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Speaker 1: in West Virginia. YEA, all right, Welcome to Hoops Tonight,

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Speaker 1: presented by Fandel here at the Volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody.

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Speaker 1: I hope all of you guys are having a great

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Speaker 1: week so far. The Lakers on a wind streak, the

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Speaker 1: Lakers fun to watch play basketball, which could not be

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Speaker 1: further from what it was like last year. We're going

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Speaker 1: to be breaking down the lakers big win at home

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Speaker 1: over the New Orleans Pelicans. And then for those of

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Speaker 1: you guys who stick around for the back half of

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Speaker 1: the show, we're gonna talk about the Celtics Cavs matchup

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Speaker 1: from earlier tonight, which was incredible, and then we are

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Speaker 1: going to dive into the Knicks and the Hawks, a

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Speaker 1: couple of teams that we haven't touched on yet this season.

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Speaker 1: You guys know the drill. Before we get started. Subscribe

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Speaker 1: to the volumes YouTube channels. You don't miss any more

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Speaker 1: of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at Underscored Aason lt.

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Speaker 1: That's where show announcements will go, as well as some

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Speaker 1: of our footage breakdowns that we do because of some

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Speaker 1: of the limitations that we have on YouTube. And then,

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Speaker 1: last but not least, for whatever reason, you miss one

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Speaker 1: of these shows and you can't get back over to

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Speaker 1: YouTube to finish them, you can find them wherever you

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Speaker 1: get your podcasts. Under Hoops tonight, so I was talking

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Speaker 1: to Ryan, one of our producers before the show about

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Speaker 1: how it just kind of felt like the Lakers deserved

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Speaker 1: to win this game. Um, they basically outplayed the Pelicans

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Speaker 1: for the vast majority of the game, except for the

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Speaker 1: lakers best player, Lebron James, is having a really rough

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Speaker 1: start to this season and was giving the Lakers almost

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Speaker 1: nothing and was downright detrimental at a couple of specific

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Speaker 1: stretches of the game. We're gonna talk a lot about

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Speaker 1: Lebron later on in the show, but I do not

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Speaker 1: want to leave a lead with him. But you know,

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Speaker 1: in that kind of case, you know, it just kind

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Speaker 1: of felt like on that final possession and you get

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Speaker 1: a couple of missed free throws and Matt Ryan breaks

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Speaker 1: free in the opposite corner, it's like, you know, you

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Speaker 1: either believe in that sort of thing or you don't

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Speaker 1: call it. The basketball gods call it basketball karma. I

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Speaker 1: don't know what you call it, but I just generally

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Speaker 1: believe that sometimes those sorts of things tend to go

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Speaker 1: your way when you're playing good basketball. And a lot

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Speaker 1: of those kinds of shots did not go the Lakers

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Speaker 1: way last year because they weren't playing good basketball. Are

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Speaker 1: they related? Probably not, But for the sake of making

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Speaker 1: it more fun, let's just pretend that it is. And

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Speaker 1: you know, there were a couple of specific things on

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Speaker 1: that play that I found interesting. First of all, Austin

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Speaker 1: reeves through an absolute dime across the court, hitting Matt

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Speaker 1: Ryan in stride so perfectly so that Matt didn't have

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Speaker 1: to go out of his way to catch the basketball,

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Speaker 1: and because of that, he got to take a second

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Speaker 1: to look down at his feet, and if you look

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Speaker 1: at the replay, Matt is hyper focused on making sure

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Speaker 1: he's behind the line, but also that he has an

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Speaker 1: enough room for him to turn and plant his right

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Speaker 1: foot on that shot. And you know, um when when

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Speaker 1: you're shooting over your left shoulder, turning in any sort

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Speaker 1: of way, and mostly it's on post fade aways, but

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Speaker 1: you'll also see it on guards and wings when they're

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Speaker 1: flying around screens and movement shooting situations. But right handed

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Speaker 1: shooters naturally shoot with their shoulders usually a little bit

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Speaker 1: off center, with the right shoulder towards the rim, and

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Speaker 1: so it's really difficult to get squared up unless you

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Speaker 1: jump extra high and kick that right foot around. It's

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Speaker 1: kind of like a little detail of skill development when

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Speaker 1: it comes to shooting for right handed shooters, either in

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Speaker 1: fade aways over their left shoulders or in movement shots

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Speaker 1: over moving towards their left and on that play, Matt

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Speaker 1: had plenty of time to look down, planted that right foot, hard,

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Speaker 1: kick that right foot around, and stuck the jump shot,

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Speaker 1: and the Lakers had more life and in in over time,

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Speaker 1: it was all about the defensive end of the floor.

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Speaker 1: They held the Pelicans to six points. Should have been

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Speaker 1: four too, because there was a play where Zian Williamson

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Speaker 1: stepped out of bounds. Really you had that um, really

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Speaker 1: tough left handed hook shot off the glass that Zion

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Speaker 1: hit over Anthony Davis's contest, a shot that Anthony Davis

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Speaker 1: defended almost perfectly. You just got to tip the cap

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Speaker 1: design and it's a great shot. And then they're at

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Speaker 1: the end of the game when the game was basically over,

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Speaker 1: c Jim McCollums stuck a pretty tough, little midrange pull

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Speaker 1: up jump shot. But other than that, it was a

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Speaker 1: whole lot of stops there in that overtime run. And

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Speaker 1: that has become the identity of this Laker team, and

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Speaker 1: that specific type of identity the defensive end of the

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Speaker 1: floor is the kind of identity that will win you

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Speaker 1: a lot of basketball games because it will keep things close.

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Speaker 1: Your offense can be up and down. For instance, Lebron

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Speaker 1: James is a good jump shooter. Yes, his legs look

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Speaker 1: problematic right now, we're gonna get to that, and he's

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Speaker 1: struggling to finish around the rim the last couple of games.

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Speaker 1: But Lebron James is a good jump shooter. But he's

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Speaker 1: in a shooting slump right now. There are a lot

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Speaker 1: of players around the league that are in shooting slumps

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Speaker 1: right now. Trey Young is in a shooting slump. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna talk about him later tonight. There are a lot

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Speaker 1: of guys are in the league that can go through

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Speaker 1: shooting slump if you have a defensive identity that you

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Speaker 1: can lean back on that is there every single night,

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Speaker 1: provided you play hard, that a good defensive teams will

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Speaker 1: mail in a game here there. That sort of thing

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Speaker 1: can happen. But for the most part, if you have

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Speaker 1: a defensive identity and you have the personnel to do it,

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Speaker 1: and you care enough to try, it is a dependable outcome.

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Speaker 1: And that's why it's such a good type of identity

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Speaker 1: to have. And that's why when we look at NBA history,

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Speaker 1: you almost always have to be a top ten defense

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Speaker 1: in order to win an NBA championship. And then we

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Speaker 1: look at last year and the two teams that were

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Speaker 1: in the finals were the first and second best defense

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Speaker 1: in the league. That is the most reliable way to

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Speaker 1: win basketball games. In overtime, both Lebron and Anthony Davis

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Speaker 1: got key stops on Zion Lebron kind of tried to

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Speaker 1: take a charge on Zion, which forces Zion to change

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Speaker 1: up his steps on a transition play. It was funny.

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Speaker 1: I was talking about to Ryan again and Anthony Davis

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Speaker 1: fell over one of his teammates in the backcourt, and

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Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, guaranteed bucket. Every time Anthony Davis falls down,

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Speaker 1: there's a bucket on the other end. And Lebron like

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Speaker 1: kind of tried to took a charge, take a charge,

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Speaker 1: and it messed up Zion's footwork and he changed his

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Speaker 1: steps a little bit and he missed the left handed

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Speaker 1: layup that he makes the time. So it's a big

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Speaker 1: play from Lebron, and then that ended up leading to

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Speaker 1: a runout dunk for a d who stayed on the

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Speaker 1: other end of the floor. And then Anthony Davis got

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Speaker 1: a key stop late in the game where Zion tried

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Speaker 1: that big fake spin move that always comes back to

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Speaker 1: his left hand and ended up shooting the layup over

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Speaker 1: the front of the rim. And then Patrick Beverley was

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Speaker 1: a big time move from uh from Darvin Ham to

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Speaker 1: go away from Russ at the end of the game.

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Speaker 1: And Russ was really good overall in this game. Arguably

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Speaker 1: his best game as a Laker, at least his best

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Speaker 1: half as a Laker, and again we'll talk about him

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Speaker 1: in a little bit, but to go away from Russ

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Speaker 1: at the end of the game because you were getting

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Speaker 1: a little bit more of a natural shooting aravity from

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Speaker 1: Patrick Beverley and then trusting him to defend well, it

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Speaker 1: was a big time move from Darvin Hammon. You were

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Speaker 1: rewarded with two pivotal offensive rebounds by Patrick Beverley off

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Speaker 1: of miss jump shots, and he played great defense on CJ.

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Speaker 1: McCollum applying back pressure. And you know what's so important

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Speaker 1: about back pressure on these guards is you know, when

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Speaker 1: they're coming off of these ball screens, they're seeing clear

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Speaker 1: airspace in front of them, usually especially in a scheme

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Speaker 1: like Darvin Hams where the biggest dropping so far back.

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Speaker 1: But if you are consistently applying back pressure, the guards

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Speaker 1: still will not feel comfortable because even though he sees

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Speaker 1: clear airspace in front of him, he's gonna be paranoid

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Speaker 1: that there's something coming from behind, whether it's a hand,

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Speaker 1: a reach, or digging at the ball from behind to

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Speaker 1: try to get it while it's in your shooting pocket.

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Speaker 1: It just adds a level of discomfort to the offensive player,

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Speaker 1: which can lead to missus. And then you know, Lebron

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Speaker 1: James couldn't make a jump shot to save his life

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Speaker 1: again tonight. But there was a play there at the

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Speaker 1: end where he just willed his way to the basket

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Speaker 1: bullyball style for a layup to put the Lakers up five.

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Speaker 1: Just you know, the stretches of good offensive basketball from

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Speaker 1: Lebron in this game, which was basically that one sequence.

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Speaker 1: And then there's a little stretch at the end of

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Speaker 1: the third quarter we went on a six oh run

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Speaker 1: on three straight post ups. It's all just wiley, veteran

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Speaker 1: old man just just just willing the basketball into the

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Speaker 1: rim and uh and that's all he's got left at

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Speaker 1: this point until he figures out what's going on with

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Speaker 1: his legs, which we'll see. Um. You know, the Pells

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Speaker 1: made it interesting. Zion was fantastic late in this game,

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Speaker 1: especially at the end of the third quarter. There was

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Speaker 1: a stretch there where the Lakers left winging Gabriel on

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Speaker 1: him and Zion just absolutely abused him. Another question I

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Speaker 1: had about Lebron, like Lebron just didn't want that matchup,

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Speaker 1: and I know He's capable of doing a better job

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Speaker 1: on Zion than when you was, so I was a

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Speaker 1: little confused by that as well. H J. Alvarado was

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Speaker 1: incredible at the end of the third quarter and to

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Speaker 1: start the fourth quarter, making momentum defensive plays, knocking down

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Speaker 1: spot up, thrazy airball to three in the right corner,

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Speaker 1: and then just started making everything after that. He also

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Speaker 1: has a really nice little running scoop shot and tear

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Speaker 1: drop in the lane that he was making and then

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Speaker 1: uh in a in o t You know, all all

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Speaker 1: season long, I've been most impressed with Zion's passing ability,

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Speaker 1: and even on the play that didn't count where he

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Speaker 1: drove baseline or shouldn't have counted when he stepped out

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Speaker 1: of bounds, Zion just has such a natural passing feel

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Speaker 1: and he puts the ball with pace on target, which

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Speaker 1: makes it really difficult to rotate out off of his passes.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I used to say this about Zion

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Speaker 1: or about Janice all the time. If you are unstoppable

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Speaker 1: at the basket, which Janice is and Zion. It fun

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Speaker 1: fact about the one season I think, yeah, one season

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Speaker 1: last year's Zion played a lot. Janice was not the

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Speaker 1: most effective restricted area scorer in the league. It was Zion.

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Speaker 1: Zion is actually the most dominent paint scorer in the league.

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Speaker 1: But it doesn't matter what kind of jump shot you have.

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Speaker 1: Everyone thinks of the jump shot like, oh, you need

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Speaker 1: to be able to shoot over the top, not necessarily

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Speaker 1: if you can get to the basket at will, they're

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Speaker 1: gonna have to send multiple defensive players and build a wall,

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Speaker 1: and you have to show a willingness to beat teams

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Speaker 1: with the pass and especially with the In the first

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Speaker 1: half and then late fourth quarter, o T I was

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Speaker 1: really impressed was Zion's passing ability. Um, So those are

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Speaker 1: just a couple of Pelicans I wanted to shout out

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Speaker 1: in this particular game, a couple of specific things I

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Speaker 1: saw late in this game because Russ, you know, Russ

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Speaker 1: played his best half that I've ever seen him play

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Speaker 1: as a Laker. He was flying around on defense. He

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Speaker 1: even defended really well on c J. McCollum in the

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Speaker 1: fourth quarter before Darvin ham benched him. Um, he took

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Speaker 1: a charge. He was grabbing contested rebounds on both ends

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Speaker 1: of the floor. He defended Zion really well on a

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Speaker 1: couple of switches that he got and that if there

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Speaker 1: were a couple possessions where he was either transition cross

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Speaker 1: matches or he was outright assigned to Zion. But Russ

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Speaker 1: defended really really well on those possessions, and then on offense,

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Speaker 1: he just played smart. He made extra passes on his

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Speaker 1: spot up possessions. He made a spot up three. I

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Speaker 1: think the two jump shots that he missed were both

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Speaker 1: um the two early threes that he missed were both

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Speaker 1: off the dribble. He picked his spots to drive better.

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Speaker 1: That's a huge, huge part of Russ's late career development

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Speaker 1: is understanding that he can't just elevate over four people anymore.

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Speaker 1: He's got to pick his spots better, and just in general.

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Speaker 1: In the last couple of games, that's a big part

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Speaker 1: of what I've noticed. It's fewer drives to the rim,

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Speaker 1: but more effective when he goes because he's just being

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Speaker 1: more picky about when he's doing it. And then we

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Speaker 1: had that run there at the end of the second quarter,

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Speaker 1: which was incredible. I think the Lakers held the Pelicans

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Speaker 1: to eleven points total over the last ten minutes because

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Speaker 1: once again it's about their defensive identity. They held the

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Speaker 1: Pells to eleven over the last ten minutes of the half,

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Speaker 1: and at the end of the half, they just spammed Lebron.

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Speaker 1: James Russell Westbrook pick and roll with Russ says the

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Speaker 1: ball handle and in every single case, they gotta, they gotta.

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Speaker 1: Lebron got a dunk out of it. There were a

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Speaker 1: couple plays where he hit Lebron for kickouts, but for

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Speaker 1: the most part, the Pelicans are running drop covered, so

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Speaker 1: they had Trey Murphy on Russ and they had Nagi

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Speaker 1: Marshall Marshall on Lebron, and as Russ was coming off

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Speaker 1: of the screen, Trey Murphy's chasing over the top and

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Speaker 1: Naji Marshall is sitting to contain Russ, and then they're

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Speaker 1: bringing help out of the weak side to bring over

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Speaker 1: to to Lebron as the role man. It was kind

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Speaker 1: of like a really confusing defensive scheme because you just

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Speaker 1: don't need to do that with that specific action. But

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Speaker 1: Russ was just making easy kickout passes and then it

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Speaker 1: was bang bang extra passes and guys started knocking down threes,

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Speaker 1: and Lonnie Walker and Troy Brown Jr. In particular, the

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Speaker 1: two of them made a lot of really important timely

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Speaker 1: spot up threes in this game. And again, like when

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Speaker 1: it comes to the Lakers shooting situation, they don't need

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Speaker 1: to be a great shooting team. That's just that's not

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Speaker 1: that big of a deal. But you do need to

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Speaker 1: be able to make a decent percentage of the wide

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Speaker 1: open ones that you get out of really solid offensive action.

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Speaker 1: You can be picky, limit your attempts, take high quality attempts,

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Speaker 1: and professional basketball players are going to hit them at

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Speaker 1: a decent percentage. This is not the type of team

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Speaker 1: until they make a trade that's gonna be able to

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Speaker 1: hit lots of difficult three point shots. But if they're timely,

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Speaker 1: they and they knocked them down, that's enough for them

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Speaker 1: to win games because of how well they defended and

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Speaker 1: when they were running that Lebron Russ pick and roll,

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Speaker 1: Troy Brown Jr. Was knocking down shots. Lonnie Walker was

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Speaker 1: knocking down shots. That's really all you need in those situations.

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Speaker 1: But I thought it was really interesting because he came

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Speaker 1: out in the third quarter his shift. In that shift,

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Speaker 1: he struggled a little bit, had a couple of turnovers,

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Speaker 1: had a couple of mislayups, but then when he came

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Speaker 1: back in the fourth quarter, he defended well and was

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Speaker 1: making plays. Overall, it was a great russ S game.

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Speaker 1: But I tweeted, if you guys saw those of you

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Speaker 1: follow me on Twitter, I tweeted out at halftime, I

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Speaker 1: went back and rewatched those Spann pick and rolls, and

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Speaker 1: the ridge was something you don't usually see against the Lakers. Russ, Lebron, James,

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, You're gonna think a lot of pick and roll, right,

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Speaker 1: Russe and Lebron are two great passers and two great

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Speaker 1: downhill ball handlers. Anthony Davis is a great roleman, and

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Speaker 1: even Lebron can be a great roleman. So there's all

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Speaker 1: these different combinations for you to think Lakers are gonna

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Speaker 1: run a ton of pick and roll. But they haven't,

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Speaker 1: not even just in the Russ era, but before that,

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Speaker 1: in the Lebron James Anthony Davis area, they haven't run

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Speaker 1: a lot of pick and roll. And the main reason

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Speaker 1: why is because Anthony Davis can't shoot and Russell Westbrook

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Speaker 1: doesn't shoot very well. And so when those guys are

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Speaker 1: um um, when those guys are in those actions, they're

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Speaker 1: constantly trying to get downhill and bully you physically. Lebron's

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Speaker 1: a bulleyball player. Russ as a bulleyball player, Anthony Davis

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Speaker 1: can be a bulletball player and if he's taking jump shots,

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Speaker 1: you win usually, right. So what happens is every team

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Speaker 1: that's good puts big forwards on all three of them,

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Speaker 1: and they just switched the action. And even during the

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Speaker 1: championship season, when Lebron James and Anthony Davis would run

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Speaker 1: pick and roll, it was a switch. The differences is

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Speaker 1: that in that season Anthony Davis was a great is

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Speaker 1: A player and then when Lebron James had the ball,

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Speaker 1: they had respectable enough shooting that he had lots of

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Speaker 1: work room to work, and he was a great is

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Speaker 1: A player. So they'd run the pick and roll, attack

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Speaker 1: the match or the screening action, and they'd attack the

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Speaker 1: matchup that they'd like, or they just skip the pick

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Speaker 1: and roll altogether and just go to one of them too.

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Speaker 1: When teams run drop coverage against Lebron, Russ and a

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Speaker 1: d it opens up all of that stuff that makes

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Speaker 1: it look all fluid and nice. And I tweeted that

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Speaker 1: out because my concern was, Okay, Russ is playing great,

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Speaker 1: but that coverage is not a coverage they're gonna see often,

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Speaker 1: and then we got late in the game and they

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Speaker 1: started switching, and all of a sudden, it becomes a

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Speaker 1: little bit more problematic when Lebron James is iso wing

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Speaker 1: out of a switch pick and roll against Larry Nan

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Speaker 1: and Russ's man is sagging off and Anthony Davis's man

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Speaker 1: is sagging off and there's just not a lot of space,

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Speaker 1: and now you're getting pull up jumpers and Lebron doesn't

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Speaker 1: have the legs to just bully his way to the

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Speaker 1: rim the way he usually does, and you start to

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Speaker 1: get a lot of settled for jump shots and it

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Speaker 1: becomes a problem. And that's kind of where I was

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Speaker 1: coming back to on that whole situation, is like, like

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Speaker 1: Russ was really really good. He's been really good for

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Speaker 1: two games in a row. Now, I'd argue this is

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Speaker 1: the best two game stretch since he came to the Lakers.

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Speaker 1: But the reality is, especially when they get into tougher

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Speaker 1: matchups against teams that have the ForWords to just switch

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Speaker 1: those actions or just not dumb enough to run drop

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Speaker 1: coverage against them, you run into the same conundrum. They're

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Speaker 1: gonna switch a big guy onto Russ and then he

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Speaker 1: won't be able to bully them and then he won't

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Speaker 1: shoot the ball. Well, then when you have Lebron Iso,

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Speaker 1: they're gonna help off of Russ into the lane. Now,

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Speaker 1: Russ has been a lot better in recent games at

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Speaker 1: being active off the ball. He grabbed pivotal offensive rebounds tonight,

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Speaker 1: Russ has been a lot better. In fact, I'd say

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Speaker 1: he's been good overall this season. But the problem is

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Speaker 1: is that it has a certain ceiling to it, right,

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Speaker 1: and then you saw tonight they couldn't actually use him

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Speaker 1: in crunch time, or at least they opted not to,

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Speaker 1: so even though he was really good. The idealized version

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Speaker 1: of this team is you look at the roster and

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Speaker 1: you go, I've got Lebron James, I've got Anthony Davis.

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Speaker 1: I've got all these guys that are defending. They have

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Speaker 1: arguably the best defense in the league, uh you know,

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Speaker 1: at least the best defense in the Western Conference. And

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Speaker 1: you have the opportunity to turn Russ into two or

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Speaker 1: three offensive role players that bring in a little bit

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Speaker 1: more firepower to this team. And you're not sacrificing any

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Speaker 1: defense because you've got all of these defensive players that

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Speaker 1: are thriving next to Lebron James and Anthony Davis. So

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Speaker 1: I I don't think it changes the outlook for how

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Speaker 1: the Lakers should proceed from a strategy standpoint. But that said,

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Speaker 1: I'm very happy for Rus. He deserved to have a

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Speaker 1: couple of really positive moments with the Lakers. I hope

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Speaker 1: he has a couple more before they do a trade him. Hell,

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Speaker 1: I hope he just flat out just continues to excel

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Speaker 1: and they don't need to trade him. I just think

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Speaker 1: we have to acknowledge the realities of the situation. All Right,

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Speaker 1: a couple of guys I want to hit on before

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Speaker 1: we get out of here. Lebron so, I thought he

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Speaker 1: was pretty bad in the third quarter run, particularly on

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Speaker 1: the defensive end. Um left winding on an island too much. Uh.

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Speaker 1: And then late in the game he had a bad

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Speaker 1: foul on Zion and a turnaround Uh late, I think

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Speaker 1: it was just end of the fourth quarter, a bad

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Speaker 1: foul and a turnaround where where he should have just

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Speaker 1: walled up and made Zion make a shot. Instead he

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Speaker 1: reached in and then on the offensive end of the floor.

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Speaker 1: Right now. Now, there was a report that in the

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00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:48,960
Speaker 1: first quarter he took his shoe off like he took

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Speaker 1: his left shoe off and was just sitting on the

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Speaker 1: bench with his left foot out. Now he's been complaining

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Speaker 1: about left foot soreness, and it's obviously leading to some

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Speaker 1: limitations in his explosiveness. That goes without saying. You can

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Speaker 1: literally see it watching the games. I had a stress

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00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:08,200
Speaker 1: fracture in between my first and second year playing in college,

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Speaker 1: and the way it manifested is foot sore, nous, your

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Speaker 1: photo sore, and then you start to play and it

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Speaker 1: loosens up, and then you stop playing and it just

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Speaker 1: aches like all hell. And then basically what happens is

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Speaker 1: it gets a little bit worse every time you play,

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Speaker 1: and then if you take a day off, it gets

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Speaker 1: a little better, and if you take two days off,

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Speaker 1: it gets a lot better. But then as soon as

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Speaker 1: you start playing, it gets worse and worse again. And

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Speaker 1: so that's the one thing that scares me with the

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Speaker 1: lebron thing, is I hope that's not where that's trending.

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Speaker 1: I hope it's just some foot soreness, maybe some you know,

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Speaker 1: ligament inflammation or something like that, and not something more serious,

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Speaker 1: because the explosiveness is not there, and as a result,

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Speaker 1: he's not confident in his jump shot, and he's been

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00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:56,920
Speaker 1: good defensively overall this season. But you just this, none

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Speaker 1: of this makes any sense unless Lebron is great, and

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Speaker 1: so I may think it. You know, they can't afford

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Speaker 1: to bench him, and I don't mean bench in terms

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Speaker 1: of for his play, but they can't afford to give

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Speaker 1: him a couple of weeks for his foot to heal

430
00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,440
Speaker 1: because of just a predicament that they're in in the standings.

431
00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:17,640
Speaker 1: But it may be worthwhile to cut his minutes because

432
00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:21,640
Speaker 1: especially in these weeks before a rush trade, because if

433
00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:23,680
Speaker 1: Russ is giving you what he's giving you on ball,

434
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,480
Speaker 1: which is a better version, a lot lot better version

435
00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:29,159
Speaker 1: of what you got last year, if you're getting that

436
00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,040
Speaker 1: from Russ, and you can cut Lebron's minutes back to

437
00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:35,440
Speaker 1: thirty a game for a little while until that foot

438
00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,159
Speaker 1: kind of starts to come back to come back to

439
00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:40,880
Speaker 1: life a little bit. Then you get an idealized version

440
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:43,680
Speaker 1: of Lebron. Because I do believe there's a better version

441
00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:45,960
Speaker 1: of him that will see this season. I'm just worried

442
00:22:46,280 --> 00:22:48,400
Speaker 1: that he might get hurt before then, and so it's

443
00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:50,919
Speaker 1: just something that they need to be careful with because

444
00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:53,320
Speaker 1: right now, I mean if it's like it's a problem,

445
00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:55,680
Speaker 1: like he's not getting to the rim and finishing well.

446
00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:58,639
Speaker 1: There's a play overtime where he drove to the lane

447
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:03,040
Speaker 1: um and to step on CJ mccollumn and just threw

448
00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:06,440
Speaker 1: the ball in the bottom of the rip. And just

449
00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:11,800
Speaker 1: even even last year, that's a dunk. He shrugs CJ

450
00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,640
Speaker 1: off of him and dunks the basketball in his prime,

451
00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:18,000
Speaker 1: It's a Sports Center Top five type of dunk like that.

452
00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:21,760
Speaker 1: That that's He's just not Lebron right now. He's honestly

453
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:24,440
Speaker 1: the one big question. Mark Ross has been the best

454
00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:27,359
Speaker 1: he's been since he's been with the Lakers. Anthony Davis,

455
00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:30,200
Speaker 1: I think is the early leader for defensive Player of

456
00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:33,840
Speaker 1: the Year. There's no other exceptional defenders on this Laker team.

457
00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:36,399
Speaker 1: The only player in the league averaging over two blocks

458
00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:38,600
Speaker 1: and two steals per game is Anthony Davis. Has been

459
00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:41,720
Speaker 1: amazing And the biggest thing with Anthony Davis's standing out

460
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:44,840
Speaker 1: to me is his instincts on drop off passes and

461
00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:48,080
Speaker 1: interior feeds, like things around the lane. He keeps his

462
00:23:48,119 --> 00:23:51,119
Speaker 1: hands out and low in all those pocket pass areas

463
00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:53,560
Speaker 1: and drop off pass areas. I can't tell you how

464
00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:55,520
Speaker 1: many times you see a player drive into the lane,

465
00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:58,600
Speaker 1: think they have Anthony Davison help, and then pump Bacon

466
00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:00,840
Speaker 1: then go to throw a bounce pad sat Anthony Davis

467
00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:02,600
Speaker 1: just sticks his arm down and grabs it, and that

468
00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:07,240
Speaker 1: triggers a lot of the Laker fast break stuff. These

469
00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:10,920
Speaker 1: are guys too, that are not necessarily regarded as great

470
00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:14,240
Speaker 1: defensive players. Lonnie Walker was regarded as a bad defensive

471
00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:17,320
Speaker 1: player in San Antonio. I've always thought Austin Reeves was good,

472
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:18,920
Speaker 1: But if you talk to the other guys around the league,

473
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:21,400
Speaker 1: they're like, oh yeah, attack Austin Reeves every time down

474
00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:23,240
Speaker 1: the floor. Lebron is coming off of one of his

475
00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:26,040
Speaker 1: worst defensive seasons because he just didn't care to do anything,

476
00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:28,199
Speaker 1: although he's been a lot better this year. You know,

477
00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:30,359
Speaker 1: there's there. There's a lot of guys that Russell Westbrook

478
00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:33,200
Speaker 1: is another example of that. There are good defensive players.

479
00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:35,399
Speaker 1: Troy Brown Jr. Is a good defensive player. Patrick Beverley

480
00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:37,359
Speaker 1: is a good defensive player who wants Ascano Anderson, who's

481
00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:39,960
Speaker 1: out of the rotation now, is a good defensive player.

482
00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:43,400
Speaker 1: When you Gabriel is capable, but like it's not it's

483
00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:48,199
Speaker 1: not an elite defensive squad. It's it's guys competing and

484
00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:52,439
Speaker 1: then Anthony Davis just being an alien and a superstar

485
00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:54,480
Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the floor. But if I'm

486
00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:58,040
Speaker 1: looking at the Lakers as I zoom out, you've got

487
00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:01,360
Speaker 1: the defensive identity is real. That's a real thing. It's

488
00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:03,080
Speaker 1: going to help them win a lot of games this year.

489
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:06,399
Speaker 1: They're starting to shoot the ball better. That's good news.

490
00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:08,520
Speaker 1: We saw that coming. There was no way they were

491
00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:11,320
Speaker 1: gonna keep shooting from the field. They're starting to knock

492
00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:13,639
Speaker 1: down some of their wide open threes that they get

493
00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:16,399
Speaker 1: in the offense. Russell Westbrook, even though I still think

494
00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:18,199
Speaker 1: he needs to be traded, is playing the best that

495
00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:21,360
Speaker 1: he's played since he came to the Lakers. Anthony Davis

496
00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:23,080
Speaker 1: in the last couple of games has played like a

497
00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:26,960
Speaker 1: top ten player. There's lots of good there. The one

498
00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:30,639
Speaker 1: big question mark is Lebron and so I I hope,

499
00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:33,080
Speaker 1: I hope it's just this foot and that he can

500
00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:35,920
Speaker 1: figure it out and get it together, because if he's

501
00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:38,480
Speaker 1: if this is the Lebron you're getting, then there is

502
00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,399
Speaker 1: no there's there's no legitimate ceiling for this team. He

503
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:43,680
Speaker 1: hasn't been one of the top ten players in the

504
00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:45,480
Speaker 1: league to start this season. And here's the thing, man,

505
00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:49,000
Speaker 1: he's he's in his twentieth season, he's about to turn

506
00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:51,840
Speaker 1: thirty eight in December, and he's got all these commercials

507
00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:54,919
Speaker 1: about him competing against Father Time. I saw one today

508
00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:59,280
Speaker 1: where he blocks uh, the Father Time guy off of

509
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:01,760
Speaker 1: the glass, and and it's like, Lebron wins. And the

510
00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:05,399
Speaker 1: funny thing is here, through seven games or whatever this is,

511
00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:08,240
Speaker 1: I would argue Father Time is winning. So I'm rooting

512
00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:10,200
Speaker 1: for Lebron. I hope he can figure it out. And

513
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:12,760
Speaker 1: I'm glad we got a fun, fun to watch Lakers team.

514
00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:15,479
Speaker 1: Like I told you guys, they're defending, so all they

515
00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:17,879
Speaker 1: needed to do was get a couple of shots to

516
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:20,159
Speaker 1: fall and they were gonna start winning basketball games. And

517
00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:23,720
Speaker 1: they've won two in a row. All right, let's move

518
00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:27,280
Speaker 1: on and talk about the Celtics losing an ot on

519
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:31,879
Speaker 1: the road in Cleveland. Al Right, we are live on AMP.

520
00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:34,240
Speaker 1: For those of you guys who are watching on YouTuber

521
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:36,600
Speaker 1: on the podcast feeds, don't forget that AMP is the

522
00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:40,520
Speaker 1: first place where you can get these post game shows.

523
00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:44,080
Speaker 1: We're gonna be covering that incredible basketball game between the

524
00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:46,520
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have given us

525
00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:50,119
Speaker 1: two incredible basketball games already this season, both of which

526
00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,879
Speaker 1: went to overtime. And then we're gonna talk a little

527
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:56,479
Speaker 1: bit about the Knicks and the Hawks, who also had

528
00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:58,720
Speaker 1: a really interesting game tonight. Those are two teams as

529
00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:01,240
Speaker 1: well that I have not yet done a deep dive

530
00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:03,320
Speaker 1: into this year, so I wanted to get to them.

531
00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:06,160
Speaker 1: And what a perfect example Trey Young on the road

532
00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:09,240
Speaker 1: in MSG. Great opportunity for us to get into that game.

533
00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:12,600
Speaker 1: Nicks led by twenty three and got blown out, really

534
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:16,080
Speaker 1: really weird game. We're starting with the Celtics and the Calves,

535
00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:17,879
Speaker 1: and this was This was a really interesting game that

536
00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:20,359
Speaker 1: had a lot of ebb and flow, a lot of

537
00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:23,600
Speaker 1: runs from both teams. Both teams at various points felt

538
00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:26,359
Speaker 1: like they had the game completely under control, but neither

539
00:27:26,520 --> 00:27:29,560
Speaker 1: was able to hang on for any extended period of time.

540
00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:32,920
Speaker 1: And I thought it really I thought for both teams,

541
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:37,240
Speaker 1: really it hinged on perimeter contain, which is always been

542
00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:39,560
Speaker 1: what I believe is the most important skill on the

543
00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:41,320
Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor over the course of the

544
00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:44,199
Speaker 1: last couple of years, because you need dribble penetration to

545
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:47,400
Speaker 1: get high quality shots. It's that simple. Even really good

546
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:51,040
Speaker 1: pull up jump shooters, that's not a good shot necessarily.

547
00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:53,200
Speaker 1: It's an okay shot. It's a shot you'll live with.

548
00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:55,679
Speaker 1: But nothing is as good as a driving layup already

549
00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:58,320
Speaker 1: wide open three on a driving kick, or a really

550
00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:01,280
Speaker 1: good post mismatch when you've got a good size advantage.

551
00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:05,200
Speaker 1: And so when as teams contain the basketball, they tend

552
00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:08,080
Speaker 1: to get stops, and when they get stops, they get

553
00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:11,280
Speaker 1: opportunities to get out in transition, which helps you avoid

554
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:13,600
Speaker 1: the other team's half court defense, and then you start

555
00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:16,040
Speaker 1: to get easy baskets. And then you know that can

556
00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:18,760
Speaker 1: sway one way or the other as one team continues

557
00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:22,080
Speaker 1: or to get to do a better job containing the basketball,

558
00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:23,679
Speaker 1: or to do a wars shop. That kind of reminds

559
00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:27,520
Speaker 1: me of the offensive line versus defensive line battle in football.

560
00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:30,439
Speaker 1: We pay a lot of attention to things like, you know,

561
00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:33,720
Speaker 1: quarterback play, skill position play, you know, coverage down the

562
00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:36,399
Speaker 1: field in the secondary, but the reality is as so

563
00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:39,520
Speaker 1: much as happening there in the trenches, and whichever team

564
00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:42,880
Speaker 1: is controlling that area of the game usually has a

565
00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:46,640
Speaker 1: significant advantage Boston's second quarter run when they took I

566
00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:48,560
Speaker 1: think they took an eight point lead. In this game,

567
00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:50,719
Speaker 1: there was like five or six possessions in a row

568
00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:52,880
Speaker 1: where the Calves didn't even get a foot in the paint.

569
00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:56,080
Speaker 1: And then Carris LeVert and and Darius Garland kind of

570
00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:57,720
Speaker 1: we're looking at each other like what are we supposed

571
00:28:57,720 --> 00:28:59,280
Speaker 1: to do? At one point there was a turnover on

572
00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:01,560
Speaker 1: a swing path us because like LeVert just didn't know

573
00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:04,000
Speaker 1: if he should try to drive. And Boston can make

574
00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:08,280
Speaker 1: you feel helpless sometimes because you know someone needs to

575
00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:11,200
Speaker 1: create an advantage, and and without Robert Williams are doing

576
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:13,920
Speaker 1: a lot more switching than they usually do. A lot

577
00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:17,800
Speaker 1: of times, it's like carrying at each other to attack

578
00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:22,080
Speaker 1: Jaome Brown. I don't necessarily think that's the right matchup.

579
00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,440
Speaker 1: Or he'll be like, oh, well I got Jayson Tatum

580
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:26,520
Speaker 1: on me, Like I I don't have the right matchup,

581
00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:28,400
Speaker 1: or okay, I guess we can go to this guy.

582
00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:32,120
Speaker 1: He's being guarded by Marcus Smart and things can really

583
00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:35,960
Speaker 1: bog down and get really stagnant, and Boston can be

584
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:38,640
Speaker 1: really intimidating in those moments, and that's when they go

585
00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:41,200
Speaker 1: on their runs and then in the third quarter, when

586
00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:43,200
Speaker 1: the Cams went on their run, they started to get

587
00:29:43,280 --> 00:29:47,040
Speaker 1: dribble penetration. Donovan Mitchell made a driving bank shot going

588
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:49,880
Speaker 1: to his right, and then Darius Garland started getting downhill

589
00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:52,280
Speaker 1: and kicking two shooters, and then they started to gain

590
00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:54,520
Speaker 1: control of that again. And then you also had a

591
00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:58,960
Speaker 1: classic Boston offense stretch there in the mid second half.

592
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:01,400
Speaker 1: Over the final nine eight minutes of the third quarter,

593
00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:05,360
Speaker 1: the Celtics managed only ten points. Lots of bad pull

594
00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:08,440
Speaker 1: up jump shots. Again, some of that is Cleveland containing

595
00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:11,200
Speaker 1: the basketball, lots of miss layups, lots of turnovers. And

596
00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:13,960
Speaker 1: then Boston goes on a huge defensive run to start

597
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:17,400
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter and Cleveland doesn't score for almost four minutes.

598
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:19,880
Speaker 1: And that was your kind of back and forth throughout

599
00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:21,760
Speaker 1: the game. And then we got the crunch time and

600
00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:26,080
Speaker 1: it was basically Donovan Mitchell shot making versus the Celtics

601
00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:28,040
Speaker 1: punishing the Calves on the other end of the floor

602
00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:31,080
Speaker 1: for having some weak perimeter defensive players. Mitchell had a

603
00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:35,160
Speaker 1: ridiculous series of shot making. He made a nasty step

604
00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:39,760
Speaker 1: through floater over Marcus Smart, he had a step back three,

605
00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:42,640
Speaker 1: he had a driving layup where he initiated contact with

606
00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:44,760
Speaker 1: al Horford kind of caved his chest in a little

607
00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:46,840
Speaker 1: bit so he had the angle to get all the

608
00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:48,520
Speaker 1: way to the rim. He hit a step back two

609
00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:50,880
Speaker 1: over Jalen Brown that was really nasty. And then on

610
00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:54,560
Speaker 1: the other end, UH, Marcus Smart and and Malcolm Brogden

611
00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:58,040
Speaker 1: in particular were really getting good dribble penetration on Darius Garland,

612
00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:01,280
Speaker 1: who's not a good perimeter defend defender in this league.

613
00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:03,920
Speaker 1: And then Donovan Mitchell made a couple of really bad

614
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:06,160
Speaker 1: defensive mistakes down the stretch as well. There's a player

615
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:10,320
Speaker 1: where Malcolm Brogden drove along the baseline and Uh Mitchell

616
00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:13,280
Speaker 1: didn't help, also didn't keep a man an eye on

617
00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:15,840
Speaker 1: the man and ball, and Marcus Smart batcut him and

618
00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:17,800
Speaker 1: he gave up an and one. He also gave up

619
00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:20,720
Speaker 1: a way too easy driving layup to Jayson Tatum, where

620
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:23,080
Speaker 1: he's quick enough that he should be able to contain

621
00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:24,880
Speaker 1: the ball a little bit better. That's gonna be an

622
00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:28,560
Speaker 1: interesting conundrum for the Calves over the course of this

623
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:33,000
Speaker 1: season is they've got these two incredibly dynamic interior defenders

624
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:36,360
Speaker 1: and Jared Allen and UH and Evan Mobley, but on

625
00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:39,480
Speaker 1: the perimeter. You've got Donovan Mitchell who makes a lot

626
00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:42,760
Speaker 1: of defensive mistakes, Darius Garland who's just physically not up

627
00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:45,000
Speaker 1: to the task, and then at the small forward position,

628
00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:46,880
Speaker 1: it's kind of like a toss up between they can

629
00:31:46,880 --> 00:31:50,360
Speaker 1: go with Isaac a Cora, who is a much better

630
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:52,840
Speaker 1: defensive player but has some offensive limitations, where they can

631
00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:55,160
Speaker 1: go with Dean Wade who's shooting the laces off the

632
00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:58,760
Speaker 1: basketball but has defensive limitations. And they're on the final

633
00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:01,920
Speaker 1: play of the game. Um, they left Dean Wade on

634
00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:05,200
Speaker 1: Jayson Tatum and he just backcut him and then elevated

635
00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:08,360
Speaker 1: for one of the most disgusting dunks I have ever seen,

636
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:12,240
Speaker 1: just posterizing Jared Allen to tie the game. And then

637
00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:13,920
Speaker 1: on the other end of the floor a really really

638
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:17,160
Speaker 1: good defensive play blocking Donovan Mitchell on a pull up

639
00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:20,680
Speaker 1: jump shot. It was a back and forth, incredibly entertaining game,

640
00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:22,800
Speaker 1: and Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland just made a couple

641
00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:26,000
Speaker 1: more plays in ot. Uh they went with Dean Wade

642
00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:30,000
Speaker 1: on Jalen Brown on the final possession instead on Jayson Tatum. Uh,

643
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,760
Speaker 1: he did a better job containing the ball, forced him

644
00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:35,440
Speaker 1: into a tough fadeaway jump shot and you win the

645
00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:39,800
Speaker 1: basketball game. It's very very entertaining game, lots of back

646
00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:43,560
Speaker 1: and forth. Both teams have their weaknesses. Um, but I

647
00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:45,600
Speaker 1: think Cleveland in the long run, they're the team that

648
00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:47,840
Speaker 1: I'm more concerned about between the two, even though they've

649
00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:50,000
Speaker 1: won both of these matchups, because I didn't get a

650
00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:53,280
Speaker 1: playoff series. The Garland Mitchell thing is gonna be a

651
00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:55,160
Speaker 1: little bit of an issue on the defensive end of

652
00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:57,520
Speaker 1: the floor. And then that three spot you've gotta go

653
00:32:57,560 --> 00:32:59,480
Speaker 1: with offense or defense, and that's just a really tough

654
00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:03,080
Speaker 1: decision to make, and it's gonna be matchup dependent in

655
00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:05,880
Speaker 1: most cases. And and I mean just before I have

656
00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:08,200
Speaker 1: two specific topics on these two teams that I want

657
00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:12,320
Speaker 1: to hit. Boston's defense and then also the Darius Garland

658
00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:15,800
Speaker 1: and Donovan Mitchell rhythm stuff. Um. But before we get there,

659
00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:19,160
Speaker 1: I just have to shout out both Jason Tatum and

660
00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:22,640
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell are so incredibly good and they made that

661
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:25,640
Speaker 1: game so much fun to watch, and both of them

662
00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:31,080
Speaker 1: through just like bursts of other worldly athleticism, left their

663
00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:33,720
Speaker 1: imprint on this game. Obviously the Tatum dunk, but he

664
00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:36,680
Speaker 1: also had another transition layup in ot where he looked

665
00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:40,080
Speaker 1: like a freight train and Cleveland looked helpless. Donovan Mitchell

666
00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:42,479
Speaker 1: had a contested rebound that he grabbed towards the end

667
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:45,680
Speaker 1: of the game, where you're the balls up in the air,

668
00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:48,360
Speaker 1: there's all these tall dudes on the floor, and here

669
00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:51,320
Speaker 1: comes Donovan Mitchell has what six s two whatever he is,

670
00:33:51,640 --> 00:33:54,240
Speaker 1: just comes flying in and secures the rebound. Just a

671
00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:58,760
Speaker 1: big time winning play from Donovan Mitchell. But I wanted

672
00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:01,880
Speaker 1: to talk about Boston for a minute because after I

673
00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:03,680
Speaker 1: believe this is their third loss of the year, and

674
00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:08,279
Speaker 1: they came into the night one on defense. And you

675
00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:11,400
Speaker 1: know what's interesting is is last year in the playoffs,

676
00:34:11,680 --> 00:34:15,880
Speaker 1: transition defense was their problem. They were unbelievably good defensively

677
00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:17,960
Speaker 1: in the half court, but then they would turn the

678
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:20,640
Speaker 1: basketball over, take bad shots, and then the other team

679
00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:22,919
Speaker 1: would run out for layups while Tatum and Brown were

680
00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:25,719
Speaker 1: complaining to the refs for fouls and things along those lines.

681
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:28,360
Speaker 1: It's the exact opposite this year. According to Cleaning the Glass,

682
00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:31,920
Speaker 1: the Celtics coming into tonight, we're fourth in transition defense

683
00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:35,520
Speaker 1: and twenty three and half court defense. And the easy

684
00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:38,480
Speaker 1: excuses to say something like, oh, well, it's Robert Williams,

685
00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:40,640
Speaker 1: he's out. But the truth of the matter is while

686
00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:42,840
Speaker 1: Robert Williams does make them a better defense, and he

687
00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:45,279
Speaker 1: is a good defensive a great defensive player, and when

688
00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:46,920
Speaker 1: he comes back, I'm sure he'll fix a lot of

689
00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:49,680
Speaker 1: their problems. But last year, without Robert Williams on the floor,

690
00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:52,279
Speaker 1: they were still very good defensively, and they have all

691
00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:55,439
Speaker 1: of the important pieces from that team that was great

692
00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:58,480
Speaker 1: defensively with Robert Williams off the floor last year. The

693
00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:01,120
Speaker 1: reality is is they just haven't been good enough. They're

694
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:03,880
Speaker 1: having stretches like they did to start the fourth quarter

695
00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:06,239
Speaker 1: or in the second quarter of this game, where they

696
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:09,080
Speaker 1: defend really well and the other team looks helpless, but

697
00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:12,480
Speaker 1: then they get sloppy and and you know, some of

698
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:14,919
Speaker 1: it is malaise. You've made it to the finals last year,

699
00:35:15,320 --> 00:35:17,360
Speaker 1: you know you came this close to winning the title,

700
00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:19,560
Speaker 1: and now you're in this grind of an eight two

701
00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:21,920
Speaker 1: game season and it's hard to find the motivation. I

702
00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:25,000
Speaker 1: get that, but you need to build the habits. There's

703
00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:27,840
Speaker 1: never been a team not not in recent NBA history.

704
00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:30,080
Speaker 1: There's only a handful in NBA history, and they were

705
00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:34,400
Speaker 1: freak talents. Um that one a title without having a

706
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:38,239
Speaker 1: top ten defense. You need to have your defensive um

707
00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:41,680
Speaker 1: all of your defensive details really sharp over the course

708
00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:44,120
Speaker 1: of a regular season, and right now they're simply not

709
00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:47,320
Speaker 1: good enough. You can't blame Robert Williams. Yes he's coming back,

710
00:35:47,560 --> 00:35:49,960
Speaker 1: but right now you're not good enough outside of that.

711
00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:51,759
Speaker 1: So that's something that they're going to have to figure out.

712
00:35:52,360 --> 00:35:54,759
Speaker 1: Um On the calves, one of the biggest things I

713
00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:58,760
Speaker 1: was looking at in tonight's game was obviously Darius Garland

714
00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:02,400
Speaker 1: coming back, because you know Donovan Mitchell and for for

715
00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:04,560
Speaker 1: all you Cavs fans, we did a deep dive on

716
00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:07,319
Speaker 1: the calves earlier this week. I can't remember which day

717
00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:09,080
Speaker 1: it was, but you can find that on our YouTube feed.

718
00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:12,160
Speaker 1: If you scroll back, you'll find us doing a deep

719
00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:14,000
Speaker 1: dive on the calves. And I talked a lot about

720
00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:17,799
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell in that video, and he's averaging a career

721
00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:20,360
Speaker 1: high and points this year, a career high and assists

722
00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:23,040
Speaker 1: a career high and true shooting percentage. He's having an

723
00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:25,799
Speaker 1: incredible season and a lot of it is about the

724
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:29,759
Speaker 1: realities of the way rhythm works. Like Donovan Mitchell had

725
00:36:29,800 --> 00:36:32,200
Speaker 1: a great finish to this game, but he kind of

726
00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:34,000
Speaker 1: had a I think he was six for seventeen at

727
00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:36,480
Speaker 1: one point and looked like a little bit lost in

728
00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:39,440
Speaker 1: how to attack, especially in that first half. And that's

729
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:43,000
Speaker 1: kind of the difference between when you're sharing responsibilities offensively

730
00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:46,640
Speaker 1: versus when you have the show entirely. When you have

731
00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:49,880
Speaker 1: the show entirely one there's you don't even have to

732
00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:53,560
Speaker 1: think about sharing the basketball, so you can mentally just

733
00:36:53,640 --> 00:36:57,280
Speaker 1: focus on shot making rather than worrying too much about

734
00:36:57,400 --> 00:37:00,960
Speaker 1: your worrying too much about the rhythm and flow of

735
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:03,120
Speaker 1: your team. Now, yes, he's he had a career high

736
00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:05,720
Speaker 1: and assist, but he's kicking the shooters and throwing lobs

737
00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:08,200
Speaker 1: the guys around the basket. It's not like he's sharing

738
00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:11,239
Speaker 1: ball handling responsibilities to any great extent. Carris Lavert has

739
00:37:11,239 --> 00:37:14,040
Speaker 1: been aggressive and he's been good in that role, but

740
00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:16,479
Speaker 1: it's different when you're sharing it with three guys versus

741
00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:18,200
Speaker 1: when you're sharing it with two. You're seeing this with

742
00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:21,840
Speaker 1: Luca don Chech too is having a ridiculous scoring season.

743
00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:25,960
Speaker 1: Now that um um, now that uh now I'm blinking

744
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:28,640
Speaker 1: on his name. But the little Jalen Brunson, the guard

745
00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:31,560
Speaker 1: that they lost to the Knicks last year, but over

746
00:37:31,600 --> 00:37:34,600
Speaker 1: the summer. But when you have the responsibility solely on

747
00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:37,359
Speaker 1: your plate, you get to you get to shrug off

748
00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:40,000
Speaker 1: the misses. Just keep shooting the balls in your hands

749
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:41,960
Speaker 1: all the time. You have a good feel for everything

750
00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:44,239
Speaker 1: and you can just focus on that. But with Darius

751
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:47,600
Speaker 1: Garland coming back, there's gonna be nights where one of

752
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:49,719
Speaker 1: them has a rough night because they don't really feel

753
00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:52,480
Speaker 1: like they have the basketball enough. And it's going it's

754
00:37:52,480 --> 00:37:55,279
Speaker 1: going to be worth it. The upside of having that

755
00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:59,440
Speaker 1: additional creator is a thousand percent worth it. One creator

756
00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:01,160
Speaker 1: is just are you too easy to stop? In a

757
00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:04,719
Speaker 1: playoff series? Gives you much better matchup flexibility. Like if

758
00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:07,400
Speaker 1: you just have Darius Garland, but you run into a

759
00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:09,960
Speaker 1: team that has two or three really good guard defenders,

760
00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:12,600
Speaker 1: you you're limited in what you can do. But if

761
00:38:12,600 --> 00:38:14,560
Speaker 1: you have two guys and you know one of them

762
00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:16,560
Speaker 1: is a bigger, stronger athlete and one's a little bit

763
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:18,840
Speaker 1: more methodical and a little bit more of a passing guard,

764
00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:22,200
Speaker 1: you have more matchup flexibility. And what in one series

765
00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:24,640
Speaker 1: or in one matchup, one guy might have an advantage

766
00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:26,759
Speaker 1: and then that can swing and you can go to

767
00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:29,319
Speaker 1: the other guys, so you have flexibility there, you're much

768
00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:32,520
Speaker 1: less predictable, and then the biggest part is just less fatigue.

769
00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:35,160
Speaker 1: It's just really hard to create shots for your team

770
00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:37,640
Speaker 1: without much help over the course of a series. But

771
00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:39,960
Speaker 1: if you've got another guy to go to, you kind

772
00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:42,680
Speaker 1: of share that burden a little bit, so the upside

773
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:45,400
Speaker 1: is worth it. But it's gonna be an interesting dynamic

774
00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:49,080
Speaker 1: for Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell to work out, because

775
00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:51,880
Speaker 1: you have to learn to feel which one of you

776
00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:53,759
Speaker 1: guys has it that night. Like there are gonna be

777
00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:57,120
Speaker 1: nights where Darius has it and Donovan's got to play

778
00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:00,640
Speaker 1: more of a supporting role and maybe not shoot through

779
00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:03,560
Speaker 1: the slump but rather continue to feed the guy who's

780
00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:06,400
Speaker 1: got it going and focus on other areas of the

781
00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:08,480
Speaker 1: game or vice versa. They're gonna have to read that

782
00:39:08,640 --> 00:39:10,400
Speaker 1: there will also be nights where they both have it

783
00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:12,520
Speaker 1: going and the give and take is great, but the

784
00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:15,640
Speaker 1: dynamic when you're sharing those responsibilities is different, and they're

785
00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:18,480
Speaker 1: gonna have to work that stuff out. UM, for instance,

786
00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:22,279
Speaker 1: you gotta focus on um devoting more resources to the

787
00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:24,359
Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor because you don't have as

788
00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:27,880
Speaker 1: much on your play offensively. For instance, Donovan Mitchell, this

789
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:30,080
Speaker 1: was one of his worst defensive games of the season,

790
00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:32,960
Speaker 1: and he got uh. There were several missed rotations where

791
00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:36,439
Speaker 1: he was like glued up to a shooter and one

792
00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:38,920
Speaker 1: pass away there's an open guy, and instead of making

793
00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:41,359
Speaker 1: that extra rotation to close out and make that shot

794
00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:44,400
Speaker 1: more difficult, just kind of stands there and concedes the shot.

795
00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:47,040
Speaker 1: Like when you're sharing the floor with Darius Garland, that

796
00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:50,160
Speaker 1: can't be what you do anymore. Now you don't need

797
00:39:50,239 --> 00:39:52,279
Speaker 1: to save all your energy for the offensive end. You

798
00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:55,120
Speaker 1: have to make those defensive rotations. And then obviously had

799
00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:57,040
Speaker 1: those two really bad mistakes at the end of the

800
00:39:57,080 --> 00:39:59,640
Speaker 1: game when he got backup by Marcus Smart and then

801
00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:02,200
Speaker 1: when he gave about that driving lane to Jayson Tatum.

802
00:40:02,239 --> 00:40:04,200
Speaker 1: And the other part two is just becoming an excellent

803
00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:06,600
Speaker 1: off ball threat. You've got to find a way on

804
00:40:06,719 --> 00:40:10,000
Speaker 1: the possessions where Darius Garland has the ball to be effective. Now,

805
00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:12,279
Speaker 1: both of them are good spot up shooters, and that

806
00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:14,880
Speaker 1: is one part of that, but it goes deeper than that,

807
00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:17,200
Speaker 1: because you can become a better off ball threat if

808
00:40:17,239 --> 00:40:20,279
Speaker 1: you're more willing to set screens when you don't have

809
00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:22,040
Speaker 1: the ball, when you're more willing to cut to the

810
00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:25,640
Speaker 1: basket if you see an opportunity crashing the offensive glass,

811
00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:28,280
Speaker 1: if it calls for it, or if depending on floor balance,

812
00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:31,000
Speaker 1: you might be responsible for transition defense, in which case

813
00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:33,960
Speaker 1: you can help your team by getting back, you know

814
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:37,399
Speaker 1: what I mean. So when in this dynamic, it's gonna

815
00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:39,479
Speaker 1: be really interesting to see how it affects the team

816
00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:41,600
Speaker 1: moving forward because they're going to have to figure out

817
00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:43,920
Speaker 1: that balance and they're both going to have to become

818
00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:47,319
Speaker 1: better off the basketball. But super entertaining game two very

819
00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:49,920
Speaker 1: good teams. Yes, Cleveland's two and oh in this matchup,

820
00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:52,319
Speaker 1: but I would pick Boston in a series over them,

821
00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:55,160
Speaker 1: and I think they have legitimate advantages, specifically in perimeter

822
00:40:55,239 --> 00:40:59,239
Speaker 1: size against Cleveland's weak perimeter defenders that would cause them

823
00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:02,480
Speaker 1: problems Cleveland in Cleveland's an exciting team, um, but I

824
00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:05,640
Speaker 1: don't think i'd really get behind them as a legitimate

825
00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:10,320
Speaker 1: contender until Donovan Mitchell really became an impact defensive player,

826
00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:12,279
Speaker 1: which right now he just simply is not. I think

827
00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:14,439
Speaker 1: you can get away with one, you can get away

828
00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:16,600
Speaker 1: with Darius Garland, but you can't get away with two,

829
00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:18,879
Speaker 1: and then obviously you've got to figure out that three

830
00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:22,040
Speaker 1: spot as well. All right, So Nick's and Hawks, we're

831
00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:24,320
Speaker 1: just gonna talk for a couple of minutes um about

832
00:41:24,360 --> 00:41:26,760
Speaker 1: these teams. I had this game on on the side,

833
00:41:26,800 --> 00:41:28,560
Speaker 1: so I was watching it part of the time, but

834
00:41:28,600 --> 00:41:31,160
Speaker 1: obviously didn't have a super close eye on it. Uh.

835
00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:33,480
Speaker 1: The Knicks were dominant early in this game. Defense in

836
00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:36,640
Speaker 1: particular was really really good. They're super physical, They help

837
00:41:36,680 --> 00:41:39,000
Speaker 1: a ton to so they dig down in driving lanes

838
00:41:39,040 --> 00:41:43,520
Speaker 1: and so sometimes opposing guards will have rough nights against them.

839
00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:45,879
Speaker 1: But then they actually built a twenty three point lead,

840
00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:48,600
Speaker 1: and then de Jon day Murray just exploded in the

841
00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:51,319
Speaker 1: second quarter. Hit a ton of threes, hit some pull

842
00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:53,960
Speaker 1: up jump shots. He had to pick six too, um,

843
00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:57,440
Speaker 1: and that allowed Atlanta to get out in transition, and

844
00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:00,000
Speaker 1: they had a huge fast breakpoints advantage in this game

845
00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:02,319
Speaker 1: game because they were able to avoid New York's half

846
00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:05,520
Speaker 1: court defense. And New York's half court defense is pretty solid,

847
00:42:05,560 --> 00:42:08,120
Speaker 1: so it's important to get out in transition to try

848
00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:11,279
Speaker 1: to avoid that as much as possible. And then that

849
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:13,640
Speaker 1: carried in oh over into the second half, and then

850
00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:17,240
Speaker 1: New York's half court offense fell apart in Atlanta dominated

851
00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:19,719
Speaker 1: in New York's twenty and half court offense this year

852
00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:22,520
Speaker 1: before tonight. According to Cleaning the Glass, kind of that

853
00:42:22,560 --> 00:42:24,359
Speaker 1: same kind of dynamic. I was just talking about the

854
00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:27,560
Speaker 1: Cavs Celtics about perimeter defense and the EBB and flow.

855
00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:29,799
Speaker 1: You start to get out in transition. You started to

856
00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:32,160
Speaker 1: get baskets. You started to get baskets, you get to

857
00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:34,440
Speaker 1: set your defense. You start to set your defense. You're

858
00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:36,520
Speaker 1: keeping the other team in the half court. Now you're

859
00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:38,800
Speaker 1: getting more stops, which is allowing you to get out

860
00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:43,720
Speaker 1: in transition. Atlanta dominated that dynamic in this game, trail

861
00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:46,160
Speaker 1: by twenty three and actually blew out the Knicks before

862
00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:48,440
Speaker 1: the end of the night. Really impressive game. And Dejan

863
00:42:48,640 --> 00:42:50,160
Speaker 1: Murray was the best player on the floor by a

864
00:42:50,239 --> 00:42:53,480
Speaker 1: mile in this game. Just came flying off the screen. UM.

865
00:42:53,520 --> 00:42:57,759
Speaker 1: I loved Jon Murray. Uh he's shooting thirty on eight

866
00:42:57,760 --> 00:43:00,319
Speaker 1: point four pull up jump shots per game so far

867
00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:03,239
Speaker 1: this year, including from three. He also brings like a

868
00:43:03,239 --> 00:43:06,359
Speaker 1: ball pressure element with some length and uh a more

869
00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:10,840
Speaker 1: turnover capability to their defense in the back court. You

870
00:43:10,840 --> 00:43:12,680
Speaker 1: guys know me, I'm not a huge Tray Young Fan.

871
00:43:12,719 --> 00:43:15,680
Speaker 1: I had him outside of my top five coming into

872
00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:19,200
Speaker 1: this season. I think the Miami Series kind of demonstrated

873
00:43:19,560 --> 00:43:22,160
Speaker 1: the playbook for how to stop him if you can

874
00:43:22,160 --> 00:43:24,359
Speaker 1: stay glued to him over the top, because they took

875
00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:28,239
Speaker 1: away his jumping backwards foul drawing move. He's actually really

876
00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:31,000
Speaker 1: bad at finishing around the rim, and so if you

877
00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:34,080
Speaker 1: can kind of funnel him into the basket into all

878
00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:37,160
Speaker 1: of your length, he's going to miss layups or take

879
00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:39,839
Speaker 1: bad shots and miss shots, and so he's and then

880
00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:41,960
Speaker 1: on the defensive Endy obviously is just a complete and

881
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:44,160
Speaker 1: total nightmare. It might be the worst defensive player in

882
00:43:44,160 --> 00:43:46,959
Speaker 1: the league. So for me, I'm not the biggest try

883
00:43:47,040 --> 00:43:49,400
Speaker 1: Young fan. I should just be upfront with that before

884
00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:53,360
Speaker 1: we go any further. But Jont Murray definitely makes this

885
00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:54,920
Speaker 1: team more fun. And one thing I will say in

886
00:43:54,920 --> 00:43:57,239
Speaker 1: defensive Trey Young is he's just not shooting the ball

887
00:43:57,360 --> 00:43:59,799
Speaker 1: very well this year compared to the way he usually does.

888
00:44:00,280 --> 00:44:03,960
Speaker 1: That will change and things will improve for them after

889
00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:06,160
Speaker 1: that point. So far, the Hawks are ninth and offense

890
00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:09,880
Speaker 1: coming into tonight, and defense eighteenth and net rating. They

891
00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:11,919
Speaker 1: defend the three point line really well, but they don't

892
00:44:11,960 --> 00:44:14,359
Speaker 1: defend the paint well and they fell away too much.

893
00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:17,719
Speaker 1: They allow more free throw attempts than any other team

894
00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:20,719
Speaker 1: in the entire m B A. UM. The guy that

895
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:22,480
Speaker 1: I'm most excited about on this team right now is

896
00:44:22,520 --> 00:44:25,919
Speaker 1: DeAndre Hunter. Um. He's showing some of that high level

897
00:44:26,320 --> 00:44:29,399
Speaker 1: close out attacking that we've seen from Michael Bridges, where

898
00:44:29,400 --> 00:44:31,800
Speaker 1: it's not just hitting threes or driving and kicking t

899
00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:33,640
Speaker 1: teammates are finishing at the rim. But he's got some

900
00:44:33,680 --> 00:44:36,919
Speaker 1: of that in between game that's really impressive. Uh. He's

901
00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:40,440
Speaker 1: super big and strong too, which makes him super valuable

902
00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:43,839
Speaker 1: on the wing. I was watching a game uh last

903
00:44:43,880 --> 00:44:46,799
Speaker 1: week on Wednesday against the Pistons where to start the

904
00:44:46,840 --> 00:44:50,400
Speaker 1: game he just like ripped through and initiated contact with

905
00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:53,120
Speaker 1: his left shoulder and made like little short, floating push

906
00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:55,719
Speaker 1: shots in the lane. And I'm sitting there thinking, like, man,

907
00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:58,680
Speaker 1: that's the kind of stuff that makes you that that

908
00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:01,120
Speaker 1: is the difference between you being three and D player

909
00:45:01,440 --> 00:45:03,640
Speaker 1: and something so much more than that. So that's a

910
00:45:03,640 --> 00:45:06,360
Speaker 1: guy to be really excited about. If if you're a

911
00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:08,359
Speaker 1: Hawks fan, I'll be honest with you, guys, I'm never

912
00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:11,120
Speaker 1: gonna believe in the Hawks until Trey Young is the

913
00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:13,960
Speaker 1: second best player on the team, because I just don't

914
00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:15,919
Speaker 1: believe that he can be the best player on a team.

915
00:45:15,960 --> 00:45:17,960
Speaker 1: But there's certainly a lot more fun now with de

916
00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:20,800
Speaker 1: Jon Murray all right really quickly checking in on the

917
00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:24,319
Speaker 1: knicks there and offense so far this year coming into tonight,

918
00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:28,360
Speaker 1: and defense eleventh and net rating eleventh and paint points

919
00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:31,439
Speaker 1: allowed per one possessions, which is concerning because they're giving

920
00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:34,640
Speaker 1: up forty three point attempts per game, which is most

921
00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:37,839
Speaker 1: in the league. Twenty two point two of them are

922
00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:41,839
Speaker 1: classified as wide open according to the NBA UH tracking data,

923
00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:44,520
Speaker 1: which means the defenders at least six ft away, and

924
00:45:44,520 --> 00:45:46,560
Speaker 1: you can see it on tape. I talked about that earlier.

925
00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:50,040
Speaker 1: They're digging down from the wings, they're overhelping on drives.

926
00:45:50,080 --> 00:45:52,440
Speaker 1: That sort of thing is okay, you saw the Bucks

927
00:45:52,480 --> 00:45:54,359
Speaker 1: do that last year. But if you're going to do that,

928
00:45:54,600 --> 00:45:57,600
Speaker 1: you better completely shut down the paint and they're just not.

929
00:45:57,800 --> 00:46:01,280
Speaker 1: They're giving away way too many baskets in the restricted

930
00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:04,840
Speaker 1: area um too to make that a viable defense. And

931
00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:08,160
Speaker 1: then they're also fouling too much their in fouls per

932
00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:11,480
Speaker 1: one possessions. Coming into tonight. On the offensive end of

933
00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:13,920
Speaker 1: the floor, they're super balanced. They've got three dudes averaging

934
00:46:13,960 --> 00:46:15,640
Speaker 1: between seventeen and a half and eighteen and a half

935
00:46:15,640 --> 00:46:19,279
Speaker 1: points per game, Julius Randall, Jalen br Brunson and um

936
00:46:19,640 --> 00:46:22,600
Speaker 1: r J Barrett. But none of them have been particularly efficient,

937
00:46:22,640 --> 00:46:24,600
Speaker 1: and that's their biggest problem, and that's what's hurting them

938
00:46:24,600 --> 00:46:26,719
Speaker 1: in the half court. All three of them are good

939
00:46:26,840 --> 00:46:29,680
Speaker 1: enough to be good secondary creators, but none of them

940
00:46:29,680 --> 00:46:32,439
Speaker 1: are good enough to be your primary creator in any

941
00:46:32,480 --> 00:46:34,920
Speaker 1: sort of environment, so they're gonna struggle to score in

942
00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:37,320
Speaker 1: the half court. The thing that's keeping their offensive float

943
00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:39,919
Speaker 1: right now is how good everyone else is playing. Evan

944
00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:42,319
Speaker 1: Fournia has been great, Derk Rose has been great, Cam

945
00:46:42,360 --> 00:46:45,239
Speaker 1: Reddish has been great, Hartenstein was a great pick up.

946
00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:47,600
Speaker 1: They're all playing really well in the roles. And then

947
00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:49,319
Speaker 1: the guy that's been most impressive to me in that

948
00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:52,720
Speaker 1: group is Obi Toppin, who once again is also showing

949
00:46:52,760 --> 00:46:54,880
Speaker 1: some of the high level close out attacking he had

950
00:46:54,880 --> 00:46:56,200
Speaker 1: to play in this game, where he attacked out of

951
00:46:56,200 --> 00:46:58,920
Speaker 1: the left corner pump bake drive baseline, gets cut off,

952
00:46:58,960 --> 00:47:01,440
Speaker 1: cuts back to the middle, looks for a kickout doesn't

953
00:47:01,440 --> 00:47:03,799
Speaker 1: see it, realizes he is on his own, pops up

954
00:47:03,800 --> 00:47:05,839
Speaker 1: and makes like a little floater in the lane. That's

955
00:47:05,920 --> 00:47:09,000
Speaker 1: high level stuff. When you're playing a great defense that's

956
00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:11,719
Speaker 1: trapping you in the half court, you need guys that

957
00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:14,919
Speaker 1: can improvise and make shots. And having that on the wing,

958
00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:18,120
Speaker 1: and then obviously he brings everything that he brings in transition,

959
00:47:18,160 --> 00:47:20,960
Speaker 1: and he's a little bit better defensively than he used

960
00:47:20,960 --> 00:47:24,560
Speaker 1: to be. Overtopping is exciting. Um, if their stars can

961
00:47:24,600 --> 00:47:27,120
Speaker 1: start shooting better than they'll be a pretty good team.

962
00:47:27,120 --> 00:47:29,359
Speaker 1: But obviously they're not going to be a great team

963
00:47:29,440 --> 00:47:33,160
Speaker 1: until they get that true lead creator. Alright, guys, that

964
00:47:33,320 --> 00:47:35,680
Speaker 1: is all I have for tonight. As always, I sincerely

965
00:47:35,719 --> 00:47:37,759
Speaker 1: appreciate your support and I will see you next time.

966
00:48:30,440 --> 00:48:31,120
Speaker 1: The volume