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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to hoops tonight. You're at the VAUL.

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Speaker 1: You have you Monday, everybody. Hope all of you guys

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Speaker 1: had an incredible weekend. We just got a quick show

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Speaker 1: for you today. We're gonna hit Suns Magic as the

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Speaker 1: Orlando Magic had a defensive masterclass in the fourth quarter,

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Speaker 1: just completely strangling the Suns as they came back to

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Speaker 1: win by double digits. I thought that was super revealing

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Speaker 1: about both teams. So we're gonna talk about that game

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Speaker 1: for a little while, and then, as we usually do

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Speaker 1: on Mondays, we're gonna do an edition of our power rankings.

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Speaker 1: My power Rankings. Two weeks ago, those ten teams combined

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Speaker 1: to lose twenty five games over the last two weeks,

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Speaker 1: so it's kind of gonna be like a weirdly negative

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Speaker 1: version of the power rankings because basically, aside from the Clippers,

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Speaker 1: there were really ugly moments for every team in that list.

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Speaker 1: So we're gonna update our power rankings and then we'll

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Speaker 1: get out of here for the day. You guys are

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Speaker 1: the Joe for we get started. Subscribe to our brand

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Speaker 1: new YouTube channel. I mean a lot to me if

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

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

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Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts at Hoops Tonight. It's also

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Speaker 1: super helpful for us if you leave a rating in

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Speaker 1: a review there. That's something I found out the other day,

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Speaker 1: So those of you guys who use the podcast feed,

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Speaker 1: I'd really appreciate it if you take a second to

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Speaker 1: give it a rating as well as leave a review.

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Speaker 1: Then don't forget about my Twitter feed at Underscore Jason LT.

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Speaker 1: That's where I do the film threads in the morning

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Speaker 1: as well as show announcements and then last not leaves

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Speaker 1: keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments so we

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Speaker 1: can keep hitting them throughout the week. All right, let's

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Speaker 1: talk some basketball. So, as I said, a complete and

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Speaker 1: total defensive masterclass from the Orlando Magic. And I just

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Speaker 1: to give you guys, just set the stage here a

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Speaker 1: little bit. The Magic forced the Suns into seven turnovers

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Speaker 1: just in the fourth quarter. From the ten minute mark

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Speaker 1: of the fourth quarter to about the two minute mark

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Speaker 1: of the fourth quarter, they allowed just two points to

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Speaker 1: a team led by Devin Booker, Bradley Beale, and Kevin Durant. Right,

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Speaker 1: if you watch it on tape, there were a couple

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Speaker 1: of decent looks in there, but man, they could barely

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Speaker 1: even break free for a half decent look at the

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Speaker 1: basket over that stretch. It was an amazing stretch of

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Speaker 1: defensive basketball from the Orlando Magic in every phase of

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Speaker 1: the game, in ball pressure situation, just getting up into

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Speaker 1: the ball handlers as they're trying to bring the ball

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Speaker 1: out the floor, when they're singing ball screens off ball

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Speaker 1: denial played a huge role in this game, which forced

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Speaker 1: them into a bunch of turnovers. You know. And it's

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Speaker 1: funny because Orlando brings very like they bring wave after

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Speaker 1: wave of physicality and like every phase of the game, right,

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Speaker 1: you've got these point of attack guys that can be

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Speaker 1: up in your business, Guys like Jalen Suggs, right, Guys

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Speaker 1: like Markel Foltz, Guys like Anthony Black had an amazing

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Speaker 1: stretch defensively in that fourth quarter. Then their ball handlers

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Speaker 1: bring a certain level of that sort of kind of physicality, right,

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Speaker 1: Like it's Palla Mancaro playing with a ton of physicality

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Speaker 1: scoring in the posts in the fourth quarter, made a

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Speaker 1: kickout on a double team to Franz Wagner for three.

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Speaker 1: Franz in pick and roll brings a certain physical imposition

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Speaker 1: to it, right. And then even they're big guys like

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Speaker 1: move Wagner dominated the fourth quarter this game by killing

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Speaker 1: Drew Eubanks in an individual matchup, just by rolling hard

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Speaker 1: to the rim and scoring through contact and crashing the

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Speaker 1: offensive glass. Yeah, length on the perimeter with guys like

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Speaker 1: Jonathan Isaac, it's just wave after wave that they bring

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Speaker 1: a you in terms of their physicality, and to Jamal

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Speaker 1: Moseley's credit, like it's part of the culture of this team.

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Speaker 1: It was kind of fun watching this game this morning

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Speaker 1: because obviously, you know, I'm watching on I'm watching with

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Speaker 1: the volume on, and you know, typically I'm listening to

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Speaker 1: one of the uh the you know, the commentator crews

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Speaker 1: for one of those league pass for league pass right.

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Speaker 1: But in this particular game, what was dominating the audio

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Speaker 1: kind of portion of the tape was the magic bench

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Speaker 1: as they would force a turnover or play great individual

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Speaker 1: defense and force a tough shot. It almost sounded like

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Speaker 1: a college game with the way that you'd see the

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Speaker 1: entire bench and coaching staff like freaking out on the

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Speaker 1: bench after every time they make a play, getting excited.

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Speaker 1: Everyone's on their feet. You can tell this team wants

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Speaker 1: to be great at defense. It is part of their culture.

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Speaker 1: It is everything about their basketball identity. And the two

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Speaker 1: guys that I wanted to like shine a particular light

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Speaker 1: on in this video were Anthony Black and Jonathan Isaac.

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Speaker 1: I thought they kind of like like wrong the run,

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Speaker 1: so to speak. In the middle of the fourth quarter,

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Speaker 1: Anthony Black was on Bradley Beal at this phase in

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Speaker 1: the middle of the fourth Devin Booker was actually on

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Speaker 1: the bench, and Jonathan Isaac was on Kevin Durant. Now,

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Speaker 1: I want to talk about the combination of ball pressure

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Speaker 1: and off ball denial and how that can cause issues. Right, So,

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Speaker 1: when you apply ball pressure, one of the most frequent

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Speaker 1: things that you can do to a ball handler is

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Speaker 1: cause them to speed up. It's actually very rare to

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Speaker 1: find ball handlers that are good at handling ball pressure

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Speaker 1: by slowing down and using it to their advantage. Right, Like,

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Speaker 1: that's one of the reasons why not having a point

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Speaker 1: guard on this particular team. You know, I think it's

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Speaker 1: been overplayed a little bit from the same point of like,

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Speaker 1: offensive initiation is offensive initiation. But if there is one

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Speaker 1: way or one form of the game where missing a

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Speaker 1: point guard has hurt this team, it's ball pressure. And

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Speaker 1: I think you particularly see that at the end of

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Speaker 1: games when teams really pick up their defensive pressure. Like

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Speaker 1: guys like Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, if it were

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Speaker 1: up to them, they'd rather get to their spots first.

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Speaker 1: They would rather start where the pick and roll stars.

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Speaker 1: They'd rather start where the ISO starts, or starts start

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Speaker 1: where the post up starts. Right. But like when part

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Speaker 1: of the game is like actually getting the ball up

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Speaker 1: the floor and getting into one of those spots, they

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Speaker 1: can struggle a little bit there. And you've seen that

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Speaker 1: in the turnovers throughout the season, which like literally has

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Speaker 1: been a massive problem for the Suns all season long.

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Speaker 1: But one of the things that the Magic do really

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Speaker 1: well is we see so many teams in the NBA

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Speaker 1: load up right, and when you load up, it makes

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Speaker 1: easy passes. I mean, they're difficult in the sense that

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Speaker 1: you have to get him over the top of the

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Speaker 1: defense and across the court, but they leave openings on

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Speaker 1: the weak side right. And so what will end up

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Speaker 1: happening is you'll see a guy dribble in the basketball

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Speaker 1: and there'll be a guy guarding him and they'll be

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Speaker 1: digging down into driving lanes and kind of packing the

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Speaker 1: paint right, and then the swing passes tend to be open.

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Speaker 1: And you know what those defenses are trying to do

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Speaker 1: is try to get you to basically settle for jump

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Speaker 1: shots right, like they're looking to get you to pass

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Speaker 1: the ball around the perimeter, because no one wants to

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Speaker 1: drive into that thicket of defenders and take tough jump

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Speaker 1: shots right. One of the things the Magic will do

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Speaker 1: is they'll get up in you with ball pressure and

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Speaker 1: then they'll n off the ball. And so what ends

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Speaker 1: up happening there is there actually are some driving lanes,

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Speaker 1: but when you have strong individual defenders, guys like Anthony Black,

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Speaker 1: guys like Jonathan Isaac, Guys like Jalen Suggs. Right, Like,

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Speaker 1: when you have those guys out there, the dude on

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Speaker 1: the ball isn't just slashing around them and getting wide

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Speaker 1: open layups, right, And so what ends up happening is

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Speaker 1: when the on ball defender does a good job of

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Speaker 1: basically forcing the on ball offensive player to either rush

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Speaker 1: or to pick up his dribble or to get into

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Speaker 1: a tough spot, then he starts looking for kickouts, right,

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Speaker 1: but where are the kickouts? The ball is getting denied,

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Speaker 1: and so that's what ended up leading Phoenix into so

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Speaker 1: many of these turnovers. You would see, you know, Devin

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Speaker 1: Booker or Bradley Beal dribble into a tough spot, pick

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Speaker 1: up their dribble and end up in trouble. And there's

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Speaker 1: Jonathan Isaac just with the long arm of the laws,

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Speaker 1: so to speak, denying Kevin Durant that post entry or

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Speaker 1: high post entry, and they can't get that pass in there.

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Speaker 1: And so now they're throwing the ball all over the court,

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Speaker 1: turning it over and like just the singular, you know,

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Speaker 1: kind of force on defense of Anthony Black and Jonathan

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Speaker 1: Isaac in that mid fourth quarter stretch. Just making Bradley

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Speaker 1: Beal and Kevin Durant make a lot of mistakes went

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Speaker 1: a long way to turning this game around. Because the

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Speaker 1: thing with Orlando is they're not a very good offensive

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Speaker 1: team right. In fact, they're a bad offensive team. Just

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Speaker 1: to give you guys some stats, they scored ninety four

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Speaker 1: points six points per one hundred half court possessions. That

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Speaker 1: ranks twenty sixth in the NBA. According to Cleaning the Glass,

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Speaker 1: they are the third worst pick and roll attack in

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Speaker 1: the NBA including passes. They are the tenth worst ISO

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Speaker 1: attack in the NBA including passes. They are the third

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Speaker 1: worst post up attack in the NBA including passes. They're

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Speaker 1: not good in transition like that. A lot of it

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Speaker 1: is just it's a young basketball team with young shot

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Speaker 1: creators learning how to be more efficient in the NBA.

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Speaker 1: I'm not concerned about Palo and Frans in the long

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Speaker 1: run in their ability to become much more efficient shot creators.

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Speaker 1: But they're young, they're learning on the fly, right and

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Speaker 1: so their biggest advantage right now is they're huge. They're athletic,

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Speaker 1: and they're young, and they play hard, and so they

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Speaker 1: find ways to get into basketball games on the strength

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Speaker 1: of their defense, and that's what they did. Like they

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Speaker 1: they found a way to disrupt Phoenix's offense more than

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Speaker 1: Phoenix could disrupt their offense, and that flipped the dynamic

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Speaker 1: of the game again. They forced Phoenix into more turnovers

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Speaker 1: in that fourth quarter than they had made field goals.

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Speaker 1: It's seven turnovers and just five made field goals. And

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Speaker 1: it's because their defense is flat out oppressive. Fifth in

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Speaker 1: defensive rating, seventh in defensive rebounding percentage, sixth and half

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Speaker 1: court defense according to Cleaning the Glass, fifth in transition

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Speaker 1: defensive points added per one hundred possessions. That's kind of

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Speaker 1: a catch all transition stat on Cleaning the Glass. They

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Speaker 1: are the second best team in the league at forcing turnovers,

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Speaker 1: sticking to that idea that I talked about about in

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Speaker 1: ball pressure, aggressive blitzing, denying off the ball, just making

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Speaker 1: it extremely difficult rushing teams into making mistakes. Right, They

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Speaker 1: are the eighth best team in the league at limiting

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Speaker 1: opponent three point makes. They are fourteenth and protecting the paint.

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Speaker 1: But a big of that, A big part of that

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Speaker 1: is when you're ball pressuring and you're denying, if someone

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Speaker 1: does break through their layups to be had. Also, the

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Speaker 1: center position has been a little inconsistent for them all year,

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Speaker 1: in large part because of injuries. Right, So, again credit

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Speaker 1: to Jamal Moseley's got these dudes locked in on that

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Speaker 1: end of the floor. Credit to all the individual players

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Speaker 1: for being uh for taking that on as a basketball character. Again,

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Speaker 1: I will say watching them this year has been fun

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Speaker 1: because of the just the energy and the verve that

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Speaker 1: they bring to trying to win games in a way. Like, again,

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Speaker 1: there's an offensive limitation there that is that is roster based.

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Speaker 1: That's not gonna change. You can't. They're not gonna just

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Speaker 1: suddenly become a great offense this season. They need to

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Speaker 1: slowly reach that point through player development. Right, But like,

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Speaker 1: they can still win NBA games on their strengths, and

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Speaker 1: they're so locked in and so disciplined and their and

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Speaker 1: their their their habits are great, their communication is great,

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Speaker 1: all the details are there, and it's allowing them to

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Speaker 1: be a respectable NBA team in spite of their offensive limitations.

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Speaker 1: They've even a lot of good teams this year. They

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Speaker 1: have thirteen wins against teams that are five hundred or better.

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Speaker 1: That's the ninth most in the NBA and then on

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Speaker 1: the Phoenix front. So there are three major issues that

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Speaker 1: come off the screen for me most of the times

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Speaker 1: that I watched the Suns this season, but especially in

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Speaker 1: that game last night, one their stars struggling to handle

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Speaker 1: ball pressure. They've had forty three turnovers in the last

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Speaker 1: two games, including the Pacers game. They're actually the fifth

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Speaker 1: worst team in the league at taking care of the basketball.

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Speaker 1: I talked about this earlier, but again, like you know, Phoenix,

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Speaker 1: I don't think that their lack of a point guard

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Speaker 1: so to speak, affects their ability to score because when

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Speaker 1: they do get into the half court setting and they

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Speaker 1: do get one of their stars to their spot, whether

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Speaker 1: it's Devin Booker getting ready to run a ball screen

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Speaker 1: or a kind of face up ISO at eighteen feet,

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Speaker 1: or it's Kevin Durant doing the same thing, or it's

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Speaker 1: Bradley Beal you know, getting his like kind of downhill

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Speaker 1: ISOs that he goes to where he's hitting a bunch

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Speaker 1: of in and out dribbles. Right Like, regardless of where

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Speaker 1: those spots are, when they get there, they're efficient. You

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Speaker 1: don't have to look far to see the points per

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Speaker 1: possession data and see that those guys can get quality

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Speaker 1: shots when they get to those spots. But teams, what

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Speaker 1: we've seen consistently throughout the year is aggressive defense towards

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Speaker 1: those guys. That's the book is out, Like, that's what

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Speaker 1: the scouting report says. The scouting report says, ball pressure

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Speaker 1: the hell out of Phoenix. Just ball pressure them, and

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Speaker 1: over the course of the game, you'll kind of wear

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Speaker 1: them down physically. And Like, one of the things that

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Speaker 1: I've talked about is, like I talk a lot about

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Speaker 1: the value of strength in basketball, and you know, we

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Speaker 1: look at it with rebounding, and we look at it

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Speaker 1: with like defense and holding your position and stuff, but

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Speaker 1: strength is a big thing on the offensive end of

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Speaker 1: the floor too. You want to know why Nikola Jokic

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Speaker 1: like always seems to kind of like thrive in those

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Speaker 1: rock fight environments. He's so damn big and strong that

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Speaker 1: you can't really deny him the basketball. Like Joel Embiid's

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Speaker 1: the only guy I've really ever seen do it. He's

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Speaker 1: just so big and strong he's going to be able

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Speaker 1: to physically hold somebody off long enough to create a

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Speaker 1: passing angle. Right. Like in general, like we used to

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Speaker 1: do this drill when I was when I was in

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Speaker 1: college my last year in college, we called it the

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Speaker 1: tight space passing drill, and it was like basically from

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Speaker 1: the lane line to the corner kind of like up

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Speaker 1: to where like the block was, and then back to

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Speaker 1: the sideline like a square just kind of there in

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Speaker 1: the short corner, and we'd put three defensive players or

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Speaker 1: three offensive players in there and two defensive players and

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Speaker 1: basically we would just apply great ball pressure on the

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Speaker 1: ball with one guy and then that other guy's kind

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Speaker 1: of splitting the difference. But it's in such a small

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Speaker 1: space that it's tough, and so it really comes down

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Speaker 1: to fighting for position. Like the on ball guy has

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Speaker 1: a dude swiping at him and getting physical and being

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Speaker 1: really aggressive, and so he has to be strong with

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Speaker 1: the basketball to like create space for him to see

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Speaker 1: the floor, and then one of those other two guys

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Speaker 1: has to fight for position to create a passing angle

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Speaker 1: for that second for that of the guy with the

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Speaker 1: ball to actually make that pass. And we did it

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Speaker 1: all the time because it was one of the drills

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Speaker 1: that my coach a shout out coach Jeff Rudder at

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Speaker 1: Arizona Christian University. He kind of implemented that as a

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Speaker 1: way to learn how to better take care of the

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Speaker 1: basketball because one of the things that I consistently talk

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Speaker 1: about is when you run into really good teams, they

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Speaker 1: tend to be big and strong and athletic, right, And

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Speaker 1: teams that are big and strong and athletics tend to

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Speaker 1: be really good on defense, and really good, big, strong,

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Speaker 1: athletic defensive teams tend to be very physically aggressive, and

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Speaker 1: they tend to try to get up into the basketball

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Speaker 1: and get up into passing lands, no different than the

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Speaker 1: Orlando Magic like we were talking about earlier, right, And

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Speaker 1: so you know, one of the things is like, these

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Speaker 1: are a lot of guys that are kind of used

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Speaker 1: to operating from their spots, and these are a lot

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Speaker 1: of guys that aren't particularly strong for their position, and

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Speaker 1: so when teams bring really physical ball pressure, really physical

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Speaker 1: ball denial, they can struggle to create openings. And you

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Speaker 1: saw that. I think that's been a I think that's

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Speaker 1: one of the most clear weaknesses in this team that

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Speaker 1: the league knows about, and that the league is going

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Speaker 1: into these games looking to exploit. Like finesse is cool

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Speaker 1: and all like, and it's a huge part of player development.

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Speaker 1: And God knows that I teach that to the kids

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Speaker 1: as well when I'm coaching my high school team. Right,

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Speaker 1: but like it's all at all, it all can go

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Speaker 1: south when somebody punches you in the mouth, right, when

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Speaker 1: somebody brings real physicality to the situation. Finesse can't be

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Speaker 1: your only move. You've got to be able to do

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Speaker 1: both right and then again like even extending onto the

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Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor, when you when you've got big,

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Speaker 1: strong guys like a Nicole Jokich or Franz Wagner and

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Speaker 1: Pala Bancaro mo Wagner bring in just this like real

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Speaker 1: kind of like downhill verve to the situation. It's that

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Speaker 1: strength that allows you to hold up in those situations.

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Speaker 1: And so, like Phoenix is going to eventually run into

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Speaker 1: a team in the playoffs that is big, strong and

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Speaker 1: can bring that certain like physical imposition to the game,

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Speaker 1: it's going to happen. They're going to have to find

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Speaker 1: a way to handle it. Now, there are some solutions, right,

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Speaker 1: Like one of the things you can do to combat

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Speaker 1: ball pressure is like don't have the guy bring it

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Speaker 1: up against the best defensive player, right, Like find Paolo's

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Speaker 1: man or Franz's man and have them bring the ball

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Speaker 1: up the floor, right, Like have Eric Gordon or Grayson

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Speaker 1: Allen bring the ball up the floor so that you're

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Speaker 1: not going against Anthony Black, so that you're not going

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Speaker 1: against Jonathan Isaac. Those are things that you can do right,

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Speaker 1: But the reality is is they just have to be better.

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Speaker 1: Kevin Urant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal have to get

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Speaker 1: better at handling those aggressive coverages, handling that ball pressure,

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Speaker 1: handling that ball denial. Because, to put it simply, that's

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Speaker 1: gonna be what teams do in the postseason if they

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Speaker 1: get into a first round series with the team the

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Speaker 1: other team is gonna sit down and they're gonna start

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Speaker 1: talking about their advantages, and one of the first things

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Speaker 1: they're gonna look at is like, we got to get

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Speaker 1: up into these guys ninety four feet and just try

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Speaker 1: to wear them down at the point of attack and

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Speaker 1: try to force them into their worst tendencies. Number Two,

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Speaker 1: The second biggest thing that stood out for me on

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Speaker 1: the screen, true, you Banks probably can't play for you

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Speaker 1: in a playoffs. Now. To be clear, use of Nurkic

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Speaker 1: was out in this particular game, but Drewy Banks has

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Speaker 1: been kind of their backup center a lot of this

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Speaker 1: a lot for a lot this season. They've gone with

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Speaker 1: a bunch of other guys as well. But he got

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Speaker 1: his aunt his lunch eaten by Mo Wagner last night.

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Speaker 1: It was really struggling with him on hard rolls to

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Speaker 1: the basket, was getting beat on baseline crashes on the

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Speaker 1: offensive glass. There was one where it was like a

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Speaker 1: middle fourth quarter where Drew kind of like saw Mo

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Speaker 1: Wagner coming from that left side corner turn and like

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Speaker 1: went to box him out, and Moe just like literally

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Speaker 1: just ran him over. But like Drew just turns and

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Speaker 1: starts complaining to the refs. But like one of the

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Speaker 1: things there is like fighting for your position actually goes

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Speaker 1: a long way there. Like if you don't really fight

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Speaker 1: for your position there and Mo comes in, the ref's

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Speaker 1: not gonna want to reward you for not holding your ground,

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Speaker 1: right unless you flop extravagantly, right, in which case you

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Speaker 1: might get a call, depending on what kind of ref

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Speaker 1: you're dealing with. Right, But like he like he wouldn't

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Speaker 1: just if you actually like sit there and fight and

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Speaker 1: hold your ground. If Mo pushes through you, then you

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Speaker 1: probably get an over the back call, but he just

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Speaker 1: got manhandled by Mo all over the floor, you know.

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Speaker 1: And again like this is gonna be an issue with

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Speaker 1: them over the course of this playoff run as well,

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Speaker 1: is what do you do about the center position? Like

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Speaker 1: Usuf Nurkic is gonna hold up really well in certain matchups,

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Speaker 1: but then there are gonna be other matchups where it

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Speaker 1: puts them in a predicament where they get attacked a

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Speaker 1: lot and pick and roll, right, We've seen that throughout

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Speaker 1: the season. So that center position is going to be

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Speaker 1: something to keep an eye on, and it may come

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Speaker 1: down to them having to do a lot more of

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Speaker 1: the KD at the five than maybe they wanted to

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Speaker 1: when it comes time for the postseason. And then number three,

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Speaker 1: the defensive commitment has to be part of their identity.

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Speaker 1: It can't just be a fad that they do for

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Speaker 1: a week or two. It's got to be something that

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Speaker 1: they stick to long term. They had this seven game

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Speaker 1: winning streak they defended the defense has completely fallen apart since,

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Speaker 1: like they were really sloppy against Orlando. They were bad

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Speaker 1: in transition defense, not getting matched up, they were bad

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Speaker 1: in their pick and roll coverages. Drew Eubanks was like

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Speaker 1: atrocious in pick and roll. They're on ball guys were

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Speaker 1: bad in pick and roll. They were hugged up on

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Speaker 1: shooters off the ball, Like Bradley Beal at one point

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Speaker 1: was just watching them score and pick and roll while

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Speaker 1: he's standing guarding Anthony Black in the corner, who's a

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Speaker 1: thirty percent I think a thirty three percent corner three

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Speaker 1: point shooters. So, like, their off ball stuff isn't good.

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Speaker 1: They're getting beat on back cuts, they're getting beat on

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Speaker 1: offensive rebound crashes. You know, Like and especially in a

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Speaker 1: game like that last night, defense could be what helps

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Speaker 1: you regain control because Orlando's offense isn't good. One of

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Speaker 1: the ways that Phoenix could have fought through that mess

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Speaker 1: was really lock in on defense, force Orlando into their

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Speaker 1: worst tendencies and look for transition opportunities and try to

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Speaker 1: kind of beat Orlando to two spots before they can

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Speaker 1: really load up on their stars. Right, But like that

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Speaker 1: just wasn't the thing. It was like, as the offense

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Speaker 1: was falling apart against Orlando, their defense was also falling apart.

432
00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:50,919
Speaker 1: And that's how I mean, that's how you end up

433
00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:53,240
Speaker 1: with the twenty one to two run as the game

434
00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:56,040
Speaker 1: kind of flips on them like that. The bottom line

435
00:20:56,080 --> 00:21:00,320
Speaker 1: is the Suns are top heavy. They have three awesome

436
00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:03,959
Speaker 1: players Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, and Devin Booker, and they

437
00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,760
Speaker 1: have two solid role player guards, Eric Gordon and Grayson Allen, Right,

438
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:10,280
Speaker 1: and then they have some flawed role players like Josha

439
00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:12,120
Speaker 1: Kog and use Off Nurkic who are really good at

440
00:21:12,119 --> 00:21:14,600
Speaker 1: some things and really bad at others, right, and then

441
00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:16,720
Speaker 1: it's like a big drop off, like the rest of

442
00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:19,240
Speaker 1: the roster are mostly guys that would not even be

443
00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:22,439
Speaker 1: in rotations for really good playoff teams around the league.

444
00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:27,000
Speaker 1: And specifically, none of their top five guys on that roster,

445
00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:30,240
Speaker 1: saying Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, Er, Gordon, Grayson Allen,

446
00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:34,040
Speaker 1: none of those top five guys other than KD can

447
00:21:34,119 --> 00:21:38,119
Speaker 1: really inflict their physicality on the game, right, So what

448
00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:41,800
Speaker 1: does that mean? They can't afford to not be sharp

449
00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:45,520
Speaker 1: on the details, right, Like they're gonna lose a lot

450
00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:50,960
Speaker 1: of battles just because of their personnel, especially defensively, especially

451
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,359
Speaker 1: on the glass, right, Like that, some of that stuff

452
00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:56,119
Speaker 1: is just kind of baked into the roster. So what

453
00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:58,399
Speaker 1: you can afford to do is also give up the

454
00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:02,760
Speaker 1: plays that are to come from mistakes. Right, this team

455
00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:05,840
Speaker 1: does not have the margin for error to not be disciplined,

456
00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:07,960
Speaker 1: to not be sharp, to not have good habits. And

457
00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:10,800
Speaker 1: it's not something that they can do for two weeks

458
00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:12,960
Speaker 1: and be fine. They need months. They need months of

459
00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:15,800
Speaker 1: these habits built up to go into the playoffs and

460
00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:18,480
Speaker 1: be ready to get to be ready to compete physically

461
00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:20,760
Speaker 1: at that point. Right, Like, one of the things we

462
00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:24,280
Speaker 1: talked about with Denver last year after the postseason, and

463
00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:25,959
Speaker 1: where I had to admit I was wrong, is like

464
00:22:26,160 --> 00:22:28,600
Speaker 1: they were a mediocre defense through most of the season,

465
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:31,600
Speaker 1: but they were huge. There was a physical imposition on

466
00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:33,439
Speaker 1: the game that they were able to bring, and then

467
00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:37,200
Speaker 1: they had good athlete defenders and cacp and Aaron Gordon

468
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:39,520
Speaker 1: that could take primary point of attack assignments and so

469
00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:42,400
Speaker 1: they actually became a good defense when they got into

470
00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:46,080
Speaker 1: that postseason environment. Phoenix does not have that luxury. They

471
00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:49,480
Speaker 1: have to be incredibly sharp. Every single guy on the roster,

472
00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:52,919
Speaker 1: including their skill guys, has to be locked in on

473
00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:54,960
Speaker 1: those details and it's just something to keep an eye

474
00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:56,879
Speaker 1: on over the course of the rest of the season.

475
00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:00,359
Speaker 1: They will hemorrhage points in many phases of the game.

476
00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:03,840
Speaker 1: Because of their physical limitations. They can't also be lazy.

477
00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:09,080
Speaker 1: That cannot be a characteristic of this team. Have you, guys,

478
00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:11,840
Speaker 1: ever had a bad ticket buying experience. Maybe you go

479
00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:14,080
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480
00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:15,800
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481
00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:17,199
Speaker 1: you go to your seat and ends up being not

482
00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:19,160
Speaker 1: what you expected when you bought it to begin with,

483
00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:22,920
Speaker 1: or maybe it's just an overly convoluted and complicated process. Well,

484
00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:24,359
Speaker 1: this is where I want to talk to you guys

485
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,679
Speaker 1: about game Time, the fastest growing ticketing app in the

486
00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:30,560
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487
00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:33,480
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488
00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:36,120
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489
00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:38,679
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490
00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:41,320
Speaker 1: the app, so you know exactly what you're getting for

491
00:23:41,440 --> 00:23:44,000
Speaker 1: your money. And it's a super easy process. You can

492
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Speaker 1: buy tickets in seconds with two taps. Game Time has

493
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:49,879
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494
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495
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496
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497
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498
00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,800
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499
00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:09,240
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500
00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:12,080
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501
00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,280
Speaker 1: ten percent of the difference. And as great as it

502
00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:17,919
Speaker 1: is watching these games on TV, especially with the NBA

503
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:20,399
Speaker 1: heating up here on the home stretch, go out and

504
00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:23,000
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505
00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:25,080
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506
00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:27,080
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507
00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:30,240
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508
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510
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511
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512
00:24:44,880 --> 00:24:50,280
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513
00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:53,480
Speaker 1: Moving on to our power rankings. So, as I said,

514
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:57,560
Speaker 1: we had twenty five losses out of our top ten

515
00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:01,160
Speaker 1: teams from two weeks ago. Specifically, our top eight teams

516
00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:04,760
Speaker 1: lost eighteen games. So this is gonna be a weirdly

517
00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:07,440
Speaker 1: negative power rankings in the sense that, like, I'm gonna

518
00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:10,399
Speaker 1: kind of complain about all the teams to some extent,

519
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:12,840
Speaker 1: just because I thought like a lot of their downsides

520
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:14,840
Speaker 1: were on display this year. It's just gonna be kind

521
00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:16,800
Speaker 1: of the theme, except for the Clippers. The Clippers went

522
00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:19,080
Speaker 1: five and ozens our last rankings, so they're gonna be fine.

523
00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:22,080
Speaker 1: We had two teams drop out, the Pelicans, they've gone

524
00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:25,200
Speaker 1: two to four since our last rankings and basically lost

525
00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:27,440
Speaker 1: to every good team they played over that span. In

526
00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,160
Speaker 1: their defense is falling apart. Then the Miami Heat. They've

527
00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:31,960
Speaker 1: lost six games in a row. They've been the worst

528
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:33,760
Speaker 1: offense in the league over that span in the twenty

529
00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:36,320
Speaker 1: ninth ranked defense, so the bottom's falling out for Miami.

530
00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:39,680
Speaker 1: They're off the rankings for now as well, So without

531
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:45,320
Speaker 1: any further ado, Number ten, the Indiana Pacers. Pascal Siakam

532
00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:47,639
Speaker 1: is already helping the Pacers hold up better in the

533
00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:51,440
Speaker 1: physicality areas of the game. He's averaging eight rebounds per game.

534
00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:56,080
Speaker 1: Before the trade, the Pacers were the fourth worst rebounding

535
00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:59,439
Speaker 1: team in the league. In the six games since the

536
00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:03,639
Speaker 1: Pacers have been the eighth best rebounding team in the league.

537
00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:07,159
Speaker 1: So from fourth worst to eighth best just since the

538
00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:10,120
Speaker 1: Pascal Siakam trade just goes to show you how much

539
00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:14,240
Speaker 1: having a real high quality NBA forward as that low

540
00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:17,040
Speaker 1: man in the four spot can help reinforce a team

541
00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:19,600
Speaker 1: that was really struggling in the physicality areas of the game.

542
00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:22,399
Speaker 1: They've never been much of an offensive rebounding team, but

543
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:26,240
Speaker 1: they've been the fourth best offensive rebounding team since the trade,

544
00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:29,399
Speaker 1: so they've brought a new element to their offensive attack

545
00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:32,680
Speaker 1: through attacking the offensive glass. They actually beat Phoenix the

546
00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:36,560
Speaker 1: other night just relentlessly attacking the offensive glass. They've now

547
00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:39,280
Speaker 1: won three games in a row, all without Tyrese Haliburton.

548
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:42,720
Speaker 1: Pascal Siakam in the sixth game span is averaging twenty

549
00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,280
Speaker 1: one points, eight rebounds, and six assists on fifty nine

550
00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,120
Speaker 1: percent from the field thirty nine percent from three to two.

551
00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:51,040
Speaker 1: It's giving them a legit shot creation. So far in

552
00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:54,520
Speaker 1: six games for the Pacers, Siakams ran sixty pick and rolls,

553
00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:58,480
Speaker 1: ISOs and post ups, including passes, leading to eighty points

554
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:01,880
Speaker 1: eighty one point three three points per possession. I talked

555
00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:05,679
Speaker 1: about this before the trade, but Pascal was having one

556
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,359
Speaker 1: of his best shot creation seasons of his career in

557
00:27:08,359 --> 00:27:11,159
Speaker 1: Toronto before coming over, especially out of the post. And

558
00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:14,360
Speaker 1: so he's come over and brought that extra element immediately.

559
00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:16,680
Speaker 1: One other guy I wanted to shout out was Andrew Nemhart.

560
00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:19,800
Speaker 1: It's kind of stepped into that primary shot creator role

561
00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:22,400
Speaker 1: from the perimeter or from the guard position. I should say,

562
00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:25,239
Speaker 1: since Tyre's Halliburton got hurt. Here's the thing, Like, like

563
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,800
Speaker 1: Andrew Nemhart's good. I broke down a game last year,

564
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:31,800
Speaker 1: if you guys remember against the Warriors where he, like

565
00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:33,920
Speaker 1: I want to say, he ran something like thirty pick

566
00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:35,840
Speaker 1: and rolls in a game that led to like fifty points.

567
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:39,280
Speaker 1: Like he just utterly picked apart the Golden State Warriors

568
00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:41,560
Speaker 1: in a game like he can he can play, and

569
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:44,399
Speaker 1: it's just a team that's loaded up with guards, and

570
00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:46,560
Speaker 1: so he's been squeezed from time to time. But like

571
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:48,960
Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of talk about like whether or

572
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:52,240
Speaker 1: not Tyrese Haliburton is as valuable as people think, because

573
00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:55,080
Speaker 1: the Pacers have looked good without him from time to time.

574
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:56,720
Speaker 1: And it's like, how about we just credit the fact

575
00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:58,719
Speaker 1: that they're really deep at guard, and so when they

576
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:01,600
Speaker 1: suffer an injury at guard, another really good guard waiting

577
00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:04,320
Speaker 1: to step into that slot. And also, like they're seven

578
00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:06,399
Speaker 1: and six without Tyrs Aliberton this year, it's not like

579
00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:09,080
Speaker 1: they're killing people. Also, Pascal Siakam is awesome and has

580
00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:11,080
Speaker 1: gone a long way towards helping them on that front,

581
00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:13,760
Speaker 1: as they've gone three to zero in their last three games.

582
00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:17,680
Speaker 1: Number nine, the Philadelphia seventy six Ers. I was really

583
00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:19,840
Speaker 1: high on the Sixers after their six game winning streak.

584
00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,480
Speaker 1: They beat Sacramento, they beat Houston, they beat Denver in

585
00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:24,480
Speaker 1: that impressive game where Joel and Bid kind of shut

586
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:27,439
Speaker 1: down the Nuggets offense down the stretch, and they beat Orlando,

587
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:30,400
Speaker 1: but then they went into Indiana and laid an egg

588
00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:35,000
Speaker 1: and then they late scratched every one against Denver. And look,

589
00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:38,240
Speaker 1: I understand that Embiid's Embiid fans kind of feel like

590
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:41,240
Speaker 1: there's a narrative here and that the narrative isn't necessarily fair,

591
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:45,120
Speaker 1: But like, guys, and Bead's not doing himself any favors

592
00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:48,480
Speaker 1: on this front. Like last year, Joel Embiid played in

593
00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:53,080
Speaker 1: thirteen straight games before sitting out in Denver, and then

594
00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:56,400
Speaker 1: immediately played in the next five games, So he played

595
00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:59,400
Speaker 1: in eighteen out of nineteen games. In the one he

596
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:02,160
Speaker 1: sat out was the game in Denver. This year, he

597
00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:07,680
Speaker 1: plays in six straight games, including hunting points in a

598
00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:11,360
Speaker 1: seventy point night against the San Antonio Spurs, and then goes, oh, well,

599
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:13,400
Speaker 1: I'm resting my knee. I'm gonna sit out against Denver.

600
00:29:14,280 --> 00:29:17,440
Speaker 1: Like he told Jokic he'd see him there. He said

601
00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:19,680
Speaker 1: so in his postgame presser after they won in Philly.

602
00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:23,840
Speaker 1: He wasn't on the injury report before the game. Shamsrachrani

603
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:26,080
Speaker 1: reported fifteen minutes before the game he was not on

604
00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:29,840
Speaker 1: the injury report. The Sixers on social media were advertising

605
00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:32,640
Speaker 1: the matchup as Jokis vs. MBID and then he sat out.

606
00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:35,720
Speaker 1: They're almost certainly going to get fined for it. And again,

607
00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 1: like when when you're talking about the narrative, If you're

608
00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:42,240
Speaker 1: gonna gun for seventy points against the Spurs and then

609
00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:44,240
Speaker 1: sit out against Denver, saying we want to make sure

610
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:46,400
Speaker 1: his knee is ready for the playoffs, you're gonna get

611
00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:48,040
Speaker 1: the side eye from a lot of people. You just

612
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:52,320
Speaker 1: are It's completely fair criticism. And also, I mean this

613
00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:55,880
Speaker 1: team kind of needed a signature win. They're twenty nine

614
00:29:55,880 --> 00:29:59,880
Speaker 1: to fifteen, but they played a comically easy schedule. Just

615
00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:02,440
Speaker 1: ten of those twenty nine wins were against teams that

616
00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:04,200
Speaker 1: are five hundred are better. As of right now, they've

617
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:07,520
Speaker 1: played the third easiest schedule in the league per opponent

618
00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:10,239
Speaker 1: win percentage. Those ten wins against five hundred are better

619
00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:14,040
Speaker 1: teams ranks sixteenth in the NBA. They are also just

620
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,120
Speaker 1: one in four on the road against teams in my

621
00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:20,320
Speaker 1: contender list, with their one win being against the young

622
00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:23,760
Speaker 1: and tiny Oklahoma City Thunder. So like they needed this

623
00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:27,400
Speaker 1: kind of like big road win to kind of just

624
00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:29,320
Speaker 1: almost as like a test, like it would have been

625
00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:31,719
Speaker 1: a great test for them, and they punted it and

626
00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:33,360
Speaker 1: it just left a bad taste in my mouth. So

627
00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:35,960
Speaker 1: I have the Sixers down at number nine right now.

628
00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:39,440
Speaker 1: Number eight the Cleveland Cavaliers. They've won nine of their

629
00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:42,560
Speaker 1: last ten games, including two wins over the Bucks and

630
00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:44,760
Speaker 1: a couple of other dominant road wins against the Atlanta

631
00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:47,760
Speaker 1: Hawks and the Orlando Magic. They're number one in defense

632
00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:50,840
Speaker 1: and number one in net rating by a mile. Over

633
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:53,520
Speaker 1: that ten game stretch, the defense has been super impressive,

634
00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:57,120
Speaker 1: Isaacacoro Max screws are competing at the point of attack.

635
00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,520
Speaker 1: Dean Wade has been excellent in off bassage suations and

636
00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:03,360
Speaker 1: especially in switches. Donovan Mitchell has had some of the

637
00:31:03,360 --> 00:31:06,240
Speaker 1: best closeouts I've ever seen from him in his NBA career.

638
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:08,440
Speaker 1: He looks locked in on the defensive end. And then

639
00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:12,120
Speaker 1: Jared Allen is this super versatile big. Honestly, like they're

640
00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:14,160
Speaker 1: not the most talented team in the world with Evan

641
00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:16,880
Speaker 1: Mobley and Darius Garland out of the lineup, but the

642
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:20,120
Speaker 1: lineup is much more synergistic now, Like it actually falls

643
00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:22,560
Speaker 1: in line with my kind of like belief system surrounding

644
00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:26,880
Speaker 1: the whole, Like, uh, you know, like normal basketball lineup

645
00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:31,040
Speaker 1: type of construction, because you have athleticism in the backcourt,

646
00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:33,080
Speaker 1: you have a perimeter forge, you have an interior four.

647
00:31:33,200 --> 00:31:35,480
Speaker 1: Like it just it's all lined up a lot better

648
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,080
Speaker 1: now because you have you just have guys kind of

649
00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,600
Speaker 1: in all of the needed positions to construct a basketball team,

650
00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:43,280
Speaker 1: especially on the defensive end of the floor. It just

651
00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:45,640
Speaker 1: looked different when you were constantly running out there with

652
00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:48,920
Speaker 1: two small guards, right, And I mean, like the Bucks

653
00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:52,080
Speaker 1: really wanted to win that last game in Milwaukee. They

654
00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:54,960
Speaker 1: really wanted to win that one, and and they just

655
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:56,760
Speaker 1: beat the Cash just went in there and beat them

656
00:31:56,880 --> 00:31:59,479
Speaker 1: and shut them down on offense. Like four different guys

657
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:02,440
Speaker 1: got stops on an island against Damian Lillard. They were

658
00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:04,640
Speaker 1: constantly building a wall in front of Giannis and making

659
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:06,680
Speaker 1: him into a passer. It was a really impressive win.

660
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:10,880
Speaker 1: The Calves are good. I have Carter Rodriguez from the

661
00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:13,960
Speaker 1: Chase Down Pod coming on the show on Wednesday for

662
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:16,120
Speaker 1: a deep dive on the Cleveland Cavaliers. So Cavs fans,

663
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:18,040
Speaker 1: make sure you're around on Wednesday. That should be fun,

664
00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:21,520
Speaker 1: all right. Number seven, the Milwaukee Bucks. They're four and

665
00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:23,800
Speaker 1: two since our last rankings. They beat the Calves once

666
00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:27,080
Speaker 1: and had a dominant win over a reeling Pelicans team.

667
00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:29,920
Speaker 1: But I thought the Calves losses shined a light on

668
00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:32,280
Speaker 1: some of their issues. We've talked a lot about their

669
00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:34,120
Speaker 1: point of attack defense, but I want to focus on

670
00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:36,760
Speaker 1: two other issues that have been popping up. One their

671
00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:41,720
Speaker 1: transition defense. Cleveland exposed their lack of transition defense in

672
00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:45,440
Speaker 1: their last two losses. They scored sixty seven points in

673
00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:49,840
Speaker 1: transition in those two games. Constantly bad floor balance, constantly

674
00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:52,400
Speaker 1: bad principles like not getting matched up, not communicating, not

675
00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:56,240
Speaker 1: sprinting back. Most importantly, they've looked slow in transition. You

676
00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:59,160
Speaker 1: can really see their lack of footspeed beyond Giannis in

677
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:01,400
Speaker 1: the lineup. It's been a huge problem for them. And

678
00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:05,680
Speaker 1: then secondly, another Dame stinker. In the last loss in Cleveland,

679
00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:07,720
Speaker 1: he couldn't beat anyone off the dribble unless it was

680
00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:10,280
Speaker 1: Sam Merrill. He kept having to settle for these tough,

681
00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:12,360
Speaker 1: contested jump shots. I talk a lot about this like

682
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:15,800
Speaker 1: push and pull when it comes to on ball scoring.

683
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:18,200
Speaker 1: Like if you're the defender and I'm the offensive player,

684
00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:21,200
Speaker 1: and you're terrified of my pull up jump shot and

685
00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:23,479
Speaker 1: you're terrified of my ability to beat you off the dribble,

686
00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:26,200
Speaker 1: that's the perfect situation because then you're gonna have to

687
00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:27,840
Speaker 1: either play up and I'm going right by you, or

688
00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:30,160
Speaker 1: you're playing off and I'm knocking down the jump shot right.

689
00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:33,280
Speaker 1: But like, let's say my jumper is not going in

690
00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:36,000
Speaker 1: now all of a sudden, even if I'm an outstanding

691
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:40,200
Speaker 1: driver to the basket, You're gonna start giving space and

692
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:41,840
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be able to have a hard time like

693
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:44,680
Speaker 1: finding those angles and you're seeing that kind of go

694
00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:48,000
Speaker 1: both ways for Dame. He's not making these pull up

695
00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:49,880
Speaker 1: jump shots, so guys are giving him a little bit

696
00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:52,360
Speaker 1: more space. He's not as quick as he used to be,

697
00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:54,200
Speaker 1: so is he's starting to make those downhill moves. Guys

698
00:33:54,200 --> 00:33:57,120
Speaker 1: are beating him to spots, and you're seeing it manifest

699
00:33:57,160 --> 00:33:59,960
Speaker 1: in the numbers over the course of this eighteen game stretch.

700
00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:03,760
Speaker 1: This over the course of Dame's last eighteen games, excuse me,

701
00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:07,960
Speaker 1: twenty three point eight points per game on below forty

702
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:11,560
Speaker 1: percent from the field and thirty percent from three an

703
00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:15,279
Speaker 1: eighteen game stretch, and we're we're almost halfway through that.

704
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:18,279
Speaker 1: We are over halfway through the season now. And to

705
00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:20,640
Speaker 1: put it simply, the Bucks will not win the title

706
00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:23,640
Speaker 1: unless they get the Dame from last year, and they

707
00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:25,520
Speaker 1: need some other stuff to go right as well. But

708
00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:27,480
Speaker 1: they need Dame to be better than he has been.

709
00:34:27,520 --> 00:34:30,080
Speaker 1: He has not been very good this year. Number six,

710
00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:34,239
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Timberwolves just two and three in their last

711
00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:38,080
Speaker 1: five games, just dropped games to Charlotte and San Antonio. Now,

712
00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:41,040
Speaker 1: some of this, I should say, most of this is

713
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:43,840
Speaker 1: just the letdown after getting through the tough part of

714
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:46,240
Speaker 1: their schedule, right like they get through this insane stretch

715
00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:49,200
Speaker 1: where they play like twenty like something crazy, like sixteen

716
00:34:49,239 --> 00:34:51,960
Speaker 1: seventeen straight games against really good teams. And they did

717
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:54,840
Speaker 1: really well in that stretch, and then you kind of

718
00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:57,759
Speaker 1: like you're like, Okay, we're good, we feel accomplished, and

719
00:34:57,800 --> 00:35:00,320
Speaker 1: then you just exhale, right like you exhale. The problem

720
00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:02,680
Speaker 1: is the NBA so damn talented that they'll make you

721
00:35:02,719 --> 00:35:06,480
Speaker 1: pay for that. Charlotte has players Brandon Miller is cooking

722
00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:08,879
Speaker 1: right now, and he lit them up. LaMelo Ball picked

723
00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:10,799
Speaker 1: them apart. He had like thirteen assists in that game.

724
00:35:11,080 --> 00:35:14,000
Speaker 1: Victor women Yama and Devin Vessala are hoopers, Like if

725
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:16,200
Speaker 1: you don't bring it against the Spurs, they can beat you,

726
00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:18,440
Speaker 1: and so like a lot of this is like effort,

727
00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:22,040
Speaker 1: But the concerning part is their offense. My main concern

728
00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:23,960
Speaker 1: with the Wolves all season has been their ability to

729
00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:27,839
Speaker 1: function offensively in a slow down environment, especially in that

730
00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:30,879
Speaker 1: like kind of playoff type of environment, and the two

731
00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:32,360
Speaker 1: things that we look at to kind of track that

732
00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:34,719
Speaker 1: are like half court offense and clutch offense. That's the

733
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:39,240
Speaker 1: closest thing in the NBA regular season to the playoffs,

734
00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:41,399
Speaker 1: and they've been a mediocre half court offense this year,

735
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:44,680
Speaker 1: and they've been a mediocre clutch offense this year, and

736
00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:47,800
Speaker 1: especially as of late, they've been really bad in clutch

737
00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:51,680
Speaker 1: situations on offense. They're one in three in clutch situations

738
00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:54,399
Speaker 1: just in this five game stretch. Just the ninety two

739
00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:59,000
Speaker 1: point one offensive rating in those clutch situations for the

740
00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:02,319
Speaker 1: season just to one oh eight point nine. That's not good.

741
00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:05,439
Speaker 1: That's seventy five minutes a slow down end of game

742
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:08,400
Speaker 1: basketball where they have not been very good offensively. Like

743
00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:12,000
Speaker 1: I said, Mike Conley is an older skill guard and

744
00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:13,799
Speaker 1: he was out for two of those games. They depend

745
00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:15,120
Speaker 1: on him a lot, but at the same time, he's

746
00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:17,960
Speaker 1: an older skill guard. Anthony Edwards is a superstar in

747
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:20,960
Speaker 1: the making, but he's very very young, and young players

748
00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:24,440
Speaker 1: struggle with decision making. And then Carl Towns is a

749
00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:28,000
Speaker 1: notorious poor decision maker in these types of situations. So

750
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:30,200
Speaker 1: it really doesn't matter how good their defense is or

751
00:36:30,239 --> 00:36:33,480
Speaker 1: what the the other advantages they have if when they

752
00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:36,520
Speaker 1: get into the slowdown environment, they can't execute as well

753
00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:38,880
Speaker 1: as the other great teams around the league. It's been

754
00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:41,080
Speaker 1: a consistent issue. It has been an issue in this

755
00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:44,000
Speaker 1: stretch the defense is real and it's always gonna give

756
00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:46,600
Speaker 1: them a chance to win games. But they will fet

757
00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:50,279
Speaker 1: they will face much better half court execution teams than them,

758
00:36:50,440 --> 00:36:52,120
Speaker 1: and that could and that could end up being what

759
00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:56,799
Speaker 1: gets them beat Number five. The New York Knicks six

760
00:36:56,840 --> 00:36:59,360
Speaker 1: and one since our last rankings, twelve and two in

761
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:01,480
Speaker 1: their last four team games, tied to the Clippers for

762
00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:03,840
Speaker 1: the best record in the league over that span, seventh

763
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:06,719
Speaker 1: in offense, first in defense, and first and rebounding one

764
00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:08,759
Speaker 1: ugly loss of the Orlando Magic in there where they

765
00:37:08,840 --> 00:37:11,319
Speaker 1: kind of lost in a physical game and some ugly

766
00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:13,560
Speaker 1: moments down the stretch of that game, but back to

767
00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:17,040
Speaker 1: back dominant wins over the Eastern and Western Conference defending

768
00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:21,319
Speaker 1: champions in the Miami Heat in the Denver Nuggets, og

769
00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:23,960
Speaker 1: and Andobi and Dante DiVincenzo are dominating at the point

770
00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:27,200
Speaker 1: of attack. Defensively, Jalen Brunson and Julius Randall are bringing

771
00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:30,600
Speaker 1: like a physical imposition on offense. Although Julius Randall dislocated

772
00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:33,279
Speaker 1: his shoulder, Hopefully he's okay. But they're wearing teams down.

773
00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:35,960
Speaker 1: They're a really, really good team. I think I think

774
00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:38,200
Speaker 1: the Knicks are one of those teams where like I

775
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:41,600
Speaker 1: don't think they can win the conference necessarily, but the

776
00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:45,560
Speaker 1: teams that are above them that have flaws to exploit.

777
00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:48,400
Speaker 1: Like I would not be surprised if New York knocked

778
00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:50,719
Speaker 1: off a Milwaukee, I would not be surprised if New

779
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:53,840
Speaker 1: York knocked off of Philly. They have the talent to

780
00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:56,480
Speaker 1: do so, and those teams have flaws. That's really just

781
00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:59,080
Speaker 1: when they get to the top top tier of the NBA,

782
00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:01,560
Speaker 1: where I think they would run into some issues, just

783
00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:04,960
Speaker 1: in terms of firepower. Number four, the Oklahoma City Thunder

784
00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:08,680
Speaker 1: mixed results since our last rankings. They had impressive road

785
00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:11,040
Speaker 1: wins at Minnesota and at New Orleans, but they got

786
00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:13,719
Speaker 1: beat by the veteran Laker and Clippers teams, and then

787
00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:16,319
Speaker 1: they got manhandled by Jalen Duran and the Pistons without

788
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:18,880
Speaker 1: Kid Cunningham last night. What a weird game that was.

789
00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:22,000
Speaker 1: The offense is sputtering their nineteenth in offense over this

790
00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:25,560
Speaker 1: eight game span. Basically, everybody that's not Shay Gilders, Alexander

791
00:38:25,719 --> 00:38:29,960
Speaker 1: or Jalen Williams is struggling, Chet is slumping, Josh Giddey

792
00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:33,640
Speaker 1: is slumping, Loudort is slumping. But in spite of all that,

793
00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:36,520
Speaker 1: they're five and four versus my top five contenders, and

794
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:38,839
Speaker 1: they're the number one seed in the West, so they're

795
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:40,680
Speaker 1: holding down the five spot for me, excuse me, the

796
00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:44,200
Speaker 1: four spot for me for right now. Number three the

797
00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:49,200
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics dropping down from number one. Another disappointing loss

798
00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:51,759
Speaker 1: and a major in a major game, they got dominated

799
00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:53,680
Speaker 1: by the Clippers. On the tail, the Clippers run a

800
00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:56,320
Speaker 1: back to back and they get dominated. They have three

801
00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:58,680
Speaker 1: losses in their last ten games. Here's how they break down.

802
00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:01,360
Speaker 1: They are seven and zero against teams that are outside

803
00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:04,040
Speaker 1: of my top five contenders. They are zero to three

804
00:39:04,239 --> 00:39:06,680
Speaker 1: against teams that are in my top five contenders, including

805
00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:09,680
Speaker 1: two of those losses at home. And even worse, what

806
00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:11,960
Speaker 1: has been my main concern for the Celtics team all

807
00:39:12,040 --> 00:39:17,440
Speaker 1: year offensive process. Can they make Can they consistently hunt

808
00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:20,760
Speaker 1: and take and make the right shots against the best

809
00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:23,879
Speaker 1: teams in the league. They had one hundred and two

810
00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:27,000
Speaker 1: points against the Milwaukee Bucks, they had one hundred points

811
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:30,080
Speaker 1: against Denver. They had ninety six points against the Clippers.

812
00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:32,800
Speaker 1: So they have only three losses in their last ten games,

813
00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:36,200
Speaker 1: all against my top contenders, all of them. The offense sputtered.

814
00:39:36,800 --> 00:39:41,120
Speaker 1: That's concerning. It's very concerning. Jason Tatum last five games,

815
00:39:41,160 --> 00:39:44,280
Speaker 1: eight for twenty six on pull up threes. That's thirty

816
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:46,520
Speaker 1: one percent. So we had a brief stretch where they

817
00:39:46,520 --> 00:39:49,120
Speaker 1: were going in and it looked great and everything was great,

818
00:39:49,440 --> 00:39:51,680
Speaker 1: and now we're back where we've been the previous three years.

819
00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:55,600
Speaker 1: And again, guys like twenty six of them in five games.

820
00:39:55,680 --> 00:39:58,440
Speaker 1: This is a third of his shot diet. A third

821
00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:01,359
Speaker 1: of Jason Tatum's shots are like pull up threes off

822
00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:03,879
Speaker 1: the dribble that he makes about a third of the time,

823
00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:06,880
Speaker 1: if not less, And so like it just was it

824
00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:09,719
Speaker 1: was really discouraging. And again, like that's the thing with

825
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:11,560
Speaker 1: Celtics fans. I have them all the time in my comments.

826
00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:12,960
Speaker 1: They'll be like, why didn't you say anything after we

827
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:14,680
Speaker 1: beat the shit out of Miami or why blah blah

828
00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:16,360
Speaker 1: blah blah, And like again, I tell you, guys, like

829
00:40:17,080 --> 00:40:19,040
Speaker 1: it's in the schedule. I schedule the games I'm going

830
00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:22,799
Speaker 1: to cover, and I primarily schedule Celtics games when they're

831
00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:25,080
Speaker 1: playing the best teams and they keep losing to the

832
00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:29,520
Speaker 1: best teams, and when they do, it's the same stuff

833
00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:32,120
Speaker 1: that gets them beat the other times they lose to

834
00:40:32,160 --> 00:40:36,680
Speaker 1: the best teams, and so like bizarrely enough, seven and

835
00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:39,360
Speaker 1: three in their last ten games and a super super

836
00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:43,080
Speaker 1: concerning stretch of Boston Celtic basketball. They seem super super

837
00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:47,880
Speaker 1: dependent on chrisops Porzingis as well. There's just again still

838
00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:49,680
Speaker 1: have them as number two in my contenders list because

839
00:40:49,680 --> 00:40:51,680
Speaker 1: everyone else has a bunch of issues too. And like

840
00:40:51,719 --> 00:40:53,840
Speaker 1: I said at the start of this list, today's a

841
00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:56,439
Speaker 1: very negative version of the power rankings. But I thought

842
00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:59,080
Speaker 1: it was a concerning couple of weeks for the Boston Celtics.

843
00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:02,480
Speaker 1: Number two Nuggets three and two on their five game

844
00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:05,160
Speaker 1: road trip, big wins over Boston and Indie, tough losses

845
00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:07,920
Speaker 1: to New York and Philly teams with real size and

846
00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:10,960
Speaker 1: physicality can give Denver some issues, especially when Denver's not

847
00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:14,839
Speaker 1: locked in, like Embiid's denial of Jokic really bothered their

848
00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:18,359
Speaker 1: offense when they were down in Philly. New York's athleticism

849
00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:21,600
Speaker 1: and passing lanes caused Jokic to turn the ball over

850
00:41:21,719 --> 00:41:23,919
Speaker 1: uncharacteristically a lot. Like you could tell like the big,

851
00:41:23,960 --> 00:41:26,560
Speaker 1: physical teams can give them some issues. But I still

852
00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:28,560
Speaker 1: think this is the best team in basketball, and I

853
00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:30,680
Speaker 1: think in the mix of all these teams struggling, I

854
00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:32,440
Speaker 1: just trust them the most, So I'm keeping them at

855
00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:36,520
Speaker 1: number two. Number one the Los Angeles Clippers. They're undefeated

856
00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:40,399
Speaker 1: since our last list, thirteen and two in their last

857
00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:42,960
Speaker 1: fifteen games. Number one offense in the league over that spanned,

858
00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:45,840
Speaker 1: Number six defense, doing a ton of damage on the

859
00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:49,440
Speaker 1: offensive glass. Two. Their perimeter athleticism is a factor here, Like,

860
00:41:51,640 --> 00:41:56,879
Speaker 1: they are really athletic on the perimeter, between Terrence Mann

861
00:41:57,040 --> 00:42:00,520
Speaker 1: and Norman Powell and Russell Westbrook and Kawhi, Leonard and George,

862
00:42:00,520 --> 00:42:03,480
Speaker 1: Like they just bring wave after wave of perimeter athleticism

863
00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:06,840
Speaker 1: in a league that has so much more jump shooting,

864
00:42:07,080 --> 00:42:09,560
Speaker 1: there's all these long rebounds, and so they can really

865
00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:12,960
Speaker 1: do a lot of damage on the offensive glass just

866
00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:17,760
Speaker 1: with their perimeter athleticism. And again, like they're a bottom

867
00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:20,920
Speaker 1: ten defensive rebounding team even over this span, So like

868
00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:22,640
Speaker 1: it's important for them to try to kind of like

869
00:42:22,719 --> 00:42:24,080
Speaker 1: make up for some of that on the other end

870
00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:27,000
Speaker 1: of the floor. It's been interesting an incredibly impressive ass

871
00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:29,600
Speaker 1: kicking of the Celtics in Boston. Kawhi and Paul George

872
00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:32,440
Speaker 1: just thoroughly outplayed Jason Tatum and Jylen Brown. They are

873
00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:35,200
Speaker 1: looking flat out scary, and I'm ending the show like

874
00:42:35,239 --> 00:42:39,080
Speaker 1: this today, I am moving my contenders again. I'm taking

875
00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:41,319
Speaker 1: Milwaukee off of that three spot and I'm moving the

876
00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:44,320
Speaker 1: Clippers up to number three. So I'm going Denver Boston

877
00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:48,400
Speaker 1: Clippers than the Bucks. They just have fewer question marks

878
00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:50,920
Speaker 1: in my opinion, and they went from going zero to

879
00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:52,800
Speaker 1: six in their first six games after the hard and

880
00:42:52,840 --> 00:42:54,880
Speaker 1: Trade to being number one in our power rankings. Shout

881
00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:57,160
Speaker 1: out to the LA Clippers. All right, guys, that is

882
00:42:57,200 --> 00:42:59,480
Speaker 1: all I have for today. We'll be back tomorrow with

883
00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:02,120
Speaker 1: a breakdown of some games from tonight's slave. We got

884
00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:04,799
Speaker 1: a bunch of really good games tonight. I look forward

885
00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:07,120
Speaker 1: to seeing you guys. Then. I appreciate the sport. See

886
00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:36,200
Speaker 1: you tomorrow. The volume