NBA Power Rankings, Luka Doncic’s MVP case, what’s wrong with Kevin Durant & Suns? | Hoops Tonight

NBA Power Rankings, Luka Doncic’s MVP case, what’s wrong with Kevin Durant & Suns? | Hoops Tonight

All right welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume happy Wednesday everybody I hope all of you guys are having a great start to your week we got a fun show today from Christmas evening the Dallas Mavericks on the strength of a 50o game from Luca donic kind of

Humiliated the Phoenix Suns in Phoenix and so I want to talk a lot about both teams from that particular game we’re going to be doing a deep dive there and then because of Christmas day in the yovon video yesterday we haven’t had a chance to do our power rankings yet for

This week so we’re going to be doing an update on on our power rankings you guys know the drill before we get started subscribe to a brand new YouTube channel mean a lot to me if you guys would take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button don’t forget about our

Podcast feeds wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops tonight follow me on Twitter _ Jason LT so you guys don’t miss any show announcements or the film threads I do from time to time and keep dropping mailbag questions this weekend I’m taking Friday through Monday off but

I want to have some content coming out over the weekend so on Thursday I’m going to be recording a long mailbag episode that will kind of release over the course of the New Year holiday so drop a bunch of basketball related questions about whatever you guys want

And then let’s get weird too any non-basketball stuff drop it in the mailbag in this YouTube video’s comments we’ll put together the list out from this video and we will record that on Thursday so that we have some content over the weekend before we head into the the stretch before the trade deadline

And then the stretch before the playoffs things are going to be heating up here over the course of the next couple of months all right let’s talk some back basketball so this game it was interesting cuz last night I I turned it on after a long day you know Christmas

Uh after I finished recording those two episodes and you know it’s funny uh uh obviously so many people work on Christmas day it’s not just me so I’m not complaining to by any stretch but obviously it was a weird day for me because like I’m like at one Christmas

Event then I’m driving back to go record and then I’m going over to my parents house to see my family in town and we’re trying to find time to celebrate but then I like have to run back to record after Lakers Celtics and then I finally

Go back to to my parents and we finished celebrating and then finally I get home last night and my wife’s passed out in the bed and it’s it’s like 10:30 and I I I’m just like oh look the suns are playing and I turn it on and it was

Pretty bad uh specifically when I turned it on it was 116 to 110 if I remember correctly and the wheels came up or 116 to 112 I think and uh Devin Booker has like a a a driving right-handed layup and then the wheels just come off they

Give up a bucket on almost every trip down the floor having trouble uh blitzing and rotating off of Luca and then just like a bunch of really careless turnovers on the other end they looked somewhat disinterested and so I was like ah man like Luca putting up 50

Suns are in some trouble this is the game that I need to do a deep dive on today and so sat down today and I just watched the entire game and the the truth of the matter is is Luca just broke Phoenix’s defense and you know for

All the struggles Phoenix have had has had it’s primarily on the offensive end of the floor they’ve actually been one of the best rebounding teams in the league over this recent span and they’ve been a slightly above average defense for most of the year in that you know in

That middle of the pack range I think before last night’s game they were 14th uh uh over even even during the stretch that they were struggling they’ve been a decent defense not good but they’ve been a decent defense and they were in shambles in that second half against

Dallas and you know one of the things I thought was super interesting that Luca was doing is he was taking advantage because they were loading up on him in the half court blitzing pick and rolls uh they had KD zoning up on isos remember zoning up means ignoring his

Man entirely but going on the opposite side of the painted area so that he doesn’t get a defense of 3 seconds so he’s basically like it’s like a soft double team essentially allowing the primary on ball Defender to press up on the jump shot knowing that KD is waiting

Behind him in help and so in the half court Luca wasn’t wasn’t really getting opportunities to look to be aggressive at least as a score not as frequently right but he was having a lot of success in semi- transition now we talk about the this concept a lot but semi-

Transition is like whatever is not a run out layup meaning like a one on0 two on one you know pass pass lay you know the stuff you do in high school for drills when you’re working on layups and transition right something that is not that but also not a half court

Possession it’s like between the two it’s like usually off of a Miss uh uh usually it starts as like a four on three with the other three guys kind of lingering back into the play and usually what it is is it’s a gap where you don’t have an opportunity to like just

Necessarily drive unimpeded to the basket but at the same time the defense isn’t in their configured half court set right we just talked about all the things that that Frank vogle was doing to Luca in the half court but if before they even get set up to do those things

He was finding some opportunities mainly just to attack an ISO like there was a play in the uh fourth quarter where he just was dribbling down the floor and and and uh um you his on ball Defender was Grayson Allen and he’s kind of opened up with his left shoulder open

And there’s no helps side defense because guys aren’t matched up and Luca Just Hits him with like a basic hesitation move gets all the way to the basket and lays it in that step back three that he’s been taking a lot he was hunting that in that those have like a whole debilitating

Discouraging element to them because your defense just feels hopeless when he’s when you’re getting him to take one of the tougher shots that he takes the step back three early in the possession and he just keeps making it and then the you know one of the things I’ve talked

About with Luca is a lot of his pull-up shooting is the same angle like his postup fadeaways always Fades over his right shoulder right if he’s going to take a turnaround jumper it’s over his right shoulder step back he’s always going to step back going to his left but

Then in that stretch he had a ball screen that they set in semi transition where the Mavs just weren’t or the uh Suns just weren’t even matched up chimzi M metu was guarding nobody and so they were able to go up and set a quick screen on Luca and it was basically like

A two-on-one offensive possession and he actually went into like a like one of those pull-up threes you see the hyper athletic guards take where he like comes off the screen to his right plants left right elevates pretty high off the ground for a Luca jump shot and he

Sticks that too and it just got to the point where it it I think when I turned it on at 114 or 116 112 the damage was already done like the the Suns didn’t really have any belief in their ability to win the game at that point and so it

Was interesting to go back and look and be like oh yeah that’s why it’s because you couldn’t do anything with the guy like as soon as they the Suns went on their little run in the late third quarter which was primarily fueled by Grayson Allen who just got super hot

Shooting the basketball and KD was making some good passing reads as well uh they get hot they take a brief like five-point lead and every single time Phoenix got the lead to five Luca would just go down and hit another step back three and it’s two again oh they got it

Back up to four Luca hits another shot it’s one again it was just this Onslaught that just sapped the sons of any sort of belief which I think directly led to their uh uh to their discouraged effort there down the stretch it was just a really really impressive psychological Domination by

Luca donit and again the the theme of the game was the Suns had to Blitz and pick and roll and when they blitzed in pick and roll they were just getting a lot of really key contributions Derrick Jones Jr was doing a great job in that short roll position of attacking the rim

Athletically and finishing over Uh Kevin Durant at The Rim Derrik ly had some possessions in the role he also had some possessions where he wasn’t the roller he was in the dunker spot and as guys got up and missed shots he was cleaning things up on the offensive glass Derrik

Jones hit a couple of big Corner threes Grant Williams hit a turnaround Jumper in the lane Tim Hardaway Jr had one of those semi transition driving layups uh uh that he got I can’t remember who was guarding him on that particular play but gets an easy bucket there they were

Getting lots of contributions down the line and that that there is the key cuz this to me feels like a real MVP type of campaign from Luca donic now whether or not he wins it is is dependent on so many other things mainly because the league is so damn stacked with talent

That it’s just really difficult to separate yourselves self these days but Luca looks like an MVP and we’re going to talk about all these uh specific basketball things but most importantly the biggest element of the case in my opinion is he has instilled his teammates with a sense of belief and

Confidence that what they’re doing will lead to victories in basketball games and this is a team by the way that was limited in Talent when they were St when they were fully healthy but Kyrie’s Miss significant time Josh greens missed significant time Maxi kba dislocated his toes been out forever that’s three of

Their most important important rotation players and their secondary Creator arguably easily their second most important player and he’s kept them afloat they’re 18 and 12 they’re right in the mix of things and a huge part of it is just every single guy on that team has a belief that what they’re doing is

Going to work and and as a result they’re incredibly bought in they’re incredibly focused it’s interesting to see the ju toos of the kinds of extra efforts that you’re seeing guys on the Mavericks make and then you’re seeing Devin Booker yelling at his teammates for not getting back after turning the basketball over

Which by the way Devin’s correct to be upset about but the point is is you’re seeing similar types of supporting casts these are all Castaways the Suns got all these veteran minimum guys and the Mavericks got all these veteran minimum guys really Grant Williams is the one

Guy we can point to as like okay they got him through a sign and trade and got him at a decent salary number but the difference is they’re the the guys on the Mavs they’re locked into their roles and the guys on the Suns it just it’s

Just not coming together the same way and that that to me is the is the strongest part of of Luca’s MVP case um that said well by the way before we get to the LCA stuff they’re 13th in defense over the last 15 games and like Luca has been making solid defensive rotations

He’s closing out with a with an intensity that you’re not accustomed to seeing from luuka he’s been f found himself in a lot of low man situations and weak side situations where he’s like guarding two guys and having to kind of like split the difference and try to

Bait a guy into making a pass and then closing out and he’s doing a really nice job of it it’s it’s from the top down it’s trickling down it’s outstanding leadership in my opinion very very different from the Luca that we saw that was so disengaged towards the tail end

Of last year and I think it’s a direct uh uh you know it’s a direct driving force between a lot of the success or for a lot of the success they’ve had this season uh on the the the LCA donic front everything starts with pull-up shooting he has made 44 more pull-up

Jumper or taken excuse me he’s taken 44 more pull-up jumpers than anyone else in the league he’s the only player in the NBA who’s taken over 300 pullup jump shots and he’s getting 1.09 points per shot on them couple of things he’s taking these uh pull up jump

Shots as threes instead of twos which is driving up the efficiency right and that step back three one one of the things I like he’s quickened his release a little bit too he’s making it more of like an athletic move as as opposed to kind of

Like a use his size and lean back move his release looks a little bit quicker but he’s just dialed in and he’s locked in with that pull-up jump shot and again we talk about making the shot at a at a at a a phase that’s untenable if you’re

Taking a lot of long Twos for instance like Kevin Durant does and even if you’re shooting a higher percentage than Luca they’re worth fewer points it can be something where the defense is like ah we can live with that shot right but when it’s 1.09 points per shot it can

Get to the point especially on a night like last night where he’s so locked in it can get to a point where it’s like it’s untenable we have to Zone up on this guy in isos Blitz him in pick and rolls just find a way to get the ball

Out of his hands that’s the primary driving force of with him from the perimeter and then he handles pressure extremely well so the smaller at like quick Defenders that are handsy they don’t bother him a lot of that is just he’s really good at protecting the

Basketball and he’s big as hell and then he can beat anyone off the dribble right now we talked about this when they beat the Lakers a while back but like like uh doesn’t matter if he’s starting from a triple threat from the elbow or off the

Dribble from 30 feet if he uses ball screen isolation it just doesn’t matter because of his size and his command of the basketball he’s going to get an angle and he’s going to shoot that Gap and he’s going to get dribble penetration and then from there he’s got

Every shot in the book I was pulling up the Synergy sheet today and Synergy has this page called shot types and when you pull it up is where I get a lot of there’s different there’s play types and there’s shot types those are the two primary screens that I use on Synergy

And you know play types are going to sort it through to like spot up possessions pick and roll ball handler uh transition cutting offensive rebound putbacks ISO postup all these different play types right and then even then you can sort them out to different uh uh uh sides of the floor different driving

Angles that all these different things Synergy is great Tool uh but on the shot types element like there’s they have jump shot and then it’s split down and it’s like there’s catch and shoots and there’s unguarded catch and shoots there’s guarded catch and shoots there’s off the dribble jump shots there’s what

They call early jumpers which is basically like when you uh isolate and you shoot it quick in The Possession there’s uh floaters there’s hook shots there’s uh layups there’s dunks it’s sorted all out there and what was crazy is every single shot of type shot type on that list

Including contested uncontested uh catch and shoot off the dribble floater hook everything he’s up over a point per possession every single shot type Luca’s shooting 59% on floaters this year 78% at the rim and so it’s just an incredibly efficient set of shot making that makes it untenable to leave him in

Any sort of basic traditional coverage or single coverage as a result career high in points per game career high in true shooting percentage this is just the best we’ve ever seen from Luca and like I said when you combine that with the leadership and the way it’s this

Team together through some pretty tough circumstances I I mean we’ll see we got to do our MVP rankings uh uh uh later on this week or next week and and he’s going to be higher than what where he was and we’ll see again a lot of things

Have to break right for him with in terms of competition uh like other people that are up for the the award but this looks like an MVP type of season from Luka donic to this point for Phoenix there are some personel limitations there but I do see a lot of

Improvement a lot of room for improvement I should say all over the floor the defense can be better one of the big issues in this particular game is Kevin Durant who’s been a very good low man throughout his career especially after he went to Golden State he had a

Really bad game he was particular the two things that stood out to me he was slow in that low man rotation so he was getting there too late in a lot of cases and then when he got there he wasn’t uh using his verticality to make guys make

Shots over the top a lot of the times he’s like trying to get him down low or he’d have his hands down and guys were just going over the top and finishing and it’s like Kevin Durant when vertical is is a pretty damn big obstacle to try

To go through and so by virtue of KD just being a little more focused getting there a little bit earlier and then using his verticality to make guys make tough shots over the top of him I think that could help a lot in their help-side defense Grayson Allen and Devin Booker

In particular were really sloppy in their off ball rotations which is like absolutely crucial to uh running a successful Blitz in pick and roll because you end up with these fouron threes in the backside and like Kevin Durant can protect the rim for you but in order to take away the three-point

Shots elsewhere you need to get more solid rotations out of those guys so I think the defense can be a lot better on offense Devin Booker’s just not playing very well he doesn’t look comfortable getting to his spots which leads me to think he doesn’t have his legs

Underneath him all the way he’s not shooting well he’s 43% from the field and 21% from three in his last five games Kevin Durant all season has been kind of inefficient in ISO which is tough because that’s one of their most frequent play types Kevin Durant’s getting only

0.88 points per possession in ISO this year which is down from what we expect from Kevin Durant right and then as a team the suns are not converting spot up possessions they’re getting just 1.03 points per possession in spot-up situations which ranks 20th in the NBA

Brad Beal returning should help in a ton of these areas because a big part of what makes uh uh a big part of what makes Kevin Durant a little bit less quick in his rotations on the backside as a low man is he still is being leaned

On for the majority of the offensive creation I know there’s been a lot of talk about Kevin Durant being more featured in the offense and there’s no doubt that Devin Booker seems like he has the ball a lot but Kevin Durant is still very very much involved last night

Not withstanding and and he’s actually leading the Suns in usage percentage over the course of this recent stretch when they’ve been struggling so like that to me when Bradley Beal can come back and actually remain on the floor it just makes so many things easier because one you’re adding a ton of aggregate

Ball handling and shooting to the lineup which is going to help you in every single Play Type it’s going to make KD’s isos easier it’s going to make get Devin Booker’s pick and rolls easier it’s going to make the team spot up efficiency Skyrocket it’s going to allow

For more resources to be devoted to the defensive end of the floor for guys like Kevin Durant and Deon Booker who haven’t been as good as they need and so here’s the thing like I’ve seen a lot of people talking about like oh you know cuz Kevin

Durant that there was that report that come out came out that the suns are monitoring Kevin Durant’s mood and here’s here’s the thing I don’t think Kevin Durant’s going to be on a different team before the end of this year not unless it turns into an absolute catastrophe and I think Kevin

Durant knows that he kind of has to make it work with what he’s got in this situation and I expect him to they have the tools the problem is and this is important context like it’s easy right now to be like oh they’re too weak off of ktie and Devin Booker because they

Leaned too much into these stars but it’s like that was never the design of the team the design of the team was Kevin Durant Devin Booker and Bradley Beal right that was the that was the way this was supposed to work and so again like I think it’s a little unfair to be

Like oh this whole thing is a failure when it was never intended to work like this it was intended to work with Bradley Beal in the picture now once Bradley Beal is in the picture are they suddenly going to become a great team we’ll see we’ve barely seen it so I have

My skepticism but I’m not going to jump to that conclusion until I see them play and you know it doesn’t like as long as they can continue to linger around that play and and kind of and just remain Within Striking Distance of the playoffs if Bradley Beal can come back

In a few weeks and they can go on a run everything’s going to be fine so at least within the context of what uh uh uh this team was capable of throughout the regular season so I think it’s a little too early to uh to completely consider this a failure that said there

Is a harsh reality here yes the Suns have a lot of room for improvement within the locker room but there is not anything really else that they can do with the roster they might be able to make a ancillary trade for somebody like a PJ Tucker or maybe they can go get an

Athlete from somewhere else in the league and turn one of their bench skill guys into an athlete they might be able to get a buyout guy here or a buyout guy there but there’s no highlevel reinforcements coming here that’s the harsh reality so it’s up to the guys in

That locker room specifically Kevin Durant Deon Booker and Bradley Beal to be like what do we got to do to make this work man cuz like you can get mad at chimzi metu you can get mad at you know Josh aogi for doing something you

Can get mad at at at Jordan Goodwin for doing something but at the end of the day those are your teammates for this season for the most part like you might be able to make slight tweaks but even the guys you bring in are going to be Castaways from elsewhere which means

They’re going to come with flaws and so it’s on the stars in that locker room to try to figure out a way to make it work all I want for the holidays this year is some NBA action this week new customers can score 150 instantly in bonus bets

Just for betting five bucks an instant dub just for you guys download the draftking Sportsbook app now and use code Hoops new customers can get50 instantly in bonus bets for betting just $5 on basketball only on draftking Sportsbook with code Hoops the crown is yours all right moving on to our power

Rankings so we had one team drop out this week the Orlando Magic both palaban Caro and fron Vagner have cooled off considerably uh which has caused their offense to Crater and as a result they’ve lost six of their last nine games so the magic are out of the

Rankings for this week but at number 10 we have a a new team a team that hasn’t made the list yet this year I they may have made it once earlier in the year but the Miami Heat they are 6-2 in their last eight games and their offense is

Cooking they’re scoring 120 points per 100 possessions Tyler Harold has been on fire since returning from his injury 26 points six rebounds and four assists per game 48 points or excuse me 48% from the field 46% from three 85% from the line so really really high level efficient

Scoring from Tyler herrow bam metab bio is back and has looked great uh two other guys I want to shout out Duncan Robinson I I every time I watch the Heat I’m Blown Away by how him fixing a simple flaw has made his greatest strength even better always was an

Outstanding shooter and a guy that could shoot on the move but the ability to chase him off the line and some of his limitations defensively causes impact a crater struggled in the rotation for a while learned how to dribble and make plays and and by by the way before we go

Any further that’s not like a oh I went to I called up Hakeem alanan and learned how to be a post player in one weekend no that’s not what this kind of stuff is when it comes to ball handling and shooting footwork is well for whatever that’s worth which is what makes the

Hakeem Camp always so funny but that kind of stuff does not get developed in a month doesn’t get developed in two months this like you can go do ball handling drills every single day 100 straight days and you’re only going to see a marginal Improvement same goes for

Uh every sort of shooting drill same goes for footwork stuff like I know CU I’ve done this myself like you know what I mean like I it just it’s it’s very incremental progress and like so when I see stuff like Duncan Robinson going from a guy who couldn’t dribble to two

Years later being a guy who like does a pretty decent job of it it’s just a testament to the Relentless amount of work that Duncan Robinson has put in to turn himself into a viable off the- dribble threat when you combine that with people having to panic chase him on

The perimeter to chase him behind dribble handoffs and screens and and and to uh to basically put them in a trail position constantly now you’ve got Duncan Robinson going downhill and making decisions which is putting the defense in rotation and getting Miami good shots and then he’s also just made

A lot of leaps as a off ball Defender he’s got good size and length and so just by being a player with good instincts that can read plays out on the week side which a lot of times those plays on the week side like we talked about earlier uh with Kevin Durant with

Uh it’s it’s a lot or Luka donic I should say a lot of it has to do with like splitting the difference and like making it feel like you’re guarding both guys when you’re not closing out to passing Lanes like stunting and recovering all of these things are are

Important elements of helps side defense that Duncan’s gotten considerably better at and then Hae Hawk has junor he’s just he’s bigger and stronger than a lot of NBA perimeter uh Defenders and he’s weaponizing that to get quality shots despite you know not being the type of prospect that we’re accustomed to seeing

In the lottery and it’s he can bully his way to the rim in transition when he’s slashing he’s been an excellent postup player this year it’s and so getting essentially when you put it all together their core guys have been playing well and they’re getting key contributions

From role players and as a result they’re winning games six and2 in their last eight Miami Heat at number 10 number nine the Dallas Mavericks uh utterly decimated by injuries but a Bonafide MVP season from Luka donz has kept them a float in the standings help

Is on the way uh we talked a lot about the Mavs earlier today so if you’re just watching this power ranking video uh uh hit the first clip that we released from this particular episode we did a deep dive in the Mavs in on Luca’s MVP case number eight the Oklahoma City Thunder

They beat the Grizzlies without jaw and the Clippers without kawhai then they got manhandled by the Lakers and that continues to be their biggest weakness they’re small and that’s a death sentence in the Western Conference in my opinion I don’t think they’re capable of beating the nuggets the wolves or the

Lakers four times out of seven as currently constructed and so I’d like to see them get aggressive at the deadline to try to get someone like a pascal seaker or Jeremy Grant Lori Markin is a guy that I think actually fits them best because of how good their perimeter

Defenders are a guy that could really help them in helps side defense and rebounding and as an outstanding play finisher that’ll just push their offense up another level uh uh I’d like to see them get aggressive because this is a really good team with a fatal flaw and I

I you want to give yourself as many opportunities to try to push over the top as you can number seven Sacramento Kings they beat the Washington Wizards and Phoenix Suns this week but then they got crushed at home by the Celtics and the wolves and this is a theme that

We’ve been talking about all year what have I been saying about the Kings specifically against teams that have outstanding perimeter Defenders that can contain the easy dribble penetration that dearen fox and Malik monk uh bring to the table it causes their offense to stagnate and then they’re not good

Enough defensively to make up for it once again Boston and Minnesota are two of the very best perimeter defense teams in the league they’re not uh really uh in a trouble in a Troublesome position in terms of Sacramento’s foot speed it’s an interesting example and that’s another team of uh that’s another team

That I think should be looking to upgrade the four for that reason they need to find another way to break defenses down when their dribble penetration gets contained number six the Los Angeles Clippers their winning streak ended with back-to-back losses to the Thunder and Celtics but Kawhi Leonard has been out

For both of those and his MVP play has been a huge driving force for this team so I wouldn’t read too much into it other than it’s just a bummer that we didn’t get to see the Clippers like it would have been great to see them play

OKC and Boston at full strength with how well the Clippers were playing because it would have helped us learn more about them but that’s just kind of the nature of the NBA regular season at this point number five the Philadelphia 76ers same thing embiid’s ankle injury kind of

Stopped us from getting to see another measuring stick uh game against the the heat on Christmas but I thought the Minnesota win was super impressive that that was the best defense in the league uh still is the best defense in the league and they had no answer for Joel

Embiid and like we can talk about officiating all we want but as I’ve said that has nothing to do with Joel that is an that’s a take I have about the league I’ve had Sixers fans ripping me new ones and mentions and YouTube comments for

Like a week and a half now and it’s funny because it’s literally an opinion that has nothing to do with Joel or the Sixers it’s 100% focused on the NBA and the officiating I don’t think Joel embiid is the only foul grifter in the league I’ve been calling it out League

Wide for everybody so Sixers fans it’s not an anti- Sixers take he’s my front runner for MVP right now the Sixers are fifth in my power rankings just you know what what what he did to me Minnesota obliterating the best defense in the league was super impressive it was

Probably the single single most impressive game I’ve seen uh from a superstar player this season number four the Denver Nuggets how about a 5-0 week they’re up to seventh in defensive rating for the season now I happen to catch three of those five wins and late game execution just continues to be

Their biggest advantage over other teams when they get into a close game late I just feel like they’re going to win the vast majority of the time because of their ability to consistently generate quality shots number three the Milwaukee Bucks lots of things are falling into place for them their overall defensive

Effort is improving in terms of just execution within what their personnel is capable of the Dame Giannis pick and roll is getting used more often and more effectively they’re running it on an empty side more frequently Dame’s making higher level reads out of it Chris Middleton after going for 20 plus points

Zero times in his first 17 games this year he’s done so four times in the last eight games so that’s super encouraging but in a weekend split against the New York Knicks they got absolutely cut to Pieces by Jaylen Brunson who averaged 37 points per game against them and had

Three total turnovers in two games that continues to be their biggest flaw they are not capable of making opposing ball handlers uncomfortable we saw this in the Pacers game as well and in my opinion especially with a team like Boston waiting for them at the top of the Eastern Conference I don’t think

They’re capable of beating Boston I shouldn’t say capable they’re just a significant Underdog in my opinion against Boston unless they can upgrade at the to at this point which we’ll see what they can do at the deadline number two the Minnesota Timberwolves they beat the Miami Heat the Lakers and the

Sacramento Kings then they lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in the in the embiid game that we talked about I want to shout out Rudy goar here for a second I think he’s having the best defensive season that he’s had since 2019 he’s been incredibly active on a

Night a night in Night Out basis and has anchored that defense that has created a lot of more achievable roles for the other players on that team he also has 36 off rebound putbacks this year which is tied for Nicole yic with the third most in the NBA combined that with his

Active screening and him rolling hard to the rim and his vertical spacing he’s been a really really impactful player and has been one of the primary driving forces between Minnesota or behind Minnesota in their breakout season this year number one the Boston Celtics obviously a disappointing loss on

Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors but then they kicked the out of the Kings on the road kicked the out of the Clippers on the road then go into the uh Los Angeles against a Lakers team that really wanted to win that game and won comfortably they are

Clearly the best team in basketball right now at least within the context of the regular season christops porzingis fundamentally changes the geometry of that team and I think could end up buying them the margin for error to overcome some of their late game offensive execution issues right now I

Have them at number one in the power rankings all right guys that’s all I have for today remember to drop mailback questions for uh the episodes this weekend we have the nerd SES guys coming on on Thursday to talk some League wide stuff I will see you guys Then

Jason Timpf discusses the biggest stories from around the NBA where he breaks down Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks embarrassing Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and the Phoenix Suns on Christmas night where Luka dropped 50 in what has been an MVP season for the superstar guard. Jason talks about how the Suns have to make it work with the players on their roster as they have exhausted all of their trade assets in the trade to acquire Bradley Beal. Jason then drops his weekly NBA Power Rankings. Will we see a change at the top?

Timeline:
00:00 – Introduction
01:29 – Mavericks vs. Suns Reaction
08:17 – Luka looks like an MVP
14:50 – What’s wrong with the Suns
20:45 – NBA Power Rankings
21:09 – #10: Miami Heat
24:14 – #9: Dallas Mavericks
24:34 – #8: Oklahoma City Thunder
25:10 – #7: Sacramento Kings
26:07 – #6: Los Angeles Clippers
26:34 – #5: Philadelphia 76ers
27:35 – #4: Denver Nuggets
27:58 – #3: Milwaukee Bucks
28:58 – #2: Minnesota Timberwolves
29:45 – #1: Boston Celtics

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