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Speaker 1: slash Basketball terms. All right, welcome to hoops tonight here

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Speaker 1: at the Volume. Happy Monday, everybody. If all of you

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Speaker 1: guys had an incredible weekend, Monday's Power Rankings day, right,

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Speaker 1: so we're gonna be updating our weekly power rankings list,

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Speaker 1: and then I've got a long mail bag for us

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Speaker 1: to go through. We're gonna hit a bunch of teams

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Speaker 1: around the league for that. Just to give you guys

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Speaker 1: an idea of the schedule for this week. We have

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Speaker 1: the n season tournament, right, so we've got quarterfinal tonight

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Speaker 1: and Tuesday, semi finals on Thursday, championship on Saturday. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna be working at night on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. Tonight's

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Speaker 1: games I'm covering in the morning, but I'm also working tonight.

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Speaker 1: I'm just going on as a guest with some of

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Speaker 1: the guys from watch playback sam as FONDII and Mike Weisberg. There,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna be doing the Pacer Celtics game. So go

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Speaker 1: to my Twitter feed to Underscore Jason LT and you

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Speaker 1: guys will find the link to the watch playback link

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Speaker 1: to get into that room again during Celtics Pacers. I've

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Speaker 1: never actually covered a game during a game, so that

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Speaker 1: should be interesting.

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Speaker 2: We'll see how it goes. But we'll also have.

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Speaker 1: Some videos going on during the week this well this

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Speaker 1: week as well, so keep an eye on my Twitter

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Speaker 1: feed for announcements the plan on night time shows on Tuesday, Thursday,

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Speaker 1: and Saturday for the n season tournament.

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Speaker 2: You guys are the Joe.

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Speaker 1: Before we get started, subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel.

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Speaker 1: It would mean a lot to me if you guys

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Speaker 1: would scroll down and hit that subscribe button. Don't forget

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Speaker 1: about our podcast feed. Wherever you get your podcast under

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Speaker 1: Hoops Tonight, follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT

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Speaker 1: for show announcements and film sessions. And then, last but

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Speaker 1: not least, keep dropping mail back questions in the YouTube

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Speaker 1: comments so we can keep hitting them throughout these shows.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball, So our power rankings list.

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Speaker 1: We have two teams dropping off that were on the

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Speaker 1: list last week. The Dallas Mavericks have lost five out

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Speaker 1: of their last seven games, and they are bottom ten

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Speaker 1: in both offense and defense over that span. One of

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Speaker 1: those wins also was that Lakers game where they kind

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Speaker 1: of got schlacked in the fourth quarter and it took

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Speaker 1: a Kyrie Irving game winner in the final minute to

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Speaker 1: steal that one. So they've run into a tougher part

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Speaker 1: of their schedule and they're starting to struggle a little bit.

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Speaker 1: It's something to keep an eye on. And then the

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Speaker 1: other team I dropped off the list was the Lakers.

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Speaker 1: Good times are ahead for them. They got healthy, they

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Speaker 1: got cam Bradish back, they got Jared Vanderbilt Bakery Hoatchamuraz

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Speaker 1: coming back for the Suns game. They looked a lot

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Speaker 1: more athletic and deeper against Houston. I actually thought that

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Speaker 1: Houston game was the most impressive they've looked so far

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Speaker 1: this season. They're also some encouraging trends right like, the

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Speaker 1: Lakers are third in defense over the last ten games,

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Speaker 1: but they're still having issues with inconsistent effort and that

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Speaker 1: killed them last week. They had two really poor efforts

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Speaker 1: on the road in Philly and in Okla, home a city.

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Speaker 1: I expect them to be back on the list pretty

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Speaker 1: quickly as long as they can stay healthy. But for

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Speaker 1: now they are kicked off the top ten. So which

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Speaker 1: two teams are gonna replace them? Well, I look at

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Speaker 1: this tier in the NBA. I had a hard time

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Speaker 1: with this today because there are a lot of teams.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna split today's power rankings into tiers just to

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Speaker 1: kind of give you guys an idea of the way

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Speaker 1: that I'm seeing the league right now. But I view

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Speaker 1: like there's like this top tier of teams that have

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Speaker 1: been the most impressive in the league. There's three of

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Speaker 1: them there in my opinion so far. Just to again,

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Speaker 1: power rankings for me are just regular season I'm not

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Speaker 1: talking big picture playoff stuff. I'm just talking like, who's

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Speaker 1: been the most impressive during these actual regular season games? Right,

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Speaker 1: So I've got like three teams on the top, and

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Speaker 1: then I've got like this like very good tier, which

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Speaker 1: is like teams that have been playing clearly better more

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Speaker 1: often than not this season. And then there's like this

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Speaker 1: long list of teams that, like on any given night,

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Speaker 1: they look great. And then in the next night, they

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Speaker 1: look terrible and it's just been a really up and

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Speaker 1: down experience. And the teams on that tier are the

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Speaker 1: Lakers and MAVs. Like I just mentioned, the Suns and

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Speaker 1: the Knicks. Those two teams have good records, but they've

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Speaker 1: horrible schedules. If the Suns and Nicks have combined to

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Speaker 1: be only four teams that are five hundred or better

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Speaker 1: at this point in the season, the Heat, the Nets,

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Speaker 1: the Pelicans, the Clippers, the Hawks, the Rockets, the Warriors,

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Speaker 1: the Raptors, the Pacers, and the Calves. All of those teams,

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Speaker 1: in my opinion, are like all of them are capable

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Speaker 1: of taking a leap and going up to that next

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Speaker 1: tier or dropping down depending on how things go. They're

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Speaker 1: they're just mediocre and with respect to how well they've

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Speaker 1: played over this first twenty games of the regular season.

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Speaker 1: But the two teams that I ended up bumping up

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Speaker 1: are the Pacers and the Calves. So let's talk about

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Speaker 1: why Number ten in my power rankings for this week

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Speaker 1: is the Indiana Pacers. They have a league leading one

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Speaker 1: to twenty four offensive rating a preposterous one twenty eight

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Speaker 1: offensive rating over their last twelve games. It's completely absurd

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Speaker 1: how rapidly they're scoring points. There are seven to five

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Speaker 1: in that span that wins over Milwaukee, Philly, Atlanta, and

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Speaker 1: a super impressive win over My Me the other night

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Speaker 1: without Tyrese Haliburton hanging one hundred and forty four points

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Speaker 1: on the heat and that one just toasting them off

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Speaker 1: the dribble non stop and getting whatever they wanted. Tyres

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Speaker 1: Haliburton looks like one of the best offensive players in

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Speaker 1: the league. We talked a lot about him last week,

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Speaker 1: and seven Pacers players over this twelve game span are

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Speaker 1: averaging double figures. Now, they're god awful on defense and

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Speaker 1: their god awful rebounding team, but they're fun to watch

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Speaker 1: and they're really hard to beat, especially at home with

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Speaker 1: how high powered their offense is. I have them at

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Speaker 1: number ten in this week's power rankings. Number nine the

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Speaker 1: Cleveland Cavaliers. They've won seven of their last ten games,

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Speaker 1: including wins over Denver, Philly, Toronto, and Atlanta in that span.

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Speaker 1: They have the second best defense in the league over

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Speaker 1: that span as well. Darius Garland, after getting off to

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Speaker 1: a rough start this year's finally starting to get into

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Speaker 1: a groove. The main issues with the offense right now

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Speaker 1: are their only converting spot up possessions at zero point

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Speaker 1: ninety seven points per possession, which ranks twenty sixth in

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Speaker 1: the league. And that was literally why they went out

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Speaker 1: this summer to get Max Strus and Georgia's kneeing. So

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Speaker 1: that's the scouraging And there's still a below average team

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Speaker 1: in the short role, which was the major issue they

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Speaker 1: had offensively in the postseason last year. So offensively they're

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Speaker 1: still just a little too easy to guard, but the

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Speaker 1: defense is starting to click. Darius Garland's starting to get

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Speaker 1: it going. A lot of encouraging trends there from Cleveland.

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Speaker 1: So our next tier, this is the next five teams

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Speaker 1: on this list. These are the very good teams. These

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Speaker 1: are the teams that are having good regular seasons. They

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Speaker 1: look good more often than not, but they haven't quite

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Speaker 1: been as dominant as the teams at the top of

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Speaker 1: the league. And they're all poised to go on runs

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Speaker 1: as long as they can have a stretch of good health,

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Speaker 1: which has been an issue for just about every team

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Speaker 1: in the league so far.

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Speaker 2: Here early in the season.

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Speaker 1: Number eight, the Philadelphia seventy six ers, they did just

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Speaker 1: drop two games in a row without embeid. But they've

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Speaker 1: hit a super difficult phase of their schedule and they've

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Speaker 1: actually fared pretty well their last eleven games Indy, Indy, Boston, Atlanta, Brooklyn,

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Speaker 1: who's actually kind of feisty, Cleveland, Minnesota, Oklahoma City, the Lakers,

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Speaker 1: the Pelicans, and the Celtics. So just a ringer of

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Speaker 1: an eleven game stretch. They only went five and six,

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Speaker 1: but they went five and three when Embiid played over

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Speaker 1: that stretch. And what did I tell you guys all

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Speaker 1: the time about like the good and bad stretches of teams, Right,

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Speaker 1: like the good teams when they face a tough stretch

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Speaker 1: of their schedule. If you go five and three, that's

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Speaker 1: awesome in my opinion, especially when you're playing a great team,

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Speaker 1: a good to great team every single night.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: They are fourth in offense over that span. Special shout

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Speaker 1: out to de Anthony Melton. He's always been an excellent

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Speaker 1: point of attack defender, but he's giving them consistent scoring

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Speaker 1: production over this stretch seventeen points per game on forty

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Speaker 1: four percent from three on seven attempts. He kind of

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Speaker 1: like reminds me of Contavious calledwell Pope for this team,

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Speaker 1: he's less of like an off screen shooter, more of

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Speaker 1: like an off the dribble type of guy. But he

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Speaker 1: reminds me of KCP in the sense that he's like

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Speaker 1: just this really dependable, above average starter that like is

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Speaker 1: in my opinion, almost a hallmark of an NBA champion

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Speaker 1: type of team. Is you look at it, there's always stars,

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Speaker 1: there's guys off the bench that play big roles, but

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Speaker 1: they always have like above average starters in those spots,

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Speaker 1: like kind of like KCP and Michael Porter Junior Aaron

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Speaker 1: Gordon last year for the Denver Nuggets, number seven, the

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City Thunder, they are ten and three in their

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Speaker 1: last thirteen games. Over that span, they beat Atlanta, Cleveland, Phoenix,

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Speaker 1: Golden State twice, the Lakers, and the MAVs. They've been

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Speaker 1: the best defense in the league over their last thirteen games.

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Speaker 1: But here's the thing, Like we've been talking about all season,

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Speaker 1: all three of the losses over that thirteen game span

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Speaker 1: or against bully ball front lines, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the

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Speaker 1: Philadelphia seventy six ers in Sacramento with Sabonis, who obviously

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Speaker 1: plays a power game underneath the basket, they did get

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Speaker 1: a win over a power front line and the Lakers

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Speaker 1: albeit undermanned at the end of a long road trip,

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Speaker 1: but that's kind of the secret sauce for them. They

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Speaker 1: have to get out and run against those bigger teams

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Speaker 1: as much as possible. They have to be more scrappy

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Speaker 1: in the half court, they have to double and rotate

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Speaker 1: better than they have been, and they have to rebound

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Speaker 1: better than they have been. But I still worry about

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Speaker 1: the thunder and the big picture until they really get

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Speaker 1: a until they bolster that front line with a real forward,

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Speaker 1: and I mean like someone in that six eight to

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Speaker 1: six ten range that's a freak athlete that can help

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Speaker 1: control the defensive glass and help chet anchor that defensive interior.

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Speaker 1: Until they get that, I won't really take them seriously

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Speaker 1: as a top tier contender. But in terms of like

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Speaker 1: based on matchups, they can beat just about anybody else

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Speaker 1: in the league that doesn't have that massive frontline because

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Speaker 1: of the huge combination of just relentless ball handling and

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Speaker 1: passing and shooting and point of attack defense and athleticism

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Speaker 1: and motor and they have an awesome home crowd. They

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Speaker 1: basically bring everything to the table except for the ability

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Speaker 1: to beat the power frontlines. Around the league. They struggled,

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Speaker 1: like chet Holmgren just had a nightmare of a time

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Speaker 1: against against Rudy Gobaert in that game against Minnesota. It's

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Speaker 1: just clearly a weakness for that particular team. Number six,

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Speaker 1: the Orlando Magic. Now they've dropped quite a bit, but

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Speaker 1: it's been a weird week. And honestly, all these teams

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Speaker 1: are like smashed up on each other, So don't hyper

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Speaker 1: focus on who's where in this list, because all of

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Speaker 1: them are like this close to each other. And I

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Speaker 1: bumped the Magic down just because it's a weird week.

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Speaker 1: They've played a couple of games against the Wizards and

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Speaker 1: then they just got apps smashed by the Brooklyn Nets

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Speaker 1: on the road. McHale Bridges just lit them and lit

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Speaker 1: them on fire from the opening tip of that game.

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Speaker 1: And my theory there is like they had played three

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Speaker 1: straight bad teams, Like they had won nine games in

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Speaker 1: a row, but their last three wins were against Charlotte

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Speaker 1: and Washington twice. And I'm a big believer and like,

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Speaker 1: sometimes what will happen is you play against bad teams

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Speaker 1: and you form bad habits, and then you go play

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Speaker 1: a good team and you get smacked because you're just

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Speaker 1: not quite quite ready for that speed. So yeah, like

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Speaker 1: I bumped them down just because of the week schedule

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Speaker 1: week and them taking that bad loss to Brooklyn. But

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Speaker 1: they're every bit as good as all the teams in

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Speaker 1: this tier. It's just they're all smashed up on each

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Speaker 1: other and we're splitting hairs. At this point, they are

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Speaker 1: still second in the Eastern Conference. We're gonna find out

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Speaker 1: a lot about the Orlando Magic in the last couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks or in the next couple of weeks. This

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Speaker 1: is their upcoming schedule, Calves Pistons, Calves Celtic Celtics, Heat

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Speaker 1: Bucks Pacers. They come home for the Sixers and the Knicks.

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Speaker 1: Then they go on a four game West Coast road

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Speaker 1: trip where they play the Suns, the Warriors, the Kings,

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Speaker 1: and the Nuggets. So the end of by like mid January,

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Speaker 1: mid late January, we're gonna have a much better idea

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Speaker 1: of just how real of a threat the Magic are

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Speaker 1: for a potential playoff run. Number five, the Denver Nuggets.

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Speaker 1: Jamal Murray came back from one game and then immediately

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Speaker 1: tweaked his ankle and missed the next two. So that's

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Speaker 1: kind of a bummer because without Jamal Murray, they just

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Speaker 1: don't really quite have the overall offensive firepower that they

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Speaker 1: need to match up with everything else they bring to

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Speaker 1: the table. Right despite that, they've won four out of five.

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Speaker 1: They beat the Clippers, of the Rockets and the Suns

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Speaker 1: and Reggie Jackson again just a pro man. And like

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Speaker 1: last year, the fit was weird, but this year, like

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Speaker 1: I think, just having a full training camp and getting

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Speaker 1: all these reps with Jokic. As Jamal Murray's been out

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Speaker 1: in this five game span, He's averaging twenty two points

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Speaker 1: and seven assists per game on sixty three percent from

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Speaker 1: the field and fifty four percent from three, And I

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Speaker 1: like that they're taking it slow with Jamal. The only

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Speaker 1: thing that's going to be a downside there is if

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Speaker 1: he keeps missing time like this, he's not gonna make

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Speaker 1: the All Star team, which I know is one of

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Speaker 1: his goals this year. But I still think the Nuggets

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Speaker 1: are far and away the best championship contender in the

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Speaker 1: field right now. I shouldn't say far and away, but

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Speaker 1: I think they're clearly, undiscernibly better than Boston and everyone

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Speaker 1: else behind them at that point. Number four, the Milwaukee Bucks.

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Speaker 1: They've won nine out of eleven. They took a tough

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Speaker 1: loss in Chicago where Caruso hit this like drifting three

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Speaker 1: going to his right that sent it to ot, but

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Speaker 1: they did bounce back and beat Atlanta the other night.

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Speaker 1: They're up to twelfth in defense and tenth in defensive

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Speaker 1: rebounding over that eleven game span, two encouraging trends after

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Speaker 1: their week start to the season. In both of those categories.

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Speaker 1: They have some quality wins in there too, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas,

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Speaker 1: and Toronto. They're like signature win yet, but they have

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Speaker 1: some equality wins in there. And Giannis has started playing

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Speaker 1: like an MVP again. Thirty one points, twelve rebounds and

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Speaker 1: six assists on sixty three percent shooting and three stocks

296
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Speaker 1: per game, three blocks and steals per game over the

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Speaker 1: last eleven something to keep an eye on with the Bucks.

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Speaker 1: Chris Middleton still has not logged a single twenty point

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Speaker 1: game this season, obviously operating under a minutes restriction, but

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Speaker 1: in my opinion, him getting back to more or less

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Speaker 1: what he was in twenty twenty is basically a requirement

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Speaker 1: for this team to be able to win a title.

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Speaker 1: So the last three teams on this list, these are

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Speaker 1: the teams that have been clearly a level above the

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Speaker 1: rest of the field in my opinion this year. One

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Speaker 1: of the teams might not be as obvious in terms

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Speaker 1: of their record, but their very best player missed a

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Speaker 1: bunch of time with an ankle injury, and they have

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Speaker 1: arguably the most impressive list of quality victories this year.

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Speaker 1: So I lumped them up with this group. But all

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Speaker 1: three of these teams, in my opinion, have demonstrated dominance

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Speaker 1: over the course of this regular season in a sense

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Speaker 1: that it's just on a night in, night out basis,

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Speaker 1: you just feel like they're getting a great punch from them,

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Speaker 1: and you feel like they can beat anybody, and you

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Speaker 1: feel like they have the top end firepower to outplay

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Speaker 1: any stars in the league. Number three the Sacramento Kinks. Now,

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Speaker 1: they took this weird loss of the Clippers. They had

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Speaker 1: this wild comeback win. Malik Monks hits a game winner

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Speaker 1: against the Warriors. It was like this kind of frenetic comeback. Right,

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Speaker 1: they had play the Clippers the very next night and

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Speaker 1: they ended up losing that game, a Clippers team that's

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Speaker 1: been pretty bad since the Hard and Trade, Right, So

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Speaker 1: I don't overlook too much of that. I should I

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Speaker 1: should say that I don't look too much into that.

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Speaker 1: But they did bounce back. They beat Denver and then

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Speaker 1: they beat Minnesota the previous Friday, so they have a

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Speaker 1: couple of really quality wins. Sandwiching that they're seven and

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Speaker 1: two this year against teams that are five hundred or better,

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Speaker 1: which is awesome. And the crazy part is they're doing

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Speaker 1: it with the dirty work. They are up to fifteenth

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Speaker 1: in defense over their last twelve games. That doesn't sound

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Speaker 1: like the Sacramento Kings does it first in defensive rebounding

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Speaker 1: over that span. So they're just cleaning up all of

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Speaker 1: the dirty work right now, and then Deeron Fox is

336
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Speaker 1: still out playing most of the stars in the league.

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Speaker 1: On any given night, the Kings are actually nine and

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Speaker 1: four when Deeron Fox plays. That's kind of what I

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Speaker 1: meant like there. They have seven losses, but three of

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Speaker 1: those losses were when Deeron Fox didn't play, So I

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Speaker 1: think that that specifically is It's kind of like when

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Speaker 1: the the Sixers dropped three games over their last eleven

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Speaker 1: when Embiid didn't play like he. Deeron Fox is on

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Speaker 1: that caliber now, where when he's out, like it's just

345
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Speaker 1: a significant loss to that particular team. Number two, the

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Speaker 1: Minnesota Timberwolves. They had a disappointing loss in an n

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Speaker 1: season turn games of the Kings. But again, like the

348
00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:04,760
Speaker 1: Kings have been doing that this year, just like going

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Speaker 1: in on the road to really good teams and just

350
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Speaker 1: kicking their ass. It's been kind of one of their

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Speaker 1: part of their brand this year, so to speak. But

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Speaker 1: the Timberwolves, they bounced back and went four straight after that,

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Speaker 1: most impressively beating the Thunder the other night in the

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Speaker 1: game where Rudy Gobaert did an absolute number on chet

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Speaker 1: Holmgren held himTo like six for twenty, shooting a couple

356
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Speaker 1: of wild defensive possessions there, getting a lot of contributions

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Speaker 1: from guys down the roster, nos Reed and Troy Brown

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Speaker 1: Junior both a big shots in that game. This team

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Speaker 1: has a lot of like down the roster consistency in

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Speaker 1: terms of effort and execution, Like they were able to

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Speaker 1: beat Charlotte the other night without Anthony Edwards, same type

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Speaker 1: of deal. Like this team is still the best defense

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Speaker 1: in basketball, and you can just tell from the from

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Speaker 1: the top down. From day one of training camp, They've

365
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Speaker 1: been just so locked in on all of those details.

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Speaker 1: It extends down the roster. They've been a juggernaut so

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Speaker 1: far this year, and it's just a great example of

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Speaker 1: how defense still wins in the NBA. The two best

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Speaker 1: teams in the leg League have been the Celtics and

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Speaker 1: the Timberwolves. The two best defenses in the league have

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Speaker 1: been the Celtics and the Timberwolves. And I don't think

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Speaker 1: that's a coincidence in my opinion. Still, it is the

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Speaker 1: best way to win regular season games in the NBA

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Speaker 1: because your effort travels. It's the most consistent thing. In

375
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Speaker 1: like you, it is way easier to be a consistent

376
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Speaker 1: defense than a consistent offense because consistent offense depends on

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Speaker 1: shot results so much. But defense is an effort and

378
00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:23,679
Speaker 1: effort and communication and focus thing, and as long as

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Speaker 1: you bring those pieces every single night, you can win

380
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Speaker 1: in the in the NBA regular season. But yeah, like

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Speaker 1: on the strength of that defense and the leap from

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Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards contributions down the bench, Carl Towns has been

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Speaker 1: a like a revelation this year in the sense that

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Speaker 1: I thought he was kind of the odd man out,

385
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Speaker 1: the guy that would probably end up getting traded at

386
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Speaker 1: the deadline, and he's been so good and help defense,

387
00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:48,360
Speaker 1: and so good on the defensive glass, and so efficient

388
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Speaker 1: on offense playing next to Anthony Edwards that like now

389
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Speaker 1: it just looks like he's a natural fit there. And

390
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Speaker 1: so a lot of really exciting things from the Timberwolves

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Speaker 1: here early in the season. I have them at number

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Speaker 1: two in the power rankings and then number one. The

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Speaker 1: Boston Celtics. Another undefeated week, three to zero since Chris

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Speaker 1: Porzingis went down with his caff injury, which is encouraging,

395
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Speaker 1: And there was a report that came out today that

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Speaker 1: he's planning on playing in the semi finals should the

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Speaker 1: Celtics beat the Pacers tonight.

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Speaker 2: So that's good.

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Speaker 1: The Celtics are now the second most This is a

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Speaker 1: crazy stat that I came across this morning, and let

401
00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:22,119
Speaker 1: me just frame it like this. Actually, last year the

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Speaker 1: Celtics were twenty first and points generated out of the

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Speaker 1: post per game. They generated just four and a half

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Speaker 1: points per game out of the post.

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Speaker 2: Last year.

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Speaker 1: They were also sixteenth in the NBA in efficiency. So

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Speaker 1: they were twenty first in volume, sixteenth in efficiency. There's

408
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Speaker 1: your frame from last year. This year they are second

409
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Speaker 1: in producing points out of the post per game, second

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Speaker 1: only to Denver, and they are second in efficiency, scoring

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Speaker 1: one point one five points per posed up including passes.

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Speaker 1: Big part of it has been Chris Porzingis obviously coming in.

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Speaker 1: He's just been ridiculously good out of the post this year.

414
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Speaker 1: Forty kristops for Zingi's post ups have led to sixty

415
00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:05,280
Speaker 1: eight points. That's one point seven points per possession. That

416
00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:07,400
Speaker 1: was one of the big things coming over from Washington

417
00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:09,680
Speaker 1: is he had a great year last year beating switches

418
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Speaker 1: in particular in the post. But just just Boston needed

419
00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:14,760
Speaker 1: somebody like that that when they switched Tatum, pick and

420
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Speaker 1: rolls another option that they could go to to beat switches,

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Speaker 1: and that's what Porzingis has brought to them. And then

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Speaker 1: Tatum as well. Tatum has been about twice as productive

423
00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:26,400
Speaker 1: in terms of volume compared to last year producing points

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Speaker 1: out of the post, and so between that they've added

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Speaker 1: a legitimate post top attack to their game and something

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Speaker 1: that really wasn't a part of their offense in years past.

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Speaker 1: So the Boston Celtics two weeks in a row at

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Speaker 1: number one. All right, moving on to our mailbag. First question, Jason,

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Speaker 1: You're always so good at looking at the big picture

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00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:47,159
Speaker 1: stuff with basketball, not overreacting to individual games. I was

431
00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:49,640
Speaker 1: wondering if there ever was a if there was ever

432
00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:51,840
Speaker 1: a time where you would overreact to big losses like

433
00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:55,080
Speaker 1: the Lakers just had, and if so, how you learn

434
00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:57,200
Speaker 1: to be more patient. This is coming from a Warriors

435
00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:00,000
Speaker 1: fan who has who was devastated after the King's loss,

436
00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:02,280
Speaker 1: but is now over the moon after the Clippers win.

437
00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:07,639
Speaker 1: So here's the thing. I when I was younger, I

438
00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,199
Speaker 1: had the same feeling, like I remember when I was

439
00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:13,600
Speaker 1: like a teenager, late teenager, like I would overreact to

440
00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:15,480
Speaker 1: every single win and loss, you know what I mean.

441
00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:18,200
Speaker 1: And it's kind of been like a steady decline from there.

442
00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:20,199
Speaker 1: It really, you know, it's funny because I had this,

443
00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:23,280
Speaker 1: like I have this like somebody pitched this theory to

444
00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:24,760
Speaker 1: me the other day and I found it was really interesting.

445
00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:27,320
Speaker 1: A theory having to do with age. Essentially, like every

446
00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:30,200
Speaker 1: year of your life is a smaller amount of your

447
00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:32,480
Speaker 1: life proportionally as you get older, And so that's why

448
00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:35,080
Speaker 1: it feels like time goes by faster, because like if

449
00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:37,520
Speaker 1: you're twenty and a year goes by, it's roughly what

450
00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:40,159
Speaker 1: five percent of your life, right, But if you're forty

451
00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:41,640
Speaker 1: and a year goes by, it's two and a half

452
00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:44,000
Speaker 1: percent of your life, right, And so essentially it just

453
00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:46,560
Speaker 1: feels like it goes by faster. And that's kind of

454
00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:49,000
Speaker 1: like the thing that's happened to me over the years

455
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:52,520
Speaker 1: with the NBA is like at the more NBA seasons

456
00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:55,439
Speaker 1: that I've covered, the more NBA seasons that I've followed

457
00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:58,120
Speaker 1: very closely as a fan, the more things I've seen,

458
00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:01,400
Speaker 1: and it all just starts to feel small by perspective.

459
00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:04,200
Speaker 1: And beyond that, we've just seen so many trends of

460
00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:07,199
Speaker 1: the regular season games not mattering all that much in

461
00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:10,960
Speaker 1: both directions, with like teams like Sacramento and Memphis last

462
00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:12,879
Speaker 1: year winning a ton of regular season games and then

463
00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:16,080
Speaker 1: going out soft in the relatively soft i should say,

464
00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:18,840
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, and then teams like ter older veteran

465
00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:21,160
Speaker 1: teams struggling in the regular season and then succeeding when

466
00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:24,359
Speaker 1: they get to the playoffs. I do think it's tough

467
00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:28,000
Speaker 1: because there is a lot of NBA history that shows

468
00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:30,440
Speaker 1: that you'd rather be dominant, and a lot of times

469
00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:33,119
Speaker 1: it is a dominant regular season team that ends up

470
00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:35,000
Speaker 1: winning the title. But at the end of the day,

471
00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:37,479
Speaker 1: like I think, especially in this day and age, with

472
00:21:37,600 --> 00:21:40,840
Speaker 1: load management and how much more you know, cautious teams

473
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:43,800
Speaker 1: are with injuries. It's more important to look at like

474
00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,280
Speaker 1: if you see a night where your team is fully

475
00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:52,199
Speaker 1: healthy and they're playing hard and everyone's kind of in

476
00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:54,560
Speaker 1: a rhythm, but like they still get beat by a

477
00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:56,760
Speaker 1: better team, and there are specific trends you see on

478
00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:58,280
Speaker 1: the court, like, oh, they really struggle with this, or

479
00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:00,679
Speaker 1: they really struggle with that, make them mental note of it.

480
00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:04,720
Speaker 1: But like specific regular season results, it's like who cares? Like,

481
00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:06,600
Speaker 1: I guarantee you there are a lot of Warriors fans

482
00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:08,640
Speaker 1: that are freaking out about this. Clippers lost the other night.

483
00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:12,080
Speaker 1: I watched that entire game and I was hanging out

484
00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:13,520
Speaker 1: at my parents' house. Actually I went to go see

485
00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:17,440
Speaker 1: them on Sunday and or on I guess it was Saturday,

486
00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:19,560
Speaker 1: and I sat down and watched that game, and like,

487
00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:21,880
Speaker 1: I thought, the Warriors played great. You know what happened?

488
00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:24,280
Speaker 1: Like the Clippers, for all of their issues, they have

489
00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:27,199
Speaker 1: some really good players and so they are capable of

490
00:22:27,200 --> 00:22:30,000
Speaker 1: going on runs and like they just made tough shot

491
00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:32,479
Speaker 1: after tough shot at the end of that game, and

492
00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:35,560
Speaker 1: they got big stops. And you know, like I thought,

493
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:37,679
Speaker 1: the look Draymond Green got out of the corner is

494
00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:39,480
Speaker 1: not a bad look. Kawhi Leonard's one of the best

495
00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:41,560
Speaker 1: individual defenders in the world. It's not easy to get

496
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:43,879
Speaker 1: separation against him. And in terms of what happened with

497
00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,280
Speaker 1: Steph on that possession, and so, like, my thing is,

498
00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:49,440
Speaker 1: like the Warriors have played a lot of good basketball

499
00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:51,560
Speaker 1: in the last week, between going up big on the

500
00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:54,119
Speaker 1: Kings and going up being on the Clippers and getting

501
00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:54,960
Speaker 1: the big win over the.

502
00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:56,600
Speaker 2: Clippers a few days before.

503
00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:58,879
Speaker 1: Like, it's been a lot of good with some bad,

504
00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:00,919
Speaker 1: And so I don't think it makes a ton of

505
00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:05,240
Speaker 1: sense to overreact to to singular results like that when

506
00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:08,160
Speaker 1: obviously we already knew that the Warriors needed to make

507
00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:10,199
Speaker 1: some sort of trade at the deadline to upgrade at

508
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:12,200
Speaker 1: that forward spot. It's been something we've been talking about

509
00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:15,080
Speaker 1: ever since the Lakers series, Right, So, like, what really

510
00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:18,000
Speaker 1: have we seen this year from the Warriors that is

511
00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:22,320
Speaker 1: deeply concerning? Right, Like, Draymond's better than he was last year.

512
00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:26,159
Speaker 1: Steph is Steph, like Clay Thompson's been an issue. Yeah,

513
00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:28,840
Speaker 1: And that's something that if although he's been playing better

514
00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:30,679
Speaker 1: as of late, but if that becomes an issue in

515
00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:32,480
Speaker 1: the long run, yeah, like maybe it's something they'll have

516
00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:35,520
Speaker 1: to do something about. But I even think that bringing

517
00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:38,840
Speaker 1: in that type of forward slots Klay Thompson better and

518
00:23:39,119 --> 00:23:42,440
Speaker 1: makes that sort of thing easier. Pazemski's been incredible. It

519
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:44,920
Speaker 1: has been a godsend for that team. So like again,

520
00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:47,920
Speaker 1: I just I don't really think it's worth it yet

521
00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,000
Speaker 1: to have any sort of sweeping declaration about any team,

522
00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:55,040
Speaker 1: right and in general, like you here the expression cooler

523
00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:57,640
Speaker 1: heads prevail. That's kind of the way that I feel

524
00:23:57,640 --> 00:23:59,680
Speaker 1: like we should all act as fans during the NBA

525
00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:04,080
Speaker 1: regular seas, like after a big win, talk yourself down

526
00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:06,639
Speaker 1: from it, after a big loss, talk yourself up from it.

527
00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:08,719
Speaker 1: Try to stay even keel because that eighty two can

528
00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:10,840
Speaker 1: be ridiculous. Schedule losses are a huge part of it.

529
00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:14,920
Speaker 1: There were so many schedule losses last week, like the

530
00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:17,600
Speaker 1: the Clippers beat the shit out of the Kings one

531
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:21,359
Speaker 1: night after they had this super emotional comeback win versus

532
00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:24,080
Speaker 1: the Warriors, that the Lakers got slacked on the tail

533
00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,119
Speaker 1: end of a back to back in Oklahoma City, the

534
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:29,960
Speaker 1: I think it ended up being the Warriors beating the

535
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:32,320
Speaker 1: Clippers on the second night of a back to back.

536
00:24:32,359 --> 00:24:34,320
Speaker 2: Like the schedule plays a big role.

537
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:37,440
Speaker 1: There's so many different things that can manipulate regular season results,

538
00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:39,520
Speaker 1: and so in general, just try to pay attention to

539
00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:42,200
Speaker 1: the basketball and pay attention to specific trends taking place

540
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:45,960
Speaker 1: on the court. Next question, Thanks for all your analysis

541
00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:47,959
Speaker 1: on games and teams. I believe that Wemby is the

542
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:50,000
Speaker 1: real deal. What do you think is the next step

543
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:54,720
Speaker 1: in the Spurs process. A couple of things They absolutely

544
00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:58,320
Speaker 1: have to have to have to get higher quality ball handling.

545
00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:01,720
Speaker 1: All of the ball with san Antonio this year has

546
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:04,560
Speaker 1: been has left a lot to be desired. As a fan,

547
00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:06,879
Speaker 1: It's been really hard to watch san Antonio because of

548
00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:11,159
Speaker 1: their process. They are fourth in turnovers excuse me, they

549
00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:14,000
Speaker 1: have the fourth most turnovers per one hundre possessions. They

550
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:16,520
Speaker 1: have the sixth worst pick and roll offense in the

551
00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:18,960
Speaker 1: league right now, and they are the fourth worst spot

552
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:21,240
Speaker 1: up team in the league. So ball handling is a

553
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:23,760
Speaker 1: big part of it. Just decision making, getting Wemby in

554
00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:26,080
Speaker 1: better spots and getting everybody in better spots, and then

555
00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:28,119
Speaker 1: off ball shooting obviously, is a big part of just

556
00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:31,040
Speaker 1: the spacing going on around there. But I think that's

557
00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:33,320
Speaker 1: gonna be something that they target after this offseason, this

558
00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:36,160
Speaker 1: particular offseason, because this year in particular has been a nightmare.

559
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:38,240
Speaker 2: Next question.

560
00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:39,720
Speaker 1: As a fan of the show, I've heard you talk

561
00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:41,840
Speaker 1: many times about how you believe young players can't be

562
00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:44,359
Speaker 1: winning pieces coming to the later rounds of the playoffs.

563
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:46,120
Speaker 1: I agree with this take, but as a Warriors fan,

564
00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:49,040
Speaker 1: I'm hoping Brandon Pizemski can be an exception in a

565
00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:51,200
Speaker 1: limited role. Do you think this has some merit? Those

566
00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:53,520
Speaker 1: are just my fan bias kicking in. Thanks love the show.

567
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:56,480
Speaker 1: Off the bench, I think it's totally fine. It's like

568
00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:58,119
Speaker 1: I've been talking about this with Lakers fans, like can

569
00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,480
Speaker 1: Cam Reddish or Max Christy contribute for the Lakers in

570
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,040
Speaker 1: the playoffs? Maybe off the bench, but I think if

571
00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:04,840
Speaker 1: they're starting for you, if you're leaning on them for

572
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:06,880
Speaker 1: thirty something minutes a night, that's where it can become

573
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:09,639
Speaker 1: an issue. And so I think for a guy like

574
00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:13,199
Speaker 1: Poziemski is clearly in a bench role, I don't think

575
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:16,159
Speaker 1: it's ridiculous to think that he can contribute in smaller minutes.

576
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:19,480
Speaker 1: So like Christian Brown can contributed in smaller minutes for

577
00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:22,280
Speaker 1: the Nuggets last year in the postseason, right, So, like, again,

578
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:23,080
Speaker 1: this is all.

579
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:24,679
Speaker 2: To me.

580
00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:27,120
Speaker 1: In those bench rolls, it's not as big of a deal.

581
00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:30,399
Speaker 1: It's like I'm more talking about like starting lineup or

582
00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:34,679
Speaker 1: like sixth man heavy heavy usage. Like that's where I

583
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:37,200
Speaker 1: start to worry about a player's age in the late

584
00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:40,199
Speaker 1: rounds of the playoffs. Next question, why is Victor not

585
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:41,960
Speaker 1: the defensive player of the year so far? He's the

586
00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:44,800
Speaker 1: league leader in stocks historic and absurd block rate, and

587
00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:47,000
Speaker 1: he's asked to guard one through five. Teams are literally

588
00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:49,240
Speaker 1: avoiding taking shots around him in the spurs of zero

589
00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:50,760
Speaker 1: capable defenders with him.

590
00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:51,840
Speaker 2: It's really as simple.

591
00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:53,840
Speaker 1: They haven't won enough games, and the defensive rating with

592
00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:55,240
Speaker 1: him on the floor hasn't been that great. I think

593
00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:57,560
Speaker 1: it's like right around like one fifteen or something like that,

594
00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:00,679
Speaker 1: which is like good considering the personnel around him, but

595
00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:03,320
Speaker 1: not that great, right, And that has literally nothing to

596
00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:06,000
Speaker 1: do with Victor. It's just to me that award kind

597
00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,600
Speaker 1: of associates or generally gets kind of directed towards a

598
00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:12,200
Speaker 1: winning player and a winning situation. So I don't think

599
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:14,120
Speaker 1: it's a problem because Victor is gonna get I'm sure

600
00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:15,919
Speaker 1: Victor will wins several of them in his career. I

601
00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:19,200
Speaker 1: just don't think he's gonna get him this year. Next question,

602
00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:22,040
Speaker 1: do you think the Lakers should have Lebron run point?

603
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:26,000
Speaker 1: So the whole expression like run point or this team

604
00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:27,800
Speaker 1: needs a point guard to me, doesn't really mean anything.

605
00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:31,760
Speaker 1: It's just there's offensive initiators and playmaking finishers, right or

606
00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:34,560
Speaker 1: play finishers, I should say, right, And so every team

607
00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:36,600
Speaker 1: has multiple of them, right, And like right now, I

608
00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:38,600
Speaker 1: do think it's a little convoluted with the Lakers between

609
00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:41,600
Speaker 1: d Loo and Austin and Lebron and Anthony Davis. But

610
00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:44,080
Speaker 1: I do think they're gonna end up consolidating that by

611
00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:46,280
Speaker 1: getting rid of Dangel Russell at the deadline, which will

612
00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:49,080
Speaker 1: simplify that process to Austin, Lebron and Anthony Davis. And

613
00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:51,760
Speaker 1: you know, if there is a player that comes back

614
00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:53,720
Speaker 1: in that deal, like let's say it's a Jeremy Grant

615
00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:55,720
Speaker 1: or a Lourie markin In or somebody like that, if

616
00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:57,919
Speaker 1: they end up getting a player like that that can score,

617
00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:01,160
Speaker 1: they're gonna be scoring more in like ISOPO situations rather

618
00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:02,919
Speaker 1: than pick and roll, so I think it actually will

619
00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:06,040
Speaker 1: fit in more cleanly with the way that that team plays.

620
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:08,360
Speaker 1: And so again, like, do I think Lebron should take

621
00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:10,679
Speaker 1: more control over the offense? I mean yeah, but I

622
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:13,040
Speaker 1: feel like he has, especially in crunch time, and he's

623
00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:15,480
Speaker 1: been awesome in those situations. So like, to me, given

624
00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:17,439
Speaker 1: what the regular season is, you're just trying to get

625
00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:19,400
Speaker 1: through the eighty two games, I honestly think the way

626
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:22,320
Speaker 1: they've been doing things is fine from the same point

627
00:28:22,359 --> 00:28:26,119
Speaker 1: of like a delineation of responsibilities, understanding that you have

628
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:28,080
Speaker 1: all these guards and like you have to play the

629
00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:30,680
Speaker 1: Angelo Russell until whatever time comes in the future where

630
00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:34,120
Speaker 1: you decide to trade him. Right, My only concern really

631
00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:36,760
Speaker 1: has just been offensive organization. Like we talked about this

632
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:38,920
Speaker 1: at length, so I won't get into it right now,

633
00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:42,200
Speaker 1: but stuff like the five out offense versus cleared side

634
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:45,480
Speaker 1: post ups and cleared side ISOs and that sort of

635
00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:48,720
Speaker 1: thing I did notice in the Rockets game. If you

636
00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:51,920
Speaker 1: guys remember, I did a breakdown after the Thunder game

637
00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:53,880
Speaker 1: about different things the Lakers should be doing in the post,

638
00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,840
Speaker 1: specifically cleared side post ups for ad on the left

639
00:28:57,840 --> 00:28:59,360
Speaker 1: side of the floor. We can get to his right hand,

640
00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,160
Speaker 1: and Ran I want to say, I can't remember the

641
00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:03,960
Speaker 1: exact number of post ups, but they were one point

642
00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:07,080
Speaker 1: five points per possession against the Rockets when ad posted

643
00:29:07,160 --> 00:29:08,800
Speaker 1: up on the left block where he could get to

644
00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:10,880
Speaker 1: his right hand, and then it was zero point eight

645
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:13,280
Speaker 1: points per possession on center and right block post ups,

646
00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:15,959
Speaker 1: which I thought was a strong indicator of that theory.

647
00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:18,200
Speaker 1: It's just easier for Anthony Davis to read the floor

648
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:20,200
Speaker 1: and to get to his strong hand from the left side.

649
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:24,720
Speaker 1: And then Lebron ran I think six or no. He

650
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,280
Speaker 1: ran eight post ups in that game and either scored,

651
00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:29,160
Speaker 1: passed to his score, or drew fallen. Six of his

652
00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:31,400
Speaker 1: eight post ups, most of them out of that left block,

653
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:33,120
Speaker 1: where he's most successful. So I thought that was an

654
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:35,600
Speaker 1: encouraging sign for the Lakers as well.

655
00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:36,680
Speaker 2: Next question.

656
00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:40,520
Speaker 1: For some reason, Tyler has a reputation as a good coach.

657
00:29:40,760 --> 00:29:42,920
Speaker 1: Is that really justified? What has he done to earn it?

658
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:45,280
Speaker 1: If the Clippers flow is so bad on offense relative

659
00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:46,680
Speaker 1: to their skill, wouldn't it be good to have a

660
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:48,000
Speaker 1: coach do something about that?

661
00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:49,320
Speaker 2: Dido defense?

662
00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:52,400
Speaker 1: Do I agree with everything Tyler's done, not particularly like

663
00:29:52,480 --> 00:29:55,320
Speaker 1: he's a little oh so Here's the thing. Tyler's reputation

664
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,400
Speaker 1: or Tyler's brand I should say as a coach is.

665
00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:00,520
Speaker 2: He's big on he he's big on.

666
00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:07,240
Speaker 1: Switching, defense, small lineups, and he has excellent spacing principles,

667
00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:11,240
Speaker 1: meaning like he is probably one of the better top

668
00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:13,040
Speaker 1: two or three driving kick coaches in the league. What

669
00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:14,959
Speaker 1: I mean by that is like he's just he empowers

670
00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:17,880
Speaker 1: his players to work in a spread floor and beat

671
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:20,200
Speaker 1: people off the dribble and play kind of freely from there.

672
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:22,560
Speaker 1: It's brute force, but in a way that I think

673
00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:25,240
Speaker 1: makes sense for the personnel that they have. The problem

674
00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:27,680
Speaker 1: is as they've gotten really small in this time post

675
00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:32,400
Speaker 1: hard and Trade. It's all the switching and the going small,

676
00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:34,880
Speaker 1: like taking Zubac out of the lineup has put them

677
00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:40,240
Speaker 1: into some precarious situations. The numbers haven't updated since the

678
00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:43,160
Speaker 1: last game, but I haven't checked the updated numbers, I

679
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:45,200
Speaker 1: should say, but they were giving up an offensive rebound

680
00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:48,200
Speaker 1: on almost half of opponent shot attempts in crunch time

681
00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:50,719
Speaker 1: since the hard and Trade. That's like a huge problem

682
00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:52,880
Speaker 1: in my opinion. So some of this thing is like

683
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:57,600
Speaker 1: a couple things is tightly responsible for the offensive issues

684
00:30:57,640 --> 00:30:59,480
Speaker 1: that they're having since the Hard and Trade. In my opinion, no,

685
00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:02,320
Speaker 1: just because it's just hard for a bunch of stars

686
00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:04,520
Speaker 1: to learn how to play together. Also, there's so many

687
00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:06,320
Speaker 1: egos in that room that they're gonna kind of do

688
00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:09,120
Speaker 1: their own thing in a lot of ways there, right, So, like,

689
00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:11,040
Speaker 1: I try not to blame too much of that on

690
00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:15,360
Speaker 1: the coach. It's like when Lakers fans blame Frank Vogel

691
00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:18,640
Speaker 1: for offensive organization when it was a Lebron Russell Westbrook,

692
00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:20,840
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis team, and I wanted to be like, like,

693
00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:23,440
Speaker 1: you think Frank is telling Lebron how to play offense?

694
00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:25,280
Speaker 1: Like those dudes are figuring it out on their own.

695
00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:26,720
Speaker 1: And that's kind of what I think is happening with

696
00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:30,640
Speaker 1: the Clippers. But that said, some of their defensive principles

697
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:33,560
Speaker 1: and some of their lineup decisions that they've had post

698
00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:35,560
Speaker 1: the Hard and Trade don't really match with the personnel.

699
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:37,280
Speaker 1: But we just have to see how it goes in

700
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:39,720
Speaker 1: the long run, because to me, the hallmark of a

701
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:42,680
Speaker 1: coach is how he responds to changes in personnel, you know,

702
00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:44,240
Speaker 1: because that's the thing is every coach has like their

703
00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:48,720
Speaker 1: kind of overarching belief system, right, But then you change

704
00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:51,360
Speaker 1: personnel around that, and so like you kind of can't

705
00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:54,000
Speaker 1: just inflict your belief on the personnel. You have to

706
00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:57,280
Speaker 1: tweak your you know, kind of beliefs in system to

707
00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:02,520
Speaker 1: your personnel, if that makes sense. Next question, how do

708
00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:05,560
Speaker 1: you beat Denver? Also, do you think any roster in

709
00:32:05,560 --> 00:32:08,040
Speaker 1: the league consistently beat Denver in a series? As a

710
00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:10,040
Speaker 1: Celtics fan watching the Nuggets, I just can't seem to

711
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:13,200
Speaker 1: find a way Denver loses if they're healthy. So Denver's

712
00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:15,600
Speaker 1: the best team in my opinion, which means like there

713
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:17,960
Speaker 1: is no team that can consistently beat them in a series.

714
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:21,720
Speaker 1: In my opinion, there's two different ways to beat them.

715
00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:24,280
Speaker 1: And if I was like trying to construct a basketball

716
00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:26,200
Speaker 1: team to beat Denver, there's two different routes that I

717
00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:29,320
Speaker 1: would look at. One is like spread them the hell

718
00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:31,240
Speaker 1: out with five guys that can all dribble, shoot and

719
00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:32,800
Speaker 1: pass and drive and kick them to death, so you

720
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:35,840
Speaker 1: can take advantage of some of their limited defensive personnel.

721
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:38,760
Speaker 1: Team like Boston comes to mind as a team that

722
00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:40,440
Speaker 1: could do that. Also, they just have a lot of

723
00:32:40,560 --> 00:32:44,040
Speaker 1: rotation athleticism to be able to kind of fly around

724
00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:46,280
Speaker 1: as they're working around the Jokic problem on the offensive

725
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:46,800
Speaker 1: end of the floor.

726
00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:47,080
Speaker 2: Right.

727
00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:50,360
Speaker 1: The other two teams I look at are Miami and

728
00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:52,680
Speaker 1: the Lakers. And the reason why I look at these

729
00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:56,080
Speaker 1: particular teams is Anthony Davis and Bamana bio in theory,

730
00:32:56,480 --> 00:32:59,560
Speaker 1: if they are surrounded by the appropriate amount of athleticism,

731
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:04,040
Speaker 1: can can give Jokic and Murray problems, right, And the

732
00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:06,680
Speaker 1: Lakers had no success with that last year. That was

733
00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:08,920
Speaker 1: a big problem for them. But I think like for

734
00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:11,360
Speaker 1: both of those teams, for both Miami and the Lakers,

735
00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:13,720
Speaker 1: they need to make a trade to kind of successfully

736
00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:16,800
Speaker 1: unleash that. I like with Miami, the Jimmy Butler bam

737
00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:18,880
Speaker 1: at a bio combination and their ability to guard the

738
00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:20,800
Speaker 1: Jokich Murray two man game. If you guys remember in

739
00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:23,320
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals in Game two, those two guys did

740
00:33:23,320 --> 00:33:26,120
Speaker 1: an amazing job and did a good job slowing down

741
00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:29,040
Speaker 1: Denver in that win. Right, And so with Miami, they

742
00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:31,040
Speaker 1: need more offensive firepower, So they'd need to make a

743
00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:34,040
Speaker 1: trade to bring in enough firepower to outscore Denver on

744
00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:36,760
Speaker 1: the other end, Right, for the Lakers, it's that one more.

745
00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:40,440
Speaker 1: It's the guy that's like because the problem is with

746
00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:43,440
Speaker 1: Ruy Hachi Mura, with Jared Vanderbilt, with Torrian Prince, all

747
00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:46,640
Speaker 1: those guys, Max Christy, Cam Reddish, they all have gaping flaws.

748
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:49,320
Speaker 1: And with respect to their ability to be in the

749
00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:52,680
Speaker 1: starting lineup right, like Cam Reddish, Jared Vanderbilt, and Max Christi,

750
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:55,040
Speaker 1: it's can they be consistent enough offensively right?

751
00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:55,880
Speaker 2: And then.

752
00:33:57,680 --> 00:34:01,160
Speaker 1: Ruya Mura and Tourian Princes are they athlete to kind

753
00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:03,680
Speaker 1: of contend on the perimeter defensively right? Like Rue's a

754
00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:06,080
Speaker 1: good help defender, good rebounder, good post up defender, good

755
00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:08,759
Speaker 1: ISO defender, but he really struggles to navigate screens right.

756
00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:11,120
Speaker 1: And so all those guys kind of have flaws. If

757
00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:13,759
Speaker 1: they could bring in a Jeremy Grant or one of

758
00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:17,080
Speaker 1: the Toronto Raptors forwards, or a Lori Markenen or a

759
00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:21,319
Speaker 1: Dorian Finney Smith, a real dynamic, starter caliber forward that's

760
00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:23,800
Speaker 1: next to Lebron James and Anthony Davis, I think they'd

761
00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:26,480
Speaker 1: have a better chance. But specifically the Lebron A d

762
00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:29,040
Speaker 1: front line and the Bam Jimmy frontline I think are

763
00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:31,720
Speaker 1: two front lines that, if they were surrounded by enough talent,

764
00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:35,839
Speaker 1: could give Jokic and Murray some issues, but I'd put

765
00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:37,759
Speaker 1: the Celtics at that top of that list for right

766
00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:39,680
Speaker 1: now with their ability to spread them out and drive

767
00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:43,520
Speaker 1: and kick them to death. Next question, what I don't

768
00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:45,640
Speaker 1: understand is that it took a small sample size of

769
00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:47,920
Speaker 1: good basketball for Austin Reeves to get hyped into a

770
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:51,120
Speaker 1: big contract. How come a small sample size of bad

771
00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:53,799
Speaker 1: basketball isn't enough for someone to change their minds. He

772
00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:56,120
Speaker 1: had a decent playoffs and a couple of good FEBA games,

773
00:34:56,160 --> 00:34:58,280
Speaker 1: Yet people act as though he's been awesome for years

774
00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:00,640
Speaker 1: and is just slumping for a few games. We've seen

775
00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:02,439
Speaker 1: players in the past have a good season or two.

776
00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:04,560
Speaker 1: If given the opportunity, tons of players would do it.

777
00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:06,440
Speaker 2: Wow. I disagree with this.

778
00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:09,360
Speaker 1: If given the opportunity, tons of players could do what

779
00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:11,959
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves does, but they don't have the opportunity. He's

780
00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:15,520
Speaker 1: average at best, and he's not better than D'Angelo Russell.

781
00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:17,399
Speaker 1: What are we even talking about?

782
00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:17,680
Speaker 2: Wow?

783
00:35:17,719 --> 00:35:21,600
Speaker 1: I don't think I could possibly disagree more with this comment. Uh,

784
00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:24,239
Speaker 1: let me just this is all I'm gonna do for

785
00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:26,440
Speaker 1: this segment. I'm just gonna give you guys the real

786
00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:31,640
Speaker 1: sample sizes here. Twenty seven regular season games. Twenty seven

787
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:35,239
Speaker 1: regular season games after Russell Westbrook was traded away from

788
00:35:35,239 --> 00:35:38,319
Speaker 1: the Lakers, Austin averaged seventeen points and five assists on

789
00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:44,400
Speaker 1: over seventy percent true shooting. Sixteen playoff games, Austin Reeves

790
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,240
Speaker 1: averaged seventeen points and five assists on over sixty percent

791
00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:49,680
Speaker 1: true shooting, and he had eight to twenty point games.

792
00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:55,120
Speaker 1: He played thirteen games with FIBA alongside a ton of

793
00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:59,560
Speaker 1: talent and averaged thirteen points per game on seventy seven

794
00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:03,799
Speaker 1: percent true shooting, seventy eight percent, an effective field goal

795
00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:07,480
Speaker 1: percentage on catch and shoot jumpers, sixty one percent an

796
00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:09,960
Speaker 1: effective field goal percentage on pull up jumpers, and seventy

797
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:11,719
Speaker 1: three percent at the rim. That's how good he was

798
00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:15,600
Speaker 1: at FIBA, Guys, that is a fifty six game sample

799
00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:19,879
Speaker 1: size of him being awesome, not like good, not even

800
00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:23,960
Speaker 1: like great, like awesome. That's awesome contribution in like high

801
00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:27,920
Speaker 1: leverage games. That's like a playoff run in the NBA.

802
00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:30,479
Speaker 1: Right the end of that regular season last year, every

803
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:33,560
Speaker 1: game was wildly important because they were trying to scrap

804
00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:35,480
Speaker 1: and claw their way into a playoff spot and then

805
00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:38,960
Speaker 1: literally for the World Cup of Basketball. Like it doesn't

806
00:36:38,960 --> 00:36:41,840
Speaker 1: get much more high leverage than that. And for fifty

807
00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:44,520
Speaker 1: six games he was awesome, and you guys are ready

808
00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:47,200
Speaker 1: to call him a bum because he's been playing at

809
00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:50,200
Speaker 1: a slightly lower level for twenty one regular season games.

810
00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:53,759
Speaker 1: Twenty one, twenty one to fifty six. That's the comparison

811
00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:57,760
Speaker 1: of sample size. That's barely a third of the sample

812
00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:01,600
Speaker 1: sizes of him being awesome. And this twenty one regular

813
00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:05,040
Speaker 1: season game sample fourteen points, five rebounds, five assists on

814
00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:07,560
Speaker 1: fifty eight percent through shooting, which is good.

815
00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:09,680
Speaker 2: It's certainly not as good as he used to be,

816
00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:10,759
Speaker 2: but he's good.

817
00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:16,720
Speaker 1: So like again, the like Austin Reeves for a long

818
00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:21,799
Speaker 1: extended period in high leverage games was awesome. So I

819
00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:26,000
Speaker 1: am not going to jump off the Austin Reeves bandwagon

820
00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:29,000
Speaker 1: after twenty one regular season games when the Lakers were

821
00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:31,640
Speaker 1: down most of their athleticism, which was a big part

822
00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:33,880
Speaker 1: of why they were losing and made everything harder on

823
00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:36,640
Speaker 1: everybody else, all of a sudden, Austin is getting slotted

824
00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:40,200
Speaker 1: on more difficult perimeter defense assignments, right, all of a sudden.

825
00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:42,200
Speaker 1: Just in general, the team doesn't have as much downhill

826
00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:44,560
Speaker 1: rim pressure without the athleticism, which makes it harder on

827
00:37:44,600 --> 00:37:47,560
Speaker 1: the perimeter initiators. In general, it's been a weird season,

828
00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:50,560
Speaker 1: and he's still been pretty good. But like, yeah, stop

829
00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:53,160
Speaker 1: saying he was barely good last year. Stop saying he

830
00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:54,880
Speaker 1: only did it for a few games. He did it

831
00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:57,560
Speaker 1: for fifty six games. He was awesome in a bunch

832
00:37:57,600 --> 00:38:02,960
Speaker 1: of different circumstances, and for two years before that, he

833
00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:05,959
Speaker 1: was a quality role player working primarily off the ball

834
00:38:06,480 --> 00:38:10,680
Speaker 1: like this is not in my opinion, it's far more

835
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,319
Speaker 1: ridiculous to overreact to the twenty one regular season games

836
00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:17,400
Speaker 1: this year. Last question, Hi, Jason, how come the Timberwolves

837
00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:19,600
Speaker 1: are better this year than last year? Last year they

838
00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:22,840
Speaker 1: had a stagnant offense, no spacing. Now they're cooking or

839
00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:25,640
Speaker 1: wasn't any offseason moves? So what's different? A couple things.

840
00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:27,320
Speaker 1: First of all, I thought the Timberwolves were one of

841
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:29,319
Speaker 1: the better teams down the stretch of the regular season

842
00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:32,120
Speaker 1: last year. I was super impressed by their defense and physicality,

843
00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:34,640
Speaker 1: how hard they played. They had kind of like a

844
00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:38,200
Speaker 1: weird offense in the sense that like it's a little clunky,

845
00:38:38,239 --> 00:38:40,359
Speaker 1: it's the spacing is tough. But at the same time

846
00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:42,320
Speaker 1: they have a lot of different guys in attack matchups

847
00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:45,480
Speaker 1: in different ways, and so a couple things they've ridden

848
00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:47,880
Speaker 1: that defensive wave into the season. I predicted they'd be

849
00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:49,680
Speaker 1: a top five defense this year. They ended up being

850
00:38:49,719 --> 00:38:51,560
Speaker 1: the best defense this year. So it's just been a

851
00:38:51,640 --> 00:38:53,839
Speaker 1: kind of like a more dynamic version of that. Right,

852
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:56,120
Speaker 1: and then Anthony Everargs has gone up a level, starting

853
00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:58,759
Speaker 1: from that awesome playoff series against the Nuggets where I

854
00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:00,719
Speaker 1: thought he played really well being the best player on

855
00:39:00,719 --> 00:39:02,680
Speaker 1: the team at Foeba, and then coming into this season,

856
00:39:02,719 --> 00:39:05,120
Speaker 1: his playmaking has gone up a level, his career high

857
00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:07,680
Speaker 1: twenty six points per game. So just Anthony Everards going

858
00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:11,200
Speaker 1: up a level. Carltown's buying in defensively and on the glass,

859
00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:13,279
Speaker 1: which has helped anchor that lineup and made it so

860
00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:15,799
Speaker 1: that that lineup makes more sense. Right in general, the

861
00:39:15,800 --> 00:39:18,440
Speaker 1: whole team committing to the defensive end from day one

862
00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:20,279
Speaker 1: of training camp. Those are kind of like the three

863
00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:22,799
Speaker 1: things that are driving it in my opinion. All right, guys,

864
00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:24,680
Speaker 1: it's all I have for today. My picks for tonight.

865
00:39:24,719 --> 00:39:26,880
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with the Celtics to beat the Pacers

866
00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:29,920
Speaker 1: on the road. The Pelicans have had the King's number.

867
00:39:30,080 --> 00:39:32,319
Speaker 1: The Kings have won what ten of their last thirteen games,

868
00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:34,480
Speaker 1: I think if I remember correctly, and two of those

869
00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:38,359
Speaker 1: three losses were against the Pelicans, two games in New

870
00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:40,919
Speaker 1: Orleans where Zion Williamson slice and dice them.

871
00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:41,759
Speaker 2: So a couple things.

872
00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:45,640
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with the Kings just because I think

873
00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:48,439
Speaker 1: this third time through they should be able to schematically

874
00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:51,640
Speaker 1: adjust for the Zion Williamson problem. And then at home

875
00:39:51,680 --> 00:39:53,120
Speaker 1: in a high leverage game like this, I just think

876
00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:54,759
Speaker 1: they're the better team and I think they'll get it done.

877
00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:58,120
Speaker 1: So Kings to beat the Pelicans and the Celtics to

878
00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:00,520
Speaker 1: beat the Pacers. That's all I have for today, guys.

879
00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:03,200
Speaker 1: We'll be back tomorrow morning to break down those two games.

880
00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:06,360
Speaker 1: Don't forget. Also tonight watch playback for Indiana Boston. You

881
00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:35,760
Speaker 1: can find that link on my Twitter meeting. The volume