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 Draftking Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner
Speaker 1: of the NBA. There's only so many games left, and
Speaker 1: DraftKings Sportsbook has you covered with same game parlays, live
Speaker 1: betting odds, boosts, and so much more. Don't miss out
Speaker 1: or you'll have to wait until next NBA season to
Speaker 1: place your bets. It's super easy for first timers to
Speaker 1: get started. Try betting on something simple like picking a
Speaker 1: team to win. Go to the DraftKings Sportsbook app, select
Speaker 1: your squad and place your first bet. It's that simple.
Speaker 1: The odds for the NBA Finals are up on DraftKings
Speaker 1: right now. You can get Boston at minus two twenty
Speaker 1: to win the title. Dallas is at plus one seventy five.
Speaker 1: New to DraftKings listen up. New customers can get a
Speaker 1: no sweat bet up to fifteen hundred bucks. Just deposit
Speaker 1: at least five bucks and you'll get a bonus bet
Speaker 1: back equal to your first bet if it doesn't hit.
Speaker 1: Download Draft Kings Sportsbook app now and use code hoops.
Speaker 1: That's code hoops hoops for newcus to get a no
Speaker 1: sweat bet up to fifteen hundred bucks if your first
Speaker 1: bet doesn't hit only on DraftKings, the crown is yours.
Speaker 1: Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler, or in West
Speaker 1: Virginia visit www dot one eight hundred gambler dot net.
Speaker 1: In New York, call eight seven seven eight hope and why,
Speaker 1: or text hope and why to four six seven three
Speaker 1: six nine. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling.
Speaker 1: Call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven
Speaker 1: seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on
Speaker 1: behalf of Boothill casino and resort In Kansas twenty one
Speaker 1: plus age varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. One no
Speaker 1: sweat bet per new customer issued as one bonus bet
Speaker 1: based on amount of initial losing bet. Bonus bets expire
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. See dkang
Speaker 1: dot co slash bball for eligibility, wagering and deposit restrictions,
Speaker 1: terms and responsible gaming resources. All right, welcome to hoops
Speaker 1: to night here at the volume. Happy Monday, everybody, oh ball.
Speaker 1: If you guys had a great weekend and then you're
Speaker 1: having a great start to your week. Where are beginning
Speaker 1: our coverage of the NBA Finals today, starting with focusing
Speaker 1: on Boston with the Ball on Offense. Tomorrow, we're gonna
Speaker 1: do the same thing with Dallas with the ball on Offense.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have film in both of those sessions. I've
Speaker 1: got seventeen clips to go over with you guys. Today,
Speaker 1: we're gonna go just through all of the Boston stuff
Speaker 1: in a monologue at the start at the start, and
Speaker 1: then we'll get into the film at the end. And
Speaker 1: then Wednesday morning we have the nerd session, guys coming on,
Speaker 1: and I'll probably have just like a shorter video that
Speaker 1: just kind of has my prediction and everything else is
Speaker 1: looking from thirty thousand feet. After we get done with
Speaker 1: the film sessions, you guys are the drill before we
Speaker 1: get started. To subscribe to the Hoops and I YouTube channels,
Speaker 1: you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me
Speaker 1: on Twitter at underscore json lt so you guys don't
Speaker 1: miss show announcements. Don't forget about a podcast few wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcast on our Hoops tonight and keep
Speaker 1: dropping mail back questions in those YouTube comments, so we
Speaker 1: can keep hitting them throughout the rest of this series
Speaker 1: and into the summer. All right, let's talk some basketball.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna start from the series as a whole,
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about the gambling odds as well
Speaker 1: as the season series and just what I noticed in
Speaker 1: film watching this morning, and then we'll focus in on
Speaker 1: Boston with the ball on offense. According to DraftKings, Boston
Speaker 1: is currently favored at minus two to ten to win
Speaker 1: the series. If you want to bet Dallas as the
Speaker 1: underdog and get them right now plus one seventy five.
Speaker 1: That is a substantial favorite, but easily the closest series
Speaker 1: that Boston has played to this point in terms of
Speaker 1: the gambling odds. The season series went two to Ozero
Speaker 1: to Boston. Both games ended in blowout fashion. Closest one
Speaker 1: was probably the March first game. Even though the final
Speaker 1: score was further apart the game in Dallas, Boston led
Speaker 1: by a large margin throughout. In the March first game
Speaker 1: in Boston, Dallas actually Dallas actually cut the score down
Speaker 1: to two in the third quarter, but Boston blew it
Speaker 1: open over the end of the third and into the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. The main thing that stood out to me
Speaker 1: on film, Dallas was really bad defensively in that game.
Speaker 1: It's kind of weird going back and watching a bad
Speaker 1: version of this Dallas defense because they've been good for
Speaker 1: a really long time. This was in that stretch when
Speaker 1: they went on that East Coast road trip and they
Speaker 1: got shredded. Those of you guys who followed the show
Speaker 1: during the regular season will remember me talking about how
Speaker 1: that was like a big opportunity for them to demonstrate
Speaker 1: that with their new personnel they got at the trade
Speaker 1: the deadline that they could defend and it just didn't
Speaker 1: go well. They got shredded in that entire entire road trip.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, in the month surrounding that game,
Speaker 1: so that game was on March first. If you go
Speaker 1: from February fifteenth to March fifteenth, Dallas was twenty ninth
Speaker 1: in defense over that span. So basically just a completely
Speaker 1: different type of team now than what they were when
Speaker 1: they faced Boston in the regular season. Now, to be clear,
Speaker 1: Boston presents some real issues for the Dallas defense, and
Speaker 1: very different issues than what Minnesota presented, right, So, like,
Speaker 1: I do think that Boston will have success against this
Speaker 1: Dallas defense. I just think it'll look a lot more
Speaker 1: challenging that it looked during the regular season. So metrics,
Speaker 1: Boston had a one to twenty nine offensive rating in
Speaker 1: the two matchups. They shot a sixty four percent true
Speaker 1: shooting percentage. Shot jump shots really well in both games,
Speaker 1: especially in the March first game. They had a one
Speaker 1: point three to three points per jump shot stat out
Speaker 1: of that game, one point one to one in the
Speaker 1: January twenty second game, So the shot well both games.
Speaker 1: Main play type data that was fascinating to me was
Speaker 1: their ability to attack Dallas in the post. They posted
Speaker 1: them up eighteen times total in the two games. They
Speaker 1: got one point four to three points per possession in
Speaker 1: the January twenty second game, one point three to six
Speaker 1: in the March first game. Those are two excellent numbers,
Speaker 1: and so that especially when we started talking about the
Speaker 1: ball screen defense and defending porzingis them being able to
Speaker 1: hold up and switches in the post is going to
Speaker 1: be a huge part of their defensive success in this
Speaker 1: series as far as matchups go. In the March first matchup,
Speaker 1: Dallas had Josh Green in the starting line still and
Speaker 1: they use Josh Green on Tatum, PJ. Washington on Jlen Brown,
Speaker 1: my guess is they'll start the same way, but with
Speaker 1: Derek Jones in for Josh Green. So I think they'll
Speaker 1: start with Derek Jones on Tatum and PJ. Washington on
Speaker 1: Jlen Brown. But I do think we'll see some switching there,
Speaker 1: or I shouldn't say switching, but I think we'll see
Speaker 1: them move those matchups around a little bit, specifically because
Speaker 1: if Jalen Brown just starts having success beating PJ. Washington
Speaker 1: off the dribble because he's not as laterally quick as
Speaker 1: Derek Jones, and since Tatum has a tendency to settle
Speaker 1: for pull up jumpers and PJ. Washington is a little
Speaker 1: bit taller, I wouldn't be surprised if we see them
Speaker 1: move those matchups around a little bit. But I do
Speaker 1: think they'll start with Derek Jones on Tatum, especially with
Speaker 1: their intent on trying to at least attempt to run
Speaker 1: drop coverage with Porzingis, which we'll get to in a
Speaker 1: little bit. But again, I expect Derek Jones to start
Speaker 1: on Tatum, PJ. Washington on Brown, they might move that
Speaker 1: around Kyrie Reguard, Derek White, Luka Doncic most likely on
Speaker 1: Drew Holliday and Gafford Lively on chrisops Porzingis. I want
Speaker 1: to start in terms of actions because we're gonna get
Speaker 1: into I Basically, I am going to focus in on
Speaker 1: three different concepts in this In this offensive breakdown, porzingis
Speaker 1: in ball screens, porzingis off the ball and the issues
Speaker 1: that that presents. And then any sort of action involving
Speaker 1: Tatum probably geared towards attacking Luka Doncic. That's what we're
Speaker 1: going to be focusing in on today. Now. I want
Speaker 1: to start with the Porzingis picking pop and to get
Speaker 1: my best feel as to how Dallas was going to
Speaker 1: cover this, I went not just to the regular season
Speaker 1: but also to the Oklahoma City Thunder series because with
Speaker 1: Chet Holmer and they presented a similar issue and they
Speaker 1: defended it really well, and I wanted to look into
Speaker 1: some of the specific ways that they did that. Now,
Speaker 1: to be clear, before we get into the specifics, Chet
Speaker 1: is just not as good at three point shooter as
Speaker 1: chrisops Porzingis. He was six for twenty seven from three
Speaker 1: in that series. That's twenty two percent on wide open
Speaker 1: threes when the defender was at least six feet away,
Speaker 1: he was three for twelve. So obviously Porzingis is a
Speaker 1: better shooter, so it's going to be a little bit
Speaker 1: more of a challenge, But schematically it's a similar type
Speaker 1: of problem with his will to pop. Also one thing
Speaker 1: with Chet, he rolled a lot more. Porzingis does roll,
Speaker 1: but Chet did a lot of slipping and rolling in
Speaker 1: that series, and so the pick and pop wasn't as
Speaker 1: much of a threat because they just didn't go to
Speaker 1: it as much. Now I want to start with the
Speaker 1: Lively matchup Lively. I think they'll switch with any sort
Speaker 1: of action involving Porzingis, I think they'll just switch, mainly
Speaker 1: because Lively does really well on switches. He's defended fourteen
Speaker 1: ISOs in switches in this postseason run and he's allowed
Speaker 1: just four made field goals. Opponents have shot thirty six
Speaker 1: percent against him, and they're getting to zero point seventy
Speaker 1: nine points per possession in those ISOs against Eric Lively.
Speaker 1: So he just holds up really well in switches. And
Speaker 1: I think that, and I'll show you guys some examples
Speaker 1: on film of him holding up and switches against Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown and against Drew Holliday. Like that to me, is
Speaker 1: where he has a unique capability to allow them to
Speaker 1: kind of shut down the porzingis pick and pop by
Speaker 1: just simply switching. But there's two things that can arise
Speaker 1: if as an issue for Dallas. On the other side
Speaker 1: of that, I don't worry about Lively on the switch.
Speaker 1: I think he can defend out there about as well
Speaker 1: as anybody else on the perimeter, So like, I don't
Speaker 1: think he's gonna have issues. The main issue is you're
Speaker 1: taking a Derek Jones Junior or a PJ. Washington or
Speaker 1: one of the guards, and you're moving him on to
Speaker 1: Chris Tops porzingis who will look to immediately attack in
Speaker 1: the post. In the one game that Porzingis played against
Speaker 1: Dallas this year, posted up five times and scored on
Speaker 1: three of them for seven points. That's one point four
Speaker 1: points per possession. That's really good, right, So like they
Speaker 1: will look to attack on the other side of that action.
Speaker 1: The other thing is, and this is not just for
Speaker 1: porzingis this is really for all of the actions. Boston
Speaker 1: does slip out of screens really well, especially with Tatum,
Speaker 1: where he'll set a screen, he'll just kind of slip
Speaker 1: out to like the elbow and then catch and he'll
Speaker 1: run a four on three. I wouldn't be surprised too
Speaker 1: if we see some of that with Porzingis where he
Speaker 1: kind of rolls into like the fifteen foot areas, slipping
Speaker 1: out of those screens. The main reason why is a
Speaker 1: lot of the times they will switch with Lively, but
Speaker 1: it starts as a drop, so it's like the guy
Speaker 1: on the ball chases over the top. Lively catches the
Speaker 1: offensive player and just kind of switches, and then that
Speaker 1: guy will peel off back to the screener. But when
Speaker 1: that happens, if he's chasing and the screener slips, he's
Speaker 1: now in trail position. He's on his top side. In
Speaker 1: Porzingis or whoever it is that slips out of that
Speaker 1: action is now has the inside position towards the rim,
Speaker 1: which can cause problems where they don't even need a
Speaker 1: post up. You're just bringing a defender over and help,
Speaker 1: or he's getting a dunk, right. So I think we'll
Speaker 1: see a lot of slipping from Boston and then looking
Speaker 1: to go back to Porzingis in the post. One of
Speaker 1: the counters that we might see for that is I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised if we see Dallas go a go
Speaker 1: a bit bigger. I wouldn't be surprised if we see
Speaker 1: some Kaleba. I think we're gonna see a lot of
Speaker 1: Kleiba in general. But I wouldn't be surprised if we
Speaker 1: see some Kliba and Lively together, because if they have
Speaker 1: Kliba and Lively out there together, they can switch and
Speaker 1: also maintain their ability to defend in the post. So
Speaker 1: like a Tatum Porzingis two man game with Kaliba on
Speaker 1: on Porzingis and PJ. Washington on Tatum, you can just
Speaker 1: switch that and then not have to worry necessarily about
Speaker 1: dealing with Porzingis looking to attack in the post. Right,
Speaker 1: So like I think, I think we might see some
Speaker 1: bigger lineups. Also that that's still even in the situation
Speaker 1: where you're on a guard action. So like let's say,
Speaker 1: for instance, Kleiba's on Porzingis, but now you bring Tatum
Speaker 1: up into the screen with PJ. Washington and they switch,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, Tatum has a smaller defender
Speaker 1: on him, or Porzingis gets a guard on him and
Speaker 1: he's looking to post a guard. You have more size
Speaker 1: on the floor in general, so that if Derek Lively
Speaker 1: gets pulled out to the perimeter on a switch, you
Speaker 1: just have more big bodies under the rim to help
Speaker 1: and recover or to clean up the defensive glass. So
Speaker 1: I think we'll see some bigger versions of Dallas in
Speaker 1: this series, and we did see a lot. We did
Speaker 1: see a Gafford Kliba lineup in the I think it
Speaker 1: was in the March first game if I remember correctly,
Speaker 1: but they did go to a big lineup during the season.
Speaker 1: But switching with Lively, switching with Kliba Gafford, they run
Speaker 1: more drop and then just try to have him close out.
Speaker 1: The main reason why there is just Gafford's best trait
Speaker 1: on like Gafford's strength, what separates him from the other
Speaker 1: frontline players for Dallas is Gafford is a great rim protector, right,
Speaker 1: but his rim protection is a little less valuable in
Speaker 1: this series because Boston has shooting bigs and they space
Speaker 1: the floor, so it's actually more important for them to
Speaker 1: get mobility in space from the five spot in this series.
Speaker 1: So I think in general, we're going to see more
Speaker 1: Kleiba and Lively just because that's what's going to be
Speaker 1: more fitting for this matchup. But when Gafford's on the floor.
Speaker 1: Judging by what we saw in the Oklahoma City series,
Speaker 1: they will have Gafford operate in a drop with the
Speaker 1: defender chasing over the top, and then he'll just try
Speaker 1: to close out to the three point line to offer
Speaker 1: a late contest if Porzinga starts hitting. I think we'll
Speaker 1: see some rotations from the weak side. There's a clip
Speaker 1: that I'll show you guys where in the Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: series where PJ. Washington was guarding Sheep on the left wing,
Speaker 1: there was a ball screen. I think Jay dub was
Speaker 1: running the action, chet popped and instead of Gafford closing out,
Speaker 1: they just had PJ. Washington slide over and contests and
Speaker 1: then they rotated on the backside. So I think we'll
Speaker 1: see some stuff like that. But I do think over
Speaker 1: the course of this series we'll see less Scafford, and
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be surprised if before the end of the
Speaker 1: series we actually see Derek Lively start a game in
Speaker 1: this series. But again, the main concern there with the
Speaker 1: pick and pop with porzingis is he will pop above
Speaker 1: the break and he's willing to shoot out by like
Speaker 1: twenty six twenty seven feet and so even when you
Speaker 1: offer those closeouts, it's just a different challenge than what
Speaker 1: it was with chet Holmgrin. One last thing on porzingis
Speaker 1: this is porzingis in help when he's in spot up situations.
Speaker 1: So Boston's gonna look to attack Luca, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: get into some more specifics with that later. But I
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprised if the majority of Boston's action actually
Speaker 1: doesn't involve Porzingis. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a
Speaker 1: lot of like Tatum White to game or Holiday Brown
Speaker 1: two man game looking to attack Luka Doncic, or looking
Speaker 1: to attack Kyrie Irving when they get those switches or
Speaker 1: whenever they get a matchup that they like, or if
Speaker 1: they do get a slip cut or something that breaks
Speaker 1: open on the backside. That is where Porzingis to me
Speaker 1: becomes an even bigger problem for Dallas because there are
Speaker 1: situations where and I'll show you an example on film
Speaker 1: where Derek Lively's in position to step over in help
Speaker 1: on a Jalen Brown driving layup out of the right corner,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't because he's scared of Porzingis spotting up
Speaker 1: on the right wing who he would have to leave
Speaker 1: open in order to offer help. He doesn't help Jalen
Speaker 1: Brown gets in and gets a layup, And so that
Speaker 1: to me is the bigger Porzingis issue is just is
Speaker 1: Lively going to be able to help on the back line?
Speaker 1: Is Gafford going to be able to help on the
Speaker 1: back line when he's going to have to be closer
Speaker 1: to a deadly shooter twenty five twenty six feet away
Speaker 1: from the basket. That's one of the big differences too
Speaker 1: with porzingis above the break. When you have a guy
Speaker 1: who likes taking corner threes, that's a pretty standard rotation.
Speaker 1: You sit kind of in the dunker spot, and you
Speaker 1: can step in and help if you want to be
Speaker 1: the low man that's tagging a roller or helping out
Speaker 1: a drive, but you can also close out to the
Speaker 1: three point line. As soon as he's out above the break,
Speaker 1: not only is he further away from the basket, but
Speaker 1: it's just a non traditional help position because now when
Speaker 1: you're in helpside, you're kind of up at the elbow
Speaker 1: as opposed to down underneath the basket. Right. So, like
Speaker 1: porzingis just is a huge pain in the ass to
Speaker 1: deal with This is part of what it comes with
Speaker 1: dealing with Boston. Right, As I've said so many times,
Speaker 1: I think this is the most talented roster in the league.
Speaker 1: They have four guys who make over thirty million. If
Speaker 1: they were all free agents tomorrow, they'd all make over
Speaker 1: thirty million, all five starters, including Derek White. Right, So,
Speaker 1: like this is just kind of like what happens when
Speaker 1: you play Boston. It's just everyone's really good and they
Speaker 1: put you in a lot of specific predicaments. But again,
Speaker 1: the pick and pop with porzingis is going to be
Speaker 1: an issue, and Porzingis spotting up when they look to
Speaker 1: attack elsewhere is going to be an issue. Attacking Luca,
Speaker 1: Boston will go out of their way to do it.
Speaker 1: We saw this in the Pacers series, I think Game one,
Speaker 1: but it was one of the first two games of
Speaker 1: the series. There was a sequence where Tyres Haliburton was
Speaker 1: getting attacked relentlessly by Boston, and there was this basic
Speaker 1: sequence where Derek White had the ball, Tyres Aliburton was
Speaker 1: guarding him and they had Tyres chase over the top
Speaker 1: and Nie Smith was guarding Tatum, who was the screener.
Speaker 1: Tatum's at the screen Tatum popped to the top of
Speaker 1: the key. Nie Smith tried to corral to corral Derek
Speaker 1: White on the drive, and because he had to crawl
Speaker 1: because Tyris Alibert was chasing and in trail position, Derek
Speaker 1: White just threw a simple kickback past to Tatum. Nie
Speaker 1: Smith tried to close out, but Tatum beat him off
Speaker 1: the dribble and he got a dunk. So then on
Speaker 1: the very next possession, Nie Smith was like hesitant to help,
Speaker 1: and so when Haliburton chased over the top and he
Speaker 1: was in trail position, Nie Smith wasn't there, so Derek
Speaker 1: White just went all the way to the rim and
Speaker 1: got an easy layup. Boston was relentless going at Halliburton
Speaker 1: every single time in those first two games before he
Speaker 1: left the series with a hamstring injury. I expect that
Speaker 1: to do the same with primarily Luca, but also with Kyrie,
Speaker 1: and it serves two functions right, one to get a
Speaker 1: favorable matchup or to get the defense in rotation, and
Speaker 1: two to try to fatigue Luca, who obviously has a
Speaker 1: lot in the way of offensive responsibility on the other
Speaker 1: end of the floor. Now Dallas will guard it differently.
Speaker 1: One of the things that Indiana did with Haliburton was
Speaker 1: they would have him chase over the top against the
Speaker 1: ball handler. They would have him hedge and recover as
Speaker 1: the on ball or as the screen defender, so like
Speaker 1: if he was if they used Derek White to set
Speaker 1: a screen, they'd have Tyrese like step out in hedge
Speaker 1: and then try to get back into the passing lane.
Speaker 1: Remember he got a couple steals like that in Game one,
Speaker 1: just like slipping out of those hedges and jumping into
Speaker 1: the passing lane. But because Tyrese was fast, they like
Speaker 1: to have him do fast things to try to protect
Speaker 1: himself right. Dallas will look to protect Luca in a
Speaker 1: very different way. Primarily with Luca, they'll just switch and
Speaker 1: then try to double him out of those particular situations.
Speaker 1: One of the problems for Dallas is they can't afford
Speaker 1: to just let Luca sit and play iso defense, even
Speaker 1: if he's okay at it, because they desperately need him
Speaker 1: to be great on the offensive end of the four.
Speaker 1: This is not like the Clippers series where Luca can
Speaker 1: defend on an island, but like both teams are struggling
Speaker 1: to score because it's a defensive slug fest. And you're
Speaker 1: not worried about Paul George and James Harden killing you
Speaker 1: to some great extent, and you're okay winning a rock fight.
Speaker 1: Boston's too skilled offensively. I don't think it's gonna be
Speaker 1: that much of a rock fight. I think this is
Speaker 1: gonna be a pretty high scoring series. And so I
Speaker 1: think you need Luca to be awesome offensively, and you
Speaker 1: need to try to protect his legs as much as possible.
Speaker 1: So this is let's talk about a couple of specific
Speaker 1: ways that Boston will look to attack. To look to
Speaker 1: attack Luca, Right, if Drew Holliday is the matchup, If
Speaker 1: lucas guarding Drew, we're gonna look at it through two
Speaker 1: different functions. Right, Drew on the ball, Drew as the screener.
Speaker 1: If Drew is on the ball, I think they'll just
Speaker 1: switch the action. Right. So, if it's Tatum that sets
Speaker 1: the screen, that up with Luca on Tatum right now,
Speaker 1: you're not going to be looking to have Luca sitting
Speaker 1: guard Tatum on an island. You're probably going to double
Speaker 1: team him and rotate out of it because you want
Speaker 1: to save Luca's legs, right, And you can't do what
Speaker 1: you did against Minnesota, or you have Gafford and Lively
Speaker 1: just parked in the paint, so that even if Anthony
Speaker 1: Edwards beats Luke off the dribble, he's just driving into
Speaker 1: rim protection. That's not the luxury you have in this series.
Speaker 1: You have to contain on the perimeter, right, So my
Speaker 1: guess is they'll double and rotate out of it. What's
Speaker 1: the problem there? Now Boston has you in rotation with
Speaker 1: five shooters on the floor, that can be a problem.
Speaker 1: If Drew is the screener, I think Luca will just
Speaker 1: switch out on the ball, right, So if if Drew's
Speaker 1: on the ball and Luca switches on to Tatum, they'll
Speaker 1: just pass it back to Tatum. But if if Luca
Speaker 1: is the screener, he's switched on to Jason Tatum, now
Speaker 1: he's just on the ball. It's the exact same predicament.
Speaker 1: And if you double team once again, the defense is
Speaker 1: in rotation. So like, no matter what, I think, you're
Speaker 1: just gonna end up in this situation where attacking Luca
Speaker 1: is just going to get the defense in rotation and
Speaker 1: Boston's going to be playing driving kick out of that
Speaker 1: all series long. I'm going to talk about this more
Speaker 1: at the end, But most of this comes down to
Speaker 1: me for Dallas defensive rotations, they are going to be
Speaker 1: in rotation a lot, and so so much is going
Speaker 1: to come down to how well are they closing out,
Speaker 1: how well are they chasing guys off the line. They've
Speaker 1: been pretty good. They were the best among the Conference
Speaker 1: finalists teams in defending teams on spot up possessions. It's
Speaker 1: something that they are good at it. They are athletic
Speaker 1: and they get out to the perimeter. They close out well.
Speaker 1: But that's going to be a huge factor in this
Speaker 1: particular series. To me, the Luca attacking mostly comes down
Speaker 1: to the fatigue battle. Boston is going to be trying
Speaker 1: to wear Luca out and Dallas is going to be
Speaker 1: trying to make Luca's job easier so that he doesn't
Speaker 1: get worn out. Last week I want to look at
Speaker 1: is just Jason Tatum as the offensive initiator for Boston again.
Speaker 1: Josh Green got the assignment in the March first game
Speaker 1: and Tatum just torched him. He was too small to handle.
Speaker 1: Tatum just there was a sequence of possessions in the
Speaker 1: second quarter where he just literally looked to attack Josh
Speaker 1: Green every single time down the floor. He went on
Speaker 1: like a nine to zero run by himself, just attacking
Speaker 1: Josh Green out of like the right elbow in straight
Speaker 1: iso and post up situations. Now, Darrek Jones Junior is
Speaker 1: not as strong as Josh Green, but he is longer
Speaker 1: and better at contesting those pull up jump shots. I
Speaker 1: actually think he's just a better matchup for Tatum in
Speaker 1: general in terms of having the length to actually contest
Speaker 1: those shots. My main concern for Dallas with Tatum is
Speaker 1: actually just Tatum as a passer. Tatum's not shooting well
Speaker 1: in this postseason run. He's at zero point eight two
Speaker 1: points per pull up jumper. That's bad. Zero point nine
Speaker 1: points per catch and shoot jumper, that's bad. He's seven
Speaker 1: for thirty three on face up jumpers zero point five
Speaker 1: to two points per shot. That's really bad. So, like
Speaker 1: Tatum's jumper just isn't there right now, and if it
Speaker 1: comes back in a big way in the series, Boston's
Speaker 1: just gonna win, Like, forget about it. Boston's winning if
Speaker 1: Tatum shoots well. But he hasn't been shooting well. That said,
Speaker 1: Dallas has entry points that Tatum can look to exploit
Speaker 1: to easily get the defense in rotation. Again, any action
Speaker 1: involving Tatum and Luca is likely to end with the
Speaker 1: defense in rotation for the same reasons that I just
Speaker 1: broke down for you guys. Right, Like, anytime Tatum has
Speaker 1: the ball and set and get brings Luke into the screen,
Speaker 1: Luca's probably gonna switch. They're gonna double. You'll be in rotation.
Speaker 1: And if Luca, if Tatum sets the screen, switch on
Speaker 1: to Tatum and throw the ball back to Tatum. Now
Speaker 1: you're in rotation anyway. Right, So I think that's gonna
Speaker 1: happen pretty consistently. But Tatum has the size to make
Speaker 1: passes out of that. He is, in my opinion, one
Speaker 1: of the best passing forwards in the league. It's one
Speaker 1: of the most underrated traits about his game. He's incredible defensively,
Speaker 1: and he's incredible as a playmaker. The primary concerns with
Speaker 1: Tatum involved his ability to consistently get to his spots
Speaker 1: and make shots right like is for him. It's his
Speaker 1: inconsistency as a score that has held him back. But
Speaker 1: his playmaking is something that I think is underrated, and
Speaker 1: so I'm worried about for Dallas. Just Tatum functioning is
Speaker 1: like this glue guy offensively that just consistently runs a
Speaker 1: basic action the beginning of a possession to get the
Speaker 1: defense in rotation, and suddenly it's Derek White, Drew Holliday,
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown and Crisops porzingis running four on threes and
Speaker 1: just torching them. That's my main concern with Tatum. So again,
Speaker 1: this series to me comes down to rotations. For Dallas,
Speaker 1: they have to do a really good job flying around
Speaker 1: and chasing guys off the three point line. It's doable,
Speaker 1: but it's going to be a tough job. I don't
Speaker 1: hate the other matchups Kyrie on Kyrie and PJ. Washington
Speaker 1: are both guys that can guard on the perimeter. I'm
Speaker 1: really just worried about them operating with an advantage. Like
Speaker 1: it's not PJ Washington guarding Jalen Brown with two guys
Speaker 1: dug down into driving lanes that I worry about. It's
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown catching on the left wing with PJ. Washington
Speaker 1: closing out at him and him just getting easy buckets
Speaker 1: looking to attack quickly with that guy closing out right
Speaker 1: keys for both teams with Boston on offense for Boston
Speaker 1: be deliberate about attacking Luca. If they let him guard
Speaker 1: in an island, you'll wear him out. Not to mention,
Speaker 1: you'll get great shots, but you'll wear him out, which
Speaker 1: will hurt him on the offensive end. And most likely
Speaker 1: you're just going to get the defense in rotation. In
Speaker 1: the March first game, they had thirty three assists. They
Speaker 1: had fourteen assists on their first seventeen made field goals.
Speaker 1: They did a great job in that March first game
Speaker 1: of getting the ball bouncing around, secondly pushing in transition.
Speaker 1: You guys will see some examples in film, but anytime
Speaker 1: they got a transition cross match, it just made it
Speaker 1: so that Dallas couldn't run their actual defensive game plan,
Speaker 1: which ended up in problems. So like just running up
Speaker 1: and down the floor, forcing Dallas into cross matches will
Speaker 1: help them. And then again, get the ball reversal in
Speaker 1: every possession, Get the ball across the floor, make it
Speaker 1: across the midline and make these guys defend against the
Speaker 1: make these guys defend closing out rather than load it up.
Speaker 1: Remember Dallas is a load up defense. That's what they
Speaker 1: did to Minnesota, and they weren't very good at getting
Speaker 1: the ball side to side. Boston has to get the
Speaker 1: ball side to side on the Dallas front protect Luca's legs.
Speaker 1: I would have him switch and then double out of
Speaker 1: every single one of those situations. That way, he has
Speaker 1: no screen navigation and no hard close like just make
Speaker 1: his job super easy, because in my opinion, the best
Speaker 1: pathway for Dallas to win this series is for Luca
Speaker 1: to go absolutely super nova on offense and to shake
Speaker 1: Boston's foundation the way he shook Minnesota's foundation in Game five,
Speaker 1: and then to lead Boston into their bad offensive stretches.
Speaker 1: As we know, Boston can lose sight of the goal
Speaker 1: and their execution on offense from time to time. Luca
Speaker 1: going super nova is a great way to play Boston
Speaker 1: into those tendencies. Lastly, I think they need to lean
Speaker 1: into Cleiba and Lively and then switch as much as possible. Again,
Speaker 1: more stagnation, less ball movement. Boston ceiling is higher. It
Speaker 1: just is. That's a fact going into the series. We
Speaker 1: know Boston when they play their best, is better than anybody, right,
Speaker 1: but they're inconsistent in that level, and so you have
Speaker 1: to try to play them to the lower end of
Speaker 1: their variants and the best way to do that is
Speaker 1: when they're stagnant taking bad pull up jump shots and
Speaker 1: they're not popping around in rotation getting easy shots. And
Speaker 1: so it's gonna be tough. But like, the one guy
Speaker 1: you have to protect is Luca, but I would switch
Speaker 1: everybody else and leave him on an island and just
Speaker 1: force Boston to score. And then it's gonna be about
Speaker 1: Boston being deliberate to attack Luca and keep the defense
Speaker 1: in rotation as much as possible. The volume