Nuggets-Lakers Reaction: LeBron James & LA fall short vs. Nikola Jokic & Denver | Hoops Tonight

Nuggets-Lakers Reaction: LeBron James & LA fall short vs. Nikola Jokic & Denver | Hoops Tonight

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Use code Hoops that’s h o o PS new customers can bet five bucks to get 200 instantly in bonus bets only on draftking Sportsbook an official sports betting partner of Super Bowl 58 with code Hoops again that’s h o o PS the crown is Yours All right welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume happy Thursday everybody again for those of you guys who were here for the trade deadline show earlier today uh broke broke down six different trades a bunch of other stuff around the league and then we also hit the um uh

Three games from the Wednesday night slate so make sure you guys check that show out it’s under our live feed because we did it live on YouTube earlier today uh this episode we’re just going to be covering Lakers Nuggets Denver beats the Lakers for the seventh consecutive time looks very similar to a

Lot of their other recent matchups and then in the later portion of the show The Golden State Warriors capped off their road trip winning their fifth time in the last six games beating the Pacers blew them out in the third quarter so uh we’re going to break down that game as

Well in the later portion of the show and then we’re going to try something today we’ll see if it actually works but I have the chat here in front of me and we’re going to uh take some questions from the audience at the end of the show

So when we get uh to the end of that Warriors Pacers segment those of you guys want to stick around we’ll kind of bounce around and do some question and answer stuff uh before we get started you guys know the drill subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel mean a lot to

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Don’t miss show announcements as well as the film threads that I do uh did another one this morning on the Clippers Pelicans game from last night and last but not least keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments we may or may not do a mailbag tomorrow if not

We’re definitely going to do one next week so keep dropping them in the comments will’ll get to him uh uh at some point in the next week or so all right let’s talk some basketball so like I said seventh straight time Denver has beat the Lakers and all of them look

Like this they have their advantages they have you know a lot of really big strong forwards that can kind of bang around insides so they can do some stuff to kind of disrupt a little bit of what the Denver does like they forced joic into six turnovers and and uh in general

Got out and transition quite a bit did some damage on the off ensive glass like they had their success but every time it gets into a close game late they just can’t execute with Denver in the half court and one of the specific things like that that I I think gets overlooked

Too often with Denver is we focus so much on Nicole yic and Jamaal Murray as we should and that’s kind of basketball culture it’s just the way we talk about the game in so many different ways um but the one of the primary driving forces behind them being as successful

As they are is is the fiveman grouping that they put on the floor including Michael Porter Jr including typically kcp although it was a lot of pton Watson at the end of this game um and then also uh with Aaron Gordon they can capitalize on different matchup strengths even when

Teams are throwing the kitchen sink at their best players and early on in the game the Lakers were throwing everything at Nicole yic and they identified a quick early Advantage it’s like oh ruy hamura is on the floor uh Lebron James and ruy haimura kind of play the same

Position they’re both big strong forwards that kind of are are too big to navigate screens really well let’s just run Michael Porter Jr off of these kind of off ball offscreen actions and he was getting all the way to the cup for dunks and floaters early in the game and just

Coming off of ball screens shooting he just he just I should say off ball screens but like he was really successful early in the game because of a specific matchup Anthony Davis was locked in at the beginning of this game and was doing a great job on Nicole yic

I thought Nicole yic was kind of coasting a little bit as well just kind of saving his energy for the damage that he did there in that second half and and they just found that specific Advantage okay like they can’t deal with Michael Porter Jr let’s keep a spamming that

Specific action and then later in the game they realized like hey torian Prince is the guy they have guarding Jamal Murray toian Prince is a bench wi who is an average perimeter Defender this is our guy to go two 104 104 they run a series of screening actions for

Jamal Murray and he ends up with a pretty damn good look there at the top of the key with what ended up basically being the landslide shot because once he made that the Lakers felt Shell Shocked LeBron missed that little floater off the glass Jamal Murray had that

Transition push to make the floater then we had the Gamble from Austin Reeves to try to get a steal like I saw a lot of Lakers fans getting on Austin and don’t get me wrong it was a bad decision but that’s not where the game was lost the

Game was Lost based on that specific match match up the the Denver Nuggets were able to get consistently better shots because they had better matchups all over the floor the key one that they went too late was Jamal Murray against torian Prince and again like one of the

Things I noticed with with Denver is they can get this is pretty typical for defending champs and teams that have been together a long time like they can kind of float through games a little bit it just seemed like every time the Lakers actually had some sort of real

Momentum in the game they were able to make a big play it’s like oh call a timeout cuz the Lakers got it back within six and it’s like here’s Nicole yic just hitting a quick you know spinning Lefty drop step into the lane for right around Anthony Davis like he’s

Tissue paper for a wide open layup and you’re like oh like that’s right whenever they need a basket they can get one oh you brought it back to you know a a four-point game late and it’s like we’ll just going to run a simple back screen action for Michael Porter Jr and

Take advantage of two bad off ball Defenders and R H and Jackson Hayes and we’re going to get a wide open Corner three for Michael Porter Jr as Nicole yic just kind of bullies his way to the Lane and all the eyeballs are on him

Which is how he can kind of pick people apart okay it’s a I can’t even remember what the score was in that that pton Watson dunk along the Baseline it’s like run in action uh with Twan game with Jamal Murray and Nicole yic we’re gonna get torian Prince switched on to Nicole

Yic he’s gonna back down and just just methodically wait until LeBron comes over to help and then you know all these guys are just so perfect at timing those cuts they they’ve just done it so many times it’s it’s just baked into their offense they pton Watson Cuts along the

Baseline Nicole yic hits him in stride he rises up and dunks with two hands even like the dunk that Aaron Gordon had along the Baseline and Jackson Hayes they just identified that Jackson was ball watching and that Aaron Gordon had a little bit of an angle there on the

Left wing and as soon as they threw that swing pass to him it was a baked in closeout read If he if he racks to the left he’s going to beat Jackson because Jackson is so high and out of position and as soon as he got past him he was

Able to elevate and dunk the basketball it just felt like any anytime that there was any real stress on Denver they were able to just buckle down and get an easy basket and then on the defensive end of the floor I thought they did a really

Nice job at the end of the game stonewalling the rim for the Lakers just there was that that the verticality play with Aaron Gordon on on LeBron James I thought there was a good overturn I thought you know a lot of times like Laker fans were like oh he’s got his

Left hand on his stomach and it to me there’s a lot of incidental contact that happens in basketball games and when big bodies are kind of barreling into each other around the basket there’s going to be a certain amount of contact and I thought Aaron Gordon went vertical and

That was a good stop and then the key stop there after the Jamal Murray three at the top of the key as LeBron was kind of working on that ball screen they packed the paint took away the easy reads LeBron had to go to that little floater and LeBron just wasn’t quite as

Sh sharp with his shot making in this game and and that again that’s that’s kind of the big difference between these teams I’ve talked about this like the nuggets and the Lakers played close games throughout the playoffs last year even in the regular season last year like

They they were end they were constantly in these dog fights but when it comes down to it late Denver just consistently strangles the life out of them and pulls away uh this is why I keep saying I don’t trust any team as much as I trust

Denver when I look at Boston like I said I thought I was deeply concerned with some of their losses against some of the top teams in the league over the course of the last couple of weeks a lot of the same issues that we saw in last year’s

Postseason run Milwaukee I know they traded for Patrick Beverly we’re going to see what it looks like in the future but I haven’t seen enough from them to even feel as confident as I do in Boston uh the Knicks are really really good and uh I’m really interested to see what

They look like with all their additions and if Mitchell Robinson comes back they can bring a physical imposition to the game at almost all five positions which is really interesting but they don’t bring the same level of highend shot making that Denver brings to the table

And then the one team that kind of sort of has me like I have a little bit of an eye on them is the LA Clippers in the sense that like they have the unique ability to truly spread Denver out and they’ve had some success against them

Defensively but even then I just feel like over the course of the series Denver would be able to wear them down with their physical advantages I I I I said this about a month or maybe a month or two ago coming into the season I saw

Kind of Denver and Boston on the same tier and I thought they were just slightly above all the the other teams in that lower tier and over the course of the Season that Gap has just grown for me i’ I’ve said this before on the show and I truly believe it like barring

An injury to one of their core five players I would be genuinely surprised if Denver did not win the NBA championship I think they are one of the truly special teams in the NBA in this era I think they’re going to rack off a bunch of them here over the course of

The next three four years and and you know sometimes sometimes this happens in NBA history a truly special team Rises and they start just racking up the titles and Denver just feels like one of those teams to me on the Lakers front it was an impressive effort like you got

Rough game like really rough games out of ruy haimura and Austin Reeves I didn’t think LeBron was particularly sharp in this game even though he put up his typical box score numbers because he’s one of the most you know uh uh impactful all-around players in the league but by LeBron standards I didn’t

Think he was particularly great tonight but Anthony Davis was incredible Jackson Hayes was ridiculous just with his activity on the offensive glass just generating extra possessions for the Lakers I thought sky Maz came in and gave them some useful dribble penetration and playmaking which just was kind of jarring to look at because

I’m so used to the Lakers not having any dribble penetration this year but at the end of the day at the end of the game it was Toran Prince on the floor guarding Jamal Murray one of the best shot makers in the NBA and he was able to make the

Shots and again like what did I say before the season I said that I saw the Lakers as a legitimate Championship Contender because of LeBron James Anthony Davis Austin Reeves and because I knew they had the pieces to make a trade to get an upgrade at the two or

The three that was my whole outlook on the season the Lakers need to make a trade those of you guys who’ve listened to the show have consistently heard me say that from training camp forget about training camp from the end of the Nugget series all the way through even this

Summer I was like just bring everybody back and then you make a trade uh when they get to the deadline and you know the the Lakers made a decision today they made a decision that as is typically the case with the Lakers they don’t want to include first round

Draft compensation unless it is for a star player even going back to last year’s deadline it wasn’t just Jared Vanderbilt and and Malik Beasley they wanted D’Angelo Russell they wanted they facilitated a deal to not get Mike Conley but to get D’Angelo Russell because that’s what the Lakers believe

In star power and in my opinion if you trace back through the history of this Laker run with LeBron James on the roster that’s been the consistent issue the pursuit of star power in in lie of quality role players that make the game easier for LeBron James and Anthony

Davis you know there was there was a lot of talk around the uh uh Lakers fans today it’s like oh they made the right decision like they didn’t pull the trigger on a move because they’re gonna have three draft picks this summer and they’ll be able to make a bigger fish

Type of move right but I kind of seem to think that maybe if they threw a first- round pick on the table they could have got Bruce Brown if you have Bruce Brown on the floor in that game guarding Jamal Murray you have a much much much better

Chance to win you do not a big flashy name he’s not going to drop 25 points but he is one of the most impactful perimeter athletes in the league and that specifically impacts winning in the context of an Austin Reeves LeBron James Anthony Davis team more than AAR does and look here’s the

Deal I I always want to be a little bit reticent to to be overly critical of front office is because we don’t truly know what offers were on the table we don’t actually know what was said yes to and what was said no to but I think this

Offseason will be a good indicator of whether or not they’ve learned their lesson they’re going to have the assets to make a move and if they don’t go and get a legitimate Bonafide two-way starter at the two and the three they’re going to continue to have the same

Problems that they’ve had ever since the Russell Westbrook trade they have not been able to find High high quality starters that can play both ends of the floor they either have bench players that can do both guys like tan prince who are like okay at both or they have

Guys who are Elite at one but not the other D’Angelo Russell Elite offensive shot Creator this season not an impact athlete not an impact defensive player right Jared Vanderbilt one of the best perimeter defenders in the league one of the best high motor athletes in the

League but an offensive you know uh uh liability right and that’s the Ru hamura like a good big forward that if you put him on a small guard he can get a basket but like can’t navigate screens can’t guard on the perimeter so like like at

The end of the day the Lakers have their top five players are Austin Reeves D’Angelo Russell LeBron ad ruy hachimo those are their five most talented players Austin and DLo play the same position LeBron and ruy play the same position that means that more often than

Not you’re going to have to leave two of those guys on the bench that’s like playing with an arm tide behind your back those of you guys who’ve been listening to the show this year know one of my consistent themes that I’ve leaned back on is who’s your five who are your

Five guys I know who Denver’s five is they might even have a six with pton Watson out there right but they’ve got their core five guys I know who Boston’s core five guys are even teams like Milwaukee it’s like Malik Beasley or Patrick Beverly but like either way

Those two line have two different configurations but they’ve got their five they they know who they’re going to close games with the Clippers the same thing it’s just not the case for the Lakers it is that it is an is an inbalance roster constructed by a front office that

Doesn’t understand the little things that win basketball games and and it’s been a really frustrating experience as you guys know I’m a Lakers fan um it’s been a really frustrating experience over the last you know half dozen years watching them fumble away a championship foundation with LeBron James and Anthony

Davis it is difficult it is difficult to be a a mediocre 500 basketball team with LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the roster it it’s it’s not easy to do and the Lakers have pulled it off it’s been again it’s been it’s been super super discouraging um moving on to Warriors

Pacers this was a super fun game to watch uh early in the game The Warrior starters they went up by nine in the first few minutes Steph was red hot he made his first seven3 six in his first shift he was just laser locked in from

The opening tip it you know it’s funny because the last game of a long road trip is typically a tough one like you’re flying home afterwards you’re thinking about your own bed you’re thinking about your family I have this memory of my last year playing in college uh at Arizona Christian we

Started this season like 12-0 and we were niia and we actually beat a division one an NCAA division one school in an exhibition before the season we were really good and then we had a game against Great Falls I think was what the school was called if I remember

Correctly but they were a pretty mediocre Ania team our last game before winter break and we were on a four-game road trip where we were down in Phoenix for the entire week and I remember in the locker room before the game everyone was talking about flying home everyone

Was talking about Christmas everyone was talking about you know what what was happening after the game and we went out and lost we went out and lost for the first time all season against against a bad team because we were on the last game of a long road trip it’s just it’s

Just it’s just hard to be away from home for that long you know and these NBA teams are on even longer versions of these road trips even more stressful because they happen multiple times in the same season in college typically in non-conference Play You’ll face something like that but once you get

Into conference play it’s rare for you to be out of town more than four or five days at a time like this this real the 82 Game season is really a grind and it would have been so easy to kind of Punt this game right a tough game on the road

Against the Pacers team with Tyrus Alberton and Pascal zakum that struggled a little bit since the trade and they kind of need a win and and Steph had no interest in losing this game he saw an opportunity to notch their fifth win in six tries and he and to stabilize the

Season and he went after it and like the dead giveaway was like he kept doing these nol look plays like he made a three on the left wing where he got fouled by Andrew nard and he was turning and complaining at the ref while the ball was in the air never actually

Looked back to check to see if it went in just complained at the ref and ran back on defense he had a ball screen with Draymond where he drew a blitz and threw like a over the toop pass with his left hand didn’t even look to see

Draymond dunk the basketball or uh to lay up he just turned and ran the other way there’s another one where Draymond did a fake dribble handoff and went to the basket I think that was the one where he dunked it soon as the fake dribble handoff happened Steph just

Turned around and ran back on defense like he was just so locked in on everything that was happening on the floor it was like he was a step ahead of everybody it was such an impressive Steph Curry game he ended up with 10 threes if I remember correctly just as

I’ve been saying he’s just starting to pick up steam he’s really starting to pick up uh uh to where he was in the earlier portion of the Season warriors did a lot of attacking Tyrese halberton early in the game as well uh Jonathan kaminga posted him up on the left block

And just hit him with a basic jab step got Baseline kind of bodied him and went up and dunked it two hands Andrew Wiggins got him on a dribble Drive in kind of like a uh Andrew Wiggins as of late has been really good it only had 11 points in

This game and so a box score Watcher might not think Andrew Wiggins was particularly good but I thought he did a good job guarding tyres halberton he had seven quick points early in the game uh aggressive moves to the baset hit another big above the break three he was

A big part of that early run that set the tone he had five assists and no turnovers a couple of really nice driving drop offs to Draymond a fronted in the post and gave him a really nice over-the-top feed I just think Andrew Wiggins has been playing

Really well and as I’ve been saying on the show like there’s a lot to be said about in the event that you weren’t going for the Home Run trade you’re going to gain a lot just by getting Wiggins on track leaning into kinga’s growth and seeing what he can bring to

The table right Chris Paul rejoining the lineup getting you know Gary pyton back to kind of anchor your perimeter defense although the perimeter defense has been so much better as of late but I think Wiggins for the last couple of weeks has been maybe not in the box score close to

What he was in 2022 but I I feel like he’s trending pretty heavily in that direction uh we got 17 more minutes tonight of Jonathan kaminga Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green you guys remember I talked about this earlier today in the live show in the trade deadline breaking down the game last

Night uh against Philly but the uh that Draymond Green Jonathan kaminga Andrew Wiggins Frontline has been super successful for the Warriors in the last 10 games and uh on the season now they have 182 minutes together they are Plus 90 in tonight’s game they had a 135 offensive rating and 87 defensive rating

A plus 48 net rating tonight they were plus 17 in 17 minutes like it’s already their second best lineup of the entire season Plus 90 and2 minutes the only lineup that’s better is Chris Paul Dario sarage and Brandon pmy as a three-man grouping they’re plus 91 in 235 minutes g g give

The Warriors one more game and they’ll be their best lineup of the Season already and you remember Steve Kirk came out early in the season and said that lineup was struggling and they were like they’ve just been so incredibly good over the last 10 games that same group

Dominated the end of the second quarter in the early third quarter just like they did against the Sixers once again just like they did against the Sixers they blew the game open in that third quarter as a matter of fact it’s starting to look a lot more like the old

Warriors in the way they used to win blowing teams out in third quarter runs they have a plus 31 net rating in the third quarters of this six-game stretch they’re outscoring teams by 31 points per 100 possessions plus 47 points total in the sixth game stretch they’re averaging winning the third quarter by

Eight points over this span and then I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the bench group this group this kind of funky lineup Brandon pmy Lester kones Jonathan kaminga GE Santos and Dario SAR they played super hard dominated the glass here’s a crazy stat for you they

Grabbed 86% of their opponents misses in seven minutes tonight they grabbed 80% of their own misses they they got an offensive rebound on 80% of their own misses in today’s game that group that and like I talk about this concept all the time but like high motor athletes in the NBA

Regular season in particular you got to lean on them they can win games g Santos is just a big dude who plays super hard that is super valuable like uh uh Brandon pmy has been one of the best rebounding guards in the League this year just continually grabbing highly

Contested rebounds came right out the gate this year uh tonight like in the first two possessions had a big offensive rebound that hit Steph for his first three lit literally Steph’s first three came off of Brandon pmy offensive rebound he helped trigger that start to the game had a big defensive rebound on

The first possession too like it’s just that lineup is kind of funny because pmy kind of organizes them and he did a nice job running the offense but they just play Super damn hard and they dominate The Glass they grew the lead to 20 plus while step was on the bench super

Encouraging I mean they’re back up to 24 and 25 feels like they have real momentum for the first time this season and it’s not just because they’ve won five out of six they’ve had stretches this year where they’ve won some games games but it’s because they’ve actually found some stuff

They’ve actually found some lineup groupings that work it feels like they’re starting to get to their five and again it’s kind of like the Bucks where it it depends on who you’re going to play at the two there whether it’s Clay or Brandon pamy but it feels like

The core four around the five is Steph Kingo Wiggins and green that’s your that’s your core lineup that feels sustainable to me there’s a large sample size there that’s 182 minutes of that front line of them being dominant that’s a real sustainable thing now they’re going to

Be like just like I said last year they’re or earlier this year they’re just like the Lakers last year they’re going to have to rip off you know 15 out of 25 games to give themselves a a better chance at at a a playoff path because I think it’s going to be

Important for them to get in the top part of that playin tournament bracket in that seven or eight Zone and I think they’re three and a half games back right now of the eight seed if I’m not mistaken but I think it’s important for them to

Get up there because if they can win one of those games you’re probably going to have a chance against a a uh you’re GNA have basically a 5050 chance of getting a younger inexperienced team like the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Minnesota Timberwolves or the Clippers who you

Know obviously have had issues getting to the playoffs healthy staying healthy in the playoffs and when they get to the playoffs they lean heavily on pullup jump shooting and have shown some flaws in the past I’m high on the clippers but the point is is there are some beatable

Teams there at the top of the conference Timberwolves have been really bad in late game situations and clutch situations as of late I think that’s a a thing the Warriors could capitalize on the Thunder are young and small I think that’s a thing the Warriors could

Capitalize on so like if they can get up into that play in tournament there’s you know I I think it’s a long shot for this team to win the title obviously just because they’re young and and they don’t really have secondary a legitimate secondary star next to Steph but they

Have a chance to make some noise and and they’re really starting to pick up up some steam at this point in the season all right we’re going to give this chat a shot here I’ve got um the chat here in front of me so anybody wants to drop

Some questions drop them in the YouTube chat here live and we will get to a few of them here for maybe 10 15 minutes or so let’s give it a second question is a random Star Wars question hell yeah we’ll get to the Star Wars question

In a minute let’s get to some basketball stuff uh if you were to be a part of an NBA staff what staff Position will interest you and what could you do to help an NBA team become better love from Australia so I I personally am a huge fan of skills

Training um so I look at like what Phil handy does for the Lakers uh I’ve I’ve trained players individually training is a big part of what I do for the high school team that I that I work with like I personally have been obsessed in my like kind of late basketball career with

Like footwork dribble combinations you know all of the high level scoring stuff that you see around the higher levels of basketball now that’s been stuff that I’ve just been completely obsessed with in this late portion of my time playing the game and so I love just teaching

That stuff to the next generation of basketball players and that’s definitely something that um uh that I would really enjoy doing for a staff let’s see next question are the Bucks still your second best team team in the East I like the Knicks how about you so I here’s the

Thing I I I really like the Knicks but we’ve only seen a few games of this group together like what about like maybe 10 games or so and also we don’t know if Mitchell Robinson’s coming back we haven’t seen what buen bonovich and Alec Burks look like so like I kind of

Just want to see some more of them before we make a call but like I do think the Bucks have another level they can get to and they could very well have the two best players in that series potentially so I think it’s too early to move them past them but I definitely

Think that’s on the table let’s see next question since the deadline has passed do you think we will see a super locked in and focused LeBron going forward I thought he looked I thought his body language was pretty bad early tonight and I mean I LeBron did engage himself

And he did make some plays but like here’s the thing like put yourself in his shoes he’s 39 turns 40 next season and like even though let’s just say for instance flipping a first round pick for Bruce Brown even though that might not be the best move for the Lakers future it

Certainly is the best move for LeBron’s situation right and so they’re kind of at Cross purposes here in a lot of ways we’re like the Lakers are trying to think bigger picture I I guess and LeBron is thinking about the moment and obviously he’s discouraged because he

Doesn’t think this team can win and I here’s the thing I don’t know I thought today was a pretty a pretty strong indicator that they’re still not even on the same playing field as Denver and so I I don’t know we’ll have to watch LeBron’s body language over the next

Couple of weeks it’s going to be really interesting to see I I I hope just as a as a competitor that he still fights but we’ll see what happens should Jamaal Murray be rated higher as a player he consistently destroys teams in the clutch and stepped

Up a ton in last year’s playoffs I I think I had him 15th if I remember correctly it was 15th or 16 16 in my player rankings this summer uh uh but like the bottom line is when it comes to actual playoff shot making he’s actually

One of the very best in the league and I thought I thought the game that he had in Boston about what was that two three weeks ago where he went into Boston and just like was maybe even the best player in the floor second best player on the

Floor like like straight up outplayed uh uh any of the Celtics perimeter guys like he just he he’s the he’s the combination of strong with a decent amount of size which is huge for getting to your spots in the postseason he has all of the different footwork and dribble combinations like we were

Talking about early he can shoot over his left shoulder he can shoot over his right shoulder he can shoot drifting to his left he can shoot drifting to his right he can shoot off the catch he can shoot off the dribble he can shoot in the close range he can shoot in the

Mid-range he can shoot long twos he could shoot deep threes he’s got literally everything uh uh in the bag including a floater like the floater that he hit that put them up five late tonight and so I think that combined with just Supreme confidence makes him

One of the best playoff players in the league honestly but like uh It’s just tough to tell because the other part of it too is like he is playing with Nico Nicole yic and that fundamentally oper uh changes like the way ball screen coverages are compared to a typical

Screen and roll guy and like so it’s it’s always difficult to uh say for instance you thought he was better than SGA like uh I obviously don’t think that’s the case but like let’s say you’re a nuggets fan and you’re like I think Jamal Murray’s better than SGA

They’re just not the same role like the Shay’s at the top of the scouting report Jamal’s not like that’s so there is something to be said about the role that he’s in but again it doesn’t really matter doesn’t really matter what you are in a vacuum doesn’t really matter

What you are for another team matters what you are for your team and on Jamal’s team he impacts games like a superstar and it’s a big part of how they won the title um let’s see here Spencer didn’t what he was at the Mavs game seems like

Another blow for La yeah I saw something like that and I actually think that’s a really good fit for the Mavs just cuz the Mavs will like Spencer Den Woody is very much an on an island type of shot Creator and so he struggles in like real

Motion systems but like if you really play spread the floor four out one in Brute Force offense the way that Dallas does he’s actually a really nice fit so I actually think that makes some sense uh I would have liked him for La just because even though I don’t think it’s a

Good fit necessarily he’s a good athlete at the guard position and at a veteran minimum pro-rated buyout contract it’s just a really good deal for the talent but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen I believe the Lakers can beat Denver in a series of fully healthy look at that

Celtics game in the energy with Vando we have V we win tonight agree I don’t agree personally I thought that the I thought that that uh Not only was did Denver win tonight but I thought they kind of coasted for large stretches of the game I think that uh I think that

Specifically with Jared Vanderbilt on the floor they would really really struggle to score against Denver just by the way they were kind of packing the paint especially late in the the game I I tend to think that Denver’s just not an entirely different tier than the Lakers and the only thing that would

Flip that equation for me is if they legitimately have a had a Bonafide two-way athlete that they could put on Jamal Murray but also not sacrifice the offensive limitations that come from some of the other guys they have on the roster who should the Warriors look at

In the buyout Market I saw Thaddius young was available he’s an interesting option I saw Marcus mois Senor was available I think getting another big forward that can kind of help them uh um on both ends of the floor would be useful oh this is a good one who do you

Think is the best guard in the East my own opinion is it’s Brunson but for you who is it love from the Philippines um that’s actually a really good question Brunson has played better than anybody in the East this year um but I think again like Dame is in a new

Situation he kind of figuring things out uh Brunson you tell is just super super comfortable I’d have a hard time picking against Dame in a playoff setting over a guy like Jaylen Brunson uh but I I think without a doubt he’s been the best guard in the East this season and he’s

Certainly on that same tier like if it was Dame it’d be by a hair and I I said this with Colin coward in our show the other night but I actually think D I actually think uh Jaylen Brunson belongs on that tier with the best cards in the league right

Now let’s see we’ll do two or three more what NBA player would you compare Jonathan kinga’s game to this is a really tough one for me because like some of the uh size and quickness and athleticism reminds me of Tracy McGrady but he’s nowhere near as like polished

As a score and with his footwork as Tracy McGrady was uh but like I I do think he’s got some of that potential I think I think you s you’re seeing a lot more double teams thrown his way uh that was something that kind of stood out to

Me in tonight’s game excuse me and so it’ll be really interesting to see his development over the course of the next couple years as it pertains to teams attacking his weaknesses uh the jumper too like he’s been shooting the ball well but I do think you’re going to see

Teams start to back off of him and really test his jump shot a little bit too but I don’t really it’s like to me he’s like a super super super raw version of Tracy McGrady and and and obviously the the the sky’s the limit

With him but um it’s hard to find a comp really let’s see hi sir do you think the return of Chris Paul will affect the flow of the offense for the Warriors Chris Paul loves the slow down half court offense while the Warriors typically love to get out in

Transition I think we’ve seen enough this year of Chris Paul with the bench group and how good it looked like I mentioned earlier their best three-man group for the season uh even still with how well the front line is played is Chris Paul with Dario s SAR and Brandon

Pamy just imagine that lineup today but without Lester kones instead it’ be Chris Paul in all likelihood and I I still think they’d be pretty damn good how do you think the Nuggets can maintain their core in the long run or even potentially get better considering

They uh can’t really afford to sign good players so it’s starting to look like if you really kind of look at it I think the guy that they’ll have to replace first will be canavis Cowell Pope but I mean Christian Brown could very well be that guy I think I think that specific

Position is a vital importance to them too because he’s the primary point of attack defender in a lot of cases and um it’ll be to see who they end up replacing him with in the long run whether that’s Christian Brown or it’s someone else but I mean at the end of

The day like you have an obligation as an ownership group to keep Aaron Gordon paid to keep Michael Porter Jr paid to keep Nicole yic paid obviously and to keep Jamaal Murray paid and so like even if you got to go into the tax for a few

Years like this is again a truly special team and I think it’s worth capitalizing on all right we’ll do uh we’ll do two more and we’ll get out of here see thoughts on Minnesota picking up Monty Morris as a backup point guard yesterday so I think uh um uhon Morris

Is actually a good backup guard I I think he’s as good an option as you’ll find there throughout the league I’m blanking on the backup guard’s name for the Timberwolves I was just Jordan mcclaflin Jordan mclin’s shooting better this season but like he still is he’s

One of the worst backup guards in the league and so I think it was just an upgrade that they kind of saw as a need but to me like a lot of these moves I I think the Bucks moves and the Suns moves might actually have more impact because

I could actually see Patrick Beverly closing games I could actually see uh um I could actually see Royce O’Neal closing games for the Suns a lot of these other moves whether it’s Xavier Tilman or uh um like Amman Morris like chances are they’re probably not going

To be more than like more than like 15 minute a game guys when you get to the postseason like on the high end so like some of those guys might not even be in the rotation and so to me they’re more just regular season fixes all right we’ll do one more and

Then we’ll get out of here let’s find a good one when will you redo your power rankings Contender list I was actually talking I got into an argument with s bini on the phone last night because I was like we were talking about the Thunder and he’s

Much higher on the Thunder as a playoff team than I am and it was just fun it was like a good heated debate U because I I believe like I don’t think the Lakers as currently constructed without having made a trade I don’t know that

They I I I I’m certain they’d lose to Denver I’m certain they’d lose to the Clippers I’m I’m even kind of on the fence with them with the Timberwolves without having a good perimeter Defender but like the Thunders specifically as a super young and small team they’re a

Team that I think the Lakers could beat in a playoff series and me and Sam gotten this big argument about it uh obviously just for fun and I was like dude we got to do this with all the contenders so what we’re going to do is in the week break before the allstar

Game uh I think it’s actually the week after the All-Star game uh but we’re going to have Sam on and we’re going to basically I’m going to redo my ire Contender tiers and we’re going to go kind of like line by line through and and kind of debate all the teams and so

We’ll get into that at that point gives us some time over the course of the next couple of weeks to actually see these new lineups play together before we make those calls uh this was fun I enjoyed doing the chat we’re going to definitely uh do that some more in the future I

Appreciate all you guys for the questions I appreciate all of you guys for supporting the show uh it’s been kind of uh it’s been obviously just a blast watching this channel grow we’re already to almost 50,000 subscrib subcribers when we just launched the channel right before the start of the

Regular season so just uh from the bottom of my heart thank you guys so much for supporting the show uh tomorrow I think we’re so we’re scheduled to do yovon uh in the in kind of like the midm morning so we’ll have it definitely have an episode on the Lakers but depending

On how the rest of my schedule goes in the morning we uh um I don’t think we’re going to do another show tomorrow so we’ll have the we’ll have that Lakers show tomorrow with yovon and then we’re going to take the rest of the weekend off and then we’ll be back Monday with

Power rankings and some game breakdowns as always I appreciate you guys and we’ll see you tomorrow

Jason Timpf reacts to LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Los Angeles Lakers’ 114-106 loss vs. Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and the Denver Nuggets. Jason breaks down the game’s biggest highlights and shares his takeaways for each of the Western Conference contenders moving forward.

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