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Speaker 1: All right, Welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by FanDuel here
Speaker 1: at the volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody. I hope all of
Speaker 1: you guys are having a great week so far. We
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Speaker 1: We have a jam packed show today. We're gonna hitting
Speaker 1: on four games from the last two days. The Lakers
Speaker 1: got another huge win last night against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Speaker 1: The Philadelphia seventy six ers went on the road to
Speaker 1: a red hot Minnesota Timberwolves team and kick their ass,
Speaker 1: which I thought was super interesting. We're gonna cover a
Speaker 1: game from Monday night when the Calves beat the Celtics,
Speaker 1: coming from behind late and winning in overtime. And then,
Speaker 1: last but not least, the Golden State Warriors and their
Speaker 1: road struggles continue, allowing just a shit ton of points
Speaker 1: in an ugly loss on the road in Oklahoma City.
Speaker 1: We're gonna touch on that game as well. You guys
Speaker 1: know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the
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Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. Under hoops tonight, All right,
Speaker 1: let's talk some basketball. So the Lakers win one twelve
Speaker 1: to one oh three. Anthony freaking Davis thirty points and
Speaker 1: twenty two rebounds on just seventeen shots completely dominated the
Speaker 1: game on both ends of the floor, lockdown the paint defensively,
Speaker 1: scored what ten points in transition, he scored in isolation,
Speaker 1: he scored in pick and roll. As a role man,
Speaker 1: he had four points just working his ass off on
Speaker 1: the offensive glass. He scored seven points directly in the post.
Speaker 1: He completely dominated the game and was just a complete monster.
Speaker 1: And this was just the latest reminder of why I've
Speaker 1: always been so high on the Lebron James and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis pairing. There have been a lot of times over
Speaker 1: the last year and a half where I've gotten some crap,
Speaker 1: you know, for saying, like, hey, like through all of this,
Speaker 1: they're one trade away. If they can make it a
Speaker 1: solid rush trade, they'll be a real contender. And I've
Speaker 1: been saying that forever because I believe that Lebron James
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis have the highest ceiling of any duo
Speaker 1: in the league. We did our top five duos yesterday
Speaker 1: and I had them fifth, and I had them fifth
Speaker 1: because of their availability issues. I'm sorry, but that is
Speaker 1: you know, there's the old saying the best ability is availability,
Speaker 1: and essentially not being able to maintain your ceiling is
Speaker 1: absolutely something we should factor in when comparing you to
Speaker 1: the other duos around the league. So I don't think
Speaker 1: Lebron and A d have a case to be any
Speaker 1: higher than fifth on that list. But when they are right,
Speaker 1: when they are healthy, there is no duo in the
Speaker 1: NBA that can match what Lebron James and Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: can do on both sides of the floor. When Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis is healthy, he is a top tier superstar. When
Speaker 1: Lebron James is healthy, he is a to your superstar.
Speaker 1: How many players would you even consider taking over the
Speaker 1: two of them in a playoff series if they are healthy,
Speaker 1: I'd say Janis, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Luka don Chich,
Speaker 1: Nikola Yokich, and Joel embat Those are the only six
Speaker 1: that you can make a reasonable case that you take
Speaker 1: over both of them healthy in a playoff series. And
Speaker 1: I would argue they have cases over several of those players.
Speaker 1: So that means at worst, the Lakers have like the
Speaker 1: seventh and eighth best player that you would want on
Speaker 1: your team in a key playoff series. And here's the thing.
Speaker 1: Johannis Katie, Steph Luca, Nikola Yoki, and Joel Embiid they're
Speaker 1: all on different teams. Lebron and Anthony Davis both play
Speaker 1: for the Lakers, and they've both demonstrated that top tier
Speaker 1: ceiling within this season. After the win last night, the
Speaker 1: Lakers are now thirty and twenty four since they're two
Speaker 1: in ten spart start. That's the tenth best record in
Speaker 1: the league over that span. That includes Lebron, James, and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis combining to miss forty one games during that stretch.
Speaker 1: That includes playing most of that stretch without any forwards.
Speaker 1: That includes playing crunch time with Russell Westbrook and a
Speaker 1: general lack of offensive skill in the backcourt. I pulled
Speaker 1: some numbers today. The Lakers were ten and fourteen when
Speaker 1: Russ played clutch minutes for them. They are nine and
Speaker 1: four this year when they played clutch minutes without Russ.
Speaker 1: That includes bad luck with deficiating. There was that Tatum
Speaker 1: foul on Lebron at the buzzer in the Celtics game.
Speaker 1: There was that play against the Mavericks when Christian Would
Speaker 1: hacked Lebron on a buzzer layup. That's two plays where
Speaker 1: Lebron would have had two chances to make one free
Speaker 1: throw to win a game with no time on the clock.
Speaker 1: Despite all of that, they are thirty and twenty four
Speaker 1: in their last fifty four games. Because to start that run,
Speaker 1: when Lebron was out, Anthony Davis played like the best
Speaker 1: player in the world to carry the team to wins.
Speaker 1: And then later on when Anthony Davis was out, Lebron
Speaker 1: James played like one of the best players in the
Speaker 1: world to float the team when Anthony Davis was out. Obviously,
Speaker 1: lots of other guys stepped up during that stretch, but
Speaker 1: those two guys led the way. You're not winning games
Speaker 1: in the NBA without type of top end talent. And
Speaker 1: by the way, the Lakers are seven and three since
Speaker 1: the new trade pieces started playing. They have the number
Speaker 1: one defense in the league over that span by a
Speaker 1: large margin. They are two points per one hundred possessions
Speaker 1: better than the Bucks, who are second place in that span.
Speaker 1: And just within that ten game span, Anthony Davis, Lebron James,
Speaker 1: and D'Angel Russell have combined him his fifteen games, they
Speaker 1: are three and oh. When all three of those guys
Speaker 1: play together. I say all that to say this, this
Speaker 1: is a legitimately very dangerous basketball team in the Western Conference. Again,
Speaker 1: Lebron and ad have both flashed that top five upside
Speaker 1: when they're healthy. Within this season. They now have an
Speaker 1: extremely skilled backcourt. D'Angelo Russell and Malik Beasley compliment Lebron
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis really well. Austin Reeves has been excellent
Speaker 1: coming off the bench in a lead ball handling role
Speaker 1: as of late. He's also like the fifth guy that
Speaker 1: you'd want to slide into closing lineups in for Malik Beasley.
Speaker 1: It's kind of a much better two way fit in
Speaker 1: that specific situation. We'll talk more about Austin Reeves here
Speaker 1: in a minute, because I want to do a deep
Speaker 1: dive into his recent improvements. Dennis Ruder is as good
Speaker 1: of a backup point guard as you'll find in the league.
Speaker 1: He provides like a defensive changeup to the offensive fastball
Speaker 1: of D'Angelo Russell, and he did a number on Desmond
Speaker 1: bayin yesterday chasing him around an applying ball pressure. He's
Speaker 1: just an excellent option to throw about to throw out
Speaker 1: just about any guard in the league. Jared Vanderbilt has
Speaker 1: become an extremely versatile defensive weapon that can guard the
Speaker 1: other team's best player, regardless of archetype. He's basically handled
Speaker 1: every type of matchup they've thrown him at. The only
Speaker 1: guy that you probably not feel comfortable with is like
Speaker 1: a yoga er and eimbid. But he can guard guards,
Speaker 1: he can guard two guards, he can guard wings, he
Speaker 1: can guard bigger forwards, big strong forwards. He'll get another
Speaker 1: challenge to guard a big, strong forward against the Nicks
Speaker 1: on Sunday. I'm interested to see how he fares there.
Speaker 1: Ruy hatch Mura has responded to him getting limited minutes
Speaker 1: and going to the bench for Jared Vanderbilt. He's responded
Speaker 1: to that by just diving in heart and soul into
Speaker 1: the rebounding and defensive areas of the game. This has
Speaker 1: been one of the most impactful role player stretches I've
Speaker 1: seen from Ruy hatch Mura, just in all the dirty
Speaker 1: work that he's doing on the floor, motivated by what
Speaker 1: he needs to do to get minutes. He also provides
Speaker 1: an interesting offensive changeup to Jared Vanderbilt's Jared Vanderbilt's defensive
Speaker 1: fastball inclosing groups. Ruey hatch Murra is shooting seventy five
Speaker 1: percent in clutch situations this year in the Leakers are
Speaker 1: four and one when they've gone to him in clutch games.
Speaker 1: Brown Junior has been outstanding taking on tough defensive assignments,
Speaker 1: and now he can't miss from three. Over the course
Speaker 1: of the last several games, he's up to thirty eight
Speaker 1: percent on the season. And they have some real matchup
Speaker 1: flexibility off the bench. Defensively at the center position, they
Speaker 1: can go smaller and faster with more pace with when
Speaker 1: you in Gabriel, or they can play a more traditional
Speaker 1: drop coverage big against teams that don't have as much
Speaker 1: pull up shooting in mo Bamba. They check a lot
Speaker 1: of boxes now and they have better top end talent
Speaker 1: when healthy than anybody in the league. Yes, there are
Speaker 1: guys that are better than Lebron. Yes there are guys
Speaker 1: that are better than a d but there's nobody in
Speaker 1: the league that can put the two of them together
Speaker 1: and who could do anything that resembles what the two
Speaker 1: of them do at the top end, even as unlikely
Speaker 1: as that is. Yes, health is a real risk for them.
Speaker 1: That's why I had them as fifth in my duos yesterday.
Speaker 1: It's still a big question mark. But if they are
Speaker 1: healthy in April, I'm extremely tempted to pick them as
Speaker 1: the team that could get out of the West, and
Speaker 1: we'll make that call when we get there. But if
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis is going to be this good, and you're
Speaker 1: gonna get the Lebron who broke the scoring record earlier
Speaker 1: this season, with this group of role players in a
Speaker 1: Western conference full of teams that are flawed, I think
Speaker 1: you'd be foolish to act as though they do not
Speaker 1: have a serious chance to get out of the conference.
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about Austin Reeves for a minute
Speaker 1: because a couple games ago, the last time they lost Memphis,
Speaker 1: I talked a lot about Anthony Davis and how he
Speaker 1: needs competent ball handling. It's ironically the reason why Lebron
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis are such a great pair. Anthony Davis's
Speaker 1: greatest weakness, which is perimeter initiation, is Lebron james greatest strength.
Speaker 1: And Lebron james greatest weakness at this point in his career,
Speaker 1: which is really engaging himself with his athleticism on the
Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor and as a rebounder. That's
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis's greatest strength. They compliment each other incredibly well
Speaker 1: for that reason. But AD's lack of perimeter initiation. Has
Speaker 1: been flashing a lot lately. At three assists to seven
Speaker 1: turnovers last night, Anthony Davis has eleven assists to twenty
Speaker 1: turnovers in his last four games. He needs competent ball handling.
Speaker 1: We saw what happened against Memphis last time. They couldn't
Speaker 1: take care of the basketball, they had no chance of winning.
Speaker 1: We saw what happened against against Golden State on Sunday.
Speaker 1: We talked about how Lonnie Walker and Malik Beasley and
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves and Dennis rod Are kind of cobbled together
Speaker 1: a really efficient backcourt night and they won the game.
Speaker 1: And then last night, Austin Reeves and Dennis Schroder combined
Speaker 1: for thirty four points and sixteen assists on just two turnovers.
Speaker 1: So they are somehow without D'Angelo Russell, without Lebron James,
Speaker 1: cobbling together now competent ball handling, which is what is
Speaker 1: allowing Anthony Davis to carry his incredible two way impact
Speaker 1: as a play finisher offensively and as a defensive anchor
Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the floor. I wanted to
Speaker 1: show some you know, because we talked a lot about
Speaker 1: Dennis shoulder earlier and what he does defensively, but one
Speaker 1: of the biggest developments of this season for the Lakers
Speaker 1: has been the improvements that Austin Reeves has made in
Speaker 1: terms of his offensive skill and it really is remarkable.
Speaker 1: So I did some diving for those of you guys
Speaker 1: who want to see these numbers visually, I tweeted them
Speaker 1: out earlier today, but I wanted to go over just
Speaker 1: some numbers to demonstrate how much Austin Reeves has improved
Speaker 1: over the course of the last two seasons. So in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, Austin Reeves averaged zero point nine four
Speaker 1: points points per post up possession excuse me, points per
Speaker 1: spot up possession. That was one hundred and ninety second
Speaker 1: out of two hundred and fifty seven players to log
Speaker 1: at least one hundred spot up possessions. This season, When
Speaker 1: spotting up one point two four points per possession, that's
Speaker 1: a thirty point increase in offensive writing in those situations.
Speaker 1: That's thirteenth out of one hundred and forty seven players
Speaker 1: to log at least one hundred and fifty spot up possessions.
Speaker 1: So in one summer, he transformed himself from one of
Speaker 1: the worst spot up players in the league to one
Speaker 1: of the best spot up players in the league in
Speaker 1: shot creation situations on the ball, he has improved his
Speaker 1: efficiency despite massively improving his volume. He went from zero
Speaker 1: point nine six points per possession in pick and roll
Speaker 1: last year to zero point nine eight this year, despite
Speaker 1: going from eighty one reps to two hundred and three reps.
Speaker 1: Isolation up from one point zero seven points per possession
Speaker 1: to one point one one, And most of it's coming
Speaker 1: down to the jump shots. So last year Austin Reeves
Speaker 1: effective field goal percentage on catching shoot jump shots fifty
Speaker 1: two percent, dribble jump shots thirty six percent. This year
Speaker 1: fifty nine percent, affective field goal percentage on catching shoe jumpers,
Speaker 1: fifty three percent, effective field goal percentage on dribble jump shots,
Speaker 1: and his rim finishing has improved from sixty eight percent
Speaker 1: to sixty nine percent despite increased volume. It's extremely difficult
Speaker 1: to do that over a five season gap, let alone
Speaker 1: in one season. I tweeted this earlier today, but there's
Speaker 1: a couple of guys and somebody actually on my Twitter
Speaker 1: fe pointed out Javon Carter as well. But Javon Carter,
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves, Josh Green. There are some recent examples of
Speaker 1: some of these spot up players around the league that
Speaker 1: in one summer must have just spent hours and hours
Speaker 1: every single day building out and refining their skill set
Speaker 1: in preparation for bigger roles this year, and Austin Reeves
Speaker 1: is just the latest example of that. Watch out for
Speaker 1: those Lakers, man. They have a couple days off before.
Speaker 1: If you look at their schedule down the stretch here
Speaker 1: like they've got a lot of winnable games on the horizon.
Speaker 1: Next is Friday night at home against the Toronto Raptors.
Speaker 1: That's a winnable game, obviously Nicks on Sunday. The Knicks
Speaker 1: are playing really well, but they're a team that can
Speaker 1: struggle to score sometimes in a half court So the
Speaker 1: Lakers will have a chance to win, and at some
Speaker 1: point over the course of the next few weeks, I
Speaker 1: expect Lebron James to return, maybe not as soon as
Speaker 1: he needs to. If they keep winning at this rate,
Speaker 1: we'll see. Let's go out to the first National TV
Speaker 1: game from yesterday, seventy six Ers timber Wolves. So Sixers
Speaker 1: beat the hell out of the Wolves. Outside of Anthony Edwards,
Speaker 1: nobody from Minnesota could make a shot. Embiad was masterful
Speaker 1: once again, thirty nine points on twenty two shots three blocks.
Speaker 1: Joel Embiad scored twenty points just on jump shots yesterday.
Speaker 1: He was four for four from three four for eight
Speaker 1: on jump shots outside of the paint. He is now
Speaker 1: up to fifty six percent effective field goal percentage on
Speaker 1: catch and shoot jumpers this year and forty four percent
Speaker 1: effective field goal percentage on dribble jump dribble jump shots
Speaker 1: this year. Those are decent numbers for a star guard,
Speaker 1: let alone for a center. So that perimeter jump shooting
Speaker 1: thing for Joel Embiid continues to be a revelation. Tyrese
Speaker 1: Maxie was awesome with James Harden now he had twenty
Speaker 1: seven and five and it was good to see to
Speaker 1: buy his Harris back after that calf injury took him
Speaker 1: out in the middle of that Bucks game. He's really
Speaker 1: important for them on the wing defensively because they're a
Speaker 1: little fin there. And he grabbed fourteen rebounds, which is
Speaker 1: a big part of triggering that transition attack with guys
Speaker 1: like Tyrese Maxie. But in his walk off interview on TNT,
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid had this quote that I thought was really interesting.
Speaker 1: He said, no disrespect to any of them, but no
Speaker 1: disrespect to any of them MVPs, but defense. Excuse me,
Speaker 1: I'm reading this quote and butchering it. No disrespect to
Speaker 1: any of them, but MVPs Defensive Player of the Year.
Speaker 1: That doesn't mean anything to me. I'm still going to
Speaker 1: be the best player on the floor. So first of all,
Speaker 1: in the speech, you can kind of see just a
Speaker 1: little bit of contempt in his voice, and I get that.
Speaker 1: I understand, I understand, and beats frustration. I don't think
Speaker 1: embiad is the MVP. I'd have him third right now.
Speaker 1: But I do get very frustrated by the MVP voting process.
Speaker 1: It's one of the most annoying conversations every year. The
Speaker 1: voters predominantly seem to be like MBA hipsters that galaxy.
Speaker 1: The galaxy brain themselves into overly complicated opinions. I don't
Speaker 1: think playoff success is valued nearly enough. Yes, I know
Speaker 1: it's a regular season award, but why do we play
Speaker 1: the regular season. It's all one giant journey towards the
Speaker 1: Larry O'Brien Trophy. So acting as though that your playoff
Speaker 1: translatability doesn't matter just because we're focusing on the regular
Speaker 1: season is really silly to me, But I digress. I
Speaker 1: was impressed by the quote because to me, it is
Speaker 1: the latest example of Joel Embiad's demeanor throughout this season,
Speaker 1: which is just fighting like hell on the court to
Speaker 1: win games, regardless of what the prevailing opinion is about him,
Speaker 1: regardless of whatever narratives you can cling to. I look,
Speaker 1: I think he can be an infuriating foul grifter sometimes,
Speaker 1: but you know, that is what it is. He's been
Speaker 1: relatively healthy this year, but he's had some health issues
Speaker 1: in the past, so people will cling to those sorts
Speaker 1: of things. But he's shutting out all of that and
Speaker 1: he's just focusing on dominating basketball games on the court.
Speaker 1: He's gone to war every single night. He's outplayed Giannis
Speaker 1: head to head. Recently, He's outplayed Nickel Yokich head to head. Recently,
Speaker 1: he outplayed Anthony Davis earlier this year. All he's doing
Speaker 1: is winning where it matters on the court. The Sixers
Speaker 1: are nine points per one hundred possessions better with him
Speaker 1: than without him, and the Sixers are thirty one in
Speaker 1: ten since December eighth, which is still the second best
Speaker 1: record in the league over that span, just to Denver.
Speaker 1: That's a half season sample size with some signature wins.
Speaker 1: They're owing three against Boston this year, but they're three
Speaker 1: and one against Denver and Milwaukee, which lends credence to
Speaker 1: my matchup take that I always have, like, especially in
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference. This year, matchups are going to matter.
Speaker 1: Who plays who is going to matter, and it benefits
Speaker 1: Philadelphia if Boston ends up getting the one seed, so
Speaker 1: they can catch Milwaukee in that second round, because I
Speaker 1: think that's a better matchup for them. Before we move on,
Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about Minnesota for a second because
Speaker 1: this is a tough loss. Obviously, you get your butt
Speaker 1: kicked when you're on a three game winning streak at home.
Speaker 1: But before last night, they ripped off three straight wins
Speaker 1: against three pretty good teams, all on the road. They
Speaker 1: beat the Clippers on the road, they beat the Lakers
Speaker 1: on the road, they beat the Kings on the road.
Speaker 1: And so I want to go optimistic here with the
Speaker 1: Timberwolves because and kind of start to see just an
Speaker 1: identity starting to form, an identity that makes sense as
Speaker 1: a foundation for a really good basketball team. Starts with
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis as your two way superstar. Aunt's last twenty
Speaker 1: games twenty seven, six and five, fifty eight percent true shooting,
Speaker 1: thirty seven percent on pull up threes during that span,
Speaker 1: all pretty damn good numbers. Anthony Anthony Edwards and Jaden
Speaker 1: McDaniels have made a frightening perimeter defensive duo. I've talked
Speaker 1: about that a lot on the show in recent weeks.
Speaker 1: They've given nightmares to many of the game's best offensive
Speaker 1: players this season. They have these stretches where they lock
Speaker 1: in and guys just can't even get shots off, and
Speaker 1: they have one of the best defensive anchors in the
Speaker 1: league behind them and Rudy Gobert. So you've got the
Speaker 1: future superstar, and you've got the potential to be a
Speaker 1: truly great defense. And they've still been a good defense
Speaker 1: this year, their tenth in defensive rating. But you can
Speaker 1: see a version of this where they can in the
Speaker 1: future on the strength of those three guys Aunt at
Speaker 1: the point of attack, Jade McDaniels guys on the wing,
Speaker 1: and Rudy Gobert on the back line, that they can
Speaker 1: be a truly great defense. What they need is they
Speaker 1: need a good playmaking guard that can defend next to
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards. Some of that's a little more methodical, a
Speaker 1: little bit more of a guy looking to set guys up.
Speaker 1: And then Jade McDaniels represents that like thin, wiry, great
Speaker 1: athlete forward. But they need that bigger, stronger, lower center
Speaker 1: of gravity like kind of power, traditional power type of forwards.
Speaker 1: So basically think of it as like the better version
Speaker 1: of Mike Conley and the better version of Kyle Anderson.
Speaker 1: And for the record, I don't think it should be
Speaker 1: Carl Towns. I just think your overall foot speed in
Speaker 1: the lineup gets too low there and he's not a
Speaker 1: good enough defensive player. So obviously, with all the assets
Speaker 1: they gave up in the Gobert trade, it's probably gonna
Speaker 1: have to be Carl Towns as used as the chip
Speaker 1: to make that happen. But I think they're gonna be
Speaker 1: looking in that direction eventually anyway. But if they can
Speaker 1: upgrade those two positions, a good skilled forward that's big
Speaker 1: and strong at the four and a good skilled guard
Speaker 1: that can pass and playmake and defend a little bit
Speaker 1: at the two, that's that's a damn good five man group,
Speaker 1: especially if Anthony Edwards continues to progress at this rate,
Speaker 1: so I would be I would be very excited for
Speaker 1: the future if I was a Wolves fan. What's up, guys,
Speaker 1: it's soups Tonight, presented by FanDuel. The sports calendar is
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Speaker 1: move on to Monday night's game between the Caves and
Speaker 1: the Celtics. So the Calves one in OT one eighteen
Speaker 1: to one fourteen. It's a weird game. Boston set out
Speaker 1: three starters. Jason Tatum was out, Al Horford's out, Robert
Speaker 1: Williams is still out. He's gonna be out for their
Speaker 1: week or so. Cleveland went small down the stretch. They
Speaker 1: bench Jared Allen and went with Lamar Stevens and Evan
Speaker 1: Mobile in the front court. Donovan Mitchell was awesome down
Speaker 1: the stretch, just attacking the rim, taking advantage of Boston
Speaker 1: being down their rim protection, not settling for stupid shots.
Speaker 1: Lamar Stevens was one of the biggest impact players down
Speaker 1: the stretch of this game. He had a bunch of
Speaker 1: offensive rebounds down the stretch and regulation and then an
Speaker 1: Ot had back to back monster offensive plays. He hit
Speaker 1: a corner three on a kickout, and then he had
Speaker 1: a play where he drove and dropped his shoulder and
Speaker 1: went right through Mike Muscala to get a layup. That
Speaker 1: just goes to show you what competent forward play looks
Speaker 1: like next to that specific core of players, which is
Speaker 1: exactly why I've been saying that if they could upgrade
Speaker 1: that position or get more consistent production out of that position,
Speaker 1: I'd be so much hard higher on them. But the
Speaker 1: Celtics blew an eleven point lead late in this game,
Speaker 1: and the Celtics have lost three of their last four
Speaker 1: games and are just twenty four and sixteen since that
Speaker 1: Golden State loss in early December. Now here's the thing,
Speaker 1: a lot of Celtics fans are freaking out, and I
Speaker 1: very much am not. Even that long extended slump, going
Speaker 1: twenty four and sixteen is still the sixth best record
Speaker 1: in the league over that span. That's how ridiculously even
Speaker 1: the league is down the line. I think most of
Speaker 1: their issues as of late are related to some lineup inconsistency,
Speaker 1: as they've been cautious with injuries and general malaise, which
Speaker 1: can happen to really good teams in March, especially when
Speaker 1: they have a comfortable position in the standings. Obviously they're
Speaker 1: jocking for that one two seed, but like they're in
Speaker 1: pretty safe shape, so they don't have the same urgency
Speaker 1: that a lot of the other teams in the league
Speaker 1: are playing with. So I have not seen anything in
Speaker 1: the last three months that would change my opinion of
Speaker 1: the Celtics. But I did have a Celtics fan ask
Speaker 1: me last night how Boston keeps blowing these games, and
Speaker 1: I wanted to hit on that for a minute. So,
Speaker 1: first of all, the Celtics are twenty one in ten
Speaker 1: in games that involved clutch situations. This year that third
Speaker 1: best in the entire league, behind Milwaukee and Denver, and
Speaker 1: a hell of a lot better than they were last year,
Speaker 1: so this hasn't really been that big of a problem.
Speaker 1: But they've had some tough clutch games this season that
Speaker 1: resembled last year, and they've blown three of their last
Speaker 1: four close games, so it's worth touching on for a minute.
Speaker 1: I attribute these clutch Celtics issues to two things, stagnation
Speaker 1: and decision making at the rim. So, first of all, stagnation,
Speaker 1: so when the game slows down in these clutch situations,
Speaker 1: the Celtics have way too many possessions where they just
Speaker 1: walk the ball up the floor. And what ends up
Speaker 1: happening in those types of situations is they don't actually
Speaker 1: start trying to create an advantage until there's like ten
Speaker 1: eleven seconds left on the shot clock, and so if
Speaker 1: that first drive gets contained, they're making a swing pass
Speaker 1: to somebody who doesn't have much of an advantage with
Speaker 1: like four seconds on the shot clock. And so a
Speaker 1: lot of those possessions end in these late clock contested
Speaker 1: pull up jumpers, which are going to be low percentage
Speaker 1: shots for everybody in the league, even the best players.
Speaker 1: So the way to fight that is to play with tempo.
Speaker 1: You want to bring the ball up the floor quickly.
Speaker 1: That doesn't mean you have to shoot right away. You
Speaker 1: don't have to. Like, playing with pace doesn't necessarily mean
Speaker 1: shooting in the first five seconds of every shot clock.
Speaker 1: It just means moving the ball at the floor quickly
Speaker 1: and getting into that first action that might give you
Speaker 1: some time to run a set or maybe if you're
Speaker 1: playing driving kickball, that first guy, even if he kind
Speaker 1: of gets contained, he can throw that swing pass and
Speaker 1: that next guy has a chance to attack that close
Speaker 1: out and maybe he can make a kick, and then
Speaker 1: the next guy can attack, and you might be able
Speaker 1: to get four or five attacks in the same possession,
Speaker 1: which is what allows you the better opportunity to get
Speaker 1: better dribble penetration, to get better shots. So that that
Speaker 1: to me is step one. Play with better tempo, bring
Speaker 1: the ball up quickly so you have multiple opportunities to
Speaker 1: attack the rim. The second thing is rim decision making.
Speaker 1: There were back to back possessions in this game when
Speaker 1: Austin was up one two ninety three where Jalen Brown
Speaker 1: made poor decisions at the rim and it turned the
Speaker 1: game like this. Once on a cut, once on a drive,
Speaker 1: and both times he made poor decisions. First, he challenged
Speaker 1: Evan Mobley on a cut when Luke Cornette was cutting
Speaker 1: out of the week side corner wide open. Instead of
Speaker 1: challenging the rim protector and getting blocked, you read the
Speaker 1: floor and you make that hook pass to Cornette cutting
Speaker 1: on the baseline, it's a dunk. On the second one,
Speaker 1: he drove to the basket on Evan Mobley, Mobley's challenging
Speaker 1: him from behind. Lamar Stevens comes up and helps Derek
Speaker 1: White's wide open on the left wing, and Marcus Smart
Speaker 1: is wide open in the corner. Because the entire Calves
Speaker 1: team collapses and Jaylen Brown challenges them and misses the layout.
Speaker 1: And here's the problem. Missed layups or blocked layoups trigger
Speaker 1: fast breaks. I learned this lesson a million times when
Speaker 1: I was covering the Lakers with Westbrook over the last
Speaker 1: couple of years. All of miss layups would inevitably lead
Speaker 1: to these runouts the other way. And it's it's pretty simple.
Speaker 1: Every team usually has one guy on the floor who's
Speaker 1: pretty slow footed already probably a big right. So when
Speaker 1: one of your better athletes misses a layup and is
Speaker 1: now behind the rim, your floor balance is off, and
Speaker 1: you're playing three on five back the other way in transition.
Speaker 1: It just puts your transition defense in a really tough spot.
Speaker 1: This is where you know, getting dribble penetration is the
Speaker 1: first step, but making the right decision when you engage
Speaker 1: help defenders is the important second step. I used to
Speaker 1: talk a lot about, you know, when we were talking
Speaker 1: about analytics two days ago. I think I told you
Speaker 1: guys about how you know we don't properly account for
Speaker 1: shot quality. Right, Like, Yes, threes and the rim are
Speaker 1: the two best shots in basketball in terms of value,
Speaker 1: right because you can finish at a high rate at
Speaker 1: the rim typically, and threes are worth one and a
Speaker 1: half points compared to a shot inside. Right, when I
Speaker 1: have times as many points, I should say, here's the thing.
Speaker 1: A wide open, in rhythm fifteen footer is worth more
Speaker 1: points per possession than a contested three or a contested
Speaker 1: rim attempt. That's the important detail. Rim attempts are not
Speaker 1: good if they're in a ship ton of traffic and
Speaker 1: you can't make them. Threes are not good if they're
Speaker 1: a heavily contested, difficult off the dribble three. By playing
Speaker 1: stagnant and not getting dribble penetration, you take a lot
Speaker 1: of contested dribble threes, which are low percentage shots if
Speaker 1: you make if you get drible penetration and you make
Speaker 1: poor rim decisions, you get a lot of contested, tough
Speaker 1: layups at the rim. But if you play with tempo,
Speaker 1: you get the drible penetration and you make good rim decisions,
Speaker 1: now you're getting wide open catch and shoot threes on
Speaker 1: the back end, or if you work the advantage enough
Speaker 1: you might get a wide open, higher percentage rim attempt.
Speaker 1: So playing with tempo and making good rim decisions is
Speaker 1: the difference between getting contested threes and contested rim attempts
Speaker 1: and quality catch and shoot threes and quality rim attempts.
Speaker 1: That little execution detail is the specific problem that has
Speaker 1: popped up with the Celtics time and time again over
Speaker 1: the years, challenging bam at a Bio at the rim,
Speaker 1: challenging Brook Lopez at the rim, challenging kevon Looney and
Speaker 1: Dramon Green at the rim. Rather than making the right decision,
Speaker 1: playing stagnant in not getting enough tribal penetration. Again, it
Speaker 1: hasn't been as bad this year as it was in
Speaker 1: the postseason last year, or the year or in the
Speaker 1: regular season last year. But that specific issue has been
Speaker 1: what has caused their crunch time issues, and it's happened
Speaker 1: in three of the last four games. So it's just
Speaker 1: something to keep an eye on as we go down
Speaker 1: the stretch. But I remain unworried about the Celtics in general,
Speaker 1: and I do think they deserve their fair chance to
Speaker 1: prove us all wrong in the postseason, all right quickly
Speaker 1: before we get out of here. So Golden State loses.
Speaker 1: I I don't have too many thoughts on this game.
Speaker 1: I just want to hit on a couple of quick points.
Speaker 1: Golden State loses an embarrassing game in Oklahoma City one
Speaker 1: thirty seven to one twenty eight. First of all, shakiel
Speaker 1: Just Alexander actually played in this game after missing a bunch,
Speaker 1: and he's the top fifteen player in the world, So
Speaker 1: that doesn't necessarily take away how embarrassing the losses, but
Speaker 1: it does color it a little bit differently. Like going
Speaker 1: into Oklahoma City and beating Shakil Just Alexander and the
Speaker 1: Thunder is not exactly an easy task, but it is
Speaker 1: a game the Warriors should have won. Secondly, a lot
Speaker 1: of Warriors fans and some non Warriors fans were hyper
Speaker 1: focused on Golden State's size in this game. That specifically
Speaker 1: has been one of the larger talking points surrounding the
Speaker 1: Warriors in recent weeks, how big they are. Colin and
Speaker 1: I even talked about it a little bit in the
Speaker 1: last time we did the show. And look, the Warriors
Speaker 1: are not a huge basketball team, obviously, but this is
Speaker 1: the same core that was big enough to win the
Speaker 1: title last year through Yoki running through Memphis and their
Speaker 1: gigantic front line of Jaron Jackson Junior and Brandon Clark
Speaker 1: and Stephen Adams, and the Celtics were much bigger than them,
Speaker 1: basically at every position, and they won the title. So, like,
Speaker 1: I'm not necessarily that worried about Golden State size. And
Speaker 1: here's the reality. Two of last night's game, their two
Speaker 1: best athletes were unavailable. Andrew Wiggins and Gary Payton are
Speaker 1: two of the top tier athletes at their positions. When
Speaker 1: they don't play, the Warriors are not nearly as physical,
Speaker 1: physically imposing. That's just a fact. But here's why I'm concerned.
Speaker 1: Regardless of what personnel was available for the Warriors last night.
Speaker 1: They had more than enough to win that game, and
Speaker 1: they just were not sharp defensively in this game. They
Speaker 1: were not sliding their feet on the perimeter to contain
Speaker 1: ball handlers. They were slow in their rotations, they were
Speaker 1: slow to the basketball and missus so they got destroyed
Speaker 1: on the glass and they turned the ball over twenty
Speaker 1: one time. That's just all sloppiness and laziness. I don't
Speaker 1: want to hear about size and athleticism when I've seen
Speaker 1: this same group of players do infinitely better in all
Speaker 1: of those same areas just in the last couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: primarily when they're at home. So the concerning thing is
Speaker 1: is that in a situation where the team should be
Speaker 1: playing with high urgency, they are not playing with high urgency.
Speaker 1: They're establishing bad habits that can get them beat, especially
Speaker 1: on the road. And here's the thing, They're going to
Speaker 1: be playing on the road a lot in this postseason. Potentially,
Speaker 1: that's the concern. It's not over, but they had better
Speaker 1: get their ship together quickly. They're running out of time
Speaker 1: to rectify this, and that was a discouraging loss, to
Speaker 1: say the least. If you're optimistic about the Warriors last night.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, that's all I have for today. I
Speaker 1: believe we're taking tomorrow. Oh wait, we are. Were covering
Speaker 1: Grizzlies Warriors tomorrow night. So we're gonna be live on
Speaker 1: AMP right after the final buzzer of that game, and
Speaker 1: then we have a show on I'm recording Friday night
Speaker 1: that will air on Saturday morning, and then when I'm
Speaker 1: recording Saturday night that will air on Sunday morning. The
Speaker 1: volume