Speaker 1: The volume. We're this close to crowning a new NBA champ,
Speaker 1: and with the action heating up on the court, it's
Speaker 1: even hotter. At DraftKings sports Book, an official sports betting
Speaker 1: partner of the NBA. There's only so many games left,
Speaker 1: and Draftking Sportsbook has you covered with same game parlays,
Speaker 1: live betting odds, boosts in so much more. Don't miss
Speaker 1: out or you'll have to wait until next NBA season
Speaker 1: to place your bets. It's super easy for first timers
Speaker 1: to get started. Try betting on something simple like picking
Speaker 1: a team to win. Go to the Draftking Sportsbook app,
Speaker 1: select your squad, and place your first bet. It's that simple.
Speaker 1: The championship odds right now as we head into the
Speaker 1: conference finals according to DraftKings, Boston's at minus one point fifty,
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves at plus two to seventy five, the Mavericks
Speaker 1: at plus five hundred, and the Indiana Pacers a long
Speaker 1: shot at plus twenty five hundred. New to DraftKings, listen up.
Speaker 1: New customers can get a no sweat bet up to
Speaker 1: fifteen hundred bucks. Just deposit at least five bucks and
Speaker 1: you'll get a bonus bet back equal to your first
Speaker 1: bet if it doesn't hit alough the DraftKings sportsbook gap
Speaker 1: now and use code hoops that's h oops. That's code
Speaker 1: hoops for new customers to get a no sweat bet
Speaker 1: up to fifteen hundred bucks if your first bet doesn't
Speaker 1: hit only on DraftKings, the Crown is yours. Gambling problem
Speaker 1: called one eight hundred gambler or in West Virginia, visit
Speaker 1: www dot one eight hundred gambler dot net. In New York,
Speaker 1: call eight seven seven eight hope and why, or text
Speaker 1: hope and why to four six seven three sixty nine.
Speaker 1: In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling called eight
Speaker 1: eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or
Speaker 1: visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of
Speaker 1: Boothill Casino and resort In Kansas twenty one plus age
Speaker 1: varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. One no sweat bet
Speaker 1: per new customer issued as one bonus bet based on
Speaker 1: amount of initial losing bet. Bonus bets expire one hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty eight hours after issuance. See DKNG dot co
Speaker 1: slash bball for l eligibility, wagering and deposit restrictions. Terms
Speaker 1: and responsible gambling resources. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight.
Speaker 1: You're at the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody. Oh, all of
Speaker 1: you guys are having a great week so far. We're
Speaker 1: gonna get an instant reaction in for Eastern Conference Finals
Speaker 1: Game two as Boston goes up to oh On the
Speaker 1: Indiana Pacers. Gonna break that game down from the perspective
Speaker 1: of both teams, and then we're gonna do a mail
Speaker 1: bag at the end of the show today. So drop
Speaker 1: as many questions as you guys like. Let's have some fun,
Speaker 1: Let's go all over the place, drop some questions in
Speaker 1: the chat, and Paul, our producer, is gonna text them
Speaker 1: over to me and we'll do a mail bag at
Speaker 1: the tail end of the show. You guys know the
Speaker 1: Joe before we get started. Subscribe to a brand of
Speaker 1: YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos.
Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason Lts. You guys
Speaker 1: don't misshow announcements. Don't forget about a podcast feed where
Speaker 1: if you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight, then keep
Speaker 1: dropping mailbag questions in those YouTube comments. We can keep
Speaker 1: hitting them throughout the rest of the postseason. Last not
Speaker 1: at least before started. I want to talk to you
Speaker 1: guys about game time. They've got an amazing ticket buying experience.
Speaker 1: I had a great experience with them earlier this year
Speaker 1: as I went to McHale Center to watch the University
Speaker 1: of Arizona men's basketball team play. Got a last minute seat,
Speaker 1: got a great deal. I knew exactly what I was
Speaker 1: getting myself into when I showed up. That's the best
Speaker 1: part about the experience. There's no hidden pricing. They've all
Speaker 1: in pricings. You know exactly what you're paying when you
Speaker 1: go to check out. You get a good picture of
Speaker 1: what your seat looks like before you show up to
Speaker 1: the arenas. You know what your money's getting you, and
Speaker 1: it's not convoluted. You can check out in as few
Speaker 1: as two taps. It's fun watching games on TV, but
Speaker 1: nothing beats being there in person to see these guys,
Speaker 1: and nothing beats intense, high stakes basketball. So get out
Speaker 1: to the arena to see these guys. See Anthony Edwards,
Speaker 1: C Tyres Halliburton, see Luka, Dancid, c Jason Tatum. Make
Speaker 1: sure you guys get out there and check it out.
Speaker 1: They also have things like flash deals and zone deals.
Speaker 1: I like the Zone deal idea. You just pick a section,
Speaker 1: game Time chooses the seats for you within that section.
Speaker 1: You get extra savings. Take the guesswork out of buying
Speaker 1: professional basketball tickets with game Time. Download the game Time app,
Speaker 1: created account and use code Hoops for twenty dollars off
Speaker 1: your first purchase terms apply again, create an account, redeem
Speaker 1: code Hoops. That's Hops for twenty dollars off. Download game
Speaker 1: Time today, last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right,
Speaker 1: let's talk some basketball. So Celtics won this game with defense.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, it kind of went more or less
Speaker 1: like I expected it too. After watching the film from
Speaker 1: Game one again, as I talked about, I thought in
Speaker 1: Game one that Boston kind of got outplayed and specifically
Speaker 1: just wasn't sharp on the defensive end in a bunch
Speaker 1: of different phases. We went over a film session yesterday
Speaker 1: where I kind of showed you guys, the Specifics just
Speaker 1: really struggling with communication and execution in their switches. So
Speaker 1: anytime Indiana would just run multiple interchanges, you know, and
Speaker 1: they Indiana go's fast. I showed some examples in the
Speaker 1: film session were like in a four second span or
Speaker 1: in a six second span, they'd get to like three
Speaker 1: or four d double handoffs, or like three or four
Speaker 1: different cuts and screens in different interchanges, right, And like
Speaker 1: Boston just wasn't very sharp there. And then the second
Speaker 1: piece of it was the pick and roll. They really
Speaker 1: really struggled handling Tyres Halliburton and Miles Turner in pick
Speaker 1: and roll.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: And so one of the things I talked about was,
Speaker 1: they get this win in the win column, but they're
Speaker 1: also gonna get embarrassed when they go look at the film.
Speaker 1: And so they should come into game two with the
Speaker 1: requisite level of energy and just kind of passion to
Speaker 1: rectify that situation.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: And Like, it was a little rough in the first
Speaker 1: quarter tonight, specifically when it came to handling the switches,
Speaker 1: but then they settled down. They had this awesome defensive
Speaker 1: run to start the second quarter. In particular, in that run,
Speaker 1: that twenty to zero run that spanned the end of
Speaker 1: the first quarter into the early second quarter, they went
Speaker 1: from down twenty seven to twenty two to up forty
Speaker 1: two to twenty seven. And in that span, Indiana was
Speaker 1: trying to attack their switching by just throwing the ball
Speaker 1: down to the post. And their guards were holding up
Speaker 1: in the posts, they were fronting the posts and forcing turnovers.
Speaker 1: They were getting out in transition. Jalen Brown was just
Speaker 1: unbelievable during that run. He was unbelievable in the entire game.
Speaker 1: And you know, there were a couple points where the
Speaker 1: Pacers kind of made little runs, but Boston seemed to
Speaker 1: be in control throughout. Was very, very different than Game
Speaker 1: one in the sense that I thought Boston just like
Speaker 1: actually asserted themselves thoroughly outplayed Indiana in one in a
Speaker 1: very impressive fashion. Remember the specifics that we talked about
Speaker 1: were communicating and executing switches better, which they did a
Speaker 1: much better job. The second piece was the pick and
Speaker 1: roll piece, right, So the direction that Joe Mizula went,
Speaker 1: which I thought was fascinating. He actually went with Jaylen
Speaker 1: Brown on Miles Turner instead of Jason Tatam, although Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum also spent time on Miles Turner during the game,
Speaker 1: and then they went with Horford on Siakam. And what
Speaker 1: was fascinating about that is it put all of the
Speaker 1: scoring pressure on Siakam both in pick and roll and
Speaker 1: in their switching situations. The main reason why is Boston
Speaker 1: ran a lot of centerless lineups in this game by
Speaker 1: virtue of the wrist injury to Luke Cornett. It was
Speaker 1: a lot of like the four starters plus but with
Speaker 1: Horford off the floor and there'd be Ohheber set in there, right,
Speaker 1: or they did some with Sam Hauser as well, but
Speaker 1: a lot of these like small groups where they did
Speaker 1: a lot of switching. And in those groups that again,
Speaker 1: when you look at Indiana, when Indiana is healthy, and
Speaker 1: when I mean healthy, I mean like the Tyrese Haliburton
Speaker 1: that we saw at the beginning of the season. They
Speaker 1: have two guys that can beat switches, right, because Siakam
Speaker 1: can beat switches and Tyrese Haliburton can beat switches. But
Speaker 1: Tyrese his first step just isn't as quick since he's
Speaker 1: had his hamstring injury. Was kind of starting to get
Speaker 1: it back, and then it seems like he might have
Speaker 1: aggravated it tonight, which is obviously frustrating if you're a
Speaker 1: Pacers fan. But because Siakam is literally their only matchup
Speaker 1: attacking forward that can do damage to switches, it just
Speaker 1: puts all of the scoring pressure on Pascal Siakam, both
Speaker 1: in ball screens and when they'd go to their switching attack,
Speaker 1: and for the most part they did find in ball screens.
Speaker 1: There were a couple of pick and pop threes that
Speaker 1: Pascal Siakam hit in the early third quarter, but other
Speaker 1: than that, like they kind of had that under wraps
Speaker 1: right and so like. As a result, it turned into
Speaker 1: a lot of trying to attack in isolation situations. Like
Speaker 1: I said, the Pacers really tried to force the ball
Speaker 1: into the post, especially in that first half, and they
Speaker 1: just couldn't get any anything going. Siakam was the one
Speaker 1: guy that they were able to get going. And don't
Speaker 1: get me wrong, he had an awesome game. He cooked
Speaker 1: everybody in the post with you know, short little face
Speaker 1: up jumpers, turnaround jumpers, quick driving moves to the basket.
Speaker 1: Like Siakam had an amazing night. But the flip side
Speaker 1: is is because of the fact that you had Horford
Speaker 1: on Siakam and you had Turner with a wing on him,
Speaker 1: and because of the fact that they went to so
Speaker 1: many centerless lineups, it was just a lot of that
Speaker 1: type of ISO attack. It kind of removed the Haliburton
Speaker 1: ball screen from the equation. And he was also kind
Speaker 1: of unaggressive in this game. Which part of that I
Speaker 1: think was the switching. Part of that was probably whatever
Speaker 1: was going on with this hamstring. But even though Siakam
Speaker 1: went off, you pretty much held everyone else in check and.
Speaker 2: Got out of that with the win.
Speaker 1: And again I want to shout out specifically Derek White,
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday, and Oh shaper Set, especially in that twenty
Speaker 1: zero run there that spanned the late first and early second.
Speaker 1: Those guys all held up really really well against massive
Speaker 1: size mismatches in the post and it was a big
Speaker 1: part of how they got so many stops in this game.
Speaker 1: So smart adjustments from Joe Mizzoula in going small and
Speaker 1: putting a keeping Horford on Siakam throughout and then two
Speaker 1: just better execution in their switches led to a much
Speaker 1: better defensive performance and a comfortable win for Boston. On
Speaker 1: the offensive end, literally everything was built around attacking Tyre's Halliburton.
Speaker 1: The vast majority of action that Boston ran in this
Speaker 1: game was two man game with either one of the
Speaker 1: J's and one of the guards, meaning Derek White or
Speaker 1: Drew Holliday. Right when the guards were on the ball,
Speaker 1: it was about getting Tyre's Halliburton to try to navigate
Speaker 1: over the screen and contain a guy like Derek White
Speaker 1: or Drew Holiday on the drive right, spend most of
Speaker 1: the time on Derek White. There was a sequence in
Speaker 1: the third quarter that I thought best demonstrated this, right.
Speaker 2: Both of them were. One of them was on the
Speaker 2: left wing.
Speaker 1: I think one was at the top of the key
Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, but it was Derek White ball
Speaker 1: handler Tatum setting the screen. Nie Smith is on Tatum, right.
Speaker 1: Nie Smith doesn't want us switch off of Tatum. Haliburton's
Speaker 1: chasing over the top because Derek White's an excellent three
Speaker 1: point shooter and he can't just duck underneath the pick.
Speaker 1: He's been torching people with that for that all postseason, right,
Speaker 1: So on the boss grin on the left wing, Nie
Speaker 1: Smith kind of lunges and throws a token little you know,
Speaker 1: kind of like a dig down at at Derek White.
Speaker 1: But then he recovers back to Tatum, and so as
Speaker 1: Haliburton's chasing over the top, Derek White just easily gets
Speaker 1: all the way downhill and gets a layup. Very next possession,
Speaker 1: they run the exact same thing.
Speaker 2: This time.
Speaker 1: Nee Smith is thinking, I gotta help because Derek White
Speaker 1: just got a layup, so he sinks down into the
Speaker 1: lane and they effectively double team Derek White. Derek White
Speaker 1: pitches it back to Jason Tatum, there's a close out
Speaker 1: from the wing. Tatum toasts that guy off the dribble,
Speaker 1: gets in the lane and dunks it. Like essentially, you're
Speaker 1: damned if you do damned if you don't, if you're
Speaker 1: aaron Ne Smith, because you didn't help Derek White got
Speaker 1: a layup, you did help Jason Tatum got a dunk,
Speaker 1: and so like that's kind of the predicament that they're
Speaker 1: in there with Tyree's Halliburton on Derek White. And then
Speaker 1: when the Wings had the ball, so like it like
Speaker 1: think of that as like an inverted ball screen, right,
Speaker 1: So you have a forward essentially running a ball screen
Speaker 1: with a guard setting the screen. If Halliburton hedged, they
Speaker 1: would just try to drag the hedge out as far
Speaker 1: as they could so that it was a tough close out,
Speaker 1: and then Derek White or Drew Holliday would slip out
Speaker 1: of it to the top of the key and they
Speaker 1: get wide open catch and shoot threes out of it.
Speaker 1: Jaylen Brown generated a couple of threes for Derek White
Speaker 1: that way, Tatum generated some threes that way too. They
Speaker 1: just did a really nice job dragging that hedge out.
Speaker 1: And then if they didn't drag the hedge, like if
Speaker 1: they just switched. So like if if Halliburton showed on
Speaker 1: that hedge and then whoever was guarding the forward, whether
Speaker 1: it was aaron Ne Smith or Andrew Nemhard recovers and
Speaker 1: just stays home and just stays home and switches on
Speaker 1: to Derek White or jew Holiday, then Tatum would just
Speaker 1: kind of methodically back Tyres Aliburton down into that fifteen
Speaker 1: foot area and just get to those short range jumpers
Speaker 1: that he can make. And obviously he made a got
Speaker 1: going in that third quarter stretch. Tatum had a rough
Speaker 1: start to this game but had a good finish at
Speaker 1: the end. But like that was really the gist of it.
Speaker 1: Everything for Boston centered around attacking Tyree's Halliburton, either in
Speaker 1: ball screens where he was guarding the guard or in
Speaker 1: inverted ball screens where he had to hedge, and they
Speaker 1: just really don't have an answer for that. And that's
Speaker 1: a big part of Tyre's Aliburton's passivity in this game, right,
Speaker 1: Like you're just you're wearing them out. You're just wearing
Speaker 1: them out by making them work on the defensive end
Speaker 1: the entire game. In general, I just thought the Celtics
Speaker 1: had a really good offensive night in terms of aggression
Speaker 1: towards the rim and decision making when they got there.
Speaker 1: That Like again, like I said at the beginning, they
Speaker 1: got out played in Game one and won. Anyway, that's
Speaker 1: not what happened tonight. The Celtics took care of busit
Speaker 1: light up to their potential and they outclassed the Pacers
Speaker 1: as they should. They're a better team, and they took
Speaker 1: a two zero lead. Jalen Brown was just, I thought,
Speaker 1: just a wrecking ball athlete in this game. He was
Speaker 1: flying around everywhere on defense. He had good on ball possessions.
Speaker 1: He was jumping passing lanes and getting out in transition,
Speaker 1: running his lane in transition. In general, he was flat
Speaker 1: out toasting people off the dribble and getting into the
Speaker 1: lane and drawing multiple bodies and throwing kickout passes. He
Speaker 1: did it in like just straight iso situations. He did
Speaker 1: it a lot of work in semi transition. He had
Speaker 1: this like double crossover move. I think it was on
Speaker 1: Siakam along the left wing when he got all the
Speaker 1: way into the basket, he grabbed a couple of offensive rebounds.
Speaker 2: He had to play early where Aaron E.
Speaker 1: Smith was trying to box him out, but he's just
Speaker 1: smaller and not as strong, and Jalen just kind of
Speaker 1: swum around the baseline, got in there and got a
Speaker 1: little hook shot off in the lane. Again, I thought
Speaker 1: he was the primary driving force of a lot of
Speaker 1: Boston success tonight, and he was the guy that was
Speaker 1: really running the offensive end of that twenty zero run.
Speaker 1: We talked a lot about the guards and the job
Speaker 1: they did on defense, but Jalen Brown was unbelievable on
Speaker 1: offense during that twenty zero run. I thought he just
Speaker 1: completely dominated this basketball game on both ends of the floor.
Speaker 1: So tip of the cap to him. And again they
Speaker 1: needed it because Jason Tatum had a little bit of
Speaker 1: a rough night until the end and Jaylen Brown more
Speaker 1: than made up for it. And then lastly, Derek White
Speaker 1: his ability to run those ball screens with the jas
Speaker 1: and that means like duck under the pick, hit the
Speaker 1: pull up three, chase over the top, get downhill, either
Speaker 1: make decisions or get all the way to the rim
Speaker 1: and finish that. In his ability to run those inverted
Speaker 1: ball screens where he could set a good pick and
Speaker 1: then pop to the three point line and quickly get
Speaker 1: his feet set and shoot or make decisions out of
Speaker 1: it driving the closeout. That is just a huge asset
Speaker 1: to this offense. It felt like every single three he
Speaker 1: hit tonight was huge in terms of the momentum situations
Speaker 1: in the game. Really really impressive performance from Boston on
Speaker 1: both ends of the floor on the Indiana front. So
Speaker 1: Boston has basically solved your offense by virtue of putting
Speaker 1: all of the onus on Siakam to score. That's what
Speaker 1: we talked about earlier, right, Like in he has to
Speaker 1: score it because Horford's in a drop, they're for pressuring
Speaker 1: the rim, and Siakam's popping out to the three point line, right, So,
Speaker 1: like he's got to hit those pick and pop threes.
Speaker 1: He's got to find a way to score if if
Speaker 1: Horford recovers to him on the roll, right, and then
Speaker 1: when they go to when Boston goes small and they
Speaker 1: switch everything, He's the one guy who can consistently get
Speaker 1: quality shots against size mismatches in straight iso situations, right. So,
Speaker 1: like it's a testament to how important his addition was.
Speaker 1: And that's why I love the trade at the time,
Speaker 1: Like I love the idea of like a offensive initiating
Speaker 1: like playmaker in addition to a matchup attacking forward or
Speaker 1: a matchup attacking anything.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: Like that's even why like Kyrie irving alongside Luka Dancics, right,
Speaker 1: because Luca can be the engine of the offense and
Speaker 1: generate all these quality shots, but Kyrie, like he can
Speaker 1: just he can just go get a bucket, right, and
Speaker 1: he can attack specific matchups and just create something out
Speaker 1: of nothing. Same kind of thing with Jamal Murray and
Speaker 1: Nikola Jokich. Jokich is the offensive engine. He runs everything,
Speaker 1: and then you've got this guy that can go get
Speaker 1: a bucket right, And so Siakam is kind of amounted
Speaker 1: to that for Indiana. But it's the reality of the
Speaker 1: limitations of this version of Halliburton, which is back before
Speaker 1: he heard his hamstring at the beginning of the season,
Speaker 1: I thought he was pretty good beating switches, and it's
Speaker 1: because he just was so good the long strides. He
Speaker 1: had a lot of like scooping layups where he'd like
Speaker 1: beat someone off the dribble and then kind of take
Speaker 1: like a little bit of a wide route and go
Speaker 1: up high. He was really good with the floaters, but
Speaker 1: he's just not getting downhill as easily in this playoff
Speaker 1: run as he did before his injury. And so again
Speaker 1: that's the ultimate version of this team. If the Pacers
Speaker 1: are gonna achieve something greater in the future, it's got
Speaker 1: to be both of them. It's got to be Halliburton
Speaker 1: at this like peak version of himself as like a
Speaker 1: scoring playmaker, and then to Pascal Siakam as that matchup
Speaker 1: attacking Forard. Heading back to Indiana, I think they can
Speaker 1: get one based on the strength of their chaotic ball
Speaker 1: and player movement and the crazy pace that they play
Speaker 1: at and the home crowd. Like India's unefeated at home
Speaker 1: in this playoff run right now, but Boston is undefeated
Speaker 1: on the road too, and so like if Boston doesn't relax,
Speaker 1: which by the way, they have a tendency to when
Speaker 1: they get a lead, but like, if Boston doesn't relax,
Speaker 1: like this thing could be over in four, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go ahead and stick. I'm gonna go with Boston in
Speaker 1: five for right now, just simply because I do think
Speaker 1: Indiana has the ability to get one at home on
Speaker 1: the strength of their home crowd. But this could very
Speaker 1: easily be over in four games. Deeply concerning that Tyres
Speaker 1: Halliburton's hamstring has flared up again because they just have
Speaker 1: no shot without him. All right, let's get to the
Speaker 1: mail bag before we get out of here tonight. If
Speaker 1: Haliburton is out, are you worried about Boston facing a
Speaker 1: much tougher team in the finals after coasting through the East.
Speaker 1: Here's the thing, this is the beauty of a seven
Speaker 1: game series. So like, yeah, there's something to be said
Speaker 1: about an adjustment if they go from I mean, the
Speaker 1: main thing is just you're gonna be going up against
Speaker 1: a much better defensive team. Like Cleveland did not have
Speaker 1: the wings to throw at Tatum and Brown, right, Like
Speaker 1: Indiana doesn't really either, Like Aaron E. Smith does a
Speaker 1: good job, but he's kind of undersized, right. Like, same
Speaker 1: thing goes for that first round matchup against the Miami Heat.
Speaker 1: Like with Jimmy Butler out, they just didn't really have
Speaker 1: like the wing athleticism to hang with the Jay's right,
Speaker 1: So like it'll be an adjustment when they get to
Speaker 1: the finals and all of a sudden, it's you know,
Speaker 1: Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards, or it's PJ. Washington and
Speaker 1: Derek Jones junior. Like you're definitely stepping up a level
Speaker 1: in competition. I mean, I don't even think Celtics fans
Speaker 1: would be crazy enough to think that that any of
Speaker 1: these three teams they've played or as good as some
Speaker 1: of these teams out in the Western Conference.
Speaker 2: That said, like Boston's also on that level.
Speaker 1: Like throughout it all, like there's multiple things are true,
Speaker 1: Like has Boston had an easy path through the postseason?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: Is the Eastern Conference substantially weaker than the Western Conference, Yes,
Speaker 1: But Boston is also a Dame good basketball team who's
Speaker 1: every bit as good, if not better than those teams
Speaker 1: in the Western Conference. So like will there be adjustment, Sure,
Speaker 1: but that's the whole purpose of a seven game series.
Speaker 1: And also, like you get rewarded for your success in
Speaker 1: the regular season, Like there was some of its luck,
Speaker 1: Like I thought if you ranked the top five teams
Speaker 1: in the East, the other four after Boston all ended
Speaker 1: up in the other side of the bracket, so they
Speaker 1: only had to face one of those teams, which is
Speaker 1: good fortune. Sure, but like you got that by virtue
Speaker 1: of the success you had in the regular season. Same
Speaker 1: thing goes with the home court advantage piece of it, because,
Speaker 1: like let's say it's an adjustment, but you also have
Speaker 1: home court and home court in the NBA Finals. Whoever
Speaker 1: comes out of the West, it's gonna be a lot
Speaker 1: of guys who have never played in the finals. Whereas
Speaker 1: for Boston, Derek White's been there, Jason Tatum's been there,
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown's been there, Al Horford's been there. They've got
Speaker 1: a lot of guys that have been there before. So,
Speaker 1: like I would argue the home court piece and then
Speaker 1: them having finals experience, while the outside of Kyrie Irving,
Speaker 1: you're just not getting that out of the out of
Speaker 1: the Western Conference piece of it. I think that that
Speaker 1: Boston is gonna be fine in that regard, Like I
Speaker 1: don't think it's gonna come down to Boston adjusting necessarily.
Speaker 1: I do think that that could be a factor, but
Speaker 1: I think it's more likely just going to come down
Speaker 1: to is Boston going to reach their ceiling? Are they
Speaker 1: gonna have good decision making on offense? Are they gonna
Speaker 1: bring consistent defensive effort? Is Jason Tatum gonna be able
Speaker 1: to go toe to toe with whoever the best player
Speaker 1: is that comes out of that Western Conference team. Like,
Speaker 1: if Jason Tatum runs into a Luka Doncic, let's say
Speaker 1: I think Luka Doncis is the second best player in
Speaker 1: the world. Is Tatum gonna be able to win that
Speaker 1: matchup the way that he badly lost, Like because he
Speaker 1: badly lost that matchup against Steph two years ago, right, So,
Speaker 1: Like though, those are the things that I think are
Speaker 1: going to play a much bigger role for Boston than
Speaker 1: the adjustment period. Do you think that part of Tatum's
Speaker 1: inconsistency on offense is that he doesn't have a reliable
Speaker 1: spot that he is comfortable with, for example, the Jokich
Speaker 1: houk shot or the SGA mid range. So I think
Speaker 1: that most of this just comes down to approach for
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum. And what I mean by that is, like,
Speaker 1: I actually do think that Tatum is capable of getting
Speaker 1: to a consistent spot on the floor where he can
Speaker 1: be profoundly efficient consistently on a possession by possession basis.
Speaker 1: For me, that's the block, Like I would love to
Speaker 1: see Tatum just work off the right block, cleared side,
Speaker 1: like that be his like go to spot on the
Speaker 1: floor to operate that That's what I'm hoping for him
Speaker 1: in the in the long run, I think that part
Speaker 1: of his skill development has been overly focused on tough
Speaker 1: shot making. And the thing with tough shot making is
Speaker 1: there's real value in it. There really is. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna sit here and pretend like it doesn't matter, like
Speaker 1: and it's come through for Jason Tatum in a lot
Speaker 1: of big ways over the year.
Speaker 2: I remember I remember him hitting a.
Speaker 1: Huge right shoulder fade away from like twenty feet to
Speaker 1: ice the Bucks in Game six of the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two Eastern Conference Semifinals. Like he's gone to tough shot
Speaker 1: making in situations that have come through for him, and
Speaker 1: there is value. But to me, the value of tough
Speaker 1: shot making is rescue possessions, meaning like there's five seconds
Speaker 1: on the shot clock and I just need to get
Speaker 1: something up late game situations where it's like we're you know,
Speaker 1: we're within you know, fifteen seconds left and I need
Speaker 1: to get a shot, or like they're switching everything and
Speaker 1: we're not getting anything open in our ball and player movement,
Speaker 1: so I just need to be able to get to
Speaker 1: my spot and knock down a shot like those those
Speaker 1: are coverage beaters too, Like if you're going against a
Speaker 1: drop coverage and a guy dies on the pick, Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you need to be able to hit a pull up jumper.
Speaker 1: But like Tatum just leans on him too much, Like
Speaker 1: it's it's pull up jump shots makeup damn near half
Speaker 1: of his shot diet.
Speaker 2: And that's a problem.
Speaker 1: That's that to me is that is leaving meat on
Speaker 1: the bone, that is playing away from your strengths, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like Tatum, I know this is
Speaker 1: a this kind of is a strange comp because Lebron
Speaker 1: and Jason Tatum are very different players. But like Lebron
Speaker 1: developed an over the top shot making game, but his
Speaker 1: best trait was he was bigger and stronger and more
Speaker 1: athletic than everybody, right, And so like the vast majority
Speaker 1: of Lebron's work was done in athleticism based plays, whether
Speaker 1: it was transition attacks, attacking out of the post, you know,
Speaker 1: like getting downhill and ball screens, and then Lebron would
Speaker 1: use pull up shot as like a as like basically
Speaker 1: a ceiling razor. And that's kind of what I want
Speaker 1: to see Jason Tatum do now. I think he'll need
Speaker 1: a little bit more pull up shot making because he's
Speaker 1: not the straight line. He's not as like quick off
Speaker 1: the off the first step as Lebron James was, obviously,
Speaker 1: but Jason Tatum is one of the biggest and strongest
Speaker 1: forwards in the league. He has the ability to guard
Speaker 1: centers in the post. He can demolish players with size mismatches,
Speaker 1: and so for me, it's just about kind of tilting
Speaker 1: some of his shot selection, like taking it from like
Speaker 1: if you just take two or three of those possessions
Speaker 1: a game where you take a pull up jumper and
Speaker 1: you turn those into physically aggressive moves towards the basket,
Speaker 1: that to me will dramatically increase his consistency on the
Speaker 1: offensive end. But again, like when we have these conversations,
Speaker 1: I think it's important to remind ourselves that Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: is a Swiss army knife that does a lot of
Speaker 1: really useful things for a basketball team. And this is
Speaker 1: not one of those things where it's like, oh, his
Speaker 1: jumper's not falling tonight, so now he's useless.
Speaker 2: That's not what it is. It's just he is. He plays.
Speaker 1: He's into more inconsistency by relying too much on his
Speaker 1: jump shot when he's not particularly good at it, and
Speaker 1: like outside of like a month spanning late December to
Speaker 1: January this year, he was a bad pull up shooter.
Speaker 1: He so, like it's not a huge surprise that I
Speaker 1: think my microphone might have just crapped out. Again, let's see,
Speaker 1: we're okay. But like outside of like outside of that
Speaker 1: like month month and a half there, Like he's he's
Speaker 1: a bad pull up shooter. So it's not a surprise
Speaker 1: that like he gets into these situations and they're more inconsistent, right,
Speaker 1: But like in terms of like where I think his
Speaker 1: spot will be in the long run, again, I think
Speaker 1: it's in that right block cleared side trying to go
Speaker 1: to work using his size advantages. Would you ever take
Speaker 1: a coaching job for a college program or the NBA?
Speaker 1: I would never take a college job just because, like
Speaker 1: a couple of things, if if you are an assistant
Speaker 1: at the college level, you almost like a good portion
Speaker 1: of your workload becomes like clerical work. It's a lot
Speaker 1: of like checking on the kids' grades, like recruiting visits,
Speaker 1: scouting visit like things along those lines. It's a lot
Speaker 1: of that kind of stuff, and obviously as a head
Speaker 1: coach there's a lot of that kind of responsibility as well,
Speaker 1: especially on the recruiting side, right, And like, for me,
Speaker 1: like I love basketball, I want to focus on basketball.
Speaker 1: So like, to me, college doesn't really satisfy that specific need.
Speaker 1: I think there would be just too much non basketball
Speaker 1: related side of the business. I would love to coach
Speaker 1: in the NBA one day, but it's just completely unrealistic.
Speaker 1: Coaching is very much a fraternity. Everyone is very like
Speaker 1: it's it's so in order to get into that side
Speaker 1: of the business, you have to like take some job
Speaker 1: in a film room somewhere and just grind and grind
Speaker 1: and grind and maybe just maybe you'll get an opportunity
Speaker 1: to be an assistant somewhere one day, or maybe you'll
Speaker 1: have some sort of connection, but like chances are like,
Speaker 1: as much as I'd love that opportunity, it's just unrealistic
Speaker 1: and so it's not something that I plan on. But
Speaker 1: to answer the question, if the Charlotte Hornets called me
Speaker 1: tomorrow and was like, hey, do you want a position
Speaker 1: as one of our end of the bench assistants, I'd
Speaker 1: be like, fuck, yeah, let's go.
Speaker 2: Let's do it.
Speaker 1: Just because for me, I just like nothing as much
Speaker 1: as I love talking about the game, nothing beats the competitiveness.
Speaker 1: Nothing beats like being in a locker room, being with
Speaker 1: those guys and trying to achieve the ultimate goal and
Speaker 1: going after a championship of whatever type it is. But again,
Speaker 1: it's unrealistic, so it's not something I plan on. What's
Speaker 1: the biggest difference between this series and the Knick series
Speaker 1: for the Pacers where the Knicks also went up to
Speaker 1: I'll keep it really simple. Boston's a much, much, much
Speaker 1: better basketball team. Would Darius Garland be a good fit
Speaker 1: for the Lakers? I let's just I'm gonna put it
Speaker 1: this way. I saw this moving around today. To me,
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves is like ninety ninety five percent the basketball
Speaker 1: player that Darius Garland is. You could argue he's a
Speaker 1: better playoff player, and he costs a tiny fraction as much,
Speaker 1: and he's already on the roster. So like to me,
Speaker 1: any sort of deal for Garland would require the aggregation
Speaker 1: of salaries and sending out too many good players. I
Speaker 1: think the Lakers would get worse, So I fly don't
Speaker 1: like that kind of deal. Who would guard Jalen Brown
Speaker 1: for the MAVs or the Wolves. So I think what
Speaker 1: they would probably do if it was Dallas is I
Speaker 1: think we'd see PJ. Washington on Jason Tatum, and then
Speaker 1: I think we'd see Derek Jones Junior on Jalen Brown.
Speaker 1: But I could see that matchup getting moved around quite
Speaker 1: a bit. Kyrie Irving has defended guards so well in
Speaker 1: this postseason run that I think that Kyrie, you could
Speaker 1: handle probably the Derek White assignment right, And then I
Speaker 1: think they probably try to hide Luka Doncic on Drew Holliday,
Speaker 1: and they probably used Drew Holliday a lot as a screener.
Speaker 1: The thing is, this is the problem with Boston, and
Speaker 1: this is one of the reasons why like everyone, you know,
Speaker 1: like everyone keeps writing off Boston and saying the Western
Speaker 1: teams are better, and like I may pick the Western
Speaker 1: Conference team, but like whoever comes out of that the West, Like,
Speaker 1: even if I do pick them, it's like a fifty
Speaker 1: five to forty five kind of thing. Like I think
Speaker 1: Boston is damn good, and I might end up picking Boston.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. We'll see when we get to that point.
Speaker 1: But one of the main reasons why is because Boston
Speaker 1: just presents massive matchup problems for everybody. Like it's kind
Speaker 1: of like the Tyre's Haliburton piece, Like you're you're putting
Speaker 1: Tyres Haliburt on Derek White. You have to put him
Speaker 1: on Derek White because Drew Halliday will punish him in
Speaker 1: the post, and like you can handle the Derek White
Speaker 1: problem with more team based concepts, but like that's just
Speaker 1: the problem. Derek White's freaking amazing and you're putting Tyres
Speaker 1: Albert on him because you just have no choice. And
Speaker 1: like that's just the reality of the predicament that Boston
Speaker 1: puts you in because they have so many damn good
Speaker 1: basketball players, you know, like they have four dudes making
Speaker 1: over thirty million, and it's not like, oh, they're on
Speaker 1: bad contracts. They all deserve to be making at least
Speaker 1: that much. And then Derek White is the one guy
Speaker 1: who doesn't, and he probably deserves to make thirty thirty
Speaker 1: five million a year based on what he does on
Speaker 1: both ends of the floor. So like Boston just super
Speaker 1: super talented, and those are the problems that they can
Speaker 1: those are the predicaments that they can put you in.
Speaker 1: In terms of the Timberwolves. My guess is that they
Speaker 1: probably put Jayden McDaniels on Jason Tatum and Anthony Edwards
Speaker 1: on Jaln Brown. But again it's the same kind of thing.
Speaker 1: I think you'd see some interchangeability there. That would be
Speaker 1: an interesting series for the Karl Anthony Towns kind of
Speaker 1: fit in terms of the matchups. And I wonder how
Speaker 1: often the Wolves would have to go small and put
Speaker 1: Nikhil Alexander Walker on the floor. Did players get Did
Speaker 1: players used to get this much shit for poor performances
Speaker 1: in just one game or is it happening more now
Speaker 1: with more exposure in today's NBA. I've noticed this in
Speaker 1: general over the years with Twitter. Everybody wants to take
Speaker 1: victory laps or admit they're wrong after one game, which
Speaker 1: is like absolutely crazy to me. I mean, even just
Speaker 1: in the last round. Let's see, like Dallas lost Game
Speaker 1: one and won the series. Denver lost Game one and
Speaker 1: led by twenty in Game seven in the second half, Right,
Speaker 1: what was the.
Speaker 2: Need?
Speaker 1: The Knicks went up two oh and the Pacers ended
Speaker 1: up winning that series. So like in general, when it
Speaker 1: comes to the postseason, like I am a big believer
Speaker 1: and like no matter what you think, don't react to
Speaker 1: anything until you've seen multiple games and you've seen all
Speaker 1: the adjustments. Like let's say Indiana wins Game one without
Speaker 1: that you know, crazy Jalen Brown shot. It's like you
Speaker 1: could be like, oh my gosh, they can't guard pick
Speaker 1: and roll, and it's like, actually, they were able to
Speaker 1: come up with some adjustments in literally one game to
Speaker 1: be able to mitigate a lot of the issues, just
Speaker 1: a lot, like just take Cornette out of the rotation,
Speaker 1: although he Missoula was forced to, but like, take Cornette
Speaker 1: out of the rotation, put Horford on Siakam and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, like you're just in a better position, right,
Speaker 1: So like another one too, Like I went back and
Speaker 1: looked through the film and Minnesota I thought, played one
Speaker 1: of their worst defensive games of the postseason against Dallas
Speaker 1: in Game one, and so like, I just think that
Speaker 1: we see a more desperate Minnesota defensive effort in Game two,
Speaker 1: and I think Minnesota ties the series. And so now
Speaker 1: who knows, Like Dallas is in commanding position and they
Speaker 1: very well might end up winning. But in general, I
Speaker 1: just don't understand the overreacting, and especially when it comes
Speaker 1: to the individual players. Like my thing is like I
Speaker 1: think criticism without praise is empty, and praise without criticism
Speaker 1: is empty. Right, So, like I have to be critical
Speaker 1: of Ant for the way he played in Game one
Speaker 1: one because I'm also the guy that praises him heavily
Speaker 1: when he plays well, right, like I have. It's just
Speaker 1: like with Jason Tatum. I've been very critical of Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum over the years, but like, he was awesome in
Speaker 1: Game one in so many different ways aside from the
Speaker 1: shot making. And it's like to me, like, I have
Speaker 1: my biases. I do. I'm not gonna sit here and
Speaker 1: lie to you, Guys, I emotionally, as a fan root
Speaker 1: for the Lakers. Right on a non emotional level, I
Speaker 1: have players that I'm a fan of and players that
Speaker 1: I don't like particularly well, right Like, for instance, Luca
Speaker 1: is one of those guys.
Speaker 2: I've never been a huge Luca fan.
Speaker 1: There's some things about his game that bother me, the
Speaker 1: way he constantly complains that the refs bothers me. Sometimes
Speaker 1: the twenty five thirty dribble possessions into an iso. I
Speaker 1: watched a game in the regular season this year. I
Speaker 1: want to say it was against the Pacers where where
Speaker 1: Luca literally got the opening tip and ran four consecutive
Speaker 1: straight ISOs without passing the basketball to start the game.
Speaker 2: And it's like, there are part there are.
Speaker 1: Things about that that as just as a basketball fan,
Speaker 1: I'm not a huge fan of. But at this time,
Speaker 1: like I try, I genuinely do try to fight against
Speaker 1: those things and to try to be as objective as
Speaker 1: I possibly can. My thing is like, I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: lie to you and say that I'm, you know, perfectly unbiased.
Speaker 2: I'm not.
Speaker 1: I have my biases, I have my likes, I have
Speaker 1: my dislikes. I'm just gonna try like hell to do
Speaker 1: the best job that I can I do. To put
Speaker 1: it simply, I take this job very seriously. The fact
Speaker 1: that you guys actually come to me and listen to
Speaker 1: my analysis, that you actually care about my opinion, I
Speaker 1: take that as a as a huge compliment, and I
Speaker 1: take that responsibility seriously. I want to make sure that
Speaker 1: I do this job the way that it's supposed to
Speaker 1: be done. I'm not perfect. I'm gonna fuck up a lot.
Speaker 1: I say stupid shit sometimes. What was the one I
Speaker 1: had at the beginning of the last round where I
Speaker 1: said the Lakers might be. The h that the Wolves
Speaker 1: have is the same, the same chance to beat Denver
Speaker 1: as the Lakers do, Like the Lakers did, Like that
Speaker 1: was stupid. I make mistakes like that's That's kind of
Speaker 1: just how it goes. But I'm gonna just do the
Speaker 1: best I can and we'll see. I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: better at it than I was a few years ago,
Speaker 1: and hopefully I keep getting better at it over the years.
Speaker 1: Tatum Garner's so much attention from defenses, do you think
Speaker 1: this opens up Brown for games like this? So to
Speaker 1: put it simply, like there are usually aggressive coverages lined
Speaker 1: up for the other team's best star, and there's usually
Speaker 1: traditional coverages lined up for any sort of supporting star. So,
Speaker 1: for instance, take Minnesota, like Anthony Edwards is getting high
Speaker 1: drop coverage, double team and ISOs like he saw a
Speaker 1: ton of that against Denver, a little bit of a
Speaker 1: little bit of it in Game one against Dallas where
Speaker 1: they're like really loaded up and digging down into driving
Speaker 1: lanes high drop like Ant's coming off of those ball
Speaker 1: screens and settling. He's not being as agg aggressive as
Speaker 1: he needs to be. But so much of it has
Speaker 1: to do with the coverages. Right when it comes to
Speaker 1: like the gameplan piece of it, then you look at
Speaker 1: Karl Anthony Towns and it's like, yeah, they will throw
Speaker 1: the occasional double team to him in the post. But
Speaker 1: like when they run Hoorn's chest and you know Ant
Speaker 1: dribbles off the cat on the left elbow and cat
Speaker 1: comes off of Nazor or Rudy Gobert on the right
Speaker 1: elbow and they throw the ball to him, they're not
Speaker 1: double team him or trapping him like he's he's getting
Speaker 1: traditional coverages, meaning he's getting the same coverages that every
Speaker 1: other team gets, right, And like a lot of that
Speaker 1: is or every other player I should say gets, And
Speaker 1: so a lot of that is like Jylen Brown is
Speaker 1: going to have a certain different level of difficulty than
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum.
Speaker 2: That's a fact, right.
Speaker 1: And Like if if Boston ever did trade Jalen Brown,
Speaker 1: like let's say four years from now they do, or
Speaker 1: let's say they have like another disappointing loss two years
Speaker 1: in a row and then and then they end up
Speaker 1: trading Jalen Brown, I don't think they will. I think
Speaker 1: Jaylen Brown will be a Celtic for a long time.
Speaker 1: But if Jalen Brown goes to a team and is
Speaker 1: the best player on the team, his entire perspective on
Speaker 1: the game will change. Instead of getting the Aaron E.
Speaker 1: Smith point of attack assignment, like he's like right now,
Speaker 1: he's getting Andrew Nemhard right, Like instead of Tatum getting
Speaker 1: Aaron E. Smith, Like if he was the best player
Speaker 1: on a team, maybe he gets Aaron E. Smith for
Speaker 1: the entire game, you know, like and he has success
Speaker 1: against Aaron E.
Speaker 2: Smith too.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to say you can't, but like, let's
Speaker 1: say it like the Minnesota assignment, Like, if they end
Speaker 1: up having to leave a lesser defender on one of
Speaker 1: the jas, who are.
Speaker 2: They gonna do it.
Speaker 1: They're gonna do it on Jaln Brown, right, So like
Speaker 1: there is some reality to like the to being lower
Speaker 1: in the pecking order and that making things easier. But again,
Speaker 1: as I used to always say with Jamal Murray, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, when it comes to basketball, your value is
Speaker 1: your value to your team. And regardless of what theoretical
Speaker 1: situation where Jalen Brown is on some other team and
Speaker 1: he's getting tougher coverages, Yeah, we can talk about that
Speaker 1: in terms of ranking players, but I'm Boston. He is
Speaker 1: the number two, and so he does get favorable matchups,
Speaker 1: and he does get favorable coverages, and so he does
Speaker 1: get to cook. And that's just the reality of his
Speaker 1: impact on this team. Would the Celtics fare better against
Speaker 1: the Wolves or the MAVs? Oh, that's interesting, I would say, man,
Speaker 1: that is a really that's a really interesting question to
Speaker 1: kind of think of, to kind of talk through it.
Speaker 1: The I think that the MAVs are a little bit
Speaker 1: more of a load up offense, whereas the Wolves are
Speaker 1: a little bit more of a stay home offense. And
Speaker 1: the big part of that is the Wolves have better
Speaker 1: defensive personnel down the roster. The mass are really good defenders.
Speaker 1: Derek Jones Junior is an excellent defender. That rim protectors
Speaker 1: are excellent defenders.
Speaker 2: PJ.
Speaker 1: Washington has done a nice job in this postseason run.
Speaker 1: But like Minnesota can go to lineups where they have
Speaker 1: like Rudy Gobert on the damn floor with Nikil Alexander
Speaker 1: Walker and Anthony Edwards and Jana McDaniels, and they just
Speaker 1: have like, like just unbelievable defensive personnel everywhere, and so
Speaker 1: they can do what they did to the Suns which
Speaker 1: is like stay home off the ball and try to
Speaker 1: make you play one on one or two on two.
Speaker 1: And so I think Minnesota is a defense is more
Speaker 1: capable of making Boston's offense struggle. But I also think
Speaker 1: that I think that Dallas's offense is better than Minnesota's,
Speaker 1: and so, like I think, I think there would be
Speaker 1: different strengths and weaknesses and challenges for both matchups. I
Speaker 1: would man, that is that's a really good question. I'm
Speaker 1: sorry that I don't have a better answer for you
Speaker 1: at this point, but we will definitely get into it
Speaker 1: once we get further into the Western Conferent Finals. I
Speaker 1: really want to see how the Wolves defense bounces back
Speaker 1: tomorrow night.
Speaker 2: Again.
Speaker 1: I thought they were really bad in Game one, and
Speaker 1: I'm just curious to see if they just come out
Speaker 1: and throw just a hilacious defensive punch and how Dallas
Speaker 1: responds to it. Do you think this t Wolves team
Speaker 1: is like the twenty twenty two Celtics, an ascending superstar
Speaker 1: and dominant team defense that's actually a really good comp
Speaker 1: A lot of people don't like Celtics fans you probably remember,
Speaker 1: but like a lot of people around the league think
Speaker 1: of this Boston team as as like kind of the
Speaker 1: same type of team as the twenty twenty two Celtics,
Speaker 1: and I very much don't like to me, the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two Celtics were not as good offensively, but they
Speaker 1: were just they were a team who hung their hat
Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the floor. I saw the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two Celtics throw some of the craziest defensive
Speaker 1: punches for entire games that I had seen from teams
Speaker 1: in recent NBA history. Like to me, that twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two Celtics team wasn't as talented as this Celtics team,
Speaker 1: but like this Celtics team is almost a victim of
Speaker 1: their own talent in the sense that they can oscillate
Speaker 1: an effort, they can be inconsistent, and like the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two Celtics, they just played so damn hard every
Speaker 1: single night. It really came down to some bad rim
Speaker 1: decisions hurting their transition defense, and then Jason Tatum just
Speaker 1: kind of fell apart in the finals, and that was
Speaker 1: really the only things that went wrong for them. Someone
Speaker 1: wants to know my thoughts on Joe Missoula. Here's the
Speaker 1: thing I think Joe like, but what drives me crazy
Speaker 1: with Joe Miszula is just the entire offensive approach from Boston,
Speaker 1: where there's very little hierarchy. There's very there's very like
Speaker 1: quick decisions. There's a lot of like settling. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of like let's just find uh, like run up
Speaker 1: the floor on quick action and take a take a
Speaker 1: three within like without even getting like a paint touch.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of like inconsistent offensive approach from Joe Mizula,
Speaker 1: and like, you know what's I talked about this a
Speaker 1: lot with Darvin Ham. Like to me, one of the
Speaker 1: most important elements of a head coach in the NBA
Speaker 1: is possessioned by a possession accountabil What I mean by
Speaker 1: that is like deeply valuing every single possession and building
Speaker 1: the habits that will carry you in the NBA finals
Speaker 1: because or in the NBA playoffs, because once you get
Speaker 1: to this point where you need to win sixteen games
Speaker 1: in two months, so much of it comes down to
Speaker 1: like like execution and avoiding mistakes and like not having
Speaker 1: these two three minute stretches where you lose your damn mind.
Speaker 1: And like one of the characteristics that is that is
Speaker 1: really like kind of uh encapsulated this Boston team over
Speaker 1: the last two years under Joe Mazula is a lack
Speaker 1: of value of the individual possession and extended stretches where
Speaker 1: they lose sight of their identity and play down to
Speaker 1: their and play down to their competition, and so like,
Speaker 1: to me, that is on Joe Mizoula, and like when
Speaker 1: you focus too much on the big picture and like
Speaker 1: our overarching shot value and all those different kinds of things,
Speaker 1: Like to me that that that fails to drive home
Speaker 1: the bigger picture topic of what you're gonna need when
Speaker 1: you place the best when you play the best teams
Speaker 1: down the line. So, for instance, let's say you end
Speaker 1: up playing Minnesota in the finals, Like, that's gonna be
Speaker 1: a tough series, and in that series, you need Jason
Speaker 1: Tatum to be awesome because a lot of the stuff
Speaker 1: that Boston does offensively rue guys like Drew Holliday, through
Speaker 1: guys like Derek White, through guys like Al Horford, a
Speaker 1: lot of that is gonna work at a much lower
Speaker 1: level of effectiveness against Minnesota's defense and so or even
Speaker 1: Dallas's defense, and so so much of it is gonna
Speaker 1: come down to, like Tatum's gonna have to take the
Speaker 1: reins of the offense, and so like part of it
Speaker 1: to me is like I would I wish that Joe
Speaker 1: Miszula had done more work over the course of the
Speaker 1: season at just kind of building out at least some
Speaker 1: sense of hierarchy. That's not to say that you don't
Speaker 1: want Jason Tatum to get the ball moving around and
Speaker 1: keep everybody involved. And for the record, I think he's
Speaker 1: awesome at that, and I think that's why he's such
Speaker 1: a perfect fit for this team. But like, I do
Speaker 1: think that there's just been a little bit of a
Speaker 1: lack of accountability in terms of their consistency of defensive
Speaker 1: effort and their consistency of offensive execution. And I do
Speaker 1: that to Joe Mizoula, so like not my favorite NBA coach,
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, like I don't
Speaker 1: think he's going to be the main driving force of
Speaker 1: whatever this outcome is in this postseason run. It's gonna
Speaker 1: come down to the players. They have the talent. I
Speaker 1: don't think I think it's unfair to put any sort
Speaker 1: of blame on Joe Mizoula, even if I'm not necessarily
Speaker 1: a fan of his coaching style. Would you rest Porzingis
Speaker 1: to the finals. Now, yeah, there's just no reason not to.
Speaker 1: Unless Porzingis strictly wants to come back so that he
Speaker 1: can build his rhythm and conditioning, then that's fine. But
Speaker 1: like you certainly don't bring him back unless he feels
Speaker 1: one hundred ready to play. Has Minnesota faced a defense
Speaker 1: with the tools that Boston has, Yes, they're facing it
Speaker 1: right now. The main reason why is, like Boston, they
Speaker 1: Boston is not super athletic at the center position. Al
Speaker 1: Horford's a good positional defender, and christophs Porzingis is a
Speaker 1: good rim protector when he's in a deep drop coverage.
Speaker 1: But Porzingis is not overly quick and can struggle sometimes
Speaker 1: when he has to come out to the level of
Speaker 1: the screen Lively and Lively and Gafford are both like
Speaker 1: really really athletic centers. And so I think that I
Speaker 1: think that Minnesota has I think that Minnesota has a
Speaker 1: like Dallas, excuse me, Dallas. I think Dallas has better
Speaker 1: rim protection than Boston does. But Boston's perimeter defense personnel
Speaker 1: is outrageous. And like when you go one through four,
Speaker 1: only Minnesota can can say that they have I think
Speaker 1: better defensive players on the perimeter than Boston does. Like
Speaker 1: having Drew Holiday and Derek White, by the way I
Speaker 1: talked about it tonight, like they held up in post
Speaker 1: up mismatches extensively in this game. They can guard bigger players,
Speaker 1: they can guard smaller players. Derek White's one of the
Speaker 1: best shot blocking guards in the league. Jalen Brown can
Speaker 1: be this deeply profoundly impactful defensive athlete. Jason Tatum obviously,
Speaker 1: as we've talked about so many times over this playoff run,
Speaker 1: is this deeply profoundly impactful athlete. So like, I don't
Speaker 1: think Minnesota is faced at defense that has Boston's perimeter personnel,
Speaker 1: But I think Dallas between the Derek Jones junior on
Speaker 1: the ball and those centers, those super athletic centers around
Speaker 1: the rim, I think Dallas has had a little bit
Speaker 1: better rim protection. But you're right, I mean I think
Speaker 1: Boston's I think Boston's defense would give Minnesota some issues.
Speaker 1: And by the way, Porzingis would be a massively important
Speaker 1: part of that series, and they most likely would run
Speaker 1: a deep drop coverage to try to keep Porzingis at
Speaker 1: the rim to continue to shut things off from and
Speaker 1: kind of the way that Dallas has all right, guys.
Speaker 1: That is all I have for tonight. As always, a
Speaker 1: sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show. No show
Speaker 1: tomorrow morning. We're just gonna run this mail bag as
Speaker 1: a breakout. I have a scheduling conflict, so I'm actually
Speaker 1: unavailable during the day tomorrow, but the mailbag will be
Speaker 1: up as a breakout, and then I will be back
Speaker 1: tomorrow evening after the final buzzer of Games two of
Speaker 1: the Western Conference Finals.
Speaker 2: I will see you guys. Then the volume