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Speaker 1: The Volume. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at

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Speaker 1: the Volume. Happy Thursday, everybody. I hope all of you

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Speaker 1: guys are having a great week so far. Coverage of

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Speaker 1: the Conference finals here. Hoops Tonight is brought to you

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Speaker 1: by Chase Freedom Unlimited. How do you cash Back? We

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Speaker 1: are also live on AMPS, so if you're listening on

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Speaker 1: YouTube or listening on the podcast feeds, don't forget that

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Speaker 1: AMP is the very first place that you guys can

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Speaker 1: get these shows. Well to Denver. Nuggets have gone up

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Speaker 1: two zero on the Los Angeles Lakers, putting them in

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Speaker 1: a very precarious position. It's going to be very difficult

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Speaker 1: for the Lakers to win four out of the next

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Speaker 1: five games. So the Nuggets are any commanding positions or

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Speaker 1: congratulations to Nuggets fans. You're in good shape potentially for

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Speaker 1: a run to the NBA Finals. The series is not over.

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Speaker 1: Gonna get into a lot of stuff, but man, you

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Speaker 1: gotta be feeling pretty good if you're in den right now,

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Speaker 1: you guys know the drill before we get started. To

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Speaker 1: subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss

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Speaker 1: any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at

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Speaker 1: Underscore Jason LTU, so you guys don't miss any show announcements.

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Speaker 1: And if, for whatever reason, you guys miss one of

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Speaker 1: these shows and you can't get back over to YouTube

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Speaker 1: to finish, don't forget. You can find them wherever you

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Speaker 1: get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight, last but not least,

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Speaker 1: last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All Right, So what

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Speaker 1: I'd like to do as we kind of work through this,

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna go too heavy into the x's and

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Speaker 1: o's tonight. We're going to talk a couple of things,

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Speaker 1: specifically with the success that Jamal Murray was having at

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Speaker 1: the end of the game. But obviously, like any other fan,

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Speaker 1: as you guys know, I'm rooting for the Lakers in

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Speaker 1: this series. They're my one rooting interest. I was very

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Speaker 1: invested in what was a highly entertaining basketball game. So

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Speaker 1: tomorrow morning, I'm gonna wake up and I'm going to

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Speaker 1: rewatch the game in its entirety and do a more

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Speaker 1: detailed x's and and o's breakdown in the morning. Also,

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Speaker 1: for you Eastern Conference Finals people interested in that series,

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna do a little film breakdown on that as well.

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Speaker 1: But let's start with the Battle of the Big So.

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Speaker 1: I thought this was a great example of the difference

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Speaker 1: between Nikola Yokitch and Anthony Davis. Now, remember with the

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Speaker 1: way that I view best Player in the world conversations.

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Speaker 1: It's very different than the way a lot of other

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Speaker 1: people view them. Like for me, it's kind of like

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Speaker 1: a status symbol that you earn as a sign of respect, right,

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Speaker 1: And so I kind of was leaning towards Anthony Davis

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Speaker 1: after the Golden State Warriors series because one, he had

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Speaker 1: just outplayed Steph Curry, who I thought was the second

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Speaker 1: best player in the world, and Jannisontana Kumpo had kind

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Speaker 1: of removed himself from the discussion, and I thought he

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Speaker 1: outplayed Hi mainly on the defensive end of four and

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Speaker 1: he's a champion. I thought he played a superstar level

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Speaker 1: in the twenty twenty Playoffs, including out playing Nikola Jokic

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Speaker 1: had head albeit three years ago, and I thought he

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Speaker 1: kind of deserved that title for now. Nikol Jokic can

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Speaker 1: absolutely grab it, but for me, you got to have

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Speaker 1: the trophy. And so that's just kind of like my

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Speaker 1: recognition of the way that I refer to the best

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Speaker 1: player in the world. Right, But in terms of like

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Speaker 1: who's a better basketball player in this series, I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's screaming off the screen through two games, and I

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Speaker 1: thought it was evident in them both having kind of

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Speaker 1: down games, you know, And this is a great example

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Speaker 1: of why I hate looking at box scores, because if

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Speaker 1: you look at Anthony Davis's box score from Game one,

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Speaker 1: he had forty points and ten rebounds, and I thought

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Speaker 1: he was so disengaged on the defensive end compared to

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Speaker 1: what he's capable of and on the glass and especially

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Speaker 1: in transition defense, that I didn't think it was one

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Speaker 1: of his best games. And this one kind of followed

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Speaker 1: more what you would expect from the box score. This

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Speaker 1: was a bad Anthony Davis game. He competed defensively at

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Speaker 1: a higher level than he did in the first game.

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Speaker 1: He competed on the glass at a higher level than

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Speaker 1: he did in the first game, but not to any

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Speaker 1: sort of amazing extent. You don't leave this game thinking

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis is the overwhelming defensive force that you felt

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Speaker 1: many times during the Golden State series and during the

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Speaker 1: Memphis Grizzly series. And he goes four to fifteen from

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Speaker 1: the field, he has fourteen rebounds, that's where the rebounding

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Speaker 1: effort showed up. But he had four turnovers, including two

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Speaker 1: pivotal turnovers in the fourth quarter that both led to

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Speaker 1: Nuggets runouts, and he just gave you absolutely nothing on

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Speaker 1: the offensive end. And you know, again, like there's it's

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Speaker 1: been overstated the Anthony Davis up and down thing, because

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Speaker 1: he tends to be pretty damn good defensively, night in

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Speaker 1: and night out for the most part, and so it's

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Speaker 1: unfair to be like, oh, Anthony Davis had sixteen he

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Speaker 1: was garbage tonight. It's like, well, did he anchor your

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Speaker 1: defense as you gotta win like Game six against Memphis,

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Speaker 1: then yeah, that's actually a pretty damn good game. But

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Speaker 1: they're all of the coverage of Anthony Davis and his

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Speaker 1: offensive struggles going up and down are legitimate. Like the

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Speaker 1: dude just for whatever reason, one game he's super polished

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Speaker 1: with those little push shots and hook shots in the lane,

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Speaker 1: and then the next game he just can't make them.

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Speaker 1: And he got great looks in the paint in this

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Speaker 1: game and he just couldn't make them. And it becomes

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Speaker 1: a problem because with the way that Denver runs their

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Speaker 1: pick and roll coverage, and they kind of tweaked it

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Speaker 1: at various points in this game, like they've been coming

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Speaker 1: with the high drop for the most part through three

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Speaker 1: halves of the series, and then they sat him way

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Speaker 1: back to start the a little bit in game two,

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Speaker 1: but then they started bringing him way back up to

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Speaker 1: the level. This screen again a little bit there in

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Speaker 1: that fourth quarter, but either way, the pocket passes what's

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Speaker 1: open there. So it's like absolutely vitally important to the

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Speaker 1: Laker offense for Anthony Davis to be making those little

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Speaker 1: floaters and pop shots in the lane. It's it's just

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Speaker 1: it's an important part of the chain of the Laker

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Speaker 1: offense as a virtue of the coverage. Remember, the coverage

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Speaker 1: dictates the way you have to attack. When teams run drop.

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Speaker 1: You need to have guys that can either hit pull

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Speaker 1: up jump shots or apply pressure on the rim, or

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Speaker 1: make shots in the pocket, or hit the shots on

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Speaker 1: the kickout when they tag the roller right when they're switching.

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Speaker 1: It's much more about mismatch hunting, and you've got to

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Speaker 1: be able to back a guy down closer to the rim,

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Speaker 1: or beat him off the dribble, or consistently shoot over

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Speaker 1: the top like that. In this particular coverage that Denver

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Speaker 1: is running bad, Anthony Davis games are going to be

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Speaker 1: absolutely devastating to the Laker offense. And now we look

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Speaker 1: at the Jokic game, which I also thought was, by

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Speaker 1: Jokic's standards, not his best. He's been pretty bad defensively

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Speaker 1: in the entire series. The Lakers have mostly had their

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Speaker 1: way with him in his pick and roll coverage. But

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Speaker 1: he was otherworldly great in the in Game one. And

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Speaker 1: also I want to give him a little bit more

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Speaker 1: credit defensively. A huge part of closing out defensive possessions

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Speaker 1: is grabbing defensive rebounds. And obviously he's done a great

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Speaker 1: job controlling the defensive glass throughout this series. But with

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Speaker 1: Nikol Jokic, like his bad game is nine for twenty

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Speaker 1: one from the field. Still made a bunch of shots

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Speaker 1: when his team needed him to, Still made a bunch

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Speaker 1: of those little hook shots and pushots and floaters and ones.

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Speaker 1: Still got to the foul line, still crashed the offensive glass,

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Speaker 1: still controlled the defensive glass, and had twelve assists. And

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Speaker 1: that's the difference is with Nikola jokicch he's a little

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Speaker 1: bit more resilient when it comes to the ups and

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Speaker 1: downs that take place over the course of an NBA

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Speaker 1: playoff series. And that's the thing, Like, what did I

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Speaker 1: say coming out of Game two or coming out of

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Speaker 1: Game one? In my film session, I said I actually

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Speaker 1: thought effort played a role for both teams. I thought

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Speaker 1: the Lakers really mailed in the first half and never

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Speaker 1: truly gained control the game defensively until the last six minutes.

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Speaker 1: And then when I went back and rewatched the game,

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Speaker 1: I thought Denver was really really sloppy defensively in the

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Speaker 1: second half of that game, where I thought they let

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Speaker 1: go of the rope, so to speak. So effort was

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Speaker 1: such a huge role in that first game, in the

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Speaker 1: Lakers struggling so much early and the Nuggets struggling so

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Speaker 1: much late, and so I said, I expected this to

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Speaker 1: be much more low scoring, and I expected both teams

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Speaker 1: to shoot in the mid forties. Well, like LA shot

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Speaker 1: forty four percent from the field and the Nuggets shot

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Speaker 1: forty four percent from the field. Honestly, the difference in

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Speaker 1: the game. I said, both teams were shooting the mid

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Speaker 1: thirties from three, and the Lakers would win close. Well,

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Speaker 1: the Nuggets shot in the mid thirties from three and

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Speaker 1: the Lakers shot in the mid twenties from three, and

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Speaker 1: that really is the difference in the game. If the

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Speaker 1: Lakers were going to win this game, they needed to

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Speaker 1: knock down a couple more of those threes. They needed

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Speaker 1: Lebron to go two for six instead of zero for six.

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Speaker 1: The needed D'Angelo Russell to go two for five instead

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Speaker 1: of one for five. And so that's kind of the

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Speaker 1: difference in the game. And you know, uh, we're gonna

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Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about the Laker effort stuff later,

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Speaker 1: but that's just the reality of their predicament in the series.

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Speaker 1: Denver is better than Golden State and is better than

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Speaker 1: Memphis specifically when it comes to offensive firepower. And so

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Speaker 1: you really held them under your thumb for three quarters

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Speaker 1: for the most part, I'll say two and two thirds

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Speaker 1: of quarter because that late quarter run for the Nuggets.

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Speaker 1: But they have so much firepower that they are capable

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Speaker 1: of beating you even when you throw your best punch.

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Speaker 1: That's the difference. This is not a series where the

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Speaker 1: Lakers can go up and down with their effort level

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Speaker 1: in that same cadence that they did in the first

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Speaker 1: two rounds. You know, in Game one, I thought the

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Speaker 1: Lakers kind of punted it. Game two, the Lakers gave

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Speaker 1: you everything they got and it still wasn't enough because

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Speaker 1: Jamal Murray caught fire at the end of the game.

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Speaker 1: And that's absolutely a risk. So there are what five

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Speaker 1: games left in the series, and even if the Lakers

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Speaker 1: do throw five great punches, they might only win. They

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Speaker 1: need to win four of those, but they have a

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Speaker 1: chance to lose those games anyway because of the sheer

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Speaker 1: amount of fire your power that Denver has. That's the difference.

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Speaker 1: As Lebron said, at every round, each test gets a

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Speaker 1: little bit harder. Right like after Memphis, he goes, this,

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Speaker 1: next one's going to be harder. Well, they said, he

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Speaker 1: said that right after the Warrior series, like this one's

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Speaker 1: going to be harder. Well, you're learning that in real

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Speaker 1: time with how good this Denver Nuggets team is. So

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Speaker 1: I want to talk about Jamal Murray, so I talked

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Speaker 1: a lot about in the series preview. I believe about

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Speaker 1: his the way he's a complimentary star to Nikol Jokic,

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Speaker 1: and actually I think it was after Game six against Phoenix.

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Speaker 1: But that's the reality of the way that this partnership works.

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Speaker 1: It's very similar to the Lebron James and Anthony Davis partnership,

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Speaker 1: where what makes it work offensively is they kind of

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Speaker 1: play complimentary parts. You need two pieces to a strong

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Speaker 1: pick and roll attack, and both of them can fulfill

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Speaker 1: really both ends of that role. They can even run

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Speaker 1: inverted stuff. And the same goes for Murray and Jokic.

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Speaker 1: Is you know there, they did it. The Lakers just

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Speaker 1: did a much better job of, you know, on the

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Speaker 1: on the the the pocket pass to Nikol Jokic, of

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Speaker 1: having Lebron come off of Aaron Gordon and Tag Yokitch

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Speaker 1: quickly and Anthony Davis running back to Aaron Gordon. The

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Speaker 1: Lakers were so sharp on the backside of their defense.

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Speaker 1: But here's the thing, and this is another part of

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Speaker 1: what makes Nikola Jokic so damn good. He's an incredible screener.

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Speaker 1: He's one of the best screeners in the game. And

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Speaker 1: so how did the Nuggets get off at the end

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Speaker 1: of the game. They stopped going to the damn pocket

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Speaker 1: pass and Jamal Murray started coming off of those dribble

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Speaker 1: handoffs looking to shoot, and again you held him down.

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Speaker 1: I think it was he five to seventeen through through

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Speaker 1: three quarters, I believe it or something. I can't remember

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Speaker 1: the exact number, but he didn't shoot well for three quarters,

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Speaker 1: but he broke away in that fourth quarter. And that's

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Speaker 1: the beauty of complimentary stars. So the Lakers are throwing

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Speaker 1: the kitchen sink at the Jokic part of that dribble

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Speaker 1: handoff and off of that pick and roll right like

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Speaker 1: they're tagging him on the roll. They're helping off the

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Speaker 1: weak side and rotating their Lebron I thought did an

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Speaker 1: amazing job defending Jokic for portions of this game, and

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Speaker 1: that's something the Lakers are gonna have to explore more

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Speaker 1: over the course of the series. But against the truly

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Speaker 1: elite guys, you have to seed something. And if Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis is gonna sag back on the roll, or if

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Speaker 1: Lebron James and Rueyatcha Murray are gonna stay glued to

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Speaker 1: Nikola Jokic, then you need the guard to chase over

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Speaker 1: the top of those actions and apply pressure to Jamal Murray.

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Speaker 1: And they just did it, and they tried a bunch

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Speaker 1: of different things too. Eventually they tried an Anthony Davis

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Speaker 1: switch on Jamal Murray. And I called this out in

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Speaker 1: the moment, but there were three seconds left on the

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Speaker 1: shot clock and Anthony Davis is playing back, conceding a

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Speaker 1: jump shot to Jamal Murray, and kudos to Jamal Murray

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Speaker 1: hit him with a hard step back and knocked it down.

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Speaker 1: And on the ad front, like, that's the thing, dude,

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Speaker 1: you're not bringing anything to the table offensively. You have

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Speaker 1: to be perfect defensively to help your team. That needs

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Speaker 1: to be your competitive response to the fact that your

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Speaker 1: SHOT's not falling. And in a pivotal possession of the game,

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Speaker 1: you conceded a step back jump shot to a hot

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Speaker 1: shooter and from there it just didn't matter. And I mean,

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Speaker 1: I've talked about this a lot with skill development when

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Speaker 1: we talk about it on the show, but with pull

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Speaker 1: up jump shooting in particular, when you get to your

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Speaker 1: muscle memory, it's over really once you're in rhythm, and

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Speaker 1: you can get disrupted from your rhythm in a bunch

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Speaker 1: of different ways. But a lot of all these guys,

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Speaker 1: Jamal Murray's just one guy in a long line of

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Speaker 1: guards in this league where when they really got it going,

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Speaker 1: it just doesn't matter what you do as long as

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Speaker 1: they get just a fraction of separation. They've just worked

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Speaker 1: so hard over the years on these complicated off the

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Speaker 1: dribble jump shots that they just you're helpless. And so

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Speaker 1: that's the thing, and that's the beauty of both of

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Speaker 1: these teams in a lot of ways. Is they just

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Speaker 1: have so many different ways they can beat you, right,

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Speaker 1: Like any given game, Austin Reeves can go for twenty five,

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Speaker 1: He's gone for twenty plus five times in this playoff run.

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Speaker 1: You know, Danzel Russell's given the Lakers over thirty in

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Speaker 1: a game. But the Nuggets can do the same thing.

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Speaker 1: You know, Jokic can kill you one game. Jamal Murray

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Speaker 1: can kill you one game. You have the Michael Porter

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Speaker 1: junior factor at any given moment. Contavious cabble Pope had

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Speaker 1: his season high and field goals made if I remember correctly,

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Speaker 1: in Game one. So like, both of these teams have

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Speaker 1: way too much firepower for any team to get away

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Speaker 1: with laziness. And so I thought Game one was a

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Speaker 1: lazy game for both teams that the Nuggets ended up winning.

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Speaker 1: And I thought Game two was both teams threw their

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Speaker 1: best punch and the Nuggets were just better, and uh,

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Speaker 1: you know, and again like like we'll talk about it

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Speaker 1: when we get to the Lakers, but they just Lebron

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Speaker 1: James in particular, I thought really got fatigued down to

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Speaker 1: the stretch of that game. But shout out to Jamal

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Speaker 1: Murray man. Like, that's we always talked about the two

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Speaker 1: to one one theory, right, you need two games from

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Speaker 1: your best player, you need one game from your second

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Speaker 1: best player, and you need one game from your role

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Speaker 1: players to win the series. Well, you got a Jokic game.

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Speaker 1: He was best player on the four by mile in

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Speaker 1: game one dominates. Well, you just got your Jamal Murray game.

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Speaker 1: If Jokic gets you won more and you have another

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Speaker 1: game where all your role players get hot, that's the

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Speaker 1: series right there. So Jamal Murray, Game two of the

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty three Western Conference Finals will be referred to

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Speaker 1: as the Jamal Murray Game. Looking forward, Uh, let's talk

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Speaker 1: about a couple of the guys on the Nuggets. I

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Speaker 1: wanted to shout. I thought Bruce Brown was awesome throughout

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Speaker 1: this game, particularly on the defensive end. He was applying

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Speaker 1: a lot of pressure to Lebron James over the course

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Speaker 1: of the game. I thought that was a big part

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Speaker 1: of the fatigue element that led to Lebron missing some

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Speaker 1: of those threes in the fourth quarter. He also hit

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Speaker 1: two massive threes in the third quarter in transition. You know,

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Speaker 1: you could tell what I really appreciate about Bruce Brown's

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Speaker 1: game is he's got kind of a slow release and

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Speaker 1: it's definitely not exactly a fluid shot. It's very rigid

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Speaker 1: and has a little bit of a hitch in it.

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Speaker 1: But to his credit, he's got great muscle memory. Every

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Speaker 1: Bruce Brown three looks exactly the same, and you could

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Speaker 1: see when he really has the space and can load

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Speaker 1: up into his form and trust his muscle memory, that

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Speaker 1: thing's going in and he made two massive ones. Michael

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Speaker 1: Porter Junior made a huge three during that run in transition.

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Speaker 1: It was it was I'm I'm really impressed by the Nuggets.

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Speaker 1: Like I said, if you're a Nuggets fan, I congrats

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Speaker 1: to you guys. You've got a great team and you're

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Speaker 1: in great shape. And uh man, I'm blown away by

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Speaker 1: the offensive firepower because, like again, the Laker defense is real.

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Speaker 1: You saw that in that first half, held them down

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Speaker 1: to forty eight. But the sign of a truly great

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Speaker 1: offense is that they can always push through even against

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Speaker 1: the truly great defenses. And there you go. They go

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Speaker 1: for what's that fifty to sixty sixty points in the

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Speaker 1: second half, So there you go. Difference in the game.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about Laker efforts. So again,

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Speaker 1: the Lakers followed a very similar cadence over the first

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Speaker 1: two series. They threw the kitchen sinking game one, won

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Speaker 1: the game, punted game two, through the kitchen sink in

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Speaker 1: game three, blew them out both series, kind of tried

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Speaker 1: to do the bare bare minimum to win game four

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Speaker 1: in both series, barely won both games. Then they punted

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Speaker 1: game five, and then they threw the kitchen sinking game

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Speaker 1: six and one. And again those are teams that again,

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Speaker 1: and I actually think the Warriors in particular are very good,

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Speaker 1: but I think this Nuggets team is probably better than

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Speaker 1: any team that was in the Western Conference in last

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Speaker 1: year's playoff run. And so again this is the way

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Speaker 1: that competition steps up as things progress. And in this

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Speaker 1: particular series, even when the Lakers throw their best punch,

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Speaker 1: as you saw tonight, they're not going to be able

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Speaker 1: to overcome every single time. And so what that tells

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Speaker 1: me is that strategy of mailing it in is gonna

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Speaker 1: end this series quickly. If they mail in one of

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Speaker 1: those two games in LA, this series can be over

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Speaker 1: in five. And again, they have to win four of

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Speaker 1: the next five games. And the only chance that they

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Speaker 1: do that is if they bring hallacious effort in all

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Speaker 1: five games, simply because they're probably gonna lose one of

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Speaker 1: those anyway, and again, the series is not over. I'm

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Speaker 1: never going to count out Lebron James and Anthony Davis.

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Speaker 1: Lebron James multiple times in his career has come back

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Speaker 1: from down two to oh to win a playoff series.

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Speaker 1: He did it against the Warriors in twenty sixteen, he

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Speaker 1: did it against the Pistons in two thousand and seven.

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Speaker 1: He's done it before. But this is a different phase

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Speaker 1: in his career and him and Anthony Davis just haven't

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Speaker 1: quite been good enough. And that's a big part of

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Speaker 1: why they're down too oh. But in order for them

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Speaker 1: to win this series, the two of those guys are

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Speaker 1: gonna have to be a lot better now. Lebron James

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Speaker 1: in particular, I actually thought this was one of his

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Speaker 1: better two way playoff games. He was pretty rough defensively.

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Speaker 1: In his first shift, he got beat on a back

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Speaker 1: cup by Aaron Gordon. There was a switch with Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis where he's supposed to run down to the rim

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Speaker 1: with Nikola Jokic, and he didn't. He just conceded the

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Speaker 1: shot to Nikola Jokic. But when he came back in

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Speaker 1: in the second or end of the first quarter for

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Speaker 1: his second shift, he was incredible defended Nikola. Jokic was

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Speaker 1: cooking in high pick and roll, controlled everything for them

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Speaker 1: offensively while they were getting absolutely nothing anywhere else on

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Speaker 1: the roster. I thought it was one of Lebron's best

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Speaker 1: two way playoff games. But here's the problem. At this

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Speaker 1: phase in his career, just doesn't have the gas tank

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Speaker 1: that he used to have, and he didn't get anything

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Speaker 1: from anybody else, and so when he got to the

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Speaker 1: fourth quarter, the legs weren't there, start settling for threes,

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Speaker 1: and Lebron's having one of those postseasons like twenty fifteen

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Speaker 1: where he's just, for whatever reason, just can't get it

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Speaker 1: going with the jump shot. And it reminds me so

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Speaker 1: much of twenty fifteen because there are these for a

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Speaker 1: game or two where you see it come through, but

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Speaker 1: it just this slump just never ends for him. And

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Speaker 1: those were pretty damn good looks there in that fourth quarter,

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Speaker 1: but they're concession shots because he's tired, like he's just

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Speaker 1: like I need to just throw this up essentially as

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Speaker 1: a punt and hopefully I make one or two of them,

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Speaker 1: and he made zero of them. But I'm not gonna

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Speaker 1: get too down on Lebron because I thought he was

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Speaker 1: the best player on the floor for the Lakers tonight,

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Speaker 1: and actually was the best player on the floor in

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Speaker 1: the game through three quarters. He just just didn't bring

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Speaker 1: up in that fourth quarter. Anthony Davis. Again, like we

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Speaker 1: talked about earlier, when he has these bad offensive games,

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Speaker 1: specifically against the Nuggets, it's just gonna be super detrimental

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Speaker 1: to their offense. But again, when that's happening, he needs

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Speaker 1: to dominate the game defensively, and I didn't think he

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Speaker 1: brought enough defensively in this game to make up for

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Speaker 1: what he did offensively. Couple three adjustments that I wrote

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Speaker 1: down for the Lakers, and again I'm going to do

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Speaker 1: a film session tomorrow morning for both teams for both

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Speaker 1: series of four teams and kind of go over adjustments

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Speaker 1: for everybody. But things that stood out for me in

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Speaker 1: the live watching with that Murray dribble handoff, it's time

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Speaker 1: for them to go to what they did in the

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty bubble, which is put Lebron James on Jamal

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Speaker 1: Murray and put Anthony Davis on Nikola Jokic and switch

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00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:16,160
Speaker 1: the handoff, or if you're gonna put Ruby Hatcher Murra

430
00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:20,440
Speaker 1: on Nikola Jokic, still put Lebron James on Jamal Murray

431
00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:22,880
Speaker 1: and switch the dribble handoff. That's basically what they did

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00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:25,720
Speaker 1: in the twenty twenty playoffs, which led to Jamal Murray

433
00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,600
Speaker 1: going for ISOs or at least at the at least

434
00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:31,359
Speaker 1: in ISO's he's got to generate separation rather than getting

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00:20:31,359 --> 00:20:33,720
Speaker 1: separation naturally as part of the coverage because of how

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00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,639
Speaker 1: good of a screener Nikola Jokic is. So that's an

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00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:39,120
Speaker 1: adjustment I expect the Lakers to make. Got to stop

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00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:41,800
Speaker 1: sending Anthony Davis to the offensive glass. No, if you

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00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:43,720
Speaker 1: want to see an example of what I'm talking about,

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00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:47,480
Speaker 1: you'll see it in the You'll see it on my

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00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:51,680
Speaker 1: twitter feed. I actually tweeted out a video that kind

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00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:54,520
Speaker 1: of demonstrated an example of what I'm talking about. Anthony

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00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:57,480
Speaker 1: Davis crashed the offensive glass all night and had one

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00:20:57,520 --> 00:21:01,400
Speaker 1: offensive rebound. Why Because Nikola Jokic, for as bad as

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00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:04,919
Speaker 1: he is defensively, is a fantastic defensive rebounder, and so

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00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:07,879
Speaker 1: he's not getting any advantage there and what's happening is

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00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:10,679
Speaker 1: the Lakers are sending two forwards every single possession to

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00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:13,440
Speaker 1: the offensive glass, and the Nuggets are running on them.

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00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:16,840
Speaker 1: And so the play that you'll see, there's a Austin

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00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:18,679
Speaker 1: Reeves pick and roll, if I remember correctly, and Austin

451
00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:21,800
Speaker 1: throws a great cross court pass to DiAngelo Russell. He

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00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:24,360
Speaker 1: takes a three, he misses it, but both Jared Vanderbilt

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00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:27,000
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis crashed the offensive glass and miss if

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00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,800
Speaker 1: you freeze frame it. When Jokic gets the rebound, both

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00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:33,640
Speaker 1: of those two guys are the furthest back and there's

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00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,880
Speaker 1: five on three going the other way, and to Vanderbilt

457
00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:39,080
Speaker 1: and AD's credit, they sprinted back, but it just they

458
00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:41,960
Speaker 1: weren't back in time, and Michael Porter Junior ends up

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00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:45,440
Speaker 1: getting a corner three. So at a certain point, when

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00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:48,119
Speaker 1: you acknowledge the fact that the Lakers are actually getting

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00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:49,960
Speaker 1: a ton of stops in the half court against the

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00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:53,240
Speaker 1: Nuggets and Jamal Murray just got hot with a bunch

463
00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:56,040
Speaker 1: of difficult shot making in that fourth quarter, you're gonna

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00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:58,320
Speaker 1: win the series if you can keep them in the

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00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:02,200
Speaker 1: half court. And I trust the shot result with Jamal Murray,

466
00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:04,600
Speaker 1: right as long as they bring the right amount of effort,

467
00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:08,320
Speaker 1: but the Nuggets are thrashing them in transition. At a

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00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:10,399
Speaker 1: certain point you have to make an adjustment and stop

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00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:14,040
Speaker 1: sending guys to the offensive glass. That's an adjustment I expect.

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00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:16,200
Speaker 1: And the D'Angelo Russell, this is two games now where

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00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:19,480
Speaker 1: he's looked pretty much unplayable. He's getting into it with

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00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:22,240
Speaker 1: Bruce Brown and clearly letting it affect him. He's dying

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00:22:22,240 --> 00:22:25,080
Speaker 1: on screens. He's not competing on the glass. He's not

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00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:28,000
Speaker 1: hitting shots. Like again with D'Angelo Russell. If he's not

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00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:31,199
Speaker 1: hitting shots, he doesn't bring enough to the table to

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00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:33,920
Speaker 1: justify having him out there. That's where you're almost better

477
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:37,439
Speaker 1: off going with the Troy Brown Jr. Even though he

478
00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:40,639
Speaker 1: has his own limitations. At least he's gonna compete defensively

479
00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:43,040
Speaker 1: and on the glass, and so it might be time

480
00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:47,440
Speaker 1: to go away from D'Angelo Russell. I would try him

481
00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:49,480
Speaker 1: in Game three just and hope that the home court

482
00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:52,920
Speaker 1: energy kind of brings a certain level to d LO

483
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:54,720
Speaker 1: that he can be impactful. But you need to have

484
00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:58,080
Speaker 1: a quick leash with D'angela Russell and take him out

485
00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:00,800
Speaker 1: of the game if it's not working. Well forward. I

486
00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:03,280
Speaker 1: do believe the Lakers will win Game three, but obviously

487
00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:05,040
Speaker 1: this Nuggets team is so good, but that they have

488
00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:06,879
Speaker 1: a very good chance of stealing one of the two

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00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:09,760
Speaker 1: games in LA. And no matter what, it's extremely difficult

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00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:11,240
Speaker 1: to beat a team three times in a row. So

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00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:13,520
Speaker 1: if the Lakers win both home games, it's just so

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00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:16,360
Speaker 1: difficult to then go on the road and beat the Nuggets.

493
00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:18,199
Speaker 1: Just ask the Phoenix Suns. That's why when you go

494
00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:20,640
Speaker 1: down to zero in a series, you lose almost every time.

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00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:24,200
Speaker 1: It's not over. They have a chance, but they've dug

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00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:28,040
Speaker 1: themselves in a significant hole. The Nuggets should feel like

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00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,399
Speaker 1: significant favorites. They have a fantastic chance to win the series.

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00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:33,479
Speaker 1: Like I said the nugget, if you're a Nuggets fan,

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00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:36,280
Speaker 1: you should feel like you're in great shape. Don't forget

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00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:37,960
Speaker 1: tomorrow morning. I keep an eye on the feed. It

501
00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:41,080
Speaker 1: should be up around like you know, eleven noon or

502
00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:43,600
Speaker 1: so Pacific Standard time. But I'll have a film breakdown

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00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:46,000
Speaker 1: from this game. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys,

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00:23:46,000 --> 00:24:13,040
Speaker 1: and I'll see you next time. The volume