May 6, 2025 • 41 mins
Jason breaks down the film on the Denver Nuggets winning Game 1 over the Oklahoma City Thunder and what he believes can be take into the rest of the series. Then he breaks down the film on the New York Knicks winning Game 1 and the Boston Celtics questionable shot selection.
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co slash audio. All right, welcome to Hoops today. You're
(02:33):
at the volume heavy Tuesday. Everybody hop all of you
guys are having a great week. We got our first
film session of the second round today.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
We have sixty six clips.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
To hit from the two games. I'm gonna be focusing
on the entire second half from Denver OKC, specifically some
of the dynamics at play with how much easier it
was for Denver and the half court offensively versus OKC,
which I think is very interesting in the big picture.
And then in the Celtics game, we're going to be
focusing on their shot selection in the second half. Fair
warning to Celtics fans, it will be one of the
(03:03):
most frustrating film sessions you've ever watched, because they played
some straight CTE basketball in that second half and cost
themselves game one of the series. You guys are the
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(03:23):
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And then, last but not least, keep dropping mail bag
questions in those YouTube comments. All right, So, as we
start off with Denver, ok Seed, I will never overreact
to one game. I would not change my prediction until
I saw something be repeated in a game two. But
(03:47):
I am severely concerned for Oklahoma City after that first game,
in large part because in the second half, in particular,
Denver had their defense solved and got great shots every
single time. Down on the floor, they had what a
thirty one point quarter and a thirty five point quarter,
And on the other end of the floor, through a
combination of some one two two zone, some double teams
(04:08):
of Shay, especially late as he was driving but also
on his wing ISOs, they were strong side zoning and
a bunch of different stuff like that, and okay, see
just looked lost. They looked like they didn't have any
idea how to attack. There's also a basic reality in
the sense that in order to match up with Jokic
on the glass, they have to play Hartenstein and Alex
Cruso is just such an important defensive player for them
(04:31):
to be able to hold up in this matchup. If
you have Hartenstein and Crusoe on the floor, you make
yourself easier to guard. And so there's another question to
be another conversation to be had about whether or not. Okay,
so you should consider just playing small and understanding they're
going to get beat up on the glass, but at
least be able to score the ball more effectively. And
those are the kinds of things they're gonna have to
figure out over the course of the series.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
But I left that series.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
I left that game last night thinking Denver literally gives
up to what twenty nine points off of turnovers and
still wins. Denver gets very little in the way of
consistent offensive contribution from anybody on the roster outside of
Yokichen they win. That does not god well for Oklahoma City.
For the rest of the series, especially considering how uncomfortable
they looked in the half court. So let's look at
(05:14):
some of these clips as we get into the details.
So this first one, we have the Gordon high post
entry here to the Jemal Murray high post entry to
Aaron Gordon that Alex Cruso jumps the high side and
gets the steal again, and it wasn't twenty nine to
(05:34):
twenty three. So Oklahoma City gets twenty three points off
of turnovers compared to just five for Oklahoma for Denver,
so an eighteen point advantage for Oklahoma City in a
clear margin. That is what Oklahoma City does better than everybody.
That was where they caught Denver off guard last night.
You catch Denver off guard with your defense and you
(05:54):
score twenty three easy ones in transition and you still
lose the game. Just a devastating game one outcome for
the Thunder. And that's that's just an easy place where
Denver can clean stuff up. Like if we watch Gordon here,
the mistake he's making is he's his contact. His contact
with Alex is on Alex's left shoulder. There there's nothing
(06:15):
ceiling Alex from working up this high side Aaron Gordon's
gonna have a do a better job in game two
of just ceiling and creating a better passing angle. There,
Jdubb shooting a little floater over Jokic in a drop coverage.
He gets a ball screen here, a little double screen.
Little reverses the second screen and takes this kind of
(06:37):
like contested leaning away from his body floater against Jokic.
Last night, JDub was one for six on two's that
were outside of the restricted area and two for five
at the rim, so three for eleven overall in the paint,
and you guys will see plenty of examples in this
film session of him just taking like pretty mediocre contested
mid range shots, especially early in the clock. Here goes
(07:02):
Jokicic just posting up Chet home grindly. Fast forward a
little bit so Yokic on Chet, they run a little
loft ball action. Jokicic just easily backs him down, gets
to his spot and knocks down the little left shoulder hook.
Jokic just did his work against Chet. That was a
big part of why they ended up going to Hartenstein
down the stretch, not just for the glass but also
dealing with him in their defensive scheme, so they could
put Hartenstein on Jokic and put Chet on Gordon behind
(07:24):
the ball.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
But Chet are.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Jokicch last night thirteen post ups, fifteen points last night
including passes, and remember when both teams are getting less
than zero point nine points per half court possession, getting
over a point per possession on a Jokics post up
is one of the more efficient play types that Denver
can go to in the series. Alrighty, this was an
example of the offensive rebounding problem that Denver presents. Fast
(07:49):
forwarding a little bit here, so Chet's out of the play,
ends up chasing Jamal Murray down and tries to go
for a block at the rim. Now, what I want
you guys to watch is the dynamic with Jokic behind
the play there as Chet's out of the play. Look
at the size advantage. It's Jokic with a bunch of
six four sixty five guys around him. He's gonna just
eat everybody alive on the glass in this matchup. And
(08:11):
you're gonna see some more examples later in the game.
There's just not a whole lot they can do. Same
sort of thing here. Look like Chet shows on this
dribble handoff and gets a good contest on Jamal which
forces a miss. But now look at this dynamic. You've
got Yoki rolling to the rim, Gordon on the baseline,
and Christian Brown crashing out of the corner, and it's
j Dubshay and Alex Cruza. They're just completely overwhelmed. Shay
(08:33):
steps over to try to box out Jokic and Christian
Brown is the beneficiaries right there.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
He ends up drawing a foul.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
These dynamics are replicable, guys, and this is the main
thing I want you to pay attention to. As you
can see here, there are problems that Oklahoma City cannot
solve in this matchup. This is not They're not going
to suddenly get bigger and more physically imposing as the
series progresses.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
This is going to be a problem throughout here we go.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
This is the Cruso peel off block. A lot of
examples of this last night. Alex Crusoe was amazing in
his help side defense and his on ball defense, so
yokich as soon as he turns his shoulder. We saw
so many examples of this last night. Whenever Denver would
turn their back to an OKC defender. This guy would
just leave and try to get back into the plague.
It's a big block on Jokics there. Look at how
(09:30):
Denver's guarding these sga ISOs Jokich's strong side zoning. Gordon
is gapping down off of Chet. Michael Porter and Jamal
Murray both are basically foot in the paint. They're just
packing the side and as they they relocate through, Alex
Crusoe relocates through, Shay gives it up to him. Then
(09:51):
they immediately double Shay off of the Off of that
dribble handoff, Chay actually makes a nice pass through Christian
Brown's legs here to Alex Crusoe, but now Alex Cruso
drives through, makes a nice drop off. This was a
good example of them breaking down the double team. But
I mainly just wanted to highlight that clip to show
you guys just how aggressive Denver is being in there
(10:11):
loading up against Shay, and like we talked about this,
like I talked about it in the series preview, They're
gonna load up. This is going to be a processing
series for the Oklahoma City Thunder. So now we have
Hartenstein in the game and we're getting that look that
I talked about. Hartenstein on Jokic and Aaron Gordon on Chet,
and they run a ball screen to get Dort switched
(10:33):
onto Jokic. Then Jokic basically attacks Dort and look at
Chet that's in help. And these are the kinds of
shots that Jokic is so good at. He spins off
the small and floats over the big, just elite shot
making there from Nicola Jokich a double team of Shay
(10:56):
on this iso along the baseline. But this creates a
rebounding mismatch underneath the basket because now Chet and Hartenstein
are going two on one against Jokich and they're able
to get in there and get an offensive rebound. If
Denver is going to double team Shay and throw all
this attention at Shay, you have to make them pay
for it through quick processing to get quality looks and
by attacking the offensive glass. Aaron Gordon here gets open
(11:22):
in transition and makes a three. A lot of examples
in the second half of Aaron Gordon getting open in
transition at the three point line, most famously on the
game winner, something Oklahoma City is gonna have to pay
attention to. They got to track Aaron Gordon. He is
running to the three point line. Another example of how
Denver is guarding OKC. We're gonna get a Hartenstein Shay
(11:43):
two man game with some weak side action. But look,
Jamal Murray's ignoring that action. They're not worried about this
at all whatsoever. On the play, Denver is defending the
ball screen three on two and Shay and Hartenstein just
stay on that side of the floor. These guys are
kind of cutting and moving around, but there's no attempt
to actually get the ball across to the other side.
(12:05):
They just try to score three on two and that's
really hard. We get a Shay airball because of an
excellent rear view contest from Christian Brown off of the
ball screen. But if they're just going to play two
on three and one on two all series and not
actually look to move the ball and beat Denver's loaded
up defense, this series could get ugly for Oklahoma City
pretty quick. Once again, similarly to that last iso that
(12:30):
we saw from Shay on the other side of the floor,
look at how they're loaded up strongside zone loaded up
from Yokich. It almost looks like a box in one
with the way they set up against these ISOs. They
run a nice little off ball action for Isaiah Joe
as he kind of relocates up to the top. There
cuts through relocates to the top. Watch Michael Porter Junior
excellent read and react defensive play to get a late
(12:52):
contest on Isaiah Joe and force an airball. Look at
how Yokic in the middle of the floor commands so
much attention on this pocket pass. He's got four bodies
completely geared up on him. So what ends up happening
here is it creates all these really high quality offensive
(13:13):
rebound opportunities on the back line for Gordon, for Russ
four Brown on the miss. Look at Gordon, Gordon's untouched,
Gordon's untouched crashing because Yokic is drawing four bodies on
that roll to the basket. I just I don't see
a solution for Okac.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
For that problem.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
I don't know how they're going to be. If you
let Jokic operate free and clear in the middle, he's
going to kill you. If you send extra bodies to him.
Christian Brown and Aaron Gordon and all of them are
going to demolish you on the glass. I'm having a
hard time coming up with like a schematic adjustment for
the fact that Denver can just beat the shit out
of this team on the glass, so many of these
(13:57):
types of shots for OKC in the half court against
Denver defense, high ball screen against the drop. Nineteen on
the shot clock. Jdubb just takes another look at look
at this great rear view can test from Russ. Russ
is right there and there's seventeen seconds on the shot clock.
And but that's the thing. Ja Dob's just very young.
He's young, and he hasn't been in too many of
(14:18):
these types of series. And last night he took a
lot of bad shots and he went five for twenty.
And you know that doesn't mean he can't go twelve
for twenty in Game two and look like the hero.
But there's a level of consistency that you see from
Vetteran basketball players that you don't see from the younger
basketball players. Really nice back to or cut here from
Russ on the Jamal Murray drive. Watch Russ as Jamal drives.
(14:43):
Nice read on that backhut. Great pass from Jamal quickly
goes up and finishes. When OKC, excuse me, when OKAC
actually looked to move the ball in the middle of
the floor. They got good stuff. Here's an example. Shade
comes off the ball screen. There's three Nuggets defending the action.
(15:06):
Simple driving kick to Jalen Williams, wide open catch and shoot,
three goes in. Just that's the processing piece that they're
gonna have to be very sharp with in this series.
I thought I just pulled this clip because I thought
it perfectly demonstrated the problem that Okays he's dealing with
with Yo Kitchen this series. Look at he just looks
like a man amongst boys, a man amongst boys.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Look at this.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Got ripping right through the biggest man on the floor,
and then look at look at just the lack of size.
Yo Kich just just looks like a refrigerator among a
bunch of smaller humans.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
It's just crazy.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
I don't know how they're gonna be able to handle
this over the course of the series. All Right, we're
gonna skip ahead to crunch time here for a minute
because I want to focus on some of the specific
dynamics on both ends of the floor. I thought this
was just a massive shot from Jamal Murray. Four and
a half minutes left, Denver goes up by or Okay
goes up by eleven and it's a straight iso. Good
(16:02):
screen navigation from Alex. You end up in a late
clock situation after Jokic passes the ball out of the
Hartenstein drive.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Boom.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Now you need to create a bucket against the other
team's best defender with seven seconds. Watch this nasty double
cross boom boom. That's disgusting. Took some of the steam
out of the crowd too, like a big shot in
that moment in the game. Okay See's first offensive possession
out of that another example of okay See just not
(16:33):
really knowing what to do in the half court. It's
just a straight ISO and Shay just throws up a
really bad shot in the middle of the floor. Denver
gets the defensive rebound. Here's another example of a successful
double and rotate against Shay double team.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
The ball.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Rotate to Crusoe. Aaron Gordon also even misses this rotation here.
I think Jadubb's gotta knock down the shot. But still
you're getting a contested catch and shoot three out of
a Shade double team. Because Denver rotates the ball well,
it rotates on defense.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Well, I should say.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
These are the types of reeds that Denver that Okac
is gonna have to make consistently, consistently, watches Shaye drives
off this ball screen Jdub's open on the cut. If
Shaye throws this ball to j Dub, it's a dunk,
misses it, they end up having to run again. Shaye
does make a nice read here into the pocket to
heart and Sign who hits the floater. But again, those
(17:29):
are the those reads are going to be open against
this Denver defense, and okayse he's gonna have to be
relentlessly making those reads every time down the floor. Jokic
going one on five and just getting to the rim
nine point game, two point two and a half minutes left.
(17:49):
Watch Jokich here just drives into five Thunder players and
gets into the lane and draws a foul.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Again.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
I just don't see a solution for this problem. More
Denver packing the paint. Look at how they're loaded up
on Shay guys. And part of the issue here is
you've got Hartenstein and Crusoe on the floor and you
know even Chet as well. There's just a lot of
iffy shooters here. Jdubb just missed a wide open catch
(18:18):
and shoot three like it just turns into this situation
where it becomes kind of like isoball the triple team?
They rotate out of it, rotate to Jdubb. This is
the passing lane close out from Jamal that we talked
about on playback last night. Watch how Jamal doesn't close
out to Jaydubbit closes out to the passing lane that
bits JDub into throwing this pass fake which allows Russ
to rotate. JDub ends up passing it off to Hartenstein,
(18:43):
who misses the floater big time rebound fro Russell Westbrook too.
In crunch time with six point game, two minutes, fifteen
seconds left, Denver runs a random possession of a one
two two zone?
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Is it on the next possession?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Let's see here it is so I I couldn't tell
if this was a man to man or a zone
in playback last night. I'm kind of looking at it
as a zone because watch how as these guys relocate through,
like as Jadup cuts through, Russ stays put. See how
they're just like staying in that like kind of Z
one two two zone type of look. But what it
may be is kind of a similar principle to what
(19:20):
we talked about on those Shay ISOs on the wing,
where they just use the two closest defenders on either
side of the driving lane to essentially zone up in
just these two spots. But as you guys can see,
every time Shay gets the ball, whether it's at the
top of the key, whether it's on the wing or
over here, they're manning up and then they're basically having
the other four defenders zone up in like a box
(19:42):
in one on Shay's ISOs, and it just flummecks them
this they end up throwing a quick little swing pass
the chat Homegern and missus a three more Yokic dominance.
This time A gets Alex Crusoe. Let's fast forward, we
get a ball screen switch, toss the ball back to
Jokic against Alex, and then it's just back down. Four
(20:04):
dribbles ready, boom one, two, three, four, left shoulder hook.
I mean, there's a double team from Jadub here and
Chet's on the back line, and it just doesn't matter. Again, Like,
I'm curious if you guys have some ideas drop him
in the comments. I don't understand a pathway for Oklahoma
City to solve that specific problem in this series, and
(20:24):
that doesn't mean they can't find solutions on this end
of the floor. Okay, see has a lot of solutions
on this end of the floor. But on the defensive end,
I don't know how they're going to stop Denver from
just routinely putting up sixty five point halves the way
that they did in that second half. Here we go again,
same sort of Yokic Shay loaded up ISO. They brought
(20:47):
a lot of these kind of late double teams like
what Russ does here miss jump shot. This was Chet's
first opportunity to win this game that he blew. He
beats Aaron Gordon on this like corner crash and has
the game in his hands right there. You finished that.
It's one seventeen, one to eleven with a minute twenty
seven left in Denver's in an infinitely tougher spot to
try to win this game. Good example of jab step
(21:10):
work from Nikola Jokic. Here fast forward. He ends up
faced up with Isai Hartenstein at the top of the key. Okay,
what I want you guys to look at is look
at where Look at where Hartenstein's feet is as he's
pressuring Jokic. He's got his left foot on the three
point line. Now, watch as he's working this jab step
game jab jab again. Look at where Hartenstein's feed are.
(21:33):
Now he got Hartenstein from the NBA line to the
top of the key, and that creates the separation for
him to step into that three and knock it down more,
packing the pain on shake Gildes Alexander, Jamal little hedge
and recover drives again late double team from Russell Westbrook.
Shaye makes the right read and kicks the jdup here,
(21:54):
but then Jadub needs to make the next read right. So,
first of all, first mistake, he has the ability to
get middle here, and if he gets middle, he will
likely take Jamal Murray or take Jokic with him. And
if he takes Jokic with him towards the middle of
the floor, Jamal Murray has to make a decision either
to step up and help or to drop back on
(22:14):
one of these two guys. And you've got two guys
that can finish at the rim. Instead, he racks Baseline
into Alex Crusoe. Okay, now it's an easy set of
a help reads because Alex Crusoe is a complete non
threat and Alex Crusoe, because he's a non threat, has
to relocate out and Jay dub has an opportunity to
kick to dort Here on the right wing if he
(22:35):
makes a clean catch and shoot clean close out read instead,
though he tries to finish in traffic over a set
of three defenders Bruss great late contest, great defensive rebound
from Jokic. So as you can see, if he racks
to the middle, if he racks to the middle, he's
(22:56):
likely getting a layup for or a dunk for one
of these two guys. If you rack Spaceline, fine whatever,
even though that's the bad read, there's your kickout. These
are the kinds of reads that Oklahoma City's going to
have to make that they just did not make in
Game one. And I talked about this before the series.
This is where they've shown growth this year, but a
lot of regression last night. And then, just for fun
(23:18):
for Nuggets fans, here's the game winner. Really nice read
in transition from Russell Westbrook. Big time shot from Aaron
Gordon to steal game one. All right, let's talk Boston's offense.
Fair warning, Celtics fans, this is going to be a
tough watch for you. The Celtics on four consecutive possessions
to start the third quarter took off the dribble threes
or ISO threes.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Up the floor.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Jalen Brown has a mismatch against Jalen Brunson. Just takes
a bad pull up three to start the half. Next possession,
same thing, Jalen Brown, no attempt to get the ball
in the paint, has a mismatch.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
You got one of their weaker defenders. What are you
gonna do?
Speaker 2 (24:01):
How about another ISO jab step three off? How about
your third shot of the third quarter. Okay, guys, we're
running some bad offense. We need to get something going.
Let's see what we got. How about it Drew Holiday
step back three without any other movement on the possession.
He makes it, but it's like this is not good.
(24:23):
That's not good process. Fourth shot of the third quarter, again,
no attempt to get the ball in the paint. Another
off the dribble three. At least this one there's a
decent amount of separation, but still like these are just
every time down the floor. They're just dribbling up the
floor and taking it the first three that they get.
Any attempts to get some separation on something to keep
(24:44):
an eye on to you. Look at how bad this
miss was from Tatum, and I'm gonna be calling this
out throughout the film sessions. As a star, he needs
to read that. He doesn't have a going Look at
the miss hits the backboard first, that's a brick, and
there's like a bunch of those to show that example.
But here we go off the offensive rebound. So offensive rebound,
(25:08):
Tatum pressures the rim on the offensive rebound draws, the
second defender makes a kick. Derek White clean catch and shoot.
Look goes in. Boston took fifteen unguarded catch and shoot
jump shots in the second half of this game, including overtime.
They got eighteen points on them, one point two points
per shot. They shot poorly on unguarded catch and shoots
(25:31):
in the first half, but they actually made their unguarded
catching shoots in the second half. The problem is on
the other twenty six and tested or off the dribble
jump shots they took. They got just twelve points on
those shots. There was a clear line between their process
and their success in the second half. Here's another off
(25:53):
the dribble three with lots of clock left, no attempt
to get the ball in the paint. Again, it's not
a bad look for Derek White. We know they can
win playing that one way. My thing is, you've got
to be able to make the read and change your
play style if it's obvious that something's not working. Here's
another classic example of that ideology. Watch Jalen Brown. Okay,
(26:16):
so he smokes this has to pass it out? Sure, whatever, Okay,
Jalen Brown's man runs out. He throws the pass out
to Drew Holiday. Just stay right there, Just stay right
there and call for the ball, and you're gonna get
a lamp or a dunk.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Instead.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
He runs out to the corner to take a three.
Look at all the space he could have driven that,
and like they're not making threes. It just doesn't make
any sense. See's get a couple of mismatches here through
a screen. You get Brunton on Horford and you get
Cat on White. Okay, so theoretically you should be looking
(26:53):
to attack there or there. Instead, they run a ball
screen with Tatum, which brings og In and Obi into
the action, and Tatum ends up taking Tatum ends up
having OJN and Obi on him and swinging it back
to Derek White. This goes in. But that stupid offense.
You just took your mismatch and brought the other team's
(27:14):
best defender into the action and ended up having to
take a contested catch and shoot like twenty eight footer
at the end of the clock. Also, I wanted to
come back. Shout out to Jalen Brunson in the way
he battled Horford here. There were a couple examples of
this down the stretch. Let me show you guys, watch
him battling and fronting the post trying to deny those
post entry opportunities. Great work from Brunson. I don't know
(27:42):
what the hell they're doing on offense. On this possession,
Derek White hits a three, but like once again, like,
no attempts to get the ball inside in any way,
shape or form, just a swing pass and a contested
twenty seven footer off of the left wing. Again, Jalen
Brown has missed every three that he's taken in the
(28:05):
second half, and they've all been pretty bad shots. Let's
see what he looks to do here on the skip
eleven seconds on the shot clock. You can't shoot right now,
drive the closeout. Drive the close out. You will generate
a better shot for a better shooter. Instead, he takes
another three and misses it. I don't know what the
(28:31):
hell this possession was. Derek White literally just dribbles the
clock out and takes a three. Scott Brunson off the
dribble twenty seven footer like that. I just don't understand it.
(28:52):
Here we go again, another zero penetration move, just to
swing past to Horford for early clock transition three. Tatum
after the Knicks, make this little run here to cut
it to eleven. Hits a couple of threes, but these
are once again, you guys have seen this is in
(29:13):
the context of the previous possessions.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
The offense is sluggish. There on a run, this is
fool's goal.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Tatum hits a couple of threes here, boom one, and
then look at this one. This is basically over a
double team at the top of the key screen with
Brunson contested. Thirty footer.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Goes in.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
That's great. This is bad process. The offense in general
is still sluggish. They went right back to being cold
right after those two shots. At the very least, though,
this was one of the few possessions in the second
half where Tatum looked to attack downhill. Watch when he
brings it's forced to Brunson. The quality of shot they generate, attacks, dislodges, draws, help, clean,
(30:06):
catch and shoot. Look for a great shooter and same
Houser in the corner. He smokes it, but you get
the point. Another example of me not knowing what the
hell Tatum's doing. Ball screen just another early clock contested
pull up three that he misses. I don't know what
(30:31):
the hell this possession is just swing and shoot like
they're just they're just taking the first available three without
making any attempt to try to get the ball inside.
There's another zero drive possession like Horford hits this shot,
(30:57):
but there's just no attempt to get the ball inside.
All right, early fourth quarter, Jalen Brown's turn to try
to assert control over the situation. Let's see what he does.
I soo against kat. Let's see what you got and
you know what's crazy? Look at this, Look at the spacing.
(31:18):
If Jalen just goes to the basket, if he just
rips right and goes, he will draw McHale, bridges and help,
and he will generate a wide open catch and shoot
three for Derek White, like guaranteed that will happen if
he just rips right. Look at how open cat stances.
Kat is incapable of containing Jaylen Brown in this stance
driving to the right. Instead, Jalen waits for McHale to
(31:41):
get into the driving lane and for that space to
go away, and then he settles for this tough step back,
mid range jump shot and airballs it. It's like baffling
to me. Peyton Pritchard's turn to get in on the
action and just take a step back. Three some quality
(32:04):
switching from New York there, Jason Tatum against Josh Hart.
This is actually a nice little snatchback dribble. But again
look at the clock. Eighty four to eighty. Tatum comes
off of this action. Snatchback dribble breaks Josh off in theory.
(32:27):
You don't hate this shot, but what I want to
I'm more concerned about what happens after this point, Brick. Okay,
look at the miss. The miss is off to the
left of the rim. This is a miss by feet.
It barely grazed the bottom of the backboard outside of
the rim, and he got clean separation and a great look.
So like it's clear that his jump shot is off.
(32:48):
Read that make the adjustment. A rushed contested corner three
from Derek White here swing swing contested three nineteen on
the shot clock.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Miss.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Here is a clean wide open catch and shoot three
that goes in. There's a manned down situation. It's a
five on four in transition boom, Nobody within the area
code wide open goes in very next possession. How about
(33:31):
a movement three versus a contest coming off of a
flare screen. This is a much much tougher shot.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Miss.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Here's where I start to get really annoyed with Tatum. Okay,
so you just had a bad miss. You get cat
again on a switch here eight seconds on the shot clock.
No attempt to try to drive on cat and generate
the rim pressure. Get a quality shot. Just go right
to the step back brick. Look at where it hits
the backboard, first backboard, then rim. So his jump shot
(34:12):
is off by feet plural, and he needs to make
an adjustment. At this point, the jumpers off by feet.
The game is tied. I need to look to be
more aggressive. Let's see if we see any change in
approach from Tatum.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Jaylen Brown, off of an offensive rebound, drives a close out,
gets to the rim and lays the ball up, but
right next right on the next possession, back to settling
for Jaylen Brown. Just got to the rim, just got
a lay up. How about a catch and shoot three?
Mildly contested catch and shoot three with twelve seconds on
(34:51):
the shot clock, even though he can't shoot in this half.
All right, Knicks have the lead now off of a
Jalen Brunson three against al Horford. Now things are getting
into serious crisis mode. Let's see how Boston looks to
attack on offense starts with this kind of iffy catch
(35:17):
and shoot three. It's a decent look for Derek White
fifteen seconds of the shot clock. Don't hate it, and
at least they got the ball inside to Brunson. Don't
hate it. But what the hell is Drew Holliday doing here?
A spinning off of a spinning out of rhythm offensive
(35:38):
rebound kickout three with thirteen on the shot clock, out
of the corner while he's leaning one of the worst
shots I've seen and Drew take in his career. Okay,
nine seven ninety five Tatum on cat. Oh, we're driving
(36:01):
to the basket now, guys, drive into the basket. Drawing
multiple defenders, drop off the drew holiday, beautiful extra pass,
clean catch and shoot. Look it goes in. Okay, so
we know that Tatum driving to the basket is working.
(36:25):
He just drove to the basket successfully on Cat. You
don't need to run this screening action again. But Tatum
instead is going to take another off the dribble three
eleven on the shot clock. Another off the dribble three,
even though he knows his shot is off. He literally
he knows his shot is off. He bricked the shit
(36:46):
out of his of like three or four of his
jump shots in his half. And what do we get
another outside the rim miss look, barely grazes the left
side of the rim and goes down. Doesn't even go
up off the rim, which means he barely grays the
left side of the rim. And then we get a
couple moves on Jalen Brunson here that are both geared
(37:08):
towards the pullback. Again, no attempt to actually drive. It's
like pullback. Everything's geared towards the pullback. I'm trying to
get a three. He's driving to get jump shots. He's
not driving to get to the basket on this play, right,
here he's very capable of right here spinning pound the dribble,
spin and you're in this part of the lane, drawing
(37:29):
multiple defenders and making something good happen. No, but it's
geared towards the pullback. Everything mentality wise is geared towards
the pull up jump shot. I do want to give
Brunton some credit for his defense here. Again Tatum's letting
him off the hook, but these are some nice off
the dribble cutoffs from brunts and sliding his feet. He
(37:51):
was great on defense down the stretch of this game.
This is why I was so annoyed at this play.
As you guys saw, they were mixing in hedges and
recovers with Brunson, especially on some of those Tatum cat actions.
But when Brunson was switched on Tatum, he was able
to actually bait Tatum taking into taking bad shots. You
guys will see another example of it in overtime. Here's
(38:13):
a random possession where they threw the hedge and recover
and gave up a layup hedge slip, wide open layup.
That was what tied the game and sent it to overtime.
So like for the Knicks, just trust Brunson's ability to
defend on an island, and you'll bait Boston into doing
stupid shit. If you do this, you can give them
(38:35):
these easy reads that they're going to take layups. Tatum,
big possession of the game, gets a switch on to Mitchell.
Robinson settles for the step back three again again like
it's so clear at least he's inside the rim on
that one, but like, like he just it was so
clear that the jumper wasn't there for him, and he
(38:56):
just made no attempt to change his approach. Another just
unbelievably stupid shot from Drew Holliday, no passes step back
three against literally against the knicks best defender. A zero
pass step back three for Drew Holiday, down three in overtime.
(39:22):
Here's the other Tatum io against Brunson, fast forward.
Speaker 3 (39:28):
Again.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
If you don't hedge, that's the same action they just
hedged and recovered and gave a layup on at the
end of regulation. Brunson beats him to the spot a
couple times and forces him into a mid range fall
away that he misses airballs. Two minutes left in overtime,
we get a Jason Tatum post up off of a
(39:52):
switch with McHale Bridges and we get a layup. There
is a clear indication that every single time Boston applied
rim pressure and trusted their process, they got either good
stuff at the rim or good catch and shoot stuff
that went in. And every time they did something stupid,
(40:12):
they played into variants.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
And that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
It's not about Boston being able to play like this.
I expect them to win a game in this series
where they take, you know, fifty to fifty five through
a lot of those kinds of shots, because when they're
all in rhythm, that's part of what makes them so scary.
But you have to be able to read the room,
read the shot result, read the flow of the game,
(40:34):
and change your approach when the situation calls for it.
And Boston just let New York off the hook tonight.
And I just I mean, you, guys, I think the
tape speaks for itself. That's one of the dumbest halves
of basketball that I've seen Boston play in the Jason
Tatum era. All right, guys, it's all I have for today.
It's all as always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for
supporting me and supporting the show. We will be live
(40:56):
on YouTube tonight after the final buzzer of Warriors Timberwolves,
and then we'll be live on playback after that.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
I will see you guys then. What's up guys?
Speaker 2 (41:04):
As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
OOPS tonight. They would actually be really helpful for us
if you guys would take a second and leave a
rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys
supporting us, but if you could take a minute to
do that, I'd really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
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co slash audio. All right, welcome to Hoops today. You're
(02:33):
at the volume heavy Tuesday. Everybody hop all of you
guys are having a great week. We got our first
film session of the second round today.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
We have sixty six clips.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
To hit from the two games. I'm gonna be focusing
on the entire second half from Denver OKC, specifically some
of the dynamics at play with how much easier it
was for Denver and the half court offensively versus OKC,
which I think is very interesting in the big picture.
And then in the Celtics game, we're going to be
focusing on their shot selection in the second half. Fair
warning to Celtics fans, it will be one of the
(03:03):
most frustrating film sessions you've ever watched, because they played
some straight CTE basketball in that second half and cost
themselves game one of the series. You guys are the
joke before we started subscribe to the Hoops tonight YouTube channels.
You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me
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(03:23):
you leave a rating and a review on that front.
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Make sure you guys follow us there Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
And then, last but not least, keep dropping mail bag
questions in those YouTube comments. All right, So, as we
start off with Denver, ok Seed, I will never overreact
to one game. I would not change my prediction until
I saw something be repeated in a game two. But
(03:47):
I am severely concerned for Oklahoma City after that first game,
in large part because in the second half, in particular,
Denver had their defense solved and got great shots every
single time. Down on the floor, they had what a
thirty one point quarter and a thirty five point quarter,
And on the other end of the floor, through a
combination of some one two two zone, some double teams
(04:08):
of Shay, especially late as he was driving but also
on his wing ISOs, they were strong side zoning and
a bunch of different stuff like that, and okay, see
just looked lost. They looked like they didn't have any
idea how to attack. There's also a basic reality in
the sense that in order to match up with Jokic
on the glass, they have to play Hartenstein and Alex
Cruso is just such an important defensive player for them
(04:31):
to be able to hold up in this matchup. If
you have Hartenstein and Crusoe on the floor, you make
yourself easier to guard. And so there's another question to
be another conversation to be had about whether or not. Okay,
so you should consider just playing small and understanding they're
going to get beat up on the glass, but at
least be able to score the ball more effectively. And
those are the kinds of things they're gonna have to
figure out over the course of the series.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
But I left that series.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
I left that game last night thinking Denver literally gives
up to what twenty nine points off of turnovers and
still wins. Denver gets very little in the way of
consistent offensive contribution from anybody on the roster outside of
Yokichen they win. That does not god well for Oklahoma City.
For the rest of the series, especially considering how uncomfortable
they looked in the half court. So let's look at
(05:14):
some of these clips as we get into the details.
So this first one, we have the Gordon high post
entry here to the Jemal Murray high post entry to
Aaron Gordon that Alex Cruso jumps the high side and
gets the steal again, and it wasn't twenty nine to
(05:34):
twenty three. So Oklahoma City gets twenty three points off
of turnovers compared to just five for Oklahoma for Denver,
so an eighteen point advantage for Oklahoma City in a
clear margin. That is what Oklahoma City does better than everybody.
That was where they caught Denver off guard last night.
You catch Denver off guard with your defense and you
(05:54):
score twenty three easy ones in transition and you still
lose the game. Just a devastating game one outcome for
the Thunder. And that's that's just an easy place where
Denver can clean stuff up. Like if we watch Gordon here,
the mistake he's making is he's his contact. His contact
with Alex is on Alex's left shoulder. There there's nothing
(06:15):
ceiling Alex from working up this high side Aaron Gordon's
gonna have a do a better job in game two
of just ceiling and creating a better passing angle. There,
Jdubb shooting a little floater over Jokic in a drop coverage.
He gets a ball screen here, a little double screen.
Little reverses the second screen and takes this kind of
(06:37):
like contested leaning away from his body floater against Jokic.
Last night, JDub was one for six on two's that
were outside of the restricted area and two for five
at the rim, so three for eleven overall in the paint,
and you guys will see plenty of examples in this
film session of him just taking like pretty mediocre contested
mid range shots, especially early in the clock. Here goes
(07:02):
Jokicic just posting up Chet home grindly. Fast forward a
little bit so Yokic on Chet, they run a little
loft ball action. Jokicic just easily backs him down, gets
to his spot and knocks down the little left shoulder hook.
Jokic just did his work against Chet. That was a
big part of why they ended up going to Hartenstein
down the stretch, not just for the glass but also
dealing with him in their defensive scheme, so they could
put Hartenstein on Jokic and put Chet on Gordon behind
(07:24):
the ball.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
But Chet are.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Jokicch last night thirteen post ups, fifteen points last night
including passes, and remember when both teams are getting less
than zero point nine points per half court possession, getting
over a point per possession on a Jokics post up
is one of the more efficient play types that Denver
can go to in the series. Alrighty, this was an
example of the offensive rebounding problem that Denver presents. Fast
(07:49):
forwarding a little bit here, so Chet's out of the play,
ends up chasing Jamal Murray down and tries to go
for a block at the rim. Now, what I want
you guys to watch is the dynamic with Jokic behind
the play there as Chet's out of the play. Look
at the size advantage. It's Jokic with a bunch of
six four sixty five guys around him. He's gonna just
eat everybody alive on the glass in this matchup. And
(08:11):
you're gonna see some more examples later in the game.
There's just not a whole lot they can do. Same
sort of thing here. Look like Chet shows on this
dribble handoff and gets a good contest on Jamal which
forces a miss. But now look at this dynamic. You've
got Yoki rolling to the rim, Gordon on the baseline,
and Christian Brown crashing out of the corner, and it's
j Dubshay and Alex Cruza. They're just completely overwhelmed. Shay
(08:33):
steps over to try to box out Jokic and Christian
Brown is the beneficiaries right there.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
He ends up drawing a foul.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
These dynamics are replicable, guys, and this is the main
thing I want you to pay attention to. As you
can see here, there are problems that Oklahoma City cannot
solve in this matchup. This is not They're not going
to suddenly get bigger and more physically imposing as the
series progresses.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
This is going to be a problem throughout here we go.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
This is the Cruso peel off block. A lot of
examples of this last night. Alex Crusoe was amazing in
his help side defense and his on ball defense, so
yokich as soon as he turns his shoulder. We saw
so many examples of this last night. Whenever Denver would
turn their back to an OKC defender. This guy would
just leave and try to get back into the plague.
It's a big block on Jokics there. Look at how
(09:30):
Denver's guarding these sga ISOs Jokich's strong side zoning. Gordon
is gapping down off of Chet. Michael Porter and Jamal
Murray both are basically foot in the paint. They're just
packing the side and as they they relocate through, Alex
Crusoe relocates through, Shay gives it up to him. Then
(09:51):
they immediately double Shay off of the Off of that
dribble handoff, Chay actually makes a nice pass through Christian
Brown's legs here to Alex Crusoe, but now Alex Cruso
drives through, makes a nice drop off. This was a
good example of them breaking down the double team. But
I mainly just wanted to highlight that clip to show
you guys just how aggressive Denver is being in there
(10:11):
loading up against Shay, and like we talked about this,
like I talked about it in the series preview, They're
gonna load up. This is going to be a processing
series for the Oklahoma City Thunder. So now we have
Hartenstein in the game and we're getting that look that
I talked about. Hartenstein on Jokic and Aaron Gordon on Chet,
and they run a ball screen to get Dort switched
(10:33):
onto Jokic. Then Jokic basically attacks Dort and look at
Chet that's in help. And these are the kinds of
shots that Jokic is so good at. He spins off
the small and floats over the big, just elite shot
making there from Nicola Jokich a double team of Shay
(10:56):
on this iso along the baseline. But this creates a
rebounding mismatch underneath the basket because now Chet and Hartenstein
are going two on one against Jokich and they're able
to get in there and get an offensive rebound. If
Denver is going to double team Shay and throw all
this attention at Shay, you have to make them pay
for it through quick processing to get quality looks and
by attacking the offensive glass. Aaron Gordon here gets open
(11:22):
in transition and makes a three. A lot of examples
in the second half of Aaron Gordon getting open in
transition at the three point line, most famously on the
game winner, something Oklahoma City is gonna have to pay
attention to. They got to track Aaron Gordon. He is
running to the three point line. Another example of how
Denver is guarding OKC. We're gonna get a Hartenstein Shay
(11:43):
two man game with some weak side action. But look,
Jamal Murray's ignoring that action. They're not worried about this
at all whatsoever. On the play, Denver is defending the
ball screen three on two and Shay and Hartenstein just
stay on that side of the floor. These guys are
kind of cutting and moving around, but there's no attempt
to actually get the ball across to the other side.
(12:05):
They just try to score three on two and that's
really hard. We get a Shay airball because of an
excellent rear view contest from Christian Brown off of the
ball screen. But if they're just going to play two
on three and one on two all series and not
actually look to move the ball and beat Denver's loaded
up defense, this series could get ugly for Oklahoma City
pretty quick. Once again, similarly to that last iso that
(12:30):
we saw from Shay on the other side of the floor,
look at how they're loaded up strongside zone loaded up
from Yokich. It almost looks like a box in one
with the way they set up against these ISOs. They
run a nice little off ball action for Isaiah Joe
as he kind of relocates up to the top. There
cuts through relocates to the top. Watch Michael Porter Junior
excellent read and react defensive play to get a late
(12:52):
contest on Isaiah Joe and force an airball. Look at
how Yokic in the middle of the floor commands so
much attention on this pocket pass. He's got four bodies
completely geared up on him. So what ends up happening
here is it creates all these really high quality offensive
(13:13):
rebound opportunities on the back line for Gordon, for Russ
four Brown on the miss. Look at Gordon, Gordon's untouched,
Gordon's untouched crashing because Yokic is drawing four bodies on
that roll to the basket. I just I don't see
a solution for Okac.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
For that problem.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
I don't know how they're going to be. If you
let Jokic operate free and clear in the middle, he's
going to kill you. If you send extra bodies to him.
Christian Brown and Aaron Gordon and all of them are
going to demolish you on the glass. I'm having a
hard time coming up with like a schematic adjustment for
the fact that Denver can just beat the shit out
of this team on the glass, so many of these
(13:57):
types of shots for OKC in the half court against
Denver defense, high ball screen against the drop. Nineteen on
the shot clock. Jdubb just takes another look at look
at this great rear view can test from Russ. Russ
is right there and there's seventeen seconds on the shot clock.
And but that's the thing. Ja Dob's just very young.
He's young, and he hasn't been in too many of
(14:18):
these types of series. And last night he took a
lot of bad shots and he went five for twenty.
And you know that doesn't mean he can't go twelve
for twenty in Game two and look like the hero.
But there's a level of consistency that you see from
Vetteran basketball players that you don't see from the younger
basketball players. Really nice back to or cut here from
Russ on the Jamal Murray drive. Watch Russ as Jamal drives.
(14:43):
Nice read on that backhut. Great pass from Jamal quickly
goes up and finishes. When OKC, excuse me, when OKAC
actually looked to move the ball in the middle of
the floor. They got good stuff. Here's an example. Shade
comes off the ball screen. There's three Nuggets defending the action.
(15:06):
Simple driving kick to Jalen Williams, wide open catch and shoot,
three goes in. Just that's the processing piece that they're
gonna have to be very sharp with in this series.
I thought I just pulled this clip because I thought
it perfectly demonstrated the problem that Okays he's dealing with
with Yo Kitchen this series. Look at he just looks
like a man amongst boys, a man amongst boys.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Look at this.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Got ripping right through the biggest man on the floor,
and then look at look at just the lack of size.
Yo Kich just just looks like a refrigerator among a
bunch of smaller humans.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
It's just crazy.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
I don't know how they're gonna be able to handle
this over the course of the series. All Right, we're
gonna skip ahead to crunch time here for a minute
because I want to focus on some of the specific
dynamics on both ends of the floor. I thought this
was just a massive shot from Jamal Murray. Four and
a half minutes left, Denver goes up by or Okay
goes up by eleven and it's a straight iso. Good
(16:02):
screen navigation from Alex. You end up in a late
clock situation after Jokic passes the ball out of the
Hartenstein drive.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Boom.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Now you need to create a bucket against the other
team's best defender with seven seconds. Watch this nasty double
cross boom boom. That's disgusting. Took some of the steam
out of the crowd too, like a big shot in
that moment in the game. Okay See's first offensive possession
out of that another example of okay See just not
(16:33):
really knowing what to do in the half court. It's
just a straight ISO and Shay just throws up a
really bad shot in the middle of the floor. Denver
gets the defensive rebound. Here's another example of a successful
double and rotate against Shay double team.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
The ball.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Rotate to Crusoe. Aaron Gordon also even misses this rotation here.
I think Jadubb's gotta knock down the shot. But still
you're getting a contested catch and shoot three out of
a Shade double team. Because Denver rotates the ball well,
it rotates on defense.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Well, I should say.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
These are the types of reeds that Denver that Okac
is gonna have to make consistently, consistently, watches Shaye drives
off this ball screen Jdub's open on the cut. If
Shaye throws this ball to j Dub, it's a dunk,
misses it, they end up having to run again. Shaye
does make a nice read here into the pocket to
heart and Sign who hits the floater. But again, those
(17:29):
are the those reads are going to be open against
this Denver defense, and okayse he's gonna have to be
relentlessly making those reads every time down the floor. Jokic
going one on five and just getting to the rim
nine point game, two point two and a half minutes left.
(17:49):
Watch Jokich here just drives into five Thunder players and
gets into the lane and draws a foul.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Again.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
I just don't see a solution for this problem. More
Denver packing the paint. Look at how they're loaded up
on Shay guys. And part of the issue here is
you've got Hartenstein and Crusoe on the floor and you
know even Chet as well. There's just a lot of
iffy shooters here. Jdubb just missed a wide open catch
(18:18):
and shoot three like it just turns into this situation
where it becomes kind of like isoball the triple team?
They rotate out of it, rotate to Jdubb. This is
the passing lane close out from Jamal that we talked
about on playback last night. Watch how Jamal doesn't close
out to Jaydubbit closes out to the passing lane that
bits JDub into throwing this pass fake which allows Russ
to rotate. JDub ends up passing it off to Hartenstein,
(18:43):
who misses the floater big time rebound fro Russell Westbrook too.
In crunch time with six point game, two minutes, fifteen
seconds left, Denver runs a random possession of a one
two two zone?
Speaker 3 (18:58):
Is it on the next possession?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Let's see here it is so I I couldn't tell
if this was a man to man or a zone
in playback last night. I'm kind of looking at it
as a zone because watch how as these guys relocate through,
like as Jadup cuts through, Russ stays put. See how
they're just like staying in that like kind of Z
one two two zone type of look. But what it
may be is kind of a similar principle to what
(19:20):
we talked about on those Shay ISOs on the wing,
where they just use the two closest defenders on either
side of the driving lane to essentially zone up in
just these two spots. But as you guys can see,
every time Shay gets the ball, whether it's at the
top of the key, whether it's on the wing or
over here, they're manning up and then they're basically having
the other four defenders zone up in like a box
(19:42):
in one on Shay's ISOs, and it just flummecks them
this they end up throwing a quick little swing pass
the chat Homegern and missus a three more Yokic dominance.
This time A gets Alex Crusoe. Let's fast forward, we
get a ball screen switch, toss the ball back to
Jokic against Alex, and then it's just back down. Four
(20:04):
dribbles ready, boom one, two, three, four, left shoulder hook.
I mean, there's a double team from Jadub here and
Chet's on the back line, and it just doesn't matter. Again, Like,
I'm curious if you guys have some ideas drop him
in the comments. I don't understand a pathway for Oklahoma
City to solve that specific problem in this series, and
(20:24):
that doesn't mean they can't find solutions on this end
of the floor. Okay, see has a lot of solutions
on this end of the floor. But on the defensive end,
I don't know how they're going to stop Denver from
just routinely putting up sixty five point halves the way
that they did in that second half. Here we go again,
same sort of Yokic Shay loaded up ISO. They brought
(20:47):
a lot of these kind of late double teams like
what Russ does here miss jump shot. This was Chet's
first opportunity to win this game that he blew. He
beats Aaron Gordon on this like corner crash and has
the game in his hands right there. You finished that.
It's one seventeen, one to eleven with a minute twenty
seven left in Denver's in an infinitely tougher spot to
try to win this game. Good example of jab step
(21:10):
work from Nikola Jokic. Here fast forward. He ends up
faced up with Isai Hartenstein at the top of the key. Okay,
what I want you guys to look at is look
at where Look at where Hartenstein's feet is as he's
pressuring Jokic. He's got his left foot on the three
point line. Now, watch as he's working this jab step
game jab jab again. Look at where Hartenstein's feed are.
(21:33):
Now he got Hartenstein from the NBA line to the
top of the key, and that creates the separation for
him to step into that three and knock it down more,
packing the pain on shake Gildes Alexander, Jamal little hedge
and recover drives again late double team from Russell Westbrook.
Shaye makes the right read and kicks the jdup here,
(21:54):
but then Jadub needs to make the next read right. So,
first of all, first mistake, he has the ability to
get middle here, and if he gets middle, he will
likely take Jamal Murray or take Jokic with him. And
if he takes Jokic with him towards the middle of
the floor, Jamal Murray has to make a decision either
to step up and help or to drop back on
(22:14):
one of these two guys. And you've got two guys
that can finish at the rim. Instead, he racks Baseline
into Alex Crusoe. Okay, now it's an easy set of
a help reads because Alex Crusoe is a complete non
threat and Alex Crusoe, because he's a non threat, has
to relocate out and Jay dub has an opportunity to
kick to dort Here on the right wing if he
(22:35):
makes a clean catch and shoot clean close out read instead,
though he tries to finish in traffic over a set
of three defenders Bruss great late contest, great defensive rebound
from Jokic. So as you can see, if he racks
to the middle, if he racks to the middle, he's
(22:56):
likely getting a layup for or a dunk for one
of these two guys. If you rack Spaceline, fine whatever,
even though that's the bad read, there's your kickout. These
are the kinds of reads that Oklahoma City's going to
have to make that they just did not make in
Game one. And I talked about this before the series.
This is where they've shown growth this year, but a
lot of regression last night. And then, just for fun
(23:18):
for Nuggets fans, here's the game winner. Really nice read
in transition from Russell Westbrook. Big time shot from Aaron
Gordon to steal game one. All right, let's talk Boston's offense.
Fair warning, Celtics fans, this is going to be a
tough watch for you. The Celtics on four consecutive possessions
to start the third quarter took off the dribble threes
or ISO threes.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
Up the floor.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Jalen Brown has a mismatch against Jalen Brunson. Just takes
a bad pull up three to start the half. Next possession,
same thing, Jalen Brown, no attempt to get the ball
in the paint, has a mismatch.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
You got one of their weaker defenders. What are you
gonna do?
Speaker 2 (24:01):
How about another ISO jab step three off? How about
your third shot of the third quarter. Okay, guys, we're
running some bad offense. We need to get something going.
Let's see what we got. How about it Drew Holiday
step back three without any other movement on the possession.
He makes it, but it's like this is not good.
(24:23):
That's not good process. Fourth shot of the third quarter, again,
no attempt to get the ball in the paint. Another
off the dribble three. At least this one there's a
decent amount of separation, but still like these are just
every time down the floor. They're just dribbling up the
floor and taking it the first three that they get.
Any attempts to get some separation on something to keep
(24:44):
an eye on to you. Look at how bad this
miss was from Tatum, and I'm gonna be calling this
out throughout the film sessions. As a star, he needs
to read that. He doesn't have a going Look at
the miss hits the backboard first, that's a brick, and
there's like a bunch of those to show that example.
But here we go off the offensive rebound. So offensive rebound,
(25:08):
Tatum pressures the rim on the offensive rebound draws, the
second defender makes a kick. Derek White clean catch and shoot.
Look goes in. Boston took fifteen unguarded catch and shoot
jump shots in the second half of this game, including overtime.
They got eighteen points on them, one point two points
per shot. They shot poorly on unguarded catch and shoots
(25:31):
in the first half, but they actually made their unguarded
catching shoots in the second half. The problem is on
the other twenty six and tested or off the dribble
jump shots they took. They got just twelve points on
those shots. There was a clear line between their process
and their success in the second half. Here's another off
(25:53):
the dribble three with lots of clock left, no attempt
to get the ball in the paint. Again, it's not
a bad look for Derek White. We know they can
win playing that one way. My thing is, you've got
to be able to make the read and change your
play style if it's obvious that something's not working. Here's
another classic example of that ideology. Watch Jalen Brown. Okay,
(26:16):
so he smokes this has to pass it out? Sure, whatever, Okay,
Jalen Brown's man runs out. He throws the pass out
to Drew Holiday. Just stay right there, Just stay right
there and call for the ball, and you're gonna get
a lamp or a dunk.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Instead.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
He runs out to the corner to take a three.
Look at all the space he could have driven that,
and like they're not making threes. It just doesn't make
any sense. See's get a couple of mismatches here through
a screen. You get Brunton on Horford and you get
Cat on White. Okay, so theoretically you should be looking
(26:53):
to attack there or there. Instead, they run a ball
screen with Tatum, which brings og In and Obi into
the action, and Tatum ends up taking Tatum ends up
having OJN and Obi on him and swinging it back
to Derek White. This goes in. But that stupid offense.
You just took your mismatch and brought the other team's
(27:14):
best defender into the action and ended up having to
take a contested catch and shoot like twenty eight footer
at the end of the clock. Also, I wanted to
come back. Shout out to Jalen Brunson in the way
he battled Horford here. There were a couple examples of
this down the stretch. Let me show you guys, watch
him battling and fronting the post trying to deny those
post entry opportunities. Great work from Brunson. I don't know
(27:42):
what the hell they're doing on offense. On this possession,
Derek White hits a three, but like once again, like,
no attempts to get the ball inside in any way,
shape or form, just a swing pass and a contested
twenty seven footer off of the left wing. Again, Jalen
Brown has missed every three that he's taken in the
(28:05):
second half, and they've all been pretty bad shots. Let's
see what he looks to do here on the skip
eleven seconds on the shot clock. You can't shoot right now,
drive the closeout. Drive the close out. You will generate
a better shot for a better shooter. Instead, he takes
another three and misses it. I don't know what the
(28:31):
hell this possession was. Derek White literally just dribbles the
clock out and takes a three. Scott Brunson off the
dribble twenty seven footer like that. I just don't understand it.
(28:52):
Here we go again, another zero penetration move, just to
swing past to Horford for early clock transition three. Tatum
after the Knicks, make this little run here to cut
it to eleven. Hits a couple of threes, but these
are once again, you guys have seen this is in
(29:13):
the context of the previous possessions.
Speaker 3 (29:15):
The offense is sluggish. There on a run, this is
fool's goal.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Tatum hits a couple of threes here, boom one, and
then look at this one. This is basically over a
double team at the top of the key screen with
Brunson contested. Thirty footer.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Goes in.
Speaker 2 (29:40):
That's great. This is bad process. The offense in general
is still sluggish. They went right back to being cold
right after those two shots. At the very least, though,
this was one of the few possessions in the second
half where Tatum looked to attack downhill. Watch when he
brings it's forced to Brunson. The quality of shot they generate, attacks, dislodges, draws, help, clean,
(30:06):
catch and shoot. Look for a great shooter and same
Houser in the corner. He smokes it, but you get
the point. Another example of me not knowing what the
hell Tatum's doing. Ball screen just another early clock contested
pull up three that he misses. I don't know what
(30:31):
the hell this possession is just swing and shoot like
they're just they're just taking the first available three without
making any attempt to try to get the ball inside.
There's another zero drive possession like Horford hits this shot,
(30:57):
but there's just no attempt to get the ball inside.
All right, early fourth quarter, Jalen Brown's turn to try
to assert control over the situation. Let's see what he does.
I soo against kat. Let's see what you got and
you know what's crazy? Look at this, Look at the spacing.
(31:18):
If Jalen just goes to the basket, if he just
rips right and goes, he will draw McHale, bridges and help,
and he will generate a wide open catch and shoot
three for Derek White, like guaranteed that will happen if
he just rips right. Look at how open cat stances.
Kat is incapable of containing Jaylen Brown in this stance
driving to the right. Instead, Jalen waits for McHale to
(31:41):
get into the driving lane and for that space to
go away, and then he settles for this tough step back,
mid range jump shot and airballs it. It's like baffling
to me. Peyton Pritchard's turn to get in on the
action and just take a step back. Three some quality
(32:04):
switching from New York there, Jason Tatum against Josh Hart.
This is actually a nice little snatchback dribble. But again
look at the clock. Eighty four to eighty. Tatum comes
off of this action. Snatchback dribble breaks Josh off in theory.
(32:27):
You don't hate this shot, but what I want to
I'm more concerned about what happens after this point, Brick. Okay,
look at the miss. The miss is off to the
left of the rim. This is a miss by feet.
It barely grazed the bottom of the backboard outside of
the rim, and he got clean separation and a great look.
So like it's clear that his jump shot is off.
(32:48):
Read that make the adjustment. A rushed contested corner three
from Derek White here swing swing contested three nineteen on
the shot clock.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Miss.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Here is a clean wide open catch and shoot three
that goes in. There's a manned down situation. It's a
five on four in transition boom, Nobody within the area
code wide open goes in very next possession. How about
(33:31):
a movement three versus a contest coming off of a
flare screen. This is a much much tougher shot.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
Miss.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Here's where I start to get really annoyed with Tatum. Okay,
so you just had a bad miss. You get cat
again on a switch here eight seconds on the shot clock.
No attempt to try to drive on cat and generate
the rim pressure. Get a quality shot. Just go right
to the step back brick. Look at where it hits
the backboard, first backboard, then rim. So his jump shot
(34:12):
is off by feet plural, and he needs to make
an adjustment. At this point, the jumpers off by feet.
The game is tied. I need to look to be
more aggressive. Let's see if we see any change in
approach from Tatum.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Jaylen Brown, off of an offensive rebound, drives a close out,
gets to the rim and lays the ball up, but
right next right on the next possession, back to settling
for Jaylen Brown. Just got to the rim, just got
a lay up. How about a catch and shoot three?
Mildly contested catch and shoot three with twelve seconds on
(34:51):
the shot clock, even though he can't shoot in this half.
All right, Knicks have the lead now off of a
Jalen Brunson three against al Horford. Now things are getting
into serious crisis mode. Let's see how Boston looks to
attack on offense starts with this kind of iffy catch
(35:17):
and shoot three. It's a decent look for Derek White
fifteen seconds of the shot clock. Don't hate it, and
at least they got the ball inside to Brunson. Don't
hate it. But what the hell is Drew Holliday doing here?
A spinning off of a spinning out of rhythm offensive
(35:38):
rebound kickout three with thirteen on the shot clock, out
of the corner while he's leaning one of the worst
shots I've seen and Drew take in his career. Okay,
nine seven ninety five Tatum on cat. Oh, we're driving
(36:01):
to the basket now, guys, drive into the basket. Drawing
multiple defenders, drop off the drew holiday, beautiful extra pass,
clean catch and shoot. Look it goes in. Okay, so
we know that Tatum driving to the basket is working.
(36:25):
He just drove to the basket successfully on Cat. You
don't need to run this screening action again. But Tatum
instead is going to take another off the dribble three
eleven on the shot clock. Another off the dribble three,
even though he knows his shot is off. He literally
he knows his shot is off. He bricked the shit
(36:46):
out of his of like three or four of his
jump shots in his half. And what do we get
another outside the rim miss look, barely grazes the left
side of the rim and goes down. Doesn't even go
up off the rim, which means he barely grays the
left side of the rim. And then we get a
couple moves on Jalen Brunson here that are both geared
(37:08):
towards the pullback. Again, no attempt to actually drive. It's
like pullback. Everything's geared towards the pullback. I'm trying to
get a three. He's driving to get jump shots. He's
not driving to get to the basket on this play, right,
here he's very capable of right here spinning pound the dribble,
spin and you're in this part of the lane, drawing
(37:29):
multiple defenders and making something good happen. No, but it's
geared towards the pullback. Everything mentality wise is geared towards
the pull up jump shot. I do want to give
Brunton some credit for his defense here. Again Tatum's letting
him off the hook, but these are some nice off
the dribble cutoffs from brunts and sliding his feet. He
(37:51):
was great on defense down the stretch of this game.
This is why I was so annoyed at this play.
As you guys saw, they were mixing in hedges and
recovers with Brunson, especially on some of those Tatum cat actions.
But when Brunson was switched on Tatum, he was able
to actually bait Tatum taking into taking bad shots. You
guys will see another example of it in overtime. Here's
(38:13):
a random possession where they threw the hedge and recover
and gave up a layup hedge slip, wide open layup.
That was what tied the game and sent it to overtime.
So like for the Knicks, just trust Brunson's ability to
defend on an island, and you'll bait Boston into doing
stupid shit. If you do this, you can give them
(38:35):
these easy reads that they're going to take layups. Tatum,
big possession of the game, gets a switch on to Mitchell.
Robinson settles for the step back three again again like
it's so clear at least he's inside the rim on
that one, but like, like he just it was so
clear that the jumper wasn't there for him, and he
(38:56):
just made no attempt to change his approach. Another just
unbelievably stupid shot from Drew Holliday, no passes step back
three against literally against the knicks best defender. A zero
pass step back three for Drew Holiday, down three in overtime.
(39:22):
Here's the other Tatum io against Brunson, fast forward.
Speaker 3 (39:28):
Again.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
If you don't hedge, that's the same action they just
hedged and recovered and gave a layup on at the
end of regulation. Brunson beats him to the spot a
couple times and forces him into a mid range fall
away that he misses airballs. Two minutes left in overtime,
we get a Jason Tatum post up off of a
(39:52):
switch with McHale Bridges and we get a layup. There
is a clear indication that every single time Boston applied
rim pressure and trusted their process, they got either good
stuff at the rim or good catch and shoot stuff
that went in. And every time they did something stupid,
(40:12):
they played into variants.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
And that's the thing.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
It's not about Boston being able to play like this.
I expect them to win a game in this series
where they take, you know, fifty to fifty five through
a lot of those kinds of shots, because when they're
all in rhythm, that's part of what makes them so scary.
But you have to be able to read the room,
read the shot result, read the flow of the game,
(40:34):
and change your approach when the situation calls for it.
And Boston just let New York off the hook tonight.
And I just I mean, you, guys, I think the
tape speaks for itself. That's one of the dumbest halves
of basketball that I've seen Boston play in the Jason
Tatum era. All right, guys, it's all I have for today.
It's all as always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for
supporting me and supporting the show. We will be live
(40:56):
on YouTube tonight after the final buzzer of Warriors Timberwolves,
and then we'll be live on playback after that.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
I will see you guys then. What's up guys?
Speaker 2 (41:04):
As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
OOPS tonight. They would actually be really helpful for us
if you guys would take a second and leave a
rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys
supporting us, but if you could take a minute to
do that, I'd really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
The volume
Host
Jason Timpf
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