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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody.
Speaker 1: Hope all of you guys are having a great first
Speaker 1: week of the year. We have an awesome show today,
Speaker 1: that epic showdown between the Celtics and the Thunder. We're
Speaker 1: gonna be breaking that game down from the perspective of
Speaker 1: both teams. The Golden State Warrior it's got a huge
Speaker 1: win against the Orlando Magic last night, one that they
Speaker 1: very badly needed as the Magic continue their slide. And
Speaker 1: then we have three mail bad questions for the end
Speaker 1: of the show as well. You guys are the Joe
Speaker 1: Fourget started subscribe to a brand new YouTube channel. I
Speaker 1: mean a lot to me if you guys would take
Speaker 1: a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button.
Speaker 1: Don't forget about our podcast feeds. Wherever you get your
Speaker 1: podcasts under Hoops Tonight, follow me on Twitter at Underscore
Speaker 1: Jason lt That's where I put film threads on most
Speaker 1: mornings as well as show announcements. I did a film
Speaker 1: thread on both of today's games, including an extensive film
Speaker 1: thread on Celtics thunders. You guys can find that on
Speaker 1: my Twitter feed. And the last but not least, keep
Speaker 1: dropping mail bad questions in the YouTube comments so we
Speaker 1: can keep hitting them throughout the week. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: we had a showdown between the top two teams in
Speaker 1: my power rankings yesterday and it did not disappoint. And
Speaker 1: you know, early on there was a very specific matchup
Speaker 1: that was going horribly for the Celtics. We talked a
Speaker 1: lot about Boston's defensive personnel and there's a lot of
Speaker 1: focus on Jason Tatum, who I think is capable of
Speaker 1: being one of the best permit defenders in the league
Speaker 1: when he's locked in. You saw some of that against
Speaker 1: Shake Guild just Alexander down the stretch of this game.
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown is another wing athlete. Christaps Porzingis has a
Speaker 1: rim protector. Al Horford is the excellent team defender, the
Speaker 1: guy that can cause Joel Embiid problems. And there's a
Speaker 1: lot of focus in those departments. But the Celtics actually
Speaker 1: have one of the best defensive guard course that you'll
Speaker 1: find in the league. Derek White and Drew Holliday are
Speaker 1: both excellent guard defenders, and Shay was just cooking those dudes.
Speaker 1: Outside of a late possession where Derek White got to
Speaker 1: stop on shake Guildes Alexander, it was a lot of
Speaker 1: him just going right around those guys and either finishing
Speaker 1: at the rim or wrecking havoc with the pass. And
Speaker 1: specifically Drew Holliday just looked like he was stuck in
Speaker 1: the mud in this game. He was bad on both
Speaker 1: ends too, freight from the field with three turnovers on
Speaker 1: the other end, but really really struggled defensively. Got benched
Speaker 1: for Peyton Pritchard late in the game. Derek White did
Speaker 1: a better job on both ends of the floor, but
Speaker 1: he struggled to stay in front of shit. That was
Speaker 1: the key matchup early on. And then the other thing
Speaker 1: that I thought the Thunder did really well is they
Speaker 1: attacked Porzingis when he was roaming off the ball. This
Speaker 1: is a thing that we see a lot around the
Speaker 1: league these days is taking your primary rim protector and
Speaker 1: just putting them on the worst offensive player from the
Speaker 1: other team, at least the worst off ball other player
Speaker 1: right or offensive player, And then that puts you in
Speaker 1: a position where you know you might concede some catch
Speaker 1: and shoot threes to that guy, but if he's roaming
Speaker 1: around wrecking havoc on all of the other action elsewhere
Speaker 1: on the floor, it can be a beneficial trade off
Speaker 1: for you. Right. But what the Thunder did, which I
Speaker 1: thought was really smart, is again porzingis in that case,
Speaker 1: his focus is on the other four guys. He's not
Speaker 1: hyper concerned with what the bad offensive player is doing.
Speaker 1: He spent most of the game on Josh Giddy and
Speaker 1: a good amount of it on Aaron Wiggins as well.
Speaker 1: And one of the things I liked is they just
Speaker 1: look to get Josh Giddy the ball one way or another.
Speaker 1: There was a you know, a play where they had
Speaker 1: Giddy with the ball the right elbow and it's all
Speaker 1: this other action going on, and it looks like it's
Speaker 1: designed to get someone else the ball, But then Josh
Speaker 1: Gitty just rips to the left and gets by Porzingis
Speaker 1: and gets an and one off the glass. He hit
Speaker 1: another three in Porzingis's face in the right corner on
Speaker 1: a play where Porzingis was just being a little passive
Speaker 1: because he's not worried necessarily about Josh Gitty as a scorer.
Speaker 1: Josh Gitty hit a second half three off of a
Speaker 1: dig down, hit a couple of threes. There was a
Speaker 1: play where he was on Aaron Wiggins and he's watching
Speaker 1: the rest of the floor and they just backscreen for
Speaker 1: him and Aaron Wiggins cuts along the baseline that hit
Speaker 1: him and he gets a wide open layup. It's a
Speaker 1: very important, you know, counter when they have a guy
Speaker 1: that they're using as a roamer to make sure that
Speaker 1: he also has to account for the guy that he's
Speaker 1: actually guarding. And you know, one of the other things too.
Speaker 1: And I've talked about this on the show before. This
Speaker 1: is another common theme around the league where it's like,
Speaker 1: we don't think this guy can shoot, so let's just
Speaker 1: give him wide open looks. And they did that with
Speaker 1: Josh Gitty again, and it's like, I understand that as
Speaker 1: an initial strategy, but I think you need an audible
Speaker 1: from it quickly, because one these guys are pros and
Speaker 1: two most bad shooters in the NBA are actually streaky shooters,
Speaker 1: and if they start to feel good with their shot,
Speaker 1: they can really knock him down. And so it's one
Speaker 1: of those things where like it's one thing if you
Speaker 1: leave him wide open and he misses the first one,
Speaker 1: he might spiral mentally, and that might be a good
Speaker 1: strategy for you the rest of the game. I'll give
Speaker 1: you an example like the like when the Lakers decided
Speaker 1: to ignore Miles Turner in the n Season Tournament championship game.
Speaker 1: He ended up going one for five. It worked out.
Speaker 1: The one he made was late in the game. He
Speaker 1: had already missed a bunch of them, right, It's like
Speaker 1: that worked out in that case. But there have been
Speaker 1: plenty of examples this year where the Lakers ignored a
Speaker 1: guy I think like Dante Xum from the Mavericks, and
Speaker 1: he keeps making shots and they keep ignoring him, and
Speaker 1: it's like, this is a professional basketball player. He's gonna
Speaker 1: make shots, right, And so they conceded the open threes
Speaker 1: to Josh Gidty, and instead of adjusting when Josh Getty
Speaker 1: started making them, he kept making them. He ended up
Speaker 1: hitting two massive ones late in the game. And then
Speaker 1: for Boston, their best success was coming from their two
Speaker 1: man game with Jason Tatum and Derek White, or Jayson
Speaker 1: Tatum with Peyton Pritchard. And the main reason why they
Speaker 1: were having success there is, again, you've got a bigger
Speaker 1: defender loudort On Jason Tatum, who they do not want
Speaker 1: to switch under any circumstances. And then you've got these
Speaker 1: smaller guards, you're thinner guards guarding Peyton Pritchard or Derek White,
Speaker 1: and so they don't want to switch and they don't
Speaker 1: want to hedge because those guys, you know, Derek White
Speaker 1: and Peyton Pritchard can both shoot, you know, catch and
Speaker 1: shoot threes off the move relatively easy. Derek White's been
Speaker 1: killing teams with that this year, and so they were
Speaker 1: able to get a lot of paint touches out of it.
Speaker 1: That was the primary driving force of Boston's offensive success,
Speaker 1: although they did have a lot of the typical offensive
Speaker 1: issues you come to expect from Boston, like Tatum hunting
Speaker 1: pull up threes. He took seven more pull up jump
Speaker 1: shots in this game, leading to only six points. That's
Speaker 1: been a consistent theme throughout this season and then as
Speaker 1: a team just taking a lot of like early clock,
Speaker 1: more difficult threes rather than you know, running some offense
Speaker 1: to try to get higher quality shots, and so okay,
Speaker 1: so he started to pull away. In that third quarter,
Speaker 1: they started to get hot with their three point shooting
Speaker 1: right like. They hit two quick threes to start the
Speaker 1: third quarter which quickly get them the lead, and then
Speaker 1: they just start to slowly pull away, and then the
Speaker 1: Thunder bench really grew the lead. In the early fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: Jalen Williams Jay will the backup center, ended up hitting
Speaker 1: a huge above the break three on the left wing,
Speaker 1: basically in a bailout situation at the end of the clock.
Speaker 1: That felt like free money. That was an awesome shot.
Speaker 1: Vasili J Mitchitch had a really nice like pump fake
Speaker 1: drive a closed out kickout pass to Keason Wallace in
Speaker 1: the right corner which he made Jadub Jaylen Williams was
Speaker 1: starting forward. He ended up hitting a nasty little driving
Speaker 1: fade away over Luke Cornett and then suddenly the thunder
Speaker 1: were up eighteen and it seemed like the game was over.
Speaker 1: But then the Celtics made a run and they were
Speaker 1: awesome on offense. In this run a lot of the
Speaker 1: same things I was just talking about. Derek White hit
Speaker 1: a couple of wing threes, actually scored on ten consecutive
Speaker 1: possessions up until Jaln Brown's garbage time three late in
Speaker 1: the game when it was already over, and they made
Speaker 1: it into a game. But when you're down eighteen, you
Speaker 1: have to play perfect defensively, and they just gave up
Speaker 1: too many baskets on the other end against the Shake
Speaker 1: Gilders Alexander Chet Homegrin pick and roll action and so
Speaker 1: what I want to do here, which is what I
Speaker 1: thought was the most interesting part of this game. Down
Speaker 1: the stretch, when Boston really locked in and tried to
Speaker 1: make it a game, they put Jason Tatum on Shake
Speaker 1: Gildos Alexander, and then from there Shay started spamming the
Speaker 1: Chet pick and roll to try to get easy shots
Speaker 1: despite the fact that Jason Tatum was causing some disruptions
Speaker 1: on the ball. And from there a really interesting chess
Speaker 1: match took place, one that kind of reminded me of
Speaker 1: the type of adjustments that you see in a playoff series,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to dive into that. On a possession
Speaker 1: by possession basis. So first time they were on the
Speaker 1: pick and pop. Now again, just imagine shake gild A
Speaker 1: Sallex Enter on the ball. Chet comes to set the screen.
Speaker 1: Porzingis is basically showing to help Tatum as she's coming
Speaker 1: over the top of that screen, and Chet is popping
Speaker 1: to the three point line. So the first time they
Speaker 1: run it, Peyton Pritchard rotates off of j Dub and
Speaker 1: they actually end up forcing a turnover. So the second
Speaker 1: time they do it, for whatever reason, Pritchard just doesn't rotate.
Speaker 1: He's guarding Josh Giddy this time in the left corner.
Speaker 1: Shay comes off the screen, Chet pops to the left
Speaker 1: wing extended, and Pritchard just doesn't rotate for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: even though he just did on the previous possession, and
Speaker 1: Chet hits the wide open three. Important note because Chet
Speaker 1: on unguarded catch and shoot jump shots this year is
Speaker 1: shooting forty seven percent. That's one point four to two
Speaker 1: points per shot, so that's something that you can never
Speaker 1: afford to do. And from there we start to see
Speaker 1: the beginnings of a personnel shortcoming for Boston. That's showing
Speaker 1: to the surface, which is basically that Porzingis is not
Speaker 1: fast enough to show on ball screen while recovering to
Speaker 1: Chet at the three point line. No shame in that.
Speaker 1: There's like two centers in the league that can do that,
Speaker 1: maybe three, like go Bear Anthony Davis and and you know,
Speaker 1: Bam out of Bio maybe Draymond. Like there's only a
Speaker 1: small handful of guys that are that are fast enough
Speaker 1: to do that. So there's no shame in that. But
Speaker 1: that was the personnel shortcoming that they started to have.
Speaker 1: Right so, third time down the floor they go to
Speaker 1: run that that same pick and pop action. Right this time,
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown is the weak side guy in position to rotate.
Speaker 1: He actually stunts into the passing lane and then recovers
Speaker 1: it gets Shay to hesitate. Chet's not open anymore, Porzingis
Speaker 1: can recover. Now Shay's stuck on an island with Jason Tatum.
Speaker 1: That's what the that's what that little dig down rotation
Speaker 1: or fake, little you know, stunt into the passing lane
Speaker 1: that Jaylen Brown accomplished. It gave Jason Tatum the opportunity
Speaker 1: to guard Shae on an island and try to get
Speaker 1: a stop. Shae goes left, gets to a pump fake
Speaker 1: and Tatum jumps out of his shoes and lands on
Speaker 1: top of Shae, sends him to the foul line. Right,
Speaker 1: So we've run it three times now and the Thunder
Speaker 1: have gotten a bucket on two of the possessions. Five
Speaker 1: points and three possessions. So spamming that action again. There's
Speaker 1: so much focus on, you know, the individual defense. It's like, oh,
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum on Shae Gilde Alexander and I understand people
Speaker 1: want basketball to be one on one so bad, but
Speaker 1: it's just not that. It's it's all about a five
Speaker 1: man unit and what they can accomplish together. This is
Speaker 1: a great example of how like, even if you have
Speaker 1: a great person to throw at an individual, if they
Speaker 1: have an action they can run that brings multiple defenders
Speaker 1: into the action, they can have success. And again, like
Speaker 1: even if Tatum does a better job and gets a
Speaker 1: stop on Shae there because of the pick and popp
Speaker 1: or they give up the basket, that would still be
Speaker 1: three points and three possessions. So we get our first
Speaker 1: major adjustment. On the fourth possession down the floor, the
Speaker 1: Thunder go back to that Shade Chet pick and pop.
Speaker 1: This time, though Boston switches Derek White onto Chet home
Speaker 1: and in the possession when shit in the idea there
Speaker 1: is just you're putting an athlete. You're putting a much
Speaker 1: faster player, bringing more foot speed into the action. And
Speaker 1: so Derek White can kind of soft hedge and be
Speaker 1: there to help as the screen is going by, but
Speaker 1: then he has the speed to recover to Chet. So
Speaker 1: on this possession, Shay ends up throwing a kickback pass
Speaker 1: to Chet, who tries to drive on Derek White. Derek
Speaker 1: White guesses the close out angle right beats Chet to
Speaker 1: that right hand drive and ends up taking the ball away,
Speaker 1: so they end up getting a stop. And one of
Speaker 1: the interesting things there, there's two little adjustments I think
Speaker 1: that you'd see from the Thunder in a playoff series
Speaker 1: if they kept doing that. One, give the ball to
Speaker 1: Chet at the foul line and just let him go
Speaker 1: to work against Derek White. I think I think he's
Speaker 1: demonstrated that he can have success there. And then two,
Speaker 1: you know, Chet was setting a lot of ghost screens
Speaker 1: down the stretch, and there's a very important distinction between
Speaker 1: when to ghost screen and when to actually screen. So
Speaker 1: to be clear, what is a ghost screen. A ghost
Speaker 1: screen is when I run up like I'm gonna set
Speaker 1: a screen, but without actually setting one. I basically just
Speaker 1: get right to where I'm about to set a screen,
Speaker 1: and then I shoot off to the three point line.
Speaker 1: And basically the idea there is I'm trying to get
Speaker 1: my guy to hedge, because if he hedges and I
Speaker 1: slip out, I have an opportunity for a quick catch
Speaker 1: and shoot three or a lot of times you'll see
Speaker 1: that and pick and roll from big guys slipping to
Speaker 1: the short role and they're looking for an opportunity to
Speaker 1: catch that over the top pass. But it only is
Speaker 1: open if the guy hedges, right. If the guy doesn't
Speaker 1: hedge and he's staying home, then it's actually more important
Speaker 1: for you to set a screen because if you set
Speaker 1: the screen and the guy's not actually hedging, your defender
Speaker 1: is not actually hedging, then I might be able to
Speaker 1: actually set a solid screen on Jason Tatum, which would
Speaker 1: get Shaite downhill right. And so that was one other
Speaker 1: adjustment I think they would have picked up on film
Speaker 1: in a playoff series. It's like, hey, when they put
Speaker 1: Derek White on you, we need to read whether or
Speaker 1: not he's hedging. He's not hedging. We need to set
Speaker 1: solid screens and try to get Shaye separation from Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum so he can get downhill. So fifth time down
Speaker 1: the floor, this Derek White adjustment has caused some problems,
Speaker 1: so they go to a double drag action. They bring
Speaker 1: two screeners up into the action. I think it was
Speaker 1: Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren if I remember correctly, and
Speaker 1: on that possession, it ends up leading to a switch
Speaker 1: from Boston, Shay gets Derek White on him. This is
Speaker 1: when Derek White gets that key stop that I was
Speaker 1: telling you guys about, although Jalen Brown ends up getting
Speaker 1: beat back door basically by Lou Dort for offensive rebound
Speaker 1: put back. So the sixth time down the floor they
Speaker 1: go back to Porzingis on. Chet still goes screening, not
Speaker 1: setting good screens, and what ends up happening is the
Speaker 1: pop's not open because Chet's not setting a good screen
Speaker 1: and Porzingis is in a really soft coverage. He's not
Speaker 1: back in a He's back instead of up in the hedge,
Speaker 1: so it ends up in his Shae Tatum iso. Anyway,
Speaker 1: Shay's icing isolating Tatum on the left wing. Christops Porzingis
Speaker 1: is guarding Chet Holmgren, but he's way down at the
Speaker 1: foul line. Okay, and again this is an example of
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about. Tatum, good one on one defender, hasn't.
Speaker 1: The only score Shay has on him at this point
Speaker 1: is a pump fake foul, which Tatum's probably not gonna
Speaker 1: fall for the next time. Right, So instead of letting
Speaker 1: Tatum guard Shay, Porzingis is way too far in help,
Speaker 1: Shay just throws an easy kickout pass to Chet at
Speaker 1: the above the break and he knocks down yet another three.
Speaker 1: Like we mentioned earlier, that's an extremely high percentage shot.
Speaker 1: You could argue Chet's one of the best standstill shooters
Speaker 1: in the league. So bad help. Another big defensive mistake
Speaker 1: from Boston as they get another basket. So, for those
Speaker 1: of you guys keeping track, we had five points through
Speaker 1: three possessions. They didn't score on the fourth, so five
Speaker 1: through four. They get an offensive rebound put back on
Speaker 1: the fifth, so we're up to seven on five, and
Speaker 1: then on the sixth possession they give up a three.
Speaker 1: Now we've given up ten points in six possessions. So again,
Speaker 1: Boston literally scored on ten consecutive possessions down the stretch
Speaker 1: of the game, but they gave up baskets give up
Speaker 1: ten points on six possessions, which ends up being basically
Speaker 1: what prevents Boston from ever getting the opportunity to gain
Speaker 1: the lead seventh time. Down the floor, they go back
Speaker 1: to Derek White on Chet Holmgren. It's a really interesting
Speaker 1: possession where they just had a lot of struggle with
Speaker 1: this a couple possessions ago, so they don't bring Chet
Speaker 1: into the action. On the other side, you could see
Speaker 1: Josh Giddy and Jalen Williams kind of debating which one
Speaker 1: of them should go set the screen. They hesitate too long,
Speaker 1: Shay has no choice but to attack Jason Tatum and Iso.
Speaker 1: That's when he takes the really really difficult fade away,
Speaker 1: drifting into the baseline along the right block and he
Speaker 1: ends up missing there. So in total ten points over
Speaker 1: seven possessions, basically looking at Shay heliocentric ballscreen game right
Speaker 1: so down the stretch after as we see there, because
Speaker 1: they started to figure it out with the Derek White
Speaker 1: on chrisops Porzingis thing, there were defensive mistakes in there
Speaker 1: that still led to ten points for the Thunder on
Speaker 1: seven possessions, but from a schematic standpoint, they figured out Now,
Speaker 1: if we have Eric White on krisops Porzingis and we
Speaker 1: have Jason Tatum on Shay, they don't get the same
Speaker 1: high quality shots. As long as we follow our defensive
Speaker 1: principles elsewhere on the floor, go to a good step
Speaker 1: for the Celtics, Right, But I always talk about diversity
Speaker 1: of shot creation. Shay is a shifty skill guard, right,
Speaker 1: Jalen Williams is a downhill athlete. This is why I
Speaker 1: always talk about like the spamming actions or heliocentric basketball
Speaker 1: should be used in short bursts. Identify your advantage, get
Speaker 1: whatever you can out of it. When the adjustments are
Speaker 1: made and they've started to figure it out audible quickly,
Speaker 1: one of the things that happens in basketball is you
Speaker 1: see the same thing over and over and over and
Speaker 1: over again. The defense just kind of figures out how
Speaker 1: to guard it just by virtue of they practiced guarding
Speaker 1: it over the course of the previous dozen possessions. Right,
Speaker 1: So it's important to know when you've kind of squeezed
Speaker 1: the sponge for all it's worth, make an adjustment down
Speaker 1: the stretch. All Jalen Williams. The last couple of possessions,
Speaker 1: Jalen Williams Peyton Pritchard on him. Key mistake here. I
Speaker 1: thought from Boston as well, Drew Holliday didn't play particularly well.
Speaker 1: I shouldn't even say didn't play. Drew Holliday was garbage
Speaker 1: in this game. It's not a good Drew Holida game.
Speaker 1: He'd be the first person to tell you that it happens.
Speaker 1: Sometime guys play. Sometimes guys play bad games. Right, But
Speaker 1: Joe Mizoula ends up going with Peyton Pritchard down the
Speaker 1: stretch of the game. This is where it's a personnel
Speaker 1: shortcoming because Jalen Williams is like, wow, I have Peyton
Speaker 1: Pritchard on me. I'm going right through this dude, And
Speaker 1: he just drives right into him, bullies in with the
Speaker 1: shoulder behind the back. Drouble goes into the lane and
Speaker 1: draws a foul and gets to the foul line right,
Speaker 1: So easy bucket. And again, do you remember how I
Speaker 1: said Derek White got a key stop on Shaye Late
Speaker 1: You actually, if I remember correctly, you got a second
Speaker 1: one too, on a step back three that Shaye took
Speaker 1: in between these two possessions. But like again, it's because
Speaker 1: Derek White got lots of possessions and at the end
Speaker 1: of the game he was focused enough to play really
Speaker 1: good defense. Right. I would have given Drew that same leeway.
Speaker 1: I'd have been like, you've played like shit tonight, no worries,
Speaker 1: Go get a stop for me. Now, go get a
Speaker 1: stop for me. Go do what you've done your entire career.
Speaker 1: Go get a stop. And instead, like Drew Holliday, even
Speaker 1: on a bad night, just has a much better chance
Speaker 1: of staying in front of Jalen Williams in that situation
Speaker 1: than Peyton Pritchard does. I thought that was a mistake.
Speaker 1: Next two trips down the floor, the previous the one
Speaker 1: after that, shake Kyils Alexander ended up I think taking
Speaker 1: a step back three over Shakekil's with Alexander if I
Speaker 1: remember correctly, or excuse me, over Derek White if I
Speaker 1: remember correctly. But then the last one, Shay's got Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum on him and Jalen Williams has Derek White on him,
Speaker 1: and they end up going with a kind of like
Speaker 1: a quick little dribble handoff to get a switch. And
Speaker 1: now Jalen Williams is coming down against Jason Tatum. Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum is in a trail position, he's in a passive switch,
Speaker 1: So like there's a difference between switching aggressively, meaning like
Speaker 1: I set the screen and my guy just shows hard
Speaker 1: and like applies ball pressure versus like a really passive switch,
Speaker 1: where like when he's coming off the screen, the guy's
Speaker 1: kind of waiting for him below the level of the screen.
Speaker 1: And you might ask yourself, why in the world is
Speaker 1: Jalen Williams looking to attack Jason Tatum down the stretch
Speaker 1: instead of one of the smaller Boston guards, And the
Speaker 1: answer is simple, Jason Tatum was so far back on
Speaker 1: his heels. Jay Dubb just hit the jets, and like,
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum is a better athlete than Jay Dubb, but
Speaker 1: not when he's got a running start like that, JDub
Speaker 1: ends up getting downhill and taking that little short fade
Speaker 1: away over the top that ends up being the dagger.
Speaker 1: Really really impressive move, a great example of diversity of
Speaker 1: shot creation, right, Like your skill guard spammed an action
Speaker 1: for ten possessions or seven possessions and got you ten points.
Speaker 1: That was great, But towards the end it became clear
Speaker 1: that Boston was starting to figure out the action right
Speaker 1: and they were weaponizing their two best defensive players on
Speaker 1: SCHET in on SGA right, So you had another matchup
Speaker 1: that you could go to with a different perimeter shot
Speaker 1: creator in Jalen Williams that provides a different style of
Speaker 1: shot creation, real downhill force. He ends up getting downhill
Speaker 1: twice at the end of the game and getting you
Speaker 1: four points out of it. That was a perfect example
Speaker 1: of that specific dynamic you know. On the Boston front,
Speaker 1: their offense was fine. Again, there were some bad shots
Speaker 1: in that fourth quarter. Tatum took a couple of bad
Speaker 1: step back threes that I really didn't like. But before
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown's three at the end of the game, when
Speaker 1: the game was basically over, Boston scored on ten straight possessions.
Speaker 1: So offense wasn't the story of this particular game. Now
Speaker 1: it is worth mentioning part of the reason they went
Speaker 1: down eighteen was bad offense. A lot of the things
Speaker 1: I talked about earlier, bad pull up jump shots, bad
Speaker 1: early clock threes when they could have gotten better shots.
Speaker 1: But that's where the game was lost. And then you
Speaker 1: essentially find yourself in a position where you have to
Speaker 1: play perfect down the stretch, and it's like you scored
Speaker 1: ten straight times great, but the Thunder ended up getting
Speaker 1: something like I want to say it was it was
Speaker 1: four points in their final three possessions, So that'd be
Speaker 1: fourteen points over their final ten possessions. And that's one
Speaker 1: offensive rating that's not gonna be enough to get it
Speaker 1: done when you're down eighteen early in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: So the next question is are the Thunder a legitimate
Speaker 1: championship contender. This is a team that I have waited
Speaker 1: up until this point to add to my championship contender
Speaker 1: list for a lot of different reasons that we don't
Speaker 1: have to get into. But let's take a deep let's
Speaker 1: take a deeper look at it. So the key factors
Speaker 1: that I look at with championship contenders right half court offense,
Speaker 1: half court defense. They're top five in both categories. They're
Speaker 1: the number one half court offense in the league right now.
Speaker 1: They have diversity of shot creation right like, they've got
Speaker 1: a shifty guard that's more of a skill guard. They
Speaker 1: have like an athletic guard in Jalen Williams. They've got
Speaker 1: a skill big to kind of tie it all together.
Speaker 1: They don't really have as much power in the lineup
Speaker 1: as i'd like like Jalen Williams is really the only
Speaker 1: guy that brings power, and that's one concern to me
Speaker 1: because I think power offenses thrive in the playoffs more
Speaker 1: than skill offenses do in a lot of cases. But
Speaker 1: to put it simply, I don't think this team is
Speaker 1: going to struggle to score in the playoffs. I think
Speaker 1: they have enough on that end of the floor. Now. Defensively,
Speaker 1: they have versatility in terms of their coverages right like,
Speaker 1: they're good in drop coverage. They have an excellent point
Speaker 1: of attack defender to throw out the best players in
Speaker 1: the league, and Loud Dort. I actually loud Dort's become
Speaker 1: in my opinion, one of the most valuable players in
Speaker 1: the league with his ability to guard the best perimeter
Speaker 1: weapons in the league while well being difficult to screen
Speaker 1: while being a plus offensive player. On the other end
Speaker 1: of the floor, they have a really good rim protector
Speaker 1: and chet Holmgren. So that's kind of the two brackets
Speaker 1: of that kind of drop coverage concept. Right. They also
Speaker 1: have switchability to like they don't have a lot of
Speaker 1: easy targets, and they're good in help side. I have
Speaker 1: two major concerns with the Thunder. Their overall physicality. Boston
Speaker 1: made nine field goals in the paint in that fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: they had four offensive rebounds. Just in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: they scored on ten consecutive possessions down the stretches. I've
Speaker 1: said several times already Boston had a one to thirty
Speaker 1: seven offensive rating in that quarter. I think I think
Speaker 1: they showed a good example of how okay, so he's
Speaker 1: a little on the thin side, they're not. You know,
Speaker 1: they have some stout players, guys like Lou Dorton Jalen Williams,
Speaker 1: but almost every other guy on the roster is thin
Speaker 1: and somebody that can be physically bullied in some cases,
Speaker 1: and I think that that just makes it a little
Speaker 1: bit tougher when games turn into rock fights, right. And
Speaker 1: then lastly, the inability to rebound. They gave up an
Speaker 1: off They give up an offensive rebound on thirty three
Speaker 1: percent of their opponent's misses this year. That is the
Speaker 1: second worst mark in the league, which I think would
Speaker 1: be a problem in a seven gamer. That said, I
Speaker 1: do want to add them to my contender's list, So
Speaker 1: the question is where you can. And one last note
Speaker 1: on the contender piece too, I think part of it
Speaker 1: is Shay, Like, Shay is just reaching that point now
Speaker 1: where he's a top tier superstar and we have to
Speaker 1: include him in the list of guys that can definitely
Speaker 1: be the best player on a championship team. Like, here's
Speaker 1: the thing. Is Tatum a better playoff player overall? Probably?
Speaker 1: Like I said out a poll earlier, like who would
Speaker 1: you take in a playoffs with two early even teams
Speaker 1: on Twitter? And it's like sixty forty favoring SGA. At
Speaker 1: this point, I actually sided more with Tatum just because
Speaker 1: he's way more experienced, which I've always thought matters when
Speaker 1: you get to that level. And two, Tatum really can
Speaker 1: inflict the game physically, Like he can really put his
Speaker 1: physical imprint on a playoff series in a way that
Speaker 1: he didn't used to be able to. I think something
Speaker 1: silly like him switching on to Shay and really doing
Speaker 1: a nice job down the stretch of this game is
Speaker 1: a great example of impact that extends beyond half court
Speaker 1: shot creation. But Shay is clearly much better in the
Speaker 1: chess match, Like he's one of the best chess match
Speaker 1: players in the league. There's only a small handful of
Speaker 1: guys that'd take over him. So and I think it
Speaker 1: would translate well to the postseason. So I do think
Speaker 1: the Thunder are a contender. The question is where. So
Speaker 1: I wanted to update my contender tier. I still have
Speaker 1: Denver at one, Boston at two, then a drop off.
Speaker 1: I have Milwaukee at three, the Lakers at four. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna put the Thunder in at five, and then I
Speaker 1: have the Wolves at six, the Suns at seven, the
Speaker 1: Warriors at eight, and all of these teams I think
Speaker 1: need a trade to take a step up, as I've
Speaker 1: talked about all season, to get into that Denver Boston tier.
Speaker 1: I think Milwaukee needs an excellent point of attack defender,
Speaker 1: something they do not have on the roster. I think
Speaker 1: the Lakers need a point of attack defender that can
Speaker 1: also play off the ball. Their primary offensive players are
Speaker 1: not good enough offensively. Like the Bucks, I think can
Speaker 1: get away with a more limited offensive point of attack
Speaker 1: defender by virtue of the fact that their half court
Speaker 1: offense has been so good because of Damon Giannis. Right
Speaker 1: like that to me is they have a little bit
Speaker 1: more margin for error there. The Lakers need like a
Speaker 1: legit two way guy. They need a guy that can
Speaker 1: defend at the point of attack. Slot Torrian prints onto
Speaker 1: lesser defense defensive assignments, and that is a plus offensive player.
Speaker 1: The Thunder I think absolutely need a low man, something
Speaker 1: I've been talking about all season. They need a big
Speaker 1: forward that can slot between Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren,
Speaker 1: that moves John to the bench, that can help them
Speaker 1: in help defense situations, that can help them in rock fights,
Speaker 1: that can help them on the defensive glass. That to
Speaker 1: me is the need that they need to fulfill to
Speaker 1: get back up into that top tier with Denver and Boston.
Speaker 1: They're way more talented than even the Lakers, than even Milwaukee,
Speaker 1: Like the Thunder arguably have some of the most talent
Speaker 1: in the league. They're a lot closer to Boston than
Speaker 1: anybody else's in terms of like total talent down the roster.
Speaker 1: But they're super young, and they're super inexperienced, and everything
Speaker 1: about NBA history tells us those teams type tend to underachieve.
Speaker 1: Super young, super inexperienced, super thin and small. That to
Speaker 1: me is what kind of keeps them down right now.
Speaker 1: A veteran forward that can help them with their size
Speaker 1: and physicality, that would go a long way to addressing
Speaker 1: a lot of those problems and getting them up into
Speaker 1: that list. The Wolves, I don't really even know if
Speaker 1: there's a trade that would get them into that top tier.
Speaker 1: I'm a little concerned just in general about their half
Speaker 1: court offense, and I don't think that there's necessarily a
Speaker 1: move they can make. It really just comes down to
Speaker 1: they're six for me, but their pathway to winning is
Speaker 1: aunt just goes up a crazy level in the playoffs
Speaker 1: and out executes all the best shot creators in the league.
Speaker 1: But I just find that to be somewhat unlikely. The Suns,
Speaker 1: they desperately need some sort of perimeter forward that can
Speaker 1: play on both ends of the ball, a type of
Speaker 1: player that we've been talking about for a while, but
Speaker 1: specifically a physical forward basically think of like a bigger,
Speaker 1: stronger version of Eric Gordon. That's what they need, is
Speaker 1: like a big forward that can defend that can also shoot.
Speaker 1: I just don't think that they have the resources to
Speaker 1: actually make that a sort of move, So I kind
Speaker 1: of view them as a long shot contender. And then
Speaker 1: the Warriors, to me, if they get a star, like
Speaker 1: if they a secondary star, like if they flip Kaminga
Speaker 1: and Chris Paul for Pascal siakam Or Kamenha and Chris
Speaker 1: Paul for Jeremy Grant Or Kamena and Chris Paul and
Speaker 1: picks for Lori Markinen, like, I just think they instantly
Speaker 1: become one of the best teams in the league because
Speaker 1: it's Steph Curry, it's Straymond Green, it's Klay Thompson, it's
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins, and it's a a really really good secondary
Speaker 1: star forward. I think that team is in that top tier.
Speaker 1: So that's where they shake out as for now as
Speaker 1: it pertains to the Thunder. In the big picture, would
Speaker 1: I would imagine get them a couple seasons a playoff
Speaker 1: experience and give them a little bit a year's in
Speaker 1: the weight room and years of just experience and growth
Speaker 1: and just growing into a grown man basketball team. And
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna be a perennial top tier championship contender.
Speaker 1: Like every year, They're gonna be in that Denver Boston tier.
Speaker 1: It feels like almost a certainty for me at this point.
Speaker 1: The Boston Oklahoma City matchup, I thought Boston showed down
Speaker 1: the stretch that they can have some success slowing down
Speaker 1: the Thunder offense, and they show that they have lots
Speaker 1: of physical advantages all over the floor in terms of strength.
Speaker 1: I thought that was a pretty clear takeaway from that
Speaker 1: fourth quarter run that Boston had. If they started a
Speaker 1: seven game series tomorrow, I think I'd pick Boston to
Speaker 1: win in six or seven, depending on who had home court. Again,
Speaker 1: I just think those physical advantages would wear them down
Speaker 1: over the course of the series. But a very very
Speaker 1: very entertaining example of that matchup that we got to
Speaker 1: see last night. All Right, moving on to Magic Warriors.
Speaker 1: So I'm not gonna go too long on this game,
Speaker 1: but the Magic ended up going up ninety three ninety
Speaker 1: two on a Franz Wagner layup with eight minutes and
Speaker 1: thirty three seconds left. Then they go on a defensive run. Now,
Speaker 1: if you really look at the Warriors post Draymond Green suspension,
Speaker 1: they've not been a very good defensive team. If I
Speaker 1: remember correctly, I think they're nineteenth in defense since the
Speaker 1: Draymond Green suspension. But you can win games with defensive
Speaker 1: runs as long as you have the offense to actually
Speaker 1: turn that run into a lead. Right, So it's ninety three,
Speaker 1: Excuse me, it's ninety three ninety two with eight thirty
Speaker 1: three left in the fourth quarter and the Warriors give
Speaker 1: up just ten points over the next seven and a
Speaker 1: half minutes as they take an eleven point lead and
Speaker 1: a lot of key contributions. I thought Klay Thompson did
Speaker 1: a really nice job in Pala Mancarro. He got him
Speaker 1: a few times with the bully ball, but down the
Speaker 1: stretch he got several stops in a row. Really nice
Speaker 1: job absorbing contact and then attacking the shooting pocket. Again.
Speaker 1: When it comes to size mismatches in the post, defensively,
Speaker 1: you do not want to try to challenge up top.
Speaker 1: You want to disrupt the base and disrupt the shooting
Speaker 1: pocket those so you want to absorb blows to where
Speaker 1: he's not getting easy easy lift close to the basket,
Speaker 1: and then when he exposes the basketball low, you have
Speaker 1: to attack it there. If you attack it high, those
Speaker 1: dudes are trained to finish over contests all day long,
Speaker 1: especially when they have size. But when you attack the
Speaker 1: shooting pocket you can disrupt that motion. You get a
Speaker 1: key strip on Paalow late in the game. I thought
Speaker 1: Clay was awesome. It's a great example of I wrote
Speaker 1: in my notes, losing the battle but winning the war
Speaker 1: there were times when Paalow scored on on Clay in
Speaker 1: just bullyball possessions. But again it's like, if you can,
Speaker 1: you know, over a seven possession sample over the course
Speaker 1: of the game, hold him to two or three buckets,
Speaker 1: then you've done your job. And I thought Clay did
Speaker 1: his job. I thought Brandon Pizemski had a really nice
Speaker 1: defense game, digging down into passing lanes and driving lanes
Speaker 1: and getting steals and deflections. He was also doing a
Speaker 1: really nice job peeling off and boxing out the center.
Speaker 1: It's one of the most important jobs in defensive rebounding.
Speaker 1: Is like somebody shoots the ball and your rim protector
Speaker 1: has to leave his man to go contest a shot.
Speaker 1: Trace Jackson Davis leaves his man a lot to try
Speaker 1: to block shots, which a team like Orlando can have
Speaker 1: success on the offensive glass in that vacancy that opens
Speaker 1: up there. But I thought Pazemski was doing a really
Speaker 1: nice job of boxing that man underneath the backboard whenever
Speaker 1: he had an opportunity when Trace Jackson Davis was going away,
Speaker 1: which helped them on the defensive glass. Trace in general,
Speaker 1: I thought, had a really good game. Another example of
Speaker 1: that high motor athlete. I've always been talking about just
Speaker 1: active hands, smart help. Had some key contests at the
Speaker 1: rim late in the game. A block on a Lobb
Speaker 1: pass on a Jalen Suggs close out attack, a block
Speaker 1: on a Mo Wagner post up when Movanger was bowling
Speaker 1: his way to the rim, a lot trace was awesome.
Speaker 1: Johnathan Kaminga had a big block on a Jalen Suggs
Speaker 1: baseline drive late in the game, and he was in
Speaker 1: good position on his weak side rotations. Just a really,
Speaker 1: really good defensive effort from a lot of key guys
Speaker 1: as the Warriors went on a defensive run. As matter
Speaker 1: of fact, they ended up scoring five points just off
Speaker 1: of turnovers in that fourth quarter. I think Klay had
Speaker 1: a really good offensive quarter in the fourth. He hit
Speaker 1: the big three after the Magic went up ninety three
Speaker 1: to ninety two. He hit a classic Klay Thompson movement
Speaker 1: three coming off a screen towards his right to put
Speaker 1: them back up ninety five to ninety three. Very next possession,
Speaker 1: he hit Tray Jackson Davis slipping the same action again
Speaker 1: makes the three pulls the hedge pulls the screen defender
Speaker 1: further out. The second time able to hit the slip,
Speaker 1: he ended up getting free throws at it. He had
Speaker 1: a transition runout dunk, and then he had a big
Speaker 1: backcut for a layup late in the game when Steph
Speaker 1: was running the point. But most importantly, Steph got his
Speaker 1: groove back, something that we've been waiting on for a while.
Speaker 1: Steph's previous ten games twenty three points, three rebounds, five
Speaker 1: assists per game, forty one percent from the field in
Speaker 1: thirty six percent from three. It's really hard to win
Speaker 1: when your superstars playing bad basketball, and Steph was playing
Speaker 1: bad basketball by his standards, But last night looked like
Speaker 1: the real Steph had a lot of success late in
Speaker 1: the game attacking Goga Patadz and pick and roll, particularly
Speaker 1: splitting that action so when Goga hedges, he had an
Speaker 1: opportunity to kind of shoot that gap, beat him for
Speaker 1: a layup once. Then he snaked to the pick and
Speaker 1: roll and dragged him out to the right wing in
Speaker 1: a switch and hit a three in his face. Had
Speaker 1: some success against Jalen Suggs, beating him off the dribble,
Speaker 1: and got to a nice step back three in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter as well. Just looked like the real Steph
Speaker 1: thirty six points and six assists on twenty shots. A
Speaker 1: couple of other shout outs. I thought Andrew Wiggins had
Speaker 1: a couple of key scores in the second half on
Speaker 1: Gary Harris in post ups. Big part of the Warriors
Speaker 1: offense right now is attacking mismatches with their wings. Jonathan
Speaker 1: Kaminga had four assists last night. That's only the second
Speaker 1: time this season he's had four assists in a game.
Speaker 1: Tends to play on an island a lot, right, Like
Speaker 1: when he's running out in transition or when he's attacking
Speaker 1: out of the post, he can be really good. He
Speaker 1: scored in the post again on Anthony Black, drawing a foul.
Speaker 1: He's up to fifty six post ups this year, including
Speaker 1: passes leading to one point one to one points per possession,
Speaker 1: which is excellent. When he shoots out of the post,
Speaker 1: he draws a foul twenty two percent of the time,
Speaker 1: So like when he's on an island, he actually is
Speaker 1: a very useful player. But the Warriors are not an
Speaker 1: on an island team very often, right, and so it's
Speaker 1: important to be able to play in their normal motion.
Speaker 1: And one of the things I thought Jonathan Minga did
Speaker 1: a really nice job of last night was doing the
Speaker 1: Draymond thing, which is when you catch the ball on
Speaker 1: the perimeter, your first thing is where's Steph? Where is Clay?
Speaker 1: Are they open? If they are, I'm gonna throw him
Speaker 1: the ball. And he was hovering around that top of
Speaker 1: the key area a lot and throwing those rifle swing
Speaker 1: passes to those guys and got assists out of it.
Speaker 1: He had four cysts, and I thought it was a key,
Speaker 1: little like moment of growth from Jonathan Kaminga in terms
Speaker 1: of his role on this team. All right, moving on
Speaker 1: to the mail bag. So I've got four questions for
Speaker 1: you guys today before we get out of here. I
Speaker 1: do have four. I said three earlier, but it's four.
Speaker 1: It seems like there are a lot of teams in
Speaker 1: need of a starting caliber small forward this year. Who
Speaker 1: are some names that you think could be on the
Speaker 1: move and where they might be going? And on a
Speaker 1: larger scale, what does this need say about the state
Speaker 1: of the league in basketball? So it's not just small forwards.
Speaker 1: I look at it more as like there's a lot
Speaker 1: of guys that need more of like a perimeter, two
Speaker 1: way guy, and there are a lot of teams that
Speaker 1: need for like a low man two way guys. So
Speaker 1: like the teams that need more of a perimeter two
Speaker 1: way guy are like the Lakers and the Bucks. I
Speaker 1: think the MAVs are another team that could be looking
Speaker 1: to make a smaller version of that type of deal,
Speaker 1: just as a guy that they could throw at the
Speaker 1: best perimeter players in the league. It's been a lot
Speaker 1: of Derek Jones Junior to start this year, and and
Speaker 1: Derek Jones Junior is fine, but I think they could
Speaker 1: use another option there. The teams that are looking for
Speaker 1: more of a low man or like the Pacers or
Speaker 1: the Kings, or the Thunder or the Warriors, right like,
Speaker 1: these are teams that have good perimeter defenders, but they
Speaker 1: need help and interior physicality that those are examples of
Speaker 1: those teams. The kind of raymind guys that I look
Speaker 1: at this year that it could be available. Anybody from
Speaker 1: Brooklyn is Brooklyn's falling apart, so look at Dorian Finney Smith.
Speaker 1: McHale Bridges is another guy I think that could be
Speaker 1: had potentially if the slide for Brooklyn continues. Alex Caruso
Speaker 1: from the Chicago Bulls is another guy. Javon Carter from
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bulls is another guy be looking at. He's
Speaker 1: another guy that could be more affordable. There are a
Speaker 1: lot of those types of guys out there that I
Speaker 1: think teams will be going after. Alex Cruso is up
Speaker 1: over forty five percent from three this year, by the way,
Speaker 1: pretty crazy the low man that I look at. There's
Speaker 1: three big ones, Louri Markin and Jeremy Grant, Pascal Siakam,
Speaker 1: and they're all very different, right, Like Luri Markinen is
Speaker 1: this like outstanding offensive play finisher, right just a dead
Speaker 1: eye shooter, a guy that can screen and roll the rim,
Speaker 1: a guy that can beat mismatches in the post. Like
Speaker 1: he's a just really like a imagine like a big
Speaker 1: giant forward version of Klay Thompson. He's like a tip
Speaker 1: of the spear kind of guy. I think. I think
Speaker 1: he's really valuable. Jeremy Grant is more of like a score.
Speaker 1: He's a guy that like attacks mismatches in the post.
Speaker 1: That all takes a lot of like ISO pull up
Speaker 1: jump shots and stuff. But he's shooting the ball really
Speaker 1: well off the catch this year and has been really
Speaker 1: good and effective scoring out of the post. So I
Speaker 1: think he's more a lesser version of Lori markin In
Speaker 1: for lack of a better term, but Jimmy Graan has
Speaker 1: had some impressive moments of perimeter defense this year. I
Speaker 1: still think he's got that in him if he's willing
Speaker 1: to buy into a role, and he's a guy that
Speaker 1: I'd be open to looking at, especially if you're a
Speaker 1: team that can't get into the bidding war for Lori
Speaker 1: markin In and then Pascal Siakam. This is a guy
Speaker 1: that I think both the Warriors and Lakers should be
Speaker 1: calling on, mainly just because I view him as a
Speaker 1: guy that I think is one of the best available
Speaker 1: players per value. He's you know, kind of gone under
Speaker 1: the radar in a lot of ways because he's not
Speaker 1: a very good shooter. But this is a guy who's
Speaker 1: a transcendent athlete. This is a guy that was so
Speaker 1: damn athletic that Draymond Green was struggling to handle him
Speaker 1: in the twenty nineteen playoffs. Right, this is a guy that, like,
Speaker 1: if you like, when he is asked to do a
Speaker 1: ton with the basketball, like he has the last couple
Speaker 1: of years. He can be somewhat underwhelming as a postseason player, right,
Speaker 1: but when he's in a position where he's playing alongside
Speaker 1: guys who do a lot of that stuff for him,
Speaker 1: and he can really focus his effort and energy to
Speaker 1: just inflicting his physicality on the game. He can be
Speaker 1: a game changing athlete. And so even though teams like
Speaker 1: the Warriors and Lakers might not be interested in him
Speaker 1: from a shooting standpoint, I look at it as like,
Speaker 1: just for the price for the caliber of player that
Speaker 1: you're getting back, you put him like a wig in
Speaker 1: Siam Draymond frontline, a Siakam Lebron Anthony Davis frontline. Those
Speaker 1: are front lines that could like absolutely maul some of
Speaker 1: the bigger front lines in the league, even teams like
Speaker 1: Denver and so I think that that could be a
Speaker 1: real swing piece this year that teams should be looking
Speaker 1: out for. All right, next mail back question. All right,
Speaker 1: I actually missed a small part there. What does this
Speaker 1: need say about the state of the league in basketball?
Speaker 1: Pretty quickly? I just think it's a clear indicator of
Speaker 1: of the obvious fact that weak side responsibilities matter a lot,
Speaker 1: or I should say role player responsibilities matter a lot.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of teams this year that have
Speaker 1: stars that are playing well that are not necessarily succeeding
Speaker 1: to the extent that they should, right, Like we've seen
Speaker 1: this with Damon Giannis. I know they're doing good in
Speaker 1: the regular season in terms of standings, but they've lost
Speaker 1: a lot of big games and struggled specifically because of
Speaker 1: something silly like who's guarding the other team's point guard,
Speaker 1: Like who's picking up the in applying ball pressure during
Speaker 1: this game? Like they just that singular role not being
Speaker 1: filled has made it so that the Bucks look bad
Speaker 1: in big games. That's a real problem to keep an
Speaker 1: eye on, right. Like the Lakers, it's like Lebron James
Speaker 1: and Anthony Davis both playing way better than last year,
Speaker 1: both like legitimately playing at a top ten level this season,
Speaker 1: and they're a five hundred basketball team in large part
Speaker 1: because they don't have a guy that can pick up
Speaker 1: at the point of attack and knock down a three
Speaker 1: at a high rate. Like it's a legitimate issue for them.
Speaker 1: I think it's these teams like Oklahoma City that have
Speaker 1: so much skill and they have a rim protector, or
Speaker 1: the Pacers as well, so much skill, have a rim protector,
Speaker 1: but not having a lowman, and you're seeing just how
Speaker 1: fundamentally important a lowman is in big time matchups, and
Speaker 1: I just think it's a As the game has become
Speaker 1: more spread out and there's more talent on the floor,
Speaker 1: it's become more important than ever to have guys that
Speaker 1: are willing to do the dirty work on both ends
Speaker 1: of the floor. Next question, do you honestly think the
Speaker 1: Suns will be healthy around playoff time? Knowing the injury
Speaker 1: history of the three stars on their roster. So here's
Speaker 1: the thing, it's let's just say for this, I would
Speaker 1: say there's a good chance that they're healthy and there's
Speaker 1: a good chance they're not right, So let's just call
Speaker 1: it fifty to fifty. If it's fifty to fifty, there's
Speaker 1: we all know that if they get hurt, they're not
Speaker 1: a threat. But that can be said about every team
Speaker 1: in the league. I believe that if the Nuggets lost
Speaker 1: Aaron Gordon or KCP or Michael Porter Junior, they would
Speaker 1: go from being a top tier championship contender to the
Speaker 1: lower tier. Like, lose a player and kicking you down
Speaker 1: a tier is a reality for every single team in
Speaker 1: my opinion, except for maybe Boston. Like maybe Boston could
Speaker 1: afford an injury to one of their guys, right, But
Speaker 1: outside of that, like, no team really has that type
Speaker 1: of flexibility, And so when it really comes down to it,
Speaker 1: it's like, do you want should we just right off
Speaker 1: the Suns all year and be like, screw it, they're
Speaker 1: gonna be hurt. No, Like, we have to prepare for
Speaker 1: the potential, you know, eventuality that that they're healthy and
Speaker 1: what could happen if they are. And I think that's
Speaker 1: the purpose of the way that we should cover them,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. A lot of Nuggets fans upset
Speaker 1: that I had them lower in my power rankings. I'll
Speaker 1: just pull one comment here. Nuggets ranked too low. The
Speaker 1: ten wins out of their last twelve games, played one
Speaker 1: loss they let slip away and should have won. The
Speaker 1: most recent was definitely an embarrassing performance. But they're nowhere
Speaker 1: near as low as eight. So a couple things. My
Speaker 1: power rankings are designed to be a vehicle with which
Speaker 1: I can honor or pay respect to teams play good
Speaker 1: regular season basketball. That was one of the decisions we
Speaker 1: made early in the year, Like, I don't want my
Speaker 1: power rankings to be the same as my contender rankings.
Speaker 1: The Nuggets are number one in my Contender rankings. There
Speaker 1: has not been a single moment this year, not even
Speaker 1: for a split second, not even during stretches when Jamal
Speaker 1: Murray was out and they looked bad, Like I have
Speaker 1: not even for a second doubted or had any sort
Speaker 1: of change of heart as it pertains to Denver being
Speaker 1: number one on my Contender's list, Like I am, I
Speaker 1: trust them more than everyone else, and it's not particularly close,
Speaker 1: and like I'm a big believer in Denver, right, But
Speaker 1: they're nine and eleven against teams that are five hundred
Speaker 1: are better this year, and in my Power Rankings list,
Speaker 1: the teams that are above just have more impressive wins.
Speaker 1: And I'm using that list, that specific list for regular
Speaker 1: season kudos, and so that that's the purpose of that list.
Speaker 1: And so Denver fans like them being eight and in
Speaker 1: the Power rankings. More has to do with the fact
Speaker 1: that they've just been They've been a really good standings team.
Speaker 1: They're fifteen to zero against below five hundred teams, which
Speaker 1: is what's carried them in the standings, but in the
Speaker 1: bigger games, by the way, mostly because of things like
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray being out and Aaron Gordon missing a big
Speaker 1: game against the thunder like there's no question. That's why,
Speaker 1: which is why I'm not worried about them for the postseason.
Speaker 1: But but for my power rankings list, there are teams
Speaker 1: out there that have been more impressive in terms of
Speaker 1: winning big regular season games and just the totality of
Speaker 1: regular season accomplishments. That's why I have Denver at eight
Speaker 1: at this point. It has nothing to do with what
Speaker 1: I see as their championship potential. Go look at the
Speaker 1: teams I have above them, and look at them in
Speaker 1: big games. Look at their key like signature wins this year.
Speaker 1: Most of the teams above them have a lot more
Speaker 1: in that specific department. Last question, I started tweaking my
Speaker 1: shooting form since I have bad habit of shooting with
Speaker 1: way too high of an arc. How should I go
Speaker 1: about fixing it? How feasible is it to just lean
Speaker 1: into it? Love the show, keep it up. So I
Speaker 1: have a philosophy of a shooting form, and it's a
Speaker 1: philosophy of gain from coaching kids, because, as you can imagine,
Speaker 1: when you coach kids, you coach a lot of kids
Speaker 1: that bad shooting form. And it's really a simple to me,
Speaker 1: like there are a million different ways to shoot a basketball,
Speaker 1: and I think it's way less important to focus on
Speaker 1: the particulars of your release and more on little details
Speaker 1: like how is your balance, are you good at making
Speaker 1: sure you have a good wide base and going straight
Speaker 1: up and down all the time, and getting good lift
Speaker 1: like that's step one, particularly because most shots in basketball
Speaker 1: are on the move in some way, shape or form.
Speaker 1: Even when you're spotting up, you might be relocating, you
Speaker 1: might have just played a lot of defense, and so
Speaker 1: you're tired. Legs and lift are a huge part of it.
Speaker 1: From there, the second bit of it is like any
Speaker 1: energy transfer is what I refer to it as, but
Speaker 1: energy transfer is how do you get from your feet
Speaker 1: through to the top of the shot in a way
Speaker 1: that has no wasted energy, that has no unnecessary movement,
Speaker 1: which then creates a muscle memory that is simple that
Speaker 1: you can replicate. If you can do that, if you're
Speaker 1: balanced and you have good energy transfer, meaning you have
Speaker 1: a good you know, routine that doesn't have wasted energy
Speaker 1: that you can that you can reproduce every single time.
Speaker 1: You can be a good shooter even if you shoot
Speaker 1: with a ton of arc, even if you shoot with
Speaker 1: very little arc, even if you shoot with opposite thumb,
Speaker 1: even if you shoot with one hand, even if you
Speaker 1: shoot without jumping super high, even if you jump while
Speaker 1: shooting or shooting, even if you shoot while jumping super high,
Speaker 1: that to me is way less important. Then do you
Speaker 1: have good lift? Are you doing the exact same thing
Speaker 1: every time? It's got to be replicable, replicable. When I go,
Speaker 1: I shoot on the shooting machine at least twice a week,
Speaker 1: so I do a lot of different kinds of shooting drills.
Speaker 1: I do a lot of like one person, one ball,
Speaker 1: like movement shooting drills. That's that's where I do all
Speaker 1: my off the dribble and movements in the primary goal.
Speaker 1: There is like trying to do game speed and like
Speaker 1: add a lot of complication to it. Right when I'm
Speaker 1: on the shooting machine, I just do stand still shooting.
Speaker 1: And when I'm on the shooting machine, I have this
Speaker 1: constant mentality there are two shooting machines here, the machine
Speaker 1: that's throwing me the ball, and then me. I need
Speaker 1: to be a machine. How does the shooting machine get
Speaker 1: the ball to me in the same spot every single time?
Speaker 1: Because it's literally like a little catapult that's going like
Speaker 1: this and with the same spring on the same hinge,
Speaker 1: throwing the ball to the same spot every single time. Right,
Speaker 1: That's what I need to be as a shooter. I
Speaker 1: need to have a form that like looks the exact
Speaker 1: same every single time with very little wasted movement. And
Speaker 1: I need to look like a shooting machine. And if
Speaker 1: I do that, I'm going to be more consistent as
Speaker 1: a shooter. And so again I wouldn't focus so much
Speaker 1: on this particulars of your form. Just make sure that
Speaker 1: you have good fluidity and energy transfer and make sure
Speaker 1: you have good lift, make sure you're doing the same
Speaker 1: thing every single time. All right, guys, that is all
Speaker 1: I have for tonight. We'll be back tomorrow breaking down
Speaker 1: the packed Wednesday night slate as always. I appreciate you guys,
Speaker 1: and we'll see you then. The volume