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Speaker 2: All right, welcome on Hoops to night here at the volume.
Speaker 2: Had you there that everybody, hope all of you guys
Speaker 2: are having a great week. We are going to briefly
Speaker 2: touch on all three games from tonight as the Clippers
Speaker 2: blow out the Denver Nuggets riding an early run in
Speaker 2: the game, a twenty nine to six run spanning the
Speaker 2: first and second quarters that they never were able to
Speaker 2: recover from. The New York Knicks finally got their offense
Speaker 2: going against the Detroit Pistons. I really want to dive
Speaker 2: into that concept a little bit, as they looked much
Speaker 2: more fluid offensively in a big road wind to steal
Speaker 2: home court advantage back against the Pistons. Then at the
Speaker 2: tail end of the show, thanks to the blowout by
Speaker 2: Clippers against the Nuggets, I was able to catch the
Speaker 2: fourth quarter of Thunder Grizzlies, and so on the one hand,
Speaker 2: I missed the early portion of the game when the
Speaker 2: Thunder struggled. I'll be watching that on I'm gonna watch
Speaker 2: that in the morning just to try to see if
Speaker 2: there's anything worth taking away from that or if it
Speaker 2: was just a textbook Game three buzzsaw. I always call
Speaker 2: Game three the buzzsaw game because that's the game. You
Speaker 2: go on the road, you're a huge under you're a
Speaker 2: huge favorite, but the underdog obviously is more motivated. It's
Speaker 2: just such a tough game in general. But I did
Speaker 2: see in the fourth quarter, and I'm opportunity for us
Speaker 2: to look at the thunder clutch offense for the first
Speaker 2: time in this postseason, so I want to dive into
Speaker 2: that concept a little bit. And then at the tail
Speaker 2: end of the show, like we do every single night,
Speaker 2: we're going to be bringing Jackson on to take a
Speaker 2: good twenty twenty five minutes questions from the chat so
Speaker 2: we can get into a bunch of other stuff around
Speaker 2: the playoffs. All right, let's what I gotta get to
Speaker 2: our announcement before we get started. Don't forget to subscribe
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Speaker 2: the rest of the season. And then don't forget to
Speaker 2: keep dropping those mail bag questions in the YouTube comments.
Speaker 2: All right, let's talk some basketball. So I actually thought
Speaker 2: the Clippers came out a little sloppy, particularly on the
Speaker 2: defensive end of the floor. The Nuggets made something crazy
Speaker 2: like nine of their first ten shots or eight of
Speaker 2: their first nine shots. They kept losing, specifically James Harden
Speaker 2: and Norman Powell kept losing cutters along the baseline, Christian
Speaker 2: Brown just sneaking around down there, Aaron Gordon sneaking around
Speaker 2: down there. They were just letting Denver get too comfortable
Speaker 2: on the offensive end of the floor, and it actually
Speaker 2: looked like it was going to be a little bit
Speaker 2: more of like a oh, Denver's going to take an
Speaker 2: early commanding lead here kind of thing. They were up
Speaker 2: twenty six to nineteen, but in a seven minute stretch
Speaker 2: spanning from about three minutes to go in the first
Speaker 2: quarter to about eight minutes to go in the second quarter,
Speaker 2: the Nuggets got outscored twenty nine to six, and that
Speaker 2: really was the game. They lost control and they were
Speaker 2: fighting uphill the rest of the way and they never recover.
Speaker 2: We've seen these two teams when they're both really on
Speaker 2: top of their game in this series, they kind of
Speaker 2: go bucket for bucket with each other. They don't it's
Speaker 2: going to be really difficult for any team to make
Speaker 2: up a large deficit in this series, but kind of
Speaker 2: came down to a couple of things. James Harden just
Speaker 2: got crazy hot in that first quarter stretch, setting his
Speaker 2: ball screens a little bit further out so we could
Speaker 2: get a little bit more of a a kind of
Speaker 2: like a clean some clean footwork into his pull up
Speaker 2: threes coming off of those ball screens. He did a
Speaker 2: good job of dragging the at the level coverage far
Speaker 2: away to create extra space for the Clippers to attack
Speaker 2: on the back end. Jans Tartan was amazing all night.
Speaker 2: He was the primary driver of the explosive scoring that
Speaker 2: the Clippers showed in the first half. He had twenty
Speaker 2: points and four assists with zero turnovers just in the
Speaker 2: first half. He was the guy who kind of initially
Speaker 2: broke things open. I think they ended up going into
Speaker 2: the quarter end of the quarter, I think thirty five
Speaker 2: to twenty eight, and then it was just a quick
Speaker 2: run right at the start a Kawhi Zubats led group
Speaker 2: in the early second quarter. Kaui had several really nice
Speaker 2: feeds out of post up double teams in that second quarter,
Speaker 2: and that was it. It was forty eight to thirty two,
Speaker 2: and then they just kind of went back to their
Speaker 2: nuggets Clippers, We're going to go back and forth the
Speaker 2: rest of the game type of night, and they just
Speaker 2: were never able to regain control of the situation. I
Speaker 2: thought Nick batoom was awesome in that first half. His
Speaker 2: ability to knock down, catch and shoot threes without needing
Speaker 2: to dip as his major ass that is. And if
Speaker 2: you guys have ever played basketball at any level, you
Speaker 2: understand that, like when you catch on the perimeter, there's
Speaker 2: usually like a load up right like you're gonna squat
Speaker 2: down so that you can get lift up into your
Speaker 2: shot so that you have an easy, breezy release at
Speaker 2: the top. And in the process, a lot of people
Speaker 2: need to gather the ball somewhere down around their waist
Speaker 2: right as they bring the ball up and try to
Speaker 2: transfer that energy from their legs up through the top
Speaker 2: of the shot. Some of the best shooters in the world,
Speaker 2: and Nick Batoomb is one of the very best at
Speaker 2: this specific thing, can catch right from wherever the ball
Speaker 2: comes and if the passes over here, over here, over here,
Speaker 2: over here.
Speaker 3: Doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: They can flow right up into the top of the shot.
Speaker 2: They don't need to gather the ball down into the
Speaker 2: pocket in order to rise up and shoot. They can
Speaker 2: go from wherever they catch the ball straight into the
Speaker 2: shooting pocket and rise up and release. The reason why
Speaker 2: that's important is in the playoffs, like we talked about,
Speaker 2: the closeouts are harder, the openings are fewer and further between.
Speaker 2: It's a lot harder to get those, you know, clean
Speaker 2: catch and shoot looks that you get in the regular season.
Speaker 2: And Nick Patoom's ability to just easy, quickly, easy, breezy
Speaker 2: release these catch and shoot threes against closeouts has been
Speaker 2: super valuable over the course of the early portion of
Speaker 2: this series. And then honestly, after the Clippers started to
Speaker 2: build separation in that second quarter, you can kind of
Speaker 2: feel the Nuggets like go of the defensive rope a
Speaker 2: little bit. Norman Powell started to get some really clean
Speaker 2: looks he got going in this game, some closeouts where
Speaker 2: Norman Powell was able to drive, and the Nuggets weren't
Speaker 2: really shrinking the floor the way they were at earlier
Speaker 2: points in the series. It just kind of went off
Speaker 2: the rails for there on the Nuggets front. They were
Speaker 2: basically fine outside of that stretch, like they came out hot,
Speaker 2: they were defending well early. It's just this is a
Speaker 2: series for them, with how bad their defense can be
Speaker 2: when things get out of control, they can't afford to
Speaker 2: go of the rope if there is an upside. The
Speaker 2: Nuggets did defend Kawhi Leonard a little better. I just
Speaker 2: thought they were more physical with him. That was really
Speaker 2: the main thing that I noticed is they just basically
Speaker 2: were like, Hey, there's all these un called fouls that
Speaker 2: are happening all over the playoff field. What if we
Speaker 2: just bring that physicality to Kawhi and maybe disrupt his
Speaker 2: rhythm a little bit. I thought that had some impact.
Speaker 2: Westbrook had a rough night after he's been pretty good
Speaker 2: at the start of this series. He was minus sixteen
Speaker 2: and nine minutes. There was a report I saw that
Speaker 2: he's dealing with some inflammation in his foot. So let's
Speaker 2: hope that Russell Westbrook is doing okay. But one of
Speaker 2: the big things that I noticed there is he was
Speaker 2: just a little too aggressive, which is with his catch
Speaker 2: and shoot threes. He made one along the left wing
Speaker 2: that was like an above the break three, and it
Speaker 2: was a great look. It was like completely wide open.
Speaker 2: It was out of a post double. I think of Jokic.
Speaker 2: If I remember correctly, there was no close out it
Speaker 2: was clean and easy, but towards the end of that run,
Speaker 2: out of those five threes, there were two of them
Speaker 2: that he took that were pretty heavily contested. And like,
Speaker 2: that's the thing like Russ when he's playing within himself
Speaker 2: in the sense that he's taking these wide open ketch
Speaker 2: and shoot threes preferably out of the corner. And that's
Speaker 2: the other thing too, Like I would situate him in
Speaker 2: the corner more because I think you get more off
Speaker 2: ball utility anyway, in the sense that if you're at
Speaker 2: the top of the key, there's there's only so much
Speaker 2: cutting you can do without compromising your transition defense. And
Speaker 2: when the shot goes up and you're at the top
Speaker 2: of the key, your responsibility is get back in transition defense,
Speaker 2: not to crash the offensive. Class I almost like Russell
Speaker 2: Westbrook in a situation where he's crashing more cutting along
Speaker 2: the baseline. I think he's better served in the middle
Speaker 2: of the floor and out of the corners when he's
Speaker 2: off the ball alongside Yokich. And so that was just
Speaker 2: kind of a rough Westbrook shift again, like the one
Speaker 2: upside them being able to defend Kwai a little bit better,
Speaker 2: but the Clippers just brought a great punch tonight, and
Speaker 2: the Nuggets just that was their worst game of the
Speaker 2: series in terms of their execution. They really let go
Speaker 2: of the rope for a little bit. Now they're down
Speaker 2: to one and they're gonna have to get one of
Speaker 2: these games, and Game four is going to be an
Speaker 2: opportunity for them to try to just hang onto the
Speaker 2: rope throughout the rest of the game, because again for them,
Speaker 2: as we know, if they can get to five minutes
Speaker 2: left within around you know, five eight points. I like
Speaker 2: the Nuggets chances in this series, but if they allow
Speaker 2: the Clippers to build margin, it's going to be really
Speaker 2: difficult for them to hang around. All right, Let's go
Speaker 2: to Nicks Pistons. How did the Knicks get their offense going?
Speaker 2: That was the interesting story of tonight. I think they
Speaker 2: finished with one hundred and eighteen points, won by a
Speaker 2: little bit more of a healthy margin than what would
Speaker 2: the scoreboard would lead you to believe, thanks to some
Speaker 2: late game just foul shooting and the Pistons knocking down
Speaker 2: a couple of threes late in the game. But the
Speaker 2: Knicks in general looked way better on offense in this game.
Speaker 2: Started with early transition pushes. This is an easy way
Speaker 2: to trigger some of their more natural driving kick sequences.
Speaker 2: So when you're in the half court, you can run ISO,
Speaker 2: you can run pick and roll, But when you're in transition,
Speaker 2: transition is not ISO basketball. Transition is driving kick basketball.
Speaker 2: When you're pushing the ball up the floor and a
Speaker 2: guy catches wide open in the corner and a guy
Speaker 2: sprints off of him and he attacks that close out
Speaker 2: and everyone's in this chaotic situation and there's all these
Speaker 2: easy driving kick raids that are available. The ball doesn't stick,
Speaker 2: the ball moves around, and so early in the game,
Speaker 2: Michale Bridges gets a clean catch and shoot look up
Speaker 2: along the left wing in transition that he knocks down
Speaker 2: ogn Andobi gets a clean look right out of the
Speaker 2: right corner. Carl Anthony Towns got like three or four
Speaker 2: great advantage catches right at the top of the key,
Speaker 2: drove one and got a foul hit a couple of threes.
Speaker 2: That was in transition was where they were able to
Speaker 2: get everybody in rhythm early, and then a little bit
Speaker 2: of an effort from TIBs to just keep guys involved
Speaker 2: with their half court sets. They ran an early screening
Speaker 2: action for Ogn Andob coming out of the right corner
Speaker 2: where he slipped a screen and got a dunk, So
Speaker 2: like again, just making a more deliberate effort to get
Speaker 2: him involved early post ups for Carl Anthony Towns in
Speaker 2: the game. There was way less Brunson pick and roll
Speaker 2: In this game. Brunson attempted a shot and pick and
Speaker 2: roll just seven times tonight. He did so twenty five
Speaker 2: times in the first two games. So they basically like
Speaker 2: cut Brunson pick and roll reps in half in this game,
Speaker 2: way more opportunities for everyone else. McKale Bridges only took
Speaker 2: one shot out of a ball screen in game two.
Speaker 2: They got five points out of mckayl bridge is shooting
Speaker 2: out of ball screens tonight. Oj A Nanoby only got
Speaker 2: one chance to create a shot on an island in
Speaker 2: game two, a post up of Kate Cunningham where he
Speaker 2: kind of spun baseline and end up turning the ball over.
Speaker 2: He shot out of an iar post up four times tonight,
Speaker 2: So there's just a lot more of an effort to
Speaker 2: keep everyone involved, to keep everyone in rhythm, and as
Speaker 2: a result, the offense looked way better. All four of
Speaker 2: their stars scored over twenty points. The team scored one
Speaker 2: hundred and eighteen points. Yet when they got into crunch time,
Speaker 2: they were still able to be like, all right, we're
Speaker 2: gonna go to a steady dose of brunts, and they
Speaker 2: mixed in some other things. They ran to random cat
Speaker 2: isolate in the game, which we'll talk about in a minute,
Speaker 2: But they were able to still go to Brunton down
Speaker 2: the stretch. But he's fresher like he was able to
Speaker 2: straight up. He was frying Tobias Harris and Dennis Schroeder
Speaker 2: down the stretch. But Dennis Schroeder in particular, he powered
Speaker 2: through him twice, like went through his chest and made
Speaker 2: it look like he wasn't there and got right to
Speaker 2: the front of the rim for easy layups. And a
Speaker 2: big part of that stems from you don't need him
Speaker 2: to run as much action during the game, so he
Speaker 2: has more gas in the tank. Late in the game, JB.
Speaker 2: Bickerstaff had to literally switch Kay Cunningham onto him because
Speaker 2: of how much success he was having literally bullying Dennis Schroeder.
Speaker 2: That was a matchup where Dennis had had some success
Speaker 2: against him early in the series. It looks like Brunson
Speaker 2: has that completely figured out. Now they were able to
Speaker 2: go to Kat on a big possession late. I thought
Speaker 2: this was important and this is part of that. This
Speaker 2: was a face up ISO against Tobias Harris. Now, remember,
Speaker 2: like we talked about in the show the other day,
Speaker 2: in game one, Cat runs seven ISOs. He runs zero
Speaker 2: in game two, and so it's just something that they
Speaker 2: went away from. They were able to get into that
Speaker 2: action more frequently tonight. They go to it in crunch time.
Speaker 2: He rips to the right, Tobias beats him to the spot.
Speaker 2: Really nice defense. Kat pivots into like he's gonna spin
Speaker 2: turn his back to the basket to turn over his
Speaker 2: right shoulder, and he throws a hard shoulder fake, just
Speaker 2: a really hard shoulder fake on that fake spin to
Speaker 2: Bias bites on it and just gets completely shed off
Speaker 2: of him. That way, Kat's able to pivot back over
Speaker 2: his left shoulder and great separation. Actually a really nice
Speaker 2: look for Kat there along the right baseline, and he
Speaker 2: knocked that shot down. There was a massive shot in
Speaker 2: that game. Michale Bridges hit a big catch and shoot
Speaker 2: three out of the left corner one that put them
Speaker 2: up eleven. That was the same shot he was missing
Speaker 2: in Game two. Now, I am of the opinion that
Speaker 2: that stuff really matters in terms of like connecting throughout
Speaker 2: the game, the rhythm of the whole team, so that
Speaker 2: when you're in late game situations, guys feel good about
Speaker 2: the shots that they're taking. So the guys feel like
Speaker 2: they're confident and in rhythm.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: That's the thing is like Jalen Brunson can still. I
Speaker 2: was actually talking about this with my buddy Combo, he's
Speaker 2: a big Knicks fan, and I tweeted out the link
Speaker 2: to the show today, so you guys can see it
Speaker 2: there if you want to hear a little bit more
Speaker 2: Nicks talk. But like, I uh, one of the things
Speaker 2: I said to him was like, just because you need
Speaker 2: to get everybody involved, And this was this morning before
Speaker 2: the game. I was like, just because you need to
Speaker 2: get everyone involved doesn't mean you don't go to Brunson
Speaker 2: down the stretch. Brunson's the best clutch player in the
Speaker 2: league right now. Brunson at Brunton is fourteen points in
Speaker 2: this postseason. That's the most in the entire NBA so far.
Speaker 2: He's personally outscoring KD. Cunningham fourteen to four in the
Speaker 2: clutch in the series, you want to ride Jalen Brunson
Speaker 2: in those situations. You just want to put him in
Speaker 2: a situation where he's not super exhausted when he gets there.
Speaker 2: And then if for whatever reason he does want to
Speaker 2: take a possession off, you have another action that's in
Speaker 2: rhythm that you can go to and that all of
Speaker 2: your catch and shoot guys, your close out drivers, things
Speaker 2: along those lines are all feeling good and in rhythm.
Speaker 2: All four of their stars scored over twenty points. You
Speaker 2: got kat back up over thirty. That's the formula for
Speaker 2: the Knicks. Use your defense to get out in transition
Speaker 2: so that your whole team is moving the ball around
Speaker 2: and attacking with an advantage, and then in the half court,
Speaker 2: invest early in the game in action for your co
Speaker 2: stars so that they're in a better rhythm. Then ride
Speaker 2: Jalen Brunson late. That's your advantage. In this series. With
Speaker 2: the Pistons, they have late game execution problems. They have lower,
Speaker 2: lesser talented players that they're leaning on in big moments
Speaker 2: late in the game. You have more aggregate skill if
Speaker 2: you lean on it, that's your advantage. Once again for
Speaker 2: the pistonsough late game execution, like Kate had a big
Speaker 2: turnover late where he shed og and Anovi with frankly
Speaker 2: just a disgusting spin movie like he drove at him
Speaker 2: to the right and spun and Og like went into
Speaker 2: camera row and he just didn't read the floor after that,
Speaker 2: and then he just went right up against the rim protector.
Speaker 2: It looked like he ran into a brick wall and
Speaker 2: he just immediately lost control to basketball. Just wasn't seeing
Speaker 2: the floor on that possession. Tobias Harris lost the ball
Speaker 2: on like a basic dribble move in the fourth quarter
Speaker 2: where he just tried to make an aggressive dribble move
Speaker 2: to his left and just lost control of it. Jalen
Speaker 2: Duran had two really bizarre sequences the jump ball where
Speaker 2: he has a clear size advantage and he just like
Speaker 2: slaps the ball out of bounds instead of just like
Speaker 2: lightly tapping it to his teammates that were there waiting.
Speaker 2: I was really confused as to why JB. Bickerstaff had
Speaker 2: Jalen Duran inbound on that final sequence. That sequence was ridiculous,
Speaker 2: by the way, and honestly, like I was having a
Speaker 2: hard time understanding, Like I get why they ended up
Speaker 2: just inbounding with five tenths of a second left. But like,
Speaker 2: considering the clock operator was in Detroit and he's the
Speaker 2: guy that like pressed play on the clock right after
Speaker 2: the ball hit the rim, it felt kind of weird
Speaker 2: that the Pistons were just rewarded with a sideline out
Speaker 2: of bounds when in theory, the reason why Jalen Brunson
Speaker 2: is missing that shot is so that the catch is
Speaker 2: coming off of a rebound instead of off of a
Speaker 2: deliberate inbounds pass. But regardless, they're gifted the sideline out
Speaker 2: of bound sequence. I would have actually gone with Kate.
Speaker 2: I know it sounds crazy, but like, when you're in
Speaker 2: those situations, the odds of you even getting a clean
Speaker 2: look are incredibly low because it's five tenths of a
Speaker 2: second right, so you basically have to catch and shoot immediately.
Speaker 2: So like that pass has to be perfect, so you're
Speaker 2: almost better off just having Kde inbound, even though Kate
Speaker 2: is one of your shooters. You have Kde inbound, you
Speaker 2: park Jalen Duran right underneath the basket because you're only
Speaker 2: down too, and so if they don't account for Jalen Duran,
Speaker 2: he's standing right under the basket. You could just literally
Speaker 2: throw it up to him. You probably just run basically
Speaker 2: like that that classic Finland action where you just have
Speaker 2: a shooter like Malik Beasley backscreen for Jalen Duran, so
Speaker 2: that Jalen Duran goes to the rim if they don't
Speaker 2: help at all, or if Jalen Duran's man is just
Speaker 2: sitting back there, you have a you have an opportunity
Speaker 2: to just throw. If Jalen Duran's man is sitting up there,
Speaker 2: you have Jalen Duran as in a screen there with
Speaker 2: Malik Beasley coming off of that action, and so then
Speaker 2: essentially as Duran cuts they're helping at the rim, you
Speaker 2: get Beasley coming off in action. Just hope that Caid
Speaker 2: can just laser a pass somewhere where Malik can quick
Speaker 2: catch and turn around and shoot. But like in that situation,
Speaker 2: putting a guy that like clearly doesn't have any touch,
Speaker 2: Like I mean that that was the issue on the
Speaker 2: jump ball was the touch, right, and you put him
Speaker 2: in a situation where you needed him to make like
Speaker 2: probably the most difficult pass you'll ever make in his life,
Speaker 2: and predictably he just ended up launching it out of bounds.
Speaker 2: But you know, that's really the story of the series
Speaker 2: for me, Like on the one end of the floor,
Speaker 2: the Knicks just know exactly what they want to do.
Speaker 2: Jalen Brunson feels great going right at Schroeder, he feels
Speaker 2: great going at Tobias Harris. Whichever one of those two
Speaker 2: you want to have in the game. If you have
Speaker 2: both of them in the game, he's gonna just take
Speaker 2: his pick and he's gonna hunt, and then they can
Speaker 2: go to Kat against Tobias Harris and Iso. They have
Speaker 2: like this clear kind of order of operations, and then
Speaker 2: like clutch points thing we talked about, like Kate only
Speaker 2: has four clutch points in this series, and this has
Speaker 2: been a clutch series. This has been a series where
Speaker 2: it's been about scoring in the final few minutes of
Speaker 2: the game, and Kate has just struggled to keep up
Speaker 2: with Jalen Brunson in that regard. And so it's just
Speaker 2: no shout out to you know, no shot at Cade,
Speaker 2: because the reality is is this is his first time.
Speaker 2: Like we talked about last night, Jalen Brunson has been
Speaker 2: in what's this is ninth playoff series in the last
Speaker 2: four years, so like there's obviously an experience gap there,
Speaker 2: but like Cay just has to be better, and it's
Speaker 2: gonna be really hard for the Pistons to overcome that
Speaker 2: experience advantage that the Knicks have. So Thunder Grizzlies. For
Speaker 2: obvious reasons, I was focused on the other games tonight,
Speaker 2: but when I saw the report that Job was out,
Speaker 2: I actually thought to myself, I'm like, the Thunder probably
Speaker 2: can get this game. I think what people don't realize
Speaker 2: is like that jaw factor, the pace that he plays,
Speaker 2: with his ability to just draw attention in the middle
Speaker 2: of the floor, that is what creates advantages for everyone
Speaker 2: else to play easier brand, an easier brand of basketball.
Speaker 2: And as soon as Jaw's out there, it's like, okay,
Speaker 2: you have Jaron Jackson, and like he he hit a
Speaker 2: tough hook in the fourth quarter over a triple team,
Speaker 2: and like, there are a couple sequences where he made
Speaker 2: passes out of double teams that led to decent looks.
Speaker 2: But like Jared Jackson's not exactly a half court surgeon,
Speaker 2: doesn't been baying. This is just a nightmare matchup for
Speaker 2: him because he's not particularly tall, and the Thunder just
Speaker 2: have all sorts of bodies to throw at him and
Speaker 2: Scotty Pippen Jr. Like, it's really amazing what he's done
Speaker 2: with his career, turning himself from a two way player
Speaker 2: to like a legitimate backup point guard in the NBA.
Speaker 2: And he had a brilliant night shot to basketball really well.
Speaker 2: But like, it's just a lot to ask him to
Speaker 2: create offense against the Oklahoma City Thunder defense when they're
Speaker 2: really engaged. And so I thought they had a probability,
Speaker 2: a legitimate probability to win that game. And I was
Speaker 2: able to switch over in the fourth quarter right after
Speaker 2: the Clippers put the Nuggets away and we got to
Speaker 2: see some crunch time Thunder basketball. Now, Predictably, they strangled
Speaker 2: Memphis offense, like I talked about earlier, not hard to
Speaker 2: do with John Morant out as a team. They just
Speaker 2: uped their pressure and intensity and things just got super
Speaker 2: difficult for Memphis. But what I'm interested in is what
Speaker 2: they did on the other side of the floor. This
Speaker 2: was our first opportunity to look at some crunch time
Speaker 2: offense from the Oklahoma City Thunder this year. First of all,
Speaker 2: Alex Cruso ended up being the fifth closer, which I
Speaker 2: thought was interesting they'd rather close small so that they
Speaker 2: can switch. I personally think that's the right decision. I
Speaker 2: think Cruso is just so good defense. He can scale
Speaker 2: up defensively, like we saw in that possession where he
Speaker 2: defended Jaron Jackson one on one and like stripped him
Speaker 2: clean as he went to go to his.
Speaker 3: Left shoulder hook or his right shoulder hook.
Speaker 2: Like, Crusoe plays big enough and does enough defensively at
Speaker 2: every single position that I think it's worthwhile to have
Speaker 2: him out there as that fifth closer. In that situation,
Speaker 2: we saw a steady diet of two man game in
Speaker 2: the middle of the floor, whether it was Shane Ja
Speaker 2: Dubb if he wanted to attack Scottie Pippen Junr or
Speaker 2: Shane Alex Crusoe if you want to attack Santiel Dama.
Speaker 2: And what I was impressed by is in the early
Speaker 2: fourth quarter stretch, when the bench group was still out
Speaker 2: there and they were starting their comeback, Shay was really
Speaker 2: looking to score, and he was taking a lot of
Speaker 2: quick jump shots early in the shot clock, pushing the
Speaker 2: ball in transition, that sort of thing down the stretch.
Speaker 2: Though he did not force the issue, he made multiple
Speaker 2: reads out of doubles, a really nice drop off to
Speaker 2: lou Dort outside the left block, and lou Dort made
Speaker 2: like an insane shot over Zach Edy in that situation
Speaker 2: where he just kind of like flailed up into his
Speaker 2: body and banked it in. There was a pass to
Speaker 2: Alix Cruso that led to a driving kick sequence drew
Speaker 2: the double team, kicked at to Cruso. Cruso drove Chet
Speaker 2: relocated up out of the right corner up to the
Speaker 2: right wing, knocked down his fifth three of the game,
Speaker 2: I believe, and all those threes were massive. It ended
Speaker 2: up drawing the hard close out that led to that
Speaker 2: big dunk that he had driving out of the right
Speaker 2: slot in the fourth quarter. It was just actually like
Speaker 2: really nice playing together, sharing the ball, taking the easy
Speaker 2: reads that were available. The big thing like not getting rushed,
Speaker 2: like getting into the middle of the floor and instead
Speaker 2: of looking to shoot in traffic, looking for the reeds
Speaker 2: that are there in traffic like they I've been really
Speaker 2: impressed by the Thunders offense through the first three games,
Speaker 2: just in the difference in their half court approach compared
Speaker 2: to last year. Eighty one points for the Thunder Big
Speaker 2: three tonight. They're trusting each other. There will obviously be
Speaker 2: much tougher series for them on the horizon, but the
Speaker 2: Thunder have the right approach here early in this postseason.
Speaker 2: They're moving the ball better than they did last year.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get Jackson up here, and let's get
Speaker 2: some mailbag questions.
Speaker 4: Let's do it, all right, We got a lot of
Speaker 4: questions in the chats, and I thank you guys for
Speaker 4: asking your questions, and please.
Speaker 1: Subscribe to the show. Let's start. Let's start here.
Speaker 4: H If OKC makes the conference finals, what do you
Speaker 4: think their chances would be in a series against the
Speaker 4: Lakers or the Warriors?
Speaker 2: So the specific thing that the Lakers can do to
Speaker 2: the Thunder that has me more intrigued by them as
Speaker 2: a legitimate upset threat. And let's let's let's contextualize this
Speaker 2: entire conversation, guys. Okay, Like I would pick the Thunder
Speaker 2: to win the West right now, Okay, they are my
Speaker 2: second championship favorite behind the Celtics. I don't even know
Speaker 2: how I would feel if the Lakers and the Thunder
Speaker 2: showed up in a Western Conference final series. So much
Speaker 2: of that depends on, like, how do the how does
Speaker 2: the Thunder offense look against a potential Clippers matchup in
Speaker 2: the second round. Lebron and Austin haven't been jump shooting
Speaker 2: very well this postseason, like they do they get to
Speaker 2: the point where they shoot their jump shots better. Like,
Speaker 2: there's so many different factors that could go one way
Speaker 2: or another before the series even starts. But in theory,
Speaker 2: the dynamic that Houston has that causes the Lakers problems,
Speaker 2: the dynamic that Minnesota has that causes the Lakers problems.
Speaker 2: It's a lot of like six six to six eight
Speaker 2: dudes that are pretty big and strong as opposed to
Speaker 2: guys that are more like six three to six five,
Speaker 2: And there's some strength advantages that they can go at there.
Speaker 2: And so as a result, like Lebron and Luca just
Speaker 2: look a lot more comfortable against Oklahoma City's defense than
Speaker 2: they did against other defenses that were maybe not as
Speaker 2: good reputationally as the Thunder, but that are tougher matchups
Speaker 2: because they present some more physical size to be able
Speaker 2: to throw at Lebron and Luca. So it's that and
Speaker 2: then it's you know the thunderd like you saw a
Speaker 2: big one late. How did Scotti p get that three
Speaker 2: in the in the right corner in crunch time, Like
Speaker 2: it comes from the way the Thunder defend, but they're
Speaker 2: fod aggressive. It's a lot of low man help. It's
Speaker 2: a lot of packing the paint, it's a lot of
Speaker 2: relying on closeouts. And so when you play elite playmaking
Speaker 2: talent against them, they move the ball well and they
Speaker 2: can get to those openings that the Thunder leave in
Speaker 2: their defense when they're trying to force turnovers by being
Speaker 2: forward aggressive. And so in theory, it's the two giant
Speaker 2: shot creators that are also great passers that make it work.
Speaker 2: And then on the other end of the four, it's
Speaker 2: that classic JJ Reddick. We can actually like help off
Speaker 2: of some of these guys and force them to take
Speaker 2: and make jump shots against closeouts.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I agree. I mean I think that the the
Speaker 4: lou Dort thing. He's you know, he's he's been an
Speaker 4: annoyance to Luca in the past, but you only have
Speaker 4: one of him. It's so different having It's why the
Speaker 4: Clippers we talked along about them as championship content wal
Speaker 4: they had Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. Not that that
Speaker 4: worked out, but in theory, having two and that's why
Speaker 4: the Celtics are really tough to be having two six
Speaker 4: six sixty seven or even bigger in the Lakers case,
Speaker 4: creators is is just not many teams have that, and
Speaker 4: not many teams have defenders that can throw two.
Speaker 1: Bodies at those those two types of guys.
Speaker 2: So really quickly, I wanted to talk about this too,
Speaker 2: because we didn't have a chance the Uh, we had
Speaker 2: a lot of people who have opinions on the lou
Speaker 2: Dort foul, So let's let's discuss this for a minute. So, uh,
Speaker 2: Jackson and I talked a little bit before the stream.
Speaker 2: I both fouls are obviously not on purpose. I don't
Speaker 2: think lou Dort turned around and was like I'm taking
Speaker 2: John around and ran out tonight. Like, I don't think
Speaker 2: that's what happened. The Dort foul to me was more
Speaker 2: of like a reckless play. The like you mentioned last
Speaker 2: night when we were in our mail bag. You're like
Speaker 2: a men Thompson is crashing the offensive glass every single time.
Speaker 2: That's not exactly a super rare basketball concept, like PJ.
Speaker 3: Tucker has made a career out of that.
Speaker 2: You know, like there there are a lot of players
Speaker 2: in the league that their job is to crash the
Speaker 2: offensive glass every single time because that's one of their big,
Speaker 2: biggest pieces of utility on offense. So Russell Westbrook does
Speaker 2: for the Nuggets for instance. Right, we were just talking
Speaker 2: about that earlier in the show. So like, to me,
Speaker 2: like that was quite literally just a complete fluke that
Speaker 2: a men Thompson was crashing the glass and he got
Speaker 2: tripped up and it happened the Dort one. On the
Speaker 2: one hand, it's like he's just trying to make a play,
Speaker 2: But on the other hand, it's like, like every basketball
Speaker 2: player knows what it means when you're trailing a player
Speaker 2: and you're trying to like meet him at the basket
Speaker 2: and he throws that drop off pass to the guy
Speaker 2: right behind him, you know it's coming, Like it's almost
Speaker 2: ninety eight percent of the time going to be a
Speaker 2: high flying athlete coming right down the lane trying to dunk.
Speaker 2: And so it's like, I I'm not it's dirty is
Speaker 2: the wrong word, But I did. I did think the
Speaker 2: dort play was just a little bit reckless, did you
Speaker 2: think so, Jackson?
Speaker 1: I did.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, sorry, it's it's Algy season.
Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta cough, Yeah, I think that.
Speaker 4: It's I do think he his his front foot of
Speaker 4: forget if his left is right, slipped a little bit
Speaker 4: as he's turning around, and that's sort of what made
Speaker 4: it especially awkward, because if he doesn't slip, he's jumping
Speaker 4: and there's it's probably a very physical collision with him
Speaker 4: and jaw at the rim, but he's not undercutting his legs, right.
Speaker 4: So I do think that's sort of the the flukey
Speaker 4: element of it. But at the same time, to your point,
Speaker 4: it's rare in that situation when was you see, it's
Speaker 4: so rare that that results in an actually successful block, right,
Speaker 4: And most times you're better off getting out of the
Speaker 4: way and not giving.
Speaker 1: A guy an and one.
Speaker 4: It's just it's a little dumb or reckless or just
Speaker 4: unnecessary at minimum to try to make a play like
Speaker 4: that at that point in the game.
Speaker 1: It's not like it's the end of the in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter or anything. But what do you what do
Speaker 1: you what are you trying to accomplish there?
Speaker 4: And then additionally, I do think he slipped a little
Speaker 4: bit which made it, which made the I packed up
Speaker 4: at all.
Speaker 2: To your point, like that that sort of there are
Speaker 2: unwritten rules in basketball that involve the exposed athlete where
Speaker 2: it's like, even if it's game point, you don't tackle
Speaker 2: a guy out of the air on a fast break,
Speaker 2: like even if it's game point, Like if you wrap
Speaker 2: him up, you wrap him up while he's on the
Speaker 2: ground like that. That's the thing, Like if you it's
Speaker 2: a different type of play on a drop off on
Speaker 2: a two on one, but like just imagine like a
Speaker 2: two on one fast break situation where it's more like
Speaker 2: both guys are in front and lose like a ware
Speaker 2: that both of them are there. Like if you're guarding
Speaker 2: the ball and the dude throws a bounce past it
Speaker 2: the last second, Like, yeah, in theory, the competitive nature
Speaker 2: would tell you make him earn it at the line.
Speaker 2: So yeah, you want to turn and you want to
Speaker 2: foul him. But like if the guy's in the air,
Speaker 2: it's you just don't. You just don't because it's not
Speaker 2: it's just an unwritten rule in basketball you don't do
Speaker 2: that to people that are in the air. And so
Speaker 2: my thing was like, yeah, in theory, he doesn't see
Speaker 2: what's happening. But like when Scotty threw that drop off pass,
Speaker 2: like if You're running behind Scotty and you see that
Speaker 2: drop off pass. You know, nine times out of ten
Speaker 2: it's probably because he has an athlete trailing, and so
Speaker 2: it was just a little bit reckless. But again, neither
Speaker 2: of them would would be what I considered dirty. Neither
Speaker 2: of them were. I'm certain that neither of them were
Speaker 2: on purpose. But it just it just was a little
Speaker 2: reckless and it was just unfortunate.
Speaker 1: Agreed.
Speaker 4: Another question from from that game, Hey, Jason, why don't
Speaker 4: NBA teams attack players more often when they're.
Speaker 1: In foul trouble?
Speaker 4: At Both Sga and Isaiah Hartenstein had five fouls in
Speaker 4: the fourth quarter and Memphis didn't attack either of them.
Speaker 1: Thinks loved the show.
Speaker 2: It's easier said than done in the sense that, like
Speaker 2: you can scram people out of mismatches, you can double
Speaker 2: teams out of people out of mismatches. There were a
Speaker 2: lot of Jared Jackson post ups that ended in double teams.
Speaker 2: But honestly, like you know, we talked about it earlier,
Speaker 2: Jared Jackson and Scotty, Pip and June, you're not half
Speaker 2: court surgeons. They're not going to go up the floor
Speaker 2: and be really deliberate with the way they attack, And honestly,
Speaker 2: I thought Memphis is kind of decomposed entirely on.
Speaker 3: An offense.
Speaker 2: But your only matchup attacker was Jackson, like because Desmond
Speaker 2: Bain is not a stare you down in ISO guy
Speaker 2: like Scotty Pippen Junior is not that kind of guy either,
Speaker 2: Like Jared Jackson is the only guy that's like, Okay,
Speaker 2: we're on an island playing ones, like I can score here,
Speaker 2: but they weren't letting him go on one on one
Speaker 2: unless it was Caruso. So like it's one of those
Speaker 2: things where it's easier send than done. I don't think
Speaker 2: Memphis was really set up.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it feels so easy to say, and I say
Speaker 4: the same thing, not even about specific players, but when
Speaker 4: a team gets in the bonus with eight minutes to
Speaker 4: go in a quarter or something, it's like, just go downhill,
Speaker 4: just draw a foul, And it feels like it should
Speaker 4: be easy because there is so much foul drifting in
Speaker 4: the NBA, But it's not quite as simple. I don't
Speaker 4: think as it feels like it should be.
Speaker 2: There's a psychological element too, like when a team picks
Speaker 2: up four fouls in the first three minutes, of a
Speaker 2: quarter probably means they've been bitching and moaning at the
Speaker 2: refs NonStop for that first three minutes, and so there's
Speaker 2: a psychological element to where that that fifth foul, it's
Speaker 2: gonna have to be a pretty substantial foul for the
Speaker 2: ref to blow the whistle, especially in the postseason. It's
Speaker 2: it's always it's always easier seive than done.
Speaker 4: Like I know, it's early been a hypothetic. In a
Speaker 4: hypothetical Clippers versus Okase's second round series, who do you
Speaker 4: think would have the best player in the series between
Speaker 4: a healthy Kawhi and Sga.
Speaker 2: That would literally be one of the biggest swing factors
Speaker 2: in the series. Like if the Thunder were able to
Speaker 2: successfully load up on Shay keep Done and Derek Jones
Speaker 2: on him all series and play him into an inefficient series,
Speaker 2: like if Shae averaged thirty three on twenty seven shots
Speaker 2: a game like the Shaye has a lot of game
Speaker 2: I mean tonight, he took like twenty six shots.
Speaker 3: Shae has a lot of.
Speaker 2: Games where like he accumulates volume score excuse me, but
Speaker 2: he takes so many two's that it's not necessarily the
Speaker 2: most efficient thing in the world. Some of the times
Speaker 2: when he gets into these games where he goes like
Speaker 2: ten for twenty six. If there's a universe where Shay
Speaker 2: averages thirty three points a game in the series, but
Speaker 2: he takes twenty six attempts to get there every night,
Speaker 2: and Kawhi averages, you know, thirty two points a game,
Speaker 2: but he gets there in seventeen shots every single night,
Speaker 2: and he's just like surgical all series. By the way,
Speaker 2: we talked about the seis miss matches, He's gonna have
Speaker 2: a boatload of seized miss matches in that series. The
Speaker 2: biggest fear that I would have is as you start
Speaker 2: to kind of like dig down through the ways that
Speaker 2: the Clippers attack, they are going to be able to
Speaker 2: use Zoo on the offensive glass. They're gonna be able
Speaker 2: to use Zoo out.
Speaker 3: Of the post.
Speaker 2: But okay See is going to double the shit out
Speaker 2: of Kawhi and Zoo on all of their post ups.
Speaker 2: They're not gonna let those guys sit one on one.
Speaker 2: Kawhi did it. Had a much better passing game tonight
Speaker 2: than he did in the first two games of the series.
Speaker 2: But like Kawhi, Leonard can struggle to handle double teams
Speaker 2: from time to time. Zoo as well, so and then
Speaker 2: with James Harden, you're just going up an entire stratosphere
Speaker 2: of quality of perimeter defense talent on James Harden. This
Speaker 2: is a series for James Harden that really lines up
Speaker 2: well for him from a matchup perspective. Like a high
Speaker 2: drop team with a big that sometimes gets lazy and
Speaker 2: doesn't get up to the level like that is suicide
Speaker 2: against James Harden because it's got all the baked in
Speaker 2: reads that he's all naturally great at. Right and to
Speaker 2: James's credit, he just has his three point shot going
Speaker 2: in this postseason, which has been huge. But like, okay,
Speaker 2: see just has so many different options they can go to.
Speaker 2: They could switch all the James Harden pick and rolls,
Speaker 2: double Zoo out of the post, double Kawhi out all
Speaker 2: his post ups, and basically, I don't know if you've
Speaker 2: seen this, Jackson, but like there have been times when
Speaker 2: the Thunder and the Nuggets are in excuse me, the
Speaker 2: Clippers and the Nuggets are in more of like a
Speaker 2: dog fight where you can really see the Clippers lack
Speaker 2: of playmaking talent, where like you'll see you'll just see
Speaker 2: a guy a split second laid on a read or
Speaker 2: like Zoo will make the wrong read, They'll force a
Speaker 2: pass to a cutter that's not there when someone's opening
Speaker 2: the corner, something along those lines. There's definitely a little
Speaker 2: bit of a playmaking deficit sometimes with the Clippers that
Speaker 2: I think the Thunder would take advantage of. So, like,
Speaker 2: the Clippers are really good, and they have advantages, but
Speaker 2: I think the Thunder are kind of built defensively to
Speaker 2: attack their lack of playmaking.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and we have talked on this show, especially this
Speaker 4: past week and last night, about the concept of secondary
Speaker 4: playmaking and the roles that Jimmy Butler and Brandon Pagenski
Speaker 4: played for the Warriors, and the Clippers have none of
Speaker 4: those guys. All of all of their guys after James
Speaker 4: Trden are good at a lot of things offensively, but
Speaker 4: none of them are good at making that.
Speaker 1: I mean, Zoo is okay at it in that short role.
Speaker 4: He's gotten a lot better, but they don't have any
Speaker 4: high level secondary playmakers. Norman Powell, Kawhi, Leonard Zoo, Derrick Jones, Kristaan, like,
Speaker 4: these guys are all probably better off trying to score
Speaker 4: than trying to playmake for other people.
Speaker 2: Even in I this isn't let's let's take it in
Speaker 2: this direction. My gut tells me that the nu Gets
Speaker 2: have a better chance to beat the Thunder than the
Speaker 2: Clippers do.
Speaker 3: Do you agree?
Speaker 1: I don't know. It's a tough one. I think so.
Speaker 1: I think so just because.
Speaker 4: I feel like Zoo is such a superior Yokic defender
Speaker 4: than either of the bigs of the Thunder have it.
Speaker 4: Despite those guys being you know, very skilled defensively, he
Speaker 4: is just such a matchup problem in a different type
Speaker 4: of stratosphere as a defender for Yokurs than those guys are.
Speaker 1: So because of that, I would I tend to agree.
Speaker 2: And there's a swarming that they could do with Jokic
Speaker 2: that you can't do a Zoo. Like, if you swarm Zoo,
Speaker 2: he can Like, that's just not a good use of
Speaker 2: defensive resources in that matchup, so he could do more
Speaker 2: damage on the offensive glass. Uh, Like, there are definitely
Speaker 2: advantages that the Clippers have in that series. My main
Speaker 2: thing is I just think that I I think that
Speaker 2: the Nuggets can consistently score against the Thunder.
Speaker 3: That's the main thing.
Speaker 2: They had a game they won this year where they
Speaker 2: scored one hundred and twenty four points again against them,
Speaker 2: and they had a game this year where they scored
Speaker 2: one hundred and forty points against them and they won.
Speaker 2: And so yeah, so like like there is there is
Speaker 2: a that that's the team that has a great amount
Speaker 2: of connective playmaking, and that is on a string with
Speaker 2: all of their cuts and their relocations, and and they
Speaker 2: get guys into positions where they can be a threat.
Speaker 2: And like, obviously the Thunder would have a bunch of
Speaker 2: advantages in that series two. But yeah, I'm I I
Speaker 2: would be I would be hard pressed to take the
Speaker 2: Clippers instead of the Nuggets in a series against the Thunder.
Speaker 2: I think the Nuggets present more problems for them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's fair.
Speaker 4: Let's move slightly away from that the Okay, see Thunder
Speaker 4: for a second. If Jimmy Butler misses significant time, there
Speaker 4: was reporting today that he avoided any structural damage. He
Speaker 4: has a deep bruise essentially, and he has been officially
Speaker 4: listed as questionable for their their next game.
Speaker 3: But if I.
Speaker 4: Would imagine he plays, I think, consider it's Jimmy Butler.
Speaker 4: But if he if he misses a game or two
Speaker 4: or three, just you know, it's hard to set at
Speaker 4: this point how many games he might miss.
Speaker 1: How does that change your calculus of the series.
Speaker 2: The fact that Golden State is going home, I think
Speaker 2: is a huge advantage here.
Speaker 3: I think that.
Speaker 2: I think when Golden State really defends the Rockets can't
Speaker 2: score on them, that's not exactly a big shock. All
Speaker 2: you have to do is ask step Heer that that's
Speaker 2: literally the ideology within the locker room. We have seen
Speaker 2: what this Warriors team can do at home. They can
Speaker 2: ride the wave of their crowd to an insane defensive effort,
Speaker 2: and they don't need Jimmy to guard the Rockets, and
Speaker 2: they can do enough stuff defense to transition role players
Speaker 2: shoot better at home, the old cliche, all that stuff,
Speaker 2: I think would put them in a situation where if
Speaker 2: Jimmy had to miss both games, I feel like there's
Speaker 2: a strong chance the Warriors still split at least and
Speaker 2: maybe win them both anyway. So like not having any
Speaker 2: sort of bone bone issue, bruise break and heading home,
Speaker 2: I think, under the circumstances for what was an incredibly fluky,
Speaker 2: incredibly scary play, this is like literally the best case
Speaker 2: scenario for how it could have gone.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, I think.
Speaker 4: I don't know about getting two games without Jimmy, but
Speaker 4: I think a split would definitely be on the table
Speaker 4: if that happens, And frankly, I would bet he plays.
Speaker 1: It's I would bet he plays.
Speaker 4: Considering the mental of that guy, I would bet that
Speaker 4: he plays.
Speaker 2: I was thinking the same thing earlier today, because I
Speaker 2: do think the Warriors have an.
Speaker 3: Appropriate fear of Houston.
Speaker 2: What I mean by that is like I think they
Speaker 2: know Houston like hands still win this series, and you
Speaker 2: know it is with these physical teams, like the Nuggets
Speaker 2: won three straight games against Minnesota last year. Jokic puts
Speaker 2: on the performance of his life in Game five and
Speaker 2: just fries Gobert for the world to see, and then
Speaker 2: they lose to in a row because Minnesota just physically
Speaker 2: overwhelms them, even when it was like, like you they
Speaker 2: were up twenty in games seven and let go of
Speaker 2: the rope for a few minutes and all of a
Speaker 2: sudden they were in a dog fight and they lost
Speaker 2: the series. So like I think, I think the urgency
Speaker 2: of Golden State, thinking that them going up three to
Speaker 2: one is almost a must, like that's a must for them,
Speaker 2: will probably push Jimmy towards play.
Speaker 4: Another question from the series, Hey, Jason, can you explain
Speaker 4: how Steph fights off defenders so well? The Rockets have
Speaker 4: been obviously very physical with him and even though it
Speaker 4: slightly bothered him and hasn't stopped him quote unquote.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so this is this is interesting.
Speaker 2: This has been one of the This was the difference
Speaker 2: I was trying to draw last night when we were
Speaker 2: talking about officiating, Like, I do believe that Steph gets
Speaker 2: a shitty whistle when he's shooting, like the you can't
Speaker 2: be like fouling jump shooters like that. That's the jump
Speaker 2: shot is such a low margin for air thing, where
Speaker 2: like if someone just barely tapped you on the forearm
Speaker 2: with their index finger on your release, it could cause
Speaker 2: you to miss by two feet. So like like you
Speaker 2: like fouling jumps, fouling on jump shots, like Steph, there's
Speaker 2: way too many of those where he's getting clipped and
Speaker 2: he's getting pulled and he's getting grabbed and he's getting
Speaker 2: ran over and they're not getting called. But watch any
Speaker 2: player in the NBA who functions off ball fight for position.
Speaker 2: Just because Steph is a guard doesn't mean that he
Speaker 2: doesn't have to deal with physicality off the ball. Have
Speaker 2: you seen like Palabonkaro fight for post position. Have you
Speaker 2: seen Jason Tatum fight for post position? Have you seen
Speaker 2: Yokic fight for post position? Have you seen Khi Leonard
Speaker 2: fight for post position? Have you seen Lebron fight for
Speaker 2: post position? It's a fucking battle down there. Everyone's grabbing
Speaker 2: and holding, it's swim moves. It's like it's all physical leverage.
Speaker 2: And so Steph, by playing off the ball, has put
Speaker 2: himself into a situation where he is susceptible to a
Speaker 2: lot of that off ball contact. But like we talked
Speaker 2: about last night, it's that is actually an arrangement that
Speaker 2: works in their favor. And what I mean by that
Speaker 2: is like Steph has gotten really really good at using
Speaker 2: simple fakes to shed guys in back door cuts.
Speaker 3: He'll just shove a guy to get.
Speaker 2: Separation to run off of a screen, which, by the way,
Speaker 2: like to me, that's legal. You know, you want to
Speaker 2: know why it's legal, Because it's legal for them to
Speaker 2: put their hands on Steph when he's trying to move
Speaker 2: without the ball. It's a given a take, right, Like
Speaker 2: that's the same reason why I've never had a problem
Speaker 2: with the whistle that Lebron got, Lebron's trying.
Speaker 3: To drop that shoulder.
Speaker 2: And if you watch every Lebron left handed drive ever,
Speaker 2: he's using that right arm like a battering ram, just
Speaker 2: like swinging guys out of the way.
Speaker 3: Like, so, guess what if.
Speaker 2: Lebron's gonna do that, There's got to be contact allowed
Speaker 2: on the other side of it. But it's all about
Speaker 2: weaponizing that to your effect. And the Warriors just do
Speaker 2: it through an incredible amount of attention to detailing their
Speaker 2: screen game, the screens that flow into the screens with
Speaker 2: their bigs, the seals that they use on their screens,
Speaker 2: the all the off ball deception that Steph can use.
Speaker 2: The given goes like, Steph just uses all of that
Speaker 2: to his advantage in a way that allows him to
Speaker 2: generate offense without having to face ball pressure. And that's
Speaker 2: the other thing too, Like a lot of people go like, hey, guys,
Speaker 2: why isn't Steph just running high pick and roll? And
Speaker 2: it's like, Steph will run high pick and roll from
Speaker 2: time to time. It's not that he doesn't do it,
Speaker 2: but high pick and roll puts you susceptible to ball pressure,
Speaker 2: and ball pressure is exhausting in a different way. When
Speaker 2: you're off ball dealing with pressure, you can use your
Speaker 2: hands so you can swim, move off of guys, you
Speaker 2: can use both hands to push, you can do all
Speaker 2: this kind of stuff to fight for a position, jockey
Speaker 2: for position. When you're dribbling, totally different ball game. You
Speaker 2: need those hands available to dribble the basketball, and so
Speaker 2: ball pressure can be difficult in a different way. And
Speaker 2: I think I think Steve Kerr in the group just
Speaker 2: wants to try to avoid you know, literally a men
Speaker 2: Thompson turning steph seven times before he gets up to
Speaker 2: the up to the spot where he can run a
Speaker 2: ball screen.
Speaker 4: And frankly, I think size and physicality is it even
Speaker 4: amplifies that to a degree, Like it's a lot easier
Speaker 4: to separate from a six to seven athletic wing when
Speaker 4: you were able to run around and put two hands
Speaker 4: on him. But when you're on the ball, it's not
Speaker 4: the same. Like I think it's going up against a
Speaker 4: defender like Gary Payton, for example, as opposed to a
Speaker 4: defender like Amen Thompson, it's going to both amazing defenders
Speaker 4: off the balls. On the ball is going to feel
Speaker 4: completely differently because you are able to grapple with one
Speaker 4: but but not in one situation but not the other.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's fundamentally different. Like just this is not even
Speaker 2: a playoff thing. Just in the regular season next year,
Speaker 2: what every team in the NBA runs horn sets, Watch
Speaker 2: the dudes at the elbows fighting for position. That's the
Speaker 2: same thing that's happening to Steph when he's off ball.
Speaker 2: It's the same thing that is off ball jockeying for position.
Speaker 2: That's literally what basketball is.
Speaker 1: All right, we'll take a couple more.
Speaker 4: Do you still believe Milwaukee has a chance and what
Speaker 4: can they do differently to flip the series?
Speaker 2: They absolutely, they absolutely have a chance because it's very
Speaker 2: easy to gain momentum over the course of a series
Speaker 2: as you figure out things that work and you identify
Speaker 2: things that don't work and you cut them out.
Speaker 3: They could get a big.
Speaker 2: Win at home riding that energy, get a couple guys
Speaker 2: in rhythm that weren't in rhythm earlier, build Dame's conditioning,
Speaker 2: build Dame's rhythm, all of that. My main concern is
Speaker 2: we said before this, would Doc Rivers be able to
Speaker 2: manage this whole situation?
Speaker 3: And I like if Brook.
Speaker 2: Lopez plays thirty minutes in game three or twenty five
Speaker 2: minutes in Game three. That's twenty five minutes where the
Speaker 2: Pacers just get great shots every single time down the floor.
Speaker 2: Is he can identify stuff like the dumb low man
Speaker 2: sequences that were giving up wide open threes in crunch
Speaker 2: time in game two. Like there's just a lot of
Speaker 2: like basic game plan and rotation stuff.
Speaker 3: Like AJ Green all year long.
Speaker 2: It reminds me of like back in the past with
Speaker 2: like Darvin ham with like Ruy Hachimura versus Torrian Princes,
Speaker 2: or like even Frank Vogel with like an Austin Reeves
Speaker 2: instead of a Avery Bradley, where like there's just clear
Speaker 2: data that shows that the Bucks are better when AJ
Speaker 2: Green's on the floor, Like he's good, he can knock
Speaker 2: down threes. And the big thing is it's this off
Speaker 2: ball defense. He's like always in the right spots, like
Speaker 2: he'll get attacked, like it'll be like I could just
Speaker 2: see it in Doc River's face. It's like, oh, Pascal
Speaker 2: Siak and win at AJ Green and hit another bank shot.
Speaker 2: I got to get him out of the game. And
Speaker 2: it's like, is Gary try locking these dudes up? Like it,
Speaker 2: like is Bobby Ports, like Torrian Prince, like like they
Speaker 2: cut his minutes in game two, but like Torrian Prince
Speaker 2: is another one of those guys where it's like if
Speaker 2: he's not hitting his threes, like you got to lean
Speaker 2: into AJ Green, I would leave, I would be running out.
Speaker 2: There a lot of groups that are like Yannis with
Speaker 2: Kuzman portis where they're switching everything and it's like Gary,
Speaker 2: Trent Dame or AJ Green, just two of those three.
Speaker 2: And I've run a lot off of Giannis in the post.
Speaker 2: He's getting double teamed, he's passing out of it well,
Speaker 2: and just surround him with shooting and just try to
Speaker 2: lean on the fact that you're not going to give
Speaker 2: up as many of the easy openings from attacking Lopez,
Speaker 2: from transition pushes and stuff, because you have some more
Speaker 2: discipline defenders on the floor. Like I just I just
Speaker 2: am concerned about whether or not Doc's gonna do the
Speaker 2: right things when they.
Speaker 3: Get back home.
Speaker 4: Last one, where does Jokic rank among the best passers
Speaker 4: you've seen?
Speaker 3: That's a good question. I've always said that.
Speaker 2: There is a level of playmaking talent that is just
Speaker 2: you're born with. It's not something that you can develop
Speaker 2: through repetition, Like you see guys like Tatum or like
Speaker 2: Kdi or brandon Ingram guys over the years that like
Speaker 2: developed into decent passers, but they're not like surgical half
Speaker 2: court playmakers, and it's just a rare breed.
Speaker 3: And I.
Speaker 2: Think that Luka and Jokic both are two of the
Speaker 2: very best that I've ever seen. They remind me of
Speaker 2: Lebron Lebron though, Like as good as Lebron was as
Speaker 2: a passer and he was amazing, there was just that
Speaker 2: next There was a lot of Lebron's passing ability that
Speaker 2: was predicated on like his transition athleticism and just his
Speaker 2: rim pressure and he was particularly great at spraying out
Speaker 2: to shooters. And I feel like there's a little bit
Speaker 2: more dynamic, like like tight window playmaking that you see
Speaker 2: from guys like Jokic in Luca involving like lob passing.
Speaker 2: Like I never thought Lebron. I want to cut him
Speaker 2: some slack for the Anthony Davis relationship because he would
Speaker 2: just end up getting that screen switched a lot of
Speaker 2: the times, which would shut down a lot of the
Speaker 2: lobs that were available. But I never thought Lebron was
Speaker 2: as good as like a lob passer as Jokic or Luca.
Speaker 2: They're both very different, but I would say I don't
Speaker 2: know that I've seen a player that passed the ball
Speaker 2: better than Jokic personally. There's a bunch of guys on
Speaker 2: that tier. That's maybe a question for the summer in
Speaker 2: terms of like actually putting like kind of nailing down
Speaker 2: a ranking.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think there's the Jokic playmaking thing, because there's
Speaker 4: a there's a couple elements to this question. I feel
Speaker 4: like the physical ability to make the widest variety of
Speaker 4: types of passes possible, and I think Lebron is at
Speaker 4: the top of that list. I mean, Jokic has more size,
Speaker 4: so maybe you give him an advantage there, but Lebron
Speaker 4: can make pretty much any pass he wants to make.
Speaker 1: And then you combine with the fl.
Speaker 4: Or understanding and envision and all those things, which is
Speaker 4: where I think Joki and Luca just have a slight
Speaker 4: edge over.
Speaker 1: Lebron in my opinion.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're just I this is we are splitting hairs
Speaker 2: between the greatest passers in the history of the game,
Speaker 2: and like my favorite Lebron moment as a passer was
Speaker 2: the Indiana Pacers comeback in twenty seventeen in Game three
Speaker 2: after they were already up two to zero and tylu
Speaker 2: benched Kyrie and Kevin Love and Lebron let this come
Speaker 2: back with like Shanning Fry and Richard Jefferson. And there
Speaker 2: was a play where Emon Schumpert stripped Paul George on
Speaker 2: a right shoulder fade around the left elbow, and it
Speaker 2: led to a fast break, and Lebron was just going
Speaker 2: right down the middle of the floor. And I literally
Speaker 2: watched George Hill, who was in between Lebron and the rim.
Speaker 2: I watched George Hill vacate the lane to run to
Speaker 2: the corner to cover a three point shooter because he
Speaker 2: was terrified of Lebron making the pass, and Lebron just
Speaker 2: went down to like jackhammer smash, like Lebron his the
Speaker 2: I feel like people have almost forgotten how good of
Speaker 2: a passer he is, just simply because at this phase
Speaker 2: in his career he doesn't create as much advantage as
Speaker 2: he used to. Is that all we ought for tonight?
Speaker 2: All right, that's all we have for tonight, guys. We
Speaker 2: are not gonna do a film session tomorrow. I'm not
Speaker 2: sure if you can tell just by watching the show.
Speaker 2: But i am like completely exhausted and I'm in desperate
Speaker 2: need of some sleep, So I'm gonna be sleeping in
Speaker 2: tomorrow and getting a little bit caught up on that front.
Speaker 2: We have a jam packed weekend ahead of us with
Speaker 2: the Friday night slate. We have what Lakers Wolves last
Speaker 2: Tomorrow night game three, Then we have four games on Saturday,
Speaker 2: four games on Sunday, so no film session tomorrow. I'll
Speaker 2: see you guys live on YouTube after the final Brothers
Speaker 2: are of the Lakers game. And just last note, if
Speaker 2: you guys are into Star Wars or if you are
Speaker 2: watching and or head over to my other podcast, two
Speaker 2: Sun's podcast, we recorded a you know, thirty five minute
Speaker 2: or so episode where we just kind of broke down
Speaker 2: the first three episodes with my buddy Luke's make sure
Speaker 2: you guys head over there again. A pretty shit you
Speaker 2: guys for suporting us and supporting the show, and we
Speaker 2: will see you tomorrow night. What's up guys. As always,
Speaker 2: I appreciate you for listening to and supporting OOPS tonight.
Speaker 2: They would actually be really helpful for us if you
Speaker 2: guys would take a second and leave a rating and
Speaker 2: a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us,
Speaker 2: but if you could take a minute to do that,
Speaker 2: I'd really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: The volume