Hoops Tonight - NBA Reaction: Rockets STUN Celtics, Thompson SHINES again, Knicks BLOW OUT Grizzlies
January 28, 2025 • 32 mins
Jason Timpf reacts to Amen Thompson and Dillon Brooks' massive performances in the Houston Rockets' thrilling 114-112 win over Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics. Jason breaks down why Amen Thompson has star written all over him, the potential of this young Houston team, and what the biggest challenge is for Boston in their repeat efforts. Later, Jason reacts to Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, and the New York Knicks' dominant 143-106 win over Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies. Jason discusses New York's electric offensive night but why it is the Knicks' defense that will determine their fate this season.
Timeline:
4:15 - Introduction
5:15 - Rockets stun Celtics
8:00 - Amen Thompson SHINES again
16:30 - Celtics biggest challenge
28:15 - Knicks blow out Grizzlies
35:30 - Knicks defense will determine their fate
#Volume
Follow Jason Timpf on social:
https://www.instagram.com/jtimpf15/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. This ain't the little itdy vitty teeny tiny Bowl.
This is Super Bowl fifty nine. Get in on the
action at Draft Kings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner
of Super Bowl fifty nine. Scoring touchdowns is key to
hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and you have a shot
to score big by betting on them at Draft King
sports Book, the number one place to bet touchdowns. Ready
(00:21):
to place your bet. Try betting on something simple like
a player to score six. Go to the Draftking Sportsbook
gap and make your pick right now. The Chiefs open
as a very slight favorite at minus one and a half.
I'm personally rooting for the Chiefs, mainly because I appreciate
them as one of the greatest teams of all time,
and as a Cowboys fan, I just literally cannot stand
any success for the Philadelphia Eagles. New DraftKings customers can
(00:44):
bet five dollars to get two hundred dollars in bonus
bets instantly. Download the Draft King Sportsbook ap use code hoops.
That's hops, that's code hoops for new customers to get
two hundred dollars in bonus bets instantly. When you bet
just five bucks only on Draft King Sports book. The
Crown is yours. Gamble problem called one eight hundred gambler
in New York call eight seven seven eight hope and why,
(01:04):
or text hope and why to four six seven three
six nine Connecticut Help Us available for problem gambling Call
eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven
or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf
of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas twenty one plus.
Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction, Boyd and Ontario New
customers only. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight
(01:24):
hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources,
see d KNG dot co. Slash audio. All right, welcome
(01:46):
to tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody, Oh Bob,
you guys are having a great week. Just a quick
show today. We're gonna be hitting two East versus West
showdowns from last night as the Houston Rockets going to
Boston and get a big win against the Celtics and
the Red Hot Grizzly Is go on the road into
New York against the Knicks and get absolutely smashed. We're
going to be breaking down both of those games from
(02:07):
the perspective of both teams. You guys have the drip
before we get started. Subscribed to Oops Tonight YouTube channels.
You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me
on Twitter at underscore JCNLTS. You guys don't miss announcements.
Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your
podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful for we
leave a rating and a review on that front. We
also have brand new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram,
and Facebook where we're releasing content throughout the year. Make
sure you guys follow us there, and then, last but
(02:27):
not least, keep dropping mailbag questions and the YouTube comments.
We can get to them in our Friday mail bags
throughout the remainder of the season. We are going to
do some more trade deadline stuff tomorrow. I was looking
at the slate and I just thought last night's slate
was more interesting. Tonight's slate's a little weaker, so we'll
shift gears tomorrow into more trade deadline centered content. But
let's move on to Rockets Celtics. So, as I mentioned yesterday,
(02:49):
the Rockets are the best team in the league against
the best teams in the league. Going into last night's slate,
they had fourteen wins against teams that are in the
top ten in point differential according to Cleaning, the last
which was sole possession of most in the league. Now,
after last night, it's weird the top ten point differential
teams have jumbled a little bit. But after last night,
(03:10):
the Rockets now have twelve wins against teams that are
in the top ten at point differential. But that's two
more than any other team in the league has. They've
been very good in these types of matchups. They get
up for them, they have the athletes to hang, and
they can cause a lot of problems for teams. This
was the Amen Thompson and Dylan Brooks game. How about
sixty nine points on forty two shots, and they needed
(03:34):
every single one of those points because Boston put the
clamps on Fred van Vliet and Jalen Green in this game.
And as I've mentioned a lot in the past, like
this team, when Fred and Jalen struggle on offense in
a game, it's usually a death sentence because they already
struggle enough to score in the half court, and those
(03:54):
are their two best perimeter initiators. Those guys went five
for twenty two from the field. In this game. Fred
was really struggling to get separation really from anyone, and
then Jalen Green was getting separation and he was getting downhill,
but his jump shot was off, so whenever he got
free from the perimeter, he wasn't knocking shots down. And
then whenever he drove to the basket, he kind of
(04:15):
was just barreling like a bowl in a china shop
into like six bodies and missing kickout reads and trying
to force stuff in traffic, which was leading to turnovers
and misshots. So they get almost nothing from Fred van
Vliet and Jalen Green, and it doesn't matter because you
get sixty nine points from Amn Thompson and Dylan Brooks.
They more than made up for it. But Dylan Brooks,
it was mostly about hitting spot up threes. There was
(04:36):
some shot making in there, and his shot making has
been kind of an interesting trend in the last couple
of games. He had some big shots in the game
in Cleveland two first half, but it was all that
spot up shooting in this one. A lot of nail
help from Boston, a lot of like trying to pack
the paint, test their playmaking ability, and when those kickout
passes came to Dylan Brooks, he just kept knocking him down.
(04:57):
He had a big one that started the thirteen zero run.
Boston goes up twelve in the early fourth quarter, he
had a big one that cut that lead down to
nine and nine and kind of started that run. He
also had another one in crunch time that put them
up by two. His shot making was just gigantic in
this game. And then Aman Thompson, he did a million
things to help the Rockets win this game, as he's
known to do. That's kind of his thing. He's like
(05:18):
the Swiss army knife of the young star prospect right.
And I want to focus in on the offense though,
because he did have thirty three points in this game.
He had an unbelievable defensive game. It just the one
of the crazier defensive plays I've seen. There was a
double team of Jason Tatum where the ball got worked
around and he was guarding Peyton Pritchard way out above
the kind of like the top of the key area,
(05:39):
and Drew Holliday was wide open on the left wing
and he peeled off of Peyton Pritchard somehow blocked Drew
Holliday's three point attempt and saved it in bounds, Like
it was just an unbelievable defensive play. But I want
to zoom in on the offensive end of the floor
because he has a remarkable ability to be a threat
considering he can't shoot the basketball from the perimeter. We
(05:59):
talked to a little bit about this in yesterday's show,
but you know, he did hit a corner three in
this game. That's not his game. He's not a perimeter
shot maker, but he maintains an incredibly high level of
offensive impact because he's basically great at everything else on offense. Like, yeah,
he's a bad perimeter shooter, but he's an excellent close
(06:20):
range shooter. I talked a lot yesterday about his ability
to get to spots in the short range, kind of
in the middle of the floor, usually in the paint,
just outside that restricted area, and when he gets in there,
he just has like a bunch of spins and euros
and hop steps and different things where he can just
kind of get to a spot and pop up off
the ground and elevate over somebody and shoot a little floater,
(06:41):
a little hook shot or a very short jump shot,
and he's got excellent touch on those shots. After last
night's game, he's up to forty seven percent on shots
that are in the paint but outside of the restricted area.
In his last ten games, he's shooting fifty three percent
on those shots during your period of time where a
men's averaging nineteen points per game. That's where he can
(07:02):
be a shot maker within this offense, and it's extremely
difficult to guard, specifically because of his athleticism. His athleticism
and his ability to pop off the ground. I talked
about the play against Evan Mobley where he in the
Cavs game where he drives baseline and then just pulls
into a hard spin move and sinks a floater in
the lane, or the shot that he hit against Jalen
(07:23):
Brown to win the game, which was very similar to
a eurostep shot he hit during the thirteen to oho
run against Cornette and a drop coverage. It's very Jah
Morant esque the way he can just pop off the
ground in that little you know, kind of eight to
twelve feet from the rim, in the front of the
rim area, and then he just has such great touch
in that area and that short range shot making came
(07:45):
up time and time again in the fourth quarter of
this one. Like I talked about during the thirteen oh run,
catches a pocket pass and a ball screen with Jalen
Green euros into a floater right in front of Luke Cornett.
He hit a short fadeaway jump shot off of a
shngoon post up where he kind of fed it to
him right up the right block and he had to
turn over his right shoulder and shoot a fade away
over Porzingis. But once again it was in that like
(08:06):
eight nine feet from the basket range where he can
be deadly. He knocked down the shot and then of
course the game winner drawn up for him to attack
against Jalen Brown just hits a hard jab step to
the left, gets downhill euro steps and gets to that floater.
It just makes him a again, like when you really
get down to it, it's not all self creation. And
this is where his versatility comes into the equation again.
(08:28):
He's not a good perimeter jump shooter, but he is
great at everything else on offense, great short range shot maker,
a legit screen and roll threat. He has an excellent
feel for cutting. His vertical spacing is as good as
any center that's in this leagu We're gonna talk about
these individuals in a second. He's the best non center
offensive rebounder in the entire NBA. And then, as we
(08:50):
mentioned earlier, he's got legit on ball pop, which we
are just barely starting to scratch the surface up. So
if you have like a list of like a list
of different things you need to have to be good
on offense, yeah, there's a big X next to three
point shot making, but there's a bunch of green check
marks next to every single other trait that a player
needs to be good on the offensive end of the floor.
And so that is what allows him to be a
(09:12):
deeply impactful offensive player, despite the fact that he has
what many people consider to be a crippling weakness when
they're evaluating talent, and maybe something that we need to reevaluate,
especially when we're talking about some of the best athletes
that come up through the draft. But I want to
kind of go through some of these individuals. So as
a screen and roll threat, we talked about that eurostep
floater he hit against Luke Cornette, but it's also as
(09:33):
a processor, He's a lightning fast processor. He makes great
reads in that short roll area in four on threes.
He also makes great reads out of the middle of
his own defense. We talked about that in the Cavs game.
He also makes great reads when he catches as a
cutter along the baseline and the defense turns and accounts
for him. He just a lightning fast processor that makes
him a very good screen and roll threat. He has
(09:54):
an excellent feel for cutting. He capped off that thirteen
to zero run with a great cut off of Jalen
Brown is like one oh one to one hundred, and
he makes a post entry pass to Shanggoon around the
right block, and Jalen Brown just bails off of a
Men Thompson to double Shanggoon to try to go get
a steal. A kind of a reckless defensive play, but
a Men Thompson it just immediately triggers the response from him.
(10:16):
He cuts right down through the middle of the lane,
gets it back from Shangoon, makes a layup on the
left side of the basket. He has excellent feel for
cutting to the basket, and then, like I talked about earlier,
his vertical spacing is every bit as good as any
of the vertical spacing centers that we have in this league.
There are twenty seven NBA players who have logged at
least seventy five shot attempts on cuts to the basket
(10:38):
this year, and it's twenty five bigs Amn Thompson and
Mikhale Bridges. That's how rare it is to see a
non center be that effective as a cutter, and he's
seventeenth on that list inefficiency, so he's middle of the
pack among a bunch of seven footers. He's ahead of
guys like Anthony Davis, Yakapertal, Miles Turner. He is a
(11:00):
bona fide legit dunker spot threat, which is insane for
a perimeter player. And then, as I mentioned earlier, is
the best non center offensive rebounder in the league. He
averages two point eight offensive rebounds per game that ranks
twenty third in the league. But everybody above him is
a center, except for Zion Williamson, who's only played in
(11:21):
twelve games this year. There is a play that he
had in the first half where the ball once goes
off the top of the top of the backboard, there's
like three Celtics in front of him, and he just
goes ripping and swimming through him and just elevates over everybody,
grabs it and then dunks it in Jaln Brown's face.
It's like he is an absolute wrecking ball as an
athlete in this league. And then lastly, as we talked about,
(11:44):
he has a ton of on ball potential in the
big picture. He can relatively easily get downhill because he's
got a good handle and top tier like a plus
plus plus athletic traits, and then he's got the short
range shot making and the playmaking to be great there,
just like John Morantis. I almost like John Morant to me,
even though John Rant plays a very different position. Is
kind of a comp for what a men Thompson could
(12:06):
be as a ceiling on the offensive end of the floor,
a guy that you give to the give the ball
to top of the key, and he can attack and
straight io or ball screens, get downhill, play make and
make shots for his teammates, Like he had this ball
screen attack in the first half where he came off
of a screen, drew help and shoveled it to Steven Adams,
and Steven Adams dunked it and it happened so fast
(12:27):
that it was one of the easiest shot attempts in
a game where two elite defenses were not giving up
many easy shot attempts. And it's just because he comes
screaming downhill so fast that everyone reacts to it so
aggressively that the passing rate is easy. Just completely otherworldly
potential for this kid, and it was on display in
a big way in the win in Boston. Big win
(12:49):
for Houston. We barely talked about their defense, which I
thought was excellent. They had some issues with Tatum attacking
their centers, but they did a really nice job of
doubling and rotating out of it down the stretch, which
allowed them to get enough stops. Started just kind of
blitzing Tatum and pressuring him really far out to half court,
and they were able to rotate out of it pretty good.
What talked about the mn Thompson block where he saved
(13:09):
it in bounds. They forced fifteen turnovers and scored twenty
one points off of them. Their transition attacks were sharp.
They had another transition attack in the first half, one
where they got Amn Thompson a lob literally looked like
a drill. The coaches were probably incredibly thrilled, Like just
defensive rebound kick ahead passed one dribable lob from almost
half court. It was like a lightning fast three man
weave that led to a dunk. They had one point
(13:31):
six to four points per transition possession in this game.
That's an amazing efficiency stat there. Their late game execution
was really good. It was just another really impressive win
for a Rockets team that's kicking everybody's ass right now.
Really really impressive stuff. On the Celtics front, I was
particularly interested in this game as an evaluation of their
ability to attack a physical defense. I can do a
(13:53):
lot of switching and test their biggest weakness as of late,
which has been settling right. The Celtics have had a
ton of issues with Tatum and Brown settling for tough
shots instead of attacking to get the defense in rotation,
and I thought this game would be a good challenge
for them, even though they had guys out of the lineup. Like,
I'm not so concerned win loss here because obviously it's
a different game. Val Horford and Derek White play right,
(14:15):
and I think Sam Houser was out for this one too,
I can't remember, But when you got guys out of
the lineup, it's not so much about the win and
the loss. You had enough talent to win that game, though.
To me, it's about process. I'm looking at a specific
weakness that the Celtics have been having and whether or
not they're trending in the right direction. Specifically with Houston,
there is a way to attack their defense. They have
(14:38):
these centers and Steven Adams in alprin Shangun that they
try really hard not to switch with, and what that
means is when you run ball screens, they're gonna run
some sort of like traditional type of coverage, probably a
high drop, low drop, or they'll blitz or come up
to the level right. They're gonna try to not switch
as much as possible, so you can get the ball
into the pocket against them, meaning the big can show
and you can hit the role man rolling to the
(14:59):
bass right. You can get the defense in rotation attacking
Shangun and Adams in ball screens. Now, Houston is a
very good team in rotation and they're going to clean
up a lot of that, and they did clean up
a lot of that in this game. But no defense
is nearly as good in rotation as they are when
they're loaded up that's the way to attack. So what
I wanted to see in this game right off the
(15:19):
bat was a steady diet of Jason Tatum running action
at the top of the key that involves Houston's bigs,
and instead, Jason Tatum was almost completely uninvolved. Early they
were playing almost exclusively through Jalen Brown, which has been
a really weird trend of late. There's been way less
Tatum and way more Brown. In the last six games.
Jalen Brown is taking almost two more shots per game
(15:43):
than Jason Tatum is. They opened up this game trying
to attack Jalen Green in the post with Jalen Brown,
and again there was some success there. Jalen's too small
for Jalen Brown and he was able to work against him.
The problem is that Jalen Brown has been doing a
mostly awful job of spraying the ball out on his
post ups. He's mostly playing on an island within himself,
(16:06):
and I believe personally that playing this much through Jylen
Brown disrupts the team's rhythm because they don't get into
their driving kick sequences as often. Now, Tatum got more
and more involved as the game progressed, but interestingly enough
Things really took off for the Celtics in that late
third quarter when Jason Tatum started spamming high ball screens
that involved Houston centers. He started to get downhill so
(16:28):
that Houston had to collapse on him. Then they were
in rotation and they were playing advantage basketball. They started
getting better shots and more offensive rebounds because Houston wasn't
matched up for defensive rebounds because they're in rotation, and
they get their biggest lead to the game to Tatum
really started that in the late third quarter, and that
was when the game really turned around. The only thing
(16:49):
that really caused problems for Boston's offense in the fourth
quarter was when Houston would double team Jason Tatum because
they were pressuring him pretty well out to half court,
and Boston just wasn't really sharp with their decision making. Example,
like Porzingis caught on a blitz once and there was
a wide open shooter in the corner. I think it
was Drew Holliday, but like he just missed the read
and so when Fred van Vliet came up and pressured him,
(17:10):
by the time he got it to Drew, it just
was too late. Like just a couple things that you
got to flash harder out to the ball and make
yourself available, and then you got to be quick with
your decision making out of it to beat those double teams.
But they just that was the one thing that gave
them some issues in the in the fourth quarter. But
again Tatum was bringing two to the ball. That's the job.
You got to figure out a way to score off
of that. Again, Houston is a really good team and
(17:31):
Boston is banged up and tired, So it's not even
about the winner of the loss. I just think the
largest barrier right now between where Boston is and where
they need to be to repeat his champions is the
same barrier that stood in their way before they were champions.
Offensive process, everything they do needs to be viewed through
the lens of how can we get the defense in rotation,
(17:54):
not necessarily finding a matchup for Tatum or Brown to
shoot directly over, because those guys have a habit of
trying to shoot over the top of people. If you
look at the offensive process more through the lens of
where can we attack that will inevitably lead to two
on the ball or those inside seals that we can
(18:15):
get those four on threes out of then they will
be able to get the defense in rotation more and
play Celtics basketball if they play more through the lens
of let's get the ball somewhere where Jason Tatum or
Jalen Brown can attack a mismatch one on one. I
think that's where it ends up into more of those
problematic settling situations. Now here's the thing. It's not all
(18:36):
going to be about just like finding the team, finding
the guy on the floor that's not gonna switch, you
will inevitably run into a team at some point in
this process that does a ton of switching. We talked
about this in the Laker game the other night. Then
it really will come down to Jaylen Brown and Jason
Tatum not settling, getting downhill and again, guys like this
is we've seen this work. When did they blow out
(18:59):
down When did they gain control of games against Dallas?
When Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum started getting Luca and
switches and driving past him rather than trying to shoot
over the top of him. That's gonna be the main
thing to keep track on. Joe Mizzoula was talking a
lot after the game about how it was his fault
on those final two possessions. The men Thompson shot, I
(19:23):
don't know what you do. That's probably the best athlete
you've gotten, Jaylen Brown. You've got to put him on
a men Thompson, and I mean Dylan Brooks was hitting.
If you leave a Fred van Vliet open, He's hit
a bunch of big catch and shoot shots as of late.
Like if you abandon Shangun, he could score on the
offensive rebound put back. Like I that one just a
men Thompson made a freaky athletic play and hit a shot.
(19:45):
There was not really a ton you can do about that. Now,
the one before that, the one where Shanguon beat Cornette
on the slip, that was just bad positioning from Cornette.
He was so far up he was like literally attached
to Shangun's body. So he's just able to kind of
swim around him and get downhill. Cornett's just got to
give him a little bit more space and realize that
Shangun catching out at you know, twenty five feet from
(20:06):
the basket is not going to hurt you immediately. It's
something that you can react to. So I didn't think
necessarily Missoula did anything too. Now Missoula did go with
a lot of Drew Holiday on Shangun down the stretch.
But even if he says that, I don't necessarily think
that was the answer either. Like Shanggun was doing some
damage to Drew Holiday, spun off of him and dropped
(20:27):
it off to a men Thompson for another layup along
the baseline, drew a foul against him for two free throws,
came across the lane and dropped it off to a
men Thompson for that little short fadeaway jump shot that
was when Drew Holiday. Drew Holliday did get one steal
on a post up of Shangun, But to my knowledge,
I think of the four times they posted Shanggoon on
Drew Holiday down the stretch, he scored three of them.
So I don't think necessarily switching Drew Holliday onto Shangun
(20:50):
now Drew Holiday probably doesn't get the easy slip dunk. Maybe,
but like again, Cornett just has to know better in
that case. But like I think I agree that you
know that Joe Mizzoula could have just put Drew Holliday
on Shannghu and all of a sudden all your problems
go away. Like the rockets made some plays. You gotta
give him some credit, particularly that a Men Thompson won
(21:24):
moving out to Grizzlies Nicks. This was all about the
Knicks holding up well at the point of attack. As
we know, Memphis loves to attack with guard dribble penetration.
A lot of times they won't even call for a
ball screen. We'll just have Jahn Morant bring the ball
to the floor, try to drive, Desmond Bain bring the
ball at the floor, try to drive John Moran or
excuse me to give the ball to Jaron Jackson in
a matchup, try to post, and then they just play
(21:45):
kind of driving kick basketball off of that with some
good off ball rotation and good spacing. Right McHale Bridges
was doing a great job on Jahn Morant one of
his first drive. Stonewall then forced him to throw the
ball away and when they were containing the ball, they
were able to stay home off ball. When they're able
to stay home off ball, it forces turnovers as guys
try to throw it away from defenders and the ball
goes out of bounds or right at the defender. Right,
(22:06):
John Morant drives mikel Ridges Stone Walls in forces a kickout.
It goes right to a member of the Knicks. They're running
out the other way. Josh Hart swipes the ball, swipes
at the ball when Desmond Bain is driving at him,
causes a turnover. They get out in transition. Og Ananobi
was the one guy that they were offering help with
with Jared Jackson. They kind of did some zoning up
with Carl Towns off of Zach Edy. But even when
(22:28):
Zach Edy tried to go to post up Karl Anthony
Towns cat just pokes the ball away from him and
they get out and transition. And that was really how
the Knicks game control early in the game. It was
just holding up on the ball, forcing turnovers, getting out
in transition, and then hitting shots. Remember I talked yesterday
about how there's been pretty bad shooting variants for the
Knicks and wins versus losses, Like they just shoot really
poorly in their losses and they shoot really well and
(22:49):
they wins shot well yesterday even when Memphis audibled and
started shifting to more of a ball screen attack because
they weren't getting successful penetration in their ISOs. But Keil
Bridges was doing a really nice job with his back
pressure on John Morant, had John Morant like looking behind him.
He had a play early where he forced another bad
miss in a ball screen. He had to play in
the second half where he was trailing John Morant and
(23:10):
blocked him off the glass like his back pressure because
of his length was causing problems for John Morant. And
then Quentin Grimes came in and did an awesome job
on Desmond Bang two quick stops chased over the top
of a screen and kind of kept him chested up,
kept the ball in front, and then another one where
he held him up on a drive, just a straight drive,
not a ball screen, but just held him in front
on a drive and forced another one of those turnovers
(23:32):
where he threw the ball out of bounce the guard.
All the Knicks players, but the guards especially were guarding
really well and it put the Knicks in control of
the game early. Now the Knicks, excuse me. The Grizzlies
did end up making a run, mostly through attacking transition
cross matches like Brandon Clark got an and one just
because he got a cross match against Jalen Brunson, drove
right at him, ran him over and got an and one.
(23:55):
Layup Jared Jackson got an easy bucket early on a
cross match against Landry Shape, which, by the way, this
is kind of an interesting example of the flaw in Memphis.
Just bringing the ball to the floor and looking to
attack the primary defender. Some simple work early in the
possession to get a favorable matchup can go a long
way from that drive being stonewalled versus that being a
(24:15):
straight line drive that the defense has to react to.
It's also a simple example of the value in pushing
the ball in transition, because when you push the ball
in transition, you can get cross matches as teams are
struggling to get matched up right. Jared Jackson was the
main guy keeping Memphis attached in the early you know,
kind of two two and a half quarters of this game.
His just ridiculous physical tools give him the ability to
(24:35):
fight for position closer to the basket, and he just
has such good touch on that short range shot making.
It kind of gives him a level of resilience in
these types of games, like road games against defenses that
are really playing hard and the Knick Star team that
have been you know, Jekyll and Hyde on defense, which
we're going to talk about later, but like that comes
from like when they're competing, they do have the personnel
(24:58):
to be really problematic and and Jaren Jackson just holds
up really well in that setting because of his size
and his short ring shot making. But the Knicks pulled
away for good in the third quarter, and once again
it was defense to transition. Mckail Bridges blocks John Morant
at the rim, they attack in semi transition the other way,
and Karl Anthony Towns gets an and one. By the way,
semi transition is like when you attack up the floor
(25:19):
and it's not really like a straight up fast break,
but there's you know, kind of like a scrambled unset
defense and you get a close out opportunity out of it.
And Kat got a close out opportunity where Jaron Jackson
had to sprint at him at the top of the
key and he was able to beat him to the
basket for and and one. On that play, Mikhail Bridges
hits a three off of a Josh Hart offensive rebound
(25:40):
that puts him up thirteen, and the New York's defense
was really flummixing Memphis. There's a possession shortly after that.
It was very next possession, John Murray has the ball
on the left wing and iso against Josh Hart, again
not his primary defender, but a good defender, but not
his primary defender. And then in the left corners Brandon
Clark being guarded by Karl Anthony Towns. There's fourteen on
the shot, and instead of trying to attack Josh Hart,
(26:04):
John Morant just throws the ball to Brandon Clark in
the left corner, and Brandon Clark's like okay, and he
drives baseline and Kat like walls him up. Everyone stays
home off the ball, and Brandon Clark has no choice
but throw a kickout pass and he throws it right
to o Jannoby and again it's like that's John Murrant
(26:24):
being flummixed by the defense to the point where he's like,
I'm not even gonna try to attack Josh Hart here,
Brandon Clark, you do it. And it just was a
testament to the way that the Knicks were competing on
defense and causing the Grizzlies to implode. They ran out
and transition and got a lay up for Josh Hart
on that play. They were up fifteen. Two possessions later,
a really nice defensive sequence where Jaren Jackson drives on
(26:44):
oj Nobi Ojannoby walls him up. It gets kicked out
to the It gets kicked out to the left corner
to Santi al Doma. Mickael Bridges is on him right
mckayl Bridges closes out Santi Aldama beats him by ripping
to the right towards the middle and the middle and
instead of giving up on the play, mckail bridges sprints
back in along the baseline and so when Santi goes
(27:05):
to drop it off to the dunker spot, mckal bridges
knocks it away, gets a steal, another runout, another Brunson bucket,
and transition a little floater in the lane. Now they're
up by seventeen. Very next possession, Desmond Bayne gets Jalen
Brunson on a switch, tries to attack him in iso,
he holds up, walls up, forces a miss by Desmond
bay They run it out the other way and transition
(27:25):
miss a shot, but Karl Anthony Towns gets a put back.
Now they're up by nineteen. You guys get the point.
The Knicks competed on defense. They contained the ball, They
forced a bunch of misshots and turnovers, and then they
sprinted their asses up the floor as fast as possible
to try to score in transition. And this team has
a lot of guys who are really good at attacking
(27:46):
with an advantage, like Jalen Brunson is a guy that
is like a surgical half court shot creator. But Mikail
Bridges at his best attacking his with an advantage. You
can take that all the way back to his Phoenix days.
Karl Anthony Town's always at his best attacking with an advantage.
Oji at his best attacking with an advantage, Josh Hart
with an advantage. And one of the easiest ways to
get advantages to attack with is by pushing the ball
(28:09):
in transition, and the easiest way to get out in
transition is to get stops into forced turnovers. The Knicks
scored a completely absurd forty nine points in transition in
this game. The k next to me are like a
better version of the Los Angeles Lakers. They have more
talent and they've looked a lot better this year against
(28:30):
the good teams. They have more signature wins. But the
reason why they remind me of the Lakers is that
they're a serious team with like real pressure and stakes.
This year but that have kind of this jeckle and
hide personality on defense. The Lakers are a bottom ten
defense this year, but I've seen on so many different
occasions them sit down in a stance and guard against
(28:52):
OKC and Boston are my two favorite examples, two teams
that have a lot of guys that can get dribble penetration.
And Austin Reeves and Lebron and all these players that
have been kind of inconsistent with their defensive effort throughout
the season are sitting down in a stance and containing
the damn basketball, fighting for rebounds, doing all of this stuff.
I talked a lot yesterday about the difference between the
(29:13):
Knights when Karl Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson compete on
defense versus when they just concede advantages. Again, there's a
combination that did different things. You have to do as
a week link defensively. Sometimes it's hedging, meaning like stopping
a guy from coming off of a screen with downhill
speed and then sprinting back to recover to your man.
(29:35):
Carl Towns and Jalen Brunson both have to do that
often as teams are attacking them in mismatches. Also, sometimes
you're gonna end up in a switch and you just
got to slide your damn feet and just do a
better job than you've been doing this season again, and
it extends up the roster too, Like it's not just
on Brunson and Cat even their top defenders. There's a
(29:56):
difference between when they're kind of going through the motions
and when they're really putting the clamps down on teams.
Some of the most impressive defensive performances I've seen this
year have come from mcale Bridges, and some of the
least impressive defensive performances from a good defender I've seen
this year have come from mcale Bridges. And so I'm
gonna say the same thing that I always say about
the Lakers. The Knicks are more talented than the Lakers,
(30:19):
but they are not more talented than the Boston Celtics.
They are not more talented than the Cleveland Cavaliers. They're
not more talented than the Oklahoma City Thunder. They're going
to have to beat those teams by being sharper, by
being the better execution team, by being closer to their
own defensive ceiling, like reaching more of their potential on
(30:41):
the defensive end of the floor. And again that starts
with a daily commitment to the process. You have to
build out these habits now so that you can rely
on them in May and June. And what that means is,
if the Knicks are serious about winning the title over
the second half of the season, they need a notch
at least a top fifteen defensive rating, if not a
top ten defensive rating, and they have the personnel to
(31:02):
do so. I think this is where their talent advantage
that they have over a lot of teams in this
league becomes an issue. I think they know they can score,
and because they know they can score, they think they
can just rely on that on a night to night basis,
and they can't. By the way, they have a great record.
Don't let the great record fool you. Though the Knicks
(31:24):
have played the easiest schedule in the NBA this year,
opponent winning percentage are like forty seven percent. That doesn't
mean they're bad, It just means it's Getting a good
record in the Eastern Conference is not much of an accomplishment.
You need to win playoff rounds in May and June,
and the only way you're gonna do that is by
building out your own individual defensive ceiling as a team,
(31:47):
and it starts with the commitment. What happened last night
needs to be a step in the direction of you
continuing to build that out, not not just a blip
in the big picture. All right, guys, It's all I
have for today is always a sincerely shit you guys
for supporting me and supporting the show. We'll be back
tomorrow with some trade deadline content. I'll see you guys
then the volume. What's up guys. As always, I appreciate
(32:10):
you for listening to and supporting Hoops tonight. It would
actually be really helpful for us if you guys would
take a second and leave a rating and a review.
As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if
you could take a minute to do that, I'd really
appreciate it.
The volume. This ain't the little itdy vitty teeny tiny Bowl.
This is Super Bowl fifty nine. Get in on the
action at Draft Kings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner
of Super Bowl fifty nine. Scoring touchdowns is key to
hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy, and you have a shot
to score big by betting on them at Draft King
sports Book, the number one place to bet touchdowns. Ready
(00:21):
to place your bet. Try betting on something simple like
a player to score six. Go to the Draftking Sportsbook
gap and make your pick right now. The Chiefs open
as a very slight favorite at minus one and a half.
I'm personally rooting for the Chiefs, mainly because I appreciate
them as one of the greatest teams of all time,
and as a Cowboys fan, I just literally cannot stand
any success for the Philadelphia Eagles. New DraftKings customers can
(00:44):
bet five dollars to get two hundred dollars in bonus
bets instantly. Download the Draft King Sportsbook ap use code hoops.
That's hops, that's code hoops for new customers to get
two hundred dollars in bonus bets instantly. When you bet
just five bucks only on Draft King Sports book. The
Crown is yours. Gamble problem called one eight hundred gambler
in New York call eight seven seven eight hope and why,
(01:04):
or text hope and why to four six seven three
six nine Connecticut Help Us available for problem gambling Call
eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven
or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf
of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas twenty one plus.
Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction, Boyd and Ontario New
customers only. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight
(01:24):
hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources,
see d KNG dot co. Slash audio. All right, welcome
(01:46):
to tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody, Oh Bob,
you guys are having a great week. Just a quick
show today. We're gonna be hitting two East versus West
showdowns from last night as the Houston Rockets going to
Boston and get a big win against the Celtics and
the Red Hot Grizzly Is go on the road into
New York against the Knicks and get absolutely smashed. We're
going to be breaking down both of those games from
(02:07):
the perspective of both teams. You guys have the drip
before we get started. Subscribed to Oops Tonight YouTube channels.
You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me
on Twitter at underscore JCNLTS. You guys don't miss announcements.
Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your
podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful for we
leave a rating and a review on that front. We
also have brand new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram,
and Facebook where we're releasing content throughout the year. Make
sure you guys follow us there, and then, last but
(02:27):
not least, keep dropping mailbag questions and the YouTube comments.
We can get to them in our Friday mail bags
throughout the remainder of the season. We are going to
do some more trade deadline stuff tomorrow. I was looking
at the slate and I just thought last night's slate
was more interesting. Tonight's slate's a little weaker, so we'll
shift gears tomorrow into more trade deadline centered content. But
let's move on to Rockets Celtics. So, as I mentioned yesterday,
(02:49):
the Rockets are the best team in the league against
the best teams in the league. Going into last night's slate,
they had fourteen wins against teams that are in the
top ten in point differential according to Cleaning, the last
which was sole possession of most in the league. Now,
after last night, it's weird the top ten point differential
teams have jumbled a little bit. But after last night,
(03:10):
the Rockets now have twelve wins against teams that are
in the top ten at point differential. But that's two
more than any other team in the league has. They've
been very good in these types of matchups. They get
up for them, they have the athletes to hang, and
they can cause a lot of problems for teams. This
was the Amen Thompson and Dylan Brooks game. How about
sixty nine points on forty two shots, and they needed
(03:34):
every single one of those points because Boston put the
clamps on Fred van Vliet and Jalen Green in this game.
And as I've mentioned a lot in the past, like
this team, when Fred and Jalen struggle on offense in
a game, it's usually a death sentence because they already
struggle enough to score in the half court, and those
(03:54):
are their two best perimeter initiators. Those guys went five
for twenty two from the field. In this game. Fred
was really struggling to get separation really from anyone, and
then Jalen Green was getting separation and he was getting downhill,
but his jump shot was off, so whenever he got
free from the perimeter, he wasn't knocking shots down. And
then whenever he drove to the basket, he kind of
(04:15):
was just barreling like a bowl in a china shop
into like six bodies and missing kickout reads and trying
to force stuff in traffic, which was leading to turnovers
and misshots. So they get almost nothing from Fred van
Vliet and Jalen Green, and it doesn't matter because you
get sixty nine points from Amn Thompson and Dylan Brooks.
They more than made up for it. But Dylan Brooks,
it was mostly about hitting spot up threes. There was
(04:36):
some shot making in there, and his shot making has
been kind of an interesting trend in the last couple
of games. He had some big shots in the game
in Cleveland two first half, but it was all that
spot up shooting in this one. A lot of nail
help from Boston, a lot of like trying to pack
the paint, test their playmaking ability, and when those kickout
passes came to Dylan Brooks, he just kept knocking him down.
(04:57):
He had a big one that started the thirteen zero run.
Boston goes up twelve in the early fourth quarter, he
had a big one that cut that lead down to
nine and nine and kind of started that run. He
also had another one in crunch time that put them
up by two. His shot making was just gigantic in
this game. And then Aman Thompson, he did a million
things to help the Rockets win this game, as he's
known to do. That's kind of his thing. He's like
(05:18):
the Swiss army knife of the young star prospect right.
And I want to focus in on the offense though,
because he did have thirty three points in this game.
He had an unbelievable defensive game. It just the one
of the crazier defensive plays I've seen. There was a
double team of Jason Tatum where the ball got worked
around and he was guarding Peyton Pritchard way out above
the kind of like the top of the key area,
(05:39):
and Drew Holliday was wide open on the left wing
and he peeled off of Peyton Pritchard somehow blocked Drew
Holliday's three point attempt and saved it in bounds, Like
it was just an unbelievable defensive play. But I want
to zoom in on the offensive end of the floor
because he has a remarkable ability to be a threat
considering he can't shoot the basketball from the perimeter. We
(05:59):
talked to a little bit about this in yesterday's show,
but you know, he did hit a corner three in
this game. That's not his game. He's not a perimeter
shot maker, but he maintains an incredibly high level of
offensive impact because he's basically great at everything else on offense. Like, yeah,
he's a bad perimeter shooter, but he's an excellent close
(06:20):
range shooter. I talked a lot yesterday about his ability
to get to spots in the short range, kind of
in the middle of the floor, usually in the paint,
just outside that restricted area, and when he gets in there,
he just has like a bunch of spins and euros
and hop steps and different things where he can just
kind of get to a spot and pop up off
the ground and elevate over somebody and shoot a little floater,
(06:41):
a little hook shot or a very short jump shot,
and he's got excellent touch on those shots. After last
night's game, he's up to forty seven percent on shots
that are in the paint but outside of the restricted area.
In his last ten games, he's shooting fifty three percent
on those shots during your period of time where a
men's averaging nineteen points per game. That's where he can
(07:02):
be a shot maker within this offense, and it's extremely
difficult to guard, specifically because of his athleticism. His athleticism
and his ability to pop off the ground. I talked
about the play against Evan Mobley where he in the
Cavs game where he drives baseline and then just pulls
into a hard spin move and sinks a floater in
the lane, or the shot that he hit against Jalen
(07:23):
Brown to win the game, which was very similar to
a eurostep shot he hit during the thirteen to oho
run against Cornette and a drop coverage. It's very Jah
Morant esque the way he can just pop off the
ground in that little you know, kind of eight to
twelve feet from the rim, in the front of the
rim area, and then he just has such great touch
in that area and that short range shot making came
(07:45):
up time and time again in the fourth quarter of
this one. Like I talked about during the thirteen oh run,
catches a pocket pass and a ball screen with Jalen
Green euros into a floater right in front of Luke Cornett.
He hit a short fadeaway jump shot off of a
shngoon post up where he kind of fed it to
him right up the right block and he had to
turn over his right shoulder and shoot a fade away
over Porzingis. But once again it was in that like
(08:06):
eight nine feet from the basket range where he can
be deadly. He knocked down the shot and then of
course the game winner drawn up for him to attack
against Jalen Brown just hits a hard jab step to
the left, gets downhill euro steps and gets to that floater.
It just makes him a again, like when you really
get down to it, it's not all self creation. And
this is where his versatility comes into the equation again.
(08:28):
He's not a good perimeter jump shooter, but he is
great at everything else on offense, great short range shot maker,
a legit screen and roll threat. He has an excellent
feel for cutting. His vertical spacing is as good as
any center that's in this leagu We're gonna talk about
these individuals in a second. He's the best non center
offensive rebounder in the entire NBA. And then, as we
(08:50):
mentioned earlier, he's got legit on ball pop, which we
are just barely starting to scratch the surface up. So
if you have like a list of like a list
of different things you need to have to be good
on offense, yeah, there's a big X next to three
point shot making, but there's a bunch of green check
marks next to every single other trait that a player
needs to be good on the offensive end of the floor.
And so that is what allows him to be a
(09:12):
deeply impactful offensive player, despite the fact that he has
what many people consider to be a crippling weakness when
they're evaluating talent, and maybe something that we need to reevaluate,
especially when we're talking about some of the best athletes
that come up through the draft. But I want to
kind of go through some of these individuals. So as
a screen and roll threat, we talked about that eurostep
floater he hit against Luke Cornette, but it's also as
(09:33):
a processor, He's a lightning fast processor. He makes great
reads in that short roll area in four on threes.
He also makes great reads out of the middle of
his own defense. We talked about that in the Cavs game.
He also makes great reads when he catches as a
cutter along the baseline and the defense turns and accounts
for him. He just a lightning fast processor that makes
him a very good screen and roll threat. He has
(09:54):
an excellent feel for cutting. He capped off that thirteen
to zero run with a great cut off of Jalen
Brown is like one oh one to one hundred, and
he makes a post entry pass to Shanggoon around the
right block, and Jalen Brown just bails off of a
Men Thompson to double Shanggoon to try to go get
a steal. A kind of a reckless defensive play, but
a Men Thompson it just immediately triggers the response from him.
(10:16):
He cuts right down through the middle of the lane,
gets it back from Shangoon, makes a layup on the
left side of the basket. He has excellent feel for
cutting to the basket, and then, like I talked about earlier,
his vertical spacing is every bit as good as any
of the vertical spacing centers that we have in this league.
There are twenty seven NBA players who have logged at
least seventy five shot attempts on cuts to the basket
(10:38):
this year, and it's twenty five bigs Amn Thompson and
Mikhale Bridges. That's how rare it is to see a
non center be that effective as a cutter, and he's
seventeenth on that list inefficiency, so he's middle of the
pack among a bunch of seven footers. He's ahead of
guys like Anthony Davis, Yakapertal, Miles Turner. He is a
(11:00):
bona fide legit dunker spot threat, which is insane for
a perimeter player. And then, as I mentioned earlier, is
the best non center offensive rebounder in the league. He
averages two point eight offensive rebounds per game that ranks
twenty third in the league. But everybody above him is
a center, except for Zion Williamson, who's only played in
(11:21):
twelve games this year. There is a play that he
had in the first half where the ball once goes
off the top of the top of the backboard, there's
like three Celtics in front of him, and he just
goes ripping and swimming through him and just elevates over everybody,
grabs it and then dunks it in Jaln Brown's face.
It's like he is an absolute wrecking ball as an
athlete in this league. And then lastly, as we talked about,
(11:44):
he has a ton of on ball potential in the
big picture. He can relatively easily get downhill because he's
got a good handle and top tier like a plus
plus plus athletic traits, and then he's got the short
range shot making and the playmaking to be great there,
just like John Morantis. I almost like John Morant to me,
even though John Rant plays a very different position. Is
kind of a comp for what a men Thompson could
(12:06):
be as a ceiling on the offensive end of the floor,
a guy that you give to the give the ball
to top of the key, and he can attack and
straight io or ball screens, get downhill, play make and
make shots for his teammates, Like he had this ball
screen attack in the first half where he came off
of a screen, drew help and shoveled it to Steven Adams,
and Steven Adams dunked it and it happened so fast
(12:27):
that it was one of the easiest shot attempts in
a game where two elite defenses were not giving up
many easy shot attempts. And it's just because he comes
screaming downhill so fast that everyone reacts to it so
aggressively that the passing rate is easy. Just completely otherworldly
potential for this kid, and it was on display in
a big way in the win in Boston. Big win
(12:49):
for Houston. We barely talked about their defense, which I
thought was excellent. They had some issues with Tatum attacking
their centers, but they did a really nice job of
doubling and rotating out of it down the stretch, which
allowed them to get enough stops. Started just kind of
blitzing Tatum and pressuring him really far out to half court,
and they were able to rotate out of it pretty good.
What talked about the mn Thompson block where he saved
(13:09):
it in bounds. They forced fifteen turnovers and scored twenty
one points off of them. Their transition attacks were sharp.
They had another transition attack in the first half, one
where they got Amn Thompson a lob literally looked like
a drill. The coaches were probably incredibly thrilled, Like just
defensive rebound kick ahead passed one dribable lob from almost
half court. It was like a lightning fast three man
weave that led to a dunk. They had one point
(13:31):
six to four points per transition possession in this game.
That's an amazing efficiency stat there. Their late game execution
was really good. It was just another really impressive win
for a Rockets team that's kicking everybody's ass right now.
Really really impressive stuff. On the Celtics front, I was
particularly interested in this game as an evaluation of their
ability to attack a physical defense. I can do a
(13:53):
lot of switching and test their biggest weakness as of late,
which has been settling right. The Celtics have had a
ton of issues with Tatum and Brown settling for tough
shots instead of attacking to get the defense in rotation,
and I thought this game would be a good challenge
for them, even though they had guys out of the lineup. Like,
I'm not so concerned win loss here because obviously it's
a different game. Val Horford and Derek White play right,
(14:15):
and I think Sam Houser was out for this one too,
I can't remember, But when you got guys out of
the lineup, it's not so much about the win and
the loss. You had enough talent to win that game, though.
To me, it's about process. I'm looking at a specific
weakness that the Celtics have been having and whether or
not they're trending in the right direction. Specifically with Houston,
there is a way to attack their defense. They have
(14:38):
these centers and Steven Adams in alprin Shangun that they
try really hard not to switch with, and what that
means is when you run ball screens, they're gonna run
some sort of like traditional type of coverage, probably a
high drop, low drop, or they'll blitz or come up
to the level right. They're gonna try to not switch
as much as possible, so you can get the ball
into the pocket against them, meaning the big can show
and you can hit the role man rolling to the
(14:59):
bass right. You can get the defense in rotation attacking
Shangun and Adams in ball screens. Now, Houston is a
very good team in rotation and they're going to clean
up a lot of that, and they did clean up
a lot of that in this game. But no defense
is nearly as good in rotation as they are when
they're loaded up that's the way to attack. So what
I wanted to see in this game right off the
(15:19):
bat was a steady diet of Jason Tatum running action
at the top of the key that involves Houston's bigs,
and instead, Jason Tatum was almost completely uninvolved. Early they
were playing almost exclusively through Jalen Brown, which has been
a really weird trend of late. There's been way less
Tatum and way more Brown. In the last six games.
Jalen Brown is taking almost two more shots per game
(15:43):
than Jason Tatum is. They opened up this game trying
to attack Jalen Green in the post with Jalen Brown,
and again there was some success there. Jalen's too small
for Jalen Brown and he was able to work against him.
The problem is that Jalen Brown has been doing a
mostly awful job of spraying the ball out on his
post ups. He's mostly playing on an island within himself,
(16:06):
and I believe personally that playing this much through Jylen
Brown disrupts the team's rhythm because they don't get into
their driving kick sequences as often. Now, Tatum got more
and more involved as the game progressed, but interestingly enough
Things really took off for the Celtics in that late
third quarter when Jason Tatum started spamming high ball screens
that involved Houston centers. He started to get downhill so
(16:28):
that Houston had to collapse on him. Then they were
in rotation and they were playing advantage basketball. They started
getting better shots and more offensive rebounds because Houston wasn't
matched up for defensive rebounds because they're in rotation, and
they get their biggest lead to the game to Tatum
really started that in the late third quarter, and that
was when the game really turned around. The only thing
(16:49):
that really caused problems for Boston's offense in the fourth
quarter was when Houston would double team Jason Tatum because
they were pressuring him pretty well out to half court,
and Boston just wasn't really sharp with their decision making. Example,
like Porzingis caught on a blitz once and there was
a wide open shooter in the corner. I think it
was Drew Holliday, but like he just missed the read
and so when Fred van Vliet came up and pressured him,
(17:10):
by the time he got it to Drew, it just
was too late. Like just a couple things that you
got to flash harder out to the ball and make
yourself available, and then you got to be quick with
your decision making out of it to beat those double teams.
But they just that was the one thing that gave
them some issues in the in the fourth quarter. But
again Tatum was bringing two to the ball. That's the job.
You got to figure out a way to score off
of that. Again, Houston is a really good team and
(17:31):
Boston is banged up and tired, So it's not even
about the winner of the loss. I just think the
largest barrier right now between where Boston is and where
they need to be to repeat his champions is the
same barrier that stood in their way before they were champions.
Offensive process, everything they do needs to be viewed through
the lens of how can we get the defense in rotation,
(17:54):
not necessarily finding a matchup for Tatum or Brown to
shoot directly over, because those guys have a habit of
trying to shoot over the top of people. If you
look at the offensive process more through the lens of
where can we attack that will inevitably lead to two
on the ball or those inside seals that we can
(18:15):
get those four on threes out of then they will
be able to get the defense in rotation more and
play Celtics basketball if they play more through the lens
of let's get the ball somewhere where Jason Tatum or
Jalen Brown can attack a mismatch one on one. I
think that's where it ends up into more of those
problematic settling situations. Now here's the thing. It's not all
(18:36):
going to be about just like finding the team, finding
the guy on the floor that's not gonna switch, you
will inevitably run into a team at some point in
this process that does a ton of switching. We talked
about this in the Laker game the other night. Then
it really will come down to Jaylen Brown and Jason
Tatum not settling, getting downhill and again, guys like this
is we've seen this work. When did they blow out
(18:59):
down When did they gain control of games against Dallas?
When Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum started getting Luca and
switches and driving past him rather than trying to shoot
over the top of him. That's gonna be the main
thing to keep track on. Joe Mizzoula was talking a
lot after the game about how it was his fault
on those final two possessions. The men Thompson shot, I
(19:23):
don't know what you do. That's probably the best athlete
you've gotten, Jaylen Brown. You've got to put him on
a men Thompson, and I mean Dylan Brooks was hitting.
If you leave a Fred van Vliet open, He's hit
a bunch of big catch and shoot shots as of late.
Like if you abandon Shangun, he could score on the
offensive rebound put back. Like I that one just a
men Thompson made a freaky athletic play and hit a shot.
(19:45):
There was not really a ton you can do about that. Now,
the one before that, the one where Shanguon beat Cornette
on the slip, that was just bad positioning from Cornette.
He was so far up he was like literally attached
to Shangun's body. So he's just able to kind of
swim around him and get downhill. Cornett's just got to
give him a little bit more space and realize that
Shangun catching out at you know, twenty five feet from
(20:06):
the basket is not going to hurt you immediately. It's
something that you can react to. So I didn't think
necessarily Missoula did anything too. Now Missoula did go with
a lot of Drew Holiday on Shangun down the stretch.
But even if he says that, I don't necessarily think
that was the answer either. Like Shanggun was doing some
damage to Drew Holiday, spun off of him and dropped
(20:27):
it off to a men Thompson for another layup along
the baseline, drew a foul against him for two free throws,
came across the lane and dropped it off to a
men Thompson for that little short fadeaway jump shot that
was when Drew Holiday. Drew Holliday did get one steal
on a post up of Shangun, But to my knowledge,
I think of the four times they posted Shanggoon on
Drew Holiday down the stretch, he scored three of them.
So I don't think necessarily switching Drew Holliday onto Shangun
(20:50):
now Drew Holiday probably doesn't get the easy slip dunk. Maybe,
but like again, Cornett just has to know better in
that case. But like I think I agree that you
know that Joe Mizzoula could have just put Drew Holliday
on Shannghu and all of a sudden all your problems
go away. Like the rockets made some plays. You gotta
give him some credit, particularly that a Men Thompson won
(21:24):
moving out to Grizzlies Nicks. This was all about the
Knicks holding up well at the point of attack. As
we know, Memphis loves to attack with guard dribble penetration.
A lot of times they won't even call for a
ball screen. We'll just have Jahn Morant bring the ball
to the floor, try to drive, Desmond Bain bring the
ball at the floor, try to drive John Moran or
excuse me to give the ball to Jaron Jackson in
a matchup, try to post, and then they just play
(21:45):
kind of driving kick basketball off of that with some
good off ball rotation and good spacing. Right McHale Bridges
was doing a great job on Jahn Morant one of
his first drive. Stonewall then forced him to throw the
ball away and when they were containing the ball, they
were able to stay home off ball. When they're able
to stay home off ball, it forces turnovers as guys
try to throw it away from defenders and the ball
goes out of bounds or right at the defender. Right,
(22:06):
John Morant drives mikel Ridges Stone Walls in forces a kickout.
It goes right to a member of the Knicks. They're running
out the other way. Josh Hart swipes the ball, swipes
at the ball when Desmond Bain is driving at him,
causes a turnover. They get out in transition. Og Ananobi
was the one guy that they were offering help with
with Jared Jackson. They kind of did some zoning up
with Carl Towns off of Zach Edy. But even when
(22:28):
Zach Edy tried to go to post up Karl Anthony
Towns cat just pokes the ball away from him and
they get out and transition. And that was really how
the Knicks game control early in the game. It was
just holding up on the ball, forcing turnovers, getting out
in transition, and then hitting shots. Remember I talked yesterday
about how there's been pretty bad shooting variants for the
Knicks and wins versus losses, Like they just shoot really
poorly in their losses and they shoot really well and
(22:49):
they wins shot well yesterday even when Memphis audibled and
started shifting to more of a ball screen attack because
they weren't getting successful penetration in their ISOs. But Keil
Bridges was doing a really nice job with his back
pressure on John Morant, had John Morant like looking behind him.
He had a play early where he forced another bad
miss in a ball screen. He had to play in
the second half where he was trailing John Morant and
(23:10):
blocked him off the glass like his back pressure because
of his length was causing problems for John Morant. And
then Quentin Grimes came in and did an awesome job
on Desmond Bang two quick stops chased over the top
of a screen and kind of kept him chested up,
kept the ball in front, and then another one where
he held him up on a drive, just a straight drive,
not a ball screen, but just held him in front
on a drive and forced another one of those turnovers
(23:32):
where he threw the ball out of bounce the guard.
All the Knicks players, but the guards especially were guarding
really well and it put the Knicks in control of
the game early. Now the Knicks, excuse me. The Grizzlies
did end up making a run, mostly through attacking transition
cross matches like Brandon Clark got an and one just
because he got a cross match against Jalen Brunson, drove
right at him, ran him over and got an and one.
(23:55):
Layup Jared Jackson got an easy bucket early on a
cross match against Landry Shape, which, by the way, this
is kind of an interesting example of the flaw in Memphis.
Just bringing the ball to the floor and looking to
attack the primary defender. Some simple work early in the
possession to get a favorable matchup can go a long
way from that drive being stonewalled versus that being a
(24:15):
straight line drive that the defense has to react to.
It's also a simple example of the value in pushing
the ball in transition, because when you push the ball
in transition, you can get cross matches as teams are
struggling to get matched up right. Jared Jackson was the
main guy keeping Memphis attached in the early you know,
kind of two two and a half quarters of this game.
His just ridiculous physical tools give him the ability to
(24:35):
fight for position closer to the basket, and he just
has such good touch on that short range shot making.
It kind of gives him a level of resilience in
these types of games, like road games against defenses that
are really playing hard and the Knick Star team that
have been you know, Jekyll and Hyde on defense, which
we're going to talk about later, but like that comes
from like when they're competing, they do have the personnel
(24:58):
to be really problematic and and Jaren Jackson just holds
up really well in that setting because of his size
and his short ring shot making. But the Knicks pulled
away for good in the third quarter, and once again
it was defense to transition. Mckail Bridges blocks John Morant
at the rim, they attack in semi transition the other way,
and Karl Anthony Towns gets an and one. By the way,
semi transition is like when you attack up the floor
(25:19):
and it's not really like a straight up fast break,
but there's you know, kind of like a scrambled unset
defense and you get a close out opportunity out of it.
And Kat got a close out opportunity where Jaron Jackson
had to sprint at him at the top of the
key and he was able to beat him to the
basket for and and one. On that play, Mikhail Bridges
hits a three off of a Josh Hart offensive rebound
(25:40):
that puts him up thirteen, and the New York's defense
was really flummixing Memphis. There's a possession shortly after that.
It was very next possession, John Murray has the ball
on the left wing and iso against Josh Hart, again
not his primary defender, but a good defender, but not
his primary defender. And then in the left corners Brandon
Clark being guarded by Karl Anthony Towns. There's fourteen on
the shot, and instead of trying to attack Josh Hart,
(26:04):
John Morant just throws the ball to Brandon Clark in
the left corner, and Brandon Clark's like okay, and he
drives baseline and Kat like walls him up. Everyone stays
home off the ball, and Brandon Clark has no choice
but throw a kickout pass and he throws it right
to o Jannoby and again it's like that's John Murrant
(26:24):
being flummixed by the defense to the point where he's like,
I'm not even gonna try to attack Josh Hart here,
Brandon Clark, you do it. And it just was a
testament to the way that the Knicks were competing on
defense and causing the Grizzlies to implode. They ran out
and transition and got a lay up for Josh Hart
on that play. They were up fifteen. Two possessions later,
a really nice defensive sequence where Jaren Jackson drives on
(26:44):
oj Nobi Ojannoby walls him up. It gets kicked out
to the It gets kicked out to the left corner
to Santi al Doma. Mickael Bridges is on him right
mckayl Bridges closes out Santi Aldama beats him by ripping
to the right towards the middle and the middle and
instead of giving up on the play, mckail bridges sprints
back in along the baseline and so when Santi goes
(27:05):
to drop it off to the dunker spot, mckal bridges
knocks it away, gets a steal, another runout, another Brunson bucket,
and transition a little floater in the lane. Now they're
up by seventeen. Very next possession, Desmond Bayne gets Jalen
Brunson on a switch, tries to attack him in iso,
he holds up, walls up, forces a miss by Desmond
bay They run it out the other way and transition
(27:25):
miss a shot, but Karl Anthony Towns gets a put back.
Now they're up by nineteen. You guys get the point.
The Knicks competed on defense. They contained the ball, They
forced a bunch of misshots and turnovers, and then they
sprinted their asses up the floor as fast as possible
to try to score in transition. And this team has
a lot of guys who are really good at attacking
(27:46):
with an advantage, like Jalen Brunson is a guy that
is like a surgical half court shot creator. But Mikail
Bridges at his best attacking his with an advantage. You
can take that all the way back to his Phoenix days.
Karl Anthony Town's always at his best attacking with an advantage.
Oji at his best attacking with an advantage, Josh Hart
with an advantage. And one of the easiest ways to
get advantages to attack with is by pushing the ball
(28:09):
in transition, and the easiest way to get out in
transition is to get stops into forced turnovers. The Knicks
scored a completely absurd forty nine points in transition in
this game. The k next to me are like a
better version of the Los Angeles Lakers. They have more
talent and they've looked a lot better this year against
(28:30):
the good teams. They have more signature wins. But the
reason why they remind me of the Lakers is that
they're a serious team with like real pressure and stakes.
This year but that have kind of this jeckle and
hide personality on defense. The Lakers are a bottom ten
defense this year, but I've seen on so many different
occasions them sit down in a stance and guard against
(28:52):
OKC and Boston are my two favorite examples, two teams
that have a lot of guys that can get dribble penetration.
And Austin Reeves and Lebron and all these players that
have been kind of inconsistent with their defensive effort throughout
the season are sitting down in a stance and containing
the damn basketball, fighting for rebounds, doing all of this stuff.
I talked a lot yesterday about the difference between the
(29:13):
Knights when Karl Anthony Towns and Jalen Brunson compete on
defense versus when they just concede advantages. Again, there's a
combination that did different things. You have to do as
a week link defensively. Sometimes it's hedging, meaning like stopping
a guy from coming off of a screen with downhill
speed and then sprinting back to recover to your man.
(29:35):
Carl Towns and Jalen Brunson both have to do that
often as teams are attacking them in mismatches. Also, sometimes
you're gonna end up in a switch and you just
got to slide your damn feet and just do a
better job than you've been doing this season again, and
it extends up the roster too, Like it's not just
on Brunson and Cat even their top defenders. There's a
(29:56):
difference between when they're kind of going through the motions
and when they're really putting the clamps down on teams.
Some of the most impressive defensive performances I've seen this
year have come from mcale Bridges, and some of the
least impressive defensive performances from a good defender I've seen
this year have come from mcale Bridges. And so I'm
gonna say the same thing that I always say about
the Lakers. The Knicks are more talented than the Lakers,
(30:19):
but they are not more talented than the Boston Celtics.
They are not more talented than the Cleveland Cavaliers. They're
not more talented than the Oklahoma City Thunder. They're going
to have to beat those teams by being sharper, by
being the better execution team, by being closer to their
own defensive ceiling, like reaching more of their potential on
(30:41):
the defensive end of the floor. And again that starts
with a daily commitment to the process. You have to
build out these habits now so that you can rely
on them in May and June. And what that means is,
if the Knicks are serious about winning the title over
the second half of the season, they need a notch
at least a top fifteen defensive rating, if not a
top ten defensive rating, and they have the personnel to
(31:02):
do so. I think this is where their talent advantage
that they have over a lot of teams in this
league becomes an issue. I think they know they can score,
and because they know they can score, they think they
can just rely on that on a night to night basis,
and they can't. By the way, they have a great record.
Don't let the great record fool you. Though the Knicks
(31:24):
have played the easiest schedule in the NBA this year,
opponent winning percentage are like forty seven percent. That doesn't
mean they're bad, It just means it's Getting a good
record in the Eastern Conference is not much of an accomplishment.
You need to win playoff rounds in May and June,
and the only way you're gonna do that is by
building out your own individual defensive ceiling as a team,
(31:47):
and it starts with the commitment. What happened last night
needs to be a step in the direction of you
continuing to build that out, not not just a blip
in the big picture. All right, guys, It's all I
have for today is always a sincerely shit you guys
for supporting me and supporting the show. We'll be back
tomorrow with some trade deadline content. I'll see you guys
then the volume. What's up guys. As always, I appreciate
(32:10):
you for listening to and supporting Hoops tonight. It would
actually be really helpful for us if you guys would
take a second and leave a rating and a review.
As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if
you could take a minute to do that, I'd really
appreciate it.
Host
Jason Timpf
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.