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Speaker 1: All right, we'll come Hoops tonight. You're at the ball.

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Speaker 1: You've got you Monday, everybody, I'll ball. If you guys

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Speaker 1: had a great weekend, you had a jampack show for

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Speaker 1: you today. Off the top, we're gonna do my top

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Speaker 1: five takeaways from the inn season tournament semifinal games, and

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Speaker 1: then after that, like we do every Monday, we'll do

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Speaker 1: power rankings going through our top ten teams in the league.

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Speaker 1: You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe

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Speaker 1: there where. We will be releasing more content throughout this

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Speaker 1: season and the last but not least, keep dropping mail

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Speaker 1: them in our Friday mail bags throughout the rest of

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Speaker 1: the way. Here, all right, let's talk some basketball. So

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Speaker 1: five big takeaways from the n Season Tournament semi final games.

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Speaker 1: Number One, shay Giljes Alexander is playing some truly special basketball.

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Speaker 1: He shook off a really rough shooting start in the

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Speaker 1: first half. Kind Of an interesting matchup between Houston and

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City because to elite perimeter defense groups with.

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Speaker 2: A lot of speed.

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Speaker 1: But there's just a huge difference in the total amount

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Speaker 1: of offensive skill between those two rosters, which continue to

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Speaker 1: bear out, especially when you got into the second half

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Speaker 1: of that game. But Shay, obviously, it's like you're facing

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Speaker 1: a steady diet of guys like Dylan Brooks and a

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Speaker 1: Men Thompson and really strong, physical, long defenders that can

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Speaker 1: take away a lot of the advantages that Shay has

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Speaker 1: against other guards in the league. Right, But like, he

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Speaker 1: just stayed with it after having a rough shooting start,

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Speaker 1: really started to get going in that third quarter, hit

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Speaker 1: some ridiculous isolation moves against a Men Thompson, who's one

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Speaker 1: of the best perimeter defenders in the league. I trimmed

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Speaker 1: an example of one where he dribbled really hard at

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Speaker 1: a men's left shoulders or right handed drive and a

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Speaker 1: men cut.

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Speaker 2: It off as he should.

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Speaker 1: He's a quick athlete laterally, as quick an athlete laterally

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Speaker 1: as you'll find in the league. He's not the guy

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Speaker 1: you're gonna beat with the first move, right, Like, there's

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Speaker 1: I always think about these isolation matchups as like, there's

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Speaker 1: the advantage that the offensive player has, right. So, like,

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Speaker 1: for instance, if you are a player that is considerably

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Speaker 1: faster and maybe a bit stronger than the guy you're

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Speaker 1: going against, you don't want to mess around with the ball.

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Speaker 1: You just want to rip through like immediately on the

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Speaker 1: catch and allow your first step and your strength to

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Speaker 1: power through the defensive player and go right. But when

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Speaker 1: you're in a matchup like this where it's kind of

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Speaker 1: the opposite where the guy who's guarding you is maybe

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Speaker 1: a little taller, maybe a little quicker, and a guy

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Speaker 1: that you can't go through, then suddenly it becomes about misdirection,

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Speaker 1: change of change of pace, counter moves, like getting that

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Speaker 1: defender out of position one way or another. Right, So

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Speaker 1: Shae hits a hard dribble move to the right, a

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Speaker 1: man cuts him off, takes the contact in the chest,

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Speaker 1: and shape pulls back the dribble through his legs to

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Speaker 1: his left hand. But I had this coaching Juco that

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Speaker 1: used to talk about this, and it's something that I've

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Speaker 1: always tried to imprint on the kids that I train

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Speaker 1: when I'm training my high school kids, and that is

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Speaker 1: when you're in your dribble moves, it's more important to

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Speaker 1: focus on hitting dribble moves in drills attached to an

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Speaker 1: actual forward movement, something that's an attack, or in the

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Speaker 1: case of shooting, attaching it to a jump shot. So

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Speaker 1: like when I do ball handling drills with the kids

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Speaker 1: always like we're ball handling into an aggressive forward move

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Speaker 1: or we're ball handling into a jump shot off the dribble.

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Speaker 1: If you can't connect the move to what comes next,

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Speaker 1: then the move is useless. There are a lot of

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Speaker 1: guys in the league that if they get cut off,

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Speaker 1: can pull back between their legs back to their left hand.

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Speaker 1: Go to this clip that I posted on my Twitter

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Speaker 1: feed again at underscore json LT. You'll see as Shay

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Speaker 1: takes that contact and pulls it back between his legs,

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Speaker 1: he's immediately back forward and because he's able to do that,

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Speaker 1: he's able to get an angle on a Men Thompson.

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Speaker 1: Then a Men Thompson again because he's a men Thompson

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Speaker 1: recovers with his lateral quickness to get back in front

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Speaker 1: of Shay. But as a man is taking that aggressive

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Speaker 1: step to get back in front of him, that's when

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Speaker 1: Shay lifts up off the dribble, catching him Men Thompson

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Speaker 1: between steps and he's able to get enough separation to

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Speaker 1: knock down the shots. Just super super elite dribble combination

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Speaker 1: work footwork to get an opening against one of the

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Speaker 1: best perimeter defenders in the league. And I've talked about

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Speaker 1: this with Shay before, but he's one of the best

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Speaker 1: at connecting multiple dribble combinations in contact. It's one of

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Speaker 1: the biggest things that players struggle with is they can

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Speaker 1: when things are free, when it's like, oh, if I

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Speaker 1: can hit a move to get a guy set up

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Speaker 1: for a screen, and I can get him separated from

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Speaker 1: me on a screen, then yeah, I can hit an

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Speaker 1: in and out dribble into a step back, or I

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Speaker 1: can cross over to snake the pick and roll or

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Speaker 1: something when I'm in space. But it's very different when

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Speaker 1: you're in a congested environment, when you have a lot

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Speaker 1: of bodies around you. We're gonna get a little bit

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Speaker 1: further into this when we talk about Hartenstein, but this

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Speaker 1: is the type of scoring that has more playoff resiliency

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Speaker 1: when you can do it in contact, when you can

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Speaker 1: do it in congestion. That is the type of shot

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Speaker 1: making that inevitably rises to the surface when you get

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Speaker 1: to the postseason. Defense is locked down all your pet actions,

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Speaker 1: the easy opportunities are few and far between, and it

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Speaker 1: becomes a lot about squeezing extra bits of offense out

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Speaker 1: of late clock situations. In situations where your offense doesn't

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Speaker 1: work and you need somebody to rescue. And again, like

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Speaker 1: just he'll dribble at you. It doesn't matter if you

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Speaker 1: cut him off, He's always gonna chain it to the

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Speaker 1: next counter move. Doesn't matter if you cut him off again,

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Speaker 1: he'll chain it to the next counter move. Oh, you

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Speaker 1: cut him off a few times, he'll get rid of

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Speaker 1: the ball, pop right back out, get it and rip back.

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Speaker 1: If you overplay, he'll backcut. That's the thing that Isaiah

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Speaker 1: Hartenstein has helped unlock, right, Just a lot of really

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Speaker 1: really high level offensive stuff out of Shake Gild justs

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Speaker 1: Alexander really really impressive second half against the Houston Rockets.

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Speaker 1: His last fifteen games, Shay's averaging thirty three points, five rebounds,

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Speaker 1: and six assists on fifty two percent from the field,

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Speaker 1: thirty eight percent from three, and eighty five percent from

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Speaker 1: the line. The pull up three point shot, that's something

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Speaker 1: he was working on a lot in the early part

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Speaker 1: of the season, has really been a boost to his offense.

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Speaker 1: He's averaging seven three point attempts per game in that

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Speaker 1: fifteen game stretch. Six of those seven three point attempts

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Speaker 1: are off the dribble, and he's sitting him at thirty

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Speaker 1: five percent over thirty five percent, which is going to

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Speaker 1: get him over a point shot, which makes it a

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Speaker 1: useful shot for him in half court situations. Again, and

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Speaker 1: we talked about this a lot. Him and Jalen Williams

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Speaker 1: spent a lot of time this summer working on that

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Speaker 1: pull up jump shot from the three point line rather

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Speaker 1: than from the mid range area. And by the way,

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Speaker 1: in that game, Oklahoma City trailing by one in the

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Speaker 1: second half, Bang bang, a pull up three by Shae

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Speaker 1: Yioss Alexander off the dribble, Another pull up three by

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Speaker 1: Jalen Williams, kind of in a ball screen as a defender,

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Speaker 1: one underneath the pick, a couple pull up threes. All

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Speaker 1: of a sudden, Oklahoma City's up five and they never

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Speaker 1: look back. That's the type of thing that will be

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Speaker 1: a ceiling razor for this Thunder team off the dribble,

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Speaker 1: three point shooting, adding layers to the offense that weren't

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Speaker 1: there last year. Number two, The Thunder in the big picture,

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Speaker 1: need to start thinking of Isaiah Hartenstein as one of

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Speaker 1: their core five players and not just a bench weapon

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Speaker 1: or a player with which to facilitate a big look.

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Speaker 1: The Isaiah Hartenstein fit in Oklahoma City has been an

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Speaker 1: absolute dream on both ends of the flour. In defense,

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Speaker 1: he provides a credible option for power centers. Shane Gun

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Speaker 1: has been cooking a lot of centers around the league,

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Speaker 1: including some of the better defensive players at the center

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Speaker 1: position in the league. He's playing really good basketball. He's

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Speaker 1: been Houston's best player this year. He's a huge like

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Speaker 1: to be able to have a player that can hang

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Speaker 1: with the Shane Goon the way that Hartenstein did in

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Speaker 1: that game really given Shang Gun a lot of fits

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Speaker 1: in that particular game, his ability to be a credible

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Speaker 1: weapon in that type of matchup. But then also a

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Speaker 1: guy that you can throw at Jokich, a guy you

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Speaker 1: can throw at Sabonis, a guy you can throw at

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Speaker 1: use of Nurkic, a guy you can throw out Anthony Davis,

200
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Speaker 1: a guy you can throw out Jaron Jackson, who's trying

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Speaker 1: to hakeem everybody in the league at this point in time.

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Speaker 1: Zubas like whoever you run into in a Western Conference

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Speaker 1: playoff series, there's a good chance if you're gonna win

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Speaker 1: multiple playoff rounds that you'll have to go through multiple

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Speaker 1: power centers, and power centers can.

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Speaker 2: Give chet issues at times.

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Speaker 1: Now Chet has also won those battles sometimes, but he's

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Speaker 1: at physical disadvantages there, and har Hartenstein just makes their

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Speaker 1: center rotation that much more formidable in a conference where

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Speaker 1: you kind of need to have a formidable center rotation.

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Speaker 1: I thought he did a really nice job on Shangun.

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Speaker 1: He's also solid across the board as a defender. He

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Speaker 1: can run credible drop coverages at the level coverages he

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Speaker 1: can switch pretty well. Has really anchored them on the glass.

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Speaker 1: Again when he's off the floor this year, when Hartenstein's

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Speaker 1: off the floor, the Thunder are giving up an offensive

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Speaker 1: rebound on thirty three percent of their opponent's missus. With

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Speaker 1: Isaiah Hartenstein on the floor, that number decreases by five

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Speaker 1: point six percent. So, again to clarify it, when Hartenstein

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Speaker 1: is off the floor, the Thunder their defensive rebounding percentage

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Speaker 1: is sixty seven percent, meaning opponents get thirty three percent back.

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Speaker 1: When Hartenstein is on the floor, their defensive rebound percentage

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Speaker 1: rises all the way up to seventy two point six percent,

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Speaker 1: So they're giving up an offensive rebound on just twenty

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Speaker 1: seven point four percent of their opponent's missus. That's a

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Speaker 1: gigantic difference. That's the difference between like untenably bad and

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Speaker 1: pretty good. And that's what Isaiah Hartenstein has done for

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Speaker 1: this team in their physicality on the front line and

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Speaker 1: then on the offense, just greasing the wheels, just connecting

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Speaker 1: actions with his side to side, flowing handoffs, opening up

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Speaker 1: actions with his screening, finishing plays with his scoring. He's

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Speaker 1: generating four offensive rebounds per thirty six minutes.

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Speaker 2: He's just too good.

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Speaker 1: Like, I don't think you can leave him on the

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Speaker 1: bench all that often or change too much of your

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Speaker 1: approach when Chet comes back, because he's one of your

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Speaker 1: five best players. When Chet comes back, I would lean

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Speaker 1: as much as possible into Chet Hartenstein lineups together because

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Speaker 1: when Chet comes back again, like when Chet comes back,

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Speaker 1: there's gonna be you're gonna have to do a certain

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Speaker 1: amount of staggering to keep it big on the floor

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Speaker 1: all the time. There's gonna be a certain amount of

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Speaker 1: like lineups that are gonna have one big on the floor.

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Speaker 1: But my thing is, like when you're in a big spot,

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Speaker 1: when you're in a big playoff series, again, there's some

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Speaker 1: matchup flexibility, but there's such a gap between Isaiah Hartenstein

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Speaker 1: and the sixth best player on the team, or I

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Speaker 1: should say, Isai Hartenstein's more like the fourth best player

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Speaker 1: on the team. But like if you go Shay Jay

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Speaker 1: Dub Chet or Shaye Chet Jay Dub, however you want

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Speaker 1: to order it, then there's Dorton Hartenstein. If you take

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Speaker 1: Hartenstein off the floor and replace him with a guy

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Speaker 1: like an Isaiah Joe or a case On Wallace or

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Speaker 1: Alex Cruzo, those are good players and there will be

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Speaker 1: matchups where that makes sense. But I think Isaiah Hartenstein

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Speaker 1: is just that good, and I think they need a

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Speaker 1: lean into as much opportunity and repetition as possible for

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Speaker 1: Chet and Isaiah to play together, because inevitably, I think

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Speaker 1: that will give them the best opportunity to leave all

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Speaker 1: five of their best players on the floor when the

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Speaker 1: chips are down. Side note, lou Dort was incredible in

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Speaker 1: that Rockets game. He had five threes, including some really

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Speaker 1: tightly contested ones. You know the classic lou Dort like

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Speaker 1: doesn't even look like he's that open, but he just

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Speaker 1: shoots that skyball that just goes like thirty feet in

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Speaker 1: the air and just falls right through the rim. He

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Speaker 1: also had three steals, a couple of crazy ones too.

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Speaker 1: He had one where he was denying Fred van Vliet

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Speaker 1: almost out at half court and then disengaged from Fred

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Speaker 1: to steal a tree pass to a different player that

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Speaker 1: was flashing around the right wing. Just an unbelievable player

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Speaker 1: who's incredibly useful and fills a very important role for

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Speaker 1: that Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City team number three. Houston is

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Speaker 1: a really talented team, but their development as a team

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Speaker 1: will be stunted until they can get a legitimate, high

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Speaker 1: level perimeter shot creator and no Albern Shangun is not enough.

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Speaker 1: Houston did periodically cause problems for Oklahoma City in transition

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Speaker 1: in that game, but they got absolutely bludgeoned in the

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Speaker 1: half court. Oklahoma City outscored Houston in the half court

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Speaker 1: by forty points per one hundred possessions. Houston managed just

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Speaker 1: a sixty three offensive rating per cleaning the glass in

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Speaker 1: the half court in that game against Oklahoma City. That's

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Speaker 1: completely untenable. Once again, just complete duds from Jalen Green

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Speaker 1: and Fred Van Vliet that combined to go two for

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Speaker 1: nineteen from three. A lot of really bad off the

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Speaker 1: dribble ones too. They were kind of telegraphing him It

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Speaker 1: kind of felt like anytime you gave them the ball,

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Speaker 1: they'd call for the ball screen and they would both

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Speaker 1: just like dribble as hard as they could to get

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Speaker 1: to the other side of the screen and just rise

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Speaker 1: up and shoot, sometimes without even making a read. There's

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Speaker 1: a play where Fred van vliet came off of a

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Speaker 1: screen and got blocked on a pull up three, and

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Speaker 1: I just don't even know what he saw. The big

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Speaker 1: was up at the level, it wasn't open. I just

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Speaker 1: I just didn't know what he was doing. It was

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Speaker 1: a really, really weird game from those guys. Houston's half

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Speaker 1: court offense on the season now is managing just ninety

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Speaker 1: point five points per one hundred possessions. That ranks twenty fifth.

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Speaker 1: These are three teams that have more efficient half court

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Speaker 1: offenses than the Houston Rockets, the Toronto Raptors, the Utah Jazz,

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Speaker 1: and the Detroit Pistons. Again, that is completely untenable. So

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Speaker 1: this story just eventually ends with them packaging one or

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Speaker 1: two of their young players in draft compensation, with Fred

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Speaker 1: van Vlietz expiring forty three million dollars deal to bring

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Speaker 1: in a star. They just to find the right guy.

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Speaker 1: I was kind of poking around this morning, because like,

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Speaker 1: I think they're the kind of team that needs to

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Speaker 1: wait for the right guy. But so much of it

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Speaker 1: depends on how much they want to manage their cap situation,

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Speaker 1: because like you have Shanegon and Jalen Green's contracts, their

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Speaker 1: extensions kicking next year, so you've got all that money,

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Speaker 1: but you don't have to pay guys like a Men

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Speaker 1: Thompson or Jabari Smith Junior. I think Jabari Smith you

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Speaker 1: have to pay like the year after next, and then

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Speaker 1: a Men Thompson and even a year further into the future.

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Speaker 1: So because they're not going to have to do any

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Speaker 1: sort of significant extension or new deal for somebody in

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Speaker 1: the next couple of years, I wonder if they're the

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Speaker 1: team that makes sense for zach Lavine. Like I wonder

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Speaker 1: if they're the team that should just call up Chicago

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Speaker 1: and be like, we'll give you Fred van Vliet for

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Speaker 1: zach Lavine straight up the boy. It benefits both teams

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Speaker 1: as Chicago gets off of zach Lavine's money because it's

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Speaker 1: two additional years at that number, right, but Houston in

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Speaker 1: the short term gets a much better offensive player in

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Speaker 1: Zach Lavine to hopefully unlock something in the half court

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Speaker 1: with how good this Houston defense is, and at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, it passes the buck for the

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Speaker 1: superstar trade down the line. I just wonder if they're

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Speaker 1: to end up letting Fred go because they just don't

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Speaker 1: want to deal with the money element of it. And

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Speaker 1: we'll see there's obviously cap ramifications as it pertains to

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Speaker 1: the second apron, and it could affect some of their

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Speaker 1: decision making down the roster. But like you know, it's

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Speaker 1: one of those things where it's like, are they gonna

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Speaker 1: jump on a Jimmy Butler, Well, it's like, I don't

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Speaker 1: know if that's the right move. Are they gonna jump

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Speaker 1: on a Brandon Ingram I don't think he's the right

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Speaker 1: type of guy for them to go for.

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Speaker 2: So, like you're.

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Speaker 1: Trying to wait for the right type of star to

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Speaker 1: become available so that you can throw the kitchen sink

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Speaker 1: at him, bring him in and try to run for

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Speaker 1: a championship.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: Well, one of the ways to pass the buck in

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Speaker 1: that regard is a term Fred van Vliet and expiring

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Speaker 1: mediocre star player not even a star into Zach Lavine

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Speaker 1: a little bit longer term deal obviously, but you're in

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Speaker 1: a stretch right now where you're not trying to do

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Speaker 1: much anyway. You could turn around and trade him in

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Speaker 1: the future if you need to. Prevents you from losing

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Speaker 1: Fred van Vliet for nothing this summer, unless they want to.

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Speaker 1: They may want to lose Fred van Vliet for nothing

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Speaker 1: this summer.

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Speaker 2: We'll see.

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Speaker 1: But like, that's just one of the guys that I

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Speaker 1: was thinking. Here's the thing. I don't think any but

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Speaker 1: he's gonna make trade for zach Lavine. But as I

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Speaker 1: try to conceptualize a version of a situation where a

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Speaker 1: team might be like, hey, let's go get zach Lavine,

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Speaker 1: the one that I'm looking at right now is like

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Speaker 1: Fred van Vliet and Zach Lvine make basically the same

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Speaker 1: money right now for this season. So if you could

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Speaker 1: turn Fred van Vliet into a much, much, much better

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Speaker 1: offensive player overnight, that could be the kind of thing

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Speaker 1: that gives this Houston team a more formidable two way

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Speaker 1: attack as opposed to just the defense that can't score

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Speaker 1: when they could strangle in a half court. Number three,

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Speaker 1: It's time to go back to viewing the Bucks as

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Speaker 1: a legitimate second tier championship contender. After the rough start

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Speaker 1: they had this season. I know it felt like it

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Speaker 1: was impossible. They've really turned it around and played some

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Speaker 1: really good basketball, another really impressive win over a good

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Speaker 1: Atlanta Hi team in the NBA Cup semi final. They're

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Speaker 1: twelve and three in their last fifteen games. That's tied

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Speaker 1: for the best record in the league over that span.

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Speaker 1: Eleventh in offense, tenth in defense, eighth the net rating.

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Speaker 1: Still struggling a bit with their athleticism deficiencies in a

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Speaker 1: couple of areas, namely the glass and then in transition,

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Speaker 1: but they're really competing night in and night out to

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Speaker 1: build better habits and attention to detail. They found an

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Speaker 1: orientation on defense that is working by leaning more into

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Speaker 1: Andre Jackson and AJ Green than they were into Pat

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Speaker 1: Connaton and delonn Right. That's been working. And then on offense,

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Speaker 1: the return of Chris Middleton has brought this influx of

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Speaker 1: ball handling, which they've really needed. He's had twenty three

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Speaker 1: assists and just six turnovers in his four games since returning.

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Speaker 1: They'll have games where teams are showing at the level

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Speaker 1: against Chris and Dame and they'll just rep Giannis as

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Speaker 1: a roller all night long, and he'll crush teams as

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Speaker 1: a roller. Then they'll face teams like Atlanta who do

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Speaker 1: a lot more switching, and then they'll start going to

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Speaker 1: Giannis attacking mismatches in the post, or Dame attacking forwards

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Speaker 1: from the perimeter. There's a sequence at the end of

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Speaker 1: the Hawks game where it's like, Jalen Johnson's on Giannis,

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Speaker 1: Dyson Daniels is on Dame. They run a ball screen,

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Speaker 1: there's a switch. Jiannis takes Dyson Daniels down to the block,

400
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Speaker 1: promptly draws a double team, makes a beautiful pass Brook Lopez.

401
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Speaker 1: He gets a layup. Okay, you run the same ball screen.

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Speaker 1: It's a switch now. Jalen Johnson is on Dame, Dyson

403
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Speaker 1: Daniels on Giannis. Dame takes Jalen Johnson off the drubble,

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Speaker 1: gets right into the lane. Because Jalen Johnson, even as

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Speaker 1: good of an athlete as he is, Dame is just

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Speaker 1: really small and quick. He gets past him, sinks a floater,

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Speaker 1: and it ice is the game, right, Like, they have

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Speaker 1: different ways that they can attack based on the different

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Speaker 1: matchups that they're going against. And again, they were in

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Speaker 1: a bad funk to start this year. They didn't look

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Speaker 1: serious about their goals or committed to the work. But

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Speaker 1: their process has been really good over the last month

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Speaker 1: and they have completely turned around their fortunes. They are

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Speaker 1: rightfully underdogs against Oklahoma City right now. Draft Kings has

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Speaker 1: them as a four and a half point underdog, But

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Speaker 1: if they can go into Vegas tomorrow night and get

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Speaker 1: a win, that would be a huge statement about their

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Speaker 1: potential within this season. Giannis will have speed and size

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Speaker 1: mismatches against everybody sickly on the thunder roster. If you

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Speaker 1: can dominate that game, they get enough stops, they keep

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City attitude, transition, they don't turn the basketball over

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Speaker 1: too much. Again, that's a game that could get ugly

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Speaker 1: for Milwaukee. We've seen that type of game get ugly

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Speaker 1: for Milwaukee. The younger, faster, more athletic team gets a

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Speaker 1: bunch of steals and runs it down their throat and transition.

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Speaker 1: If they can avoid that and kind of trap things

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Speaker 1: and have Giannis dominate, they got a shot and if

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Speaker 1: they can win that game, it'd be a big statement

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Speaker 1: about their potential. We're going to talk more about the

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Speaker 1: Hawks game here in a second as part of this

431
00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:32,560
Speaker 1: next question. Lastly, number five, the top five players are

432
00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,800
Speaker 1: putting on a show as they jockey for position at

433
00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:39,320
Speaker 1: the top of this league. Yiannis was just absolutely unreal

434
00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:41,960
Speaker 1: down the stretch of the Atlanta game. Obviously had the

435
00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:43,920
Speaker 1: huge block against Clint Capella and help at the rim.

436
00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:46,840
Speaker 1: That's a just deja vu vu from the twenty twenty

437
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:50,040
Speaker 1: one NBA Finals, Giannis blocking a alley up dunk in

438
00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:53,760
Speaker 1: a really important, you know, high stakes situation like that.

439
00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:56,120
Speaker 1: But he also did some of the most surgical half

440
00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:58,520
Speaker 1: court work I've ever seen Jiannis do in the NBA.

441
00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:01,880
Speaker 1: He had a beautiful cross court pass to Andre Jackson

442
00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:04,159
Speaker 1: in crunch time for three in the in the in

443
00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:07,280
Speaker 1: the right corner, just beautiful pass, beautiful read in a

444
00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:10,320
Speaker 1: ball screen. He had like a left hand a left

445
00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:12,480
Speaker 1: shoulder fade away that he hit on the left block

446
00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,040
Speaker 1: in clutch time where he like, like for a right

447
00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:17,719
Speaker 1: handed shooter to turn and fade over your left shoulder

448
00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,000
Speaker 1: is the hardest shot because you have to swing your

449
00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:23,320
Speaker 1: entire body around to get squared up. Really high level

450
00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:25,560
Speaker 1: bit of shot making from Jannis is like over a

451
00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:28,640
Speaker 1: double team. He just like elevated like Kobe Bryant over

452
00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:30,919
Speaker 1: his left shoulder to knock down a mid range jump shot.

453
00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:33,080
Speaker 1: Then he had this beautiful post up feed where he

454
00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:34,920
Speaker 1: got that switch I was talking about this earlier where

455
00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:37,760
Speaker 1: gets Dyson Daniels in a switch off of the Dame action,

456
00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:42,520
Speaker 1: backs him down, draws Clint Capella, and help feeds brook

457
00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:44,520
Speaker 1: Lopez nicely right in front of the rim for that

458
00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:48,320
Speaker 1: little layup. Just really nice surgical work from Jannis. And

459
00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:50,040
Speaker 1: here's the thing, Like Yo Kich is still the best

460
00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:52,000
Speaker 1: player in the world and I haven't seen anything that's

461
00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:54,600
Speaker 1: changed my opinion on that. But all of these top

462
00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:57,400
Speaker 1: tier stars are playing some unbelievable basketball. We talked about

463
00:21:57,400 --> 00:21:59,840
Speaker 1: shake Yil just Alexander off the top of the show.

464
00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:03,199
Speaker 1: Giannis is averaging thirty four eleven and seven in his

465
00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,280
Speaker 1: last thirteen games. Luca's been kicking, but since he came

466
00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:08,400
Speaker 1: back from his injury. He just dropped a forty five

467
00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:11,360
Speaker 1: eleven and thirteen to beat the Warriors in Golden State

468
00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:13,919
Speaker 1: last night. Tatum's numbers have taken a little dip in

469
00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:15,919
Speaker 1: the last few weeks. His last nine games, he's at

470
00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:18,000
Speaker 1: twenty nine ten and five, or excuse me, twenty five,

471
00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:20,960
Speaker 1: ten and five on just forty four percent from the field.

472
00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:23,119
Speaker 1: In twenty nine percent from three, but he was playing

473
00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:24,679
Speaker 1: some of the best basketball of his career before that,

474
00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:26,160
Speaker 1: and he had a little bit of a knee injury.

475
00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:27,960
Speaker 1: So the point is is, like the top of this

476
00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:30,640
Speaker 1: league is just in an absolutely crazy place right now.

477
00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:33,440
Speaker 1: It actually reminds me of about six or seven years

478
00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:35,560
Speaker 1: ago when like Lebron was still at the top of

479
00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,040
Speaker 1: his league, like at the top of his game, in

480
00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:40,600
Speaker 1: the top of the league. Stephan kd Are both like

481
00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,840
Speaker 1: hot on his tail, like getting their shit together of

482
00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,919
Speaker 1: winning those titles in Golden State, James Harden's coming up

483
00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:49,000
Speaker 1: right like that was right around the time Jiannis and

484
00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:52,879
Speaker 1: Yanna started to get his kind of like momentum as

485
00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:55,280
Speaker 1: a number one player in the league. Like a lot

486
00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:57,000
Speaker 1: of talent at the top of the league right now,

487
00:22:57,040 --> 00:22:59,200
Speaker 1: it just feels like there's a lot of guys competing

488
00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:01,840
Speaker 1: for that time, which is again a credit to Joki

489
00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:04,280
Speaker 1: because I still think he has a hold on it

490
00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:06,560
Speaker 1: at this point. All right, let's get into our power rankings.

491
00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:08,359
Speaker 1: It's going to be quick hitters on a lot of these.

492
00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:10,720
Speaker 1: Most of the teams in the NBA have only played

493
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:14,119
Speaker 1: once or twice since our last rankings, so We're not

494
00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:16,119
Speaker 1: going to get too deep into those, but all of

495
00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:19,800
Speaker 1: our odds are provided by our partner at DraftKings. Again,

496
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,840
Speaker 1: after every single team, I will give you guys their

497
00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:24,679
Speaker 1: conference odds and their title odds.

498
00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:25,760
Speaker 2: Number ten.

499
00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:28,280
Speaker 1: The Miami Heat only one game last week, a win

500
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:31,960
Speaker 1: at home over the Toronto Raptors. Tyler Harrow continues his

501
00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:34,720
Speaker 1: excellent start to the season, and bam Adebayo's offense is

502
00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:37,320
Speaker 1: starting to take off. He's averaging seven assists per game

503
00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:40,080
Speaker 1: over his last eight games, and he's averaging twenty one

504
00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:43,600
Speaker 1: points per game after his last three games. And all

505
00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:46,000
Speaker 1: of the reporting has been indicating that the Heat are

506
00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:48,760
Speaker 1: looking to move on from Jimmy Butler at some point

507
00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:51,720
Speaker 1: before the deadline. Who knows where he'll end up, but

508
00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:53,720
Speaker 1: I think it's a good idea. This is a team

509
00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:56,159
Speaker 1: that is starting to play some good basketball. They've won

510
00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:58,879
Speaker 1: four in a row against some good teams and Tyler

511
00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:02,240
Speaker 1: Harrow and bam Adebayo really taking off. That partnership is working.

512
00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:04,640
Speaker 1: So it's as good a time as any to try

513
00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:07,240
Speaker 1: to turn Jimmy Butler into assets that will help the

514
00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:10,520
Speaker 1: Heat kind of propel themselves into the next era. Right now,

515
00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,119
Speaker 1: the Miami Heater, plus fourteen hundred to win the Eastern

516
00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:16,800
Speaker 1: Conference and plus thirty five hundred to win the title.

517
00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:19,560
Speaker 1: Number nine the Denver Nuggets just one game last week,

518
00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:22,399
Speaker 1: a blowout of the Clippers on Friday Night. A weird

519
00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:24,760
Speaker 1: game with a lot of turnovers and a lot of

520
00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:27,320
Speaker 1: the game being played in transition, but they were able

521
00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:31,240
Speaker 1: to win comfortably without needing a superhero game from Jokic.

522
00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:34,399
Speaker 1: She went for just sixteen, seven and two in that game.

523
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:38,080
Speaker 1: Six guys in double figures for the Nuggets, including both

524
00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:41,240
Speaker 1: Julian Strawther and Peyton Watson off the bench, so a

525
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:43,520
Speaker 1: nice little bounce back. They had lost five out of eight,

526
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:46,199
Speaker 1: and they had back to back blowout wins after that

527
00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:47,960
Speaker 1: to get back on track. The Nuggets right now are

528
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,480
Speaker 1: plus six fifty to win the Western Conference plus fourteen

529
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,720
Speaker 1: hundred to win the NBA Championship. Number eight the New

530
00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:58,200
Speaker 1: York Knicks disappointing loss in the n Season Tournament quarterfly

531
00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:01,919
Speaker 1: quarterfinal game. Completely they lost control of Atlanta in the

532
00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:04,159
Speaker 1: third quarter. They got going in transition, they got going

533
00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:07,240
Speaker 1: on the offensive glass, The momentum just like completely shifted.

534
00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:10,200
Speaker 1: Then Trey just started picking them apart in the half

535
00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:12,720
Speaker 1: court in ball screens, and then the Knicks entered a

536
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:15,480
Speaker 1: funk on offense, missed a bunch of open shots, and

537
00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:18,360
Speaker 1: they never regained control. They really struggled to keep them

538
00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:20,480
Speaker 1: off the offensive glass. In that fourth quarter stretch when

539
00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:21,800
Speaker 1: they were trying to make a run, they gave up

540
00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:25,320
Speaker 1: nine offensive rebounds. It was a really interesting example of

541
00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:30,479
Speaker 1: basketball momentum. Synergy has this graph where they just basically

542
00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:33,240
Speaker 1: show like a bar graph that kind of works across

543
00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:34,679
Speaker 1: from the start to the finish of the game, and

544
00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:38,239
Speaker 1: as the lead shifts, the bar, like if you know,

545
00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:40,840
Speaker 1: if New York's up five, to the bar will be

546
00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:42,840
Speaker 1: a little five point bar up top, but if if

547
00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:44,960
Speaker 1: they go down five, it'll be, you know, a five

548
00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:48,000
Speaker 1: point bar on the bottom. To the colors of those teams,

549
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:52,320
Speaker 1: And it was such an interesting visual example of the

550
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:56,600
Speaker 1: shift in momentum because like, the Knicks just completely had

551
00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:58,760
Speaker 1: control of the game for two and a half quarters,

552
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:01,240
Speaker 1: like it was all blue, and then suddenly it was

553
00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:03,840
Speaker 1: just like a hard shift to red and then it

554
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:05,320
Speaker 1: was all read the rest of the way. It was

555
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:08,840
Speaker 1: like really bizarre to see just that visual representation of

556
00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:11,360
Speaker 1: the gigantic shift in momentum the Knicks were playing really

557
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:14,120
Speaker 1: good basketball, but just a couple of plays like that's

558
00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:14,400
Speaker 1: the thing.

559
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:15,600
Speaker 2: Plays can snowball.

560
00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:18,439
Speaker 1: A couple guys, make a couple of steals, get out

561
00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:21,920
Speaker 1: and transition couple layups. That sets your defense. You start

562
00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:23,919
Speaker 1: to get a little lively. Then you get stuck in

563
00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:26,240
Speaker 1: the half court. But Tray rescues you. A few times

564
00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:30,320
Speaker 1: the Knicks start missing some shots. It can it can

565
00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:32,520
Speaker 1: spin out of control pretty quickly for you. And that

566
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:34,679
Speaker 1: was a classic example of that. But the next day

567
00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,000
Speaker 1: get a nice bounce back win in Orlando in a

568
00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:40,320
Speaker 1: game where Jalen Suggs, who had been killing everybody, finally

569
00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:43,359
Speaker 1: came back to earth. On offense, the Knicks are eleven

570
00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:45,480
Speaker 1: and four in their last fifteen games. They're still the

571
00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:47,320
Speaker 1: number one offense in the league. Over that span, they're

572
00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:50,560
Speaker 1: up to fifteenth in defense. The defensive rebounding issues that

573
00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:52,240
Speaker 1: came up in the Atlanta game are a bit of

574
00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:56,199
Speaker 1: a trend. They were seventh in defensive rebounding in their

575
00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,480
Speaker 1: first eleven games. They're twentieth in defensive rebounding in their

576
00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:01,480
Speaker 1: last fifth team games. So just something to keep an

577
00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:03,239
Speaker 1: eye on there. They're not competing on the glass as

578
00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:05,879
Speaker 1: well as they did the knickstar plus four point fifty

579
00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:09,480
Speaker 1: to win the Eastern Conference plus one thousand to win

580
00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:14,280
Speaker 1: the NBA Championship. Number seven the Memphis Grizzlies just two

581
00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:16,320
Speaker 1: games last week. They beat the Brooklyn Nets and talked

582
00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:18,399
Speaker 1: a bunch of shit while doing it. That was the

583
00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:20,600
Speaker 1: Jordi Fernandez Ja Moran show.

584
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:20,960
Speaker 2: That we saw.

585
00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:23,520
Speaker 1: But then they got beat wire to wire by the Lakers.

586
00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:25,480
Speaker 1: Didn't take a single lead in that game. John Moran

587
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,080
Speaker 1: had a really hard time with the Max Christy Anthony

588
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:31,879
Speaker 1: Davis duo. He had twelve made field goals and assists,

589
00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:35,840
Speaker 1: twenty two missed field goals in turnovers. Really really tough

590
00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:37,960
Speaker 1: game for Jaw. The jump shot was the issue. He

591
00:27:38,040 --> 00:27:40,320
Speaker 1: was just two for nine on jump shots against the Lakers.

592
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:43,320
Speaker 1: He's shooting just twenty nine percent this year off the

593
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:45,880
Speaker 1: dribble on jump shots, which is making it a lot

594
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:48,560
Speaker 1: easier for teams to not have to come up to

595
00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:51,520
Speaker 1: the level or have to worry about him. The Lakers

596
00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:53,439
Speaker 1: did a lot of work at the level with him

597
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:55,520
Speaker 1: last night, but you don't have to worry about Jaw

598
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:58,600
Speaker 1: knocking down shots at balls in ball screens from the

599
00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:02,320
Speaker 1: perimeter and that is allowed, showing teams more defensive flexibility

600
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:05,280
Speaker 1: with their scheme again shooting just twenty nine percent this

601
00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:07,399
Speaker 1: year on off the dribble jump shots. The Lakers have

602
00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:09,840
Speaker 1: their roster limitations, but they did a good job of

603
00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:13,080
Speaker 1: keeping either Max or Cam Reddish or gave Vincent on

604
00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:15,800
Speaker 1: him all night with either Anthony Davis or Christian Caloco

605
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:18,320
Speaker 1: waiting on him at the rim. And the Grizzly still

606
00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:21,879
Speaker 1: have some spacing issues there are just twenty fifth overall

607
00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:25,040
Speaker 1: on the season and spot up efficiency. Last night they

608
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:27,560
Speaker 1: had thirty two spot up opportunities against the Lakers and

609
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:30,199
Speaker 1: they converted them to just nineteen points. So that's the

610
00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:32,040
Speaker 1: one big red flag with Memphis right now is they

611
00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:34,880
Speaker 1: can still bog down a little bit on offense from

612
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,359
Speaker 1: time to time when teams packed the paint because of

613
00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:40,520
Speaker 1: their inability to convert spot up possessions. That game against

614
00:28:40,560 --> 00:28:42,160
Speaker 1: the Lakers last night was a good example of that.

615
00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:45,000
Speaker 1: The Grizzlies right now plus fourteen hundred to win the

616
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,720
Speaker 1: Western Conference, plus three thousand to win an NBA title,

617
00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:51,600
Speaker 1: And for Lakers fans who are listening and wondering where

618
00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:53,600
Speaker 1: I'm at with the Lakers after last night, good win.

619
00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:56,360
Speaker 1: They'll have any more good wins this year. They may

620
00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:59,240
Speaker 1: even have some streaks of good wins. But for this team,

621
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:00,880
Speaker 1: it's not about what they can be when they're at

622
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:04,520
Speaker 1: their best. It's about their commitment to the work on

623
00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:08,520
Speaker 1: a daily basis over the months it would take to

624
00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:11,320
Speaker 1: build the habits necessary for this roster to be a

625
00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:13,680
Speaker 1: great team, and I just don't think that this group

626
00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:16,920
Speaker 1: is up to the task mentally. For example, their next

627
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:20,840
Speaker 1: six games they're at Sacramento, at Sacramento again, home for

628
00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:24,160
Speaker 1: Detroit at Golden State, and then home for Sacramento and

629
00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:26,560
Speaker 1: home for Cleveland. If they commit to the work, they

630
00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:29,600
Speaker 1: might be okay. Last night was another one of those

631
00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:31,520
Speaker 1: two or three games I've seen from the Lakers this

632
00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:34,960
Speaker 1: year where they look super connected and committed on defense.

633
00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:38,560
Speaker 1: They've also been running some more traditional at the level

634
00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:40,920
Speaker 1: coverages in ball screens instead of switching, which is a

635
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:43,480
Speaker 1: good idea. I don't think this roster is really the

636
00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:46,600
Speaker 1: right type of roster for switching, but more often than

637
00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:49,120
Speaker 1: not this year, they have not been willing to do

638
00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:51,160
Speaker 1: that work on the defensive end of the floor, and

639
00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:53,320
Speaker 1: I don't think they'll do it in the next few weeks.

640
00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:56,120
Speaker 1: These are some tough matchups on the road against some

641
00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:58,640
Speaker 1: teams that are a lot more athletic on the perimeter,

642
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:01,560
Speaker 1: which is a specific weakness for the A serious and

643
00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:04,280
Speaker 1: committed Lakers team would probably go four and two in

644
00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:06,920
Speaker 1: this stretch. They probably split the Sacramento games on the road,

645
00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:10,000
Speaker 1: and they'd probably win all of the home games. I

646
00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:11,960
Speaker 1: think it's more likely that they go two and four

647
00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:14,200
Speaker 1: in the six game stretch. My guess is that they

648
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,080
Speaker 1: drop both games in Sacramento. My guess is they lose

649
00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:19,720
Speaker 1: in Golden State. My guess is they lose at home

650
00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:22,239
Speaker 1: to Cleveland. Maybe they get Sacramento at home, and then

651
00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:24,560
Speaker 1: they probably will get Detroit at home. But like that's

652
00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:26,360
Speaker 1: just how I feel because in order to go win

653
00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:29,720
Speaker 1: all of these games on the road against tough, fast,

654
00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:32,480
Speaker 1: perimeter teams like that, they need to be sharp and

655
00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:34,880
Speaker 1: committed on defense. And it's just something I haven't seen

656
00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:37,400
Speaker 1: this year, but we'll see. My belief in this team

657
00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:40,440
Speaker 1: is completely lost, you know, Like you watched last night

658
00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:42,800
Speaker 1: and it's like Ad is kicking the shit out of

659
00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:47,120
Speaker 1: Jaron Jackson and Lebron is engaged in flying around making

660
00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:50,640
Speaker 1: plays on both ends, and Austin Reeves is back and

661
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,040
Speaker 1: he's out playing Desmond Baane like straight up. It all

662
00:30:53,040 --> 00:30:57,280
Speaker 1: looks good, but I'm not falling for it again. Number

663
00:30:57,320 --> 00:31:00,360
Speaker 1: six The Houston Rockets. We hit them in the opening segment,

664
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:02,000
Speaker 1: so I won't hit them again. But the Rockets right

665
00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:04,320
Speaker 1: now are plus twenty two hundred to win the Western Conference,

666
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:07,480
Speaker 1: plus sixty five hundred to win the NBA title. The

667
00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:09,640
Speaker 1: Milwaukee Bucks, we also hit them in the opening segment,

668
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:11,560
Speaker 1: so I won't hit them again. The Bucks are plus

669
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,800
Speaker 1: eight hundred to win the Eastern Conference, plus eighteen hundred

670
00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:16,560
Speaker 1: to win the NBA Finals.

671
00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:18,320
Speaker 2: Number four the Dallas Mavericks.

672
00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:21,960
Speaker 1: Really disappointing loss in the n Season Tournament quarterfinals to

673
00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:24,480
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City, But I was actually impressed by Dallas in

674
00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:26,400
Speaker 1: that performance. I know it sounds crazy to say, but

675
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:28,520
Speaker 1: I really poured over the film in that one. I

676
00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:30,480
Speaker 1: did a full film session on that game. You can

677
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:34,440
Speaker 1: find that in our feed. It's labeled Western Conference Finals Preview.

678
00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:37,280
Speaker 1: I think it was like thirty seven clips from that

679
00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:40,520
Speaker 1: game where I went into extensive detail. But I thought

680
00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:43,480
Speaker 1: Dallas handled Oklahoma City's blitzes and their doubles really well.

681
00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:46,880
Speaker 2: They just completely botched the game. In their own backcourt.

682
00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:50,120
Speaker 1: They gave up countless offensive rebounds, a lot of turnovers

683
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:52,280
Speaker 1: before they even got the ball across half court, like

684
00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:56,080
Speaker 1: turnovers on outlet passes, turnovers on kickhead passes, turnovers just

685
00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:58,640
Speaker 1: bringing the ball down after rebounds and not paying attention

686
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:01,440
Speaker 1: to what was happening after them. I saw someone say

687
00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:04,480
Speaker 1: on Twitter, like that's just what Oklahoma City does, and yeah,

688
00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:07,760
Speaker 1: that's true. But Oklahoma City averages ten offensive rebounds and

689
00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:10,080
Speaker 1: twenty three points off of turnovers per game. They gave

690
00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:14,080
Speaker 1: up seventeen offensive rebounds and thirty six points off of

691
00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:16,400
Speaker 1: turnovers per game. So you clean that up. I'm not

692
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:18,520
Speaker 1: saying you're gonna hold him to zero and zero, but

693
00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:20,480
Speaker 1: you clean that up a little bit. You have a

694
00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:23,840
Speaker 1: bigger lead in the first half, you're more well positioned

695
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:27,040
Speaker 1: to withstand a scoring onslot like what you saw from

696
00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:28,440
Speaker 1: Shay to start that third quarter, and.

697
00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:29,320
Speaker 2: Maybe you win that game.

698
00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:33,320
Speaker 1: And then Dallas bounced back with a super impressive road

699
00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:35,800
Speaker 1: win in Golden State against the Warriors. They put up

700
00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:38,280
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty three points. They jumped them right

701
00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:41,080
Speaker 1: off the bat. They had eighty one in the first half,

702
00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:43,760
Speaker 1: really strangled Golden State's offense. In the starting group, they

703
00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,800
Speaker 1: outscored the Golden State's starting lineup by eighteen points.

704
00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:47,600
Speaker 2: As a kind of.

705
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:51,000
Speaker 1: A butt kicking starters vers starters, Luca goes for a

706
00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:55,080
Speaker 1: preposterous forty five points, eleven rebounds and thirteen assists, Six

707
00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:58,000
Speaker 1: guys scoring double figures. Nice little revenge game for Klay Thompson.

708
00:32:58,040 --> 00:33:00,200
Speaker 1: He goes for a season high twenty nine, a lot

709
00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:02,440
Speaker 1: of damage just on skip passes, in ball screens and

710
00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:05,160
Speaker 1: in transition when the Warriors were losing him. The Warriors

711
00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:08,600
Speaker 1: on multiple occasions made pushes and got the game close,

712
00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:12,320
Speaker 1: only for Dallas to immediately pull away. I still think

713
00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:14,479
Speaker 1: that's the second best team in the Western Conference, if

714
00:33:14,520 --> 00:33:16,480
Speaker 1: you agree with me. The Mavericks right now are plus

715
00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:19,760
Speaker 1: five point fifty to win the conference and plus eleven

716
00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:24,360
Speaker 1: hundred to win the NBA title. Number three the Boston Celtics.

717
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:26,600
Speaker 1: Just two games last week, blowouts of the Wizards and

718
00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:28,880
Speaker 1: the Pistons, all really balanced. They had six guys in

719
00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:31,840
Speaker 1: double figures against Detroit, seven guys in double figures against Washington.

720
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:33,880
Speaker 1: Peyton Pritchard had a really nice game against the Troy.

721
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,320
Speaker 1: He went for twenty seven, just cruising through kind of

722
00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:39,120
Speaker 1: an easy stretch of their schedule. The only weird thing

723
00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:41,920
Speaker 1: is is that Jason Tatum's jumpers cooled way off again,

724
00:33:41,920 --> 00:33:44,440
Speaker 1: and his last nine games he's twenty five points, ten rebounds,

725
00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:47,680
Speaker 1: five assists, forty four percent from the field twenty nine

726
00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:51,440
Speaker 1: percent from three. On the season. Now he's down to

727
00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:53,880
Speaker 1: zero point nine to five points per pull up jump

728
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:57,400
Speaker 1: shot one point zero two points per jump shot. Overall,

729
00:33:57,560 --> 00:34:00,600
Speaker 1: those are both just barely up from where he was

730
00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:03,560
Speaker 1: last year, but important context, he was dealing with a

731
00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:07,600
Speaker 1: knee injury missed some games. When your knees aren't right,

732
00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:11,319
Speaker 1: it affects your ability to Like a jump shot is

733
00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:14,080
Speaker 1: not just a flip of the wrist. A jump shot

734
00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:16,480
Speaker 1: is a transfer of energy from the floor starting with

735
00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:18,839
Speaker 1: your feet all the way through the snap of your wrist.

736
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,080
Speaker 1: And if your knees bothering you and you're not getting

737
00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:23,279
Speaker 1: the same level of lyft on your jump shot, it

738
00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:27,720
Speaker 1: throws the entire equation at a whack. And I personally

739
00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:29,520
Speaker 1: feel like, whenever I don't have my legs underneath me,

740
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:32,040
Speaker 1: it's harder to shoot. Everybody who's ever played basketball knows

741
00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:35,160
Speaker 1: exactly what I'm talking about, So like I more of

742
00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:37,440
Speaker 1: the opinion that this is mostly having to do with

743
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:39,600
Speaker 1: the knee, and then over the next couple of weeks

744
00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:41,720
Speaker 1: here Tatum will probably just go back to being blazing

745
00:34:41,760 --> 00:34:43,399
Speaker 1: hot and get his numbers back up where they were.

746
00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:46,880
Speaker 1: But just kind of a weird trend again in the

747
00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:49,080
Speaker 1: power rankings, I've had the Celtics lower, but to me,

748
00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:51,400
Speaker 1: I still think they're a clear cut number one. I

749
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:55,959
Speaker 1: was watching Okay see Houston yesterday and then I've watched

750
00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:57,160
Speaker 1: a bit of it yesterday and a bit of it

751
00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:01,920
Speaker 1: this morning. The the Thunder still takes so many stupid shots.

752
00:35:02,239 --> 00:35:04,760
Speaker 1: They still do. There's still just a lot of young players.

753
00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:06,960
Speaker 1: They have a lot of guys on the floor like

754
00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:10,240
Speaker 1: j dub Is still a little like this, Lou dort

755
00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:12,840
Speaker 1: is a little like this. They have some guys that

756
00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:14,759
Speaker 1: will just go off script and just take a bad

757
00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:17,760
Speaker 1: shot from time to time, especially when the situation doesn't

758
00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:21,080
Speaker 1: call for it. I still think I trust Boston's execution

759
00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:24,640
Speaker 1: better in a playoff series. That is why, despite the

760
00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:26,919
Speaker 1: fact that I think the Thunder had been playing some

761
00:35:27,239 --> 00:35:30,360
Speaker 1: really really good basketball, potentially even better basketball than Boston

762
00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:33,320
Speaker 1: within the context of the regular season, I still think

763
00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:35,680
Speaker 1: that Boston is the safest bet to win the title

764
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:38,360
Speaker 1: by a pretty decent margin if you agree with me.

765
00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:40,319
Speaker 1: The Celtics right now are plus one oh five to

766
00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:43,160
Speaker 1: win the conference and plus two forty to win the

767
00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:47,480
Speaker 1: NBA title. Number two the Cleveland Cavaliers just one game

768
00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:50,320
Speaker 1: last week, a win over the Wizards at home. Donovan Mitchell,

769
00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:53,160
Speaker 1: Darius Garland, and Jared Allen all go for twenty plus points.

770
00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:56,040
Speaker 1: There has been some slippage for the Cavs on offense

771
00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:57,640
Speaker 1: as of late. So the Calves are just five and

772
00:35:57,680 --> 00:36:00,680
Speaker 1: three in their last eight games, eleventh in offense over

773
00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:02,279
Speaker 1: that span. Remember they're in the number one offense in

774
00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:05,280
Speaker 1: the league over the large sample. They're getting beat pretty

775
00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:07,399
Speaker 1: good on the glass over that span. They're twenty fourth

776
00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:09,560
Speaker 1: in rebounding. Remember that was an issue that popped up

777
00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:12,959
Speaker 1: periodically in the past, especially in the playoffs. Just something

778
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:14,880
Speaker 1: to keep an eye on. They have the Bucks this

779
00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:16,880
Speaker 1: week and then a really fun road trip at the

780
00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:18,239
Speaker 1: end of the month that I've had my eye on

781
00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:20,680
Speaker 1: for a while as an opportunity to learn more about

782
00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:23,319
Speaker 1: the Calves, Like I really want to learn more about

783
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:24,920
Speaker 1: the Calves, not as to whether or not they're good.

784
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:27,839
Speaker 1: I know the Calves are good. I want to learn

785
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:31,160
Speaker 1: about how close they are to Boston, and in order

786
00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:32,640
Speaker 1: to see that, we need to see them play a

787
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,839
Speaker 1: consistent stretch of tough opponents. And they've had the third

788
00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:38,160
Speaker 1: easiest schedule in the league to start the season. At

789
00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:41,840
Speaker 1: the end of this month, they go to Denver, to

790
00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:45,960
Speaker 1: Golden State, to the Lakers, into the Mavericks in a

791
00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:49,000
Speaker 1: four game set. That's going to be a great opportunity

792
00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:50,759
Speaker 1: for us to see the Calves in a bunch of

793
00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:55,760
Speaker 1: disadvantageous situations in terms of travel and rest and crowd

794
00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:58,640
Speaker 1: obviously with being on the road, That'll be a great

795
00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:02,520
Speaker 1: opportunity for us to give a better evaluation to this roster.

796
00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:05,040
Speaker 1: The Caves right now are plus seven hundred to win

797
00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:08,160
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference and plus seventeen hundred to win the

798
00:37:08,239 --> 00:37:09,000
Speaker 1: NBA Finals.

799
00:37:09,239 --> 00:37:10,720
Speaker 2: Number one the Oklahoma City Thunder.

800
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:12,160
Speaker 1: We covered them at the top of the show, so

801
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:14,520
Speaker 1: I won't go into any further detail here, but the

802
00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:16,719
Speaker 1: gist of it is why I put them number one

803
00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:18,880
Speaker 1: is simple. I think they're playing the best basketball in

804
00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:22,000
Speaker 1: the NBA right now within the context of the regular season,

805
00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:25,200
Speaker 1: in this stretch where they've won nine out of ten.

806
00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:28,719
Speaker 1: They have beat Houston comfortably, Dallas comfortably, as well as

807
00:37:28,719 --> 00:37:31,439
Speaker 1: Golden State, Sacramento, and the Lakers all on the road.

808
00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:34,880
Speaker 1: Just a really, really impressive stretch of hoops. Right now,

809
00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:37,280
Speaker 1: the thunder are plus one eighty to win the conference,

810
00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:41,000
Speaker 1: plus three sixty to win the NBA title. Boston and

811
00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:43,680
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City really starting to separate themselves from the rest

812
00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:45,520
Speaker 1: of the league. Again, all of these odds are provided

813
00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:48,560
Speaker 1: by our partner DraftKings. As always, I sincerely appreciate you

814
00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:50,960
Speaker 1: guys for supporting me and supporting the show. We'll be

815
00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:53,120
Speaker 1: back tomorrow, really fun slate tonight, So we'll be back

816
00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:56,440
Speaker 1: tomorrow with some game reactions as well as some film

817
00:37:57,040 --> 00:37:58,920
Speaker 1: and then we'll be out of here and then we'll

818
00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:00,759
Speaker 1: be out of there for that. So I think this

819
00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:02,440
Speaker 1: this week, the schedule is a little weird because I

820
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:05,120
Speaker 1: don't think there's any games on Wednesday, So we're gonna

821
00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:07,759
Speaker 1: get together with the Nerd Sash guys and we'll cover

822
00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:10,400
Speaker 1: basically basically, the plan for this week is we're gonna

823
00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:15,600
Speaker 1: go Tomorrow covering the Monday slate, Wednesday covering the INN

824
00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:18,960
Speaker 1: Season Tournament championship game, and then I'm gonna record with

825
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:21,279
Speaker 1: the Nerds and we'll run that at the tail end

826
00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:23,879
Speaker 1: of the week because of the again, only one game

827
00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:26,799
Speaker 1: total between Tuesday and Wednesday night, so it's gonna get

828
00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:28,640
Speaker 1: a little funky with the schedule, but we'll have plenty

829
00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:30,799
Speaker 1: of content coming out again. So all I have for today,

830
00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:32,680
Speaker 1: as always, sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and

831
00:38:32,719 --> 00:38:33,319
Speaker 1: supporting the show.

832
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:34,080
Speaker 2: I'll see you tomorrow.

833
00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:37,400
Speaker 1: Money the volume