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Speaker 1: at the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody for the last time.

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Speaker 1: I hope all of you guys have had a great day.

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Speaker 1: We've done two additional videos today. Earlier today we did

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Speaker 1: add Brendan Klean from Lockdown Suns on the show, and

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Speaker 1: we did a deep dive on the Phoenix Suns. You

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Speaker 1: can find that video back there. We also did a

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Speaker 1: breakdown of Pacers bucks that you guys can find on

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Speaker 1: the feed. In this video, we're just gonna talking about

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Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Lakers behind just a phenomenal performance from

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Speaker 1: Lebron James thirty points on twelve shots, four to four

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Speaker 1: from three, eight assists, zero turnovers as the Lakers go

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Speaker 1: up by forty plus. He sits the entire fourth quarter,

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Speaker 1: dominant performance for the Lakers, who are heading to meet

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Speaker 1: the Pacers on Saturday in the NBA Cup Championship Game.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna break it down. You guys are the joke

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Speaker 1: before we get started. Subscribe to our brand new YouTube

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Speaker 1: about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts under

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Speaker 1: Hoops Tonight. Follow me on Twitter at Underscore Jason lts

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Speaker 1: you guys don't miss any show announcements or the film

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Speaker 1: breakdowns that I do. And then also keep dropping mailback

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Speaker 1: questions in the YouTube comments so that we can keep

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Speaker 1: hitting them throughout the season. And the last, but not least,

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Speaker 1: basketball is back. It's been a long offseason and if

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Speaker 1: lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk some basketball. So

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Speaker 1: you know, sometimes there's this thing that can happen in

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Speaker 1: a basketball game where one player reaches such an insanely

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Speaker 1: high level that it actually SAPs the other team of confidence,

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Speaker 1: and it actually trickles down the roster and then everybody

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Speaker 1: just starts playing poorly. It's not to say that there

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Speaker 1: isn't a team effort, but sometimes there's just a way

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Speaker 1: of a player can carry himself to where it seems

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Speaker 1: to sap the other team of belief. It's like snatching

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Speaker 1: their hearts, so to speak. Tonight, Lebron James snatched the

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Speaker 1: heart of the New Orleans Pelicans early and often from

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Speaker 1: that slip that he had down to Herb Jones, that

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Speaker 1: post up where he drew the fall, just proving like, hey,

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Speaker 1: your main guy, Yeah, he's too small, he can't guard

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Speaker 1: me right, And then to oh, you're gonna drop back

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Speaker 1: and give me this shot, Well, I've been working on

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Speaker 1: and I'm shooting over forty percent on it this year.

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Speaker 1: I'm knocking it down. Oh your best player, Zion Williamson. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I know how to read his game and I don't

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Speaker 1: trust his ability to knock down an outside shot. So

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Speaker 1: I'm just gonna beat him to spots right outside the

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Speaker 1: restricted area and take charges and sap him of his

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Speaker 1: confidence and completely remove him from the game. He dominated

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Speaker 1: every single facet of this game, honestly, like nine for

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Speaker 1: twelve from the field, four for four from three, zero turnovers,

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Speaker 1: eight assists, thirty points, didn't even play the fourth quarter.

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Speaker 1: It was I'm completely at a loss for words. I've

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Speaker 1: been saying this all season long, but you know what

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Speaker 1: have I said? The Lakers got hit by a really

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Speaker 1: unfortunate string of injuries, right. They lost all their high

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Speaker 1: motor athletes. Cam Reddish got hurt, Rueya Tchamura got hurt,

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Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt didn't start playing until a couple of games ago.

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Speaker 1: The bottom fell out in all of their athleticism, and

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Speaker 1: suddenly it's like Austin and Dilo look on athletic right,

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Speaker 1: you know, because they're not playing alongside other high motor

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Speaker 1: athletes Lebron James and Anthony Davis, they can ebb and

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Speaker 1: flow in their effort during the regular season. So when

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Speaker 1: they wouldn't bring effort, they would look really really bad.

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Speaker 1: And I kept saying, like, these are really important archetypes

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Speaker 1: that they need give them time, Like Lebron looks great,

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Speaker 1: And what did I always say? Like Lebron looking great

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Speaker 1: is actually more of a positive trend and is more

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Speaker 1: meaningful than anything having to do with some of this

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Speaker 1: O the other stuff that we've seen right now, Do

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Speaker 1: the Lakers have some stuff to work out before the

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Speaker 1: postseason in terms of that two and three spot, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: which we'll talk about in a little bit. But within

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Speaker 1: the regular season, I just concerned with the stuff that

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Speaker 1: I was seeing earlier. This is just natural ebbs and

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Speaker 1: flows that you see during an NBA regular season that

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Speaker 1: kind of tends to go around with your strength of

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Speaker 1: schedule and with your injuries. The Lakers have played one

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Speaker 1: of the toughest schedules in the league this year. They've

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Speaker 1: played like twenty three games, and eighteen of them have

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Speaker 1: been against teams that are five hundred or better. And

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Speaker 1: so when you look at the kind of ball that

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Speaker 1: they were playing, some of the injuries that they had,

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Speaker 1: they looked a little less capable than what they really

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Speaker 1: are capable of doing. Right, But the big silver lining

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Speaker 1: under all of that was Lebron was playing some of

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Speaker 1: the best basketball of this late phase of his career,

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Speaker 1: and that matters more to this team's ultimate ceiling than

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Speaker 1: anything else. I think he's playing at the highest level

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Speaker 1: that he's played since the twenty twenty season when they

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Speaker 1: won the title in that season. Now, again, the scoring

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Speaker 1: is down a little bit, right, He's at twenty five

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Speaker 1: points per game, but that has way more to do

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Speaker 1: with just the way the team is organized from the

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Speaker 1: stand point of having two skill guards that are taking

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Speaker 1: a lot of shots. Right. They're also in a five

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Speaker 1: out system this year for the majority of their offensive possessions,

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Speaker 1: which is more read and react and more shares the

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Speaker 1: load among the rest of the players in the team.

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Speaker 1: But he's actually shooting his highest true shooting percentage since

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Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, when he was with the Miami Heat. He's

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Speaker 1: shooting over forty percent from three. His jump shots worth

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Speaker 1: like like like a point of one point one points

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Speaker 1: per shot, which is like over twenty percent higher than

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Speaker 1: it was last year. He's just playing at a much

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Speaker 1: much higher level than he has in the last couple

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Speaker 1: of seasons, which is a very very encouraging note for

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Speaker 1: what this Laker team can eventually achieve. Like, here's the thing.

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Speaker 1: If they keep racking up wins, which again they're going

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Speaker 1: to have to maintain this level of play. They do

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Speaker 1: have an easier schedule down the stretch of the season

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Speaker 1: that will help. But if they can maintain this level

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Speaker 1: of play, he has a chance to enter into the

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Speaker 1: MVP conversation with the job that he's doing on both

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Speaker 1: ends of the floor. I wanted to hit a couple

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Speaker 1: of specific things that he did in this game. I

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Speaker 1: thought the job he did on Zion Williamson removing him

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Speaker 1: from the game changed the dynamic early. Zion Williamson's dribble

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Speaker 1: penetration and his ability to pass the basketball is one

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Speaker 1: of them the most important elements of that Pelicans offense

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Speaker 1: and Zion is such a weird player type that there's

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Speaker 1: only a handful of guys that really can defend him well.

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Speaker 1: But Lebron's one of them. Because he's not bigger and

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Speaker 1: stronger than Lebron, hed Lebron has the ability to anticipate

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Speaker 1: his movements and to beat him to spots, and that

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Speaker 1: has gone a long way in this particular matchup, and

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Speaker 1: he's consistently looked pretty good guarding Zion on the ball

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Speaker 1: the over the top shooting. One of the things I've

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Speaker 1: talked about with the Pelicans is they're an aggressive ballscreen defense.

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Speaker 1: They bring Jonas Valenciunas up to the level in a

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Speaker 1: lot of cases, and they're really aggressive in help with

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Speaker 1: Zion and Brandon Ingram on the backside. And the Lakers

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Speaker 1: have some issues with weak side shooting, which we'll talk

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Speaker 1: about because the shooting actually turned around for the Lakers

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Speaker 1: in a big way in this game. But one of

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Speaker 1: the most important elements to this Laker offense succeeding against

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Speaker 1: elite defenses is over the top shot making. Why does

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Speaker 1: that matter because we talk about spacing all the time,

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Speaker 1: right and one of the best ways to beat spacing

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Speaker 1: issues is to shoot over the top spacing primarily has

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Speaker 1: to do with your ability to find driving lanes and

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Speaker 1: to get into the rim. And so when teams pack

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Speaker 1: the paint, you have to beat them with the jump shot,

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Speaker 1: either at the ball or on the weak side with kickouts.

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Speaker 1: And I thought his over the top shooting went a

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Speaker 1: long way right. Like, the game kind of got off

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Speaker 1: to a weird start, Lakers defense dominated early, Pelicans came

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Speaker 1: back on some turnovers, and the Lakers were doing a

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Speaker 1: bad job of boxing out. The Pelicans were crashing a

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Speaker 1: lot out of the corners and getting offensive rebound put backs. Right,

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Speaker 1: Lebron hits a freaking heater in that second quarter and

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Speaker 1: just builds that double digit deficit back up and as

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Speaker 1: soon as it got there again, that was where the

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Speaker 1: Lakers kind of regained their confidence and just ran away

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Speaker 1: with the game from there. And then in that third quarter,

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Speaker 1: I thought he did a really nice job. You know,

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Speaker 1: we talk a lot about Tyrese Haliburton and playing with

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Speaker 1: pace and playmaking. That's a lot of what Lebron was

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Speaker 1: doing in that third quarter, bringing the ball up with

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Speaker 1: like real verve, like getting downhill, causing all the Pelicans

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Speaker 1: to kind of coalesce around him, and he's dumping it

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Speaker 1: off to D'Angelo Russell for three. He's throwing kickout Passesorian

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Speaker 1: Prince in the corner every single time Anthony Davis breaks

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Speaker 1: open at the rim. Here's another lob oh d Lo

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Speaker 1: makes a back cut off of a backscreen. Lebron hits

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Speaker 1: him off with the bounce pass like he just was

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Speaker 1: torching them by making plays, but he was. Those passes

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Speaker 1: become available as a product of his rim pressure in

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Speaker 1: the amount of pace that he was playing with. Took

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Speaker 1: care of the basketball too. Obviously, the zero turnoversus is

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Speaker 1: important with that Laker defense. I can struggle sometimes when

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Speaker 1: they're defense. They've actually been better in transition this year

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Speaker 1: than they were last year, which is going to be

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Speaker 1: vitally important for the Tyrese Haliburton matchup, obviously. But I mean,

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Speaker 1: here's the thing, guys. The Lakers are on the rise,

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Speaker 1: eighth best record in the league now, despite their injuries,

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Speaker 1: despite the schedule, They've won three straight games against five

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Speaker 1: hundred or better teams. They have nine wins against five

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Speaker 1: hundred better teams, which is now tied for the most

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Speaker 1: in the NBA with the Boston Celtics. They have the

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Speaker 1: third best defense in the league over the last ten games.

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Speaker 1: And this shooting progression thing is a real deal, because

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Speaker 1: do I think the Lakers are a good shooting team.

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Speaker 1: Probably not, but I think they're an average shooting team.

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Speaker 1: Austin Reeves is a good shooter. Daniel Russell is a

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Speaker 1: good shooter. Torrian Prince is a good shooter. Lebron James

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Speaker 1: for the majority of his career outside of last season

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Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen, good shooter. Right, Like, They've got guys

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Speaker 1: off the bench bench that can knock down shots. Gabe

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Speaker 1: Vincent is a good shooter. Ruey hot Chimura is a

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Speaker 1: good shooter. They have shot atrociously bad this season, and

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Speaker 1: that's the thing. Like, I don't expect them to be

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Speaker 1: one of the top ten three point shooting teams in

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Speaker 1: the league, but they should be in the middle, right,

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Speaker 1: And so what led the lot in this to this

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Speaker 1: positive regression, in my opinion, is gaining confidence from their

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Speaker 1: leader and then driving energy and confidence from their defense,

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Speaker 1: and that flowing into better shot quality and just overall,

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Speaker 1: you know, like just the attitude and energy that they

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Speaker 1: play with. And I think that's gonna be important because

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Speaker 1: You're gonna see more and more teams do what the

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Speaker 1: Phoenix Suns did in that second half, do what the

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Speaker 1: Pelicans did tonight, which is packed the paint and forced

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Speaker 1: guys to knock down shots, which they did. Now, again,

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Speaker 1: don't overreact to regular season trends in either direction. Am

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Speaker 1: I here? What did I say before the season? I

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Speaker 1: said I saw the Lakers as the fourth best championship contender,

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Speaker 1: behind the Nuggets, the Bucks, and the Celtics. Right, I've

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Speaker 1: swapped the Celtics and the Bucks because they think the

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Speaker 1: Celtics are playing some better basketball. But I had the

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Speaker 1: Lakers at number four. Okay, I'm not like after their

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Speaker 1: bad start, where what were they five and seven at

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Speaker 1: one point? If I remember correctly, three and five? There

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Speaker 1: were somewhere below five hundred there after, like eight to

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Speaker 1: ten games or something like that. I said, I don't

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Speaker 1: change my opinion about the Lakers at all. Still in

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Speaker 1: the same spot, I don't think this team can win

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Speaker 1: a title unless one of two things happens. Either Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis takes an offensive leap back to where he was

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Speaker 1: in the bubble, which he's capable of doing, or they

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Speaker 1: make a trade at the deadline. I believe they will

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Speaker 1: make a trade, and I believe that trade will push

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Speaker 1: them over the top into that conversation with the Nuggets

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Speaker 1: and Celtics. But again, you don't overreact to regular season trends.

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Speaker 1: There will be a stretch again soon where the Lakers

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Speaker 1: have some guys banged up and they play some tough

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Speaker 1: games on their schedule, and their effort goes down a

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Speaker 1: little bit and they'll drop three out of five games,

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Speaker 1: because that's just what happens in the NBA regular season.

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Speaker 1: But this team was awesome after the deadline last year,

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Speaker 1: was awesome in the postseason, and I do believe that

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Speaker 1: they're capable of being awesome again this season. It just

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Speaker 1: if they're going to reach the Nuggets level, if they're

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Speaker 1: going to reach the Celtics level, in my opinion, they're

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Speaker 1: going to have to push their chips in and upgrade

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Speaker 1: that D'Angelo Russell position into a really good two way player.

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Speaker 1: But that's again a problem for the deadline. If they

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Speaker 1: have their health, especially with those athletes, if they have

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Speaker 1: Ruyatcha Murray and Cambrettis and Jared Vanderbilt available and healthy,

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Speaker 1: they're gonna win a lot of regular season games, and

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Speaker 1: a lot of the issues they had early was a

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Speaker 1: lack of athleticism which stemmed from injuries to a core

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Speaker 1: position group, which was under discussed in my opinion, in

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Speaker 1: a lot of platforms. I wanted to do one last

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Speaker 1: shout out for Anthony Davis because he gets a lot

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Speaker 1: of criticism for his offensive inconsistency, which I think is legitimate. However,

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Speaker 1: that was just a ridiculous defensive performance. I swaar just

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Speaker 1: in the third quarter. He blew up like six plays

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Speaker 1: at the rim what looked like easy layups that he

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Speaker 1: turned into misses. And like, again, his defensive consistency has

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Speaker 1: to be factored in here, Like a night like what

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Speaker 1: ad just had defensively is worth a twenty five thirty

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Speaker 1: point scoring night, you know, Like if you get twenty

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Speaker 1: seven out of CJ. McCollum, is that more impactful than

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Speaker 1: what Anthony Davis did defensively tonight, Like that's up for debate.

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Speaker 1: And again, those are just the kinds of things that

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Speaker 1: we have to factor in when we're having these conversations

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Speaker 1: like Anthony Davis, like heller h Hell or high water,

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Speaker 1: He's going to be impactful. There's a scale there, some

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Speaker 1: nights he's less so than others, but like when he's

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Speaker 1: locked in defensively, it's one of the most impactful things

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Speaker 1: that you'll see from a player in this league, and

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Speaker 1: his ability to anchor that Laker defense and on the glass.

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna talk about the Pelicans tonight because it's

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Speaker 1: just not the right night to talk about him. They like,

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Speaker 1: there's not really anything you can take away from that.

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Speaker 1: They're six and four in their last ten games, but

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Speaker 1: they're three and four in their last ten games against

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Speaker 1: anybody that's not the Kings. They've had their number, but

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Speaker 1: they've had some bad losses too, like the lost of

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Speaker 1: the Bulls. They're like, I want to do a deep

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Speaker 1: dive on the Pelicans. I just want to wait a

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Speaker 1: little bit until a different night. Tonight's not the night.

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Speaker 1: The simplest way to break down this particular game was

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Speaker 1: that the Bucks just could not guard Tyrese Haliburt no

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Speaker 1: matter what they tried. Every time they tried low drop,

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Speaker 1: he rose up into a pull up three and he

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Speaker 1: beat them with that. Every time they tried high drop,

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Speaker 1: he consistently made that pocket pass to Miles Turner, who

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Speaker 1: was amazing in this game, catching and finishing at the

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Speaker 1: rim also was amazing on the defensive end of the floor,

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Speaker 1: protecting the rim. He hit some shots in picking pop

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Speaker 1: situations as well. Miles Turner was fantastic, and that to

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Speaker 1: me is like the one of the most fundamental pieces

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Speaker 1: of beating that specific coverage. In the high drop. It's

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Speaker 1: like a softer version of putting two on the ball,

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Speaker 1: and so as that pocket pass is opened, that player

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Speaker 1: has to be able to score and make reads out

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Speaker 1: of it. Miles Turner was fantastic, but low drop he

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Speaker 1: beat him with the pull up three, high dropp he

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Speaker 1: beat him with the pocket pass. When they switched, he

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Speaker 1: was able to score on Brook Lopez. And then when

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Speaker 1: they went to the zone, the Pacers did a good

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Speaker 1: job of getting the ball to the middle of the floor.

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Speaker 1: Bruce Brown did a really nice job making those little

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Speaker 1: pop shots in there. He's been good at that shot

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Speaker 1: since he was with the nets and that middle of

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Speaker 1: the floor, not just the mid range shot making, but

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Speaker 1: having a player there that can make quick decisions is

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Speaker 1: a fundamental part of scoring against a two three zone.

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Speaker 1: And the Pacers just executed extremely well against every single

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Speaker 1: coverage the Bucks used, and it just came down to

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Speaker 1: Tyrese Halliburton and the fact that the Bucks couldn't do

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Speaker 1: anything with him. It was interesting too, like down the stretch,

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Speaker 1: they go to the zone to just try to make

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Speaker 1: somebody else beat them, right, but again, against a team

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Speaker 1: with that much offensive skill, it's not easy to get

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Speaker 1: stops of the zone defense. And that's when we saw

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Speaker 1: Bruce Brown get off. Literally there were two random possessions

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Speaker 1: in that zone stretch where they went to man, and

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Speaker 1: on both of those possessions, Tyree's just beat him in

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Speaker 1: they came of the high drop coverage with brook Lopez,

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Speaker 1: he just beat them with that pocket pass to Miles Turner.

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Speaker 1: And then it's like then down the stretch, brook Lopez

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Speaker 1: just switches right and Tyree's just quickly just tells everybody

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Speaker 1: go to their spot. They run two guys at the corner,

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Speaker 1: two guys of the wing. Tyree's goes to the top

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Speaker 1: of the key Boom boom hits him with a move

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Speaker 1: to the right, gets all the way to the rim,

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Speaker 1: get into Brooks body to protect the basketball, and finishes

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Speaker 1: on the right end of the rim. You guys might

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Speaker 1: remember to play at the very beginning of the game

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Speaker 1: where Brook Lopez switched, he went to the left side.

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Speaker 1: They cleared the side this time that everyone went away

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Speaker 1: to give him the entire side of the floor. Hit

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Speaker 1: him with the same kind of dribble combination, got all

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Speaker 1: the way around him and finished on the right side

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Speaker 1: of the rim, and then late he'd the final play

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Speaker 1: the dagger on that left wing. It was a high

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Speaker 1: drop coverage possession and he kind of pulled the ball

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Speaker 1: out to the further to the left, which caused Brook

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Speaker 1: to go with him. His on the ball defender basically

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Speaker 1: peeled off, and that's when he hit that step back,

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Speaker 1: which he's been doing a lot against Biggs when they

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Speaker 1: come out in that coverage, especially going to his left,

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Speaker 1: especially on the left wing. He can get a lot

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Speaker 1: of separation with that, and he handles the ball really

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Speaker 1: well with his left hand, hits the step back three

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Speaker 1: and that really fundamentally is the problem. You can't run

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Speaker 1: any coverage against him because he is a counter for

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Speaker 1: all of it. Right if you run any sort of

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Speaker 1: aggressive coverage, so like a blitz or a high drop

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Speaker 1: or a show or a double team, in any sort

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Speaker 1: of switch situation, he's going to be each with the pass.

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Speaker 1: If you run a low drop. He's going to beat

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Speaker 1: you with pull up a three point shooting may two

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Speaker 1: of them. You guys might remember the play. Or he

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Speaker 1: was talking to Dame saying like I can do that too, right,

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Speaker 1: Like that's what he did on those possessions, basic lower

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Speaker 1: drop coverage, coming over the top of the screen, knocking

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Speaker 1: down a pull up three when they switch. He can

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Speaker 1: beat bigs on switches. He's been beating bigs on switches

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Speaker 1: like damn near a point and a half per possession

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Speaker 1: all season. He's just outrageously good at organized modern NBA

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Speaker 1: offense and like still hasn't turned the ball over this week.

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Speaker 1: He's confident and cocky and talking shit and like, guys,

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Speaker 1: this is the this is you know, sometimes in the

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Speaker 1: NBA we see guys take a leap, right, You're like, oh,

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Speaker 1: look at Austin Reeves, Like this was a guy who

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Speaker 1: was undrafted, probably should have been in a early second

402
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Speaker 1: round pick, but certainly not any sort of lottery guy.

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Speaker 1: Holy shit, he's like a really good NBA player, right,

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Speaker 1: Or you're like, it's like Daron Fox, he's taking a

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Speaker 1: leap this year, Like he's gone from like, you know,

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Speaker 1: a lower level star to like one of those guys

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Speaker 1: that's kind of like just below the superstar level, right,

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Speaker 1: you know, like we see these rises that take place

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Speaker 1: in the NBA, but every once in a while we

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Speaker 1: see an all time great rising from the pack. Right.

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Speaker 1: We just recently saw this with Nikola Jokicch and it's like,

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Speaker 1: holy shit, nobody can guard this guy. And we are

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Speaker 1: literally watching that with Tyres Haliburton. This is the guard

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Speaker 1: version of Nikola Jokicch. Nobody can guard the guy. He

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Speaker 1: is every single play type. When you make him a score,

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Speaker 1: he's scoring well over a point per possession, every single

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Speaker 1: play type. When you make him a passer, he's passing

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Speaker 1: to guys in good position and they're like little things

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Speaker 1: like Obi toppin Limited player with the Knicks. But he's

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Speaker 1: found a role on this team just by running his

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Speaker 1: damn lane and transition that ridiculous reverse lob that he

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Speaker 1: caught from Tyres Alliburton. If you watch Isaiah Jackson has

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Speaker 1: a nice contest of Dame at the rim and you

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Speaker 1: see Obi top and just starts sprinting off the left

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Speaker 1: side of the floor, just running as fast as he can,

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Speaker 1: and Tyree's gets the ball every single time. Someone is

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Speaker 1: open up the floor, he makes the kick ahead pass

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Speaker 1: leads him perfectly towards the rim for the reverse dunk.

429
00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,919
Speaker 1: This is the rise of an all time great. That

430
00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:09,920
Speaker 1: is what we are watching. It's like everyone's talking about

431
00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:13,800
Speaker 1: the Steve Nash comparisons. It's like Steve Nash plus like

432
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:17,960
Speaker 1: real scoring, aggression, more, you know, athleticism in terms of

433
00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:22,080
Speaker 1: lateral quickness. He's got. The jump shooting is insane. Obviously

434
00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:23,800
Speaker 1: Steve Nash was a great jump shooter as well, but

435
00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,240
Speaker 1: it's like that, but just stretched out into like more

436
00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:32,080
Speaker 1: of a dynamic athletic player. Right, It's like, get on board, guys.

437
00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:34,720
Speaker 1: This is this is not just another hot streak. This

438
00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:36,520
Speaker 1: is a guy that all of the best players in

439
00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:39,119
Speaker 1: the NBA are struggling to guard right now. Is he

440
00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:41,480
Speaker 1: gonna light everybody on fire to the extent he did

441
00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:43,399
Speaker 1: the Bucks? Probably not, because the Bucks have some issues

442
00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:45,639
Speaker 1: at the point of attack, which we'll talk But the

443
00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:49,320
Speaker 1: meat and potatoes of what he's doing is replicable at

444
00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:52,600
Speaker 1: all levels of the NBA. Even made some defensive plays

445
00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:54,320
Speaker 1: in this game, which he's been a bad defensive player

446
00:20:54,359 --> 00:20:56,479
Speaker 1: this season. But as a team, the Pacers are kind

447
00:20:56,520 --> 00:20:58,600
Speaker 1: of rounding into form, and that, to me is the

448
00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:02,040
Speaker 1: key because outside to that third quarter run, if you

449
00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:04,199
Speaker 1: go back to the first half of this game and

450
00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:07,960
Speaker 1: both halves of the Boston Celtics game, they're playing good defense.

451
00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:11,960
Speaker 1: They're playing good defense. And I talked about in our

452
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:14,160
Speaker 1: Pacers deep dive last week. I think it was after

453
00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:17,240
Speaker 1: the Heat game, if I remember correctly, I talked about

454
00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:20,000
Speaker 1: how like they have the personnel to at least be

455
00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:23,639
Speaker 1: okay because of all their speed, and like they do

456
00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:25,280
Speaker 1: have guys who can defend at the point of attack,

457
00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:27,760
Speaker 1: like Bruce Brown and Aaron Nesmith who's been amazing in

458
00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:30,560
Speaker 1: these last two games. And so like they've got guys

459
00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:32,679
Speaker 1: who can take the top, top end personnel. They have

460
00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:35,280
Speaker 1: speed off the ball, Miles Turner can protect the rim.

461
00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:38,160
Speaker 1: They are capable of being a better defensive team than

462
00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:40,200
Speaker 1: they've shown to this point in the season. They've shown

463
00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:42,320
Speaker 1: it this week and it's led to wins and now

464
00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:44,240
Speaker 1: they have an opportunity to play for the NBA Cup

465
00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:47,679
Speaker 1: on Saturday. Now, the offensive glass is still an issue.

466
00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:50,040
Speaker 1: That was something that was an issue all game, and

467
00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:52,720
Speaker 1: obviously in the long run, that's gonna be something they're

468
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:56,000
Speaker 1: gonna have to address by just more wing basically upgraded

469
00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:58,120
Speaker 1: versions of Obi top and Aaron Niesmith. Right, but those

470
00:21:58,119 --> 00:22:02,160
Speaker 1: are big picture conversation about the Indiana Pacers right within

471
00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:04,439
Speaker 1: the scope of this season. They can defend better than

472
00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:07,600
Speaker 1: they have and the offense is completely and utterly unguardable.

473
00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:10,440
Speaker 1: And Tyrey Saliburton is playing like a superstar and he's

474
00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:13,440
Speaker 1: here to stay. Guys, this is not a short term thing.

475
00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:17,000
Speaker 1: Jump on the bandwagon this dude. He's on the Steph track.

476
00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:20,439
Speaker 1: He's on the Jokis track. He is headed towards top

477
00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:24,840
Speaker 1: tier superstardom. That is what we are seeing. Just outplayed

478
00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:28,960
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum, Jannisintennan, Kuombo, Dame Lillard all in this week

479
00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:33,560
Speaker 1: in high stakes games. And not to mention he's got

480
00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:35,320
Speaker 1: some of that Steph thing going on, where like he's

481
00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:39,240
Speaker 1: just incredibly fun to watch. Like I said, a shout

482
00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:41,200
Speaker 1: out a couple of other quick pacers, Miles Turner, like

483
00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:42,879
Speaker 1: I said, amazing in this game, protecting the rim and

484
00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:46,200
Speaker 1: working out of the role. Aaron Nesmith, his possessions on

485
00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:48,639
Speaker 1: Chris Middletony just flat out he raised him from the game.

486
00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:50,520
Speaker 1: On Giannis, I thought he did a pretty good job.

487
00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:53,639
Speaker 1: He's giving up a ton of physical advantage there, and

488
00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:56,600
Speaker 1: Giannis got him a few times, but for the most part,

489
00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:59,640
Speaker 1: he picked him up full court, applied ball pressure, disrupted

490
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:01,760
Speaker 1: his rhythm, got some stops. I thought he was really good.

491
00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:04,680
Speaker 1: And then that bench group that Isaiah Jackson with TJ

492
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:08,800
Speaker 1: McConnell and Ben matherin, like that group is defending really well,

493
00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:12,440
Speaker 1: and the TJ McConnell's just organizing them and making good plays.

494
00:23:12,440 --> 00:23:16,000
Speaker 1: And TJ McConnell is deceptively like like he's a guy that,

495
00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:18,119
Speaker 1: like a lot of people don't think of as a

496
00:23:18,119 --> 00:23:20,400
Speaker 1: great athlete, but he's super fast and like he can

497
00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:23,159
Speaker 1: beat people off the dribble, and that to me is

498
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:25,199
Speaker 1: like the start of it. Right, it's beating people off

499
00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:27,199
Speaker 1: the dribble. He's got a good little ten foot drifting

500
00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:29,080
Speaker 1: fade away, and then he's a great passer and that

501
00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:31,439
Speaker 1: just gives him the ability to organize that unit. And

502
00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:33,439
Speaker 1: then all of those guys are flying around on the

503
00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:36,040
Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor. This again, I said after

504
00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:38,159
Speaker 1: our last Pacers deep dive that right now they're just

505
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:40,159
Speaker 1: an exciting team, but if they want to make some

506
00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:42,520
Speaker 1: real noise, they have to defend better than they have

507
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:44,960
Speaker 1: they have this week, and suddenly they just beat the

508
00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:46,880
Speaker 1: two best teams in the Eastern Conference and they're gonna

509
00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:48,840
Speaker 1: have a chance to play for the NBA Cup on Saturday.

510
00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:51,800
Speaker 1: On the Bucks front, if it looked to you like

511
00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:54,000
Speaker 1: the Bucks couldn't guard in transition, that's not just a

512
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:56,639
Speaker 1: Pacers issue. Like we saw this all this game, not

513
00:23:56,760 --> 00:23:59,439
Speaker 1: just on missus and steels, but made baskets. The Pacers

514
00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:01,119
Speaker 1: are just running down the floor and getting wide up

515
00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:03,359
Speaker 1: in shots. They're not getting matched up. They're not sprinting back.

516
00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:07,000
Speaker 1: Bad transition defense principles right, Like transition defense is simple.

517
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:10,439
Speaker 1: You sprint back basket first, then you fan out. You

518
00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:13,080
Speaker 1: match up with anybody in a transition play. You don't

519
00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:15,120
Speaker 1: look for your man, you look for any man when

520
00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:17,159
Speaker 1: you settle. If you can get back in time and

521
00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:19,280
Speaker 1: you have opportunities to switch back to your matchup, great,

522
00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,320
Speaker 1: But in transition pushes you have to just get matched up.

523
00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:24,480
Speaker 1: You have to communicate. They're not very good at it.

524
00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:28,119
Speaker 1: And by the way, Milwaukee allows opponents to play in

525
00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,960
Speaker 1: transition on eighteen percent of their possessions, which ranks dead

526
00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:34,760
Speaker 1: last in the NBA. Significant issue in this game. And

527
00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:36,639
Speaker 1: then the point of attack defense is something I've been

528
00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:39,120
Speaker 1: I'm not the only guy, but everyone's been preaching about

529
00:24:39,119 --> 00:24:41,880
Speaker 1: all season, which is like, can dam and Malik Beasley

530
00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:44,160
Speaker 1: defend well enough at the point of attack to give

531
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:46,320
Speaker 1: your defense a chance to be good enough to compete

532
00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:48,600
Speaker 1: for a title? And the answer is no. To put

533
00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:51,080
Speaker 1: it simply, I've said this about the Bucks and the

534
00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:53,520
Speaker 1: Lakers all season, like upgrades at that point of attack

535
00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:56,880
Speaker 1: position is what their season basically hinges on. And if

536
00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:01,639
Speaker 1: you think about it, like against over the the dregs

537
00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:03,760
Speaker 1: of the regular season, you can be a good defense

538
00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:05,640
Speaker 1: if you're good on two of the three levels. Now,

539
00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:08,040
Speaker 1: what are the three levels of defense? Point of attack,

540
00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:12,760
Speaker 1: ball screen defender, weak side defense like rotations and help side, right,

541
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:15,159
Speaker 1: those are the three layers. The Bucks are excellent at

542
00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:17,520
Speaker 1: the rim in their pick and roll defense, and they're

543
00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:20,959
Speaker 1: excellent in rotation and in help right, so, and then

544
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,720
Speaker 1: the fourth level would be defensive rebounding, right, But I'm

545
00:25:23,760 --> 00:25:26,520
Speaker 1: just talking about actually guarding the plays themselves, But defensive

546
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:28,760
Speaker 1: rebounding is an important element of that, right. But the

547
00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:30,680
Speaker 1: Bucks are great on those two levels, but they're really

548
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:32,800
Speaker 1: weak at the point of attack. And that can give

549
00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:35,119
Speaker 1: you a good defense, or at least a passable defense

550
00:25:35,119 --> 00:25:37,560
Speaker 1: over the course of the regular season. But against these

551
00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:39,560
Speaker 1: types of teams, you have to be great at all

552
00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:42,880
Speaker 1: three levels. And that's why, like, like, it'll be really

553
00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:45,000
Speaker 1: interesting to see who wins this Lakers Pelicans game, because

554
00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:47,479
Speaker 1: the Pelicans are excellent at the point of attack, excellent

555
00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:50,639
Speaker 1: in help, but bad in terms of their rim protection

556
00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:53,199
Speaker 1: in ball screen defense. Because of Jonas Vallecunis right, the

557
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,080
Speaker 1: Lakers have players for all three levels. Now that Jared

558
00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:58,639
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt is healthy, like you're gonna see Jared Vanderbilt on

559
00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:00,840
Speaker 1: Tyres Alliburn. They're good in health, They're good at the ram.

560
00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:02,480
Speaker 1: They've been one of the best defenses over the last

561
00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:04,840
Speaker 1: month in the league. I have to look, but last

562
00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:06,680
Speaker 1: time I checked, they were like third in the league

563
00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:09,080
Speaker 1: over the last ten to fifteen games. So the Lakers

564
00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:11,480
Speaker 1: are going to be interesting a challenge for Tyres, but

565
00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:14,439
Speaker 1: we'll see when we get there. But you to have

566
00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:16,879
Speaker 1: any hope of guarding Tyres Haliburton, you have to be

567
00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:18,439
Speaker 1: good at the point of attack. You have to be

568
00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:20,119
Speaker 1: good in your ball screen defense, and you have to

569
00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:22,399
Speaker 1: be good in help. And I thought that you just

570
00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:25,000
Speaker 1: saw a pretty clear example of the fact that the

571
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:27,800
Speaker 1: Bucks could not defend at the point of attack. Tyres

572
00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:30,200
Speaker 1: Alliburton was getting wherever he wanted and that was where

573
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,040
Speaker 1: everything broke down for this team. And then lastly, on

574
00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:35,399
Speaker 1: the Bucks front, like Dame talked about this, he was like, hey,

575
00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:37,480
Speaker 1: we're fifteen and six, but like, I haven't even really

576
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:39,200
Speaker 1: got going yet. I don't even have my three points

577
00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:42,000
Speaker 1: shot yet. Like I like, this is gonna get crazy,

578
00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:44,119
Speaker 1: And like I tend to agree in the sense that,

579
00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:46,479
Speaker 1: like Dame has started to shoot a little better as

580
00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:48,760
Speaker 1: of late, we're starting to see more flurries like that

581
00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:51,040
Speaker 1: flurry he had to start the second half. But in

582
00:26:51,080 --> 00:26:53,639
Speaker 1: the big picture, he just hasn't been good enough, and

583
00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:56,200
Speaker 1: this team will not be a championship contender unless Dame

584
00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:59,240
Speaker 1: can get back to where he was last season. That

585
00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:02,240
Speaker 1: is an app a loop prerequisite. Now I still believe

586
00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:04,440
Speaker 1: he will do so, but we're now over a fourth

587
00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:05,960
Speaker 1: of the way through the season and he's still not

588
00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:08,400
Speaker 1: to that level. And so the onus is on Dame

589
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:12,440
Speaker 1: to figure his stuff out there. Because Giannis is having

590
00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:14,440
Speaker 1: the best season he's had since his title year. Giannis

591
00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:16,800
Speaker 1: is incredible so Dame's got to meet him at least

592
00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:18,960
Speaker 1: near that level for this team to get where they

593
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:20,800
Speaker 1: want to go. All right, guys, that is all I

594
00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:23,280
Speaker 1: have for this video. I will be back tomorrow with

595
00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:25,359
Speaker 1: the Nerd sessh. Guys. We're gonna bounce around the league

596
00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:27,119
Speaker 1: and hit a bunch of topics. I will see you

597
00:27:27,119 --> 00:27:30,120
Speaker 1: guys then. As always, I appreciate your support. See you tomorrow.

598
00:27:57,560 --> 00:27:58,240
Speaker 1: The Volume