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1:48

right, welcome to hoop tonight here at the Volume. Happy

1:50

Thursday, everybody. I'll foll of you guys are having an

1:52

incredible week. Got a jam pack show for

1:54

you tonight. We're gonna be breaking down all three games

1:56

from the perspective of both teams.

1:59

Well, the las Age just cannot beat the

2:01

Denver Nuggets. I really thought that'd get a

2:03

couple. I was wrong. I think they're gonna get swept.

2:05

I think they're out of here. On Saturday, we're gonna

2:07

break it down. You guys know the jove before we get started.

2:09

Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel, so

2:12

excuse me, to my new YouTube channel so you don't miss

2:14

any more of videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore

2:16

Jason lt. So you guys, don't miss any show announcements,

2:18

don't forget about a podcast feed wherever you get your podcast

2:21

under Hoops tonight. In the last but not least,

2:23

keep dropping mail bag questions and those YouTube comments.

2:25

We're gonna hit a couple of mail bags a week the

2:27

rest of the way through the playoffs. So Game

2:30

three in the NBA Playoffs in

2:32

the first round, in particular, those of

2:34

you guys who've been around the show for a while

2:37

will know what I refer to these games as I

2:39

refer to these as the buzzsaw games, right,

2:42

especially when the team is down to oh

2:45

because there's usually a gigantic

2:47

gap in urgency between the

2:49

two teams. And then obviously you're

2:51

shifting to the home you're

2:54

shifting to the other team's

2:56

home arena, and that typically leads

2:58

to more confidence in

3:01

your lower level role players. That typically

3:03

leads to sometimes a better whistle. Officials

3:06

generally will get caught up in the

3:08

emotion of a crowd. It's kind of like a human nature

3:10

thing, right, And then also like that

3:13

athletic advantage of playing with forced

3:15

type of advantage that comes from that

3:18

comes from the urgency shift that

3:21

like the home crowd is just like cure scene

3:23

on that like it just it just makes it that much

3:25

crazier, right, And like I

3:27

actually placed my first three bets of the NBA

3:29

postseason this year. I bet on all three home teams

3:31

tonight, and I actually hit on the first two

3:33

obviously, And I was

3:35

flirting with a I've bet an alternate

3:38

spread on the Sixers Nicks

3:40

game, and as I was watching the Jalen

3:42

Brunson Joel Embiid free

3:45

throw shooting contest at the end of the game, it was definitely

3:47

a little hectic, but I ended up getting out of there with that

3:49

one. But anyway, the

3:51

one team that managed to flip that script

3:54

was the Denver Nuggets. But like you saw the BUZZSA,

3:56

the Orlando Magic completely

3:58

demolished the Cavs on the glass, completely demolished

4:00

them, and not as much in transition,

4:03

I should say they demolish them on the offensive glass.

4:05

They demolished the Cavs on the offensive glass. They do a

4:07

bunch of damage with their physicality

4:10

and with Franz Wagner

4:12

and Pala Bancaro just working

4:14

at close shots around the rim, and the dynamic just

4:16

shifts, their role players hit shots.

4:18

It's a blowout, right, Like, obviously,

4:21

the Sixers finally get some contributions from some of

4:23

their role players, and some guys hit some shots.

4:26

They finally get some production out of Kelly Eubray,

4:28

and they win

4:30

that game convincingly. Right. But

4:32

what I find to be interesting, and this is actually something

4:34

that has been one of my biggest lessons

4:36

that I've learned in the first round of this postseason

4:38

and every year in the playoffs, I learned lessons,

4:41

right, Like, we're always kind of learning not

4:43

just about the game in general, but also as

4:45

the game is changing as the years go by, as the

4:47

NBA kind of moves into the future. Right. But

4:50

one of the things that has been a lesson

4:52

for me in this first round throughout the playoffs

4:55

is that the finesse guys are kind of getting

4:57

their ass kicked, and they're getting their ass kicked

4:59

by intelligent athleticism

5:02

and strength, right, And

5:04

that is like, like, even just look at the

5:06

Wolves Suns matchup, for instance, that's

5:08

the Suns team that dominated the Wolves

5:11

in the regular season. Here we are in the playoffs and

5:13

the Wolves kick their ass twice. And

5:15

that is a team that has a lot of intelligent

5:17

size in athleticism, while the Sons

5:19

are a finesse team and it's been an ass kicking right

5:22

Specifically, the role players for the Lakers,

5:24

D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reeves, Torrey

5:26

and Prince like Spencer Dinwiddie, these guys

5:29

are all like these finesse

5:31

kind of like skill players on the perimeter,

5:33

and they've run into these like athletic

5:36

wrecking balls like Contavious Cabbo Pope and Aaron

5:38

Gordon and Christian Brown and Peyton

5:40

Watson and they're just getting their They're

5:42

getting their ass kt That's really been the

5:44

story of this series. To give you guys an idea, non

5:48

Lebron and Ad Lakers have

5:50

one hundred and thirty one points and

5:52

fifty six rebounds in

5:54

this series. Non Murray

5:56

Jokic Nuggets have one hundred and eighty

5:59

points and eighty three rebounds

6:01

in the series. That's the difference. Like,

6:04

I think Anthony Davis and Jokich

6:06

have been amazing basically ever game. I

6:09

think Murray had a poor shooting series,

6:12

but hit a bunch of clutch shots in the first two

6:14

games, and then I thought Murray was pretty great Tonight

6:16

and Lebron James I thought was really

6:18

good in Game two, pretty good in Game one,

6:21

and pretty bad Tonight relative to

6:23

his relative to what

6:25

his box score numbers showed. But I think Lebron

6:27

and Murray have been more or less on the same level,

6:29

and Jokicchen and Ad have been more

6:31

or less on the same level. But it's been a complete

6:33

and total ass kicking down

6:36

the roster. This is crazy. Aaron Gordon

6:38

and Michael Porter Junior tonight had forty

6:41

nine points and twenty five rebounds.

6:43

That's a Wilt Chamberlain Circle circa

6:46

the nineteen sixties. Like that,

6:48

that's the type of production they were getting

6:50

out of their front court, not counting

6:53

Nicole jokicch and I find it really fascinating

6:55

and honestly like it gives

6:58

me this like interesting perspective looking back at

7:00

the twenty twenty Lakers, And I always knew

7:02

size and strength was an advantage for that team,

7:04

but I'm even seeing now just

7:06

how much that matters at

7:09

this point in the NBA playoffs, Right,

7:11

Like that team was built on intelligent

7:14

athleticism and strength. Alex Caruso,

7:17

Coentavious Caldwell, Pope Dwight

7:20

Howard, right, even Kyle

7:22

Kuzma, like even Danny

7:24

Green. They were all big, strong, high

7:27

IQ players, and that

7:30

that next to Lebron and ad. Did they

7:32

struggle in the half court scoring sometimes? Yeah? Did

7:34

they struggle sometimes and go cold from the

7:36

three point line? Yeah? That was a big story going

7:38

into the bubble in the in the seeding

7:40

games before they got into the first round, and especially

7:42

through the first game against Portland, right.

7:45

But then like they just kicked everybody's

7:47

ass with intelligent athleticism

7:49

and strength, And I think I think that's even been exacerbated

7:52

as the league has shifted more and more towards

7:55

the towards the physicality

7:58

side of things. And that actually started in regular

8:00

season this year, but I even think this postseason

8:02

has been more physical and more

8:05

just kind of like nasty and rock fighty

8:08

than other playoff

8:10

rounds that we've seen in the past. I think

8:12

the entire league is shifting more towards

8:14

that, And honestly, I thought

8:17

that was the story of tonight's game. Like Aaron

8:19

Gordon just carried the Nuggets through

8:21

that initial portion of the game when the Lakers

8:23

were engaged and

8:25

there was a brief stretch there too in the second quarter where

8:27

Jamal Murray hit a bunch of nice pull up

8:29

jump shots that I helped kind of keep the game

8:32

kind of close. But Aaron Gordon was a monster

8:35

in that first half. And then the Nuggets came out in that

8:37

third quarter. In just that first couple of minutes

8:39

of the third quarter, they threw a really

8:41

good punch just for a few minutes,

8:44

and the Lakers let go of the rope. And then

8:46

as soon as they let go the rope, it was over. And honestly,

8:48

that was kind of as a as a person who roots

8:50

for the Lakers. That was the biggest disappointing thing for

8:53

me tonight, is like I thought, the

8:55

Lakers straight up let go of the rope for

8:58

literally, what is

9:00

it, five halves of this series?

9:02

The obviously the first two games

9:05

and then the tonight. In the first half, the Lakers

9:07

kind of went toe to toe with the Nuggets for the most

9:09

part, and like, what's crazy about it? And this is honestly,

9:12

you know, I said this before the series. The reason

9:14

why I, even when the Lakers were up

9:16

twenty, I never actually thought they had a substantial

9:18

chance to win the series is because

9:21

I knew that the Lakers were talented enough to

9:23

go blow for blow with the Nuggets for spurts,

9:26

and I thought they could get a game or two, but

9:28

I never I never thought they could sustain

9:31

against this team. And it's like they're literally

9:33

like playing tug of war, and they let go

9:35

of the rope in that second half and then it just

9:38

got turned into bad body language. And now

9:40

it's like the effort craters and their

9:42

defensive rotations are worse, and their execution

9:45

on offense gets worse, and it just gets

9:47

worse and worse, and then the bottom basically fell out.

9:49

And I want to credit the Nuggets because they smelled blood in

9:51

the water and they went for it. And

9:54

you know, it's interesting because I was wrong about this series.

9:56

I picked the Nuggets to win. I thought they'd win

9:58

in five or six games, but

10:00

I really did think the Lakers would get one or two. And

10:03

the main reason why is like I think

10:05

this Lakers team is more talented

10:07

and better than last year's team. They

10:09

just have the continuity. They

10:12

a couple of key role players had better seasons

10:14

than they did last year. The five out

10:17

offense kind of optimized all five

10:19

of those starters to kind of play together

10:21

and reach heights offensively that they hadn't

10:23

reached. They were bad offense last year with more or

10:25

less the same guys. Right, they

10:28

were a bad offense last year, and this

10:30

year they were the third best offense in the league over

10:32

the last forty six games of the season. Right, this was

10:35

a good offensive team. And so I really

10:37

thought they'd be able to do some damage,

10:39

at least a little bit of damage in this series

10:41

before they'd inevitably lose. Right, And

10:44

I was just wrong. They're gonna get swept. And I

10:46

think kind of trying to diagnose

10:49

that, I really just come back

10:51

to I just think it's a really bad matchup. And

10:53

what I mean by that is like Lebron and Ad

10:57

are a bad matchup for the vast

10:59

majority of the league. They're too big at

11:01

power forward and they're too big at center. And

11:04

they did a lot of damage this year to really

11:06

good teams with that

11:08

advantage. That's how they beat the Clippers

11:11

so many times. That's how they beat the Suns so

11:13

many times. That's how they beat the Thunder so many

11:15

times. That's how they beat the Bucks. You know, like

11:17

they just perpetually

11:20

were able to weaponize their front court

11:23

as their supreme advantage. Right, if you were

11:25

listing the advantages that the Lakers have, it's

11:27

like lebron ad front court is

11:29

number one on that list, and then beneath that,

11:32

it's like really skilled offensive players

11:34

around him that can kind of play in

11:36

that mix. Right, that's their advantage.

11:39

But here's the problem. Denver is

11:42

bigger than them in the front court. They just are

11:45

like a Yokich is bigger

11:47

than Anthony Davis. Aaron Gordon

11:50

and Lebron are more or less the same size. Aaron Gordon's

11:52

not quite as strong, but he's a little bit taller, right,

11:55

and at this phase of his career is able

11:57

to really match up with Lebron athletically

12:00

in a way that when Lebron's twenty five nobody

12:02

could. Right. And then Michael Porter

12:04

Junior is just a bigger, better

12:07

basketball player than Ruey Hachamura.

12:09

And so now imagine this scenario your

12:12

best advantage as you try to

12:14

inflict it on Denver, You're

12:17

running into basically

12:19

a bigger, stronger front line that you can't

12:21

weaponize that against. Okay, so now

12:23

your biggest advantage has been more or less

12:25

mitigated, removed from the equation.

12:28

Right now, we shift down to the

12:30

rest of the roster, and that's where Denver's

12:32

advantages kick in. And it's like, oh

12:34

wait, like Contavious call Well, Pope,

12:37

maybe not as skilled as D'Angelo

12:39

Russell, maybe doesn't have the high

12:42

highs that d' angelo Russell can bring to

12:44

the table, But on a night in, night

12:46

out, basis as a two

12:49

way player for the Denver Nuggets, he's

12:51

just a better basketball player

12:53

tonight. KCP didn't put up big

12:55

numbers, but how many times did you see ad

12:58

try to make some move in the lane on your kitch and CACP

13:00

come in and strip it down or dig down

13:02

on somebody else, driving and pick and roll like he just

13:05

is everywhere making plays Defensively,

13:08

Aaron Gordon was an athletic wrecking

13:10

ball in this game, causing problems. Michael Porter

13:12

Junior just perpetually hitting

13:14

big shot after big shot, grabbing big

13:16

rebound. It is

13:19

a mismatch down the roster. And so essentially,

13:22

if your biggest advantage gets canceled out by

13:24

Denver and all of your secondary

13:27

advantages are just not as good as Denver,

13:29

then there's not really a pathway to victory anymore.

13:32

Your only pathway is essentially

13:34

variants, and you kind of got a little bit of that

13:36

it in game two, right, Like, in Game two, you

13:39

shot the ball really well and Denver didn't, and

13:41

you got close enough. But even

13:43

then you couldn't close the deal

13:46

because Denver's personnel on the defensive

13:48

end is more versatile than yours, and they were

13:50

able to make an adjustment to mitigate

13:52

what you were doing offensively, play

13:54

you into some of your worst tendencies, and then they

13:57

walked you down at the end of the game and scored on eight

13:59

of their last nine possession, right, And

14:01

so that's the thing, Like, it doesn't really matter if

14:03

the Lakers closed the gap in

14:05

terms of their you know, abilities

14:08

as a basketball team between last year and

14:10

this year. And I still truly believe that last year

14:12

they threw the team together together at the

14:14

deadline. They didn't have continuity, they were running a different

14:17

offense, a lot of guys were learning on the fly.

14:19

This year's team, same

14:21

squad from training camp to now, new

14:24

offense, better production. They

14:26

are a better team than they were

14:28

last year. But it doesn't matter because

14:30

strictly within the context of this matchup,

14:33

they can't hang. And matchups

14:36

are a huge deal in the NBA these days. Why

14:38

do you think the Pelicans have the Sacramento Kings

14:40

in the Golden State Warriors number.

14:43

It's because they have lanky perimeter defenders

14:45

to throw up against the

14:47

smaller guard initiators for the other team,

14:50

and those teams don't have the interior size

14:52

to punish the Pelicans bad

14:54

defensive front line. So it's just

14:56

a bad matchup. That doesn't necessarily mean

14:58

that the Pelicans aren't. Like I

15:01

think the Pelicans and the Warriors and the Kings are all kind

15:03

of on the same level as basketball teams in

15:05

the aggregate versus the rest of the

15:07

league. But when you put them against each other,

15:09

the Pelicans can can just confront

15:12

all of Golden State and Sacramento's

15:15

strengths, and it makes it so that they're

15:17

incapable of what the Pelicans go against

15:19

the Kings this year six and zero or something like

15:21

that, Like it was complete in total dominance,

15:24

right, And that's kind of more or less what I see

15:26

between the Lakers and the Nuggets. Lakers had a lot

15:28

of success this year against a lot of good teams,

15:30

but this particular team has consistently

15:33

had their number, and there's been nothing

15:35

that they can do about it. And

15:38

one last thing I want to say. I want to say about the Nuggets

15:40

like this, this

15:43

team has a basketball character

15:45

in terms of their night in and night out effort

15:48

and focus and energy like

15:50

in the postseason that I

15:52

think helps them avoid the

15:55

unforced errors that can occur in a playoff

15:58

run. For instance, Boston, Boston

16:01

tricks off a game against Miami last night

16:03

playing some of the worst defense I've ever

16:05

seen them play. Twenty seven

16:07

of the forty three threes that they allowed

16:10

Miami to shoot I thought were significant

16:12

and defensive breakdowns like

16:14

it was bad. Like that

16:16

team, they have trouble

16:19

maintaining their level. They kind of oscillate

16:21

up and down right, And so what happens is

16:23

is like against a good team, when you dip down, you

16:25

could take a loss, and

16:28

that could put you in a predicament where now your margin

16:30

for error is smaller. And Denver's just

16:32

not like that. They always pull on the rope,

16:35

and the really good teams might be able to pull on the rope

16:37

with them and hang on for a while. But for the

16:39

most part, Denver's not gonna give you ground

16:41

just for the sake of giving ground. They're not gonna give you

16:43

ground with sloppiness. They're not gonna

16:45

give you ground with inconsistent effort. They're

16:47

not gonna give you ground with guys not accepting

16:50

their roles and going

16:52

off script and not doing their jobs.

16:55

I loved that quote from Aaron Gordon after

16:57

the game. I don't know if you guys remember, but

17:00

the reporter was kind of trying to bait him, you know. He

17:02

was like asking him questions about the Lakers

17:04

matchup specifically, and what is it about

17:06

these guys that you guys give

17:08

him all these problems blah blah blah, and he's just like, no, no, no,

17:11

it's about us, and

17:13

I am just trying to do what I can to help

17:15

my team win. And what's interesting about

17:17

that is Aaron Gordon, when he was with Orlando, he

17:20

was all interested in becoming this like versatile scoring

17:22

forward. And what's so fascinating

17:24

about what he's done in Denver is he's been

17:26

like, the hell with all that they

17:28

need me to basically play center while

17:31

Jokic plays like point forward at

17:34

the top of the key area with all this two man game

17:36

and triuble handoff stuff and five out stuff, right, and

17:38

He's like, fine, I'll do that. You need me to

17:41

just grab every offensive rebound and hut

17:43

to the rim every single time my man turns his head

17:45

and sprint up and down the floor and transition

17:47

and guard the other team's best defensive forward.

17:50

If that's all you need me to do, That's what

17:52

I'll do. I was actually thinking during the game,

17:54

like, no one would ever consider Aaron Gordon

17:56

to be a top thirty, top forty player in the

17:58

NBA because of his statistical production. But

18:01

if you actually just were to kind of just

18:04

focus it down strictly to winning

18:06

impact, he's probably a lot

18:08

higher on that list than we give him credit for.

18:11

There are a lot of guys in the league that put up

18:13

big numbers in specific

18:15

roles for teams that can't

18:18

impact winning the way that Aaron Gordon

18:20

does. And I like,

18:23

like you, he is just he's

18:25

just so useful and so impactful

18:28

and so underrated in my opinion.

18:31

Moving on to the Lakers, just really quickly before

18:33

we move on. Lessons

18:36

have to be learned from this, and

18:38

I'm skeptical about it because this is the

18:40

front office that has consistently missed the boat

18:42

on this kind of thing, right, This is the same front

18:44

office. That was like, oh, KCP

18:47

and Alex Caruso and Dennis

18:50

Schroeder and all these guys missed some

18:52

shots in twenty twenty one during

18:54

the Sun series, So let's bail on

18:57

him and find shooting. Oh

18:59

wait, never mind, and we actually want a third star,

19:02

So forget about Buddy Heal. Let's go after Russell

19:04

Westbrook. And they don't realize that

19:06

Alex Cruso and KCP were two of the most

19:09

important pieces to when they won the title,

19:11

not because of them knocking down three point shots,

19:13

not because of their offensive ceiling, but

19:15

because of their floor. And I've

19:18

noticed that as the game has gotten more physical,

19:20

it's more the floor that matters than

19:22

the ceiling, because like when everything

19:24

gets grinded down into the mud,

19:27

it's everyone's playing like shit to a certain

19:30

extent, you know, at least in terms of

19:32

their like finesse efficiency. Obviously, the

19:34

big strong stars like the

19:36

uh the Nikola Jokicic's of the world

19:38

are gonna thrive in those environments. But the finesse

19:40

player like Jamal Murray, his shot making

19:42

has been key in the series. Go look at his percentages. He's

19:44

been below fifty percent in every game. If I remember correctly,

19:47

I think he finished tonight like eight for twenty one. He's

19:49

been shooting poorly the majority

19:51

of the series. That doesn't matter his floor

19:53

because he's big and strong and he does find

19:56

a way to hit some shots no matter what it

19:58

like, all three games hit pivotal shots.

20:01

Forget about the percentages. He hit pivotal

20:03

shots in all three games, right, Like

20:05

KCP had a bad shooting night tonight,

20:08

Who cares, he was all over the place. As

20:10

an athlete, if your floor is high,

20:12

that matters more in the postseason than

20:15

your ceiling. And again, like, I don't have any optimism

20:17

about the Laker front office about being able to figure

20:20

that out because I genuinely just don't think they get

20:22

it. But hopefully this year will

20:24

be the year that they learned about that. Danzel

20:26

Russell, you

20:28

know, it's been a really this

20:30

is Delo is actually the perfect example of this theory,

20:34

because Delo's ceiling is really

20:36

damn high. You saw what he

20:38

did in Game two when he was hitting shots. Go

20:41

back into the postseason last year, Game

20:43

four against Memphis, just massive

20:46

three point shots in the fourth quarter because he caught

20:48

a little mini heater in the fourth quarter

20:50

that put the Lakers in position to win that game.

20:53

Right, we all know what a Delo's

20:55

ceiling is. But Dlo's

20:57

floor is so bad because

20:59

he goes so cold and his decision making

21:01

gets so poor, and he's so useless

21:04

on the defensive end of the floor that he's like downright

21:06

damaging like half the time.

21:10

And so it doesn't really matter how highest ceiling

21:12

is if when you need him in a big game

21:14

like this, you don't know what you're gonna get, right,

21:17

And like I we have to be critical

21:20

because this is the same guy that said all season that he

21:22

wanted all the smoke. He literally said that. This

21:24

is the same guy after Game two that

21:27

said that he still believed his team was

21:29

gonna win this series. He was writing checks

21:31

and then he didn't cash them. He

21:35

he put forth an abysmal

21:38

two way performance tonight, zero for seven

21:40

from the field, lost all over the place

21:42

on defense. There's a video of him pouting

21:45

outside the team huddle after the

21:47

game, and I'm like, I I

21:49

just never he

21:52

never addressed his floor as

21:54

a player, and that was the problem. He's so worried

21:56

about his ceiling, and he work more on shooting, more

21:58

on playmaking. I'm just gonna lean into being this

22:02

highly volatile offensive

22:04

player instead of addressing his weaknesses,

22:06

which is his possession to possession focus

22:09

outside of what he's doing offensively,

22:12

outside of what he's doing with the ball in his hands, I

22:14

should say, And that ended up being

22:16

what basically did him in Again, here

22:19

we are one year after he was played

22:21

off the floor against Denver, and in two of the three

22:23

games, he's been downright destructive

22:26

to the Lakers. Like they

22:29

but if they decide to and we'll see what because

22:31

the Lakers have a lot of stuff they have to figure out this obviously, and who

22:33

knows if Lebron is gonna want to look somewhere else. Who

22:35

knows if the entire ownership in front office

22:38

group just wants to move on from the Lebron Ad pairing.

22:40

Like, we don't know what's gonna happen, Right. I

22:42

thought Ad was for more or less great

22:44

in this series to this point, and that

22:46

obviously is an excellent kind

22:48

of foundational piece to try to build around. But I mean, he's

22:51

gonna be thirty one next year, right, and so

22:53

there's stuff that they got to figure out. But like, if

22:55

they do try to run it back if they run it back and they

22:57

go, hey, we're doing the ad Lebron thing again, that

22:59

you you need to package d'angela Russell and

23:02

draft compensation and whatever you need to

23:04

do if it's more than one deal, and you need to

23:06

bring in intelligent athleticism

23:09

and strength to put alongside Lebron

23:11

James and Anthony Davis, guys with high

23:13

floors that maybe don't have the ceiling, because

23:16

not only will that be better for them in the regular season,

23:18

but when we get into these rock fights, when we get into

23:20

these physical playoff games, those are gonna be the guys that are

23:22

able to play all

23:24

right, Moving on to six Ers Nicks. You

23:27

know, one of the things I talked about going into this postseason

23:29

run is when it comes to Joel Embiid,

23:33

his playoff history kind of comes

23:35

down to a similar theme. Right. He

23:38

struggles with some of the aggression

23:40

that the defenses bring to the table, and he'll have bad

23:42

turnovers and he'll struggle

23:44

to kind of bully his way to the basket, and

23:47

he never really developed that like consistent

23:50

like five to seven feet from the

23:52

basket, like over the top game like Jokic

23:54

has, and that I think has made his

23:56

game a little bit more volatile, but he's

23:59

been bad head for the most

24:01

part because his jump shot hasn't gone

24:03

in. That's been the primary issue. Every

24:05

year. He shoots pretty damn well

24:07

for the entire regular season, and then he gets into

24:09

the postseason and he can't make a jump shot. And

24:11

since he can't make a jump shot and he can't make the

24:13

over the top shot, his game kind of falls

24:16

apart, and all of a sudden, Al Horford's in his head and he

24:18

doesn't know what to do, and now he's kind of like mitigated

24:21

within that series, right, That's

24:23

been kind of the story, but and beats

24:26

potential for like a just a complete wrecking

24:28

ball stretch has always been there because

24:30

he is bigger and stronger than everybody, because there isn't

24:32

anybody that can actually guard him when he's

24:35

playing confident and comfortable offensively, and

24:37

he does have a very very very

24:39

good jump shot. He's an excellent jump shooter,

24:42

and he is capable of knocking down shots

24:44

in the postseason. He just hasn't done it to this point,

24:46

and so honestly, tonight kind of felt like him

24:48

breaking through in a lot of ways.

24:51

Now there's a lot to get frustrated about

24:53

if you're a Sixers fan. Tonight, I did not think they had

24:55

a good defensive defensive game.

24:57

They really really did a poor job guarding

24:59

bruntson and all screens. Uber and

25:02

Nick Batoum were just a little unfocused

25:04

and getting caught off guard when he was rejecting

25:07

screens or why when he

25:09

would just kind of dribble around at the top of the key and act like he's

25:11

surveying the floor, He kind of hit the Jets quick and beat

25:13

him off the dribble. They were then out

25:15

of position in their ball pursuit and committing

25:18

fouls from behind. That was a big issue. In the fourth

25:20

quarter. There were possessions where Embiid

25:22

was like glued up to Hartenstein on the weak side

25:25

while Brunson's driving by Batooma on the other side.

25:27

Like it was not a good defensive effort.

25:29

Honestly, the only reason the Sixers won this

25:31

game is they they shot the shit

25:34

out of the basketball in that second

25:36

half, and like specifically in the third

25:38

quarter, Tyres Maxi and Joel

25:40

Embiid were just spamming that pick and

25:42

pop and Embiid was hitting threes. And

25:45

it started in the early third quarter with him hitting little

25:47

mid range shots, and then towards the end of the third

25:49

quarter he started hitting that pick and pop three point shot

25:51

and it kind of bailed them out. And so honestly,

25:53

I think it'll work to Nick Nurse's benefit

25:55

because I think Nick Nurse is gonna be able to go into a film

25:57

session with the team after this game and be like, Hey, who

26:00

won. This is great? You've played well

26:02

enough to be up or you're down one two, but

26:04

you've played well enough to be up to one. That's great. But

26:07

we gotta be a lot better for

26:09

game four. And I think I think we'll get much

26:11

more of like a stuck in the mud

26:13

kind of rock fight game in

26:15

game four, And I think we'll get a better defensive effort

26:17

out of the sixers in

26:19

that game, and that that one is gonna be one where you're probably

26:22

not gonna shoot quite as well and you're gonna have to win a different

26:24

way. Right, This is kind of the buzzsaw

26:26

concept that we were talking about. It's why you got

26:28

ham Payne hidden shots and Kelly

26:31

u Bray a couple of shots like you get

26:33

you get better production from your role

26:35

players at home, right, Like that's that's

26:38

kind of to be expected. Tyre's

26:40

Maxy was awesome again, not his most efficient

26:42

night, but he had a step back jump shot going, especially in

26:44

that third quarter stretch. Uh uh.

26:47

You know, Tyres Masey, I think has been a

26:49

it's been a clear uh

26:52

success story this year in the sense

26:54

that when Daryl Morrin moved off of James

26:56

Harden and especially when he

26:58

made the move more for draft compet and

27:01

one useful role player and Nick Batoom,

27:03

that put a lot of pressure on Tyree s Maaxy.

27:05

Hey man, you're the number two, show

27:08

us what you got, and I think he's passed that

27:10

test. With Flying Colors, there's a little

27:12

bit of like a trash talking

27:14

match that's starting to take shape between Maxi

27:16

and Brunson too, Like the Brunton

27:19

at an and one against Maxie in the second half

27:21

are like Pump faked and leaned into him and held the follow

27:23

through right in Maxie's face, and Maxi

27:26

went back down on him on the other end and his step

27:28

back in his face and they're kind of going at

27:30

each other and like he's

27:32

got the confidence, he's got the natural

27:35

ability in the postseason to him just comes down

27:37

to a simple combination of jump shooting and downhill

27:39

rim pressure. It's like the perfect

27:41

complimentary skills. If you were both a deadly

27:44

over the top shooter and a deadly downhill

27:46

threat. It just puts every defensive player

27:48

that tries to guard you in a bind.

27:50

He's done a really nice job on the Embiid picking pops

27:53

of dragging his defender as

27:55

far off to the side as possible so that it's

27:57

a longer close out right, Like that is a

27:59

speed element too. If you come off the ball

28:01

screen and you're too close and to the pop,

28:04

it's just an easier rotation for Hartenstein.

28:06

Right. As

28:08

far as the play with Mitchell Robinson

28:10

and Joel Embiid, there's no defending it. It was a dirty

28:12

play. He was out of line. I'm

28:15

glad that the league didn't eject

28:17

him just simply because that'd be kind

28:19

of a shitty way to win a series. Like

28:22

if I'm the Knicks as a competitor, I

28:25

want to beat the Sixers at full strength, and

28:27

I want to beat them because Embiid did

28:29

something stupid in the second quarter. I don't

28:31

think Embiid was trying to hurt Mitchell Robinson.

28:33

I think he was just he made a really bad,

28:36

split second decision, a really

28:38

stupid, unsafe decision

28:41

because he was angry because he got ran over.

28:43

I think that's what it was. Doesn't justify

28:45

it, but I that's to me a

28:48

discretion thing. Yeah, ya,

28:50

Levy a fine on embiid and

28:52

you make sure he understands that he can never do

28:54

that again. But I understood the league

28:57

being like or the officials being like,

29:00

we're not gonna kick and beat out in Philly

29:02

in the second quarter or this game for something like that,

29:04

or or whenever it happened its first or second quarter. But like I

29:07

honestly too, like the city of Philadelphia

29:09

might have never let those officials get out of that arena alive

29:12

if that, if something like that would have happened. Like there's

29:14

a there's like a like by

29:16

the book way of looking at that incident, and

29:19

then there's like a realistic way

29:21

of looking at that incident, and when you look at it through

29:23

that from that perspective, I understood

29:25

what the officials were doing. A big

29:27

part of this game too, just role players coming back and

29:29

hitting shots. That's an important piece of it, right.

29:32

The big one for me, though, is the defense on runs in and

29:34

this is something that I think that the Sixers

29:37

are gonna have to adjust in game two. One

29:39

of the things that I really didn't like in this game is

29:41

they were doing a little too much defending

29:43

the action two on two and staying glued

29:47

on guys off the ball. And

29:49

I understand, like Josh Hart's been hitting shots,

29:51

and I understand like there have been guys that have

29:53

made you pay over the course of the series from

29:55

time to time, and obviously, like you

29:57

don't want to just make easy reads available.

30:00

But one of the things that was working in games one

30:02

in game two is they

30:04

were digging down a lot and making

30:06

Brunton play in traffic, and he was getting

30:09

into some precarious positions on the floor

30:11

where he was surrounded by three four guys

30:13

and turning the basketball over taking extremely

30:15

difficult shots. You're on ball. Defenders were doing

30:17

a better job of pursuit tyres.

30:20

Maxie in particular, had much better defensive games

30:22

in Game one and two than he did in Game three. Right Nicks

30:25

made some adjustments too. They were running Brunton

30:28

off more zoom action, like out of the corner where he'd

30:30

like come off of a him down into

30:32

a dribble handoff, so that like it's not

30:34

as obvious as as Brunson

30:37

just dribbling up the floor into a ball screen.

30:39

But I still think there's a lot of area for improvement

30:41

there for Philly,

30:43

and they're going to have to have a better defensive effort in

30:46

Game two if they're going to get this one. I do think

30:48

best guess at this point, I think the Sixers will win

30:50

Game four. But like I came

30:53

into this series thinking the Sixers were going to win,

30:56

and the Knicks have shown me

30:58

that that toughness gap is actually

31:01

even wider than I thought it was,

31:03

and I'm actually pretty concerned

31:05

about their ability to win in Madison Square Guard and again,

31:08

especially after what happened in Game two. And

31:10

so I'm not gonna

31:12

bail on my pick yet, but I will tell you

31:14

guys that I certainly don't feel as confident in

31:16

it as I did before the series. Not that I felt

31:18

super confident in the Sixers to begin with, but that is the

31:20

team that I ended up picking. All right, moving on to Caves

31:22

Magic before we get out of here for the night. Magic got off

31:24

to a rough start in this one. They were playing in jumpers, right

31:27

and left and the Cavs went up ten to three.

31:29

Fronz Wagner ended up finally getting the lid

31:31

off the rim with the corner three out of the left corner,

31:33

and from there the Magic just basically

31:35

took over Jalen Suggs immediately. It's a three, and it's

31:38

just like they just got their confidence and got

31:40

going from there on. Offense, the story

31:43

of this game and this entire matchup really and it's something

31:45

that the Magic had been doing all season. But Pawlo

31:47

is basically your point guard, right and they're

31:49

just running a lot of these like ghost screens

31:51

with Jalen Suggs as man and you

31:53

know, obviously there's like a hedge and recover element

31:56

to that where Jalen Suggs was able to attack

31:58

closeouts where like again we talked about this

32:00

with Grayson Allen and the Suns in the Timberwolve series.

32:02

But sug sets a screen, he

32:04

slips out to the top of the key palette, throws it back

32:06

to him. The hedger is like sprinting back to

32:08

him. He's hitting threes and driving

32:11

out of that. He was getting really good rim pressure out of

32:13

that. Also, a really good transition game from

32:15

Jalen Suggs just flying down the lane, had

32:17

a big dunk on a spot up at the top of the key

32:19

when I think it was Darius Garland kind of lost

32:21

sight of him off the ball, but when

32:24

they were able to switch that, when Jalen

32:27

got a really good screen and they were able to get a switch.

32:29

One of the things that I appreciated was like early in

32:32

the game, Powell was settling for further

32:34

away jump shots, and obviously

32:37

he's at this phase in his career a little bit of an inconsistent

32:39

jump shooter, but he's actually like pretty damn good

32:41

when he gets closer to the basket when he's in there

32:43

like that seven to fifteen foot range,

32:45

And he finally started getting some better matchups

32:48

and those ghost screens, and he was getting downhill. Franz

32:50

was doing this too, but getting

32:52

closer to the rim and taking those short range jump

32:54

shots. Like we too often we break

32:57

down shot making into like three levels,

33:00

right, it's three level scoring, it's the rim, it's the three

33:02

point line, it's the mid range, right, But I actually

33:04

look at more like four levels. It's like

33:06

the rim, the three point line, long

33:09

twos, which to me are an

33:11

inefficient shot that you should only take when you

33:13

have to. But then there's like short twos.

33:16

These are shots that are like inside of the foul

33:18

line, you know, all around

33:21

the basket, right, how

33:23

Low hits seven of those, Tonight hits seven

33:25

jump shots in that like seven to fifteen

33:27

foot range, those are a lot easier

33:30

those Like again, when I talk about pull up jump

33:32

shooting, it's a lot about lyft. It's a lot about getting separation

33:35

and getting lyft right. And

33:37

so when you're doing that further away

33:39

from the basket, they just turned into really difficult shots

33:41

to make. It's kind of like the James Harden story. His entire

33:44

career is built on this like step back three that he can hit

33:46

in the regular season. Then he gets to the postseason and

33:48

it's like a super inconsistent shot for him. Why

33:50

because Yeah, in a super physical

33:52

and intense playoff game, shooting a step

33:54

back jump shot from twenty five feet seventeen

33:57

times, like however many times

33:59

he takes it in game is just really really difficult.

34:01

Right, It's a fatiguing shot. But like, no

34:03

matter how tired you are, if you get closer

34:05

to the basket, you don't need as much lift

34:08

to get a decent look there. It's kind of been what

34:10

Kawhi Leonard has been so efficient within his career.

34:12

He's not hitting nineteen footers

34:14

every single time, He's hitting thirteen footers

34:16

every single time. And that just imagine a free

34:18

throw. It's literally inside the free throw line,

34:21

and you can imagine how much that kind

34:23

of makes things easier. And Palow

34:25

is just absolutely dominant in this game. And I

34:27

think that, to me is where Plow's

34:30

ceiling lies. His ceiling lies

34:32

is basically like the forward version

34:34

of Jokic in the sense that like he needs

34:36

to bully his way in close

34:39

to the rim and just get deadly with

34:41

those like short range over the top shots,

34:43

turn around jumpers over both shoulders, a

34:45

hook shot over his left shoulder. Franz

34:48

kind of went to one of these today where it's like almost like a

34:50

euro step into like a lean back, one

34:52

leg fade away, but not from far,

34:54

like from five feet from the rim like that.

34:57

That is an area where you can get really

34:59

accurate if you're shot making. And by

35:01

the way, don't tell me that doesn't matter. That's the

35:04

shot that makes Jokic the best player in the world.

35:06

Like Jokic's ability

35:09

to hit that shot is what has separated him and

35:11

Pallo is a supremely gifted

35:13

forward. He is bigger than the vast majority

35:16

of the players that play his position around the league, and

35:18

that's where his advantage is. But he got

35:20

going with those short range jumpers and he started hitting threes,

35:22

and him hitting four of them in this game. Like

35:25

I mentioned before, Jalen sugs nine for eleven with twenty

35:27

four points. A lot of attacking off of those ghost screen

35:29

actions. I think Cole Anthony had a really good

35:31

second quarter shift. Markel Foltz did

35:33

some nice work off the bench as well. Again that's

35:36

to be expected. You go on the road, your

35:38

role players can struggle. You come home, your role players can

35:40

play better. But as a team, they

35:42

just had a much better jump shooting night. This

35:44

is a bottom ten jump shooting team. They're tied for twenty

35:47

third in the NBA in jump shot efficiency

35:49

during the regular season, but they at one point

35:51

two to two points per jump shot

35:53

tonight completely flipped the script. Hit

35:56

a bunch of shots, bloom out right, not even

35:58

close. On defense, a swarming

36:00

effort from everybody, more switching. Cleveland

36:03

went out of their way to kind of try to target

36:05

Palo and early in the series, if you remember,

36:07

like Palo and Franz when they were getting targeted in

36:09

ball screens, they were almost like or since of paloin

36:11

Franz and Paalo and Jonathan Isaac early

36:14

in the series were almost like defending those ball

36:16

screens, almost like in a drop coverage. And

36:18

I mean, those are guys that just don't have a ton of experience

36:20

guarding like that. And so I was

36:22

advocating early in the series for more switching, and they

36:24

did more. They've been doing more switching as

36:26

the series progresses, really since the second half of Game

36:29

one. But Cleveland was going out of their way to

36:31

try to attack Palo, and he held

36:33

up pretty damn well. It committed a couple of fouls where

36:35

he was just getting a little handsy, but for

36:38

the most part, slid his feet, was contesting shots

36:40

and was doing a good doing a good job.

36:43

This series, to me, feels like a series where the home

36:45

team is gonna win out. Obviously,

36:48

if Cleveland can steal one in Orlando, it'll be over

36:50

quicker. If they steal game four,

36:53

then this this thing's over in five. I don't think

36:55

Orlando's gonna win in Cleveland at all. But

36:57

I do think Orlando is a good chance to win all their home games.

37:00

It kind of goes back to what I was talking about at the beginning of

37:02

the show. This is the buzzsaw, right, but

37:04

that buzz saw is exacerbated by the athleticism.

37:07

You know. The Lakers just don't have the athletes

37:09

to be a buzzsaw for Denver, right,

37:11

But Orlando sure as hell does to

37:14

Cleveland. They are the bigger, more athletic

37:16

team, right. They out rebounded Cleveland

37:18

fifty one to thirty two. They were

37:21

twenty one to eleven in fast break points, fourteen

37:23

to five in offensive rebounds. That is a complete

37:26

and total physical dominance of

37:28

the Cleveland Cavaliers. So again, this

37:30

is where home court advantage matters. I wouldn't be concerned

37:32

if I was a Cavs fan, because I literally don't think Orlando

37:35

can beat Cleveland and Cleveland. But this

37:37

could be a long series just based on how difficult

37:39

it is to match Orlando's physicality when

37:42

they're at home. All right, guys, that is all I have

37:44

for tonight. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys

37:46

for supporting me and supporting the show. We'll

37:48

be back tomorrow morning. We have

37:50

Jovann Buja coming on the show.

38:16

The volume