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Speaker 1: Mmmm. Welcome to the State of the Lakers post game

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Speaker 1: show on DASH Radio. I thank you guys so much

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Speaker 1: for coming to hang out with Roger night tonight. This

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Speaker 1: we were just talking is the probably the biggest win

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Speaker 1: that I can remember, biggest regular season win and I

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Speaker 1: can remember from this team in a long time. When

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Speaker 1: you factor in all of the you know, relevant information,

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Speaker 1: not just Lebron being out, but almost a completely and

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Speaker 1: totally decimated roster um including losing you know, one of

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Speaker 1: their uh not someone that I like for Frank to play,

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Speaker 1: but someone that Frank really likes to rely on with

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Speaker 1: Lebron out, and Rajon Rondo in Austin Reeves who has

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Speaker 1: been one of the primary driving forces of this team's effort,

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Speaker 1: and and uh in passion on the defensive end of

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Speaker 1: the ball. And then you factor in Miami who was

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Speaker 1: am I correct and saying they were the one seed

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Speaker 1: in the East coming into tonight, rog Yeah, I'm not sure,

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Speaker 1: but if record wise they were, but they they definitely

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Speaker 1: played like it. To me, they're the most impressive team

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Speaker 1: in the East and honestly maybe throughout the league beside

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Speaker 1: the Warriors. This is a really damn good team, Like

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Speaker 1: we were texting back and forth and we were like,

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Speaker 1: if they lose by like ten or fifteen, would be

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Speaker 1: kind of happy, you know what I mean, like if

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Speaker 1: they can stay competitive, And they did even more than

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Speaker 1: that tonight. But you know, the Heat are a legit

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Speaker 1: really good team. Yeah, I had to I had a

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Speaker 1: really uh you know, at the end of our last

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Speaker 1: odd Um, I told you that I had a kind

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Speaker 1: of a vision for what I expected to happen tonight.

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Speaker 1: And I'm not I'm not you know, touting this is

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Speaker 1: some measure of success, because I'm wrong about stuff all

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Speaker 1: the time. But I just like Miami brings the best

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Speaker 1: out of people. Like they come in in early and

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Speaker 1: the first few possessions in the game, they always hit

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Speaker 1: you in the mouth. Um with this, with this physicality

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Speaker 1: and focus and intensity, and you know, even even if

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Speaker 1: you look at their bench and their coaching staff, they're

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Speaker 1: just so animated. Like there's a there's a program, a

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Speaker 1: junior college program here in Arizona. It's called Coaches College

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Speaker 1: and they're right down by the Mexican border, and uh

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Speaker 1: they are in the middle of nowhere, but in the

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Speaker 1: JUCO Conference here in Arizona, they're always the team that

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Speaker 1: everyone hates to play because they have just this loud

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Speaker 1: Boisters coach and they have they just thrive on this

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Speaker 1: this this culture, this like intensity, this everything they do

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Speaker 1: is just so everything they do is just a hundred

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Speaker 1: miles an hour, and a lot of teams just crumble

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Speaker 1: under like the intensity of it, you know. And to me,

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Speaker 1: the miament he kind of reminds me of that in

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Speaker 1: the NBA, Like they they just play a different level

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Speaker 1: of intense, intense basketball. And obviously they have all this

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Speaker 1: stuff that we hear about with heat culture and the

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Speaker 1: way they make people take care of their bodies and

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Speaker 1: the way that they approach um, you know, everything and

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Speaker 1: every facet of the game. Well, they brought the best

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Speaker 1: out of the Lakers tonight. This was their best effort

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Speaker 1: that we saw um so far this season. I was

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Speaker 1: worried that fatigue would eventually come back to bite them,

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Speaker 1: which is something we talked about in the last pot,

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Speaker 1: that they would hang around, but eventually Miami would just

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Speaker 1: be too much for them, and that kind of is

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Speaker 1: what happened. As they got up by I think nine

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Speaker 1: in the fourth quarters, either nine or eleven, I remember,

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Speaker 1: But all it took was Mellow stuck a big three,

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Speaker 1: and then the Leak Monk stuck a big three, and

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Speaker 1: then Avery Bradley banked in the three, and and then

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Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook started making jump shots and and just like that,

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden, the Lakers were able to send

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Speaker 1: it to overtime where they were able to get a win.

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Speaker 1: But you know, I didn't think I didn't think they

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Speaker 1: had much of a chance to win tonight at all

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Speaker 1: um and and they got it done, so that obviously

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Speaker 1: it's just what a what a great way to kind

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Speaker 1: of kickstart what I hope will be the beginning of

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Speaker 1: what we hope to see from this team this season.

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Speaker 1: And we talked about it, like I think after the

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Speaker 1: last spaces, like Miami was going to get our kind

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Speaker 1: of a game, like they were going to respect them,

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Speaker 1: come with them, come with the competitiveness that they needed

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Speaker 1: to to play tonight. Like Miami's really damn good. Like

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Speaker 1: I know, I kept saying that they run actions that

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Speaker 1: are really tough toend to defend, even in our two

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Speaker 1: big line up. The offense really ugly. But just like

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Speaker 1: the defensive effort there minus like DeAndre Jordan probably in

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Speaker 1: the third you saw a d exhausted. I thought at

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Speaker 1: the end of the fourth and over time he looked

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Speaker 1: like he had very little left left in the tank.

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Speaker 1: But like, this is the type of stuff I wanted

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Speaker 1: to see. We kept kind of blaming their you know,

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Speaker 1: their losses on the injuries, which is true, you know,

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Speaker 1: losing the three rotation players outside of just Lebron, But like,

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Speaker 1: if you play like this, you don't lose against Okay,

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Speaker 1: see twice, you know what I mean. Like, just like

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Speaker 1: if you play with this type of effort and you

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Speaker 1: know they're not gonna shoot the way they did tonight.

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Speaker 1: I think the link Monk was like ten of thirteen

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Speaker 1: at one point, but the defense was there. Russ again

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Speaker 1: had the turnovers and stuff. But this is just a

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Speaker 1: big time win, man. I want to kind of stick

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Speaker 1: on that. It could have easily, like you know, faltered

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Speaker 1: you talked about Miami went up nine, and I thought

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Speaker 1: we kind of let go of the rope there. I

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Speaker 1: thought we didn't have enough offense to keep up. But

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Speaker 1: like you said, Carmelo, big time three. He had another

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Speaker 1: one was like a little dribble in mid range jumper.

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Speaker 1: I think when we were down seven or something, he said,

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Speaker 1: Miami is a team we don't want to play like

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Speaker 1: Kyle Lowry and p J. Tugger are annoying as hell

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Speaker 1: to play when you're on the other side, like they

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Speaker 1: just they just are. Kyle Lord played forty two minutes

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Speaker 1: in regulation. Didn't even realize that until I saw the

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Speaker 1: numbers in overtime. But yeah, Miami is a tough, tough team.

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Speaker 1: It's a big win, man, Like this is. It was ugly,

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Speaker 1: there was some turnovers late, but this is just a

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Speaker 1: big time win that you can kind of build off

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Speaker 1: of here going forward. I think they played the Spurs next.

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Speaker 1: I'm not hundred cent sure, but you know, this is

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Speaker 1: a this is a big time win that they got tonight.

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Speaker 1: I agree. You know, we talked a lot about identity

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Speaker 1: right with the Lakers. This this uh, you know, their

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Speaker 1: identity in the previous two years was everything that they

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Speaker 1: did on the defensive end of the ball. But the

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Speaker 1: true phiz is that with the personnel that they have

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Speaker 1: right now active with a reason out, with th ht out,

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Speaker 1: with Lebron out, it's really hard to have like a

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Speaker 1: hard nose defensive identity. But your identity is kind of vague,

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Speaker 1: Like your identity doesn't have to be defense like Brooklyn.

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Speaker 1: Brooklyn's identity is in defense. Brooklyn's identity is just having

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Speaker 1: a bunch of really high i Q players and a

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Speaker 1: ton of offensive talent on the floor, and you know,

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Speaker 1: just just in the aggregate, when you factor in their

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Speaker 1: average defense, that's enough to carry them and every given

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Speaker 1: every single night, the way they play offense is their identity.

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Speaker 1: The same goes with the Warriors with their ball movement

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Speaker 1: and the way that Steph drags attention and and they

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Speaker 1: do everything off of that attention that he that he

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Speaker 1: gathers from the defense. Well, with this Laker group, like

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Speaker 1: maybe the the the the identity becomes them just playing hard.

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Speaker 1: And that's what it was tonight, you know, like just

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Speaker 1: bringing that you can if your identity becomes that effort

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Speaker 1: and focus in every fast out of the game, even

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Speaker 1: if you don't have the defensive talent, then when the

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Speaker 1: ship it's the fan and things get really hard, you'll

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Speaker 1: fall back on that identity. And that identity could just

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Speaker 1: be we play really really hard, you know what I mean,

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Speaker 1: And and that's what carried them tonight. Like I bet

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Speaker 1: you when we go back and look at the defensive metrics,

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Speaker 1: they'll be good, not great. You know, they didn't blow

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Speaker 1: they didn't they didn't strangle Miami tonight. There was they

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Speaker 1: gave them some big problems with their two big lineups,

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Speaker 1: but when they went with a D at the five

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Speaker 1: or with Dwhite Howard at the five, like they gave

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Speaker 1: up a lot of baskets tonight. But the truth is

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Speaker 1: is throughout the game, with exception of the few rolls

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Speaker 1: in there, they were able to maintain a certain level

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Speaker 1: of effort uh and focus. And if that, if that

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Speaker 1: becomes their identity, if this team plays hard every night,

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Speaker 1: when Lebron comes back and all these guys come back,

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Speaker 1: they're just gonna start beating the hell out of people

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Speaker 1: because they do have a lot of talent. You saw

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Speaker 1: that tonight, you know what I mean, And which I

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Speaker 1: think is a good good segue into Molik Monk because

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Speaker 1: you know, Molik Monk is an extremely talented basketball player

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Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of but compare him to to

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Speaker 1: Lou Williams, you know, or um like he's just your stereotypical,

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Speaker 1: like off the bench, nuclear offensive guard. And it always

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Speaker 1: bothered me that Frank was so hesitant to play him,

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Speaker 1: or when he would play him, play him in kind

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Speaker 1: of a role where he's off the ball all the time,

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Speaker 1: you know, where he's primarily just standing in the corner,

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Speaker 1: not really involved in the offense. And the truth of

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Speaker 1: the matter is that the guy like that, like you

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Speaker 1: know the phrase like let him cook. You have to

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Speaker 1: you have to let Molik Monk have the ball in

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Speaker 1: his hands. Then you have to let him you have

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Speaker 1: to let him get comfortable, and you have to let

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Speaker 1: him make plays. Like there people you like you said

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Speaker 1: at the beginning, like, oh, Molik Monk got hot. Maybe

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Speaker 1: that's on characteristic. Yeah, like he's not. The dude's not

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Speaker 1: go an average twenty seven. You're right about that. However,

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Speaker 1: like that, in order for him to have a game

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Speaker 1: like this every two or three games, he has to

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Speaker 1: have the ball in his hands. And so I I

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Speaker 1: like the direction of going that way as a secondary

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Speaker 1: ball handler option, you know, when you're not going through

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Speaker 1: Russ and when you're not going with Lebron instead of

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Speaker 1: going through Rod though, do you agree as far as

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Speaker 1: Milik Monk is concerned. Oh, yeah, he looked. He looked

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Speaker 1: awesome tonight, and he was the de facto backup point

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Speaker 1: guard right because we had Russ and then just no

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Speaker 1: one backing him up, and there were some turnovers with that,

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Speaker 1: but yeah, you could see him getting more and more

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Speaker 1: comfortable as the game kind of went on with this shot.

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Speaker 1: He was really comfortable taking it from far. He was

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Speaker 1: running pick and rolls, you know, trying to find a D.

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Speaker 1: There were some bad passes there, but you're right, man,

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Speaker 1: like just he again I said, he was like ten

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Speaker 1: of thirteen. And what I mean by like, he's not

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Speaker 1: gonna go off like this every night, but he doesn't

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Speaker 1: have to write. You can just be a little bit

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Speaker 1: of like a nuclear, like you said, offensive punch off

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Speaker 1: the bench. And I kept thinking, like, I want to

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Speaker 1: see him next to like Kendrick Nunn, you know, I

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Speaker 1: think that's like a really fun kind of backcourd to

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Speaker 1: bring off the bench him with like Ellington as well,

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Speaker 1: and if you can put defenders around that because he's fearless.

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Speaker 1: He's a fearless guy. Gets to the basket. Gave Russ

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Speaker 1: a guy you can give the ball too, because they

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Speaker 1: just kept switching that Russ and a D ball screen

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Speaker 1: and they let Malik kind of just like you said,

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Speaker 1: let him cook. They let him cook for a lot

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Speaker 1: of that fourth quarter. Uh, there was nothing going on

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Speaker 1: the in the half court and they just said here, Malik,

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Speaker 1: you know, do your thing. And he was able to

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Speaker 1: go off tonight on you know Tyler Hero and Duncan Robinson,

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Speaker 1: who again aren't great defenders, but you know, he took

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Speaker 1: advantage of that coming off screens, being able to pull

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Speaker 1: up off the dribble. He's a guy that this is

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Speaker 1: why you go and get these type of offensive players, right, Like,

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Speaker 1: this is kind of what you saw in the defense

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Speaker 1: for offense trade and I thought you saw that on

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Speaker 1: the defensive end as well. Got back cut a lot,

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Speaker 1: but like this, his offense was huge and we're gonna

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Speaker 1: need him and I want to see him next to

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Speaker 1: like the starters and playing next to defensive minded players

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Speaker 1: because I think he can really go off. But but

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Speaker 1: you're right, he's a nuclear option that they can go to.

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Speaker 1: And what I mean, he doesn't have to be the guy.

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Speaker 1: But if you have him or Ellington or none or

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Speaker 1: Thhd going off, at least one of them going off.

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Speaker 1: If you get too, I think we're in business. But

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Speaker 1: that's what I saw from the night because this is

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Speaker 1: something he definitely can do. He can he can go

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Speaker 1: for to thirty on on any given night and you

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Speaker 1: can win you game. Like that's the key. Like he

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Speaker 1: made a gigantic three in overtime, and he made a

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Speaker 1: gigantic three in the fourth quarter that got them back

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Speaker 1: into the game. And you know, it goes back to

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Speaker 1: that idea that we've talked about a lot this season

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Speaker 1: having to do with versatility. You know, if if Malik

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Speaker 1: doesn't have it going, if you've given him a six

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Speaker 1: minute shift where the ball has been in his hands

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Speaker 1: a lot and it's not going, you can go with

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Speaker 1: a Bradley, you can go with the Reeves, you can

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Speaker 1: go with the th h T or in Ellington, you

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Speaker 1: can go with a different option. That there. The whole

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Speaker 1: concept of the way this was put together, in my opinion,

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Speaker 1: was versatility, like having options, Whereas in previous seasons it

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Speaker 1: was like do you want this defensive guard or do

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Speaker 1: you want this defensive guard, or do you want this

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Speaker 1: guy who probably is gonna, you know, go one for

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Speaker 1: four from three or this guy who's gonna go one

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Speaker 1: for four from three. No, it's like this year we

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Speaker 1: have a mix of all of those types of identities.

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Speaker 1: I mean, and we're going to talk about Ellington at

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Speaker 1: some point later in the show, and he's another example.

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Speaker 1: He's almost like a third a third archetype of guard,

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Speaker 1: you know, like we have these guys like Malik Monk

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Speaker 1: and Raijion Rondo or these primarily you know, dribble dribble attack,

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Speaker 1: have the ball in their hands to feel comfortable type

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Speaker 1: of guards. But then we have these you know, Austin

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Speaker 1: Reeve types, these Avery Bradley types that are just just

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Speaker 1: focus on the defensive end and you never have to

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Speaker 1: run a play for them and they can just stand

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Speaker 1: in the corner and shoot threes. But then we also

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Speaker 1: have this Wayne Ellington is like Duncan Robinson type of

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Speaker 1: archetype that you can run him off of screens and

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Speaker 1: the way that that occupies defenders off the ball. Like

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Speaker 1: Wayne hasn't shot the ball well this year, but when

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Speaker 1: when he's been out there, the offense has looked very

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Speaker 1: fluid because of just his gravity and and what and

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Speaker 1: what he brings uh with his intelligence as a as

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Speaker 1: a as a off the ball shooter who can move

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Speaker 1: around and and keep the defense out of you know,

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Speaker 1: off balance. Like that, they're just options here there that

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Speaker 1: we're starting final just finally and you know what, Laker fans,

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Speaker 1: you deserve it because it's been a rough go here

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Speaker 1: early on. But this is finally starting, just barely to

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Speaker 1: take shape as what our vision was for what the

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Speaker 1: good version of this team could be, which is everything

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Speaker 1: that the old teams were, just with versatility to go

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Speaker 1: in a different direction when things aren't working, and and

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Speaker 1: to and to me, that's exciting. And you know what,

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Speaker 1: Malik has been defending better. I think this is a

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Speaker 1: good segue into mellow in his defense. You know, we

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Speaker 1: talked a lot about We talked a lot about how,

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Speaker 1: you know, guys like k CP, guys like how Kuzma Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, even Alex Caruso to a certain extent, just

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Speaker 1: coming up through the Lakers system and th h T.

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Speaker 1: You know, like, if you ship th ht off to

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Speaker 1: NBA Siberia and he learns to play basketball somewhere else,

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Speaker 1: he might not be the same defender that he's shaping

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Speaker 1: up to be under Frank, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: And and I think it's really cool to watch over

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Speaker 1: the last couple of years the way some of these

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Speaker 1: really limited defensive players that struggle on that side of

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Speaker 1: the floor have shaped into pros who can hold their

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Speaker 1: own on that end, and it has been awesome to

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Speaker 1: see Mellow start to show some sparks of defensive potential,

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Speaker 1: not I shouldn't even say potential, but just being able

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Speaker 1: to hold his own, you know. And that the same

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Speaker 1: goes for Monk and and I mean even DeAndre Jordan,

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Speaker 1: even though we slammer him all the time, he's playing

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Speaker 1: a lot better on defense than he was in Brooklyn,

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Speaker 1: even though we still want more out of him. It's

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Speaker 1: been cool to see that shape together and that was

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Speaker 1: gonna take a lot of games. So are you are

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Speaker 1: you certain to come around on that as well? Do

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Speaker 1: you think this defense could come around to where it

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Speaker 1: was in previous seasons by the end of the year.

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure to where it was. I mean, they

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Speaker 1: were the best defensive the league last year and wear

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Speaker 1: before I think they were right there, but it's definitely

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Speaker 1: coming up. And we talked about defensive identity to start.

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Speaker 1: You went into that ad is kind of defensive identity

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Speaker 1: and a lot of times and I thought he was

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Speaker 1: just incredible tonight. I don't know if you would agree

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Speaker 1: like he was. Miami's again like a really tough team.

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Speaker 1: They run a lot of screen actions. Bam is kind

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Speaker 1: of in the middle of the floor and he's kind

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Speaker 1: of operating. And I thought a D, especially in the

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Speaker 1: in the first three quarters, that he got a little

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Speaker 1: bit tired there in the fourth, but the shutting off

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Speaker 1: all those actions be able to come up help on

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Speaker 1: Hero and still get back to Bam defend the rim,

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Speaker 1: and he's playing with like a D S surrounded by

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Speaker 1: like all these four guards, three guards with Mellow and

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Speaker 1: Mellow I'll get into him as well. Just incredible, like

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Speaker 1: seeing him, like you said, move his feet defensively. About

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Speaker 1: a D. Tonight, I thought was great. Shutting off the rim,

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Speaker 1: got a bunch of strips on Bam, some block shots,

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Speaker 1: he got beat down the floor a couple of times,

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Speaker 1: but taking away lobs like I thought, he was just great.

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Speaker 1: Tyler Hero hit a bunch of contested shots over every

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Speaker 1: Bradley the hell I guess I'll kind of live with.

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Speaker 1: But again, I thought a D was a huge deterrent

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Speaker 1: on them and Carmelo man like watching him rotate and

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Speaker 1: be right there, you know what I mean. With the Lakers,

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Speaker 1: with the coverage they run, and he's starting to understand

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Speaker 1: where he's supposed to be, Like I said, he's never

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Speaker 1: gonna always get to stop, but he started being the

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Speaker 1: right place more than often. Like he's not a guy

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Speaker 1: that you can just pick on in the post. They

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Speaker 1: try to go at him, and he got to stop there.

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Speaker 1: He strips the ball really nicely. It's just really cool

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Speaker 1: because this shooting is so it's so important for this

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Speaker 1: team right now that if he's just passable defensively, and

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Speaker 1: to me, he was even more than that tonight. I

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Speaker 1: thought he was actually even kind of a plus defensively,

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Speaker 1: especially next day. I agree. I thought he was legitimately

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Speaker 1: a plus defensively tonight, which is wild. I cannot believe

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Speaker 1: I'm saying it. I thought him in a D like

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Speaker 1: as the four or five was our best kind of

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Speaker 1: defensive lineup. The way that Dwight was kind of fouling.

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Speaker 1: Dwight I think fouled out in eleven minutes. So I

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Speaker 1: didn't really get to see much of the Dwight a

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Speaker 1: D combo tonight. But yeah, I thought him and Melow

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Speaker 1: really were in seeing again. Miami makes you like switch

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Speaker 1: and talk on almost every coverage, the way they run

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Speaker 1: Duncan Robinson entire hero off all these actions in the corners,

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Speaker 1: and I thought Melo held his own, Like we went

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Speaker 1: on that run in the fourth we were down nine,

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Speaker 1: Mellow was on the floor and when we made on

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Speaker 1: that run, and obviously they scored a bunch of points,

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Speaker 1: but also got a bunch of stops. I thought he

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Speaker 1: was great, Like just seeing him be able to defend

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Speaker 1: like that, and like I see people saying he wasn't

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Speaker 1: defending like this. I guess in Portland, maybe I wasn't

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Speaker 1: really watching that as closely. Body might be a little

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Speaker 1: bit better, but he just looks so ready to be

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Speaker 1: on a winner and beyond a title contender. It's cool

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Speaker 1: to see him playing that out. But yeah, he was

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Speaker 1: great and a d I thought really shut them down

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Speaker 1: the first in the first few minutes of that game

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Speaker 1: to make it even close. Like you said, the offense

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Speaker 1: is super ugly to start these games, but the defense

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Speaker 1: was there. I thought it was. It was great And

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Speaker 1: if they can keep building on this, man, this is

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Speaker 1: something you can build off of, Like you can't do

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Speaker 1: this and then go do a stinker against whoever they

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Speaker 1: play next, Like this is like something you can legitimately

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Speaker 1: build off of, even if Lebron is not gonna play

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Speaker 1: for a little while. You know, It's it's funny because

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Speaker 1: we you and I have talked so much about how

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Speaker 1: when Anthony Davis is on the floor, you know, your

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Speaker 1: defensive job is less complicated than it is on other teams.

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Speaker 1: You know, like if you're if you're playing for the

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Speaker 1: Washington Wizards, you have to be so sharp on the

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Speaker 1: perimeter and you have to cover so much because you

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Speaker 1: don't have that you know, all encompassing defensive mistake a

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Speaker 1: racer on the back end, you know what I mean.

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Speaker 1: And and that was what was so shameful about the

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Speaker 1: way the Lakers played to start the season, is like

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Speaker 1: we watched, you know, pretty limited guards you know in

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Speaker 1: previous seasons come in and see the very small checklist

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Speaker 1: of defensive responsibilities they had in the Laker lineup, and

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Speaker 1: and to not and to knock it out of the park.

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Speaker 1: And so to see the guys this year coming and

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Speaker 1: really struggle, it was frustrating. And because when you watch

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Speaker 1: the game, you see it with effort. It was like, Okay,

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Speaker 1: this guy just died on that screen, or this guy

403
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Speaker 1: is just not even paying attention off the ball, or okay,

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Speaker 1: they beat us off the dribble and we rotated, you know,

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Speaker 1: a D stepped over and and stop the guy at

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Speaker 1: the rim, and and kicked to the corner, and one

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00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:03,840
Speaker 1: guy ran out to stop him in the corner. But

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Speaker 1: then they swung it one more time and no one

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00:19:07,119 --> 00:19:08,760
Speaker 1: was there, you know what I mean Like that, it

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Speaker 1: just was it was just super super sloppy on that front.

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Speaker 1: And what we saw tonight, it was for the first

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Speaker 1: time all season for the most part, during the whole game,

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Speaker 1: with exception of that ugly stretch there in the fourth quarter,

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Speaker 1: they did a really really good job of those responsibilities.

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Speaker 1: They were applying ball pressure and chasing guys off the

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Speaker 1: three point line, funneling them into Carmelo and a D

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Speaker 1: under the rim. And like you said, Carmelo did a

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Speaker 1: really really good job in that Lebron role of any

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Speaker 1: time anybody caught in the middle of the floor on

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Speaker 1: the short roll, he just stepped up and disrupt them

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Speaker 1: and made that next past tough. And then and then

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Speaker 1: when that read came out of the short roll, guys

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Speaker 1: were flying around and rotating the shooters and contesting shots

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Speaker 1: and and that's it's really that simple, you know, Like

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Speaker 1: that there was there was a job that had to

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Speaker 1: be done in this system, and guys weren't doing their

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Speaker 1: jobs to start this season. And now over the course

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Speaker 1: of uh, you know this, slowly incrementally, guys are starting

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Speaker 1: to do those jobs. In the defense is starting to

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Speaker 1: look better. And guess what, it's only going to get

431
00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:19,119
Speaker 1: easier and easier to when you when you get Lebron

432
00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:22,720
Speaker 1: in there. You know, like that that if like we've

433
00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:24,760
Speaker 1: talked a lot about you you talk a lot about

434
00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,880
Speaker 1: the Russ A D lineups, right, You talked about how like, hey,

435
00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:30,280
Speaker 1: like when when Lebron is off the floor, we have

436
00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:33,720
Speaker 1: to really lean into russ a D ball. Well, if

437
00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:39,920
Speaker 1: Mellow can be a passable defensive power forward in that lineup,

438
00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:43,480
Speaker 1: holy cow, man, Like I'd go Russ Mellow a d

439
00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:46,480
Speaker 1: um and and do do a lot of that kind

440
00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:49,320
Speaker 1: of stuff. Because because with that spacing that they had,

441
00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:51,720
Speaker 1: especially when they went with Monk and Mellow on the wing,

442
00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:56,320
Speaker 1: they were just getting fantastic shots every time down the floor. Um,

443
00:20:56,359 --> 00:20:58,600
Speaker 1: we just could never go to those lineups enough this

444
00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:01,600
Speaker 1: season because they would just get destroyed on the defensive end.

445
00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:06,760
Speaker 1: And now finally, by by virtue of them losing some

446
00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:09,800
Speaker 1: games and put it finding themselves in a position where

447
00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:12,280
Speaker 1: they have to do the job in order to win.

448
00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:15,159
Speaker 1: Guys are starting to do it and so and so

449
00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:17,879
Speaker 1: that's exciting because dude, it's only up from here because

450
00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:23,040
Speaker 1: talent is, reinforcements are on the way right. And I

451
00:21:23,119 --> 00:21:25,200
Speaker 1: want to give Russ like a shout out. We're gonna

452
00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:27,919
Speaker 1: guess we're gonna talk about him pretty soon here his

453
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:32,359
Speaker 1: offensive moments, but just even defensively, like chasing around Duncan

454
00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:35,280
Speaker 1: Robinson in the late game plays and you know, trying

455
00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:37,879
Speaker 1: to chase around Tyler Hero, watching him get in a

456
00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:41,239
Speaker 1: full like defensive stance and you know, playing full up

457
00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:43,400
Speaker 1: on Tyler here, Like it was awesome seeing him as

458
00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:45,680
Speaker 1: well compete on that end. And that's what we're gonna

459
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:46,879
Speaker 1: have to have, man, We're gonna have to have the

460
00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:50,359
Speaker 1: whole team kind of competing defensively like this. Miami is

461
00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:52,160
Speaker 1: a really good team. And you could tell the Lakers

462
00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:55,240
Speaker 1: respected them in a way, like they came out with

463
00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:57,399
Speaker 1: the effort, you know, from the tip off, like you

464
00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:00,439
Speaker 1: could tell this was serious. Miami's a team that you know,

465
00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:02,480
Speaker 1: talks back and forth, and you know, it kind of

466
00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:05,080
Speaker 1: got Carmelo going the kind of ship talking back and

467
00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:07,080
Speaker 1: forth but I think this team like they just needed

468
00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:09,480
Speaker 1: that tonight. But I wanted to give Russ a quick

469
00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:11,639
Speaker 1: shout out there as well. Defensively, I thought he was

470
00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:13,880
Speaker 1: I don't know what happened on that last play where

471
00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:15,960
Speaker 1: Tyler hero got open, but you know, just for the

472
00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,160
Speaker 1: whole kind of fourth and overtime, I thought he really

473
00:22:19,119 --> 00:22:21,040
Speaker 1: I thought he really competed on that end, and that's

474
00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:30,439
Speaker 1: what we're gonna need. I guess we can kind of

475
00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:35,359
Speaker 1: move move on to Uh, he's just doing like Russ

476
00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:37,760
Speaker 1: is just doing his job now, Like that's that's the key.

477
00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:43,240
Speaker 1: Like there was a there was a certain level of um,

478
00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:46,320
Speaker 1: you know, him carrying over some bad habits from his

479
00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:50,439
Speaker 1: previous destinations into this role, right, which is was to

480
00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:54,320
Speaker 1: be expected, like no one, no one, no one changes overnight,

481
00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:57,439
Speaker 1: you know, especially since we talked about like like if

482
00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:00,440
Speaker 1: you ever watched Austin Reeves play defense man, this guy

483
00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:03,480
Speaker 1: gets hit in the face on everything like every quarter

484
00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,159
Speaker 1: at least once, or the shot to the nose or

485
00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:08,639
Speaker 1: an elbow to the ribs or something like doing the

486
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:10,840
Speaker 1: job of changing. We talked about this a lot on

487
00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:14,000
Speaker 1: the pod. Chasing people over the top of the screen, uh,

488
00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,080
Speaker 1: flying around in rotations. It's a dirty job. It sucks.

489
00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:22,360
Speaker 1: And throughout Russ's career, especially after Kad left, he's had

490
00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:25,600
Speaker 1: so much on his plate offensively that he's been able

491
00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:29,000
Speaker 1: to really really relax on that side of the floor

492
00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:31,600
Speaker 1: and take so much of his focus and energy away

493
00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:35,679
Speaker 1: from that. And you know, I think I think we

494
00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:37,719
Speaker 1: saw a lot of that carry over into the season.

495
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:42,680
Speaker 1: And ideally with Lebron here he'd have lesser offensive responsibility

496
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:45,719
Speaker 1: so that he can devote more energy to that end.

497
00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:49,600
Speaker 1: But like that short term urgency that Frank was talking

498
00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:52,960
Speaker 1: about plays a big role here. You know, the Lakers

499
00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:55,320
Speaker 1: had an option. They had two options. The Lakers said

500
00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:57,560
Speaker 1: they were sitting at five and five coming off a

501
00:23:57,640 --> 00:23:59,919
Speaker 1: really really bad loss to Oklahoma City, and they had

502
00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:04,840
Speaker 1: two options. It was play better basketball or just keep losing.

503
00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:07,800
Speaker 1: And a lot of guys had to look in the mirror,

504
00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:10,520
Speaker 1: Guys like mellow guys like Rus even a d has

505
00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:14,200
Speaker 1: stepped up his intensity so much over the course of

506
00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:16,399
Speaker 1: of this past week. Like guys had to look in

507
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:19,760
Speaker 1: the mirror and say, like, are we gonna start to

508
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:22,800
Speaker 1: fix these problems or are we just going to continue

509
00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:24,760
Speaker 1: with the status quo? Get our butt kicked by Miami,

510
00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:27,200
Speaker 1: get our butt kicked by San Antonio, get our butt

511
00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:30,600
Speaker 1: kicked by Minnesota, and just tell everybody, oh, well, Lebron's gone,

512
00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:33,840
Speaker 1: Like Lebron will be back and then everything will be fine. No, no, no,

513
00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:38,000
Speaker 1: they they're they addressed. They're starting to address those problems.

514
00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:40,520
Speaker 1: And that's the most important part because we already know

515
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:43,080
Speaker 1: what Lebron can do and we know how he slots

516
00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:46,480
Speaker 1: into all of this, right, So getting all of these

517
00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:50,000
Speaker 1: guys on board with what their jobs were was such

518
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:53,960
Speaker 1: an important little checkbox in this process. You know, we've

519
00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:56,679
Speaker 1: we've talked a lot about the you know, the little

520
00:24:56,760 --> 00:24:59,040
Speaker 1: checkpoints that you look for over the course of the

521
00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:02,480
Speaker 1: NBA season, and we talked about how that Oklahoma City lost.

522
00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:05,680
Speaker 1: Both of them were bad, they were bad checkpoints, right,

523
00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:09,520
Speaker 1: Like those were examples of like kind of red flags. Right.

524
00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:14,880
Speaker 1: But what happened tonight, this win tonight, in my opinion,

525
00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:19,840
Speaker 1: is a huge example of a good checkpoint, a championship

526
00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:23,400
Speaker 1: chip checkpoint. Winning a game you're not supposed to win

527
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:26,640
Speaker 1: against the team that was heavily favored. I told you

528
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:28,480
Speaker 1: on the last part that'd be favored by four or

529
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:30,560
Speaker 1: five points. It was either four and a half or

530
00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:34,040
Speaker 1: five depending on which book he went to. They like, literally,

531
00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:37,640
Speaker 1: they were supposed to lose this game, your best players out.

532
00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:40,280
Speaker 1: It was either lose and no one's gonna blame you

533
00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:42,800
Speaker 1: because you're supposed to, or go out and win the

534
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:45,960
Speaker 1: damn thing. And what championship teams do is they go

535
00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:48,560
Speaker 1: out and they win the damn thing. And that's what

536
00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:50,440
Speaker 1: the Lakers did. And so this was kind of a

537
00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:52,480
Speaker 1: doesn't this just kind of like take the taste of

538
00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:54,680
Speaker 1: one of the at least one of those Oklahoma City

539
00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:57,200
Speaker 1: losses out of your mouth? Maybe not both, maybe not both.

540
00:25:57,240 --> 00:25:59,000
Speaker 1: Maybe they need to win the next two, but at

541
00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:01,239
Speaker 1: least one of those Sea games has to be kind

542
00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:05,000
Speaker 1: of wiped away from our memory at this point for sure. Yeah.

543
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:07,719
Speaker 1: I said, like before the Portland game that if they

544
00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:09,640
Speaker 1: got that one, I would kind of, you know, forget

545
00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:11,840
Speaker 1: about one of the Okay See games. But it's crazy

546
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:14,320
Speaker 1: that the same team tonight when I got their as kick,

547
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:17,040
Speaker 1: you know, in Portland by a team that just can't

548
00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:19,640
Speaker 1: get its feed together either. Like that's what I mean

549
00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:22,159
Speaker 1: by they should at least be competitive, you know what

550
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:24,960
Speaker 1: I mean, Like with even without Lebron, even though a

551
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,480
Speaker 1: d even though a d kind of went out in

552
00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:30,000
Speaker 1: the first quarter. Were there, like there's enough talent on

553
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:32,080
Speaker 1: this team to where you can be competitive. And you

554
00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:34,119
Speaker 1: can see they're starting to get comfortable right Lebron has

555
00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:36,200
Speaker 1: been out a few games, Like players are starting to

556
00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:38,560
Speaker 1: slot into where they are now. They have to move

557
00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:41,959
Speaker 1: up one in the rotation or whatever. Russ still like

558
00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 1: being the main ball handler. Now, They're still gonna be

559
00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:46,400
Speaker 1: turnovers and stuff. But you saw him kind of get

560
00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:48,640
Speaker 1: his foot together. There's some plays, man, and I guess

561
00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:51,919
Speaker 1: we can kind of transition into Russ's offensive game because

562
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:55,000
Speaker 1: like those aren't great midrange pull ups, Like Mark Jackson

563
00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:57,360
Speaker 1: was begging him to take those market those pull ups

564
00:26:57,359 --> 00:26:59,760
Speaker 1: all night. Uh, they're gonna be open all night. I'll

565
00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:02,200
Speaker 1: be hit them and they're in rhythm. We talked about

566
00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:04,560
Speaker 1: the mid range jumpers for us. There's ones where it's like,

567
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:07,480
Speaker 1: you know, come up, it's contested, and there's others where

568
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:09,840
Speaker 1: he's like in a full on dribble pull up rhythm

569
00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:11,879
Speaker 1: where it just looks a lot smoother. I thought those

570
00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,680
Speaker 1: last two, the one was a fade away kind of

571
00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:16,720
Speaker 1: I think he thought he got fouled, but the one

572
00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:19,760
Speaker 1: right over right over on in the mid range where

573
00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:21,320
Speaker 1: he hit like that was that's a that's a good

574
00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:24,119
Speaker 1: shot for him, Like in the late against the switch,

575
00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:25,720
Speaker 1: like I thought that was a good stock for him.

576
00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:28,160
Speaker 1: But yeah, like Russ got his moment and stable center,

577
00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:30,960
Speaker 1: like this is a big time play, big time moment.

578
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:33,600
Speaker 1: That's what he came here for. You come here to

579
00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:36,520
Speaker 1: play these games for if Lebron's out. When Lebron's out,

580
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:38,359
Speaker 1: like this is a big game for him. And I

581
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:41,320
Speaker 1: thought he really came through, especially offensively. They needed it.

582
00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:44,240
Speaker 1: Like we we complain about the turnovers and stuff like that,

583
00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:46,480
Speaker 1: but you saw when he went to the bench, the

584
00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:49,680
Speaker 1: team just had zero offensive rhythm. Miami is too good

585
00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:51,840
Speaker 1: to just run this like throw the ball to a

586
00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:54,439
Speaker 1: d like their health defense is way too good and

587
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,840
Speaker 1: completely under control by the way. Yeah, and band like

588
00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,399
Speaker 1: shoves Adie off his spot a lot. He saw Adie

589
00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:05,040
Speaker 1: like catch the ball three point line a lot. Miami

590
00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:07,160
Speaker 1: is just really good at that. They know exactly where

591
00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:10,360
Speaker 1: the place players um and I thought Westbrook really came through.

592
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:12,399
Speaker 1: They needed every single point. I think he banked in

593
00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,080
Speaker 1: a couple of those jumpers dating him and would you

594
00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:16,600
Speaker 1: agree with that? He kind of had his moment tonight.

595
00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:21,119
Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, And I'm happy for Russ because that having

596
00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:23,919
Speaker 1: a moment like that in Staples is what kind of

597
00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:26,920
Speaker 1: just takes some of the pressure off. You know. Vane

598
00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:30,560
Speaker 1: said something that I thought was really really interesting on

599
00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:36,240
Speaker 1: Twitter after the last game, and he said that Russ

600
00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:41,680
Speaker 1: looks like he doesn't want the ball in those moments. Um,

601
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:44,680
Speaker 1: not because he's afraid of the moment or anything, but

602
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:49,200
Speaker 1: Russ is Russ is very aware of his limitations right now.

603
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:53,720
Speaker 1: I truly believe that, like Russ knows he can't shoot,

604
00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:57,760
Speaker 1: and and Russ knows that guys are packing the paint

605
00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:00,479
Speaker 1: on him and that when he drives it's kind of

606
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:05,640
Speaker 1: a risk reward proposition that's not in his favor. Um.

607
00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:09,440
Speaker 1: But ironically, the Lebron injury and bam At of bio

608
00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:12,400
Speaker 1: just completely shutting a d down, which will get to

609
00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:15,760
Speaker 1: in a second, Um, that kind of put Russ in

610
00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:19,840
Speaker 1: a situation where he had to shoot, which you know,

611
00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:23,480
Speaker 1: in a weird way, when you have to shoot, some

612
00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:26,840
Speaker 1: of the pressure is off because it's not like if

613
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:29,240
Speaker 1: you like when Russ took that pull up fifteen foot

614
00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:30,880
Speaker 1: or the one that gave him the two point lead

615
00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:34,960
Speaker 1: laid before the one legged fade away. That shot is

616
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:38,200
Speaker 1: a weirdly low pressure shot because it's like they had

617
00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:40,040
Speaker 1: just dumped it into a D on the wing a

618
00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:42,880
Speaker 1: couple of times and each time he turned in face

619
00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:46,040
Speaker 1: and bam just just swallowed him up. There's just nothing

620
00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:48,560
Speaker 1: that a D had to go to a fade away,

621
00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:51,880
Speaker 1: and he, as we know right now, is just not

622
00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:54,520
Speaker 1: really capable of making that fade away. So in a

623
00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:56,520
Speaker 1: weird way, Russ is like dribbling the ball the floor.

624
00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:58,920
Speaker 1: It's like it's got to be met, and so that

625
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,560
Speaker 1: takes the pressure off. If misses that fifteen footer, no

626
00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:03,560
Speaker 1: one's really gonna yell at him because you're like, I

627
00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:05,640
Speaker 1: guess that's just the best we can do right now, right,

628
00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:07,600
Speaker 1: you know. So in a weird way, it went in,

629
00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:10,000
Speaker 1: and that, you know, gave him some confidence. And then

630
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:11,800
Speaker 1: he made an even tougher one after that, and then

631
00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:13,920
Speaker 1: he took a way too tough one after that and

632
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:15,960
Speaker 1: they heard him. But the point is is like, in

633
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:19,960
Speaker 1: the long run, Russ doesn't want those possessions because he

634
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:22,360
Speaker 1: knows he's limited, and that's why he's going to defer

635
00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:24,920
Speaker 1: to Lebron so much in those moments and and it's

636
00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:27,120
Speaker 1: not really something we have to worry about. It just

637
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,480
Speaker 1: we what we saw tonight was something that we finally

638
00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:33,040
Speaker 1: got to see that everyone had been talking about, which

639
00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:35,880
Speaker 1: is can Russ bring a game home when Lebron's gone?

640
00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:39,640
Speaker 1: And he did, And so I thought it was awesome

641
00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:41,400
Speaker 1: for him that he had that moment. And for the record,

642
00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:43,280
Speaker 1: this is why I said it a race. Okay, so

643
00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:45,760
Speaker 1: he lost, like that was a huge win, Like seven

644
00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:48,360
Speaker 1: five looks way better than six and six, especially when

645
00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:51,040
Speaker 1: you factor in all the reinforcements coming. And so I'm

646
00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:53,080
Speaker 1: happy for him as far as the A D thing goes.

647
00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:55,680
Speaker 1: And it's actually super interesting, like you know, this is

648
00:30:55,720 --> 00:31:00,000
Speaker 1: where spacing becomes a factor because, um, what's Anthony Day

649
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,880
Speaker 1: this his advantage against bam Adi Bio on the perimeter?

650
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:07,720
Speaker 1: You're gonna go with ball handling and speed probably right, Um,

651
00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:12,240
Speaker 1: Like A D can't physically overpower bam really anywhere on

652
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,840
Speaker 1: the floor. That's why when he would start fighting for

653
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:17,560
Speaker 1: position ten ft from the rim, he'd catch eighteen feet

654
00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:21,040
Speaker 1: from the rim. Um. But if over the course of

655
00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:23,240
Speaker 1: the season, when they really start to nail down their

656
00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:27,800
Speaker 1: spacing and how and how to really position everybody that's

657
00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:30,320
Speaker 1: going to turn into a rip through because ball pressure

658
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:34,120
Speaker 1: actually is an advantage to the ball handler as long

659
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:36,440
Speaker 1: as they can make reads, as long as they are

660
00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:40,880
Speaker 1: capable of handling the basketball, which ad is, ball pressure

661
00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:44,120
Speaker 1: is good for you because the defender is putting himself

662
00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:47,959
Speaker 1: out of position to try to make you uncomfortable. And

663
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:49,640
Speaker 1: so what I'd like to see in the long run

664
00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 1: is when when a D finds himself in those matchups

665
00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:56,240
Speaker 1: where really athletic big someone like Bam pressures him and

666
00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:59,280
Speaker 1: pushes him away from the basket, he needs space to

667
00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:02,560
Speaker 1: operate so that he can catch and just ripped through

668
00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:05,080
Speaker 1: and either get a foul or beat him to the

669
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:06,440
Speaker 1: dribble and get all the way to the rim. And

670
00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:10,680
Speaker 1: that's where the prospect of Monk and Mellow are so exciting,

671
00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:14,040
Speaker 1: because the Lakers finally are going to be able to

672
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:17,800
Speaker 1: piece together some lineups now that have real spacing, the

673
00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 1: kind of spacing that will make a D feel comfortable,

674
00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:23,160
Speaker 1: the kind of spacing that will allow him to be

675
00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:26,640
Speaker 1: a slasher like that in some cases. And that's all

676
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:30,200
Speaker 1: super exciting. So I I look forward to a D

677
00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:34,440
Speaker 1: over the course of the season as if he stays healthy,

678
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:37,520
Speaker 1: which I'm hopefully they will just getting more and more

679
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:41,040
Speaker 1: comfortable and growing into like the peak version of himself

680
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:43,600
Speaker 1: as a guy who can handle that type of thing,

681
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,720
Speaker 1: which will require him to have space to operate, which

682
00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:50,920
Speaker 1: this team will finally be able to afford him. Yeah,

683
00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:52,880
Speaker 1: and they kept trying to like post him up, and

684
00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:55,680
Speaker 1: I said earlier, Miami's just too good at that, and

685
00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:59,200
Speaker 1: they were doubling him right away, especially with with our starters.

686
00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:01,640
Speaker 1: They really even though Avery Bradley had like three threes

687
00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:04,520
Speaker 1: in the first quarter, they still really just pinched inside

688
00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:07,520
Speaker 1: the paint. They did not respect you know, Camp baysmore

689
00:33:07,800 --> 00:33:10,520
Speaker 1: every Bradley. Like I said, Russell Westbrook, obviously at shooters,

690
00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:13,080
Speaker 1: a D is still not great passing out of doubles,

691
00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:15,000
Speaker 1: and against a team like Miami that's so good on

692
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:17,360
Speaker 1: our rotations, it was just gonna be ugly. And again

693
00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:19,600
Speaker 1: they had like p J. Tucker guarding Russ, so there's

694
00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:22,360
Speaker 1: a lot of switching. Uh. They just switched that pick

695
00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:25,400
Speaker 1: and roll all night and eight really got nothing open there.

696
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:29,480
Speaker 1: But like we talked about Wayne Ellington earlier, just having one,

697
00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:32,720
Speaker 1: you know, one knockdown shooter on the floor just changes

698
00:33:32,760 --> 00:33:34,680
Speaker 1: the balance of that, and then when you put in

699
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:37,320
Speaker 1: Malik mont Carmelo Anthony, I thought the floor kind of

700
00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:39,760
Speaker 1: really opened up. But I can't wait to see him

701
00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:42,640
Speaker 1: with like actual spacing, actual you know, eighty at the

702
00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:45,320
Speaker 1: five line ups, with defense around. But I just thought,

703
00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:46,680
Speaker 1: you know, it was great to see him next to

704
00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:50,200
Speaker 1: some shooting AD always feels like he's having a rough game.

705
00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:52,120
Speaker 1: They you look at the box score, Um, tonight, you

706
00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:55,600
Speaker 1: played forty five minutes, really toughed it out, twenty four points,

707
00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:59,160
Speaker 1: thirteen rebounds, and they needed every point of that, every rebound,

708
00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:01,880
Speaker 1: a bunch of big ones late. But you're right, Bam

709
00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:03,440
Speaker 1: kind of was able to stay hold on him, and

710
00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:05,520
Speaker 1: I think Miami is more. That was more of Miami

711
00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:07,880
Speaker 1: team defense, but Bam was able to kind of push

712
00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:09,759
Speaker 1: him out of his spot. He got a few really

713
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:12,160
Speaker 1: big jumpers going, a lot of pick and pop jumpers.

714
00:34:12,480 --> 00:34:14,200
Speaker 1: Still wish he kind of attacked the pain a little

715
00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:16,480
Speaker 1: bit more. But again, I thought he was tired, but

716
00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:18,680
Speaker 1: I thought he was great defensively, and I thought that's

717
00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:21,279
Speaker 1: what mattered really tonight. But hopefully he can kind of

718
00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:23,440
Speaker 1: get his offense going. I saw when I saw him

719
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:25,400
Speaker 1: Leak Monk going and I was hoping aid he can

720
00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:28,040
Speaker 1: kind of close it out offensively. He got a love

721
00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:31,160
Speaker 1: late right there too, But yeah, just seeing whim, like

722
00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:32,759
Speaker 1: do you agree with that? Like did you see the

723
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:34,759
Speaker 1: floor when they had Wayne Allington out there? It just

724
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:37,600
Speaker 1: felt like it changed the whole kind of it changed

725
00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:40,160
Speaker 1: how Miami can defend, and they ran actual actions for

726
00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:42,840
Speaker 1: him as well. I guess we can kind of more

727
00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:45,040
Speaker 1: more morph this into Wayne Ellington as well. They were

728
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:47,400
Speaker 1: running like, you know, double pin downs for him, and

729
00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:49,400
Speaker 1: he had a bunch of big threes. But I just

730
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:51,600
Speaker 1: thought the floor spacing. When we have one legit guy,

731
00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:54,319
Speaker 1: they can't leave. It just changed the whole game. And

732
00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:56,880
Speaker 1: I hope to see Wayne kind of play more. His

733
00:34:56,960 --> 00:35:00,360
Speaker 1: jumper looks legit. You know, he's an actual professional shooter

734
00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:02,400
Speaker 1: as they call it. Um. I think Monk's more of

735
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,720
Speaker 1: a score, but Wayne, now it's a legit professional shooter,

736
00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:08,200
Speaker 1: and it's cool to have one on the team, especially

737
00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:11,320
Speaker 1: playing next to you know, so many non jump shooters

738
00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:13,040
Speaker 1: right now in a d and then Russ as well,

739
00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:15,120
Speaker 1: obviously trying to get to the rim. Just one guy

740
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:17,160
Speaker 1: you can't leave, you know, And it felt like he

741
00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:22,680
Speaker 1: changed the floor. Did I mean on that play, there

742
00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:24,400
Speaker 1: was one in particular that I have in mind with

743
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:26,160
Speaker 1: Ellington on the floor with the idea, and that was

744
00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:30,640
Speaker 1: so fascinating. It was Ellington. Gosh, was it Ellington, Mellow

745
00:35:30,719 --> 00:35:33,480
Speaker 1: and Monk. I think it was. I think it's Ellington,

746
00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:37,719
Speaker 1: Mellow and Monk like, which is just three three shooters

747
00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:42,000
Speaker 1: that are real shooters, like you cannot leave them open shooters.

748
00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:45,520
Speaker 1: And so A d caught at the elbow and he

749
00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:48,120
Speaker 1: kind of like was had his back turned to the

750
00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:50,320
Speaker 1: basket and he was kind of looking over either shoulder

751
00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:53,480
Speaker 1: trying to survey the floor, and obviously he struggles with that,

752
00:35:53,560 --> 00:35:56,439
Speaker 1: so he kind of ended up spinning like right into

753
00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:59,160
Speaker 1: Kyle Lowry and p J. Tucker like at the same

754
00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:03,000
Speaker 1: time and didn't really have any angle and damn near

755
00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:05,360
Speaker 1: lost his handle but then ran. But the point is

756
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:08,720
Speaker 1: is like all the all the guys that they're doubling

757
00:36:08,760 --> 00:36:12,600
Speaker 1: off of our just dead eye shooters and so and shooters.

758
00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:14,640
Speaker 1: The best thing about a shooter is it's not just

759
00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:17,080
Speaker 1: about their ability to make the shot. Shooters are so

760
00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:21,799
Speaker 1: good at identifying where their opportunity to shoot is. They

761
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:24,879
Speaker 1: can kind of see plays develop and they know their

762
00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:27,320
Speaker 1: spot to hit. They know when to flare to the corner,

763
00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:29,319
Speaker 1: they know when to flare to the wing, they know

764
00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:31,239
Speaker 1: when to cut all the way through on the baseline.

765
00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:33,160
Speaker 1: They know it's because that's what they've been doing their

766
00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:36,800
Speaker 1: whole life, especially guys like Wayne Ellington. You know, Mellow

767
00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:38,640
Speaker 1: is going to continue to get better and better at

768
00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:42,480
Speaker 1: that in this phase of his career. But Wayne Ellington

769
00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:46,239
Speaker 1: saw a D and chaos and saw that he was

770
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:48,520
Speaker 1: out of control. And a D has a tendency when

771
00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:50,480
Speaker 1: he's out of control to throw it back to the perimeter,

772
00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:52,600
Speaker 1: especially behind him, because he does it. He's not a

773
00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:56,759
Speaker 1: great interior passer. And so Ellington just relocated right behind

774
00:36:56,800 --> 00:36:59,400
Speaker 1: a D at the three point line, and a D

775
00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:01,080
Speaker 1: even in all that, hey, I was just kind of

776
00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:03,040
Speaker 1: shoveled it back to him. And Hey, guess what, you

777
00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:06,040
Speaker 1: just left Wayne Ellington wide open. That's probably gonna go

778
00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:08,640
Speaker 1: in like seventy at the time, like when his feet

779
00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:11,600
Speaker 1: are really set and he's really open like that, it's

780
00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:13,880
Speaker 1: going in. And it did. And so that that kind

781
00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:16,000
Speaker 1: of thing, too, is like what's so cool about that?

782
00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:17,560
Speaker 1: And this is why I looks forward to that line

783
00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:22,200
Speaker 1: up moving forward is Anthony Davis is an absolute like

784
00:37:22,719 --> 00:37:27,400
Speaker 1: beast offensively in single coverage. So if you know, obviously

785
00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:29,520
Speaker 1: we talked about the Band thing earlier, but Band is

786
00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:32,120
Speaker 1: probably the best defender in the league to throw at

787
00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:34,879
Speaker 1: a D right. So like the vast majority, the vast

788
00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:36,920
Speaker 1: majority of the guys that a D is gonna see

789
00:37:37,040 --> 00:37:39,760
Speaker 1: are gonna have no capability of sticking with him physically.

790
00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:42,479
Speaker 1: So guess what happens if you hit Ellington a couple

791
00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:44,840
Speaker 1: of times, and you hit Monk a couple of times,

792
00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:46,640
Speaker 1: and you hit Mellow a couple of times, and you

793
00:37:46,680 --> 00:37:48,759
Speaker 1: show a propensity to be able to make teams pay

794
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:50,920
Speaker 1: for doubling you, You're gonna start seeing a lot of

795
00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:54,480
Speaker 1: single coverage. That's what happens with Lebron. Like the dirty

796
00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:56,839
Speaker 1: little secrets of most of the Lebron's efficiency is he

797
00:37:56,920 --> 00:38:00,360
Speaker 1: passes himself open. That's how he gets such great looks.

798
00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:02,399
Speaker 1: And so that's what's exciting for me. Is like, if

799
00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:04,680
Speaker 1: you get lots of reps with Russ and a D

800
00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:07,279
Speaker 1: line ups with Lebron off the floor with lots of

801
00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:10,919
Speaker 1: shooting in the other three spots, a D should, over

802
00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:13,880
Speaker 1: the course of the season start to take advantage of

803
00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:17,120
Speaker 1: that shooting and open things up for himself, which will

804
00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:19,760
Speaker 1: allow him to start to go to work in single coverage,

805
00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:22,799
Speaker 1: which will cascade into more confidence. This is why I

806
00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:25,480
Speaker 1: hate the two big lineups, is like it just I

807
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:29,319
Speaker 1: like my superstars to be comfortable and confident, and the

808
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:31,400
Speaker 1: only way for them to do that is when they

809
00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:34,760
Speaker 1: have space to operate. And then it just feeds everything

810
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:38,600
Speaker 1: else in the game. Guys defend better, Guys are are

811
00:38:38,640 --> 00:38:41,960
Speaker 1: better leaders, their their attitude is better when everyone's playing

812
00:38:42,040 --> 00:38:44,560
Speaker 1: better if they just feel better, and it just it

813
00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:47,040
Speaker 1: just helps the whole team. And so that's why I'm

814
00:38:47,040 --> 00:38:49,560
Speaker 1: such a huge believer in that. And and we we

815
00:38:49,719 --> 00:38:54,400
Speaker 1: have real shooting this year, like real, real real shooting,

816
00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:57,239
Speaker 1: like problem shooting for the other team. And that's just

817
00:38:57,320 --> 00:39:01,480
Speaker 1: super exciting to think about all the ways that can help, right,

818
00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:04,040
Speaker 1: And that's why I was so high on Ellington this summer.

819
00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:06,520
Speaker 1: And obviously he's not Buddy Healed at all, but it's

820
00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:08,719
Speaker 1: kind of that archetype. He's a movement shooter, right, you

821
00:39:08,719 --> 00:39:11,480
Speaker 1: talked about Monk and Carmelo. Carmelo is more of like

822
00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:13,880
Speaker 1: a stand still, spot up shooter, like he can create

823
00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:15,840
Speaker 1: his own shot once he has the ball. But you

824
00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:17,719
Speaker 1: know at three point line, he's a spot up guy,

825
00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:20,160
Speaker 1: mink Monk as well, like more like a spot up

826
00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:22,280
Speaker 1: guy and stuff guy who's catching off the shot. Wayne

827
00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:24,960
Speaker 1: Ellington can curl and I like that Vogel was actually

828
00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:27,719
Speaker 1: running like curl plays for him, you know what I mean.

829
00:39:27,719 --> 00:39:29,840
Speaker 1: And I thought that was really huge and just it

830
00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:32,280
Speaker 1: just brings a different type of spacing. You talked about

831
00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:35,120
Speaker 1: those two big lineups. Russ is still playing in a

832
00:39:35,160 --> 00:39:37,239
Speaker 1: phone booth, I thought, And that's kind of why we

833
00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:41,000
Speaker 1: have these starts, these offensive starts. DeAndre Jordan's motor just

834
00:39:41,239 --> 00:39:43,960
Speaker 1: to me, isn't good enough to continue to continue what

835
00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:45,800
Speaker 1: we're doing a lot of times where you just staring

836
00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:48,480
Speaker 1: out the ball let alone, this facing issues. But yeah,

837
00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:50,600
Speaker 1: just putting more shooting around, man. And that's why I

838
00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:53,160
Speaker 1: kept saying, just let's lean into this rust ball, especially

839
00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:54,799
Speaker 1: with Lebron out, and I think you can do that.

840
00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:57,879
Speaker 1: Carmelo defends the way he does. Wayne Ellington night, would

841
00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:00,759
Speaker 1: you get Wayne Ellington was like, Okay, defensively he got

842
00:40:00,760 --> 00:40:03,799
Speaker 1: backcut a lot. Miami again a tough team to kind

843
00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:07,440
Speaker 1: of uh to judge that on, but I thought he

844
00:40:07,520 --> 00:40:09,720
Speaker 1: was fine. I think he was fine, defensively in his minutes,

845
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:11,799
Speaker 1: he didn't make mistakes. He was in the right well

846
00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:13,879
Speaker 1: he main mistakes on backcuts and stuff like that. But

847
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:15,520
Speaker 1: like for the most part, I thought he was fine.

848
00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:17,960
Speaker 1: But just that shooting. Just have a guy who actually

849
00:40:17,960 --> 00:40:21,200
Speaker 1: comes off when Adi is that second screener, Uh, he

850
00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:23,160
Speaker 1: comes off. They trapped Wayne. He gave it back to

851
00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:25,160
Speaker 1: a d and he hit a mid range jumper or

852
00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:27,120
Speaker 1: he got an open look on a mid range jumper.

853
00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:29,080
Speaker 1: Like That's the stuff that we can start to put

854
00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:31,319
Speaker 1: in and I'd like to see the Vogels using it.

855
00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:33,520
Speaker 1: You know, he didn't run that stuff for anyone else.

856
00:40:33,719 --> 00:40:36,719
Speaker 1: Wayne Allington came back and they started running it for him,

857
00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:38,680
Speaker 1: and I like that they have specific steps for him.

858
00:40:38,719 --> 00:40:40,640
Speaker 1: They have to use him if he's out there. I

859
00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:43,000
Speaker 1: was so high on him this summer. I was disappointed

860
00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:45,400
Speaker 1: in the preseason how he looked, how he didn't have

861
00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:47,160
Speaker 1: a shot there. And he's too good a shooter not

862
00:40:47,239 --> 00:40:50,560
Speaker 1: to at least become somewhat of like maybe not four percent,

863
00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:53,319
Speaker 1: but somewhere in that range. And if his defense can

864
00:40:53,360 --> 00:40:55,839
Speaker 1: just be possible, which it wasn't in the preseason, but

865
00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:58,200
Speaker 1: you know, right now, I think it looks possible enough,

866
00:40:58,239 --> 00:41:00,640
Speaker 1: and his shooting, uh, if it's a man, this is

867
00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:03,520
Speaker 1: this is like the first legit shooter we've had. Carmelo

868
00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:05,640
Speaker 1: obviously has been an inferno. Um, just to have a

869
00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:08,759
Speaker 1: movement shooter next to a D and Lebron would be great.

870
00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:11,160
Speaker 1: So that's why I've been really high on Wayne Ellington

871
00:41:11,239 --> 00:41:13,839
Speaker 1: all summer, and tonight was actually Wayne ellington coming out

872
00:41:13,880 --> 00:41:16,359
Speaker 1: party as well. I forgot how many threes he had,

873
00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:18,759
Speaker 1: but I just thought he met a huge eympatty. I

874
00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:21,719
Speaker 1: actually like Wayne Ellington's defensive fit with this group, and

875
00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:24,800
Speaker 1: I was pretty optimistic with it about it from the beginning.

876
00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:27,359
Speaker 1: And the main reason why I thought people I thought

877
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:33,080
Speaker 1: people were overreacting to guys lighting up Wayne Ellington in isolation.

878
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:35,560
Speaker 1: And the reason why it is like like they would

879
00:41:35,560 --> 00:41:37,400
Speaker 1: watch I can't even remember who it was that they

880
00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:39,279
Speaker 1: were playing, but they were watched. I think it was

881
00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:41,680
Speaker 1: that young guard that plays for Brooklyn that's such an

882
00:41:41,680 --> 00:41:45,640
Speaker 1: aggressive jump shooter. I'm blanking on his camp time. Yeah yeah,

883
00:41:45,640 --> 00:41:49,239
Speaker 1: something like that. Anyway, Like it's like like, okay, yeah,

884
00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:51,640
Speaker 1: he took a tough step back jump shot and he

885
00:41:51,640 --> 00:41:54,040
Speaker 1: looked pretty comfortable and he knocked it down on Ellington.

886
00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:56,560
Speaker 1: But it's like, the truth of the matter is what

887
00:41:56,760 --> 00:41:59,840
Speaker 1: you what is far more valuable from a perimeter defensive

888
00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:04,120
Speaker 1: in Frank's scheme, is that they're in the right spot. Okay,

889
00:42:04,160 --> 00:42:06,880
Speaker 1: Like if you when you have guys like Lebron and

890
00:42:06,920 --> 00:42:09,640
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis on the floor, you can look at Ellington

891
00:42:09,680 --> 00:42:11,279
Speaker 1: and you can be like, look, man, if you give

892
00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:13,239
Speaker 1: up a pull up jump shot, we'll live with that.

893
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:16,920
Speaker 1: Or or if it's an elite shooter, like something like

894
00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:19,200
Speaker 1: a like a just a straight up dead eye shooter,

895
00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:22,640
Speaker 1: you will will live with Drives just chase him off

896
00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:24,799
Speaker 1: the line and they can tell him like, hey, when

897
00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:26,799
Speaker 1: you're on this spot of the floor, you're funnel to

898
00:42:26,840 --> 00:42:28,800
Speaker 1: the left. When you're on this spot of the floor,

899
00:42:28,840 --> 00:42:30,799
Speaker 1: you're funnel to the right, because this is where the

900
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:33,319
Speaker 1: help is. Like you know, and in a weird way,

901
00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:36,279
Speaker 1: Ellington has so much experience as a shooter that he

902
00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:40,640
Speaker 1: knows what shooters do. So he's actually shown quite a

903
00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:42,759
Speaker 1: quite a bit of promise as a lock and trail

904
00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:45,320
Speaker 1: defender over the course of the last couple of games

905
00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:47,880
Speaker 1: um in my opinion, and a big part of that

906
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:52,080
Speaker 1: is just he he does that himself, so he understands

907
00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:54,600
Speaker 1: the little tips and tricks that those guys used to

908
00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:56,600
Speaker 1: get open and he can kind of counter those in

909
00:42:56,640 --> 00:43:00,440
Speaker 1: his own way. But again like yeah, like if in

910
00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:03,279
Speaker 1: a playoff series in the highest leverage moments, I'm not

911
00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:06,279
Speaker 1: sure you can play him because guys will attack him

912
00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:08,800
Speaker 1: in isolation and it might cause things to break down.

913
00:43:09,239 --> 00:43:11,560
Speaker 1: But over the course of the minutes that he's actually

914
00:43:11,640 --> 00:43:13,799
Speaker 1: going to play with this group, which will primarily be

915
00:43:14,080 --> 00:43:17,720
Speaker 1: against reserves, which will primarily be you know, little short

916
00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:21,000
Speaker 1: stance in a fifteen minute type of game, that he

917
00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:24,160
Speaker 1: plays like, he's going to be able to do his

918
00:43:24,280 --> 00:43:28,000
Speaker 1: job in Frank's system, Like what what happens with guys

919
00:43:28,040 --> 00:43:31,200
Speaker 1: like Molikue Monk, although he's been better, is way more damaging.

920
00:43:31,320 --> 00:43:33,640
Speaker 1: Were like you just straight up get lost, you know,

921
00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:36,839
Speaker 1: or like you're straight up not paying attention, You're you're

922
00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:39,840
Speaker 1: you're you're straight up losing focus like that. You're not

923
00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:42,640
Speaker 1: gonna have to worry about that with Wayne Ellington. Wayne

924
00:43:42,640 --> 00:43:47,360
Speaker 1: Ellington's problems are going to be physical like footspeed type

925
00:43:47,360 --> 00:43:50,120
Speaker 1: of problems, and he's probably only going to see those,

926
00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:54,200
Speaker 1: uh manifest as guys attacking him off the dribble and

927
00:43:54,239 --> 00:43:56,799
Speaker 1: taking pull up jump shots and things like that, which

928
00:43:56,800 --> 00:43:59,799
Speaker 1: again you can live with, you know what I mean.

929
00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:03,799
Speaker 1: And so I I like Wayne Ellington's fit as a

930
00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:06,080
Speaker 1: defensive player, and I think it's gonna look even better,

931
00:44:06,800 --> 00:44:09,719
Speaker 1: um when when he's playing alongside Lebron and a d

932
00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:12,440
Speaker 1: when you get some of those really really really fierce

933
00:44:12,960 --> 00:44:16,880
Speaker 1: Laker defensive lineups. But you know, as far as his

934
00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:19,719
Speaker 1: movement shooting, you you hit the nail on the head man.

935
00:44:19,840 --> 00:44:23,360
Speaker 1: Like it's just it's it's so funny. Like on every level,

936
00:44:23,400 --> 00:44:26,120
Speaker 1: Like I'm coaching high school basketball right now, we put

937
00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:27,719
Speaker 1: in just we have all these you have to run

938
00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:31,040
Speaker 1: super super basic sets with these high school kids because

939
00:44:31,040 --> 00:44:34,359
Speaker 1: they're just I mean, they're the basketball version of brain lists.

940
00:44:34,400 --> 00:44:37,239
Speaker 1: It's it's it's it's a it's a long process trying

941
00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:39,560
Speaker 1: to teach these kids to play basketball. And like it's

942
00:44:39,600 --> 00:44:42,919
Speaker 1: funny because we just are our actions. You know. The guy,

943
00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:46,000
Speaker 1: the guy that I coach with, you know, we played

944
00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:49,480
Speaker 1: professionally overseas overseas for decades, super super smart guys point

945
00:44:49,520 --> 00:44:51,839
Speaker 1: guard and like he just gets it. He gets all

946
00:44:51,840 --> 00:44:54,000
Speaker 1: these little details and it's like he'll just he will

947
00:44:54,040 --> 00:44:55,759
Speaker 1: never just have a pick and roll action. It's a

948
00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:57,400
Speaker 1: pick and roll action with a guy coming off a

949
00:44:57,440 --> 00:44:59,600
Speaker 1: double screen on the other side. I mean, does that

950
00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:01,560
Speaker 1: because knows these high school kids are gonna be on

951
00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:03,200
Speaker 1: the other side of the floor, are going to be

952
00:45:03,200 --> 00:45:06,000
Speaker 1: obsessed with guarding their man. And the truth is that

953
00:45:06,040 --> 00:45:09,680
Speaker 1: works at every level. And having Wayne Ellington doing anything

954
00:45:09,880 --> 00:45:13,160
Speaker 1: off the ball is going to occupy defenders even if

955
00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:16,320
Speaker 1: he's not making shots. And it just in that, it

956
00:45:16,440 --> 00:45:18,759
Speaker 1: just it's it's all about that cascading effect that we

957
00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:21,200
Speaker 1: talked about. It's just what he does to open things

958
00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:25,680
Speaker 1: up for this team. Um makes up for whatever defensive

959
00:45:25,719 --> 00:45:29,120
Speaker 1: limitations that he might have in isolation against the specific

960
00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:31,560
Speaker 1: bad matchup, you know what I mean. And and again,

961
00:45:31,600 --> 00:45:34,440
Speaker 1: if you're playing the Brooklyn nets and Cam Thomas is

962
00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:36,839
Speaker 1: isolating you for pull up jump shots every time down

963
00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:40,560
Speaker 1: the floor, you're probably gonna win because that's not that

964
00:45:40,560 --> 00:45:44,560
Speaker 1: that's not offense, that's conducive to flow in a rhythm.

965
00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:48,520
Speaker 1: It's it's it's actually stagnant. And and so I I

966
00:45:48,800 --> 00:45:51,439
Speaker 1: I'm a fan of Wayne. You and I were both

967
00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:54,919
Speaker 1: heavy high on him right from the beginning. And uh,

968
00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:57,239
Speaker 1: and I'm hopeful that he will get an opportunity to

969
00:45:57,239 --> 00:46:01,919
Speaker 1: prove us right over the course in the next few months. Yeah, yeah,

970
00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:04,160
Speaker 1: me too, man. I just think we haven't had this

971
00:46:04,280 --> 00:46:07,040
Speaker 1: level of shooter and just looking at his name kind

972
00:46:07,040 --> 00:46:09,719
Speaker 1: of next to our other guys that we you know,

973
00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:11,920
Speaker 1: are close to get close to getting back here. Well

974
00:46:11,920 --> 00:46:14,759
Speaker 1: maybe not close, but we'll see Kendrick Nunn th h T.

975
00:46:15,280 --> 00:46:18,239
Speaker 1: You know, adding Wayne Ellington to that as like a specialist,

976
00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:20,759
Speaker 1: I think it's just really nice having you know, coming

977
00:46:20,760 --> 00:46:23,120
Speaker 1: off your bench. We'll see when the reason gets back.

978
00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:24,960
Speaker 1: But if you're starting, you know, if you're going full

979
00:46:25,000 --> 00:46:27,080
Speaker 1: on into this a d at the five, which is

980
00:46:27,080 --> 00:46:29,120
Speaker 1: what we were kind of sold, you know, on media

981
00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:31,560
Speaker 1: day before all the injuries came. And we'll never know

982
00:46:31,600 --> 00:46:33,520
Speaker 1: if that that was the legit plan, but that's what

983
00:46:33,520 --> 00:46:35,600
Speaker 1: we were kind of told. Uh. And you know, you

984
00:46:35,680 --> 00:46:38,840
Speaker 1: have all these kind of guards coming off, probably not

985
00:46:38,520 --> 00:46:41,000
Speaker 1: another not enough wings, but I'm really excited. Men, we're

986
00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:43,320
Speaker 1: gonna get a bunch of these, Like you said, reinforcements

987
00:46:44,000 --> 00:46:46,759
Speaker 1: are coming and we'll see when that happens. But I

988
00:46:46,760 --> 00:46:49,640
Speaker 1: wanted to, like, I guess close on because Russell Westbrook,

989
00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:53,000
Speaker 1: the Russell Westbrook experienced um is. I think a lot

990
00:46:53,040 --> 00:46:55,400
Speaker 1: of people have you know, said it's a roller coaster,

991
00:46:56,640 --> 00:46:59,239
Speaker 1: like he had a couple of finishes tonight where I'm like, man,

992
00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:01,759
Speaker 1: like you can do that every time. You know, when

993
00:47:01,760 --> 00:47:03,319
Speaker 1: he had one, I think it was in the fourth

994
00:47:03,360 --> 00:47:05,440
Speaker 1: I don't even if you remember it, like in transition.

995
00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:07,759
Speaker 1: I think he had it was lowry back and he

996
00:47:07,880 --> 00:47:10,560
Speaker 1: just perfectly slowed down, you know, he was going full

997
00:47:10,600 --> 00:47:13,440
Speaker 1: speed slowdown, went up with the left hand and finished nicely,

998
00:47:13,800 --> 00:47:15,680
Speaker 1: and I think it put us put us down one

999
00:47:16,239 --> 00:47:18,240
Speaker 1: UM when we were making our runback. There's just stuff

1000
00:47:18,239 --> 00:47:20,200
Speaker 1: like that and the others where it's just crazy. But

1001
00:47:20,239 --> 00:47:22,640
Speaker 1: the rest of Westbrook experience has been, you know, like

1002
00:47:22,640 --> 00:47:24,560
Speaker 1: you said, like I said, an up and down experience.

1003
00:47:24,760 --> 00:47:26,279
Speaker 1: But tonight it was great and I kind of want

1004
00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:28,520
Speaker 1: to just stick on that point, like I thought, tonight

1005
00:47:28,920 --> 00:47:31,840
Speaker 1: he came through and he deserves his kind of flowers

1006
00:47:31,840 --> 00:47:33,680
Speaker 1: for that. Like I think this is a big time

1007
00:47:33,680 --> 00:47:36,160
Speaker 1: when like Miami is a damn good team like that,

1008
00:47:36,640 --> 00:47:39,120
Speaker 1: even without Jimmy Butler in the second half, they came

1009
00:47:39,120 --> 00:47:42,120
Speaker 1: in tonight seven and three. UM probably have the best

1010
00:47:42,160 --> 00:47:44,160
Speaker 1: defense of the league. I'm not sure if the numbers

1011
00:47:44,160 --> 00:47:47,080
Speaker 1: support that just watching the games and to get a win,

1012
00:47:47,360 --> 00:47:50,800
Speaker 1: it's just huge, huge tonight, you can tell he's starting

1013
00:47:50,840 --> 00:47:54,319
Speaker 1: to get more comfortable, and that's key. Like comfort is

1014
00:47:54,320 --> 00:47:56,680
Speaker 1: such a huge, h h huge part of the game

1015
00:47:56,719 --> 00:47:59,560
Speaker 1: of basketball. It's like it's the perfect example of this

1016
00:47:59,600 --> 00:48:03,000
Speaker 1: is the the Houston Rockets a double header that we played. Like,

1017
00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:05,600
Speaker 1: you know, everyone wonders how you know, one night you

1018
00:48:05,640 --> 00:48:08,520
Speaker 1: play him and it's and then the next time you

1019
00:48:08,520 --> 00:48:11,080
Speaker 1: play him, it's like in the one twenties. And a

1020
00:48:11,080 --> 00:48:13,920
Speaker 1: big part of that I thought was especially early in

1021
00:48:13,960 --> 00:48:18,560
Speaker 1: that game. You know the Lakers, just like Houston, feel comfortable. Yeah,

1022
00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:21,240
Speaker 1: you could tell yourself, oh, they're making contested jump shots,

1023
00:48:21,480 --> 00:48:23,719
Speaker 1: but there's a huge difference. There's a huge difference between

1024
00:48:23,760 --> 00:48:26,200
Speaker 1: a contested jump shot and a jump shot where a

1025
00:48:26,239 --> 00:48:29,880
Speaker 1: jump shooter is uncomfortable. Huge difference. If if if you

1026
00:48:30,000 --> 00:48:32,440
Speaker 1: if Tyler Harrow catches the ball and I stick my

1027
00:48:32,480 --> 00:48:35,439
Speaker 1: hand up, it's a contested shot, but it's Tyler Harrow

1028
00:48:35,520 --> 00:48:39,000
Speaker 1: comfortable or was I in his It was I literally

1029
00:48:39,040 --> 00:48:41,680
Speaker 1: in his airspace the entire time he was moving around

1030
00:48:41,920 --> 00:48:44,480
Speaker 1: and as he's going up into the shot, he's nervous

1031
00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:46,239
Speaker 1: that I'm kind of going to knock the ball loose

1032
00:48:46,320 --> 00:48:48,480
Speaker 1: and and like do you see the difference of what

1033
00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:50,520
Speaker 1: I'm talking about that kind of like level of comfort

1034
00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:53,439
Speaker 1: And this is this is what's so important about having

1035
00:48:53,520 --> 00:48:56,040
Speaker 1: Russ play with a d at the five or with

1036
00:48:57,239 --> 00:49:00,800
Speaker 1: or with one big instead of two bigs. Having Russ

1037
00:49:00,840 --> 00:49:05,680
Speaker 1: feel comfortable with the basketball, helping him to when he

1038
00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:08,279
Speaker 1: when he's making that read trying to decide when to

1039
00:49:08,400 --> 00:49:09,560
Speaker 1: hit the hole, like because there were a lot of

1040
00:49:09,560 --> 00:49:11,680
Speaker 1: those like hit the whole moments with Russ where kind

1041
00:49:11,719 --> 00:49:13,600
Speaker 1: of reminds you of an NFL running back tonight, where

1042
00:49:13,600 --> 00:49:15,880
Speaker 1: it's like he's kind of moving slow and then he

1043
00:49:15,920 --> 00:49:18,200
Speaker 1: sees his area of opportunity and just slams the gap.

1044
00:49:18,239 --> 00:49:19,480
Speaker 1: There was one that he had is either at the

1045
00:49:19,560 --> 00:49:21,080
Speaker 1: end of the fourth quarter overtime where he had a

1046
00:49:21,120 --> 00:49:23,719
Speaker 1: reverse lay up with his right hand where there was

1047
00:49:23,800 --> 00:49:26,600
Speaker 1: just a tiny opening and he just hit you just

1048
00:49:26,680 --> 00:49:29,360
Speaker 1: hit the opening and like you can tell he's starting

1049
00:49:29,360 --> 00:49:32,520
Speaker 1: to feel more comfortable. And again, to circle it back around,

1050
00:49:32,520 --> 00:49:36,359
Speaker 1: this is my big problem with starting big, whatever advantages

1051
00:49:36,440 --> 00:49:38,920
Speaker 1: you think you get out of it, compensating for the

1052
00:49:38,960 --> 00:49:41,960
Speaker 1: last of forwards, lack of forwards, I get it. You know,

1053
00:49:42,080 --> 00:49:44,799
Speaker 1: trying to eat innings during the regular season, I get it,

1054
00:49:44,920 --> 00:49:47,480
Speaker 1: you know, defensive rebounding or whatever it is that Frank

1055
00:49:47,520 --> 00:49:50,439
Speaker 1: has tricked himself into thinking. Or the pluses that come

1056
00:49:50,480 --> 00:49:53,440
Speaker 1: with going big, they come with these big downsides, And

1057
00:49:53,960 --> 00:49:57,600
Speaker 1: one of those big downsides is comfort. Russ has looked

1058
00:49:57,800 --> 00:50:01,520
Speaker 1: visibly uncomfortable in the offense for the most part this season,

1059
00:50:02,280 --> 00:50:04,160
Speaker 1: and you have to ask yourself how much of that

1060
00:50:04,280 --> 00:50:07,440
Speaker 1: is associated with lineups and how much of it is

1061
00:50:07,480 --> 00:50:11,600
Speaker 1: associated with his own limitations, And in my opinion, a

1062
00:50:11,680 --> 00:50:15,000
Speaker 1: good percentage of that comes with the circumstances he's been

1063
00:50:15,040 --> 00:50:17,560
Speaker 1: put in. And so what I really have liked is

1064
00:50:17,680 --> 00:50:20,680
Speaker 1: over the last couple of games in particular, Um you

1065
00:50:20,680 --> 00:50:24,400
Speaker 1: could tell tonight was actually a better example because the

1066
00:50:24,520 --> 00:50:26,600
Speaker 1: last game was a little bit of a nightmare. But

1067
00:50:26,719 --> 00:50:29,000
Speaker 1: the point is that he's starting to get He's starting

1068
00:50:29,040 --> 00:50:33,000
Speaker 1: to understand and feel comfortable with where where he fits

1069
00:50:33,000 --> 00:50:35,840
Speaker 1: in in this offense, when he's supposed to hit holes,

1070
00:50:36,160 --> 00:50:38,560
Speaker 1: when he's supposed to be more passive, when his jump

1071
00:50:38,640 --> 00:50:41,640
Speaker 1: shots make sense when they don't. And this is why

1072
00:50:41,680 --> 00:50:43,839
Speaker 1: I'm a big believer in going small. I would much

1073
00:50:43,960 --> 00:50:48,520
Speaker 1: rather have every game have my stars feel comfortable, which

1074
00:50:48,560 --> 00:50:50,880
Speaker 1: is going to lean into confidence, which is going to

1075
00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:54,759
Speaker 1: lead into everything else that comes from your stars playing well.

1076
00:50:55,520 --> 00:50:58,240
Speaker 1: And even if it means that you'll lose the starter minutes,

1077
00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:00,640
Speaker 1: Like if you told me that this already lineup was

1078
00:51:00,640 --> 00:51:02,200
Speaker 1: going to get beat by four or five points every

1079
00:51:02,200 --> 00:51:04,520
Speaker 1: single time instead of winning by two or three, I'd

1080
00:51:04,560 --> 00:51:07,160
Speaker 1: take it if it meant that Russ got two layups,

1081
00:51:08,200 --> 00:51:11,920
Speaker 1: or Russ got too easy driving kicks, or Anthony Davis

1082
00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:14,000
Speaker 1: was posting up against a small forward on the wing

1083
00:51:14,040 --> 00:51:15,799
Speaker 1: that he got on a switch and he was able

1084
00:51:15,840 --> 00:51:17,799
Speaker 1: to bully him all the way to the basket for

1085
00:51:17,880 --> 00:51:21,080
Speaker 1: an easy shot because there was space to operate. If

1086
00:51:21,239 --> 00:51:23,000
Speaker 1: even if you lose those minutes, which I don't think

1087
00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:24,560
Speaker 1: they would, I think they would win those minutes. I

1088
00:51:24,560 --> 00:51:26,640
Speaker 1: think the Lakers are better when they play that way.

1089
00:51:26,680 --> 00:51:28,480
Speaker 1: But even if even if I had to grab Frank

1090
00:51:28,520 --> 00:51:30,640
Speaker 1: by the shoulders and shake him and say, listen, man,

1091
00:51:31,360 --> 00:51:33,160
Speaker 1: this is what's going to happen when you go this

1092
00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:36,440
Speaker 1: way like that, that that that's that's that to me,

1093
00:51:36,600 --> 00:51:38,560
Speaker 1: is the huge part of this that gets glossed over

1094
00:51:38,680 --> 00:51:41,480
Speaker 1: in that lineup decision is the comfort of your ball

1095
00:51:41,520 --> 00:51:45,239
Speaker 1: handlers and and so I I'm off my soapbox now.

1096
00:51:45,239 --> 00:51:47,040
Speaker 1: But that that's just kind of that's just kind of

1097
00:51:47,080 --> 00:51:50,320
Speaker 1: my two cents on the on on the Russ finally

1098
00:51:50,360 --> 00:51:53,920
Speaker 1: starting to feel comfortable, Yeah, for sure. And Frank obviously

1099
00:51:54,239 --> 00:51:56,719
Speaker 1: liked the two big look. He likes the archetype of it.

1100
00:51:56,800 --> 00:52:00,439
Speaker 1: He likes the comfort of having another shot blocker about there.

1101
00:52:00,480 --> 00:52:02,400
Speaker 1: And I think we're going to continue to see it

1102
00:52:02,600 --> 00:52:05,759
Speaker 1: until probably Lebron gets back, or maybe one of the

1103
00:52:05,800 --> 00:52:08,080
Speaker 1: other wings gets back. I just think that's what he's

1104
00:52:08,120 --> 00:52:10,959
Speaker 1: gonna stick to. I thought DJ had like a good

1105
00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:13,680
Speaker 1: first shift and then you know this, this has been

1106
00:52:13,719 --> 00:52:16,600
Speaker 1: happening every game. In that third quarter, he just decides

1107
00:52:16,680 --> 00:52:20,560
Speaker 1: to stop, you know, having his stop revving his motor up.

1108
00:52:20,960 --> 00:52:23,280
Speaker 1: It just it just completely dies in the third quarter.

1109
00:52:23,280 --> 00:52:25,759
Speaker 1: And maybe that's just who he is now. But you're right,

1110
00:52:25,760 --> 00:52:27,919
Speaker 1: you know they should. I keep saying, just lean into

1111
00:52:27,920 --> 00:52:30,080
Speaker 1: the rest ball. I think without Lebron, you have to

1112
00:52:30,160 --> 00:52:32,680
Speaker 1: kind of, you know, top your advantages on each other.

1113
00:52:33,120 --> 00:52:35,640
Speaker 1: And I think right now it's our offense week, Monk,

1114
00:52:35,880 --> 00:52:38,520
Speaker 1: get him as much shots as you can. Austin reeves,

1115
00:52:38,920 --> 00:52:41,400
Speaker 1: I'll be okay with starting him. I thought we missed

1116
00:52:41,400 --> 00:52:44,400
Speaker 1: his defense and honestly, as a guy who chases over screens,

1117
00:52:44,840 --> 00:52:47,200
Speaker 1: Avery Bradley I thought did a great job on Tyler

1118
00:52:47,200 --> 00:52:49,799
Speaker 1: Hero kind of chasing him. Even even if Tyler Hero

1119
00:52:49,880 --> 00:52:51,920
Speaker 1: hit a bunch of contested shot. Did you see they

1120
00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:53,840
Speaker 1: made nine straight shots to him the third quarte to

1121
00:52:53,920 --> 00:52:56,520
Speaker 1: him the second quarter Miami, did I think going into

1122
00:52:56,520 --> 00:52:58,839
Speaker 1: halftime and a lot of them were like Tira Hero

1123
00:52:59,160 --> 00:53:01,919
Speaker 1: just you know of prayer shots going up over every

1124
00:53:01,960 --> 00:53:05,520
Speaker 1: Bradley starting to talk ship and stuff. But again, like

1125
00:53:05,600 --> 00:53:07,879
Speaker 1: I think tonight was a great win. Russell Westbrook tonight.

1126
00:53:07,920 --> 00:53:10,640
Speaker 1: We always qualm about his numbers, but I mean twelve points,

1127
00:53:10,680 --> 00:53:13,920
Speaker 1: twelve rebounds, fourteen assists, Like the numbers are what they are,

1128
00:53:13,960 --> 00:53:17,600
Speaker 1: like though, that's incredible production to get, especially when Lebron's

1129
00:53:17,640 --> 00:53:24,760
Speaker 1: out and they probably points No. Twenty five points, twenty

1130
00:53:24,840 --> 00:53:28,880
Speaker 1: five points, twelve rebounds, fourteen assists, seven threes is still

1131
00:53:29,080 --> 00:53:31,640
Speaker 1: a lot. Three for seven from three and again that's

1132
00:53:31,680 --> 00:53:34,600
Speaker 1: just him having the ball a ship tons so when

1133
00:53:34,600 --> 00:53:37,400
Speaker 1: they fly, when they go into those screens so disrespectfully,

1134
00:53:37,400 --> 00:53:40,319
Speaker 1: like kind of understand it is. Sometimes he's like I'm

1135
00:53:40,400 --> 00:53:42,319
Speaker 1: so wide open. He had a couple of corner threes,

1136
00:53:42,360 --> 00:53:45,480
Speaker 1: I think early, but you know, I can't really complain

1137
00:53:45,520 --> 00:53:47,200
Speaker 1: too much. Like the turnovers are going to be what

1138
00:53:47,239 --> 00:53:49,759
Speaker 1: they are all season. There's some you can live with.

1139
00:53:49,800 --> 00:53:51,600
Speaker 1: Some of them are just like where he threw like

1140
00:53:51,640 --> 00:53:54,160
Speaker 1: a speedball pass at a D I think hit him

1141
00:53:54,160 --> 00:53:56,160
Speaker 1: in the head. Just some of those decisions are a

1142
00:53:56,200 --> 00:53:58,880
Speaker 1: little questionable, but again, like I kind of live with

1143
00:53:58,920 --> 00:54:00,919
Speaker 1: some of those if like the Russian is still there.

1144
00:54:00,960 --> 00:54:03,440
Speaker 1: And I thought in transition, he really pushed the pace,

1145
00:54:04,000 --> 00:54:06,280
Speaker 1: he got the team running, found the league, monk cutting

1146
00:54:06,280 --> 00:54:08,760
Speaker 1: want to play. That's just like stuff that he brings

1147
00:54:09,360 --> 00:54:12,719
Speaker 1: to a team. And I thought his competitiveness tonight in

1148
00:54:12,760 --> 00:54:16,200
Speaker 1: that fourth quarter taking over, hitting big shots like he was,

1149
00:54:16,360 --> 00:54:18,520
Speaker 1: he took over and that's that's what they brought him

1150
00:54:18,520 --> 00:54:20,320
Speaker 1: here for. And he did his job tonight. He deserves

1151
00:54:20,320 --> 00:54:23,359
Speaker 1: credit for them. The turnovers are still so confounding to me,

1152
00:54:23,520 --> 00:54:27,120
Speaker 1: and it's it's tricky because you know, like sometimes I

1153
00:54:27,600 --> 00:54:30,160
Speaker 1: don't actually think this, but sometimes I wonder just for

1154
00:54:30,200 --> 00:54:33,120
Speaker 1: a second, like if he's ever if he's actually making reads,

1155
00:54:33,200 --> 00:54:35,120
Speaker 1: or if he's just kind of a spas, and like

1156
00:54:35,239 --> 00:54:37,680
Speaker 1: it's a spas that just happens to occasionally make a

1157
00:54:37,719 --> 00:54:40,560
Speaker 1: play from the time to time, because that's how like confusing.

1158
00:54:40,960 --> 00:54:43,000
Speaker 1: Sometimes he'll throw passes and you'll be like, I, honest

1159
00:54:43,000 --> 00:54:45,560
Speaker 1: to god, don't know what you saw there, Like like

1160
00:54:45,800 --> 00:54:48,000
Speaker 1: I'll rewind it and I'll watch the plague and I'll

1161
00:54:48,040 --> 00:54:50,359
Speaker 1: be like, what was he thinking like when he pulled

1162
00:54:50,360 --> 00:54:52,640
Speaker 1: the trigger on that past what was like the what

1163
00:54:52,719 --> 00:54:55,920
Speaker 1: was like the little calculation that his basketball brain was

1164
00:54:56,000 --> 00:55:00,000
Speaker 1: running like It's it's hard for me to to understand sometimes. Um.

1165
00:55:00,040 --> 00:55:03,400
Speaker 1: That said, what's so funny is he responded to, in

1166
00:55:03,440 --> 00:55:07,360
Speaker 1: my opinion, his worst game of the season. Uh uh,

1167
00:55:07,600 --> 00:55:09,560
Speaker 1: I shouldn't say his worst game, his worst quarter of

1168
00:55:09,560 --> 00:55:12,279
Speaker 1: the season in that fourth quarter against Charlotte where he

1169
00:55:12,560 --> 00:55:15,719
Speaker 1: almost single handedly let them back into the game. You know,

1170
00:55:15,800 --> 00:55:17,840
Speaker 1: you would think he would respond to that by saying, like,

1171
00:55:17,920 --> 00:55:20,840
Speaker 1: I'm going to be more careful. Um, but he didn't.

1172
00:55:20,960 --> 00:55:22,759
Speaker 1: But what he did do is he added so much

1173
00:55:22,800 --> 00:55:24,640
Speaker 1: more good. You know, we talked about the good bad

1174
00:55:24,719 --> 00:55:27,719
Speaker 1: scale with Russ. He just compensated for because I think

1175
00:55:27,760 --> 00:55:30,520
Speaker 1: he ended with like seven turnovers tonight, still like, but

1176
00:55:30,600 --> 00:55:33,200
Speaker 1: he compensated for that by just making a lot more

1177
00:55:33,280 --> 00:55:36,000
Speaker 1: good plays to cover for it. And the exciting, the

1178
00:55:36,040 --> 00:55:37,919
Speaker 1: exciting way to look at it, you know, in terms

1179
00:55:37,960 --> 00:55:40,359
Speaker 1: of projecting forward, as you can kind of look at

1180
00:55:40,360 --> 00:55:42,680
Speaker 1: this and say like, hey man, all you gotta do

1181
00:55:42,880 --> 00:55:44,920
Speaker 1: is eventually figure out a way to cut back on

1182
00:55:44,960 --> 00:55:47,600
Speaker 1: some of this bad while keeping some of this good.

1183
00:55:48,160 --> 00:55:50,360
Speaker 1: And now we're taking a Lebron in a D team

1184
00:55:50,560 --> 00:55:55,319
Speaker 1: and adding this really really really positive player. You know

1185
00:55:55,400 --> 00:55:58,279
Speaker 1: that that potential is still there, but it's up to

1186
00:55:58,360 --> 00:56:00,920
Speaker 1: him to try to figure figure that part out because

1187
00:56:01,239 --> 00:56:04,560
Speaker 1: no one. Russ probably thought about valuing the balls with

1188
00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:07,400
Speaker 1: the basketball a hundred times coming into this game, but

1189
00:56:07,520 --> 00:56:10,640
Speaker 1: for whatever reason, he just can't do it. And you know,

1190
00:56:10,680 --> 00:56:13,400
Speaker 1: maybe that's some of that's Miami defense. Maybe some of

1191
00:56:13,440 --> 00:56:16,000
Speaker 1: that is just him being super super high usage as

1192
00:56:16,000 --> 00:56:18,600
Speaker 1: a result of the injuries. But he will eventually need

1193
00:56:18,640 --> 00:56:21,879
Speaker 1: to figure that out. Yeah, I don't think you're gonna

1194
00:56:21,920 --> 00:56:25,719
Speaker 1: ever get like super low turnover Russ. Like the key

1195
00:56:25,760 --> 00:56:27,920
Speaker 1: there is when Lebron's back, right, Like that kind of

1196
00:56:27,920 --> 00:56:30,120
Speaker 1: fixes a lot that you talked about limiting the bad,

1197
00:56:30,160 --> 00:56:32,279
Speaker 1: Like limiting the bad is really just getting him out

1198
00:56:32,280 --> 00:56:34,359
Speaker 1: there with Lebron, where Lebron is kind of controlling more

1199
00:56:34,400 --> 00:56:36,680
Speaker 1: of the actions, where the game matters when it stops,

1200
00:56:36,719 --> 00:56:39,239
Speaker 1: when it's in half court situations, like that's really where

1201
00:56:39,239 --> 00:56:41,680
Speaker 1: you see a lot of the turnovers. I think a

1202
00:56:41,719 --> 00:56:43,279
Speaker 1: lot of it with Russ, Like even like when you

1203
00:56:43,320 --> 00:56:45,640
Speaker 1: go back and just rewatch the games, like he does

1204
00:56:45,680 --> 00:56:48,319
Speaker 1: a lot of this where he drives with like no

1205
00:56:48,400 --> 00:56:51,360
Speaker 1: real intention of scoring. So he'll like drive getting the

1206
00:56:51,719 --> 00:56:53,480
Speaker 1: he'll get in the air to pass and you'll like

1207
00:56:53,520 --> 00:56:55,640
Speaker 1: turn the ball over there or you think a player

1208
00:56:55,680 --> 00:56:57,879
Speaker 1: will cut, or he'll have a like a player, he'll

1209
00:56:57,880 --> 00:56:59,359
Speaker 1: try to get them a law. Like it's a lot

1210
00:56:59,400 --> 00:57:02,760
Speaker 1: of this, like trying to find teammates in their spots

1211
00:57:02,760 --> 00:57:05,120
Speaker 1: when they're really not there, like and those turnums are

1212
00:57:05,120 --> 00:57:07,480
Speaker 1: just not going to go away in my opinion. He

1213
00:57:07,520 --> 00:57:10,120
Speaker 1: had eight turnovers actually tonight, so he actually shortened him

1214
00:57:10,120 --> 00:57:15,920
Speaker 1: one but again like but again he paid uh uh.

1215
00:57:15,960 --> 00:57:18,520
Speaker 1: He played forty three minutes to night and with no

1216
00:57:18,720 --> 00:57:22,280
Speaker 1: backup guard. But the only other real shock trading guard

1217
00:57:22,360 --> 00:57:25,320
Speaker 1: on the team is Malik Monk who who had three

1218
00:57:25,360 --> 00:57:27,520
Speaker 1: tourn overs as well. But you know, when that's the case,

1219
00:57:27,560 --> 00:57:29,680
Speaker 1: you're gonna get a whole bunch of turnovers. But he's

1220
00:57:29,720 --> 00:57:32,200
Speaker 1: a plus ten tonight, and I thought, like those turnovers

1221
00:57:32,200 --> 00:57:34,280
Speaker 1: are are what they are. They're not going away this season.

1222
00:57:34,440 --> 00:57:36,680
Speaker 1: That decision making is not going away. He has to

1223
00:57:36,720 --> 00:57:38,480
Speaker 1: be himself. We talked about this over the time, like

1224
00:57:38,560 --> 00:57:40,880
Speaker 1: Russ has to be Russ. And there's a good and

1225
00:57:40,920 --> 00:57:42,720
Speaker 1: a bad side to it. There's like a ying and

1226
00:57:42,760 --> 00:57:45,240
Speaker 1: a yang, a given a pull. But you know tonight

1227
00:57:45,280 --> 00:57:47,960
Speaker 1: you saw the good and that kind of aggressiveness mixed

1228
00:57:48,000 --> 00:57:50,160
Speaker 1: with the stars mixed. When a b and Lebron are

1229
00:57:50,160 --> 00:57:52,560
Speaker 1: on their on their game like it's it can be

1230
00:57:52,640 --> 00:57:57,560
Speaker 1: a winning formula, especially if their defense holds up. Ye agree. Um,

1231
00:57:58,000 --> 00:58:00,200
Speaker 1: we've just over an hour now. Is there anything else

1232
00:58:00,200 --> 00:58:03,360
Speaker 1: you wanted to touch on tonight before we call it? Uh? No,

1233
00:58:03,480 --> 00:58:05,040
Speaker 1: I think that's it, man. I just I just want

1234
00:58:05,080 --> 00:58:06,640
Speaker 1: to have on the point like this is a this

1235
00:58:06,720 --> 00:58:08,920
Speaker 1: is a big time win, like this is has not

1236
00:58:09,040 --> 00:58:11,840
Speaker 1: expected at all. I honestly thought they would loose tonight, Jason,

1237
00:58:11,840 --> 00:58:14,080
Speaker 1: You thought they would lose tonight, like beating this Miami

1238
00:58:14,160 --> 00:58:17,000
Speaker 1: team that's im playing so well. Uh, they hadn't lost

1239
00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:19,080
Speaker 1: before this. But I think they've just been very impressive

1240
00:58:19,120 --> 00:58:20,800
Speaker 1: this season, So I think this is a it's a

1241
00:58:20,840 --> 00:58:22,600
Speaker 1: big wain to build off of. Man Like They play

1242
00:58:22,640 --> 00:58:26,120
Speaker 1: Minnesota actually next on Friday, so that's another one you

1243
00:58:26,120 --> 00:58:28,880
Speaker 1: can kind of get. Minnesota has also been playing well

1244
00:58:28,920 --> 00:58:31,400
Speaker 1: this season. That's a winnable game, so you can kind

1245
00:58:31,400 --> 00:58:34,960
Speaker 1: of build up it. I would say that this is

1246
00:58:35,000 --> 00:58:37,960
Speaker 1: the game that if this team ends up winning the

1247
00:58:38,000 --> 00:58:41,080
Speaker 1: title or even just goes on any sort of significant

1248
00:58:41,160 --> 00:58:43,720
Speaker 1: run here, this is the game. This is the game

1249
00:58:43,760 --> 00:58:45,560
Speaker 1: that people are going to look back at as the

1250
00:58:45,600 --> 00:58:49,680
Speaker 1: one as the turning point. Um. I feel like they

1251
00:58:49,840 --> 00:58:52,680
Speaker 1: kind of sort of discovered a little bit of an

1252
00:58:52,680 --> 00:58:54,720
Speaker 1: identity tonight. We talked about this earlier in the show.

1253
00:58:54,880 --> 00:58:57,240
Speaker 1: Just like a team that if they can, if they can,

1254
00:58:57,760 --> 00:59:01,320
Speaker 1: if they can bottle up this effort in and replicate it,

1255
00:59:01,920 --> 00:59:05,240
Speaker 1: they've kind of become a team that can that can,

1256
00:59:05,440 --> 00:59:07,320
Speaker 1: that can really really shoot the ball. So if you

1257
00:59:07,360 --> 00:59:10,680
Speaker 1: combine that with really consistent effort, and with everything that

1258
00:59:10,760 --> 00:59:12,800
Speaker 1: Lebron and Ned bring on the defensive end of the ball,

1259
00:59:12,880 --> 00:59:15,919
Speaker 1: this could all kind of shape together into something that's

1260
00:59:15,960 --> 00:59:18,480
Speaker 1: really exciting and and the and this could be the

1261
00:59:18,480 --> 00:59:20,600
Speaker 1: turning point, but we are going to call it and

1262
00:59:20,600 --> 00:59:23,840
Speaker 1: I we I After the Minnesota game, there's a bunch

1263
00:59:23,880 --> 00:59:27,080
Speaker 1: of extra league wide stuff that Roger and I want

1264
00:59:27,120 --> 00:59:29,040
Speaker 1: to talk about we want to talk about Alex Caruso

1265
00:59:29,640 --> 00:59:33,160
Speaker 1: a little bit in the anecdote of this win. Yeah,

1266
00:59:33,160 --> 00:59:39,840
Speaker 1: don't want to discuss we'll get there. There was gosh,

1267
00:59:39,920 --> 00:59:42,600
Speaker 1: there was another big I wanted to talk about this

1268
00:59:42,720 --> 00:59:46,760
Speaker 1: concept of of people because Okay, we went too far

1269
00:59:46,920 --> 00:59:49,640
Speaker 1: here with this officiating thing to now it's like, now

1270
00:59:49,680 --> 00:59:52,240
Speaker 1: we're pretending like the current players aren't anywhere near as

1271
00:59:52,280 --> 00:59:56,400
Speaker 1: skilled as as as they look just because scoring numbers

1272
00:59:56,400 --> 00:59:58,720
Speaker 1: are down. I want to talk about that a little bit.

1273
00:59:58,760 --> 01:00:01,440
Speaker 1: There's a bunch of there's bunch of different things like

1274
01:00:01,480 --> 01:00:03,400
Speaker 1: that we're gonna touch on and we'll kind of try

1275
01:00:03,480 --> 01:00:07,200
Speaker 1: to slam that into the postgame show, um after the

1276
01:00:07,200 --> 01:00:11,880
Speaker 1: Timberwolves game on what's that Friday. So it sounds like

1277
01:00:11,880 --> 01:00:13,760
Speaker 1: a planning. Thank you guys so much for the support.

1278
01:00:14,040 --> 01:00:17,200
Speaker 1: We are continue to be completely blown away by how

1279
01:00:17,200 --> 01:00:19,040
Speaker 1: many of you guys come to hang out with us.

1280
01:00:19,480 --> 01:00:21,200
Speaker 1: And I'm sorry we didn't get to any collars tonight.

1281
01:00:21,320 --> 01:00:23,720
Speaker 1: Just had too much exciting stuff to talk about after

1282
01:00:23,760 --> 01:00:26,080
Speaker 1: a big win. But we will get to some callers

1283
01:00:26,120 --> 01:00:29,080
Speaker 1: on Friday. This will be on DASH Radio tomorrow morning

1284
01:00:29,120 --> 01:00:31,720
Speaker 1: at seven am, and it will be on our podcast

1285
01:00:31,800 --> 01:00:34,600
Speaker 1: feed here in about thirty minutes. Thank you again as always,

1286
01:00:34,600 --> 01:00:36,840
Speaker 1: and we will see you guys on Friday. Thanks everyone,