Jason breaks down the Denver Nuggets bouncing back with a big win over the Oklahoma City Thunder including Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray's chemistry, Russell Westbrook's shotmaking, and the adjustment they made after Jalen Williams left with an injury. Then he discusses the bright future of the Atlanta Hawks behind improving role players such as Dyson Daniels and Zaccharie Risacher, and why they don't need to trade Trae Young. Finally he addresses the Los Angeles Lakers’ ugly loss to the Brooklyn Nets, JJ Redick ripping his team, and why he's not worried about it long term because of Luka Doncic's shot making ability alongside LeBron James.
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4:00 - Start
5:15 - Nuggets bounce back
22:45 - Hawks bright future
31:00 - Lakers loss to Nets
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(01:25):
b ball. All right, welcome to hoops tonight. You're at
the volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody, hope all if you guys
are having a great start to your week. Got a
jampackshow for you today. The Nuggets got revenged on the
(01:46):
thunder at a very interesting rematch, very interesting defensive adjustment
from Michael Malone in the second half as the Nuggets
get a big win there After that, I want to
talk a little bit about the Atlanta Hawks, who have
won four out of five and specifically a couple of
things that really exciting about the bright future that they have,
even if we all can agree that they have a
certain ceiling this year. Then at the tail end of
(02:06):
the show, I just want to briefly talk about the Lakers,
just so I can tell everyone to take a deep
breath and relax, because I'm not too worried about their
disaster in Brooklyn last night. You guys are the job
before we get started. Subscribed to Hoops to Night YouTube channels.
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(02:28):
Don't forget about our new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram,
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last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions into the
YouTube comments. We are recording a mail bag tomorrow that
is going to run on Thursday, So this is the
last episode for you guys to get questions into the comments.
All right, let's talk some basketball. So again I talked
(02:48):
about how in the Sunday game it was obviously a
very strong statement for shake yieldess Alexander, for MVP, and
in general a sign of some weaknesses that the Denver
Nuggets had. I listed at the end of the show
a couple of things that the Nuggets could do better
to try to flip the script in last night's game,
and I talked a lot about on defense the issues
(03:11):
that they had containing the ball, and the solution that
I presented not really a solution, but the strategy that
I would recommend was just bring Yokic up to the
level I thought those were his best looks. Just make
sure he gets there early enough that Shay can't like
split him off the dribble or anything like that, and
pray on Shay's inability to like really really pass well
out of traps and double teams and things along those lines.
(03:32):
I did talk about how they should unleash that zone
look again in the second half, just as a rhythm disruptor,
but Mike Malone ended up going with something way more aggressive.
He started with the exact same strategy from the Sunday game,
in the first half a mix of at the level
coverages with Jokic and deeper coverages deeper drop coverages with Jokic. Actually,
(03:53):
my guess is that the actual game plan is for
Jokic to go up to the level, but that there's
like kind of an understanding between and Mike Malone that
when he needs a break, when he's tired, that he
runs a deeper drop as basically an opportunity for him
to rest while he's on the court. That's my guess
as to how that keeps manifesting as a mix between
the two coverages. The game had a very similar feel
(04:14):
to the first game. To start, Denver had a little
lead early. Oklahoma City really controlled the middle portion of
the game, but they weren't really able to pull away,
and then in that third quarter, Mike Malone pulls the
zone card. Except for one little wrinkle. He said, if
we're going to be a team that has to exist
in rotation, like we've talked to like we've talked about
(04:35):
a lot over the last couple of weeks, we might
as well exist in rotation on our terms in a
way that we can plan for. So what he did
is he just had the top two guys in the
zone just double team Shay as soon as he crossed
half court. Then they basically set up their back line
with Jokicic just sitting right under the rim and the
two bottom guys in the zone coming up and playing
(04:57):
passing lanes. There's a lot that you can do playing
passing lanes to prey on indecisiveness for the role player.
So there's four on three right and when you make
aggressive rotations, so like let's say, for instance, you double
team Shay and he floats the ball over the top
to you know, whoever it is that's on the right wing,
(05:17):
let's call it Aaron Wiggins. If Jamal Murray, who is
let's say on the bottom part of the zone where
Alex Caruso is hiding in the corner, if he just
sprints up and guards Aaron Wiggins on the wing, then
Aaron Wiggins can make a simple and easy swing pass
to the corner and it's either a wide open three
for Alex Crusoe or you can drive the close out
(05:38):
if he wants. But what the Nuggets were consistently doing
in that zone is they were having those bottom guys
like kind of half close out. But in the lane,
in the passing lane, so that as Aaron Wiggins or
whoever it was that would catch in that spot would
look to read the floor, they'd have this kind of
hesitancy because they're like, well, I'm kind of open, but
(05:59):
I'm not really open, and I don't I'm sure that
coach doesn't want me just shooting on the first pass
out of the trap, but like, I'm also gonna have
to throw like a floating pass over the top to
whoever it is that's in the corner because they're playing
in the passing lane. And it just prayed on that
indecisiveness and prayed on some of that lack of refined
skill that you see from Oklahoma City's role players. And
(06:22):
again another important context here, Jalen Williams left the game
with a hip strain, and so it ended up being
the perfect strategy to really turn that game because they
gave up seventy three points in the first half. Like
the Thunder defense eviscerated Denver again in the first half,
but under the circumstances in that second half with JDub
being out, it made a lot of sense to basically
(06:45):
force Shay to give up the basketball early in these
possessions out by half court and then have a plan
for how to rotate out of it. By the way,
the thunder did get some buckets out of those sequences,
but overall it worked really well. Oklahoma City got one
point zero nine points per possession versus Denver's man de
man looks in seventeen possessions in the second half. Against
(07:05):
that double teaming zone look, they allowed just zero point
eight eight points per possession as they worked all the
way back into a two point lead heading into the
fourth quarter. That set up perfectly because in that middle
portion of the game, Okase had led by as much
as twelve. That zone allowed them to kind of get
back into a commanding position up by two. And then
(07:27):
what happens in the fourth quarter if Shake Gildos Alexander
leaves the game and Jay Dub's not in the game anymore, well,
now you have to throw out a bench look that
doesn't have Shay or Jay Dubb. All of a sudden,
it's going to be a lot of these lesser role players,
a lot of kise On Wallace on the ball, a
lot of chet Holm. We'ren taking tougher shots. It turned
into a very limited offensive group for Oklahoma City, and
(07:49):
Denver just immediately blitzed them to start the fourth quarter.
They were up by double figures before Gildess Alexander could
get back into the game. Lots of really impressive shot
making from Denver in that run to start the fourth quarter.
MPJ hit a tough movement three running to his left
at the top of the key. Jamal Murray hit a
tough off the dribble three on the left wing. Jalen
(08:10):
Pickett confidently posting up in a really nice step through
move to get a bucket one on one. He had
a step back three on the right wing in this stretch.
Forget about just that run. The shot making for Denver
all night long was amazing. They converted spot up possessions
at one point eight five points per possession last night.
It was zero point seven to two on Sunday. That's
(08:34):
a giant chasm. More than twice as efficient on catch
and shoot looks if you just refine it to catch
and shoot jump shots. Zero point nine to one points
per shot on Sunday one point eight to two points
per shot on Monday. That's double. Lots of key guys
made shots Westbrook, Peyton Watson and Jalen Pickett combined to
go nine for twelve from three. Watson and Westbrook in particular,
(08:58):
both hit multiple threes in the fourth quarters where OKC
was basically daring them to shoot. I call these coverage beaters, right, like,
if the coverage is we're gonna concede this. If you
don't show a willingness and an ability to make that shot,
then they're gonna stay in that coverage. And they beat
that coverage consistently. Just Westbrook one pass away double teams
on Jokic, skip passes in their boss screen action that
(09:22):
ended up in Peyton Watson in his hands in the
left corner. Those threes are way more important than even
just the point value of that shot because they defeat
a specific coverage and Oklahoma City was never able to
regain their footing in that fourth quarter, and Denver went
on to win comfortably by thirteen points. And this is
the main reason why I haven't been able to quit
the Denver Nuggets. Jokic is so damn good, and their
(09:45):
ceiling on offense is outrageous. That's the best defense in
the league and they hung one forty on them. Their
defense is bad. Denver's defense is bad. They're down to
twentieth on the season. We talked earlier in a manna
man half. They gave up seventy three in the second
in the second game against Oklahoma City before that double
teaming zone, and again it's important context that Jadub was
(10:07):
out of the game when they were able to shut
them down in that second half. After last night, Denver
is still just five and thirteen this year, five wins
and thirteen losses against teams in the top ten in
point differential according to Cleaning the Glass. And I think
that matters, like who are the four other teams? Who
are the Who's my inner circle of championship contenders? It's Denver,
(10:28):
but it's the Lakers, It's the Thunder, It's the Calves,
and it's the Celtics. If if you were to go
to Cleaning the Glass and look at the teams with
the best records against the teams in the top ten
in point differential, who do you think the top four are?
It's the Calves, the Thunder, the Celtics, and the Lakers.
Like that, they have all year been consistently great against
the top teams and Denver has been terrible. Also, by
(10:50):
the way side, note for Warriors fans. They rank sixth
on that list in win percentage against teams in the
top ten in point differential. That's a big part of
why I have my eye on them as a tea
that could potentially join my inner circle of contenders before
the end of the season. But these are major red flags.
Twentieth in defense and can't beat good teams, are not
beating good teams often. There are not many teams in
NBA history who have postseason success when they suck on
(11:14):
defense and they struggle to beat the good teams. But
the Nuggets have three things going for them that keep
them in the inner circle. For me, one, you don't
have to go any further than Nikola Jokic. He's the
best basketball player on planet Earth. He had thirty five,
eighteen and eight last night. This is how insane this is.
I was looking at his game log this morning, just
like a list of all the games he's played this season,
(11:35):
and I was like, I wonder where this game ranks
among all of the games and all the individual performances
he's had this year. I don't think it even registers
in the top ten, probably not even in the top fifteen.
He has four thirty five point triple doubles this year,
countless forty point games, a fifty point game like he
had a thirty five eighteen and eight, And it's kind
(11:55):
of just like a whatever Jokic game this season. And
that's just the insane talent level and consistency that Jokic
brings to the table. The second piece of it is continuity.
The Jamal Murray connection with Jokich is at such a
high level of comfortability at this point. He dropped a
smooth thirty four last night. Everyone off of those two
knows where to be a threat. They know how to
(12:16):
be a threat off of Yokic post ups, but they
also know how to be a threat off of the
Jokich Murray two man yate. As much as I've talked
about Denver's defense this year, they're the second best offense
in the NBA, ahead of even the Boston Celtics. So
like it's important context that we bring into the picture
that they are one of the truly elite offenses in
this league. And the third piece of it, and this
is where the real optimism comes from. I don't think
(12:38):
this Nuggets team can be good defensively. They don't have
the personnel, but they can be better than they are,
And there is a whole lot of like like kind
of realities at place here. They're an older veteran team
that's been playing together forever and that doesn't really care
about the regular season. Like think about how many times
Michael Porter, Junior, Jamal Murray and the Cole Jokic have
(13:00):
gone through the eighty two game regular season together just
as a unit themselves, and they know all their opponents
really well. You know, they're not going to bring a
level of night to night commitment that other teams around
the league breaks. So like there's a certain amount of
scaleability for them in the postseason, especially when we've seen
like we have seen Jokic, Gordon Murray, Jamal an athletic
(13:21):
guard play good defense and be able to get stops
in the postseason. Now, they're older and a little slower now,
so I don't think they'll be able to get to
the level they were in twenty twenty three, but they've
been at times this year even better offensively than they
were in twenty twenty three. Yokic said last night, I'm
playing the best basketball of my career right. So, like,
if they can scale up defensively and they're one of
(13:42):
the top tier offenses in the NBA. There's absolutely a
version of this where it can all come together. You
can kind of imagine the scenario. Right they lock in
in April. They defend at basically an average level. Jokic,
Murray and Michael Porter Junior have like flamethrower postseason runs.
And what if Gordon, Westbrook, Brown and Watson all just
(14:04):
shoot super well from three. And by the way, before
you tell me they're gonna miss fifteen games now, Christian
Brown forty one percent from three, Aaron Gordon fifty one
percent from three, Russell Westbrook thirty six percent from three.
He's confidently stepping into catch and shoot threes last night
off of Yokic double teams. Peyton Watson sixty four percent
from three. Hit some big ones last night. Like the
(14:25):
idea is you help off those guys and they just
keep hitting shots. Now, they might not in the postseason,
and that'll be the big challenge for the record. All
those things will have to come together. Yokichen Murray are
gonna have to average damn near thirty on high efficiency
if they're gonna get where they want to go. Michael
Porter Junior is gonna have to have a great playoff run.
All of those guys are gonna have to shoot super
well from three, and they're gonna have to get to
(14:46):
an average level defensively at minimum. But I think all
of those things are possible. And so point being, I
can't quit the Nuggets. They have some stuff they absolutely
must get better at, but there are enough in greedy
there to win the title. All right, Let's move on
(15:15):
to the Atlanta Hawks. They beat the Sixers last night
without Trey Young or Karislovert, and I had watched both
of their games against the Indiana Pacers, a couple wins
that they got in the last week. They've won four
out of five. They have a one to twenty three
offensive rating in that span. It really starts with Trey
and Karris Lavert. The two of them has just been
playing at a really high level during this stretch. I
(15:36):
was watching Trey versus the Pacers in those two games,
and I was just amazed. Every time I watched Trey,
I'm amazed by his ability to throw passes on time
and on target with his left hand. I talked a
lot about this concept when we were talking about Steph
Curry yesterday. But the difficulties for right handed shooters going
(15:57):
either direction as they have to square up in mid air. Right,
so you're running to the left, it's easier because you
can plant your right foot first and you're already kind
of naturally squared up to the basket. But if you're
running to your right hand, to your strong hand, you
have to like kind of square up in mid air
by getting more left, and all of those things combine
in ball handling situations to make things complicated. Right, So, like,
(16:19):
if you're a right handed player, where is it easiest
to throw passes. It's easiest to throw passes by swinging
that right hand around with like baseball passes right, We've
all since we were little kids thrown things with our
right hand. If we're right handed, it's easy enough to
make those passes similarly with ballhand like, most right handed
players are much stronger ball handling with their right hand,
so when they go to the right, they're better drivers
(16:42):
and passers, but they can sometimes struggle to shoot. When
they're going left, they can be better shooters, but they
can sometimes struggle to drive because they don't ribble as
well with their left hand. And it's really hard to
throw those passes with their left hand right But ironically
a lot of the passing reads are most available going
to your left because you're a more deadly jump shooter,
and so the coverages will be more aggressive to try
(17:04):
to take away that jump shot. And so the ability
to actually throw these cross court passes in these on time,
on target bullet passes right into the shooting pocket with
your left hand is such an incredibly valuable trait for
a ball handler. And I was watching Trey just pick
the pacers apart with his left hand as a passer
(17:25):
in those games. One of the other things that really
stands out to me when I watch Trey is just
his relentless screening attack. He never really lets you off
the hook until the end of the shot clock. He'll
run a ball screen and then he'll rescreen if he
doesn't get the separation he wants. If he doesn't get
the separation he wants on that one, he'll swing it
to the wing and he'll like cut through the lane
and he'll end up under the basket. He'll kind of
slow down and then all of a sudden he'll come
(17:46):
sprinting off of another dribble handoff, and it's like another
kind of ball screen concept built out of that DHO
and you might have to deal with Trey four or
five times on a single possession in a ball screen action.
And as all of that's happening, if you make a
single mistake anywhere along the way, you give a shooter
too much space, you let a guy cut behind you,
(18:07):
you leave the role man a runway towards the front
of the rim, he just makes you pay every single
time with those passes. Tray's averaging thirteen assists per game
over this four and one stretch. He's really having a
brilliant offensive season that I think has been underrated by
a lot of folks, as he's been setting up a
lot of high quality shots for his young athlete corps
around him. Lavert's been very good in the stretch. He's
(18:29):
averaging seventeen points per game since joining the Hawks, twenty
per game in this five game stretch for their four
and one. But I want to focus on Dyson Daniels
here for a minute. Dyson has a reputation for being
one of the best defensive players in the league, which
is well deserved, but he's also blossoming into a very
good offensive player. As of late, he's scored double figures
(18:50):
in seventeen straight games. That's pretty wild consistency. It'savaging sixteen
points per game over that span, fifty four percent from
the field, fifty five percent from three six rebounds a game,
and this crazy part, five point four assists per game
with only two turnovers, basically a two and a half
(19:12):
over a two and a half assist to turnover ratio.
He's got this lightning quick first step. He's really good
at disguising it too, like he'll move slowly with like
change of pace where he'll kind of like lull the
defender to sleep, and then he'll just explode forward. He
can get dribble penetration on just about anyone. He's got
really good counter move footwork in the short range. These
are like the he gets downhill and then he can
(19:34):
like euro back to the opposite side with either foot.
He's got a good spin move. He gets separation after
he gets downhill in that short range, and then he
ties it all together with a floater, which is flat
out deadly. He's made ninety six of them this year.
Here's a crazy stat for you, guys. Dyson Daniels has
made the fourth most floaters in the entire NBA this year,
(19:58):
more than Darius Garland, more than Ty Jerome. He's deadly
with it. He's at forty six percent on the season
in efficiency. But that's been trending way up. I was
digging back through all the floaters he's been taken. As
of late. I have him for eighteen of his last
thirty three on floaters. That's fifty five percent. He's becoming
(20:19):
a really dynamic shot maker, a shot maker in that
short range area in the middle of the floor, and
he's still just barely scratching the surface of what he
can do. The jump shots coming along, Like we talked about,
he's over fifty percent from three in this range. There's
real playmaking potential. He can become one of the better
two way guards in this league if he continues to
develop his offensive game. They put the ball in his
(20:40):
hands a ton last night with against the Sixers, with
Trey Young and Karis Lavert out, he went for twenty
five six and nine assists on ten for fourteen from
the field. They gave him the ball and said, hey,
can you be a star for us tonight? And he
was a star. He's a special young player. He's not
even twenty two years old yet. What a huge swing
(21:03):
in the franchise history of the Atlanta Hawks that they
were able to turn Dejonte Murray into draft compensation and
a player that has the potential to be better than
Dejonte within a year or two. And then the last
guy that I wanted to shout out was Zachary Resachet.
He's coming on super strong as of late. In his
last eighteen games is averaging fourteen points per game on
(21:24):
fifty two percent from the field in forty seven percent
from three I've been talking a lot about this particular archetype,
and this is the kind of guy that I think
the Detroit Pistons should be hunting in the draft. I've
been talking about this quite a bit, but there are
different types of talents that you can go for to
try to kind of influence your offense. Right, there's ball handling,
But one of the most common archetypes that I'm seeing
(21:45):
kind of rise to the surface in the NBA is
the idea of this like weak side scoring forward. This
is the guy that's catching the ball in the skip pass.
Because this guy's man is so frequently tagging rollers, so
you situate this guy in the week's corner. There's a
bunch of the examples of this in the league. So
for the Hawks, it's Zachary Rischet right. For the for
(22:07):
the Nuggets forever, it was like Michael Porter Junior right.
For the Lakers, it's Ruey Hatchi Mura, and now with
Luca it's Lebron James too. This this idea of a
DeAndre Hunter does a lot of this. For the Cleveland Cavaliers,
there's a bunch of these types of guys that are
like three four like the hybrid types of forwards who
you're not going to run a ton of action for,
(22:27):
but they get so many close out opportunities. They are
professional closeout attackers. And all it requires is like a
good catch and shoot jump shot, and then a couple
of basic scoring moves, the ability like a like a
rip through or a jab step, and then a couple
of basic counter moves euros, spin moves, being able to
finish with both hands. Zachary rische is like excellent with
his left hand, like little lefty hooks and lefty floaters.
(22:50):
That is the set of traits you need in order
to put it all together. And it was a little
rough to start the year, was a little rough with
the shooting, it was a little rough with some of
the scoring touch. But in his last eighteen games he's
really starting to put it together as a reliable weak
side score. And here's the thing. The Hawks aren't gonna
make any noise this year, but the rise of Dyson
Daniels and Jalen Johnson, who obviously is hurt right now,
(23:12):
that gives the Hawks a super bright future. And where
it looked like last summer, like, oh man, they might
have to trade Trey Young. Just getting a couple of
these guys to pan out as young prospects has gone
a long way to changing the perspective on the Atlanta
Hawks future. All Right, before we get out of here
tonight today, I should say I wanted to just very
briefly talk about the Lakers and their loss in Brooklyn
(23:33):
last night. I'm not worried about it at all. There's
not much margin for error with the injuries. Like you
have no Lebron, no Rui Hacha Mura, no Jackson Hayes,
and no Dorian Finney Smith. That's four of your core
eight playoff rotation players. Lebron's your second best player, Rui's
(23:54):
probably your fourth best player, So, like, you don't have
much margin for error when you're down on that many guys.
So if Austin Reeves and Luka Doncic are also gonna
shoot eleven for forty from the field, you're gonna have
a hard time beating anyone. Right, It's just there's too
much going against you in that sort of situation, and
(24:15):
so some of this, like, honestly, it's just a really
bad confluence of events. So Lebron happens to suffer his
first injury of the year when you're already down two
forwards and your starting center. Right, Luca happens to be
having one of the worst shot making stretches of his career,
which we'll get to in a second. And Austin Reeves
has always been a guy that takes a little bit
of time to get his rhythm when he's been out
(24:37):
of the lineup for a little bit, and so Austin's
really struggling because he's been out of the lineup and
he's been out a rhythm. Luca's having this like brutal
shot making stretch where he can't make any of the
jump shots that he typically makes in his throughout the
rest of his career, and you're just absolutely brutalized by
injuries in the front court. It's just a rough spot, right,
(24:57):
And I actually kind of view it as a blessing
in the sky because the team had been winning a lot. Obviously,
they've been the best team in the league for almost
two months. So like it's one of those things where
you had a little bit of slippage in your execution
against Boston, right, and souse JJ was able to use
the Brooklyn loss last night to just basically rip his
(25:20):
team a new one and essentially like use it as
a motivator to refocus the team. Like it's not a
big deal that they lost to the Nets. It's not
going to be some sort of dramatic issue with where
they're at in the standings. Like I don't necessarily think
getting any specific seed other than staying out of the
play in matters. I think getting to their getting to
April healthy is really all that matters, And so it's
(25:42):
more important for you to be sharp. And so if
you drop a game against the Nets, that is just
a confluence of events and you lose against the defending
champions on their home floor in a game where a
bunch of down two starters and a bunch of other
things don't go your way. It's really nothing to overreact to.
But JJ can package that as a message to put
in front of the Lakers, to be like, we have
(26:03):
to be better at this stuff, because guess what, if
they want to win the trophy, they do kind of
have to be better at that stuff. And it's just
a perfect excuse to use as a motivator for this team.
The part that I want to keep an eye on, though,
is Luca's shot making, because like, this is the part
that has me most excited about the ultimate potential of
this team. Austin's been out, he'll eventually get it back.
(26:24):
That will go a long way towards helping this team.
But we haven't even begun to scratch the surface of
how good the Lakers can be when Luca is Luca.
Here's a crazy stat to demonstrate for you guys, the
gap in shop making ability between this version of Luka
Doncic in the version of Luka Doncic that took the
Dallas Mavericks to the finals last year. In twelve games
(26:47):
with the Lakers, Luca has managed to make at least
ten field goals twice in twelve games. Last year with
the Dallas Mavericks, in seventy games, he may at least
ten shots fifty times fifty of the seventy games. That's
the level of shot making that Luca can still get
(27:09):
to relative to where he's been with the Lakers. That's
where the excitement comes. Do I think the Lakers are
actually the best defense in the NBA? No, They've been
defending like that, but I don't actually think they're the
best defense in the NBA. My guess is they're somewhere
in the five to ten range given the type of
personnel that they have. But they can be so so
(27:30):
so much better on offense. That is the side of
the floor that they can make dramatic improvements through simplifying
some of their spacing principles. JJ's been talking a lot
about this. I'm not going to get into it today,
but one of our next few Laker videos, I'll do
a deeper dive into just like how spacing is supposed
to work and why JJ's been harping on that so much.
(27:51):
It mostly has to do with putting guys in the
right spots so that you're tilting the offense to get
the kinds of shots you want from the players that
you want. That's basically the main purpose of spacing right.
There's a lot of improvement that they can still make
on that end, but just Luca getting back to where
he can be as a shot maker while Lebron and
Austin are both healthy and in rhythm, will go a
(28:12):
long way towards lifting this team to a more elite
level on the offensive end of the floor. And that's
why I'm not really concerned. I saw enough in the
Boston game to think that they can beat Boston. I'm
gonna pick Boston. I think everybody should pick Boston against everyone.
They're just the safer bet. But I saw enough in
that game from Luca and Lebron attacking the Boston smalls
to go like, oh, like, I think they can win
(28:35):
that series. When I was scouting the Dallas Boston series
last year, I literally came on the show in my
series preview and said, I think Boston's gonna blow him out.
I didn't see a pathway because of some specific issues
with the matchups and the inability that Dallas had to
create space because of their non shooters on the floor.
They're pour above the break shooters in the way that
(28:56):
they could sit rim protection under the basket. Though different
with the Lakers is when they're healthy and they have
Ruy Hatchimura in the lineup and Dorian Finney Smith, they
don't have a single player in that five man grouping
that you can help off of, and so they should
be able to create more space. Lebron and Lucas should
be able to punish the Smalls. Again, it was a loss.
There was a lot of disappointment there, and I think
(29:17):
they played well. Luca looked bad for most of that game.
There's a lot of negatives, but I saw enough out
of that to be like, oh, I think they can
beat Boston. That was an encouraging thing for me. The
Nets game was literally a confluence of events. I'm not
worried about it, but it's a nice opportunity for JJ
to refocus the team and it's a reminder for you
guys that Luca can still come so so so far
(29:39):
as a shot maker. A brutal from Austin and Luca
last night eleven for forty from the field that they're
not going to shoot like that very often. All right, guys,
that's all I have for today. As always, as sincerely
appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show.
We will be back tomorrow in the evening. We're going
live on YouTube. At the end, I think it's a Denver, Minnesota.
If I remember correctly, then I think it is it
(30:00):
Celtics Thunder. I think it's Celtics Thunder in the first
game so jam Packed ESPN Slate tomorrow that we're covering
on YouTube live. I'm recording a mail bag tomorrow that
will air on Thursday as well. But again, as always,
I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting
the show, and I will see you tomorrow night the volume.
What's Up guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening
(30:22):
to and supporting OOPS tonight. It would actually be really
helpful for us if you guys would take a second
and leave a rating and a review. As always, I
appreciate you guys supporting us, but if you could take
a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it.
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b ball. All right, welcome to hoops tonight. You're at
the volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody, hope all if you guys
are having a great start to your week. Got a
jampackshow for you today. The Nuggets got revenged on the
(01:46):
thunder at a very interesting rematch, very interesting defensive adjustment
from Michael Malone in the second half as the Nuggets
get a big win there After that, I want to
talk a little bit about the Atlanta Hawks, who have
won four out of five and specifically a couple of
things that really exciting about the bright future that they have,
even if we all can agree that they have a
certain ceiling this year. Then at the tail end of
(02:06):
the show, I just want to briefly talk about the Lakers,
just so I can tell everyone to take a deep
breath and relax, because I'm not too worried about their
disaster in Brooklyn last night. You guys are the job
before we get started. Subscribed to Hoops to Night YouTube channels.
You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me
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(02:28):
Don't forget about our new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram,
and Facebook. We're releasing content throughout the year, and then,
last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions into the
YouTube comments. We are recording a mail bag tomorrow that
is going to run on Thursday, So this is the
last episode for you guys to get questions into the comments.
All right, let's talk some basketball. So again I talked
(02:48):
about how in the Sunday game it was obviously a
very strong statement for shake yieldess Alexander, for MVP, and
in general a sign of some weaknesses that the Denver
Nuggets had. I listed at the end of the show
a couple of things that the Nuggets could do better
to try to flip the script in last night's game,
and I talked a lot about on defense the issues
(03:11):
that they had containing the ball, and the solution that
I presented not really a solution, but the strategy that
I would recommend was just bring Yokic up to the
level I thought those were his best looks. Just make
sure he gets there early enough that Shay can't like
split him off the dribble or anything like that, and
pray on Shay's inability to like really really pass well
out of traps and double teams and things along those lines.
(03:32):
I did talk about how they should unleash that zone
look again in the second half, just as a rhythm disruptor,
but Mike Malone ended up going with something way more aggressive.
He started with the exact same strategy from the Sunday game,
in the first half a mix of at the level
coverages with Jokic and deeper coverages deeper drop coverages with Jokic. Actually,
(03:53):
my guess is that the actual game plan is for
Jokic to go up to the level, but that there's
like kind of an understanding between and Mike Malone that
when he needs a break, when he's tired, that he
runs a deeper drop as basically an opportunity for him
to rest while he's on the court. That's my guess
as to how that keeps manifesting as a mix between
the two coverages. The game had a very similar feel
(04:14):
to the first game. To start, Denver had a little
lead early. Oklahoma City really controlled the middle portion of
the game, but they weren't really able to pull away,
and then in that third quarter, Mike Malone pulls the
zone card. Except for one little wrinkle. He said, if
we're going to be a team that has to exist
in rotation, like we've talked to like we've talked about
(04:35):
a lot over the last couple of weeks, we might
as well exist in rotation on our terms in a
way that we can plan for. So what he did
is he just had the top two guys in the
zone just double team Shay as soon as he crossed
half court. Then they basically set up their back line
with Jokicic just sitting right under the rim and the
two bottom guys in the zone coming up and playing
(04:57):
passing lanes. There's a lot that you can do playing
passing lanes to prey on indecisiveness for the role player.
So there's four on three right and when you make
aggressive rotations, so like let's say, for instance, you double
team Shay and he floats the ball over the top
to you know, whoever it is that's on the right wing,
(05:17):
let's call it Aaron Wiggins. If Jamal Murray, who is
let's say on the bottom part of the zone where
Alex Caruso is hiding in the corner, if he just
sprints up and guards Aaron Wiggins on the wing, then
Aaron Wiggins can make a simple and easy swing pass
to the corner and it's either a wide open three
for Alex Crusoe or you can drive the close out
(05:38):
if he wants. But what the Nuggets were consistently doing
in that zone is they were having those bottom guys
like kind of half close out. But in the lane,
in the passing lane, so that as Aaron Wiggins or
whoever it was that would catch in that spot would
look to read the floor, they'd have this kind of
hesitancy because they're like, well, I'm kind of open, but
(05:59):
I'm not really open, and I don't I'm sure that
coach doesn't want me just shooting on the first pass
out of the trap, but like, I'm also gonna have
to throw like a floating pass over the top to
whoever it is that's in the corner because they're playing
in the passing lane. And it just prayed on that
indecisiveness and prayed on some of that lack of refined
skill that you see from Oklahoma City's role players. And
(06:22):
again another important context here, Jalen Williams left the game
with a hip strain, and so it ended up being
the perfect strategy to really turn that game because they
gave up seventy three points in the first half. Like
the Thunder defense eviscerated Denver again in the first half,
but under the circumstances in that second half with JDub
being out, it made a lot of sense to basically
(06:45):
force Shay to give up the basketball early in these
possessions out by half court and then have a plan
for how to rotate out of it. By the way,
the thunder did get some buckets out of those sequences,
but overall it worked really well. Oklahoma City got one
point zero nine points per possession versus Denver's man de
man looks in seventeen possessions in the second half. Against
(07:05):
that double teaming zone look, they allowed just zero point
eight eight points per possession as they worked all the
way back into a two point lead heading into the
fourth quarter. That set up perfectly because in that middle
portion of the game, Okase had led by as much
as twelve. That zone allowed them to kind of get
back into a commanding position up by two. And then
(07:27):
what happens in the fourth quarter if Shake Gildos Alexander
leaves the game and Jay Dub's not in the game anymore, well,
now you have to throw out a bench look that
doesn't have Shay or Jay Dubb. All of a sudden,
it's going to be a lot of these lesser role players,
a lot of kise On Wallace on the ball, a
lot of chet Holm. We'ren taking tougher shots. It turned
into a very limited offensive group for Oklahoma City, and
(07:49):
Denver just immediately blitzed them to start the fourth quarter.
They were up by double figures before Gildess Alexander could
get back into the game. Lots of really impressive shot
making from Denver in that run to start the fourth quarter.
MPJ hit a tough movement three running to his left
at the top of the key. Jamal Murray hit a
tough off the dribble three on the left wing. Jalen
(08:10):
Pickett confidently posting up in a really nice step through
move to get a bucket one on one. He had
a step back three on the right wing in this stretch.
Forget about just that run. The shot making for Denver
all night long was amazing. They converted spot up possessions
at one point eight five points per possession last night.
It was zero point seven to two on Sunday. That's
(08:34):
a giant chasm. More than twice as efficient on catch
and shoot looks if you just refine it to catch
and shoot jump shots. Zero point nine to one points
per shot on Sunday one point eight to two points
per shot on Monday. That's double. Lots of key guys
made shots Westbrook, Peyton Watson and Jalen Pickett combined to
go nine for twelve from three. Watson and Westbrook in particular,
(08:58):
both hit multiple threes in the fourth quarters where OKC
was basically daring them to shoot. I call these coverage beaters, right, like,
if the coverage is we're gonna concede this. If you
don't show a willingness and an ability to make that shot,
then they're gonna stay in that coverage. And they beat
that coverage consistently. Just Westbrook one pass away double teams
on Jokic, skip passes in their boss screen action that
(09:22):
ended up in Peyton Watson in his hands in the
left corner. Those threes are way more important than even
just the point value of that shot because they defeat
a specific coverage and Oklahoma City was never able to
regain their footing in that fourth quarter, and Denver went
on to win comfortably by thirteen points. And this is
the main reason why I haven't been able to quit
the Denver Nuggets. Jokic is so damn good, and their
(09:45):
ceiling on offense is outrageous. That's the best defense in
the league and they hung one forty on them. Their
defense is bad. Denver's defense is bad. They're down to
twentieth on the season. We talked earlier in a manna
man half. They gave up seventy three in the second
in the second game against Oklahoma City before that double
teaming zone, and again it's important context that Jadub was
(10:07):
out of the game when they were able to shut
them down in that second half. After last night, Denver
is still just five and thirteen this year, five wins
and thirteen losses against teams in the top ten in
point differential according to Cleaning the Glass. And I think
that matters, like who are the four other teams? Who
are the Who's my inner circle of championship contenders? It's Denver,
(10:28):
but it's the Lakers, It's the Thunder, It's the Calves,
and it's the Celtics. If if you were to go
to Cleaning the Glass and look at the teams with
the best records against the teams in the top ten
in point differential, who do you think the top four are?
It's the Calves, the Thunder, the Celtics, and the Lakers.
Like that, they have all year been consistently great against
the top teams and Denver has been terrible. Also, by
(10:50):
the way side, note for Warriors fans. They rank sixth
on that list in win percentage against teams in the
top ten in point differential. That's a big part of
why I have my eye on them as a tea
that could potentially join my inner circle of contenders before
the end of the season. But these are major red flags.
Twentieth in defense and can't beat good teams, are not
beating good teams often. There are not many teams in
NBA history who have postseason success when they suck on
(11:14):
defense and they struggle to beat the good teams. But
the Nuggets have three things going for them that keep
them in the inner circle. For me, one, you don't
have to go any further than Nikola Jokic. He's the
best basketball player on planet Earth. He had thirty five,
eighteen and eight last night. This is how insane this is.
I was looking at his game log this morning, just
like a list of all the games he's played this season,
(11:35):
and I was like, I wonder where this game ranks
among all of the games and all the individual performances
he's had this year. I don't think it even registers
in the top ten, probably not even in the top fifteen.
He has four thirty five point triple doubles this year,
countless forty point games, a fifty point game like he
had a thirty five eighteen and eight, And it's kind
(11:55):
of just like a whatever Jokic game this season. And
that's just the insane talent level and consistency that Jokic
brings to the table. The second piece of it is continuity.
The Jamal Murray connection with Jokich is at such a
high level of comfortability at this point. He dropped a
smooth thirty four last night. Everyone off of those two
knows where to be a threat. They know how to
(12:16):
be a threat off of Yokic post ups, but they
also know how to be a threat off of the
Jokich Murray two man yate. As much as I've talked
about Denver's defense this year, they're the second best offense
in the NBA, ahead of even the Boston Celtics. So
like it's important context that we bring into the picture
that they are one of the truly elite offenses in
this league. And the third piece of it, and this
is where the real optimism comes from. I don't think
(12:38):
this Nuggets team can be good defensively. They don't have
the personnel, but they can be better than they are,
And there is a whole lot of like like kind
of realities at place here. They're an older veteran team
that's been playing together forever and that doesn't really care
about the regular season. Like think about how many times
Michael Porter, Junior, Jamal Murray and the Cole Jokic have
(13:00):
gone through the eighty two game regular season together just
as a unit themselves, and they know all their opponents
really well. You know, they're not going to bring a
level of night to night commitment that other teams around
the league breaks. So like there's a certain amount of
scaleability for them in the postseason, especially when we've seen
like we have seen Jokic, Gordon Murray, Jamal an athletic
(13:21):
guard play good defense and be able to get stops
in the postseason. Now, they're older and a little slower now,
so I don't think they'll be able to get to
the level they were in twenty twenty three, but they've
been at times this year even better offensively than they
were in twenty twenty three. Yokic said last night, I'm
playing the best basketball of my career right. So, like,
if they can scale up defensively and they're one of
(13:42):
the top tier offenses in the NBA. There's absolutely a
version of this where it can all come together. You
can kind of imagine the scenario. Right they lock in
in April. They defend at basically an average level. Jokic,
Murray and Michael Porter Junior have like flamethrower postseason runs.
And what if Gordon, Westbrook, Brown and Watson all just
(14:04):
shoot super well from three. And by the way, before
you tell me they're gonna miss fifteen games now, Christian
Brown forty one percent from three, Aaron Gordon fifty one
percent from three, Russell Westbrook thirty six percent from three.
He's confidently stepping into catch and shoot threes last night
off of Yokic double teams. Peyton Watson sixty four percent
from three. Hit some big ones last night. Like the
(14:25):
idea is you help off those guys and they just
keep hitting shots. Now, they might not in the postseason,
and that'll be the big challenge for the record. All
those things will have to come together. Yokichen Murray are
gonna have to average damn near thirty on high efficiency
if they're gonna get where they want to go. Michael
Porter Junior is gonna have to have a great playoff run.
All of those guys are gonna have to shoot super
well from three, and they're gonna have to get to
(14:46):
an average level defensively at minimum. But I think all
of those things are possible. And so point being, I
can't quit the Nuggets. They have some stuff they absolutely
must get better at, but there are enough in greedy
there to win the title. All right, Let's move on
(15:15):
to the Atlanta Hawks. They beat the Sixers last night
without Trey Young or Karislovert, and I had watched both
of their games against the Indiana Pacers, a couple wins
that they got in the last week. They've won four
out of five. They have a one to twenty three
offensive rating in that span. It really starts with Trey
and Karris Lavert. The two of them has just been
playing at a really high level during this stretch. I
(15:36):
was watching Trey versus the Pacers in those two games,
and I was just amazed. Every time I watched Trey,
I'm amazed by his ability to throw passes on time
and on target with his left hand. I talked a
lot about this concept when we were talking about Steph
Curry yesterday. But the difficulties for right handed shooters going
(15:57):
either direction as they have to square up in mid air. Right,
so you're running to the left, it's easier because you
can plant your right foot first and you're already kind
of naturally squared up to the basket. But if you're
running to your right hand, to your strong hand, you
have to like kind of square up in mid air
by getting more left, and all of those things combine
in ball handling situations to make things complicated. Right, So, like,
(16:19):
if you're a right handed player, where is it easiest
to throw passes. It's easiest to throw passes by swinging
that right hand around with like baseball passes right, We've
all since we were little kids thrown things with our
right hand. If we're right handed, it's easy enough to
make those passes similarly with ballhand like, most right handed
players are much stronger ball handling with their right hand,
so when they go to the right, they're better drivers
(16:42):
and passers, but they can sometimes struggle to shoot. When
they're going left, they can be better shooters, but they
can sometimes struggle to drive because they don't ribble as
well with their left hand. And it's really hard to
throw those passes with their left hand right But ironically
a lot of the passing reads are most available going
to your left because you're a more deadly jump shooter,
and so the coverages will be more aggressive to try
(17:04):
to take away that jump shot. And so the ability
to actually throw these cross court passes in these on time,
on target bullet passes right into the shooting pocket with
your left hand is such an incredibly valuable trait for
a ball handler. And I was watching Trey just pick
the pacers apart with his left hand as a passer
(17:25):
in those games. One of the other things that really
stands out to me when I watch Trey is just
his relentless screening attack. He never really lets you off
the hook until the end of the shot clock. He'll
run a ball screen and then he'll rescreen if he
doesn't get the separation he wants. If he doesn't get
the separation he wants on that one, he'll swing it
to the wing and he'll like cut through the lane
and he'll end up under the basket. He'll kind of
slow down and then all of a sudden he'll come
(17:46):
sprinting off of another dribble handoff, and it's like another
kind of ball screen concept built out of that DHO
and you might have to deal with Trey four or
five times on a single possession in a ball screen action.
And as all of that's happening, if you make a
single mistake anywhere along the way, you give a shooter
too much space, you let a guy cut behind you,
(18:07):
you leave the role man a runway towards the front
of the rim, he just makes you pay every single
time with those passes. Tray's averaging thirteen assists per game
over this four and one stretch. He's really having a
brilliant offensive season that I think has been underrated by
a lot of folks, as he's been setting up a
lot of high quality shots for his young athlete corps
around him. Lavert's been very good in the stretch. He's
(18:29):
averaging seventeen points per game since joining the Hawks, twenty
per game in this five game stretch for their four
and one. But I want to focus on Dyson Daniels
here for a minute. Dyson has a reputation for being
one of the best defensive players in the league, which
is well deserved, but he's also blossoming into a very
good offensive player. As of late, he's scored double figures
(18:50):
in seventeen straight games. That's pretty wild consistency. It'savaging sixteen
points per game over that span, fifty four percent from
the field, fifty five percent from three six rebounds a game,
and this crazy part, five point four assists per game
with only two turnovers, basically a two and a half
(19:12):
over a two and a half assist to turnover ratio.
He's got this lightning quick first step. He's really good
at disguising it too, like he'll move slowly with like
change of pace where he'll kind of like lull the
defender to sleep, and then he'll just explode forward. He
can get dribble penetration on just about anyone. He's got
really good counter move footwork in the short range. These
are like the he gets downhill and then he can
(19:34):
like euro back to the opposite side with either foot.
He's got a good spin move. He gets separation after
he gets downhill in that short range, and then he
ties it all together with a floater, which is flat
out deadly. He's made ninety six of them this year.
Here's a crazy stat for you, guys. Dyson Daniels has
made the fourth most floaters in the entire NBA this year,
(19:58):
more than Darius Garland, more than Ty Jerome. He's deadly
with it. He's at forty six percent on the season
in efficiency. But that's been trending way up. I was
digging back through all the floaters he's been taken. As
of late. I have him for eighteen of his last
thirty three on floaters. That's fifty five percent. He's becoming
(20:19):
a really dynamic shot maker, a shot maker in that
short range area in the middle of the floor, and
he's still just barely scratching the surface of what he
can do. The jump shots coming along, Like we talked about,
he's over fifty percent from three in this range. There's
real playmaking potential. He can become one of the better
two way guards in this league if he continues to
develop his offensive game. They put the ball in his
(20:40):
hands a ton last night with against the Sixers, with
Trey Young and Karis Lavert out, he went for twenty
five six and nine assists on ten for fourteen from
the field. They gave him the ball and said, hey,
can you be a star for us tonight? And he
was a star. He's a special young player. He's not
even twenty two years old yet. What a huge swing
(21:03):
in the franchise history of the Atlanta Hawks that they
were able to turn Dejonte Murray into draft compensation and
a player that has the potential to be better than
Dejonte within a year or two. And then the last
guy that I wanted to shout out was Zachary Resachet.
He's coming on super strong as of late. In his
last eighteen games is averaging fourteen points per game on
(21:24):
fifty two percent from the field in forty seven percent
from three I've been talking a lot about this particular archetype,
and this is the kind of guy that I think
the Detroit Pistons should be hunting in the draft. I've
been talking about this quite a bit, but there are
different types of talents that you can go for to
try to kind of influence your offense. Right, there's ball handling,
But one of the most common archetypes that I'm seeing
(21:45):
kind of rise to the surface in the NBA is
the idea of this like weak side scoring forward. This
is the guy that's catching the ball in the skip pass.
Because this guy's man is so frequently tagging rollers, so
you situate this guy in the week's corner. There's a
bunch of the examples of this in the league. So
for the Hawks, it's Zachary Rischet right. For the for
(22:07):
the Nuggets forever, it was like Michael Porter Junior right.
For the Lakers, it's Ruey Hatchi Mura, and now with
Luca it's Lebron James too. This this idea of a
DeAndre Hunter does a lot of this. For the Cleveland Cavaliers,
there's a bunch of these types of guys that are
like three four like the hybrid types of forwards who
you're not going to run a ton of action for,
(22:27):
but they get so many close out opportunities. They are
professional closeout attackers. And all it requires is like a
good catch and shoot jump shot, and then a couple
of basic scoring moves, the ability like a like a
rip through or a jab step, and then a couple
of basic counter moves euros, spin moves, being able to
finish with both hands. Zachary rische is like excellent with
his left hand, like little lefty hooks and lefty floaters.
(22:50):
That is the set of traits you need in order
to put it all together. And it was a little
rough to start the year, was a little rough with
the shooting, it was a little rough with some of
the scoring touch. But in his last eighteen games he's
really starting to put it together as a reliable weak
side score. And here's the thing. The Hawks aren't gonna
make any noise this year, but the rise of Dyson
Daniels and Jalen Johnson, who obviously is hurt right now,
(23:12):
that gives the Hawks a super bright future. And where
it looked like last summer, like, oh man, they might
have to trade Trey Young. Just getting a couple of
these guys to pan out as young prospects has gone
a long way to changing the perspective on the Atlanta
Hawks future. All Right, before we get out of here
tonight today, I should say I wanted to just very
briefly talk about the Lakers and their loss in Brooklyn
(23:33):
last night. I'm not worried about it at all. There's
not much margin for error with the injuries. Like you
have no Lebron, no Rui Hacha Mura, no Jackson Hayes,
and no Dorian Finney Smith. That's four of your core
eight playoff rotation players. Lebron's your second best player, Rui's
(23:54):
probably your fourth best player, So, like, you don't have
much margin for error when you're down on that many guys.
So if Austin Reeves and Luka Doncic are also gonna
shoot eleven for forty from the field, you're gonna have
a hard time beating anyone. Right, It's just there's too
much going against you in that sort of situation, and
(24:15):
so some of this, like, honestly, it's just a really
bad confluence of events. So Lebron happens to suffer his
first injury of the year when you're already down two
forwards and your starting center. Right, Luca happens to be
having one of the worst shot making stretches of his career,
which we'll get to in a second. And Austin Reeves
has always been a guy that takes a little bit
of time to get his rhythm when he's been out
(24:37):
of the lineup for a little bit, and so Austin's
really struggling because he's been out of the lineup and
he's been out a rhythm. Luca's having this like brutal
shot making stretch where he can't make any of the
jump shots that he typically makes in his throughout the
rest of his career, and you're just absolutely brutalized by
injuries in the front court. It's just a rough spot, right,
(24:57):
And I actually kind of view it as a blessing
in the sky because the team had been winning a lot. Obviously,
they've been the best team in the league for almost
two months. So like it's one of those things where
you had a little bit of slippage in your execution
against Boston, right, and souse JJ was able to use
the Brooklyn loss last night to just basically rip his
(25:20):
team a new one and essentially like use it as
a motivator to refocus the team. Like it's not a
big deal that they lost to the Nets. It's not
going to be some sort of dramatic issue with where
they're at in the standings. Like I don't necessarily think
getting any specific seed other than staying out of the
play in matters. I think getting to their getting to
April healthy is really all that matters, And so it's
(25:42):
more important for you to be sharp. And so if
you drop a game against the Nets, that is just
a confluence of events and you lose against the defending
champions on their home floor in a game where a
bunch of down two starters and a bunch of other
things don't go your way. It's really nothing to overreact to.
But JJ can package that as a message to put
in front of the Lakers, to be like, we have
(26:03):
to be better at this stuff, because guess what, if
they want to win the trophy, they do kind of
have to be better at that stuff. And it's just
a perfect excuse to use as a motivator for this team.
The part that I want to keep an eye on, though,
is Luca's shot making, because like, this is the part
that has me most excited about the ultimate potential of
this team. Austin's been out, he'll eventually get it back.
(26:24):
That will go a long way towards helping this team.
But we haven't even begun to scratch the surface of
how good the Lakers can be when Luca is Luca.
Here's a crazy stat to demonstrate for you guys, the
gap in shop making ability between this version of Luka
Doncic in the version of Luka Doncic that took the
Dallas Mavericks to the finals last year. In twelve games
(26:47):
with the Lakers, Luca has managed to make at least
ten field goals twice in twelve games. Last year with
the Dallas Mavericks, in seventy games, he may at least
ten shots fifty times fifty of the seventy games. That's
the level of shot making that Luca can still get
(27:09):
to relative to where he's been with the Lakers. That's
where the excitement comes. Do I think the Lakers are
actually the best defense in the NBA? No, They've been
defending like that, but I don't actually think they're the
best defense in the NBA. My guess is they're somewhere
in the five to ten range given the type of
personnel that they have. But they can be so so
(27:30):
so much better on offense. That is the side of
the floor that they can make dramatic improvements through simplifying
some of their spacing principles. JJ's been talking a lot
about this. I'm not going to get into it today,
but one of our next few Laker videos, I'll do
a deeper dive into just like how spacing is supposed
to work and why JJ's been harping on that so much.
(27:51):
It mostly has to do with putting guys in the
right spots so that you're tilting the offense to get
the kinds of shots you want from the players that
you want. That's basically the main purpose of spacing right.
There's a lot of improvement that they can still make
on that end, but just Luca getting back to where
he can be as a shot maker while Lebron and
Austin are both healthy and in rhythm, will go a
(28:12):
long way towards lifting this team to a more elite
level on the offensive end of the floor. And that's
why I'm not really concerned. I saw enough in the
Boston game to think that they can beat Boston. I'm
gonna pick Boston. I think everybody should pick Boston against everyone.
They're just the safer bet. But I saw enough in
that game from Luca and Lebron attacking the Boston smalls
to go like, oh, like, I think they can win
(28:35):
that series. When I was scouting the Dallas Boston series
last year, I literally came on the show in my
series preview and said, I think Boston's gonna blow him out.
I didn't see a pathway because of some specific issues
with the matchups and the inability that Dallas had to
create space because of their non shooters on the floor.
They're pour above the break shooters in the way that
(28:56):
they could sit rim protection under the basket. Though different
with the Lakers is when they're healthy and they have
Ruy Hatchimura in the lineup and Dorian Finney Smith, they
don't have a single player in that five man grouping
that you can help off of, and so they should
be able to create more space. Lebron and Lucas should
be able to punish the Smalls. Again, it was a loss.
There was a lot of disappointment there, and I think
(29:17):
they played well. Luca looked bad for most of that game.
There's a lot of negatives, but I saw enough out
of that to be like, oh, I think they can
beat Boston. That was an encouraging thing for me. The
Nets game was literally a confluence of events. I'm not
worried about it, but it's a nice opportunity for JJ
to refocus the team and it's a reminder for you
guys that Luca can still come so so so far
(29:39):
as a shot maker. A brutal from Austin and Luca
last night eleven for forty from the field that they're
not going to shoot like that very often. All right, guys,
that's all I have for today. As always, as sincerely
appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show.
We will be back tomorrow in the evening. We're going
live on YouTube. At the end, I think it's a Denver, Minnesota.
If I remember correctly, then I think it is it
(30:00):
Celtics Thunder. I think it's Celtics Thunder in the first
game so jam Packed ESPN Slate tomorrow that we're covering
on YouTube live. I'm recording a mail bag tomorrow that
will air on Thursday as well. But again, as always,
I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting
the show, and I will see you tomorrow night the volume.
What's Up guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening
(30:22):
to and supporting OOPS tonight. It would actually be really
helpful for us if you guys would take a second
and leave a rating and a review. As always, I
appreciate you guys supporting us, but if you could take
a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it.
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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