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We're gonna 35 00:01:57,000 --> 00:01:59,080 Speaker 1: get into that game. It turned into a really interesting 36 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: chess match down the stretch. And then two of the 37 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: best young athletic teams in the league, the two top 38 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:07,560 Speaker 1: seeds in the Western Conference, the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma 39 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: City Thunder faced off as the Houston Rockets got a 40 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 1: big win, kind of a wild finish on that game. 41 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 1: So we're going to hit both of those games from 42 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 1: the perspective of both teams. Then we're going to do 43 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:19,600 Speaker 1: a new edition of power Rankings. We're going to go 44 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 1: over the top ten teams in the league. And then 45 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:23,920 Speaker 1: at the tail end of the show, I have thirty 46 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 1: four clips of film that we are going to go 47 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: through hitting from both of the games we talked about 48 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: off the top of the show, but also some other 49 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:34,359 Speaker 1: stuff as well. Just a ton of basketball to get into. 50 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:35,440 Speaker 1: It's going to be a lot of fun. You guys 51 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:36,959 Speaker 1: are the joke before we get started. Subscribe to the 52 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: Hoops to Night YouTube channels. You don't miss any more 53 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 1: of our videos. Follow me on Twitter and underscore JSNLTS. 54 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: You guys, don't missow announcements. Don't forget about our podcast 55 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: feed wherever you get your podcast on our Hoops Tonight, 56 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 1: don't forget. It's also helpful for us if you leave 57 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: a rating and a review on that front. We have 58 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:52,640 Speaker 1: brand new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook 59 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:54,880 Speaker 1: for the Hoops Tonight channel where we're releasing some more 60 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: content this year. So make sure you guys follow those 61 00:02:56,760 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: as well. In the last but not least, keep dropping 62 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:01,240 Speaker 1: mail back questions in the YouTube comments. We will be 63 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:05,919 Speaker 1: doing a mail bag in the Friday Show later this week. 64 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So Celtics Calves turned 65 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,080 Speaker 1: into an interesting chess match. Both teams were attacking the 66 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:15,600 Speaker 1: weak spot in each other's defense. So obviously, for the 67 00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: Calves the weak spot is Darius Garland, and it was 68 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 1: a steady dose of the Celtics looking to attack Darius 69 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:24,880 Speaker 1: Garland every time down the floor. For the Calves, it 70 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:28,120 Speaker 1: was about attacking the Celtics bigs in pick and roll. 71 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:30,720 Speaker 1: Now we're gonna get into it. It's more complicated because 72 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: when Derek White and Jalen Brown are out there, they're 73 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: just more athletic and long and more better overall, like 74 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:40,800 Speaker 1: basketball defensive instincts to be able to cover for those guys. 75 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: But Al Horford at this phase of his career and 76 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: Chrisops Porzingis with some of his mobility limitations, they can 77 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: be attacked in ball screens, right, And so that was 78 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 1: kind of the dynamic. It was Darius Garland and Donovan 79 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 1: Mitchell trying to attack Porzingis and Horford and Ball screens 80 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:57,640 Speaker 1: incessantly down the stretch of the game, and then the 81 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: Celtics hunting Darius Garland. The Celtics were getting great looks 82 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:03,680 Speaker 1: just about every time down the floor. I even thought 83 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: they got some great looks at the end of this 84 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: game that didn't go down. Al Horford got a wide 85 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 1: open corner three off of a Darius Garland switch on 86 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 1: to Jason Tatum where he kicked it out. He had 87 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:14,520 Speaker 1: another wide open corner three in the right corner that 88 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:16,680 Speaker 1: he missed late in the game. All that the pass 89 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:19,920 Speaker 1: was a little funky. Jason Tatum smoked a layup right 90 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 1: at the rim with Darius Garland, but for the most 91 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:24,280 Speaker 1: part it was the same sort of thing. They were 92 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:27,599 Speaker 1: attacking through a bunch of different functions, Like Christops Porzingis 93 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: in a switch, ended up attacking Garland, drew a double 94 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 1: team kickout pass, Howser made a really nice three on 95 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: the left wing. Is actually kind of a crazy play 96 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,920 Speaker 1: because Donovan Mitchell closed out to the passing lane and 97 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 1: Howser just like really really calm, just like sat there 98 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: and let him fly by and knocked down the jump shot. 99 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:49,240 Speaker 1: Peyton Pritchard even attacked Darius Garland late in the game, 100 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:51,359 Speaker 1: just buried him underneath the basket and kind of a 101 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:53,680 Speaker 1: really funky looking play where he just kind of just 102 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:56,560 Speaker 1: took a bunch of drop step dribbles or just power 103 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: dribbles and then just kind of shoved off Darius with 104 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:01,440 Speaker 1: his left arm and then sunk a little bank shot. 105 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: But for the most part, it was Jason Tatum and 106 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 1: same sort of thing every down. Every time down the floor, 107 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: he'd kind of get him onto his switch and then 108 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: he'd get either into that wing position or that top 109 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:13,159 Speaker 1: of the key position. They'd space the floor and the 110 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:15,159 Speaker 1: Calves were letting him go to work one on one. 111 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: And one of the things that he was doing is, 112 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:20,440 Speaker 1: you know, the the Calves were occupying or the Celtics 113 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: were occupying the dunker spot, and they usually would have 114 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: a defender getting ready to help at the rim. And 115 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:27,880 Speaker 1: so what Jason Tatum did that was really smart during 116 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:30,760 Speaker 1: the majority of the second half possessions is he didn't 117 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: try to just go all the way through Garland to 118 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:35,280 Speaker 1: the rim, because in a lot of those cases that's 119 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:37,640 Speaker 1: where the help is. Right you beat Garland, you just 120 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:40,479 Speaker 1: run into another defender. And one of the things that 121 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:43,120 Speaker 1: Jason Tatum did is he just got surgical with that 122 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:45,800 Speaker 1: little short jump shot. A couple of times he just 123 00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:48,480 Speaker 1: dribbled into his space and then a shot just right 124 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:50,360 Speaker 1: over the top of him from ten feet. Sometimes it 125 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 1: was a little left shoulder fade as he turned, you know, 126 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 1: kind of into like a half spin into his little 127 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: fade away jump shot. But he was killing Garland in 128 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 1: the short range right. The reason why that's so important is, 129 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:04,360 Speaker 1: like I want you to think about Nikolea Jokic for example, 130 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:07,240 Speaker 1: when you're playing with the size advantage in particular, and 131 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: you're dealing with guys that are helping on the back line, 132 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:15,560 Speaker 1: then over penetrating can actually become an issue as you 133 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: run into more help like I was talking about. And 134 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:19,480 Speaker 1: so one of the best ways to attack those sorts 135 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:23,680 Speaker 1: of mismatches, as long as you have the touch for it. 136 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:24,679 Speaker 2: Is short range shot making. 137 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:26,839 Speaker 1: What Yokic will do will be like, oh, you're putting 138 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 1: your forward on me and you're going to have your 139 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 1: center roaming on the back line. Well, I won't go 140 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:37,120 Speaker 1: just threw my guy into an extra defender. I'll just 141 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: kind of body and shoot that little left shoulder hook 142 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:42,720 Speaker 1: shot over the top Now, in Jason Tatum's career, he's 143 00:06:42,760 --> 00:06:45,840 Speaker 1: been somewhat inconsistent with that short range shot making, but 144 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: last night he really had it going. And as long 145 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:51,120 Speaker 1: as he continues to build out that shot over the 146 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 1: course of his prime here in his late twenties, that's 147 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 1: going to be a deadly thing for him against size mismatches, 148 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: because it's a problem when you can attack a mismatch 149 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:04,600 Speaker 1: without having to engage in traffic around the basket, when 150 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:06,920 Speaker 1: there's tons of bodies in front of you. Sometimes fouls 151 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 1: don't get called. Sometimes you just miss shots. Like if 152 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:11,040 Speaker 1: you can work in that short range, you can be 153 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: effective there. And so he was burning Garland in the 154 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:16,720 Speaker 1: short range. That turned into double teams. Out of the 155 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:18,960 Speaker 1: double teams, they started getting good looks out of it, 156 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:22,000 Speaker 1: offensive rebounds out of it. Remember, even when you're in 157 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:26,760 Speaker 1: scramble situations in rotation, even if you don't necessarily give 158 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:30,360 Speaker 1: up a great shot, you're still in position. You're not 159 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: in rebounding position, right because guys aren't matched up, they're 160 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 1: all running around. This is where you end up giving 161 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 1: up offensive rebounds. Remember in the thunder Lakers game, that 162 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 1: was something that Lebron James was talking about after the game, 163 00:07:40,680 --> 00:07:44,160 Speaker 1: it's like we're in rotation, we're shading towards Shay or 164 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: not in rebound position. 165 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:45,520 Speaker 2: Right. 166 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 1: There was a huge offensive rebound that Porzingis got late 167 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: in this game off of a double team of Tatum 168 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:53,880 Speaker 1: when he was attacking Garland in a switch that they 169 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:56,880 Speaker 1: forced Peyton Pritchard into a pretty tough three point shot 170 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: from above the break on the right side, but Porzingis 171 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:01,760 Speaker 1: was un guarded on the weak side because they were 172 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 1: in rotation. He swooped in and grabbed the rebound swing swing. 173 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:07,080 Speaker 1: All of a sudden, Drew Holliday has a wide open layup. 174 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:11,200 Speaker 1: So they were like consistently getting great stuff out of 175 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:15,000 Speaker 1: those switch attacks with Jason Tatum on Darius Garland. Jayson 176 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:17,200 Speaker 1: Tatum was just absurdly good in that second half. There 177 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:19,800 Speaker 1: were a couple of ugly possessions, but overall, I thought 178 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 1: he did an insanely good job of consistently generating great 179 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: shots for his team against a very good defense. 180 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:25,960 Speaker 2: It was some of the. 181 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: Most calm and surgical half court work I've ever seen 182 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: Jason Tatum do. And if he makes that easy layup, 183 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:34,760 Speaker 1: and if Val Horford hits one of his two wide 184 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:37,440 Speaker 1: open corner threes. All of a sudden we're looking at 185 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:40,000 Speaker 1: potentially a different result. So I was really impressed by 186 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:42,000 Speaker 1: Jason Tatum in this game. But on the other side 187 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:44,440 Speaker 1: of the floor they were getting great looks. The Calves 188 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:47,040 Speaker 1: were out of ball screens. So the two dynamics that 189 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:50,800 Speaker 1: we saw there was one Darius Garland ball screens when 190 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:54,200 Speaker 1: he was bringing Poorzingis into the action. They were showing 191 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:56,880 Speaker 1: high with Porzingis up at the level, and so twice 192 00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:59,200 Speaker 1: down the stretch of the game and crunch time, the 193 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:02,199 Speaker 1: Calves were able to get great looks out of the 194 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:05,240 Speaker 1: Celtics putting two on the ball. So the first one 195 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:07,560 Speaker 1: they put two on the ball on the right wing 196 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:10,640 Speaker 1: on a Garland ball screen, Porzingis comes up high, Garland 197 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:12,839 Speaker 1: hits the roll man, swing to the corner, swing to 198 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:15,840 Speaker 1: the above, the above the brake on the left wing, 199 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:19,559 Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell gets a wide open three because you put 200 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:22,120 Speaker 1: two on the ball against Darius Garland. And then the 201 00:09:22,120 --> 00:09:24,280 Speaker 1: shot that ended up being the dagger. If you remember 202 00:09:24,280 --> 00:09:27,280 Speaker 1: the one where Moblei got the dunk, same sort of thing. 203 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:31,120 Speaker 1: Porzingis up at the level, a Coorro slips the screen, 204 00:09:31,559 --> 00:09:34,240 Speaker 1: Garland hits him, and then a coro draws in the 205 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 1: help drops it off to Moblei, and Mobley goes up 206 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:38,319 Speaker 1: and dunks it. So they were getting stuff out of 207 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:41,680 Speaker 1: those Garland ball screens by bringing Porzingis up to the level, 208 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:44,839 Speaker 1: and then Donovan Mitchell was just attacking the bigs and 209 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:47,040 Speaker 1: drop whatever he could. He was specifically going at Al 210 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 1: Horford a lot late in the game, the lead changing floater, 211 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:53,400 Speaker 1: the floater that he hit after Tatum missed his first shot. 212 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 1: He got in the lane and snaked the pick and 213 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:58,000 Speaker 1: roll on the left side and Horford was just a 214 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:00,680 Speaker 1: bit too far back and he hit that little floater. 215 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:02,720 Speaker 1: And then one of the most common moves you'll see 216 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:05,360 Speaker 1: really good guards do is reject ball screens at the 217 00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:08,760 Speaker 1: moment that the defensive guards starts to fight over the 218 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 1: top of the screen, and that was how Donovan Mitchell 219 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:14,640 Speaker 1: got that other really good look pull up three from 220 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:16,719 Speaker 1: the top of the key. By the way, a lot 221 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:19,200 Speaker 1: of these actions that I'm discussing are going to be 222 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,080 Speaker 1: in the film session later today, So if you happen 223 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:23,719 Speaker 1: to be watching this in a breakout clip, if you 224 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:26,160 Speaker 1: want to see video representation of this, it's just going 225 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:27,440 Speaker 1: to be at the tail end of the show. I 226 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:30,679 Speaker 1: always do film at the tail end of the show 227 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:33,000 Speaker 1: instead of in the middle because of our podcast audience 228 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: and I want this to be something that functions for 229 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:37,360 Speaker 1: them as well. So if you want to see visual representations, 230 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:39,040 Speaker 1: just hang out for the tail end of the show. 231 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:42,760 Speaker 1: But the second three that Donovan Mitchell hit late, he 232 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:44,400 Speaker 1: actually hit three late because he hit a huge one 233 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 1: over a switch a same houser before all this, but 234 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:49,960 Speaker 1: he the one where he kind of put Drew Holliday 235 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 1: in the blender. All he's doing there is he's dribbling 236 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:54,360 Speaker 1: at the ball screens. So there's a ball screen at 237 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:56,240 Speaker 1: the top of the key and he's dribbling like he's 238 00:10:56,240 --> 00:10:58,360 Speaker 1: going to go off the ball screen. What does Drew 239 00:10:58,360 --> 00:10:59,760 Speaker 1: Holliday have to do there? He is one of the 240 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:01,920 Speaker 1: hard jobs in basketball, when we talk about all the 241 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:03,920 Speaker 1: time on the show. Screen navigation at the point of 242 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:06,400 Speaker 1: attack is one of the most challenging things that NBA 243 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:10,280 Speaker 1: guards have to deal with defensively, Drew Halliday started to 244 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:13,679 Speaker 1: fight over the screen and like right when he started 245 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:17,040 Speaker 1: to commit to that process, Donovan snatched it back to 246 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:19,559 Speaker 1: the left hand and just had all the separation in 247 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:21,480 Speaker 1: the world and was able to rise up and knock 248 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:24,839 Speaker 1: down a shot. But again we had both offenses getting 249 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:27,520 Speaker 1: great stuff by virtue of the Calves attacking in ball 250 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:32,520 Speaker 1: screens and the Celtics attacking Darius Garland and switches. But 251 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:35,480 Speaker 1: the Calves were able to get two big stops late. 252 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:37,480 Speaker 1: And this is where I want to give Darius Garland 253 00:11:37,559 --> 00:11:40,880 Speaker 1: some credit, because it was a real problem. Tatum was 254 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 1: scoring on him every time in single coverage. There were 255 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:44,880 Speaker 1: double teams that were giving up wide open threes in 256 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:48,240 Speaker 1: offensive rebounds. Sometimes you just have to do a better job. 257 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:51,920 Speaker 1: Sometimes that's the adjustment from the coaching staff. It's not like, oh, 258 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:55,000 Speaker 1: we came up with this magical scheme to finally get 259 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:57,040 Speaker 1: a stop on Jason Tatum or whatever. It is a 260 00:11:57,080 --> 00:11:58,400 Speaker 1: lot of times we want to try to look for 261 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:01,560 Speaker 1: something like that because it's tana right, Like it's easy 262 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:03,880 Speaker 1: for us to point to something like that and be like, oh, 263 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:05,800 Speaker 1: that's how they did it right. But a lot of 264 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:08,520 Speaker 1: times it's like the same guy that was the problem 265 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:10,559 Speaker 1: just does a better job and now all of a 266 00:12:10,559 --> 00:12:13,720 Speaker 1: sudden he's not a problem anymore. And Darius Garland, after 267 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:18,160 Speaker 1: getting fried a lot throughout this game, got two really 268 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:21,280 Speaker 1: big stops. The second one was kind of lucky, right 269 00:12:21,559 --> 00:12:23,600 Speaker 1: Tatum beat him to the right, went all the way 270 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:25,520 Speaker 1: to the ram, and Garland did a good job trying 271 00:12:25,559 --> 00:12:27,280 Speaker 1: to get in his way. But I felt like that 272 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:29,280 Speaker 1: was a layup Jason Tatum's going to make nine times 273 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:30,920 Speaker 1: out of ten. He just happened to smoke it right 274 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:34,000 Speaker 1: the first one, though he legitimately did a better job. 275 00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:36,400 Speaker 1: One of the things that Tatum was doing was kind 276 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:39,840 Speaker 1: of methodically getting into that short to mid range to 277 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:42,200 Speaker 1: shoot over the top of Garland. One of the things 278 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:44,960 Speaker 1: that Garland did in that first stop that he got 279 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,439 Speaker 1: was he got more aggressive at the point of attack 280 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: out past the three point line early in Tatum's attack 281 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:54,559 Speaker 1: of the switch to disrupt rhythm, and you guys will 282 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:56,679 Speaker 1: see this in the video, but he immediately starts slip 283 00:12:56,880 --> 00:12:59,800 Speaker 1: swiping at the ball, trying to poke at it, trying 284 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:03,760 Speaker 1: to disrupt Tatum's flow. And then Tatum promptly gets sped 285 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:08,000 Speaker 1: up by that and over penetrates, goes past Garland into 286 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,199 Speaker 1: a bunch of help and missus a shot pretty badly 287 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:13,440 Speaker 1: in traffic. And again, like that's one of those things, 288 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:15,480 Speaker 1: like a lot of times, like, yeah, if you if 289 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:18,480 Speaker 1: you're giving up size and you just let a guy 290 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:21,800 Speaker 1: work down to whatever spot he wants and shoot over 291 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:24,400 Speaker 1: the top of you, then there's nothing you can do 292 00:13:24,520 --> 00:13:27,360 Speaker 1: that's going to make him feel uncomfortable. Right, But if 293 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:30,600 Speaker 1: you actually use your advantage, which is quickness and just 294 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:33,840 Speaker 1: being scrappy, maybe you can force a player to just 295 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:36,560 Speaker 1: make an uncharacteristic mistake, right, And that's the thing. Like, 296 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:39,760 Speaker 1: Jason Tatum is an excellent of one of the best 297 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:42,000 Speaker 1: half court shot creators we've seen in the league so 298 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:44,240 Speaker 1: far to start this year, and he did a lot 299 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:46,439 Speaker 1: of damage to you, But in a game this close, 300 00:13:46,520 --> 00:13:49,080 Speaker 1: you made him make one mistake, and that one mistake 301 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:51,800 Speaker 1: ended up being a big difference. Shout out to Darius 302 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:56,000 Speaker 1: Garland because, like again I'd like, it wasn't pretty all 303 00:13:56,080 --> 00:13:58,160 Speaker 1: the time, but he did get a couple of big 304 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:00,440 Speaker 1: stops at the tail end and that ended up being 305 00:14:00,559 --> 00:14:02,880 Speaker 1: enough for the Calves to get the win. Now, obviously 306 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:05,080 Speaker 1: it's a big win for the Calves, but I did 307 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:08,040 Speaker 1: think that they demonstrated a couple of their biggest advantages 308 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:10,880 Speaker 1: in this matchup, and the two biggest advantages that Cleveland 309 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 1: has in this matchup are one, Boston's Biggs can struggle 310 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:15,880 Speaker 1: to handle in pick and roll. To handle them in 311 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:19,440 Speaker 1: pick and roll, which is to be expected, right, especially 312 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:21,560 Speaker 1: when you're down bodies like that. It's just those are 313 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:23,360 Speaker 1: the easiest ways to attack. We saw a lot of 314 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:26,000 Speaker 1: two big looks in this game as well, and so 315 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:28,480 Speaker 1: Cleveland was able to generate great shots. The second piece 316 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:31,120 Speaker 1: of it is Donovan Mitchell is capable of out gunning 317 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:33,040 Speaker 1: a guy like Jason Tatum at the end of games. 318 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:37,880 Speaker 1: But there are two big caveats right. Number One, Derek 319 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 1: White and Jaylen Brown are both outstanding defensive players with 320 00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:45,240 Speaker 1: a lot of length and quickness, specifically as athletes in rotation, 321 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:47,960 Speaker 1: and that's a big part of their ability to cover 322 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:50,960 Speaker 1: for Al Horford and chrisops porzingis it's just not going 323 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: to be that easy when the Celtics are healthy. And two, 324 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:57,160 Speaker 1: it's one thing to outgun Jason Tatum one time, but 325 00:14:57,240 --> 00:14:58,960 Speaker 1: it's different to do it four. 326 00:14:58,720 --> 00:14:59,880 Speaker 2: Times in two weeks. 327 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:01,800 Speaker 1: First of all, you got to keep all the games 328 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:04,600 Speaker 1: close enough for late game shot making to actually be 329 00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:07,040 Speaker 1: the differentiator, which is really hard to do against Boston. 330 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:09,840 Speaker 1: And then two, Tatum has the second most clutch points 331 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:12,920 Speaker 1: in the entire league this year, only Dearon Fox has more. 332 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:15,680 Speaker 1: It's got like a dozen clutches cists as well, Like 333 00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:19,680 Speaker 1: he's gonna win that matchup sometimes, so in addition to 334 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:21,840 Speaker 1: keeping games close enough for you to try to out 335 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:25,360 Speaker 1: execute them in those situations like yeah, like Tatum was 336 00:15:25,880 --> 00:15:28,320 Speaker 1: a mislayup and like I said, maybe one of those 337 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:30,760 Speaker 1: corner threes going in away from that being a game 338 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:33,760 Speaker 1: that Boston won anyway despite being down Derek White and 339 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:37,040 Speaker 1: Drew Holliday or excuse me, Derek White and Jalen Brown 340 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:40,080 Speaker 1: because of the ability Jason Tatum has to play at 341 00:15:40,080 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 1: that level he's playing, I mean, and again that really, 342 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:45,320 Speaker 1: that really is why I still feel like Boston has 343 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:48,640 Speaker 1: a substantial advantage in this matchup. Like one, I don't 344 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:51,840 Speaker 1: think the Garland problem is going away, Like Boston just 345 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:53,720 Speaker 1: is going to be able to get them in rotation 346 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:56,600 Speaker 1: by attacking Garland. It's just gonna continue to be a problem. 347 00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:00,880 Speaker 1: And I think it's a bigger problem for Cleveland than Cleveland. 348 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 1: Attacking Boston centers and pick and roll is a problem 349 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:06,160 Speaker 1: for the Celtics, if that makes sense. And then secondly, 350 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:08,720 Speaker 1: this is the best that Jason Tatum has ever been 351 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:11,720 Speaker 1: at basketball. He's up over a point per shot on 352 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:14,120 Speaker 1: pull up jump shots on a pretty large volume to 353 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:16,160 Speaker 1: start the season. It's the first time for a whole 354 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:18,800 Speaker 1: season he's been over one point per pull up jump 355 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:22,240 Speaker 1: shots since the twenty nineteen twenty twenty campaign. Like that, 356 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:24,240 Speaker 1: that's the type of shooting that we're getting out of 357 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 1: him in a couple of like ridiculous off the dribble 358 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:31,360 Speaker 1: jump shots. In that third quarter run, He's shooting a 359 00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:33,760 Speaker 1: preposterous one point two to six points per shot in 360 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:35,840 Speaker 1: catch and shoot jumpers. That's just outrageous. Don't even know 361 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:38,160 Speaker 1: what to say about that. And his playmaking and overall 362 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:40,720 Speaker 1: feel for the game is the highest that I've seen 363 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:43,400 Speaker 1: in his time in the NBA. You know, Like even 364 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:46,560 Speaker 1: when he was struggling last year during the playoffs, I 365 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:48,200 Speaker 1: kept saying that I just thought it was a slump, 366 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 1: and most importantly, I said that this Boston team would 367 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:54,440 Speaker 1: likely be way better this year just on account of 368 00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:57,720 Speaker 1: gaining a better version of Jason Tatum. And even what 369 00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:01,280 Speaker 1: I anticipated from Tatum this year has not come close 370 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:05,760 Speaker 1: to the player that he has actually been. He's encroaching 371 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:08,600 Speaker 1: on the top guys. For me, I don't think he's 372 00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:12,359 Speaker 1: quite there yet, but he's close and on a roster 373 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:15,840 Speaker 1: this talented. It just doesn't matter with this version of Tatum, 374 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:19,480 Speaker 1: I'm having a really hard time even conceptualizing a team 375 00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:21,000 Speaker 1: that has the juice to beat them. We're about to 376 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,560 Speaker 1: talk about Okay, see here in a minute, But to me, 377 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:26,360 Speaker 1: they just feel a lot like Boston a few years ago. 378 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:30,400 Speaker 1: There's a lot of bad process still taking place there 379 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:31,920 Speaker 1: for them. On the offensive end of the floor, I 380 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: don't think they're ready, And then the other teams in 381 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:35,359 Speaker 1: the league, I just don't think they have the talent necessary. 382 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:43,119 Speaker 1: So I've seen Celtics fans behaving very confidently, and they should. 383 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:45,120 Speaker 1: This is a team that looks to me like they're 384 00:17:45,119 --> 00:17:58,280 Speaker 1: on a tier by themselves at the top of the league. 385 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:03,840 Speaker 1: Moving on to Thunder Rockets. Crazy late game sequences. Tied 386 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:06,960 Speaker 1: it one hundred and five late and the Thunder get 387 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:08,880 Speaker 1: it three out of case on Wallace on a tag 388 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:11,840 Speaker 1: of Isaiah Hartenstein such just a basic ball screen. They 389 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:15,480 Speaker 1: tag Hartenstein cross court pass in the corner, knocks down 390 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:18,200 Speaker 1: the three right, but then the Rockets go to Shangoon 391 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:21,119 Speaker 1: in the post and case on Wallace right after making 392 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:23,080 Speaker 1: the big play to give him a lead, kind of 393 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:25,960 Speaker 1: over digs down. You gotta just kind of let Shangun 394 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:27,480 Speaker 1: go at hard and sign one on one when he's 395 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:29,160 Speaker 1: that far out, he was kind of like ten twelve 396 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,639 Speaker 1: feet out. Overhelped kicks out to Fred van Vliet. He 397 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:34,840 Speaker 1: knocks down the three and now we're tied at one awight. 398 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:37,960 Speaker 1: Then both teams get offensive rebound put backs very different 399 00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:40,639 Speaker 1: ways too, which was fascinating. Shay gets all the way 400 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:42,600 Speaker 1: to the rim and Dylan Brooks does a really nice 401 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:44,720 Speaker 1: job of pursuing over the top of the screen and 402 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:47,320 Speaker 1: gets a block on Shay, but it falls right back 403 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:48,679 Speaker 1: into his hands and he puts it back in. 404 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,280 Speaker 2: It's kind of like bad luck right on the other one. 405 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:54,320 Speaker 1: Though, we talked about rejecting ball screens in the Celtics video. 406 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:58,080 Speaker 1: If you remember, like just that play where Donovan Mitchell 407 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:00,280 Speaker 1: just whipped it across to his left hand right as 408 00:19:00,359 --> 00:19:02,680 Speaker 1: Drew Holliday was getting ready to fight over screen. Fred 409 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:04,879 Speaker 1: van Vliet did a similar thing to Cassan Wallace and 410 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:08,120 Speaker 1: beat him downhill, and this really weird thing happened where 411 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:10,600 Speaker 1: Fred van Vliet goes in and misses a layup in traffic, 412 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:12,280 Speaker 1: but you know how it goes when you miss layups 413 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:16,200 Speaker 1: against rim protectors. There's usually just like more athletes coming 414 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:18,560 Speaker 1: in behind them to finish up the play. Right, But 415 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:22,280 Speaker 1: as Hartenstein and and Shangun were both up at the 416 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:25,720 Speaker 1: level of the screen, Shane gun like ran right down 417 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:27,520 Speaker 1: the middle of the lane and got an offensive rebound 418 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:29,800 Speaker 1: put back, And I'm like, what the hell was Hartenstein doing? 419 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:32,600 Speaker 1: So I rewind and I watched the clip again. Hartenstein 420 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:34,880 Speaker 1: like veered way off to the right and like ran 421 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 1: to the short corner for some reason, I couldn't really 422 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:38,960 Speaker 1: figure it out. It it was like maybe he was trying 423 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,080 Speaker 1: to box out the guy crashing from the corner, but 424 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:43,320 Speaker 1: he wasn't in any real position to do that. So 425 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:47,040 Speaker 1: it was like a bad luck situation gives the Thunder 426 00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:49,480 Speaker 1: an easy two, and then a really weird play by 427 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:51,960 Speaker 1: Hartenstein ends up giving the Rockets an easy to. Now, 428 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,359 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, we're tied at one ten again, 429 00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:56,880 Speaker 1: and then we got a really big play from Fred 430 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:01,000 Speaker 1: van Vliet Andrew Aaron Wiggins ends up iving a closeout 431 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:03,159 Speaker 1: off the left wing and he smokes the layup, but 432 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:05,960 Speaker 1: when he misses the leyup, Hartenstein comes flying in to 433 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:07,960 Speaker 1: get the offensive rebound. He's trying to catch it and 434 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:10,760 Speaker 1: finish it in one fluid motion, but Fred van Vliet 435 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:13,600 Speaker 1: comes in out of that right corner and slaps down 436 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:17,200 Speaker 1: on the basketball and just forces Hartenstein to come down 437 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:19,640 Speaker 1: with it. So Hartenstein's thinking, I'm gonna get an easy 438 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:23,320 Speaker 1: offensive rebound put back, but Fred van Vliet just makes 439 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 1: him come down with it first. And when he comes down, 440 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:28,600 Speaker 1: he's got so much momentum that he lands on the baseline. 441 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:31,920 Speaker 1: So like just a little detail, just swiping out the basketball, 442 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: making things a little difficult, a little bit more of 443 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:35,960 Speaker 1: an effort, right. A lot of players in the league 444 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:38,520 Speaker 1: just let Hartenstein finish that because they think the play's over. 445 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:43,160 Speaker 1: Little competitive burst there for fred van Vliet forces a turnover. 446 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:46,680 Speaker 1: Then on the next possession there's a jump ball late 447 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:49,840 Speaker 1: clock situation and Fred van Vliet literally hits like a 448 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:54,480 Speaker 1: forty foot prayer, kicking his legs as the shot clock expires. 449 00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:56,280 Speaker 1: Biggest shot of the night was really what kind of 450 00:20:56,280 --> 00:21:00,800 Speaker 1: turned things around off the like literally off of a 451 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:02,800 Speaker 1: jump ball with like three seconds on the shot clock, 452 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:04,320 Speaker 1: just throws it up and it goes in. It's one 453 00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:06,919 Speaker 1: thirteen to one ten. Then Dylan Brooks does a really 454 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:10,240 Speaker 1: nice job in ISO defending shake Yalders Alexander along the 455 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:12,720 Speaker 1: left wing and forces him into a tough step back 456 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:17,119 Speaker 1: three and he misses. But alprin Shang Gun is face 457 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:19,880 Speaker 1: guarding Hartenstein on the offensive glass, really trying to box 458 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:22,639 Speaker 1: him out. Hartenstein just reaches over the top pitches it 459 00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:24,480 Speaker 1: out to Kason Wallace on the right corner and he 460 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:27,320 Speaker 1: knocks it down case on Wallace a couple of massive 461 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:29,200 Speaker 1: threes that he hit. At the tail end of this game, 462 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:33,359 Speaker 1: we're back tied at one thirteen. As we go to 463 00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:35,240 Speaker 1: the other end of the floor one thirteen, one to thirteen, 464 00:21:35,359 --> 00:21:38,560 Speaker 1: Shang Gun slips on the ball like as he's trying 465 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:40,560 Speaker 1: to post up on a roll where he just kind 466 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:42,359 Speaker 1: of falls on the ground right and he's got the 467 00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:45,000 Speaker 1: ball in his hands. And another just like little detail, 468 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:48,000 Speaker 1: Dylan Brooks and shake Yalders Alexander are matched up in 469 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:51,959 Speaker 1: the left corner and as Shane Gun goes down, Dylan 470 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:55,800 Speaker 1: Brooks alertly just flashes to him to try to get 471 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:59,200 Speaker 1: the ball, and Shay is just a split second late 472 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:02,639 Speaker 1: react to Dylan Brooks's cut and so Dylan gets the 473 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:06,120 Speaker 1: ball from Shanguon and just turns immediately over his left shoulder, 474 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:09,240 Speaker 1: shoots a little ten foot fade away, and Shake gets 475 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:11,359 Speaker 1: back in the play and gets an okay contest on it. 476 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:13,679 Speaker 1: But if he was sharper, if he was paying more attention, 477 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:15,280 Speaker 1: he would have taken that shot away. 478 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:15,639 Speaker 2: He did it. 479 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:19,880 Speaker 1: Dylan Brooks sinks the left shoulder fade, puts him up 480 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:22,080 Speaker 1: one fifteen to one thirteen. And then on the other 481 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:24,200 Speaker 1: end of the floor, Tari Easton got a really good 482 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:26,719 Speaker 1: contest on a Shae Gilders Alexander mid range pull up 483 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:29,199 Speaker 1: that actually forced Shay to double pump, and when he 484 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:31,360 Speaker 1: forced him to double pump, he ended up just kind 485 00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:33,240 Speaker 1: of flinging in that the rim, it had no arc 486 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,480 Speaker 1: on it, hit the front of the room and bounced off. 487 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:37,520 Speaker 1: They ended up playing the foul game, and the Thunder 488 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:40,000 Speaker 1: got like a prayer off that could have potentially tied it, 489 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:42,360 Speaker 1: but that essentially was the game and the Rockets ended 490 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:44,879 Speaker 1: up getting it. So again, a lot of times in 491 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:47,480 Speaker 1: a game like that, it's like a couple shots go here, 492 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:49,240 Speaker 1: a couple shots go there, and it's a different type 493 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:51,880 Speaker 1: of game, right, Like we're talking about a prayer from 494 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:55,480 Speaker 1: forty feet from Fred van Vliet. We're talking about kind 495 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:58,720 Speaker 1: of a chaotic sequence where Upper and Shangun falls on 496 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:00,760 Speaker 1: the floor, right, So it's like it's kind of crazy. 497 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:02,320 Speaker 1: So I just kind of want to focus on the 498 00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:05,320 Speaker 1: specific basketball that both of these teams are playing beyond 499 00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:07,520 Speaker 1: the craziness of just that individual game. 500 00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:08,560 Speaker 2: A'l Burn. 501 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:10,800 Speaker 1: Shangoon is going to make his first All Star Game 502 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:14,160 Speaker 1: this year. In his last twelve games, he's had twenty 503 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:16,719 Speaker 1: plus points in eight of those twelve games. He's averaging 504 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:19,920 Speaker 1: twenty one points, eleven rebounds, and six assists. In those 505 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:22,720 Speaker 1: twelve games, he's got two point five stocks per game 506 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 1: steals plus blocks in that span, now averaging for the 507 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:30,520 Speaker 1: season nineteen points, eleven rebounds, and five assists. Really high 508 00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:34,800 Speaker 1: level production, really greases the wheels for this team on offense. Now, 509 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:39,240 Speaker 1: they're fifteen points better per one hundred possessions overall according 510 00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:41,879 Speaker 1: to Cleaning the last nine points better on defense, but 511 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:46,040 Speaker 1: they're also six points better on offense per one hundred possessions. 512 00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:48,560 Speaker 1: Win Chenggoon's on the floor versus off and the main 513 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,160 Speaker 1: thing there is he's a perfect screening partner for Fred 514 00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:53,720 Speaker 1: van Vliet. He sets good hard screens. He has a 515 00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:56,320 Speaker 1: good feel for when to rescreen or to slip out 516 00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:58,399 Speaker 1: of his screen, so he's got good screening technique. 517 00:23:58,800 --> 00:23:59,560 Speaker 2: If he gets to his. 518 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:01,920 Speaker 1: Clean work on a roll, like he'll dunk on you. 519 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:04,200 Speaker 1: Like he's got the length and the footwork down to 520 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:06,080 Speaker 1: kind of take off off of right lefts and left 521 00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:08,359 Speaker 1: rights and off of one foot, so like, if he 522 00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:10,480 Speaker 1: gets his runway, he can really take off and dunk 523 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:12,919 Speaker 1: on you. But if her rolls into traffic, he's an 524 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:15,159 Speaker 1: excellent decision maker in terms of spraying it out in 525 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:17,520 Speaker 1: four on threes, and he's a very good short range scory. 526 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:21,359 Speaker 1: He's over fifty percent on fifty nine hooks and floaters 527 00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:22,920 Speaker 1: this year, so that's a good shot for him there 528 00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:24,600 Speaker 1: in the short range. And he's a three to one 529 00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:28,360 Speaker 1: assist the turnover guy. So really really good ballscreen partner 530 00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:30,359 Speaker 1: for Fred van Vliet. But he also can run offense 531 00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:32,320 Speaker 1: out of the post and that was something that he 532 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:34,840 Speaker 1: struggled with to start the year, but he's really coming 533 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:37,800 Speaker 1: on strong as of late. The Rockets ran thirteen post 534 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:40,320 Speaker 1: ups through Shang Gun against the Thunder last night and 535 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:43,120 Speaker 1: they generated seventeen points out of him. That's one point 536 00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:45,320 Speaker 1: three to one points per possession, a lot of really 537 00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:47,640 Speaker 1: good work, a key kickout pass to Fred van Vliet 538 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:49,800 Speaker 1: and crunch time out of the post that ended in 539 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:52,000 Speaker 1: a bucket. And again it's about distraction, like even on 540 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:54,879 Speaker 1: the play where he fell over kind of with his 541 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:57,360 Speaker 1: back turned to Hartenstein, just all eyes are on him 542 00:24:57,400 --> 00:24:59,480 Speaker 1: and that's what opens up that cut for Dylan Brooks 543 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,480 Speaker 1: to come through the and get that bucket as well. 544 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:04,720 Speaker 1: And then lastly, he's been one of the best offensive 545 00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:06,919 Speaker 1: rebounders in the league this year. I'll brin Shangun has 546 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:10,879 Speaker 1: seventy four offensive rebounds. Only Musa Dibate, Ivi Kazubac and 547 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:14,000 Speaker 1: Yakapurtle have more in the entire NBA this year. He 548 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:17,720 Speaker 1: just snatched his fourth consecutive twenty point game. Now where 549 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:19,920 Speaker 1: it gets weird for the Rockets is outside of Shangun, 550 00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:24,000 Speaker 1: nobody is consistent offensively like Jaleen M. Green has been 551 00:25:24,119 --> 00:25:27,040 Speaker 1: wildly and consistent. He has four This is crazy. I 552 00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:30,160 Speaker 1: pulled the stat on Twitter earlier this morning, but look 553 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,440 Speaker 1: at the dispersion of the scoring for Jalen Green and 554 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:36,679 Speaker 1: for Fred van Vliet. Jalen Green has four games with 555 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:38,960 Speaker 1: at least ten points or excuse me, with less than 556 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:41,240 Speaker 1: ten points. His four games with less than ten points, 557 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:45,800 Speaker 1: five games between ten and fifteen points, three games between 558 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:49,480 Speaker 1: sixteen and twenty points, five games between twenty and twenty 559 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:53,280 Speaker 1: five points, two games between twenty six and thirty five points, 560 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,119 Speaker 1: and two games with thirty six points or more. So 561 00:25:56,160 --> 00:26:00,280 Speaker 1: it's like wild dispersion of production from him. Like he 562 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:04,320 Speaker 1: just had nine points against the Thunder, he had forty 563 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:07,120 Speaker 1: one the game before that, and then nine the game 564 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:10,760 Speaker 1: before that. That's some of the wildest oscillation in production 565 00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,240 Speaker 1: that I've seen. They got thirty eight points out of 566 00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:16,040 Speaker 1: Fred van Vliet last night. He was amazing in that game, 567 00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:19,040 Speaker 1: got timely dribble penetration, it's several huge jump shots late. 568 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:21,920 Speaker 1: But he also has crazy point distribution. He has four 569 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,400 Speaker 1: games with single digits, six games between ten and fifteen, 570 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:28,679 Speaker 1: five games between sixteen and twenty in five games with 571 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:31,320 Speaker 1: more than twenty. So your two best guards are like 572 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:33,200 Speaker 1: feast or famine. On the offensive end of the four, 573 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:36,040 Speaker 1: Dylan Brooks is shooting the three better and he has 574 00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:38,199 Speaker 1: some decent polish and he can make some plays off 575 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:40,320 Speaker 1: the bounds. A huge shot over his left shoulder in 576 00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:43,919 Speaker 1: that game, but fifty three percent true shooting this season, 577 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:46,840 Speaker 1: and he can still make some really boneheaded decisions with 578 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:49,320 Speaker 1: the ball because he still kind of thinks he's better 579 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:51,840 Speaker 1: offensively than he actually is. Jabari Smith is starting to 580 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:53,800 Speaker 1: shoot the ball better. He's fifty percent from three on 581 00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:56,119 Speaker 1: five attempts per game over the last six games, but 582 00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:59,440 Speaker 1: he's also had nine games with single digit scoring output 583 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:01,960 Speaker 1: this year, only six games with fifteen points or more. 584 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,280 Speaker 1: So he's inconsistent offensively. A Men Thompson and Tari Easan, 585 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:07,359 Speaker 1: they can provide some rim pressure, like there are moments 586 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:11,080 Speaker 1: where the Houston Rockets offense bogs down and someone like 587 00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:14,000 Speaker 1: Tari or Men will just beat somebody off the dribble 588 00:27:14,040 --> 00:27:16,200 Speaker 1: and something good will happen. There's a lot of good 589 00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:18,080 Speaker 1: that they bring there, but again they aren't high level 590 00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:20,720 Speaker 1: shot creators. And then Raid Shepherd has been struggling. It 591 00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:23,200 Speaker 1: seems to me in my time watching him on tape 592 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:25,320 Speaker 1: that he's struggling a little bit with the size and 593 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,240 Speaker 1: athleticism here in the NBA to get separation from people. 594 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:31,440 Speaker 1: So like in the half court, they have no choice 595 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:34,080 Speaker 1: but to play through Shangun or through Jalen Green or 596 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:37,200 Speaker 1: Fred van Vliet and just Shangun is really really good, 597 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:39,080 Speaker 1: but he's not one of the you know, top level 598 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:41,359 Speaker 1: shot creators in the league. And then Jalen and Fred 599 00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:45,240 Speaker 1: are just so inconsistent, Like it's that inconsistency from Fred 600 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:47,760 Speaker 1: and Jalen that gets them beat. Look at their losses 601 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:51,080 Speaker 1: this month, the Portland loss at home, Fred van Vliet 602 00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:54,720 Speaker 1: and Jalen Green go for eighteen points on twenty seven shots. 603 00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:58,680 Speaker 1: When OKC blew them out earlier this month, Fred went 604 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 1: four for nine. Jalen went five for fourteen. When Golden 605 00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:05,000 Speaker 1: State beat them earlier this month, Fred and Jalen went 606 00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:08,640 Speaker 1: four for twenty five from the field combined. So that's 607 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:10,800 Speaker 1: the main reason why I think the Houston Rockets are 608 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:15,439 Speaker 1: kind of like this season's surprise regular season wins juggernaut 609 00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,400 Speaker 1: that probably can't win their conference. We've seen this sort 610 00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:21,480 Speaker 1: of thing a lot of times in recent NBA history, right, 611 00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:27,159 Speaker 1: like young athletic plays extremely hard every single night and 612 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:29,640 Speaker 1: have good injury luck throughout the year, like that kind 613 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:34,760 Speaker 1: of team. Right last year was Minnesota. They actually upset 614 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:36,960 Speaker 1: Denver in the playoffs, but then they ran into a 615 00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:38,960 Speaker 1: team that could slow things down and protect the rim 616 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:41,040 Speaker 1: and then they fell apart, right Like, that's the thing, 617 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:46,280 Speaker 1: these young kind of inconsistent, limited shot creators that struggle 618 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:48,880 Speaker 1: with the surgical stuff you need to win three four 619 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:49,680 Speaker 1: playoff rounds. 620 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:49,920 Speaker 2: Right. 621 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:53,719 Speaker 1: The year before Minnesota, it was Sacramento. The year before that, 622 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:56,920 Speaker 1: it was Memphis. Right like there, it's a pretty consistent theme. Now, 623 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:59,200 Speaker 1: this Rockets defense is so good that they're gonna be 624 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:02,480 Speaker 1: in every single game, and it's a defense structured around 625 00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:06,280 Speaker 1: what works in the modern NBA, which is athletic size, switchability, 626 00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:10,760 Speaker 1: good ball pressure, and physicality. Right and on the nights 627 00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,360 Speaker 1: where Jalen and Fred can actually reach that star level 628 00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:16,520 Speaker 1: offensively to compliment what Shane Gun does, they can even 629 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:18,520 Speaker 1: be at the elite teams at the top of the league. 630 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:21,360 Speaker 1: But I just don't think they have the consistent shot 631 00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:24,880 Speaker 1: creation to even be a second tier contender for me. 632 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:27,200 Speaker 1: But I do think they'll hold their own near the 633 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:29,600 Speaker 1: top of the West standings throughout the year. And for 634 00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:32,640 Speaker 1: Rockets fans, this is not an insult. Yeah, I'm predicting 635 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:34,320 Speaker 1: you guys to win a lot of regular season games 636 00:29:34,320 --> 00:29:36,760 Speaker 1: and then losing the first or second round, but this 637 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:40,560 Speaker 1: is part of the journey. To becoming a contender doesn't 638 00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:43,160 Speaker 1: happen overnight for young teams, and it can happen overnight 639 00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:45,560 Speaker 1: for teams that are built through things like you know, 640 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:47,600 Speaker 1: the Celtics make a trade for KG, they immediately go 641 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:50,240 Speaker 1: win the title. Lakers make a trade for Anthony Davis, 642 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:51,920 Speaker 1: they immediately go win the title. The Bucks make a 643 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:54,000 Speaker 1: trade for Drew Holliday, they immediately go win the title. 644 00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:56,640 Speaker 1: The Warriors make a trade for KD. They immediately go 645 00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:58,920 Speaker 1: win the title. Like they're examples of teams that do that. 646 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:02,280 Speaker 1: But for the young teams that are in the development process, 647 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:06,680 Speaker 1: it's about steps, and the important thing to remember is 648 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:10,360 Speaker 1: this is not the last step. There's a lot that 649 00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:14,160 Speaker 1: happens from this phase where like look at Minnesota this year, 650 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:17,040 Speaker 1: they seem to kind of be struggling with the grind 651 00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:20,360 Speaker 1: of the regular season. It's about like guys have to 652 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:23,080 Speaker 1: continue to develop in their skill development, right, they have 653 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:26,400 Speaker 1: to continue to get better year after year. You have 654 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:29,480 Speaker 1: to make the right tweaks to the roster. It's very 655 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:31,920 Speaker 1: possible that Minnesota made the wrong tweak to the roster 656 00:30:32,240 --> 00:30:34,320 Speaker 1: bringing in Julius Randam. We'll see in the long run, right, 657 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:36,800 Speaker 1: And so that's the thing, Like, what is this team's 658 00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:40,000 Speaker 1: move eventually going to be? And like my guess is 659 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,280 Speaker 1: that they end up trading Jalen Green at some point. 660 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:44,040 Speaker 1: He just kind of strikes me as the guy that's 661 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:47,600 Speaker 1: kind of an awkward fit and most importantly, like he's 662 00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:49,920 Speaker 1: the type of young talent that could actually help them 663 00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:51,080 Speaker 1: bring in a super. 664 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:51,680 Speaker 2: High level player. 665 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:54,640 Speaker 1: But ideally, if you could find a way to maintain 666 00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:56,960 Speaker 1: the identity of the team in terms of the athleticism 667 00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:00,480 Speaker 1: around them and bring in the type of superstar level 668 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:02,600 Speaker 1: half court shot creator you need to really contend in 669 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:05,520 Speaker 1: this league, sky's the limit for this team. But yeah, 670 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:07,080 Speaker 1: I do view them as more or less just a 671 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:11,160 Speaker 1: regular season wins juggernaut this year on the thunderfront isay 672 00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:12,760 Speaker 1: Harden's sein is such an incredible pickup. 673 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:13,600 Speaker 2: I mean, we all knew this. 674 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:16,240 Speaker 1: It's not exactly some sort of basketball rocket science, right 675 00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:19,040 Speaker 1: Like this is he's just a really really good role 676 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:22,040 Speaker 1: player that is going to play really well alongside a 677 00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:24,120 Speaker 1: team that has a lot of talent on the perimeter 678 00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:27,000 Speaker 1: and specifically had need of what he bring brought to 679 00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:29,920 Speaker 1: the table. Right, Like, he completely changes the physical profile 680 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:32,400 Speaker 1: of the team. He sets monster screens to free up 681 00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:35,200 Speaker 1: the guards, something that the Thunder really haven't had since 682 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:37,560 Speaker 1: Steven Adams. It's such a simple thing, but it's an 683 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:40,080 Speaker 1: important thing. You know, Like you if you set a 684 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:42,760 Speaker 1: really good screen to free up your ball handler and 685 00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:44,800 Speaker 1: he doesn't have to worry about the dude draped over 686 00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:48,240 Speaker 1: his back, then he can comfortably operate in the mid 687 00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:50,080 Speaker 1: range and he's going to be a lot better there 688 00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:52,880 Speaker 1: shot making and playmaking out of it. But if the 689 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:54,840 Speaker 1: guys gets over the top of the screen and he's 690 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:58,120 Speaker 1: draped on his backside, he can funnel him into the 691 00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:01,120 Speaker 1: help take away the shot making piece in the middle 692 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:03,360 Speaker 1: and make it easier for guys to stay home off 693 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:07,240 Speaker 1: the ball. Setting really good screens at the point of 694 00:32:07,280 --> 00:32:09,960 Speaker 1: attack for your ball handlers is a vital part of 695 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:13,160 Speaker 1: freeing things up for your offense. Something Isai Hartenstein is 696 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:17,320 Speaker 1: excellent at. He's an excellent defensive rebounder. The Thunder this season, 697 00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:20,440 Speaker 1: when Isaiah Hartenstein is off the floor get just sixty 698 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:23,640 Speaker 1: seven percent of opponent's misses. When Isaiah Hartenstein's on the floor, 699 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:26,680 Speaker 1: they get seventy three percent of their opponent's misses. Basically, 700 00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:29,120 Speaker 1: the difference between being a batterybounding team and an OK 701 00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:31,440 Speaker 1: rebounding team like a middle of the pack rebounding team 702 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:34,719 Speaker 1: is having Isaiah Hartenstein on the floor. He's also a 703 00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:37,760 Speaker 1: good smart defender with good size and mobility to anchor 704 00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:40,640 Speaker 1: their defense, but he does so much more on the 705 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:44,640 Speaker 1: offensive end beyond the screening. In this Houston game, we 706 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:47,400 Speaker 1: saw him hit multiple back cuts where like he was 707 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:50,720 Speaker 1: at the top of the key and like Shay's driving. 708 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:53,520 Speaker 1: You know, Dylan Brooks has got his back turned to 709 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:55,920 Speaker 1: the ball and he's just holding on to Shae with 710 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:58,880 Speaker 1: two hands, and Shae could just throw a hard cut 711 00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:01,080 Speaker 1: towards the basket and time can hit him on the bounce. 712 00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:03,000 Speaker 1: Now it's like you just be It's the same effect 713 00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:04,880 Speaker 1: as beating him off the driple because now you have 714 00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:08,160 Speaker 1: the ball and you're past Illan Brooks. That's an important 715 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:11,600 Speaker 1: part of attacking teams in space, right, having bigs that 716 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:14,760 Speaker 1: can make those backcut passes. Right, we saw him. We 717 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:18,720 Speaker 1: talked about, you know, those strong left handed drives. Like 718 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:21,240 Speaker 1: a lot of times, like Hardenstein's sitting there looking around 719 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:23,080 Speaker 1: and a team is just doing a really good job 720 00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:26,800 Speaker 1: denying and everyone's glued up off the ball and there's 721 00:33:26,880 --> 00:33:29,560 Speaker 1: just a chasm of space around the rim. You had 722 00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:31,680 Speaker 1: to play like that in the second half where he 723 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:34,720 Speaker 1: just hard drove left at shanegun and then spun into 724 00:33:34,800 --> 00:33:37,080 Speaker 1: a right handed layup at the basket. That's how you 725 00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:40,600 Speaker 1: capitalize on the space that's provided by everyone off ball 726 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:42,920 Speaker 1: being denied. That's an important part. And then he's a 727 00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:48,400 Speaker 1: release valve when things stall out, he can flash to 728 00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 1: the top of the key, get the ball, and flow 729 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:53,200 Speaker 1: into action on the other side of the floor. Oh 730 00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:56,440 Speaker 1: like it's late shot clock, Well, he'll flash to the elbow. 731 00:33:57,200 --> 00:33:59,240 Speaker 1: He had a play where he caught at the left elbow, 732 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:01,760 Speaker 1: so like sixteen sixteen and a half, seventeen feet away 733 00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:04,600 Speaker 1: from the rim. Cott turned took one step in and 734 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:06,960 Speaker 1: shot a little like kind of thirteen foot floater that 735 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:09,719 Speaker 1: he made, by the way, thirteen for twenty two on 736 00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:12,160 Speaker 1: floaters this year. That's fifty nine percent or one point 737 00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:14,279 Speaker 1: one to eight points per shot. As I mentioned, he's 738 00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:16,480 Speaker 1: just a professional role player center and when you put 739 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:19,759 Speaker 1: him around elite perimeter talent like what Okayse has, he 740 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:22,600 Speaker 1: can push them to a special level. A couple other 741 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:25,840 Speaker 1: small bits on the thunder Kison Wallace I thought he 742 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:28,080 Speaker 1: lost contain on Fred van Vlid a few times in 743 00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:31,879 Speaker 1: the clutch. Definitely not his best defensive game. I thought 744 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:33,759 Speaker 1: he overhelped on that Fred van Vliet three in the 745 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:35,880 Speaker 1: post as well, but he had a couple of gigantic 746 00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:38,000 Speaker 1: threes in this game to give Okasee a chance. And again, 747 00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:40,359 Speaker 1: this has been an issue for OKAC this year, role 748 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:42,879 Speaker 1: players hitting shots, and Cassan has been off. A bunch 749 00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:45,000 Speaker 1: of guys have been off. Those are some big ones 750 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:47,680 Speaker 1: and a good positive sign for the Thunder. Then Jalen Williams, 751 00:34:47,719 --> 00:34:49,320 Speaker 1: He's been playing really well this season, but this was 752 00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:51,440 Speaker 1: another game this year where I thought his decision making 753 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:54,160 Speaker 1: was a bit rough. He took some tough early clock 754 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:56,080 Speaker 1: jump shots, and then they had three or four plays 755 00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:58,160 Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. The big one with Jaylen Williams 756 00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:00,000 Speaker 1: that stood out to me in the Dallas series last year. 757 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:03,360 Speaker 1: He challenges rim protectors and a lot of times missus 758 00:35:03,400 --> 00:35:05,320 Speaker 1: easy kickout raads, and he had three or four plays 759 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:07,440 Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter of that Houston game where he 760 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:09,960 Speaker 1: just drove into tons of bodies and tried to force 761 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:12,640 Speaker 1: stuff up. He got blocked twice at the rim in 762 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:15,040 Speaker 1: this one in the fourth quarter, missed a couple of 763 00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:17,520 Speaker 1: layups too, and it's like, I think he could loosen 764 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:19,320 Speaker 1: things up for himself. He's a good enough playmaker to 765 00:35:19,360 --> 00:35:21,080 Speaker 1: see it. It's just a decision making thing, like he 766 00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:23,200 Speaker 1: just has to be a little bit more willing to 767 00:35:23,239 --> 00:35:27,120 Speaker 1: make those kickout passes. Everything about this Thunder team screams 768 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:30,160 Speaker 1: to me that they still lean another year to just 769 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:33,319 Speaker 1: kind of improve their experience and collective basketball IQ. But 770 00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:35,920 Speaker 1: then I remember that they have Chet Holmer coming back, 771 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:38,280 Speaker 1: and that Alex Cruso will come back and he'll probably 772 00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:40,279 Speaker 1: play better than he did to start the year. They 773 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:43,480 Speaker 1: just have so much margin for error, and Shay is 774 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:45,520 Speaker 1: really that good, and so like, I'm not at the 775 00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:50,239 Speaker 1: point where I as of right now, Boston to me 776 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:53,120 Speaker 1: feels like the clear number one, but I still have 777 00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:55,960 Speaker 1: Oklahoma City kind of clinging to that tier just because 778 00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:57,520 Speaker 1: of their sheer amount of talent, and I do think 779 00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:00,520 Speaker 1: they can play a lot better than they have. But like, again, 780 00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:04,160 Speaker 1: every my basketball heart is screaming to me that Boston 781 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:05,800 Speaker 1: is just far and away the best team in the 782 00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:07,279 Speaker 1: league this year, and that's kind of where I'm at 783 00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:07,759 Speaker 1: right now. 784 00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:09,920 Speaker 2: All right, let's. 785 00:36:09,719 --> 00:36:16,440 Speaker 1: Move on to our power rankings, So we're gonna also 786 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:20,360 Speaker 1: from now we're gonna start including championship odds and conference 787 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:25,359 Speaker 1: odds as part of this process, and I'm just gonna 788 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:26,640 Speaker 1: read them off to you guys when we get to 789 00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:28,360 Speaker 1: the tail end of each team in this list. And 790 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:31,440 Speaker 1: then also, as you can probably imagine, the top four 791 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:34,400 Speaker 1: teams in this list are teams that we hit today, 792 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:36,280 Speaker 1: so I'm not going to go into too much detail 793 00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:38,360 Speaker 1: on them. You can find that if you happen to 794 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:40,440 Speaker 1: have clicked on a breakout clip for the Power Rankings 795 00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:42,040 Speaker 1: and you want to hear for the top four teams. 796 00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:45,520 Speaker 1: Remember that's at the top of today's full episode. All 797 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:49,360 Speaker 1: lines and odds are provided by our partner DraftKings, just 798 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:53,319 Speaker 1: so you guys know. And then also, Lakers fans not 799 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:57,080 Speaker 1: gonna do any Lakers today because they play the Timberwolves tonight, 800 00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:00,319 Speaker 1: and we will talk a lot of Lakers tomorrow. So 801 00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:03,799 Speaker 1: everything involving them in the crappy basketball they've been playing 802 00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:06,399 Speaker 1: as of late, we will discuss in detail in tomorrow's show. 803 00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:09,240 Speaker 1: But without any further ado, let's get going. The Golden 804 00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:12,839 Speaker 1: State Warriors at number ten, an oh to three week 805 00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:15,919 Speaker 1: for the Warriors losses to Brooklyn, OKC and Phoenix. They've 806 00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:18,560 Speaker 1: lost four in a row. Overall, in their offense has 807 00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:22,000 Speaker 1: just really fallen apart. They have one hundred and seven 808 00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:25,760 Speaker 1: offensive rating in the four game slide. Steph just hasn't 809 00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:27,759 Speaker 1: been good. He's obviously a little banged up with the 810 00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:30,719 Speaker 1: he's had some bilateral knee tendonitis. Twenty one points seven 811 00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:32,800 Speaker 1: points per game on thirty nine percent from the field 812 00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:35,720 Speaker 1: in this four game slide. Andrew Wiggins is scoring eighteen 813 00:37:35,719 --> 00:37:37,719 Speaker 1: points a game, but he hasn't been very efficient. He's 814 00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:41,440 Speaker 1: taken like seventeen shots to get those eighteen points. Kaminga's 815 00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:43,920 Speaker 1: been awful, but he's been fine. But he's just like 816 00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:45,520 Speaker 1: the old buddy, who's a guy who can hit a 817 00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:47,799 Speaker 1: couple of shots and make a couple of plays, but 818 00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:50,360 Speaker 1: isn't good enough to really be an offensive hub. Brandon 819 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:54,600 Speaker 1: Pajemski is still cold, Lindy Waters has gone cold, Draymond 820 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:56,799 Speaker 1: Green hasn't been hitting the threes the way he did 821 00:37:56,800 --> 00:37:58,719 Speaker 1: to start the year. Moses Moody is cold, and so 822 00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:03,240 Speaker 1: obviously the Warriors have some offensive personnel limitations, but also, 823 00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:05,280 Speaker 1: as I said a couple of times with other teams 824 00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:08,680 Speaker 1: in the last few weeks. Sometimes you just play bad basketball. 825 00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:10,600 Speaker 1: Sometimes a team enters into a little bit of a 826 00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:12,719 Speaker 1: funk and you just have to find a way to 827 00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:14,440 Speaker 1: snap out of it. Part of the eighty two game 828 00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:17,640 Speaker 1: journey is there will be three or four different times 829 00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:20,319 Speaker 1: during the season where for about a week you play 830 00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:22,919 Speaker 1: bad basketball and you just have to find a way 831 00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:26,040 Speaker 1: to figure out what's causing it and snap out of it. 832 00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:28,280 Speaker 1: And the thing is there's no relief on the schedule 833 00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:31,440 Speaker 1: right now. The next eleven games for Golden State at Denver, 834 00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:34,959 Speaker 1: home for Houston, home for Minnesota, home for Minnesota, at 835 00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:39,120 Speaker 1: Memphis at Minnesota, home for the Pacers and the Lakers, 836 00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:42,600 Speaker 1: at the Clippers, and then home for Phoenix and Cleveland. Now, 837 00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:44,480 Speaker 1: the thing there is a lot of home games, so 838 00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:47,440 Speaker 1: specifically that three game stretch at home with Houston and 839 00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:50,440 Speaker 1: two at Minnesota, two against Minnesota. That's a good spot 840 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:53,080 Speaker 1: for them to ride their home crowd. You hopefully hit 841 00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:56,120 Speaker 1: some shots and regain some confidence and play some better basketball. 842 00:38:56,320 --> 00:38:59,000 Speaker 1: Gold State Warriors right now are plus seventeen hundred to 843 00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:01,600 Speaker 1: win the title on draft Kings and plus nine hundred 844 00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:06,360 Speaker 1: to win the Western Conference. Number nine. The Milwaukee Bucks 845 00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:08,040 Speaker 1: a light week for them. They went two to zero 846 00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:10,160 Speaker 1: to extend their straight to six games that have won 847 00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:12,480 Speaker 1: eight out of nine as well, huge road win in 848 00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:15,279 Speaker 1: Miami where Dame just shot the ball so well that 849 00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:17,480 Speaker 1: Miami had no choice but to double team him every 850 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:19,400 Speaker 1: time down the floor. And then AJ Green was the 851 00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:20,799 Speaker 1: hero at the end of that one, made a couple 852 00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:23,920 Speaker 1: of huge threes to beat double teams. They also defended 853 00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:25,840 Speaker 1: extremely well as a team, and that's the really exciting 854 00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:27,919 Speaker 1: part if you're a Bucks fan. The Bucks are eighth 855 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:31,080 Speaker 1: in defense over the last nine games, up to fourteenth 856 00:39:31,120 --> 00:39:33,560 Speaker 1: on the season, thanks to a renaissance from guys like 857 00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:36,640 Speaker 1: Brook Lopez and Janis Antennacumbo in some really level of 858 00:39:36,719 --> 00:39:39,479 Speaker 1: really high level perimeter defense from guys like AJ Green 859 00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:43,520 Speaker 1: and Andre Jackson giannas Antena Kupo's averaging thirty five points 860 00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:48,240 Speaker 1: per game over this nine game span. The Milwaukee Bucks 861 00:39:48,280 --> 00:39:50,440 Speaker 1: right now are plus twenty two hundred to win the 862 00:39:50,440 --> 00:39:55,680 Speaker 1: title in plus one thousand to win the conference. Number 863 00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:59,000 Speaker 1: eight the Los Angeles Clippers. Two and two week for 864 00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:01,799 Speaker 1: them all over the place, Like they get annihilated by 865 00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:04,200 Speaker 1: Boston where they give up fifty points in the second quarter, 866 00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:07,680 Speaker 1: then they go blow out the Wizards in Washington. Then 867 00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:10,520 Speaker 1: they lose an absolute heartbreaker to Minnesota in this rock 868 00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:12,000 Speaker 1: fight of a game where they still had a chance 869 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:13,920 Speaker 1: to win late christn slips and loses. 870 00:40:13,719 --> 00:40:14,560 Speaker 2: Control of the ball. 871 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:16,920 Speaker 1: And then they get a big win against Denver. So 872 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:19,360 Speaker 1: the very up and down week. But the big highlight 873 00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:21,360 Speaker 1: is James Harden. I had a feeling coming into the 874 00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:23,120 Speaker 1: season that the Clippers would be a very good regular 875 00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:25,520 Speaker 1: season team because of their roster and the way it 876 00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:28,560 Speaker 1: fits modern basketball so effectively on both ends of the floor. 877 00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:30,600 Speaker 1: But James Harden was a big part of that in 878 00:40:30,600 --> 00:40:32,680 Speaker 1: his ability to raise the floor on the offensive end, 879 00:40:32,719 --> 00:40:35,279 Speaker 1: and he was pretty inefficient to start the year, and 880 00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:37,359 Speaker 1: they were just still winning anyway because he was doing 881 00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:40,000 Speaker 1: enough and Norman Powell was so so so hot and 882 00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:42,799 Speaker 1: they were defending so well. Now James Harden's breaking out. 883 00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:44,719 Speaker 1: He had thirty nine to nine and eleven in the 884 00:40:44,719 --> 00:40:47,719 Speaker 1: win against Denver. In James Harden's last seven games, he's 885 00:40:47,760 --> 00:40:51,040 Speaker 1: averaging twenty seven points, six rebounds, and nine assists on 886 00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:53,879 Speaker 1: sixty two percent true shooting, and the Clippers are five 887 00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:56,759 Speaker 1: and two in that span. So, like, I know, this 888 00:40:56,840 --> 00:41:00,239 Speaker 1: is a upfront I know this is a preposter is 889 00:41:00,320 --> 00:41:05,040 Speaker 1: lee big if, But if Kawhi Leonard can rejoin this 890 00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:07,719 Speaker 1: team and reach a superstar level, I do think they 891 00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:10,480 Speaker 1: have the ability to contend for a championship because of 892 00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:13,399 Speaker 1: their personnel strengths, because of the hard and fit as 893 00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:17,440 Speaker 1: long as Kawhi Leonard can actually remain healthy through the 894 00:41:17,520 --> 00:41:20,520 Speaker 1: end of the playoffs. At that level, this roster does 895 00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:24,200 Speaker 1: have that type of talent, respectfully in the ways that 896 00:41:24,280 --> 00:41:26,760 Speaker 1: you need to get through this conference. A big body 897 00:41:26,800 --> 00:41:28,760 Speaker 1: to match up with Jokich in the form of Zubas 898 00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:33,759 Speaker 1: right perimeter talent, good secondary and tertiary shot creation with 899 00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:37,439 Speaker 1: Harden and Powell. If Harden, if Kawhi Leonard gets healthy again, 900 00:41:37,480 --> 00:41:39,719 Speaker 1: like that's the issue. Kawhi Leonard is the guy that 901 00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:42,319 Speaker 1: gives this team a real upside, and it's just about 902 00:41:42,320 --> 00:41:43,839 Speaker 1: whether or not even to get back. Now again, that's 903 00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:45,799 Speaker 1: a preposterously big if. What do you think what do 904 00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:47,680 Speaker 1: I think is going to happen? I think Kawhi Leonard's 905 00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:49,120 Speaker 1: not going to be able to get back to form, 906 00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:51,719 Speaker 1: and the Clippers will have that ceiling that prevents them 907 00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:53,799 Speaker 1: from getting there. But it's hard to not get a 908 00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:55,640 Speaker 1: little bit of excited if you're a Clippers fan and 909 00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:58,799 Speaker 1: if you believe in that, plus fifty five hundred to 910 00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:02,920 Speaker 1: win the title, plus twenty five hundred to win the conference. 911 00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:05,400 Speaker 1: So like again, if Kawhi gets back, they got a 912 00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:07,200 Speaker 1: chance to win the conference. So it's something to keep 913 00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:09,760 Speaker 1: in mind in terms of the odds in the value 914 00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:12,600 Speaker 1: there all right. Number seven, the Memphis Grizzlies four to 915 00:42:12,640 --> 00:42:16,560 Speaker 1: oh this week, six straight wins overall, capitalizing on a 916 00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:19,240 Speaker 1: stretch of week schedule. They beat Philly, Chicago, Portland, Detroit, 917 00:42:19,239 --> 00:42:22,360 Speaker 1: New Orleans, and Indiana in the span. But starting to 918 00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:24,640 Speaker 1: get some tougher games here in December. They've had the 919 00:42:24,719 --> 00:42:27,279 Speaker 1: number one offense in the league over the six game span, 920 00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:31,279 Speaker 1: really balanced scoring. Seventy two percent of Memphis Grizzly baskets 921 00:42:31,560 --> 00:42:34,600 Speaker 1: have been assisted over the course of the six game 922 00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:37,759 Speaker 1: win streak. They're almost fully healthy now. Zaki's the main 923 00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:40,320 Speaker 1: guy they're waiting on, and they're looking super deep with talent. 924 00:42:40,600 --> 00:42:42,640 Speaker 1: But again, schedule's about to get tougher. They're at Dallas 925 00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:45,759 Speaker 1: tomorrow night. They have Boston, Golden State, the Clippers, the Thunder, 926 00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:47,799 Speaker 1: and the Suns all before the end of this month. 927 00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:49,160 Speaker 1: So we'll get to learn a lot more about the 928 00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:52,280 Speaker 1: Grizzlies over that span. The Grizzlies are currently plus thirty 929 00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:55,400 Speaker 1: five hundred to win the title and plus sixteen hundred 930 00:42:55,880 --> 00:43:00,520 Speaker 1: to win the Western Conference Number six. The Dallas also 931 00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:01,920 Speaker 1: a four to OH league. This team is one of 932 00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:03,919 Speaker 1: the hottest teams in basketball right now. They've won eight 933 00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:06,680 Speaker 1: out of nine and if not some really impressive wins 934 00:43:06,719 --> 00:43:09,160 Speaker 1: one at Denver and at Oklahoma City in that span. 935 00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:11,960 Speaker 1: Luca did not play in five of the eight wins, 936 00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:15,239 Speaker 1: including either of the Oklahoma City or Denver games. Over 937 00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:18,000 Speaker 1: this nine game span, they are fourth and offense, seventh 938 00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:20,400 Speaker 1: in defense, and second in net rating. They're playing with 939 00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:23,160 Speaker 1: a lot of pace in transition in the half court, 940 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:26,920 Speaker 1: getting a lot of production down the roster. Kyrie obviously 941 00:43:27,080 --> 00:43:30,120 Speaker 1: is awesome, but Naji Marshall has really taken off. Quinton 942 00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:32,920 Speaker 1: Grimes is like shooting the seams off the basketball. Spencer 943 00:43:32,960 --> 00:43:35,880 Speaker 1: Dinwoode has provided big shot making and he's one of, like, 944 00:43:35,960 --> 00:43:38,120 Speaker 1: kind of the underrated playmaking guards in the league. He's 945 00:43:38,120 --> 00:43:39,920 Speaker 1: been doing some really high level playmaking in the stretch. 946 00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:40,439 Speaker 2: PJ. 947 00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:42,360 Speaker 1: Washington has been great and has made some big plays 948 00:43:42,360 --> 00:43:44,200 Speaker 1: in big spots at the end of games and now 949 00:43:44,239 --> 00:43:46,560 Speaker 1: Luca's back, and it just feels to me like this 950 00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:48,560 Speaker 1: team is about to go on a run. And Dallas 951 00:43:48,560 --> 00:43:50,239 Speaker 1: fans just go look at your schedule for the rest 952 00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:52,600 Speaker 1: of the month of December. You get Luca back, get 953 00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:56,000 Speaker 1: into a groove, keep everybody's minutes reasonable. This could be 954 00:43:56,000 --> 00:43:59,400 Speaker 1: a situation where you head into January with a really 955 00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:02,720 Speaker 1: strong pass in the standings, good opportunity in front of Dallas. 956 00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:05,360 Speaker 1: A lot of people were just like off of Dallas 957 00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:08,359 Speaker 1: early in the year as they're trying to incorporate new 958 00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:11,840 Speaker 1: pieces and Lucas clearly just banged up and not playing 959 00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:13,759 Speaker 1: good basketball. I just thought it was way too early 960 00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:15,600 Speaker 1: to jump off of them, like their team that we're 961 00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:18,320 Speaker 1: going to see get stronger and stronger over the course 962 00:44:18,360 --> 00:44:21,160 Speaker 1: of this season. The Dallas Mavericks right now are plus 963 00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:24,920 Speaker 1: eleven hundred to win the title and plus five point 964 00:44:24,920 --> 00:44:27,799 Speaker 1: fifty to win the conference. Some decent odds there to 965 00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:30,600 Speaker 1: get them to win the conference. Number five the Orlando 966 00:44:30,640 --> 00:44:32,840 Speaker 1: Magic another four o week really light schedule, though they 967 00:44:32,880 --> 00:44:36,080 Speaker 1: beat Charlotte, Chicago and Brooklyn twice last week. CACP, though, 968 00:44:36,239 --> 00:44:38,399 Speaker 1: is back and starting to get it going for them. 969 00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:42,400 Speaker 1: Seven three point attempts per game last week shot fifty 970 00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:44,440 Speaker 1: four percent from three, and that's made a bunch of 971 00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:46,440 Speaker 1: big plays at him. The Magic have won twelve out 972 00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:50,320 Speaker 1: of thirteen without Palo. They have the number one defense 973 00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:53,360 Speaker 1: in the league over that span. In their twelfth in offense, 974 00:44:53,360 --> 00:44:54,960 Speaker 1: some of the best offense we've seen out of the 975 00:44:55,040 --> 00:44:57,440 Speaker 1: Magic in this era. And so I'll be really interested 976 00:44:57,440 --> 00:45:00,160 Speaker 1: to see how they choose to reincorporate palavon Kara he 977 00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:02,640 Speaker 1: comes back from his injury again, like he's too talented 978 00:45:02,640 --> 00:45:04,440 Speaker 1: to just be like, oh, go stand in the corner 979 00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:06,359 Speaker 1: and let Franz run the show. But got to find 980 00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:08,680 Speaker 1: a way to make sure that you maintain this comfort, 981 00:45:08,719 --> 00:45:10,640 Speaker 1: the level of comfort that you're seeing out of Fronds 982 00:45:10,680 --> 00:45:12,680 Speaker 1: over this span. And I think they'll figure it out. 983 00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:14,399 Speaker 1: A lot of staggering, a lot of like finding ways 984 00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:17,120 Speaker 1: to keep them both involved in the action. Jamal Moosey 985 00:45:17,160 --> 00:45:18,600 Speaker 1: is gonna have his work cutout for him. But I 986 00:45:18,600 --> 00:45:20,600 Speaker 1: think it'll be really cool to see. No way to 987 00:45:20,600 --> 00:45:23,120 Speaker 1: look at that as other than optimistic that you lose 988 00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:25,440 Speaker 1: your who I think is their best player in Palamoncaro 989 00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:28,359 Speaker 1: and you go in a win twelve out of thirteen games. 990 00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:30,200 Speaker 2: Really interesting stuff there. Again. 991 00:45:30,280 --> 00:45:33,200 Speaker 1: The last four teams, again we also with the Magic 992 00:45:33,239 --> 00:45:36,120 Speaker 1: their odds. They're plus five thousand to win the title 993 00:45:36,239 --> 00:45:39,239 Speaker 1: and plus fifteen hundred to win the Eastern Conference. And 994 00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:42,280 Speaker 1: again our last four. We hit all of these teams 995 00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:43,960 Speaker 1: in detail at the top of the show, So if 996 00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:46,880 Speaker 1: you're clicking on the Power Rankings breakout clip and you 997 00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:50,040 Speaker 1: want to hear Thunder, Rocket, Celtics, Cavs stuff. In our 998 00:45:50,080 --> 00:45:52,200 Speaker 1: full episode from today, we did a full breakdown on 999 00:45:52,239 --> 00:45:54,319 Speaker 1: those two teams at the top. Number four, I have 1000 00:45:54,320 --> 00:45:56,479 Speaker 1: the OKC Thunder. They are currently plus four to twenty 1001 00:45:56,480 --> 00:45:58,120 Speaker 1: five to win the title, plus two to ten to 1002 00:45:58,160 --> 00:46:01,320 Speaker 1: win the West. Number three the Houston Rockets plus five 1003 00:46:01,680 --> 00:46:05,520 Speaker 1: plus fifty five hundred to win the title, plus two 1004 00:46:05,520 --> 00:46:08,200 Speaker 1: thousand to win the West. I actually like that number 1005 00:46:08,400 --> 00:46:10,880 Speaker 1: just because these West teams are so injury prone and 1006 00:46:10,960 --> 00:46:14,400 Speaker 1: really anything can happen, and also Houston could be potentially 1007 00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:16,440 Speaker 1: a team that makes an aggressive trade this year, So 1008 00:46:16,719 --> 00:46:18,880 Speaker 1: for them at plus fifty five hundred to win the 1009 00:46:18,920 --> 00:46:21,080 Speaker 1: title or plus two thousand to win the West, kind 1010 00:46:21,080 --> 00:46:24,280 Speaker 1: of some interesting odds there. And then the Celtics number 1011 00:46:24,280 --> 00:46:26,520 Speaker 1: two plus two forty to win the title, plus one 1012 00:46:26,560 --> 00:46:28,959 Speaker 1: hundred to win the East, and the Cleveland Cavaliers plus 1013 00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:31,080 Speaker 1: fourteen hundred to win the title plus five point fifty 1014 00:46:31,680 --> 00:46:33,399 Speaker 1: to win the East. Again, all of those odds are 1015 00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:36,040 Speaker 1: provided by our partner Draft Kings. And then also really 1016 00:46:36,040 --> 00:46:38,240 Speaker 1: simply the reason why I put the Rockets over the Thunder. 1017 00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:40,080 Speaker 1: Obviously I think the Thunder are a better team, but 1018 00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:42,640 Speaker 1: the Rockets won that individual game. For the purposes of 1019 00:46:42,680 --> 00:46:44,640 Speaker 1: our regular season power rankings, they get the edge for 1020 00:46:44,680 --> 00:46:46,719 Speaker 1: this week. Same thing goes for the Celtics. I'd pick 1021 00:46:46,760 --> 00:46:48,520 Speaker 1: the Celtics beat the Calves in five or six games 1022 00:46:48,560 --> 00:46:50,560 Speaker 1: that they played in the playoff series, but the Calves 1023 00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:53,600 Speaker 1: won last night, so we'll give them the nod for 1024 00:46:54,400 --> 00:47:10,720 Speaker 1: right now. All right, let's get into our film before 1025 00:47:10,719 --> 00:47:13,480 Speaker 1: we get out of here for the day. If you're 1026 00:47:13,520 --> 00:47:15,360 Speaker 1: listening on the podcast fee and you're gonna want to 1027 00:47:15,360 --> 00:47:18,400 Speaker 1: head over to YouTube to see that part to actually 1028 00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:21,120 Speaker 1: get the visual representations of what we're talking about. We're 1029 00:47:21,160 --> 00:47:25,319 Speaker 1: going to head out to Phoenix to start and this 1030 00:47:25,400 --> 00:47:28,279 Speaker 1: first possession here is an ISO of Kevin Durant of 1031 00:47:28,640 --> 00:47:30,359 Speaker 1: Gary Payton. One of the things I wanted to talk about, 1032 00:47:30,400 --> 00:47:32,840 Speaker 1: do you guys, Remember how often I talk about attacking 1033 00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:36,640 Speaker 1: the base to disrupt rhythm rather than trying to contest shots. 1034 00:47:36,920 --> 00:47:39,120 Speaker 1: I want to just play this in slow motion and 1035 00:47:39,160 --> 00:47:40,560 Speaker 1: then I'll play it in full. I'll play it in 1036 00:47:40,760 --> 00:47:42,360 Speaker 1: a fast motion first, and then we'll play it in 1037 00:47:42,360 --> 00:47:44,400 Speaker 1: slow motion. Watch the way Gary Payton is not so 1038 00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:48,120 Speaker 1: concerned about attacking up top to contest the shot, but 1039 00:47:48,239 --> 00:47:51,239 Speaker 1: rather to disrupt his base. See I was shoving on 1040 00:47:51,280 --> 00:47:55,200 Speaker 1: his body. All of that damage is being done down low, 1041 00:47:55,719 --> 00:47:58,279 Speaker 1: fighting down the leaning on him, shoving on him, and 1042 00:47:58,320 --> 00:48:02,480 Speaker 1: you can actually see KD get his power just disrupted 1043 00:48:02,480 --> 00:48:05,000 Speaker 1: in that lift, and that ends up causing the shot, 1044 00:48:05,320 --> 00:48:06,799 Speaker 1: the shot to miss. I'm gonna play it in slow 1045 00:48:06,840 --> 00:48:10,000 Speaker 1: motion here. Watch again how aggressive he is attacking the base, 1046 00:48:10,080 --> 00:48:13,879 Speaker 1: leaning on him, pushing, leaning right there. That little shove 1047 00:48:13,880 --> 00:48:15,960 Speaker 1: there caused him to lose balance and then he ends 1048 00:48:16,040 --> 00:48:19,240 Speaker 1: up taking a really tough fallaway and missing. I've always 1049 00:48:19,280 --> 00:48:23,040 Speaker 1: believed small guys in mismatches don't try to contest, Especially 1050 00:48:23,040 --> 00:48:26,439 Speaker 1: professional shooters, find a way to disrupt their rhythm down low. 1051 00:48:27,239 --> 00:48:30,520 Speaker 1: This next clip here very very impressive defensive possession for 1052 00:48:30,560 --> 00:48:34,439 Speaker 1: the Phoenix Suns Warriors post splits right so we're gonna 1053 00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:37,520 Speaker 1: go to the block. Watch the attachment off the ball. 1054 00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:39,520 Speaker 1: So we have Booker on Moody, we have Royce O'Neil 1055 00:48:39,560 --> 00:48:44,080 Speaker 1: and Buddy Healed. Watch the attachment here. Royce O'Neil stays 1056 00:48:44,080 --> 00:48:48,800 Speaker 1: through boom switch stay attached, Chase over the top, attached 1057 00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:52,040 Speaker 1: from Monty Morris. Take away that three in the corner. 1058 00:48:52,960 --> 00:48:56,719 Speaker 1: Kaminga has a chance to attack, but Ran Dunn contains. Now, 1059 00:48:56,760 --> 00:48:58,200 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, there's two seconds on the shot 1060 00:48:58,239 --> 00:48:59,840 Speaker 1: clock and you have to throw up a heavily contested, 1061 00:49:00,560 --> 00:49:05,600 Speaker 1: really really high level defense there from the Phoenix Suns. Obviously, 1062 00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:07,359 Speaker 1: Ryan Dunn's been getting a lot of the hype, but 1063 00:49:07,440 --> 00:49:10,080 Speaker 1: also A Gadaro has been playing really really well as 1064 00:49:10,160 --> 00:49:11,960 Speaker 1: one of the backup centers for Phoenix. I thought this 1065 00:49:12,040 --> 00:49:14,920 Speaker 1: was a really smart step up screen right here. Watch 1066 00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:18,759 Speaker 1: how Kevon Looney is running really hard as his back turn. 1067 00:49:19,280 --> 00:49:22,480 Speaker 1: Agdaro sees an opportunity to get Devin Booker a quick shot, 1068 00:49:22,680 --> 00:49:24,799 Speaker 1: but Kadawi just gives a little shove to Looney and 1069 00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:26,280 Speaker 1: to sprints into his screen. 1070 00:49:26,360 --> 00:49:27,600 Speaker 2: Boom. 1071 00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:31,160 Speaker 1: Just that little detail there, capitalizing on Looney over playing 1072 00:49:31,160 --> 00:49:34,439 Speaker 1: the paint in transition and setting that little impromptu screen 1073 00:49:34,520 --> 00:49:36,600 Speaker 1: gets a clean look for Devin Booker, who knocks it down. 1074 00:49:36,800 --> 00:49:39,960 Speaker 1: Really smart stuff there, Agadaro again, here are just a 1075 00:49:39,960 --> 00:49:43,200 Speaker 1: week side cut as a lowman on a low man possession. 1076 00:49:43,200 --> 00:49:46,640 Speaker 1: So again, little guard guard screen. Devin Booker gets downhill 1077 00:49:46,680 --> 00:49:49,560 Speaker 1: as the Warriors botched the switch, Cavan Loney has no choice. 1078 00:49:49,560 --> 00:49:51,920 Speaker 1: Put to step up. Don't make this a three. You 1079 00:49:51,960 --> 00:49:53,720 Speaker 1: have all the space in the world. It's a runway. 1080 00:49:53,840 --> 00:49:58,400 Speaker 1: Throw it up, boom dunk. Easy stuff there. One of 1081 00:49:58,400 --> 00:50:02,040 Speaker 1: the things I've been talking about, by the way that 1082 00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:05,040 Speaker 1: I put in my notes Obi Toppin in Indiana, Remember 1083 00:50:05,080 --> 00:50:07,640 Speaker 1: that was how Obi Toppin like kind of reinvigorated his career. 1084 00:50:07,760 --> 00:50:09,719 Speaker 1: Was like he just figured out how to time baseline 1085 00:50:09,760 --> 00:50:12,799 Speaker 1: cuts perfectly and made himself a real threat in the 1086 00:50:12,800 --> 00:50:16,040 Speaker 1: weakside corner as a vertical spacer out of those situations. 1087 00:50:16,360 --> 00:50:19,040 Speaker 1: That's that athletic spacing. It's a different type of spacing, 1088 00:50:19,040 --> 00:50:20,680 Speaker 1: but it is a form of spacing. One of the 1089 00:50:20,719 --> 00:50:22,200 Speaker 1: things I've talked about a lot for the Suns this 1090 00:50:22,320 --> 00:50:24,080 Speaker 1: year is how good their closeouts have been. I want 1091 00:50:24,120 --> 00:50:27,560 Speaker 1: you guys to watch Grayson Allen on this one again. 1092 00:50:27,600 --> 00:50:29,919 Speaker 1: The closeouts are everything because they're the ability to get 1093 00:50:29,920 --> 00:50:33,520 Speaker 1: into the paint and help while also maintaining your contained 1094 00:50:33,560 --> 00:50:34,200 Speaker 1: on the perimeter. 1095 00:50:34,480 --> 00:50:36,800 Speaker 2: So we got Kaminga getting downhill. Watch Grayson Allen. 1096 00:50:37,760 --> 00:50:41,200 Speaker 1: He gets relocated, so he's in a really tough spot here, 1097 00:50:41,200 --> 00:50:46,560 Speaker 1: but watch how sharp this closeout is gets there, contains slides, 1098 00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:51,760 Speaker 1: cuts him off. That's excellent defense from Grayson Allen containing 1099 00:50:51,760 --> 00:50:53,600 Speaker 1: in the perimeter because again, if you look at where 1100 00:50:53,600 --> 00:50:57,600 Speaker 1: this is at right here, as Kaminga's driving boom right 1101 00:50:57,640 --> 00:51:00,719 Speaker 1: here on the relo, you could be in big trouble here. 1102 00:51:01,360 --> 00:51:05,040 Speaker 1: That's a heavy advantage for Moses Moody and just a 1103 00:51:05,120 --> 00:51:08,279 Speaker 1: really really sharp close out from Grayson Allen. Here's a 1104 00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:10,839 Speaker 1: good driving kick possession for the Suns. It's gonna start 1105 00:51:10,840 --> 00:51:13,120 Speaker 1: with Devin Booker on the strong side of the floor, 1106 00:51:13,160 --> 00:51:16,200 Speaker 1: but it's gonna work its way back to Devin Booker 1107 00:51:16,239 --> 00:51:18,600 Speaker 1: and the driving kick, so it just beats his man off. 1108 00:51:18,640 --> 00:51:21,200 Speaker 1: The dribble brings all these bodies into the paint right, 1109 00:51:21,640 --> 00:51:24,839 Speaker 1: So just dribble penetration our kick to the corner here. 1110 00:51:25,719 --> 00:51:28,759 Speaker 1: All we're gonna get is a quick dribble handoff. Agadaro 1111 00:51:28,840 --> 00:51:31,839 Speaker 1: gets a little bit of contact there that allows him 1112 00:51:31,880 --> 00:51:34,160 Speaker 1: to slip the screen as Looney shows. Now we got 1113 00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:36,359 Speaker 1: our four on three right, here's our four on three 1114 00:51:37,800 --> 00:51:41,920 Speaker 1: kick out to Royce O'Neill. Swing over to Monti Morris. 1115 00:51:42,160 --> 00:51:44,399 Speaker 1: There's the rotation off of Booker's man. Now Booker gets 1116 00:51:44,440 --> 00:51:45,920 Speaker 1: a wide open three in the corner out of it. 1117 00:51:46,560 --> 00:51:49,360 Speaker 1: So again it's all about advantage creation and advantage extending. 1118 00:51:49,960 --> 00:51:53,960 Speaker 1: Devin Booker creates the initial advantage. Right, there's our initial advantage. 1119 00:51:55,239 --> 00:51:58,839 Speaker 1: Agadaro's job here is to extend the advantage. The way 1120 00:51:58,880 --> 00:52:02,719 Speaker 1: he does that is through a quick dribble handoff. Hey, 1121 00:52:02,760 --> 00:52:04,960 Speaker 1: I can't actually do anything with this, but I can 1122 00:52:05,120 --> 00:52:08,200 Speaker 1: get you more open. Oh wait, now I've got two 1123 00:52:08,200 --> 00:52:10,200 Speaker 1: on the ball. So now we went from Devin Booker 1124 00:52:10,280 --> 00:52:14,080 Speaker 1: driving as the early advantage. This is a bigger advantage. 1125 00:52:14,120 --> 00:52:16,160 Speaker 1: Now this is a four on three. Now it's about 1126 00:52:16,160 --> 00:52:19,359 Speaker 1: decision making. Buddy Heald is playing this two on one, 1127 00:52:19,400 --> 00:52:21,200 Speaker 1: but he's closer to Grayson Allen than he is de 1128 00:52:21,280 --> 00:52:23,800 Speaker 1: Royce O'Neil. If he throws this ball to Grayson Allen 1129 00:52:24,160 --> 00:52:25,919 Speaker 1: might not end in an open three. For your best 1130 00:52:25,920 --> 00:52:29,200 Speaker 1: shooter makes the kickout. Now we have the two on 1131 00:52:29,200 --> 00:52:31,439 Speaker 1: one working back over to Devin Booker. It's all about 1132 00:52:31,480 --> 00:52:34,279 Speaker 1: advantage creation, advantage extending, and making the right decision for 1133 00:52:34,320 --> 00:52:37,279 Speaker 1: the kill pass. Kevin Durant's been just having an unbelievable 1134 00:52:37,360 --> 00:52:39,680 Speaker 1: defensive season this year. I thought he was incredible in 1135 00:52:39,719 --> 00:52:43,359 Speaker 1: this possession, helps at the rim twice, beats Looney there 1136 00:52:43,400 --> 00:52:47,719 Speaker 1: on the slip. Another drive from Lindy Waters contains him 1137 00:52:47,960 --> 00:52:50,319 Speaker 1: dribbles out. Now it's an ISO, so he's shut down 1138 00:52:50,320 --> 00:52:52,520 Speaker 1: two actions at the rim. Now we're in a late 1139 00:52:52,560 --> 00:52:55,359 Speaker 1: clock situation with four point six seconds left and just 1140 00:52:55,400 --> 00:52:59,120 Speaker 1: completely smothers Lindy Watt like actually literally smothers Lindy Waters 1141 00:52:59,200 --> 00:53:01,760 Speaker 1: and just takes the ball away from him, like child's 1142 00:53:01,800 --> 00:53:02,479 Speaker 1: play over there. 1143 00:53:02,760 --> 00:53:04,560 Speaker 2: All right, we're moving on to O Case Houston. 1144 00:53:04,640 --> 00:53:06,759 Speaker 1: That was a game that I watched over Thanksgiving break 1145 00:53:06,760 --> 00:53:08,439 Speaker 1: and I just shared some clips so that I thought 1146 00:53:08,440 --> 00:53:11,040 Speaker 1: we could get into a little bit. This was a 1147 00:53:11,080 --> 00:53:14,080 Speaker 1: play that the Thunder ran twice for dunks in this game. 1148 00:53:14,480 --> 00:53:16,960 Speaker 1: A great example of using your best player on the 1149 00:53:16,960 --> 00:53:20,120 Speaker 1: strong side for spacing and then weak side action to 1150 00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:23,719 Speaker 1: occupy help defenders, so that all that happens here is 1151 00:53:23,719 --> 00:53:25,640 Speaker 1: they run a little pin down for Jalen Williams with 1152 00:53:25,680 --> 00:53:27,960 Speaker 1: caseon Wallace so he can catch and then immediately come 1153 00:53:27,960 --> 00:53:30,120 Speaker 1: off of a ball screen with Isaiah Hartenstein. That's all 1154 00:53:30,160 --> 00:53:33,440 Speaker 1: the action is. The only difference is after kaseon Wallace 1155 00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:36,200 Speaker 1: sets the pin down, he runs through off of this 1156 00:53:36,320 --> 00:53:39,600 Speaker 1: exit screen from lou Dort. So again you can see 1157 00:53:39,680 --> 00:53:42,200 Speaker 1: Case on Wallace set's the pin down, Jalen Williams comes up, 1158 00:53:42,320 --> 00:53:46,160 Speaker 1: forces the switch. Here's our ball screen. The two things 1159 00:53:46,160 --> 00:53:47,520 Speaker 1: I want you to watch. Don't even worry about the 1160 00:53:47,520 --> 00:53:50,360 Speaker 1: ball screen for a second. Up top here, Dylan Brooks, 1161 00:53:50,360 --> 00:53:53,160 Speaker 1: because he's guarding Shake, kills Alexander's face, guarding him out 1162 00:53:53,160 --> 00:53:55,640 Speaker 1: of the play. And now I want you guys to 1163 00:53:55,680 --> 00:53:59,160 Speaker 1: watch Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Junior. And what they 1164 00:53:59,200 --> 00:54:01,839 Speaker 1: do is Lou dor and case On Wallace run this action. 1165 00:54:02,520 --> 00:54:03,040 Speaker 2: Look at them. 1166 00:54:03,120 --> 00:54:05,879 Speaker 1: Both of them have their heads completely turned away from 1167 00:54:05,960 --> 00:54:08,840 Speaker 1: the play because Jalen is like, hey man, a screen's 1168 00:54:08,840 --> 00:54:10,880 Speaker 1: about to come, or excuse me. Jabari is about, hey man, 1169 00:54:10,920 --> 00:54:13,160 Speaker 1: a screen's about to come, and Jalen Green is like, okay, 1170 00:54:13,200 --> 00:54:15,719 Speaker 1: I'm about to get screen right. This is an exit screen. 1171 00:54:15,760 --> 00:54:17,640 Speaker 1: All it is is a little baseline screen for the 1172 00:54:17,640 --> 00:54:20,239 Speaker 1: shooter coming out to the corner. It is designed to 1173 00:54:20,400 --> 00:54:23,640 Speaker 1: keep these guys busy. Now, as a result, there's nobody 1174 00:54:23,640 --> 00:54:26,160 Speaker 1: guarding the ball screen except for Shangoun and Fred van Vliet, 1175 00:54:26,200 --> 00:54:29,200 Speaker 1: and it ends an easy dunk. Watch it again again 1176 00:54:29,640 --> 00:54:33,600 Speaker 1: as Jalen comes off, watch the two help defenders immediately 1177 00:54:33,600 --> 00:54:37,120 Speaker 1: get occupied. Now we have our simple drop coverage. Hartenstein 1178 00:54:37,160 --> 00:54:40,759 Speaker 1: gets behind. That's the value of offball action. It occupies 1179 00:54:40,800 --> 00:54:44,759 Speaker 1: help defenders. Here's an example of the waves of athleticism 1180 00:54:44,800 --> 00:54:46,720 Speaker 1: that Houston can bring. This is just a little semi 1181 00:54:46,719 --> 00:54:51,600 Speaker 1: transition drive from Dylan Brooks misses it, gets in the lane, 1182 00:54:52,280 --> 00:54:55,320 Speaker 1: but then you got this Stephen Adams size advantage. He 1183 00:54:55,440 --> 00:54:57,600 Speaker 1: stabs at the ball that gets it to a Men 1184 00:54:57,680 --> 00:55:02,239 Speaker 1: Thompson who lays it up bucket. That's not any sort 1185 00:55:02,280 --> 00:55:05,640 Speaker 1: of surgical offensive process. It's just waves of athleticism. Watch 1186 00:55:05,640 --> 00:55:10,160 Speaker 1: it again. Dylan Brooks hard drive, misses the shot, Steven 1187 00:55:10,200 --> 00:55:12,520 Speaker 1: Adams stabs at it, a Men Thompson is the bigger, 1188 00:55:12,560 --> 00:55:15,279 Speaker 1: better athlete, grabs it and finishes a bunch of just 1189 00:55:15,480 --> 00:55:19,080 Speaker 1: size and strength and athleticism advantage in that one. Here's 1190 00:55:19,080 --> 00:55:21,400 Speaker 1: the exact same action that they started the game with 1191 00:55:21,480 --> 00:55:24,000 Speaker 1: that I showed you guys pinned down, Jalen Williams comes 1192 00:55:24,080 --> 00:55:29,160 Speaker 1: up ball screen exit screen. This time Jabari Smith sees 1193 00:55:29,200 --> 00:55:30,719 Speaker 1: it coming, but by the time he sees it coming, 1194 00:55:30,800 --> 00:55:32,839 Speaker 1: Isaiah Hartenstein already has a head of steam and it's 1195 00:55:32,880 --> 00:55:36,120 Speaker 1: just too late boom, And once again you're kind of 1196 00:55:36,120 --> 00:55:39,000 Speaker 1: dead to rights because it's like lou dord is setting 1197 00:55:39,040 --> 00:55:42,640 Speaker 1: this exit screen. So if Jabari Smith just overplays that, 1198 00:55:43,360 --> 00:55:45,760 Speaker 1: Jalen Williams has an easy kickout past to Aaron Wiggins 1199 00:55:45,760 --> 00:55:48,880 Speaker 1: here in the corner. Here's an example of Isaiah Hartenstein 1200 00:55:48,920 --> 00:55:51,839 Speaker 1: creating dribble penetration just through backcut. So again, look at this, 1201 00:55:53,000 --> 00:55:56,840 Speaker 1: Hartenstein catches Dylan Brooks is top blocking, so he's denying 1202 00:55:56,880 --> 00:55:59,960 Speaker 1: Shay Gilders Alexander the ability to go get this dribble handoff. 1203 00:56:00,239 --> 00:56:02,520 Speaker 1: So the way you counter that is back cutting, and 1204 00:56:02,560 --> 00:56:04,360 Speaker 1: the only way you can counter it with back cutting 1205 00:56:04,480 --> 00:56:06,839 Speaker 1: is if your big man can make the pass. This time, 1206 00:56:06,840 --> 00:56:09,600 Speaker 1: Shay Gilviss Alexander makes the right read. My man is 1207 00:56:09,680 --> 00:56:11,960 Speaker 1: full deny, I'm just gonna cut. And by the way, 1208 00:56:12,000 --> 00:56:14,319 Speaker 1: if he's grabbing and holding, if you cut hard, you'll 1209 00:56:14,400 --> 00:56:16,800 Speaker 1: draw the foul as the ref season holding you. So 1210 00:56:16,840 --> 00:56:19,040 Speaker 1: it's like the right decision to just cut out of this. 1211 00:56:19,440 --> 00:56:22,680 Speaker 1: Hartenstein hits him, they get a layup out of it, 1212 00:56:23,360 --> 00:56:26,680 Speaker 1: easy basketball that Isaiah Hartenstein unlocks with his passing ability. 1213 00:56:27,400 --> 00:56:31,480 Speaker 1: Here's an example of Isaiah Hartenstein with all off ball denial. 1214 00:56:31,800 --> 00:56:36,160 Speaker 1: So again Lou Dort again is running that action. Off 1215 00:56:36,200 --> 00:56:40,400 Speaker 1: of that, jenlel Williams has the early transition drive. It 1216 00:56:40,440 --> 00:56:43,239 Speaker 1: gets pitched to Lou Lou drives. Here's the release valve. Right, 1217 00:56:43,239 --> 00:56:47,240 Speaker 1: there's fifteen seconds on the shot clock. The play is contained, 1218 00:56:47,280 --> 00:56:49,279 Speaker 1: everyone is guarded, so we need to find a way 1219 00:56:49,280 --> 00:56:51,880 Speaker 1: to reinvigorate the offense. Well, Isaiah Hartenstein will do this 1220 00:56:51,920 --> 00:56:54,239 Speaker 1: all the time, where he'll just flash, He'll flash up 1221 00:56:54,320 --> 00:56:56,040 Speaker 1: high and he'll be like, all right, I've got the ball. 1222 00:56:56,080 --> 00:56:59,440 Speaker 1: Now there's twelve seconds on the shot clock. Let's get 1223 00:56:59,480 --> 00:57:01,640 Speaker 1: back into our offense. And so usually what he'll do 1224 00:57:01,719 --> 00:57:04,640 Speaker 1: here is try to then get the offense flowing back 1225 00:57:04,680 --> 00:57:06,560 Speaker 1: this way. And so I think this is Jay Dub 1226 00:57:06,640 --> 00:57:09,480 Speaker 1: up here. Yeah, so j Dub is gonna come off 1227 00:57:09,480 --> 00:57:12,239 Speaker 1: of this dribble handoff right, But Jabari Smith does a 1228 00:57:12,239 --> 00:57:15,840 Speaker 1: good job chasing and it's not open. It's not open, 1229 00:57:16,200 --> 00:57:19,000 Speaker 1: but everyone's glued up. Jabari Smith is glued up, Fred 1230 00:57:19,080 --> 00:57:20,960 Speaker 1: Van Blid is glued up. Dylan Brooks is kind of 1231 00:57:20,960 --> 00:57:23,560 Speaker 1: in help, but he's not in a strong position. Jalen 1232 00:57:23,600 --> 00:57:26,040 Speaker 1: Green's on the weak side. So Hartenstein just turns and 1233 00:57:26,080 --> 00:57:29,720 Speaker 1: goes spins. He's got Look at all the space. He's 1234 00:57:29,760 --> 00:57:32,240 Speaker 1: got all this space because they're not respecting him. They're 1235 00:57:32,240 --> 00:57:34,600 Speaker 1: worried about this whirling dervish of action that they have 1236 00:57:34,680 --> 00:57:37,480 Speaker 1: going around him. Right, this is where Isaiah can look 1237 00:57:37,520 --> 00:57:41,520 Speaker 1: to attack, gets an easy layup. Here's another release valve possession, 1238 00:57:42,040 --> 00:57:44,840 Speaker 1: this time that it happens later in the clock. So 1239 00:57:44,920 --> 00:57:51,120 Speaker 1: again early clock. Okay, nothing's there, right, Jadub Drives gets 1240 00:57:51,120 --> 00:57:53,400 Speaker 1: contained all right, So we need a release valve just 1241 00:57:53,400 --> 00:57:55,840 Speaker 1: to keep the action running. Okay, Isaiah Hartenstein is gonna 1242 00:57:55,840 --> 00:57:57,720 Speaker 1: fly flash now once again. 1243 00:57:57,720 --> 00:57:59,479 Speaker 2: What are we gonna do. Let's try to run some action. 1244 00:58:00,080 --> 00:58:02,160 Speaker 2: Shae cuts, Shaye drives. 1245 00:58:03,640 --> 00:58:06,200 Speaker 1: This is where Isaiah Harten design makes himself available right here, 1246 00:58:06,240 --> 00:58:10,240 Speaker 1: seventeen feet from the basket. Catch easy pop shot and 1247 00:58:10,280 --> 00:58:12,640 Speaker 1: again he's shooting like fifty nine percent on those this season. 1248 00:58:13,160 --> 00:58:16,440 Speaker 1: All right, moving on to Boston Cleveland this time, I'm 1249 00:58:16,480 --> 00:58:18,320 Speaker 1: gonna show you a bunch of stuff of Tatum attacking Garland. 1250 00:58:18,320 --> 00:58:20,000 Speaker 1: We're gonna get into a bunch of details from this game. 1251 00:58:20,040 --> 00:58:21,520 Speaker 1: I got like twenty clips from this game. I thought 1252 00:58:21,560 --> 00:58:25,080 Speaker 1: it was super fascinating down the stretch. But this one 1253 00:58:25,160 --> 00:58:27,640 Speaker 1: is transition cross match, so Darius Garland ends up picking 1254 00:58:27,680 --> 00:58:29,520 Speaker 1: up Tatum just because it's in transition, so it's no 1255 00:58:29,560 --> 00:58:32,320 Speaker 1: real screening action to get there. But watch how Tatum 1256 00:58:32,360 --> 00:58:37,240 Speaker 1: just kind of easily methodically marches down and gets to 1257 00:58:37,280 --> 00:58:40,280 Speaker 1: that like little fifteen foot jump shot. Easy work there. 1258 00:58:40,360 --> 00:58:42,760 Speaker 1: That's where he felt most comfortable. You can also see too, 1259 00:58:42,800 --> 00:58:46,560 Speaker 1: as he's attacking, notice where the help is. Like if 1260 00:58:46,560 --> 00:58:49,640 Speaker 1: he tries to really drive to the left, Donovan Mitchell 1261 00:58:49,680 --> 00:58:52,240 Speaker 1: will engage now and then he could make a kickout potentially, 1262 00:58:52,280 --> 00:58:55,680 Speaker 1: but then he could also lose the basketball. He's purposefully 1263 00:58:55,720 --> 00:58:57,480 Speaker 1: working in this range because this is where he can 1264 00:58:57,480 --> 00:59:00,240 Speaker 1: get away from the help. This is a big way 1265 00:59:00,360 --> 00:59:02,800 Speaker 1: that the Celtics were getting or that the Caves are 1266 00:59:02,800 --> 00:59:05,360 Speaker 1: attacking the Celtics on the offensive end in this game, 1267 00:59:05,520 --> 00:59:08,040 Speaker 1: just attacking porzingis in a deep drop coverage. Good ball 1268 00:59:08,120 --> 00:59:10,920 Speaker 1: screen set on Drew forces him to go under a rescreen, 1269 00:59:12,040 --> 00:59:14,600 Speaker 1: gets into the lane, Porzingis is a bit too far back, 1270 00:59:14,640 --> 00:59:17,240 Speaker 1: works into the floater, so this time they run the 1271 00:59:17,240 --> 00:59:19,800 Speaker 1: double drag that ends up in a couple switches right. 1272 00:59:19,840 --> 00:59:21,560 Speaker 1: So Tatum switched on to Garland, but then he goes 1273 00:59:21,560 --> 00:59:24,680 Speaker 1: off the second screen. Now Garland's on Porzingis, so now 1274 00:59:24,680 --> 00:59:25,880 Speaker 1: we're gonna try to throw it to him at the 1275 00:59:25,880 --> 00:59:28,480 Speaker 1: elbow right, creates the angle, does a good job fighting 1276 00:59:28,560 --> 00:59:31,440 Speaker 1: that front by creating a passing angle there. A coorro 1277 00:59:31,560 --> 00:59:36,480 Speaker 1: comes over to help. As that double team comes, Houser 1278 00:59:36,520 --> 00:59:39,160 Speaker 1: relocates up a little bit higher on the wing. This 1279 00:59:39,200 --> 00:59:42,520 Speaker 1: is where I was talking about Sam Houser just like 1280 00:59:42,680 --> 00:59:45,720 Speaker 1: staying super cool, calm and collected against a passing lane 1281 00:59:45,720 --> 00:59:47,720 Speaker 1: close out. So a lot of times in these two 1282 00:59:47,720 --> 00:59:49,640 Speaker 1: on ones on the weak side, this guy will just 1283 00:59:49,640 --> 00:59:52,200 Speaker 1: close out to the passing lane to try to bait 1284 00:59:52,280 --> 00:59:56,400 Speaker 1: on this guy's indecisiveness, because if he passes to Drew Holliday, 1285 00:59:56,680 --> 00:59:59,320 Speaker 1: he's in the passing lane to intercept it. If he 1286 00:59:59,840 --> 01:00:02,600 Speaker 1: just pump fakes and does nothing, your team has a 1287 01:00:02,680 --> 01:00:05,320 Speaker 1: chance to rotate. Right if he shoots it, it's the 1288 01:00:05,360 --> 01:00:07,080 Speaker 1: same problem that you were giving up. If you give 1289 01:00:07,160 --> 01:00:09,440 Speaker 1: up a shot anyway, right, so this passing link closed out. 1290 01:00:09,480 --> 01:00:13,040 Speaker 1: Really smart play from Donovan Mitchell. But Watchhouser just completely 1291 01:00:13,840 --> 01:00:18,000 Speaker 1: ignore it. Watch how like calmly he just pass fakes 1292 01:00:18,040 --> 01:00:21,880 Speaker 1: out of it. So Porzingis creates the passing angle on Garland. 1293 01:00:22,360 --> 01:00:25,960 Speaker 1: There's the pass double Watchhouser and watch how calm he 1294 01:00:26,040 --> 01:00:32,000 Speaker 1: is pass fake easy shot, just ice in his veins 1295 01:00:32,080 --> 01:00:36,040 Speaker 1: under pressure. There another transition cross match right, so misshot. 1296 01:00:36,200 --> 01:00:39,120 Speaker 1: Everyone just gets back and grabs a person that's relatively close. 1297 01:00:39,840 --> 01:00:42,840 Speaker 1: In this case, Coro ends up picking up back here 1298 01:00:42,920 --> 01:00:45,520 Speaker 1: or Lavert ends up picking up back here. So Garland's 1299 01:00:45,520 --> 01:00:49,400 Speaker 1: on Tatum straight up, same sort of thing, left shoulder 1300 01:00:49,400 --> 01:00:51,640 Speaker 1: fade again, that's a tough shot, but a couple of 1301 01:00:51,640 --> 01:00:54,960 Speaker 1: big details here left shoulder face. But look he goes 1302 01:00:55,000 --> 01:00:58,360 Speaker 1: right up and down. Okay, so he barely fades because 1303 01:00:58,360 --> 01:01:00,240 Speaker 1: he doesn't need to because he's got size. And look 1304 01:01:00,240 --> 01:01:01,720 Speaker 1: at how close he is to the basket. This is 1305 01:01:01,720 --> 01:01:04,600 Speaker 1: a ten foot shot. Like, yeah, technically a left shoulder 1306 01:01:04,600 --> 01:01:06,440 Speaker 1: fade is a tough shot for a right handed player, 1307 01:01:06,560 --> 01:01:08,200 Speaker 1: but not when you have that size advantage, when you 1308 01:01:08,240 --> 01:01:10,080 Speaker 1: don't fade that much, and when you're that close to 1309 01:01:10,120 --> 01:01:12,520 Speaker 1: the rim. That was where He looked really comfortable in 1310 01:01:12,560 --> 01:01:15,520 Speaker 1: this game. This is that switch interchange that I always 1311 01:01:15,560 --> 01:01:18,800 Speaker 1: talk about. So here comes the screen, and then right 1312 01:01:18,880 --> 01:01:21,560 Speaker 1: in the interchange, right before the switch actually takes place, 1313 01:01:21,600 --> 01:01:23,439 Speaker 1: he rises into the shot knocks it down. It's also 1314 01:01:23,520 --> 01:01:26,440 Speaker 1: like a twenty nine footer, so that's pretty tough to 1315 01:01:26,440 --> 01:01:31,000 Speaker 1: guard under any circumstances. Really nice skip pass and pick 1316 01:01:31,000 --> 01:01:34,080 Speaker 1: and roll here from Tatum basic. Here's our low man 1317 01:01:34,160 --> 01:01:37,439 Speaker 1: right as the ball handler. You're typically watching this guy 1318 01:01:37,520 --> 01:01:42,240 Speaker 1: the most come off of the screen. He helps easy 1319 01:01:42,280 --> 01:01:47,000 Speaker 1: swing across the court. Peterson knocks it down. Drew Peterson, 1320 01:01:47,040 --> 01:01:49,080 Speaker 1: by the way, eight points and four rebounds, twenty five minutes. 1321 01:01:49,160 --> 01:01:52,280 Speaker 1: Not a bad night for him. Another little fadeaway jump shot, 1322 01:01:52,320 --> 01:01:54,680 Speaker 1: this time against Donovan Mitchell, who does a really good 1323 01:01:54,760 --> 01:01:57,720 Speaker 1: job fighting over the screen. The entire possession. Once again 1324 01:01:57,800 --> 01:02:02,040 Speaker 1: just kind of methodically works into that space. You could 1325 01:02:02,040 --> 01:02:04,040 Speaker 1: tell that was where he felt most comfortable, in that 1326 01:02:04,200 --> 01:02:09,600 Speaker 1: short fadeaway range. All right, here we are in crunch time. 1327 01:02:09,640 --> 01:02:13,800 Speaker 1: Inside five minutes, we get a ball screen. Garland is 1328 01:02:13,800 --> 01:02:16,200 Speaker 1: on the switch. He's gonna beat him off the dribble. 1329 01:02:16,920 --> 01:02:18,680 Speaker 1: When he does, he draws Jared Allen in help. We 1330 01:02:18,720 --> 01:02:21,280 Speaker 1: have our week side two on one, Tatum's eyes are 1331 01:02:21,360 --> 01:02:26,240 Speaker 1: on Hawser, which forces Merrill to commit no look past, 1332 01:02:26,560 --> 01:02:29,520 Speaker 1: generates the opening for Horford. Again, look at Tatum's eyes. 1333 01:02:30,120 --> 01:02:35,120 Speaker 1: Tatum's eyes create that opening, doesn't actually look at Horford 1334 01:02:35,160 --> 01:02:37,760 Speaker 1: until the ball's out of his hands. That was one 1335 01:02:37,800 --> 01:02:40,080 Speaker 1: of the two wide open corner threes that Horford missed 1336 01:02:40,080 --> 01:02:42,360 Speaker 1: down the stretch of this game. Really big play from 1337 01:02:42,400 --> 01:02:44,360 Speaker 1: Isaac Occory here. One of the things they were doing. Again, 1338 01:02:44,560 --> 01:02:47,120 Speaker 1: We've seen this with the Celtics a lot. Put Tatum 1339 01:02:47,120 --> 01:02:49,840 Speaker 1: on your center, put Al Horford on your weakest above 1340 01:02:49,840 --> 01:02:52,600 Speaker 1: the break shooter. In this case, he's guarding a coral. 1341 01:02:53,200 --> 01:02:57,280 Speaker 1: Tatum stays home on Allen, look at Al Horford, Al Horford, 1342 01:02:57,280 --> 01:02:59,360 Speaker 1: and so it's a kind of like a Spain pick 1343 01:02:59,360 --> 01:03:02,520 Speaker 1: and roll, right and roll. Merrill's relocating to the top. 1344 01:03:03,680 --> 01:03:08,240 Speaker 1: Horford has contained which allowed Hawser to stay attached. But 1345 01:03:08,360 --> 01:03:11,720 Speaker 1: the prices you leave a coral wide open knocks down 1346 01:03:11,760 --> 01:03:16,200 Speaker 1: the three. Big time shot this time another switch attack 1347 01:03:16,240 --> 01:03:19,880 Speaker 1: of Garland in the short range. Get him on the switch. 1348 01:03:20,360 --> 01:03:22,160 Speaker 1: Notice one of the big differences I want you to 1349 01:03:22,160 --> 01:03:24,240 Speaker 1: pay attention to here compared to the big stop he 1350 01:03:24,320 --> 01:03:27,720 Speaker 1: got late watch how Garland makes no attempt to disrupt 1351 01:03:27,720 --> 01:03:31,640 Speaker 1: Tatum's rhythm, so he's just letting him dribble comfortably, letting 1352 01:03:31,680 --> 01:03:34,680 Speaker 1: him dribble, work him down, work him down, easy shot. 1353 01:03:35,400 --> 01:03:37,400 Speaker 1: You'll notice on the stop that Darius Garland does a 1354 01:03:37,480 --> 01:03:41,080 Speaker 1: much better job attacking the pocket and disrupting Tatum's rhythm. 1355 01:03:41,440 --> 01:03:44,600 Speaker 1: Little transition cross match here Tatum ends up on Lavert. 1356 01:03:45,000 --> 01:03:47,880 Speaker 1: This leaves all guards guarding the Spain pick and roll 1357 01:03:47,880 --> 01:03:49,200 Speaker 1: at the top of the key or the double drag 1358 01:03:49,240 --> 01:03:51,720 Speaker 1: in this case, no ut stack because he's trying to 1359 01:03:51,760 --> 01:03:55,400 Speaker 1: backscreen for Jared Allen. Either way, though, because Tatum's not 1360 01:03:55,440 --> 01:03:57,960 Speaker 1: on Jared Allen, they have a post mismatch, so they 1361 01:03:57,960 --> 01:04:00,800 Speaker 1: throw the ball to Jared Allen against Hawser. But now 1362 01:04:00,840 --> 01:04:03,640 Speaker 1: Horford just got burned by a coro on the previous 1363 01:04:03,680 --> 01:04:06,760 Speaker 1: a couple possessions earlier, so he doesn't feel comfortable committing. 1364 01:04:07,120 --> 01:04:10,920 Speaker 1: Jared Allen gets the end one all those like little details. 1365 01:04:11,360 --> 01:04:13,960 Speaker 1: Cora doesn't hit that shot. Horford probably just hard doubles there, 1366 01:04:14,000 --> 01:04:21,640 Speaker 1: right alrighty, another switch onto Darius Garland. Garland gets a 1367 01:04:21,720 --> 01:04:23,960 Speaker 1: little more aggressive here, not at the start, but you 1368 01:04:24,000 --> 01:04:27,320 Speaker 1: watch him reach a little bit right here pokes at 1369 01:04:27,320 --> 01:04:30,120 Speaker 1: it a little bit, but at this point Tata just 1370 01:04:30,200 --> 01:04:32,240 Speaker 1: kind of methodically works him down and hits that little 1371 01:04:32,280 --> 01:04:35,560 Speaker 1: right shoulder fade away again, right shoulder step back. I 1372 01:04:35,560 --> 01:04:39,080 Speaker 1: should say this was a tough shot, late clock situation 1373 01:04:40,320 --> 01:04:43,160 Speaker 1: they try to run with Allen. Ball gets swung back 1374 01:04:43,200 --> 01:04:46,680 Speaker 1: to Mitchell. We're down to seven seconds on the shot clock. 1375 01:04:46,960 --> 01:04:49,000 Speaker 1: A Korra runs in in screen, so it's like, all right, 1376 01:04:49,080 --> 01:04:52,000 Speaker 1: Donovan's gonna have to ISO. Let's at least have him ISO, 1377 01:04:52,120 --> 01:04:54,760 Speaker 1: a lesser defender than Drew Holliday gets Houser. This is 1378 01:04:54,760 --> 01:04:57,120 Speaker 1: honestly a really good defense, but like, look at this 1379 01:04:57,200 --> 01:05:01,600 Speaker 1: shot boom, that's a really good defense. He just stuck 1380 01:05:01,600 --> 01:05:04,480 Speaker 1: it because he's a star and that's what he can do. Now, 1381 01:05:04,680 --> 01:05:08,280 Speaker 1: Jason Tatum has been torching the Garland double teams, right, 1382 01:05:08,880 --> 01:05:10,680 Speaker 1: So I skipped ahead in this possession because it's an 1383 01:05:10,680 --> 01:05:15,840 Speaker 1: offensive rebound. This is our double team, right, So two 1384 01:05:15,880 --> 01:05:19,400 Speaker 1: on the ball on Tatum, Prichard is the kickout gets 1385 01:05:19,400 --> 01:05:22,919 Speaker 1: a decent look from on like a little twenty seven footer, right. 1386 01:05:23,280 --> 01:05:25,600 Speaker 1: But the key here is in rotation, right, because we 1387 01:05:25,640 --> 01:05:27,920 Speaker 1: put two on Tatum, which ended up in three players 1388 01:05:27,960 --> 01:05:30,160 Speaker 1: on two Celtics over here above the break on the right, 1389 01:05:31,520 --> 01:05:34,160 Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell runs over to box out or to deal 1390 01:05:34,200 --> 01:05:38,520 Speaker 1: with Al Horford in the right corner, and Jared Allen 1391 01:05:38,640 --> 01:05:41,640 Speaker 1: is dropping to potentially deal with Drew Holiday right. See 1392 01:05:42,280 --> 01:05:45,520 Speaker 1: what does that leave Chris tops Porzingis on a wide 1393 01:05:45,520 --> 01:05:52,080 Speaker 1: open rim run, gets the rebound kick out. Prichard makes 1394 01:05:52,080 --> 01:05:54,200 Speaker 1: the pass to Drew Holliday underneath the basket. So again, 1395 01:05:54,560 --> 01:05:57,000 Speaker 1: if you watch this in full speed, I'm not gonna 1396 01:05:57,000 --> 01:06:00,000 Speaker 1: stop it. This is a Tatum double team that ends 1397 01:06:00,160 --> 01:06:02,080 Speaker 1: in a layup, even though it won't show up as 1398 01:06:02,080 --> 01:06:05,400 Speaker 1: an assist for him because Porzingis got an offensive rebound 1399 01:06:05,400 --> 01:06:07,560 Speaker 1: out of the chaos from the Calves being in rotation. 1400 01:06:08,440 --> 01:06:14,200 Speaker 1: Two on the ball, kick two on Pritchard, easy offensive rebound, swing, 1401 01:06:14,280 --> 01:06:18,560 Speaker 1: swing layup. Here's the action that the Calves were getting 1402 01:06:18,560 --> 01:06:20,800 Speaker 1: good stuff off for Garland at the end of the game. 1403 01:06:20,880 --> 01:06:24,920 Speaker 1: Just basically anything that had Porzingis involved. Porzingis at the 1404 01:06:25,040 --> 01:06:28,880 Speaker 1: level that means an easy slipice. Notice a Korro's not 1405 01:06:28,920 --> 01:06:30,800 Speaker 1: even trying to set a screen, He's just trying to slip. 1406 01:06:30,880 --> 01:06:34,800 Speaker 1: Look see pushes off Slipcord did this twice in the 1407 01:06:34,800 --> 01:06:36,880 Speaker 1: crunch Time did a really good job on both. Tatum 1408 01:06:36,920 --> 01:06:39,720 Speaker 1: has to step up, Horford has to sink right. That 1409 01:06:39,760 --> 01:06:44,000 Speaker 1: makes Mobley the kickout. Mobley catches Drew Holiday rotates that 1410 01:06:44,120 --> 01:06:45,800 Speaker 1: leaves Donovan Mitchell wide open. 1411 01:06:46,880 --> 01:06:47,920 Speaker 2: Boom three. 1412 01:06:48,240 --> 01:06:55,080 Speaker 1: Another double team of Tatum Mcgarland double Prichard slips that 1413 01:06:55,160 --> 01:06:57,120 Speaker 1: allows him to catch the ball deep against Garland. And 1414 01:06:57,320 --> 01:07:00,160 Speaker 1: this is where Pritchard just goes right through Garland his 1415 01:07:00,280 --> 01:07:06,400 Speaker 1: chest just dribble, dribble, dribble, push off bucket. It's a 1416 01:07:06,480 --> 01:07:07,800 Speaker 1: rock fight. You can get away with that kind of 1417 01:07:07,800 --> 01:07:10,360 Speaker 1: stuff in a situation like that. This was the play 1418 01:07:10,360 --> 01:07:12,880 Speaker 1: where Donovan Mitchell rejects the screen on Drew Holliday and 1419 01:07:12,880 --> 01:07:17,240 Speaker 1: breaks him off. Let's watch it full speed first Boom three. 1420 01:07:17,720 --> 01:07:21,600 Speaker 1: But again watch watch right as Drew Holliday gets Drew 1421 01:07:21,600 --> 01:07:24,280 Speaker 1: Halliday's got his head and his body turned. He's prepping 1422 01:07:24,320 --> 01:07:26,560 Speaker 1: for this screen. It's trying to get that top foot 1423 01:07:26,600 --> 01:07:30,680 Speaker 1: over the top right. That's right when Donovan Mitchell crosses over. 1424 01:07:31,080 --> 01:07:34,200 Speaker 1: That's the beauty of it. First of all, this is 1425 01:07:34,200 --> 01:07:36,000 Speaker 1: why this job is so damn hard. Like I talked 1426 01:07:36,000 --> 01:07:38,560 Speaker 1: about earlier in the show, it's the hardest thing that 1427 01:07:38,600 --> 01:07:40,520 Speaker 1: any NBA guard has to do, and it's one of 1428 01:07:40,560 --> 01:07:43,520 Speaker 1: the hardest defensive jobs in the sport. You you have 1429 01:07:43,600 --> 01:07:45,640 Speaker 1: to stay in front. 1430 01:07:45,400 --> 01:07:47,240 Speaker 2: Of a man one on one while navigating an. 1431 01:07:47,200 --> 01:07:52,080 Speaker 1: Obstacle like all in the obstacle moves and a lot 1432 01:07:52,120 --> 01:07:54,320 Speaker 1: of screens in the NBA moving and don't get called. 1433 01:07:54,520 --> 01:07:56,760 Speaker 1: So it's like it's just it's a really difficult job. 1434 01:07:57,080 --> 01:08:00,240 Speaker 1: Andrew Drew just gets caught on the screen there and 1435 01:08:00,280 --> 01:08:03,840 Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell knocks down the shot. Here's where Darius Garland 1436 01:08:03,840 --> 01:08:06,240 Speaker 1: finally gets the stop. I want you to pay attention 1437 01:08:06,280 --> 01:08:08,960 Speaker 1: to how much more aggressive Garland is right at the beginning. 1438 01:08:10,400 --> 01:08:13,360 Speaker 1: So this first gram porzingis to get Jared Allen. Here 1439 01:08:13,400 --> 01:08:17,920 Speaker 1: comes Pritchard to get Garland. Now watch watch seven seconds 1440 01:08:17,960 --> 01:08:22,320 Speaker 1: on the shoclock. Garland immediately picks up Tatum. Reach, grab 1441 01:08:22,360 --> 01:08:25,719 Speaker 1: his arm. We're gonna reach again. Reach, swat, swat, reach, 1442 01:08:26,240 --> 01:08:29,200 Speaker 1: We're being aggressive and it forces him to speed up. 1443 01:08:29,479 --> 01:08:33,519 Speaker 1: Then he over penetrates into all of this help and 1444 01:08:33,640 --> 01:08:36,080 Speaker 1: forces up a bad shot. The only bad shot that 1445 01:08:36,160 --> 01:08:38,800 Speaker 1: Jason Tatum took in the fourth quarter of this game, 1446 01:08:39,200 --> 01:08:41,799 Speaker 1: because you sped him up, because you made things more difficult. 1447 01:08:41,800 --> 01:08:43,519 Speaker 2: Again, like if you do that all quarter. 1448 01:08:43,640 --> 01:08:45,280 Speaker 1: Jason Tatum's gonna make a lot of good plays because 1449 01:08:45,280 --> 01:08:46,640 Speaker 1: he's one of the best players in the world, right. 1450 01:08:46,680 --> 01:08:49,160 Speaker 1: But the point is, if you want to make every 1451 01:08:49,240 --> 01:08:51,599 Speaker 1: player in the world makes mistakes, even the best players, 1452 01:08:51,680 --> 01:08:53,320 Speaker 1: and if you want to make it more likely for 1453 01:08:53,400 --> 01:08:55,559 Speaker 1: them to make a mistake, you have to be an 1454 01:08:55,600 --> 01:08:58,679 Speaker 1: active participant in your own survival. If you're in these switches, 1455 01:08:58,760 --> 01:09:00,360 Speaker 1: you just got to find a way to do better. 1456 01:09:00,400 --> 01:09:02,639 Speaker 1: And in this case, Darius Garland, who had been getting cooked, 1457 01:09:03,240 --> 01:09:06,880 Speaker 1: finally decided to show some fight on a switch, fought 1458 01:09:06,920 --> 01:09:10,240 Speaker 1: really hard and aggressively sped Jason Tatum up and forced 1459 01:09:10,240 --> 01:09:13,360 Speaker 1: to miss Reach Reach again. 1460 01:09:14,160 --> 01:09:14,600 Speaker 2: Hands on. 1461 01:09:15,520 --> 01:09:19,720 Speaker 1: That's good disruptive defense from Darius Garland. As we go 1462 01:09:19,800 --> 01:09:22,120 Speaker 1: to the other end, this is where Donovan Mitchell gets 1463 01:09:22,320 --> 01:09:25,160 Speaker 1: at Horford in a ball screen you can see quick 1464 01:09:25,200 --> 01:09:26,360 Speaker 1: early screen from mobiley. 1465 01:09:26,479 --> 01:09:27,920 Speaker 2: Now we're downhill against. 1466 01:09:27,680 --> 01:09:29,679 Speaker 1: Horford in space, which is again one of the weak 1467 01:09:29,680 --> 01:09:32,800 Speaker 1: points for the Celtics defense. Easy little floater in the 1468 01:09:32,800 --> 01:09:33,840 Speaker 1: mid range knocks it down. 1469 01:09:35,240 --> 01:09:35,880 Speaker 2: This is like. 1470 01:09:37,720 --> 01:09:40,960 Speaker 1: Just Tatum missing a shot, like you just I don't 1471 01:09:41,000 --> 01:09:42,760 Speaker 1: know what else to say. I feel like Tatum is 1472 01:09:42,760 --> 01:09:46,160 Speaker 1: gonna make this nine times out of ten, Crossover gets 1473 01:09:46,160 --> 01:09:48,160 Speaker 1: into the lane. Like Garland does a good job of 1474 01:09:48,160 --> 01:09:50,479 Speaker 1: putting himself in his way, but like he should he 1475 01:09:50,520 --> 01:09:53,599 Speaker 1: just should have made this as all. And then here 1476 01:09:53,640 --> 01:09:56,800 Speaker 1: we go, same exact Garland action with Porzingis. Actually this 1477 01:09:56,800 --> 01:10:01,120 Speaker 1: time it was Mitchell, but again poor Zingis is up high. 1478 01:10:01,680 --> 01:10:05,600 Speaker 1: A Chorro slips gets behind Porzingis that forces Horford to 1479 01:10:05,640 --> 01:10:08,880 Speaker 1: step up. Forford has to step up, Porzingis kind of 1480 01:10:08,920 --> 01:10:11,680 Speaker 1: commits to blocking a Korro that leaves Mobile in for 1481 01:10:11,760 --> 01:10:16,000 Speaker 1: the dunk. All right, guys, that is all I have 1482 01:10:16,120 --> 01:10:18,439 Speaker 1: for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for 1483 01:10:18,479 --> 01:10:20,879 Speaker 1: supporting me and supporting the show. We'll be back tomorrow 1484 01:10:20,960 --> 01:10:22,880 Speaker 1: with a breakdown of a couple of good Monday night 1485 01:10:22,920 --> 01:10:24,160 Speaker 1: games as well as some more film. 1486 01:10:24,200 --> 01:10:29,360 Speaker 2: I'll see you guys then the volume. What's up guys? 1487 01:10:29,400 --> 01:10:32,160 Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting 1488 01:10:32,200 --> 01:10:34,800 Speaker 1: OOPS tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us 1489 01:10:34,800 --> 01:10:36,720 Speaker 1: if you guys would take a second and leave a 1490 01:10:36,840 --> 01:10:39,400 Speaker 1: rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys 1491 01:10:39,400 --> 01:10:41,000 Speaker 1: supporting us, but if you could take a minute to 1492 01:10:41,040 --> 01:10:42,920 Speaker 1: do that, I'd really appreciate it.