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Speaker 1: Hoops Tonight, presented by Fan Duel here at the volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Wednesday, everybody. We have an absolutely jam packed show today.
Speaker 1: I told you guys, coming into this playoff run, I
Speaker 1: thought it was gonna be one of the best playoff
Speaker 1: runs in the history of the NBA because of the
Speaker 1: incredible amount of talent that we have in the league
Speaker 1: and the way that the matchups worked out, and it
Speaker 1: was something that I was very, very very excited for,
Speaker 1: and as a result, when I was trying to put
Speaker 1: all my thoughts together, I was like, there's just way
Speaker 1: too much to get into here, and so I think
Speaker 1: the best way for us to do this tonight is
Speaker 1: to do it a little differently than we have Ben.
Speaker 1: We're gonna bring my guy Carson on and we are
Speaker 1: going to get into the ten biggest questions of the night.
Speaker 1: I think that will give us our best opportunity to
Speaker 1: touch all of our basis. So let's get Carson on
Speaker 1: and we're gonna get right into it. Yeah. Well, Jason,
Speaker 1: I think that the appropriate running point here is with
Speaker 1: what I think has been maybe the most anticipated and
Speaker 1: a really interesting first round series, and that is Net Celtics.
Speaker 1: Celtics went up two oh Nets, had a lead going
Speaker 1: into the fourth, ended up squandering at score just seventeen
Speaker 1: in that quarter, and Katie had a really rough shooting
Speaker 1: night overall four of seventeen from the field, also had
Speaker 1: six turnovers. Still managed twenty seven points because the guy
Speaker 1: made eighteen free throws. But that's executive subpar shooting performances
Speaker 1: from him. He's under in the series. So how much
Speaker 1: is he to blame for tonight's loss? For Brooklyn, That's
Speaker 1: a loaded question because he's not to blame in the
Speaker 1: sense that the scheme from Boston was completely, completely surrounding
Speaker 1: shutting Katie down and shutting Kyrie down and making other
Speaker 1: guys make decisions. To Katie's credit, all over the place
Speaker 1: over the last two days and all the talking head
Speaker 1: shows and everybody who's been breaking down this series, there's
Speaker 1: been a lot of pressure on Katie to have an
Speaker 1: amazing bounce back game too. You heard talk of him
Speaker 1: having a playoff career high fifty something, and you've heard
Speaker 1: people talking about hammering the over with his points in
Speaker 1: this game. And you know, to Katie's credit, when Boston
Speaker 1: came out from the from the opening jump, they had
Speaker 1: a very clear strategy. We're not letting Katie have that
Speaker 1: kind of night. The only time he ever was not
Speaker 1: facing a double team was when he had a live
Speaker 1: dribble out past the three point line when he was
Speaker 1: crossing half court. But the second he put the ball
Speaker 1: on the floor and tried to get past anybody, here
Speaker 1: came the double. The second he came for a ball screen,
Speaker 1: here came of the double. Anytime he was moving around
Speaker 1: off the ball, We're beating the hell out of him
Speaker 1: on every single off ball action. We're grabbing him, we're
Speaker 1: holding him. All the same stuff that we talked about
Speaker 1: after Game one, and I actually thought Kevin Durant was
Speaker 1: magnificent in the first half at not buying into that pressure,
Speaker 1: sure to try to produce offensively as a score, but
Speaker 1: just playing basketball and taking what the defense was giving him.
Speaker 1: And Jayson Tatum actually really struggled in his first shift
Speaker 1: in the first quarter with that exact same problem. He
Speaker 1: was getting a very similar coverage from Brooklyn. There there
Speaker 1: were four stars in this game, right, Kyrie k d
Speaker 1: Jayson Tatum, and Jalen and Kyrie Katie and Jayson Tatum
Speaker 1: were all facing that same coverage, just crazy sellout double
Speaker 1: teams every time they got the ball with any threat
Speaker 1: near the basket, basically as soon as they would get
Speaker 1: inside the three point line. And to start the game,
Speaker 1: Jayson Tatum was pressing and forcing and driving into traffic
Speaker 1: and and just throwing stuff up at the rim instead
Speaker 1: of making the right reads. And that was in Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant was just playing basketball and making those right reads,
Speaker 1: and as a result, the Nets got off to a
Speaker 1: really good start. But as the game progressed, Jayson Tatum
Speaker 1: finally settled down and started taking and making the right
Speaker 1: reads as the As the game was progressing, and then
Speaker 1: the second half Boston look like so I would I
Speaker 1: would attribute it to two things, because Kevin Durant absolutely
Speaker 1: fell apart in that second half. He's over eight from
Speaker 1: the field, he had, he had a bunch of sloppy turnovers,
Speaker 1: He's been mishandling the basketball, and a bunch of situations,
Speaker 1: which is super uncharacteristic of a player as skilled as
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant is. But the way I look at it,
Speaker 1: there were two things that played a role there. One
Speaker 1: was the fact that when you're playing the role of
Speaker 1: the facilitator and you're making reads all game along, I
Speaker 1: think he only in the first quarter and a half
Speaker 1: he had only attempted four shots, so like in the
Speaker 1: as the game was progressing, his own rhythm was suffering
Speaker 1: as a result of his playmaking. This is just the
Speaker 1: reality of the way basketball works. One of the advantages
Speaker 1: of double teaming a star and getting the balls at
Speaker 1: the ball out of his hands is he's going to
Speaker 1: struggle to get the rhythm when he does have opportunities
Speaker 1: to score. And I had a feeling that over the
Speaker 1: course of the game, Boston's defense would soften a little
Speaker 1: bit on him because of how well, he was passing,
Speaker 1: and he actually did get some looks. But then what happens.
Speaker 1: Even the good looks you get are tough to make
Speaker 1: because you don't have your rhythm because you haven't been
Speaker 1: getting easier looks to start the game. I complained about
Speaker 1: this with Laker fans all the time. They'd be like, Oh,
Speaker 1: I can't believe another guard came in here and shot
Speaker 1: the lights out again. And it's like he did because
Speaker 1: they let him get comfortable at the start of the game.
Speaker 1: So he felt confident, he felt in his rhythm, and
Speaker 1: he was knocking all the shots down, and the exact
Speaker 1: opposite thing was happening to Kevin Durant. And then the
Speaker 1: second part of it. You gotta credit Boston's defense when
Speaker 1: they are roughing up Kevin Durant to that extent, it
Speaker 1: makes it so that when he gets to those spots,
Speaker 1: he's fatigued. Now all of a sudden, you're you're not
Speaker 1: getting as much you're ordinarily accustomed to getting on those
Speaker 1: jump shots. You also start to kind of feel ghost pressure. Right, Like,
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant is seven ft tall and he's getting to
Speaker 1: those spots. But when you're constantly in this swarm of bodies.
Speaker 1: Even when you get to your spots and you're raising up,
Speaker 1: it's in the back of your mind that maybe Tatum's
Speaker 1: coming from behind you to try to take the ball away,
Speaker 1: or that someone you might not have seen is coming.
Speaker 1: Because one of the things that was happening with k
Speaker 1: D is heat on the catch. Tatum would gamble around
Speaker 1: his body like if he caught the ball on the
Speaker 1: post somewhere. Tatum would gamble around his body and try
Speaker 1: to knock the ball away, and then Katie would turn,
Speaker 1: and then as soon as he would turn, like there'd
Speaker 1: be Al Horford right on it, like they were swarming
Speaker 1: him everywhere on the floor. So you've got to give
Speaker 1: out Horford a little bit of credit, or excuse me,
Speaker 1: the Celtics defense in general, a little bit of credit
Speaker 1: for how much they disrupt him. Disrupted him, and it
Speaker 1: was by design. And so you know, if you're if
Speaker 1: you're Boston and you're sitting in the locker room after
Speaker 1: the game and you're watching some film, the way you
Speaker 1: gotta look at it is our game plan was to
Speaker 1: take Kevin Durant at this game. He beat us with
Speaker 1: the past in the first half, and then he fell
Speaker 1: apart in the second half, and that's the way it's
Speaker 1: gonna go in a lot of cases. You know, this
Speaker 1: is you know, I used to be clear. I still
Speaker 1: think Kevin Durant's the best player in the world right now.
Speaker 1: I have the utmost respect for him and what he
Speaker 1: brings to the table on both ends of the floor.
Speaker 1: But from two thousand twelve to two thousand twenty, no
Speaker 1: matter how many times someone would bring up another name,
Speaker 1: whether it was k d in two thousand fourteen, or
Speaker 1: whether it was stepth from two thousand fifteen to two
Speaker 1: thousand sixteen, or Katie again in two thousand seventeen two
Speaker 1: thousand eighteen, or if it was Kawhi Leonard in two
Speaker 1: thousand nineteen, every time I'd always step up and I'd
Speaker 1: be like, hey, guys, let's chew out a little bit.
Speaker 1: These guys aren't as good as Lebron is. And one
Speaker 1: of the reasons why is because Lebron is essentially impervious
Speaker 1: to the type of game that Kevin Durant had tonight.
Speaker 1: Because if you try to rough him him up up
Speaker 1: the off the ball, he's gonna win that matchup. There's
Speaker 1: never been not since the Pistons in two thousand seven,
Speaker 1: have you seen the team kind of successfully rough Lebron
Speaker 1: up with physicality. That's the thing that's a that's a
Speaker 1: situation that he thrives in. And then in addition to that,
Speaker 1: and this is something you saw with all the Stars today,
Speaker 1: with Kyrie, with Jayson Tatum and with Kevin Durant. They're
Speaker 1: wired his scores, but they've progressed as playmakers enough in
Speaker 1: their career that they do start to make reads that
Speaker 1: are there because they're they're improving in those areas of
Speaker 1: their game, but their natural identity as a basketball player
Speaker 1: defaults to scoring, and so they're gonna go off that
Speaker 1: script often and they're gonna try to do what they
Speaker 1: like to do. Lebron's the exact opposite. That's why he's
Speaker 1: received criticism in his career for not taking certain shots
Speaker 1: in that environment, in that crazy environment, with that that
Speaker 1: that over aggressive defense, Lebron will persistently make the right
Speaker 1: read every single time down the floor to a fault,
Speaker 1: sometimes to the point where he won't take advantage enough
Speaker 1: of scoring opportunities. And and and I, but you have
Speaker 1: to take every time a defense is aggressive, there isn't
Speaker 1: opening somewhere on the floor, and you have to take
Speaker 1: advantage of that. That's why I've been preaching about that
Speaker 1: with Nikolavuseovitch in this Bucks Bulls series, Like, if they're
Speaker 1: going to sit and drop coverage all game long and
Speaker 1: take away the paint, you have to take threes. You
Speaker 1: have to do something to shoot them out of that coverage.
Speaker 1: And you saw that tonight a lot with Katie and
Speaker 1: Tatum in particular. They would get off script and they
Speaker 1: would try to do their own thing, even though there
Speaker 1: were opportunities there to con in you to make the
Speaker 1: defense pay. And that's that's one of those situations that
Speaker 1: I hope people in retrospect have appreciation for why Lebron
Speaker 1: James has been so dominant and consistent as a playoff
Speaker 1: player in his career, because it centers around that the
Speaker 1: ability to thrive in the physical the physical environments, the
Speaker 1: ability to consistently make defenses pay for being over aggressive,
Speaker 1: and and this is the crucial part. He can do
Speaker 1: the Katie and Kyrie stuff too. He can he has
Speaker 1: high level shot making and he's done it on the
Speaker 1: biggest stages time and time again. That's why I always
Speaker 1: was drawn to him It's why I thought he was
Speaker 1: the best player. Katie's the best player now, but that's
Speaker 1: one of the shortcomings in his game, and that's why
Speaker 1: you saw that. You saw that pop up tonight and
Speaker 1: become a problem in that second half. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: like you said, I think this is a loaded question
Speaker 1: and it's a difficult one to answer, and I think
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right about how stellar the Celtics were defensively
Speaker 1: on Katie and how much of a priority he was,
Speaker 1: and really outside of the free throws, there wasn't really
Speaker 1: an easy look on the table for him tonight. And
Speaker 1: he's obviously, you know, an all time difficult shot makers,
Speaker 1: so you expect some more of those to fall. But
Speaker 1: there's lots of situations where he's facing multiple defenders and
Speaker 1: he is still trying to get that shot up. So
Speaker 1: I think the one component here in which you can say, yes,
Speaker 1: as tough as that matchup was and part of it
Speaker 1: just shots not falling, where he does probably need to
Speaker 1: be held accountable, is just from the perspective of you're
Speaker 1: not gonna get many offensive games like this from the
Speaker 1: Nets role players. I mean, Bruce Brown was tremendous with
Speaker 1: twenty three on eight of twelve. Seth was pretty good
Speaker 1: tonight with sixteen. Drag had another really productive game off
Speaker 1: the bench with eighteen on eight of four teen shooting.
Speaker 1: So yes, that's interrelated with all the attention that Katie
Speaker 1: is drawing. And obviously he and Kyrie are the only
Speaker 1: reason the Nets are the basketball team they are to
Speaker 1: begin with. But when you have a chance like that,
Speaker 1: you think a couple more of those tough shots have
Speaker 1: probably got to go. Because it's Kevin Durant that we're
Speaker 1: talking about, and that's just the expectation. Yeah, Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: Kai recombined for one made field goal in the second half.
Speaker 1: That can't happen now, regardless of how you feel about
Speaker 1: Boston's defense, which we'll talk a little bit more about
Speaker 1: in a second, regardless of how you feel about that,
Speaker 1: they simply have to be better. And I actually thought
Speaker 1: Kadi got a handful of decent looks in that second
Speaker 1: half that just weren't even close, leaving him short, missing
Speaker 1: left and right. And then again, I think it was
Speaker 1: just a weird night. It was a weird night on
Speaker 1: that front. Both guys just had really really rough nights.
Speaker 1: Mention it, we gave Katie's numbers, Kyrie ten points on
Speaker 1: four thirteen shooting. So overall, would you say that tonight
Speaker 1: was more about bad offense from the Nets are good
Speaker 1: defense from the Celtics. I thought it was good defense
Speaker 1: from the Celtics. We're gonna talk more about, I mean
Speaker 1: outside outside of the shot making, the shot making from
Speaker 1: Kadi and Kyrie, the turnovers, the mishandling the basketball. That's
Speaker 1: stuff they just have to get better about. But that's
Speaker 1: not a game plan thing. That's not something you can
Speaker 1: go and like, let's watch tape and figure out how
Speaker 1: we can start. No, you just have to make those shots.
Speaker 1: That's a short that that's just something that they have
Speaker 1: to be better about, right, So I I look at
Speaker 1: it more as putting the onus and the and the
Speaker 1: credit on Boston for disrupting them to that extent. Like
Speaker 1: how many times have you seen Kevin Durant shoot a
Speaker 1: pull up jump shot in his career and be blocked.
Speaker 1: It's happened I think at least twice in this series,
Speaker 1: both from Jayson Tatum. Like that's just a relentless pursuit
Speaker 1: from Tatum on a lot of these possessions. Katie's coming
Speaker 1: over a ball screen or something and getting separation from
Speaker 1: Tatum and then going up into a shot. But Tatum's
Speaker 1: applying what's called back pressure, like flying over the top
Speaker 1: of the screen knowing you're a bit out of the play,
Speaker 1: but that Katie eventually is gonna have to slow down
Speaker 1: to get up into a shot, and that's your opportunity
Speaker 1: to recover and make a defensive play. And he did
Speaker 1: that a bunch tonight. This is a really really interesting
Speaker 1: situation that's happening in the NBA. And I started to
Speaker 1: pick up on this just a little bit back in
Speaker 1: that Phoenix Suns Lakers series last year in the first round.
Speaker 1: I started to know notice that teams were starting to
Speaker 1: figure out because of the overall lineup speed. As the
Speaker 1: game has changed and teams have gone with more wings
Speaker 1: and fewer bigs and prioritized speed and ball handling, every
Speaker 1: team has become a lot faster and as a result,
Speaker 1: they're able to cover more ground, which has allowed them
Speaker 1: to pressure stars more, not just in double teams, not
Speaker 1: just in traps, but also in help side defense. And
Speaker 1: I noticed in that Laker Sun series, like every time
Speaker 1: Lebron had the ball, there were just three bodies kind
Speaker 1: of positioned in his driving lanes. You're seeing that with
Speaker 1: johannas Antenna compo in this series with the Bulls, You're
Speaker 1: seeing it with Katie and Kyrie. You're seeing it even
Speaker 1: with Jayson Tatum. The League is dangerously close to figuring
Speaker 1: out how to stop superstar players with these double teams.
Speaker 1: Jayson Tatum had a really rough night, he also made
Speaker 1: some big shots at the end. To his credit, he
Speaker 1: also I thought Katie, Kyrie, and Jayson Tatum all made
Speaker 1: big plays as playmakers. But you're the league is starting
Speaker 1: to figure out how to disrupt these stars. And I
Speaker 1: think the natural counter, and this will be a really
Speaker 1: interesting thing over the next couple of years, is you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to play guys like Patty Mills and Seth
Speaker 1: Curry and got Because the reason why this series is close,
Speaker 1: even though the Celtics defense is so so, so much
Speaker 1: better than Brooklyn's, is because Brooklyn is playing guys off
Speaker 1: of Katie and Kyrie that can punish you. You just
Speaker 1: mentioned it, Carson, when Katie and Kyrie had this rough night,
Speaker 1: it came with Curry making big plays. It came with
Speaker 1: Patty Mills making a big shot. It came with Bruce
Speaker 1: Brown having a big night. Even Andre Drummond had some
Speaker 1: moments attacking out of the post, right, So, like you're
Speaker 1: seeing that the value now of having skilled basketball players
Speaker 1: around your stars, because defenses are figuring out, we have
Speaker 1: the foot speed now to effectively double team a star
Speaker 1: and rotate out of it and not give up wide
Speaker 1: open looks anymore. That's a really interesting conundrum, and I'm
Speaker 1: genuinely curious over the course of the next three four
Speaker 1: years how the because the league always adapts to itself.
Speaker 1: You know, a big offensive change happens, here comes the
Speaker 1: defense catching up, a big defensive change happens, here comes
Speaker 1: the offense catching up. I'm really really curious to see
Speaker 1: over the next couple of years how this changes. Because
Speaker 1: that game tonight was unlike any basketball game I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: How many times have you seen all of the stars suck?
Speaker 1: And there was one star that did well and it
Speaker 1: was Jalen Brown because he was in single coverage all night.
Speaker 1: So like, that's a really interesting conundrum and I'm curious
Speaker 1: to see how it affects basketball over the coming years. So,
Speaker 1: now that the nets are sitting here and they're down
Speaker 1: out two when they seem to just continue to underachieve
Speaker 1: what expectations were, certainly when this duo was put together
Speaker 1: on paper ahead of last year, or you know, when
Speaker 1: Katie was actually able to play basketball last year for
Speaker 1: the first time. Steve Nash is catching a lot of heat.
Speaker 1: Do you think that's fair or unfair? So I've seen
Speaker 1: this and and I disagree. I I I get it.
Speaker 1: I get that the nets look like pick up game offense,
Speaker 1: But like I think it's a little bit shortsighted to
Speaker 1: think that running a set or running sets more frequently
Speaker 1: is going to solve this problem. And this is not
Speaker 1: a take that I have recently had. I've been telling
Speaker 1: you guys this forever, all of you guys that are listening,
Speaker 1: that have listened to my show over the last couple
Speaker 1: of years. I've always said that the value of sets
Speaker 1: becomes massively diminished in the postseason, and the reason why
Speaker 1: is physicality and switching. That's why I never cared that
Speaker 1: the Lakers were a bad half court offense in the
Speaker 1: regular season. Regular season half court offenses always are gonna
Speaker 1: favor the teams that run sets really well. But in
Speaker 1: the postseason it becomes brute force. Look at the way
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are having trouble navigating off
Speaker 1: ball in off ball screens, Like, for instance, when they
Speaker 1: have Kevin Durant underneath the basket and he's being guarded
Speaker 1: by Jayson Tatum, and they have Nick Claxton come down
Speaker 1: to set a pin down screen on Kevin Durant. What happens.
Speaker 1: You have Jayson Tatum hugging Kevin Durant literally and he's
Speaker 1: got to fight him off. Then as soon as he
Speaker 1: comes off of that screen, here's Grant Williams or outle word,
Speaker 1: whoever it is, that's on Nick Claxton. He grabs Katie too.
Speaker 1: There's I shared a clip. You can see it on
Speaker 1: my on my Twitter fad. You guys can see the
Speaker 1: specific play literally now Katie is fighting through, moving, hugging whatever,
Speaker 1: Like cut check from from Grant Williams before he ever
Speaker 1: gets up to get the basketball. Like that's what it's
Speaker 1: like trying to run actions in the postseason. It's not
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that you can't do that to some extent,
Speaker 1: but like the reality of the way postseason basketball works
Speaker 1: is it's such a ship show off the ball with
Speaker 1: the physicality that sets don't work, not to mention with
Speaker 1: scouting that if you have a set that's working, by
Speaker 1: the time you get to the game the next game
Speaker 1: in the series, all of a sudden it won't. So
Speaker 1: like for me, where where Steve Nash has to figure
Speaker 1: this out and he's got to figure out floor positioning,
Speaker 1: where guys have to be on the floor so that
Speaker 1: when Katie gets doubled, so that when Kyrie gets doubled,
Speaker 1: you can make quick decisions out of it and easily
Speaker 1: compromise the defense. So it's less about sets and more
Speaker 1: about floor positioning, finding thoughts on the floor that a
Speaker 1: guy can be a threat so that when Kevin Durray
Speaker 1: or Kyrie makes an easy pass out of the double team,
Speaker 1: it's a quick you know, bang bang read to get
Speaker 1: an easy shot out of it. That that is Steve
Speaker 1: Nash's job over the course of the next few games
Speaker 1: of this series. I don't think it has anything to
Speaker 1: do with running set. So I disagree with some of
Speaker 1: the criticism that's been thrown his way there. I think
Speaker 1: the Nash dynamic is an interesting one because I totally
Speaker 1: agree with your fundamental point there, and I would argue
Speaker 1: that that's a lot more true, even when you're talking
Speaker 1: about the devaluing of sets when you have two of
Speaker 1: the greatest isolation shot makers of all time, and it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you and trust your best players with the keys to
Speaker 1: just go make plays and create your offense consistently. I
Speaker 1: will say, though, I don't know that there's much that
Speaker 1: I think Nash does exceptionally well as a coach. I
Speaker 1: think that it's obviously tough to get inside like any
Speaker 1: team's culture, but there's been a lot of weird stuff
Speaker 1: going around the nets, and sure he has had to
Speaker 1: balance some of the wackiest personalities the league has. And yeah,
Speaker 1: they've been able to reach a higher level defensively in
Speaker 1: the playoffs when it matters most. But I don't know
Speaker 1: how much to treat that to him versus just the
Speaker 1: players being more engaged. I would lean towards the ladder. So, like,
Speaker 1: what do you think on that? From Like, I agree
Speaker 1: with you and that he's not actively, you know, hurting
Speaker 1: them in terms of offensive scheme and whatnot, But like,
Speaker 1: do you think Steve Nash is a good coach? It's
Speaker 1: hard to say. Man, he's got a really tough job.
Speaker 1: But I've always I've always thought that, specifically with veteran
Speaker 1: teams that are laid in with superstars, it's primarily more
Speaker 1: important for a coach to coach up the defensive end
Speaker 1: of the floor. This has always been the way that
Speaker 1: I felt like, you can't bring a like a super smart, young,
Speaker 1: you know, ambitious, offensive minded coach that loves to run
Speaker 1: sweet motion offense and and put him in a room
Speaker 1: with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving. Those guys are gonna shrug
Speaker 1: that dude out of the room, you know, like that,
Speaker 1: That's just not a realistic approach. Like I feel like
Speaker 1: Nash's job is more to manage personalities, man his late
Speaker 1: game situations like tie mouths, and and drawing up specific
Speaker 1: sets for very specific scenarios at the end of game
Speaker 1: and then the and then the defensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: And I'll give you guys a very quick example like
Speaker 1: like and this is this is an example of a
Speaker 1: set that works really well in the postseason. I take
Speaker 1: advantage of where the defense is throwing extra attention. In
Speaker 1: Game one, in the second to last possession email, Udoka
Speaker 1: knew that the Nets were overplaying Tatum and doubling him
Speaker 1: on every single screen, so they had Tatum run way
Speaker 1: off to the left wing. We've talked about this play
Speaker 1: a few times on the show. The Tatum run way
Speaker 1: off to the left side of the wing, and then
Speaker 1: they had Al Horford come up and set his screen
Speaker 1: for him, an off ball screen, and Nick Klaxton and
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant both followed him up there, and as a result,
Speaker 1: the paint was completely vacated and Jalen Brown had an
Speaker 1: easy attack to the basket and only Gore and Dragics
Speaker 1: was there on the back line. Those are the kinds
Speaker 1: of things that the nets have to figure out. Now.
Speaker 1: I would do stuff like have Katie and Kyrie run
Speaker 1: off ball action, out of sight, out of mind, and
Speaker 1: have opportunities for Seth Curry and Patty Mills to go
Speaker 1: to work, or Gore and drag just to go to work.
Speaker 1: Do something to try to punish the Celtics for their
Speaker 1: overaggressive defense. But it's this is an impossible job, guys.
Speaker 1: It is. It is a really, really difficult job. With
Speaker 1: these brute force offensive teams that rely on superstars. The
Speaker 1: coaches are more like figureheads than they are actually strategists,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like a guy like Nick
Speaker 1: Nurse has a much bigger role within the Raptors and
Speaker 1: their success than a guy like Steve Nash does for
Speaker 1: for this Brooklyn team. Yeah, I think that's unequivocally. I
Speaker 1: just do think the interesting part is when you highlight
Speaker 1: his fundamental responsibilities, I just don't know that he's done
Speaker 1: those things particularly well. Like personality management. You know, is
Speaker 1: players actively hated each other, like James Harden stuff. You know, Kyrie,
Speaker 1: he didn't play a majority of the games this year
Speaker 1: and obviously is constantly demonstrating some level of discontent. So
Speaker 1: I think that you're absolutely right, and that it is
Speaker 1: ultimately kind of a figurehead position, and it's just about
Speaker 1: like do the guys like him? Are they comfortable with
Speaker 1: him there? And as long as that remains the case
Speaker 1: with Katie and Kyrie, Steve Nash will be in Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: But I don't think he's like an actively limiting factor.
Speaker 1: I just kind of shrug, and I'm not really he
Speaker 1: doesn't have the power to do anything either. That's the issue,
Speaker 1: Like he's not great positive, he doesn't have the power
Speaker 1: over the players. Yeah, it's a very very strange dynamic.
Speaker 1: I think. I mean, you make a fair point when
Speaker 1: you say it kind of is an impossible job. It's
Speaker 1: very strange and a very strange first head coaching job too. Okay,
Speaker 1: So here we are now with the nets down to oh,
Speaker 1: is there any chance they come back in this series?
Speaker 1: There's a chance, but I'm off them. I picked the
Speaker 1: nets and seven I'm off that pick. I think Boston's
Speaker 1: gonna win this series, probably in five games, and I
Speaker 1: think Boston's gonna win the championship. I'm all in. I'm
Speaker 1: all in on Boston. This is the best defensive team
Speaker 1: I have ever seen. I think they're better than the
Speaker 1: Toronto defensive team two thousand nine because that defensive team
Speaker 1: relied a little bit too much on small guards guys
Speaker 1: like Kyle Lowry and Fred Van vliet Um. Obviously, I think,
Speaker 1: you know, Kawhi Leonard is the better defensive player than
Speaker 1: anybody on either of those two teams. But just in general,
Speaker 1: this is the best defensive team I've ever seen. And
Speaker 1: you're seeing, like some of the postseason reps that all
Speaker 1: of these guys have had in Boston over the years,
Speaker 1: it's showing in their confidence. Like Jalen Brown has been
Speaker 1: amazing in these two games, and when you look at
Speaker 1: the predicament that Boston was in tonight in that fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: especially when when Brooklyn took that lead there, uh in
Speaker 1: that game, Like there's a ton of pressure there, and
Speaker 1: there's a lot of reasons for Jalen Brown in his
Speaker 1: specific role to get discouraged and to shrink from that moment.
Speaker 1: And he like grabbed that game and just took it home.
Speaker 1: And and even Jayson Tatum made a bunch of huge
Speaker 1: plays at the end of the game. He had an
Speaker 1: awesome little like push shot in the lane, and he
Speaker 1: had a a jab step three that he made at
Speaker 1: the end of the shot clock there at the end. Like,
Speaker 1: these guys are not scared of these moments. They've gone
Speaker 1: toe to toe with Lebron freaking James in a Game
Speaker 1: seven of the Conference finals when they were rookies. They
Speaker 1: made it to the conference finals in the bubble. These
Speaker 1: these guys have played in big game after big game.
Speaker 1: I I'm I would have picked Phoenix to win the title.
Speaker 1: But I'm terrified of this brand. This Devin Booker hamstring injury.
Speaker 1: I think this this hamstring thing is super finicky. Hamstrings
Speaker 1: are super super easy to re injure. This Pelicans team
Speaker 1: is way better than a traditional eight seed, and then
Speaker 1: they got to go through Luca in the next round.
Speaker 1: I'm not counting the Sun's out. Let me be clear there,
Speaker 1: but I'm changing my pick to win the title. I
Speaker 1: think we're gonna talk a little bit more about this later,
Speaker 1: but I don't think. I don't think any either of
Speaker 1: the Bucks or the Bulls could beat this Boston team.
Speaker 1: This Boston team has like two thousand four Pistons energy
Speaker 1: mixed with like a player that is ascending into flat
Speaker 1: out superstardom and Jayson Tatum and a bunch of guy
Speaker 1: eyes that aren't scared and that played their roles perfectly.
Speaker 1: This Celtics team, I think is the best team in
Speaker 1: the NBA, and I think they're gonna win the title
Speaker 1: this year. That's obviously super high praise, and I will say,
Speaker 1: I mean, they continue to look exceptional, and I thought
Speaker 1: they would be more impacted by the Robert Williams loss
Speaker 1: and just his vertical spacing offensively, having that dynamic interior athlete,
Speaker 1: how efficient he was, and then obviously defensively such an
Speaker 1: exceptional ring protector. But defensively they haven't lost a step.
Speaker 1: They just keep chugging along. So are you just like
Speaker 1: completely moved on from that? And like, how impressive is
Speaker 1: that that here they are having lost a guy who
Speaker 1: felt really important what they were doing for so much
Speaker 1: of the year, and you're saying they're your title favorite.
Speaker 1: He still is important. It's the and this is a
Speaker 1: credit to Al Horford. Like Al Horford has been unfreaking
Speaker 1: believable in these first two games, in huge minutes, and
Speaker 1: so like the silver lining for Horford is the way
Speaker 1: you got to look at it if you're him, is
Speaker 1: like Rob's coming and when he gets here, I'll be
Speaker 1: able to play fewer minutes and devote my energy in
Speaker 1: a little bit of these shorter bursts. Right, But he
Speaker 1: is emptying the freaking tank for this series, and it's
Speaker 1: and it's completely making up for the Robert Williams injury
Speaker 1: at this point. His perimeter shooting has been a dynamic
Speaker 1: component of the way that it's a it's punishing Brooklyn
Speaker 1: for helping his He's got like some of the best
Speaker 1: hands defensively in in help defense that you'll ever see.
Speaker 1: Like he doesn't even have to reach up to contest.
Speaker 1: He's just really good at poking the ball free from
Speaker 1: guys down low. Al Horford has been the reason that
Speaker 1: Rob Williams's loss is not hurt the Celtics yet. And
Speaker 1: and and they he played some three on three today
Speaker 1: and he's been progressing well. They're not even counting him
Speaker 1: out necessarily in this series, although I doubt they'll play
Speaker 1: him now that I think they're going to control Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: But like that that I I I put a I
Speaker 1: put the vast majority of that credit on Al Horford.
Speaker 1: He's just been an absolute monster. But yeah, I I've
Speaker 1: seen enough Like I. You gotta you gotta pay attention
Speaker 1: to what's in front of your eyes. Kevin Durant did not.
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant didn't shrink from the moment tonight. Katie was
Speaker 1: ready for that game. Katie was ready to put his
Speaker 1: imprint on that game. What happened was the Celtics would
Speaker 1: not allow it to happen. How many defenses in NBA
Speaker 1: history can do that. We're talking, you know, two thousand
Speaker 1: four Pistons on Shack and Kobe. We're talking you know,
Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen Raptors on Steph Curry. But they're just
Speaker 1: there aren't that many examples in NBA history of a
Speaker 1: of a defense completely disrupting a star like this, and
Speaker 1: it's a five man effort. And it's not criticism with
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant, Like I said, I think he's the best
Speaker 1: player in the world. Boston has just shut his ass down,
Speaker 1: and it is it is. It is just you have
Speaker 1: to pay attention to what your eyes are seeing. What
Speaker 1: we're seeing right now is all time defensive greatness and
Speaker 1: and that that carries teams in the playoffs. And I'm
Speaker 1: concerned Boston's half court offense a little bit, but like
Speaker 1: I keep saying, they have margin for error, and their
Speaker 1: margin for error is in their defense. And if Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown is gonna play like this, and if Jayson Tatum
Speaker 1: is gonna keep playing like this, it doesn't matter. They're
Speaker 1: just gonna beat everybody. Yeah, I mean, I think you
Speaker 1: said that. The Celtics have undeniably been extremely impressive, and
Speaker 1: there's been another team out East that has looked pretty
Speaker 1: darn good and took a three oh advantage today definitely
Speaker 1: the tightest game of the series thus far by a lot,
Speaker 1: but the Sixers snuck out with one in Toronto on
Speaker 1: a really remarkable, not quite buzzer beater. I think there
Speaker 1: was point seven seconds left, but turnaround three from Joel
Speaker 1: Embiid off an inbound. He finished the day with thirty three.
Speaker 1: How the hell did he get that shot off? Well,
Speaker 1: the way that he got the shot off, specifically was
Speaker 1: the fact that Joe Limbiad is so good at drawing
Speaker 1: fouls that guys are paranoid to reach in or to
Speaker 1: contest jump shots. And so there's kind of like a
Speaker 1: philosophy with him bid you just let him shoot and
Speaker 1: you hope for the best. And he hasn't been the
Speaker 1: most efficient jump shooter in the world overall, like his
Speaker 1: field goal percentages below, which is really unusual for a
Speaker 1: for a center like him, right, But as a result,
Speaker 1: like that little freedom that he gets from guys being
Speaker 1: paranoid about fouling him, he can turn around and shoot.
Speaker 1: But at that in combination with his size is what
Speaker 1: allowed him to get the shot off. I gotta I
Speaker 1: gotta say that bit of shot making from Joel Embiid,
Speaker 1: just in general down the stretch of that game was
Speaker 1: was one of those like career highlight type of moments,
Speaker 1: Like when we look back at Lebron's career and you
Speaker 1: think about the two thousand seven Pistons game. And you
Speaker 1: think about the two thousand nine Orlando Magic game, the
Speaker 1: two thousand twelve Boston Celtics game, the two thousand thirteen
Speaker 1: San Antonio Spurs game. Got there's a whole lot of
Speaker 1: those games, but you think about those games that are
Speaker 1: like these iconic NBA history moments that define Lebron's aga.
Speaker 1: See and and Joe Olmpi doesn't have a lot of
Speaker 1: those games yet, and this was his first one. And
Speaker 1: you know, when you look at what happened down the
Speaker 1: stretch of that game, they were getting absolutely nothing out
Speaker 1: of James hard and he got a weird I mean
Speaker 1: down the stretch. At least he had an okay game
Speaker 1: over the course of the game, but he, James Harden,
Speaker 1: wasn't giving you anything offensively other than a BS foul
Speaker 1: call down the stretch. At the baseline, you weren't getting
Speaker 1: a ton out of Tyres Maxie. You weren't getting a
Speaker 1: ton at Georgia. Nie wasn't hitting his shots down the stretch.
Speaker 1: I'm specifically talking about crunch time, and you had a
Speaker 1: little bit out of Tyres Maxie. Like Tyres Maxie had
Speaker 1: a really nice play at the end of regulation where
Speaker 1: he attacked the close out out of the right corner
Speaker 1: and hit a one der but pull up along the
Speaker 1: baseline that was massive. He had two huge shots and
Speaker 1: ot at a a little reverse layup right at the
Speaker 1: start of ot where he beat Franan lead to the
Speaker 1: basket with just a blur of speed. And then he
Speaker 1: had another play later in overtime where he made a
Speaker 1: really really nice floater off the glass. But for the
Speaker 1: most part, the Sixers weren't getting anything out of anybody
Speaker 1: else offensively, and when Embiid was close to the basket,
Speaker 1: just like Nick Nurse has been doing all series, the
Speaker 1: Raptors were throwing the kitchen sink at him and he
Speaker 1: was struggling a little bit with that, at least within
Speaker 1: the traffic. And the game really came down to rescue shots,
Speaker 1: shots at the end of the shot clock that save
Speaker 1: your team. And it started with a couple of of
Speaker 1: little jack step pull ups that he made in the
Speaker 1: late fourth quarter. Then there was like that late shot
Speaker 1: clock towards the end of the fourth quarter. He had
Speaker 1: a late shot clock three along the left wing where
Speaker 1: he was like fading away shot clock winding down, just
Speaker 1: just chucked it up while falling backwards and just hit
Speaker 1: nothing but the bottom of the net. And then you
Speaker 1: get into the play right before the end of regulation
Speaker 1: as the buzzer was sounding, same spot on the floor,
Speaker 1: gets a great look and he left it just short.
Speaker 1: It was dead on straight when it hit the rim.
Speaker 1: I immediately started thinking about the game. Seven Kauai shot
Speaker 1: that was dead on straight. Eight hit the front of
Speaker 1: the rim, went right up in the air and bounced
Speaker 1: on the rim a bunch of times and went in.
Speaker 1: I was like, uh, is this the one? And it
Speaker 1: just ended up landing short. But Joel embiid With had
Speaker 1: sent the game to ot effectively with three rescue shots
Speaker 1: in regulation, and then you go into the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: or excuse me and O T He had a move
Speaker 1: on O g N and Obi at the high post
Speaker 1: that was amazing. It literally looked like Kyrie Irving. He
Speaker 1: did like a hard dribble pivot spin, like didn't even
Speaker 1: get his body all the way turned around before he
Speaker 1: shot it and put it in the net. I I
Speaker 1: tweeted it out the clip because I was like, what
Speaker 1: the hell are we even watching here? I just watched
Speaker 1: like a damn near three hundred pounds seven foot tall
Speaker 1: center hit a kyrie irving move in the middle of
Speaker 1: the lane over one of the best wing defenders that
Speaker 1: we have in the league at O Gann and Abe.
Speaker 1: And then at the end of the game, once again,
Speaker 1: you're drawing up a time out, there's two seconds left
Speaker 1: and you just got a seven foot guy on the
Speaker 1: floor that everyone's scared the foul that that he can
Speaker 1: turn around and shoot off the wing and he and
Speaker 1: he knocked it down and what a cool moment and
Speaker 1: the first iconic moment of Joel Embiat's playoff career. Now
Speaker 1: it remains to be seen they that the Sixers still
Speaker 1: have some issues overall. You know, I I was wrong
Speaker 1: about this series, and I was actually before the game
Speaker 1: even went to O T I was texting the you guys,
Speaker 1: the producers. I was like, I was like, I'm off
Speaker 1: this this Raptors team, and there were a couple of
Speaker 1: things that I highly underestimated. You know, my whole theory
Speaker 1: for this series and the Raptors having a chance had
Speaker 1: to do with the fact that they could get stops
Speaker 1: and get out in transition. Because in the half court
Speaker 1: we all knew their offense would really struggle, and you
Speaker 1: saw their half court offense was disastrously bad down the
Speaker 1: stretch of that game at home, and honestly, there they
Speaker 1: had some rescue shots on their end that carried them
Speaker 1: when their offense fell apart. Gary Trent hit some tough
Speaker 1: ones you had. I think O g An and Obie
Speaker 1: hit a huge three in the left corner. There were
Speaker 1: a bunch of like big time shots that guys hit
Speaker 1: when really they weren't able to get anything. And I
Speaker 1: think the loss of Scottie Barnes ended up being really
Speaker 1: really hurtful for this specific Raptors team because the problem
Speaker 1: was was when when Philly switched Joel Embiid onto Pascal Siakum,
Speaker 1: and Pascal Siakum lost confidence in his jump shot. When
Speaker 1: those two things happened, and then Pascal suddenly realized that
Speaker 1: he couldn't drive by Mbad because Embiad was giving him
Speaker 1: enough space that he could compensate for the lack of
Speaker 1: speed and stay in front of him and turn Pascal
Speaker 1: into a jump shooter. And then simultaneously Fred van Lee
Speaker 1: completely fell apart with his confidence in his jump shot.
Speaker 1: Everything fell apart offensively, and what Scotty Barnes has been
Speaker 1: for the Raptors all season has been just that other
Speaker 1: release valve, because he's got a really good hook shot
Speaker 1: in the lane, and he's got a good handle, and
Speaker 1: he's huge, and so they would just go to him,
Speaker 1: and you can't if you're guarding Pascal Siakum would Joel embiid.
Speaker 1: Then that means you don't have another big body, another
Speaker 1: big enough body to put on Scotty Barnes, and so
Speaker 1: Scotty Barnes being out of the series really hurt them.
Speaker 1: I just agreed with some of the strategy things that
Speaker 1: that Nick Nurse did, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: I was just flat out wrong. The Sixers team was
Speaker 1: better than I expected them to be, even even Joel
Speaker 1: Embide within the chaos of the way Toronto was swarming him.
Speaker 1: He had thirty three and thirteen tonight on the road
Speaker 1: in Toronto because his shot making was so magnificent that
Speaker 1: the crazy defense that Toronto was throwing his way just
Speaker 1: simply didn't matter. So that that's a credit to him.
Speaker 1: And like I think one of the interesting kind of
Speaker 1: subplots moving forward for Philly is Tyrese Maxi. He's just
Speaker 1: better than James Harden right now, James Harden's playmaking is
Speaker 1: is his biggest asset that he brings to this team.
Speaker 1: He's still very important though when push comes to shove,
Speaker 1: Tyres Maxie can create his own shot with his speed
Speaker 1: getting to the rim and James Harden just can't right now.
Speaker 1: And so, but Tyres Maxie has been awesome. You when
Speaker 1: you're talking about the the hierarchy of this series and
Speaker 1: your ranking players, if you wanted Toronto to win, the
Speaker 1: way it had to go was it had to be
Speaker 1: and Beat is the best player in the series, and
Speaker 1: then either Sam or Van Vleet is the second best
Speaker 1: player in the series. And then you know James Harden
Speaker 1: somewhere down like three or four, and then guys like
Speaker 1: Scottie Barnes and the other one of the Siam van
Speaker 1: Vleet trio or duo is in there somewhere, and then
Speaker 1: you get to a Tyrese Maxie. But no, Tyrese Maxie
Speaker 1: has been hands down the second best player in the series,
Speaker 1: and that that little influx of talent changed the dynamic
Speaker 1: of the series. And so yeah, like I I it'll
Speaker 1: be interesting to see how it it amounts to them
Speaker 1: as the playoff run continues. But that I was flat
Speaker 1: out wrong about this series. Philly is better than I
Speaker 1: thought they were, and they took it to Toronto and
Speaker 1: that was a really, really impressive win on the road there.
Speaker 1: So are you buying the Sixers as legit contenders? Then
Speaker 1: I know the thing is is as good as as
Speaker 1: good as they've looked in this matchup, and they have
Speaker 1: a very good draw moving award right, because they're gonna
Speaker 1: end up catching Miami in the next round, and I
Speaker 1: think Miami is a pretty flawed half court offense team
Speaker 1: as well. That will be a really interesting dynamic. They're
Speaker 1: they're better than Toronto, but they have some similar half
Speaker 1: court offense issues that have played them all year, even
Speaker 1: in the regular season. They're just they're much better defensive team,
Speaker 1: and they'll be able to throw some defensive things that
Speaker 1: m Beat and Hardened that Toronto could not, particularly being
Speaker 1: at a bio and the dynamic that he brings as
Speaker 1: a guy that might be able to guard Joel em
Speaker 1: Beat in single coverage. So that's like an interesting dynamic there.
Speaker 1: But they haven't they have an easy path. They're gonna
Speaker 1: probably make it to the conference finals. But like I
Speaker 1: was talking about earlier, I still think Boston is the
Speaker 1: best team in the league. Look at look at that
Speaker 1: swarming defense that Boston used tonight. That's that's gonna have
Speaker 1: a lot of success against Philly. Now, the one dynamic
Speaker 1: that Philly brings that will be interesting is like I
Speaker 1: was talking about with Seth Curry and with Patty Mills,
Speaker 1: when you're a crazy aggressive defense, it's your off ball
Speaker 1: players that bring more advantage, right, and Tobias Harris and
Speaker 1: Tyrese max He certainly bring that to the table. The
Speaker 1: different dynamic is though, uh, Boston absolutely had to double
Speaker 1: kd and absolutely had to double Kyrie because they couldn't
Speaker 1: guard those guys in single coverage. They won't have to
Speaker 1: double James Harden, they won't have to double Tyres Maxie,
Speaker 1: so they'll only have to double Joel m b which
Speaker 1: I think will free them up to play a little
Speaker 1: bit more traditional defense, and in that regard, I think
Speaker 1: they'll have more success. So I'd still pick Boston. Philly
Speaker 1: definitely has more of a puncher's chance than I originally expected,
Speaker 1: and that was just me and probably, and I'll be
Speaker 1: honest with you, it's a little bit of bias there.
Speaker 1: I hate this freaking team, man, I hate the way
Speaker 1: they play. I hate the foul grifting. It was a
Speaker 1: pleasure to watch Joel Embiad play real basketball down the
Speaker 1: stretch of that game. That that what, that's what. That's
Speaker 1: when I'm a Joe elaim bead fan is when he's
Speaker 1: just making shots like a basketball player instead of doing
Speaker 1: the jankie stuff. But so by bias, I think got
Speaker 1: in the way a little bit there, But I'm still
Speaker 1: gone with Boston. You mentioned how great Maxi has been,
Speaker 1: and I mean, obviously this series he's more than thirty
Speaker 1: a game, which is unsustainable production, but post All Star
Speaker 1: Break he was nineteen a game on better than sixtentury shooting,
Speaker 1: really a remarkable scoring skill set overall. So like, if
Speaker 1: he continues to play at this level, does that raise
Speaker 1: your confidence in Philly or beyond that, any one thing
Speaker 1: that you can think of that they could really do
Speaker 1: or prove to you where you would maybe elevate them
Speaker 1: to that legitimate contender status. Oh that's a really good question, Carson.
Speaker 1: In order to elevate them to that status, I think
Speaker 1: I would have to see a little bit more out
Speaker 1: of James Harden because the issue with Tyrese Maxie is
Speaker 1: he's faster than everybody on Toronto right now, and Toronto
Speaker 1: is sloppy in a bunch of different ways because they're young, right,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna run in to some teams like Boston
Speaker 1: and mill Water Boston in Miami that are more grown
Speaker 1: up type of basketball teams. And with that specific predicament,
Speaker 1: I don't think I think it's gonna I think they're
Speaker 1: gonna need James Harden to to be a better perimeter
Speaker 1: player than he has been. I don't know, man, That's
Speaker 1: that's a really good question. I think. I think if
Speaker 1: Joel embiad is gonna make jump shots like this too,
Speaker 1: that's another wrinkle, kind of like Anthony Davis and the
Speaker 1: bubble with the Lakers, Anthony Davis suddenly just transitioning into
Speaker 1: a shot maker because going into that bubble, the fear
Speaker 1: was the Lakers half court offense, same type of problem, right,
Speaker 1: And since James Harden came to Philly, their offense has
Speaker 1: not been great overall, and so it's kind of a
Speaker 1: similar type of concern. But then there was just this
Speaker 1: random ascendence of of Anthony Davis into a Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: esque high post jump shooter and it kind of became
Speaker 1: like a release vout for the Lakers, right, And so
Speaker 1: if that happens with Joel Embiad and he shoot perimeter
Speaker 1: jump shots like this, that could be another wrinkle that
Speaker 1: elevates Philly to that status. But I don't know, man, Boston.
Speaker 1: Boston looks like a once in a generation type of
Speaker 1: of mix of basketball ability that I think is such
Speaker 1: a bad matchup for everybody around the league that I
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, I I I haven't seen anything
Speaker 1: like when I saw from Boston tonight, and I've been
Speaker 1: watching a lot of basketball over the last couple of decades,
Speaker 1: So I I I don't know. I don't know that
Speaker 1: Philly is capable of getting to that level. All right,
Speaker 1: Let's touch on another team that has certainly been thrown
Speaker 1: into that tier of contenders out East, and you have
Speaker 1: harped on some of their issues, particularly defensively throughout the
Speaker 1: regular season, and that's the Milwaukee Bucks, who I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people expected to really cruise against the
Speaker 1: Bulls team that struggled for so much of the second
Speaker 1: half of the year. Game one was ugly. They dropped
Speaker 1: game to one, one ten and just to pour some
Speaker 1: salt in the wound. Coach Bud says that Chris Middleton,
Speaker 1: he has been told, has an mc ile sprain and
Speaker 1: they will get an m R I tomorrow row. So
Speaker 1: given all that context, are the Bucks in trouble? Jason, Yes,
Speaker 1: they were in trouble before that injury. I saw Chris
Speaker 1: Middleton go off to the locker room, and I was
Speaker 1: worried about what specifically had happened. But that's extremely concerning
Speaker 1: because they're having problems on both ends with him. You know,
Speaker 1: there's an old standing NBA rule. In that rule is
Speaker 1: if you're not a top ten defense by defensive ratings
Speaker 1: so points allowed per one possessions, you don't win the
Speaker 1: title unless you have an absolutely overwhelming talent advantage. So
Speaker 1: we're talking Katie Steph Curry, Clay Thompson, Draymond Green, andre
Speaker 1: A Guadala or Prime Shaquille O'Neil and Prime Kobe Bryant
Speaker 1: or Achimu la Juan and Clyde Drexler like at the
Speaker 1: top of their games with m J out of the
Speaker 1: league like they're there, there are is there are very
Speaker 1: rare circumstances where you can be an exception to that rule.
Speaker 1: But generally speaking, that's the that's the that's the rule.
Speaker 1: If you don't crack the top ten and defensive rating
Speaker 1: in the regular season, you don't win the title, because
Speaker 1: that that defensive rating in the regular season, to me,
Speaker 1: is the best indicator of your commitment to establishing defensive habits.
Speaker 1: And when you're back is against the wall when things
Speaker 1: when the ship starts to hit the fan, you lean
Speaker 1: back on your habits. Your identity as a basketball team
Speaker 1: is the one thing you can rely on when everything
Speaker 1: goes south. And so if you don't have that defensive
Speaker 1: set of habits established, you're gonna find yourself with your
Speaker 1: back against the wall and nothing to fall back on.
Speaker 1: And so we're gonna They've been bad on both ends
Speaker 1: of the floor. We'll talk about the offense here in
Speaker 1: just a second, but their defense has not been good.
Speaker 1: And it's jarring to watch that Boston defense in the
Speaker 1: way that they disrupt everybody all over the floor, the
Speaker 1: way they f i around in rotations, the way that
Speaker 1: they don't rely on stupid vintage coverages like drop coverages
Speaker 1: that Boston only runs the drop coverage with Daniel Tyson
Speaker 1: on the floor because they don't want to have him
Speaker 1: and switches against guys like Kyrie and Steff against guys
Speaker 1: like Kyrie and Kevin Durant, Right, But they're doing they're
Speaker 1: doing a ton of switching there. They they're packing the pay,
Speaker 1: but they're rotating around on the back end. Then you
Speaker 1: look at Milwaukee and it's a very stubborn traditional approach
Speaker 1: to to offense, something that we've talked about incessantly over
Speaker 1: the course of this year, or to defense. Excuse me,
Speaker 1: they're packing the paint for the sake of giving away
Speaker 1: those wide open jump shots. And so what happened all
Speaker 1: freaking night tonight. It was a combination of zach Lavine
Speaker 1: and Demarta Rosen getting to their spots and making shots. Carson,
Speaker 1: We talked about this a lot after Game one of
Speaker 1: this series. Demarta Rosen and zach Lavine and Nicolavusevich all
Speaker 1: had absolute nightmare game ones as shot makers, absolute nightmare
Speaker 1: game ones, and they were right there, a couple of
Speaker 1: possessions away from winning that game. And they did it
Speaker 1: with their defense, which we're talking about in a second,
Speaker 1: but in this game, suddenly, with pretty much the same strategy,
Speaker 1: they didn't even do as many pick and pops with
Speaker 1: Nikolavusevitch as I wanted, and when they did, every time
Speaker 1: they got a wide open shot, I simply don't understand
Speaker 1: why they don't just do that incessantly to punish the
Speaker 1: Bucks for having a Lopez and and and Janice camp
Speaker 1: around the basket. The one run that the Bucks went
Speaker 1: on and this game was late third quarter, and it
Speaker 1: was because they switched Janice onto Nikolavusevich and started running
Speaker 1: a drop coverage with Janice under the basket, and he
Speaker 1: was blocking everything, and when he was getting blocks, he
Speaker 1: was getting out in transition. And so when teams play
Speaker 1: into Milwaukee's defense's strengths, which is just driving into the
Speaker 1: teeth of the defense for no reason, they have success.
Speaker 1: But outside of that specific uh um situation, when they
Speaker 1: have teams that successfully driving kick and hit shooters are
Speaker 1: on the wing, and when they have guys that get
Speaker 1: to their jump shots in the mid range, they have
Speaker 1: a ton of success. And suddenly the Bucks can't get stops.
Speaker 1: And so that takes me to the offensive end of
Speaker 1: the four from Milwaukee, because this is the this is
Speaker 1: the conundrum that has surrounded this team incessantly over the
Speaker 1: course of the last few years. For whatever reason. It
Speaker 1: worked out in last year's postseason run, in large part
Speaker 1: because Chris Middleton was fantastic and Janice went extra nuclear
Speaker 1: and their defense was better, so they weren't living in
Speaker 1: the half court all the time. But they have consistently
Speaker 1: struggled relative to some of the better teams in the
Speaker 1: league at half court scoring because Chris Midleton, as good
Speaker 1: of a three level score as he is, is not
Speaker 1: a superstar. Because Drew Holiday, as good of a scoring
Speaker 1: guard as he is, is not a superstar. And Jannice
Speaker 1: for being the absolute superstar top tier on the same
Speaker 1: level as Lebron and Kadi as he is, still not
Speaker 1: a fantastic half court initiator, right, And so when they
Speaker 1: get in those settings, they struggle. In Game one, they won,
Speaker 1: but the dirty little secret there's the Bulls were missing
Speaker 1: a bunch of shots they normally make, and the reality
Speaker 1: was is I think they only had ninety nine points
Speaker 1: in that game, so they were struggling to score. And
Speaker 1: He's of that again tonight. They Bucks could not get
Speaker 1: stops because Chicago is getting everything they wanted on offense.
Speaker 1: As a result, Chicago is consistently set on defense, with
Speaker 1: exception of that run in the third quarter in Milwaukee
Speaker 1: went on when they were getting out in transition, and
Speaker 1: your honest was just putting his head down and go
Speaker 1: into the rim every single time in transition. Outside of that,
Speaker 1: they were stuck in the half court, and when they were,
Speaker 1: they were struggling to create shots. And that's persistently going
Speaker 1: to be an issue for them. I keep telling you
Speaker 1: guys that my biggest thing that I watched with the
Speaker 1: honest is his ability to playmate, his ability to drive
Speaker 1: into the teeth of the defense and make passes consistently.
Speaker 1: Because I've never cared about his ability to knock down
Speaker 1: a jump shot outside of maybe just getting some rest
Speaker 1: in the middle of the game by settling for the
Speaker 1: sake of saving your legs. But I've never cared about
Speaker 1: that specific skill. I've always cared about just can he
Speaker 1: make reads? Can you loosen up the defense by making passes?
Speaker 1: And he's okay at that, He's okay, but he's not
Speaker 1: good enough to be that perimeter that initie that that
Speaker 1: you know half court surgeon, right, and that and that
Speaker 1: that limitation without a bona fide second superstar next to
Speaker 1: Janice is what kind of limits the Bucks in the
Speaker 1: half court it always has, which wasn't a problem last
Speaker 1: year because they were so freaking good defensively. Now they
Speaker 1: are not, and as a result, they can't get enough
Speaker 1: stops to buy them the margin for error that they
Speaker 1: need to succeed in the half court. This is why
Speaker 1: I was so terrified about the prospect of Joanna's ending
Speaker 1: up in Dallas with Luca, because when you put somebody
Speaker 1: with your honest that perfectly compliments his weaknesses, that also
Speaker 1: has the superstar moxie, that that would have been an
Speaker 1: unbeatable combo. There's nothing anybody in the league could have
Speaker 1: done with that duo. We were We were very fortunate
Speaker 1: as basketball fans, for the sake of parody that that
Speaker 1: did not happen. But instead there is a lot of
Speaker 1: onus on Jannae to be that permit that a half
Speaker 1: court creator. The Bucks defense isn't good enough to buy
Speaker 1: them that margin for error, and I think they're gonna
Speaker 1: get beat this bulls Suddenly this series looks very much
Speaker 1: up in the air. I'm still picking Milwauk, but it's
Speaker 1: a lot closer than it looks. So you've touched on
Speaker 1: the brilliance of the Celtics defense. You've touched on some
Speaker 1: of the half court limitations with Janice as that lead initiator.
Speaker 1: If they do get to that Boston matchup, how does
Speaker 1: Janie fair in that matchup? So, when I came to
Speaker 1: terms with the reality of the situation tonight, which is
Speaker 1: that Boston's gonna beat my, uh Brooklyn. And this was
Speaker 1: before I saw Chicago upset Milwaukee today, but I do
Speaker 1: still think Milwaukee is gonna win that series. I've been
Speaker 1: thinking all night about this very thing, Carson, what it
Speaker 1: will it look like to watch Janice go against this
Speaker 1: Celtics defense. And when you look at so thinks specifically
Speaker 1: about what Boston did. Now, one wrinkle here is Boston's
Speaker 1: relying a lot on roughing up Kyrie and KD. And
Speaker 1: Kyrie and Katie are both very thin in Okay, So
Speaker 1: that's the weird dynamic. You're not gonna be able to
Speaker 1: rough up your honest, he's gonna do better in that
Speaker 1: specific setting. But the swarming is what troubles me. K
Speaker 1: D could not even put the ball on the floor
Speaker 1: half the time without having like two dudes swatting down
Speaker 1: on it. That we talked about that earlier in the show,
Speaker 1: the way that Boston was attacking him on the catch
Speaker 1: and then finding out where he would, They'd send Tatum
Speaker 1: to one side and then as soon as he pivot,
Speaker 1: here'd be another guy right in his face. That kind
Speaker 1: of thing Janice is gonna struggle with. And again, like
Speaker 1: what you're seeing a lot like with Brooklyn. Brooklyn is
Speaker 1: desperately reliant right now on guys like Seth Curry and
Speaker 1: Patty Mills to make plays off the ball. Bruce Brown
Speaker 1: is another great example that, right that's where the onus
Speaker 1: is gonna be on guys like Drew Holiday and on
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton. Because Boston is the same thing, to be honest,
Speaker 1: that they're doing to Katie. They're going to try to
Speaker 1: just completely remove him from the series. He's gonna have
Speaker 1: a little bit more success in transition because he's the biggest,
Speaker 1: strongest athlete on the floor then, so he'll have more
Speaker 1: transition success than a Katie or a a Kyrie. He's
Speaker 1: gonna have more success in off ball pins and duck ins.
Speaker 1: Right so, like any time that he does a quick
Speaker 1: seal under the basket, there are gonna be little things
Speaker 1: like that that Boston won't be able to handle. So
Speaker 1: he's gonna have a few extra punches that he can throw.
Speaker 1: But the reality is that there's also gonna be punches
Speaker 1: from Katie and Kyrie in this series as it progresses
Speaker 1: as shot makers, you know, like Katie's not gonna go
Speaker 1: over eight in the second half the whole series, right, So,
Speaker 1: like Janice doesn't have that specific punch, so I but
Speaker 1: I do think Janice is gonna be turned into a
Speaker 1: playmaker in this series. And when that happens, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be on guys like Drew Holiday and Chris Middleton to
Speaker 1: make shots. So obviously the Chris Middleton injury becomes super
Speaker 1: impactful and that specific decision. And then Drew Holiday has
Speaker 1: been an inconsistent playoff performer in his career, has been
Speaker 1: great this year. But that's gonna be the that's gonna
Speaker 1: be the conundrum is they're gonna require other guys to
Speaker 1: make plays, just like we were talking about earlier, really quickly,
Speaker 1: like we were talking about earlier, with the way basketball
Speaker 1: is changing, there is a ton more responsibility on your
Speaker 1: off players to create and there's a lot more traditional
Speaker 1: off ball spot up guys in Milwaukee, Guys like Wesley Matthews.
Speaker 1: He's not a closeout attacker. Guys like Pat Connaughton in
Speaker 1: Grayson Allen, they're not great closeout attackers. They're not the guy.
Speaker 1: They're more of a traditional old school basketball spot up
Speaker 1: and shoot corner threes type of guys. So like it's
Speaker 1: a it's a completely different dynamic and and I think
Speaker 1: it's a bad matchup and and another reason why I
Speaker 1: think Boston has got the red carpet laid out for
Speaker 1: them to win this whole thing. Alright, Well, another element
Speaker 1: in that dynamic playing out for the Celtics that you
Speaker 1: did touch on a bit earlier is the Devin Booker injury,
Speaker 1: and we saw him obviously go out with the hamstring
Speaker 1: issue in game to the reporting is now that he
Speaker 1: is unlikely to play in games three and four, And
Speaker 1: like you said earlier, there's always the potential that this
Speaker 1: is a lingering potentially impactful things. So given that can
Speaker 1: the Suns win the West without Devin Booker, No, not
Speaker 1: at all, no chance. There's no way they're beating Memphis
Speaker 1: or Golden State without him. This is something that I'm
Speaker 1: very concerned about for Phoenix sake. There's not even I
Speaker 1: would still pick the Suns to beat the Pelicans without Booker,
Speaker 1: but I think it's going six or seven games like there.
Speaker 1: If Devin Booker doesn't play in Game three and Game four,
Speaker 1: which he's basically been ruled out of those games, the
Speaker 1: Pelicans are getting one of those on the strength of
Speaker 1: their home crowd, in their athleticism most likely. So it's
Speaker 1: coming back to Phoenix too too. I would expect the
Speaker 1: Phoenix Suns to be able to win Game five in
Speaker 1: Phoenix and then Chris Paul Game six chance to close out.
Speaker 1: I would probably pick Phoenix there, But moving forward, as
Speaker 1: we progress through this playoff run, it doesn't get any
Speaker 1: easier and more than likely they'll end up losing to
Speaker 1: someone like Olden Stator Memphis. So this is where the
Speaker 1: hamstring thing gets tricky. So Devin Booker's dealt with a
Speaker 1: bunch of hamstring injuries in his career back before the
Speaker 1: Suns were really relevant. That was like his most common injury,
Speaker 1: at least from what I remember anecdotally. In Like, there
Speaker 1: was that footage that went around on social media after
Speaker 1: that game. You see him pull up after trying to
Speaker 1: block Jackson Hayes on that transition run out dunk and
Speaker 1: he kind of slaps the ball at Chris Paul mutters
Speaker 1: something to him. Chris Paul immediately turns to the ref
Speaker 1: and calls time out, walks over the bench, sits down,
Speaker 1: slaps the hell out of the chair, and looks utterly dejected.
Speaker 1: And then at another time out, you literally see Jay
Speaker 1: Crowder asked the question you if you're a lip reader,
Speaker 1: you see him say like, you pulled it, and you
Speaker 1: see Devin book Or nod, and you see Jay Crowder
Speaker 1: kind of like turn and shake his head and walk
Speaker 1: away right all dejected like. And so some of this
Speaker 1: reporting around this feels overly optimistic. Again, I don't know
Speaker 1: anything other than what I've seen, but like, I just
Speaker 1: pulled hamstring, Like Devin Booker, if he thinks he pulled
Speaker 1: his hamstring, he's gonna be out a little while. It's
Speaker 1: the reality of it. Hamstrings are one of the weirdest
Speaker 1: injuries for re injury. I've pulled my hamstring one time
Speaker 1: and it was it was the year before I started
Speaker 1: a playing in college, and I reinjured that thing twice
Speaker 1: before I gave it the requisite rest, came back in
Speaker 1: one week, immediately pulled it again, came back like two
Speaker 1: weeks later, immediately pulled it again, and I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna let this happen again. So I sat
Speaker 1: out like a month and then I was fine. But like,
Speaker 1: hamstring injuries are extremely finicky, and so like, there's a
Speaker 1: very realistic chance, Like would you be stunned, Carson if
Speaker 1: I told you that Devin Booker is gonna be out
Speaker 1: for three weeks. And if he's out for three weeks,
Speaker 1: even if they managed to beat the Pelicans, they could
Speaker 1: be down to oh in a series in the next
Speaker 1: round by that point. So like, and even when he
Speaker 1: comes back, there's gonna be a hesitancy from Devon to
Speaker 1: push himself because he's nervous about that hamstring going again,
Speaker 1: just like you saw with James Harden and last year's
Speaker 1: playoff run. Look at how limited James Harden was basically
Speaker 1: not driving to the basket towards the end of that
Speaker 1: series because of his hamstring injuries. So that it's a
Speaker 1: man like I feel so bad for Sons fans because
Speaker 1: you do everything right all season long and then this happens.
Speaker 1: I feel really bad for Devin Booker too, But at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, injuries happened. This is why, like,
Speaker 1: I hate when the Lakers and Sons have been trading
Speaker 1: jabs over the A d injury and the Chris Paul
Speaker 1: injury and talking ship to each other. It's like, guys,
Speaker 1: guess what, Like, you gotta be lucky to win, so
Speaker 1: when you win, be respectful because I understand that you
Speaker 1: probably had some luck along the way. The Suns had
Speaker 1: a lot of luck last year. They faced an injured star.
Speaker 1: I think in every single round of the playoffs. Even
Speaker 1: joannest in the post in the finals had was coming
Speaker 1: off of that hyper extended knee. So they got all
Speaker 1: the luck last year and this year they're on the
Speaker 1: down side of that then. But man, I'll tell you,
Speaker 1: if Chris Paul can somehow carry them for a month,
Speaker 1: that would be that that would obviously, you know, this
Speaker 1: is this last thing I'll say about it. The Sons,
Speaker 1: I've been saying, Oh, you're the most talented team in
Speaker 1: the league from top to bottom. Micaal Bridges is awesome,
Speaker 1: Cam Johnson is awesome, Campaigns an excellent backup point guard.
Speaker 1: DeAndre Ayton is a star in the making at the
Speaker 1: center position. They have a ton of talent. So the
Speaker 1: onus is gonna be on those guys. Mical Bridges is
Speaker 1: gonna have to be more aggressive as a score. DeAndre
Speaker 1: Ayton is gonna have to be more aggressive with this
Speaker 1: ace up game, and with this post up game. There's
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of pressure on those guys to
Speaker 1: kind of carry the load because on this team, Devin
Speaker 1: Booker has been their outlet, their release valve, there guy
Speaker 1: who can create his own shot, and without him, those
Speaker 1: other guys are gonna have to fill that void. I
Speaker 1: think that you touched on what to me was really
Speaker 1: the key glaring things just in terms of the structure
Speaker 1: of this team is the Sons have obviously been phenomenal
Speaker 1: dominant to a team impressive depth and such balance and
Speaker 1: such a clear identity and cohesion and all these things.
Speaker 1: And like, if you look at on off numbers, there's
Speaker 1: still statistically a good team with Booker off the floor
Speaker 1: this year. But I completely agree with you and that
Speaker 1: you have to look to those other guys now obviously,
Speaker 1: and I don't really like the remaining Sons personnel in
Speaker 1: terms of shot creation, Like Bridges is phenomenal because he's
Speaker 1: an incredibly cerebral cutter and a great shooter and impacts
Speaker 1: the game in so many ways without the ball in
Speaker 1: his hands, and eight and obviously is feeding off of
Speaker 1: offense created for him, and Crowder is you know, primarily
Speaker 1: just taking catch and shoot threes. Like I think that
Speaker 1: the guy they turned to for like actually initiating more
Speaker 1: offense might have to be like Campaign, And I don't
Speaker 1: feel very good about that, you know, Like, I just
Speaker 1: think without Devin Booker, who was so important to greasing
Speaker 1: the wheels of the offense in so many ways as
Speaker 1: the most dynamic shotmaker and you know, certainly a top
Speaker 1: two guys just in terms of creating offense for himself
Speaker 1: and others, I just don't think they're built to actually
Speaker 1: overcome that particular loss. So I agree with you. I
Speaker 1: don't think that there is really any chance. I mean,
Speaker 1: with how the Warriors are playing right now, and I think,
Speaker 1: you know, a healthy Memphis team, there's just a gap
Speaker 1: there in terms a creation that I think is really
Speaker 1: gonna be too difficult to overcome if book isn't himself
Speaker 1: or isn't out there. The Campaign element is interesting. They
Speaker 1: did that a little bit in the playoffs last year.
Speaker 1: They play Campaign and Chris Paul together to try to
Speaker 1: get some shot created creation with Devin Booker was off
Speaker 1: the floor, I would hope, because there's been stories written
Speaker 1: about this, and I believe it, like Entred And didn't
Speaker 1: get the Joel embid treatment. Not for the record, DeAndre
Speaker 1: and is not Joel Embiid, but he didn't get to
Speaker 1: go to a terrible tanking team and do the stuff
Speaker 1: that Joel Emba got to do when he was a rookie,
Speaker 1: which is basically whatever he wanted, you know. And so
Speaker 1: what you and Michael Bridge is kind of a similar predicament.
Speaker 1: He didn't get to be brandon Ingram with the Lakers,
Speaker 1: where he went in on a bad team and he
Speaker 1: just got to work with tons and tons of game reps,
Speaker 1: building out the offensive ends of his game, the offensive
Speaker 1: details of his game. Again, Micael Bridge is not brandon Ingram.
Speaker 1: But what I'm saying is is, well, you have to
Speaker 1: hope is that over these years those guys have been
Speaker 1: working on some of that and that they will be
Speaker 1: able to unleash it when they need to. And again
Speaker 1: I'm with you, like they're not. It's not the strengths
Speaker 1: of their games. Michael Bridges offense primarily comes out of
Speaker 1: attacking closeouts and in transition, right, and then you know
Speaker 1: DeAndre and De'll take the occasional jab step little you know,
Speaker 1: face up shot or like a pin hook shot in
Speaker 1: the lane and stuff. But you have to hope that
Speaker 1: he has some post moves in there, because the thing
Speaker 1: is is Chris All with his age and his hamstring,
Speaker 1: has been known to go from on top from time
Speaker 1: to time. Right. What you have to well, you have
Speaker 1: to do here is you know, Chris Paul can still
Speaker 1: do what Chris Paul does. He's been magnificent you know
Speaker 1: in game in game one of the series in particular.
Speaker 1: Well you have to hope though, is that Chris Paul
Speaker 1: when he needs rest, when he gets fatigued, that he
Speaker 1: can throw the ball the ball to somebody else and
Speaker 1: create shots. I know, campaign like to your point, can
Speaker 1: apply rim pressure and at least get that first that
Speaker 1: first rotation started where the defense has to come over
Speaker 1: and help. And that's where the onest will be on
Speaker 1: guys like Cam Johnson and Michael Bridges to make plays.
Speaker 1: And Cam Johnson has some scoring punch as well. He
Speaker 1: might have to get into that bag a little bit. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I mean, all of these guys have their flashes. It's
Speaker 1: just like they're gonna have to really do it by committee.
Speaker 1: Then they're gonna have to do it pretty darn well.
Speaker 1: And I do think campaign becomes really important in that
Speaker 1: equation if Book isn't out there or is not himself.
Speaker 1: All right, final question we have here, Jason got to
Speaker 1: do a little bit of Lakers because right at just
Speaker 1: sixty years old, announced today that he is stepping down
Speaker 1: from the Villanova job where he has obviously been so
Speaker 1: successful for so long. Should he come coach the Lakers? Hell? Now? Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I don't know how many times we have to see
Speaker 1: the college dude who goes pro. It's you know, this
Speaker 1: is not like a you know Nick Saban slash, you
Speaker 1: know Bill Belichick type, like you know a guy that's
Speaker 1: young and grinding, you know that that's failed in other places,
Speaker 1: are failed in the in the pros at some point
Speaker 1: that's coming back into this type of environment. No, like,
Speaker 1: this is a guy who's accomplished it all at the
Speaker 1: college level. The ambition is gone. And we've seen this
Speaker 1: on a bunch of different levels in NBA history where
Speaker 1: and in the NFL, like we just saw it with um.
Speaker 1: Now I'm blanking on his name the coach of from
Speaker 1: Ohio State. Um, it's killing urban Meyer, thank you. I
Speaker 1: get weird with names sometimes, but urban Meyer coming go
Speaker 1: into to Miami and then you find out that he
Speaker 1: doesn't even who von Miller is or whatever. It was
Speaker 1: like like it's one of those things where like the grind,
Speaker 1: they're not grinders. And that's the problem is, you know,
Speaker 1: for the Lakers, they've got to find a mix of
Speaker 1: established personality that has enough cash a that he can
Speaker 1: capture Lebron and Anthony Davis's attention and respect, but at
Speaker 1: the same time that has the ambition to grind still.
Speaker 1: And a guy who's coached in college for twenty one
Speaker 1: years and his one national championships and has had all
Speaker 1: all the stuff on his resume doesn't need that now
Speaker 1: from what I understand what the reporting, he's not interested.
Speaker 1: But that's an example of a guy that the Lakers
Speaker 1: need to stay a million miles away from. It's just that,
Speaker 1: like what there was that due to coach at Michigan
Speaker 1: who went to the Calves for a while, same problem
Speaker 1: that came in, tried to run the program like a
Speaker 1: college program. All the players were super turned off by
Speaker 1: it walked in there like he was the big shot.
Speaker 1: NBA players kind of like with David Blatt when he
Speaker 1: coached the Calves. NBA players don't give a ship. Well
Speaker 1: you accomplished in your other gigs. They don't care what
Speaker 1: you did in Europe. They don't care what you did
Speaker 1: in college. Hell like a Like I've seen eye roll
Speaker 1: ish comments from from Kyrie Irving about Steve Nash in
Speaker 1: years past, like, and Steve Nash is one of the
Speaker 1: greatest point guards to ever play the game. So like
Speaker 1: NBA players are are more interested in in that. They
Speaker 1: they respect very specific types of coaches, So you've got
Speaker 1: to kind of tow that line between respect and ambition,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. Yeah, I totally agree. And Jay
Speaker 1: Wright is just such a college basketball coach just in
Speaker 1: terms of like being a culture center nova. He always
Speaker 1: develops players into being those really valuable, versatile third fourth
Speaker 1: year guys. I do think he's a really good XS
Speaker 1: and O S schematic coach and gets guys to always
Speaker 1: play both ends. Like I mean, it's really hard to
Speaker 1: find nova basketball players who don't kind of overperform expectations
Speaker 1: in the NBA because he just turns out like smart, good,
Speaker 1: versatile basketball players, but he does not feel like an
Speaker 1: NBA coach to me, Like he's a guy who owned
Speaker 1: a program for two decades, run things how he wants to.
Speaker 1: Isn't gonna get the highest profile recruits, but it's gonna
Speaker 1: make those guys what they are in a college basketball context.
Speaker 1: And I agree with you and that it just doesn't
Speaker 1: feel like it would translate to the NBA. And you
Speaker 1: certainly do not want a guy cash and checks and
Speaker 1: you know, just clocking in and out, especially certainly not
Speaker 1: for the Lakers given where things are at right now.
Speaker 1: So I agree, Yeah, the type of the type of
Speaker 1: coach that would succeed making that transition is kind of
Speaker 1: like the Brad Stevens archetype, Like the guy that is
Speaker 1: still young and is ambitious but also steps into coach
Speaker 1: a young team. That's the key difference there. Like there
Speaker 1: were some vets on that Boston team, but they were
Speaker 1: like guys like Al Horford that were extraordinarily respectful and professional,
Speaker 1: you know, or like a role player that doesn't really
Speaker 1: have the cachet to speak up, like a Marcus Morris, right, Like,
Speaker 1: for the most part, it was Marcus Mark Jayson Tatum,
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown, guys that were very deferential to Brad Stevens
Speaker 1: because of the fact that you know he They're like,
Speaker 1: they don't have the egos yet from being in the
Speaker 1: league long enough to be like, I don't give a
Speaker 1: crap about this this college coach that's coming in the room.
Speaker 1: So I'm not saying it can't be done at all,
Speaker 1: but he's certainly not the type of archetype who would
Speaker 1: All right, guys, that is all we have for tonight.
Speaker 1: I sincerely appreciate your guys support. Like always, a wild show.
Speaker 1: There's still a ton to get into on both of
Speaker 1: these games. But with the Bucks game and with that
Speaker 1: Sixers game, I didn't get to watch the whole thing
Speaker 1: because I was so glued into that that Celtics NETS game.
Speaker 1: So I need to go back and watch some film
Speaker 1: and tomorrow night we will get into further detail on
Speaker 1: these series, is some of the XS and O stuff.
Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate your support. We will be back
Speaker 1: after the final buzzer of the last game tomorrow night,
Speaker 1: and I'll see you guys then. Volume