NBA TODAY | “Lakers are the most dangerous Play-In team in the West” – Danny Green ignores Suns

NBA TODAY | “Lakers are the most dangerous Play-In team in the West” – Danny Green ignores Suns

NBA Today presented by Navy Federal Credit Union I’m Malika Andrews and that you know her she needs no introduction it’s Caitlyn Clark arguably the biggest basketball star on the planet right now celebrating after posting 41 points 12 assists seven rebounds to help Iowa knock off the defending Champion LSU

Tigers to get back into the women’s final four so after last night’s Blockbuster double header the rest of the final four you can see here it is all set Caitlyn Clark and the Hawkeyes take on Paige Beckers in the Yukon hus cannot wait for that one and then on the

Other side of the bracket that features the number one overall seated South Carolina Gamecock they are trying to keep their perfect season alive against NC State if anyone can do it Dawn can and while we have the answer for now at least what that bracket looks like right

There are still plenty of questions of how the playin bracket in the west is going to shake out and I mean it was a different chapter but my goodness it was the same book last night for Phoenix he dropped another 50 on the New Orleans Pelicans so let’s

Show you exactly how this one went down with Danny Green and Zack low here to help me out Zack he picked it up in the first quarter and really never looked back yeah when they have two bodies screen for him like that it’s very hard

To deal with he can shoot threes he can get in the mid-range you get to the rim he’s kind of a bully sometimes he was on it last night this dude loves New Orleans I don’t know just pulling up in people’s faces doesn’t even matter who’s

Guarding him a bullying in the best way possible here again Devin Booker going to work just zooms right by Zion same play again that stacked pick and roll is very hard to guard he has the full package here Danny as we go ahead to the second quarter with Devon Booker slow

Down um the answer to that would be no yeah this is this is his sweet spot I mean he got hot from three but this is where he’s a master class at in the mid-range area so he gets to his pull up there half fixed spin gets to this elbow

Action one dble pull up over when he’s hot there is no stopping him they build a 20 plus point lead here in the second quarter and are able to maintain that leading into the Third in large part thanks to Deon Booker continuing to dominate yep career high in points per

Pick and roll possession and as you’re seeing nurk so key to them getting him open get an open three but the fourth quarter this is where the Phoenix Suns have struggled Zach and so all of a sudden the Pelicans are within range once again and they went small Zion at

Center but that that was Dyson Daniels that’s a good defensive player it’s Dyson Daniels again here I think and he’s just let that’s what I mean by bully that’s a bully move right there against a good Defender Kevin Durant he didn’t think Devin Booker was a bully

Here’s what he had to say yeah was like dja Vu as it was happening I couldn’t believe he was doing it again you know you look up you got 20 points in the first quarter um and then and what I loved about it in the Florida game to

Start um pin Downs catching shoes cuts to the rim layups won do pull-ups you know um and that’s the sign of a other worldly score when you can do it in the Florida off like that well otherworldly this is what we mean by that Deon Booker’s 162 two points it’s

The most in a three-game span versus any opponent in the last 50 Seasons it ranks above the likes of James Harden Giannis Bernard King and a guy I don’t know maybe you heard of him Michael Jordan above all of that so Danny Green you know better than anyone that sitting

Here that sometimes for a shooter the basket can just start to look bigger and bigger and bigger knocking down shot after shot after shot I think that we’ve seen so many 50o performances 70o performances this season sometimes that gets diluted it’s hard to feel special

No no this is just how special was it how did he get this for sure and he’s a guy that scored 70 before because he’s done it so many times people think it’s a regular day at the office but we’ll check out a couple players of how he got

Open um you know the pick and roll game for him this year has been great he’s in career high points per possession the pick roll nurkic key this is a stack action and because Grayson Allen is such a great shooter they have to stay close

To his body and he slips out he’s able to get a disadvantage with the switch nerkish setting that screen a legal screen I’ll just say he sealed his man for you know book to get a easy two-point conversion at The Rim get him in Rhythm and right here pick and roll

Once again he’s Hing on the ball a lot more Bradley Beal’s been out no point guard coming off pick and roll he’s hot from three and once he’s hot doesn’t matter who’s how good a Defender is he’s going to knock down those shots I mean you said it right there no point guard

Yeah right this is what we’ve said about the Suns all year long and I think that when you have Devin Booker able to have games like this when you have he can he can make up for the fact that they don’t have that traditional point guard that

Sometimes Bradley Beal has the ball in his hands sometimes Deon Booker does they put the ball back in books hands he has a game like that he also had nine assists by the way so he can do it all but he shouldn’t do it all right like

That’s the can he do it all yes should he probably not and I think that’s been a gaping hole for this team all year is not having that traditional point guard they had one of those his name was Chris Paul right the point guard not just guardate right so there’s a couple of

Things that when we talk about the Phoenix Suns especially at this time of year that continuously come up one how they’ve handled the fourth quarter they’ve been near the bottom of the league for the for the majority of the season in several categories in the fourth quarter that’s not what you want

To see particularly offensively the other thing we look at is their strength of schedule at this time of year because if you take a look at the Western Conference standings currently everything is mumbled and jumbled right now because the Clippers the Mavs they are in the four and five spots if we can

Pull that up please director Kathy there it is the Pelicans they are clinging to six the Suns they have the tiebreaker over New Orleans one game against Pelicans remaining on their schedule so Phoenix controls their own destiny for six although who’s that oh yeah that’s the Lakers that’s the Kings coming in hot

Zach so which team do you think is going to shoot that shot and we’ll have sixth when it’s all said and done first of all that music is reserved for the Miami Heat okay so they they get the JW they get the job I’m sticking with New Orleans just

Because Phoenix is schedule down the stretch is like a cruel joke I don’t know what the I what they did to anger the schedu makers it’s like unbelievable how hard their schedule is and yeah they’re only one game back they have the tiebreaker they have a head-to-head game

New Orleans schedule isn’t angel food cake but if you compare them I mean there’s no comparison Phoenix’s schedule is just no it’s overrated kick um it’s just one heavyweight after another so I will go New Orleans clings to sixth maybe chases Fifth and the Suns the

Unthinkable for the Suns they have to go through the play in tournament oh my gosh I I think the suns are going to get there I think that getting that getting that tiebreaker last night was was big for them because they maybe they do finish in that tie and and I tend to

Believe they play better against better teams like even though that schedule is brutal yeah but they play they play up to their competition and they have this whole entire year but how much of a catastrophe would it be if the Phoenix Suns are not able to be that sixth seed

And are a playin tournament team that is not what they were put together to do no and this season has been a disappointment and even with book going off last night you do have this lingering of they’re still not adding up to something greater than the sum of

Their parts and that’s what they’re going to have to do to beat Elite teams over an over in the playoffs but catastrophe look if they finish seventh they’ll have the edge to get out of the play in tournament and then after that if you get in the playoffs it all

Depends where Denver is seated because I think they could beat any other team in a first- round series I’m not sure I’ll pick them but Denver is a different animal so if they avoid Denver there’s a there’s an Avenue for them unlikely as it may seem to get somewhere you know

It’s funny I I talked to the owner of the Suns Mt it should be about you know they’ve gone way over the second apron and like their idea is the second apron is here we’re just going to keep zooming it was a suggestion it yeah not a not a

Rule and I think they’re going to keep doing that like his like they they’re not backing down from that strategy maybe they have to adjust and the the takeaway from this year is okay those guys have to be healthy they haven’t had nearly enough time together but also

They need a real point guard like they really have missed Chris Paul this season yeah I mean I like where they’re at even though their schedule is tough I think they make the jump uh New Orleans no be Brandon HS them a lot and a lot of teams it’s a

Weird time of year like you said before there people sitting out people hurt arresting I think they have a chance to jump those spots and not have to be in the playin well and being a playin team isn’t necessarily a death nail right we saw both the Lakers and the Miami Heat

Last season make deep runs even though they were both playin teams and that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to see that again there is some it is well I was going to say it’s March it’s not it’s April now oh my goodness but there is still that sprinkling of Cinderella

Stories that came with both the Lakers and the Miami Heat but Danny who in the west do you think can make a run this year I think most people agree with me when I say the Los Angeles Lakers is the most dangerous team out of those four um

They made a run last year they have the same makeup same kind of group and LeBron James and Anthony Davis went healthy you can’t bet against them um so I like their chances if they get everybody back they said gab Vincent was might be available I know the X Factor

With them defensively was V uh Vanderbilt so I don’t know where he stands but if they’re healthy I think this is the most dangerous team in the league not just the West he came back and then was back on the injury report she he said he thinks that everybody

Would agree with him I’m going to agree okay yeah that’s I’m I’m sitting right next to you and it’s not just cuz we’ve known each other a long time I agree with you that I think the Lakers are the most dangerous team in that play The Warriors have been playing a lot better

But nobody wants to see LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the seven game series well Danny Zack and I all got the you know Raspberry Beret are you feeling the Lakers Juju too we’re going to send it an email next time are you guys nuts the Lakers are

The most dangerous of these teams the Suns did you see what Deon Booker did last night this if the suns are sticking in seventh if you’re asking me which of these four teams the kings are decimated by injuries the Warriors and the Lakers have been up and down Lakers trending

The right way their offense trending the right way the answer is the Suns man with KD and Devin Booker it’s the Suns he said are you nuts I mean look the Suns have been the Suns all year long and I think they have the big three that

Can do something in the play if they get there but the Lakers have Anthony Davis and LeBron James who went to the Western Conference finals last year different conference different conference different different top different middle different bottom everybody’s better in the west this year this is a totally different conversation of Sacramento’s

Healthy though I like Sacramento with those other guys but without Sacramento I’m going with the Lakers the Malik monk Kevin herder double blow is really tough for them really really difficult for the Sacramento Kings we’ll see how this all reconfigures by tomorrow because it feels like everything is seeding all

Over the place in just a matter of hours so we have a lot to get to we’re going to zip through this show coming up here on NBA Today Joel embiid’s return it an enemy has been defeated an enemy has been defeated let up you have defeated an enemy an ally has been

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NBA TODAY | “Lakers are the most dangerous Play-In team in the West” – Danny Green ignores Suns