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Speaker 1: terms and responsible gambling resources. All right, welcome to hoop tonight.

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Speaker 1: You're at the volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody, hope all if

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Speaker 1: you guys are having a great week, got a fun

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Speaker 1: show for you today. We had two major showdowns last

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Speaker 1: night the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Los Angeles Clippers, as

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Speaker 1: well as the Milwaukee Bucks and the Denver Nuggets, and

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Speaker 1: a couple of really impressive wins where the Bucks and

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Speaker 1: the Timberwolves are gonna be breaking down those two games

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Speaker 1: from the perspective of both teams. And then then I have

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Speaker 1: about a half dozen mail bag questions, including some follow

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Speaker 1: up stuff that I got from you guys involving the

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Speaker 1: Celtics and they're kind of matchup attacking, and then the

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Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors and whether or not they have real

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Speaker 1: championship potential. This season should be a fun one. Today,

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Speaker 1: you guys know the Joe Fobrigen started subscribe to a

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Speaker 1: brandy YouTube channel with mean a lot to me. If

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Speaker 1: you guys would take a second to scroll down and

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Speaker 1: hit that subscribe button. Don't forget about our podcast feed

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Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops tonight. It's also

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Speaker 1: super helpful for us if you guys would leave a

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Speaker 1: review and a rating on the podcast feed as well.

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Speaker 1: Don't forget about my Twitter feed out Underscore. Jason lt

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Speaker 1: did another film thread this morning on Timberwolves Clippers. It's

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Speaker 1: also where I put show announcement in the last not

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Speaker 1: least keep dropping mailbag questions and the YouTube comments. Will

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Speaker 1: probably do at least one more mail bag this week

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Speaker 1: before we get out of here. All right, let's talk

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Speaker 1: some basketball. So you know, I thought the story of

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Speaker 1: Timberwolve's Clippers was Rudy Gobert not just in his health

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Speaker 1: defense responsibilities, but also when they shifted him onto Russell

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Speaker 1: Westbrook some of the damage that he did to the

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Speaker 1: Clippers offense overall. This is the eighth time this season

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Speaker 1: that Rudy Gobert had at least fifteen points in four

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Speaker 1: blocks in a game. Has some really impressive offensive plays

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Speaker 1: in the second half. At a pick and roll possession

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Speaker 1: where he caught on the roll and Euro stepped around

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Speaker 1: Zubach on his way to the basket. He had a

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Speaker 1: cut underneath the front of the rim on a baseline

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Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards drive where he caught and Kawhi Leonards stepped

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Speaker 1: up into help and he just buried Kawhi underneath the

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Speaker 1: basket and dunked on his head. Was cleaning up the

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Speaker 1: offensive glass too. It was a really good two way

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Speaker 1: effort for Rudy Gobert. But I want to focus in

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Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the floor. He spent a

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Speaker 1: good amount of time on Russell Westbrook and just comp

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Speaker 1: shut down the Clippers offense. And one of the things

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Speaker 1: that you'd see is Kawhi like drive into the lane

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Speaker 1: and see Rudy Gobert and instead of taking a layup

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Speaker 1: have to take like some incredibly difficult left shoulder fade.

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Speaker 1: He actually made one that like was a straight up

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Speaker 1: line drive that barely got over the front of the rim,

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Speaker 1: but you'd see hesitation there. There was a play where

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Speaker 1: Paul George drove into Gobert. Gobert was right there waiting

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Speaker 1: for him. He shoveled it off to Kawhi. Rudy just

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Speaker 1: turns around. He's right there waiting for him, and there's

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Speaker 1: they're pump faking at ghosts, They're refusing to take shots

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Speaker 1: around the rim. He just completely and utterly dominated this game.

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Speaker 1: There was even one of the most impressive plays that

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Speaker 1: you'll see from a shot blocker, a block of a

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Speaker 1: hook shot. Zubak in the middle of the lane kind

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Speaker 1: of went over to his over his left shoulder for

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Speaker 1: a hook shot in the lane and Rudy just swatted

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Speaker 1: it out of there. It was an incredible two way

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Speaker 1: performance for Rudy Gobert. Jayden McDaniels did great work on Kawhi,

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Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards did great work on Paul George. I thought

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Speaker 1: Kyle Anderson had a key shift in the early fourth

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Speaker 1: quarter because like one of the pathways of this game

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Speaker 1: was as the matchups kind of shook out. James Harden

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Speaker 1: was playing pretty well in that early third quarter stretch,

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Speaker 1: just like hit a step back three made some good

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Speaker 1: place to get the Clipper or get to get the

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Speaker 1: Wolves in rotation where the Clippers were able to get

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Speaker 1: some easier shots because he had Mike Conley on him.

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Speaker 1: And then when he stepped out of the game and

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Speaker 1: Russ came on, there wasn't really a good entry point

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Speaker 1: anymore for the Clippers and their offense completely stalled. And

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Speaker 1: then when James Harden came back into the game in

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Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, they put Kyle Anderson on him and

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Speaker 1: he had a really good shift on him there to

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Speaker 1: help them continue to grow the lead. And then from

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Speaker 1: there just really solid weak side rotations. I thought Nikhil

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Speaker 1: Alexander Walker had a couple of plays where he took

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Speaker 1: away threes that would for sure be decent catch and

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Speaker 1: shoot opportunities for guys like a Mere Coffee or Norman

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Speaker 1: Palace chasing him off the line. They held the Clippers

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Speaker 1: to zero point nine to five points per spot up possession.

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Speaker 1: They average one point one three for the season, so

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Speaker 1: almost twenty increase. They're the second best spot up team

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Speaker 1: in the league behind the Boston Celtics, and they just

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Speaker 1: completely didn't shut down, but did a significant amount of

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Speaker 1: damage to that significant chunk of what the Clippers liked

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Speaker 1: to do on offense. And then on the other end

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Speaker 1: of the floor, Anthony Edwards had one of the best

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Speaker 1: one for eleven from three games you'll ever see. He

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Speaker 1: was seven for seven on twos, all right at the rim.

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Speaker 1: Analytics guys would have loved his shot chart. It was

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Speaker 1: just a bunch of threes and a bunch of layups,

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Speaker 1: and Anthony Edwards, as we know, will take mid range shots,

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Speaker 1: just didn't take any of them in this game. Had

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Speaker 1: some unbelievable drives to the rim. His physical imposition in

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Speaker 1: the game, on the game makes it so that even

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Speaker 1: against excellent perimeter defense teams like the Clippers, he can

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Speaker 1: just get to his spots. He had this like spure

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Speaker 1: wetting spin move off of one leg where he got

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Speaker 1: into the lane and Terrence Manners, a big physical guard,

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Speaker 1: was being physical with him and walling him up and

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Speaker 1: taking the contact in the chest, and he just powered

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Speaker 1: through all of that and got all the way to

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Speaker 1: the rim and scooped it in with his right hand.

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Speaker 1: And I've talked a lot about this with the young

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Speaker 1: players that I coach, But like getting in the weight

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Speaker 1: room and specifically leg strength is so incredibly important to

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Speaker 1: get to your spots because when you're fighting through contact,

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Speaker 1: every one of those bumps is like a battle. And

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Speaker 1: if you are the bigger, stronger player, you're gonna be

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Speaker 1: able to It's just simple physics. You'll be able to

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Speaker 1: absorb that contact better than if you are the smaller

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Speaker 1: player in those altercations. And don't mistake the weight room

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Speaker 1: and the role that plays in Anthony Edwards's ability to

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Speaker 1: get to the rim. You had eight assists in one turnover.

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Speaker 1: Good job driving and kicking to shooters. One thing with him.

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Speaker 1: I've hearpd a lot on Jason Tatum for this, so

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Speaker 1: I want to be fair. He does have a tendency

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Speaker 1: to settle for really difficult pull up three point shots,

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Speaker 1: and he's not particularly good at them. And you know,

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Speaker 1: in general, I pulled this out for that Tatum discussion,

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Speaker 1: but when you look at all the guys in the

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Speaker 1: league that attempt over have attempted over four hundred pull

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Speaker 1: up threes this year. Pull up jump shots this year.

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Speaker 1: All of them are guys that don't have great physical

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Speaker 1: tools and are great at that shot, so they shoot incredible,

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Speaker 1: you know, you know, fifty two to fifty three percent

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Speaker 1: effective field goal percentage, So they're getting over a point

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Speaker 1: per shot on it. Jason Tatum and Anthony Edwards they

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Speaker 1: take they both take almost half their shots in the

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Speaker 1: form of pull up jump shots, and both of them

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Speaker 1: are really inefficient. As a matter of fact, Ant is

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Speaker 1: worse with it even than Jason Tatum is. And so

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Speaker 1: both of them, you gotta remember, they're kind of cutting

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Speaker 1: the defense a break when they settle those kinds of

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Speaker 1: shots because of how dominant they are elsewhere on the floor. Again,

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Speaker 1: seven for seven when he went to the rim and

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Speaker 1: one for eleven when he pulled from the perimeter. So

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Speaker 1: I'm being nitpicky here, but we'd like to see a

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Speaker 1: little better balance there from Anthony Edwards. Again, for both

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Speaker 1: of those guys. Just cut it from half your shot

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Speaker 1: diet to like a little bit under a third of

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Speaker 1: your shot diet, like thirty percent of your shot diet.

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Speaker 1: Now you're doing what all of the great efficient scores

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Speaker 1: of all time do. From the same point of not

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Speaker 1: for letting the defense off the hook. Really balance scoring

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Speaker 1: game from Caddy at twenty four points hit a little

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Speaker 1: bit of everything. Was scoring out a spot up, scoring

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Speaker 1: on cut, scoring on offensive rebound, put back, scoring out

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Speaker 1: of the post scoring, and Iso had a really impressive

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Speaker 1: hockey assist in the second half where he was driving

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Speaker 1: along the left wing. I think he was driving on

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Speaker 1: Terrence Man if I remember correctly, But James Harden turns

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Speaker 1: to double team and Kawhiet Leonard made a perfect textbook

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Speaker 1: windshield wiper rotation. Remember whinshield wiper rotations is like when

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Speaker 1: the double comes, the other guy rotates with him to

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Speaker 1: take away the first pass, because the majority of players

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Speaker 1: when they get double teamed panic and try to just

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Speaker 1: make the quick outlet pass rather than making the kill pass,

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Speaker 1: the pass that beats the defense. And kat just didn't panic,

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Speaker 1: pivoted back over his left shoulder. Read that Harden was

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Speaker 1: kind of playing that passing lane and that Kawhi Leonard

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Speaker 1: had jumped up to Mike Conley whipped it across the

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Speaker 1: court to Anthony Edwards on the right wing extra pass.

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Speaker 1: I think Paul George rotated up extra pass to the

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Speaker 1: corner to Jaden McDaniels, and he knocked down the three

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Speaker 1: really really high level playmaking from Carl Towns, and then

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Speaker 1: that's a They just completely dominated the Clippers, and the

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Speaker 1: paint outscored them sixty four to forty two. The Clippers,

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Speaker 1: as I've talked about a lot this year, they rely

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Speaker 1: on pull up shooting. They take them the second most

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Speaker 1: in the league behind the Dallas Mavericks, and they're eighteenth

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Speaker 1: and points in the paint scored per game. So they

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Speaker 1: went one for eleven on pull up threes, kind of

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Speaker 1: mimicking Anthony Everage's number. The Clippers as a team went

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Speaker 1: one for eleven on pull up threes and ten for

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Speaker 1: thirty two overall on pull up jump shots. They had

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Speaker 1: twenty one points on thirty two pull up jump shots.

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Speaker 1: What's your next punch and that's not working, what's the

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Speaker 1: next thing that you can do? And as you saw

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Speaker 1: in that second half when James Harden came out and

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Speaker 1: they had that long stretch with Russ and then when

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Speaker 1: Harden came back in and he had a better perimeter

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Speaker 1: defender on him, it just they weren't able to generate

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Speaker 1: that driving kick offense that they can go to as

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Speaker 1: an alternative to their pull up jump shooting attack. And

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Speaker 1: like the Wolves, to their credit, like they only they're

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Speaker 1: a great three point shooting team. They only shot thirty

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Speaker 1: two percent from three. They're a bad spot up team

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Speaker 1: when you chase them off the line, but like that's

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Speaker 1: an important part of their game, is their ability to knockdown,

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Speaker 1: catch and shoot three. Is they weren't shooting well right

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Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards went one for eleven, And they're just good

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Speaker 1: at doing other stuff. They're a great transition team, they're

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Speaker 1: a great post up team. They're one of the best

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Speaker 1: teams in the league at scoring on offensive redown putbacks,

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Speaker 1: a lot of stuff like what you saw from Rudy

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Speaker 1: Gober in that game. So they can win ugly, they

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Speaker 1: can win when a goes one for eleven from three,

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Speaker 1: and win big, because as we know, the Timberwolves' biggest

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Speaker 1: weakness is their late game scoring, the stuff that they

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Speaker 1: do offensively when it's you know, a three point game

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Speaker 1: with five minutes left, that's usually their biggest issue. And

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Speaker 1: they can win ugly and win big and not even

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Speaker 1: have to put their offense, and that sort of predicament

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Speaker 1: really really impressive. Dominant defensive performance from Minnesota Timberwolves again,

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Speaker 1: and like I've been I've talked about this with the Timberwolves,

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Speaker 1: I've been a little bit critical from the same point

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Speaker 1: of their late game offense. I want to be clear,

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Speaker 1: aside from the Nuggets, all of these teams are big

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Speaker 1: red flax. So whether it's Boston and their offensive execution,

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Speaker 1: Minnesota and their offensive execution, Milwaukee and their point of

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Speaker 1: attack defense, like the Lakers and their complete and utter

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Speaker 1: lack of a point of attack defender, the Warriors and

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Speaker 1: their lack of like a good veteran second option behind

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Speaker 1: Steph Curry. Like all these teams and the thunder are

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Speaker 1: super young and super small, right, Like, all of these

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Speaker 1: teams have big red flags. And so don't mistake me

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Speaker 1: being critical of the Wolves late game offense is me

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Speaker 1: saying they can't win. That's just if they lose, that'll

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Speaker 1: be what gets them beat. But there's all these other

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Speaker 1: teams that have similar flaws that could just get beat

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Speaker 1: for their own reasons, if that makes sense. On the

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Speaker 1: Clippers front, I talked about the entry points earlier James

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Speaker 1: Harden on Mike Conley, that matchup piece is a big

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Speaker 1: part of it. I thought they stayed with Russell Westbrook

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Speaker 1: way too long in the middle to late third and

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Speaker 1: then into the fourth quarter, and he had some disastrous mistakes.

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Speaker 1: There's a play where he smoked a transition layup off

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Speaker 1: the back of the rim, which led to a wide

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Speaker 1: open Anthony Edwards three, which he missed, but Rudy gober

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Speaker 1: got an offensive rebound put back and one as a

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Speaker 1: result of them being only five on four on the

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Speaker 1: other end of the Because remember I talked about this

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Speaker 1: yesterday to Spencer Dinwood, he's smoking a layup, especially in transition.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna have a guard who's typically responsible for being

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Speaker 1: the first line of transition defense. You're gonna have a

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Speaker 1: guard behind the back of the backboard, and that's always

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Speaker 1: just gonna put your defense in a compromise position. But

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Speaker 1: that's a five point swing smoked layup run out for

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Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert and won Rudy. And for the record, Russell

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Speaker 1: Westbrooks shooting fifty one something percent from on layups this year.

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Speaker 1: He's one of the worst layup shooters in the league

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Speaker 1: this year, and so when he takes uncontested layups in

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Speaker 1: his spaced out environment, he typically makes him. But when

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Speaker 1: he goes into traffic, he misses him almost every time

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Speaker 1: at this point, and there was a wide open Kawhi

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Speaker 1: Leonard on the left wing on this transition play that

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Speaker 1: led to the five point swing. There was a play

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Speaker 1: where he caught in the right corner, whipped by Rudy Gobert,

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Speaker 1: beat him on a closeout and then tried to dunk

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Speaker 1: it off of like straight vert, which like thirty two

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Speaker 1: year old Russ would have done just fine, but at

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Speaker 1: this point in his career he can't do anymore, and

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Speaker 1: it ended up being another runout that led to a foul.

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Speaker 1: It is a four point swing. And then lastly there

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Speaker 1: was about it was somewhat late shot clock, was like

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Speaker 1: six or seven seconds on the shot clock, but instead

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Speaker 1: of swinging it to a better offensive player, he tried

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Speaker 1: to attack Rudy gober on an ISO who was clearly

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Speaker 1: backpedaling and taking the rim away. Smoked a layup over

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Speaker 1: the top and it ran out the other way. In Minnesota,

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Speaker 1: hit a three. That's a five point swing, a four

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Speaker 1: point swing, and a five point swing off of three

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Speaker 1: mistakes from Russell Westbrook. It was a fourteen point swing

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Speaker 1: all in that third quarter. But even beyond just those

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Speaker 1: three plays with Rudy Gobert on him, the ball just

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Speaker 1: kept ending up in his hands because again, a lot

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Speaker 1: of these offensive players, they're making instinctual plays, like they're

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Speaker 1: used to driving and kicking a certain way when they

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Speaker 1: are they're programmed when they see a guy open wearing

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Speaker 1: their jersey to throw that ball, especially as a guard,

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Speaker 1: especially a player of Russell Westbrook's reputation. But when the

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Speaker 1: ball kept ending up in his hands, that was usually

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Speaker 1: where the offensive possession would fall apart. And I thought

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Speaker 1: Tylu just stuck with him way too long. In this game,

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Speaker 1: he had twenty nine minutes. The wol were plus twenty

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Speaker 1: one when Russ was on the floor, and it was

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Speaker 1: an even game when he was off the floor. And

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Speaker 1: I saw a lot of Clippers fans talking about like, oh,

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Speaker 1: they tried to go small, Not just Clipper fans, but

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Speaker 1: Clipper people watching the game, Like the Clippers tried to

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Speaker 1: go small and they still couldn't score. And it's like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: they went small, but they went small with Russ. When

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Speaker 1: you go with small with Russ, it's effectively like having

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Speaker 1: a center on the floor offensively, a center that's gonna

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Speaker 1: struggle to finish around the rim. So they're small, but

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Speaker 1: they're limited on offense when they go with that group.

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Speaker 1: And if you, as we've talked about so much on

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Speaker 1: this show, when you go small, you better be damn

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Speaker 1: good at being small or the big team is just

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Speaker 1: gonna demolish you. Because the big team has all of

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Speaker 1: these advantages as well, you need to pick them apart

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Speaker 1: on offense if you're gonna be small, and that's not

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Speaker 1: what they did. And then lastly, on the Clippers front,

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Speaker 1: can they hold up against interior power teams? After last

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Speaker 1: night zero to two versus the Wolves, one and two

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Speaker 1: versus Denver, one and two versus the Lakers, that's two

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Speaker 1: and six against the big front line of the Western Conference.

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Speaker 1: And this has been a consistent thing I've talked about,

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Speaker 1: Like they're a bad defensive rebounding team, they rely on

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Speaker 1: pull up jump shooting, they don't score in the paint.

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Speaker 1: Those are significant concerns against traditional playoff powerhouses. Does it?

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Speaker 1: I still have the Clippers up at fourth in my

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Speaker 1: contender's list. I'm not taking them off that list, But

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Speaker 1: like I talked about earlier with Minnesota, if the Clippers lose,

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Speaker 1: this is how it will look. It will look like

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Speaker 1: them going cold from the perimeter in a physical kind

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Speaker 1: of playoff like environment and getting dominated inside of the paint.

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Speaker 1: All right, moving on to Nuggets Bucks, this was a

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Speaker 1: textbook buzz saw game. I thought it was Milwaukee's best

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Speaker 1: defensive effort of the season. They had an eighty eight

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Speaker 1: defensive rating against Denver in the first half when they

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Speaker 1: won up by twenty plus. I thought it was Brook

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Speaker 1: Lopez's best defensive game of the season. You know, I've

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Speaker 1: talked a lot about in drop coverage. Drop coverage is

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Speaker 1: like a bracket, right, Like if you think of it

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Speaker 1: as weak back pressure and weak rim protection, the bracket

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Speaker 1: is weak, right, It's spread out, Like if the bag

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Speaker 1: is too passive and he's sitting back too far to

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Speaker 1: the basket and he's not contesting those mid range shots,

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Speaker 1: and then the on ball defender is not getting over

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Speaker 1: the top of the screen in applying back pressure. If

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Speaker 1: they're not doing their jobs to kind of pinch that opening.

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Speaker 1: There's an opening there for a guard to feel really

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Speaker 1: comfortable and to make plays. But one of the most

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Speaker 1: important parts of that bracket is Brooke being aggressive up

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Speaker 1: in his cover. And I'm not talking about like coming

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Speaker 1: out of his drop. I'm talking about when the opportunity

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Speaker 1: comes to contest. There's a difference between like taking a

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Speaker 1: soft step up and raising your hand versus like making

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Speaker 1: the read. Oh he's shooting now, I'm going to close

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Speaker 1: this gap and get up in his face. He disrupted

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Speaker 1: several Nikola Jokic little pop shots in the lane with

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Speaker 1: stuff like that, disrupted Jamal Murray floaters and mid range

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Speaker 1: shots with stuff like that. I thought it was his

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Speaker 1: best defensive game of the season. He had three blocks.

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Speaker 1: Also really set the tone offensively in this one. Early

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Speaker 1: hit a couple of big threes that kind of like

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Speaker 1: just made it you'll like more of an open type

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Speaker 1: of game. And then Giannis was just a complete wrecking ball.

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Speaker 1: They put him on Aaron Gordon, a lot of timely doubles,

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Speaker 1: aggressive doubles, attacking the basketball. He had three steals, then

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Speaker 1: got out in transition off of that, like Giannis always does.

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Speaker 1: He had thirteen of his thirty six points on runouts

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Speaker 1: going the other way in transition. As matter of fact,

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Speaker 1: Milwaukee had nineteen points on thirteen Denver turnovers and had

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Speaker 1: a twenty four to eleven transition points scored advantage. According

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Speaker 1: to Synergy, they completely outclassed them in every single phase

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Speaker 1: of the game. Condavious called the Pope left early with

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Speaker 1: like hamstring tightness, a good smart move from Denver to

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Speaker 1: kind of take it slow there. Jamal Murray left early

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Speaker 1: was shin splints once again. The game was kind of

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Speaker 1: over at that point. It was smart for them to

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Speaker 1: kind of take it easy. Just a rough night from

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Speaker 1: the Nuggets. They were sloppy from the jump. Contavious Callboll

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Speaker 1: Pope and Michael Porter Junior both missed wide open, completely

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Speaker 1: unguarded corner threes to start the game. That felt like

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Speaker 1: kind of like a missed opportunity. Jamal Murray and Nicole

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Speaker 1: Yoka both missed kind of like easy floaters. There were

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Speaker 1: a lot of turnovers, like it was just just kind

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Speaker 1: of a funky night for Denver. Back to back funky

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Speaker 1: nights blowouts at the hands of the Kings and the Bucks. Now,

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Speaker 1: one of the things that I'm sure some people will

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Speaker 1: ask is like, why do you keep giving Denver slack

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Speaker 1: in situations like this where you don't give other teams slack?

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Speaker 1: And the answer is really simple. They're the defending champs,

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Speaker 1: not just the defending champs, but the dominant defending champs

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Speaker 1: that never really truly felt threatened by the Suns or

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Speaker 1: the Lakers, or the Wolves or the Miami Heat. And

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Speaker 1: so for me, when it comes to looking zooming in

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Speaker 1: at Denver, they deserve a certain margin for air. Winning

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Speaker 1: the championship buys you margin for air. That's just what

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Speaker 1: it does. And in spite of all of that, defending

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Speaker 1: champions typically experience a little bit of a dip in effort.

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Speaker 1: Defending champions typically get the best shot from everybody every

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Speaker 1: single night as they come out with crazy effort to

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Speaker 1: try to beat the defending champs. And they still are

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Speaker 1: within striking distance of the number one seed in the

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Speaker 1: Western Conference, and they still have had a bunch of

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Speaker 1: these marquee major national television wins, and so I do

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Speaker 1: just give them a lot of slack, and I think

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Speaker 1: that's slack that they deserve, quite frankly. On the Bucks front,

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Speaker 1: one of the things I talked about a lot when

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Speaker 1: Doc Rivers took over the coaching job was the simple

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Speaker 1: fact that, like I thought he could get better commitment

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Speaker 1: out of the older veteran players on this roster. Specifically

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Speaker 1: with Milwaukee, they're slow when Giannis is not in the equation,

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Speaker 1: and even when he is in the equation, they're five

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Speaker 1: man groupings tend to lack some speed. Brook Lopez not

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Speaker 1: a particularly fast center. Jay Crowder, who's playing with Chris

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Speaker 1: Middleton out of the lineup, not a particularly fast wing.

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Speaker 1: Malik Beasley and Damian Lillard are both very fast as guards,

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Speaker 1: but they are both very small, and so even when

429
00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:44,639
Speaker 1: they are moving around, they don't bring as much length

430
00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:48,080
Speaker 1: to the table. They are not a fast team. That

431
00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:51,080
Speaker 1: is not their strength, and so it is abundantly important

432
00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:54,359
Speaker 1: for them to always be in the right spots. Execution

433
00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:58,480
Speaker 1: is going to make or break the Milwaukee Bucks season.

434
00:20:58,480 --> 00:20:59,960
Speaker 1: I've talked about this with you guys on the show,

435
00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:02,600
Speaker 1: but like if you look at the scale between a

436
00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:06,119
Speaker 1: good defense and a bad defense, a good chunk of

437
00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:08,760
Speaker 1: it is personnel, but the rest of it is commitment

438
00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:13,480
Speaker 1: to those details, constantly being engaged in the scheme, communicating

439
00:21:13,760 --> 00:21:17,040
Speaker 1: sprinting back in transition, having the habits down. I talk

440
00:21:17,080 --> 00:21:18,560
Speaker 1: about habits all the time on the show for a

441
00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:22,560
Speaker 1: very specific reason, because when shit hits the fan, it

442
00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:25,720
Speaker 1: is your habits that you fall back on. We all

443
00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:29,119
Speaker 1: have a tendency when stress rises, to kind of go

444
00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:32,920
Speaker 1: back to whatever our core you know, human characteristics are.

445
00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:35,560
Speaker 1: That's like classic human nature. And so when you have

446
00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:39,520
Speaker 1: baked in habits, when like it's when it's it's just

447
00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:42,920
Speaker 1: almost a natural, like automatic thing for you to make

448
00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:45,720
Speaker 1: a defense of rotation, to sprint back into transition, to

449
00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:48,800
Speaker 1: call out angles on ball screens, to call out coverages.

450
00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:51,760
Speaker 1: When when all of that is just baked into your habits,

451
00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:54,520
Speaker 1: then when the shit hits the fan, you can depend

452
00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:56,640
Speaker 1: on those things. And that's why I harp on those

453
00:21:56,640 --> 00:22:00,320
Speaker 1: things specifically with teams like Milwaukee that have some personnel

454
00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:03,000
Speaker 1: limitations in terms of the defensive end of the floor.

455
00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:07,240
Speaker 1: They have excellent interior defensive personnel. Giannis and brook Lopez

456
00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:08,879
Speaker 1: are still about as good as you'll find in the

457
00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:11,520
Speaker 1: league as a four or five combo protecting the rim

458
00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:15,000
Speaker 1: and help and recover situations. But they're slow outside of that.

459
00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:18,680
Speaker 1: So it's vitally important for them to be very attuned

460
00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:20,920
Speaker 1: to the details. And you know, even through the rough start,

461
00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:22,199
Speaker 1: I think they were what two to five in their

462
00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:26,520
Speaker 1: first seven games with Doc under the hood. The one

463
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:28,119
Speaker 1: of the things I kept harping on is even though

464
00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:30,800
Speaker 1: they were playing poorly, I saw a lot of that

465
00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:34,280
Speaker 1: defensive commitment starting to rise to the surface. And here

466
00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:35,879
Speaker 1: they are in a couple of back to back wins,

467
00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:39,119
Speaker 1: a super impressive defensive effort against Denver, and they have

468
00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:42,480
Speaker 1: a defensive rating in eight games since Doc Rivers took

469
00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:48,320
Speaker 1: over of one twelve point six. Before Adrian Griffin got fired.

470
00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:50,560
Speaker 1: To that point in the season, they were up over

471
00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:54,320
Speaker 1: one sixteen. There's something like eighth in the league, I believe,

472
00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:57,359
Speaker 1: over the course of this eight game span in defensive rating.

473
00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:02,080
Speaker 1: So they're getting a significantly high level of defensive commitment

474
00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:05,200
Speaker 1: from this group. Now again, it's about connecting those pieces

475
00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:07,399
Speaker 1: because the offense hasn't been nearly as good, which has

476
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:10,440
Speaker 1: been a big part of why they've dropped so many games.

477
00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:13,600
Speaker 1: And there's gonna be some some you know, transition there,

478
00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:17,680
Speaker 1: because your body becomes attuned to a certain timing and

479
00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:22,639
Speaker 1: a kind of rhythm offensively, and that is connected to

480
00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:25,000
Speaker 1: every single other area of the game, including the defensive

481
00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:27,359
Speaker 1: end of the floor. Like I do believe that a

482
00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:30,119
Speaker 1: big part of why Milwaukee was so good offensively to

483
00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:32,560
Speaker 1: start the season was that they were saving their legs

484
00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:35,119
Speaker 1: by not really competing on the defensive end of the floor.

485
00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:38,120
Speaker 1: And so there's a phase here where when you really

486
00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:41,680
Speaker 1: raise your level of commitment to transition defense and half

487
00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:46,200
Speaker 1: court defense where the fatigue element, the physicality element kind

488
00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:48,480
Speaker 1: of throws off some of the rhythm and timing stuff

489
00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:50,240
Speaker 1: on the offensive end of the floor, and it will

490
00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:52,880
Speaker 1: take some time for them to connect on that end.

491
00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:56,240
Speaker 1: But when they do, when they connect those pieces together,

492
00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:58,119
Speaker 1: I think they have a chance to be a damn

493
00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:01,200
Speaker 1: good team. They can get down into that at thirteen fourteen,

494
00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:05,240
Speaker 1: fifteen rank defensive rating and be a top five offense.

495
00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:06,960
Speaker 1: That's a team that has a real chance to win

496
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,360
Speaker 1: the title. I think that's where the Doc rivers Hire

497
00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:11,720
Speaker 1: was smart. It just has these guys actually playing hard

498
00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:15,080
Speaker 1: and committed to the details. Have you guys, ever had

499
00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:18,000
Speaker 1: a bad ticket buying experience. Maybe you go to check

500
00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,000
Speaker 1: out and ends up being way more expensive than it

501
00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:21,639
Speaker 1: was when you clicked on it, Or maybe you go

502
00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:23,159
Speaker 1: to your seat and ends up being not what you

503
00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:25,320
Speaker 1: expected when you bought it to begin with, or maybe

504
00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:28,840
Speaker 1: it's just an overly convoluted and complicated process. Well, this

505
00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:30,359
Speaker 1: is where I want to talk to you guys about

506
00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:34,160
Speaker 1: game time. The fastest growing ticketing app in the United States.

507
00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:36,879
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508
00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:39,359
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509
00:24:39,400 --> 00:24:41,840
Speaker 1: you're getting a great deal before you check out. Also,

510
00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:44,359
Speaker 1: you get to see the view from your seat in

511
00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:46,960
Speaker 1: the app, so you know exactly what you're getting for

512
00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,600
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513
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Speaker 1: buy tickets in seconds with two taps. Game Time has

514
00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:55,560
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515
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516
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517
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518
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519
00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:12,439
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520
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521
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522
00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:20,919
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523
00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:23,560
Speaker 1: is watching these games on TV, especially with the NBA

524
00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:26,040
Speaker 1: heating up here on the home stretch, go out and

525
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:28,639
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526
00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:30,720
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527
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528
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529
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531
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532
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533
00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:55,119
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534
00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:56,480
Speaker 1: it's your mail back, and then we'll get out of here.

535
00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:59,600
Speaker 1: First question, and uh, there's actually three questions that kind

536
00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:01,120
Speaker 1: of hit this follow up. I'm gonna hit the first

537
00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:04,119
Speaker 1: two first and then we'll do the second one. So, first,

538
00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:07,480
Speaker 1: what can the Celtics do to improve from the middle

539
00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 1: of the floor or is it about the personnel they

540
00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:12,359
Speaker 1: use in the middle, for example using KP's length and

541
00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:15,040
Speaker 1: vision over the top versus defense. And then the second

542
00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:17,480
Speaker 1: mail back question I got was isn't it easier for

543
00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:19,800
Speaker 1: a defense to double team if a player is running

544
00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:22,720
Speaker 1: a cleared side action because the shooters on the other

545
00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:26,160
Speaker 1: side are so close together that three players can guard

546
00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:28,000
Speaker 1: four shooters. So, for those of you gus who aren't

547
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:30,080
Speaker 1: aware of the context here, yesterday we did a deep

548
00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:32,800
Speaker 1: dive on the Boston Celtics and their spacing principles. They

549
00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:35,520
Speaker 1: had thirty plays where they ran isolations or post ups

550
00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:39,960
Speaker 1: against Miami Switches, and in those thirty possessions, sixteen of

551
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:41,679
Speaker 1: them they ran in the middle of the floor, and

552
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:44,760
Speaker 1: fourteen of them they ran with a cleared side, and

553
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:48,199
Speaker 1: on the cleared side ones, it just was consistently a

554
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:50,720
Speaker 1: better result. They had like something like one point four

555
00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:53,679
Speaker 1: points per possession, and that included Jalen Brown drawn a

556
00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:55,879
Speaker 1: fallon Duncan Robinson on a cleared side post up and

557
00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:58,240
Speaker 1: missing both free throws, So they should have been like

558
00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:01,199
Speaker 1: twenty two points on fourteen post ups and ISOs, and

559
00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:03,640
Speaker 1: then on the middle of the floor ones they were

560
00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:07,160
Speaker 1: like thirteen points on sixteen post ups and ISOs, which

561
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:09,320
Speaker 1: was you know, zero point eight points per possession or

562
00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:10,719
Speaker 1: something like that. And one of the things that I've

563
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:13,359
Speaker 1: been talking about is the idea that in the middle

564
00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:16,720
Speaker 1: of the floor it's harder to guard, but it's harder

565
00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:19,920
Speaker 1: to read, and so only the highest level playmakers in

566
00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:21,840
Speaker 1: the league are guys that can see over the defense

567
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:24,560
Speaker 1: really well, operate really well in the middle of the floor,

568
00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:27,800
Speaker 1: whereas operating with the cleared side it's easier to guard,

569
00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:30,239
Speaker 1: but it's easier to make the reads and so like,

570
00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:32,959
Speaker 1: it's just a more achievable job for the offensive player

571
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,440
Speaker 1: by making it so that they only have to look.

572
00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,440
Speaker 1: Just think of it, really and in a real basic sense,

573
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:41,680
Speaker 1: by if I catch the ball in a triple threat

574
00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:44,399
Speaker 1: in the middle of the floor or on a cleared side,

575
00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:47,040
Speaker 1: I'm protecting the basketball with my back turn to the

576
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:50,240
Speaker 1: basket right, or I'm protecting the basketball by tucking it

577
00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:52,280
Speaker 1: on my side and creating space with a jab step

578
00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:54,320
Speaker 1: right like I'm using if I'm facing up, if that's

579
00:27:54,359 --> 00:27:56,800
Speaker 1: the case, right, both cases, I'm trying to protect the

580
00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:01,360
Speaker 1: basketball while surveying the floor. But if I'm at the elbow,

581
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:05,359
Speaker 1: it's just a lot harder to read everything happening on

582
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:08,119
Speaker 1: all sides of me than it is if I'm on

583
00:28:08,160 --> 00:28:11,240
Speaker 1: a cleared side and I'm cutting that field division in half.

584
00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:14,760
Speaker 1: Now the baseline is cutting all of this out of

585
00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:17,600
Speaker 1: my field of vision, and I'm just worrying about this.

586
00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:20,439
Speaker 1: I can kind of turn myself and I can back down,

587
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:22,920
Speaker 1: and I can do a bunch of different things offensively

588
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:26,200
Speaker 1: without having to worry about what's happening behind me. It is, again,

589
00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:29,159
Speaker 1: just easier for the offensive player to manage, and so

590
00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:31,520
Speaker 1: I didn't do a good enough job explaining this yesterday,

591
00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,320
Speaker 1: and that's on me. But to put it simple the way,

592
00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:39,000
Speaker 1: I agree that on the cleared side post ups and ISOs,

593
00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:42,040
Speaker 1: it is easier to guard on the weak side because

594
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:44,200
Speaker 1: you have more time to rotate out of it. Put

595
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:47,240
Speaker 1: it simply, if you imagine this as the entire width

596
00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:50,400
Speaker 1: of the floor. If I am in the middle, every

597
00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:54,120
Speaker 1: pass is like ten to fifteen feet away, Whereas if

598
00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:56,240
Speaker 1: I am all the way on this cleared side and

599
00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:58,160
Speaker 1: I need to hit a shooter over here, I might

600
00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:01,880
Speaker 1: need to make a twenty five thirty foot pass, and

601
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:04,400
Speaker 1: that pass, if it gets deflected or has to be

602
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:06,840
Speaker 1: looping in some way, shape or form, it's easier to

603
00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:09,840
Speaker 1: rotate out of it. Right. That is where that principle

604
00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:13,560
Speaker 1: is true. But it doesn't matter if Jalen Brown and

605
00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:16,640
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum do either one of two things, either in

606
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:19,520
Speaker 1: the middle of the floor turn the basketball over or

607
00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:23,080
Speaker 1: constantly settle for pull up jump shots, because they see

608
00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:26,400
Speaker 1: all these bodies and they're intimidated in terms of making

609
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:29,440
Speaker 1: those reads, and it's just easier to take a difficult

610
00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:31,840
Speaker 1: step back jump shot. And so in my opinion, and

611
00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:34,600
Speaker 1: I saw this in the tape yesterday. They settled less

612
00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:38,280
Speaker 1: on cleared sides, and so when you clear the side,

613
00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:41,040
Speaker 1: you simplify their reads. You make it more likely for

614
00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:44,120
Speaker 1: them to be physically aggressive. When teams double team, they

615
00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:47,000
Speaker 1: have to cross the lane entirely, which makes it easier

616
00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:49,480
Speaker 1: to sneak along the baseline like that cut from Jalen

617
00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:51,080
Speaker 1: Brown that we saw towards the end of the game.

618
00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:54,440
Speaker 1: Right to me, it's just the best opportunity to bring

619
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:56,800
Speaker 1: the best out of Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown. Here's

620
00:29:56,800 --> 00:30:00,600
Speaker 1: the next follow up, interesting breakdown of the Celtics attacking.

621
00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:03,680
Speaker 1: I agree clearing the side creates simpler reads. Joe Mass

622
00:30:03,760 --> 00:30:06,200
Speaker 1: clearly believes that the Jays are capable of making those

623
00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:09,120
Speaker 1: more complicated reads. He's trying to give them reps in

624
00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:11,280
Speaker 1: case they face a team in the playoffs with personnel

625
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:13,680
Speaker 1: that makes those cross court passes that come from the

626
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:15,920
Speaker 1: clearing the side even more difficult than they are. So

627
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:17,880
Speaker 1: what he's saying is basically, in the event that a

628
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:21,240
Speaker 1: really long athletic team is disrupting those skip passes, what

629
00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:23,640
Speaker 1: if it becomes an issue there surprise you didn't talk

630
00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:25,480
Speaker 1: about this, but all The zone the Celtics played in

631
00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:27,760
Speaker 1: the game is another clear indication that they are experimenting,

632
00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:30,440
Speaker 1: essentially practicing for what might come in the playoffs. They

633
00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:33,360
Speaker 1: ran zone versus Miami, or the zone they ran versus

634
00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:36,440
Speaker 1: Miami is different than the one they've executed well versus Indiana,

635
00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:38,720
Speaker 1: et cetera. Sees gave up easy looks in that zone

636
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:40,440
Speaker 1: as well as a ton of second chance points. I

637
00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:43,120
Speaker 1: think Miami had sixteen offensive rebounds. That's the only reason

638
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:45,680
Speaker 1: Miami was even in this game. SE's cat lacking in

639
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:47,959
Speaker 1: last year's playoffs without a curve ball, and Joe's doing

640
00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:50,200
Speaker 1: everything he can to prevent that this year. So, first

641
00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:52,080
Speaker 1: of all, on the cleared side versus middle of the

642
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:55,280
Speaker 1: floor stuff. In theory, yes, it is great to continue

643
00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:58,000
Speaker 1: to get reps and kind of make opportunities there in

644
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:00,560
Speaker 1: the middle of the floor, But in my opinion, the

645
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:03,120
Speaker 1: dead giveaway that that's not necessarily the best way to

646
00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:05,120
Speaker 1: go is if you look around the league, there's really

647
00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:07,240
Speaker 1: only a few guys that really thrive in the middle

648
00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:12,240
Speaker 1: of the floor, and it's always like Nikola Jokic, Lebron James,

649
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:15,800
Speaker 1: like it's the best passers in the league that operate

650
00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:17,200
Speaker 1: well out of the middle of the floor. I think

651
00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:19,640
Speaker 1: that's a pretty clear It's just difficult. It's really difficult

652
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:23,640
Speaker 1: to do against really good NBA defenses to read the

653
00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:26,480
Speaker 1: floor that quickly in those types of situations. Now, I'm

654
00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:28,680
Speaker 1: not saying you don't lean into it as a repetition

655
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:31,200
Speaker 1: in the regular season, but something to keep an eye

656
00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:33,720
Speaker 1: on in the postseason. We tracked it right fourteen of

657
00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:36,560
Speaker 1: the thirty possessions on a cleared side. If we get

658
00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:38,920
Speaker 1: to the postseason and they're not operating well out of

659
00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:40,680
Speaker 1: the middle of the floor, we want to see that

660
00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:43,440
Speaker 1: closer to like twenty five out of the thirty possessions

661
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:45,560
Speaker 1: on a cleared side. That's what I kept saying talking

662
00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:49,920
Speaker 1: about with the Celtics as it pertains to like being

663
00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:52,000
Speaker 1: diligent about getting the ball to the right spots. Like

664
00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:54,200
Speaker 1: it's one thing in the regular season to experiment, but

665
00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:56,080
Speaker 1: when you get to the postseason, you gotta know what

666
00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:57,320
Speaker 1: your best punch is and you got to go to

667
00:31:57,400 --> 00:31:59,960
Speaker 1: it as much as possible. On the zone front, percent

668
00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:04,160
Speaker 1: agree find time during the regular season practice it, especially

669
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:05,680
Speaker 1: in matchups where you feel like you've got a good

670
00:32:05,720 --> 00:32:07,120
Speaker 1: chance to win and you're not gonna hurt yourself in

671
00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:09,400
Speaker 1: the standings. Hell, the Celtics are going to run away

672
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:11,120
Speaker 1: with the number one overall seed, like I talked about

673
00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:13,520
Speaker 1: before the season. Anyway, that GAP's going to continue to

674
00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:16,560
Speaker 1: grow now with the easier schedule. But like I agree,

675
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:18,680
Speaker 1: I think it's important to be able to have that punch,

676
00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:21,400
Speaker 1: if anything, just as a rhythm disruptor. If you've got

677
00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:22,960
Speaker 1: a team going on a run in the third quarter

678
00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:24,800
Speaker 1: and you can go zone for four possessions and just

679
00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:26,920
Speaker 1: kind of throw a wrench in things for a little bit,

680
00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:29,160
Speaker 1: that can win you a playoff game. And so I

681
00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:33,640
Speaker 1: totally agree on that front. Next question, Hey, Jason, thanks

682
00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:35,360
Speaker 1: a lot for answering my mailback question. I'm going to

683
00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:37,360
Speaker 1: try my luck with another one. In your opinion, how

684
00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:40,560
Speaker 1: should contact to jump shooters be officiated? Can contact to

685
00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:42,280
Speaker 1: the arm at the end of the release, which goes

686
00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:44,840
Speaker 1: on called a lot impact the follow through as well

687
00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:47,080
Speaker 1: as the result of the shot. Should shooters be called

688
00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:49,200
Speaker 1: for an offensive foul if they contact the defender as

689
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:52,280
Speaker 1: a result of landing unnaturally in order to avoid injury

690
00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:54,600
Speaker 1: when he is clearly about to land in their landing area.

691
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:57,160
Speaker 1: What should even be considered the landing area if you

692
00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:00,040
Speaker 1: want to avoid injury to shooters who jump forward, but

693
00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:02,120
Speaker 1: they shouldn't get an advantage over shooters that go up and

694
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:04,960
Speaker 1: down by forcing defenders to close out shorter in order

695
00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:08,440
Speaker 1: to not foul. How should refs differentiate natural and precautionary

696
00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:11,720
Speaker 1: motions from flops and unnatural foul drifting? Should defensive players

697
00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:13,280
Speaker 1: be called for a foul if kicking the leg on

698
00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:15,720
Speaker 1: a fato a shot contacts them when they close out

699
00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:20,280
Speaker 1: under control and can't create any additional contact. So I'm

700
00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:23,560
Speaker 1: pretty down the middle on this. Like I think contact

701
00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:25,440
Speaker 1: on the forearm on a follow through should be called

702
00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:27,600
Speaker 1: every single time. It's just when you look at the

703
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:31,360
Speaker 1: finesse element of jump shooting, especially difficult jump shooting, like

704
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:35,560
Speaker 1: you should not like the slightest tap on the forearm

705
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:37,680
Speaker 1: can cause the shot to miss by three feet. Like

706
00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:40,560
Speaker 1: it just it matters too much. And for the most part,

707
00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:43,240
Speaker 1: I feel like refs at least have their eye on

708
00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:45,320
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. But the landing area thing, I

709
00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:48,360
Speaker 1: one hundred percent agree with you. I do understand that

710
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:51,640
Speaker 1: there are certain players that do have a natural kind

711
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:54,800
Speaker 1: of like move forward on their jump shot, and it's

712
00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:57,000
Speaker 1: one thing And this is where I think discretion plays

713
00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:59,400
Speaker 1: a role. It's one thing when you see a player

714
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:01,960
Speaker 1: jump up and land like one foot in front of

715
00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:05,560
Speaker 1: where he took off and the dude comes up underneath him, Yeah,

716
00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:07,360
Speaker 1: that that should be a foul. But when it's a

717
00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:10,080
Speaker 1: comical one like some of these James Harden step backs

718
00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:13,120
Speaker 1: when he was with the Rockets, he would literally jump

719
00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:14,960
Speaker 1: and then in mid air be like at a forty

720
00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:17,360
Speaker 1: five degree angles he landed forward and then fell and

721
00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:20,440
Speaker 1: you're like, that's that's just bullshit. It's not basketball, it's

722
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:23,120
Speaker 1: not Nobody would ever shoot like that unless they were

723
00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:24,799
Speaker 1: trying to grip their way to the foul line, right,

724
00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:27,040
Speaker 1: And so that to me is the delineation, like the

725
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:29,359
Speaker 1: landing area. They need to tighten that up a little

726
00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:32,439
Speaker 1: bit and give the refs the discretion to not call

727
00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:35,120
Speaker 1: it if the player's doing janki stuff. Same goes for

728
00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:37,040
Speaker 1: even like on that foul that really bad one at

729
00:34:37,040 --> 00:34:38,920
Speaker 1: the end of the game against the Knicks yesterday, Like

730
00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:41,880
Speaker 1: one of the things that happens is like if that

731
00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:43,960
Speaker 1: if Aaron Holliday is shooting that play in a pick

732
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:46,120
Speaker 1: a shot in a pickup game, there's no contact there

733
00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:48,560
Speaker 1: he's when he sees the close out coming, he's kind

734
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:50,839
Speaker 1: of like leaning into it a bit and like kind

735
00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:53,560
Speaker 1: of like taking that contact. It shouldn't have been a foul.

736
00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:55,800
Speaker 1: And then also if you look at it, it's a prayer,

737
00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:59,320
Speaker 1: like he's throwing up a prayer and the ref is

738
00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:01,279
Speaker 1: jumping on and it is an opportunity to end the

739
00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:03,719
Speaker 1: game at the foul line. And so in general, just

740
00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:06,520
Speaker 1: the discretion has gone the wrong way too often this season.

741
00:35:06,560 --> 00:35:08,399
Speaker 1: I'd like to see them clear that up. Also, while

742
00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:11,239
Speaker 1: I'm bitching about refs, there was a Kenyan Martin Junior

743
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:12,960
Speaker 1: Duncan the Sixers game where he got called for a

744
00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:15,480
Speaker 1: tech and that was ridiculous and the refs just simply

745
00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:18,960
Speaker 1: have to be stopped. Next question, genuine question for you, Jason,

746
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:21,399
Speaker 1: what's your opinion of Lebron launching the ball straight into

747
00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:23,840
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray's face from point blank? I know you saw it.

748
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:26,520
Speaker 1: Now let's address it. And I'm excited excited to see

749
00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:29,680
Speaker 1: how you hear how you would spin it, cause if

750
00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:32,040
Speaker 1: that's the other way around, you would have condemned it

751
00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:34,920
Speaker 1: like you always do. One rule for Lebron and Draymond

752
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:37,960
Speaker 1: and another for Dylan Brooks. This is the most ridiculous

753
00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:41,080
Speaker 1: mail back question I think I've ever gotten. If you

754
00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:43,920
Speaker 1: actually think Lebron threw the ball into Jamal Murray's face

755
00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:45,719
Speaker 1: on purpose, I don't know what to tell you, man.

756
00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:47,400
Speaker 1: I literally don't even know how to respond to that

757
00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:50,960
Speaker 1: next question. When talking about Oklahoma City, can you ever

758
00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:53,880
Speaker 1: just give a small shout out to Jalen Williams like

759
00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:56,160
Speaker 1: it comes back last night and balls out yes, Gideon

760
00:35:56,200 --> 00:35:58,279
Speaker 1: Door or slumping sneaking in a j Dub shout out

761
00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:01,279
Speaker 1: sometimes cheesh. So here's the thing. Jadab's one of my

762
00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:03,080
Speaker 1: favorite young players in the league. I was actually talking

763
00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:06,560
Speaker 1: with Sam Massini on the phone the other day, and

764
00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:10,400
Speaker 1: everyone keeps like talking about, including myself, Jalen Brown that

765
00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:13,040
Speaker 1: can pass, Jayalen Brown that can pass, And Sam Assini

766
00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:15,319
Speaker 1: threw out the name Jimmy Butler as a camp for him.

767
00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:18,080
Speaker 1: And I love that coump because he's just an insane

768
00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:21,200
Speaker 1: competitor and he has that like big kind of playmaking

769
00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:23,640
Speaker 1: forward type of vibe who can also be a really

770
00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:26,879
Speaker 1: really good defensive player. Huge fan of Jay Dub, talked

771
00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:28,640
Speaker 1: about him a lot this season. Those of you guys

772
00:36:28,640 --> 00:36:31,239
Speaker 1: who have followed the show. That's it. One of the

773
00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:33,799
Speaker 1: things that happens is I'm trying to give you eight

774
00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:36,160
Speaker 1: to ten minutes on a game so that I can

775
00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:40,440
Speaker 1: hit three four games in a day, right Whereas like

776
00:36:40,520 --> 00:36:42,880
Speaker 1: when I was covering the Lakers solely, I could go

777
00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:45,200
Speaker 1: forty minutes on every single game. I did go forty

778
00:36:45,239 --> 00:36:48,360
Speaker 1: minutes on every single game immediately after the final buzzer

779
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:50,560
Speaker 1: because I was just covering the Lakers. So like a

780
00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:53,480
Speaker 1: lot of times, like I choose to highlight specific things.

781
00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:56,920
Speaker 1: That was a power Rankings video, I was trying to

782
00:36:56,960 --> 00:36:59,880
Speaker 1: get thirty seconds on the Thunder. They're going to be

783
00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:03,759
Speaker 1: longer form. There's gonna be a lot of longer form

784
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:06,600
Speaker 1: Thunder content down the season, and Jaylen Williams will get

785
00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:11,960
Speaker 1: plenty of plenty large portion of the show. If that

786
00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:13,399
Speaker 1: makes sense. All right, two more and then we're gonna

787
00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:15,760
Speaker 1: get out of here. Hey, Jason loving the content analysis.

788
00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:19,279
Speaker 1: The Warriors clearly aren't championship contenders, and the lack of

789
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:22,480
Speaker 1: a trade deadline move confirms that this season is a wash.

790
00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:24,880
Speaker 1: Although the athletic lineup of Wiggs, Cominga, and Green has

791
00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:28,120
Speaker 1: dramatically improved their playoff chances. What's the next move for

792
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:30,279
Speaker 1: the Warriors in the offseason so that they do not

793
00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:33,759
Speaker 1: waste another year of prime Steph. Is it making a

794
00:37:33,840 --> 00:37:37,640
Speaker 1: big splash trade or making multiple moves for better role players?

795
00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:41,720
Speaker 1: So good question. I disagree with the first thing about

796
00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:45,120
Speaker 1: them not being championship contenders, Like, here's the thing, like,

797
00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:49,040
Speaker 1: do they have a legitimate bona fide superstar? Yes? Is

798
00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:51,479
Speaker 1: the defense good enough? It has been as of late.

799
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:53,879
Speaker 1: We'll see in the larger sample size, but it has been.

800
00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:57,000
Speaker 1: Jonathan Comingas scored twenty plus points in what ten of

801
00:37:57,040 --> 00:37:59,319
Speaker 1: the last fourteen games if I remember correctly, So they're

802
00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:02,160
Speaker 1: getting some pretty goo secondary production. They have a really

803
00:38:02,239 --> 00:38:05,959
Speaker 1: deep core of perimeter defenders. Now that Gary Payton is back,

804
00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:09,600
Speaker 1: they have a versatile defensive front line. They can both

805
00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:13,279
Speaker 1: switch and run traditional pick and roll coverages. They check

806
00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:15,720
Speaker 1: a lot of boxes. Now, do they check as many

807
00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:18,000
Speaker 1: boxes as some of the teams that are above them

808
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:20,640
Speaker 1: in the standings? No, of course not. But I think

809
00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:22,480
Speaker 1: it'd be foolish to count them out because I think

810
00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:26,560
Speaker 1: beyond Denver there's a bunch of red flags. Like Boston

811
00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:29,440
Speaker 1: can be out executed down the stretch of games, Minnesota

812
00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:31,960
Speaker 1: can be out executed down the stretch of games, Milwaukee

813
00:38:32,120 --> 00:38:35,319
Speaker 1: might really struggle to contend on the perimeter. Like the

814
00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:38,120
Speaker 1: Clippers can't defensive rebound and they rely and pull up

815
00:38:38,200 --> 00:38:40,760
Speaker 1: jump shots and can be bullied by bigger front lines.

816
00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:43,560
Speaker 1: The Lakers have no point of attack defenders. The Phoenix

817
00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:46,960
Speaker 1: Suns can struggle in physical environments, although they signed Fatty

818
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:49,440
Speaker 1: as Young today, so like they're starting to add some

819
00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:53,160
Speaker 1: physicality to their lineup. But every team has giant red flags,

820
00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:56,880
Speaker 1: so to me, like if Denver had an do I

821
00:38:56,880 --> 00:38:59,520
Speaker 1: think Golden State would beat Denver. Probably not, but like

822
00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:03,600
Speaker 1: if a significant injury happens to one of the Denver starters,

823
00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:06,799
Speaker 1: then it's wide open, and I think at that point

824
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:09,359
Speaker 1: Golden State has a good chance as anybody else. And

825
00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:11,439
Speaker 1: so again it's a small chance, but I think riding

826
00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:14,400
Speaker 1: them off is silly. Now. Building from this into the future,

827
00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:16,520
Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing that they're gonna have to

828
00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:18,920
Speaker 1: look at I would love to see them get another

829
00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:22,480
Speaker 1: movement shooter. Specifically, with the way that they run their

830
00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:26,600
Speaker 1: five out offense, You've got a lot of steph running

831
00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:29,240
Speaker 1: off of these actions and drawing multiple defenders and causing

832
00:39:29,239 --> 00:39:32,040
Speaker 1: these openings for the athletes to succeed on the backside,

833
00:39:32,080 --> 00:39:34,560
Speaker 1: but Klay Thompson, who's been playing better as of late.

834
00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:37,840
Speaker 1: But like as Klay Thompson ages out, Brandon Pitzimski is

835
00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:39,279
Speaker 1: a guy who can shoot, but he's not a guy

836
00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:42,480
Speaker 1: who comes aggressively off screens looking to shoot. It would

837
00:39:42,520 --> 00:39:44,640
Speaker 1: just be interesting to see them add another option on

838
00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:47,239
Speaker 1: that front. I think it's all depth at this point. Really,

839
00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:48,799
Speaker 1: whether or not they can win a title will come

840
00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:52,200
Speaker 1: down to Jonathan Kaminga's development. Give him another year, maybe

841
00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:54,520
Speaker 1: another playoff run this year, to get reps in a

842
00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:57,160
Speaker 1: playoff setting, for him to identify what his weaknesses are

843
00:39:57,160 --> 00:39:59,440
Speaker 1: at a better level, get better at jump shooting, get

844
00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:02,040
Speaker 1: better at reading double teams. To me, it's gonna be

845
00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:04,879
Speaker 1: on the margins at this point, and then Jonathan Kaminga's

846
00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:07,719
Speaker 1: big picture improvement. But yeah, like if I had to

847
00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:09,799
Speaker 1: if I had to pick like a specific archetype to

848
00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:12,360
Speaker 1: look at, just in terms of their shot creation, with

849
00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:15,120
Speaker 1: how athletic their frontline is, getting another movement shoot or

850
00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:18,759
Speaker 1: another higher level offensive guard into that mix, I think

851
00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:20,279
Speaker 1: would go a long way to help in them. Like

852
00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:22,640
Speaker 1: even just like what if they made a move on

853
00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:24,640
Speaker 1: the margins this summer for somebody like a Gary Trent

854
00:40:24,719 --> 00:40:27,160
Speaker 1: junior for instance, would be a pickup that I think

855
00:40:27,200 --> 00:40:29,479
Speaker 1: would be really helpful for them. All right, last question

856
00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:31,680
Speaker 1: and then we're out here. How can you all say

857
00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:33,640
Speaker 1: that the Celtics have the most talented roster while they

858
00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:35,399
Speaker 1: have no bench and they're starting five? Is it better

859
00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:37,360
Speaker 1: than the Clippers? You said Kawhi is better than Tatum,

860
00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:39,160
Speaker 1: and PG is better than Brown and harder and is

861
00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:41,600
Speaker 1: better than white Man is kind of even with Drew

862
00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:43,879
Speaker 1: hasn't found a role in Boston. Only Porzingis is better

863
00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:46,200
Speaker 1: than Zubax. So I one hundred percent disagree with that. I

864
00:40:46,280 --> 00:40:49,800
Speaker 1: do think the top three guys like Harden, Kawhi, PG

865
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:54,160
Speaker 1: are better than Tatum Brown, whoever is your your third

866
00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:56,799
Speaker 1: guy there? But to also have Derek White, to also

867
00:40:56,840 --> 00:40:59,560
Speaker 1: have Drew Holliday, do also have Christaps Porzingis, do also

868
00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:03,560
Speaker 1: have al Orford? Like they just that top six. Nobody

869
00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:05,440
Speaker 1: touches that top six, And that's why I think that

870
00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:07,759
Speaker 1: they have the most talented roster in the league. All Right, guys,

871
00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:09,319
Speaker 1: that is all I have for today. As always, I

872
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:11,680
Speaker 1: sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show. We'll have

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00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:14,319
Speaker 1: a quick show tomorrow morning, breaking down some games from

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00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:17,080
Speaker 1: tonight's slate. Now we're going live tomorrow night. I think

875
00:41:17,120 --> 00:41:19,400
Speaker 1: it's Clippers Warriors if I remember correctly, but there's a

876
00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:22,360
Speaker 1: major national TV game on Wednesday night that we'll be hitting,

877
00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:24,040
Speaker 1: so we'll have that one as well. As always, I

878
00:41:24,040 --> 00:41:53,840
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys, I'll see you tomorrow. The volume