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Speaker 2: All right, well was with hoops tonight? You're at the volume?
Speaker 3: Have you Monday? Everybody? Hope?
Speaker 2: All if you guys are having a great start here,
Speaker 2: we got a jam pack show for you guys tonight.
Speaker 2: Tonight we're gonna be hitting that absolutely wild game four
Speaker 2: between the Warriors and the Rockets. After that, I want
Speaker 2: to do a dive into the Cleveland Cavaliers offense, which
Speaker 2: hung a ridiculous one and eighteen offensive rating in the
Speaker 2: half court versus the Miami Heap in the first round,
Speaker 2: starting to have some big picture thoughts about them that
Speaker 2: we're gonna get to. And then at the tail end
Speaker 2: of the show, like we always do, we're gonna take
Speaker 2: some questions from the chat, So stick around for the
Speaker 2: end and we can bounce around to some of these
Speaker 2: other series around the league or any follow up questions
Speaker 2: you got. I really like when you guys use the
Speaker 2: chat questions as an opportunity to bring up specific parts
Speaker 2: of series that I may not get to in the
Speaker 2: instant reaction. You guys know the joke before we get started.
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Speaker 2: We also have our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,
Speaker 2: where were making content throughout there to make sure you
Speaker 2: guys follow us there, And then, last but not least,
Speaker 2: keep dropping mailbag questions in YouTube comments so we can
Speaker 2: get to him throughout the remainder of the postseason. All right,
Speaker 2: let's talk some basketball. So super weird game, insanely physical,
Speaker 2: very contentious. Early, I thought the first scuffle was super dumb,
Speaker 2: Like I thought Draymond said it perfectly legal playoff screen.
Speaker 2: I've talked about how the Warriors set a shit ton
Speaker 2: of illegal screens.
Speaker 3: That wasn't one of them. I thought he was set.
Speaker 2: I thought I thought he leaned into it a little bit,
Speaker 2: but that's pretty standard for a good hard playoff screen.
Speaker 2: And I mean, Thompson just got caught off guard, bike
Speaker 2: got knocked over, Dylan Brooks foul, Steph, Steph falls over.
Speaker 2: Steph just points up to him like, hey, buddy, you
Speaker 2: just gave me two free throws. And I thought Dylan
Speaker 2: kind of initiated that by reaching down to try to
Speaker 2: grab the basketball from him as Draymond was helping him up.
Speaker 2: And I thought the technical specifically on Draymond in that
Speaker 2: situation was really dumb, and that ended up putting the
Speaker 2: refs into a tough spot on the next sequence because
Speaker 2: on the Tar Easton play, you bet your ass, Draymond
Speaker 2: Green deserved a technical as he was like grabbing his
Speaker 2: leg and tried to supplex him on the middle of
Speaker 2: the floor, and that put the refs in a really
Speaker 2: tough spot. But I actually thought the ref's handled it
Speaker 2: pretty well by giving him a flagrant instead of giving
Speaker 2: him a TECH, because Draymond did not deserve to be
Speaker 2: ejected there because the first tech was bogus. But both
Speaker 2: Draymond and Steph were just a bit off their game tonight.
Speaker 2: I thought Steph showed his first signs of some wear
Speaker 2: and tear in this series, like he was struggling to
Speaker 2: get open. He had three jump shots that he left
Speaker 2: way short, like way short off the front of the rim.
Speaker 2: That is a strong indicator of a shooter just not
Speaker 2: really having his legs underneath him. And so I think
Speaker 2: that under those circumstances, Draymond being in foul trouble that
Speaker 2: really unlocked this Fred van Vliet alprin Shannghun two man game,
Speaker 2: which we'll talk about in a second, but the yet
Speaker 2: Fred van Vliet playing really well in this game, as
Speaker 2: a team. The Rocket shot forty eight percent from three.
Speaker 2: A lot of things went the wrong way for the
Speaker 2: Warriors tonight, which put a lot of pressure on the
Speaker 2: rest of the roster to be awesome, and they were.
Speaker 2: It turned into a super tight game because, as I mentioned,
Speaker 2: as Draymond got into foul trouble that really unlocked the
Speaker 2: Fred van Vliet Alpern Shangun two man game. And it
Speaker 2: was a combination of different things, Like there was a
Speaker 2: stretch where Shangun was just going straight iso against Quinton
Speaker 2: post and having some success. But when him and Fred
Speaker 2: were out there, what they were doing is they were
Speaker 2: just posting Alpern Shangoun with Fred van Vliet one pass away.
Speaker 2: And the thing that makes that tough in particular is
Speaker 2: if you double from that top side, it's just the
Speaker 2: easiest kickout pass in the world. And so then it
Speaker 2: turned into this like you're letting Shangun play one on
Speaker 2: one in the post where he's scoring, or you're helping
Speaker 2: off of Fred VanVleet where he's hitting all of his
Speaker 2: wide open catch and shoot threes, and that just dragged
Speaker 2: the game into a much more competitive situation than the
Speaker 2: Warriors are used to specifically dealing with Rockets actually having
Speaker 2: some success on offense in the half court.
Speaker 3: And then late in the game, we.
Speaker 2: Got a steady diet of the Fred van Vliet Alpern
Speaker 2: Shangun two man game in the form of an inverted
Speaker 2: ball screen basically having shanggoon handle and Fred van Vliet
Speaker 2: set a ball score, and they put Gary Payton the
Speaker 2: second onto They put Gary Payton the second on Fred,
Speaker 2: and they put Draymond on Shanggun. First time they ran it,
Speaker 2: Gary Payton helped on the screen, so Draymond and Gary
Speaker 2: Payton were both on the screen or Fred van Vliet
Speaker 2: slipped out of it to the top of the key,
Speaker 2: he was wide open again. That was how he got
Speaker 2: the three that tied the game. Then after that they
Speaker 2: were like, okay, well we don't want to give up
Speaker 2: the pick and pop three in this inverted ball screen,
Speaker 2: so let's try switching it.
Speaker 3: So they switched it.
Speaker 2: Draymond goes with Fred van Vliet alprin Shangun finally just
Speaker 2: immediately punishes Gary Payton by spinning over that left shoulder
Speaker 2: and making that scoop shot. So it gave the Rockets
Speaker 2: like kind of like I was talking about like, what's
Speaker 2: in these playoffs series? What's your action like if you
Speaker 2: need to create a shot at the end of the game,
Speaker 2: what are you going to do? And for the Rockets,
Speaker 2: for the first time all series, they found something that
Speaker 2: they could actually go to and have some real success
Speaker 2: with in the form of the Alprin Shangun Fred van
Speaker 2: Vliet two man game, which by the way, I would
Speaker 2: imagine we'll see quite a bit more of when we
Speaker 2: get into game five. But on the final possession, you
Speaker 2: need one stop to win the game, and they run
Speaker 2: the exact same action Shanggun at the top Fred van
Speaker 2: Vliet inverted ball screen step one was not allowing the switch.
Speaker 2: Both Gary Payton and Draymond Green did a great job
Speaker 2: with physicality preventing the switch from occurring. Then I actually
Speaker 2: thought there was plenty of time for them to try
Speaker 2: to set it again, but immediately they bailed on the
Speaker 2: screening action and Shangun went straight ISO against Draymont Now
Speaker 2: against Gary Payton. Because of the size advantage, he was
Speaker 2: able to spin over that left shoulder and get all
Speaker 2: the way to the rim. Draymond Green beats him to
Speaker 2: the spot, forces him into a deeper hook shot a
Speaker 2: shot that Shangun can make. And look, here's the thing.
Speaker 2: When you're doing that job guarding the other team's best
Speaker 2: offensive player in a one possession situation, you're not going
Speaker 2: to block them. In all likelihood, you're not likely or
Speaker 2: going to necessarily take the ball away from them.
Speaker 3: Although we've seen that.
Speaker 2: Jackson squeeted after the game, making reference to our mailbag
Speaker 2: the other night when he said that Draymond is the
Speaker 2: clutchest defender in the league, and he's right about that,
Speaker 2: and we have an example in the past of him
Speaker 2: against Jokic actually stripping him clean in a.
Speaker 3: Situation like that.
Speaker 2: But for the most part, your job in that situation
Speaker 2: is just to make him take the toughest shot that
Speaker 2: he can possibly take. That's the job. And for Shangun
Speaker 2: in that situation, it's a physical bumped like dislodged left
Speaker 2: shoulder hook from deeper than something closer to the basket, right,
Speaker 2: And that's what Draymond did, and he ended up getting
Speaker 2: the stop that was needed to close this game out.
Speaker 2: And that's the thing. With all those circumstances going the
Speaker 2: wrong way, you just need to make a play. As
Speaker 2: I always say, it doesn't matter how bad you've played,
Speaker 2: if you can make a play at the end of
Speaker 2: the game that can help your team win. Draymond the
Speaker 2: defense on Shanggon Steph Curry that baseline out of bounds
Speaker 2: play where he comes off and gets the switch against
Speaker 2: Shanguon and smartly uses the pump fake to get shangu
Speaker 2: off of his feet. Biggs typically aren't as disciplined in
Speaker 2: those sorts of situations. That one shot was a monster
Speaker 2: shot from Steph Curry down the stretch. So even though
Speaker 2: both of them were a little off their game tonight,
Speaker 2: they both both made huge plays down the stretch. But
Speaker 2: the circumstances Draymond's foult trouble, Steph's rough kind of like
Speaker 2: athletic Night, the three point shooting from the Rockets, the
Speaker 2: Fred van Vliet getting going. Like I always talk about,
Speaker 2: the rockets are just so much tougher to handle when
Speaker 2: Fred van Vliet or Jalen Green are going to the
Speaker 2: extent that they are going. And it just a lot
Speaker 2: went against them, and so you needed other guys to
Speaker 2: step up, and a bunch of guys stepped up. Jimmy
Speaker 2: Butler was a godsend in this game, just brought a
Speaker 2: ton of downhill aggression. I think the first and biggest
Speaker 2: takeaway is that he looks great physically, so any concern
Speaker 2: surrounding the butt injury, I think you can feel a
Speaker 2: lot better about that after this game. He did a
Speaker 2: great job of attacking bigs and switches. The Warriors did
Speaker 2: a great job out off of Jimmy Butler cutting off
Speaker 2: the ball. Buddy healed early in the game. Like, when
Speaker 2: those guys are driving to the basket, all eyes tend
Speaker 2: to be directed towards them, and if you can cut
Speaker 2: and move off the ball, you can create a lot
Speaker 2: of opportunities there. And guys were moving off of Jimmy.
Speaker 2: It felt like every single time they needed a stabilizing bucket,
Speaker 2: Jimmy was able to make something happen. And then Brandon
Speaker 2: pa Jemski six made threes some beautiful closeout attacks. Had
Speaker 2: a huge stop late in the game against Fred van
Speaker 2: Vliet with a back pressure situation where he blocked Fred
Speaker 2: on a floater on a key possession. Late in the game,
Speaker 2: Pods had four offensive rebounds. I thought as a team,
Speaker 2: the Warriors did a great job in the second half
Speaker 2: on the offensive glass, like one of the biggest ways
Speaker 2: you can punish a team for putting two on the
Speaker 2: ball or being really aggressive on a star. The way
Speaker 2: that the Rockets have been with stephfall series is to
Speaker 2: crash the glass, because if you're open for a three,
Speaker 2: you're not just open for a three, you're open for
Speaker 2: a cut. You're open for a crash to get something
Speaker 2: off of the offensive glass, and the Warriors did a
Speaker 2: bunch of damage in those situations. Pajemski was amazing tonight.
Speaker 2: Buddy Heal put in fifteen points. He had some really
Speaker 2: nice cuts off of Jimmy Butler drives as well. Quinton
Speaker 2: Post scored thirteen points. Had some trouble in his minutes
Speaker 2: because he had to play a lot of one on
Speaker 2: one defense against Shangoon, but those buckets are important in
Speaker 2: a series like this where the buckets are hard to
Speaker 2: come by. In the game, just an absolutely huge win
Speaker 2: for the Warriors to survive the type of night that
Speaker 2: they were having. And again, it's just a completely different
Speaker 2: series if one single play goes the other way. If
Speaker 2: Steph doesn't hit that three in the left corner, if
Speaker 2: Draymond doesn't get that stop against Shanng Gooon, if Brandon
Speaker 2: Pajemski doesn't beat that close out late in the clock
Speaker 2: and make that banking runner against Jalen Green, you know
Speaker 2: like it. There are just so many examples of guys
Speaker 2: just finding a way to make a play in a
Speaker 2: game that is determined by inches. If we've learned anything
Speaker 2: from the last few days, it's that these playoffs, the
Speaker 2: margins are just so thin between everything looking different if
Speaker 2: one thing goes in a different direction, Like the Piston
Speaker 2: series has swung on a few late game sequences, the
Speaker 2: Wolves Lakers game has swung on a few late sequences,
Speaker 2: this Rocket Warriors series has swung on a few late
Speaker 2: game sequences. It's just it's the margins are so thin,
Speaker 2: which is why I talk so much during the regular
Speaker 2: season about attention to detail. One mistake can be the
Speaker 2: difference between you winning and losing not just a game,
Speaker 2: but a series. You go on the road back to
Speaker 2: La to two if you're the Wolves, totally different series.
Speaker 2: You go on the road back to Houston to two
Speaker 2: for the Warriors, that's a totally different series. You lose
Speaker 2: that game last night if you're or in the morning
Speaker 2: if you're the Knicks, totally different series going home to two,
Speaker 2: and it's like it's just it's always comes down to
Speaker 2: those small details. Stick around for the mail bag at
Speaker 2: the tail end of the show if you guys have
Speaker 2: other questions about that series. Before we talk Calves real quick,
Speaker 2: I just wanted to make an announcement for the show
Speaker 2: that is actually something very important that I'm very are
Speaker 2: excited about. I am excited to do notes that we
Speaker 2: are starting a partnership with Playback. This is a platform
Speaker 2: that I really believe in. Actually personally reached out to
Speaker 2: the Volume and asked them to explore it specifically because
Speaker 2: I believe in it. We have a lot of big
Speaker 2: picture plans. I'm excited to use playback next year potentially
Speaker 2: as like a watch along kind of thing where we
Speaker 2: can find Big League pass games and you guys can
Speaker 2: come hang out during the game and we can actually
Speaker 2: watch a game together, talk about the game together. I
Speaker 2: can give like live play by play, live analysis of
Speaker 2: the game as things are going on. I have a
Speaker 2: lot of big picture plans for it. But for this
Speaker 2: year's playoffs, we're starting with something that we're calling the
Speaker 2: Oops Tonight after show, So starting on Wednesday, two days
Speaker 2: from today, after Game five of the Warriors Rocket Series.
Speaker 2: In Game five, of the Lakers Wolves series immediately after
Speaker 2: we finished doing the live reaction show here on YouTube.
Speaker 2: So we're still doing the normal live reaction show, but
Speaker 2: right when we're done and we're gonna head over to
Speaker 2: playback for an after show and playback. One of the
Speaker 2: big things that I love about it is amazing for
Speaker 2: interaction with listeners, So you can actually come on stage
Speaker 2: and ask questions to myself and to Jackson. We can
Speaker 2: talk coops as a community together. We're gonna watch film together.
Speaker 2: So like, imagine we're watching game one of the second
Speaker 2: round series between the Warriors and the Timberwolves, and the
Speaker 2: Warriors win the game with like a huge eighteen to
Speaker 2: two run, or like it's Thunder versus Clippers Nuggets and
Speaker 2: they win a game on a huge fourth quarter run.
Speaker 2: We'll watch it together and you guys will be able
Speaker 2: to ask questions as we go. I just think it's
Speaker 2: going to be an incredible addition to what we do
Speaker 2: here at Hoops tonight. And I think there's a ton
Speaker 2: of big picture potential too. So we have a link
Speaker 2: in the description of this video for you guys to
Speaker 2: follow to get set up with a playback account, and
Speaker 2: that link will take you directly to our channel, so
Speaker 2: you guys can get set up. Head over there, get
Speaker 2: subscribed to our channel, and we will get started with
Speaker 2: what is going to be a really cool new venture
Speaker 2: for the show.
Speaker 3: Starting Wednesday.
Speaker 2: We have an incredible slate with Warriors, Rockets, Aakers, Wolves
Speaker 2: game fives will be going right to play back immediately
Speaker 2: after a live show finishes that, So do me a
Speaker 2: favorite tonight.
Speaker 3: Guys.
Speaker 2: When we're done with the video, head over to playback.
Speaker 2: Get signed up, so you guys are ready for Wednesday.
Speaker 2: All right, let's talk some Calves and then after we're
Speaker 2: done talking Calves, we'll take some mailback questions from the chat.
Speaker 2: So just an unbelievable offensive avalanche from the Calves in
Speaker 2: the last two games, or as Calves fans call.
Speaker 3: It, a cavalanche.
Speaker 2: The stats that came out of this series are absolutely crazy.
Speaker 2: The Calves were number one in half court offense during
Speaker 2: the regular season with an offensive rating of one oh six.
Speaker 2: In the first round, they logged an offensive rating of
Speaker 2: one to eighteen. Their offensive rating in the half court
Speaker 2: in this series is higher than the Celtics last year
Speaker 2: logged against the Heat overall in the first round series,
Speaker 2: counting transition, counting everything in the game, they had a
Speaker 2: one the heat or the Calves in this first round series.
Speaker 2: This first round sweep logged a one thirty six overall
Speaker 2: offensive rating counting transition, possessions and everything else, sixteen points
Speaker 2: better per one hundred possessions than any other team in
Speaker 2: this playoff run. They demolished the heat and transition. They
Speaker 2: scored forty three transition points just in the last two
Speaker 2: games down in Miami. Their bigs run the floor extremely well.
Speaker 2: Jared Allen did a ton of damage there. Evan Mobley
Speaker 2: has been kind of an interesting connective passer for them
Speaker 2: in transition. As he catches the ball up the floor,
Speaker 2: they move the ball well. They'll fill three or four
Speaker 2: passes right away on these transition possessions. You're in the
Speaker 2: blender immediately. But as I mentioned, in the half court,
Speaker 2: they are lighting teams up. They got this is crazy
Speaker 2: on pick and roll. Just on pick and rolls in
Speaker 2: the half court, including passes, the Cavs logged one point
Speaker 2: three to two points per possession. That's astronomical. Three of
Speaker 2: the very best in the league to do it. We
Speaker 2: all know what Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland can do
Speaker 2: Tied Jerome in the first round, obviously in a smaller
Speaker 2: role coming off the bench, twenty six points, six rebounds,
Speaker 2: and eight assists per thirty six minutes. So that's the
Speaker 2: level at which he's producing in the minutes that he's
Speaker 2: on the floor relative to what it would look like
Speaker 2: in a larger role. On sixty eight percent true shooting.
Speaker 2: He ran forty five ball screens in the first round.
Speaker 2: That led to sixty three points one point four points
Speaker 2: per possession a one forty offensive rating on ti Jerme
Speaker 2: ball screens including passes. He personally shot fourteen for twenty
Speaker 2: three from the field out of ball screens. The shot
Speaker 2: making is insane. Obviously the floaters, but he's been hitting
Speaker 2: like crazy contested off.
Speaker 3: The dribble threes. He hit seven pull up threes in
Speaker 3: that series. He shot nine for sixteen on pull up
Speaker 3: jump shots. Overall, his playmaking has been amazing. Finding cutters.
Speaker 3: He's a great cutter himself when he's off the ball
Speaker 3: in those situations. I have to shout out to Cleveland Biggs.
Speaker 3: Jared Allen demolished kelll Ware in this series. Just kept
Speaker 3: getting behind him on the roll, kept getting above him.
Speaker 3: On the roll kept beating him down the floor.
Speaker 2: In transition. Evan Mobley, who had some struggles in the
Speaker 2: past as a short role player, has shown a lot
Speaker 2: of flashes in this series as a better quicker processor
Speaker 2: on the short role and finisher in the short role.
Speaker 2: It's so equal opportunity. Everyone is in Rhythm Mobiley's still
Speaker 2: running action, Struce's running action on the second side. DeAndre
Speaker 2: Hunter is getting his ISOs, and he's getting a couple
Speaker 2: of ball screens per game. It's so important to have
Speaker 2: everybody involved to play at the pace that the Cavs
Speaker 2: play at, because if you have play finishers surrounding guys
Speaker 2: that start everything, it's hard to play in transition because
Speaker 2: guys hesitate, they don't feel empowered to be aggressive in
Speaker 2: those situations. You need decisive and aggression. You need decisive
Speaker 2: and aggressive offense around the entire floor. In order to
Speaker 2: run this style of offense, you gotta have Max Strews
Speaker 2: feel like I like this shot, I'm taking it. You
Speaker 2: have to have Max Shrew's thinking I can curl off
Speaker 2: of this screen and make a play for myself for
Speaker 2: my teammates. You have to have Evan Mobley feeling like
Speaker 2: He's empowered to be aggressive off the bounce. Everybody on
Speaker 2: the floor has to be empowered in order for this
Speaker 2: style to work, and it's working. The catch and shoot
Speaker 2: plays insane DeAndre Hunter and Max Struce. I was watching
Speaker 2: a bunch of offensive tape earlier this afternoon and like
Speaker 2: the kinds of like smothered catch and shoot looks that
Speaker 2: Struce and DeAndre Hunter will knock down are insane. Guys
Speaker 2: are right there up on them and they're just rising
Speaker 2: up over the top and knocking down shots. DeAndre Hunter
Speaker 2: shot seven for nine on guarded catch and shoot threes
Speaker 2: in this series. Max Struce was eight for nineteen. That's
Speaker 2: forty two percent. Those guys made fifteen catch and shoot
Speaker 2: threes in the series with the defender right up on them.
Speaker 2: I am dangerously close to picking the Calves to beat
Speaker 2: the Celtics should they meet in the conference finals. I'm
Speaker 2: not going to decide until after the second round. The
Speaker 2: this is a team that is quite literally humming on
Speaker 2: all cylinders. Again, for comparison, last year, the Celtics against
Speaker 2: the Heat in the first round obviously a little bit
Speaker 2: different team, but against the Heat last year logged a
Speaker 2: one to eighteen offensive rating. The Calves are at one
Speaker 2: thirty six in that first round. The Calves are operating
Speaker 2: at a higher level offensively right now than any team
Speaker 2: in the league by a wide margin. They have home
Speaker 2: court advantage, They're a bit less banged up, although Darius
Speaker 2: Garland did miss the last two games with a big
Speaker 2: toast brain on his left foot. I'm leaning much closer
Speaker 2: to that being a coin flip series with how both
Speaker 2: teams are looking at this point, and I'm again I'm
Speaker 2: gonna wait till after the next round. How things look
Speaker 2: in the next round will obviously be something I keep
Speaker 2: an eye on. As I mentioned last night, the Pacers
Speaker 2: and Calves are a really interesting matchup because I think
Speaker 2: the Pacers are a very similar type of team to
Speaker 2: the Calves. They just are a little less talented at
Speaker 2: most of their position groups, but they play a very
Speaker 2: similar style. They did give the Calves some issues at
Speaker 2: times this year, so I'm just really interested to see
Speaker 2: how the Calves look in that matchup. The Knicks, obviously,
Speaker 2: from this Pistons team have been forced to improve on
Speaker 2: both ends of the floor over the course of the series,
Speaker 2: as they've diversified their offense and had to get stops
Speaker 2: in big moments late in games that they've been able
Speaker 2: to get. Calves are Calves, Pacers and Nick Celtics is
Speaker 2: gonna be a really fun second round in the Eastern Conference.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna wait until we get to the conference finals
Speaker 2: before I make any sort of pick there, but I
Speaker 2: am dangerously close to picking Cleveland. They're just playing at
Speaker 2: such an insanely high level. And when you look at
Speaker 2: like and again, I know guys were out of the
Speaker 2: lineup for Boston in the last win that the Calves had,
Speaker 2: but the way that the Celtics jumped them by like
Speaker 2: twenty in the first quarter, and the Calves just chewed
Speaker 2: them up and spit them out over the rest of
Speaker 2: the game, just by playing with pace and just driving
Speaker 2: and kicking them to death. The Calves literally in this
Speaker 2: first round made one of the most tough and disciplined
Speaker 2: organizations in the NBA.
Speaker 3: Quit. They literally quit.
Speaker 2: The Cats destroyed them. They led by sixty today in
Speaker 2: a playoff game. They're playing some special basketball and I
Speaker 2: am very much taking notice, and I'm gonna be paying
Speaker 2: very close attention as we had into that second round series.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get into our mail bag. For about
Speaker 2: ten to fifteen minutes before we get out here today.
Speaker 4: Let's do it. Let's do it. Mailbag time.
Speaker 1: Everyone, Please ask your mailbag questions in the chat and
Speaker 1: we will get to.
Speaker 4: The best ones.
Speaker 1: First one, is it sustainable for Steph Curry to play
Speaker 1: this many minutes?
Speaker 2: There's been a lot of talk surrounding this in the
Speaker 2: in the entirety of the playoff field, different guys getting
Speaker 2: pushed crazy minute totals, and whether or not guys are
Speaker 2: conditioned or ready for it. And quite frankly, in this
Speaker 2: first round setup, with all the extra days off, I
Speaker 2: don't really have much of a problem with it. I
Speaker 2: think he can get a little harry once you start
Speaker 2: getting into a second, third round series where you start
Speaker 2: playing every other day. But like I look at it
Speaker 2: like this, Steph is wearing down a little bit, so
Speaker 2: is everybody. These playoffs are extremely physical. The most important
Speaker 2: thing you can do is end a series early. And
Speaker 2: so I actually think it's more important to play an
Speaker 2: extra three to four minutes here or there and end
Speaker 2: of series and five than it is to cut minutes
Speaker 2: down but then have to play an entire additional game,
Speaker 2: an entire different especially when you get later in the series,
Speaker 2: and the travel schedule gets crazier as you go back
Speaker 2: and forth, like game four, Game five, Game six, Game
Speaker 2: seven are all in different cities, so like it can
Speaker 2: get really tough at that point. I think it's a
Speaker 2: valuable I think it's a worthwhile risk to try to
Speaker 2: end a series early.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree.
Speaker 1: And even though it does feel like Steph was wearing
Speaker 1: down physically a little bit in this game and from
Speaker 1: this series. This is also why Steve Kerr doesn't play
Speaker 1: him forty minutes a game in the regular season. This
Speaker 1: is literally why, right, Like he feels more comfortab and
Speaker 1: Steph I'm sure I feel I'm sure that it's a
Speaker 1: two way street. They both feel more comfortable being able
Speaker 1: to do this in the playoffs because he's not playing
Speaker 1: whatever it is, thirty two minutes a game in the
Speaker 1: regular season as opposed to Jalen Brunson playing thirty nine. Right,
Speaker 1: that is part of the equation if you're the Golden
Speaker 1: State Warriors.
Speaker 2: And for the record, there's no proven harder fast rule,
Speaker 2: Like people disagree about it. Talk to Tom Thibodeau, see
Speaker 2: what he says, you know what I mean, And there's
Speaker 2: so like think of it like this if you're let's
Speaker 2: take Steve Kerr versus like JJ Reddick and some of
Speaker 2: Steve Kerr's philosophy over the years, Like do you remember
Speaker 2: when Steve Kerr took Steph out for a brief stretch
Speaker 2: in the middle of the fourth quarter in Game three
Speaker 2: and you could tell Steph looked at him like, why
Speaker 2: are you taking me out? And you I obviously I
Speaker 2: am not a lip reader, but it looked like Steve
Speaker 2: Kerr kind of leaned into him and said like, hey,
Speaker 2: just get a quick breather here so that you can
Speaker 2: come in and close the deal. And so again, there's
Speaker 2: two different ways to look at it. There's the JJ
Speaker 2: Reddick Tom Thibodeau type of style, where it's like, all
Speaker 2: we have to do is survive this game when we
Speaker 2: get this extra time off, these are my guys. I
Speaker 2: trust these guys. Let's ride him through to the finish line.
Speaker 2: And then there's the Steve Kerr approach, which is like,
Speaker 2: if Steph is closer to one hundred percent of his
Speaker 2: ability for five minutes, do we have a better chance
Speaker 2: of winning the game than Steph being at eighty three
Speaker 2: percent of his ability for seven minutes In a fourth quarter,
Speaker 2: and I feel like he's constantly kind of weighing that balance,
Speaker 2: and a lot of times it's a lot of times
Speaker 2: it's a judgment call based on how the game's going,
Speaker 2: Like if the bench group is struggling, he might pull
Speaker 2: the trigger a little bit earlier. It's in that game three,
Speaker 2: I think Steve literally was thinking, like, we're kind of
Speaker 2: in control here. We can afford to buy Steph a
Speaker 2: minute or two so that he has a chance to rest.
Speaker 2: But it's always complicated, and there are conflicting ideologies, and
Speaker 2: a lot of it is just playing the results. Like
Speaker 2: if the Knicks lose a game and they look tired,
Speaker 2: everyone's going to call Tom Thibdau an idiot. After game four,
Speaker 2: everyone calls JJ Redick an idiot. But if it works
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, there are geniuses, and so a
Speaker 2: lot of it's just playing the results.
Speaker 1: Next question, what were your thoughts on Trace Jackson Davis
Speaker 1: getting some run today in general, but also specifically over
Speaker 1: Jonathan Kamena.
Speaker 2: It was typically to guard Shangoon, and it's a really
Speaker 2: tough spot for Trace to get put in because he
Speaker 2: literally hasn't played and you have to go guard the
Speaker 2: guy on the other team that's in like full rhythm,
Speaker 2: who like guys like This is not a revelation for Shangun.
Speaker 2: Shangun has been kicking people's asses all year. Ye I.
Speaker 2: I joke on the show that he's been like the
Speaker 2: winner of my Like Film Session award for the guy
Speaker 2: that most frequently has to be watching the film, like,
Speaker 2: holy shit, he's kicking his ass like Shanggun is an
Speaker 2: ass kicker. Like he he is a very good player.
Speaker 2: If you can't match up with him physically, and Post
Speaker 2: was getting cooked, they needed to buy a few minutes.
Speaker 2: It was worth the try. It didn't work out, but
Speaker 2: I mean it is what it is. I don't blame
Speaker 2: Trace though, because he got put in a really tough spot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think the answer why over Jonathan
Speaker 1: Kminga is Jonathan Minga was bad in Game three, like
Speaker 1: actually a detriment I would, I would say to their
Speaker 1: team in his minutes and Draymond was in a foul trouble.
Speaker 1: He Trace isn't playing if Draymond's not in a foul trouble.
Speaker 1: Another question, why aren't this the commentary? Why aren't Draymond
Speaker 1: Green and Jimmy Butler looking to score more.
Speaker 4: It feels like.
Speaker 1: They passed up a couple open layups for kickouts to threes,
Speaker 1: So a.
Speaker 2: Couple things the uh Draymond I think needs to I
Speaker 2: think Draymond's actually managed tonight offensively pretty well. Took a
Speaker 2: handful of catching and shoot threes, didn't force the issue.
Speaker 2: I thought Jimmy's aggression was perfect in this game. His
Speaker 2: aggression on that left corner three kind of a fifty
Speaker 2: to fifty call. We joked about it before the show.
Speaker 2: It was like, I personally disagreed with that call, but
Speaker 2: at the same time, as always say, bad calls are
Speaker 2: a part of basketball games are just kind of like
Speaker 2: something that you just see. But like his aggression. They
Speaker 2: went to him on that late ISO on the right wing,
Speaker 2: which I thought was interesting when he took the left
Speaker 2: shoulder fate that he ended up missing. I thought Jimmy's
Speaker 2: aggression was fine as far as the rim decisions, Like
Speaker 2: in a series this physical, there's a lot of misses
Speaker 2: around the rim that are not leading to foul shots,
Speaker 2: and so if you don't feel really good about your
Speaker 2: chances of making the shot, you don't want to put
Speaker 2: the outcome in the hand of the ref. Like, that's
Speaker 2: the big issue with grifting that I have and why
Speaker 2: I'm not a huge fan of it in the big picture.
Speaker 2: And by the way, I'm not. I have grifters on
Speaker 2: the team that I root for, and the Warriors have
Speaker 2: a grifter on their team. Like the downside to grifting
Speaker 2: is you take control of the situation and you put
Speaker 2: it in the hands of the official, whereas if you
Speaker 2: function more as a shot maker, you put the control
Speaker 2: of the situation into your hands. And so, honestly, like,
Speaker 2: I think it was good that Jimmy wasn't trying to
Speaker 2: just grift at the rim all game and that he
Speaker 2: was trying to like make the kickout reads that were there,
Speaker 2: because that keeps control of the situation in the hands
Speaker 2: of the players.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Draymond has talked about this before, which is
Speaker 1: that I mean specifically with Steph Curry, but even in
Speaker 1: general Buddy Healed, whoever you want to say of their
Speaker 1: actual shooters, but he talks about Steph Curry where a
Speaker 1: contested Steph Curry three point attempt is worth more than
Speaker 1: a contested Draymond Green layup attempt. It's a better shot, period,
Speaker 1: point blank, no matter what the context is surrounding those
Speaker 1: two elements, right, And so if Draymond Green is not
Speaker 1: gonna pass the layup, a wide open one off, a
Speaker 1: fake handoff where the guy defense totally bites, right, But
Speaker 1: is he is it in the team's best interest to
Speaker 1: challenge Steven Adams, for example, who was in for long
Speaker 1: stretch of the game in the second half at the rim.
Speaker 4: Probably not. And he was blocking every and he was
Speaker 4: blocking everything. He was a monster.
Speaker 1: And especially when everyone on all parts of the defense
Speaker 1: are allowed to be more physical than they've been. You know,
Speaker 1: for eighty two games of the regular.
Speaker 2: Season, Steph Curry guarded catch and shoot jump shot is
Speaker 2: worth one point one points. So Draymond would have to
Speaker 2: shoot fifty five percent at minimum on a contested layup
Speaker 2: for that to be a worthwhile shot for the offense
Speaker 2: and Draymond Green in let's see it, Draymond Green in
Speaker 2: this series or in the season, Draymon's shooting fifty five
Speaker 2: percent on layups, and so like it's like right there
Speaker 2: to where like for Draymond, if he doesn't feel like
Speaker 2: he's gonna make it, it's the right decision.
Speaker 3: To keep it moving.
Speaker 2: Also, there's there's everything is I'm I'm a big believer
Speaker 2: in tracking data as an opportunity to gain advantage whenever
Speaker 2: you have an opportunity. So like, yeah, like you should
Speaker 2: track shot value and stuff like that, but the basketball
Speaker 2: is way more art than science, as I always say.
Speaker 2: And like, if you turn down one layup that is
Speaker 2: worth roughly the same amount of points as a Steph
Speaker 2: Curry contested three, but Steph gets another look that helps
Speaker 2: him build rhythm that could potentially lead to a Steph
Speaker 2: avalanche later on. Like you're investing, Like that's that's part
Speaker 2: of the point guard position. Like you've got to invest
Speaker 2: in the rhythm of your teammates over the course of games.
Speaker 2: And like all of this stuff is intricately connected. And
Speaker 2: you know, there's a reason why there's a Warriors culture
Speaker 2: that's like make the extra pass. Like, hey, buddy, this
Speaker 2: is your teammate. Let me introduce to you. His name
Speaker 2: is Steph or like you know, Jimmy Butler saying, hey,
Speaker 2: don't ever dribble the ball, buddy, healed, because like they're
Speaker 2: all working together to maximize this offensive system through their communication,
Speaker 2: and like the best version of the Warriors is the
Speaker 2: version of the Warriors you saw in game three and
Speaker 2: in game one, which is when Steph Curry is When
Speaker 2: Steph Curry is cooking, the other team literally gets like
Speaker 2: emotionally demolished, and they like curl up within themselves and
Speaker 2: every other warrior gets invigorated on defense and they just
Speaker 2: become incredibly difficult to handle. It's been like that for
Speaker 2: a decade. You got to invest in Steph as much
Speaker 2: as possible as a shot.
Speaker 4: Maker, huntrevercent.
Speaker 1: Next question, in your experience, does trash talking? Does talking
Speaker 1: trash to struggling players work? Trying to figure out why
Speaker 1: Dylan Brooks keeps talking trash and quote unquote poking bears
Speaker 1: before seemingly getting fried every time.
Speaker 2: I so, I was never a trash talker in terms
Speaker 2: of initiating stuff. I have been known to completely black
Speaker 2: out if someone starts talking trash to me, and then
Speaker 2: I turn into a huge asshole, and then I end
Speaker 2: up having to apologize after the game's over because I
Speaker 2: feel I get like overcome with guilt when the game
Speaker 2: is over for being such an asshole. But like, I
Speaker 2: can't speak for trash talking as an art because I've
Speaker 2: only ever done it reactively in anger, as opposed to
Speaker 2: like I've never been like a manipulative trash talker. I'm
Speaker 2: much more of like guy state. I focused on what
Speaker 2: I can control with my teammates, and I'm a big,
Speaker 2: like teammate energy guy, like trying to help everybody on
Speaker 2: my team stay confident and engaged on both ends of
Speaker 2: the four throughout the game. But like I'm there's a
Speaker 2: better person to ask that question too, I just don't
Speaker 2: have much experience trying to manipulatively trash talk. But that said,
Speaker 2: one thing I will say I have seen examples of
Speaker 2: guys do that in at work, where a player succumbs
Speaker 2: to it in the form of trying to get out
Speaker 2: of the game and focus on just winning his individual matchup.
Speaker 2: So like start to force the issue. I've also seen
Speaker 2: guys like completely crumble in their confidence and fall apart.
Speaker 2: So like I suppose it can work, But I've also
Speaker 2: seen trash talkers get themselves out of whack by getting
Speaker 2: too invested into trash talk situations, and like Draymond played
Speaker 2: a dangerous game almost getting himself ejected today by getting
Speaker 2: into a bunch of altercations. There was a play where
Speaker 2: Jimmy Butler and Dylan Brooks were like talking shit to
Speaker 2: each other at the fou and on the box out,
Speaker 2: Jimmy Butler's hands ended up around Dylan Brooks's neck and
Speaker 2: like had Dylan Brooks like thrown a hand and like
Speaker 2: tried to hit him back or something, that could have
Speaker 2: immediately gone into a full on like scrum, but Dylan
Speaker 2: just fell down and it ended up just being a
Speaker 2: play on. But like I would imagine, just like anything else,
Speaker 2: there's given a take with it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think it's probably person to person. Like
Speaker 1: I think some people the trash talking hypes them up
Speaker 1: and gets them more into the game.
Speaker 4: Draymond being one of those people.
Speaker 1: And if that is what you need individually to get
Speaker 1: more into the game, cool. And I also think there's
Speaker 1: probably the smart trash talkers. I would guess, like the
Speaker 1: Draymonds of the world, the Gary Payton's of the world,
Speaker 1: back Gary Payton, the older Gary Payton, who are being
Speaker 1: more selective, being knowing there are guys that if you
Speaker 1: talk trash to them, you can get on their head
Speaker 1: a little bit easier, versus guys that if you talk
Speaker 1: attached to them, you might be poking a bear who
Speaker 1: might wake up.
Speaker 4: You know, it's probably a little bit of nuance to
Speaker 4: it as.
Speaker 3: Well, for sure.
Speaker 2: And one last note, I do think there's something to
Speaker 2: be said about it being a little less of a
Speaker 2: there being less of a downside if it's a defensive
Speaker 2: minded player, because any of you guys who have played
Speaker 2: the game though that, like, if you get really emotionally
Speaker 2: worked up, offense gets harder. Like slowing down and shooting
Speaker 2: a jump shot is harder, slowing down and processing a
Speaker 2: game is harder. You tend to like speed everything up
Speaker 2: when you're super emotionally like worked up on the basketball court.
Speaker 2: But for a defender who's not required to methodically run
Speaker 2: offense or take a bunch of jump shots, they can
Speaker 2: afford to get super worked up and have it not
Speaker 2: have as much of a downside. So I don't think
Speaker 2: it's a coincidence that you see a lot of guys
Speaker 2: like Dylan Brooks, like Patrick Beverley, like dray Mungreen that
Speaker 2: end up embodying that type of personality.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a great call. A question about Steven Adams.
Speaker 1: He was got a lot more minutes tonight, was very
Speaker 1: effective in his minutes on both ends of the court,
Speaker 1: you know, as an offensive rebounder, primarily on offense, but
Speaker 1: definitely as a defensive player.
Speaker 4: And it did feel like the rocket.
Speaker 1: Zone, even with Adams when Itams was on the floor,
Speaker 1: was effective, even when Steph was on the floor.
Speaker 4: What is your take on the Stephen Adams.
Speaker 1: Effect and if he's going to play a lot more
Speaker 1: in Game five or going forward in the series like
Speaker 1: he did tonight.
Speaker 2: So he was plus sixteen in twenty six minutes. I'm
Speaker 2: trying to see if they've posted the zone defense numbers
Speaker 2: yet from this game. Let's see, because I bet you
Speaker 2: had had a lot to do with the success of
Speaker 2: the zone that they were having. And we had thirty
Speaker 2: one possessions of zone defense in this game, so that
Speaker 2: was probably the big But by the way, the Warriors
Speaker 2: fared well of one point per possession against the zone.
Speaker 2: That's actually really solid, but they ran a bunch of
Speaker 2: it steady throughout every court. By the way, they only
Speaker 2: ran four possessions of zone total in the first three
Speaker 2: games of the series. They ran thirty one tonight, So
Speaker 2: definitely something we talked about that after Game three though,
Speaker 2: that we expected them to run a lot more zone
Speaker 2: later in the series. But honestly, I think you know,
Speaker 2: we talked so much about coaching within the context of like, oh, well,
Speaker 2: here's what this lineup data show, or oh, here's what
Speaker 2: you know this player should theoretically do to be able
Speaker 2: to compliment what this other player does, and often, like
Speaker 2: as a coach, in the moment, you're trying to read
Speaker 2: how guys are playing, like, oh, like Jalen Green doesn't
Speaker 2: really have it tonight, let's lean more into Jabari Smith Junior,
Speaker 2: Or like, oh, our zone looks are causing them some problems,
Speaker 2: let's lean into Steven Adams more well, look at this,
Speaker 2: like Steven Adams's rim protection is having a real impact
Speaker 2: on the on the Warriors at the rim, Like this
Speaker 2: is something that we should be investing in. Like that
Speaker 2: is always a call that you're making in the moment
Speaker 2: as a coach, And it's a lot harder than it
Speaker 2: looks in the moment when everything is going down and
Speaker 2: the game is moving way faster than you think it
Speaker 2: would in that sort of situation, and it's just it's
Speaker 2: a tough call. But I think I think, like whether
Speaker 2: or not you see a bunch of Steven Adams in
Speaker 2: game in game five is going to come down to
Speaker 2: how it looks and by the way, we saw him
Speaker 2: a lot in the second half. In those zone possessions,
Speaker 2: the Warriors were actually one point three points per possession
Speaker 2: in the first half, but in the second half and
Speaker 2: twenty two possessions, the Warriors were zero point eighty six
Speaker 2: points per possession. So emai Udoka is probably making a
Speaker 2: call in the moment saying like, this is what.
Speaker 3: We should do.
Speaker 2: And by the way, like these these coaching staffs will
Speaker 2: have coaches tracking behind the bench, like, hey, do me
Speaker 2: a favor tonight. Your one job is track points per
Speaker 2: possession on man and zone. That way, if a late
Speaker 2: game timeout comes around, is five minutes left and they're
Speaker 2: they're having a time out and they're in the huddle.
Speaker 2: You guys remember that early fourth quarter time out where
Speaker 2: Steve Kerr was like, hey, can you let me go
Speaker 2: so I can talk to my coaches? Like that's what
Speaker 2: they're doing. They're pow wowing as a group before they
Speaker 2: go to the bench to talk like that's as soon
Speaker 2: as the timeout is called. The players all go sit down,
Speaker 2: they start drinking water and they take a break. The
Speaker 2: coaches all huddle up and they decide what they're going
Speaker 2: to do. Then they head over to the bench and
Speaker 2: then they relay the message that they want to relay,
Speaker 2: and a lot of times it's getting information like, oh, hey,
Speaker 2: by the way, we're defending really well with Steven Adams,
Speaker 2: were plus you know whatever in his minutes, we're getting
Speaker 2: this point per possession on zone. And then he made
Speaker 2: you don't come out go like Okay, I'm gonna ride
Speaker 2: Steven Adams for longer. It's all like an in the
Speaker 2: moment type of decision.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I also thought part of it was due
Speaker 1: to the fact that Draymond was off the floor. He's
Speaker 1: such a good passer that it's, you know, he's really
Speaker 1: valuable against his own even though he's not He's not
Speaker 1: really an intense shooting threat for sure.
Speaker 2: An interesting example on the other side is Buddy heeled
Speaker 2: over Moses Moody starting tonight. Like Buddyhields, shooting has been
Speaker 2: vitally important over the course of the last couple of games.
Speaker 2: I thought his ball pressure on Jalen Green early in
Speaker 2: the game was really valuable. He kind of sped Jalen
Speaker 2: Green up early and forced a couple of turnovers.
Speaker 3: Like there there is there's value.
Speaker 2: In making in the moment live decisions that can maximize
Speaker 2: the ability of your basketball.
Speaker 4: Team one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: Next question, what are your thoughts on the huge chasm
Speaker 1: of physicality between the regular season and the playoffs?
Speaker 4: Are the ways to make the disparity smaller?
Speaker 1: Do you like the disparity, do you like the way
Speaker 1: it's being refereed, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2: I think it's really easy from our couches to be
Speaker 2: like this is too physical. They should do something to
Speaker 2: rein it in. I think the reality is is that
Speaker 2: we have a bunch of really relatively even series in
Speaker 2: the first round. Piston's Nicks, very even, Clippers, Nuggets, very
Speaker 2: even even Celtics Magic has been like every game has
Speaker 2: been close, with exception of Game two or yours. Rockets
Speaker 2: has been closed, Lakers Wolves has been closed. So when
Speaker 2: you get all of these teams, and by the way,
Speaker 2: every single team I listed except for Detroit and Orlando
Speaker 2: have like legitimate championship aspirations, like they think they're gonna
Speaker 2: win the title. So what that leads to is like
Speaker 2: an insane level of intensity and competitiveness that manifests in physicality.
Speaker 2: And now the ref's job is to try to control it.
Speaker 2: But if they control it by calling a bunch of fouls,
Speaker 2: it's just gonna bog the game down into the mud.
Speaker 2: And as you saw, like at any point tonight, did
Speaker 2: it feel like the physicality lightened up even though the
Speaker 2: refs were calling stuff like no, like it just it's
Speaker 2: really hard to stop the play from competing the way
Speaker 2: that they're competing. That said, if I had to choose
Speaker 2: between this and the opposite, I would take this every
Speaker 2: single time. You know, I just think there's a handful
Speaker 2: of Like the big thing that I've struggled with is
Speaker 2: the inconsistency. Like there's been a lot of instances where
Speaker 2: like certain types of foul, like the perfect examples that
Speaker 2: Jimmy Butler foul in the corner, so Josh Hart's foul
Speaker 2: on Tim Hardaway Junior was substantially more of a foul,
Speaker 2: but then this one ends up getting called. There's no
Speaker 2: consistency there, and like that that really is the only
Speaker 2: thing I'll ever get on officials about, like certain games
Speaker 2: take on different feel based on how the teams are playing,
Speaker 2: But inconsistency, to me is you not doing your job.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And one of the things I was texting with
Speaker 1: Jason about before during the game tonight, and we talked
Speaker 1: about last night. Is the big challenge of one of
Speaker 1: the big challenge of the increased physicality is these challenges
Speaker 1: and the proximate fouls that they can call.
Speaker 4: Because the one last.
Speaker 1: Night, for example, the lebron won on Ant, they're not
Speaker 1: calling that. Obviously they didn't call and they're not gonna
Speaker 1: call that in the flow of the game.
Speaker 4: And the one tonight as well.
Speaker 1: It's like there was one on Steph in the first
Speaker 1: half where I think where he got it was an
Speaker 1: out of bounds.
Speaker 4: It was called out of bounds.
Speaker 1: They challenge it, get the foul call because Dylan Brooks
Speaker 1: is kind of going point A to point B type
Speaker 1: of jump, YadA YadA, and that one was a little
Speaker 1: more bored that one could have been potentially called a
Speaker 1: foul in real time. But this proximate foul slow motion
Speaker 1: review compared to the flow of the physicality of the
Speaker 1: games is a real, real challenge. I think the league
Speaker 1: has to like sort of wonder what to do.
Speaker 2: With this is a great point. And this is where
Speaker 2: you know I've always talked about I gotten a huge
Speaker 2: argument about this with I'm trying to remember who it was.
Speaker 2: I got in the argument with there was a sports writer,
Speaker 2: and it's killing me that I can't remember his name
Speaker 2: right now because it was a long time ago. But
Speaker 2: he did an extensive report on officiating in the NBA
Speaker 2: and like how they do it, and they have like
Speaker 2: basically these two things, this thing called the rule book
Speaker 2: and this thing called the case book, and they basically
Speaker 2: is like the pathway with which that they try to
Speaker 2: like come up with a standard for officiating games. And
Speaker 2: I one of the things I was trying to talk
Speaker 2: to him about is like I think that you need
Speaker 2: subjectivity in officiating. You can't be letter of the law
Speaker 2: because basketball games don't work that way. Basketball games are
Speaker 2: all unique. They're each their own kind of like individual tapestry.
Speaker 2: Like look at how much different tonight was than Game three.
Speaker 2: Fundamentally different game, different players were playing, different guys were
Speaker 2: playing well, Like it was just a totally different type
Speaker 2: of game. And so the point is is, like you
Speaker 2: have to be willing to in the moment be like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: Lebron fouled and a little bit there. But with the
Speaker 2: way we've been officiating this game, that would have probably
Speaker 2: not been called it wasn't called live, Let's not call
Speaker 2: it now now. The one with Dylan Brooks on the
Speaker 2: sideline with Jimmy Butler's a little tougher because it got
Speaker 2: called a foul live, but same sort of thing. I
Speaker 2: would have gone in there and it'd been like, okay.
Speaker 2: In my inititional I was talking to the guys before
Speaker 2: the show, like on the baseline angle, it looked like
Speaker 2: a foul because you're like, why the hell is Dylan
Speaker 2: Brooks like shoving Jimmy while he's shooting.
Speaker 3: That's stupid.
Speaker 2: And then you watch the sideline angle and it's like
Speaker 2: Dylan's hand is just kind of like on his hip.
Speaker 2: It's not really much of a shove at all, and
Speaker 2: there's no foul up top, and you could see Jimmy
Speaker 2: kick his right leg out, and so it's like on
Speaker 2: the replay that was a pretty standard non call relative
Speaker 2: to the other calls in the game. And so it's
Speaker 2: one of those things where, to your point, they need
Speaker 2: to be able to in the review handle it the
Speaker 2: same way they do live. You can't suddenly operate by
Speaker 2: a totally different rule book or like standard in a
Speaker 2: slowdown than you would live.
Speaker 3: That makes absolutely no sense.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's it's just a challenge.
Speaker 1: The refs have a tough job.
Speaker 2: The job is tough. The last thing I'll say. I've
Speaker 2: refed one game in my life. It was a students
Speaker 2: versus teachers game when I was at Arizona Christian and
Speaker 2: they just asked one of the guys on the basketball
Speaker 2: team if they'd be willing to like volunteer, and I
Speaker 2: was like, sure, I'll do it, And like the campus
Speaker 2: pastor was cussing me out after the game, like cussing
Speaker 2: me out because I was the only ref reffing a
Speaker 2: five on five game and I opted to just basically
Speaker 2: not call anything unless I was one hundred percent sure.
Speaker 2: So there was like a ton of uncalled fouls because
Speaker 2: that was the way I chose tor. I was like,
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna guess what happens in this game. And
Speaker 2: it's like this casual students versus teachers and the dude
Speaker 2: is like cussing me out, like and I'm like, this.
Speaker 3: Is the campus pastor. This is crazy.
Speaker 2: But the point, the point being like there is it
Speaker 2: is a very difficult job, but these are the best
Speaker 2: in the world at it. This is what they do
Speaker 2: every single day. And if there's one situation that you
Speaker 2: should be able to get it right, it's in the
Speaker 2: slowdown situations.
Speaker 3: Like that for sure.
Speaker 1: Last question, which one seed has looked more complete so far?
Speaker 2: Oh man, I think the Calves have looked better offensively
Speaker 2: and the thunder have looked better defensively. Shay did have
Speaker 2: a little bit of a rough shooting series at certain
Speaker 2: points in the series. The thunder did show a lot
Speaker 2: of really high level connective playmaking, which was something that
Speaker 2: I thought was a really positive trend for them. I
Speaker 2: do think that the thunder Man. That's a really really
Speaker 2: tough question. I'm gonna go with the Calves though, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna go the Calves. I mean the thunder got punched
Speaker 2: in the mouth in game three.
Speaker 4: Yeah, good point.
Speaker 3: M Do you have any take there.
Speaker 1: I think the Calves have looked better. I think that
Speaker 1: they probably put a worse opponent in round one, but
Speaker 1: they they've looked They've just to your point.
Speaker 4: I think they've dominated every game for the most part.
Speaker 1: There was one little, you know, stretch there, what it
Speaker 1: was at game two, maybe that the heat were competitive,
Speaker 1: but for the most part, Yeah, but for the most
Speaker 1: part they've dominated that the Calves were at no point
Speaker 1: down by twenty.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and they're operating at just an insane level offensively.
Speaker 2: All right, guys, it's all I have for tonight. Remember
Speaker 2: click the link in the description to head over to
Speaker 2: playback and get set up there so that you guys
Speaker 2: can be ready for our first after show on Wednesday.
Speaker 2: And again, as always, as sincerely appreciate you guys for
Speaker 2: supporting me and supporting the show. We will be back.
Speaker 2: We're not doing a film session tomorrow. We're gonna be
Speaker 2: live tomorrow night after the final buzzer of Clippers Nuggets
Speaker 2: Game five, which would be a really fun one. I'll
Speaker 2: see you guys then. Whats so, guys, As always, I
Speaker 2: appreciate you for listening to and supporting OOPS tonight. It
Speaker 2: would actually be really helpful for us if you guys
Speaker 2: would take a second and leave a rating and a review.
Speaker 3: As always, I appreciate you.
Speaker 2: Guys supporting us, but if you could take a minute
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Speaker 4: The volume