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Speaker 1: The Volume. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at

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Speaker 1: the Volume. Happy Monday, everybody. I hope all of you

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Speaker 1: guys had an incredible weekend. Round two coverage of the

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Speaker 1: NBA Playoffs. Here at Hoops Tonight is brought to you

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Speaker 1: by Chase Freedom Unlimited. How do you cash back? Today?

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Speaker 1: We're gonna be doing our Chase three point segment like

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Speaker 1: we do every Monday. I'm gonna focus on three major

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Speaker 1: adjustments that I expect in three particular series. We're gonna

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Speaker 1: hit Warriors, Lakers, Suns, Nuggets, and Celtics Sixers. You guys

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Speaker 1: know the joke before we get started. Subscribe to the

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Speaker 1: Volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of

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Speaker 1: our videos. Follow me on Twitter at Underscore Jason lt

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Speaker 1: so you guys don't miss any show announcements. And if,

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Speaker 1: for whatever reason, you guys miss one of these videos

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Speaker 1: and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish,

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Speaker 1: don't forget. You can find them wherever you get your

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Speaker 1: podcasts under Hoops Tonight, all right, let's start number one,

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Speaker 1: Warriors Lakers who will play with more force? Now, we

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Speaker 1: talk a lot about tactical adjustments on this show. In

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Speaker 1: this particular series on the Lakers side of things, that's

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Speaker 1: been switching Jared Vanderbilt onto Draymond Green so that they

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Speaker 1: could switch the Steph Draymond pick and roll, Anthony Davis

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Speaker 1: coming much higher out of his drop coverage with active

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Speaker 1: hands to dissuade the pocket pass, getting him touches on

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Speaker 1: the move in the Lakers offense so that he can

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Speaker 1: attack downhill at Draymond Green, and just in general playing

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Speaker 1: with force and the reason why I want to talk

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Speaker 1: about force Draymond Green himself in his Game three A

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Speaker 1: podcast for the Volume, And I actually tweeted this link

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Speaker 1: out so you can see the specific quote from Draymond

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Speaker 1: Green that I'm talking about if you guys go to

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Speaker 1: my Twitter feed. But he talked about like, hey, like,

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Speaker 1: who's gonna play with more force? Like the Lakers played

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Speaker 1: with more force in Game three, the Warriors played with

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Speaker 1: more force in Game two, he said, And I thought

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Speaker 1: it was a really well put point by Draymond Green.

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Speaker 1: He goes, he goes, the biggest adjustment that any NBA

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Speaker 1: team can make in the playoffs is to play with

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Speaker 1: more force. Now, what does that mean? That means that

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Speaker 1: everything you do is harder you're sliding your feet better. Defensively,

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Speaker 1: you're crashing the boards harder. You're running the floor harder.

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Speaker 1: In transition on offense, when you make a cut, you

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Speaker 1: cut harder. When you set a screen, you set the

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Speaker 1: screen with more physicality. When you drive the ball to

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Speaker 1: the rim, you drive the ball to the rim with

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Speaker 1: purpose and force. It essentially is just all of the

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Speaker 1: physical exertion of the game. Who wins that battle. I

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Speaker 1: love the tactical side of things. I think it's super interesting.

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Speaker 1: You guys know that we focus a lot on that

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Speaker 1: in this show. But no matter what, every coverage can

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Speaker 1: work as long as it's executed properly. And execution is

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Speaker 1: a lot of the mental side of things and being

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Speaker 1: in the right spots and knowing your job. But it's

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Speaker 1: also doing your job right. Like a pick and roll,

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Speaker 1: for instance, where we set a high ball screen, the

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Speaker 1: big man rolls to the basket and a shooter relocates

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Speaker 1: to the top. If the big man doesn't set a

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Speaker 1: hard enough screen on the ball handler, he's not gonna

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Speaker 1: get separation. Plays blown up the Spain pick and roll

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Speaker 1: shooter relocating from the basket up to the top of

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Speaker 1: the key if he doesn't cut hard and with purpose

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Speaker 1: and get his feet set ready to shoot, he won't

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Speaker 1: be able to make them pay for being left open,

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Speaker 1: and the play can cease to function. If the ball

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Speaker 1: handler doesn't set up his man for the ball screen

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Speaker 1: properly to get him caught on it, the whole play

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Speaker 1: can blow up again. It's less about the coverage, is

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Speaker 1: less about the tactical side of things, and more about

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Speaker 1: the players just doing their jobs harder, faster, stronger, and

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Speaker 1: more in tune with what the game plan asks. Right.

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Speaker 1: And you know, it's funny because that one of the

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Speaker 1: biggest plot lines of this particular series has been the

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Speaker 1: foul line and getting just the officiating in general. And

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Speaker 1: in the first game, I thought the Lakers played with

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Speaker 1: more force. They got to the free throw line a

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Speaker 1: ton the Warriors did it. I had a lot of

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Speaker 1: Warriors fans go like, hey, you said the Warriors got

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Speaker 1: a better whistle in Game two, Why is it that

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Speaker 1: they were even in free throws? That's play style, like

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Speaker 1: naturally with the way these teams play, with the Lakers

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Speaker 1: having a couple of guys, and guys like Dennis Schroeder

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Speaker 1: or Austin Reeves or are gifted at drawing fouls, like

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Speaker 1: foul grifting. Danzel Russell, I'd throw in that group two.

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Speaker 1: He's really good at like dribbling and extending that right

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Speaker 1: arm and waiting for you to grab that arm and

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Speaker 1: then going up into his shot knowing he's gonna get

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Speaker 1: a foul. Now, the NBA has fought against those things

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Speaker 1: by making it so that if you do an unnatural

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Speaker 1: shooting motion, it's just a regular foul and not a

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Speaker 1: shooting foul. But hey, you get five thouls in a quarter,

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Speaker 1: you're going to the foul line. They've been able to

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Speaker 1: grift their way into free throw attempts. Then Lebron James

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Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis, Dennischroedder as well just playing with a

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Speaker 1: ton of downhill force attacking the rim. Those things combined

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Speaker 1: to make them throughout this entire season one of the

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Speaker 1: very best teams at getting to the foul and that's

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Speaker 1: been consistent throughout the year. The Warriors totally different type

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Speaker 1: of offensive style. They take a ton of off the

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Speaker 1: dribble and movement jump shots. Those are just far less

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Speaker 1: likely to send you to the foul line, and they

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Speaker 1: don't really rely on foul drifting that much. It's not

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Speaker 1: really in the identity of any of their players, and

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Speaker 1: so the Warriors all season long were a team that

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Speaker 1: didn't get to the free throw line very often. So

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Speaker 1: when we see the free throw dynamic oscillate in this series,

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Speaker 1: it's going to go from being more even where both

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Speaker 1: teams kind of attempt the same amount of free throws

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Speaker 1: to the landslide Laker victories where they attempt twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: five to thirty more free throws than the Warriors. That's

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Speaker 1: just the dynamic. You're not going to see a game

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Speaker 1: in this series where the Warriors attempt thirty five free

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Speaker 1: throws and the Lakers attempts ten. That is physically impossible

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Speaker 1: because of their play styles. But in my opinion, the

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Speaker 1: whole like home court back and forth thing only plays

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Speaker 1: a tiny role in officiating. What really plays a role

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Speaker 1: in officiating is playing with force. So, for instance, if I,

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Speaker 1: as the defender, am not playing with as much force,

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Speaker 1: not sliding my feet as well, not anticipating things before

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Speaker 1: they happen, not being as dialed in and locked in,

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Speaker 1: my rotations are a bit slower. I'm slower fighting over screens.

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Speaker 1: I am going to be out of position now, if

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Speaker 1: I am out of position as a defender and the

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Speaker 1: offensive player is playing with force, setting hard screens, cutting

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Speaker 1: with force, driving with force, pushing in transition with force,

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Speaker 1: they're going to be coming at me while I am

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Speaker 1: out of position, which is going to force me to

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Speaker 1: either concede an open layup or to commit fouls. I

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Speaker 1: use the example of the two plays where Draymond Green fell.

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Speaker 1: His final foul is fifth foul. I disagreed with the

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Speaker 1: one where Draymond Green got knocked over by AD. Thought

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Speaker 1: that was a bad call, and like we talked about,

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Speaker 1: bad calls happened in NBA games. But the two before

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Speaker 1: that where Draymond tried to take a charge, I thought

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Speaker 1: he was just a second late because AD is playing

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Speaker 1: with a certain amount of force and Draymond didn't quite

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Speaker 1: match it. That same dynamic flips in Game four. Draymond

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Speaker 1: moved this feed a little bit quicker, anticipates it a

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Speaker 1: tiny bit faster, Anthony Davis not quite bringing the same

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Speaker 1: level of downhill force. Now he's in position instead of

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Speaker 1: out of position, and that is a charge. That's kind

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Speaker 1: of the dynamic that I'm talking about. Now, playing with

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Speaker 1: force is going to determine what the whistle is. Laker

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Speaker 1: played with more force in Game one, shot a ton

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Speaker 1: more free throws. Warriors played with a ton more force

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Speaker 1: in Game two, much more even free throw dynamic. Game three,

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Speaker 1: Lakers play with a ton more force. They dominate the

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Speaker 1: game in the at the foul line. So why specifically

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Speaker 1: does the whistle matter so much in this series? Because

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Speaker 1: of the fact that Anthony Davis and what he's capable

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Speaker 1: of as a defender, has just about erased the Warriors

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Speaker 1: half court offense, not completely erase, but in this playoff setting,

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Speaker 1: he's done a ton of damage to the Warriors half

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Speaker 1: court offense. Right, But the Lakers have one of the

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Speaker 1: worst transition defenses in the league, if I believe they

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Speaker 1: were like twenty ninth or something. As you're off to

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Speaker 1: look it up and I'll bring it up next time

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Speaker 1: we talk about it. But that means that the Warriors

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Speaker 1: have an infinitely higher chance of scoring against the Lakers

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Speaker 1: when they get out in transition versus when they're attacking

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Speaker 1: their set defense in the half court. So if the

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Speaker 1: Lakers can get to the foul line thirty times in

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Speaker 1: a game, and I think they were almost forty times

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Speaker 1: in Game three, if they get to the foul line

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Speaker 1: a ton. Every single time they do that, they get

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Speaker 1: to set their defense, whereas if they don't send them

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Speaker 1: to the foul line, they can push on every single

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Speaker 1: miss and even a made shot. While it is easier

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Speaker 1: to set your defense in a made shot situation, it

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Speaker 1: is harder to set your defense in a maide shot

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Speaker 1: situation than a made free throw situation, because in the

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Speaker 1: free throw situation, I've already got three defenders back. They're

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Speaker 1: already back. The other two guys you know, they're usually

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Speaker 1: your guard. They're usually put guards in there so they

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Speaker 1: can pick up the ball handler right after the inbound

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Speaker 1: the ball, like your defense is already set. But the Warriors,

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Speaker 1: if they stay out of foul trouble, can push on

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Speaker 1: misses and push on makes and have a much higher

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Speaker 1: chance of catching the Lakers before Anthony Davis is prepared

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Speaker 1: to blow up everything they do offensively. So when I

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Speaker 1: say who will play with more force is the deciding

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Speaker 1: factor in the series, it's because whoever plays with more

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Speaker 1: force will get a better whistle, and whoever gets a

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Speaker 1: better whistle will be able to set their defense better

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Speaker 1: and that will end up winning the game. So more

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Speaker 1: heading into Game four tonight, I expect this game to

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Speaker 1: be very close because I expect the Warriors to play

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Speaker 1: with a lot more force than they did in Game three,

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Speaker 1: and I expect the Lakers to play with a little

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Speaker 1: bit less. I expect it to be close, and it's

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Speaker 1: gonna come down to at the end of the game

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Speaker 1: Steph Curry trying to create offense against this Laker defense

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Speaker 1: and how many stops the Lakers can get to get

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Speaker 1: out to get out in transition. As of right now,

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Speaker 1: per my prediction before the series of Lakers and six,

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Speaker 1: I predict the Lakers will win a tight, close game tonight,

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Speaker 1: then go on the road to Golden Satan Game five

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Speaker 1: and lose before they close out the series in game six.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's move on to Sun's Nuggets Number two.

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Speaker 1: Can Phoenix bring their pull up jump shooting on the road?

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Speaker 1: So what did I say before the series? I said

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Speaker 1: that this entire series was gonna come down to Kevin

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Speaker 1: Durant and Devin Booker and Chris Paul though he ended

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Speaker 1: up not playing, but their ability to knock down pull

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Speaker 1: up jump shots off the dribble. Right, Kevin Durant doesn't

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Speaker 1: get to the rim very much, although he's done a

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Speaker 1: much better job in the last two games of attacking

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Speaker 1: the rim with as much physicality as he can get

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Speaker 1: into the foul line, generating offense there, But both him

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Speaker 1: and Devin Booker they're a little thins. So like when

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Speaker 1: Denver actually has the paint pack, there's not a whole

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Speaker 1: lot they can do to get to the rim or

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Speaker 1: force their way for easy shots close to the paint

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Speaker 1: the way that Jokic can do on the other end, right, So,

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Speaker 1: so much of what they do offensively comes down to

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Speaker 1: can they hit these tough, contested pull up jump shots

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Speaker 1: and hit enough of them to draw enough attention so

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Speaker 1: that you open up opportunities for your teammates on the

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Speaker 1: other side of the floor. And in the two losses

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Speaker 1: in Denver, they he got a forty one point three

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Speaker 1: percent effective field goal percentage on pull up jumpers, not

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Speaker 1: very good. They averaged just twenty nine points per game

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Speaker 1: on pull up jumpers in those first two games. Then

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Speaker 1: they come to Phoenix and they shot fifty nine percent

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Speaker 1: effective field goal percentage on pull up jumpers at home,

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Speaker 1: averaging forty four points per game, so an eighteen percent

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Speaker 1: improvement in effective efficiency and a fifteen point per game

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Speaker 1: uh improvement in total volume. So just in the they

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Speaker 1: went two to zero in those games that they shot well,

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Speaker 1: and they went zero to two in those games that

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Speaker 1: they didn't. So, just like we predicted before the series,

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Speaker 1: pull up jump shooting for the Suns has been the

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Speaker 1: determining factor in this series so far. Now on an

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Speaker 1: adjustment level, I thought this was really smart for Mani Williams.

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Speaker 1: He stopped going to Tory Craig, and he stopped going

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Speaker 1: to Josha Kog and he went heavy on his players

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Speaker 1: that can shoot. Guys like Terrence Ross, guys like TJ. Warren,

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Speaker 1: Guys like Landry Shammon. Right, Landry sha It was the

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Speaker 1: beneficiary of a lot of those double team kickout threes

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Speaker 1: in the week's side corner in game four. You know

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Speaker 1: KD post up draw that double team swing swing swing

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Speaker 1: Landra Shamitt's wide open. You know, Devin Booker comes off

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Speaker 1: of pick and roll drags both players swing swing, swinging,

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Speaker 1: Landri shammittt wide open three Right. There was even a

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Speaker 1: really nice counter from Devin Booker that I liked at

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Speaker 1: the end of Game four where Lander Shamott was open

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Speaker 1: on the weak side, but Deandreyton just a deep sealed

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Speaker 1: on Michael Porter Junior underneath the basket. Devin Booker made

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Speaker 1: a really nice feed to Deandreton under the basket and

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Speaker 1: made a little hook shot in the lane. Again, that's

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Speaker 1: the dynamic. They need to make enough shots that the

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Speaker 1: Nuggets sell the farm to stop them so that they

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Speaker 1: can get all these wide open shots on the weak side.

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Speaker 1: If Devin Booker and KD don't make those shots, if

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Speaker 1: they shoot forty one percent effective field goal percentage on

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Speaker 1: pull up jump shots, the Nuggets are gonna be much

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Speaker 1: more willing to let KCP, Bruce Brown, Aaron Gordon, those

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Speaker 1: guys take those defensive assignments more on an island because

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Speaker 1: the efficiency isn't quite there for Booker and KD. Then

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Speaker 1: you can stay home off the ball at least to

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Speaker 1: a better extent and limit some of those off ball shots.

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Speaker 1: So everything comes down to those pull up jump shots.

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Speaker 1: They have to make them. They have to make enough

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Speaker 1: of them to draw the attention. Then they can take

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Speaker 1: advantage of all the offensive personnel that they have on

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Speaker 1: the floor. And then on the other end of the floor.

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Speaker 1: You know that's been what's nice is they struggle to

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Speaker 1: contain this Jokic Murray attack. But they were struggling to

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Speaker 1: contain it even with Tory Craig in Joshua Kogi. But

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Speaker 1: at least at this point, they're giving themselves a chance

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Speaker 1: to outscore Denver, which they've now managed to do twice

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Speaker 1: in the series. All right, number three Celtics sixers. I

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Speaker 1: think that the Celtics have to start devoting extra attention

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Speaker 1: to James Harden the way they did to Joel Embi.

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Speaker 1: Now this is kind of crosswise to the way you

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Speaker 1: used to guard James Harden. Like I've always said over

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Speaker 1: the last couple of years, like hey make James Harden

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Speaker 1: a score and send throw the kitchen sink at Joel

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Speaker 1: and b And the reason why I believed that was

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Speaker 1: because James Harden typically over the course of his career

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Speaker 1: in series fades late in the series as teams start

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Speaker 1: to figure out his ISO moves. But credit to James Harden,

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Speaker 1: he has even in this environment where Boston is forcing

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Speaker 1: him to play to his weaknesses, he has been able

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Speaker 1: to counter that and have success playing to his weaknesses.

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Speaker 1: James Harden's typical weakness is he can't score in the

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Speaker 1: mid range and he can't go right, and the only

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Speaker 1: way he goes right is for that step back three right,

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Speaker 1: And so a lot of times James Harden will play

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Speaker 1: into that by settling for really tough step back threes

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Speaker 1: that he doesn't make as much at the end of series,

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Speaker 1: or driving into too much contact at the paint and

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Speaker 1: not being able to finish and not being able to

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Speaker 1: get to the foul line as the whistle gets tighter

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Speaker 1: in the playoffs. That's what used to be the case.

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Speaker 1: James Harden has proven in this series that is no

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Speaker 1: longer the case. He is getting stronger. He was the

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Speaker 1: best player for the Sixers last night. He saved them

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Speaker 1: while Joel Embiid was fading on nder, the individual defense

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Speaker 1: of Al Horford down the stretch of that game. And

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Speaker 1: what was so interesting to me about it is he

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Speaker 1: did it all in the mid range, driving to the right,

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Speaker 1: so Boston forced him to what he's uncomfortable doing, and

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Speaker 1: he succeeded doing that. There was a late play, late

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Speaker 1: clock situation isolation on Jason Tatum. Jason Tatum cuts off

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Speaker 1: his left hand, he gets back to his right, bumps

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Speaker 1: him hard with his shoulder and makes a floater in

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Speaker 1: the lane. Then he gets JACLEB. Brown in a late

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Speaker 1: clock rescue possession situation, same thing, drives left, gets cut off,

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Speaker 1: gets back to his right hand hard step back jumper,

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Speaker 1: mid range jump shot, and then the final possession that

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Speaker 1: tied it to send it to ot. I want to

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Speaker 1: say it was like one to five, one or three

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Speaker 1: at this point. He gets the ball in bounds, catches

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Speaker 1: al Horford on a switch. It drives hard to the left.

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Speaker 1: Al Horford, just like every Celtics defenders done in the

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Speaker 1: entire series, cuts him off. James Harden cuts back to

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Speaker 1: his right, gets into the lane and makes the floater

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Speaker 1: that ties the game. James Harden has proven that he

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Speaker 1: has improved his weaknesses enough to be a dominant playoff

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Speaker 1: player in the mid to late portions of series in

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Speaker 1: a way that he didn't used to be earlier in

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Speaker 1: his career. Credit to James Harden. But Boston has to

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Speaker 1: do something about it. So tactically, down the stretch of

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Speaker 1: that game, Philly had PJ. Tucker on the floor and

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Speaker 1: they had Marcus Smart on PJ. Tucker. Now, in those

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Speaker 1: last two shots, the Jalen Brown step back, the stepback

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Speaker 1: over Jalen Brown and the floater on Al Horford Tatum one.

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Speaker 1: They had four shooters on the floor, so I'm not

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Speaker 1: sure what you can do there other than concede a

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Speaker 1: three point shot to somebody. But when PJ. Tucker was

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Speaker 1: on the floor for those last two shots, Marcus Smart

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Speaker 1: offered very late help. He's guarding PJ. Tucker sitting in

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Speaker 1: the lane as as James Harden is already getting downhill

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Speaker 1: and already shed Jalen Brown. Then Marcus Smart comes up

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Speaker 1: and offers it a helpless contest on that little jump shot

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Speaker 1: in the lane. On the Al Horford shot, same thing,

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Speaker 1: just way too late to get involved in the play.

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Speaker 1: He was guarding PJ. Tucker in the corner on this one,

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Speaker 1: came sprinting in at the end and offered like a

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Speaker 1: kind of a meaningless contest after James Harden had already

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Speaker 1: got to the peak of his release. In this situation,

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Speaker 1: you have to do what you would do to Joel Embiid.

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Speaker 1: What happened at the end of the game when Joel

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Speaker 1: Embiid had a hard drive on Al Horford at the

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Speaker 1: end of ot What did the Celtics do Jaylen Brown

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Speaker 1: on James Harden abandoned James Harden to attack. Joel Embiid

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Speaker 1: left James Harden of all people wide open, and he

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Speaker 1: made the three that ended up being the eventual game winner.

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Speaker 1: You have the ability to do that with Marcus Smart

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Speaker 1: and yeah, PJ. Tucker is gonna have a free run

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Speaker 1: to an offensive rebound or something along those lines, but

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Speaker 1: you have the size in athleticism to gang a rebound

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Speaker 1: around him, especially with Horford under the rim. So when

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Speaker 1: James Harden is going to he's ISOs at the end

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Speaker 1: of the game and PJ. Tucker is on the floor,

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Speaker 1: I think they need to sell out off of off

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Speaker 1: of PJ Tucker with Marcus Smart to get the ball

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Speaker 1: out of James Harden's hands. He's cooking everybody. He cooked

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Speaker 1: your two best perimeter defenders and Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum.

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Speaker 1: He was victimizing Malcolm Brogden down the end of that game.

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Speaker 1: You need to do something to get the ball out

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Speaker 1: of James Harden's hands. He has now torched you in

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Speaker 1: live ball, dribble isolations, situations above the break in two

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Speaker 1: games in the series, and you lost both of them.

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Speaker 1: He's proven he can beat you when he when you

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Speaker 1: funnel him to his weaknesses. Got to get the ball

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Speaker 1: out of his hands. All right. My three points were

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Speaker 1: brought to you by Chase Freedom Unlimited. Earn five percent

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Speaker 1: on travel purchased or Chase three percent on dining including takeout,

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Speaker 1: three percent at drug stores, and one point five percent

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Speaker 1: on everything else. How do you cash back? All right, guys,

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Speaker 1: we will be back later tonight after the final buzzer

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Speaker 1: of Warriors Lakers. As always, I appreciate you guys a

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Speaker 1: couple more weeks on this grind before we get to

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Speaker 1: the NBA Finals. It will be a little different as

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Speaker 1: we go every third night, but we'll have stuff during

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Speaker 1: the day as well. I appreciate you guys rocking with me,

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Speaker 1: and I'll see you later tonight. The volume