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Speaker 1: All right, Welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by Fan Duel

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Speaker 1: here at the volume Happy Wednesday, everybody. We are live

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Speaker 1: on AMP. Don't forget if you're watching on YouTube or

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Speaker 1: listening on the podcast feed that AMP is the very

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Speaker 1: first place that you guys can get these shows. We're

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Speaker 1: written four games from last night. The Los Angeles Lakers,

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Speaker 1: in a very important game in the Western Conference standings,

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Speaker 1: went into New Orleans and dominated the Pelicans. We're gonna

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Speaker 1: talk about that game. The Milwaukee Bucks finished an impressive

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Speaker 1: back to back by going into Phoenix and winning really

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Speaker 1: interesting stuff defensively. At the end of that game that

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Speaker 1: I want to get into. The New York Knicks finished

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Speaker 1: off their road trip with a second consecutive win, this

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Speaker 1: time over the Portland Trailblazers. A lot more of the

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Speaker 1: same stuff we talked about earlier this week, so I

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Speaker 1: want to talk some Nicks. And then at the end

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Speaker 1: of the show, the Toronto Rafters dominated the Denver Nuggets

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Speaker 1: and a bunch of interesting stuff on both sides of that.

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Speaker 1: That's four straight losses for the Nuggets and the Raptors

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Speaker 1: are about five hundreds since trading for Yaka Purdle, and

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Speaker 1: I find them to be very interesting team, so we're

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Speaker 1: gonna talk a little bit about them as well. You

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Speaker 1: guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribed to

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Speaker 1: the Volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss any more

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Speaker 1: of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason

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Speaker 1: lt so you guys don't miss any show announcements. And

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Speaker 1: shows and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish,

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Speaker 1: don't forget. You can find them wherever you get your podcasts.

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Speaker 1: Under Hoops tonight and last but not least, before we

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Speaker 1: get started, while March Madness takes center stage this week

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Speaker 1: here at the Volume, it's merch Madness. Just head to

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Speaker 1: the Volumes website and use promo code merch Madness for

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Speaker 1: twenty percent off all merchandise from your favorite personalities at

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Speaker 1: the Volume. And if you want a chance to compete

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Speaker 1: against Colin Coward, myself and the rest of the Volume team,

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Speaker 1: join our bracket challenge. Just head to Yahoo and find

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Speaker 1: the group the Volume merch Madness or type in Bitley

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Speaker 1: slash Volume merch Madness. Fill in your bracket and the

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Speaker 1: top five finishers are gonna win some free volume merch.

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Speaker 1: So if you want to compete against me with my bracket,

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Speaker 1: I was gonna fill it out yesterday, but I didn't

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Speaker 1: have enough Time'm gonna fill it out today. You know

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Speaker 1: this particular year, I'm an Arizona fan, so I'm excited

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Speaker 1: about Arizona, but they have some limitations in terms of

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Speaker 1: backcourt skills. I'm a little nervous for them in this tournament.

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Speaker 1: But hey, we can have some fun. We can compete

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Speaker 1: against each other with brackets, and you guys have a

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Speaker 1: guys get up there and fill out a bracket and

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Speaker 1: get a discount on some merch on our website. All right,

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Speaker 1: on that NOO stocks and basketball. So this was a

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Speaker 1: very important game for the Lakers on a couple of

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Speaker 1: different levels. They had just dropped a game against the

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Speaker 1: Knicks that was kind of important, especially under the circumstances

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Speaker 1: in the standings, and they have a back to back

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Speaker 1: and a game in Houston tonight that Anthony Davis was

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Speaker 1: going to sit. We knew he was going to sit.

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Speaker 1: It's basically been made clear from the Lakers that they

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Speaker 1: do not want to play him in any back to

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Speaker 1: backs the rest of the season. There's one more in

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Speaker 1: April that they'll probably sit him out. So obviously you

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Speaker 1: have a chance to lose in Houston without Anthony Davis.

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Speaker 1: There's a chance that Alpern Shangoon is going to play tonight,

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Speaker 1: that obviously is a bad matchup for that Laker front

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Speaker 1: court without Anthony Davis. So you needed to win in

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Speaker 1: New Orleans last night to really have any chance to

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Speaker 1: get into that position that the Lakers want, which is

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Speaker 1: in that seven to eight seed, which we'll talk about

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Speaker 1: here more in just a minute. But they just absolutely

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Speaker 1: dominated the matchup. This is a good Pelicans team who

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Speaker 1: is very good at home. For as many issues as

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Speaker 1: they've had, they've been a very good home team, and

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Speaker 1: they just went in there and absolutely demolished him. They

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Speaker 1: were up forty points in the third quarter. You don't

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Speaker 1: see that too often in the NBA. There's twenty point leads.

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Speaker 1: Occasionally you'll see a thirty point lead. A forty point

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Speaker 1: lead is utter domination. And what was interesting is I

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Speaker 1: remember I told you guys after the Knicks game, like

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Speaker 1: I was crediting the Knicks. They won that game, but

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Speaker 1: it was a weird game for a bunch of different Lakers,

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Speaker 1: like Anthony Davis had his worst game probably in two

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Speaker 1: or three weeks at that point. Malik Beasley could not

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Speaker 1: buy a shot to save his life. Troy Brown Junior

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Speaker 1: was over seven from three. Austin Reeves was less effective

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Speaker 1: than he usually had ben Jared Vanderbilt, for the first

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Speaker 1: time in his entire time in the Lakers' Jersey, struggled

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Speaker 1: with the defensive match up with Julius Randall, albeit with

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Speaker 1: a little bit of an iffy whistle. A lot of

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Speaker 1: guys just didn't play well for the Lakers, and if

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Speaker 1: it wasn't for Gangela Russell shooting the lights out, that

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Speaker 1: game probably would have been a lot more ugly than

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Speaker 1: it was. And here's the thing. Bad nights just happen.

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Speaker 1: It's part of being a basketball player. You're not always

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Speaker 1: going to be playing at your absolute best all the time.

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Speaker 1: There are little things in your game that oscillate based

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Speaker 1: on shot result, and when you start to miss some

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Speaker 1: shots that contends to impact other areas of your game.

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Speaker 1: It's all very natural stuff, but ideally it's a little

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Speaker 1: more balanced because in this game against the Pelicans, everybody

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Speaker 1: played amazing. Anthony Davis completely dominated the game from the

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Speaker 1: opening tip at twenty in the first half, finished with

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Speaker 1: thirty five and seventeen. He pretty typically will destroy traditional

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Speaker 1: centers like Jonas valichots. He'll have more problems when he's

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Speaker 1: going against the og Ogna Nobe types or even Isaiah Hartenstein,

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Speaker 1: who's not necessarily a traditional center, is a little bit

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Speaker 1: better of an athlete who can move his feet better.

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Speaker 1: When guys actually force him to shoot over the top,

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Speaker 1: some of his offensive skill limitations will show up. But

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Speaker 1: traditional center when he's got a footspeed advantage. That's barbecue

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Speaker 1: chicken every single time, and he absolutely destroyed, you know,

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Speaker 1: his valanciunist in this game. Jared Vanderbilt got back on

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Speaker 1: track by doing it just an amazing job guarding Brandon Ingram.

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Speaker 1: He didn't really got a good job guarding Brandon Ingram

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Speaker 1: last time, but Brandon just hit a bunch of really

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Speaker 1: tough shots. Did a much better job, really the same

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Speaker 1: job this time, with Brandon missing more shots and dissuading

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Speaker 1: him from even attempting in a lot of cases. Troy

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Speaker 1: Brown Junior got back on track from three two for three.

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Speaker 1: Daniel Russell finished five for fifteen, but he actually had

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Speaker 1: a really good first half, I thought. And then Malik Beasley,

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Speaker 1: you know, I just talked in the last game about

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Speaker 1: how he was due for some positive regression. He had

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Speaker 1: been shooting about thirty two percent since he came to

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Speaker 1: the Lakers. While in his career, he's kind of like

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Speaker 1: a high volume thirty six percent kind of guys. Shouldn't

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Speaker 1: say first career, but for recent history's kind of like

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Speaker 1: a thirty six percent, high volume guy. And he went,

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Speaker 1: he hit seven threes in the first half, and guess

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Speaker 1: what He's shooting for with the Lakers now thirty six percent,

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Speaker 1: So that's textbook positive regression there. Ruby Hatch hit a

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Speaker 1: couple of big threes. When you in Gabriel five offensive

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Speaker 1: rebounds in fifteen minutes, Austin reeves fourteen points on five shots.

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Speaker 1: So the exact opposite of what happened in the NIXT game.

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Speaker 1: Everybody played well. And you know, ideally, like I said,

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Speaker 1: you want more balance there, you'd rather have a few

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Speaker 1: guys struggle and you win the NIXT game. And then

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Speaker 1: you'd rather have a few guys struggle and you win

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Speaker 1: the Pelicans game. But that's just now, not how it

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Speaker 1: works all the time, but utter dominance in that game.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna talk a little bit about the Pelicans here

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Speaker 1: in just a minute. But now the Lakers are in

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Speaker 1: a three way tie for eighth place, and I think

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Speaker 1: you know we've heard the intel is is that Lebron

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Speaker 1: is probably going to miss most of the rest of

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Speaker 1: the regular season. I would be surprised if he didn't play,

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Speaker 1: you know, I'd be surprised if he played more than

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Speaker 1: just like even just two or three games at the

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Speaker 1: end of the season. I expect him to come back

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Speaker 1: in early April play a couple of games. I don't

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Speaker 1: think they're worried about his basketball, I Q fit. I

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Speaker 1: don't think they're necessarily worried about a long ramp up there,

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Speaker 1: especially when you get into the postseason and you have

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Speaker 1: more days off between games. So I think I think

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Speaker 1: they're being cautious there deliberately, and with this current group,

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Speaker 1: I've been saying this. I think I think they're up

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Speaker 1: to nine and four now since the trade pieces started

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Speaker 1: playing after that Bucks game, after the trade deadline, So

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Speaker 1: nine and four, like the Lakers out of all those

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Speaker 1: teams that are in that mix. Now, there's kind of

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Speaker 1: like the upper tier, which is like the top six teams. Right,

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Speaker 1: that's where you've got the Denver Nuggets, the Memphis Grizzlies,

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Speaker 1: the Sacramento Kings, the Sons, the Clippers, and the Warriors. Right,

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Speaker 1: they're all kind of in that top six. And I

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Speaker 1: think that top six is pretty set. I give the

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Speaker 1: Lakers an outside chance to crack into that group, but

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Speaker 1: I find it to be relatively unlikely, especially since there's

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Speaker 1: a good chance you end up dropping one or two

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Speaker 1: of these games in the back to backs because of

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis sitting down right, So like, I think that

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Speaker 1: realistically they're looking at the seventh or the eighth seed.

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Speaker 1: Right This is where I think that's important because and

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Speaker 1: they're one game behind Minnesota. I think Minnesota and the

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Speaker 1: Lakers are going to be the two teams that end

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Speaker 1: up getting that seven eighth seed in some order. Minnesota's

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Speaker 1: up a game. I'd give them. Minnesota is really good.

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Speaker 1: They're playing really good basketball right now. They've unlocked some

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Speaker 1: stuff defensively with Jade McDaniels and with Anthony Edwards and

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Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert, So I wouldn't be surprised if they got

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Speaker 1: that seven seed. Ideally, you want you want to have

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Speaker 1: a home game for that play in game, but that

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Speaker 1: play in game becomes a great opportunity for the Lakers

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Speaker 1: to go into the postseason with a realistic path to

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Speaker 1: get out. So even on the low end, let's say

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Speaker 1: that they get the eight seed and they have to

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Speaker 1: win in Minnesota. Theoretically, Lebron James, Anthony Davis, this group

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Speaker 1: of players incredibly locked in defensively, they should be able

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Speaker 1: to go into Minnesota and win. Okay, we talked a

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Speaker 1: lot about how perimeter defense was a dynamic that won

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Speaker 1: that game for Minnesota when they beat the Lakers last week.

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Speaker 1: Lebron James kind of flips that dynamic because he's gonna

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Speaker 1: be able to get the defense into rotation without having

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Speaker 1: to use your guards to beat people off the dribble.

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Speaker 1: Lebron is way too big and strong for Jadie McDaniels,

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Speaker 1: and Anthony Edwards is going to have to guard D'Angel Russell.

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Speaker 1: So like that matchup is a really good matchup for

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Speaker 1: the Lakers. I think they can win that game if

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Speaker 1: they win the play in game, regardless of what. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: they have a better chance to win it at home,

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Speaker 1: but if they win it as the eight seed, even

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Speaker 1: on the road, that gives them the seven seed. I

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Speaker 1: believe Sacramento currently is the three seed. I believe they'll

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Speaker 1: surpass Memphis and finish the season as the two seed.

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Speaker 1: We'll see, but either way, I like their chances in

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Speaker 1: that first round matchup against Memphis or against Sacramento. It's

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Speaker 1: a great matchup for both of them. Memphis is a

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Speaker 1: bad half court offense, and the Lakers are unbelievably good

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Speaker 1: half court defense after the trade deadline, so I think

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Speaker 1: they'd be able to get a lot of stops, and

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Speaker 1: they'd be much better executing at the end of games.

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Speaker 1: Memphis is a bad, bad execution team. They're a horrible

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Speaker 1: fourth quarter team. Lots of things that favor the Lakers.

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Speaker 1: Right Sacramento, it would just be Lebron James and Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis utterly bludgeoning Harrison Barnes and Demonis Sabonis for the

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Speaker 1: entire series. I'd pick the Lakers to win both of

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Speaker 1: those series. Then from there, obviously it depends on how

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Speaker 1: things shake off in the middle of the standings. You

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Speaker 1: can end up with an easier matchup in the second

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Speaker 1: round against a team that you like your chances against, right,

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Speaker 1: but it could just as easily be the Warriors, and

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Speaker 1: you could have a tough matchup. But most importantly, you

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Speaker 1: save the Nuggets for the Western Conference finals. So things

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Speaker 1: are actually kind of shaping up pretty well here for

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Speaker 1: the Lakers. If they can get into that seven eight

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Speaker 1: matchup win a play in game, they have a realistic

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Speaker 1: pathway to get out of the Western Conference, to keep

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Speaker 1: Lebron's minutes down in the first round of the playoffs

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Speaker 1: so that he can ramp up, and I really think

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Speaker 1: that they have a decent chance there Obviously health has

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Speaker 1: to be factored in there. Anthony Davis is healthy now

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Speaker 1: and playing great, but who knows if that will last.

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Speaker 1: And then obviously Lebron needs to get back to the

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Speaker 1: floor without having a setback. So there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: different steps they've got to go through. The Pelicans this

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Speaker 1: season is super weird. On December twelfth, they were eighteen

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Speaker 1: and eight, that was the best record in the Western Conference,

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Speaker 1: the third best record in the league. During that span,

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Speaker 1: they were fifth in offense and third in defense, so

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Speaker 1: looked like a bona fide Western Conference contender. Since then,

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Speaker 1: fifteen and twenty eight, fifth worst record in all of basketball,

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Speaker 1: twenty sixth in offense, and eighteenth in defense. And now,

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Speaker 1: I haven't watched a ton of Pelicans this year. I've

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Speaker 1: seen probably twenty twenty five Pelicans games, and so I

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Speaker 1: really encourage Pelicans fans who are listening to give their

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Speaker 1: two cents in the comments. I'd be curious to hear

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Speaker 1: what you guys think. The couple of things that stand

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Speaker 1: out to me when I watched them, though, One, their

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Speaker 1: wings aren't as good defensively as they should be, right

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Speaker 1: like Brandon ingram on a night on the games that

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Speaker 1: I've watched him is still getting lost without the basketball

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Speaker 1: or off ball quite a bit. He's not taking the

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Speaker 1: higher level on ball assignments because they're giving those to

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Speaker 1: Herb Jones obviously, and then Trey Murphy. He's got the

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Speaker 1: athleticism and I do believe one day he'll be a

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Speaker 1: good wing defensive player, but he hasn't been great, and

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Speaker 1: so as good as they have all these wings, but

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Speaker 1: Herb Jones is really the only guy that's impacting the

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Speaker 1: game defensively at a high level. And then their point

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Speaker 1: of attack defense is just disastrous. CJ. McCollum is not

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Speaker 1: providing any impedance on those original on those initial driderble penetrations,

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Speaker 1: and when you get the Pelicans into rotation, it's a

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Speaker 1: lot to ask to run around and chase shooters when

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Speaker 1: Yonas found Tunis Is on the floor and you don't

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Speaker 1: have great foot speed. Although they've been cutting back on

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Speaker 1: Yonas's minutes a lot lately, so it hasn't been as

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Speaker 1: much of an issue there, but I don't think defensively

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Speaker 1: they're nearly as good as they should be given their personnel,

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Speaker 1: and I think you've seen a lack of fight. There's

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Speaker 1: a weird energy around the team. They're having a lot

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Speaker 1: of games where they lay down and lose, but then

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Speaker 1: you'll watch them on another night, Like I think they

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Speaker 1: beat the hell out of Portland the other night, So

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Speaker 1: like there's kind of like a weird competitive energy. They

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Speaker 1: don't have a lot of guys that like to play

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Speaker 1: hard as like a natural part of their basketball identity,

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Speaker 1: and I think that's a little bit of an issue

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Speaker 1: for them. And then on the offensive end, I think

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Speaker 1: it's a lack of rim pressure on that same using

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Speaker 1: that same December twelfth date, which before December twelfth, Zion

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Speaker 1: played most of the games. After December twelfth, Zion only

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Speaker 1: played a couple of the games before we got out.

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Speaker 1: But they're not generating any rim pressure because all of

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Speaker 1: their offensive initiators are guys that like to hunt pull

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Speaker 1: up jump shot. Right. So CJ. McCollum is coming off

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Speaker 1: these screens, he's not relentlessly attacking the rim. He's trying

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Speaker 1: to get to his pull up jump shot. Brandon ingram

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Speaker 1: same thing. He's not relentlessly attacking the rim. He's trying

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Speaker 1: to get to his pull up jump shot. And the

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Speaker 1: reason why you need those guys that like to get

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Speaker 1: downhill and go to the rim. Is that's what collapses

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Speaker 1: the defense to get you higher quality three point shots

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Speaker 1: than the tougher shots that you get when you're not

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Speaker 1: getting that type of dribble penetration. That's what Zion Williamson

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Speaker 1: did for this team. Forget about the defensive limitations, forget

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Speaker 1: about like some of the half court stuff when he

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Speaker 1: can plow into too many bodies and have some turnovers

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Speaker 1: and things like that. Just having him on the floor

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Speaker 1: provides that rim pressure element that just opens everything up

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Speaker 1: for them offensively. And even then Brandon Ingram and CJ.

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Speaker 1: McCollum are attacking with more of an advantage in getting

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Speaker 1: better looks out of that. So I think you're seeing

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Speaker 1: that specifically in their lack of driving kick basketball, and

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Speaker 1: that shows up an assist per game. So before December twelfth,

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Speaker 1: they were sixth and assist per game, and they were

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Speaker 1: the thirteenth best team in the league at taking care

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Speaker 1: of the ball and turnovers per game. After December twelfth,

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Speaker 1: again most of that without Zion, they're down to twentieth

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Speaker 1: and assist per game and they have the sixth most

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Speaker 1: turnovers per game in that span. So as you could tell,

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Speaker 1: like flipping the dynamic from it being a zion oriented

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Speaker 1: team attacking the rim, playing drive and kick off of

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Speaker 1: that to suddenly a lot of high ball screens and

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Speaker 1: dribble handoffs with Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum hunting dribble

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Speaker 1: pull up jump shots. I think that's hurting them a lot.

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Speaker 1: I think you saw that a lot against the Lakers

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Speaker 1: last night, Like how many possessions did you see Trey

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Speaker 1: Murphy just dribble the ball off the floor and take

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Speaker 1: a transition three? CJ McCollum dribble up the floor and

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Speaker 1: take it. They were just running up the floor and

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Speaker 1: shooting threes. There's no dribble penetration and no driving and kicking,

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Speaker 1: and I think that that's slowing down their offense. Again,

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Speaker 1: I haven't watched too much of the Pelicans this year,

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Speaker 1: So Pelicans fans who are listening, if you think I'm

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Speaker 1: wrong about that, or if you have another perspective to add,

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Speaker 1: drop it in the comments. All right, buck Sons, this

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Speaker 1: was an absolute defensive masterclass from the Milwaukee Bucks down

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Speaker 1: the stretch in the fourth quarter. I thought it was

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Speaker 1: really interesting to watch the dynamic of shot creation on

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Speaker 1: both ends. Okay, I talk a lot about perimeter defense

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Speaker 1: on this show and how that ends up being the

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Speaker 1: thing that stops the team, the offense from getting into

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Speaker 1: that wheel. We just talked about it with the Pelicans, right,

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Speaker 1: So look at how this dynamic switched at the end

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Speaker 1: of this game. You know, things were a little bit

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Speaker 1: open floor, a little bit more loose, and Campaign hits

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Speaker 1: a couple of pull up threes and the Suns have

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Speaker 1: I think a three point lead. But down the stretch,

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Speaker 1: both teams go to their closing groups and Phoenix couldn't score.

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Speaker 1: When Devin Booker was the lead ball handler, they had

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Speaker 1: Drew Holliday on the ball, and Drew Holliday did an

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Speaker 1: amazing job guarding Devin Booker as he usually does, and

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Speaker 1: Devin will have his nights every once in a while

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Speaker 1: where he hits tough shots over the top of Drew,

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Speaker 1: but Drew's guarded him a lot over the years, and

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Speaker 1: he's starting to figure out his moves a little bit

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Speaker 1: and he's starting to have more success. They had a

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Speaker 1: matchup earlier this year where Drew had a key steal

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Speaker 1: on Devin book at the end of the game. If

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Speaker 1: you guys remember in this game, when Devin Booker had

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Speaker 1: the ball, Milwaukee was running an aggressive drop coverage, so

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Speaker 1: Lopez is coming high out of his drop almost to

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Speaker 1: catch Hedge up at the level of the screen, and

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Speaker 1: Drew Holliday's playing super physical chasing Devin Booker over the top.

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Speaker 1: Then they're conceding the Roman, They're letting DeAndre and catch

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Speaker 1: the ball going downhill, and Jannis Antenna Kompo is blowing

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Speaker 1: that up every single time. And this is I want

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Speaker 1: to wait to get into it a little bit deeper

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Speaker 1: here in just a second, but Jannis's help defense is

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Speaker 1: such a ridiculous problem to deal with as an opposing

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Speaker 1: offense because of what he can do taking away the

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Speaker 1: week side corner and the rollman. We'll get back into

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Speaker 1: that in just a second. But I thought it was

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Speaker 1: super interesting that they were hyper aggressive with Devin Booker

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Speaker 1: ignoring the rollman to contain him. But then when Chris

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Speaker 1: Paul had the ball, Brook Lopez was sagging all the

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Speaker 1: way back. And basically, Joe Ingles and Joe Ingles is

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Speaker 1: not everything defensively has to do with how you can

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Speaker 1: contribute to your scheme, not necessarily what your skill set is.

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Speaker 1: Like if Joe Ingles played for the Clippers and they

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Speaker 1: don't have rim protection and they're switching everything, and it's

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Speaker 1: a lot of isolation defense, and you need your man

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Speaker 1: to contain the ball. He's going to get beat off

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Speaker 1: the dribble a lot. That's not his strength. He's not

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Speaker 1: going to be able to recover and block shots at

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Speaker 1: the rim as a wing. But if you simplify his

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Speaker 1: responsibility by having brook Lopez basically parking his ass right

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Speaker 1: under the basket, now, all of a sudden, he doesn't

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Speaker 1: need to contain Chris Paul as a ball handling as

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Speaker 1: a guy driving to the basket. All he needs to

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Speaker 1: do is chase him over the top of the screen

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Speaker 1: and apply a little bit of back pressure so that

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Speaker 1: Chris Paul doesn't get off those easy little fifteen footers.

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Speaker 1: The only time Chris Paul was able to get decent

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Speaker 1: looks down the stretch were floaters over the top of

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Speaker 1: brook Lopez going downhill. And Chris Paul's going through a

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Speaker 1: phase of his career where he doesn't like to be

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Speaker 1: aggressive as a score. So Joe Ingles was actually doing

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Speaker 1: a really nice job applying that back pressure and stopping

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Speaker 1: Chris from getting to the high quality twos and he

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Speaker 1: didn't have to worry about the rim because that's where

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Speaker 1: Brooke was. And so it's super interesting to see that

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Speaker 1: dynamic hyper aggressive against Devin Booker trying to turn him

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Speaker 1: into a passer, which is what he can do but

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Speaker 1: doesn't want to do, and then against Chris Paul playing

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Speaker 1: super passive and trying to turn him into a score

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Speaker 1: which he can do but doesn't want to do. I

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Speaker 1: thought it was a super interesting defensive strategy from the Bucks,

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Speaker 1: and they strangled the Sun's down the stretch of this game.

429
00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:27,000
Speaker 1: And this is where I want to get into the

430
00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:32,360
Speaker 1: honest dynamic. So in pick and roll defense, or it's

431
00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:35,160
Speaker 1: in every type of defense, but let's just use pick

432
00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,320
Speaker 1: and roll as example. So in pick and roll defense,

433
00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:41,920
Speaker 1: there are basically two backline responsibilities, right, So theoretically, you're

434
00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:44,119
Speaker 1: gonna have your on ball defender that's gonna have some

435
00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:46,320
Speaker 1: job depending on the coverage. He's either gonna go under

436
00:20:46,359 --> 00:20:48,159
Speaker 1: the screen, or he's gonna go over the screen, or

437
00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:50,240
Speaker 1: he's gonna deny the screen if they're icing, which is

438
00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:52,080
Speaker 1: usually on the side of the floor. The pick and

439
00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:55,879
Speaker 1: roll defender, the screen defender he's doing basically one of

440
00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:58,280
Speaker 1: three things. He's either in a high drop up at

441
00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:00,359
Speaker 1: the level of the screen, he's in a low drop

442
00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:03,080
Speaker 1: back at the basket, or he's trapping or blitzing the

443
00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:05,240
Speaker 1: screen right and some combination of that is going to

444
00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:08,520
Speaker 1: make your pick and roll coverage. But let's use the

445
00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:10,959
Speaker 1: Devin Booker one as an example. Devin Booker's coming off

446
00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:14,040
Speaker 1: the ball screen, Lopez and Drew are both out right.

447
00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:16,720
Speaker 1: Lopez is high out of the drop to contain that

448
00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:19,680
Speaker 1: pull up shot. Drew's chasing over the top DeAndre and

449
00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:22,120
Speaker 1: is rolling to the basket. This is where the lowman

450
00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:24,280
Speaker 1: comes into the play. It The lowman is just what

451
00:21:24,359 --> 00:21:27,880
Speaker 1: most NBA teams refer to it as, but basically it's

452
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,040
Speaker 1: just the help defender that's in the week side corner,

453
00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:33,840
Speaker 1: and usually it's a guard or a wing, and most

454
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:36,760
Speaker 1: of guards or wings will opt to try to take

455
00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:39,560
Speaker 1: a charge. So like a lot of teams will run

456
00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:41,800
Speaker 1: drills while they're practice this where you're guarding a shooter

457
00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:43,800
Speaker 1: in the week side corner and there'll be a rollman

458
00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:46,199
Speaker 1: kind of catching the ball going towards the basket and

459
00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:47,920
Speaker 1: you sprint to the top of the charge circle. And

460
00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:49,480
Speaker 1: you set your feet and you take a charge and

461
00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:52,639
Speaker 1: you fall backwards. Right. What makes jana Is so interesting

462
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:57,080
Speaker 1: is that backline lowman defender is he's defending that as

463
00:21:57,119 --> 00:22:00,280
Speaker 1: an above the rim defender. So like when they're rowing

464
00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:03,439
Speaker 1: the ball to that rollman, Janice is is elevating and

465
00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:06,000
Speaker 1: disrupting the lob pass at the rim. If you try

466
00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:07,760
Speaker 1: to catch, he's coming fly. There was a play at

467
00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:09,720
Speaker 1: the end of this game where Dean Dreyton was there

468
00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:11,840
Speaker 1: for the catch and Janice just came in and swiped

469
00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:14,399
Speaker 1: it clean from his hands as he caught it in

470
00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:16,680
Speaker 1: the middle of the floor. But at the same time,

471
00:22:17,359 --> 00:22:20,600
Speaker 1: most teams, when that guard steps in to take that

472
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:24,040
Speaker 1: charge or whatever, that opens up the skip pass and

473
00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:27,360
Speaker 1: now that shooter in the week side corner is wide open. Well,

474
00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:30,040
Speaker 1: makes Jannis such a frightening help defender is he can

475
00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:33,439
Speaker 1: split the difference and on those plays he doesn't have

476
00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,160
Speaker 1: to commit to the rollman or commit to the week

477
00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:38,040
Speaker 1: side corner. He can just stand in the middle. And

478
00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:41,200
Speaker 1: he's such a free gathlete that regardless of which pass

479
00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:43,879
Speaker 1: you make as the ball handling guard, he's blowing it up.

480
00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:46,360
Speaker 1: If you throw the skip pass, he's stealing that thing.

481
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:48,480
Speaker 1: If you throw it to the rollman, he's blowing that

482
00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:50,919
Speaker 1: up too. It completely disrupts that pick and roll as

483
00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:53,760
Speaker 1: the weak side defender because most teams don't want to

484
00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:56,119
Speaker 1: bring in that week side defender if they can avoid it,

485
00:22:56,440 --> 00:22:58,720
Speaker 1: because that's how they get wide open threes on the

486
00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:01,919
Speaker 1: back line. Every team in a dream scenario would like

487
00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:03,960
Speaker 1: to defend pick and roll two on two if they

488
00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:07,040
Speaker 1: can help it, but especially against teams like the Suns

489
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:09,520
Speaker 1: that have such gifted ball handlers and guys like DeAndre

490
00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:11,960
Speaker 1: and you almost have to bring in that third defender.

491
00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:13,800
Speaker 1: That's where the Suns were getting all that stuff in

492
00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:16,520
Speaker 1: the past with Michaal Bridges, right, mcaal Bridges on the

493
00:23:16,560 --> 00:23:19,560
Speaker 1: skip pass, knocking down corner threes. They're attacking closeouts and

494
00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:22,520
Speaker 1: hitting those little drifting jumpers in the lane. Now Michael

495
00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:24,359
Speaker 1: Bridges has gone from that equation, which makes it a

496
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:26,160
Speaker 1: little bit tougher because you don't have as much skill

497
00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:28,520
Speaker 1: over there. But it doesn't matter because Jannis would have

498
00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:32,000
Speaker 1: swallowed that up to Janie is just this world beating

499
00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:36,000
Speaker 1: help defender that can contain that be the third man

500
00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:39,000
Speaker 1: in that pick and roll defense. While simultaneously not leaving

501
00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:42,280
Speaker 1: a shooter open because of his recovery athleticism. I don't

502
00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:43,920
Speaker 1: know if you guys remember, there was a game last

503
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:45,440
Speaker 1: year I talked a lot about some of you guys

504
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:47,119
Speaker 1: who listening to the show back then, we'll remember this,

505
00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:49,480
Speaker 1: But there was a game against the Mavericks in the

506
00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:53,240
Speaker 1: Bucks where Luca was running a lot of high pick

507
00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:55,560
Speaker 1: and roll and Jannis was in that low man position

508
00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:00,399
Speaker 1: and as a result, like Luca was drawing us in

509
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:03,879
Speaker 1: to help on that role man and then throwing the

510
00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:07,840
Speaker 1: skit pass and making textbook Luca fantastic skit passes. And

511
00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:11,400
Speaker 1: on those skit passes, Jannis just immediately was recovering out

512
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:14,800
Speaker 1: to the corner and taking away the shot, and that defender,

513
00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 1: that offensive player in the week side corner was just

514
00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:19,679
Speaker 1: passing out of it because he just had nothing, and

515
00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:22,439
Speaker 1: so it was disrupting Dallas's whole offense. And so what

516
00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:24,240
Speaker 1: Luca did, if you guys remember, which I thought was

517
00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:27,719
Speaker 1: super interesting, is he started calling for Jannis in the

518
00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:30,240
Speaker 1: ball screen and he would get Jannis on the switch

519
00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:33,320
Speaker 1: or get him trailing him on the ball screen and

520
00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:35,480
Speaker 1: then make that same ski pass. He's not trying to

521
00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:38,320
Speaker 1: score on Jannis. He's just trying to get that same

522
00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:43,520
Speaker 1: help rotation from Milwaukee while throwing to a shooter in

523
00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,000
Speaker 1: the Week's side corner with a much worse help defender

524
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:48,880
Speaker 1: making that rotation, and he started to get some good

525
00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:50,879
Speaker 1: looks in the weeks side corner from that. It's a

526
00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:53,800
Speaker 1: random game from last year to demonstrate this concept, and

527
00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:55,520
Speaker 1: that's going to be the thing that teams are going

528
00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:57,560
Speaker 1: to have to do if they want to have any

529
00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:00,880
Speaker 1: hope of beating that Buck's defensive vir Gin pick and roll.

530
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:03,920
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to, as crazy as it sounds, start

531
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,439
Speaker 1: pulling Jannis up into the ball screen because you have

532
00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:08,840
Speaker 1: a much better chance getting an open shot on the

533
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:11,280
Speaker 1: backside from a different help defender than you do from

534
00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:13,960
Speaker 1: Jannis hawking everything on the back side of the floor.

535
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:17,080
Speaker 1: It's a it's such a weapon to have in a

536
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:20,800
Speaker 1: playoff series, and it was a huge factor down the

537
00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:23,040
Speaker 1: stretch of this Sun's game, blowing up their pick and

538
00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:24,639
Speaker 1: roll when they were getting those stops at the end

539
00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:26,359
Speaker 1: and then on the other end of the floor. Joe

540
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:30,480
Speaker 1: Ingles He's been one of my favorite signings of this season.

541
00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:34,359
Speaker 1: I obviously he brings that important spot up shooting element

542
00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:37,879
Speaker 1: that the Bucks need so badly with Jannis on the floor.

543
00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:42,240
Speaker 1: But he's also just like a pretty damn solid initiator offensively,

544
00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:43,959
Speaker 1: and the Bucks ran a lot of offense threw him

545
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:46,320
Speaker 1: down the stretch of this game once again. Matchups right,

546
00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:49,600
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday is drawing josh Akogi, and Joshua cogis actually

547
00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,119
Speaker 1: a pretty damn good point of attack defender. He had

548
00:25:52,119 --> 00:25:54,360
Speaker 1: a rough night against the Warriors last night. The rest

549
00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:56,720
Speaker 1: of the Sun's point of attack defense is hot garbage,

550
00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:00,240
Speaker 1: but Josha Cogi is pretty solid, So from a matchup perspective,

551
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:04,120
Speaker 1: Drew attacking josh Akogi wasn't as good of an option

552
00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:07,560
Speaker 1: as it was for Joe Ingles to run the action

553
00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:09,800
Speaker 1: with Chris Paul as his defender. Chris Paul is not

554
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:12,600
Speaker 1: in the same stratosphere of a defender as he was

555
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:14,760
Speaker 1: when he was younger, and Joe was giving them all

556
00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:18,879
Speaker 1: kinds of problems. Chris in particular is really struggling navigating

557
00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:21,040
Speaker 1: over the top of ball screens. But there were three

558
00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:23,639
Speaker 1: big plays that Joe Ingles made at the end of

559
00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:26,439
Speaker 1: this game that ended up sealing the game offensively for

560
00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:29,000
Speaker 1: the Bucks. First, there was a play where he ran

561
00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 1: just a regular ball screen kind of going to his right.

562
00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:34,639
Speaker 1: Chris died on the screen. Joe Ingles just rose up

563
00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:36,879
Speaker 1: and knocked down a pull up three that you know,

564
00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:39,159
Speaker 1: that's that offensive skill that you need to beat that

565
00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:42,480
Speaker 1: particular coverage, and he was getting better separation from Chris

566
00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:44,760
Speaker 1: Paul than Drew Holiday was getting from a Kogi. Then

567
00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:47,639
Speaker 1: he made two plays rolling down the rim as a

568
00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:49,320
Speaker 1: ball hitler. One was out of a dribble handoff, one

569
00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:50,359
Speaker 1: was out of a pick and roll, but it's the

570
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:54,720
Speaker 1: same concept ball screen slash dribble handoff from Brook Lopez.

571
00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:57,000
Speaker 1: The first one was with Chris Paul. The second one

572
00:26:57,119 --> 00:26:59,360
Speaker 1: was with Tory Craig, who's also not a good point

573
00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:02,119
Speaker 1: of attack defend when it comes to navigating screens and

574
00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:04,879
Speaker 1: stuff like that or handling quicker guards, which Ingles is not,

575
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:08,800
Speaker 1: but he was going over his screen on this play. Ingles.

576
00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:11,480
Speaker 1: On both of these plays, Ingles just takes a wide

577
00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:15,000
Speaker 1: banana route basically around the screen and just starts to

578
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,920
Speaker 1: get downhill towards the rim, and DeAndre Ayton, as Chris

579
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:21,120
Speaker 1: Paul or Tory Craig is getting caught on the screen

580
00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:24,440
Speaker 1: has to step up to contain Joe Ingles. Joe Ingles

581
00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:27,280
Speaker 1: is a big six seven lefty that can finish that

582
00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:29,040
Speaker 1: left handed lay up off the glass. So he's got

583
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:32,120
Speaker 1: to step over. Now Chris Paul or Tory Craig, they

584
00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:35,399
Speaker 1: have to recover and dig down on brook Lopez to

585
00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:37,439
Speaker 1: stop him from catching as the role man. But what

586
00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:39,919
Speaker 1: Ingles did, which was really smart, is on both of

587
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:43,120
Speaker 1: these plays, he threw the ball high to brook Lopez.

588
00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:44,920
Speaker 1: So he just kind of threw like a little popping

589
00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:48,240
Speaker 1: lob pass into Lopez as he's rolling to the rim,

590
00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:51,600
Speaker 1: so that Lopez could catch high and finish high. Why

591
00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:54,640
Speaker 1: is that important Because what do smaller defenders do when

592
00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:57,480
Speaker 1: a bigger player catches around them, They attack the ball

593
00:27:57,560 --> 00:27:59,720
Speaker 1: down low. So if he throws a bounce pass to

594
00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:02,320
Speaker 1: low Pez there, Chris Paul can swipe at it. If

595
00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:05,320
Speaker 1: he throws a bounce pass with Tory Craig there, Tory

596
00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:07,760
Speaker 1: Craig can swipe at it. By keeping it high, he

597
00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:10,439
Speaker 1: allowed brook Lopez to catch high in finish high, and

598
00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:12,920
Speaker 1: they got two big layups from brook Lopez down the

599
00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:15,119
Speaker 1: stretch of that game that helps seal the game on

600
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:17,520
Speaker 1: the offensive end of the flour It was just a

601
00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:19,960
Speaker 1: and obviously Honest was amazing again, but we talked a

602
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:21,560
Speaker 1: lot about him yesterday, so I'm not going to get

603
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:25,200
Speaker 1: into it. It was just a really impressive championship level

604
00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:28,840
Speaker 1: type of back to back from the Bucks. That's not

605
00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:30,680
Speaker 1: an easy back to back to win, to go into

606
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:33,919
Speaker 1: Sacramento when they desperately want to win that game in

607
00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:36,639
Speaker 1: a raucous crowd and to win and then yeah, I

608
00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:39,800
Speaker 1: know the Sons are down Kevin Durant, but they're still

609
00:28:39,840 --> 00:28:42,160
Speaker 1: at home, a tough team with a lot of offensive skill,

610
00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:44,280
Speaker 1: and that's just not an easy game to win. And

611
00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:48,560
Speaker 1: it was an impressive back to back from them. For Phoenix,

612
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:50,680
Speaker 1: that's the second game in a row where point of

613
00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:53,640
Speaker 1: attack defense was an issue for them. Obviously, Tory Craig

614
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:55,960
Speaker 1: and Chris Paul we just talked about last night. It

615
00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:58,960
Speaker 1: was a lot of Josh Coogi and Devin Booker struggling,

616
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,480
Speaker 1: and then obviously and Lee and Devin Booker as well

617
00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:05,080
Speaker 1: struggling to communicate switches that they were leaving the Warriors open.

618
00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:08,440
Speaker 1: That all it says to me is that they're going

619
00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:11,880
Speaker 1: to need an otherworldly defensive effort from Kevin Durant to

620
00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:14,000
Speaker 1: win the title. Which for the record, I think he's

621
00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:17,040
Speaker 1: capable of. We just talked about that week side help

622
00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:20,000
Speaker 1: defender role from Jannis. That's the role that Kevin Durant

623
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:25,360
Speaker 1: has to have. They're going to need to have Eton

624
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,520
Speaker 1: and whoever their point of attack defender guard the pick

625
00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:31,840
Speaker 1: and roll aggressively in the playoffs, which is going to

626
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,760
Speaker 1: leave the role man open, and they're going to need

627
00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:37,880
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant to be able to blow up those Brook

628
00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:41,840
Speaker 1: Lopez catches while at the same time recover into shooters

629
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:43,280
Speaker 1: on the week side. It's going to be a lot

630
00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:45,920
Speaker 1: to ask, but Kevin Durant does have the athleticism to

631
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:48,000
Speaker 1: do that, and that, to me is going to be

632
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:51,400
Speaker 1: the swing factor for Phoenix this year. Can Kevin Durant

633
00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:55,040
Speaker 1: be a good enough help defender to compensate for Phoenix's

634
00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:58,920
Speaker 1: bad point of attack defense. One other note on Phoenix too,

635
00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:02,320
Speaker 1: It was a big issue that they had to go

636
00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:04,760
Speaker 1: to Chris Paul down the stretch offensively and he wasn't

637
00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,160
Speaker 1: aggressive enough of his as a scorer. This just goes

638
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:08,640
Speaker 1: back to what I said at the beginning when they

639
00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:11,040
Speaker 1: made the Kevin Durant trade. The ultimate ceiling for this

640
00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:13,920
Speaker 1: team again, because everything is different when you're talking about

641
00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:16,520
Speaker 1: the twenty six or twenty seven opponents you'll face that

642
00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:19,560
Speaker 1: are not championship level rosters, and then the three or

643
00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:23,840
Speaker 1: four teams that you'll face that are championship level rosters. Defensively,

644
00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:26,040
Speaker 1: the way that changes the way the game goes when

645
00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:28,680
Speaker 1: all that easy stuff is taken away and you really

646
00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:31,920
Speaker 1: need to grind out quality shots. The Bucks are such

647
00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:33,880
Speaker 1: a great example of that, and that's why I look

648
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:35,600
Speaker 1: at Kevin Durant as the guy they're gonna need to

649
00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:38,360
Speaker 1: use as their primary on ball guy and a little

650
00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:40,680
Speaker 1: bit less of him off ball, because at the end

651
00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:43,200
Speaker 1: of that game, your best chance of getting a good

652
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:45,920
Speaker 1: look against the Milwaukee Bucks is Kevin Durant is going

653
00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:47,880
Speaker 1: to have to be the guy that draws in that

654
00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:52,040
Speaker 1: initial defensive attention. All Right, We're gonna hit on a

655
00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:55,160
Speaker 1: couple of Eastern Conference big wins from last night as well.

656
00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:58,160
Speaker 1: The New York Knicks won a big game in Toronto,

657
00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:01,960
Speaker 1: and I keep confusing Toronto and Portland. In Portland against

658
00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,720
Speaker 1: the Trailblazers, Dame was going off for two and a

659
00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:07,840
Speaker 1: half quarters and Portland had four different double digit leads.

660
00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:10,600
Speaker 1: They were controlling the game but there was an interesting

661
00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:13,640
Speaker 1: adjustment there down the stretch of the third quarter and

662
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:17,560
Speaker 1: specifically offensively from the Knicks to get going in transition

663
00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:19,320
Speaker 1: that I thought changed the game. So they started kind

664
00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:22,800
Speaker 1: of trapping Dame as much as they can, of getting

665
00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:25,320
Speaker 1: the ball out of his hands, being more aggressive off

666
00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:29,120
Speaker 1: of guys like Trendon Watford and Matisse Thyble and conceding

667
00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:32,000
Speaker 1: them open shots to try to contain the skill players,

668
00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:34,160
Speaker 1: and so they were getting stops and then from there,

669
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:35,920
Speaker 1: and you know, we saw this a lot against the

670
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:40,040
Speaker 1: Lakers the other night too, where you know, the New

671
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,520
Speaker 1: York Knicks are a bad half court offense, even with

672
00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:44,960
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson, like, they're a middle of the pack half

673
00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:47,680
Speaker 1: court offense. So what do you do when you're a

674
00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:50,600
Speaker 1: bad half court offense? You need to try to avoid

675
00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 1: the half court environment as much as possible. And without

676
00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:56,240
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson, you're an even worse half court offense, right

677
00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:59,440
Speaker 1: because he's your best half court surgeon. So the best

678
00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:01,320
Speaker 1: way to avoid that is to push in transition. And

679
00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:03,720
Speaker 1: they keep going with these three guard lineups as of late,

680
00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:05,960
Speaker 1: which I think is super fascinating, and again it's matchup

681
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:07,320
Speaker 1: dependent they're not going to be able to do that

682
00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:11,480
Speaker 1: against everybody. They did it against a Laker team, excuse me,

683
00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:15,400
Speaker 1: that didn't have a forward star and was relying a

684
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:17,920
Speaker 1: lot on their guards to create stuff. You know. They

685
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:20,400
Speaker 1: did it against this Portland team that doesn't have a

686
00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:22,720
Speaker 1: lot of forward shot creation and is relying on their

687
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:25,040
Speaker 1: guards to create stuff. So a lot of it has

688
00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:27,320
Speaker 1: to do with matchups, but they were they've been going

689
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:29,880
Speaker 1: with these smaller lineups and they're they're just running the

690
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:33,920
Speaker 1: ball down everyone's throat, Like the sheer amount of transition

691
00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:37,880
Speaker 1: threes that they got. Miles McBride, who I found out

692
00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:43,160
Speaker 1: today is called Duce McBride. Duce McBride hit four threes,

693
00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:46,480
Speaker 1: I believe, like four transition threes down the stretch of

694
00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:49,400
Speaker 1: this game. And he hasn't shot the ball particularly well

695
00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:52,120
Speaker 1: this season, but again, if you're gonna get those high

696
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:55,480
Speaker 1: quality shots, and apparently he has a good history of

697
00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:57,560
Speaker 1: shooting back when he was in college. So it's just

698
00:32:57,600 --> 00:32:58,560
Speaker 1: a lot of it. A lot of it has to

699
00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:01,080
Speaker 1: do with role guys, Like if you're not getting as

700
00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:03,840
Speaker 1: many touches as you might think, it disrupts your rhythm

701
00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:06,080
Speaker 1: and then you don't really get a chance to dial

702
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:08,280
Speaker 1: in and fine tune your shot on the floor, and

703
00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:11,040
Speaker 1: you're gonna miss a lot of shots. And Jalen Brunson

704
00:33:11,080 --> 00:33:13,200
Speaker 1: being out has bought Duce McBride more minutes and he's

705
00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:16,800
Speaker 1: capitalizing on that. But like it all starts with rim pressure,

706
00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:19,760
Speaker 1: guys like Emmanuel Quickly and Josh Hart flying down the

707
00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:23,479
Speaker 1: floor in transition, attacking the rim but not forcing shots

708
00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:26,320
Speaker 1: over length at the rim, throwing those kickout passes to

709
00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:29,080
Speaker 1: trailing shooters. And one of the big reasons why transition

710
00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:31,880
Speaker 1: threes are such a high percentage shot, especially when the

711
00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:34,040
Speaker 1: ball has popped around a little bit. I'm not talking

712
00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:36,640
Speaker 1: about like walking into a three. Those are tough shots,

713
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:37,960
Speaker 1: and there's a few guys in the league that are

714
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:40,280
Speaker 1: really good at them. But they're tough shots. But when

715
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:42,760
Speaker 1: you get transition threes that are off kickouts, when guys

716
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:46,440
Speaker 1: attack the rim, your feet are set and your momentum

717
00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:48,520
Speaker 1: is carrying you forward to the rim. So if I'm

718
00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:51,440
Speaker 1: trailing down the left wing and Josh Hart drives and

719
00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:53,600
Speaker 1: he makes a kick out to Julius Randall in the

720
00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:56,800
Speaker 1: left corner, and Julius Randall makes a shovel pass to

721
00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:59,880
Speaker 1: me and I'm Duce McBride trailing on the left wing.

722
00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:03,960
Speaker 1: I've got my feet set, my momentum is carrying forward

723
00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:06,920
Speaker 1: because I was running up the floor. So I always

724
00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:08,680
Speaker 1: talked about how jump shooting has a lot more to

725
00:34:08,719 --> 00:34:12,239
Speaker 1: do with legs than people realize that Transition three kind

726
00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:14,680
Speaker 1: of has the legs part baked into it because you're

727
00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:17,640
Speaker 1: already moving forward, so then you can really focus on

728
00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:22,040
Speaker 1: getting a good balanced shot attempt with good lift, and

729
00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:24,279
Speaker 1: that's a high percentage shot. And they were killing them

730
00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:26,919
Speaker 1: with transition thrace. Like I Saiduce McBride made four of them.

731
00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:29,200
Speaker 1: I think, I mean, you know, quickly came in and

732
00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:32,360
Speaker 1: made a couple. Josh Hart was attacking the rim and transition.

733
00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:35,080
Speaker 1: They were drawn fouls like it just was a It

734
00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:39,279
Speaker 1: was a bludgeoning in transition of Portland's defense. They went

735
00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:41,680
Speaker 1: on a twenty one to five run. Then the game

736
00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:43,120
Speaker 1: was basically over. It was a nice way to end

737
00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:44,880
Speaker 1: the road trip. They lost a couple of tough games,

738
00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:48,360
Speaker 1: but then they went and won two tough road games.

739
00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:50,719
Speaker 1: That Lakers team, like I said, they're nine and four

740
00:34:51,680 --> 00:34:55,040
Speaker 1: including the knickslaws since they made the trades. That's not

741
00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:56,919
Speaker 1: an easy team to beat and they won that game.

742
00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:00,480
Speaker 1: The Blazers is freaking terrible as they've been there seventeen

743
00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:03,120
Speaker 1: and sixteen at home, they were seventeen and fifteen going

744
00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:05,319
Speaker 1: into that game. It's not an easy win, and they

745
00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:06,719
Speaker 1: went in there and they got it done. So nice

746
00:35:06,719 --> 00:35:09,000
Speaker 1: work for the Knicks. They've been like the Knicks. I

747
00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:10,880
Speaker 1: was a huge Knick skeptic for the first half of

748
00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:13,160
Speaker 1: the season, and they've been really impressive here down the stretch,

749
00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:16,680
Speaker 1: and I do actually believe that they have a puncher's

750
00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:18,360
Speaker 1: chance to win a series or two, which is not

751
00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:21,279
Speaker 1: something I would have said in the last route last

752
00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:23,840
Speaker 1: couple of months all right before we get out of here,

753
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:26,439
Speaker 1: Nuggets Raptors. So Denver was on a three game losing

754
00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:28,600
Speaker 1: street coming in. They had all these defensive issues, so

755
00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:30,760
Speaker 1: you wanted them to come in and bringing a better

756
00:35:30,840 --> 00:35:33,440
Speaker 1: defensive effort to try to write the ship, and it

757
00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:35,359
Speaker 1: just could not have been further from the truth. They

758
00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:38,920
Speaker 1: were incredibly sloppy, especially off ball. Toronto took a lot

759
00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:41,479
Speaker 1: of advantage of Denver's entry points, like I talked about

760
00:35:41,480 --> 00:35:43,840
Speaker 1: a lot. They ended up giving up forty nine points

761
00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:46,720
Speaker 1: in the first quarter, So an un serious defensive effort

762
00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:51,120
Speaker 1: once again from Denver. Toronto led by twenty four points

763
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:53,239
Speaker 1: in the third quarter. Yes, Denver made a little bit

764
00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:54,560
Speaker 1: of a run, they got it back to three, but

765
00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:56,880
Speaker 1: we've talked about this before. This is a very common

766
00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:59,600
Speaker 1: thing that happens in the NBA. Team who's playing better

767
00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:01,680
Speaker 1: gets out to a huge lead, then they let their

768
00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:04,160
Speaker 1: foot off the gas. Team that's down big finally starts

769
00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:05,839
Speaker 1: to show a little bit of fight. They grind their

770
00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:07,719
Speaker 1: way back. As soon as they start to get a

771
00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:10,320
Speaker 1: little bit close, the team that's been playing better locks

772
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:12,359
Speaker 1: back in and the team that had to expend all

773
00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:14,320
Speaker 1: that energy to get back in the game gets fatigued,

774
00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:16,319
Speaker 1: and the league grows right back up. They got it

775
00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:18,280
Speaker 1: to within three in the fourth quarter, and then Toronto

776
00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:21,200
Speaker 1: is back seventeen. They were up by seventeen before the

777
00:36:21,239 --> 00:36:23,160
Speaker 1: end of the game, so I don't really look at

778
00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:26,200
Speaker 1: the comeback as much. The Toronto completely dominated this game.

779
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:28,319
Speaker 1: I do want to talk a little bit more about

780
00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:30,960
Speaker 1: Denver and their entry points here in just a second,

781
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:32,719
Speaker 1: but I want to focus on Toronto for a minute,

782
00:36:32,719 --> 00:36:35,480
Speaker 1: because there there's something super interesting going on in Toronto

783
00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:39,800
Speaker 1: now since the Pearl trade. They're seven and six, doesn't

784
00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:44,360
Speaker 1: sound that interesting, right. They're in the play in tournament

785
00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:45,960
Speaker 1: as of right now, I think they're I think they're

786
00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:48,200
Speaker 1: in the nine seed or something like either eight or nine.

787
00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:53,040
Speaker 1: But here's what's interesting to me. Their starting lineup is

788
00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:56,040
Speaker 1: destroying people. Even in the Lakers game that they lost,

789
00:36:56,239 --> 00:37:00,440
Speaker 1: their starters destroyed everyone in that game. And the reason why,

790
00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:03,000
Speaker 1: I'll go into the numbers first. They are plus fifty

791
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,600
Speaker 1: seven in their first one hundred and fifty minutes together.

792
00:37:06,719 --> 00:37:10,000
Speaker 1: They are outscoring teams by nineteen points per one hundred possessions.

793
00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:12,560
Speaker 1: They have a one twenty five offensive rating, which is

794
00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:15,399
Speaker 1: off the charts good, and a one oh seven defensive rating,

795
00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:18,680
Speaker 1: which is extremely good. And it comes down to a

796
00:37:18,719 --> 00:37:21,400
Speaker 1: couple of things. They're a huge matchup problem for teams.

797
00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:24,880
Speaker 1: They've always played a lot of big players. But one

798
00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:26,520
Speaker 1: of the reasons why it didn't quite work because they

799
00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:29,360
Speaker 1: didn't have a natural rim protector and most wing defenders

800
00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:32,839
Speaker 1: they didn't grow up playing rim protector, so they're not

801
00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:36,640
Speaker 1: good at that specific skill, and a lot of traditional

802
00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:39,719
Speaker 1: defensive coverages require a decent rim protector, especially pick and

803
00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:42,880
Speaker 1: roll coverages. Right, So it's slotted Toronto into a more

804
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:47,440
Speaker 1: natural configuration as a defensive team right on the offensive

805
00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:50,520
Speaker 1: end of the floor. It has provided them with matchup

806
00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:53,640
Speaker 1: flexibility that just about I will just go out and

807
00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:55,719
Speaker 1: say it, no other team in the league has so.

808
00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:58,319
Speaker 1: Fred van Vliet is an excellent onball creator and he's

809
00:37:58,320 --> 00:37:59,840
Speaker 1: going to draw the other team's best point of it

810
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:04,200
Speaker 1: act defender right. One of the three of O g

811
00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:08,319
Speaker 1: n and Obi, Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam is going

812
00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:12,200
Speaker 1: to get a small guard, the second smallest guy in

813
00:38:12,239 --> 00:38:15,440
Speaker 1: the opposing lineup is gonna be end up guarding one

814
00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:19,680
Speaker 1: of Toronto's big forwards, and chances are that your small

815
00:38:19,719 --> 00:38:21,560
Speaker 1: forward is also going to be giving up an advantage

816
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:24,919
Speaker 1: because Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam in particular are both

817
00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:29,240
Speaker 1: gigantic human beings and bigger than your traditional small fourds

818
00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:32,880
Speaker 1: that you see around the league. For instance, like Minnesota

819
00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:37,719
Speaker 1: and you're playing you know Gobert and Kyle Anderson Jaden McDaniels,

820
00:38:37,719 --> 00:38:39,480
Speaker 1: that the three is going to be giving up a

821
00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:43,279
Speaker 1: solid twenty pounds a muscle and two inches two three

822
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:46,640
Speaker 1: inches to Siakam or Barnes, like he's gonna be giving

823
00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:49,240
Speaker 1: up a physical advantage there, So what ends up happening

824
00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:52,640
Speaker 1: is like they're a brute force offense. There's there's not

825
00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:54,719
Speaker 1: a lot really pretty about what they're doing. It's a

826
00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:57,400
Speaker 1: lot of just who's got the better matchup. Give that

827
00:38:57,440 --> 00:39:00,920
Speaker 1: guy the ball, he's gonna back him down and somebody helps.

828
00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:03,960
Speaker 1: When somebody helps, will play driving kick from there. And

829
00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:05,799
Speaker 1: part of it is they're shooting really well, like that

830
00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:08,400
Speaker 1: group of shooting forty percent from three in their one

831
00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:11,520
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty minutes together. But in the games that

832
00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:13,920
Speaker 1: I've watched them, a lot of it is shot quality,

833
00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:15,480
Speaker 1: Like is that going to come down a little bit?

834
00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:17,759
Speaker 1: Maybe like that, there's some guys in that lineup that

835
00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:20,200
Speaker 1: are inconsistent shooters that have been knocking down some shots,

836
00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:22,520
Speaker 1: but like ogn and Obie is locked in with his

837
00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:26,799
Speaker 1: spot up shooting right now, like Pascal Siakam has had

838
00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:28,680
Speaker 1: stretches this year where he's locked in and he's knocking

839
00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:30,280
Speaker 1: down shots, and a lot of it is shot quality.

840
00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:33,080
Speaker 1: And if you can get the defense into rotation by

841
00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:35,880
Speaker 1: constantly having a seize mismatch, you're gonna get high quality

842
00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:37,600
Speaker 1: catch and shoot threes. And if you get high quality

843
00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:39,879
Speaker 1: catch and shoot threes, it is possible that you're gonna

844
00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:42,520
Speaker 1: shoot forty percent. Now there will be teams that are

845
00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:44,000
Speaker 1: gonna be able to match up a little bit better

846
00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:45,960
Speaker 1: with them. There there. I don't view them as a

847
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:49,680
Speaker 1: title favorite but or even a contender, but they are

848
00:39:49,719 --> 00:39:52,640
Speaker 1: an interesting playing team who at least is going to

849
00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:54,880
Speaker 1: be a pain in the ass to deal with. And

850
00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:57,359
Speaker 1: if they can figure out a way to get that

851
00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:00,600
Speaker 1: success from the starting lineup to train late through to

852
00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:02,959
Speaker 1: other areas of the game, either by staggering a little

853
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:05,840
Speaker 1: bit better or by bolstering their bench in the coming season.

854
00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:09,399
Speaker 1: This offseason, they could become a very interesting team because

855
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:15,719
Speaker 1: there was intel that there was intel that Toronto believes

856
00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:18,920
Speaker 1: that Siu Jerry still believes in this core and that

857
00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:23,040
Speaker 1: basically what they did around the trade deadline was purposefully

858
00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:25,160
Speaker 1: pretend like they were going to trade some guys just

859
00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:28,160
Speaker 1: to gauge their value, and then they went the complete

860
00:40:28,160 --> 00:40:30,000
Speaker 1: opposite direction and gave up a first round pick for

861
00:40:30,080 --> 00:40:34,279
Speaker 1: Yaka Purtle, right, So like, clearly they're still thinking all in,

862
00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:37,239
Speaker 1: even if they were bluffing to blow up, And that

863
00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:40,040
Speaker 1: tells you that they still believe and I can see

864
00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:42,960
Speaker 1: I can see why when that group that starting lineup

865
00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:46,160
Speaker 1: has already been one of the better plus minus lineups

866
00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:48,800
Speaker 1: in the league in terms of their total plus minus

867
00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:51,120
Speaker 1: for the season. In just one hundred and fifty minutes together.

868
00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:54,040
Speaker 1: That's a lot to be encouraged about. Outscoring teams by

869
00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:56,399
Speaker 1: nineteen points per one hundred possession. That's like Golden State

870
00:40:56,400 --> 00:41:00,000
Speaker 1: Warriors starters type of dominance, albeit in a smaller sample size.

871
00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:02,759
Speaker 1: So like, it is interesting, and I can see why.

872
00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:05,560
Speaker 1: I can see why me Siu Jerry's excited about them.

873
00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:08,359
Speaker 1: But this is where I want to get into Denver,

874
00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:11,520
Speaker 1: because I talked a lot about Denver's entry points, and

875
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:13,319
Speaker 1: what I've always said about Denver is like you can

876
00:41:13,480 --> 00:41:16,279
Speaker 1: put together the fact simile of a good regular season defense,

877
00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:17,880
Speaker 1: but when you get into the postseason, it becomes more

878
00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:21,080
Speaker 1: about matchups, right, And the two guys in particular, like

879
00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:23,919
Speaker 1: Yokis was bad defensively in this game, as he's been

880
00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:27,879
Speaker 1: for most of the season, but in this particular game,

881
00:41:28,080 --> 00:41:31,440
Speaker 1: I thought the guards were the problem. The like Jamal

882
00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:34,359
Speaker 1: Murray and Contavious calledwal Pope in particular, and Contavious Colbo

883
00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:36,920
Speaker 1: Pope is competing. It's not that it's just he's giving

884
00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:39,319
Speaker 1: up too much weight. This goes back to what we

885
00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:43,120
Speaker 1: were talking about, like Jamal Murray and Contavious calledwal Pope,

886
00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:47,840
Speaker 1: or you're starting backcourt, you've got Contavious Calledboal Pope matched

887
00:41:47,960 --> 00:41:50,239
Speaker 1: up with one of those big forwards and they were

888
00:41:50,239 --> 00:41:53,239
Speaker 1: just going right at him and drawing those help defenders

889
00:41:53,600 --> 00:41:58,760
Speaker 1: and specifically guys like like Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr.

890
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:01,560
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray got lost couple of times, Yokis was getting

891
00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:03,080
Speaker 1: beat on the back line. I shared a clip of

892
00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:06,040
Speaker 1: that today. When that second defender was coming in. The

893
00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:09,080
Speaker 1: Toronto players are doing a good job of relocating along

894
00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:11,239
Speaker 1: the three point line and cutting to the basket, and

895
00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:12,920
Speaker 1: they were just losing guys and that was a big

896
00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:14,400
Speaker 1: part of how they had forty nine points in the

897
00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:18,520
Speaker 1: first quarter. That's what concerns me about entry points. Your

898
00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:22,480
Speaker 1: scheme doesn't matter at all. When they just take one

899
00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:25,880
Speaker 1: of your defenders and back him down from there, you

900
00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:28,840
Speaker 1: have no choice but to double. And then once you double,

901
00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:31,120
Speaker 1: your in rotation. So it doesn't matter what your pick

902
00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:33,640
Speaker 1: and roll coverage is, doesn't matter how good Aaron Gordon

903
00:42:33,719 --> 00:42:36,160
Speaker 1: might be as your back line help defender, blowing up

904
00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:37,880
Speaker 1: stuff at the basket and on the week side corner.

905
00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:39,400
Speaker 1: If they don't even have to run a pick and

906
00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:42,480
Speaker 1: roll and they can just walk down one of your

907
00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:45,880
Speaker 1: smaller defenders, bring in that help and play driving kickball

908
00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:47,480
Speaker 1: from there. That's the kind of thing that you're going

909
00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:49,879
Speaker 1: to see a lot of teams do. Why would you

910
00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:52,520
Speaker 1: play into their bait? Why would you play into Denver's

911
00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:55,759
Speaker 1: base scheme defensively when you can just attack one of

912
00:42:55,760 --> 00:42:57,359
Speaker 1: their smaller defenders, and I think you're going to see

913
00:42:57,400 --> 00:42:59,279
Speaker 1: a lot of teams do that. And then once you

914
00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:01,799
Speaker 1: start playing drive and kick, it's yokis trying to chase

915
00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:05,080
Speaker 1: guys around in rotation getting pulled away from the rim.

916
00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:08,200
Speaker 1: That's where things can get ugly for them. Denver is

917
00:43:08,239 --> 00:43:10,439
Speaker 1: allowing one hundred and twenty five points per one hundred

918
00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:13,000
Speaker 1: possessions in their last four games, as dead last in

919
00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:15,359
Speaker 1: the NBA over that span. They have now slipped down

920
00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:19,000
Speaker 1: to eighteenth and defensive rating for the season. If you

921
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:21,320
Speaker 1: guys remember before the season, I said that I expected

922
00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:24,080
Speaker 1: Denver to be the best offense in the league, and

923
00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:25,960
Speaker 1: they have been for most of the season. They've been

924
00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:28,279
Speaker 1: one of the top offenses in the league, but I

925
00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:31,080
Speaker 1: said they still need it I said they didn't necessarily

926
00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:33,640
Speaker 1: need to be a top ten defense because of how

927
00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:35,800
Speaker 1: good their offense was, and I genuinely believe Denver is

928
00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:37,879
Speaker 1: gonna get a lot of good shots when they get

929
00:43:37,880 --> 00:43:39,839
Speaker 1: into the postseason. I do not think scoring is going

930
00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:42,560
Speaker 1: to be an issue for them. Yokis's offensive skill set

931
00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:47,200
Speaker 1: has been proven to translate to the postseason resoundingly, But

932
00:43:47,840 --> 00:43:51,440
Speaker 1: on the defensive end, they need to be sharper. I

933
00:43:51,520 --> 00:43:53,520
Speaker 1: said before the season, I wanted to see them finished

934
00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:55,520
Speaker 1: between ten and fifteen for me to give them a

935
00:43:55,600 --> 00:43:58,440
Speaker 1: legitimate chance to win the title, and they just haven't

936
00:43:58,440 --> 00:44:01,680
Speaker 1: been sharp enough. And what concerns me the most is

937
00:44:01,760 --> 00:44:04,560
Speaker 1: not just that they're eighteenth, but that they're slipping towards

938
00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:06,759
Speaker 1: the end of the season, because if the only way

939
00:44:06,760 --> 00:44:10,080
Speaker 1: you can succeed without good defensive personnel is with extremely

940
00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:13,280
Speaker 1: sharp defensive principles, and they're getting sloppy in those areas.

941
00:44:14,239 --> 00:44:15,879
Speaker 1: I've talked all the time that one of the big

942
00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:18,359
Speaker 1: reasons why I do value offense over defense when I'm

943
00:44:18,360 --> 00:44:21,600
Speaker 1: evaluating players is because of the fact that you can

944
00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:24,440
Speaker 1: coach up a team to be a functional defense in

945
00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:26,680
Speaker 1: a way that you can't coach up an offense to

946
00:44:26,760 --> 00:44:30,239
Speaker 1: be functional against good defenses, and so they've got to

947
00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:32,400
Speaker 1: be sharper. They've got to lock in down the stretch.

948
00:44:32,480 --> 00:44:34,120
Speaker 1: Mike Malone was talking after the game about how they

949
00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:36,959
Speaker 1: got to get their swagger back. Yes, you do, because

950
00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:40,799
Speaker 1: you're running out of time and it's getting ugly. I

951
00:44:40,800 --> 00:44:42,400
Speaker 1: want to talk a little bit about Jamal Murray really

952
00:44:42,480 --> 00:44:45,600
Speaker 1: quick before we get out of here. So Jamal Murray,

953
00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:48,359
Speaker 1: since returning from his injury, took like six games off.

954
00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:51,560
Speaker 1: He's averaging nineteen points and seven assists, which is okay,

955
00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:53,480
Speaker 1: but he's shooting thirty nine percent from the field and

956
00:44:53,520 --> 00:44:57,879
Speaker 1: thirty four percent from three. Now. In his defense, he's

957
00:44:57,880 --> 00:45:02,440
Speaker 1: been dealing with the nagging knee thing left early from

958
00:45:02,480 --> 00:45:06,239
Speaker 1: that Nets game the other night. So obviously I talk

959
00:45:06,280 --> 00:45:08,360
Speaker 1: a lot about pull up jump shooting and how important

960
00:45:08,360 --> 00:45:11,040
Speaker 1: your lift is, and you gotta jump in order to

961
00:45:11,040 --> 00:45:13,600
Speaker 1: make that work. So obviously that's playing a role. But

962
00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:17,680
Speaker 1: this team has no championship ceiling if Jamal Murray can't

963
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:20,360
Speaker 1: play like an All Star. So if his knee is

964
00:45:20,360 --> 00:45:23,800
Speaker 1: an issue, that kind of removes Denver from the equation.

965
00:45:23,800 --> 00:45:26,880
Speaker 1: The main reason why is because with the way that

966
00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:29,880
Speaker 1: Yokis plays It's kind of similar to what we were

967
00:45:29,920 --> 00:45:31,759
Speaker 1: talking about with Anthony Davis and how he needs that

968
00:45:31,840 --> 00:45:36,200
Speaker 1: high level guard like in order, Yokis can win games

969
00:45:36,600 --> 00:45:40,080
Speaker 1: as a floor raiser with anybody, even just four league

970
00:45:40,080 --> 00:45:41,799
Speaker 1: average role players. So I want to be clear, like

971
00:45:42,040 --> 00:45:43,600
Speaker 1: as a floor raiser, he might be the best in

972
00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:47,239
Speaker 1: the league. But when we are talking about the championship

973
00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:50,960
Speaker 1: ceiling again what we were talking about with Phoenix, talking

974
00:45:51,000 --> 00:45:54,120
Speaker 1: about those top tier defenses, the three or four teams

975
00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:56,560
Speaker 1: that you might have to go through that have defensive

976
00:45:56,560 --> 00:45:58,040
Speaker 1: personnel that are going to take you out of all

977
00:45:58,080 --> 00:46:01,279
Speaker 1: of your core stuff and force you to have incredible,

978
00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:04,680
Speaker 1: high level shot creation when you get to that level,

979
00:46:04,920 --> 00:46:08,240
Speaker 1: Yokich needs Jamal Murray at an all star level, especially

980
00:46:08,239 --> 00:46:10,799
Speaker 1: with the way they operate so much inverted pick and roll,

981
00:46:11,040 --> 00:46:13,000
Speaker 1: so many dribble handoffs from the top of the key.

982
00:46:13,200 --> 00:46:17,040
Speaker 1: None of that is working at the highest levels unless

983
00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:20,680
Speaker 1: you have Jamal Murray as that high level three three

984
00:46:20,719 --> 00:46:23,400
Speaker 1: level shot creator that he can be. And so it

985
00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:28,440
Speaker 1: is concerning he represents j Jamal Murray represents Denver ceiling. Obviously,

986
00:46:28,480 --> 00:46:32,400
Speaker 1: Yokich is the best player, he's the floor raiser, but

987
00:46:32,600 --> 00:46:36,680
Speaker 1: you've we've seen so many times over the course of

988
00:46:36,719 --> 00:46:40,080
Speaker 1: his career. He's kind of like Lebron in the earlier

989
00:46:40,080 --> 00:46:43,000
Speaker 1: phases of his career, before Lebron became an excellent shot maker.

990
00:46:43,560 --> 00:46:45,879
Speaker 1: He doesn't want to break you down by taking tough

991
00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:49,839
Speaker 1: fade aways and going into his bag to score at

992
00:46:49,880 --> 00:46:52,040
Speaker 1: the end of these games. He likes to score within

993
00:46:52,080 --> 00:46:55,120
Speaker 1: the flow of the offense, and so they need a

994
00:46:55,160 --> 00:46:58,680
Speaker 1: guy who can be their aggressive shot maker, just like

995
00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:02,400
Speaker 1: Lebron needed Kyrie right in the earlier phases. Now, Lebron

996
00:47:02,680 --> 00:47:05,200
Speaker 1: when he got to the Lakers, by the time twenty seventeen,

997
00:47:05,200 --> 00:47:08,160
Speaker 1: two eighteen, and two twenty came around, he had advanced

998
00:47:08,239 --> 00:47:10,640
Speaker 1: so far as a shot maker that he became that guy.

999
00:47:10,840 --> 00:47:12,800
Speaker 1: And then when he got to with the Anthony Davis,

1000
00:47:12,840 --> 00:47:14,600
Speaker 1: he was the high level shotmaker for that team. But

1001
00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:17,520
Speaker 1: Yokich is not that guy yet. We literally saw him

1002
00:47:18,080 --> 00:47:20,360
Speaker 1: in a situation against Joel Embid where Joel Embie was

1003
00:47:20,360 --> 00:47:22,080
Speaker 1: shooting his face off on one end of the floor

1004
00:47:22,160 --> 00:47:24,359
Speaker 1: and on the other end of the floor. Just didn't

1005
00:47:24,719 --> 00:47:27,919
Speaker 1: just that's not his game. That's not his game. He's

1006
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:30,440
Speaker 1: playing in the flow of the offense, and so he

1007
00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:33,920
Speaker 1: needs that guy, and that guy is Jamal Murray, and

1008
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:35,440
Speaker 1: if he's not going to be that guy, that's a

1009
00:47:35,480 --> 00:47:37,480
Speaker 1: big concern. So it goes deeper than the defensive end.

1010
00:47:37,520 --> 00:47:39,960
Speaker 1: They also are only averaging about one hundred and thirteen

1011
00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:42,520
Speaker 1: points per one hundred possessions on offense during the four

1012
00:47:42,560 --> 00:47:46,600
Speaker 1: game losing streak. That's not good enough. So if I'm

1013
00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:48,200
Speaker 1: not mistaken, I don't have the schedule in front of me,

1014
00:47:48,239 --> 00:47:49,680
Speaker 1: but I think things get even tougher for them on

1015
00:47:49,680 --> 00:47:52,120
Speaker 1: the schedule now as they go on the road. So

1016
00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:54,120
Speaker 1: it doesn't look pretty for Denver right now. They better

1017
00:47:54,160 --> 00:47:55,520
Speaker 1: get it together before they get to the end of

1018
00:47:55,560 --> 00:47:57,719
Speaker 1: the season. All right, guys, it's all I have for today.

1019
00:47:57,760 --> 00:48:01,840
Speaker 1: We have one more daytime show tomorrow and covering Warriors,

1020
00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:04,200
Speaker 1: Clippers and some other games from tonight's late. Then we're

1021
00:48:04,239 --> 00:48:06,919
Speaker 1: taking Friday off. We'll have a Saturday afternoon show, taking

1022
00:48:06,960 --> 00:48:08,920
Speaker 1: Sunday off, and then we're getting into next week. As always,

1023
00:48:08,960 --> 00:48:11,600
Speaker 1: I sincerely appreciate your support. I'll see you guys tomorrow.

1024
00:48:20,760 --> 00:48:21,440
Speaker 1: The volume