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Speaker 1: welcome to Who's tonight. You're at the volume half Thursday, everybody,

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Speaker 1: hope all if you guys are having a great week

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Speaker 1: so far, jampacks for you today. We had excellent games

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Speaker 1: in our Wednesday night. Late last night, the Boston Celtics

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Speaker 1: went on the road into Philly and the Philadelphia seventy

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Speaker 1: six ers kind of took care of business against them.

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Speaker 1: We're up fifteen to late before a late flurry from

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Speaker 1: Jalen Brown and Christops Porzingas kind of made it look

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Speaker 1: like it was a game, but it was a dominant

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Speaker 1: effort from the Philadelphia seventy six Ers, and then we

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Speaker 1: got kind of a weird version of the Nuggets Warriors

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Speaker 1: matchup as Jamal Murray and Raymond Green missed the game.

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Speaker 1: Klay Thompson kind of sort of had a chance at

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Speaker 1: the end of the game to potentially type it fumble

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Speaker 1: to pass away from Chris Paul. A lot of interesting

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Speaker 1: stuff to get into, and then I want to complain

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Speaker 1: about the Lakers a little bit more, but they are

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Speaker 1: officially relegated to the end of the show. That's where

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Speaker 1: the Lakers are going to be until they start playing

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Speaker 1: good basketball. But I have some compliments that I want

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Speaker 1: to pay to the Houston Rockets, who are, guess what,

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Speaker 1: one of four teams in the NBA to be top

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Speaker 1: ten in both offense and defense right now. Philadelphia seventy

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Speaker 1: six Ers, Denver Nuggets, the Boston Celtics, and the Houston

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Speaker 1: Rockets are your four teams that are top ten in both.

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Speaker 1: So we're gonna lay a little bit of praise on

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Speaker 1: the Rockets. I'm gonna complain about the Lakers, and then

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Speaker 1: we'll be done for the day. You guys know the

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Speaker 1: job for we get started. Subscribe to our brand new

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Speaker 1: YouTube channel. Don't forget we're doing a giveaway for anybody

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Speaker 1: who lives in Los Angeles. We're giving away tickets to

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Speaker 1: a Lakers Blazers game here in less than a week,

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Speaker 1: few days away, and all you gotta do is post

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Speaker 1: a screenshot of you being subscribed to our new YouTube

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Speaker 1: channel for you to get included in that drawing. So

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Speaker 1: make sure you go to my Twitter feed and scroll

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Speaker 1: down to where you see I've quoted the volumes tweet

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Speaker 1: about that contest, and drop that screenshot in there. If

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Speaker 1: you don't live in the LA area, it would still

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Speaker 1: mean a lot to me if you, guys took a

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Speaker 1: couple of minutes just to scroll down a couple seconds,

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Speaker 1: I should say, just to scroll down and hit that

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Speaker 1: subscribe button. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you

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Speaker 1: get your podcast under Hoops Tonight, social media, TikTok, Instagram,

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Speaker 1: and Twitters. Where I'm Twitter mainly is where I'm posting

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Speaker 1: the vast majority of the visual representations of the things

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Speaker 1: I talk about when I do my film sessions. I'm

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Speaker 1: dropping clips there and then give us mail bag questions

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Speaker 1: in the YouTube comments. We're not going to do any

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Speaker 1: mail bad questions today, but we hit five yesterday. We

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Speaker 1: kind of hit them periodically throughout the week, so make

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Speaker 1: sure you drop those in the YouTube comments. All right, last,

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Speaker 1: but not least, before we get started. Baseball is officially over,

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Speaker 1: but everything else is in full swing. We've got college

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Speaker 1: basketball kicking up, the NBA, we got college football in

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Speaker 1: lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk some basketball. So again,

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Speaker 1: weird game in Nuggets Warriors. Jamal Murray was out, and

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Speaker 1: so you got a steady dose of Reggie Jackson, which

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Speaker 1: just doesn't really bring the other half of that two

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Speaker 1: man game gravity that Jamal Murray brings. So even though

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Speaker 1: Draymond was out, which presented a bunch of other weird things,

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Speaker 1: right Like, you got a lot of like Dario Sarich

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Speaker 1: minutes with Nikole Jokic on the floor, which I don't

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Speaker 1: think will ever happen in a playoff series as long

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Speaker 1: as the Warriors are healthy. So like, obviously a weird

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Speaker 1: game in terms of the matchups and some of the

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Speaker 1: chess pieces that you would see in a playoff series,

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Speaker 1: right Like, arguably the second or third best player for

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Speaker 1: the Warriors and arguably or for sure the second best

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Speaker 1: player on the Nuggets missing that game. But at the

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Speaker 1: same time, it was a good opportunity to learn about

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Speaker 1: some specific different things, right like down the stretch that game,

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Speaker 1: the Warriors were really spamming pick and roll and I

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Speaker 1: want to I want to give a special shout out

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Speaker 1: to JJ Reddick here and Mark Jones for doing a

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Speaker 1: really nice job during the broadcast of just calling out

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Speaker 1: out this chess match as it was taking place. I

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Speaker 1: think having JJ Reddick on ESPN to do these the

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Speaker 1: color commentary on these games has been such a treat

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Speaker 1: for basketball fans because, like he just brings so much

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Speaker 1: of that basic insight to help fans understand the actual

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Speaker 1: tactical things that are taking place on the floor. So

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Speaker 1: shout out to JJ Reddick there. But he did a

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Speaker 1: really nice job pointing out what was taking place down

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Speaker 1: the stretch of this game, which was the Warriors were

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Speaker 1: basically trying to pull Nicole Jokic away from the rim

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Speaker 1: in pick and roll and essentially bring two on the

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Speaker 1: ball to Steph Curry and then hit Kevon Looney with

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Speaker 1: that pass into the pocket. And then JJ did a

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Speaker 1: really nice job breaking down what are the big differences

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Speaker 1: between what the Warriors do and a lot of other teams.

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Speaker 1: Is they cut out of the weak side corner, which

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Speaker 1: is just a higher percentage play. You gotta have an

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Speaker 1: athlete there, but think of it, to put it simply,

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Speaker 1: think of it like this. A lot of times in

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Speaker 1: pick and roll you're making that kickout pass and it's

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Speaker 1: a it's a wide open corner three right, and the

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Speaker 1: Warriors still will occasionally get those corner threes. We saw

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Speaker 1: those famously in the twenty fifteen NBA Finals, with Andrea

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Speaker 1: Gudala getting the benefit of those off of Draymond Green

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Speaker 1: passes right. One of the things the Warriors have done

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Speaker 1: in recent years is there again, it requires the way

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Speaker 1: Steph gets guarded for this to work, because in a

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Speaker 1: normal pick and roll coverage, if the guard's working downhill

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Speaker 1: and the big is in more of a little bit

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Speaker 1: more of a drop than a high hedge or or

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Speaker 1: a blitz if he's dropping back, then that lowman, the

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Speaker 1: lowman is the guy guarding the guy in the weak

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Speaker 1: side corner. He can kind of help without having to

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Speaker 1: fully abandon his matchup and still kind of keep an

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Speaker 1: eye on man and ball right. That's the difference. Whereas

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Speaker 1: with Steph, because of the fact that he pulls that

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Speaker 1: second defender so far away from the basket. Now the

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Speaker 1: roleman in this case, Kavon Looney is catching with a

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Speaker 1: clear run to the basket, and so as a result

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Speaker 1: that Loman has to completely abandon that corner to step

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Speaker 1: up and help. And so if you have the timing

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Speaker 1: right and as long as it's a habit from that lineup,

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Speaker 1: and it's a lot of their athletes, right, it's Andrew Wiggins,

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Speaker 1: it's Jonathan Kaminga, it's Gary Payton. The second out of

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Speaker 1: that week side corner, they will cut along the baseline

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Speaker 1: and it's just an easy drop off for a basket.

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Speaker 1: So they got the Nuggets I think three or four

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Speaker 1: times with that in the fourth quarter as they started

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Speaker 1: to get going, and you know, it kind of like

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Speaker 1: it starts slow, right, Like there was a play in

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Speaker 1: the second quarter where Steph got Kidtavious called a Pope

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Speaker 1: cat on a screen because KCP was doing a really

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Speaker 1: nice job guarding Steph for the majority of the game.

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Speaker 1: But it's just a really really difficult job to do

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Speaker 1: to stay glued to a player that that's gifted moving

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Speaker 1: without the basketball. Steph is incredibly gifted. It's setting his

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Speaker 1: man up for screens because he's got such a good

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Speaker 1: handle and he's always a threat to reject the screen

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Speaker 1: and go the other way. Right, KCP just constantly stayed attached.

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Speaker 1: But towards the end of the game, the Warriors finally

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Speaker 1: started to generate just tiny bits of separation. You saw

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Speaker 1: in that second quarter. He finally got I clipped this place.

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Speaker 1: You can see it on my Twitter feed, but you

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Speaker 1: see he finally gets kcpcot on the screen and Yokich

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Speaker 1: is in more of a high drop than a blitz,

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Speaker 1: and so he's up at the level, but he's still

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Speaker 1: giving Steph a little bit of space. He hits him

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Speaker 1: with it between the legs, step back and hits a

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Speaker 1: pull up three. Right. That's kind of the progression. He

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Speaker 1: burns you a couple times, then you start just basically

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Speaker 1: blitzing and coming way out higher above the level of

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Speaker 1: the screen to try to contain that, which is then

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Speaker 1: what opens up the short role. Well, what Mike Malone

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Speaker 1: did with a few minutes left to counter that, and

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Speaker 1: it completely changed the dynamic of the Warriors offense down

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Speaker 1: the stretches. They moved Aaron Gordon on onto Kevon Looney,

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Speaker 1: which allows them to switch that Steph Looney pick and

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Speaker 1: roll right. Now, what was interesting there is that ended

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Speaker 1: up leading to the next phase of the chess match,

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Speaker 1: which is, okay, where do you put jokicch in this case, well,

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Speaker 1: there were several possessions down the stretch and he ended

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Speaker 1: up on Chris Paul for two of them, and then

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Speaker 1: he ended up on Klay Thompson for another. And so

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Speaker 1: then the Warriors. What was kind of cool about it

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Speaker 1: from the same point of the Nuggets is the Warriors

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Speaker 1: did what you would kind of expect, right, so they

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Speaker 1: immediately just went to attacking Jokic through those other two matchups. Right, So,

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Speaker 1: like Chris Paul starts trying to iso Nikola Jokic on

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Speaker 1: the right wing and he just can't shake him free. Right,

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Speaker 1: then there's Klay Thompson. Klay Thompson gets Jokic on the

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Speaker 1: next possession and he actually manages to beat him off

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Speaker 1: the dribble, but like Jokic kind of flattens the drive out,

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Speaker 1: so he's not really going aggressively towards the basket. But

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Speaker 1: I think it was Reggie Jackson out of the left

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Speaker 1: side corner, reaches in and just rakes down on Klay

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Speaker 1: Thompson as he's driving, which gives him two free throws. Right.

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Speaker 1: But then there was another possession where Chris Paul got

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Speaker 1: Nikola jokicen pick and roll. They ended up setting a

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Speaker 1: ball screen and he missed a pull up three. A

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Speaker 1: decent look at a pull up three, but he missed it,

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Speaker 1: and then there was one possession where because of the

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Speaker 1: way things went in transition, Jokic did end up on

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Speaker 1: Looney again, and when he was on Loony, Chris Paul

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Speaker 1: ran a ball screen with Jokic and got Loony on

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Speaker 1: the slip for the into the basket. But notice whose

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Speaker 1: name I didn't say in any of that that little

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Speaker 1: die dribe there, Steph Kurt. He was basically completely removed

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Speaker 1: from the offense until that transition pull up three he

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Speaker 1: made late that kind of gave him a chance right

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Speaker 1: before it turned into a foul shooting contest. And that's

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Speaker 1: the beauty of it. Like by virtue of the by

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Speaker 1: virtue of that chess match move, by moving Aaron Gordon

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Speaker 1: onto Kevon Looney, they effectively tricked or Jedi mind trick,

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Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it, the Warriors into going

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Speaker 1: away from Steph. Whereas what they should have done in

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Speaker 1: that case is like, just bring Chris Paul back up

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Speaker 1: into the ball screen if he's got Yokic on it, it,

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Speaker 1: run a Steph Chris Paul pick and roll, or have

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Speaker 1: Steph set the ball screen on Nikola Jokic. Well, Chris

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Speaker 1: has the ball because Jokic might not navigate the screen

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Speaker 1: really well, maybe you end up getting a switch with

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Speaker 1: Steph onto Jokic and then he can isolate there and

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Speaker 1: make a play. But that's kind of the beauty of

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Speaker 1: it is like Steph was spamming this action and he

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Speaker 1: was killing you. You made a smart adjustment in a

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Speaker 1: kind of Jedi mind, tricked the Warriors into going away

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Speaker 1: from their best player. Then down on the end the

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Speaker 1: other end of the floor, they got a couple of

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Speaker 1: really good looks out of Jokic actions that iced the game.

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Speaker 1: They ran an inverted ball screen with Reggie Jackson on

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Speaker 1: the right wing, and one of the things that the

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Speaker 1: Warriors will do whenever they run guard screens, meaning like

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Speaker 1: guards setting the screen with Steph Curry's man, they'll do

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Speaker 1: a classic hedge and recover. So they'll have Steph essentially

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Speaker 1: show high on whoever it is that's the ball handler,

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Speaker 1: and then as soon as whoever the ball handler's man recovers,

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Speaker 1: Steph will sprint back to whoever the guard is who

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Speaker 1: set the screen and play defense. Well, Jokicic caught him

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Speaker 1: hanging around just a second too long, and Reggie Jackson

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Speaker 1: set the screen. He popped to the top of the

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Speaker 1: key and Steph stage just a second two long on

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Speaker 1: that hedge, and when he recovered, Reggie Jackson just ripped

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Speaker 1: right to the basket and made a right handed layup.

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Speaker 1: And then on the final kind of post up from

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Speaker 1: Jokic on the right block, he had Looney, Conavious Cabbo

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Speaker 1: Pope made the post entry, and on the post entry,

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Speaker 1: KCP just makes a basic cut to the rim just

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Speaker 1: right off of Jokic's inside side, and Clay just on

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Speaker 1: that cut is with KCP. But I don't know if

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Speaker 1: it was from Steve Kerr from the standpoint of a

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Speaker 1: game plan, a piece that came out of the huddle,

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Speaker 1: or if it was just kind of an impromptu sort

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Speaker 1: of thing from Clay. But Clay kind of like, as

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Speaker 1: he was passing Jokic was like, maybe I'm gonna help here,

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Speaker 1: or maybe I'm gonna double, and so he lingered just

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Speaker 1: a second too long right as he was passing Jokic

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Speaker 1: on that cut, and Can Davis called the Pope was

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Speaker 1: wide open for the layup that basically ice the game.

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Speaker 1: Now late we still got a Steph Curry left handed

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Speaker 1: layup off of a drive on KCP that he missed

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Speaker 1: and obviously we had the jump ball and the Klay

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Speaker 1: Thompson kind of fumbled bad bounce pass from Chris Paul.

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Speaker 1: But a lot of that was because a miss free throws,

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Speaker 1: like Nicola Jokic just inexplicably missed two free throws that

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Speaker 1: never happens. I think Reggie Jackson missed one as well.

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Speaker 1: So like they missed three free throws at the game

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Speaker 1: that gave the Warriors some late chances that otherwise they

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Speaker 1: would not have had. But it was an interesting kind

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Speaker 1: of little chess match there, and I think, like in general,

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Speaker 1: you know, I just lived through this chess match as

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Speaker 1: a fan. I mean, obviously I covered all the series

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Speaker 1: last year, but as a fan rooting for a team.

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Speaker 1: I was rooting for the Lakers in that Lakers Warriors

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Speaker 1: series last year, and I lived through all of this.

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Speaker 1: I lived through the experience of trying to navigate how

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Speaker 1: difficult it is to guard Steph Curry and pick and roll.

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Speaker 1: And one of the things they did in the one

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Speaker 1: of the things they did in the Lakers series, which

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Speaker 1: was smart, was they just kept bringing Anthony Davis's man

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Speaker 1: up into the ball screen, regardless of who he was guarding.

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Speaker 1: So if like if it ended up being Gary Payton,

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Speaker 1: they just bring Gary Payton up into the screen, right,

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Speaker 1: Like whoever it was, they brought them up. And so

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Speaker 1: that's the thing that the Warriors didn't do in this

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Speaker 1: one game regular season sample size. But that's the thing

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Speaker 1: that that would be the inevitable adjustment, right as you

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Speaker 1: just start bringing Jokic up into the ball screen, regardless

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Speaker 1: of whether he's guarding Chris Paul or he's guarding Kavan Looni. Right.

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Speaker 1: But that said, like I thought, like in a lot

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Speaker 1: of ways, it demonstrated the types of advantages that Denver

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Speaker 1: is gonna have regardless, Like they the transition pushes. I

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Speaker 1: think they're the I think they're the best at this

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Speaker 1: in the league, just whenever they have an opportunity. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's funny because they're not a particularly fast team. Like

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Speaker 1: I'd say, Contavious cab of Pope is a really is

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Speaker 1: an elite straight line athlete, and Aaron Gordon is an

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Speaker 1: elite straight line athlete. But Michael Porter, Junior, Nicola Jokis,

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Speaker 1: Jamal Murray, these are average to below average athletes. Right.

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Speaker 1: They have great size, Like Jamal Murray is huge and

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Speaker 1: strong for a guard Michael Porter Junior is tall, has

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Speaker 1: long arms and can move well. Michael's actually moving really

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Speaker 1: well right now, but he's not as athletic as your

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Speaker 1: typical wings that we have in the league. Right and

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Speaker 1: then Jokic is a is a is a big body that's,

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Speaker 1: you know, theoretically not a top tier linear athlete. Their

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Speaker 1: bench is super athletic, like the Nuggets bench has all

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Speaker 1: sorts of straight line athletes, but like somehow the Nuggets

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Speaker 1: still kill everybody in transition. And to me, it's a habit.

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Speaker 1: They just have really good habits of identifying when there

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Speaker 1: are opportunities to push the pace. It's almost like they

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Speaker 1: identify whenever Aaron Gordon's man or Nikole Yokich's man like

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Speaker 1: misses a layup or crashes the offensive glass on their

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Speaker 1: end of the floor, they will identify that and sprint.

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Speaker 1: And then they get these quick mismatches in transition and

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Speaker 1: it's a bucket damn near every time they got Aaron

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Speaker 1: Gordon on Steph Curry switched a bunch of times in

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Speaker 1: this game. Jokic has been killing people all season long

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Speaker 1: with that type of transition push that I think is

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Speaker 1: super just. It's funny we talk about, you know, half

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Speaker 1: court offense and half court offense in and of itself

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Speaker 1: is the bread and butter of what determines the outcomes

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Speaker 1: of playoff series, but it isn't the entire thing. Like,

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Speaker 1: let's just throw an arbitrary number, Like, let's pretend that

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Speaker 1: half court offense piece is seventy percent of it. What's

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Speaker 1: the other thirty percent? The other thirty percent of it

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Speaker 1: is everything on the margins. So like being a good

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Speaker 1: transition defense, being a good transition offense, good on the glass,

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Speaker 1: on both ends of the floor, execution out of timeouts,

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Speaker 1: execution at the end of games, Like your defensive versatility,

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Speaker 1: your ability to switch up schemes depending on what's going on. Like,

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Speaker 1: it's a huge advantage that Aaron Gordon is both strong

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Speaker 1: enough to hang with an imposing post player but quick

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Speaker 1: enough to hang on the perimeter and a switch against

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Speaker 1: someone like Steph Curry credibly right, Like, obviously he's not

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Speaker 1: gonna lock up Steph Curry, but he can do as

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Speaker 1: well on Steph Curry as what you'd expect from other

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Speaker 1: perimeter defenders. Right, That sort of versatility is a huge

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Speaker 1: advantage there. So they have defensive versatility they are a

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Speaker 1: great transition offense. They're elite on the glass on both

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Speaker 1: ends of the floor, and all that does is make

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Speaker 1: it so that you can't It's not just oh, you

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Speaker 1: have to beat the Nuggets in the half court, You've

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Speaker 1: got to beat them everywhere in every facet of the

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Speaker 1: game because they're good everywhere, and that just kind of

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Speaker 1: increases their margin for air. It makes it so that

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Speaker 1: they can be without Jamal Murray and win games against

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Speaker 1: elite teams. Right. You know, Jokic kind of has this

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Speaker 1: ability I talked about yesterday on our show, But like Nicole,

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Speaker 1: Jokic going into last night's game was shooting damn near

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Speaker 1: ninety percent on floaters and push shots. And he struggled

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Speaker 1: a little bit with Looney in the first part of

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Speaker 1: this game, but then I thought he kind of figured

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Speaker 1: him out towards the end. The accuracy he has on

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Speaker 1: those shots, the shot making ability that he has, puts

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Speaker 1: him in a position where when Jamal Murray's out, he

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Speaker 1: can just push up his usage and then make things

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Speaker 1: happen like that. So he I think he missed eleven

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Speaker 1: shots last night, and that's uncharacteristic for Jokic, But because

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Speaker 1: he's so damn efficient. He was still fourteen for twenty

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Speaker 1: five or whatever it is that he was, and he

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Speaker 1: still got, you know, generated more than enough offense to

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Speaker 1: win the game. This team just has a massive margin

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Speaker 1: for air and they're getting you know, solid production out

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Speaker 1: of specific key role players off the bench. That's kind

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Speaker 1: of maintaining that kind of flexibility as they navigate the

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Speaker 1: ebbs and flows of the regular season. They's just a

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Speaker 1: really good spot. And you know, Michael Porter Junior is

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Speaker 1: the last guy I wanted to shout out. He has

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Speaker 1: been so good in so many ways, especially over the

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Speaker 1: course of the last two weeks. He's making such better

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Speaker 1: help and recover decisions. Defensively, he's leveraging his length and athleticism. Again,

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Speaker 1: like I don't think he moves as well as some

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Speaker 1: of the other wings in the league, but when you

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Speaker 1: combine how well he moves with him being six '

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Speaker 1: ten with super long arms, he can still be really impactful.

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Speaker 1: He had another tip dunk last night off of an

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Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon post up. He caught Chris Paul not paying

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Speaker 1: attention in help side, and that was his eighth offensive

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Speaker 1: rebound put back of the season so far. He has

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Speaker 1: the tenth most offensive rebound put backs in the entire NBA. Like,

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Speaker 1: that's how active Michael Porter Junior has been on the

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Speaker 1: offensive glass, and now his shots starting to come around.

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Speaker 1: He was thirty one percent from three in six attempts

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Speaker 1: in his first five games of the season, and now

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Speaker 1: he's up to forty four percent on eight attempts in

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Speaker 1: his last four games. So that's a really a good sign.

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Speaker 1: Jamal Murray apparently is going to be out the rest

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Speaker 1: of the month with his hamstring injuries, so it'll be

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Speaker 1: all that concept that I'm talking about in terms of malleability,

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Speaker 1: variety and margin for error is going to be put

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Speaker 1: to the test in a big way over the course

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Speaker 1: of the rest of this month and especially as it

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Speaker 1: pertains to the Plan tournament. But that's the thing, like,

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Speaker 1: if if Denver ends up, you know, running off a

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Speaker 1: bunch of games without Jamal Murray, to me, that's a

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Speaker 1: pretty strong indicator that this team is on track to

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Speaker 1: be in a really good spot to repeat Golden State.

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Speaker 1: A couple of specific things I wanted to hit jonathanaminga

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Speaker 1: hit another left shoulder fade away in the post. He's

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Speaker 1: up to twenty five points on twenty one post ups

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Speaker 1: this year, including passes, that's one point one to nine

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Speaker 1: points per possession. He's now tied with Lebron and Tobias

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Speaker 1: Harris for the twenty first most post points in the NBA.

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Speaker 1: So like he's become like a legitimate matchup attacking wing

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Speaker 1: for them. I was talking with Adam Marris about this

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Speaker 1: a little bit this morning, you know, because he thinks

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Speaker 1: that it's a little bit more hot and cold, and

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Speaker 1: I agree. There's a lot of bad with Kamina in

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Speaker 1: the post, like turnovers, you know, forcing extremely difficult shots

428
00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:07,919
Speaker 1: against smaller defenders when he could be going more aggressively

429
00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:10,239
Speaker 1: to the rim. But he's making enough shots and he's

430
00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:12,479
Speaker 1: getting to the foul line and it's producing the points.

431
00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:14,760
Speaker 1: And so at the end of the day, like young guys,

432
00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:17,239
Speaker 1: you expect highs and lows. You expect highlights and you

433
00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:23,120
Speaker 1: expect mistakes, whereas like as players get better, there's fewer highlights,

434
00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:26,120
Speaker 1: but there's more consistent, boring success and then there's way

435
00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:29,600
Speaker 1: fewer mistakes. Right, So, like obviously, like the young player

436
00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:32,600
Speaker 1: experience kind of comes with that sort of thing, But

437
00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:36,399
Speaker 1: in general I find that to be an encouraging early

438
00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:39,440
Speaker 1: season trend that Kaming has been so good attacking matchups

439
00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:41,240
Speaker 1: in the post and then don't forget in the long

440
00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:43,640
Speaker 1: term like this, dude's gonna have another seventy plus games

441
00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:46,280
Speaker 1: or reps like this, So it's very possible that he

442
00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:48,960
Speaker 1: ties off a lot of the mistake making tendencies as

443
00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:52,480
Speaker 1: he moves along. Again. Another game that came down to

444
00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:55,520
Speaker 1: a late game pick and roll chess match, like we

445
00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:58,359
Speaker 1: talked about earlier, one of the things that would like

446
00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:00,720
Speaker 1: kind of stood out to me is like you had

447
00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:03,680
Speaker 1: CP three with really favorable matchups as Jokic moved over

448
00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:06,160
Speaker 1: to him, and he couldn't produce a bucket aside from

449
00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:08,920
Speaker 1: the one time that Jokic was back on Looney when

450
00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:11,080
Speaker 1: he could run his traditional pick and roll, and like

451
00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:14,240
Speaker 1: that's one of the things is like, like Chris is

452
00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:16,600
Speaker 1: going to have to be able to occasionally pitch in

453
00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:19,720
Speaker 1: with a with a bucket against the switch, particularly against

454
00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:22,600
Speaker 1: the center when things kind of go that way. And

455
00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:25,560
Speaker 1: there's been a handful of games this year when Chris

456
00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:27,680
Speaker 1: has had some scoring pop, but for the most part,

457
00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:30,280
Speaker 1: he's really struggled to put the ball in the basket.

458
00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:32,359
Speaker 1: And so that's something just to keep an eye on

459
00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:34,800
Speaker 1: over the course of the rest of the season, but

460
00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:39,359
Speaker 1: overall a really encouraging effort. Again, Draymond's out, it's gonna

461
00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:42,280
Speaker 1: be totally different if if Jamal Murray's in there too,

462
00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:45,840
Speaker 1: because like you're gonna slide Andrew Wiggins onto Jamal Murray

463
00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:50,480
Speaker 1: in all likelihood. With Draymond in the lineup, you can

464
00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:53,960
Speaker 1: do a lot more. Uh, you have a little bit

465
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:56,439
Speaker 1: more flexibility with the way you guard Jokic, Like Jokic

466
00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:58,400
Speaker 1: was really targeting Sarag in this game. There's a game

467
00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:00,520
Speaker 1: where or there's a play where he ran in inverted

468
00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:04,000
Speaker 1: pick and roll where Sarge was on Gordon and he

469
00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:05,840
Speaker 1: ran like a ball screen where he was the ball

470
00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:09,160
Speaker 1: handler with Gordon at ten feet away from the basket,

471
00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:11,879
Speaker 1: got the switch onto Sarag. Then Gordon cleared out and

472
00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:13,800
Speaker 1: took Looney with him, and then he just kind of

473
00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:15,840
Speaker 1: hit Sarge with a basic drop step and put it

474
00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:18,560
Speaker 1: in the basket. Like every time Jokic saw Sorage, he

475
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:20,280
Speaker 1: saw food and his eyes lit up and he got

476
00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:22,960
Speaker 1: an easy basket. So like, are we gonna see Sarge

477
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:25,120
Speaker 1: on the floor with Jokic at the same time at

478
00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:27,600
Speaker 1: all during a playoff series? Probably not. It's probably gonna

479
00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:30,760
Speaker 1: be a steady diet of Draymond and Looney with Sarge

480
00:23:31,119 --> 00:23:34,280
Speaker 1: against their bench units running pick and pops with Chris

481
00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:38,160
Speaker 1: Paul right. So, like, don't want to take too much

482
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:40,159
Speaker 1: away from this matchup, but I did think it was

483
00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:42,639
Speaker 1: an encouraging effort. Not many teams have gone into I

484
00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:44,359
Speaker 1: talked about this earlier, but that's the eighth win for

485
00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:48,200
Speaker 1: the Nuggets, and I want to say that's just the

486
00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:51,600
Speaker 1: third win of those eight that required a clutch situation,

487
00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:53,880
Speaker 1: meaning the score was within five with less than five

488
00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:56,240
Speaker 1: minutes left. So like they've been pretty much dominating people,

489
00:23:56,880 --> 00:23:58,840
Speaker 1: and so for you to go into Denver and make

490
00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:01,000
Speaker 1: a game of it and have a left handed layup

491
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:03,359
Speaker 1: from staff that could have tied the game late even

492
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:07,000
Speaker 1: with the miss free throws, that is a really encouraging outcome.

493
00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:09,760
Speaker 1: I also thought it was you know, again, Looney is

494
00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:13,119
Speaker 1: not a Jokic stopper. I think that's overstated. I do

495
00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:16,480
Speaker 1: think you can get away with more single coverage stuff

496
00:24:16,480 --> 00:24:19,240
Speaker 1: with Looney than you normally would in a playoff series,

497
00:24:19,520 --> 00:24:21,280
Speaker 1: and that's an advantage. Again, Like that's the thing, like

498
00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:23,600
Speaker 1: if you can get when it comes to superstars you're

499
00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:25,240
Speaker 1: not trying to stop them, especially the best players in

500
00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:26,639
Speaker 1: the league. You're not trying to stop them. You're just

501
00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:28,959
Speaker 1: trying to make the game harder for them. And I

502
00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:32,720
Speaker 1: think Looney is capable of at least making Jokic work harder.

503
00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:35,920
Speaker 1: And it's a really interesting idea of like the matchup archetypes,

504
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:38,119
Speaker 1: because like I think Anthony Davis is the best and

505
00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:41,760
Speaker 1: most versatile defender in the NBA, and like there's a

506
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:44,160
Speaker 1: couple other guys that are on that list, on that tier, right,

507
00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:46,880
Speaker 1: like guys like bam at a Baio, guys like Rudy Gobert,

508
00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:50,840
Speaker 1: guys like Giannis. But like the problem is is, like

509
00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:53,680
Speaker 1: most of those guys are too skinny to really hang

510
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,879
Speaker 1: with Jokic in his back down situations. So it's interesting

511
00:24:56,920 --> 00:24:59,199
Speaker 1: to me that you see guys like Joel Embiid, like

512
00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:04,399
Speaker 1: Carl Town, even like Kevon Looney, like the more the

513
00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:06,240
Speaker 1: for lack of a better word, like the kind of

514
00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:09,280
Speaker 1: chunkier and I mean again, like they're professional athletes. That's

515
00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:10,879
Speaker 1: not what I mean, but I just mean relative to

516
00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:14,239
Speaker 1: the lean kind of like skinnier looking athlete versus more

517
00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:16,480
Speaker 1: of the chunkier kind of like low center of gravity,

518
00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:20,600
Speaker 1: heavy weight bigs. They tend to hold up better against

519
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:22,479
Speaker 1: Jokic because he's a backdown player, and if you can

520
00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:24,320
Speaker 1: hold your ground, you can force him into tougher shots.

521
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:26,440
Speaker 1: And again, like that, that's not the same way saying

522
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:29,280
Speaker 1: Jokic stopper. It just it just is a is an

523
00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:31,359
Speaker 1: example of a type of player that can make Yokic

524
00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:33,840
Speaker 1: work harder, and the Warriors have one of those guys.

525
00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:37,920
Speaker 1: And I think that that is a a legitimate point

526
00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:40,600
Speaker 1: of optimism. And again, your offense had some real success

527
00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:42,879
Speaker 1: against the Nugget defense in the fourth quarter up until

528
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:45,800
Speaker 1: that final adjustment with the Aaron Gordon switch, which the

529
00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:48,560
Speaker 1: Warriors in a regular season see setting were unable to

530
00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:52,560
Speaker 1: kind of keep up with. All right, moving on to

531
00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:56,760
Speaker 1: sixer Celtics weird game. They start with Drew Holliday on

532
00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:00,480
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid and which you know it was because it

533
00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:02,520
Speaker 1: started with a Basically, what they were doing is theyd

534
00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:06,920
Speaker 1: have Porzingis on Porzingis and Tatum on either Ubre or Harris,

535
00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 1: and they would bring those guys in help and basically

536
00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:12,600
Speaker 1: just kind of like whenever Embiid kind of put Drew

537
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:15,760
Speaker 1: in a precarious position, that's what they would offer, right

538
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:17,800
Speaker 1: as that kind of backside help, especially when Drew was

539
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:20,560
Speaker 1: trying to front the post. And there was an early

540
00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:23,080
Speaker 1: play where you embiid spun off on the baseline and

541
00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:26,720
Speaker 1: like dunked easily along the baseline and everyone's like, uh oh,

542
00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:28,399
Speaker 1: like I'm not sure this matchup is gonna work, and

543
00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:31,200
Speaker 1: then Drew Holliday actually got a bunch of stops. In general,

544
00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:33,919
Speaker 1: I thought their defensive strategy was sound. They held him

545
00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:36,240
Speaker 1: Bead to twenty seven points on ten for twenty shooting

546
00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:39,439
Speaker 1: with six turnovers. In general, I thought it was a

547
00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:42,159
Speaker 1: good defensive game for the Celtics, but it was a

548
00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:45,720
Speaker 1: dominant defensive game from Philly. There's again, there was a

549
00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:49,920
Speaker 1: late flurry from Christops Porzingis and Jalen Brown that made

550
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:52,840
Speaker 1: it look closer than it was. Right Like Chrisops Porzingis

551
00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:55,199
Speaker 1: got a wide open three on the left wing that

552
00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:58,359
Speaker 1: could have tied the game, but it was just it

553
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:01,399
Speaker 1: was a kind of a flur of things. Jalen Brown

554
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:05,439
Speaker 1: hit two really tough threes in that stretch, and Porzingis

555
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:07,760
Speaker 1: got hot with his above the break three point shooting

556
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:10,080
Speaker 1: and it kind of came down to that. But This

557
00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:12,240
Speaker 1: was a pretty dominant performance, Like they held the Celtics

558
00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:15,040
Speaker 1: to just eighty seven points. They were right about forty

559
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:17,639
Speaker 1: five minutes of the game. It really comes down to

560
00:27:17,680 --> 00:27:19,520
Speaker 1: that combination that I always talk about, Like, we're not

561
00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:21,640
Speaker 1: gonna hit the Timberwolves today. Timberwolves fans, I know you're

562
00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:25,000
Speaker 1: wanting to God knows, I love the Timberwolves and I'm

563
00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:26,560
Speaker 1: super high on that team. I was high on them

564
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:29,040
Speaker 1: coming into the season. But I want to spend it.

565
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:30,359
Speaker 1: I want to do a deep dive on them. So

566
00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:34,479
Speaker 1: we have a really small slate tonight and the Thursday

567
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:37,159
Speaker 1: night slate, So tomorrow we are going to hit a

568
00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:39,640
Speaker 1: deep dive on the Minnesota Timberwolves and talk all about

569
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:44,280
Speaker 1: how good they've been to start this season. But what

570
00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:45,919
Speaker 1: did I talk about with the Timberwolves, Like, it's that

571
00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:48,560
Speaker 1: combination of perimeter defense with brim protection. If you can

572
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:50,440
Speaker 1: kind of put those two pieces together, you can be

573
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:52,720
Speaker 1: an excellent defense, especially if you can control the glass.

574
00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:56,720
Speaker 1: And the Sixers are kind of high on perimeter defenders.

575
00:27:56,760 --> 00:28:00,000
Speaker 1: Liked Anthony Melton is a very good perimeter defender. Patrick

576
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:02,880
Speaker 1: Beverly when he's actually guarding guards, is a good perimeter defender.

577
00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:05,480
Speaker 1: They're getting really good perimeter defense right now out of

578
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:08,280
Speaker 1: Tobias Harris, Kelly Ubray and then Nick batoom I was

579
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,800
Speaker 1: impressed with him flying around screens and playing good physical defense.

580
00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:16,119
Speaker 1: Has had several really good possessions on Jason Tatum. And

581
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:19,520
Speaker 1: so they're basically just hounding the Celtics perimeter players all

582
00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:21,720
Speaker 1: game long because they can match up with their guards

583
00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:25,080
Speaker 1: and with their wings and then embiids behind bothering shots

584
00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:27,679
Speaker 1: in the paint, right. And that's the thing, Like, if

585
00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:31,280
Speaker 1: if you can, if you can really contain on the

586
00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:34,440
Speaker 1: perimeter at least to the best of the best that

587
00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:37,360
Speaker 1: you're capable of against a team that's talented, you can

588
00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:41,400
Speaker 1: actually start to bait the Celtics into their worst tendencies. Because,

589
00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:44,200
Speaker 1: like when the Celtics really are operating freely and they're

590
00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:46,840
Speaker 1: driving and kicking and they've got all their guys in rhythm,

591
00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:49,280
Speaker 1: they're damn near impossible to guard. There's just too much

592
00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:51,520
Speaker 1: ball handling and shooting on the floor, right. But like

593
00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:53,840
Speaker 1: if you can kind of stagnate them a little bit

594
00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:57,080
Speaker 1: and force them to like really have to work hard

595
00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:00,520
Speaker 1: to generate quality shots, typically they won't do that. They

596
00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:04,920
Speaker 1: won't patiently operate to generate quality shots. They'll usually just

597
00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:08,120
Speaker 1: start settling for quick early threes. And that was what

598
00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:09,920
Speaker 1: they were able to do in this game. They forced them,

599
00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:12,000
Speaker 1: I think. I think the Celtics took forty seven threes

600
00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:15,800
Speaker 1: and a lot of them were rushed early shots in

601
00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:18,120
Speaker 1: the shot clock. Did they miss them open looks too, Yes,

602
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:20,480
Speaker 1: But that's part of kind of that process. Like you

603
00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:22,959
Speaker 1: can throw a team out of rhythm and then they

604
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:26,600
Speaker 1: start to miss the open ones as well. And that

605
00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:29,320
Speaker 1: kind of looked like again, like I don't care how

606
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:33,960
Speaker 1: good the Sixers played defense, I don't care how poorly

607
00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:40,200
Speaker 1: they shot compared to their expected quality. The Celtics straight

608
00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:44,080
Speaker 1: up should never have eighty seven points through forty five

609
00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:46,680
Speaker 1: minutes of NBA basketball. They have too much talent on

610
00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:48,840
Speaker 1: their roster for that to happen. And so that's the

611
00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:51,200
Speaker 1: thing is, like it's kind of a two part effort

612
00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:53,040
Speaker 1: when it comes to slowing down the Celtics as it

613
00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:55,680
Speaker 1: pertains to their you know, talent advantage. You've got to

614
00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:58,600
Speaker 1: you've got to do your part in terms of the

615
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:02,280
Speaker 1: defensive con painment on the perimeter. But then you have

616
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:05,520
Speaker 1: to essentially count on the Celtics to piss down their

617
00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 1: leg for the other half of it, right, And like

618
00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:10,480
Speaker 1: that's kind of been a consistent theme over the course

619
00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:12,880
Speaker 1: of the last few years. It's like the Celtics kind

620
00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:15,560
Speaker 1: of have two modes. They have like their good basketball

621
00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:19,680
Speaker 1: thought process approach offensively mode, and then they have there

622
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:23,720
Speaker 1: we're settling for bad early threes mode and making poor

623
00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:26,160
Speaker 1: rim decisions and things like that like that, if you

624
00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:28,880
Speaker 1: can bait them into that, you can cause real problems.

625
00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:32,320
Speaker 1: And then about the late game offense from Philly was

626
00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:36,160
Speaker 1: really interesting. Tyree Maxey really dominated the early portion of

627
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:39,120
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, Like basically from the beginning of the

628
00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:42,600
Speaker 1: fourth quarter to about halfway through, he was really attacking Chrisops,

629
00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:44,680
Speaker 1: Porzingis and pick and roll. So there was a play.

630
00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:46,200
Speaker 1: It was kind of like a sequence and you could

631
00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:49,600
Speaker 1: see the adjustments. So it started with a Porzingis in

632
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:53,320
Speaker 1: a deep drop coverage. Maxi gets a good screen I

633
00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:55,800
Speaker 1: think Paul Reid was his screening partner at this point,

634
00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:58,880
Speaker 1: gets downhill, makes a floater over the top of Porzingis right,

635
00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:01,320
Speaker 1: So the next time they run it, Porzingis just switches

636
00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:03,200
Speaker 1: right because he's got to come out higher. They said

637
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:07,000
Speaker 1: it a good screen and roll, Porzingis switches out to Maxi.

638
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:11,560
Speaker 1: Maxi takes his time, hits a dribble combination, beats Porzingis

639
00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:14,800
Speaker 1: to the basket, and makes a floater to get another bucket.

640
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:20,320
Speaker 1: So then on the next switch, when when Maxi gets

641
00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:24,200
Speaker 1: Porzingis switched on the left wing Derek White, it basically

642
00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:27,520
Speaker 1: offers a soft double team from the right wing and

643
00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:31,280
Speaker 1: basically comes over to the nail to basically help Porzingis

644
00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:34,800
Speaker 1: contain Maxi on the switch, And so Tobias Harris just

645
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:37,720
Speaker 1: cuts out of the slot and Maxi hits him with

646
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:39,800
Speaker 1: the bounce pass, and Tobias hits like a little five

647
00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:43,000
Speaker 1: foot jump shot in the lane. So like that's what's

648
00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:45,760
Speaker 1: really impressive. It's impressive in a couple of different ways.

649
00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:47,280
Speaker 1: First of all, it just goes to show you how

650
00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:50,120
Speaker 1: dominant tyres Maxi can be in terms of his speed

651
00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:52,720
Speaker 1: in beating people off the dribble. But secondly, that's a

652
00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:55,400
Speaker 1: high level shot creation piece. Like if you need Maxi

653
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:58,280
Speaker 1: to be your best perimeter offensive option, and I don't

654
00:31:58,320 --> 00:31:59,880
Speaker 1: know that he will be when the end of the

655
00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:01,840
Speaker 1: season comes around, because I think the Sixers can make

656
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:03,440
Speaker 1: a trade which we'll talk about in a little bit,

657
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:07,520
Speaker 1: But like you want to see Maxi make high level reads,

658
00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:10,520
Speaker 1: you want to see him be able to deal with adjustments,

659
00:32:10,800 --> 00:32:13,760
Speaker 1: beating a drop, coverage, beating a switch, then beating a

660
00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:16,680
Speaker 1: switch with soft help or soft double team. That's an

661
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:19,720
Speaker 1: example of a progression. And he hit three of them

662
00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:22,200
Speaker 1: in a row, got three straight buckets, and that was

663
00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:25,040
Speaker 1: a huge part of their offensive success in the fourth quarter. Right,

664
00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:29,040
Speaker 1: So Joe Mizzoula responds by removing chrisops Porzingis from the game.

665
00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:33,280
Speaker 1: So from there they run a ball screen and Embiid

666
00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:36,040
Speaker 1: gets a switch. So Embiid goes down to the post,

667
00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:41,360
Speaker 1: and when they throw the post entry to Embiid, Horford

668
00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:43,640
Speaker 1: tries to scram them out of the switch. And when

669
00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:46,000
Speaker 1: he SCRAMs them out of the switch, they're slow on

670
00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:48,960
Speaker 1: the rotation and Tobias Harris gets a wide open three

671
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:52,920
Speaker 1: on the left wing. Then on the down the stretch,

672
00:32:52,960 --> 00:32:57,360
Speaker 1: we had the left block post up from Embiid and again,

673
00:32:57,440 --> 00:32:58,800
Speaker 1: like one of the things you want to do with

674
00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:00,840
Speaker 1: Embiid is you want to double off the dribble instead

675
00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:03,800
Speaker 1: of when he has a live dribble, excuse me, double

676
00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:05,760
Speaker 1: when he's dribbling versus when he's in a triple threat.

677
00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:08,200
Speaker 1: Because Embiid, when he kind of can hold onto the

678
00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:10,920
Speaker 1: basketball and protect it with his body, he's actually a

679
00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:12,720
Speaker 1: decent passer. It's when he puts the ball on the

680
00:33:12,720 --> 00:33:16,160
Speaker 1: floor that he really struggles to transition out of dribbling

681
00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:19,120
Speaker 1: into making a read. So but one of the things

682
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:21,520
Speaker 1: you can't do is make a really easy read for him,

683
00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:27,480
Speaker 1: and the Celtics ended up doubling off of Tyree Maxi

684
00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:31,040
Speaker 1: one pass away and in the process it was just

685
00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:33,840
Speaker 1: like Embiid was dribbling, but it's not a hard read.

686
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:38,200
Speaker 1: It's like boop right there and easy left wing three

687
00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:41,680
Speaker 1: from Tyree Maxis. So like they just basically picked the

688
00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:44,080
Speaker 1: Celtics apart down the stretch of this game. On offense,

689
00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:47,000
Speaker 1: did a really nice job containing them and forcing them

690
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:49,960
Speaker 1: into their worst tendencies on the defensive end of the floor. Again,

691
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:51,960
Speaker 1: we had that crazy run late, but then even then

692
00:33:52,000 --> 00:33:55,360
Speaker 1: Embiid iced it effectively iced it. I shouldn't even say that,

693
00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:57,120
Speaker 1: because porzing Get still let a chance to tie, but

694
00:33:57,480 --> 00:33:59,560
Speaker 1: they were able to go down to Embiid against the

695
00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:02,280
Speaker 1: switch against Jason Tatum, and he had a really nice

696
00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:04,280
Speaker 1: right shoulder fade over the top. That was like an

697
00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:06,760
Speaker 1: easy shot that he got great separation that he's probably

698
00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:08,520
Speaker 1: going to hit five out of ten times. Right, So,

699
00:34:08,640 --> 00:34:11,000
Speaker 1: like a lot of really encouraging stuff on the offensive

700
00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:13,840
Speaker 1: end from the Sixers in that game as well. The

701
00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:17,040
Speaker 1: Sixers have won six consecutive games since that regular season

702
00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:19,920
Speaker 1: opener against Milwaukee, which, in my opinion, they got absolutely

703
00:34:19,920 --> 00:34:22,000
Speaker 1: hosed by the officials in that game. And you guys

704
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,600
Speaker 1: know I almost never say that, so clearly they did

705
00:34:24,640 --> 00:34:28,360
Speaker 1: get hosed. They are now fifth in defense, They look awesome,

706
00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:31,200
Speaker 1: and again, like I mentioned earlier, they are very well

707
00:34:31,239 --> 00:34:33,719
Speaker 1: positioned for a mid season trade which could end up

708
00:34:33,760 --> 00:34:35,439
Speaker 1: pushing them over the top. Like we're gonna talk about

709
00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:38,040
Speaker 1: the Lakers and the potential mid season trade later, and

710
00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:40,440
Speaker 1: like that's what's kind of exciting about the Sixers is

711
00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:42,640
Speaker 1: like they're already good even if they don't make this

712
00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:44,680
Speaker 1: type of trade. Can they win win the championship is

713
00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:48,120
Speaker 1: currently constructed, No, not in my opinion, not unless Embiide

714
00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:51,799
Speaker 1: just finally translates his offensive success to the postseason. But

715
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:53,319
Speaker 1: that feels like a gamble. My guess is they're going

716
00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:55,000
Speaker 1: to try to bring in more firepower and if they do,

717
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:59,239
Speaker 1: they immediately vault into that top tier of contenders. For

718
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:04,320
Speaker 1: the Celtics late game execution, there was a Jason Tatum,

719
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:06,399
Speaker 1: especially in the defensive end. Is when I'm referencing here.

720
00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:09,440
Speaker 1: There was a Jason Tatum backcourt steel attempt where the

721
00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:12,600
Speaker 1: Sixers were in transition and Tatum just like made this

722
00:35:12,719 --> 00:35:16,520
Speaker 1: like half assed bullshit like like jump a passing lane

723
00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:19,880
Speaker 1: thing in the back court, which ended up leaving them

724
00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:24,880
Speaker 1: horribly undermanned on the in transition defense. And Tobias Harris

725
00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,280
Speaker 1: just had an easy driving layup out of the right corner,

726
00:35:27,719 --> 00:35:30,400
Speaker 1: the doubling off of Phillies' best three point shooter one

727
00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:33,440
Speaker 1: pass away, that post up with embiid Off where they

728
00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:36,520
Speaker 1: made the kickout pass to Tyres Maxey, Like that's not

729
00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:38,680
Speaker 1: even just the best shooter on the Sixers, that's one

730
00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:40,640
Speaker 1: of the best three point shooters in the entire NBA.

731
00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:43,080
Speaker 1: That you're just doubling off of one pass away and

732
00:35:43,120 --> 00:35:44,680
Speaker 1: to read that and bead it's gonna make every time

733
00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:49,360
Speaker 1: like that needs to be. That needs to be a

734
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:52,120
Speaker 1: like literally like a windshield wiper rotation, where like as

735
00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:55,200
Speaker 1: the doubles coming, Jalen Brown's already there at Tyres Maxie

736
00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:59,480
Speaker 1: instead of like Horford goes and then Jalen Brown goes

737
00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:01,959
Speaker 1: a second and in that second they end up getting

738
00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:04,880
Speaker 1: a wide open look. I talked about the botched scram switch.

739
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,360
Speaker 1: This is the one where like Embiid catches on the

740
00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:11,120
Speaker 1: on the right block and or Embiid posts up on

741
00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:13,720
Speaker 1: the right block and Horford runs over to basically scram

742
00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:15,480
Speaker 1: them out of the switch, but they don't rotate on

743
00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:16,880
Speaker 1: the back end and it's a wide open three for

744
00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:19,239
Speaker 1: Tobias Harris. So like again, down the stretch of the game,

745
00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:21,000
Speaker 1: they just have to actually stick to their game plan

746
00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:22,600
Speaker 1: and do their jobs. If they do that, that would

747
00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:24,359
Speaker 1: go a long way towards giving them a better chance

748
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:26,600
Speaker 1: and then their offensive approach. This is something I've seen

749
00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:29,640
Speaker 1: in general with the Celtics over the years, and it

750
00:36:29,640 --> 00:36:32,680
Speaker 1: really comes down to this, like, like they're so damn

751
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,759
Speaker 1: good and they have so many talented players that like

752
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:38,600
Speaker 1: like they see shots that they like. Their bar for

753
00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:40,400
Speaker 1: what they consider to be a shot that they like

754
00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:44,520
Speaker 1: to take is very low. And it's not because they're

755
00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:47,879
Speaker 1: not capable or wanting to find higher quality shots. It's

756
00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:50,400
Speaker 1: just because that's what they're capable. Of like a semi

757
00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:55,759
Speaker 1: contested Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, Derek White three is like

758
00:36:56,120 --> 00:36:59,680
Speaker 1: an okay shot, and they'll win a lot of games

759
00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:03,959
Speaker 1: making those shots, right, But they have so much ball

760
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:07,879
Speaker 1: handling in athleticism and quickness on the perimeter that they're

761
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:11,560
Speaker 1: actually capable of getting great shots, like truly great shots,

762
00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:15,200
Speaker 1: and so they could tend to be a little impatient

763
00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:20,520
Speaker 1: in their execution, especially in games against good perimeter defenses

764
00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:23,080
Speaker 1: where it's not quite as easy and quick. And I

765
00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:24,720
Speaker 1: thought that was a good example, Like they were fifteen

766
00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:27,640
Speaker 1: for forty seven from three in this particular game, and

767
00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:31,160
Speaker 1: I counted like a couple dozen threes where I'm like, eh,

768
00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:33,680
Speaker 1: there's a lot of time left on the shot clock here,

769
00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:35,920
Speaker 1: Like why are you taking that three? You know what

770
00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:38,400
Speaker 1: I mean. Tatum had his worst game of the season

771
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:40,719
Speaker 1: in my opinion. Big part of that was the same

772
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:42,520
Speaker 1: type of thing. There were two players in particular, one

773
00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:44,719
Speaker 1: on Nick Patoomb and one on Joel Embiid where he

774
00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:47,239
Speaker 1: caught the ball in a cleared iso with plenty of

775
00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:52,200
Speaker 1: space to operate in a with like twelve thirteen seconds

776
00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:55,080
Speaker 1: on the shot clock, and one of them he just

777
00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:56,880
Speaker 1: kind of like hit the tune with a series of

778
00:37:56,960 --> 00:38:00,080
Speaker 1: jab steps and took a three, like a really tough three,

779
00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:04,520
Speaker 1: and then another one he took. He ended up like

780
00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:06,960
Speaker 1: just jabbing at him, beat a bunch of times in

781
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:08,480
Speaker 1: the right corner. I clipped this play and put it

782
00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:10,440
Speaker 1: on my Twitter feed. He jabbed it and beat a

783
00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:12,239
Speaker 1: few times just to try to see if maybe he

784
00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:14,359
Speaker 1: could concede a three point shot to him, and then

785
00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:16,359
Speaker 1: he swung the ball out of it. And I'm like, dude, like,

786
00:38:16,840 --> 00:38:20,439
Speaker 1: you torched this guy in the playoffs last year when

787
00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:22,240
Speaker 1: he was playing too far off of you by shooting,

788
00:38:22,239 --> 00:38:24,000
Speaker 1: but he's pressing up on you, like, and you're way

789
00:38:24,080 --> 00:38:26,640
Speaker 1: quicker than him. Beat him off the dribble and make

790
00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:29,040
Speaker 1: a play that way, like they're just in general, I

791
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:31,000
Speaker 1: think that I think the Celtics just can be lulled

792
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:33,680
Speaker 1: to sleep in terms of their shot selection, and they

793
00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,880
Speaker 1: can really fall into extended stretches of taking bad shots.

794
00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:38,960
Speaker 1: And this is an example of that. And that's why, like,

795
00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:41,439
Speaker 1: no matter how good their net rating is, no matter

796
00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:43,759
Speaker 1: how dominant they are in this regular season, like, I

797
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:47,560
Speaker 1: can't in my right mind pick the Celtics to win

798
00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:50,880
Speaker 1: the title before the playoffs unless there is a significant

799
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:52,719
Speaker 1: injury to someone on the Nuggets or on the on

800
00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:55,840
Speaker 1: the Bucks, right, because like, as far as I'm concerned,

801
00:38:56,440 --> 00:38:58,799
Speaker 1: it is not a regular season issue. It is a

802
00:38:58,800 --> 00:39:02,799
Speaker 1: postseason issue. They are they are capable of long, extended

803
00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:06,759
Speaker 1: offensive lolls, and it starts with Tatum and Brown in

804
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:11,279
Speaker 1: their approach, and until that changes, it is it's just

805
00:39:11,320 --> 00:39:15,680
Speaker 1: not a problem that's going away. And like it's very

806
00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:17,680
Speaker 1: possible that this year ends up being the year where

807
00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:20,200
Speaker 1: Tatum figures it all out and the Celtics kind of

808
00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:22,359
Speaker 1: are pushed over the top by that. But I can

809
00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:24,120
Speaker 1: tell you right now what it's going to be like

810
00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:26,840
Speaker 1: from my perspective, I'm not going to pick the Celtics.

811
00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:30,000
Speaker 1: I certainly know that they're capable of it, and I'm

812
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:31,839
Speaker 1: gonna have to be one of those guys that's like, shit,

813
00:39:31,880 --> 00:39:34,040
Speaker 1: I'm late to the party. Like Tatum's that guy. Now

814
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:36,200
Speaker 1: you know, he won the title, he got it all done.

815
00:39:36,239 --> 00:39:38,480
Speaker 1: Like I can't. I can't in my right mind make

816
00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:41,440
Speaker 1: that prediction because it's wishful thinking based on something that

817
00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:44,440
Speaker 1: I haven't seen yet. If that makes sense, all right,

818
00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:46,640
Speaker 1: Last night or last game before we get out of here,

819
00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:50,040
Speaker 1: Rockets Lakers shout out to the Houston Rockets. Like I

820
00:39:50,080 --> 00:39:52,960
Speaker 1: said earlier, there are four teams in the NBA that

821
00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:55,360
Speaker 1: are top ten in both offense and defense, the Celtics,

822
00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:59,399
Speaker 1: the Sixers, the Nuggets, and the Houston Rockets. Now they're

823
00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:01,520
Speaker 1: on the fringes that they're ninth in defense and tenth

824
00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:05,920
Speaker 1: in offense, but still really impressive. Nonetheless, very fun team.

825
00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:09,279
Speaker 1: They're a very fun team. Hey, one sec a phone call.

826
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:13,440
Speaker 1: They're a very fun team. Jalen Green and again, this

827
00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:15,440
Speaker 1: is a really good matchup for him against the unathletic

828
00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:18,680
Speaker 1: Laker guards. But he just has this incredible combination of

829
00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:21,800
Speaker 1: athleticism and quickness to beat people off the dribble mixed

830
00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:24,680
Speaker 1: with like top tier vertical athleticism to finish at the rim.

831
00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:27,319
Speaker 1: And he's got this jump shot piece of it. And

832
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:29,160
Speaker 1: it's a little inconsistent right now, but that's what you

833
00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:31,600
Speaker 1: expect from younger guards. But he got that jump shot

834
00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:33,120
Speaker 1: going last night, and you can kind of see how

835
00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:35,200
Speaker 1: difficult it is to guard him when that happens. I'll

836
00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:37,239
Speaker 1: prin Shangoon in my opinion as one of the top

837
00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:39,359
Speaker 1: you know, i'd have to make a list, but he's

838
00:40:39,400 --> 00:40:43,320
Speaker 1: certainly in that list of like elite offensive centers in

839
00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:46,320
Speaker 1: the league. That just makes it incredibly difficult to guard

840
00:40:46,719 --> 00:40:51,759
Speaker 1: the Rockets because you like you literally can't switch anything

841
00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:55,120
Speaker 1: but a good post defender onto Shangun, like he even

842
00:40:55,120 --> 00:40:58,520
Speaker 1: against bigger, stronger players like he buried he buried Ruby

843
00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:00,360
Speaker 1: Hatchamura under the rim of a bunch of time times

844
00:41:00,719 --> 00:41:03,520
Speaker 1: he was killing Christian Wood like they just couldn't guard

845
00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:05,640
Speaker 1: him down there. And that this is it been a

846
00:41:05,719 --> 00:41:10,000
Speaker 1: somewhat consistent theme throughout the season, like he may Udoka

847
00:41:10,120 --> 00:41:13,040
Speaker 1: just really trusts Shangoon to kind of be somewhat of

848
00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:15,280
Speaker 1: a folk rum in their offense because of his ability

849
00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:17,360
Speaker 1: to operate in pick and roll and in the post.

850
00:41:17,719 --> 00:41:19,640
Speaker 1: And then Dylan Brooks and Javaris Smith Junior just bring

851
00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:22,560
Speaker 1: that perimeter defense element there their ninth in defensive rating.

852
00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:25,920
Speaker 1: Javaris Smith is one of my favorite young players in

853
00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:31,279
Speaker 1: the league. I was my friend Sam Aspondiari covers the

854
00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:33,879
Speaker 1: Warriors with the Light Years podcast and he also run

855
00:41:34,160 --> 00:41:37,719
Speaker 1: helps to run the Watch playback program. He tweeted this

856
00:41:37,719 --> 00:41:39,520
Speaker 1: out last night. I thought it was a really interesting point.

857
00:41:39,560 --> 00:41:43,800
Speaker 1: He's like, He's like, remember when Memphis basically blamed Dylan

858
00:41:43,800 --> 00:41:45,600
Speaker 1: Brooks for all of their issues, which is another thing

859
00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:47,440
Speaker 1: that we talked about after the season, like how they

860
00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:49,880
Speaker 1: kind of scape go Toed Dylan for it, and like

861
00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:51,719
Speaker 1: here we are now and the Grizzlies can't win a

862
00:41:51,800 --> 00:41:54,640
Speaker 1: damn game and the Rockets are top ten in defense,

863
00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:58,520
Speaker 1: and what you know, I said, I said in the summer,

864
00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:00,760
Speaker 1: and I mean I meant this sincerely. Like Dylan Brooks

865
00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:04,920
Speaker 1: is not my favorite players. It's specifically the there's a

866
00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:07,000
Speaker 1: difference between talking trash and the court and talking trash

867
00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:09,000
Speaker 1: in the media. Talking trash in the court to me

868
00:42:09,239 --> 00:42:12,400
Speaker 1: is like natural competitiveness. Talking trash in the media to me,

869
00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:15,120
Speaker 1: is performative for attention, and he leans really heavy on

870
00:42:15,160 --> 00:42:17,279
Speaker 1: that and can be actually kind of flat out disrespectful

871
00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:20,680
Speaker 1: to some of the to many of the great NBA

872
00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:23,040
Speaker 1: players that have played in this league, Like Lebron's just

873
00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:24,880
Speaker 1: one of many people that he's kind of talked like

874
00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:29,440
Speaker 1: that too and about. And then secondly the injuries, like

875
00:42:29,520 --> 00:42:33,719
Speaker 1: the what he's I've seen him, it's not just the

876
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:36,640
Speaker 1: Gary Payton play from the playoff series two years ago.

877
00:42:36,719 --> 00:42:40,000
Speaker 1: Like Dylan Brooks is like kind of reckless with some

878
00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:43,520
Speaker 1: of his overt physicality in a way that can hurt players,

879
00:42:43,719 --> 00:42:46,320
Speaker 1: and that, to me, I have just a huge problem

880
00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:48,799
Speaker 1: with because you're starting to mess with people's livelihood there, right,

881
00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:52,239
Speaker 1: Like Gary Payton was a guy who now has kind

882
00:42:52,239 --> 00:42:54,719
Speaker 1: of like an established place in the league, but at

883
00:42:54,719 --> 00:42:58,319
Speaker 1: that point in time was very much kind of there,

884
00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:01,959
Speaker 1: you know, just you know, hanging out, maybe maybe gets

885
00:43:01,960 --> 00:43:04,399
Speaker 1: to make the roster next year, right, and like ended

886
00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:06,040
Speaker 1: up being an injury he was able to return from,

887
00:43:06,080 --> 00:43:07,480
Speaker 1: but what if it had been worse, It could have

888
00:43:07,600 --> 00:43:09,520
Speaker 1: literally ended his NBA career. So, like, I have a

889
00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:12,560
Speaker 1: huge problem with some of the things that Dylan Brooks does.

890
00:43:12,640 --> 00:43:17,360
Speaker 1: But based purely on his defense, he is worth the

891
00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:19,799
Speaker 1: contract that he signed. And when you combine that with

892
00:43:19,840 --> 00:43:21,560
Speaker 1: the fact that he's actually starting to hit shots. We

893
00:43:21,600 --> 00:43:23,480
Speaker 1: saw this a little bit in FOBA, and then we're

894
00:43:23,480 --> 00:43:25,200
Speaker 1: seeing it so far this year. Like he's just been

895
00:43:25,239 --> 00:43:28,000
Speaker 1: a more efficient and smarter offensive player than he was

896
00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:30,240
Speaker 1: in earlier years in his career. And so he's actually

897
00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:33,520
Speaker 1: a deeply impactful winner on that team. And then they

898
00:43:33,560 --> 00:43:35,279
Speaker 1: just have a ton of athleticism off the bench. They

899
00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:39,000
Speaker 1: had eleven offensive rebounds just from their bench group in

900
00:43:39,040 --> 00:43:42,920
Speaker 1: that game. Guys like you know tari Eathan, Jeff Green,

901
00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:46,200
Speaker 1: I think I had three or four offensive rebounds they did.

902
00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:49,640
Speaker 1: They did a really nice job just punishing the Lakers

903
00:43:49,640 --> 00:43:52,560
Speaker 1: for their lack of effort and intensity and athleticism. So

904
00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:57,000
Speaker 1: what's wrong with the Lakers? I want to put down

905
00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:01,640
Speaker 1: three key issues. And again, like I know, we've talked

906
00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:03,560
Speaker 1: about this to death, but I'm a Laker fan and

907
00:44:03,600 --> 00:44:05,719
Speaker 1: i want event for a little while. So just I'm

908
00:44:05,719 --> 00:44:08,200
Speaker 1: gonna tuck this again. They're relegated to the end of

909
00:44:08,239 --> 00:44:09,640
Speaker 1: the show, and they're going to be at the end

910
00:44:09,680 --> 00:44:11,839
Speaker 1: of the show for the foreseeable future until they start

911
00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:20,120
Speaker 1: playing better basketball. But Anthony Davis being hurt, obviously, that

912
00:44:20,560 --> 00:44:23,200
Speaker 1: plays a role injuries in general, A big one here

913
00:44:23,239 --> 00:44:27,040
Speaker 1: early on. Jared Vanderbilt is your best perimeter defender. He's out.

914
00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:29,920
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis is your best player, he's out. Gabe is

915
00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:32,799
Speaker 1: your best perimeter defender from the guard corps, he's out.

916
00:44:33,040 --> 00:44:36,319
Speaker 1: Jackson Hayes is literally the backup center. You need to

917
00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:38,920
Speaker 1: have two NBA level centers when Anthony Davis is out

918
00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:41,959
Speaker 1: of the lineup. He's out, and two of those guys

919
00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:46,000
Speaker 1: are you are among your most important rebounders, like Jared

920
00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:50,240
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt literally average seven rebounds a game last year. Again,

921
00:44:50,280 --> 00:44:53,839
Speaker 1: like you have to understand the Lakers post deadline last

922
00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:58,200
Speaker 1: year with the same core of players post deadline last year.

923
00:44:58,200 --> 00:45:01,360
Speaker 1: The only difference is Dennis Schroeder, right, And Gabe Vincent

924
00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:03,759
Speaker 1: is not as good as Dennis Schroeder, but he is

925
00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:07,279
Speaker 1: a reasonable facsimile of him as a perimeter defender. Right,

926
00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:10,920
Speaker 1: Dennis is an elite perimeter defender and Gabe Vincent is

927
00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:14,080
Speaker 1: just good, but he's a reasonable fact simile of what

928
00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:17,200
Speaker 1: he does, and he's a better offensive player. So they're like,

929
00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:20,080
Speaker 1: even if you just take the one rotation piece out

930
00:45:20,080 --> 00:45:22,080
Speaker 1: from last year, they replaced him with the guy who

931
00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:24,960
Speaker 1: started for an NBA Finals team last year. Right, So

932
00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:29,520
Speaker 1: same core guys post deadline last year were second in

933
00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:32,799
Speaker 1: defensive rating and fourth and defensive rebounding percentage, So they

934
00:45:32,840 --> 00:45:35,120
Speaker 1: are excuse me, fourth and rebounding percentage. I think they

935
00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:37,600
Speaker 1: were sixth in defensive rebounding percentage. So this was an

936
00:45:37,680 --> 00:45:41,319
Speaker 1: elite defense and an elite rebounding team last year with

937
00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:44,040
Speaker 1: the same group of players. But what you're seeing is

938
00:45:44,080 --> 00:45:47,279
Speaker 1: like Jared Vanderbilt is kind of vitally important there, and

939
00:45:47,320 --> 00:45:51,480
Speaker 1: then when you take him and Anthony Davis out of

940
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:54,400
Speaker 1: the equation, they just become completely incapable of hanging with

941
00:45:54,440 --> 00:45:57,960
Speaker 1: any sort of athletic team. And now here's the question, like,

942
00:45:58,960 --> 00:46:00,839
Speaker 1: is that a problem in the big picture. No, if

943
00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:05,000
Speaker 1: they're healthy, right, but because we literally saw they were

944
00:46:05,080 --> 00:46:07,319
Speaker 1: elite in both categories when those guys are healthy. But

945
00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:09,080
Speaker 1: it is a reality in the sense that, like, they

946
00:46:09,080 --> 00:46:11,319
Speaker 1: don't have any margin for error there, So like if

947
00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:13,839
Speaker 1: one of those guys goes down, they struggled too much

948
00:46:13,880 --> 00:46:15,759
Speaker 1: to contend in those areas of the game. So that

949
00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:18,719
Speaker 1: is a great example of how like bolstering the backcourt

950
00:46:18,719 --> 00:46:21,239
Speaker 1: with athleticism, getting an athletic Garden there to play next

951
00:46:21,239 --> 00:46:23,399
Speaker 1: to Austin Reeves would go a long way towards helping

952
00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:26,160
Speaker 1: them in that situation. But make no mistake, injuries are

953
00:46:26,160 --> 00:46:29,359
Speaker 1: playing a significant role here. Number two, the guards are

954
00:46:29,880 --> 00:46:32,560
Speaker 1: not consistently scoring the basketball, which is what you pay

955
00:46:32,560 --> 00:46:35,239
Speaker 1: them for. Austin and Dilo both signed long term deals

956
00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:38,360
Speaker 1: with the Lakers this summer at big numbers. Literally because

957
00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:41,600
Speaker 1: they are excellent offensive players. They are both excellent spot

958
00:46:41,680 --> 00:46:45,000
Speaker 1: up players, They are both excellent pick and roll shot creators.

959
00:46:45,040 --> 00:46:47,200
Speaker 1: At least within the context of the regular season. D'Angel

960
00:46:47,280 --> 00:46:50,000
Speaker 1: Russell in the playoffs as a whole other thing. But

961
00:46:50,080 --> 00:46:52,960
Speaker 1: even though he's matchup dependant, had some issues, like the

962
00:46:53,040 --> 00:46:55,000
Speaker 1: Nuggets kicked him out, he had some big games and

963
00:46:55,600 --> 00:46:57,080
Speaker 1: you know, hit a bunch of big shots in Game

964
00:46:57,160 --> 00:46:58,880
Speaker 1: four against Memphis in that game that they want. He

965
00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:00,439
Speaker 1: had a bunch of big moments in the Golden State

966
00:47:00,440 --> 00:47:04,440
Speaker 1: Warrior series. So like, I don't see d'angela Russell on

967
00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:08,239
Speaker 1: this roster post deadline. But strictly within the context of

968
00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:10,759
Speaker 1: the regular season, he was supposed to be a guy

969
00:47:10,800 --> 00:47:12,920
Speaker 1: that could score the basketball and set you up, and

970
00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:16,439
Speaker 1: so was Austin and instead it's been super inconsistent. It's

971
00:47:16,480 --> 00:47:19,960
Speaker 1: like this game, you get really solid production in the

972
00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:22,160
Speaker 1: second half out of D'Angelo Russell, but you get an

973
00:47:22,160 --> 00:47:24,600
Speaker 1: absolute dud out of Austin Reeves. You go back to

974
00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:26,960
Speaker 1: the Miami game, you get a pretty damn good game

975
00:47:26,960 --> 00:47:28,799
Speaker 1: out of Austin Reeves, which you get an absolute dud

976
00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:31,400
Speaker 1: out of D'Angelo Russell, and it's like they just can't

977
00:47:31,400 --> 00:47:34,000
Speaker 1: get consistent production out of those two. Here's where that's

978
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:37,400
Speaker 1: a problem. When those guys are playing great offensively, it

979
00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:39,600
Speaker 1: makes it easier for you to deal with some of

980
00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:42,560
Speaker 1: their limitations, right, and the whole team. When guys are

981
00:47:42,560 --> 00:47:44,480
Speaker 1: making shots, the whole team plays harder, and it kind

982
00:47:44,520 --> 00:47:48,480
Speaker 1: of manifests in a bunch of positives, right. But when

983
00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:51,360
Speaker 1: they're not scoring the basketball and they're not making shots,

984
00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:55,440
Speaker 1: then their defensive limitations and rebounding limitations like scream at

985
00:47:55,480 --> 00:47:57,680
Speaker 1: you in the face when you're watching on the television, right,

986
00:47:57,719 --> 00:48:00,080
Speaker 1: And so that's kind of the issue here is Like

987
00:48:00,920 --> 00:48:03,960
Speaker 1: last year, I think what made the Austin Dilo backcourt

988
00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:08,200
Speaker 1: work for the most part in most matchups was Jared Vanderbilt,

989
00:48:08,640 --> 00:48:11,680
Speaker 1: because Jared Vanderbilt was essentially a guard on the defensive

990
00:48:11,800 --> 00:48:14,480
Speaker 1: end because he guarded the other team's best perimeter player.

991
00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:17,640
Speaker 1: And then he was also an excellent rebounder, and so

992
00:48:17,719 --> 00:48:20,480
Speaker 1: that kind of like solved that issue, right, And then

993
00:48:20,520 --> 00:48:24,080
Speaker 1: we found out like when you got into like the

994
00:48:24,160 --> 00:48:26,680
Speaker 1: Nuggets series and you found a team that could like

995
00:48:27,000 --> 00:48:29,400
Speaker 1: ignore Jared Vanderbilt and cause some problems for you on

996
00:48:29,440 --> 00:48:31,040
Speaker 1: your offensive end of the floor while at the same

997
00:48:31,080 --> 00:48:33,360
Speaker 1: time punishing your lack of athleticism on the other end

998
00:48:33,400 --> 00:48:37,279
Speaker 1: of the floor. Suddenly D'Angelo Russell becomes completely unplayable and

999
00:48:37,680 --> 00:48:41,359
Speaker 1: it's untenable, right, So like that, in my opinion, we're

1000
00:48:41,400 --> 00:48:43,040
Speaker 1: gonna talk about it in a second, like there's going

1001
00:48:43,120 --> 00:48:45,680
Speaker 1: to be a D'angela Russell trade this season. In my opinion,

1002
00:48:45,680 --> 00:48:48,279
Speaker 1: I think it's like one of the safest bets to

1003
00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:51,160
Speaker 1: take place this year. But that can't happen until at

1004
00:48:51,160 --> 00:48:54,319
Speaker 1: a minimum January fifteenth. So what happens until then, Well,

1005
00:48:54,320 --> 00:48:56,480
Speaker 1: if the Lakers want to have any chance to float

1006
00:48:56,480 --> 00:48:58,920
Speaker 1: the ship until then, they need Austin and Dilo to

1007
00:48:58,920 --> 00:49:02,680
Speaker 1: score the damn basketball. Now, one of the concepts that

1008
00:49:02,840 --> 00:49:06,440
Speaker 1: is important here is the way that they're playing. In

1009
00:49:06,440 --> 00:49:09,840
Speaker 1: my opinion, the best team specific podcast out there, like

1010
00:49:10,000 --> 00:49:13,560
Speaker 1: a group of podcasters that strictly covers one team, is

1011
00:49:13,640 --> 00:49:17,800
Speaker 1: the Laker Film Room guys, and Pete Zais in particular,

1012
00:49:18,120 --> 00:49:22,880
Speaker 1: and Darius Oreanom and Mike as well, Mike Trudell. They

1013
00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:24,560
Speaker 1: do a really nice job covering the Lakers on a

1014
00:49:24,600 --> 00:49:26,640
Speaker 1: day to day basis. But one of the things that

1015
00:49:26,920 --> 00:49:30,480
Speaker 1: Pete Zas has been like heavily hammering on this season

1016
00:49:30,520 --> 00:49:34,080
Speaker 1: that we haven't talked about much is the overall offensive approach.

1017
00:49:34,320 --> 00:49:36,719
Speaker 1: So the Lakers are running more of a five out

1018
00:49:36,760 --> 00:49:39,760
Speaker 1: offense this year versus a four out one in offense?

1019
00:49:39,840 --> 00:49:42,120
Speaker 1: What does that mean? A five out offense is like

1020
00:49:42,239 --> 00:49:45,040
Speaker 1: what Golden State runs, right, And we've talked about this

1021
00:49:45,120 --> 00:49:48,400
Speaker 1: a ton in our Golden State coverage, right, the concept

1022
00:49:48,400 --> 00:49:50,520
Speaker 1: of their five out offense and the way that it works,

1023
00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:54,960
Speaker 1: and how everything kind of centers around inverted spacing and

1024
00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:57,959
Speaker 1: pulling defenders away from the basket, and it's like read

1025
00:49:58,000 --> 00:50:02,040
Speaker 1: and react, like dribble handoff flowing into another, dribble hand

1026
00:50:02,080 --> 00:50:05,000
Speaker 1: off flowing into a ball screen while off ball guys

1027
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:07,839
Speaker 1: are interchanging as well. Like it's just it's a lot

1028
00:50:07,880 --> 00:50:12,279
Speaker 1: of ball and player movement centered around the perimeter. But

1029
00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:17,040
Speaker 1: it's more difficult to generate dribble penetration in those situations.

1030
00:50:17,560 --> 00:50:19,239
Speaker 1: And the main reason why is just think of it

1031
00:50:19,239 --> 00:50:21,320
Speaker 1: from the same point of geometry. If I were to

1032
00:50:21,360 --> 00:50:23,920
Speaker 1: take the three point line and stretch it out in

1033
00:50:24,000 --> 00:50:28,120
Speaker 1: a long, thin line and I put four dots on it,

1034
00:50:28,160 --> 00:50:30,799
Speaker 1: they'd be really far apart, right, But if I put

1035
00:50:30,840 --> 00:50:33,319
Speaker 1: five dots on it, they'd all be a little bit closer, right.

1036
00:50:33,719 --> 00:50:36,400
Speaker 1: And so as a result of that, like the actual

1037
00:50:36,480 --> 00:50:39,040
Speaker 1: gaps that you have to shoot through are smaller. Now

1038
00:50:39,080 --> 00:50:41,680
Speaker 1: if you can shoot through the gap. It's much harder

1039
00:50:41,680 --> 00:50:43,480
Speaker 1: to rotate on the backside because you don't have a

1040
00:50:43,560 --> 00:50:46,719
Speaker 1: rim protector waiting for you. Typically that protector has been

1041
00:50:46,719 --> 00:50:49,000
Speaker 1: pulled out to the perimeter. It's just harder to shoot

1042
00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:51,840
Speaker 1: through those gaps. And specifically you're seeing Austin Reeves and

1043
00:50:51,880 --> 00:50:56,520
Speaker 1: D'Angelo Russell struggled to break through those gaps, right. And

1044
00:50:56,760 --> 00:50:59,440
Speaker 1: Lebron James has been one of the best offensive players

1045
00:50:59,440 --> 00:51:01,720
Speaker 1: for the Lakers er in the season, and it's because

1046
00:51:01,719 --> 00:51:03,920
Speaker 1: he's a downhill threat. He's the guy that can actually

1047
00:51:04,200 --> 00:51:06,040
Speaker 1: like see a small gap and he doesn't really have

1048
00:51:06,080 --> 00:51:07,799
Speaker 1: to come through it clean because he's so damn big

1049
00:51:07,800 --> 00:51:09,879
Speaker 1: and strong that he can just power through that gap, right.

1050
00:51:09,920 --> 00:51:12,759
Speaker 1: And he can also generate rim pressure through post ups

1051
00:51:12,760 --> 00:51:15,160
Speaker 1: and in transition and things along those lines. Right. So,

1052
00:51:15,320 --> 00:51:17,440
Speaker 1: like one of the things that I would like to

1053
00:51:17,440 --> 00:51:20,359
Speaker 1: see the Lakers do more often just go back out

1054
00:51:20,360 --> 00:51:23,040
Speaker 1: to their traditional four out one in spacing. What does

1055
00:51:23,080 --> 00:51:25,840
Speaker 1: that look like? That looks like you put you know,

1056
00:51:25,920 --> 00:51:28,160
Speaker 1: shooter in the you want your you want to shooter

1057
00:51:28,239 --> 00:51:29,719
Speaker 1: in the strong side corners. They don't help out of

1058
00:51:29,719 --> 00:51:30,960
Speaker 1: the strong side corner. You have a shooter in the

1059
00:51:31,000 --> 00:51:33,200
Speaker 1: weakside corner, and then you have a shooter on the

1060
00:51:33,239 --> 00:51:36,120
Speaker 1: right wing right, and then basically you have Anthony Davis

1061
00:51:36,160 --> 00:51:39,160
Speaker 1: come up and set ball screens in a in a

1062
00:51:39,360 --> 00:51:43,000
Speaker 1: spaced out floor. For typically you want your ball handler

1063
00:51:43,480 --> 00:51:45,759
Speaker 1: in the in the position where they're most comfortable, so

1064
00:51:45,800 --> 00:51:48,240
Speaker 1: like for D'Angelo Russell and Ausin Ras it might be different.

1065
00:51:48,480 --> 00:51:51,640
Speaker 1: But then basically you're just bringing ad up to set

1066
00:51:51,640 --> 00:51:54,280
Speaker 1: a ball screen, and you're working off that ball screen

1067
00:51:54,320 --> 00:51:55,920
Speaker 1: trying to make something happen, and if it doesn't work,

1068
00:51:55,920 --> 00:51:57,640
Speaker 1: you kick it back out and you run another ball screen.

1069
00:51:57,840 --> 00:51:59,560
Speaker 1: And what the thing is is like that's what the

1070
00:51:59,640 --> 00:52:02,120
Speaker 1: Lakers do for the most part last season, and Austin

1071
00:52:02,160 --> 00:52:05,080
Speaker 1: Reeves in particular really thrived with that. But even D'Angelo

1072
00:52:05,160 --> 00:52:08,400
Speaker 1: Russell as well operated well in that system. And so

1073
00:52:09,440 --> 00:52:10,839
Speaker 1: you know, one of the things I'd like to see

1074
00:52:10,840 --> 00:52:12,759
Speaker 1: the Lakers do is just kind of like go back

1075
00:52:12,800 --> 00:52:15,520
Speaker 1: to more spread pick and roll and let their guys

1076
00:52:15,960 --> 00:52:19,720
Speaker 1: operate with more space and with more opportunity to dribble

1077
00:52:19,760 --> 00:52:23,000
Speaker 1: and less of the read and react thing. I think

1078
00:52:23,040 --> 00:52:25,359
Speaker 1: that there's advantage to being able to play that way,

1079
00:52:25,440 --> 00:52:28,160
Speaker 1: and I don't want them to like discard it entirely,

1080
00:52:28,320 --> 00:52:31,440
Speaker 1: but like, to me, it's a pretty clear sign that, like,

1081
00:52:31,520 --> 00:52:33,920
Speaker 1: you played a certain type of offensive approach last year

1082
00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:35,640
Speaker 1: and it worked really well, and then you're playing a

1083
00:52:35,640 --> 00:52:37,760
Speaker 1: different type of offensive approach this year and it's struggling

1084
00:52:37,760 --> 00:52:39,200
Speaker 1: a little bit, right, And so like I'd like to

1085
00:52:39,239 --> 00:52:44,279
Speaker 1: see them kind of go back to to running more

1086
00:52:44,280 --> 00:52:46,600
Speaker 1: spread pick and roll for their best ball handlers, and

1087
00:52:46,640 --> 00:52:50,480
Speaker 1: then just in general, like I think, especially if your

1088
00:52:50,480 --> 00:52:54,160
Speaker 1: big picture plan is to potentially trade D'Angelo Russell, I

1089
00:52:54,200 --> 00:52:56,560
Speaker 1: would lean more on Lebron and Austin, And like, I

1090
00:52:56,600 --> 00:52:58,680
Speaker 1: don't think it's a coincidence that Lebron and Austin were

1091
00:52:58,680 --> 00:53:00,160
Speaker 1: the ones that kind of brought you back. Again it's

1092
00:53:00,160 --> 00:53:03,080
Speaker 1: the Miami heat. And again I'm not trying to let

1093
00:53:03,120 --> 00:53:05,239
Speaker 1: Austin off the hook. He didn't play well in that

1094
00:53:05,280 --> 00:53:08,160
Speaker 1: game last night, and he's been pretty inconsistent to start

1095
00:53:08,160 --> 00:53:12,400
Speaker 1: the season, right, But like we've just seen in the

1096
00:53:12,400 --> 00:53:16,319
Speaker 1: playoff context, like Austin is just a significantly better and

1097
00:53:16,360 --> 00:53:19,399
Speaker 1: more reliable playoff player than D'Angel Russell is. Like, that's

1098
00:53:19,400 --> 00:53:22,840
Speaker 1: your big picture offense, is Lebron and ad or Lebron

1099
00:53:22,880 --> 00:53:27,600
Speaker 1: and Austin kind of running things with Anthony Davis as

1100
00:53:27,640 --> 00:53:29,560
Speaker 1: a screener, with Lebron James as a screener, right, And

1101
00:53:29,640 --> 00:53:31,400
Speaker 1: so to me, like I would kind of lean on

1102
00:53:31,480 --> 00:53:33,320
Speaker 1: de Lo more in an off ball roll anyway. I

1103
00:53:33,360 --> 00:53:35,680
Speaker 1: think he's a very good off ball shooter. He's not

1104
00:53:35,680 --> 00:53:37,600
Speaker 1: shooting the ball well this year, but that's something that

1105
00:53:37,640 --> 00:53:38,960
Speaker 1: he can do at a high level, and so I

1106
00:53:39,000 --> 00:53:40,440
Speaker 1: think that that's something that I'd like to see them

1107
00:53:40,480 --> 00:53:43,600
Speaker 1: lean into a little bit more. The last major issue

1108
00:53:43,600 --> 00:53:47,920
Speaker 1: is just general defensive energy. I think that in general

1109
00:53:47,960 --> 00:53:51,080
Speaker 1: with this Laker team, I think they were fooled in

1110
00:53:51,120 --> 00:53:53,640
Speaker 1: the preseason by thinking they were a great offense because

1111
00:53:53,640 --> 00:53:56,239
Speaker 1: they were a great offense in the preseason and it

1112
00:53:56,320 --> 00:53:59,040
Speaker 1: was the same personnel that wasn't a great offense last year. Right,

1113
00:53:59,040 --> 00:54:01,360
Speaker 1: They were just a good offense last year, and they

1114
00:54:01,400 --> 00:54:04,799
Speaker 1: struggled in a half court. Right. So with that being

1115
00:54:04,840 --> 00:54:07,319
Speaker 1: the case, Like, the only way this team can win

1116
00:54:07,400 --> 00:54:09,480
Speaker 1: is by being a dominant defense and rebounding team. That's

1117
00:54:09,480 --> 00:54:11,279
Speaker 1: how they want. The same group of guys won by

1118
00:54:11,320 --> 00:54:14,919
Speaker 1: being top five in defense, top five and rebounding and

1119
00:54:15,160 --> 00:54:18,160
Speaker 1: just enough offense. Right, And this year it's been like

1120
00:54:18,200 --> 00:54:19,960
Speaker 1: you can just tell in terms of their allocation of

1121
00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:22,279
Speaker 1: resources in terms of energy and effort. They're just not

1122
00:54:22,360 --> 00:54:24,720
Speaker 1: playing hard enough on a defensively and on the glass,

1123
00:54:25,120 --> 00:54:27,880
Speaker 1: and so I think that that is just an attitude

1124
00:54:27,920 --> 00:54:30,480
Speaker 1: adjustment that the whole group needs. Right, So the question

1125
00:54:30,520 --> 00:54:33,120
Speaker 1: is what's fixable and what is it? So are the

1126
00:54:33,200 --> 00:54:35,520
Speaker 1: Lakers a bad defense and rebounding team in the big

1127
00:54:35,560 --> 00:54:38,800
Speaker 1: picture when they're healthy. No, we know that from the numbers,

1128
00:54:39,440 --> 00:54:42,720
Speaker 1: But they're very dependent on Jared Vanderbilt in this case

1129
00:54:43,040 --> 00:54:47,080
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis. So in general, I think I would

1130
00:54:47,160 --> 00:54:49,080
Speaker 1: view that as a roster need, like they need to

1131
00:54:49,120 --> 00:54:52,000
Speaker 1: improve their perimeter defense to give them the ability to

1132
00:54:52,080 --> 00:54:54,759
Speaker 1: have not just depth night in and night out, but

1133
00:54:54,920 --> 00:54:57,360
Speaker 1: a playoff option as a point of attack defender. If

1134
00:54:57,440 --> 00:54:59,920
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt can't make enough shots to stay on the floor, right,

1135
00:55:00,120 --> 00:55:02,480
Speaker 1: So that to me probably needs to be addressed in

1136
00:55:02,560 --> 00:55:05,640
Speaker 1: a trade. At some point. Our guys gonna keep missing shots.

1137
00:55:05,640 --> 00:55:09,160
Speaker 1: We talked about yesterday, like every key Lakers rotation player

1138
00:55:09,440 --> 00:55:12,120
Speaker 1: is shooting well below their career norms in terms of

1139
00:55:12,120 --> 00:55:15,359
Speaker 1: three point shooting. Now, again, there's two sides to this coin.

1140
00:55:15,440 --> 00:55:17,000
Speaker 1: What do I always say about shooting? I just talked

1141
00:55:17,000 --> 00:55:19,799
Speaker 1: about this with the Celtics, Like it's a it's a

1142
00:55:19,800 --> 00:55:23,160
Speaker 1: little bit of both, Like, are guys missing shots, Yeah,

1143
00:55:23,200 --> 00:55:26,040
Speaker 1: but also you're not generating enough rim pressure and so

1144
00:55:26,080 --> 00:55:28,480
Speaker 1: you're not getting the high quality three point shots that'll

1145
00:55:28,520 --> 00:55:31,239
Speaker 1: get these guys into a rhythm. Right. That kind of

1146
00:55:31,239 --> 00:55:33,080
Speaker 1: goes back to the five out versus spread pick and

1147
00:55:33,160 --> 00:55:35,520
Speaker 1: roll thing that we were talking about earlier. So in general,

1148
00:55:35,560 --> 00:55:39,160
Speaker 1: I'd like to see guys start making shots, but I

1149
00:55:39,160 --> 00:55:41,000
Speaker 1: don't think it's really gonna happen until they just start

1150
00:55:41,000 --> 00:55:44,000
Speaker 1: executing better offensively. That said, do I think the Lakers

1151
00:55:44,040 --> 00:55:47,200
Speaker 1: have a shooting problem, No, because Austin Reeves can really

1152
00:55:47,200 --> 00:55:49,400
Speaker 1: shoot it, D'Angelo Russell can really shoot it, even if

1153
00:55:49,440 --> 00:55:52,080
Speaker 1: they trade him, Gabe Vincent can really shoot it. Torrian

1154
00:55:52,120 --> 00:55:54,279
Speaker 1: Prince can really shoot it. Ruy Hacha Mura can really

1155
00:55:54,320 --> 00:55:57,319
Speaker 1: shoot it, even if he ends up getting traded. Like, like,

1156
00:55:57,360 --> 00:56:00,880
Speaker 1: they have enough backcourt and off balls shooting to be

1157
00:56:01,000 --> 00:56:04,120
Speaker 1: good enough, especially if they get a player back in

1158
00:56:04,160 --> 00:56:06,440
Speaker 1: a trade that can also shoot the basketball. I just

1159
00:56:06,440 --> 00:56:08,200
Speaker 1: don't think they'll shoot better in the short term until

1160
00:56:08,200 --> 00:56:11,680
Speaker 1: they start executing better offensively. And then lastly, like the

1161
00:56:11,760 --> 00:56:14,560
Speaker 1: Austin Dilo backcourt is that fixable. No. In my opinion,

1162
00:56:14,560 --> 00:56:16,440
Speaker 1: that's something they have to eventually address. And this is

1163
00:56:16,440 --> 00:56:18,480
Speaker 1: why I think Dangel Russell getting traded is like one

1164
00:56:18,520 --> 00:56:21,320
Speaker 1: of the safer bets of this NBA season. You can't

1165
00:56:21,360 --> 00:56:24,080
Speaker 1: have that kind of redundancy in your back court if

1166
00:56:24,080 --> 00:56:25,680
Speaker 1: you want to try to win a championship. It's the

1167
00:56:25,680 --> 00:56:28,160
Speaker 1: same reason why I think the Bucks will inevitably make

1168
00:56:28,200 --> 00:56:33,120
Speaker 1: some sort of move with Maliite Beasley and Pat connatt

1169
00:56:33,160 --> 00:56:34,880
Speaker 1: In at that two guard spot, like to upgrade that

1170
00:56:34,920 --> 00:56:37,040
Speaker 1: position in some way, shape or form. Like you just

1171
00:56:37,040 --> 00:56:40,560
Speaker 1: can't win when you have two players in your backcourt

1172
00:56:40,680 --> 00:56:43,080
Speaker 1: that struggle at the point, attack and on the glass.

1173
00:56:43,560 --> 00:56:46,520
Speaker 1: And so from there, Austin's clearly the better player. You

1174
00:56:46,520 --> 00:56:48,760
Speaker 1: actually have him tied up long term at a better number.

1175
00:56:49,640 --> 00:56:54,440
Speaker 1: He's your better playoff player as well. And Dangel Russell, like,

1176
00:56:54,680 --> 00:56:56,520
Speaker 1: to me, like was the one guy last year and

1177
00:56:56,760 --> 00:56:58,759
Speaker 1: in the playoff run that like struggled the most in

1178
00:56:58,840 --> 00:57:01,799
Speaker 1: terms of the night in, night in, night out consistency.

1179
00:57:01,880 --> 00:57:05,800
Speaker 1: So like to me, del doesn't fit with Austin. Ruey

1180
00:57:05,880 --> 00:57:08,960
Speaker 1: plays the same position as Lebron, So you pair those

1181
00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:11,920
Speaker 1: two together, you get to thirty something million in salary,

1182
00:57:12,040 --> 00:57:14,760
Speaker 1: you have two first round picks to use. That's a

1183
00:57:14,840 --> 00:57:18,760
Speaker 1: really good trade package. Ruey is a good starter level

1184
00:57:18,840 --> 00:57:21,520
Speaker 1: NBA player who can play for someone in the league.

1185
00:57:21,720 --> 00:57:24,480
Speaker 1: D'Angelo Russell is a good starter level NBA player that

1186
00:57:24,520 --> 00:57:25,960
Speaker 1: can start for a team as long as they're not

1187
00:57:25,960 --> 00:57:28,280
Speaker 1: trying to compete for a title. Right. So, like someone

1188
00:57:28,320 --> 00:57:30,520
Speaker 1: out there is going to see value in those two guys.

1189
00:57:30,840 --> 00:57:33,200
Speaker 1: And then the draft picks. Again, any Laker draft pick,

1190
00:57:33,280 --> 00:57:37,360
Speaker 1: especially with their tendency to go through long extended poor

1191
00:57:37,400 --> 00:57:40,120
Speaker 1: play and the Genie Bus era, those draft picks have

1192
00:57:40,200 --> 00:57:43,360
Speaker 1: real value, right, And so I think they're in a

1193
00:57:43,360 --> 00:57:46,240
Speaker 1: position where, like everything comes down to that trade deadline

1194
00:57:46,240 --> 00:57:48,439
Speaker 1: for the Lakers. If they can hit one really high

1195
00:57:48,560 --> 00:57:52,560
Speaker 1: quality trade with d Lo and RUI, I think that

1196
00:57:52,600 --> 00:57:54,200
Speaker 1: can kind of round out some of the other pieces

1197
00:57:54,200 --> 00:57:55,880
Speaker 1: of the roster. Now, the good news, and this is

1198
00:57:55,920 --> 00:57:57,760
Speaker 1: the upside from a bad start, because like three and

1199
00:57:57,840 --> 00:58:00,800
Speaker 1: five obviously is a disaster. But the good news is

1200
00:58:01,040 --> 00:58:04,560
Speaker 1: Lebron James and Christian Wood look great. Lebron's sixty three

1201
00:58:04,600 --> 00:58:07,480
Speaker 1: percent through shooting, his volume is down, his scoring numbers

1202
00:58:07,480 --> 00:58:09,040
Speaker 1: are down. He's at like twenty four and a half points,

1203
00:58:09,040 --> 00:58:10,880
Speaker 1: per game. But a huge part of that is usage, right,

1204
00:58:10,960 --> 00:58:14,120
Speaker 1: Like there's just a huge convoluted nature to their ball handling,

1205
00:58:14,400 --> 00:58:16,880
Speaker 1: and Lebron's usage is actually the lowest it's been since

1206
00:58:16,880 --> 00:58:19,560
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, which is like what six or seven years.

1207
00:58:19,680 --> 00:58:23,280
Speaker 1: So like, even though the box score numbers don't show it,

1208
00:58:23,280 --> 00:58:25,120
Speaker 1: I actually think Lebron looks better than he did at

1209
00:58:25,160 --> 00:58:27,840
Speaker 1: any point last year. His shot making looks much better.

1210
00:58:27,880 --> 00:58:30,960
Speaker 1: I think that's all really really good. So then one

1211
00:58:30,960 --> 00:58:33,040
Speaker 1: of the things we've learned is that Christian Wood is

1212
00:58:33,080 --> 00:58:35,560
Speaker 1: actually a very good defensive player for the Lakers as

1213
00:58:35,600 --> 00:58:39,600
Speaker 1: a help side defender versus as a pick and roll defender.

1214
00:58:39,880 --> 00:58:41,200
Speaker 1: And that was the thing. Is like, when they sign

1215
00:58:41,280 --> 00:58:44,320
Speaker 1: Christian Wood, everyone looked at all these defensive possessions of

1216
00:58:44,360 --> 00:58:46,680
Speaker 1: Christian Wood defending pick and roll with the MAVs, and

1217
00:58:46,760 --> 00:58:48,600
Speaker 1: he struggled with it, and it's like, that's not what

1218
00:58:48,680 --> 00:58:51,320
Speaker 1: he's good at. He's not good at kind of striking

1219
00:58:51,360 --> 00:58:53,920
Speaker 1: that balance between offering help on a ball handler and

1220
00:58:54,000 --> 00:58:56,080
Speaker 1: keeping track of a role man. He's not going to

1221
00:58:56,160 --> 00:58:57,920
Speaker 1: be that guy who can ride the yo yo up

1222
00:58:57,960 --> 00:59:00,280
Speaker 1: and down and pick and roll coverages. So what he

1223
00:59:00,360 --> 00:59:02,320
Speaker 1: can do is be the low man. So like if

1224
00:59:02,320 --> 00:59:05,720
Speaker 1: you can put him on a non shooter relatively less

1225
00:59:06,280 --> 00:59:09,760
Speaker 1: deadly shooter, and you have Anthony Davis run your ballscreen defense,

1226
00:59:10,000 --> 00:59:12,560
Speaker 1: and Christian Wood operates as that lowman, So like when

1227
00:59:12,560 --> 00:59:14,440
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis comes up, Christian Wood is the one that

1228
00:59:14,480 --> 00:59:17,800
Speaker 1: comes over and help. He's actually a very impactful defender

1229
00:59:17,800 --> 00:59:19,920
Speaker 1: there because he's got good instincts to go up for

1230
00:59:21,880 --> 00:59:25,400
Speaker 1: shot blocks and then secondly he's a good defensive rebounder.

1231
00:59:25,440 --> 00:59:28,800
Speaker 1: And so that to me, like with that combined with

1232
00:59:28,960 --> 00:59:31,160
Speaker 1: Christian Wood starting to hit threes and with what he

1233
00:59:31,160 --> 00:59:34,880
Speaker 1: can do offensively to maintain their spacing with two bigs

1234
00:59:34,880 --> 00:59:37,960
Speaker 1: on the floor, like that's a huge silver lining. And

1235
00:59:37,960 --> 00:59:40,080
Speaker 1: so it's weird because like I look back and I

1236
00:59:40,160 --> 00:59:42,560
Speaker 1: go like, did I think the Lakers would be able

1237
00:59:42,640 --> 00:59:45,760
Speaker 1: to get stops or rebounds without Jared Vanderbilt and Anthony Davis. No,

1238
00:59:45,880 --> 00:59:48,360
Speaker 1: I never thought they would, So that's not a shock.

1239
00:59:48,800 --> 00:59:51,360
Speaker 1: Did I think Austin and dil could be the backcourt

1240
00:59:51,400 --> 00:59:53,760
Speaker 1: for a championship team? No, I never thought that. I

1241
00:59:53,800 --> 00:59:55,680
Speaker 1: said before the season that I didn't think that would

1242
00:59:55,680 --> 00:59:58,320
Speaker 1: work and inevitably would end into trade. Right, So, like

1243
00:59:58,440 --> 01:00:01,120
Speaker 1: those problems were problems we already knew about. Here's what

1244
01:00:01,160 --> 01:00:03,640
Speaker 1: we didn't know. We didn't know that Lebron might look

1245
01:00:03,680 --> 01:00:05,800
Speaker 1: better than he did last year, which he does. And

1246
01:00:05,840 --> 01:00:08,240
Speaker 1: we didn't know that Christian Wood might be a viable

1247
01:00:08,280 --> 01:00:11,960
Speaker 1: option as to give the Lakers a legitimate big look,

1248
01:00:12,040 --> 01:00:15,280
Speaker 1: and so like, as crazy as it sounds like, there's

1249
01:00:15,280 --> 01:00:17,440
Speaker 1: actually a lot of reason for optimism for the Lakers

1250
01:00:17,440 --> 01:00:19,760
Speaker 1: in their three and five start, because there are little

1251
01:00:19,800 --> 01:00:22,640
Speaker 1: things that, like you weren't expecting, that are positives, and

1252
01:00:22,720 --> 01:00:25,320
Speaker 1: most of their struggles they're mostly due to injuries in

1253
01:00:25,360 --> 01:00:27,560
Speaker 1: a trade the inevitably they were inevitably going to have

1254
01:00:27,600 --> 01:00:30,480
Speaker 1: to make anyway, right, So, like, obviously it sucks. I

1255
01:00:30,600 --> 01:00:32,400
Speaker 1: kind of hate this basketball team early on because they

1256
01:00:32,440 --> 01:00:35,480
Speaker 1: don't play hard all the time. As a fan, they're

1257
01:00:35,480 --> 01:00:38,520
Speaker 1: not super fun to watch right now, But I think

1258
01:00:38,560 --> 01:00:41,000
Speaker 1: in the big picture there's still reason for optimism with

1259
01:00:41,080 --> 01:00:42,840
Speaker 1: that group. All right, guys, that is all I have

1260
01:00:42,920 --> 01:00:45,000
Speaker 1: for today. As always, I appreciate your support. We'll be

1261
01:00:45,000 --> 01:00:46,920
Speaker 1: back tomorrow. Might break down one of the Thursday night

1262
01:00:46,960 --> 01:00:49,120
Speaker 1: games for sure. Going to do a deep dive on

1263
01:00:49,120 --> 01:01:19,520
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Timberwolves. The volume