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Speaker 1: in West Virginia. All right, welcome to Hoops to Night,
Speaker 1: presented by FANDOL here at the volume. Happy Saturday, everybody.
Speaker 1: I hope all of you guys had an incredible week
Speaker 1: and that you have big plans for the weekend. We're
Speaker 1: gonna touch on six games this morning and varying capacities.
Speaker 1: Some games I watched the whole game, Other games I
Speaker 1: was only able to catch crunch time. You guys know
Speaker 1: the drill when there's that many games going on in
Speaker 1: one night. We're gonna open up with the Warriors losing
Speaker 1: at home to the Denver Nuggets, and what was a
Speaker 1: fun game. UM Denver played extremely well. Golden State not
Speaker 1: as well as they're capable of, uh, still made it
Speaker 1: close at the end. Clay Thompson had a pretty decent
Speaker 1: look at the top of the key to send the
Speaker 1: game to ot. We're gonna dive into that game. UM
Speaker 1: Brooklyn notched a very important way in that home over
Speaker 1: the Toronto Raptors to kind of change the tenor of
Speaker 1: the start of their season. Phoenix and Land had a
Speaker 1: really entertaining overtime battle. Damian Lillard had his first great
Speaker 1: game since coming back from injury. UM the Boston Celtics
Speaker 1: had an impressive win on the road in Miami against
Speaker 1: the Heat that will touch on. The Utah Jazz go
Speaker 1: into Minnesota to go up to two and oh in
Speaker 1: a game that had to have felt good for a
Speaker 1: lot of people that work and or play in the
Speaker 1: Utah Jazz organization. And then Bradley Bill demarda Rosen had
Speaker 1: a battle that led to the Washington Wizards going up
Speaker 1: to two and oh. So we're gonna touch on all
Speaker 1: six of those games in some capacity. You guys know
Speaker 1: the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Volumes
Speaker 1: YouTube channels you don't miss any more of our videos,
Speaker 1: follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lts you guys
Speaker 1: don't miss any show announcements. And then, last but not least,
Speaker 1: for whatever reason you guys miss one of these videos,
Speaker 1: you can always find them wherever you get your podcasts
Speaker 1: under Hoops Tonight. So this game was all about shot
Speaker 1: making in my opinion. Um you know, on any given night,
Speaker 1: for any given team, there's a spectrum of performances right
Speaker 1: um on, in every facet of the game, Like your
Speaker 1: defense can range from whatever their best version is to
Speaker 1: their their worst version right and everything in between. Or
Speaker 1: from a shooting perspective, some nights you make your wide
Speaker 1: open three. Some nights you don't. Some nights you rescue
Speaker 1: a bunch of possessions making tough shots. Other nights you don't.
Speaker 1: It's a maker misleague. You guys have all heard that
Speaker 1: expression before, and I think it can be used as
Speaker 1: a cop out sometimes because I do believe that you
Speaker 1: have some control over those things, Like if you make
Speaker 1: a team feel uncomfortable from the opening tip, I just
Speaker 1: think it's statistically less likely that they'll beat you with
Speaker 1: shot making because they'll all be uncomfortable and they'll all have,
Speaker 1: you know, a lower end of their spectrum type of
Speaker 1: shooting nights because you did a better job defending. So
Speaker 1: I don't think if you're a Warriors fan or a
Speaker 1: Warriors player, excuse me that you can just go back
Speaker 1: to the locker room be like, oh, they made all
Speaker 1: their shots like that. It is what it is. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, like, this was an impressive shot
Speaker 1: making performance from Denver um. So obviously on the wide
Speaker 1: open shots, Denver was eight for fifteen on wide open
Speaker 1: threes that means defender at least six ft away. Golden
Speaker 1: State was six for nineteen, so obviously a little bit
Speaker 1: of shot variants there. But man, I was watching the
Speaker 1: game and it just felt like time and time again
Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets were making massive important shots to stemy runs
Speaker 1: or to to you know, seed, or to regain momentum
Speaker 1: in the game, and a lot of them appeared to
Speaker 1: be difficult shots. And so I went into the tracking
Speaker 1: data just to check. Denver was nine for fourteen in
Speaker 1: this game on tightly and very tightly guarded shots according
Speaker 1: to NBA dot Com. That's that's some impressive shot making,
Speaker 1: you know. I didn't think either team defended exceptionally well.
Speaker 1: Um like Denver in general, is gonna struggle guarding Golden
Speaker 1: Golden State just because of their footspeed and quickness. Golden State,
Speaker 1: I thought from the start, didn't quite have the same
Speaker 1: level of defensive intensity and ball pressure that they usually have, which,
Speaker 1: like I said, well typically lead to teams feeling more
Speaker 1: comfortable and making shots. Specifically, at the end of the
Speaker 1: first quarter was where this one went off the rails,
Speaker 1: and specifically Dante DiVincenzo needs to be better guarding in
Speaker 1: ball screens, getting over the top of screens and applying
Speaker 1: back pressure because man Bones Highland. He went on one
Speaker 1: hell of a run to and the first quarter. He
Speaker 1: scored or assisted on sixteen points in that quarter, just
Speaker 1: spamming high pick and roll, making jump shots, pull up
Speaker 1: jump shots off the dribble, finishing at the rim, making
Speaker 1: reads to shooters. Jeff Green hit a couple of big shots,
Speaker 1: and then on the other end of the floor, Jordan
Speaker 1: Pool kind of had a little bit of a rough night.
Speaker 1: He did have uh seven assists, but he had only
Speaker 1: seven points and had four turnovers in the game. That
Speaker 1: was how they got their early lead, and then the
Speaker 1: rest of the game was just kind of a combination
Speaker 1: of Golden State clawing back and making it a game,
Speaker 1: and then Denver making shots and and getting the lead
Speaker 1: back up, and then Golden State making a run and
Speaker 1: making it a game, and then Denver making shots and
Speaker 1: getting the game back to a point where they were comfortable.
Speaker 1: And there were a lot of players for Denver who
Speaker 1: made key shots or key plays during those runs, Like
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon couldn't make a three in this game. I
Speaker 1: think he was over five or over six, but man,
Speaker 1: he made some really important twos. There was like a
Speaker 1: a post up on the left block where and I
Speaker 1: looked up the numbers just to check, because I never
Speaker 1: really thought of Aaron Gordon as a as a a
Speaker 1: successful post up player. And he was right around point
Speaker 1: nine points per possession and post ups, which honestly isn't bad,
Speaker 1: but it's nothing exceptional either. And he hit like one
Speaker 1: of the toughest shots in basketball, which is a turnaround
Speaker 1: fade away for a for a right handed shooter over
Speaker 1: your left shoulder, because on that shot, you have to
Speaker 1: square up in mid air, especially when you're spinning, so
Speaker 1: like you're planting your foot with your right foot behind
Speaker 1: your left foot, but you have to finish with your
Speaker 1: right foot in front of your left foot, because most
Speaker 1: right handed shooters like to square up with their shoulder,
Speaker 1: right shoulder a little bit further forward. And he just
Speaker 1: rose up and he knocked the shot down. And I'm
Speaker 1: sitting there like, man, like this is just one of
Speaker 1: those nights. I guess like it was just a big
Speaker 1: time shot from Aaron Gordon to sign me run. Cantavious
Speaker 1: called what Pope just time and time again making huge
Speaker 1: plays transition threes, attacking closeouts. I covered him when he
Speaker 1: was with the Lakers, and I always referred to him
Speaker 1: as one of the best close out attackers in the league.
Speaker 1: And there's really like, there's four things you have to
Speaker 1: be able to do to be a good close out attacker. Okay,
Speaker 1: you have to be able to knock down spot up threes,
Speaker 1: which Contavious called what Pope does really really well. You
Speaker 1: have to be able to be quick to the basket,
Speaker 1: meaning like if you are like if you need to
Speaker 1: gather really well to explode to the rim, guys are
Speaker 1: going to rotate and be able to get to you.
Speaker 1: Cantavious called will Pope is an amazing left leg jumper
Speaker 1: and single leg jumping is the best way to extend
Speaker 1: out in front of you rather than slowing your momentum
Speaker 1: down to jump off of two feet. And he's just
Speaker 1: really good at even either knocking down that jumper, ripping
Speaker 1: through and going all the way to finish with his
Speaker 1: right hand. He's got a wonderable pull up that he
Speaker 1: can knock down. That's the third thing. He had a
Speaker 1: really nice, uh wonderable pull up in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: where he was in the left corner pump fake ripped through,
Speaker 1: rise up at seventeen feet and he knocked it down.
Speaker 1: And then you have to be able to make reads,
Speaker 1: meaning if you ripped through and the one drible pull
Speaker 1: ups not there and the stuff's not there at the basket,
Speaker 1: it's swinging to the next guy in the cycle to
Speaker 1: continue that driving kick. KCP is one of the best
Speaker 1: at that in the league. In in in general, is
Speaker 1: just a really dependable role player. I it's so funny,
Speaker 1: like Lebron has to be missing this guy, and you know,
Speaker 1: I knew the Russell Westbrook trade was a bad idea
Speaker 1: when it happened, but I never in a million years
Speaker 1: would have suspected that he was the third best player
Speaker 1: in that trade, and both Kyle Kuzman and kendaveas called
Speaker 1: Pope are just simply better than Russell Westbrook right now,
Speaker 1: which is absolutely wild, but a really really impressive game
Speaker 1: from him. One of the biggest things with KCP that
Speaker 1: he does super well is transition threes, and we talked
Speaker 1: a lot about movement shooting on this show and how
Speaker 1: it's so important to be able to get your feet
Speaker 1: set and to go straight up and down when you're
Speaker 1: on the move, because the vast majority of quality looks
Speaker 1: that you'll find, especially in an NBA environment, are going
Speaker 1: to be on the move, and k CPS is really
Speaker 1: good at sprinting to the corner, catching and rising and
Speaker 1: firing on balance and knocking shots down. That is why
Speaker 1: I thought it was one of the most underrated pickups
Speaker 1: of this summer and why he's such a natural fit
Speaker 1: with Nicola Yokes. Bruce Brown was incredible in this game.
Speaker 1: He made clutch shot after clutch shot after clutch shot.
Speaker 1: He had like a a spinning, fading floater that he
Speaker 1: hit in the lane over Draymond Green. At the end,
Speaker 1: he had a really nice driving layup past Steph that
Speaker 1: was heavily contested, but he just went up with power
Speaker 1: and finished at the rim um and then he hit
Speaker 1: that huge three on the left wing, and that like
Speaker 1: transition pressure possession where Nicola Yokis found him. He the
Speaker 1: between KCP and Bruce Brown. Just a couple of really
Speaker 1: smart moves from the Denver front office to bring in
Speaker 1: players that naturally fit with Yokis that help raise their
Speaker 1: defensive ceiling. Just really really smart moves from them, and
Speaker 1: both of those guys made huge plays. Michael Porter Jr.
Speaker 1: Obviously made a lot of big shots. You just gotta
Speaker 1: you gotta kind of tip the cap if you're a
Speaker 1: Golden State, like, yeah, you didn't play good enough defensively,
Speaker 1: Dante Devin Chenzo needs to do a better job in general.
Speaker 1: Your defensive pressure from the start of the game needs
Speaker 1: to be better to make guys feel uncomfortable. But I
Speaker 1: think Denver's the best offense in the league, and they
Speaker 1: are going to have a lot of games where they
Speaker 1: get hot and they make a lot of shots and
Speaker 1: you kind of feel helpless. Um one last note on
Speaker 1: on on Denver. There was a play where and the
Speaker 1: helter skelter wild sequence at the end of the game
Speaker 1: where they got it down from ten to one on
Speaker 1: the where they trapped Bones Highland in the corner and
Speaker 1: he threw that hook pass and and uh um, I
Speaker 1: think it was Jordan Pool came in and stole it
Speaker 1: and made the layup. Right as the ball came through
Speaker 1: the net, Yoki's just ran out behind the base line
Speaker 1: and flicked a baseball pass to Bruce Brown that hit
Speaker 1: him in stride for dunk. Just an incredible play from
Speaker 1: Yoki from the standpoint of awareness. And if you think
Speaker 1: about what that is. In a situation like that, you
Speaker 1: get the ball in, you owl the other teams on
Speaker 1: an eleven to two run or whatever it was in
Speaker 1: the last minute, the crowd's gonna be insane. Those are
Speaker 1: high pressure free throws that change the dynamic of the game.
Speaker 1: But instead you were able to basically skip those free
Speaker 1: throws by making that incredible play, getting the inbounds and
Speaker 1: flicking flicking it down the court to Bruce Brown for
Speaker 1: the dunk clay shot at the end. I saw, you know,
Speaker 1: Steve Kerr had some comments about it in some Warriors
Speaker 1: fans didn't particularly like it. Here's the thing you gotta
Speaker 1: acknowledge time and situation. So for starters, UH, when you're
Speaker 1: up by three, Uh, there's always a chance that they're
Speaker 1: going to value, especially if they feel like it's a
Speaker 1: safe spot. You know, like if you happen to catch
Speaker 1: and you don't appear to be looking for a three
Speaker 1: point shot at that specific moment in time, the hack
Speaker 1: you quick, they send you to the line. Now you
Speaker 1: don't even get your opportunity to tie the game. So
Speaker 1: that that's always in there, like you might not even
Speaker 1: get a chance to shoot a three. So like when
Speaker 1: you happen to catch, even if you're thirty ft way
Speaker 1: from the basket and you turn and there's nobody around
Speaker 1: the value, that might actually just be your best chance.
Speaker 1: So I wanted to defend that. And then also, like
Speaker 1: Clay Thompson is an all time audacity shooter. This guy
Speaker 1: takes and makes bad shots all the time. And the
Speaker 1: Warriors have one basketball games, important basketball games on Clay
Speaker 1: Thompson's wild shot selection many times in the past. I'll
Speaker 1: never forget. You know, you guys probably all remember the
Speaker 1: game the game six performance against the Golden State Thunder.
Speaker 1: Attend the Golden State Thunder against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Uh,
Speaker 1: there was a play late in that game where I
Speaker 1: think Russ had a turnover on Andre Guadala and uh,
Speaker 1: they were I think it was the game was either
Speaker 1: tied or they were down by one, and Clay ran
Speaker 1: up the right wing and they flung a transition pass
Speaker 1: to him and he just caught an elevated from like
Speaker 1: twenty seven feet on the right wing and stuck it
Speaker 1: and that ended up being the shot that effectively determined
Speaker 1: the outcome of that game. And in this particular game,
Speaker 1: he had just made a three on the right wing.
Speaker 1: So he's already got a little bit of a rhythm,
Speaker 1: he already feels good. He just saw one go through
Speaker 1: the net. It's a decent look. You're worried about whether
Speaker 1: or not they're gonna value and he's Clay Thompson. Man.
Speaker 1: You gotta let him be wildly confident and to take
Speaker 1: those types of shots. UM, but yeah, entertaining basketball game,
Speaker 1: say the least. Well, I'm never gonna be worried about
Speaker 1: this particular matchup for Golden State. UM, as far as
Speaker 1: Yokich matchups go, you can't do much better than Cavan
Speaker 1: Luney and Draymond Green. UM. Kevin Luney in particular, had
Speaker 1: a rough night guarding Yokis tonight, but I've seen him
Speaker 1: do a really good job on Yo Kitch in the past,
Speaker 1: so I like that matchup. And then man, what a
Speaker 1: what a throwback performance from Draymond Green in that second half,
Speaker 1: making all sorts of defensive plays. This was a I
Speaker 1: told I talked to you guys a lot um, you know,
Speaker 1: right after the Draymond Green fight incident. I talked to
Speaker 1: you guys about how there there's there's this this tendency
Speaker 1: with Warriors fans to focus on the negatives on the
Speaker 1: offensive end of the floor for Draymond. And and what
Speaker 1: I told you guys was, there are good offensive games
Speaker 1: for Draymond, and there are bad offensive games for Draymond.
Speaker 1: He has to look to score a certain amount, right, Like,
Speaker 1: he's got to show at least some willingness to shoot
Speaker 1: the basketball just for teams to treat him honestly. Right,
Speaker 1: he needs to make smart decisions with the pass right,
Speaker 1: and he's to crash the offensive glass, and he he needs
Speaker 1: to make good decisions in the short role. When he
Speaker 1: does those things, he's a very good offensive player. But
Speaker 1: then he can have nights where he's too passive and
Speaker 1: he's making mistakes with the pass, and those nights it
Speaker 1: can be especially glaring because then you're watching Steph right
Speaker 1: around with two guys chasing him all over the place,
Speaker 1: and Draymond won't shoot the basketball. Like, Yeah, it gets
Speaker 1: a little frustrating in those moments, but this was a
Speaker 1: vintage Draymond Green performance. Controlled the game on the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor. He basically ran point guard for
Speaker 1: them all night. He at nine assists with only one
Speaker 1: turnover just to throwback. Performance, really really impressive. The last
Speaker 1: reason why be worried about this particular matchup for Golden
Speaker 1: State is we all know what it's gonna look like
Speaker 1: when they get to the playoffs, Like this is going
Speaker 1: to be you know there. First of all, they're running.
Speaker 1: The starters looked great in this game, and they were
Speaker 1: all positive. Um, you were leaning it on some funky
Speaker 1: lineups and some players like I'm not sure Jamichael Green
Speaker 1: is gonna play much when they get into the postseason.
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be a shrunken down rotation. I
Speaker 1: think it's gonna be Moses Moody a lot. I think
Speaker 1: i think it's gonna be you know, Dante DiVincenzo because
Speaker 1: they trust him more offensively. I don't think it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a lot of Jamaicael Green in particular, Um and
Speaker 1: some of the other guys that they played in that
Speaker 1: bench group. I don't even know how much you'll see
Speaker 1: Wiseman when you get into the postseason. And then also,
Speaker 1: they're just gonna spread the Denver Nuggets out and they're
Speaker 1: just gonna spam high pick and roll, and Steph is
Speaker 1: gonna try to drag Yokis away from the basket and
Speaker 1: then beat him off the dribble. We just we've just
Speaker 1: seen this movie before. But still, that said, a very
Speaker 1: impressive win for Denver and a really nice bounce back
Speaker 1: UM from that disappointing season opening game against Utah Jazz.
Speaker 1: So Brooklyn Toronto the the next five games we're gonna
Speaker 1: hit on pretty quickly. Um. This was a really tough
Speaker 1: game for Brooklyn to win. I talked about how it
Speaker 1: kind of reminded me of the Lakers situation, where it's like,
Speaker 1: you get these two incredibly difficult matchups to start the
Speaker 1: season in your team that doesn't really know who you
Speaker 1: are yet. Brooklyn has brought in all these new players
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of negative energy surrounding the team,
Speaker 1: obviously with the Kevin Durant trade situation. And then I've
Speaker 1: got this Lakers ship show basically for lack of a
Speaker 1: better term. And you're going against two teams that know
Speaker 1: exactly who they are, they know exactly who their best
Speaker 1: players are, they know exactly who they want to play.
Speaker 1: It's really easy to fall down to. Oh, just ask
Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Lakers. But the Brooklyn that's shrunk down
Speaker 1: the rotation, they played all their starters, big minutes. They
Speaker 1: treated this as a must win. They leaned heavily on
Speaker 1: the stars. Kyrie Irving played forty one minutes and they
Speaker 1: still got punched in the mouth several times by Toronto,
Speaker 1: gave up leads several times, but each time they responded Uh.
Speaker 1: Kyrie in particular was magnificent. Obviously, a lot of your
Speaker 1: your classic Kyrie Irving shot making, ridiculous pull up jump
Speaker 1: shots off the dribble. He got his three point shot going.
Speaker 1: I talked to you guys about how in the opening
Speaker 1: night game he had ten looks that were classified as
Speaker 1: open or wide open and he only made two of them.
Speaker 1: His shot quality was good. If you if he continues
Speaker 1: to get that kind of shot quality in their offense,
Speaker 1: he's gonna make him well. He ended up making him
Speaker 1: last night. But he also passed the basketball extremely well,
Speaker 1: had seven assists in this game. And then k d
Speaker 1: um had had an okay game shooting the basketball, but
Speaker 1: he ended up making the biggest one, that pull up
Speaker 1: three at the top of the key that ended up
Speaker 1: being effectively the dagger that ended that game. You know, Um,
Speaker 1: I talked a lot about how for the Lakers. You know,
Speaker 1: I still believe in what they can do as long
Speaker 1: as Lebron and a d are great, right, Like, yes,
Speaker 1: I want them to make a Russell Westbrook trade to
Speaker 1: bring in more shooting, and it's some more you know,
Speaker 1: offensive skill from the role players. Right. But the reality
Speaker 1: is is, even with this current roster, if Lebron James
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis play like top ten players, then they're
Speaker 1: gonna win a lot of basketball games. Still, here's the problem.
Speaker 1: A D played like a top ten player in the
Speaker 1: first half against Golden State, and then he was pretty
Speaker 1: bad in the second half against Golden State, and then
Speaker 1: he was pretty bad in the first half against the Clippers,
Speaker 1: and then he was pretty bad in the second half
Speaker 1: against the Clippers. I know he had twenty five points
Speaker 1: and eight rebounds, but ad gets a lot of garbage
Speaker 1: buckets just as a product of their offense. But in general,
Speaker 1: he was doing a poor job screening and rolling to
Speaker 1: the basket. He wasn't He got absolutely bullied by zoobots
Speaker 1: on the on the offensive glass. He um settled for
Speaker 1: a lot of bad midrange jump shots that he missed.
Speaker 1: Like in general, just wasn't a great game. And then
Speaker 1: Lebron was fantastic in the first game, but was great
Speaker 1: as a passer in the second game, but he's pull
Speaker 1: up jump shot failed him. He only had twenty points
Speaker 1: in the second game. So like, at best, I'm getting
Speaker 1: like Lebron's playing like a fringe top ten player right now,
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis is playing like a top twenty player
Speaker 1: right now. That's not going to be enough when the
Speaker 1: tail end of the roster is as weak as it is.
Speaker 1: Brooklyn is in a similar predicament. They don't have, you know, um,
Speaker 1: some of their officers, some of their line up slack shooting.
Speaker 1: You're playing Ben Simmons and Nick Clackston. It's a little
Speaker 1: bit of an imperfect set of role players, right, and
Speaker 1: we talked a lot about how their toughness was in
Speaker 1: question after getting absolutely bullied by the New Orleans Pelicans.
Speaker 1: They have some similar issues. I think Brooklyn is a
Speaker 1: lot more talented than the Lakers, but some similar issues
Speaker 1: there the differences when last night, when Katie and Kyrie
Speaker 1: both played to the top of their ability, they were
Speaker 1: able to overcome that Kyrie played like Kyrie Irving, the
Speaker 1: real Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant played pretty damn good.
Speaker 1: Not great by his standards, but pretty damn good, made
Speaker 1: timely shots and they gotta win, like at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, Like I don't know, I don't know
Speaker 1: that Lebron and a D can be too critical of
Speaker 1: their supporting cast at this point when they're just not
Speaker 1: playing good enough. Yet they have to play better at
Speaker 1: the end of the day if you end up losing
Speaker 1: that game, if you're Brooklyn, at least you can look
Speaker 1: in the mirror and say, hey, like our guys played well,
Speaker 1: we just need to play better around them, right, Like
Speaker 1: control what you can control. Kyrie and KD were regardless
Speaker 1: of what's going on with the roster, you're two of
Speaker 1: the best players in the world. You need to play
Speaker 1: like that to give yourself a chance to win. And
Speaker 1: Lebron and a d need to get that memo, particularly
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. Um one note on Toronto there. Scottie Barnes
Speaker 1: was incredible in this game. He was jawing back and
Speaker 1: forth with Katie. I love his competitiveness that you saw
Speaker 1: this a lot over the summer when he was playing
Speaker 1: pick up, just going at everybody in the league. Um
Speaker 1: but he's got like a lot of a lot of
Speaker 1: attitude and I really like that. Um O. G and Anobi,
Speaker 1: Pascal Siakam and Scotty Barnes combined for sixty four points
Speaker 1: in this game. That's gonna be something to keep an
Speaker 1: eye on for Brooklyn, just their ability to defend the bigger,
Speaker 1: stronger wings that can shoot over the top. Particularly Pascal's
Speaker 1: yach him in this game was just time and time
Speaker 1: just going over the top of the defense to knockdown shots.
Speaker 1: All right. Phoenix, Portland, Uh, Portland was clinging. I watched
Speaker 1: just the end of this game, about halfway through the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, through the overtime, Portland was clinging on for
Speaker 1: dear life against the eight and pick and roll down
Speaker 1: the stretch of that game, they were giving up switches
Speaker 1: way too easily, and then you kept ending up with
Speaker 1: like Damian Lillard or Anthony Simon's guarding eight and download
Speaker 1: in the post and they'd immediately dump it down there
Speaker 1: and score. They tried a bunch of different things to
Speaker 1: try to get away from that. They put They tried
Speaker 1: putting Jeremy Grant on Chris Paul so they could just
Speaker 1: switch it, but then Chris Paul just rejected the screen
Speaker 1: once and went right by Jeremy Grant all the way
Speaker 1: to the basket for a layup. Their best success trying
Speaker 1: to stop that Phoenix pick and roll was actually going
Speaker 1: to zone, which they were only able to do out
Speaker 1: of stoppages. But the two times I saw them do it,
Speaker 1: they gotta stop. And then the second time, uh, there
Speaker 1: was a foul call on Michale Bridges, the one where
Speaker 1: he went to the line to get it to one
Speaker 1: oh two to tie, because he went one for two,
Speaker 1: which I didn't actually necessarily think was a foul. So
Speaker 1: that was an interesting kind of mix up from them
Speaker 1: defensively to try to stop that eight and pick and roll.
Speaker 1: Dame Lillard finally had a great game coming back from
Speaker 1: the abdominal injury forty one um, but he got kind
Speaker 1: of he kind of cooled off towards the end of
Speaker 1: the game and he needed someone else to make shots,
Speaker 1: and there was Anfrony Simon's. He made a huge three
Speaker 1: on the right wing and then that hook shot over
Speaker 1: Michael Bridges like man like with with the angle that
Speaker 1: he had driving through the middle and the defense angle
Speaker 1: that Michael Bridges took to get to that ball, and
Speaker 1: Michael elevated off his off of his right foot and
Speaker 1: tried to meet him at the spot with his left
Speaker 1: hand on a contest. The only way he's getting that
Speaker 1: shot off is by going with that high hook, which
Speaker 1: is a damn near impossible shot, and he stuck it.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like shaping up to be an interesting
Speaker 1: team because you've got Nurkics. And then they leaned on
Speaker 1: a lot of Josh Hart and Jeremy Grant at the end,
Speaker 1: basically doing the dirty work on both ends of the floor,
Speaker 1: although Jeremy Grant's capable offensively, and then you're leaning on
Speaker 1: a steady diet of Dame and uh Um and Anfrey
Speaker 1: Anthony Simon's to make plays offensively. It's kind of it's
Speaker 1: kind of an interesting team. A good start for them. Um,
Speaker 1: Devin Booker made three really solid plays at the end
Speaker 1: of this game that didn't go his way. So you
Speaker 1: gotta be feeling good if you're a Phoenix. UM. He
Speaker 1: missed a his last three possessions of the game for Phoenix.
Speaker 1: He missed a pull up jump shot at the free
Speaker 1: throw line that was just barely short. That was a
Speaker 1: great look for him. Then he drove on the right
Speaker 1: wing to the baseline, got all the way into the
Speaker 1: paint and barely missed a short floater. And then on
Speaker 1: the last play of the game, he made a really
Speaker 1: nice read to DeAndre at And who got fouled and
Speaker 1: should have gone to the line to make both free
Speaker 1: throws and send that game to double ot and he
Speaker 1: just missed them. So this is a great late game
Speaker 1: execution team in Phoenix. They did execute very well at
Speaker 1: the end of the game. You gotta live with the results,
Speaker 1: though in a maker misleague. Devin book missed two shots
Speaker 1: that I think the pull up jumpers that the kind
Speaker 1: of look that he got on that shots about a
Speaker 1: fifty look for him. And then that floater that he
Speaker 1: missed that's about a seventy percent look for him. And
Speaker 1: then obviously Eighton is a good free throw shooter who
Speaker 1: more often than not is going to make those free throws.
Speaker 1: So good. Just you gotta you gotta understand an eighty
Speaker 1: two game season, you're gonna have some games that don't
Speaker 1: go your way. This one didn't go your way. Portland
Speaker 1: is eighth in defense so far. Um, that's impressive, so
Speaker 1: they're competing. Um, And uh, say what you want about Sacramento.
Speaker 1: They are a good offensive team. So they've played two
Speaker 1: good offensive teams and have done a good job defending
Speaker 1: so far. Uh, Damon's, Damon Anfredy Simon's both look great.
Speaker 1: And then for Phoenix, you know, for all the drama,
Speaker 1: for all the stuff I've said about how bad Aton
Speaker 1: looked defensively in preseason, they look pretty solid through two games.
Speaker 1: Damian Lee in particular, has been a great pick up
Speaker 1: for them. In both games that I've watched Phoenix play,
Speaker 1: He's been everywhere making play is as a supporting player,
Speaker 1: like contested rebounds, spot up shooting, and made another huge
Speaker 1: left corner three at the end of this game. Just uh,
Speaker 1: running the floor and transition, just just getting his nose,
Speaker 1: in his chin, in the in the right spots, and
Speaker 1: help defense. Just really good basketball from Damian Lee. UM.
Speaker 1: I really like his fit there CP three. That's the
Speaker 1: one thing that would concern me if I'm Phoenix right
Speaker 1: now is he's been completely ineffective as a score so
Speaker 1: far through two games. Really touch, really quick touch on
Speaker 1: Boston Miami. I had this game on on a second
Speaker 1: screen and I was just kind of periodically checking on it.
Speaker 1: Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown combined forty seven, so back
Speaker 1: to back outstanding games to start the season for both guys.
Speaker 1: I've said frequently if the two of them play like
Speaker 1: top ten players, then they are the best team in
Speaker 1: this league. It's just they're typically not consistent enough. But
Speaker 1: they're hey there. Two for two into the season, Boston
Speaker 1: has the number one offense here in the early going.
Speaker 1: Miami's offense on the other end, not going well. I
Speaker 1: believe they're twenty four. Um. They really messed up this
Speaker 1: summer by not getting more aggressive trying to bring in
Speaker 1: a little bit more offensive talent. I would have moved
Speaker 1: mountains to try to get Donovan Mitchell. I even read
Speaker 1: a report the other day that Donovan was working out
Speaker 1: in Miami under the impression that he might be going there.
Speaker 1: Um So, that seems kind of like a missed opportunity.
Speaker 1: Utah Minnesota. Um So, first of all, Minnesota's fifteen and
Speaker 1: defense early on with Rudy Gobert against two teams that are,
Speaker 1: you know, talented but limited in talent relative to the
Speaker 1: rest of the league. Right um, the Okay se Thunder
Speaker 1: and in the Utah Jazz. Maybe that's playing down to
Speaker 1: your competition, but definitely not great so far. Really comes
Speaker 1: down to covering ground on the perimeter with Rudy Gobert
Speaker 1: and UH and Karl Anthony Towns on the floor at
Speaker 1: the same time. Specifically, it was Kelly Olynnock that was
Speaker 1: giving them issues tonight, just in terms of the geometry
Speaker 1: of the floor because they kept talking him away at
Speaker 1: the three point line. And now Carl Towns is like
Speaker 1: his natural instinct is to get sucked into the paint
Speaker 1: to help because he's been playing big his whole life.
Speaker 1: But then he kept getting they kept making him pay.
Speaker 1: Kelly made five threes in this game when you in
Speaker 1: the Utah Jazz, specifically because Lori Marketing can shoot so
Speaker 1: well and because Kelly Olynnik can shoot so well, and
Speaker 1: because you know, um, uh blinking on his name right now,
Speaker 1: the big forward that's that plays for them. It will
Speaker 1: come to me in a second anyway. Um, but he's
Speaker 1: super active in athletics, so he's a little bit more
Speaker 1: different than your typical lumbering big man that's hanging out
Speaker 1: in the dunker spot all game long. Um, but they
Speaker 1: space you out. And when Jordan Clarkson is shooting the
Speaker 1: way he is, I think he was seven for twelve
Speaker 1: from three in this game, Mike kindly was shooting the
Speaker 1: the way that he was. You've got these two huge,
Speaker 1: big big forwards you know link in marketing that can
Speaker 1: shoot the shift out of the basketball. And then I've
Speaker 1: got these two guards that are knocking down all these
Speaker 1: pull up jump shots. And then I've got, uh, leave me.
Speaker 1: I can't think of his name. The big four that's
Speaker 1: running around making all these plays. Um, they're just they're
Speaker 1: just gonna They're gonna beat you if you don't bring
Speaker 1: your a game. That's just the reality of the situation.
Speaker 1: And uh in Minnesota played the fire all night long
Speaker 1: and they ended up getting burned. Lori Marking and in
Speaker 1: particular was so impressive in this game. He had a
Speaker 1: shot at the end of regulation where he did uh
Speaker 1: a move on Rudy Gobert on the right wing and
Speaker 1: uh and when he made the move, Rudy's left foot
Speaker 1: slipped out from underneath him and he came this close
Speaker 1: to falling down and he left the shot just barely short.
Speaker 1: And man, would that have been an embarrassing and to
Speaker 1: that particular game for Rudy Gobert to get crossed up
Speaker 1: by one of the trade pieces from the tanking Jazz
Speaker 1: to nail a shot in his face to win the game.
Speaker 1: But hey, it came around at the end of overtime.
Speaker 1: He made a really nice fade away jump shot on
Speaker 1: the left elbow that he left just barely short, but
Speaker 1: he ended up getting the bounce. Lorie Mark and in.
Speaker 1: He's huge, he can move and he can shoot, and
Speaker 1: that makes him a super interesting player. I've wanted the
Speaker 1: Lakers to try to get him shortly after the Donovan
Speaker 1: Mitchell trade, but then um it became quickly apparent that
Speaker 1: Danny Ainge wanted to keep him. And I don't blame him.
Speaker 1: He's a really really interesting young basketball player. Look, Utah
Speaker 1: is not going to be an easy win. He's there,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's going to be a tough matchup, especially
Speaker 1: early in the season before Danny Ainge decides to sell
Speaker 1: these players off. It's gonna be tough to beat them.
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to bring your a game. You're gonna
Speaker 1: have to treat them as though they are a playoff
Speaker 1: type of team, because if you don't, they've got the
Speaker 1: right types of pieces to burn you. The Lakers have
Speaker 1: them on the schedule twice here in the next couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, and at this point in the year when
Speaker 1: they still are playing all their guys again, it's not
Speaker 1: going to be easy, So Lakers might have some trouble
Speaker 1: on their hands there. Um, the Bulls and the Wizards
Speaker 1: just saw the very end of this game. Bradley Bill
Speaker 1: and to Marta Rosen had a really fun battle um
Speaker 1: Bradley Beale at the end of the game, attacking the rim,
Speaker 1: a really nice finish um getting into Vusevitch's body at
Speaker 1: the rim, and then there was a driving floater that
Speaker 1: he hit right before the one that ended up actually
Speaker 1: being the effective game winner. Demarda Rosen pulled up a
Speaker 1: late three up on the right wing and it went
Speaker 1: in and out. Could have gone either way too, and
Speaker 1: O for the Wizards to start the year. Um, if
Speaker 1: you remember, they were really good last year before everyone
Speaker 1: got hurt. I say really good. They were a solid,
Speaker 1: you know, play like lower seed playoff type of team
Speaker 1: last year before everyone got hurt. It's a simple formula.
Speaker 1: You've got a really good player leading the way, and
Speaker 1: Bradley Beale, who's willing to pass the basketball and had
Speaker 1: another really good playmaking game last night, was very conservative
Speaker 1: with his shot selection. And then you just got a
Speaker 1: bunch of good role players around him. You know. Kyle
Speaker 1: Kuzuma played amazing last night. I'm a huge fan of Ruby,
Speaker 1: Hatch and Murray. He's one of my favorite young players
Speaker 1: in the league. Just a gigantic wing that can make plays. Um.
Speaker 1: Fun Wizards team. They're not again, they're not gonna make
Speaker 1: any real noise. But anytime you surround is one of
Speaker 1: the themes of this day. As we learned from the
Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets earlier. Anytime you surround a star player with
Speaker 1: good role players, you're going to be competitive. Because role
Speaker 1: players are more important than ever in the modern NBA.
Speaker 1: You need them to capitalize on attention thrown at your stars. Aggregate,
Speaker 1: offensive skill set down lineups is immensely important. And the
Speaker 1: Wizards just have a lot of really good role players
Speaker 1: on the team, so they're gonna be interesting throughout the season.
Speaker 1: So all right, that's all I have for tonight. Guys.
Speaker 1: You can all roast me in the comments for forgetting
Speaker 1: who that forward is that plays for the Uh. It's
Speaker 1: killing me. I keep I keep wanting to say Jaden McDaniels,
Speaker 1: But that's the other guy who played for the UM.
Speaker 1: It's killing me. Uh, it's the other guy who played
Speaker 1: for Minnesota last year. UM. Alright, So here's the plan
Speaker 1: for this weekend. The Warriors and Lakers both play on Sunday.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be covering both of those games. Uh, Jared Vanderbilt, Yes,
Speaker 1: I finally got it. All right, We're gonna be covering
Speaker 1: all of Sunday Nights games on Monday morning, kind of
Speaker 1: similar to what we did today, and then we're doing
Speaker 1: a live show on Tuesday night and a live show
Speaker 1: on Wednesday night. Sometimes maybe on Monday. I'll update you
Speaker 1: guys on the schedule for the rest of the week.
Speaker 1: All right, that's all I have I sincerely appreciate you
Speaker 1: guys support and I will see you on Monday. The
Speaker 1: volume