Nikola Jokic & Nuggets hitting stride, take down Knicks + NBA Mailbag | Hoops Tonight

Nikola Jokic & Nuggets hitting stride, take down Knicks + NBA Mailbag | Hoops Tonight

All right welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume happy Friday everybody hope all of you guys are having a great week got a fun show for you today we’re going to do an instant reaction to Nicks nuggets from last night fun game for both teams monster Isaiah hardenstein

Night the Knicks battle but the Nuggets end up pulling away late joic is awesome we’re going to break that game down from the perspective of both teams and then after that we’re going to hit a mailbag as I promised at the tail end of the show you guys know the drill before we

Get started subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel so you don’t miss any more of our videos follow me on Twitter atore jlt so you guys don’t miss show announcements or film threads don’t forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under Hoops tonight

It’s also super helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front then last but not least keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout the rest of the season all right really quickly before we get started to I want

To give you guys a quick breakdown of how the next week’s going to go because I actually go out of town on Sunday morning and I’m out of town until Thursday afternoon I’m getting one last getaway with my wife we going skiing in like Tahoe and remember when I get back

That’s when everything hits the fan 3 weeks from Sunday is actually the final day of the regular season that Tuesday is the start of the playin tournament during that week we’re going to have series previews for every playoff series and instant reactions to the playin uh playin matchups then we have the actual

Opening day of the postseason that Saturday where they have the four games and that’s when we start going Live on YouTube every single night so a little bit of a break from Sunday to Thursday then obviously it’s grind time but I’ve got content coming out the entire time

I’m I’m gone so obviously today the Nick nuggets reaction mailbags running on Saturday the nerd sesh guys came on this morning and we went for over an hour we recorded a bunch of stuff we did a deep dive into the playin tournament in both conferences we also hit the top of the

League talked some Celtics some bucks some nuggets we also had a fun segment at the end of the show that I think you guys will like that’s all rolling out on Sunday Monday Tuesday and Wednesday so there’ll be content coming out the entire time I’m gone but no actual like

Instant reaction live reacting to game and stuff until I get back on Thursday which will be a fun one because on Wednesday night we have our rematch between the Suns and the Nuggets that epic overtime game that Phoenix won last time so that’s going to be a really fun

One to react to we’ll be hitting that one on Thursday when I get back into town all right on that note let’s get into Nicks nuggets so Nick nuggets is probably my favorite NBA Finals matchup outside of nuggets Celtics obviously I think nugget Celtics would just be an

All-timer I think it’ go six or seven games I’d pick the Nuggets but I think it would be an incredibly entertaining series um but when the healthy Nicks are actually whole when they have Mitchell Robinson when they have isaah hartstein backing up Mitchell Robinson you can

Make a case that could be reversed too when you have Julius Randall and now precious toua playing more at the four instead of at the five when you have ogan and noi healthy out there they are just so incredibly physically imposing I mean as a as a Denver fan you got to

Experience that last night just with the injury riddled Nicks I just think that would be a really really fun final series and so this is a matchup that I really liked but in this particular game obviously still no front court for the Knicks tough matchup for them under

Those circumstances but they played a hell of a game and it was close for the most part Jaylen Brunson was great he had 26 points and nine assists with zero turnovers Denver defended him pretty well too they were throwing aggressive coverages at him he just had all of his

Shot making stuff working his start stop quickness was locked in he found all the little openings that take place over the game to find easy shots uh I thought I thought Duce McBride played a really good game I thought he defended Jamaal Murray really well started to he

Continued to flash some of that highle shot making that he’s been showing as of late like du McBride’s been flashing a little bit of that off the dribble pop uh that I think he’s had in the bag for a while but he’s the opportunity presented to him after the trade

Deadline has given him more opportunities to show that now Jamal Murray was still able to bully him to spots because he had that physical size advantage and we’ve seen that before where uh the really good ball pressure quick guards can struggle sometimes against Jamal Murray when he’s physically aggressive with them uh but

Duce did his job made him work uh just Jamal was just 9 for 20 from the field and had four turnovers Isaiah hardenstein was a monster I’ve been so impressed by him this year in general uh obviously he’s always been a great rebounder and he’s always been great in

That like short rle with those little pop shots right like he’s fifth in total offensive rebounds in the entire NB year this year NBA this year and he’s shooting 57% on those floaters that he takes in the lane so like obviously that’s something we’ve always known about

Isaiah Haron but he’s making a lot of really highlevel offensive plays around that like big part of this game was him just taking joic one-onone he got a couple of buckets on him that way uh it kind of reminded me of what he was doing to sabonis in the Sacramento game like

Hardenstein will he’ll drop his shoulder and go into your chest and he can make little shots over the top he got to a little right-handed hook shot over Nicole yic in this game too he’s also starting to figure out some of the intricacies of the pick and roll game

Like how to angle screens properly when to slip and when to disengage from the screen and start rolling to the basket there was a a specific play too that was really high level that I want to that I want to call out where he said a Gortat

Screen and I want to break this down for you guys so basically it was a Jaylen Brunson Isaiah hartenstein ball screen on a cleared side they ran an action to get into it but it resulted in just a cleared side ball screen the two defenders in the play were joic on

Hartenstein Aaron Gordon on Jaylen Brunson so obviously it’s a clear side pick and roll so like most teams in the NBA do Denver ends up calling for ice coverage now ice coverage is the most common pick and roll coverage you’ll see in cleared side ball screens or really

Any sort of side ball screen at any level of basketball and essentially the idea there is is that the the ball handler Jaylen Brunson in this case a lefty is on the right wing he wants to get to his strong hand going into the lane working in pick and roll right

Aaron Gordon instead of chasing him like a typical lock and Trail type of situation and applying back pressure like you would in a middle ball screen or anything towards the middle of the floor instead what he’s doing is he’s jumping way on Jaylen brunson’s high side up on his left hand side taking

Away the screen as an option and basically giving him a right-handed driving lane Nicole yic drops directly into that right-handed driving lane making himself available in help this is a textbook ice coverage on that in that situation Haren Stein’s job as soon as he realizes that

The ice is happening his job now is a screen doesn’t really help because he’s not going to actually be able to get Aaron Gordon out of position because Aaron Gordon’s literally denying the left-handed drive so his job there is to find a gap and opening between Aaron

Gordon and Nicole yic to make himself available for the catch so that he can shoot his little pop shot in the lane that’s what hartenstein does goes to set the screen sees Aaron Gordon hop high side to set up that ice and then he disengages from the screen slips into

That opening okay Jaylen Brunson does what he’s supposed to do he makes a hard dribble move to his right but he wants to get back to his strong so after he goes to his right hard he brings it back to his left hand side and Aaron Gordon

Gets out of position he gets stuck on Jaylen brunson’s right hand side this is where hartenstein makes an incredibly smart read so Nicole yic is waiting there and now Aaron Gordon instead of being on J Jaylen brunson’s left-and side is on Jaylen brunson’s right hand side okay hardenstein identifies there

Jaylen Brunson has an opportunity to drive to his strong hand so hartenstein bailes on trying to make himself available and just goes and sets a screen on joic because joic is the helpman Jaylen Brunson already has Aaron Gordon out of position so he can get to his strong leftand side Brunson his only

Issue now is the helper which is Nicole yic at The Rim hardenstein identifies on the Fly that his best way to help Brunson is just to set that screen on Nicole yic in the lane so that he can’t help he runs over and screens Nicole yic Brunson drives left right behind him

Gets all the way to the basket and lays it in there’s even an additional element there of time with jayen Brunson because Michael Porter Jr had come into the lane to defend the action 3on two and Jaylen Brunson waited to hit the Jets until Michael Porter Jr had to vacate the lane

On his defensive 3 second call and that just kind of parted like the Red Sea Michael Porter Jr ran out joic got screened by hartenstein Brunson like snuck right in there and got a layup and I was literally sitting there watching that and I’m like that is a really

Highlevel offensive play from Isaiah hartenstein that is getting classified as a layup for Jaylen Brunson obviously and obviously Brunson in his ability to handle the basketball and get to his spots was a big part of that but that’s really highlevel offensive role Man play from Isaiah hartstein he’s just turning

Into a really good basketball player he’s also been a really solid defensive anchor this year I’ve been impressed by his pick and roll defense and how active is he is with his hands Isaiah hartstein is just really damn good and again you can make the case that when Mitchell

Robinson comes back that Mitchell Robinson come off the bench not because of anything Mitchell Robinson’s doing just because I Isaiah hartenstein and his pick and roll chemistry with Jaylen Brunson and the job that he’s been doing uh but yeah the Knicks battle they kept it close they really did damage in the

Joic off minutes uh they were plus 13 or excuse me I want to say they were plus 17 yeah they were plus 17 in the minutes that Nicole yic was off the floor in this game but every time Nicole yic checked into the game he would just quickly assert himself and regain

Control of the situation he had 30 points 14 rebounds and 11 assists which is one turnover the Knicks were bringing a lot of double teams from the backside es especially like when yic would turn his back and kind of protect the basketball they kept trying to sneak

Behind him and I don’t know why teams again like this is something that that joic is consistently punished and and you know to break it down on a on a deeper level do you guys remember when I’ve talked with uh a lower level passers think guys like embiid Anthony

Davis Giannis how I always talk about them running cleared side actions the reason why I talk about them running cleared side actions is because when the side is cleared it’s much harder to double on their backside and when you double from the backside those guys struggle to see everything cuz they can

Really only see what’s in front of them and so as a result of that if you put them in the middle of the floor or with an occupied corner where someone can sneak in from behind and get steals those guys can become turnover prone and most importantly be uncomfortable and

More more likely to just get the ball out to somebody rather than to try to make the kill pass because they’re worried they don’t know where everybody is they feel uncomfortable and and then what I said when we were talking about those guys is when it comes to the

Higher level passers the LeBron’s the Lucas the yices those guys you want in the middle of the floor because in the middle of the floor or with an occupied corner you want them there because they can see everything that’s taking place they are comfortable even though there

Are guys that they can’t necessarily see every given second because yic can identify I know this guy is here I know he’s here I can check this out and I can just kind of periodically kind of monitor where these guys are and can kind of anticipate things before they

Happen right it’s kind of like that ridiculous pass that he had last night where he threw the ball overhand behind his back and Aaron Gordon so basically Nicole yic is posting like what 16 17 feet away from the basket on like kind of left elbow extended right and I want

To say Josh Hart so either Josh Hart or Dante dienzo comes with the backside help right so yic has the ball like this and the help is coming from behind and on the help the help is coming from Gordon’s man so jayen Brunson comes out

Of the weak side and tries to dig down onto Aaron Gordon to take away that post entry pass but jic just sees the whole thing he identifies this guy’s coming on this weak side that means Aaron Gordon is my open guy but he also knows that Jaylen brunson’s coming on the top side

So if he wants to throw that pass he’s got to hit it to Aaron Gordon’s right hand side because if he throws it to the left-and side Jaylen brunson’s going to be able to three quarter front and knock the ball away and without even damn looking while the defender’s coming

Around his backside he just throws it like this back backwards and hits Aaron Gordon perfectly on the right hand side so that he could go up and lay it in and there were literally like a half dozen plays in this game where the Knicks came with backside help to to uh to jokic’s

Blind Side and he burned them with it because again those those types of players they can actually see the whole floor or at least have an understanding of where everybody is on the floor even when they’re not necessarily looking in that particular area and again when you

Are in the middle of the floor with an occup or or have an occupied Corner meaning when there are defensive players literally surrounding you you are actually closer to every offensive player again if I have if I have joic on a cleared side which by the way he had

Some success in cleared side situations too I don’t want to pretend like that didn’t happen but when joic is on a cleared side and everyone’s on the opposite side of the floor let’s say let’s say you got Aaron Gordon under the rim but all the other three-point Shooters are spaced out along the

Three-point line they’re all all those passes are in the same direction and therefore they’re further away right whereas if he’s in the middle of the floor or when he has an occupied Corner he’s effectively closer to every offensive player every offensive players within like 15t of him right and so when

Those double teams come from different angles when he gets the ball to the right spot there’s less time for the defense to rotate there’s actually more openings there it’s just that the guys like Anthony Davis and Giannis and embiid they really struggle to make those reads when they’re surrounded by

Defenders so you almost need to clear the side for them and make them make skip pass passes over the top which are easier to rotate to right that’s the advantage of having a player that’s capable of operating in the beginning uh in the middle of the floor and again for

Joic you saw last night just a perfect example of every single time the Knicks brought that backside help along that along his Blind Side he was able to make them pay for it just because he has such a good understanding of where everybody is on the floor the Nuggets were plus 30

With Nicole yic on the floor in this game think about that they were minus 17 when he was off the floor and still won the game by double digits and were never truly threatened unbelievably dominant performance Michael Porter Jr had a big Knight to 31 points on 16 shots hit a

Big Jumper in ISO against buen mdov on the right corner area after the Knicks had cut it to four I want to say it was on a precious AA layup if I remember correctly but the Knicks cut it to four or excuse me cut it to two was like 90

To 88 or something like that and Michael Porter Jr just straight ISO got a bucket over uh buan banovich he was super efficient in this game he’s actually been the most icient jump shooter in the entire league this year he’s taken 644 jump shots there are 45 players in the

NBA that have attempted at least 500 he ranks number one on that list and Michael Porter Jr jump shot has been worth 1.19 points per possession this year now uh points per shot I should say so uh just for trivia who do you guys think is number two on that

List the answer is Dante Divan chenzo of the Knicks he’s just 3 1,000 of a point per shot behind Michael Porter Jr so two of the very two the two best jump shooters in the NBA were on the floor together last night the nuggets are rolling 13-2 since the All-Star break

And again their only two losses were in games where they lost either at the buzzer or uh had a shot that sent the game to OT at the buzzer that put uh that they lost in OT that’s the best record in the league over that span they’re second in offense eighth in

Defense second net rating and third in points in the paint per 100% possessions over that span you know last year after the All-Star break they came out hot they were 5- one in their first six games and then they immediately fell apart and this year they’ve just been so

Much sharper and they just to me like this is a major like check box that they’ve uh a box that they’ve checked in their uh process towards a championship repeat this is not a team that is relaxing this is a team that is focusing this is not a team that looks like they

Think it’s going to be easy this is a team that is preparing for the hard challenge that is winning for playoff rounds if you’re a nuggets fan you should feel very very confident in your team right now the thrill and excitement of March Mania is here and draftking

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Right let’s move on to our mailbag so um first question by the way I got 51 questions to the mailbag tweet that I sent out obviously I normally take mailbag questions from YouTube but I wanted to take them from Twitter this time so we had like 51 questions they

Were all super super uh interesting I’m sorry that I can’t actually get to all of them I think we only have about a dozen here that we’re going to get to uh but I do sincerely appreciate you guys taking the time and again we’re going to keep doing mailbags really throughout

The entire year moving forward so uh if if there’s a mailbag question that I haven’t got to that you really want just keep dropping it in there and we will eventually get to it all right do you believe that LeBron should leave the Lakers next season from a fan

Standpoint and if so where is the ideal place you would want to see him compete and if not could the Lakers be competitive next season so if LeBron leaves which if they lose in a disastrous fashion I think that I think that he should I I just I would hate to

See LeBron go down with this particular ship in Los Angeles um where he’s surrounded by incompetence in so many different levels in the coaching staff and in the ownership group and in the front office it’s just layer after layer even like like even in the medical staff

Even like there’s a statue with typos on it out front of the Arena like it’s just it’s like it’s just clear it’s just so funny to me how like when there’s incompetence at the ownership level it just trickles down to every single level from there uh but I want to see him play

For the Knicks I think it’s a like an absolutely perfect fit in that front line if you just kind of slotted him into that Julius Randall spot I think it would immediately make them a top tier Championship Contender it’d be a big Market that actually justifies a

Presence like LeBron making a move in that direction I think Jaylen Brunson is the type of co-star for him is that like offensive fulcrum type of guy he’d be in a in a defensive role where because of Dante demenzo ogn and Obi he’d never have to defend on the ball because of uh

Of of Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah hartenstein he’d be consistently in that low man position where I think he’d be really impactful I think the Knicks would be amazing can the Lakers be competitive next season it just really depends on what they end up doing uh around the draft they’re going to have

Three draft picks uh as well as some other uh roster assets that they can move they really really really got to go one of two directions and I talked about this yesterday with yovon but they either need to bring in a legitimate offensive fulcrum to run the offense the

Entire season which will just help them be better in the 82 games or they need to bring real high motor athletes on the perimeter because at this point LeBron and AD are just not consistent enough with their athletic engagement next question if the Knicks are healthy do

You think they have a legitimate chance to go to the finals absolutely I think that the I think that everybody but the Celtics is Flatout beatable and I I’d be tempted to pick a Knicks a healthy Knicks team over all of them including the Bucks uh because the Knicks aren’t

Healthy I would pick the Bucks as the safer number two in that conference but if they were if the Knicks were fully healthy and in Rhythm they’ve just played better basketball this year than Milwaukee in my opinion relative to the talent that they’ve had available to

Them in the lineup um as far as getting to the finals they’d have to beat Boston right but they’re big physical team and they can wear you out and I think they could bait Boston into some of their worst Tendencies them scoring the basketball would be tricky because of

All the perimeter defense that they could throw at the at the table but if they could drag it down into the mud and if they get enough out of Jaylen Brunson I absolutely think they can they to me the Knicks are are not in the top tier of contenders obviously but they’re in

That next tier and I think when they’re healthy they’re very capable of making a finals run all right we have two Pelicans related questions I’ll read them both and we’ll go through them both can the Pelicans win the Western Conference and make it to the finals second question pels fan here do you

Think Zion’s play right now is sustainable for the playoffs for when they game slows down and teams can really zero in on him defensively he’s great regular season player but he’s untested in the playoffs so first of all can the Pelicans win the Western Conference and make it to the finals of

Course they can I just have them at the bottom tier among the uh Western Conference playoff teams they have a couple of specific things that are big red flags for me so for instance they’ve been a very good defensive team but they have not been a very good defensive

Front court and throughout this season that Zion Jonas front court on many different occasions has been picked to pieces and NBA history tells us you need an elite defensive front Court to win the title I mean joic Gordon is probably the worst defensive uh front Court to

Win the title in in well over a decade and Aaron Gordon was unbelievable defensively both as a low man and as an on ball Defender during that playoff run so for me like I just don’t think the Pelicans have the defensive Personnel in the front court that they need as far as

The uh in order to be considered as as as dangerous as their record would lead you to believe right as far as the offensive end of the floor goes and Zion like obviously this season turned around for the Pelicans when Zion took a larger role offensively I also think Zion just

Got in better shape and started to get his legs underneath him that lob dunk he had the other night was the most athletic I’ve seen him look pretty much since Duke so like I think or at least since he was healthy a few years ago so

Like I I I really do think Zion coming around has been what’s turned this season around that said like when we get to the postseason offensively there is a something to be said about the borderline comical way that teams will try to attack your flaws uh like think

About like what LeBron James did to Zion in the inseason tournament game the uh the one where the the Lakers beat the hell out of him he basically just sagged way the hell off off of him and anticipated his driving angles and and more or less removed him from the game

And now uh I think Zion’s a better athlete now than he was then he’s in better shape and he’s moving better and I I do think that Zion would be able to have more impact but I am curious to see how teams kind of play him cuz they’ll

Sag way the hell off and they’ll try to kind of like be sitting on that left-and side and and just try to beat him to spots in the lane they’ll bring physicality here’s my prediction though my guess is that Zion will have success offensively in the postseason my bigger

Concern is just that Zion uh uh uh being targeted on the defensive end of the floor just again putting him in a bunch of actions where they can try to bait him into getting out of position and getting a lot of easy baskets uh at The Rim that again that has been a

Consistent theme this year their perimeter defense is unbelievable herb Jones is like one of the best defensive players that I’ve watched this year Brandon Ingram is having the best defensive season I’ve seen him have in years they have a ton that they bring to the table on the perimeter defensively

And they fly around and they play hard and they play Passing lanes and they apply ball pressure and they force turnovers and then it’s like their their their front Court where I where I have my concerns and so that’s where I think they’ll have issues when we get to the

Postseason do you think there’s chance that V and Gabe can come back and actually have impact towards winning once the postseason comes I know them not having conditioning is going to make things a lot more difficult or should we rock with the guys who have been playing

Uh Gabe is the one that I don’t really understand where he fits uh he you know you think of him as like a perimeter defense kind of guy at the guard position but that to me is what Spencer dinwoody has been feeling and I think Spencer dinwoody is is is just a little

Bigger a little more athletic and probably a little bit more resilient when you get to that postseason environment I do think Gabe will play in uh games when Spencer’s not playing well I think that Darin will go his direction or when one of the skill guards isn’t

Playing well but his role is a little bit more up in the air Vanderbilt like you just absolutely need him you absolutely need him you need to start him and you need him to be ready now you mentioned conditioning that’s an interesting point Jared Vanderbilt was

Not very good to start the season as he was coming back from his injury it was really just before he got hurt again that he started to kind of get back into shape and really look like the V we saw last year and so that’s my big concern

Too is like it’s not about Vando coming back it’s about V coming back and looking like the V we know he can be and I I mean let’s say he let’s say he comes back at the start of April like April 1st you’ve got two weeks to get him back

Into into Rhythm and and that’s just a lot to ask and so I I think the only hope for the Lakers to make any sort of significant postseason run is Jared Vanderbilt being healthy and in shape in Rhythm and prepared to play the way that we’re accustomed to seeing from him next

Question would you rather build around wemi or Luca this was a fascinating one a couple really interesting questions uh from you guys that we’re going to be hitting here uh in the next few so you know my my prevailing basketball wisdom would say Luca because I’ve

Always been a big fan of match up attacking forwards and I’ve always favored offense over defense because I think it’s easier to coach up defense in a way that you can’t on the offensive end of the floor uh so that would lead you to believe to think Luca but wemi to

Me is a truly transcendently great NBA Prospect and I think he has real potential to be the best offensive player and best defensive player in the league one day I think that he’s the the kind of guy that could that could bring a two-way impact that Rivals the

Greatest players in NBA history so if if not he has the poal potential to be better than all of them so I I think I think uh regardless of who you are even if you’re a Dallas fan like wem’s wemi man like like he’s he’s one of one and

Luca is Luca to me is is also in an all-time great trajectory but he’s more or less what he is now what he’s always going to be he will make small improvements maybe defensively maybe in his conditioning and maybe he’ll get a bit more consistent as a shooter but

Like wemi is already a top 20 player in this league he’s a rookie and he literally can get many orders of magnitude better than he is right now next question what do you think about the idea that you can’t win if your best player is small like 64 or under what do

You need for it to happen in your opinion and right now which players do you think can SL could do it in the future I think it’s possible but his team has to be perfectly built so first of all Steph Curry is a guy that has won

A title as the best player on his team under 64 he did it in 2022 now Steph is the best small player in NBA history and it’s not close when you look at the top 10 players in NBA history most people are going to have stuff on there and

Then everyone else on that list is either a 66 super athletic shooting guard or someone who’s 68 and taller and has all these incredible physical gifts in in in terms of their size right and so that’s why I say Steph is the most skilled player in NBA history it’s just

He’s one with skill at a higher rate than anybody who’s ever come before him that said I do think it can happen again I you asked to pick a couple of guys I picked two Jaylen Brunson I think is a guy that if you built the perfect type

Of Team around him uh that I think he could do it like that Nicks team I think has just an outside shot and when they’re healthy and so I think I think you have to include Brunson in that list the other guy I put was John Morant I

Think John Morant um uh especially if they can kind of rebuild around him in Memphis I think that he’s the kind of guy that could be so transcendently great offensively and so difficult to guard that he’s a guy that could lead a team to a title so Brunson and Morant

Would be the two guys but again like it is uncommon and there’s a reason why Steph’s the only guy who’s really done it and and it’s because like in the modern era it’s just difficult to do at that size and Steph is more like an exception that proves the rule in a lot

Of ways and for instance I’d feel a lot better about Brunson and Morant if they were the second best players on their team if that makes sense next question do you believe that if the Cavs had won game one of the 2018 finals after LeBron’s dominant performance when

He had 51 do you think they could have had any shot at winning the series no unfortunately I wanted LeBron to win that game really badly just cuz I felt like he deserved it I thought he played he played a game that deserve to win and uh there was that bizarre overturned

Charge call the uh missed George Hill free throw the J.R Smith forgetting the clock there’s a bunch of stuff that went against him down the stretch of that game that took the game away but I thought LeBron was Far and Away the best player on the floor and deserved to win

That game and it’s unfortunate is what it is but had he won all it would have been is a slightly different footnote on a on a gentleman’s sweep a 4-1 type of win for Golden State they were just so much again like look at the guys that

LeBron was playing with in that series compared to in my opinion the most talented roster in NBA history next question I don’t know whether you addressed this before but what are your thoughts on the playin games in general for me personally I don’t like s vers

Eight and 9 vers 10 I think it should be 7 vers 10 and 8 vers 9 love your soap and following since the Lakers tonight Years thank you so much for supporting the show it sincerely appreciates I sincerely appreciate that so many of you guys wrote kind things to me in the in

The mailbag and I hope you guys just know that like uh not a day goes by that I don’t uh think about how lucky I am to do what I do for a living and how I wouldn’t be able to do it if it wasn’t for you guys in supporting me so thank

You so much uh it’s really this simple you can’t do that because you can’t have an 82 Game season come down to one game for teams that actually did crack the top eight in the standings they do it s verse 8 and 9 verse 10 because 78 get to

Uh potentially lose twice so so like if that seven game you happen to have just an ice cold shooting night and eight comes in and beats you you can turn around like look at Miami last year right Miami loses to Atlanta Miami ends up going to the

Finals and they lost their first playing game it wouldn’t have been fair in my opinion if they had been in the top eight to kick them out over one loss where they just had a bad night on the defense of glass against the Atlanta Hawks right so like that’s kind of the

Way I look at it like sv10 seems fair because it’s a better m match up for the seven but you if you’re the seven seed you would rather play the better team but have two chances over playing the worst team and have one chance any day

Of the week because of the variance that exists in basketball all right we have five more questions it looks like this is a really interesting one if I had a time machine and went to the Future and came back and I told you that neither the Nuggets or the Celtics were going to

Make the finals what teams would you pick to make the finals and what do you think would be the reason the Celtics and Nuggets wouldn’t make the finals so reasons uh Boston would lose in the classic way that we’ve seen them lose they would go cold from three and then

Fail to find higher percentage shots around the basket and go down shooting and missing threes um and not defending as well as they’re capable of because they didn’t bring appropriate urgency on that side of the floor Denver I put one of two things either an injury to a

Starter because I think their whole system could become easier to guard if one of those guys gets uh gets hurt and then two kind of like what happened in overtime against Phoenix like if there’s been one kind of little vulnerability I’ve noticed Sometimes Late in games

Jamal plays herob ball and he makes him a lot like he he made big shots against Phoenix he made big shots against Dallas but specifically in the overtime against against uh Phoenix Bradley be was ignoring kcp defending all those actions three on two really sitting down in the

Lane and Jamal was just hunting his own shot and missed a couple of really tough ones instead of like just playing basketball in the flow the way that Denver typically does he even looks off joic a lot of times in those situations again I’m being super nitpicky here but

If they were going to lose that’s what I think it would look like now um if they were healthy I would take the Knicks as the second best team out of the East but like I talked about earlier it’s just Julius randle’s out of rhythm I don’t know if Mitchell Robinson will

Be back OG an anobi this elbow thing flared up again and I think he had a procedure on it earlier so like that’s concerning that he had a procedure and that it’s still giving him issues so like I would lean with Milwaukee Damen Lillard last 13 games nine three-point

Attempts per game at over 40% shooting so Milwaukee starting to look a little bit better I think they’re probably the safest bet out west you know I think this is going to come off as crazy cuz they’re a playing team right now but I’m going to say the Phoenix Suns I think

That they have the best ability to knock off Denver out of the teams in that conference I was originally leaning towards the Clippers in that regard but the Clippers have been playing some dog basketball for the last couple of months and I’m actually pretty concerned

About them so I’m going to go I’m going to go with uh Milwaukee versus Phoenix all right four more as Golden State transitions from an offense around Steph Curry what kind of offense should they adopt if kaminga develops into a player who could be a focal point so I’m

Still a big believer in the five out offense in general as a as a foundational build uh especially with Trace Jackson Davis and some of the higher level stuff he’s shown as a kind of screen and roll guy and as a cutter in general um it would look a little bit

Different because I think kaminga has a lot of like individual on an island game to him and I think that’s part of his best you know kind of future potential in this league is a guy that like no one can guard on an island especially in those like face up ISO and postup

Situations and so I kind of think of it a lot like the 2018 2017 Warriors where they run their five out stuff but a lot of times they’ll run action just to get uh kaminga or excuse me to get Kevin Durant to a spot where he can go to work

Right another team who does this a lot is Denver Denver runs a five out offense but like a lot of times they’ll just be like let’s run this wedge screen which is like essentially a cross screen that takes place around the high post to try to get joic into deep post position then

They’ll throw the ball down to joic and then everyone spaces the floor you know like even even the five out approach for Denver looks like four out sometimes in the sense that they’ll just come down and they’ll get out of their five out stuff and they’ll just space

And then they’ll run two-man game you know they’ll also come down and they’ll run their five out right they’ll run horn sets they’ll run you know pistol stuff and they’ll get into their actions but a lot of times they’ll just be like you know what we’re going to run our yic

Murray two-man game and we’re just going to clear the side right or we’re going to run with an occupied corner or run it in the at the top of the floor whatever it is they’re going to do they they will just Spam an action to get the their

Scores into spots right that’s kind of the way I look at it with kaminga i’ still I think it’s important for kaminga to learn how to play in the read and react five out stuff that golden state does because Steph Curry’s not going anywhere and Steph Curry’s got at least

A couple more years of him being damn good and so you need to learn how to play off of that and that’s going to involve a lot of the five out stuff but I think they could break away and just it’d be a call right so like maybe in a

Dead ball situation Steve Kerr is going to call a play to get kaminga and ISO in a in a good position on the floor I mean they more or less are doing this right now anyway way uh but like that to me is is is where I look at the development

For kaminga it’s got to be both he’s got to be able to function as a cog and the five out alongside Steph Curry while also being a guy that can work on an island because that’s one of his best individual traits this is a fun one what

Team do you reckon has the best Vibes this is important because he’s trying to settle a debate so I I I just off the top of my head I ranked my top five Vibes teams now again Vibes for me are teams that just like each other and love

Playing basketball just overall over the course of the season there’s less of the dips down into the malaise and the in the where it just seems like they’re unhappy and don’t like each other number one I put the Denver Nuggets again they’ve just been uh I’ve

Just had so much fun watching them this year they’ve been a really fun defending champion because they just have been better in so many different ways and there everyone is so bought into their role they don’t even have disease of more stuff uh like like that was the

Whole thing with uh Pat Riley remembers like you win a title and then it’s the disease of more everybody wants more after they have the trophy that has not been an issue for Denver for two I put the New York Knicks uh they all year long they just everyone seems to be in

Line in their roles everyone trusts Jaylen Brunson to lead everything everyone trusts Tom diido everyone’s bought in every single night they play for a group of a lot of Veteran guys they play really hard all the time really really like the Knicks three I put the New Orleans Pelicans they’ve

Been one of the best Vibes teams in the league for a half decade now um uh they have their their their LOLs where they don’t play Super well but it doesn’t really stem from personality differences or seeming like like they don’t like each other it’s just they have their own

Talent issues that they have that they have to deal with but I have New Orleans at three four I put Boston I think they’ve had really good vibes this year and then five I put the Oklahoma City Thunder all right two more do you think DLo is going to break in the playoffs

Again I don’t see him being able to handle a lot of speed or physicality he’s good but I feel kind of soft hard Defenders throw him off so I agree for the record I I I I specifically think d has improved this year but in areas he

Was already good he’s gone from being a good shooter to a better shooter he’s gone from being a good pick and roll decision maker to a better pick and roll decision maker he’s gone from being like a guy who was uh let’s just let’s just set that aside for a second his

Weaknesses though were handling physical ball pressure defensive focus and Effectiveness uh um especially in off ball situations and just in in general like his shot falling apart when the physical intensity picks up not just falling apart but falling apart in a bad way like where he’s missing by a lot

Right those are his issues what have we seen this year we’ve seen him be better at the things that we know he’s already good at but he continues to struggle with ball pressure he continues to struggle to make shots in super physical environments he continues to uh uh turn

The basketball over and struggle with dealing with length on the ball like he just struggles there so like more I tend to think that DLo is going to be more or less the same player when we get to the postseason depending on the matchup I do think think he’ll still have really high

Highs as we get to um uh specific matchups where he’s more comfortable that is if the Lakers even make the playoffs last one why isn’t Luca in the MVP discussion he leads the NBA in overall stats and the Mavs have been on fire since the trade deadline uh

It’s really this simple they don’t even have a top 10 record in the league at least at the time of recording here on Friday morning so like really it’s just if you go back through NBA history if you’re not if you’re not in the top 10 in the NBA standings like you’re you

Can’t be considered for MVP your team just not good enough Luca’s been amazing this year massively improved as a three-point shooter obviously uh even though there’s some ugly moments and Luca is still good for some Duds on the defensive end of the floor for the most part he’s been much better defensively

This year than he has been in years past so like Lucas has played like an MVP but like winning an MVP is is as much a team accomplishment as it is a player accomplishment and the Dallas Mavericks have just not quite been good enough all

Right guys that is all I have for today as always I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show thanks for letting me hop out of town for a little bit I will see you guys on Thursday for a fun breakdown of suns nuggets should be a good one I’ll see you guys Then

Jason Timpf reacts to Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and the Denver Nuggets’ 113-100 win over Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks. Jason breaks down the game’s biggest highlights and shares what makes Jokic impossible to defend. Later, Jason answers listener questions during an NBA Mailbag segment hitting on LeBron James possibly leaving the Lakers, the future of Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors, and much more!

Timeline:
00:00 – Introduction
02:15 – Knicks-Nuggets reaction
16:47 – NBA Mailbag

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