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Speaker 1: net in West Virginia. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight,
Speaker 1: presented by Vanduel here at the Volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody.
Speaker 1: I hope all of you guys are having a great week.
Speaker 1: We have a jam pack show today. We're gonna be
Speaker 1: hitting King's Sons, Clippers, Warriors, and game from Monday night
Speaker 1: that we didn't hit, the Minnesota Timberwolves getting a big
Speaker 1: win on the road over the Dallas Mavericks. Also, in
Speaker 1: case you missed it, last night, I went on with
Speaker 1: the great Colin Coward and we hit a bunch of
Speaker 1: big picture topics around the NBA. You can find that
Speaker 1: on my podcast feed, his podcast feed, as well as
Speaker 1: on the Volumes YouTube channel. You guys know the drill
Speaker 1: before we get started. Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel
Speaker 1: so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow
Speaker 1: me on Twitter at underscore Jason lt so you guys
Speaker 1: don't miss any show announcements, And last but not least
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, you guys miss one of these videos
Speaker 1: and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish.
Speaker 1: Remember you can find them wherever you get your podcasts
Speaker 1: Under Hoops Tonight. And lastly, before we talk about some
Speaker 1: basketball I've been, I always go through the YouTube comments
Speaker 1: because that's a good place for you guys to give
Speaker 1: feedback for the show as well as to offer your
Speaker 1: guys basketball takes, which I often learned things from. And
Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of feedback from you guys asking
Speaker 1: us to cover other teams other than the Lakers in
Speaker 1: the Warriors. So first of all, we do. They're just
Speaker 1: typically in the back half of the show. But I
Speaker 1: wanted to take this example just kind of explain the format.
Speaker 1: So I've been out of town a lot the last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks on ski trips, and so when I'm
Speaker 1: on vacation, I'm not doing game breakdowns. I'm only working
Speaker 1: when we have like some sort of major basketball event
Speaker 1: like Kyrie Irving demanding a trade or Kyrie Irving actually
Speaker 1: getting traded. But I'm in town now. I have one
Speaker 1: other ski trip in mid April, but other than that,
Speaker 1: I'm in town. Basically the rest of the season, so
Speaker 1: we're gonna have a much more normal cadence. Also, we
Speaker 1: just had the trade deadline, so obviously we're gonna be
Speaker 1: targeting the biggest trades of the deadline, and the biggest
Speaker 1: trades of the deadline were what the Suns did, but
Speaker 1: also what happened with the Warriors and the Gary Payton
Speaker 1: scandal with the Portland Trailblazers in the Los Angeles Lakers
Speaker 1: turning over their entire and their entire team, so obviously
Speaker 1: that's going to affect things. And we're also heading into
Speaker 1: the All Star break right now, so like I've got
Speaker 1: this show, I've got one more show tomorrow, We're gonna
Speaker 1: be breaking down a bunch of games from Wednesday night,
Speaker 1: but then we don't have any basketball for a little
Speaker 1: over a week. So it's a little bit of a
Speaker 1: weird stretch, but our normal cadence, you know, on every
Speaker 1: show we're breaking down four or five games, and yes,
Speaker 1: I have to hit the Lakers and the Warriors. There
Speaker 1: are biggest fan bases. This is we've got bills to pay,
Speaker 1: and obviously that's the best way for us to grow
Speaker 1: the show. We're going to continue to hit those teams
Speaker 1: but we're also going to hit all of the other
Speaker 1: playoff teams around the league, and our YouTube team works
Speaker 1: really hard to parse things out and to put in chapters.
Speaker 1: So if you're sick of hearing Lakers and more your stuff,
Speaker 1: just skip those chapters and you can get to the
Speaker 1: other teams. And most importantly, during the playoffs, we will
Speaker 1: literally be covering every single game from every single team
Speaker 1: throughout the entire playoff runs. So I do appreciate the feedback,
Speaker 1: and I understand where you guys are coming from. I
Speaker 1: just wanted to clarify that stuff just so you guys
Speaker 1: know moving forward, UM, how to best get to the
Speaker 1: content that you guys want to see. All right, So
Speaker 1: let's talk some basketball today. We're starting with King's Sons.
Speaker 1: So the Sons won one twenty to one on nine uh,
Speaker 1: Devin Booker and Down Drayton combined for sixty one points.
Speaker 1: They really took control of this game in the third
Speaker 1: or Sacramento hung tough for a half or so. Chris
Speaker 1: Paul and Devin Booker were both awesome in the third quarter.
Speaker 1: Chris Paul had five assists, Devin Booker had ten points,
Speaker 1: and what I thought was one of the big swing
Speaker 1: factors in the third quarter. A third quarter of this
Speaker 1: game was josh a cog in his on ball defense
Speaker 1: on Deer and Fox did a really nice job containing
Speaker 1: him with physicality, so Dear and Fox couldn't turn the corner,
Speaker 1: which turned him into a jump shooter in that quarter,
Speaker 1: and he contested those jump shots really well and he
Speaker 1: missed most of them, which was a big part of
Speaker 1: how Phoenix got going defensively. You know, when I was
Speaker 1: on with Colin Coward last night, I talked about how
Speaker 1: of all the serious playoff teams, Phoenix probably has the
Speaker 1: worst point of attack defense. Now, they have every other
Speaker 1: box checked extremely well, except for maybe some forward physicality stuff,
Speaker 1: but they they don't defend on the ball very well.
Speaker 1: It's just a matter of personnel. And so when we're
Speaker 1: looking at their lineups, especially when you're looking at their
Speaker 1: core lineup of Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Katie and Andreyton
Speaker 1: Joshua coach, he makes a lot of sense to me
Speaker 1: in that fifth spot essentially as your lead point of
Speaker 1: attack defender. Point of attack defense is super important and
Speaker 1: it's something that coaches play a pay a ton of
Speaker 1: attention to and the main reason why is whoever that
Speaker 1: team's primary ball handler is, whoever the opponent's primary ball handler,
Speaker 1: the guy who's gonna run the most pick and rolls,
Speaker 1: he's arguably the most important piece to that team's offense
Speaker 1: over the course of that night. The reason why is
Speaker 1: if he can consistently warp the defense by getting downhill
Speaker 1: or pulling guys out with this pull up jump shooting,
Speaker 1: it puts your defense in rotation the entire night, which
Speaker 1: makes it a lot a lot easier for the other
Speaker 1: four offensive players on the floor. And it's an extremely
Speaker 1: difficult job, and so you don't want to ask your
Speaker 1: lead ball handlers on your team to take that job.
Speaker 1: You would prefer to have somebody that's in a smaller
Speaker 1: role offensively that can devote their resources to containing the
Speaker 1: basketball on the defensive end of the floor. Now I
Speaker 1: expect them to go with Tory Craig. Uh. It's just
Speaker 1: been the guy that they've gone to in that spot
Speaker 1: for the most part of the season, and he does
Speaker 1: a lot of things for them, uh as a spot
Speaker 1: up player and also crashing the offensive glass, but not
Speaker 1: as good of a point of attack defender as josh
Speaker 1: A cog So I'd be really interested to see if,
Speaker 1: even if they don't start with him, if they end
Speaker 1: up going with him in their crunch time lineups as
Speaker 1: the guy that they put on the basketball. Um. The
Speaker 1: other thing that really stood out to me in this
Speaker 1: game is just in terms of the energy of the team.
Speaker 1: They look reinvigorated by the Kevin Durant trade. Both Devin
Speaker 1: Booker and Chris Paul looked like they had a newfound energy.
Speaker 1: Chris Paul in particular, was playing with a ton of
Speaker 1: energy and when when that that that just like, especially
Speaker 1: in the middle of the slogs of the NBA season,
Speaker 1: that sort of thing can really help you lead to wins.
Speaker 1: And even DeAndre Ayton is playing some of his best
Speaker 1: basketball this season right now. He's averaging twenty four points
Speaker 1: and eight rebounds with two blocks per game over the
Speaker 1: course of his last two games. He was really really
Speaker 1: good over his last three games, I should say, Um,
Speaker 1: he's been really really good in the last two against
Speaker 1: Indiana and Sacramento, and just watching them last night, I
Speaker 1: continue to be super intrigued by the potential, the basketball
Speaker 1: potential of the Kevin Durant fit. In that third quarter
Speaker 1: against uh in that third quarter against Sacramento, Phoenix was
Speaker 1: running a ton of cleared side pick and roll, so
Speaker 1: that means they get the shooter out of the strong
Speaker 1: side corner and they'll have Chris Paul start lower, usually
Speaker 1: down like almost by the free throw line extended, and
Speaker 1: then they'll have eighton comes set the screen so that
Speaker 1: if Aton does roll to the rim or they ice
Speaker 1: the coverage and forced Chris Paul towards the baseline, he's
Speaker 1: got more room to operate there. And Uh, Sacramento was
Speaker 1: having a lot of trouble containing Chris Paul and Eton
Speaker 1: in that action, and so they started bringing a third
Speaker 1: defender over. They're essentially using what's called a catch hedge
Speaker 1: on Chris Paul as he was coming off the ball screen.
Speaker 1: What that means is the big is not trapping, he's
Speaker 1: not showing, but he's ignoring the rollman to come high
Speaker 1: enough that he he's essentially a soft double team on
Speaker 1: the ball while whoever's guarding Chris Paul is chasing over
Speaker 1: the top. Then they bring that third defender over to
Speaker 1: tag the rollman, and as a result, that weak side
Speaker 1: a kick pass to Tory Craig was wide open. The
Speaker 1: entire third quarter. And so the way I look at
Speaker 1: it is if you it kind of triggers a four
Speaker 1: on three, right, Like, let's say k D's out there, Uh,
Speaker 1: they'll probably in that case ignore Tory craig or or
Speaker 1: josh A Cojy, whoever that fifth guy is. But as
Speaker 1: soon as that kick passes made, you know that whoever
Speaker 1: that fifth guy is has an opportunity to quickly start
Speaker 1: a four on three, either by doing a quick, drible
Speaker 1: handoff to whoever else is on that wing, or by
Speaker 1: driving the clothes out and making another kick out. I
Speaker 1: get super excited about those four on three situations with
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant in the mix, because now if Chris Paul
Speaker 1: and DeAndre Ayton are running that action and it gets
Speaker 1: to that kick out, the guys running that four on
Speaker 1: three are literally, uh Kevin Durant with um Devin Booker
Speaker 1: and josh A Cogi with DeAndre Ayton pinned on a
Speaker 1: smaller defender under the baskets, They're gonna be able to
Speaker 1: get a lot of really good stuff about out of that.
Speaker 1: And then I'm also excited to see Kevin Durayant actually
Speaker 1: have the ball in his hands starting these pick and
Speaker 1: rolls with that same dynamic with Chris Paul and Devin
Speaker 1: Booker on the back end. We're not gonna have to
Speaker 1: wait much longer to see it, because the Suns have
Speaker 1: one more matchup with the Clippers on Thursday before we
Speaker 1: get into the All Star break, and Kevin Durant is
Speaker 1: reportedly going to return at that point. All right, moving
Speaker 1: on to Warriors Clippers, this is a nice win for
Speaker 1: the Clippers over an undermanned Warriors team. Staff and Andrew
Speaker 1: Wiggins both took uh, we're both out. Andrew Wiggins took
Speaker 1: the night off for personal reasons, and obviously Steff is
Speaker 1: still rehabing the knee injury. But that's arguably there two
Speaker 1: best players, and the core Warriors guys actually hung really
Speaker 1: tough in this game. But you gotta you got to
Speaker 1: see a great example of the gap in bench talent
Speaker 1: between these two teams. So the Warriors ended up taking
Speaker 1: a brief lead in the third quarter after Steff or
Speaker 1: excuse me, after Clay Thompson and Jordan Pool caught a heater.
Speaker 1: Clay had a really nice is so one like fade
Speaker 1: away against Paul George at the free throw line. Then
Speaker 1: Jordan Pool got down on hill and drew a foul
Speaker 1: drive into the rim um. Then Jordan Pool hit back
Speaker 1: to back threes, and then Clay Thompson hit a transition
Speaker 1: three he got a lucky balance off of the right wing.
Speaker 1: Suddenly the Warriors had a lead. But then from there,
Speaker 1: both teams went to their bench and these were literally
Speaker 1: the lineup. So the Clippers were going with Bones Island,
Speaker 1: Norman Powell, Kawhi, Leonard, Marcus Morris, and Mason Plumlely, and
Speaker 1: the Warriors went with Ty Jerome, Anthony Lamb, Moses Moody,
Speaker 1: Jonathan Cominga and Jamichael Green, three of those guys you'd
Speaker 1: hope to not have in your playoff rotation. And you know,
Speaker 1: Jonathan Cominga is going to be more of a matchup
Speaker 1: dependent guy when they get to the postseason, right, So
Speaker 1: just from a personnel standpoint, they were completely overmatched. That
Speaker 1: group did okay in the first half, really struggled in
Speaker 1: the third quarter, and next thing you know, early fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: they're already down eighteen points in the game was over. Now,
Speaker 1: part of this is a regular season problem, Like the
Speaker 1: Clippers have always had a ton of depth, and that's
Speaker 1: the kind of thing that's bought them the margin for
Speaker 1: error to be able to rest Kawhi Leonard and to
Speaker 1: rest Paul George when the dealing with nagging injuries. But
Speaker 1: you know, uh, during those regular season stretches that depth
Speaker 1: can help. But then you get to the postseason and
Speaker 1: the dynamic changes. Right like, it's Steph Curry and Andrew
Speaker 1: Wiggins are available, and everybody in the core Warriors groups
Speaker 1: is playing thirty six plus minutes. There's gonna be a
Speaker 1: lot more overlap with the bench groups. You know, Ty
Speaker 1: Jerome is not gonna play. You know, Anthony Lamb and
Speaker 1: Jonathan Cominga might play based on you know what the
Speaker 1: matchup is and which guy Steve Kerr trust. But um,
Speaker 1: you know, Ty Jerome is not gonna play. Gary Payton
Speaker 1: is gonna be getting in there for a bunch of
Speaker 1: those minutes. So then all of a sudden it works out. Okay,
Speaker 1: But what you see is that in mid February, when
Speaker 1: guys are out of the lineup for injuries and for
Speaker 1: personal reasons, that depth is gonna be a problem. And
Speaker 1: the Clippers won a game off of that last night.
Speaker 1: So credits to the Clippers for building a roster that
Speaker 1: buys them a lot of margin for error during these
Speaker 1: stretches of the season. One last quick note on the
Speaker 1: Warriors before we move on. Uh, there was a quote
Speaker 1: from Draymond Green that was going around yesterday talking about defense,
Speaker 1: and he said, quote, it has to come from within.
Speaker 1: Defense is all about will a want to defend. Defense
Speaker 1: is not fun. You've just got to do it if
Speaker 1: you want to win, and we haven't and quote, So,
Speaker 1: first of all, he's absolutely right fundamentally about defense. The
Speaker 1: Warriors are actually my favorite example in this modern era
Speaker 1: of NBA history of the fact that defense is about
Speaker 1: will and about caring and wanting to do so. Just
Speaker 1: look at their core lineups, Like the Warriors have had
Speaker 1: outstanding you know, at defensive talents over the years, right,
Speaker 1: Like Andrea Guadala has been one of the best wing
Speaker 1: defenders in the league for a long time. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: Kevin Durayant obviously brought a huge element of of of
Speaker 1: physical tools to the defensive end of the floor. But
Speaker 1: the other core guys in that group there, they're really
Speaker 1: examples of not having those physical tools but becoming great
Speaker 1: defensive players by the strength of their will. Like Draymond
Speaker 1: Green is the best example of it like Draymond Green
Speaker 1: is my height. He's six ft six. Now, he does
Speaker 1: have a really good wing span and he's very strong,
Speaker 1: but he the the way that he impacts games defensively
Speaker 1: is up here. He's got an outstanding basketball like Q
Speaker 1: and his ability to sift out plays, but also he
Speaker 1: has poured his heart and soul into that side of
Speaker 1: the floor every single day and carved out not just
Speaker 1: a place in the league, but a place, you know,
Speaker 1: a place in the higher echelons of the league. And
Speaker 1: Draymond Green has made a second team All n b
Speaker 1: A in his career, and he's in my opinion, one
Speaker 1: of the top three defensive players in the league without
Speaker 1: being Rudy Gobert or Anthony Davis or bam at a
Speaker 1: bio guys that have significantly better physical tools at that position.
Speaker 1: Clay Thompson not the best athlete in the world. Decent size,
Speaker 1: six ft seven, He's got some tools, right, He's six
Speaker 1: ft seven, He's big and strong. You need a baseline
Speaker 1: of physical tools, like even Staff at six ft three.
Speaker 1: It's not like he's John Morant, you know, a hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy five pounds and just can get shoved around
Speaker 1: everywhere on the floor. They have a baseline of physical tools,
Speaker 1: but compared to other NBA athletes, they don't have that
Speaker 1: type of physicality. Clay is not as athletic as most
Speaker 1: six seven wings in the league, but he once again
Speaker 1: commitment to the details high basketball. I you putting in
Speaker 1: the effort in focus, sliding his feet really well, anticipating
Speaker 1: changes of direction and taking contact in the chest and
Speaker 1: contesting shots. Same thing with Steph and even with Kevon Looney,
Speaker 1: who compared to most centers in the NBA, isn't the
Speaker 1: best athlete or the biggest center that they have in
Speaker 1: the league. So the Warriors kind of represent that take
Speaker 1: that Draymond has, that that you know, defense is about
Speaker 1: heart and that defense is about uh commitment to those details.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of guys in the league to have
Speaker 1: similar physical tools that never panned out. How many times
Speaker 1: have we seen guys who tried to be Draymond or
Speaker 1: I should say gms who draft guys. Remember Guerresan, you
Speaker 1: boost a life from from the Celtics. They used to
Speaker 1: call him French Draymond. It's like, actually, it turns out
Speaker 1: that just because you're stocky in six six and and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, a decent athlete. That doesn't mean that you
Speaker 1: can suddenly be a great defensive player. You need to
Speaker 1: you need to be what Draymond is, which is an
Speaker 1: anomaly at that position. Um. But the reality is, and
Speaker 1: the reason why Draymond said this is a lot of
Speaker 1: that fire has been missing this season. Not to be clear,
Speaker 1: the starters have been outstanding, so we talked about this
Speaker 1: last night, but the best start, the best five man
Speaker 1: lineup in the league is still Kevon Looney, Draymond Green,
Speaker 1: Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins. That team, that
Speaker 1: group is outscoring teams by twenty two points per one
Speaker 1: hundred possessions. They've been really good defensively. They have a
Speaker 1: defensive rating of a hundred and six, which is really good.
Speaker 1: So that group has been doing fine, but every other
Speaker 1: line up that they have is struggling defensively, especially when
Speaker 1: Draymond is off the floor and Draymonds off the floor,
Speaker 1: they're giving up a hundred and twenty one points per
Speaker 1: one hund possessions. And that's a big part of why
Speaker 1: they're nineteen and defense through fifty eight games. Now, remember
Speaker 1: my rules, as it pertains to contenders if you don't
Speaker 1: have an overwhelming talent advantage, and if you don't have
Speaker 1: a you know, a significant injury that impacts your defense.
Speaker 1: So for instance, if like Draymond misses a bunch of time,
Speaker 1: or if Anthony Davis misses a bunch of time, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna hold your team to that defensive rating standard.
Speaker 1: But if unless unless you're missing a defensive player for
Speaker 1: a significant, significant chunk, or you're the Katie Staph Warriors
Speaker 1: or the shot Kobe Lakers, unless you're one of those
Speaker 1: types of teams, you have to be a top ten
Speaker 1: defense in the regular season by defensive rating to have
Speaker 1: a chance to contend for a title. Now, the Warriors
Speaker 1: have twenty four games left to demonstrate that they have
Speaker 1: that ceiling, and they need to shave about two points
Speaker 1: off their defensive rating to get into the top ten.
Speaker 1: What that means is they're going to need to defend
Speaker 1: at an extremely high level over the final stretch of
Speaker 1: the season to prove that they still have that gear
Speaker 1: that they can get to. Alright, moving on to Wolves
Speaker 1: maps before we get out of here today. So the Wolves,
Speaker 1: this was on Monday night. The I just covered a
Speaker 1: bunch of other games at night, so I didn't get
Speaker 1: around to this one, and at the time that I
Speaker 1: was prepping for the show, the Wolves were big and
Speaker 1: it was a blowout, so I wasn't gonna get into it.
Speaker 1: But the Wolves it up winning one and and the
Speaker 1: Mavericks actually had a chance to tie this tie this
Speaker 1: game with a three at the end, and Minnesota opted
Speaker 1: not to foul and just played straight up defense, and
Speaker 1: they played outstanding defense and actually forced to turn over
Speaker 1: and Dallas couldn't even get a shot up um. This
Speaker 1: was first of all, this was the first example of
Speaker 1: the MAVs really struggling with a big, physical team, which
Speaker 1: was something that I figured would be a problem for
Speaker 1: them immediately after the trade. You know, they they're hurt
Speaker 1: on the front line with Maxi Clei, but being out,
Speaker 1: they gave up their best three and d wing and
Speaker 1: you know, contested a rebound guy from the perimeter and
Speaker 1: in Dorian Phinney Smith, and you saw a lot of
Speaker 1: that kind of come home to russ last on Monday night.
Speaker 1: They got man handled on the glass, they got man
Speaker 1: handled in the paint. They could not guard Anthony Edwards
Speaker 1: at the point of attack when the Wolves went big
Speaker 1: with Rudy Gobert. They were plus seventeen in this game,
Speaker 1: so there were there were a lot of issues that
Speaker 1: they had there. But then what happened was is Kyrie
Speaker 1: Irving just went absolutely berserk in the fourth quarter, had
Speaker 1: twenty four points and got them back to within having
Speaker 1: a chance is to win. And then obviously the Wolves
Speaker 1: got the big stop. So there's two things that I
Speaker 1: want to hit on here versus Anthony Edwards. So before
Speaker 1: the season, in my player rankings, I had him at
Speaker 1: twenty one, the twenty first best player in the league. Now,
Speaker 1: that was higher than most folks, and there were a
Speaker 1: couple of people who disagreed because I had him ahead
Speaker 1: of some, you know, more established guys like Chris Middleton
Speaker 1: or Bradley Beale, things like that. Um, I think I
Speaker 1: had him ahead of Donovan Mitchell as well, But you know,
Speaker 1: I was super high on him after last year's plaoffs,
Speaker 1: Like I love the size that downhill, physical power going
Speaker 1: towards the rim, and when you mix that with the
Speaker 1: way that he was shooting his pull up jump shot
Speaker 1: at the end of the season last year, and his
Speaker 1: on ball defense, which we're gonna talk about here, in
Speaker 1: a minute, I get really excited about that. UM. And
Speaker 1: obviously Donovan Mitchell was coming off of a super disappointing
Speaker 1: playoff run. As you know, Bradley Be'll missed the playoffs,
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton was hurt. There's a lot of reasons why
Speaker 1: I had him up as high as I did, UM,
Speaker 1: But like I was just really bullish general on Anthony
Speaker 1: Edwards in his skill set, But then he got off
Speaker 1: to a rough start this year. And I don't want
Speaker 1: to put too much of the blame on him because
Speaker 1: it was a really clunky lineup, and I was critical
Speaker 1: of that Minnesota timber Wolves offseason from the start, but
Speaker 1: putting him alongside D'Angelo Russell and Carl Anthony Towns and
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert just was a really clunky fit. A lot
Speaker 1: of guys you want to have the ball, funky spacing.
Speaker 1: There were just a lot of reasons why that didn't
Speaker 1: work super well. UM. But in Anthony Edwards his last
Speaker 1: thirty one games, he's averaging twenty seven points, six rebounds,
Speaker 1: and five assists on fifty eight percent true shooting. That
Speaker 1: is like legit second tier, superstar level production. His pull
Speaker 1: up jump shots coming around two In his last ten games,
Speaker 1: he's shooting on nine pull up jump shots per game.
Speaker 1: But his defense is where I'm most excited. You know.
Speaker 1: One of the biggest things that excited me about Aunt
Speaker 1: towards and the last year is like he'd getting these
Speaker 1: on ball defense possessions, and he's so big and strong
Speaker 1: that when he would be a little bit handsy and physical,
Speaker 1: and he slides his feet so well that the refs
Speaker 1: would give him the benefit of the doubt on a
Speaker 1: lot of those plays, like guards would just be trapped
Speaker 1: in place and really struggled to get separation from him.
Speaker 1: And I'm that's where I start to think, like, man,
Speaker 1: like this guy has real two way potential, especially in
Speaker 1: a Western conference that has so many great guards. But
Speaker 1: you saw it on display at its absolute peak on
Speaker 1: Monday night against Kyrie Irving. So in the first eight
Speaker 1: and a half minutes of the fourth quarter, Kyrie is
Speaker 1: twenty one points. He was as hot as I've ever
Speaker 1: seen him, and then over the last three and a
Speaker 1: half minutes Anthony Edwards completely locked him down. Now, there
Speaker 1: was one weird play where Frank Nilikina missed the three
Speaker 1: and Josh Green got an offensive rebound and Anthony Edwards
Speaker 1: was leaking into the to try to get a rebound.
Speaker 1: As long rebound uh Josh Green shoveled it back to
Speaker 1: Kyrie Irving and he made a wide open three. But
Speaker 1: aside from that play, he literally could not even get
Speaker 1: separation from Anthony Edwards, and it basically like and it
Speaker 1: culminated with that final possession where Kyrie couldn't even get
Speaker 1: a shot off. But before that, there were a couple
Speaker 1: of possessions where Kyrie tried to get separation from and
Speaker 1: just couldn't get to the middle of the floor. Pump fakes,
Speaker 1: all this stuff and ants just got him completely swallowed
Speaker 1: up with his size and his strength in his physicality,
Speaker 1: and that allen ball defense helped Minnesota win a game
Speaker 1: that they probably lose otherwise with the way that Kyrie
Speaker 1: was playing, and we've seen him ride those hot streaks
Speaker 1: to making big shots down the stretch and beating teams.
Speaker 1: He's pump faking at ghosts, I said, goes. He was
Speaker 1: here in the footsteps of Anthony Edwards and pump baking
Speaker 1: at shots that he normally would take on that final possession,
Speaker 1: and that's a big part of why I'm so excited
Speaker 1: about Ant's ceiling and why I think he's gonna be
Speaker 1: a mega star in this league for a long time
Speaker 1: at some point in the near future. The last thing
Speaker 1: I want to talk about was the MAVs um defense
Speaker 1: is obviously in a big issue. Uh physical limitations will
Speaker 1: be a problem for this team throughout the rest of
Speaker 1: the season. They're gonna have to address that in the
Speaker 1: off season. But every time I've watched them play since
Speaker 1: the Kyrie trade, it's amazing how much of a breath
Speaker 1: of fresh air he is for that offense. Um. Luca
Speaker 1: plays a very slow style, and you need to play
Speaker 1: that style. For the record, that's how you win in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. The game slows down, you need half court surgeons.
Speaker 1: So I don't want to undercut what Luca is doing.
Speaker 1: That's an important part of their eventual playoffs ceiling. Um.
Speaker 1: But there is a lot of advantages that come with
Speaker 1: pushing the pace. First of all, it helps you get
Speaker 1: easier shots before the defense gets set. We talked about
Speaker 1: this all the time on the show. But it also
Speaker 1: gets the crowd going. It's a fun brand of basketball,
Speaker 1: and when that when the crowd starts to feel that
Speaker 1: push of that transition up and down style. It in
Speaker 1: turn reinvigorates the players because they're feeding off the crowd,
Speaker 1: and that breathes life into a basketball team. Like I
Speaker 1: think Kyrie single handedly gave them as a chance to
Speaker 1: win this game with the change of pace that he
Speaker 1: brought in that fourth quarter. Now, they're gonna need to
Speaker 1: figure some stuff out, especially with their give and take
Speaker 1: at the end of games. I didn't like that Luca
Speaker 1: took the game tying shot in their previous game against Sacramento.
Speaker 1: I thought Iyree had it going it should have been
Speaker 1: in his hands, and then there were some overpassing on
Speaker 1: that final possession. Uh. Luca also didn't do a very
Speaker 1: good job ceiling j Jadae McDaniels on that entry pass,
Speaker 1: which caused the whole play to break down from the
Speaker 1: start because Jade McDaniels got a deflection. Luca needs to
Speaker 1: seal him so that it's a lot easier for that
Speaker 1: past to come. Um. But they're gonna figure that stuff
Speaker 1: out and it's gonna be fine. And obviously, like I said,
Speaker 1: they've got a bolster of the front court. But I
Speaker 1: love the natural basketball fit and the give and take
Speaker 1: and the and the way that their differences complement each other,
Speaker 1: and I'm looking forward to watching them over a playoff run. Alright, guys,
Speaker 1: that is all I have for today. As always, I
Speaker 1: sincerely appreciate your support. We will be back tomorrow morning
Speaker 1: for one final show before the All Star Game, and
Speaker 1: that's gonna be breaking down Wednesday nights games. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure if we'll cover the All Star Game. It depends
Speaker 1: if it's interesting the All Star Games a total coin flip.
Speaker 1: It's either gonna be close and the e l am
Speaker 1: ending is great and it'll be super interesting, in which
Speaker 1: case we'll do a show. If not, then we'll probably
Speaker 1: take the rest of the weekend off next week before
Speaker 1: we get two games. Returning on Thursday, Carson and myself
Speaker 1: will be linking up to do uh an NBA Draft preview,
Speaker 1: going over the top prospects and this year's coming NBA Draft.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be doing a lot of film study over
Speaker 1: the course of this weekend on those players, prepping for that.
Speaker 1: I just think here at the All Star breaks a
Speaker 1: good chance, a good opportunity for us to dive into that.
Speaker 1: And we'll probably have one other video before Thursday where
Speaker 1: we just kind of do one last final kind of
Speaker 1: like zoom out look at all of our contender tears
Speaker 1: before we go into the stretch. Runt um. All right, thanks,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for supporting the show. Guys, Let's see tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Volume