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Speaker 1: slash Basketball terms. All right, welcome to Hoopsinaight here at

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Speaker 1: the volume, Happy Monday, everybody hopeful. If you guys had

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Speaker 1: an incredible weekend, we have like a ridiculously packed show today.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna be hitting on four games from last weekend,

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Speaker 1: the Lakers getting a roadwin over the Caves, the Philadelphia

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Speaker 1: seventy six Ers getting a roadwin over the Oklahoma City Thunder,

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Speaker 1: the Orlando Magic continuing their dominance with a win over

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Speaker 1: the Boss Celtics, and the last but out least, the

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Speaker 1: very interesting game between the Pelicans and the Clippers that

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Speaker 1: took place on Friday night. And then after that, we're

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Speaker 1: gonna every Monday from this point forward in the season,

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Speaker 1: we are going to do an edition of Power Rankings.

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Speaker 1: So we're gonna have this week's edition of Power Rankings

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Speaker 1: at the tail end of the show. You guys are

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Speaker 1: the joke for you get started. Subscribe to our brand

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Speaker 1: new YouTube channel would mean a lot to me if

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Speaker 1: you guys took a second to scroll down and hit

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

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Speaker 1: each your podcast under Hoops Tonight, follow me on Twitter

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Speaker 1: Underscore Jason lt I'm doing film sessions there every morning,

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Speaker 1: as well as posting show announcements. And then, last but

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Speaker 1: not least, we will continue our mail bag later this week,

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Speaker 1: not today, but we're gonna do plenty of mailbag questions

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Speaker 1: throughout the week, so keep dropping mailbag questions in the

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Speaker 1: YouTube comments. All right, let's talk some basketball. So starting

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Speaker 1: with Lakers Calves on the road in Cleveland. The Lakers

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Speaker 1: are going on a tough road trip here. They played

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Speaker 1: in Cleveland on Saturday night. They have the Sixers tonight,

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Speaker 1: a little bit of an easier game against the Pistons

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Speaker 1: coming up, and then they have to go on the

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Speaker 1: road to OKCE. So a big opportunity for us to

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Speaker 1: learn more about the Lakers. In the first game went

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Speaker 1: extremely well considering a lot of specific factors. Lebron played

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Speaker 1: one of his worst games of the season, particularly in

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Speaker 1: the second half, made a lot of bad decisions on

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Speaker 1: offense and missed a lot of shots, and yet they

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Speaker 1: still were able to overcome that and win, thanks in

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Speaker 1: large part to Anthony Davis got back on track in

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Speaker 1: a big way offensively. You know, Anthony Davis specifically in

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Speaker 1: the post this year is flashing a lot of stuff

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Speaker 1: that is more similar to what he was in the

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty season when the Lakers won the championship. It's

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Speaker 1: a shot creation piece that's so important with Anthony Davis

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Speaker 1: for him to be as good as his peers at

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Speaker 1: the top of the league, because we talk a lot

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Speaker 1: about the offensive fluctuations, but they don't properly factor in

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Speaker 1: his defensive consistency. Because even a bad defensive game from

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis is still very good compared to the standard

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Speaker 1: of a typical NBA drop coverage big right, and so

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Speaker 1: he's kind of oscillating between good and great on that end.

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Speaker 1: So even though we're talking about some inconsistencies on offensive

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Speaker 1: end of the floor, he still has been consistently dominant

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Speaker 1: on the other end of the floor. However, there's a

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Speaker 1: difference between what the guys at the very top of

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Speaker 1: the league can do and what AD does, and that

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Speaker 1: offensive consistency piece is the one thing that's really missing

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Speaker 1: from him being with those guys. The AD that we

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Speaker 1: knew in the bubble, the AD that led helped lead

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Speaker 1: the Lakers to a championship. That guy is a bona

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Speaker 1: fide top tier superstar. He has not been that consistently

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Speaker 1: since then. And one of the most important parts to that,

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Speaker 1: in my opinion, is that half court shot creation piece.

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Speaker 1: And specifically, if you guys remember in the Nuggets series

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Speaker 1: last year, Jokic put A basically outclassed him as a

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Speaker 1: shot maker in the sense that he could make all

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Speaker 1: of his little floaters and push shots and hook shots

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Speaker 1: and jump shots. Right now, Anthony Davis has more or

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Speaker 1: less abandoned his jump shot, but there are a couple

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Speaker 1: of specific things that are coming around. He did hit

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Speaker 1: a short pocket pass jump shot in the fourth quarter

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Speaker 1: against the Cavs, the same shot that he missed a

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Speaker 1: couple times against Dallas. That's a good sign. He had

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Speaker 1: three hook shots that he made in the second half

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Speaker 1: of this game, including a huge lefty hook drop stepping

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Speaker 1: towards the baseline over the top of Jared Allen. He

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Speaker 1: is now twenty for thirty on the season on hook shots.

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Speaker 1: That's sixty seven percent. That's Jokic territory. That's a big

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Speaker 1: deal because he has such a high release point. And

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Speaker 1: I clipped all three of his hooks and post him

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Speaker 1: in the in the film thread this morning, and you

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Speaker 1: could see the release point. It's super high. It is.

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Speaker 1: It's different than Yoka. Jokic is more powerful, but with

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Speaker 1: AD's release point, he's capable of getting to that shot

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Speaker 1: all the time. And if he can hit it at

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Speaker 1: that rate, that's a big deal. And Anthony Davis post

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Speaker 1: up this year, including passes, has been worth one point

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Speaker 1: one seven points per possession. That is by far his

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Speaker 1: best in a Lakers jersey. He's never crested one point

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Speaker 1: one in his time wearing a Laker jersey. Now, again,

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Speaker 1: we're still in this first fourth of the season, right,

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Speaker 1: But so far in the early going in the season

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Speaker 1: and him being able to knock down that hook shot,

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Speaker 1: he's been really good at making skip passes over double teams.

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Speaker 1: Did it multiple times against the Cavs on Saturday Night.

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Speaker 1: It's been something he's been good with all season that

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Speaker 1: in particular, has allowed Anthony Davis to be a much

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Speaker 1: more reliable post up weapon than he's been in years past.

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Speaker 1: In a Lakers jersey. Nine players in the league this

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Speaker 1: year have logged at least seventy five post ups. Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis is third on that list. Pascal Siakam is first.

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Speaker 1: Obviously the Raptors have been so bad we haven't had

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Speaker 1: too much time to talk about them. But he's having

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Speaker 1: a good season in the post. And then second is Jokich,

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Speaker 1: and then it's a D and then from there's a

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Speaker 1: massive dropoff in efficiency and beat his fourth in a

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Speaker 1: post up from him, including passes, has been worth just

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Speaker 1: one point zero three points per possession. So among the

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Speaker 1: high volume guys, there's like three guys ahead of the

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Speaker 1: rest of the league, and AD is in that group.

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Speaker 1: Why is that important? Why am I harping on that

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Speaker 1: specific point? Because that half court shot creation piece. I

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Speaker 1: took a look for you guys at three specific flaws

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Speaker 1: with this Lakers team that were problematic. One, they did

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Speaker 1: not have a backup center that they could play in

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Speaker 1: the playoffs. It was a huge problem, especially in the

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Speaker 1: lebron on Anthony Davis off minutes this year because of

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Speaker 1: the emergence of Christian Wood and Jackson Hayes being a

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Speaker 1: better backup center than anybody they had last year. Now,

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Speaker 1: the ady off Lebron on lineups have been good and

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Speaker 1: they have guys that can play in that spot. That's

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Speaker 1: a huge positive trend for the Lakers. Right. The second

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Speaker 1: piece was backcourt athleticism in point of attack defense, right,

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Speaker 1: which is all kind of part of the same thing. Right,

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Speaker 1: Obviously still a problem this year, but you know the

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Speaker 1: emergence of Max Christi, who was amazing in that Cavs game,

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Speaker 1: the emergence of Cam Reddish this year as a perimeter defender.

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Speaker 1: That's helped them within the concept of the regular season.

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Speaker 1: I still think they need to make a trade to

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Speaker 1: address that specific weakness. But if you guys remember the

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Speaker 1: third biggest weakness that I pointed to was there over

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Speaker 1: the top shot making, which is late game situations. What

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Speaker 1: happened to them every game against Denver, close game in

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Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, Yokichen Murray outshot them most game in

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Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, yo Kitchen Murray outshot Then it happened

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Speaker 1: again and again and again in that series, literally all

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Speaker 1: four times. And so what they've needed is Lebron to

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Speaker 1: be able to knock down jump shots and for Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis to be able to score in static half court

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Speaker 1: situations in the post eighties hook shot being as dialed

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Speaker 1: in as it is, and Lebron James jump shot being

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Speaker 1: as dialed in as it is. Even after last night,

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Speaker 1: he's still at right about one point one points per

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Speaker 1: jump shot. Those two trends are very positive trends for

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Speaker 1: this Lakers team. That's what makes me believe they've If

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Speaker 1: that trend continues through the season, that checks the over

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Speaker 1: top shot making piece. That's the type of shot making

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Speaker 1: they needed to win in twenty twenty, and that would

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Speaker 1: work again. The backup center piece is solidified. It's really

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Speaker 1: just that perimeter athleticism piece that they're going to have

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Speaker 1: to solidify now. Max Christy again is an example of

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Speaker 1: a regular season you know, solution for that problem is

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Speaker 1: individual defense, not just in this Donovan Mitchell game against Cleveland,

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Speaker 1: but also in the gaming inst Stallus. He had several

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Speaker 1: very good deal defensive possessions against Kyrie Irving, sliding his feet,

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Speaker 1: contesting shots, you know, just doing his job at the

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Speaker 1: point of attack to be disruptive. And I thought he

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Speaker 1: did an amazing job against Donovan Mitchell, a much better

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Speaker 1: job even than he did against Kyrie. It's the unique

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Speaker 1: combination of the lateral quickness to stay in front against

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Speaker 1: good athletes, top tier athletes, the strength to be able

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Speaker 1: to absorb contact in the chest when you do beat

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Speaker 1: players to his spot, and then third the length to

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Speaker 1: bother a pull up jump shot. There were two pull

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Speaker 1: up jump shots from Donovan Mitchell in the crunch time

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Speaker 1: portion of this game where he tried to drive by Max.

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Speaker 1: Max took contact in the chest, offered a late contest

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Speaker 1: and forced him into misses, which is the best you

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Speaker 1: can hope for against the best guards in the league.

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Speaker 1: And when you can disrupt their rhythm and take away

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Speaker 1: the easy stuff they get, you can get them to

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Speaker 1: miss a few pull up jump shots in a row,

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Speaker 1: and that can go a long way, right. I thought

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Speaker 1: a shot selection was really good in this game. Again,

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Speaker 1: offense is a huge part of that role as well.

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Speaker 1: He only took two of what I would consider to

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Speaker 1: be tough shots, and it was that step jump shot

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Speaker 1: over Donovan Mitchell, then the second step back jump shot

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Speaker 1: that he took. I want to say, I want to

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Speaker 1: say it was over Lavert. I can't remember exactly what was,

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Speaker 1: but it was the mid range one, and both of

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Speaker 1: them were clock running down situations. That's the thing. Take

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Speaker 1: your wide open catch and shoot threes, drive closeouts when

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Speaker 1: you can, and then if the ball ends up in

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Speaker 1: your hands with five seconds left on the shot clock

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Speaker 1: and there isn't time to get the ball somewhere else,

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Speaker 1: that's when you start practicing and demonstrating that you have

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Speaker 1: the ability to do additional stuff off the bounce. Early

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Speaker 1: in the season, I thought he was forcing things a

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Speaker 1: little bit on the offensive end of the floor, trying

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Speaker 1: to demonstrate what his work was this summer. And I'm

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Speaker 1: not debating whether or not that work was there, or

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Speaker 1: whether or not he's capable of that kind of stuff,

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Speaker 1: but it's better to ease into it through rescue possessions

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Speaker 1: and then slowly earning cachet with the staff and with

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Speaker 1: your teammates to be more aggressive from there, but really

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Speaker 1: encouraging game from Max Christy. And again, like it's one

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Speaker 1: of those things where I would tell you, like Lakers fans,

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Speaker 1: if Max Christi or Cam Reddish is starting for you

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Speaker 1: in the playoffs, I think that's a huge problem, not

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Speaker 1: because those guys aren't capable, but when you really put

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Speaker 1: together what you expect from a veteran player in a

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Speaker 1: big spot in a playoff series, and everything we know

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Speaker 1: about young players in the playoffs, I'd rather have both

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Speaker 1: of them coming off the bench in that type of role.

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Speaker 1: As someone who roots for the Lakers, That's just my

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Speaker 1: kind of take on the whole situation. So I want

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Speaker 1: to be careful about like promoting it as a postseason fix,

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Speaker 1: because I don't feel that way. But within the context

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Speaker 1: of the regular season, especially when Jared Vanderbilts out, especially

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Speaker 1: when Gave Vincent's out, having guys like Max Christy and

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Speaker 1: Camp Briddish being able to defend at the point point

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Speaker 1: of attack the way they do really helps you in

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Speaker 1: the dregs of the regular season. Lakers seven to two

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Speaker 1: in their last nine, fourth and defense over that span.

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Speaker 1: Fourth and rebounding over that span. That's a big deal

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Speaker 1: for how much they struggled on the glass early in

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Speaker 1: the season. And more importantly, they're starting to beat some

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Speaker 1: good teams. They've won three of their last five against

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Speaker 1: winning teams. Both of their losses were on the tail

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Speaker 1: ends of back to backs, and one of them was

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Speaker 1: the MAVs game where they had a two point lead

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Speaker 1: in the final minute, so kind of pointing positively for

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Speaker 1: the Lakers. Now, Jared Vanderbilt's coming back. Ry Hot Chimura

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Speaker 1: should be back before too long, Gave Vincent should be

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Speaker 1: back before too long. A lot of things pointing in

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Speaker 1: the right direction for the Lakers. On the Calves, I

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Speaker 1: wanted to hit two specific topics. One Mobiley in the

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Speaker 1: short role. He was awesome in the second half of

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Speaker 1: this game operating out of the short role, making that

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Speaker 1: lob pass to Jared Allen. The Lakers did to Mobili

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Speaker 1: what every team has done to the Calves since the

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Speaker 1: Knicks kind of demonstrated it as a strategy to beat

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Speaker 1: them in the playoffs, which is put your best rim

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Speaker 1: protector not on Mobiley guarding pick and roll, but put

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Speaker 1: him on Allen and basically have him split the difference

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Speaker 1: between the two and pray on Evan Mobley's inability to

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Speaker 1: make shots over the top. Evan Mobley's a good passer,

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Speaker 1: but if you bait him into shots, he can struggle there, right.

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Speaker 1: And one of the things he did really well in

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Speaker 1: this series at this game, after struggling in the Knicks series,

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Speaker 1: was getting the ad to kind of bite one way

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Speaker 1: or another and then making reads. There were three buckets

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Speaker 1: that he got that he directly generated on the short

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Speaker 1: role in the third and fourth quarters of this game.

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Speaker 1: One of like one of them was eighty steps up

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Speaker 1: lob pass to to Jared Allen for the dunk the

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Speaker 1: very next time they ran that action. And again, what

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Speaker 1: you're seeing is you're seeing like whoever the foreman is,

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Speaker 1: if it's Lebron or if it's you know, Jackson Hayes

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Speaker 1: or Jackson haz is functioning as the as the five

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Speaker 1: next to Adbad's in that dunker spot role. Right on

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Speaker 1: those possessions. What they're doing is they're sending the second

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Speaker 1: defender up and just banking on Ad getting a stop

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Speaker 1: in a one on two situation. And on the next one,

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Speaker 1: you know, because Evan Mobley had just thrown that lob

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Speaker 1: up to Jared Allen, AD kind of takes a step

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Speaker 1: back and that was what allowed Evan Mobley to attack

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Speaker 1: his chest and get that and one at the end

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Speaker 1: of the game that brought him back within one point.

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Speaker 1: I think that got it too, like one twelve, one eleven, right,

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Speaker 1: and then again in the final minute after Evan Mobley

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Speaker 1: had just scored on Ad By attacking his chest and

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Speaker 1: pump faking and getting the and one Ady stepped up

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Speaker 1: again and he was able to throw the lob pass

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Speaker 1: for the easy dunk to Jared Allen. You guys get

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Speaker 1: the drill. That's a specific dynamic that the Caves need

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Speaker 1: as many reps for Evan Mobly as possible, because that

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Speaker 1: specific dynamic, to me, matters just as much as the

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Speaker 1: spot up shooting from the three spot. Right. I mean, like,

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Speaker 1: don't forget last year the Calves still had the ability

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Speaker 1: to throw Carris Lavert at the three and run Garland

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Speaker 1: Mitchell Lavert with Allen and Mobley, and it still wasn't

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Speaker 1: enough to get them over the top against the Knicks.

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Speaker 1: It's not just about those three guys. It's about the

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Speaker 1: offensive dynamic between the two big guys. And then lastly,

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Speaker 1: Craig Porter Junior. I familiarized myself with this game for

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Speaker 1: the first time while I was out of town for

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Speaker 1: Thanksgiving on I think it was like Monday or two.

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Speaker 1: I think it was Tuesday night. They played the Sixers,

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Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, and beat them in Philly, and

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Speaker 1: that was my first time kind of watching Craig Porter Junior.

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Speaker 1: And then this was my second time in this Lakers game,

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Speaker 1: and he's been really really good to this in this

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Speaker 1: stretch here while they've been dealing with some injuries in

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Speaker 1: the backcourt. Sixty three pick and rolls so far that

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Speaker 1: Craig Porter Junior has run for the calves, leading to

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Speaker 1: eighty three points. That's one point three to two point possession,

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Speaker 1: which is insane. He's fourteen for twenty six from the

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Speaker 1: field when he personally shoots out of pick and roll.

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Speaker 1: He's ten for twenty one on pull up jump shots

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Speaker 1: so far this year, and he's shooting seventy percent at

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Speaker 1: the rim. And you know, it's weird because, like, if

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Speaker 1: I had to describe how he's having this kind of success,

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Speaker 1: it's difficult to do. So he's playing like a big

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Speaker 1: guard in the sense that he's slow motion, great at

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Speaker 1: leveraging his size when he gets angles, great at using

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Speaker 1: bumps to generate contact, operating really close to the rim.

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Speaker 1: But he's not a particularly big guard. He's like six

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Speaker 1: one six y two. He's got like a six to

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Speaker 1: four wingspan, and he's a good athlete, like he's a

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Speaker 1: good leaper and a pretty quick and good start stop quickness,

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Speaker 1: but not like any sort of top tier athlete or

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Speaker 1: anything like that. He's out there just methodically getting buckets.

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Speaker 1: And if I had to kind of put a you know,

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Speaker 1: cause if you if you go back and look at

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Speaker 1: his numbers at which to state he was a seventy

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Speaker 1: second percentile pick and roll guys, he's a good pick

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Speaker 1: and roll player, but he's blow point for possession. But

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Speaker 1: in the college game, it's just more crowded, it's harder

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Speaker 1: to score. So that's an important context there. You don't

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Speaker 1: have guys just lighting it up and pick and roll

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Speaker 1: in college there, but still at that level seventy second

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Speaker 1: percent tile fifty percent effective field goal percentage on pull

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Speaker 1: up jump shots, at which Tah very good at the

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Speaker 1: rim while he was there. So like he's basically just

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Speaker 1: a better version of himself. It's so far in these

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Speaker 1: small samples in the NBA. Why is that? I don't

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Speaker 1: you know. The best way that I could try to

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Speaker 1: describe it is to say, I feel like the NBA

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Speaker 1: game because of the increase in spacing as virtue of

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Speaker 1: just more offensive skill on the court. Right, Like, I've

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Speaker 1: been watching a little bit more college basketball this year

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Speaker 1: just because the University of Arizona's team has been a

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Speaker 1: team that I'm particularly excited about. And every time I

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Speaker 1: watch college shops, it's like an iore to deal with

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Speaker 1: the just the sheer, Like there's just not anywhere near

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Speaker 1: as much ball handling and shooting on the floor as

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Speaker 1: you see in the pros, and so it can get

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Speaker 1: really kind of like stagnant, and it's like watching a

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Speaker 1: rock fight every single game, right, especially with how hard

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Speaker 1: the teams are playing on the defensive end of the floor.

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Speaker 1: But like what I'll end up happening in a lot

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Speaker 1: of these cases is like some guys get to the

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Speaker 1: next level and that additional spacing and freedom to cook,

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Speaker 1: so to speak, actually suits them really well. And I

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Speaker 1: think Craig Porter is one of those guys. I think

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Speaker 1: he's one of those guys that's like, shit, I got

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Speaker 1: all this room, and like I'm getting a good matchup,

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Speaker 1: you know, because Donovan's getting getting a better matchup, you know,

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Speaker 1: or Darius is getting a better matchup, and like, I

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Speaker 1: have this space to work and they're guarding me with

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Speaker 1: traditional drop coverages and he's just getting to his spots

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Speaker 1: and knocking down shots. It's very old fashioned big guard stuff.

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Speaker 1: A lot of like short pull up jump shots, a

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Speaker 1: lot of short you know, bankers and floaters and stuff

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Speaker 1: along those lines. He's been really really impressive here again.

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Speaker 1: Eighty six points on eighty three points on sixty three

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Speaker 1: pick and roll so far this season. That's outstanding stuff.

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Speaker 1: Calv's got a big bounce back win against Toronto after

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Speaker 1: their loss of the Lakers. They're seven to four in

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Speaker 1: their last eleven eleventh in defense and offense over that span.

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Speaker 1: All right, moving on to our next game. The Celtics

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Speaker 1: and the Magic. Bunch of guys missing from this game.

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Speaker 1: The Magic were missing Wendell Carter Junior and Marco Foltz.

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Speaker 1: The Celtics were without Drew Holliday and the Chris Topsporzingis

380
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Speaker 1: strained his calf muzzle and missed a good portion of

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Speaker 1: this game. But the story of this game is that

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Speaker 1: the Magic did to the Celtics what they've been doing

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Speaker 1: to everyone all season, which is just physically bullying them

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Speaker 1: at every level of the game. During the third quarter,

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Speaker 1: run a lot of Palo and Franz attacking the smaller

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Speaker 1: Celtics guards in cross matches, in transition or just in

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00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:36,640
Speaker 1: guard guards screens or guard forwards. Screens to get switches,

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Speaker 1: and that both of those guys are just so good

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Speaker 1: at playing and leveraging their size. Palo's got a little

390
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Speaker 1: bit of that Lebron like full court post up thing

391
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Speaker 1: going on, where he'll just like rip through to one

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Speaker 1: side and when he gets cut off, he'll just spin

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Speaker 1: back the other way. When he gets cut off, he'll

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Speaker 1: just spin back the other way. And he's just so

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Speaker 1: damn big and good at protecting the ball, and he's

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Speaker 1: got all those little pop shots in the lane. And

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Speaker 1: then he's also a pretty good passer for a young

398
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Speaker 1: post player, which is rare to see. And then you know,

399
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Speaker 1: obviously with Franz Vagner, it's a little bit more of

400
00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:07,360
Speaker 1: a perimeter like shot creation type of piece, a little

401
00:19:07,359 --> 00:19:10,160
Speaker 1: bit more perimeter oriented. But both of them were killing

402
00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:12,399
Speaker 1: the Celtics cards and switches and cross matches, and then

403
00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:14,399
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter that both of them were just

404
00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:17,199
Speaker 1: attacking Luke Cornett. The Celtics were doing a ton of

405
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Speaker 1: switching in this particular game, and they were switching Cornett

406
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Speaker 1: onto Palo and Franz at the end of this game,

407
00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:24,800
Speaker 1: thinking oh, size for size, right, But the thing is

408
00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:27,320
Speaker 1: is like Palo's as big as a center and so,

409
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Speaker 1: and Franz has like got a plays really big for

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Speaker 1: a perimeter player as well. Not as big as Palo,

411
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Speaker 1: but pretty big as well. And you know, it's like

412
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Speaker 1: Franz has got Cornett on the left side of the

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Speaker 1: floor against a switch and he just gets a little

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Speaker 1: bit of an angle on the left side, and then

415
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Speaker 1: he just beats him all the way to the rim

416
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Speaker 1: and makes that right handed layup on the left side

417
00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:46,280
Speaker 1: of the rim pallow same kind of thing, just like

418
00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:49,080
Speaker 1: a left or right crossover to get just a little

419
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Speaker 1: bit of separation. And then he's so much he's every

420
00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:54,360
Speaker 1: bit as big as Cornett, so he just goes right

421
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Speaker 1: through him all the way to the basket towards that

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Speaker 1: right side. And like that's kind of the unique exciting

423
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Speaker 1: piece of what makes this Magic team so good is

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Speaker 1: it's like they are kind of set up to win

425
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Speaker 1: rock fights with their ability to attack matchups, and then

426
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Speaker 1: in the physical areas of the rock fight, they're gonna

427
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Speaker 1: kill you. They're the only team in the league right

428
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Speaker 1: now that's top five in both defense and in rebounding,

429
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Speaker 1: and when you combine that with high level point of

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Speaker 1: attack defense and just kind of like a power, downhill

431
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Speaker 1: offensive game. They're just a big pain in the ass

432
00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:23,159
Speaker 1: to play against. That's the phrase I've been using a

433
00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:25,119
Speaker 1: lot this season, and it's just that's what it's like

434
00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:29,040
Speaker 1: watching watching teams deal with Orlando on a night in,

435
00:20:29,160 --> 00:20:31,400
Speaker 1: night out. Basis Mo Wagner was a hero in this game.

436
00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:33,800
Speaker 1: I think he had like twenty seven points. He was

437
00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:36,280
Speaker 1: killing them in the role. He's very good at protecting

438
00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:38,840
Speaker 1: the basketball. When he's doing is like power moves towards

439
00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:40,720
Speaker 1: the basket. So like he'll catch the pass in the

440
00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,480
Speaker 1: pocket and you'll see like o shapers set recover back

441
00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:45,520
Speaker 1: in front of him, and he'll just drop that shoulder

442
00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:47,600
Speaker 1: and tuck it far back to protect it. And then

443
00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:49,600
Speaker 1: after he's created that space, he's going right up to

444
00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:52,239
Speaker 1: the rim to finish. He had several buckets in the

445
00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:54,439
Speaker 1: role in this particular game. He's been one of the

446
00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:57,160
Speaker 1: ten best role men in the NBA so far this year,

447
00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:59,960
Speaker 1: one point three to three points per possession, shooting sixty

448
00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:02,560
Speaker 1: four percent out of thirty seven players the log at

449
00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:07,520
Speaker 1: least twenty five rollman possessions. Wagner ranks ninth in efficiency

450
00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:09,359
Speaker 1: right now. Hit a couple of huge threes in this

451
00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:10,879
Speaker 1: game as well, a big one in the corner in

452
00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:15,359
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. He just brings like another layer because

453
00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:16,919
Speaker 1: he's another guy who just plays with a lot of

454
00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:19,560
Speaker 1: straight line power and he's coming off the bench for

455
00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:22,679
Speaker 1: this group right Cole Anthony and pick and Roll, I've

456
00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:26,000
Speaker 1: been really impressed with him. The Magic are doing a

457
00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:28,080
Speaker 1: lot of similar stuff that you're seeing around the league.

458
00:21:28,119 --> 00:21:30,040
Speaker 1: One of those sets that everyone in the league is

459
00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:32,359
Speaker 1: running right now that the Kings in particular are just

460
00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:35,959
Speaker 1: absolutely killing everybody with this set. But like teams are

461
00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:38,280
Speaker 1: just coming up and setting like a bracket screen, they

462
00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:40,480
Speaker 1: starting like a horn set. They'll have shooters in the

463
00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:42,679
Speaker 1: corners and they'll have you know, your primary ball handler

464
00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:44,800
Speaker 1: up top, and they'll basically come up and screen both

465
00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:47,160
Speaker 1: sides of the ball handler way far away from the basket,

466
00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:50,080
Speaker 1: like thirty thirty five feet away, And what they'll do

467
00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:52,040
Speaker 1: is they'll have one of the role men roll in

468
00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:55,520
Speaker 1: the other guy pop and essentially it just generates confusion

469
00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:57,760
Speaker 1: in the pick and roll coverage because it's three man actions.

470
00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:00,399
Speaker 1: Three men action in particular are just harder to defend

471
00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:02,280
Speaker 1: because they're always coming from different angles. You don't know

472
00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:04,479
Speaker 1: who's popping you don't know who's rolling all that kind

473
00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:06,639
Speaker 1: of stuff, right, And Cole Anthony had a lot of

474
00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:08,080
Speaker 1: success in Pick and Roll, not just that, but also

475
00:22:08,119 --> 00:22:11,560
Speaker 1: Spain pick and Roll. There was a possession where I

476
00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:13,480
Speaker 1: clipped this and put it in the film thread where

477
00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:17,160
Speaker 1: Caleb Houston set a perfect backscreen on Al Horford, which

478
00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:19,879
Speaker 1: put Jason Tatum in this awkward position where he's guarding

479
00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,879
Speaker 1: Caleb Houston. And so now Horford's out as the screen

480
00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:26,000
Speaker 1: roll the roller defender. So now Tatum's back and he

481
00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:28,080
Speaker 1: like is like a I don't know what I'm gonna do,

482
00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:30,200
Speaker 1: And so he ends up recovering to the big man

483
00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:33,879
Speaker 1: and leaves a wide open lane for Cole Anthony to

484
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:36,480
Speaker 1: go to the basket and get a bucket on Peyton Pritchard.

485
00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:39,920
Speaker 1: Just in general, Cole Anthony brings kind of like a

486
00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:45,000
Speaker 1: out of all the backcourt guys, including Markel Foltz, he's

487
00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:47,919
Speaker 1: their best like live dribble shot creator, and so in

488
00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:49,480
Speaker 1: a lot of cases he ends up being the guy

489
00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:51,440
Speaker 1: they lean on a lot to create offense and slow

490
00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:53,400
Speaker 1: down half court environments. And he's done a really nice

491
00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:57,400
Speaker 1: job there this year. Caleb Houston plus fifteen and nine

492
00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,560
Speaker 1: minutes without taking a single shot. Excellent at the point

493
00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:02,159
Speaker 1: of attack at a big steal that led to a

494
00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:04,120
Speaker 1: runout lay up. At the end of this game, attacking

495
00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:05,840
Speaker 1: the glass, he had a big offensive rebound at the

496
00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:07,040
Speaker 1: end of this game. I thought that was a good

497
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:10,240
Speaker 1: shift for him. Orlando has won seven games in a

498
00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:12,840
Speaker 1: row now at twelve and five, they now have the

499
00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:15,600
Speaker 1: third best record in basketball. They are twelfth in offense,

500
00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:20,520
Speaker 1: fourth and defense, and seventh in rebounding. Over this seven

501
00:23:20,560 --> 00:23:24,639
Speaker 1: game stretch, they are six and four against teams that

502
00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:27,040
Speaker 1: are five hundred are better. They are five and three

503
00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:30,120
Speaker 1: on the road, and over the stretch they beat the

504
00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:32,680
Speaker 1: They have beat just over the course of the season,

505
00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:34,919
Speaker 1: They've beat the Celtics, the Nuggets, the Lakers, and the Bucks.

506
00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:38,400
Speaker 1: So of the six teams that I started the year

507
00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:42,080
Speaker 1: with as top tier contenders, they've played five games against

508
00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:45,040
Speaker 1: them and they've beat They've gone four to one of

509
00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:47,000
Speaker 1: those games, and the one they lost was to the Lakers,

510
00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:49,119
Speaker 1: which they avenged when the Lakers went to Orlando and

511
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:51,480
Speaker 1: beat them. And like I said, twelfth in offense, fourth

512
00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:54,160
Speaker 1: and defense, seventh and rebounding over this seven game span.

513
00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:56,560
Speaker 1: But they are the only team in the NBA for

514
00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:58,919
Speaker 1: the whole season that has top five in both rebounding

515
00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:02,159
Speaker 1: and defense. They are four real. They are not going anywhere.

516
00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:06,600
Speaker 1: They've arguably been the most impressive team so far in

517
00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,280
Speaker 1: this regular season in terms of winning relative to what

518
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:12,720
Speaker 1: their strength of schedules has put in front of them.

519
00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:16,280
Speaker 1: The Celtics this game got away from them quickly. They

520
00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:18,920
Speaker 1: were up twelve early in the third quarter. Orlando really

521
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,080
Speaker 1: took advantage of their front line with Porzingis out, Like

522
00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:28,240
Speaker 1: we talked about, really attacking Al Horford and and Luke

523
00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:31,320
Speaker 1: Cornette in space. It's a bad matchup without Porzingis and

524
00:24:31,359 --> 00:24:34,240
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday because it's such a physically imposing team. Shot

525
00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:36,720
Speaker 1: selection did become an issue in that third quarter run.

526
00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:38,520
Speaker 1: It's a lot of the same stuff I've been talking

527
00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:41,240
Speaker 1: about all season. Like Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum both

528
00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:43,479
Speaker 1: took a couple of really tough pull up jump shots.

529
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:45,680
Speaker 1: Like Jaylen Brown like barely grazed the front of the

530
00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:47,680
Speaker 1: rim on one. Jayson Tatum took like a really tough

531
00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:51,440
Speaker 1: right shoulder fade away Derek White and it's the whole team,

532
00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:54,119
Speaker 1: but like a lot of these guys, they just get

533
00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:57,040
Speaker 1: they're just too quick to take that type of three right,

534
00:24:57,119 --> 00:25:00,840
Speaker 1: Like there was a play where, you know, Derek White

535
00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:02,639
Speaker 1: comes flying off a screen along the right wing and

536
00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:04,840
Speaker 1: rises up off the catch and knocks down the three,

537
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,400
Speaker 1: and it's tough shot, like really a tough shot. And

538
00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:11,199
Speaker 1: on the very next possession, he just jacks up a

539
00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:13,520
Speaker 1: transition pull up three on the left wing because he's like, oh,

540
00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:16,040
Speaker 1: I'm hot now, So it's like I'm just gonna take this.

541
00:25:16,119 --> 00:25:18,720
Speaker 1: And it's like there should literally never be a possession

542
00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:21,919
Speaker 1: where Derek White just runs up the floor and takes

543
00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:24,320
Speaker 1: a transition three in the first five seconds when you've

544
00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:26,200
Speaker 1: got Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown on the floor. It's

545
00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:28,480
Speaker 1: just you can get a better shot. It's one thing

546
00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:32,200
Speaker 1: like if you've made several in a row, you made

547
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:34,159
Speaker 1: one really tough movement three. He kind of going to

548
00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:36,359
Speaker 1: his right on the right wing, and then it's like showtime.

549
00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:38,959
Speaker 1: I'm going for this. Al Horford has been you know,

550
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:42,080
Speaker 1: he's been better this year on his pull up jump shots,

551
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:43,840
Speaker 1: but or on his spot up jump shots, but he's

552
00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:46,399
Speaker 1: still zero point nine to six points per jumper. And

553
00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:49,000
Speaker 1: that dude in that second half against Orlando, if he

554
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:51,520
Speaker 1: saw this much space, he was rising up and firing

555
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:53,399
Speaker 1: early in the shot clock. It's a lot of like

556
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:58,320
Speaker 1: taking good shots and not hunting great shots, and that

557
00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:01,119
Speaker 1: specifically kind of calm pounds because then it gets like

558
00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:04,520
Speaker 1: when you have turnovers and quick shots that just feeds

559
00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:08,440
Speaker 1: the offensive rhythm. For Orlando, the best way to disrupt

560
00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:11,680
Speaker 1: rhythm in your opponent is to slowly execute on offense

561
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:13,919
Speaker 1: because if they have to, if they have to defend

562
00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:17,520
Speaker 1: for twenty seconds, that will disrupt their offensive rhythm. If

563
00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:19,960
Speaker 1: they defend for eight seconds and get a long rebound

564
00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:21,600
Speaker 1: or a turnover off of a quick three or a

565
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:23,760
Speaker 1: bad pass, they're running down the other end with their

566
00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:26,760
Speaker 1: athleticism and they're feeling themselves and they're playing on that energy.

567
00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:30,600
Speaker 1: And so again, like it's a nitpicky thing with the Celtics,

568
00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:33,440
Speaker 1: but it is a reality. Despite all that, though, they've

569
00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:35,040
Speaker 1: still won eight out of ten and they still have

570
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,199
Speaker 1: the best record in the league. And yeah, so if

571
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:40,200
Speaker 1: the Celtics are still amazing, and they're gonna be really

572
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:42,040
Speaker 1: high on my power rankings, as you guys will see

573
00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:46,639
Speaker 1: very soon. All right, moving on to sixers Thunder, I

574
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:48,119
Speaker 1: thought the biggest thing that stood out to me on

575
00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:51,520
Speaker 1: film in this game was just the impact of Phillies

576
00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:55,520
Speaker 1: perimeter size against Oklahoma City. Now again, you gotta think

577
00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:57,760
Speaker 1: because shape lit them up in the first half, but

578
00:26:57,800 --> 00:26:59,879
Speaker 1: they held Shade a three for eleven shooting in this

579
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:01,480
Speaker 1: second half of this game, And a big part of

580
00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:03,600
Speaker 1: it was like a steady diet of big bodies. It's

581
00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:07,240
Speaker 1: like Robert Covington's guarding him, Nick Batoom's guarding him. Both

582
00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:10,000
Speaker 1: those guys are six eight, right, Like you've got Tobias

583
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:11,719
Speaker 1: Harris guarding him in a lot of possessions. He's six

584
00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:14,320
Speaker 1: to eight and strong. You've got like d Anthony Meltin

585
00:27:14,359 --> 00:27:16,320
Speaker 1: is like the one smaller guy that he's going against,

586
00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:18,600
Speaker 1: and d Anthony Melton is a good athlete with decent

587
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:21,040
Speaker 1: length for the backcourt position, right, And so one of

588
00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:22,960
Speaker 1: the things you see, you'll see like Shae is a

589
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:24,639
Speaker 1: guy that loves to get to spots kind of in

590
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:26,960
Speaker 1: that short to mid range and take little shots over

591
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:30,040
Speaker 1: the top, which he can really kill undersized guards with.

592
00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:32,119
Speaker 1: But against bigger wings, it's a little tougher for him

593
00:27:32,119 --> 00:27:33,440
Speaker 1: to get those shots off. And I thought they did

594
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:36,320
Speaker 1: a really nice job of defending Shay at the point

595
00:27:36,359 --> 00:27:40,080
Speaker 1: of attack, forcing him into these tougher kind of contested

596
00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:43,359
Speaker 1: step backs. He wasn't making the tough ones. And the

597
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:45,199
Speaker 1: dead giveaway that he was having an effect on him

598
00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:47,680
Speaker 1: is he started pump faking a lot and started trying

599
00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:49,960
Speaker 1: to foulgrift a lot, which is a dead giveaway that

600
00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:52,360
Speaker 1: he's starting to get frustrated in terms of just trying

601
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:53,920
Speaker 1: to generate his own shot. But it was a really

602
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:56,840
Speaker 1: good defensive effort from Philly forcing him to three for

603
00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:59,680
Speaker 1: eleven shooting. Again, that's that's the way you have to

604
00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:01,560
Speaker 1: beat Glahoma City because you got to keep them out

605
00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:05,440
Speaker 1: of rotation. As soon as Shay starts drawing multiple defenders,

606
00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:07,840
Speaker 1: you're screwed. Because every other guy on the floor is

607
00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:10,240
Speaker 1: such a good ball handler, shooter and passer that like

608
00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:12,399
Speaker 1: they can drive and kick you to death. So like

609
00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,280
Speaker 1: it is vitally important to contain the ball against Oklahoma

610
00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:17,600
Speaker 1: City to keep them out of rotation, because a lot

611
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:20,880
Speaker 1: of these guys, you know, are not as good when

612
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:24,200
Speaker 1: they're facing a set defense, When everyone's looking at them

613
00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:26,199
Speaker 1: and the help defense is loaded up, it gets harder.

614
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:28,120
Speaker 1: But those guys, when they have an advantage, can really

615
00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:30,200
Speaker 1: kill you. And so I thought that was the kind

616
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:34,920
Speaker 1: of the genesis of their third quarter defensive run that

617
00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:37,280
Speaker 1: they went on Tyres max He poured in another twenty

618
00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:40,240
Speaker 1: eight points. He's up to twenty six, five and seven

619
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:43,040
Speaker 1: on fifty nine percent true shooting this season. He's one

620
00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:45,520
Speaker 1: of only eight players in the league averaging over six

621
00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:48,280
Speaker 1: assists per game and fewer than two turnovers. Now a

622
00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:53,120
Speaker 1: little trivia here for you guys. Eight players over six

623
00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:58,560
Speaker 1: assists less than two turnovers. Take a guess. It's Daron Fox,

624
00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:04,400
Speaker 1: Malcolm Brogden, D'Angelo Russell, Dennis Schroeder, Fred van Vliet. Shout

625
00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:06,320
Speaker 1: out Fred van Vliet. Nine assists and one point six

626
00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:10,120
Speaker 1: turnovers per game this year, Spencer Dinwoodie, and Chris Paul.

627
00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:12,560
Speaker 1: Those are the eight or the seven, with Tyrese Maxi

628
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:15,040
Speaker 1: making eight. The only two on that list that are

629
00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:17,680
Speaker 1: averaging over twenty points per game are Dearn Fox and

630
00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:19,920
Speaker 1: Tyrese Maxi. So Tyre's Maxie is one of only two

631
00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:22,240
Speaker 1: players in the NBA averaging at least twenty points, at

632
00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:25,040
Speaker 1: least six assists, and fewer than two turnovers. Really high

633
00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:27,840
Speaker 1: level half court basketball from him. He had this. I

634
00:29:27,960 --> 00:29:29,520
Speaker 1: clipped this play and put it in my thread, But

635
00:29:29,760 --> 00:29:31,680
Speaker 1: he hit this like really tough pull up jump shot

636
00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 1: going to his right against lou Dort, hesitation on the

637
00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:37,640
Speaker 1: left side, that dribbled through the legs, hard explosive move

638
00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:40,760
Speaker 1: to the right, left right takeoff against lou Dort, who's

639
00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:42,520
Speaker 1: been one of the best perimeter defenders in the league

640
00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:44,280
Speaker 1: this year, and just rose up over the top of

641
00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:45,920
Speaker 1: him and knocked it down. And so I wanted to

642
00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:48,360
Speaker 1: pull up his ISO numbers one point one points per

643
00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:52,400
Speaker 1: possession in ISO. That's up from zero point eight three

644
00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:55,920
Speaker 1: last year. So in this big test of how Tyrese

645
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 1: MAXI can handle being slotted as like your primary perimeter initiate,

646
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:03,800
Speaker 1: he's basically knocking it out of the park in another

647
00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:06,120
Speaker 1: like wild finish and pick and roll where he got

648
00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:08,480
Speaker 1: lou dorton trailing position and he had shake gild justs

649
00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:12,240
Speaker 1: Alexander come help from the baseline side and chet from

650
00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:15,560
Speaker 1: the top side. He was completely sandwiched, took contact, flipped

651
00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:17,000
Speaker 1: all the way over on the other side of the rim,

652
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:18,520
Speaker 1: and scooped it in with his left hand. I'm like,

653
00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:22,680
Speaker 1: this is this is RIDICULOUSI there's like only a handful

654
00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:24,440
Speaker 1: of players in the league that can do this right

655
00:30:24,520 --> 00:30:27,360
Speaker 1: and That's what kind of gets me excited because we

656
00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:29,920
Speaker 1: talked about the perimeter defense and Batoum and Covington have

657
00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:32,640
Speaker 1: played a significant role in that so far, and they've

658
00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:35,720
Speaker 1: really beefed up some of their role player depth. And

659
00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:38,440
Speaker 1: now what gets really exciting is, like you upgrade one

660
00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:43,280
Speaker 1: starter position at the deadline. Now, Maxine Embiid is enough,

661
00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:44,680
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? I'm not sure if it's

662
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:46,440
Speaker 1: going to be enough as currently constructed. And we've seen

663
00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:48,080
Speaker 1: that they've struggled a little bit in a recent schedule.

664
00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:49,560
Speaker 1: I think they've lost four out of six if I

665
00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:52,600
Speaker 1: remember correctly, against some tougher teams, and a big part

666
00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:54,920
Speaker 1: of that is they need just that little bit more firepower.

667
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:57,800
Speaker 1: But it's not because Tyree's Maxie isn't capable of it.

668
00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:00,600
Speaker 1: It's just going against the best team in the league,

669
00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:03,360
Speaker 1: you just need to have another guy, right Like who's

670
00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,080
Speaker 1: the Who's the Austin Reeves to the Lebron and ad

671
00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:08,920
Speaker 1: in this situation? Right Like who's the KCP or the

672
00:31:08,920 --> 00:31:12,080
Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior to the Joki Cha Murray. Who's that third,

673
00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:15,480
Speaker 1: you know, kind of firepower piece in this lineup? And

674
00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:18,160
Speaker 1: Tobias Harris is having a really good season, but I'm

675
00:31:18,200 --> 00:31:20,800
Speaker 1: not sure he's necessarily that guy. I think I think

676
00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:26,000
Speaker 1: they need just one additional really damn good player that

677
00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:29,080
Speaker 1: can either slot between Tobias and Embiid or slot between

678
00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 1: Tyres and Tobias that like, and just kind of push

679
00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:34,680
Speaker 1: them over the top in that sense, because right now,

680
00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:36,360
Speaker 1: it's kind of similar to what i'd say with the Lakers,

681
00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:38,320
Speaker 1: where it's like where it's like, Okay, if you're playing

682
00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:40,680
Speaker 1: next Christy in the spot in the regular season, that's fine,

683
00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:42,640
Speaker 1: but not sure if I love that for the postseason.

684
00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:44,239
Speaker 1: That's kind of how I feel about how they've been

685
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:47,080
Speaker 1: randomly trying, Like they'll try Covington in the starting lineup,

686
00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:49,240
Speaker 1: they'll try Bomb in the starting lineup. It's like, which

687
00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 1: of these guys do you really feel comfortable about in

688
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:55,280
Speaker 1: a playoff series starting against a really really good team,

689
00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:57,719
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And so, but the important

690
00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:00,400
Speaker 1: part to get to that point is MAXI needed to

691
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:02,560
Speaker 1: demonstrate that he could be a perimeter initiator at the

692
00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:05,640
Speaker 1: top level, and he's demonstrated that, and so now it

693
00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:07,840
Speaker 1: actually looks worth it to kind of go all in

694
00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:09,440
Speaker 1: with this roster. And I think it's something they're gonna

695
00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:10,840
Speaker 1: have to do anyway, just based on the fact that

696
00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:13,560
Speaker 1: Embiid's kind of getting a little restless in general with

697
00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:16,240
Speaker 1: the UH, with some of the issues that they've had

698
00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:19,600
Speaker 1: over the last couple of years retaining talent. All right,

699
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:23,360
Speaker 1: onto the Thunder. So my theory so far this season

700
00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:25,520
Speaker 1: about their struggles against big teams. I've talked to you

701
00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:27,880
Speaker 1: guys about this, the few times they've talked Thunder. They're

702
00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:31,120
Speaker 1: really really good in every single way except for their

703
00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:33,320
Speaker 1: one of the very worst defensive rebounding teams in the league,

704
00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:36,840
Speaker 1: and in general have struggled really bad against size. And

705
00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:39,120
Speaker 1: so they were out rebounding in this game forty nine

706
00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:41,320
Speaker 1: to thirty eight. They gave up seventeen offensive rebounds, they

707
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:43,720
Speaker 1: gave up twenty one second chance points. They fouled the

708
00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:45,360
Speaker 1: shit out of him Bead a million times, send him

709
00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:47,920
Speaker 1: to the foul line twenty one times. And so I

710
00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:49,160
Speaker 1: want to I want to take a look back at

711
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:51,680
Speaker 1: their schedule to see if my theory kind of bears fruit.

712
00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:55,360
Speaker 1: So these are the teams that I put on their

713
00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:57,920
Speaker 1: schedule that I would list as either like normal sized

714
00:32:58,040 --> 00:33:02,360
Speaker 1: or small, but certainly not like physically imposing huge and

715
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:10,800
Speaker 1: that's Chicago, Portland, Golden State, San Antonio, Phoenix, Sacramento, Atlanta, Cleveland,

716
00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:13,800
Speaker 1: and Detroit. Cleveland's got two centers, but they're both kind

717
00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:16,320
Speaker 1: of thin, so they're not super physically imposing, and they're

718
00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:18,479
Speaker 1: not very physically imposing in the back court. So like,

719
00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:20,360
Speaker 1: there are a couple teams on there that have some

720
00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:24,800
Speaker 1: big guys, like Golden State with Loony Andraymond can be

721
00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:27,760
Speaker 1: physically imposing, but overall as a team, they're pretty small.

722
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,720
Speaker 1: I would still put those teams all as I just

723
00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:33,680
Speaker 1: wouldn't classify any of those teams as like really big. Right.

724
00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:36,040
Speaker 1: And then the three really big teams they played are

725
00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:38,720
Speaker 1: the Nuggets, the Pelicans, and the Sixers, right, Aaron Gordon

726
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:44,239
Speaker 1: and nicolea Jokic, Zion Williamson and Jonas Valentiunas and then

727
00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:47,800
Speaker 1: Joel freaking Embiid, Right, and these this how those games went.

728
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:51,960
Speaker 1: They got in the Nuggets game, the Nuggets shot sixty percent,

729
00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:54,760
Speaker 1: they scored seventy two points in the paint, and absolutely

730
00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:58,920
Speaker 1: demolished the thunder in Oklahoma City. Against the Pelicans, they

731
00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:03,560
Speaker 1: gave up twenty two offensive rebounds and lost at home

732
00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:07,280
Speaker 1: in Oklahoma City, Right, Sixers game, gave up six seventeen

733
00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:09,319
Speaker 1: offensive rebounds. Since of this sent the Sixers to the

734
00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:12,520
Speaker 1: line forty five times, gave twenty one second chance points,

735
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:17,200
Speaker 1: and lost at home. And so like it's not nothing,

736
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:20,040
Speaker 1: it's something worth focusing on. I don't even really necessarily

737
00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:22,520
Speaker 1: think it's a short term problem because I don't think

738
00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:25,320
Speaker 1: this team has winner go home, you know, or winner

739
00:34:25,680 --> 00:34:29,080
Speaker 1: winner fail type of expectations this year, but in the

740
00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:31,359
Speaker 1: coming years. You know, that's kind of what I see

741
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:33,400
Speaker 1: is the major need of this team. Because Chet has

742
00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:36,080
Speaker 1: been awesome. He was incredible again in this game, thirty

743
00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:38,320
Speaker 1: three points on twenty one shots, second time in the

744
00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:40,440
Speaker 1: last four games that he's had at least thirty points.

745
00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:43,480
Speaker 1: He had five threes. He was beaten help from the

746
00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:46,359
Speaker 1: wing with above the break shots, He's beaten switches with

747
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:49,440
Speaker 1: you know, good strong moves to get closer to the basket.

748
00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:52,759
Speaker 1: Chet's awesome, but like he's gonna get bigger, but no

749
00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:55,120
Speaker 1: matter what, like you can't just march out a bunch

750
00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:57,960
Speaker 1: of a bunch of smaller players next to him. And

751
00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:00,359
Speaker 1: again like Josh Giddy's six's eight, but he's not super

752
00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:03,600
Speaker 1: physically imposing, right, like Jalen Williams is basically playing the

753
00:35:03,680 --> 00:35:07,000
Speaker 1: four for you right now when he's healthy, and Jalen

754
00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:10,799
Speaker 1: Williams is sixty six, right, So like at a certain point,

755
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:13,440
Speaker 1: you need to have like that Aaron Gordon archetype, that

756
00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:17,840
Speaker 1: that big six nine six ' ten forward that slots

757
00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:20,200
Speaker 1: next to Chet in a bunch of different ways, right,

758
00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:22,759
Speaker 1: because that's what would allow you to potentially put him

759
00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:24,640
Speaker 1: on pick and roll ball screens so that you can

760
00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:26,160
Speaker 1: keep Chet as the low man in a lot of

761
00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:28,520
Speaker 1: situations or run him as the low man next to Chet.

762
00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:32,359
Speaker 1: That's what allows you to have extra size and athleticism

763
00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:34,880
Speaker 1: on the back line, cleaning up the glass and cleaning

764
00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:37,120
Speaker 1: up and help situations when Chet gets pulled away from

765
00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:39,600
Speaker 1: the rim. These are all important elements to defensive rebounding

766
00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:41,680
Speaker 1: and protecting the rim. And they just don't really have

767
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:44,239
Speaker 1: that archetype of player. And I don't think it's a

768
00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:47,200
Speaker 1: coincidence that they've literally been eleven and two against the

769
00:35:47,239 --> 00:35:50,080
Speaker 1: rest of their schedule, dominant against the rest of their schedule,

770
00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:53,080
Speaker 1: and then the three times they played truly massive front lines,

771
00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:56,960
Speaker 1: they've gotten handled and really struggled in kind of similar ways.

772
00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,319
Speaker 1: In all three of those games, something to keep an

773
00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:01,160
Speaker 1: eye on in the big picture. Again, I don't think

774
00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:04,080
Speaker 1: it's necessarily a problem for this year. They are not desperate.

775
00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:06,920
Speaker 1: They don't need to move everything to try to make

776
00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:09,880
Speaker 1: it happen, although you know, with how many assets they have,

777
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:13,000
Speaker 1: I would argue it's probably worth doing anyway. But it's

778
00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:15,080
Speaker 1: just something to keep an eye on in the coming years.

779
00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:17,319
Speaker 1: All Right, our last game before we get to our

780
00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:21,560
Speaker 1: power rankings. Pelicans Clippers. Now, both of these teams have

781
00:36:21,640 --> 00:36:25,799
Speaker 1: since played played an additional game. The Pelicans lost to

782
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:29,920
Speaker 1: the Jazz, and the Clippers had an impressive win against

783
00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:32,480
Speaker 1: the MAVs. But my wife was working on Saturday and

784
00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:34,239
Speaker 1: I covered. I did a deep dive of this game,

785
00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:35,680
Speaker 1: did a bunch of film, and I've learned a bunch

786
00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:37,160
Speaker 1: of stuff about all teams. I want to talk about

787
00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:40,440
Speaker 1: him a little bit. So Pelicans have won five out

788
00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:42,839
Speaker 1: of seven, even including the Jazz loss. Their top ten

789
00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:46,200
Speaker 1: in offense and defense and rebounding during that span. There

790
00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:47,840
Speaker 1: are sixth in defense over that span. And this is

791
00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:49,760
Speaker 1: where I want to get into this because CJ. McCollum,

792
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:52,560
Speaker 1: as Sham's Shrania reported today, should be coming back soon

793
00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:57,120
Speaker 1: and one of the big you know catalysts of this

794
00:36:57,160 --> 00:36:59,839
Speaker 1: particular run that the Pelicans have been on is dice

795
00:36:59,880 --> 00:37:04,359
Speaker 1: and Daniels has taken CJ. Mccollins' starting position and there's

796
00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:06,919
Speaker 1: sixth then defense over the seven game span, in large

797
00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:08,319
Speaker 1: part because of what he can do at the point

798
00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:10,600
Speaker 1: of attack. He's kind of similar to that Max Christy

799
00:37:10,719 --> 00:37:13,320
Speaker 1: archetype is in that like six six sixty seven range,

800
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:18,360
Speaker 1: good strength, outstanding lateral quickness, really good motor, excellent navigating screens,

801
00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:20,520
Speaker 1: all the stuff that you look for in a point

802
00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:23,200
Speaker 1: of attack defender. And he just did an unbelievable job

803
00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:26,840
Speaker 1: on James Harden in this game, just fighting over the

804
00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:28,400
Speaker 1: top of screens to making things difficult for him and

805
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:30,080
Speaker 1: pick and roll. The few times that he ended up

806
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:31,640
Speaker 1: having to io him at the end of a shot clock,

807
00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:34,600
Speaker 1: he couldn't even get separation against him and was forcing

808
00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:37,920
Speaker 1: pretty ugly misses from him. He was just amazing in

809
00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:40,280
Speaker 1: this particular game at the point of attack. What's super

810
00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:44,040
Speaker 1: interesting about that is because he's been so good, it's

811
00:37:44,080 --> 00:37:46,680
Speaker 1: created an easy role on the back line for your

812
00:37:46,719 --> 00:37:49,799
Speaker 1: help defenders and brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson. Because when

813
00:37:49,800 --> 00:37:52,080
Speaker 1: there's good ball pressure, it's much harder for the ball

814
00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:54,840
Speaker 1: handler to pick you apart. It makes those skip passes tougher,

815
00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:57,759
Speaker 1: it makes those pocket passes tougher, right, and you know,

816
00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:00,440
Speaker 1: it's creating a job that two guys that have been

817
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:02,560
Speaker 1: pretty bad help defenders over the course of the last

818
00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:05,480
Speaker 1: couple of seasons have been playing really good help defense

819
00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:07,400
Speaker 1: as of late. I clipped a bunch of examples of

820
00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:10,680
Speaker 1: this in my Pelicans Clippers thread. Zion Williamson just in

821
00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:13,040
Speaker 1: the second half of this game blew up three pick

822
00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:16,680
Speaker 1: and rolls as the lowman just by reading plays well,

823
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:20,000
Speaker 1: kind of splitting the difference between the roller and the

824
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:23,800
Speaker 1: weakside corner and getting deflections with his athleticism. A couple

825
00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:26,040
Speaker 1: of them led to runouts the other way. It was

826
00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:28,640
Speaker 1: one of the best help defense games I've ever watched

827
00:38:28,719 --> 00:38:31,840
Speaker 1: Zion Williamson play, which is saying it's significant for a

828
00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:34,440
Speaker 1: player who has been a pretty bad defensive player, brandon Ingram.

829
00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:37,080
Speaker 1: It's a different kind of style because he's got more

830
00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:41,839
Speaker 1: length lengthen you know, ability to kind of bother shooters, right.

831
00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:44,520
Speaker 1: But he what he does is a really good job

832
00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:46,359
Speaker 1: of is when the pass gets to the role man

833
00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:48,400
Speaker 1: and he's the low man. Again, when I'm describing these

834
00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:52,440
Speaker 1: health defense possessions, we're talking about the guy who's not

835
00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:54,719
Speaker 1: in the pick and roll, but on the backside. So

836
00:38:55,239 --> 00:38:57,240
Speaker 1: the ball handler's coming off of a screen, the screen

837
00:38:57,239 --> 00:38:59,680
Speaker 1: defenders up high, they're bringing valent Chuna is pretty up

838
00:38:59,719 --> 00:39:01,120
Speaker 1: high to the level of the screen because of how good

839
00:39:01,120 --> 00:39:03,040
Speaker 1: they've been in their health defense as of late. And

840
00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:06,000
Speaker 1: so what ends up happening is whether that's b I

841
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:10,160
Speaker 1: or Zion or both, on the backside, they're basically dropping

842
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:12,680
Speaker 1: down and having to kind of like quart or like

843
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:15,520
Speaker 1: play kind of strong safety, free safety, whatever you want

844
00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:19,120
Speaker 1: to call it against multiple offensive threats, the roleman coming

845
00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:21,160
Speaker 1: down the lane, the shooter in the corner, the shooter

846
00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:22,759
Speaker 1: on the wing, and a lot of times you need

847
00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:24,319
Speaker 1: to kind of split the difference. B I does a

848
00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:28,200
Speaker 1: really good job of this, or like the roleman will

849
00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:30,200
Speaker 1: have the ball and he'll kind of like split the

850
00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:34,160
Speaker 1: difference between both guys and kind of prey on their hesitancies,

851
00:39:34,239 --> 00:39:36,640
Speaker 1: especially against the Clippers team that had some guys that

852
00:39:36,719 --> 00:39:38,880
Speaker 1: you know, don't necessarily like to take catch and shoot

853
00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:41,920
Speaker 1: jump shots, right, and if you can do that, that

854
00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:46,400
Speaker 1: stops the chain reaction, right, Like if you if you

855
00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:49,359
Speaker 1: can get a shooter to hesitate, that buys you time

856
00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:51,680
Speaker 1: to recover out of that kind of situation. And then

857
00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:53,719
Speaker 1: he just has longer arms than Zion, so you can

858
00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:55,560
Speaker 1: like bother that pocket pack. Like there's a play at

859
00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:58,239
Speaker 1: the beginning of the game where the pocket pass came

860
00:39:58,280 --> 00:40:00,560
Speaker 1: into Zubac and be I like come down and just

861
00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:02,719
Speaker 1: swipes down to the basketball, which causes Zubac to like

862
00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:04,360
Speaker 1: kind of fumble it a little bit. Then as soon

863
00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:06,440
Speaker 1: as he swipes down, he recovers out to the corner.

864
00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:08,320
Speaker 1: Zubac throws the pass to the shooter in the corner.

865
00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:11,560
Speaker 1: Bi's already there because he bought himself time to rotate

866
00:40:11,880 --> 00:40:15,719
Speaker 1: by disrupting the pocket pass. And that's the key disruption

867
00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:18,520
Speaker 1: at the point of attack. Disruption in the pocket make

868
00:40:18,680 --> 00:40:21,520
Speaker 1: easier rotations. And that's where like Dyson, Daniels and just

869
00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:23,680
Speaker 1: all three of these guys kind of working in concert.

870
00:40:23,719 --> 00:40:27,080
Speaker 1: Herb Jones obviously is the best perimeter defender on the team,

871
00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:29,280
Speaker 1: but we already know that about him, so we're focusing

872
00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:31,360
Speaker 1: on things that we're learning about the team, right, But

873
00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:34,680
Speaker 1: like that kind of dynamic all those guys, if all

874
00:40:34,760 --> 00:40:37,320
Speaker 1: three do their job. That goes a long way towards

875
00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:40,480
Speaker 1: defending those actions without giving up wide open threes. But

876
00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:44,000
Speaker 1: it requires every single step of that chain working. I

877
00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:46,719
Speaker 1: think that that specific combination of Dyson Daniels at the

878
00:40:46,719 --> 00:40:49,160
Speaker 1: point of attack with Zion and Bi doing a really

879
00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:52,839
Speaker 1: good job and help has been the catalyst behind their

880
00:40:53,239 --> 00:40:57,200
Speaker 1: really strong defense over the seven game stretch. Zion was

881
00:40:57,239 --> 00:41:00,239
Speaker 1: really good in this game offensively. PJ. Tucker got couple

882
00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:01,600
Speaker 1: of stops on him and then he kind of figured

883
00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:04,440
Speaker 1: him out. The thing that Zion does that that's kind

884
00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:07,920
Speaker 1: of underrated is he's really sharp with his offhand ball handling,

885
00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:10,200
Speaker 1: and so when he gets in traffic, he can hit

886
00:41:10,239 --> 00:41:12,879
Speaker 1: these hard in and out dribbles and hard spin move

887
00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:15,799
Speaker 1: dribbles with his offhand, which frees up the ability for

888
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:18,120
Speaker 1: him to quick gather and shoot his little left handed

889
00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:19,960
Speaker 1: floater in the lane when he gets cut off to

890
00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:22,759
Speaker 1: his spot, and when he spit, he can spin really

891
00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:24,560
Speaker 1: hard out of the right hand, which just sets up

892
00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:27,160
Speaker 1: that hard left handed move towards the basket right and

893
00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:29,800
Speaker 1: he absolutely killed the Clippers down the stretch of this game.

894
00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:33,759
Speaker 1: Herb Jones what made three massive offensive plays down the

895
00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:35,840
Speaker 1: stretch of this Clipper game, hit a huge pull up

896
00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:39,160
Speaker 1: three over PJ Tucker came off of a guard guard screen.

897
00:41:39,239 --> 00:41:41,760
Speaker 1: There's a switch, PJ Tucker switches on to him, plays

898
00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:45,200
Speaker 1: way too far back and he just like confidently steps

899
00:41:45,239 --> 00:41:47,200
Speaker 1: into a pull up jump shot knocks it down second

900
00:41:47,200 --> 00:41:49,160
Speaker 1: time that season this season that he's made a pull

901
00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:52,120
Speaker 1: up three. Then after that there was a play where

902
00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:55,520
Speaker 1: he ends up running a ball screen with Jonas and

903
00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:58,680
Speaker 1: he's on the left wing and he's got the ball

904
00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:02,120
Speaker 1: and PJ is icing the ball screen right. So a

905
00:42:02,160 --> 00:42:04,000
Speaker 1: lot of most teams will ice side pick and rolls,

906
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:06,560
Speaker 1: And what that means is essentially, if the ball handler's

907
00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:08,600
Speaker 1: on the left wing and the screeners trying to get

908
00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:11,680
Speaker 1: him towards the middle, the on ball defender role basically

909
00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:13,840
Speaker 1: jump high side and force him to reject the screen.

910
00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:16,160
Speaker 1: And then you'll see the big man drop further back

911
00:42:16,160 --> 00:42:18,279
Speaker 1: into the lane and they're basically conceding anything to the

912
00:42:18,360 --> 00:42:20,799
Speaker 1: role man to contain the ball handler. Now, should you

913
00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:23,359
Speaker 1: do that to Herb Jones? Probably not, but it's in

914
00:42:23,360 --> 00:42:26,520
Speaker 1: the scheme right, and Herb make Herb. I should say

915
00:42:26,640 --> 00:42:29,000
Speaker 1: I was corrected by Pelicans fans that I keep messing

916
00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:34,239
Speaker 1: that up. Herb identifies that Pj's doing that, waits for

917
00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:36,520
Speaker 1: PJ to jump to the high side, hits him with

918
00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:40,000
Speaker 1: like a hard fake towards the screen, gets downhill. Zubak

919
00:42:40,120 --> 00:42:43,160
Speaker 1: is there, but he just goes a long step into

920
00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:46,359
Speaker 1: his chest and then finishes outside with his left hand.

921
00:42:46,360 --> 00:42:48,480
Speaker 1: It's like a really high level move in pick and

922
00:42:48,560 --> 00:42:50,759
Speaker 1: roll to get a bucket in crunch time of a

923
00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:53,799
Speaker 1: highly contested game. And then lastly, on that left wing,

924
00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:56,200
Speaker 1: there was a play where PJ Tucker or excuse me,

925
00:42:56,239 --> 00:42:58,840
Speaker 1: Paul George got kind of sucked in in nail help

926
00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:01,279
Speaker 1: and he made him pay with that above the break

927
00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:03,479
Speaker 1: three on the left wing. It was really impressive fourth

928
00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:07,480
Speaker 1: quarter offensively from Herb Jones. Jordan Hawkins over the weekend,

929
00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:10,399
Speaker 1: including the Jazz game, scored eight more points flying off

930
00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:12,959
Speaker 1: of off ball screens. He is now an off ball

931
00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:16,440
Speaker 1: screen shot attempt for Jordan Howkins. So just imagine him

932
00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:19,960
Speaker 1: flying off of some off you know the week side,

933
00:43:20,120 --> 00:43:22,319
Speaker 1: you know, wide pin down or something, either taking a

934
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:25,120
Speaker 1: pull up three or curling around it. On those shot attempts,

935
00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:27,880
Speaker 1: he's getting one point three to five points per possession,

936
00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:30,640
Speaker 1: shooting sixty six percent in effective field goal percentage. Twenty

937
00:43:30,680 --> 00:43:32,799
Speaker 1: three players in the NBA this year have logged at

938
00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:36,000
Speaker 1: least twenty possessions off of screens in his one point

939
00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:39,880
Speaker 1: three to five points per possession ranks third Anthony Ewards' first,

940
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:43,680
Speaker 1: steph Curry's second, and it's Jordan Hawkins. So that movement

941
00:43:43,719 --> 00:43:45,799
Speaker 1: shooter piece that they invested in in the draft is

942
00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:49,200
Speaker 1: really working out for them so far this season. On

943
00:43:49,239 --> 00:43:51,520
Speaker 1: the Clippers front, a couple of specific things that stood

944
00:43:51,520 --> 00:43:54,799
Speaker 1: out to me on film, catch and shoot guys just

945
00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:56,719
Speaker 1: being a little hesitant in this with the stars. So

946
00:43:56,760 --> 00:44:00,319
Speaker 1: like there's this concept of like advantage creation and play finishing, right.

947
00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:02,880
Speaker 1: I always talk about the list of responsibilities that a

948
00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:05,920
Speaker 1: basketball team has to fulfill on a basketball court, and like,

949
00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:08,399
Speaker 1: if you it doesn't do any good if one guy

950
00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:13,160
Speaker 1: creates the advantage and then let's say Kawhi makes a

951
00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:16,520
Speaker 1: move and draws multiple defenders and makes a kickout pass

952
00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:19,440
Speaker 1: to James Harden who's standing wide open on the on

953
00:44:19,520 --> 00:44:22,160
Speaker 1: the left wing. If he doesn't shoot that shot and

954
00:44:22,239 --> 00:44:25,359
Speaker 1: instead waits for the defender to close out and then

955
00:44:25,760 --> 00:44:29,520
Speaker 1: he decides to initiate offense, that completely is a waste

956
00:44:29,560 --> 00:44:32,840
Speaker 1: of everybody's time and effort, because what's the point of

957
00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:35,600
Speaker 1: advantage creating an advantage if the next guy is just

958
00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:37,560
Speaker 1: gonna wait for the defense to rotate so that he

959
00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:40,839
Speaker 1: can create an advantage. Everybody in this system is going

960
00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:44,040
Speaker 1: to be in more play finishing possessions than they're used

961
00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:47,080
Speaker 1: to because you've got all these shot creators, so everyone's

962
00:44:47,120 --> 00:44:49,160
Speaker 1: gonna have to get better at operating more off the ball.

963
00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:50,960
Speaker 1: And there were way too many possessions. And it's weird

964
00:44:50,960 --> 00:44:55,680
Speaker 1: because I'd argue that Kawhi and h and James Harden

965
00:44:55,719 --> 00:44:58,960
Speaker 1: are probably your two best, you know, catch and shoot guys,

966
00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:02,120
Speaker 1: and they're they are the hesitant ones among the stars.

967
00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:04,239
Speaker 1: Paul George is a good shooter, but him and Russ

968
00:45:04,280 --> 00:45:06,920
Speaker 1: are definitely the third and fourth best catch and shoot

969
00:45:06,920 --> 00:45:10,640
Speaker 1: guys on the team. And literally they're like hunting shots

970
00:45:10,640 --> 00:45:12,640
Speaker 1: and being super aggressive and that just doesn't make any sense.

971
00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:14,600
Speaker 1: I mean, PG it does, but for us, it doesn't

972
00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:17,280
Speaker 1: make any sense. You need James Harden and Kawhi Leonard

973
00:45:17,320 --> 00:45:20,480
Speaker 1: to be aggressively hunting their catch and shoot opportunities because

974
00:45:20,480 --> 00:45:23,120
Speaker 1: they're great shooters. And if I can get a wide

975
00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:25,359
Speaker 1: open catch and shoot three even a kind of open

976
00:45:25,440 --> 00:45:27,480
Speaker 1: catch and shoot three for James Harden or Kawhi Leonard.

977
00:45:27,600 --> 00:45:29,439
Speaker 1: That's about as good a shot as you can get

978
00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:31,560
Speaker 1: on a point per possession basis, and they have to

979
00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:33,719
Speaker 1: be more willing to take those shots. Clipped a bunch

980
00:45:33,760 --> 00:45:36,800
Speaker 1: of examples in my thread of that game of plays

981
00:45:36,840 --> 00:45:40,799
Speaker 1: where they generated an advantage and then it just James

982
00:45:40,840 --> 00:45:42,600
Speaker 1: Harden was just pump fake at a ghost and then

983
00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:44,920
Speaker 1: the advantage is gone. And it's just like that to me,

984
00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:47,640
Speaker 1: is because the Clippers are fifth in defense right now.

985
00:45:48,840 --> 00:45:52,560
Speaker 1: They had another defensive masterpiece against Dallas the other day.

986
00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:55,719
Speaker 1: All of their switchable defenders. It's making it a pain

987
00:45:55,760 --> 00:45:57,120
Speaker 1: in the ass for other teams to score a lot

988
00:45:57,160 --> 00:46:01,360
Speaker 1: of really positive things there. But the offensive end is

989
00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:02,759
Speaker 1: not living up to what it should be for all

990
00:46:02,800 --> 00:46:04,560
Speaker 1: the offensive talent that they have, and a big part

991
00:46:04,600 --> 00:46:08,040
Speaker 1: of that right now is hesitancy from the stars and

992
00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:12,440
Speaker 1: catch and shoot situations. Paul George attacking the room. Well,

993
00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:17,120
Speaker 1: his rim finishing and attempts are up, but and that's

994
00:46:17,160 --> 00:46:19,439
Speaker 1: important for the record, and I like it when Paul

995
00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:22,560
Speaker 1: George is driving, but he's making some poor rim decisions.

996
00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:23,840
Speaker 1: There were two plays in the second half of this

997
00:46:23,880 --> 00:46:25,560
Speaker 1: game where he tried to dunk on everybody, and like,

998
00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:27,920
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, those are cool highlight plays. And

999
00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:29,640
Speaker 1: when you have an opportunity to dunk on someone in

1000
00:46:29,680 --> 00:46:31,840
Speaker 1: a pickup game, go for it, man. And I'm not

1001
00:46:31,880 --> 00:46:33,680
Speaker 1: saying you don't ever do it in an NBA game,

1002
00:46:33,719 --> 00:46:35,480
Speaker 1: of course you do. It's an important part of that,

1003
00:46:36,680 --> 00:46:38,799
Speaker 1: you know, kind of like physical aggression that you want

1004
00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:40,719
Speaker 1: to play with as a basketball player. But on both

1005
00:46:40,760 --> 00:46:42,600
Speaker 1: of these plays, he miss wide open shooters, and they

1006
00:46:43,400 --> 00:46:46,880
Speaker 1: they were dunks that were extremely high degree of difficulty,

1007
00:46:47,239 --> 00:46:51,400
Speaker 1: Like it wasn't PG over Birdman, Like I am so

1008
00:46:51,560 --> 00:46:53,919
Speaker 1: far above the rim and he's completely hopeless and I'm

1009
00:46:53,960 --> 00:46:56,120
Speaker 1: just punching it on his head. That's not what these were.

1010
00:46:56,160 --> 00:47:00,520
Speaker 1: These were like in traffic, multiple bodies, full ex extension,

1011
00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:03,480
Speaker 1: barely getting to the rim, trying for like the supreme

1012
00:47:03,560 --> 00:47:06,839
Speaker 1: highlight dunk while shooters are open. And that's the rim

1013
00:47:06,840 --> 00:47:09,279
Speaker 1: decision thing, especially with this team. It's one of those

1014
00:47:09,320 --> 00:47:11,240
Speaker 1: things where you don't want to fall into the Celtics

1015
00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:14,319
Speaker 1: problem where poor three point shot selection and poor rim

1016
00:47:14,360 --> 00:47:17,200
Speaker 1: decisions can make a great offensive team into one that

1017
00:47:17,400 --> 00:47:20,120
Speaker 1: is capable of these long extended droughts, and a big

1018
00:47:20,160 --> 00:47:21,799
Speaker 1: part of that for the Clippers right now is like

1019
00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:25,319
Speaker 1: everyone just needs to make better rim decisions. Right everyone

1020
00:47:25,400 --> 00:47:27,240
Speaker 1: needs to be hunting those wide open catch and shoot

1021
00:47:27,239 --> 00:47:30,319
Speaker 1: opportunities and taking them when they're there. Russ, you know,

1022
00:47:30,360 --> 00:47:32,320
Speaker 1: he had a really good bounce back game against Dallas

1023
00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:35,120
Speaker 1: the other night, and this Pelicans game, he's really bad.

1024
00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:39,960
Speaker 1: He's struggling with the minutes restriction. He's shooting just fifty

1025
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:42,600
Speaker 1: five points six. I shouldn't say minutes restriction, with his

1026
00:47:42,640 --> 00:47:44,759
Speaker 1: minutes getting cut down as a result of him going

1027
00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:46,800
Speaker 1: to the bench, but a couple of specific things that

1028
00:47:46,880 --> 00:47:49,320
Speaker 1: keeps shouting to me off of film. He's still missing

1029
00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:52,080
Speaker 1: so many layups fifty five point six percent in the

1030
00:47:52,120 --> 00:47:54,719
Speaker 1: restricted area out of seventy six players to attempt at

1031
00:47:54,760 --> 00:47:58,480
Speaker 1: least four per game. He's ranked sixty seventh inefficiency. A

1032
00:47:58,560 --> 00:48:00,680
Speaker 1: bunch of key layups that he missed in the second

1033
00:48:00,680 --> 00:48:02,640
Speaker 1: half of this game, and it always ends in floor

1034
00:48:02,680 --> 00:48:06,600
Speaker 1: balance issues. When a guard smokes a layup, it fucks

1035
00:48:06,640 --> 00:48:08,640
Speaker 1: up your transition defense, which can cause all sorts of

1036
00:48:08,640 --> 00:48:10,799
Speaker 1: problems with the team running the other way. That's why

1037
00:48:10,840 --> 00:48:14,279
Speaker 1: these can be such damaging turnovers. And then there was

1038
00:48:14,320 --> 00:48:16,400
Speaker 1: a stretch of this game where the Pels were basically

1039
00:48:16,440 --> 00:48:19,200
Speaker 1: because the Clippers ran PJ. Tucker and Russell Westbrook at

1040
00:48:19,200 --> 00:48:22,480
Speaker 1: the same time, and that is a very interesting defensive lineup,

1041
00:48:22,560 --> 00:48:25,320
Speaker 1: especially when you're switching everything. But the Pells were basically

1042
00:48:25,320 --> 00:48:27,960
Speaker 1: just ignoring both of them and it was causing a

1043
00:48:27,960 --> 00:48:29,759
Speaker 1: lot of problems for them offensively. That's been kind of

1044
00:48:29,760 --> 00:48:32,279
Speaker 1: one of the subplots of the season. It's like the

1045
00:48:32,360 --> 00:48:34,480
Speaker 1: spacing hasn't been as good as it could be because

1046
00:48:34,640 --> 00:48:37,479
Speaker 1: teams are willing to concede threes to Terrence Man, they're

1047
00:48:37,480 --> 00:48:40,319
Speaker 1: willing to concede threes to Russell Westbrook, They're willing to

1048
00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:42,719
Speaker 1: concede threes to PJ. Tucker. Obviously, you don't have to

1049
00:48:42,719 --> 00:48:45,000
Speaker 1: guard Zubaca on the perimeter, and if you close out

1050
00:48:45,040 --> 00:48:47,480
Speaker 1: short on Kwi or PG or excuse me, KOI or

1051
00:48:47,520 --> 00:48:49,960
Speaker 1: James Harden, they'll probably pump fake at you and look

1052
00:48:50,040 --> 00:48:52,560
Speaker 1: to try to generate some sort of pull up jump shots.

1053
00:48:52,560 --> 00:48:54,640
Speaker 1: So like, there's a lot of ways that you can

1054
00:48:54,680 --> 00:48:56,640
Speaker 1: slow down the Clippers offense just by kind of gumming

1055
00:48:56,640 --> 00:48:59,480
Speaker 1: things up in the paint and ignoring hesitant shooters. Right,

1056
00:49:00,239 --> 00:49:02,520
Speaker 1: something to keep an eye on for them offensively moving forward.

1057
00:49:02,640 --> 00:49:05,879
Speaker 1: They did bounce back against Dallas, though again I watched

1058
00:49:05,960 --> 00:49:09,399
Speaker 1: this game. What was it on Saturday or Sunday night?

1059
00:49:10,719 --> 00:49:13,800
Speaker 1: I think it was Saturday night. This is the perfect

1060
00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:16,160
Speaker 1: matchup for them, and by the way it's shown in

1061
00:49:16,200 --> 00:49:19,600
Speaker 1: the standings over the last few years when Kawhi is

1062
00:49:19,640 --> 00:49:22,520
Speaker 1: available to play for the Clippers against Luca and the MAVs,

1063
00:49:22,800 --> 00:49:25,160
Speaker 1: the Clippers are nine in two and obviously they've won

1064
00:49:25,200 --> 00:49:27,200
Speaker 1: both playoff series against them, So this is a matchup

1065
00:49:27,200 --> 00:49:29,040
Speaker 1: they've always dominated. And it's not hard to figure out.

1066
00:49:29,280 --> 00:49:31,920
Speaker 1: They can switch everything. They have switchable defenders. They actually

1067
00:49:31,920 --> 00:49:35,359
Speaker 1: have with Russ and PJ. Tucker. They have like this

1068
00:49:35,760 --> 00:49:39,440
Speaker 1: and Terrence Man. They can be like super switchy. And

1069
00:49:39,520 --> 00:49:42,280
Speaker 1: there are versions of it where it's like it's Kawhi

1070
00:49:42,400 --> 00:49:45,400
Speaker 1: and it's Paul George, and it's PJ. Tucker, and it's

1071
00:49:45,480 --> 00:49:48,759
Speaker 1: James Harden and Terrence Man, and it's like James Harden

1072
00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:50,319
Speaker 1: is the one guy you want to attack there, but

1073
00:49:50,400 --> 00:49:52,400
Speaker 1: like the one thing he holds up pretty well against

1074
00:49:52,480 --> 00:49:55,239
Speaker 1: is a power player, right, And so it turns into

1075
00:49:55,239 --> 00:49:57,960
Speaker 1: one of these things where it kind of plays into

1076
00:49:58,120 --> 00:50:00,839
Speaker 1: Dallas's weaknesses. Which you can see the shot attempts. Look

1077
00:50:00,840 --> 00:50:03,439
Speaker 1: at Dallas's shot attempts in that game. Luca twenty seven

1078
00:50:03,440 --> 00:50:09,279
Speaker 1: shot attempts, Kyrie twenty two, and Tim Hardaway fourteen. No

1079
00:50:09,440 --> 00:50:11,840
Speaker 1: other player on the MAVs attempted more than five shots.

1080
00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:16,120
Speaker 1: The ball's not popping around. It's not classic beautiful MAVs

1081
00:50:16,120 --> 00:50:19,320
Speaker 1: offensive basketball. They just switch and force yout to iso

1082
00:50:19,400 --> 00:50:21,120
Speaker 1: and that's how you get forty nine shot attemps out

1083
00:50:21,120 --> 00:50:23,200
Speaker 1: of Luca and Kyrie, except for all of them are

1084
00:50:23,239 --> 00:50:26,200
Speaker 1: against good perimeter defenders, and so they're gonna make some shots.

1085
00:50:26,239 --> 00:50:29,200
Speaker 1: You know, Kyrie made half of shots, Luca not quite half,

1086
00:50:29,239 --> 00:50:32,360
Speaker 1: but like in terms of a points per possession basis,

1087
00:50:32,560 --> 00:50:34,680
Speaker 1: they're not very efficient. And that's how you end up

1088
00:50:34,680 --> 00:50:39,440
Speaker 1: pretty quickly being stuck in a bad offensive game like that.

1089
00:50:39,480 --> 00:50:42,680
Speaker 1: And again, Clippers fifth in defense this year, and specifically,

1090
00:50:42,719 --> 00:50:45,400
Speaker 1: the reason why this matchup is good for the Clippers

1091
00:50:45,880 --> 00:50:49,279
Speaker 1: is Dallas doesn't have the physical size to make the

1092
00:50:49,280 --> 00:50:51,120
Speaker 1: Clippers pay for being as small as they are. As

1093
00:50:51,160 --> 00:50:52,840
Speaker 1: I've talked a lot about, the Clippers small lineup is

1094
00:50:52,840 --> 00:50:54,600
Speaker 1: a little smaller than it used to be. By getting

1095
00:50:54,680 --> 00:50:56,319
Speaker 1: rid of all their six to eight guys, and so

1096
00:50:56,400 --> 00:50:58,600
Speaker 1: as a result, like you can actually beat them up

1097
00:50:59,160 --> 00:51:01,239
Speaker 1: on the glass and cause some problems for them with

1098
00:51:01,320 --> 00:51:05,080
Speaker 1: their lack of size, but Dallas is kind of incapable

1099
00:51:05,080 --> 00:51:08,600
Speaker 1: of inflicting that. So if they can bait Dallas into

1100
00:51:08,640 --> 00:51:11,600
Speaker 1: their worst offensive tendencies and then on the other end

1101
00:51:11,600 --> 00:51:14,120
Speaker 1: of the floor be able to consistently matchhip attack against

1102
00:51:14,160 --> 00:51:16,799
Speaker 1: their weak perimeter defenders while not getting beat up in

1103
00:51:16,800 --> 00:51:18,680
Speaker 1: the physicality areas of the game, it's just really hard

1104
00:51:18,719 --> 00:51:21,440
Speaker 1: for Dallas to win that specific matchup. And I mean,

1105
00:51:21,640 --> 00:51:24,040
Speaker 1: you know, we saw Russell Westbrook attacking Luka Doncic and

1106
00:51:24,040 --> 00:51:26,000
Speaker 1: making all those plays and talking all that shit, and

1107
00:51:26,280 --> 00:51:29,560
Speaker 1: obviously Russ is very performative with that kind of thing.

1108
00:51:29,600 --> 00:51:32,160
Speaker 1: And I mean it's classic Russ to play like really

1109
00:51:32,200 --> 00:51:33,839
Speaker 1: poorly for like two weeks and then have a good

1110
00:51:33,840 --> 00:51:35,400
Speaker 1: sequence and then talk a bunch of shit. That's just

1111
00:51:35,480 --> 00:51:39,680
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook in a nutshell that said, like, He's right,

1112
00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:42,640
Speaker 1: that's the way you beat them. You have to consistently

1113
00:51:42,640 --> 00:51:45,840
Speaker 1: attack Luca, try to fatigue him, attack the weak perimeter

1114
00:51:45,880 --> 00:51:50,279
Speaker 1: defenders wherever you can switch and stagnate, stay home off

1115
00:51:50,320 --> 00:51:52,680
Speaker 1: ball to stop them from getting the easy kickouts for

1116
00:51:52,719 --> 00:51:55,880
Speaker 1: threes and force them their primary shot creators into tough

1117
00:51:55,920 --> 00:51:57,719
Speaker 1: shots and you can beat them that way. And that

1118
00:51:57,840 --> 00:52:00,719
Speaker 1: was how the Clippers beat them the other night. All right,

1119
00:52:00,760 --> 00:52:04,200
Speaker 1: let's move on to our power rankings. So this is

1120
00:52:04,239 --> 00:52:05,440
Speaker 1: gonna be a little different than what we did the

1121
00:52:05,480 --> 00:52:07,279
Speaker 1: first time because I want to do power rankings every

1122
00:52:07,320 --> 00:52:09,839
Speaker 1: single week and I'm just gonna rip through them. We're

1123
00:52:09,880 --> 00:52:12,480
Speaker 1: not gonna do long blurbs. We're just going to update

1124
00:52:12,520 --> 00:52:15,959
Speaker 1: the rankings with a quick readthrough of the ten teams

1125
00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:19,959
Speaker 1: at the beginning of every week on Monday. So and again,

1126
00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:23,680
Speaker 1: this is my power rankings are more regular season focused.

1127
00:52:23,880 --> 00:52:28,600
Speaker 1: The contender rankings, that's playoff focused. This is power rankings.

1128
00:52:28,640 --> 00:52:31,520
Speaker 1: We're just looking at who's playing the best basketball right now.

1129
00:52:31,600 --> 00:52:34,640
Speaker 1: Number ten the Los Angeles Lakers, their first appearance in

1130
00:52:34,680 --> 00:52:37,080
Speaker 1: the Power rankings this season. They have the fifth best

1131
00:52:37,160 --> 00:52:39,239
Speaker 1: net rating in the league since our last addition of

1132
00:52:39,280 --> 00:52:41,640
Speaker 1: power rankings two weeks ago. Today. They are also up

1133
00:52:41,719 --> 00:52:45,200
Speaker 1: to ninth in defensive rating. On the season. Since November tenth,

1134
00:52:45,239 --> 00:52:46,759
Speaker 1: which was about two and a half weeks ago, the

1135
00:52:46,840 --> 00:52:48,680
Speaker 1: Lakers have not lost a game unless it was on

1136
00:52:48,719 --> 00:52:51,280
Speaker 1: the tail end of a back to back, including quality

1137
00:52:51,320 --> 00:52:53,919
Speaker 1: wins over the Houston Rockets, and then two quality wins

1138
00:52:53,960 --> 00:52:57,000
Speaker 1: on the road versus the Phoenix Suns and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

1139
00:52:57,080 --> 00:52:59,000
Speaker 1: They are coming into a couple of tough games right now.

1140
00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:01,279
Speaker 1: They have Philly tonight on the road, Detroit on the road,

1141
00:53:01,280 --> 00:53:03,319
Speaker 1: and then Oklahoma City on the road. If they can

1142
00:53:03,360 --> 00:53:05,279
Speaker 1: get back on that from that road trip at three

1143
00:53:05,320 --> 00:53:07,120
Speaker 1: to one, which means that they can get one of

1144
00:53:07,120 --> 00:53:09,719
Speaker 1: the Philly OKC games, I think that's a huge win

1145
00:53:10,120 --> 00:53:11,840
Speaker 1: for the Lakers. My guess is that they lose to

1146
00:53:11,880 --> 00:53:14,320
Speaker 1: Philly tonight and then they beat Oklahoma City, who struggles

1147
00:53:14,360 --> 00:53:16,359
Speaker 1: against really big teams, which I think the Lakers will

1148
00:53:16,360 --> 00:53:19,120
Speaker 1: be able to inflict on them. Number ten, excuse me,

1149
00:53:19,200 --> 00:53:22,480
Speaker 1: Number nine the Dallas Mavericks. We wanted to see how

1150
00:53:22,520 --> 00:53:24,799
Speaker 1: they'd fare against a tougher stretch of their schedule, and

1151
00:53:24,840 --> 00:53:26,680
Speaker 1: it hasn't gone well. They did have a nice win

1152
00:53:26,760 --> 00:53:28,719
Speaker 1: against the Lakers in La on the butt. They were

1153
00:53:28,719 --> 00:53:29,759
Speaker 1: on the tail end of a back to back and

1154
00:53:29,760 --> 00:53:32,319
Speaker 1: it required a game winner from Kyrie late. And they've

1155
00:53:32,360 --> 00:53:34,560
Speaker 1: lost four out of six overall. They got destroyed by

1156
00:53:34,600 --> 00:53:37,160
Speaker 1: the Clippers, destroyed by the Kings. They lost at home

1157
00:53:37,160 --> 00:53:39,880
Speaker 1: to the Bucks, and they got destroyed by New Orleans.

1158
00:53:39,960 --> 00:53:41,759
Speaker 1: But despite all that, they still have the ninth best

1159
00:53:41,760 --> 00:53:44,680
Speaker 1: record in basketball and they are the fourth best offense

1160
00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:48,120
Speaker 1: in the league right now. Number eight the Oklahoma City Thunder.

1161
00:53:48,360 --> 00:53:50,920
Speaker 1: They're a really good team with one fatal flaw. They're

1162
00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:53,280
Speaker 1: too small on the front line to contend with huge,

1163
00:53:53,320 --> 00:53:56,120
Speaker 1: physical teams. That said, they are eleven and two against

1164
00:53:56,120 --> 00:53:58,160
Speaker 1: teams that I don't consider to be particularly big on

1165
00:53:58,200 --> 00:54:02,080
Speaker 1: the front line, They've been dominant and basically every facet

1166
00:54:02,120 --> 00:54:04,759
Speaker 1: of the game except for the defensive, rebounding piece, and

1167
00:54:04,840 --> 00:54:07,680
Speaker 1: on the scoreboard against those particularly big teams. They are

1168
00:54:07,880 --> 00:54:10,000
Speaker 1: one of only three teams in the NBA right now

1169
00:54:10,080 --> 00:54:12,520
Speaker 1: that are top ten in both offense and defense, though

1170
00:54:12,560 --> 00:54:14,880
Speaker 1: the other two teams are ahead of them on this list.

1171
00:54:15,440 --> 00:54:17,840
Speaker 1: Number seven, the Philadelphia seventy six Ers a little bit

1172
00:54:17,880 --> 00:54:20,160
Speaker 1: of mixed results in this stretch of their schedule. All

1173
00:54:20,239 --> 00:54:23,640
Speaker 1: these teams that are in this section of the power rankings,

1174
00:54:23,480 --> 00:54:25,799
Speaker 1: it's been a mixed bag over the last couple of weeks,

1175
00:54:25,800 --> 00:54:27,319
Speaker 1: but all of them are playing tough stretches of their

1176
00:54:27,360 --> 00:54:29,360
Speaker 1: schedule and playing good teams. That's to be expected in

1177
00:54:29,360 --> 00:54:32,279
Speaker 1: the league this deep but in this stretch for the

1178
00:54:32,280 --> 00:54:35,040
Speaker 1: field for the Sixers, they beat the Thunder in Oklahoma City,

1179
00:54:35,160 --> 00:54:37,040
Speaker 1: they beat the Hawks in Atlanta, and they beat the Pacers.

1180
00:54:37,080 --> 00:54:39,760
Speaker 1: Impressive wins, but they also lost to Minnesota, lost to Cleveland,

1181
00:54:39,840 --> 00:54:41,960
Speaker 1: lost to Boston, and lost to Indiana in the nd

1182
00:54:41,960 --> 00:54:45,080
Speaker 1: season tournament game on the second night of that the

1183
00:54:45,120 --> 00:54:47,600
Speaker 1: two game and three nights set. They are the third

1184
00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:49,520
Speaker 1: best offense in the league right now, and the defense

1185
00:54:49,560 --> 00:54:51,640
Speaker 1: is starting to take some strides and I'm really enjoying

1186
00:54:51,640 --> 00:54:54,000
Speaker 1: what I'm seeing from their big perimeter defenders, and then

1187
00:54:54,040 --> 00:54:57,760
Speaker 1: Tyres Maxie obviously looks incredible. Number six. The Denver Nuggets,

1188
00:54:58,600 --> 00:55:00,680
Speaker 1: they're just floating the ship right now with Jamal Murray

1189
00:55:00,719 --> 00:55:04,120
Speaker 1: out with injury, and they've faced a particularly tough part

1190
00:55:04,239 --> 00:55:07,840
Speaker 1: of their schedule. In this recent stretch. They've been on

1191
00:55:07,880 --> 00:55:09,759
Speaker 1: a five game road trip where they went one in four,

1192
00:55:09,840 --> 00:55:12,320
Speaker 1: again mostly against good teams. All all four of the

1193
00:55:12,360 --> 00:55:14,600
Speaker 1: losses against good teams, and again without Jamal Murray. It's

1194
00:55:14,600 --> 00:55:17,200
Speaker 1: just tough to win those games. But still eleven and six,

1195
00:55:17,560 --> 00:55:19,400
Speaker 1: still one of just three teams in the league that

1196
00:55:19,400 --> 00:55:21,640
Speaker 1: are top ten in both offense and defense. It is

1197
00:55:21,960 --> 00:55:25,760
Speaker 1: the Thunder and the Nuggets, and then the Boston Celtics,

1198
00:55:25,760 --> 00:55:27,560
Speaker 1: who are further up on the list. They're still the

1199
00:55:27,560 --> 00:55:29,880
Speaker 1: defending champs and Jamal Murray is on track to return

1200
00:55:30,000 --> 00:55:33,000
Speaker 1: very soon. Number five the Milwaukee Bucks. They're seven to

1201
00:55:33,000 --> 00:55:35,520
Speaker 1: one since our last set of power rankings, but they're

1202
00:55:35,520 --> 00:55:37,759
Speaker 1: not playing great basketball right now. If you go through

1203
00:55:37,800 --> 00:55:41,120
Speaker 1: their last ten games, they barely beat Portland, came back

1204
00:55:41,160 --> 00:55:44,520
Speaker 1: from down twenty four in that game, barely beat Washington,

1205
00:55:44,920 --> 00:55:49,520
Speaker 1: then they got soundly beat by Boston. Then they beat Washington,

1206
00:55:49,880 --> 00:55:52,440
Speaker 1: beat Dallas. That's a good win, Dallas good team. But

1207
00:55:52,480 --> 00:55:54,839
Speaker 1: then they beat Charlotte bad team, beat Toronto bad team,

1208
00:55:54,840 --> 00:55:57,840
Speaker 1: beat Chicago bad team. Then they lost to Orlando and

1209
00:55:57,840 --> 00:56:01,120
Speaker 1: lost to Indiana, both good teams. Over the last ten games.

1210
00:56:01,120 --> 00:56:04,520
Speaker 1: It's been a lot of bad teams and then basically

1211
00:56:04,560 --> 00:56:07,120
Speaker 1: three losses one in three against the good teams that

1212
00:56:07,120 --> 00:56:09,680
Speaker 1: they faced over the last ten over their last ten games.

1213
00:56:09,680 --> 00:56:12,160
Speaker 1: That said, still seven to one since our last rankings,

1214
00:56:12,600 --> 00:56:15,440
Speaker 1: and I mean really just a fortunate team in the

1215
00:56:15,480 --> 00:56:17,239
Speaker 1: sense that they're not playing very good basketball right now

1216
00:56:17,239 --> 00:56:18,960
Speaker 1: in the defensive end, and they're still figuring some things

1217
00:56:19,000 --> 00:56:23,359
Speaker 1: out from a chemistry standpoint. But because the league kind

1218
00:56:23,400 --> 00:56:25,360
Speaker 1: of front loaded their schedule with an easier stretch of

1219
00:56:25,360 --> 00:56:27,560
Speaker 1: games that gives them time to figure things out and

1220
00:56:27,560 --> 00:56:29,160
Speaker 1: then hopefully they'll have it together when they get to

1221
00:56:29,160 --> 00:56:30,560
Speaker 1: the tougher stretch of their schedule, and they have been

1222
00:56:30,600 --> 00:56:32,279
Speaker 1: one of the very best offenses in the league so

1223
00:56:32,280 --> 00:56:35,480
Speaker 1: far this season. Number four Sacramento Kings. They've won seven

1224
00:56:35,560 --> 00:56:38,839
Speaker 1: of their last nine games. They're ninth in offense, tenth

1225
00:56:38,920 --> 00:56:42,240
Speaker 1: in defense. Over that span, they blew out the Wolves

1226
00:56:42,239 --> 00:56:45,319
Speaker 1: in Minnesota, they blew out the MAVs in Dallas, they

1227
00:56:45,320 --> 00:56:47,480
Speaker 1: blew out the Lakers in LA, and they beat the

1228
00:56:47,480 --> 00:56:50,759
Speaker 1: Calves in thunder at home. They have been probably the

1229
00:56:50,800 --> 00:56:54,279
Speaker 1: most impressive team other than Orlando over the course of

1230
00:56:54,320 --> 00:56:56,960
Speaker 1: the last two weeks if we look just strictly within

1231
00:56:57,000 --> 00:56:59,520
Speaker 1: that two week window. They did have two road losses

1232
00:56:59,560 --> 00:57:02,000
Speaker 1: against New Orleans. Just had a hell of a time

1233
00:57:02,000 --> 00:57:04,239
Speaker 1: stopping Zion Williams and they're just not really equipped on

1234
00:57:04,239 --> 00:57:06,560
Speaker 1: the front line to deal with him. Number three the

1235
00:57:06,680 --> 00:57:09,200
Speaker 1: Orlando Magic. They've won seven in a rows and serve

1236
00:57:09,239 --> 00:57:11,960
Speaker 1: five and five start. They're six and four against winning teams,

1237
00:57:12,360 --> 00:57:14,960
Speaker 1: four and one against my top tier contenders. Again, like

1238
00:57:15,120 --> 00:57:19,120
Speaker 1: my top tier contenders were the Nuggets, the Celtics, the Bucks,

1239
00:57:19,440 --> 00:57:21,920
Speaker 1: the Lakers, the Suns, the Warriors, and now Minnesota have

1240
00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:25,320
Speaker 1: added to that list, and they've gone four and one

1241
00:57:25,360 --> 00:57:27,600
Speaker 1: in those games. Their one loss was to the Lakers,

1242
00:57:28,080 --> 00:57:31,560
Speaker 1: and they turned around and beat them revenge style at home.

1243
00:57:31,640 --> 00:57:34,080
Speaker 1: So they've been really, really impressive to start the season.

1244
00:57:34,080 --> 00:57:36,440
Speaker 1: They are also the only team in the league in

1245
00:57:36,480 --> 00:57:39,920
Speaker 1: the top five in both defense and rebounding. They have

1246
00:57:40,000 --> 00:57:42,080
Speaker 1: been the most physically imposing team in the league so

1247
00:57:42,160 --> 00:57:45,680
Speaker 1: far in the regular season. Number two the Minnesota Timberwolves.

1248
00:57:45,720 --> 00:57:48,200
Speaker 1: They took a bad loss at home to Sacramento, but

1249
00:57:48,520 --> 00:57:50,200
Speaker 1: Sacramento has done that to a few teams this year.

1250
00:57:50,240 --> 00:57:52,320
Speaker 1: Like I said, Sacramento's just been on this run where

1251
00:57:52,320 --> 00:57:53,760
Speaker 1: they're just kind of beating the shit out of good

1252
00:57:53,760 --> 00:57:55,960
Speaker 1: teams every once in a while. I think they they've

1253
00:57:55,960 --> 00:57:57,640
Speaker 1: been running that bracket pick and roll that I've been

1254
00:57:57,640 --> 00:57:59,680
Speaker 1: talking about, where they put Darren Fox like thirty feet

1255
00:57:59,720 --> 00:58:02,000
Speaker 1: from the backs. Two guys come up and set ball

1256
00:58:02,040 --> 00:58:04,320
Speaker 1: screens on either side, and like Harrison Barnes is usually

1257
00:58:04,360 --> 00:58:05,880
Speaker 1: in there as the guy who can pop and shoot,

1258
00:58:05,880 --> 00:58:09,520
Speaker 1: and it's just really freaking difficult to guard and teams

1259
00:58:09,520 --> 00:58:12,800
Speaker 1: haven't really figured out how to stop it yet. But yeah,

1260
00:58:12,800 --> 00:58:14,920
Speaker 1: So the Timberwolves took a bad loss at home to Sacramento,

1261
00:58:15,000 --> 00:58:17,880
Speaker 1: but they've been the most impressive team in the West

1262
00:58:17,960 --> 00:58:21,480
Speaker 1: so far. They surrounded that Sacramento game by coming right back,

1263
00:58:21,560 --> 00:58:24,919
Speaker 1: and they won three games right before that against good teams.

1264
00:58:24,960 --> 00:58:27,160
Speaker 1: They beat Philly, they beat the Knicks, and they beat

1265
00:58:27,200 --> 00:58:29,320
Speaker 1: the Pelicans, and then after the loss of the Kings,

1266
00:58:29,320 --> 00:58:31,240
Speaker 1: they got back on track against Memphis. Like I said,

1267
00:58:31,240 --> 00:58:33,520
Speaker 1: most impressive team in the Western Conference so far this season.

1268
00:58:33,960 --> 00:58:36,280
Speaker 1: And then to me, the easy number one at this

1269
00:58:36,360 --> 00:58:38,200
Speaker 1: point is the Boston Celtics. They have the best record

1270
00:58:38,240 --> 00:58:40,640
Speaker 1: in the league. They have a league leading nine wins

1271
00:58:40,640 --> 00:58:42,720
Speaker 1: against teams that are five hundred are better. They have

1272
00:58:42,760 --> 00:58:46,120
Speaker 1: the best net rating in basketball. They have despite playing

1273
00:58:46,160 --> 00:58:49,040
Speaker 1: the second toughest schedule. I think they're a clear cut

1274
00:58:49,480 --> 00:58:52,600
Speaker 1: number one at this point in the season. All right, guys,

1275
00:58:52,640 --> 00:58:54,520
Speaker 1: that is all I have for today. As always, as

1276
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Speaker 1: sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show. We have

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Speaker 1: our check in with Yovann Bouha on the Lakers tomorrow,

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Speaker 1: so we're gonna be doing that and then do a

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Speaker 1: separate video that's covering the rest of the league. But

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Speaker 1: we'll have two shows coming out for you guys tomorrow

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Speaker 1: and back to our normal routine for the rest of

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Speaker 1: the week. I'll see you guys. Then the volume