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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to hoops toight here at the volume

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Speaker 1: heavy Monday. Everybody. Hope all of you guys had an

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Speaker 1: incredible weekend. We have a jam packed show today. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna hit two games from the weekend. We had that

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Speaker 1: highly entertaining thunder Nuggets game that I want to dive into.

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Speaker 1: I have two major takeaways from that game. And then

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Speaker 1: the Bucks in the Rockets played yesterday and what I

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Speaker 1: thought was one of the more impressive all around performances

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Speaker 1: from the Bucks on both ends of the floor. A

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Speaker 1: lot of interesting concepts from that game that I think

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Speaker 1: poortend well for what Milwaukee could look like at the

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Speaker 1: end of the season. So we're going to talk about

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Speaker 1: those two games. Then we're gonna do our power rankings

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Speaker 1: like we do every Monday, We'll hit the top ten

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Speaker 1: teams in the league ranked, and then last but not least,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna have four mail bag questions at the end

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Speaker 1: of the show. You guys are the Joe before we

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Speaker 1: get started. Subscribe to a brand new YouTube channel. Mean

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Speaker 1: a lot to me if you guys would take a

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Speaker 1: second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button. Don't

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Speaker 1: forget about our podcast feed. Wherever you get your podcast

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Speaker 1: under Hoops Tonight, follow me on Twitter at Underscore Jason

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Speaker 1: lt so you guys don't miss the film breakdowns that

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Speaker 1: I do in the morning, as well as show announcements.

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Speaker 1: And then, last but not least, keep dropping mail bad

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Speaker 1: questions in the YouTube comments so that we can keep

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Speaker 1: hitting them like we're doing today at the end of

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Speaker 1: shows throughout the season. All right, let's talk some basketball.

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Speaker 1: So this was just a huge win for Oklahoma City

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Speaker 1: obviously for two big reasons. One, this particular type of team,

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Speaker 1: these Upper Western Conference teams like Minute Soda and the

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Speaker 1: Lakers in Denver. These are teams that Oklahoma City struggled

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Speaker 1: with early in the season, those big front lines, but

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Speaker 1: they notched a couple of recent wins. Obviously, beating the Lakers,

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Speaker 1: albeit at the end of a road trip, but they

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Speaker 1: beat the Lakers and then this win against the Nuggets,

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Speaker 1: so they're starting to demonstrate that they can win against

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Speaker 1: some of these bigger lineups. You saw down the stretch

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Speaker 1: of this game them go with Jaylen Williams excuse me,

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Speaker 1: alongside Shed Holmgren so that they could put Shed in

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Speaker 1: help side situations. So you got to see kind of

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Speaker 1: from a personnel standpoint, what it looks like to see

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Speaker 1: a bigger forward. Even if jaaln Williams is not the

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Speaker 1: exact type of player you would want there, he's at

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Speaker 1: least a reasonable fact simile of it. So you got

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Speaker 1: to see some of those benefits, right. But so it's

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Speaker 1: important not only because it demonstrates that they can hang

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Speaker 1: with some of these bigger front lines, but the second

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Speaker 1: piece of it is it's just a legitimizing win. This

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Speaker 1: is the team that has the second best record in

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Speaker 1: the Western Conference, the fifth best record in the league,

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Speaker 1: and a win on the road in Denver, a really

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Speaker 1: hard place to win under any circumstances. But they're also

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Speaker 1: the defending champs, also have the consensus top player in

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Speaker 1: the league in Nicole Jokic. It just was a legitimizing

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Speaker 1: win in a lot of ways. But I have two

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Speaker 1: major takeaways that I want to get into. First of all,

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Speaker 1: this is a great example of why Oklahoma City needs

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Speaker 1: that upgrade at the forward position to reach where they

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Speaker 1: want to reach in the big picture. The reason why

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Speaker 1: I feel that way is the other four guys in

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Speaker 1: that lineup could not have played better in this particular game.

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Speaker 1: I thought Lou Dort did just an amazing job on

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Speaker 1: Jamal Murray down the stretch. Even the one tough bucket

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Speaker 1: that Jamal hit on him, it could have been an

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Speaker 1: offensive foul. Took the contact in the chest and just

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Speaker 1: Jamal just basically shoved him off and got to his

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Speaker 1: spot for that little fadeaway jumper. I thought he did

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Speaker 1: a really, really good job on Jamal Murray. I thought

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Speaker 1: Chet Holmgren was ridiculous in this game. There was you guys,

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Speaker 1: remember that playoff of the horn set where Aaron Gordon

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Speaker 1: just cut off of the right elbow and Chet was

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Speaker 1: in a trail position and Aaron Gordon's one of the

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Speaker 1: freakiest athletes in the game, and Chet chased him down

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Speaker 1: and pinned his dunk attempt. On the glass. He was

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Speaker 1: awesome in vertical spacing situations, just sitting in the dunker spot.

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Speaker 1: Both Jalen Williams and Shake Gildos Alexander had driving plays

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Speaker 1: where they just had basic like beat your man off

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Speaker 1: the dribble, engage the rim protector, throw it up in

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Speaker 1: the air, check can go dunk it. That's textbook vertical

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Speaker 1: spacing when it's like, oh, all you have to do

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Speaker 1: is engage this defender and then just throw it in

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Speaker 1: the general vicinity of the rim and Chet's gonna go

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Speaker 1: get it. That is a super valuable form of spacing

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Speaker 1: versus the type of player that won't be able to

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Speaker 1: elevate over the top and go get it, or a

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Speaker 1: player with a smaller window that you can throw the

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Speaker 1: ball to. It's a huge asset there. And then obviously

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Speaker 1: there were a couple possession where he ended up on

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Speaker 1: Jokic late, especially when they were doing the offense defense subs.

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Speaker 1: But for the most part he was in helpside and

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Speaker 1: he was doing a good job of shutting down cutters,

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Speaker 1: with exception of a couple of wild yoks plays because

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Speaker 1: that's what Jokic does. But Chet was ridiculous. And then

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Speaker 1: Juwnsga just incredible shot creation down the stretch. Both of

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Speaker 1: them were picking on Jamal Murray quite a bit and

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Speaker 1: beaten them off the dribble to make good things happen.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I've talked a lot about how in

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Speaker 1: order to make because Denver is a defense that has

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Speaker 1: been defending above their pay grade, so to speak, for

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Speaker 1: the most part, through the playoffs last year and into

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Speaker 1: this regular season. And the main reason why is like

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Speaker 1: they defend well, but they have weak defensive personnel on

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Speaker 1: the floor in multiple spots. The Nuggets were also doing

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Speaker 1: offense defense subs down the stretch with Michael Porter Junior.

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Speaker 1: That's how Peyton Watson ended up in the game, right

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Speaker 1: they you had the Jamal Murray getting attacked. Nikolea. Jokic

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Speaker 1: has some limitations defensively as well, But when they're all

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Speaker 1: in the right spots and their scheme is set up

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Speaker 1: and everyone's doing their job, and they're playing against offenses

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Speaker 1: that have like one or two primary types of actions

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Speaker 1: that they go against, they can actually defend at a

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Speaker 1: pretty high level. What Oklahoma City has that makes it

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Speaker 1: uniquely capable them uniquely capable of punishing Denver's weaker defensive

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Speaker 1: personnel is the lack of a weak perimeter option to

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Speaker 1: hide Jamal Murray on I'll give you guys an example.

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Speaker 1: So what you saw down the stretch of that game

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Speaker 1: with the ghost screens to try to get Jamal Murray

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Speaker 1: on the ball is a very, very similar thing to

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Speaker 1: what the Lakers were doing in Game one of the

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Speaker 1: Western Conference Finals last year. If you remember, Lebron James

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Speaker 1: was bringing Austin Reeves into the screening action and basically

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Speaker 1: having him set ghost screens and pop to the three

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Speaker 1: point line. What a lot of teams will do in

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Speaker 1: that situation is have their weaker defender in this case,

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Speaker 1: Jamal Murray hedge and then recover, meaning they basically step

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Speaker 1: out to stop Lebron or whoever it is, Shay Gils,

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Speaker 1: Alexander or Jaln Williams from driving and then recover back

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Speaker 1: to their man and hopefully the primary on ball defender

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Speaker 1: can get back after that hedge. Right, that's the way

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Speaker 1: that system works. That's how you protect your weaker defensive player.

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Speaker 1: But what killed the Nuggets for a brief stretch in

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Speaker 1: Game one of the Western Conference Finals was Austin Reeves

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Speaker 1: was really capable of setting his feet quickly on those

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Speaker 1: slips and knocking down a three point shot. So while

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Speaker 1: Jamal was hedging, Lebron was hitting Austin wide open on

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Speaker 1: the three point line and hitting the shot right. So

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Speaker 1: the Nuggets adjusted, Mike Malone adjusted by just sliding Jamal

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Speaker 1: Murray over to Dennis Schroder, a player who is a

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Speaker 1: very good guard, who has a lot of things that

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Speaker 1: he can do with the ball in his hands. But

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Speaker 1: what Dennis Schroder is not is a movement shooter. And

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Speaker 1: so when Dennis Schroeder would set the screen for Lebron

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Speaker 1: and pop to the three point line, Jamal Murray didn't

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Speaker 1: have to worry about Dennis like doing the Klay Thompson

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Speaker 1: quick you slide step three point shot off the move.

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Speaker 1: That's just not a shot that's in Dennis Schroeder's game, right,

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Speaker 1: and his release is kind of slower and dragged out.

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Speaker 1: And so the Nuggets were just never in a situation

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Speaker 1: where Lebron could consistently pick on Jamal Murray in those

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Speaker 1: ghost screen actions. Why can Oklahoma City do it? Because

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Speaker 1: if it's Isaiah Joe, if it's shake gilj Just Alexander,

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Speaker 1: if it's Jalen Williams. There's none of those guys that

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Speaker 1: they could get away with just tucking Jamal Murray away

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Speaker 1: on and hiding, and so Jamal Murray frequently ended up

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Speaker 1: on the basketball against Shay and against Jalen Williams, and

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Speaker 1: those guys were able to make him pay again. In

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Speaker 1: order to be able to truly cause problem for Denver's defense,

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Speaker 1: you have to truly be able to spread them out

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Speaker 1: and put yourself in a situation where you can attack

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Speaker 1: their weak points when they're not in help side, as

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Speaker 1: when they're on ball rather than in help side. It's

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Speaker 1: just difficult to do. There's not a lot of teams

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Speaker 1: that have that level of personnel. Even if you go

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Speaker 1: to the top of the league. Minnesota doesn't really have

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Speaker 1: that personnel. Like they can probably get away with hiding

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Speaker 1: Jamal Murray on someone like Jaden McDaniels, right, because Jaden

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Speaker 1: McDaniels is a good offensive player, but not a guy

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Speaker 1: who's gonna hit a bunch of movement threes. Right, You're

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Speaker 1: gonna see teams like the Lakers. They're gonna be able

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Speaker 1: to hide at a Jamal Murray on a Toryan Prints, right,

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Speaker 1: They're gonna be able to find guys in the top

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Speaker 1: of the conference that they can hide Jamal Murray on.

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City is just kind of uniquely equipped in that

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Speaker 1: perimeter talent to really put pressure on some of the

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Speaker 1: weaker elements of Denver's defense. Now, but that's the interesting

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Speaker 1: part is like Oklahoma City also doesn't have the front line.

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Speaker 1: Like as much as this was an entertaining game for

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City, if Oklahoma City played a seven game series

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Speaker 1: against Denver tomorrow, Denver would be favored in large part

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Speaker 1: because I'm not sure that they have the front frontline

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Speaker 1: weapons to hold up against Denver's attack or the Lakers

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Speaker 1: attack or Minnesota's attack on that front line. Right. So, like, again,

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Speaker 1: this is how matchups work, and when when you go

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Speaker 1: into these series, there are things that you have in

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Speaker 1: your corner that are your advantage, and then you have

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Speaker 1: things that they have in their corner that are their advantage.

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Speaker 1: And it's just this is one of the things that

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Speaker 1: uniquely makes Oklahoma City difficult to deal with is they

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Speaker 1: just have a shit ton of perimeter talent and they

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Speaker 1: don't have guys that you can really afford to hide

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Speaker 1: players on, and they can cause a lot of problems

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Speaker 1: in that sense, right, But if we look at that

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Speaker 1: four man grouping that I just mentioned, door on the

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Speaker 1: ball on Jamal Murray, chet Holmgren helping causing problems and

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Speaker 1: help side defense, his vertical spacing, all the things that

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Speaker 1: chet Holmgren does, right, Jawill and uh A j dub

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Speaker 1: and An Sga just being incredible with their shot creation

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Speaker 1: from the perimeter down the stretch like that, like that,

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Speaker 1: they they were just unbelievable, right that we had I

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Speaker 1: talked about the driving lobs to chet Holmgren. There, uh

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Speaker 1: shake Yos Alexander hit moreultiple pull up jump shots down

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Speaker 1: the stretch of that game. Juw, I keep freaking mixing

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Speaker 1: up their names. That's my bad. But Jay Dubb ends

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Speaker 1: up beating Jamal Murray and has that ridiculous up and

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Speaker 1: underfinish on the right side of the basket down the

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Speaker 1: stretch of the game. Right, Like, They're all that's great,

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Speaker 1: except for you had to run offense defense subs down

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Speaker 1: the stretch of the game, right. You had to run

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Speaker 1: offense defense subs because Isaiah Joe, as much as he

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Speaker 1: provides you an extra perimeter option offensively, he put them

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Speaker 1: in a predicament where Chet had to be on Nikola

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Speaker 1: jokicch which is a configuration they've really struggled with over

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Speaker 1: the course of their matchups with Denver this season, although

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Speaker 1: Chet did get a big stop on Jokic late, which

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Speaker 1: we'll talk about in a minute. But then they went

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Speaker 1: to jay Lynn Williams right Jay will and that put

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Speaker 1: them in a situation where they could line up defensively

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Speaker 1: the way they wanted to, but have some issues on

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Speaker 1: the offensive end of the floor, where Aaron Gordon and

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Speaker 1: Nicole Jokic can be more active around the paint right,

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Speaker 1: So it's like a give and a take. That's where

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Speaker 1: it would be ideal if you could have a forward

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Speaker 1: in that four spot that gave you the defensive rebounding

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Speaker 1: capabilities of a bigger bodied forward while also having the

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Speaker 1: offensive proficiency to maintain that dynamic that I was just

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Speaker 1: talking about with the Thunder as it pertains to their

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Speaker 1: overall offensive talent. It's just what I look at as

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Speaker 1: like the ultimate configuration of the team is like this

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Speaker 1: lineup Shay, Jalen and Dort alongside Chet, with a big

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Speaker 1: athletic forward who's a plus offensive player slotted between those

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Speaker 1: guys that can allow them to kind of have the

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Speaker 1: best of both of those worlds. That was one of

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Speaker 1: my major takeaways from that from that particular game. The

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Speaker 1: second piece of it, Like before I move on to

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Speaker 1: the second take I had mentioned earlier about like a

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Speaker 1: month ago, I had mentioned, like, oh, you know what

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Speaker 1: would be interesting, what about a lou Dort for for

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Speaker 1: for Ruy Hachimura trade with the was the one that

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Speaker 1: I had purported as a like kind of pitched as

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Speaker 1: a potential idea, right, And my idea there was is like,

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Speaker 1: you know, the Thunder have lots of other perimeter defensive

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Speaker 1: talent that can kind of take on that role and

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Speaker 1: that kind of gives them their big forward that can

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Speaker 1: help them in a lot of ways, Right, especially the

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Speaker 1: guy like Ruey who proved to be a pretty impactful

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Speaker 1: playoff player last year. Right. Well, I think I've kind

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Speaker 1: of gone to the other side of that specific opinion,

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Speaker 1: just from the standpoint of how vitally I'm important. I

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Speaker 1: think lou Dort is, and I think you know, when

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Speaker 1: I saw that two man game down the stretch and

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Speaker 1: I saw loud Dort's ability to navigate those ball screens,

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Speaker 1: there was like a there were like late clock possessions

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Speaker 1: where the Nuggets had to throw some tough shots up

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Speaker 1: in large part because Dort just blew up initial actions

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Speaker 1: in the possession. And it's one of those things where

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Speaker 1: I'm not saying that Rui's not that level of player

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Speaker 1: that he can't help, or that he wouldn't be a

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Speaker 1: good forward for that spot, and more just saying I

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Speaker 1: think now that lou Dort is a truly non expendable

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Speaker 1: piece of this lineup because of the fact that, like

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Speaker 1: he's not just a good perimeter defender, he's one of

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Speaker 1: the very best in the league. He's the one of

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Speaker 1: the hardest dudes in the league to screen. He's incredibly

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Speaker 1: good at staying in front of great athletes and forcing

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Speaker 1: them to shoot over the top. Yeah, you're occasionally gonna

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Speaker 1: see plays like Jamal Murray hitting that step back over

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Speaker 1: the top of him because he doesn't quite have the

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Speaker 1: length of some of his peers. But he's just one

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Speaker 1: of the very best at what he does, and I

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Speaker 1: don't think that they can replace that on roster. So

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Speaker 1: I think if they do go about trying to upgrade

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Speaker 1: that forward position, it needs to be at the expense

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Speaker 1: of a player outside of those core four guys. Gotta

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Speaker 1: keep Shay, gotta keep Jalen Williams, got to keep lou Dort,

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Speaker 1: got to keep chet Holmgrid. It's got to be with

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Speaker 1: Giddy and you know, uh, some combination of guys off

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Speaker 1: the bench that you end up making that type of

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Speaker 1: a deal. Secondly, even in a loss, that game solidified

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Speaker 1: for me Denver as the championship favorite because I thought

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City threw a magnificent punch in this game. They

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Speaker 1: had a great defensive game plan and they basically stole

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Speaker 1: the game because they scored on nine of their last

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Speaker 1: ten possessions. There was an Isaiah Joe turnover where he

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Speaker 1: tried to throw a hook pass that got intercepted, but

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Speaker 1: outside of that, on nine of their last ten possessions,

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Speaker 1: they scored every single time. That is why the Thunder

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Speaker 1: were able to steal this particular game right and like

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Speaker 1: they made every pull up jump shot they took down

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Speaker 1: the stretch. Shay hit a tough step back over Christian

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Speaker 1: Brown on the left wing. Shae hit a tough left

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Speaker 1: shoulder fade over the top of Peyton Watson. Jalen Williams

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Speaker 1: hit like a tough one legged fade away over the

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Speaker 1: top right, Like there were some tough shots in that stretch.

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Speaker 1: You got to just tip your cap to the thunder

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Speaker 1: and give them credit for winning that particular game. But

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Speaker 1: I though the Nuggets offense looked fantastic down the stretch

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Speaker 1: of that particular game, despite not just a hlatious effort

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Speaker 1: for Oklahoma City, but a good defensive configuration and one

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Speaker 1: that we've seen a lot of teams utilize against the Nuggets,

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Speaker 1: that being putting a forward on Jokic that presses up

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Speaker 1: while you have your lanky or center kind of helping

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Speaker 1: on the back line right, and they were just still

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Speaker 1: able to get wide open looks consistently. Nicole Jokic on

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Speaker 1: the left wing, a little head fake to get Jay

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Speaker 1: Lynn Williams to kind of leave his feet over to

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Speaker 1: his left, which allowed Jokicic to rip to the left,

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Speaker 1: and then he just threw this like sweet little lefty

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Speaker 1: lob pass to Aaron Gordon that somehow just barely got

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Speaker 1: over Chet's fingertips for a dunk. Right like Aaron Gordon

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Speaker 1: dribbling on the right wing and Jay dubb is ball

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Speaker 1: pressuring the hell out of him, and Aaron Gordon just

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Speaker 1: hits him with the crossover, gets downhill, swing past to

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Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior, rips baseline boom, one handed hammer along

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Speaker 1: the baseline. It's like, that's just so easy. It's just

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Speaker 1: easy basketball, right, Like Jokic's post up on the right block,

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Speaker 1: lou Dort doubles skip past to Michael Porter Junior in

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Speaker 1: the corner. He knocks down a huge three late in

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Speaker 1: the game. Even in the bad possessions that they had

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Speaker 1: during the stretch, it felt like possessions that were more

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Speaker 1: a product of, like the situation that they were in.

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Speaker 1: Like Christian Brown made two pull up jumpers late in

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Speaker 1: this game, a pull up three and a pull up two,

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Speaker 1: and you want to you might sit there as a

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Speaker 1: Thunder fan and be like, man, I can't believe you

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Speaker 1: made those shots. But that's KCP. Usually, like if Denver

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Speaker 1: has KCP, that's him on the floor. Those are good shots,

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Speaker 1: Like KCP. If you leave him open from three or

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Speaker 1: from that eighteen to twenty foot mark, he's gonna make it.

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Speaker 1: So like that's a high percentage look. In a playoff

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Speaker 1: series for Denver, right, Jamal Murray off of a one

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Speaker 1: pass away double team from lou Dort had a wide

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Speaker 1: open three on the left wing in the final minute

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Speaker 1: that he missed. That's a great look out of a

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Speaker 1: double team. Right there is a play where Jalen Williams

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Speaker 1: was off the floor. Jaylen Williams was off the floor

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Speaker 1: because of the offense defense, subs and Chet had to

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Speaker 1: press up against Nicole Jokic, and Yokic spun off of him,

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Speaker 1: and Michael Porter Junior was wide open on the right

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Speaker 1: wing and Jokic just missed the read. Shay dug down.

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Speaker 1: Jokic missed the read and bricked a floater high off

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Speaker 1: of the glass, And it's like, how often does Jokic

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Speaker 1: miss a red? Like that? Just doesn't happen very often, right, Like, really,

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Speaker 1: the only true bad possession in that stretch was the

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Speaker 1: one where Michael Porter Junior got stripped by Shay gil

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Speaker 1: just Alexander about thirty feet from the rim on the

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Speaker 1: right side. The point is is like, no matter what

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Speaker 1: I've seen this season, I've seen a lot of really

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Speaker 1: impressive stuff from a lot of impressive teams. But when

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Speaker 1: it comes down to the chess match of playoff basketball,

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Speaker 1: I just trust Denver's offense to consistently generate quality shots

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Speaker 1: at a much higher rate than anybody else in the league,

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Speaker 1: and as a result of that, I think it makes

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Speaker 1: it extremely difficult to beat them four times in two weeks.

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Speaker 1: And so even as frustrating as it's been for Denver,

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Speaker 1: and like, look, they've been really mediocre started eight and one.

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Speaker 1: They are nine and nine since, fifteenth in offense, fourteenth

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Speaker 1: in defense, that are not playing very well, But like,

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Speaker 1: I just still am not even the slightest bit worried

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Speaker 1: about having them as my number one contender at this

385
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Speaker 1: point or my number one championship favorite, because their offense

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Speaker 1: is just the safest bet in basketball right now. They're

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Speaker 1: gonna get great looks and they're probably going to make them.

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Speaker 1: Like if Oklahoma City doesn't make a basket or score

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Speaker 1: points on nine of their last ten possessions, and it's

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Speaker 1: more like six of their last ten, Denver wins that

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Speaker 1: game easily, and like and and again you tip the

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Speaker 1: cap okay see in this particular game, But I just

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Speaker 1: thought it was such a great indicator of what makes

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Speaker 1: Denver so transcendently great. All right, moving on to Houston Milwaukee.

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Speaker 1: So you know, it's funny, I've always been fascinated about

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Speaker 1: this with basketball but like every time you play in

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Speaker 1: a basketball game, you find out pretty quickly what works

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Speaker 1: for you and what doesn't, right, like even from lower levels,

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Speaker 1: like you know, me playing in a men's league, right,

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Speaker 1: Like we've played in our championship game on Sunday. By

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Speaker 1: the way, it felt good to be back coming back

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Speaker 1: from my achilles injury. I have been playing for about

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Speaker 1: eight days now, nine days now. First of all, I

404
00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:57,440
Speaker 1: just can't believe how much I missed playing basketball and

405
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Speaker 1: how important that's been for my mental health just to

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Speaker 1: be to go play again. But shout out to my

407
00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:05,800
Speaker 1: squad that we have in the Sunday League. We've won

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Speaker 1: the championship for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

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Speaker 1: You know, old old man basketball accomplishments for whatever those

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00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:16,840
Speaker 1: are worth. Right. But it's funny because in that game,

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Speaker 1: we were playing like we it was a championship game,

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Speaker 1: so it was a little more physical as a team

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Speaker 1: we've played a bunch of times, and like you start

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Speaker 1: playing and you're like, oh wait, like when we run

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Speaker 1: this action, they can't do anything about this, Like, oh,

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Speaker 1: they're used to doing this, But as long as we

417
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Speaker 1: do this defensively, that doesn't work anymore. And now that's

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Speaker 1: been removed from the equation. Okay, we can help off

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Speaker 1: of this guy, we can't help off of that guy, right,

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Speaker 1: And then pretty soon, over the course of the game,

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Speaker 1: you identify like the three or four things that are

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Speaker 1: like your biggest advantages, and then you do whatever you

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Speaker 1: can to kind of hammer those things home. And I've

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Speaker 1: always found that fascinating because I pick up on that

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Speaker 1: sort of thing every time I watch basketball games, like

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00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:55,439
Speaker 1: you start watching pretty quickly and it's like, oh, like

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Speaker 1: this guy who used to be a post up folkrum

428
00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:03,560
Speaker 1: for his team is not gonna get as much separation

429
00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:06,560
Speaker 1: in this particular matchup that's an important part of this

430
00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:09,240
Speaker 1: team's offense. What are they gonna do? Now? You know

431
00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:12,960
Speaker 1: what I mean? Like that? Or I'll just give you

432
00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:15,480
Speaker 1: guys some examples from this particular game, because I thought

433
00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:17,760
Speaker 1: this game was a great example of how those like

434
00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:24,040
Speaker 1: specific matchups can completely swing away a couple of basketball

435
00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:27,320
Speaker 1: teams compete against each other. So, first of all, what

436
00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:29,400
Speaker 1: have we been talking about with the Rockets all season long?

437
00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:37,120
Speaker 1: So you Udoka has been leaning a lot on Alburn Shangun, right,

438
00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:40,960
Speaker 1: mainly because he's been the most dependable offensive engine for

439
00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:44,280
Speaker 1: this particular team, Fred VanVleet and pick and roll, hit

440
00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:45,840
Speaker 1: and miss right depends a lot on whether or not

441
00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:49,080
Speaker 1: that pull up jump shots falling right. Jalen Green has

442
00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:51,080
Speaker 1: a lot of ups, a lot of downs. It's one

443
00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:52,800
Speaker 1: of those things where you look at the efficiency in

444
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:54,679
Speaker 1: ISO and you're like, oh, he's having a good season,

445
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:56,600
Speaker 1: and then you watch them other nights and you're like, man,

446
00:21:56,640 --> 00:21:58,360
Speaker 1: this guy just doesn't see the floor very well. It's

447
00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:00,919
Speaker 1: classic young guard stuff. It's a lot of bad. You know,

448
00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:03,359
Speaker 1: Dylan Brooks is having an amazing season, much better than

449
00:22:03,359 --> 00:22:06,040
Speaker 1: he was offensively in Memphis. That said, you know, not

450
00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:08,280
Speaker 1: a guy that you look at as an offensive engine. Right.

451
00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:12,440
Speaker 1: The Jabari Smith junior has pretty much turned into a

452
00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:15,280
Speaker 1: prototypical three and D wing at this point. He's not

453
00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:17,040
Speaker 1: doing a ton of stuff with the ball in his hands,

454
00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:20,040
Speaker 1: and so their safest option is alper in Shangun, and

455
00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:24,080
Speaker 1: he's like a diet nicolea Jokic right, like offensive folkrum

456
00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:26,159
Speaker 1: that can run a ton of stuff in screen and

457
00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:28,840
Speaker 1: roll both out of dribble handoffs and out of traditional

458
00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:31,600
Speaker 1: ball screens, and then can also work out of the post.

459
00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:34,640
Speaker 1: But he's a great passer excellent touch around the rim,

460
00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:36,480
Speaker 1: can stretch the floor of the pick and pop jump

461
00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:39,720
Speaker 1: shot like you just he's Diet Jokic. The biggest difference

462
00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:44,480
Speaker 1: is he's just smaller. But that's arguably the most dependable

463
00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:49,359
Speaker 1: element of Houston's offense, and brook Lopez just erased his

464
00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,000
Speaker 1: post up attack, just completely erased it in this game,

465
00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:55,720
Speaker 1: and you could see how it caused issues for Houston

466
00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:59,960
Speaker 1: offensively the rest of the game because what is usually

467
00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:02,720
Speaker 1: a dependable element, Shanegun's been one of the best post

468
00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:05,600
Speaker 1: players in the league this year just wasn't an option anymore.

469
00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:08,280
Speaker 1: He could not. He was brook is just too big

470
00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:11,800
Speaker 1: for him. He couldn't get too comfortable hook shots. Most

471
00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:13,400
Speaker 1: of the work that he did out because he still

472
00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:15,520
Speaker 1: still got to his twenty eight and five or whatever,

473
00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:18,119
Speaker 1: which is the season averages, because Shenggun's really good and

474
00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:20,120
Speaker 1: he's gonna make plays, but most of it was out

475
00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:21,680
Speaker 1: of pick and roll. He did had some success in

476
00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:24,320
Speaker 1: the short role, had some success making passes, but they

477
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:28,680
Speaker 1: erased Shangun's post up game because brook Lopez is big

478
00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:31,600
Speaker 1: enough to handle him right. The other thing too, brook

479
00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:33,800
Speaker 1: Lopez just was like, I'm not gonna guard you when

480
00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:36,520
Speaker 1: you pop to the top of the key, and so

481
00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:40,040
Speaker 1: Shangun missed his first pick and pop three, and then

482
00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:42,640
Speaker 1: he missed another one, and then he just stopped taking

483
00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,200
Speaker 1: him and started catching the ball wide open at the

484
00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:47,639
Speaker 1: top of the key and flowing into dribble handoffs and

485
00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:51,080
Speaker 1: stuff like that. Right the point being, it's a great

486
00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:55,200
Speaker 1: example of how, like one singular matchup Brook is too

487
00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:59,159
Speaker 1: big for Shangun changes that dynamic of an offense for

488
00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:02,360
Speaker 1: an entire game, and like it actually became a problem

489
00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:04,920
Speaker 1: throughout several stretches of the game when Shanghun did try

490
00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:07,280
Speaker 1: to force things in the post against Lopez and he

491
00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:09,600
Speaker 1: wasn't able to score down there, especially down the stretch

492
00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:11,240
Speaker 1: of the game. And I just thought it was a

493
00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:14,280
Speaker 1: really interesting example of a little thing that changes the

494
00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:18,160
Speaker 1: dynamic of a basketball game. Here's another little thing. Who

495
00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:21,960
Speaker 1: do the Bucks usually start at the two? Malik Beasley.

496
00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:25,320
Speaker 1: Malik Beasley was sick and so he didn't play in

497
00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:27,600
Speaker 1: either game this weekend. They had a back to back

498
00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:32,480
Speaker 1: Saturday Sunday. So Andre Jackson Junior, who hadn't played in

499
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,760
Speaker 1: a single game over twenty minutes yet this season, which

500
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:38,720
Speaker 1: is his entire NBA career, ends up playing big minutes

501
00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:43,080
Speaker 1: in both games and starting both games. What is Andre

502
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:49,399
Speaker 1: Jackson junior? He is a young, high motor athlete who

503
00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:53,800
Speaker 1: is especially gifted at defending on the perimeter. So what

504
00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:56,080
Speaker 1: were they able to do? They were able to put

505
00:24:56,119 --> 00:25:00,239
Speaker 1: him on Fred van vliet and have Brook Lopez it

506
00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:03,800
Speaker 1: way back in his deep drop coverage. Now if that's

507
00:25:03,840 --> 00:25:08,119
Speaker 1: Malik Beasley who's been getting absolutely torched on the ball

508
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,200
Speaker 1: in the deeper drop coverage all season, giving up easy

509
00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:15,640
Speaker 1: pull up jump shots. Now instead you're getting good back

510
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:20,199
Speaker 1: pressure and overall much better ball pressure from Andre Jackson

511
00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:25,000
Speaker 1: throughout the game. Changes the dynamic of the game now

512
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:27,400
Speaker 1: as a result, like you know, Dame's in a more

513
00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:30,359
Speaker 1: achievable role on a young guard like Jalen Green, right,

514
00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:35,240
Speaker 1: and in general, like you're just making Houston work harder

515
00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:38,440
Speaker 1: to get up the floor. Shangoon can't post up Fred

516
00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:41,720
Speaker 1: van Vlietz dealing with a long athlete on him all

517
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:44,080
Speaker 1: game long. See how it just kind of changes the

518
00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:47,800
Speaker 1: dynamic of the game. And then the interesting thing about it,

519
00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,919
Speaker 1: because not only was Andre Jackson good defensively, but he

520
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:54,120
Speaker 1: just found a way to contribute on offense. The Rockets

521
00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:57,359
Speaker 1: put Jalen Green on Andre Jackson Junior, and he was

522
00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:00,480
Speaker 1: sitting in that lowman position getting ready to help, ignoring

523
00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:03,840
Speaker 1: Andre Jackson in the weakside corner. He's just crashing the

524
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:07,440
Speaker 1: offensive glass out working him. Had multiple He had four

525
00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 1: offensive rebounds in this game. Multiple of them were coming

526
00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:13,159
Speaker 1: out of the weakside corner, catching Jalen Green not paying attention.

527
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:15,679
Speaker 1: He had a corner three in this game when he

528
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:18,080
Speaker 1: got left out there. There was even this play it

529
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:19,560
Speaker 1: was I clipped this one and I put it on

530
00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:22,600
Speaker 1: my Twitter feed. But he gets the ball, so they

531
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:26,879
Speaker 1: run basically a ram screen for him, so they screened

532
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:31,120
Speaker 1: down I think with Lopez, if I remember correctly, they

533
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:36,000
Speaker 1: screened down for him. He comes up and catches the

534
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:38,159
Speaker 1: ball to run a dribble hand off with Dane, and

535
00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:40,679
Speaker 1: he just fakes the dribble hand off and quick rips

536
00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:44,119
Speaker 1: back and pit with that pivot to his left, basically

537
00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,040
Speaker 1: the fake dribble handoff that you see Draymond Green do

538
00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:48,399
Speaker 1: all the time at the Warriors. Right as a result,

539
00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:50,520
Speaker 1: gets downhill I think it was. I think Jalen Green

540
00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:52,080
Speaker 1: might have been guarding him, but he got downhill on

541
00:26:52,160 --> 00:26:56,280
Speaker 1: him and engages the rim protector Shane Goon and does

542
00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:58,480
Speaker 1: a nice little drop off pass over the back of

543
00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:02,240
Speaker 1: his shoulder to Brook Lopez who's filling in behind him,

544
00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:04,800
Speaker 1: and he gets an easy and one layup, And I'm like,

545
00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,439
Speaker 1: this is this is what you're looking for. He's not

546
00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:11,200
Speaker 1: going to shoot as well as Malik Beasley, but he

547
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:15,640
Speaker 1: is a significantly more impactful on the ball defender. And

548
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:18,040
Speaker 1: in this particular game, it's not something that you're going

549
00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:20,119
Speaker 1: to be consistently getting from him because he's young and

550
00:27:20,119 --> 00:27:23,600
Speaker 1: he's limited in some ways, but in this particular game,

551
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:28,520
Speaker 1: he demonstrated for you positive offensive impact. And like, I

552
00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:30,879
Speaker 1: find it really interesting because this is this is a

553
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:33,280
Speaker 1: concept that I think I've been you know, every year

554
00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:37,399
Speaker 1: in the NBA, I learn new lessons. We're always getting

555
00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:43,160
Speaker 1: new information in our perspective changes, right, and specifically, one

556
00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:44,760
Speaker 1: of the big things that stood out to me this

557
00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:47,960
Speaker 1: year is the value in especially in the regular season,

558
00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:50,760
Speaker 1: but the value of a high motor athlete. And it

559
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:52,960
Speaker 1: does extend to the postseason as we look back. You

560
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:55,560
Speaker 1: look last year, you know, I put Aaron Gordon and

561
00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:58,840
Speaker 1: Kntavious Calbo Pope in the high motor athlete category, right

562
00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:01,240
Speaker 1: going to the Warrior. I put Andrew Wiggins and Gary

563
00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:04,320
Speaker 1: Payton in the high motor athlete area right go back

564
00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:07,600
Speaker 1: to the Bucks. Obviously, Yannis is a high motor athlete,

565
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:11,159
Speaker 1: Drew Holliday high motor athlete at the guard position. Those

566
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:14,600
Speaker 1: are all it's a you have to have real top

567
00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:17,679
Speaker 1: tier athletes on the roster that also play hard all

568
00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:20,520
Speaker 1: the time. It's a necessity in my opinion, to be

569
00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:25,080
Speaker 1: a successful regular season team. And what's interesting is as

570
00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:28,080
Speaker 1: we've seen taking Drew out of the equation and bringing

571
00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:32,119
Speaker 1: in Dame and Malik to guys that are both undersized.

572
00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:35,119
Speaker 1: You know, Molik's a good athlete, not a great athlete.

573
00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:37,359
Speaker 1: You know, Dame at this phase of his career is

574
00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:40,240
Speaker 1: a good athlete, not a great athlete. But two smaller,

575
00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:44,880
Speaker 1: somewhat mediocre athletes for their position into those spots. Chris

576
00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:48,000
Speaker 1: Middleton coming back from injury. Giannis has been just unbelievable

577
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:50,600
Speaker 1: this year. But that's Janni's in brook. Suddenly they look

578
00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:54,160
Speaker 1: a little slow, right, Suddenly they look like they struggle

579
00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:57,680
Speaker 1: to guard on the perimeter. And so this is actually

580
00:28:57,760 --> 00:28:59,560
Speaker 1: kind of interesting because it reminds me what happened with

581
00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:02,480
Speaker 1: the Lakers earlier this year, same problem. You know, it's

582
00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:05,440
Speaker 1: Torian Prince instead of Jared Vanderbilt, and it's Austin Reeves

583
00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:08,360
Speaker 1: and D'Angelo Russell. The front court guys are athletic, but

584
00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:11,000
Speaker 1: the perimeter guys are not athletic. And so what did

585
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:13,840
Speaker 1: they do? They remove Austin Reeves from the starting lineup.

586
00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:16,720
Speaker 1: Should it have been Austin that's a different conversation. But

587
00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:20,240
Speaker 1: they bring in Cam Reddish six ' eight, freak athlete.

588
00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,560
Speaker 1: And even when Cam was out, Max Christi six ' seven,

589
00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:27,040
Speaker 1: excellent athletes. And so because they bring these athletes in,

590
00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:31,680
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, that primary athlete takes the toughest

591
00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:37,040
Speaker 1: perimeter assignment, which makes everyone else get an easier perimeter assignment.

592
00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:40,560
Speaker 1: Suddenly the defense looks better. And I thought that was

593
00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:44,640
Speaker 1: really fascinating because this weekend was a great example of

594
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,800
Speaker 1: that for the Bucks. You take one of those athletes

595
00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:52,560
Speaker 1: out and you replace him with a bigger, taller, stronger athlete,

596
00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:56,720
Speaker 1: and Andre Jackson suddenly he's taking the primary point of

597
00:29:56,760 --> 00:30:00,880
Speaker 1: attack assignments. Everyone else has a more achievable job. He's

598
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:03,720
Speaker 1: doing a better job just applying ball pressure and fatiguing

599
00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:06,200
Speaker 1: the rockets. Over the course of the game and you

600
00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:08,680
Speaker 1: see the positive results. And I think that's a great

601
00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:11,280
Speaker 1: example of like again for both teams, for both the

602
00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:13,600
Speaker 1: Lakers and the Bucks. It's like, can Cam Reddish be

603
00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:16,520
Speaker 1: your starting too for a championship run? I don't think so.

604
00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:20,080
Speaker 1: Can Malik Beasley or Andre Jackson be your starting too

605
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:22,920
Speaker 1: for a championship run? I don't think so. So both

606
00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:24,360
Speaker 1: of those teams are gonna have to look at for

607
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:28,120
Speaker 1: some way to upgrade that position. But I find that

608
00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:30,959
Speaker 1: dynamic with what happened with Chris Middleton, excuse me, with

609
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:34,239
Speaker 1: Andre Jackson this weekend as just another great example of

610
00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:37,880
Speaker 1: that specific theory, which is like, don't underestimate the importance

611
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,480
Speaker 1: of in your starting five having somebody that it's taller,

612
00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:44,360
Speaker 1: longer armed, and that can really move on the perimeter,

613
00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:47,560
Speaker 1: and how valuable that is just as a baseline for

614
00:30:47,600 --> 00:30:50,440
Speaker 1: your defense. To put it simply, all these teams want

615
00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:53,760
Speaker 1: to run drop coverage. They all do, especially because they

616
00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:57,200
Speaker 1: want to keep their big center as close to the

617
00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,880
Speaker 1: basket as possible to protect the rim into security defensive rebounds.

618
00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:05,840
Speaker 1: So that creates a challenging job for the perimeter defender.

619
00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:08,840
Speaker 1: He now has to get over the top of the

620
00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:12,320
Speaker 1: screen every time because if he doesn't, he's gonna concede

621
00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:15,320
Speaker 1: wide open pull up jump shots to NBA guards which

622
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:19,800
Speaker 1: hit them these days, right. So it's just a really

623
00:31:19,840 --> 00:31:22,080
Speaker 1: tough job. And there are a lot of guys in

624
00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:25,560
Speaker 1: the league who can do it, but will they do it?

625
00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:28,560
Speaker 1: Will they put in the necessary work. So when you

626
00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:33,360
Speaker 1: have a young athlete who has a high motor, who's

627
00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:35,720
Speaker 1: willing to do that job night in and night out,

628
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:39,600
Speaker 1: and he's in your starting lineup, so you can set

629
00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:41,760
Speaker 1: that tone from the start of every game, it's just

630
00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:44,760
Speaker 1: an important foundational element. We were talking about the Thunder earlier.

631
00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:48,480
Speaker 1: Every night you're getting lou door on your best player.

632
00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:53,880
Speaker 1: You know, like if the Thunder go play Golden State tomorrow,

633
00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:57,080
Speaker 1: Steph's sitting in the locker room and he's like, fuck, man,

634
00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:00,360
Speaker 1: I have to that Dude's gonna be up in my

635
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:02,840
Speaker 1: business all game long. This is gonna be such a

636
00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:07,320
Speaker 1: pain in the ass. Rights. You know he's going to play.

637
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:11,000
Speaker 1: If the Oklahoma City is going to play Milwaukee, you know,

638
00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:14,320
Speaker 1: Dame sitting in the locker like, here comes Lou Dort

639
00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:17,280
Speaker 1: for forty minutes. Man, this is gonna suck. You know

640
00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:20,200
Speaker 1: what I mean like, it's just a huge part of

641
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:23,080
Speaker 1: what makes a great defense in my opinion, And again

642
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:25,959
Speaker 1: we've talked about this concept on the show before, but like,

643
00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:30,320
Speaker 1: when you see a lesser player slot into a lineup

644
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:34,080
Speaker 1: and look deeply impactful, it's usually a sign of just

645
00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:38,400
Speaker 1: how important his role is and how devoid that roster

646
00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:43,160
Speaker 1: is of that role. When you see inferior players step

647
00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:46,640
Speaker 1: in and make starter level impact, it just goes to

648
00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:49,640
Speaker 1: show you how important that role is and why it's

649
00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:52,000
Speaker 1: so important to go try to find a starter caliber

650
00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:55,280
Speaker 1: version of that particular player. I want to shout out

651
00:32:55,280 --> 00:33:00,000
Speaker 1: a couple other guys or matchups in this particular game.

652
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,200
Speaker 1: The other thing that immediately was clear was Jabari Smith

653
00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:06,120
Speaker 1: is too small to guard Giannis, and Giannis absolutely torched

654
00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:08,240
Speaker 1: him just bullying him in the post. Had a couple

655
00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:09,960
Speaker 1: of key baskets on him at the end of the game,

656
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:13,480
Speaker 1: including a huge left handed hook shot out of the

657
00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:15,920
Speaker 1: post on the left block. Chris Middleton at the end

658
00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:18,760
Speaker 1: of the or started the fourth quarter, hit three straight

659
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:21,240
Speaker 1: tough pull up jumpers. He was picking on Tari Easton

660
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,160
Speaker 1: and switches hit two in his face, hit another late

661
00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:26,280
Speaker 1: clock one over Jabari Smith and then there was a

662
00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:28,480
Speaker 1: Jabari Smith jumper over Dame Mi Lillard that got the

663
00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:32,800
Speaker 1: lead down to three. Fourth quarter, and he immediately Chris

664
00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:36,560
Speaker 1: Middleton hit a massive three over the top that brought

665
00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:38,800
Speaker 1: the lead back to six. He had an up and

666
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,320
Speaker 1: under reverse layup in the first half, slashing out of

667
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:44,400
Speaker 1: the right corner. Just game after game, Chris Middleton is

668
00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:47,520
Speaker 1: starting to look more and more like Chris Middleton, which

669
00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:50,600
Speaker 1: is super encouraging. But to that point, and again I

670
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:53,600
Speaker 1: wanted to I went so long on the Andre Jackson thing,

671
00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:56,240
Speaker 1: and I apologize because that probably confused this a little bit.

672
00:33:56,280 --> 00:34:00,000
Speaker 1: But like again, every basketball game, you find these clear

673
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,240
Speaker 1: your advantages that you have, and it was clear that

674
00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:05,760
Speaker 1: like Lopez was just going to disrupt a lot of

675
00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:10,800
Speaker 1: the normal Shanngun stuff. Andre Jackson just providing real athleticism

676
00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:15,040
Speaker 1: on the perimeter. Javari Smith was too small to guard Giannis. Right,

677
00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:19,279
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton, you just when he won the championship with

678
00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:22,240
Speaker 1: the Bucks, he just was giving you eighteen to twenty

679
00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:26,520
Speaker 1: with just timely shot making, just the ability to give

680
00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:29,839
Speaker 1: him the basketball a few times a quarter, and he's

681
00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:31,360
Speaker 1: gonna be able to get to a pull up jumper.

682
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:33,880
Speaker 1: He can make about half the time that that is

683
00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:37,560
Speaker 1: the advantage. It's like it's just squeezing extra drops out

684
00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:40,279
Speaker 1: of the sponge, right, and like that's part of what

685
00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:45,120
Speaker 1: makes the Milwaukee ceiling so high. Is like that's pretty

686
00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:47,640
Speaker 1: far down on the totem pole. But it's also a

687
00:34:47,719 --> 00:34:49,920
Speaker 1: very dangerous thing that they can do. And then lastly,

688
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:53,240
Speaker 1: you could see at the end of the first quarter

689
00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:56,640
Speaker 1: of this game, Damian Lillard figured out that nobody on

690
00:34:56,680 --> 00:34:58,680
Speaker 1: the rockets could keep him in front off the dribble,

691
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:01,000
Speaker 1: even Dylan Brooks, who did a good job on ball.

692
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,520
Speaker 1: Dame found ways to use the screen to get past

693
00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:07,920
Speaker 1: him and get downhill. Specifically, what Dame was doing that

694
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:10,960
Speaker 1: was really smart is he was using the screen twice.

695
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:14,280
Speaker 1: So imagine this, I'm on the left side of the floor.

696
00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:17,640
Speaker 1: Brook Lopez comes and sets a screen. I'm getting ready

697
00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:19,360
Speaker 1: to rip through to the right to get to the

698
00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:22,680
Speaker 1: right side of the screen. Dylan Brooks does an amazing

699
00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:25,080
Speaker 1: job because he's great at it. It's sidling up over

700
00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:27,120
Speaker 1: the top and meeting you on the other side of

701
00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:30,000
Speaker 1: the screen. Dame would then hit like in and out

702
00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:32,680
Speaker 1: between the legs and go right back to the left.

703
00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:37,439
Speaker 1: Brook Lopez would turn and rescreen Dylan, and it's it's,

704
00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:41,280
Speaker 1: you know, like we talked about earlier, already challenging enough

705
00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:44,000
Speaker 1: to get over one screen, but it's really hard to

706
00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:46,360
Speaker 1: get over a second one, especially when you just expended

707
00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:49,440
Speaker 1: a bunch of energy and balance getting over the first one.

708
00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:52,680
Speaker 1: Then there's this nasty sequence. He goes to the right,

709
00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:55,040
Speaker 1: Dylan beats him over the screen, comes back to the

710
00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:58,200
Speaker 1: left through the legs, catches Dylan on the screen, gets downhill.

711
00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:01,960
Speaker 1: Shane Gouon steps up behind the back, dribble to his

712
00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:05,040
Speaker 1: right hand, pump fakes Shan Gunin, jumps out of his shoes,

713
00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:07,160
Speaker 1: and then he steps through with a left handed layup.

714
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:09,200
Speaker 1: It's just ridiculous, and that you could tell that was

715
00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:11,520
Speaker 1: what kind of like triggered the confidence. And then from

716
00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:14,840
Speaker 1: there he was just literally getting downhill, getting all the

717
00:36:14,880 --> 00:36:17,479
Speaker 1: way to the rim, getting layups and fouls time after

718
00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:19,680
Speaker 1: time after time. And then at the end of the

719
00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:21,640
Speaker 1: first quarter he won't even call him for a screen.

720
00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:24,200
Speaker 1: He's like, this is Aaron Holliday. Aaron Holliday can't guard me.

721
00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:28,240
Speaker 1: Just hard right to left, move, got downhill, drew the contact,

722
00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:30,319
Speaker 1: rose up and knocked down a shot for the and one.

723
00:36:30,600 --> 00:36:32,399
Speaker 1: Then he got the pull up three point shot going.

724
00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:34,880
Speaker 1: He made three pull up threes in this game. It

725
00:36:35,040 --> 00:36:37,279
Speaker 1: just it was one of the few games we've seen

726
00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:41,000
Speaker 1: this season where Dame legitimately looked like the MVP level

727
00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:43,719
Speaker 1: offensive engine we know he's capable of being, and so

728
00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:46,640
Speaker 1: all of that comes together to me to demonstrate what

729
00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:50,200
Speaker 1: was a best, the best picture I've seen this year

730
00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:53,200
Speaker 1: of what the Bucks top end potential could look like.

731
00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:58,240
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard as a MVP level offensive engine, a point

732
00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:01,560
Speaker 1: of attack defender at the two, not a shooter necessarily.

733
00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:04,279
Speaker 1: That's not to say you got You don't want to

734
00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:06,480
Speaker 1: upgrade that to a guy who can shoot, But what

735
00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:09,840
Speaker 1: you saw is that it's immensely valuable in this defense

736
00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:12,040
Speaker 1: to have an athlete next to Dame in the back court.

737
00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:15,840
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton giving you eighteen to twenty ish points on

738
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:21,080
Speaker 1: scoring in the margins, Giannis who's just been insane, like

739
00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:23,120
Speaker 1: the dude just continues to be a complete and total

740
00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:26,120
Speaker 1: wrecking ball in the entire NBA. And then Brook Lopez

741
00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:29,799
Speaker 1: in a deep drop coverage hitting picking pop threes like

742
00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:32,920
Speaker 1: that's what you need. You need all of those things,

743
00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:36,640
Speaker 1: and if Dame doesn't play at an MVP level and

744
00:37:36,719 --> 00:37:40,600
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton struggles to consistently get to twenty points and

745
00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:43,360
Speaker 1: you don't have an athlete next to Dame at the two.

746
00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:46,360
Speaker 1: That's where they go from being championship caliber team to

747
00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:50,200
Speaker 1: something beneath that. But those are the that's the configuration,

748
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:55,480
Speaker 1: MVP level, Dame point of attack defender, Chris Middleton. We

749
00:37:55,520 --> 00:38:00,879
Speaker 1: saw in twenty twenty one MVP Giannis Classic Brook. That's

750
00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:03,799
Speaker 1: the formula, and I thought it was cool getting to

751
00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:06,160
Speaker 1: see that this weekend because it's something we haven't really

752
00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:10,080
Speaker 1: seen much from the Bucks in this particular season. All right,

753
00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:12,279
Speaker 1: moving on to a power ranking, so we had three

754
00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:14,680
Speaker 1: teams fall out this week. The Cavs they went one

755
00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:16,719
Speaker 1: in three this week. They lost two of their top

756
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:19,160
Speaker 1: four players of significant injuries as well, So it's kind

757
00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:20,960
Speaker 1: of unfortunate because they went from being a team that

758
00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:23,080
Speaker 1: was in my power rankings two weeks in a row

759
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:24,879
Speaker 1: to suddenly being a team that has a lot of tough,

760
00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:27,880
Speaker 1: tough decisions that they have to make in the coming weeks.

761
00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:31,120
Speaker 1: The Lakers fallen out after being all the way up

762
00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:34,000
Speaker 1: at number three or four whatever had last week. My

763
00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:37,080
Speaker 1: biggest fear after the Ncason Tournament was that the Lakers

764
00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:39,520
Speaker 1: would just immediately left their foot, let their foot off

765
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:42,640
Speaker 1: the gas. That's exactly what happened. They lost to an

766
00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:45,720
Speaker 1: injury decimated Mavericks team in a game that they straight

767
00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:47,920
Speaker 1: up did not play hard in the first half and

768
00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:52,440
Speaker 1: dug a big hole the late late game they started trying,

769
00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:54,520
Speaker 1: but then at that point the Mavericks were confident. They

770
00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:56,279
Speaker 1: made a bunch of shots and they beat them. They

771
00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:59,919
Speaker 1: dropped a game in San Antonio, and yeah, three started

772
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:02,359
Speaker 1: were out, like Anthony Davis was out, Cam reddis was out,

773
00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:05,120
Speaker 1: D'angela Russell was out. But that Spurs team is terrible,

774
00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:07,640
Speaker 1: and the Lakers had enough depth to get it done.

775
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:10,440
Speaker 1: And quite frankly, from what I saw on tape, they

776
00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:13,680
Speaker 1: just didn't play hard. Lebron in particular, had like one

777
00:39:13,719 --> 00:39:16,239
Speaker 1: of his worst defensive games of the season in that

778
00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:19,600
Speaker 1: Spurs game. And like, now here's the thing with the Lakers.

779
00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:22,160
Speaker 1: No matter what happens, I'm always gonna have them on

780
00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:25,359
Speaker 1: my contenders list because I always think they're capable of

781
00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:28,280
Speaker 1: doing what they did in the n Season Tournament, which

782
00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:31,440
Speaker 1: is lock in on defense, reach a defensive ceiling higher

783
00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:33,799
Speaker 1: than anybody else in the league and get enough out

784
00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:36,400
Speaker 1: of Lebron James, Anthony Davis and Austin Reeves offensively to

785
00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:38,839
Speaker 1: get you over the top. That is their path and

786
00:39:38,880 --> 00:39:42,960
Speaker 1: that is what makes them dangerous. But this season, outside

787
00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:45,320
Speaker 1: of the n season tournament games, the pool play games,

788
00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:48,080
Speaker 1: and the n Season tournament itself, they have been the

789
00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:53,760
Speaker 1: worst effort team in the NBA, the worst. No one's

790
00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:57,640
Speaker 1: playing less hard than the Lakers outside of the ncason

791
00:39:57,680 --> 00:40:01,520
Speaker 1: Tournament games this year. And so so what's gonna happen

792
00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:04,840
Speaker 1: is they're gonna end up hovering in the mid forties

793
00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:07,480
Speaker 1: for wins and they're gonna end up having to go

794
00:40:07,520 --> 00:40:09,719
Speaker 1: on the road in the first round to play a

795
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:13,359
Speaker 1: really good team. And I, personally, I don't think it's

796
00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:16,440
Speaker 1: the right strategy. Everything about NBA history tells us that

797
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:19,160
Speaker 1: teams that take the regular season seriously are teams that

798
00:40:19,239 --> 00:40:23,440
Speaker 1: win at the end because you establish habits and processes

799
00:40:23,520 --> 00:40:26,279
Speaker 1: and chemistry that carry you over the top. You have

800
00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:31,799
Speaker 1: to treat the regular season as effectively preparation for the postseason.

801
00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:34,720
Speaker 1: If you treat the regular season as a necessary evil,

802
00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:38,560
Speaker 1: like the Lakers have done, you just make you just

803
00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:43,120
Speaker 1: make it harder on yourself. And so again I I

804
00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:46,000
Speaker 1: I'm not taking them off the contender tier, but I

805
00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:48,160
Speaker 1: have a feeling we're gonna see a lot of disappointing

806
00:40:48,200 --> 00:40:50,960
Speaker 1: regular season basketball from the Lakers, because this is a

807
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:54,359
Speaker 1: team that clearly knows they have a punch they can

808
00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:57,120
Speaker 1: throw that can beat most of the teams in the league,

809
00:40:57,280 --> 00:40:59,719
Speaker 1: and they don't seem interested in throwing it most of

810
00:40:59,719 --> 00:41:02,440
Speaker 1: the time. And so that to me, is going to

811
00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:04,160
Speaker 1: keep them off of a list like this. I'd like

812
00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:07,680
Speaker 1: my contender list is a playoff list. This Power Rankings

813
00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:10,480
Speaker 1: list is a regular season list, and the Lakers are

814
00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:12,120
Speaker 1: not going to be on this list very often if

815
00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:14,920
Speaker 1: they don't take regular season games seriously. And then, lastly,

816
00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:19,000
Speaker 1: the pacer same exact thing they won or won most.

817
00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:20,960
Speaker 1: They won their half of the bracket in the n

818
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:24,080
Speaker 1: Season Tournament by defending. It was their best defensive week

819
00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:26,840
Speaker 1: of the season, and then they straight up stop defending.

820
00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:28,960
Speaker 1: This week their three game losing streak, they had a

821
00:41:29,000 --> 00:41:32,319
Speaker 1: one to twenty six defensive rating. Specifically, their help side

822
00:41:32,360 --> 00:41:35,759
Speaker 1: defense just completely fell apart. Again, if they're ever going

823
00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:37,960
Speaker 1: to achieve the goals they want to achieve, they have

824
00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:40,520
Speaker 1: to maintain a defensive identity as well. All right, here

825
00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:43,600
Speaker 1: we go quickly through our top ten. Number ten the

826
00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:46,400
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks. They beat Memphis, the Lakers in Portland this

827
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:49,080
Speaker 1: week lost to Minnesota. They've won five out of six overall,

828
00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:52,200
Speaker 1: despite being pretty banged up. Lucas playing like an MVP,

829
00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:55,160
Speaker 1: and the guys around him are making shots, the two

830
00:41:55,160 --> 00:41:58,000
Speaker 1: most important parts of Dallas's offense. They're also up to

831
00:41:58,040 --> 00:42:00,480
Speaker 1: seven and seven against teams that are five hundred better

832
00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:04,120
Speaker 1: this season. Number nine the Orlando Magic. They beat Cleveland,

833
00:42:04,239 --> 00:42:06,759
Speaker 1: but then they lost to Boston twice. Really rough week

834
00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:10,719
Speaker 1: for Franz Wagner struggled against the Celtics defense. Number eight

835
00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:15,120
Speaker 1: the Denver Nuggets. It's been an underwhelming start to the season.

836
00:42:15,280 --> 00:42:18,840
Speaker 1: Right They were eight and one in the first nine games,

837
00:42:18,840 --> 00:42:21,560
Speaker 1: but they're just nine and nine cents, fifteenth in offense

838
00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:24,319
Speaker 1: and fourteenth in defense over that span. But they did

839
00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:26,160
Speaker 1: go three and one this week, and so they had

840
00:42:26,160 --> 00:42:30,080
Speaker 1: the eighth spot for now. Number seven the Oklahoma City Thunder.

841
00:42:30,280 --> 00:42:33,799
Speaker 1: They beat Utah and Denver lost in Sacramento. Second best

842
00:42:33,840 --> 00:42:36,240
Speaker 1: record in the West, fifth best record in the NBA,

843
00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:39,480
Speaker 1: A real signature win. They had five games this year

844
00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:42,359
Speaker 1: that they had won against my contender tier, but they

845
00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:45,360
Speaker 1: were all iffy right, like they beat Golden State three times,

846
00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:48,040
Speaker 1: but Golden States had a boatload of issues. They won

847
00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:51,360
Speaker 1: against Phoenix, but that was with no Bradley Beal or

848
00:42:51,400 --> 00:42:53,360
Speaker 1: Devin Booker. And then they beat the Lakers, but the

849
00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:55,000
Speaker 1: Lakers were at the end of a road trip and

850
00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:57,719
Speaker 1: on the tail end of a back to back, but

851
00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:02,040
Speaker 1: Denver was at home a day's rest, controlled most of

852
00:43:02,080 --> 00:43:05,120
Speaker 1: the game, played great, and Oklahoma City just hung in

853
00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:07,520
Speaker 1: there and executed perfectly down the stretch and got a win.

854
00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:08,960
Speaker 1: I thought it was really impressive. I have them at

855
00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:11,440
Speaker 1: number seven, number six, the one team to beat the

856
00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:14,720
Speaker 1: Thunder this week, another winning streak, two impressive wins against

857
00:43:14,719 --> 00:43:17,560
Speaker 1: Brooklyn and Oklahoma City. They also beat Utah, but then

858
00:43:17,600 --> 00:43:20,120
Speaker 1: they lost to the Clippers. They just have so many

859
00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:22,879
Speaker 1: impressive wins this season, like that Oklahoma City win. They

860
00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:24,600
Speaker 1: are ten and seven this year against teams that are

861
00:43:24,640 --> 00:43:27,840
Speaker 1: five hundred are better. Number five the hottest team in

862
00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:30,080
Speaker 1: the league, the Los Angeles Clippers. And for those of

863
00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:31,680
Speaker 1: you guys who missed it last week, I had Lot

864
00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:33,759
Speaker 1: Murray from the Athletic, a buddy of mine, a guy

865
00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:35,600
Speaker 1: who have played some basketball with over the years. Two

866
00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:38,759
Speaker 1: he came on and just did a deep dive on

867
00:43:38,800 --> 00:43:40,719
Speaker 1: the Clippers. So if you're a Clippers fan looking for

868
00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:42,839
Speaker 1: more Clippers analysis, you can find that a little further

869
00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:45,359
Speaker 1: back on the feet. They've won seven games in a row,

870
00:43:45,440 --> 00:43:48,200
Speaker 1: twelve out of fifteen overall. They beat the Kings twice

871
00:43:48,239 --> 00:43:50,200
Speaker 1: in that span, they beat the Nuggets and beat the Mavericks,

872
00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:52,080
Speaker 1: so they've got a bunch of quality wins. They are

873
00:43:52,160 --> 00:43:54,359
Speaker 1: fifth in defense over that span, and the scary thing

874
00:43:54,480 --> 00:43:57,200
Speaker 1: is their offense is just about guaranteed to get better

875
00:43:57,360 --> 00:43:59,120
Speaker 1: than what it has been so far in the James

876
00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:04,560
Speaker 1: hard And era. Number four the Philadelphia seventy six Ers. So,

877
00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:07,040
Speaker 1: as I mentioned last week, the Sixers are entering into

878
00:44:07,040 --> 00:44:09,280
Speaker 1: a very easy part of their schedule. They go undefeated

879
00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:12,880
Speaker 1: this week, beating Washington, Charlotte, and Detroit twice. They're up

880
00:44:12,920 --> 00:44:15,280
Speaker 1: to eighteen and seven, which is third in the East.

881
00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:18,080
Speaker 1: They are just two games back of the best record

882
00:44:18,160 --> 00:44:21,280
Speaker 1: in basketball, and they're beating the shit out of everyone.

883
00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:23,600
Speaker 1: They now have the best net rating in the league,

884
00:44:23,719 --> 00:44:28,359
Speaker 1: outscoring opponents by twelve point one points per one hundred possessions.

885
00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:32,040
Speaker 1: Number three the Milwaukee Bucks. They bounce back from their

886
00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:34,680
Speaker 1: disappointing nd season tournament loss to the Pacers by going

887
00:44:34,719 --> 00:44:37,759
Speaker 1: four to oh this week, beating Chicago, Detroit, Houston, and

888
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:41,000
Speaker 1: getting revenge on Indiana. They had a lot of success

889
00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:44,319
Speaker 1: this week with Andre Jackson in the starting lineup. We

890
00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:46,440
Speaker 1: did for those of guys who are watching this as

891
00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:50,080
Speaker 1: a breakout clip. In our early part of this episode,

892
00:44:50,160 --> 00:44:52,520
Speaker 1: we did a deep dive into everything that Andre Jackson

893
00:44:52,560 --> 00:44:54,880
Speaker 1: did to help the Bucks in general. I thought the

894
00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:58,200
Speaker 1: Rockets game was their best overall effort, one of their

895
00:44:58,200 --> 00:45:00,680
Speaker 1: best overall efforts of the season in terms of what

896
00:45:00,760 --> 00:45:02,960
Speaker 1: I view like the future of this team to look like.

897
00:45:03,719 --> 00:45:05,160
Speaker 1: So again, if you want to hear a deeper dive

898
00:45:05,200 --> 00:45:06,759
Speaker 1: on that, go a little bit further back in this

899
00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:09,080
Speaker 1: particular show. But I got the Bucks at number three,

900
00:45:09,600 --> 00:45:13,960
Speaker 1: number two. The Minnesota Timberwolves. They got absolutely handled on

901
00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:15,719
Speaker 1: the road in New Orleans. But New Orleans is a

902
00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:17,560
Speaker 1: good team at home. I think they're nine to four

903
00:45:17,640 --> 00:45:19,680
Speaker 1: at home this year. But they did bounce back with

904
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:23,040
Speaker 1: good road wins or excuse me, back to back good

905
00:45:23,080 --> 00:45:26,960
Speaker 1: wins against Indiana and Dallas. Carl Towns is on like

906
00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:29,560
Speaker 1: a crazy tear. He averaged twenty six points a game

907
00:45:29,600 --> 00:45:31,720
Speaker 1: this week on fifty six percent from the field forty

908
00:45:31,719 --> 00:45:34,600
Speaker 1: four percent from three, ninety percent from the line, with

909
00:45:34,719 --> 00:45:37,080
Speaker 1: fourteen rebounds per game. He's now up to sixty three

910
00:45:37,080 --> 00:45:39,759
Speaker 1: percent true shooting for the season. And also shout out

911
00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:43,520
Speaker 1: to Nas Reed who made thirteen threes off the bench

912
00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:46,920
Speaker 1: this week for the Timberwolves and then lastly at number

913
00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:50,560
Speaker 1: one the Boston Celtics. They went four to zho all

914
00:45:50,600 --> 00:45:53,560
Speaker 1: against good teams this week, beat Cleveland twice straight up,

915
00:45:53,600 --> 00:45:57,439
Speaker 1: dominated Orlando twice as well. Jalen Brown in his last

916
00:45:57,480 --> 00:46:00,760
Speaker 1: six games twenty four points per game on fifty seven

917
00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:03,160
Speaker 1: percent from the field. To give you some perspective, in

918
00:46:03,200 --> 00:46:06,320
Speaker 1: his first eighteen games, he shot just forty five percent

919
00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:09,080
Speaker 1: from the field. So Jalen Brown very efficient in a

920
00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:11,440
Speaker 1: small role, a smaller role this season than what he

921
00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:13,920
Speaker 1: had last year. And you can see just how much

922
00:46:13,960 --> 00:46:16,560
Speaker 1: it's elevated their ceiling as teams barely been able to

923
00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:18,640
Speaker 1: keep games close against the Celtics over the course of

924
00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:21,560
Speaker 1: this week. I thought Boston did enough to regain the

925
00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:25,120
Speaker 1: top spot for now. There you have our power rankings

926
00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:28,200
Speaker 1: for the week of December eighteenth. All right, let's move

927
00:46:28,200 --> 00:46:33,000
Speaker 1: on to our mailbag. What are the advantages of having

928
00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:35,720
Speaker 1: a system player like Tim Duncan, Steph Curry, Michael Jordan

929
00:46:35,880 --> 00:46:39,800
Speaker 1: versus heliocentric players Luka Doncic, James Harden, Lebron James, and

930
00:46:39,880 --> 00:46:43,600
Speaker 1: Nikola Jokich. As always loved the show. So here's the thing.

931
00:46:43,680 --> 00:46:49,960
Speaker 1: I wouldn't necessarily agree with the monikers, because a system

932
00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:55,560
Speaker 1: player has a negative connotation when it shouldn't, and then

933
00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:58,840
Speaker 1: helio centric players they have a negative connotation when I

934
00:46:58,880 --> 00:47:02,400
Speaker 1: believe they kind of should. So, first of all, a

935
00:47:02,440 --> 00:47:05,920
Speaker 1: system player, to me, if I had to identify that,

936
00:47:06,480 --> 00:47:10,640
Speaker 1: it's a player that plays a specific style but is

937
00:47:10,920 --> 00:47:14,479
Speaker 1: deeply impactful in that style, and it requires the team

938
00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:17,040
Speaker 1: to kind of build their offense around that style. So

939
00:47:17,480 --> 00:47:20,239
Speaker 1: examples are like Steph Curry. And then I look at

940
00:47:20,320 --> 00:47:23,359
Speaker 1: Nikole Jokic as this type of player. To me, you

941
00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:26,879
Speaker 1: had listed Nikole Jokic in the heliocentric category. I don't

942
00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:30,280
Speaker 1: really see it that way. I look at heliocentric players

943
00:47:30,320 --> 00:47:32,759
Speaker 1: as players who bring the ball up the floor and

944
00:47:32,840 --> 00:47:36,160
Speaker 1: make every single decision seemingly at least relative to normal

945
00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:41,120
Speaker 1: shot creation, right, And in those cases there's real negative

946
00:47:41,120 --> 00:47:44,760
Speaker 1: connotations in the sense that like or drawbacks, I should say,

947
00:47:44,960 --> 00:47:47,080
Speaker 1: in the sense that, like, because one player has the

948
00:47:47,080 --> 00:47:50,240
Speaker 1: ball the vast majority of the time, most players struggle

949
00:47:50,280 --> 00:47:53,399
Speaker 1: to get in a rhythm alongside him. So specific types

950
00:47:53,400 --> 00:47:56,040
Speaker 1: of players play finishers. So guys who are vertical spacers

951
00:47:56,040 --> 00:48:00,560
Speaker 1: and catch and shoot guys will find a com role

952
00:48:00,560 --> 00:48:02,840
Speaker 1: in that sort of system. But guys who are like

953
00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:04,880
Speaker 1: driving kick guys, guys that have a little bit off

954
00:48:04,920 --> 00:48:07,640
Speaker 1: of the off the bounce game, they can struggle in

955
00:48:07,640 --> 00:48:09,920
Speaker 1: that type of system, right, And that's that's not a

956
00:48:09,960 --> 00:48:12,000
Speaker 1: shot at any specific player. It's just really all the

957
00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:17,120
Speaker 1: guys that take a heliocentric approach to things, right. And

958
00:48:17,120 --> 00:48:18,680
Speaker 1: then I think there are guys that are heliocentric and

959
00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:21,600
Speaker 1: small doses, not in large doses. So like James Harden,

960
00:48:21,680 --> 00:48:24,960
Speaker 1: for instance, when when he was in his prime, was

961
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:28,719
Speaker 1: a large dose heliocentric player, meaning like he just did

962
00:48:28,719 --> 00:48:33,640
Speaker 1: it every single possession all the time and it never ended, right,

963
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:37,520
Speaker 1: Whereas Lebron, It's like Lebron was like, I'll go heliocentric

964
00:48:37,600 --> 00:48:40,040
Speaker 1: for eight minutes in a playoff game, you know, but

965
00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:43,200
Speaker 1: then he'll you know, Lebron like look at Lebron his

966
00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:45,560
Speaker 1: entire Laker era. Half the time he's screening and rolling

967
00:48:45,560 --> 00:48:47,799
Speaker 1: in the basket as an off the ball player, right, So,

968
00:48:47,920 --> 00:48:51,760
Speaker 1: like I think, I think there's the value in heliocentrism

969
00:48:52,680 --> 00:48:56,080
Speaker 1: is it's a simple brand of basketball. That guy can't

970
00:48:56,080 --> 00:48:58,279
Speaker 1: guard me, I'm gonna find a way to get him

971
00:48:58,280 --> 00:48:59,960
Speaker 1: in the action, either in a two man game or

972
00:49:00,080 --> 00:49:01,880
Speaker 1: one man game with a clear side of the floor,

973
00:49:02,000 --> 00:49:03,759
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna make decisions out of that. And it

974
00:49:03,760 --> 00:49:07,960
Speaker 1: can be ruthlessly effective. But if you do it too much,

975
00:49:08,200 --> 00:49:10,919
Speaker 1: it can become predictable. So there's a sweet spot in there.

976
00:49:11,600 --> 00:49:14,600
Speaker 1: What I've always appreciated about Lebron is a heliocentric player

977
00:49:14,880 --> 00:49:16,880
Speaker 1: is he'll do it for like eight possessions in a

978
00:49:16,880 --> 00:49:19,239
Speaker 1: big playoff game, but he'll go away with from it

979
00:49:19,280 --> 00:49:21,480
Speaker 1: when it's not working, and he'll wait to break it

980
00:49:21,520 --> 00:49:23,120
Speaker 1: out until it's a moment in the game where it

981
00:49:23,160 --> 00:49:26,160
Speaker 1: really has value. And that that that, to me, is

982
00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:29,640
Speaker 1: a more valuable form of heliocentric basketball. In the big picture,

983
00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:32,680
Speaker 1: I think that'll be the best version of Luka Doncic

984
00:49:34,160 --> 00:49:36,840
Speaker 1: when he gets a real co star that can that

985
00:49:36,960 --> 00:49:39,600
Speaker 1: he is forced to kind of play a more, you know,

986
00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:43,520
Speaker 1: sharing style with and then he'll be a heliocentric guy

987
00:49:43,719 --> 00:49:47,960
Speaker 1: in brief stretches of games, and in those stretches he

988
00:49:48,000 --> 00:49:50,319
Speaker 1: will be lethal. Right, That's kind of the way I

989
00:49:50,360 --> 00:49:53,000
Speaker 1: look at it. The system side of it, it's more,

990
00:49:53,040 --> 00:49:55,280
Speaker 1: it's way more of a positive because like with Steph

991
00:49:55,400 --> 00:49:58,719
Speaker 1: and Nikola jokicch and their systems that they run there,

992
00:49:59,239 --> 00:50:04,200
Speaker 1: they're deep involved with keeping everybody engaged in the offense

993
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:09,680
Speaker 1: and specifically making plays. So it's not just a Steph

994
00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:12,680
Speaker 1: dribble seventeen times, kick to somebody in the corner and

995
00:50:12,760 --> 00:50:16,560
Speaker 1: they take a shot. Steph is consistently generating four on threes,

996
00:50:16,719 --> 00:50:20,080
Speaker 1: which allow smart basketball players that can dribble, pass, and

997
00:50:20,080 --> 00:50:23,640
Speaker 1: shoot to make plays in four on threes. Nikola Jokic

998
00:50:23,719 --> 00:50:26,040
Speaker 1: similar type of deal, drawing double teams in the post,

999
00:50:26,160 --> 00:50:29,160
Speaker 1: drawing multiple defenders in the short role. Like it's the

1000
00:50:29,200 --> 00:50:32,880
Speaker 1: same kind of thing. Jokic is mostly operating without the basketball.

1001
00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:38,319
Speaker 1: He's making quick decisions. He very rarely is how often

1002
00:50:38,320 --> 00:50:40,320
Speaker 1: do you see Nikol Jokic dribble the ball off the floor,

1003
00:50:40,600 --> 00:50:42,279
Speaker 1: back a dude down in the post and hold the

1004
00:50:42,320 --> 00:50:44,359
Speaker 1: ball for seventeen seconds on a possession before he makes

1005
00:50:44,360 --> 00:50:47,600
Speaker 1: a decision. It just doesn't happen. And I look at

1006
00:50:47,640 --> 00:50:50,399
Speaker 1: that as a clear positive thing, not a negative thing.

1007
00:50:51,280 --> 00:50:53,120
Speaker 1: Hopefully that kind of breaks down those archetypes a little

1008
00:50:53,120 --> 00:50:56,759
Speaker 1: bit better. Here's a Warriors fan. Sorry, Jason, but we

1009
00:50:56,800 --> 00:50:58,799
Speaker 1: have the receipts. Show after show you've said, it's not

1010
00:50:58,840 --> 00:51:00,880
Speaker 1: time for the Warriors to panic. Trust the Vets. They

1011
00:51:00,920 --> 00:51:02,960
Speaker 1: will come around. Guys of Kaminga and Moody just aren't ready,

1012
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:05,479
Speaker 1: et cetera. Now tonight you're saying something needs to change.

1013
00:51:05,520 --> 00:51:07,399
Speaker 1: You're right, but you're late. Dub Nation has been saying

1014
00:51:07,400 --> 00:51:08,960
Speaker 1: that for the whole year, and now you and Kerr

1015
00:51:09,000 --> 00:51:12,080
Speaker 1: are starting to buy into it. I reacted to new information.

1016
00:51:12,440 --> 00:51:15,799
Speaker 1: I don't know what else to say. You know how

1017
00:51:15,800 --> 00:51:17,759
Speaker 1: the Warriors won two games this weekend with who they

1018
00:51:17,760 --> 00:51:20,000
Speaker 1: beat Portland and Brooklyn, and Brooklyn's a solid team. By

1019
00:51:20,040 --> 00:51:25,040
Speaker 1: the way, I was always a believer that when healthy,

1020
00:51:25,560 --> 00:51:28,400
Speaker 1: if they could just kind of get some steady play

1021
00:51:28,440 --> 00:51:31,280
Speaker 1: for a few months, that they would be fine. Because

1022
00:51:31,360 --> 00:51:35,400
Speaker 1: I'm a big believer that Draymond Green, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson,

1023
00:51:35,480 --> 00:51:39,279
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins as your four starters. I would agree with

1024
00:51:39,360 --> 00:51:42,560
Speaker 1: most Warriors fans that Kerr stuck with the looney Draymond

1025
00:51:42,840 --> 00:51:45,839
Speaker 1: front court for way too long. That said, like, I

1026
00:51:45,880 --> 00:51:47,799
Speaker 1: really do believe they would have been fine. They had

1027
00:51:47,840 --> 00:51:49,880
Speaker 1: like the sixth last eight shacked. It was before the

1028
00:51:49,880 --> 00:51:51,880
Speaker 1: two games this weekend, But they had like the sixth

1029
00:51:51,920 --> 00:51:55,000
Speaker 1: easiest remaining schedule this year. Like, I just thought they

1030
00:51:55,040 --> 00:51:58,239
Speaker 1: were gonna get wins. What happened is this, Draymond got suspended.

1031
00:51:58,640 --> 00:52:02,600
Speaker 1: When Draymond got suspended, that is new information, and it

1032
00:52:02,760 --> 00:52:06,600
Speaker 1: changes the dynamic of the season. Right. For instance, at

1033
00:52:06,600 --> 00:52:08,960
Speaker 1: the time I said that recording out, it was they

1034
00:52:08,960 --> 00:52:11,399
Speaker 1: were three games back of the ten seed. Now they're

1035
00:52:11,440 --> 00:52:13,359
Speaker 1: two games back of the ten seed because they got

1036
00:52:13,600 --> 00:52:16,960
Speaker 1: they went to and Oh this weekend. But at three

1037
00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:20,600
Speaker 1: games back of the ten seed, when you have Draymond Green,

1038
00:52:21,520 --> 00:52:25,160
Speaker 1: when you start playing good basketball over a longer stretch,

1039
00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:28,200
Speaker 1: I just expected them to be a well over five

1040
00:52:28,280 --> 00:52:31,000
Speaker 1: hundred team and to climb back into the playoff race

1041
00:52:31,160 --> 00:52:33,759
Speaker 1: and be able to patiently make a decision at the deadline.

1042
00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:38,160
Speaker 1: Draymond suspended his suspension and we just got to report

1043
00:52:38,160 --> 00:52:39,560
Speaker 1: this morning he's going to be out for at least

1044
00:52:39,560 --> 00:52:43,080
Speaker 1: three more weeks. Like that means he will miss the

1045
00:52:43,160 --> 00:52:46,080
Speaker 1: better part of you know, fifteen games or so. That's

1046
00:52:46,080 --> 00:52:51,120
Speaker 1: just a huge chunk of games. And without Draymond going

1047
00:52:52,280 --> 00:52:54,799
Speaker 1: let's call it seven to seven over a fourteen game

1048
00:52:54,840 --> 00:52:58,319
Speaker 1: stretch is just going to be really difficult. And if

1049
00:52:58,360 --> 00:53:02,920
Speaker 1: they do go five eight, then they'll no longer be

1050
00:53:03,880 --> 00:53:06,000
Speaker 1: two or three games back in the ten seed. They'll

1051
00:53:06,040 --> 00:53:08,520
Speaker 1: be four or five games back in the ten seed. Now,

1052
00:53:08,520 --> 00:53:13,200
Speaker 1: it's just really challenging to get back into the standings

1053
00:53:13,840 --> 00:53:17,160
Speaker 1: from that far back halfway through the damn season. That's

1054
00:53:17,200 --> 00:53:22,080
Speaker 1: all I was saying. Obviously, my opinion changed because Draymond

1055
00:53:22,160 --> 00:53:25,160
Speaker 1: Green's suspension removed the second or third best player from

1056
00:53:25,160 --> 00:53:27,680
Speaker 1: the team for damn near quarter of the season. It

1057
00:53:27,800 --> 00:53:32,320
Speaker 1: is a significant piece of new information. I generally speaking,

1058
00:53:32,760 --> 00:53:35,000
Speaker 1: wasn't going to panic on the Warriors for the same

1059
00:53:35,080 --> 00:53:38,560
Speaker 1: reason the Lakers had their late season stretched last year.

1060
00:53:38,800 --> 00:53:41,799
Speaker 1: The Warriors have clear salary filler and assets to make

1061
00:53:41,840 --> 00:53:45,400
Speaker 1: a deal. Chris Paul is clear salary filler. Jonathan Kaminga

1062
00:53:45,520 --> 00:53:48,440
Speaker 1: is a clear asset. So they if they choose to

1063
00:53:48,719 --> 00:53:51,160
Speaker 1: punt the whole damn thing and go in on young guys,

1064
00:53:51,400 --> 00:53:54,960
Speaker 1: they have Kaminga. They have Moody. They have Tray Jackson Davis,

1065
00:53:55,160 --> 00:53:58,960
Speaker 1: they have Brandon Pazemski. They got rebuild right if they

1066
00:53:59,040 --> 00:54:01,839
Speaker 1: choose no, we want on a rebuild around Steph. They've

1067
00:54:01,880 --> 00:54:08,000
Speaker 1: got a clear package Kaminga and Chris Paul draft compensation.

1068
00:54:08,280 --> 00:54:11,040
Speaker 1: You're gonna bring back quality players and then you'll be

1069
00:54:11,040 --> 00:54:13,200
Speaker 1: able to make a run. And would they probably be

1070
00:54:13,239 --> 00:54:15,560
Speaker 1: in the lower half of the standing. Sure, but that's

1071
00:54:15,560 --> 00:54:18,719
Speaker 1: not a death sentence anymore as we know. So that's

1072
00:54:18,760 --> 00:54:20,680
Speaker 1: why I was more bullish on the Lakers before the

1073
00:54:20,760 --> 00:54:23,200
Speaker 1: Draymond injury than I, excuse me, on the Warriors I

1074
00:54:23,200 --> 00:54:26,400
Speaker 1: should say before the Draymond injury than I was after

1075
00:54:26,440 --> 00:54:29,239
Speaker 1: the suspension, I should say than I was after the

1076
00:54:29,320 --> 00:54:31,640
Speaker 1: Draymond suspension. Hopefully that clears that up a little bit.

1077
00:54:33,719 --> 00:54:35,919
Speaker 1: Next question, Despite having the best record in the East,

1078
00:54:35,960 --> 00:54:37,960
Speaker 1: despite Boston having the best record in the East, I

1079
00:54:37,960 --> 00:54:40,200
Speaker 1: feel like they aren't really playing their best basketball yet.

1080
00:54:40,200 --> 00:54:41,640
Speaker 1: Do you feel like they could be ramping up for

1081
00:54:41,680 --> 00:54:44,279
Speaker 1: a better push in the playoffs? Historically it seems like

1082
00:54:44,320 --> 00:54:46,600
Speaker 1: they have had great starts and fizzle out by the end.

1083
00:54:46,880 --> 00:54:48,680
Speaker 1: Do you see them as a team that is cruising

1084
00:54:48,719 --> 00:54:51,760
Speaker 1: now to make a push at the end. I predicted

1085
00:54:51,760 --> 00:54:53,239
Speaker 1: before the season that I think the Celtics are going

1086
00:54:53,320 --> 00:54:55,520
Speaker 1: to finish the season with the number one overall seed

1087
00:54:55,560 --> 00:54:58,640
Speaker 1: and comfortably, and I believe they're going to do so.

1088
00:54:58,719 --> 00:55:03,479
Speaker 1: Right now, they're a half game up on Minnesota right

1089
00:55:03,560 --> 00:55:05,920
Speaker 1: for the number one overall seed. But Minnesota is in

1090
00:55:05,960 --> 00:55:08,000
Speaker 1: a really difficult stretch of their schedule, and I think

1091
00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:10,160
Speaker 1: they're gonna build a three or four game gap over

1092
00:55:10,200 --> 00:55:13,480
Speaker 1: that span. Philly is going through a very very easy

1093
00:55:13,480 --> 00:55:16,839
Speaker 1: stretch of their schedule. There's the Eastern Conference is weird too,

1094
00:55:16,920 --> 00:55:19,320
Speaker 1: because like it's kind of reminds me of twenty twenty

1095
00:55:19,600 --> 00:55:21,440
Speaker 1: in the sense that like the top of the East

1096
00:55:21,480 --> 00:55:23,080
Speaker 1: is really good, but the bottom of the East is

1097
00:55:23,160 --> 00:55:26,160
Speaker 1: really bad, significantly worse than the bottom of the West.

1098
00:55:26,600 --> 00:55:28,200
Speaker 1: And so the teams at the top of the East

1099
00:55:28,239 --> 00:55:30,799
Speaker 1: are really going to put up some crazy net rating

1100
00:55:30,920 --> 00:55:34,880
Speaker 1: numbers this year. That's why you see Philly and Boston

1101
00:55:34,960 --> 00:55:37,160
Speaker 1: just have these crazy net ratings and everyone else is

1102
00:55:37,200 --> 00:55:39,759
Speaker 1: below them. It's just because they're beating the shit out

1103
00:55:39,760 --> 00:55:41,960
Speaker 1: of every bad team at the bottom of the conference. Right, So,

1104
00:55:42,040 --> 00:55:43,839
Speaker 1: like some of those numbers are a little bit weird,

1105
00:55:43,840 --> 00:55:46,919
Speaker 1: but I'm not worried about Boston in the standings. They're

1106
00:55:46,920 --> 00:55:48,640
Speaker 1: gonna finish with the number one seed because I think

1107
00:55:48,640 --> 00:55:51,840
Speaker 1: they're better than Philly, and the Western Conference is just tougher,

1108
00:55:51,880 --> 00:55:53,319
Speaker 1: and they're just gonna beat the shit out of each

1109
00:55:53,360 --> 00:55:55,920
Speaker 1: other and all their staying in their records in the

1110
00:55:55,960 --> 00:55:59,360
Speaker 1: standings will go down. That said, do I think Boston

1111
00:55:59,400 --> 00:56:01,960
Speaker 1: can play better basketball? Yes, I did a deep dive

1112
00:56:02,080 --> 00:56:04,480
Speaker 1: on the Celtics with Chris Mannix last week that encourage

1113
00:56:04,520 --> 00:56:07,279
Speaker 1: you guys to go check out. But one of the

1114
00:56:07,320 --> 00:56:09,960
Speaker 1: big things that I'm seeing right now is offensively, they

1115
00:56:09,960 --> 00:56:12,800
Speaker 1: are not optimized because they are not taking great shots.

1116
00:56:12,880 --> 00:56:15,879
Speaker 1: They take a ton of difficult off the dribble jump

1117
00:56:15,880 --> 00:56:19,560
Speaker 1: shots despite not being particularly good at it. Tatum is

1118
00:56:19,560 --> 00:56:22,200
Speaker 1: the big culprit there, just continues to take a shit

1119
00:56:22,239 --> 00:56:24,319
Speaker 1: ton of pull up jump shots despite being not very

1120
00:56:24,320 --> 00:56:27,920
Speaker 1: good at it, and Jalen Brown same thing, and as

1121
00:56:27,960 --> 00:56:29,759
Speaker 1: a result, they just have a lot of possessions where

1122
00:56:29,760 --> 00:56:32,080
Speaker 1: they get lower value out of them than they probably should.

1123
00:56:32,840 --> 00:56:34,680
Speaker 1: So the big thing is going to be if by

1124
00:56:34,680 --> 00:56:37,080
Speaker 1: the end of the season they can become a more

1125
00:56:37,080 --> 00:56:41,040
Speaker 1: optimized offensive version of what they've been to this point. Lastly,

1126
00:56:42,680 --> 00:56:47,080
Speaker 1: Yoker Yoker. The Jokers struggled some over the last week

1127
00:56:47,160 --> 00:56:48,560
Speaker 1: or so. Do you think it's just a function of

1128
00:56:48,560 --> 00:56:51,160
Speaker 1: shooting variants or is there something you were seeing defenses

1129
00:56:51,200 --> 00:56:53,680
Speaker 1: do that has been effective against him? So Yo Kitchen

1130
00:56:53,719 --> 00:56:57,000
Speaker 1: his last six games is averaging twenty one points per

1131
00:56:57,000 --> 00:56:58,840
Speaker 1: game on just forty four percent from the field, and

1132
00:56:58,880 --> 00:57:01,040
Speaker 1: he's basically stopped taking threes. He was taking a ton

1133
00:57:01,080 --> 00:57:02,600
Speaker 1: of them to start the year and in the postseason

1134
00:57:02,640 --> 00:57:05,080
Speaker 1: last year, and to stopped taking them, to me, everything

1135
00:57:05,120 --> 00:57:08,760
Speaker 1: stems from the jump shot. To me, it's a bigger

1136
00:57:08,800 --> 00:57:12,080
Speaker 1: concern that Jokic straight up stopped taking threes, not entirely,

1137
00:57:12,120 --> 00:57:15,960
Speaker 1: but has gone significantly lower volume taking threes because it

1138
00:57:16,160 --> 00:57:18,520
Speaker 1: just makes him that much easier to guard. You know,

1139
00:57:18,840 --> 00:57:22,080
Speaker 1: a big part of Jokic's postseason success last year was

1140
00:57:22,200 --> 00:57:25,520
Speaker 1: nailing pick and pop threes in attacking closeouts when guys

1141
00:57:26,080 --> 00:57:28,280
Speaker 1: closed hard at him at the top of the key.

1142
00:57:28,560 --> 00:57:31,080
Speaker 1: We are now watching Jokic get left open at the

1143
00:57:31,080 --> 00:57:33,720
Speaker 1: top of the key, and again, that just means more

1144
00:57:33,720 --> 00:57:36,520
Speaker 1: bodies in the paint less passing angles, harder for Yokic

1145
00:57:36,640 --> 00:57:39,200
Speaker 1: to drive closeouts. The game has just become tougher for

1146
00:57:39,280 --> 00:57:42,280
Speaker 1: him since then I don't think it's a big picture

1147
00:57:42,320 --> 00:57:45,680
Speaker 1: issue yet, but we have seen examples, not last year,

1148
00:57:45,720 --> 00:57:47,960
Speaker 1: but the year before of Jokic going in entire season

1149
00:57:48,000 --> 00:57:50,280
Speaker 1: in postseason not shooting the ball well. So that would

1150
00:57:50,280 --> 00:57:52,720
Speaker 1: be my main concern because I do believe Jokic is

1151
00:57:52,720 --> 00:57:54,720
Speaker 1: the best player in the world, but not by some

1152
00:57:54,840 --> 00:57:59,040
Speaker 1: gigantic chasm. So if Jokic goes down a level because

1153
00:57:59,080 --> 00:58:01,440
Speaker 1: his jump shot failed him and he becomes easier to

1154
00:58:01,480 --> 00:58:04,080
Speaker 1: guard as a result, that could mean some other player

1155
00:58:04,120 --> 00:58:06,280
Speaker 1: could become better than him. That could mean some other

1156
00:58:06,560 --> 00:58:09,480
Speaker 1: unit could become better than Denver's offense. Right, those are

1157
00:58:09,520 --> 00:58:12,960
Speaker 1: the potential pitfalls and things that could open up in

1158
00:58:13,200 --> 00:58:16,880
Speaker 1: Denver's armor and lead to some vulnerability there. All right, guys,

1159
00:58:16,880 --> 00:58:18,360
Speaker 1: That is all I have for today To give you

1160
00:58:18,400 --> 00:58:20,360
Speaker 1: guys a quick breakdown of the schedule for the rest

1161
00:58:20,360 --> 00:58:23,680
Speaker 1: of the week. We have Tomorrow night we're going live

1162
00:58:23,880 --> 00:58:28,600
Speaker 1: after Celtics Warriors. Then Wednesday, we have Sam's FONDIII from

1163
00:58:28,640 --> 00:58:30,560
Speaker 1: the Light Years podcast coming on the show to do

1164
00:58:30,600 --> 00:58:32,720
Speaker 1: a deep dive on the Golden State Warriors as they

1165
00:58:32,760 --> 00:58:36,120
Speaker 1: head into this transition period this season. Then we have

1166
00:58:36,120 --> 00:58:39,440
Speaker 1: film breakdowns on Thursday and Friday, and then on Christmas Day,

1167
00:58:39,480 --> 00:58:43,120
Speaker 1: we'll be going live twice during the during the five

1168
00:58:43,160 --> 00:58:45,040
Speaker 1: games that we have going on that day, and then

1169
00:58:45,080 --> 00:58:48,640
Speaker 1: the late evening games I will cover on Tuesday morning.

1170
00:58:48,640 --> 00:58:50,240
Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate you guys, and I will see

1171
00:58:50,280 --> 00:59:19,000
Speaker 1: you tomorrow night. The volume