Speaker 1: Welcome into NBA Pulse, or production of iHeartRadio in the NBA.
Speaker 1: I'm Saracustack, NBA analysts for the S Network, and today
Speaker 1: is Monday, March twenty seventh. From our incredible core group
Speaker 1: of NBA journalists, we're joined now by John Schumann and Schue.
Speaker 1: You've got your Power rankings out this week, and it
Speaker 1: is a great dig and I know we often, as
Speaker 1: I will right now go through the top five and
Speaker 1: go through the numbers, but all the details, the notes,
Speaker 1: the insights on these teams that we get a chance
Speaker 1: to really dig into. Do you ever sleep not on
Speaker 1: Sunday nights? No, Yo, I'm looking at this and it's
Speaker 1: good stuff. Obviously, given the background of some of this
Speaker 1: movement with these teams, especially as we head towards this
Speaker 1: final stretch of the season, have such a large, large
Speaker 1: sample size of what they've been doing, how they've been playing.
Speaker 1: Milwaukee in that number one spot moves up from number two,
Speaker 1: Boston is number Boston is at two, moving up from
Speaker 1: number three. Philadelphia is at three, drop from the top spot,
Speaker 1: and then Denver remains at four, with Cleveland at five.
Speaker 1: But I want to talk about one of the teams
Speaker 1: that is not moving up towards the top of the
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks. They are struggling. They have lost four straight,
Speaker 1: seven of their last nine, not to mention that they
Speaker 1: just lost to the Charlotte Hornets one ten, one or
Speaker 1: four with both Luca Done and Kyrie Irving playing. Luca
Speaker 1: had forty twelve and eight, Kyrie with eighteen and four.
Speaker 1: They've got two losses to the Hornets. They're sitting in
Speaker 1: the eleventh in the West. And I said it, both
Speaker 1: Luca and Kyrie are playing. So three and eight with
Speaker 1: both of those guys. What is going on with the
Speaker 1: Mavericks and what do they do at this point? I mean,
Speaker 1: I think what they do is they try to be better.
Speaker 1: But it's pretty amazing. So they're three and eight with
Speaker 1: both Done and Irving in the lineup. For the most part,
Speaker 1: defense has been the issue, although these two games against
Speaker 1: the Hornets this weekend were more about ugly offense. But
Speaker 1: the amazing thing is they're three and eight with these
Speaker 1: guys in lines. All eight losses have been been within
Speaker 1: five points in the last five minutes, so they they've
Speaker 1: all been close. Now. The first loss to Charlotte was
Speaker 1: only within five in the last five because they were
Speaker 1: down seven or eight and got a bucket in the
Speaker 1: last minute and made it made it a quote unquote
Speaker 1: clutch game. But the other thing is, so you say, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, all eight have been within five in the
Speaker 1: last five. You know, maybe they just need to clean
Speaker 1: a couple of things up, and they're right there. But
Speaker 1: the other thing is that only three of those eight
Speaker 1: losses came against teams that are currently over five hundred.
Speaker 1: There was one to Sacramento, one to Minnesota, and one
Speaker 1: to Phoenix, and then the other five losses were to
Speaker 1: the Lakers, to the Pacers, to the Pelicans, and then
Speaker 1: two to the Hornets. So while you know a lot
Speaker 1: they've all been close, you could also say that they
Speaker 1: should not be going into clutch time or playing a
Speaker 1: close game against the Pacers and the Hornets and even
Speaker 1: the Pelicans who are who've been playing a little bit
Speaker 1: better of late, but still our team they need to
Speaker 1: beat if they want to even make the play in
Speaker 1: in the Western Conference at this point. What about a
Speaker 1: team on the other side of things that's been trending upwards,
Speaker 1: the Memphis Grizzlies. They've won nine of ten, they are
Speaker 1: in that second place spot, two games ahead of the
Speaker 1: Sacramento Kings. It was not long ago that we had
Speaker 1: some question marks about how they would look, what the
Speaker 1: rest of the season would look like for them, and
Speaker 1: now they have been rolling nice when last night against
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Hawks, and good balance among their starters as
Speaker 1: well with the type of production they were getting. What's
Speaker 1: been working so well for the Grizzlies lately it's been offense.
Speaker 1: You know, they've won nine out of ten and they've
Speaker 1: had the number one offense in the league over that stretch,
Speaker 1: and they're doing it without Steven Adams, who is the
Speaker 1: guy that's you know, they generates a lot of second
Speaker 1: chances for them. That's how they generate a lot of offenses.
Speaker 1: Fast breaks, you know, drives to the paint, and then
Speaker 1: second chances where you know, John Morant attacks, draws help
Speaker 1: and Steven Adams is there behind the help to sort
Speaker 1: of clean up and finish. And we don't know if
Speaker 1: if Adams is going to play again this season at
Speaker 1: this point, or at least in the regular season, but
Speaker 1: what they've been doing without all those second chances is
Speaker 1: they've been shooting more threes and they've got four guys
Speaker 1: that have shot really well from beyond the arc over
Speaker 1: this stretch, Desmond Bane, Dylan Brooks, Tias Jones, Luke Canard.
Speaker 1: Canard at ten threes and when the Grizzlies hit a
Speaker 1: franchise record twenty five against the Rockets the other night,
Speaker 1: Canard had ten, which was three more than the Rockets
Speaker 1: had by total. And so basically, but prior to the stretch,
Speaker 1: they were twenty second in three point rate, meaning the
Speaker 1: percentage of their shots that have come from three point range.
Speaker 1: During the stretch there they's seventh U with forty two
Speaker 1: percent of their shots coming from beyond the arc. He
Speaker 1: burries that, and that's a big thing. You know. Jaren
Speaker 1: Jackson still isn't shooting particularly well from three point range,
Speaker 1: but he's he's turned up his offense quite a bit,
Speaker 1: especially in the paint um. And then if they've got
Speaker 1: these other guys shooting shooting the ball well, but then
Speaker 1: they can have a little bit more balanced offense, they
Speaker 1: can be a little bit more potent on that end
Speaker 1: of the floor. And I think Dylan Brooks, uh maybe
Speaker 1: finding a rhythm could be huge just because of how
Speaker 1: important he is to their defense um. And so if
Speaker 1: he can provide a little bit of shooting and not
Speaker 1: just shoot like thirty one thirty two percent from beyond
Speaker 1: the arc, then that can be a huge development for them.
Speaker 1: How do you view their chances in winning the West?
Speaker 1: I If I look at them in a vacuum, I'm
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be too excited. But when I look at
Speaker 1: them in the context of the Western Conference and how
Speaker 1: wide open it is, then I think they have basically
Speaker 1: as good as shot as anybody really. Um you know,
Speaker 1: when you have Denver that you know feels a little
Speaker 1: bit flawed, Sacramento obviously flawed with the with the pretty
Speaker 1: bad defense. Golden State we know, just isn't as good
Speaker 1: as they were as they were last year. The Clippers
Speaker 1: now missing Paul George and just haven't been that great. Um.
Speaker 1: So I think it's wide open, and I wouldn't so
Speaker 1: if you're if you're one of the teams that's there,
Speaker 1: and especially if you're gonna have home court advantage through
Speaker 1: the first two rounds, you're in decent shape. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be fun to watch on the final stretch here
Speaker 1: what happens to the Western Conference. And also we are
Speaker 1: very interested in what's happening in the MVP race. A
Speaker 1: couple showdowns here coming up, including one tonight on a
Speaker 1: TV as Joel Embiid in the seventy six ers visit
Speaker 1: Nicola Yokich and the Denver Nuggets. We'll get to that
Speaker 1: right after the break. Welcome back to NBA Pulse, Sarah,
Speaker 1: who stop joined by John Schumann and Schue. We got
Speaker 1: a good one tonight on NBA TV nine thirty Eastern.
Speaker 1: It tips off as Philadelphia is at Denver and two
Speaker 1: MVP showdowns for Joel Embiid, who currently sits a top
Speaker 1: of Michael c writes Kia MVP Ladder that number one
Speaker 1: spot with Yoki two and Jannis at three. So uh, Embiid.
Speaker 1: We'll see Yokis here tonight and then moving ahead this
Speaker 1: weekend he'll get a chance to see the Milwaukee Bucks
Speaker 1: and Yannis data Kumpo. But looking at tonight's matchup, what
Speaker 1: do you look for? I know I'm talking here about
Speaker 1: the MVP brace, but what do you look for out
Speaker 1: of this matchup and just in the context of what
Speaker 1: it means at this point of the season. Well, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to try to make any conclusions. I think
Speaker 1: I've like taken a step back just because of the
Speaker 1: toxicity of the conversation. I've taken a whole like personally
Speaker 1: as a voter, I've taken a step backwards from the
Speaker 1: whole thing and just try not to think about the
Speaker 1: MVP too much until we get to the end of
Speaker 1: next week. But I think it's it's a big game
Speaker 1: for both first for both teams Denver. Denver has a
Speaker 1: has a good, a decent lead at the top of
Speaker 1: the West, but still has some business to take care of.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like, it's kind of fun because it's
Speaker 1: kind of been like a round robin of MBP candidates
Speaker 1: because Denver beat Milwaukee the other night with Yokich having
Speaker 1: a really good game against brook Lope Defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Year candidate brook Lopez. He shot really well against
Speaker 1: Lopez in the paint. And so now we get Yoki
Speaker 1: versus MBID for the second time. We know that Embiad
Speaker 1: had a huge, huge game against Yoki in Philly earlier
Speaker 1: in the season. Forty seven points, eighteen rebounds, three steals,
Speaker 1: two blocks, five assists. There's embiid shot clock down to five,
Speaker 1: wants to take Yo catch step back three forty seven
Speaker 1: poor Joel, and I think obviously he's gonna care. I
Speaker 1: think one thing we know Joe and b cares about
Speaker 1: the MVP award because one he's dealing with a calf issue,
Speaker 1: but he's still played in twenty seven or the Sixers
Speaker 1: last twenty eight games, including both ends of their last
Speaker 1: three back to backs. I think those were all opportunities
Speaker 1: for him to get arrest if he wanted one, or
Speaker 1: if they felt like that he needed one. But the
Speaker 1: fact that he's playing through all of this tells us
Speaker 1: that he's a little bit motivated in regard to his
Speaker 1: individual play. And I think we'll see probably see that
Speaker 1: play out on Monday night, and then of course Buck Sixers.
Speaker 1: We're also gonna get Bucks Celtics. So like there's a
Speaker 1: little Eastern Conference round robin going on over the next
Speaker 1: few days too, where we get Buck Celtics sixers and
Speaker 1: then Sixer Celtics next week. Yeah, what is that? What
Speaker 1: are you looking forward to with that? Just some clarity
Speaker 1: potentially at the top of the East especially you mentioned
Speaker 1: Bucks Celtics Thursday on TNT Calves could they move past
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia seventy six ers. What do you look for
Speaker 1: at the top of the Eastern Conference. Yeah, we've kind
Speaker 1: of assumed that those three teams are at the top,
Speaker 1: and these three games will obviously offer some more clarity.
Speaker 1: There's still you know, the Bucks are two games ahead
Speaker 1: of the Celtics, who are two games ahead in the
Speaker 1: lost column ahead of the Sixers. But with all these
Speaker 1: head to head meetings, you know, anything could happen, really.
Speaker 1: But one thing, you know, if you take a look
Speaker 1: at the sixers remaining schedule, with these games against the
Speaker 1: Bucks and the Celtics, and also they have a game
Speaker 1: against Miami, they have a game against Brooklyn, they have Denver. Obviously,
Speaker 1: as we talked about on Monday, they've got a tough schedule.
Speaker 1: And if you look at Cleveland's schedule, they have six
Speaker 1: games left and only one of them is against the
Speaker 1: team with the winning record, and that's a home game
Speaker 1: against the Knicks on Friday. So Cleveland could possibly win
Speaker 1: out and if they do that, then the Sixers have
Speaker 1: to beat one or two of these other good teams
Speaker 1: in order to avoid falling into fourth. And then of
Speaker 1: course falling into fourth means you know, playing the one
Speaker 1: seed in the second round, it means having a tougher
Speaker 1: first round matchup, and then you know, things get a
Speaker 1: little tricky. We've we've sort of assumed that it's one, two, three,
Speaker 1: and you just want to be first and those that
Speaker 1: two and if you're third, you're probably in the worst
Speaker 1: shape because you're you know, playing a tough opponent on
Speaker 1: the road in the second round. But there's still a
Speaker 1: chance for Cleveland to sneak up, especially after after having
Speaker 1: a pretty good week last week with those two wins
Speaker 1: over Brooklyn. Yeah, absolutely, over to the West with how
Speaker 1: things are shaken out in a couple on the end,
Speaker 1: Lebron James returned for the Lakers last night. They lost
Speaker 1: those to the Bulls. They're currently sitting in that ninth
Speaker 1: place spot. We'll soak it in right now because Lebron,
Speaker 1: it's common in the game. The Phoenix Suns expect DeAndre
Speaker 1: Ayton and Kevin Durant back this week. They're currently sitting
Speaker 1: fourth in the West. Those stars, that star power for
Speaker 1: both those teams. I know they're in different positions, But
Speaker 1: what did you see in the return of Lebron James
Speaker 1: here for the Lakers and what that could mean for them?
Speaker 1: And additionally, those two guys coming back for the Suns
Speaker 1: at this point of the year. It's funny like, well,
Speaker 1: you'll still still here. Lots of people say that, you know,
Speaker 1: nobody wants to face the Lakers, but we still just
Speaker 1: haven't seen them play well for any kind of extended period.
Speaker 1: You know, right now, they're one game under five hundred
Speaker 1: overall thirty seven and thirty eight, and they're also one
Speaker 1: game under five hundred fourteen and fifteen in games in
Speaker 1: which they've had both Lebron James and Anthony Davis. So
Speaker 1: we still haven't seen them. Really they put it together,
Speaker 1: you know, Sunday was an opportunity, but they lost to Chicago,
Speaker 1: and let's just say Chicago's been really really good since
Speaker 1: the All Star Break. Going back to Denver for a second.
Speaker 1: One fun thing this week is that they'll play to
Speaker 1: a couple of potential second round previews this week because
Speaker 1: they play at Phoenix on Friday, when the Suns could
Speaker 1: have both Eton and Durant back, and then they'll host
Speaker 1: the Warriors on Sunday. So those are two teams that
Speaker 1: could finish four or five perhaps in the West. That
Speaker 1: would be an incredible first round matchup first of all,
Speaker 1: but then that's also you know, a potential danger spot
Speaker 1: for Denver in the second round if they face one
Speaker 1: of those two teams. So it'll be fun to see
Speaker 1: them play both of those two teams later this week. Yeah,
Speaker 1: without a doubt, fun time a year in shoe as
Speaker 1: always fun to have you on. As I mentioned, power
Speaker 1: rankings out again this week. But all the details and
Speaker 1: nuggets of notes, everything about these teams and what's been
Speaker 1: happening with them is the good stuff, the good good stuff.
Speaker 1: So thanks so much as always for being here with us. Oh,
Speaker 1: go go go Virginia Tech. The Hokies big game tonight
Speaker 1: against Ohio State. I'm nervous, are you? I'm excited? Yes?
Speaker 1: Final four would be pretty pretty pretty cool for a
Speaker 1: team for a school that's never been there, either on
Speaker 1: either either men's or women's side. Channeling, channeling all the
Speaker 1: good juju your way, your way into the Hokies way.
Speaker 1: I have a good one. Show. We appreciate you. I
Speaker 1: Mean A Pulse with Sara Kustack is a production of
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