May 20, 2023 • 41 mins
Draymond Green discusses the Nuggets beating the Lakers in Game 2, the Heat's 1-0 lead on the Celtics, and the latest with Bob Myers and the Warriors.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What's up, everybody, Welcome back to the Draymond
Green show Man. This Conference Finals has been fun to watch,
although I must say it's annoying to watch, and I
(00:22):
will continue to remind you of that. But in saying that,
as a basketball fan, it's always fun to watch guys
and in the battle, you know, just trying to do
what you can to put yourself in a better position
to be the team that's moving on. And so we're
gonna break down this game. As you know, we're gonna
(00:44):
break down this series. We'll talk about both series. Really
really really locked into this Nuggets Lakers series, but I'm
locked into both. We'll talk through both of them, but
let's get right into it. The Nuggets take a two
zero lead, beating the one O eight to one oh
three in Game two, a game that the Lakers pretty
(01:07):
much dominated for majority of the game. If you are
the Denver Nuggets, I saw coach Mo Coach Malone comments
about being up one to zero and everybody talking about
the Lakers and how their adjustment has won them the series,
and he said, We're we're sitting here at one oh
(01:29):
and everybody's pretty much talking like we lost the series.
And I'll tell you this, one of the worst things
in the playoffs that can happen is when you blow
a team out in game one and then you come
back game two.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
It's always a natural letdown.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
That team that you blew off is pissed off, blew
out is pissed off. You're naturally just gonna relax just
a little bit, and that's just enough to make game
two really tough and game two really tough to and
not not only really tough, but makes it even tougher
(02:07):
to win in an already tough environment to win in
the playoffs, it's hard to win playoff games, and that
makes it a lot tougher. So when you leave game
one like the Nuggets did, where everyone's essentially talking about
the Lakers as if they won game one, it allows
you not to naturally relax. Now, in saying that, you
(02:29):
look at the start of game two and you say
one of two things, you still relaxed, or the Lakers
just came out with their adjustments that they made, which
we'll get into with the adjustments that they made, pissed off,
they came out guns blazing, in fact, they did.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
How did that happen? Though?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
How did So, as you all know, doesn't take a
rocket scientist to figure out that Jared Vanderbilt went back
into the Star lineup for Dennis Shrewder, something that we
spoke about a couple days ago that could possibly happen.
Although I didn't think it would be Shrewter to come
out of the lineup. I thought it would be d
(03:17):
Loo to come out of the lineup. They went Shrewter
and that was that. Now we also saw Lebron, James Garden,
Joker a lot more than we did in Game one.
One thing that I noticed that the Lakers was doing
(03:38):
is they went Ruie. They win Lebron, they went a
d They did not give Joker a steady diet of anything.
They gave him different looks at some point. At times
le Bron was just fronting with Ad on the backside.
At times Ad was guarded straight up. At times they
sent the double team. They did a bunch of different things.
(03:58):
Now you'd say, all right, logically, you should go back
to the film and see which one of those worked, right,
Which one of those were stifling Joker, which one of
those were what which coverage we were in when we
were making our runs. Quite frankly, I think most of
(04:19):
them worked. Actually think most other coverage is most study
adjustments they made on Joker work. I thought when they
were sending the double team, and I'm gonna get into
a couple specific plays, but when they were sending double team,
I thought it was good. I thought they invited the
first pass out. And so for those who don't understand,
(04:41):
if you go, we call it a fire, which is
if Joker catches the ball on the post, the first
wing that got fires, which means they go on the
trap Joker on the block or right off the block
where they were trapping them, which then puts you into
what we were describing last game, or what I was
explaining the last game, which is a full rotation. Next
(05:01):
guy goes over, next guy rotates over. Guy who's leaving
the trap fires out to the weak side corner or
to the man in the dunker, but most often not
you're firing out to the weak side dunker because you
want to keep either Bron or Ad on that week's
side dunker man, which is Aaron Gordon. Because if you
(05:24):
if you fire out of the trap, which is usually
a guard because the guard was the man rotating down
on the trap. If you're not rotate out of it,
and that guy just rotates to Aaron Gordon and the dunker.
Good luck Aaron Gordon's office and rebound and Aaron Gordon's
dunk in the basketball. So you actually need to keep
Bron and Ad in that spot for rebounding position, so
that guard is then that guard then needs to get
(05:46):
all the way out to the weak side corner. They
were successful in guarding that way. They didn't give up
many back doors out of it. They didn't give up
many shots out of it until they did one play
in particular. It was at a very very it was
(06:06):
a kind of a turning point in the game, and
they fired. KCP was right there on the wing. They
kick it out to KCP. Rotation doesn't get there fast enough.
KCP hits a three that takes the lead from forty
two to thirty five. It makes the lead forty two
(06:28):
to thirty five. Takes the score from to forty two
thirty five. The significance of that, and so, as I
told y'all, for me, I like to educate on the
game of basketball. And so one thing that I understand
people don't realize is how to actually watch a game
and how to watch film, and so when I'm watching film,
(06:49):
when I'm watching the game, I'm also looking at turning points.
And a big turning point in the game was the
Lebron mishap on the dunk, because that takes an eight
point lead to a ten point league. You get a
time out there, everything's rolling right, Bron bobbles the ball,
(07:14):
ball goes out of bounds. At that time, I think,
if I'm not mistaken, it was forty to thirty two
and ball goes out of bounds. Nuggets come back down,
they don't score. Lakers come down, don't score, back don't
score Nuggets. Lakers come back down and they score. But
the rhythm is off, like it's no longer the game's
(07:34):
no longer flowing like it was flowing leading up to that.
And then you get the Joker. You get the Joker
kickout three from KCP. Now that gets KCP going because
if you remember, KCP had two quick files, didn't have
a rhythm. Now you get the other guys going. See,
(07:57):
initially Joker was scoring, but he weren't getting any assists.
And remember we spoke about this Joker not having assists.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
That is the key.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
At one point in the game, he had twelve two
and two and the Lakers were dominated. Then he had
fourteen two and two, Lakers were dominating. And so now
the game stops, the flow stops, and that turns to
the advantage at that time to the Denver Nuggets forty
two to thirty five. That happens, and then they start
(08:31):
to walk the Lakers down. Now they were doing a
great job of keeping all the other guys out and
taking Jokers passing away, and towards the end of the third,
end of the second quarter, I'd say maybe about five
six minutes to go, the Nuggets started to create transition opportunities.
(08:51):
And once they started to create transition opportunities, that then
opened the game up for Joker. Now all of a sudden,
he's getting assisted in transition. The assist total goes from
two to five really quick, and now you're playing a
totally different ball game. So now they get they start
to get out in transition, and they start to make
plays in transition. Jokers gotten loose. Good luck from there.
(09:15):
Now another thing happened and Denver Nuggets, you may want
to talk to your ball boy about this. I'm just
watching the game and they're getting out in transition, it's
two minutes to go in the half, right around two minutes,
maybe a little under two minutes, and.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
The ball goes out of bound.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
The ball boy stops the game by walking over there
and wiping up sweat off the floor, so the referee
has to pause, and at this time the Denver Nuggets
has taken control of the game. What that allowed to
happen is, if you all don't know, Joker runs to
(09:55):
the referee, he gets the ball out fast. If nobody's looking,
he's gonna throw a long pass for home run layup.
If not, still get the ball out fast, and you
can push the pace because the defense is walking back.
They're not set. You push the pace. Now they're like, oh, oh,
we gotta play defense. And now it's essentially just like
you're in transition playing against the scrambling defense, which is
(10:16):
how they had started taking control of the game in transition.
Lakers transition defense has been bad all year. First team,
their second team transition defense has been bad. They were
number one defense after the All Star break with the
new team the new roster, they were still twenty fifth
(10:38):
in transition defense, So that has been an area of
concern for the Lakers all year, and it's showing up
in a major way in this series. As it's shown
up at times in the previous two series, it's really
showing up in these first two games of this series.
Plus you got altitude, let's not forget about that. So
now they end up playing against a set defense and
(10:58):
they have started making their run. In making their run,
the guy stops the game. They come down, they don't score,
Lakers didn't score to make it fifty one to forty eight.
Got another stop on the joker miss Lakers come down,
doesn't score, Nuggets come down, don't score again. Ruey then
(11:20):
makes it fifty three to forty eight. They scored on
a couple free throws. Those are run breakers, and so
I hope they can identify that the guy who actually
broke their run up was their ball boy going out
to wipe the sweat up off the floor. Hey, my man,
when the game goes down the court, then you come
out and wipe that up. The game's going down the floor.
It's one thing if they're staying on that they're staying
(11:42):
on that side of the floor, then yes, safety of course,
but they're about to take off down the floor. Let
them take off, then go wipe that up so they
can get their transition opportunity. That really stopped the game
because Joker had three assists during that two to three
minute span and they all coming off transition, and he
had one off the cut where he caught it in
(12:03):
the post. He lobbed it up to Bruce Brown. Bruce
Brown made an incredible catching, incredible finish. But other than that,
everything was coming out of transition for them, and even
a couple of plays where he didn't get the assist,
but the hockey assists for those that don't know what
the hockey assist is, that's how passed it to Steph.
Steph passed it to Clay. I his Steph, he hit Clay.
I don't get an assist for that. STEP's getting assist,
(12:25):
But in hockey, both guys get the assists, so we.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Call that the hockey assist.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
So he had a couple hockey assists during that stretch
as well that won't quite show up in the stat shee,
but that really stopped their run going into the break,
Gay the lake or something going into the break. And
now you come out of the break if you're the
Nuggets and you're like all right, we made our run.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
And it's one thing.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
When you make that run if they're abody to take
that from forty nine to forty eight to fifty to
forty nine.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
When you make that run and you don't end.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Up head, that's like a if you're in a boxing mash,
that's just like another jab right to slow the God down.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Another job, and.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
You're like, man, I just put a good combo together.
God keep hitting me with a job to slow me down.
That's a job in the heavyweight fight. As we're watching
a heavyweight fight, it's a job that the job kept
working and so that slows them down.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Going into the half.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
They come out of the half, doesn't play great in
the third quarter either, and they eventually figures it out
in the fourth. Another key moment that I thought in
the game in this segment as well as as Bron.
They were up ten, the Lakers were up ten, and
Bron was at the score table. By the time Bron
(13:46):
was able to check in, they were up too and
Darvinham had to take a time out. And I thought
that was really important because, as I've told you all,
I think Bron has to really control this series, dominating
the basketball, getting them into the things that they want
to because Denver has a good defense, but they also
have a couple holes on their defense that you can't
(14:07):
exploit if you get guys in the right position. And
bron being caught at the score sable from where the
lead was ten points all the way down to it
was two, the entire momentum of the game change and
I thought that was a really key moment.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Denver goes on the a to Zho run and that
really allowed.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
The Nuggets to get their fit, get their get their footing,
allowed them to change the game, allowed them to get
out in transition, and now they're rolling. So you in
the game with Joker with twenty three seventeen and twelve assists.
Didn't quite get thirty, but he got twelve assists, So
in turn, you ends up you end up allowing all
(14:51):
the other guys to get going. Now, what ultimately ended
up winning the Nuggets the game was Jamal Murray's performance
in the fourth quarter. Jamal Murray had twenty three of
his thirty seven points in the fourth quarter and totally
took the game over. He was five to six from
(15:11):
three in the fourth quarter. Lakers scored twenty four points
in the fourth quarter. Jamal Murray had twenty three points
in the fourth quarter, and if you watch it, all
of the buckets really came on switches. They're switching Jamal
Murray's getting to his shot. He had a couple buckets
on ad. He had a couple buckets on Brown, which
(15:32):
goes back to my theory. This is a Jared Vanderbilt series.
Jared Vanderbilt has to play minutes, and I know the
thing is going to be oh but they needed shooting
on the floor, but Jared Vanderbilt has never provided you shooting.
So it's almost like, oh man, the other guys are
struggling with shooting the basketball. We need to get more
(15:53):
shooting on the floor. But your guys who shoot for
you are struggling to shoot basketball. There's not really anyone
else your roster that's changing that. Maybe you go Malie Beasley.
I don't know. Austin Reaves has been shooting the lights ole,
but guys have really been struggling to shoot for them
all all postseason long. Like this isn't like, oh man,
(16:16):
they just went cold for the most part, with the
exception of maybe two three games, they've been cold from three.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
They're not a great three point shooting team. That's just
not their strength.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
So to all of a sudden, you go, oh man,
we need to get more shooting. Denver hasn't necessarily shown
the ability to really stop you from getting to the rim.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
They haven't really shown that ability. So I'm not.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Sure if what everybody is making of the shooting is
the actual thing. Again, the Denver Nuggets have been rolling
with Aaron Gordon who hasn't provided any shooting at all.
Now you can say, oh, yeah, but Jamal Murray was
hitting shots and other guys were hitting shots. Yeah, but
they're still giving you a guy to help off of
to cover all of that and to take some of
those shots away. So maybe it's not the shooting, and
(17:09):
maybe it's Jared Vanderbilt you need in there to take
Jamal Murray away, to take Jamal Murray out the game,
because guess what, he had a very tough first quarter,
He had a very rough first half. Jared Vanderbilt played
more in the first quarter in the first half, So
I actually think this is a Vanderbilt series, and I
(17:30):
think Dennis Schroeder has been very important for this team.
Jamal Murray may not be the matchup for Dennis Schroeder,
I still think Dennis Schroeder can affect I still think
Dennis Schroeder can affect their.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Defensive outcome.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
For instance, say if I got Jared Vanderbilt on the
floor and he's guarding Jamal Murray, and I got Dennis
Schroder on the floor, say he's guarden KCP. He's going
to get underneath KCP. Doesn't allow KCP to put the
ball on the floor at all. Because Dennis Schroeder is
a really good defender, and if your handle isn't absolutely incredible,
(18:08):
he's going to get to some of that. So you
take KCP coming out of the corner downhill to his
right hand.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
You kind of take that away.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Michael Porter Junior doesn't really take advantage of his size
and mismatches. He may go to the mid post, but
if he goes to the mid post and you crowd
the paint, then he's taking tough shots, which I'd prefer
to Michael Porter to take tough shots and some of
the things that they've been getting to. So you could
(18:36):
put Dennis Schroeder there as well. I'm not saying you
need to take Dinnis Strouder atlantup or uh less than
its minutes, because I think that would be the wrong
thing to do. But I do think you have, like
it's absolutely necessary that Jared vander Will plays more minutes.
That is what will allow them to better guard Jamal Murray.
(19:00):
That's two games in a row now Jamal Murray has
had thirty points. He's got to be a priority, has
to be a priority. And I mean if he's not
a priority, he's now shown you that two times and
two nights he can beat you.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
AD didn't have a great game.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
I thought he played a really good game, really good
floor game. Stats can't always be measured by scoring. Finishing
game eighteen points, fourteen rebounds on four for fifteen shooting.
Why it's very important for AD to have good games,
but not even so much have good games, but be
(19:43):
extremely aggressive. As Joker is his matchup, you have to
make him work on both sides of the floor. The
Lakers are capable of doing that because they have AD.
AD didn't play a very good game or a very
aggressive game. I should say it's like I said, I
thought he played a good game, but he wasn't extremely
(20:03):
aggressive on the offensive end, which allows Joker to sit back,
which allows him to get a little more rest. It
doesn't put as much pressure on him as that doesn't
put as much pressure on their defense. And so I
thought the Lakers needed a much more aggressive AD. They're
going to continue to need a much more aggressive AD,
not only to make Joker defend, but I also don't
(20:25):
think they have the team to where AD can't be
aggressive and they can still win. Now you can say, hey,
they were winning the entire game and Jamal Murray got going.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
And yes, that's the fact.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
But if you have Anthony Davis being extremely aggressive when
you are winning the entire game, all of a sudden,
your lead isn't to the whole game, It isn't for
the whole game. Yeah, you get it to ten and
it goes right back down. Now you start to extend
that lead because AD is playing aggressive, you put it
a little a little more out of reach. You make
it a little tougher for them to make a comeback.
So I thought they needed a much more aggressive AD,
(20:58):
and they're going to continue to need that as this
series goes on. Let's get into a couple of things
that happened during the game. The DNS Will Russell flagrant file.
I thought it was extremely soft. He goes up to
block the shot. This is the playoffs, like flagrant foul.
(21:21):
And then everybody say, oh man, the NBA is soft.
And as I've told you all before, I agree, but
we blame it on players. We say, oh man, these
guys are soft for that, and we blame it on players. No,
no player did did did anything for that flagran file.
Quite frankly, I don't think the player who was given
(21:43):
a flagran file should have been given a flag and file.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
But that doesn't make players soft.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
The rules are a lot softer, but I can't necessarily say,
oh man, guys are softer because they call a flagran file.
So like, if that's a flager file, like is that
what we're selling?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Or like do we need to go revisit.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
These flagrant file rules, which quite frankly I'm in favor of, Like,
let's let's revisit these flagran file rules because I just
cannot agree that that's a flagrant file. Like how do you, like,
like do you softly file and give up a layup?
Or do you make sure you don't give up to
three point play? And so I wasn't I wasn't. I
(22:31):
wasn't too thrilled with the Flager file. As you can
see by my tweet, that's soft. That is soft, soft,
very soft flagran file. Can we be better with that? Like, again,
I'm watching the game as a fan right now, I'm
not watching as a player.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
I'm watching as a fan right now. That's like, I.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Don't know if that's what I'm paying my cable bill
to see. I don't really pay cable bill to watch movies.
I pay cable bill to watch sports. I'm not sure
that that's what I'm paying to see. Like, come on, Like,
it's the playoffs. It's supposed to be harder, it's supposed
to be tougher.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Maybe you all think differently, and maybe that's why I
always end up with a bunch of flaking file points.
But I am just not rolling that. That's a flag
and file. I can't roll with that. And going into
Game three, a couple of things that I think both
teams need to do differently. I think the Lakers, as
I've told you, need to play more Jared Vanderbilt. I
(23:30):
also think the Lakers need to get into more screen
and roll the way the way the way that Denver
is guarding the screen and row is they're sitting in
the middle and they're pulling over like extremely hard, which
is actually the way we started off the series. They're
(23:52):
pulling over extremely hard, forcing you to make the advanced past,
and they're begetting the late contests on the shooters. However,
I think one adjustment for the Lakers would be to
move that pick and roll over a little bit more
like move it down the floor a little bit more
so it's a lower angle pick and roll as opposed
(24:13):
to the high angle pick and roll that they're getting.
They're gonna need D'Angel Russell to play better, and in
particular to take that away like to that coverage. D'Angel
Russell is the guy that they have on their roster
that can make shots out of the pick and roll
against that coverage. Dennis Schroeder can also get down hillmore.
(24:34):
I didn't think Dennis Schroeder was aggressive enough offensively, and
I think they're gonna need him to be more aggressive
out of that pick and roll to keep that defense honest.
I also think that will allow them to get down
Hill Moore and take advantage of the lack of rim
protection that the Denver Nuggets do not have. There was
(24:56):
a time where I thought they also needed to go
more AD and Lebron pick and roll.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
If you go Ad Lebron.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Pick and roll, tight pick and roll on one side
of the floor, that puts Joker in a tough situation
because now you got Bron coming downhill. If he helps,
you got Ad on a drop off. Ad can either
get all the way to the rim or shoot this
little floater. You put Austin Reeves in the slot so
that guy can't pull all the way over and help.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Austin Reeves is shooting the light side of the ball.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
If I put Austin Reeves in the slot, if that
guy pulls all the way over to help, I'm hitting
Austin Reeves.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Austin Reeves been knocking it down.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
What that also does is that put Michael Porter Junior back,
where as the bottom low man rotating over on a
driving Lebron James or a diving Anthony Davis. Now you're
allowed to manipulate their defense a little bit more. You're
able to get the pieces where you want the pieces
in order to allow you the highest level of success.
(25:57):
And so I think they needed to go more of
that and again that goes along with the theory that
Lebron James has to have the ball in his hands
in order for them to win this series. The reason
and the most important reason that it is vital that
Lebron James has the ball in his hands throughout this
series is because Joker has the ball in his hands
(26:20):
the entire series. Joker doesn't have it. Jamal Murray is
making the decision, but more often than not, Joker has it,
which means as if Lebron James has the ball all
the time outside of the pick and roll that I
think they can take advantage of it at times. Now
you got the chess match Joker versus Lebron, which is
(26:42):
needed because that's what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Lakers.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
You have a guy who's made an entire career out
of doing that thing. You need it more than ever
right now because that's all they're doing. They're giving the
ball to their MVP, They're allowing him to make plays.
You need to allow Lebron James to make plays to
manipulate that defense seize the court differently than most, if
not all most, with the exception of a few, it
(27:10):
would be all the exception of a few people.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
You need that, so.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
You're back at home a little different no altitude. I
expect to see forty minutes from Lebron, forty plus minutes,
forty plus minutes from Ad, and I think they need
to take advantage of that pick and roll with Lebron,
James and Ad put Joker in a tough spot. You
possibly get him in foul trouble. That possibly changed the
game for the Lakers. I think that's going to be
(27:38):
very important for them. And if I am the Denver Nuggets,
if they go, if they go Lebron on Joker, which
the Lakers did and I thought it was very successful,
I'm going to put Lebron in more pick and roll,
actually making him have to guard the pick and roll
(27:58):
as a big because he's out regard to the pick
and roll as a big.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
It's very uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
He's doing a good job of it when he has
to do it, but it's a very uncomfortable space. And
if we just go at that go at that go at,
that can we get Lebron to make mistakes and can
we put Ad in a tough position on the backside.
Now I have Joker in the pocket, I have Aaron
Gordon on the backside. Can we put Ad in a
position to make some mistakes? Can Joker use his flosure?
(28:25):
Can he get some passes in space? I think that helps.
I think they're also going to need to continue to
or run Aaron Gordon in more pick and rolls because
they clearly need him on the defensive side of the floor,
so they can't really afford to take him off the floor.
So how can you use that against him spacing For
the Lakers from a defensive perspective, offensive perspective, they need
(28:46):
to the Nuggets need to bring Aaron Gordon into more
pick and rolls.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
We'll see if they do. Ultimately. I got the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Coming home winning Game three, making this a two to
one series, and we'll talk about Game four when it's
time to talk about Game four after we check out
what happens in Game three and we have a better
understanding of what's going on there and moving on the Nuggets.
Excuse me, the Celtics versus the Heat. The Heat are
(29:16):
up one to zero on the Celtics with a one
twenty three to one sixteen win on Wednesday. Why did
Boston collapse in the second half, which has been a
theme for the Boston Celtics. Quite frankly, I think the
Boston Celtics offense stops way too often, like the bass stops,
(29:41):
becomes much easier to guard, and that's been causing a
bunch of problems for them. Not only this series, it's
been it's been a problem really for the last year
and a half. It's one of the reasons they weren't
able to win the championship last year. The bass stops.
(30:02):
And when the bass stops against a team like the
Miami Heat, that's what they do.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
They muddy things up.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
The ball stops, they load up their boxes and elbows,
and now you're taking tough shots. You miss a couple
of those tough shots, and the Miami Heat come down.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
They hit a couple threes.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Max Shrews hit a three, Kevin Love hits a three,
and now the game starts to turn. At some point,
I do also ask the question, when is the Miami
Heat going to allow excuse me, when is the Boston
Celtics going to stop Jimmy Butler from going to his
right hand. Jimmy Butler will go all the way from
(30:44):
the left side of the floor and somehow end up
in the right corner shooting the mid range jumper, and
I just cannot understand for the life of me, how
they just keep letting him get to his right hand.
He's going right, he's getting to his right hand. He's
very good at it, very tough to stop it. At
some point you have to stop it. Like he's getting
(31:05):
to his right hand and he's dominated. I thought, Bam,
I to buy you stepped up. Bam came out super aggressive.
And with him coming out super aggressive like that, I
think it's very important because with the Boss and Celtics
and now starting Robert Williams, they're starting him so he
can roam. They're starting him so he can up the muck,
up the floor, make it tougher for the Miami Heat
(31:29):
to score. With Bam starting the game and being aggressive
as he is, it keeps Robert Williams committed to him
and so all of a sudden he can't wrong. It's
also wearing him down. Remember, Robert Williams is not in
peak condition. He has not played a ton of games
this year, he hasn't played a ton of minutes this year.
In hopes that once you get to the playoffs you
(31:50):
can rely on him more and as we know he's
had the knee is he's been dealing with the knee issue,
so over the course of time, that wears them, wears
him down. And I think, sure enough, when you look
at the second half of the game, it was a
much less active Robert Williams on both sides of the ball.
He was very active on the offensive side of the ball,
offensive rebounds, dives, lobs in the first half. Second half
(32:13):
not so active, and I think the Miami Heat wore
him down with a very aggressive Bam out of by you,
And I think it's extremely important that in this series
BAM continues to be aggressive because if he doesn't, it's
going to allow Robert Williams to really muck up the
(32:34):
floor versus the Miami Heat offense, which hurts you because
Jimmy Butler's lives in the area where he'd be mucking
up at and if if you take that away from Jimmy,
it's going to make it a lot tougher for the
Miami Heat to score the basketball.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
So I think it's very important.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
That's where your offense is helping your defense, and I
think Bam is doing a really good job up helping
the Miami's defense with his offensive play, it's slowing the
game down. It's not allowing Boston to get out in transition. Now,
Boston went to Rob Williams starting, and I think that
(33:16):
was great for the last game or last series, Robert
Williams starting, although he got off to a really good start.
I think the adjustment that Boston is going to need
to make this series is I think they're going to
need to start Malcolm Brogdon. Malcolm Brognen has been playing
extremely well, and I think inserting him into the lineup,
(33:41):
Malcolm brogen catches, he drives. If not, he moves it.
If not, he shooting it. He makes very quick decisions.
And so adding a guy to the lineup that makes
very quick decisions, it's going to help the flow of
their offense. In turn, I think that helps Jayson Tatum
and Turn. I think that helps Jalen Brown and Turn.
(34:03):
I think you get more catch and shoe situations from
Al Horford open catching shooting. He's been shooting a lot
of them really fast. I think you get more open
catching shoots because Malcolm Brogden is what Malcolm Brogden is.
A fence bender. Malcolm Brogden puts pressure on your defense.
He bends that fence. He bends it, and now you
(34:24):
have the Miami Heat. So you use the Miami Heat.
You use what they're great at against them. They swarm
the ball. So if Malcolm Brogden can swarm and he
can make plays, which he can. He drives the paint,
he gets the swarm, he make plays. He's now kicking
out to those shooters. Your offense keeps moving. It's gonna
be very important that Boston moves the Miami Heat defense
(34:47):
and their offense keeps moving, or else Miami will muck
the game up. Miami will win this series if Boston
cannot get more movement into their offense, because you're playing
right into the hands of the Miami Heat. And as
long as you play into their hands, they're gonna beat
you because that's what they do. So that's gonna be
(35:10):
a very important one. Another thing is how are the
Miami Heat keeping this run going? And I think there's
there's two answers to their to that question. Jimmy Butler
and Miami Heat culture. Those are the two answers to
that question. Eric Sposer has been incredible. That falls under
(35:32):
Heat culture, right, So I'm not taking anything away from
Eric Spolcher. He's sposures, He's been great. But their culture,
guys being ready to go, guys stepping out there, every
guy who comes on the floor, they don't make they
don't have effort related mistakes, and right now that's more
important than ever. You are not allowed to make effort
(35:53):
related mistakes. With the Miami Heat. Max Strus is playing
good basketball. Gave Vincent is playing good bass basketball. Cody
Martin is playing good basketball, could be Caleb Martin. Whichever Martin,
I'm sorry, I mean no disrespect. They're twins. I can confused.
Caleb Martin, I get confused. I do apologize about that,
(36:14):
but he's playing good basketball. Kyle Lowry off the bench
is playing incredible basketball. Kevin Love and the starting lineup
is playing good basketball. So if they can't get if
the Boston Celtics do not get their offense moving, they
will lose this series. They have to stop playing unto
(36:38):
right into the Miami He's hands stop the ball. As
long as you stop the ball won't work. I'm sorry, Jackson.
I know Jackson don't want to hear that, but you know,
as far as the Boston Celtics will lose if they
don't start moving to basketball. But Sham's reported that the
Warriors that they there has been no significant extension talks
(37:02):
as of late, and the Warriors are bracing and Bob
Myers are bracing too, for a separation.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
I tweeted that sucks.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
That does suck, because again, as I told you all,
Bob is one of the guys that I roll in
with that I've.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Been on this journey with for eleven years, and we've all.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Been plugging away each and every year to try to
deliver championships.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
What makes us go, That's what we're all in it for.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
And so to know that there's a possibility that he
may not be here does not sit well with me.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
It's frustrating. Number one.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Most importantly, I've built a friendship relationship with Bob Myers
that even if he is gone, when I'm gone, both
of us no longer here, Steph no longer here, Like
those days will come once upon a time at some
point because you can't play basketball forever, that relationship will
(38:01):
still be like this. That is a relationship that I've
built that will last for the rest of my life.
Someone I could finde in, someone I trust and so
to note that like he may not be here like
that sucks. That hurts because I've appreciated going to work
with him every day for the last eleven years and
the things that he's taught me. I think in life
(38:24):
we all need people who hold us accountable. And he
holds me accountable at a totally different standard. And he
don't hold me accountable like, oh, I'm the general manager
of the team, like.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
That's trash.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
He holds me accountable as a man, He holds me
accountable as a leader. He holds me accountable from a
friendship standpoint. And I couldn't I couldn't be more thankful.
And I think in life it is so important to
have friends that are willing to hold you accountable, that
are willing to tell you that your shit stinks. And
Bob if your shit stinks. Bob is one of those guys.
(39:00):
He don't know how to lie. Like he'll be like ah,
like he'll come into a conversation like trying to figure
out how to like say this to you without just
blurbing like the truth in your face, and before you
know it, it's just like blah, like there's the truth
for you, and you deal with it how.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
You deal with it.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
But one thing you do is you respect it because
he's just going to give you the truth no matter what.
And for me in my life, that's so huge. You know,
we all get in these positions, Like when we get
into positions that we're in, you run out of people.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
That's willing to tell you the truth.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Because how may that affect them, like it may affect
what you're doing for them, It may affect like it
can affect and so you start to run out of
people that are willing to tell you the truth. And
for me in my life, he's been one of those
people that I have that will tell me the truth
in any situation, but yet almost like a almost like
a parent figure, and like, yep, that's the truth, and
(39:55):
here's where you fucked up at Now here's how we're
going to change it.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Here's how we fix it.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
By the way, I'm in this with you, I'm walking
through it with you, and Hair's our plan. Here's what
we're doing. Hair's how you can be better, not like oh,
you messed that up. You're out of here, get out
of my face. Like no, HER's now that's where you
went wrong. Maybe you could have done that this way,
next time, you can do that this way. Hair's how
we get better. And so I'm so appreciative of him.
(40:21):
So to see that news, it's not any news that
like I didn't know, you know, like I knew that
that's a possibility. He doesn't. He has not signed a
contract excision and his contract is up in two weeks,
so I know that's a possibility or a month or
whatever it is. I know it's a possibility, Like I've
(40:43):
known that all year.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
But it's like.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
If someone has an illness, if they then go on
and not survive, it doesn't make the blow less because
you knew they had an illness and you're still hurt
that you no longer have that person. So just because
I've known this doesn't make the blow less. If that
(41:09):
was to happen and then you start seeing that like
come out like, it doesn't make it less of a
blow because you may lose one of your guys that's
been in and with you the ups the downs, it's
been in it.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
So that sucks.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
And quite frankly, I hope something has worked out and
Bob is back next year. I also hope I'm back
next year. But that's a whole nother story for another day.
Until next time. That's a wrap from this episode of
The Draymond Green Show.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
Geez
The volume. What's up, everybody, Welcome back to the Draymond
Green show Man. This Conference Finals has been fun to watch,
although I must say it's annoying to watch, and I
(00:22):
will continue to remind you of that. But in saying that,
as a basketball fan, it's always fun to watch guys
and in the battle, you know, just trying to do
what you can to put yourself in a better position
to be the team that's moving on. And so we're
gonna break down this game. As you know, we're gonna
(00:44):
break down this series. We'll talk about both series. Really
really really locked into this Nuggets Lakers series, but I'm
locked into both. We'll talk through both of them, but
let's get right into it. The Nuggets take a two
zero lead, beating the one O eight to one oh
three in Game two, a game that the Lakers pretty
(01:07):
much dominated for majority of the game. If you are
the Denver Nuggets, I saw coach Mo Coach Malone comments
about being up one to zero and everybody talking about
the Lakers and how their adjustment has won them the series,
and he said, We're we're sitting here at one oh
(01:29):
and everybody's pretty much talking like we lost the series.
And I'll tell you this, one of the worst things
in the playoffs that can happen is when you blow
a team out in game one and then you come
back game two.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
It's always a natural letdown.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
That team that you blew off is pissed off, blew
out is pissed off. You're naturally just gonna relax just
a little bit, and that's just enough to make game
two really tough and game two really tough to and
not not only really tough, but makes it even tougher
(02:07):
to win in an already tough environment to win in
the playoffs, it's hard to win playoff games, and that
makes it a lot tougher. So when you leave game
one like the Nuggets did, where everyone's essentially talking about
the Lakers as if they won game one, it allows
you not to naturally relax. Now, in saying that, you
(02:29):
look at the start of game two and you say
one of two things, you still relaxed, or the Lakers
just came out with their adjustments that they made, which
we'll get into with the adjustments that they made, pissed off,
they came out guns blazing, in fact, they did.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
How did that happen? Though?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
How did So, as you all know, doesn't take a
rocket scientist to figure out that Jared Vanderbilt went back
into the Star lineup for Dennis Shrewder, something that we
spoke about a couple days ago that could possibly happen.
Although I didn't think it would be Shrewter to come
out of the lineup. I thought it would be d
(03:17):
Loo to come out of the lineup. They went Shrewter
and that was that. Now we also saw Lebron, James Garden,
Joker a lot more than we did in Game one.
One thing that I noticed that the Lakers was doing
(03:38):
is they went Ruie. They win Lebron, they went a
d They did not give Joker a steady diet of anything.
They gave him different looks at some point. At times
le Bron was just fronting with Ad on the backside.
At times Ad was guarded straight up. At times they
sent the double team. They did a bunch of different things.
(03:58):
Now you'd say, all right, logically, you should go back
to the film and see which one of those worked, right,
Which one of those were stifling Joker, which one of
those were what which coverage we were in when we
were making our runs. Quite frankly, I think most of
(04:19):
them worked. Actually think most other coverage is most study
adjustments they made on Joker work. I thought when they
were sending the double team, and I'm gonna get into
a couple specific plays, but when they were sending double team,
I thought it was good. I thought they invited the
first pass out. And so for those who don't understand,
(04:41):
if you go, we call it a fire, which is
if Joker catches the ball on the post, the first
wing that got fires, which means they go on the
trap Joker on the block or right off the block
where they were trapping them, which then puts you into
what we were describing last game, or what I was
explaining the last game, which is a full rotation. Next
(05:01):
guy goes over, next guy rotates over. Guy who's leaving
the trap fires out to the weak side corner or
to the man in the dunker, but most often not
you're firing out to the weak side dunker because you
want to keep either Bron or Ad on that week's
side dunker man, which is Aaron Gordon. Because if you
(05:24):
if you fire out of the trap, which is usually
a guard because the guard was the man rotating down
on the trap. If you're not rotate out of it,
and that guy just rotates to Aaron Gordon and the dunker.
Good luck Aaron Gordon's office and rebound and Aaron Gordon's
dunk in the basketball. So you actually need to keep
Bron and Ad in that spot for rebounding position, so
that guard is then that guard then needs to get
(05:46):
all the way out to the weak side corner. They
were successful in guarding that way. They didn't give up
many back doors out of it. They didn't give up
many shots out of it until they did one play
in particular. It was at a very very it was
(06:06):
a kind of a turning point in the game, and
they fired. KCP was right there on the wing. They
kick it out to KCP. Rotation doesn't get there fast enough.
KCP hits a three that takes the lead from forty
two to thirty five. It makes the lead forty two
(06:28):
to thirty five. Takes the score from to forty two
thirty five. The significance of that, and so, as I
told y'all, for me, I like to educate on the
game of basketball. And so one thing that I understand
people don't realize is how to actually watch a game
and how to watch film, and so when I'm watching film,
(06:49):
when I'm watching the game, I'm also looking at turning points.
And a big turning point in the game was the
Lebron mishap on the dunk, because that takes an eight
point lead to a ten point league. You get a
time out there, everything's rolling right, Bron bobbles the ball,
(07:14):
ball goes out of bounds. At that time, I think,
if I'm not mistaken, it was forty to thirty two
and ball goes out of bounds. Nuggets come back down,
they don't score. Lakers come down, don't score, back don't
score Nuggets. Lakers come back down and they score. But
the rhythm is off, like it's no longer the game's
(07:34):
no longer flowing like it was flowing leading up to that.
And then you get the Joker. You get the Joker
kickout three from KCP. Now that gets KCP going because
if you remember, KCP had two quick files, didn't have
a rhythm. Now you get the other guys going. See,
(07:57):
initially Joker was scoring, but he weren't getting any assists.
And remember we spoke about this Joker not having assists.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
That is the key.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
At one point in the game, he had twelve two
and two and the Lakers were dominated. Then he had
fourteen two and two, Lakers were dominating. And so now
the game stops, the flow stops, and that turns to
the advantage at that time to the Denver Nuggets forty
two to thirty five. That happens, and then they start
(08:31):
to walk the Lakers down. Now they were doing a
great job of keeping all the other guys out and
taking Jokers passing away, and towards the end of the third,
end of the second quarter, I'd say maybe about five
six minutes to go, the Nuggets started to create transition opportunities.
(08:51):
And once they started to create transition opportunities, that then
opened the game up for Joker. Now all of a sudden,
he's getting assisted in transition. The assist total goes from
two to five really quick, and now you're playing a
totally different ball game. So now they get they start
to get out in transition, and they start to make
plays in transition. Jokers gotten loose. Good luck from there.
(09:15):
Now another thing happened and Denver Nuggets, you may want
to talk to your ball boy about this. I'm just
watching the game and they're getting out in transition, it's
two minutes to go in the half, right around two minutes,
maybe a little under two minutes, and.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
The ball goes out of bound.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
The ball boy stops the game by walking over there
and wiping up sweat off the floor, so the referee
has to pause, and at this time the Denver Nuggets
has taken control of the game. What that allowed to
happen is, if you all don't know, Joker runs to
(09:55):
the referee, he gets the ball out fast. If nobody's looking,
he's gonna throw a long pass for home run layup.
If not, still get the ball out fast, and you
can push the pace because the defense is walking back.
They're not set. You push the pace. Now they're like, oh, oh,
we gotta play defense. And now it's essentially just like
you're in transition playing against the scrambling defense, which is
(10:16):
how they had started taking control of the game in transition.
Lakers transition defense has been bad all year. First team,
their second team transition defense has been bad. They were
number one defense after the All Star break with the
new team the new roster, they were still twenty fifth
(10:38):
in transition defense, So that has been an area of
concern for the Lakers all year, and it's showing up
in a major way in this series. As it's shown
up at times in the previous two series, it's really
showing up in these first two games of this series.
Plus you got altitude, let's not forget about that. So
now they end up playing against a set defense and
(10:58):
they have started making their run. In making their run,
the guy stops the game. They come down, they don't score,
Lakers didn't score to make it fifty one to forty eight.
Got another stop on the joker miss Lakers come down,
doesn't score, Nuggets come down, don't score again. Ruey then
(11:20):
makes it fifty three to forty eight. They scored on
a couple free throws. Those are run breakers, and so
I hope they can identify that the guy who actually
broke their run up was their ball boy going out
to wipe the sweat up off the floor. Hey, my man,
when the game goes down the court, then you come
out and wipe that up. The game's going down the floor.
It's one thing if they're staying on that they're staying
(11:42):
on that side of the floor, then yes, safety of course,
but they're about to take off down the floor. Let
them take off, then go wipe that up so they
can get their transition opportunity. That really stopped the game
because Joker had three assists during that two to three
minute span and they all coming off transition, and he
had one off the cut where he caught it in
(12:03):
the post. He lobbed it up to Bruce Brown. Bruce
Brown made an incredible catching, incredible finish. But other than that,
everything was coming out of transition for them, and even
a couple of plays where he didn't get the assist,
but the hockey assists for those that don't know what
the hockey assist is, that's how passed it to Steph.
Steph passed it to Clay. I his Steph, he hit Clay.
I don't get an assist for that. STEP's getting assist,
(12:25):
But in hockey, both guys get the assists, so we.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Call that the hockey assist.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
So he had a couple hockey assists during that stretch
as well that won't quite show up in the stat shee,
but that really stopped their run going into the break,
Gay the lake or something going into the break. And
now you come out of the break if you're the
Nuggets and you're like all right, we made our run.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
And it's one thing.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
When you make that run if they're abody to take
that from forty nine to forty eight to fifty to
forty nine.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
When you make that run and you don't end.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Up head, that's like a if you're in a boxing mash,
that's just like another jab right to slow the God down.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Another job, and.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
You're like, man, I just put a good combo together.
God keep hitting me with a job to slow me down.
That's a job in the heavyweight fight. As we're watching
a heavyweight fight, it's a job that the job kept
working and so that slows them down.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
Going into the half.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
They come out of the half, doesn't play great in
the third quarter either, and they eventually figures it out
in the fourth. Another key moment that I thought in
the game in this segment as well as as Bron.
They were up ten, the Lakers were up ten, and
Bron was at the score table. By the time Bron
(13:46):
was able to check in, they were up too and
Darvinham had to take a time out. And I thought
that was really important because, as I've told you all,
I think Bron has to really control this series, dominating
the basketball, getting them into the things that they want
to because Denver has a good defense, but they also
have a couple holes on their defense that you can't
(14:07):
exploit if you get guys in the right position. And
bron being caught at the score sable from where the
lead was ten points all the way down to it
was two, the entire momentum of the game change and
I thought that was a really key moment.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Denver goes on the a to Zho run and that
really allowed.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
The Nuggets to get their fit, get their get their footing,
allowed them to change the game, allowed them to get
out in transition, and now they're rolling. So you in
the game with Joker with twenty three seventeen and twelve assists.
Didn't quite get thirty, but he got twelve assists, So
in turn, you ends up you end up allowing all
(14:51):
the other guys to get going. Now, what ultimately ended
up winning the Nuggets the game was Jamal Murray's performance
in the fourth quarter. Jamal Murray had twenty three of
his thirty seven points in the fourth quarter and totally
took the game over. He was five to six from
(15:11):
three in the fourth quarter. Lakers scored twenty four points
in the fourth quarter. Jamal Murray had twenty three points
in the fourth quarter, and if you watch it, all
of the buckets really came on switches. They're switching Jamal
Murray's getting to his shot. He had a couple buckets
on ad. He had a couple buckets on Brown, which
(15:32):
goes back to my theory. This is a Jared Vanderbilt series.
Jared Vanderbilt has to play minutes, and I know the
thing is going to be oh but they needed shooting
on the floor, but Jared Vanderbilt has never provided you shooting.
So it's almost like, oh man, the other guys are
struggling with shooting the basketball. We need to get more
(15:53):
shooting on the floor. But your guys who shoot for
you are struggling to shoot basketball. There's not really anyone
else your roster that's changing that. Maybe you go Malie Beasley.
I don't know. Austin Reaves has been shooting the lights ole,
but guys have really been struggling to shoot for them
all all postseason long. Like this isn't like, oh man,
(16:16):
they just went cold for the most part, with the
exception of maybe two three games, they've been cold from three.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
They're not a great three point shooting team. That's just
not their strength.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
So to all of a sudden, you go, oh man,
we need to get more shooting. Denver hasn't necessarily shown
the ability to really stop you from getting to the rim.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
They haven't really shown that ability. So I'm not.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Sure if what everybody is making of the shooting is
the actual thing. Again, the Denver Nuggets have been rolling
with Aaron Gordon who hasn't provided any shooting at all.
Now you can say, oh, yeah, but Jamal Murray was
hitting shots and other guys were hitting shots. Yeah, but
they're still giving you a guy to help off of
to cover all of that and to take some of
those shots away. So maybe it's not the shooting, and
(17:09):
maybe it's Jared Vanderbilt you need in there to take
Jamal Murray away, to take Jamal Murray out the game,
because guess what, he had a very tough first quarter,
He had a very rough first half. Jared Vanderbilt played
more in the first quarter in the first half, So
I actually think this is a Vanderbilt series, and I
(17:30):
think Dennis Schroeder has been very important for this team.
Jamal Murray may not be the matchup for Dennis Schroeder,
I still think Dennis Schroeder can affect I still think
Dennis Schroeder can affect their.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Defensive outcome.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
For instance, say if I got Jared Vanderbilt on the
floor and he's guarding Jamal Murray, and I got Dennis
Schroder on the floor, say he's guarden KCP. He's going
to get underneath KCP. Doesn't allow KCP to put the
ball on the floor at all. Because Dennis Schroeder is
a really good defender, and if your handle isn't absolutely incredible,
(18:08):
he's going to get to some of that. So you
take KCP coming out of the corner downhill to his
right hand.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
You kind of take that away.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Michael Porter Junior doesn't really take advantage of his size
and mismatches. He may go to the mid post, but
if he goes to the mid post and you crowd
the paint, then he's taking tough shots, which I'd prefer
to Michael Porter to take tough shots and some of
the things that they've been getting to. So you could
(18:36):
put Dennis Schroeder there as well. I'm not saying you
need to take Dinnis Strouder atlantup or uh less than
its minutes, because I think that would be the wrong
thing to do. But I do think you have, like
it's absolutely necessary that Jared vander Will plays more minutes.
That is what will allow them to better guard Jamal Murray.
(19:00):
That's two games in a row now Jamal Murray has
had thirty points. He's got to be a priority, has
to be a priority. And I mean if he's not
a priority, he's now shown you that two times and
two nights he can beat you.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
AD didn't have a great game.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
I thought he played a really good game, really good
floor game. Stats can't always be measured by scoring. Finishing
game eighteen points, fourteen rebounds on four for fifteen shooting.
Why it's very important for AD to have good games,
but not even so much have good games, but be
(19:43):
extremely aggressive. As Joker is his matchup, you have to
make him work on both sides of the floor. The
Lakers are capable of doing that because they have AD.
AD didn't play a very good game or a very
aggressive game. I should say it's like I said, I
thought he played a good game, but he wasn't extremely
(20:03):
aggressive on the offensive end, which allows Joker to sit back,
which allows him to get a little more rest. It
doesn't put as much pressure on him as that doesn't
put as much pressure on their defense. And so I
thought the Lakers needed a much more aggressive AD. They're
going to continue to need a much more aggressive AD,
not only to make Joker defend, but I also don't
(20:25):
think they have the team to where AD can't be
aggressive and they can still win. Now you can say, hey,
they were winning the entire game and Jamal Murray got going.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
And yes, that's the fact.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
But if you have Anthony Davis being extremely aggressive when
you are winning the entire game, all of a sudden,
your lead isn't to the whole game, It isn't for
the whole game. Yeah, you get it to ten and
it goes right back down. Now you start to extend
that lead because AD is playing aggressive, you put it
a little a little more out of reach. You make
it a little tougher for them to make a comeback.
So I thought they needed a much more aggressive AD,
(20:58):
and they're going to continue to need that as this
series goes on. Let's get into a couple of things
that happened during the game. The DNS Will Russell flagrant file.
I thought it was extremely soft. He goes up to
block the shot. This is the playoffs, like flagrant foul.
(21:21):
And then everybody say, oh man, the NBA is soft.
And as I've told you all before, I agree, but
we blame it on players. We say, oh man, these
guys are soft for that, and we blame it on players. No,
no player did did did anything for that flagran file.
Quite frankly, I don't think the player who was given
(21:43):
a flagran file should have been given a flag and file.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
But that doesn't make players soft.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
The rules are a lot softer, but I can't necessarily say,
oh man, guys are softer because they call a flagran file.
So like, if that's a flager file, like is that
what we're selling?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Or like do we need to go revisit.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
These flagrant file rules, which quite frankly I'm in favor of, Like,
let's let's revisit these flagran file rules because I just
cannot agree that that's a flagrant file. Like how do you, like,
like do you softly file and give up a layup?
Or do you make sure you don't give up to
three point play? And so I wasn't I wasn't. I
(22:31):
wasn't too thrilled with the Flager file. As you can
see by my tweet, that's soft. That is soft, soft,
very soft flagran file. Can we be better with that? Like, again,
I'm watching the game as a fan right now, I'm
not watching as a player.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
I'm watching as a fan right now. That's like, I.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Don't know if that's what I'm paying my cable bill
to see. I don't really pay cable bill to watch movies.
I pay cable bill to watch sports. I'm not sure
that that's what I'm paying to see. Like, come on, Like,
it's the playoffs. It's supposed to be harder, it's supposed
to be tougher.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Maybe you all think differently, and maybe that's why I
always end up with a bunch of flaking file points.
But I am just not rolling that. That's a flag
and file. I can't roll with that. And going into
Game three, a couple of things that I think both
teams need to do differently. I think the Lakers, as
I've told you, need to play more Jared Vanderbilt. I
(23:30):
also think the Lakers need to get into more screen
and roll the way the way the way that Denver
is guarding the screen and row is they're sitting in
the middle and they're pulling over like extremely hard, which
is actually the way we started off the series. They're
(23:52):
pulling over extremely hard, forcing you to make the advanced past,
and they're begetting the late contests on the shooters. However,
I think one adjustment for the Lakers would be to
move that pick and roll over a little bit more
like move it down the floor a little bit more
so it's a lower angle pick and roll as opposed
(24:13):
to the high angle pick and roll that they're getting.
They're gonna need D'Angel Russell to play better, and in
particular to take that away like to that coverage. D'Angel
Russell is the guy that they have on their roster
that can make shots out of the pick and roll
against that coverage. Dennis Schroeder can also get down hillmore.
(24:34):
I didn't think Dennis Schroeder was aggressive enough offensively, and
I think they're gonna need him to be more aggressive
out of that pick and roll to keep that defense honest.
I also think that will allow them to get down
Hill Moore and take advantage of the lack of rim
protection that the Denver Nuggets do not have. There was
(24:56):
a time where I thought they also needed to go
more AD and Lebron pick and roll.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
If you go Ad Lebron.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Pick and roll, tight pick and roll on one side
of the floor, that puts Joker in a tough situation
because now you got Bron coming downhill. If he helps,
you got Ad on a drop off. Ad can either
get all the way to the rim or shoot this
little floater. You put Austin Reeves in the slot so
that guy can't pull all the way over and help.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Austin Reeves is shooting the light side of the ball.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
If I put Austin Reeves in the slot, if that
guy pulls all the way over to help, I'm hitting
Austin Reeves.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Austin Reeves been knocking it down.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
What that also does is that put Michael Porter Junior back,
where as the bottom low man rotating over on a
driving Lebron James or a diving Anthony Davis. Now you're
allowed to manipulate their defense a little bit more. You're
able to get the pieces where you want the pieces
in order to allow you the highest level of success.
(25:57):
And so I think they needed to go more of
that and again that goes along with the theory that
Lebron James has to have the ball in his hands
in order for them to win this series. The reason
and the most important reason that it is vital that
Lebron James has the ball in his hands throughout this
series is because Joker has the ball in his hands
(26:20):
the entire series. Joker doesn't have it. Jamal Murray is
making the decision, but more often than not, Joker has it,
which means as if Lebron James has the ball all
the time outside of the pick and roll that I
think they can take advantage of it at times. Now
you got the chess match Joker versus Lebron, which is
(26:42):
needed because that's what they're doing.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Lakers.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
You have a guy who's made an entire career out
of doing that thing. You need it more than ever
right now because that's all they're doing. They're giving the
ball to their MVP, They're allowing him to make plays.
You need to allow Lebron James to make plays to
manipulate that defense seize the court differently than most, if
not all most, with the exception of a few, it
(27:10):
would be all the exception of a few people.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
You need that, so.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
You're back at home a little different no altitude. I
expect to see forty minutes from Lebron, forty plus minutes,
forty plus minutes from Ad, and I think they need
to take advantage of that pick and roll with Lebron,
James and Ad put Joker in a tough spot. You
possibly get him in foul trouble. That possibly changed the
game for the Lakers. I think that's going to be
(27:38):
very important for them. And if I am the Denver Nuggets,
if they go, if they go Lebron on Joker, which
the Lakers did and I thought it was very successful,
I'm going to put Lebron in more pick and roll,
actually making him have to guard the pick and roll
(27:58):
as a big because he's out regard to the pick
and roll as a big.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
It's very uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
He's doing a good job of it when he has
to do it, but it's a very uncomfortable space. And
if we just go at that go at that go at,
that can we get Lebron to make mistakes and can
we put Ad in a tough position on the backside.
Now I have Joker in the pocket, I have Aaron
Gordon on the backside. Can we put Ad in a
position to make some mistakes? Can Joker use his flosure?
(28:25):
Can he get some passes in space? I think that helps.
I think they're also going to need to continue to
or run Aaron Gordon in more pick and rolls because
they clearly need him on the defensive side of the floor,
so they can't really afford to take him off the floor.
So how can you use that against him spacing For
the Lakers from a defensive perspective, offensive perspective, they need
(28:46):
to the Nuggets need to bring Aaron Gordon into more
pick and rolls.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
We'll see if they do. Ultimately. I got the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Coming home winning Game three, making this a two to
one series, and we'll talk about Game four when it's
time to talk about Game four after we check out
what happens in Game three and we have a better
understanding of what's going on there and moving on the Nuggets.
Excuse me, the Celtics versus the Heat. The Heat are
(29:16):
up one to zero on the Celtics with a one
twenty three to one sixteen win on Wednesday. Why did
Boston collapse in the second half, which has been a
theme for the Boston Celtics. Quite frankly, I think the
Boston Celtics offense stops way too often, like the bass stops,
(29:41):
becomes much easier to guard, and that's been causing a
bunch of problems for them. Not only this series, it's
been it's been a problem really for the last year
and a half. It's one of the reasons they weren't
able to win the championship last year. The bass stops.
(30:02):
And when the bass stops against a team like the
Miami Heat, that's what they do.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
They muddy things up.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
The ball stops, they load up their boxes and elbows,
and now you're taking tough shots. You miss a couple
of those tough shots, and the Miami Heat come down.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
They hit a couple threes.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Max Shrews hit a three, Kevin Love hits a three,
and now the game starts to turn. At some point,
I do also ask the question, when is the Miami
Heat going to allow excuse me, when is the Boston
Celtics going to stop Jimmy Butler from going to his
right hand. Jimmy Butler will go all the way from
(30:44):
the left side of the floor and somehow end up
in the right corner shooting the mid range jumper, and
I just cannot understand for the life of me, how
they just keep letting him get to his right hand.
He's going right, he's getting to his right hand. He's
very good at it, very tough to stop it. At
some point you have to stop it. Like he's getting
(31:05):
to his right hand and he's dominated. I thought, Bam,
I to buy you stepped up. Bam came out super aggressive.
And with him coming out super aggressive like that, I
think it's very important because with the Boss and Celtics
and now starting Robert Williams, they're starting him so he
can roam. They're starting him so he can up the muck,
up the floor, make it tougher for the Miami Heat
(31:29):
to score. With Bam starting the game and being aggressive
as he is, it keeps Robert Williams committed to him
and so all of a sudden he can't wrong. It's
also wearing him down. Remember, Robert Williams is not in
peak condition. He has not played a ton of games
this year, he hasn't played a ton of minutes this year.
In hopes that once you get to the playoffs you
(31:50):
can rely on him more and as we know he's
had the knee is he's been dealing with the knee issue,
so over the course of time, that wears them, wears
him down. And I think, sure enough, when you look
at the second half of the game, it was a
much less active Robert Williams on both sides of the ball.
He was very active on the offensive side of the ball,
offensive rebounds, dives, lobs in the first half. Second half
(32:13):
not so active, and I think the Miami Heat wore
him down with a very aggressive Bam out of by you,
And I think it's extremely important that in this series
BAM continues to be aggressive because if he doesn't, it's
going to allow Robert Williams to really muck up the
(32:34):
floor versus the Miami Heat offense, which hurts you because
Jimmy Butler's lives in the area where he'd be mucking
up at and if if you take that away from Jimmy,
it's going to make it a lot tougher for the
Miami Heat to score the basketball.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
So I think it's very important.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
That's where your offense is helping your defense, and I
think Bam is doing a really good job up helping
the Miami's defense with his offensive play, it's slowing the
game down. It's not allowing Boston to get out in transition. Now,
Boston went to Rob Williams starting, and I think that
(33:16):
was great for the last game or last series, Robert
Williams starting, although he got off to a really good start.
I think the adjustment that Boston is going to need
to make this series is I think they're going to
need to start Malcolm Brogdon. Malcolm Brognen has been playing
extremely well, and I think inserting him into the lineup,
(33:41):
Malcolm brogen catches, he drives. If not, he moves it.
If not, he shooting it. He makes very quick decisions.
And so adding a guy to the lineup that makes
very quick decisions, it's going to help the flow of
their offense. In turn, I think that helps Jayson Tatum
and Turn. I think that helps Jalen Brown and Turn.
(34:03):
I think you get more catch and shoe situations from
Al Horford open catching shooting. He's been shooting a lot
of them really fast. I think you get more open
catching shoots because Malcolm Brogden is what Malcolm Brogden is.
A fence bender. Malcolm Brogden puts pressure on your defense.
He bends that fence. He bends it, and now you
(34:24):
have the Miami Heat. So you use the Miami Heat.
You use what they're great at against them. They swarm
the ball. So if Malcolm Brogden can swarm and he
can make plays, which he can. He drives the paint,
he gets the swarm, he make plays. He's now kicking
out to those shooters. Your offense keeps moving. It's gonna
be very important that Boston moves the Miami Heat defense
(34:47):
and their offense keeps moving, or else Miami will muck
the game up. Miami will win this series if Boston
cannot get more movement into their offense, because you're playing
right into the hands of the Miami Heat. And as
long as you play into their hands, they're gonna beat
you because that's what they do. So that's gonna be
(35:10):
a very important one. Another thing is how are the
Miami Heat keeping this run going? And I think there's
there's two answers to their to that question. Jimmy Butler
and Miami Heat culture. Those are the two answers to
that question. Eric Sposer has been incredible. That falls under
(35:32):
Heat culture, right, So I'm not taking anything away from
Eric Spolcher. He's sposures, He's been great. But their culture,
guys being ready to go, guys stepping out there, every
guy who comes on the floor, they don't make they
don't have effort related mistakes, and right now that's more
important than ever. You are not allowed to make effort
(35:53):
related mistakes. With the Miami Heat. Max Strus is playing
good basketball. Gave Vincent is playing good bass basketball. Cody
Martin is playing good basketball, could be Caleb Martin. Whichever Martin,
I'm sorry, I mean no disrespect. They're twins. I can confused.
Caleb Martin, I get confused. I do apologize about that,
(36:14):
but he's playing good basketball. Kyle Lowry off the bench
is playing incredible basketball. Kevin Love and the starting lineup
is playing good basketball. So if they can't get if
the Boston Celtics do not get their offense moving, they
will lose this series. They have to stop playing unto
(36:38):
right into the Miami He's hands stop the ball. As
long as you stop the ball won't work. I'm sorry, Jackson.
I know Jackson don't want to hear that, but you know,
as far as the Boston Celtics will lose if they
don't start moving to basketball. But Sham's reported that the
Warriors that they there has been no significant extension talks
(37:02):
as of late, and the Warriors are bracing and Bob
Myers are bracing too, for a separation.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
I tweeted that sucks.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
That does suck, because again, as I told you all,
Bob is one of the guys that I roll in
with that I've.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Been on this journey with for eleven years, and we've all.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Been plugging away each and every year to try to
deliver championships.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
What makes us go, That's what we're all in it for.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
And so to know that there's a possibility that he
may not be here does not sit well with me.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
It's frustrating. Number one.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Most importantly, I've built a friendship relationship with Bob Myers
that even if he is gone, when I'm gone, both
of us no longer here, Steph no longer here, Like
those days will come once upon a time at some
point because you can't play basketball forever, that relationship will
(38:01):
still be like this. That is a relationship that I've
built that will last for the rest of my life.
Someone I could finde in, someone I trust and so
to note that like he may not be here like
that sucks. That hurts because I've appreciated going to work
with him every day for the last eleven years and
the things that he's taught me. I think in life
(38:24):
we all need people who hold us accountable. And he
holds me accountable at a totally different standard. And he
don't hold me accountable like, oh, I'm the general manager
of the team, like.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
That's trash.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
He holds me accountable as a man, He holds me
accountable as a leader. He holds me accountable from a
friendship standpoint. And I couldn't I couldn't be more thankful.
And I think in life it is so important to
have friends that are willing to hold you accountable, that
are willing to tell you that your shit stinks. And
Bob if your shit stinks. Bob is one of those guys.
(39:00):
He don't know how to lie. Like he'll be like ah,
like he'll come into a conversation like trying to figure
out how to like say this to you without just
blurbing like the truth in your face, and before you
know it, it's just like blah, like there's the truth
for you, and you deal with it how.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
You deal with it.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
But one thing you do is you respect it because
he's just going to give you the truth no matter what.
And for me in my life, that's so huge. You know,
we all get in these positions, Like when we get
into positions that we're in, you run out of people.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
That's willing to tell you the truth.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Because how may that affect them, like it may affect
what you're doing for them, It may affect like it
can affect and so you start to run out of
people that are willing to tell you the truth. And
for me in my life, he's been one of those
people that I have that will tell me the truth
in any situation, but yet almost like a almost like
a parent figure, and like, yep, that's the truth, and
(39:55):
here's where you fucked up at Now here's how we're
going to change it.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
Here's how we fix it.
Speaker 1 (40:00):
By the way, I'm in this with you, I'm walking
through it with you, and Hair's our plan. Here's what
we're doing. Hair's how you can be better, not like oh,
you messed that up. You're out of here, get out
of my face. Like no, HER's now that's where you
went wrong. Maybe you could have done that this way,
next time, you can do that this way. Hair's how
we get better. And so I'm so appreciative of him.
(40:21):
So to see that news, it's not any news that
like I didn't know, you know, like I knew that
that's a possibility. He doesn't. He has not signed a
contract excision and his contract is up in two weeks,
so I know that's a possibility or a month or
whatever it is. I know it's a possibility, Like I've
(40:43):
known that all year.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
But it's like.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
If someone has an illness, if they then go on
and not survive, it doesn't make the blow less because
you knew they had an illness and you're still hurt
that you no longer have that person. So just because
I've known this doesn't make the blow less. If that
(41:09):
was to happen and then you start seeing that like
come out like, it doesn't make it less of a
blow because you may lose one of your guys that's
been in and with you the ups the downs, it's
been in it.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
So that sucks.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
And quite frankly, I hope something has worked out and
Bob is back next year. I also hope I'm back
next year. But that's a whole nother story for another day.
Until next time. That's a wrap from this episode of
The Draymond Green Show.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
Geez
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