All 8 Game 1s of the 2024 1st Round

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Speaker 525.24s - 55.86s

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Speaker 056.68s - 82.92s

All right, welcome on to our first YouTube ORG live stream post playoffs. And of course, this will also be dunked on and dunked-on Prime. Sunday night, Danny, I think the place we have to start is with the Pell's ORG Thunder game. And it was kind of the way it seems for a lot of these younger teams debuting in the playoffs who've been favored over the years an absolute struggle. They looked old nervous, but pulled it out in the end.

Speaker 483.04s - 118.46s

The Thunder ORG did. And it was definitely the most competitive fun game, not only of Sunday slate, but of the full one. And while it did continue the streak, which is now at eight of the home teams, of the superior seeds, winning their games, this was, of course, the closest. And I thought it was a particularly fascinating game, because it played into both the strengths and the weaknesses, kind of of both teams. And for the first half, I thought that was really about the problems that the Thunderhave defensive rebounding, which is a huge part of the story. But then they were able to flip some of those grips and really put some pressure on the Pels in the second half.

Speaker 0118.7s - 171.16s

Yeah, they really didn't have anything going at all. Pels only had two turnovers as well. They did a great job of avoiding turnovers until the very end of the game, which had some Keystone Cops S sequences for both teams. So they came in really prepared and particularly considering that Brandon Ingram PERSON got completely locked up by Lou Dort PERSON, which we could talk a little bit more about and should have talked more about, I would say, in the preview, honestly. They played a really nice game. Theirwing defenders were really good. They actually protected the rim pretty well. They played a really nice game. Their wing defenders were really good. They actually protected the rim pretty well. That was a big part of it as well. And, you know, I also thought that the Thunder ORG would have the coaching advantage of this game. Didn't really turn out that way. It did in some ways, but in other ways it didn't, which we can talk about.And Shea and Jane Williams PERSON kind of struggled some down the stretch, although she came through in the end. Both teams couldn't hit a three. That was another big part of this game.

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Sure.

Speaker 4171.56s - 177.68s

Kind of an ugly playoff game, 94, 92, but Thunder ORG managed to pull it out in the end.

Speaker 1178.1s - 182.14s

Well, and Nate, I think that ties in with one of my bigger takeaways from this one, which

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is that particularly in the first half, we talked about how it was going to be hard for New Orleans GPE to score. And I think that largely did bear out. They had a 98 offensive rating. They had a 74 first shot, half-cored offensive rating, this one, both Brooklyn and Glass ORG. And I, so I was like, oh, that's not good enough. And the answer is generally it isn't. But in that first half where the thunder couldn't hit any shots at all, it definitely gets a lot more palatable. And so OKC in that first half, they were five of 19 from long range. They weren't significantly better in the second half. They were at times inthe second half. But the idea that the best way for the Pelicans ORG to win games in the series is for it to be low scoring. And that isn't necessarily about pace. It's more about the team's

Speaker 0222.94s - 275.82s

offense as not being quite up to stuff. Yeah. you talked about the Pell ORG's struggling to score. We can talk about that. Brandon Ingram, we really didn't get into how bad of a matchup Lou Dort PERSON is for him. Because Brendan Ingram PERSON is not the most physical guy. And he's also not the most active off the ball. If Lou Dort gets into his body, kind of like you would see Tony Allen do with Kevin Durant PERSON,although probably on a lower scale with both players, it was really a struggle for Ingram PERSON to get open. I mean, it was right at the beginning of the game. They tried to run a play for Ingram PERSON, and he just can't even get the ball. He tells Jonas Fallon June's because he can't even come off the screen and get the ball to run the play to just go out there and give him the ball in the post. And then Dorrit PERSON was able to get into his body so much that Ingram PERSON didn't matter that he had the length advantage. So that's going to be something that the pals are really going to need to find a way to get Ingram going because Lou Dort just manhandled him physically the entire night.

Speaker 4276.2s - 290.46s

And it's going to need to be system stuff because I think that just thinking that the same thing, that something different is going to happen if you run the same basic stuff, it's not going to be. Lou Dort's going to be able to get through that. But if you do some off ball screening actions, if you have the thing, that something different is going to happen if you run the same basic stuff, it's not going to be Lou Dorts PERSON going to be able to get through that. But if you do some off ball screening actions, if you have the thing, you can create some of that.

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But Ingram PERSON's not a system player, right?

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Like he doesn't cut hard. You know, they're not going to really like, they can use him as a screener a little bit. Maybe they actually had a little success with that. But he'll have better games in the series for sure. I don't foresee him really dominating this series, which is probably realistically what the Pels ORG would for them to win.Should we go to the defensive glass from there? I mean, New Orleans GPE, they had a 34 offensive rebound rate overall in the game, I believe, was stronger than that in the first half. Valenciunis, nine individually credited among the 18 individually credited for the New Orleans Pelicans. And it ties in with a weakness that the Thunder ORG had, which could be exploited in theoretical other series should the Thunder ORG make it out. And they play small.They are making tactical choices there because they're best players. They want guys you can dribble past and shoot. And I still think, you know, sort of in line with the earlier point that I made about the Pelicans ORG offense, that it's at times it can be more frustrating, but in a low-scoring game like this, creating those extra opportunities. But it is something that teams can attack the Thunder ORG with.And they don't really, they have to be a little bit more diligent, but they're balancing these other forces because they also want to run in a transition.

Speaker 0359.52s - 392.64s

Yeah, that makes sense. And they want to also space the floor with Chet Holmgren PERSON, and he's a great rim protector, and you're not going to play another big next one. That's not how they played and Jonas Valentunis PERSON, even though he had a few moments in this game is not going to get them out of that. Necessarily, Valentunis was good in the first half. Her Jones PERSON had some moments on the glass.Guys like Najee Marshall crash in and he had a big tip dunk in the first. They actually had 16 points off of six offensive rebounds just in the first half. So they're making every three on the kickout or the tip. Then Valentunus started Valenciennes PERSON, hitting like multiple.

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I know that's one of your favorite things in basketball, isn't it?

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Watching Valchunis PERSON, keep his arms above his head and just like play volleyball off the front room over and over again.

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I mean, it is remarkable just the sheer amount of offensive rebounds he gets off of his own misses. And this one that was actually less pronounced than in some other games he did really good work getting positioning and making, making Chad Holmgren's PERSON life miserable at first stretches of time. And they, you can create really good opportunities off of those offensive rebounds. I'm not trying to denigrant in any way. I mean, the Pels had a 154 offensive rebound in the putback situations. They were at a 74 in half court offense and incredibly a 45.5 offensive rating and transitionin this game.

Speaker 0438.28s - 464.5s

Yeah, that was, I mean, the number of times that they just like got it stolen away from behind as they were trying to dribble up after a transition sequence was pretty remarkable. And this was a weird game. You know, there's only so many things you can take away from it. I would say both teams really shot poorly.I thought their offense actually was good in the first half. They missed so many corner threes in this game. They're one to nine in the first half. I think they only made one for the game. Whether they finished like one of 15 or something like that.

Speaker 4464.62s - 470s

One of 15 exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So that was like I thought their offensive process was pretty good. I thought they

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looked pretty good. I thought even down the end, you know, they had some really good moments with CJ running pick and roll with Larry Nance PERSON. Didn't really care for the thunder coverage. They may have been more concerned about CJ getting a three potentially. But I think if they were going to, you know, they're like, chat was like kind of up to touch, but he wasn't really putting much pressure on. So they're actually able to hit the pocket pass to Nance PERSON pretty easily. And they got a wide open herb three that just missed. And then Nance PERSON missed a dunk too. I thought actually was a mistake forreally agreeing not to go back to that late because they were getting great looks. It just didn't work out quite as well. But they should have been more focused on the process there than the results and gone back to that maybe even on the last possession. But I think they need to come up with something different there for that CJ Nance PERSON pick and roll either put more pressure on CJ PERSON so he's further out on the floor and he can'tget the angle for the pocket pass. Because Nance PERSON, he's able to go sideways. Then Nance PERSON is coming downhill. He puts it out in front of Nance PERSON and Nance can see everything in front of him. What you want to do there on that pocket pass is don't let C.J. move and get separation for him before he throws it.And then Nance PERSON has to kind of catch it while he's not facing the rim and then turn around and that gives your defense time to recover. I would even consider at times late clock switching Chet onto I'm from or CJ PERSON. I think he could handle that reasonably well. And now that could potentially open up the offensive glass, sure, but Chet PERSON's not a great defensive rebound. Oh,

Speaker 4553.84s - 560.7s

it's already open. Yeah. So, but once the Pellas ORG didn't convert those offensive rebounds as much

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the Thunder kind of cleaned it up. I thought the Pals though, like there were moments where it felt like they were going to get blown out of the building, and they had some nice comebacks with steals, hit a couple of big threes.

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Murphy was fantastic, played 44 minutes in this game, which was a remarkable number, and they

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just, they didn't have enough shooting without him.

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What else stuck on to you here?

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I mean, Tray Murphy PERSON being willing to take and make those shots is so important for the

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Pelicans Office.

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It's like I become more convinced every game that he needs to be starting for them, even if you have to maneuver things to make that work. And that presumably to me is personnel after the season, you know, unfortunately Zion's out right now. As it stands right now, like I don't understand who he's supposed to start for.

Speaker 4602.64s - 614.66s

Exactly. And so that's problem. But with the question I wanted to ask you, we've spent a lot of time talking about this game so far, but we have not spent much time talking about the tier one MVP candidate on both of our list, who I thought had a good game, though not a superlative one.

Speaker 0614.66s - 700.14s

Yeah, the big thing that stuck out to me was his struggles finishing at the room. He got blocked from behind a couple of times. I think he had three or four of his shots blocked. And I don't think any of them were by a big. It was more the guy who was on him. And then he also kind of four of his shots blocked, and I don't think any of them were by a big. It was more the guy who was on him, and then he also kind of had torush at the Pell ORG's length. Did bother him. Although he actually had some pretty decent success going right at Herb PERSON, which he is not so much in the past. He's kind of started to figure Herb PERSON out a little bit. He hit the biggest shot of the game. I thought that tiedit when they were down 90 to 88 in an isolation, jumper against Herb PERSON, and had another blowby on him for a layup, I think early in the fourth quarter. So that actually wasn't too bad. It was more guys kind of bothering him for behind.Marshall PERSON, I thought, actually gave him some pretty good problems. He gave Gillian Williams PERSON some problems too. So the Pell ORG's, and they went Marshall more than Daniels PERSON, which I thought was the right move because Daniels PERSON wasn't going to get guarded.And, Shea PERSON, you know, he had a couple of threes rim in and out. Both teams did that really could have changed things in the fourth. I thought he looked like pretty bouncy. He certainly was unstoppable in transition. Whenever he got the ball coming downhill and transition against like CJ PERSON or something, they were in big trouble. And I thought he was, she was also effective on the back line, making a few plays as a help defender, which is kind of his role there.So, yeah, it wasn't amazing. You know, he did look to have a few jitters. Maybe was a little too aggressive. I thought possibly he could have had a few more times where he penetrated and kicked out to three-point shooters. The other thing I'd like to see is just more pick and roll with the center, which they don't normally do.

Speaker 3700.34s - 714.58s

But that's the big weak point of the defense for the Pels is Valenzunissa or even Nance PERSON. Like if they want to switch Nance onto Chey, I think that's advantage Thunder or you can get Chad PERSON on the pick and pop. And he didn't hit that many of those early.

Speaker 4714.82s - 735.32s

Or even, or you get him on the short role. And Chad Hongren PERSON makes good decisions in those circumstances. It's one of my favorite things about his game going back to high school. And if you get him that advantage spot, especially since the Pellas ORG don't really have that low man rim protection, if you're bringing Valencian and Herb Jones PERSON into the primary action, I think you're creating a

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really soft underbelly of the Pelicans ORG to attack. Yeah. Or you can just move the ball and get open elsewhere. So that would be a potential prescription for next game for OKC ORG. And I think Shay PERSON will just finish a little bit better as well. This isn't a great room protect team. I think he was

Speaker 4751.62s - 773.94s

just a little bit, a little bit too amped up in this one and not as patient maybe as he normally is. To give the numbers on that, four of nine in the restricted area and then two of five in the upper paint for Gildis Alexander PERSON. So that is well below his usual standard. And when you count in that a few of those successful finishes were in transition, the half court was actually, to my eye, even worse than that.

Speaker 0774.12s - 822.34s

Yeah. But this is, you didn't expect Shay to have like the absolute easiest matchup with Herb PERSON. I thought they could find him some easier matchups like some of those other guys held up reasonably well. They did go after CJ PERSON pretty well, including on that huge play at the end where they actually use Shea PERSON as the screener. This is a tactic that's becoming more popular throughout the league is use your main guy as the screener. And then you're setting a screen for the ball handler who's beingguarded by their worst defender. Celtics do a lot of that too with Derek White PERSON, and then they'll switch it and not. Then Shea was able to go at CJ PERSON. Herb PERSON got a really tough reach, and it was a very difficult shot by Shea to break the tie and the Pels ORG. At least did get a three in the air this time at the end.Anything you had to hit on from the late game? Mark Daynult's PERSON challenge.

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I thought that it was one of the most bizarre challenges I've ever seen because what you

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were contesting, I actually did think the ball was off of Larry Nance PERSON when I saw it live,

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but the situation created by their call was a jump ball between Chet Homgren PERSON, a jump ball

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that Chet Homgren PERSON was favored to win.

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So it's not even just like, oh, you're getting that versus a ball.

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And so you end up with a challenge that goes the other direction. The jump ball that Chad Holmgren PERSON was favored to win. So it's not even just like, oh, you're getting that versus a ball. And so you end up with a challenge that goes the other direction that the initial outcome wasn't that bad for you in the first place. And so they lost the time out, which ended up not being super relevant. But it was surreal. It was very odd. And Dignal has been fantastic with challenges all year. And it took a long time to get everyone set up for the jump ball.And right before it was about to go up, he called the timeout. And it was a risk because it was under three minutes. So if he lost the challenge, then he would also lose one of his timeout. As it turned out, they didn't need it in the end because they were up. But it definitely would have been a problem if not. And I was like, oh, well, he's got it for sure.If they waited this long and he's calling it now because of the risk, particularly because he has this good record. And yeah, it was definitely risky because with it being a jump ball that you had this downside of it being overturned. And as you noted, Chet PERSON was kind of a favorite. Although the way that everyone cheats on jump balls, it's hard to say that any jump balls, Ironclad.

Speaker 4905.56s - 907.9s

But certainly over Nance PERSON, chat would be the favorite.

Speaker 2908.1s - 910.98s

Oh, I was going to mention something else that wasn't late game, but I can save that for

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adjustments. Yeah.

Speaker 0911.96s - 931.36s

So the other thing that stood out to me is just how many crazy possessions there were. Offensive rebounds, loose balls. The Pellas ORG had so many chances. They scored only two points in the last three and a half minutes of the game. That was pretty miserable. And that was a CJ quick two, which was not the ideal shot for a quick two,

Speaker 3931.4s - 977.64s

although I thought OKC defended that pretty well. So OKC gets up three. Willie Green PERSON calls the time. I was fascinating 32 seconds remaining was is really right on the border line of being able to get a two for one. You're probably not realistically going to be able to do it. That's obviously what you would prefer to do. And so I thought what they should have is run a player where you can kind of get a quick back door or a shooter coming off a screen immediately.But if you don't get that up, then try to set up the three instead. And they didn't go that route. So then CJ drove, OKC ORG switched it, which I thought was good, right? I think they tried to get a three with like a Murphy PERSON ghost screen, which they hadn't been switching. But because Case and Wallace was in there, they felt comfortable switching him out of CJ PERSON. CJ hit a tough fade away to cut it to one, but there was only a two second differential.

Speaker 4977.78s - 1036.88s

Then I thought they were going to not foul for a second. Well, because they didn't. And the frustration, as I have in all of these circumstances, is when it gets to the point where you kind of are going to have to foul at some point, the coach needs to have a plan and that the players know of what you're going to do if the shot goes in. And so what the Pelicans didn't do, they didn't really put heat on the thunder to inbound the ball in the first place. And at this point, New Orleans only, OKC only has one time out because of the unsuccessful challenge. And so you could have at bare minimum tried to get them to burn that. That could have been useful for you. And they don't do that. And then they don't even put pressure.And then when they got the half court, they put a little bit of heat on. And there was a point where they were using the half court line as an extra defender. But they didn't really like cinch in the double. And so eventually the ball goes to Chad Holmgren PERSON. But at that point, 10 seconds had already gone off the clock. So it went from 26.1 to 14 flat. And Holmgren PERSON splits them. But that extra,you know, let's call it five seconds could have made a world of difference. Yeah, possibly at the end,

Speaker 01036.88s - 1066.98s

because the things kind of went awry for them on the final possessions. But Chet only hit one out of two. So it was a two point game. And it was interesting to me that they clearly came out looking for the three. And they wanted CJ PERSON out of that timeout to just go one-on-one. But Kays and Wallace PERSON just too good of a defender there, knocks it away from him. CJ PERSON was kind of lucky to pump fake and get the look that he did. And it was close.But it was processed there was not amazing. OKC couldn't have fouled, obviously, because they're only up two rather than up three. So CJ PERSON could have won the game there. But I thought OKC defended't have fouled, obviously, because they're only up two rather than up three. So, CJ could have won the game there.

Speaker 41067.52s - 1074.44s

But I thought there was a hot second where I thought he might draw a shooting foul, which would have been a weird way, a ludicrous way for this game to end.

Speaker 01074.64s - 1090.8s

Yeah. And like I said, I would have gone back to the pick and roll early in the possession with CJ PERSON. They had some success. So they actually put Valenchunis PERSON in. And that was another thing. Just trying to go earlier would have been nice.But CJ PERSON just got locked up. He couldn't get a shot off. So that was pretty solid.

Speaker 31096.7s - 1106.74s

Wallace also had a ridiculous no-dip three in the first half, like right at the end of the half. It was incredible. Yeah, that was pretty impressive. Cates and Wallace doesn't do anything on offense other than shoot corner threes, but he is very good at that. What did you make of Jalen Williams PERSON game?

Speaker 41111.78s - 1139.54s

There were a couple stretches where he looked really good, getting downhill, but something that I noticed, and this is going to be the case probably throughout the series against the Pels because of their length, that the Jalen PERSON only minutes, like, I thought he did reasonably well, but they're just going to be tough sledding for him because the Pelicans ORG can throw so many resources to bear on him, make those drives hard. And it was one of five from three. But I thought, you know, and he had to take on some tough defensive assignments. There was a stretch where Lou Dork PERSON got in foul trouble.And so they put Jalen Williams on Ingram PERSON. And I thought he did a reasonably credible job.

Speaker 01139.7s - 1203.3s

Yeah, I thought he did as well. And he also was pretty solid. I thought on CJ PERSON was able to bother CJ coming off the screen a lot of times with his length. That's why I was kind of surprised that they went to that more aggressive pick and roll coverage. I guess they just were really worried about CJ shooting a three coming off the screens at the end. And I'd like to see Jalen Williams PERSON maybe develop a little bit more of a post game, particularly with the spacing that they have.That might be an interesting element for him against smaller players. But I thought he was pretty effective. He maybe could have been a little bit more physical on some of his finishes at the room against the team that's not a great room protected team. But for a playoff debut, I thought he was reasonably solid. Certainly was outplayed Brandon Ingram PERSON.Yeah, and thanks to everyone who is commenting. And we will, of course, take a few comments after we discuss each game. And glad that we're hearing these comments about the games in particular. And, of course, we will be selecting at the end a couple of people for a free Dunkdown Prime year. So let's see. What else do we have to talk about here?Anything on like the player usage front that was in from you?

Speaker 41203.5s - 1232.54s

That's the thing I was setting up earlier. I'm not a huge fan of Kumbaya Dagnolt in the postseason where 11 players played. Now, the Thunder do have a better one, like a better six to 11 than any team in the league. The Pels are high on that list too. But I don't think you need to have Gordon Hayward and everyone else necessarily. And now Hayward PERSON did have a, I made a snarky comment offline about him being in. And he had a big block that set up a score for the Thunder at the end of the first half,or maybe in third quarter.

Speaker 01232.54s - 1239.9s

He also gave up a couple of like easy back cuts. So he was involved in miscommunications there in the, I think it was in the third quarter.

Speaker 41240.34s - 1251.96s

And that wasn't so much the circumstance of they didn't play their best players enough. Shea at 39, Jalen Williams at 40. Chet at 32 could maybe see that scale up a little bit and Dort was at 35.

Speaker 01252.36s - 1270.52s

Yeah, I was slightly troubled by the fact that they went with Jalen Williams and then only put Chet back in when Larry Nance PERSON came in. And Chet only had zero foul, interestingly enough, in 32 minutes. So, yeah, you know, you can get up to 35, but he's been playing about 30 in the regular season.

Speaker 11270.72s - 1307.48s

I do kind of understand that they also wanted to get Kenrich and Jalen Williams PERSON at least a little bit of time. You know, that's what they've been playing. They want to kind of see who's going to work and who's not. They are the number one seed going up against the eight. So maybe there's a little bit of this feeling of like, you know,we don't want to deviate too much from the regular season. We're the favorites here. I don't know how much I subscribe to that personally. And Mark Dignoll gave Shea a big rest in the first half, but then only like a two, three minute rest in the second half. Same with Jaylin.So both those guys got to 39 and 40. Giddy PERSON was minimized. He really struggled. Yeah. Wasn't able to do much. This isn'tdy was minimized. He really struggled. Yeah. I wasn't able to do much.

Speaker 01307.72s - 1311.06s

This isn't the time that we have to have an extended conversation about this, but I spent

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a portion of this game daydreaming about how excited that I'm going to be watching the Thunder ORG when they upgrade off of that roster spot. And that could be Giddy PERSON being better, but it could also be using their resources to get someone who is superior because they're not, you know, the pelicans NORP are able to not defend him as aggressively. And then with Jalen Williams ascending, they just don't need Giddy PERSON's playmaking in those starting units.

Speaker 01332.58s - 1345.92s

Yeah, I think that's fair. Kitty PERSON could do more. He also helps their transition game to as another grab and go guy. So interesting question, though, who is the guy that you would be closing with if you're OKC ORG? They kind of shoveled a number of names in and out.

Speaker 41345.92s - 1365.14s

There isn't a clear answer, but I do love paralleling Trey Murphy PERSON. I do love what Isaiah Joe PERSON gives them, just how a guy who could make those shots. And he competes defensively. He's imperfect, but he competes. And the Pellas ORG have enough players. Like, you don't need to hide Shay PERSON.You don't need to hide Jalen Williams PERSON. I think they could make it work.

Speaker 01365.56s - 1369.5s

Yeah, Kaysen Wallace PERSON, for his guard defense, might be the guy.

Speaker 41369.76s - 1399.54s

Aaron Wiggins had a few moments as well. And, I mean, I think maybe there was a hope when they acquired Hayward PERSON that he would be that guy. He hasn't necessarily been it. Joe PERSON can come in for some, a few moments, but he's going to get targeted on defense because they just don't want him to switch on to the likes of CJ and certainly not Ingram PERSON so yeah you know this is this is one they might want to address in the off season but pretty impressive they won 57 without it let's seeif I had the broadcast said they're the youngest team ever to get a one seat I'm going to trust them

Speaker 01399.54s - 1426.1s

on that yeah absolutely yeah so they know it was both Kenrich and Jalen Williams as the backup Biggs PERSON. And the strategy from New Orleans GPE, unsurprisingly, given the way they play defense, was they were going to let all the centers bomb away. And those guys were one of nine from three in the first half. Jalen Williams hit a huge corner three in the fourth, which was important. Kenrich PERSON, he had a couple that weren't close.

Speaker 41426.94s - 1431.38s

And Chad PERSON hit both of his early, right? I believe those were both in the first quarter.

Speaker 01431.68s - 1433.78s

He might have had one in the second half.

Speaker 41433.88s - 1434.6s

Oh, he did have one.

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He had one that just missed the first.

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It wasn't the second.

Speaker 01437.36s - 1473.8s

I thought Chet did cause major problems for OKC ORG around the rim, other than Valentunis PERSON on some post-ups and offensive rebounds. And I think they actually should be more aggressive double-teaming Valentunus PERSON. We said that in the preview because he just doesn't deal with those. Well, I think he's kind of an opportunity double, particularly because they didn't force that many turnovers over the course of the game.So, like, I'm not that worried about Valentunus PERSON, but other than Valentunus and offensive rebounds, really nobody on New Orleans GPE could get to the cup, which they're not amazing at anyway. But Chet PERSON really kind of locked things down. He had one of the biggest plays, the block of that Nance PERSON scoop shot off the pump fake.

Speaker 31473.8s - 1475.12s

So they definitely,

Speaker 11475.28s - 1500.38s

he had five block shots in this one, pretty impressive debut for him as a rookie. And I think OEC ORG is just going to settle down a little bit. They had the nerves, good pressure from some of these New Orleans GPE wings, and I think they can just get more comfortable in attacking and hopefully find the players that are going to work as well.So I didn't see much today to change my conception of this series, did you?

Speaker 41500.62s - 1512.22s

No, I did not. And there are many other games we will or have already discussed that did change my perception. This one, I'm, you know, we both picked it in five. I think that's about right. It could end up being, it could end up being six.

Speaker 01512.48s - 1571.78s

All right. So we hit a few of these comments slash questions. Sure. So, yeah, Nathan PERSON says these playoffs are looking to be really physical. Yeah, I would agree with that, except for when Mark Davis's crew calls a bunch of files in the second quarter. But, I mean, it is really tough to get a call. I thought Shea PERSON had a coupleof plays in this one where he thought he was going to get the call. They had a few moments in the first quarter where they were calling like a bunch of hand checking files up top, but then they kind of stopped doing that. And Dort's one of those guys who just like fouls on every play and you can't call it. And really the way you have to get that foul called is by being physical back, by being forceful with your movements and showing that he's holding you. Right.If you just, he gets into your body as Ingram PERSON and you're just kind of standing there, then, you know, there's no foul to be called. You have to actually like really try to move forcefully. And then it's clear that you're being held. But yeah, I think this is a pretty, it's going to be a pretty physical playoffs and looking forward to that.

Speaker 41572.54s - 1621.18s

What else do you want to hit any of these questions here? Yeah, this one from Jackie Moon. Do you feel the Thunder and Pelicans performance as two teams to match up well defensively or more young teams with jitters? I think it's both. I think that the, I had underappreciated how well Herb and Lou Dort PERSON would match up with their respective covers and how they're specifically well suited to making life hard in those circumstances. And you both of those teams,you know, if Ingram PERSON's having a hard time generating, he had some good playmaking, but hard time generating good shots. It does make life a lot harder on the non-Zion Pels ORG. And then, of course,the same story for Shane in the Thunder ORG. So the jitters, I mean, I don't expect these teams to shoot around 30% from three every game in the series. And especially the role players missing every single shot. I don't think that that's going to continue. So I'd say it's more a column A, but it's plenty of both.

Speaker 01622.72s - 1631s

A couple of questions here. Trevor, best closing five for both teams. Rory PERSON asking, do you think Yonis PERSON should have played more minutes? What are your thoughts on that?

Speaker 41631.26s - 1633.56s

I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I was looking for another question.

Speaker 01634.18s - 1638.9s

Looking for that. All right. Well, I'll just answer it. Whether Yonis PERSON should play more minutes, what the closing five should be for both teams. Oh, okay.

Speaker 31639.3s - 1639.76s

You know,

Speaker 01639.8s - 1641.28s

I don't think Yonis PERSON should have played more.

Speaker 41641.58s - 1666.54s

Now, would I have liked to see him getting involved slightly more, maybe in pick and roll, yeah, on the offensive end, because if he's out there, think Yonah PERSON should have played more. Now, would I like to see him get involved slightly more, maybe in pick and roll? Yeah, on the offensive end, because if he's out there offensively, like, you'd like to use him, try to use him to wear down the other team. But I, you know, I don't think that he, there's a segment of Pell Sura that's really believes that he should be used more, particularly when Zion is out. And I just don't, I don't think that that's like amazing offense you know it can work

Speaker 01666.54s - 1729.48s

on occasion but it's just so incredibly deliberate and he's just not really that great of a passer like he'll get good shots he's just like not you know money with that hook shot the way some of the best guys are or even on layups around the room so I think by closing five would be what it was in this game with Murphy McCollum Jones, Jones, Ingram, and Nance PERSON, you know, Ingram, I mean, you know, you almost are like, well, at least he's taking Lou Dort PERSON out, right? And then you can just, because if you bench Ingram, then Lou Dort PERSON's going to guard somebodyelse. And so that would be a bit of a problem, I think. And then, yeah, my fifth guy, I would probably just try to rotate it situationally, certainly offense defense. Joe PERSON's the best offensive player. Wallace PERSON is probably the best defensive player. Wiggins PERSON maybe is your best option.If Giddy PERSON has it going, your best two-way option, if Giddy is playing a little bit better, then maybe. But, you know, I just don't think he want the ball in his hands late. And he kind of struggled. I thought he was guarding Trey Murphy PERSON and wasn't really able to use, didn't have the speed to close out on Murphy PERSON.

Speaker 41729.78s - 1751.46s

A lot of like shading over a little bit too far when you're not like I call it helping without helping where you're trying to be engaged in the overall possession. But when you're guarding Trey Murphy PERSON, the best thing you can do is actually be on Tray Murphy PERSON because he doesn't need much space. And he, he is a little less, a little less affected by it, by like a mediocre contest.

Speaker 01756.92s - 1765.66s

I believe than some other guys are. What game does Giddy PERSON get benched by? I'm going to say, like, game four of the second round. I don't think it'll happen in this series. I don't think I mean mean, it is also, for to note, he only played 20 minutes in this one.

Speaker 41765.76s - 1769.88s

I think that, that version of Giddy PERSON, we will see a fair amount of Rob PERSON. Yeah, I mean, if he goes

Speaker 01769.88s - 1785.24s

one for, he's not going to be this bad. I don't think. Will it date out shorten the rotation for game two? I don't think he's going to do it. Maybe he would in the second half if they're down or something. Glenn is asking if Giddy PERSON, isGiddy PERSON the worst defensive player in the playoffs?

Speaker 41786.32s - 1790.9s

No, there are a couple guys on the Pacers ORG. There are a couple guys on other teams that are worse than he is.

Speaker 01791.08s - 1793.5s

I mean, Doug McDermott PERSON is certainly worse.

Speaker 41793.9s - 1799.08s

He's one of the Pacers ORG I was thinking of, yes. All right.

Speaker 01799.16s - 2036.18s

Awesome. And let's see here. So I do want to make it maybe a little bit more random on who we're going to pick here. I don't want to, don't want recency by it. So I'll think about it next time Danny PERSON goes on a long monologue. Let's move on here.I was going to ask you this as our way to transition to the next game. What game do you think? I'm interested to hear that in the comments what you all think as well, was the most consequential of the remaining two that took place today. March is over, but the biggest moments in college basketball tip off the month of April. Be a part of the action on prize picks for both men's and women's college basketball.You can win up to 100 times your money on prize picks as you and the world's best players take the game to a new level during basketball's postseason. You can get in on the action in more than 30 states across the country, including California, Texas, and Georgia, and win up to 100 times your money on prize picks with as little as for correct picks. It's really simple to play.On America's number one fantasy sports app, you can make your picks and submit your entry in less than 60 seconds. Right now, they've got basketball, college basketball, and hockey entries available today on prize picks. It's exceedingly easy to make your entries. You look at the player projections, you select more or less, and you can turn $10 into $1,000. On what is, once again, America's number one fantasy sports app. Download the app today and use the code Capspace PRODUCT, easier in our Capspace because we talk about all the time here on the program,for a first deposit match of up to $100. That's Code Capspace for a first deposit match up to $100. Pick more, pick less. It's that easy. And don't forget that Capspace code to first deposit match up to $100. Pick more, pick less. It's that easy. And don't forget that cap space code to let them know you came from us. Oh, it is that time again.Wedding season. Indochino's custom suits will have you walking into a wedding looking like a million bucks, feeling like a million bucks, because their suits are custom made to fit you perfectly. You can get a tailored fit from the comfort of your home. You can set up your measurement profile in Nogino ORG's website. Choose customizations.Without even leaving the house, Indochino NORP was the official outfitter of my wedding. I got a tucks from them. All my groomsmen got custom-fitted sport jackets, and I'd like to think we all look great. Order your custom suit now, be ready for wedding season, whether it's at home or in person at a showroomNew Year, which I actually recommend. That's what I did. An Indochino NORP style guy can walk you through all of the amazing customizations that they have, the lapels, the lining, single-breasted, double-breasted. You can feel the fabrics in person. That's definitely the best way to do it, in my opinion, but you can also do it from home as well. Look your best this wedding season at the table or on the dance floor when you wear Indochino NORP. Go to Indochino.com. Use that familiar capspaced code to get 10% off any purchase of $399 or more.That's Indochino.com. I-N-D-O-C-H-I-N-O-I-N-O-I-N-O-Go. Don't forget that cap-space code to let them know you came from us. Renters, do you ever feel like you're stuck in this loop of rent payments just watching your money vanish into thin air? It's time to turn that rent game around and start earning some serious rewards. That's where Built Rewards ORG comes in.Built is breaking ground as the first rewards program that hooks you off with points on your rent. Even if you're still rocking the old school rent check vibes, built rewards has got your back. They'll mail the check for you. It's like having a personal rent-paying assistant. Every month, pay your rent and watch the bill points roll in. Use points to jet off on a dream vacation.Put your points towards a flight or hotel stay with 500 plus airlines and 700,000 plus hotels and properties. You can also use your points towards a future rent payment or towards a future down payment on a home. Pay rent hassle free through the built rewards app. Your rent came just got a major upgrade. Earn points by paying rent right now when you go to joinbilt.com slash capspace. That's Join Built, B-I-L-T, joinbilt.com ORG slash capspace.Don't forget that slash cap-space URL.

Speaker 42037.56s - 2041.42s

Well, they're remaining three, but we're focused more on two of those three.

Speaker 02041.42s - 2043.92s

They're remaining. Like, there are only two possible choices.

Speaker 42044.42s - 2046s

There are only two possible choices. There are only two possible choices.

Speaker 02046.62s - 2051.96s

And so part of what makes this decision fascinating for me is where I'll transition

Speaker 42051.96s - 2104s

this into the big picture thing I want to say, and I'll answer your question. So I saw a lot of thematic parallels between these two games, where you had star players out for the home team. And you saw an older saw an older established star, have a really, really great performance, primarily in the first half,and then teams get deep down under and then play more to their level after that, but just not have nearly enough to actually win the contest. So from that perspective, I think there are a lot of parallels. However, for me,the more consequential of those two is probably Pacers' Bucks ORG, because even though we don't know when Janus PERSON is going to return, his, to me, his inclusion back into the series is such a landscape changer that the Pacers ORG, it's more of a missed opportunity for them than I believe it is for the Mavericks ORG. I don't know if it's more consequential,

Speaker 02104.26s - 2142.66s

but I think it's more, I learned more from it that they're just, they just really didn't seem remotely ready for prime time in this. And Dallas, like, we know that Luca Donchich and Kyrie Irving PERSON are going to be good players. It's, sir, some of the role guys are untested with Dallas ORG, but like, we have a pretty decent proof of concept of what the Mavs ORG are.And maybe there are ways in which it's not going to work as well as we think. But like, I believe in those two guys to come through a playoff time. Whereas for the Pacers, just a much more inexperienced team, first time seeing hardly almost all these guys except for Pascal Seacum PERSON in this iteration on the playoff stage.

Speaker 12142.78s - 2230.72s

And they all just look awful. Like it was really. And I think even more so than, all right, you know, Halberton PERSON didn't play that while, you know, some notes in the comments. Like, what's the, like, are we concerned about him that he just wasn't that aggressive in this game? And yeah, I think that certainly does come to mind because it's not like this is a great perimeter defensive team he was going against.But to me, you know, Ben Shepard, oh, we can't hit a three. We'll bring in Doug McDermott PERSON. Jalen Smith PERSON is kind of untested. He didn't do anything. I thought Miles Turner PERSON was awful, particularly on defense. He just could not move his feet.He got traffic honed so many times. Didn't really kind of understand the assignment. And, you know, other than Siakum PERSON, there wasn't anyone really who came ready to play for the Pacers and McConnell PERSON. Like, he's just not going to be as effective in the postseason. We've seen that all the time with him.You thought maybe that would be a little bit different, particularly against this Bucks ORG team. That wasn't the case. Like, you knew they were in trouble when the Bucks go Portis PERSON at center and they score like seven points in five minutes as the bucks like start to open it up in the end of the first beginning of the second so it just like I don't think the Pacer ORG are going to swept necessarily and I think they will come out and play better inthe next game and like but they're there and they kind of shut down dame but the bucks were scoring just fine in the second half anyway so that wasn't that big of of a deal. So I was really just incredibly disappointed in the Pacers ORG. And so why don't we start with that game?

Speaker 42230.72s - 2243.98s

I will begin my sad sacking by noting that there were only two series where we disagreed in terms of who was going to win it. And I feel absolutely terrible about both of those because those are the magic and the Pacers who, in part, some of that was player availability.

Speaker 02244.36s - 2248.22s

But so what took place that was different than your expectations?

Speaker 42248.56s - 2340.92s

The Pacers ORG, I mean, on both ends, I thought that the Pacers really disappointed there. I mean, other than Seacom, an important caveat, Seacom had 36 points. I thought he played well, played with good energy, and was effective in ways that all of his teammates were not. And like in the Mavericks ORG game, some of that is support players not hitting shots they usually hit. I mean, Nisemis PERSON had a wonderful year from threeand one of seven overall. Things like that will improve. So I thought that the Pacers ORG, there were a series of different moments. I mean, Dame had a wonderful first half, and a lot of it was him being super early.But there were, you know, blown coverages or just like you brought up Miles Turner's PERSON struggles on the defense event. Like the types of mistakes that you don't want to see from a team that has had a week to prepare. This isn't a play in where you found out your opponent on Friday and then you're playing them on Sunday, like two of the other games that we saw on this contest. But the bigger one, this especially without Yannis, is an intensely flawed Bucks ORG team defensively. And I'm not putting most of this at the feet of Rick Carlisle because I generally believe inhim as a coach. But it never really seemed, and when you think back to the times these teams played in the play in the regular season, which were months ago, that they were really exploiting those flaws. I mean, you go back, you know, we were doing that game a few weeks ago where Malik Beasley and Damia Lillard PERSON screwed up the communication and gave up wide open three to lose a game. And the bucks looked so much crisper in ways that I don't think their talent would be capable of if they were being challenged properly. No, I think that that's a really

Speaker 02340.92s - 2394.9s

good point. And, you know, Chris Middleton looked really good. He was really important in the second half. And Dame going off, I mean, he finished 11 to 24, but 6 of 11 from 3. And just the scheme against him was not very good. They were going over the screen at half court, which you just don't do. Every coach will tell you, like, you go under and then you get reattached on those screens. And then they're kind of bringing the big up and then maybe they were going to try tolate switch or something when Dame ORG drove. But everything was happening so far up on the floor that Dame ORG was able to just blow by everyone to his left hand. And they weren't like trying to like keep Dame ORG contained and force him to pass it. It was it was just really the worst of all worlds. And then, you know, they weren't pressing up on him either and forcing him to drive.Turner PERSON did nothing as a room protector. He couldn't move his feet. Jenon Smith PERSON couldn't move his feet either. And now, it's worth noting, Dave Miller was fucking awesome in the first half.

Speaker 32395.08s - 2439.82s

Give him his credit. He hit some ridiculous shots that even at his best, you know, this is one of the better dame NORP halves we've ever seen. I mean, the record for playoff points and a half is 39 by Sleepy Floyd PERSON. In a first half, it's 38 by KD and Dame had 35. That equaled the Michael Jordan game one in 1992 against the Blazers ORG.It was an incredible performance by him. Amazing shot making. If you just watch the highlights, like some of the stuff he was doing was ridiculous, they also committed some pretty dumb fouls on him. I think that's a really important aspect of the series is not following Middleton and Dame ORG on jumpers. But you felt like, like, Nemhart PERSON just didn't really seem to have the length to deal with him.And I also thought just the week off did wonders for Dame Miller's PERSON legs as well.

Speaker 22439.94s - 2448.74s

He was dealing with the Achilles. He's dealing with the seductor issue. And like, he looked explosive again, as he did in the first half of the season. That made a huge difference.

Speaker 42449.34s - 2472.14s

I wonder, and this sometimes we do adjustments after, I don't think Neesmith PERSON would do a perfect job there. But I think Carlis ORG should at least approach, at least consider the possibility of making that adjustment. Because especially in the non-Yonis PERSON availability like i think that nismith could do okay on middleton but i want to see how that goes yeah luke notes of the pacers cut it to

Speaker 02472.14s - 2547.06s

12 in the second half of the game he thinks the suzer goes six minimum uh no certainly i mean if yonis doesn't come back yes but i do think that they like if yonis comes back for game three or maybe even now, game four, buying him more time is certainly important. And they've done that. I mean, I think they even, if he comes back in game four down to one,granted, that's what happened last year and it didn't work out too well, but not sure that the Pacers have the sort of ability that Miami ORG has to just make you uncomfortable. Like, Milwaukee GPE looked extremely comfortable in this. So I think, yeah, it probably will go six games because I think Indiana GPE, I would maybe slightly favor the boxing game too. But if Indiana GPE was to be serious about winning this series, like they have no one, I don't think really to slow down Janus PERSON.I don't think that's P.A.R. Pascal Siakum PERSON necessarily. Like, they, I think, had to win game one and have a decent chance of going up two-oh in these two games in Milwaukee to steal it because I just think Janus PERSON is that good. And the Bucks ORG credit them. This is now the second time with Janus PERSON out that they've done okay. They even won game two last year.The only game they won in that series was with Janus PERSON out. They actually haven't played too badly without them, even though their personnel is pretty limited. What else you got on this one?

Speaker 42547.22s - 2583.62s

Tyrese Halliburton played 38 minutes, and they were taking the ball out of the Sandspheromount PRODUCT, and he did have eight assists, but taking only seven shots from the field, zero free throw attempts for him. And I brought up the idea earlierthat they didn't challenge the Bucs ORG limitations nearly enough. And that isn't just a Tyrese Halliburton PERSON story, but the Pacers, you know, the Pacers overall, they had a 85 first shot half course of Osphins PERSON rating. They were under a point per possession overall. And this is, as Aaron put it, the Bucs ORG defense is mid.Yes, but they didn't look it for a lot of this game, even the parts where the Pacers ORG were hitting more shots than the million they missed early.

Speaker 02583.62s - 2588.96s

I mean, that's insane that Tyrese got up seven field goals and three, three point a time.

Speaker 42589.08s - 2614.84s

Like, that is really shocking. And they're obviously they couldn't hit a three, right? Like, what did they hit? They missed their first 14. They were eight out of 38. But it's that, like, and Halliburton ORG was setting up some of those, fine.Like, he would have had more assists, surely, if they could have actually made a shot. But for Miles Turner, it takes 17 shots and Halliburton to take seven, and that's just, that's really odd. For Nemhard to take six and Halliburton to take seven, that gives you an idea, too.

Speaker 02615.16s - 2652.08s

And the other thing, too, is when you consider who's guarding these guys, like Beverly PERSON was pretty effective. But Tyrese Halliburton would just go isolation against anyone, the first half of the year. Like, he just hasn't been doing that. And maybe that's because they have Siakro PERSON now. Maybe he feels like he doesn't have the same level of spacing at this point. But he clearly, to me, just that level of aggressiveness.And there are times, like, you thought you would just ramp it up in the second half, but or maybe when they went down 25 in the first half would have been a good time for that too. But it's, so I think there are some things they can do run more pick and roll at Bobby Portis, especially when Portis PERSON is the center. Like,

Speaker 12653.18s - 2674.32s

and there's no Lopez PERSON, like you have to do that. Uh, Bucks ORG just totally got away. Turner just wasn't able to do enough from three point range. So like the Bucks ORG are able to protect the rim pretty well. But Rick Arla has to find a way to make Tyrese Halliburton PERSON more of the engine.And the other problem is now they don't have any shooting guard. So they got to play him in McConnell PERSON together.

Speaker 42674.84s - 2678.8s

It is a real shame that happened, right? Yes.

Speaker 02679.02s - 2694.92s

Yes. So we'll get to that moment. But I think, you know, so when he's playing with McConnell, which has been an effective lineup in the regular season, wasn't particularly today, that he just has to be off the ball because if you put him on the ball, then they're just going to not guard McConnell PERSON in that circumstance. So as we always say about McConnell PERSON.

Speaker 12695.02s - 2699.22s

He mechanizes the game for good and for ill. He has to have the ball.

Speaker 42699.52s - 2755.2s

He's running all over the place, et cetera. And that's something I want to talk about, which is our colleague, Seth Partno PERSON, tweeted during Celtics Heat ORG about how the kind of his operating theory that the small, kind of sometimes limited creation shooting guards, that they're more 82 game players than 16, meaning regular season rather than playoffs. I first of all, I agree with that.But the other player type that really struggles are the point guards who can't shoot. And because you get into a seven game series, and especially in this case, a seven game series where you get seven days to prep it, and the other team is going to have a much better plan. And so the one-offs and the, oh, we don't have to, we're not going to have a specific game plan for the T.J. McConnell PERSON's of the world, that goes away. And so McConnell, I mean, the fact that he took 13 shots in 18 minutes is extremely telling in terms of what thebucks wanted and what they were willing to concede. And it was immensely successful.

Speaker 02755.2s - 2817.64s

I thought Seaccom's game was somewhat reminiscent of KD's 15 and 25 from the field, although he couldn't hit a free throw, five, a 10. That's Seacum PERSON. His last couple of postseason games haven't been too kind from the foul line. And, uh, and DeMar de Rosen's daughter wasn't even there this time. But Seacum was six of ten for midrange. They actually guarded him with Lopez PERSON quite a bit, which I thought was very interesting. They seemed a little more concerned about Turner PERSON's shooting than they didSeacom's. And also that, I think they were just, Seacum was six out of ten for midrange, but like we were talking about with KD, that doesn't get anyone else involved. It doesn't get you to the foul line. It doesn't get the ball moving. It takes the ball out of Halliburton ORG's hand. So some of the most high value stuff like, yeah, okay, he hit six out of ten.That's probably better than he's going to do in the future. And it did a few, had some moments in transition as well. But Lopez PERSON is going to take him out of overpowering some of the other guys and he's just going to back off him and it's just like that's when Dame ORG was going like thisthat really wasn't enough I think he had 19 in the first half 19 of their what did they have in the first half it was

Speaker 42817.64s - 2819.88s

40 42 yeah and at

Speaker 02819.88s - 2887.06s

one point by the way it was Dame ORG 33 Pacers ORG 35 in this game. So, Seacom, I think, you know, I'd like to see more pick and roll with him in Halliburton ORG. I'd like to see more, like, you'd love to have Halliburton ORG as the screener, but they don't really have anyone who can do that. And of course, they're missing Buddy PERSON healed, which like, not that buddy has helpedPhilly ORG that much, although I thought he, they probably don't win that playing game against Miami ORG without him. But just to trade him, after you already gave up three first-round picks, so it's obvious that you care about this season and have no replacement. And then even the crappy replacement you did have, Matherin PERSON goes down. And then you got to play Ben Shepard or McDermott PERSON.That was a farce that they required him thinking that, like, that was going to help replace healed. But just to not have that guy that the defense is really worried about is just a big problem. Then you also can't really play Nemhart PERSON bunch of backup point guard either if you wanted to go that route. McConnell PERSON's been good enough. They wouldn't want to do that anyway. But it just was very odd to me that they decided to do that even if there is no chance that buddy was going to come back.Dan reminded me that he had made a trade request, but he certainly was playing well enough the first half of the year.

Speaker 42887.32s - 2944.82s

And, I mean, he's getting plenty of opportunities. I mean, he was going to presumably start on this team. He was much better fit in the Seacom PERSON-Halliburton world especially. And they have that. If a player can make a trade request, then you don't have to honor it for a Concorkema PERSON style.It's not a requirement. If it were, that'd be a different conversation. The other thing that I've been filing away with the Pacers ORG is, like you, I was concerned that Siakam play is playing really well, but the idea of like that there aren't spillover benefits and everything else is that we haven't gotten to see Seaccom play with Halliburton ORG when Halliburton's really been right physically. It just so happened that those things didn't coincide. And I wonder how that meshing is going to go.Because presumably at some point, even if Halliburton is playing for Team USA ORG, he will get the opportunity to be right. I do not believe the way he has played over the last two, two and a half months is the Tyrese Halliburton. I believe it's closer to what he did at the beginning of the season because we've seen this physical limitation.

Speaker 02945.1s - 2968.48s

He's a way worse. He's way worse now than he was last year, even. Exactly. And so I think, like, I wonder how that kind of balance is going to go. And we're not going to see it this year. I'm pretty convinced right now that Tyrese Halliburton will not be right this league year. And I'm sincerely hopeful that he will be later on. And that will be awkward. But I also think that it could lead the Pacers ORG to a better place in part, no small part,

Speaker 42968.52s - 2971.6s

because Hallibert PERSON would just be significantly superior what he's been right now.

Speaker 02971.9s - 2978.96s

Yeah, I agree with you on that. And it does seem like we're probably just not going to see him that way. If he couldn't bring it at this point.

Speaker 42979.36s - 2983.46s

With a week off. If a week off isn't enough, then I don't know. Then it's not going to be enough.

Speaker 02983.6s - 3055.06s

Yeah. Maybe it's just a question of motivation or something instead. Like maybe that's what it actually is. And just the meshing with the other players and just not having the spacing with Nembard PERSON, who they didn't really guard and Seacom's not being guarded at the three point line. But, yeah, I mean, this still isn't a Bucks ORG team that should have the personnel to deal withhim in pick and roll. It's not like, you know, they're blitzing the shit out of him or something, really. It's just like he wasn't attacking to my eyes. It was just a very odd circumstance. Defensively for the Pacers, I thought Halliborne PERSON actually wasn't that terrible defensively. Patrick Beverly tried the same thing that he did against John Morant two years ago, justtrying to go right at him. And I thought Halliburton handled that recently while Beverly had one baseline attack on him that worked out. I thought Hallburn PERSON actually was pretty decent in the passing lanes. Everyone else was just terrible, though. Like even Nemhart, like one of the Dame threes, they run pick and roll at Doug McDermott PERSON.And Doug PERSON does what I'm sure the scheme was, which was step out there, hedge, and then get back to your man. And Nemhart PERSON just thought they were, such, like, no, the then get back to your man. And Nemhart just slot their switch. He was like, no, this game is not to switch Doug McDermott onto Damian Lillard PERSON. And that led to, of course, Damien Lurd PERSON having nobody on him. And he just hit a three.There was a.

Speaker 43055.36s - 3058s

And that wasn't even the Pacers ORG play that pissed me off the most of this game.

Speaker 03058.1s - 3098.66s

The one for me was, it was the, so there was, I can't remember what quarter was. I believe it was the second where the Pacers got an offensive rebound with like eight seconds to go in the quarter. But I believe it was the half. And the ball gets to Obie Toppin. So I guess it probably wouldn't have been the second. And Obie Toppin just rushes a terrible three so egregiously.They had a fresh shot clock. The shot clock had turned off because of the offensive rebound. And then misses so egregiously that the bucks get an extra possession and Damia Willard PERSON hits a three and I'm just like oh come on now like the whole thing was just an abject failure yeah they had so many mistakes just miscommunications that was the end of the first I just

Speaker 43098.66s - 3104.12s

looked it up yeah yeah Carlisle PERSON I thought the rotations were not good going to Isaiah

Speaker 03104.12s - 3168.6s

Jackson to guard Bobby Portis in the post, he was totally meat there because I guess Jalen Smith got three files and was negative 13 and 13 minutes. But, you know, Jalen Smith PERSON is not a guy you should be cowed by foul trouble with. And yeah, going to McDermott because they couldn't hit a three. That wasn't really great either. I think they should have, like, guess what? Like, your roster can't hit threes, right? But like, you got to just rely on the guys who are out there because everyone else istoo flawed, you know, Ben Shepard and McDermott PERSON. I mean, these guys just should not be out there in a playoff rotation. They had this one play where they throw it to Chris Middleton 22 feet from the basket. He's being guarded by Neesmith PERSON, who's your best defender, and they go and just double team him. I can't remember who was, who it was best defender, and they go and just double-team him. I can't remember who it was. Actually, another guy who was pretty smart, who just goes in double-teams, middle.It's in 22 feet from the basket, and he just throws it right to a cutter for a lay-up. Nobody else seemed to think that that was what the play was. They just had so many breakdowns, like I talked about with Dame ORG in pick and roll, bad scheme, bad execution, you know, just physically they couldn't keep up and move their feet. It was really, really ugly.

Speaker 43168.76s - 3178.64s

We don't usually talk about it this way when it's the inferior seed that loses, but in many ways, do I consider game two a must win for the Pacers if they're actually going to be viable in the series.

Speaker 03178.64s - 3193.98s

Of course. It always is. It's game, for whichever team is down one zero. It's a must win. I think people, oh, the series doesn't start until the road team wins. Like, no, that's not true.It's like 94% if you go up to zero and more than that for home teams.

Speaker 33194.48s - 3201.82s

So, yeah, not to, they just, they absolutely were not ready for prime time. Let's take a couple of comments here.

Speaker 43202.18s - 3225.9s

Well, we got one that I think is a fair point about. Are we worried that Halliburton ORG is going to get less of an off-season since he's playing the Olympics EVENT? Not particularly the Olympics EVENT. It is a time commitment, but it's not a massive one. And remember that players aren't just like sitting in a hyperbaric chamber for the wholeoff-season. He'll be doing some physical work. And if the Pacers ORG get eliminated this round, which is not a guarantee, he'll still get two months before any of that stuff even gets into gear.

Speaker 03226.38s - 3230.82s

No fan says he doesn't like the Halliburton Pascal PRODUCT fit. What do you think of that?

Speaker 43230.94s - 3247.08s

I'm getting more concerned. I like it. I like it in theory, but it is going to have to be Halliburton ORG-centric. Like, I think that, like, Luca and Kyrie PERSON have gotten to a lot of that kind of balance. And I personally feel that Siakum and Halliburton ORG will. But right now it's a little awkward.

Speaker 03247.2s - 3256.92s

Yeah, I mean, I don't know why it has to be awkward. Like, they still have Turner PERSON. Like, it's awkward in part because they now don't have enough shooting at the two. Like, that's a great point.

Speaker 33257.16s - 3295.7s

Like, Nemhart might be the worst shooting two, starting two in the league at this point. It's also because, like, they're a great fit because they both want to run. That's where they're a really good fit, I would say. I do think those guys should be running pick and roll more than they have been, particularly when Siakum is being guarded by like a Brooke Lopez PERSON or, or someone who's not a great pick and roll defender or if Tyrese ORG is being guarded by a smaller guy.So I think, and I think it's more just about Tyrese ORG not being right than it is that the fit is not great. I think, and then also defensively, like you really, you need a good defending four. And Pascal PRODUCT, it can be that. I don't know.

Speaker 43295.84s - 3312.68s

He was in this game, but he's better than a lot of like scoring fours. And a great point, not a question for Murray PERSON, but a great point. The Bucks won, the one when Damiener was off the floor when they were negative 15 net rating without Lillard and Janus on the four of this season. That is damning for the Pacers ORG as well.

Speaker 03312.84s - 3354.98s

Yeah, Justments PERSON, I think we hit on most of them. Just a lot of the things you would have thought that they just didn't do for the Pacers ORG before the series. I would like to see a little bit more Dame pick and roll at Halliburton ORG. Now, if Halibberton PERSON is hiding out on excuse me there's a spider on my desk uh if halberton is hiding out on beverly like i thought the pacers did a good job of not switching that and maybe there's a moment that you should just run moreof that if you've got malik beasley in the game instead of beverly as that was uh one of the first so i thought actually they went beasley and took out portis because porthos and l Lopez can't play that many minutes together because Portis PERSON has to come in as the backup center. So that was an interesting wrinkle that they went very small with Middleton at the four and totally got away with that.

Speaker 33355.14s - 3355.5s

Totally did.

Speaker 13355.5s - 3376.88s

That's another thing they really, I think, need to try and punish. And I think Tyrese screening for Pascal PRODUCT is something I would like to see too. And I'm not sure, like maybe Tyrese ORG can do a little bit more off the ball as a shooter, but they just have to get more going from him. He's certainly my most disappointing player, I would say, going forward here. Let's see, anything else?

Speaker 43377.28s - 3377.92s

That's all I had.

Speaker 03378.08s - 3425.9s

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Speaker 13426.08s - 3472.14s

You might be like, oh, well, you know, I kind of want to try it out beforehand. Going to the store is not really going to give you any information. You're going to be like, lay down like, oh, do I take off my shoes? Maybe I should leave my shoes on, but then I got to have my feet hanging off the mattress because I can't leave my shoes on and sleep normally on this mattress. And then you're going to feel awkward laying there after about 30 seconds.Like you can't determine anything in 30 seconds. So you're going to have to take it home. And you might as well just get it delivered straight to your door and utilize that 100-night trial. And there's never been a better time to use Helix because they are offering 20% off all mattress orders and two free pillows for our listeners. You can go to Helixleep.com slash capspace.We talk about all the time here on the program. That's helixlecksleep.com ORG slash capspace, we talk about all the time here on the per rome. That's helix sleep.com slash ORG cap space. This is their best offer yet. It won't last long with Helix ORG. Better sleep starts now.

Speaker 03472.74s - 3571.14s

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Speaker 53571.52s - 3601.78s

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Speaker 03603.86s - 3618s

Let's turn now to Dallas and the Clippers ORG, and we did this one live for the strategy stream. I said at the beginning, I thought that people were probably, when we made our picks, I think we made the assumption that Kauai GPE would play, and then that maybe he would go out later in the series or something like that.

Speaker 43618.2s - 3620.6s

I didn't think he was going to play in game one for the record.

Speaker 03620.68s - 3622s

Okay. Well, you were correct in that.

Speaker 43622.18s - 3623.56s

Incorrect in other things, correct in that.

Speaker 03632.26s - 3638.16s

So major takeaway for me in this one is maybe kind of the Mavs ORG are who we thought they were in the sense that they don't actually have another playoff quality starter on the team besides

Speaker 43638.16s - 3642.7s

Luke and Kyrie PERSON. It was certainly a rough go of it. It was certainly a rough go of it for a lot of

Speaker 03642.7s - 3650.02s

those supporting players who collectively went two for a billion on threes it felt like. And also on the defensive end. And so

Speaker 43650.02s - 3694.9s

Tyloo, we've criticized him in the past for being a slow starter as a coach and that he, you know, sometimes starts wrong and then he figures it out. And at times that's been enough for the clippers, but at other times they've been in too deep a hole or whatever has happened. He, I believe, and you did a great job calling this out on playback, I believe they ran six different pick and roll coverages in the first six minutes of the game. And a lot of that was context dependent. It was nuanced.It was interesting. And they clearly understood the team they were going against. Some of that stuff will not look as good if the support players are hitting shots they normally hit. But trying different things, understanding the competitive advantages, we'll talk about Zubots in a little bit, was really

Speaker 03694.9s - 3840.36s

impressive. Yeah, I think so. They started off with them in a drop. They switched them at times, too. I think that was more of a late clock thing. They went to a blitz. They went to the switch. They really, everything, they really were just well drilled. That's part of the value of having a veteran team, a team that's been there before. And maybe even the same for the box, honestly, that they're able to just be on a string and execute a bunch of different things. But to me, the guy who was the MVP in the first half was Zubot PERSON, so maybe even for the whole game. Here's theMavs ORG stats shooting in the paint. Three of 10 at the rim, one of seven from floater range. And it was remarkable how often you had guys like Dante Xum getting run off the line, Zubots hanging out under the rim and Exum having to just shoot a floor.Derek Jones Jr. had to shoot a floater over a Vita Zubot PERSON. It's like, that's just not going to be good off. I'm sure the Mavs missed a bunch of threes. They will be better there. They were better in the second half. However, they just couldn't really solve Zubouts PERSON.And part of the reason for that is that they don't have that five-out spacing that really so bedeviled the clippers. Say what you will about Porzinga sucking in that 21 series, but he at least was someone that they had to guard at the three point line. And same thing in 22. They didn't have Porzingas PERSON anymore, but they played a lot of Kleba, and Cleba actually made shots.In this game, the clippers were just like, nah, go ahead. Cleba could not make them pay at all. I mean, there was one memorable play at the end of the first half where Cleba just walked right to the left wing three point line,and Zubaz PERSON was just like, nah, I'm going to stay here. And Klebo PERSON was not close on that one. And so the Mavs ORG. And then you throw in that Zubat PERSON. Another thing that I thought Lou did a great job of was just noticing, A, Daniel Gafford PERSON is a, you know, can really sky, but he's a little undersized, underweight for a center.And Zubat PERSON is absolutely massive. And Zubot PERSON, people forget that he came in and was really more of an offensive prospect when he was taken in that 2016 draft. And that's kind of what he was for the Lakers ORG in the beginning. And, you know, he's not great with the hands and finishing around the room. But he does have a pretty soft touch with either hand on these hook shots.And he just put Daniel Gafford PERSON in the goal. Now, the Mavs ORG adjusted to that. They just started to show a little bit more help. Like, that was enough. They didn't bludgeon them with that. But Zubat scored six quick points and got Gafford PERSON into foul trouble early and was just way more physical than him.But that was just something that really set the tone and got him six quick points. That was really more of a coaching thing to emphasize that early.

Speaker 43840.8s - 3903.38s

Zubots had 12 points on six and nine from the field in the first half. And in addition to being incredibly effective on defense and really changed what the Mabs were doing. And yeah, you realized that both Gafford and Derek Lively PERSON, a little bit light in the shorts, Gafford also had a, what looked like an ankle sprain during the first half, he did return, though he only played 14 minutes overall. And the other, I brought this up with Willard, but the other older star who really benefited from a week off was James Hardin. And the other, I brought this up with Lillard PERSON, but the other older star who reallybenefited from a week off was James Hardin. And Hardin was spectacular in the first half, not Lillard PERSON's 35, but 20 points, 6 to 10 from the field, 4 a 6 from 3, had a couple of really great shots. And I don't think we're going to see this James Hardin PERSON every single game of this series. There are the weird parallels with the Celtic NORP series where he's, you know, has to test to take the reins with the star out and really does it. But he was fantastic and didn't have do as much in the second half, but they didn't really need him to do as much in the second half. I didn't see anything that, like,troubled be there. I was just more impressed with what he did in the first. Well, I thought once they

Speaker 03903.38s - 3913.08s

actually tried to make him be more of a two-point score, it looked a little bit better. And he's going to struggle to do that in an empty gym, it seems like, at this point.

Speaker 13913.22s - 3915.02s

But he certainly had the three ball going.

Speaker 33915.12s - 3920.28s

And he also was getting into the paint and finding three-point shooters, finding Zubats PERSON as well.

Speaker 13920.28s - 3958.12s

So for him to have a 20-point first score, he even got the old old three shot foul on what absolutely should have been challenged by Jason Kidd. I mean, you should basically, like any three shot foul is almost like an auto challenge because it's the most valuable play in the game of like worth 2.5 points on average. So if you have even a prayer getting it overturned, you might as well. And that one was as obvious it is. I have no idea how the referee called that. Like Hardin just stuck his leg out to the side by like a foot and caused Clebur PERSON to run into him. But I thought like, yeah, Hardin PERSON was solid. Like this is the best that he's played basically since the break. I think he was able to get right. We've seen him, you know, there's game six Clay PERSON.

Speaker 03958.22s - 4004.38s

There's game one Hardin PERSON with the break. And, you know, this was huge. We'll see whether Kauai GPE comes back now. Maybe there's a feeling that he'll wait until game three. It seems like maybe he's getting a little closer, but this Nia PERSON fusion is a tricky thing.So I do think the Mavs can be better on Hardin PERSON. They actually switched up the matchups. They started with PJ Washington on Hardin PERSON. I think the thinking was that, well, he's kind of the bigger body and that Paul George PERSON would be the bigger problem against Derek Jones Jr. I thought actually that when they switched up those matchups that was smart, get more length on Hardin to challenge his three-pointer.Hardin PERSON is not as physical as he used to be. And then George actually struggles a little bit more with strength. George was better in the second half, but he didn't have an amazing game.

Speaker 44004.48s - 4015.08s

He had enough shots, but he had 22 and he had like eight of it in about three possessions where he had two threes and then had that dunk. It was, it was after a timeout in the third quarter.

Speaker 04015.08s - 4021.72s

Yeah, go ahead. What were you going to say? Well, and so I also thought that fellow septuagenarian

Speaker 44021.72s - 4049.38s

Russell Westbrook looked better physically. You know, he had good energy defensively and offensively hit a couple of threes, which doesn't always happen with Russ PERSON. And then another hero for the Clippers was I thought that Terrence Mann PERSON did a nice job defensively overall. He was victimized by one of the most ridiculous Kyrie Irving PERSON sequences I've ever seen, where he somehow did a crossover where he's standing in the corner and I don't know whereit happened and then had a nice reverse on the other part. I don't know how he got the ball from one side of his

Speaker 04049.38s - 4055.86s

body to the other. I don't think he went behind his back between his legs. He just somehow got it both

Speaker 44055.86s - 4085.06s

past his legs and man's legs in hand and then went baseline and had another acrobatic finish. That was definitely one of the all-time career highlights. That was incredible, but I thought man did a really good job overall, making life difficult. And I, before the series, talked about how I thought that, especially in the Kyrie PERSON plus Luca minutes, that Kyrie PERSON would be able to do better. And that wasn't shade on man. I thought that man was going to do an incredible job there.But overall, I thought that the Clippers ORG perimeter defense was much better that I

Speaker 04085.06s - 4212.32s

anticipated. Process. Yeah. Yeah. I thought man was excellent on Luca PERSON, just making it hard on him. And Luca PERSON, I thought, was strangely passive early on. Just was really, he's been better with the stepback this year than he has been in the past. But I thought he should have been more aggressive. They started posting him up more, which I thought was actually good. That's where he has a huge advantage. And also, it's harder to bring help and have the rim protector help there because he's got he's just got more ground to cover and get over there.Whereas if Luca PERSON, he stays under control, but he still is like, has some momentum going forward into the shot blocker. This way, you make the shot blocker come to you if you're posting up and then you can find cutters or he's just more under control and can just shoot over man in the post. I thought that they did well to get back to that. And then Kyrie, he really went crazy in the third. Granted, you've got some rubber band principle happening there with how far they were down.But he just his overall energy and the level of attack mode that he showed in that third quarter, I thought was really impressive. And I do think he's going to cause a lot of problems for the Clippers ORG in this series still. Like if they're going to try to guard him with Amir PERSON coffee, I don't think that's going to work. I don't think that man to me is the only guy. Well, I'm sorry. Excuse me.Westbrook PERSON, I think is the other guy who can guard him pretty well. But really, Kyrie PERSON, just moving off the ball, attacking quickly, which is something he's gotten so good at. I think that's something that the Clippers ORG are going to struggle to handle a little bit, particularly in transition. Also worth noting the Clippers shot 50% from downtown in this game, 18 and 36, and the Mavs shot 30%.Now, the Clippers getting up more threes than the Mavs ORG. That's something that's kind of stood out a little bit, that since the trade-downell in the Mavs have not really been a great three-point shooting team. And that's been kind of lauded as a good thing. But they also, that's kind of indicative of them not having that much spacing.And they've made up for it by just getting a ton of these Alleyu-Uv dunks. And Zubats PERSON was so good that he really was able to close off the rim. Luca threw a couple of like great passes, both I think one to Gafford and one to lively, and Zubats PERSON was able to break them up or at least force to got to rush it and miss. So he was fantastic.

Speaker 44212.52s - 4313.66s

Two other important things that I wanted to know about this one. One is it came up during the live show, but I think Luca PERSON has become, and part of this is why part of why I think the post-ups can be a good answer for some of what the map is trying to do, is that Luca PERSON has moved the step back a little higher in his preference sorting. It's actually a way his style of play has gotten similar to Prime, more similar to Prime Hardin PRODUCT. And I don't think of that as the most effective thing in his arsenal.It doesn't get teammates involved. It doesn't generate those kinds of good shots. Now, those teammates missed all of those shots to the tune of two of 18 in the first half. Overall, that was the Mab's overall shooting. But it also gives Luca PERSON a little bit more rest, everything else is you brought up. So that's one kind of thread of this that is worth considering.And then the other one, you brought up the Mavericks three-point shooting, is that Dallas ORG has defended very well overall statistically since the trades and everything else. And so that was a part, that has become potentially a part of their identity. But I wanted to see how that would fare against a better team and system and everything like that. And I don't think we got definitive returns on that front on Sunday, but they weren't like dominant in that respect. And I mean, one of the things that the Mavericks have done really well in the Gafford minutes overall is protecting, protecting the paint.And that's in terms of attempts and success rate. Now, the Clippers did miss a fair amount of shots in the restricted area, but they took an absolute ton. They took 28 shots in the restricted area overall in this game. And you're going to generate offensive rebounds. You're going to generate free throws and other things, even though they didn't actually take many free throws in this game. So the question of, is, like, is Dallas ORG with the trades, did they become like a high level defense andretain their offensive liability? I'm still skeptical on that front. Yeah, we'll see. Derek Jones PERSON,

Speaker 04313.66s - 4339.6s

you're only able to play 18 minutes. Exum was not effective in this one. He only played 16. They really, they tried to play some of Kleba more at the four. And, but he's just not good enough offensively to do that. So I'm interested to see where the shooting's going to come from. Is kid going to turn more to Tim Hardaway Jr. PERSON? Another guy only played 16 minutes in this one was negative 10. He only had six points.Only got up two three-point attempts.

Speaker 14340.32s - 4382.72s

Luca and Kyrie took more than half of the MVs three-point times, 18 of their 30, which is not probably where you want to be. You're not generating open three-pointers for guys who can make them. PJ Washington was 2.07, like, he has to knock down shots for these guys. No, I think the Mavs ORG can definitely defend better. Clippers aren't going to shoot 18 to 36.Zubots is going to have 20. Again, they'll be ready for that at this point. And I think Luca PERSON is going to be a lot better than he was. And he found something in some things in the second half, admittedly against, you know, a team that's less motivated since they allowed only 30 points in the first half. I mean, that was just incredible.

Speaker 44382.92s - 4384.28s

Including an eight point quarter.

Speaker 04384.78s - 4441.42s

Yeah. You thought that they were headed towards a Phoenix Sun's Game 7 like first half. Ended up three points above that in the end. Player usage, we did not see any of PJ Tucker whatsoever. Plumley got the backup center minutes. I thought he actually was pretty solid.Westbrook, you mentioned he was two or four. I thought really something that stood out, particularly in the first half, was just how much harder the clippers were playing with Man and Westbrook PERSON really leading the charge there. There just isn't necessarily that like massively high energy role player for the Mavs who could match the intensity of the Clippers ORG.You know, I do think the Mavs ORG are going to come out. I would make them slight favorites in game two if Kauai GPE doesn't play. And maybe even if he does because they're going to have to reintegrate him. I think like this will probably be Hardin's best game of the series with 28 points and 8 assists. So it's kind of seemingly like maybe this is going to be more of a defensive series.Let's see. Any comments we want to hit on here?

Speaker 44441.86s - 4446.94s

People talking about the differences between 2021 and this year and i i mean

Speaker 04446.94s - 4452.88s

or 21 or 22 both of them right yeah i mean i guess both of them and i mean one of the obvious ones of

Speaker 44452.88s - 4457.16s

course we've harped on this a lot over the years is still is jelan brunson yeah although kairi PERSON i think

Speaker 04457.16s - 4471.48s

would give you way more than brunson did even even in 22 probably and that's that's not the issue i think also kair is just, you know, more additive with Luca offensively than Brunson PERSON was due to his off ball play and his transition play.

Speaker 44471.96s - 4481.68s

But the overall lack of two-way players, I mean, the DFS and Reggie Boloch PERSON types that have basically been excised from the Mavericks ORG roster to service other needs.

Speaker 04481.88s - 4486.34s

Well, those guys aren't any good anymore either. Sure. I mean, DFS is still fine.

Speaker 44487.06s - 4519.34s

I don't think he's a starting level of player person. Yeah, he could be a decent backup. But, yeah, so Washington, Gafford, Cleba, I don't know that Cleba can be that much better. And this idea that, oh, they got the five out space. If Cleba is not going to hit shots,like that's going to be a huge thing for game two. And they got to kind of try to figure out how they're going to attack Zubots PERSON at the room. They just have to score more at the basket, I think, because if Kauai GPE does come back, I don't think they really have great matchups to guard him either.

Speaker 14519.58s - 4521.78s

Maybe that maybe PJ Washington could be stronger.

Speaker 34522.02s - 4525.56s

And that's, but then, of course, you kind of go down the chain and

Speaker 14525.56s - 4531.22s

somebody has to guard Harden PERSON. Maybe Harden can be better if he's not being guarded by one of their best defenders. Let's see.

Speaker 44531.92s - 4536.22s

Noel Fan has said, are you confident Kauai GPE even plays in this series, possibly jaded by the

Speaker 04536.22s - 4666.1s

Kliper's history of Vinge PERSON reporting? Confident, no, think it's a likely possibility, yes, and the Cooper is reporting on this, but there's been other stuff. I mean, there are people who are connected with Kauai GPE. My instinct is that he plays in this series, but it may end up being somewhat closer and timing to Yannis. But what's fascinating about the Kauai GPE situation, and it seems a little bit different, is that there's some murkiness in terms of like what, like, the progression that needs tohappen or whether that's happening that will lead him to... Yeah, because it's just when is the swelling going to go down? If it were down enough, do they then have to take him through contact? He hasn't even been cleared for contact yet. So it does kind of make you think it's probably going to be game three, particularly because they just won this one.But the reporting was very adamant that he wasn't going to play in this game, kind of earlier in the week. And it does seem to be more trending towards the idea that it could happen later this week. 33 to 13 free-throw differential was interesting. Yeah, I mean, I don't think the... And that was in favor of the Mavs ORG.And Kyrie PERSON, Kyrie is usually actually not a huge free throw drawer. He shot nine, Luca shot eight, and it was seven of eight. Those are the guys who really drew. But those guys are, particularly Luca PERSON is a much better foul draw than anyone on the clippers. And Hardin was boosted six of six.He was the only one who shot more than two. PG's another guy who just used to draw fouls, and now it's just much harder for him with the rules tightening up a little bit. And Vincent PERSON asked how he to assess PG's game. I thought that he, his handle did not look particularly tight. He had moments when he got to the rim.I appreciated his aggressiveness trying to dunk on guys twice, even though that didn't actually work. I thought that was good that you actually tried to explode to the rim in that way. And I think they actually got an offensive rebound on one of those for a bucket. And it is a little harder because they just don't have anyone else to create offense. He just had to do a lot in isolation off the dribble.And I'd like it more if he could come off some screens. I think that's probably if he's going to be guarded by PJ Washington, I think that might be the way you would like to try to get in the ball. But also like if someone like Westbrook PERSON is passing him the ball, they will just help off the pass or some. It's not that easy.But I think Jones Jr. PERSON, maybe

Speaker 14666.1s - 4672.12s

more isolation, more post-up, if it's, but they don't have great spacing for that, particularly with the

Speaker 34672.12s - 4677.66s

bench units. And then if it's going to be Washington ORG on and bring them off some screens off the

Speaker 14677.66s - 4681.74s

ball, which I think Washington ORG is not going to be as good at navigating those and hopefully get him some

Speaker 34681.74s - 4688.86s

open threes. But George was four at 12. Getting up 12, three-pointers, that's pretty good. That's a good number for him. And, you know, he ended up

Speaker 14688.86s - 4698s

with 22 points in the end. So I thought he was solid. And then he was able to guard Derek Jones Jr. and roam some off the ball, which is probably the best role for him defensively at this

Speaker 44698s - 4702.08s

point. First game of the day, last game in our hearts, Celtics win by 20. End of story?

Speaker 04703.2s - 4785.04s

I mean, pretty much so. Let me see what I had on this one. I think my thought as I watched this was this is just a good training series for this version of the Celtics ORG where they're not going to be threatened. Hopefully no one's going to get injured, but they're still going to go against a good coach. They're going to go against a team that's at least going to make them somewhat uncomfortable on the defense event, certainly not in the offensive end, if today is anyindication. And so I think this is just a way for these guys to get some cohesion and waltz into the next round. The heat did make them shoot a lot of threes. They were not able to get to the room pretty well. That was, of course, what the heat do to the Celtics ORG, but this version of the Celtics makes threes better than any version has. Previously, number one in percentage of the Celtics ORG makes threes better than any version has previouslynumber one in percentage of the league, number one in volume. And I thought their approach against the zone when they really broke it open in the second quarter was great. They just had a much better plan than Philly did, keeping the corners occupied with Hauser who had three threes, all of them from the corner, in that big run. And, you know, Tatum running from side to side as well. So if you keep those corners occupied, you force the cornerman back towards the baseline. Then you can also get penetration against the two guys up top, one of whom was often Tyler Hero PERSON. They were able to getthe ball to the free throw line as well on passes again, all because those corner guys aren't just able to make it into like, you know, like we talked about a four, one instead of a two, three.

Speaker 44785.46s - 4839.16s

Absolutely. I thought that was a really good point and some, I mean, execution, but also the Celtics ORG, just having that kind of talent. For me, the reason that I think this series is going to be distinctly uninteresting is that Miami ORG just can't generate offense. And Boston ORG has unbelievable personnel, but we also saw some of the elements that I expectedto really were ahead in this series. Miami ORG did not get to the line at all. They had six free throw attempts in total, four for BAM, two for Yovic PERSON. That's it. They also had an offensive rebound rate of 14 percent. That is extremely paltry.And then in part because they're taking the ball out of the basket a lot, but even just in general, because they don't have that many guys that can credibly bring the ball up with some urgency. That could potentially be a role for Hawkes in some different moments, but they weren't able to get much going in transition. And so if you are playing half-court offense against the Celtics and you don't have the guys who can create advantages to get at the 3-thor-line,there were going to be probably three more long days for them.

Speaker 04839.16s - 4929.96s

I think you're right. And Porzingis to me, I thought was really good at the end of the first half as they continue to build the lead, protecting the rim. That was something where Miami actually ended up 12 to 13 and Boston was only 7 to 16 at the rim. But I thought, you know, Bam going one on one against Porzingis PERSON. Like he ended up with 24 points, but the Miami had 34 points in the fourth quarter.I mean, that was, the game was completely over after a 31 to 14 drubbing in the third. So I didn't think that Bam going at Porzingis was really great offense for Miami ORG. Hero was awful in the first half in particular. He got a few points in garbage time, but 11 points on 13 shots with no free throw attempts is a very teller hero sort of game. And it wasn't even like they were blitzing it or anything either.Like the Celtics ORG didn't really have to get out of any of their base coverages in this one. They just kind of, they did their switching off the ball. They had Porzingus PERSON in a drop. And there wasn't really anything Miami ORG could do about it. And, you know, everyone, the only person who played a bunch of minutes in this one was Tatum with 41. I'm not sure.I didn't watch the fourth quarter. I don't know whether he was in there just to get the old triple double or not. I mean, the one thing maybe Miami can hang their hat on is they force a bunch of threes for the Celtics, 49 and their 82 shots were threes. They didn't really get to the line. They only had seven buckets at the rim. And maybe Boston is going to struggle from three. Miami can avoid turning it over. I mean, one big thing for the Celtics, though, was they only had 10 turnovers themselves. And I think just adding more reliable ball handling

Speaker 34929.96s - 4951.04s

in the form of Holiday, playing Peyton Pritchard PERSON, more having him part of the rotation, just generally more dribbling so that it didn't have to be Tatum or Braun PERSON attacking a set defense as much. I think it was something that helped them avoid turnovers in this game. I don't know. You got anything else on this? I was pretty, this them avoid turnovers in this game. I don't know. You got anything else on this? I was pretty, this is, this seems like a series we're not going to talk too much aboutunless there's a close game.

Speaker 44951.4s - 4953s

I firmly agree with that.

Speaker 04953.22s - 4960.3s

I mean, good for Delon right to go five of five from three in this one. I think that was all in the fourth quarter, wasn't it?

Speaker 44960.3s - 4961.22s

I believe it was, yeah.

Speaker 04961.48s - 4961.68s

Yeah.

Speaker 44961.86s - 4963.06s

But good for him. I like to Lundon PERSON.

Speaker 04963.26s - 4966.88s

Luke Cornett PERSON was out with a right calf strain. They didn't need him. It was...

Speaker 44966.88s - 4982.24s

Oh, and then we got the reporting. I think I saw this two days ago, that the phrasing on Terry Rozier is that he is weak to weak with this neck injury. He did travel with the team, but if that's what they're saying now and he's already been out for a while, I don't think he's

Speaker 04982.24s - 5093.02s

playing in this series. Well, and hopefully if he's week to week, this series will be over in a week and we won't have to talk about it anymore. By the way, I guess C ORGaleb Martin isn't an All-Star. I'm sure it was cathartic for C's fans, the CM score four points on two of six and 29 minutes after last year. The one thing that did annoy me is just Jason Tam is so slow attacking a mismatch. Still, he just backs it out forever. Like, if you got the advantage, particularly physically against a smaller guard, just rip it throughand go and then make him react to a hard move, particularly when the defense isn't quite set yet. Like I still think that's part of why he's not the best at attacking mismatches. He was fine in this game, but 7-18 is not fantastic. Highsmith PERSON guards him pretty well, even though I like Highsmith, a little better in smaller players. He's pretty good.Yeah, can't really point to much more in this one. I mean, the heat shot terribly without Wrights 5-5, all of which happened in the fourth quarter, they only made seven threes for the game. All right, then, I think we can wrap it up here. Thanks everyone for joining us on our maiden voyage here on YouTube ORG live. And for those of you who are watching on the replay, hope you enjoy it as well. And for those of you on the pod, stay tuned for ouranalysis on Saturday's game. Of course, Dunkdown Prime subscribers already got that last night. I'll talk you all again soon. And also, before we go, want to congratulate Glenn Simonson, who's going to get a free year of Dunkdown Prime ORG. Glenn PERSON, thanks for being such a great supporter. And we're also going to give one to Anukarsh Gupta PERSON. Thank you very much. Just email dunkedonprime ORG at gmail.com.And we'll see you probably, I'm guessing Thursday will be our next one of these. But stay tuned. We'll let you all know. And actually, let's answer this question first before you. It was a good one from ES13 ORG. Which lower seat is most likely to win the series now?

Speaker 35093.56s - 5094.7s

Here, I'll throw out the options.

Speaker 05094.82s - 5099.22s

We got Indiana, Dallas, Orlando, Philly, and Phoenix ORG.

Speaker 45099.42s - 5101.24s

I think it's Philly or Phoenix ORG.

Speaker 05101.86s - 5105.72s

I'm going to go with Phoenix ORG, but I don't feel great about it.

Speaker 45105.82s - 5111.02s

I'm going to go Philly ORG because I think they kind of had the better of the run of play in that game.

Speaker 05111.32s - 5134.04s

Whereas, I mean, Phoenix ORG just looked like they have so far to go athletically. Like New York, all right, the offensive glass, I think Philly ORG can clean that up at least a little bit. And I thought the Philly caused some problems for Brunson, and Maxi PRODUCT looks like he has a pretty good advantage. I think Joelle can play a little bit better. So, yeah, I would say Philly of all those at this point.All right then. We'll talk to you all soon.

Speaker 55134.88s - 5165.24s

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Speaker 25167.32s - 5189.96s

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Speaker 05230.04s - 5260.22s

The opening Saturday of the NBA playoffs is in the books as we record this here on Saturday night. And let's get right to it here, Danny PERSON. No time to waste with four games to discuss. Let's begin with the Knicks fighting out game one against Philly in the game that we did for playback today. So many interesting places to start with and discuss. I want to find out what stood out the most to you about this Knicks ORG victory.

Speaker 45260.22s - 5316.36s

There are a lot of tactical wrinkles, but I think the place we have to start is with the questions about Joelle Embed PERSON. And Embed PERSON was also a strategic fulcrum, as you would expect in this game. And thankfully, it may be that the scary-looking injury that occurred in the coolest way possible, hopefully that doesn't linger or stick. We don't know that for sure at this point. But Embed also, so in the first half, you know, he was, I mean, overall he wasplus 15 in the game that the Sixers lost by seven. But Embedd PERSON, I thought, was indicative of something that I want to give Tom Thibodeau PERSON a lot of credit for, which is it took him a little bit of time. But after or so, Embed PERSON, Embed went down basically what happened is he threw, he picked up his dribble and ended up throwing an al-Upe to himself and landed with all of his body weight on the left leg and left knee specifically and was down on the floor for a couple minutes but then played his usual workload in the second half, thankfully. So he missed the end of the first half and that's it.

Speaker 05316.88s - 5326.62s

Yeah, that play, by the way, was the quintessential Joelle and Pete PERSON experience, just the highest of highs and then immediately getting injured and like scaring

Speaker 45326.62s - 5385.46s

everybody right afterwards is just. Yes. And so then Embedd PERSON comes back and so you only misses the end of the first half comes back and plays his normal minutes and second. But he, you know, was tentative, didn't quite look like himself and everything. And presumably there will be some sort of imaging or testing that will happen in between. But what Tibbs and Mitchell Robinson, Isaiah Hartnstein PERSON, deserve a lot of credit for was eventually it took them some time. They realized that they needed to stop treating Joelle and Bede PERSON the same way. And so in the third quarter, it was a lot of, oh, Joelle and Bede,you know, the same player, we need to be out on him, we need to do all these other things. And then what shifted in the fourth was that they started, you know, Mbid sat for the beginning of the quarter, as he often does. They're like, okay, no, let's make Embed PERSON a score. And while he did get to the line a bunch, foul drawing is going to be a part of Mbid ORG's game, 0 for five from the field and a lot of just stagnant possessions when Embed PERSON was trying to survey and figure things out.

Speaker 05385.58s - 5430.36s

Yeah, and he wasn't able to do it in isolation in the end. We talked so much about how his mid-range game is the thing statistically that drops off the most for him. And he shot one of five for mid-range. And he made his first one when he was feeling healthier, turned it in the post. And I think it was Hartinsteinstein PERSON who was on him at that point, backed off and he just shot it. But after that, Joel PERSON was trying to just dribble. He didn'treally feel comfortable trying to attack off the dribble late. And so he would just end up settling, particularly late clock, wasn't getting the usual lift on his jump shot. And he was kind of off balance. And it just didn't look good. He was tried to take a lot of threes, which it seems like as something he's focusing on more knowing that his skills are diminished. And then, of course, after the injury, they're diminished even more.

Speaker 45430.88s - 5441.94s

And wait, quickly on that front, something I noticed as we were doing the broadcast is in the second half, an overwhelming number of Joelle and Beads and misses were short. And that just means to me he didn't have his legs under him.

Speaker 05442.06s - 5590.26s

No, I think that's a great point. And a lot of them, he's kind of fading away. Like literally didn't have his legs under him. No, I think that's a great point. And a lot of him, he's kind of fading away. Like, literally didn't have his legs under him and also probably his legs were both tired and injured. And so I thought early on, it seemed like they were just going to play him one on one, which is kind of what I said maybe they should try and do and make him prove that he couldbeat them. But I didn't mean just like, you know, let him post up and just never bring any help at all. Like, you know, maybe you bring the help once he gets into a little closer position or after a couple of drills. I actually thought Embed PERSON's post-ups on the side were much more effective in this game than his off-the-drill stuff because he had the ability to back down. I think when you're not feeling well, physically posting up sometimes can work better than facing the basket because you don't have to really explode as much. You can kind of just bludgeon your way in a position and then just make one move.And we saw him do that against Hartinstein PERSON a couple of times. I actually thought Mitchell Robinson was the better defender on him than Hartinstein PERSON. Nix PERSON also bailed him out with a few bad reaches. I can't remember who it was who, I think it was McBride PERSON actually committed like a couple of just like reach files. Yeah. In the in the second half that kind of made his numbers look a little bit better. He had that 11 to 12 from the foul line. Ultimately, though, I think he just,the biggest takeaway that I would have from this game. Yes, I'm well aware of the plus minus where Embed was, what was he, plus 14 and they were negative 21 with him on the bench. Well, part of the reason that that happened was he only played 36 minutes instead of 39 and they got beat up a little bit at the end of the first half when he was out. And then the other thing was like, yeah, you know what? They were pretty good when he was out there.He was still a defensive force just standing under the basket. That can work pretty well against the Knicks ORG. But he had a bad fourth quarter. Like, what great fourth quarter in a close game can you ever point to that Joel Embedis had in the playoffs? And he ran out of gas and he couldn't hit his jumper.And it was just, it was tough. Now, I mean, a lot of other things happened in this game to be sure. And I've got some adjustments on how they might actually be able to have MP play a little bit better, even this diminished state. And I thought Philly played decently overall, certainly on defense, first shot defense. But probably the place we got to go to next is that one part of this game did play totally into expectation.And that was Philly would have the advantage in the first shot, half court offense, and New York would have the advantage in every other aspect of the basketball game and that certainly was quite clear tonight. There were points

Speaker 45590.26s - 5632.52s

in this game where it was completely astonishing and I mean as you kind of as you go into this so cleaning the glass first shot half court offensive rating so no transition no second chance New York 76.5 in the full contest that That is extremely low. That is fifth percentile on quitting the glass. However, they still put up a sterling 126 offensive rating in this contest. You know, like, well, damn, that's ridiculous. And they did it in two ways. One part of that was they were extremely successful in transition. They ran on 16 percent of their possessions,started with the transition play, and they had a 208 offensive rating on those plays. That is fantastic, including 225 off of live rebuts as well.

Speaker 05632.86s - 5639.46s

And then, you know, okay. Yeah, and 27, by a more conventional number, 27 fast break points

Speaker 45639.46s - 5660.42s

yes, to 11 for Philly. And so that is a significant part of the story. However, the NICs, they shot 36 and 91 from the field. And they're like, damn, how did a team that shot that poorly, under 40% from the field, be that efficient on offense? And the answer is because they grabbed more than half of their own misses, the offensive rebound rate for the Knicks in the game was 51%.

Speaker 05660.42s - 5741.62s

I can't remember the last time I saw a number that high in a playoff game. And I think we can give ourselves credit here, too, that Embed PERSON is not a very good defense rebounder, particularly not when he's struggling with injury. The Sixers ORG don't really play a power forward worthy of the name. Tobias Harris PERSON starts there. But to him, he'll provide a little more activity, but he's not, you know, some great burly rebounder.And the Knicks probably start, I don't know, four guys who are better rebounders than anyone on the Sixers ORG. Like if you, Devin Chengel didn't play as much, but obviously three guys, Hart PERSON, and then whichever center you're talking about, Robinson or Hartenstein PERSON. Yeah. And those guys just absolutely killed.Now, part of the transition was they weren't back in transition. If they missed the layup, then they would get the offensive rebound, but a lot of it was just set half court stuff. And I really, given where the, or the Knicks relative inability to get the Philly ORG into rotation defensively, I thought it was even more disappointing. You know, it wasn't like, okay, everyone's flying around. Nick's great ball movement. Joel PERSON's out on the perimeter. He's got to challenge a corner three.It misses and they get the rebound. Philly was largely able to stay home in this game and just, I mean, the Nix PERSON didn't take hardly any shots at the room. They missed a ton of floaters, but it was even then, I thought that just Philly ORG just didn't have the same level of effort and intensity as New York GPE.

Speaker 45741.62s - 5813.92s

It's a combination of the players and like the personnel and the, you know, the lack of a focused approach there. And so, I mean, the Sixers ORG are a small team. Like, they're playing Lowry and Maxie as they're one and their two. And Maxie PERSON's small and thin. And then Lowry PERSON is often on the perimeter.He can be a decent rebounder for his size, but you have that. And then Tobias Harris PERSON, like not typically a monster on the glass. He had nine defensive rebounds of this one. And then Kelly Upre PERSON, not exactly a force there either. And he had some problems also excessively going after offensive rebounds and not in the Brett Brown PERSON go guy phase just would be there.And then they would have, well, you brought up one play where the Sixers ORG, when the Knicks grabbed the rebound, they had four guys on the baseline. And so this is the other end of the four, but it's the same basic problem. And so, yeah, you wish that they could have had, that they maybe would have a little bit more size. It's one of the things they sacrificed in their various moves. But it also, like, they could have done better with what they had. And that will be, of course, a focus for Nick Nurse PERSON and his coaching staff moving forward, because while you can only slightly change their personnel, you can change the way you approach it.And Hart and Ananobee and I mean, Brunson had five offensive rebounds himself.

Speaker 05814.42s - 5831.28s

Yeah, the fact that Jalen Brunson had two more offensive rebounds than anyone on the Philly ORG team is certainly a bit of a problem. But Paul Reed actually was a decent offensive rebounder three. He actually had a couple of huge offensive rebounds and really difficult touch putbacks.

Speaker 45831.7s - 5836.62s

But there were some bad defensive rebounding possessions during that stretch in the second quarter, though.

Speaker 05836.98s - 5845.62s

Sure. Now, all that said, all that said, like Philly ORG very easily could have won this game. And with a little better shooting luck, they probably do.

Speaker 45845.82s - 5919.86s

Shooting luck in a couple of different ways. So one part of that is that the Knicks were an incredible 16 or 35 from 3. You don't expect them to shoot 46 percent. And to have the same number of attempts as Philly, that depends on the day, but did that. And in part, kind of how it happened. And that ties in for me with the other big strategic element of this game that I really enjoyed,which was Nick Nurse PERSON focused up, but something we talked about at length in our preview, on Jalen Brunson being the primary and offense sole creator of offense for the Knicks ORG. And one of the major approaches that they started with, and I loved this as an element, was they were helping off of, or completely ignoring at times, Josh Hart. And they did that in one of the ways that you should, which is, instead of hiding your worst defender on that guy, hide your best help defender. And that wasn't Jewel and B'd. That was Kyle Lowry PERSON, who was extremely disruptive,cost of next turnovers in that early going. And that, you know, that strategy, it came into play at other times, of course, later. But then they also went to a couple other things that are fascinating, including I invoked it as a comparison to the series of 2019 NBA Finals, both with you and with Seth when I record on Real GM. We saw the box in one come back. Yeah, that was quite

Speaker 05919.86s - 5996.04s

prescient because it had been a little bit since I thought of that. And the Knicks ORG were woefully unprepared for it. I thought Philly got back into it in their 36 to 21 third quarter. And of course, they set up the zone after a make. So it helped that they were making shots too. And that was maybe Maxi PRODUCT's best stretch. But it really worked excellently.And so to recall exactly that works, it's not really a box. It's really kind of more of a diamond. And they would put Embed PERSON at the bottom of the diamond close to the basket. And then basically any time a screen is set, whoever was nearest that screen would just take the guy who's set in the screen and then switch on to Brunson PERSON as he came off.Obviously, the one was on Brunson PERSON. So that worked it exceedingly well because Brunson PERSON kind of got going a little bit early in the third and they broke that out initially. And the Knicks ORG really just didn't seem to have a great understanding of how they were going to attack it. Philly kind of was in it and out of it late in the fourth. And it seemed like they had a couple of possessions late, including the one where Ananobe hit the backbreaking three to put him up seven in the last minute where they kind of didn't know exactly what they were in.minute where they kind of didn't know exactly what they were in. And like, was it a full zone? Was it man to man? And so they, Brunton had a great assist in Ninobe PERSON on the weak side who just kind of wasn't being guarded. And so they could maybe clean up their execution a little bit like Kelly PERSON and Gray was

Speaker 45996.04s - 6003.04s

not great. That's exactly where I was going to go. He was the, by far the worst at executing the overall concept of the boxing one.

Speaker 06003.24s - 6194.56s

Yeah. I mean, NBA ORG zone defense is really hard to see and know what the rules of it are. And when I can see that you're screwing up, that means that you probably, it's pretty severe in something like that, just with the defense of three seconds and how short the shot clock is. It's really hard to kind of tell exactly what everyone's responsibility is in the zone. I mean, it's taken me probably two years to get a good understanding of how Miami ORG's works. And though, Spoe PERSON will change it up pretty regularly, too.In any event, that worked really well. I thought their base defense on Brunson PERSON was very good also. Tyrese Maxie was not meat in any way. Basically, what they did, it was almost like a three-pronged approach against Brunson PERSON. It started with his off-ball stuff, and Fred Katz PERSON has written about this, how they try to get Brunson PERSON moving off the ball with handoffs or blind pig actions when he'sdenied. And really, they would topside Brunton PERSON. Normally, top siding is used more when a guy is like trying to come off like a wide pin down out of the corner off the ball and get a catch and shoot. Brunson Moore is going to try to come get a handoff. And they even would topside him for that. And so if he did actually then succeed in coming off a screen, what they would do is basically just try to stay on his back. They never would try to actually get back in front of him, right? Because he's perfect at that change of speed.A lot of guys who are Devin Booker PERSON is really good at too, of they know the guy's trying to get back in front. So as soon as the guy senses that he can get back in front, he'll pull the jumper and the guy's momentum will take him right past him out of the play. They never were going to give that up. Instead, what they did is they weren't going to guard Josh Hart and Kyle Lowry PERSON was just going to stand.He wasn't going to just be like, oh, I'm not going to guard him. I'll stand on the side of the lane. And then, you know, if the guy gets in there, I'll get over there and try to take a charge. Kyle Lowry is pre-rotating any Brunton PERSON attack. He's just standing like literally right in the middle of the lane. And that's before they even get to Joel PERSON. It was kind of the third prong of this. So even if Brunson PERSON is able to get past him there,he's not able to, nobody wanted to challenge Joel at the rim on the whole Nick ORG team. It was basically it was just, DeVincenzo did it once and scored. It tried him a couple other times. Nobody else was even willing to go up or on him near the basket,unless it was like off an offensive rebound or something. So Brunton PERSON just like couldn't, and he likes to operate in the middle of the floor, and he just couldn't really get comfortable. They blocked his shot from, like Maxi PRODUCT blocked his shot from behind a couple of times because that's what his job was. His job was not, okay, off the screen, get back in front of him, let's get solid.It was, all right, that's fine, he's in front of him, let's get solid. It was, all right, that's fine. He's in front of you. Your job is to stay behind him and not let him get comfortable and we'll let Cal Lowry and Joelle and B to handle it in the middle of the lane. Of course, the Knicks ORG have no spacing at the center position. And they don't really have like an awesome Alleyoop threat.Like Mitchell Robinson PERSON isn't that anymore. Like I don't think they threw the ball to Mitchell Robinson PERSON a single time under the basket. Maybe there was once where they like tried to follow him quickly, but they definitely, I mean, you know, Robinson PERSON has this infidestinal user rate. And then they went to the box in one as well, and that works exceedingly well. But whether the Knicks, they tried to get Tobias Harris PERSON on to Brunson. They tried to get Maxie PERSON onto him. And most teams were like, oh, well, we're not goingto switch that. But then that would have let Brunson PERSON get a free run downhill. And so they said, all right, we're going to switch that. Your job is just to re-review contests. We're going to keep these two other guys basically standing in front of Brunson and Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson or Hartnstein PERSON. You guys are going to have to beat us.

Speaker 46194.86s - 6224.22s

For three quarters, you could even argue close to three and a half, lots of that worked. And then when it unraveled for the Sixers, it unraveled pretty dramatically because Josh Hart in the fourth quarter made more three-pointers. I think they were all in like the last five minutes than the entire Philadelphia 76ers ORG team. So he was three for four. The Sixers were two for eight. And overall, the Knicks that six and nine from three really kept them afloat when they really needed a few buckets.Yeah.

Speaker 06224.28s - 6290.98s

The interesting part, too, is that for Hart PERSON, it was above the break where he really struggles usually. He was missing a bunch of open corner ones. Yeah, at one point, he was one of five and then made his last three. And Nick Nurse PERSON was after the game, wasn't referring directly to Hart PERSON, but he said, yeah, they made some shots that, like, were willing to live with. And I mean, you look at some of the guys who went crazy. I mean, it was Hart, and then Miles McBride PERSON, who actually, I think, has had more of these games. McBride was fiveto seven. We'll talk more about him. He's plus 37 in 28 minutes with 21 points giving the Knicks ORG a third score they desperately needed. And then, of course, the Knicks were able to get on the offensive glass with their 23 offensive rebounds as well. And that was a big part of things and get to the foul line a little bit as well. So that that was kind of their offense. But I thought the overall Philly ORG strategy was very solid given the personnel that they had available. And like the Knicks ORG are going to are just going to beat them on the offensive glass. I don't know what you do about that other thanjust tell Joelle who's already like huffing and puffing and puffing out there and Tobias Harris and maybe Maxi and Ubre PERSON is like a comically bad rebounder, but you're not going to change that about him at this point.

Speaker 46290.98s - 6295.48s

But he did defy one of his, one of his flaws by having, having an assist.

Speaker 06295.72s - 6345.58s

Yeah, that's right. The first, the first assist was great. He did also have five. I mean, Kelly Ubrey PERSON played well. I thought in this game largely. Like, he was good with the rearview contest on Brunson PERSON and, you know, didn't take too many bad shots or anything. He was pluseight and 39 minutes. He made a couple of mistakes, but that, you know, he wasn't the reason that they lost the game. Yeah, so Hart made those shots. Overall, the Knicks, you know, DeVincenzo was kind of taken out of it. He only played 24 minutes. They actually closed with McBride PERSON over him. We were thinking maybe they would go with McBride PERSON over him. We were thinking maybe they would go with McBride over Hart and go with a three guard alignment. Instead, they left Hard PERSON in and that obviously was the right decision and Hart ended up with 22 points in the end. And he made the three,three-pointers in the four. So that Tom Thibodeau PERSON was correct there. I thought, though largely, despite the fact that Philly lost, that Nick Nurse PERSON had the coaching advantage in this game, would you agree with that?

Speaker 46345.96s - 6399.76s

Yes, I would. And I think that just because you displayed some of these things in a game that ended up being a loss, I think that a lot of things they can go back to you. I don't think that there is a great solve for the Knicks ORG in terms of some of the overall philosophy is Lowry on Hart PERSON and leaving him open. Like there will be games that Hart can make the shots like he did in the fourth quarter.And I thought that Nurse PERSON did a better job. The Tibbs PERSON was better than he sometimes is at understanding the strengths and weaknesses of his personnel and the opponent's personnel and crafting a scheme to make sense with that and to maximize it. And so that, that I think did well. The biggest thing that I didn't like about what Nurse PERSON did.And it wasn't a tactic. It was a player usage issue. And that was Nicola Baton PERSON. And so in the first half, Nicola Batum PERSON did not start this game. And he played basically, I think there might have been a short little.

Speaker 06399.76s - 6402.78s

He played 17 minutes in the first half and he didn't start.

Speaker 46402.98s - 6405.12s

And he didn't start. It's very hard to do.

Speaker 06405.38s - 6412.66s

There's a reason we gave a name to that. That actually was Tom Thibodeau who initially started doing that with Nico Mertit PERSON.

Speaker 46412.9s - 6501.84s

And then Batam ended up only playing nine minutes in the second half. But the reason why Batum PERSON should be starting, there are actually a couple of them. One of them is the basic idea that he's just better at executing schemes than either Harris or Ubre PERSON. I would start him over Harris PERSON. I think Ubre PERSON has played better overall. He's more of a more of a threat.And also because he is a much better connector on offense. And he understands where to be there were a series of different plays in the second quarter in particular where Batum PERSON understood what was going on, what was going wrong. Actually, the best one of those was later was that it was the entry pass in the fourth quarter where they'd been trying to enter the ball to Embed for like 10 seconds. And he just runs to the right spot, gets the ball and bans it and gets it to Embed with like three seconds on. They draw foul, I believe. And having a player who understands where to be, especially because Batum and Lowry PERSON canmesh pretty well together, it's a much better strategy for them. And then there's the more basic idea. I've long called this the Andre Guadala problem, which is Kerr would run into this at times when Igwidal PERSON was coming off the bench before he'd eventually bring him into start in series, is that when one of your best players, and in some way specifically, one of your best defenders, comes off the bench it is very hard to not only maximize their minutes but also maximize their effectiveness and so if you thinkthat petam is one of your five best players and I do and I believe Nick Nurse PERSON does then when you get tightened up into playoff rotations you pretty much have to start them yeah I think that's true and

Speaker 06501.84s - 6588.32s

Tobias Harris right like okay you're gonna play 31 minutes and take seven shots, three two-point field goals attempted to assist? It's like, like, what is it you do here? Right? Like, what is the point of having you out here where Batum PERSON is better in really, I think every other phase of the game, although Harris PERSON did have a few more defensive rebounds,but I don't think either of them was quite dominant on the glass. And Batum is also just another guy that you feel comfortable with switching on to Brunson PERSON, which you kind of don't for Harris PERSON, although he was okay in that role. And he deserves a lot of credit for how much better he's gotten his defense over the years. And I think just to tell Harris PERSON, yeah, you're coming in off the bench and your job is to just shoot every time, especially when Joel PERSON is out of the game, I think that would be a much betterdivision of responsibilities. So that's, yeah, and I think it'll be interesting now with Tibbs PERSON to like who's, how he's going to divide the minutes. I thought he made the right call going with Mitchell Robinson PERSON, who's plus 20 for 30 minutes and Hartinstein for only 18. I think Robinson's just a little stronger, wears on Embedit PERSON a little bit more, although maybe you can also say that a beat is fresher at the start of these halves, and that's why he was better against Hartinstein PERSON. Hartinstein PERSON also was like, oh, yeah, you know, we got to avoid fouling him, like giving him abreak at the foul, and then literally the first play of the game, he commits like a dumb reach-in foul on him. It was amazing. I mean, it does show that there are a lot of smart people who play basketball, and it shows that even when you know what you're supposed to do sometimes, you just can't execute it.

Speaker 46588.56s - 6614.36s

Adjustments? We already brought up, or I already brought up the big one for me with the Sixers, and that's having more Nicolaabatoom PERSON. I mean, I guess before we get to adjustments, a little bit more appreciation for Miles McBride's PERSON game. I mean, 21 points, 5 to 7 from the field, but also to a 5 on 2s, had some finishes, 4 assists, zero turnovers, and that ridiculous plus 37 in a game that his team won by 7.

Speaker 06614.78s - 6625.08s

Yeah, and he was the only guy who actually did a good job on Max PRODUCT. They started with N and Opie on Maxi PRODUCT, and I thought they got pretty lit up there. I think OG PERSON is a very, very good defender,

Speaker 46629.9s - 6667.4s

but Maxie, just if he gets out into some spaces, just a little too quick for him. And so in game one, we saw McBride play significant minutes late, and it was instead of Devinchenzo PERSON, who had a rough game overall, three of ten from the field, had a couple turnovers as well. That could be heart in another day, another time. And then something else that Tibbs went to at a few moments, and it worked a lot better in the first quarter than it did later on, was Bojan Bogdanovich PERSON. And Bogdanovich PERSON, who apparently is dealing with the left wrist issue,which may be resolved by surgery this offseason, he banked in a three at one point. But having somebody else who could shoot was one of the core conceit that the Knicks really needed out there to keep the Sixers ORG more honest defensively.

Speaker 06667.52s - 6873.52s

Yeah, and Boyan was plus 27, three of six from Don Con PERSON, including that bank. And, you know, it helps the Nick's bench guys that they coincided a fair amount with when Embed PERSON was out of the game. However, yeah, we kind of thought like, hey, you know, but Tibbs really trust Bogdanovich PERSON. No, he did. He went with him. I thought he might even play pressure at two over him. They didn do that at chew it just didn't play at all so tibs he went to a pretty hardcore playoff rotation of eight guys and nurse played campaign actually forthree minutes i thought like that could possibly add an interesting element for them to play him with maxi on the second unit when the nicks are also kind of small. Buddy healed really struggled. Negative 16 got blown by a couple times committed a bad foul and got kind of taken out early and they went to pain and then just took pain out. I don't think pain played at all in the second half. And they did go back to Buddy, but Buddy only generated one three. Part of the problem is that the Sixers ORG not really running.So that's where Heel gets a lot of his stuff. You know, I would like to see kind of more. If you're going to put him out there, use him. Like use him on some gross screens. Use him on some kind of Spain picking rolls. Use him on some stuff where you can create some confusion.Because he's just, he's basically just been kind of a spot up guy and feel like they haven't actually run anything for him. And if you're going to play someone like him and deal with his other deficiencies, he's like run something for him or at least get him involved in an action where you can cause a miscommunication. And he still is a guy who is scares him. And if you're going to play someone like him and deal with his other deficiencies, he's like run something for him or at least get him involved in an action where you can cause a miscommunication. And he still is a guy who scares the other team. So he used that in a way. Here's a few other adjustments I have. The pick and roll defense on Joel PERSON, they started off justkind of just doing like sort of like a basic picker roll, but then like sticking to Joel PERSON a little bit more than normally who did. I thought that they generally respected Joel's gravity a little bit too much as a shooter in pick and pop or even when he was off the ball and gave up way too many layups when the center was just like, oh, I'm guarding Joel and Bid PERSON. I can't help it. But, like, Joel is staying at the three-point line. Like, he's not just some absolutely ridiculous three-point shooter. He was two of eight.That's not what he wants to do. Like, you're, yeah, he gets it there. Try to close him down. Don't just let him shoot a wide open one. But like, that's, you're not going to give up a layup because you're scared of Joel shooting at three, right? So I thought that they were way too close to him on those. They tried then to kind of do just more of a conventional pick and roll coverage. In the second half, I thought that was, that probably workedthe best and they were able to get back in front of him. My adjustment to that for Philly is, and Joel PERSON did this once, is he would just, he gets the ball on that pitch back, right? If it's a pick and roll with Maxi, Maxi drives, Big PERSON has to help out at least a little bit, throws it back to Joel PERSON near the nail and you got a guy closing out and Joel PERSON would just kind of like, just wait for the guy to show up and then to try to ISO once the defense got set again. Like he actually would be able to catch it with the guy closing out.If he just drove right away and he did it once on Robinson PERSON and got a foul, then he would get fouled all the time or he could get to the basket a bit or just shoot a bit or just that pick and pop jumper that you're supposed to be like that's your spot. You're supposed to be so good. He's almost got like a little James Hardnitis where he can't just like catch the ball and shoot immediately. He has to like catch it and jab step and wait five seconds before he can shoot it. So just going quicker like you've got the defense rotating to you with a slight disadvantage out of those little pick and pops like it's use it. You know, and he just would allow, he's, he's tired obviously and he's Joel and B. He's always able to just score at his own pace. This will come up in the Phoenix ORG game, too, a little bit. But not, you got to go, man.Like, you got him beat. Like, you've got him rotating. Like, they're not loaded up to you. Like, take advantage of that.

Speaker 46873.72s - 6874.64s

It's a great point.

Speaker 06874.64s - 6879.2s

And something that the coaching staff could have some film to show Embed PERSON over the next

Speaker 46879.2s - 6879.68s

couple days.

Speaker 06879.88s - 6880.42s

A few others.

Speaker 46880.72s - 6885.8s

I thought when they did get a switch that, particularly the later in the clock it gets,

Speaker 06886.1s - 6890.36s

like, they actually would have Hartenstein or Mitchell Robinson switching on to Maxie PERSON out of some of

Speaker 46890.36s - 6895.66s

those two-man actions. And I thought that Maxi PRODUCT, to me, has a much bigger advantage against Robinson

Speaker 06895.66s - 6901.4s

or Hardinstein. Like, because, especially when Ananobe is the one guarding Joel PERSON, you've got the two

Speaker 46901.4s - 6906.98s

biggest defenders on the Knicks, both on the perimeter. If Maxie PERSON can just blow by his guy, there's nobody at the rim.

Speaker 06906.98s - 6907.22s

Nothing.

Speaker 16907.52s - 6986.76s

Maxi PRODUCT did that a couple times. Whereas if you, okay, you throw it back to Joel PERSON at the nail, then the defense can rotate. The big can kind of get back into position. Joel PERSON's going to move slow. He's going to try to drop out, but he's not really that good facing up right now eitherbecause of the injury. He puts his back to goal. Guys will come up behind him and steal it. It's just, and particularly if you've just gotten that switch, like Maxi PRODUCT,he can go so fast that he can blow by that guy or back him off and then shoot a three, which of course, he's very good. Maxi was 14 to 26, 33 points in this game, but it only had four assists,three turnovers. So that's when I would point to, um, more Joel PERSON postups. I thought he was most effective there. They've gone away from the postup over the years because it's so easy to double team and be there.But the Knicks ORG aren't going to do any crazy shit really. They're just going to do their basic stuff. They're not going to make the reeds really difficult. And also, like, Joel PERSON, I think is just better backing down with his back to goal now. It used to be better facing up. I don't think that's the case right now in his injured state,but he certainly can just bash into guys and get to where he wants to go and force a double team there and kick out to shooters if needed. So I would certainly explore that until they prove they can stop it. I don't think they did in this game. Let's see. From the Knicks ORG standpoint, you know, I'm not sure.I mean, they don't have a ton of personnel to adjust with, frankly.

Speaker 36987.68s - 6990.24s

I don't think that like that much sticks out for me.

Speaker 06990.38s - 6999.38s

I do think they kind of got a little lucky with Hart PERSON making shots. They might be in it. I mean, they're not going to have a 50% offensive rebound rate in the next game.

Speaker 16999.48s - 7084s

I will predict that. It might be 40%, but it's not going to be 50%. And I don't think they're going to get as much on the fast break as they did either. And they're probably not going to shoot 46% on threes in the next game either. So they got to be better offensively. Like if I'm Tom Thibodeau PERSON, I'm aghast at how bad my first shot half court offense was in this game. And maybe the way that they can deal with thatis if they're willing to switch some of these shitty perimeter guys on Brunson PERSON, then you can go to more of like a side isolation, like lading games, rather than having him attack from the top, because it's just it's kind of easier to bring help there off the corner than it is all the way from the weak side corner. And Brunson, you know, I thought he just, some of it was just that he missed shots, but he's 8 to 26. And just he didn't look comfortable. And there are a few that were like, I would consider good shots for him, right?Where, you know, technically it's contested on second spectrum or whatever. There's a guy there. But he rises up with something that he's very comfortable. But you can tell when he has to rush it when you've got just that little creeping thought in the back of your mind of like, oh, I better get this off fast. The guy might block it as opposed to, I've gotten great separation.You're like, you can kind of tell that with the guy. And I thought there were a lot of the former difficult shots for Brunton PERSON in this game. And so I think he'll be better in the next game, just even if they don't change anything. But I did not love the Knicks ORG process offensively. And that's, that's Tom Thibodeau PERSON teams a lot of times in the playoffs, just very basic type of stuff.

Speaker 47084.24s - 7086.1s

That's all I had on this. I don't know if you have more.

Speaker 07086.24s - 7087.52s

How you feel about the series now?

Speaker 47087.86s - 7119.62s

Let's see what if there's any sort of clarity on Embed PERSON, if there's a, I think it was just more of a scare than anything else. And then Maxie took a weird hit to his knee at one point. I'm guessing that's fine, but after Jimmy Butler PERSON, kind of want to be sure. But I think that the same elements that led to be picking the Sixers in the first place, like this didn't disprove any of those, even though the Knicks ORG won this game and theycan win other games in a similar fashion. So it didn't upend the Apple Carp ORG for me, unlike some other series.

Speaker 07120.04s - 7189.84s

I was right on the borderline for this. Two things I would say the Knicks winning game one and just having this game in the bank. And then Joel PERSON just again, like kind of tweaking it, didn't look as good afterwards. Now what's who says to me for the next game? And how is his conditioning? He didn't make his jumpers.Like, he didn't play well enough in this game for me to be encouraged for Philly ORG. I thought he could be a little bit better than this. And quite frankly, like the Knicks ORG didn't do anything special against him. I don't know if they are going to do anything special. And they changed up a little bit with some weird stuff, but not, not to do some switching. But that seemed like it was more, all right, if we really get stuck here on Maxie, we just have to switch it.So, but I still think that the, I don't think either of these teams are really that great right now, to be honest. And, but I think the Knicks ORG just their dominance in the floor game is something that they can fall back. I'm not, Philly can certainly win game two. And go up 3-1, like that's entirely possible. Like the Knicks, probably the biggest disappointment for me with the Knicks is that their first shot half-court offense was like way worse even than I thought it would be. And I already thought they would struggle to score in this series.So, yeah, I still think it's anyone's series. But if you made me pick right now, I would probably go with the Knicks in seven rather than Philly and six, which is what I had.

Speaker 57190.34s - 7222.94s

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Speaker 27223.16s - 7248.82s

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Speaker 67250.46s - 7254.34s

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Speaker 07260.74s - 7266.52s

Speaking of another series that did not go according to plan for those of us pundits who picked Phoenix ORG and Phoenix was favored, Minnesota just put the Phoenix Suns on their ass in this game.

Speaker 47266.86s - 7297.34s

An impressive performance overall from the wolves, and the crowd was rocking. I thought that was really fun to hear how loud they were. And Anthony Edwards in particular gave them a lot to cheer about. I mean, his third quarter was spectacular. Overall, I'll give the stats on that. I think this is one of the quintessential, one of the key parts of the game. 18 points, 8 of 11 from the field, as the, and includeda couple of big threes, as the wolves pushed a 21, or sorry, a 31, 21 quarter out there and really

Speaker 07297.34s - 7455.44s

firmed up control of game one. Yeah, I thought I would actually put Edwards PERSON performance, good as it was, and obviously if he outplays Devin Booker PERSON, the Sons are completely drawing dead in the series. And Booker had a complete nightmare with 5 to 16. And even some of that came once the game was out of hand. But the biggest thing that stuck out to me was the Phoenix Suns ORG just could not get anything going on the offensive end. And I will credit Chris Finch. I'm sure there are a lot of people who saw the way that get anything going on the offensive end. And I will credit Chris Finch.I'm sure there are a lot of people who saw the way that they were aligned on the first possession. And I was like, oh, Carl Anthony Town is guarding Kevin Durant PERSON. Do they really want to do this? We kind of ruled this out in the preview. And they didn't do it in previous game. And I was like, ah, no, this is the first possession.A lot of times, first possession in a playoff game, they'll just do something different from what they actually intend to do just to kind of throw a monkey wrenchment up. Most of the time when it was starters versus starters and Phoenix ORG did okay in those alignments. But Carl Anthony Towns was the one guarding Kevin Durant. And Kevin Durant had 31 points on 11 to 17 from the field. And you're like, yeah, that's got to be pretty difficult to deal with for Minnesota ORG.But this is something that I think it's becoming more true over time. And Ben Taylor is one who's talked about this that when KD gets his, I mean, that's an incredible performance, 31 points on 21 shooting possession. But Phoenix only scored 95 for the game. Kevin Durant only had one assist. Phoenix had 16 assists on 33 field goals. And during the competitive portion of the game, they had 10 assists on 25 field goals.And that's just not going to get it done. Like, it was good offense for Kevin Durant PERSON, but it takes him a while to get to those shots. He's shooting a midranger. He's certainly not getting to the basket, in particular because Rudy Gobert PERSON is there. He wants to just cross over and get to his midranger, and he's going to make that. But that doesn't do anything other than get Kevin Durant a two-pointer. There's nothing elseor maybe a foul on occasion. And they probably could have been a little bit better about not following him. And so whether it was him, even Jane McDaniels, who was outstanding on Booker PERSON, he's not as good on KD because KD can kind of overpower him a little bit. Kyle Anderson had to go out with this hip pointer. We'll see what his status is. He only played five minutes. They had Alexander Walker PERSON on him some.End of the first half, they went with Edwards PERSON. And I think Edwards can actually guard KD pretty well. But I think the thought was that they didn't want to tire Edwards PERSON out that way. And that certainly worked out great for Edwards PERSON' awesome offensive performance. So you have to say the strategy really worked. It worked for KD to score a lot, but he wasn't able to really break their defense with that.And I think it was really a pretty good gambit that worked out very well for Chris Finch.

Speaker 47455.44s - 7509.46s

You can see that also in kind of the five turnovers that KD had, because that's another way that you can be inefficient. And he can have his moments there as a turn of player. And then not only, you know, Booker PERSON's nightmare of a game, which was partially connected that, but also like the, none of the support players for Phoenix ORG were particularly dominant. I mean, Royce O'Neill hit some of his open shots.I thought that he, he did fine overall offensively and, you know, was out there for some of the worst moments, though those weren't O'Neill. And you could argue Aaron Gordon, or Eric Gordon, sorry, no, Aaron Gordon, we'll talk about him later. He should have, you know, he could have, should have been more than he did.But that, you're right, that it wasn't creating as many opportunities. And I mean, one of the most remarkable stats for me of this game is that, well, there are two, and these are going to be very connected for me. The Phoenix Suns had an 86.5 first shot half-court offensive rating.That's pretty bad. Not near the worst of the day, but pretty bad.

Speaker 07509.9s - 7540.12s

But the things that combine with that, though, and this is where you get into the real trouble. And parts of this connect, even though the personnel is different to some of the KD Nets ORG teams. The Phoenix Suns only had an 11% offensive rebound rate. Nerkich had zero. The team had three individually credited, one Beale, one, Grayson Allen PERSON, who left the game with a sprained ankle. Was it a weird, a weird play? We'll see his availability moving forward. And then Royce

Speaker 47540.12s - 7575.66s

O'Neill had one. So you have that. So you have, okay, well, we weren't, we weren't converting many of those, and you expect that to get better. We're not getting any of those offensive rebounds. But then the other one, and I had this in my notes at a play. There was a play in the mid-third where Kevin Durant didn't have the ball in his hands. He was waving his hands for the sons to start their possession faster. They didn't totally stalled out. And so I had unpredictable up for something else related to the Magic ORG game. And this season, the Sons were 28th in time to shoot after a defensive rebound. So that means it was they were the third slowest team in the league. When they got a report.

Speaker 07575.66s - 7578.52s

When you don't have a point card, who's supposed to push the ball?

Speaker 47578.68s - 7615.2s

It is a huge problem for them. And it's not only just like that first five seconds or seven seconds or less, as you want to think with this franchise. It's also just, okay, we're across or seven seconds or less, as you want to think with this franchise. It's also just, okay, we're across half court. What the hell do we want to do? The organization element of it as well as the grab and go.And KD is a culprit. There are lots of, lots of culprits on the suns. But it takes them so long to get into things. And I thought that Minnesota ORG was, you know, they didn't have to, like, there weren't as many plays where they needed to do multiple efforts. Minnesota ORG is plenty capable.That's the best defense in the league this year for a reason. But the sons weren't making them work for it.

Speaker 07615.38s - 7670.34s

No, they really weren't. And just a lot of isolation, a lot of try to beat your man. And I think the towns on KD kind of got them into some of their worst tendencies. The other thing that the towns on KD thing did and them into some of their worst tendencies. The other thing that the Towns PERSON on KD thing did, and get to some of Minnesota ORG's other defensive brulions as well, is it just allowed everything to work better, right?In the previous matchups, that's currently in town trying to guard Grayson Allen PERSON. Well, that's just not very natural there. And then you also didn't have Mike Conley trying to guard Bradley Beale. As a result, you could put Edwards PERSON on Beal, and Beal is not really going to do much against Edwards. And then you, of course, have Jane McDaniels on Booker PERSON, and Jane McDaniels just so good with those rearview contests that Booker is just really going to struggle.And Booker can use his strength a little bit to create space, but McDaniels PERSON still able to bother his shot a little bit. And then the other thing is just that the wolves completely punked the sons around the basket

Speaker 17670.34s - 7675.4s

defensively, where they just, in the first three quarters, they could not get anything around

Speaker 37675.4s - 7675.7s

the room.

Speaker 17675.8s - 7750.64s

Just so many mislapts. A few of them are ones that probably should have been made, but Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels PERSON, Nas Reed PERSON, those guys were pretty good. There was just a lot of size around the basket. I thought Alexander Walker PERSON, not necessarily around the basket, but he had a really nice defensive game as well.He held up okay against Booker and even against KD at times, obviously against Beal PERSON. So that was the problem for the Suns ORG. And they also were just making really bad rim reads. And they were making a ton of Mid-Rangers in the First. And we were like, yeah, you know, the Sun ORG's like, the Wolves have this great defense, but the Suns would be able to make a bunch of mid-rangers in the first, and we were like, yeah, you know, the Sun's, like,the Wolves ORG have this great defense, but the Suns ORG would be able to make a bunch of mid-rangers. They did, but the Suns ORG did literally nothing else. And in the regular season matchups, the Suns ORG were able to run a little bit more. They were able to get up a lot of threes,and the Suns got up 10-3s in the first half in this game, just nowhere close to enough. And when their mid-range shooting dried up just a little bit, they had nothing else that they could fall back on. And so they're basically 50% around the room. And, of course, all those misses then lead to Wolves ORG transition.That was another thing. The wolves have not been a good transition team this year. But they really were focused on pushing it. They got a lot of transition. Some of it off of steals. And Rudy Gover PERSON was also excellent in this game.And especially because he had a traditional center to guard most of the way. Now worth noting Nurkich PERSON was basically even and it was

Speaker 47750.64s - 7756.62s

Eubanks who killed him and then he tried to go. UBanks ORG was terrible. But what it was for those people

Speaker 07756.62s - 7761.02s

who didn't see the game what was so bad about him? I mean he's I would I would say that he's

Speaker 47761.02s - 7783.44s

ineffective on both offense and defense like he's's not putting the wolves in any sort of difficulty. And I mean, whether he's out there and Gobert's there and then there's nothing going for you, Banks PERSON. Or if it's the Reed Towns ORG combo platter, then he still can't really get anything going. Not as good of a screener. I think he got called for the one he had a turnover on illegal screen. I may be wrong on that, but I think I remember that.

Speaker 07783.72s - 7848.94s

He just doesn't really, he can't really generate any shots. He's not as good of a screener as Nerkitz PERSON. He was poor in his pick and roll defense where like, you know, he's stepping up to, I mean, there's one play where it's a Conley PERSON-Gobert pick and roll, and he like steps up hard to get Mike Conley PERSON as he comes to the elbow. It's like, Mike Conley PERSON is not going to like rise up for a jumper on you at the elbow. And the defender was like kind of there too. Like no, what your your job there is, all right,get into Conley PERSON's path a little bit. But if the big starts to rotate behind you, back the fuck up and don't give up an al-Aube. And if Mike Connolly PERSON wants to shoot a floater, fine. And he just didn't have a understanding of that concept. So I mean, they they didn't play Bull Bull ORG at all in this game. That would be an adjustment for me. It's like, yeah, all right, fine. Like, Bobol PERSON is like kind of a wuss.Like, he's not going to execute. He can't be worse than you banks. And at least Bull Bull ORG is like, he's going to score a little bit. He can space out, go bear. So I'm sure to jump. Like the minutes at the start of the,well, they actually put Nurkich out there at the start of the second. And that's part of why they're effective. But I would say the minutes at the end of the first and the end of the third when they really got smoked. And that's with Katie and Booker PERSON out there, too.

Speaker 17849.02s - 7850.5s

Those two guys play the whole.

Speaker 37850.76s - 7997.54s

And they even try to take Beal out and then bring him back in for those minutes. And they still lost those minutes in the first and third in this game. So I would say go a little bit more bowl there instead. And like, because Bull PERSON at least he's like, he'll at least finish around around the basket like that they don't have anyone who's like actually going to finish uh because that's the one thing that nurk it really struggles with um other adjustments for me for the sons if they're going to put towns on kD they tried bringing kD off a few screens i think but it's like it's it was kindof starting down towards the basket katy's room i would either bring them off a wide pin down they also were willing to actually switch gober onto KD as well on those. I would then, they need to get more screening action using KD as the screener for Devin Booker PERSON. And like get him out into space rather than and beat Carl Anthony Towns PERSON that way. Like stress Carl Anthony Towns PERSON out to have to recover back to him or like make Towns switchon to like even Devin Booker PERSON after that. Or you set a screen with Mike Conley's PERSON man. Well, Grayson Allen, if he's healthy, you probably have to be Eric Gordon PERSON otherwise. But like, Grayson Allen PERSON could certainly play that game. Like, let's set it. Like, Carlentany Towns PERSON can't get around a screen set by a guard.So then Katie can drive. Help has to come from the guard. And then you could throw it back out for a wide open three to a Gordon or a Grayson Allen. Now, the one thing about the wolves is they had the Sun ORG's role players totally spooked with their closeouts. They're just so long and so intense. I mean, McDaniels was unbelievable. Like, Grayson Allen PERSON just did not, like, he just wasn't come to.He's, like, that's part of the reason I've been lower on it is like he's making his shots, but he's not like a high volume guy. Like, you can't really run place for he's, like, that's part of the reason I've been lower on it is, like, he's making his shots, but he's not, like, a high volume guy. Like, you can't really run place where he's only, like, five for 36 this year. His release is kind of slow and low for, like, a shooting specialist sort. And so he, like, got, and he also, like, he kind of doesn't really want to be a shooter. Like, he wants to, like, he was known as, like, more of, like, a pick and roll ground.Like, he wants to still be a, he's like, oh, I'm more than just a shooter. But, yeah, you're not going to do anything at the basket against this Wolf ORG's team. So you need to actually just shoot the ball fast when you're open. And so Royce O'Neill got run off a bunch of shots. Gordon PERSON got run off a bunch of shots. I would even say Bradley Bueh PERSON got run off a bunch of shots.And like that's, that's that wolf's length and intensity really mess them up at the rim, but also was a big reason why they weren't able to get the three-pointers off. This is a perfect example of the whole, like, it's about preventing the three to begin with, not contesting it, although they did kind of speed him up on a few of those as well. Anything else that stuck out to you here? Any adjustments or anything like that?

Speaker 47998s - 8011.4s

Eubanks is a big one for me, and I mean, the sun's rotations could be messed up if Alan PERSON has to, has to miss any time. And that seems entirely possible. I did, it didn't seem like it was a horrendous ankle sprain, but, you know, the game.

Speaker 08011.44s - 8013.08s

And the game was out of reach, too.

Speaker 48013.46s - 8017.5s

But when's the next game in this? Is it Monday? I think it's Monday.

Speaker 08017.5s - 8025.5s

Oh, no. I'm sorry. No, it is actually Tuesday. Because I was, I was thinking during the game, like, these guys are going to, they're going to play everyone a ton of minutes because there's a two-day break for the next game.

Speaker 48025.5s - 8051.26s

You're right. Yeah, it is Tuesday. And so we'll. And yeah, that game actually is starting before Milwaukee, Indiana, because they're doing both West games as national TV games on Tuesday, which is one. Anything else? Not really, not really a ton. I mean, there were a couple of stretches where Nas Reid PERSON played well. He was, of course, fantastic and plus minus plus 22 in this one. And I thought that, you know, confident taking the three

Speaker 08051.26s - 8065.36s

and he did well. And. Well, and the bigger thing, too, is like he was a solid player, right? I mean, when we last saw Nas Reid PERSON in the playoffs, he was unplayable against the Grizzlies ORG. And obviously he's improved a lot since then. He didn't play last year with the wrist.

Speaker 48065.82s - 8068.88s

And then speaking of that, I thought Nikiel Alexander Walker PERSON was excellent.

Speaker 08069.06s - 8071.42s

He competed hard on defense, was extremely disruptive.

Speaker 48071.62s - 8084.68s

Had four steals in total, but I think he had three of them in the first half. And then also was making enough of his shots that you could, that you had to keep track of him. And four and nine from three, 18 points. So some of that was in Carbache PERSON time, but I thought he played really well.

Speaker 08084.8s - 8140.96s

Yeah, they got a few minutes out of Monta Moore. Morris, probably more than they wanted due to the Anderson PERSON injury. I mean, they are going to be a little thin now. I also say about Towns, it was reported on the broadcast that he lost 20 pounds. He does look a lot thinner, actually. I think that's certainly for playing the four. That's, see, like, it is possible, Joel and Bede PERSON to be injured and actually, like, lose weight while you're injured.Like, you just don't eat as much as possible. And Carltony Towns PERSON doesn't exactly have, like, the naturally most felt body either. But I think the way he's been able to return here is really impressive on this timeline and to come back and be decent enough. I mean, yeah, he had some headlong drives. It didn't look great. But, you know, he's still a solid NBA player. I don't know that he's going to be a star. You know, Edwards PERSON,I'm not really quite sure why it was that he was able to do more. I think it was just, they didn't run as much pick and roll for him. They just, he got more in transition. He got more in isolation. He just kind of started bombing, getting the basket. I was impressed at how

Speaker 48140.96s - 8154.1s

how well the, how well Edwards fared when they put KD on him was something I brought up the Phoenix ORG could turn to. And the length didn't matter. KD did make some mistakes where he was, I thought he was respecting Edwards PERSON' drive a little bit too much.

Speaker 08154.1s - 8235.9s

I understand that with some of the red protection. But it's basically like, if you're back far enough that you're basically conceding the jump shot, then you're not actually actively defended. A few other notes here and then a few other adjustments. If you get Rudy Goberr PERSON switched on to you, which they're willing to do, and this is something else. Phoenix ORG just had no intentionality to what the hell they were doing on offense.They were just going to out-talent these guys. And that's what they did in last year's playoffs soon. I had a higher hopes for them this year. It hasn't really been the case. And frankly, like that's a lot of KD teams. I like that.They don't run a lot of stuff. They don't move it incredibly well. Like even with the Warriors ORG, he kind of slowed down that. He kind of chafed it having to play that way. And, you know, he's one of the best ever to do it in isolation. But that's at 35, that can't be all that you're doing. But if they're willing to switch Rudy Gobert onto KD, yeah, KD, all right. Great. Like you cross over. You broke his angles a couple times. You got a couple of mid-rangers. Move the ball. You get two other all-star level players on your team.You get the best room protector in the NBA switched on to one of the best shooters ever. Move the ball. And hey, you know what? Maybe he'll help out on whatever happens next and you'll get the ball back and you'll be wide open. Or one of your other guys will actually be able to get to the room for once.Or maybe you'll actually be able to get enough penetration for a drive-a-kick. And they do also need to just have better rim reads as well. Like some of these, they're just going up too hard around the basket, particularly in the first half. Like they needed just spray the ball out to shooters. Booker PERSON, same thing. I mean, they need to run more pick and roll at Conley

Speaker 18235.9s - 8302.82s

with him in particular, I would say, because McDaniels is a big problem for him. And Booker PERSON, I think, is one of the guys who is struggling the most with these new interpretations, particularly because those interpretations varied wildly, depending on what the number said on the quarter screen in the arena, in which three free throws were shot in the first quarter, and 24 free throws were shot overall in the second quarter.It was a completely inconsistently called game where guys were just getting bludgeoned on every drive in the first quarter and then getting every call in the second quarter. It was a completely inconsistently called game where guys were just getting bludgeoned on every drive in the first quarter and then getting every call in the second quarter. But Booker PERSON, you know, it's a lot of his game was kind of get a little bit of an advantage. See the guy's not in legal guarding position. Throw yourself into him as you're kind of getting shoved behind the backboard and hope for the call and that call isn't there anymore.And that's he's going to really need to adjust to that. And he also needs to take some more threes. Yeah, I mean, that's that's another thing I think they need to do too. But McDaniels PERSON is bothering him from behind. But like, they have to generate more three point shots. And they're good.I think they can do that by going after the weakest. I don't remember them setting a screen at Mike Conley PERSON once, do you?

Speaker 48303s - 8360.42s

No, I had it in my notes in the first half and then I thought about just putting more exclamation points by it each time they didn't do it. But when it's a common refrain now for us, but like when a team plays this many good defenders, and I mean, Edwards PERSON had a nice defensive game overall, it feels inevitable. They are going to go pretty aggressively after the weakest link, even if that link isn't weak.And Connolly's, you know, he's not Jamal Murray PERSON. He's a weaker link than Jamal Murray is with the Nuggets ORG. And it was stunning to see how little tactically the Suns ORG had there. And it doesn't even have to be complicated. It's just bring somebody into the action. And that can lead to a lot of other benefits.So initiating earlier is a huge, like, that's my biggest thing. It's just bring somebody into the action and that can lead to a lot of other benefits. So initiating earlier is a huge, like that's my biggest thing. It's just get going earlier. And initiate earlier by putting Booker's ideal, but you could do it in a couple different ways by involving Connolly PERSON in the action. And if they freak out and send extra people there, then you're creating an advantage. And you could do something with that.

Speaker 08360.74s - 8377.48s

Yeah, and they're going to play tons and read together. Maybe that's when you get Bull Bull ORG out there. I also think when Nurkich PERSON is in, they should run more through him. He, one of their few decent passing sequences, they had a couple of decent backdoors from Nurkich PERSON. And he'll turn it over there a little bit, but that's that actually, like, if he's

Speaker 48377.48s - 8382.34s

being guarded by Gober PERSON. At least those are sins of co-mission rather than O mission. Yeah, and if he's

Speaker 08382.34s - 8426.9s

being guarded by Gobert PERSON, there are a lot of times, like, Gobert is going to be up on him trying to pressure a little bit because there's so many dangerous weapons that he can hand off to. And so there are opportunities for, to get back doors. And also just to like move the ball, change sides of the floor, get some fluidity from side to side. Like, Nurkich PERSON is not some amazing weapon, but I think just to kind of democratize the offense a little bit more,they just really played into Minnesota ORG's hands with how stagnant they were going after kind of the one mismatch on the floor. And all I think that's about all I've got here. We'll find out, of course, about Grayson Allen in the coming days. Let's get to a matchup where the pre-series conception has not changed in the slightest.

Speaker 48427.2s - 8471.14s

And that is the reigning, defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets. Surviving a strong start by the Lakers, I thought the Lakers looked really good in the first quarter, played with purpose. And LeBron overall, like, it might not have been the peak of that New Orleans season ending game, but I thought he played with a lot of purpose, played well, 27 points, six rebounds, eight assists, also seven turnovers, we'll discuss that. And then the deluge from Denver ORG, where it took over the course of the, primarily the third and fourth quarters, but I mean, they had a good, actually a good non-yoketra in the first after I want to discuss.And they eventually had enough control that it, it was close-ish late, but it never felt like the Lakers ORG, to me, that the Lakers were truly threatening. Nope.

Speaker 08471.3s - 8480.54s

Didn't feel that way to me either. And L.A. GPE was able to get out early. What went right for them as they built that 12-point lead about halfway through the second quarter?

Speaker 48480.7s - 8488.6s

They were getting contributions from getting contributions kind of from a bunch of different points. I think that was that was the part of the game when, when Russell PERSON was actually,

Speaker 08488.9s - 8492.98s

no, I mean, I was trying to remember who was. First quarter, first quarter, Russell PERSON was hot.

Speaker 48493.1s - 8518.6s

Yeah. And then after that, he was distinctly not. And it was that was mostly actually inside the arc where he was five of 11 as opposed to outside the arc where Russell was one for nine overall in this contest. They also were able to get some stuff in the paint. Overall, in that first quarter, the Lakers were 10 of 10 of 13 in the paint, six of eight in the restricted area. And so in terms of both number of attempts and field goal percentage on those attempts,that worked out really well for them.

Speaker 08518.8s - 8546.08s

Yeah. And also, Denver ORG just didn't have it going. Jamal Murray was not good from two. We only shot five of 15 from two. Wasn't able to get to the rim. And I thought having AD PERSON,like they basically AD guarded Yokic PERSON a little bit, but they went with Hachimura PERSON, and they even went with LeBron PERSON more than I was expecting necessarily at this point in the series. And so I thought that worked okay until Yokic PERSON himself really kicked it up into gearin the third quarter and yokic

Speaker 38546.08s - 8554.26s

finished with uh you know 32 points 15 and 23 from the field seven assists zero turnovers uh and did it

Speaker 18554.26s - 8565.44s

without even even having to go to the free throw line more than once was incredible the nuggets were five of six from the foul line in this game and still scored 115 what was their offensive rating it felt like it was a little slower-paced game, but not

Speaker 48565.44s - 8567.86s

crazy slow. Denver, 124.

Speaker 08568.18s - 8686.4s

92 possessions. There you go. Yeah, 92 possessions, not very fast at all, but Denver ORG still was able to hurt them on the fast break, particularly after Lakers misses in the second half. And I mean, you got to be fucking bulletproof against this Denver ORG team. And I thought certainly the biggest point of failure was DeAngela Russell PERSON.Why on God's earth he played 41 minutes, I will never know. And Gabe Vincent only played eight. All right, he didn't do much in the first half. That's fine. But like, they couldn't defend. And I think maybe this was just a feeling.We kind of talked about this in the preview a little bit from Darvind and just like well hey we can't like is Gabe Vincent PERSON really going to help our defense that much and we need Jangel Russell PERSON to go crazy and get hot like to outscore these guys and that's the biggest thing I would say for the Lakers the nuggets did score very well against them but like their defense was mostly good enough in this game and when they weren't getting beaten on fast breaks after terrible decisions on the offensive end in the second half,I thought they had pretty decent moments. And Murray PERSON didn't shoot well, too. I'll note that. But I think he can be better. But I thought they, considering that the primary defenders on him were Reeves and mostly Reeves and then maybe a little Russell PERSON that that was decent. But it just, AD scores 32 points in 45 minutes.And for them to only score 103 and only have a 109 offensive rating is just nowhere close to good enough. Now, I mean, there are some good things in this game for the Lakers ORG. Like we can talk about those, but it just, Russell PERSON was so bad defensively as well. Just a ton of mistakes there. KCP PERSON, who he was guarding, went off for a huge flurry of threes. He got up 10 threes as well.That was an interesting thing. Like the Denver actually shot a lot of threes, which is kind of a good sign, I would say, actually, for the Lakers ORG. Lakers ORG couldn't get a defensive rebound. That was a little bit of a problem.But I think, yeah, there's some okay things defensively for L.A. GPE, but they're 8 to 29 for 3 and Russell is 1 and 9, and they're just like, all right, you're just, they couldn't score in the second half.

Speaker 48686.78s - 8754.98s

There were, there were times when I'm like, shit, you know, I picked a sweep here. I regret that. But there were not times, especially towards them where I regretted like, where I had any doubt that Denver was going to win the series. Like I think then the Lakers can can win games. They can even win a game in Denver, not that that happened last year or to anybody other than the heat. And I, but to do so, the threshold to beat Denver ORG, now it's four times out of six is really, really high. And I don't think this Lakers ORG team is up to stuff unless there's a major injury. And on the Russell PERSON front, I cracked up. I was tooling around on NBA Reddit a few days ago.And I love the point that somebody said, which is this is the exact type of insight you get from a long-suffering Lakers ORG fan, is that DeAngel Russell plays well, like at the end of every season that he's there, they go, we can't keep this guy around, but then they don't end up doing something with him. And then they're like, oh, we have to do something. But he plays well enough in the first half of the season that you keep him around long enough to then regret having him for the second half of the season in the playoffs. And like he was terrible. He was like he was making bad decisions.He was not really, he wasn't getting the ball to the players.

Speaker 08755.12s - 8776.38s

The one three pointer that he took where he was like maybe trying to draw the foul, which, you know, on a call that just is not really being made anymore. It was like right out of a time out he just bombed a 28 foot-footer out of pick and roll with no window, hoping to draw a foul, was just a kill. That was like maybe like four or five minutes left in the game out of a timeout. I, Malone PERSON called a timeout.

Speaker 48776.56s - 8781s

I wish they, I know they're not going to do this, but ESPN ORG had the, they had LeBron

Speaker 08781s - 8788.54s

miced up for this game. I would pay so much money for the audio of what he said to deal off. The Bron was very frustrated with Russell PERSON at points this game, I would say.

Speaker 48788.88s - 8789.2s

He was.

Speaker 38789.36s - 8793.76s

Now, I don't think LeBron, he didn't really do anything offensively in the second half.

Speaker 48793.84s - 8976.56s

I think he took, you know, like a couple of shots in this fourth quarter. He had seven turnovers. I thought they did a nice job of trying to get him free by running a lot of Zoom PRODUCT type actions, getting him on the move, out of handoffs, going downhill against Yokic PERSON, forcing Yokic to react and, you know, setting screens for him with whoever Murray was guarding usually Reeves PERSON to try to get him going downhill.I thought that was like some pretty good process. Like those were good actions for LeBron PERSON where he'd be not going to play into his own tendency of just sort of standing there, dribbling the air out of the ball, and then shooting a step back with three on the shot clock over Aaron Gordon. That has no chance going in. And he was efficient in this one with 27 points,10 of 16 from the field, three or five from downtown. So, like, I thought he used solid offensively. Maybe the Lakers ORG make a few more threes. They're in it. And then the other thing I thought was encouraging for AD, unencouraging that he was good and probably will be bad in the next gamebecause he always alternates good and bad games offensively. But 32 points in 45 minutes. And he actually had the most success that he has going directly at Nicola Yokic PERSON. They ran a couple of plays where he was able to get pretty deep post position, turn and face and actually like really tried to power through him and had some success there. He did go 0 of 4 from 3, but 12 and 19 from 2 is pretty solid.I think that's something they should continue to try to explore to wear Yokic PERSON out a little bit and get him in foul trouble, probably more of the latter, because he does really start to shrink a little bit when he gets in foul trouble, particularly in the first half. So that's something I think they should go to even more. But, you know, what is AD PERSON's stamina level?I mean, that was the other thing that stood out to is just the Lakers ORG were exhausted down the end and Denver got a bunch of fast breaks in the fourth when they were sort of dejected. But, you know, their guys had to play a lot more minutes than Denver ORG's guys. But they're also, I think, like, Yokic PERSON is like, at this point is one of the most indefatigable guys in the NBA ORG. It's one of his most remarkable strengths is that he's able to I think, like, Yokic is, like, at this point, is one of the most indefatigable guys in the NBA. It's one of his most remarkable strengths is that he's able to handle the workload he doesoffensively. Change ends well, you know, he grabs and goes better than most guys his size and is still able to play at 39 minutes high level. He was ridiculous offensively. His touch in the second half, like, he had some just prop-like, again, going against one of the best defenders in the entire league was ridiculous. And one of the things that would freak me out as Darvindham, Rob Plankham PERSON and company is how hard the Lakers ORG pushed their guys in a game that they, in a game that theylost. So game two of the series is, is Monday in Denver ORG. And like, they had a couple of big games over the last week. And, like, I feel like that's going to be a letdown game for them. And then maybe, you know, tried to get it in L.A. I could be wrong.I've been wrong before. Talk about a game that I was really wrong on shortly after here. But it did feel like they gave this 80, 45 minutes, LeBron, 41 minutes. They gave this close to their best go and didn't get it. And even though they like played better in the first half than I expected, I would say in some ways they weren't that close to it when you account for that.

Speaker 08976.74s - 8983.08s

I would say so too because there are a bunch of other problems that haven't even arisen yet. Like Jamal Murray PERSON didn't do anything in this game.

Speaker 48983.36s - 9010.88s

He led them in shots, but it was only 9 to 24. Like he's going to go off go well also i'll say this he had one nice he had a nice stretch in the non yokic minutes in the first half i thought that that look good and then there was the weird thing that jama murray only had nine made field goals and it seemed like all of them were ridiculous highlight plays like they were like these really ambitious shots or anything like that but you know nine and twenty four from the field is it's not spectacular even though he didn't turn the ball over at all. And concerningly for the Lakers, the Nuggets only turned it over four times in the entire game.

Speaker 09011.2s - 9130.84s

Yeah, that's not getting any better. Lakers ORG don't force any turnovers whatsoever. Yeah, so Murray PERSON is going to get going with his midranger against these guards. Reeves was good on him, but Austin Reeves can't guard Jamal Murray PERSON in the end. That's going to be a major problem in some games. The non-A-D minutes for the Lakers were an utter fucking disaster, particularly in the second half.And you cannot, you cannot Darvinham PERSON. I mean, AD PERSON, I think, was just tired and they took him out. But you cannot have Anthony Davis off the floor when Nicole Yokic PERSON is on the floor. Even if he's not guarding Yokic PERSON. Like that's just, and, you know, Jackson Hayes PERSON, I thought was, uh, he struggled, got some fouls in his brief stint.And then they didn't play him at all in the second half. They tried to go LeBron and Rui PERSON, but then they don't have any threes even to play next to them. So it's three guards, LeBron and Rui PERSON. And that just has no chance if Yokic PERSON is still out there. Like, he's going to just destroy that group.So if you're going to go to that, you have to just match AD up with Yokic PERSON and match up their minutes. And they actually did that in last year's playoffs. They didn't this time. Ham PERSON said they have some other coverages. They can throw at Yokic PERSON. I didn't want to use them all in game one, all right, which is actually probably a good lesson forhim because he did do that last year. And then they made a comeback that fell way short. And then the nuggets were ready for them not defending Yokic with AD in game two. So I would like to see more of Gabe Vincent PERSON. I'd particularly like to see Gabe Vincent out there and then non-yokic minutes to just try to really see if you can get your best defender on Murray PERSON when he's really trying to cook. As you noted, he had his best stretch.Then for Denver, they actually played DeAndre Jordan 9 minutes and it was fine. Gordon only played 32. Certainly it's available to them to play Gordon and Watson PERSON together. They played Justin Holliday PERSON. Don't think we're to see that much of him either. Christian Brown didn't do much, one of five in 18 minutes.They definitely, you know, Braun played 18 minutes off the Nugget Bench ORG. That was the most. Peyton Watson maybe I think could play a few more minutes for them if needed.

Speaker 49131.08s - 9136.1s

I was still sudden that Peyton Watson took more threes than twos. I mean, he did make those two in the first quarter, but still.

Speaker 09136.3s - 9176.86s

Yeah. I mean, Peyton Watson had this one play where AD PERSON tried to just like go right through him and he just fucking blocked AD PERSON. Like he, that guy, I think he has like future Jonathan Isaac potential potential I only hope that he has a better health record than Jonathan Isaac but I think he could eventually be that kind of a player um yeah but not else I can not too much else I can point to I mean Tori and Prince was the only player off the Laker ORG bench to attempt a field goal hewas four for seven and they did actually close with him over Rui PERSON. And that still is just really not a particularly appealing choice. Like this Lakers ORG team in the end, like they don't have any two-way players. Like who they have one two-way player other than Davis and James. And that's Gabe Vincent PERSON.

Speaker 49177.06s - 9187.64s

And he's been injured all year. And like, there was hope at a time that Austin Reeves PERSON could be more of that. And I think he, I think he had some better defensive moments in this one. But, like, it's hard.

Speaker 09187.84s - 9207.42s

Yeah, I don't, I mean, the Nuggets ORG, they didn't even really go to, like, their tough shit of, like, you know, involving Russell Moore PERSON and so of their main actions down the stretch or anything like that. Like, the Nuggets ORG, they won this one comfortably, and they've got a lot of stuff left in the tank in terms of minutes, player usage, play calls, et cetera, that they can get to it anytime.

Speaker 49207.7s - 9209.48s

Is it time to get to the first game of the day?

Speaker 09210.24s - 9212.3s

Yeah, this one was crazy.

Speaker 49212.5s - 9238.76s

If you're not looking forward to it, I'm really not looking forward to it as somebody who picked the Orlando Magic ORG in the series. And while there are plenty of reasons to believe that the Orlando Magic can play better than they did on Saturday, early afternoon East Coast time. I think the way to summarize this is that the Cavs had an 89 first shot half-court offensive rating and absolutely demolished the magic there because Orlando's was a 62.7.

Speaker 09238.76s - 9261.32s

Moreover, as the Cavs went up by 20 at the end of the third. The magic half court offensive rating was 50. That is, 5.0. 50 points per 100 possessions. 0.50 points per possession. That is fiver 0. 5.0 was their offensive rating in the half court during the competitive portion of thisbasketball.

Speaker 49261.48s - 9324.1s

And I'll go in a macro sense just briefly. And I think that this series will go better for the magic. I'm not saying I would still pick them if the series is happening right now. I absolutely would not. But my sincere hope as somebody who is a firm believer in Orlando ORG's long-term potential and believes that even internal improvement can get them a significant portion of the way, that this serves as motivation for Jeff Wetland PERSON in particular, that they need abest offensive player to get to the levels that this team wants to reach in the future because there were so many stretches where whether it was Palo or it was Franz or there were times where it was just Dailan Suggs PERSON banging his head up againsta wall where they just didn't have anyone that was making the Cavs defense sweat. And the Cabs have a very good defense. They have, especially when they've been healthy. They have, they've had it all year. And Cleveland ORG has some, some of their strengths negate some of Orlando ORG's relative strengths offensively and some of their weaknesses are notthings that Orlando ORG is well suited to exploit. But that general concept is extremely important for team building when it comes to the magic. Yeah, I, I thought the bigger problem in this one was

Speaker 09324.1s - 9326.5s

just shooting that, you know, going to 37 didn't Yeah, I thought the bigger problem in this one was just shooting that they made, you know,

Speaker 49326.58s - 9328.16s

going 8 of 37 didn't help.

Speaker 09328.16s - 9331.72s

They made three jump shots in the first half of any kind from any distance.

Speaker 49332.22s - 9334.52s

And early on, they looked semi respectable.

Speaker 09334.68s - 9336.9s

They put up 26 points in the first quarter.

Speaker 49337.18s - 9372.08s

A lot of that was off of turnovers and fast breaks where they were solid. And they also got like three or four cuts. And I felt like actually both teens had a lot of fools gold in the first. The calves, memorably, were five of five from three, about five minutes into the game. They take a 19 to eight lead. And then they would proceed to miss their next 13 three-point vehicle goals.They wouldn't make one until like midway through the third when Orlando ORG actually had kind of gotten back into it. And then Orlando ORG was getting all these cuts and stuff at the rim. Also by the cabs like two of those five makes were by Evan Mowgli PERSON.

Speaker 19372.44s - 9422.98s

And then they also were able to get Mowgli PERSON posted up a couple times against a guard. So he was effective that their offense actually looked good in the Mowgli Allen minutes in the first half. And then that would change in the third as we'll get to. The magic also just shot terribly at the rim. They were basically 50% at the rim, the competitive portion.And they got filed eight or nine times attacking the basket, sure, but that wasn't enough. So, yeah, I mean, they really struggled. And the other thing that I thought really stood out to me was there's a big strategic inflection point in the third quarter as the calves areup pretty solidly. They outscore them by a robust 20 to 15 in the second quarter. And then the Cavs ORG had, the magic actually had one of the most dominating defensive stretches I can remember in a playoff game where they got steals or block shots on five of six possessions and actually got

Speaker 39422.98s - 9426.02s

a stop on the other one and Jared Allen PERSON got a tip in and that was it.

Speaker 19426.22s - 9428.98s

And then the double big thing was killing them.

Speaker 39429.04s - 9430.38s

They had no spacing at all.

Speaker 19430.58s - 9488.88s

And then they bring in George Nying PERSON and everything opened up. Everyone started getting to the basket. Lavert, Donovan Mitchell, who had 30 points, 11 to 21. He always seems to have 30 points in game one. So he was really solid. But they just started getting a lot of drives and started gettingsome stuff with the basket. And it was remarkable because everything opened up. They're getting to the rim. And this is with nobody having made a shot for the calves, right? Like George Nying didn't make a three. But yet when he comes in, everything completely opened up for them relative to Mobley PERSON,who actually did make two threes. It just shows you the power of shooting gravity. And same thing with Struis, who was did make two threes. It just shows you the power of shooting gravity. And same thing with Struz, who was only one out of five. He hit a three on the very first possession of the game and didn't hit one again. So the only thing that really went right for the magic in this game was 12 steals. And when they weren't getting a steal, they just couldn't do anything on either end. And Cleveland ORG, I think the other big takeaway I wouldgo to for this series is like, Jonathan Mitchell PERSON looked pretty good in this one.

Speaker 39488.92s - 9489.62s

What did you see from him?

Speaker 49490.06s - 9494.84s

He showed a little bit more burst, especially that the very beginning of the first quarter.

Speaker 39495.22s - 9498.98s

And you and I have focused at times on his struggles from two.

Speaker 49498.98s - 9533.08s

And in this one, Mitchell, he was eight of 13 on twos. And Orlando ORG has very good room protection overall. It's part of their, like, bonus shot location and everything else like that. And I was, I was impressed with Mitchell PERSON's ability to, you know, like he was generally being guarded. There were times, Suggs bounced around a little bit between Mitchell and Darius Garland PERSON.But, I mean, overall, Donovan Mitchell, he got nine shots in the paint. He did take four midrangers. Those didn't go as well. And then five free throws wasn't a ton, but it was the second most on the cabs. Jared Allen, I think that's six. So yeah.

Speaker 09533.26s - 9538.08s

He had his second dunk since the All-Star EVENT break, a fast break. That actually looked pretty good.

Speaker 49538.22s - 9550.5s

It did. And so for Mitchell PERSON, so for Mitchell, he showed a little bit more burst and, you know, not 100%, but closer to it than I had feared. And that's definitely a good sign for the caps.

Speaker 09550.5s - 9613.54s

A big surprise in this game was that they actually continued to start Jonathan Isaac as they did in the Bucks game. And now Carter, you know, had played four minutes in the game before that against Philly and went out and they went with Isaac then against Milwaukee GPE. You figured Carter PERSON would be healthy and back in the starting lineup. That wasn't the case. They started Isaac PERSON. Jonathan Isaac's a very good player. He played 29 minutes in this game.Actually, it had 2 or 4 from 3. 25% of the magic's made three total. Hit a couple of corner 3s. But I actually think Wendell is better for them in the starting group because number one, like, Isaac PERSON isn't going to handle the ball, right? Carter PERSON can give them a little bit more in the handoff game. I think he's a much better finisher around the rim, not that either of them are amazing, but I think Carter PERSON is better there.And then defensively, Carter is not as good as Jonathan Isaac for sure, but he also maybe can rebound a little bit better. I think Carter's a little bit better of a shooter than Isaac PERSON is. But the biggest things, I don't know why you would split up that Isaac Mo Wagner pairing that just fucking wrecked the league this year on backup units.

Speaker 49613.54s - 9622.2s

It was very odd to me. And especially because Isaac's physical gifts mesh better with Wagner PERSON's than the Carter Wagner minutes do.

Speaker 09622.36s - 9630.3s

I agree. Yeah, because Carter PERSON, as good as he has, he's the center. Isaac PERSON can really play power forward and get over a screen defensively if you need to.

Speaker 49630.46s - 9635.64s

Back in the day, Isaac often played the three with Aaron Gord, like the two of them traded off those responsibilities, too.

Speaker 09635.82s - 9714.12s

I thought that Mosley, John PERSON and I disagreed on this. He thought Mosley was not going to play Marco Fultz PERSON. I'm like, ah, no, he's going to play Marco Fultz PERSON. And Marco Foltz actually played more than Cole Anthony PERSON. Cole Anthony really struggled, but he should probably play more than 11 minutes when he can't score. He's honestly like their best guard score by quite a bit. So Fultz PERSON, I just didn't understand it. All he does is he justruns the dunker spot on offense every single time. He was 0 for 4. Joe Ingalls PERSON, another guy, I think, just probably shouldn't even be playing. He was 0 for 2 in 15 minutes. He actually was plus 2 somehow, though there was plenty of garbage time in the 4th. But Ingalls PERSON got traffic cone a few times, committed it totally acidine foul on the bonus. In the first, Cleveland ORG could do more to attack him than they did, quite frankly. So I don't think you need to be playing 10 guys right now.And I think if anything, Mo Wagner PERSON should be playing more. And especially if you can't score, like the guy with like a 22 usage and like over 65% true shooting should probably play. And he gives you a little bit more moving in the half court. Also, if you try to play Mo and Carter together, like John Isaac PERSON is fine just standing in the corner on offense.Like Wendell Carter PERSON, he's more used to being in the center of the floor as well. Like Mo Wagner PERSON really should be that hub, getting handoff, slipping out, cutting behind the defense on those plays. And so I really think he needs to play more. You can also just kind of agitate.

Speaker 49714.36s - 9721.58s

Kudos to the Cleveland ORG crowd for figuring out they had to hate him immediately. Speaking of agitated, it took Movogner exactly three minutes to get into some shit. It's incredible.

Speaker 09721.82s - 9784.48s

Yeah. I didn't even think he did anything there. It was actually, like, I thought it was a good technical on a coro who just bumped him for no real reason. And maybe he was like said something to a teammate or whatever. But yeah, good job at the Cleveland ORG crowd figuring out who to hate so quickly in this series. Magical shoot better, like Suggs and Harris going a combined one of 12 from downtown.That's going to be rough. But Suggs PERSON was asked to do more inside the arc than would be optimal. Bancaro, yeah, 24 points to 917, but nine turnovers. Pretty remarkable, actually. Nine of their 12 turnovers in the game belong to Palo Bancaro. That's pretty interesting.I actually thought, though, that Franz was the bigger problem because he hit a couple of threes late in the non-competitive portion of the game, but they were not guarding him at all. They were totally fine putting a Mitchell PERSON on him as well. They had struse on him. That worked out totally fine. And they were just one pass away, just gaping off of him. There was like, Powell PERSON would try to drive and like he tried to spin move and someone came off of Franz at the top of the key and took for him. I think that was Mitchell PERSON.So they like, they guarded Franz like the 28% three-point shooter that he's been this year.

Speaker 49784.48s - 9854.04s

It was, it was striking. And I mean, Wagner% three-point shooter that he's been this year. It was striking. And, I mean, Wagner, I've said before that he's a better shooter than the 28% he made this year. But that's better to like 32, 33%, not necessarily, which is his career average, not to like 35, 36. And so, you know, you could say that the magic could do worse there. And I, like you, I think that Jamal Mosley playing a better mix of his players could be very useful, tightening things up a little bit. And also, you know, swapping Isaac and Wagner, or not Isaac and Wagner, pairing Isaac and Carter PERSON, that could potentially help things.And, you know, parts of this can't be fixed, but parts of it can be. And on the Evan Mowgli front, he had this great first quarter where he made a couple of threes overall Mowbly in that. He was 10 points, 3 of 5 from the field, two or three from three. Instead of rest of team, rest of game, rest of game, Mowgli PERSON after that stretch, he was three of seven from the field, O for one from three, six points in the ensuing, let's call it 28 minutes of action.So that was good, but it wasn't like he's turned over a new leaf. I didn't expect that he had.

Speaker 09854.26s - 9918.58s

No, but he did have three block shots. He was a big reason why the magic had a ton of trouble around the room. So he was excellent there. He played 36 minutes, Alanam played 35 and they controlled the defensive glass totally fine. I thought this idea that like Orlando ORG was just going to be like so much more physical than Cleveland. Like I didn't see like, okay, Wendell Carter and like John Isaac PERSON.They don't have guys who are just going to like shove you out of the way like Mitchell Robinson like kill you on the defensive glass the way Robinson did it in last year's playoffs. So yeah, I mean there will be a decision to make. But I actually thought Nying held up pretty well against Pala PERSON. Like there was a stretch in the second where that was the matchup. And Pollo tried him four times in a row and only beat him once.And that was on like a quick pass on an inbound play where he was on the baseline and spun past him. So the isolation actually didn't work amazingly well against Nying PERSON. So I'm not saying that's going to continue. And if there's more space to work with, I think Pollo PERSON can beat that matchup. But if you're not really going to defend much worse with Nying PERSON out there than the two bigs, yeah, obviously you're going to be better offensively with that and really

Speaker 49918.58s - 9955.54s

opened things up for Mitchell PERSON. You mentioned it earlier with Nyang PERSON, but I thought that another threat of this game, and granted, the Cavs overall had a 102 offensive rating, so let's not get too heavy on this. I did think that there were times where it felt like a vindication feels wrong because it wasn't controversial, but a showcase for why Kobe Altman PERSON used his resources the way he did in the offseason, where Struz and Nying PERSON were actively defended even if they weren't making their shotsand while I thought Isaac Okoro PERSON played totally fine having that extra spacing made life so much easier on the rest of the cabs than it was last year.

Speaker 09955.9s - 10006.88s

Oh for sure. I mean and particularly for a team like the magic that doesn't have the spacing or the creation to take advantage of a Garland, Mitchell PERSON, Struce, one through three, it's going to look pretty good. And even, again, the calves, when they take out Mowbly and go with Nying PERSON, who, again, they didn'thave a guy like that because they cut Kevin Love last year, or bought him out. I guess he wanted to leave, but they weren't playing him. And, of course, they don't Dean Wade PERSON either. I think Dean Wade PERSON would be an interesting piece, but looks like he's not going to come back anytime soon, sadly. But yeah, when they go to Nying, they still have one of the two centers out there. Usually they'll throw out in a Coral or La Verde or both. Sam Merrill only played four minutes. So they've got enough defense out thereto handle this magic team. Mosley also went to a lineup to start the second with no Palo or Franz. Exizing Joe Engels PERSON can help you get back to that. So,

Speaker 410006.88s - 10054.74s

so I have a, this is, it is sort of a tiger changing its stripes coaching thing, but it is something that I wanted to bring up. And we've talked about this in part because we've done so many magic games for the strategy stream. Despite their elite defense, the Orlando Magic are 28th in average time to shot in the NBA this year.They're 26th off of make, off an opponent make, 30th off a defensive rebound. The Orlando Magic are 28th in average time to shot in the NBA this year. They're 26th off a make, off an opponent make, 30th off a defensive rebound, and 28th off a turnover. And it harkens back to the like one of the things that I appreciated most about Nick Nurse's Raptors last year, which is that if you know your half court offense is shitty, do everything you can to be there as little as possible. And Orlando doesn't have the ball handling necessarily do that, but just making it more of an imperative. And one of the potential solutions there is just a little bit at least more col anthem. Yeah, I think that that would

Speaker 010054.74s - 10202.46s

certainly be useful. And, you know, they wanted Gary Harris on Mitchell PERSON. I should have realized that they would put Gary Harris PERSON on Mitchell and go Suggs on Garland because Harris has the experience guarding Mitchell. Remember, back in 2020, he... Totally swung the series. Yeah, he came back for, I think, for game five and swung that series kind of single-handed because that was the series where Mitchell had 250-point games in the first four games,which was insane. And we'll see whether Mitchell PERSON can keep it up, how his knee responds on the turnaround here. But certainly, like, he looked dynamic enough. He was able to reject screens and create some separation. He had one beautiful spin move where he then left it back for a dunk where he looked good. So I think he wasn't maybe, like, absolute peak explosiveness, but good enough to easily looklike he could be the best player in this series. No problem. Let's see here, if anything else. Yeah, the magic made a good adjustment on the Mobley PERSON postups. Initially, they were willing to just switch those. And then they decided that they were going to at least kick out whoever the guard was,defending the postup on Mobley PERSON once he scored a couple of hook shots against the guard, which at least I'll credit him for being able to do that. But it was a pretty easy fix for Orlando once he had scored a couple of times. Franz Wagner PERSON, I thought, really looked bad trying to defend Donovan Mitchell. On the other end, an adjustment for Orlando ORG is just more Apollo screens are more Apollo off the dribble going at the small guards, particularly when the magic don't have the two bigs on the floor. I think that's something that they should try to get to a bit more as well.I think also if the calves are going to switch, if they're in the one big alignment, trying to get whoever that is out on the floor and then attack elsewhere is important. But yeah, man, they are just really low on creation. So yeah, you got to play Wagner more, got to play Anthony PERSON more. I would say, you know, maybe that means a little bit less. Gary Harris, you know, played 33 minutes. Suggs played 33.I like playing Sugs a little more. But that's fine. Like put Suggs. Like Darius Garland PERSON, he kind of struggled with a back issue, sat out and then came back in early in the third. So I don't know that he's at like peak efficiency. So you can probably get away with Cole Anthony PERSON, garden him and you put Suggs on Mitchell PERSON. That's certainly something you could get to. But, I mean, this is a very, like,the Cavaliers ORG are a good defensive team. Like, they were a good defensive team last year in the playoffs on the first shot, and they just got bludgeoned on the glass, and then they just couldn't score themselves. And, I mean, it's pretty amazing that the Cavaliers shot 8 to 30 from 3 and, like, one comfortably.

Speaker 310202.7s - 10218.12s

And I think they have a better chance of improving on that than the magic. The magic will get better too. They were eight at 37. But the cavaliers are actually like a pretty decent three point shooting team, whereas the magic decidedly are not. All right. I think we are.Would you change your prediction in this series?

Speaker 410218.34s - 10223.04s

Absolutely. Well, you didn't have the same prediction I did.

Speaker 010223.18s - 10224.66s

What were the other series that we differed on?

Speaker 410224.92s - 10227.12s

Buck's Pacers ORG for sure. and we'll get more on now.

Speaker 010227.12s - 10227.98s

You had Pacers ORG, right?

Speaker 410228.16s - 10228.46s

Yes.

Speaker 010228.72s - 10238.6s

Oh, man. Yeah, I'm certainly going to dread, I think, every moment of that series, like thinking that I picked a team that, you honestly knows, who knows when he's got.

Speaker 410238.62s - 10242.84s

But he hasn't officially been ruled out yet for game. Those are the only two where we pick different winners.

Speaker 010243.34s - 10266.02s

Yeah, we also have heard that Kauai GPE may be out. I guess this pod will probably be appended to the next one for the public pod. So you already know whether he played or not if you're listening to the public pod. But we will be on playback for that one. So hopefully you can join us. And it's time to get to bed here at 1142 because we got games in about 10 hours. The living room is where you make life's most beautiful memories.

Speaker 710266.62s - 10291.1s

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