December 14, 2025 • 32 mins
Jason reacts live after the NBA Cup semifinals. He discusses Victor Wembanyama's return for the San Antonio Spurs in their battle against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder as well as Jalen Brunson's New York Knicks battling Desmond Bane's Orlando Magic.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. All right, Well, goome to hoops tonight here
at the volume heavy Saturday, everybody. Hope all of you
guys are having a great weekend so far. Well, that
(00:23):
was absolute cinema tonight as we got to see Victor
women Yama return against the San Antonio Spurs and what
ended up being a game that lived up to the billing,
one of the more entertaining games we've caught so far
in this regular season. I cannot wait to dive into
all the different aspects of that game. And then also
we had another game tonight is the Knicks, fueled by
(00:45):
yet another amazing performance from Jalen Brunson forty points on
sixteen for twenty seven shooting, as the Knicks advance to
the Cup Championship on Tuesday night. We're gonna be breaking
down both games tonight. You guys are the jop Before
we get started, subscribe to this channel so you don't
miss any more of our videos. Don't forget to like
this video as well. That helps us a lot. And
(01:06):
then lastly, if you want to get mail back questions
in for our weekly mail bags, drop them into our
YouTube comments. All right, let's dig into the basketball here.
I was super super excited. As I had been watching
the Spurs over the course of the last couple of
like really about a month now. I was really excited
in the big picture about seeing the combination of what
(01:28):
was a very successful offense. I talked about this after
the Spurs beat the Lakers, that everything they did to
the Lakers was what they had been doing to everybody
for a month. I didn't want to make it like oh,
about the Lakers and their weaknesses and whether or not
they showed up for a big game. I wanted to
call attention to the fact that, like, yeah, like Steph
Castle and deren Fox have been beating people off the
(01:50):
dribble like the all season, you know, and especially since
Darreon Fox came back. They've been shooting the three ball
extremely well. Over the course of this stretch. They'd built
out this offense built on dribble pay penetration and kickouts
getting out in transition that was super successful. Keldon Johnson
is a dominant rebounder and driving the basketball as a
bullyball guy, and all these different trends that they had
(02:12):
started to show with their offense that were consistent. Opponent
two opponent good team bad team. They were doing it
to everybody, and I really wanted to see the combination
of both the offensive level that they had reached with
dearon Fox, as well as just all that scrappy athleticism
on the perimeter. All those guards are big and fast
(02:34):
and strong, and they compete and they play hard on defense,
and I just wanted to see those dudes combined with
what I believe is the greatest game breaking defensive talent
the game of basketball has ever seen. And so I
wanted to see that in the big picture. And I
had already kind of bought into San Antonio I talked
about after the Lakers game. I viewed them firmly in
(02:56):
that same grouping there with the Lakers in Minnesota. Jackson
and I were talking about it through text during the game.
I don't see any case for either of those teams
over San Antonio. At this point, you could argue there
right now the third or fourth best contender in the
entire NBA. I've been buying all this spurstock over the
last couple of weeks, and then you look at this
matchup with Oklahoma City and it's like, you know, Oklahoma
(03:20):
City had been so dominant and so successful over the
course of this season. You're almost just hoping they compete, right, Like,
for me, I was mainly looking at it like man
reincorporating Wemby's gonna be kind of funky for the offense,
like it can be a rhythm disruptor. I wonder if
it's more just I want to see what they look
like on defense in this game. Screw all that they won.
(03:41):
They went out there and they beat the thunder tonight.
And you know, one of the things I want to
call attention to before we start digging into some of
the details, one of the most underrated elements behind a
true superstar talent in the NBA is the ability to
elevate your teammates, right, And there's a lot of different
ways that that can manifest. And you know, so for instance,
(04:02):
on offense, that can be by creating advantages, right like
Jokic and Lebron and Luca and Chris Paul and all
the great passers in NBA history have elevated their teammates
through creating advantages by making easier offensive opportunities, you know,
or like Tim Duncan and some of the greatest defensive
anchors in NBA history, they can elevate their teammates by
(04:25):
making their defensive jobs easier, right, But one of the
underrated elements for all of those guys is instilling confidence.
The Spurs went out there and they didn't use one
b in the first quarter, and a lot of things
went wrong for them. You know, there's an adjustment period.
It's such a talk about going from one of the
basement defenses in the NBA, the Lakers, to like maybe
(04:46):
the best defense in the history of the NBA in
the thunder tonight. It was clearly an adjustment for them.
Harrison Barnes a little rushed on those three pointers. I
think give missed six of them in his first shift.
You know, like that's a pretty rough start, right. Steph
Castle had some really bad turnovers. Darreon Fox was taking
some bad shots, like the cross court passes that you
can get away with against other teams, you can't get
(05:09):
away with against Oklahoma City, and they got killed. They
remindus twenty three in the first half with Victor wem
Minyama off the floor. But what happened was is Victor
comes in to start the first or the second quarter,
goes on a massive run, gets them back in the game.
Checks out, they fall apart again in the middle of
that second quarter. Wenby comes in to end the first
half and takes them on another run to get them
(05:31):
back within three. And so what happens all those dudes.
All of a sudden, It's like, hey, all that trashketball
you were playing to start the game, none of it
matters anymore. It's forty nine to forty six, check ball.
We got a lot of basketball left. And the starting
group came out to start that second half with a
completely different set of energy and intensity, and they were
(05:53):
ready in a way that they weren't to start that game.
That is confidence in belief that was in instilled in
them by their star Darren Fox. Came out immediately started
making plays in pick and roll and driving the basket
to start the second half. The defense, the level of
intensity and the scrappiness and the flying around in rotation
(06:13):
and the digging down on drives and all that stuff
from the Spurs defense shot up like a rocket in
that second half, and they were able to stay in
the game. They obviously weren't going to continue to outscore
the Thunder by twenty points per seven minutes when they
got into the second half, they were gonna need their
other lineups to find a way to succeed, and they did.
(06:34):
And I give Wemby a ton of credit for that,
just in the sense that like he instilled them, he
erased all their mistakes and instilled in them a sense
of belief and confidence. And those dudes came out and
played an awesome half there in that second half. And
you know, again, fundamentally, what makes this whole thing interesting
is that Wenby is a game breaking defensive talent. What
(06:57):
that means is he is so transcendently great at what
he does being rangy and protecting the rim that it
breaks what opponents do. So I've talked about this a
lot this season. There have been three offenses that have
separated from the pack in the league. In the half court, okay,
there's a lot of margin. You can you can do
damage on the offensive glass, you can do damage in transition.
(07:19):
But when you look at the strict job of like
your five dudes are back on defense, my five dudes
are up on offense. We have a you know, seventeen
seconds left on the shot clock. We got to find
a way to score against you. When you're set and
in front of us there's three teams that have separated
themselves from the pack, and it's the Denver Nuggets, the
Los Angeles Lakers, and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Interesting because
(07:40):
this is not the Thunder team from years past that
didn't have that same level of like confidence and you know,
separation from the rest of the league in terms of
their half court offense. They've been killing teams in those
slow down half court situations this year, even though they
also obviously have this devastating defense to transition attack right
(08:02):
getting points off of turnovers. But we got to see
an offense that has been slicing and dicing everybody this season.
The relentless drives of AJ Mitchell, the relentless drives of
Shake Kills with Alexander, the relentless drives of Jalen Williams
since he come back. Jalen Williams drives per game or
like twenty percent up year over year, or his shot
(08:23):
attempts in the restricted area per game, like he's been
getting to the basket like a madman since he came back.
That's the fundamental entry point that they take advantage of
every time they're attacking on offense. And then from there
they've been one of the top five unguarded catch and
shoot three point shooting teams in the league. And they
move them all extremely well. They're extremely connected. They're great
(08:44):
at using their vertical spacers, and so it's all dribble
drive and kick or dribble drive and lob and they
use really good relocations and cuts to get really high
quality looks out of their drives. Right well, Victor breaks
that because he shuts off the damn rint. I need
to go back and look at the film to make
one hundred percent sure, but if my count is correct,
I had them at three shot attempts at the rim
(09:04):
in the entire time that Victor wemen Yama was on
the court tonight. There was a shay layup in the
early second half where like mid third quarter, where he
toasted it, then out the dribble got to a right
handed layup and Wemby was right there. He barely missed
it as he came across just to it came across
the lane just to split second late. There was one.
Because I want to dig into this a little bit,
(09:25):
there were some different ways that the thunder tried to
attack the Wemby problem, but one of the ways that
they had some success is they put Chet in the
strong side corner and there's some basic defensive principles that
make it hard to help in that situation. So JDub
was at the left wing and JDub was looking to drive,
and Chet was in the strong side corner and Wemby
(09:45):
was there, and it was just a position where Wemby
was unwilling to help from Jadub was able to get
all the way to the basket for a layup on
that one. And then the playing crunch time where Shay
hit like six counter moves to get past his man
and then Wenby came flying over and he dropped it
off to Chet and Chet drew the foul. Other than that,
they didn't even want to go in there for obvious reasons.
(10:08):
That's a game breaking defensive talent. When you take one
of the prolific driving the basketball teams in the league
and turn them into almost purely an off the dribble
jump shooting team in crunch time. That's the type of
game breaking defensive talent that Wenby was. So then we
look at how Ocase tries to attack it. It's like, okay, well,
(10:29):
what if we try to bring Wenby up into the action.
If we bring him up into the action, maybe we
can get him away from the rim. And they do,
and it's like a chet ball screen up top, and
they try rescreening a few times, and what happens. Wemby
ends up switching out onto Shay. Shake gets a decent
look at a catch and shoot three, but Wemby's close
out is so ridiculous because of his arms that Shay
(10:49):
has to shoot a moon ball that goes like six
or seven feet higher at the top of its arc
than any of his other three point shots and he
misses it. And it's like then from that point on,
they didn't break one be into the action anymore because
no one wants to shoot over him from the perimeter.
So they're like, okay, well what if we work from
the mid range, And they were able to score a
few times from there, right like Shae hit a little
(11:10):
step back jumper over steph Castle in the left baseline.
There was another one where I think it was Devin
Vessel came over and doubled where Shay was working right
around the foul line and Wenby was underneath the basket.
So they weren't looking to drive, but they sent a
help from the right wing off of j Dub, and
Shay pitched it back and JDub ended up hitting a
(11:32):
catch and shoot three off of the right wing, And
so that was the gist of their offense down the
stretch was like Shay working in the mid range taking
really tough, contested jump shots because they didn't want to
drive because Wemby was down there, and they didn't want
to bring Wemby into the action because he's too difficult
to shoot over if he's in the action. That's game
(11:53):
breaking defensive talent. And this is where we have to
start looking at the other parts of this Spurs roster,
because this is what makes them so unique. And like,
here's the thing. Do I think the Spurs are gonna
go beat Oklahoma City in a seven game series this year?
It's way too early to say that Oklahoma City has
clearly demonstrated themselves to be a better basketball team this year.
Them losing tonight is not a referendum on everything they've
(12:14):
accomplished this season. They still are the runaway championship favorites.
I personally would be surprised if they're not hoisting the
trophy when we get to mid June. But looking at
this matchup both as an upset threat this season and
most importantly as the only hope for the rest of
the NBA when we talk about teams that could compete
with the Thunder in this era, as they are staring
down the barrel of potentially like three more first round
(12:36):
picks this season, as they continue to load up, as
Chet continues to get better, as jadeb continues to get better,
this team is not going anywhere, and the league, in
terms of intrigue, needs a team that can go toe
to toe with these guys. And one of the specific
things about the Spurs and the way they're constructed that
(12:56):
has me looking at them as a real threat against
the Thunder over the course of the next you know,
three to five years is it's the combination of Wemby
as this game breaking, paint, shutting down defensive weapon, but
also the lanky, athletic guards that have the strength to
hold up on the ball and that can get great
contests on those shots. There were a lot of missed
(13:19):
pull up jumpers in this game. Shay was one for
seven from three. You know, this is the thing Shay's
been shooting, you know, over forty percent from three. This season,
he's been deadly on his step back three. He's been
shooting over fifty five percent on pull up twos inside
of seventeen feet. Right. Here's the thing, though, You get
a longer, better athlete on the ball, and you give
(13:41):
that guy the leeway to know, like, hey, dude, if
you get beat off the dribble, don't worry about it.
It's Victor webin Yama back there. Right. That allows that
defender to be a little less on their heels, a
little bit more on their toes. They're a little bit
more on their toes, and they're a better athlete than
some of these other guards that the under had been
going against. That's a substantially better contest. The whole point
(14:04):
is that math game can tilt in your favor. If
those short twos go from fifty five percent to forty percent,
and if those threes go from forty five percent to
one for seven, or you know, in a larger sample
something closer to thirty thirty five percent, that's when the
math can start to tilt heavy in your favor. And
that's what makes this particular team construct such an interesting
(14:27):
build to compete against the San Antonios or to compete
against the Oklahoma City Thunder. It's that combination of that
game breaking defensive talent on the back line and you've
just got all of these guards that are like legitimately
athletic matchups for this team. Steph Cassell got to the
basket at will in this game, twenty two points on
nine for sixteen shooting. He had some struggles with turnovers specifically.
(14:51):
I thought him and Dylan Harper were both a little
sloppy with their handle out on the perimeter. They were
losing control the handle getting picked. Dylan Harper in particular,
were struggling with Ja dub in terms of just how
long his arms were when he was trying to make
moves to go around him. Uh. But it was also
the cross court passes specifically Steph Castle, I think he had.
I think he might have had three turnovers in this
game on uh on cross court passes. And a big
(15:13):
part of that is just you know, uh, him learning
the lesson. Right. He's a young basketball player. He's going
to continue to get better. But when you look at
the baseline physical traits there, the dudes built like a
truck and he's like six six sixty seven and No.
One can keep him in front, always plays off two feet,
so he's always winning the leverage battle on the ground.
And the dude is just a really good finisher in
(15:36):
that short in that short range and at the basket.
That's like a real physical problem. Devin Vessel, I thought,
had some really nice one on one reps against Shay.
He's got long arms. I've seen this over the years
with these kinds of guys, whether it's Nikhil Alexander Walker,
it's like uh Karius Lavertz another one of those guys.
Devin Vessel is one of those guys. Those guys that
are like six' five six,' six pretty lanky and. Very,
(15:59):
quick laterally those are the dudes that do the very Best.
On shay they're the guys that can actually beat him
to spots a. Little, Bit again, shay's literally in, my
opinion the second best player in the world. Right now
not trying to say that this, dude's guardable but the,
point is the kinds of dudes that can make him
work harder are the dudes in that kind of. Physical
build And the spurs just have a bunch of. Those
(16:21):
dudes and you Look At dylan harper and it's another big,
athletic guard and you look At deeron fox and it's
another super fast guard with some, good length and it's
like they just have everything you need to Compliment what
Victor wiman. Yama DOES and i thought there was some
really impressive offensive stuff all. Night long Deer and fox
continued to get, dribble penetration took care of the basketball,
(16:41):
all night hit plenty of jump shots that felt like
huge breaths of fresh air For The san. Antonio offense
he only had one. Turnover Tonight devin vessel huge shots
in that, second half massive momentum shots that play where
the blob got blown UP to j dub and they
move it down the Floor And devin vasseil hits that
three on the. Right wing that was, a massive massive
(17:02):
shot in. This GAME and i think it's, You know
JACKSON and i were talking a little bit about this
before we went on, the, air like, you know with
How Good steph castle looks and with how this team,
is progressing maybe they're not the, honest team, you know
like maybe they're not the team that needs to be
looking to make that aggressive of, a move but maybe
(17:23):
they are the team that needs to make some sort
of aggressive move this season to bring in something to
try to make a better attempt to win. RIGHT now
i don't know if that's like the if they're Like
The Michael porter. Junior team are they the team, that,
goes hey We Upgrade harrison Barnes To Michael. PORTER junior
a better, defensive rebounder a better secondary, rim protector a
guy who's been in a lot of big games over
(17:44):
the last, three seasons a guy who like legitimately is
a microwave scorer and a like dead eye awesome spot.
Up SHOOTER like i don't know if that's the direction
they look, to go is to try to bolster things
with some sort of move to, Win now because all of,
a sudden you're the third, or best third or fourth
best team in. The league you're you're staring down the
barrel of like a true real opportunity here to try
(18:07):
to make a run IN this nba, Playoff run, and
man what A huge there are these moments that happen
IN an nba history where you can feel like something's
like a real shift, is occurring and there's been a
couple of those With the spurs, this season and like,
You Know bill simmons always has talked. About this he's
always talked about, you know when you talk about, young
teams they always end up somehow, being ready like a
(18:30):
year before you think they're going to be Able TO
and i made that mistake. THIS season i, was, like yeah,
you KNOW like i believe In the, spurs ROSTER but
i don't think it's. THIS year i think it's like
next year or the. Year after and, it's like here,
They are they're ready. Right now and, You know wenby
goes on and goes out an opening night and just
like Completely Humiliates anthony davis for the world. To see
they show Up In los Angeles against lakers In The
(18:53):
Cup corner finals and beat the shit out. Of them
and then they Go to vegas and they go toe
to toe WITH what i think is one of the
greatest teams ever assembled in the history OF, the nba
and they beat them in a. Big game in, This
spot victor is the game breaking talent that makes the whole. Thing,
happen literally they, were. Dead guys they were dead on
arrival forty nine to. Thirty three after They get wemby
(19:15):
comes in to start the, second quarter goes on a
nine to. Two run he checks Out the thunder immediately
going a fourteen to. Two run they. Were dead wemby
just GAVE, him cpr brought him right back, to life
and then they came out and played an awesome half
there in the. Second half so we kind of fun
stuff down the, stretch too before we. Move on the
guys on the broadcast did a really nice job calling,
(19:37):
this OUT and i think in General The Amazon prime
prime broadcast has, been fantastic both the studio stuff and
the stuff on. The court they just they just do
an awesome job breaking the. Game down but there were
several things the broadcast was. Calling out wemby on the
ball on, the inbounder which was a really. Important piece
they actually Forced the thunder to burn a time out
in that sequence down, the stretch which stem prevented okay
(20:00):
see from really setting up an offensive set when they
were trying to tie the. Game late i'd also argue
one of the big kind of like cheat codes there
down the Stretch was wemby's Seals against chet on. The
inbounds the one player Where the spurs almost blew it
was a Player where wemby made. A mistake he grabbed
the ball as it went through the net and made the,
inbounds pass which removed him as this easy solution for
(20:25):
the inbounds and that almost led to, a turnover but
it was kind of a cheat code, That like okay
sees this scrappy team full of all these guards that
can they can cause all this problem flying around with physicality,
and rotation and, it's, Like well wemby's just ceiling chet
there and he's got his arm up and it's, you
know ten feet off the ground when he's, Not jumping
so all you have to do is just throw it
up to him and he's going to catch it and
(20:46):
be able to. Draw foul like it's amazing how much
he did in this game that just like broke Everything
That oklahoma city likes. To do, and again like to
wrap it up before we move On to, nick's magic
and again we've done nothing but celebrate the thunder like
two or three times a week for the last couple.
Of weeks i'm not gonna spend too much time on. THEM
tonight i still think they're the. CHAMPIONSHIP favorite i don't
Think the spurs are anything more than just an upset
(21:09):
Threat Against oklahoma city at this point in. The postseason,
but like it. Just was it just was an unbelievable
Performance From Victor wembin yam And, the Spurs and i'm
buying all the stock. RIGHT now i think they're one
of the very best teams in. THE league i don't
think this. Is fluky they are still going To incorporate
wenby more and more into. The offense and we didn't
see very Much Of fox wemby pick and roll in
(21:31):
this game because of obviously the way That the thunder
Re guarding wenby by constantly having j Dub Or alex caruso.
On him so you're not gonna see a lot of
pick and roll there because they're just gonna, switch. It right,
but like as this team gets more and, more reps
we're gonna See More fox wemby pick. And roll we're
gonna see this team continue to build on the defensive
Foundation that wenby brings to. The table i'm really excited
(21:51):
to see where this. Is going, and again if You're a,
thunder fan you saw the ways they tried to, attack
it trying to work more from the, mid range trying
to get the defense and rotate out of Doubles of
shay there at the mid Range. Situating chet that was the.
Big key they got a Couple of shay got a
dunk on a big drive late on a Play where
chet was also situated on the right Wing and wemby
(22:12):
was kind of glued up, to him And Then jay
dubb got that one Layup when chet was in the.
Left CORNER so i think that's a big part, of
it Like keeping wemby out of that low man position
as much. As possible but that's the, Chess match Like to,
WEMBY'S credit i don't know if you guys. Saw it
did you guys see How much wemby was calling out
pre switches throughout, That game like he would sit there
on the baseline and whenever his man would run up
(22:34):
to the top of, the key he'd point at whoever
was there on that side of the floor with him and,
be like you. Got him i'm staying on this corner no.
Matter what and that's, The, thing, like ultimately there's only
So Much oklahoma city can do to keep To keep
wemby away from, the paint and if they can't keep
him away from, the paint it just turns him into
a pull up jump, shooting team and thankfully for a,
thunder fans they happened to be one of the great
(22:55):
pull up jump shooting teams in. The league but just,
absolute cinema super. ENTERTAINING game i can't wait to dig more.
INTO it i just that was just a really fun
moment as a. Basketball, fan tonight, All Right. Nick's magic
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really impressive performance From the knicks offense in every, conceivable
way started with their defense to. Transition attack it was
one of their better transition games of, the season constantly
running their lanes and throwing kick aheads and Beating the
magic down. The floor they had thirty two transition points in,
(25:04):
this game and that's always been When the knicks are at.
Their best we talked about this last, year too like
they were relatively low volume, last year but they were
the second most efficient transition offense in the league last
year According to synergy when they did run. The floor
so just ticking up the volume this year, has helped
and this season their ninth in transition points. Per game
and then in the, Half, Court Honestly jalen brunson just
cooked them every single. Which way he did some damage
(25:26):
and drop, coverage against like like getting downhill and hitting,
little floaters Or Like Wendell carter junior when he would
switch out on. To him he got him a couple,
of times but he was like Torching the magic guards
all over. The floor one of the big things he
was doing that was Killing Both Jalen sug's Anthony And
anthony black was. Rejecting screens this is a, little basic
like fundamental. Basketball thing if you're a ball handler at,
(25:49):
any level this is a good lesson for you. To
learn when guards are chasing over the top, of screens
there's a basic footwork that, they. Use right so like
They if i'm like dribbling out, ball screen and let's
say the ball screen is on my right hand Side
and i'm in a, high Hesitation like i'm going to
the Right and i'm getting close to, the screen the
on ball defender is going to begin a series of
(26:11):
like footwork to deal with, the screen and a lot
of cases that's going to be getting that, top foot
your left foot in, this case for chasing a right
handed player over a screen going to, the right you're
gonna get that left foot over the top of the
top foot of the screener so that you can sidle,
up along keep chesting up the guard and try to
beat him over the top of the, screen right or
at the very least to chase him over the top
right so that you can stay attached and apply that,
(26:33):
back pressure which is such a fundamental part of drop. Coverage.
Defense right but a lot of times what you can
do in that situation is catch them as they're starting
to prep to go over the screen by snatching back across.
Your Body And, JAYLEN brunson, i Think got black with
this twice and He Got jalen suggs with. It once
but he just sits with that hand up in, the
ball up in that right, handed hesitation and then as
(26:56):
soon as that defender starts to kind of bail on
him to prep for, the screen he just snatched across,
his back across his body to his. Left hand and
then it's like a, double wayman because not only do
you shed the on, ball defender but the. Screen defender
the guy who's defending, the screener he's coming up to,
the level or at least up into, like somewhere preparing
for a drop coverage on the opposite side of. The
(27:16):
screen so when you get downhill on, that side you
can find some real. Driving Lanes and jalen was getting
to the basket easy with that kind. Of stuff did
a ton of Damage To. ANTHONY black i Didn't Think.
Anthony black as Much as i'm A Big anthony, BLACK
believer i just didn't think he had a particularly good
defensive Game. Against brunson he kept getting up out of
his stance and like kind of giving natural Angles and
brunson was just absolutely killing him in. This one and
(27:38):
then if he Ever got Tristan to Silver Or, desmond
bayne his eyes, lit up Or The tyas jones was
the other guy that he. Was getting anytime he got
any of, those guys his eyes just lit up and
he just killed those GUYS in. Iso quickly but he
did a lot of Damage to Suggs And anthony black in.
This one forty points on sixteen for twenty. Seven shooting
(27:58):
just a remarkable Season from jaylen runs and actually his
highest permanent scoring rate of. His career if you take
a scoring rate at per thirty, six minutes it's the
highest mark of his entire career and he's doing it
on over sixty percent. Trough shooting really impressive. Stuff There
Carl anthony towns Just Torched Wendell carter junior kind of
that combination of like the jump shot and his face.
(28:19):
At footwork he was just getting easy Drives on wendell all.
Night long he just kind of turn and face and
you just look at the rim with the ball in,
the pocket and that would Get we wendell to step. Up.
Too much he got him with a jab step out
of the left corner and got a. Big dunk he
had two big drives on him in the fourth quarter
where he just ripped through to. His right the cat
(28:39):
just puts your bigs in those weird positions where they
have to guard. In Space and kat is just such
a gifted driver of the basketball when his shot is
like causing that sort of of, you know kind of
antsy defense from those bigger centers that don't know how
to guard out on. The perimeter he Absolutely Torched Wendell
carter junior in. This game so many little wrinkles In
the knicks, offense tonight Like The Karl Anthony McHale bridge's
(29:00):
two man game was. Killing it kat had one where
he threw this beautiful wrap around pass as mkale was
cutting off of him off of the. Right elbow early in,
the game they ran a ball Screen where bridges through
a beautiful little lob Pass to kat right there in.
The lane we saw a lot of ball Screens Between
josh Hart And mitchell robinson that were getting some good.
(29:21):
Looks too kind of a random little wrinkle in their.
Bench units they have so many little bits of off
ball movement that helped make things easier. For them like
there was a play where Og and andob got a
wide open three in the, right corner where at the
beginning of, The possession OG's in the. Left corner McHale's
in the. Right corner they're running action, out top and
the two guys just decided. To swap they're, just like you,
know what rather than just, stand still why don't we
(29:42):
just cross along. The baseline and so the two of
them just xed along the baseline and The two magic
defenders were caught ball Watching And og andnobi runs out
to the. Right corner he's. Wide open he ends up hitting,
A three and just all of that extra, ball movement
all of that extra those transition pushes the little bit
of like, you know motion and variety they've added to.
(30:02):
Their offense and, THEN honestly i think they're starting to
benefit from the continuity, as well just from how long
those guys have all been. Playing together they're just playing
at a really really. High level five straight wins For,
the knicks now sole possession of the second seed In,
the east and an offensive rating of one, twenty two
which is now the second and best offensive rating in THE,
entire nba just Behind The denver nuggets and now a
(30:25):
date With The San antonio Spurs on, tuesday night which
should be a. Fun ONE and i would imagine at
That point Victor women yama will be in a little
bit higher minutes total on the magic front real quickly
before we get out. Of here they looked really Good
When jalen suggs was moving well and scoring the. Ball
well that combo of Him And desmond bane together was
really causing problems for the, next defense just because they
(30:46):
were both getting some pretty good like pick and roll
looks against like traditional kind of drop coverage type. Of
looks but Then When jalen suggs started to like favor
that groin injury and he started losing the ability, to
move That's where palo being so out of rhythm became
a problem because it was just Like Only desmond bane
that really could, create anything and it kind of looked
like a void of offensive talent at. That Point and
palo's just really far from the best version of himself,
(31:08):
right now like he's very out, of shape looks out.
A rhythm every jumper was short off the front of,
the rim even some of his closer ones to, the
basket and they just got so many open looks. From
three it kind of reminded me of some Of those
magic playoff runs where they just were getting good looks
from three and couldn't knock. Him down and, You Know
anthony black is the main guy looking at There like
i'm A Big anthony, black believer but he's the biggest
(31:29):
thing standing between him being just like an exciting young
player and like a foundational piece for this team is
the stuff that You Know jalen suggs does when he's at,
his best which is just being a more reliable catch and,
shoot shooter but good showing overall From the magic in.
This tournament they just have to figure out a way to.
Stay healthy one of the problems is all these guys
that are hurt for them are guys that have a
history of. Getting hurt franz has been, Hurt before palol
(31:51):
has been. Hurt Before jalen suggs seems to break down
every time he starts playing, good basketball and he's had
a couple of good games in, a row and here
goes another, groin, injury right and so kind of a
depressing end to it in, that SENSE but i am
still a believer in this magic team is you need
to get healthy and they need a couple of guys
to pop, as shooters and this thing can come together
and they can be a. Dangerous team but really Excited
(32:13):
For nick Spurs on. Tuesday night i'm not one hundred
percent sure what our schedule is, right NOW but i
would assume we're going live. That night so for, RIGHT
now i just planning us going live on YouTube after
the final buzzer of that Game on. Tuesday night THAT'S
all i have, for. Tonight guys is always as sincerely
appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting. The show
what a fun night. At basketball that was one of
those cool moments FOR us nba fans where you can
feel like the beginning of something special there with the
(32:36):
rivalry Between the thunder And. The spurs it's going to
be a, fun. One everybody Enjoy. Your sunday we'll be
Back on monday morning with our typical. Power rankings episode
should see a couple of teams. Moving around there should.
BE fun i will see you, guys then
The volume. All right, Well, goome to hoops tonight here
at the volume heavy Saturday, everybody. Hope all of you
guys are having a great weekend so far. Well, that
(00:23):
was absolute cinema tonight as we got to see Victor
women Yama return against the San Antonio Spurs and what
ended up being a game that lived up to the billing,
one of the more entertaining games we've caught so far
in this regular season. I cannot wait to dive into
all the different aspects of that game. And then also
we had another game tonight is the Knicks, fueled by
(00:45):
yet another amazing performance from Jalen Brunson forty points on
sixteen for twenty seven shooting, as the Knicks advance to
the Cup Championship on Tuesday night. We're gonna be breaking
down both games tonight. You guys are the jop Before
we get started, subscribe to this channel so you don't
miss any more of our videos. Don't forget to like
this video as well. That helps us a lot. And
(01:06):
then lastly, if you want to get mail back questions
in for our weekly mail bags, drop them into our
YouTube comments. All right, let's dig into the basketball here.
I was super super excited. As I had been watching
the Spurs over the course of the last couple of
like really about a month now. I was really excited
in the big picture about seeing the combination of what
(01:28):
was a very successful offense. I talked about this after
the Spurs beat the Lakers, that everything they did to
the Lakers was what they had been doing to everybody
for a month. I didn't want to make it like oh,
about the Lakers and their weaknesses and whether or not
they showed up for a big game. I wanted to
call attention to the fact that, like, yeah, like Steph
Castle and deren Fox have been beating people off the
(01:50):
dribble like the all season, you know, and especially since
Darreon Fox came back. They've been shooting the three ball
extremely well. Over the course of this stretch. They'd built
out this offense built on dribble pay penetration and kickouts
getting out in transition that was super successful. Keldon Johnson
is a dominant rebounder and driving the basketball as a
bullyball guy, and all these different trends that they had
(02:12):
started to show with their offense that were consistent. Opponent
two opponent good team bad team. They were doing it
to everybody, and I really wanted to see the combination
of both the offensive level that they had reached with
dearon Fox, as well as just all that scrappy athleticism
on the perimeter. All those guards are big and fast
(02:34):
and strong, and they compete and they play hard on defense,
and I just wanted to see those dudes combined with
what I believe is the greatest game breaking defensive talent
the game of basketball has ever seen. And so I
wanted to see that in the big picture. And I
had already kind of bought into San Antonio I talked
about after the Lakers game. I viewed them firmly in
(02:56):
that same grouping there with the Lakers in Minnesota. Jackson
and I were talking about it through text during the game.
I don't see any case for either of those teams
over San Antonio. At this point, you could argue there
right now the third or fourth best contender in the
entire NBA. I've been buying all this spurstock over the
last couple of weeks, and then you look at this
matchup with Oklahoma City and it's like, you know, Oklahoma
(03:20):
City had been so dominant and so successful over the
course of this season. You're almost just hoping they compete, right, Like,
for me, I was mainly looking at it like man
reincorporating Wemby's gonna be kind of funky for the offense,
like it can be a rhythm disruptor. I wonder if
it's more just I want to see what they look
like on defense in this game. Screw all that they won.
(03:41):
They went out there and they beat the thunder tonight.
And you know, one of the things I want to
call attention to before we start digging into some of
the details, one of the most underrated elements behind a
true superstar talent in the NBA is the ability to
elevate your teammates, right, And there's a lot of different
ways that that can manifest. And you know, so for instance,
(04:02):
on offense, that can be by creating advantages, right like
Jokic and Lebron and Luca and Chris Paul and all
the great passers in NBA history have elevated their teammates
through creating advantages by making easier offensive opportunities, you know,
or like Tim Duncan and some of the greatest defensive
anchors in NBA history, they can elevate their teammates by
(04:25):
making their defensive jobs easier, right, But one of the
underrated elements for all of those guys is instilling confidence.
The Spurs went out there and they didn't use one
b in the first quarter, and a lot of things
went wrong for them. You know, there's an adjustment period.
It's such a talk about going from one of the
basement defenses in the NBA, the Lakers, to like maybe
(04:46):
the best defense in the history of the NBA in
the thunder tonight. It was clearly an adjustment for them.
Harrison Barnes a little rushed on those three pointers. I
think give missed six of them in his first shift.
You know, like that's a pretty rough start, right. Steph
Castle had some really bad turnovers. Darreon Fox was taking
some bad shots, like the cross court passes that you
can get away with against other teams, you can't get
(05:09):
away with against Oklahoma City, and they got killed. They
remindus twenty three in the first half with Victor wem
Minyama off the floor. But what happened was is Victor
comes in to start the first or the second quarter,
goes on a massive run, gets them back in the game.
Checks out, they fall apart again in the middle of
that second quarter. Wenby comes in to end the first
half and takes them on another run to get them
(05:31):
back within three. And so what happens all those dudes.
All of a sudden, It's like, hey, all that trashketball
you were playing to start the game, none of it
matters anymore. It's forty nine to forty six, check ball.
We got a lot of basketball left. And the starting
group came out to start that second half with a
completely different set of energy and intensity, and they were
(05:53):
ready in a way that they weren't to start that game.
That is confidence in belief that was in instilled in
them by their star Darren Fox. Came out immediately started
making plays in pick and roll and driving the basket
to start the second half. The defense, the level of
intensity and the scrappiness and the flying around in rotation
(06:13):
and the digging down on drives and all that stuff
from the Spurs defense shot up like a rocket in
that second half, and they were able to stay in
the game. They obviously weren't going to continue to outscore
the Thunder by twenty points per seven minutes when they
got into the second half, they were gonna need their
other lineups to find a way to succeed, and they did.
(06:34):
And I give Wemby a ton of credit for that,
just in the sense that like he instilled them, he
erased all their mistakes and instilled in them a sense
of belief and confidence. And those dudes came out and
played an awesome half there in that second half. And
you know, again, fundamentally, what makes this whole thing interesting
is that Wenby is a game breaking defensive talent. What
(06:57):
that means is he is so transcendently great at what
he does being rangy and protecting the rim that it
breaks what opponents do. So I've talked about this a
lot this season. There have been three offenses that have
separated from the pack in the league. In the half court, okay,
there's a lot of margin. You can you can do
damage on the offensive glass, you can do damage in transition.
(07:19):
But when you look at the strict job of like
your five dudes are back on defense, my five dudes
are up on offense. We have a you know, seventeen
seconds left on the shot clock. We got to find
a way to score against you. When you're set and
in front of us there's three teams that have separated
themselves from the pack, and it's the Denver Nuggets, the
Los Angeles Lakers, and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Interesting because
(07:40):
this is not the Thunder team from years past that
didn't have that same level of like confidence and you know,
separation from the rest of the league in terms of
their half court offense. They've been killing teams in those
slow down half court situations this year, even though they
also obviously have this devastating defense to transition attack right
(08:02):
getting points off of turnovers. But we got to see
an offense that has been slicing and dicing everybody this season.
The relentless drives of AJ Mitchell, the relentless drives of
Shake Kills with Alexander, the relentless drives of Jalen Williams
since he come back. Jalen Williams drives per game or
like twenty percent up year over year, or his shot
(08:23):
attempts in the restricted area per game, like he's been
getting to the basket like a madman since he came back.
That's the fundamental entry point that they take advantage of
every time they're attacking on offense. And then from there
they've been one of the top five unguarded catch and
shoot three point shooting teams in the league. And they
move them all extremely well. They're extremely connected. They're great
(08:44):
at using their vertical spacers, and so it's all dribble
drive and kick or dribble drive and lob and they
use really good relocations and cuts to get really high
quality looks out of their drives. Right well, Victor breaks
that because he shuts off the damn rint. I need
to go back and look at the film to make
one hundred percent sure, but if my count is correct,
I had them at three shot attempts at the rim
(09:04):
in the entire time that Victor wemen Yama was on
the court tonight. There was a shay layup in the
early second half where like mid third quarter, where he
toasted it, then out the dribble got to a right
handed layup and Wemby was right there. He barely missed
it as he came across just to it came across
the lane just to split second late. There was one.
Because I want to dig into this a little bit,
(09:25):
there were some different ways that the thunder tried to
attack the Wemby problem, but one of the ways that
they had some success is they put Chet in the
strong side corner and there's some basic defensive principles that
make it hard to help in that situation. So JDub
was at the left wing and JDub was looking to drive,
and Chet was in the strong side corner and Wemby
(09:45):
was there, and it was just a position where Wemby
was unwilling to help from Jadub was able to get
all the way to the basket for a layup on
that one. And then the playing crunch time where Shay
hit like six counter moves to get past his man
and then Wenby came flying over and he dropped it
off to Chet and Chet drew the foul. Other than that,
they didn't even want to go in there for obvious reasons.
(10:08):
That's a game breaking defensive talent. When you take one
of the prolific driving the basketball teams in the league
and turn them into almost purely an off the dribble
jump shooting team in crunch time. That's the type of
game breaking defensive talent that Wenby was. So then we
look at how Ocase tries to attack it. It's like, okay, well,
(10:29):
what if we try to bring Wenby up into the action.
If we bring him up into the action, maybe we
can get him away from the rim. And they do,
and it's like a chet ball screen up top, and
they try rescreening a few times, and what happens. Wemby
ends up switching out onto Shay. Shake gets a decent
look at a catch and shoot three, but Wemby's close
out is so ridiculous because of his arms that Shay
(10:49):
has to shoot a moon ball that goes like six
or seven feet higher at the top of its arc
than any of his other three point shots and he
misses it. And it's like then from that point on,
they didn't break one be into the action anymore because
no one wants to shoot over him from the perimeter.
So they're like, okay, well what if we work from
the mid range, And they were able to score a
few times from there, right like Shae hit a little
(11:10):
step back jumper over steph Castle in the left baseline.
There was another one where I think it was Devin
Vessel came over and doubled where Shay was working right
around the foul line and Wenby was underneath the basket.
So they weren't looking to drive, but they sent a
help from the right wing off of j Dub, and
Shay pitched it back and JDub ended up hitting a
(11:32):
catch and shoot three off of the right wing, And
so that was the gist of their offense down the
stretch was like Shay working in the mid range taking
really tough, contested jump shots because they didn't want to
drive because Wemby was down there, and they didn't want
to bring Wemby into the action because he's too difficult
to shoot over if he's in the action. That's game
(11:53):
breaking defensive talent. And this is where we have to
start looking at the other parts of this Spurs roster,
because this is what makes them so unique. And like,
here's the thing. Do I think the Spurs are gonna
go beat Oklahoma City in a seven game series this year?
It's way too early to say that Oklahoma City has
clearly demonstrated themselves to be a better basketball team this year.
Them losing tonight is not a referendum on everything they've
(12:14):
accomplished this season. They still are the runaway championship favorites.
I personally would be surprised if they're not hoisting the
trophy when we get to mid June. But looking at
this matchup both as an upset threat this season and
most importantly as the only hope for the rest of
the NBA when we talk about teams that could compete
with the Thunder in this era, as they are staring
down the barrel of potentially like three more first round
(12:36):
picks this season, as they continue to load up, as
Chet continues to get better, as jadeb continues to get better,
this team is not going anywhere, and the league, in
terms of intrigue, needs a team that can go toe
to toe with these guys. And one of the specific
things about the Spurs and the way they're constructed that
(12:56):
has me looking at them as a real threat against
the Thunder over the course of the next you know,
three to five years is it's the combination of Wemby
as this game breaking, paint, shutting down defensive weapon, but
also the lanky, athletic guards that have the strength to
hold up on the ball and that can get great
contests on those shots. There were a lot of missed
(13:19):
pull up jumpers in this game. Shay was one for
seven from three. You know, this is the thing Shay's
been shooting, you know, over forty percent from three. This season,
he's been deadly on his step back three. He's been
shooting over fifty five percent on pull up twos inside
of seventeen feet. Right. Here's the thing, though, You get
a longer, better athlete on the ball, and you give
(13:41):
that guy the leeway to know, like, hey, dude, if
you get beat off the dribble, don't worry about it.
It's Victor webin Yama back there. Right. That allows that
defender to be a little less on their heels, a
little bit more on their toes. They're a little bit
more on their toes, and they're a better athlete than
some of these other guards that the under had been
going against. That's a substantially better contest. The whole point
(14:04):
is that math game can tilt in your favor. If
those short twos go from fifty five percent to forty percent,
and if those threes go from forty five percent to
one for seven, or you know, in a larger sample
something closer to thirty thirty five percent, that's when the
math can start to tilt heavy in your favor. And
that's what makes this particular team construct such an interesting
(14:27):
build to compete against the San Antonios or to compete
against the Oklahoma City Thunder. It's that combination of that
game breaking defensive talent on the back line and you've
just got all of these guards that are like legitimately
athletic matchups for this team. Steph Cassell got to the
basket at will in this game, twenty two points on
nine for sixteen shooting. He had some struggles with turnovers specifically.
(14:51):
I thought him and Dylan Harper were both a little
sloppy with their handle out on the perimeter. They were
losing control the handle getting picked. Dylan Harper in particular,
were struggling with Ja dub in terms of just how
long his arms were when he was trying to make
moves to go around him. Uh. But it was also
the cross court passes specifically Steph Castle, I think he had.
I think he might have had three turnovers in this
game on uh on cross court passes. And a big
(15:13):
part of that is just you know, uh, him learning
the lesson. Right. He's a young basketball player. He's going
to continue to get better. But when you look at
the baseline physical traits there, the dudes built like a
truck and he's like six six sixty seven and No.
One can keep him in front, always plays off two feet,
so he's always winning the leverage battle on the ground.
And the dude is just a really good finisher in
(15:36):
that short in that short range and at the basket.
That's like a real physical problem. Devin Vessel, I thought,
had some really nice one on one reps against Shay.
He's got long arms. I've seen this over the years
with these kinds of guys, whether it's Nikhil Alexander Walker,
it's like uh Karius Lavertz another one of those guys.
Devin Vessel is one of those guys. Those guys that
are like six' five six,' six pretty lanky and. Very,
(15:59):
quick laterally those are the dudes that do the very Best.
On shay they're the guys that can actually beat him
to spots a. Little, Bit again, shay's literally in, my
opinion the second best player in the world. Right now
not trying to say that this, dude's guardable but the,
point is the kinds of dudes that can make him
work harder are the dudes in that kind of. Physical
build And the spurs just have a bunch of. Those
(16:21):
dudes and you Look At dylan harper and it's another big,
athletic guard and you look At deeron fox and it's
another super fast guard with some, good length and it's
like they just have everything you need to Compliment what
Victor wiman. Yama DOES and i thought there was some
really impressive offensive stuff all. Night long Deer and fox
continued to get, dribble penetration took care of the basketball,
(16:41):
all night hit plenty of jump shots that felt like
huge breaths of fresh air For The san. Antonio offense
he only had one. Turnover Tonight devin vessel huge shots
in that, second half massive momentum shots that play where
the blob got blown UP to j dub and they
move it down the Floor And devin vasseil hits that
three on the. Right wing that was, a massive massive
(17:02):
shot in. This GAME and i think it's, You know
JACKSON and i were talking a little bit about this
before we went on, the, air like, you know with
How Good steph castle looks and with how this team,
is progressing maybe they're not the, honest team, you know
like maybe they're not the team that needs to be
looking to make that aggressive of, a move but maybe
(17:23):
they are the team that needs to make some sort
of aggressive move this season to bring in something to
try to make a better attempt to win. RIGHT now
i don't know if that's like the if they're Like
The Michael porter. Junior team are they the team, that,
goes hey We Upgrade harrison Barnes To Michael. PORTER junior
a better, defensive rebounder a better secondary, rim protector a
guy who's been in a lot of big games over
(17:44):
the last, three seasons a guy who like legitimately is
a microwave scorer and a like dead eye awesome spot.
Up SHOOTER like i don't know if that's the direction
they look, to go is to try to bolster things
with some sort of move to, Win now because all of,
a sudden you're the third, or best third or fourth
best team in. The league you're you're staring down the
barrel of like a true real opportunity here to try
(18:07):
to make a run IN this nba, Playoff run, and
man what A huge there are these moments that happen
IN an nba history where you can feel like something's
like a real shift, is occurring and there's been a
couple of those With the spurs, this season and like,
You Know bill simmons always has talked. About this he's
always talked about, you know when you talk about, young
teams they always end up somehow, being ready like a
(18:30):
year before you think they're going to be Able TO
and i made that mistake. THIS season i, was, like yeah,
you KNOW like i believe In the, spurs ROSTER but
i don't think it's. THIS year i think it's like
next year or the. Year after and, it's like here,
They are they're ready. Right now and, You know wenby
goes on and goes out an opening night and just
like Completely Humiliates anthony davis for the world. To see
they show Up In los Angeles against lakers In The
(18:53):
Cup corner finals and beat the shit out. Of them
and then they Go to vegas and they go toe
to toe WITH what i think is one of the
greatest teams ever assembled in the history OF, the nba
and they beat them in a. Big game in, This
spot victor is the game breaking talent that makes the whole. Thing,
happen literally they, were. Dead guys they were dead on
arrival forty nine to. Thirty three after They get wemby
(19:15):
comes in to start the, second quarter goes on a
nine to. Two run he checks Out the thunder immediately
going a fourteen to. Two run they. Were dead wemby
just GAVE, him cpr brought him right back, to life
and then they came out and played an awesome half
there in the. Second half so we kind of fun
stuff down the, stretch too before we. Move on the
guys on the broadcast did a really nice job calling,
(19:37):
this OUT and i think in General The Amazon prime
prime broadcast has, been fantastic both the studio stuff and
the stuff on. The court they just they just do
an awesome job breaking the. Game down but there were
several things the broadcast was. Calling out wemby on the
ball on, the inbounder which was a really. Important piece
they actually Forced the thunder to burn a time out
in that sequence down, the stretch which stem prevented okay
(20:00):
see from really setting up an offensive set when they
were trying to tie the. Game late i'd also argue
one of the big kind of like cheat codes there
down the Stretch was wemby's Seals against chet on. The
inbounds the one player Where the spurs almost blew it
was a Player where wemby made. A mistake he grabbed
the ball as it went through the net and made the,
inbounds pass which removed him as this easy solution for
(20:25):
the inbounds and that almost led to, a turnover but
it was kind of a cheat code, That like okay
sees this scrappy team full of all these guards that
can they can cause all this problem flying around with physicality,
and rotation and, it's, Like well wemby's just ceiling chet
there and he's got his arm up and it's, you
know ten feet off the ground when he's, Not jumping
so all you have to do is just throw it
up to him and he's going to catch it and
(20:46):
be able to. Draw foul like it's amazing how much
he did in this game that just like broke Everything
That oklahoma city likes. To do, and again like to
wrap it up before we move On to, nick's magic
and again we've done nothing but celebrate the thunder like
two or three times a week for the last couple.
Of weeks i'm not gonna spend too much time on. THEM
tonight i still think they're the. CHAMPIONSHIP favorite i don't
Think the spurs are anything more than just an upset
(21:09):
Threat Against oklahoma city at this point in. The postseason,
but like it. Just was it just was an unbelievable
Performance From Victor wembin yam And, the Spurs and i'm
buying all the stock. RIGHT now i think they're one
of the very best teams in. THE league i don't
think this. Is fluky they are still going To incorporate
wenby more and more into. The offense and we didn't
see very Much Of fox wemby pick and roll in
(21:31):
this game because of obviously the way That the thunder
Re guarding wenby by constantly having j Dub Or alex caruso.
On him so you're not gonna see a lot of
pick and roll there because they're just gonna, switch. It right,
but like as this team gets more and, more reps
we're gonna See More fox wemby pick. And roll we're
gonna see this team continue to build on the defensive
Foundation that wenby brings to. The table i'm really excited
(21:51):
to see where this. Is going, and again if You're a,
thunder fan you saw the ways they tried to, attack
it trying to work more from the, mid range trying
to get the defense and rotate out of Doubles of
shay there at the mid Range. Situating chet that was the.
Big key they got a Couple of shay got a
dunk on a big drive late on a Play where
chet was also situated on the right Wing and wemby
(22:12):
was kind of glued up, to him And Then jay
dubb got that one Layup when chet was in the.
Left CORNER so i think that's a big part, of
it Like keeping wemby out of that low man position
as much. As possible but that's the, Chess match Like to,
WEMBY'S credit i don't know if you guys. Saw it
did you guys see How much wemby was calling out
pre switches throughout, That game like he would sit there
on the baseline and whenever his man would run up
(22:34):
to the top of, the key he'd point at whoever
was there on that side of the floor with him and,
be like you. Got him i'm staying on this corner no.
Matter what and that's, The, thing, like ultimately there's only
So Much oklahoma city can do to keep To keep
wemby away from, the paint and if they can't keep
him away from, the paint it just turns him into
a pull up jump, shooting team and thankfully for a,
thunder fans they happened to be one of the great
(22:55):
pull up jump shooting teams in. The league but just,
absolute cinema super. ENTERTAINING game i can't wait to dig more.
INTO it i just that was just a really fun
moment as a. Basketball, fan tonight, All Right. Nick's magic
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Illinois Michigan, New, Jersey, ohio Tennessee. Or virginia just a
really impressive performance From the knicks offense in every, conceivable
way started with their defense to. Transition attack it was
one of their better transition games of, the season constantly
running their lanes and throwing kick aheads and Beating the
magic down. The floor they had thirty two transition points in,
(25:04):
this game and that's always been When the knicks are at.
Their best we talked about this last, year too like
they were relatively low volume, last year but they were
the second most efficient transition offense in the league last
year According to synergy when they did run. The floor
so just ticking up the volume this year, has helped
and this season their ninth in transition points. Per game
and then in the, Half, Court Honestly jalen brunson just
cooked them every single. Which way he did some damage
(25:26):
and drop, coverage against like like getting downhill and hitting,
little floaters Or Like Wendell carter junior when he would
switch out on. To him he got him a couple,
of times but he was like Torching the magic guards
all over. The floor one of the big things he
was doing that was Killing Both Jalen sug's Anthony And
anthony black was. Rejecting screens this is a, little basic
like fundamental. Basketball thing if you're a ball handler at,
(25:49):
any level this is a good lesson for you. To
learn when guards are chasing over the top, of screens
there's a basic footwork that, they. Use right so like
They if i'm like dribbling out, ball screen and let's
say the ball screen is on my right hand Side
and i'm in a, high Hesitation like i'm going to
the Right and i'm getting close to, the screen the
on ball defender is going to begin a series of
(26:11):
like footwork to deal with, the screen and a lot
of cases that's going to be getting that, top foot
your left foot in, this case for chasing a right
handed player over a screen going to, the right you're
gonna get that left foot over the top of the
top foot of the screener so that you can sidle,
up along keep chesting up the guard and try to
beat him over the top of the, screen right or
at the very least to chase him over the top
right so that you can stay attached and apply that,
(26:33):
back pressure which is such a fundamental part of drop. Coverage.
Defense right but a lot of times what you can
do in that situation is catch them as they're starting
to prep to go over the screen by snatching back across.
Your Body And, JAYLEN brunson, i Think got black with
this twice and He Got jalen suggs with. It once
but he just sits with that hand up in, the
ball up in that right, handed hesitation and then as
(26:56):
soon as that defender starts to kind of bail on
him to prep for, the screen he just snatched across,
his back across his body to his. Left hand and
then it's like a, double wayman because not only do
you shed the on, ball defender but the. Screen defender
the guy who's defending, the screener he's coming up to,
the level or at least up into, like somewhere preparing
for a drop coverage on the opposite side of. The
(27:16):
screen so when you get downhill on, that side you
can find some real. Driving Lanes and jalen was getting
to the basket easy with that kind. Of stuff did
a ton of Damage To. ANTHONY black i Didn't Think.
Anthony black as Much as i'm A Big anthony, BLACK
believer i just didn't think he had a particularly good
defensive Game. Against brunson he kept getting up out of
his stance and like kind of giving natural Angles and
brunson was just absolutely killing him in. This one and
(27:38):
then if he Ever got Tristan to Silver Or, desmond
bayne his eyes, lit up Or The tyas jones was
the other guy that he. Was getting anytime he got
any of, those guys his eyes just lit up and
he just killed those GUYS in. Iso quickly but he
did a lot of Damage to Suggs And anthony black in.
This one forty points on sixteen for twenty. Seven shooting
(27:58):
just a remarkable Season from jaylen runs and actually his
highest permanent scoring rate of. His career if you take
a scoring rate at per thirty, six minutes it's the
highest mark of his entire career and he's doing it
on over sixty percent. Trough shooting really impressive. Stuff There
Carl anthony towns Just Torched Wendell carter junior kind of
that combination of like the jump shot and his face.
(28:19):
At footwork he was just getting easy Drives on wendell all.
Night long he just kind of turn and face and
you just look at the rim with the ball in,
the pocket and that would Get we wendell to step. Up.
Too much he got him with a jab step out
of the left corner and got a. Big dunk he
had two big drives on him in the fourth quarter
where he just ripped through to. His right the cat
(28:39):
just puts your bigs in those weird positions where they
have to guard. In Space and kat is just such
a gifted driver of the basketball when his shot is
like causing that sort of of, you know kind of
antsy defense from those bigger centers that don't know how
to guard out on. The perimeter he Absolutely Torched Wendell
carter junior in. This game so many little wrinkles In
the knicks, offense tonight Like The Karl Anthony McHale bridge's
(29:00):
two man game was. Killing it kat had one where
he threw this beautiful wrap around pass as mkale was
cutting off of him off of the. Right elbow early in,
the game they ran a ball Screen where bridges through
a beautiful little lob Pass to kat right there in.
The lane we saw a lot of ball Screens Between
josh Hart And mitchell robinson that were getting some good.
(29:21):
Looks too kind of a random little wrinkle in their.
Bench units they have so many little bits of off
ball movement that helped make things easier. For them like
there was a play where Og and andob got a
wide open three in the, right corner where at the
beginning of, The possession OG's in the. Left corner McHale's
in the. Right corner they're running action, out top and
the two guys just decided. To swap they're, just like you,
know what rather than just, stand still why don't we
(29:42):
just cross along. The baseline and so the two of
them just xed along the baseline and The two magic
defenders were caught ball Watching And og andnobi runs out
to the. Right corner he's. Wide open he ends up hitting,
A three and just all of that extra, ball movement
all of that extra those transition pushes the little bit
of like, you know motion and variety they've added to.
(30:02):
Their offense and, THEN honestly i think they're starting to
benefit from the continuity, as well just from how long
those guys have all been. Playing together they're just playing
at a really really. High level five straight wins For,
the knicks now sole possession of the second seed In,
the east and an offensive rating of one, twenty two
which is now the second and best offensive rating in THE,
entire nba just Behind The denver nuggets and now a
(30:25):
date With The San antonio Spurs on, tuesday night which
should be a. Fun ONE and i would imagine at
That point Victor women yama will be in a little
bit higher minutes total on the magic front real quickly
before we get out. Of here they looked really Good
When jalen suggs was moving well and scoring the. Ball
well that combo of Him And desmond bane together was
really causing problems for the, next defense just because they
(30:46):
were both getting some pretty good like pick and roll
looks against like traditional kind of drop coverage type. Of
looks but Then When jalen suggs started to like favor
that groin injury and he started losing the ability, to
move That's where palo being so out of rhythm became
a problem because it was just Like Only desmond bane
that really could, create anything and it kind of looked
like a void of offensive talent at. That Point and
palo's just really far from the best version of himself,
(31:08):
right now like he's very out, of shape looks out.
A rhythm every jumper was short off the front of,
the rim even some of his closer ones to, the
basket and they just got so many open looks. From
three it kind of reminded me of some Of those
magic playoff runs where they just were getting good looks
from three and couldn't knock. Him down and, You Know
anthony black is the main guy looking at There like
i'm A Big anthony, black believer but he's the biggest
(31:29):
thing standing between him being just like an exciting young
player and like a foundational piece for this team is
the stuff that You Know jalen suggs does when he's at,
his best which is just being a more reliable catch and,
shoot shooter but good showing overall From the magic in.
This tournament they just have to figure out a way to.
Stay healthy one of the problems is all these guys
that are hurt for them are guys that have a
history of. Getting hurt franz has been, Hurt before palol
(31:51):
has been. Hurt Before jalen suggs seems to break down
every time he starts playing, good basketball and he's had
a couple of good games in, a row and here
goes another, groin, injury right and so kind of a
depressing end to it in, that SENSE but i am
still a believer in this magic team is you need
to get healthy and they need a couple of guys
to pop, as shooters and this thing can come together
and they can be a. Dangerous team but really Excited
(32:13):
For nick Spurs on. Tuesday night i'm not one hundred
percent sure what our schedule is, right NOW but i
would assume we're going live. That night so for, RIGHT
now i just planning us going live on YouTube after
the final buzzer of that Game on. Tuesday night THAT'S
all i have, for. Tonight guys is always as sincerely
appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting. The show
what a fun night. At basketball that was one of
those cool moments FOR us nba fans where you can
feel like the beginning of something special there with the
(32:36):
rivalry Between the thunder And. The spurs it's going to
be a, fun. One everybody Enjoy. Your sunday we'll be
Back on monday morning with our typical. Power rankings episode
should see a couple of teams. Moving around there should.
BE fun i will see you, guys then
Host
Jason Timpf
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