January 8, 2024 • 19 mins
Sarah talks with NBA senior writer John Schuhmann about his Power Rankings. Why the Knicks and Raptors are both surging after the big trade, what the Bucks need to do to make Giannis happy, and what the Pelicans and Mavs have done to move up in the rankings.
NBA Pulse is a production of iHeartPodcasts and the NBA
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):
Welcome into NBA pulsive production of iHeartRadio in the NBA.
I'm Sarah Custack, NBA analyst for the Yes Network, and
today is Monday, January eighth, and from our extraordinary core
group of NBA journalists, we're joined now by NBA dot
Com senior writer John Schumann, who is out with a
new set of power rankings. Oklahoma City Thunder jumped to
(00:23):
the number one spot, up from number two last week.
The Boston Celtics dropped down to number two, The Denver
Nuggets come up to number three. Minnesota is at number four,
Los Angeles Clippers in that five spot. Tough loss to
the Lakers Battle of the Las last night. But she
I want to get into a couple teams first in
(00:45):
the Eastern Conference that have been doing really well since
the trade between the New York Knicks Toronto Raptors and
kind of getting back to I'm sure Tom Sibodau somewhere
smiling watching how his defense has improved over the stretch.
But let's start with the Knicks four to oh ogn
Andobi has been a critical part of that. They had
(01:07):
a really really dominant win on Friday, andob.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
That's your spot and that is textbook tech book.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Is they beat the Philadelphia seventy six ers by thirty
six points. Joel Embiid was playing. They're currently sitting fifth
in the Eastern Conference at twenty one in five. What
have you liked about the Knicks how they are playing
and have been playing with the way this lineup looks
right now?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
The top line is that they have the number one
defense in the month of January. Now we're only seven
days in, but that's that's the four games that you
know they've played with og An Andobi, you know, helped
their four opponents to just one hundred and three points
per one hundred possessions, which is incredibly good defense. Like
you said, they beat the Sixers, and this is the
(01:57):
Knicks or a team that hasn't been very good against
other good teams. They've sort of fattened up on wins
over the lesser teams in the league and haven't been
as good against the best teams in the league. To
get a signature win like that is obviously huge, And
like I said, they have the number one defense this month.
(02:18):
You know, this was a win win trade. I think
a lot of people thought it was a win win
trade when it happened, and so far, like ten days
later or a little less than ten days later, still
sure looks like a win win trade because the two
teams are a combined seven and one since their new
players have started suiting up. So yeah, I think the
(02:41):
Knicks still have questions about their bench. That win over
Philly was like so the first couple of games with Ananobe,
their bench wasn't very good, probably missing Emmanual quickly, but
that win over Philly was their first really good and
good performance from their bench, with Josh Hart's minutes being
(03:05):
incredibly good. And I think as long as they have
their top six guys on the floor, which is their
current starting lineup plus Josh Hart, they're really really good.
And I still still think there's gonna be some questions
about spot seventy eight nine in the rotation, but so far,
so good.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah, and Nick's searching to get one of those top
four spots as they continue on this season in their
playoff positioning. As for the Raptors sitting twenty first in
your power rankings, eleventh in the Eastern Conference at fifteen
and twenty one, just had a nice win against the
Golden State Warriors and speaking of those new players are
j Barrett. Now it's too he's left and finishes.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
He's got thirty five strong season high for him for
Barrett's got thirty seven.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Large, thirty seven points, six rebound, six assists. He was
five of eight from three just last night. Emmanuel Quickly
with tenn asists as you mentioned, and has just been
a solid addition to this Raptors group. We've talked a lot,
even when the trade happened, about just the timeline with
Scottie Barnes, what they want to do. They have been
playing well. But what do you see for the Raptors
(04:15):
this season? I know Pascal siakam is continues to be
in a lot of speculation for if he will get moved,
what will happen with this group? How do you kind
of frame where this team is at and with the
way that they have been playing as of late.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yeah, I mean they're three and one since since you know,
Quickly and Barrett have started playing, it's been their best
stretch of offense this season and part and a big
part of that is Pascal siakam He has the highest
two shooting percentage among fifty five players with at least
fifty field goal attempts this month, but it's been a
(04:53):
balance attack. Like he's only averaging twenty three point five
points per game over the four they've had six other
five other guys averaging at least twelve points per game.
But still, like, we still have to take a step
back and look at the big picture. I realize they're
still fifteen and twenty one, right, They're not in the
top ten in the Eastern Conference. And yeah, maybe if
they continue like this, they can climb up to eighth
(05:16):
or ninth, but that's still, you know, not a great
spot if you're thinking big picture. They've made it very
clear that Scottie Barnes is who they're building around going forward. Siakam,
as we know, can become a free agent this summer,
or he is a free agent this summer. It was
(05:36):
Anenobi that has the player option. So I think they
still have to sort of look to see and field
calls and see what they can get for Siakam and
see if any kind of package makes more sense long term.
Because they've said they're building around Scotty Barnes. They even
(05:57):
said that they're doing it buildings slowly around Scotty Barnes,
that it's going to be a process in developing him
into the complete player that they want him to be.
I think they obviously have a little bit more juice
offensively with Quickly and Barrett, but it's there's still the
ceiling still isn't particularly high.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
I don't think, yeah, And I think that's a lot
of the decisions. We'll see what miss I Jerry wants
to do in more the direction of the team where
they're going. But when it comes to the next I
like what they've done, I like how they're playing. I
think there's a little added juice that we now see
talking a lot about what they've done on the defensive
end with Og. But I also think, you know, just
(06:38):
the shuffle more Quintin Grimes now back in the rotation,
and just kind of how they fortified things. And I
think when it comes to the Knicks and how the
Eastern Conference right now appears to be a little bit
fluid and wide open. As well as Boston is playing,
as well as Philadelphia is playing, there's opportunity and I
(06:59):
think that Knicks can feel that, can see that. And
with that being said, Milwaukee Bucks, they're currently sitting eighth
in your power rankings, second in the East, second in
the East, third overall record, but the record feels like
it's deceiving based on the eye tests, and once you
watch them. I know we'd talked a lot. There was
(07:21):
a lot of hype about that San Antonio game, the
wenby the honest matchup back and forth, that putting in perspective,
was against the worst team in the Western Conference and
just kind of the numbers, Giannis calling out his team,
the entirety of everyone collectively needing to be better. What
have you seen in the Bucks that has been less
(07:43):
about the wins and the record and more about the
projection of what they may do as the season continues on,
and if they can continue to be that title contending
team that they want to be.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah, I think specifically what I watch them, I just
see the other team. You know, saw it in their
game against the Pacers last week. The other team just
getting lots of layups and easier looks in the paint
than were obviously used to the Bucks giving up in
the past. You know, they still have two of the
(08:19):
best big defenders in the league in Jannis Antetokunpo and
Brook Lopez, and to see them sort of struggle defensively
and allow good looks in the paint against other teams
is just, I guess, uh, disappointing. But I also think
(08:40):
about it like so that like you said, they have
the third best record in the league, but it still
feels underwhelming, right or disappointing. And when you look at it,
you know, there are ten teams in the league the
Bucks included, that are at least seven games over five hundred,
so there's nine others and they've played only three games
(09:02):
total against those nine other teams in the top ten
of the league. And they've yet to place Minnesota. They've
yet to face Denver, Oklahoma City, the Clippers, the Kings,
or the Pelicans. Now, all those teams are in the
Western Conference, obviously, and the Bucks have played the fewest
interconference games of any team in the league. But like
(09:23):
I said, so they they don't have any signature wins, right,
we haven't seen them beat really good teams yet, you know,
they're they're two and one in the three games that
they've played within the top ten, and both those wins
were before Thanksgiving. It was the Sixers on opening Night
and it was the MAVs mid in mid November. They
(09:43):
also have a loss to the Celtics, who they'll play
again this week. So I think, you know, I think
with this team, we just want to see them beat
good teams. One they haven't had the opportunity. And two
they you know, like you mentioned, like they play the
Spurs and they you know, they beat them by four.
And as fun as that game was, when you look
at the result and you see a four point win
(10:06):
against the team with the league's worst point differential, it's it's,
like I said, disappointing and underwhelming.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, and I think that defensive component, they're giving up
the most shots in the league. Team's getting a lot
of opportunities, not taking care of the glass. There's a
lot of little things. It feels like that. Surprisingly, with
the move of Dame Lillard to me and he's been
I still don't trust them in the game situations, and
I think that's the one thing, you know, that they
(10:35):
were looking to improve upon. And I think given a
close game, there's still times And I know in that
San Antonio game, we keep talking about him Yannis dominated
down the stretch of the game, but just questioning what
their depth looks like and just what it would look
like in a high leverage situation. I think that's still
yet to be seen with this group, but we're going
(10:58):
to get to two teams have taken on a lot
of pressures, seem to be projecting in the right direction.
The Dallas Mavericks the New Orleans Pelicans. We will get
to them right after the break. Welcome back to NBA.
Paul Sarakusta joined by John Schuman and che In the West,
(11:20):
we got a couple of teams starting to come together,
whether through health, weather, through chemistry. Let's begin with the
New Orleans Pelicans, sitting sixth in your power rankings, seventh
in the Western Conference at twenty two and fifteen. They've
won five of their last six games. The only loss
was to the Los Angeles Clippers, coming off of a
(11:41):
big win against Sacramento last night, one thirty three to
one hundred win. And they've been playing well, I mean,
finally healthy. I think at the early part of the
season or different moments, they've been missing some key players.
Zion did not play yesterday, but CJ. McCollum has been terrific,
and so has their three point shooting. Why do you
(12:03):
like what the Pelicans have been doing lately? Well?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
First, of all, they own the Sacramento Kings, who are
still one of the top ten teams in the league.
They're four and zero against the Kings, with two wins
of more than thirty points, and poor Kings have to
play one more time. They got an extra game because
of the nd season tournament, and they'll play one more
time in the last week of the season. You know
(12:27):
what they've been like, ridiculously hot from three point range.
I mean, this is not a high volume three point
shooting team in the league. They actually ranked twenty seventh
and three point right meeting the percentage of the shots
that are from three and twenty fifth and three point
differential as far as like how how many points they're
outscored by from three point range per game? But they've
(12:51):
shot really well and a lot of that is CJ McCollum.
He's twenty nine for fifty four from three point range
over the last six games.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
It'll go on d That was his first attempt.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
His forty five point three percent for the season is
a career best mark and his sixth best among the
ninety players with at least one hundred and fifty attempts.
He's having a really good season. I mean, we know
he missed an extended amount of time, but he's having
a terrific offensive season. He's the only player who shot
fifty percent or better on at least fifty pull up
(13:28):
two pointers and forty percent or better on at least
fifty pull up threes. He is a sort of one
on one pick and roll, sort of mid mid range master,
you know, shooting better on pull up twos than as
than Kevin Durant the season, who's actually not shooting very
well on pull up twos, and so yeah, I think
(13:51):
he's sort of led the way. But they also obviously
have like a great sort of ensemble cast with Brandon Ingram,
with Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy now healthy and playing really well.
So yeah, I think it's you know, they are. It's fine.
They're in that mix of Western Conference teams that are
(14:13):
pretty good and could be. You know, I think we
favor the Nuggets to be at least in the Western
Conference finals, but I think that second spot seems pretty
wide open. And the Pelicans I think are among the.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Kennedys, Yeah, without a doubt, and they just I mean
you mentioned Trey Murphy. I love his game. I think
he's played about half. The games are a little less
because of injuries for this team. But the shooting ability
with the range, the length, and I think that's another
thing having just seen them, and I think still figuring out,
you know, Jordan Hawkins or rookie a guy that has
(14:45):
not shot as well as he probably can, where he
fits in to this rotation. But just the length of
this team, I mean between Herb Jones, if they are
playing big with with Zion and Jonas Brandon Ingram being
in there, like, they just bring a ton of length
as well on the defensive end, and it obviously disrupts
a lot of things with the way they can get
(15:06):
after you on that end. Another Western Conference team playing
really well Dallas Mavericks currently eleventh in your Power Rankings,
six in the Western Conference twenty two and fifteen. They
have won three straight, including a really nice win against
the Minnesota Timberwolves yesterday one fifteen, one aweight. They've won
(15:27):
three straight and Kyrie Irving is back after a twelve
game absence. He came back January first. They had an
ugly loss to Utah. However, they've won three straight. They're
starting to get healthy. They've been playing well, can the
Mavericks make themselves contenders in this Western Conference?
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I think so. I still sort of have questions about
their defense, but their offense can obviously be ridiculously potent.
It only ranks tenth in the league right now, but
it can obviously climb climb higher than that if if
Kyrie Irving and Lukadancics stay healthy. You know, prior to Sunday,
(16:09):
prior to that win over the Wolves, the Dallas was
just one to nine against the eight teams that have
a better record than they do, and that one win
was against the Clippers in those like first five games
after the James Harden trade, So it wasn't exactly a
quality win considering how bad the Clippers were during that stretch.
So obviously getting the win over Minnesota on Sunday was huge.
(16:31):
And Minnesota went on an eleven zero run and like
put the MAVs down six with less than four minutes left,
and they answered with a thirteen run thirteen zero run
of their own, And that goes to sort of a
greater point about clutch play. You know, the MAVs last
season were five and eleven in games that in which
(16:55):
they had both Lukadancic and Kyrie Irving, you know, after
the trade with thes But they actually outscored their opponents
over those sixteen games. Fourteen of the sixteen were within
five points in the last five minutes, and the MAVs
lost eleven of those fourteen close games. So basically they
were a decent team with Kyrie and Luka Doncis in
(17:19):
the in the lineup. They just failed to execute or
just missshots down the stretch of a bunch of close
team close games. And this year they have the league's
second best clutch mark twelve and five, including seven and
one with Irving in the lineups and gy Reeve staring
(17:39):
at the basket, Jeff stepping against McDaniels plus three ties
the game he has done so much tonight was scoring, steals,
rebounds three.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Lets it done it again?
Speaker 2 (17:57):
There's one. It's one thing to be a good team, right,
be good on offense, be good on defense, beat your team,
beat your opponents by healthy margins. But a lot of
this game just comes down to execution and maybe even
a little bit of luck down the stretch of close games.
And the MAVs, you know, have seen the biggest jump
in clutch winning percentage from last season to this season,
(18:21):
and that's sort of where you know part of their
success is right like it's it's sometimes you win games
by fifteen and ten points, but a lot of games
come down to the last few minutes and it comes
down to execution and a little bit of luck as
far as shot making, and you know what your opponents
(18:42):
are doing too, and.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
I think that's what you would hope for, you know,
having guys like Luca and Kyrie. If ever you are
going to execute, you got to go to guys that
can can certainly and have shown the ability to execute
down the stretch, finishing, finishing down the stretches. Some of
the Lakers did snap in a four game losing streak
last night with their win over the Clippers, who were
(19:04):
riding a five game win streak. Maybe Lebron calling out,
calling out some of the guys and his team has
got them back. But the Clippers will face the Phoenix
Suns tonight ten thirty pm Eastern on NBA TV. They've
been playing really well. We got a good slate for
you this evening, and as always, Shoe, we appreciate all
your nuggets, your notes and in the great insight that
(19:26):
you have in your power rankings on NBA dot com,
and I'm sure we will be talking with you real soon.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Thanks Sarah, go Hokies.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
NBA, Pauls. The Seracu Stock is a production of the
NBA and iHeartRadio. Please rate, review, and subscribe on the
iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome into NBA pulsive production of iHeartRadio in the NBA.
I'm Sarah Custack, NBA analyst for the Yes Network, and
today is Monday, January eighth, and from our extraordinary core
group of NBA journalists, we're joined now by NBA dot
Com senior writer John Schumann, who is out with a
new set of power rankings. Oklahoma City Thunder jumped to
(00:23):
the number one spot, up from number two last week.
The Boston Celtics dropped down to number two, The Denver
Nuggets come up to number three. Minnesota is at number four,
Los Angeles Clippers in that five spot. Tough loss to
the Lakers Battle of the Las last night. But she
I want to get into a couple teams first in
(00:45):
the Eastern Conference that have been doing really well since
the trade between the New York Knicks Toronto Raptors and
kind of getting back to I'm sure Tom Sibodau somewhere
smiling watching how his defense has improved over the stretch.
But let's start with the Knicks four to oh ogn
Andobi has been a critical part of that. They had
(01:07):
a really really dominant win on Friday, andob.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
That's your spot and that is textbook tech book.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Is they beat the Philadelphia seventy six ers by thirty
six points. Joel Embiid was playing. They're currently sitting fifth
in the Eastern Conference at twenty one in five. What
have you liked about the Knicks how they are playing
and have been playing with the way this lineup looks
right now?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
The top line is that they have the number one
defense in the month of January. Now we're only seven
days in, but that's that's the four games that you
know they've played with og An Andobi, you know, helped
their four opponents to just one hundred and three points
per one hundred possessions, which is incredibly good defense. Like
you said, they beat the Sixers, and this is the
(01:57):
Knicks or a team that hasn't been very good against
other good teams. They've sort of fattened up on wins
over the lesser teams in the league and haven't been
as good against the best teams in the league. To
get a signature win like that is obviously huge, And
like I said, they have the number one defense this month.
(02:18):
You know, this was a win win trade. I think
a lot of people thought it was a win win
trade when it happened, and so far, like ten days
later or a little less than ten days later, still
sure looks like a win win trade because the two
teams are a combined seven and one since their new
players have started suiting up. So yeah, I think the
(02:41):
Knicks still have questions about their bench. That win over
Philly was like so the first couple of games with Ananobe,
their bench wasn't very good, probably missing Emmanual quickly, but
that win over Philly was their first really good and
good performance from their bench, with Josh Hart's minutes being
(03:05):
incredibly good. And I think as long as they have
their top six guys on the floor, which is their
current starting lineup plus Josh Hart, they're really really good.
And I still still think there's gonna be some questions
about spot seventy eight nine in the rotation, but so far,
so good.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah, and Nick's searching to get one of those top
four spots as they continue on this season in their
playoff positioning. As for the Raptors sitting twenty first in
your power rankings, eleventh in the Eastern Conference at fifteen
and twenty one, just had a nice win against the
Golden State Warriors and speaking of those new players are
j Barrett. Now it's too he's left and finishes.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
He's got thirty five strong season high for him for
Barrett's got thirty seven.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Large, thirty seven points, six rebound, six assists. He was
five of eight from three just last night. Emmanuel Quickly
with tenn asists as you mentioned, and has just been
a solid addition to this Raptors group. We've talked a lot,
even when the trade happened, about just the timeline with
Scottie Barnes, what they want to do. They have been
playing well. But what do you see for the Raptors
(04:15):
this season? I know Pascal siakam is continues to be
in a lot of speculation for if he will get moved,
what will happen with this group? How do you kind
of frame where this team is at and with the
way that they have been playing as of late.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Yeah, I mean they're three and one since since you know,
Quickly and Barrett have started playing, it's been their best
stretch of offense this season and part and a big
part of that is Pascal siakam He has the highest
two shooting percentage among fifty five players with at least
fifty field goal attempts this month, but it's been a
(04:53):
balance attack. Like he's only averaging twenty three point five
points per game over the four they've had six other
five other guys averaging at least twelve points per game.
But still, like, we still have to take a step
back and look at the big picture. I realize they're
still fifteen and twenty one, right, They're not in the
top ten in the Eastern Conference. And yeah, maybe if
they continue like this, they can climb up to eighth
(05:16):
or ninth, but that's still, you know, not a great
spot if you're thinking big picture. They've made it very
clear that Scottie Barnes is who they're building around going forward. Siakam,
as we know, can become a free agent this summer,
or he is a free agent this summer. It was
(05:36):
Anenobi that has the player option. So I think they
still have to sort of look to see and field
calls and see what they can get for Siakam and
see if any kind of package makes more sense long term.
Because they've said they're building around Scotty Barnes. They even
(05:57):
said that they're doing it buildings slowly around Scotty Barnes,
that it's going to be a process in developing him
into the complete player that they want him to be.
I think they obviously have a little bit more juice
offensively with Quickly and Barrett, but it's there's still the
ceiling still isn't particularly high.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
I don't think, yeah, And I think that's a lot
of the decisions. We'll see what miss I Jerry wants
to do in more the direction of the team where
they're going. But when it comes to the next I
like what they've done, I like how they're playing. I
think there's a little added juice that we now see
talking a lot about what they've done on the defensive
end with Og. But I also think, you know, just
(06:38):
the shuffle more Quintin Grimes now back in the rotation,
and just kind of how they fortified things. And I
think when it comes to the Knicks and how the
Eastern Conference right now appears to be a little bit
fluid and wide open. As well as Boston is playing,
as well as Philadelphia is playing, there's opportunity and I
(06:59):
think that Knicks can feel that, can see that. And
with that being said, Milwaukee Bucks, they're currently sitting eighth
in your power rankings, second in the East, second in
the East, third overall record, but the record feels like
it's deceiving based on the eye tests, and once you
watch them. I know we'd talked a lot. There was
(07:21):
a lot of hype about that San Antonio game, the
wenby the honest matchup back and forth, that putting in perspective,
was against the worst team in the Western Conference and
just kind of the numbers, Giannis calling out his team,
the entirety of everyone collectively needing to be better. What
have you seen in the Bucks that has been less
(07:43):
about the wins and the record and more about the
projection of what they may do as the season continues on,
and if they can continue to be that title contending
team that they want to be.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah, I think specifically what I watch them, I just
see the other team. You know, saw it in their
game against the Pacers last week. The other team just
getting lots of layups and easier looks in the paint
than were obviously used to the Bucks giving up in
the past. You know, they still have two of the
(08:19):
best big defenders in the league in Jannis Antetokunpo and
Brook Lopez, and to see them sort of struggle defensively
and allow good looks in the paint against other teams
is just, I guess, uh, disappointing. But I also think
(08:40):
about it like so that like you said, they have
the third best record in the league, but it still
feels underwhelming, right or disappointing. And when you look at it,
you know, there are ten teams in the league the
Bucks included, that are at least seven games over five hundred,
so there's nine others and they've played only three games
(09:02):
total against those nine other teams in the top ten
of the league. And they've yet to place Minnesota. They've
yet to face Denver, Oklahoma City, the Clippers, the Kings,
or the Pelicans. Now, all those teams are in the
Western Conference, obviously, and the Bucks have played the fewest
interconference games of any team in the league. But like
(09:23):
I said, so they they don't have any signature wins, right,
we haven't seen them beat really good teams yet, you know,
they're they're two and one in the three games that
they've played within the top ten, and both those wins
were before Thanksgiving. It was the Sixers on opening Night
and it was the MAVs mid in mid November. They
(09:43):
also have a loss to the Celtics, who they'll play
again this week. So I think, you know, I think
with this team, we just want to see them beat
good teams. One they haven't had the opportunity. And two
they you know, like you mentioned, like they play the
Spurs and they you know, they beat them by four.
And as fun as that game was, when you look
at the result and you see a four point win
(10:06):
against the team with the league's worst point differential, it's it's,
like I said, disappointing and underwhelming.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Yeah, and I think that defensive component, they're giving up
the most shots in the league. Team's getting a lot
of opportunities, not taking care of the glass. There's a
lot of little things. It feels like that. Surprisingly, with
the move of Dame Lillard to me and he's been
I still don't trust them in the game situations, and
I think that's the one thing, you know, that they
(10:35):
were looking to improve upon. And I think given a
close game, there's still times And I know in that
San Antonio game, we keep talking about him Yannis dominated
down the stretch of the game, but just questioning what
their depth looks like and just what it would look
like in a high leverage situation. I think that's still
yet to be seen with this group, but we're going
(10:58):
to get to two teams have taken on a lot
of pressures, seem to be projecting in the right direction.
The Dallas Mavericks the New Orleans Pelicans. We will get
to them right after the break. Welcome back to NBA.
Paul Sarakusta joined by John Schuman and che In the West,
(11:20):
we got a couple of teams starting to come together,
whether through health, weather, through chemistry. Let's begin with the
New Orleans Pelicans, sitting sixth in your power rankings, seventh
in the Western Conference at twenty two and fifteen. They've
won five of their last six games. The only loss
was to the Los Angeles Clippers, coming off of a
(11:41):
big win against Sacramento last night, one thirty three to
one hundred win. And they've been playing well, I mean,
finally healthy. I think at the early part of the
season or different moments, they've been missing some key players.
Zion did not play yesterday, but CJ. McCollum has been terrific,
and so has their three point shooting. Why do you
(12:03):
like what the Pelicans have been doing lately? Well?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
First, of all, they own the Sacramento Kings, who are
still one of the top ten teams in the league.
They're four and zero against the Kings, with two wins
of more than thirty points, and poor Kings have to
play one more time. They got an extra game because
of the nd season tournament, and they'll play one more
time in the last week of the season. You know
(12:27):
what they've been like, ridiculously hot from three point range.
I mean, this is not a high volume three point
shooting team in the league. They actually ranked twenty seventh
and three point right meeting the percentage of the shots
that are from three and twenty fifth and three point
differential as far as like how how many points they're
outscored by from three point range per game? But they've
(12:51):
shot really well and a lot of that is CJ McCollum.
He's twenty nine for fifty four from three point range
over the last six games.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
It'll go on d That was his first attempt.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
His forty five point three percent for the season is
a career best mark and his sixth best among the
ninety players with at least one hundred and fifty attempts.
He's having a really good season. I mean, we know
he missed an extended amount of time, but he's having
a terrific offensive season. He's the only player who shot
fifty percent or better on at least fifty pull up
(13:28):
two pointers and forty percent or better on at least
fifty pull up threes. He is a sort of one
on one pick and roll, sort of mid mid range master,
you know, shooting better on pull up twos than as
than Kevin Durant the season, who's actually not shooting very
well on pull up twos, and so yeah, I think
(13:51):
he's sort of led the way. But they also obviously
have like a great sort of ensemble cast with Brandon Ingram,
with Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy now healthy and playing really well.
So yeah, I think it's you know, they are. It's fine.
They're in that mix of Western Conference teams that are
(14:13):
pretty good and could be. You know, I think we
favor the Nuggets to be at least in the Western
Conference finals, but I think that second spot seems pretty
wide open. And the Pelicans I think are among the.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Kennedys, Yeah, without a doubt, and they just I mean
you mentioned Trey Murphy. I love his game. I think
he's played about half. The games are a little less
because of injuries for this team. But the shooting ability
with the range, the length, and I think that's another
thing having just seen them, and I think still figuring out,
you know, Jordan Hawkins or rookie a guy that has
(14:45):
not shot as well as he probably can, where he
fits in to this rotation. But just the length of
this team, I mean between Herb Jones, if they are
playing big with with Zion and Jonas Brandon Ingram being
in there, like, they just bring a ton of length
as well on the defensive end, and it obviously disrupts
a lot of things with the way they can get
(15:06):
after you on that end. Another Western Conference team playing
really well Dallas Mavericks currently eleventh in your Power Rankings,
six in the Western Conference twenty two and fifteen. They
have won three straight, including a really nice win against
the Minnesota Timberwolves yesterday one fifteen, one aweight. They've won
(15:27):
three straight and Kyrie Irving is back after a twelve
game absence. He came back January first. They had an
ugly loss to Utah. However, they've won three straight. They're
starting to get healthy. They've been playing well, can the
Mavericks make themselves contenders in this Western Conference?
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I think so. I still sort of have questions about
their defense, but their offense can obviously be ridiculously potent.
It only ranks tenth in the league right now, but
it can obviously climb climb higher than that if if
Kyrie Irving and Lukadancics stay healthy. You know, prior to Sunday,
(16:09):
prior to that win over the Wolves, the Dallas was
just one to nine against the eight teams that have
a better record than they do, and that one win
was against the Clippers in those like first five games
after the James Harden trade, So it wasn't exactly a
quality win considering how bad the Clippers were during that stretch.
So obviously getting the win over Minnesota on Sunday was huge.
(16:31):
And Minnesota went on an eleven zero run and like
put the MAVs down six with less than four minutes left,
and they answered with a thirteen run thirteen zero run
of their own, And that goes to sort of a
greater point about clutch play. You know, the MAVs last
season were five and eleven in games that in which
(16:55):
they had both Lukadancic and Kyrie Irving, you know, after
the trade with thes But they actually outscored their opponents
over those sixteen games. Fourteen of the sixteen were within
five points in the last five minutes, and the MAVs
lost eleven of those fourteen close games. So basically they
were a decent team with Kyrie and Luka Doncis in
(17:19):
the in the lineup. They just failed to execute or
just missshots down the stretch of a bunch of close
team close games. And this year they have the league's
second best clutch mark twelve and five, including seven and
one with Irving in the lineups and gy Reeve staring
(17:39):
at the basket, Jeff stepping against McDaniels plus three ties
the game he has done so much tonight was scoring, steals,
rebounds three.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Lets it done it again?
Speaker 2 (17:57):
There's one. It's one thing to be a good team, right,
be good on offense, be good on defense, beat your team,
beat your opponents by healthy margins. But a lot of
this game just comes down to execution and maybe even
a little bit of luck down the stretch of close games.
And the MAVs, you know, have seen the biggest jump
in clutch winning percentage from last season to this season,
(18:21):
and that's sort of where you know part of their
success is right like it's it's sometimes you win games
by fifteen and ten points, but a lot of games
come down to the last few minutes and it comes
down to execution and a little bit of luck as
far as shot making, and you know what your opponents
(18:42):
are doing too, and.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
I think that's what you would hope for, you know,
having guys like Luca and Kyrie. If ever you are
going to execute, you got to go to guys that
can can certainly and have shown the ability to execute
down the stretch, finishing, finishing down the stretches. Some of
the Lakers did snap in a four game losing streak
last night with their win over the Clippers, who were
(19:04):
riding a five game win streak. Maybe Lebron calling out,
calling out some of the guys and his team has
got them back. But the Clippers will face the Phoenix
Suns tonight ten thirty pm Eastern on NBA TV. They've
been playing really well. We got a good slate for
you this evening, and as always, Shoe, we appreciate all
your nuggets, your notes and in the great insight that
(19:26):
you have in your power rankings on NBA dot com,
and I'm sure we will be talking with you real soon.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Thanks Sarah, go Hokies.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
NBA, Pauls. The Seracu Stock is a production of the
NBA and iHeartRadio. Please rate, review, and subscribe on the
iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
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.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.