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Speaker 1: responsible gambling resources. All right, welcome to ho tonight here

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Speaker 1: at the Volume. Happy Thursday, everybody. Hope all of you

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Speaker 1: guys are having an incredible week. We just got a

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Speaker 1: quick show today. We're gonna hit the Cleveland Cavaliers, who've

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Speaker 1: won eleven of their last fourteen games and got a

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Speaker 1: big win over the Milwaukee Bucks last night, albeit with

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Speaker 1: out Jannis and Tenna Kumpo. And then at the tail

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Speaker 1: end of the show, I finally got around to watching

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Speaker 1: that Suns come back against the Kings, where Kevin Durant

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Speaker 1: moved to the five, they went small, and they looked

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Speaker 1: incredible on both ends of the floor as they came

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Speaker 1: back to win after being down twenty two points in

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Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. A lot of really interesting stuff there,

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Speaker 1: and what I think could be an interesting lineup for

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Speaker 1: the Suns to use kind of sparingly as a weapon

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Speaker 1: down the line. I want to dig into that concept.

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Speaker 1: Do you guys know the Joe Bob Get start and

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Speaker 1: subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel. I mean a

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Speaker 1: lot to me if you guys would take a second

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Speaker 1: to scroll down and hit that subscribe button. Don't forget

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Speaker 1: about our podcast feeds. If you're more into the podcast

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Speaker 1: format of the show, you can find that wherever you

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Speaker 1: get your podcast under Hoops tonight follow me on Twitter

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Speaker 1: at underscore Jason LT. So you guys don't miss any

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Speaker 1: sho announcements, as well as the film threads that I

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Speaker 1: do most mornings. I did film threads on both of

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Speaker 1: these games that you can find on my Twitter feed

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Speaker 1: at underscore Jason LT. And then, last but not least,

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Speaker 1: keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments. I know

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Speaker 1: we've kept pushing the mail bag back, but I talked

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Speaker 1: to the team and the idea was is, if I'm

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Speaker 1: going out of town for five days, we might as

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Speaker 1: well run it while I'm out of town. So we're

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Speaker 1: gonna be recording that tomorrow. So still one more day

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Speaker 1: to get mail back questions in. I'm going to hit

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Speaker 1: a ton of them, So keep dropping those mail back

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Speaker 1: questions in the YouTube comments, all right, let's talk some basketball.

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Speaker 1: So obviously Jiannis was out, but the Cavs blitzed the

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Speaker 1: Bucks from the opening tip. They were up twenty two

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Speaker 1: to two. And I want to focus in on the

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Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor because they here's the thing,

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Speaker 1: even without Giannis, And obviously Giannis is an incredibly important

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Speaker 1: player for the Bucks. He's the one fast guy really

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Speaker 1: in that starting lineup, like truly, truly, like transcendently fast

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Speaker 1: type of player, right, And so he's gonna it's obviously

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Speaker 1: gonna hurt for him to not be out there, but

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Speaker 1: there's enough offensive skill in that lineup for them to

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Speaker 1: be decent, right, especially on the offensive end of the floor.

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Speaker 1: Like Dame is a transcendently great offensive player, Chris Middleton

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Speaker 1: is a good, very very good offensive player. Brook Lopez

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Speaker 1: is a is a big man who brings enough offensive

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Speaker 1: versatility to make scoring a possibility. Malik Beasley's been one

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Speaker 1: of the best shooters in the league this year. Andre

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Speaker 1: Jackson Junior was the one kind of like offensive week

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Speaker 1: point in that lineup. But they literally could not generate

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Speaker 1: a quality shot to save their lives to start this game.

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Speaker 1: So it came down to a bunch of specific matchup dynamics. So,

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Speaker 1: first of all, Isaaca Coro was on Damian Lillard, and

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Speaker 1: he's one of the few players in the league that's

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Speaker 1: big enough or i should say bigger than Dame, but

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Speaker 1: also quick enough to stay in front of him. And

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Speaker 1: what they were doing is in any Brook Lopez action,

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Speaker 1: they were hedging and recovering with Jared Allen and Isaacacorro

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Speaker 1: would sprint and meet Dame at some point on his drives,

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Speaker 1: as Dame would try to beat the hedge with either

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Speaker 1: a split or by dribbling around. By dribbling around, Jared

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Speaker 1: Allen and Isaac Correr forced a couple of turnovers that way.

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Speaker 1: There was a time where Dame just straight up tried

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Speaker 1: to iso Isaacacro early in the game and he just

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Speaker 1: chested him up, put his body in the way. And

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Speaker 1: Dame and Chris Middleton in particular were playing a lot

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Speaker 1: of grift basketball. They were kind of just dribbling into

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Speaker 1: guy's chests and throwing junk up and trying to get fouls.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk about the Bucks later, but they didn't really

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Speaker 1: attack this game in any sort of serious manners. A

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Speaker 1: lot of stuff coming out of Milwaukee despite their record.

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Speaker 1: That's kind of weird, and last night was definitely one

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Speaker 1: of those games. But Isaac accoron Dame was the first

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Speaker 1: major matchup, the second matchup, and I thought the one

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Speaker 1: that was arguably the most impactful during this run was

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Speaker 1: Dean Wade on Chris Middleton. First of all, same thing

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Speaker 1: when Chris Middleton was attacking Dean Wade in isolation situations,

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Speaker 1: Dean Wade was playing classic positional defense. He was sliding

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Speaker 1: his feet, taking the contact in the chest, keeping his

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Speaker 1: arms up high so that he doesn't get called for

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Speaker 1: a foul. And he's got good size, and so he's

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Speaker 1: forcing Chris to take tough shots over the top, and

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Speaker 1: he was frustrating Chris as he was beating him to spots,

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Speaker 1: and Chris was just trying to throw junk up at

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Speaker 1: the rim to try to get fouls. But the big

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Speaker 1: thing that Dean Wade was doing was his ability to switch.

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Speaker 1: They were switching the Dame Middleton pick and roll and

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Speaker 1: putting Dane Wade on Dame. Dean Wade got to stop

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Speaker 1: sliding his feet on Dame. They were switching any sort

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Speaker 1: of pick and roll with great with Brook Lopez and

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Speaker 1: Chris Middleton. So then Dean Wade would just rotate onto

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Speaker 1: Brook Lopez and just kind of battle and they were

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Speaker 1: doubling him out of that there was a possession. To

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Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell's credit, who's having a great defensive season, Dean

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Speaker 1: Wade got Lopez on a switch. Lopez backed him down

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Speaker 1: on that left block, and Donovan Mitchell sprinted in double

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Speaker 1: teamed got him to get rid of the basketball. Pass

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Speaker 1: went right. It was only one pass away, easy kickout

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Speaker 1: to Malik Beasley. Donovan Mitchell is an elite athlete at

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Speaker 1: the guard position. Sprinted out like crazy and chased Malik

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Speaker 1: Beasley off the line and forced him into a dribble,

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Speaker 1: pull up jump shot. But that ability of Dean Wade

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Speaker 1: to not be super easily scored on in a switch

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Speaker 1: against a big or a guard was a really useful

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Speaker 1: tool for the Calves during that defensive effort. That really

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Speaker 1: frustrated the Milwaukee Bucks last night. And then they just

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Speaker 1: were pushing in transition on every single stop. And Milwaukee's

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Speaker 1: transition defense is awful. They let teams get out in

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Speaker 1: transition over seventeen percent of their possessions, which ranks dead

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Speaker 1: last in the league. According to Cleaning the Glass. But

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Speaker 1: that's a good game plan from Cleveland, they were just

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Speaker 1: running down their throat every single time. A lot of

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Speaker 1: bad floor balance from Milwaukee. There was a possession where

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Speaker 1: at one point they had all five offensive players below

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Speaker 1: the charge circle and big shot. It ended up leading

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Speaker 1: to I believe, if I remember correctly, it was Max

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Speaker 1: Strus getting a runout a foul, but that was all

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Speaker 1: it was. It was just incredible defense from all five guys,

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Speaker 1: completely bought in, frustrating the Bucks and then sprinting it

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Speaker 1: down the other end in transition, and then a mix

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Speaker 1: in of some Donovan Mitchell shot making. Hit this ridiculous

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Speaker 1: step back on Isaac Accoro where he damn near made

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Speaker 1: him fall down, or not on Isaac Correr, excuse me,

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Speaker 1: it was on Andre Jackson Junior. I don't know I'm

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Speaker 1: mixing names up today, but it was a step back

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Speaker 1: on Andre Jackson Jr. Made him nearly fall down that

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Speaker 1: he knocked down. He had to pull up three and

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Speaker 1: pick and roll over the screen. He beat ma League

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Speaker 1: Beasley in the mid range with a pull up jump shot.

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Speaker 1: It was just that bit of shot making mixed in

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Speaker 1: with running out for wide open layups and dunk and

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Speaker 1: then excellent defense. All of a sudden they're up twenty

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Speaker 1: two to two and the Bucks quit and the game

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Speaker 1: is over on the Bucks front. Like again, I it

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Speaker 1: kind of it just was. It felt like one of

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Speaker 1: those games where they realized Dannis was out and they

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Speaker 1: went into the game with no real belief that they

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Speaker 1: were going to win. And you could see it in

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Speaker 1: a bunch of different areas Dame and Chris Middleton just

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Speaker 1: dropping their shoulder into defender's chests and then just trying

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Speaker 1: to draw fouls by just throwing up weird shots, like

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Speaker 1: Dame was drawing multiple defenders at the ball screen but

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Speaker 1: just swinging the ball out of it, not really doing

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Speaker 1: anything to try to compromise the defense in that situation.

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Speaker 1: And then they were jogging back in transition. A lot

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Speaker 1: of basic things too, like floor balance stuff, where guys

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Speaker 1: are you know, it just it just was an incredibly

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Speaker 1: sloppy a basketball from the Milwaukee Bucks. Again, it's one

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Speaker 1: of those ones that you just kind of crumple up

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Speaker 1: and throw out. But again, like Milwaukee's got a really

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Speaker 1: good record, but there's just some weirdness surrounding that team.

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure what it is. But at the same time,

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Speaker 1: I want to cut them the same slack that I've

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Speaker 1: been cutting a lot of teams, which is, this is

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Speaker 1: the NBA in January, this is what it can be like.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes you're right smack in the middle of things. So

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Speaker 1: you've been doing this for a long time, and you

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Speaker 1: still have a really long way to go, And I

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Speaker 1: think that that can go a long way towards just

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Speaker 1: kind of like causing wildly oscillating levels of effort from

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Speaker 1: team night to night. Right, you get a Boston team

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Speaker 1: that beats the Timberwolves and then gets their ass kicked

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Speaker 1: by the Bucks. The Bucks kick the shit out of

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Speaker 1: the Celtics and then go get their ass kicked by

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Speaker 1: the Calves. Right Like, it's just this weird dynamic where

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Speaker 1: it's the oscillating effort that's primarily dictating whether or not

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Speaker 1: a team, you know, kind of comes out with the

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Speaker 1: with a win on any given night in this time

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Speaker 1: of year. So I want to cut the Bucks some slack.

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Speaker 1: You just kind of crumple that one and throw away.

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Speaker 1: But it definitely was a disappointing effort. Now on the

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Speaker 1: Caves front, Evan Mobley went down after the Orlando game

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Speaker 1: eighteen games ago. Then they quickly dropped three of their

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Speaker 1: next four and then Darius Garland goes out of the lineup,

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Speaker 1: and then everybody in the league's like, hmm, this is interesting, Like,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure even if the Allen Mobleye front court works

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Speaker 1: in terms of the playoffs, it's just really difficult for

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Speaker 1: them to score and pick and roll in that situation.

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Speaker 1: You have two small guards in that lineup. Now you

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Speaker 1: have Darius Garland and Evan Mobley out for a long time.

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Speaker 1: The regular season to that point hadn't been that impressive

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Speaker 1: from Cleveland, and so you're like, hm, like this kind

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Speaker 1: of felt like a teetering point, Like it was a

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Speaker 1: teetering point where it might be one of those things

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Speaker 1: where now is the time to kind of reconfigure or

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Speaker 1: are they gonna kind of salvage these things. Nope, they

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Speaker 1: salvaged things. They went eleven and three over their next

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Speaker 1: fourteen games since Darius Garland went out sixth in offense

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Speaker 1: and third in defense. Most of their success comes off

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Speaker 1: of similar stretches to what we saw last night against Milwaukee.

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Speaker 1: They defend like crazy and they get out in run.

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Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, they're only twenty fourth in

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Speaker 1: the NBA and half court offense, so they're not really

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Speaker 1: great at scoring. As a matter of fact, they're bad

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Speaker 1: at scoring in the slow down half court environment, but

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Speaker 1: there're seventh in fast break points per one hundred possessions

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Speaker 1: of this season. They get out and run, and that

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Speaker 1: bolsters them on the offensive end of the floor. Most importantly,

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Speaker 1: they don't just run for the sake of running. There

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Speaker 1: are a lot of teams that run out and transition

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Speaker 1: and take bad shots. The Calves do not do that.

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Speaker 1: They run selectively when they see good opportunities for them

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Speaker 1: to get great shots. They run off their defense in particular,

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Speaker 1: they're not just just playing with unnecessary pace. Right, They're

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Speaker 1: at one point one to seven points per transition possession.

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Speaker 1: That ranks eighth in terms of efficiency per possession among

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Speaker 1: all NBA teams. That's excellent overall, Cleaning the glass. Hayes

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Speaker 1: this metric, it's a cool metric. They call it transition

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Speaker 1: points added per one hundred possessions. It's just a way

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Speaker 1: to kind of like singularly capture your volume of transition

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Speaker 1: and your efficiency into like one metric. Right, Because there

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Speaker 1: are a lot of teams that run in transition a ton,

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Speaker 1: but they don't necessarily score. And then there are selective

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Speaker 1: teams that run a lot or don't run as often,

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Speaker 1: but when they do, they get layups and dunks, right,

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Speaker 1: and those are the teams that are more efficient. Right.

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Speaker 1: And then there's a metric that cleaning the glass eyes

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Speaker 1: that kind of combines all of that stuff. Well, for

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Speaker 1: the Cavs, they rank third in the league in that

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Speaker 1: kind of combined metric, meaning they are the third best

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Speaker 1: transition offense in the NBA. So the question is why

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Speaker 1: is Cleveland's defense so successful? And the reality is really simple.

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Speaker 1: It's complete and total buy in down the lineup from everyone,

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Speaker 1: including their star. Donovan Mitchell is flying around and helping

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Speaker 1: recover situations. Dean Wade we talked about earlier, is competing

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Speaker 1: in switches against players bigger and smaller than him, and

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Speaker 1: he's guarding wingswell. Isaacacorro and Max Struz are competing at

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Speaker 1: the point of attack with physicality and relentless back pressure

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Speaker 1: and just using their quickness and size. Right a Cooro

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Speaker 1: specifically is one of those guys. He has his offensive limitations,

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Speaker 1: but he's just such a useful defensive player. With his

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Speaker 1: ability to guard the quick guards in the league. With

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Speaker 1: his size, that can become a problem. Right. And then

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Speaker 1: Jared Allen, He's capable of switching, he's capable of dropping,

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Speaker 1: he's capable of hedging. He's just a versatile defensive big.

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Speaker 1: He kind of fits into that mold that I talk

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Speaker 1: about in terms of team construct where you want to

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Speaker 1: have a defensive kind of folk rum at the center

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Speaker 1: position that can defend in multiple coverages, otherwise you become

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Speaker 1: very matchup dependent. Right. The defense is real too, regardless

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Speaker 1: of opponent. As a matter of fact, they allow just

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Speaker 1: one hundred and twelve points one hundred and twelve point

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Speaker 1: four points per one hundred possessions against the top ten

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Speaker 1: offenses in the league, which ranks number one in the NBA. Now,

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Speaker 1: to be clear, they've been in an easier stretch of

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Speaker 1: their schedule as of late, and things will get tougher,

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Speaker 1: but they're playing some really good basketball. They're now going

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Speaker 1: on the road to play four tough games. They're at Atlanta,

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Speaker 1: at Orlando, at Milwaukee twice. Then they come home for

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Speaker 1: the Clippers, and so we're gonna find out really quickly

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Speaker 1: how much of this is real for them. At least

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Speaker 1: in terms of this particular group. Obviously, with Garland and

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Speaker 1: Moblei Garland and Mobley still being out, specifically, it's gonna

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Speaker 1: come down to a couple. It's gonna come down, dude.

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Speaker 1: Can they get enough stops to get out and transition

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Speaker 1: often enough to their half court offense, and then in

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Speaker 1: the half quarter they're gonna get enough shot making from

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Speaker 1: guys like Donovan Mitchell right like that that's gonna be

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Speaker 1: what's gonna carry them against these better opponents. Because what's

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Speaker 1: gonna happen is, specifically, teams like Orlando has really big

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Speaker 1: perimeter offensive players are gonna try to attack the smaller

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Speaker 1: Cleveland perimeter defenders. Right the Clippers are gonna space them

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Speaker 1: out and test some of their other perimeter defensive players.

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Speaker 1: And if they don't get as many stops, they're not

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Speaker 1: gonna be able to run as much, which is going

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Speaker 1: to put a strain on their half court offense. And

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Speaker 1: they're at Milwaukee twice, and Milwaukee's gonna want revenge, So

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Speaker 1: those are gonna be some tough games. They can go

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Speaker 1: three and five or three and two in those five games,

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Speaker 1: that would be a huge win for this Cleveland Cavaliers

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Speaker 1: team all right, moving on to the Suns with KD

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Speaker 1: at the five, and so they were down twenty two

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Speaker 1: with you know, some like seven or eight minutes left

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Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, and I just kind of cataloged

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Speaker 1: every single possession or the majority of the possession as

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Speaker 1: the Sons came back to win. And you could find

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Speaker 1: that again in that thread on my Twitter feed at

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Speaker 1: underscore JSNLT. But you know, my main takeaway from watching

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Speaker 1: that group, well, makes it all work because they're pretty small, right,

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Speaker 1: Like you've got Kevin Durant, but after that, it's like

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Speaker 1: Eric Gordon, you know, he's not necessarily the tallest guy

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Speaker 1: in the world. You know, Grayson Allen not necessarily the

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Speaker 1: tallest guy in the world, Bradley Beald not necessarily the

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Speaker 1: tallest guy in the world. And Devin Booker is the

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Speaker 1: second tallest guy in the lineup at sixty six or

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Speaker 1: six y five or whatever he is, right, So, like

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Speaker 1: it's a small lineup, but the reason why it works

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Speaker 1: is all about Kevin Durant. He's just an unbelievably incredible defender.

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Speaker 1: When he's locked in like that, it's actually insane, Like

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Speaker 1: he can guard Sabonis straight up Sabonus was trying to

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Speaker 1: bully him, couldn't move him off the spot. He can

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Speaker 1: guard deer and Fox straight up locked him up in

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Speaker 1: an ISO late in the game. He can switch, he

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Speaker 1: can drop. He had a block on Malik Monk and

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Speaker 1: drop coverage. That was one of the things that was

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Speaker 1: successful against Sacramento is they were doing a lot of switching,

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Speaker 1: but then randomly they wouldn't, and when they wouldn't, they

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Speaker 1: were forcing turnovers and forcing mistakes from Zacramento. There's a

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Speaker 1: play where like they switched a bunch of dribble handoffs

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Speaker 1: in a row and then suddenly Devin Booker was like, nope,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna shoot the gap on this one, and he

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Speaker 1: forced an illegal screen off of Harrison Barnes who was

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Speaker 1: moving when he knocked him over. Kevin Durant would like switch, switch, switch,

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Speaker 1: and then suddenly he would drop, and when he would drop,

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Speaker 1: it like catch Sacramento off guard. He's doing a really

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Speaker 1: nice job of kind of throwing off their rhythm. Also,

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Speaker 1: just not switching for the sake of switching, but switching

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Speaker 1: when guys would get screened was a big thing that

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Speaker 1: was helping. And then Lastly, Kevin Durant's an outstanding low

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Speaker 1: man help defender. There was a play where I want

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Speaker 1: to say, Eric Gordon got driven by by Malik Monk

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Speaker 1: along the right side on the wing, and I have

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Speaker 1: this play clipped and Kevin Durant identified. I talk often

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Speaker 1: about how help defenders have a complicated decision because if

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Speaker 1: you just help all the time, you make these easy

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Speaker 1: kickout raads. So you have to make a decision based

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Speaker 1: on how compromised the on ball defender is. Is he

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Speaker 1: completely compromised, then you gotta go help, because it's better

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Speaker 1: to give up a catch and shoot three on the

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Speaker 1: weak side then a wide open layup, because a catch

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Speaker 1: and shoot three on the weak side might for a

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Speaker 1: really good shooter like Grayson Allen's one of the best

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Speaker 1: catching shoot guys in the league. Catching shoot three for

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Speaker 1: him is worth one point four points per possession. But

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Speaker 1: guess how much a driving layup is worth. If the

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Speaker 1: defender is compromised, probably gonna make it at least nine

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Speaker 1: out of ten times. Right. There will be the occasional

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Speaker 1: play where the offensive players two sped up and he

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Speaker 1: shoots the layup over the front of the rim, or

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Speaker 1: something like that right, but nine out of ten is

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Speaker 1: one point eight points per possession, so it's a very

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Speaker 1: important decision that Kevin Durant has to make there to

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Speaker 1: either help or to stay home. And on this possession,

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Speaker 1: he realized that Eric Gordon was pushing him underneath the basket,

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Speaker 1: and so he kind of stayed back to watch out

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Speaker 1: for that corner pass. Malik Monk at the last second

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Speaker 1: decided to jump back, and Grayson Allen had done a

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Speaker 1: really had done a really nice impromptu switch onto Demonisa

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Speaker 1: Bonus and kind of fronted him in the post and

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Speaker 1: he was in position to help and knock that ball

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Speaker 1: away as Malik Monk went up underneath the basket. It

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Speaker 1: was a really nice low man possession from Kevin Durant,

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Speaker 1: who can also clean up the defensive glass there, who

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Speaker 1: can also block shots when the defender is compromise, who

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Speaker 1: can also do things like even when open offensive players

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Speaker 1: are there, he can block passing angles. There was a

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Speaker 1: play where Darren Fox got downhill and Grayson Allen and

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Speaker 1: Kevin Durant kind of like trapped him and Kevin Herder

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Speaker 1: kind of cut right in front of the rim and

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Speaker 1: he was wide open, but there was no passing angle

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Speaker 1: there because Kevin Durant is basically has him swallowed up,

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Speaker 1: which allowed Eric Gordon to stay home on the weak

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Speaker 1: side and get his steal as Daron Fox tried to

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Speaker 1: force his skip pass to the right corner. The point

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Speaker 1: is Kevin Durant and his ability to guard quick guards,

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Speaker 1: guard biggs, garden, drop coverage, you know, switch garden, help

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Speaker 1: and recover situations, clean up the defensive glass. All of

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Speaker 1: that capability makes a lineup like that function in a

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Speaker 1: way that it just wouldn't for anybody else, right, And

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Speaker 1: so that's where Kevin Durant is being basically, for lack

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Speaker 1: of a better word, a superstar can clean up and

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Speaker 1: patch up holes that a lineup would otherwise create. From there,

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Speaker 1: it's all about speed and skill. Again, we're talking about

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Speaker 1: four players in Eric Gordon, Bradley Beal, Grayson Allen, and

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Speaker 1: Devin Booker, who are all fast, who can all dribble,

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Speaker 1: who can all shoot, who can all pass air. Gordon

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Speaker 1: did his credit spend some time on Demonasabonis and Sabonis

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Speaker 1: had no interest in attacking him, and then in all

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Speaker 1: those off ball actions, really sharp communication from Bradley Bial

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Speaker 1: Devin Booker and Grayson Allen. There were several there were

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Speaker 1: some complicated interchanges like triple switches where like three people

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Speaker 1: were involved in the action and all three of them

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Speaker 1: just kind of ended up in the right place through

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Speaker 1: communication and through effort. Grayson Allen in particular was outstanding

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Speaker 1: and help defense. He had a couple of turnovers he

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Speaker 1: forced on Demona Sabonis, like digging down when he would

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Speaker 1: turn his head as he was trying to bully Kevin Durant.

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Speaker 1: I talked about the big block that he had on

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Speaker 1: the leak Monk, and then I talked about Devin Booker

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Speaker 1: and how he cost a couple of turnovers with impromptu

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Speaker 1: non switches when they were switching interchanges and the Devin

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Speaker 1: Booker would just go like, Nope, not switching this one,

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Speaker 1: and it would just throw the Sacramento Kings out of

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Speaker 1: out of There was a play where Malik Monk just

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Speaker 1: threw the ball out of bounds. And then I talked

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Speaker 1: about the Harrison Barnes illegal screen on the dribble handoff.

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Speaker 1: But it was just down the line up a hillacious effort,

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Speaker 1: a ton of speed and then Kevin Durant tying it

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Speaker 1: all together. And then on offense. They were running hard

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Speaker 1: in transition. Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant got run out

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Speaker 1: dunks during that stretch. And then, like I said, everyone

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Speaker 1: can dribble shooting pass at a high level, and so

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Speaker 1: Kevin Durant or Devin Booker, Kevin Durant would like get

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Speaker 1: an ISO and drive on a guy and then Darren

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Speaker 1: Fox would double team, or Devin Booker would run a

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Speaker 1: ball screen and draw two defenders in the ball screen,

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Speaker 1: and then from there they would just play driving kick

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Speaker 1: basketball with the other four guys, except for all of

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Speaker 1: them can dribble shooting pass, and so it'd be like,

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00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:45,600
Speaker 1: oh shit, you just ran at Eric Gordon, and he

430
00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:47,640
Speaker 1: threw the extra pass to Grayson Allen on the wing

431
00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:50,040
Speaker 1: and he knocks down the three. Oh shit, you Grayson Allen,

432
00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:51,560
Speaker 1: you close out. He makes the extra pass to a

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00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:53,320
Speaker 1: Eric Gordon, another guy closed out. Now all of a sudden,

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00:20:53,359 --> 00:20:55,199
Speaker 1: Grayson Allen's open again and the ball goes back to

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Speaker 1: Grayson Allen. He makes it. Kevin Durant was getting open

436
00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:01,520
Speaker 1: threes as well. They got wide open on the majority

437
00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:04,520
Speaker 1: of those possessions down the stretch, even someones that they missed.

438
00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:06,440
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant missed a wide open three on the right

439
00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:08,680
Speaker 1: wing when they were in their zone that the Kings

440
00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:11,520
Speaker 1: ran a few times down the stretch. So it just

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00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:16,119
Speaker 1: again like it discombobulated Sacramento on both ends of the

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00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:18,800
Speaker 1: floor because it's a non traditional way to play basketball.

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00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:21,399
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, that's what I

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00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:24,520
Speaker 1: see that lineup being used as. Is it tenable long term?

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00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:26,879
Speaker 1: Of course not. You're not gonna be able to play

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00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:30,920
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant at the five big picture for massive minutes.

447
00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:33,359
Speaker 1: It's too fatiguing, it's too much to ask. So how

448
00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:36,080
Speaker 1: do you use a lineup like that? You use it

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00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:42,960
Speaker 1: as a death lineup. Okay, this team's bothering us with

450
00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:48,720
Speaker 1: size and they're up five in the early second quarter.

451
00:21:49,680 --> 00:21:52,359
Speaker 1: Let's throw out the death lineup and let's regain control

452
00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:55,720
Speaker 1: of the game. Let's throw giant wrenching things and retake

453
00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,320
Speaker 1: control of the game. Okay, it's a close game late,

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Speaker 1: and you know, based on this particular matchup, we like

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00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,040
Speaker 1: the ability to go small. You go small in that situation.

456
00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:08,480
Speaker 1: That's the way the death lineup is used, or was

457
00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:11,040
Speaker 1: used by the Warriors, and what they didn't start games

458
00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:14,000
Speaker 1: with it. It was literally something that they brought out

459
00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:18,080
Speaker 1: selectively to regain control of the rhythm of a game

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00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:20,520
Speaker 1: or to close the game. And that's kind of what

461
00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:23,439
Speaker 1: I see that lineup. As for the Suns, and there

462
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,160
Speaker 1: were some issues, like there was a player Keegan Murray

463
00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:30,880
Speaker 1: got an offensive rebound over over Eric Gordon just because

464
00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:33,320
Speaker 1: he's bigger. Right, there was a player deer and Fox

465
00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:36,640
Speaker 1: got an offensive rebound over Grayson Allen just because he's

466
00:22:36,640 --> 00:22:39,160
Speaker 1: a better athlete, right, Like, They're gonna have some limitations,

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00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:41,119
Speaker 1: But this is one of the concepts that I talk

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00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:44,080
Speaker 1: about a lot on this show. Lean into your strengths.

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00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:47,440
Speaker 1: Don't try to be what other teams are if you're

470
00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:51,040
Speaker 1: not as good as them at that. Don't try to

471
00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:54,800
Speaker 1: be Denver because Denver's better at being Denver than you are.

472
00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:58,920
Speaker 1: Be the best version of what your team's strengths are.

473
00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:02,880
Speaker 1: The Phoenix Suns are not physically imposing. The Phoenix Suns

474
00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:06,520
Speaker 1: are not going to bully teams, but they probably have

475
00:23:06,600 --> 00:23:09,040
Speaker 1: one of the most skilled five man groupings that you

476
00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:12,720
Speaker 1: can put together in the NBA. So that's a great

477
00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:16,680
Speaker 1: look for them to have. While you're busy doing your thing,

478
00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,320
Speaker 1: We're going to lean into our strengths and try to

479
00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:22,639
Speaker 1: regain control of the game that way. That's why I

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00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:25,040
Speaker 1: really really like that lineup. By the way, twenty five

481
00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:28,639
Speaker 1: possessions so far this year with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker,

482
00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:31,240
Speaker 1: Grayson Allen, Bradley Beal, and Eric Gordon, they are plus

483
00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:35,920
Speaker 1: sixty four point five points per one hundred possessions in

484
00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:39,080
Speaker 1: those twenty five possessions, just unbelievably dominant. Thought it was

485
00:23:39,119 --> 00:23:42,320
Speaker 1: really really interesting. It's gonna hinge on a defensive effort,

486
00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:45,080
Speaker 1: especially from Kevin Durant, but I love that as a

487
00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:47,399
Speaker 1: wrench for them to be able to throw for certain

488
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:49,320
Speaker 1: stretches of games. All right, guys, that is all I

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Speaker 1: have for today. We'll be back tomorrow. I've got a

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Speaker 1: bunch of stuff. We're gonna do a mailbag, We're gonna

491
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Speaker 1: do some mid season awards stuff. It's gonna be basically

492
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:56,960
Speaker 1: just a bunch of like kind of middle of the

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00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:59,520
Speaker 1: year content as I'm in Breckenridge, and then we'll be

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00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:03,000
Speaker 1: back on Wednesday next week with game breakdowns, and then

495
00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:05,280
Speaker 1: I'm in town. I think my wife and I might

496
00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:08,600
Speaker 1: go on We usually go skiing for her birthday, so

497
00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:11,000
Speaker 1: maybe in late March. I might hop out of town

498
00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:12,680
Speaker 1: for like a really short trip, like a two or

499
00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:14,800
Speaker 1: three day trip, but other than that, I plan on

500
00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:17,719
Speaker 1: being in town until after the NBA Finals, And so

501
00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:20,520
Speaker 1: it's just gonna get into that, to the rhythm of

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00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:22,800
Speaker 1: that grind. From there, I will see you guys on Wednesday.

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00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:24,600
Speaker 1: Well I should say i'll see you tomorrow and then

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00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:25,920
Speaker 1: we'll take a little break and then I'll be back

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00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:28,120
Speaker 1: on Wednesday. From there, I appreciate you guys. I will

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Speaker 1: see you tomorrow. The volume