Speaker 1: The Volume. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight. You're at
Speaker 1: the Volume having fun day.
Speaker 2: Everybody, Oh ball.
Speaker 1: If you guys at an incredible weekend, you got a
Speaker 1: damp pack show for you. Today, we're doing our weekly
Speaker 1: edition of Power Rankings. We're gonna hit on ten teams,
Speaker 1: but I also have a couple of other teams that
Speaker 1: we're gonna hit on. Kind of in the rankings, as
Speaker 1: we talked about some of the games these guys play,
Speaker 1: We're gonna be bouncing all around the league today. You
Speaker 1: guys are the joke before we get started. Subscribe to
Speaker 1: the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels you don't miss any more
Speaker 1: of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore JSNLT
Speaker 1: so you guys don't miss show announcements. Somet't forget about
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Speaker 1: rating and a review on that front. We also have
Speaker 1: brand new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook
Speaker 1: for Hoops Tonight where we're gonna be releasing more content
Speaker 1: like reels and stuff like that over the course of
Speaker 1: the season, So make sure you follow those and then
Speaker 1: We're doing another mail bag that I'm recording on this
Speaker 1: third and I'm going to be using the comments from
Speaker 1: the shows on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, So make sure
Speaker 1: you drop mail bag questions in these. We're gonna be
Speaker 1: trying to hit on some of the teams that we
Speaker 1: haven't hit on yet in those mail bags. So any
Speaker 1: questions you guys have about anything around the league, make
Speaker 1: sure you drop them in those mail bag questions and
Speaker 1: we will get to them in the show that's going
Speaker 1: to air on Friday. And then last minut at least
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Speaker 1: game time today? What time is it? Game time? All right,
Speaker 1: let's talk some basketball. So let's before we get into
Speaker 1: the power rankings. I did that one crazy stat I
Speaker 1: wanted to show you guys as I was digging into
Speaker 1: the gap between the East and the West to start
Speaker 1: this year. So Oklahoma City has six wins against teams
Speaker 1: that are five hundred or better. If you took the
Speaker 1: top five teams in the Eastern Conference. Okay, so that's Cleveland, Boston, Orlando,
Speaker 1: New York, and Detroit. Those are the five best records.
Speaker 1: Shout out to the Detroit Pistons with the fifth best
Speaker 1: record in the East right now. But with those five teams,
Speaker 1: they have combined to win six games against teams that
Speaker 1: are five hundred are better. Oklahoma City has six by themselves.
Speaker 1: The four teams that I had ranked as the top
Speaker 1: teams in the East to start the year, that's Boston,
Speaker 1: New York, Milwaukee, and Philly. Those four teams are combined
Speaker 1: one in seventeen against teams that are five hundred are
Speaker 1: better to start the year, with the one win obviously
Speaker 1: being Boston beating up the Knicks on opening nights. So like,
Speaker 1: the East has always been a little weaker than the West,
Speaker 1: but man, does it feel like a giant chasm to
Speaker 1: start the season. It's been such a strange year on
Speaker 1: that front. I do think things will level out, and
Speaker 1: I do think several teams will play better. Injuries are
Speaker 1: important context too. Obviously you've had injuries in Philly. You've
Speaker 1: had you know, Pala Bonkaro's been out for a while,
Speaker 1: There's Jimmy Butler's already missed time. There's a bunch of
Speaker 1: guys that have missed time. So that's part of it,
Speaker 1: and I do think things will even out. But it
Speaker 1: is kind of crazy the gap between the East and
Speaker 1: the West that we've seen to start this year. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get started with our rankings. Number ten, the New
Speaker 1: York Knicks. They were a Josh Hart foul, kind of
Speaker 1: like a rear view contest on Kobe White away from
Speaker 1: having a four to o week, but it was a foul.
Speaker 1: Kobe White made all three free throws. Jalen Brunson's turned
Speaker 1: around fade away over his left shoulder, rimmed out and
Speaker 1: the Knicks had a three to one week Still impressive,
Speaker 1: still starting to gain some ground. They keep ending up
Speaker 1: in these super close games. The first Nets game was
Speaker 1: crazy too, like the Knicks were up six with a
Speaker 1: minute and forty three seconds left and the Nets scored
Speaker 1: six consecutive points or seven consecutive points to get a
Speaker 1: one point lead before Jalen Brunson hit that ISO three
Speaker 1: on the left wing that ended up giving him the win.
Speaker 1: Every one of their games kind of seems to be
Speaker 1: following that path. Either they're falling down big and having
Speaker 1: to scram back into games, or they have big leads
Speaker 1: that they're blowing late and they end up in these
Speaker 1: like one or two possession games, and those clutch situations
Speaker 1: have been where they've struggled. They're just two and five
Speaker 1: this season in games that have involved a clutch situation,
Speaker 1: and they've been bad on both ends. The offensive rating
Speaker 1: in the clutch is at ninety one to start this season,
Speaker 1: mostly just missing shots there, Like Brunson is five for
Speaker 1: fifteen in the clutch this year. That's gonna get better,
Speaker 1: and he hit a big one against Brooklyn the other
Speaker 1: night as you guys know as a team, they're two
Speaker 1: for fourteen from three in the clutch, and there's some
Speaker 1: good looks in there, like Jalen Brunson wide open catch
Speaker 1: and shoot three is campaign wide open catch and shoot three,
Speaker 1: McHale bridges wide up catching shoot three. There's open looks
Speaker 1: in there that they're just missing. So like some of that,
Speaker 1: I'm not as worried about when it comes to the
Speaker 1: offensive end of the floor. They have too much talent.
Speaker 1: They're third in offense overall for the season. I think
Speaker 1: they're gonna be able to score at the end of game,
Speaker 1: so that I'm looking at as more as a fluke.
Speaker 1: They have a one thirty five defensive rate in the
Speaker 1: clutch though, that's the part that I'm really struggling about
Speaker 1: struggling with, and like on tape, they're really struggling to
Speaker 1: guard the ball. Teams are just running down the floor
Speaker 1: and driving right around them and getting to the rim
Speaker 1: iod as soon move multiple times and crunch time against
Speaker 1: the bulls, just getting the ball sometimes off of made
Speaker 1: baskets and just slashing down the lane and getting layups.
Speaker 1: Zach Lavine just getting to his spot easily against McHale
Speaker 1: Bridges and knocking down easy jump shots over the top.
Speaker 1: In the Nets game, it was everybody but like Cam
Speaker 1: Johnson in crunch time, just driving to the rim and
Speaker 1: getting layups, or just coming hard off of a screen
Speaker 1: and getting down into the lane and wrecking having for them,
Speaker 1: like this was a team that I thought would be
Speaker 1: better guarding the ball. McHale, Bridges and og And and
Speaker 1: Obi and Josh Hard are all guys that are kind
Speaker 1: of in terms of their reputation, they're good defensive players,
Speaker 1: but they're just not playing good defense. And so the
Speaker 1: Knicks have really struggled to guard the ball all year.
Speaker 1: It's a big part of why they've been bottom ten again.
Speaker 1: If you want to be encouraged, this isn't like the Lakers.
Speaker 1: The Lakers are going to struggle to guard the ball
Speaker 1: until they make a roster move. You have the pieces,
Speaker 1: guys just have to play better. And it's kind of
Speaker 1: funny how this comes down to this sort of thing
Speaker 1: where like a lot of times, we associate our belief
Speaker 1: system about a team or what they're capable of on reputation,
Speaker 1: and reputation doesn't mean anything in basketball. All that really
Speaker 1: matters is how well are you playing right. Like, so
Speaker 1: much about whether or not a team is playing well
Speaker 1: comes down to like whether or not guys are playing well, right. Like, So,
Speaker 1: you have a couple of key role players that aren't
Speaker 1: playing well, and a couple of key defenders that aren't
Speaker 1: defending as well as they typically do, and you're going
Speaker 1: to underachieve. But if you get a couple of guys
Speaker 1: that are playing above their pay grade and a couple
Speaker 1: of guys that are in good rhythm and everybody's locked
Speaker 1: in and doing their jobs, all of a sudden, you
Speaker 1: go on a run and you can win a bunch
Speaker 1: of games in a row, right, And so like that's
Speaker 1: what's super fascinating about the talk about what a team
Speaker 1: looks like on paper before the year, and then it
Speaker 1: kind of starting to come to fruition, Like the Knicks
Speaker 1: have a ton of talent, but in some specific ways
Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the floor, they're not actually
Speaker 1: really utilizing that talent the way that they're capable of.
Speaker 1: And so that's the part that's weird. I'm watching these
Speaker 1: cold those games and it's like I'm watching historically good
Speaker 1: defenders just not do a good job on the ball
Speaker 1: as they continue to get pick apart and some of
Speaker 1: it some of it is the weak points. Yeah, like
Speaker 1: they like Nikola Vusovich was going right at Karl Anthony
Speaker 1: Towns in the Bulls game and was just given him
Speaker 1: buckets down on the block, and some of that is
Speaker 1: like vuc is a good post player and Kat's a
Speaker 1: mediocre defensive player, So there's gonna be some you know,
Speaker 1: advantage that you're giving up there. But again, I've watched
Speaker 1: Karl Anthony Towns do a really good job on Nikola
Speaker 1: Jokic before, so that kind of goes back to the
Speaker 1: point you made earlier, where like a lot of it
Speaker 1: just has to do with how well your guys are playing.
Speaker 1: So like the answer here for the Knicks is on offense,
Speaker 1: when they get in these close games, they need their
Speaker 1: guys to hit shots that they're capable of hitting. And
Speaker 1: on defense, they need their good defensive players that have
Speaker 1: been good defensive players throughout their career to be good
Speaker 1: defensive players. And then that should turn around a lot
Speaker 1: of the issues that they've had to this point in
Speaker 1: the season. And then again a lot of the concern
Speaker 1: about rim protection and stuff like that, like we're going
Speaker 1: to see a different look when Mitchell Robinson comes back,
Speaker 1: or if they end up making a move for center
Speaker 1: at some point in time.
Speaker 2: Like, I'm not.
Speaker 1: Really worried about him in the big picture, but there's
Speaker 1: no doubt that to start this season they're just not
Speaker 1: playing up to their potential. And I you know again,
Speaker 1: I had them in the top four and here they
Speaker 1: are after a little bit of a streak at three
Speaker 1: to one, still have them at ten in the Power
Speaker 1: rankings Number nine the Denver Nuggets. Not gonna spend too
Speaker 1: much time here. They only had two games last week
Speaker 1: at New Orleans and at Memphis. Jokic missed both games
Speaker 1: for the birth of his child. Just a reminder of
Speaker 1: how valuable Jokic is to this team. Like Jamal Murray
Speaker 1: still looks like a shell of himself. These young players,
Speaker 1: they're capable of winning within the context of Jokic when
Speaker 1: he can like provide the structure for them to be
Speaker 1: able to impact the game on offense. But like obviously,
Speaker 1: when Yokic isn't out there, they're just raw young players
Speaker 1: with some talent. Right Russell Westbrook has been good at
Speaker 1: times this year, but he wasn't able to bring much
Speaker 1: next week or last week. And they ended up going
Speaker 1: zero in two. So the Nuggets through twelve games at
Speaker 1: this point are thirty five point one points better per
Speaker 1: one hundred possessions with Jokic on the floor versus off
Speaker 1: the floor. So in a weird way, the two games
Speaker 1: out next week just or last week just shined a
Speaker 1: big flashlight on NICOLEA. Jokic and how valuable he is
Speaker 1: to this particular team. Number eight, the Minnesota Timberwolves. It's
Speaker 1: such a weird week. They dropped back to back games
Speaker 1: in Portland, like literally on the road in Portland, back
Speaker 1: to back. You lose the first one, you think they
Speaker 1: bounce back and win the next night, they end up
Speaker 1: losing again. Now again, Portland is feisty. I think they're
Speaker 1: six and eight now, they've won three in a row.
Speaker 1: Shadan Sharp is averaging twenty seven points a game in
Speaker 1: this three game winning streak, and they're getting really high
Speaker 1: quality center play out of Robert Williams and Donovan Klingen.
Speaker 1: So like they kind of have the depth situation at center,
Speaker 1: they probably are going to be a team that someone's
Speaker 1: going to target for a center at some point before
Speaker 1: the deadline. So Portland's a little feisty, but Minnesota drops
Speaker 1: back to back games in Portland, then they go into
Speaker 1: Sacramento and get a win, and then they end up
Speaker 1: beating Phoenix with that crazy Julius Randall game winner the
Speaker 1: other day. So, like, what's interesting is if you talk
Speaker 1: to Minnesota fans, that's what they'll tell you is their
Speaker 1: biggest issue this season. Their biggest issue this season is
Speaker 1: their competitive edge. It's just not the same that it
Speaker 1: was last year. That their willingness to just get dirty
Speaker 1: on defense and physical and grind games down into the mud,
Speaker 1: the chip on their shoulder, right, like, it's just not there,
Speaker 1: and it's showing up, mostly with the fact that they
Speaker 1: seem to get up for the good teams and then
Speaker 1: play down to the competition against the bad teams, like
Speaker 1: in that way. Last week was a perfect example of it. Right,
Speaker 1: you drop two games against a team that we all
Speaker 1: view as a lottery team in Portland, and then you
Speaker 1: end up going to play two like legitimate Western Conference
Speaker 1: playoff teams and you beat them both. Right on the season,
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves are four and two against teams that are
Speaker 1: five hundred or better, but they've lost four games to
Speaker 1: teams that are below five hundred, So like there's definitely
Speaker 1: a little bit of like a chip on their shoulder issue,
Speaker 1: Like they just don't seem to be attacking the regular
Speaker 1: season the way they did last year. Now, some of
Speaker 1: this is the reality of the way these teams like
Speaker 1: kind of like progress through their goals of trying to
Speaker 1: get to, you know, winning achampionship, or at least in
Speaker 1: their attempts to win a championship. What I mean by
Speaker 1: that is like there's always like that first season where
Speaker 1: you end up getting into the playoffs and it's like
Speaker 1: a cool experience, right, And we've seen that with Minnesota
Speaker 1: over the last or the two previous years, right with
Speaker 1: their series against Memphis and then their series against Denver,
Speaker 1: and then the next phase is like, wait, we're super
Speaker 1: talented and we can kick everybody's butt in the regular season.
Speaker 1: That was last year, right, Minnesota near the top of
Speaker 1: the standings all year as they were just consistently good.
Speaker 1: Their defense I believe was best in the league last year.
Speaker 1: They just kicked everybody's butt all year long. But then
Speaker 1: you end up going from there into usually a longer
Speaker 1: playoff run.
Speaker 2: That's what last year was, right, the.
Speaker 1: Longer playoff run you have a first round series against Phoenix,
Speaker 1: you have a second round series against Denver that goes
Speaker 1: seven games. You're in the Western Conference finals. Right now,
Speaker 1: as you go into the following season, you're in this
Speaker 1: weird position where now the guys understand how long of
Speaker 1: a journey this is. They started playing super hard in
Speaker 1: October last year and they got eliminated in late May,
Speaker 1: and they played a long stretch of playoff games. They
Speaker 1: ended up playing what that was sixteen playoff games, right,
Speaker 1: And so what that does is that starts to creep
Speaker 1: into their minds and now they're not going to attack
Speaker 1: the regular season with the same level of ferocity naturally
Speaker 1: that you would. The reason why they did last year
Speaker 1: is because they've never gone on a long playoff run.
Speaker 1: They've never had that feeling of what it's like to
Speaker 1: have that type of season. Once you start to have
Speaker 1: that type of season, you start to understand this is
Speaker 1: actually a really, really long journey. And so now you're
Speaker 1: in the phase where you have to self motivate. Now
Speaker 1: you're in the phase where it's like, okay, yeah, you're right, Like,
Speaker 1: we're not going to go just crazy balls to the
Speaker 1: walls from October through April. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: we have to establish habits because NBA history does tell
Speaker 1: us that you don't win the title unless you attack
Speaker 1: the regular season from start to finish. So again, it's
Speaker 1: like I've seen this so many times with young teams.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like Memphis a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: right where they just rack up a bunch of wins.
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City. I'm really curious to watch them this year.
Speaker 1: They had their first year last year where they kicked
Speaker 1: everybody's button in the regular season, got a super high seed,
Speaker 1: had a somewhat long playoff run. I'm curious to see
Speaker 1: how they undergo the length of this eighty two game
Speaker 1: regular season and whether or not they run into any
Speaker 1: lolls where they struggle. They're young enough that I don't
Speaker 1: think it'll matter as much, but this Minnesota team is
Speaker 1: definitely dealing with a little bit of a motivational issue
Speaker 1: in the regular season. And all I would say is like,
Speaker 1: as long as you end up with a good enough seed,
Speaker 1: it's okay to have your downs and your ups over
Speaker 1: the course of the season. But NBA history tells us
Speaker 1: if you crawl into the playoffs as somewhere in that
Speaker 1: five to eight range, you're not getting anything done. NBA
Speaker 1: history tells us it's the teams that attack the regular
Speaker 1: season from start to finish and have fewer loles and
Speaker 1: have more extended stretches of success. Those are the teams
Speaker 1: that end up going on long playoff runs. And so
Speaker 1: when it comes to Minnesota, I think, like I think
Speaker 1: it's important to understand that this is just part of
Speaker 1: the pathway that some of these teams take, but they
Speaker 1: need to be careful. They're playing with a little bit
Speaker 1: of fire with some of their lack of enthusiasm over
Speaker 1: the course of the season. Now, one thing on a
Speaker 1: positive note, they've proven extremely difficult to guard in the clutch.
Speaker 1: This is a very big difference from last year where
Speaker 1: Minnesota really really struggled to score, especially at the end
Speaker 1: of games. They've been the fourth best clutch offense in
Speaker 1: the league to start the season. And mostly it comes
Speaker 1: down to the fact that they have two really difficult
Speaker 1: athletes to deal with. Yesterday, Julius Randall just like a
Speaker 1: hard dribble towards his right into his step back, He's
Speaker 1: gonna get plenty of separation. Julius is a really big athlete.
Speaker 1: He's gonna get good looks for himself in those situations,
Speaker 1: and you kind of just have to hope he misses. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: he's been over his career a pretty streaky jump shooter,
Speaker 1: so most teams feel like they can get away with that.
Speaker 1: But he's been shooting the ball well this year, and
Speaker 1: he hit that step back three and the Timberwolves gotta
Speaker 1: win the Kings game. I was watching that one actually
Speaker 1: watch that game live. Like Darren Fox has going for sixty.
Speaker 1: He's like in the zone of all zones right now,
Speaker 1: like just completely locked in.
Speaker 2: No one can keep him in front off the dribble.
Speaker 1: He's making all of his jump shots, and Ant just
Speaker 1: kind of stays in the game, and then when we
Speaker 1: get to late regulation, he just takes over and he
Speaker 1: gets these two crazy slaloming drives in the lane through
Speaker 1: all this traffic and gets a couple and ones. And
Speaker 1: then he goes into overtime and he's hitting tough, contested
Speaker 1: jump shots because he gets so much lyft that he
Speaker 1: could just get to a jump shot whenever he wants.
Speaker 1: He makes two huge kickout reads to Julius Randall and
Speaker 1: Jaden McDaniels for catch and shoot threes. That end up
Speaker 1: icing that game in overtime and you survive a sixty
Speaker 1: piece from Deer and Fox. Like, they are scoring really
Speaker 1: well in the clutch, because Anthony Edwards has gone up
Speaker 1: a level in a real way to start this season,
Speaker 1: and Julius Randall is another guy that can consistently create
Speaker 1: his own shot, even at a higher level than Carl
Speaker 1: Anthony towns A did for this team, and so like
Speaker 1: they're just hard to guard in the clutch, and that's
Speaker 1: a huge positive sign there. But they're definitely going to
Speaker 1: have to get their defense back where it was last year.
Speaker 1: They're definitely going to have to get back into that
Speaker 1: level of effort and intensity on a more consistent level
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Speaker 2: Number seven. The Phoenix Suns.
Speaker 1: They are one in four in the five games since
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant went down with his cap injury. They've been
Speaker 1: bat on both ends of the floor, which is no surprise.
Speaker 1: KD has been vitally important to them on both ends
Speaker 1: of the floor. The Bial has missed the last three
Speaker 1: games too, so teams have really been able to load
Speaker 1: up on Devin Booker. The Olkgaama City game in particular,
Speaker 1: they were just putting two on the ball every single
Speaker 1: time he got screened.
Speaker 2: Every ISO or post up.
Speaker 1: They're hard helping off the ball like he's just getting
Speaker 1: the kitchen sing thrown at him. And the Suns have
Speaker 1: had a lot of lineups with Bil and Durant out
Speaker 1: where they've had multiple limited offensive players on the floor,
Speaker 1: and as a result of that they've had some struggles.
Speaker 1: I mean, use off Nurkic has been an absolute disaster.
Speaker 1: He's just three for twenty three from the floor over
Speaker 1: the course of the five games since KD went down.
Speaker 1: The I've never seen a big man who's this bad
Speaker 1: at making layups. He's thirteen for twenty seven on layups
Speaker 1: this year. That's below fifty percent. But like, again, this
Speaker 1: is something I talked about last year too. Last year
Speaker 1: he was only fifty three percent on layups. It's the
Speaker 1: craziest thing, Like he's this big human who's stronger than everybody,
Speaker 1: but for some reason, like can't just make simple, easy.
Speaker 2: Touch shots around the basket.
Speaker 1: Now, if you're looking for a bright side, it's what
Speaker 1: we saw from Devin Booker against Minnesota yesterday was by
Speaker 1: far the best he's looked season. He had forty four points,
Speaker 1: six rebounds, and seven assists. He came into that game
Speaker 1: averaging just twenty two and a half points per game
Speaker 1: on the season on just forty two percent from the
Speaker 1: field and thirty four percent from three. He had hit
Speaker 1: thirty points just three times in his first thirteen games.
Speaker 1: So Booker getting back into the form would be huge
Speaker 1: for them, and obviously last night against Minnesota was a
Speaker 1: big step in that direction. Number six the Los Angeles Lakers.
Speaker 1: They've won five games in a row, although it's been
Speaker 1: against a very easy stretch of their schedule. The one
Speaker 1: game that I thought was impressive in the five game
Speaker 1: win streak was the win in San Antonio. That was
Speaker 1: a game that I had marked as a loss. San
Speaker 1: Antonio had been five and five and two at home
Speaker 1: going into that game, and they'd beaten some good Western
Speaker 1: Conference teams there, specifically Minnesota in Sacramento, and San Antonio
Speaker 1: jumped to me early, they went up eleven zero, but
Speaker 1: they just methodically got their way back into that game
Speaker 1: and got a good win on the road. Their offense
Speaker 1: just continues to be super impressive. Their fifth in offensive rating,
Speaker 1: their sixth and a half court offense. They have just
Speaker 1: an incredible combination of skill basketball IQ and organization from
Speaker 1: the coaching staff on the offensive end, and it's just beautiful.
Speaker 2: I'm going to be doing.
Speaker 1: I was watching the Pells game the other night, and
Speaker 1: first of all, shout out to Joel Myers and Antonio Daniels.
Speaker 1: They I was like watching that game and there was
Speaker 1: a really interesting kind of like chess match going on
Speaker 1: in the second half as the Pells were dealing with
Speaker 1: all the screening action that Dalton was getting to get
Speaker 1: open and the Lakers consistently attacking switching by trying to
Speaker 1: get Smalls onto Anthony Davis, and he was just doing
Speaker 1: a ton of damage in the post and in in
Speaker 1: offensive rebound situations, and then the Pelicans were like struggling
Speaker 1: to get the ball to brandon Ingram in spots where
Speaker 1: he could really do any work, and they were kind
Speaker 1: of ignoring some of the Pelicans non shooters in that sequence.
Speaker 1: It was like a really interesting kind of chess match.
Speaker 1: And like, I've watched a lot of broadcasts from a
Speaker 1: lot of groups around the league, and Joel Myers and
Speaker 1: Antonio Daniels, both of them were just completely on top
Speaker 1: of that chess match the entire game, calling out everything
Speaker 1: that was happening, talking about the different things they needed
Speaker 1: to do. I just really appreciated it, and I hope
Speaker 1: that we get more broadcast duos like them over time
Speaker 1: in the league because it just made watching that game
Speaker 1: so much more enjoyable, and quite frankly, I think it
Speaker 1: would just be really good for all the casual fans
Speaker 1: around the league to understand some of the tactical battle
Speaker 1: that takes place live, and it's really hard to do
Speaker 1: when it's happening live compared to when you can watch
Speaker 1: film and take your sweet time with it over hours.
Speaker 2: Right, So shout out to those guys.
Speaker 1: Anyway, I was watching the Pells game and the second
Speaker 1: half was just an offensive masterclass. The Lakers played with
Speaker 1: great pace, They got the ball at the floor quickly.
Speaker 1: They did like a good combination of like some freelance
Speaker 1: stuff in semi transition where guards would just throw screens
Speaker 1: at Anthony Davis's man just to try to force quick
Speaker 1: switches like early in the shot clock, at which point
Speaker 1: they would just then try to post up or maybe
Speaker 1: get a shot up on the rim where Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: could get an offensive rebound. But they also did it
Speaker 1: through sets as well, just like they were running sets
Speaker 1: to try to get daln Connect open, and the Pelicans
Speaker 1: were attacking that by switching, which was getting more opportunities
Speaker 1: for Anthony Davis, Anthony Davis to attack mismatches all of
Speaker 1: the guard guards screening that they were doing, and Antonio
Speaker 1: Daniels was doing a really nice job calling out how
Speaker 1: like the Pelicans kept botching guard guard screens, and like
Speaker 1: we talked about this all the time, but like the
Speaker 1: more action you run, the more opportunity there is for
Speaker 1: the defense to make mistakes. And the Pelicans were just
Speaker 1: making a lot of mistakes on like basic kind of
Speaker 1: screening actions that they were running, and a bunch of
Speaker 1: guys were getting open or getting switches that were favorable
Speaker 1: for the Lakers. And then Austin and Di Loo, both
Speaker 1: of them are so good at operating in five out
Speaker 1: inside the three point line as like screeners slippers and
Speaker 1: his connective passers. There was a play where like Austin
Speaker 1: reeves kind of made himself available along the baseline, catches
Speaker 1: right behind the backboard, but he knows what's happening around him,
Speaker 1: and he knows that Dalton is open because Dalton's man
Speaker 1: is rotating to Austin, He on the catch just blindly
Speaker 1: turns and whips it to the left corner. Dalton catches
Speaker 1: and shoots at three. There Again, that's connective passing. Austin's
Speaker 1: the open guy even though he's not really in a
Speaker 1: position to score, but Austin understands the next pass and
Speaker 1: the chain and he's able to generate a wide open
Speaker 1: look for Dalton.
Speaker 2: Connect right.
Speaker 1: Or there was a play where Anthony Davis gets double
Speaker 1: teamed on the post in the post on the left
Speaker 1: block and the Pels do a really nice job pressuring Ad,
Speaker 1: and so they're pressuring Ad so hard that he's not
Speaker 1: able to really turn and see the floor, and Sodlo
Speaker 1: makes himself available up on the left wing and Ad
Speaker 1: has no choice but to throw it back out to
Speaker 1: d Lo. Now there's a split second after Dlo catches
Speaker 1: it where you can make a kill pass, and if
Speaker 1: you don't make the kill pass, and that split second,
Speaker 1: New Orleans is going to rotate back out and the
Speaker 1: advantage is gone. It's Dalton connects cutting right down the
Speaker 1: lane and d Lo right on the catch. One times
Speaker 1: it to Dalton and Dalton ends up getting a dunk
Speaker 1: in the lane, and it's like, that's just those are
Speaker 1: the ways that Austin and di Loo connect things with
Speaker 1: their passing without necessarily having to run a ball screen
Speaker 1: or drive a close out or do something in a
Speaker 1: spot up situation. They're doing it screening, slipping, cutting in
Speaker 1: the interior. You're part of the floor, and they're taking
Speaker 1: advantage of double teams that other players are getting and
Speaker 1: making the connective passes to get to the player that
Speaker 1: can actually finish the play. They're kind of relentless with
Speaker 1: their execution. They have so many smart players who know
Speaker 1: how to play. When defenses make a mistake with the switch,
Speaker 1: everyone on the floor will immediately recognize it and start
Speaker 1: pointing to that guy. They're going to find a way
Speaker 1: to get the ball to that guy. They stay organized,
Speaker 1: they're freelancing less than ever, and they're killing teams in
Speaker 1: the clutch. They have the third best clutch offense in
Speaker 1: the league. Lebron James, Austin Reeves and Anthony Davis are
Speaker 1: seventeen for twenty seven from the field in the clutch
Speaker 1: this year. A lot of three man action. There was
Speaker 1: a game that they closed just running stack over and
Speaker 1: over again where it's like Lebron coming off of the
Speaker 1: ball screen with Ad as Austin is backscreening the role
Speaker 1: man as he goes, and there was sequences there where
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis was popping and hitting threes out of stack.
Speaker 1: Then against the Pelicans, they were like spamming like a
Speaker 1: horn set where they would just throw the ball to
Speaker 1: Lebron James on the left elbow with Austin Reeves at
Speaker 1: the top of the key. AD's at the right elbow
Speaker 1: and Austin would cut down and then as Austin was
Speaker 1: going off of a pin in flare with Dalton connect
Speaker 1: on the weak side in the right corner. Then Lebron
Speaker 1: would come off of a ball screen with Ad And
Speaker 1: because Austin and Dalton are running off ball action, and
Speaker 1: if you've cut that off ball action, you have a
Speaker 1: good shooter over there. Lebron is able to turn the
Speaker 1: corner and get into the lane and make layups. And
Speaker 1: so they were able to spam that action and get
Speaker 1: a bunch of good stuff at it. They're relentless with
Speaker 1: their execution. They have so many different ways that they
Speaker 1: can attack. They have like everyone in their lineups is
Speaker 1: like a legitimately very good offensive player. You know, Austin
Speaker 1: is good two man game chemistry with both Lebron and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. I'm loving Dalton Connect with the starters. I
Speaker 1: think I was talking with my friend Pete, I think
Speaker 1: does the best team specific podcast in the entire basketball world.
Speaker 1: If you're a Laker fan and you're not listening to
Speaker 1: Laker Film Room and the work that Pete and Darius do,
Speaker 1: you're missing out. Those guys are literally the best at
Speaker 1: what they do. So I highly recommend you guys check
Speaker 1: that out if you haven't. But I was talking with
Speaker 1: Pete about it yesterday because like, I want Dalton to start,
Speaker 1: And this was Pete's original idea. He was on it
Speaker 1: early in the season, like like a week or two
Speaker 1: into the season. He was like, I think Dalton could
Speaker 1: start for this team. It was kind of when Dilo
Speaker 1: was struggling, and you know, there are some concerns about
Speaker 1: whether or not he was ready for it. But my
Speaker 1: thing is, like, I think Dalton's athletic, and like how
Speaker 1: much am I going to be harping on athleticism today.
Speaker 1: I've already done it a little bit earlier. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be doing it again here in a minute with Houston.
Speaker 1: We're gonna do it again with Golden State later, Like
Speaker 1: athleticism is huge, and like Lebron and ad are the
Speaker 1: only two plus athletes in the starting lineup when you
Speaker 1: have Ruey, Austin and Dlo out there, right, and so like,
Speaker 1: Dalton is a very good athlete. He literally had a
Speaker 1: poster dunk yesterday and or was it two days ago?
Speaker 1: Two days ago he had a poster dunk. Two days
Speaker 1: ago he had like a play on a curl where
Speaker 1: he got downhill and got a dunk. Like he's athletic
Speaker 1: the way I see it is. I want Austin, Dalton
Speaker 1: van Do when he's healthy, than Lebron and Ad because
Speaker 1: you can use van Do as the primary point of
Speaker 1: attack defender and is more of a screening folkrum. And
Speaker 1: then Austin, Lebron and Dalton become your ball handling folkrums
Speaker 1: and Adan Vando become your screening folkrums. You've got tons
Speaker 1: of athleticism in that lineup because Dalton good athlete, vand
Speaker 1: O good athlete, Lebron good athlete, Ad good athlete. Austin
Speaker 1: is now the least athletic player in the lineup. That
Speaker 1: is something that I think works from an athleticism standpoint.
Speaker 1: And I love Dalton with the starters because he's an
Speaker 1: off ball scorer, which is key. Off ball scoring is
Speaker 1: key when I feel like a guy's gonna give me
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five a night, and I'm not actually like
Speaker 1: putting the ball in his hands, I'm actually putting the
Speaker 1: ball in Austin's hands or Lebron's hands while Dalton's running around.
Speaker 1: I like that because that's really complimentary scoring. It's scoring
Speaker 1: that doesn't yank on the rope and actually cause another
Speaker 1: player to get out of rhythm. If that makes sense.
Speaker 1: And then also it's so much high IQ in that lineup.
Speaker 1: If you had Vandam, Austin, Vandal Lebron and Ad, that's
Speaker 1: a lot of really smart defenders. And so with that
Speaker 1: you could craft a really achievable defensive role for Dalton
Speaker 1: that I think makes a lot of sense. And then
Speaker 1: for a team that struggled with bench scoring, now you
Speaker 1: have d Lo and Ruiy as guys that can come
Speaker 1: in as bench scores and you can play them with
Speaker 1: your athletes. Christian Koloco has been a really interesting kind
Speaker 1: of defensive fit as a backup center. If you put
Speaker 1: him out there with Gabe, you know, if you go
Speaker 1: Gabe d Low and then you go like Cam Ruy Christian,
Speaker 1: You've got two really high level offensive players around guys
Speaker 1: that are pretty solid defensive players, right, and then you
Speaker 1: can make a lot happen there. Maybe it ends up
Speaker 1: being Max instead of Gabe or something like that. Max,
Speaker 1: by the way, had a couple of really nice games
Speaker 1: over the weekend as he kind of got an opportunity
Speaker 1: with Cam Reddish being out and he capitalized in a
Speaker 1: big way. I'm still deeply concerned about the Lakers athleticism
Speaker 1: in the big picture, and that will always be something
Speaker 1: that prevents me from considering them one of the top
Speaker 1: tier contenders. But the offense is real and it's going
Speaker 1: to keep getting better as they continue to build out
Speaker 1: that continuity and find ways to kind of piece together
Speaker 1: lineups that complement each other really well. And I still
Speaker 1: do think that if they hit on the right trade
Speaker 1: in terms of bringing in athleticism and a vandal can
Speaker 1: get healthy, they do have that upside. It's just kind
Speaker 1: of like a sliver of an upside because there's a
Speaker 1: lot of personnel upgrades that they need. Number five Houston
Speaker 1: Rockets a five game winning streak up to ten and
Speaker 1: four and third in the Western Conference. Most of it
Speaker 1: is their perimeter athleticism. You guys have probably heard me
Speaker 1: on my soapbox about this all season, and I'm about
Speaker 1: to get even more aggressive with it because I have
Speaker 1: a rant involving speed and transition when we get to
Speaker 1: the Golden State Warriors here in a little bit. But
Speaker 1: that's Houston's formula. They're just super athletic on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: Jalen Green is lightning fast. Javari Smith and Dylan Brooks
Speaker 1: are two good athletes who defend super well on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: Fred van Vliet's not a great athlete, but he's a
Speaker 1: good defender. And then the bench is loaded with athletes
Speaker 1: like Aman Thompson is an A plus athlete, Tari E's
Speaker 1: and great athlete, Read Shepherd, great athlete, Cam Whitmore, great athlete.
Speaker 1: They've just waves and waves and waves of athleticism, and
Speaker 1: I mean Cam's hurt right now, Like they're gonna get
Speaker 1: They're gonna They're just a super super athletic team and
Speaker 1: they're super fascinating. They're third in defensive rating, they're first
Speaker 1: in rebounding, they're second in offensive rebounding. They're constantly winning
Speaker 1: that corner crash battle, like one of the big battles
Speaker 1: that you see in the modern NBA is like shot
Speaker 1: goes up, dudes crash out of the corners, and the
Speaker 1: guys that are guarding the guys out of the corners
Speaker 1: are also kind of like cracking down to get defensive rebounds,
Speaker 1: and it's who's gonna win that race to the ball,
Speaker 1: right It's a huge it's a huge.
Speaker 2: Part of that battle.
Speaker 1: And they're winning that battle consistently as they as they
Speaker 1: get a ton of offensive rebounds, they're allowing the third
Speaker 1: fewest three point attempts per one hundred possessions in the league.
Speaker 1: They're allowing the eighth best three point percentage, and a
Speaker 1: lot of people will think that's luck. All the analytics
Speaker 1: nerds think that's luck. I disagree. They're just closing out
Speaker 1: better than everybody. They're allowing just sixteen point nine sixteen
Speaker 1: point nine wide open threes per game, meaning the defenders
Speaker 1: at least six feet away. That's the third fewest in
Speaker 1: the entire NBA. They're forcing you to take contested threes,
Speaker 1: and then they're forcing a lot of turnovers with their
Speaker 1: athleticism and getting out in transition. They have the fourth
Speaker 1: most points off of two e andovers per game in
Speaker 1: the NBA. But like, that's the thing that's all like
Speaker 1: a concept that I've been hammering home all season, Like,
Speaker 1: if you can guard the ball, if you can have
Speaker 1: Dylan Brooks pressure, pick up full court, Jabari Smith length
Speaker 1: on big scoring wings, when you have guys that can
Speaker 1: guard the ball and pressure the ball and get guys
Speaker 1: out of their comfort zone when they're trying to get
Speaker 1: into their sets, and then when you get in rotation,
Speaker 1: if you have the speed to cover ground, and then
Speaker 1: in transition, if you have the speed to cover ground,
Speaker 1: you have a really really high floor. In the modern NBA,
Speaker 1: you just have to have the appropriate amount of athleticism
Speaker 1: to make that happen. But the surprising thing for Houston, though,
Speaker 1: has been their offense. Like I knew Houston would be
Speaker 1: a great defensive team to start the year. I said
Speaker 1: that before the season in our season preview with them.
Speaker 1: It's not exactly a brave prediction. They just have lots
Speaker 1: of good defensive players. I'm not worried about Houston's ability
Speaker 1: to guard. I just didn't think they'd be able to
Speaker 1: score this well. I didn't think they'd be able to
Speaker 1: score the ball well enough for it to manner, and
Speaker 1: they have. They're like it's they're eleventh in offense of
Speaker 1: rating overall. There's several factors at play. It's a lot
Speaker 1: of transition. Like they're twenty second and half court offense
Speaker 1: according to Cleaning the Glass, but they're the eighth best
Speaker 1: transition offense per Cleaning the Glasses transition metric, which is
Speaker 1: points added per one hundred possessions. They're the eighth best
Speaker 1: transition offense in the league. They're also generating twenty four
Speaker 1: points per game overall in transition according to Synergy, which
Speaker 1: I think was ninth in the NBA. But they're still
Speaker 1: getting timely half court production from several guys. Fred van
Speaker 1: Vliet and Alprin Schangun have really nice two man game chemistry.
Speaker 1: They had a sequence against the Bowls last night where
Speaker 1: they were scoring so consistently with fred just coming off
Speaker 1: and hitting a pull up jump shots or hitting Shanggun
Speaker 1: in the pocket for like driving dunks or driving plays
Speaker 1: that they started having to load up. And then fred
Speaker 1: Vich just started spraying out to shooters on the weak side.
Speaker 1: They were getting great looks. Shane Gun was off to
Speaker 1: a slow start in the post to start the season,
Speaker 1: but he was like flat out just frying Nikola Usevich
Speaker 1: last night, just like torching him one on one in
Speaker 1: the posts. So they're starting to get that going a
Speaker 1: little bit. Jalen Green has increased his three point volume.
Speaker 1: Now he's cooled off a little bit of as of late,
Speaker 1: but he hit several huge threes to start the year.
Speaker 1: And then Jabari Smith and Dylan Brooks both you know,
Speaker 1: they're inconsistent, but they both bring some valuable like just
Speaker 1: little bits of offense, like a good close out attack here,
Speaker 1: like oh Jabari Smith catches on the left wing and
Speaker 1: rips left and then spins into a left shoulder fade
Speaker 1: and knocks it down, or like Dylan Brooks, So we're gonna, uh,
Speaker 1: he's got a small guy on him, Let's just throw
Speaker 1: it to him on the block real quick and like
Speaker 1: he's big and strong. It can make a quick post
Speaker 1: move and go get a bucket. And they're like getting
Speaker 1: a little bit of stuff there. They're eleventh in offense.
Speaker 1: That's gonna win you a lot of games when your
Speaker 1: defense is this good. And it's gonna get a little tougher.
Speaker 1: But if they if they beat Milwaukee tonight, then they
Speaker 1: have Indiana at home, and I think they're gonna beat Indiana.
Speaker 2: Then they have.
Speaker 1: Portland at home twice, so like after that, the schedule
Speaker 1: gets tough. But we could be looking at a fourteen
Speaker 1: and four Rockets team if they get that win in
Speaker 1: Milwaukee tonight. Number four the Boston Celtics. They dropped an
Speaker 1: nd season tournament game on Tuesday to Atlanta, where they
Speaker 1: looked incredibly sloppy throughout. They got burned on like a
Speaker 1: tap tapman offensive rebound. They've been barely scraped out an
Speaker 1: overtime win against Toronto the other night where Jason Tatum,
Speaker 1: it was this crazy play where like Jalen Brown's coming
Speaker 1: off an off ball action and just gets just so
Speaker 1: clearly and blatantly foult that he just gets knocked over,
Speaker 1: but no call, and so Tatum had no choice but
Speaker 1: to try to make something out of nothing, and this
Speaker 1: split second and he just went to his little kind
Speaker 1: of step back three, like pull back three, and he
Speaker 1: knocked it down. Got the wins as Tatum continues to
Speaker 1: shoot the ball super well to start this year. But
Speaker 1: I'm not worried about the Celtics at all, even though
Speaker 1: they're playing some sloppy basketball, because this team is just
Speaker 1: a victim of their schedule. Like last year, it was different,
Speaker 1: they had like a much tougher schedule to start the
Speaker 1: year and things kind of eased up later. This year,
Speaker 1: they've had a super easy schedule to start the year
Speaker 1: and things will get tougher later. And so like the
Speaker 1: nixt game on opening Night was their only win this
Speaker 1: season against a team that is five hundred or better.
Speaker 1: Their opponent win percentage so far is forty five point one.
Speaker 2: Percent.
Speaker 1: That's the second lowest in the entire league. Only the
Speaker 1: Atlanta Hawks have played an easier schedule. So like, I
Speaker 1: don't care that the Celtics are playing a little sloppy.
Speaker 1: It's really hard to play your best basketball against that
Speaker 1: level of competition. I've seen a lot of Celtics fans
Speaker 1: that are like worried about their defense and wondering if
Speaker 1: they don't have the edge that they did last year.
Speaker 1: I'm not worried about them at all. They're going to
Speaker 1: be there when the time comes. This is you already
Speaker 1: have the trophy, You already know you can rise to
Speaker 1: the level that you need to rise to when the
Speaker 1: time comes. And you're like routinely playing some of the
Speaker 1: lower tier teams in this NBA. So like, I think
Speaker 1: they're just kind of caught in that monotony right now.
Speaker 1: They have Cleveland tomorrow night, that's a big game, and
Speaker 1: then in their next ten they actually have Cleveland twice
Speaker 1: in their next ten games. Then they have Minnesota, they
Speaker 1: have Miami in that run. They have no walk key
Speaker 1: in that run. Even some of these Western Conference teams
Speaker 1: that are injured guys like the Clippers without Kohi or
Speaker 1: the Grizzlies without John Moran. Those teams are tougher than
Speaker 1: a lot of these Eastern Conference teams that they're playing,
Speaker 1: and they have those in their next ten games. So
Speaker 1: I think we're going to see Boston really engage themselves
Speaker 1: over the course of the next three weeks or so,
Speaker 1: and I think we're going to see some of that
Speaker 1: championship level basketball that we've been expecting them to show.
Speaker 1: And here's the thing, They're They're still right where they
Speaker 1: need to be in the standings. There's no issue there.
Speaker 1: As far as the Cavs game tomorrow night, follow me
Speaker 1: on Twitter at Underscore Jason lt. I'm going to be
Speaker 1: going on Watch Playback with my friend Mike to break
Speaker 1: that game down live as it's going on, and then
Speaker 1: we're also going to do a Hoops Tonight live show
Speaker 1: after so calvs. Celtics' biggest game of the early stretch
Speaker 1: here in the regular season. Super super excited to cover it,
Speaker 1: watch it live with me on Watch Playback, and then
Speaker 1: I'll also have an instant reaction live on YouTube after
Speaker 1: the final buzzer of that game. That would be a
Speaker 1: big one for me if the Celtics could just go
Speaker 1: in there and send a big message. That would be
Speaker 1: a big one for me. That would be a quick
Speaker 1: reminder that all these, you know, kind of early season
Speaker 1: games don't really mean that much. Number three the Oklahoma
Speaker 1: City Thunder. They won their first three games without Chet
Speaker 1: when they had to play small ball. They've been giving
Speaker 1: up an offensive rebound on over forty percent of their
Speaker 1: opponent's misses over this span, so like some of that
Speaker 1: is to be expected with the lineups, but it hasn't mattered.
Speaker 1: The Pelicans had a twenty one to five offensive rebound
Speaker 1: advantage in one of the games, and the Thunder still
Speaker 1: won by eighteen. They're kind of like leaning into their speed,
Speaker 1: which I think is really smart, and they're basically going
Speaker 1: marktagital is basically going with this process, which is like
Speaker 1: we're going to get blitzed on the glass, but what
Speaker 1: if we just force a million turnovers and completely dominate
Speaker 1: the game and transition and then maybe it won't matter.
Speaker 1: Like the Pels game is a perfect example, Like they
Speaker 1: forced twenty four turnovers and converted them into twenty nine
Speaker 1: points and they won the fast break point battle with
Speaker 1: the Pelicans thirty four to two. Like that's margin in
Speaker 1: this four game span since Chet went down. They are
Speaker 1: first in points off of turnovers with twenty four game
Speaker 1: while also giving up the fewest points off of turnovers
Speaker 1: eleven per game. So they're creating thirteen points of margin
Speaker 1: just right there. They're getting eighteen fast break points per game.
Speaker 1: They're only allowing five point five fast break points per game,
Speaker 1: which is the best in the league over that four
Speaker 1: game span. That's another twelve point five points of margins.
Speaker 1: So they're they're generating significance amounts, significant amounts of margin
Speaker 1: just by winning the turnover battle and the transition battle,
Speaker 1: and that undoes any damage that happens to them on
Speaker 1: the offensive glass and then some now Dallas finally got
Speaker 1: them last night. A huge win for Dallas by the way,
Speaker 1: Like PJ. Washington had the best game of his career
Speaker 1: statistically at a twenty seven and seventeen, a bunch of
Speaker 1: really impressive shot making. Like it just was like it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: you got a couple of stops. Well, here comes Jaden
Speaker 1: Hardy hitting another like tough Alan Iverson esque fade away
Speaker 1: in the lane, or like oh, here's Spencer Dinwoodie who's
Speaker 1: like kind of sneaky, always been really good at creating
Speaker 1: his own shot, just like hitting a step back three
Speaker 1: on the right wing, right when you're made a run
Speaker 1: to kind of like Spencer had, like a hit two
Speaker 1: back to back threes to like turn a five point
Speaker 1: game and do eleven point game, like change the complexion
Speaker 1: of the game like that, a bunch of guys hit
Speaker 1: some big shots, and like there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: that are like, oh, you know, Luca's out, They're finally
Speaker 1: getting a win. It's like I look at that. It's
Speaker 1: just like it's an optimistic it's an optimistic thing because
Speaker 1: Luca clearly didn't look right physically, and so you got
Speaker 1: to win while allowing Luca to get some rest for
Speaker 1: his bulkines. So, like huge win for Dallas, by the way,
Speaker 1: But Dallas finally got Oklahoma City and showed some of
Speaker 1: the limitations of that build, right, because like Dallas pummeled
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City on the offensive glass, but they also held
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City to only six fast break points and Dallas
Speaker 1: only committed sixteen turnovers, which is not low, but it's
Speaker 1: low for Oklahoma City, right, So, like they were able
Speaker 1: to control Oklahoma City's margins while also dominating their margins,
Speaker 1: and they got a big win. And so that's why,
Speaker 1: like when I always talk about the difference between like
Speaker 1: the expression styles make fights, it's.
Speaker 2: Like which style is gonna win the fight.
Speaker 1: If a big guy and a small guy get in
Speaker 1: a fight, one of two things is gonna happen. The
Speaker 1: big guys either gonna maul him with the size or
Speaker 1: the small guy's gonna beat him with his quickness. Like
Speaker 1: either can happen. A lot of times we see that
Speaker 1: and we go like, oh, mismatch, and it's like it's
Speaker 1: a mismatch both ways.
Speaker 2: And so it's really just about how well you play.
Speaker 1: You have to in that battle against Dallas, Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: was not able to weaponize their speed as much as
Speaker 1: Dallas was able to weaponize their size, and they were
Speaker 1: able to get a win. And then obviously, like in
Speaker 1: a game like that, when you're giving up that much size,
Speaker 1: you have to win the shot making battle, and Dallas
Speaker 1: just kind of kept him toe to toe on the
Speaker 1: shot making battle, and that made it so that their
Speaker 1: physical limitations ended up getting them beat. But shout out
Speaker 1: to Shaye and Jdubb Over the course of this four
Speaker 1: game stretch, they're averaging sixty points per game. And combining
Speaker 1: to be well over fifty to forty ninety splits between
Speaker 1: the two of them, just cooking teams with the amount
Speaker 1: of space that they're creating. Number two the Golden State
Speaker 1: Warriors light schedule week for them, only two games, and
Speaker 1: they won them both. They beat Dallas in a game
Speaker 1: that we covered live on YouTube. That was the game
Speaker 1: where every single time their offense bogged down, Dallas went
Speaker 1: on a run, but then went on these like crazy
Speaker 1: superstar runs at various points to regain control of the game,
Speaker 1: and they end up stealing a game when they were
Speaker 1: down by seven with I think what four minutes left.
Speaker 2: Big win there.
Speaker 1: Then they ended up getting a big win against the
Speaker 1: Grizzlies at home. I think that was Desmond Bain's return
Speaker 1: as well. But I wanted to since they only had
Speaker 1: two games last week, I wanted to kind of use
Speaker 1: this as an opportunity to talk about some of the
Speaker 1: stuff that I'm starting to learn more about this game.
Speaker 1: I was talking with my friend Samis fondi Ari, who
Speaker 1: covers the Warriors. I'm going to be doing a watch
Speaker 1: play back with him at some point the next couple
Speaker 1: of weeks, and then I'd like to have him on
Speaker 1: this show too at some point so we can talk
Speaker 1: some Warriors. But I was talking to him, just texting
Speaker 1: with him last night about because he had sent out
Speaker 1: a tweet and yesterday or two days ago talking about
Speaker 1: how like speed and perimeter defense is like one of
Speaker 1: the most like basically the market inefficiency in the NBA
Speaker 1: right now, which is very similar to some of the
Speaker 1: stuff that I've been saying. It's like a lot of
Speaker 1: the smart basketball minds around the league that I listened
Speaker 1: to have been picking up on this sort of thing too.
Speaker 1: And you know, one of the things I did, I
Speaker 1: just after him and I were texting, and I just
Speaker 1: I just pulled up cleaning the glass and I was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm just gonna look at where all
Speaker 1: these teams are in transition. And the reason why I
Speaker 1: did that is because, like my I used to have
Speaker 1: this worldview. Those of you guys who follow this show
Speaker 1: over the last few years will know what I'm talking
Speaker 1: about here. I have always like over indexed on half
Speaker 1: court offense and half court defense. And the reason why
Speaker 1: is I've always been like, well, things are gonna slow down.
Speaker 1: You know, you're gonna get stuck in the half court.
Speaker 1: How are you gonna do when you get stuck in
Speaker 1: the half court. But as I'm watching these games, I'm like,
Speaker 1: teams are hunting transition opportunities more than ever. They're a
Speaker 1: huge chunk of the game is taking place in transition.
Speaker 1: And then I was like, all the good teams are
Speaker 1: transition teams. Like Cleveland took off by dominating in transition,
Speaker 1: Golden State took off by swapping out two of their
Speaker 1: slower rotation players with faster rotation players, and now they're
Speaker 1: cooking teams in transition. Boston always been a good transition team.
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City like their entire identity is like playing in transition.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, this is super interesting. So let me
Speaker 1: dig into this a little bit. And so I pulled
Speaker 1: up the cleaning the glass stat which is like their
Speaker 1: catch all transition stat is transition points added per one
Speaker 1: hundred possessions. What stands out to you about these lists?
Speaker 1: This is the top ten in offensive points added per
Speaker 1: one hundred possessions in transition, Memphis, Boston, the Los Angeles Clippers, Miami, Cleveland, Washington, Phoenix, Houston,
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City, Denver. Here's the top ten transition defenses. What
Speaker 1: stands out to you. Golden State number one, OKC number two,
Speaker 1: Charlotte three, Boston number four, New York Knicks number five,
Speaker 1: Cleveland Cavaliers number six, Orlando Magic number seven, and then Toronto, Phoenix,
Speaker 1: and Dallas. So the top teams in the league are
Speaker 1: heavily represented in both lists. Boston, OKC, and Cleveland are
Speaker 1: top ten in both. They have three of the four
Speaker 1: best records in the league right now. Golden State is
Speaker 1: ten and two. They're the best transition defense in the
Speaker 1: league according to Cleaning Glass. Houston, Phoenix, Denver in Orlando
Speaker 1: all have top ten records in the league and are
Speaker 1: all represented it all represented on that list. So like
Speaker 1: it's been super interesting. Is like again, like I this
Speaker 1: this job has been super fascinating for me because again,
Speaker 1: I came into this with a lot of basketball experience,
Speaker 1: but on a different level. Right, Like, I was an
Speaker 1: NBA fan and I was aspiring to do this for
Speaker 1: a living, and so I was watching a lot of
Speaker 1: NBA basketball, but I had a job, and so I
Speaker 1: didn't have as much time to watch as much film
Speaker 1: as I do now. And a lot of my exposure
Speaker 1: to the game came at different levels, right And so
Speaker 1: coming into this job now, and I like February first
Speaker 1: will be three years since I started working at the Volume.
Speaker 1: In three years, I've watched way, way, way more NBA
Speaker 1: basketball than I ever watched before, obviously just because now
Speaker 1: it's my job, it's what I do for a living,
Speaker 1: and I've learned so much and it's been super fascinating
Speaker 1: to watch my view of the game change as I've
Speaker 1: been exposed to more and more NBA basketball, And I
Speaker 1: think it's a combination of both. I think it's a
Speaker 1: combination of that. And then the NBA is actually changing
Speaker 1: quite a bit as the league becomes faster and over
Speaker 1: indexes on certain traits.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: But like, one of the things that I think has
Speaker 1: been super fascinating is I think my emphasis on half
Speaker 1: court offense and defense is a little short sighted. I
Speaker 1: think that the transition battle is now a real significant
Speaker 1: part of this of this process to becoming an elite
Speaker 1: NBA team, And like, as I look at it, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, all of the really good teams are just
Speaker 1: excellent in transition. I don't think that's a coincidence. Speed
Speaker 1: is the pathway to handling modern basketball problems. You need
Speaker 1: to generate more threes than you need athletes who can
Speaker 1: pressure the rim to collapse the defense. You need to
Speaker 1: guard the three point line better, well, then you need
Speaker 1: athletes who can cover ground in rotation and throw good closeouts.
Speaker 1: Sam had a thought when I was texting him yesterday
Speaker 1: I thought was super interesting. He goes, He goes, having
Speaker 1: a guy that can close out on the perimeter and
Speaker 1: turn a forty percent three point shooter into a thirty
Speaker 1: percent three point shooter is just as valuable as a
Speaker 1: rim protector who can turn a sixty percent layup into
Speaker 1: a fifty percent layup. And I thought that was a
Speaker 1: super super interesting concept. And I like and to his point,
Speaker 1: you can actually argue it's more valuable because a ten
Speaker 1: percent dip in three point percentage is actually impactful more
Speaker 1: in the scoreboard than a ten percent difference in layup percentage.
Speaker 1: But he has a really interesting point there. When I
Speaker 1: watched the Warriors, their closeouts are insane. They fly to
Speaker 1: the three point line. There have been multiple plays from
Speaker 1: guys like Gary Paynton and Draymond Green this year where
Speaker 1: they have feet in the paint in help kickout pass
Speaker 1: and they're sprinting out in blocking dudes at the three
Speaker 1: point line. Your ability to cover ground in rotation and
Speaker 1: chase guys off the three point line is a speed trait.
Speaker 1: Do you need to generate easier offense in transition, then
Speaker 1: you need athletes that can get up and down the floor.
Speaker 1: Do you need to get back better in transition and
Speaker 1: defend better in transition, then you need athletes who can
Speaker 1: get back. If you need to win battles on the glass,
Speaker 1: there's more long rebounds than ever. With all these jump shots,
Speaker 1: you need athletes who can track them down. On those
Speaker 1: that corner crash battle, it's dudes standing in the corner
Speaker 1: with the guys that are helping off of them. Those
Speaker 1: guys are winning and losing foot races to long rebounds
Speaker 1: all game long. There are still teams that are winning
Speaker 1: with skill over athleticism. The two in our power rankings
Speaker 1: this week are Phoenix and the Lakers. Right, those are
Speaker 1: two teams that they it's half court execution for Phoenix
Speaker 1: mainly in the clutch, for the Lakers in the clutch too,
Speaker 1: but throughout the entire game. They're not overly athletic or fast,
Speaker 1: but they're just dominating teams with their overall amount of
Speaker 1: offensive skill. Right, dominating is the wrong word either.
Speaker 2: The two. They're just they're good.
Speaker 1: They're able to be good without being super athletic their
Speaker 1: offensive skill, but they are the exceptions if you look
Speaker 1: at the other teams Cleveland super Athletic, Golden State super Athletic,
Speaker 1: Boston super Athletic, Oklahoma City super Athletic, Houston super Athletic,
Speaker 1: all of the top five records in the league are
Speaker 1: super athletic on the perimeter. Denver part of their turnaround
Speaker 1: this season before Jokic took some time off this last week,
Speaker 1: Peyton Watson, Christian Brown, Russell Westbrook, Julian Strader, they've gone
Speaker 1: more athletic this year and so they've been a top
Speaker 1: ten transition offense. They're winning one of those margins right
Speaker 1: Orlando super Athletic, Minnesota super Athletic, Memphis super Athletic, Sacramento
Speaker 1: super Athletic. Ten of the top twelve teams in the league,
Speaker 1: and all of the top five are super athletic on
Speaker 1: the perimeter, and so like in a lot of ways,
Speaker 1: Golden State's roster to me is the perfect example of
Speaker 1: this trade because with Golden State, if you were ranking
Speaker 1: players based on like overall talent level, they don't. We
Speaker 1: have a lot of guys that people have ranked super
Speaker 1: high in the league, and yet they've been one of
Speaker 1: the best teams in the league this year because the
Speaker 1: specific strengths of that roster line up with what you
Speaker 1: actually need to thrive in the modern NBA, which is
Speaker 1: spaced out and super transition based, and you need to
Speaker 1: cover ground and the only way you're going to cover
Speaker 1: ground with athletes. Say what you want about Golden State's roster.
Speaker 1: They have a ton of athletes and that has come
Speaker 1: to fruition in a big way for them this season.
Speaker 1: Number one the Cleveland Cavaliers four and oh week, but
Speaker 1: a really light schedule. They had two wins against a
Speaker 1: Bulls team that's creating the balls. Are not two and
Speaker 1: seven in their last nine after getting embarrassed by Houston
Speaker 1: last night, they beat the Sixers without all three of
Speaker 1: their stars, and then they beat the Hornets. So not
Speaker 1: a whole lot to get into there. Donno Mitchell's red
Speaker 1: hot Darius Garland is two. Those two are averaging fifty
Speaker 1: six points per game since our last rankings. They also
Speaker 1: have seven guys averaging double figures since our last rankings.
Speaker 1: But Celtics game tomorrow. Remember, I'm going to be covering
Speaker 1: that game on Watch Playbacks. Pay attention to my Twitter
Speaker 1: feed if you want to watch me and Mike break
Speaker 1: down that game live. I also will be doing an
Speaker 1: instant reaction to that game on YouTube live after the
Speaker 1: final buzzer. And then, don't forget last week on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: we had Cardi Rodriguez from the Chase Down podcast on
Speaker 1: and we did an hour of Calves breakdown in that video.
Speaker 1: So if you haven't checked that one out yet, head
Speaker 1: back and check that one out. All right, guys, that's
Speaker 1: all I have for today. That's our Power rankings for
Speaker 1: the week of Monday, November eighteenth. We'll be back tomorrow
Speaker 1: morning with I want to do a TIMPs tape session
Speaker 1: on some of the Laker offense stuff I've talked about,
Speaker 1: and then I'm gonna hit a couple of games from
Speaker 1: tonight's slate as well, and I'll add whatever clips from
Speaker 1: those games to the TIMPs tape segment Tuesday night. Like
Speaker 1: I talked about Watch Playback as well as Calves Celtics
Speaker 1: Instant Reaction on YouTube Wednesday morning, I haven't decided what
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do yet, but we'll do something that covers
Speaker 1: around the league, and then back to our normal schedule
Speaker 1: after that. Don't forget we have our mail Bag that
Speaker 1: I'm recording on Thursday, so drop a question in the mailbag,
Speaker 1: comment in the YouTube comments. All right, guys, that is
Speaker 1: all I have for today is always sincerely appreciate you
Speaker 1: guys for supporting me and supporting the show.
Speaker 2: I'll see you tomorrow. The volume