WEBVTT - Hawks/Lakers Postgame Spaces 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:18.000 M M all right, welcome to to stay the Lakers. 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:22.960 Is that about Dad's Radio? Four consecutive Laker wins for 0:00:23.079 --> 0:00:26.360 the first time this season. That was one of the 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:29.159 uglier basketball games I've seen. I mean it was. I 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:31.760 suppose it was aesthetically pleasing with all the highlights, but 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:35.519 it was ugly if you're a Laker fan, because you 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:37.720 want more in some specific areas of the game. But 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:39.920 we'll get into that in a minute. Rog. How you doing, buddy, 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:43.959 how's your week gone so far? I'm doing great, man. 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:45.680 This is a big win to me. I know it 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:48.280 didn't come pretty the whole night. You know, we didn't. 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:49.760 We had a couple of leads that we were blown. 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:51.280 But this is a This was a big game to me. 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:53.800 This this showed a lot. I'm higher on Atlanta than 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:55.880 a lot of people. I think. I think they're better 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:58.440 than their record, for sure. They've had guys in and out. 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:00.600 I'm high on tre Young as well. It's a big one. 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:02.360 But yeah, I'm excited, man, I'm excited to get into 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:05.000 some one. How are you, man, I'm doing good, so 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.000 you know I'm with you. I believe in the talent 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:10.080 on that roster, you know, It kind of reminds me 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:11.959 of a lot of what we saw from the Lakers 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:15.440 early in the season when Lebron and they d were healthy, 0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:19.520 where you know, even though you could argue they needed 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:23.040 an improvement here there on the roster, they also just 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:25.600 weren't doing what they were supposed to be doing within 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:29.160 their defensive scheme and there, and you could you could 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:33.360 tell tonight with Atlanta they just were kind of unorganized 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:36.360 all over the floor. Um. One of the biggest indicators 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:38.520 of that is is transition defense. And I thought the 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:42.600 Lakers played poor transition defense tonight for long stretches as well. 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:45.640 But it was a really interesting, really interesting game because 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:51.680 whenever one team would start taking bad shots and and 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.760 give up any sort of long rebound or where the 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:58.480 floor balance was off the you just have guys run 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:01.160 into the rim on the other end, and rule number 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:04.400 one of transition defenses take away the rim. And you know, 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:07.040 for both teams, there would be these kind of like 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:09.760 really quick runs like you know, where you'd have a 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:12.600 minute or two minutes of game clock and you see 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:14.760 the see the lead completely dwindle, or see the lead 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:17.880 build way back up. And it was because of this 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:21.160 kind of consistent theme that the team that ran more 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:25.560 high quality offense seemed to keep the game playing at 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:29.080 a pace that was comfortable for them um and forced 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:31.800 the other team to have to score in the half court, 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:35.480 where they would be capable of getting enough stops. It was. 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:37.320 It was kind of interesting in that regard because it 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.400 seemed like every time the Lakers got control of the game, 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:44.000 they got a little bit mismatch happy in terms of 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:46.320 trying to hunt tray and kind of get out of 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:49.359 the flow of their offense and start giving up those 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:51.720 fast opportunities I was talking about. But it was. It 0:02:51.760 --> 0:02:54.480 was definitely an interesting game with some really ugly stretches, 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:57.640 and I thought both teams were loose and sloppy in 0:02:57.680 --> 0:03:00.480 a lot of the little details. But it was exciting. 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:02.160 I mean, there's a lot of cool shot making, a 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:05.120 lot of ducks. But I mean the in the Lakers 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:09.160 were able to tighten things up more frequently and when 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:12.919 they needed to to put Atlanta away. But the Lakers 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:14.800 definitely are gonna have to sharpen some things up in 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:17.160 order to beat some of the good teams that are 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:20.000 actually playing good. I'm like Atlanta, who's a good team 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:23.920 that's playing poorly right now, for sure, And we're on 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:25.919 a ladder getting up to that, right And I heard 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:28.200 the broadcast talk about that a lot tonight as well. 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:30.680 This is not going to beat Phoenix or the Warriors, sure, 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:33.640 but we are We're not in position to really like 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:36.240 to look at that, right. I feel like that's skipping steps. 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:38.640 We're on a we're on a ladder up to those teams. 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:40.720 And I think beating a team like Atlanta is a 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:43.400 part of that. Atlanta came in tonight second in offense, 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:46.440 and offense is not their issue. It's defense obviously, and 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:49.120 they've had quotes coming about about how they've got kind 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:51.080 of complacent the regular season and all that. But they're 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:54.440 a good offensive team. Trey Young is an offense of himself. 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:56.520 And that you know screen roll game that they run 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.200 that is tough. That is a pick your poison, tough cover. 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:01.120 They run that with Capella. They have you know a 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:03.800 lot of Spain actions where Kevin Herder or down the 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.480 little Gallinari sets the back screen and it's a tough cover. 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:08.520 And I thought it was impressive to kind of keep 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:10.840 their offense. You know, they scored a lot of points still, 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:13.040 but we had a lot of big runs on them, 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:14.800 even with Tray on the floor, And I thought that 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:17.160 was impressive to me to to to get a win 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:20.279 on Atlanta like this. We're going small and new identity, 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:22.280 a bunch of small guards that you know, Tray can 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:24.320 kind of pick on. I thought he did a good 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:26.440 job kind of getting to the basket. His floater game 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:28.720 was there as well, but just to slow him down 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:31.000 a bit. And I thought, to me, because this is 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:32.400 one of the points I wanted to get on, was 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:35.080 the Stanley Johnson Lebron four or five kind of that 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:37.200 back line at least to start the game. To me, 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:39.440 that kind of set the tone. They had a lot 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.560 of deflections that we were trapping Tray a lot on 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:44.680 his ball screens, and Lebron or Stanley were on the 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:46.920 back line getting deflections, and we got out and ran. 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:49.359 We had like a thirteen two fast break point. I 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:51.479 just like tonight was impressive to me. And there's stuff 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:53.440 that they have to clean up as well defensively, but 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:55.440 I just stopt getting a win out on a team 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:57.960 like Atlanta. It's obviously trying to turn their season around. 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:00.479 They got all their guys back tonight, right which of 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:03.000 course they got all their guys back tonight, but they 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:04.719 got all their dudes back, and I thought most of 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:07.400 them played well. They get some tough shots too, right 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:10.000 in Atlanta is a tricky team because you talked about, 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:12.039 you know, how you run to the Raymond transition, but 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:14.400 you know, guys like Bogdanovich, they you know, they fire 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:16.520 away from three in transition as well. Trade Young shoot 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.040 from like thirty five ft. Gallinari, I don't think he 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.520 missed tonight. I'm not sure what he went, but it 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:23.640 felt like he hit every contested three he got. But 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:25.760 I thought this was a fun one man. And obviously 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:28.080 Liek Monk and Avery Bradley went went nuts in that 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:30.400 first half. But and to have a game where Lebron 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:33.360 really didn't start picking up offensively to the fourth quarter. 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:35.000 That we'll get into that, but I just thought this 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.160 was this is a really nice win to kind of 0:05:37.360 --> 0:05:39.200 build off of. I think we're starting to see the 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:42.680 fruits of playing small. This is the third straight, you know, 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:44.800 game that we played with the starting lineup their four 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:47.440 and no now. Our fourth straight started their four no 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.040 now with this starting lineup with the Malik and h 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:52.240 Stanley and the starting lineup there so we're starting to 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.680 build some chemistry and you're seeing how other teams are 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:56.760 going to struggle to defend us when we're small, right, 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:59.200 they have to have their center on Lebron, and we 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:01.200 were able to kind of an advantage of that. Russ 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:03.840 was running ball screens where you know, Lebron was a 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:06.080 screener a lot more tonight than usually. So, yeah, there's 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:07.240 a lot of stuff to kind of get into, but 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:08.839 I think this was a good win to build up 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:10.520 the Yeah, I want to get into the offense. I 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:13.160 want to get into Lebron and his kind of demeanor 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:15.680 over the last couple of games, because I think that's 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:19.200 interesting too. But you have mentioned something about the back line, 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:21.680 and I think it presents a really interesting conundrum when 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:26.680 you're playing small because for starters both you know, there 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:29.520 were times when Lebron was at center in the lineup, 0:06:29.960 --> 0:06:33.400 but Mellow was with him, and just because just because 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:36.359 of the way the floor was balanced, Mellow ended up 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:39.240 being the guy dealing with the roleman or dealing with 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:41.720 the pick and roll coverage like he was effectively in 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:45.080 the center position on any given play, and Melo really 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:48.080 really struggles in that spot, especially when there's a good 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:50.600 vertical lab threat. But there were a lot of plays 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:54.520 tonight when Stanley and Lebron were in that spot where 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:56.600 they were able to blow things up. And the interesting 0:06:56.720 --> 0:07:00.240 thing that they had figured out that is so morton 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:02.080 for small ball. It's like, you know, when you have 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:05.920 a real center, you can kind of play in between 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:09.480 the ball handler and the guy rolling to the rim, right, 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:12.480 Like think about that famous honest play in the NBA Finals. 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:15.080 That's like the perfect example of what I'm talking about, 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:18.120 where you're guarding the guy going to the rim. I 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:20.480 think it was Devin Booker on that play, and you're 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:24.120 able to dissuade him from shooting, but then turn and 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:26.320 block a guy way above the rim. But we don't 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:29.120 when we're playing small like when we don't have Anthony Davis, 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:31.960 we don't have that guy, right. So I tend to 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:34.440 look at it from the standpoint of you have to 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.600 sell out to the ball handler and and try to 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:41.520 disrupt that because if that pass gets through, you're not 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:44.520 You're not doing anything with it anyway. And and if 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:46.560 you're playing in between a no man's land, and this 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:49.640 is something that DeAndre Jordan has been got has gotten 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:52.240 killed on all season long is if you're in that 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:55.080 no man's land, you're you're not bothering the guy with 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:56.760 the ball. He just throws it up and now you're 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.880 jumping and just getting dunked up right, And so you know, 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:01.720 there was this very specific play there in the third 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.280 quarter that kind of illustrates what I'm talking about, where 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:08.000 Trey got into the lane and Stanley just abandoned John 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:11.400 Collins and sprinted up on Trey and jumped and he 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:14.600 deflected the Lab pass. Now again, if that gets through, 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:16.320 it's a dunk. But if he doesn't, if he just 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:18.400 stands there, it's a dunk too. It ended up leading 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:22.680 to a runout where russ I actually ended up smoking 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:25.120 a layup and then Lebron like tapped it in. So 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:27.760 it's actually an important sequence there in the third quarter 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:30.720 to build the lead. But it kind of indicative of 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:32.960 what I'm talking about with our small ball defense. Like 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:36.839 you've seen a lot of like Lebron running a drop coverage, right, 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:40.360 And while I like the idea of that because he 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:42.920 can communicate and kind of stay back around the rim, 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:45.920 it's also important for those guys on that back line 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:49.240 to almost ignore the lab threat or if they're gonna 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:51.920 guard the lab threat, it needs to be below the rim, 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:55.040 meaning like boxing him out and and not so much 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.800 like just jumping towards the rim because they're just gonna 0:08:57.800 --> 0:08:59.600 give up a ton of lobs and they've given up 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:02.239 a lot of stuff and taking a role in situations 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:05.120 like that this season. But it's something to keep in mind. 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.360 And then I don't know how you counter that with 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:09.640 Mellow when he gets into that spot. But they've got 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:11.959 to figure something out with Mellow too, especially against these 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:14.240 good teams, to get him in a position where when 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.040 he's on that back line, he can he can be 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:19.720 out of that spot so that either Stanley or Lebron 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:23.880 is the one who has to to disrupt that action. 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:27.040 But it's it's interesting because, like you know, the the 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:30.719 Lakers after the Anthony Davis injury, coming into tonight, we're 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:35.360 in defense, I think, so you know, so let's let's 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:39.640 looking forward, you know, assuming Anthony Davis comes back eventually, 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:44.079 you're still getting probably fourteen the sixteen minutes a night 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:46.880 with Lebron at center. So they're they're gonna have to 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:50.000 figure out something that works because I think the Lebron 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:52.840 at center lineups right now are doing about a hundred 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:57.319 nine points per a hundred possessions on on defense, which 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:00.160 isn't quite good enough. So they're gonna have to figure 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:02.719 some details there with those small ball lineups just to 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:07.200 get more stops. But I do like that formula if 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:09.320 they can figure out how to get more stops. You 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:13.120 saw the offensive end tonight, I thought was as crisp 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:16.559 and as comfortable and as slowy. Somebody pointed out on 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:19.720 Twitter it was our season for assists, so we're moving 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.319 them all a lot like there are. The offensive end 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:25.080 is coming along so well for these small ball lineups. 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:27.319 If we can figure out how to get some stops 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:31.280 in those lineups, we could be really dangerous. Yeah, and 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:33.960 you brought up Carmelo like he's always gonna be a 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:36.040 give and take right, like you're not going to get 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:38.800 the defensive with him, but you see what he does offensively, 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:41.720 Like we look like a juggernaut offensively. And you talked 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:44.000 about the defense last five games. You know, last five 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:46.000 isn't you know, the greatest barometer, But we're about the 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:48.280 middle of the pack defensively in the last five games. 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:49.760 I think it's like one on nine, Like you talked 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:52.200 about but our offense has pretty much jumped up right 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:54.319 to our offensive number two in the league in the 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:56.400 last five games, and that's not including I don't think 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:59.880 NBA dot Com has tonight's numbers. Tonight's numbers yet yeah, 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:01.760 at like one twenty point five, and I think that 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:05.480 jumped up even more after tonight. But yeah, man like 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:07.760 and I also think Vogel is pushing the right buttons 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:09.480 as well. I want to give him credit to I 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:11.679 like that, you know, he put in Dwight, I believe 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:15.079 for Capella. Uh he put Dwight in when Capella was 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:17.000 in and kind of matching their minutes. I just think 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:19.000 he's finding the right buttons. And I think our defense 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.280 is getting better. I like that we're switching more. I 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:23.199 love the Austin reeves with it, and we're just kind 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:25.640 of building, like this feels like a brand new team. 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:28.000 And tonight, You're right, it looked like the most flow 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:30.240 that I've seen. Taylor was a part of that too, 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:32.000 his jumper stills and there. But I thought he got 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:34.600 to the rim. He had that nasty one hand, uh 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:37.640 skin and out dribble dunk. I forgot who that was over, 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:39.560 but he had a nasty dunk tonight, he got to 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:42.080 the rim, his layup were going. The ball was moving 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:44.080 when we were when we had uh, we had Lebron 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:46.320 at the five, it was just nice, man. The offense flowing. 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:48.760 When Malik Monk has a jumper going, Avery Bradley looks 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:52.320 like he's knocking it down. He's at his contract was guaranteed. 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:55.400 The ball was just moving nicely, and we looked unstoppable 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:57.680 for a lot of that. The Hawks had no answer 0:11:57.679 --> 0:11:59.400 for us. They didn't know who to put on. Lebron 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:02.199 didn't know out of guard, our screen coverages. We were 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:04.920 just moving the ball right to left, left or right. 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:06.920 It was just like it was a nice game to watch, man, 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:09.080 And I think it's something we're definitely can continue to 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:11.280 build on. And that guy talked about I'm super high 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:14.200 on Atlanta, Like, I think they're a really good offensive team. 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:16.200 I think they're really I think they're a lot better 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:17.959 than they've shown. And you got to get a win 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:19.880 to to get our fourth win. It's gonna be a 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:22.880 tough test against Memphis. I believe. On on Sunday, I believe, 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:24.959 but yeah, this is but this was the phone when 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:26.640 I think our small ball liners were seeing the fruit 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:30.320 of that and Fogels understanding kind of what buttons to push. 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:32.280 You know, we don't like the mellow at the five, 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:35.040 but like those lineups kill offensively and if you can 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:37.840 you know, just the average defensively, even those you can 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:39.640 kind of see the lead push and you saw him 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:41.920 when he's wide open. He's been pretty much money. And 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:43.280 the Hawks kind of how to make a lot of 0:12:43.280 --> 0:12:45.920 decisions when it's Malik Monk and Carmelo on the two 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:48.680 week side corners, Like that's a tough decision for a defense, 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:51.040 and then it's like Russ and Lebron putting pressure on 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:53.720 the rim. It's just we're seeing some of the fruits 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:56.040 of the of us playing small. Now. Yeah, that was 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:58.800 one of the things that I had taken specific notice 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:01.760 of during the game, Like there's a good a good 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:04.880 amount of defensive breakdowns that we were seeing from Atlanta 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:10.360 that needs that needs to be pointed out. However, this 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:13.640 style of play is really hard to guard. You know, 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:17.559 this is something this is something I've been preaching NonStop 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:19.440 since the playoffs last year. It was kind of like 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.319 such an awakening for me to watch the Clippers and 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:25.600 it's something that I've said many times on the pots. 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:27.160 I'm not gonna spend too much time on it, but 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:30.880 for them to, you know, with Paul George and with 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:34.320 Reggie Jackson basically and a bunch of guys who are 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:37.600 you know, mid level close out attackers on the wings, 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:40.720 they were able to light the Utah Jazz on fire. 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:43.400 And and they had a lot of success during that 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:46.439 whole playoff run. They came within two wins of making 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:48.720 it to the NBA Finals. They even had a great 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:51.959 deal of offensive success against that Phoenix Suns team. And 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:55.240 and there's, yes, there's talent at play there. Paul George 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:59.920 is obviously an extremely gifted wing, and Reggie Jackson shot 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:02.679 the ball really well in that series, and he's a shifty, 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:05.360 athletic guard that can get into the lane. But a 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:09.320 big part of that is don't make yourself easy to guard. 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:13.280 Like That's that's what drove me insane to start this season, 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:15.920 and it was something I preached NonStop because I thought 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:19.280 it was directly impacting our defense. Like we said earlier, 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:22.720 you know the transition, right, the teams would get off 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:24.720 the rails tonight, Both teams would get off the rails 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:28.680 tonight defensively when their offensive execution would fall apart and 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:31.440 they live in transition, right, And that was kind of 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:33.800 what was happening to us to start the season. We 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:36.560 were making ourselves so easy to guard with those DeAndre 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:41.000 Jordan's lineups that we were just missing jump sho you 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:43.520 like Pete from micro Film would chart thees and he 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:45.800 would talk about it in the in the in that pod, 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:47.880 they would say like, you know, oh, well we have 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:51.080 thirteen possessions with this group and we took you know, 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:53.920 eleven jump shots to start. You know, we were making 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:56.920 ourselves easy to guard and it was leading to runouts. 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:00.120 That was directly leading to our defense being comprom is 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:02.720 all the time. Um, even with all the size and 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:05.720 advantages that came with having DeAndre Jordan's there. And that's 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:08.000 the thing here is like what you're seeing is, you know, 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:10.800 especially if we can figure out how to refine this 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:13.040 further and further as time goes on, because you're seeing 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:15.000 our offense get a little better each game, which is 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:18.640 something you can expect when you adopt a new style 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:21.680 and you're you know, because it's a new style, you're 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:24.720 far from your ceiling with it. As they get closer 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:28.480 to that ceiling. A large part of their defensive success 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:31.880 will come from constantly having the ability to set your 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:34.920 defense and that you know, that's what Brooklyn did so 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:36.880 well last year in the playoffs, and so you know, 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:40.080 I'm I'm really excited to see where that goes long term. 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:42.720 But it's so important for us to continue to bread 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:47.880 this culture of offensive comfort and flow because that will 0:15:47.920 --> 0:15:51.880 inherently help us because you know, you know, Frank is 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:55.680 obsessing over the defensive end, right Like, Frank's gonna watch 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:59.160 this film tomorrow and he's gonna literally want to clause 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:01.640 eyes out over some of the defensive mistakes were making. 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:04.360 That that makes me feel good, because what if what 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:06.960 did you and I say NonStop over the course the 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:10.440 last couple of years, Lebron's the offensive coordinator here, Frank 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:13.240 is the defensive coordinator. Well, Lebron seems to have this 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:16.800 offense thing down from the center position right like we 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:19.120 are humming right now in all cylinders, like you said, 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:21.640 two second in the league in the last five games. 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:25.000 So I can't wait to see what Frank has for 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:29.400 this team defensively because I feel very confident that before 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:31.240 a d gets back, we're gonna have a stretch of 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:33.720 games or we're gonna get a lot of stops because 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:36.560 that's just what his specialty is. And there is enough 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:39.760 athletic talent on this team, you know, with Reeves, with 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:44.080 Stanley Johnson, with th Ht, with Trevor Reesa, with Avery Bradley, 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:48.800 we have enough talent defensively to get stops. Yeah, And 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:51.120 I thought tonight it was a blueprint kind of for 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:53.400 what they can be. And again the Hawks scored a 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:55.480 bunch of points and it wasn't perfect, But I think 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:58.280 we're going to be more of like a trappy trap team, 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:01.040 like create turnovers, create k us, not so much like 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:03.920 a standards set defense, more like great turnovers a bunch 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:06.000 of players where like Russ gott Russe was like about 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:08.119 to get a turnover, he got his like fingerprints on it, 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:09.800 and you could see them kind of be able to 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:12.160 react to that. And Trey Young's again a tough cover 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:13.879 with that because he can get to the basket. He 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:15.760 has a floater game. But I thought, like trapping and 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:18.120 stuff like that, doubling on the ball like that kind 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:21.280 of is more our flow, our system, and guys like 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:24.080 Stanley Johnson Lebron on the back line they're able to 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:26.280 go and tag the rollman in that way. And it's 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:28.320 a little different when you have a traditional center, right, 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:30.080 even when dwights on the floor, it's still like a 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:32.240 traditional drop coverage in that. But when you have just 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:34.040 all wings, you can switch a lot more. And I 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:35.960 thought we started to see that we gave up a 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:37.960 bunch of open threes tonight on plays, so like where 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:39.960 one guy thought he was switching and he wasn't, and 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:42.280 it got like hurt her some open threes. Bagdanovich, Like 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:44.280 I talked about about that later on the game, like 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:47.000 we'd have like Reeves and like th Ht and those 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.479 two can just switch actions. And we're like that throughout 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:51.560 pretty much our starting five rust and kind of switched 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:53.960 through most of those. Lebron and Stanley obviously I talked 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:56.080 about on the back line and Stanley Johnson and like, 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:58.560 I feel like his energy is infectious and it's not 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:00.720 just energy because I think that would be fair to him. 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:03.320 Like he's a legit defensive player, Like he had a 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:05.199 I think he blocked a dunk tonight. To have that 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:10.280 I was an outrageous Yeah, yeah, I was like, man, 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:12.520 and he's he's a legit defensive player to me, and 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:15.000 I think he's starting to find his nichees role. It's 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:16.600 great we got him back on the team. I think 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:19.520 he'll eventually be on the roster full time, just the 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:22.200 way he's starting every game. And those two men were 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:25.120 awesome against. Like I talked about a great offensive team 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:26.960 in Atlanta, I think Atlanta had like twelve points to 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:29.040 the first like six minutes of this game. If I 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:31.200 remember correctly, I think we had a Yeah, I think 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:36.080 really quickly. The Lakers definitely had so much success early 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:38.560 in the game. You could tell they've never felt threatened, 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:41.480 which I think is part is very releve It's very 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:43.800 relevant here when we're talking about how their defense sucked 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:46.320 for large. Yeah. Yeah, it was definitely up and down 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:48.720 for sure. And again Lebron's going to Wax and Wayne 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:50.639 kind of when he's the center, right because that's a 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:52.520 lot of effort for him. We talked about being the 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:54.879 center is less physically taxing, but still a team like 0:18:55.040 --> 0:18:57.119 Atlanta you have to run around because they have so 0:18:57.200 --> 0:18:59.640 much shooting around Trey Young and they run so many 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:01.840 actions where where they're they're pick and roll action is 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:03.320 such a tough cover where you have to kind of 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:05.240 be in two places at once a little bit and 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:06.880 that stuff that the effort is gonna wax in Wayne. 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:08.879 But I saw enough tonight where Vogel can kind of 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:11.920 build a group blueprint defensively, and again Dwight came off 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:14.280 the bench. I love the buttons that Vogel was pushing. 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:16.320 The mellow at the five. We saw some of it, 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:17.680 but I thought, you know, he took it out when 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:20.200 it wasn't needed. He took out Carmelo for Stanley for 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:21.760 a little bit in the fourth and put it back 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:23.600 in to kind of put the game away offensively. And 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:26.000 I think he's pushing those buttons. But there's a successful 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:28.560 team here, and obviously throwing Anthony Davis into it just 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:30.639 makes it all that better. I think le Brond and 0:19:30.720 --> 0:19:32.760 a d are the two best you know, small ball 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:36.320 in quotations, small uh small ball centers like in the world, 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:38.119 Like I don't know you can get too other than 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:40.639 obviously honest maybe, but like you put those two and 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:43.000 this with this type of shooting with Milik Monk, like 0:19:43.280 --> 0:19:45.439 I'm excited to see it. And and Kendrick Nunn obviously 0:19:45.560 --> 0:19:47.560 is on the bench too, so we'll have a rotation 0:19:47.600 --> 0:19:49.119 kind of thing to figure out. But this is a 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:51.480 blueprint that we can follow. Man just a fast team. 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:55.320 Milik Monk is active. Uh we think about his athleticism offensively, 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:57.879 but he jumps for in passing lanes like he's quick 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:00.560 like you'll like he's starting to read plays more to 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:02.639 like you'll see a crosscore pass and read it and 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:05.199 pick it off. Like. I think he's improved defensively. There 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:06.919 were times tonight where Tree Young trying to pick on 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:08.840 Leak Monk and he did a nice job, like he 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:10.880 stayed in front of him, used his quickness to kind 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:12.840 of make them take like a tough step back. Three. 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:16.240 We're seeing incremental improvements even if it hasn't shown up 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:18.439 in like defensive rating and stuff. And that stuff is 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:20.600 so tough for me to look at because this is 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:22.720 a brand new team, Jason, right, Like this is like 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:25.040 two starters are on the bench right now, DeAndre Jordan's 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:27.479 camp baysmore who are who are littered through all our 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:31.240 you know, big minutes lineup so far don't even play anymore. 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:33.640 Like this is a totally different team, and I think 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:35.360 it's tough to kind of look at, you know, how 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:38.160 are ratings matchup for the rest of the league because 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:41.480 we're a new team. We're starting pretty much from fresh year. Yeah, 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:46.119 like this is you I I said before every season, 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:48.520 I say that you tracked defensive rating is just a 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:51.840 general indicator of you know, effort level throughout the season. 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:55.480 And like, yeah, I mean the Lakers were ninth in 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:58.720 defensive rating before the Anthony Davis injury, you know, but 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:00.560 it's like at the same time and that was a 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:04.160 completely different group, right, so everything, everything is kind of irrelevant. 0:21:04.200 --> 0:21:07.000 It's a moving scale. Every everything about the way we 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:09.919 evaluate this team now needs to be focused on this 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:12.400 new identity with this new group of players that they're 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:15.800 playing with. That goes without saying I wanted to uh 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:19.639 to talk about t HD because you know, so for 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:21.480 those of you who didn't listen to our last spot 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:24.040 really quickly, Like you know, one of my big sticking 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:25.920 points of t HT all season is the kid's just 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:29.679 been put through the ringer with his rotation between the 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:32.280 thumb injury and COVID and then just all of the 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:35.280 other roster turnover, throwing him in and out of the 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:38.239 starting lineup, and you know, changing him from being on 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:40.000 the ball a lot to being off the ball a lot, 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:42.240 and and he's a young player, and those sorts of 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:45.600 things tend to have a greater impact on younger players 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:49.560 and they do on veterans. And you know, I predicted 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:52.720 that as he would get into a more consistent role, 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:54.560 which is what this off the bench role is for 0:21:54.640 --> 0:21:57.040 him now, and as long as he stayed on the court, 0:21:57.160 --> 0:21:59.280 that he would start to trend in the right direction. 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:01.600 And then you know, from there, because he's played a 0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:03.680 couple of good games in a row. Now from there, 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:06.760 it's about like, Okay, what's replicable, right, Like, what what 0:22:06.880 --> 0:22:10.600 is he doing that will consistently work versus something he's 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:13.600 doing that's you know, out of out of the ordinary. 0:22:13.680 --> 0:22:15.640 So for instance, when he had those back to back 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:18.040 twenty point games when he first came back from the thumb, Like, 0:22:18.040 --> 0:22:19.480 if you look at those, is like he was making 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:22.880 a lot of threes, right, And we know that's not 0:22:23.000 --> 0:22:26.520 necessarily replicable for him yet at this point in his career. 0:22:26.560 --> 0:22:29.159 But over the course of these last two games, a 0:22:29.200 --> 0:22:32.000 lot of what he's doing is like, I don't see 0:22:32.040 --> 0:22:36.160 why that wouldn't work. He's bullying guys around the rim. 0:22:36.200 --> 0:22:39.920 You know, he's he's consistently attacking close outs and making 0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:42.600 good decisions, Like there are a bunch of plays today 0:22:42.640 --> 0:22:44.880 where he catched the ball at the three point line, 0:22:45.200 --> 0:22:47.720 beat the guy off the dribble, health defender would step 0:22:47.800 --> 0:22:50.320 up and he'd hit Mellow, or he'd you know, hit 0:22:50.440 --> 0:22:53.119 Monk coming off the you know, from the other side, 0:22:53.119 --> 0:22:58.080 Like he was just making consistent quality reads out of 0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:01.800 advantage situations. And then and also you know, you can 0:23:01.840 --> 0:23:04.520 tell the Lakers have made a concerted effort to get 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:09.920 his intentional touches with an advantage. So if on place 0:23:09.960 --> 0:23:12.399 where he's not attacking close out but rather they're running 0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:15.480 a set for him, it almost always involves him coming 0:23:15.520 --> 0:23:17.800 off some sort of curl or in some sort of 0:23:17.840 --> 0:23:20.920 ball screen with a matchup with a shooter someone like Mellow, 0:23:21.280 --> 0:23:24.919 where they're going to be hesitant to leave Mellow, or 0:23:25.000 --> 0:23:27.840 on those curls where he has an advantage and he's 0:23:27.880 --> 0:23:30.280 just killing people when he has an advantage because he's 0:23:30.280 --> 0:23:32.760 got such a low center of gravity and he's so 0:23:32.840 --> 0:23:35.240 strong that when he gets a step on you, it's 0:23:35.280 --> 0:23:37.840 it's kind of just over. And the crazy part is, 0:23:37.840 --> 0:23:40.080 I thought he missed a couple of shots tonight that 0:23:40.160 --> 0:23:42.520 were really high percentage shots around the rim, you know, 0:23:42.600 --> 0:23:44.720 a couple of scoop shots, and then that little uh 0:23:45.680 --> 0:23:48.399 play where he got Clint Capella off his feet and 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:50.200 smoked that lay up right by the rim, like he 0:23:50.720 --> 0:23:53.879 I could. You know this is this is looking really good. 0:23:54.119 --> 0:23:56.720 And you know, again, like we said, it's all about 0:23:56.760 --> 0:23:59.720 consistency here. If this turns into a sort of thing 0:23:59.720 --> 0:24:02.080 where he doing it once out of every three games 0:24:02.160 --> 0:24:04.159 or once s out of every four games, then the 0:24:04.320 --> 0:24:07.119 conversation about whether or not you trade him gets a 0:24:07.160 --> 0:24:10.000 little more complicated, you know. But if he can get 0:24:10.080 --> 0:24:11.960 to the point where he plays this well two out 0:24:12.000 --> 0:24:15.120 of three games, like, that's when you start looking at 0:24:15.160 --> 0:24:17.800 this from the lens of he's helping us right now. 0:24:18.760 --> 0:24:21.840 Andy has this great upside that we can look to 0:24:21.960 --> 0:24:24.280 in the future. But I mean, this is I got 0:24:24.320 --> 0:24:26.359 a lot of crap for the other day for saying 0:24:26.400 --> 0:24:29.280 that th hd um kind of reminds me of Drew 0:24:29.359 --> 0:24:33.080 Holiday and and and again, it's way too soon to 0:24:33.119 --> 0:24:35.240 take a victory lap. I am not taking a victory lap. 0:24:35.560 --> 0:24:37.880 But what you're seeing from th HD in these last 0:24:37.880 --> 0:24:41.879 couple of games, this is what I envision when I 0:24:41.920 --> 0:24:45.360 think about his development as a player, just this power 0:24:45.520 --> 0:24:49.000 guard who should eventually become a guy who can knock 0:24:49.000 --> 0:24:52.800 down shots. Hence the high quality three throw shooting. You know, 0:24:52.880 --> 0:24:58.080 he's a power guard that punishes smaller, skinnier offensive defensive 0:24:58.080 --> 0:25:00.600 players at the guard position and then also on the 0:25:00.640 --> 0:25:04.040 other end, king guard, you know, basically one through four. 0:25:04.960 --> 0:25:06.520 There were a couple of plays today where he got 0:25:06.520 --> 0:25:08.840 switched onto a post, especially early in the game, where 0:25:08.840 --> 0:25:10.920 he got beat. But like, he does a really good 0:25:10.960 --> 0:25:14.800 job one through four defensively. So this is this is 0:25:14.800 --> 0:25:19.040 the what I envisioned from THHD. You, Like, I don't 0:25:19.080 --> 0:25:21.000 want to talk about trades. He's not tradeable for another 0:25:21.000 --> 0:25:23.960 eight days, so not you're not going into that at all. 0:25:24.000 --> 0:25:26.440 But he's such like a rhythm player, and I don't 0:25:26.440 --> 0:25:28.840 think it's a coincidence um that he's like these like 0:25:28.840 --> 0:25:30.879 good games are coming from him coming off the bench. 0:25:31.119 --> 0:25:32.560 And that was the first time he came in for 0:25:32.680 --> 0:25:34.680 Lebron instead of Russ. So the last three games he 0:25:34.760 --> 0:25:37.159 usually comes up with Russ. Yeah, yeah, he came in 0:25:37.200 --> 0:25:39.000 for Lebron. This time Lebron only came in for a 0:25:39.000 --> 0:25:40.639 little only went out for a little bit. I think 0:25:40.680 --> 0:25:42.240 I think he only sat for like two minutes and 0:25:42.280 --> 0:25:44.680 then he came in for Russ if I remember correctly, 0:25:44.800 --> 0:25:46.879 But I think that's a coincidence. Nice he's not playing 0:25:46.880 --> 0:25:49.000 with all three of the ball handlers, and tonight there 0:25:49.040 --> 0:25:51.320 was definitely a concerted effort to give him the ball more, 0:25:51.440 --> 0:25:53.320 even when he was on the floor with Russ, Even 0:25:53.320 --> 0:25:55.000 when he was on the floor with Lebron, they let 0:25:55.080 --> 0:25:57.680 him run actions a little bit more, let him kind 0:25:57.680 --> 0:25:59.879 of ice so, let him attack the rim such a 0:26:00.000 --> 0:26:01.520 of them guy like I was talking about, and he 0:26:01.560 --> 0:26:02.960 got he got to the rim a little bit, he 0:26:03.000 --> 0:26:04.720 got to the line. I think that I think he 0:26:04.800 --> 0:26:06.959 shot like the first technical free through or something like that, 0:26:07.000 --> 0:26:08.600 and I think, you know, just seeing the ball go 0:26:08.680 --> 0:26:10.280 to the basket for him, and it was just cool 0:26:10.320 --> 0:26:12.480 to see him get going. In Atlanta kind of tried 0:26:12.520 --> 0:26:14.520 to hide players on him. There was a stretch in 0:26:14.560 --> 0:26:17.600 this game where we went to th HC Lebron screen 0:26:17.600 --> 0:26:19.880 and roll, but instead it was THHD as a screener. 0:26:20.119 --> 0:26:21.639 And I feel like that's just stuff you can do 0:26:21.720 --> 0:26:23.879 to just so he doesn't always have to be the 0:26:23.880 --> 0:26:25.880 guy that needs to shoot. And you know, all those 0:26:25.920 --> 0:26:27.840 plays we talked about earlier where the ball was moving 0:26:27.880 --> 0:26:30.399 like it was like three or four passes. Was a 0:26:30.440 --> 0:26:32.080 part of that. He was, He was a part of 0:26:32.080 --> 0:26:33.520 a lot of those possessions where like he was the 0:26:33.520 --> 0:26:36.000 glue guy. He drives ball, kicks, kicks, he moves it. 0:26:36.200 --> 0:26:38.760 He talked about the pick and pick and pops with Carmelo. 0:26:39.200 --> 0:26:41.439 He's another guy that it's similar to Russ where like 0:26:41.440 --> 0:26:43.760 he needs to slow down. He's either like I'm getting 0:26:43.760 --> 0:26:45.879 to the rim. You know, I'm either getting to the 0:26:45.960 --> 0:26:48.000 rim or I'm like shooting a weird jumper. Like he 0:26:48.040 --> 0:26:50.520 can slow down a little bit, read read the defense. 0:26:50.560 --> 0:26:52.240 And I saw a lot of that, a lot more 0:26:52.240 --> 0:26:54.680 of that tonight. He's a good ball handler, Like all 0:26:54.680 --> 0:26:57.080 the skills are there, it just needs to be compiled 0:26:57.119 --> 0:27:00.119 together correctly. Because he obviously has ball handling skills. He 0:27:00.200 --> 0:27:02.160 obviously can get to the rim. I think his first 0:27:02.160 --> 0:27:04.439 step is crazy, which is why I just you know, 0:27:04.600 --> 0:27:07.000 even a blow average jumper, which just changed his life. 0:27:07.000 --> 0:27:10.800 But you know, he's he's gonna get he did. Yeah, 0:27:10.840 --> 0:27:12.560 And you know there's a few plays where like he 0:27:12.600 --> 0:27:14.800 almost dunked and then decided to lay it up. There's 0:27:14.800 --> 0:27:16.920 a few plays like that. But he can get to 0:27:16.960 --> 0:27:18.520 the rim and you see him use his body a 0:27:18.520 --> 0:27:20.800 little bit more, use his physicality. Maybe he's getting a 0:27:20.800 --> 0:27:22.680 little bit more comfortable after being out for a little 0:27:22.680 --> 0:27:25.160 bit from COVID protocols and stuff. But yeah, this tonight 0:27:25.240 --> 0:27:27.360 was another really good, you know, THHD game. He got 0:27:27.359 --> 0:27:29.159 lost a little bit off the ball, you know, on 0:27:29.240 --> 0:27:31.879 some shooters, I think on a Herd and Bugnonomous, a 0:27:31.920 --> 0:27:33.840 little bit that's gonna happen. I thought his on ball 0:27:33.880 --> 0:27:35.720 defense was pretty good though. I think he was on 0:27:35.760 --> 0:27:37.640 trade for a couple of positions. Did a fine job. 0:27:38.119 --> 0:27:39.760 But yeah, he was. He was good, man, and this 0:27:39.800 --> 0:27:41.200 is kind of what you want to see from him. 0:27:41.320 --> 0:27:44.080 He knocked down a few threes tonight. That's not really expected. 0:27:44.440 --> 0:27:46.080 But I want him to shoot when he's open, Like, 0:27:46.119 --> 0:27:48.439 I think that's important. I think, you know, passing up 0:27:48.440 --> 0:27:51.240 shots for him just has a domino effect of of 0:27:51.280 --> 0:27:53.680 affecting everything else in his game. But he was good 0:27:53.720 --> 0:27:55.560 and I like him as a screener. I like him 0:27:55.600 --> 0:27:57.919 having the ball a little bit more. You saw that, 0:27:57.960 --> 0:28:00.040 and I think that's something that they're definitely trying to 0:28:00.080 --> 0:28:01.960 do to build him up a little bit. And it's 0:28:01.960 --> 0:28:03.960 a second straight game that that's good for him. Memphis 0:28:04.000 --> 0:28:06.080 will be a test, but but it's a nice, nice 0:28:06.080 --> 0:28:08.720 little streak he's building as well. Yeah, exactly that. The 0:28:08.760 --> 0:28:11.720 consistency is everything with Like we said, like we we 0:28:11.760 --> 0:28:14.040 see all Star plays at a t HD every game. 0:28:14.080 --> 0:28:16.520 It's been, you know, one of our little talking points 0:28:16.560 --> 0:28:19.159 that we can like a super star playing tonight, a 0:28:19.200 --> 0:28:22.760 super super I'll star playing in and out dribble crossover 0:28:22.880 --> 0:28:26.159 to a dunk man and the huge hands like that, 0:28:26.280 --> 0:28:28.439 Like that's the thing too. It's everything with t's the 0:28:28.440 --> 0:28:31.280 physical tools, like the ability to gather it like that 0:28:31.320 --> 0:28:34.320 and hold it high and to have such long arms 0:28:34.359 --> 0:28:36.359 that off a short take off like that that you 0:28:36.359 --> 0:28:38.600 can get high enough. Because that's the thing. Like when 0:28:38.600 --> 0:28:42.640 you're a jumping vertical athlete but you don't have great 0:28:42.640 --> 0:28:44.760 physical tools, you really have to load up. I mean, 0:28:44.760 --> 0:28:46.760 look at Moldleague Monk. He's the best example of this. 0:28:46.880 --> 0:28:49.680 Like he's flying in transition all the time because he 0:28:49.720 --> 0:28:52.040 gets chances it gets a chance to load up. But 0:28:52.120 --> 0:28:54.520 he struggles, like he's not dunking on people in half 0:28:54.520 --> 0:28:57.960 court sets often because he doesn't have that you know, 0:28:58.560 --> 0:29:00.560 easy set of physical tools for to that have to jump. 0:29:00.600 --> 0:29:02.520 He has to jump much higher. You know, th h 0:29:02.600 --> 0:29:06.400 T is just so long that he's got the capability 0:29:06.440 --> 0:29:08.719 to finish like that in traffic because he doesn't actually 0:29:08.720 --> 0:29:11.520 have to jump that high in order to to finish them, 0:29:11.560 --> 0:29:14.560 you know. But you know, the key here is this 0:29:14.560 --> 0:29:17.040 brings us to an interesting concept of close out attacking, 0:29:17.040 --> 0:29:19.320 because this is something that you know, you and I 0:29:19.360 --> 0:29:22.120 have been on for a couple of years now. My 0:29:22.240 --> 0:29:24.520 favorite example of a team that has high level clothes 0:29:24.560 --> 0:29:27.280 that attacking is Phoenix. You know, when you look at 0:29:27.320 --> 0:29:30.240 guys like Cam Johnson and Michael Bridges, they just the 0:29:30.920 --> 0:29:34.520 types of moves they can make attacking closeouts are just 0:29:34.560 --> 0:29:37.360 a little bit more advanced, and especially in a playoff 0:29:37.400 --> 0:29:40.640 setting when scoring is so difficult, that sort of thing 0:29:40.680 --> 0:29:43.120 brings a lot of value. And what I saw a 0:29:43.120 --> 0:29:46.479 lot of tonight was you'd have a kind of like 0:29:46.520 --> 0:29:50.560 a core initiation action at the top right, whether that 0:29:50.720 --> 0:29:54.440 was a Molik Monk Lebron screening role or a Mellow 0:29:54.520 --> 0:29:58.440 Lebron screening roll or a russ ball handler screen with 0:29:58.440 --> 0:30:00.760 with Lebron as a screener. They it run this kind 0:30:00.800 --> 0:30:02.480 of action either at the top of the key or 0:30:02.520 --> 0:30:05.400 on the wing and it would cause the defense to 0:30:05.480 --> 0:30:08.240 shade towards them because you have to. That's just how 0:30:08.280 --> 0:30:10.239 it works. It's we have to do the same thing 0:30:10.240 --> 0:30:12.560 when we're guarding Tredy Young or when we're guarding anyone else. 0:30:12.600 --> 0:30:15.479 And so then comes the really quick swing pass right, 0:30:15.520 --> 0:30:18.560 the quick swing pass over to somebody who's got a 0:30:18.600 --> 0:30:21.760 little bit of an advantage, you know, And that's where 0:30:21.760 --> 0:30:25.520 you know, if that's Wayne Ellington, you know, I guess 0:30:25.560 --> 0:30:27.720 he can pump an take a sidestep and get a 0:30:27.760 --> 0:30:30.560 shot off. And I'm not hating on Moyne Ellington's game. 0:30:30.800 --> 0:30:34.040 I love the guy, but like that ability to make 0:30:34.080 --> 0:30:39.360 a complicated attack of a close out, to either create 0:30:39.560 --> 0:30:42.200 an open shot for someone else or to create something 0:30:42.280 --> 0:30:46.280 for yourself is so valuable. And th HD is just 0:30:46.360 --> 0:30:49.920 good at that already, which is crazy, and it actually brings, 0:30:50.120 --> 0:30:53.000 you know, on a larger scale, like that's an interesting 0:30:53.000 --> 0:30:56.760 conundrum with Stanley Johnson and Trevorresa because you know, there 0:30:56.840 --> 0:30:59.320 was a play Stanley actually stepped out of bounds on it, 0:30:59.680 --> 0:31:02.400 but he was able to beat to the baseline thinks 0:31:02.400 --> 0:31:04.320 the end of the first half. You know, that kind 0:31:04.320 --> 0:31:06.600 of that kind of play a reason it can't really 0:31:06.600 --> 0:31:09.960 make right now, A Reason is kind of like almost 0:31:10.440 --> 0:31:12.640 more more like Ellington in the sense that like he 0:31:12.680 --> 0:31:14.120 can shoot it and he might be able to pump 0:31:14.160 --> 0:31:17.440 faken sidestep, but he's not able to really beat guys 0:31:17.800 --> 0:31:19.480 off the dribble when he's given a little bit of 0:31:19.520 --> 0:31:23.280 an advantage. And Stanley can and that kind of makes 0:31:23.360 --> 0:31:25.920 him an interesting option. You know what I mean as 0:31:26.080 --> 0:31:29.320 as a guy to take minutes away from a reason 0:31:29.400 --> 0:31:32.400 when we're whole is you know, just you have to 0:31:32.440 --> 0:31:35.640 be able to beat that guy who's closing out at 0:31:35.680 --> 0:31:39.520 you unless you're just absolutely on the money from three 0:31:39.520 --> 0:31:41.960 every time, you know, which is a different story, but 0:31:42.360 --> 0:31:45.600 it's and that's obviously what keeps mellow in his value 0:31:45.680 --> 0:31:48.440 so high. But that that that concept is very interesting 0:31:48.480 --> 0:31:50.880 to me because especially when you get into a playoff setting, 0:31:51.360 --> 0:31:53.000 there's just not gonna be a lot of like two 0:31:53.000 --> 0:31:54.680 on two on one side of the floor. It's gonna 0:31:54.720 --> 0:31:57.640 be a lot of shading, helping and packing the pain 0:31:57.640 --> 0:32:01.160 and things along those lines. This issue, and that's kind 0:32:01.160 --> 0:32:02.959 of where you talked about this a lot as well, 0:32:03.000 --> 0:32:04.840 where like Austin Reeves comes in as well and he 0:32:04.960 --> 0:32:08.719 just he just yeah, you know, he's just he's just 0:32:08.760 --> 0:32:11.440 good man. Like there's no there's no like qualms about, 0:32:11.440 --> 0:32:13.160 Like he's a reals good for a rookie like that. 0:32:13.320 --> 0:32:15.479 Dude is just good. He's not even shooting well, but 0:32:15.560 --> 0:32:17.920 the floor just connects. And you talked about the you know, 0:32:18.000 --> 0:32:20.080 being able to attack the close out. He does that 0:32:20.160 --> 0:32:22.560 really well to me. His decision making and that is 0:32:22.600 --> 0:32:25.280 split second and he usually makes the right decision every 0:32:25.280 --> 0:32:28.320 time catch, shoot pass, like he knows exactly where to go. 0:32:28.400 --> 0:32:29.560 And I think, you know, we kind of move this 0:32:29.600 --> 0:32:31.120 as well. I'm not sure we didn't really get into 0:32:31.280 --> 0:32:33.800 League Monk that much. But man, Malik is kind of 0:32:33.800 --> 0:32:36.600 living off these right like league is in heaven right now. 0:32:36.600 --> 0:32:39.360 Like he's shooting threes. I pulled up the numbers here. 0:32:39.360 --> 0:32:42.120 Malik is seventeen for thirty two from three in the 0:32:42.160 --> 0:32:45.800 last three games. It's like and they're not and that's 0:32:45.840 --> 0:32:48.400 just not And I think he's a legit shooter, Like 0:32:48.440 --> 0:32:49.800 I don't think he I don't think this is a 0:32:49.800 --> 0:32:52.440 hot streak. Like his form looks good. I talked about 0:32:52.480 --> 0:32:54.640 when he gets into the dip of his jumper, it's 0:32:54.680 --> 0:32:57.280 just I feel like it's going in. But yeah, like 0:32:57.480 --> 0:32:59.560 he's able to attack off that he's getting to the 0:32:59.600 --> 0:33:01.800 rim a little a big game to aligne again, he 0:33:01.800 --> 0:33:04.200 had I think he had twenty one at halftime. He 0:33:04.280 --> 0:33:06.880 was like ten for twelve or some some ridiculous number. 0:33:07.160 --> 0:33:09.440 And he just keeps on thriving. You know, in this 0:33:09.880 --> 0:33:12.959 small ball universe that we've entered here, he feels like 0:33:13.040 --> 0:33:16.040 one of the biggest you know guys who's who's benefit 0:33:16.160 --> 0:33:18.800 off it? Honestly, And you talked again the closeout attacking 0:33:19.040 --> 0:33:21.160 be able to hit wide open threes at a super 0:33:21.280 --> 0:33:23.920 high rate. He doesn't need to be open to shoot, 0:33:23.920 --> 0:33:26.360 which I think is a really important thing for this team. 0:33:26.360 --> 0:33:28.160 Like he doesn't have to be wide open like Wayne 0:33:28.160 --> 0:33:30.440 Ellington to me, needs to be. I know, we don't 0:33:30.440 --> 0:33:32.000 want to attack Wayne Ellington. And he was one of 0:33:32.080 --> 0:33:34.560 my favorite signing. He's one of my favorite signings honestly, 0:33:34.560 --> 0:33:35.960 but he needs He's the guy that kind of needs 0:33:36.000 --> 0:33:38.479 to be open to shoot, right if it's contested, he's 0:33:38.520 --> 0:33:40.480 gonna just pass it off. Malik Monk, you know, he 0:33:40.960 --> 0:33:43.120 doesn't feel like he doesn't really even see the defender 0:33:43.160 --> 0:33:44.840 a lot of times. But just talk to me about 0:33:44.880 --> 0:33:48.400 Milik Monk because I thought again, another just monster game 0:33:48.480 --> 0:33:50.680 from him and really picked up the slack him and 0:33:50.680 --> 0:33:53.240 Avery Bradley honestly, who we should give some flowers to 0:33:53.280 --> 0:33:55.880 as well. But Malik Monk just picking up the offense. 0:33:56.040 --> 0:33:58.360 Sixty something points from us, he had twenty one of them. 0:33:58.720 --> 0:34:00.440 Would you would you kind of think of just this 0:34:00.560 --> 0:34:04.000 continuation of play from him. Well, I'm glad you pointed 0:34:04.000 --> 0:34:05.840 out that he's been shooting the ball well, because the 0:34:06.080 --> 0:34:08.840 truth is is to me, it's kind of a regression 0:34:08.920 --> 0:34:12.680 to normal. Because early in the season, if you guys remember, 0:34:13.120 --> 0:34:16.640 Ellington and Mellow and Lebron were all like up over 0:34:17.520 --> 0:34:21.319 on wide open threes. I know that was and and 0:34:21.440 --> 0:34:23.759 Lebron was struggling on off the dribble threes, but the 0:34:24.120 --> 0:34:28.080 everything wide open, Lebron, Mellow and Wayne Ellington were just 0:34:28.760 --> 0:34:32.279 good as money. But Molik Monk for whatever reason, was 0:34:32.360 --> 0:34:34.600 missing the open shots. To start the season. He had 0:34:34.640 --> 0:34:37.719 a few games where he shot the ball well, but 0:34:38.400 --> 0:34:41.440 Malik was struggling a little bit figuring out. But and now, 0:34:41.480 --> 0:34:43.880 in his defense, he at that point in the season, 0:34:44.440 --> 0:34:46.719 his role was inconsistent. This is actually I'm going to 0:34:46.800 --> 0:34:49.120 go on a little mini tangent here. You know, One 0:34:49.120 --> 0:34:51.839 of the big reasons why I think Wesley Matthews has 0:34:51.880 --> 0:34:54.399 been playing so well for the Bucks is he has 0:34:54.400 --> 0:34:57.960 a consistent role there. And if there's one little, tiny, 0:34:58.320 --> 0:35:01.640 itty bitty bit of criticism in might throw Frank Vogel's away, 0:35:01.800 --> 0:35:05.720 it's that he tweaks with the rotation a lot um, 0:35:05.760 --> 0:35:08.520 particularly at the guard position, and that was something he 0:35:08.600 --> 0:35:11.359 did a lot last year. Do you remember, like there'd 0:35:11.400 --> 0:35:14.040 be stretches of the season where way where West would 0:35:14.080 --> 0:35:16.600 be in the rotation, and they're being stretches of the 0:35:16.640 --> 0:35:19.040 season where West wouldn't be in the rotation, you know, 0:35:19.160 --> 0:35:22.120 and like you know, his minutes taken by THHD, Like 0:35:22.520 --> 0:35:25.719 THHD took his minutes, like he he ends. But my 0:35:26.000 --> 0:35:28.799 but my point is this throughout the season, though West's 0:35:28.920 --> 0:35:32.719 role was somewhat inconsistent, and I don't and I think 0:35:32.840 --> 0:35:37.400 specifically for guys who are you know, who have the 0:35:37.440 --> 0:35:40.000 ball in their hands, guys who you know that and 0:35:40.040 --> 0:35:42.279 it's a rhytham sport, it really is, and it can 0:35:42.280 --> 0:35:45.040 get disrupted. So my point is is, like coming back 0:35:45.040 --> 0:35:47.160 to the Leak Monk, one of the big reasons why 0:35:47.200 --> 0:35:49.399 I think the league Monk is playing so well right 0:35:49.440 --> 0:35:52.840 now is by virtue of necessity. The Lakers leaned heavily 0:35:52.920 --> 0:35:56.279 on him. Um, you know after a few games when 0:35:56.280 --> 0:35:58.200 things kind of started to go off the rails with 0:35:58.280 --> 0:36:00.960 injuries and stuff like that. And what you've seen is 0:36:01.000 --> 0:36:04.680 in this consistent role, he's just comfortable now. And we 0:36:04.719 --> 0:36:06.640 talked about this like three or four games ago, but 0:36:06.719 --> 0:36:09.680 he has a green light now, like a full blown, 0:36:09.760 --> 0:36:13.040 legitimate like no questions asked, You've got a green light, 0:36:13.520 --> 0:36:17.440 and that that works wonders for a player's confidence, you know, 0:36:17.480 --> 0:36:20.000 when you don't have to fear missing a shot, you 0:36:20.000 --> 0:36:22.120 know what I mean, Like I mean even in that 0:36:22.200 --> 0:36:24.759 game where you know when remember the one after the 0:36:24.760 --> 0:36:26.719 game where they asked him what he changed, and he's like, 0:36:26.760 --> 0:36:29.040 I stopped taking stupid off the dribble step back through. 0:36:29.920 --> 0:36:33.200 Like it's it's funny because you know, maybe when he 0:36:33.280 --> 0:36:36.279 was in New Orleans, when he was in Charlotte, he 0:36:36.360 --> 0:36:38.440 might have taken a couple of tough step back threes 0:36:38.520 --> 0:36:41.600 and Brego might have benched his ass, you know what 0:36:41.600 --> 0:36:44.640 I mean, Like like, but whereas here like he has 0:36:44.719 --> 0:36:47.520 freedom to fail, you know, and he missed all those 0:36:47.520 --> 0:36:50.400 shots in that particular game, and then he started taking 0:36:50.440 --> 0:36:53.279 easier shots and they started going in. He was given 0:36:53.320 --> 0:36:56.799 an opportunity to to find his confidence and to find 0:36:56.840 --> 0:37:01.040 his rhythm. But again, like having having him like this 0:37:01.160 --> 0:37:05.320 as an option to carry the offense for significant stretches 0:37:05.360 --> 0:37:07.240 of the games helps in a bunch of different ways. 0:37:07.280 --> 0:37:09.080 Not only does it unlock some of those two man 0:37:09.200 --> 0:37:11.719 game options like we were talking about with Lebron, but 0:37:12.320 --> 0:37:14.839 it's relieved some of what we need Russ to do. 0:37:15.719 --> 0:37:18.840 You know, having having Molik and th h T start 0:37:18.920 --> 0:37:22.279 to play this well puts Russ. It's you know, it 0:37:23.200 --> 0:37:26.879 slots for us proper, properly as someone that can kind 0:37:26.880 --> 0:37:29.440 of go back to what his offensive role was when 0:37:29.480 --> 0:37:32.160 a d was in the lineup, And that makes me 0:37:32.200 --> 0:37:35.320 feel a little better because you know, I was worried 0:37:35.360 --> 0:37:37.480 we were going to get a heavy dose of some 0:37:37.600 --> 0:37:40.480 of the uglier sides of Russ's game over this stretch 0:37:40.480 --> 0:37:44.719 without Anthony Davis and Malik. Monk is rectifying that, and 0:37:44.920 --> 0:37:48.440 so is th HT. And obviously, again consistency is going 0:37:48.480 --> 0:37:50.480 to be the key here. Now for t T, it's 0:37:50.480 --> 0:37:52.359 only been two games. Malik's been going like this for 0:37:52.840 --> 0:37:55.719 two and a half weeks now, so that's exciting. But 0:37:56.080 --> 0:37:59.560 it'll be it'll be key that he stays on this course. 0:37:59.600 --> 0:38:01.719 But I tend to think with a green light and 0:38:01.760 --> 0:38:05.120 with the opportunities he's getting and playing alongside Lebron James, Like, 0:38:05.160 --> 0:38:08.040 it's not like his shot quality's gonna dip. He's just 0:38:08.040 --> 0:38:10.960 gotta keep knocking there and you know what I mean. Yeah, 0:38:11.040 --> 0:38:13.160 And we're starting to like actually run actions. From the 0:38:13.200 --> 0:38:15.439 League two, we started running him off some curls and 0:38:15.480 --> 0:38:17.640 he's coming off and pulling up and just trying to 0:38:17.640 --> 0:38:19.879 get into some more you know, system stuff for him 0:38:19.880 --> 0:38:21.799 where in the half court, get him more shots. But 0:38:22.000 --> 0:38:24.640 that's a great point on like how it slots Russ 0:38:24.719 --> 0:38:27.080 to a little bit more of an easier position, right, 0:38:27.080 --> 0:38:29.640 because when we were starting Russ next to we already 0:38:29.640 --> 0:38:32.320 started next day Bradley who's not really a ball handler 0:38:32.400 --> 0:38:34.759 and sends more like a spot up guy. Um and 0:38:34.800 --> 0:38:37.200 I think it was also Thhd as well. But now 0:38:37.200 --> 0:38:38.960 you put Mileek Monk next to him, just a guy 0:38:39.000 --> 0:38:40.640 he can give the ball to, and it feels like 0:38:40.719 --> 0:38:44.319 Russ is able to kind of attack more on his terms. Right. 0:38:44.320 --> 0:38:46.359 It's it's not so much you have to have him 0:38:46.400 --> 0:38:48.239 run in the half court and and I think Russ 0:38:48.280 --> 0:38:50.759 has done a lot better job, you know, just controlling 0:38:50.840 --> 0:38:54.120 his his attacks to the rim. He had some finishes tonight, Jason. 0:38:54.160 --> 0:38:55.759 Do you see the one in Transition today where he 0:38:55.800 --> 0:38:58.040 was like up and under It was like with Finesse. 0:38:58.120 --> 0:38:59.799 It was super nice. And I'm like, man, he can 0:38:59.840 --> 0:39:02.040 do that all the time, like if he just slow 0:39:03.160 --> 0:39:05.200 if if he just slows down a little bit, like 0:39:05.239 --> 0:39:07.239 he can finish like that. But I think that's a 0:39:07.239 --> 0:39:09.479 good point with that, because like I've always said, with Russ, 0:39:09.480 --> 0:39:12.640 you're never going to I don't think tempering him is 0:39:12.640 --> 0:39:15.800 ever the solution. It's just you know, lowering the usage. 0:39:15.800 --> 0:39:17.359 And I think we're kind of seeing that where he's 0:39:17.360 --> 0:39:19.680 able to his usage goes down a little bit and 0:39:19.680 --> 0:39:22.000 he can attack on his terms, especially with Lebron on 0:39:22.000 --> 0:39:24.239 the floor again with Leek Monk as hot as he 0:39:24.360 --> 0:39:26.239 is able to be a bowl in the china shop. 0:39:26.280 --> 0:39:29.080 In transition, he's doing and Avery Bradley and him are 0:39:29.080 --> 0:39:31.239 starting to get a little connection here, right Like when 0:39:31.320 --> 0:39:34.320 Russ drives, Avery Bradley cuts and like that he's found 0:39:34.360 --> 0:39:36.319 if he found every badly a few times, not just 0:39:36.360 --> 0:39:38.360 denying the last few games, him and Bradley have a 0:39:38.440 --> 0:39:40.880 nice connection as a cutter passer kind of duo. But 0:39:40.920 --> 0:39:43.000 I think he's passing is getting better. Three and three 0:39:43.040 --> 0:39:45.399 turnovers tonight. Two of them were kind of like what 0:39:45.400 --> 0:39:47.760 were you doing? Stuff? But you know, the three turnovers 0:39:47.840 --> 0:39:49.640 is not bad for us for the night he had. 0:39:49.680 --> 0:39:52.160 I think if he had like twelve assists or something, uh, 0:39:52.239 --> 0:39:54.440 twelve assists on the night. But you know, he's starting 0:39:54.480 --> 0:39:55.800 to play a little bit better and the game is 0:39:55.800 --> 0:39:58.279 starting to be controlled a little bit better for him. 0:39:58.320 --> 0:40:01.160 I'm I feel like he's he's moving in the right direction, 0:40:01.200 --> 0:40:03.359 and when E comes back, obviously I will kind of, 0:40:03.560 --> 0:40:05.600 you know, shift him even more into the into the 0:40:05.600 --> 0:40:07.520 correct spots. But I think he's played well. Man, I 0:40:07.560 --> 0:40:10.560 don't and I think Lake Monk, you know, surgeons here 0:40:10.680 --> 0:40:12.680 is not you know, it's not coincidental that Russ is 0:40:12.840 --> 0:40:15.879 playing better along with that. So I think you're right 0:40:15.920 --> 0:40:18.480 with that with that assessment. I think Malik has definitely 0:40:18.480 --> 0:40:20.880 helped Russ kind of be more in his lane and 0:40:20.920 --> 0:40:23.120 be able to attack in situations that makes sense. And 0:40:23.200 --> 0:40:25.080 we kind of figured out a late game kind of 0:40:25.120 --> 0:40:26.600 thing with him where he can go stand in the 0:40:26.640 --> 0:40:28.920 Dunger spot he can be a screener. He's kind of 0:40:28.960 --> 0:40:32.400 more the secondary third attacker instead of having to be 0:40:32.440 --> 0:40:34.640 the primary guy. And I think that's something we've kind 0:40:34.640 --> 0:40:37.359 of figured out as as the season's gone on. Yeah, 0:40:37.400 --> 0:40:40.080 you know, the Russ has actually started to plaint better, 0:40:40.120 --> 0:40:42.360 start a little more self control for all those reasons 0:40:42.360 --> 0:40:45.200 we just discussed, I think, you know, I think if 0:40:45.200 --> 0:40:49.160 I had to choose between him taking some of these 0:40:49.200 --> 0:40:52.239 fifteen footers that he's been taking or putting his head 0:40:52.280 --> 0:40:55.319 down and trying to get into the paint, especially early 0:40:55.400 --> 0:40:56.800 in the game the way that he did in the 0:40:56.840 --> 0:41:01.040 first quarter. You know, when Russ draws into the basket 0:41:01.320 --> 0:41:03.920 and misses a layoup. As much as it is a 0:41:03.920 --> 0:41:07.040 bad play because it is because it triggers a fast 0:41:07.080 --> 0:41:09.279 break out of the other direction, he's usually complaining to 0:41:09.320 --> 0:41:15.279 the rest or complains to the rest. But but the 0:41:15.719 --> 0:41:21.720 there's a there's a cumulative effect to rim pressure that 0:41:21.960 --> 0:41:25.040 is a it's a psychological effect on the defense because 0:41:25.800 --> 0:41:28.680 they start to naturally collapse when Russ starts bringing the 0:41:28.680 --> 0:41:31.240 ball up the floor. Um, but also there's a fatigue 0:41:31.239 --> 0:41:34.160 element to it, and guys start getting out of the way, 0:41:34.400 --> 0:41:37.160 you know, like there's there were several plays tonight where 0:41:37.239 --> 0:41:40.920 Russ drove to the basket and was in a crowd 0:41:41.000 --> 0:41:43.520 and threw up a crazy shot missed. But then there 0:41:43.520 --> 0:41:45.080 were a couple of plays there in the fourth quarter 0:41:45.160 --> 0:41:48.720 where all of a sudden it was single coverage him 0:41:48.760 --> 0:41:51.120 around the rim and he bumped a guy off of 0:41:51.160 --> 0:41:54.120 him and laid it up. And that's cumulative fatigue. That's 0:41:54.680 --> 0:41:56.719 eventually guys just gets sick of getting in the way, 0:41:57.080 --> 0:41:59.879 you know what I mean. And and then obviously during 0:41:59.880 --> 0:42:02.440 the stretches when they are collapsing and trying to take 0:42:02.480 --> 0:42:05.479 that stuff away from him, there's a lot of good 0:42:05.520 --> 0:42:08.120 that comes from the rim pressure with him kicking out 0:42:08.120 --> 0:42:11.279 and spraying the shooters. So again, like my thing is, like, 0:42:11.480 --> 0:42:13.040 you know, there was a kind of a moment where 0:42:13.239 --> 0:42:15.879 he made that and one in the first quarter, second 0:42:15.920 --> 0:42:20.080 quarter might have been yeah, and he had kind of 0:42:20.120 --> 0:42:22.279 like a little moment where he threw his hands up 0:42:22.360 --> 0:42:25.160 kind of like off finally, And you know, I kind 0:42:25.160 --> 0:42:28.080 of want to be like man like, no, like those 0:42:28.120 --> 0:42:30.080 weren't the other ones missed because you're just not good 0:42:30.080 --> 0:42:34.200 at that. This wasn't the basketball gots finally paying you back. 0:42:34.480 --> 0:42:36.239 I think I think that dude might have fouled your 0:42:36.239 --> 0:42:39.440 shot into the basket like like like I'm just like 0:42:39.560 --> 0:42:42.279 I wish, I wish for his sake, Like, you know, 0:42:42.560 --> 0:42:45.680 especially now that Monk and th Ht are starting to 0:42:45.760 --> 0:42:48.760 kind of find their legs and play better, I almost 0:42:48.800 --> 0:42:52.120 want to be like man, like really really channel into 0:42:52.120 --> 0:42:54.239 what you're good at now, you know, which is just 0:42:54.280 --> 0:42:55.719 put your head down and go to the rim, Like 0:42:55.760 --> 0:42:59.400 those are those are the kinds of you know, like 0:42:59.480 --> 0:43:02.000 the place a place where he picks up his dribble 0:43:02.440 --> 0:43:05.279 along the second lane line and tries to throw some 0:43:05.360 --> 0:43:08.719 stupid like those are pointless turnovers, but the ones when 0:43:08.760 --> 0:43:11.319 he's like flying into the basket and trying to make 0:43:11.360 --> 0:43:13.800 something happen, those are at least a little more tolerable 0:43:13.880 --> 0:43:17.120 because of that cumulative effect of him putting rim pressure. 0:43:17.239 --> 0:43:19.760 So that's what I'd like to see him really really 0:43:19.800 --> 0:43:24.239 focus on now that we're clicking so well offensively. Yeah, 0:43:24.239 --> 0:43:26.520 and like those mid rain shots aren't great, you know, 0:43:26.600 --> 0:43:28.560 but I like, to me, I'd rather have those than 0:43:28.600 --> 0:43:30.560 the turnovers as well, Like if you can get a 0:43:30.560 --> 0:43:32.600 shot at the rim, we can get our defense back. 0:43:32.640 --> 0:43:34.960 And I think it's also a sign of aggression. That 0:43:35.120 --> 0:43:37.839 we need Russ to be aggressive, and to him, those 0:43:37.840 --> 0:43:40.239 shots are a part of his aggression, right. It just 0:43:40.400 --> 0:43:43.200 is like it's just those you know, size of you know, 0:43:43.280 --> 0:43:45.480 mid range pull up jumpers like those are that's just 0:43:45.600 --> 0:43:47.960 part of his game. Those aren't going anywhere. But I'd 0:43:48.040 --> 0:43:50.680 rather have that than the you know, the bad drives 0:43:50.680 --> 0:43:52.279 to the rim where like it's just a throw up 0:43:52.280 --> 0:43:54.480 there and hope and pray, like a foul gets called 0:43:54.560 --> 0:43:56.440 or he falls to the floor and all that, And 0:43:56.480 --> 0:43:58.520 I think that's your sign that you're kind of starting 0:43:58.719 --> 0:44:00.960 to see the progression of that. And he's played well 0:44:01.000 --> 0:44:02.880 these last few games, like he was the high I 0:44:02.880 --> 0:44:05.040 think he led the team in plus minus tonight as well, 0:44:05.160 --> 0:44:07.600 like with the plus twenty four or something. So he 0:44:07.680 --> 0:44:09.480 when he was on the floor, we were we were winning, 0:44:09.440 --> 0:44:11.880 and he was impacting winning in my opinion, And him 0:44:11.880 --> 0:44:14.120 and Lebron is starting to build a little bit of chemistry. 0:44:14.120 --> 0:44:15.600 I thought on the fourth quarters tonight, we went to 0:44:15.920 --> 0:44:18.720 Russell Lebron screen role really nice to I think Atlanta 0:44:18.800 --> 0:44:21.080 was going over the top of screens for some reason, 0:44:21.080 --> 0:44:22.880 and we were. He was able to hit Lebron on 0:44:22.920 --> 0:44:25.600 like pocket passes and stuff and no idea why they 0:44:25.640 --> 0:44:28.439 were doing that. Yeah, but like you know, just dying 0:44:28.440 --> 0:44:31.240 to see progressions um with the offense with him and 0:44:31.239 --> 0:44:33.439 and we're seeing him play better I thought defensively as well. 0:44:33.680 --> 0:44:36.640 Just he's been he's picked it up, so hopefully this continues. 0:44:37.080 --> 0:44:39.880 But yeah, it's interesting, man, Like the I trade in 0:44:39.920 --> 0:44:42.480 these shots for turnovers all day long, and there's different 0:44:42.480 --> 0:44:45.719 types of like you know, but there's different type of turnovers, right, 0:44:45.719 --> 0:44:47.839 there's the just the lack of days ago, you know, 0:44:47.960 --> 0:44:50.719 on ball turnovers like those like those you can't live with. 0:44:50.719 --> 0:44:52.440 But like the drive to the rim and then like 0:44:52.520 --> 0:44:55.359 expecting your guy to cut because I think there's kind 0:44:55.400 --> 0:44:58.680 of a they're kind of starting to know, like when 0:44:58.760 --> 0:45:00.680 Rush drives when I'm supposed to huh, and he's and 0:45:00.719 --> 0:45:02.400 you'll see it too, you'll throw it and there'll be 0:45:02.440 --> 0:45:04.080 a turnover. Be like, man, you're supposed to be there, 0:45:04.120 --> 0:45:05.759 like you know you're supposed to be there or something. 0:45:05.800 --> 0:45:08.120 You know, Like you're starting to see little progressions of that. 0:45:08.680 --> 0:45:11.040 And he passes to areas I always talked about, he 0:45:11.040 --> 0:45:13.480 passes to areas instead of players. So once he drives, 0:45:13.480 --> 0:45:15.560 he expects you to be in that corner and he 0:45:15.600 --> 0:45:17.239 found a few guys in the in the corner tonight. 0:45:17.239 --> 0:45:18.759 I know, we're starting to see the team kind of 0:45:18.840 --> 0:45:21.279 understand how Russ plays, and Russ understand the team. All 0:45:21.280 --> 0:45:23.800 that you get through a eighty two games season and 0:45:23.840 --> 0:45:25.839 hopefully a d can come back in a time where 0:45:25.840 --> 0:45:27.080 those two you can kind of build. But I think 0:45:27.160 --> 0:45:30.040 Russ is in the right direction for sure. So let's 0:45:30.280 --> 0:45:32.160 hit on Lebron and then let's get out of here 0:45:32.200 --> 0:45:35.680 for the night. So uh, an interesting stretch of games 0:45:35.680 --> 0:45:40.680 from Lebron because so three nights ago, you know, he 0:45:41.040 --> 0:45:45.320 basically coast for three and a half quarters against the 0:45:45.400 --> 0:45:48.480 Kings and then puts his foot on the gas and 0:45:48.560 --> 0:45:51.840 just goes absolutely nuclear and just blows their head off, basically. 0:45:52.880 --> 0:45:56.080 And we blame it on fatigue because they had played, 0:45:56.080 --> 0:45:58.200 if I'm not mistaken, that was their fifth game and 0:45:58.239 --> 0:46:01.719 eight nights, and over the course of those five games, 0:46:01.800 --> 0:46:05.000 Lebron had to heavy workload, and in those first four 0:46:05.120 --> 0:46:08.520 games there was a considerable amount of energy that he 0:46:08.640 --> 0:46:10.680 was playing with, although that fifth game he was a 0:46:10.680 --> 0:46:13.560 little more law days ago. But it was interesting because 0:46:13.600 --> 0:46:16.120 then they had a couple of nights off, they didn't 0:46:16.200 --> 0:46:19.040 practice at all, I think on Wednesday, and then they 0:46:19.200 --> 0:46:22.319 did a practice yesterday where Lebron said he went light 0:46:22.440 --> 0:46:26.279 and primarily focused on his skill work. And then you 0:46:26.360 --> 0:46:28.080 come into a game tonight and he was lacks two 0:46:28.120 --> 0:46:32.000 days ago again, and it's it's it's interesting because you know, 0:46:32.080 --> 0:46:33.879 but then he has that blow up in the fourth 0:46:33.960 --> 0:46:36.680 quarter where he fills up the statuet and has a 0:46:36.760 --> 0:46:39.239 dunk where you know, TCH kind of threw the lob 0:46:39.280 --> 0:46:43.920 a little too high and his head's near his head's 0:46:43.960 --> 0:46:46.320 near the rim. But it's like, it's funny. It's funny 0:46:46.360 --> 0:46:49.320 because like, okay, first of all, for any of you 0:46:49.440 --> 0:46:52.600 that are listening who have played basketball at any level, 0:46:53.239 --> 0:46:57.120 and like real organized basketball, when you play there, you 0:46:57.200 --> 0:46:59.879 don't feel the same every night. Like even like lab 0:47:00.000 --> 0:47:01.800 One has a whole other element, like he's played so 0:47:01.880 --> 0:47:04.920 many thousands of NBA games that like for him, he 0:47:04.960 --> 0:47:09.000 doesn't even probably get as excited as as normal people do. 0:47:09.200 --> 0:47:11.719 But like even when you are excited, like I was 0:47:11.800 --> 0:47:14.080 excited for every game I played when I was in college. 0:47:14.120 --> 0:47:15.759 But the truth of the matter is is like some 0:47:16.120 --> 0:47:17.160 it's like a brain. I don't know if it's a 0:47:17.200 --> 0:47:19.960 brain chemistry thing or if it's like just a natural 0:47:20.160 --> 0:47:23.640 evan flow of physiology. But like, there are games when 0:47:23.680 --> 0:47:26.520 you just don't feel good. You know, your head is 0:47:26.560 --> 0:47:29.040 not really in it, You're not seeing the floor super well, 0:47:29.160 --> 0:47:32.160 your energy levels low, whatever that reason maybe. And I 0:47:32.200 --> 0:47:34.440 thought it was interesting that Lebron came out with low 0:47:34.560 --> 0:47:38.480 energy tonight because it was you know, it was the 0:47:38.600 --> 0:47:41.600 type of game against Atlanta, the you know, a team 0:47:41.640 --> 0:47:43.719 that made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last year 0:47:43.840 --> 0:47:47.279 on national TV. Against another star player like Trey Young, 0:47:47.880 --> 0:47:49.799 you think he would have come out with a little 0:47:49.800 --> 0:47:52.799 bit more urgency. Um, they're not worried about it by 0:47:52.840 --> 0:47:55.160 any search of imagination. It just was weird, you know, 0:47:55.400 --> 0:47:57.880 and like and it also could have been you know, 0:47:58.200 --> 0:48:02.000 Lebron also has a tendency when when when his teammates 0:48:02.040 --> 0:48:04.799 are really going, he has a tendency to pull off 0:48:04.920 --> 0:48:07.400 the gas a little bit. That's you know, famously, if 0:48:07.400 --> 0:48:09.400 you guys remember you remember the game that Avery Bradley 0:48:09.480 --> 0:48:12.080 hit the game winner against the Calves in two seventeen 0:48:12.680 --> 0:48:15.880 UM in that series where the Calves were just beating 0:48:15.960 --> 0:48:18.480 the living ship out of them every game, and then 0:48:18.600 --> 0:48:21.920 game three back in Cleveland, they just had a clunker 0:48:22.040 --> 0:48:24.719 and Avery Bradley made a game winner. They were like 0:48:24.800 --> 0:48:26.280 hit the front of the rim and like bound stop 0:48:26.320 --> 0:48:30.440 and went in. In that game, everybody remembers Lebron being horrible, 0:48:30.560 --> 0:48:34.279 and he was, but both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love 0:48:34.360 --> 0:48:37.680 We're going off in that game. They both were efficient 0:48:38.200 --> 0:48:41.359 and through three quarters at twenty something points and both 0:48:41.400 --> 0:48:43.920 of them were killing it. Lebron has a tendency in 0:48:44.000 --> 0:48:46.240 his history like when guys are really going, and Avery 0:48:46.280 --> 0:48:48.839 Bradley and Malik Monk were on fire in that game. 0:48:49.480 --> 0:48:51.360 I think he might have just been kind of reading 0:48:51.440 --> 0:48:54.920 the tea leaves a little bit and being like, yeah, like, 0:48:55.000 --> 0:48:57.480 oh they gotta going, Like I might be able to 0:48:57.560 --> 0:48:59.839 chill tonight, you know, like if it might have been 0:48:59.840 --> 0:49:01.840 one those kinds of things. But I'm not sure what 0:49:01.960 --> 0:49:05.239 the reason was, but it definitely was unusual in my 0:49:05.320 --> 0:49:08.839 opinion that he came out with low energy after having 0:49:08.880 --> 0:49:11.920 that extra night off. Yeah, that's that's definitely what I 0:49:12.080 --> 0:49:14.040 saw more of it as I thought, you know, he 0:49:14.080 --> 0:49:16.560 saw that Leek Monk was going crazy, Avery Bradley was 0:49:16.840 --> 0:49:19.879 scoring at a was hitting his shots. Also, the Hawks 0:49:19.960 --> 0:49:21.880 kind of have They're not a great defense, but I 0:49:21.960 --> 0:49:24.279 think they do have bigger players where it's a little 0:49:24.320 --> 0:49:26.800 harder to attack them, just in transition, especially with his 0:49:26.880 --> 0:49:28.600 three pointer not going. I think it was like one 0:49:28.680 --> 0:49:31.759 for five from three and the upcoming bad threes too. Man, 0:49:31.840 --> 0:49:34.640 he was jacking some crappy three. Yeah, he was taking 0:49:34.640 --> 0:49:36.560 a little bit tougher shots coming off screen rolls and 0:49:36.640 --> 0:49:38.120 just and just firing. But you know, that's kind of 0:49:38.160 --> 0:49:39.879 how he can kind of load manage instead of having 0:49:39.880 --> 0:49:42.120 to attack the Rim at the rate that he needs to. 0:49:42.239 --> 0:49:44.399 That he could if you wanted to. But I thought 0:49:44.440 --> 0:49:46.560 that's more of what it was. I thought Capella and 0:49:46.680 --> 0:49:48.520 you know Collins as well, there's a kind of big, 0:49:48.640 --> 0:49:50.560 kind of dudes that are the kind of archetype that 0:49:50.760 --> 0:49:54.200 was theoretically put on Lebron. They're not going to stop him, 0:49:54.400 --> 0:49:55.800 but a little bit better. You know, Capella is a 0:49:55.840 --> 0:49:57.880 big guy who can also protect the rim. Just I 0:49:57.920 --> 0:49:59.560 don't think they wanted to attack but leron and the 0:49:59.600 --> 0:50:04.560 fourth seventeen points he looked unfazed to me, like like, 0:50:04.680 --> 0:50:07.120 I don't like, I don't think he feared this. Like 0:50:07.239 --> 0:50:09.440 nothing against the Hawgs. Again, I'm really high on them. 0:50:09.520 --> 0:50:12.120 I just don't think he feared this defense at all, 0:50:12.239 --> 0:50:14.400 like he knew what he knew. He can get to 0:50:14.520 --> 0:50:16.120 his spot at any time. And I was watching that 0:50:16.200 --> 0:50:18.719 fourth quarter, I was like, man, he just does not care, 0:50:18.840 --> 0:50:21.440 like he does not fear this Hawgs defense at all. 0:50:21.480 --> 0:50:22.840 They threw him and he was asking for it. In 0:50:22.880 --> 0:50:25.160 the post. John Collins, you know, is all up for it, 0:50:25.280 --> 0:50:26.840 is like you know, in his stands and it's like 0:50:27.080 --> 0:50:30.000 ready to defend it. Lebron just you know, without a sweat, 0:50:30.120 --> 0:50:33.240 just two dribbles, back down, step back, fadeaway jumper. Switsch 0:50:33.400 --> 0:50:35.560 goes back the other way like like it's nothing like 0:50:35.640 --> 0:50:37.719 it was a preseason game. Like that's he's like, this 0:50:37.880 --> 0:50:39.400 is what I do. And that's kind of more what 0:50:39.520 --> 0:50:41.680 I saw it turned up late obviously had the dunk 0:50:41.920 --> 0:50:44.879 in transition, but the fadeaway jumpers to me, the jab 0:50:44.960 --> 0:50:47.200 step pull up jumpers, like that's he was just in 0:50:47.280 --> 0:50:49.560 a groove. I think he kind of understands that he 0:50:49.600 --> 0:50:51.200 can get to a spot. And that's more what I 0:50:51.239 --> 0:50:53.120 saw it. Now, he was able to kind of walk 0:50:53.200 --> 0:50:55.640 through this first half. I thought. Defensively though, he was good, 0:50:55.800 --> 0:50:58.239 Like I thought he was pretty engaged defensively through the 0:50:58.280 --> 0:51:00.520 full night. I just offensively and the fourth quarter. I 0:51:00.560 --> 0:51:02.560 think he had thirteen points or something for the first 0:51:02.600 --> 0:51:05.040 three quarters. In that fourth quarter, just giving the ball 0:51:05.080 --> 0:51:07.560 on the post, giving ball, you know, high post, let 0:51:07.600 --> 0:51:10.640 me just back down quick, two dribbles, fadeaway, jumper, jab 0:51:10.680 --> 0:51:13.200 step jumper. Games over. So that's kind of more what 0:51:13.320 --> 0:51:16.840 I saw, at least from him. I thought he closed 0:51:16.840 --> 0:51:20.920 it out again in the fourth. Yeah, I disagree with 0:51:20.960 --> 0:51:26.480 you on defense. I thought he mailed in a considerable number. Um. 0:51:26.760 --> 0:51:29.799 That said, like when he was dialed in defensively tonight, 0:51:29.840 --> 0:51:33.279 he made plays. Um. But you know, there's there's there's 0:51:33.320 --> 0:51:36.279 also a really positive way to look through this. Like, 0:51:36.880 --> 0:51:39.680 you know, you look back at Michael Jordan when he 0:51:39.760 --> 0:51:41.960 was with the Wizards. You know, do you think of 0:51:42.040 --> 0:51:44.800 a typical older player in the league, even Kobe and 0:51:44.920 --> 0:51:49.000 his you know, a farewell tour Usually for guys who 0:51:49.040 --> 0:51:51.560 were this late in their career, with this much mileage. 0:51:51.640 --> 0:51:54.360 It's more of like a oh, I really haven't tonight, 0:51:54.480 --> 0:51:56.239 so I'm gonna get thirty, you know what I mean. 0:51:56.800 --> 0:52:00.400 So for for Lebron to basically try for all of 0:52:00.440 --> 0:52:03.759 about ten minutes of the last two games, literally, to 0:52:03.920 --> 0:52:06.400 have tried for all of about ten minutes and to 0:52:06.520 --> 0:52:11.040 be averaging over thirty on on efficient shooting like there's 0:52:11.400 --> 0:52:15.439 there's it's it's kind of wild that he can kind 0:52:15.480 --> 0:52:18.160 of coast his way through a game and put up 0:52:18.160 --> 0:52:21.000 the numbers that he does. But hey, that's that's lebron Man. 0:52:21.120 --> 0:52:24.239 He's you know, the first second best player ever. I 0:52:24.280 --> 0:52:26.120 don't know, maybe that's that's just what this looks like. 0:52:26.760 --> 0:52:28.880 He's that thirty three points per game or something for 0:52:28.960 --> 0:52:32.319 the last ten games out it's insane. It's insane. He's 0:52:32.400 --> 0:52:34.680 he's carried the team. So yeah, and in in a 0:52:34.760 --> 0:52:38.600 winning concept, I think over their last I want to say, 0:52:38.680 --> 0:52:43.440 in their last sixteen games, there um nine and seven 0:52:43.520 --> 0:52:46.719 if I remember correctly, So I mean there and that's 0:52:46.800 --> 0:52:50.480 with just that's nine and seven over the last sixteen games. 0:52:50.960 --> 0:52:53.120 And you've got three and a half games out of 0:52:53.120 --> 0:52:57.320 Anthony Davis and you and you got all sorts of 0:52:57.360 --> 0:53:01.080 COVID suspensions that just completely railroaded this season. And I 0:53:01.200 --> 0:53:04.040 could point to Brooklyn as a game they very easily 0:53:04.040 --> 0:53:06.760 could have won. Memphis was a game they very easily 0:53:06.760 --> 0:53:08.840 could have won. There there were games in that stretch 0:53:08.920 --> 0:53:12.120 that they very easily could have won. And so I mean, 0:53:12.239 --> 0:53:14.879 it's it's pretty it's pretty wild. I just I mean, 0:53:15.160 --> 0:53:18.719 you know, I I as a fan, I get annoyed 0:53:18.800 --> 0:53:21.319 watching nights like tonight because I'm like, come on, man, 0:53:21.440 --> 0:53:24.359 like this team is hanging around, like let's just put 0:53:24.480 --> 0:53:26.800 him away. But at the same time, like you know, 0:53:27.239 --> 0:53:30.399 like I I get it, I get it in terms 0:53:30.480 --> 0:53:34.840 of the dregs of the regular season and keeping your energy, 0:53:34.960 --> 0:53:38.080 energy level up. But you know, I just hope especially 0:53:38.400 --> 0:53:39.800 the one thing that worried me a little bit is 0:53:40.080 --> 0:53:43.520 especially on those shots in the first quarter, he didn't 0:53:43.520 --> 0:53:45.560 seem to have great lift. I don't know if you 0:53:45.640 --> 0:53:48.040 noticed that, just like he was he was leaving the 0:53:48.080 --> 0:53:50.080 jumper short and he won't getting a great lift. That 0:53:50.640 --> 0:53:52.799 I hope he's not, like, you know, dealing with an 0:53:52.800 --> 0:53:56.120 ankle or something like that, because that because that could 0:53:56.160 --> 0:53:59.000 get a little nervous. But I'm hopeful that that he'll 0:53:59.000 --> 0:54:00.200 be all right. You know. You know how is with 0:54:00.280 --> 0:54:02.560 lebron to like it's always like he feeds off of 0:54:02.640 --> 0:54:05.000 the crowd a little bit. Like he you could tell 0:54:05.080 --> 0:54:06.920 he got his pep in his step when he had 0:54:06.960 --> 0:54:08.640 that alley you but it was after he had made 0:54:08.640 --> 0:54:10.960 a few shots, and I was like, okay, I'm here now. 0:54:11.200 --> 0:54:13.360 The same thing happened against Sacramento. He hit back to 0:54:13.440 --> 0:54:15.799 back threes, and when he hit back to back threees, 0:54:15.840 --> 0:54:18.480 he was pointing to the crowd mixing, you know, like, oh, 0:54:18.800 --> 0:54:21.719 he's completely engaged and completely checked into the game. So 0:54:21.880 --> 0:54:26.279 I mean, I guess we should keep it positive in 0:54:26.360 --> 0:54:28.239 that regard. I just, I just I just thought it 0:54:28.320 --> 0:54:30.160 was a little strange as all. Did you have anything 0:54:30.200 --> 0:54:32.560 else on your list that you wanted to do tonight? Uh? Yeah, 0:54:32.640 --> 0:54:34.560 last thing. I just want to give a Bradley his flaws. 0:54:34.640 --> 0:54:37.359 Man got his contract guaranteed tonight. He gets a lot 0:54:37.400 --> 0:54:39.560 of crap, I think from Laker fans. You know, he's 0:54:39.800 --> 0:54:41.920 he's putting different lineups and stuff. I thought he did 0:54:41.960 --> 0:54:43.920 a great job on Trey Young, like I thought when 0:54:43.960 --> 0:54:45.839 he picked up his third foul and he went out, 0:54:45.880 --> 0:54:47.640 I thought that really impacted the game. I thought Trey 0:54:47.680 --> 0:54:49.720 Young got freed up a little bit. But he's shooting 0:54:49.800 --> 0:54:51.879 like crazy. Like, I don't know what more you could 0:54:51.920 --> 0:54:54.080 ask of Badley, So I just want to give him 0:54:54.160 --> 0:54:56.879 his flowers. He's been playing really well these last few 0:54:57.160 --> 0:54:59.920 last few games. He's shooting I think from three now 0:55:00.000 --> 0:55:02.600 out for the season. Just a professional, right, I think 0:55:02.640 --> 0:55:04.440 that's what we call him a lot of times. Just 0:55:04.520 --> 0:55:06.760 a professional guy. Plays hard. You don't have to worry about, 0:55:06.840 --> 0:55:08.759 you know, his effort or how hard he plays. All 0:55:08.800 --> 0:55:11.080 that stuff is just you just you just know what 0:55:11.160 --> 0:55:12.920 you're getting from him. So I just want to give 0:55:13.000 --> 0:55:15.879 him a shout out there big time, you know, offensive game. 0:55:16.320 --> 0:55:17.719 He's picked it up. He's one of the guys that 0:55:18.000 --> 0:55:20.560 has continued to start. We have a plethora of guards 0:55:20.600 --> 0:55:22.759 and he continues to just you know, beat all of 0:55:22.840 --> 0:55:25.000 them out for starting lineup spots. So I just want 0:55:25.000 --> 0:55:28.320 to give him, give him some credit, ball ball ball, pressure, 0:55:28.440 --> 0:55:31.960 point of attack, high level guard, and I think that's 0:55:32.000 --> 0:55:35.240 he's a valuable member to this team. Yeah, he deserves 0:55:35.280 --> 0:55:36.920 that credit. Man. He was on the verge of being 0:55:36.960 --> 0:55:39.560 out of the league. There's a version of that. There's 0:55:39.560 --> 0:55:44.040 a version of that scenario where the Warriors society to 0:55:44.200 --> 0:55:47.480 cut him. There, you waive him and because they want 0:55:47.480 --> 0:55:50.400 to sign Garry Paane Jr. And the Lakers, maybe Kendrick 0:55:50.480 --> 0:55:53.279 Nunn doesn't get hurt, you know, and and he could 0:55:53.280 --> 0:55:56.520 be out of the league, and and he gets set 0:55:56.600 --> 0:55:59.560 up to absolutely fail because he gets thrown in and 0:55:59.600 --> 0:56:02.400 all these DeAndre Jordan's lineups, you know, like that. That 0:56:02.520 --> 0:56:04.720 was one of the weirdest little phenomena of the season, 0:56:05.280 --> 0:56:07.799 was looking looking at the line up data and be like, man, 0:56:08.239 --> 0:56:10.640 every time Avery Bradley's out there, we suck. And then 0:56:10.719 --> 0:56:12.680 like it's like wait, wait, wait, but what what about 0:56:12.719 --> 0:56:14.800 when DJ it's not out there, It's like, oh, we're awesome, 0:56:15.000 --> 0:56:17.759 you know, like you're like, okay, remember we had like 0:56:17.920 --> 0:56:21.880 remember we had like Rondo Westbrook Bradley forgotten was like 0:56:21.960 --> 0:56:24.600 Bradley was like the Bradley was like the power forward 0:56:24.640 --> 0:56:26.920 in one of those laps are some way. It's just 0:56:27.239 --> 0:56:29.560 it's funny what we've kind of and that's also because 0:56:29.600 --> 0:56:31.200 guys are out and stuff. But I think it's funny 0:56:31.239 --> 0:56:32.880 to kind of see but you see he's striving now 0:56:33.000 --> 0:56:34.960 for sure. Well that's back to your point, like this 0:56:35.080 --> 0:56:38.120 is a completely different team, Like I I don't know, yeah, 0:56:38.280 --> 0:56:39.840 it's just it's just still to me and like I 0:56:39.920 --> 0:56:43.360 can't get over how many people at points during the 0:56:43.400 --> 0:56:47.160 season wanted to, you know, point out like there was 0:56:47.239 --> 0:56:49.239 someone on Twitter I can't remember who it was. It 0:56:49.320 --> 0:56:51.360 was like, oh, did Milik Monks save the season. And 0:56:51.800 --> 0:56:54.120 don't get me wrong, Milik Monk's been awesome, but it's like, no, no, no. 0:56:54.400 --> 0:56:59.120 What happened is the Lakers have a functional basketball roster now, Like, 0:56:59.560 --> 0:57:03.640 instead up playing three to four guards with Anthony Davis 0:57:03.719 --> 0:57:06.839 by himself or with Lebron by himself, we are now 0:57:06.960 --> 0:57:11.120 playing two or three forwards alongside guards who can guard 0:57:11.160 --> 0:57:13.440 at the point of attack and shoot, and with Lebron 0:57:13.560 --> 0:57:16.320 at the helm like we we are running even without 0:57:16.360 --> 0:57:19.800 Anthony Davis. We are running far more functional basketball lineup 0:57:20.240 --> 0:57:23.160 then we were to start the season. And that's directly 0:57:23.240 --> 0:57:25.880 related to us succeeding. And you know, I don't wanna 0:57:26.320 --> 0:57:30.480 look man like. The Lakers also didn't bring enough intensity 0:57:30.520 --> 0:57:33.320 to start the season. They were shitty and training camp 0:57:34.040 --> 0:57:37.200 they I think they lost every preseason game. In those 0:57:37.280 --> 0:57:39.520 preseason games, they look blacks of days ago, even when 0:57:39.640 --> 0:57:42.040 Kendrick numb is playing. So I like, I don't wanna 0:57:42.240 --> 0:57:45.400 undersell any of that. The Lakers did not approach this 0:57:45.520 --> 0:57:49.680 season with the right level of intensity. Frank was all 0:57:49.800 --> 0:57:52.320 over the place with his lineup decisions to start the year, 0:57:52.400 --> 0:57:55.200 even when we were healthy. So it wasn't perfect by 0:57:55.240 --> 0:57:59.160 any stretch, but you could just throw all that away 0:57:59.560 --> 0:58:04.000 because because we consistently play hard over the over the 0:58:04.040 --> 0:58:07.280 course of this last month, we've consistently played hard at 0:58:07.720 --> 0:58:10.160 a completely different level than we did to start the season, 0:58:10.600 --> 0:58:13.640 and we're just playing completely different guys. So I mean, 0:58:13.680 --> 0:58:16.120 and even when Anthony Davis comes back, I think we're 0:58:16.160 --> 0:58:18.600 going to play a completely different style with Lebron and 0:58:18.640 --> 0:58:21.280 Nad than we did in years past. So I think 0:58:21.640 --> 0:58:24.080 I think we all need to kind of like we 0:58:24.120 --> 0:58:26.120 almost need that Men in Black stick thing where you 0:58:26.200 --> 0:58:27.800 hit the button and you just see race your memory. 0:58:27.840 --> 0:58:29.440 We need to just kind of like forget any of 0:58:29.520 --> 0:58:34.040 that happened. Obviously there are ramifications with the standings, but this, 0:58:34.320 --> 0:58:36.360 this team needs to be kind of re evaluated from 0:58:36.400 --> 0:58:39.840 ground zero at this point. Yep, No, I agree with 0:58:39.920 --> 0:58:41.800 brand new team. I don't think you can throw all out. 0:58:41.840 --> 0:58:43.200 But at least I gave us, you know, a lot 0:58:43.280 --> 0:58:45.360 of data points to kind of point out what does 0:58:45.440 --> 0:58:47.880 and doesn't work, And obviously DeAndre is the big one 0:58:47.920 --> 0:58:49.800 that stood out, but I think there's other stuff from 0:58:49.800 --> 0:58:51.600 there as well that we kind of learned. Obviously, those 0:58:51.640 --> 0:58:54.320 three guard line ups, putting russ next to shooting, putting 0:58:54.400 --> 0:58:57.480 Lebron and Rush together, you know, more small bot line us. 0:58:57.520 --> 0:58:59.520 But yeah, man, brand new team. I don't want to 0:58:59.560 --> 0:59:01.360 say brand new season, but it feels like a brand 0:59:01.400 --> 0:59:03.440 new team. It feels like a brand new team for sure, 0:59:03.480 --> 0:59:05.480 and hopefully we can you know, Memphis, to me, it 0:59:05.560 --> 0:59:08.360 feels like what's it called? Like, if you can get 0:59:08.400 --> 0:59:10.480 that game, that's great. Just you know, if you can 0:59:10.520 --> 0:59:12.520 compete in that one out time we have Memphis is 0:59:12.960 --> 0:59:15.440 legit to me. They're really good team. So if you 0:59:15.440 --> 0:59:17.600 can get that one, that'd be great about just hoping 0:59:17.720 --> 0:59:19.240 kind of compete in that one. But yeah, this is 0:59:19.280 --> 0:59:20.720 a this is a good one, man. We can kind 0:59:20.720 --> 0:59:22.440 of build off of it. Yeah, it's a good it's 0:59:22.440 --> 0:59:24.680 a good building block for sure. Memphis will be a challenge, 0:59:24.760 --> 0:59:26.720 but we can beat them. We just have to play 0:59:26.800 --> 0:59:29.320 better than we did last time. Alright, guys, this is 0:59:29.440 --> 0:59:31.120 going This will not be on Desh right now because 0:59:31.120 --> 0:59:33.480 it's a weekend. This will be on our podcast feed 0:59:33.560 --> 0:59:36.120 here in about twenty minutes or so. Roger and I 0:59:36.240 --> 0:59:39.120 will be back for our normal postgame show on Sunday 0:59:39.120 --> 0:59:42.000 against Memphis. Thank you as always for the support, and 0:59:42.080 --> 0:59:44.760 we will see you guys in a couple of days. Thanks, 0:59:44.800 --> 0:59:45.760 everyone appreciate it.