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Speaker 1: see dkang dot co. Slash b ball. All right, welcome

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Speaker 1: to whom tonight. You're at the volume heavy Thursday. Everybody

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Speaker 1: hope all of you guys have had a great week

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Speaker 1: so far. Got a jam pack show for you today.

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Speaker 1: We had a crazy Wednesday night slate. We had two

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Speaker 1: fifty point games, a crazy Lebron James Tree. We'll double

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Speaker 1: a couple other guys at big time nights. So what

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Speaker 1: we're gonna do. We're gonna go over five great performances

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Speaker 1: from Wednesday so I can bounce around those games. And

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Speaker 1: then at the tail end of the show, I have

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Speaker 1: eighteen clips for a film session that I want to

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Speaker 1: go over some stuff with Karl Anthony Towns in the

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Speaker 1: way he's been unlocking things for the New York Knicks.

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Speaker 1: I want to talk about Steph Curry's just ridiculous performance

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Speaker 1: down the stretch against the Dallas Mavericks. And then at

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Speaker 1: the tail end we're gonna go over some stuff with

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Speaker 1: Giannis and how he's been using inverted ball screens to

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Speaker 1: cause problems for opposing bigs that try to guard him.

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Speaker 1: So film session at the tail end, five great performances

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Speaker 1: from Wednesday off the start, and then we're out of

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Speaker 1: here for the day. You guys have the joke before

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Speaker 1: we started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You

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Speaker 1: don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on

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Speaker 1: Twitter at underscore JCNLT so you guys don't miss you announcement.

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Speaker 1: So forget about a podcast feed. Wherever you get your

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Speaker 1: podcast under Hoops Tonight, don't forget it's helpful if you

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Speaker 1: leave you a rating and a review on that front. Also,

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Speaker 1: New social media feeds for the Hoops Tonight channel on Twitter, Instagram,

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Speaker 1: and Facebook. Make sure you guys head over there and

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Speaker 1: follow them so that when we release those reels in

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Speaker 1: different content that we release, you guys can see them there.

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Speaker 1: We're also tweeting out show links there every day and

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Speaker 1: some show announcements as well. In the last but not least,

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Speaker 1: keep dropping mail bag questions into the YouTube comments. The

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Speaker 1: questions for Friday I've already chosen, but we're gonna keep

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Speaker 1: doing mail bags on every Friday, and I go back

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Speaker 1: through the week to find questions in the YouTube comments,

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Speaker 1: So make sure you keep dropping them there for next

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Speaker 1: week's mail bag. All right, let's talk some basketball. So

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Speaker 1: five great performances from Wednesday. Let's start number one. Jannis

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Speaker 1: I'm tennant Kompo fifty nine points, fourteen rebounds, and seven assists.

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Speaker 1: Three things that I want to hit on from this

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Speaker 1: particular game. First of all, posting mismatches, doing the work

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Speaker 1: early in possessions to get the right guy that you're

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Speaker 1: trying to attack in space. Did a lot of that

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Speaker 1: with Paul Reid in the first half, right, like just

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Speaker 1: because like like one of the things we've seen with

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Speaker 1: a lot of teams with Yannis, and this has been

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Speaker 1: for a while, dating all the way back to I

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Speaker 1: remember watching a FEBA game where nikolea Jokic did a

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Speaker 1: pretty good job on Yannis, because like, if you give

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Speaker 1: him enough space to make those left right slides to

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Speaker 1: meet him at spots, and you're strong enough to absorb contact,

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Speaker 1: you can at least force him to shoot shots over

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Speaker 1: the top right. And like we've seen teams try that,

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Speaker 1: like let's put a big, huge athlete on him, sit

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Speaker 1: further back, beat him to spots and absorbed contact. Well,

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Speaker 1: there's no reason to do that if you don't have to,

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Speaker 1: if you can get him switched off of you earlier.

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Speaker 1: In possessions. The second piece of it is inverted ball screens,

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Speaker 1: and this is a concept I've talked a lot about

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Speaker 1: on this show because it the inversion is in the

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Speaker 1: defensive roles, and that is where it changes what is

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Speaker 1: strengths for two players into weaknesses. So like guards that

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Speaker 1: are guarding ball handlers are pretty used to getting screened,

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Speaker 1: so they're good at navigating screens, they're good at seeing

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Speaker 1: them coming, they're good at like preparing for screens while

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Speaker 1: also simultaneously keeping their attention on the ball handler. That's

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Speaker 1: what they do for a living. Right, screen defenders big guys,

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Speaker 1: they're really good at seeing a guy coming off of

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Speaker 1: a screen and being able to corral someone at them

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Speaker 1: in those situations. But as soon as you invert that process,

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Speaker 1: suddenly you have big guys that don't know how to

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Speaker 1: navigate screens, that don't know how to be aware of

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Speaker 1: where screens are coming from while also being aware of

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Speaker 1: the ball handler, and they can be kind of mixed

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Speaker 1: up in those situations. And then a smaller guard who

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Speaker 1: is going to struggle with someone coming heads with the

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Speaker 1: head of steam at them when they're in more of

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Speaker 1: like a drop coverage situation, or in many cases, they

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Speaker 1: don't even think to help because they're usually staying glued

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Speaker 1: to the screener because they're so fixed on the ball

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Speaker 1: handler because that's what they've been doing since they were

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Speaker 1: young basketball players. It inverts all of those roles. The

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Speaker 1: main way you saw that in this game because Gianni's

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Speaker 1: got both Jalen Dura and Isaiah Stewart with inverted ball screens.

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Speaker 1: In those situations, you're watching Duran and Stuart looking left

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Speaker 1: to right like trying to figure out where the screen

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Speaker 1: is coming from, and they're just not able to quickly

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Speaker 1: process what's happening and how to react to it. And

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Speaker 1: next thing you know, Joanna's assuming that on them at

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Speaker 1: a down pass them at full speed and it's either

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Speaker 1: a dunk or another easy kickout pass. Those inverted actions

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Speaker 1: and they did a lot with aj Green, they did

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Speaker 1: a lot with Pat Conaton in this game. Those inverted

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Speaker 1: actions just give Yannis the ability to get downhill again.

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Speaker 1: If he's attacking Isaiah Stewart in a one on one situation,

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Speaker 1: he might just give him five feet, beat him to

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Speaker 1: a spot and force him to shoot over the top.

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Speaker 1: But if you're able to get him mixing up into

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Speaker 1: screening actions, it's more than likely that he's going to

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Speaker 1: be going to be able to get more easy dribble penetration.

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Speaker 1: And then the third piece of it is the hesitation jumper.

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Speaker 1: So one of the most interesting kind of subplots of

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Speaker 1: the season. I've talked about it a few times, but

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Speaker 1: one of the most interesting subplots of the season is

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Speaker 1: that Giannis has cut way down on his three point volume.

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Speaker 1: He's taking zero point eight threes per game, which is

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Speaker 1: his lowest since twenty fifteen. But he's way more effective

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Speaker 1: from the mid range this year than he's been in

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Speaker 1: his entire career. And this is like the other piece

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Speaker 1: of it. Right in those one on one situations when

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Speaker 1: the guy's giving him tons of space to try to

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Speaker 1: beat him to the spot and absorb that contact in

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Speaker 1: the chest, that's where Yannis can actually get into that

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Speaker 1: little hesitation jumper and knock it down. And it's counterintuitive

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Speaker 1: because you think, oh, it'd be better offer Gianis to

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Speaker 1: work on threes because all he has, all he has

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Speaker 1: to do is get to thirty three percent and now

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Speaker 1: he's getting one point per shot. Well, here's the thing.

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Speaker 1: Jannis can't make threes. That's the problem. So like it

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Speaker 1: doesn't matter what any whatever analytical advantage you get or

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Speaker 1: mathematical advantage you get from taking threes, if you can't

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Speaker 1: make them. It is clear that Yannis is capable. We've

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Speaker 1: seen it various points through phases like twenty twenty one

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Speaker 1: where he shot free throws extremely well to this year

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Speaker 1: with the mid range, like he's just more comfortable with

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Speaker 1: his release in that fifteen foot range, and so like

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Speaker 1: many times last night he had fifteen points just on

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Speaker 1: off the dribble jump shots last night. So he gets

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Speaker 1: into that high hesitation and again the high hesitation. Just

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Speaker 1: imagine like it's it kind of looks a little bit

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Speaker 1: like a carry where you're like sitting in between dribbles

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Speaker 1: with the ball with your hand kind of a little

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Speaker 1: bit on the side, a little bit underneath the ball.

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Speaker 1: It is a bridge move. It's a move I teach

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Speaker 1: for my high school kids where it's like, you can

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Speaker 1: go anywhere from this move. If you're in the high hesitation,

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Speaker 1: you can rise into a jump shot. You can cross

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Speaker 1: back over to the left, you can go between the

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Speaker 1: legs to the or to the right. I should say

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Speaker 1: you can go between the legs to the right. You

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Speaker 1: can go behind the back to the right. You can

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Speaker 1: throw an in and out dribble, you can go into

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Speaker 1: a step back dribble. You can launch yourself forward into

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Speaker 1: a driving move, or you can just rise up into

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Speaker 1: a jump shot. And so it's the They call it

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Speaker 1: a hesitation move because it usually gets the defender to hesitate.

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Speaker 1: In a lot of cases, right like you're hesitating, the

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Speaker 1: defender's hesitating, everyone freezes for a second, and you have

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Speaker 1: an opportunity to rise up into a jump shot, and

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Speaker 1: so Giannis uses it almost to set his rhythm right.

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Speaker 1: The defender is playing off of him, so it's not

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Speaker 1: like Yannis needs to make some sort of move to

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Speaker 1: get to a jump shot. But a lot of times

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Speaker 1: having a move anyway that you go to will help

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Speaker 1: you set your rhythm. So, for instance, if he just

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Speaker 1: walks into a jumper, it might feel clunky and awkward,

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Speaker 1: but if he's in the gym going I took, you know,

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Speaker 1: one hundred hesitation mid range jump shots per day the

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Speaker 1: entire summer, he can ground himself mentally in a way

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Speaker 1: that goes, I'm going to sit in this hesitation dribble

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Speaker 1: and then rise up into this jump shot and it's

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Speaker 1: gonna feel like I'm in the gym by myself. And

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Speaker 1: so he's actually gotten pretty damn efficient with that shot.

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Speaker 1: He's shooting forty nine percent on off the dribble jump

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Speaker 1: shots field goal percentage overall, forty five percent on jump shots,

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Speaker 1: and he's getting zero point nine to five points per

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Speaker 1: jump shot attempt, which is by far the best of

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Speaker 1: his career. That has been a huge thing that has

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Speaker 1: helped piece together a reliable over the top game for Giannis.

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Speaker 1: This year. He's also shooting a higher percentage of hook

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Speaker 1: shots two. Although he's not using him as much as

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Speaker 1: I'd like, Giannis is playing some of the best basketball

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Speaker 1: of his career. He's absolutely hooping his ass off. It

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Speaker 1: was kind of funny last night watching Isaiah Stewart. Every

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Speaker 1: time Yiannis would make a shot in the early part

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Speaker 1: of the game, he'd throw one of those like kind

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Speaker 1: of condescending waves at him, and then Giannis just kept

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Speaker 1: making him. And then Isaiah Stewart had yet another characteristic,

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Speaker 1: complete and total breakdown on the court as he yanks

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Speaker 1: Janis out of this guy and ends up getting a

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Speaker 1: flager at two and getting ejected. But that's Isaiah Stewart

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Speaker 1: for you. A big shot. One other thing with Giannis

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Speaker 1: that I thought was really impressive last night. Sometimes, like

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Speaker 1: making simple basketball plays doesn't get the attention that it deserves.

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Speaker 1: And there were a couple of big plays in this

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Speaker 1: game where Yannis just hit Torreon prints on like swing passes,

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Speaker 1: meaning like he's dribbling at the top of the key

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Speaker 1: and Torreon's guy's kind of digging down to the nail

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Speaker 1: to try to help contain Giannis's drives, and Yanis just

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Speaker 1: rifles a swing past to Torrean prints right in the

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Speaker 1: shooting pocket, and he's able to rise up and shoot.

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Speaker 1: It's not anything special. He's not running a fancy pick

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Speaker 1: and roll and whipping a cross court pass, or like

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Speaker 1: drawing a double team and making some beautiful read It's

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Speaker 1: just simple basketball. I'm dribbling at the top of the key.

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Speaker 1: This dude's digging down into the lane. If I throw

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Speaker 1: this pass on time and on target, we can get

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Speaker 1: a three point shot. I don't have to put wear

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Speaker 1: and tear on my body. We don't have to put

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Speaker 1: everybody else through all these different screening actions. Like the

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Speaker 1: entire purpose of running a screening action or any sort

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Speaker 1: of five man action is to try to get a

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Speaker 1: close out. Here's one that's being drafted to us, just

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Speaker 1: by the way that they're guarding to Orian Prints. Let's

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Speaker 1: lean on that. Those are little things that make you

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Speaker 1: a more efficient basketball player. A lot of times we

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Speaker 1: think of dramatic improvement when it comes to improving as

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Speaker 1: a playmaker as a score. Many times it's just the

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Speaker 1: simple things. A lot of times, improving as a score

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Speaker 1: can be generating three, four, five additional easy looks a

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Speaker 1: game just by improving your basketball instincts getting open jumpers

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Speaker 1: off of a decent relocation, or running off of a screen,

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Speaker 1: or running in transition, or getting two to three back

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Speaker 1: cut layups a game just by beating overplays like they

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Speaker 1: become better scores by just finding more easy stuff. Same

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Speaker 1: thing goes with playmaking. A lot of times, it's like, oh,

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Speaker 1: like a lot of the best playmakers in the world

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Speaker 1: have four or five assists a game that are just easy.

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Speaker 1: It's like, oh, I dribbled off this ball screen and

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Speaker 1: just whipped it behind the back pass to the popping

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Speaker 1: big because he's wide open every single time that you

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Speaker 1: run a pick and pop against the drop coverage, like,

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Speaker 1: I don't need to do something surgical here, Let's just

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Speaker 1: take the easy reads that are available in the game.

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Speaker 1: And I thought that those swing passes to Torian Prince

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Speaker 1: were a classic example of that. Last night, Bucks get

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Speaker 1: two wins in a row. The Bucks are now one

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Speaker 1: point five games back of the four seed in the

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Speaker 1: Eastern Conference. This is why, with all these questions surrounding

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Speaker 1: trades for the Bucks, I've kept saying the same thing.

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Speaker 1: It is way too soon to bail on the season

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Speaker 1: for Milwaukee. It's been a disaster, no doubt, you should

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Speaker 1: feel lower on this team than you did to start

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Speaker 1: the year. They haven't looked good. I'm not trying to

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Speaker 1: change that. But this is not over. There is so

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Speaker 1: much time left. There's a lot of different things that

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Speaker 1: could go one way or another over the course of

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Speaker 1: this season. Who knows what kind of trades that could

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Speaker 1: be available to them, who could become available in the

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Speaker 1: buy out market, like, who knows what this looks like

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Speaker 1: in the long run. They're one point five games back

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Speaker 1: to the four seed, and most importantly, they're starting to

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Speaker 1: show more competitiveness. I'm seeing more fight out of them,

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Speaker 1: even in their last couple of losses. There's just more fight.

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Speaker 1: There's fight in the next game, there's fight in the

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Speaker 1: Celtics game. There's just fight coming from this team. And

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Speaker 1: look at their next eleven games. They have Charlotte, Houston, Chicago, Indiana,

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Speaker 1: Charlotte again, Miami, Washington, Detroit in Atlanta. It's completely reasonable

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Speaker 1: to think that they could be right back in the

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Speaker 1: mix of things by the end of that stretch. Second

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Speaker 1: big performance from last night, Victor Webbin Yama goes for

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Speaker 1: fifty points eighteen for twenty nine from the field all

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Speaker 1: about the jump shot. Right with Victor, he had eight threes.

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Speaker 1: Twenty eight of his fifty last night came off of

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Speaker 1: jump shots. Some of it's about action, right, like the

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Speaker 1: picking and popping again is like I've been harping on

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Speaker 1: the pick and pop. It's always open. It's literally always open.

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Speaker 1: The only time it's ever not open is if teams

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Speaker 1: don't run a traditional coverage, like if they switch or

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Speaker 1: if they rotate from the weak side. And if they

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Speaker 1: rotate from the weak side, you have easy kickout passes

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Speaker 1: for threes. And if they switch, that's where you can

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Speaker 1: get mismatches that you can look to attack, especially when

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Speaker 1: you have the type of talent that Victor wimben Yama

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Speaker 1: is right, But like when you pick and pop against

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Speaker 1: a traditional screening coverage, meaning like the big sets the screen,

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Speaker 1: the guard comes off and the big pops to the

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Speaker 1: top of the key, he's always open. It's literally always

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Speaker 1: open because of the assignments of the the guard is

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Speaker 1: chasing over the top, he's staying attached to the ball handler.

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Speaker 1: The big man is dropping and containing the ball handler.

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Speaker 1: So if the big slips out of the screen to

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Speaker 1: the top of the key. He is literally always open,

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Speaker 1: and that's why I love that action so much for centers.

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Speaker 1: That's what Carl Anthony Towns has been doing so well

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Speaker 1: with the sixers, which we'll talk about. Last night in

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Speaker 1: the Laker game, Anthony Davis once again picking pop. It's

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Speaker 1: just literally always open. And so if you have a

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Speaker 1: guy who's willing and able to take and make that shot,

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Speaker 1: it's such a thing that opens up things for your offense.

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Speaker 1: And then trailing and transition is another big one I've

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Speaker 1: talked about. I'll show you guys an example in the

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Speaker 1: film session with Carl Towns, but he did. Victor did

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Speaker 1: a lot of that last night, like trailing the play,

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Speaker 1: catching at twenty five feet and then just rising and shooting.

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Speaker 1: But the reality is is you can't do anything with Wemby.

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Speaker 1: If he's making his jump shot. The action's cool and

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Speaker 1: he gets open, sure, but like it doesn't matter if

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Speaker 1: he's open or not because the release point is too high.

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Speaker 1: And then at this point too, when you start hitting

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Speaker 1: the way Victor has been over the last couple of games,

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Speaker 1: guys start chasing him off the line. Now he can

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Speaker 1: drive closeouts. He had a bunch of baskets driving closeouts

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Speaker 1: for like dunks and stuff. Last night. This goes to

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Speaker 1: the stuff I've been talking about with Nicole Yokich all season,

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Speaker 1: like the big man shooting threes. You want to know

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Speaker 1: what else biggs don't do. Remember when we talked about

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Speaker 1: the inverted ball screens and how big guys can struggle

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Speaker 1: to navigate screening actions. You know what else? Big guys

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Speaker 1: suck at closing out because you know what, when they

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Speaker 1: were kids, they weren't closing out often to the three

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Speaker 1: point line. Most of the time. They're containing working more

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Speaker 1: about like helping behind on the back line in the paint. Right.

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Speaker 1: So guess what, there's going to be a lot of

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Speaker 1: opportunity for Victor women Yama with the Alex Sar types

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Speaker 1: of the world sprinting out at him to beat them

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Speaker 1: off the dribble and to get dribble penetration that way.

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Speaker 1: Victor had just six points in the first ten games

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Speaker 1: of the season out of spot up situations. He hit

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Speaker 1: fourteen in the last two games. And again, they're not

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Speaker 1: all just catching shoot threes. There's a lot of those

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Speaker 1: that are driving closeouts, and so like, with how high

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Speaker 1: his release point is, I just think this is really fascinating.

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Speaker 1: This is an interesting trend that I'm seeing around the league,

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Speaker 1: really athletically gifted athletes that are investing in the jump

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Speaker 1: shot as their foundation. I put down five examples Victor Wemnyama,

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Speaker 1: Jason Tatum, Anthony Edwards, Jalen Green, and Houston deeron Fox

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Speaker 1: and Sacramento. These are guys that are apex athletes in

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Speaker 1: one way or another. Victor with his insane length and

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Speaker 1: mobility for his size, Tatum with that combination of size

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Speaker 1: and strength, Ant is like freaky athletic and strong. Jalen

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Speaker 1: Green freaky athletic, dearon Fox, potentially the fastest player in

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Speaker 1: the league. These are guys that have insane physical traits

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Speaker 1: that should, in theory, be weaponized more aggressively towards the basket.

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Speaker 1: And all of those guys are taking more than ten

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Speaker 1: jump shots a game. Ant's taken over fourteen, Tatum's taken

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Speaker 1: over thirteen. They're taking tons and tons of jump shots,

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Speaker 1: and I think this is really, really fascinating. It's an

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Speaker 1: interesting trend that we're seeing around the league that these young,

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Speaker 1: freaky athletic players are investing so heavily into the jump

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Speaker 1: shot as their foundational skill, and again, I think it

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Speaker 1: mostly comes down to the analytics side of things. It's

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Speaker 1: hard to argue with the results. I mean, if Victor

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Speaker 1: Weben yam I got twenty four points at the three

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Speaker 1: point line last night on sixteen attempts, there's a point

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Speaker 1: where the math comes into your favor, Like had a

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Speaker 1: really bad jump shooting game last night, but like over

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Speaker 1: the course of the season, the jump shot is taking

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Speaker 1: a jump shot has been one of the most efficient

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Speaker 1: shots that the Minnesota Timberwolves can get this season in

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Speaker 1: any type of situation. And so again there's a conversation

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Speaker 1: to be had about like, Okay, well what about when

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Speaker 1: we get into the small sample size and like all

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Speaker 1: these dudes are taking threes and then they can go

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Speaker 1: you know again, like there's a sixty ish percent chance

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Speaker 1: that you're going to miss a shot like that in

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Speaker 1: a big situation, in a big situation at the end

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Speaker 1: of the game, And there's a complicated conversation to be

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Speaker 1: had about that. And yes, I do think these players

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Speaker 1: need balance for that reason, but I've seen a lot

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Speaker 1: of it, like Tatum's working a lot closer to the basket,

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Speaker 1: attacking mismatches in the mid range at certain points in

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Speaker 1: the games. This year, I've seen Victor webin Yama do

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Speaker 1: it when he needs to. These guys can do it.

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Speaker 1: I just think it's really interesting that these players are

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Speaker 1: investing so much in the jump shot is a foundational

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Speaker 1: skill for them. In the regular season, Victor is starting

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Speaker 1: to get it, going first nine games eighteen points and

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Speaker 1: ten rebounds on forty one percent from the field twenty

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Speaker 1: three percent from three, his last three games thirty six

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Speaker 1: and twelve on fifty nine percent from the field fifty

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Speaker 1: four percent from three, and the Spurs have won five

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Speaker 1: out of eight and are up to six and six

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Speaker 1: in the Western Conference. Man, there are a lot of

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Speaker 1: good teams out West. Number three from our five great performances.

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Speaker 1: Last night, Jatum thirty six points, nine rebounds in tennis.

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Speaker 1: That a lot of the same stuff that he's been

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Speaker 1: doing all year. He had twelve points in like straight

401
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Speaker 1: ISO situations. That's the most he's had in a game

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Speaker 1: since the Knicks game on Opening Night. He's becoming so

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Speaker 1: great at using his super strong upper body to win

404
00:19:15,359 --> 00:19:18,359
Speaker 1: leverage battles, to get dribble penetration, and then he's getting

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Speaker 1: defenders out of position and drawing a lot of fouls.

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Speaker 1: He drew two more fouls and ISO situations last night,

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Speaker 1: and then the jump shot just continues to go in

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Speaker 1: at a high clip. Twenty one of his thirty six

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Speaker 1: points last night came on jump shots. He's getting one

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Speaker 1: point zero nine points per jump shot for the whole season.

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Speaker 1: That's up from last year one point three to three

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Speaker 1: points per catch and shoot jump shot. That's insane. The

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Speaker 1: big one there is he's he's doing what I call

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Speaker 1: like a delayed closeout shot where and this almost exclusively

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Speaker 1: works for taller players, but like it's where a lot

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Speaker 1: of times when guys close out, they will close out

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Speaker 1: hands high, but then they'll sit low when they get there,

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Speaker 1: and there's like a little bit of like a hesitation

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Speaker 1: as the defender goes shot first, then worry about the

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Speaker 1: drive right. And one of the things you'll see Tatum

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Speaker 1: do is he'll catch on the perimeter and actually like

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Speaker 1: let the dude close out, but then like look down

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Speaker 1: as if he's going to drive, and then he'll just

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Speaker 1: rise up into that jump shot. So it's like it's

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Speaker 1: like a catch and shoot with just the slightest hesitation

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Speaker 1: on the catch that lets the defenders sit low in

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Speaker 1: a stance thinking he's gonna drive for second, and it

428
00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:27,000
Speaker 1: turns into a little bit of a delayed hand up

429
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,080
Speaker 1: on the shot, And as a result, he's hitting a

430
00:20:29,119 --> 00:20:31,879
Speaker 1: lot of contested ketch and shoot jump shots this year.

431
00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:34,720
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, he's hitting fifty percent of

432
00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:38,440
Speaker 1: his guarded catch and shoot jump shots this year. And

433
00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:42,000
Speaker 1: I think that's a super interesting element of like turning

434
00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:45,119
Speaker 1: like spot up situations that aren't necessarily the highest quality

435
00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:48,920
Speaker 1: spot up situations into points anyway, by weaponizing his height

436
00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:51,360
Speaker 1: and using that hesitation to get the defender to sit

437
00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:53,960
Speaker 1: down into his stance, still only getting zero point nine

438
00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:56,119
Speaker 1: to six points per off the dribble jump shot. But

439
00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:59,879
Speaker 1: I've maintained all season I do believe that Tatum. I

440
00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:01,879
Speaker 1: just think he's a much better jump shoter than he

441
00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:03,880
Speaker 1: showed last year. And I just think that I think

442
00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:05,840
Speaker 1: that even what we've seen to start this year isn't

443
00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:07,280
Speaker 1: close to what he's going to be. I think he's

444
00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:10,600
Speaker 1: going to probably finish the year closer to like one

445
00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,880
Speaker 1: point one five points per jump shot overall, in one

446
00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:16,200
Speaker 1: point zero five points per off the dribble jump shot,

447
00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:17,920
Speaker 1: Let's keep an eye on it. But that's kind of

448
00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:19,919
Speaker 1: where I see this season ending for him. I just

449
00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:22,680
Speaker 1: think I still think he's not hitting it the way

450
00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:24,760
Speaker 1: that he's going to over the course of this season.

451
00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:26,960
Speaker 1: But I want to dig into the playmaking for a bit.

452
00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:30,359
Speaker 1: Tennisis last night, he's averaging a career high five point

453
00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:32,920
Speaker 1: six assists per game, six or more assists in each

454
00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:34,680
Speaker 1: of the last four games, and he's doing it every

455
00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:37,400
Speaker 1: which way. He's doing a lot of like passing folkrum

456
00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:39,440
Speaker 1: stuff for off ball action. We're seeing a lot of

457
00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:41,240
Speaker 1: this from stars around the league right now, and a

458
00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:43,040
Speaker 1: lot of teams are using their center for this as well.

459
00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:45,959
Speaker 1: But like he'll be the hub while like Derek White's

460
00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:47,800
Speaker 1: coming off of a screening action, He's hitting him with

461
00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:50,119
Speaker 1: the pass right away. Or like they'll run action to

462
00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:53,119
Speaker 1: try to get Jalen Brown a post up matchup that

463
00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:54,800
Speaker 1: they like right in front of the rim, and like

464
00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:57,320
Speaker 1: the Tatum will either like make a nice post entry

465
00:21:57,400 --> 00:21:58,960
Speaker 1: or like the guy will try to front Jalen Brown

466
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:00,680
Speaker 1: and then Tatum will throw like a really nice over

467
00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:02,800
Speaker 1: the top pass. Tatum had a really nice over the

468
00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:05,919
Speaker 1: top feet to Jalen Brown last night, for instance, Right,

469
00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:08,240
Speaker 1: So a lot of like off ball passing, fulcrum stuff,

470
00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:10,879
Speaker 1: short roll passing is a big one, like screening for

471
00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:12,800
Speaker 1: the guards, but screening on the inside so you can

472
00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:15,000
Speaker 1: get inside position and just throwing that hand up ball

473
00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:17,000
Speaker 1: comes over the top. And then they just formed these

474
00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:19,240
Speaker 1: like three on twos on the baseline, usually where there's

475
00:22:19,280 --> 00:22:21,160
Speaker 1: like shoot in the corner, shoot her in the corner,

476
00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,399
Speaker 1: and like Mimi Queda just sitting under the basket for

477
00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:26,679
Speaker 1: a lob and then there's usually like one guy steps

478
00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:28,399
Speaker 1: up and then there's like two guys kind of splitting

479
00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:30,000
Speaker 1: the difference there, and then Tatum has to make the read.

480
00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:32,119
Speaker 1: If one of them sinks in on the lob, then

481
00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:33,520
Speaker 1: he's got to throw the corner pass, or if he

482
00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:35,040
Speaker 1: stays out in the corner, he's got to throw the

483
00:22:35,080 --> 00:22:37,000
Speaker 1: lob pass. And he's just gotten really good at making

484
00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:40,440
Speaker 1: those reads and then lastly whipping kickout passes on drives,

485
00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:43,280
Speaker 1: and he had a couple of really nice ones last

486
00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:45,160
Speaker 1: night to skip passing a ball screen, like a two

487
00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:48,080
Speaker 1: hand over the top cross court pass to Jalen Brown

488
00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:49,800
Speaker 1: in the right corner that went in. You know, another

489
00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:52,199
Speaker 1: one where he drove along the baseline and just whipped

490
00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:55,879
Speaker 1: a right handed pass beautifully to a relocating Sam Houser

491
00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:57,520
Speaker 1: who was kind of looping around to the top of

492
00:22:57,520 --> 00:22:59,119
Speaker 1: the key. A lot of the same stuff that I

493
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:02,840
Speaker 1: talked about from yamis where it's like a lot of

494
00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:06,359
Speaker 1: the best playmakers in the world they supplement their playmaking

495
00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:08,879
Speaker 1: with like four or five like really simple easy reads

496
00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:11,760
Speaker 1: a game, like just a smart kick ahead in transition

497
00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:13,440
Speaker 1: to a guy that has an advantage. Now he's getting

498
00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:15,520
Speaker 1: a three year layup or a swing pass when a

499
00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:17,840
Speaker 1: guy's digging too much down into nailhelp. A lot of

500
00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:22,320
Speaker 1: those simple things that supplement those playmaking numbers. But again,

501
00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:24,200
Speaker 1: I think he's gone up a level in a real

502
00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:26,800
Speaker 1: way as a playmaker this year. Tatum's off to a

503
00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:29,359
Speaker 1: great start. Another great game for him last night, Number

504
00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:32,440
Speaker 1: four Karl Anthony Towns crazy game between the Bulls and

505
00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:34,800
Speaker 1: the Knicks. The Bulls jumped them, went up by twenty

506
00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:38,240
Speaker 1: two in the late third quarter. Zach Lavine is sneaky,

507
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:41,440
Speaker 1: looking kind of good this year. I'm really curious to

508
00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:43,679
Speaker 1: see if there's a team that talks themselves into Levine

509
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:46,080
Speaker 1: being a legitimate trade target. I would still be terrified

510
00:23:46,119 --> 00:23:47,960
Speaker 1: because one, he makes so much money that you have

511
00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:50,320
Speaker 1: to put out a lot of contracts that could be

512
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:52,920
Speaker 1: quality role players to try to get someone like Levine,

513
00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:55,480
Speaker 1: and then the health risk to me is still just

514
00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:57,840
Speaker 1: too big for the type of risk that would be.

515
00:23:57,840 --> 00:23:59,320
Speaker 1: But who knows, you might be able to get Zach

516
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:01,879
Speaker 1: Levine without having to give up draft compensation. And so

517
00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:04,359
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if there's some team that talks

518
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:06,720
Speaker 1: themselves into and especially a team that has a large

519
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,040
Speaker 1: contract or two that they can afford to get rid of.

520
00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:11,840
Speaker 1: But Zach Larvine looks kind of spunky this year. That's

521
00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:14,760
Speaker 1: an interesting trend coming out of Chicago. But the Bulls

522
00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:16,399
Speaker 1: jump them, They go up twenty two in the late

523
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:18,439
Speaker 1: third quarter. The Knicks battle back really fast with this

524
00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:20,680
Speaker 1: crazy late third quarter run, and then it turns into

525
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:22,840
Speaker 1: this back and forth dog fight. In the fourth quarter,

526
00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:25,200
Speaker 1: Dale Brunson hits a little mid range jump shot that

527
00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:27,320
Speaker 1: should have been the game winner, but then Josh Hart,

528
00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:29,880
Speaker 1: trying to get a rearview contest on Kobe White, ends

529
00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:32,120
Speaker 1: up bowling him. I was talking about this with Paul

530
00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:35,119
Speaker 1: r Our, producer, he's a huge Knicks fan, earlier this morning,

531
00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:40,000
Speaker 1: and like you know, I understand that the want to

532
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:42,760
Speaker 1: make someone feel uncomfortable in a situation like that. But like,

533
00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:45,600
Speaker 1: you got to be so careful in those situations because

534
00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:50,359
Speaker 1: guys flop. And I don't like this, but NBA officials,

535
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:54,760
Speaker 1: for whatever reasons, seem hell bent on like microanalyzing three

536
00:24:54,760 --> 00:24:58,640
Speaker 1: point attempts when it's on a last second possession. There's

537
00:24:58,720 --> 00:25:01,679
Speaker 1: just so many if he calls that get made in

538
00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:04,680
Speaker 1: those situations, and so like, you gotta be very, very

539
00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:07,199
Speaker 1: careful in those situations. And Josh Hart just took it

540
00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:09,639
Speaker 1: a little too close and picked up a foul, and

541
00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:11,840
Speaker 1: then the Bulls hit three free throws, and then Jalen

542
00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:13,359
Speaker 1: bruns Ha got a decent look on a little left

543
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:16,120
Speaker 1: shoulder fade, but it literally went as close to going

544
00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:17,960
Speaker 1: in as it possibly could without going in, and it

545
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:19,760
Speaker 1: pops out and the Nicks end up getting a loss.

546
00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:23,320
Speaker 1: But Karl Anthony Towns finished with forty six points and

547
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:26,080
Speaker 1: ten rebounds. It's his second forty point game of the year.

548
00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:28,520
Speaker 1: It's his fifth thirty point game of the year. He's

549
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:31,159
Speaker 1: averaging a career high twenty seven points per game a

550
00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:34,600
Speaker 1: career best sixty five percent through shooting. He was absolutely

551
00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:38,879
Speaker 1: barbecuing Nikolavusevich last night, especially in closeouts, just driving right

552
00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:40,280
Speaker 1: by him and getting to the basket. But he was

553
00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:43,680
Speaker 1: also torching him, just like facing up, hitting jump shots,

554
00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:46,119
Speaker 1: feeding him as the trailer and transition, a lot of

555
00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:47,760
Speaker 1: pick and pop stuff, like we talked about. I've got

556
00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:49,320
Speaker 1: a couple examples. I'm going to show you guys in

557
00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:52,000
Speaker 1: the film, not from that game, but from the game

558
00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:55,880
Speaker 1: against Philly on Tuesday. He is he had twenty four

559
00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:58,560
Speaker 1: points in the Bulls game just on spot ups and rolls.

560
00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:02,960
Speaker 1: Here's what's crazy. Karl Anthony Towns has been converting roles

561
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,920
Speaker 1: and spot ups, both over one point five points per

562
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:09,720
Speaker 1: possession to start the year. It's been a huge part

563
00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:12,119
Speaker 1: of the Knicks offense to start. We will get a

564
00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:14,560
Speaker 1: little bit further into that in the film session and

565
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:17,360
Speaker 1: the last, but not least, for our five big performances

566
00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:22,520
Speaker 1: from last night, Lebron James thirty five points, twelve rebounds,

567
00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:26,000
Speaker 1: fourteen assists for the guy who turns forty in a month.

568
00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:28,960
Speaker 1: I a couple of weeks ago, I was talking about

569
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:31,919
Speaker 1: the Lakers after they had a couple of bad losses

570
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:33,639
Speaker 1: in a row on their road trip, and one of

571
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:36,000
Speaker 1: the things I said was like, yeah, Lebron hasn't been

572
00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:39,280
Speaker 1: too good to start this year, and when the Lakers

573
00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:41,280
Speaker 1: come out flat like they had on the road in

574
00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:43,680
Speaker 1: a lot of those games like it certainly is going

575
00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:48,240
Speaker 1: to manifest in like a lot of issues that Lebron

576
00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:50,760
Speaker 1: can exacerbate when he's not playing as hard as he's

577
00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:52,840
Speaker 1: capable of playing, or when he doesn't have the athletic

578
00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:55,640
Speaker 1: juice that he's capable of having. But what I said

579
00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:58,879
Speaker 1: in that situation was, He's not the one I'm worried about.

580
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:02,000
Speaker 1: Lebron is He's just such a smart player and such

581
00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:05,280
Speaker 1: a competitive player that no matter what's going on with him,

582
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:07,960
Speaker 1: I always feel like he's going to find a way

583
00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:10,920
Speaker 1: to get to a really, really high level of impact.

584
00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:14,160
Speaker 1: He's never been the one that I'm worried about. Well,

585
00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:18,520
Speaker 1: Lebron's last seven games twenty seven points, nine rebounds, tenn

586
00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:21,399
Speaker 1: asists on fifty seven percent from the field, fifty percent

587
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:24,800
Speaker 1: from three, eighty four percent from the line. That's sixty

588
00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:29,280
Speaker 1: eight percent intro shooting percentage. So Lebron's putting up MVP

589
00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:31,719
Speaker 1: numbers now over the course of the last two weeks.

590
00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:34,240
Speaker 1: That didn't take long for him to get back up

591
00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:37,440
Speaker 1: to speed. Again, He's never the one I'm worried about what.

592
00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:39,440
Speaker 1: Am I worried about Delo? Sometimes? Yes? Am I worried

593
00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:41,199
Speaker 1: about Ruiey? Sometimes? Am I worried about Gabe? Am I

594
00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:45,200
Speaker 1: worried about a lot of different guys on the Laker roster? Absolutely,

595
00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:48,560
Speaker 1: But Lebron and Ad I just trust them to be

596
00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:51,080
Speaker 1: at the level they need to be at. That's why

597
00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:54,280
Speaker 1: I look at this team as such a trade candidate,

598
00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:58,480
Speaker 1: because like, the foundation has been so rock solid since

599
00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:01,760
Speaker 1: January of this year, in twenty twenty four, that I

600
00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:04,119
Speaker 1: feel like it has to be invested in at some point.

601
00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:07,600
Speaker 1: Lebron's shot creation data has been insane. Lebron has been

602
00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:08,919
Speaker 1: the best pick and roll player in the league to

603
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:12,000
Speaker 1: start the year. He's getting one point three zero points

604
00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:15,119
Speaker 1: per pick and roll including passes. That's number one in

605
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:18,639
Speaker 1: the league by a mile among the forty players that

606
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:21,000
Speaker 1: have run at least one hundred pick and rolls this year.

607
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:23,040
Speaker 1: So among those high volume pick and roll players, he's

608
00:28:23,080 --> 00:28:25,480
Speaker 1: been the best by a lot. The guy in second

609
00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:28,000
Speaker 1: place is like nine one hundreds of a point behind,

610
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:30,280
Speaker 1: almost a full tenth of a point behind him. He's

611
00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:33,080
Speaker 1: at one point one zero points per ISO including passes,

612
00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:36,320
Speaker 1: that's seventh among the nineteen players to run at least

613
00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:38,959
Speaker 1: fifty and he's at one point zero nine points per

614
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,200
Speaker 1: post up, which is fifth among the fifteen players to

615
00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:45,480
Speaker 1: run at least forty. So Lebron just has completely turned

616
00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:47,640
Speaker 1: a season around, just like just like we talked about

617
00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:49,800
Speaker 1: with Yokich the Nuggets, Lebron has completely turned the season

618
00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:51,840
Speaker 1: around over the course of the last few weeks and

619
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,600
Speaker 1: is playing once again at that superstar level, which is

620
00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:57,840
Speaker 1: what the Lakers have needed out of him so badly.

621
00:28:57,920 --> 00:29:00,880
Speaker 1: How his jump shot continues to be dead. He's at

622
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:02,920
Speaker 1: one point two to one points per jump shot this year,

623
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:05,280
Speaker 1: but especially off the dribble. He's getting one point two

624
00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:07,280
Speaker 1: to one off the catch, but he's also getting one

625
00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:09,520
Speaker 1: point two to one points per off the dribble jump shot.

626
00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:12,080
Speaker 1: He's off to his best pull up shooting start of

627
00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:15,920
Speaker 1: his career, bullying smaller players. He was torching Jalen Wells

628
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:18,040
Speaker 1: last night, who got the Lebron matchup from the opening

629
00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:20,840
Speaker 1: tip for the injured Memphis Grizzlies team. And then one

630
00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:22,880
Speaker 1: of the other big things that's really turned things around,

631
00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:25,400
Speaker 1: uh or I shouldn't say turn things around, but like that.

632
00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:27,560
Speaker 1: Has been different this year for the Lebron and the

633
00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:30,520
Speaker 1: Lakers compared to last year is we saw a lot

634
00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:32,200
Speaker 1: more of what I begged for this summer. If you

635
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:35,440
Speaker 1: guys remember from the Olympics, Lebron operated a lot as

636
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:37,520
Speaker 1: that passing fulcrum for the top of the key as

637
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:41,280
Speaker 1: off ball action was happening around him. And in those situations,

638
00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,960
Speaker 1: Lebron is able to conserve his legs but weaponize his

639
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:47,760
Speaker 1: brain on the offensive end of the floor. In my

640
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:49,880
Speaker 1: go listen to the season preview that I did for

641
00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:52,400
Speaker 1: the Lakers before the year, this was something I begged for.

642
00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:57,160
Speaker 1: Take the lesson from the Olympics. Lebron chills athletically for

643
00:29:57,280 --> 00:30:00,880
Speaker 1: extensive stretches in the regular season, but meant lead. He

644
00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:04,280
Speaker 1: is still incredibly locked in as a competitor, one of

645
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:07,000
Speaker 1: the highest basketball IQ guys in the league, in one

646
00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:09,120
Speaker 1: of the top two or three passers in the league.

647
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:10,600
Speaker 1: So if you put him at the top of the

648
00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:12,320
Speaker 1: key and you put the ball in his hands and

649
00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:15,400
Speaker 1: you have everybody running action around him, he can make

650
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:18,440
Speaker 1: the reads to either one, make the kill pass. So

651
00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:20,000
Speaker 1: like a guy gets open on a cut and he's

652
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:21,440
Speaker 1: gonna hit him for a lamp or a guy get

653
00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:23,040
Speaker 1: breaks open at the three point line, he's gonna hit

654
00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:25,920
Speaker 1: him for a shot. But at the very least, Lebron

655
00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:29,360
Speaker 1: will set up the other offensive players for the Lakers

656
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:34,200
Speaker 1: with advantage situations, opportunities to drive closeouts, opportunities with the

657
00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:37,320
Speaker 1: defenders sprinting at them instead of geared up on them

658
00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:39,200
Speaker 1: with ball pressure, which again, this has been an issue

659
00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:40,680
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about in a minute with the Lakers,

660
00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:45,160
Speaker 1: but the Lakers have struggled with ball pressure consistently this year,

661
00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:48,440
Speaker 1: consistently for a couple of years now. If you can

662
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:51,480
Speaker 1: have Lebron operate and let d Lo and Austin, these

663
00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:54,560
Speaker 1: guys that can struggle with pressure move around off the

664
00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:57,600
Speaker 1: ball and maybe get a catch for the defenders sprinting

665
00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:00,600
Speaker 1: at them instead of hand checking them full court, they're

666
00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:03,080
Speaker 1: gonna have better opportunities to score that way. And that's

667
00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:05,680
Speaker 1: been a huge part of how leb like. That's been

668
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:07,880
Speaker 1: a huge part of what's made this offense work this

669
00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,480
Speaker 1: year is they are using Lebron in a way that

670
00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:12,680
Speaker 1: makes sense for his age. He can pick his spots

671
00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:14,840
Speaker 1: and be aggressive. He had his plays where he looked

672
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:16,840
Speaker 1: to bully last night he had his plays where he

673
00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:19,400
Speaker 1: looked to slash last night, but for the most part,

674
00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:22,360
Speaker 1: it's knocking down jump shots and operating as a passing

675
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:25,160
Speaker 1: fulcrum from the top of the key, which weaponize Lebron's

676
00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:29,000
Speaker 1: skills that he will bring every night, as opposed to

677
00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:31,520
Speaker 1: relying on the skills that are very dependent on how

678
00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:33,920
Speaker 1: his legs are feeling on any given night or how

679
00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:36,560
Speaker 1: hard he feels like playing on any given night. I

680
00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:38,800
Speaker 1: think it's been a really smart approach from the Lakers

681
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:40,880
Speaker 1: this year and something I've been calling for all summer.

682
00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:43,840
Speaker 1: On the Lakers front, big picture, they've won three in

683
00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:46,840
Speaker 1: a row against some bad teams since they're bad road trip,

684
00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:49,520
Speaker 1: so the season has basically come down to they're undefeated

685
00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:53,120
Speaker 1: at home. In the home games, they've beat three good

686
00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:55,120
Speaker 1: teams and three bad teams, and then they had an

687
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:57,800
Speaker 1: abysmal road trip and that leaves them sitting at seven

688
00:31:57,840 --> 00:31:59,840
Speaker 1: and four. So like, it's weird because if you told

689
00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:02,160
Speaker 1: me of looking at their schedule and they've played one

690
00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:04,080
Speaker 1: of the harder schedules in the league to start the year,

691
00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:06,240
Speaker 1: if you told me looking at their schedule, like they're

692
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:09,040
Speaker 1: gonna be seven and four through eleven games, you would

693
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:11,240
Speaker 1: think that I'd be higher on them than I was

694
00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:12,640
Speaker 1: to start the year. But I'm kind of in a

695
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:15,240
Speaker 1: weird spot with the Lakers because I'm actually lower on

696
00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:18,800
Speaker 1: them than I was to start the season because of

697
00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:21,480
Speaker 1: that lack of speed. I think there's been so much

698
00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:23,760
Speaker 1: that I've learned. I've talked so much about the concept

699
00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:27,400
Speaker 1: of like ground coverage and covering ground and rotation, covering

700
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:31,280
Speaker 1: ground and transition, all the elements that speed bring to

701
00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:33,960
Speaker 1: the table, dribble penetration, all that kind of stuff. Another

702
00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:36,840
Speaker 1: big one is like, hey, you got a double team

703
00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:38,760
Speaker 1: these best players in the league. It's like the only

704
00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:41,560
Speaker 1: thing you can do. And so if you can successfully

705
00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:44,960
Speaker 1: double team but rotate out of it, then you can.

706
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:46,880
Speaker 1: You can get away with getting the ball out of

707
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:49,680
Speaker 1: the stars hands while still forcing lesser players to take

708
00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:52,680
Speaker 1: contested shots. But the only way you can do that

709
00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:54,920
Speaker 1: is if you have the requisite amount of speed in

710
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:57,760
Speaker 1: the lineup to cover the ground you need to get

711
00:32:57,760 --> 00:32:59,960
Speaker 1: out of those double teams looking at like a team

712
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:02,640
Speaker 1: like the Warriors against the Celtics. Usually putting two on

713
00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:05,240
Speaker 1: the ball against Tatum is an absolute death sentence. But

714
00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:07,440
Speaker 1: if you have the speed to recover out of it,

715
00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:10,320
Speaker 1: you can still bog things down in those situations. And

716
00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:15,160
Speaker 1: so my kind of like influx of appreciation or understanding

717
00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:16,520
Speaker 1: or whatever you want to call it of the way

718
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:20,160
Speaker 1: that speed excuse me leads to success in the NBA.

719
00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:24,320
Speaker 1: That specifically has caused me to be lower on the Lakers,

720
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:26,880
Speaker 1: despite the fact that they've been seven and four, because

721
00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:29,640
Speaker 1: they still just have too many stretches where basically, this

722
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:32,360
Speaker 1: is what happens with the Lakers. If Lebron and AD

723
00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:36,480
Speaker 1: don't engage themselves athletically like what they like what they

724
00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:38,520
Speaker 1: did in the fourth quarter last night. If they don't

725
00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:43,160
Speaker 1: do that, the team looks dreadfully on athletic because Lebron

726
00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:46,000
Speaker 1: and Ad are the athletes. Lebron and AD are the

727
00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:49,080
Speaker 1: guys that bring that for this group. So there are

728
00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:51,960
Speaker 1: stretches last night where you know, maybe Lebron's not battling

729
00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:54,320
Speaker 1: on the glasses hard or AD is not super engaged,

730
00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:57,479
Speaker 1: and then they just get absolutely mauled on the offensive glass.

731
00:33:57,680 --> 00:34:00,440
Speaker 1: They gave up thirty four more points in transition last night.

732
00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:03,120
Speaker 1: They've been basically the worst transition defense in the league.

733
00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:06,560
Speaker 1: Like whenever Lebron and Ad aren't engaged athletically, the rest

734
00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:09,319
Speaker 1: of the team looks dreadfully slow and the wheels fall off.

735
00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:12,480
Speaker 1: Ball pressure continues to big down their guards every single time.

736
00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:14,480
Speaker 1: Their guards can't beat it off the dribble and actually

737
00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:17,160
Speaker 1: create penetration off of it. They struggle with it right.

738
00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:21,200
Speaker 1: But then when Lebron and Ad engage themselves, they look

739
00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:23,279
Speaker 1: like a real basketball team because they can cover for

740
00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:26,160
Speaker 1: some of the athletic limitations of their team. But so

741
00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:28,239
Speaker 1: many of these games are coming down to Lebron and

742
00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:33,080
Speaker 1: Ad flexing their individual muscles to regain control of these games.

743
00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:35,080
Speaker 1: And last night was such a great example of that,

744
00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:37,959
Speaker 1: And I think that's a dangerous build for a team

745
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:40,879
Speaker 1: that has an older star in Lebron James at age

746
00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:44,839
Speaker 1: thirty nine. If there was more athleticism to balance out

747
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:48,120
Speaker 1: the skill among because the role players have a lot

748
00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:51,080
Speaker 1: of skill, Ruby is skilled, Austin is skilled, Dilo is skilled,

749
00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:54,440
Speaker 1: Dalton connect is skilled. They have a lot of skill

750
00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:57,080
Speaker 1: in their role player corps, but there's not a lot

751
00:34:57,080 --> 00:35:00,720
Speaker 1: of athleticism there. If they had more athleticism to balance

752
00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:03,560
Speaker 1: out the skill among the role players, then they wouldn't

753
00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:06,320
Speaker 1: have to rely on their stars to leverage their athletic

754
00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:08,200
Speaker 1: gifts as much as they do. So that's why I'm

755
00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:10,320
Speaker 1: in a weird spot because on one hand, I'm lower

756
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:12,200
Speaker 1: on them than I was to start the year. But

757
00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:15,319
Speaker 1: on the other hand, I'm also optimistic in the sense that,

758
00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:18,319
Speaker 1: like if they hit on a trade and if they

759
00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:22,359
Speaker 1: get Jared Vanderbilt back and they become a faster team.

760
00:35:22,840 --> 00:35:26,759
Speaker 1: I still love the Lebron and Ad duo at the top.

761
00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:29,759
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves once again hit just a ridiculous step back

762
00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:31,480
Speaker 1: three on the left wing last night that ended up

763
00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:33,040
Speaker 1: being one of the more important shots in the game.

764
00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:35,759
Speaker 1: Austin's a hooper, He's a gamer. I count on that

765
00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:39,840
Speaker 1: guy to make plays. They just need athleticism, and so

766
00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:42,239
Speaker 1: I'm lower on them. But if they can supplement that

767
00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:44,920
Speaker 1: athleticism at some point during the season, all of a sudden,

768
00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:48,240
Speaker 1: they become a very interesting and dangerous team. In my opinion,

769
00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:51,080
Speaker 1: I do love the Ad shooting element this second game

770
00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:54,360
Speaker 1: last night, where he Ad basically closed the game popping

771
00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:56,840
Speaker 1: to the three point line. Love that he's confident in

772
00:35:56,880 --> 00:35:59,279
Speaker 1: those situations. I think it's such an important thing for

773
00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:01,839
Speaker 1: them to lean on because one like I talked about

774
00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:04,719
Speaker 1: earlier in the show it is always open. The pick

775
00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:08,279
Speaker 1: and pop is always open in two like make things

776
00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:12,160
Speaker 1: easier on yourself. Once you start when eighty's constantly rolling

777
00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:14,360
Speaker 1: and not popping, it just gets kind of complicated with

778
00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:16,520
Speaker 1: the spacing and it makes life more difficult for everybody

779
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:18,920
Speaker 1: ad being willing to pop, especially if he continues to

780
00:36:19,000 --> 00:36:21,080
Speaker 1: hit them over the large sample. That could be something

781
00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:23,200
Speaker 1: that continues to open up those off ball actions for

782
00:36:23,239 --> 00:36:26,080
Speaker 1: the guards to get to work and for more opportunities

783
00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:41,879
Speaker 1: to cut into the painted area. All right, let's get

784
00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:43,400
Speaker 1: into our film session, then we'll be out of here

785
00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:45,319
Speaker 1: for the day. If you're listening on the podcast, Feen,

786
00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:47,680
Speaker 1: you're going to want to head over to YouTube to

787
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:50,440
Speaker 1: see that part to actually get the visual representations of

788
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:52,640
Speaker 1: what we're talking about. All right, so we are starting.

789
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:57,879
Speaker 1: We are starting with the Philly Knicks game from Tuesday night.

790
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:01,520
Speaker 1: So this is an example of trailing bigs in transition.

791
00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:04,600
Speaker 1: So again, this is where we're working against the instincts

792
00:37:04,640 --> 00:37:07,759
Speaker 1: of a big. Joel Embiid is the guy guarding Karl

793
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:10,360
Speaker 1: Anthony Towns. Watch the way he runs down the floor.

794
00:37:10,719 --> 00:37:13,080
Speaker 1: He's thinking transition defense like a big, right, So he's

795
00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:16,040
Speaker 1: gonna sink into the paint or into the well inside

796
00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:18,759
Speaker 1: the arc. When he catches he's like look at him.

797
00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:21,400
Speaker 1: He's like, oh shit, because he forgets that Karl Anthony

798
00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:23,200
Speaker 1: Towns is willing to shoot out here. But it's his

799
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:26,360
Speaker 1: natural instinct. His natural instinct is to drop into this

800
00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:29,160
Speaker 1: area in transition, and Kat's able to just kind of

801
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:31,239
Speaker 1: settle into an easy trailing three. It's one of the

802
00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:33,520
Speaker 1: big ways that Cat's been burning bigs around the league

803
00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:37,160
Speaker 1: to start this year is transition trailing action. Here's the

804
00:37:37,239 --> 00:37:39,520
Speaker 1: action that I've been seeing all around the league this year,

805
00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:41,719
Speaker 1: which is like, let's put our center at the top

806
00:37:41,719 --> 00:37:43,279
Speaker 1: of the key and let's throw them the ball. So

807
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:47,160
Speaker 1: let's do that first. Here's a high post entry and

808
00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:49,080
Speaker 1: then basically what you do is you have your two

809
00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:51,520
Speaker 1: guards up top screen for each other. So in this case,

810
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:56,200
Speaker 1: brunts in for Bridges. That puts Kelly Ubra into trail position.

811
00:37:56,800 --> 00:38:01,000
Speaker 1: Now Michale Bridges sprints, Ubre's still in trail position. So

812
00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:04,320
Speaker 1: now Karl Anthony Towns, because he can shoot, has embiid

813
00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:06,440
Speaker 1: right up on him in Bridges, is going to come

814
00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:09,120
Speaker 1: right down into this area. Right there's that over the

815
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:12,840
Speaker 1: top pass as Kelly's in trail position. Now we have

816
00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:15,120
Speaker 1: our three on two. Bam, here's our three on two right,

817
00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:18,840
Speaker 1: And here's the thing. Lowry actually steps up and technically

818
00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:20,920
Speaker 1: he could have thrown this kickout pass to Og, but

819
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:23,080
Speaker 1: Lowry's small, So mcaale bridge is like, screw it, I'm

820
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:24,719
Speaker 1: just gonna go up with this, and he does and

821
00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:26,479
Speaker 1: he gets a lay up. That's the type of action

822
00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:28,160
Speaker 1: that I'm seeing all the way around the league to

823
00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:29,520
Speaker 1: start this year, and I think it's just such a

824
00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:32,960
Speaker 1: smart approach to using your center and creating space underneath

825
00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:35,759
Speaker 1: the basket. This is one of the things I talked

826
00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:38,839
Speaker 1: about in the show on Tuesday Night, where like Nick

827
00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:42,080
Speaker 1: Nurse has been having in these ball screens just having

828
00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:45,719
Speaker 1: Embiid stay glued on Cat. So basically, here's our ball screen, right,

829
00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:49,240
Speaker 1: we have our ball screen and Embiid instead of dropping

830
00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:52,760
Speaker 1: look at him, he's just staying attached. Why because Cat's

831
00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:57,000
Speaker 1: wide open on the damn pop every single time. Then

832
00:38:57,040 --> 00:39:00,920
Speaker 1: they're forcing the help from an off ball parte player. Right.

833
00:39:01,280 --> 00:39:04,440
Speaker 1: So now as Brunston's going downhill, Paul George is basically

834
00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:07,640
Speaker 1: functioning as the drop player, right, He's functioning as the

835
00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:11,279
Speaker 1: drop big where Embiid would typically be here, these guys

836
00:39:11,280 --> 00:39:13,399
Speaker 1: would all be matched up and then Karl Anthony Towns

837
00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:16,320
Speaker 1: would be wide open. Instead, they're having Embiid stay home.

838
00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:19,919
Speaker 1: Paul George helps That forces Kyle Lowry to sync down

839
00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:22,439
Speaker 1: on Josh Hart. Now we have our kickout pass. Here's

840
00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:26,600
Speaker 1: our closeout. We got our close out pump fake two dribble,

841
00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:29,320
Speaker 1: pull up, nice and easy shot for og Ananobi. So

842
00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:32,080
Speaker 1: like that's the thing. It's just really difficult to guard

843
00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:33,840
Speaker 1: that pick and pop because if you guard it the

844
00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:35,760
Speaker 1: way that the Sixers did, you're gonna end up causing

845
00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:38,839
Speaker 1: other problems elsewhere in your defense. All right, let's get

846
00:39:38,880 --> 00:39:43,279
Speaker 1: into the end of that Warriors MAVs classic from Tuesday night.

847
00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:46,319
Speaker 1: I was talking in the postgame show about how like

848
00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:48,560
Speaker 1: guys just keep making big plays. I thought this was

849
00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:50,480
Speaker 1: a random one last night. So we have a transition

850
00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:54,040
Speaker 1: cross match here, right, So transition defense, everyone grabs the

851
00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:56,520
Speaker 1: nearest man. It's less about matchups and it's more just

852
00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:59,680
Speaker 1: grabbing the nearest man. You Basically in transition defense, it's

853
00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:03,000
Speaker 1: off the ball, guard the basket, then just get matched

854
00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:05,520
Speaker 1: up regardless of who you're guarding. And so that puts

855
00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:09,680
Speaker 1: Lively on Buddy Heeled, So then Buddy Heel gets the

856
00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:12,040
Speaker 1: ball and actually hits a really nice Look at this

857
00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:14,040
Speaker 1: dribble combination. I'm gonna slow it down a bit. Look

858
00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:17,000
Speaker 1: at this dribble combination on Lively between the legs. Left

859
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:19,640
Speaker 1: handed crossover back to the right gets him off the dribble.

860
00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:22,000
Speaker 1: And then that little step. Look at the little gather

861
00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:25,799
Speaker 1: step that he takes into Lively space. If he just

862
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:28,880
Speaker 1: goes straight to the rim, Lively is the superior athlete

863
00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:30,839
Speaker 1: and he's gonna beat him up top. But watch, I'm

864
00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:34,000
Speaker 1: gonna slow it down even further. Watch the step that

865
00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:37,759
Speaker 1: he takes into the lane right on his gather right here.

866
00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:42,160
Speaker 1: Watch look how he gathers in right there into Lively

867
00:40:42,320 --> 00:40:44,840
Speaker 1: space to make it so that Lively can't just go

868
00:40:44,920 --> 00:40:48,120
Speaker 1: straight b line to the rim. Then he extends out

869
00:40:48,600 --> 00:40:52,080
Speaker 1: and takes the layup. Really savvy basketball from Buddy Heeld

870
00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:55,160
Speaker 1: big bucket in that game. This was some of the

871
00:40:55,160 --> 00:40:57,399
Speaker 1: things I was talking about in the post game two

872
00:40:57,440 --> 00:41:00,440
Speaker 1: about Moses Moody overhelping in a ball screen. So like

873
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:03,920
Speaker 1: Moody's way in the paint here early in the possession,

874
00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:06,120
Speaker 1: it's just an easy skip pass to Klay Thompson on

875
00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:08,239
Speaker 1: the opposite side. But that's kind of one of those

876
00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:09,920
Speaker 1: things too, where I was talking about with the MAVs

877
00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:13,680
Speaker 1: with their spacing, if they situate it so that the

878
00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:16,920
Speaker 1: low man is obviously coming off of Clay, they can

879
00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:20,560
Speaker 1: generate a lot of those skip passes for him. Luca

880
00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:23,800
Speaker 1: had a really rough defensive night. This was a classic

881
00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:27,600
Speaker 1: example of that. Watch as Steph is running through, We're

882
00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:32,040
Speaker 1: gonna get a ball screen first, Buddy drives. Here's the

883
00:41:32,080 --> 00:41:34,880
Speaker 1: Steph cut. Okay, so we have Quentin Grimes on Steph,

884
00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:38,200
Speaker 1: we have Luca on Moody. Watch Luca, this whole possession

885
00:41:39,600 --> 00:41:42,520
Speaker 1: just stands there and again, like look, there's all they're

886
00:41:42,520 --> 00:41:45,759
Speaker 1: doing is slipping this screen, and like Quintin Grimes is

887
00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:48,640
Speaker 1: chasing and Luca's just standing and Moody just slips right

888
00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:51,160
Speaker 1: behind him. Now, again, you could argue that's supposed to

889
00:41:51,200 --> 00:41:53,960
Speaker 1: be a switch. But let's say it's a switch. Luca's

890
00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:57,120
Speaker 1: not ready for Steph either. He's too flat footed. He's

891
00:41:57,160 --> 00:41:59,040
Speaker 1: not in position to do anything even if he switches

892
00:41:59,080 --> 00:42:01,439
Speaker 1: that Steph's running off of Draymond and getting an either

893
00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:05,120
Speaker 1: an open three. He's got to be lower in a stance, active,

894
00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:07,799
Speaker 1: ready to move, and Moody just ends up getting an

895
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:10,799
Speaker 1: easy dunk. Again, Steph gravity does that to a lot

896
00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:13,400
Speaker 1: of people. But if you're going to guard that properly,

897
00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:17,239
Speaker 1: you need both defenders one hundred percent engaged. This I

898
00:42:17,239 --> 00:42:21,160
Speaker 1: thought it was a really interesting ISO bucket for Clay

899
00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:24,240
Speaker 1: against Andrew Wiggins. So the straight ISO against an elite defender,

900
00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:27,840
Speaker 1: but a simple action gets gets him the bucket. So

901
00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:29,480
Speaker 1: first let's watch it full speed and then i'll show

902
00:42:29,480 --> 00:42:30,960
Speaker 1: you what I noticed in the slow down, which was

903
00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:34,040
Speaker 1: super fascinating. So Clay's gonna just drive pump fake and

904
00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:36,320
Speaker 1: drive past Wiggins and get all the way to the basket.

905
00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:40,799
Speaker 1: So Wiggins should, in theory be athletic enough to show

906
00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:42,960
Speaker 1: a little bit on a pump fake and not get toasted.

907
00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:45,080
Speaker 1: But what I want you to watch is his right foot.

908
00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:48,719
Speaker 1: In order to push off your right foot, it's got

909
00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:50,920
Speaker 1: to be planted on the ground. If it's in the air,

910
00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:54,680
Speaker 1: you're not pushing anything off right So watch Wiggins is

911
00:42:54,800 --> 00:42:56,680
Speaker 1: right foot on the pump fake. So we get to

912
00:42:56,680 --> 00:42:58,520
Speaker 1: the ISO and we fast forward a little bit. Here's

913
00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:00,680
Speaker 1: our ISO. Watch the pump fake. Watch Wiggins right foot

914
00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:03,200
Speaker 1: so he's played. So if Wiggins were to if Clay

915
00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:05,080
Speaker 1: were to rip to the right now, Wiggins would be

916
00:43:05,080 --> 00:43:06,960
Speaker 1: able to easily push off of his foot and beat

917
00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:09,360
Speaker 1: him to the spot. But watch as Clay pump fakes

918
00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:12,040
Speaker 1: his right foot come off the ground. Watch so when

919
00:43:12,040 --> 00:43:14,480
Speaker 1: his right foot comes off the ground, he loses his

920
00:43:14,600 --> 00:43:16,960
Speaker 1: leverage in that spot. And look at how often his

921
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:18,279
Speaker 1: right foot comes off the ground. It comes off the

922
00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:22,400
Speaker 1: ground three times. Watch on the pump fake once twice,

923
00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:26,000
Speaker 1: three times. And so as a result, his weight isn't

924
00:43:26,040 --> 00:43:27,680
Speaker 1: on that right leg and you can literally see as

925
00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:30,080
Speaker 1: he tries to push. Watch as Wiggins tries to push,

926
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:33,359
Speaker 1: he has to actually drag himself with his left leg

927
00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:36,440
Speaker 1: rather than push with his right, and that makes him slow.

928
00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:39,239
Speaker 1: Watch right here right there, See there's no weight on

929
00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:42,319
Speaker 1: that leg. So now he's dragging himself with his left

930
00:43:42,360 --> 00:43:45,040
Speaker 1: leg to try to recover. And then he finally gets

931
00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:47,720
Speaker 1: a plant with his right foot there to try to recover,

932
00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:50,160
Speaker 1: and he's dead to right. So such an interesting example

933
00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:53,040
Speaker 1: of how a pump fake, just a simple pump fake,

934
00:43:53,440 --> 00:43:56,719
Speaker 1: got Clay just barely enough of a leverage advantage to

935
00:43:56,760 --> 00:44:00,920
Speaker 1: beat a much faster player off the dribble. Fascinating little

936
00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:06,040
Speaker 1: example of basketball fundamentals. This I thought was an interesting

937
00:44:06,120 --> 00:44:08,600
Speaker 1: example of Steph's gravity that goes under the radar a

938
00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:11,440
Speaker 1: lot of the time. So Steph's working in ISO against

939
00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:13,799
Speaker 1: Grimes and gets to a step back, but watches the

940
00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:17,960
Speaker 1: action is happening. Watch Gafford. Gafford is ignoring Looney to

941
00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:21,360
Speaker 1: basically offer a soft double. He's not double teaming Steph,

942
00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:25,120
Speaker 1: but he's making it so that if Steph drives past Grimes,

943
00:44:25,320 --> 00:44:28,359
Speaker 1: he's running right into Gafford. Notice from the beginning, I'm

944
00:44:28,360 --> 00:44:30,760
Speaker 1: gonna play the whole thing. Notice from the beginning, Gafford

945
00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:34,759
Speaker 1: never actually drops to Looney. He's on Steph the whole time.

946
00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:38,960
Speaker 1: Right then he looks to Looney. So what's the problem here? Yeah,

947
00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:41,600
Speaker 1: you force Steph into a jump shot, but you gifted

948
00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:45,960
Speaker 1: Looney inside position. Looney's able to easily box out, and

949
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:48,759
Speaker 1: now that Looney has inside position, he's able to get

950
00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:51,520
Speaker 1: the easy offensive rebound put back. I think he just

951
00:44:51,600 --> 00:44:53,480
Speaker 1: draws a foul in this one. But yeah, again, so

952
00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:56,319
Speaker 1: like that's an example of Steph's gravity that won't show

953
00:44:56,400 --> 00:44:58,720
Speaker 1: up in the box score for him as anything positive.

954
00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:02,120
Speaker 1: It's a missed shot, but he basically Gayve Looney easy

955
00:45:02,160 --> 00:45:05,600
Speaker 1: offensive rebound position because he was gathering Gafford into help.

956
00:45:06,040 --> 00:45:07,839
Speaker 1: This I thought was the biggest play of the game

957
00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:11,000
Speaker 1: last Tuesday night that went completely under the radar. It's

958
00:45:11,040 --> 00:45:13,239
Speaker 1: one twelve, one oh five with four minutes left. The

959
00:45:13,239 --> 00:45:16,080
Speaker 1: maps are up seven. This thing looks like it's close

960
00:45:16,120 --> 00:45:19,759
Speaker 1: to over. Luca has Steph in miss a mismatch in

961
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:23,160
Speaker 1: the middle of the floor. Watch Steph pokes the ball away,

962
00:45:23,280 --> 00:45:26,759
Speaker 1: gets a steal from Luca in the mismatch, sprints down

963
00:45:26,800 --> 00:45:29,600
Speaker 1: the floor and the ensuing chaos will speed up a

964
00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:32,319
Speaker 1: little bit. In the ensuing chaos, d Anthony Melton gets

965
00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:35,000
Speaker 1: a wide open three, big time shot for d' anthony two.

966
00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:37,879
Speaker 1: But that changed the complexion of the game. Now it's

967
00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:40,400
Speaker 1: one twelve, one oh eight. It's one twelve one o

968
00:45:40,480 --> 00:45:43,360
Speaker 1: eight now instead of one twelve one oh five. Completely

969
00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:44,920
Speaker 1: changed the game. And that was a mismatch that could

970
00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:47,120
Speaker 1: have been a bucket for Dallas. Huge defensive play from

971
00:45:47,120 --> 00:45:50,000
Speaker 1: Steph Curry. This was just an insane shot that Steph

972
00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:52,440
Speaker 1: Curry hit against Quinton Grimes. Again, one of the biggest

973
00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:55,040
Speaker 1: things that I took away from this game. Above and

974
00:45:55,080 --> 00:45:57,319
Speaker 1: beyond anything else going on with the Warriors, is Steph

975
00:45:57,440 --> 00:46:00,000
Speaker 1: just looks great. Like I said, I looked at the

976
00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:01,839
Speaker 1: end of last year as a slump. I expected him

977
00:46:01,840 --> 00:46:03,799
Speaker 1: to have a bounce back year, having a big time

978
00:46:03,800 --> 00:46:07,240
Speaker 1: bounce back year. Look at this superstar move against Quintin Grimes.

979
00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:09,720
Speaker 1: Rip through over the top, step back, get enough separation,

980
00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:13,640
Speaker 1: knock it down. This was another play where I thought, Steph.

981
00:46:13,920 --> 00:46:16,640
Speaker 1: So they ran a lot of this action last night,

982
00:46:16,719 --> 00:46:19,480
Speaker 1: where they would run an initial screen to get Luca

983
00:46:19,560 --> 00:46:21,879
Speaker 1: onto Steph. So they get they run the initial screen

984
00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:24,239
Speaker 1: to get Luke onto Staff. Then they bring Gafford up

985
00:46:24,280 --> 00:46:26,520
Speaker 1: into the screen. This was the action they spam down

986
00:46:26,560 --> 00:46:29,279
Speaker 1: the stretch. But again, this is bad defense from Luca.

987
00:46:29,400 --> 00:46:32,200
Speaker 1: So you know there's a switch coming. I get it,

988
00:46:32,440 --> 00:46:34,919
Speaker 1: you know there's a switch coming, but this is too

989
00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:38,719
Speaker 1: soft of a switch on both ends. Watch Luca just

990
00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:41,400
Speaker 1: go okay, you go ahead, Steph. See how he just quits.

991
00:46:41,760 --> 00:46:44,320
Speaker 1: Luca just says, you got it, Steph. And then Gafford's

992
00:46:44,360 --> 00:46:46,720
Speaker 1: too far back, and Steph just settles into the gap

993
00:46:46,719 --> 00:46:49,400
Speaker 1: between them and takes the shot. At the very least,

994
00:46:49,400 --> 00:46:52,600
Speaker 1: if you're Luca, you've got to stay attached with Steph

995
00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:56,600
Speaker 1: up until the moment that Gafford is there. Luca was

996
00:46:56,760 --> 00:47:00,960
Speaker 1: gifting Steph the transition between the switch and Steph Burndham.

997
00:47:02,200 --> 00:47:05,759
Speaker 1: But look at again all these things. Technically there's an explanation.

998
00:47:06,160 --> 00:47:11,560
Speaker 1: Okay Luca was switching or the slip from Moody, Okay,

999
00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:14,160
Speaker 1: Luca was expecting to switch out on to Clay in

1000
00:47:14,200 --> 00:47:17,399
Speaker 1: the corner. I'm not debating that. The problem is it's

1001
00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:19,680
Speaker 1: not about what he's doing. It's about the fact that

1002
00:47:19,719 --> 00:47:23,840
Speaker 1: he's not actually actively athletically engaged in the game on defense.

1003
00:47:24,080 --> 00:47:27,200
Speaker 1: He is sitting and doing the bare minimum, and that

1004
00:47:27,360 --> 00:47:29,759
Speaker 1: is what teams are capitalizing on at the end of

1005
00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:33,080
Speaker 1: these games and hunting him for and they're getting buckets

1006
00:47:33,120 --> 00:47:36,280
Speaker 1: and it's costing the MAVs games. It's a real problem.

1007
00:47:36,280 --> 00:47:38,640
Speaker 1: It's something that continues to be a problem, extending from

1008
00:47:38,719 --> 00:47:41,960
Speaker 1: last year in the finals. This was crazy, this defensive

1009
00:47:41,960 --> 00:47:43,960
Speaker 1: play from Draymond. Look at how he's able to offer

1010
00:47:44,080 --> 00:47:47,000
Speaker 1: high help. So he's helping around this free throw line

1011
00:47:47,040 --> 00:47:51,280
Speaker 1: area and able to while offering that high help recover

1012
00:47:51,400 --> 00:47:54,359
Speaker 1: to Gafford at the basket. Notice once again, Gaffer too

1013
00:47:54,480 --> 00:47:58,319
Speaker 1: goes up with two hands. Draymond leads with his left hand. First,

1014
00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:01,280
Speaker 1: watch leads with his left but then he sees Gafford

1015
00:48:01,320 --> 00:48:03,759
Speaker 1: double pump, and as soon as he double pumps, he

1016
00:48:03,800 --> 00:48:07,320
Speaker 1: switches to his right hand and goes after the exposed ball.

1017
00:48:07,920 --> 00:48:11,279
Speaker 1: Really really high level defensive play from Draymond. Takes a

1018
00:48:11,280 --> 00:48:13,719
Speaker 1: little moment to talk his shit, and these things are

1019
00:48:13,719 --> 00:48:16,040
Speaker 1: all connected, guys, because like here's the very next possession.

1020
00:48:17,160 --> 00:48:21,160
Speaker 1: Watch this. Draymond is once again a little too high

1021
00:48:21,239 --> 00:48:24,400
Speaker 1: and Gafford is behind him. But the fear of Draymond

1022
00:48:24,480 --> 00:48:28,440
Speaker 1: in his wingspan and his instincts causes Klay Thompson to

1023
00:48:28,480 --> 00:48:32,160
Speaker 1: overcook this pass too high. He throws it too high

1024
00:48:32,360 --> 00:48:36,160
Speaker 1: because Draymond is the issue there. If Draymond is not there,

1025
00:48:36,200 --> 00:48:39,239
Speaker 1: if it's anybody else, you throw a lower pass. Here

1026
00:48:39,280 --> 00:48:41,520
Speaker 1: we go with this same exact action that I was

1027
00:48:41,560 --> 00:48:43,799
Speaker 1: talking about earlier. We get the Wigans screen to get

1028
00:48:43,920 --> 00:48:46,359
Speaker 1: Luca switched on to Steph. Now we're going to run

1029
00:48:46,400 --> 00:48:49,920
Speaker 1: into the ball screen. This is just embarrassing defense from Luca.

1030
00:48:50,840 --> 00:48:54,160
Speaker 1: Steph just literally just does a simple double cross and

1031
00:48:54,239 --> 00:48:56,919
Speaker 1: just goes right around Luca easily to the basket, tows

1032
00:48:57,000 --> 00:48:58,480
Speaker 1: him off the dribble and gets an had one on

1033
00:48:58,520 --> 00:49:01,600
Speaker 1: the scoop shot. Just every time down the floor. They're

1034
00:49:01,640 --> 00:49:05,040
Speaker 1: going at him every time down the floor. This was

1035
00:49:05,080 --> 00:49:07,200
Speaker 1: the biggest stop of the game in my opinion. Look

1036
00:49:07,239 --> 00:49:09,520
Speaker 1: at the defense from Wiggins on Luca. I talked a

1037
00:49:09,520 --> 00:49:13,000
Speaker 1: lot on Tuesday Night's show about Luca's ability to absorb

1038
00:49:13,040 --> 00:49:16,600
Speaker 1: body blows from Luca without getting completely dislodged and actually

1039
00:49:16,640 --> 00:49:19,160
Speaker 1: knocking Luca a little off balance. This one right here,

1040
00:49:19,200 --> 00:49:21,920
Speaker 1: that blow, he just absorbs the blow. You can look

1041
00:49:21,920 --> 00:49:24,560
Speaker 1: at this last one here, this last bump boom. Notice

1042
00:49:24,600 --> 00:49:27,400
Speaker 1: on that last bump Luca doesn't gain any additional space

1043
00:49:27,480 --> 00:49:29,719
Speaker 1: right here, not this one. The next one ready right here,

1044
00:49:29,880 --> 00:49:31,920
Speaker 1: Luca holds him off, and now it turns into this

1045
00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:34,600
Speaker 1: one legged fade away from fifteen feet Again. We all

1046
00:49:34,640 --> 00:49:36,640
Speaker 1: know this a shot Luca can take and make, but

1047
00:49:36,719 --> 00:49:40,080
Speaker 1: he's forcing him into the lowest efficiency shot that Luca takes,

1048
00:49:40,120 --> 00:49:44,759
Speaker 1: which is the contested long too. And then in this

1049
00:49:44,840 --> 00:49:49,160
Speaker 1: case we get the exact same sequence Wiggans screen get

1050
00:49:49,239 --> 00:49:54,120
Speaker 1: Luca switch. This time Steph uses the screen switch onto

1051
00:49:54,160 --> 00:49:58,360
Speaker 1: Lively beats him with that little left to right crossover boom.

1052
00:49:59,080 --> 00:50:02,600
Speaker 1: Game over, fun fun game from the Warriors there on

1053
00:50:02,640 --> 00:50:03,960
Speaker 1: Tuesday night. All right, I just wanted to show you

1054
00:50:04,000 --> 00:50:06,759
Speaker 1: guys a couple of examples of inverted ball screens that

1055
00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:09,359
Speaker 1: Yiannis was running. Once again, I talked about how big

1056
00:50:09,400 --> 00:50:13,240
Speaker 1: guys just struggled to identify and navigate screens. Watch Isaiah

1057
00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:15,960
Speaker 1: Stewart here, Just watch him, watch his head. He's like,

1058
00:50:16,680 --> 00:50:18,200
Speaker 1: is he over here? Wait? Wait? No, is he on

1059
00:50:18,239 --> 00:50:19,920
Speaker 1: the left side? Where is he? Oh? Wait, no, he's

1060
00:50:19,920 --> 00:50:22,640
Speaker 1: on the other side. Now Jannis is dunking. Look at

1061
00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:25,080
Speaker 1: look at how all Pat Connton had to do was

1062
00:50:25,160 --> 00:50:27,040
Speaker 1: fake that he was running to set a screen on

1063
00:50:27,080 --> 00:50:28,960
Speaker 1: the right and then switch and set it on the left,

1064
00:50:29,200 --> 00:50:31,400
Speaker 1: and it got Isaiah Stewart out of position. The other

1065
00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:34,920
Speaker 1: thing too, look at Kate Cunningham on the hedge. So

1066
00:50:35,280 --> 00:50:37,960
Speaker 1: Content fakes like he's setting the screen on the right side.

1067
00:50:38,280 --> 00:50:40,959
Speaker 1: That makes Cad think, oh, my hedge is over here.

1068
00:50:41,480 --> 00:50:45,520
Speaker 1: So Caid goes to hedge, but Pat actually sets the

1069
00:50:45,520 --> 00:50:49,880
Speaker 1: screen on the opposite side. CAD's hedge is actually supposed

1070
00:50:49,880 --> 00:50:53,000
Speaker 1: to be over here, it's not. Now Pat effectively can

1071
00:50:53,040 --> 00:50:57,120
Speaker 1: screen both guys and then Jannis gets the dunk. But again,

1072
00:50:57,120 --> 00:50:59,279
Speaker 1: it's all about putting guys into positions that they're not

1073
00:50:59,360 --> 00:51:03,200
Speaker 1: normally in. Exact same thing here with Jalen Duran watch

1074
00:51:03,320 --> 00:51:06,360
Speaker 1: the watch the flip of the screen, this time with

1075
00:51:06,440 --> 00:51:10,400
Speaker 1: Connaton again fakes like he's gonna set it on the

1076
00:51:10,480 --> 00:51:12,880
Speaker 1: left side, causes the hedge on the left side, but

1077
00:51:12,920 --> 00:51:16,480
Speaker 1: then turns and screens the opposite side, and Giannis is

1078
00:51:16,520 --> 00:51:19,360
Speaker 1: able to get downhill easily. All about putting people in

1079
00:51:19,440 --> 00:51:22,080
Speaker 1: roles that they're not typically in. All right, guess that

1080
00:51:22,200 --> 00:51:24,080
Speaker 1: is all I have for today. Is always a sincerely

1081
00:51:24,080 --> 00:51:26,399
Speaker 1: appreciate you for supporting me and supporting the show. I'm

1082
00:51:26,440 --> 00:51:28,840
Speaker 1: recording a mail bag later this afternoon that will go

1083
00:51:29,040 --> 00:51:31,200
Speaker 1: up on I think it's going up on Saturday and

1084
00:51:31,239 --> 00:51:33,759
Speaker 1: Sunday again. Keep dropping mail back questions. We're gonna get

1085
00:51:33,760 --> 00:51:35,680
Speaker 1: to them on the upcoming Fridays throughout the rest of

1086
00:51:35,719 --> 00:51:37,600
Speaker 1: the season. As always, a sincerely appreciate you guys for

1087
00:51:37,640 --> 00:51:39,839
Speaker 1: supporting me and supporting the show. Now, I'll see you

1088
00:51:40,000 --> 00:51:46,720
Speaker 1: tomorrow the volume What's up guys? As always, I appreciate

1089
00:51:46,760 --> 00:51:49,520
Speaker 1: you for listening to and supporting Oops tonight. It would

1090
00:51:49,560 --> 00:51:51,640
Speaker 1: actually be really helpful for us if you guys would

1091
00:51:51,640 --> 00:51:54,480
Speaker 1: take a second and leave a rating and a review.

1092
00:51:54,520 --> 00:51:56,359
Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if

1093
00:51:56,400 --> 00:51:58,400
Speaker 1: you could take a minute to do that, I'd really

1094
00:51:58,440 --> 00:51:59,160
Speaker 1: appreciate it.