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Speaker 1: co slash b ball. All right, welcome to him tonight
Speaker 1: here at the volume heavy Wednesday. Everybody up, all of
Speaker 1: you guys are having a great week. Got a quick
Speaker 1: show for you today. We're just hitting two games from
Speaker 1: last night, Slate two of the top contender. Two games
Speaker 1: worth of the top contenders in the league facing off
Speaker 1: with each other. Our early season top two teams in
Speaker 1: the East between the Celtics and the Knicks didn't work
Speaker 1: out that way, but the Knicks got a chance again
Speaker 1: to try to reverse the embarrassing trends that they've had
Speaker 1: against the Celtics, and they did have their most competitive
Speaker 1: game of the season against Boston, but ultimately ended up
Speaker 1: losing on a pick and pop three by Christops Porzingis.
Speaker 1: Lots of interesting stuff in that game, though, and one
Speaker 1: potential little upside for the Knicks in a potential playoff
Speaker 1: matchup with the Celtics. And then in the second half
Speaker 1: of the show, we got Round two of Lakers Thunder,
Speaker 1: a very predictable shift and effort from both teams, but
Speaker 1: I thought it manifested in some super interesting ways and
Speaker 1: it ended up leaving that game even more convinced that
Speaker 1: the Lakers have a good chance to potentially upset the
Speaker 1: Thunder in a playoff series. So lots to get into
Speaker 1: in those two games. And then don't forget, we're coming
Speaker 1: back tonight after the final buzzer of Mavericks Lakers a
Speaker 1: good opportunity for us to see a good old fashioned
Speaker 1: revenge game with Anthony Davis and Luke on some different teams.
Speaker 1: I think we'll get to see Lebron and Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: guard each other tonight. That should be fun. Luca is
Speaker 1: either going to just go absolutely ape shit or he's
Speaker 1: going to be terrible. I'll be curious to see which
Speaker 1: one he ends up being because it's just such a
Speaker 1: weird environment. But don't forget we've got that coming up
Speaker 1: on YouTube later tonight. You guys know the drill before
Speaker 1: we get started. Subscribe to Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You
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Speaker 1: and last, but not least, keep dropping mail bag questions
Speaker 1: in the youtub t comments. We already did our mail
Speaker 1: bag this week, but there's still tons of time to
Speaker 1: get questions in for next week's mail bag. Remember just
Speaker 1: in our full episodes in the comments right. Mail Bag
Speaker 1: with Colon Recher question in there. We'll get to it
Speaker 1: in our weekly mail bags throughout the remainder of the season.
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So the Knicks had
Speaker 1: by far their most competitive game of the season versus
Speaker 1: the Celtics, but obviously they end up losing. Pick and
Speaker 1: pop three from chrisps porzingis kind of like a just
Speaker 1: a repeated theme in that game. Porzingis getting good, clean
Speaker 1: looks above the break. But I want to start with
Speaker 1: the Knicks for a second and talk about specifically how
Speaker 1: the Knicks managed to keep things more competitive this time around.
Speaker 1: This is a matchup where the Knicks have looked They've
Speaker 1: looked like they've not been in the same class as
Speaker 1: Boston in the matchups they've had earlier this season. And
Speaker 1: I thought the two things that shifted that back towards
Speaker 1: the knicks favor were one, it was their sharpest defensive
Speaker 1: discipline game Boston. They weren't really doing anything different per se,
Speaker 1: still trying their best not to switch with Brunson in
Speaker 1: towns and staying attached, but they just did a better job,
Speaker 1: better ball pressure, better staying attached to those screening actions,
Speaker 1: better rotating, just making Boston a little bit more uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: And by the way, I don't think it was a
Speaker 1: coincidence that this was their best defensive game against Boston
Speaker 1: because it comes right after the best defensive stretch that
Speaker 1: Boston excuse me, that the Knicks have had this season
Speaker 1: with Jalen Brunson out. As we talked about the other day,
Speaker 1: they've been top ten, top ten in defense, top ten
Speaker 1: and defensive rebounding, so two categories that they've been And
Speaker 1: they've been awesome at forcing turnovers, getting out in transition,
Speaker 1: forcing more turnovers than they did at any other point
Speaker 1: in the season, scoring a ton of points per game
Speaker 1: in transitions. So just being more of a we're gonna
Speaker 1: be sharp on the margins type of team instead of
Speaker 1: leaning on their offense like they did for the majority
Speaker 1: of this season. I there were a lot of interesting
Speaker 1: quotes that came out from players and coaches yesterday, but
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys heard Devin Booker. After
Speaker 1: they got their butts kicked by the Golden State Warriors,
Speaker 1: Devin Booker talked about, you know, someone asked him what
Speaker 1: went wrong for the Suns this season, and he said,
Speaker 1: they never had winning habits and this is a concept
Speaker 1: I've talked about so much on the show, this idea
Speaker 1: that your habits are what carry you in these situations.
Speaker 1: You're even if you know what you're supposed to do,
Speaker 1: Like even if you know like, Okay, here's what I
Speaker 1: do and I'm the low man, these are the reads
Speaker 1: that I'm looking to make. These are the rotations that
Speaker 1: I make in these situations. Even if you understand how
Speaker 1: to play defense, you've got to there is such a
Speaker 1: thing as defensive rhythm, just like there is offensive rhythm.
Speaker 1: When you're in a good stretch where you've been defending
Speaker 1: really well for a while, you build up these habits
Speaker 1: to where all those things that I said you would
Speaker 1: understand by knowing your job actually come to fruition by
Speaker 1: you executing those things every single possession. If you could
Speaker 1: know all those things, but if you don't play back
Speaker 1: basketball for a couple of weeks, or if you play
Speaker 1: bad basketball for a couple of weeks, you could enter
Speaker 1: into a more high leverage situation, and even though you
Speaker 1: know what you're supposed to do, you're just not in
Speaker 1: a rhythm defensively to where you're doing those things consistently.
Speaker 1: You've got to build defensive rhythm. You have to build
Speaker 1: defensive habits, and I don't think it's a coincidence that
Speaker 1: the Knicks were more competitive with Boston in this game
Speaker 1: after a stretch of time where they built out some
Speaker 1: winning habits that didn't exist in the earlier part of
Speaker 1: the season. Another just random quote from yesterday that I
Speaker 1: wanted to shout out Mark Dagenal before the Lakers Thunder
Speaker 1: second game. He was asked about the Lakers shooting in
Speaker 1: the Sunday game, and basically he just went up there
Speaker 1: and I was like, literally just in front of my
Speaker 1: TV just clapping because he was just saying all the
Speaker 1: stuff that I've been saying on the show NonStop, which
Speaker 1: is that shot result is connected to the way you play.
Speaker 1: And he was pointing out to the press, the guys
Speaker 1: that were trying to the the you know, the reporters
Speaker 1: just trying to get him to say something along the
Speaker 1: lines of like, oh, yeah, well, you know, we know
Speaker 1: the shots will even out tonight, But that's not what
Speaker 1: Mark said. Mark was like, yeah, they shot well, but
Speaker 1: we also allowed them to get great shots, We allowed
Speaker 1: them to be comfortable. They played better basketball than us.
Speaker 1: He literally said, they outplayed us the majority of the night.
Speaker 1: That's the thing I've been saying this so much. You
Speaker 1: can't flip shot quality unless you change the way that
Speaker 1: you're playing. There's all sorts of interesting quotes going around
Speaker 1: the NBA yesterday, But second piece that kept the Knicks
Speaker 1: close to Boston yesterday, I thought they found a semi
Speaker 1: reliable way to attack Boston's defense. And this was Carl
Speaker 1: Anthony Towns in the post against Boston's guards and forwards.
Speaker 1: Did a lot of really great work down there, bullying
Speaker 1: guys right to the front of the rim, drawing second defenders,
Speaker 1: and making kickout passes. He ran ten post ups in
Speaker 1: the game, and the Knicks had a one to thirty
Speaker 1: offensive rating in those possessions. Here's why that matters for
Speaker 1: the Knicks. There are certain things from tonight that don't
Speaker 1: translate to a series. Like Jalen Brown is banged up
Speaker 1: and was on a minute's restriction right so with him
Speaker 1: out and al Horford out in crunch time, the Celtics
Speaker 1: had to close with Peyton Pritchard or Luke Cornett, and
Speaker 1: the Knicks really went out those two guys in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter stretch. In the fourth quarter stretch when the
Speaker 1: Knicks built that three point lead before Tatum tied it.
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson in a left shoulder fade over Peyton Pritchard,
Speaker 1: Ognanovi Ojnnob got an easy offensive rebound put back over
Speaker 1: Peyton Pritchard right underneath the basket. Then Joe Mizula tweaks, goes, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're having some trouble with Prichard getting attacked for a
Speaker 1: lack of size, so he goes with Luke Cornett instead.
Speaker 1: Then Jalen Brunson just a meetate edately puts Luke Cornett
Speaker 1: in the ball screen, draws a blitz two on the
Speaker 1: ball out like thirty feet from the basket, throws a
Speaker 1: nice little bounce pass to Josh Hart in the middle
Speaker 1: of the floor. He hits a little floater that puts
Speaker 1: him back up by three. So, like a lot of
Speaker 1: the crunch time attack for the Knicks was stuff that
Speaker 1: won't necessarily translate to a playoff series, right, But the
Speaker 1: Karl Anthony Towns post up stuff. I do think that's
Speaker 1: a real entry point for them that they can use
Speaker 1: in a playoff series to generate some more reliable half
Speaker 1: court offense in this matchup against Boston. But Ultimately, none
Speaker 1: of it mattered because Tatum carried the Celtics through that
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, and then the Celtics were able to generate
Speaker 1: awesome shots in overtime, attacking Karl Anthony Towns and screening actions,
Speaker 1: and they ended up getting a win. Tatum had a
Speaker 1: remarkable shot making stretch in that fourth quarter, just over
Speaker 1: and over and over again, taking these tough, contested mid
Speaker 1: range jump shots in isolation situations right in the middle
Speaker 1: of the floor, just kept hitting shot after shot after
Speaker 1: and then capped it off with a nasty step back
Speaker 1: three above the break on the right side of the
Speaker 1: floor to tie the game and send it to overtime.
Speaker 1: And I talked about this in the mail bag yesterday.
Speaker 1: It's just because Tatum has been cold for a while,
Speaker 1: and Tatum has for a while before last night, he
Speaker 1: had been cold as a shot maker, but that doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily mean he's going to be cold in the postseason.
Speaker 1: What I said was, it's a potential variable, right if
Speaker 1: Tatum goes into the postseason and is elite as a
Speaker 1: shot maker, it dramatically improves Boston's chances of winning. If
Speaker 1: he goes in and he shoots poorly, Obviously, it hurts
Speaker 1: them because the Celtics are going to face stiffer competition
Speaker 1: this time around in the postseason. But I thought it
Speaker 1: was interesting because, like I talked about it, like the
Speaker 1: difference between Jason Tatum being the Apex guy that he
Speaker 1: can be, the guy that is in the conversation with
Speaker 1: Shay Gildas Alexander and Giannis Antennacumbo, and the Tatum that's
Speaker 1: more in that second tier with the guys that are
Speaker 1: in that you know, six to ten range in the league.
Speaker 1: That all comes down to Tatums jump shooting. Like if
Speaker 1: he's not making shots, he's very versatile and does so
Speaker 1: many useful things that he's still one of these superstars
Speaker 1: in the league. But to be one of the top
Speaker 1: tier Apex superstars, he's got to have a shot making going.
Speaker 1: And I mean, you saw that in that game in
Speaker 1: that fourth quarter as he basically dragged the Celtics into
Speaker 1: an overtime period, and then in that overtime period, the
Speaker 1: Celtics just had really good options attacking Karl Anthony Towns.
Speaker 1: Ive got some good looks attacking Karl Anthony Towns in
Speaker 1: regulation too. It's worth mentioning like the three point shot
Speaker 1: that Jason Tatum drew the foul that Jason Tatum drew
Speaker 1: on the left side of the floor right before the
Speaker 1: end of the of regulation. That was a play where
Speaker 1: they decided to switch with Carl Anthony Towns. There was
Speaker 1: more switching that New York tried with him down the
Speaker 1: stretch and it didn't work. They switched him on to Tatum.
Speaker 1: Tatum drew a foul, they switched him on to Derek
Speaker 1: White in an off ball screen. Then they just ran
Speaker 1: him through another screen with Tatum and Kat lingered too
Speaker 1: long on on Tatum. Derek White got a wide open
Speaker 1: three above the break on the left wing that he
Speaker 1: just left a little bit short. So the switching wasn't
Speaker 1: really working. And then they went back to their you know,
Speaker 1: kind of like high drop looks, and then it was
Speaker 1: just okay, we can go to Porzingis whenever we want.
Speaker 1: Porzingis got an easy roll to the rim on one
Speaker 1: of those. Porzingis got a pick and pop that ended
Speaker 1: up being the game winner out of one of those.
Speaker 1: They just got a great look every single time that
Speaker 1: they put Karl Anthony Towns in the action, and so
Speaker 1: as a result, the shots came easier for the Celtics
Speaker 1: and they were able to get the win. And again
Speaker 1: like that that pick and pop. That's the problem when
Speaker 1: you can't switch against a pick and pop center. If
Speaker 1: you switch, now you got to ask Kat to guard
Speaker 1: on the ball against Jason Tatum. It's just a disaster
Speaker 1: right if you and even on the other side of
Speaker 1: the switcher leaving a smaller player on porzingis and then
Speaker 1: if you linger, if you run that high drop and recover.
Speaker 1: Look in the Knicks tried to peel off like One
Speaker 1: of the things that the Knicks did, I thought that
Speaker 1: was an interesting strategic piece is a lot of times
Speaker 1: in a pick and pop they'll have the center rotate back,
Speaker 1: so like Cat will show on the ball and then
Speaker 1: when the kickback pass goes, Cat will sprint or the center,
Speaker 1: whoever the center is, will sprint. To offer that contest.
Speaker 1: One of the things the Knicks were doing is they
Speaker 1: were just having the guard peel off, so it's not
Speaker 1: really a switch because he's staying attached to the ball
Speaker 1: until the passes made. But once the pass is made,
Speaker 1: they're allowing the quicker footed player the guard to actually
Speaker 1: sprint back. In contest, they did a bunch of Ojan Andobi,
Speaker 1: and then they did it with Jalen Brunson on what
Speaker 1: ended up being the game winner. But Jalen Brunson that like,
Speaker 1: do you think Porzingis is gonna even see that hand?
Speaker 1: With how tall he is compared to Jalen Brunson, It
Speaker 1: is just an easy shot over the top that ended
Speaker 1: up winning the game. Porzingis was an amazing all game hit
Speaker 1: some pick and pop threes, but a lot of his
Speaker 1: damage came just basic above the break spacing. This is
Speaker 1: a classic thing that the Celtics do to cause problems
Speaker 1: for teams in help side situations. Against the Celtics, they'll
Speaker 1: situate their guards in the dunker spot and corners, and
Speaker 1: then they'll situate their wings above the or excuse me,
Speaker 1: their centers above the break, and that just puts you
Speaker 1: into these weird situations where the bigs want to help.
Speaker 1: But in those situations, if they help, it's just too
Speaker 1: long of a closeout going out to that above the
Speaker 1: break line. And if they don't help, now, all the
Speaker 1: backside helpers are smaller players, because the guys that you
Speaker 1: have spacing in those situations are smaller players, and so
Speaker 1: cat a lot of times it was just getting caught
Speaker 1: right around the elbow, just kind of hanging out and help,
Speaker 1: whether it be guarding an off ball action or just
Speaker 1: kind of sitting in a in the help traditional kind
Speaker 1: of nail help type of position, and it was just
Speaker 1: swing passes out to the wing and chrisopsworzingis just banging
Speaker 1: these twenty seven foot threes and like they were good looks.
Speaker 1: He hit over and over and over again in that
Speaker 1: third quarter. He was unbelievable. He also hit like a
Speaker 1: forty footer in this situation where there was a fumbled
Speaker 1: ball that ended up in his hands with like seven
Speaker 1: seconds on the shot clock, caught it like forty feet
Speaker 1: from the backs it and just let it fly and
Speaker 1: put it in. He had thirty four points. He was incredible.
Speaker 1: It's just a really tough matchup for the Knicks. The
Speaker 1: Celtics are built to handle just about everything that the
Speaker 1: Knicks do on both ends of the floor, and so
Speaker 1: it's really hard for me to see a pathway for
Speaker 1: the Knicks to make a real series of this when
Speaker 1: they see each other in the second round. Moving on
Speaker 1: to Lakers Thunder Round two, as we could all expect,
Speaker 1: there was a predictable shift in effort for both teams.
Speaker 1: The Thunder got embarrassed, so they came out with a
Speaker 1: much higher level of intensity, and the Lakers, I thought,
Speaker 1: completely let go of the rope with their game plan
Speaker 1: discipline two main areas competing on the ball defensively and
Speaker 1: being sloppy with the basketball on offense. But the way
Speaker 1: it manifested in the first half was actually super interesting
Speaker 1: to me. There were some predictable things that happened. As
Speaker 1: I said a bunch of times this week, what would
Speaker 1: it look like when the Thunder controlled this matchup? I said,
Speaker 1: it would manifest as a lot of defensive to transition
Speaker 1: sequences and the Lakers not being able to contain the
Speaker 1: ball as they lose control of the momentum of the game.
Speaker 1: And that is what happened to them in that first
Speaker 1: In that first half, they allowed twenty points off of turnovers.
Speaker 1: In the first half, they allowed a million points in
Speaker 1: the paint as they just got bludgeoned at the basket.
Speaker 1: And when that stuff happened, it just kind of snowballed
Speaker 1: for them, and as a result, the Thunder just tore
Speaker 1: them apart for eighty points in that first half. To
Speaker 1: give you an idea. They scored ninety nine total in
Speaker 1: the first game, So the way that the Thunder successful
Speaker 1: stretches in this matchup will look like kind of looked
Speaker 1: exactly what you saw in that first half. Lots of
Speaker 1: defense to transition, lots of stuff in the paint as
Speaker 1: they're just driving through and around Lakers players. So we
Speaker 1: got a good look at that. But there were two
Speaker 1: unexpected things that happened in this game that I think
Speaker 1: boded very well for the Lakers in this matchup. First,
Speaker 1: no matter how hard Oklahoma City competed in that first half,
Speaker 1: they could not stop the Lakers from generating completely unguarded
Speaker 1: three point shots. Even with the turnovers, the Lakers hung
Speaker 1: another seventy two points on the Thunder in that first half.
Speaker 1: I've talked a lot about OKC and the way they
Speaker 1: load up on the ball to try to force turnovers
Speaker 1: and pack the paint, and how if you can just
Speaker 1: not turn the ball over there are opportunities to generate
Speaker 1: wide open threes against this team. It's been one of
Speaker 1: the reasons why I like this matchup for the Lakers
Speaker 1: against the Thunder. Lebron and Luca are two of the
Speaker 1: best in the history of the league at getting the
Speaker 1: ball across the court over the top of help defense
Speaker 1: and creating those open shots on the weak side. And
Speaker 1: so ultimately Lebron and Luca are super comfortable in this
Speaker 1: matchup because they can get size mismatches or with Luca,
Speaker 1: mismatches against foot speed, getting their bigs in space. Lebron
Speaker 1: and Luca are always comfortable. Because they're always comfortable they
Speaker 1: can take advantage of some of the openings in Okase's defense,
Speaker 1: attacking mismatches in the middle of the floor or getting
Speaker 1: the ball across the court overhelp side. They just can
Speaker 1: continue to generate great shots. And then as long as
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves has slotted properly against some of the lesser
Speaker 1: defenders for Okase, Austin's really comfortable in this matchup as
Speaker 1: well and has been cooking the Thunder. I thought it
Speaker 1: was interesting that in that fourth quarter stretch when Luca
Speaker 1: got ejected and then JJ stuck with his normal rotation
Speaker 1: and subbed Lebron out of the game, when Austin was
Speaker 1: the featured person against the top players for the Thunder,
Speaker 1: he had some struggles, but in the organic way that
Speaker 1: this series would go out with Austin only having to
Speaker 1: lead bench groups alongside Lebron James, I think this Laker
Speaker 1: offense is going to consistently be comfortable in this matchup.
Speaker 1: There was a brief stretch on the second quarter where
Speaker 1: the Thunder did some damage to Lebron, but then Lebron
Speaker 1: woke up and he was awesome the rest of the
Speaker 1: way and looked comfortable. And so the first thing that
Speaker 1: I think is really interesting for the Lakers in this
Speaker 1: matchup after that second game is I feel pretty sure,
Speaker 1: pretty sure that the Lakers are going to be comfortable
Speaker 1: on offense in a matchup against this Thunder defense, which
Speaker 1: is the very best defense in the league. The second
Speaker 1: thing that happened the Lakers were able to shut the
Speaker 1: Thunder offense down again in the second half. They came
Speaker 1: out after that first half where they let go of
Speaker 1: the rope and their game plan discipline, and in sixteen
Speaker 1: minutes in the second half up until the point where
Speaker 1: Luca got ejected, the Lakers held the Thunder to just
Speaker 1: twenty seven points sixteen minutes of game clock while scoring
Speaker 1: thirty six points of their own to take a one
Speaker 1: point lead with all of the momentum. And then Lucas
Speaker 1: started talking shit to a fan court side, got himself ejected.
Speaker 1: From there, like I talked about, it got really weird.
Speaker 1: The Lakers stuck with their normal rotation, so they subbed
Speaker 1: Lebron out like right after that, and so we had
Speaker 1: this weird Lakers lineup in the middle of the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: I had three starters missing Lebron, Luca, and Rui all
Speaker 1: off the floor, and the Thunder starters just ran that
Speaker 1: group and they ended up putting the game away. But
Speaker 1: in that stretch, in that second half, I thought the
Speaker 1: Lakers demonstrated that they were able to regain control of
Speaker 1: the situation with their defense against the Thunder, And so
Speaker 1: from there, like I left that two game set feeling
Speaker 1: like these were the two best teams in the Western Conference.
Speaker 1: But I also think the Lakers have a real chance
Speaker 1: to knock this team off if they faced each other
Speaker 1: in the series. I it's to me, it's like a
Speaker 1: fifty to fifty kind of coin flip between which of
Speaker 1: these two teams would win. I mean, it's a two
Speaker 1: game set here. Obviously the Thunder don't have as much
Speaker 1: to play for, but there's no doubt that in this
Speaker 1: two game stretch that the Lakers demonstrated more examples of
Speaker 1: being able to slow down and make the thunders offense
Speaker 1: uncomfortable than the opposite, than the Thunder being able to
Speaker 1: make the Lakers offense uncomfortable, and so like that to me,
Speaker 1: I thought was encouraging for the Lakers and their chances. Now,
Speaker 1: for the record, I'm doing a bunch of contender stuff soon.
Speaker 1: I'm recording with the Nerds right after this, So make
Speaker 1: sure you go over to the Nerd sash page later
Speaker 1: this afternoon so you guys can see that episode there.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be going over our top ten contenders. I'm
Speaker 1: having Sam Vessini on next week on our show to
Speaker 1: go over a similar type of list. I've decided this
Speaker 1: morning that I'm gonna keep OKAC above the Lakers on
Speaker 1: the contenders list, mainly because I think they're far more
Speaker 1: resilient matchup to match up in the Western Conference. Another
Speaker 1: way of putting it is to say, I think it's
Speaker 1: more likely that the Lakers lose before OKCE the than
Speaker 1: OKC getting upset before they face the Lakers, even though
Speaker 1: I think they're both the best teams in the Western Conference,
Speaker 1: and even though I think if they faced in a series.
Speaker 1: I'd call it roughly a coin flip. Oka See, I
Speaker 1: think is more equipped to handle all the different types
Speaker 1: of teams in the Western Conference. So I'm going to
Speaker 1: have OKC above the Lakers in my contender's list. But
Speaker 1: I think the Lakers pretty clearly showed that they have
Speaker 1: some advantages in this matchup. Now, on the refs for
Speaker 1: a minute. Let's take Luca's element to this and set
Speaker 1: it aside for a second, because I think there's a
Speaker 1: conversation to be had about Luca's relationship with refs. Why
Speaker 1: do we have refs at basketball games? Like, why are
Speaker 1: they there at all? They're there to facilitate the flow
Speaker 1: of basketball games. That's it. I heard these comments from
Speaker 1: Marked Degenel after the game, a rare Marked Degenal comment
Speaker 1: that I don't necessarily agree with. And he talked about
Speaker 1: how a while back he got a TECH from JT,
Speaker 1: or the official who ejected Luca. He got a TECH
Speaker 1: from Jtor for what he said was a mild comment. Okay,
Speaker 1: so he's Mark's freely admitting upfront that Jtor was being ridiculous. Okay.
Speaker 1: After that, Mark said that he appreciated that JT held
Speaker 1: the line on the respect for the game, the integrity
Speaker 1: of the game, something about the respect for the game.
Speaker 1: And while I agree with Mark because he said he
Speaker 1: went on to say that like at a certain point,
Speaker 1: you got to set a line, and if someone crosses
Speaker 1: that line, you got to be consistent about it. And
Speaker 1: I agree with that. There's a certain line. Like if
Speaker 1: Luca had gone up to jt Or in that situation
Speaker 1: and got in his face and started being really boisterous
Speaker 1: and demonstrative in his face after he already had a
Speaker 1: tech earlier in the game, I would have found it
Speaker 1: to be a defensible ejection. You do have to have
Speaker 1: a line. There is a decorum element to this, There
Speaker 1: is a respect to the game element. However, if you
Speaker 1: are going to eject Luka Doncic from a one point
Speaker 1: game in a very important game for the Lakers on
Speaker 1: the seating front and kind of important for the Thunder
Speaker 1: in terms of their mental confidence in this matchup and
Speaker 1: us potentially getting to see seven minutes of crunch time
Speaker 1: basketball between the two best teams in the Western Conference
Speaker 1: in a game that I mean, it was a league
Speaker 1: pass game that a lot of eyes were on it.
Speaker 1: If you're gonna eject Luca there, you better be damn
Speaker 1: sure that whatever it is that you're upset about, he did.
Speaker 1: And Luca had been talking trash to a fan, was
Speaker 1: clearly talking trash to a fan, was backpedaling away and
Speaker 1: walking up the court and just looked back and said
Speaker 1: something towards the fan. Jt Or happened to be standing there.
Speaker 1: He got sensitive, he got worked up. He kicked Luca
Speaker 1: out of the game, And that really is the thing, Like,
Speaker 1: you have to understand that if we could have it
Speaker 1: our way, you wouldn't even be there. Officials. You're there
Speaker 1: because we have to have you there to facilitate the
Speaker 1: flow of these games. But you are not the You
Speaker 1: are not the show. Go ref some YMCA game and
Speaker 1: see how many people pay to show up and watch
Speaker 1: you ref. You are not the show. The show is
Speaker 1: the players. All of us wanted to see what happened
Speaker 1: in that game. I would have preferred to get to
Speaker 1: also get some crunch time sampled data from this matchup.
Speaker 1: We didn't get that because jt Or got sensitive over
Speaker 1: a comment that wasn't even directed towards him. And that
Speaker 1: is an issue I've seen time and time again from
Speaker 1: NBA officials ego thinking it's about them not being able
Speaker 1: to handle the emotion of the environment. Basketball is an
Speaker 1: emotional sport. Trash talk is a part of the game,
Speaker 1: especially between fans and players. Yes, there are certain decorum
Speaker 1: elements you've got to watch. Like I thought, the Vando
Speaker 1: tech was perfectly fine. You can't let guys block each
Speaker 1: other and then run up on each other and get
Speaker 1: in each other's faces. You have to stop that because
Speaker 1: you'll end up getting guys punched in the face, like
Speaker 1: it will end up in physical altercation. So there are
Speaker 1: certain things that you have to step up on with
Speaker 1: trash talk. But fans sit courtside and talk shit all
Speaker 1: game long. Players talk back to them all the time. Yes,
Speaker 1: there are times when players and refs get into it,
Speaker 1: and a ref has to have a line in terms
Speaker 1: of the way that he's being spoken to. But like
Speaker 1: you've got to have a read for the emotion of
Speaker 1: the environment. That's an intense game. The Lakers needed it.
Speaker 1: Luca was fired up. He just got another bucket torching
Speaker 1: Hartenstein on a switch. He was talking shit. He was
Speaker 1: having his moment in the emotion of the game, and
Speaker 1: jt Or got sensitive and couldn't handle it, and there's
Speaker 1: just way too much of that in the NBA that
Speaker 1: needs to be resolved now looking at Luca, as I said,
Speaker 1: it is a league wide problem with refs having ego
Speaker 1: and not being able to manage their emotions in these
Speaker 1: intense competitive environments. So one of the most important things
Speaker 1: that you have to learn how to do as a
Speaker 1: basketball player is manage your relationships with the ref. If
Speaker 1: we all agree that they can get sensitive, if we
Speaker 1: all agree that they have an ego, then you can't
Speaker 1: sit there and berate him all game long from a distance,
Speaker 1: towing that line, towing the tech line, talking shit, but
Speaker 1: keeping your distance and finding a way to not necessarily
Speaker 1: get yourself thrown out, but you're still antagonizing it. There
Speaker 1: was I saw someone say something on Twitter that jt
Speaker 1: Or during the game had said to Lakers players, anyone
Speaker 1: can talk to me but Luca. Why did he say that, Luca?
Speaker 1: He said that because you talked a bunch of shit
Speaker 1: to him throughout the entire game and he's sensitive about it.
Speaker 1: So like, at a certain point, yeah, I believe you, Luca,
Speaker 1: that you were talking shit to the fan, but you
Speaker 1: put yourself in a position with the way you managed
Speaker 1: your relationship with JT or that he was a quick
Speaker 1: trigger to eject you and he did not give you
Speaker 1: the benefit of the doubt. As far as I've seen,
Speaker 1: Lucas never argued his way into getting a better whistle.
Speaker 1: He gets the calls when he gets fouled, he doesn't
Speaker 1: when he doesn't, and when he bitches and moans, it
Speaker 1: actually makes the refs less willing to give him the
Speaker 1: calls that he wants. So a big part of his
Speaker 1: development in the next few years is going to be
Speaker 1: learning how to manage his relationships with refs. We could
Speaker 1: be in a big playoff series series tied at two,
Speaker 1: big game fourth quarter, and if Luke is talking a
Speaker 1: bunch of shit to the refs, he could put be
Speaker 1: in another situation where one is a little sensitive on
Speaker 1: the verge of kind of losing control of his emotions,
Speaker 1: and you could cross the line and end up in
Speaker 1: a situation where you're not available to your team. That
Speaker 1: is the bottom line. The bottom line is regardless of
Speaker 1: what the circumstances were. Your team had to try to
Speaker 1: beat the thunder last night without Luka Doncic when they
Speaker 1: were already without Rui and because of the back to back.
Speaker 1: JJ wasn't about to push Lebron's minutes. You ultimately put
Speaker 1: your team in a compromising position and it led to
Speaker 1: a loss. So control what you can control, Luca. You
Speaker 1: can't control JT or sensitivity. You can't control the sensitivity
Speaker 1: of many of these refs around the league. You can
Speaker 1: control the way that you manage your relationship with refs
Speaker 1: over the course of games. That's all I got for
Speaker 1: to this morning, guys. Is always as sincerely appreciate you
Speaker 1: guys for supporting me and supporting the show again. We
Speaker 1: will be back live on YouTube. We are skipping the
Speaker 1: late game because the Sacramento Kings and Nuggets are both
Speaker 1: dumpster fires right now, but we are going to sex.
Speaker 1: I should give them more credits. The Kings are playing well,
Speaker 1: DeMar de Rozen and Zach Lavine are lighting people up.
Speaker 1: But we're going to be going after the MAVs Lakers
Speaker 1: game tonight live on YouTube. I will see you guys though,
Speaker 1: So guys, as always, I appreciate you for listening to
Speaker 1: and supporting OOPS tonight. They would actually be really helpful
Speaker 1: for us if you guys would take a second and
Speaker 1: leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys supporting us, but if you could take a
Speaker 1: minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it. The volume