April 27, 2025 • 21 mins
Jason breaks down the film on how Steph Curry picked the Houston Rockets apart in the Golden State Warriors huge Game 3 victory without Jimmy Butler. He also discusses how Nikola Jokic was able to even the series for the Denver Nuggets in Game 4 against the Los Angeles Clippers.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. The NBA eighty two game grind is done,
and now the real fun begins. The NBA Playoffs aren't here,
and it's time for all the high stakes drama, clutch moments,
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Speaker 2 (00:14):
I can't wait.
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Speaker 2 (01:45):
Slash audio. All right, well, go to hoops tonight. You're
at the volume me Sunday.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Everybody hopeful that you guys are having a great start
to your weekend, or I should say a great start
to your Sunday. We're gonna be doing some film on
the greatness of Steph Curry and nicolea Jokic. Tonight, I
made some specific callouts on the types of ways that
those guys were attacking last night. I wanted to dive
into the film and look at some specific intricacies in
the way that those two teams led their team to
victory in some must win games on Saturday night. You
(02:23):
guys know the joe before we get started. Subscribe to
the Hoops and Out YouTube channels. You don't miss any
more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at Underscore JCNLTC.
You guys don't show announcements. Don't forget about a podcast
feed wherever get your podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also
super helpful if you leave a rating and review on
that front. Jackson's doing great work on our social media
feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Make sure you guys
follow us there, and last but not least, keep dropping
those mail bag questions and YouTube comments. We can get
(02:43):
to them throughout the remainder of the postseason. All right,
let's talk some basketball. So let's start by looking at
some of the specific ways that Steph broke free against
the Houston Rockets defense. Starting with a transition brush screen
from Cavin Looney, which I thought was really smart. So
as Steph is driving up the floor, here we have
some token ball pressure from Amen Thompson about ready to
(03:04):
meet him at half court. Watch Kevon Looney deliberately run
into a men Thompson's path that allows Steph to get
an angle. Now a men Thompson's body is angled completely sideways.
That allows Steph to hit the gas sweet scoop shot
off the glass over Jalen Green. Just those little things
that Looney and Draymond I've gotten really good at over
(03:24):
the years at finding ways to get Steph additional openings.
This was an example of Steph setting his man up
for a screen. So one of the things I've always
talked about when it comes to setting up your man
for a screen is you want to walk into his
body and give him just a little bit of a
shove before you run off the screen. That creates that
initial bit of separation for the screener to be able
(03:46):
to make contact. And Steph does it in this case
using a give and go. So as you guys can
see here, Steph's going to throw the pass to Quinn
post watch how at this point he's gonna lean into
a men Thompson to get a little bit of initial
Separation's slow it down here, gives him that little shove.
See how he just created that tiny bit of separation
that gives Quentin Posts the angle to set the screen
(04:09):
so that puts him in Thompson in trail position instead
of beating Posts over the top of the screen and
being able to keep Steph in front as long as
he's got Thompson in trail position. Now all of the
pressures on Steven Adams to contain Steph in a one
on one coming downhill, easy crossover, splits the ball screen,
(04:29):
gets into the lane, and how about finishing over Jalen
Green at the rim again.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
With a scoop shot.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Beautiful body positioning from Steph Curry to get open. This
I thought was just a classic example of a shooter
knowing when he's got you dead to rights, and he
knows he's got you dead to rights if you have
your head turned. So Draymond misses the shot. Here there's
an offensive rebound. Look at tari Eason. Tarry Easton knows
he's got Steph, but he's got his back turned. Steph
(04:56):
sees it, sees Tarry turned and cuts back right behind him.
Because Tario had his head turn, he wasn't prepared for
the cut, and Steph was able to get an opening
right there along the right wing. This was Fred van
Vliet was doing a lot of like traditional lock and
trail coverages with Steph, which we'll see a couple of
examples later on in the show. A lot of ball
(05:18):
pressure from Fred and a lot of lock and trail
type of stuff. So Steph is getting ready to run
along this baseline here, but watch just the tiny little
head spin fake before he starts sprinting right here. Boom
turns his head and then goes, and you can literally
see just the slightest hesitation from Fred van Vliet on
the spin. Watch Steph turn his head and then he goes,
(05:39):
and there's just a tiny bit of hesitation that gets
just the tiniest bit of separation that once again creates
a screening angle for Quinton Post just like the MN
Thompson play.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
It gets Fred van Vliet into trail position.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Once he's got Fred van Vliet and trail position, then
he can put him in jail. He's got him in
jail trapped on his backside, keeps him trapped there, and
then this was I thought really savvy little screen from
Quinton Posts. As I mentioned earlier Kevon Looney and Draymond Green.
Over the years, I figured out all these little tricks
to help Steph get open. Quinton Post a little trick
of his own here, sets a screen instead of spacing
(06:13):
on Steven Adams. Sets that screen gets Steph a clean
look without a close out that he just kisses off
the glass. I talked about Steph attacking attacking Fred van
Vliet's ball pressure, so I thought this was another good
screen from Post. So on this position, in this situation
alprin Shangun is preparing to go to on the ball.
(06:35):
So as Quinn Post comes up to prepare to set
the screen, Steph's gonna come off this way, and Shanguon
wants to be on the other side of Posts so
that he can actually catch Steph as he comes off
the action. Look at the job Post is doing, hinting
Shangun on that side, Shangun tries to flop. Flopping is
not going to work in this series. Steph when he's
comes off of that angle, now Shanggun is just a
(06:55):
step behind because of that flop. Because of that actually
that screen from post. Look at how Shangoon is just
a step slow trying to catch Steph coming off, and
now he's able to turn the corner. And then he
also catches Tari easton right in the middle of the
defense of three seconds. Watch Tari sitting in the paint.
Draymond clears out. Now Tari's got to think about a
defensive three seconds call, and so he steps out of
(07:17):
the lane, and right when he steps out of the
lane is when Steph is able to turn the corner
and get into the basket. So there's no rim protection there.
I talked about Steph attacking ball pressure. Here's an example
of Fred getting up on Steph and Steph just uses
that ball pressure to get dribble penetration with a quick
little spin move. So here we go Fred's locked in
on him. Watch how Steph uses the spin to shake free,
(07:41):
spins off and then uses just that little bit of
off arm contact to turn the corner, finishing over Shangoon
at the rim. This is an example of the confusion
that screening action can present a switching defenses. So we
have Pods goes down like he's gonna screen for Steph
because Fred and men Thompson would tically switch this action
(08:02):
Pod slips out of it. When Pod slips out of it,
Fred van Vliet's first reaction is, oh shit, I need
to stay with Pods. But Amn Thompson has the exact
same reaction to that slip that builds this tiny bit
of separation. That's a closeout ball fake from Steph. Boom, clean,
look along the right wing. I'm gonna play it in fast,
(08:22):
in full speed one more time. I want you guys
just to watch how quickly these decisions have to be made.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
And that's the advantage of running action.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
You're putting these guys in position where they have to
make decisions, and you can see them both make the
same decision to go with Pods on the slip Boom
that creates the advantage bucket for Steph. Another transition screen,
this time from Gary Payton. An example too of how
I always talk about how the Warriors love the off
ball physicality.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
It works in their favor.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Look at this is a moving screen from Gary Payton
just literally lunges into Fred. But again, that's the kind
of stuff that the Warriors get away with, which is
why they like the physicality of the off ball dynamic
that the NBA allows. Steph gets downhill against Fred. The
screen is set so far down this is a really
tough position for Shanggun to try to contain Steph going
full speed downhill. He's able to turn the corner and
(09:07):
Shanguon fouls him. He hits the floater in one. Once again,
as I talked about, Fred was in a lock and
trail instead of a top lock. So a top lock
is if Fred's on the other side of Steph, and
if he's on the other side of Steph, he's going
to force him to back cut out of the action
when Looney has the ball right. So a top lock
you're in between the offensive player and the ball. A
lock and trail you're in behind the you're directly behind
(09:30):
the player in the ball, and you're just trying to
chase him off of everything. Steph just takes a little
bit of a backward Steph step and just uses his
butt to kind of just shed Fred van Vliet a
little bit, gets into the action. Nice screen from Looney,
clean look, and once again Steven Adams just not at
the level of the screen at all, not ready for
that action.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Steph gets clean. That's bad defense from Houston.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
I talked last night about the the ISO looks that
Steph liked. There were two that he liked, one against
Jabari Smith Junior and one against Dylan Brooks, and again
he just needed to find what the difference there is.
They're not guards, They're not like ultra quick guards. They're
more like bigger body players that he can break off
a little bit more side to side. The bigger the body,
the hard it is to change direction in tight spaces
(10:14):
and watch out. Steph uses a downhill move and a
snatchback to dribble to beat Jabari Smith. First on the
crossover right, he's looking like he's gonna go left, crosses
back over the right, turns his shoulders and everything. And
when he turns his shoulders, that gets Jabari Smith's head
and his shoulders to turn towards the right hand to drive.
Then he crosses him up. Now he's at a position.
(10:35):
So now Steph knows Jabari Smith's going to be in
a recovery athleticism position, meaning Jabari knows he's gonna get beat.
He's gonna be sprinting back here to try to beat
Steph to a spot closer to the basket. That's a
perfect situation for Steph to set up a pullback dribble boom,
and once again, Jabari Smith, bigger player, not going to
(10:56):
be able to change direction as quickly Steph's able to
break him off to get separate. Here's the ISO against
Dylan Brooks, same sort of thing. A little bit more
weight for him to shift side to side, right to
left crossover. Look at the feet, Look at the feet
on the crossover done, it's over right there, It's completely
over all of his weight is on that back foot,
not even in position to get a good close out
(11:17):
clean look for Steph. Those are two Those are the
two matchups in their in their best lineups that he's
gonna like ISOs is against Jabari Smith Junior and Dylan Brooks.
This is just a classic case of hand down man down.
Probably not a surprise that it involves Jalen Green. Steph
Curry flashes to the top, forces a switch, immediately makes
(11:38):
an aggressive like jab step move to create a separation,
and watch Jalen Green hand down, man down and again
he he's not gonna see it at the top. He's
not gonna see the contest at the top. If you're
gonna bother him. You gotta bother him in the shooting pocket.
That late contest doesn't bother Steph. You gotta contest him early.
(12:00):
Steph knew that one was going in. You can see
him jogging back. Let's talk a little bit about the
Gary Payton rim pressure element that I was talking about.
So this was the first fake handoff. He actually tried
the same move twice and almost made the second one too.
But again, all you're triggering here is some sort of
confusion between a men Thompson and Jabari Smith. It's gonna
manifest in a hedge from Jabari Smith. So watch as
(12:21):
Steph throws it, he comes off, Watch Jabari Smith hedge,
lunge out, Boom, It's over now. It's at this point
it's a clean driving angle for Gary Payton gets downhill,
and this is one of those situations these are in
These are moments of indecision. Right, You've got helpers coming
towards the rim. Right, you could easily throw this kickout
pass to Moses Moody and be like you take the shot. No,
(12:44):
Gary Payton's like I'm going to the rim. He was
very decisive with his rim attacks. In the second half,
they started to use Gary Payton slipping out of the
blitzes of Steph in this basic like guard GUARDE screen
at the top of the key. We saw this twice
in this sequence, same sort of thing. They read it here,
but all you're gonna see is just the two guards
go with Steph both step up. Gary Payton slips, same
(13:07):
sort of thing, same indecision. Right, Looney's cutting along the baseline.
You could drop this off, but if you do, maybe
shangon recovers. You could throw this kick out to Moses Moody. Well,
Moses Moody was struggling to hit threes. Gary Payton said, no,
I'm going to the rint. Someone stopped me until someone
stops him, Like if he gets blocked at the rim,
totally different story. But no one was stopping him and
he just kept going right to the front of the rim.
(13:27):
Exact same thing on this play, but with Shanegon two
on the ball. Slip, same sort of thing, same reads, right,
Buddy Heal's open, Draymond Green's open, Pajemski's open, Nope, decisive.
I'm going to the rim. Someone stop me and then
we'll make an adjustment from there. This was just an
unbelievable pass from Steph Curry that developed the wide open
three for Gary Payton in the right corner, just kind
(13:48):
of like spun out of the help. So on the
handoff he attacks on Jalen Green another matchup Steph likes,
beats him off the dribble, draws the help from Amman Thompson.
But look at how he finds the passing angle. Watch
how he spins out of it. Just an unbelievable pass
from Steph Curry and another massive shot from Gary Payton
(14:09):
out of the right corner. And this is just the
classic Steph Curry screening action. Let's see who you guys
decide to guard. He's got a backscreen for Jabari Smith Jr.
Both Fred Van Vliet and Jabari Smith are going to
go with Steph done.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Game over.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
There's Gary Payton right under the basket for the dunk,
a sequence we've seen what a thousand times at least
over the course of the Steph Curry era. Just an
example that just just again that's there was a difference
between the That was the difference between that game in
game one. Game one was much more of like a
really tough shot making game from Steph. This was a
(14:48):
game where steph just picked the rockets apart with his
brain and just used all these little details to get
himself some easier shots that he is very much capable
of making. All right, let's talk some Nicole yok Its
third quarter run against the Los Angeles Clippers. So excuse
me as I talked about last night. In the early
third quarter, Jokic was catching James Harden sleeping off of
(15:10):
Michael Porter Junior. Nothing special here. Just look, James Harden's
got a foot in the paint against Michael Porter Junior.
That's just there's no reason to run offense, There's no
reason to get into two man game. Just throw the
ball to the open shooter that James Harden is ignoring.
Jokics rifles the pass. James Harden's close out as too late, bucket.
(15:30):
This was that push switch that I'm referenced last night.
So as you can see, Harden's back on Michael Porter
Junior cuts through on the baseline. Look at just the
overall lack of intensity from Harden, by the way, like
look at how Harden follows this cut. Now he's gonna point. Yeah,
you get him, You get him, No, Chris, you go
get him, Chris, you go get him rifle pass bucket
(15:54):
like that. That was the laziness from James Harden that
Jokic was attacking early in that third quarters. That play
I talked about where Yokic froze Ben Simmons on the baseline,
So it starts out of a post up. Here comes
the double team.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Right.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
So now we have basic three on two along the baseline. Right,
we have Ben Simmons, we have Norman Powell, we have
Peyton Watson is under the rim, Aaron Gordon Good right corner,
three point shooter, Jamal Murray Good left corner, three point shooter.
So in this case you want to have to very
least make someone make a three.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Right.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
But look at how the threat of Yokic's passing baits
both Norman Pale and Ben Simmons into freezing. And they
both just freeze because they don't know who to guard.
And like, look at where Yokic is looking. Look at
Yokiic's head as he turns. Yokic's head is at the corner.
When Jokic's head is looking towards the corner, what does
Ben Simmons do. Ben Simmons lunges out towards the corner.
(16:47):
And Yokic throws the ball to Peyton Watson, so that
lookaway pass literally gave a forced bed, tricked Ben Simmons
into conceding and dunk. One of the things I talked
about last night, ohs how Jokic got going as a
score in the third quarter using off ball attacks situations
off the ball to get an advantage. Here's the first one,
(17:09):
just a basic baseline screen, so again running Zubots through
screening action double screen, going towards the corner. Chris Dunn
does eventually peel off. Jokic just shows him the ball. Quickly,
he resets his rhythm knocks down the three out of
the corner. This was interesting because he got himself a
close out opportunity to using the two man game. So
he runs the two man game with Jamal Murray. Jamal
(17:30):
Murray gets into the lane and when he gets into
the lane, or not even into the lane, Jamalmurray just
barely starts to turn the corner and when he does,
Zubots ends up basically sinking into the lane and pointing
out to Jokic. Ball gets thrown to Jokic. Jokic drives
the close out. Look at this beautiful tear drop from
the elbow, once again attacking off the ball with a closeout.
(17:51):
Let's see let's gip forward ball screen two man game,
same exact sequence. Ben Simmons sinks in. So the same
thing we just saw with Zubots, except for this time
with Ben Simmons. But watch develops the close out opportunity.
Jokics drives to close out. This is just unbelievable touch
over betoom. I saw someone on Twitter say like, does
(18:12):
Yokic have the best touch in NBA history? I'm not
sure if he does, but he's certainly on that list.
This is that movement three I talked about going to
his right. This is a tough shot. This is a
shot that only the best shooters in the world, typically practicing,
can make at the highest level. A movement jump shot
running to his right. But look at how he runs
to his right. Classic footwork right. So we're gonna get
(18:33):
the left foot the right foot. It's always left right
when you're going to your right, plants that left foot,
swings that right foot around, gets squared up, straight up
and down.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
See how he lands. Look at how his feet turn
in mid air.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Right, That's what every right handed shooter has got to
do when he's shooting moving to his right, he's got
to turn in mid air tore to square up. You
can literally see him perfect footwork on a movement jump
shot from a center in the NBA, nothing but the bottom.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
This was a weird play.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
It looked like Zubats was trying to pull the chair
on him and Jokicic just used that as an excuse
to gret great position.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
So Jokic catches.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
He goes to post watch how Zoo just gives ground
like he's trying to pull the chair, and Jokic is like, oh,
you're just gonna give me ground. Okay, fine, I'll just
take this little left shoulder hook. This was the play
I talked about at the end of the game that
I thought was a really smart play from Yokic. So
on the previous play, Jokic rips through right around here
in the right corner, gets called for hooking Zubats's arm.
It's an offensive foul, bitches and moans makes a big scene.
(19:32):
That is what sets this up. Now he's got a
psychological advantage from the refs. He knows if he makes
the exact same move, and Zubats tries to catch him
again that he's going to get a foul and just
rips through same thing, throws his head back, gets the
call and gets to the foul line, and then takes
a it tries to say it's the exact same call
when it was a little different because he wasn't hooking
that time. But I just thought that was a really
(19:53):
smart play to get himself an extra tip to the
foul line. And then this is just Yokic greatness turning
over his left shoulder out of the right block.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Just classic Yo kicch.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
You can't guard me on an island, and if you help,
I'm gonna make the right play. What are you gonna do?
How about a double pivot turn around over his left shoulder.
Unbelievable shot. And then for your Nuggets fans, just for fun,
I decided to throw the game winner in there so
you guys can remember it one last time. So yeah,
really really really intelligent attack from Yo Kitchen that third quarter.
(20:22):
And you know that's the thing I was talking about
it with at the end of the show last night,
like it doesn't really matter if you're up to one
in a series. You gotta beat us again. You gotta
beat us four times in two weeks, and Jokich is
just a handful to deal with. In a game like that,
he was unbelievable leading the Nuggets to victory last night.
All right, guys, it's all I have for this morning.
I will see you guys tonight after the final buzzer
(20:44):
of Bucks Pacers for what should be a fun day
of basketball.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Will be covering all four games. I will see you guys. Done.
What's up guys?
Speaker 1 (20:50):
As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
OOPS tonight. They would actually be really helpful for us
if you guys would take a second and leave a
rating and a review. It's always a apreciate you guys
supporting us, But if you could take a minute to
do that, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
The volume m
The volume. The NBA eighty two game grind is done,
and now the real fun begins. The NBA Playoffs aren't here,
and it's time for all the high stakes drama, clutch moments,
and jaw dropping plays.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I can't wait.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
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Speaker 2 (01:08):
The Crown is yours.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
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Speaker 2 (01:45):
Slash audio. All right, well, go to hoops tonight. You're
at the volume me Sunday.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Everybody hopeful that you guys are having a great start
to your weekend, or I should say a great start
to your Sunday. We're gonna be doing some film on
the greatness of Steph Curry and nicolea Jokic. Tonight, I
made some specific callouts on the types of ways that
those guys were attacking last night. I wanted to dive
into the film and look at some specific intricacies in
the way that those two teams led their team to
victory in some must win games on Saturday night. You
(02:23):
guys know the joe before we get started. Subscribe to
the Hoops and Out YouTube channels. You don't miss any
more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at Underscore JCNLTC.
You guys don't show announcements. Don't forget about a podcast
feed wherever get your podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also
super helpful if you leave a rating and review on
that front. Jackson's doing great work on our social media
feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Make sure you guys
follow us there, and last but not least, keep dropping
those mail bag questions and YouTube comments. We can get
(02:43):
to them throughout the remainder of the postseason. All right,
let's talk some basketball. So let's start by looking at
some of the specific ways that Steph broke free against
the Houston Rockets defense. Starting with a transition brush screen
from Cavin Looney, which I thought was really smart. So
as Steph is driving up the floor, here we have
some token ball pressure from Amen Thompson about ready to
(03:04):
meet him at half court. Watch Kevon Looney deliberately run
into a men Thompson's path that allows Steph to get
an angle. Now a men Thompson's body is angled completely sideways.
That allows Steph to hit the gas sweet scoop shot
off the glass over Jalen Green. Just those little things
that Looney and Draymond I've gotten really good at over
(03:24):
the years at finding ways to get Steph additional openings.
This was an example of Steph setting his man up
for a screen. So one of the things I've always
talked about when it comes to setting up your man
for a screen is you want to walk into his
body and give him just a little bit of a
shove before you run off the screen. That creates that
initial bit of separation for the screener to be able
(03:46):
to make contact. And Steph does it in this case
using a give and go. So as you guys can
see here, Steph's going to throw the pass to Quinn
post watch how at this point he's gonna lean into
a men Thompson to get a little bit of initial
Separation's slow it down here, gives him that little shove.
See how he just created that tiny bit of separation
that gives Quentin Posts the angle to set the screen
(04:09):
so that puts him in Thompson in trail position instead
of beating Posts over the top of the screen and
being able to keep Steph in front as long as
he's got Thompson in trail position. Now all of the
pressures on Steven Adams to contain Steph in a one
on one coming downhill, easy crossover, splits the ball screen,
(04:29):
gets into the lane, and how about finishing over Jalen
Green at the rim again.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
With a scoop shot.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Beautiful body positioning from Steph Curry to get open. This
I thought was just a classic example of a shooter
knowing when he's got you dead to rights, and he
knows he's got you dead to rights if you have
your head turned. So Draymond misses the shot. Here there's
an offensive rebound. Look at tari Eason. Tarry Easton knows
he's got Steph, but he's got his back turned. Steph
(04:56):
sees it, sees Tarry turned and cuts back right behind him.
Because Tario had his head turn, he wasn't prepared for
the cut, and Steph was able to get an opening
right there along the right wing. This was Fred van
Vliet was doing a lot of like traditional lock and
trail coverages with Steph, which we'll see a couple of
examples later on in the show. A lot of ball
(05:18):
pressure from Fred and a lot of lock and trail
type of stuff. So Steph is getting ready to run
along this baseline here, but watch just the tiny little
head spin fake before he starts sprinting right here. Boom
turns his head and then goes, and you can literally
see just the slightest hesitation from Fred van Vliet on
the spin. Watch Steph turn his head and then he goes,
(05:39):
and there's just a tiny bit of hesitation that gets
just the tiniest bit of separation that once again creates
a screening angle for Quinton Post just like the MN
Thompson play.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
It gets Fred van Vliet into trail position.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Once he's got Fred van Vliet and trail position, then
he can put him in jail. He's got him in
jail trapped on his backside, keeps him trapped there, and
then this was I thought really savvy little screen from
Quinton Posts. As I mentioned earlier Kevon Looney and Draymond Green.
Over the years, I figured out all these little tricks
to help Steph get open. Quinton Post a little trick
of his own here, sets a screen instead of spacing
(06:13):
on Steven Adams. Sets that screen gets Steph a clean
look without a close out that he just kisses off
the glass. I talked about Steph attacking attacking Fred van
Vliet's ball pressure, so I thought this was another good
screen from Post. So on this position, in this situation
alprin Shangun is preparing to go to on the ball.
(06:35):
So as Quinn Post comes up to prepare to set
the screen, Steph's gonna come off this way, and Shanguon
wants to be on the other side of Posts so
that he can actually catch Steph as he comes off
the action. Look at the job Post is doing, hinting
Shangun on that side, Shangun tries to flop. Flopping is
not going to work in this series. Steph when he's
comes off of that angle, now Shanggun is just a
(06:55):
step behind because of that flop. Because of that actually
that screen from post. Look at how Shangoon is just
a step slow trying to catch Steph coming off, and
now he's able to turn the corner. And then he
also catches Tari easton right in the middle of the
defense of three seconds. Watch Tari sitting in the paint.
Draymond clears out. Now Tari's got to think about a
defensive three seconds call, and so he steps out of
(07:17):
the lane, and right when he steps out of the
lane is when Steph is able to turn the corner
and get into the basket. So there's no rim protection there.
I talked about Steph attacking ball pressure. Here's an example
of Fred getting up on Steph and Steph just uses
that ball pressure to get dribble penetration with a quick
little spin move. So here we go Fred's locked in
on him. Watch how Steph uses the spin to shake free,
(07:41):
spins off and then uses just that little bit of
off arm contact to turn the corner, finishing over Shangoon
at the rim. This is an example of the confusion
that screening action can present a switching defenses. So we
have Pods goes down like he's gonna screen for Steph
because Fred and men Thompson would tically switch this action
(08:02):
Pod slips out of it. When Pod slips out of it,
Fred van Vliet's first reaction is, oh shit, I need
to stay with Pods. But Amn Thompson has the exact
same reaction to that slip that builds this tiny bit
of separation. That's a closeout ball fake from Steph. Boom, clean,
look along the right wing. I'm gonna play it in fast,
(08:22):
in full speed one more time. I want you guys
just to watch how quickly these decisions have to be made.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
And that's the advantage of running action.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
You're putting these guys in position where they have to
make decisions, and you can see them both make the
same decision to go with Pods on the slip Boom
that creates the advantage bucket for Steph. Another transition screen,
this time from Gary Payton. An example too of how
I always talk about how the Warriors love the off
ball physicality.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
It works in their favor.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Look at this is a moving screen from Gary Payton
just literally lunges into Fred. But again, that's the kind
of stuff that the Warriors get away with, which is
why they like the physicality of the off ball dynamic
that the NBA allows. Steph gets downhill against Fred. The
screen is set so far down this is a really
tough position for Shanggun to try to contain Steph going
full speed downhill. He's able to turn the corner and
(09:07):
Shanguon fouls him. He hits the floater in one. Once again,
as I talked about, Fred was in a lock and
trail instead of a top lock. So a top lock
is if Fred's on the other side of Steph, and
if he's on the other side of Steph, he's going
to force him to back cut out of the action
when Looney has the ball right. So a top lock
you're in between the offensive player and the ball. A
lock and trail you're in behind the you're directly behind
(09:30):
the player in the ball, and you're just trying to
chase him off of everything. Steph just takes a little
bit of a backward Steph step and just uses his
butt to kind of just shed Fred van Vliet a
little bit, gets into the action. Nice screen from Looney,
clean look, and once again Steven Adams just not at
the level of the screen at all, not ready for
that action.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Steph gets clean. That's bad defense from Houston.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
I talked last night about the the ISO looks that
Steph liked. There were two that he liked, one against
Jabari Smith Junior and one against Dylan Brooks, and again
he just needed to find what the difference there is.
They're not guards, They're not like ultra quick guards. They're
more like bigger body players that he can break off
a little bit more side to side. The bigger the body,
the hard it is to change direction in tight spaces
(10:14):
and watch out. Steph uses a downhill move and a
snatchback to dribble to beat Jabari Smith. First on the
crossover right, he's looking like he's gonna go left, crosses
back over the right, turns his shoulders and everything. And
when he turns his shoulders, that gets Jabari Smith's head
and his shoulders to turn towards the right hand to drive.
Then he crosses him up. Now he's at a position.
(10:35):
So now Steph knows Jabari Smith's going to be in
a recovery athleticism position, meaning Jabari knows he's gonna get beat.
He's gonna be sprinting back here to try to beat
Steph to a spot closer to the basket. That's a
perfect situation for Steph to set up a pullback dribble boom,
and once again, Jabari Smith, bigger player, not going to
(10:56):
be able to change direction as quickly Steph's able to
break him off to get separate. Here's the ISO against
Dylan Brooks, same sort of thing. A little bit more
weight for him to shift side to side, right to
left crossover. Look at the feet, Look at the feet
on the crossover done, it's over right there, It's completely
over all of his weight is on that back foot,
not even in position to get a good close out
(11:17):
clean look for Steph. Those are two Those are the
two matchups in their in their best lineups that he's
gonna like ISOs is against Jabari Smith Junior and Dylan Brooks.
This is just a classic case of hand down man down.
Probably not a surprise that it involves Jalen Green. Steph
Curry flashes to the top, forces a switch, immediately makes
(11:38):
an aggressive like jab step move to create a separation,
and watch Jalen Green hand down, man down and again
he he's not gonna see it at the top. He's
not gonna see the contest at the top. If you're
gonna bother him. You gotta bother him in the shooting pocket.
That late contest doesn't bother Steph. You gotta contest him early.
(12:00):
Steph knew that one was going in. You can see
him jogging back. Let's talk a little bit about the
Gary Payton rim pressure element that I was talking about.
So this was the first fake handoff. He actually tried
the same move twice and almost made the second one too.
But again, all you're triggering here is some sort of
confusion between a men Thompson and Jabari Smith. It's gonna
manifest in a hedge from Jabari Smith. So watch as
(12:21):
Steph throws it, he comes off, Watch Jabari Smith hedge,
lunge out, Boom, It's over now. It's at this point
it's a clean driving angle for Gary Payton gets downhill,
and this is one of those situations these are in
These are moments of indecision. Right, You've got helpers coming
towards the rim. Right, you could easily throw this kickout
pass to Moses Moody and be like you take the shot. No,
(12:44):
Gary Payton's like I'm going to the rim. He was
very decisive with his rim attacks. In the second half,
they started to use Gary Payton slipping out of the
blitzes of Steph in this basic like guard GUARDE screen
at the top of the key. We saw this twice
in this sequence, same sort of thing. They read it here,
but all you're gonna see is just the two guards
go with Steph both step up. Gary Payton slips, same
(13:07):
sort of thing, same indecision. Right, Looney's cutting along the baseline.
You could drop this off, but if you do, maybe
shangon recovers. You could throw this kick out to Moses Moody. Well,
Moses Moody was struggling to hit threes. Gary Payton said, no,
I'm going to the rint. Someone stopped me until someone
stops him, Like if he gets blocked at the rim,
totally different story. But no one was stopping him and
he just kept going right to the front of the rim.
(13:27):
Exact same thing on this play, but with Shanegon two
on the ball. Slip, same sort of thing, same reads, right,
Buddy Heal's open, Draymond Green's open, Pajemski's open, Nope, decisive.
I'm going to the rim. Someone stop me and then
we'll make an adjustment from there. This was just an
unbelievable pass from Steph Curry that developed the wide open
three for Gary Payton in the right corner, just kind
(13:48):
of like spun out of the help. So on the
handoff he attacks on Jalen Green another matchup Steph likes,
beats him off the dribble, draws the help from Amman Thompson.
But look at how he finds the passing angle. Watch
how he spins out of it. Just an unbelievable pass
from Steph Curry and another massive shot from Gary Payton
(14:09):
out of the right corner. And this is just the
classic Steph Curry screening action. Let's see who you guys
decide to guard. He's got a backscreen for Jabari Smith Jr.
Both Fred Van Vliet and Jabari Smith are going to
go with Steph done.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
Game over.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
There's Gary Payton right under the basket for the dunk,
a sequence we've seen what a thousand times at least
over the course of the Steph Curry era. Just an
example that just just again that's there was a difference
between the That was the difference between that game in
game one. Game one was much more of like a
really tough shot making game from Steph. This was a
(14:48):
game where steph just picked the rockets apart with his
brain and just used all these little details to get
himself some easier shots that he is very much capable
of making. All right, let's talk some Nicole yok Its
third quarter run against the Los Angeles Clippers. So excuse
me as I talked about last night. In the early
third quarter, Jokic was catching James Harden sleeping off of
(15:10):
Michael Porter Junior. Nothing special here. Just look, James Harden's
got a foot in the paint against Michael Porter Junior.
That's just there's no reason to run offense, There's no
reason to get into two man game. Just throw the
ball to the open shooter that James Harden is ignoring.
Jokics rifles the pass. James Harden's close out as too late, bucket.
(15:30):
This was that push switch that I'm referenced last night.
So as you can see, Harden's back on Michael Porter
Junior cuts through on the baseline. Look at just the
overall lack of intensity from Harden, by the way, like
look at how Harden follows this cut. Now he's gonna point. Yeah,
you get him, You get him, No, Chris, you go
get him, Chris, you go get him rifle pass bucket
(15:54):
like that. That was the laziness from James Harden that
Jokic was attacking early in that third quarters. That play
I talked about where Yokic froze Ben Simmons on the baseline,
So it starts out of a post up. Here comes
the double team.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Right.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
So now we have basic three on two along the baseline. Right,
we have Ben Simmons, we have Norman Powell, we have
Peyton Watson is under the rim, Aaron Gordon Good right corner,
three point shooter, Jamal Murray Good left corner, three point shooter.
So in this case you want to have to very
least make someone make a three.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Right.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
But look at how the threat of Yokic's passing baits
both Norman Pale and Ben Simmons into freezing. And they
both just freeze because they don't know who to guard.
And like, look at where Yokic is looking. Look at
Yokiic's head as he turns. Yokic's head is at the corner.
When Jokic's head is looking towards the corner, what does
Ben Simmons do. Ben Simmons lunges out towards the corner.
(16:47):
And Yokic throws the ball to Peyton Watson, so that
lookaway pass literally gave a forced bed, tricked Ben Simmons
into conceding and dunk. One of the things I talked
about last night, ohs how Jokic got going as a
score in the third quarter using off ball attacks situations
off the ball to get an advantage. Here's the first one,
(17:09):
just a basic baseline screen, so again running Zubots through
screening action double screen, going towards the corner. Chris Dunn
does eventually peel off. Jokic just shows him the ball. Quickly,
he resets his rhythm knocks down the three out of
the corner. This was interesting because he got himself a
close out opportunity to using the two man game. So
he runs the two man game with Jamal Murray. Jamal
(17:30):
Murray gets into the lane and when he gets into
the lane, or not even into the lane, Jamalmurray just
barely starts to turn the corner and when he does,
Zubots ends up basically sinking into the lane and pointing
out to Jokic. Ball gets thrown to Jokic. Jokic drives
the close out. Look at this beautiful tear drop from
the elbow, once again attacking off the ball with a closeout.
(17:51):
Let's see let's gip forward ball screen two man game,
same exact sequence. Ben Simmons sinks in. So the same
thing we just saw with Zubots, except for this time
with Ben Simmons. But watch develops the close out opportunity.
Jokics drives to close out. This is just unbelievable touch
over betoom. I saw someone on Twitter say like, does
(18:12):
Yokic have the best touch in NBA history? I'm not
sure if he does, but he's certainly on that list.
This is that movement three I talked about going to
his right. This is a tough shot. This is a
shot that only the best shooters in the world, typically practicing,
can make at the highest level. A movement jump shot
running to his right. But look at how he runs
to his right. Classic footwork right. So we're gonna get
(18:33):
the left foot the right foot. It's always left right
when you're going to your right, plants that left foot,
swings that right foot around, gets squared up, straight up
and down.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
See how he lands. Look at how his feet turn
in mid air.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Right, That's what every right handed shooter has got to
do when he's shooting moving to his right, he's got
to turn in mid air tore to square up. You
can literally see him perfect footwork on a movement jump
shot from a center in the NBA, nothing but the bottom.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
This was a weird play.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
It looked like Zubats was trying to pull the chair
on him and Jokicic just used that as an excuse
to gret great position.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
So Jokic catches.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
He goes to post watch how Zoo just gives ground
like he's trying to pull the chair, and Jokic is like, oh,
you're just gonna give me ground. Okay, fine, I'll just
take this little left shoulder hook. This was the play
I talked about at the end of the game that
I thought was a really smart play from Yokic. So
on the previous play, Jokic rips through right around here
in the right corner, gets called for hooking Zubats's arm.
It's an offensive foul, bitches and moans makes a big scene.
(19:32):
That is what sets this up. Now he's got a
psychological advantage from the refs. He knows if he makes
the exact same move, and Zubats tries to catch him
again that he's going to get a foul and just
rips through same thing, throws his head back, gets the
call and gets to the foul line, and then takes
a it tries to say it's the exact same call
when it was a little different because he wasn't hooking
that time. But I just thought that was a really
(19:53):
smart play to get himself an extra tip to the
foul line. And then this is just Yokic greatness turning
over his left shoulder out of the right block.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Just classic Yo kicch.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
You can't guard me on an island, and if you help,
I'm gonna make the right play. What are you gonna do?
How about a double pivot turn around over his left shoulder.
Unbelievable shot. And then for your Nuggets fans, just for fun,
I decided to throw the game winner in there so
you guys can remember it one last time. So yeah,
really really really intelligent attack from Yo Kitchen that third quarter.
(20:22):
And you know that's the thing I was talking about
it with at the end of the show last night,
like it doesn't really matter if you're up to one
in a series. You gotta beat us again. You gotta
beat us four times in two weeks, and Jokich is
just a handful to deal with. In a game like that,
he was unbelievable leading the Nuggets to victory last night.
All right, guys, it's all I have for this morning.
I will see you guys tonight after the final buzzer
(20:44):
of Bucks Pacers for what should be a fun day
of basketball.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Will be covering all four games. I will see you guys. Done.
What's up guys?
Speaker 1 (20:50):
As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
OOPS tonight. They would actually be really helpful for us
if you guys would take a second and leave a
rating and a review. It's always a apreciate you guys
supporting us, But if you could take a minute to
do that, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
The volume m
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