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1:48

right, welcome to hoops tonight. You're at the volume. Happy

1:50

Saturday, everybody hopeful, if you guys are having an

1:52

incredible weekend. Well, it turns out the Los Angeles

1:55

Lakers are in fact capable of occasionally,

1:57

if rarely, beating the Denver Nuggets.

2:00

They extend the series to five, which

2:02

Game five will be on Monday night.

2:04

We'll be going live on YouTube after the final buzzer

2:06

of that one. I had a thing

2:09

last night that kind of got in the way of

2:11

my routine typically in the playoffs, So I had

2:13

to cover those three games today, which

2:15

got in the way of my ability of covering the other games.

2:17

So we're just gonna hit Nuggets,

2:20

Lakers and then Helicans

2:22

Thunder today, so we're gonna have to get to those other

2:25

two series at a later date. Obviously, we've got a

2:27

jam pack schedule tomorrow as

2:30

well, so Nuggets, Lakers, Pelicans, Thunder for tonight's

2:32

show. You guys are the joke before we get started. Subscribe to our brand

2:34

new YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of our videos.

2:36

Follow me on Twitter at underscore jsonlt so you guys

2:38

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2:40

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

2:43

under Hoops tonight, and then keep

2:45

leaving mailback questions in the YouTube comments

2:47

so we can keep hitting a couple of mail bags

2:49

a week over the course of the rest of the playoffs.

2:51

All right, let's talk some basketball. So I'm

2:53

gonna kind of mix things up a little bit

2:56

in this episode. Instead of going kind of into the weeds,

2:58

I'm gonna start kind of big picture for I

3:02

as a fan, as someone who obviously is rooting for the Los

3:04

Angeles Lakers, I was proud of their

3:07

effort tonight. These game

3:09

fours, when you're down three to oho, they

3:11

typically go the route of

3:13

the suite. It did some digging It's

3:16

hard to find some exact data, but it looks

3:19

like in NBA history, a

3:21

team down three to OHO loses

3:24

that game about sixty nine

3:26

percent of the time. They went about thirty thirty

3:29

one percent of the time. So typically

3:31

what ends up happening is the better team, who

3:34

demonstrated they were better by going up three

3:36

to OHO is able to close

3:38

the deal, right, So, and part

3:40

of that is not just the talent differential, it's a

3:42

lack of belief. Right. So, like you

3:45

when you lose two games on the road, especially

3:48

as the underdog, when you come

3:50

home for game three, you have this thought in the back

3:52

of your mind, and it's it's they

3:54

held serve right, It's like they did what they

3:56

were supposed to do. There's all these cliches

4:00

that's surrounded You may have heard the series

4:02

doesn't start until someone wins on the

4:04

road, right, Like, there's all these cliches. So you

4:06

go into game three with a

4:08

certain amount of belief, like

4:11

we still can do this, right. It's

4:14

not until you drop that third game that it's

4:16

like, oh, actually we can't, you know. And then

4:19

typically that leads to

4:21

kind of a cascading effect because if

4:23

the team's better than you. You have to

4:25

be perfect to beat them, right in your game

4:27

plan execution. You need role

4:29

players to hit shots, You need a bunch of different

4:32

variables to go your way in order

4:34

to beat a team that's better than you, right, and

4:36

so like there's a certain level of focus

4:39

in belief you need to do that typically,

4:41

and so that's why in game four it

4:44

typically goes the other direction. And so I

4:46

just want to shout out the Los

4:48

Angeles Lakers for showing some pride, showing

4:50

some fight, and extending

4:53

this series. I now to kind

4:55

of tilt that back towards Denver. I

4:59

Denver is going to approach Game five on

5:01

Monday like a must win. They

5:04

do not want to come back to the

5:07

Crypto dot Com Arena for a

5:09

game six right now. If

5:11

they did have to do that, they would still

5:14

rightfully be favored to win that game

5:16

six, right, But they're

5:18

gonna try to close this thing out in five.

5:21

It's not just about avoiding a road game

5:23

six that if the Lakers win, can force a game seven.

5:25

It's also about Minnesota. Minnesota

5:27

is probably gonna close Phoenix

5:30

out tomorrow if not in game five,

5:32

right, So Minnesota

5:34

is gonna be ready and waiting for you in

5:36

round two. So Denver's gonna want to get this

5:38

thing over with quickly. And so here's the

5:40

thing, Like, I'm not gonna sit here and act

5:43

like Denver hasn't been trying in this series.

5:45

I do think that they gave up a relatively

5:48

poor effort in the first half tonight, which is like

5:50

to be expected. But for

5:52

the most part in this series, they've been kind of

5:54

humming it around. You know, they're eighty five

5:56

ninety percent like that typical like engaged

5:59

but not desperate type of effort from

6:01

Denver. I think we're going to get like a

6:05

a just a freight train Denver performance

6:07

on Monday. It's gonna be a really

6:09

difficult game for the Lakers to

6:11

stay competitive in, let alone to win.

6:14

So I'll be picking Denver to win on Monday.

6:16

I think they're gonna win convincingly. I wouldn't be surprised

6:18

if they won by double figures. That's just how much

6:20

I believe in this Nuggets team, especially with

6:23

urgency behind them in Game

6:25

five. That said, I just wanted to

6:27

compliment the Los Angeleskers again, like just

6:30

most teams let go of the rope entirely

6:32

in game four that that was not the

6:35

case tonight. They showed a wire to wire,

6:37

really really impressive performance

6:39

they The big one is when Denver

6:42

came with their inevitable second half run

6:44

that they always come with. Right when

6:46

that run happened, the Lakers responded.

6:49

They were able to hold up underneath

6:51

that onslaught in a way they were not able to

6:54

in the first three games. So from there,

6:56

now let's get into the basketball. So how did the Lakers get

6:58

it done? Which

7:00

I thought was interesting. In the first quarter, they

7:02

ran a lot of their early offense through

7:05

Austin Reeves and this is something

7:07

that I actually called for a lot at the beginning

7:09

of the series, and they didn't do very

7:12

much, and it's something I'd like to see them do more.

7:14

In Game five, they didn't even really do

7:16

it that much after after

7:19

the first quarter. They went to him a couple times at the end

7:21

of the fourth quarter and he came through. But

7:24

in that first quarter in particular, they were heavy attacking

7:26

with Austin Reeves. Why does that matter

7:29

because with the way that Denver has their defensive

7:31

matchups configured right for the most

7:33

part in this series, with exception of that run,

7:35

the in Game two and a handful of

7:37

other possessions here and there. They've had yokihn

7:39

ad Gordon on Lebron, Right, those

7:41

are your physical matchups that make sense in the front

7:44

court. Then they're putting KCP on

7:46

D'Angelo Russell because they know, even

7:48

though we've discussed this on the show before, Austin

7:51

because his floor is higher than d Lo's and

7:53

because he's more versatile, probably

7:55

a better basketball player than dl. Right, But

7:57

Delo has this really high ceiling, like, let

8:00

Dlo get going, he can really get

8:02

going, which, by the way, to his credit, big bounce back game

8:04

tonight, hit four threes, twenty one points, really

8:06

nice game from D'Angelo Russell. That

8:09

ceiling that Delo has. Denver

8:12

wants to avoid that as much as possible, and so

8:14

they're going to go with KCP on him

8:16

as much as possible to try to mitigate

8:18

his particular advantage that slots

8:21

Jamal Murray onto Austin Reeves. And

8:25

they just think in general, like Austin's the guy that's

8:27

gonna run some action, he's gonna have some success, but he's

8:29

not gonna torch us for thirty thirty

8:31

five points. That's the way that Denver's looking at it right.

8:34

Well, again, that's a way for you to go

8:36

at a specific advantage in the matchups

8:39

by keeping Jamal in the action. Again, one

8:41

of the most important parts of getting a defense in

8:43

rotation and pick and roll is getting the guarden trail

8:45

position, and it's a difficult thing to do against

8:48

really good screen defenders. That was a big thing at

8:50

the end of Game two. If you guys remember Contavious callwell,

8:52

Pope was navigating screens

8:54

really well with Lebron and stopping

8:56

him from turning the corner as cleanly as

8:59

he was, and Aaron Gordon was on the

9:01

ball right and they were bringing Jokic up

9:03

to the screen with the Anthony

9:05

Davis right and so going

9:08

from KCP this like awesome screen

9:10

navigator is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league.

9:12

But by the way, he's gonna have a hell of a challenge on his hands

9:15

after if they win Game five, or

9:17

if they get out of the series and they face Minnesota in

9:19

the next round, He's gonna have a hell of a challenge

9:21

on his hands with Anthony Edwards as we all

9:23

know. But like going from

9:25

him to Jamal Murray, even though Jamal Murray has done a good

9:28

job as a team defender. He's kind of like a defensive

9:30

playmaker, is what I look at him as. Like. He's

9:32

not necessarily great at any specific thing,

9:35

but he's got good instincts and he can jump

9:37

passing lanes smart help. He

9:39

does things like that to like make plays on

9:41

defense. Famously, if you guys remember,

9:43

he had a big play like that at the end of Game four

9:46

last year that actually led to the sweep

9:48

when he tied up Lebron James on that drive, if you

9:50

guys remember. But in general, Jamal

9:52

Murray's not a fantastic screen navigator.

9:54

He's not a guy that's going to lock up a perimeter

9:56

player, right. So getting Austin Reeves into

9:59

those ball screens, he's able to get Jamal into trail

10:01

position, which gets him going downhill,

10:03

which actually collapses the defense, which creates

10:05

all the openings that can get the defense in rotation.

10:08

I thought that was a big part of the early offensive

10:10

success that the Lakers had, and

10:12

like I said, I'd like to see them do more of that in Game

10:14

five. Lebron James full

10:17

desperation mode. We all know that Lebron,

10:19

We've seen this time and time again. He did this in

10:21

a big way in Game six against the

10:24

against the Warriors last year, it's

10:26

like back against the wall. I

10:29

know I can't do this all the time because I'm too

10:31

old, but I can just bully

10:33

people. And he was constantly

10:36

attacking mismatches against the smaller

10:38

Denver players and taking them down into the

10:40

post. And again it

10:42

was all right at the rim or short

10:44

turnaround jumpers, short those

10:46

mid range jumpers. Again, we talked about this a lot, but like

10:49

mid range jumpers inside of twelve thirteen

10:51

feet tend to be a much higher percentage than in

10:53

that fifteen to eighteen feet area,

10:55

right, Lebron did a lot of work in there.

10:58

He was awesome. He ended up with thirty points in

11:00

this game. He's really been with exception

11:02

of the defensive end in Game two and

11:04

he didn't had a kind of uneven offensive

11:06

game or excuse me, game three, I should

11:08

say Game three was a rough one for Lebron,

11:11

But for the most part through four games, he's

11:13

been really, really good, in the hell of a lot better than

11:15

he was last year. So shout out to Lebron delo

11:17

big bounce back game. Again, it's not about

11:19

his ceiling. We know what

11:22

dlo ceiling is. It's

11:24

his floor that has made him such a frustrating

11:26

player. To his credit, this is the eighth

11:29

big game in a row for the Lakers, right, the

11:32

Warriors game, the Timberwolves game,

11:34

the Pelicans game, the Pelicans game

11:36

again, and then four Nuggets games.

11:38

And he was really bad against Golden State,

11:41

really bad against Minnesota, really good against

11:43

the Pelicans, good against the Pelicans again,

11:45

and then he's been good in two of the four

11:48

Denver games. Right the rub

11:50

on de lo Is. It's a back and forth thing. It's

11:52

like you're getting feast or famine with him, and when he's

11:55

not hitting shots, he doesn't do enough else

11:57

to impact the game. But there's no

11:59

doubt his ceiling is very important,

12:01

especially to this particular Lakers team. It's

12:04

been a big part of their offensive surge

12:06

that they've had over the last

12:08

forty six games or so of the season since the beginning

12:11

of January, and so shout out to Delo for

12:13

the bounce back Again. It's

12:15

been a frustrating experience rooting

12:17

for him over the course of the last couple of playoff

12:19

runs. But there's no doubt that the highs

12:22

are really really high with Delo,

12:24

but we got to make our way to Anthony

12:26

Davis. I talked before

12:29

the series. If you guys remember that

12:31

I was really disappointed

12:33

with Anthony Davis in the playoff

12:35

series last year against Jokic. I

12:38

actually specifically said in the series preview

12:40

that I have high expectations for Anthony

12:43

Davis in this series. Why because

12:45

Jokic's is peer Right, Like, when

12:47

you're lumping in all these players, you

12:50

look at Lebron, it's like you're ranking him against

12:52

like Kevin Durant, Giannison, Tenna Kumpo,

12:55

Jason Tatum, Kawhi Leonard, right, Like you're

12:57

looking at him with that group of guys. When

12:59

you're looking Anthony Davis, you're looking at him

13:01

with Nikole Jokicic, joe

13:03

El Embiid, Right, maybe you Blumpiannis

13:06

in there, depending on who you ask, right, But

13:08

like over the course of the last few years,

13:11

Jokichen and Embiid have kind of won

13:13

that battle over the course of the regular seasons,

13:16

and a lot of that had to do with health. But

13:18

then over the tail end of last year, Ad

13:21

won on this crazy defensive run, and

13:23

I was really advocating for him

13:26

going into that series last year as

13:28

an opportunity for him to kind of put his stamp

13:30

on everything, and he was pretty

13:32

good in Game one, struggled

13:35

to start the game but scored a bunch of points

13:37

in ball screens, and then he was

13:39

just not very good in the last three games

13:42

of the series and got his butt

13:44

kicked by Nikole Jokic. And specifically

13:46

in Game four last year, I thought

13:49

he let go of the rope and quits

13:51

a hard word to use, but I thought he stopped

13:53

really truly giving the urgent

13:56

and desperate effort. And so I

13:58

was disappointed because like rom

14:00

was on a bad foot and he was getting outplayed

14:02

by Jamal Murray and AD was the

14:04

guy who kind of like needed to carry the weight, and

14:06

he struggled. And so that's why I kind of

14:08

said coming into this series that I was really

14:11

hoping for a dominant Anthony

14:13

Davis performance, and he has been

14:15

incredible. Specifically

14:17

in the series preview, I said he needed to close the gap.

14:20

Eighty is not better than Nikola Jokic.

14:23

Nikola Jokic is. Nikol Jokic

14:25

is playing at a level that is dominant

14:28

compared to other all time greats. Let

14:30

alone the rest of the league right now. I

14:32

think there's like a significant

14:34

distance between him and the second best player in the league.

14:37

So like you're not asking Ad to be

14:39

better than Jokic, but he needed to close

14:41

the gap and he has done that in

14:44

a really, really

14:46

significant way in this series. Really controlled

14:48

the glass tonight. That was the story of the game. The

14:50

Lakers actually won the battle, the

14:53

rebounding battle. I think it was forty six to forty,

14:55

yeah, forty six to forty and rebounds,

14:57

and they held up on the offensive glass better. They

15:00

they had eight offensive rebounds they allowed nine

15:02

to Denver eighty. Actually finished

15:04

the game with twenty three rebounds, twenty

15:06

five points, twenty three rebounds, and

15:08

six assists with one turnover. He has

15:10

been the steady force for

15:13

the Lakers in this series. He's

15:15

done a lot of damage in one on one to

15:17

Nikole Jokich. If you remember last year, the

15:20

eighty ISOs and post ups against Jokich

15:22

were so bad that the Lakers had

15:24

to bail on him. I want to say, I can't remember

15:27

the exact numbers, but he missed on

15:29

his first like six tries or something like that,

15:31

and then the Lakers just bailed on it. They were like, you can't

15:33

score on Jokic one on one. We can't go

15:35

to that anymore. It's actually been one of the

15:37

most effective plays for the Lakers in this series

15:39

is going to Anthony Davis against Jokic

15:42

on the low block. And so I just

15:44

like, who knows where the Lakers will go from here

15:46

after the season. Again, I still think it's an

15:49

incredibly small chance that the Lakers somehow

15:51

come back and win the series. Hell, it never has happened

15:53

before an NBA history, right, But

15:55

like, moving forward from this series, like

15:58

Anthony Davis has answered the call. He's

16:01

been unbelievable. You know, I

16:03

said coming into this series that Lebron James

16:05

was playing at the third best level

16:07

in the league behind Nikola Jokic

16:10

and Luka Doncic. Lebron hasn't

16:12

quite lived up to that in this postseason series.

16:14

Although I think Lebron's been very good, but

16:16

Anthony Davis has outplayed him in this series.

16:18

Anthony Davis has been one of the five best playoff

16:21

players to start this playoff

16:23

run around the NBA, and I

16:26

just can't I just can't say enough about

16:28

how incredible he's been in this series. He has answered

16:30

the call. It is not his fault

16:32

that the Lakers are in the position that they're in. I

16:35

want to shout out the Lakers for weathering

16:38

that Denver run. Again, that was just inevitably going

16:40

to come in the third quarter, and they did. I think they got it down

16:42

to seven at one point, but they never let

16:44

it get any closer than that. On

16:46

the defensive end, just more doubling of Jokic.

16:48

That was a big one in this game. A lot of doubling, really

16:51

sharp rotations, and Denver's role guys

16:53

weren't as good. Right. Jamal Murray had another

16:55

poor shooting night. The Lakers have done a really

16:57

good job on Jamal Murray in this series,

17:01

but they just in general did a better job defensively

17:04

all over the floor. And

17:06

and again you can that's something you can kind of count

17:08

on, like on the road role

17:11

players that that is an advantage that typically

17:13

tilts towards the home. Uh the

17:15

home, the role players will typically play better

17:18

when they're at home. And so that didn't

17:20

quite happen in Game three, happened in a big

17:22

way in Game four, and then again controlling

17:25

the glass. Before we move on from

17:27

this game, I did want to just showed out. Shout out

17:29

Nicole Jokic because you

17:31

know, he has this thing. It kind of reminds

17:34

me of Lebron when he was in his prime, where

17:36

like he's basically incapable

17:39

of playing a bad game. Like

17:41

I can't even remember which game it was, but Jokic

17:43

had a bad game. Was it

17:45

the Sun's game? I can't remember where it was, but it's in

17:47

the last third of the regular season where

17:50

he had a bad game. And I remember coming on the show and being

17:52

like, hey, this is weird, you know, like Jokic

17:54

had a bad game, you know, and I remember that was what

17:56

it was like with Lebron, where like

17:59

I remember it was in the twenty

18:01

seventeen playoffs in the Eastern Conference Finals.

18:03

Lebron had like literally hen

18:06

consecutive dominant

18:08

games and then he had

18:11

a really bad game at home

18:13

against the Celtics. It was the one where Avery Bradley

18:15

hit the game winner coming around that curl and

18:17

like shot that shot off the front of the rim that went

18:19

in, and then he and Lebron

18:21

was bad and it was just so bizarre that Lebron was

18:23

bad. And then he came back in game five and like

18:26

utterly dominated the Celtics as they as they

18:28

moved on in went to the NBA Finals, right, And like that's

18:30

what it kind of reminds me of with Jokic, but

18:33

even within like the normal scale, right, Like,

18:35

Jokics didn't dominate the game this

18:38

game the way that he is capable of,

18:40

right, And he had thirty three points, fourteen

18:42

rebounds in fourteen assists. That's

18:44

preposterous, man, that that's insane.

18:48

Thirty three, fourteen and fourteen. And it

18:50

was like an ify game for him compared

18:52

to where his ceiling is typically at. And

18:54

again, I just can't say enough about Like

18:56

again, we are we are witnessing

18:59

an all time I'm great in his upward trajectory,

19:02

and I just I hope you don't take it for granted,

19:04

because like, again, these things end quicker

19:06

than you think. Not everybody stays in the league as long as Lebron,

19:09

did, you know what I mean? And like we're in the middle

19:11

of something really special here from Nicole jokicch And I'm

19:13

enjoying every minute of it as a basketball

19:15

fan. Again, I expect Denver to go

19:17

home and win convincingly in Game five. I believe

19:20

they'll win by double figures. But again, if you're

19:22

if you're the Lakers, this is what you're telling yourself

19:24

in the locker room. Hey, guys, we

19:27

have been in the lead for the

19:29

vast majority of this series. They were

19:31

shown the stat on the score on the broadcast

19:34

tonight, But I think the Lakers have led

19:36

the Nuggets twice as often in the series

19:38

as the Nuggets have led the Lakers. Doesn't mean

19:40

the Nuggets are or the Lakers are better than the Nuggets.

19:42

The Nuggets have clearly demonstrated that, But

19:44

the Lakers have played a lot of good basketball

19:46

in this series. Right, So, if you're a Lakers fan,

19:48

if you're in that Lakers locker room, what you're

19:50

telling yourself is we have demonstrated

19:53

that we can beat these guys. We

19:55

feel like we should have one game too. Denver

19:58

just got crazy hot at the and beat

20:01

us, right, and like you know, maybe

20:03

Darvin Ham makes us a smart challenge

20:05

call on the Jamal Murray bump, and maybe we get out of there

20:07

with the win. We've played well enough to beat them

20:09

twice in the four times we've played. All

20:12

we gotta do is go into Denver and beat them

20:14

once. It is a just think of

20:16

it one game at a time. You beat Denver

20:18

in game five, then you come

20:21

home, and that's the buzzsaw

20:23

game, right that's the game where it's like, now

20:25

it's three to two, we have all the momentum,

20:28

we're at home, let's run these dudes

20:30

out of the gym. Then game seven, anything can happen.

20:32

If you win, you move on, and you don't

20:34

have to look any further than Lebron James. He's literally done

20:37

that before right now. Obviously he was a

20:39

much better. That was the

20:41

best three game stretch he's ever played in his career,

20:43

obviously, So like it's a lot to ask for an

20:45

age thirty nine Lebron, But like, again, there

20:48

are things to target for optimism if you're a Lakers

20:50

fan. I just personally think that

20:52

that Denver is not quite pushed the pedal

20:55

to the metal all the way yet in this series. I think

20:57

they will on Monday, and I think it's gonna

20:59

be jarring. I have a feeling we're gonna be

21:01

coming on this broadcast after that

21:03

game going like, holy shit, the

21:05

Nuggets went to their ceiling. That

21:08

was scary. These dudes are gonna repeat

21:10

like that. That's kind of the way I feel like Monday Night's gonna

21:13

go all right. Moving on, I wanted to hit Oklahoma

21:15

City, New or New Orleans again. I didn't

21:17

have time today just because of what happened

21:19

last night. I just I had to hit the other

21:21

three games this morning and it just kind of got away

21:23

from me in terms of time. So I wanted to hit

21:25

Oklahoma City, New Orleans because we did hit game

21:28

two of Miami Boston, and we

21:30

did hit Game three of Orlando

21:34

of Orlando Cleveland, but we had not yet

21:36

hit Oklahoma City New Orleans since Game one.

21:38

We only hit Game Onen. We didn't hit Game two, so I wanted to

21:40

get back to them. And they go

21:42

three. Oh, they blow out the Pelicans in New Orleans

21:44

today. This was

21:46

a big test. I thought the Pels were gonna

21:48

give them some issues. If you guys remember in the series

21:51

preview, I thought they had some matchup advantages

21:53

that kind of played into their strengths. And

21:55

like they did in game one, Game

21:58

one, they hung around, gave a good

22:00

fight. But like the thunder have

22:02

dominated this series since then, and they

22:04

have passed that test with flying colors.

22:07

And Algoma City's defense has

22:09

been the story of that first round matchup. They

22:11

have a ninety four point seven defensive

22:13

rating, which is the best among playoff

22:16

teams so far in the first round. Again, that means

22:18

they allow ninety four point seven points per one hundred possessions.

22:20

They're defending the three point line really well. They're allowing just

22:22

nine point four to three pointers made per game

22:25

from New Orleans. Although New Orleans takes a lot of mid

22:27

range jump shots, so that's part of it from process standpoint.

22:29

But they're doing a good job getting physical up

22:31

on the ball and taking away easy threes. They're

22:34

allowing just twenty eight percent

22:36

from three from New Orleans. Big

22:38

one on the perimeter here is just like, and

22:40

this is what's so exciting about the future of

22:43

the of the Thunder. You know, we talk about

22:45

Minnesota a lot. Minnesota one

22:47

of the big reasons why I like

22:50

their their roster construct. And I've been

22:52

talking about this for years with Minnesota, but it's like,

22:55

it's it's Jaden, it's

22:57

Rudy, and it's what I call a bracket.

23:00

The reason why I refer to it as a bracket is like,

23:02

in individual defense situations,

23:05

you got a guy that's pressuring the ball and

23:08

then you have this guy that's waiting on the

23:10

back line, right, So if he gets over

23:12

a ball screen and my my on ball

23:14

defender is in pursuit from behind, he's

23:17

back pressuring while chet's waiting

23:19

on the other end. And there is a certain

23:21

that bracket gets spread out when

23:24

it's a lesser perimeter defender and a lesser

23:27

rim protector, right, And there's just so much

23:29

more that can be done in that space in

23:31

between. Not to mention, the lack of rim protection

23:34

entirely can allow a guy to get to the rim

23:36

consistently. But when you have a legitimate rim protector

23:38

with length that not only can protect the rim

23:40

but can also bother shots and floater in

23:42

mid range, and you've got

23:44

a real long defender that

23:47

can pressure from behind and disrupt

23:50

the base, that's that where that bracket

23:52

can get terrifying defensively, and that's what makes

23:54

you know the Jade McDaniel's Anthony Everage Rudy Go

23:57

Bear trio so devastating right

23:59

Well, Cloma City kind of has their own version of that.

24:01

Now it's a little different. It's less

24:03

based on length because Jade McDaniels is

24:06

more of a length based defender.

24:08

Lou Dort is more of like a

24:11

fire hydrant, low center of gravity, beats

24:13

you to spots, disrupt your base, make

24:15

you shoot over the top kind of guy. Right, and

24:18

he's done just an unbelievable job

24:20

on brandon Ingram, physical ball

24:22

pressure, chasing him over the top of screens,

24:24

beating him literally beating him over the top

24:26

of screens and cutting him off, disrupting

24:29

that base again. When you're going up against a pull

24:31

up shooter, think of it like this. If I'm

24:33

CJ mccollin around brandon Ingram and I'm in the

24:35

summertime, right, You're going

24:37

through dribble combinations and footwork,

24:40

and you're use you're kind of building

24:42

a muscle memory based on a certain

24:44

level of freedom of movement, right, and

24:46

then you get when you get a really good on ball

24:49

defender who stays physically attached

24:51

and messes with all of the movement

24:54

while you're getting to your spot and disrupts

24:56

the base. Suddenly the muscle memory at

24:58

the end of that shot doesn't look the saint as it

25:01

does when you're in your shooting drills, right, And like

25:04

with dort On brandon Ingram and Jalen Williams

25:06

on CJ. McCollum, and then the guy guy's coming off the bench too,

25:08

like Hassan Wallace and and UH and Aaron Wiggins

25:10

have both done a really good job. They just have disrupted

25:13

the perimeter players that initiate

25:15

everything for New Orleans and now the one

25:17

thing for New Orleans obviously without Zion being

25:20

in the game, it just changes everything, right,

25:22

Like if Zion's in, Dort's

25:25

probably guarding him, that moves Jalen

25:27

Williams over to UH

25:30

to that moves Jalen Williams over to brandon Ingram,

25:33

which is probably gonna put Shay on CJ, which

25:35

is like a better matchup, right, And so like obviously

25:38

Pelicans fans, I'm aware Zion being

25:40

out is a is a significant you know factor

25:42

here. But within the context of this perimeter

25:45

battle that we're seeing in this series, the

25:47

Pelicans, the Pelicans are just getting their askied

25:50

and and that that's a credit to those thunder

25:52

perimeter defenders. But again, the other side of that bracket

25:54

is chat. He had four blocks today. He

25:56

got Trey Murphy driving closeouts twice

25:59

when he tried to dunk on and like cleanly

26:01

blocked him on dunks twice. The first

26:03

one like Tray brought it back like this

26:05

while he was flying down the lane. I honestly,

26:08

God don't know how Check got to it without fouling him.

26:10

It was an incredible defensive play. He

26:12

got both CJ Andbi in ball screens.

26:14

And again that's that bracket on the CJ one. It's

26:16

like he finally he snakes the ball screen.

26:19

It kind of gets over and gets

26:21

over to his left hand side and he just doesn't even

26:23

see Check coming and Chat just spikes it into the ground

26:25

like a volleyball player, right Like It's just it's

26:27

another it's another layer of that

26:29

defense that makes it difficult.

26:32

They are forcing nineteen turnovers per game

26:34

in this series. That's the most among playoff

26:36

teams. Remember they led that category in the regular

26:38

season as well. They're going twenty one points

26:40

per game off of turnovers as

26:43

well. And then on the offensive end of the floor, like Shay,

26:45

again, this is a lesser opponent, and we're gonna

26:47

get into that minute, but Shay has had no slowdown

26:50

from the regular season twenty eight points, five

26:52

rebounds, and six assists per game on fifty nine percent

26:54

true shooting. So just a tiny dip

26:56

in volume inefficiency which again the

26:58

Pelicans have really good piminter defenders. Give some

27:01

credit to Herb Jones, right, and then Jaln Williams.

27:03

His playoff debut has been awesome. Twenty point

27:05

seven rebounds and five assists per game, fifty

27:07

three percent from the field and forty two percent from three.

27:10

I am full. I'm I've said this before,

27:12

like, I think Jalen's so damn good. I think he

27:14

could be better than SGA one day. I've said

27:16

this on the show before, but I look at him as like the

27:19

best combination of playmaking, downhill

27:21

force and pull up shooting that I've seen from a wing player

27:24

in a very very long time. And

27:27

I am not the least bit surprised that he

27:29

is just completely kicking ass in the playoffs.

27:31

There was a stretch in the second quarter today where

27:33

the Pelicans put Jose Alvarado on him

27:36

and he just immediately bullied him twice, once

27:38

on the post and once on the low post, once

27:40

on the high post, and they just immediately had

27:42

to pull him off and put Naji Marshall on him. He

27:45

hit a couple of these like crazy, like hanging

27:48

double pump shots in the second

27:50

quarter, which just are indicator

27:52

of just how insane of an athlete he

27:55

is. And then Josh Gitty, Like Josh Kitty had a really rough

27:57

Game one, and obviously all these teams around the

27:59

league are gonna be leaving him open just

28:01

to give him a better chance of containing elsewhere.

28:03

And he's been great since struggling in Game

28:06

one. He's been hitting

28:08

his spot up threes more frequently,

28:10

had a couple of nice transition pushes today.

28:12

He had this one against CJ McCollum in the first half where he

28:14

did this like nice behind the back dribble into a eurostep

28:16

floater. Hit twenty one points today. I

28:19

actually we do a here at the volume.

28:21

We do like a little playoff points league, and

28:24

Josh Gitty was one of the players. I picked one

28:27

because I thought the Thunder would win at least the first

28:29

round. And then also, like Josh Gitty

28:31

is just a guy that's gonna get opportunities, and

28:33

he capitalized on those in a big way today.

28:35

So I was a little concerned about that pick in Game

28:37

one. But Josh has been making me look good over

28:39

the last couple of games, but now kind of zooming

28:41

out a little bit. This is by

28:43

far the easiest matchup in the West that goes without

28:45

saying, right like, they're playing the eight seed without their

28:47

best player. I was thinking about this earlier too. They're

28:50

the only team in the West playoffs without

28:52

a top ten player. Like Oklahoma City

28:54

as Shay clearly a top ten player, Denver

28:56

Jokic clearly a top ten player. Minnesota Anthony

28:58

Edwards, I think

29:00

he might be a top ten player. Now we might just have

29:03

like I's certainly playing at that level.

29:05

I mean, whether he can sustain, we'll see, but he's

29:07

playing at that level. The Clippers Kawhi

29:09

Leonard when he's healthy, obviously top ten

29:11

player. He's out, so I guess, or he's obviously

29:13

unhealthy, so I guess you can kind of factor that in. But

29:16

the Mavericks have Luca that's a top ten player, the sons

29:18

of Kevin Durant that's a top ten player. The Lakers

29:20

of Lebron and Anthony Davis. I think both of them are top

29:22

ten players. So like, no, there's

29:24

just so much talent in the league. We might have to zoom out and actually

29:26

make a list and see who might get cut from that

29:28

list. But the point is is, like when you're

29:30

talking about stars like the Pelicans are the one

29:32

team that just doesn't have that level

29:35

of firepower, right, so obviously

29:37

you have to beat who's in front of you. You earned

29:40

this matchup by getting the number one overall,

29:42

the number one seed in the Western Conference, So credit

29:44

the Thunder for getting that done right. But

29:47

I am excited to see round two, and I think

29:49

they've passed the first round test with flying

29:51

colors. Round two, whether it's Clippers

29:53

or MAVs, that's going to be a really really interesting

29:55

and exciting series running into some real

29:57

firepower, running into some real like

30:00

multiple high level shot creators that are

30:03

every shot creator on both of those teams better than CJ

30:05

and Brandon. So it's just gonna be an entirely different

30:07

level that they're gonna be going up against,

30:10

and then much better frontlines that they're gonna have

30:12

to deal with. Zubach is just a really, really

30:16

a much higher level center than a Jonas Valanciunas,

30:19

even just even if you look at some of these small

30:21

ball front lines that Dallas can throw out there, Daniel

30:23

Gafford even bring some size to the table. So it's

30:25

gonna be a big challenge for them in round two. But they've played

30:27

really well in the first round and again at the Defense

30:29

event is where I've been most impressed

30:32

by them. All right, guys, that is all I have for tonight.

30:34

As always, as sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting

30:36

the show. A quick breakdown for tomorrow. The

30:39

plan as of right now is we're going after

30:41

Clippers MAVs and that's

30:44

just gonna be uploaded to YouTube that won't be live.

30:47

And then Monday morning we have the nerd SESSH guys

30:49

coming on the show and we're gonna bounce around the entire

30:51

first round and go through and hear

30:53

what Carson and Logan have to say about everything.

30:56

Again, I appreciate you guys for rocking with me. I will

30:58

see you tomorrow. The

31:23

volume