December 15, 2025 • 48 mins
Jason reacts to the Los Angeles Lakers getting a win over the Phoenix Suns that included yet another chapter in the odd beef between Dillon Brooks and LeBron James. He discusses Luka Doncic's slight dip in play since his return and how the defensive minded lineup was successful while Austin Reaves was out with an injury. Then he discusses Joel Embiid and Paul George looking better for the Philadelphia 76ers in a loss to the Atlanta Hawks, Victor Wembanyama's defensive masterclass for the San Antonio Spurs against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Cup semifinal on Saturday, and gives his new NBA power rankings.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
All right, well goo hoops today here at the volume.
Happy Monday, everybody, hope all if you guys had an
incredible weekend, have a jam pack show for you guys today.
We're hit two games from last night, Lakers Suns as
well as Sixers Hawks. I also want to share some
stats from what the aftermath of that Spurs Thunder game.
I wanted to see some statistical markers that demonstrate some
of the things that we talked about. And then, as
(00:35):
always on Mondays, our weekly power rankings. You guys owe
the joke before we get started. Subscribe to this channel
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have another mail bag coming on Friday later this week.
All right, let's talk some basketball. So starting with Lakers Suns.
(00:59):
This is a game where Austin Reeves was out with
the calf injury, and both Lebron and Luca were kind
of a mess on offense, and yet the Lakers were
able to get a win because of what they did
on the margin, something they haven't done a whole lot
of this season, a concept don't want to dive into today.
Luca was off all night. He's been slumping a little
bit over his three games since returning from Slovenia for
(01:22):
the birth of his child. He's shooting thirty seven percent
from the field in twenty three percent from three, obviously
well down from his averages to start the season. He
struggled with the three point shot most of this season,
but it's been especially bad as of late, and he's
been having a bit of a turnover issue issue. He
has twenty three turnovers over his last four games. Lebron
got off to a nightmarage start. He had six turnovers
(01:44):
in the first quarter. Dylan Brooks I actually thought kind
of woke him up. You could tell Lebron just as
a competitor, really wanted to win that game so that
he could have a moment at Dylan Brooks's expense, and
that after a really rough first quarter, Dylan kind of
getting into it with them to wake Lebron up. And
from the start of the second quarter through the pass
(02:04):
to Jake lave On that back cut, the one that
put the Lakers up ninety nine to seventy nine. I
thought Lebron was really good in that stretch, and we'll
come back to that stretch later when we talk a
little bit about his beef with Dylan Brooks. But down
the stretch in crunch time, he didn't really have much
juice to create offense. Neither did Luca. Marcus Smart was
damn near shaving points down the stretch. Lebron had a
(02:25):
bad turnover on a post entry to DeAndre in the
middle of the floor that wasn't open. Just some really
head scratching decisions across the board from the Lakers offensive
players down the stretch. Luca wasn't good, Lebron wasn't good
in crunch time, neither was Marcus.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
It was just rough.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
But the team, despite having basically no offensive juice last night,
was able to get a big win on the road
against a good Phoenix Suns team because they came out
and they physically dominated the Suns with their size and
by playing harder than them. The Lakers obliterated the Suns
on the offensive glass night long. They had twenty four
(03:01):
offensive rebounds, leading to twenty five second chance points. They
had eight blocked shots they had thirteen steals. They were
the harder, playing, more physically aggressive team all night long,
and it allowed them to win a game that they
almost certainly lose otherwise because of the issues they were
having on offense. And this is where I want to
(03:23):
talk about the officiating. I'm very consistent with this kind
of thing. I think free throw differentials are very much
a product of the way the two teams are playing.
I think blaming a loss on officiating or focusing on
officiating is a loser's mentality. I'm consistent with this. We
just had an example of it going the opposite direction
(03:43):
for the Lakers against the Spurs. In that game, the
Spurs were plus twelve in free throws made What did
I say after that game? I said, Lakers fans complaining
about free throws in that game was lame because the
Spurs were very clearly the more physically aggressed team all night.
The Lakers were constantly out of position and so they
(04:04):
kept fouling. And I specifically called attention to the fact
that one of the unique kind of like one of
the unique realities about the way officiating in basketball works.
You'd think the more physically aggressive team would get called
for more fouls because they're being more physically aggressive. It's
usually the opposite. The more physically aggressive team tends to
(04:25):
beat you to spots more often, and when they beat
you to spots, you're out of position the opponent, and
so the opponent ends up committing more fouls because they
aren't meeting that aggression that the other team is bringing.
Last night, the Lakers were plus twelve in free throws made.
Why because they were a step ahead of Phoenix physically
(04:45):
all night long. The Lakers were quicker to loose balls,
they were more disciplined on defense. They simply won that
margin last night. Oh but Jason Luca's foul grifting all
the time and jumping into dudes. You're right, so was
Devin book Devin Booker actually did a better job foul
grifting than Luca last night. Devin Booker attempted sixteen free throws.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
That's not.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
The free throw differential wasn't because of Luca grifting or
because of Devin Booker grifting. Both of those guys did
their thing, and they attempted thirty free throws between the
two of them. Right, the free throw differential was because
down the roster, throughout all phases of the game. The
Lakers were quicker to the ball all night and the
Suns were constantly out of position. And as for the
late game stuff, when the Sons were trying their comeback,
(05:30):
when they were down by twenty and they started playing
crazy hard, and they they flipped the script and became
the more physically intense team late in the game. They
were probably like it was such a bloodbath of a
game down the stretch of that fourth quarter. Physically, there
were probably a dozen missed foul calls on both ends
of the floor over the final five minutes of that game. Like,
(05:51):
I know, Suns fans are pissed off about the play
where Dylan Brooks got it. Brooks got ejected because right
before that ejection, Lebron foul Dilan Brooks onnon three. You're right,
it was a missed call. Dylan Brooks shot a three.
Lebron bumped into him with his shoulder as he was
flying by on a close out, knocked him over. It
was a foul. What do I always say? Bad calls
(06:13):
or missed calls are a part of the game of basketball.
Less than a minute earlier, when the Lakers were up
five with a little over a minute left, Dylan Brooks
straight up tackled Luca on a step back three along
the left wing. Luca went for the step back, stuck
his right leg out, but Dylan was also running him
off of his spot. It was like a clear obvious fallle.
He tackled Luke on a step back three should have
(06:34):
been a foul, but it didn't get called because it
was such a blood bath of a game. Those games
become borderline impossible to officiate. Bodies are falling down every
five seconds. Every possession ends with three or four dudes
laying on the ground. It's a blood bath. It's going
to turn into a shit show with officiating when that happens.
And that's what happened. It was a shit show of
(06:55):
physicality over the last five minutes, which is damn near
impossible to officiate. And they were about a half dozen
missed calls on either end of the floor. If the
Lakers would have lost that game, it wouldn't have been
because of a call. It would have been because they
lost a twenty point lead in the fourth quarter by
slowing down too much on offense and a couple of
really poor decisions with the basketball by both Marcus Smart
(07:17):
and Lebron James and Luke Dncis would turnovers down the
stretch and bad shots down the stretch of that game.
You can't blame the officials when you blow a twenty
point lead. And the Suns lost that game because they
gave up a twenty eight to two run in the
second half. They had a nine minute stretch of game
clock where they couldn't score. That's why you lose the game.
(07:38):
So I think focusing on officiating in addition to being
a loser mentality, it honestly just misses the plot. You
got your butts kicked in the free throw margin against
the Spurs because you got beat to the ball constantly
all game long by a faster team that was more
physically aggressive. And the Suns got beat in the free
throw margin tonight because the exact opposite thing happened, and
(07:59):
the Lake brought the physicality and they beat you to
spots all night long, and they beat you to every
loose ball and you were constantly behind, and it just,
you know, it just is a shame. I was listening
to the Phoenix Suns broadcast last night, and honestly, it
was just embarrassing the way that like this super interesting
basketball game was going on, and all they could talk
about is how they thought the league was rigging the
game with the officiating for.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
The Lakers is crazy.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
And as for the last call with Devin Booker on Lebron,
it's one of those ones where like, if it was
a no call in the moment, and I saw the
replay and like, so it was no call, we go on,
Lakers end up losing the game, and I see the
replay and Devin Booker comes down on the hand and
the wrist the way that he did. I thought it
would have been defensible as a no call in the moment,
(08:44):
but as soon as it got called and it was challenged,
you have to go to the replay, and once you
go to the replay, it's by the book. He went
down on his hand and his wrist, it's gonna get
it's not. You're not going to overturn that call. But
even then, you go back a few minutes, there's a
play where Jake Lave blocks Devin Booker at the foul
line and runs out in transition and Devin Booker yanks
(09:04):
on the back of his jersey to wrap around and
swipe down. That does go to review and somehow does
get upheld right. So the point is is like this
stuff is completely out of your control and it's pointless
to dwell on the best thing you can do as
a basketball team to address the free throw differential is
to bring the physical aggression to the game. If you
(09:25):
are the more physically aggressive team, you will get a
better whistle. It has been like that for as long
as I've been playing the game and as long as
I've been watching the game. That is just the way
that it works when you get into these super physical environments.
So let's dig back into that idea. How did the
Lakers outwork the Suns in this game? We saw a
rotation change last night. Jared Vanderbilt had played just three
(09:46):
minutes total in the previous ten games, and even those
three minutes were kind of unusual because Jake Lavia got
hit in the face and so JJ ended up trying
him and to do the hero for a few minutes
just to see but vandersman out of the rotation for
a long time. But because Austin Reeves was out of
the rotation last night with his calf injury, you know
you got thirty five something minutes to disperse among the
(10:09):
rest of the roster, and those minutes basically ended up
getting split three ways between more minutes for Marcus Smart,
who ended up starting, more minutes for Jake Laavia, and
more minutes for Jared Vanderbilt.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Now, those are.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Three of LA's better defensive players and so more defensive
talent on the floor. It was actually the Laker defense
that blew this game open again a nine minute span
from the end of the third quarter to the middle
of the fourth quarter where the Lakers allowed just two points,
and it was the quartet of Jared Vanderbilt, Jake Loravia,
gave Vincent, and Jackson Hayes in combination with Lebron or
(10:41):
Luca those were the six guys that were primarily on
the floor during that run, and they were all excellent
on defense. Jake did a great job on Devin Booker,
staying attached, keeping his hands up to avoid fouls. He's
also bigger than Devin, which allowed him to get some
great contests, including that block that we talked about there
around the foul line. I thought Van and Jake were
both excellent in their passing lanes as they were playing
(11:03):
off the ball defensively, getting steals Jake was awesome at
anticipating where the kickouts were going and jumping them like
a free safety. Vando got a couple of steels on
the right wing with just fundamental positioning. Basic basketball one
on one. When you're playing a passing lane, you stay
in between the ball and your man when you're one
pass away and you typically are just maybe a hair
outside of the passing lanes. You don't get back cut,
(11:25):
but you make up for that gap by having your
hand in the passing lanes. You're always, you know, standing
just off the passing lane with your whatever hand that
is in that direction in the passing lane, keeping your
eye on your man and the ball. That's good fundamental
defense there. And Jared Vanderbilt's quick and has long arms,
and he got Calling Gillespie in that passing lane on
the left wing. You got Grayson Allen in that passing
(11:46):
lane in the in the left wing. That was a
big part of those thirteen steals that the Lakers got
in this game. The job that Jake and Vando were
doing in passing lanes, the ranginess at the rim in
blocks like Vando is kind of like an underrated rim
protector for a Ford big block and a low man
rotation on Jordan Goodwin after he ended up having to
step over after they put two in the ball on
(12:08):
the left side of the floor. Jackson has been so
much better with his verticality on contests at the rim
this year. Every time I watched Jackson go up with
two hands and not come down and hack the dude,
it's funny. He had one against the Spurs where he
came down and hacked hard and all the guys on
the bench were getting on him. You can tell from
the coaching staff down to his teammates, they have been
(12:29):
really good at holding Van or holding Jackson accountable to
his verticality and his contests. And he's been much better
really across the board this year, but especially on defense,
defending the rim without fouling in a big one against
Osoegadaro in the second half at the Rim, Gabe was
scrapping all night. He had a big steal on Jordan
Goodwin with some ball pressure. Vando, Jackson and Jake were
(12:51):
the main sources of their offensive rebounding as well. In
those bench groups. Those guys had twelve offensive boards between
the three of them. And again, like I said earlier,
in the same way that Phoenix two weeks ago. Two
weeks ago today, I believe went into La and punked
the Lakers. Last night, the Lakers went into Phoenix and
punked the Suns. They were the more physically aggressive team
(13:13):
and really brought it to them. And again, like, this
is one of those things where we can acknowledge the
Lakers have personnel weaknesses, but they also are capable of
just playing better. And I thought last night was a
good example of that.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
You need both.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
You need some more talent and you need the guys
that you have to do a better job of competing
in those areas. No one is advocating for the Lakers
to go give all of Austin's minutes to defenders. Obviously
Austin's too good of a player and when he comes back,
he's gonna get all those minutes. But it was fun
to watch La anchored by some better defensive talent in
this game to have a chance to impact the game.
(13:47):
And so a couple of notes from that, like maybe
Vando should get more of an opportunity, especially on nights
where Gabe doesn't seem to have it going on offense.
He did hit a big corner three in the second half,
but he's been a little bit off on offense as
of late. Maybe Vando can give you a little bit
more defensively in those situations when Gabe's not on, and again,
most importantly, when you're looking at the trade deadline, it's
(14:08):
a sign of what things could look like if the
Lakers did find a high level defensive player that could
actually earn thirty to thirty five minutes a night in
this rotation. Like Jake is struggling on offense, he can't
shoot right now, shooting twenty eight percent on catch and
shoot threes this season. He blew a couple of layups
on fast breaks last night. Vando hit it three last night,
but he was two for five. He was one for
three at the rim last night. These guys are struggling
(14:31):
to get into the rotation because they're so limited on offense.
So just imagine a universe where you've got a player
that you're playing thirty thirty five minutes who's six', eight
got a big natural motor that has him playing hard
and he's doing a lot of damage in those margins
of the. Game but that's also knocking down catch and
shoot threes and can do a little bit on. Offense
(14:51):
that's exactly, Why, like when it comes to that kind of,
guy he would do more to help The lakers than
he would just about any other team in the league
because they have such a specific need for.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
That type of.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Player, again like your value to a basketball team is
unique to what your team needs and what you bring
to the. Table that's why that kind of player could
be so impactful for this. Team nice response from The, lakers,
though AGAIN i talked about this in The Lakers collective
pot On. Thursday the main THING i was looking for
in this game was just how they'd show up, Physically
like would they show up for a fight Against, phoenix
would they bring the fight To phoenix or would they
(15:24):
wilt under the? Physicality, again AND i thought they brought the,
fight AND i thought they won the. Fight they did
the physical punking last. Night that's why they, won even
though their offense was kind of sketchy most of the.
Night and again it's a reminder that they are capable
of playing better even with their personnel. Weaknesses The Dylan
Brooks lebron. Beef i'm in a weird spot on this one,
(15:44):
because on the one, HAND i actually really Like Dylan,
brooks AND i think he's a great basketball. PLAYER i
think he'd be literally perfect as The lakers starting, three for,
example BUT i don't think that's. HAPPENING i Think phoenix
should keep. HIM i think he's a culture builder for.
THEM i Thought jordan not talked about that after the.
GAME i Think dylan's an important foundational piece For phoenix
at this. Point But i'm a big fan of him
as a basketball. Player WHEN i just think about the.
(16:06):
Basketball the stuff With, lebron, though it's it's getting a
little over the top and it's kind of, Lame like
it's not the first time we've seen a role player do,
this you, know kind of grifting off the fame of a.
Superstar it's been an epidemic ever since really the advent
of social, media right you like, it it's like an
aura farming.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Thing guys are trying to.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Get some sort of like some sort of traction with
their fame and their personality off of another. Star and
this is not the first guy to do this To,
Lebron like we Saw Lance stevenson do, this we saw
To Shan stevenson do, this and you know that there's
a lot of, this like non basketball, stuff, Right Like
dylan's just out out out the, gates just randomly shoulder
(16:48):
Bumping lebron every time he gets a. Chance so that
play Where lebron lost his, cool he like slap the
ball at. Him the foul was, called there was like
a second everyone Knew Dylan brooks is going to the foul,
line so it's not like he's trying to save it
from going out of bounds or something like, that and
he just slaps the ball At lebron and again Like
lebron overreacted to, it but it's Like lebron is just
sick of. It he's just sick of the crap because
(17:09):
there's all of this extracurricular nonsense going. On and then
that play on the play he got ejected on like
if he was just trying to win a basketball, game
he'd be getting ready to get a, stop but, nope
he's once again or a farming With lebron by going
up and running up and throwing a completely unnecessary chest,
(17:29):
bump and the shick is just kind of, old like
we get. It you're big and strong and you can
bump shoulders with forty year Old lebron a little bit
he's seventeen and eight against you in his, career and
the one time he saw you in the, playoffs he
torched you in the pivotal moments and he sent you.
Home so like it's one of those things where you're
actually one of the better players in the league, Overall
Dylan brooks as a role player when you focus on
(17:52):
the basketball and you're actually a good enough basketball player
now that you don't Need lebron in his fame to
elevate you. Anymore so like it's time to move past,
that and like it's just it's very clearly become something
that's more of a distraction For dylan and taking away
from some of the impact that he has on the.
Game he got himself in foul trouble tonight or last,
(18:13):
night picking up a fifth foul on a play where
he was trying to Isole lebron once, again just trying
to farm another, clip and he dropped his head and
like Speared lebron in the chest with his head in
the sternum and knocked him, over pick up his fifth.
Foul then you sit out the entire third quarter and
your team gets absolutely thrashed while you're off the. Floor
(18:33):
why because you're one of the most important players on the.
Team AND i thought last night was an example where
Like Dylan, brooks really good basketball, player undercut a lot
of his success and hurt his team because he was
more interested in his own like personal little show that
he puts on With Lebron and it's, like, dude you're
losing that. Show you were routinely and consistently losing that.
(18:56):
Show you had a big night a couple a couple
of weeks ago some, night didn't do the extracurricular bs
that hurts your. Team you were just making shots and
playing defense and helping your team win a. Game this
kind of junk is actually getting in the way of
his impact as a basketball.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
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Speaker 2 (19:16):
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(19:38):
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Speaker 1 (20:36):
Virginia all, right let's move on to six er.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Socks so No Tyrese maxi For, philly who's missed the
last two games with an. Illness this was a game
that The hawks led for almost the entirety Of they
led for the entire first, quarter the entire third and fourth,
quarters but ended up being a super fun game because
The sixers kept it close thanks to a throwback night
on offense From Paul george And joel Mb, too combined
for fifty seven points and incredible shot making. Throughout it
(21:02):
is kind of a Vintage Paul george game where he's
just hitting all those impossible shots off the. Dribble we've
talked about this, before But Paul george has always had
a game that's kind of built on tough shot, making
and what ends up happening is if he's got that
kind of stuff, going he becomes basically impossible to. Guard
because he's six' eight and he's got a super. Sharp
handle he can protect the basketball against any type of,
ball pressure and he's gonna be able to get to
(21:23):
some sort of jump shot off, the dribble and if
he's got the rhythm, like that you just get to
stand there and watch them go in. The basket and
that was a big part of what he was doing
down the stretch of. This game embiid has sneaky been
looking a lot more. Explosive lately he has sixty one
points in his last. TWO games i want To take,
philly though and set them aside for, a second because
there's actually some really encouraging trends For, the sixers even
(21:45):
though they've lost two out of.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Three games we'll get it to them in.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
A minute But the hawks ended up holding on late
some big plays on offense late in. The Game Nikhil
alexander Walker And jalen johnson both had big drives in
crunch time where they engaged embat at the rim even though,
they missed which actually loud and opening behind That For
dyson daniels to come in and get offensive rebound, put
backs One that jalen got and shoveled to him and
then another one that the one On nik. Keels drive
(22:09):
dyson just grabbed himself and put it back in some huge,
Threes Late zachary resache had a big steal and the
three on the. Left Wing Nikkeile alexander walker had a
tough movement three at the top of, the key moving
from his left to. His right And Then yeka conglu
a big play late in this game when they were only.
Up two he was a kind of a baseline out
of bound Sequence where embiid was sagging back to defend
(22:30):
all these off, ball screens and Then and yeka just
popped out to the corner and hit his fifth three of,
the game just an absolutely massive shot that Put the
hawks up by.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Five late and.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Then again like they got the key stops late in
the game that, they Needed vit kretchi had two massive.
Defensive plays at the tail end of this Game the
sixers thanks to the hot shooting down. The Stretch joel
embiid hits a big three at the top of the
KEY that i think cut the lead to ONE if i,
Remember correctly And the sixers get the ball Back And
paul george Has vit kretche and a cleared side iso
(23:02):
on the left side of, the FLOOR and i think
it's one eighteen to, one seventeen so it's a one.
Point Game paul george is working CLEARED. Side iso he's
got everything going in his game, this, night right and
he's trying to work to something in the. Mid range but,
to fit to, his credit was applying a lot of
really good ball pressure and physicality and it Actually forced
paul to kind of retreat it a, little bit and
he ended up taking a super difficult step back three
(23:23):
out of the. Left corner that was one of the
lower percentage Shots that paul had taken. All night so
just really good individual Defense from viit there and then
on the, final possession so they end.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Up fouling it's one twenty to.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
One seventeen they come, back down they run a sideline
at a bounds Play And quentin grimes breaks free to the.
Left corner really smart. Peel switch vit jumps off of
vj edgecomb jumps Out Onto quentin grimes just stands there
with his two, hands up gets a great vertical contest,
without fouling forces him into a really difficult shot that
he ends. Up Missing in atlanta escapes with, the Win
(23:57):
and vit hit four threes in the game. As well
so it was a team best plus ten, last night
a really nice Game, from cretchy season high twenty seven
Points From, dyson daniels and everything was at. The rim
and one of the interesting trends this Year with dyson
compared to previous seasons is he's cut way down on
his three. Point attempts these spot up situations when you're
just standing at the three, point line they put such
a heavy emphasis on your ability to, knock down catch and,
(24:19):
shoot threes and he just hasn't been good at that in,
his careers never been able to get across that like
kind of mandatory minimum where you need to be around
like thirty five percent on him for it to, make
sense because then in a larger sample you start to
get well over a point, per, Possession right but he's
just been unable to knock them down in. His career
and one of the big changes this year with the
way he's been working off the ball is it's almost
(24:40):
solely as a cutter and as a vertical spacer in the.
Dunker spot he's got really good natural feel for relocations
in the. Dunker spot so like spacing relocations on the
three point line, Are, Different right you're you're usually watching
your on ball defender and you're sliding up or sliding
down to try to create a passing angle. For three
or if a guy drives and, kicks out there's like
(25:02):
a wheel spacing, Where, Like okay i'm in, the corner
but this guy just drove and he's now relocating to,
the CORNER so i have to slide up to. The
wing there's all these like different little spacing principles at
the three. Point, line well in the, dunker spot there's
like a triangle of spots that you're constantly. Hitting right
so there's the dunker spot on the left side of,
the rim there's the dunker spot on the right side of,
the rim and then there's also that spot right in
(25:22):
front of. The rim they call that teeing up right
where like you end up if a guy ends up
driving on, the baseline you end up flashing right up
to the top of the to the, charge circle making
yourself available for those short little pop shots or whatever
that you can make right there five feet in front of.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
The.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Rim right so your job when you're working in that
dunker spot is like your opposite your opposite dunker spot
when the Guy's driving so if guy's in the, left
wing you're in the right. Dunker spot but if he
drives across, the middle you got to relocate to the opposite. Dunker,
spot right if he drives towards the uh that left,
Dunker spot like if he doesn't get across the middle
(25:58):
but ends up cutting more to it's, the baseline then
you flash right up towards. The. Middle right that's when
you tee. Up right there's all these like little bits
of spacing like relocation principles that you have to know
if you're working out of the. Dunker Spot and dyson's
just really good at. That stuff and so he's doing
a ton of damage this year slipping out of screens
rather than popping and working as a vertical spacer there
(26:20):
in the. Dunker spot he's scoring about twice a game
this year that he's got like thirty eight or thirty
nine makes on cuts. This season just a really nice
way to kind of convert what was an untenable spacing
situation with him at the three point line into something.
That's working, and again he's got a good. Little floater
it's the weirdest thing with him with his touch is
jump shot form actually, looks good just doesn't. Go in
(26:42):
but he's got really good touch on. His floater that's
something that he's actually been very, good at and that
kind of allows him to make some of those little
short spacing shots even when there's a big in the
way right because like he's not just going to vertical
space in the traditional sense like. Dunking everything he's spacing
out of the dunker spot merely as a layup maker
and as like a little. Floater maker it's kind of
(27:03):
like an interesting little wrinkle in this In this. Hawks
offense and he's doing it in off ball situations and on,
ball situation so like he'll throw a high post entry
and then just cut off the guy's shoulder and. Get
buckets he was slipping out his screens as the screener
in like. Inverted action he's just doing a lot of
damage at the paint in. This one twenty two of
his twenty six points where either at the rim in
(27:25):
layups or right by the rim. In floaters really impressive
Game From. Dyson daniels and then the three point Shooting
From Nyeka congo man five threes again, last night huge
one in. Crunch time like we talked about talked About
Against joel embiid on that baseline out, of Bounds and
anyeka now has forty nine made threes, this season which
(27:46):
is more than he did in the entire season. Last
year he had forty eight makes in an entire season
last year. Forty nine here about a third of the
way through the season in this twenty twenty. Five campaign
nice bounce Back for atlanta who had lost four were
out of five. Before that much. Better defense that was
the real thing that slipped for them in that tough
stretch where they lost four at five one to nineteen
(28:07):
defensive rating in those. FOUR losses i want to Talk
about phillies upside for. A minute a lot of this
is coming down to how Much Better joel embid is
starting to. Look athletically we talked about this at the
beginning of, the season like it almost Felt like embiid
was hurting them because he was just so much slower
than the style that they were playing up and down.
The floor in the Speed That tyres max he was
bringing to, the table he was starting to struggle defensively
(28:29):
in a way that we hadn't seen.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Just because that lack.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Of mobility But the sixers have been playing some of
their best defense of the season as. Of late as
a matter, of Fact since, november eleventh a game where
they won Against, the Celtics the sixers have been the
fourth best defense in THE. Entire nba it's a fifteen,
game sample really good in. Every facet they've been the
eighth best paint defense in. That span and not. Just
embiid embid's always been an underrated rim protector when he's
(28:52):
actually able to sit back around, the basket but he's been.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Especially good it's just. Not him it's not.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Solely Him andre drummonds been really good protecting the rim
in this run. As well they've been guarding the three point.
Line well and then they've completely reversed a bad defensive
rebounding trend from early in. The Season before, november eleventh
they were twenty third in defensive. Rebound percentage they are
eleventh IN the nba. Since then so cleaning up the,
defensive glass putting together a solid defense that's guarding both
(29:19):
the rim and the three point, line well which again
they should be. Able to they've got lots of perimeter
speed and they've got some, huge centers so like they should,
in theory be able to be a team that can
protect the paint and get out to the three point
line at least in their, traditional coverages even if they
might have some vulnerability that can put their bigs. In
space now this is exciting Because Both paul George And
(29:41):
joel embiid are looking better offensively than they have at
any point over the last. Two seasons if they can
piece this all together Like THE all nba Level That
tyrese maxey was, hooping at the elite defense they've shown
basically for a little over a, month now we've seen
the scoring pop From oil embids start to rise to.
(30:01):
The surface we've seen the scoring Pop From. Paul george
this is the best he's looked over the last couple.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
OF.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Seasons vj edgecomb just had his fifth twenty point game
as a pro. Last night had a huge driving layup
in transition, last night kind of like the the uh
you guys remember the Play That marcus smart had In
the lakers game where he tried to beat the ball
pressure and he drove the length of the floor and
just got Swatted By ryan dunn right at.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
THE.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Rim vj edgecomb basically did the exact same thing. Last
night where he tried to beat ball pressure just with
a hard drive, in transition except for he's such a
freaky athlete he got up into the dude's chest ended
up having this crazy, banking finish huge play late in
the game in. That one if they can like find
a way to piece all this, together Again The eastern
conference is, wide open and this team does have a
(30:42):
lot of upside because they've got so many dudes that,
can score they have a strong. Defensive foundation health is
obviously the biggest. Question mark we'd all be foolish to
just expect this to all stay like this over the
course of, the season but we'd also be foolish to
not pretend like that, upside exists And the sixers have
been flashing a lot of that over the course of
the last couple. Of weeks, all right next segment from
(31:09):
notes are my Notes From. Spurs thunder, SO again i
wasn't On on. SATURDAY night i wasn't able to get
much into metrics because it's just too close to the
end of, the game so the stats. Haven't UPDATED but
i wanted, to see, you KNOW because i talked a
lot About how victor was a game breaking defensive weapon in.
That game and you know a lot of times like
we talk, about, like oh this guy did a good
job protecting the room, last night or oh this guy
(31:31):
did a good job guarding the ball, last night and
often it just means holding a team or a player below.
Their averages and, you know to, Some extent victor literally
broke the thunder offense, last NIGHT and i wanted to
see if there WAS or i shouldn't say, Last night,
saturday NIGHT and i just wanted to see if there
was some kind of like real statistical marker that demonstrated
the sheer degree To which victor broke. The offense AND
(31:53):
so i dug into, the numbers and there was some
pretty impressive. Stuff there it logged an eighty three point
three defensive Rating when victor was on the floor in.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
That game that's obviously.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Very good they were also plus forty, four net which
goes to show you how good they were on offense in.
THAT stretch i don't really want to focus on. THAT
today i just want to focus on the. Defensive side,
but again eighty three defensive Rating when victor was on.
The floor they made just four shots at the rim
the entire Time that victor was on, the floor and
two of them were, transition buckets One where victor got
blocked at the Rim and shaye went out and got.
A layup another one where it was in that garbage
(32:25):
time situation where they were just trying to take away.
A THREE so i don't really count this one because
they were literally hugged up off the ball because there's
a three point game with like what fifteen seconds left,
or whatever so they were glued up off the Ball
and shane ended up getting a driving dunk and that
was just Like a victor's not going to help Off
of shay and give a wide open three to check
(32:45):
that could tie the game in the final minute of, the,
Game right but in terms of the actual flow of,
the game they had just two buckets that they made at.
The rim, and again this is a team that averages
averages twenty makes per rim per game at. The rim
wemby played in twenty, One minutes so if you kind
of just do some basic ratio math there, in Theory
(33:08):
the thunder would in a twenty one minute span average
about nine makes at the rim based on their, Season
average so not just they drop from their, season average
but a complete fall off from their season average and
their ability to get to the Rim When Victor woman
yamo was on. The floor and this is perhaps the
most FASCINATING stat i talked about after. THE game i,
(33:29):
was like seemed like on film this was forcing them
to settle for a lot more off the dribble. Jump
shots and that's exactly. What happened when you dig into,
The Numbers oklahoma city attempted twenty six off the dribble
jump shots in. This game that was their highest total
of the entire season for off the dribble.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Jump shots and.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
When you dig into the film of the twenty six
off the dribble jump shots, they took fifteen of them
took Place when wemby was on. The floor and again
remember That's when wemby was off the floor for Twenty
seven i've been of the forty eight minutes in, that
game fifteen off the dribble jump shots in just twenty
one minutes of Action when wemby was on, the floor
(34:09):
with just two makes at. The rim and on those
twenty six off the dribble jump shots they took in the,
entire game they made just nine, of them zero points
seven to seven points. Per shot one of their least
efficient pull up shooting games of the. Entire season that
is the statistical representation of THE dynamic i was talking
about Where when wemby's on, the floor it allows the
flexibility for the guards to press up more on, the
(34:31):
ball force them into much tougher off the dribble, jump
shots and they would typically give up where a guard
has to maybe be on their heels more because they
have to contain the ball because they don't have the
support behind them that they have when they Don't have wemby, behind, Them,
right so like all of this is really fascinating because
it just is again a statistical representation of that defensive
(34:52):
Work that Victor women yama did in that game on.
The THUNDERSIDE as i dug a little bit more into,
The film chet is the. Key again three of the
four Buckets that okasee Got when wemby was on the
floor at the rim were a direct Result of Wemby
tracking chet out at the three. Point line the two
layups that were in half. Court sets so obviously the
one in Late game i'm not really Counting because wemby
(35:15):
was glued Up to chet and that Was when shay got,
the dunk but the other two both of them were
the exact. Same setup It was chet in the strong
side corner for a drive off of the left slot
that ended up in a Layup where Chet where Chet
dragged wemby just for far enough out of the lane
and caused him to hesitate just Enough that wenby ended
up being either late on the shay layup or didn't
(35:37):
even make an attempt on the j. Doub layup and
again that's gonna be, THE key i Think putting chet
constantly in easy play, finishing position so somewhere where it's
particularly Hard for wenby, to help so strong side corner
or weak side wing where he's one, pass away those
are situations that are shorter, kickout passes and they're harder
situations to help from If, you're wemby AND so i
(35:58):
think that's gonna be a big Part of okay sees
eventual counters for this and then trying To get wenby
tied up. In screens this is the other element of,
It too like this is where like maybe running, more
stack pick, and roll like Essentially bringing wemby into, the
action but then having another a, third player a shooter
in the action That's, backscreening wenby so That maybe Chet
(36:19):
Or isaiah Hartenstein or Shay or jadab in their drives
can Get behind Wemby as wenby gets tied up in
bodies around the. FOUL line i think that's another way
that they can try to attack this specific Problem of
Victor women yamas shutting off the rim. For, them, ultimately
though and this is not really necessarily a this, season
PROBLEM because i Think the spurs are not quite ready
(36:40):
to necessarily Beat the thunder four times out of seven
in this. Particular SEASON but i do Think the spurs
are going to be their biggest rival over the next
three to, four years, and ultimately in order For the
thunder to solve, that problem they're going to have to
figure out a way to score at the Rim when
wemby's on.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
The floor it can't just be pull up.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Jump shots if it ends up just being pulled up,
JUMP shots i think that's a big Advantage For san
antonio as this matchup gets more and more intense over the.
Coming seasons, all right let's get.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
To our weekly.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Power rankings this is gonna be a quicker segment. Than
usual the schedule was very weird. This week because of
the n. SEASON tournament a lot of the Teams that
i'm talking about today in the power rankings only played
one game, last week so not a whole lot to.
Get into we're gonna kind of fly through. This again
all of our lines are provided by, our Sponsor Hard
rock bet. Number Ten The orlando magic currently plus three
(37:28):
thousand to win the title On Hard. Rock bet the
injury buck continues to Prevent the magic from reaching. Their
potential they Can't get Fronz and polo to be on
the floor at the same time without one of them.
Getting hurt and then seemingly Every Time jalen suggs plays
a few good games in, a row his body. Breaks
down and it's a shame because he was playing some
great basketball his previous. Five games he had averaged twenty
two points per game on over fifty percent shooting in
over thirty five percent From Three denny polls. Is groin
(37:51):
he was like this dynamic second wave of offense Off
Of desmond baine in that first half Against, the knicks
and then he just couldn't hold, up physically and that
continues to be. A problem the three point shooting went
cold again in that game Against. The knicks that's been
a recurring theme in big games For the magic over
the course of the last. Few seasons but this is
still the same dominant defense and rebounding team from, last
(38:13):
year with a much improved offense twenty eight transition points,
per game which is the fifth most in THE. Entire
nba last year they averaged, just twenty which was bottom
five IN. The nba so from bottom five transition offense
to top five. TRANSITION offense i do want to give
some Credit To jamal. Mosley here i've been critical of
him over the past couple of seasons for his lack
of refinement of, this offense and now he has them
(38:36):
running more, than ever he has them moving without the
ball more, than ever he has them passing the ball more,
than ever and they're just playing in a much higher
level on offense than they have in. Recent years shout
Out To jamal mosley's getting some good hoops out of.
These guys number Nine The boston celtics plus three thousand
to win, the title according To Hard rock bet took
a bad Loss in milwaukee Against the Bucks without giannis the.
Other Night the bucks ended up flipping the Script attacking.
(38:58):
Boston's mismatches, This game kuzmo Was Killing nemi cato as some,
Quick ISOs bobby portis Was Posting, jalen Brown Posting, derek
white then he was bombing threes in the. Fourth quarter
but can't Drop the celtics off the. List here they've
won seven of their. Last, nine still they have the
third best record in the Leaguees in november twenty third
in a one to twenty nine offensive rating in, that
span as they've been playing some of the best offensive
(39:20):
basketball they've played In The joe, missoula Era And jason
tatum is on the way sooner. THAN later i would
imagine number Eight The, minnesota timberwolves currently plus three thousand
to win the title On Hard. Rock bet got a
couple of nice back bounce back wins Against the kings And,
the warriors but they continue to have an inability to beat.
Good teams as we've seen in the standings. This season
(39:40):
they are fifteen to one against teams that are five
hundred OR worse i should say below, five hundred and
they are two to eight versus teams that are five hundred.
Or better and the problem continues to be. Their defense
According to Cleaning. The glass when you filter their matchups
to only teams that are in the top ten in,
point differential they're currently out allowing one hundred and twenty
four points one. Hundred possessions that is the twenty third
(40:02):
worst defense versus the top ten point differential teams in,
the league According to Cleaning. The GLASS but i do
continue to be bullish On. The wolves their offense is
better than it's ever been and they are guarding. Pretty
Well When rudy goberart's on, The floor he's sneaky been
one of the most valuable players in the league. This
season their defense falls off of a fifteen point Cliff
When rudy gobert leaves, the FLOOR and i believe they'll
be able to get enough stops to be really dangerous
(40:24):
when we Get.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
To april.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Number Seven The, houston rockets another team that only had
one game. Last week they bounced back from their tough
Loss in dallas with a nice win Versus. The Clippers
the clippers, team that, like again has, been losing but
they're playing everybody really tough. These Days As kawhi Leonard
And james harden continue to. PLAY well i loved their
crunch time. Offense Again kevin durant had a rough, statistical
NIGHT but i thought he was incredible down the stretch
(40:45):
orchestrating things in pick and roll set up so many.
Quality shots hit Him and thompson in the pocket for
an and One Hit shane goon in the pocket that
started a four on three that ended up in a
Dunk For jabari smith who was spotting up there in the.
Dunker spot He Hit jabari smith on a perfect cross
court feed for like a wide open corner three in the,
right corner.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Just happened to.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Miss It hit shangoon in the pocket for a nice
little easy mid range jumper that. He MISSED like, i
thought it was really high quality offense and they ended
up getting. TO win i talked to all off season
ABOUT how i was specifically Hoping that kad would bring
back more of that spread pick and roll work that
he was Doing, in brooklyn where he was really gifted
at bringing the defender to the level and getting the
(41:23):
pass to the roller and igniting four. On threes and
it's been awesome to see that become one of the
Staples for houston in the, half court especially at the
end of games. This season shangun was, incredible again had
a really crazy finish across his body down, the stretch
and this one did really nice work in his one.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
On.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Ones again, this team they're just so difficult to guard
as a brute force team in the half court because
they have so many impossible players to guard one on
One Like, Kevin durant shangoon And A. Men thompson still
the only team Other Than oklahoma city in THE entire
nba with a double digit positive net rating number Six
The Los angeles lakers plus thirteen hundred to win. The
(41:59):
title according To. Hard bet i'm not gonna say here
long because we hit them in a segment earlier in,
the show but obviously a very disappointing showing in the
N season Tournament Against, san antonio once again shining a
light on their. Athletic deficiencies but as has been the theme,
all season the team has just a lot more mental
toughness than they have in previous iterations of. The team
they are yet to lose two games in a row,
(42:20):
this season as they go on the Road into Phoenix
Without austin reeves and get a big win not with,
their offense but with defense, and rebounding just showing that
they can win that type. Of, fight again casual reminder
that even though they have their, personnel limitations they also
are capable of being a better team on the margins than.
They've shown number Five The denver nuggets plus seven hundred
to win the title according to Hard. Rock bet another
(42:42):
one one. Game team, last week easy road Win. In
sacramento kings didn't have A soul Hooga Gard nicola yoket
so he just feasted. All night he had thirty six
points on fourteen for. Sixteen shooting really nice. Bench performance
again For, the nuggets there are seven for seven Night From.
Yonas palancunis they were plus Five with yoka chop the
floor in. That game they are now just minus three
(43:03):
point eight net per one hundred Possessions when yokich is
off the floor to start, the season which seems bad
until you remember that is, way way way better than
they were in the previous, five seasons where they were
routinely a negative double digit team Net when yokich was off.
The floor number Four The New york knicks currently plus
fifteen hundred to win the title according to Hard. Rock
(43:24):
bet my current pick to Win The. Eastern conference if
the season, ended today another. Offensive masterclassic it's a Very good.
Orlando Defense jalen brunson just fried one of the best
defensive back courts in, The League, Carl, Towns Torch Twndell.
Carter junior this offense is five points per one hundred
possessions better this season total than it was. Last year
(43:45):
they are a one to twenty two offensive ratings team,
this year when they were a one seventeen. Last Year
mike brown has just squeezed a little bit more out
of every facet of, this offense a little bit more,
in transition a few more drives, every game fifteen more
passes per game than they had, last year generating more
spot up opportunities by a wide margin than they did.
(44:07):
Last season just a little bit better across, the board
amounts to five points increase year over year in their,
offensive Rating and josh Hart og And and Obi And michale
bridges continue to do a wonderful job anchoring their defense with.
Their speed, in TRANSITION this nixt team appears to be
on a mission to reverse the trends of. Years past
they definitely have a challenge ahead for them, tomorrow night
(44:29):
though very very excited. About That the spurs are an
athletic juggernaut that are going to have guards that Can Guard,
jalen brunson the ability to protect, the rim the ability
to really cause some physical problems. For them i'm excited
to see how they match up in that, game tomorrow night.
Number Three The San antonio spurs currently plus three thousand
to win, the title According To Hard rock bet once
(44:49):
again touched on them early in, the SHOW so i
won't stay. HERE long i may have been wrong About
the spurs before, the Season but i'm all in on.
Them now They have we're gonna do our next contender
list in like the week or Two. After christmas sambossini
is gonna come join the show and we're gonna break,
Down contenders and, Right now i'm leaning somewhere in that
like three to four range, for them depending on how
they look juxtaposed with a Team like houston here over
(45:11):
the next couple. OF weeks i just think they have
the highest defensive ceiling in the league Outside Of oklahoma
city Because Of, Victor women yama and their perimeter Athletes
And deared fox since he joined the team as spearheaded
a deadly drive and kick attack that has made them
much more imposing defense or, excuse me offensively than they were.
Without him we'll see how they do against another tough
opponent Against the knicks. Tomorrow night. Number Two The detroit
(45:34):
pistons currently plus two thousand to win the title according
To Hard. Rock bet another team that just played one game,
last week a total destruction Of The. Atlanta hawks they
had eight players in double figures seventy two points in.
The paint they are the number one paint scoring team
in the league at fifty eight points. Per game what
this means is they're less reliant on jump shooting and
some of the variants that can come. With that they
attempt just forty one jump shots per game and just thirty,
(45:54):
two threes both bottom three IN, the nba and, for
perspective there are seven teams in the league attempting over
fifty jump shots per game at this point in. The
season that's how much of a difference in the shot
profile For the pistons compared to what you see elsewhere around.
The league just a credit to the relentless rim pressure down.
The roster so many dudes who can drive. The, basketball
obviously you have your two man Game of Cad And.
(46:16):
Jalen durham but down the roster they have so many
guys Of sar thompson pressures. The Rim ron holland pressures.
The Room kar slavertz done a nice job driving the basketball.
This season they just have a bunch of guys that
drive and it just continues to form a very strong
profile of shots at. The rim fun one time Against.
The celtics we will definitely be covering that one in tomorrow.
(46:37):
Morning's show very excited to See the pistons matchup against
a fast guard laden Team. Like boston lastly tonight number
One The Oklahoma. City thunder they are plus one hundred
to win the title And On Hard rock bet that
was plus one forty five, last week so now even
odds to win. The title can you believe that not
gonna stay here? Long again because we hit them earlier in,
(46:58):
the Show san antonio did show that they're. Not unbeatable
they can still struggle to score. At times if you
can bring a combination of real rim protection with super
athletic guys on. The perimeter the problem is there just
isn't a team IN the nba that brings the enough
of a combination of real, rim protection real, perimeter athletes
and reliable offense to actually threaten this team four times out.
(47:20):
OF seven i still think they're far and away the
best team IN the nba at. THIS point i have
them in a tier by themselves at the top of.
The League, all, right guys IT'S all i have. For
today is always a sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting
us and supporting, the Show jam.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
Pack.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
Slate tonight we're gonna Be, Hitting piston Celtics And nuggets
rockets in. Tomorrow morning show should have a fun set
of game reactions for. THAT one i have a scheduling conflict,
this Week so i'm not going to be able to
do the instant reaction right after the final buzzer Of
The spurs, knicks game but we will have a reaction
to that game Early on. Wednesday, morning again as always
(47:54):
a sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting.
Speaker 1 (47:56):
The show we will see you. Tomorrow morning
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
All right, well goo hoops today here at the volume.
Happy Monday, everybody, hope all if you guys had an
incredible weekend, have a jam pack show for you guys today.
We're hit two games from last night, Lakers Suns as
well as Sixers Hawks. I also want to share some
stats from what the aftermath of that Spurs Thunder game.
I wanted to see some statistical markers that demonstrate some
of the things that we talked about. And then, as
(00:35):
always on Mondays, our weekly power rankings. You guys owe
the joke before we get started. Subscribe to this channel
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All right, let's talk some basketball. So starting with Lakers Suns.
(00:59):
This is a game where Austin Reeves was out with
the calf injury, and both Lebron and Luca were kind
of a mess on offense, and yet the Lakers were
able to get a win because of what they did
on the margin, something they haven't done a whole lot
of this season, a concept don't want to dive into today.
Luca was off all night. He's been slumping a little
bit over his three games since returning from Slovenia for
(01:22):
the birth of his child. He's shooting thirty seven percent
from the field in twenty three percent from three, obviously
well down from his averages to start the season. He
struggled with the three point shot most of this season,
but it's been especially bad as of late, and he's
been having a bit of a turnover issue issue. He
has twenty three turnovers over his last four games. Lebron
got off to a nightmarage start. He had six turnovers
(01:44):
in the first quarter. Dylan Brooks I actually thought kind
of woke him up. You could tell Lebron just as
a competitor, really wanted to win that game so that
he could have a moment at Dylan Brooks's expense, and
that after a really rough first quarter, Dylan kind of
getting into it with them to wake Lebron up. And
from the start of the second quarter through the pass
(02:04):
to Jake lave On that back cut, the one that
put the Lakers up ninety nine to seventy nine. I
thought Lebron was really good in that stretch, and we'll
come back to that stretch later when we talk a
little bit about his beef with Dylan Brooks. But down
the stretch in crunch time, he didn't really have much
juice to create offense. Neither did Luca. Marcus Smart was
damn near shaving points down the stretch. Lebron had a
(02:25):
bad turnover on a post entry to DeAndre in the
middle of the floor that wasn't open. Just some really
head scratching decisions across the board from the Lakers offensive
players down the stretch. Luca wasn't good, Lebron wasn't good
in crunch time, neither was Marcus.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
It was just rough.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
But the team, despite having basically no offensive juice last night,
was able to get a big win on the road
against a good Phoenix Suns team because they came out
and they physically dominated the Suns with their size and
by playing harder than them. The Lakers obliterated the Suns
on the offensive glass night long. They had twenty four
(03:01):
offensive rebounds, leading to twenty five second chance points. They
had eight blocked shots they had thirteen steals. They were
the harder, playing, more physically aggressive team all night long,
and it allowed them to win a game that they
almost certainly lose otherwise because of the issues they were
having on offense. And this is where I want to
(03:23):
talk about the officiating. I'm very consistent with this kind
of thing. I think free throw differentials are very much
a product of the way the two teams are playing.
I think blaming a loss on officiating or focusing on
officiating is a loser's mentality. I'm consistent with this. We
just had an example of it going the opposite direction
(03:43):
for the Lakers against the Spurs. In that game, the
Spurs were plus twelve in free throws made What did
I say after that game? I said, Lakers fans complaining
about free throws in that game was lame because the
Spurs were very clearly the more physically aggressed team all night.
The Lakers were constantly out of position and so they
(04:04):
kept fouling. And I specifically called attention to the fact
that one of the unique kind of like one of
the unique realities about the way officiating in basketball works.
You'd think the more physically aggressive team would get called
for more fouls because they're being more physically aggressive. It's
usually the opposite. The more physically aggressive team tends to
(04:25):
beat you to spots more often, and when they beat
you to spots, you're out of position the opponent, and
so the opponent ends up committing more fouls because they
aren't meeting that aggression that the other team is bringing.
Last night, the Lakers were plus twelve in free throws made.
Why because they were a step ahead of Phoenix physically
(04:45):
all night long. The Lakers were quicker to loose balls,
they were more disciplined on defense. They simply won that
margin last night. Oh but Jason Luca's foul grifting all
the time and jumping into dudes. You're right, so was
Devin book Devin Booker actually did a better job foul
grifting than Luca last night. Devin Booker attempted sixteen free throws.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
That's not.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
The free throw differential wasn't because of Luca grifting or
because of Devin Booker grifting. Both of those guys did
their thing, and they attempted thirty free throws between the
two of them. Right, the free throw differential was because
down the roster, throughout all phases of the game. The
Lakers were quicker to the ball all night and the
Suns were constantly out of position. And as for the
late game stuff, when the Sons were trying their comeback,
(05:30):
when they were down by twenty and they started playing
crazy hard, and they they flipped the script and became
the more physically intense team late in the game. They
were probably like it was such a bloodbath of a
game down the stretch of that fourth quarter. Physically, there
were probably a dozen missed foul calls on both ends
of the floor over the final five minutes of that game. Like,
(05:51):
I know, Suns fans are pissed off about the play
where Dylan Brooks got it. Brooks got ejected because right
before that ejection, Lebron foul Dilan Brooks onnon three. You're right,
it was a missed call. Dylan Brooks shot a three.
Lebron bumped into him with his shoulder as he was
flying by on a close out, knocked him over. It
was a foul. What do I always say? Bad calls
(06:13):
or missed calls are a part of the game of basketball.
Less than a minute earlier, when the Lakers were up
five with a little over a minute left, Dylan Brooks
straight up tackled Luca on a step back three along
the left wing. Luca went for the step back, stuck
his right leg out, but Dylan was also running him
off of his spot. It was like a clear obvious fallle.
He tackled Luke on a step back three should have
(06:34):
been a foul, but it didn't get called because it
was such a blood bath of a game. Those games
become borderline impossible to officiate. Bodies are falling down every
five seconds. Every possession ends with three or four dudes
laying on the ground. It's a blood bath. It's going
to turn into a shit show with officiating when that happens.
And that's what happened. It was a shit show of
(06:55):
physicality over the last five minutes, which is damn near
impossible to officiate. And they were about a half dozen
missed calls on either end of the floor. If the
Lakers would have lost that game, it wouldn't have been
because of a call. It would have been because they
lost a twenty point lead in the fourth quarter by
slowing down too much on offense and a couple of
really poor decisions with the basketball by both Marcus Smart
(07:17):
and Lebron James and Luke Dncis would turnovers down the
stretch and bad shots down the stretch of that game.
You can't blame the officials when you blow a twenty
point lead. And the Suns lost that game because they
gave up a twenty eight to two run in the
second half. They had a nine minute stretch of game
clock where they couldn't score. That's why you lose the game.
(07:38):
So I think focusing on officiating in addition to being
a loser mentality, it honestly just misses the plot. You
got your butts kicked in the free throw margin against
the Spurs because you got beat to the ball constantly
all game long by a faster team that was more
physically aggressive. And the Suns got beat in the free
throw margin tonight because the exact opposite thing happened, and
(07:59):
the Lake brought the physicality and they beat you to
spots all night long, and they beat you to every
loose ball and you were constantly behind, and it just,
you know, it just is a shame. I was listening
to the Phoenix Suns broadcast last night, and honestly, it
was just embarrassing the way that like this super interesting
basketball game was going on, and all they could talk
about is how they thought the league was rigging the
game with the officiating for.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
The Lakers is crazy.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
And as for the last call with Devin Booker on Lebron,
it's one of those ones where like, if it was
a no call in the moment, and I saw the
replay and like, so it was no call, we go on,
Lakers end up losing the game, and I see the
replay and Devin Booker comes down on the hand and
the wrist the way that he did. I thought it
would have been defensible as a no call in the moment,
(08:44):
but as soon as it got called and it was challenged,
you have to go to the replay, and once you
go to the replay, it's by the book. He went
down on his hand and his wrist, it's gonna get
it's not. You're not going to overturn that call. But
even then, you go back a few minutes, there's a
play where Jake Lave blocks Devin Booker at the foul
line and runs out in transition and Devin Booker yanks
(09:04):
on the back of his jersey to wrap around and
swipe down. That does go to review and somehow does
get upheld right. So the point is is like this
stuff is completely out of your control and it's pointless
to dwell on the best thing you can do as
a basketball team to address the free throw differential is
to bring the physical aggression to the game. If you
(09:25):
are the more physically aggressive team, you will get a
better whistle. It has been like that for as long
as I've been playing the game and as long as
I've been watching the game. That is just the way
that it works when you get into these super physical environments.
So let's dig back into that idea. How did the
Lakers outwork the Suns in this game? We saw a
rotation change last night. Jared Vanderbilt had played just three
(09:46):
minutes total in the previous ten games, and even those
three minutes were kind of unusual because Jake Lavia got
hit in the face and so JJ ended up trying
him and to do the hero for a few minutes
just to see but vandersman out of the rotation for
a long time. But because Austin Reeves was out of
the rotation last night with his calf injury, you know
you got thirty five something minutes to disperse among the
(10:09):
rest of the roster, and those minutes basically ended up
getting split three ways between more minutes for Marcus Smart,
who ended up starting, more minutes for Jake Laavia, and
more minutes for Jared Vanderbilt.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Now, those are.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Three of LA's better defensive players and so more defensive
talent on the floor. It was actually the Laker defense
that blew this game open again a nine minute span
from the end of the third quarter to the middle
of the fourth quarter where the Lakers allowed just two points,
and it was the quartet of Jared Vanderbilt, Jake Loravia,
gave Vincent, and Jackson Hayes in combination with Lebron or
(10:41):
Luca those were the six guys that were primarily on
the floor during that run, and they were all excellent
on defense. Jake did a great job on Devin Booker,
staying attached, keeping his hands up to avoid fouls. He's
also bigger than Devin, which allowed him to get some
great contests, including that block that we talked about there
around the foul line. I thought Van and Jake were
both excellent in their passing lanes as they were playing
(11:03):
off the ball defensively, getting steals Jake was awesome at
anticipating where the kickouts were going and jumping them like
a free safety. Vando got a couple of steels on
the right wing with just fundamental positioning. Basic basketball one
on one. When you're playing a passing lane, you stay
in between the ball and your man when you're one
pass away and you typically are just maybe a hair
outside of the passing lanes. You don't get back cut,
(11:25):
but you make up for that gap by having your
hand in the passing lanes. You're always, you know, standing
just off the passing lane with your whatever hand that
is in that direction in the passing lane, keeping your
eye on your man and the ball. That's good fundamental
defense there. And Jared Vanderbilt's quick and has long arms,
and he got Calling Gillespie in that passing lane on
the left wing. You got Grayson Allen in that passing
(11:46):
lane in the in the left wing. That was a
big part of those thirteen steals that the Lakers got
in this game. The job that Jake and Vando were
doing in passing lanes, the ranginess at the rim in
blocks like Vando is kind of like an underrated rim
protector for a Ford big block and a low man
rotation on Jordan Goodwin after he ended up having to
step over after they put two in the ball on
(12:08):
the left side of the floor. Jackson has been so
much better with his verticality on contests at the rim
this year. Every time I watched Jackson go up with
two hands and not come down and hack the dude,
it's funny. He had one against the Spurs where he
came down and hacked hard and all the guys on
the bench were getting on him. You can tell from
the coaching staff down to his teammates, they have been
(12:29):
really good at holding Van or holding Jackson accountable to
his verticality and his contests. And he's been much better
really across the board this year, but especially on defense,
defending the rim without fouling in a big one against
Osoegadaro in the second half at the Rim, Gabe was
scrapping all night. He had a big steal on Jordan
Goodwin with some ball pressure. Vando, Jackson and Jake were
(12:51):
the main sources of their offensive rebounding as well. In
those bench groups. Those guys had twelve offensive boards between
the three of them. And again, like I said earlier,
in the same way that Phoenix two weeks ago. Two
weeks ago today, I believe went into La and punked
the Lakers. Last night, the Lakers went into Phoenix and
punked the Suns. They were the more physically aggressive team
(13:13):
and really brought it to them. And again, like, this
is one of those things where we can acknowledge the
Lakers have personnel weaknesses, but they also are capable of
just playing better. And I thought last night was a
good example of that.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
You need both.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
You need some more talent and you need the guys
that you have to do a better job of competing
in those areas. No one is advocating for the Lakers
to go give all of Austin's minutes to defenders. Obviously
Austin's too good of a player and when he comes back,
he's gonna get all those minutes. But it was fun
to watch La anchored by some better defensive talent in
this game to have a chance to impact the game.
(13:47):
And so a couple of notes from that, like maybe
Vando should get more of an opportunity, especially on nights
where Gabe doesn't seem to have it going on offense.
He did hit a big corner three in the second half,
but he's been a little bit off on offense as
of late. Maybe Vando can give you a little bit
more defensively in those situations when Gabe's not on, and again,
most importantly, when you're looking at the trade deadline, it's
(14:08):
a sign of what things could look like if the
Lakers did find a high level defensive player that could
actually earn thirty to thirty five minutes a night in
this rotation. Like Jake is struggling on offense, he can't
shoot right now, shooting twenty eight percent on catch and
shoot threes this season. He blew a couple of layups
on fast breaks last night. Vando hit it three last night,
but he was two for five. He was one for
three at the rim last night. These guys are struggling
(14:31):
to get into the rotation because they're so limited on offense.
So just imagine a universe where you've got a player
that you're playing thirty thirty five minutes who's six', eight
got a big natural motor that has him playing hard
and he's doing a lot of damage in those margins
of the. Game but that's also knocking down catch and
shoot threes and can do a little bit on. Offense
(14:51):
that's exactly, Why, like when it comes to that kind of,
guy he would do more to help The lakers than
he would just about any other team in the league
because they have such a specific need for.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
That type of.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Player, again like your value to a basketball team is
unique to what your team needs and what you bring
to the. Table that's why that kind of player could
be so impactful for this. Team nice response from The, lakers,
though AGAIN i talked about this in The Lakers collective
pot On. Thursday the main THING i was looking for
in this game was just how they'd show up, Physically
like would they show up for a fight Against, phoenix
would they bring the fight To phoenix or would they
(15:24):
wilt under the? Physicality, again AND i thought they brought the,
fight AND i thought they won the. Fight they did
the physical punking last. Night that's why they, won even
though their offense was kind of sketchy most of the.
Night and again it's a reminder that they are capable
of playing better even with their personnel. Weaknesses The Dylan
Brooks lebron. Beef i'm in a weird spot on this one,
(15:44):
because on the one, HAND i actually really Like Dylan,
brooks AND i think he's a great basketball. PLAYER i
think he'd be literally perfect as The lakers starting, three for,
example BUT i don't think that's. HAPPENING i Think phoenix
should keep. HIM i think he's a culture builder for.
THEM i Thought jordan not talked about that after the.
GAME i Think dylan's an important foundational piece For phoenix
at this. Point But i'm a big fan of him
as a basketball. Player WHEN i just think about the.
(16:06):
Basketball the stuff With, lebron, though it's it's getting a
little over the top and it's kind of, Lame like
it's not the first time we've seen a role player do,
this you, know kind of grifting off the fame of a.
Superstar it's been an epidemic ever since really the advent
of social, media right you like, it it's like an
aura farming.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Thing guys are trying to.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Get some sort of like some sort of traction with
their fame and their personality off of another. Star and
this is not the first guy to do this To,
Lebron like we Saw Lance stevenson do, this we saw
To Shan stevenson do, this and you know that there's
a lot of, this like non basketball, stuff, Right Like
dylan's just out out out the, gates just randomly shoulder
(16:48):
Bumping lebron every time he gets a. Chance so that
play Where lebron lost his, cool he like slap the
ball at. Him the foul was, called there was like
a second everyone Knew Dylan brooks is going to the foul,
line so it's not like he's trying to save it
from going out of bounds or something like, that and
he just slaps the ball At lebron and again Like
lebron overreacted to, it but it's Like lebron is just
sick of. It he's just sick of the crap because
(17:09):
there's all of this extracurricular nonsense going. On and then
that play on the play he got ejected on like
if he was just trying to win a basketball, game
he'd be getting ready to get a, stop but, nope
he's once again or a farming With lebron by going
up and running up and throwing a completely unnecessary chest,
(17:29):
bump and the shick is just kind of, old like
we get. It you're big and strong and you can
bump shoulders with forty year Old lebron a little bit
he's seventeen and eight against you in his, career and
the one time he saw you in the, playoffs he
torched you in the pivotal moments and he sent you.
Home so like it's one of those things where you're
actually one of the better players in the league, Overall
Dylan brooks as a role player when you focus on
(17:52):
the basketball and you're actually a good enough basketball player
now that you don't Need lebron in his fame to
elevate you. Anymore so like it's time to move past,
that and like it's just it's very clearly become something
that's more of a distraction For dylan and taking away
from some of the impact that he has on the.
Game he got himself in foul trouble tonight or last,
(18:13):
night picking up a fifth foul on a play where
he was trying to Isole lebron once, again just trying
to farm another, clip and he dropped his head and
like Speared lebron in the chest with his head in
the sternum and knocked him, over pick up his fifth.
Foul then you sit out the entire third quarter and
your team gets absolutely thrashed while you're off the. Floor
(18:33):
why because you're one of the most important players on the.
Team AND i thought last night was an example where
Like Dylan, brooks really good basketball, player undercut a lot
of his success and hurt his team because he was
more interested in his own like personal little show that
he puts on With Lebron and it's, like, dude you're
losing that. Show you were routinely and consistently losing that.
(18:56):
Show you had a big night a couple a couple
of weeks ago some, night didn't do the extracurricular bs
that hurts your. Team you were just making shots and
playing defense and helping your team win a. Game this
kind of junk is actually getting in the way of
his impact as a basketball.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
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Speaker 2 (19:16):
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Speaker 1 (20:36):
Virginia all, right let's move on to six er.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Socks so No Tyrese maxi For, philly who's missed the
last two games with an. Illness this was a game
that The hawks led for almost the entirety Of they
led for the entire first, quarter the entire third and fourth,
quarters but ended up being a super fun game because
The sixers kept it close thanks to a throwback night
on offense From Paul george And joel Mb, too combined
for fifty seven points and incredible shot making. Throughout it
(21:02):
is kind of a Vintage Paul george game where he's
just hitting all those impossible shots off the. Dribble we've
talked about this, before But Paul george has always had
a game that's kind of built on tough shot, making
and what ends up happening is if he's got that
kind of stuff, going he becomes basically impossible to. Guard
because he's six' eight and he's got a super. Sharp
handle he can protect the basketball against any type of,
ball pressure and he's gonna be able to get to
(21:23):
some sort of jump shot off, the dribble and if
he's got the rhythm, like that you just get to
stand there and watch them go in. The basket and
that was a big part of what he was doing
down the stretch of. This game embiid has sneaky been
looking a lot more. Explosive lately he has sixty one
points in his last. TWO games i want To take,
philly though and set them aside for, a second because
there's actually some really encouraging trends For, the sixers even
(21:45):
though they've lost two out of.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Three games we'll get it to them in.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
A minute But the hawks ended up holding on late
some big plays on offense late in. The Game Nikhil
alexander Walker And jalen johnson both had big drives in
crunch time where they engaged embat at the rim even though,
they missed which actually loud and opening behind That For
dyson daniels to come in and get offensive rebound, put
backs One that jalen got and shoveled to him and
then another one that the one On nik. Keels drive
(22:09):
dyson just grabbed himself and put it back in some huge,
Threes Late zachary resache had a big steal and the
three on the. Left Wing Nikkeile alexander walker had a
tough movement three at the top of, the key moving
from his left to. His right And Then yeka conglu
a big play late in this game when they were only.
Up two he was a kind of a baseline out
of bound Sequence where embiid was sagging back to defend
(22:30):
all these off, ball screens and Then and yeka just
popped out to the corner and hit his fifth three of,
the game just an absolutely massive shot that Put the
hawks up by.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
Five late and.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Then again like they got the key stops late in
the game that, they Needed vit kretchi had two massive.
Defensive plays at the tail end of this Game the
sixers thanks to the hot shooting down. The Stretch joel
embiid hits a big three at the top of the
KEY that i think cut the lead to ONE if i,
Remember correctly And the sixers get the ball Back And
paul george Has vit kretche and a cleared side iso
(23:02):
on the left side of, the FLOOR and i think
it's one eighteen to, one seventeen so it's a one.
Point Game paul george is working CLEARED. Side iso he's
got everything going in his game, this, night right and
he's trying to work to something in the. Mid range but,
to fit to, his credit was applying a lot of
really good ball pressure and physicality and it Actually forced
paul to kind of retreat it a, little bit and
he ended up taking a super difficult step back three
(23:23):
out of the. Left corner that was one of the
lower percentage Shots that paul had taken. All night so
just really good individual Defense from viit there and then
on the, final possession so they end.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
Up fouling it's one twenty to.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
One seventeen they come, back down they run a sideline
at a bounds Play And quentin grimes breaks free to the.
Left corner really smart. Peel switch vit jumps off of
vj edgecomb jumps Out Onto quentin grimes just stands there
with his two, hands up gets a great vertical contest,
without fouling forces him into a really difficult shot that
he ends. Up Missing in atlanta escapes with, the Win
(23:57):
and vit hit four threes in the game. As well
so it was a team best plus ten, last night
a really nice Game, from cretchy season high twenty seven
Points From, dyson daniels and everything was at. The rim
and one of the interesting trends this Year with dyson
compared to previous seasons is he's cut way down on
his three. Point attempts these spot up situations when you're
just standing at the three, point line they put such
a heavy emphasis on your ability to, knock down catch and,
(24:19):
shoot threes and he just hasn't been good at that in,
his careers never been able to get across that like
kind of mandatory minimum where you need to be around
like thirty five percent on him for it to, make
sense because then in a larger sample you start to
get well over a point, per, Possession right but he's
just been unable to knock them down in. His career
and one of the big changes this year with the
way he's been working off the ball is it's almost
(24:40):
solely as a cutter and as a vertical spacer in the.
Dunker spot he's got really good natural feel for relocations
in the. Dunker spot so like spacing relocations on the
three point line, Are, Different right you're you're usually watching
your on ball defender and you're sliding up or sliding
down to try to create a passing angle. For three
or if a guy drives and, kicks out there's like
(25:02):
a wheel spacing, Where, Like okay i'm in, the corner
but this guy just drove and he's now relocating to,
the CORNER so i have to slide up to. The
wing there's all these like different little spacing principles at
the three. Point, line well in the, dunker spot there's
like a triangle of spots that you're constantly. Hitting right
so there's the dunker spot on the left side of,
the rim there's the dunker spot on the right side of,
the rim and then there's also that spot right in
(25:22):
front of. The rim they call that teeing up right
where like you end up if a guy ends up
driving on, the baseline you end up flashing right up
to the top of the to the, charge circle making
yourself available for those short little pop shots or whatever
that you can make right there five feet in front of.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
The.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Rim right so your job when you're working in that
dunker spot is like your opposite your opposite dunker spot
when the Guy's driving so if guy's in the, left
wing you're in the right. Dunker spot but if he
drives across, the middle you got to relocate to the opposite. Dunker,
spot right if he drives towards the uh that left,
Dunker spot like if he doesn't get across the middle
(25:58):
but ends up cutting more to it's, the baseline then
you flash right up towards. The. Middle right that's when
you tee. Up right there's all these like little bits
of spacing like relocation principles that you have to know
if you're working out of the. Dunker Spot and dyson's
just really good at. That stuff and so he's doing
a ton of damage this year slipping out of screens
rather than popping and working as a vertical spacer there
(26:20):
in the. Dunker spot he's scoring about twice a game
this year that he's got like thirty eight or thirty
nine makes on cuts. This season just a really nice
way to kind of convert what was an untenable spacing
situation with him at the three point line into something.
That's working, and again he's got a good. Little floater
it's the weirdest thing with him with his touch is
jump shot form actually, looks good just doesn't. Go in
(26:42):
but he's got really good touch on. His floater that's
something that he's actually been very, good at and that
kind of allows him to make some of those little
short spacing shots even when there's a big in the
way right because like he's not just going to vertical
space in the traditional sense like. Dunking everything he's spacing
out of the dunker spot merely as a layup maker
and as like a little. Floater maker it's kind of
(27:03):
like an interesting little wrinkle in this In this. Hawks
offense and he's doing it in off ball situations and on,
ball situation so like he'll throw a high post entry
and then just cut off the guy's shoulder and. Get
buckets he was slipping out his screens as the screener
in like. Inverted action he's just doing a lot of
damage at the paint in. This one twenty two of
his twenty six points where either at the rim in
(27:25):
layups or right by the rim. In floaters really impressive
Game From. Dyson daniels and then the three point Shooting
From Nyeka congo man five threes again, last night huge
one in. Crunch time like we talked about talked About
Against joel embiid on that baseline out, of Bounds and
anyeka now has forty nine made threes, this season which
(27:46):
is more than he did in the entire season. Last
year he had forty eight makes in an entire season
last year. Forty nine here about a third of the
way through the season in this twenty twenty. Five campaign
nice bounce Back for atlanta who had lost four were
out of five. Before that much. Better defense that was
the real thing that slipped for them in that tough
stretch where they lost four at five one to nineteen
(28:07):
defensive rating in those. FOUR losses i want to Talk
about phillies upside for. A minute a lot of this
is coming down to how Much Better joel embid is
starting to. Look athletically we talked about this at the
beginning of, the season like it almost Felt like embiid
was hurting them because he was just so much slower
than the style that they were playing up and down.
The floor in the Speed That tyres max he was
bringing to, the table he was starting to struggle defensively
(28:29):
in a way that we hadn't seen.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
Just because that lack.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
Of mobility But the sixers have been playing some of
their best defense of the season as. Of late as
a matter, of Fact since, november eleventh a game where
they won Against, the Celtics the sixers have been the
fourth best defense in THE. Entire nba it's a fifteen,
game sample really good in. Every facet they've been the
eighth best paint defense in. That span and not. Just
embiid embid's always been an underrated rim protector when he's
(28:52):
actually able to sit back around, the basket but he's been.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Especially good it's just. Not him it's not.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
Solely Him andre drummonds been really good protecting the rim
in this run. As well they've been guarding the three point.
Line well and then they've completely reversed a bad defensive
rebounding trend from early in. The Season before, november eleventh
they were twenty third in defensive. Rebound percentage they are
eleventh IN the nba. Since then so cleaning up the,
defensive glass putting together a solid defense that's guarding both
(29:19):
the rim and the three point, line well which again
they should be. Able to they've got lots of perimeter
speed and they've got some, huge centers so like they should,
in theory be able to be a team that can
protect the paint and get out to the three point
line at least in their, traditional coverages even if they
might have some vulnerability that can put their bigs. In
space now this is exciting Because Both paul George And
(29:41):
joel embiid are looking better offensively than they have at
any point over the last. Two seasons if they can
piece this all together Like THE all nba Level That
tyrese maxey was, hooping at the elite defense they've shown
basically for a little over a, month now we've seen
the scoring pop From oil embids start to rise to.
(30:01):
The surface we've seen the scoring Pop From. Paul george
this is the best he's looked over the last couple.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
OF.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Seasons vj edgecomb just had his fifth twenty point game
as a pro. Last night had a huge driving layup
in transition, last night kind of like the the uh
you guys remember the Play That marcus smart had In
the lakers game where he tried to beat the ball
pressure and he drove the length of the floor and
just got Swatted By ryan dunn right at.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
THE.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Rim vj edgecomb basically did the exact same thing. Last
night where he tried to beat ball pressure just with
a hard drive, in transition except for he's such a
freaky athlete he got up into the dude's chest ended
up having this crazy, banking finish huge play late in
the game in. That one if they can like find
a way to piece all this, together Again The eastern
conference is, wide open and this team does have a
(30:42):
lot of upside because they've got so many dudes that,
can score they have a strong. Defensive foundation health is
obviously the biggest. Question mark we'd all be foolish to
just expect this to all stay like this over the
course of, the season but we'd also be foolish to
not pretend like that, upside exists And the sixers have
been flashing a lot of that over the course of
the last couple. Of weeks, all right next segment from
(31:09):
notes are my Notes From. Spurs thunder, SO again i
wasn't On on. SATURDAY night i wasn't able to get
much into metrics because it's just too close to the
end of, the game so the stats. Haven't UPDATED but
i wanted, to see, you KNOW because i talked a
lot About how victor was a game breaking defensive weapon in.
That game and you know a lot of times like
we talk, about, like oh this guy did a good
job protecting the room, last night or oh this guy
(31:31):
did a good job guarding the ball, last night and
often it just means holding a team or a player below.
Their averages and, you know to, Some extent victor literally
broke the thunder offense, last NIGHT and i wanted to
see if there WAS or i shouldn't say, Last night,
saturday NIGHT and i just wanted to see if there
was some kind of like real statistical marker that demonstrated
the sheer degree To which victor broke. The offense AND
(31:53):
so i dug into, the numbers and there was some
pretty impressive. Stuff there it logged an eighty three point
three defensive Rating when victor was on the floor in.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
That game that's obviously.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Very good they were also plus forty, four net which
goes to show you how good they were on offense in.
THAT stretch i don't really want to focus on. THAT
today i just want to focus on the. Defensive side,
but again eighty three defensive Rating when victor was on.
The floor they made just four shots at the rim
the entire Time that victor was on, the floor and
two of them were, transition buckets One where victor got
blocked at the Rim and shaye went out and got.
A layup another one where it was in that garbage
(32:25):
time situation where they were just trying to take away.
A THREE so i don't really count this one because
they were literally hugged up off the ball because there's
a three point game with like what fifteen seconds left,
or whatever so they were glued up off the Ball
and shane ended up getting a driving dunk and that
was just Like a victor's not going to help Off
of shay and give a wide open three to check
(32:45):
that could tie the game in the final minute of, the,
Game right but in terms of the actual flow of,
the game they had just two buckets that they made at.
The rim, and again this is a team that averages
averages twenty makes per rim per game at. The rim
wemby played in twenty, One minutes so if you kind
of just do some basic ratio math there, in Theory
(33:08):
the thunder would in a twenty one minute span average
about nine makes at the rim based on their, Season
average so not just they drop from their, season average
but a complete fall off from their season average and
their ability to get to the Rim When Victor woman
yamo was on. The floor and this is perhaps the
most FASCINATING stat i talked about after. THE game i,
(33:29):
was like seemed like on film this was forcing them
to settle for a lot more off the dribble. Jump
shots and that's exactly. What happened when you dig into,
The Numbers oklahoma city attempted twenty six off the dribble
jump shots in. This game that was their highest total
of the entire season for off the dribble.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Jump shots and.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
When you dig into the film of the twenty six
off the dribble jump shots, they took fifteen of them
took Place when wemby was on. The floor and again
remember That's when wemby was off the floor for Twenty
seven i've been of the forty eight minutes in, that
game fifteen off the dribble jump shots in just twenty
one minutes of Action when wemby was on, the floor
(34:09):
with just two makes at. The rim and on those
twenty six off the dribble jump shots they took in the,
entire game they made just nine, of them zero points
seven to seven points. Per shot one of their least
efficient pull up shooting games of the. Entire season that
is the statistical representation of THE dynamic i was talking
about Where when wemby's on, the floor it allows the
flexibility for the guards to press up more on, the
(34:31):
ball force them into much tougher off the dribble, jump
shots and they would typically give up where a guard
has to maybe be on their heels more because they
have to contain the ball because they don't have the
support behind them that they have when they Don't have wemby, behind, Them,
right so like all of this is really fascinating because
it just is again a statistical representation of that defensive
(34:52):
Work that Victor women yama did in that game on.
The THUNDERSIDE as i dug a little bit more into,
The film chet is the. Key again three of the
four Buckets that okasee Got when wemby was on the
floor at the rim were a direct Result of Wemby
tracking chet out at the three. Point line the two
layups that were in half. Court sets so obviously the
one in Late game i'm not really Counting because wemby
(35:15):
was glued Up to chet and that Was when shay got,
the dunk but the other two both of them were
the exact. Same setup It was chet in the strong
side corner for a drive off of the left slot
that ended up in a Layup where Chet where Chet
dragged wemby just for far enough out of the lane
and caused him to hesitate just Enough that wenby ended
up being either late on the shay layup or didn't
(35:37):
even make an attempt on the j. Doub layup and
again that's gonna be, THE key i Think putting chet
constantly in easy play, finishing position so somewhere where it's
particularly Hard for wenby, to help so strong side corner
or weak side wing where he's one, pass away those
are situations that are shorter, kickout passes and they're harder
situations to help from If, you're wemby AND so i
(35:58):
think that's gonna be a big Part of okay sees
eventual counters for this and then trying To get wenby
tied up. In screens this is the other element of,
It too like this is where like maybe running, more
stack pick, and roll like Essentially bringing wemby into, the
action but then having another a, third player a shooter
in the action That's, backscreening wenby so That maybe Chet
(36:19):
Or isaiah Hartenstein or Shay or jadab in their drives
can Get behind Wemby as wenby gets tied up in
bodies around the. FOUL line i think that's another way
that they can try to attack this specific Problem of
Victor women yamas shutting off the rim. For, them, ultimately
though and this is not really necessarily a this, season
PROBLEM because i Think the spurs are not quite ready
(36:40):
to necessarily Beat the thunder four times out of seven
in this. Particular SEASON but i do Think the spurs
are going to be their biggest rival over the next
three to, four years, and ultimately in order For the
thunder to solve, that problem they're going to have to
figure out a way to score at the Rim when
wemby's on.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
The floor it can't just be pull up.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Jump shots if it ends up just being pulled up,
JUMP shots i think that's a big Advantage For san
antonio as this matchup gets more and more intense over the.
Coming seasons, all right let's get.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
To our weekly.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Power rankings this is gonna be a quicker segment. Than
usual the schedule was very weird. This week because of
the n. SEASON tournament a lot of the Teams that
i'm talking about today in the power rankings only played
one game, last week so not a whole lot to.
Get into we're gonna kind of fly through. This again
all of our lines are provided by, our Sponsor Hard
rock bet. Number Ten The orlando magic currently plus three
(37:28):
thousand to win the title On Hard. Rock bet the
injury buck continues to Prevent the magic from reaching. Their
potential they Can't get Fronz and polo to be on
the floor at the same time without one of them.
Getting hurt and then seemingly Every Time jalen suggs plays
a few good games in, a row his body. Breaks
down and it's a shame because he was playing some
great basketball his previous. Five games he had averaged twenty
two points per game on over fifty percent shooting in
over thirty five percent From Three denny polls. Is groin
(37:51):
he was like this dynamic second wave of offense Off
Of desmond baine in that first half Against, the knicks
and then he just couldn't hold, up physically and that
continues to be. A problem the three point shooting went
cold again in that game Against. The knicks that's been
a recurring theme in big games For the magic over
the course of the last. Few seasons but this is
still the same dominant defense and rebounding team from, last
(38:13):
year with a much improved offense twenty eight transition points,
per game which is the fifth most in THE. Entire
nba last year they averaged, just twenty which was bottom
five IN. The nba so from bottom five transition offense
to top five. TRANSITION offense i do want to give
some Credit To jamal. Mosley here i've been critical of
him over the past couple of seasons for his lack
of refinement of, this offense and now he has them
(38:36):
running more, than ever he has them moving without the
ball more, than ever he has them passing the ball more,
than ever and they're just playing in a much higher
level on offense than they have in. Recent years shout
Out To jamal mosley's getting some good hoops out of.
These guys number Nine The boston celtics plus three thousand
to win, the title according To Hard rock bet took
a bad Loss in milwaukee Against the Bucks without giannis the.
Other Night the bucks ended up flipping the Script attacking.
(38:58):
Boston's mismatches, This game kuzmo Was Killing nemi cato as some,
Quick ISOs bobby portis Was Posting, jalen Brown Posting, derek
white then he was bombing threes in the. Fourth quarter
but can't Drop the celtics off the. List here they've
won seven of their. Last, nine still they have the
third best record in the Leaguees in november twenty third
in a one to twenty nine offensive rating in, that
span as they've been playing some of the best offensive
(39:20):
basketball they've played In The joe, missoula Era And jason
tatum is on the way sooner. THAN later i would
imagine number Eight The, minnesota timberwolves currently plus three thousand
to win the title On Hard. Rock bet got a
couple of nice back bounce back wins Against the kings And,
the warriors but they continue to have an inability to beat.
Good teams as we've seen in the standings. This season
(39:40):
they are fifteen to one against teams that are five
hundred OR worse i should say below, five hundred and
they are two to eight versus teams that are five hundred.
Or better and the problem continues to be. Their defense
According to Cleaning. The glass when you filter their matchups
to only teams that are in the top ten in,
point differential they're currently out allowing one hundred and twenty
four points one. Hundred possessions that is the twenty third
(40:02):
worst defense versus the top ten point differential teams in,
the league According to Cleaning. The GLASS but i do
continue to be bullish On. The wolves their offense is
better than it's ever been and they are guarding. Pretty
Well When rudy goberart's on, The floor he's sneaky been
one of the most valuable players in the league. This
season their defense falls off of a fifteen point Cliff
When rudy gobert leaves, the FLOOR and i believe they'll
be able to get enough stops to be really dangerous
(40:24):
when we Get.
Speaker 1 (40:24):
To april.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
Number Seven The, houston rockets another team that only had
one game. Last week they bounced back from their tough
Loss in dallas with a nice win Versus. The Clippers
the clippers, team that, like again has, been losing but
they're playing everybody really tough. These Days As kawhi Leonard
And james harden continue to. PLAY well i loved their
crunch time. Offense Again kevin durant had a rough, statistical
NIGHT but i thought he was incredible down the stretch
(40:45):
orchestrating things in pick and roll set up so many.
Quality shots hit Him and thompson in the pocket for
an and One Hit shane goon in the pocket that
started a four on three that ended up in a
Dunk For jabari smith who was spotting up there in the.
Dunker spot He Hit jabari smith on a perfect cross
court feed for like a wide open corner three in the,
right corner.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Just happened to.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Miss It hit shangoon in the pocket for a nice
little easy mid range jumper that. He MISSED like, i
thought it was really high quality offense and they ended
up getting. TO win i talked to all off season
ABOUT how i was specifically Hoping that kad would bring
back more of that spread pick and roll work that
he was Doing, in brooklyn where he was really gifted
at bringing the defender to the level and getting the
(41:23):
pass to the roller and igniting four. On threes and
it's been awesome to see that become one of the
Staples for houston in the, half court especially at the
end of games. This season shangun was, incredible again had
a really crazy finish across his body down, the stretch
and this one did really nice work in his one.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
On.
Speaker 2 (41:37):
Ones again, this team they're just so difficult to guard
as a brute force team in the half court because
they have so many impossible players to guard one on
One Like, Kevin durant shangoon And A. Men thompson still
the only team Other Than oklahoma city in THE entire
nba with a double digit positive net rating number Six
The Los angeles lakers plus thirteen hundred to win. The
(41:59):
title according To. Hard bet i'm not gonna say here
long because we hit them in a segment earlier in,
the show but obviously a very disappointing showing in the
N season Tournament Against, san antonio once again shining a
light on their. Athletic deficiencies but as has been the theme,
all season the team has just a lot more mental
toughness than they have in previous iterations of. The team
they are yet to lose two games in a row,
(42:20):
this season as they go on the Road into Phoenix
Without austin reeves and get a big win not with,
their offense but with defense, and rebounding just showing that
they can win that type. Of, fight again casual reminder
that even though they have their, personnel limitations they also
are capable of being a better team on the margins than.
They've shown number Five The denver nuggets plus seven hundred
to win the title according to Hard. Rock bet another
(42:42):
one one. Game team, last week easy road Win. In
sacramento kings didn't have A soul Hooga Gard nicola yoket
so he just feasted. All night he had thirty six
points on fourteen for. Sixteen shooting really nice. Bench performance
again For, the nuggets there are seven for seven Night From.
Yonas palancunis they were plus Five with yoka chop the
floor in. That game they are now just minus three
(43:03):
point eight net per one hundred Possessions when yokich is
off the floor to start, the season which seems bad
until you remember that is, way way way better than
they were in the previous, five seasons where they were
routinely a negative double digit team Net when yokich was off.
The floor number Four The New york knicks currently plus
fifteen hundred to win the title according to Hard. Rock
(43:24):
bet my current pick to Win The. Eastern conference if
the season, ended today another. Offensive masterclassic it's a Very good.
Orlando Defense jalen brunson just fried one of the best
defensive back courts in, The League, Carl, Towns Torch Twndell.
Carter junior this offense is five points per one hundred
possessions better this season total than it was. Last year
(43:45):
they are a one to twenty two offensive ratings team,
this year when they were a one seventeen. Last Year
mike brown has just squeezed a little bit more out
of every facet of, this offense a little bit more,
in transition a few more drives, every game fifteen more
passes per game than they had, last year generating more
spot up opportunities by a wide margin than they did.
(44:07):
Last season just a little bit better across, the board
amounts to five points increase year over year in their,
offensive Rating and josh Hart og And and Obi And michale
bridges continue to do a wonderful job anchoring their defense with.
Their speed, in TRANSITION this nixt team appears to be
on a mission to reverse the trends of. Years past
they definitely have a challenge ahead for them, tomorrow night
(44:29):
though very very excited. About That the spurs are an
athletic juggernaut that are going to have guards that Can Guard,
jalen brunson the ability to protect, the rim the ability
to really cause some physical problems. For them i'm excited
to see how they match up in that, game tomorrow night.
Number Three The San antonio spurs currently plus three thousand
to win, the title According To Hard rock bet once
(44:49):
again touched on them early in, the SHOW so i
won't stay. HERE long i may have been wrong About
the spurs before, the Season but i'm all in on.
Them now They have we're gonna do our next contender
list in like the week or Two. After christmas sambossini
is gonna come join the show and we're gonna break,
Down contenders and, Right now i'm leaning somewhere in that
like three to four range, for them depending on how
they look juxtaposed with a Team like houston here over
(45:11):
the next couple. OF weeks i just think they have
the highest defensive ceiling in the league Outside Of oklahoma
city Because Of, Victor women yama and their perimeter Athletes
And deared fox since he joined the team as spearheaded
a deadly drive and kick attack that has made them
much more imposing defense or, excuse me offensively than they were.
Without him we'll see how they do against another tough
opponent Against the knicks. Tomorrow night. Number Two The detroit
(45:34):
pistons currently plus two thousand to win the title according
To Hard. Rock bet another team that just played one game,
last week a total destruction Of The. Atlanta hawks they
had eight players in double figures seventy two points in.
The paint they are the number one paint scoring team
in the league at fifty eight points. Per game what
this means is they're less reliant on jump shooting and
some of the variants that can come. With that they
attempt just forty one jump shots per game and just thirty,
(45:54):
two threes both bottom three IN, the nba and, for
perspective there are seven teams in the league attempting over
fifty jump shots per game at this point in. The
season that's how much of a difference in the shot
profile For the pistons compared to what you see elsewhere around.
The league just a credit to the relentless rim pressure down.
The roster so many dudes who can drive. The, basketball
obviously you have your two man Game of Cad And.
(46:16):
Jalen durham but down the roster they have so many
guys Of sar thompson pressures. The Rim ron holland pressures.
The Room kar slavertz done a nice job driving the basketball.
This season they just have a bunch of guys that
drive and it just continues to form a very strong
profile of shots at. The rim fun one time Against.
The celtics we will definitely be covering that one in tomorrow.
(46:37):
Morning's show very excited to See the pistons matchup against
a fast guard laden Team. Like boston lastly tonight number
One The Oklahoma. City thunder they are plus one hundred
to win the title And On Hard rock bet that
was plus one forty five, last week so now even
odds to win. The title can you believe that not
gonna stay here? Long again because we hit them earlier in,
(46:58):
the Show san antonio did show that they're. Not unbeatable
they can still struggle to score. At times if you
can bring a combination of real rim protection with super
athletic guys on. The perimeter the problem is there just
isn't a team IN the nba that brings the enough
of a combination of real, rim protection real, perimeter athletes
and reliable offense to actually threaten this team four times out.
(47:20):
OF seven i still think they're far and away the
best team IN the nba at. THIS point i have
them in a tier by themselves at the top of.
The League, all, right guys IT'S all i have. For
today is always a sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting
us and supporting, the Show jam.
Speaker 1 (47:32):
Pack.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
Slate tonight we're gonna Be, Hitting piston Celtics And nuggets
rockets in. Tomorrow morning show should have a fun set
of game reactions for. THAT one i have a scheduling conflict,
this Week so i'm not going to be able to
do the instant reaction right after the final buzzer Of
The spurs, knicks game but we will have a reaction
to that game Early on. Wednesday, morning again as always
(47:54):
a sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting.
Speaker 1 (47:56):
The show we will see you. Tomorrow morning
Hosts And Creators
Colin Cowherd
Jason McIntyre
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My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.