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Speaker 1: welcome to tonight for Center Fame Duel. Here at the volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Thursday, everybody. We are live on AMP. After that
Speaker 1: incredible game between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 1: Kind of a fun game, but a very sloppy game.
Speaker 1: We're gonna dive into a bunch of different angles from
Speaker 1: this game. I want to talk a lot about Al
Speaker 1: Horford and Robert Williams in the way they dominated. I
Speaker 1: want to spend some time on Jayson Tatum and his
Speaker 1: very up and down night, mostly down then up at
Speaker 1: the end. Um. And then I want to talk a
Speaker 1: little bit about the Warriors and and something that I
Speaker 1: think tonight tells us a lot about what their strategy
Speaker 1: should be around the deadline. Um. Those of you guys
Speaker 1: who are listening on YouTuber on the podcast feed, do
Speaker 1: not forget that the first place you guys can get
Speaker 1: these post game breakdowns is on amp, So let's talk
Speaker 1: some basketball again. This was a sloppy game. This didn't
Speaker 1: look a lot like the game that we had a
Speaker 1: few months ago, I should say in early December UM
Speaker 1: when the Warriors won it at the Chase Center, because
Speaker 1: in that game, most of the key characters were all
Speaker 1: kind of at the top of their game. I've spent
Speaker 1: a lot, just an enormous amount of time in the
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks talking about rhythm and the main
Speaker 1: reason why is we've had so many players that have
Speaker 1: been out of their lineups for weeks and weeks with injuries,
Speaker 1: and then they come back, and like almost every single time,
Speaker 1: especially skill oriented players, they really struggle with their ball
Speaker 1: handling and their shooting and their timing and they're seeing
Speaker 1: the floor and all these different things when they've been
Speaker 1: away from the game for a long time. And particularly
Speaker 1: Jaylen Brown nightmare game for the most part, although he
Speaker 1: made a bunch of big plays down the stretch, Andrew
Speaker 1: Wikins absolute nightmare game, missed a boatload of shots um
Speaker 1: that he normally makes. Steph Curry we saw a bunch
Speaker 1: of key highlights and he made some huge plays um
Speaker 1: down the stretch of this game, and had another huge
Speaker 1: three and overtime to put the Warriors in front, But
Speaker 1: in the grand scheme of things, it was kind of
Speaker 1: like two mistakes or two miss shots for every big
Speaker 1: play that he made. No shame to Steph. He's just
Speaker 1: in his what fifth game and back coming back from
Speaker 1: the injury, and he of all the players, is dependent
Speaker 1: on lift and rhythm and all those different things because
Speaker 1: he's such a skill oriented player. Even in particular after
Speaker 1: winning their last game, I was like, Steph put up
Speaker 1: big numbers, he at forty something, but he didn't quite
Speaker 1: look like himself in terms of his lift and his finishing.
Speaker 1: Uh missed around the rim a couple of times tonight
Speaker 1: as well, so it was kind of a sloppy game. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't think either teams should be feeling fantastic after
Speaker 1: this game, but obviously the Celtics should be feeling a
Speaker 1: bit better. But I think both teams have some positives
Speaker 1: they can take away. So I want to start with
Speaker 1: the Celtics because this was the first step in getting
Speaker 1: over their mental issues with the Warriors. We've seen this
Speaker 1: a lot throughout NBA history. Sometimes teams never get over
Speaker 1: those mental issues. Just ask the DeMar Deroz in Toronto Raptors,
Speaker 1: who pretty consistently we're every bit as good, if not
Speaker 1: better in the regular season than the Cleveland Cavaliers, and
Speaker 1: then just got their ass kicked. Buy them every single
Speaker 1: year and Kyle Lowry and DeMar Deroz and just would
Speaker 1: look like shells of themselves. Even saw that with the
Speaker 1: Lebron team with the Lakers, really struggled with the Clippers
Speaker 1: to start that year to the point where they were
Speaker 1: kicking everyone else's ass and then in that matchup they
Speaker 1: just couldn't get a win. And you guys probably remember
Speaker 1: the Christmas Day game where Patrick Beverley stripped Lebron James
Speaker 1: on the right wing when he tried to take a
Speaker 1: shot to win the game. They were kicking everybody's ass
Speaker 1: and they just couldn't handle the Clippers. But then they
Speaker 1: actually got over that hump. They won a game against
Speaker 1: the Clippers right before the bubble, then they won a
Speaker 1: game against the Clippers in the bubble, and then they
Speaker 1: went on to win the championship. And it remains to
Speaker 1: be seen for Boston because I thought there was a
Speaker 1: lot of negative here. Their late game execution was a
Speaker 1: total mess. Still if it wasn't for some shot making
Speaker 1: at the end of the game from Al Horford and
Speaker 1: from Jelen Brown, off of some nice kickout passes from
Speaker 1: Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum, they could have been in
Speaker 1: a much worse place. I I guarantee you Warriors fans
Speaker 1: in particular are frustrated that they lost this one and
Speaker 1: probably felt like they should have got it. But there
Speaker 1: was enough positive from this game that I do think
Speaker 1: it was a significant step in the right direct action.
Speaker 1: They had lost four consecutive games to the Golden State Warriors.
Speaker 1: And you know, it's funny because this particular mental advantage
Speaker 1: as it pertains to the Celtics with the Warriors doesn't
Speaker 1: make a ton of sense to me, especially for Jayson Tatum,
Speaker 1: because this is a matchup they should feel extremely comfortable in.
Speaker 1: This is a matchup where they have distinct advantages. If
Speaker 1: you were looking down from the surface from from above
Speaker 1: at the matchups in this uh, in this particular dynamic,
Speaker 1: they're way bigger at almost every single position. Um, I
Speaker 1: think Golden State has more top end skill but down
Speaker 1: the roster when it comes to ball handling and shooting,
Speaker 1: Like how many teams in the league have guys like
Speaker 1: Derek White and Marcus Smart as their fourth and fifth
Speaker 1: most skilled players are you know, depending on where you
Speaker 1: put Malcolm Brogden and all that. Like, this team has
Speaker 1: every reason to be extremely confident in this particular matchup.
Speaker 1: My guess is that mostly has to do with experience,
Speaker 1: instant execution. Confidence is everything in the game of basketball.
Speaker 1: I'll give you an example, and we're gonna talk more
Speaker 1: about Jayson Tatum in a little bit, but there's a
Speaker 1: play right there towards the end of regulation where Jayson
Speaker 1: Tatum had Steph Curry on a switch on the left
Speaker 1: wing and uh and he, you know, had a triple
Speaker 1: threat all sorts of space to operate. No one's digging
Speaker 1: into driving lanes. He's got all the space in the world. Now.
Speaker 1: He's six ten or six nine or whatever he is,
Speaker 1: and Steph is six three, And so the ideal thing
Speaker 1: to do there is to try to turn your back
Speaker 1: to the basket, try to back him down to the elbow.
Speaker 1: And if you're gonna take a jump shot, maybe it's
Speaker 1: a shorter jump shot where your size is more of
Speaker 1: an advantage. And instead he looks super indecisive and doesn't
Speaker 1: know what to do, and he kind of like like
Speaker 1: takes a really weak sidestep to the left dribble and
Speaker 1: Steff is right there with him in his shooting pocket,
Speaker 1: and then he like rises up to like he's gonna shoot,
Speaker 1: and it changes his mind and passes it at the
Speaker 1: last second. Like that is Jason Tatum in a situation
Speaker 1: where he has a big time advantage over a good
Speaker 1: defender in Steph Curry, but a defender that has a
Speaker 1: significant talent excuse me, size disadvantage in that matchup, and
Speaker 1: Jayson Tatum didn't even look to use his size as
Speaker 1: an advantage. And that goes to show you that that
Speaker 1: confidence just isn't quite there as a team. I think
Speaker 1: in their late game execution Boss had Boston had a
Speaker 1: bunch of sloppy turnovers at the end of this game.
Speaker 1: Jayson Tatum just three ridiculous turnovers in the final minutes
Speaker 1: of this game. There was a play in overtime where
Speaker 1: right when when Golden State was down three and they
Speaker 1: just scored to get it back to three, and they
Speaker 1: damn near throw it out of bounds again and Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown had to vault himself into the damn scorers table
Speaker 1: to launch it back in bounds to save the possession
Speaker 1: and they ended up winning the game from there. But
Speaker 1: there is a distinct lack of confidence for the Celtics
Speaker 1: just within this matchup, and ideally you go out there
Speaker 1: tonight and you kick the warriors ass and the monkeys
Speaker 1: off your back, and instead it was kind of a
Speaker 1: more mild victory than that they won, but it was
Speaker 1: a win where it was very sloppy and Jayson Tatum
Speaker 1: didn't play well and you didn't execute down the stretch
Speaker 1: of the game, and a lot of your ugly tendencies
Speaker 1: came to the surface. So it's a little bit disappointing
Speaker 1: from that standpoint, but in the grand scheme of things,
Speaker 1: a baby step in the right direction is better than
Speaker 1: a step in the wrong direction. Um. Particularly, I wanted
Speaker 1: to talk about Al Horford and Robert Williams because when
Speaker 1: nobody else was playing well for Boston, Jason Tatum and
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown just awful games tonight in the grand scheme
Speaker 1: of things, although they both made huge plays down the stretch,
Speaker 1: you know, Al Horford and Robert Williams carried them early
Speaker 1: in this game, and you know, I talk a lot
Speaker 1: about in the playoffs about versatility and what that means
Speaker 1: is the ability to play different ways right. It's It's
Speaker 1: something that I frequently look at with teams. It's like
Speaker 1: the Bucks. They can play huge with Brook Lopez and Janna,
Speaker 1: so they could put Janice at center and they could
Speaker 1: play a completely different brand of basketball that's a little
Speaker 1: bit more five out right and a little bit more
Speaker 1: switch heavy on defense. And that's kind of the dynamic
Speaker 1: that the Celtics can give you. You saw that. Ideally,
Speaker 1: what you want from the Celtics is you want al
Speaker 1: Horford at center, and you want Derek Why or excuse me,
Speaker 1: Malcolm brogged in with Marcus Smart and the two Jays
Speaker 1: and you're playing five out basketball and you're doing a
Speaker 1: lot of switching, and you're doing and you're in the
Speaker 1: offense is flowing, and you're playing good basketball both ends
Speaker 1: of the floor. But in a game where Jayson Tatum
Speaker 1: and Jalen Brown aren't playing well, you need to turn
Speaker 1: it into a rock fight. And they did that by
Speaker 1: staying big and keeping Robert Williams and I'll Horford out
Speaker 1: there for large portions of the game. And then what
Speaker 1: did they do. They just absolutely pulverized the Warriors on
Speaker 1: the offensive glass all game long. Like if if there's
Speaker 1: a big silver lining for the Warriors, as you were
Speaker 1: this close to win in this game, probably should have
Speaker 1: and you got absolutely demolished physically and almost every phase
Speaker 1: of the game. But that's the that's the that's what
Speaker 1: makes me so excited about Boston. That's the reason why
Speaker 1: even though I've been pessimistic about their late game struggles
Speaker 1: and I've been pessimistic about their ultimate ceiling, and yes,
Speaker 1: even after tonight, I still have them as my third
Speaker 1: best championship contender behind the Bucks and the Warriors. Celtics fans,
Speaker 1: we've talked about that at length. I don't need to
Speaker 1: get into it again, but the point is is there.
Speaker 1: They have many different ways they can play. They have
Speaker 1: tons of ball handling and shooting. They have perimeter size,
Speaker 1: which is something that I've always valued a great deal
Speaker 1: because of your ability to cover ground in rotations and
Speaker 1: grab contested rebounds and run out in transition. They've got
Speaker 1: every single box checked except for that just veteran savvy
Speaker 1: and i Q in late game execution to help them
Speaker 1: close the deal, or more importantly, to look at a
Speaker 1: team like the Warriors and be like, we're bigger and
Speaker 1: we're better than you, and we're gonna play like it
Speaker 1: instead of playing beneath our capability and giving you a
Speaker 1: chance to win. Particularly down the stretch of this game,
Speaker 1: Boston's physical advantages carried them key offensive rebounds, even an
Speaker 1: o t they get, they get a stop down three,
Speaker 1: should have a chance to go tie the game. But
Speaker 1: Robert Williams once again draws a foul trying to grab
Speaker 1: an offensive rebound. Two possessions in ot where you play
Speaker 1: perfect defense, but Jalen Brown just rips through the middle.
Speaker 1: Defenders walled up in front of him. But he's six
Speaker 1: eight and freaky athletic, and the guy he's going against
Speaker 1: is not, and he's just gonna pop a little floater
Speaker 1: over the top of him. That's the type of thing
Speaker 1: that you need to succeed in those rock fights. And
Speaker 1: again that's gonna be the big advantage for for Boston
Speaker 1: and most of their playoff advantage and most of their
Speaker 1: playoff matchups. They can play a rock fight, they can
Speaker 1: play a beautiful five out style of basketball. Everything with
Speaker 1: me for them comes down to their confidence against the
Speaker 1: best opponents in the league. In their late game execution,
Speaker 1: and I didn't see enough tonight. I've Celtics fans, you're
Speaker 1: probably pulling your own hair out at the way they
Speaker 1: played at the end of that game. Until they rectify
Speaker 1: that issue on a playoff stage, I can't vault them
Speaker 1: above teams like the Bucks and the Warriors that are
Speaker 1: proven playoff performers, down to the moment when they had
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Speaker 1: talking about Jason Tatum for a quick second, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna move on to the Warriors again. He made a
Speaker 1: bunch of big plays in this game. He had a
Speaker 1: big pull back jumper on Steph Curry towards the end
Speaker 1: of regulation that was really the great separation and great
Speaker 1: lift knocked it down. He had a pivotal pass to
Speaker 1: Al Horford on the three that came before the Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown free three to to tie the game, a really
Speaker 1: nice cross court pass when he was downhill, hit him
Speaker 1: in the shooting pocket. In Ot drew a foul driving pass.
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins hit a really nice pull up three. I
Speaker 1: think he was on Draymond Green like. He made a
Speaker 1: lot of big plays in this game, So I want
Speaker 1: to be clear, but man, I just don't understand why
Speaker 1: he struggled so much in this matchup. There were two
Speaker 1: plays there in the fourth quarter where he was just
Speaker 1: carelessly throwing cross court passes that were easily picked off
Speaker 1: by Warriors because he's just not paying attention. So I
Speaker 1: don't know what it is that makes him a shell
Speaker 1: of himself against this team. But once again, I want
Speaker 1: to go positive here and say that I'd rather take
Speaker 1: a baby step in the right direction than a step
Speaker 1: in the wrong direction. And tonight, for Tatum, with as
Speaker 1: big of a chasm as he needs to cover with
Speaker 1: this particular matchup, it was a positive step in that direction.
Speaker 1: And if the celt I have not seen anything from
Speaker 1: any team in the West to make me think the
Speaker 1: Warriors are losing. So at this point, you know you're
Speaker 1: gonna probably have to deal with this matchup when you
Speaker 1: get to the finals if you're the Celtics, So a
Speaker 1: baby step in that right direction is a good thing.
Speaker 1: So moving on to the Warriors, this game in particular
Speaker 1: was such a great example of why I think the
Speaker 1: Warriors need to go all in at this deadline and
Speaker 1: move Moses Moody and move James Wiseman and get back
Speaker 1: a bench big or a big athletic forward, anything that
Speaker 1: can help them in these physical areas of the game.
Speaker 1: You know, I talk a lot about the value of
Speaker 1: top end talent in this league, and you know, even
Speaker 1: when it looked like it might shift the other way
Speaker 1: with the Phoenix Suns, you saw Chris Paul and Devin
Speaker 1: Booker get outplayed by Janice and get outplayed by Luca,
Speaker 1: and then all of their talent not mattering. So at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, top end talent still determines
Speaker 1: things in this league. But there is, as I always say,
Speaker 1: there is a list of responsibilities that need to be
Speaker 1: filled on the core and even your outer rhythm. Steph
Speaker 1: Curry bad game from Jordan's pool. Clay Thompson was awesome
Speaker 1: in the first half, not much from him in the
Speaker 1: second half. But even with all of that, your skill
Speaker 1: elements of the game were far beyond Boston in this
Speaker 1: particular game, but you lost because in the physical areas
Speaker 1: of the game, as it pertained to shooting over the
Speaker 1: top of defensive players or grabbing contested rebounds, you got
Speaker 1: absolutely mall And so it's like I've been talking about
Speaker 1: with the Lakers all season long. Don't overthink it it.
Speaker 1: Don't get looking down at the rest of the roster
Speaker 1: and be like, oh, there's just not enough talent, it's
Speaker 1: not worth it. Let's look to the future, because I
Speaker 1: feel like Joe Lacob is doing that. I feel like
Speaker 1: Joe Lacob is looking at this group and thinking it's
Speaker 1: the two thousand twenty one Warriors and thinking that it's
Speaker 1: not worth it and punting it into the future and
Speaker 1: not wanting to give up the assets. And what he's
Speaker 1: missing is that the core at the top of this
Speaker 1: lineup is more than enough to win a championship. When
Speaker 1: you look at Steph Clay, Jordan Pool, Draymond Graend, Cavan Luney,
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggints that six, that group of six is the
Speaker 1: top six that just won an NBA championship. And a
Speaker 1: huge part of why you're losing right now is the
Speaker 1: back end of that roster doesn't have the requisite athleticism
Speaker 1: experience in basketball, I you to round everything out, and
Speaker 1: especially on a team like this where Steph Curry and
Speaker 1: Clay Thompson and Jordan Pool are not physical specimens that
Speaker 1: are going to dominate games physically, you've got to bring
Speaker 1: them reinforcements on that end of the floor. Not to
Speaker 1: be clear, Jonathan Comiga missed this game. Johnnyan Coming has
Speaker 1: been playing really good basketball for the Warriors for a while,
Speaker 1: and he specifically addresses that need to a certain extent.
Speaker 1: I think he's that big athletic forward that they need,
Speaker 1: but I think they need a backup center, somebody that
Speaker 1: gives them a better chance to hang with the Horford
Speaker 1: Williams line up. And again, like Draymond Green, one of
Speaker 1: the best defensive players of all time, but he's not
Speaker 1: going to be able to jump with Robert Williams. And
Speaker 1: so if you're gonna ask him to battle with Robert
Speaker 1: Williams all night long, or if he's running up and
Speaker 1: tagging on people driving to the basket downhill, you need
Speaker 1: additional size and athleticism to give you a better chance
Speaker 1: to grab those contested rebounds and win some of those
Speaker 1: physical battles around the rim. So bottom line is that
Speaker 1: top six, you literally might never ever have a top
Speaker 1: six like that again in franchise history. Statistically speaking, the
Speaker 1: chances of you getting Steph Curry a top five player
Speaker 1: of all time in my opinion, and Draymond Green a
Speaker 1: top three or four defensive player of all time, Clay
Speaker 1: Thompson the second best shooter of all time. The odds
Speaker 1: of you lining that up again through the draft or
Speaker 1: through trades is extremely small. So your patients, as it were,
Speaker 1: or whatever it is that you view the future of
Speaker 1: this franchise is not squeezing every bit of juice out
Speaker 1: of this orange. And I still think there's juice in
Speaker 1: this orange. Same thing I've been saying about the Lakers.
Speaker 1: When labron On James is this good and Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: is this good, you might not The last time they
Speaker 1: had that was Shack and Kobe twenty years ago. If
Speaker 1: you move on past this year, you might not ever
Speaker 1: have that again. Give them the just the handful of
Speaker 1: things they need to help carry them in the other
Speaker 1: phases of the game, and your top end talent will
Speaker 1: carry you over the top. I genuinely believe. First of all,
Speaker 1: even if the Warriors don't do anything, I think they
Speaker 1: have a really good chance to win the West. But
Speaker 1: if you're gonna beat one of these teams out of
Speaker 1: the East, the Bucks, the Nets, or the Celtics, or heck,
Speaker 1: the sixers look incredible. If you're gonna beat those teams,
Speaker 1: you need to give them reinforcements, particularly in size and athleticism.
Speaker 1: Off the bench again, tying a note on tying this
Speaker 1: one off. I don't think either teams should be feeling
Speaker 1: great about tonight, but I do think both teams should
Speaker 1: be feeling a little bit better than they did yesterday.
Speaker 1: Al Right, guys, that is all I have for tonight.
Speaker 1: As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys. Appreciate you guys
Speaker 1: supporting the show. We have one more show this week,
Speaker 1: tomorrow night. We're gonna be doing the usual breakdown of
Speaker 1: all the games on Friday night, but that will actually
Speaker 1: be on the feeds on Saturday morning. I've got some
Speaker 1: more quick hitters for you when we get to that show.
Speaker 1: As well, as always, I sincerely appreciate you guys supporting
Speaker 1: the show, and I'll see you tomorrow. Volume