Speaker 2: yesterday about Chris Paul as a score, right, So they
Speaker 2: lose to Cleveland, and a big factor in that was
Speaker 2: the twin rim protectors sagging back into the paint. They
Speaker 2: forced the I think Golden State shot something crazy like
Speaker 2: twelve for thirty one in the paint and got absolutely
Speaker 2: demolished in the paint on both ends of the floor. Right,
Speaker 2: So it was like a big problem in that particular game.
Speaker 2: And that, to me is the closest thing we've seen
Speaker 2: in this regular season to what the Lakers series was
Speaker 2: like rail rim protection ignoring your non shooters sagging into
Speaker 2: the paint and then top locking and denying all of
Speaker 2: your off ball action, which is going to force guys
Speaker 2: to back cut into your rim protection.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: So, like that's the issue we saw and how did
Speaker 2: the Warriors counter that in the playoffs? A lot of
Speaker 2: spread pick and roll with Steph Curry, right, And so
Speaker 2: you know, Chris Paul struggled again to score in that
Speaker 2: particular game and really for the entire season coming into
Speaker 2: last night, was really struggling to score the basketball, and like,
Speaker 2: that's where you need Chris, that specific matchup. That's why
Speaker 2: you got Chris. You got Chris for the top tier
Speaker 2: rim protection teams that are going to be a bad
Speaker 2: matchup for the Golden State offense as another guy who
Speaker 2: can score the damn basketball and take pressure off of
Speaker 2: Steph Curry, who can get a little fatigued when he's
Speaker 2: the only guy on the team who can put the
Speaker 2: ball in the basket, right, And so that's just something
Speaker 2: to keep an eye on, right. Well, Chris last night
Speaker 2: in the Pistons game kind of got it going as
Speaker 2: a scorer six for nine from the field for seventeen points.
Speaker 2: More in line with what you're hoping for in production
Speaker 2: from Chris. Had a huge late bucket on a face
Speaker 2: up in the right corner. Thought it was big time
Speaker 2: that Steph kind of trusted him and kind of prodded
Speaker 2: him to shoot the ball. It goes to show you
Speaker 2: that Steph wants this, he wants Chris to try to
Speaker 2: get some buckets and ended up elevating over the top
Speaker 2: and knocking down a big mid range jump shot out
Speaker 2: of the short corner. I thought that was an encouraging
Speaker 2: game from Chris Paul. And then the crunch time defense
Speaker 2: that was an issue a lot in the even though
Speaker 2: they were winning, that was an issue where they were
Speaker 2: kind of going bucket for bucket down the stretch of
Speaker 2: these games. And then finally Clay gets the last shot,
Speaker 2: makes it. Finally Steph gets the last shot and makes it. Well,
Speaker 2: last night, eighty defensive rating in crunch time against Detroit
Speaker 2: that got stops. That's a good encouraging sign of where
Speaker 2: the Warriors are heading in their crunch time defense. The
Speaker 2: Piston's not gonna talk too much about it right now, obviously,
Speaker 2: just with the jam Pack, Slate didn't have too much
Speaker 2: time to dive into them today. I do want to
Speaker 2: eventually hit on them because they've got three young players
Speaker 2: that have been pretty exciting this year. Asar Thompson has
Speaker 2: been one of the best perimeter defenders in the league
Speaker 2: early in the season. Obviously extremely small sample size, but
Speaker 2: he's just an unbelievably laterally quick athlete with the uncanny
Speaker 2: ability to navigate screens. Kay Cunningham has looked like the
Speaker 2: giant playmaking forward that we've all kind of hoped he
Speaker 2: would be, and then Killian Hayes is having a really
Speaker 2: good season in terms of playmaking and taking care of
Speaker 2: the basketball. Shot the ball well yesterday as well, which
Speaker 2: is encouraging because he hasn't shot the ball well in
Speaker 2: his career.
Speaker 1: So exciting. Young Pistons team.
Speaker 2: Try to find some time to talk about them in
Speaker 2: the coming weeks, all right, Moving on to Lakers heat.
Speaker 1: So the heat followed.
Speaker 2: The game plan against the Lakers is kind of a
Speaker 2: you know, Anthony Davis talked about this after the Magic game,
Speaker 2: but there's kind of like an existing game plan to
Speaker 2: beat the Lakers. It's crash the offensive glass, relentlessly push
Speaker 2: the ball in transition every time you get a chance,
Speaker 2: and anytime you see one of the Lakers smaller, unathletic
Speaker 2: guards on the perimeter and you have a chance to
Speaker 2: attack them because you're going to.
Speaker 1: Be able to score.
Speaker 2: And they had eleven offensive rebounds, they had twenty transition possessions.
Speaker 2: They had a steady diet of Bam Jimmy and even Jaimehawkes,
Speaker 2: you know, bullying the smaller guards and getting all the
Speaker 2: way into the basket to get to the foul line
Speaker 2: or get easy baskets.
Speaker 1: Crashing the offensive glass as well.
Speaker 2: They just did a lot of damage to the to
Speaker 2: the Lakers, but they found themselves down twelve in the
Speaker 2: middle of the fourth quarter and Dangel Russell gets ejected. Obviously,
Speaker 2: Anthony Davis hurt his hip and left the game early
Speaker 2: as well. We'll talk about that in a little bit.
Speaker 2: But they go down the stretch late with this interesting
Speaker 2: lineup with the lebron James and Austin Reeves with Cam Reddish,
Speaker 2: Tory and Prince and Christian Would and they fight back
Speaker 2: into the game and they defend extremely well, and they
Speaker 2: make it a close game late. It's one eight, one
Speaker 2: o seven with two and a half minutes left, and
Speaker 2: then neither team scored the rest of the way. I've
Speaker 2: mapped out every single possession here to kind of let
Speaker 2: you guys know, you know, separate process and results, because
Speaker 2: a lot of times people overreact to the results when
Speaker 2: basketball has a lot of you know, kind of variation
Speaker 2: in it, and sometimes you can do everything right and
Speaker 2: then not get a good result. And as long as
Speaker 2: your process is good and you continue to replicate that,
Speaker 2: then over a larger sample size you'll get more positive outcomes. Right,
Speaker 2: So first possession one eight, one seven and two and
Speaker 2: a half minutes left, Lebron James had a post up
Speaker 2: in an and one that ended up getting I think
Speaker 2: it was against Josh Richardson that ended up getting the
Speaker 2: game back to one point. So on the very next possession,
Speaker 2: the Heat run a ball screen action the Lakers defend
Speaker 2: did extremely well. Tyler Harrel throws a bad lob pass
Speaker 2: that hits the top of the backboard and the Lakers
Speaker 2: get the steal. Right, the Lakers push and transition and
Speaker 2: get a wide open three for Lebron James on the
Speaker 2: left wing. He misses it, okay, so great defense for
Speaker 2: the Lakers to force a turnover wide open three on
Speaker 2: the other end they miss okay. Next possession, Jimmy Butler
Speaker 2: challenges Christian Wood at the rim. Christian Wood gets a
Speaker 2: really good contest and he forces an air ball. Another
Speaker 2: excellent defensive possession that gets a quality stop. The Lakers
Speaker 2: pushing transition again. Kyle Lowry steps in front of Lebron
Speaker 2: and takes a charge. Kind of a winning play that
Speaker 2: Kyle Lowry's made throughout his entire career. Right they go
Speaker 2: back down the other end, Kyle Lowry shoots a pull
Speaker 2: up three over Lebron. Lebron blocks it. It's another air ball, right.
Speaker 2: The Lakers go down the other way and Austin kind
Speaker 2: of pump takes a pump fake three point shot, tough shot,
Speaker 2: really well contested. I think it was Tyler Harrow on
Speaker 2: defense in that possession or really well contested.
Speaker 1: He misses it. They go down the other way.
Speaker 2: Miami runs a another pick and roll with Tyler Harrow
Speaker 2: on the right wing, kind of similar to the Austin
Speaker 2: Reeves shot, like a shot that Tyler Harrow is capable
Speaker 2: of making, but it was heavily contested by Austin and
Speaker 2: he missed it. So two missed contested threes from the
Speaker 2: two guards for either team. Then they go down the
Speaker 2: other end, the Lakers again, still one to eight, one
Speaker 2: oh seven, less than a minute left, and Austin Reeves
Speaker 2: runs a ghost screen with Lebron and Kyle Lowry. I
Speaker 2: believe or no, Tyler Harrow is guarding Austin enhdged hard
Speaker 2: on Lebron, which gave Lebron the opportunity to throw an
Speaker 2: easy behind the back pass. Hits Austin right in the
Speaker 2: shooting pocket and it is a wide open three, and
Speaker 2: he just misses it. He just misses it right. So
Speaker 2: then the Heat go down and they forced Bam to
Speaker 2: travel at the foul line. They have him surrounded by
Speaker 2: three bodies. Another really good defensive possession for the Lakers.
Speaker 2: Lakers call time out. They appear, according to some internet
Speaker 2: slewthing to draw up a play to get Cam Reddish
Speaker 2: at three in the week side corner. Basically, Lebron beats
Speaker 2: Jimmy Butler with a hard right hand drive, knowing he's
Speaker 2: gonna draw help he does. He draws Bam at a
Speaker 2: bio and help. Lebron throws an absolutely perfect pass in
Speaker 2: the corner to Cam Reddish, hits him right in the
Speaker 2: shooting pocket and he just misses the three. So, you know,
Speaker 2: impressive win for the Heat because you followed the game plan.
Speaker 2: You left the right guy open late on that Cam
Speaker 2: reddis possession. Right. We're gonna talk more about that late
Speaker 2: game possession from the same point of the Lakers in
Speaker 2: a few minutes. But you followed the game plan, You
Speaker 2: did the things that you have to do to beat
Speaker 2: the Lakers. Took advantage of Anthony Davis being out of
Speaker 2: the game late, built a big enough lead for you
Speaker 2: to be able to withstand that late run and get
Speaker 2: a win the matchup. Attacking Jimi Hawk has nine points
Speaker 2: on five post ups in ISOs so far this year,
Speaker 2: two for three on handoffs as well, so he's doing
Speaker 2: a really nice job in the Heat system, getting downhill
Speaker 2: and using his strength to get to little shots close
Speaker 2: to the basket. He is three for thirteen on unguarded
Speaker 2: threes though, that's one thing to keep an eye on.
Speaker 2: With Iime two wins in a row for the Heat,
Speaker 2: They're up to three and four now twenty sixth in
Speaker 2: offense all shot creation stuff. They're twenty fourth in pick
Speaker 2: and roll efficiency, twenty first in ISO efficiency. They're actually
Speaker 2: shooting the ball well in spot up situations this year,
Speaker 2: at least attacking closeouts. It's just their shot creation is
Speaker 2: always going to be an issue until whenever they decide
Speaker 2: to make a trade and get more offensive firepower in
Speaker 2: the room. We are going to do a deep dive
Speaker 2: on the Miami Heat soon. I'm not going to go
Speaker 2: too much further on them, or not going to go
Speaker 2: any further on them today. On the Laker front, the
Speaker 2: final play, so again, you have to think first of
Speaker 2: all Lebron James. Over the course of his career has
Speaker 2: there a certain benefit of the doubt, especially when it
Speaker 2: comes to making the right play. Like similar situation against
Speaker 2: the Minnesota Timberwolves in the play in game last year,
Speaker 2: Lebron makes the exact same play, a driving kickout pass
Speaker 2: to Dennis Schroeder in the left corner.
Speaker 1: He makes the shot, and.
Speaker 2: If it wasn't for Anthony Davis spouling the three point
Speaker 2: shooter on the next possession, that would have ended the game.
Speaker 2: They ended up winning an ot anyway. But the point
Speaker 2: is is like, effectively, what should have been a game
Speaker 2: winner generated the exact same way, and no one ever
Speaker 2: complains when it goes in because, like I talked about earlier,
Speaker 2: team people tend to play the results, and it's easy
Speaker 2: in retrospect to be like, oh, he should have thrown
Speaker 2: it to christian Wood underneath the basket. Well, Haywood high
Speaker 2: Smith was right behind christian Wood and could have easily
Speaker 2: just thrown his arm up and reached from behind and
Speaker 2: poked that ball free. You throw a lob up at
Speaker 2: the basket, it's a high degree of difficulty pass. Maybe
Speaker 2: christian Wood isn't prepared for it because maybe he's boxing out.
Speaker 2: Maybe you know, maybe high Smith pushes him a little
Speaker 2: bit as he jumps up and he fails to kind
Speaker 2: of gather the basketball. You know, I saw some people
Speaker 2: saying like, oh, Lebron should have just shot it in
Speaker 2: hopes that christian Wood gets a gets a offensive rebound. Well,
Speaker 2: Bam sold out on the closeout. There's a chance that
Speaker 2: he shoots that and just gets blocked, right because Bam,
Speaker 2: like Hard helped coming over. I thought, maybe, okay, what
Speaker 2: if Lebron spins off of Jimmy on that hard drive
Speaker 2: and takes a little right shoulder fade. Yeah, I would
Speaker 2: probably like to see him do that as well. But
Speaker 2: Kyle Lowry was there on the left wing, and if
Speaker 2: Lebron spins back, Kyle Lowry very likely doubles and it
Speaker 2: still leads to a kickout for three in all likelihood. Right, So,
Speaker 2: like at the end of the day, you generated a
Speaker 2: wide open three, And the only thing that I would
Speaker 2: say schematically that I would do different is that's textbook
Speaker 2: lowman help. Right, So when Lebron beats Jimmy, Bam comes
Speaker 2: over off of christian Wood and Hard helps, high Smith
Speaker 2: has to come in and basically start to contend physically
Speaker 2: with Christian Wood underneath the basket. Right, that leaves the lowman.
Speaker 2: The lowman high Smith is guarding Cam Reddish in the quarter.
Speaker 2: It's an easy kickout pass.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: What I would do in that situation is I would
Speaker 2: have just inverted Toryan Prince and Cam Reddish, put Cam
Speaker 2: Reddish on the left wing, Toryan Prince in the corner.
Speaker 2: That way, when you make that kickout pass, it's for
Speaker 2: just a much better three point shooter, because Cam Reddish
Speaker 2: is just, even in his best day, an inconsistent three
Speaker 2: point shooter. So again, and part of that too is
Speaker 2: like personnel, Like is cam Redis she even gonna be
Speaker 2: out there in a late game situation when the team
Speaker 2: is healthy? No, So, like I think it's one of
Speaker 2: those things where obviously a loss is a loss. Three
Speaker 2: and four is objectively bad for the Lakers at this point.
Speaker 2: We're gonna talk about it more here in a minute.
Speaker 2: But like, I wouldn't get overly hung up on a
Speaker 2: game where Anthony Davis was out, you know, toring excuse me,
Speaker 2: Jared Vanderbilts out, Ruy Ho Chimura's out, gave Vincent's out,
Speaker 2: Jackson Hayes's out, Anthony Davis goes down with an injury,
Speaker 2: so like you're psychologically hurt by that, and you claw
Speaker 2: all the way back to get it within one to
Speaker 2: two and a half minutes left. You play perfect defense
Speaker 2: and basically shut the heat down on all five possessions
Speaker 2: down the stretch, while you generate three wide open threes
Speaker 2: and the other two possessions were a pump fake three
Speaker 2: that Austin Reeves is capable of making and a Lebron
Speaker 2: transition drive that Kyle Lowry took a charge that usually
Speaker 2: amounts to more than a point per possession. So you
Speaker 2: executed well, you did everything you were supposed to do,
Speaker 2: and you just lost, which is something that can happen
Speaker 2: in one small sample size, especially when you spot the
Speaker 2: other team a twelve point lead in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2: So I think, like, really, hyper focusing on that one
Speaker 2: possession and one decision from Lebron in an eighty two
Speaker 2: game season, especially with his pedigree, is just missing the
Speaker 2: bigger picture for what was actually kind of an encouraging
Speaker 2: late game flurry from the Lakers, who continued to play
Speaker 2: pretty damn well when Lebron James is on the floor
Speaker 2: this season. But that said, the Lakers do have some issues.
Speaker 2: I want to quickly kind of jump into him real
Speaker 2: quick defensive rebounding. They give up the third most second
Speaker 2: chance points allowed in the league per one hundred possessions.
Speaker 2: That's a problem. They're giving up eighteen points per game
Speaker 2: second chance points. But again, all the forwards are out.
Speaker 2: Ruy Hachimura is out, Jared Vanderbilts out, Torrian Prince was
Speaker 2: out until this game.
Speaker 1: Like, they just.
Speaker 2: Don't have the like you need in order to contend
Speaker 2: in long rebound situations athletes, and outside of Lebron James
Speaker 2: and Anthony Davis, they're playing deep down the bench athletes.
Speaker 2: It's a lot of Christy, It's a lot of the
Speaker 2: came braddish guys that are probably not going to be
Speaker 2: in the rotation when this team is healthy. So like, again,
Speaker 2: it's an issue in the short term, I don't think
Speaker 2: necessarily it's going to be an issue in the long term,
Speaker 2: at least not a significant issue. Like when they're healthy
Speaker 2: and they have Jared Vanderbilt, Ruey Hotchumer out there, I
Speaker 2: think they're going to be in a lot better shape
Speaker 2: on the glass right. Secondly, guard athleticism, there was a
Speaker 2: play I clipped and put on there where Jimihawk has
Speaker 2: came off of a dribble handoff and Dilo met him
Speaker 2: right around the semi circle and him A just pounded
Speaker 2: into a spin move and just knocked Dil out of
Speaker 2: the way and just made an easy right handed layup.
Speaker 2: There was another him Mayhawk has drive on Austin Reeves
Speaker 2: in the first half where he kind of got into
Speaker 2: the lane, embodied him and made a little hook shot
Speaker 2: over the top. The Jimmy Butler was attacking Austin in
Speaker 2: the post as well. That's an issue, and like there's
Speaker 2: something to be said about And this is why I
Speaker 2: think all signs point to a D'Angelo Russell trade at
Speaker 2: some point during the season. You can't have both both
Speaker 2: of your guards be skill on ball shot creators that
Speaker 2: struggle in the athleticism parts of the game. Not Austin's
Speaker 2: actually better than Delo at both. He's a better shot creator,
Speaker 2: he's a better off ball player, and he's a better
Speaker 2: defensive player. So like to me, rather than having that redundancy,
Speaker 2: you move D'Angelo Russell for an athletic guard. That's why
Speaker 2: I've pitched that stupid uh D'Angelo Russell and Ruey Hotcha
Speaker 2: Mura in a first round pick for Demarta Rosen in
Speaker 2: Alex Caruso trade because it brings in that athlete that
Speaker 2: you can put next to Austin in Alex Caruso, that
Speaker 2: can be like a legitimate defensive weapon that can hang
Speaker 2: better in those areas of the game, right, and then
Speaker 2: Demarta Rosen gives you an option if you can play
Speaker 2: the three or maybe he gets in there, and even
Speaker 2: Demarta Rosen will have a better chance to contend physically
Speaker 2: in those situations if Alex comes off the bench.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: So like that's again and that's a long shot trade
Speaker 2: because Alex Cruso is going to be highly sought after
Speaker 2: around the league and the Lakers will probably have to
Speaker 2: bid for him. The same thing goes for Demarta Rosen.
Speaker 2: But that I'm just I'm just kind of using that
Speaker 2: Chicago trade as an example of the archetype that they
Speaker 2: should be looking for, trying to partner Austin with a
Speaker 2: bigger athletic guard that excels in an off ball, dirty
Speaker 2: work role. If they can get that, then everything's they'll
Speaker 2: build do better on the defensive glass, they'll do better
Speaker 2: at the point of attack, it'll simplify the order of operations. Like,
Speaker 2: they're just better when Austin plays too. I put the
Speaker 2: numbers today, but like they they were down twelve when
Speaker 2: DLO went out of that game and Austin and Lebron
Speaker 2: brought them back. You know, like they were just spamming
Speaker 2: ghost screens down the stretch of the game, right, So
Speaker 2: like and Lebron balls setting ball screens for Austin. So
Speaker 2: like on the season this year, when Lebron and Austin
Speaker 2: are on the floor with d LO off, they're plus
Speaker 2: like twenty something points per one hundred possessions. I posted
Speaker 2: that set on Twitter as well, So like they're just
Speaker 2: better when Austin and and Lebron run the show anyway,
Speaker 2: So I think that's the move. Eventually in the long run,
Speaker 2: they're gonna have to move off of DLO. Good player,
Speaker 2: just a redundancy on this Laker roster, and and and
Speaker 2: just kind of doesn't make sense to keep on board.
Speaker 2: The next big weakness. There's two other weaknesses I put
Speaker 2: down weeks at shooting. They missed those three wide open
Speaker 2: looks at the end of the game. They're just not
Speaker 2: shooting well. They're one of only two teams in the
Speaker 2: NBA shooting below thirty percent from three this season. Getting
Speaker 2: Ruy Hatcha Mura back will help, But like at the
Speaker 2: end of the day, guys just have to start shooting
Speaker 2: to their capability. D'angela Russell is shooting twenty eight percent
Speaker 2: from three. He shot forty one percent last year. Austin
Speaker 2: Reeves shooting thirty one percent from three. He shot forty
Speaker 2: percent last year in the regular season, forty four percent
Speaker 2: in the playoffs. Gabe Vincent is shooting seven percent from three.
Speaker 2: He shot thirty eight percent in the playoffs last year
Speaker 2: from Miami. Cam Reddish fifteen percent from three. He was
Speaker 2: thirty two percent last year. Max Christy thirteen percent from three.
Speaker 2: He was forty two percent last year. So like, these
Speaker 2: are good shooters that are just missing shots. And then
Speaker 2: even their average to below average shooters are not making anything.
Speaker 2: So like some of this is like got It's easy
Speaker 2: to sit on your couch and be like, oh, the
Speaker 2: Lakers don't have shooting. The Lakers don't have shooting. D'angela Russell,
Speaker 2: Austin Reeven, Gay, Austin Reeves, and Gabe Vincent are good shooters. Next,
Speaker 2: Christy was a good shooter last year, Ruby hotch Murrow
Speaker 2: was a good shooter. Last year's shooting okay this year
Speaker 2: already though. But the rest of those dudes just aren't
Speaker 2: making shots that they used to make. And until they do,
Speaker 2: it's gonna leave points on the board on the offensive
Speaker 2: end of the floor. It's going to be an issue.
Speaker 2: The Anthony Davis injury, I have not seen a report
Speaker 2: yet as of four point fifty Mountain time today, but
Speaker 2: it is very poor timing because Gavee. Vincent's already out,
Speaker 2: Ruby Hotchimura is already out, Jared Vanderbilt is already out.
Speaker 1: Now, Jackson Hayes has this ankle sprain. He's out.
Speaker 2: So you don't have your backup center, your second backup center,
Speaker 2: and you don't have three of your two of your
Speaker 2: most important forwards and one of your primary shot creators.
Speaker 2: So with eighty out, that's basically five of your primary
Speaker 2: rotation players being out of the lineup. That's definitely going
Speaker 2: to be an issue. But they still have a chance
Speaker 2: to compete, and you saw that at the end of
Speaker 2: the heat game. D Loo, Austin, Torrian Prince, Lebron, James
Speaker 2: Christian Wood. They all did a good job fighting back
Speaker 2: into that game. They have enough size and athleticism to
Speaker 2: at least contend with some of the smaller teams. They'll
Speaker 2: struggle in specific matchups, but it is more important than ever.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Let's say that Anthony Davis is out a month or
Speaker 2: even just two weeks, and you got to play seven
Speaker 2: eight games without him. It's really really important to get
Speaker 2: Jared Vanderbilt and Ruey Hatcher Murra back and Jackson Hayes
Speaker 2: back as soon as possible. Don't be surprised if we
Speaker 2: see some Colling Castleton in the meantime. One last nute
Speaker 2: on the Lakers. Lebron James in his last five games
Speaker 2: is averaging twenty seven points, nine rebounds, and five assists
Speaker 2: per game. He also is averaging two point eight stocks,
Speaker 2: steals plus blocks per game over that span as well.
Speaker 2: He is now up to sixty three percent true shooting
Speaker 2: for the season. He's third in the league in restricted
Speaker 2: area makes, behind Giannis and Zion. Like he always is,
Speaker 2: He's shooting seventy nine percent in the restricted area, which
Speaker 2: is higher than both of those guys. Is also up
Speaker 2: at a point per possession on jump shots, both in
Speaker 2: catch and shoot and pull up jump shot situations, and
Speaker 2: he's ten for fourteen from the floor in the clutch,
Speaker 2: second in the league in total clutch points scored. So again,
Speaker 2: even with everything that's gone wrong this season and the
Speaker 2: Lakers have not been good, I predicted Lakers would win
Speaker 2: a lot of regular season games. It has not been
Speaker 2: a good start at three and four, and it could
Speaker 2: get worse with all of the injuries, to be clear,
Speaker 2: but Lebron being this good literally matters more than any
Speaker 2: of that because all of the other problems were fixable.
Speaker 2: The same core Lakers players were very good last year,
Speaker 2: So I am aside from the Dennis Schroeder loss right,
Speaker 2: so I'm not worried about their ability to eventually play
Speaker 2: very good basketball. They are going to play very good basketball.
Speaker 2: It's just a matter or it's just a matter of when,
Speaker 2: not if, and getting the guys healthy and out there right.
Speaker 1: So like, and then the.
Speaker 2: D'Angel Russell issue that we talked about earlier, that to
Speaker 2: me can be easily fixed with the trade right, as
Speaker 2: long as it's they're picky and make the right trade right.
Speaker 2: The four depth piece has been solved obviously, You've seen
Speaker 2: as guys have been out, they've been able to at
Speaker 2: least slot in decently athletic forwards in Tourrium Princeton Camerads
Speaker 2: to kind of float in Max Christy to kind of
Speaker 2: float the ship in the short term. Right, But at
Speaker 2: the end of the day, like the one big piece
Speaker 2: that was unfixable because I did not see a possible
Speaker 2: trade and I didn't see any sort of free agent
Speaker 2: signing that could address it was over the top shot making.
Speaker 2: You needed Lebron James or Anthony Davis to play like
Speaker 2: a bona fide half court superstar, which neither of them
Speaker 2: were able to do on the offensive end in the
Speaker 2: playoffs last year. Lebron looks like he's on track to
Speaker 2: potentially be that guy again this year. If he is,
Speaker 2: that solves so many of the Lakers problems. So even
Speaker 2: with as poorly as this season has started, that's a
Speaker 2: very very encouraging start for Lebron James.
Speaker 1: All Right, guys, that is all I have for today.
Speaker 1: As always, I sincerely appreciate your support.
Speaker 2: Well, probably with no games tonight, so we'll probably come
Speaker 2: back with just a deep dive on one or two
Speaker 2: teams Tomorrow's keep an eye on the feeds and we'll
Speaker 2: hit that tomorrow. As always, I appreciate you guys, and
Speaker 2: I will see you then.
Speaker 1: The volume