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Speaker 1: All right, welcome to hoops toight here at the volume
Speaker 1: heavy Monday. Everybody. Hope all of you guys had an
Speaker 1: incredible weekend. We have a jam packed show today. We're
Speaker 1: gonna hit two games from the weekend. We had that
Speaker 1: highly entertaining thunder Nuggets game that I want to dive into.
Speaker 1: I have two major takeaways from that game. And then
Speaker 1: the Bucks in the Rockets played yesterday and what I
Speaker 1: thought was one of the more impressive all around performances
Speaker 1: from the Bucks on both ends of the floor. A
Speaker 1: lot of interesting concepts from that game that I think
Speaker 1: poortend well for what Milwaukee could look like at the
Speaker 1: end of the season. So we're going to talk about
Speaker 1: those two games. Then we're gonna do our power rankings
Speaker 1: like we do every Monday, We'll hit the top ten
Speaker 1: teams in the league ranked, and then last but not least,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have four mail bag questions at the end
Speaker 1: of the show. You guys are the Joe before we
Speaker 1: get started. Subscribe to a brand new YouTube channel. Mean
Speaker 1: a lot to me if you guys would take a
Speaker 1: second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button. Don't
Speaker 1: forget about our podcast feed. Wherever you get your podcast
Speaker 1: under Hoops Tonight, follow me on Twitter at Underscore Jason
Speaker 1: lt so you guys don't miss the film breakdowns that
Speaker 1: I do in the morning, as well as show announcements.
Speaker 1: And then, last but not least, keep dropping mail bad
Speaker 1: questions in the YouTube comments so that we can keep
Speaker 1: hitting them like we're doing today at the end of
Speaker 1: shows throughout the season. All right, let's talk some basketball.
Speaker 1: So this was just a huge win for Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: obviously for two big reasons. One, this particular type of team,
Speaker 1: these Upper Western Conference teams like Minute Soda and the
Speaker 1: Lakers in Denver. These are teams that Oklahoma City struggled
Speaker 1: with early in the season, those big front lines, but
Speaker 1: they notched a couple of recent wins. Obviously, beating the Lakers,
Speaker 1: albeit at the end of a road trip, but they
Speaker 1: beat the Lakers and then this win against the Nuggets,
Speaker 1: so they're starting to demonstrate that they can win against
Speaker 1: some of these bigger lineups. You saw down the stretch
Speaker 1: of this game them go with Jaylen Williams excuse me,
Speaker 1: alongside Shed Holmgren so that they could put Shed in
Speaker 1: help side situations. So you got to see kind of
Speaker 1: from a personnel standpoint, what it looks like to see
Speaker 1: a bigger forward. Even if jaaln Williams is not the
Speaker 1: exact type of player you would want there, he's at
Speaker 1: least a reasonable fact simile of it. So you got
Speaker 1: to see some of those benefits, right. But so it's
Speaker 1: important not only because it demonstrates that they can hang
Speaker 1: with some of these bigger front lines, but the second
Speaker 1: piece of it is it's just a legitimizing win. This
Speaker 1: is the team that has the second best record in
Speaker 1: the Western Conference, the fifth best record in the league,
Speaker 1: and a win on the road in Denver, a really
Speaker 1: hard place to win under any circumstances. But they're also
Speaker 1: the defending champs, also have the consensus top player in
Speaker 1: the league in Nicole Jokic. It just was a legitimizing
Speaker 1: win in a lot of ways. But I have two
Speaker 1: major takeaways that I want to get into. First of all,
Speaker 1: this is a great example of why Oklahoma City needs
Speaker 1: that upgrade at the forward position to reach where they
Speaker 1: want to reach in the big picture. The reason why
Speaker 1: I feel that way is the other four guys in
Speaker 1: that lineup could not have played better in this particular game.
Speaker 1: I thought Lou Dort did just an amazing job on
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray down the stretch. Even the one tough bucket
Speaker 1: that Jamal hit on him, it could have been an
Speaker 1: offensive foul. Took the contact in the chest and just
Speaker 1: Jamal just basically shoved him off and got to his
Speaker 1: spot for that little fadeaway jumper. I thought he did
Speaker 1: a really, really good job on Jamal Murray. I thought
Speaker 1: Chet Holmgren was ridiculous in this game. There was you guys,
Speaker 1: remember that playoff of the horn set where Aaron Gordon
Speaker 1: just cut off of the right elbow and Chet was
Speaker 1: in a trail position and Aaron Gordon's one of the
Speaker 1: freakiest athletes in the game, and Chet chased him down
Speaker 1: and pinned his dunk attempt. On the glass. He was
Speaker 1: awesome in vertical spacing situations, just sitting in the dunker spot.
Speaker 1: Both Jalen Williams and Shake Gildos Alexander had driving plays
Speaker 1: where they just had basic like beat your man off
Speaker 1: the dribble, engage the rim protector, throw it up in
Speaker 1: the air, check can go dunk it. That's textbook vertical
Speaker 1: spacing when it's like, oh, all you have to do
Speaker 1: is engage this defender and then just throw it in
Speaker 1: the general vicinity of the rim and Chet's gonna go
Speaker 1: get it. That is a super valuable form of spacing
Speaker 1: versus the type of player that won't be able to
Speaker 1: elevate over the top and go get it, or a
Speaker 1: player with a smaller window that you can throw the
Speaker 1: ball to. It's a huge asset there. And then obviously
Speaker 1: there were a couple possession where he ended up on
Speaker 1: Jokic late, especially when they were doing the offense defense subs.
Speaker 1: But for the most part he was in helpside and
Speaker 1: he was doing a good job of shutting down cutters,
Speaker 1: with exception of a couple of wild yoks plays because
Speaker 1: that's what Jokic does. But Chet was ridiculous. And then
Speaker 1: Juwnsga just incredible shot creation down the stretch. Both of
Speaker 1: them were picking on Jamal Murray quite a bit and
Speaker 1: beaten them off the dribble to make good things happen.
Speaker 1: And you know, I've talked a lot about how in
Speaker 1: order to make because Denver is a defense that has
Speaker 1: been defending above their pay grade, so to speak, for
Speaker 1: the most part, through the playoffs last year and into
Speaker 1: this regular season. And the main reason why is like
Speaker 1: they defend well, but they have weak defensive personnel on
Speaker 1: the floor in multiple spots. The Nuggets were also doing
Speaker 1: offense defense subs down the stretch with Michael Porter Junior.
Speaker 1: That's how Peyton Watson ended up in the game, right
Speaker 1: they you had the Jamal Murray getting attacked. Nikolea. Jokic
Speaker 1: has some limitations defensively as well, But when they're all
Speaker 1: in the right spots and their scheme is set up
Speaker 1: and everyone's doing their job, and they're playing against offenses
Speaker 1: that have like one or two primary types of actions
Speaker 1: that they go against, they can actually defend at a
Speaker 1: pretty high level. What Oklahoma City has that makes it
Speaker 1: uniquely capable them uniquely capable of punishing Denver's weaker defensive
Speaker 1: personnel is the lack of a weak perimeter option to
Speaker 1: hide Jamal Murray on I'll give you guys an example.
Speaker 1: So what you saw down the stretch of that game
Speaker 1: with the ghost screens to try to get Jamal Murray
Speaker 1: on the ball is a very, very similar thing to
Speaker 1: what the Lakers were doing in Game one of the
Speaker 1: Western Conference Finals last year. If you remember, Lebron James
Speaker 1: was bringing Austin Reeves into the screening action and basically
Speaker 1: having him set ghost screens and pop to the three
Speaker 1: point line. What a lot of teams will do in
Speaker 1: that situation is have their weaker defender in this case,
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray hedge and then recover, meaning they basically step
Speaker 1: out to stop Lebron or whoever it is, Shay Gils,
Speaker 1: Alexander or Jaln Williams from driving and then recover back
Speaker 1: to their man and hopefully the primary on ball defender
Speaker 1: can get back after that hedge. Right, that's the way
Speaker 1: that system works. That's how you protect your weaker defensive player.
Speaker 1: But what killed the Nuggets for a brief stretch in
Speaker 1: Game one of the Western Conference Finals was Austin Reeves
Speaker 1: was really capable of setting his feet quickly on those
Speaker 1: slips and knocking down a three point shot. So while
Speaker 1: Jamal was hedging, Lebron was hitting Austin wide open on
Speaker 1: the three point line and hitting the shot right. So
Speaker 1: the Nuggets adjusted, Mike Malone adjusted by just sliding Jamal
Speaker 1: Murray over to Dennis Schroder, a player who is a
Speaker 1: very good guard, who has a lot of things that
Speaker 1: he can do with the ball in his hands. But
Speaker 1: what Dennis Schroder is not is a movement shooter. And
Speaker 1: so when Dennis Schroeder would set the screen for Lebron
Speaker 1: and pop to the three point line, Jamal Murray didn't
Speaker 1: have to worry about Dennis like doing the Klay Thompson
Speaker 1: quick you slide step three point shot off the move.
Speaker 1: That's just not a shot that's in Dennis Schroeder's game, right,
Speaker 1: and his release is kind of slower and dragged out.
Speaker 1: And so the Nuggets were just never in a situation
Speaker 1: where Lebron could consistently pick on Jamal Murray in those
Speaker 1: ghost screen actions. Why can Oklahoma City do it? Because
Speaker 1: if it's Isaiah Joe, if it's shake gilj Just Alexander,
Speaker 1: if it's Jalen Williams. There's none of those guys that
Speaker 1: they could get away with just tucking Jamal Murray away
Speaker 1: on and hiding, and so Jamal Murray frequently ended up
Speaker 1: on the basketball against Shay and against Jalen Williams, and
Speaker 1: those guys were able to make him pay again. In
Speaker 1: order to be able to truly cause problem for Denver's defense,
Speaker 1: you have to truly be able to spread them out
Speaker 1: and put yourself in a situation where you can attack
Speaker 1: their weak points when they're not in help side, as
Speaker 1: when they're on ball rather than in help side. It's
Speaker 1: just difficult to do. There's not a lot of teams
Speaker 1: that have that level of personnel. Even if you go
Speaker 1: to the top of the league. Minnesota doesn't really have
Speaker 1: that personnel. Like they can probably get away with hiding
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray on someone like Jaden McDaniels, right, because Jaden
Speaker 1: McDaniels is a good offensive player, but not a guy
Speaker 1: who's gonna hit a bunch of movement threes. Right, You're
Speaker 1: gonna see teams like the Lakers. They're gonna be able
Speaker 1: to hide at a Jamal Murray on a Toryan Prints, right,
Speaker 1: They're gonna be able to find guys in the top
Speaker 1: of the conference that they can hide Jamal Murray on.
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City is just kind of uniquely equipped in that
Speaker 1: perimeter talent to really put pressure on some of the
Speaker 1: weaker elements of Denver's defense. Now, but that's the interesting
Speaker 1: part is like Oklahoma City also doesn't have the front line.
Speaker 1: Like as much as this was an entertaining game for
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City, if Oklahoma City played a seven game series
Speaker 1: against Denver tomorrow, Denver would be favored in large part
Speaker 1: because I'm not sure that they have the front frontline
Speaker 1: weapons to hold up against Denver's attack or the Lakers
Speaker 1: attack or Minnesota's attack on that front line. Right. So, like, again,
Speaker 1: this is how matchups work, and when when you go
Speaker 1: into these series, there are things that you have in
Speaker 1: your corner that are your advantage, and then you have
Speaker 1: things that they have in their corner that are their advantage.
Speaker 1: And it's just this is one of the things that
Speaker 1: uniquely makes Oklahoma City difficult to deal with is they
Speaker 1: just have a shit ton of perimeter talent and they
Speaker 1: don't have guys that you can really afford to hide
Speaker 1: players on, and they can cause a lot of problems
Speaker 1: in that sense, right, But if we look at that
Speaker 1: four man grouping that I just mentioned, door on the
Speaker 1: ball on Jamal Murray, chet Holmgren helping causing problems and
Speaker 1: help side defense, his vertical spacing, all the things that
Speaker 1: chet Holmgren does, right, Jawill and uh A j dub
Speaker 1: and An Sga just being incredible with their shot creation
Speaker 1: from the perimeter down the stretch like that, like that,
Speaker 1: they they were just unbelievable, right that we had I
Speaker 1: talked about the driving lobs to chet Holmgren. There, uh
Speaker 1: shake Yos Alexander hit moreultiple pull up jump shots down
Speaker 1: the stretch of that game. Juw, I keep freaking mixing
Speaker 1: up their names. That's my bad. But Jay Dubb ends
Speaker 1: up beating Jamal Murray and has that ridiculous up and
Speaker 1: underfinish on the right side of the basket down the
Speaker 1: stretch of the game. Right, Like, They're all that's great,
Speaker 1: except for you had to run offense defense subs down
Speaker 1: the stretch of the game, right. You had to run
Speaker 1: offense defense subs because Isaiah Joe, as much as he
Speaker 1: provides you an extra perimeter option offensively, he put them
Speaker 1: in a predicament where Chet had to be on Nikola
Speaker 1: jokicch which is a configuration they've really struggled with over
Speaker 1: the course of their matchups with Denver this season, although
Speaker 1: Chet did get a big stop on Jokic late, which
Speaker 1: we'll talk about in a minute. But then they went
Speaker 1: to jay Lynn Williams right Jay will and that put
Speaker 1: them in a situation where they could line up defensively
Speaker 1: the way they wanted to, but have some issues on
Speaker 1: the offensive end of the floor, where Aaron Gordon and
Speaker 1: Nicole Jokic can be more active around the paint right,
Speaker 1: So it's like a give and a take. That's where
Speaker 1: it would be ideal if you could have a forward
Speaker 1: in that four spot that gave you the defensive rebounding
Speaker 1: capabilities of a bigger bodied forward while also having the
Speaker 1: offensive proficiency to maintain that dynamic that I was just
Speaker 1: talking about with the Thunder as it pertains to their
Speaker 1: overall offensive talent. It's just what I look at as
Speaker 1: like the ultimate configuration of the team is like this
Speaker 1: lineup Shay, Jalen and Dort alongside Chet, with a big
Speaker 1: athletic forward who's a plus offensive player slotted between those
Speaker 1: guys that can allow them to kind of have the
Speaker 1: best of both of those worlds. That was one of
Speaker 1: my major takeaways from that from that particular game. The
Speaker 1: second piece of it, Like before I move on to
Speaker 1: the second take I had mentioned earlier about like a
Speaker 1: month ago, I had mentioned, like, oh, you know what
Speaker 1: would be interesting, what about a lou Dort for for
Speaker 1: for Ruy Hachimura trade with the was the one that
Speaker 1: I had purported as a like kind of pitched as
Speaker 1: a potential idea, right, And my idea there was is like,
Speaker 1: you know, the Thunder have lots of other perimeter defensive
Speaker 1: talent that can kind of take on that role and
Speaker 1: that kind of gives them their big forward that can
Speaker 1: help them in a lot of ways, Right, especially the
Speaker 1: guy like Ruey who proved to be a pretty impactful
Speaker 1: playoff player last year. Right. Well, I think I've kind
Speaker 1: of gone to the other side of that specific opinion,
Speaker 1: just from the standpoint of how vitally I'm important. I
Speaker 1: think lou Dort is, and I think you know, when
Speaker 1: I saw that two man game down the stretch and
Speaker 1: I saw loud Dort's ability to navigate those ball screens,
Speaker 1: there was like a there were like late clock possessions
Speaker 1: where the Nuggets had to throw some tough shots up
Speaker 1: in large part because Dort just blew up initial actions
Speaker 1: in the possession. And it's one of those things where
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that Rui's not that level of player
Speaker 1: that he can't help, or that he wouldn't be a
Speaker 1: good forward for that spot, and more just saying I
Speaker 1: think now that lou Dort is a truly non expendable
Speaker 1: piece of this lineup because of the fact that, like
Speaker 1: he's not just a good perimeter defender, he's one of
Speaker 1: the very best in the league. He's the one of
Speaker 1: the hardest dudes in the league to screen. He's incredibly
Speaker 1: good at staying in front of great athletes and forcing
Speaker 1: them to shoot over the top. Yeah, you're occasionally gonna
Speaker 1: see plays like Jamal Murray hitting that step back over
Speaker 1: the top of him because he doesn't quite have the
Speaker 1: length of some of his peers. But he's just one
Speaker 1: of the very best at what he does, and I
Speaker 1: don't think that they can replace that on roster. So
Speaker 1: I think if they do go about trying to upgrade
Speaker 1: that forward position, it needs to be at the expense
Speaker 1: of a player outside of those core four guys. Gotta
Speaker 1: keep Shay, gotta keep Jalen Williams, got to keep lou Dort,
Speaker 1: got to keep chet Holmgrid. It's got to be with
Speaker 1: Giddy and you know, uh, some combination of guys off
Speaker 1: the bench that you end up making that type of
Speaker 1: a deal. Secondly, even in a loss, that game solidified
Speaker 1: for me Denver as the championship favorite because I thought
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City threw a magnificent punch in this game. They
Speaker 1: had a great defensive game plan and they basically stole
Speaker 1: the game because they scored on nine of their last
Speaker 1: ten possessions. There was an Isaiah Joe turnover where he
Speaker 1: tried to throw a hook pass that got intercepted, but
Speaker 1: outside of that, on nine of their last ten possessions,
Speaker 1: they scored every single time. That is why the Thunder
Speaker 1: were able to steal this particular game right and like
Speaker 1: they made every pull up jump shot they took down
Speaker 1: the stretch. Shay hit a tough step back over Christian
Speaker 1: Brown on the left wing. Shae hit a tough left
Speaker 1: shoulder fade over the top of Peyton Watson. Jalen Williams
Speaker 1: hit like a tough one legged fade away over the
Speaker 1: top right, Like there were some tough shots in that stretch.
Speaker 1: You got to just tip your cap to the thunder
Speaker 1: and give them credit for winning that particular game. But
Speaker 1: I though the Nuggets offense looked fantastic down the stretch
Speaker 1: of that particular game, despite not just a hlatious effort
Speaker 1: for Oklahoma City, but a good defensive configuration and one
Speaker 1: that we've seen a lot of teams utilize against the Nuggets,
Speaker 1: that being putting a forward on Jokic that presses up
Speaker 1: while you have your lanky or center kind of helping
Speaker 1: on the back line right, and they were just still
Speaker 1: able to get wide open looks consistently. Nicole Jokic on
Speaker 1: the left wing, a little head fake to get Jay
Speaker 1: Lynn Williams to kind of leave his feet over to
Speaker 1: his left, which allowed Jokicic to rip to the left,
Speaker 1: and then he just threw this like sweet little lefty
Speaker 1: lob pass to Aaron Gordon that somehow just barely got
Speaker 1: over Chet's fingertips for a dunk. Right like Aaron Gordon
Speaker 1: dribbling on the right wing and Jay dubb is ball
Speaker 1: pressuring the hell out of him, and Aaron Gordon just
Speaker 1: hits him with the crossover, gets downhill, swing past to
Speaker 1: Michael Porter Junior, rips baseline boom, one handed hammer along
Speaker 1: the baseline. It's like, that's just so easy. It's just
Speaker 1: easy basketball, right, Like Jokic's post up on the right block,
Speaker 1: lou Dort doubles skip past to Michael Porter Junior in
Speaker 1: the corner. He knocks down a huge three late in
Speaker 1: the game. Even in the bad possessions that they had
Speaker 1: during the stretch, it felt like possessions that were more
Speaker 1: a product of, like the situation that they were in.
Speaker 1: Like Christian Brown made two pull up jumpers late in
Speaker 1: this game, a pull up three and a pull up two,
Speaker 1: and you want to you might sit there as a
Speaker 1: Thunder fan and be like, man, I can't believe you
Speaker 1: made those shots. But that's KCP. Usually, like if Denver
Speaker 1: has KCP, that's him on the floor. Those are good shots,
Speaker 1: Like KCP. If you leave him open from three or
Speaker 1: from that eighteen to twenty foot mark, he's gonna make it.
Speaker 1: So like that's a high percentage look. In a playoff
Speaker 1: series for Denver, right, Jamal Murray off of a one
Speaker 1: pass away double team from lou Dort had a wide
Speaker 1: open three on the left wing in the final minute
Speaker 1: that he missed. That's a great look out of a
Speaker 1: double team. Right there is a play where Jalen Williams
Speaker 1: was off the floor. Jaylen Williams was off the floor
Speaker 1: because of the offense defense, subs and Chet had to
Speaker 1: press up against Nicole Jokic, and Yokic spun off of him,
Speaker 1: and Michael Porter Junior was wide open on the right
Speaker 1: wing and Jokic just missed the read. Shay dug down.
Speaker 1: Jokic missed the read and bricked a floater high off
Speaker 1: of the glass, And it's like, how often does Jokic
Speaker 1: miss a red? Like that? Just doesn't happen very often, right, Like, really,
Speaker 1: the only true bad possession in that stretch was the
Speaker 1: one where Michael Porter Junior got stripped by Shay gil
Speaker 1: just Alexander about thirty feet from the rim on the
Speaker 1: right side. The point is is like, no matter what
Speaker 1: I've seen this season, I've seen a lot of really
Speaker 1: impressive stuff from a lot of impressive teams. But when
Speaker 1: it comes down to the chess match of playoff basketball,
Speaker 1: I just trust Denver's offense to consistently generate quality shots
Speaker 1: at a much higher rate than anybody else in the league,
Speaker 1: and as a result of that, I think it makes
Speaker 1: it extremely difficult to beat them four times in two weeks.
Speaker 1: And so even as frustrating as it's been for Denver,
Speaker 1: and like, look, they've been really mediocre started eight and one.
Speaker 1: They are nine and nine since, fifteenth in offense, fourteenth
Speaker 1: in defense, that are not playing very well, But like,
Speaker 1: I just still am not even the slightest bit worried
Speaker 1: about having them as my number one contender at this
Speaker 1: point or my number one championship favorite, because their offense
Speaker 1: is just the safest bet in basketball right now. They're
Speaker 1: gonna get great looks and they're probably going to make them.
Speaker 1: Like if Oklahoma City doesn't make a basket or score
Speaker 1: points on nine of their last ten possessions, and it's
Speaker 1: more like six of their last ten, Denver wins that
Speaker 1: game easily, and like and and again you tip the
Speaker 1: cap okay see in this particular game, But I just
Speaker 1: thought it was such a great indicator of what makes
Speaker 1: Denver so transcendently great. All right, moving on to Houston Milwaukee.
Speaker 1: So you know, it's funny, I've always been fascinated about
Speaker 1: this with basketball but like every time you play in
Speaker 1: a basketball game, you find out pretty quickly what works
Speaker 1: for you and what doesn't, right, like even from lower levels,
Speaker 1: like you know, me playing in a men's league, right,
Speaker 1: Like we've played in our championship game on Sunday. By
Speaker 1: the way, it felt good to be back coming back
Speaker 1: from my achilles injury. I have been playing for about
Speaker 1: eight days now, nine days now. First of all, I
Speaker 1: just can't believe how much I missed playing basketball and
Speaker 1: how important that's been for my mental health just to
Speaker 1: be to go play again. But shout out to my
Speaker 1: squad that we have in the Sunday League. We've won
Speaker 1: the championship for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
Speaker 1: You know, old old man basketball accomplishments for whatever those
Speaker 1: are worth. Right. But it's funny because in that game,
Speaker 1: we were playing like we it was a championship game,
Speaker 1: so it was a little more physical as a team
Speaker 1: we've played a bunch of times, and like you start
Speaker 1: playing and you're like, oh wait, like when we run
Speaker 1: this action, they can't do anything about this, Like, oh,
Speaker 1: they're used to doing this, But as long as we
Speaker 1: do this defensively, that doesn't work anymore. And now that's
Speaker 1: been removed from the equation. Okay, we can help off
Speaker 1: of this guy, we can't help off of that guy, right,
Speaker 1: And then pretty soon, over the course of the game,
Speaker 1: you identify like the three or four things that are
Speaker 1: like your biggest advantages, and then you do whatever you
Speaker 1: can to kind of hammer those things home. And I've
Speaker 1: always found that fascinating because I pick up on that
Speaker 1: sort of thing every time I watch basketball games, like
Speaker 1: you start watching pretty quickly and it's like, oh, like
Speaker 1: this guy who used to be a post up folkrum
Speaker 1: for his team is not gonna get as much separation
Speaker 1: in this particular matchup that's an important part of this
Speaker 1: team's offense. What are they gonna do? Now? You know
Speaker 1: what I mean? Like that? Or I'll just give you
Speaker 1: guys some examples from this particular game, because I thought
Speaker 1: this game was a great example of how those like
Speaker 1: specific matchups can completely swing away a couple of basketball
Speaker 1: teams compete against each other. So, first of all, what
Speaker 1: have we been talking about with the Rockets all season long?
Speaker 1: So you Udoka has been leaning a lot on Alburn Shangun, right,
Speaker 1: mainly because he's been the most dependable offensive engine for
Speaker 1: this particular team, Fred VanVleet and pick and roll, hit
Speaker 1: and miss right depends a lot on whether or not
Speaker 1: that pull up jump shots falling right. Jalen Green has
Speaker 1: a lot of ups, a lot of downs. It's one
Speaker 1: of those things where you look at the efficiency in
Speaker 1: ISO and you're like, oh, he's having a good season,
Speaker 1: and then you watch them other nights and you're like, man,
Speaker 1: this guy just doesn't see the floor very well. It's
Speaker 1: classic young guard stuff. It's a lot of bad. You know,
Speaker 1: Dylan Brooks is having an amazing season, much better than
Speaker 1: he was offensively in Memphis. That said, you know, not
Speaker 1: a guy that you look at as an offensive engine. Right.
Speaker 1: The Jabari Smith junior has pretty much turned into a
Speaker 1: prototypical three and D wing at this point. He's not
Speaker 1: doing a ton of stuff with the ball in his hands,
Speaker 1: and so their safest option is alper in Shangun, and
Speaker 1: he's like a diet nicolea Jokic right, like offensive folkrum
Speaker 1: that can run a ton of stuff in screen and
Speaker 1: roll both out of dribble handoffs and out of traditional
Speaker 1: ball screens, and then can also work out of the post.
Speaker 1: But he's a great passer excellent touch around the rim,
Speaker 1: can stretch the floor of the pick and pop jump
Speaker 1: shot like you just he's Diet Jokic. The biggest difference
Speaker 1: is he's just smaller. But that's arguably the most dependable
Speaker 1: element of Houston's offense, and brook Lopez just erased his
Speaker 1: post up attack, just completely erased it in this game,
Speaker 1: and you could see how it caused issues for Houston
Speaker 1: offensively the rest of the game because what is usually
Speaker 1: a dependable element, Shanegun's been one of the best post
Speaker 1: players in the league this year just wasn't an option anymore.
Speaker 1: He could not. He was brook is just too big
Speaker 1: for him. He couldn't get too comfortable hook shots. Most
Speaker 1: of the work that he did out because he still
Speaker 1: still got to his twenty eight and five or whatever,
Speaker 1: which is the season averages, because Shenggun's really good and
Speaker 1: he's gonna make plays, but most of it was out
Speaker 1: of pick and roll. He did had some success in
Speaker 1: the short role, had some success making passes, but they
Speaker 1: erased Shangun's post up game because brook Lopez is big
Speaker 1: enough to handle him right. The other thing too, brook
Speaker 1: Lopez just was like, I'm not gonna guard you when
Speaker 1: you pop to the top of the key, and so
Speaker 1: Shangun missed his first pick and pop three, and then
Speaker 1: he missed another one, and then he just stopped taking
Speaker 1: him and started catching the ball wide open at the
Speaker 1: top of the key and flowing into dribble handoffs and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. Right the point being, it's a great
Speaker 1: example of how, like one singular matchup Brook is too
Speaker 1: big for Shangun changes that dynamic of an offense for
Speaker 1: an entire game, and like it actually became a problem
Speaker 1: throughout several stretches of the game when Shanghun did try
Speaker 1: to force things in the post against Lopez and he
Speaker 1: wasn't able to score down there, especially down the stretch
Speaker 1: of the game. And I just thought it was a
Speaker 1: really interesting example of a little thing that changes the
Speaker 1: dynamic of a basketball game. Here's another little thing. Who
Speaker 1: do the Bucks usually start at the two? Malik Beasley.
Speaker 1: Malik Beasley was sick and so he didn't play in
Speaker 1: either game this weekend. They had a back to back
Speaker 1: Saturday Sunday. So Andre Jackson Junior, who hadn't played in
Speaker 1: a single game over twenty minutes yet this season, which
Speaker 1: is his entire NBA career, ends up playing big minutes
Speaker 1: in both games and starting both games. What is Andre
Speaker 1: Jackson junior? He is a young, high motor athlete who
Speaker 1: is especially gifted at defending on the perimeter. So what
Speaker 1: were they able to do? They were able to put
Speaker 1: him on Fred van vliet and have Brook Lopez it
Speaker 1: way back in his deep drop coverage. Now if that's
Speaker 1: Malik Beasley who's been getting absolutely torched on the ball
Speaker 1: in the deeper drop coverage all season, giving up easy
Speaker 1: pull up jump shots. Now instead you're getting good back
Speaker 1: pressure and overall much better ball pressure from Andre Jackson
Speaker 1: throughout the game. Changes the dynamic of the game now
Speaker 1: as a result, like you know, Dame's in a more
Speaker 1: achievable role on a young guard like Jalen Green, right,
Speaker 1: and in general, like you're just making Houston work harder
Speaker 1: to get up the floor. Shangoon can't post up Fred
Speaker 1: van Vlietz dealing with a long athlete on him all
Speaker 1: game long. See how it just kind of changes the
Speaker 1: dynamic of the game. And then the interesting thing about it,
Speaker 1: because not only was Andre Jackson good defensively, but he
Speaker 1: just found a way to contribute on offense. The Rockets
Speaker 1: put Jalen Green on Andre Jackson Junior, and he was
Speaker 1: sitting in that lowman position getting ready to help, ignoring
Speaker 1: Andre Jackson in the weakside corner. He's just crashing the
Speaker 1: offensive glass out working him. Had multiple He had four
Speaker 1: offensive rebounds in this game. Multiple of them were coming
Speaker 1: out of the weakside corner, catching Jalen Green not paying attention.
Speaker 1: He had a corner three in this game when he
Speaker 1: got left out there. There was even this play it
Speaker 1: was I clipped this one and I put it on
Speaker 1: my Twitter feed. But he gets the ball, so they
Speaker 1: run basically a ram screen for him, so they screened
Speaker 1: down I think with Lopez, if I remember correctly, they
Speaker 1: screened down for him. He comes up and catches the
Speaker 1: ball to run a dribble hand off with Dane, and
Speaker 1: he just fakes the dribble hand off and quick rips
Speaker 1: back and pit with that pivot to his left, basically
Speaker 1: the fake dribble handoff that you see Draymond Green do
Speaker 1: all the time at the Warriors. Right as a result,
Speaker 1: gets downhill I think it was. I think Jalen Green
Speaker 1: might have been guarding him, but he got downhill on
Speaker 1: him and engages the rim protector Shane Goon and does
Speaker 1: a nice little drop off pass over the back of
Speaker 1: his shoulder to Brook Lopez who's filling in behind him,
Speaker 1: and he gets an easy and one layup, And I'm like,
Speaker 1: this is this is what you're looking for. He's not
Speaker 1: going to shoot as well as Malik Beasley, but he
Speaker 1: is a significantly more impactful on the ball defender. And
Speaker 1: in this particular game, it's not something that you're going
Speaker 1: to be consistently getting from him because he's young and
Speaker 1: he's limited in some ways, but in this particular game,
Speaker 1: he demonstrated for you positive offensive impact. And like, I
Speaker 1: find it really interesting because this is this is a
Speaker 1: concept that I think I've been you know, every year
Speaker 1: in the NBA, I learn new lessons. We're always getting
Speaker 1: new information in our perspective changes, right, and specifically, one
Speaker 1: of the big things that stood out to me this
Speaker 1: year is the value in especially in the regular season,
Speaker 1: but the value of a high motor athlete. And it
Speaker 1: does extend to the postseason as we look back. You
Speaker 1: look last year, you know, I put Aaron Gordon and
Speaker 1: Kntavious Calbo Pope in the high motor athlete category, right
Speaker 1: going to the Warrior. I put Andrew Wiggins and Gary
Speaker 1: Payton in the high motor athlete area right go back
Speaker 1: to the Bucks. Obviously, Yannis is a high motor athlete,
Speaker 1: Drew Holliday high motor athlete at the guard position. Those
Speaker 1: are all it's a you have to have real top
Speaker 1: tier athletes on the roster that also play hard all
Speaker 1: the time. It's a necessity in my opinion, to be
Speaker 1: a successful regular season team. And what's interesting is as
Speaker 1: we've seen taking Drew out of the equation and bringing
Speaker 1: in Dame and Malik to guys that are both undersized.
Speaker 1: You know, Molik's a good athlete, not a great athlete.
Speaker 1: You know, Dame at this phase of his career is
Speaker 1: a good athlete, not a great athlete. But two smaller,
Speaker 1: somewhat mediocre athletes for their position into those spots. Chris
Speaker 1: Middleton coming back from injury. Giannis has been just unbelievable
Speaker 1: this year. But that's Janni's in brook. Suddenly they look
Speaker 1: a little slow, right, Suddenly they look like they struggle
Speaker 1: to guard on the perimeter. And so this is actually
Speaker 1: kind of interesting because it reminds me what happened with
Speaker 1: the Lakers earlier this year, same problem. You know, it's
Speaker 1: Torian Prince instead of Jared Vanderbilt, and it's Austin Reeves
Speaker 1: and D'Angelo Russell. The front court guys are athletic, but
Speaker 1: the perimeter guys are not athletic. And so what did
Speaker 1: they do? They remove Austin Reeves from the starting lineup.
Speaker 1: Should it have been Austin that's a different conversation. But
Speaker 1: they bring in Cam Reddish six ' eight, freak athlete.
Speaker 1: And even when Cam was out, Max Christi six ' seven,
Speaker 1: excellent athletes. And so because they bring these athletes in,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, that primary athlete takes the toughest
Speaker 1: perimeter assignment, which makes everyone else get an easier perimeter assignment.
Speaker 1: Suddenly the defense looks better. And I thought that was
Speaker 1: really fascinating because this weekend was a great example of
Speaker 1: that for the Bucks. You take one of those athletes
Speaker 1: out and you replace him with a bigger, taller, stronger athlete,
Speaker 1: and Andre Jackson suddenly he's taking the primary point of
Speaker 1: attack assignments. Everyone else has a more achievable job. He's
Speaker 1: doing a better job just applying ball pressure and fatiguing
Speaker 1: the rockets. Over the course of the game and you
Speaker 1: see the positive results. And I think that's a great
Speaker 1: example of like again for both teams, for both the
Speaker 1: Lakers and the Bucks. It's like, can Cam Reddish be
Speaker 1: your starting too for a championship run? I don't think so.
Speaker 1: Can Malik Beasley or Andre Jackson be your starting too
Speaker 1: for a championship run? I don't think so. So both
Speaker 1: of those teams are gonna have to look at for
Speaker 1: some way to upgrade that position. But I find that
Speaker 1: dynamic with what happened with Chris Middleton, excuse me, with
Speaker 1: Andre Jackson this weekend as just another great example of
Speaker 1: that specific theory, which is like, don't underestimate the importance
Speaker 1: of in your starting five having somebody that it's taller,
Speaker 1: longer armed, and that can really move on the perimeter,
Speaker 1: and how valuable that is just as a baseline for
Speaker 1: your defense. To put it simply, all these teams want
Speaker 1: to run drop coverage. They all do, especially because they
Speaker 1: want to keep their big center as close to the
Speaker 1: basket as possible to protect the rim into security defensive rebounds.
Speaker 1: So that creates a challenging job for the perimeter defender.
Speaker 1: He now has to get over the top of the
Speaker 1: screen every time because if he doesn't, he's gonna concede
Speaker 1: wide open pull up jump shots to NBA guards which
Speaker 1: hit them these days, right. So it's just a really
Speaker 1: tough job. And there are a lot of guys in
Speaker 1: the league who can do it, but will they do it?
Speaker 1: Will they put in the necessary work. So when you
Speaker 1: have a young athlete who has a high motor, who's
Speaker 1: willing to do that job night in and night out,
Speaker 1: and he's in your starting lineup, so you can set
Speaker 1: that tone from the start of every game, it's just
Speaker 1: an important foundational element. We were talking about the Thunder earlier.
Speaker 1: Every night you're getting lou door on your best player.
Speaker 1: You know, like if the Thunder go play Golden State tomorrow,
Speaker 1: Steph's sitting in the locker room and he's like, fuck, man,
Speaker 1: I have to that Dude's gonna be up in my
Speaker 1: business all game long. This is gonna be such a
Speaker 1: pain in the ass. Rights. You know he's going to play.
Speaker 1: If the Oklahoma City is going to play Milwaukee, you know,
Speaker 1: Dame sitting in the locker like, here comes Lou Dort
Speaker 1: for forty minutes. Man, this is gonna suck. You know
Speaker 1: what I mean like, it's just a huge part of
Speaker 1: what makes a great defense in my opinion, And again
Speaker 1: we've talked about this concept on the show before, but like,
Speaker 1: when you see a lesser player slot into a lineup
Speaker 1: and look deeply impactful, it's usually a sign of just
Speaker 1: how important his role is and how devoid that roster
Speaker 1: is of that role. When you see inferior players step
Speaker 1: in and make starter level impact, it just goes to
Speaker 1: show you how important that role is and why it's
Speaker 1: so important to go try to find a starter caliber
Speaker 1: version of that particular player. I want to shout out
Speaker 1: a couple other guys or matchups in this particular game.
Speaker 1: The other thing that immediately was clear was Jabari Smith
Speaker 1: is too small to guard Giannis, and Giannis absolutely torched
Speaker 1: him just bullying him in the post. Had a couple
Speaker 1: of key baskets on him at the end of the game,
Speaker 1: including a huge left handed hook shot out of the
Speaker 1: post on the left block. Chris Middleton at the end
Speaker 1: of the or started the fourth quarter, hit three straight
Speaker 1: tough pull up jumpers. He was picking on Tari Easton
Speaker 1: and switches hit two in his face, hit another late
Speaker 1: clock one over Jabari Smith and then there was a
Speaker 1: Jabari Smith jumper over Dame Mi Lillard that got the
Speaker 1: lead down to three. Fourth quarter, and he immediately Chris
Speaker 1: Middleton hit a massive three over the top that brought
Speaker 1: the lead back to six. He had an up and
Speaker 1: under reverse layup in the first half, slashing out of
Speaker 1: the right corner. Just game after game, Chris Middleton is
Speaker 1: starting to look more and more like Chris Middleton, which
Speaker 1: is super encouraging. But to that point, and again I
Speaker 1: wanted to I went so long on the Andre Jackson thing,
Speaker 1: and I apologize because that probably confused this a little bit.
Speaker 1: But like again, every basketball game, you find these clear
Speaker 1: your advantages that you have, and it was clear that
Speaker 1: like Lopez was just going to disrupt a lot of
Speaker 1: the normal Shanngun stuff. Andre Jackson just providing real athleticism
Speaker 1: on the perimeter. Javari Smith was too small to guard Giannis. Right,
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton, you just when he won the championship with
Speaker 1: the Bucks, he just was giving you eighteen to twenty
Speaker 1: with just timely shot making, just the ability to give
Speaker 1: him the basketball a few times a quarter, and he's
Speaker 1: gonna be able to get to a pull up jumper.
Speaker 1: He can make about half the time that that is
Speaker 1: the advantage. It's like it's just squeezing extra drops out
Speaker 1: of the sponge, right, and like that's part of what
Speaker 1: makes the Milwaukee ceiling so high. Is like that's pretty
Speaker 1: far down on the totem pole. But it's also a
Speaker 1: very dangerous thing that they can do. And then lastly,
Speaker 1: you could see at the end of the first quarter
Speaker 1: of this game, Damian Lillard figured out that nobody on
Speaker 1: the rockets could keep him in front off the dribble,
Speaker 1: even Dylan Brooks, who did a good job on ball.
Speaker 1: Dame found ways to use the screen to get past
Speaker 1: him and get downhill. Specifically, what Dame was doing that
Speaker 1: was really smart is he was using the screen twice.
Speaker 1: So imagine this, I'm on the left side of the floor.
Speaker 1: Brook Lopez comes and sets a screen. I'm getting ready
Speaker 1: to rip through to the right to get to the
Speaker 1: right side of the screen. Dylan Brooks does an amazing
Speaker 1: job because he's great at it. It's sidling up over
Speaker 1: the top and meeting you on the other side of
Speaker 1: the screen. Dame would then hit like in and out
Speaker 1: between the legs and go right back to the left.
Speaker 1: Brook Lopez would turn and rescreen Dylan, and it's it's,
Speaker 1: you know, like we talked about earlier, already challenging enough
Speaker 1: to get over one screen, but it's really hard to
Speaker 1: get over a second one, especially when you just expended
Speaker 1: a bunch of energy and balance getting over the first one.
Speaker 1: Then there's this nasty sequence. He goes to the right,
Speaker 1: Dylan beats him over the screen, comes back to the
Speaker 1: left through the legs, catches Dylan on the screen, gets downhill.
Speaker 1: Shane Gouon steps up behind the back, dribble to his
Speaker 1: right hand, pump fakes Shan Gunin, jumps out of his shoes,
Speaker 1: and then he steps through with a left handed layup.
Speaker 1: It's just ridiculous, and that you could tell that was
Speaker 1: what kind of like triggered the confidence. And then from
Speaker 1: there he was just literally getting downhill, getting all the
Speaker 1: way to the rim, getting layups and fouls time after
Speaker 1: time after time. And then at the end of the
Speaker 1: first quarter he won't even call him for a screen.
Speaker 1: He's like, this is Aaron Holliday. Aaron Holliday can't guard me.
Speaker 1: Just hard right to left, move, got downhill, drew the contact,
Speaker 1: rose up and knocked down a shot for the and one.
Speaker 1: Then he got the pull up three point shot going.
Speaker 1: He made three pull up threes in this game. It
Speaker 1: just it was one of the few games we've seen
Speaker 1: this season where Dame legitimately looked like the MVP level
Speaker 1: offensive engine we know he's capable of being, and so
Speaker 1: all of that comes together to me to demonstrate what
Speaker 1: was a best, the best picture I've seen this year
Speaker 1: of what the Bucks top end potential could look like.
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard as a MVP level offensive engine, a point
Speaker 1: of attack defender at the two, not a shooter necessarily.
Speaker 1: That's not to say you got You don't want to
Speaker 1: upgrade that to a guy who can shoot, But what
Speaker 1: you saw is that it's immensely valuable in this defense
Speaker 1: to have an athlete next to Dame in the back court.
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton giving you eighteen to twenty ish points on
Speaker 1: scoring in the margins, Giannis who's just been insane, like
Speaker 1: the dude just continues to be a complete and total
Speaker 1: wrecking ball in the entire NBA. And then Brook Lopez
Speaker 1: in a deep drop coverage hitting picking pop threes like
Speaker 1: that's what you need. You need all of those things,
Speaker 1: and if Dame doesn't play at an MVP level and
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton struggles to consistently get to twenty points and
Speaker 1: you don't have an athlete next to Dame at the two.
Speaker 1: That's where they go from being championship caliber team to
Speaker 1: something beneath that. But those are the that's the configuration,
Speaker 1: MVP level, Dame point of attack defender, Chris Middleton. We
Speaker 1: saw in twenty twenty one MVP Giannis Classic Brook. That's
Speaker 1: the formula, and I thought it was cool getting to
Speaker 1: see that this weekend because it's something we haven't really
Speaker 1: seen much from the Bucks in this particular season. All right,
Speaker 1: moving on to a power ranking, so we had three
Speaker 1: teams fall out this week. The Cavs they went one
Speaker 1: in three this week. They lost two of their top
Speaker 1: four players of significant injuries as well, So it's kind
Speaker 1: of unfortunate because they went from being a team that
Speaker 1: was in my power rankings two weeks in a row
Speaker 1: to suddenly being a team that has a lot of tough,
Speaker 1: tough decisions that they have to make in the coming weeks.
Speaker 1: The Lakers fallen out after being all the way up
Speaker 1: at number three or four whatever had last week. My
Speaker 1: biggest fear after the Ncason Tournament was that the Lakers
Speaker 1: would just immediately left their foot, let their foot off
Speaker 1: the gas. That's exactly what happened. They lost to an
Speaker 1: injury decimated Mavericks team in a game that they straight
Speaker 1: up did not play hard in the first half and
Speaker 1: dug a big hole the late late game they started trying,
Speaker 1: but then at that point the Mavericks were confident. They
Speaker 1: made a bunch of shots and they beat them. They
Speaker 1: dropped a game in San Antonio, and yeah, three started
Speaker 1: were out, like Anthony Davis was out, Cam reddis was out,
Speaker 1: D'angela Russell was out. But that Spurs team is terrible,
Speaker 1: and the Lakers had enough depth to get it done.
Speaker 1: And quite frankly, from what I saw on tape, they
Speaker 1: just didn't play hard. Lebron in particular, had like one
Speaker 1: of his worst defensive games of the season in that
Speaker 1: Spurs game. And like, now here's the thing with the Lakers.
Speaker 1: No matter what happens, I'm always gonna have them on
Speaker 1: my contenders list because I always think they're capable of
Speaker 1: doing what they did in the n Season Tournament, which
Speaker 1: is lock in on defense, reach a defensive ceiling higher
Speaker 1: than anybody else in the league and get enough out
Speaker 1: of Lebron James, Anthony Davis and Austin Reeves offensively to
Speaker 1: get you over the top. That is their path and
Speaker 1: that is what makes them dangerous. But this season, outside
Speaker 1: of the n season tournament games, the pool play games,
Speaker 1: and the n Season tournament itself, they have been the
Speaker 1: worst effort team in the NBA, the worst. No one's
Speaker 1: playing less hard than the Lakers outside of the ncason
Speaker 1: Tournament games this year. And so so what's gonna happen
Speaker 1: is they're gonna end up hovering in the mid forties
Speaker 1: for wins and they're gonna end up having to go
Speaker 1: on the road in the first round to play a
Speaker 1: really good team. And I, personally, I don't think it's
Speaker 1: the right strategy. Everything about NBA history tells us that
Speaker 1: teams that take the regular season seriously are teams that
Speaker 1: win at the end because you establish habits and processes
Speaker 1: and chemistry that carry you over the top. You have
Speaker 1: to treat the regular season as effectively preparation for the postseason.
Speaker 1: If you treat the regular season as a necessary evil,
Speaker 1: like the Lakers have done, you just make you just
Speaker 1: make it harder on yourself. And so again I I
Speaker 1: I'm not taking them off the contender tier, but I
Speaker 1: have a feeling we're gonna see a lot of disappointing
Speaker 1: regular season basketball from the Lakers, because this is a
Speaker 1: team that clearly knows they have a punch they can
Speaker 1: throw that can beat most of the teams in the league,
Speaker 1: and they don't seem interested in throwing it most of
Speaker 1: the time. And so that to me, is going to
Speaker 1: keep them off of a list like this. I'd like
Speaker 1: my contender list is a playoff list. This Power Rankings
Speaker 1: list is a regular season list, and the Lakers are
Speaker 1: not going to be on this list very often if
Speaker 1: they don't take regular season games seriously. And then, lastly,
Speaker 1: the pacer same exact thing they won or won most.
Speaker 1: They won their half of the bracket in the n
Speaker 1: Season Tournament by defending. It was their best defensive week
Speaker 1: of the season, and then they straight up stop defending.
Speaker 1: This week their three game losing streak, they had a
Speaker 1: one to twenty six defensive rating. Specifically, their help side
Speaker 1: defense just completely fell apart. Again, if they're ever going
Speaker 1: to achieve the goals they want to achieve, they have
Speaker 1: to maintain a defensive identity as well. All right, here
Speaker 1: we go quickly through our top ten. Number ten the
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks. They beat Memphis, the Lakers in Portland this
Speaker 1: week lost to Minnesota. They've won five out of six overall,
Speaker 1: despite being pretty banged up. Lucas playing like an MVP,
Speaker 1: and the guys around him are making shots, the two
Speaker 1: most important parts of Dallas's offense. They're also up to
Speaker 1: seven and seven against teams that are five hundred better
Speaker 1: this season. Number nine the Orlando Magic. They beat Cleveland,
Speaker 1: but then they lost to Boston twice. Really rough week
Speaker 1: for Franz Wagner struggled against the Celtics defense. Number eight
Speaker 1: the Denver Nuggets. It's been an underwhelming start to the season.
Speaker 1: Right They were eight and one in the first nine games,
Speaker 1: but they're just nine and nine cents, fifteenth in offense
Speaker 1: and fourteenth in defense over that span. But they did
Speaker 1: go three and one this week, and so they had
Speaker 1: the eighth spot for now. Number seven the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Speaker 1: They beat Utah and Denver lost in Sacramento. Second best
Speaker 1: record in the West, fifth best record in the NBA,
Speaker 1: A real signature win. They had five games this year
Speaker 1: that they had won against my contender tier, but they
Speaker 1: were all iffy right, like they beat Golden State three times,
Speaker 1: but Golden States had a boatload of issues. They won
Speaker 1: against Phoenix, but that was with no Bradley Beal or
Speaker 1: Devin Booker. And then they beat the Lakers, but the
Speaker 1: Lakers were at the end of a road trip and
Speaker 1: on the tail end of a back to back, but
Speaker 1: Denver was at home a day's rest, controlled most of
Speaker 1: the game, played great, and Oklahoma City just hung in
Speaker 1: there and executed perfectly down the stretch and got a win.
Speaker 1: I thought it was really impressive. I have them at
Speaker 1: number seven, number six, the one team to beat the
Speaker 1: Thunder this week, another winning streak, two impressive wins against
Speaker 1: Brooklyn and Oklahoma City. They also beat Utah, but then
Speaker 1: they lost to the Clippers. They just have so many
Speaker 1: impressive wins this season, like that Oklahoma City win. They
Speaker 1: are ten and seven this year against teams that are
Speaker 1: five hundred are better. Number five the hottest team in
Speaker 1: the league, the Los Angeles Clippers. And for those of
Speaker 1: you guys who missed it last week, I had Lot
Speaker 1: Murray from the Athletic, a buddy of mine, a guy
Speaker 1: who have played some basketball with over the years. Two
Speaker 1: he came on and just did a deep dive on
Speaker 1: the Clippers. So if you're a Clippers fan looking for
Speaker 1: more Clippers analysis, you can find that a little further
Speaker 1: back on the feet. They've won seven games in a row,
Speaker 1: twelve out of fifteen overall. They beat the Kings twice
Speaker 1: in that span, they beat the Nuggets and beat the Mavericks,
Speaker 1: so they've got a bunch of quality wins. They are
Speaker 1: fifth in defense over that span, and the scary thing
Speaker 1: is their offense is just about guaranteed to get better
Speaker 1: than what it has been so far in the James
Speaker 1: hard And era. Number four the Philadelphia seventy six Ers. So,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned last week, the Sixers are entering into
Speaker 1: a very easy part of their schedule. They go undefeated
Speaker 1: this week, beating Washington, Charlotte, and Detroit twice. They're up
Speaker 1: to eighteen and seven, which is third in the East.
Speaker 1: They are just two games back of the best record
Speaker 1: in basketball, and they're beating the shit out of everyone.
Speaker 1: They now have the best net rating in the league,
Speaker 1: outscoring opponents by twelve point one points per one hundred possessions.
Speaker 1: Number three the Milwaukee Bucks. They bounce back from their
Speaker 1: disappointing nd season tournament loss to the Pacers by going
Speaker 1: four to oh this week, beating Chicago, Detroit, Houston, and
Speaker 1: getting revenge on Indiana. They had a lot of success
Speaker 1: this week with Andre Jackson in the starting lineup. We
Speaker 1: did for those of guys who are watching this as
Speaker 1: a breakout clip. In our early part of this episode,
Speaker 1: we did a deep dive into everything that Andre Jackson
Speaker 1: did to help the Bucks in general. I thought the
Speaker 1: Rockets game was their best overall effort, one of their
Speaker 1: best overall efforts of the season in terms of what
Speaker 1: I view like the future of this team to look like.
Speaker 1: So again, if you want to hear a deeper dive
Speaker 1: on that, go a little bit further back in this
Speaker 1: particular show. But I got the Bucks at number three,
Speaker 1: number two. The Minnesota Timberwolves. They got absolutely handled on
Speaker 1: the road in New Orleans. But New Orleans is a
Speaker 1: good team at home. I think they're nine to four
Speaker 1: at home this year. But they did bounce back with
Speaker 1: good road wins or excuse me, back to back good
Speaker 1: wins against Indiana and Dallas. Carl Towns is on like
Speaker 1: a crazy tear. He averaged twenty six points a game
Speaker 1: this week on fifty six percent from the field forty
Speaker 1: four percent from three, ninety percent from the line, with
Speaker 1: fourteen rebounds per game. He's now up to sixty three
Speaker 1: percent true shooting for the season. And also shout out
Speaker 1: to Nas Reed who made thirteen threes off the bench
Speaker 1: this week for the Timberwolves and then lastly at number
Speaker 1: one the Boston Celtics. They went four to zho all
Speaker 1: against good teams this week, beat Cleveland twice straight up,
Speaker 1: dominated Orlando twice as well. Jalen Brown in his last
Speaker 1: six games twenty four points per game on fifty seven
Speaker 1: percent from the field. To give you some perspective, in
Speaker 1: his first eighteen games, he shot just forty five percent
Speaker 1: from the field. So Jalen Brown very efficient in a
Speaker 1: small role, a smaller role this season than what he
Speaker 1: had last year. And you can see just how much
Speaker 1: it's elevated their ceiling as teams barely been able to
Speaker 1: keep games close against the Celtics over the course of
Speaker 1: this week. I thought Boston did enough to regain the
Speaker 1: top spot for now. There you have our power rankings
Speaker 1: for the week of December eighteenth. All right, let's move
Speaker 1: on to our mailbag. What are the advantages of having
Speaker 1: a system player like Tim Duncan, Steph Curry, Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: versus heliocentric players Luka Doncic, James Harden, Lebron James, and
Speaker 1: Nikola Jokich. As always loved the show. So here's the thing.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't necessarily agree with the monikers, because a system
Speaker 1: player has a negative connotation when it shouldn't, and then
Speaker 1: helio centric players they have a negative connotation when I
Speaker 1: believe they kind of should. So, first of all, a
Speaker 1: system player, to me, if I had to identify that,
Speaker 1: it's a player that plays a specific style but is
Speaker 1: deeply impactful in that style, and it requires the team
Speaker 1: to kind of build their offense around that style. So
Speaker 1: examples are like Steph Curry. And then I look at
Speaker 1: Nikole Jokic as this type of player. To me, you
Speaker 1: had listed Nikole Jokic in the heliocentric category. I don't
Speaker 1: really see it that way. I look at heliocentric players
Speaker 1: as players who bring the ball up the floor and
Speaker 1: make every single decision seemingly at least relative to normal
Speaker 1: shot creation, right, And in those cases there's real negative
Speaker 1: connotations in the sense that like or drawbacks, I should say,
Speaker 1: in the sense that, like, because one player has the
Speaker 1: ball the vast majority of the time, most players struggle
Speaker 1: to get in a rhythm alongside him. So specific types
Speaker 1: of players play finishers. So guys who are vertical spacers
Speaker 1: and catch and shoot guys will find a com role
Speaker 1: in that sort of system. But guys who are like
Speaker 1: driving kick guys, guys that have a little bit off
Speaker 1: of the off the bounce game, they can struggle in
Speaker 1: that type of system, right, And that's that's not a
Speaker 1: shot at any specific player. It's just really all the
Speaker 1: guys that take a heliocentric approach to things, right. And
Speaker 1: then I think there are guys that are heliocentric and
Speaker 1: small doses, not in large doses. So like James Harden,
Speaker 1: for instance, when when he was in his prime, was
Speaker 1: a large dose heliocentric player, meaning like he just did
Speaker 1: it every single possession all the time and it never ended, right,
Speaker 1: Whereas Lebron, It's like Lebron was like, I'll go heliocentric
Speaker 1: for eight minutes in a playoff game, you know, but
Speaker 1: then he'll you know, Lebron like look at Lebron his
Speaker 1: entire Laker era. Half the time he's screening and rolling
Speaker 1: in the basket as an off the ball player, right, So,
Speaker 1: like I think, I think there's the value in heliocentrism
Speaker 1: is it's a simple brand of basketball. That guy can't
Speaker 1: guard me, I'm gonna find a way to get him
Speaker 1: in the action, either in a two man game or
Speaker 1: one man game with a clear side of the floor,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna make decisions out of that. And it
Speaker 1: can be ruthlessly effective. But if you do it too much,
Speaker 1: it can become predictable. So there's a sweet spot in there.
Speaker 1: What I've always appreciated about Lebron is a heliocentric player
Speaker 1: is he'll do it for like eight possessions in a
Speaker 1: big playoff game, but he'll go away with from it
Speaker 1: when it's not working, and he'll wait to break it
Speaker 1: out until it's a moment in the game where it
Speaker 1: really has value. And that that that, to me, is
Speaker 1: a more valuable form of heliocentric basketball. In the big picture,
Speaker 1: I think that'll be the best version of Luka Doncic
Speaker 1: when he gets a real co star that can that
Speaker 1: he is forced to kind of play a more, you know,
Speaker 1: sharing style with and then he'll be a heliocentric guy
Speaker 1: in brief stretches of games, and in those stretches he
Speaker 1: will be lethal. Right, That's kind of the way I
Speaker 1: look at it. The system side of it, it's more,
Speaker 1: it's way more of a positive because like with Steph
Speaker 1: and Nikola jokicch and their systems that they run there,
Speaker 1: they're deep involved with keeping everybody engaged in the offense
Speaker 1: and specifically making plays. So it's not just a Steph
Speaker 1: dribble seventeen times, kick to somebody in the corner and
Speaker 1: they take a shot. Steph is consistently generating four on threes,
Speaker 1: which allow smart basketball players that can dribble, pass, and
Speaker 1: shoot to make plays in four on threes. Nikola Jokic
Speaker 1: similar type of deal, drawing double teams in the post,
Speaker 1: drawing multiple defenders in the short role. Like it's the
Speaker 1: same kind of thing. Jokic is mostly operating without the basketball.
Speaker 1: He's making quick decisions. He very rarely is how often
Speaker 1: do you see Nikol Jokic dribble the ball off the floor,
Speaker 1: back a dude down in the post and hold the
Speaker 1: ball for seventeen seconds on a possession before he makes
Speaker 1: a decision. It just doesn't happen. And I look at
Speaker 1: that as a clear positive thing, not a negative thing.
Speaker 1: Hopefully that kind of breaks down those archetypes a little
Speaker 1: bit better. Here's a Warriors fan. Sorry, Jason, but we
Speaker 1: have the receipts. Show after show you've said, it's not
Speaker 1: time for the Warriors to panic. Trust the Vets. They
Speaker 1: will come around. Guys of Kaminga and Moody just aren't ready,
Speaker 1: et cetera. Now tonight you're saying something needs to change.
Speaker 1: You're right, but you're late. Dub Nation has been saying
Speaker 1: that for the whole year, and now you and Kerr
Speaker 1: are starting to buy into it. I reacted to new information.
Speaker 1: I don't know what else to say. You know how
Speaker 1: the Warriors won two games this weekend with who they
Speaker 1: beat Portland and Brooklyn, and Brooklyn's a solid team. By
Speaker 1: the way, I was always a believer that when healthy,
Speaker 1: if they could just kind of get some steady play
Speaker 1: for a few months, that they would be fine. Because
Speaker 1: I'm a big believer that Draymond Green, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson,
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins as your four starters. I would agree with
Speaker 1: most Warriors fans that Kerr stuck with the looney Draymond
Speaker 1: front court for way too long. That said, like, I
Speaker 1: really do believe they would have been fine. They had
Speaker 1: like the sixth last eight shacked. It was before the
Speaker 1: two games this weekend, But they had like the sixth
Speaker 1: easiest remaining schedule this year. Like, I just thought they
Speaker 1: were gonna get wins. What happened is this, Draymond got suspended.
Speaker 1: When Draymond got suspended, that is new information, and it
Speaker 1: changes the dynamic of the season. Right. For instance, at
Speaker 1: the time I said that recording out, it was they
Speaker 1: were three games back of the ten seed. Now they're
Speaker 1: two games back of the ten seed because they got
Speaker 1: they went to and Oh this weekend. But at three
Speaker 1: games back of the ten seed, when you have Draymond Green,
Speaker 1: when you start playing good basketball over a longer stretch,
Speaker 1: I just expected them to be a well over five
Speaker 1: hundred team and to climb back into the playoff race
Speaker 1: and be able to patiently make a decision at the deadline.
Speaker 1: Draymond suspended his suspension and we just got to report
Speaker 1: this morning he's going to be out for at least
Speaker 1: three more weeks. Like that means he will miss the
Speaker 1: better part of you know, fifteen games or so. That's
Speaker 1: just a huge chunk of games. And without Draymond going
Speaker 1: let's call it seven to seven over a fourteen game
Speaker 1: stretch is just going to be really difficult. And if
Speaker 1: they do go five eight, then they'll no longer be
Speaker 1: two or three games back in the ten seed. They'll
Speaker 1: be four or five games back in the ten seed. Now,
Speaker 1: it's just really challenging to get back into the standings
Speaker 1: from that far back halfway through the damn season. That's
Speaker 1: all I was saying. Obviously, my opinion changed because Draymond
Speaker 1: Green's suspension removed the second or third best player from
Speaker 1: the team for damn near quarter of the season. It
Speaker 1: is a significant piece of new information. I generally speaking,
Speaker 1: wasn't going to panic on the Warriors for the same
Speaker 1: reason the Lakers had their late season stretched last year.
Speaker 1: The Warriors have clear salary filler and assets to make
Speaker 1: a deal. Chris Paul is clear salary filler. Jonathan Kaminga
Speaker 1: is a clear asset. So they if they choose to
Speaker 1: punt the whole damn thing and go in on young guys,
Speaker 1: they have Kaminga. They have Moody. They have Tray Jackson Davis,
Speaker 1: they have Brandon Pazemski. They got rebuild right if they
Speaker 1: choose no, we want on a rebuild around Steph. They've
Speaker 1: got a clear package Kaminga and Chris Paul draft compensation.
Speaker 1: You're gonna bring back quality players and then you'll be
Speaker 1: able to make a run. And would they probably be
Speaker 1: in the lower half of the standing. Sure, but that's
Speaker 1: not a death sentence anymore as we know. So that's
Speaker 1: why I was more bullish on the Lakers before the
Speaker 1: Draymond injury than I, excuse me, on the Warriors I
Speaker 1: should say before the Draymond injury than I was after
Speaker 1: the suspension, I should say than I was after the
Speaker 1: Draymond suspension. Hopefully that clears that up a little bit.
Speaker 1: Next question, Despite having the best record in the East,
Speaker 1: despite Boston having the best record in the East, I
Speaker 1: feel like they aren't really playing their best basketball yet.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like they could be ramping up for
Speaker 1: a better push in the playoffs? Historically it seems like
Speaker 1: they have had great starts and fizzle out by the end.
Speaker 1: Do you see them as a team that is cruising
Speaker 1: now to make a push at the end. I predicted
Speaker 1: before the season that I think the Celtics are going
Speaker 1: to finish the season with the number one overall seed
Speaker 1: and comfortably, and I believe they're going to do so.
Speaker 1: Right now, they're a half game up on Minnesota right
Speaker 1: for the number one overall seed. But Minnesota is in
Speaker 1: a really difficult stretch of their schedule, and I think
Speaker 1: they're gonna build a three or four game gap over
Speaker 1: that span. Philly is going through a very very easy
Speaker 1: stretch of their schedule. There's the Eastern Conference is weird too,
Speaker 1: because like it's kind of reminds me of twenty twenty
Speaker 1: in the sense that like the top of the East
Speaker 1: is really good, but the bottom of the East is
Speaker 1: really bad, significantly worse than the bottom of the West.
Speaker 1: And so the teams at the top of the East
Speaker 1: are really going to put up some crazy net rating
Speaker 1: numbers this year. That's why you see Philly and Boston
Speaker 1: just have these crazy net ratings and everyone else is
Speaker 1: below them. It's just because they're beating the shit out
Speaker 1: of every bad team at the bottom of the conference. Right, So,
Speaker 1: like some of those numbers are a little bit weird,
Speaker 1: but I'm not worried about Boston in the standings. They're
Speaker 1: gonna finish with the number one seed because I think
Speaker 1: they're better than Philly, and the Western Conference is just tougher,
Speaker 1: and they're just gonna beat the shit out of each
Speaker 1: other and all their staying in their records in the
Speaker 1: standings will go down. That said, do I think Boston
Speaker 1: can play better basketball? Yes, I did a deep dive
Speaker 1: on the Celtics with Chris Mannix last week that encourage
Speaker 1: you guys to go check out. But one of the
Speaker 1: big things that I'm seeing right now is offensively, they
Speaker 1: are not optimized because they are not taking great shots.
Speaker 1: They take a ton of difficult off the dribble jump
Speaker 1: shots despite not being particularly good at it. Tatum is
Speaker 1: the big culprit there, just continues to take a shit
Speaker 1: ton of pull up jump shots despite being not very
Speaker 1: good at it, and Jalen Brown same thing, and as
Speaker 1: a result, they just have a lot of possessions where
Speaker 1: they get lower value out of them than they probably should.
Speaker 1: So the big thing is going to be if by
Speaker 1: the end of the season they can become a more
Speaker 1: optimized offensive version of what they've been to this point. Lastly,
Speaker 1: Yoker Yoker. The Jokers struggled some over the last week
Speaker 1: or so. Do you think it's just a function of
Speaker 1: shooting variants or is there something you were seeing defenses
Speaker 1: do that has been effective against him? So Yo Kitchen
Speaker 1: his last six games is averaging twenty one points per
Speaker 1: game on just forty four percent from the field, and
Speaker 1: he's basically stopped taking threes. He was taking a ton
Speaker 1: of them to start the year and in the postseason
Speaker 1: last year, and to stopped taking them, to me, everything
Speaker 1: stems from the jump shot. To me, it's a bigger
Speaker 1: concern that Jokic straight up stopped taking threes, not entirely,
Speaker 1: but has gone significantly lower volume taking threes because it
Speaker 1: just makes him that much easier to guard. You know,
Speaker 1: a big part of Jokic's postseason success last year was
Speaker 1: nailing pick and pop threes in attacking closeouts when guys
Speaker 1: closed hard at him at the top of the key.
Speaker 1: We are now watching Jokic get left open at the
Speaker 1: top of the key, and again, that just means more
Speaker 1: bodies in the paint less passing angles, harder for Yokic
Speaker 1: to drive closeouts. The game has just become tougher for
Speaker 1: him since then I don't think it's a big picture
Speaker 1: issue yet, but we have seen examples, not last year,
Speaker 1: but the year before of Jokic going in entire season
Speaker 1: in postseason not shooting the ball well. So that would
Speaker 1: be my main concern because I do believe Jokic is
Speaker 1: the best player in the world, but not by some
Speaker 1: gigantic chasm. So if Jokic goes down a level because
Speaker 1: his jump shot failed him and he becomes easier to
Speaker 1: guard as a result, that could mean some other player
Speaker 1: could become better than him. That could mean some other
Speaker 1: unit could become better than Denver's offense. Right, those are
Speaker 1: the potential pitfalls and things that could open up in
Speaker 1: Denver's armor and lead to some vulnerability there. All right, guys,
Speaker 1: That is all I have for today To give you
Speaker 1: guys a quick breakdown of the schedule for the rest
Speaker 1: of the week. We have Tomorrow night we're going live
Speaker 1: after Celtics Warriors. Then Wednesday, we have Sam's FONDIII from
Speaker 1: the Light Years podcast coming on the show to do
Speaker 1: a deep dive on the Golden State Warriors as they
Speaker 1: head into this transition period this season. Then we have
Speaker 1: film breakdowns on Thursday and Friday, and then on Christmas Day,
Speaker 1: we'll be going live twice during the during the five
Speaker 1: games that we have going on that day, and then
Speaker 1: the late evening games I will cover on Tuesday morning.
Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate you guys, and I will see
Speaker 1: you tomorrow night. The volume