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Speaker 1: M M all right, welcome to to stay the Lakers.

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Speaker 1: Is that about Dad's Radio? Four consecutive Laker wins for

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Speaker 1: the first time this season. That was one of the

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Speaker 1: uglier basketball games I've seen. I mean it was. I

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Speaker 1: suppose it was aesthetically pleasing with all the highlights, but

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Speaker 1: it was ugly if you're a Laker fan, because you

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Speaker 1: want more in some specific areas of the game. But

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Speaker 1: we'll get into that in a minute. Rog. How you doing, buddy,

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Speaker 1: how's your week gone so far? I'm doing great, man.

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Speaker 1: This is a big win to me. I know it

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Speaker 1: didn't come pretty the whole night. You know, we didn't.

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Speaker 1: We had a couple of leads that we were blown.

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Speaker 1: But this is a This was a big game to me.

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Speaker 1: This this showed a lot. I'm higher on Atlanta than

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Speaker 1: a lot of people. I think. I think they're better

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Speaker 1: than their record, for sure. They've had guys in and out.

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Speaker 1: I'm high on tre Young as well. It's a big one.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm excited, man, I'm excited to get into

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Speaker 1: some one. How are you, man, I'm doing good, so

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Speaker 1: you know I'm with you. I believe in the talent

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Speaker 1: on that roster, you know, It kind of reminds me

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Speaker 1: of a lot of what we saw from the Lakers

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Speaker 1: early in the season when Lebron and they d were healthy,

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Speaker 1: where you know, even though you could argue they needed

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Speaker 1: an improvement here there on the roster, they also just

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Speaker 1: weren't doing what they were supposed to be doing within

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Speaker 1: their defensive scheme and there, and you could you could

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Speaker 1: tell tonight with Atlanta they just were kind of unorganized

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Speaker 1: all over the floor. Um. One of the biggest indicators

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Speaker 1: of that is is transition defense. And I thought the

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Speaker 1: Lakers played poor transition defense tonight for long stretches as well.

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Speaker 1: But it was a really interesting, really interesting game because

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Speaker 1: whenever one team would start taking bad shots and and

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Speaker 1: give up any sort of long rebound or where the

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Speaker 1: floor balance was off the you just have guys run

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Speaker 1: into the rim on the other end, and rule number

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Speaker 1: one of transition defenses take away the rim. And you know,

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Speaker 1: for both teams, there would be these kind of like

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Speaker 1: really quick runs like you know, where you'd have a

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Speaker 1: minute or two minutes of game clock and you see

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Speaker 1: the see the lead completely dwindle, or see the lead

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Speaker 1: build way back up. And it was because of this

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Speaker 1: kind of consistent theme that the team that ran more

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Speaker 1: high quality offense seemed to keep the game playing at

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Speaker 1: a pace that was comfortable for them um and forced

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Speaker 1: the other team to have to score in the half court,

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Speaker 1: where they would be capable of getting enough stops. It was.

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Speaker 1: It was kind of interesting in that regard because it

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Speaker 1: seemed like every time the Lakers got control of the game,

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Speaker 1: they got a little bit mismatch happy in terms of

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Speaker 1: trying to hunt tray and kind of get out of

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Speaker 1: the flow of their offense and start giving up those

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Speaker 1: fast opportunities I was talking about. But it was. It

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Speaker 1: was definitely an interesting game with some really ugly stretches,

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Speaker 1: and I thought both teams were loose and sloppy in

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Speaker 1: a lot of the little details. But it was exciting.

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Speaker 1: I mean, there's a lot of cool shot making, a

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Speaker 1: lot of ducks. But I mean the in the Lakers

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Speaker 1: were able to tighten things up more frequently and when

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Speaker 1: they needed to to put Atlanta away. But the Lakers

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Speaker 1: definitely are gonna have to sharpen some things up in

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Speaker 1: order to beat some of the good teams that are

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Speaker 1: actually playing good. I'm like Atlanta, who's a good team

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Speaker 1: that's playing poorly right now, for sure, And we're on

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Speaker 1: a ladder getting up to that, right And I heard

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Speaker 1: the broadcast talk about that a lot tonight as well.

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Speaker 1: This is not going to beat Phoenix or the Warriors, sure,

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Speaker 1: but we are We're not in position to really like

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Speaker 1: to look at that, right. I feel like that's skipping steps.

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Speaker 1: We're on a we're on a ladder up to those teams.

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Speaker 1: And I think beating a team like Atlanta is a

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Speaker 1: part of that. Atlanta came in tonight second in offense,

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Speaker 1: and offense is not their issue. It's defense obviously, and

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Speaker 1: they've had quotes coming about about how they've got kind

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Speaker 1: of complacent the regular season and all that. But they're

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Speaker 1: a good offensive team. Trey Young is an offense of himself.

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Speaker 1: And that you know screen roll game that they run

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Speaker 1: that is tough. That is a pick your poison, tough cover.

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Speaker 1: They run that with Capella. They have you know a

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Speaker 1: lot of Spain actions where Kevin Herder or down the

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Speaker 1: little Gallinari sets the back screen and it's a tough cover.

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Speaker 1: And I thought it was impressive to kind of keep

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Speaker 1: their offense. You know, they scored a lot of points still,

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Speaker 1: but we had a lot of big runs on them,

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Speaker 1: even with Tray on the floor, And I thought that

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Speaker 1: was impressive to me to to to get a win

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Speaker 1: on Atlanta like this. We're going small and new identity,

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Speaker 1: a bunch of small guards that you know, Tray can

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Speaker 1: kind of pick on. I thought he did a good

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Speaker 1: job kind of getting to the basket. His floater game

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Speaker 1: was there as well, but just to slow him down

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Speaker 1: a bit. And I thought, to me, because this is

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Speaker 1: one of the points I wanted to get on, was

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Speaker 1: the Stanley Johnson Lebron four or five kind of that

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Speaker 1: back line at least to start the game. To me,

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Speaker 1: that kind of set the tone. They had a lot

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Speaker 1: of deflections that we were trapping Tray a lot on

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Speaker 1: his ball screens, and Lebron or Stanley were on the

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Speaker 1: back line getting deflections, and we got out and ran.

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Speaker 1: We had like a thirteen two fast break point. I

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Speaker 1: just like tonight was impressive to me. And there's stuff

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Speaker 1: that they have to clean up as well defensively, but

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Speaker 1: I just stopt getting a win out on a team

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Speaker 1: like Atlanta. It's obviously trying to turn their season around.

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Speaker 1: They got all their guys back tonight, right which of

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Speaker 1: course they got all their guys back tonight, but they

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Speaker 1: got all their dudes back, and I thought most of

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Speaker 1: them played well. They get some tough shots too, right

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Speaker 1: in Atlanta is a tricky team because you talked about,

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Speaker 1: you know, how you run to the Raymond transition, but

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Speaker 1: you know, guys like Bogdanovich, they you know, they fire

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Speaker 1: away from three in transition as well. Trade Young shoot

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Speaker 1: from like thirty five ft. Gallinari, I don't think he

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Speaker 1: missed tonight. I'm not sure what he went, but it

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Speaker 1: felt like he hit every contested three he got. But

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Speaker 1: I thought this was a fun one man. And obviously

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Speaker 1: Liek Monk and Avery Bradley went went nuts in that

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Speaker 1: first half. But and to have a game where Lebron

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Speaker 1: really didn't start picking up offensively to the fourth quarter.

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Speaker 1: That we'll get into that, but I just thought this

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Speaker 1: was this is a really nice win to kind of

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Speaker 1: build off of. I think we're starting to see the

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Speaker 1: fruits of playing small. This is the third straight, you know,

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Speaker 1: game that we played with the starting lineup their four

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Speaker 1: and no now. Our fourth straight started their four no

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Speaker 1: now with this starting lineup with the Malik and h

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Speaker 1: Stanley and the starting lineup there so we're starting to

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Speaker 1: build some chemistry and you're seeing how other teams are

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Speaker 1: going to struggle to defend us when we're small, right,

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Speaker 1: they have to have their center on Lebron, and we

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Speaker 1: were able to kind of an advantage of that. Russ

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Speaker 1: was running ball screens where you know, Lebron was a

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Speaker 1: screener a lot more tonight than usually. So, yeah, there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of stuff to kind of get into, but

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Speaker 1: I think this was a good win to build up

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Speaker 1: the Yeah, I want to get into the offense. I

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Speaker 1: want to get into Lebron and his kind of demeanor

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Speaker 1: over the last couple of games, because I think that's

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Speaker 1: interesting too. But you have mentioned something about the back line,

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Speaker 1: and I think it presents a really interesting conundrum when

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Speaker 1: you're playing small because for starters both you know, there

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Speaker 1: were times when Lebron was at center in the lineup,

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Speaker 1: but Mellow was with him, and just because just because

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Speaker 1: of the way the floor was balanced, Mellow ended up

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Speaker 1: being the guy dealing with the roleman or dealing with

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Speaker 1: the pick and roll coverage like he was effectively in

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Speaker 1: the center position on any given play, and Melo really

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Speaker 1: really struggles in that spot, especially when there's a good

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Speaker 1: vertical lab threat. But there were a lot of plays

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Speaker 1: tonight when Stanley and Lebron were in that spot where

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Speaker 1: they were able to blow things up. And the interesting

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Speaker 1: thing that they had figured out that is so morton

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Speaker 1: for small ball. It's like, you know, when you have

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Speaker 1: a real center, you can kind of play in between

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Speaker 1: the ball handler and the guy rolling to the rim, right,

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Speaker 1: Like think about that famous honest play in the NBA Finals.

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Speaker 1: That's like the perfect example of what I'm talking about,

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Speaker 1: where you're guarding the guy going to the rim. I

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Speaker 1: think it was Devin Booker on that play, and you're

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Speaker 1: able to dissuade him from shooting, but then turn and

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Speaker 1: block a guy way above the rim. But we don't

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Speaker 1: when we're playing small like when we don't have Anthony Davis,

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Speaker 1: we don't have that guy, right. So I tend to

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Speaker 1: look at it from the standpoint of you have to

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Speaker 1: sell out to the ball handler and and try to

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Speaker 1: disrupt that because if that pass gets through, you're not

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Speaker 1: You're not doing anything with it anyway. And and if

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Speaker 1: you're playing in between a no man's land, and this

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Speaker 1: is something that DeAndre Jordan has been got has gotten

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Speaker 1: killed on all season long is if you're in that

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Speaker 1: no man's land, you're you're not bothering the guy with

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Speaker 1: the ball. He just throws it up and now you're

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Speaker 1: jumping and just getting dunked up right, And so you know,

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Speaker 1: there was this very specific play there in the third

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Speaker 1: quarter that kind of illustrates what I'm talking about, where

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Speaker 1: Trey got into the lane and Stanley just abandoned John

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Speaker 1: Collins and sprinted up on Trey and jumped and he

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Speaker 1: deflected the Lab pass. Now again, if that gets through,

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Speaker 1: it's a dunk. But if he doesn't, if he just

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Speaker 1: stands there, it's a dunk too. It ended up leading

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Speaker 1: to a runout where russ I actually ended up smoking

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Speaker 1: a layup and then Lebron like tapped it in. So

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Speaker 1: it's actually an important sequence there in the third quarter

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Speaker 1: to build the lead. But it kind of indicative of

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Speaker 1: what I'm talking about with our small ball defense. Like

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Speaker 1: you've seen a lot of like Lebron running a drop coverage, right,

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Speaker 1: And while I like the idea of that because he

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Speaker 1: can communicate and kind of stay back around the rim,

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Speaker 1: it's also important for those guys on that back line

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Speaker 1: to almost ignore the lab threat or if they're gonna

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Speaker 1: guard the lab threat, it needs to be below the rim,

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Speaker 1: meaning like boxing him out and and not so much

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Speaker 1: like just jumping towards the rim because they're just gonna

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Speaker 1: give up a ton of lobs and they've given up

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Speaker 1: a lot of stuff and taking a role in situations

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Speaker 1: like that this season. But it's something to keep in mind.

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Speaker 1: And then I don't know how you counter that with

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Speaker 1: Mellow when he gets into that spot. But they've got

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Speaker 1: to figure something out with Mellow too, especially against these

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Speaker 1: good teams, to get him in a position where when

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Speaker 1: he's on that back line, he can he can be

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Speaker 1: out of that spot so that either Stanley or Lebron

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Speaker 1: is the one who has to to disrupt that action.

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Speaker 1: But it's it's interesting because, like you know, the the

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Speaker 1: Lakers after the Anthony Davis injury, coming into tonight, we're

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Speaker 1: in defense, I think, so you know, so let's let's

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Speaker 1: looking forward, you know, assuming Anthony Davis comes back eventually,

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Speaker 1: you're still getting probably fourteen the sixteen minutes a night

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Speaker 1: with Lebron at center. So they're they're gonna have to

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Speaker 1: figure out something that works because I think the Lebron

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Speaker 1: at center lineups right now are doing about a hundred

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Speaker 1: nine points per a hundred possessions on on defense, which

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Speaker 1: isn't quite good enough. So they're gonna have to figure

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Speaker 1: some details there with those small ball lineups just to

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Speaker 1: get more stops. But I do like that formula if

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Speaker 1: they can figure out how to get more stops. You

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Speaker 1: saw the offensive end tonight, I thought was as crisp

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Speaker 1: and as comfortable and as slowy. Somebody pointed out on

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Speaker 1: Twitter it was our season for assists, so we're moving

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Speaker 1: them all a lot like there are. The offensive end

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Speaker 1: is coming along so well for these small ball lineups.

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Speaker 1: If we can figure out how to get some stops

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Speaker 1: in those lineups, we could be really dangerous. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: you brought up Carmelo like he's always gonna be a

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Speaker 1: give and take right, like you're not going to get

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Speaker 1: the defensive with him, but you see what he does offensively,

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Speaker 1: Like we look like a juggernaut offensively. And you talked

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Speaker 1: about the defense last five games. You know, last five

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Speaker 1: isn't you know, the greatest barometer, But we're about the

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Speaker 1: middle of the pack defensively in the last five games.

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Speaker 1: I think it's like one on nine, Like you talked

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Speaker 1: about but our offense has pretty much jumped up right

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Speaker 1: to our offensive number two in the league in the

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Speaker 1: last five games, and that's not including I don't think

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Speaker 1: NBA dot Com has tonight's numbers. Tonight's numbers yet yeah,

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Speaker 1: at like one twenty point five, and I think that

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Speaker 1: jumped up even more after tonight. But yeah, man like

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Speaker 1: and I also think Vogel is pushing the right buttons

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Speaker 1: as well. I want to give him credit to I

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Speaker 1: like that, you know, he put in Dwight, I believe

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Speaker 1: for Capella. Uh he put Dwight in when Capella was

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Speaker 1: in and kind of matching their minutes. I just think

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Speaker 1: he's finding the right buttons. And I think our defense

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Speaker 1: is getting better. I like that we're switching more. I

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Speaker 1: love the Austin reeves with it, and we're just kind

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Speaker 1: of building, like this feels like a brand new team.

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Speaker 1: And tonight, You're right, it looked like the most flow

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Speaker 1: that I've seen. Taylor was a part of that too,

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Speaker 1: his jumper stills and there. But I thought he got

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Speaker 1: to the rim. He had that nasty one hand, uh

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Speaker 1: skin and out dribble dunk. I forgot who that was over,

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Speaker 1: but he had a nasty dunk tonight, he got to

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Speaker 1: the rim, his layup were going. The ball was moving

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Speaker 1: when we were when we had uh, we had Lebron

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Speaker 1: at the five, it was just nice, man. The offense flowing.

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Speaker 1: When Malik Monk has a jumper going, Avery Bradley looks

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Speaker 1: like he's knocking it down. He's at his contract was guaranteed.

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Speaker 1: The ball was just moving nicely, and we looked unstoppable

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Speaker 1: for a lot of that. The Hawks had no answer

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Speaker 1: for us. They didn't know who to put on. Lebron

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Speaker 1: didn't know out of guard, our screen coverages. We were

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Speaker 1: just moving the ball right to left, left or right.

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Speaker 1: It was just like it was a nice game to watch, man,

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Speaker 1: And I think it's something we're definitely can continue to

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Speaker 1: build on. And that guy talked about I'm super high

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Speaker 1: on Atlanta, Like, I think they're a really good offensive team.

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Speaker 1: I think they're really I think they're a lot better

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Speaker 1: than they've shown. And you got to get a win

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Speaker 1: to to get our fourth win. It's gonna be a

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Speaker 1: tough test against Memphis. I believe. On on Sunday, I believe,

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Speaker 1: but yeah, this is but this was the phone when

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Speaker 1: I think our small ball liners were seeing the fruit

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Speaker 1: of that and Fogels understanding kind of what buttons to push.

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Speaker 1: You know, we don't like the mellow at the five,

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Speaker 1: but like those lineups kill offensively and if you can

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Speaker 1: you know, just the average defensively, even those you can

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Speaker 1: kind of see the lead push and you saw him

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Speaker 1: when he's wide open. He's been pretty much money. And

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Speaker 1: the Hawks kind of how to make a lot of

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Speaker 1: decisions when it's Malik Monk and Carmelo on the two

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Speaker 1: week side corners, Like that's a tough decision for a defense,

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Speaker 1: and then it's like Russ and Lebron putting pressure on

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Speaker 1: the rim. It's just we're seeing some of the fruits

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Speaker 1: of the of us playing small. Now. Yeah, that was

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Speaker 1: one of the things that I had taken specific notice

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Speaker 1: of during the game, Like there's a good a good

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Speaker 1: amount of defensive breakdowns that we were seeing from Atlanta

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Speaker 1: that needs that needs to be pointed out. However, this

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Speaker 1: style of play is really hard to guard. You know,

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Speaker 1: this is something this is something I've been preaching NonStop

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Speaker 1: since the playoffs last year. It was kind of like

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Speaker 1: such an awakening for me to watch the Clippers and

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Speaker 1: it's something that I've said many times on the pots.

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna spend too much time on it, but

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Speaker 1: for them to, you know, with Paul George and with

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Speaker 1: Reggie Jackson basically and a bunch of guys who are

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Speaker 1: you know, mid level close out attackers on the wings,

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Speaker 1: they were able to light the Utah Jazz on fire.

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Speaker 1: And and they had a lot of success during that

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Speaker 1: whole playoff run. They came within two wins of making

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Speaker 1: it to the NBA Finals. They even had a great

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Speaker 1: deal of offensive success against that Phoenix Suns team. And

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Speaker 1: and there's, yes, there's talent at play there. Paul George

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Speaker 1: is obviously an extremely gifted wing, and Reggie Jackson shot

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Speaker 1: the ball really well in that series, and he's a shifty,

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Speaker 1: athletic guard that can get into the lane. But a

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Speaker 1: big part of that is don't make yourself easy to guard.

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Speaker 1: Like That's that's what drove me insane to start this season,

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Speaker 1: and it was something I preached NonStop because I thought

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Speaker 1: it was directly impacting our defense. Like we said earlier,

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Speaker 1: you know the transition, right, the teams would get off

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Speaker 1: the rails tonight, Both teams would get off the rails

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Speaker 1: tonight defensively when their offensive execution would fall apart and

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Speaker 1: they live in transition, right, And that was kind of

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Speaker 1: what was happening to us to start the season. We

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Speaker 1: were making ourselves so easy to guard with those DeAndre

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Speaker 1: Jordan's lineups that we were just missing jump sho you

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Speaker 1: like Pete from micro Film would chart thees and he

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Speaker 1: would talk about it in the in the in that pod,

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Speaker 1: they would say like, you know, oh, well we have

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Speaker 1: thirteen possessions with this group and we took you know,

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Speaker 1: eleven jump shots to start. You know, we were making

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Speaker 1: ourselves easy to guard and it was leading to runouts.

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Speaker 1: That was directly leading to our defense being comprom is

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Speaker 1: all the time. Um, even with all the size and

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Speaker 1: advantages that came with having DeAndre Jordan's there. And that's

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Speaker 1: the thing here is like what you're seeing is, you know,

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Speaker 1: especially if we can figure out how to refine this

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Speaker 1: further and further as time goes on, because you're seeing

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Speaker 1: our offense get a little better each game, which is

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Speaker 1: something you can expect when you adopt a new style

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Speaker 1: and you're you know, because it's a new style, you're

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Speaker 1: far from your ceiling with it. As they get closer

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Speaker 1: to that ceiling. A large part of their defensive success

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Speaker 1: will come from constantly having the ability to set your

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Speaker 1: defense and that you know, that's what Brooklyn did so

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Speaker 1: well last year in the playoffs, and so you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm I'm really excited to see where that goes long term.

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Speaker 1: But it's so important for us to continue to bread

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Speaker 1: this culture of offensive comfort and flow because that will

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Speaker 1: inherently help us because you know, you know, Frank is

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Speaker 1: obsessing over the defensive end, right Like, Frank's gonna watch

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Speaker 1: this film tomorrow and he's gonna literally want to clause

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Speaker 1: eyes out over some of the defensive mistakes were making.

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Speaker 1: That that makes me feel good, because what if what

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Speaker 1: did you and I say NonStop over the course the

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Speaker 1: last couple of years, Lebron's the offensive coordinator here, Frank

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Speaker 1: is the defensive coordinator. Well, Lebron seems to have this

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Speaker 1: offense thing down from the center position right like we

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Speaker 1: are humming right now in all cylinders, like you said,

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Speaker 1: two second in the league in the last five games.

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Speaker 1: So I can't wait to see what Frank has for

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Speaker 1: this team defensively because I feel very confident that before

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Speaker 1: a d gets back, we're gonna have a stretch of

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Speaker 1: games or we're gonna get a lot of stops because

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Speaker 1: that's just what his specialty is. And there is enough

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Speaker 1: athletic talent on this team, you know, with Reeves, with

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Speaker 1: Stanley Johnson, with th Ht, with Trevor Reesa, with Avery Bradley,

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Speaker 1: we have enough talent defensively to get stops. Yeah, And

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Speaker 1: I thought tonight it was a blueprint kind of for

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Speaker 1: what they can be. And again the Hawks scored a

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Speaker 1: bunch of points and it wasn't perfect, But I think

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Speaker 1: we're going to be more of like a trappy trap team,

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Speaker 1: like create turnovers, create k us, not so much like

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Speaker 1: a standards set defense, more like great turnovers a bunch

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Speaker 1: of players where like Russ gott Russe was like about

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Speaker 1: to get a turnover, he got his like fingerprints on it,

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Speaker 1: and you could see them kind of be able to

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Speaker 1: react to that. And Trey Young's again a tough cover

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Speaker 1: with that because he can get to the basket. He

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Speaker 1: has a floater game. But I thought, like trapping and

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Speaker 1: stuff like that, doubling on the ball like that kind

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Speaker 1: of is more our flow, our system, and guys like

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Speaker 1: Stanley Johnson Lebron on the back line they're able to

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Speaker 1: go and tag the rollman in that way. And it's

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Speaker 1: a little different when you have a traditional center, right,

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Speaker 1: even when dwights on the floor, it's still like a

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Speaker 1: traditional drop coverage in that. But when you have just

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Speaker 1: all wings, you can switch a lot more. And I

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Speaker 1: thought we started to see that we gave up a

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Speaker 1: bunch of open threes tonight on plays, so like where

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Speaker 1: one guy thought he was switching and he wasn't, and

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Speaker 1: it got like hurt her some open threes. Bagdanovich, Like

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Speaker 1: I talked about about that later on the game, like

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Speaker 1: we'd have like Reeves and like th Ht and those

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Speaker 1: two can just switch actions. And we're like that throughout

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Speaker 1: pretty much our starting five rust and kind of switched

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Speaker 1: through most of those. Lebron and Stanley obviously I talked

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Speaker 1: about on the back line and Stanley Johnson and like,

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Speaker 1: I feel like his energy is infectious and it's not

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Speaker 1: just energy because I think that would be fair to him.

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Speaker 1: Like he's a legit defensive player, Like he had a

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Speaker 1: I think he blocked a dunk tonight. To have that

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Speaker 1: I was an outrageous Yeah, yeah, I was like, man,

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Speaker 1: and he's he's a legit defensive player to me, and

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Speaker 1: I think he's starting to find his nichees role. It's

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Speaker 1: great we got him back on the team. I think

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Speaker 1: he'll eventually be on the roster full time, just the

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Speaker 1: way he's starting every game. And those two men were

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Speaker 1: awesome against. Like I talked about a great offensive team

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Speaker 1: in Atlanta, I think Atlanta had like twelve points to

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Speaker 1: the first like six minutes of this game. If I

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Speaker 1: remember correctly, I think we had a Yeah, I think

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Speaker 1: really quickly. The Lakers definitely had so much success early

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Speaker 1: in the game. You could tell they've never felt threatened,

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Speaker 1: which I think is part is very releve It's very

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Speaker 1: relevant here when we're talking about how their defense sucked

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Speaker 1: for large. Yeah. Yeah, it was definitely up and down

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Speaker 1: for sure. And again Lebron's going to Wax and Wayne

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Speaker 1: kind of when he's the center, right because that's a

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Speaker 1: lot of effort for him. We talked about being the

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Speaker 1: center is less physically taxing, but still a team like

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Speaker 1: Atlanta you have to run around because they have so

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Speaker 1: much shooting around Trey Young and they run so many

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Speaker 1: actions where where they're they're pick and roll action is

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Speaker 1: such a tough cover where you have to kind of

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Speaker 1: be in two places at once a little bit and

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Speaker 1: that stuff that the effort is gonna wax in Wayne.

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Speaker 1: But I saw enough tonight where Vogel can kind of

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Speaker 1: build a group blueprint defensively, and again Dwight came off

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Speaker 1: the bench. I love the buttons that Vogel was pushing.

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Speaker 1: The mellow at the five. We saw some of it,

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Speaker 1: but I thought, you know, he took it out when

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Speaker 1: it wasn't needed. He took out Carmelo for Stanley for

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Speaker 1: a little bit in the fourth and put it back

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Speaker 1: in to kind of put the game away offensively. And

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Speaker 1: I think he's pushing those buttons. But there's a successful

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Speaker 1: team here, and obviously throwing Anthony Davis into it just

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Speaker 1: makes it all that better. I think le Brond and

430
00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:32,760
Speaker 1: a d are the two best you know, small ball

431
00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:36,320
Speaker 1: in quotations, small uh small ball centers like in the world,

432
00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:38,119
Speaker 1: Like I don't know you can get too other than

433
00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:40,639
Speaker 1: obviously honest maybe, but like you put those two and

434
00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:43,000
Speaker 1: this with this type of shooting with Milik Monk, like

435
00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:45,439
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see it. And and Kendrick Nunn obviously

436
00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:47,560
Speaker 1: is on the bench too, so we'll have a rotation

437
00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:49,119
Speaker 1: kind of thing to figure out. But this is a

438
00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:51,480
Speaker 1: blueprint that we can follow. Man just a fast team.

439
00:19:51,640 --> 00:19:55,320
Speaker 1: Milik Monk is active. Uh we think about his athleticism offensively,

440
00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:57,879
Speaker 1: but he jumps for in passing lanes like he's quick

441
00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:00,560
Speaker 1: like you'll like he's starting to read plays more to

442
00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:02,639
Speaker 1: like you'll see a crosscore pass and read it and

443
00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:05,199
Speaker 1: pick it off. Like. I think he's improved defensively. There

444
00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:06,919
Speaker 1: were times tonight where Tree Young trying to pick on

445
00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:08,840
Speaker 1: Leak Monk and he did a nice job, like he

446
00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:10,880
Speaker 1: stayed in front of him, used his quickness to kind

447
00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:12,840
Speaker 1: of make them take like a tough step back. Three.

448
00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:16,240
Speaker 1: We're seeing incremental improvements even if it hasn't shown up

449
00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:18,439
Speaker 1: in like defensive rating and stuff. And that stuff is

450
00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:20,600
Speaker 1: so tough for me to look at because this is

451
00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:22,720
Speaker 1: a brand new team, Jason, right, Like this is like

452
00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:25,040
Speaker 1: two starters are on the bench right now, DeAndre Jordan's

453
00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:27,479
Speaker 1: camp baysmore who are who are littered through all our

454
00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:31,240
Speaker 1: you know, big minutes lineup so far don't even play anymore.

455
00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:33,640
Speaker 1: Like this is a totally different team, and I think

456
00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:35,360
Speaker 1: it's tough to kind of look at, you know, how

457
00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:38,160
Speaker 1: are ratings matchup for the rest of the league because

458
00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:41,480
Speaker 1: we're a new team. We're starting pretty much from fresh year. Yeah,

459
00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:46,119
Speaker 1: like this is you I I said before every season,

460
00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:48,520
Speaker 1: I say that you tracked defensive rating is just a

461
00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:51,840
Speaker 1: general indicator of you know, effort level throughout the season.

462
00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:55,480
Speaker 1: And like, yeah, I mean the Lakers were ninth in

463
00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:58,720
Speaker 1: defensive rating before the Anthony Davis injury, you know, but

464
00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:00,560
Speaker 1: it's like at the same time and that was a

465
00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:04,160
Speaker 1: completely different group, right, so everything, everything is kind of irrelevant.

466
00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:07,000
Speaker 1: It's a moving scale. Every everything about the way we

467
00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:09,919
Speaker 1: evaluate this team now needs to be focused on this

468
00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:12,400
Speaker 1: new identity with this new group of players that they're

469
00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:15,800
Speaker 1: playing with. That goes without saying I wanted to uh

470
00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:19,639
Speaker 1: to talk about t HD because you know, so for

471
00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:21,480
Speaker 1: those of you who didn't listen to our last spot

472
00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:24,040
Speaker 1: really quickly, Like you know, one of my big sticking

473
00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:25,920
Speaker 1: points of t HT all season is the kid's just

474
00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:29,679
Speaker 1: been put through the ringer with his rotation between the

475
00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,280
Speaker 1: thumb injury and COVID and then just all of the

476
00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:35,280
Speaker 1: other roster turnover, throwing him in and out of the

477
00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:38,239
Speaker 1: starting lineup, and you know, changing him from being on

478
00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:40,000
Speaker 1: the ball a lot to being off the ball a lot,

479
00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:42,240
Speaker 1: and and he's a young player, and those sorts of

480
00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:45,600
Speaker 1: things tend to have a greater impact on younger players

481
00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:49,560
Speaker 1: and they do on veterans. And you know, I predicted

482
00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:52,720
Speaker 1: that as he would get into a more consistent role,

483
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:54,560
Speaker 1: which is what this off the bench role is for

484
00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:57,040
Speaker 1: him now, and as long as he stayed on the court,

485
00:21:57,160 --> 00:21:59,280
Speaker 1: that he would start to trend in the right direction.

486
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:01,600
Speaker 1: And then you know, from there, because he's played a

487
00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:03,680
Speaker 1: couple of good games in a row. Now from there,

488
00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:06,760
Speaker 1: it's about like, Okay, what's replicable, right, Like, what what

489
00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,600
Speaker 1: is he doing that will consistently work versus something he's

490
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:13,600
Speaker 1: doing that's you know, out of out of the ordinary.

491
00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:15,640
Speaker 1: So for instance, when he had those back to back

492
00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:18,040
Speaker 1: twenty point games when he first came back from the thumb, Like,

493
00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:19,480
Speaker 1: if you look at those, is like he was making

494
00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:22,880
Speaker 1: a lot of threes, right, And we know that's not

495
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:26,520
Speaker 1: necessarily replicable for him yet at this point in his career.

496
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:29,159
Speaker 1: But over the course of these last two games, a

497
00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:32,000
Speaker 1: lot of what he's doing is like, I don't see

498
00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:36,160
Speaker 1: why that wouldn't work. He's bullying guys around the rim.

499
00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:39,920
Speaker 1: You know, he's he's consistently attacking close outs and making

500
00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:42,600
Speaker 1: good decisions, Like there are a bunch of plays today

501
00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:44,880
Speaker 1: where he catched the ball at the three point line,

502
00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:47,720
Speaker 1: beat the guy off the dribble, health defender would step

503
00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:50,320
Speaker 1: up and he'd hit Mellow, or he'd you know, hit

504
00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:53,119
Speaker 1: Monk coming off the you know, from the other side,

505
00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:58,080
Speaker 1: Like he was just making consistent quality reads out of

506
00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:01,800
Speaker 1: advantage situations. And then and also you know, you can

507
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:04,520
Speaker 1: tell the Lakers have made a concerted effort to get

508
00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:09,920
Speaker 1: his intentional touches with an advantage. So if on place

509
00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,399
Speaker 1: where he's not attacking close out but rather they're running

510
00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:15,480
Speaker 1: a set for him, it almost always involves him coming

511
00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:17,800
Speaker 1: off some sort of curl or in some sort of

512
00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:20,920
Speaker 1: ball screen with a matchup with a shooter someone like Mellow,

513
00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:24,919
Speaker 1: where they're going to be hesitant to leave Mellow, or

514
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:27,840
Speaker 1: on those curls where he has an advantage and he's

515
00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:30,280
Speaker 1: just killing people when he has an advantage because he's

516
00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:32,760
Speaker 1: got such a low center of gravity and he's so

517
00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:35,240
Speaker 1: strong that when he gets a step on you, it's

518
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:37,840
Speaker 1: it's kind of just over. And the crazy part is,

519
00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:40,080
Speaker 1: I thought he missed a couple of shots tonight that

520
00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:42,520
Speaker 1: were really high percentage shots around the rim, you know,

521
00:23:42,600 --> 00:23:44,720
Speaker 1: a couple of scoop shots, and then that little uh

522
00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:48,399
Speaker 1: play where he got Clint Capella off his feet and

523
00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:50,200
Speaker 1: smoked that lay up right by the rim, like he

524
00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:53,879
Speaker 1: I could. You know this is this is looking really good.

525
00:23:54,119 --> 00:23:56,720
Speaker 1: And you know, again, like we said, it's all about

526
00:23:56,760 --> 00:23:59,720
Speaker 1: consistency here. If this turns into a sort of thing

527
00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:02,080
Speaker 1: where he doing it once out of every three games

528
00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:04,159
Speaker 1: or once s out of every four games, then the

529
00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:07,119
Speaker 1: conversation about whether or not you trade him gets a

530
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:10,000
Speaker 1: little more complicated, you know. But if he can get

531
00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:11,960
Speaker 1: to the point where he plays this well two out

532
00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,120
Speaker 1: of three games, like, that's when you start looking at

533
00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:17,800
Speaker 1: this from the lens of he's helping us right now.

534
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:21,840
Speaker 1: Andy has this great upside that we can look to

535
00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:24,280
Speaker 1: in the future. But I mean, this is I got

536
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:26,359
Speaker 1: a lot of crap for the other day for saying

537
00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:29,280
Speaker 1: that th hd um kind of reminds me of Drew

538
00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:33,080
Speaker 1: Holiday and and and again, it's way too soon to

539
00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:35,240
Speaker 1: take a victory lap. I am not taking a victory lap.

540
00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:37,880
Speaker 1: But what you're seeing from th HD in these last

541
00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:41,879
Speaker 1: couple of games, this is what I envision when I

542
00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:45,360
Speaker 1: think about his development as a player, just this power

543
00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:49,000
Speaker 1: guard who should eventually become a guy who can knock

544
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:52,800
Speaker 1: down shots. Hence the high quality three throw shooting. You know,

545
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:58,080
Speaker 1: he's a power guard that punishes smaller, skinnier offensive defensive

546
00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:00,600
Speaker 1: players at the guard position and then also on the

547
00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:04,040
Speaker 1: other end, king guard, you know, basically one through four.

548
00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:06,520
Speaker 1: There were a couple of plays today where he got

549
00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:08,840
Speaker 1: switched onto a post, especially early in the game, where

550
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:10,920
Speaker 1: he got beat. But like, he does a really good

551
00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:14,800
Speaker 1: job one through four defensively. So this is this is

552
00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:19,040
Speaker 1: the what I envisioned from THHD. You, Like, I don't

553
00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:21,000
Speaker 1: want to talk about trades. He's not tradeable for another

554
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,960
Speaker 1: eight days, so not you're not going into that at all.

555
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,440
Speaker 1: But he's such like a rhythm player, and I don't

556
00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:28,840
Speaker 1: think it's a coincidence um that he's like these like

557
00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:30,879
Speaker 1: good games are coming from him coming off the bench.

558
00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:32,560
Speaker 1: And that was the first time he came in for

559
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:34,680
Speaker 1: Lebron instead of Russ. So the last three games he

560
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,159
Speaker 1: usually comes up with Russ. Yeah, yeah, he came in

561
00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:39,000
Speaker 1: for Lebron. This time Lebron only came in for a

562
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:40,639
Speaker 1: little only went out for a little bit. I think

563
00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:42,240
Speaker 1: I think he only sat for like two minutes and

564
00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:44,680
Speaker 1: then he came in for Russ if I remember correctly,

565
00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:46,879
Speaker 1: But I think that's a coincidence. Nice he's not playing

566
00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:49,000
Speaker 1: with all three of the ball handlers, and tonight there

567
00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:51,320
Speaker 1: was definitely a concerted effort to give him the ball more,

568
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:53,320
Speaker 1: even when he was on the floor with Russ, Even

569
00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:55,000
Speaker 1: when he was on the floor with Lebron, they let

570
00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:57,680
Speaker 1: him run actions a little bit more, let him kind

571
00:25:57,680 --> 00:25:59,879
Speaker 1: of ice so, let him attack the rim such a

572
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:01,520
Speaker 1: of them guy like I was talking about, and he

573
00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:02,960
Speaker 1: got he got to the rim a little bit, he

574
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:04,720
Speaker 1: got to the line. I think that I think he

575
00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:06,959
Speaker 1: shot like the first technical free through or something like that,

576
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:08,600
Speaker 1: and I think, you know, just seeing the ball go

577
00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 1: to the basket for him, and it was just cool

578
00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:12,480
Speaker 1: to see him get going. In Atlanta kind of tried

579
00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:14,520
Speaker 1: to hide players on him. There was a stretch in

580
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:17,600
Speaker 1: this game where we went to th HC Lebron screen

581
00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:19,880
Speaker 1: and roll, but instead it was THHD as a screener.

582
00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:21,639
Speaker 1: And I feel like that's just stuff you can do

583
00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:23,879
Speaker 1: to just so he doesn't always have to be the

584
00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:25,880
Speaker 1: guy that needs to shoot. And you know, all those

585
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:27,840
Speaker 1: plays we talked about earlier where the ball was moving

586
00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:30,399
Speaker 1: like it was like three or four passes. Was a

587
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:32,080
Speaker 1: part of that. He was, He was a part of

588
00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:33,520
Speaker 1: a lot of those possessions where like he was the

589
00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:36,000
Speaker 1: glue guy. He drives ball, kicks, kicks, he moves it.

590
00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:38,760
Speaker 1: He talked about the pick and pick and pops with Carmelo.

591
00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:41,439
Speaker 1: He's another guy that it's similar to Russ where like

592
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:43,760
Speaker 1: he needs to slow down. He's either like I'm getting

593
00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:45,879
Speaker 1: to the rim. You know, I'm either getting to the

594
00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:48,000
Speaker 1: rim or I'm like shooting a weird jumper. Like he

595
00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:50,520
Speaker 1: can slow down a little bit, read read the defense.

596
00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:52,240
Speaker 1: And I saw a lot of that, a lot more

597
00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:54,680
Speaker 1: of that tonight. He's a good ball handler, Like all

598
00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:57,080
Speaker 1: the skills are there, it just needs to be compiled

599
00:26:57,119 --> 00:27:00,119
Speaker 1: together correctly. Because he obviously has ball handling skills. He

600
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:02,160
Speaker 1: obviously can get to the rim. I think his first

601
00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:04,439
Speaker 1: step is crazy, which is why I just you know,

602
00:27:04,600 --> 00:27:07,000
Speaker 1: even a blow average jumper, which just changed his life.

603
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:10,800
Speaker 1: But you know, he's he's gonna get he did. Yeah,

604
00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:12,560
Speaker 1: And you know there's a few plays where like he

605
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:14,800
Speaker 1: almost dunked and then decided to lay it up. There's

606
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:16,920
Speaker 1: a few plays like that. But he can get to

607
00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:18,520
Speaker 1: the rim and you see him use his body a

608
00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:20,800
Speaker 1: little bit more, use his physicality. Maybe he's getting a

609
00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:22,680
Speaker 1: little bit more comfortable after being out for a little

610
00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:25,160
Speaker 1: bit from COVID protocols and stuff. But yeah, this tonight

611
00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:27,360
Speaker 1: was another really good, you know, THHD game. He got

612
00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:29,159
Speaker 1: lost a little bit off the ball, you know, on

613
00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:31,879
Speaker 1: some shooters, I think on a Herd and Bugnonomous, a

614
00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:33,840
Speaker 1: little bit that's gonna happen. I thought his on ball

615
00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:35,720
Speaker 1: defense was pretty good though. I think he was on

616
00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:37,640
Speaker 1: trade for a couple of positions. Did a fine job.

617
00:27:38,119 --> 00:27:39,760
Speaker 1: But yeah, he was. He was good, man, and this

618
00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:41,200
Speaker 1: is kind of what you want to see from him.

619
00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:44,080
Speaker 1: He knocked down a few threes tonight. That's not really expected.

620
00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:46,080
Speaker 1: But I want him to shoot when he's open, Like,

621
00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:48,439
Speaker 1: I think that's important. I think, you know, passing up

622
00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:51,240
Speaker 1: shots for him just has a domino effect of of

623
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:53,680
Speaker 1: affecting everything else in his game. But he was good

624
00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:55,560
Speaker 1: and I like him as a screener. I like him

625
00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:57,919
Speaker 1: having the ball a little bit more. You saw that,

626
00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:00,040
Speaker 1: and I think that's something that they're definitely trying to

627
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:01,960
Speaker 1: do to build him up a little bit. And it's

628
00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:03,960
Speaker 1: a second straight game that that's good for him. Memphis

629
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:06,080
Speaker 1: will be a test, but but it's a nice, nice

630
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:08,720
Speaker 1: little streak he's building as well. Yeah, exactly that. The

631
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:11,720
Speaker 1: consistency is everything with Like we said, like we we

632
00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:14,040
Speaker 1: see all Star plays at a t HD every game.

633
00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:16,520
Speaker 1: It's been, you know, one of our little talking points

634
00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:19,159
Speaker 1: that we can like a super star playing tonight, a

635
00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:22,760
Speaker 1: super super I'll star playing in and out dribble crossover

636
00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:26,159
Speaker 1: to a dunk man and the huge hands like that,

637
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:28,439
Speaker 1: Like that's the thing too. It's everything with t's the

638
00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,280
Speaker 1: physical tools, like the ability to gather it like that

639
00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:34,320
Speaker 1: and hold it high and to have such long arms

640
00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:36,359
Speaker 1: that off a short take off like that that you

641
00:28:36,359 --> 00:28:38,600
Speaker 1: can get high enough. Because that's the thing. Like when

642
00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:42,640
Speaker 1: you're a jumping vertical athlete but you don't have great

643
00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:44,760
Speaker 1: physical tools, you really have to load up. I mean,

644
00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:46,760
Speaker 1: look at Moldleague Monk. He's the best example of this.

645
00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:49,680
Speaker 1: Like he's flying in transition all the time because he

646
00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:52,040
Speaker 1: gets chances it gets a chance to load up. But

647
00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:54,520
Speaker 1: he struggles, like he's not dunking on people in half

648
00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:57,960
Speaker 1: court sets often because he doesn't have that you know,

649
00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:00,560
Speaker 1: easy set of physical tools for to that have to jump.

650
00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:02,520
Speaker 1: He has to jump much higher. You know, th h

651
00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:06,400
Speaker 1: T is just so long that he's got the capability

652
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:08,719
Speaker 1: to finish like that in traffic because he doesn't actually

653
00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:11,520
Speaker 1: have to jump that high in order to to finish them,

654
00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:14,560
Speaker 1: you know. But you know, the key here is this

655
00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:17,040
Speaker 1: brings us to an interesting concept of close out attacking,

656
00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:19,320
Speaker 1: because this is something that you know, you and I

657
00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:22,120
Speaker 1: have been on for a couple of years now. My

658
00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:24,520
Speaker 1: favorite example of a team that has high level clothes

659
00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:27,280
Speaker 1: that attacking is Phoenix. You know, when you look at

660
00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:30,240
Speaker 1: guys like Cam Johnson and Michael Bridges, they just the

661
00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:34,520
Speaker 1: types of moves they can make attacking closeouts are just

662
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:37,360
Speaker 1: a little bit more advanced, and especially in a playoff

663
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,640
Speaker 1: setting when scoring is so difficult, that sort of thing

664
00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:43,120
Speaker 1: brings a lot of value. And what I saw a

665
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:46,479
Speaker 1: lot of tonight was you'd have a kind of like

666
00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:50,560
Speaker 1: a core initiation action at the top right, whether that

667
00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:54,440
Speaker 1: was a Molik Monk Lebron screening role or a Mellow

668
00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:58,440
Speaker 1: Lebron screening roll or a russ ball handler screen with

669
00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 1: with Lebron as a screener. They it run this kind

670
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:02,480
Speaker 1: of action either at the top of the key or

671
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:05,400
Speaker 1: on the wing and it would cause the defense to

672
00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:08,240
Speaker 1: shade towards them because you have to. That's just how

673
00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:10,239
Speaker 1: it works. It's we have to do the same thing

674
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,560
Speaker 1: when we're guarding Tredy Young or when we're guarding anyone else.

675
00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:15,479
Speaker 1: And so then comes the really quick swing pass right,

676
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:18,560
Speaker 1: the quick swing pass over to somebody who's got a

677
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:21,760
Speaker 1: little bit of an advantage, you know, And that's where

678
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:25,520
Speaker 1: you know, if that's Wayne Ellington, you know, I guess

679
00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:27,720
Speaker 1: he can pump an take a sidestep and get a

680
00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:30,560
Speaker 1: shot off. And I'm not hating on Moyne Ellington's game.

681
00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:34,040
Speaker 1: I love the guy, but like that ability to make

682
00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:39,360
Speaker 1: a complicated attack of a close out, to either create

683
00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:42,200
Speaker 1: an open shot for someone else or to create something

684
00:30:42,280 --> 00:30:46,280
Speaker 1: for yourself is so valuable. And th HD is just

685
00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:49,920
Speaker 1: good at that already, which is crazy, and it actually brings,

686
00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:53,000
Speaker 1: you know, on a larger scale, like that's an interesting

687
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,760
Speaker 1: conundrum with Stanley Johnson and Trevorresa because you know, there

688
00:30:56,840 --> 00:30:59,320
Speaker 1: was a play Stanley actually stepped out of bounds on it,

689
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:02,400
Speaker 1: but he was able to beat to the baseline thinks

690
00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:04,320
Speaker 1: the end of the first half. You know, that kind

691
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:06,600
Speaker 1: of that kind of play a reason it can't really

692
00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:09,960
Speaker 1: make right now, A Reason is kind of like almost

693
00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:12,640
Speaker 1: more more like Ellington in the sense that like he

694
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:14,120
Speaker 1: can shoot it and he might be able to pump

695
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:17,440
Speaker 1: faken sidestep, but he's not able to really beat guys

696
00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:19,480
Speaker 1: off the dribble when he's given a little bit of

697
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:23,280
Speaker 1: an advantage. And Stanley can and that kind of makes

698
00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:25,920
Speaker 1: him an interesting option. You know what I mean as

699
00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:29,320
Speaker 1: as a guy to take minutes away from a reason

700
00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:32,400
Speaker 1: when we're whole is you know, just you have to

701
00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:35,640
Speaker 1: be able to beat that guy who's closing out at

702
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:39,520
Speaker 1: you unless you're just absolutely on the money from three

703
00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:41,960
Speaker 1: every time, you know, which is a different story, but

704
00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:45,600
Speaker 1: it's and that's obviously what keeps mellow in his value

705
00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:48,440
Speaker 1: so high. But that that that concept is very interesting

706
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:50,880
Speaker 1: to me because especially when you get into a playoff setting,

707
00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:53,000
Speaker 1: there's just not gonna be a lot of like two

708
00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:54,680
Speaker 1: on two on one side of the floor. It's gonna

709
00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:57,640
Speaker 1: be a lot of shading, helping and packing the pain

710
00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:01,160
Speaker 1: and things along those lines. This issue, and that's kind

711
00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:02,959
Speaker 1: of where you talked about this a lot as well,

712
00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:04,840
Speaker 1: where like Austin Reeves comes in as well and he

713
00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:08,719
Speaker 1: just he just yeah, you know, he's just he's just

714
00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:11,440
Speaker 1: good man. Like there's no there's no like qualms about,

715
00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:13,160
Speaker 1: Like he's a reals good for a rookie like that.

716
00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:15,479
Speaker 1: Dude is just good. He's not even shooting well, but

717
00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:17,920
Speaker 1: the floor just connects. And you talked about the you know,

718
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,080
Speaker 1: being able to attack the close out. He does that

719
00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:22,560
Speaker 1: really well to me. His decision making and that is

720
00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:25,280
Speaker 1: split second and he usually makes the right decision every

721
00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:28,320
Speaker 1: time catch, shoot pass, like he knows exactly where to go.

722
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:29,560
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, we kind of move this

723
00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:31,120
Speaker 1: as well. I'm not sure we didn't really get into

724
00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:33,800
Speaker 1: League Monk that much. But man, Malik is kind of

725
00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:36,600
Speaker 1: living off these right like league is in heaven right now.

726
00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:39,360
Speaker 1: Like he's shooting threes. I pulled up the numbers here.

727
00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:42,120
Speaker 1: Malik is seventeen for thirty two from three in the

728
00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:45,800
Speaker 1: last three games. It's like and they're not and that's

729
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,400
Speaker 1: just not And I think he's a legit shooter, Like

730
00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:49,800
Speaker 1: I don't think he I don't think this is a

731
00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:52,440
Speaker 1: hot streak. Like his form looks good. I talked about

732
00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:54,640
Speaker 1: when he gets into the dip of his jumper, it's

733
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:57,280
Speaker 1: just I feel like it's going in. But yeah, like

734
00:32:57,480 --> 00:32:59,560
Speaker 1: he's able to attack off that he's getting to the

735
00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:01,800
Speaker 1: rim a little a big game to aligne again, he

736
00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:04,200
Speaker 1: had I think he had twenty one at halftime. He

737
00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:06,880
Speaker 1: was like ten for twelve or some some ridiculous number.

738
00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:09,440
Speaker 1: And he just keeps on thriving. You know, in this

739
00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:12,959
Speaker 1: small ball universe that we've entered here, he feels like

740
00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:16,040
Speaker 1: one of the biggest you know guys who's who's benefit

741
00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:18,800
Speaker 1: off it? Honestly, And you talked again the closeout attacking

742
00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:21,160
Speaker 1: be able to hit wide open threes at a super

743
00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:23,920
Speaker 1: high rate. He doesn't need to be open to shoot,

744
00:33:23,920 --> 00:33:26,360
Speaker 1: which I think is a really important thing for this team.

745
00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:28,160
Speaker 1: Like he doesn't have to be wide open like Wayne

746
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:30,440
Speaker 1: Ellington to me, needs to be. I know, we don't

747
00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:32,000
Speaker 1: want to attack Wayne Ellington. And he was one of

748
00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:34,560
Speaker 1: my favorite signing. He's one of my favorite signings honestly,

749
00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:35,960
Speaker 1: but he needs He's the guy that kind of needs

750
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,479
Speaker 1: to be open to shoot, right if it's contested, he's

751
00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:40,480
Speaker 1: gonna just pass it off. Malik Monk, you know, he

752
00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:43,120
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like he doesn't really even see the defender

753
00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:44,840
Speaker 1: a lot of times. But just talk to me about

754
00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:48,400
Speaker 1: Milik Monk because I thought again, another just monster game

755
00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:50,680
Speaker 1: from him and really picked up the slack him and

756
00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:53,240
Speaker 1: Avery Bradley honestly, who we should give some flowers to

757
00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:55,880
Speaker 1: as well. But Malik Monk just picking up the offense.

758
00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:58,360
Speaker 1: Sixty something points from us, he had twenty one of them.

759
00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:00,440
Speaker 1: Would you would you kind of think of just this

760
00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:04,000
Speaker 1: continuation of play from him. Well, I'm glad you pointed

761
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:05,840
Speaker 1: out that he's been shooting the ball well, because the

762
00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:08,840
Speaker 1: truth is is to me, it's kind of a regression

763
00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:12,680
Speaker 1: to normal. Because early in the season, if you guys remember,

764
00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:16,640
Speaker 1: Ellington and Mellow and Lebron were all like up over

765
00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:21,319
Speaker 1: on wide open threes. I know that was and and

766
00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:23,759
Speaker 1: Lebron was struggling on off the dribble threes, but the

767
00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:28,080
Speaker 1: everything wide open, Lebron, Mellow and Wayne Ellington were just

768
00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:32,279
Speaker 1: good as money. But Molik Monk for whatever reason, was

769
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:34,600
Speaker 1: missing the open shots. To start the season. He had

770
00:34:34,640 --> 00:34:37,719
Speaker 1: a few games where he shot the ball well, but

771
00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:41,440
Speaker 1: Malik was struggling a little bit figuring out. But and now,

772
00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:43,880
Speaker 1: in his defense, he at that point in the season,

773
00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:46,719
Speaker 1: his role was inconsistent. This is actually I'm going to

774
00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:49,120
Speaker 1: go on a little mini tangent here. You know, One

775
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:51,839
Speaker 1: of the big reasons why I think Wesley Matthews has

776
00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:54,399
Speaker 1: been playing so well for the Bucks is he has

777
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:57,960
Speaker 1: a consistent role there. And if there's one little, tiny,

778
00:34:58,320 --> 00:35:01,640
Speaker 1: itty bitty bit of criticism in might throw Frank Vogel's away,

779
00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:05,720
Speaker 1: it's that he tweaks with the rotation a lot um,

780
00:35:05,760 --> 00:35:08,520
Speaker 1: particularly at the guard position, and that was something he

781
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:11,359
Speaker 1: did a lot last year. Do you remember, like there'd

782
00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:14,040
Speaker 1: be stretches of the season where way where West would

783
00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:16,600
Speaker 1: be in the rotation, and they're being stretches of the

784
00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:19,040
Speaker 1: season where West wouldn't be in the rotation, you know,

785
00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:22,120
Speaker 1: and like you know, his minutes taken by THHD, Like

786
00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:25,719
Speaker 1: THHD took his minutes, like he he ends. But my

787
00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:28,799
Speaker 1: but my point is this throughout the season, though West's

788
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:32,719
Speaker 1: role was somewhat inconsistent, and I don't and I think

789
00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:37,400
Speaker 1: specifically for guys who are you know, who have the

790
00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:40,000
Speaker 1: ball in their hands, guys who you know that and

791
00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:42,279
Speaker 1: it's a rhytham sport, it really is, and it can

792
00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:45,040
Speaker 1: get disrupted. So my point is is, like coming back

793
00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:47,160
Speaker 1: to the Leak Monk, one of the big reasons why

794
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:49,399
Speaker 1: I think the league Monk is playing so well right

795
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:52,840
Speaker 1: now is by virtue of necessity. The Lakers leaned heavily

796
00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:56,279
Speaker 1: on him. Um, you know after a few games when

797
00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:58,200
Speaker 1: things kind of started to go off the rails with

798
00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:00,960
Speaker 1: injuries and stuff like that. And what you've seen is

799
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:04,680
Speaker 1: in this consistent role, he's just comfortable now. And we

800
00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:06,640
Speaker 1: talked about this like three or four games ago, but

801
00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:09,680
Speaker 1: he has a green light now, like a full blown,

802
00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:13,040
Speaker 1: legitimate like no questions asked, You've got a green light,

803
00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:17,440
Speaker 1: and that that works wonders for a player's confidence, you know,

804
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:20,000
Speaker 1: when you don't have to fear missing a shot, you

805
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:22,120
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like I mean even in that

806
00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:24,759
Speaker 1: game where you know when remember the one after the

807
00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:26,719
Speaker 1: game where they asked him what he changed, and he's like,

808
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:29,040
Speaker 1: I stopped taking stupid off the dribble step back through.

809
00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:33,200
Speaker 1: Like it's it's funny because you know, maybe when he

810
00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:36,279
Speaker 1: was in New Orleans, when he was in Charlotte, he

811
00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:38,440
Speaker 1: might have taken a couple of tough step back threes

812
00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:41,600
Speaker 1: and Brego might have benched his ass, you know what

813
00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:44,640
Speaker 1: I mean, Like like, but whereas here like he has

814
00:36:44,719 --> 00:36:47,520
Speaker 1: freedom to fail, you know, and he missed all those

815
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:50,400
Speaker 1: shots in that particular game, and then he started taking

816
00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:53,279
Speaker 1: easier shots and they started going in. He was given

817
00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:56,799
Speaker 1: an opportunity to to find his confidence and to find

818
00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:01,040
Speaker 1: his rhythm. But again, like having having him like this

819
00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:05,320
Speaker 1: as an option to carry the offense for significant stretches

820
00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:07,240
Speaker 1: of the games helps in a bunch of different ways.

821
00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:09,080
Speaker 1: Not only does it unlock some of those two man

822
00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:11,719
Speaker 1: game options like we were talking about with Lebron, but

823
00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:14,839
Speaker 1: it's relieved some of what we need Russ to do.

824
00:37:15,719 --> 00:37:18,840
Speaker 1: You know, having having Molik and th h T start

825
00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:22,279
Speaker 1: to play this well puts Russ. It's you know, it

826
00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:26,879
Speaker 1: slots for us proper, properly as someone that can kind

827
00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:29,440
Speaker 1: of go back to what his offensive role was when

828
00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:32,160
Speaker 1: a d was in the lineup, And that makes me

829
00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:35,320
Speaker 1: feel a little better because you know, I was worried

830
00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:37,480
Speaker 1: we were going to get a heavy dose of some

831
00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:40,480
Speaker 1: of the uglier sides of Russ's game over this stretch

832
00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:44,719
Speaker 1: without Anthony Davis and Malik. Monk is rectifying that, and

833
00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:48,440
Speaker 1: so is th HT. And obviously, again consistency is going

834
00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:50,480
Speaker 1: to be the key here. Now for t T, it's

835
00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:52,359
Speaker 1: only been two games. Malik's been going like this for

836
00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:55,719
Speaker 1: two and a half weeks now, so that's exciting. But

837
00:37:56,080 --> 00:37:59,560
Speaker 1: it'll be it'll be key that he stays on this course.

838
00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:01,719
Speaker 1: But I tend to think with a green light and

839
00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:05,120
Speaker 1: with the opportunities he's getting and playing alongside Lebron James, Like,

840
00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:08,040
Speaker 1: it's not like his shot quality's gonna dip. He's just

841
00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:10,960
Speaker 1: gotta keep knocking there and you know what I mean. Yeah,

842
00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:13,160
Speaker 1: And we're starting to like actually run actions. From the

843
00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:15,439
Speaker 1: League two, we started running him off some curls and

844
00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:17,640
Speaker 1: he's coming off and pulling up and just trying to

845
00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:19,879
Speaker 1: get into some more you know, system stuff for him

846
00:38:19,880 --> 00:38:21,799
Speaker 1: where in the half court, get him more shots. But

847
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:24,640
Speaker 1: that's a great point on like how it slots Russ

848
00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:27,080
Speaker 1: to a little bit more of an easier position, right,

849
00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:29,640
Speaker 1: because when we were starting Russ next to we already

850
00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:32,320
Speaker 1: started next day Bradley who's not really a ball handler

851
00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:34,759
Speaker 1: and sends more like a spot up guy. Um and

852
00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:37,200
Speaker 1: I think it was also Thhd as well. But now

853
00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:38,960
Speaker 1: you put Mileek Monk next to him, just a guy

854
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:40,640
Speaker 1: he can give the ball to, and it feels like

855
00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:44,319
Speaker 1: Russ is able to kind of attack more on his terms. Right.

856
00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:46,359
Speaker 1: It's it's not so much you have to have him

857
00:38:46,400 --> 00:38:48,239
Speaker 1: run in the half court and and I think Russ

858
00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:50,759
Speaker 1: has done a lot better job, you know, just controlling

859
00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:54,120
Speaker 1: his his attacks to the rim. He had some finishes tonight, Jason.

860
00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:55,759
Speaker 1: Do you see the one in Transition today where he

861
00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:58,040
Speaker 1: was like up and under It was like with Finesse.

862
00:38:58,120 --> 00:38:59,799
Speaker 1: It was super nice. And I'm like, man, he can

863
00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:02,040
Speaker 1: do that all the time, like if he just slow

864
00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:05,200
Speaker 1: if if he just slows down a little bit, like

865
00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:07,239
Speaker 1: he can finish like that. But I think that's a

866
00:39:07,239 --> 00:39:09,479
Speaker 1: good point with that, because like I've always said, with Russ,

867
00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:12,640
Speaker 1: you're never going to I don't think tempering him is

868
00:39:12,640 --> 00:39:15,800
Speaker 1: ever the solution. It's just you know, lowering the usage.

869
00:39:15,800 --> 00:39:17,359
Speaker 1: And I think we're kind of seeing that where he's

870
00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:19,680
Speaker 1: able to his usage goes down a little bit and

871
00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:22,000
Speaker 1: he can attack on his terms, especially with Lebron on

872
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:24,239
Speaker 1: the floor again with Leek Monk as hot as he

873
00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:26,239
Speaker 1: is able to be a bowl in the china shop.

874
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:29,080
Speaker 1: In transition, he's doing and Avery Bradley and him are

875
00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:31,239
Speaker 1: starting to get a little connection here, right Like when

876
00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:34,320
Speaker 1: Russ drives, Avery Bradley cuts and like that he's found

877
00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:36,319
Speaker 1: if he found every badly a few times, not just

878
00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:38,360
Speaker 1: denying the last few games, him and Bradley have a

879
00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:40,880
Speaker 1: nice connection as a cutter passer kind of duo. But

880
00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:43,000
Speaker 1: I think he's passing is getting better. Three and three

881
00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:45,399
Speaker 1: turnovers tonight. Two of them were kind of like what

882
00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:47,760
Speaker 1: were you doing? Stuff? But you know, the three turnovers

883
00:39:47,840 --> 00:39:49,640
Speaker 1: is not bad for us for the night he had.

884
00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:52,160
Speaker 1: I think if he had like twelve assists or something, uh,

885
00:39:52,239 --> 00:39:54,440
Speaker 1: twelve assists on the night. But you know, he's starting

886
00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:55,800
Speaker 1: to play a little bit better and the game is

887
00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:58,279
Speaker 1: starting to be controlled a little bit better for him.

888
00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:01,160
Speaker 1: I'm I feel like he's he's moving in the right direction,

889
00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:03,359
Speaker 1: and when E comes back, obviously I will kind of,

890
00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:05,600
Speaker 1: you know, shift him even more into the into the

891
00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:07,520
Speaker 1: correct spots. But I think he's played well. Man, I

892
00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:10,560
Speaker 1: don't and I think Lake Monk, you know, surgeons here

893
00:40:10,680 --> 00:40:12,680
Speaker 1: is not you know, it's not coincidental that Russ is

894
00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:15,879
Speaker 1: playing better along with that. So I think you're right

895
00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:18,480
Speaker 1: with that with that assessment. I think Malik has definitely

896
00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:20,880
Speaker 1: helped Russ kind of be more in his lane and

897
00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:23,120
Speaker 1: be able to attack in situations that makes sense. And

898
00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:25,080
Speaker 1: we kind of figured out a late game kind of

899
00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:26,600
Speaker 1: thing with him where he can go stand in the

900
00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:28,920
Speaker 1: Dunger spot he can be a screener. He's kind of

901
00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:32,400
Speaker 1: more the secondary third attacker instead of having to be

902
00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:34,640
Speaker 1: the primary guy. And I think that's something we've kind

903
00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:37,359
Speaker 1: of figured out as as the season's gone on. Yeah,

904
00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:40,080
Speaker 1: you know, the Russ has actually started to plaint better,

905
00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:42,360
Speaker 1: start a little more self control for all those reasons

906
00:40:42,360 --> 00:40:45,200
Speaker 1: we just discussed, I think, you know, I think if

907
00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:49,160
Speaker 1: I had to choose between him taking some of these

908
00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:52,239
Speaker 1: fifteen footers that he's been taking or putting his head

909
00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:55,319
Speaker 1: down and trying to get into the paint, especially early

910
00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:56,800
Speaker 1: in the game the way that he did in the

911
00:40:56,840 --> 00:41:01,040
Speaker 1: first quarter. You know, when Russ draws into the basket

912
00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:03,920
Speaker 1: and misses a layoup. As much as it is a

913
00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:07,040
Speaker 1: bad play because it is because it triggers a fast

914
00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:09,279
Speaker 1: break out of the other direction, he's usually complaining to

915
00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:15,279
Speaker 1: the rest or complains to the rest. But but the

916
00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:21,720
Speaker 1: there's a there's a cumulative effect to rim pressure that

917
00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:25,040
Speaker 1: is a it's a psychological effect on the defense because

918
00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:28,680
Speaker 1: they start to naturally collapse when Russ starts bringing the

919
00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:31,240
Speaker 1: ball up the floor. Um, but also there's a fatigue

920
00:41:31,239 --> 00:41:34,160
Speaker 1: element to it, and guys start getting out of the way,

921
00:41:34,400 --> 00:41:37,160
Speaker 1: you know, like there's there were several plays tonight where

922
00:41:37,239 --> 00:41:40,920
Speaker 1: Russ drove to the basket and was in a crowd

923
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:43,520
Speaker 1: and threw up a crazy shot missed. But then there

924
00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:45,080
Speaker 1: were a couple of plays there in the fourth quarter

925
00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:48,720
Speaker 1: where all of a sudden it was single coverage him

926
00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:51,120
Speaker 1: around the rim and he bumped a guy off of

927
00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:54,120
Speaker 1: him and laid it up. And that's cumulative fatigue. That's

928
00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:56,719
Speaker 1: eventually guys just gets sick of getting in the way,

929
00:41:57,080 --> 00:41:59,879
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And and then obviously during

930
00:41:59,880 --> 00:42:02,440
Speaker 1: the stretches when they are collapsing and trying to take

931
00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:05,479
Speaker 1: that stuff away from him, there's a lot of good

932
00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:08,120
Speaker 1: that comes from the rim pressure with him kicking out

933
00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:11,279
Speaker 1: and spraying the shooters. So again, like my thing is, like,

934
00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:13,040
Speaker 1: you know, there was a kind of a moment where

935
00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:15,879
Speaker 1: he made that and one in the first quarter, second

936
00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:20,080
Speaker 1: quarter might have been yeah, and he had kind of

937
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:22,279
Speaker 1: like a little moment where he threw his hands up

938
00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:25,160
Speaker 1: kind of like off finally, And you know, I kind

939
00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:28,080
Speaker 1: of want to be like man like, no, like those

940
00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:30,080
Speaker 1: weren't the other ones missed because you're just not good

941
00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:34,200
Speaker 1: at that. This wasn't the basketball gots finally paying you back.

942
00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:36,239
Speaker 1: I think I think that dude might have fouled your

943
00:42:36,239 --> 00:42:39,440
Speaker 1: shot into the basket like like like I'm just like

944
00:42:39,560 --> 00:42:42,279
Speaker 1: I wish, I wish for his sake, Like, you know,

945
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:45,680
Speaker 1: especially now that Monk and th Ht are starting to

946
00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:48,760
Speaker 1: kind of find their legs and play better, I almost

947
00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:52,120
Speaker 1: want to be like man, like really really channel into

948
00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:54,239
Speaker 1: what you're good at now, you know, which is just

949
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:55,719
Speaker 1: put your head down and go to the rim, Like

950
00:42:55,760 --> 00:42:59,400
Speaker 1: those are those are the kinds of you know, like

951
00:42:59,480 --> 00:43:02,000
Speaker 1: the place a place where he picks up his dribble

952
00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:05,279
Speaker 1: along the second lane line and tries to throw some

953
00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:08,719
Speaker 1: stupid like those are pointless turnovers, but the ones when

954
00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:11,319
Speaker 1: he's like flying into the basket and trying to make

955
00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:13,800
Speaker 1: something happen, those are at least a little more tolerable

956
00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:17,120
Speaker 1: because of that cumulative effect of him putting rim pressure.

957
00:43:17,239 --> 00:43:19,760
Speaker 1: So that's what I'd like to see him really really

958
00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:24,239
Speaker 1: focus on now that we're clicking so well offensively. Yeah,

959
00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:26,520
Speaker 1: and like those mid rain shots aren't great, you know,

960
00:43:26,600 --> 00:43:28,560
Speaker 1: but I like, to me, I'd rather have those than

961
00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:30,560
Speaker 1: the turnovers as well, Like if you can get a

962
00:43:30,560 --> 00:43:32,600
Speaker 1: shot at the rim, we can get our defense back.

963
00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:34,960
Speaker 1: And I think it's also a sign of aggression. That

964
00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:37,839
Speaker 1: we need Russ to be aggressive, and to him, those

965
00:43:37,840 --> 00:43:40,239
Speaker 1: shots are a part of his aggression, right. It just

966
00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:43,200
Speaker 1: is like it's just those you know, size of you know,

967
00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:45,480
Speaker 1: mid range pull up jumpers like those are that's just

968
00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:47,960
Speaker 1: part of his game. Those aren't going anywhere. But I'd

969
00:43:48,040 --> 00:43:50,680
Speaker 1: rather have that than the you know, the bad drives

970
00:43:50,680 --> 00:43:52,279
Speaker 1: to the rim where like it's just a throw up

971
00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:54,480
Speaker 1: there and hope and pray, like a foul gets called

972
00:43:54,560 --> 00:43:56,440
Speaker 1: or he falls to the floor and all that, And

973
00:43:56,480 --> 00:43:58,520
Speaker 1: I think that's your sign that you're kind of starting

974
00:43:58,719 --> 00:44:00,960
Speaker 1: to see the progression of that. And he's played well

975
00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:02,880
Speaker 1: these last few games, like he was the high I

976
00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:05,040
Speaker 1: think he led the team in plus minus tonight as well,

977
00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:07,600
Speaker 1: like with the plus twenty four or something. So he

978
00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:09,480
Speaker 1: when he was on the floor, we were we were winning,

979
00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:11,880
Speaker 1: and he was impacting winning in my opinion, And him

980
00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:14,120
Speaker 1: and Lebron is starting to build a little bit of chemistry.

981
00:44:14,120 --> 00:44:15,600
Speaker 1: I thought on the fourth quarters tonight, we went to

982
00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:18,720
Speaker 1: Russell Lebron screen role really nice to I think Atlanta

983
00:44:18,800 --> 00:44:21,080
Speaker 1: was going over the top of screens for some reason,

984
00:44:21,080 --> 00:44:22,880
Speaker 1: and we were. He was able to hit Lebron on

985
00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:25,600
Speaker 1: like pocket passes and stuff and no idea why they

986
00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:28,439
Speaker 1: were doing that. Yeah, but like you know, just dying

987
00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:31,240
Speaker 1: to see progressions um with the offense with him and

988
00:44:31,239 --> 00:44:33,439
Speaker 1: and we're seeing him play better I thought defensively as well.

989
00:44:33,680 --> 00:44:36,640
Speaker 1: Just he's been he's picked it up, so hopefully this continues.

990
00:44:37,080 --> 00:44:39,880
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's interesting, man, Like the I trade in

991
00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:42,480
Speaker 1: these shots for turnovers all day long, and there's different

992
00:44:42,480 --> 00:44:45,719
Speaker 1: types of like you know, but there's different type of turnovers, right,

993
00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:47,839
Speaker 1: there's the just the lack of days ago, you know,

994
00:44:47,960 --> 00:44:50,719
Speaker 1: on ball turnovers like those like those you can't live with.

995
00:44:50,719 --> 00:44:52,440
Speaker 1: But like the drive to the rim and then like

996
00:44:52,520 --> 00:44:55,359
Speaker 1: expecting your guy to cut because I think there's kind

997
00:44:55,400 --> 00:44:58,680
Speaker 1: of a they're kind of starting to know, like when

998
00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:00,680
Speaker 1: Rush drives when I'm supposed to huh, and he's and

999
00:45:00,719 --> 00:45:02,400
Speaker 1: you'll see it too, you'll throw it and there'll be

1000
00:45:02,440 --> 00:45:04,080
Speaker 1: a turnover. Be like, man, you're supposed to be there,

1001
00:45:04,120 --> 00:45:05,759
Speaker 1: like you know you're supposed to be there or something.

1002
00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:08,120
Speaker 1: You know, Like you're starting to see little progressions of that.

1003
00:45:08,680 --> 00:45:11,040
Speaker 1: And he passes to areas I always talked about, he

1004
00:45:11,040 --> 00:45:13,480
Speaker 1: passes to areas instead of players. So once he drives,

1005
00:45:13,480 --> 00:45:15,560
Speaker 1: he expects you to be in that corner and he

1006
00:45:15,600 --> 00:45:17,239
Speaker 1: found a few guys in the in the corner tonight.

1007
00:45:17,239 --> 00:45:18,759
Speaker 1: I know, we're starting to see the team kind of

1008
00:45:18,840 --> 00:45:21,279
Speaker 1: understand how Russ plays, and Russ understand the team. All

1009
00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:23,800
Speaker 1: that you get through a eighty two games season and

1010
00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:25,839
Speaker 1: hopefully a d can come back in a time where

1011
00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:27,080
Speaker 1: those two you can kind of build. But I think

1012
00:45:27,160 --> 00:45:30,040
Speaker 1: Russ is in the right direction for sure. So let's

1013
00:45:30,280 --> 00:45:32,160
Speaker 1: hit on Lebron and then let's get out of here

1014
00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:35,680
Speaker 1: for the night. So uh, an interesting stretch of games

1015
00:45:35,680 --> 00:45:40,680
Speaker 1: from Lebron because so three nights ago, you know, he

1016
00:45:41,040 --> 00:45:45,320
Speaker 1: basically coast for three and a half quarters against the

1017
00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:48,480
Speaker 1: Kings and then puts his foot on the gas and

1018
00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:51,840
Speaker 1: just goes absolutely nuclear and just blows their head off, basically.

1019
00:45:52,880 --> 00:45:56,080
Speaker 1: And we blame it on fatigue because they had played,

1020
00:45:56,080 --> 00:45:58,200
Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken, that was their fifth game and

1021
00:45:58,239 --> 00:46:01,719
Speaker 1: eight nights, and over the course of those five games,

1022
00:46:01,800 --> 00:46:05,000
Speaker 1: Lebron had to heavy workload, and in those first four

1023
00:46:05,120 --> 00:46:08,520
Speaker 1: games there was a considerable amount of energy that he

1024
00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:10,680
Speaker 1: was playing with, although that fifth game he was a

1025
00:46:10,680 --> 00:46:13,560
Speaker 1: little more law days ago. But it was interesting because

1026
00:46:13,600 --> 00:46:16,120
Speaker 1: then they had a couple of nights off, they didn't

1027
00:46:16,200 --> 00:46:19,040
Speaker 1: practice at all, I think on Wednesday, and then they

1028
00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:22,319
Speaker 1: did a practice yesterday where Lebron said he went light

1029
00:46:22,440 --> 00:46:26,279
Speaker 1: and primarily focused on his skill work. And then you

1030
00:46:26,360 --> 00:46:28,080
Speaker 1: come into a game tonight and he was lacks two

1031
00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:32,000
Speaker 1: days ago again, and it's it's it's interesting because you know,

1032
00:46:32,080 --> 00:46:33,879
Speaker 1: but then he has that blow up in the fourth

1033
00:46:33,960 --> 00:46:36,680
Speaker 1: quarter where he fills up the statuet and has a

1034
00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:39,239
Speaker 1: dunk where you know, TCH kind of threw the lob

1035
00:46:39,280 --> 00:46:43,920
Speaker 1: a little too high and his head's near his head's

1036
00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:46,320
Speaker 1: near the rim. But it's like, it's funny. It's funny

1037
00:46:46,360 --> 00:46:49,320
Speaker 1: because like, okay, first of all, for any of you

1038
00:46:49,440 --> 00:46:52,600
Speaker 1: that are listening who have played basketball at any level,

1039
00:46:53,239 --> 00:46:57,120
Speaker 1: and like real organized basketball, when you play there, you

1040
00:46:57,200 --> 00:46:59,879
Speaker 1: don't feel the same every night. Like even like lab

1041
00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:01,800
Speaker 1: One has a whole other element, like he's played so

1042
00:47:01,880 --> 00:47:04,920
Speaker 1: many thousands of NBA games that like for him, he

1043
00:47:04,960 --> 00:47:09,000
Speaker 1: doesn't even probably get as excited as as normal people do.

1044
00:47:09,200 --> 00:47:11,719
Speaker 1: But like even when you are excited, like I was

1045
00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:14,080
Speaker 1: excited for every game I played when I was in college.

1046
00:47:14,120 --> 00:47:15,759
Speaker 1: But the truth of the matter is is like some

1047
00:47:16,120 --> 00:47:17,160
Speaker 1: it's like a brain. I don't know if it's a

1048
00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:19,960
Speaker 1: brain chemistry thing or if it's like just a natural

1049
00:47:20,160 --> 00:47:23,640
Speaker 1: evan flow of physiology. But like, there are games when

1050
00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:26,520
Speaker 1: you just don't feel good. You know, your head is

1051
00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:29,040
Speaker 1: not really in it, You're not seeing the floor super well,

1052
00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:32,160
Speaker 1: your energy levels low, whatever that reason maybe. And I

1053
00:47:32,200 --> 00:47:34,440
Speaker 1: thought it was interesting that Lebron came out with low

1054
00:47:34,560 --> 00:47:38,480
Speaker 1: energy tonight because it was you know, it was the

1055
00:47:38,600 --> 00:47:41,600
Speaker 1: type of game against Atlanta, the you know, a team

1056
00:47:41,640 --> 00:47:43,719
Speaker 1: that made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last year

1057
00:47:43,840 --> 00:47:47,279
Speaker 1: on national TV. Against another star player like Trey Young,

1058
00:47:47,880 --> 00:47:49,799
Speaker 1: you think he would have come out with a little

1059
00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:52,799
Speaker 1: bit more urgency. Um, they're not worried about it by

1060
00:47:52,840 --> 00:47:55,160
Speaker 1: any search of imagination. It just was weird, you know,

1061
00:47:55,400 --> 00:47:57,880
Speaker 1: and like and it also could have been you know,

1062
00:47:58,200 --> 00:48:02,000
Speaker 1: Lebron also has a tendency when when when his teammates

1063
00:48:02,040 --> 00:48:04,799
Speaker 1: are really going, he has a tendency to pull off

1064
00:48:04,920 --> 00:48:07,400
Speaker 1: the gas a little bit. That's you know, famously, if

1065
00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:09,400
Speaker 1: you guys remember you remember the game that Avery Bradley

1066
00:48:09,480 --> 00:48:12,080
Speaker 1: hit the game winner against the Calves in two seventeen

1067
00:48:12,680 --> 00:48:15,880
Speaker 1: UM in that series where the Calves were just beating

1068
00:48:15,960 --> 00:48:18,480
Speaker 1: the living ship out of them every game, and then

1069
00:48:18,600 --> 00:48:21,920
Speaker 1: game three back in Cleveland, they just had a clunker

1070
00:48:22,040 --> 00:48:24,719
Speaker 1: and Avery Bradley made a game winner. They were like

1071
00:48:24,800 --> 00:48:26,280
Speaker 1: hit the front of the rim and like bound stop

1072
00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:30,440
Speaker 1: and went in. In that game, everybody remembers Lebron being horrible,

1073
00:48:30,560 --> 00:48:34,279
Speaker 1: and he was, but both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love

1074
00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:37,680
Speaker 1: We're going off in that game. They both were efficient

1075
00:48:38,200 --> 00:48:41,359
Speaker 1: and through three quarters at twenty something points and both

1076
00:48:41,400 --> 00:48:43,920
Speaker 1: of them were killing it. Lebron has a tendency in

1077
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:46,240
Speaker 1: his history like when guys are really going, and Avery

1078
00:48:46,280 --> 00:48:48,839
Speaker 1: Bradley and Malik Monk were on fire in that game.

1079
00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:51,360
Speaker 1: I think he might have just been kind of reading

1080
00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:54,920
Speaker 1: the tea leaves a little bit and being like, yeah, like,

1081
00:48:55,000 --> 00:48:57,480
Speaker 1: oh they gotta going, Like I might be able to

1082
00:48:57,560 --> 00:48:59,839
Speaker 1: chill tonight, you know, like if it might have been

1083
00:48:59,840 --> 00:49:01,840
Speaker 1: one those kinds of things. But I'm not sure what

1084
00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:05,239
Speaker 1: the reason was, but it definitely was unusual in my

1085
00:49:05,320 --> 00:49:08,839
Speaker 1: opinion that he came out with low energy after having

1086
00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:11,920
Speaker 1: that extra night off. Yeah, that's that's definitely what I

1087
00:49:12,080 --> 00:49:14,040
Speaker 1: saw more of it as I thought, you know, he

1088
00:49:14,080 --> 00:49:16,560
Speaker 1: saw that Leek Monk was going crazy, Avery Bradley was

1089
00:49:16,840 --> 00:49:19,879
Speaker 1: scoring at a was hitting his shots. Also, the Hawks

1090
00:49:19,960 --> 00:49:21,880
Speaker 1: kind of have They're not a great defense, but I

1091
00:49:21,960 --> 00:49:24,279
Speaker 1: think they do have bigger players where it's a little

1092
00:49:24,320 --> 00:49:26,800
Speaker 1: harder to attack them, just in transition, especially with his

1093
00:49:26,880 --> 00:49:28,600
Speaker 1: three pointer not going. I think it was like one

1094
00:49:28,680 --> 00:49:31,759
Speaker 1: for five from three and the upcoming bad threes too. Man,

1095
00:49:31,840 --> 00:49:34,640
Speaker 1: he was jacking some crappy three. Yeah, he was taking

1096
00:49:34,640 --> 00:49:36,560
Speaker 1: a little bit tougher shots coming off screen rolls and

1097
00:49:36,640 --> 00:49:38,120
Speaker 1: just and just firing. But you know, that's kind of

1098
00:49:38,160 --> 00:49:39,879
Speaker 1: how he can kind of load manage instead of having

1099
00:49:39,880 --> 00:49:42,120
Speaker 1: to attack the Rim at the rate that he needs to.

1100
00:49:42,239 --> 00:49:44,399
Speaker 1: That he could if you wanted to. But I thought

1101
00:49:44,440 --> 00:49:46,560
Speaker 1: that's more of what it was. I thought Capella and

1102
00:49:46,680 --> 00:49:48,520
Speaker 1: you know Collins as well, there's a kind of big,

1103
00:49:48,640 --> 00:49:50,560
Speaker 1: kind of dudes that are the kind of archetype that

1104
00:49:50,760 --> 00:49:54,200
Speaker 1: was theoretically put on Lebron. They're not going to stop him,

1105
00:49:54,400 --> 00:49:55,800
Speaker 1: but a little bit better. You know, Capella is a

1106
00:49:55,840 --> 00:49:57,880
Speaker 1: big guy who can also protect the rim. Just I

1107
00:49:57,920 --> 00:49:59,560
Speaker 1: don't think they wanted to attack but leron and the

1108
00:49:59,600 --> 00:50:04,560
Speaker 1: fourth seventeen points he looked unfazed to me, like like,

1109
00:50:04,680 --> 00:50:07,120
Speaker 1: I don't like, I don't think he feared this. Like

1110
00:50:07,239 --> 00:50:09,440
Speaker 1: nothing against the Hawgs. Again, I'm really high on them.

1111
00:50:09,520 --> 00:50:12,120
Speaker 1: I just don't think he feared this defense at all,

1112
00:50:12,239 --> 00:50:14,400
Speaker 1: like he knew what he knew. He can get to

1113
00:50:14,520 --> 00:50:16,120
Speaker 1: his spot at any time. And I was watching that

1114
00:50:16,200 --> 00:50:18,719
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, I was like, man, he just does not care,

1115
00:50:18,840 --> 00:50:21,440
Speaker 1: like he does not fear this Hawgs defense at all.

1116
00:50:21,480 --> 00:50:22,840
Speaker 1: They threw him and he was asking for it. In

1117
00:50:22,880 --> 00:50:25,160
Speaker 1: the post. John Collins, you know, is all up for it,

1118
00:50:25,280 --> 00:50:26,840
Speaker 1: is like you know, in his stands and it's like

1119
00:50:27,080 --> 00:50:30,000
Speaker 1: ready to defend it. Lebron just you know, without a sweat,

1120
00:50:30,120 --> 00:50:33,240
Speaker 1: just two dribbles, back down, step back, fadeaway jumper. Switsch

1121
00:50:33,400 --> 00:50:35,560
Speaker 1: goes back the other way like like it's nothing like

1122
00:50:35,640 --> 00:50:37,719
Speaker 1: it was a preseason game. Like that's he's like, this

1123
00:50:37,880 --> 00:50:39,400
Speaker 1: is what I do. And that's kind of more what

1124
00:50:39,520 --> 00:50:41,680
Speaker 1: I saw it turned up late obviously had the dunk

1125
00:50:41,920 --> 00:50:44,879
Speaker 1: in transition, but the fadeaway jumpers to me, the jab

1126
00:50:44,960 --> 00:50:47,200
Speaker 1: step pull up jumpers, like that's he was just in

1127
00:50:47,280 --> 00:50:49,560
Speaker 1: a groove. I think he kind of understands that he

1128
00:50:49,600 --> 00:50:51,200
Speaker 1: can get to a spot. And that's more what I

1129
00:50:51,239 --> 00:50:53,120
Speaker 1: saw it. Now, he was able to kind of walk

1130
00:50:53,200 --> 00:50:55,640
Speaker 1: through this first half. I thought. Defensively though, he was good,

1131
00:50:55,800 --> 00:50:58,239
Speaker 1: Like I thought he was pretty engaged defensively through the

1132
00:50:58,280 --> 00:51:00,520
Speaker 1: full night. I just offensively and the fourth quarter. I

1133
00:51:00,560 --> 00:51:02,560
Speaker 1: think he had thirteen points or something for the first

1134
00:51:02,600 --> 00:51:05,040
Speaker 1: three quarters. In that fourth quarter, just giving the ball

1135
00:51:05,080 --> 00:51:07,560
Speaker 1: on the post, giving ball, you know, high post, let

1136
00:51:07,600 --> 00:51:10,640
Speaker 1: me just back down quick, two dribbles, fadeaway, jumper, jab

1137
00:51:10,680 --> 00:51:13,200
Speaker 1: step jumper. Games over. So that's kind of more what

1138
00:51:13,320 --> 00:51:16,840
Speaker 1: I saw, at least from him. I thought he closed

1139
00:51:16,840 --> 00:51:20,920
Speaker 1: it out again in the fourth. Yeah, I disagree with

1140
00:51:20,960 --> 00:51:26,480
Speaker 1: you on defense. I thought he mailed in a considerable number. Um.

1141
00:51:26,760 --> 00:51:29,799
Speaker 1: That said, like when he was dialed in defensively tonight,

1142
00:51:29,840 --> 00:51:33,279
Speaker 1: he made plays. Um. But you know, there's there's there's

1143
00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:36,279
Speaker 1: also a really positive way to look through this. Like,

1144
00:51:36,880 --> 00:51:39,680
Speaker 1: you know, you look back at Michael Jordan when he

1145
00:51:39,760 --> 00:51:41,960
Speaker 1: was with the Wizards. You know, do you think of

1146
00:51:42,040 --> 00:51:44,800
Speaker 1: a typical older player in the league, even Kobe and

1147
00:51:44,920 --> 00:51:49,000
Speaker 1: his you know, a farewell tour Usually for guys who

1148
00:51:49,040 --> 00:51:51,560
Speaker 1: were this late in their career, with this much mileage.

1149
00:51:51,640 --> 00:51:54,360
Speaker 1: It's more of like a oh, I really haven't tonight,

1150
00:51:54,480 --> 00:51:56,239
Speaker 1: so I'm gonna get thirty, you know what I mean.

1151
00:51:56,800 --> 00:52:00,400
Speaker 1: So for for Lebron to basically try for all of

1152
00:52:00,440 --> 00:52:03,759
Speaker 1: about ten minutes of the last two games, literally, to

1153
00:52:03,920 --> 00:52:06,400
Speaker 1: have tried for all of about ten minutes and to

1154
00:52:06,520 --> 00:52:11,040
Speaker 1: be averaging over thirty on on efficient shooting like there's

1155
00:52:11,400 --> 00:52:15,439
Speaker 1: there's it's it's kind of wild that he can kind

1156
00:52:15,480 --> 00:52:18,160
Speaker 1: of coast his way through a game and put up

1157
00:52:18,160 --> 00:52:21,000
Speaker 1: the numbers that he does. But hey, that's that's lebron Man.

1158
00:52:21,120 --> 00:52:24,239
Speaker 1: He's you know, the first second best player ever. I

1159
00:52:24,280 --> 00:52:26,120
Speaker 1: don't know, maybe that's that's just what this looks like.

1160
00:52:26,760 --> 00:52:28,880
Speaker 1: He's that thirty three points per game or something for

1161
00:52:28,960 --> 00:52:32,319
Speaker 1: the last ten games out it's insane. It's insane. He's

1162
00:52:32,400 --> 00:52:34,680
Speaker 1: he's carried the team. So yeah, and in in a

1163
00:52:34,760 --> 00:52:38,600
Speaker 1: winning concept, I think over their last I want to say,

1164
00:52:38,680 --> 00:52:43,440
Speaker 1: in their last sixteen games, there um nine and seven

1165
00:52:43,520 --> 00:52:46,719
Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, So I mean there and that's

1166
00:52:46,800 --> 00:52:50,480
Speaker 1: with just that's nine and seven over the last sixteen games.

1167
00:52:50,960 --> 00:52:53,120
Speaker 1: And you've got three and a half games out of

1168
00:52:53,120 --> 00:52:57,320
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis and you and you got all sorts of

1169
00:52:57,360 --> 00:53:01,080
Speaker 1: COVID suspensions that just completely railroaded this season. And I

1170
00:53:01,200 --> 00:53:04,040
Speaker 1: could point to Brooklyn as a game they very easily

1171
00:53:04,040 --> 00:53:06,760
Speaker 1: could have won. Memphis was a game they very easily

1172
00:53:06,760 --> 00:53:08,840
Speaker 1: could have won. There there were games in that stretch

1173
00:53:08,920 --> 00:53:12,120
Speaker 1: that they very easily could have won. And so I mean,

1174
00:53:12,239 --> 00:53:14,879
Speaker 1: it's it's pretty it's pretty wild. I just I mean,

1175
00:53:15,160 --> 00:53:18,719
Speaker 1: you know, I I as a fan, I get annoyed

1176
00:53:18,800 --> 00:53:21,319
Speaker 1: watching nights like tonight because I'm like, come on, man,

1177
00:53:21,440 --> 00:53:24,359
Speaker 1: like this team is hanging around, like let's just put

1178
00:53:24,480 --> 00:53:26,800
Speaker 1: him away. But at the same time, like you know,

1179
00:53:27,239 --> 00:53:30,399
Speaker 1: like I I get it, I get it in terms

1180
00:53:30,480 --> 00:53:34,840
Speaker 1: of the dregs of the regular season and keeping your energy,

1181
00:53:34,960 --> 00:53:38,080
Speaker 1: energy level up. But you know, I just hope especially

1182
00:53:38,400 --> 00:53:39,800
Speaker 1: the one thing that worried me a little bit is

1183
00:53:40,080 --> 00:53:43,520
Speaker 1: especially on those shots in the first quarter, he didn't

1184
00:53:43,520 --> 00:53:45,560
Speaker 1: seem to have great lift. I don't know if you

1185
00:53:45,640 --> 00:53:48,040
Speaker 1: noticed that, just like he was he was leaving the

1186
00:53:48,080 --> 00:53:50,080
Speaker 1: jumper short and he won't getting a great lift. That

1187
00:53:50,640 --> 00:53:52,799
Speaker 1: I hope he's not, like, you know, dealing with an

1188
00:53:52,800 --> 00:53:56,120
Speaker 1: ankle or something like that, because that because that could

1189
00:53:56,160 --> 00:53:59,000
Speaker 1: get a little nervous. But I'm hopeful that that he'll

1190
00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:00,200
Speaker 1: be all right. You know. You know how is with

1191
00:54:00,280 --> 00:54:02,560
Speaker 1: lebron to like it's always like he feeds off of

1192
00:54:02,640 --> 00:54:05,000
Speaker 1: the crowd a little bit. Like he you could tell

1193
00:54:05,080 --> 00:54:06,920
Speaker 1: he got his pep in his step when he had

1194
00:54:06,960 --> 00:54:08,640
Speaker 1: that alley you but it was after he had made

1195
00:54:08,640 --> 00:54:10,960
Speaker 1: a few shots, and I was like, okay, I'm here now.

1196
00:54:11,200 --> 00:54:13,360
Speaker 1: The same thing happened against Sacramento. He hit back to

1197
00:54:13,440 --> 00:54:15,799
Speaker 1: back threes, and when he hit back to back threees,

1198
00:54:15,840 --> 00:54:18,480
Speaker 1: he was pointing to the crowd mixing, you know, like, oh,

1199
00:54:18,800 --> 00:54:21,719
Speaker 1: he's completely engaged and completely checked into the game. So

1200
00:54:21,880 --> 00:54:26,279
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess we should keep it positive in

1201
00:54:26,360 --> 00:54:28,239
Speaker 1: that regard. I just, I just I just thought it

1202
00:54:28,320 --> 00:54:30,160
Speaker 1: was a little strange as all. Did you have anything

1203
00:54:30,200 --> 00:54:32,560
Speaker 1: else on your list that you wanted to do tonight? Uh? Yeah,

1204
00:54:32,640 --> 00:54:34,560
Speaker 1: last thing. I just want to give a Bradley his flaws.

1205
00:54:34,640 --> 00:54:37,359
Speaker 1: Man got his contract guaranteed tonight. He gets a lot

1206
00:54:37,400 --> 00:54:39,560
Speaker 1: of crap, I think from Laker fans. You know, he's

1207
00:54:39,800 --> 00:54:41,920
Speaker 1: he's putting different lineups and stuff. I thought he did

1208
00:54:41,960 --> 00:54:43,920
Speaker 1: a great job on Trey Young, like I thought when

1209
00:54:43,960 --> 00:54:45,839
Speaker 1: he picked up his third foul and he went out,

1210
00:54:45,880 --> 00:54:47,640
Speaker 1: I thought that really impacted the game. I thought Trey

1211
00:54:47,680 --> 00:54:49,720
Speaker 1: Young got freed up a little bit. But he's shooting

1212
00:54:49,800 --> 00:54:51,879
Speaker 1: like crazy. Like, I don't know what more you could

1213
00:54:51,920 --> 00:54:54,080
Speaker 1: ask of Badley, So I just want to give him

1214
00:54:54,160 --> 00:54:56,879
Speaker 1: his flowers. He's been playing really well these last few

1215
00:54:57,160 --> 00:54:59,920
Speaker 1: last few games. He's shooting I think from three now

1216
00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:02,600
Speaker 1: out for the season. Just a professional, right, I think

1217
00:55:02,640 --> 00:55:04,440
Speaker 1: that's what we call him a lot of times. Just

1218
00:55:04,520 --> 00:55:06,760
Speaker 1: a professional guy. Plays hard. You don't have to worry about,

1219
00:55:06,840 --> 00:55:08,759
Speaker 1: you know, his effort or how hard he plays. All

1220
00:55:08,800 --> 00:55:11,080
Speaker 1: that stuff is just you just you just know what

1221
00:55:11,160 --> 00:55:12,920
Speaker 1: you're getting from him. So I just want to give

1222
00:55:13,000 --> 00:55:15,879
Speaker 1: him a shout out there big time, you know, offensive game.

1223
00:55:16,320 --> 00:55:17,719
Speaker 1: He's picked it up. He's one of the guys that

1224
00:55:18,000 --> 00:55:20,560
Speaker 1: has continued to start. We have a plethora of guards

1225
00:55:20,600 --> 00:55:22,759
Speaker 1: and he continues to just you know, beat all of

1226
00:55:22,840 --> 00:55:25,000
Speaker 1: them out for starting lineup spots. So I just want

1227
00:55:25,000 --> 00:55:28,320
Speaker 1: to give him, give him some credit, ball ball ball, pressure,

1228
00:55:28,440 --> 00:55:31,960
Speaker 1: point of attack, high level guard, and I think that's

1229
00:55:32,000 --> 00:55:35,240
Speaker 1: he's a valuable member to this team. Yeah, he deserves

1230
00:55:35,280 --> 00:55:36,920
Speaker 1: that credit. Man. He was on the verge of being

1231
00:55:36,960 --> 00:55:39,560
Speaker 1: out of the league. There's a version of that. There's

1232
00:55:39,560 --> 00:55:44,040
Speaker 1: a version of that scenario where the Warriors society to

1233
00:55:44,200 --> 00:55:47,480
Speaker 1: cut him. There, you waive him and because they want

1234
00:55:47,480 --> 00:55:50,400
Speaker 1: to sign Garry Paane Jr. And the Lakers, maybe Kendrick

1235
00:55:50,480 --> 00:55:53,279
Speaker 1: Nunn doesn't get hurt, you know, and and he could

1236
00:55:53,280 --> 00:55:56,520
Speaker 1: be out of the league, and and he gets set

1237
00:55:56,600 --> 00:55:59,560
Speaker 1: up to absolutely fail because he gets thrown in and

1238
00:55:59,600 --> 00:56:02,400
Speaker 1: all these DeAndre Jordan's lineups, you know, like that. That

1239
00:56:02,520 --> 00:56:04,720
Speaker 1: was one of the weirdest little phenomena of the season,

1240
00:56:05,280 --> 00:56:07,799
Speaker 1: was looking looking at the line up data and be like, man,

1241
00:56:08,239 --> 00:56:10,640
Speaker 1: every time Avery Bradley's out there, we suck. And then

1242
00:56:10,719 --> 00:56:12,680
Speaker 1: like it's like wait, wait, wait, but what what about

1243
00:56:12,719 --> 00:56:14,800
Speaker 1: when DJ it's not out there, It's like, oh, we're awesome,

1244
00:56:15,000 --> 00:56:17,759
Speaker 1: you know, like you're like, okay, remember we had like

1245
00:56:17,920 --> 00:56:21,880
Speaker 1: remember we had like Rondo Westbrook Bradley forgotten was like

1246
00:56:21,960 --> 00:56:24,600
Speaker 1: Bradley was like the Bradley was like the power forward

1247
00:56:24,640 --> 00:56:26,920
Speaker 1: in one of those laps are some way. It's just

1248
00:56:27,239 --> 00:56:29,560
Speaker 1: it's funny what we've kind of and that's also because

1249
00:56:29,600 --> 00:56:31,200
Speaker 1: guys are out and stuff. But I think it's funny

1250
00:56:31,239 --> 00:56:32,880
Speaker 1: to kind of see but you see he's striving now

1251
00:56:33,000 --> 00:56:34,960
Speaker 1: for sure. Well that's back to your point, like this

1252
00:56:35,080 --> 00:56:38,120
Speaker 1: is a completely different team, Like I I don't know, yeah,

1253
00:56:38,280 --> 00:56:39,840
Speaker 1: it's just it's just still to me and like I

1254
00:56:39,920 --> 00:56:43,360
Speaker 1: can't get over how many people at points during the

1255
00:56:43,400 --> 00:56:47,160
Speaker 1: season wanted to, you know, point out like there was

1256
00:56:47,239 --> 00:56:49,239
Speaker 1: someone on Twitter I can't remember who it was. It

1257
00:56:49,320 --> 00:56:51,360
Speaker 1: was like, oh, did Milik Monks save the season. And

1258
00:56:51,800 --> 00:56:54,120
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, Milik Monk's been awesome, but it's like, no, no, no.

1259
00:56:54,400 --> 00:56:59,120
Speaker 1: What happened is the Lakers have a functional basketball roster now, Like,

1260
00:56:59,560 --> 00:57:03,640
Speaker 1: instead up playing three to four guards with Anthony Davis

1261
00:57:03,719 --> 00:57:06,839
Speaker 1: by himself or with Lebron by himself, we are now

1262
00:57:06,960 --> 00:57:11,120
Speaker 1: playing two or three forwards alongside guards who can guard

1263
00:57:11,160 --> 00:57:13,440
Speaker 1: at the point of attack and shoot, and with Lebron

1264
00:57:13,560 --> 00:57:16,320
Speaker 1: at the helm like we we are running even without

1265
00:57:16,360 --> 00:57:19,800
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. We are running far more functional basketball lineup

1266
00:57:20,240 --> 00:57:23,160
Speaker 1: then we were to start the season. And that's directly

1267
00:57:23,240 --> 00:57:25,880
Speaker 1: related to us succeeding. And you know, I don't wanna

1268
00:57:26,320 --> 00:57:30,480
Speaker 1: look man like. The Lakers also didn't bring enough intensity

1269
00:57:30,520 --> 00:57:33,320
Speaker 1: to start the season. They were shitty and training camp

1270
00:57:34,040 --> 00:57:37,200
Speaker 1: they I think they lost every preseason game. In those

1271
00:57:37,280 --> 00:57:39,520
Speaker 1: preseason games, they look blacks of days ago, even when

1272
00:57:39,640 --> 00:57:42,040
Speaker 1: Kendrick numb is playing. So I like, I don't wanna

1273
00:57:42,240 --> 00:57:45,400
Speaker 1: undersell any of that. The Lakers did not approach this

1274
00:57:45,520 --> 00:57:49,680
Speaker 1: season with the right level of intensity. Frank was all

1275
00:57:49,800 --> 00:57:52,320
Speaker 1: over the place with his lineup decisions to start the year,

1276
00:57:52,400 --> 00:57:55,200
Speaker 1: even when we were healthy. So it wasn't perfect by

1277
00:57:55,240 --> 00:57:59,160
Speaker 1: any stretch, but you could just throw all that away

1278
00:57:59,560 --> 00:58:04,000
Speaker 1: because because we consistently play hard over the over the

1279
00:58:04,040 --> 00:58:07,280
Speaker 1: course of this last month, we've consistently played hard at

1280
00:58:07,720 --> 00:58:10,160
Speaker 1: a completely different level than we did to start the season,

1281
00:58:10,600 --> 00:58:13,640
Speaker 1: and we're just playing completely different guys. So I mean,

1282
00:58:13,680 --> 00:58:16,120
Speaker 1: and even when Anthony Davis comes back, I think we're

1283
00:58:16,160 --> 00:58:18,600
Speaker 1: going to play a completely different style with Lebron and

1284
00:58:18,640 --> 00:58:21,280
Speaker 1: Nad than we did in years past. So I think

1285
00:58:21,640 --> 00:58:24,080
Speaker 1: I think we all need to kind of like we

1286
00:58:24,120 --> 00:58:26,120
Speaker 1: almost need that Men in Black stick thing where you

1287
00:58:26,200 --> 00:58:27,800
Speaker 1: hit the button and you just see race your memory.

1288
00:58:27,840 --> 00:58:29,440
Speaker 1: We need to just kind of like forget any of

1289
00:58:29,520 --> 00:58:34,040
Speaker 1: that happened. Obviously there are ramifications with the standings, but this,

1290
00:58:34,320 --> 00:58:36,360
Speaker 1: this team needs to be kind of re evaluated from

1291
00:58:36,400 --> 00:58:39,840
Speaker 1: ground zero at this point. Yep, No, I agree with

1292
00:58:39,920 --> 00:58:41,800
Speaker 1: brand new team. I don't think you can throw all out.

1293
00:58:41,840 --> 00:58:43,200
Speaker 1: But at least I gave us, you know, a lot

1294
00:58:43,280 --> 00:58:45,360
Speaker 1: of data points to kind of point out what does

1295
00:58:45,440 --> 00:58:47,880
Speaker 1: and doesn't work, And obviously DeAndre is the big one

1296
00:58:47,920 --> 00:58:49,800
Speaker 1: that stood out, but I think there's other stuff from

1297
00:58:49,800 --> 00:58:51,600
Speaker 1: there as well that we kind of learned. Obviously, those

1298
00:58:51,640 --> 00:58:54,320
Speaker 1: three guard line ups, putting russ next to shooting, putting

1299
00:58:54,400 --> 00:58:57,480
Speaker 1: Lebron and Rush together, you know, more small bot line us.

1300
00:58:57,520 --> 00:58:59,520
Speaker 1: But yeah, man, brand new team. I don't want to

1301
00:58:59,560 --> 00:59:01,360
Speaker 1: say brand new season, but it feels like a brand

1302
00:59:01,400 --> 00:59:03,440
Speaker 1: new team. It feels like a brand new team for sure,

1303
00:59:03,480 --> 00:59:05,480
Speaker 1: and hopefully we can you know, Memphis, to me, it

1304
00:59:05,560 --> 00:59:08,360
Speaker 1: feels like what's it called? Like, if you can get

1305
00:59:08,400 --> 00:59:10,480
Speaker 1: that game, that's great. Just you know, if you can

1306
00:59:10,520 --> 00:59:12,520
Speaker 1: compete in that one out time we have Memphis is

1307
00:59:12,960 --> 00:59:15,440
Speaker 1: legit to me. They're really good team. So if you

1308
00:59:15,440 --> 00:59:17,600
Speaker 1: can get that one, that'd be great about just hoping

1309
00:59:17,720 --> 00:59:19,240
Speaker 1: kind of compete in that one. But yeah, this is

1310
00:59:19,280 --> 00:59:20,720
Speaker 1: a this is a good one, man. We can kind

1311
00:59:20,720 --> 00:59:22,440
Speaker 1: of build off of it. Yeah, it's a good it's

1312
00:59:22,440 --> 00:59:24,680
Speaker 1: a good building block for sure. Memphis will be a challenge,

1313
00:59:24,760 --> 00:59:26,720
Speaker 1: but we can beat them. We just have to play

1314
00:59:26,800 --> 00:59:29,320
Speaker 1: better than we did last time. Alright, guys, this is

1315
00:59:29,440 --> 00:59:31,120
Speaker 1: going This will not be on Desh right now because

1316
00:59:31,120 --> 00:59:33,480
Speaker 1: it's a weekend. This will be on our podcast feed

1317
00:59:33,560 --> 00:59:36,120
Speaker 1: here in about twenty minutes or so. Roger and I

1318
00:59:36,240 --> 00:59:39,120
Speaker 1: will be back for our normal postgame show on Sunday

1319
00:59:39,120 --> 00:59:42,000
Speaker 1: against Memphis. Thank you as always for the support, and

1320
00:59:42,080 --> 00:59:44,760
Speaker 1: we will see you guys in a couple of days. Thanks,

1321
00:59:44,800 --> 00:59:45,760
Speaker 1: everyone appreciate it.