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Speaker 1: The volume. All right, well, good to Hoops Tonight. You're

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Speaker 1: at the volume heavy Monday, everybody, hopefull if you guys

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Speaker 1: had an incredible weekend, We have a jam pack Monday

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Speaker 1: show for you guys today. We're gonna go over five

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Speaker 1: big takeaways from a weekend to hoops and then our

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Speaker 1: usual power rankings at the tail end of the show.

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Speaker 1: You guys owe the drill before we get started. Subscribe

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Speaker 1: more of our videos. Make sure you like this video.

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Speaker 1: bag with Colon retcherd question. We'll get to them in

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Speaker 1: our weekly mail bags. Moving forward, all right, let's talk

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Speaker 1: some basketball. So a lot of interesting hoops over the weekend.

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Speaker 1: Five big takeaways. Number One, the Minnesota Timberwolves are a

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Speaker 1: top tier contender in this league. In addition to the

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Speaker 1: simple fact that since November twenty ninth, at sixteen and six,

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Speaker 1: they literally have the best record in the NBA. Last night,

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Speaker 1: during a big comeback over the San Antonio Spurs, they

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Speaker 1: looked frighteningly good on both ends of the floor. On defense,

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Speaker 1: Julius Randall did a phenomenal job guarding Victor wemen Yama,

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Speaker 1: just getting super physical up underneath his base, forced him

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Speaker 1: into a turnover along the sideline, forced him into a

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Speaker 1: couple of really difficult turnaround fade away jump shots around

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Speaker 1: the elbows late in the game, including the one that

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Speaker 1: ended up sealing the win. Just awesome defense from a

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Speaker 1: specific type of archetype that gives Victor women Yama some issues.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk about that when we get later on in

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Speaker 1: the show. In our power rankings, Jade McDaniels blew up

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Speaker 1: a bunch of plays at the rim, turned a bunch

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Speaker 1: of turned a couple of actually back to back transition

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Speaker 1: sequences for san Antonio into misses by forcing a miss

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Speaker 1: just by being in the right place, getting big high

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Speaker 1: with his hands and forcing a tough finish. Had a

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Speaker 1: block there, had another block in the half court. He

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Speaker 1: struggled a little bit deer and fox down the stretch

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Speaker 1: in ball screens, but he made up for it with

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Speaker 1: his plays and helpside around the rim. Dante DiVincenzo did

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Speaker 1: an incredible job on Steph Castle had a big steal

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Speaker 1: on an inbound where he went kind of did the

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Speaker 1: textbook like you'll see a lot of really good perimeter

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Speaker 1: defenders do this where he kind of sits on Steph's

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Speaker 1: right shoulder and kind of makes it seem like there's

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Speaker 1: an angle to throw, kind of a little bit of

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Speaker 1: a lob pass out to the left, just waited for

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Speaker 1: the inbounder to throw that pass and then just did

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Speaker 1: a swim move around Steph Castle and went and got it.

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Speaker 1: Hit a three in the corner. They just hit a

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Speaker 1: level on that end of the floor as a team,

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Speaker 1: even when Rudy Gobert is off the floor, as Rudy

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Speaker 1: ended up sitting for most of the second half of

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Speaker 1: the fourth quarter in this game, the Spurs just couldn't

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Speaker 1: get good shots. The best shots they were able to

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Speaker 1: get were these pretty heavily contested pull up twos for

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Speaker 1: Darren Fox, and he made a few of them, but

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Speaker 1: not enough to be a factor. Just a really impressive

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Speaker 1: defensive punch from the Timberwolves down the stretch, and then

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Speaker 1: on the offensive end, literally everyone on this team is

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Speaker 1: a threat. And again because Julius Randall was doing such

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Speaker 1: a good on Victor Wembin Yama. They were able to

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Speaker 1: go with nas Reed as their fifth man for most

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Speaker 1: of crunch time instead of Rbody Gobert, and with that

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Speaker 1: lineup you're just stacked with offensive talent. Every guy was

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Speaker 1: great down the stretch. Dante again one of the biggest

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Speaker 1: shots of the game, that big corner three out of

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Speaker 1: the left corner. I also thought he was big just

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Speaker 1: in general on the glass on bolt ends the four.

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Speaker 1: Late in the game, Jaden McDaniels hit one of the

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Speaker 1: biggest shots of the game, a little transition semi transition

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Speaker 1: drive where he hit a one legged fade away over

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Speaker 1: Victor wemmen Yam in the lane. Massive shot. In that game,

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Speaker 1: Julius Randall was killing them on the inside on seals

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Speaker 1: and offensive rebounds underneath the basket, drawing fouls or getting

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Speaker 1: easy layups. Nas Reed took Keldon Johnson right to the

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Speaker 1: block and just spun over his right shoulder, hit a

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Speaker 1: little lefty scoop shot off the glass. And then Anthony Edwards,

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Speaker 1: who's been phenomenal in crunch time all season, was just

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Speaker 1: surgical down the stretch with his shot making every which way.

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Speaker 1: Hit a big step back three on the left wing,

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Speaker 1: a left shoulder fade over steph Castle off of the

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Speaker 1: right block, and then his game winner a really kind

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Speaker 1: of fun play where he's running two man game with

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Speaker 1: Julius Randall and in the sequence he eventually gets a

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Speaker 1: switch with Wemby and you can see him kind of

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Speaker 1: probe with one of those like kind of off the

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Speaker 1: dribble little jabs shake gills. As Alexander uses this move

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Speaker 1: all the time. I consider it like a live dribble

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Speaker 1: version of a jab step, where you just kind of

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Speaker 1: do an in and out dribble and jab with your

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Speaker 1: right foot and try to see how the defender reacts.

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Speaker 1: And he did that move and got almost no separation,

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Speaker 1: and you could tell, just like the step back three's

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Speaker 1: not really going to be an option versus Victor. But

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Speaker 1: what he did is he used a series of hesitation

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Speaker 1: moves and just kind of forward back forward, back forward back.

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Speaker 1: Finally got Wemby to lean the wrong way turn the corner,

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Speaker 1: driving to the right, and then Julius Randall sets a

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Speaker 1: really nice little kind of screen on Wemby in the

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Speaker 1: lane as he's trying to catch up with Aunt and help.

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Speaker 1: That freed up just enough space for Ant to rise

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Speaker 1: up Luke Cornett comes flying over to try to block him,

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Speaker 1: he just shoots the soft little tear drop off the

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Speaker 1: glass that gives the Timberwolves a lead. And then again

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Speaker 1: on the other end of the floor, Julius Randall gets

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Speaker 1: the key stop on Victor wenman Yama. Just a really

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Speaker 1: impressive punch from the Timberwolves in the fourth quarter and

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Speaker 1: change of this game as they came back to get

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Speaker 1: a big win against the San Antonio Spurs again, sixteen

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Speaker 1: and six over their last twenty two games, best record

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Speaker 1: in the league's in Sevember twenty ninth. On December eighteenth,

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Speaker 1: this was actually on the day that we did our

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Speaker 1: little like check in on who the top ten players

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Speaker 1: in the league were at that point. But on that day,

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Speaker 1: the Timberwolves were just two and eight versus teams that

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Speaker 1: were five hundred or better. They were just beating up

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Speaker 1: on the bad teams, really struggling against the good teams

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Speaker 1: at that point in the season. After last night's win

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Speaker 1: versus the Spurs, the Wolves are now nine to ten

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Speaker 1: against teams that are five hundred or better, so dramatically

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Speaker 1: better against the top teams in the league. Over the

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Speaker 1: course of the last month. They've now won five out

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Speaker 1: of six. They have the fifth best record in basketball overall,

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Speaker 1: just one and a half games back to San Antonio

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Speaker 1: for the third best record in the league and the

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Speaker 1: two seed in the West. And again now they're starting

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Speaker 1: to add those signature wins that make the team believe

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Speaker 1: in their ultimate goal. Another clutch win last night. Remember

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Speaker 1: last year, the clutch games were the bang of the

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Speaker 1: Wolves existence. They were twenty and twenty six forty six

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Speaker 1: clutch games and lost twenty six of them. They were

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Speaker 1: bad on both ends of the floor. So far this

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Speaker 1: year eleven and seven, a dramatic improvement year over year

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Speaker 1: in their clutch performance. They've been much better on defense

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Speaker 1: in the clutch this year than they were last year.

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Speaker 1: And then Anthony Edwards really the story of this team

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Speaker 1: and one of the biggest reasons why I viewed them

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Speaker 1: as a top tier contender. Now. Anthony Edwards has taken

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Speaker 1: a massive leap, especially in crunch time. Last year forty

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Speaker 1: three percent from the field thirty two percent from three

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Speaker 1: more turnovers than assists. This year in crunch time twenty

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Speaker 1: nine for forty one. That's seventy one percent from the

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Speaker 1: field eight for fourteen from three that's fifty seven percent,

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Speaker 1: and then five assists in five turnovers. He's been absolutely special.

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Speaker 1: I think the primary driver of his success in crunch

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Speaker 1: time has actually been the same thing that's elevated him

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Speaker 1: as a rim finisher. He's up to just under seventy

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Speaker 1: percent at the rim this season, and I've talked a

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Speaker 1: lot about how it was his patients letting things develop

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Speaker 1: before hitting gaps rather than rushing into the paint that

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Speaker 1: allowed him to be a better rim finisher so far

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Speaker 1: this season. I think that exact same thing is happening

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Speaker 1: just in the big picture of crunch time situations through

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Speaker 1: thousands of reps, and is just seeing the floor as

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Speaker 1: a scorer so much better than he used to. He's

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Speaker 1: waiting for things to develop. He's rarely getting rushed into mistakes.

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Speaker 1: I thought that final possession against Wemby, where he just

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Speaker 1: took his sweet time beating him off the dribble, was

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Speaker 1: a perfect example of that. And it's just allowing him

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Speaker 1: to consistently get to his spots where he's been an

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Speaker 1: unbelievable shot maker this year, and again that fourth quarter

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Speaker 1: against San Antonio. That's the look at what the ceiling

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Speaker 1: of this Timberwolves team looks like and as I said earlier,

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Speaker 1: it was frightening. They check all the boxes of a

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Speaker 1: top tier contender. They're a lead on the defensive end

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Speaker 1: of the floor, with death at all positions, with a scheme, versatility,

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Speaker 1: with the ability to play you know, they have multiple

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Speaker 1: different looks that they can go to in terms of

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Speaker 1: their front court. Defensively, they've been defending much better with

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Speaker 1: the Nasriy Julius Randall groups over the course of the

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Speaker 1: last month and a half. They've got a bunch of

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Speaker 1: different types of perimeter defenders that can put on different

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Speaker 1: types of guys on the that lead teams on offense.

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Speaker 1: On the other end of the floor. They are just

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Speaker 1: built to succeed on that end of the floor, and

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Speaker 1: then on offense. Getting a couple of key leaps a

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Speaker 1: massive leap from Ant. I think Ant is substantially better

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Speaker 1: than last year. He's had sixty three percent through shooting.

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Speaker 1: That's like four percent better than he was last season.

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Speaker 1: He's almost seventy percent at the rim. Jaden McDaniels being

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Speaker 1: a fifty to forty eighty guy this season. Even Rudy

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Speaker 1: Gobert has been better on offense that he's been in

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Speaker 1: years past. I'm just sold on the Timberwolves. When we

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Speaker 1: do our new contender rankings at the end of this month,

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Speaker 1: they will be in that top tier for me, alongside

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City and Denver and Houston, and we'll see who

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Speaker 1: else ends up moving up or down between now and

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Speaker 1: the end of January. I'm just completely sold on the

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Speaker 1: Minnesota Timberwolves. I'm so excited to tell you guys about

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Speaker 1: for years. It's become a major workhorse for me. And

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Speaker 1: there's two reasons for that. I gotta started with Yori

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Speaker 1: because of their durability. I used to wear these clothes

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Speaker 1: they'd degrade into something that wasn't anywhere near as nice

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Speaker 1: as what I had originally bought. I have items from

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Speaker 1: Viory that I've washed like fifty times that still look

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Speaker 1: a Saturday. I can wear when I'm going to play

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Speaker 1: on any US orders over seventy five dollars in free returns.

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Speaker 1: Go to viory dot com slash hoops and discover the

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Speaker 1: versatility of Yori clothing. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for

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Speaker 1: full terms and conditions. Number two. The Atlanta Hawks are

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Speaker 1: finally playing some real defense. The Hawks have been a

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Speaker 1: little bit disappointing this year, on several fronts. I thought

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Speaker 1: coming into the season this would be the best possible

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Speaker 1: version of a Tray Young team, and because chrisops Porzingis

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Speaker 1: just couldn't stay healthy, and then while Trey Young was available,

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Speaker 1: the team just wasn't playing very well defensively, which obviously

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Speaker 1: Trade deserves a good chunk of that blame, but there

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Speaker 1: were also some key especially some of their younger forwards

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Speaker 1: who weren't defending really well, not covering for Trey super well.

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Speaker 1: And then without Trey their defense was better, but it

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Speaker 1: wasn't like exceptional, and then their offense crater, and so

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Speaker 1: they were just kind of mediocre throughout the season, even

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Speaker 1: when Trey Young was off the floor. They had a

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Speaker 1: little stretch in November where they were pretty good defensively,

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Speaker 1: but they couldn't sustain it. But the Hawks are quietly

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Speaker 1: putting together one of the most impressive stretches of the

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Speaker 1: season over the last couple of weeks. They're five and

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Speaker 1: two in their last seven games, some real wins wins

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Speaker 1: against the Knicks, the Timberwolves, and the Nuggets, and then

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Speaker 1: last night a blowout win on the road over the

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Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors, which is not easy to do. I

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Speaker 1: think the Warriors are actually a pretty good team, and

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Speaker 1: they were thirteen and five at home coming into that

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Speaker 1: game last night. Luke Kennard completely blew the game open

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Speaker 1: in the third quarter, just killing the Warriors in advantage situations,

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Speaker 1: just anytime there was chaos, whether it was a spot

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Speaker 1: up opportunity generated by the action that CJ. McCollum and

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Speaker 1: to kill Alexander Walker were running at the top of

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Speaker 1: the key, or especially in transition, he just kept hitting threes,

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Speaker 1: did a little bit of damage to a versus Buddy

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Speaker 1: Heeld and action. Poor Buddy Heeld looked like he was

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Speaker 1: just completely overmatched against Luke Canard. It's pretty badly outplayed

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Speaker 1: in that matchup. And then in the early fourth quarter

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Speaker 1: and Yekakongu comes in and just slams the door shut.

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Speaker 1: I shouldn't say comes in. He was already in the game,

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Speaker 1: but slams the door shut in that early fourth quarter

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Speaker 1: stretch with a couple of threes, both basically picking pops,

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Speaker 1: one where they didn't even bother setting the screen. He

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Speaker 1: just kind of popped out, but basically picking pop threes

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Speaker 1: at the top of the key. The Hawks ended up

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Speaker 1: going up by twenty five and then it was basically

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Speaker 1: over from there. But the real story has been their defense.

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Speaker 1: For the first time this season, I actually think the

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Speaker 1: Hawks are reaching their defensive potential in this seven game span,

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Speaker 1: and again they've gone against some elite offenses. We know

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Speaker 1: that the Warriors with Steph Curry on the floor are

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Speaker 1: basically a one to twenty offensive raiding team. New York

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Speaker 1: excellent offense, Minnesota excellent offense. Both of those teams are

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Speaker 1: top six in offensive rating this year. In this seven

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Speaker 1: game span against some really good offenses, they have the

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Speaker 1: best defensive rate in the league at one hundred and

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Speaker 1: four point five. It's a combination as several factors. I

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Speaker 1: think it starts with aggregate footspeed. I want to zoom

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Speaker 1: in on that lineup from the late third quarter early

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Speaker 1: fourth quarter last night, which was led by Mo Gay

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Speaker 1: and then Yaka Kongwu. Those two guys, when you have

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Speaker 1: them on the floor together, they're not like the traditional

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Speaker 1: rim protectors in the sense that you would think of

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Speaker 1: like a giant seven footer that's just blocking everything around

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Speaker 1: the basket. But what they are is extremely mobile and

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Speaker 1: what that allowed them to do is to defend Golden

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Speaker 1: state's actions in a rather traditional manner without giving up

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Speaker 1: the easy openings that can result there. So, for instance,

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Speaker 1: they could show and tag for each other in screening action.

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Speaker 1: So let's say that Steph or any one of the

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Speaker 1: Warriors guards is flying off of some sort of screen

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Speaker 1: an off ball action or an on ball action, whatever

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Speaker 1: it is. On one side of the floor. They can

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Speaker 1: bring an Yakka up to the level and Mo just

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Speaker 1: kind of steps into the lane and then they recover

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Speaker 1: out of it. Same sort of thing Mo shows up

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Speaker 1: on a screen and Yakka kind of steps in, recover

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Speaker 1: out of it. And then as a result of that,

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Speaker 1: with all the speed of those those Hawks perimeter players

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Speaker 1: chasing over the top, it can create these very brief

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Speaker 1: kind of like spans of what look like openings, but

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Speaker 1: they're so fast at the four and five spot that

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Speaker 1: they just recover out of it quickly and that opening

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Speaker 1: is gone. And what that does is it gives the

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Speaker 1: Hawks all sorts of versatility with how they guard actions.

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Speaker 1: So like if a guy does get wiped out on

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Speaker 1: a screen, both of those dudes can guard on the

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Speaker 1: perimeter a little bit right even on the perimeter, like

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Speaker 1: Dyson Daniels can switch off to step off of steph

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Speaker 1: onto a different guy if he needs to. But the

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Speaker 1: point is is they're trying not to. They're fighting through

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Speaker 1: and they're showing and recovering in a very traditional sense.

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Speaker 1: But then they also have the flexibility to switch when

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Speaker 1: they need to. And then one of the biggest parts

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Speaker 1: of what they're doing defensively is the turnover forcing and

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Speaker 1: this just comes with the way they guard the beginning

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Speaker 1: of possessions, ball pressure out at half court, the high

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Speaker 1: post entries, the way they're constantly disrupting those high post

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Speaker 1: entries big for them all season. They just try to

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Speaker 1: like three quarter front and just knock the ball away.

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Speaker 1: They're constantly swiping at the basketball. They're gonna give up

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Speaker 1: some openings there. But in the aggregate, they like all

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Speaker 1: the turnovers they force, they're forcing. They're scoring twenty one

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Speaker 1: points off of opponents turnovers in this seven game span,

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Speaker 1: which is fourth in the league over that span. So

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Speaker 1: a lot of aggression at the beginning of possessions to

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Speaker 1: cause turnovers. And then when they get into the flow,

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Speaker 1: they just have this ability to cover ground with their

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Speaker 1: aggregate speed at that at the four and five and

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Speaker 1: they're a little bit bigger on guard. So when you're

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Speaker 1: bigger at guard and you're a little smaller on the

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Speaker 1: at the four you know, four to five spots, but

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Speaker 1: everyone's fast. It provides this like very like kind of

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Speaker 1: like consistent level of size and athleticism at every position

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Speaker 1: that's just really difficult to contend with. On that end

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Speaker 1: of the floor. The foot speed dynamic again is interesting

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Speaker 1: because again it's not predicated on traditional rim protection but

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Speaker 1: more on the ability to shrink the floor and recover

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Speaker 1: to the other side. So essentially you're over loading and

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Speaker 1: making those driving lanes fail to like kind of materialize.

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Speaker 1: Because again, if you want to where rim protection becomes

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Speaker 1: valuable is when someone's driving at the rim and you

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Speaker 1: have size there to disrupt them at the rim. But

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Speaker 1: if you can overload and shut down driving lanes but

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Speaker 1: then not give up easy stuff on the skips, that

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Speaker 1: kind of more or less accomplishes the same thing because

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Speaker 1: they can't ever find enough space on the floor to

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Speaker 1: really get ahead of steam towards the basket. It's been

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Speaker 1: fun watching them on that end of the floor. Last

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Speaker 1: note on Atlanta, I really enjoyed watching CJ. McCollum with

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Speaker 1: them He's kind of the perfect alternative to the Trey

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Speaker 1: Young concepts, Like if you're gonna get rid of Trey,

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Speaker 1: he's the quintessential NBA like refined skill guard right who

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Speaker 1: could do a little bit of everything, but he doesn't

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Speaker 1: dribble the air out of the basketball the way that

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Speaker 1: some of those offensive engine types do, so like he

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Speaker 1: just greases the wheels for their offense because you can

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Speaker 1: put him in any sort of situation, whether it's running

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Speaker 1: a little bit of action on the ball, or whether

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Speaker 1: it's setting inverted screens for other ball handlers, whether it's

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Speaker 1: him attacking with an advantage in transition or in spot

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Speaker 1: up situations, or just playing drive and kick basketball. He

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Speaker 1: kind of plugs into any one of those spots as

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Speaker 1: a really good player, essentially, not the offensive engine that

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Speaker 1: Trey Young is, but a super valuable player to put

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Speaker 1: on the floor with, you know, the versatile athletes that

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Speaker 1: they have, because you can put it pretty much put

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Speaker 1: him anywhere in any sort of set, and he's going

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Speaker 1: to find a way to be a threat. Number Three,

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Speaker 1: I am not worried about the Houston Rockets. I saw

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Speaker 1: a quote the other day from Sam Presty that was

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Speaker 1: kind of making its rounds around the internet. In an

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Speaker 1: end of the season interview after the twenty twenty three season,

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Speaker 1: he said, quote, the sky falls on every NBA team

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Speaker 1: at least two times per year. You may play horrible

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Speaker 1: for weeks, maybe a month. You don't want to have

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Speaker 1: several months. The teams that have a sophisticated competitiveness to

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Speaker 1: them understand that while you're going through that, that's the solution.

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Speaker 1: The regression is okay, you have to keep pounding through

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Speaker 1: this and working through it. I think if you have

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Speaker 1: the right principles, the right mentality, and the right temperament,

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Speaker 1: you can work through that and become a better player

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Speaker 1: and a better team. I absolutely agree with that concept.

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Speaker 1: There is a ton of truth to that idea. Obviously

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Speaker 1: to varying extents, but even champions over the last several

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Speaker 1: years have had those types of movement moments in the

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Speaker 1: regular season. So you know, obviously Oklahoma City and Boston

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Speaker 1: are more dominant champions, so they were fewer and further between.

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Speaker 1: But like Oklahoma City did have a question mark, like

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Speaker 1: can they beat the like the veteran team in a

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Speaker 1: big game, right because they lose to Milwaukee in the

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Speaker 1: n season Tournament championship game late in the season, when

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Speaker 1: they lost to the Rockets and Lakers back to back.

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Speaker 1: You're like, are these guys gonna just struggle against a

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Speaker 1: veteran team when they get to the postseason. They did

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Speaker 1: a little bit when they got to the postseason, but

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Speaker 1: they were able to overcome it. Right, Boston couldn't beat

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Speaker 1: Denver in that twenty twenty four season. Everyone's scared, are

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Speaker 1: they gonna beat Denver? They didn't even have to play

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Speaker 1: Denver as they coasted to a championship. Right. The twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty three Nuggets lost four games in a row during

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Speaker 1: the regular season. The twenty twenty two Warriors lost five

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Speaker 1: games in a row in the regular season. The twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty one Bucks lost five games in a row in

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Speaker 1: the regular season. The twenty twenty Lakers lost four games

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Speaker 1: in a row. You guys get the point. So, yes,

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Speaker 1: even championship teams will have stretches in the season where

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Speaker 1: they look bad. It's usually a combination of several things,

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Speaker 1: like a couple of injuries to some important players. Maybe

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Speaker 1: one of your stars misses a week or two, one

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Speaker 1: of your more important defensive role players misses a week

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Speaker 1: or two, so something along those lines usually plays a role. Two,

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Speaker 1: several of your healthy players usually just aren't playing well

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Speaker 1: during these stretches. Right, Basketball is very much a rhythm

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Speaker 1: and confidence sport, and so if a few of your

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Speaker 1: guys kind of get out a rhythm and they start,

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Speaker 1: you know, missing more shots than usual or turning the

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Speaker 1: basketball over, you could tell they just don't have their

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Speaker 1: normal level of confidence that can manifest in the team

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Speaker 1: struggling relative to what their talent is on paper. Right,

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Speaker 1: you just have to keep playing through it and trusting

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Speaker 1: your work behind the scenes until you figure things out

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Speaker 1: and start to build rhythm and start to build confidence

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Speaker 1: and look like yourself again. And then lastly, just general malaise.

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Speaker 1: I talk about this all the time, but the effort

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Speaker 1: and energy gap becomes one of the largest determining factors

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Speaker 1: in wins and losses in the NBA regular season. When

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Speaker 1: you get to this time of year, when you're like

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Speaker 1: right in the middle, it's like you have a lot

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Speaker 1: of teams that were great early in the season that

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Speaker 1: start to relax a little bit. You have teams that

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Speaker 1: were bad early in the season that start to get

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Speaker 1: really aggressive. Like we've seen that like Portland's been awesome

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Speaker 1: as of light, The Clippers have been awesome as of light.

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Speaker 1: There then there are teams that like kicked ass at

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Speaker 1: the start of the year, like the Knicks and the

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Speaker 1: Thunder that have like started to regress in some key

432
00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:33,320
Speaker 1: areas and they're not looking as good right now. A

433
00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:35,840
Speaker 1: lot of times, like if you get two teams on

434
00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:38,400
Speaker 1: the opposite end of that spectrum to run into each other,

435
00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:42,119
Speaker 1: you can get some bizarre blowout losses relative to the

436
00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:45,520
Speaker 1: talent on the two teams, right Like you get a

437
00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:49,080
Speaker 1: young and hungry Hornets team that rolls up into Oklahoma

438
00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:51,160
Speaker 1: City who's in a funk, you can get a bizarre

439
00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:53,840
Speaker 1: blowout like that. There's a lot of like outcomes that

440
00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:56,760
Speaker 1: can kind of swing on effort level at this point

441
00:20:56,760 --> 00:20:59,240
Speaker 1: in the season. But usually when a really good team

442
00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:02,200
Speaker 1: enters in Islam, it's like one or two guys is hurt,

443
00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:05,520
Speaker 1: two or three guys are just in bad funks, and

444
00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:07,520
Speaker 1: the team in general is just not playing very hard.

445
00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:10,880
Speaker 1: That's usually what drives these types of sequences. The only

446
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:15,359
Speaker 1: time I get really concerned is when a crippling weakness

447
00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:20,800
Speaker 1: that is separate from those three things keeps recurring. So

448
00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:24,399
Speaker 1: take the Lakers for example. They've had some key injuries. Obviously,

449
00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:26,679
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves has been out, you know, Ruey Hatchamura has

450
00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:28,359
Speaker 1: missed a bunch of time. They've had guys in and

451
00:21:28,359 --> 00:21:30,680
Speaker 1: out of the lineup for various reasons. They've had several

452
00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:33,000
Speaker 1: guys not playing very well, some role players that have

453
00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:36,360
Speaker 1: really struggled. Luca himself is in a bizarre funk that's

454
00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:39,359
Speaker 1: been lasting for almost two months, and they were in

455
00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,160
Speaker 1: a horrible case of that mid season malaise right around

456
00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:44,439
Speaker 1: that last week at December. They were embarrassing on Christmas.

457
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:47,640
Speaker 1: Dage is not really competing athletically. I expect all three

458
00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:49,920
Speaker 1: of those things to turn for the Lakers. Austin will

459
00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:52,800
Speaker 1: be back, Luca will play better, and they've already picked

460
00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:56,240
Speaker 1: up their energy ever since that Christmas Day debacle. But

461
00:21:56,359 --> 00:22:00,320
Speaker 1: I have seen the Lakers, even when they're fully healthy,

462
00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:03,520
Speaker 1: even when Luca plays well like he did on Opening Night,

463
00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:07,440
Speaker 1: even when the team has good energy, I've seen them

464
00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:11,280
Speaker 1: continually lose to the best teams in the league in

465
00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:15,240
Speaker 1: the exact same manner over and over again. They routinely

466
00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:18,600
Speaker 1: get blown out because of a massive athleticism deficit all

467
00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:23,000
Speaker 1: over the floor, So that's separate from the funk. The

468
00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:26,160
Speaker 1: funk has been a product of a bunch of factors,

469
00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:29,560
Speaker 1: but we've seen recurring throughout the season, these issues pop

470
00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:31,600
Speaker 1: up that are like, I don't know if they're gonna

471
00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:34,320
Speaker 1: be able to win four playoff series with that type

472
00:22:34,359 --> 00:22:38,080
Speaker 1: of gaping flaw in terms of their athleticism and shooting.

473
00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:40,439
Speaker 1: They're just they're unathletic and they can't shoot, which is

474
00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:42,880
Speaker 1: just a death sentence, and so I've dropped them down

475
00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:46,560
Speaker 1: to my third tier of contenders. Looking at Houston, I

476
00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,880
Speaker 1: think they fall more into that category of contending teams

477
00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:52,919
Speaker 1: who are just in that kind of funk. So, for instance,

478
00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:54,800
Speaker 1: they had a key injury to Alpera and Shang Gun

479
00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:57,040
Speaker 1: who's sprained his ankle and has been out for a

480
00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:00,760
Speaker 1: little while. Right when Alpern comes back, Tari and sprains

481
00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:04,440
Speaker 1: his ankle, so they've been banged up. They've had several

482
00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:07,200
Speaker 1: dudes in a funk in terms of their confidence and

483
00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:10,080
Speaker 1: rhythm on offense, like Jabari Smith is just in a

484
00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,760
Speaker 1: textbook shooting slump and it's affecting his confidence and it's

485
00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:16,040
Speaker 1: affecting him in every phase of the game. What will

486
00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:19,000
Speaker 1: happen is He'll keep working behind the scenes, keep getting

487
00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:21,359
Speaker 1: tons and tons of shots up. Eventually, hell of a

488
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:23,520
Speaker 1: game where he hits three to four in a row,

489
00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:25,920
Speaker 1: and he'll start to get his confidence back. It'll trickle

490
00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:27,560
Speaker 1: down in every phase of the game, and Jabari will

491
00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:29,479
Speaker 1: look more like the player he was to start the season.

492
00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:32,720
Speaker 1: Reed Shepherd's been shooting the ball poorly. Aaron Holliday can't

493
00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:35,000
Speaker 1: hit a shot. Riyanfhinney Smith can't hit a shot. They're

494
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:39,119
Speaker 1: just in a team wide funk on offense relative to

495
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:41,719
Speaker 1: the type of quality of shots that they're getting. I

496
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:46,320
Speaker 1: fully expect all of those things to stabilize, and then

497
00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:48,840
Speaker 1: as I look at the team in the big picture,

498
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:53,639
Speaker 1: I don't see that crippling weakness that, even when the

499
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,840
Speaker 1: team is at their best, is bound to derail them.

500
00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:00,800
Speaker 1: I still really like their superstar shot creation with Kevin Durant,

501
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,639
Speaker 1: Albern Shangun and mixing in some of men Thompson ISOs.

502
00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:07,119
Speaker 1: I still think they have the play finishing in the

503
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:10,840
Speaker 1: offensive rebounding to capitalize on the advantages their star create.

504
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:12,760
Speaker 1: I mean, they have a one to twenty offensive rating

505
00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:15,960
Speaker 1: on the season. That's not an accident. That's after this

506
00:24:16,119 --> 00:24:20,359
Speaker 1: recent funk, I still love their depth of perimeter defense talent.

507
00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:23,399
Speaker 1: I still love their interior size at the rim and

508
00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:26,040
Speaker 1: on the glass. I think this team has all the

509
00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:28,640
Speaker 1: pieces that I think you need to have to contend

510
00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:31,199
Speaker 1: for a championship. I just think they're in one of

511
00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:34,119
Speaker 1: those funks like what Sam pressed he was talking about,

512
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:36,800
Speaker 1: and they just have to continue to trust the process

513
00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:47,240
Speaker 1: and work their way through it. Number four, Scottie Barnes

514
00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:52,080
Speaker 1: is quietly playing some special basketball in Toronto, arguably the

515
00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:56,120
Speaker 1: best basketball of his career, specifically fueled by the work

516
00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:59,399
Speaker 1: that he's doing in one on ones. The Raptors got

517
00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:01,880
Speaker 1: a big win at home against the Sixers last night,

518
00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:04,639
Speaker 1: down RJ Barrett, Brandon Ingram, and Yaka Pertle against the

519
00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:07,879
Speaker 1: Sixers also were down Joel Embid and Paul George. You know,

520
00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:11,439
Speaker 1: classic NBA regular season stuff. But it looked like the

521
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:13,359
Speaker 1: seventy six Ers were gonna get a win after Tyrese

522
00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:16,160
Speaker 1: Maxie went bucket bucket bucket down the stretch, a tough

523
00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:19,480
Speaker 1: right shoulder flight, a right shoulder fade over a manual quickly,

524
00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:22,440
Speaker 1: a tough driving layup Passcottie Barnes, and then a tough

525
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:23,720
Speaker 1: step back three at the top of the key that

526
00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:25,120
Speaker 1: put him up one oh seven to one of three

527
00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:27,240
Speaker 1: with less than a minute left, looked like it was over,

528
00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:29,520
Speaker 1: but the Raptors kept battling, and I actually thought one

529
00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:31,639
Speaker 1: of the subplots of the game that was really fascinating

530
00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:35,600
Speaker 1: was how good, how excellent Toronto was on the offensive glass.

531
00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:38,600
Speaker 1: And it's a combination of things like Toronto has sneaky,

532
00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:41,520
Speaker 1: been awesome on the offensive glass during this run, just

533
00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:43,600
Speaker 1: doing a ton of damage on that in that part

534
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:45,919
Speaker 1: of the game, and the Sixers were going with their

535
00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:48,600
Speaker 1: three guard look when they play edge comb Maxie and

536
00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:52,080
Speaker 1: Grimes at the same time, They're already pretty small, and

537
00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:54,399
Speaker 1: like you know, Maxie's not a good rebounder. They have

538
00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:57,800
Speaker 1: some issues rebounding with those with those three guys, and

539
00:25:58,000 --> 00:25:59,840
Speaker 1: that's regardless of who's on the floor. It doesn't matter

540
00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:02,080
Speaker 1: if Beads out there or Drummonds out there, or Adam

541
00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:04,800
Speaker 1: den Bona's out there. They can't rebound with those three

542
00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:07,720
Speaker 1: guards on the floor. And that was a major issue

543
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:10,000
Speaker 1: down the stretch of this game. When is one of

544
00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:12,840
Speaker 1: seven to one oh three, both of the Raptors buckets

545
00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:14,840
Speaker 1: that they had to tie the game and send to

546
00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:19,760
Speaker 1: overtime were second chance points off of a missus where

547
00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:24,080
Speaker 1: the Sixers failed to secure the rebounder the rebound. Jamal

548
00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:25,399
Speaker 1: Shad ends up being the hero at the end of

549
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:27,160
Speaker 1: the game, gets a little catch in the dunker spot

550
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:28,639
Speaker 1: and gits a little push shot that sends it to

551
00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:31,640
Speaker 1: Ot and then in Ot Emmanuel Quickie and Jamal shed

552
00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:34,000
Speaker 1: We're both doing a great job of getting downhill and

553
00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:36,919
Speaker 1: engaging at a den bona at the rim and dropping

554
00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:39,639
Speaker 1: the ball off to Colin Murray Boyles who was just

555
00:26:39,680 --> 00:26:43,160
Speaker 1: getting big dunks easy little drop off dunks. VJ. Edge

556
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:45,200
Speaker 1: com ends up tying the game with a massive pull

557
00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:47,359
Speaker 1: up three at the top, and then Scottie Barnes drives

558
00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:49,280
Speaker 1: right at Kelly Ubray at the end, draws a foul

559
00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:50,720
Speaker 1: on him, goes to the line, makes a free throw,

560
00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:53,440
Speaker 1: misses the second with less than a second left, tap out.

561
00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:57,160
Speaker 1: Games over. The Raptors just keep adding to the win column.

562
00:26:57,160 --> 00:26:58,920
Speaker 1: They're six and two in their last eight. They're twenty

563
00:26:58,920 --> 00:27:00,800
Speaker 1: four and sixteen on the sea in still just a

564
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:02,159
Speaker 1: game and a half back of the Knicks for the

565
00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:04,080
Speaker 1: two seed. But I really want to zoom in on

566
00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:07,240
Speaker 1: Scottie Barnes for a minute as a shot creator, specifically

567
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:10,639
Speaker 1: out of his one on ones. So think face up ISOs,

568
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:14,280
Speaker 1: live dribble ISOs, and post ups anytime he's attacking the

569
00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:17,000
Speaker 1: defense in a one on one in either scoring one

570
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,240
Speaker 1: on one or drawing help and making kickout raads. He

571
00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:24,200
Speaker 1: torched the Sixers last night thirty one points and eight assists.

572
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:28,560
Speaker 1: A ton of success on just seals against Philly's smaller guards,

573
00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:30,760
Speaker 1: either like just seal throw it over the top, quick

574
00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:33,159
Speaker 1: easy layup, like quick little power post up, or like

575
00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:35,280
Speaker 1: an offensive rebound where he'd get a sealed deep. He

576
00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:37,320
Speaker 1: had another big offensive rebound at the end of the

577
00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:41,560
Speaker 1: game in overtime. Just a ton of success damaging Philly's

578
00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:43,719
Speaker 1: lack of size at the guard position when he get

579
00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:46,760
Speaker 1: there and switches, and he cooked his primary matchup, Dominic

580
00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:49,520
Speaker 1: Barlow just went right at him several times, mixed in

581
00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,199
Speaker 1: a little right shoulder fade over the top. He just

582
00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:54,160
Speaker 1: powered through him at the rim a bunch of times,

583
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:56,879
Speaker 1: including a massive driving dunk out of the left corner

584
00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:59,159
Speaker 1: and crunch time, just a big play where he just

585
00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:00,760
Speaker 1: kind of cradled it up off to the side and

586
00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:03,960
Speaker 1: just wind milled it around and smashed it on the

587
00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:07,359
Speaker 1: entire Philly front line. It was just really high level

588
00:28:07,359 --> 00:28:10,040
Speaker 1: one on one play, just a ton of power from

589
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:12,520
Speaker 1: Scotty Barns, and so that led to the Sixers starting

590
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:14,800
Speaker 1: to send hard doubles at him, especially down the stretch

591
00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:18,520
Speaker 1: and regulation, and that ended up generating lots of quality

592
00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:21,639
Speaker 1: looks for Toronto that they capitalized on down the stretch.

593
00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:24,200
Speaker 1: This is where I want to focus on his efficiency

594
00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:27,119
Speaker 1: for a minute. Scotty's counting stats this year are more

595
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,480
Speaker 1: or less the same. He's getting an extra rebound half

596
00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:33,439
Speaker 1: an assist less than last year, but right at nineteen

597
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:35,280
Speaker 1: points per game, which is basically where he's been for

598
00:28:35,280 --> 00:28:37,159
Speaker 1: three years now. Even in this recent stretch where the

599
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:39,360
Speaker 1: Raptors are playing well, he's been like twenty to ten,

600
00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:42,720
Speaker 1: which is obviously really good, but only slightly better than

601
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:45,560
Speaker 1: his averages over the last couple of years. But what's

602
00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:51,080
Speaker 1: happening is his efficiency is substantially higher. So he's shooting

603
00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:54,320
Speaker 1: forty eight percent in his one on ones this year

604
00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:58,960
Speaker 1: and has a sky high foul rate. He's getting fouled

605
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:02,760
Speaker 1: on twenty four percent of his ISOs, like that late

606
00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:05,400
Speaker 1: one against Kelly Yubray. Think of it that way, one

607
00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:08,560
Speaker 1: out of every four times Scotty Barnes looks to iso,

608
00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:11,200
Speaker 1: he's getting to the foul line because of the level

609
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:14,680
Speaker 1: of physical, physical aggression he's bringing bringing on every one

610
00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:17,240
Speaker 1: of those drives. He keeps getting defenders out of position

611
00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:19,520
Speaker 1: and just powering through them and getting his way to

612
00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:22,600
Speaker 1: the line. So again, forty eight percent on his one

613
00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:27,120
Speaker 1: on ones twenty four percent foul rate last year, forty

614
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:29,880
Speaker 1: four percent on his one on ones just a nine

615
00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:36,040
Speaker 1: percent foul rate. That is a dramatic difference year over year.

616
00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:39,080
Speaker 1: And what's happening is that's trickling down in every phase

617
00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:41,240
Speaker 1: of those one on ones, right, So like he's making

618
00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:43,960
Speaker 1: more shots, he's drawing more fouls. That's making him more

619
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:46,000
Speaker 1: efficient when he shoots out one out of one on

620
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,960
Speaker 1: ones because he's drawing more attention there. That's creating better

621
00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:51,960
Speaker 1: openings which his teammates are capitalizing on as a result.

622
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:55,360
Speaker 1: On Scotty Barnes one on ones this season, so any

623
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:59,200
Speaker 1: post ups or ISOs one hundred and ninety nine reps

624
00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:02,840
Speaker 1: two hundred one points. It's the first time in his

625
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:05,840
Speaker 1: career he's been over a point per possession as a

626
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:08,480
Speaker 1: matchup attacker. In fact, he hasn't even really come that close.

627
00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:11,960
Speaker 1: He's pretty consistently been in that like nine tenths of

628
00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:15,120
Speaker 1: a point, maybe like ninety five points out of one

629
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:18,800
Speaker 1: hundred possessions. Now he's up over one point per possession

630
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:21,160
Speaker 1: for the first time in his career. Just a significant

631
00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:24,280
Speaker 1: leap from Scottie Barnes as a shot creator out of

632
00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:26,040
Speaker 1: one on ones this year. Fun win for the Raptors

633
00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:28,560
Speaker 1: last night, as they just continue to operate out of

634
00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:32,880
Speaker 1: the win column number five. This is an incredibly special

635
00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:37,360
Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets team and they are hitting every single checkpoint

636
00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:39,920
Speaker 1: that you would hope for an eventual champion to hit.

637
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:42,960
Speaker 1: I said at the time of the Nicole Jokic injury

638
00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:45,320
Speaker 1: that the Nuggets just needed to find a way to win,

639
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:48,480
Speaker 1: like five or six games before the deadline to prevent

640
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,240
Speaker 1: a fall into the play in I didn't think it

641
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:52,800
Speaker 1: was an absurd thing to say at the time. I mean,

642
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,040
Speaker 1: the Nuggets weren't just down Jokic, they were down three

643
00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:59,000
Speaker 1: other starters as well. Well. It's been two weeks to

644
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:01,000
Speaker 1: the day since Yokich went down. The Nuggets have played

645
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:03,720
Speaker 1: seven games and they're four and three, so they already

646
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:05,640
Speaker 1: have four of those five or six wins that they

647
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,040
Speaker 1: need in order to avoid falling to the play in

648
00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:09,960
Speaker 1: and as they're starting to get healthy, now you have

649
00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:12,040
Speaker 1: Christian Brown back, now you have Aaron Gordon back, it's

650
00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:13,960
Speaker 1: starting to look more and more like they might just

651
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:16,880
Speaker 1: be fine until Nikola Yokis comes back. If they hover

652
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:20,000
Speaker 1: around five hundred, they're literally going to be fine in

653
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:21,800
Speaker 1: the standings, and then Yokic will come back and they

654
00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:23,840
Speaker 1: can take off from there. They got another huge win

655
00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:27,160
Speaker 1: at home last night against Giannis and the Bucks. Peyton

656
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:30,520
Speaker 1: Watson led the late third quarter run that ended up

657
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:33,400
Speaker 1: being the pivotal run of the game. Some quality advantage creation,

658
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:35,800
Speaker 1: running ball screens out top, and he hit some big

659
00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:38,840
Speaker 1: threes in that run. He had nineteen eight and six

660
00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:43,680
Speaker 1: In the seven games since Jokic left, Peyton Watson's averaging

661
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:47,240
Speaker 1: twenty four points and seven assists excuse me, twenty four

662
00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:50,080
Speaker 1: points and seven rebounds on forty nine percent from the

663
00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:53,800
Speaker 1: field and forty six percent from three. He's also getting

664
00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:56,400
Speaker 1: to the line six times per game, which is always

665
00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:59,280
Speaker 1: a strong indicator of getting defenders out of position. Andy's

666
00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:02,640
Speaker 1: over his stealing block per game during that time, coming

667
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:04,680
Speaker 1: into the season, there was basically an understanding that the

668
00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:07,600
Speaker 1: Nuggets were gonna have to let Peyton Watson walk after

669
00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:09,920
Speaker 1: this year because they wouldn't be able to afford to

670
00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:13,600
Speaker 1: pay him. Now, you could argue he's the small forward

671
00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:16,719
Speaker 1: of the future for this team. So I wonder if

672
00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:19,280
Speaker 1: the Nuggets end up doing something with Cam Johnson after

673
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:20,680
Speaker 1: the season. I don't think it makes sense to do

674
00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:22,640
Speaker 1: something inside of the season, because you just need to

675
00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:25,960
Speaker 1: try to maximize this championship window. But after the season,

676
00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:28,200
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if they, you know, tried to

677
00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:30,640
Speaker 1: incentivize some team with cap space to take on Cam

678
00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:32,960
Speaker 1: Johnson or some sort of three team deal that sends

679
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,720
Speaker 1: Cam somewhere else but like absorbs the salary so that

680
00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:38,360
Speaker 1: the Nuggets don't have to take salary back because, like they,

681
00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:41,680
Speaker 1: they gotta find a way to pay Peyton Watson, don't they.

682
00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:44,920
Speaker 1: I mean that talk about the type of bridge piece

683
00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:47,800
Speaker 1: that could extend the window. Having a dude who could

684
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:51,400
Speaker 1: be like a twenty and eight guy at an efficient

685
00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:54,000
Speaker 1: twenty and eight while also playing great defense at the

686
00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:56,840
Speaker 1: small forward spot, that could go a long way towards

687
00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:01,160
Speaker 1: extending this window for Denver Jokes with my buddy Adam

688
00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:03,240
Speaker 1: that he can have Maxic, Leeber and gatee Vincent for

689
00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:06,040
Speaker 1: Cam Johnson if he wants. But that was just for fun.

690
00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:08,200
Speaker 1: A lot of key role players are starting to play

691
00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:10,000
Speaker 1: well for them. I've been amazed at how good Zeke

692
00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:12,360
Speaker 1: naj he looks. I mean again, this was also a

693
00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:15,280
Speaker 1: guy who was viewed as a massive disappointment and kind

694
00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:18,160
Speaker 1: of a bad contract internally. Not only has he been

695
00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:20,440
Speaker 1: shooting the ball well, but he's been a super effective

696
00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:24,120
Speaker 1: roller and cutter, just catching and finishing everything around the rim,

697
00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:27,240
Speaker 1: just patiently using fakes and step throughs to get positioned

698
00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:30,000
Speaker 1: under the basket, just powering through guys on finishes. He

699
00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:32,840
Speaker 1: looks awesome. He's been great on defense as well, Like

700
00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:35,720
Speaker 1: just found money getting this level of hoops out of

701
00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:38,000
Speaker 1: Zike Nagy. Tim Hardaway has been shooting the shit out

702
00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:40,200
Speaker 1: of the ball. He had twenty five last night. Jalen

703
00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:43,200
Speaker 1: Pickett has hit forty six percent of his threes since

704
00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:45,360
Speaker 1: Nikole Jokicic went down. He keeps hitting him off the

705
00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:47,120
Speaker 1: dribble too. He had a big one against a drop

706
00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:49,720
Speaker 1: coverage off the left wing that gave the Nuggets a

707
00:33:49,720 --> 00:33:52,440
Speaker 1: fourteen point lead in the fourth quarter last night, He's

708
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:55,920
Speaker 1: seven for his last fifteen on off the dribble threes.

709
00:33:56,800 --> 00:33:59,280
Speaker 1: Deron Holmes has come in and hit shots just a

710
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:03,760
Speaker 1: team wide, just filling the gaps as guys have gone

711
00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:06,320
Speaker 1: down with injury. And there's this thing that tends to

712
00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:09,360
Speaker 1: happen in NBA history with the great teams, the teams

713
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:11,719
Speaker 1: that are on a mission to win a championship. There

714
00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:15,200
Speaker 1: is a culture that permeates through every level of the team,

715
00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:18,400
Speaker 1: from the coaches to the starters, to the bench rotation

716
00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:20,879
Speaker 1: guys to the end of the bench guys, and they

717
00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:22,840
Speaker 1: just all seem to be rowing in the same direction.

718
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:25,600
Speaker 1: In one of the ways that that tends to manifest

719
00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:29,239
Speaker 1: is maintain success through shifting circumstances, which is going to

720
00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:30,880
Speaker 1: be one of the themes of today's show. And again,

721
00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:34,200
Speaker 1: I just think the Nuggets are hitting every checkpoint along

722
00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:36,960
Speaker 1: the path to their goal this year. We have some awesome,

723
00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:39,759
Speaker 1: awesome teams at the top of the league this year.

724
00:34:40,320 --> 00:34:43,560
Speaker 1: All right, let's get into our power rankings again. All

725
00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:47,520
Speaker 1: of our lines are provided by our partner Hard Rock Bet.

726
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,960
Speaker 1: Number ten. The Toronto Raptors currently plus fifteen thousand to

727
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:52,759
Speaker 1: win the title on Hard rock Bet. We hit them

728
00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:54,200
Speaker 1: in the opener, so not going to stay here long.

729
00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:56,239
Speaker 1: But they've won six out of eight. There's sixth in

730
00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:59,440
Speaker 1: defense in that span. They're grabbing thirty four percent of

731
00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:01,680
Speaker 1: their own miss in the state gamespan. Again, that offensive

732
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:03,720
Speaker 1: rebounding was a huge part of their winning win against

733
00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:05,480
Speaker 1: the Sixers last night. It's been a huge part of

734
00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:09,440
Speaker 1: their success as of late number nine. The Los Angeles

735
00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:12,239
Speaker 1: Lakers currently plus three thousand to win the title on

736
00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:15,239
Speaker 1: hard rock Bet. A forgivable loss in San Antonio, like

737
00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:18,040
Speaker 1: no Austin, no Lebron. You know, some of their end

738
00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:20,759
Speaker 1: of the lower rotation players that were forced to play

739
00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:23,440
Speaker 1: just really struggled. They had a stretch where Lucas stepped

740
00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:24,799
Speaker 1: off the floor in the first half and they straight

741
00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:26,959
Speaker 1: up literally couldn't score because it was like a unit

742
00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:30,799
Speaker 1: led by Dalton connect who's a bust and Nick Smith Junior,

743
00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:32,520
Speaker 1: who is a two way guy. Like, I'm not too

744
00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:34,480
Speaker 1: worked up about that, but I did think that it

745
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:38,200
Speaker 1: was a pretty bad loss at home to the Bucks

746
00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:40,360
Speaker 1: on Friday night, And really what's been one of the

747
00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:43,400
Speaker 1: biggest subplots for the Lakers this season. After an amazing

748
00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,560
Speaker 1: game against San Antonio, where Luca looked awesome. I thought

749
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:49,200
Speaker 1: he was terrible versus the Bucks, and if they get

750
00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:51,600
Speaker 1: anything close to his usual production, they win that game

751
00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:53,560
Speaker 1: because of how well Lebron had played to carry some

752
00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:55,840
Speaker 1: of those units when Luca was off the floor. I

753
00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:57,920
Speaker 1: tweeted this stat out after the game, but I think

754
00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:04,279
Speaker 1: it's crazy. With five plus turnovers this year, Sga two,

755
00:36:04,920 --> 00:36:12,120
Speaker 1: Yannis six, Jokic eight, Luca fourteen games below forty percent

756
00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:14,799
Speaker 1: from the field, so missing at least six out of

757
00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:20,080
Speaker 1: your ten shots below forty percent. Janis zero, Jokic one,

758
00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:28,359
Speaker 1: Shay four, Luca seven. Luca just has way way more

759
00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:32,600
Speaker 1: bad games than any of his peers do, and until

760
00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:36,120
Speaker 1: that stabilizes, the Lakers will have a hard time sustaining success.

761
00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:38,759
Speaker 1: The Lakers are just eight to nine in their last

762
00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:43,400
Speaker 1: seventeen games. Luca played in seven of those nine losses,

763
00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:46,960
Speaker 1: and in six of those seven losses he either shot

764
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,239
Speaker 1: below forty percent from the field or had at least

765
00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:51,640
Speaker 1: five turnovers. It's been a consistent through line for the

766
00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:55,800
Speaker 1: team this year. Number eight New York Knicks currently plus

767
00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:58,239
Speaker 1: twelve hundred to win the title on hard Rock Bet.

768
00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:00,440
Speaker 1: They've lost five of their last seven. I think the

769
00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:02,920
Speaker 1: Knicks are actually a classic case of that concept we

770
00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:04,480
Speaker 1: talked about at the beginning of the show. The Sam

771
00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:07,399
Speaker 1: pressty bit right a championship contender, that's just in one

772
00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:09,479
Speaker 1: of those funks that's a natural part of the NBA

773
00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:12,720
Speaker 1: regular season. As a team, They're just not playing defense

774
00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:14,600
Speaker 1: right now. There's been a massive drop in just their

775
00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:17,600
Speaker 1: overall level of engagement energy. They've been the third worst

776
00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:20,239
Speaker 1: defense in the league over the seven game span. A

777
00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:23,279
Speaker 1: key injury to a role player in Josh Hart, and

778
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:25,520
Speaker 1: then a bunch of their key players are slumping and

779
00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:29,080
Speaker 1: playing below their usual level of confidence. Obviously, you don't

780
00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:31,080
Speaker 1: want to see this continue for too much longer, but

781
00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:33,120
Speaker 1: I'm not worried about them. They had a big road

782
00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:35,640
Speaker 1: win over a very good Portland Trailblazers team last night.

783
00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:38,120
Speaker 1: Josh Hart is now back into the lineup, and some

784
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:40,160
Speaker 1: of the guys who had been cold during the stretch,

785
00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:43,279
Speaker 1: namely og And Andobi and Karl Anthony Towns, started to

786
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:45,359
Speaker 1: hitch shots again. So I think the Knicks will be fine.

787
00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:49,239
Speaker 1: Number seven the Boston Celtics currently plus two thousand to

788
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:52,960
Speaker 1: win the title on hard Rock Bet. They dropped a

789
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:55,080
Speaker 1: couple of games last week to Denver and San Antonio.

790
00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:58,200
Speaker 1: Denver gave them some issues with their switching in the

791
00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:01,160
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, and then they could guard Jamal Murray. They

792
00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:03,759
Speaker 1: tried several different looks, but Jamal was just coming off

793
00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:05,520
Speaker 1: of this like they're kind of spamming him, just coming

794
00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:08,960
Speaker 1: out of the right corner on handoffs, and they were

795
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:12,000
Speaker 1: either dragging the big out and isoing him or hitting

796
00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:15,040
Speaker 1: zekeniit Nauj on the roll or when they would tag Nauji.

797
00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:17,560
Speaker 1: You had buckets on the weak side from Jalen Pickett

798
00:38:17,560 --> 00:38:21,000
Speaker 1: and Peyton Watson. They just couldn't guard Denver down the stretch,

799
00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:23,840
Speaker 1: and Denver was just switching and taking away any of

800
00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:27,319
Speaker 1: the easy openings that Boston typically gets for quality three

801
00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:29,440
Speaker 1: point shots. And then in the San Antonio game, I

802
00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:32,680
Speaker 1: thought they did get a little physically overwhelmed, Like Keldon

803
00:38:32,719 --> 00:38:35,440
Speaker 1: Johnson punished them underneath the basket late in the game.

804
00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:38,840
Speaker 1: Luke Cornett punished them on the offensive glass late in

805
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:40,879
Speaker 1: the game. We have seen that problem a few times

806
00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:42,600
Speaker 1: this season. It's one of the big reasons why like

807
00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:45,520
Speaker 1: getting adjacent Tatum and hitting on some sort of trade

808
00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:47,680
Speaker 1: for front court player could go a long way to

809
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:50,120
Speaker 1: patching the holes for this team. But even then they

810
00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:52,120
Speaker 1: were right there. They were tied late, and then Victor

811
00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:54,439
Speaker 1: Wiman Yama iced them with a couple of really tough

812
00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:56,520
Speaker 1: ISO jumpers. So more of like a tip of the

813
00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:58,520
Speaker 1: cap to a really good team type of win for

814
00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:01,480
Speaker 1: San Antonio. I did think, if I had to nitpick,

815
00:39:01,600 --> 00:39:03,640
Speaker 1: I did think in both of those games that Derek

816
00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:06,320
Speaker 1: White and Jalen Brown both got a little tunnel visiony

817
00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:09,239
Speaker 1: and just kind of forced the issue sometimes instead of

818
00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:11,800
Speaker 1: like trusting their offense and getting into the flow and

819
00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:14,319
Speaker 1: getting into their driving kick a little bit. Really high

820
00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:18,120
Speaker 1: shot totals for them individually, but then as a team

821
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:21,160
Speaker 1: they were below their season average in catch and shoot

822
00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:24,080
Speaker 1: attempts in both of those games by a pretty decent margin.

823
00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:27,680
Speaker 1: Number six. The Phoenix Suns currently plus fifty thousand to

824
00:39:27,719 --> 00:39:30,319
Speaker 1: win the title in hard rock Bet. They're nine to

825
00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:32,440
Speaker 1: two in their last eleven games, tied with the Clippers

826
00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:33,879
Speaker 1: for the best record in the league in that span,

827
00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:36,960
Speaker 1: eighth in offense, second in defense, and his signature win

828
00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:41,719
Speaker 1: over the Knicks in Phoenix, Dylan Brooks again twenty seven

829
00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:45,480
Speaker 1: to seven and five. I was curious about what his

830
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:48,920
Speaker 1: most improved odds looked like because he's just simply been

831
00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:50,839
Speaker 1: one of the most improved players in the league this year.

832
00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:53,040
Speaker 1: He is the ninth best odds right now in hard

833
00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:56,040
Speaker 1: rock bet plus seventy five hundred. If Phoenix keeps winning

834
00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:58,560
Speaker 1: and they get a high seed and Dylan keeps putting

835
00:39:58,600 --> 00:40:00,800
Speaker 1: up these numbers, he's got a case to get that award.

836
00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:02,839
Speaker 1: So it's kind of an interesting little value play there.

837
00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:06,719
Speaker 1: Number five the Denver Nuggets plus seven to fifty to

838
00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:08,200
Speaker 1: win the title on hard rock Bet. We hit them

839
00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:09,800
Speaker 1: early in the show, so I'm not gonna linger too

840
00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:12,920
Speaker 1: long here. Four and three since Jokich went down, continuing

841
00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:18,399
Speaker 1: to get consistent high level basketball through shifting circumstances again

842
00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:20,640
Speaker 1: one of the themes of today's show. In the NBA

843
00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:23,600
Speaker 1: regular season, guys are in and out of lineup the

844
00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:26,440
Speaker 1: teams that can sustain success through shifting circumstances of the

845
00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:28,360
Speaker 1: teams that tend to float to the top of the standings.

846
00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:31,919
Speaker 1: Number four the San Antonio Spurs currently plus twelve hundred

847
00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:33,719
Speaker 1: to win the title on hard rock Bet. They are

848
00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:36,640
Speaker 1: four and five of theirs in their last nine games.

849
00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:39,680
Speaker 1: In those five losses, a one to oh four offensive

850
00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:44,000
Speaker 1: rating got absolutely strangled on offense down the stretch by Minnesota.

851
00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:46,839
Speaker 1: Teams just put a big forward on Wemby and they

852
00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:49,000
Speaker 1: get physical underneath him, and they can force him into

853
00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:51,000
Speaker 1: tough fada ways and he can hit them like he

854
00:40:51,040 --> 00:40:53,759
Speaker 1: did against Boston, But when he gets heavily pressured by

855
00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:56,160
Speaker 1: like a bigger, stronger forward like Randall, it kind of

856
00:40:56,200 --> 00:40:58,600
Speaker 1: turns into some pretty low percentage shots because his base

857
00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:01,480
Speaker 1: gets disrupted. And really, darn Fox and pick and roll

858
00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:03,800
Speaker 1: is their most reliable form of offense down the stretch

859
00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:06,160
Speaker 1: of games, and that just isn't as good of an

860
00:41:06,200 --> 00:41:08,719
Speaker 1: option as most teams in the West have. So I'm

861
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:10,719
Speaker 1: still a big believer in the Spurs, but they're going

862
00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:12,359
Speaker 1: to have to figure out a way to score more

863
00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:16,040
Speaker 1: consistently against these tougher teams. Number three the Minnesota Timberwolves

864
00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:18,080
Speaker 1: currently plus three thousand to win the title on hard

865
00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:19,880
Speaker 1: Rock Bet. We hit them early in the show, not

866
00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:21,720
Speaker 1: gonna stay here long. Best team in the leaguees instead

867
00:41:21,719 --> 00:41:24,520
Speaker 1: of Ember twenty ninth, sixteen and six racking up wins

868
00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:28,120
Speaker 1: versus good teams, looking like a bona fide top tier contender.

869
00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:32,640
Speaker 1: Number two the Detroit Pistons currently plus oney seven hundred

870
00:41:32,640 --> 00:41:35,319
Speaker 1: and fifty to win the title on hard rock Bet.

871
00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:38,440
Speaker 1: Dealing with a variety of injuries right now. Jalen Duran's

872
00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:41,480
Speaker 1: missed four straight games. Kay Cunningham has missed two straight games,

873
00:41:41,760 --> 00:41:43,960
Speaker 1: but the Pistons are three to one in those four

874
00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:46,400
Speaker 1: games on the strength of their defense. Even in the

875
00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:48,480
Speaker 1: loss to the Clippers on Saturday, I was really impressed

876
00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:51,640
Speaker 1: by their physicality. It bothered a very good Clippers team

877
00:41:51,680 --> 00:41:54,000
Speaker 1: that's been red hot on offense, similar to what I

878
00:41:54,040 --> 00:41:57,120
Speaker 1: was talking about with Denver again, some strong indicators for

879
00:41:57,200 --> 00:42:02,359
Speaker 1: championship contention, maintaining success through shifting circumstances, and lastly today

880
00:42:02,440 --> 00:42:05,439
Speaker 1: number one the Oklahoma City Thunder currently plus one ten

881
00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:07,560
Speaker 1: to win the title on hard rock Bet. They've won

882
00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:09,600
Speaker 1: three in a row as their schedules lightened up a bit.

883
00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:13,359
Speaker 1: The three point shooting does continue to be bizarrely bad,

884
00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:16,759
Speaker 1: like they were six for twenty three on unguarded catch

885
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:19,920
Speaker 1: and shoot threes against Memphis, six for twenty three on

886
00:42:20,000 --> 00:42:22,719
Speaker 1: unguarded catch and shoot threes versus Utah. And the weird

887
00:42:22,719 --> 00:42:24,759
Speaker 1: thing is all season long, they've actually been great on

888
00:42:24,880 --> 00:42:27,680
Speaker 1: unguarded catch and shoot threes. They've struggled with the contested ones,

889
00:42:28,040 --> 00:42:29,960
Speaker 1: and that's what makes this feel a little bit like

890
00:42:30,000 --> 00:42:32,799
Speaker 1: the Yips to me. I have no doubt that the

891
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:35,000
Speaker 1: Thunder will snap out of it and eventually start hitting

892
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:38,319
Speaker 1: shots again this season, but entering you like, when we

893
00:42:38,360 --> 00:42:41,080
Speaker 1: look at the Thunder as a playoff team, we have

894
00:42:41,160 --> 00:42:44,160
Speaker 1: to at least consider the possibility that they could enter

895
00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:46,760
Speaker 1: into this type of shooting bunk, and if it does happen,

896
00:42:46,920 --> 00:42:49,560
Speaker 1: it makes them a lot more vulnerable than they would otherwise.

897
00:42:49,640 --> 00:42:51,520
Speaker 1: Be just something to keep an eye on over the

898
00:42:51,560 --> 00:42:53,480
Speaker 1: rest of the season. All Right, guys, That's all I

899
00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:55,520
Speaker 1: have for today is always just sincerely appreciate you guys

900
00:42:55,560 --> 00:42:57,839
Speaker 1: for supporting us, in supporting the show. We'll be back

901
00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:00,279
Speaker 1: tomorrow with more game reaction and they'll see eyes that

902
00:43:07,640 --> 00:43:07,680
Speaker 1: I