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Speaker 1: Slash audio. All right, well, good hoops tonight you're at
Speaker 1: the volume heavy Sunday. Everybody of all.
Speaker 2: You guys are having a great weekend as promised.
Speaker 1: We have a film session today.
Speaker 2: I have eighty six clips from three different games.
Speaker 1: To go into.
Speaker 2: I have a angry Laker fan film session off the top,
Speaker 2: that's like fifty clips long of me just being really
Speaker 2: annoyed that the Lakers didn't bring the appropriate playoff intensity.
Speaker 2: After that, just some brief clips from the Detroit Pistons
Speaker 2: game to demonstrate the difference in the way that Brunson
Speaker 2: was attacking versus the way that Cade was attacking that
Speaker 2: At the tail end of the show, just some notes
Speaker 2: from the Clippers Nuggets series, specifically how Denver upped their
Speaker 2: defensive intensity in pick and roll to force the Clippers
Speaker 2: into making mistakes. So lots of visual examples of the
Speaker 2: stuff that we talked last night in some takeaways looking
Speaker 2: forward in the series. You guys are the job before
Speaker 2: we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops and Not YouTube
Speaker 2: channel so you don't miss any more of our videos.
Speaker 2: Follow me on Twitter at underscore JCNLTS. You guysn't misshow announcements.
Speaker 2: Don't forget about a podcast feed where you get your
Speaker 2: podcast on our Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if
Speaker 2: you leave your rating and review on that front. We
Speaker 2: have social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook where
Speaker 2: we're doing content throughout the year. Make sure you guys
Speaker 2: follow us there. And then last but not least, keep
Speaker 2: dropping mail bag questions in the YouTube comments so that
Speaker 2: we can get to them in our mail bags throughout
Speaker 2: the remainder of the year. All right, let's talk some basketball.
Speaker 2: So just real quick upfront, just the surface level stuff
Speaker 2: with the Lakers game and immediately stood out to me,
Speaker 2: just a gap in intensity. I'll show you guys several
Speaker 2: examples of just the difference between the way that Minnesota
Speaker 2: was attacking each little element of the game in the
Speaker 2: way that the Lakers were attacking each little element of
Speaker 2: the game. That's why I was so keyed in on
Speaker 2: what the first half will look like in Game two,
Speaker 2: because in Game two, I thoroughly expect the Lakers to
Speaker 2: bring a much higher level of physicality and intensity, and
Speaker 2: that will we will get to see a better example
Speaker 2: of what the two teams look like in that type
Speaker 2: of setting. And that's why if they go into that
Speaker 2: game and we go into halftime and the Wolves are
Speaker 2: up by five, six points and still kind of in control,
Speaker 2: I would take that as a huge sign of concern
Speaker 2: for the Lakers. And if the Lakers are as good
Speaker 2: as I think they can be, they should take care
Speaker 2: of business. That's really, what it keeps coming down to
Speaker 2: for me is if the Lakers are the team that
Speaker 2: I have thought that they are for most of this
Speaker 2: stretch after the All Star Break, they will go into
Speaker 2: Game two and they won't just beat Minnesota, They'll control
Speaker 2: that game throughout, and I think that'll be a really
Speaker 2: strong indicator. I think if it looks rough for the
Speaker 2: Lakers out the gates in Game two, that's a really
Speaker 2: strong sign that the Wolves are going to get a win.
Speaker 2: So let's get into some of these film examples so
Speaker 2: that we can start to see exactly the kind of
Speaker 2: stuff that I'm talking about. All Right, So in this
Speaker 2: first clip, I just wanted to call attention to the
Speaker 2: specific matchup of Ruy and Mike Conley. So, as you
Speaker 2: can see here, Lebron is going to throw a post
Speaker 2: feed to Ruy against Mike Conley, and this is a
Speaker 2: textbook example of how not to mismatch attack in the post.
Speaker 2: So Ruey's got a small on him here, and as
Speaker 2: you can see, as he's attacking, Ant is completely hugged
Speaker 2: up on Jackson Hayes, so that Rudy Gobert can help
Speaker 2: on the host up. And so Ruy's already accomplished his goal. Here,
Speaker 2: he's effectively caused three Wolves to guard two Lakers. All
Speaker 2: he needs to do is take one more aggressive dribble
Speaker 2: towards the middle and throw this kickout pass to Austin Reeves.
Speaker 2: You've done the job. You've taken the mismatch which is
Speaker 2: ruy on Mike Conley and turned it into a wide
Speaker 2: open three for Austin Reeves. What you can't do is
Speaker 2: settle for a highly difficult two point jump shot, and
Speaker 2: that's what he does. He settles for a right shoulder fade,
Speaker 2: which is a shot he can make, but he's gonna
Speaker 2: hit it about forty percent of the time, and that's
Speaker 2: a shot that the Wolves are going to live with.
Speaker 2: So that was an example of just poor matchup attacking
Speaker 2: right out the gates there. This was a thought an
Speaker 2: example of just Austin looking a little out of rhythm
Speaker 2: early in the game. He's in a ball screen here
Speaker 2: with Rudy Gobert going against a drop coverage. He's in
Speaker 2: the short range here, but he just leaves this alligator arm.
Speaker 1: Floater away short.
Speaker 2: I also thought this was an example You'll see several
Speaker 2: examples of this in the film where Aunt was just
Speaker 2: going right at Austin and really breaking him down off
Speaker 2: the dribble, just with really aggressive like counter moves, just
Speaker 2: breaks Austin off. He ends up making a bad rim
Speaker 2: read here going at Jackson instead of just taking a
Speaker 2: kick out read. But that was abundantly clear in the
Speaker 2: film that like Austin was really struggling to hang with
Speaker 2: Anthony Edwards. I actually thought, even though Ruy struggled in
Speaker 2: a bunch of other places which I'll show in the film,
Speaker 2: Austin really really struggled in that matchup, and Ruy looked
Speaker 2: a little bit better than him. Something to think about
Speaker 2: for the matchups throughout the rest of the series. Here's
Speaker 2: an example of where Jackson Hayes' vertical spacing was not
Speaker 2: much of a factor in this game. In order for
Speaker 2: Jackson to play in this lineup, he's got to do
Speaker 2: what Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford did, which is be
Speaker 2: a legitimate spacing window in the pocket and out of
Speaker 2: the dunker spot. This was a simple ball screen with
Speaker 2: Lebron and Jackson to a typical drop coverage right, So
Speaker 2: Rudy Gobert is defending both the ball handler and the roller.
Speaker 2: Lebron hits Jackson in the pocket. He's got the angle,
Speaker 2: he's got the advantage. This has to be a make
Speaker 2: and Jackson just can't finish over Toy Gobert. That's a
Speaker 2: lack of vertical spacing there. Julius Randall, I thought, logged
Speaker 2: a lot of really good reps of individual defense against
Speaker 2: Luka Doncic and Lebron James. We talked before the series
Speaker 2: about how that was going to be an interesting matchup.
Speaker 2: This was very good defense from Julius Randall on Luka Doncic,
Speaker 2: which I think is encouraging for Wolves fans. That's a
Speaker 2: matchup I think they're doing well in. Here's another example
Speaker 2: that I'll be pulling that clip up later, switching in
Speaker 2: a ball screen and the Lakers looking to attack that
Speaker 2: switch with mid range jump shots against again, like.
Speaker 1: If it's Luca.
Speaker 2: Luca did really well in his switches against Gobert, but
Speaker 2: Lebron and Austin in particular, they were settling for some
Speaker 2: really difficult, contested mid range jump shots. It's just not
Speaker 2: going to work against these switches. Here is another example
Speaker 2: of I thought Austin just looking like he was out
Speaker 2: of rhythm and not really ready for the game as
Speaker 2: he has this catch here against Jada McDaniels. So look
Speaker 2: he's dribbling out against Jada McDaniels. Ruey Hotchimura is standing
Speaker 2: against Mike Conley and Austin just for no particular reason
Speaker 2: just throws because of Jaden McDaniels applying some ball pressure.
Speaker 2: Look at the ball pressure from Jaden. He's up in
Speaker 2: his face and Austin just throws the ball away. That's
Speaker 2: just not being ready for playoff intensity. Ruy's not going
Speaker 2: to do anything with the ball there. You're the point guard.
Speaker 2: You need to get the offense organized and get the
Speaker 2: guys where they want to where they need to be
Speaker 2: to be successful. And that was just panicking against ball pressure.
Speaker 2: Here's another example of of Anthony Edwards just doing a
Speaker 2: ton of damage right at the point of attack with
Speaker 2: aggressive counter moves. Look at this, so he gets sets
Speaker 2: up like he's gonna come off the ball screen. Watch
Speaker 2: the way he just rips to the left on Gabe.
Speaker 2: That forces hard help out of the strong side corner
Speaker 2: and then generates a wide open three for Dante DiVincenzo.
Speaker 2: A lot of that from ant where he's just like
Speaker 2: immediately breaking down the Lakers right off the top of
Speaker 2: the possession. Same sort of thing here against Ruy Hatchamura.
Speaker 2: Ruy Hatchamura touches the earth here. This was a ridiculous move,
Speaker 2: a series of switches Ruy's on Ant. He had some
Speaker 2: good reps on Ant in this game. This was not
Speaker 2: one of them. Boom boom, just on the ground. But
Speaker 2: as you can see, it's like he's coming so hard
Speaker 2: downhill towards the rim. There are so many more easy
Speaker 2: opportunities for Ant off of those super aggressive dribble moves.
Speaker 2: When he breaks you down, that that significantly. You have
Speaker 2: to find a way to flatten out that drive, make
Speaker 2: it not so clearly devastating to your defense. This was
Speaker 2: an example of just Ant taking easy reads that were
Speaker 2: in front of him. So he's just driving at Rui, right,
Speaker 2: But look at where Gabe is. Gabe is at the nail. Right,
Speaker 2: Gabe's at the nail. He drives as Nas cuts through.
Speaker 2: Look where Luca is, And I thought Luca made a
Speaker 2: lot of poor help decisions like this. So look at
Speaker 2: the paint. We have five lakers that are at or
Speaker 2: near the paint, right, Luca doesn't need to be this
Speaker 2: far in on a simple kickout read like this, especially
Speaker 2: when there's all of this help already easy kickout pass
Speaker 2: to Jada McDaniels and he knocks it down. I kind
Speaker 2: of unders should that one, at least from the standpoint
Speaker 2: of the game plan. But you'll see some examples later
Speaker 2: everyones that I don't agree with. They got a really
Speaker 2: clean look here for Luca after using Luca as a screener.
Speaker 2: Jaden McDaniels really did not want to switch off of
Speaker 2: Luca if he could avoid it. So this is something
Speaker 2: I think the Lakers should explore a lot in Game two,
Speaker 2: is just using Luca as a screener on the screen.
Speaker 2: He breaks Dante off so bad that Jayden has to switch.
Speaker 2: Then they both run with Austin and that ends up
Speaker 2: giving Luca wide open three at the top of the key.
Speaker 2: Something to keep an eye on. This is actually a
Speaker 2: different example from earlier in the game one of the
Speaker 2: first possessions where Lucas had a screen for Lebron, same
Speaker 2: sort of thing. Look, we have a top lock from
Speaker 2: Jada McDaniels. He does not want to switch Lucas. Hats
Speaker 2: a good screen that gets Lebron downhill against Rudy. If
Speaker 2: Jackson was paying attention instead of spotting up at the
Speaker 2: three point line and cut. If you to cut just
Speaker 2: a second earlier, this is a dunk, but because he
Speaker 2: was late, the window closed up on him. Lebron settles
Speaker 2: for that tough well. Lebron ends up throwing the lob,
Speaker 2: but it just was too late for that to ever
Speaker 2: have worked. Another example I thought of the Lakers just
Speaker 2: not being ready for playoff intensity. Look at Nasried coming
Speaker 2: off the screening action. It's a clear switch, right, They're
Speaker 2: clearly thinking it's a switch. But nas Reed is a
Speaker 2: very good offensive player that's gonna look to be aggressive
Speaker 2: and try to score. He attacks and Rudy meets him
Speaker 2: way down at the foul line in a passive open stance,
Speaker 2: and Naz just goes right through him to the rim.
Speaker 2: Like that's just not playoff intensity from Ruey Haachimura defensively.
Speaker 2: Very similar example from earlier in the game. Jackson in
Speaker 2: a switch with Lebron. So Lebron is guarding Julius Randall,
Speaker 2: Jackson's guarding Mike Conley. It's an easy switch, but look
Speaker 2: at how far back Jackson as both of them are
Speaker 2: way far back and they're basically just conceding that shot.
Speaker 2: You can see the difference between that and the way
Speaker 2: that they're pressing up on every Lakers player.
Speaker 1: In that situation.
Speaker 2: I will say, even though I didn't think the Austin
Speaker 2: or Lebron attacks against the Bigs were working, Luca was
Speaker 2: doing a good job against the Bigs and switches.
Speaker 1: This was working that.
Speaker 2: Luca versus Rudy Gobert, He's able to just get him
Speaker 2: off balance enough to get down into the paint where
Speaker 2: he can hit his little short range shots or break
Speaker 2: the defense down.
Speaker 1: That was working.
Speaker 2: Here's another example of Ruy just lacking that playoff intensity.
Speaker 2: So it's a transition push right, Rui's just backpedaling. Watch
Speaker 2: Dorian Phinney Smith. He's already pointing. Ruey's pointing for everybody
Speaker 2: to pick up the ball or pick up the other players,
Speaker 2: because Dorian thinks he's got go bear right, see pointing.
Speaker 2: He points again, but Ruy's just not ready and An
Speaker 2: gets a wad up and layup. Watch Ruiy again on
Speaker 2: this whole possession, just backpedaling doesn't stop the ball.
Speaker 1: That's like that.
Speaker 2: This is a this isn't this is an important playoff game.
Speaker 2: You lose Game one of the series. You lose the
Speaker 2: series about seventy five percent of the time. Look at
Speaker 2: Ruey Hachamura, this is just not ready for playoff basketball.
Speaker 2: That's unseerious and like that. That's that happened to Ruey
Speaker 2: last year in the Denver series. It came into the
Speaker 2: series and just looked completely unready for playoff intensity. So
Speaker 2: Ruey just needs to wake up. He needs to figure
Speaker 2: it out sooner than later. Here's another screen, a little
Speaker 2: screen action.
Speaker 1: Look at how.
Speaker 2: Luca does not actually make contact with Austin this time
Speaker 2: and as a result, or with Ant this time, so
Speaker 2: as a result, the action doesn't actually work right. Austin
Speaker 2: then gets Rudy Gobert in a switch. So now we
Speaker 2: have the switch, right, We have Austin against Rudy in
Speaker 2: a switch. But like I talked about earlier, Austin and
Speaker 2: Lebron were just settling for some pretty low quality shots.
Speaker 2: This is a really tough shot. Austin might hit that
Speaker 2: forty five percent of the time maybe, and that's just
Speaker 2: not gonna be a shot that Minnesota is gonna really
Speaker 2: care about. Similar example from earlier in the game. I
Speaker 2: told you guys, I was gonna bring this clip back.
Speaker 2: This is Lebron in a switch against Gobert on the
Speaker 2: left side of the floor. Same sort of thing, ball
Speaker 2: screen switch. Minnesota's gonna live with this.
Speaker 1: They're not.
Speaker 2: You're not gonna You're not gonna beat the Timberwolves taking
Speaker 2: contested mid range jump shots.
Speaker 1: Over Rudy Gobert.
Speaker 2: Look at this screen form ruiy Ha Chamura. He goes
Speaker 2: to set the screen for Luca, but look doesn't make contact.
Speaker 2: That's that's a bullshit screen. These are bullshit screens. He's
Speaker 2: not actually helping get his man open. He's got to
Speaker 2: He's got to hit Jaden that The only way you're
Speaker 2: going to create those openings is if you actually make
Speaker 2: contact on the screens.
Speaker 1: Lebron.
Speaker 2: The Keel Alexander Walker this year is shooting forty six
Speaker 2: percent field goal percentage forty six percent on unguarded catch
Speaker 2: and shoot jump shots. Lebron has Nikayle Alexander Walker right now,
Speaker 2: if you're locked in mentally, you know you're guarding a
Speaker 2: forty six percent wide open shooter, you cannot be sinking
Speaker 2: this far into the lane. He just concedes it to
Speaker 2: Nikaile Alexander Walker and he knocks it down. That's really
Speaker 2: bad defense that is lacking playoff intensity. I thought this
Speaker 2: was an example of just kind of like foreshadowing the
Speaker 2: bad process we saw from Lebron later in the game
Speaker 2: attacking Bigs. When Lebron attacks Bigs in Switches, he doesn't
Speaker 2: have speed against them anymore because he's too old, and
Speaker 2: he doesn't have size against them anymore because he's you know,
Speaker 2: going against biggs, right, so he gets nasried. This is
Speaker 2: not a favorable matchup. I don't like this matchup for Lebron,
Speaker 2: and what does he end up doing walks him down,
Speaker 2: ends up taking this super contested floater that has no
Speaker 2: chance of going in. Lebron is not going to successfully
Speaker 2: beat bigs and Switches anymore. He's not good enough over
Speaker 2: the top shooter at really at any point in his career,
Speaker 2: and at this phase in his career, he doesn't have
Speaker 2: the speed to be going against Bigs and Switches like that.
Speaker 2: And you'll see a lot of that when we get
Speaker 2: into the mid second quarter when the Wolves start to
Speaker 2: go on their run. This is something for Minnesota to
Speaker 2: continue to exploit throughout the series. As we can see,
Speaker 2: we have an action here set up with Austin and
Speaker 2: Mike Conley and naseried on Jared Vanderbilt actions that involved
Speaker 2: a guard and a forward. The Lakers were not switching,
Speaker 2: at least not switching readily. They were switching after the fact,
Speaker 2: peel Off switching like hesitantly switching right, and the Wolves
Speaker 2: were able to get a lot of easy openings just
Speaker 2: kind of baked into the coverage. So as you can
Speaker 2: see here we have Austin and Vando off the ball
Speaker 2: here actually I'm talking about this action here on the
Speaker 2: left side. So we have Dorian Finney Smith on Julius Randall,
Speaker 2: and we have Gabe Vincent chasing to kill Alexander Walker.
Speaker 2: But they are not switching, and so as a result,
Speaker 2: they're able to get an a kil going downhill towards
Speaker 2: the rim because of that baked in drive that comes
Speaker 2: from the curl. Here's another example from earlier in the game,
Speaker 2: same sort of thing. As you can see, Gabe is
Speaker 2: chasing over the top on Dante and Lucas in like
Speaker 2: a drop coverage. So as a result, nas Reed is
Speaker 2: basically the pick and pop big who's always wide open,
Speaker 2: and he's able to get this layup. He just happens
Speaker 2: to smoke it. But these are examples of opportunities for
Speaker 2: the Wolves. If they run any action with a guard
Speaker 2: and one of their forwards, they're getting a lot of
Speaker 2: these baked in openings that come from the Lakers not switching.
Speaker 2: One of the big adjustments I have for the Lakers
Speaker 2: for Game two is just switch everything, like just actually
Speaker 2: literally switch everything, because those sorts of openings are giving
Speaker 2: runways to better athletes than you. Same exact thing here,
Speaker 2: nas Reed misses a three, but it's the same type
Speaker 2: of action you'll see. I believe it's with Dante as well.
Speaker 2: So once again we have a guard and a forward
Speaker 2: ball screen. For some reason, they're not switching. Nas Reed
Speaker 2: is open. He just happens to miss that. They again,
Speaker 2: that's a peel off switch, says. You can see the
Speaker 2: Lakers are switching it, but not intentionally, they're switching it reactively.
Speaker 2: So Gabe went over the screen and then was like,
Speaker 2: oh shit, I should switch and then get back. That's
Speaker 2: where the opening is. If you just cleanly switched that
Speaker 2: from the start of the possession, you can take away
Speaker 2: that opening. I thought Jaden McDaniels showed a lot of
Speaker 2: really impressive scoring ability yesterday. Here's an example attacking Austin
Speaker 2: Reeves in the post. This is a tough left shoulder
Speaker 2: fade over the top. He did a lot of really
Speaker 2: high level scoring last night. More confusion from the Lakers
Speaker 2: as to whether or not they want to switch with
Speaker 2: their forward, same sort of thing Conley and nasried Vando
Speaker 2: looks completely unprepared for the drive coming off the screen,
Speaker 2: Like if this is a clean switch, then Vanda will
Speaker 2: close out on Connolly and engage the ball, but instead
Speaker 2: look at him.
Speaker 1: He's pointing.
Speaker 2: He's like, he's like, oh shit, switch and it just
Speaker 2: caught him off guard. They're just not ready, and so
Speaker 2: that was a little game plan thing that Minnesota did
Speaker 2: a lot of work exploiting in the first half, particularly
Speaker 2: just the clean openings because the Laker's not switching with
Speaker 2: their forwards. Another example of Austin just clearly being out
Speaker 2: of rhythm. This is a shot that you will never
Speaker 2: see Austin miss, Like he probably shoots ninety five percent
Speaker 2: on floaters inside of like this distance, and he just
Speaker 2: alligator armed it the time. Austin and Lebron have both
Speaker 2: always been rhythm players, and they both have always struggled
Speaker 2: after time off, and they get a week off and
Speaker 2: they both just look completely unprepared for the game.
Speaker 1: Last night.
Speaker 2: This was an example of the Lakers. I talked last
Speaker 2: night about how it seemed like to the game plan
Speaker 2: for me that the Lakers were just leaving Nazri to
Speaker 2: open and treating him the way you would treat a
Speaker 2: Jaden McDaniels or Julius Randall, and I thought that was
Speaker 2: a mistake.
Speaker 1: Here's another example of that. All right, so we have
Speaker 1: a post up.
Speaker 2: Julius is on Lebron right, Lebron can guard Julius Randall.
Speaker 2: Julius can hit a tough shoulder left shoulder fade away
Speaker 2: or right shoulder fade away over him, but he's not
Speaker 2: going to like bully that matchup. What you're doing here,
Speaker 2: Jared Vanderbilt, is you're making life extremely easy for Julius
Speaker 2: Randall because Julius Randall has Lebron James, and instead of
Speaker 2: having just score on Lebron James, you're allowing him to
Speaker 2: just rifle a simple swing pass to a very good
Speaker 2: shooter who knocks it down. Nas red by the way,
Speaker 2: forty four percent on unguarded catch and shoot jump shots.
Speaker 2: It goes down to twenty nine percent when you guard him.
Speaker 2: So that is like a very simple game plan piece
Speaker 2: that I'm tying more to JJ Reddick just because I
Speaker 2: saw so many different defenders make that same mistake last night.
Speaker 2: As a game plan adjustment for Game two. You can't
Speaker 2: treat Nasrid the way you treat Jaden McDaniels. That's going
Speaker 2: to burn you if you do that. In this series,
Speaker 2: this was a very clean look for Lebron and pick
Speaker 2: and pop. These are shots that Lebron's going to have
Speaker 2: to hit in this matchup, simple ball screen. Conley's chasing
Speaker 2: what's always open in the pick and pop, what's always
Speaker 2: open against the drop coverage the pick and pop. Lebron
Speaker 2: just has to hit that shot. Here's an example of
Speaker 2: Jaden McDaniels just beating the Lakers to the ball on
Speaker 2: the other end of the floor. So as you can see,
Speaker 2: Julius Randall takes the three in Lebron's face. We have
Speaker 2: four Lakers surrounding Jaden McDaniels, and Jaden McDaniels beats everyone
Speaker 2: to the ball. Now, this is where I want to
Speaker 2: get on Vando because it's like, Vando, the reason why
Speaker 2: you're out here, literally, the weird reason why you're on
Speaker 2: the court is what you can do defensively, and on
Speaker 2: the glass, shot is in the air. Jaden and Jared
Speaker 2: are more or less in the same position, like Jayden
Speaker 2: and Vanda are both in position to get this rebound.
Speaker 2: The difference is Jaden fought for position and went for it.
Speaker 2: Vando did it until it was too late, and Jaden
Speaker 2: got an easy put back.
Speaker 1: That's really over and over again.
Speaker 2: You'll see in these examples there's just a level of
Speaker 2: playoff intensity that Minnesota was bringing that the Lakers were
Speaker 2: not matching. I thought, Lebron, you know, just instead of
Speaker 2: just measured and slowly and methodically attacking Smalls, He's got
Speaker 2: seven seconds here against Nikaile Alexander Walker, slow the fuck down,
Speaker 2: back him down, get to one of your right shoulder
Speaker 2: fades at like seven feet. Instead, he just drives in
Speaker 2: panics and throws a jump pass to Jackson, who's not
Speaker 2: really that open, like nas Reed is there, and so
Speaker 2: it ends up being kind of a tough angle and
Speaker 2: once again Jackson Hayes not really providing any vertical spacing.
Speaker 2: Here's another example of the Laker's not wanting to switch
Speaker 2: with their fours, like we talked about, so we got
Speaker 2: a ball screen not switching, which allows Jaden McDaniels to
Speaker 2: take a drop coverage mid ranger. But look at how
Speaker 2: every Laker just stands around and watches Jaden McDaniels go
Speaker 2: get his own rebound, Like, like, what's Lebron doing there? Like,
Speaker 2: if you're gonna be in a drop, you got to
Speaker 2: get the rebound. But everyone's just standing around and watching
Speaker 2: Jada McDaniels get it. Look at Ruie, Look at Rui's intensity.
Speaker 2: Jaden just beats him.
Speaker 1: To the ball.
Speaker 2: Like it almost just looked like the Lakers just were
Speaker 2: a step slow to everything in the entire game with
Speaker 2: their intensity. Here's another like example of that lack of intensity.
Speaker 2: So here's a post entry against Jaden McDaniels. But like,
Speaker 2: look at how lazy Austin is on this pass. Look
Speaker 2: at this pass from Austin. He just turns and tries
Speaker 2: to throw it and it gets deflected by that's Jaden McDaniels.
Speaker 2: You're gonna have to make a pass fake and you're
Speaker 2: gonna have to like find an angle to make a
Speaker 2: post entry. Instead it gets deflected, and now Lebron's attacking
Speaker 2: to kill further out Now, for example, This is the
Speaker 2: exact same play that I just showed you. Seven seconds left,
Speaker 2: Nikkeiel Alexander Walker. Lebron finally turns his back and just
Speaker 2: backs him down, gets to that easy right shoulder fade
Speaker 2: for eight feed, fucking knocks it down and gets the
Speaker 2: foul like this. This is basic execution stuff to improve
Speaker 2: your chances of winning in this matchup, like Austin pass fake,
Speaker 2: make a post entry. You have to be very disciplined
Speaker 2: against this length that Minnesota has. Lebron, your advantage is
Speaker 2: your size and strength. It is not over the top shooting.
Speaker 2: It is not trying to use your speed against Biggs.
Speaker 2: You are too big for these little dudes. That's your advantage.
Speaker 2: Playoff intensity. Watch the shot go up, watching Nikil al
Speaker 2: Xander Walker. All these Lakers are in here right, Lebron's
Speaker 2: down here, Luka Doncic is in here. Nikhil Alexander Walker
Speaker 2: is going to lead a runout fast break for an
Speaker 2: easy bucket while Lebron and Luke are completely uninvolved. Watch
Speaker 2: this look at that. That's not playing playoff basketball. Nikhil
Speaker 2: Alexander Walker is just outworking every single one of you guys.
Speaker 2: Once again, Austin Reeves setting a screen on Dante DiVincenzo.
Speaker 2: If you're playing playoff basketball, you are hitting Dante DiVincenzo
Speaker 2: and you are creating separation for Luca. You tell me
Speaker 2: what happens here. Dante hit Austin and Austin didn't hold
Speaker 2: his ground. That is lacking playoff intensity. As a result,
Speaker 2: Dante's able to stay attached throughout the ball screen and
Speaker 2: he's able to strip Luca before he can go up
Speaker 2: into the shot. That is on Austin for not setting
Speaker 2: a good screen. And by the way, look at Lebron
Speaker 2: makes an effort in transition. What happens. He was in
Speaker 2: the corner. Look he's in the deep corner, and he's
Speaker 2: able to get back into this play because he's making
Speaker 2: an ef F in transition. Now, am I asking Lebron
Speaker 2: to make seventeen chase down blocks a game? No, But
Speaker 2: if the team makes the efforts in transition, you can
Speaker 2: keep them under control in the transition game. Minnesota won
Speaker 2: the transition game twenty three to ten. In this game,
Speaker 2: that's not gonna cut it. This is where the wheels
Speaker 2: really started to come off for the Lakers in the
Speaker 2: second Tell me what you guys notice here we have
Speaker 2: Ruby Achimura standing wide open at the top of the
Speaker 2: key with an opportunity to take a wide open trailer
Speaker 2: three in transition, which is a three he's practiced a
Speaker 2: million times, and instead he goes, I'm gonna try to
Speaker 2: dunk on Rudy Gobert, and that goes about exactly as
Speaker 2: you would have expected it. All right, This was an
Speaker 2: example I talked last night about Luca losing some basic
Speaker 2: defensive rebound battles. So like, Luca is ignoring nas Reid here,
Speaker 2: which once again, like we talked about in the game plan,
Speaker 2: is silly. But as he's ignoring nas Reid, Anthony Edwards
Speaker 2: takes one of his like forced shots in the game,
Speaker 2: which he didn't take too many of, but he took
Speaker 2: a few. You got to get this rebound, then, Luca, like,
Speaker 2: if you're gonna ignore nas read down here, you gotta
Speaker 2: get this rebound instead. As it came off, Luca didn't
Speaker 2: go get the ball, so Ant got it. Look at
Speaker 2: where the ball fell. The ball fell right to where
Speaker 2: Luca should have got it, but he didn't. So now
Speaker 2: you've left Nasrid open, failed to get the defensive rebound,
Speaker 2: and now Nasried is open. On the offensive rebound kick
Speaker 2: out for three. Like, that's a huge momentum play in
Speaker 2: this game. You get a stop there, you go the
Speaker 2: other way. He scores a three point game instead, Now
Speaker 2: you're down by eight because you're just not matching the
Speaker 2: intensity of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Lebron just attacking bigs. Okay,
Speaker 2: you got Nazrie, this is not your matchup. There's a
Speaker 2: small right there you can attack. There's a small right
Speaker 2: there you can attack. There are two guys on the
Speaker 2: floor that you can easily get to the post and
Speaker 2: get an easy bucket against. Instead, he tries to go
Speaker 2: at Naserie, doesn't turn the corner on him and gets blocked.
Speaker 2: That leads to run out the other way. The Timberwolves
Speaker 2: get a layup. Okay, go down to the other end.
Speaker 2: Exact same thing, except for this time it's Rudy. So
Speaker 2: once again we're they're pre switching to get Nikhil Alexander
Speaker 2: Walker up into the action. This is what's crazy, So
Speaker 2: like they're deliberately intention only.
Speaker 1: Going after the bigs.
Speaker 2: Look at this, They pre switched Nikhil Alexander Walker on
Speaker 2: too Ruy to save Rudy Gobert from having to defend
Speaker 2: on the switch, saying, Lebron, if you want to attack Nikkeiel,
Speaker 2: go ahead, and instead they're like, oh shit, it's not
Speaker 2: there anymore. So Dorian Finney Smith runs up Ruby gets
Speaker 2: out that way they can run the two man games
Speaker 2: to get Lebron switched on to Rudy. He gets Lebron
Speaker 2: switched on to Rudy, and this is going to go
Speaker 2: exactly like it does every other time. Lebron is going
Speaker 2: to drive into the person not be able to turn
Speaker 2: the corner and get blocked at the rim. This, by
Speaker 2: the way, led to another runout for another wide open
Speaker 2: corner three for Nazrid that went in so like multiple
Speaker 2: repeated foolish attacks with a stupid game plan that just
Speaker 2: played right into Minnesota's hands, like literally played right into
Speaker 2: Minnesota's hands, giving them easy transition runouts because you're just
Speaker 2: playing stupid basketball on offense. And this is I want
Speaker 2: to blame this on Lebron specifically because I've heard I've
Speaker 2: heard JJ talk about how he wants them to attack
Speaker 2: smalls in tight spaces, not bigs in space. He's fine
Speaker 2: with Luca doing it. Lebron and Austin that that's not
Speaker 2: their game. They don't need to be attacking Rudy Gobaer
Speaker 2: in space. That's not an arrangement that's gonna work for them.
Speaker 2: There's another example of a defensive rebound that Luca just
Speaker 2: should have got, but he just didn't go get the basketball,
Speaker 2: seat goes up, Luca's got inside position and everything just
Speaker 2: doesn't make any contact, and Nazrie comes in and bats
Speaker 2: it out.
Speaker 1: Ball stays with Minnesota.
Speaker 2: Here's another example of Julius Randall defending Luka Doncic really well,
Speaker 2: so we get a switch. Julius Randall did really well
Speaker 2: on these switches. Man, this is really good defense. Look
Speaker 2: at him sliding the feet. Look another thing too, Look
Speaker 2: at how he's stabbing at the basketball. This is how
Speaker 2: you can disrupt rhythm. Look at how often he's like
Speaker 2: stabbing at the basketball, just like reaching, stabbing, reaching, stabbing,
Speaker 2: just making sure to disrupt the rhythm as best as
Speaker 2: he can. That's really quality individual defense from Julius Randall.
Speaker 2: Here's another example of the Lakers over helping off of Naserie.
Speaker 2: So you get a screen action that gets the switch.
Speaker 2: Look at how many bodies already in the paint. So
Speaker 2: Julius is driving at Luka Doncic, Lebron's in position to help,
Speaker 2: gave Vincent's there. This is the strong side corner. You
Speaker 2: do not help here, and the game plan has consistently
Speaker 2: been Gabe is the guy that's hopping across the lane
Speaker 2: line and meeting you here. This is really fucking bad defense.
Speaker 2: You just allowed Julius Randall to make the easiest passing
Speaker 2: read in the history of mankind because you vacated the
Speaker 2: strongside corner to help on a situation that didn't need help.
Speaker 2: That like, that's just really fucking terrible defense. Luca just
Speaker 2: giving up a simple backcut to Anthony Edwards. A lot
Speaker 2: of Luca leaving his feet in this game and getting
Speaker 2: out of position, like jumping at ball fakes and stuff
Speaker 2: like that, just undisciplined. Here's Lebron again, attacking a big
Speaker 2: in space. He makes this one, but it's like, this
Speaker 2: is what you're gonna get. You're gonna get these like
Speaker 2: semi contested mid range jump shots. He's just not gonna
Speaker 2: make enough of those for that to be a worthwhile
Speaker 2: method for them to attack. Here's an example of the
Speaker 2: Wolf was just beating every Laker to the ball again,
Speaker 2: so the ball shot goes up.
Speaker 1: Let's see we got all. If you looked at this.
Speaker 2: Situation, you would think the Lakers are in an advantageous
Speaker 2: position for rebounding Rui's inside position on Jaden Lebron's inside
Speaker 2: position on Nas Durians and the paint. All these three
Speaker 2: wolves are way out here. Watch how much quicker the
Speaker 2: wolves are to the ball. That's just that's not fighting.
Speaker 2: You think you're gonna get the trophy by not like
Speaker 2: fighting and competing, You're you're never going to get the
Speaker 2: trophy without fighting or competing.
Speaker 1: Look at Gabe.
Speaker 2: Watch Gabe when the rebound goes up, still hasn't moved,
Speaker 2: still walking. These guys are already shooting towards the ball.
Speaker 2: That's like everybody needs to be swarming the way that
Speaker 2: the wolves are swarming. Then your skill advantages can take place.
Speaker 2: But they're not gonna take place if you get so
Speaker 2: badly outworked like that. Remember when I said Austin wasn't
Speaker 2: setting good fucking screens.
Speaker 1: Watch this one. Watch the difference Boom.
Speaker 2: Lays the wood actually hits him, holds his ground, leverage
Speaker 2: his body sets a good screen. Now look at what
Speaker 2: happens as a result. The entire Wolves defense reacts to
Speaker 2: the advantage that Luca created there and it generates a
Speaker 2: wide open three for Austin. Now he bricks it because
Speaker 2: he's still out of rhythm. And I think Luca missed
Speaker 2: the read a little bit there. He should have hit
Speaker 2: him earlier. But again, that's that is what happens. When
Speaker 2: you meet the intensity of the moment and you set
Speaker 2: a good physical screen, you can get openings even against
Speaker 2: good defense. And frankly, if you do that every time
Speaker 2: down the floor, it'll be much easier for you to
Speaker 2: get into a rhythm. First possession of the second half,
Speaker 2: Let's see if the Lakers took the adjustment properly at
Speaker 2: the just you know, all of the ass chewing that
Speaker 2: JJ was delivering at halftime, Let's see if they took
Speaker 2: it seriously. First possession, we get a ghost screen, so
Speaker 2: this should just be a switch. Instead, it's not. They
Speaker 2: fuck it up again and Austin looks confused as to
Speaker 2: what's happening. Ruey looks confused, and Ant just drives right downhill,
Speaker 2: easy kick out to Jada McDaniels. Why is that not
Speaker 2: just a switch? Why isn't Ruy just closing out on Ant?
Speaker 2: And Austin closing out to Conley, like like that's a
Speaker 2: way to shut down these easy driving lanes that are appearing.
Speaker 2: All right, just a few more from this game. Look
Speaker 2: at Ruey hatch Mura's defense on Anthony Edwards. Here we
Speaker 2: get another couple switches. Now what look at how on
Speaker 2: the switch you've got you you're guarding Anthony Edwards on
Speaker 2: a switch and you're not in a defensive stance. You're
Speaker 2: standing completely upright, and so you can probably guess what's
Speaker 2: gonna happen next, and it goes right around him. Like
Speaker 2: that's not basketball, that's not playoff intensity, that's not basketball.
Speaker 2: But you are standing upright, not even in a defensive
Speaker 2: stance on Anthony fucking Edwards, Like are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: Right now?
Speaker 2: As I told you guys, this is gonna be an
Speaker 2: angry like er fan film session. And then Lebron, like
Speaker 2: Lebron on this possession. If you're not going to be
Speaker 2: in there like helping on the drive or rebounding, then
Speaker 2: you can't be leaving you Uleius Randall open, so he's
Speaker 2: just standing around, doesn't get the rebound, and it gets
Speaker 2: his own rebound, and there's Julius Randall wide open, that
Speaker 2: three goes in, guys, that three goes in on a
Speaker 2: possession where Lebron did the exact same thing Luca did
Speaker 2: on the nas Reid three in the first half, where
Speaker 2: you're standing in no man's land in the paint, not defending,
Speaker 2: not rebounding, conceding a wide open three.
Speaker 1: I did think these.
Speaker 2: Luca post ups of Jaden McDaniels worked pretty well. This
Speaker 2: is a look I think the Lakers can continue to
Speaker 2: go through go to throughout the series. Jaden McDaniels talked
Speaker 2: about last night how when Jackson Hayes was off the floor,
Speaker 2: it just felt like there were easier opportunities for him
Speaker 2: to get to the rim. This is an example of
Speaker 2: excellent weak side scoring from a forward. So we have
Speaker 2: the close out the closeouts there right, so the three
Speaker 2: is taken away. Jaden's move his read here is to
Speaker 2: rack baseline and try to get all the way to
Speaker 2: the rim, and he does. That's not Jackson Hayes, it's
Speaker 2: Luka Dancaje at the rim and he's able to finish
Speaker 2: him over him easily. Here's another example of Austin just
Speaker 2: making like a sloppy post entry pass and turning it
Speaker 2: over like these are just like so many unforced errors
Speaker 2: because the Lakers just weren't ready for the intensity of
Speaker 2: the moment. Laker's still not switching, so that creating just
Speaker 2: easy openings. Once again, why is that not a switch?
Speaker 2: As a result, there's an easy corner for Dante DiVincenzo
Speaker 2: to turn. Look as he's coming around Van Doo's in
Speaker 2: a drop, Austin's chasing, so there's this easy driving lane
Speaker 2: causing Luca to sink into the paint. Also make Dante
Speaker 2: Devincenzo and Rudy Gobert connect on the lob here. This
Speaker 2: is another example of Luca over helping off of nasried
Speaker 2: and then I just thought this was a really, really
Speaker 2: impressive pass from Anthony Edwards. So Anthony Edwards had just
Speaker 2: seen as the team out of the off ball screen,
Speaker 2: just generated a look for Nazrid that he made, so
Speaker 2: he knows nazrij just made a shot. So we're gonna
Speaker 2: get a ball screen here with Nas and he's gonna
Speaker 2: attack Luca in the switch. And as he attacks Luca,
Speaker 2: look at how he reads Jared. He sees Van Dog
Speaker 2: ignoring Nas once again, the Lakers ignoring Nas to help,
Speaker 2: just not the right guy for them to be ignoring.
Speaker 2: Jared needs to just either signal to Dorian Finney Smith
Speaker 2: to stay with Nas and then him sit in the paint,
Speaker 2: or all these other guys need to be helping. It
Speaker 2: can't be Nas and then as a result to be
Speaker 2: a Vando helping at the rim, in Ant makes just
Speaker 2: a really nice feed to Nazria in the corner and
Speaker 2: knocks it down.
Speaker 1: So again, like I want to be clear, the Wolves
Speaker 1: kick their ass, and the Wolves.
Speaker 2: Demonstrated that they have some advantages in this series, but
Speaker 2: I also thought there were just like dozens of obvious
Speaker 2: examples of the Lakers just looking like they were unprepared
Speaker 2: for playoff basketball. The Bucks in the Lakers were the
Speaker 2: two teams I watched yesterday that looked utterly blindsided by
Speaker 2: the intensity of the moment.
Speaker 1: And so here's the thing.
Speaker 2: The Wolves might just be better than the Lakers, and
Speaker 2: that might bear out over the course of the series,
Speaker 2: but in Game two, I think we'll get a better
Speaker 2: feel of just how big that gap is one way
Speaker 2: or the other when the Lakers bring the appropriate intensity,
Speaker 2: because there's just a level that they have to get
Speaker 2: to that they were just completely unready for in this game.
Speaker 2: All right, I have six clips from the Piston's nixt game.
Speaker 1: Let's get to that real quick.
Speaker 2: I talked about how the Piston should have leaned into
Speaker 2: Isaiah Stewart more it looks like it was an injury
Speaker 2: related thing. As you can see, this was Campaign's first
Speaker 2: bucket of the run. Really nice left to right crossover
Speaker 2: on Malik Beasley. But watch Isaiah Stewart in his reaction time,
Speaker 2: really slow moving fouls him and then watch him limping after.
Speaker 2: So Stu just apparently couldn't go physically, So that just
Speaker 2: kind of puts you in a tough spot. If he's
Speaker 2: not able to go physically, then that means it's going
Speaker 2: to be a lot of Duran, and Duran obviously comes
Speaker 2: with his own shortcomings. Here's an example of Brunson finding
Speaker 2: the matchup that he liked. So we get a screen
Speaker 2: to get us ar Thompson and then you're gonna see
Speaker 2: og and Obe come up into the action. Notice how
Speaker 2: methodical br Brunson is to get the matchup he wants.
Speaker 2: There he goes now he's got his match up with
Speaker 2: eight seconds left, uses the double cross to get inside
Speaker 2: position on Tobias and knock down the floater. I talked
Speaker 2: about how Tim Hardaway Junior missed like a wide open
Speaker 2: look during the run, so did Malik Beasley. This is
Speaker 2: that miss, but on the transition push, look who Jalen
Speaker 2: Brunson sees in front of him, sees Tobias Harris that
Speaker 2: little semi transition attack gets by him and draws the
Speaker 2: end one. I thought this was one of the really
Speaker 2: impressive defensive plays that Cat made down the stretch. So
Speaker 2: we have a double ball screen here, double drag that
Speaker 2: he gets split, So he has a gets split at
Speaker 2: the point of attack and Kay gets all the way
Speaker 2: into the paint, but Josh Hart steps up in help,
Speaker 2: which forces him to drop the ball off to Jalen Dura.
Speaker 2: Look at the effort Cat makes to get back into
Speaker 2: the play and disrupt during at the rim and force
Speaker 2: the miss. You can make up for a lot of
Speaker 2: your shortcomings if you just rotate and then I want
Speaker 2: this is where I want you guys to see the
Speaker 2: difference in the execution.
Speaker 1: So I just showed you, guys.
Speaker 2: An example of Brunson methodically working to the spot against
Speaker 2: the player that he wants and getting a good matchup
Speaker 2: and going to work. Here's the difference, six point thirty
Speaker 2: four left one oh three to ninety eight. This game
Speaker 2: is very much in the balance. It is thirteen to
Speaker 2: oh the Knicks run. You need your ball handler to
Speaker 2: make a good decision to get this game back under control.
Speaker 1: What does he do? No?
Speaker 2: Nothing, just goes right at oj Ananobe. No attempt to
Speaker 2: try to get a favorable matchup, no attempt to try
Speaker 2: to bring Brunson into the action. He just goes down
Speaker 2: on Ananobe, turns his back, and then here he's trying
Speaker 2: to post up a players bigger than stronger, bigger and
Speaker 2: stronger than him, and as he tries to power through
Speaker 2: with his right shoulder, og wins the battle and forces
Speaker 2: the turnover. And it's like, here's the thing. Is that
Speaker 2: technically by the book of foul, sure, but that that
Speaker 2: kind of thing gets let go all the time in
Speaker 2: the playoffs, And you're not doing yourself any favors by
Speaker 2: attacking the Knick's best perimeter defender without any attempt to
Speaker 2: try to get him off of you. And that it's fine.
Speaker 2: Kate is going to figure that stuff out. My guess
Speaker 2: is were watching Kate in the playoffs three years from now.
Speaker 2: He's the guy asking for three guard guard screens to
Speaker 2: get a matchup he wants in a big spot like this.
Speaker 2: But this is part of the growth and this is
Speaker 2: why teams like the Pistons don't win the series like
Speaker 2: this in NBA history. And then this was another example
Speaker 2: of Kate just kind of like panicking under the ball pressure.
Speaker 2: So Jalen Duran's open on this slip, but look at
Speaker 2: this ball pressure from Kat just gets up and pressures
Speaker 2: the ball and forces the turnover. Kate had three turnovers
Speaker 2: in this run. All right, let's get to Denver Clippers
Speaker 2: fun one here. I got about like twenty six clips
Speaker 2: twenty seven clips from this game, and then we'll be done.
Speaker 2: So Denver comes out of the time out. This is
Speaker 2: the timeout that I talked about where Denver really picked
Speaker 2: up their defensive intensity. So the Clippers get a buckets
Speaker 2: fifty one to thirty six. We're halfway through the second quarter.
Speaker 2: This is an example of Yokic kind of forcing the
Speaker 2: issue like I talked about. So this is a design play,
Speaker 2: little cross screen for Yokic coming across from Gordon. But
Speaker 2: notice how on the catch he just powers through Zoo
Speaker 2: No matter what. This is a I've made up my mind,
Speaker 2: I'm going to the rim kind of play. I thought
Speaker 2: Yokic did a really nice job of mixing that in
Speaker 2: with him taking the easy reads that were available to
Speaker 2: keep the Clippers honest. This is the very first defensive possession. Okay,
Speaker 2: so this is out of the time out. Look at
Speaker 2: the ball pressure from Yokic and the ball pressure from Gordon.
Speaker 2: We're up on the ball, we're pressuring, We're making them uncomfortable.
Speaker 2: Gordon's up on him. This is this is how you
Speaker 2: can at least make them a little bit more uncomfortable. Now,
Speaker 2: Kawhi still breaks free, but we get a contest. It's
Speaker 2: a miss. Just making them uncomfortable is going to make
Speaker 2: them more likely to miss and more likely to make mistakes.
Speaker 1: I thought this action worked really well.
Speaker 2: There were a lot of opportunities that were there for
Speaker 2: the Nuggets because of hardened guarding Gordon, offensive rebounds in
Speaker 2: crunch time, where Gordon was able to take advantage plays
Speaker 2: like this with an inside seal. So notice Gordon's not
Speaker 2: screening Zoo with the intention of getting Yokic downhill because
Speaker 2: he knows it's going to be a switch. So what
Speaker 2: he's doing is he screens his bottom side and noticees
Speaker 2: quickly getting inside position, so that Jokic when he comes off,
Speaker 2: just has to see Harden get on inside of Gordon.
Speaker 2: As soon as Harden ends up on the inside of Gordon,
Speaker 2: the lob is there. Watch there, boom, Yokic sees it.
Speaker 2: Now it's inside position. Easy lobb to Gordon. I think
Speaker 2: there's a lot of opportunity for the Nuggets to explore
Speaker 2: that Jokic Gordon two man game to attack Harden. Here's
Speaker 2: an example of one of the botched sequences that I
Speaker 2: was talking about with the Clippers. I talked a lot
Speaker 2: last night about how the Clippers would get these like
Speaker 2: simple reading and react sequences and just not pay it off.
Speaker 1: Here's an example.
Speaker 2: So we have a ball screen with Hardin and Zoo
Speaker 2: two on the ball, Zoo's on the roll, both low
Speaker 2: men react, Zoo actually makes the right read, but it
Speaker 2: just gets fumbled.
Speaker 1: And that's the thing.
Speaker 2: But look at on the fumble, look at the effort
Speaker 2: to get back after the two guys, Tag Brown and
Speaker 2: Porter Junior both react and so that little fumble ends
Speaker 2: up being enough for these guys to get back into
Speaker 2: the play.
Speaker 1: Same thing.
Speaker 2: Zoo ends up catching on the next pass, but they
Speaker 2: pressure him and he smokes the layup again. Like the
Speaker 2: Clippers will botch some of this stuff if you rush them,
Speaker 2: if you make them uncomfortable. But if you don't bring
Speaker 2: that requisite level of defensive rotation and activity, they're gonna
Speaker 2: pick you apart. Same sort of thing here. Look at
Speaker 2: the ball pressure from Jokic at the level. This is
Speaker 2: something that Jokicic has been terrible at the tail end
Speaker 2: of the season. But watch the ball pressure. Jokicic just
Speaker 2: attacks Powell and makes contact, which leads to a swing
Speaker 2: pass Powell. Instead of trying to compromise the defense, Palell
Speaker 2: just got rid of the ball. Why did you just
Speaker 2: get rid of the ball because Jokic pressured him. Then
Speaker 2: Kawhi ends up making a mistake throwing into the passing
Speaker 2: Liane to Christian Brown, Jokic just literally pressuring the ball
Speaker 2: caused the Clippers to pee down their leg Like That's
Speaker 2: what I was trying to talk about last night. I
Speaker 2: talk about how there's a bracket in ball screens. You
Speaker 2: need to apply pressure from the front and from behind.
Speaker 2: This is a great example of that. Watch Christian Brown
Speaker 2: is attached to Norman Powell. Jokic is at the level.
Speaker 2: Active with his hands, forces a deflection. When these guys
Speaker 2: do this, they raise their defensive floor to being okay
Speaker 2: on defense, which is enough for their great offense to
Speaker 2: carry them over the top. These are the things they
Speaker 2: weren't doing to finish the season. Second half, same sort
Speaker 2: of thing. Look at the efforts and pick and roll defense,
Speaker 2: pressure in the ball. Yokic is at the level. Yokic
Speaker 2: at the level. Again, look at the activity we've pressured
Speaker 2: the ball where they're on the catch, We're making the rotations.
Speaker 2: Look at the effort that Jokic makes to get back
Speaker 2: into the play. All of a sudden it's gone. Look
Speaker 2: at that Clippers botched it. This should be an easy dunk,
Speaker 2: right drop off. This should be such an easy sequence
Speaker 2: like drop off done, should get a dunk here. The
Speaker 2: Clippers will botch these sequences if you apply the appropriate pressure.
Speaker 2: See that, just again, they're open. The openings are there.
Speaker 2: Harden's able to turn the corner and pick and roll.
Speaker 2: But just because the effort, Look, they get back to Jokic,
Speaker 2: or they get back to Zubots and just pressure him
Speaker 2: a little bit and get him to miss lay up.
Speaker 2: You just have to bring that requisite level of defensive intensity.
Speaker 2: Another good pick and roll defense rep for the Nuggets.
Speaker 2: Look ball pressure Yokich at the level to the Clippers credit,
Speaker 2: they made a really nice play here, but you made
Speaker 2: it more difficult. Look at the tightness of the window
Speaker 2: that Harden has to fit this pass through. He just
Speaker 2: happens to. They tag the roller really nicely. Zoo just
Speaker 2: makes an unbelievable shot. But notice out of all those sequences,
Speaker 2: they scored on that one, but they didn't on the
Speaker 2: others because you've made it difficult. And so on the
Speaker 2: difficult shots. Zoo, who goes one for two instead of
Speaker 2: you know, a higher percentage. That's how you can play
Speaker 2: them into two worse outcomes Morgan. Pick and roll defense
Speaker 2: from Denver here, Boom at the level. Yo Kich is
Speaker 2: active with his hands. They're pressuring the ball. These openings
Speaker 2: are there, but it's harder to get them. They end
Speaker 2: up throwing to Zoo. He's already tagged. Zoo sees Powell
Speaker 2: cutting along the baseline, but Murray does just enough to
Speaker 2: distract him there, and it ends up the advantage is
Speaker 2: completely gone now and they can play it into a tough,
Speaker 2: contested corner three like that. That's really good defense. Yo,
Speaker 2: kitchen pick and roll gets a steal with activity with
Speaker 2: his hands, ball screen active hands steal like It's like
Speaker 2: night and day watching Denver's defense down the stretch of
Speaker 2: this game. Compared to what it looked like in the
Speaker 2: last few months of the season, this bench group for
Speaker 2: the Clippers really struggled to create space for Kawhi Leonard.
Speaker 2: They were just basically double teaming him and not worrying
Speaker 2: about Ben Simmons, and Kawhi just wasn't handling it very well.
Speaker 2: Kaui ended up having I think seven turnovers in this game.
Speaker 2: Not a great Quhi playmaking game. Like we talked about
Speaker 2: before the series, same sort of thing here. As you
Speaker 2: can see, we're gonna get to Kawhi Iso against Peyton Watson.
Speaker 2: Notice how they're just shading into the driving lanes right,
Speaker 2: And because they're shading into the driving lanes, Kawhi doesn't
Speaker 2: have the space to really drive, and so he has
Speaker 2: to settle for this contested mid range jump shot that
Speaker 2: doesn't go in. It's just tough with Derek Jones and
Speaker 2: Ben Simmons out there. They just don't have the shooting
Speaker 2: necessary to really create space for Kawhi.
Speaker 1: In that lineup. Zubots defended Jokic really well in the post.
Speaker 2: We talked a lot about that in the series preview,
Speaker 2: about how that was going to be something that the
Speaker 2: the Nuggets might not go to very much. And Jokic
Speaker 2: actually did try to post up Zoo quite a few
Speaker 2: times to not much effect. But in crunch time he
Speaker 2: got a good one here. And notice he just methodically
Speaker 2: slowly dislodged Zoo and got to a really high quality look.
Speaker 2: So he can score against Zoo. He just needs to
Speaker 2: be more methodical with it. Settle for that jump shot.
Speaker 2: This is where Christian Brown could do damage to James Harden.
Speaker 2: Notice James Harden is guarding Brown, but he's just not
Speaker 2: paying attention. Just a simple backside cut there. Harden's not
Speaker 2: doing anything easy lay up for Brown. Here's another great example.
Speaker 2: Pick and roll bracket coverage. Right, so we're over the top,
Speaker 2: but look at how everyone's attached. Christian Brown was attached
Speaker 2: over the top, which forced Harden to rush his drive.
Speaker 2: Jokic meets him at the level Harden ends up fumbling
Speaker 2: it out of bounds. Just do enough defensively and the
Speaker 2: Clippers will pee down their leg. They're not a great
Speaker 2: playmaking team. Here's another example of Kawhi not really handling
Speaker 2: the double team. Well, go to Christian Brown, double comes,
Speaker 2: the flash is open.
Speaker 1: I'll show you guys.
Speaker 2: So here comes the double from Gordon, dribbles away from
Speaker 2: the double flashes open right now. All Kawhi has to
Speaker 2: do is be aware that that's his read in rifle
Speaker 2: a bounce pass right there, and he's created a three
Speaker 2: on two where Jamal Murray's gonna have to either take
Speaker 2: away a dunk from Zoo or corner three from Batoomb.
Speaker 2: But instead Kawhi just does and see the flash and
Speaker 2: ends up throwing a swing pass to the corner to
Speaker 2: someone who's not open, and but Tom has to try
Speaker 2: to basically rescue them with a bailout shot that he misses.
Speaker 2: I thought this was just a really impressive physical battle
Speaker 2: that Russell Westbrook won against Kawhi.
Speaker 1: Leonard in the.
Speaker 2: Down on the block, so he gets inside position on Kawhi,
Speaker 2: shot goes up. Watch him just win the battle. Look
Speaker 2: at him shove Kawi down. He just shoves Kawhi right
Speaker 2: in the middle of his back and then gets offensive
Speaker 2: rebound in the put back. He just won the physical
Speaker 2: battle there. Not an easy guy to win that battle
Speaker 2: against either. Here's another example of the Clippers peeing down
Speaker 2: their leg in a short roll sequence. So we get
Speaker 2: two on the ball hard and makes a nice speed
Speaker 2: The tag is there, but Toom is open. All but
Speaker 2: Tom has to do here is take a reverse layup.
Speaker 2: Take a reverse layup here and it's an easy bucket,
Speaker 2: but instead he drops it off to Derek Jones and
Speaker 2: throws a little bit of a funky pass. Notice the
Speaker 2: pass is just a little off target, like down into
Speaker 2: Derek Jones's left I talked about this so much on
Speaker 2: the show last night, like so many of these sequences
Speaker 2: were just slightly botched by the Clippers because they're just
Speaker 2: a little slight in their connective playmaking. Derek Jones ends
Speaker 2: up missing that little hook shot. But again to Denver's credit,
Speaker 2: I want to show that one more time. Watch Denver's
Speaker 2: defense on the possession. Watch just the level of rotation
Speaker 2: and how it plays them into that mistake. So, for instance,
Speaker 2: like Russ throws a good hard tag, Gordon does rotate
Speaker 2: that rotation from Gordon and Murray causes Nick Patom to
Speaker 2: panic and make a mistake. You got to play them
Speaker 2: into their mistakes. I thought Russell Westbrook just did a
Speaker 2: really nice job of his off ball spacing in the
Speaker 2: Jokic groups down the stretch. So we have Yokic here
Speaker 2: attacking with a pump fake on Zoo and watch a
Speaker 2: couple things I want you to look at here. This
Speaker 2: is an example of the inverted spacing that you get
Speaker 2: with the Nuggets. So first of all, with the inverted spacing,
Speaker 2: we have Zoo out on the perimeter guarding Yoki, so
Speaker 2: there's no rim protection, right, but Zoo pump fakes or
Speaker 2: Yoki pump fake. Zoo goes for it. Chris Dunn ends
Speaker 2: up strong side zoning to help. Now Russell Westbrook just
Speaker 2: flashes right to the middle of the floor where he
Speaker 2: can make himself available and goes right up and gets
Speaker 2: a layup. Really nice work there from Russ And then
Speaker 2: once again no rim protection because of the inverted spacing
Speaker 2: from Jokic. They blitz Murray here, which actually works really well,
Speaker 2: forces it to a Russell Westbrook shot. But the here's
Speaker 2: that rebounding mismatch. Here's Aaron Gordon against James Harden, he
Speaker 2: gets an easy offensive rebound. They get a bunch of
Speaker 2: offensive rebounds on this possession. A lot of success there
Speaker 2: down the stretch, same thing Murray misses, but all the
Speaker 2: athletes are in there. James Harden's not battling, and when
Speaker 2: Christian Brown gets a piece of it, who's the guy
Speaker 2: that goes and gets the ball? Aaron Gordon. The Clippers
Speaker 2: were doing a lot of defending the Jokic Murray two
Speaker 2: man game with three players down the stretch. Here was
Speaker 2: another example of that two man game. Two on the ball,
Speaker 2: but they're flashing with Dunn that ends up leading to
Speaker 2: the weak side Skipp being open and too. Yokic's credit,
Speaker 2: Jokic trusted him. Look at this twenty seven seconds left
Speaker 2: in the game. You're down by one, and Jokic goes,
Speaker 2: Russ has got this, and Russ knocks down the big shot.
Speaker 2: This is another example of Kawhi doing a poor job
Speaker 2: managing a double team. So Kawhi goes here, the double
Speaker 2: team's there. What do you guys see as the opening?
Speaker 2: As Kristun is cutting through Norman Powell is the opening
Speaker 2: because Zoo is engaged with Christian Brown. All Kawhi has
Speaker 2: to do is just throw the over the top pass
Speaker 2: to Powell, but instead he doesn't actually see the read
Speaker 2: until right now. At that point, the rotation is already
Speaker 2: there and it's shut off. Like I would just keep
Speaker 2: doubling Kawai. I just don't think he's particularly good at it,
Speaker 2: at handling the doubles. This was really cool, like a
Speaker 2: two man game in transition. This is just the chemistry
Speaker 2: of Yokich and Murray. Notice Jokic runs and then he
Speaker 2: just sets this brush screen for Murray which creates a
Speaker 2: drop coverage look right at the rim and transition. I
Speaker 2: thought this was interesting once again, the setting up the
Speaker 2: two man game. They're just straight up, outright double teaming
Speaker 2: Yokich and Murray out at half court, which leads to
Speaker 2: this classic little two on one sequence here, and Russ
Speaker 2: makes a really nice pass to Aaron Gordon who finishes.
Speaker 2: All right, two more and then we're done. Yokic making
Speaker 2: an effort to recover to the role man. So Yokic
Speaker 2: is at the level Zoo gets behind him. Look at
Speaker 2: the effort from Jokic again, Like, guys, I know Jokic
Speaker 2: is capable of being a good defender, and he just
Speaker 2: wasn't taking that responsibility seriously to start the game or
Speaker 2: the second half of the season. And then lastly we
Speaker 2: had our dagger from Christian Brown. More backside help here.
Speaker 2: Notice as so if y'oll kitchen the post against Zoo
Speaker 2: Chris Dunn, we have Powell basically strong side zoning Chris
Speaker 2: Dunn basically digging down unto us Jokics trust Christian Brown
Speaker 2: who rises up.
Speaker 1: And knocks down the jump shot.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's not hard to see on tape just
Speaker 2: how much better the Nuggets are really executing in the
Speaker 2: half court as long as they can defend. So that's
Speaker 2: really going to be the key for Denver throughout the
Speaker 2: series is if they can bring the requisite defensive intensity
Speaker 2: for the first three quarters to keep these games close.
Speaker 2: If they can keep these games close and they can
Speaker 2: get down to the final you know, three five minutes
Speaker 2: and the game is within three five points, I really
Speaker 2: like the Nuggets chances to win this series if they
Speaker 2: can keep things close. As you can see, the Clippers
Speaker 2: just don't quite have that connective playmaking to consistently break
Speaker 2: down their defense the way that some of the other
Speaker 2: higher level offenses around the league can. All right, guys,
Speaker 2: that's a long film session, eighty six clips later. I
Speaker 2: hope you guys got a little bit more information about
Speaker 2: how those matchups look after game one. A little bit
Speaker 2: of news for tonight, we are going with Colin Cowherd
Speaker 2: after the Warriors game instead of doing the normal Hoops
Speaker 2: Tonight show, so just adds up. Make sure you go
Speaker 2: over to Colin Cowherd's podcast feed to see our reaction
Speaker 2: to tonight's games. I will see you guys, then what's
Speaker 2: up guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening to
Speaker 2: and supporting Hoops tonight. They would actually be really helpful
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Speaker 1: And leave a rating and a review. As always, I
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