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Speaker 1: welcome to Lakers Tonight, presented by Fandel here on the volume.

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Speaker 1: I'm Jason Timp Happy Sunday, everybody. I hope you all

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Speaker 1: had a great weekend. We are going to solemnly go

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Speaker 1: over the latest example of the Lakers trying to tell

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Speaker 1: us exactly who they are. We're gonna get into this,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's funny. I talked with my producers after

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Speaker 1: the show the other night. I was so thankful for

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Speaker 1: an opportunity to really get into the weeds of basketball,

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Speaker 1: especially with the Lakers, and there's just not a lot

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Speaker 1: to get into the weeds with tonight in terms of

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Speaker 1: on the court, XS and Knows, because the Lakers quit,

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Speaker 1: and when they quit, it no longer becomes about what's

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Speaker 1: happening on the court. It becomes about a much larger issue.

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Speaker 1: And we're gonna get into that um just for the

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Speaker 1: sake of having some sort of palate cleanser. At the

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Speaker 1: end of the show tonight, I am gonna go around

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Speaker 1: the league really quickly, touch on that Warriors MAVs games,

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Speaker 1: the couple of interesting things that I saw in that game,

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Speaker 1: will talk a little bit about just how dominant Philly

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Speaker 1: has been. They will also talk a little bit about

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Speaker 1: the Sons without CP three. But we have to start

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Speaker 1: with the Lakers, and as as unfortunate as it is,

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Speaker 1: it seems like the most likely outcome ended up coming true. So,

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Speaker 1: as I told you guys after the Anthony Davis injury,

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Speaker 1: the Lakers were gonna have several opportunities over the course

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Speaker 1: of this next twenty five games, twenty four games, whatever

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Speaker 1: the number was, to quit because of the fact that

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Speaker 1: even with Anthony Davis, they don't have enough talent to

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Speaker 1: beat the best teams in the league. And without Anthony Davis,

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Speaker 1: they're mostly bad unless they play absolutely perfectly to their

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Speaker 1: strengths and all of those little quirks about who they

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Speaker 1: are as basketball players that plagued them all season. Only

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Speaker 1: if those things weren't the case, could this team even

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Speaker 1: compete with any decent basketball team on any given night.

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Speaker 1: And so they were going to find themselves in these

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Speaker 1: circumstances where it was gonna be a question of whether

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Speaker 1: or not it was worth it for them to go

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Speaker 1: for it. And it happened right away in that Utah

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Speaker 1: Jazz game. Excuse me, in the Clippers game, they're down

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Speaker 1: forty to thirty three, you know, like early second quarter,

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Speaker 1: and you're like, hey, maybe this is the time. And

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Speaker 1: instead of quitting, they fought through that and they went

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Speaker 1: for it. And unfortunately their leader, Lebron had a really,

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Speaker 1: really rough game and they lost. And so apparently that

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Speaker 1: was the final blow because this was the first time

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Speaker 1: this season where we didn't even have our fate comeback,

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Speaker 1: We didn't even have our little signs of life as

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Speaker 1: we went to the to the young players. This was

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Speaker 1: a full blown team letting go of the rope and

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Speaker 1: deciding that what it was going to take from the

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Speaker 1: standpoint of work and effort and diligence to try to

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Speaker 1: keep this ship afloat long enough for Anthony Davis to

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Speaker 1: come back. That's not worth it to the guys in

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Speaker 1: that locker room. And that's one of those important details

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Speaker 1: as fans that you guys gotta to try to remember.

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Speaker 1: Don't don't burden yourself with caring more than the guys

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Speaker 1: in the locker room care, because because they clearly don't.

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Speaker 1: And so I want to hit on two you guys

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Speaker 1: in particular on that front, because these two guys are

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Speaker 1: the leaders of the team right now without Anthony Davis,

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Speaker 1: and they each kind of quit in their own unique way,

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Speaker 1: and as a result, the rest of the team followed suit,

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Speaker 1: and it led to the collapse that you saw tonight.

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Speaker 1: For those of you who are just joining us, this

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Speaker 1: is Lakers Tonight, presented by Fan Duel. Here on the volume,

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Speaker 1: we're just talking about just how bad this Lakers quit

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Speaker 1: was tonight. I wanted to start with Lebron. You know,

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Speaker 1: you can be a winner but have shortcomings, Like for instance,

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Speaker 1: Lebron James and Kobe Bryant are both winners. There are

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Speaker 1: two of the greatest winners in NBA history. I have

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Speaker 1: them both as top five players all time, so it's

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Speaker 1: not undercutting either of them, but the way that those

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Speaker 1: two guys react to circumstances like this are very different.

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Speaker 1: So go back to two thousand thirteen for example, very

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Speaker 1: similar example of a team that had great aspirations that

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Speaker 1: wasn't coming together. There are a lot of differences in

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Speaker 1: the sense that the way teams were put together fundamentally flawed,

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Speaker 1: were flawed in different ways, but that two thousand thirteen

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Speaker 1: team was in a similar predicament. They were up against

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Speaker 1: it at the end of the season, needed to make

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Speaker 1: a late push to make it to the playoffs. But

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Speaker 1: there was also this obvious Paul hanging over the team,

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Speaker 1: this obvious understanding that they didn't have enough. The two

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Speaker 1: thou thirteen Lakers weren't good enough. But Kobe looked at

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Speaker 1: that with obstinates and was like, screw this, I'm I'm

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Speaker 1: going down with the ship. And every single night, even

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Speaker 1: though he was dealing with ankle stuff and banged up NonStop,

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Speaker 1: he just pushed through in his own way to try

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Speaker 1: to force the team across the finish line. And it

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Speaker 1: was a bad idea. It led to his achilles tear

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Speaker 1: as he went on a long stretch of basketball there

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Speaker 1: at the end of the season where he was pushing

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Speaker 1: himself forty plus minutes a night, and it actually wasn't

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Speaker 1: good for him, especially when you understood that that team

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Speaker 1: wasn't good enough to win the title. But that was

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Speaker 1: Kobe's way of reacting. That was Kobe's way of handling

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Speaker 1: that situation. Lebron, even though he is still very much

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Speaker 1: a winner, the way that he handles these types of

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Speaker 1: situations is as soon as he makes a calculation in

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Speaker 1: his head that he understands that he no longer has

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Speaker 1: what he needs within either his own physical condition in

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Speaker 1: this case dealing with his knee injury and with the roster.

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Speaker 1: When he makes that calculation and decides, you know, does

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Speaker 1: not compute, cannot win the title, he just, instead of

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Speaker 1: doing what Kobe does, did instead of pushing through that

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Speaker 1: finish line, Lebron's like, Hey, this isn't worth it, and

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Speaker 1: I'm just gonna pull way back and just kind of

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Speaker 1: closet through the finish line here and we'll get him

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Speaker 1: again next year. That's kind of been his idea, and

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Speaker 1: there have been so many examples of that throughout his career,

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Speaker 1: like in the two thousand fourteen NBA Finals with the heat.

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Speaker 1: There was some bad body language. He was putting up

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Speaker 1: big number is, but you could tell he wasn't really

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Speaker 1: trying to assert himself in the game the way that

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Speaker 1: he was capable of, because he knew that that team

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Speaker 1: wasn't good enough. My one of my favorite examples of

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Speaker 1: this is literally in the two thousand eighteen postseason in

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Speaker 1: the first round against Indiana Pacers. They're on the road

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Speaker 1: in Game four in Indiana and they're down two games

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Speaker 1: to one in Indiana is up by four with a

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Speaker 1: couple of minutes left in the fourth quarter or about

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Speaker 1: halfway through the fourth quarter, and Lebron's kind of in

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Speaker 1: that same groove. You could see him in his head,

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Speaker 1: you could see the body language, you could see the

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Speaker 1: decision making, and he's thinking, hey, this might not be

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Speaker 1: worth it, and he was mailing it in. But then

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Speaker 1: Kyle Korver came flying off the screen and hit a three,

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Speaker 1: a big, big three to put the game back within

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Speaker 1: the balance to where Lebron could take it, and he

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Speaker 1: decided to go forward again. But that was an example

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Speaker 1: of Lebron tetering on that line. Had they lost that game,

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Speaker 1: they probably lose Game five at home, they probably go

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Speaker 1: home in the first round, and Lebron's thinking, Hey, we

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Speaker 1: couldn't have won it anyway. That's kind of been his philosophy.

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Speaker 1: It's a shortcoming. I always call Lebron a fair weather leader.

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Speaker 1: If you have a team that has real championship aspirations,

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Speaker 1: a real opportunity to win the championship, he's probably the

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Speaker 1: best guy you could have in that seat. He has

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Speaker 1: such an understanding of the the EBB and flow of

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Speaker 1: the regular season. He has such an understanding of the

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Speaker 1: ebb and flow of a seven game playoff series. He

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Speaker 1: knows how to win at such a high level that

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Speaker 1: you cannot have a better guy in that spot. But

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Speaker 1: if there's a team that legitimately cannot win the championship,

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Speaker 1: he's one of the worst guys you can have in

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Speaker 1: that spot because he's going to act like this. The

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Speaker 1: truth of the matter is even though the Pelicans have

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Speaker 1: been playing good basketball lately, even though the Pelican I

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Speaker 1: think they literally just went into Phoenix and one the

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Speaker 1: other day they're they're legitimately good. Uh, they're defending really hard.

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Speaker 1: Willie Green has the guys playing really hard Brandon Ingram

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Speaker 1: was playing better defense than he has since he was

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Speaker 1: in a Laker jersey. He that team is good, and

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Speaker 1: so are the Clippers. But these were two intable games.

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Speaker 1: These were two games that if Lebron and Russ really

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Speaker 1: wanted to do this, they could have done it. And

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Speaker 1: don't tell me about Lebron's box score. Don't tell me

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Speaker 1: about how many points he scored. I don't want to

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Speaker 1: hear about his field goal percentage. That wasn't disengaged Lebron.

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Speaker 1: That was willingly withholding massive portions of his ability to

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Speaker 1: impact the game because he didn't think it was worth it.

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Speaker 1: That's that is, in my opinion, indisputable for anybody who's

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Speaker 1: actually watching what was happening on the court tonight. That

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Speaker 1: was him telling you he didn't think it was worth it.

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Speaker 1: Now there's a case to be made that he's right,

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Speaker 1: because the truth of the matter is Lebron, since his

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Speaker 1: knee started swelling, hasn't looked remotely similar to the guy

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Speaker 1: that we saw over the course of the last two

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Speaker 1: and a half seasons that was very clearly the best

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Speaker 1: player in the league. That's not the same guy that

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Speaker 1: we've seen in this last couple of weeks. I told

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Speaker 1: you guys in the last show, I can't remember two

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Speaker 1: games and three tries like this against the Clippers and

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Speaker 1: against the Warriors where Lebron was this bad for an

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Speaker 1: extended stretch of the game and this in this case

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Speaker 1: in crunch time in both of those games. That's not

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Speaker 1: a coincidence in my opinion, I don't think Lebron got worse.

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Speaker 1: I think he's struggling with lift on his most important leg,

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Speaker 1: which is his left leg, and as a result, it's

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Speaker 1: starting to affect a bunch of areas of his game.

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Speaker 1: It's affecting his confidence, it's affecting his belief. That's part

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Speaker 1: of that calculation he's making when he's saying I don't

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Speaker 1: think it's worth going for this season. He's saying, my

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Speaker 1: knee can't do this, and he's factoring that in. But

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Speaker 1: this is Lebron's, this is this is part of that journey.

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Speaker 1: I would be I would be shocked if this doesn't

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Speaker 1: end up going the route of the two thousand nineteen Lakers,

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Speaker 1: where Lebron plays maybe a half dozen more game. I

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Speaker 1: think he has to play fifty eight games to qualify

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Speaker 1: for the scoring title. Maybe he guns for something like that.

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Speaker 1: But I just I just don't I just don't see

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Speaker 1: the point and trying to limp Lebron James and Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis injured versions of them into a first round series

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Speaker 1: against the Phoenix Suns team that is going to beat

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Speaker 1: the living ship out of them. There's just no point

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Speaker 1: in trying to to to persevere for something like that.

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis needs to take a good long time to

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Speaker 1: heal up these injuries that he's been dealing with with

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Speaker 1: his midfoot spraining with his knee, and Lebron needs to

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Speaker 1: get whatever is going on with that left knee figured out.

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Speaker 1: They need to retool in the off season, and they

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Speaker 1: need to make a run next year because there's no

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Speaker 1: point in continuing to waste physical resources on these guys

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Speaker 1: that don't want to do it. They've been trying all

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Speaker 1: year long to tell us exactly who they are as

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Speaker 1: a basketball team, and we've tried and tricked ourselves into

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Speaker 1: thinking they might not be. But this is that, This

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Speaker 1: is that final, This is that that that you know,

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Speaker 1: resounding statement of what they intend to do down the stretch. Now,

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Speaker 1: the the way that Russ has choose to handle this

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Speaker 1: is very different because Russ is a little more Kobe

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Speaker 1: than he is Lebron in terms of his obstinates, Like

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Speaker 1: Russ is going to pound his head into the wall

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Speaker 1: to try to stop the season from going down this route.

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Speaker 1: But you saw that tonight manifest in Russ's regression, regress,

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Speaker 1: regressing back to what he was early in the season

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Speaker 1: when he was struggling. You know, Russ just played three

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Speaker 1: of the best games he played in the Laker jersey

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Speaker 1: against the Warriors, against the Jazz, and against the Clippers.

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Speaker 1: He was excellent as a backup perimeter initiator, limiting his mistakes,

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Speaker 1: generating rim pressure, creating shots for his teammates. He was

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Speaker 1: giving better defensive effort than he had given in a

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Speaker 1: long time. And his way of quitting, I was saying,

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Speaker 1: screw that, I'm going two thousand seventeen Russ, and today,

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Speaker 1: all of his you know, all of that work he

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Speaker 1: had done to temper his own nature to try to

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Speaker 1: fit into the role, he just threw that all away

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Speaker 1: tonight and went all in on. I'm just putting my

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Speaker 1: head down and drive into the basket. Zero assists in

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Speaker 1: seven turnovers. That's that. That that is That is the

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Speaker 1: definition of Russ leaning. I guess he did have one

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Speaker 1: assistant crunched in garbage time. I want to make sure

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Speaker 1: I give him his credit there. But you're seeing Russ

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Speaker 1: in this case say screw it. I'm doing it my way.

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Speaker 1: That's his way of quitting. Russ's way of quitting isn't

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Speaker 1: gonna manifest the way that it did for Lebron. But

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Speaker 1: what's funny is Lebron and the Lebron and Russ started

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Speaker 1: this game with that tone. The rest of the team followed,

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Speaker 1: and it was over, and this is the result that

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Speaker 1: comes with that. I'm really curious to see what happens

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Speaker 1: here in the next couple of days. I'm curious to

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Speaker 1: see if we get an announcement from Sham saying that

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Speaker 1: Lebron's gonna hang it up, or that he's gonna take

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Speaker 1: a week off for something along those lines, something referencing

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Speaker 1: his knee. I'm curious to see if they dip into

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Speaker 1: some G League talent and try to develop some of

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Speaker 1: their younger players and maybe bench Russ or send Russ

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Speaker 1: him or something along those lines. I'm really curious to

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Speaker 1: see what's gonna happen. Which brings us to Frank and

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Speaker 1: This is the last thing I wanted to hit on

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Speaker 1: on the Lakers front. You know, I have been back

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Speaker 1: and forth about firing Frank all season. He was put

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Speaker 1: in a really unfortunate position because he's kind of a

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Speaker 1: one pitch guy, Frank Vogel's pitches. If I'm a big

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Speaker 1: basketball team that has defensive minded role players, I'm going

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Speaker 1: to coach the best defense in the league because I'm

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Speaker 1: going to chase and funnel guys to my big guys

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Speaker 1: under the basket, and we're just gonna smother you with

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Speaker 1: our physicality and we're gonna be incredibly difficult to score on.

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Speaker 1: But if you lean into any other direction outside of that,

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Speaker 1: it plays into his weaknesses. Defensive versatility, the willingness to

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Speaker 1: do different things on defense. That's a huge weakness of

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Speaker 1: Frank's offensive. The understanding of how to scheme an NBA

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Speaker 1: offense in the year two that's not a strength of

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Speaker 1: Frank vocals. So when you build a team like this,

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Speaker 1: it's obviously gonna play directly into his weaknesses and he's

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Speaker 1: gonna look inadequate. So I want to throw some defense

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Speaker 1: to Frank Vogel in the sense that he was set

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Speaker 1: up to fail but those weaknesses are what they are,

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Speaker 1: and if you don't think that by next season you

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Speaker 1: can recreate the personnel and the identity of the Lakers

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Speaker 1: that Frank coached so well, then what's the point of

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Speaker 1: keeping him. At this point, you can need to do

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Speaker 1: one of two things. You either need to have someone

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Speaker 1: in house, someone like Phil Handy, to take the team

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Speaker 1: moving forward, or you need to find somebody outside of

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Speaker 1: the franchise. This now becomes a great opportunity in this

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Speaker 1: next month and a half to get a look at

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Speaker 1: Phil Handy, to get a look at Dave Fizdale, and

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Speaker 1: to see if those guys can get the job done,

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Speaker 1: just in terms of their scheming and their approach. You

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Speaker 1: get a feel for those guys after this season. If

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Speaker 1: it's obvious that they're not the guys, then you can

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Speaker 1: spend all summer or hopefully early in the summer, getting

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Speaker 1: the best available candidate to come in and try to

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Speaker 1: get this team back on track. But at this point,

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Speaker 1: there's literally no reason to keep Frank around. There's nothing

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Speaker 1: to be gained. All you're doing is hurting him, putting

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Speaker 1: him in a situation where he's not happy, he's not

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Speaker 1: engaged with the team anymore. The team's not engaged with him.

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Speaker 1: It's like continuing to date somebody that you know you're

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Speaker 1: a bad fit with just because you live with each other,

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Speaker 1: and moving out is kind of a pain. There's no

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Speaker 1: point in delaying the inevitable here. I would give the

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Speaker 1: keys to Phil Handy. The reason why is we already

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Speaker 1: have examples of what David Fizdil is as a coach.

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Speaker 1: There's leg work that can be done in the form

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Speaker 1: of interviews and watching tape and digging back into Fizdal's

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Speaker 1: history to see what he's like as a head coach.

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Speaker 1: We don't really know with Phil Handy. We don't know

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Speaker 1: how he is managing timeout so we don't know how

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Speaker 1: he is with time and clock situations. We don't know

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Speaker 1: how he is play calling. We we haven't seen enough

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Speaker 1: of that yet. So give Phil Handy a chance over

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Speaker 1: the course of this next month and a half of

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Speaker 1: the season to essentially audition for the head coach of

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Speaker 1: the Lakers. That's the direction I would go because at

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Speaker 1: this point, again, there's absolutely nothing to be gained by

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Speaker 1: keeping Frank around. He's a bad coach for this group,

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Speaker 1: even though he's a good coach. For other groups. The

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Speaker 1: guys have already quit on him, and you're gonna have

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Speaker 1: to fire him this summer anyway, So why would you

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Speaker 1: keep him around for a month and a half to

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Speaker 1: be miserable so that all the guys can be miserable.

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Speaker 1: Just try throwing a curveball in there and see if

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Speaker 1: you can get something different over the course of this

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Speaker 1: last stretch of the season, to try to get just

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Speaker 1: just a cleansing effect. But informmation, guys like there's just

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Speaker 1: I'm not a defeatist, I'm an optimist. Rog and I

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Speaker 1: all season long talked about how there was a good

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Speaker 1: team in this Laker locker room. We were incredibly defensive

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Speaker 1: of the fact that we knew that when Lebron and

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Speaker 1: a d were healthy and they were surrounded by a

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Speaker 1: scheme and a set of role players that worked, that

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Speaker 1: they were extremely tough to beat. But for whatever reason,

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Speaker 1: it never came together. And the writings on the wall

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Speaker 1: it needs to be accepted because if they didn't try

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Speaker 1: tonight against the Pelicans in an extremely winnable game, go

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Speaker 1: look at the rest of their schedule in March, what

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Speaker 1: do you think they're gonna finally turn it up? Against

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Speaker 1: the Sun's. Do you think they're gonna finally turn it

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Speaker 1: up against the Warriors? They play the Mavericks on Tuesday.

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Speaker 1: The Mavericks are awesome. We're gonna talk about them in

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Speaker 1: a few minutes. Do you think the Lakers are gonna

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Speaker 1: suddenly figure it out against Dallas when this perfectly winnable

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Speaker 1: game was on the table tonight and they literally just

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Speaker 1: didn't go for it. They're telling you what they want.

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Speaker 1: They want to be done, so let them be done.

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Speaker 1: This is Lakers Tonight, presented by FanDuel here on the volume.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys coming to hang out. I I

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Speaker 1: can't talk anymore Lakers tonight. Guys. I'm over. I'm over

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Speaker 1: this team. We're gonna move on to some of the

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Speaker 1: other games that happened tonight. I wanted to talk specifically

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Speaker 1: about that end of the game from Dallas and Golden State.

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Speaker 1: I was so fascinated with the way that Dallas came

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00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:00,720
Speaker 1: back to win that game because they were getting a

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Speaker 1: boatload of stops. Golden State could not score. I saw

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Speaker 1: a stat that one of the Lakers beat right or

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00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:09,640
Speaker 1: Warriors beat writers put out there that the Warriors did

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Speaker 1: not make a field goal from the nine something minute

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Speaker 1: mark two about the two minute mark in the fourth quarter.

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Speaker 1: And so what I was fascinated by is the way

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Speaker 1: that Dallas was getting stops because they had a line

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Speaker 1: up out there with Luca don Chech, who's a good

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Speaker 1: uh He's a big defender who can gamble and play

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Speaker 1: passing lanes a little bit. He's a decent positional defender,

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Speaker 1: but he's certainly not a good defender. He's just passable,

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Speaker 1: you know. Din Wittie's an okay defensive player. Jalen Brunson

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Speaker 1: is okay. They went with Luca Spencer, Dinwitdi and Jalen Brunson.

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Speaker 1: So the three best shot creators, Reggie Bullock, who was

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Speaker 1: lock and trailing stuff all over the court and just

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Speaker 1: denying him the basketball. But he's an only okay defensive player.

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Speaker 1: He's not a great defensive player. Had a good defensive

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Speaker 1: season last year with the Knicks, but over the course

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Speaker 1: of his career he's been more or less just an

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Speaker 1: okay defensive player. And then Dorian Phineas Smith, who's a

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Speaker 1: really good defensive wing. So they had Dorian Phinney Smith,

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Speaker 1: a wing playing center, a two guard chasing Steff around,

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Speaker 1: and then three more two guards on the floor and

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Speaker 1: completely and utterly shut down the Golden State Warriors. And

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Speaker 1: I don't think that's a coincidence, And I think it's

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Speaker 1: an example of the direction that the game of basketball

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Speaker 1: is going in, something I've been talking about NonStop and

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Speaker 1: something that I think is so important. And the teams

430
00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:25,800
Speaker 1: that embrace this first are gonna be the teams that win,

431
00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:28,560
Speaker 1: and the teams that cling to the old style of

432
00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:31,119
Speaker 1: basketball are gonna be the ones that look like the Lakers.

433
00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:36,320
Speaker 1: So when you have that group and you switch everything,

434
00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:39,119
Speaker 1: you shut down all of Golden State's actions, all of

435
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,280
Speaker 1: their pin downs and flares and and split cuts and

436
00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:44,560
Speaker 1: and Steph flying off the screens. None of that works

437
00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:47,680
Speaker 1: when you're switching everything. So then it becomes who can

438
00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:52,600
Speaker 1: create a shot. And you've got Andrew Wiggins who loves

439
00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:54,760
Speaker 1: to take and settle for eighteen to twenty ft pull

440
00:23:54,800 --> 00:23:56,320
Speaker 1: up jump shots that he's only gonna make, you know,

441
00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:58,359
Speaker 1: thirty eight percent of the time or whatever it is.

442
00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:01,159
Speaker 1: And then you've got Steph who, when they really are

443
00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:03,040
Speaker 1: keying in on him at this phase in his career,

444
00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:05,160
Speaker 1: he's gonna struggle to get shots off. I'll point I'll

445
00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:07,159
Speaker 1: talk about that here in a minute, But for the

446
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:10,000
Speaker 1: most part, it's a lot of guys on the Warriors

447
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:12,520
Speaker 1: that aren't great at creating their own shot. Even Jordan

448
00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:15,399
Speaker 1: Pool is really struggling against Dorton Fitty and Dorrian Phinney

449
00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:18,639
Speaker 1: Smith's length. So at the end of the day, the Warriors,

450
00:24:19,119 --> 00:24:22,840
Speaker 1: they're high powered offense. There, their motion offense with all

451
00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:25,960
Speaker 1: this movement and cutting and screening was utterly shut down

452
00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,119
Speaker 1: by a team that just switched everything. And again, so

453
00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:31,320
Speaker 1: many coaches get caught up in oh, I'm giving up

454
00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:33,840
Speaker 1: a size mismatch. This guy can shoot a jump pook

455
00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:36,320
Speaker 1: over Jalen Brunson in the post or this guy can

456
00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:39,960
Speaker 1: get an offensive rebound against Spencer Dinwoodie. Yeah, you're right,

457
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:43,920
Speaker 1: they can't. You're gonna give up some things. Every defensive

458
00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:46,840
Speaker 1: scheme is an example of giving and taking. Here's the

459
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,080
Speaker 1: thing that I'm going to take away from you, and

460
00:24:49,119 --> 00:24:51,400
Speaker 1: here's the thing that I'm giving to you as part

461
00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,639
Speaker 1: of the process of taking that other thing away. And

462
00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:57,879
Speaker 1: Dallas gave up seize mismatches all over the floor, Dallas

463
00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:00,639
Speaker 1: gave up athleticism matchups all over the floor, and it

464
00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:03,359
Speaker 1: just didn't matter because they switched everything. And then on

465
00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:06,760
Speaker 1: the other end of the floor with those three high

466
00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:10,760
Speaker 1: level dribble drive guys and Spencer Dinwodie, Jalen Brunson and

467
00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:14,680
Speaker 1: Luca don Chich there meanwhile getting fantastic stuff against a

468
00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:18,720
Speaker 1: great Warriors defense that has tons of length and athleticism,

469
00:25:18,760 --> 00:25:21,600
Speaker 1: that is great perimeter defenders who slide their feet and

470
00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:24,040
Speaker 1: keep guys in front. And it's just not enough because

471
00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:26,480
Speaker 1: on the other end, they're just picking their spots who

472
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:29,240
Speaker 1: has the best matchup. Spencer Dinwoodie was getting good stuff.

473
00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:31,480
Speaker 1: At the end of the game, the Luca was able

474
00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:33,840
Speaker 1: to give the ball up because Spencer didn't Woodie was

475
00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:35,480
Speaker 1: able to create his own shot and was able to

476
00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,240
Speaker 1: create shots for his teammates. That's the advantage of that

477
00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:40,919
Speaker 1: style of basketball. That is five out basketball, that is

478
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:44,040
Speaker 1: switch everything basketball, that is modern basketball, and that is

479
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:48,400
Speaker 1: what works now. And for whatever reason, there is nobody

480
00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:50,879
Speaker 1: in the Laker front office that has watched enough hoops

481
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,720
Speaker 1: over the course of the last five years to understand that,

482
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:57,080
Speaker 1: because they've done everything in their power to alienate that

483
00:25:57,160 --> 00:26:00,520
Speaker 1: sort of thing and lean into it. When everything was

484
00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:02,680
Speaker 1: hitting the fan in the third quarter today, guess where

485
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:08,040
Speaker 1: Frank Vogel went DeAndre Jordan's who at one point decided

486
00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:10,680
Speaker 1: he was point DJ and dribble the ball up the

487
00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:12,800
Speaker 1: floor and threw it thirty ft over someone's head into

488
00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:16,159
Speaker 1: the into the stands. Well when about exactly as you

489
00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:19,080
Speaker 1: would expect for a non NBA player trying to play

490
00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:21,639
Speaker 1: in an NBA basketball game. But at the end of

491
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:23,760
Speaker 1: the day, I thought it was super fascinating to see

492
00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:26,760
Speaker 1: these teams like Dallas. There's so many other teams like

493
00:26:26,760 --> 00:26:29,919
Speaker 1: this around the league that are succeeding playing a modern

494
00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:33,840
Speaker 1: style of basketball. And it doesn't have to be Everyone

495
00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:37,040
Speaker 1: told me all season long, the Lakers don't have defensive personnel.

496
00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:39,760
Speaker 1: The Lakers don't have guys that can keep people in front,

497
00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:42,920
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of truth to that, but they

498
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:46,640
Speaker 1: certainly weren't going to succeed playing old fashioned basketball. If

499
00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:50,160
Speaker 1: Dallas can get those guys to guard, the Lakers should

500
00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:52,040
Speaker 1: have been able to get any of these guys to guard,

501
00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:55,000
Speaker 1: and they just haven't been able to. Last thing, I

502
00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:57,040
Speaker 1: wanted to hit on the Warriors with Step shooting slump.

503
00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:00,960
Speaker 1: So for this entire season he shooting thirty seven point

504
00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:04,760
Speaker 1: six percent from three, but he's certainly not trending in

505
00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:07,560
Speaker 1: the right direction because in his last eight games he's

506
00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:12,440
Speaker 1: shooting thirty four point two from three. Before the Draymond injury,

507
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:14,720
Speaker 1: the Warriors were twenty eight and six, and since the

508
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:18,280
Speaker 1: Draymond injury they're fifteen and twelve. So obviously Draymond plays

509
00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:20,280
Speaker 1: a part in this. Brings a lot on the defensive end,

510
00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:23,840
Speaker 1: but also for Step shot quality. He's really good at

511
00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:28,080
Speaker 1: setting screens and re screening and and watching Step off

512
00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:30,080
Speaker 1: the ball and hunting him in the spots that he

513
00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:32,440
Speaker 1: likes to be. They have a great chemistry with each other,

514
00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:34,800
Speaker 1: so shot quality is part of that, but the other

515
00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:36,639
Speaker 1: part of it That's really fascinating to me because this

516
00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:39,560
Speaker 1: is I don't think this is a slump anymore. We

517
00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:41,639
Speaker 1: are now bordering on this is a half of a

518
00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:44,280
Speaker 1: season where Steph has not been able to shoot the

519
00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,960
Speaker 1: three nearly as well as he has used to, like

520
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:50,480
Speaker 1: massive decline, like ten percent down from what he was

521
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,200
Speaker 1: shooting over the same stretch of games last year. That's

522
00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:56,000
Speaker 1: how bad it's been. And what's really fascinating to me

523
00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:59,119
Speaker 1: is the way that a guy like Steph Curry would age.

524
00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:03,520
Speaker 1: Because you watch a guy like Lebron, or you watch

525
00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:06,040
Speaker 1: a guy like Chris Paul, you watch these, you watch

526
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:09,000
Speaker 1: these older the vets that are good with body positioning

527
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:12,600
Speaker 1: and pinning guys and using their strength and angles to

528
00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:15,600
Speaker 1: get their shots off. Lebron is way less athletic than

529
00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:17,400
Speaker 1: he used to be when he was younger, but he's

530
00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:20,399
Speaker 1: still so effective getting to the rim and finishing because

531
00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:23,760
Speaker 1: he just does it with his strength and with savvy

532
00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:26,119
Speaker 1: and positioning and ceiling and he's it's almost like a

533
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:30,760
Speaker 1: blow the rim version of his of himself, but with Steph,

534
00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:33,760
Speaker 1: because he is a jump shooter, because the Lion's share

535
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:36,359
Speaker 1: of what he generates as a scorer is as a

536
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:41,360
Speaker 1: jump shooter, that minuscule decline can be the difference between

537
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:45,640
Speaker 1: a great look and only an okay look. When Steph

538
00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:49,080
Speaker 1: was at his peak physically, he could have an inch

539
00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:53,240
Speaker 1: of space and that was enough for him. But maybe

540
00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:56,400
Speaker 1: he needs five inches of space now as he slowed

541
00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:58,840
Speaker 1: down a little bit, and that difference can be the

542
00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:03,440
Speaker 1: difference between shoot on thirteen threes a game and shooting

543
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:07,280
Speaker 1: thirty percent on thirteen threes a game. So it remains

544
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:10,800
Speaker 1: to be seen because he looks mostly the same right like,

545
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:14,680
Speaker 1: it doesn't look slow out there. But again, a miniscule

546
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:18,160
Speaker 1: decline for a guy like Steph could be the difference

547
00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:22,120
Speaker 1: between him being a great shooter and an amazing greatest

548
00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:25,280
Speaker 1: shooter of all time and just a great shooter. That's

549
00:29:25,320 --> 00:29:27,640
Speaker 1: the type of decline that you might see there, and

550
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:30,320
Speaker 1: it remains to be seen. Like I said, this could

551
00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:32,120
Speaker 1: either be a long, drawn on slump and we'll see

552
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:33,640
Speaker 1: him but bust out of this. I said this on

553
00:29:33,680 --> 00:29:36,360
Speaker 1: the Favorites earlier this week. Steph is a bona fide

554
00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:39,160
Speaker 1: MVP candidate in my opinion because if he shoots really

555
00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:41,480
Speaker 1: well for a month, if he has one month where

556
00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 1: he shoots from three on like fifteen attempts, then all

557
00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,040
Speaker 1: of a sudden, his percentages around out he finishes around

558
00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:51,520
Speaker 1: for the season. That's an MVP candidate because if they

559
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:53,960
Speaker 1: end up high enough in the standings, that's a very

560
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:57,120
Speaker 1: you know, traditional type of m VP candidate. So it's

561
00:29:57,400 --> 00:29:59,640
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to you know, sign his own picture

562
00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:02,200
Speaker 1: where he's so to speak. I'm just saying that this

563
00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:06,480
Speaker 1: is now a very very very long drawn out slump,

564
00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:09,160
Speaker 1: and it very easily could be the sign of a decline.

565
00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:12,680
Speaker 1: Really quick hitters here, I wanted to touch on just

566
00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:15,600
Speaker 1: how dominant the Sixers have been. It's only been two games,

567
00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:19,080
Speaker 1: but I have some crazy stats for you guys. So,

568
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:22,840
Speaker 1: James Harden and Joel Embiid have played fifty three minutes together.

569
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:27,840
Speaker 1: In those fifty three minutes, the Sixers are plus forty six.

570
00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:31,680
Speaker 1: Think about how crazy that is. That's a plus forty

571
00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:35,400
Speaker 1: three point one net rating in those minutes, hundred and

572
00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:39,360
Speaker 1: thirty four point five offensive rating that's outrageously good. One

573
00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:44,120
Speaker 1: point four defensive rating that's outrageously good. That is about

574
00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:49,680
Speaker 1: as resounding a dominant beginning to this era that you

575
00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:53,280
Speaker 1: could have possibly scripted. What I thought was really interesting

576
00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:55,000
Speaker 1: is the difference in the way that James Harden is

577
00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:58,280
Speaker 1: playing with EMBAT and without Embeat. So when in beads

578
00:30:58,320 --> 00:31:02,040
Speaker 1: on the floor, James Harden is only attempting nine point

579
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:06,200
Speaker 1: five shots per thirty six minutes, but in those same minutes,

580
00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:10,760
Speaker 1: he's averaging fifteen point seven assists per thirty six minutes.

581
00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:14,840
Speaker 1: So when Joel embiads on the floor, he's going full playmaker.

582
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:18,920
Speaker 1: But when joe Ell Embiads off the floor, his field

583
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:22,360
Speaker 1: goal attempts go up to twenty point one per thirty

584
00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:25,040
Speaker 1: six and his assists drop all the way down to

585
00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:28,760
Speaker 1: eight point four per thirty six. So he's completely changing

586
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:31,040
Speaker 1: his approach when it beats off the floor to your

587
00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:33,960
Speaker 1: vintage James Harden, I'm trying to score the basketball. The

588
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:36,560
Speaker 1: reason why I think that's interesting is I think that

589
00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:38,760
Speaker 1: one of the ways that these two teams, the way

590
00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:40,600
Speaker 1: that Minnesota guarded him, in the way that the Knicks

591
00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:43,600
Speaker 1: have guarded him way too much, like trapping and sending

592
00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:47,280
Speaker 1: two bodies at Harden while he's running those screen and

593
00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:50,320
Speaker 1: rolls with him Beat. When James doesn't want to shoot

594
00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:52,680
Speaker 1: when he's with him Beat, James wants to facilitate when

595
00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:55,680
Speaker 1: he's with him beat. And my thing is, like, with

596
00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:58,520
Speaker 1: how dominant e Beat is playing right now, very clearly

597
00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:00,520
Speaker 1: one of the best players in the league, probably gonna

598
00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:03,880
Speaker 1: win m v P. Why would you play into his strengths.

599
00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:06,960
Speaker 1: You should want James Harden to beat you, not embeat.

600
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:09,440
Speaker 1: So my thing is I would like to see some

601
00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:11,960
Speaker 1: of these teams with them Beat on the floor, play

602
00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:14,320
Speaker 1: James Harden straight up a little bit more and try

603
00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:16,880
Speaker 1: to get the Sixers out of rhythm and start to

604
00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:19,280
Speaker 1: try to get James to gun a little bit and

605
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:22,880
Speaker 1: maybe get that dynamic to switch away. Because I did

606
00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:25,880
Speaker 1: the amount of free throws that Joel Embiid is getting

607
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:28,400
Speaker 1: with James Harden is insane, and a big part of

608
00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:30,440
Speaker 1: that is him catching the ball in that short role

609
00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:33,720
Speaker 1: unguarded because his man is trapping James Harden thirty ft

610
00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:35,520
Speaker 1: from the basket when James Harden doesn't want to shoot.

611
00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:38,280
Speaker 1: So that that that's gonna be the interesting dynamic to watch.

612
00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:41,840
Speaker 1: Their one last note on the Sixers. While Joel Embiid

613
00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:45,840
Speaker 1: and James Harden are on the floor, other Sixers players

614
00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:50,200
Speaker 1: are shooting forty two point four percent from three. That's

615
00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:53,200
Speaker 1: how open and high quality the looks are that the

616
00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:56,960
Speaker 1: other role players are getting playing alongside Joel Embid and

617
00:32:57,040 --> 00:33:00,280
Speaker 1: James Harden. That's scary, especially with how good the those

618
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:03,840
Speaker 1: role players are at doing the defensive job on the

619
00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:06,360
Speaker 1: other end of the floor. Last really quick note before

620
00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:08,760
Speaker 1: we get out of here, the Phoenix Suns lost their

621
00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:13,560
Speaker 1: second consecutive game without Chris Paul. Their offensive rating this

622
00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:16,800
Speaker 1: season drops from one fifteen point nine with Chris Paul

623
00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:21,320
Speaker 1: on the floor to one oh six point three without him. Translation.

624
00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:23,160
Speaker 1: With Chris Paul on the floor, they're one of the

625
00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:25,840
Speaker 1: best offenses in the league. With Chris Paul off the floor,

626
00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:27,960
Speaker 1: they're one of the worst offenses in the league. That's

627
00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:31,720
Speaker 1: basically the difference that we're talking about. And this goes

628
00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:33,480
Speaker 1: back to what I said when I was talking about

629
00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:36,560
Speaker 1: the Sun's last week. This Chris Paul injury is fine.

630
00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:40,040
Speaker 1: They bought so much leeway that they can drop a

631
00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:41,840
Speaker 1: couple of home games like this and it's not a

632
00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:44,560
Speaker 1: big deal. They're gonna end up the number one overall

633
00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:48,680
Speaker 1: seed pretty much no matter what. So everything's fine. But

634
00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:53,040
Speaker 1: if Chris Paul for whatever reason can't play in the playoffs,

635
00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:56,840
Speaker 1: whether it's from this injury or him being a shell

636
00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:58,680
Speaker 1: of himself because he's not in shape when he gets back,

637
00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:01,480
Speaker 1: or he's not in rhythm, or if you for whatever reason,

638
00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:03,320
Speaker 1: suffers some other kind of injury and he can't play

639
00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:06,880
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, this suddenly becomes a very beautiful basketball team.

640
00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:09,440
Speaker 1: That's the fragility of the NBA. That's just how this works.

641
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:12,160
Speaker 1: When you don't when guys get hurt, you lose. I mean,

642
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:13,760
Speaker 1: you don't have to look any further than the Lakers

643
00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:17,960
Speaker 1: to understand that. But I'm just saying, even for a

644
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:20,600
Speaker 1: team as talented as the Sun's, they are not immune

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00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:22,960
Speaker 1: to that either, and they're gonna need all their guys

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00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:25,879
Speaker 1: to be healthy to have a real chance to win. Alright, guys,

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00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:28,160
Speaker 1: that's all I have for tonight. I appreciate you guys

648
00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:33,319
Speaker 1: dealing with an extremely frustrating Laker team tonight. We will

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00:34:33,360 --> 00:34:37,840
Speaker 1: be back on Tuesday after the Dallas Mavericks game or

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00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:40,160
Speaker 1: who knows what's gonna happen. Who knows if they're gonna

651
00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:42,399
Speaker 1: have a different coach, who knows if they're even gonna

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00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:44,160
Speaker 1: go for it that night, But we will be here

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00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:46,680
Speaker 1: right after the final buzzer that night. As always, I

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00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:48,799
Speaker 1: appreciate your guys, support and I will see you in

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00:34:48,800 --> 00:35:14,400
Speaker 1: a couple of days. The volume