Nuggets big win vs. Celtics, Lakers fall apart, Heat-Mavericks, Timberwolves-Pacers | Hoops Tonight

Nuggets big win vs. Celtics, Lakers fall apart, Heat-Mavericks, Timberwolves-Pacers | Hoops Tonight

All right welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume happy Friday everybody hope all of you guys had an incredible week we have a absolutely jam-pack show today I’m going to start with some follow-up thoughts after looking into some numbers from last night’s matchup between the Celtics and the Nuggets

After that we’re going to talk about the Dallas Mavericks getting a much needed win against the Miami Heat on the strength of their defense uh talk about that game from the perspective of both teams after that the Minnesota timber roles got a huge win on the road in Indiana absolutely monster night from

Anthony Edwards first game without Carl Anthony towns in the lineup some interesting stuff coming out of that side of things at the end I know I’m a little late to the party here but I want to talk a little bit about the Lakers and their struggles against the

Sacramento Kings and what I took away from that game then at the end of the show in the show last night I had a bunch of questions uh around the league but a lot of follow-up questions from that nuggets Celtics game so I’m going

To hit that at the tail end of the show you guys know the drill before we get started subscribe to the volumes YouTube channels or to I should say to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don’t miss any more of our videos don’t forget about our podcast feed wherever you get

Your podcast under Hoops tonight it also is super helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front follow me on Twitter _ jlt so you guys don’t miss any film threads that I do from time to time or show announcements and then last but not least keep dropping mail bag

Questions in the YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout the rest of the season all right let’s talk some basketball so there was a a moment at the end of the game where’re staying van gundi last night went on this rant about how Boston’s one of the best

Three-point shooting teams in the league and how they are going to shoot better eventually and that this is super encouraging now here’s the thing I actually was encouraged on the Boston front last night my major takeaway last night was that Denver solidified and proved that they deserve to be the

Favorite and that they would be the safest bet to win the title this season but it also proved that Boston is capable of beating them there is a pathway there that exists for Boston that doesn’t exist for most of the teams in the NBA so I did I did think there

Was a lot of reason for optimism on the Boston front after last night’s game that said I do not think it comes down to making shots as matter of fact I remember as I was watching the game I was like I kind of felt like it was a

Classic rock fight game it felt like both teams didn’t shoot particularly especially well on jump shots and I didn’t think that that played a significant role in the game I just thought that Denver got better shots closer to the rim and usually with the with the Synergy the app that I use I

Can watch film a lot the night of but I can’t really get into numbers until the following morning when their Crews go in and they sort through all the play types and actually put all the data together right and so here’s a couple of pieces of information from last night’s game

That I thought were interesting Boston took 45 jump shots Denver took 31 that’s just a difference in their shot profile they get a lot of shots close to the rim Boston Boston got 1.022 points per jump shot so a little over a point per shot Denver got

0.774 so they did not shoot well compared to Boston both teams team s attempted 11 unguarded jump shots according to Synergy Boston got 15 points on their 11 unguarded shots Denver got six on their 11 ungard unguarded shots over the course of the Season Boston’s typically a little over

1.3 points per unguarded jump shot Denver is usually a little over 1.2 so Boston is a better unguarded jump shooting team than Denver is by a small margin but Denver or Boston actually shot above their proceed average on those types of shots and Denver actually shot substantially below as a matter of

Fact for the two games that these two teams played against each other Boston shot really well on unguarded jump shots in their first matchup and they took 18 of them in Boston and scored 30 points on them unguarded again that’s not all the jump shots it’s just the ones that

Were highquality open jump shots so in the two matchups between the two teams Boston has scored 1.55 points per unguarded jumper which is way above their season average and Denver has scored 0.84 points per unguarded jumper which is way below their season average so

Like that to me is not to what you lean on if you’re Boston you’re not going to shoot better against that you might have a game in Boston or a couple games in Boston in an NBA final Series where you just get crazy hot like we know Boston

Can and they might win by 1015 points in those games but more or less in the knockdown drag out fist fights of games that these teams are going to generally engage in if they meet in the finals Boston shot better than Denver did so that that to me isn’t the swing Factor

There Denver overcame their poor shooting because of their ability to consistently generate highquality shots around the rim just like they did down the stretch with all those actions the case for Boston is what Jaylen Brown was able to do with Aaron Gordon because you know it’s interesting I was talking with

Adam Mars about this earlier today I went on his show um uh for about an hour we talked about this game and a couple other games from last night uh make sure you guys check out the I think the YouTube channel is called All NBA it’s the show that he does with Tim

Legler so go there if you guys want to see that but I was talking with him about this uh earlier today but like Aaron Gordon’s an interesting defensive player because he’s got the length to contest shots on the likes of Kevin Durant right and he’s got the strength

To deal with the bully ball stuff that you see from guys like Jimmy Butler and Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James but it’s the speed and strength of jayen brown that allowed him to consistently beat him off the dribble and finish around the rim on him I thought that was an

Interesting matchup that was a huge uh uh like silver lining for Boston if Jason Tatum can meet that aggression and help inflict his physicality on the game that’s the path it’s not we are going to make more shots that’s not the pathway to beating Denver you you outshot them

In the two games and you lost both games Denver is just as likely to have games where they shoot much better as you are so to me it most likely comes down to if Boston wins a series like this it’s taking advantage of their physical advantages on the perimeter so those are

Just a couple of quick thoughts we’re going to get more into Boston Denver at the end of the show when we get into our mailbag get in on the action with draftking Sportsbook an official sports betting partner of the NBA new customers who deposit $5 or more can get a no

Sweat bet up to $11,000 back in a bonus bet I was looking at NBA Futures this morning the Golden State Warriors are plus 5500 right now on DraftKings to win the title so if you believe in them that’s a big number Denver I have Denver as my Championship favorite and they’re still

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To ,000 if your first bet loses only on draftking Sportsbook with code Hoops that’s ho o o PS the crown is yours all right moving on to Dallas Miami so this was a game that Dallas desperately needed coming off I think they had lost five of their previous six games the uh

Got off to a rough start they Luca was really disengaged defensively early was getting taken advantage of by Nicole yovic by in helping recover situations on rolls to the basket he got back cut along the Baseline for a layup there was a play in transition defense where Luca

Was the guy back who was underneath the basket and he let bam sneak right behind him and Jimmy threw a pass right over the top to him because he just wasn’t paying attention and gave up a layup and kind of trickled down the roster they had a really bad defensive quarter and

Duncan Robinson came out red hot I think he hit four threes in the in in the fourth in the first quarter and then Dallas was kind of cold LCA was missing his step back jump shot to start the game his kick out threes weren’t going in and so they dug themselves in a

Little bit of a hole there right and like at the end of the day like getting humiliated sometimes is a great motivator like for six games before that game against Miami Dallas had a defensive rating of 127.5 that was five points per 100 possessions worse than anyone else in

The league over that span that’s a substantial problem right there they were giving up I’ve talked about it on the show before but a lot of overh helping and bad off-ball defense leaving Shooters open they were giving up 23 wideopen threes per game again according to nba.com in a wide open

Three is a Defender at least six feet away they were giving up 23 of those per game over that six-game span which was the third worst in the league over that Span in the first quarter they had a 144 defensive rating and I think it just finally woke them up and they finally

Locked in they had one of their best defensive quarters the last few weeks in that second quarter against Miami as they got back into the game they had a 11 defensive rating in the second half which is perfectly fine they dominated the glass in the second half they grabbed 88% of available defensive

Rebounds which is awesome the biggest play of the game was a rebound play it was a Miss three where maxi kba kind of looped around the Baseline and tapped it out and that got swung to Kyrie Irving in the left corner for a big three I

Think it put him up 109 104 if I remember correctly was like the biggest shot of the game off of an offensive rebound they dominated the game with their athleticism in the uh throughout the rest of the game that is their that is one of their big advantages perimeter

Speed they can contend on the perimeter defensively and they’ve got guys they’ve got athletes under the rim that can make plays huge defensive plays from Derrik Lively on bam atab bio under the rim late just stonewalled him twice they were two of the biggest stops as they

Built that little bit of an advantage that they had and then a timely shot making not just from Luca and Kyrie but also from Dante exom Kyrie we talked about the huge three off the Tapout for Maxi kba he also had a play off of the

Right wing where you got bam atab bio on the switch hit him with a nasty hesitation move beat him off the dribble and then elevated for a tough floater over the top and then Luca we talked about that step back three moving to his left a few weeks ago another really nice

Drifting to the right I should say step back to his right I meant to say but over his left shoulder that’s where I always get that confused so like over when you’re doing a movement shot when you’re moving to your right you’re shooting over your left shoulder as

You’re trying to square up in midair and Luca made a pivoting over his left shoulder three as a rescue shot with about six minutes left that was unbelievable hit a ridiculous step back three over Jimmy Butler to put him up five late in the game he actually made

Four step back threes in this game which is Big because he hasn’t been shooting as well on his step back three as of late as did to start the year but the biggest sequence of the game was because uh J K went with a really interesting lineup down the stretch he went with

Maxi CBA at the four next to drik Lively and then Dante exom at the three instead of someone like a Josh Green right and the uh the map started running these ball screen actions with Derek LI or with uh Dante exom and exom was slipping out of him when they were blitzing LCA

And he slipped out to the left wing and knocked down a big three late in the shot clock and then one of the biggest shots in the game that little turn turn around jump shoty hit in the lane a really well defended possession Luca draws a blitz hits Dante XM on the slip

They Stonewall him at The Rim everything else is shut down this is that high level I sometimes refer to it as high level cloes at attacking but really it’s like shot making from role players right it’s like the ability to when a possession is really well defended and

You’ve been chased off the three-point line and the rim isn’t there as an option and there isn’t an easy kickout pass for the next sequence or maybe the shot clock is winding down and you need someone that can just take and make a difficult shot and Dante Exon was able

To Pivot over his right shoulder and take a tough mid-range pull-up jump shot and make it and it was a huge possession in the game as they got out of there with the win I really liked that lineup late not just because exom is just a

Little bit more high level in terms of some of his shot making ability uh off the bounce than a guy like Josh Green which I think was an advantage as they were blitzing Luca but also just the size of that lineup between Lively and CA and exom in that front Court they

Made it more difficult for Jimmy Butler in particular to kind of bully his way to his spots Timmy hit one step back jumper going to his right where he kind of uh uh shouldered Maxi in the chest and got a little bit of separation and knocked down a shot but they defended

Jimmy Butler really well in this game I liked the combination of Luca and Kye as your shot creators with a lot of size and defensive Personnel off of them especially when you rely so much on on Luca and Kyrie tough shot making anyway and I thought that was an interesting

Group to go with at the end of the game got a lot of stops got a big down the stretch on the Miami front Terry Rosier by far his best game since joining the heat he had 27 points and 11 assists hit five threes made a bunch of big plays in

Pick and roll at the end of the game he’s actually been pretty good in pick and roll in general since coming to Miami despite Terry Rosier shooting 41% from the field and 30 30% from three since coming to Miami he’s actually been a pretty good shot creator for them he’s

Run 173 pick and rolls in isos that have led to 183 points it’s 1.06 points per possession which is pretty damn solid uh shot creation that’s all including passes by the way and and again like when you factor in the fact that he hasn’t even really started hitting shots

Yet up until last night that’s super encouraging because that means that there’s another level that he can get to on that side of the floor and then I thought one of the biggest swing factors in this game was Bay manabo again this is something I’ve talked about all

Season on the season he is shooting below 50% on shots that are inside of 5T from the rim but aren’t dunks cuz he has like a 100 dunks this year if you take the dunks out the misses and the makes and you just look at every shot he takes

Within five feet of the rim he misses them more than half the time he was just five for 12 in this game against Dallas in the paint three times late he got stonewalled at the rim and wasn’t able to make a sort of push shot or hook shot

Over the top that is a huge difference maker like we talked about that with joic all night last night T night but like when you’re a big man having that little pop shot or floater or hook shot or you know kind of like in trffic type

Of layup to go to is such a huge part of shop making for the center position and that continues to be something that makes Miami easier to guard if you just keep Bam from dunking he’ll probably miss like statistically he’s more likely to miss than he is to make and it just

It just allows teams to get away with things in a coverage element of defense that they shouldn’t be able to get away with otherwise and that’s something to keep an eye on on the band front and then Jimmy just he’s been playing really well they got kind of a rare bad Jimmy

Butler game in this one um but Jimmy’s been playing super super well as of late so there again a lot of encouraging stuff especially on the Terry roier front but just just a disappointing loss especially against a Mavs team that’s reeling a game that you got off to a big

Lead early uh and I just was really disappointed in some of the shot making stuff from bam late in the game all right moving on to to Pacers wolves this was a huge and much needed win for the Wolves uh four straight pull-up jump shots at the end of the game Mike

Connley out of the left corner hits a jab step pull up three going to his right and then Anthony Edwards hits a pull up three in pick and roll and then a couple of tough pull-up jump shots in ISO in the middle of the floor that end up icing the game some defensive

Mistakes kept it close um they lost Miles Turner on a kind of like a pin screen out of the right corner for three and then Kyle Anderson fouled Aon n Smith out of the left corner that kept it close but off of an ant Miss free throw

One of the very best defensive plays I’ve ever seen that you know an said after the game he’s jumped higher than he’s ever jumped in his life there is a a level of of desperation that you can get out of a block that you might not

Get out of a dunk in terms of jumping ability it’s actually funny when I think back to the highest I’ve ever jumped in my life The Possession I think of is a defensive play in particular I I won’t get into the details but it’s funny cuz

I remember it was a big possession where like I had to just I just was jumping as high as I possibly could to try to make a play right and obviously ant is like that but one of the best athletes in the in the history of basketball so like for

Him it just looks completely outrageous hits his head on the rim hits his shoulder on the backboard every single time I open up my phone I see a new angle of this Anthony Edwards block and it looks more ridiculous than the last one just an unbelievably play an

Unbelievable play and a win is a win is a win but I want to zoom in on the Kyle Anderson at the power forward spot thing because this was super concerning to me at the end of the game so obviously Carl towns Tor minis is getting some surgery

G to be out until the beginning of the Western Conference playoffs at a minimum big bummer obviously off of off of uh having one of the best seasons of his career and just how good this Timberwolves team has been but the question becomes what do you what do you

Where do you go from here how do you put together lineups when Carl towns has been your four in your best groups all year long and let’s first talk about how bad the Kyle Anderson experience was cuz I thought it was just a complete and total disaster on the defensive end of

The floor tyres halberton was picking on him on switches first one I watched the one where Tyrese made like the kind of scoop shot off the glass I’m like H that’s kind of well defended it’s a tough shot Tyrese is one of the best players in the league like that’s that’s

Tough but then there was another switch a few possessions later where he got absolutely dusted and then Rudy goar had to foul him then they tried hedging and recovering with him and he just lunged and reached in too hard and got himself way out of position and then seak broke

Wide open on the slip Tyrese hit him and he ended up going up and dunking I can’t remember who it was that he dunked on I think it might have been um uh I it wasn’t gobear I I can’t remember it might have been Jaden McDaniels that he D it might have been

Ant actually that he dunked on I just can’t remember but he slipped out of that hedge and recover and got a huge dunk and then he was the guy who fouled uh Aon nemith out of the left corner so like that’s the thing is like Kyle Anderson has some offensive limitations

So if you’re going to go to him at the power forward spot and uh on uh as like a defensive option he’s got to be impactful defensively and he just wasn’t he was getting picked on and making mistakes and and that’s just not going to cut it and then on the offensive end

Of the floor you can kind of put two and two together like here comes an down in transition I clipped this play and put it on my Twitter feed you guys can see it atore Json LT but ants coming down the floor and transition trying to drive

The basket Kyle Anderson just kind of meanders into the dunker spot on the left side of the floor and Rudy goar meanders into the dunker spot on the right side of the floor and there’s just a throng of bodies there and it’s just there’s no space to operate and he ends

Up in trouble and some traffic there was a possession where Indie threw a hard double at Anthony Edwards and it just was no Advantage because nobody needs to guard Kyle Anderson and as long as you’ve got somebody underneath the rim he’s not going to hurt you there right

And like it just it just was a big problem on the offensive end of the floor and then you weren’t getting the the benefit of the defensive end of things and so that’s going to be something they’re going to need to to to figure out because my my best guess is

It’s got to be matchup related like it might be one of those things where it’s like okay this team is smaller more perimeter oriented let’s go with nikil Alexander Walker and just go small and and now I’ve got Jaden McDaniels and nikil Alexander Walker and ant out there

And I can really defend on the perimeter right or against a more bruising team that doesn’t have as much perimeter speed you know now like against the Lakers for instance maybe it’s better to go with nas Reed uh in the Sunday night I think it’s on Sunday but in the in the

Game on Sunday or the next game that they have against the the Lakers uh in crypto.com Arena that might be a game where you go with nas Reed at the power forward spot but like you got to go with either speed in quickness or shooting I don’t think you can go with a

Guy in Kyle who’s not good enough at either right and so and so that that’s going to be something that they’re going to have to figure out as the uh as the season progresses and then finally like once again and again we can blame Kyle Anderson all we want for this but this

Has been an issue all season they won the game because they made four straight pull-up jump shots Mike Conley made one out of left corner and made a pull up three in pick and roll and he made two tough step back jump shots in the lane like at the end

Of the day that’s really what it depends on for Minnesota which is why their late game offense is so concerning it really comes down to can ant and Mike Conley make tough pull-up jump shots because of the fact that Rudy goar is not good enough at either beating switches or uh

Catching and finishing around the rim in traffic to make teams pay for helping you know Jaden McDaniels is not a guy you have to guard super closely now that Carl towns isn’t in the group it’s even harder to do this because you’re going to have someone out there that in all

Likelihood that’s a little bit less of a a threat from the three-point line and so this has been an issue all season for Minnesota and again like last night it worked because the shots went in but like like it’s a lot to ask for Anthony Edwards to make tough pull-up jump shots

Time and time again you know it it it it can work in a one game sample but again like among the high volume pull-up Shooters in the league Anthony Edwards Falls more in line with the Jason Tatum types which guys guys that take a lot of them that aren’t efficient than compared

To the guys that are super efficient the you know the the James hardens and the Jaylen Williams’s and the Steph Curry’s and those kinds of guys right he’s just not on that level as a pull-up shooter and so that’s where it gets a little bit concerning all right moving on to Lakers

Kings this was a game that happened on Wednesday night I was texting with Sam Vini after Lakers Thunder and I told you guys I was having like a little bit of fun at his expense because I I I think there’s like at least a coin flip chance

That the Lakers don’t even get out of the play in tournament let alone uh make noise in the playoffs they’re not a team I believe in anymore ever since they didn’t make a trade at the deadline uh that said like that matchup specifically against the Thunder is one I’ve always

Liked for the Lakers and so I texted Sam and I was having some fun at his expense and you know having taken a little Victory lap but I texted him right after that and I was like but I think I was like I’m nearly 100% sure they’re going

To get smashed by the Kings and that they’re defense is going to get absolutely shredded and the reason for that is something that I’ve talked about a lot on the show I talked about after the Warriors Bucks game matchups matchups to me are the main determining factor for wins and losses for basically

Every team outside of that Boston and Denver tier once you get below those two every single team you run into has a certain strength and a certain weakness and multiple strengths and multiple weaknesses and really it just depends on how those strengths and weaknesses kind of link with their opponent right and

Like that’s the thing like there’s a reason why the Lakers have had success against the Thunder there’s a reason why the Lakers have had success against the Clippers there’s a reason why the Lakers have had success against the Suns this season it’s because in those particular matchups those are teams that have guys

That have Shifty approached to offense and take a lot of Pull-Up jump shots and the Lakers do have a lot of length they don’t have a lot of perimeter speed but Austin is a guy that is he’s not short by any stretch of the imagination D’Angelo Russell’s not short by any

Stretch of the imagination they’re just slower toan Prince is not short he’s just slower right and so against those types of matchups they can slide their feet and be disciplined and offer a late contest and get teams to miss and then on the other end of the floor because

Those teams aren’t overly fast they can have some success scoring the basketball here’s the problem with Sacramento Sacramento is not a Shifty shot making team they have speed guards it is it is like we’re coming at you like this all game long and like I was impressed that

The Lakers even jumped out to the lead that they jumped out out to but then like as soon as that right around the end of the first quarter the uh um and heading into that second quarter run they brought in toan Prince and put him on on on Malik Monk

And then they started running action where basically like a version of Spain pick and roll where they’d have like uh deer and fox come off a ball screen and then they’ have Malik monk back screen for the big man as he’s roll Alex Len as he’s rolling to the basket and and they

Were just putting the Lakers in the blender Jackson Hayes is on the floor in this group and they kind of got into a rhythm a little bit and then from there Malik Monk and Daren Fox are both playing with confidence and when they’re playing with confidence they see tissue

Paper when they see Austin Reed they see tissue paper when they see D’Angelo Russell they see tissue paper when they see torian Prince on the perimeter and then what happens cuz like the kings are an interesting team in the sense that like they we think of them as like a

High-powered offense who’s going to outscore people and that was kind of what they were in the regular season last year but really when you look to their success in the postseason last year when they won games against Golden State and this year they win when they win with

Defense like when you look at their opponent Point totals it’s when they keep teams below that threshold I think it’s like 115 points or whatever when they when they hold teams down their win percentage is gigantic Ally better than what it is when they give up large scoring games they have not outscored

Teams very well but they have been able to when they really lock in get stops they again it’s I talked about this last night with Jaylen Brown about like discovering your superpower that extends to the team level as well understand what your superpower is as a team and

For for Sacramento it’s it’s speed on the offensive end we discovered last year it’s not Kevin herder and Keegan Murray coming off a ball screens it’s not sabonis bullying his way to the basket it’s no one can keep Malik Monk and dear and fox in front off the

Dribble that is their superpower and then on the defensive end of the floor they have a ton of speed and like uh when you add in uh uh when you add in Keon and you add in uh um Davon Mitchell like they they have speed at the guard spot on the defensive

End four Five Guys deep and and so like and what’s crazy is like you could see it because they had a really bad defensive quarter to start in the first quarter and then when Fox and monk got going like you could tell it energized the team and they started defending they

Held the Lakers to 20 points in that second quarter and it was like a runaway freight train one of the craziest runs I’ve ever seen to go from being down 18 or whatever to basically blowing out the Lakers like it was like a reverse blowout it it was it was completely

Insane but again this is why I talk about matchups so much the reason why I wanted the Lakers to go out and get guard athleticism which was the number one thing talked about after the Denver Nugget Series last year they need someone at the guard spot that is

Athletic enough but not too small to deal with the likes of like a Jamaal Murray a big strong athlete it’s why I wanted Bruce Brown this summer it’s why I said at the deadline I’d rather have Bruce Brown than dejonte Murray that specific archetype is a specific type of

Player that the Lakers just do not have and so because of that it was like that’s the thing the Lakers went to the Western Conference finals last year as currently constructed more or less obviously without Dennis schroer and with some other role players in the group they beat the Warriors relatively

Easily they beat the the the the Grizzlies relatively easily right like they won in the same exact fashion throughout never lost a game at home in those two series The reason why is because those teams were not able to capitalize on the weaknesses that the

Lakers have right and so as we go into uh as we go into the Denver matchup they run into a team that you desperately need size and athleticism at guard position to defend in those joic Murray actions it was a huge problem and it was one thing against the Grizzlies when the

Grizzlies don’t shoot enough shoot the ball well enough off the ball and they were able to just completely pack the paint it was one thing against the Warriors when everybody not named Steph went Steph went cold and they were able to just pack the paint and throw the the

Kitchen sink at Steph but as soon as they ran into a team that brought real shot creation at the guard spot with Jamal Murray obviously the two-man game with yic and the off ball spacing to punish them for helping it exposed their inability to guard actions one-on-one

And two on two I that is why I’ve preached about that non-stop I’ve never been I’ve never been of the belief that the Lakers can’t beat certain teams as currently constructed it’s like I talked about with the Thunder I’ve just that’s a matchup that works really well for the

Lakers they’re a Shifty shot makak perimeter group and they’re too small on the interior and they’re too inexperienced the Lakers would eat those guys up in a playoff series in my opinion but these really fast teams that also have the spacing off the ball can cause problems for them and we haven’t

Even got to the center position sabonis kicked Anthony Davis’s ass in that game Anthony Davis has consistently struggled against the big bruising centers guys like sabonis guys like zubach guys like nurkic guys like joic because he’s got a high center of gravity they can shove him off of his spot sabonis was

Finishing through Anthony Davis at will he was bullying him bullying him on the offensive glass it was a huge problem in that game that is so the Kings just in general are really bad matchup for the Lakers because sabonis is a bad matchup for ad and their guards like the Lakers

Guards are just absolutely hopeless to guard them and like that’s the thing like I saw a lot of Lakers fans focusing on Darin ham and lineups and don’t get me wrong I’ve been one of the guys complaining about that all year do not agree with everything that darham did in

This game I would have had a lot more max Christie toian Prince on Malik monk is something I never in a million years would have done but like like it doesn’t really matter they don’t have the personnel you could have thrown your best punch in that game and you still

Would have gotten your butt kicked I mean I shouldn’t say your best punch but your best tactical punch because from a Personnel standpoint the Kings just have significant advantages over the Lakers and that’s what that’s the group that the Lakers fall into now everything’s going to be about matchups for them

Whatever tiny sliver of a hope they have is going to be about catching the right types of teams along the way if they end up in a playin game on the road in Sacramento I would be stunned if they won you know but like if they ended up

On the road in a single elimination game to get in against the Pelicans Shifty shot making perimeter guys and bat backline defense I would pick the Lakers 10 times out of 10 to win that game right matchups are going to be huge I shouldn’t say 10 out of 10 because

Obviously if a games in New Orleans they could just get hot and beat you but seven or eight times out of 10 I like the Lakers in that matchup matchups are going to be everything for this particular Lakers team and I thought that that Kings game was a perfect

Example of that going into the Bucks game tonight it’s going to be interesting uh because obviously that Dame matchup is a little bit tough on the perimeter but they don’t have the the depth of shot creation on the perimeter that a team like Sacramento had with Malik Monk

And dear and fox and so I think they might be able to piece together a better group for that matchup and obviously they have uh uh the interior presence to kind of hang with uh Giannis and Brook Lopez so that’s going to be a really interesting one against the bucks later

Tonight but again matchups are going to be everything for this Lakers team all right moving on to the mailbag and then we’ll get out of here for the day first question you should uh collab with Adam MZ from uh dnvr you two are so knowledgeable about the game of

Basketball first of all thanks for the kind words about myself and also for Adam as well uh I really really enjoyed working with Adam today it was uh uh super easy to talk basketball with super super smart guy had a ton of fun went for an hour talked about basically a lot

Of the same games that we talked about today uh but you can find that on the all NBA podcast YouTube feed so go check out next question if the MVP race if the MVP is a race Tatum somehow is running in the opposite direction so this was

Just a funny comment but I wanted to use it to just kind of talk about the MVP race because I saw there was I didn’t talk about this over the last couple of weeks just simply because I didn’t think it was uh interesting enough um but you

Know this comment kind of gave me an excuse to talk about it for a second um I never considered T him legitimately for MVP and the main reason why is because like to me if you’re not actually in that top tier super superstars in the league you just don’t

Qualify for the MVP conversation and like that’s the thing like Tatum is the best player on the best regular season team in the league but there’s a couple of pieces of context one he’s playing for in my opinion the most talented starting five in the league two Boston

Is playing in an Eastern Conference that is really weak at the bottom and has a lot of opportunities to just rake up like uh to rack up like massive wins that inflate stats and inflate advaned metrics for instance I’m sure you guys saw this stat after the game

After last night Boston is 33- seven against the Eastern Conference they are 15- seven against the Western Conference because the Western Conference top to bottom just has significantly more Talent down the East top is very talented but the bottom of the East has a lot of like you know automatic wins so

To speak and that I think that’s reflected League wide in in records between Eastern Conference and Western Conference teams but like I never to me the standings reflect more just how much better Boston is than the rest of the East and then as far as the MVP race

Goes like he’s the best player on the team but he’s not as good as jic he’s not as good as Luca he’s not as good as Giannis and those guys are just doing more with less and so for me like I never really realistically considered Tatum for that mvp spot next question hi

Jason love the content from Australia watching the Luca Kyrie pairing cook defenses is great viewing but it also got me wondering about the future of pairing two star guards as building blocks we’ve seen Fox and halberton Thrive separately questions about the Trey Murray and Mitchell Garland combo

As a long-term solution and even a young potential Superstar Duo like Kade and Ivy raised the issue whether they can Thrive together down the line if you were coaching two youngstar guards in the making what skills would you prioritize them to focus on to maximize their own team success and what

Potential red flags would you look out for should they success uh that would suggest they’re better off on separate teams having followed you for a bit I’ll guess pullup shooting is right there thanks for these shows always learn something new every episode so thanks for supporting the show um here’s the

Thing as it comes down to the two guards thing it really just comes down to like if you’re the expression like you are who you can guard like you can have two star guards as long as they’re different archetypes so for instance like if you have a skill guard let’s say that you

Had Steph Curry but let’s say your two was like Prime Dwayne Wade who’s like one of the best defensive players in the league and a real downhill athlete that I think is a pairing of star guards that would work because they have a lack of redundancy they don’t step on each

Other’s toes they bring different things to the table that is a defensive back court that can fly does that make sense so like in general when I’m looking at any Star Duo I want one of them to be really good at different stuff than the other guy take Jamal Murray and Nicole

Yic for example like Jamal Murray is this like perimeter shot making piece and Nicole yic is this physical imposition around the rim piece and playmaking piece right they perfectly compliment each other if you wanted a star next to joic it would ideally be a guy that can run two-man game with him

And hit tough over the top pull-up jump shots it makes perfect sense think Kyrie Irving and LeBron James LeBron was the bully ball mismatch attacking forward that brought all the athleticism and defensive tools to the table Kyrie Irving was the guy LeBron is a guy who loves to rest while he’s playing Kyrie

Irving was the guy that could throw the basketball to and he could go stand on the left maybe shoot a catch and shoot three now and then but Kyrie Irving can just run the offense for a brief stretch and be that skill guard right like that’s that

To me is the big piece is you want to have a lack of redundancy so for instance like let’s take dear and fox and and Tyrese alurn I do think that could have worked in the long run but it would have required Daren Fox to basically become one of the best two-way

Guards in the league to really focus on the defensive end of the floor but like there’s no doubt that that that could have worked in the long run because I view Tyrese as the skill guard and Daren Fox to me is like the athlete guard in

That in that pairing it just would it just Daren fox has always been a little bit of an inconsistent defensive player although I think he’s capable of being an awesome defensive player next question LOL I’m not letting mpj shoot but I get your point you close out late

Make him drive so that he can finish but he doesn’t handle well again I this was in reference to a point I made at the end of last night’s show about how I would guard if I was Boston basically I said I wouldn’t want to live with joic

And Gordon hitting shots right around the rim I would want to bring help either from the Baseline but then bring that weak side corner guy to get inside position on Gordon and box him out and force yic to make a skip pass or i’ double from the front side to force joic

To make kickouts to the perimeter but the main point there is like yeah I don’t want I don’t want mpj to shoot but like mpj you know I’ve talked about the difference between shot value in the large sample size versus shot value in the individual possession so for

Instance an mpj catch and shoot three just to make the math easy if mpj’s wide open let’s just say he makes 50% of them right that’s 1.5 points per shot that’s a really high percentage shot right I would have to shoot 75% at The Rim to be

On or on a hook shot or something on any other type of shot to be as efficient as Michael Porter Jr on a catch and shoot three right but on the individual possession it’s only a 50% shot right the statistic means nothing to the individual both in life and in in

Basketball in my opinion like the statistic is is what happens in the big picture but on that individual possession you have the you have you uh they’re you’re down to the field goal percentage at that point right so for instance if joic let’s say yic shoots 65% on hook shots that’s a lower

Percentage shot by points per possession I shouldn’t say lower percentage it’s a lower value shot by points per possession than a Michael Porter junr wide open Catch and shoot three but on the individual possession the Michael Porter shot he he’s going to miss half the time whereas the yage shot around

The basket he’s gonna miss it one out of three times and probably if you get him to miss you brought Baseline help and Aaron Gordon’s gonna get an extra possession about half of those times so like the individual possession that around the rim stuff is so much more

Valuable than the big picture stuff when it comes down to the three-point shot so I was saying is obviously leaving a Michael Porter Jr or a kcp wide open is not a good option but here’s the thing we know porzingis can’t guard yic one-on-one we know the Baseline help

Leaves Aaron Gordon opening underneath the basket those are super high percentage shots so to me it’s more of a lesser than two a lesser of two evils kind of thing next question how would you rank this version of the Nuggets among the championship winning teams of

The last 10 to 15 years as you have said Denver has built a near perfect roster around yic who is by far the best player in the world today however at what point does a cumulating Elite Talent just outow everything else for instance as good as the nuggets are most people

Wouldn’t give them much of a chance against the Warriors of 201718 who sacrificed the rster roster depth to bring in Kitty so I do think the nuggets are on the same tier I shouldn’t say on the same tier I I I like let me put it

This way the only two teams of the last 15 years that are better than Denver are the Miami Heat team that repeated and the KD Steph Warriors that repeated those are the only two teams that are on their level right Denver’s not I don’t think they deserve to be put on that

Level because it’s hard to win two championships in a row and here’s the thing I think the Nuggets I’m way higher on them than I was to start the season I told you I’d be surprised if they didn’t win the title they were healthy but it’s still like a coin flip right because

Like Boston has a much easier path out of the Eastern Conference Denver could be in for some blood baths out west but Boston does have a lot of talent and some room for improvement like Denver doesn’t have as much room for improvement between now and June as Boston does Boston can figure some

Out and get better so like that’s that that’s my point I’m picking Denver I think Denver is the safe bet but there’s there’s always it’s really difficult to win NBA championships so like I don’t want to jump the gun and I I I don’t think I’d ever put them above the 2017

2018 Warriors because like they literally were just so so much better than everybody to give you an idea going into the 2018 season off of the 2017 Championship when they won 15 straight playoff games the Warriors had negative odds to win the title in preseason meaning if you bet

$100 to pick the Warriors to win the title in 2018 and they won you would get less than $100 in winnings that’s how that’s how dominant that Golden State team was Denver before last night’s game I haven’t looked at the odd since before last night’s game even as good as

They’ve looked this year are they were plus 450 to win the title on DraftKings so that just goes to show you the difference in just the level of like talent that that team had but it was more because of like they had two of the top three players in the league and they

Had Klay Thompson who was an awesome defensive player and the second best shooter of all time and they had Andre guadala who’s the best Wing defender in the league at that time and they had Draymond Green who was arguably the best defensive player overall in the league

At that time so like there’s kind of another level there however there will be an interesting conversation to have about this team and the 2012 2013 Miami Heat teams if Denver can win the title this year and I’m inclined to pick Denver in that specific matchup because Miami just because of Dwayne Wade’s

Decline because Chris Bosch got hurt in that 2012 run like I’ve seen a lot of talk about uh there’s so much talk about the uh the because of Udonis Haslam and Norris Cole coming out talking about Lebron in the heat and it’s so funny to me because it’s

Just it’s just something I I think people are writing some revisionist history on on a bunch of different fronts first of all I think that when LeBron like I I saw a Jeff Teague quote something about how like everyone thought that was weak when LeBron went to Miami for the

Record at the time it kind of was like what LeBron did going to Miami was supposed to be more or less like what KD did going to the Warriors what saved LeBron’s ass was he got humiliated the first year which made him a better basketball player and so he went up a

Crazy level two Chris Bosch got hurt in the 2012 postseason which made them have to play it made LeBron play desperate basketball to beat Indiana and then desperate basketball to beat Boston right and then three Dwayne Wade rapidly declined after the 2011 finals was never the same player he was a top tier

Superstar in 20 2011 like a second tier superstar in 2012 2013 and like a third tier superstar in 2014 and so as a result LeBron’s intended dominant team turned into just another one of the best teams in the league which forced LeBron to play heroic basketball to win two

Championships so now when we look back at the Miami Heat runs we look at it as like man that was some unbelievable basketball from LeBron however Kevin Durant went to the Golden State Warriors they stayed healthy they absolutely murdered everybody and so everyone looks at it differently because it we never

Had to see KD play desperate we never had to see KD like holy like we’re down 3-2 on the road here we got to make this happen holy game seven against Indiana holy game seven against San Antonio like we never saw that because golden state was just so much better

Than everybody LeBron intended for that to be the case in Miami and then it never it didn’t break out that way and so he had to be great so that that’s kind of unrelated to what I was saying but I just wanted to get that off my

Chest after the uh uh the comments that were flying out around those heedles but that said I will be curious to see where we rank Denver in the big picture after if they do win the title this year because I think that I’d be inclined to put them above those Miami Heat teams

Not that he like I think joic and Lebron in that at that era are in a similar tier in terms of a ceiling um but I thought that that Miami Heat team wasn’t as good top to bottom as this Denver team was and so I’d probably pick Denver

Over them but they got to close the deal they got to win another title this year three more questions and we’re out of here hey Jason love the show keep up the great work I was wondering what you think the issue is with Boston’s bad

Habits is it a coach or a lack of IQ feels like they’ve had the move or less they’ve had more or less the same issues under three different coaches granted lots of personnel changes and player growth but still feels like the same glaring issues throughout so Joe moula

In particular I actually talked about this a lot with Adam mod today but um the to me the freedom is almost gone too far so when you have five really good shot creators on the same floor together it gets a little tough because there’s not a clear hierarchy so like for Denver

For instance everything runs through Murray and joic late even those like early second quarter early fourth quarter stretches it’s like Murray’s just dribbling the air out of the basketball looking for his own shot the whole time there’s a lot of equal opportunity with Boston they kind of

Just play basketball and so as a result like that continues into crunch time it’s like those two possessions that Drew holiday took over like Drew holiday took those two random like here’s another question we had this our our last one I don’t like the fact that Jason Compares Drew taking those last

Shots for the Celtics to kcp taking such shots for the Nuggets saying the Nuggets would never do that and they are more deliberate in my opinion kcp and Drew holiday are nowhere near the same players and the fact that the Celtics have so much talent in their fiveman

Unit I think their offense has to be free flowing so they can maximize each player 100% agree throughout like certain chunks of the game right like outside of your starting groups late second quarter early or excuse me late first quarter early second quarter late third quarter early fourth quarter you

Want to be free flowing you want everybody playing your game however you run the risk when you play equal opportunity basketball of either everybody being in a rhythm or nobody being in a rhythm and that is part of what makes Boston so hot and cold and yeah they’ve been mostly hot against the

Eastern Conference but like that’s what makes them so hot and cold is they have these stretches where all of them go after Rhythm because there isn’t a clear hierarchy so like to me an easy solution there is I would have pet actions for for your best players that I’d run at

The end of the games if that’s Tatum porzingis pick and roll that’s Dereck white porzingis pick and roll if it’s Jaylen Brown Tatum tw- Man game whatever it is that you decide to do I don’t think you could do that because teams would probably just switch it but like

You got to find some sort of like hierarchy that you go to in big moments because it makes it more likely that those players will be in rhythm in those moments because it’s like Tatum after the game like I totally disagreed with that comment from Tatum about how he

Wanted to kind of like he didn’t want to hijack the game no no no no no if Jaylen Brown is bringing it to that level you gotta meet him there you gotta meet him there t Jaylen Brown’s not shooting the ball every possession down the floor just because he’s hot doesn’t mean you

Can’t be involved but to me like that’s where having a clear hierarchy does make sense you’re right Drew holl is not the same type of player as kcp and like he is a guy that can create a shot off the bounce at a higher level but he’s not as good as create at

Creating a shot off the bounds as Jason Tatum or Jaylen brown or Derek white so when you do that even if he does make the shot you’re wor like and he did by the way he made two big ones at the end of the game and it worked out

Like like that’s playing the results in my opinion but being more deliberate about running pet actions for the same players in big moments at the beginning of games and at the end of games I think would go a long way towards kind of getting them to have more consistent

Rhythm in those environments last question with cat’s injury how do you think Minnesota should structure their rotation they went with Kyle Anderson but that is a spacing nightmare for me I would start in close with nas Reed then try to keep one of him or go bear on at

All times so I talked about this a little bit in the Timberwolves segment that we did so in case you missed that if you’re just watching the mailbag episode go uh Timberwolves fans we did a whole breakdown but I would do it matchup related would not go with Kyle

Anderson though I thought that was a disaster on both ends of the floor I don’t think he’s good enough defensively or offensively to make up for it kind of was disappointed uh because KY Anderson is guy that is capable of being very good defensively but he just hasn’t been

Good enough uh but I would just base it on the matchup I think there’s versions of this against smaller teams where you could go and ni kill Alexander Walker and go with like ant Conley naw and Jaden McDaniels alongside go be and just defend the hell out of the

Basketball at least you you know because n is just a better offensive player than Kyle Anderson off the ball and he can defend in space but then there are going to be matchups that are too big and you need to go bigger the Lakers game that’s coming up on Sunday is actually good

Example of this I’ve golden NZ re because at least you have the physical imposition he’s kind of like actually a reasonable fact simile of Carl towns although he’s not as good because he can shoot the three and he can attack Closeouts so like that would be what I

Would do I’d base it on the matchups but the reality is is like it is flawed options now that Carl towns out is out of the picture which is unfortunate all right guys that is all I have for today and for the rest of the weekend as always I sincerely appreciate you guys

Tons of good games Friday Saturday Sunday but we’re going to take those uh days off on Monday we will be breaking down the big games from the week as well as Power Rankings I will see you guys Then

Jason Timpf reacts to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets’ 115-109 win over Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics in a potential preview of the NBA Finals. Later, Jason shares his takeaways from Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks’ 114-108 win over Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat, Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ 113-111 win over Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers, and LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers’ blowing a 19-point lead in their 130-120 loss to De’Aaron Fox and the Sacramento Kings. The show ends with Jason answering listener questions during an NBA Mailbag segment.

Timeline:
00:00 – Introduction
01:20 – Celtics-Nuggets
06:56 – Heat-Mavericks
15:00 – Timberwolves-Pacers
21:14 – Kings-Lakers
30:54 – NBA Mailbag

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