NBA Power Rankings, Bradley Beal return lifts Suns, Giannis & Bucks MAJOR concerns | Hoops Tonight

NBA Power Rankings, Bradley Beal return lifts Suns, Giannis & Bucks MAJOR concerns | Hoops Tonight

All right welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume happy Tuesday everybody Happy New Year hope all of you guys are kicking the new year off right having productive weeks we got a jam-pack show for you today I wanted to cover Bradley Beal returning to the Suns but I wanted

To cover a quality opponent in doing so we’re so we’re going to hit magic Suns from a few days ago the Pacers got another win over the Bucks last night in Milwaukee and really dominated them in the second half so we’re going to break down that game I thought it revealed a

Lot of stuff about both teams I wanted to talk a little bit about ogn and obi’s debut with the New York Knicks which was interesting in some ways while also demonstrating some area of opportunity and then last but not least we have our latest edition of the power rankings you

Guys know the drill before we get started subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel mean a lot to me if you guys would take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button don’t forget about our podcast feeds wherever you get your podcast under Hoops tonight

Follow me on Twitter _ Jason LT so you guys don’t miss any show announcements or the film threads that I do I did a extensive film thread this morning on the issues that the Milwaukee Bucks were having at the point of attack also some highlights of the Pacers guards

Barbecuing them you can find that on my Twitter feed and last but not least keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments so that we can hit them later on in the week all right let’s talk some basketball so there’s a a concept that I talk about a lot on this

Show the concept of aggregate ball handling what that means is like if you take any fan grouping and you have one outstanding ball handler but the other four guys can’t dribble well you have great top end ball handling but you don’t have great down the roster like aggregate ball handling teams like that

That would to demonstrate that would be a team like the Dallas Mavericks for instance right where you know where Luca donic is this incredible ball handler but down the roster they don’t have great ball handling one of the advantages of aggregate ball handling is it gives you the ability to make

Multiple attacks at an elite defense which sometimes is the best way to beat an elite defense a lot of times when it comes to the top tier defenses in the league your first actions not going to get the job done your first action might get you a little bit of an advantage

Somewhere on the floor and you need to take that little advantage and expand it into a greater advantage and so on and so forth until you get a great shot and I actually clipped two examples this morning on my Twitter feed _ jlt where you guys can see some video examples of

This where it’s you know KD is running a ball screen and he kind of gets downhill and he makes a kickback pass to uh Devin Booker on the wing who then rips to the left and and gets downhill and makes a kickout pass to Bradley Beal who makes

One extra pass to the wing to Grayson Allen who pump fakes and drives to the Lane and and finishes at the rim and it’s like if you watch the defense on that possession it’s a very well-defended play by an Orlando Magic team that has a ton of athletes and is

Excellent and he side that is their strength that’s what the magic do best even in this recent stretch where the sun uh where the magic are really struggling they’re defending really well they’re huge they’re athletic they have high motor they have excellent point of attack Defenders and so you’re not going

To just get a lot of easy shots right and and the Suns just did an Immaculate job in this particular game of that high level closeout attacking and what it helps is like we we we talk so much about the off ball roles and we focus so

Much on shooting and it’s actually a misconception when it comes to spacing where people just think oh I need to have a 45% three-point shooter on the weak side well if you’ve got a team especially a defensive scheme that uh rotates really hard and chases guys off

The line all of a sudden spot up shooting doesn’t ma uh mean nearly as much as the actual ability to make reads and attack Closeouts right that that it becomes more valuable and you know what’s interesting is guys like Devin Booker and Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant

Those are guys that we primarily see in on ball roles but by virtue of having three of them on the floor you get to see lots of examples of them playing with an advantage and when you give top tier scorers like that an advantage like a Defender sprinting at them they can

Make the game look really easy at times and they and they did as they stiff armed the magic throughout this game even when the Magic The Magic briefly took a lead in the early fourth quarter where France Vagner was picking onzi metsu in switches and was just beating

Him off the dribble and then the Suns had to try to Blitz to try to prevent that switch and then fron Vagner hit the short roll man which led to a quick kick out three I think for Gary Harris on the left wing and they briefly took a

One-point lead but then Bradley Beal got a couple of buckets and the Suns just regained control of the game never really felt like they didn’t have the uh the more functional half court offense in this particular game as they uh ran away with it and you even saw at

Stretches after the the the suns were driving kicking them to death early then you saw these possessions where it’s like uh uh Kevin Durant running a pick and roll off of the right wing and getting downhill and it’s Bradley Beal and Devin Booker on the left wing left

Corner and their guys are just hugged up on them and so KD’s just working by himself getting into the lane and on this particular possession he ended up smoking the layup but he engaged uh bad at the rim and so nurkic ended up getting a put back anyway but like if

You watch Bradley Beal and Devin Booker on the weak side and the magic just aren’t helping there’s another one where Bradley Beal is driving off of a leftwing pick and roll and Kevin Durant and Devin Booker are on the weak side on Kevin Durant’s on the right wing

Extended and he’s been deadly with above the break three-point shooting this year right Devin Booker in the right wi magic players glued up to him as a result Bradley Beal got to get all the way downhill and patiently work to get a a shot off at The Rim against Anthony

Black I actually trimmed both of those clips as well you guys can see them on the Twitter feed but the the moral of the story here is is when you have this much offensive skill on the floor the game gets a lot easier and again a lot

Of the struggles that the Suns had earlier in the year you take Brad Beal out of the equation you put in a much lesser offensive player it starts to look more like a traditional two-star you know configuration like we see everywhere around the league and suddenly those weak side players they

Don’t seem like they have enough Firepower to make it work Kevin Durant Devin Booker fatigue they get into the the fourth quarter the aggressive defense starts to force turnovers the Suns start to miss even the open shots that they get and it can crater right but then you throw a bradbe into the

Equation even the guys like Grayson Allen and Eric Gordon Yousef nurkic chimi metu has actually been playing a lot for the group lately those guys suddenly get slotted into more achievable roles you’ve got Bradley Beal Devin Booker consistently working in closeout opportunities everything looks a lot easier the other thing I like

About Brad Beal is he brings a very different type of attack to what Kevin Durant Devin Booker uh bring to the table you know uh Devin Booker is a good athlete Kevin Durant is a uh uh has a great physical frame but neither of those guys are like outstanding slashers

But Bradley Beal is actually a top tier athlete for his position when he’s healthy and he brings a lot of downhill Force to the table and you know when when France Vagner went on that run in the fourth quarter as the magic took the lead it was Bradley Beal’s Rim pressure

That actually got them back into the lead there was a possession uh where he got will uh um he got Wendell Carter Jr on a switch and he was able to just beat him off the dribble like just toast him off the dribble and get all the way to the rim that’s a

Downhill athlete play like that probably ends up in a pull-up jump shot if it’s Kevin Durant or Devin Booker right there was another play where they picked him up full court was like the very next possession and they’re trying to apply ball pressure one of the best ways to

Beat ball pressure is to just be the bigger stronger athlete and go past him to the rim and Bradley Beal just toasted him off the dribble and got all the way to the rim I think that fit makes a ton of sense you even saw one of the things

I talked about a lot when the suns were struggling was that KD’s defense wasn’t as good as it it can be and a lot of that came down to workload I thought KD had one of his best defensive games of the Season against the magic early in

The game he had a couple of steals in just the first few possessions playing in passing Lanes he was uh bothering a ton of shots at The Rim you have to have the energy to do that though and when he’s required to do to do that much more

Offensively you can expect his defensive effort to win that’s just normal especially for a guy in his late 30s and so I thought I thought all of it just seems to make a lot more sense with Bradley Beal in the group a very very encouraging sign and one of the big

Reasons why I’ve been saying all year with the Suns like my concerns with them are still there as it pertains to the bigger matchups in the western conference right teams like the Wolves teams like the Nuggets teams like the Lakers but I think writing them off was silly because the entire configuration

Of the team was designed to to involve all three of those guys like they know they’re not as big and strong on the front but they’re going to have a ton of offensive skill on the floor more offensive skill on the floor than just about anybody they play and that’s going

To be their advantage if they can play to that Advantage if they can drive and kick for layups and threes more often than they drive for tough mid-range pull-up jump shots and they fit that offensive shot profile that they need to fit they have a chance they have a

Chance with that kind of Talent on the floor on the magic front uh Pao and fron were both great uh like I said France had this really cool stretch in the middle fourth quarter where he was picking apart the Suns particularly attacking chimi met to uh the major

Thing that kind of got in the way for them is jayen Suggs was really struggling to knock down spot up threes uh especially on the wings and as a result after he missed a couple especially in the fourth quarter the Suns just started ignoring him and then throwing that third defender in two-man

Game or extra defender in isos and they were able to slow down the magic offense which the magic offense which we’ll get to when we get to Power Rankings is really really struggling as of late all I want for the holidays this year is some NBA action this week

New customers can score 150 instantly in bonus bets just for betting five bucks an instant dub just for you guys download the draftking Sportsbook app now and use code Hoops new customers can get 150 instantly in bonus bets for betting just $5 on basketball only on draftking Sportsbook with code hoops the

Crown is yours all right moving on to the Pacers and the Bucks classic matchup of speed versus size a match up that we’ve seen a lot over the last couple of weeks between the inseason tournament the week after and then last night’s game and you know speed manifests in

Very different ways than size does right speed manifests beating the floor uh the team down the floor in transition it manifests when a guy cuts to the rim like there was a late cut from Ben Maan down the stretch of this game where like when he hit the Jets to cut into that

Opening it just caught everybody off guard because of how fast he is right like speed attacking the glass the Pacers uh performed better on the offensive glass than the Bucks did which you would expect would be an advantage to the bucks with their size but with so

Much three-point shooting in the NBA now rebounding is gone from a size game to a ball Pursuit game and having speed on the floor helps you pursue the ball easier as the Pacers out wored the Bucks in many cases but the biggest example Le of the speed Advantage for the Pacers in

This game was at the point of attack primarily Tyrese Alberton and TJ McConnell but also Ben Matan as well all three of those guys were just consistently nothing fancy just go down the floor beat the guy off the dribble play basketball from there TJ McConnell in particular he’s been doing this all

Year it’s so funny because teams have been uh uh you know I think overlooking him in in a certain way as a benchu but like TJ McConnell has been one of the best dribble Drive guys just beating that first line of defense and getting the defense into rotation combined with

His ability to pass and obviously everything that brings to the table there were they were running a uh a little interchange there in the fourth quarter where uh basically uh Tyrese Alberton would come and like do a little dribble handoff to TJ McConnell and he’d get Malik Beasley on a switch and just

Barrel right through him to the basket uh and get all the way to the rim he had like a little short turnaround jumper and Drew a foul on him that way he’s also like deceptively big and strong they’re just they’re just they’re just really really fast difficult to contain

And they have guys that can finish plays and it makes them that much tougher to guard Tyrese halberton in his last five games 26 points five rebounds and 16 assists with only two turnovers per game on 52% from the field 40% from three they’ve won four games in a row all

Against really good teams nobody can keep them from generating quality shots it’s funny cuz like a lot of people I you know we’re not going to talk about the Lakers today but a lot of people have been going on the Lakers and the Pacers since the in-season tournament as

Both teams obviously by virtue of the tough schedule there kind of dipped a little bit and I think people got off the Pacers scent again I think people are off the Lakers sent two you know as bad as the Lakers have been they’re still top 10 in both half court offense

And defense they have a trade to make and they have two top 10 players in the league I think it’s foolish to write them off I think it’s foolish to write the Pacers off these are teams that that inseason tournament schedule was brutal and to turn around and to play a tough

Schedule the following week the Pacers took a dip but they are a good team they’re they’re not a a serious Championship Contender with a lack of Frontline athleticism in size but they’re they could be a player in the trade deadline this year and like Tyrese halberton in my opinion is an all-time

Great in the making I’ve said this on the show before but I don’t look at him as just a guy who could be a superstar I look at him as a guy who could be like Steph and Nicole yic as transformative offense defensive talents that are engines for top five offenses for a

Decade and a half and just just Surefire Hall of Famers guys who could be in the pantheon one day that’s what I look at as Tyrese Alberton as and I know I know I’m on the high end there I know some people are a little bit lower on him but

I I think he’s that special he completely picked the Bucks apart down the stretch uh just taking a little 15ot pullup jump shots over the top of Brook Lopez in his drop coverage he he’s just unbelievable and it and it like we talk about all the time on the show step one

In in the process of team building for an NBA championship is find the guy and he’s got to be one of the guys now Tyrese halberton is not that guy necessarily yet he’s got to polish up some things defensively and obviously we’ll see how his game translates to the

Postseason but I think he’s on a freight train to that level and I’d be shocked if he doesn’t get there it’s super super encouraging on the Bucks front just a complete and total lack of resistance at the point of attack back the Bucks had a significant they had were up 15 in the

Middle of the third quarter and it was like not only did the wheels come off it was like every single time down the floor the Pacers got whatever they wanted it was one of the most like problematic and concerning defensive performances I’ve seen from a serious Champion a serious Championship

Contender in a long time I clipped a thread of all the plays this morning and it’s like 20 Clips Long of like oh you guys got a bucket cool TJ McConnell brought the ball up the floor and just beat his man off the dribble for a layup

Oh you got another bucket TJ McConnell came up the floor just toasted by Chris Middleton and dropped it off to Ben Maan at the basket uh like they’d get a stop here here they come down the floor TJ McConnell attacking Malik Beasley again here’s Tyrese halberton getting wherever

He wants oh Ben ma in left wing against Damen Lillard cleared side I’m just going to dribble right through him to the basket for a layup it was kind of embarrassing and one of the things that I’ve said consistently with the Bucks is like I view them again I look at all the

Teams kind of in tears and to me the Celtics and the nuggets are in the top tier as teams that as currently constructed have serious chances to win the title and even though the Bucks have been a very good regular season team I view a drop off from that tier to the

Bucks to the Lakers to the Timberwolves to the Suns that that next group to me is every one of those teams needs to make a trade they just do I don’t care how many regular season team games the Bucks win I don’t care that the Lakers won the inseason tournament I don’t care

That the wolves are the number one seed in the west to me the Wolves aren’t good enough in half court defense the Lakers don’t have a a a point of attack Defenders that can also score and the uh the Bucks have zero point of attack Defenders and so it becomes a serious

Issue when like every single team you play against their guards are just comfortable and again there’s a difference cuz a lot of times people buy into this like shot result thing it’s like oh we made Tyrese Alberton take contested pull-up twos down the stretch of a close basketball game and you might

Have your analytics professionals telling you like oh man contested pull-up twos are only worth X points per shot we’ll live with that but there’s again the statistic means have you ever heard the expression the statistic means nothing to the individual the statistic means nothing to the individual possession like it’s not a contested

15-footer as one of a thousand contested mid-range uh pull-ups that are all the same all of them are different sometimes there’s really good ball pressure and the guy has to work really hard to get separation over the screen and the contest on the mid-range is better maybe

There’s back pressure there’s a lot of these things that make him uncomfortable that will lead to a Miss whereas if the dude’s just walking into pull-up jump shots with zero back pressure with zero physical ball pressure pressure with zero like a very mild contest from Brook

Lopez coming out of the drop I don’t care what your analytical professionals say that’s a high percentage shot and he made three of them down the stretch of the game and beat you guys and you can like again it to me like that is why point of attack defense is such a

Vitally important uh uh part of an NBA defense like it’s not just about forcing a team to take the right shots from the opening tip of the game you have to make the opposing ball handler feel uncomfortable in some way shape or form if you do he’ll have to work harder and

Fight through it and he’ll take some bad shots he’ll not feel as confident and that’s how you can force a guy into a you know a 10 for 23 night instead of a 15 for 23 night that’s the difference in my opinion it’s Comfort it’s Rhythm like

When you go to the gym and you do cone shooting if you’re a young basketball player that’s working on Perimeter shot creation you know like when I do my shooting drills like I well you that that rip pull-up shooting drill that I’ve told you guys about on the show

Before like I catch and I rip to the right and I do a counter move and I go back to the left and I take a pullup jump shot you know what’s great when I’m shooting by myself it’s Comfort it I feel like I’m doing a shooting drill

Right because I’m by myself when the defense in an NBA game is allowing Tyrese halberton to feel like he’s shooting in con drills he’s going to make shots at a much higher percentage relative to what the giant sample size might tell you over the course of the season because the other pull-up

15-footers Tyrese is taking is against better point of attack defense it’s a significant issue to put it simply you are not beating Boston unless you find a way to make ball handlers more uncomfortable like Derek has anybody seen how well Dereck white is playing this year he’s killing teams with a

Combination of beating guys off the dribble and making reads finishing at the rim and he’s shooting his pull-up three-point shot really really well like that’s just Derek white it’s like okay we have Giannis and we have Chris Middleton for Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum great who’s guarding Drew and and

Derek white like meanwhile on the other end of the floor Derek white is going to be in Damen Lillard’s personal space 48 minutes well however long he plays seven games in a seven game series see how that one matchup could C like and what’ll happen is at the end of the

Series people will be like Dame didn’t shoot very well it’s shot variants and it’s like no the Celtics are just better at making your guards feel uncomfortable than the Bucks are at making your guards feel uncomfortable to me it is a it is a

It is a a fatal flaw like are the the teams in that other tier the the Suns and the Timberwolves and the and the Bucks and the Lakers can they win the title as currently constructed sure but it’s a super long shot you need a ton of

Stuff to go well you need a bunch of guys to pay above play Above their pay grade you need your opponents to shoot poorly you need a bunch of things to go your way and and that’s just it’s just unrealistic to expect it to go that way

All those teams need upgrades and for the bucks they need an athletic guard that they can put next to Dame that’s at least okay on the offensive end of the floor to the point where he’s not a liability that that’s what they need a guy that can pick up primary point of

Attack assignments that’s what they need so that they always are slotted properly and that everything makes sense I said in training camp Malik Beasley can shoot didn’t shoot well for the Lakers maybe he’ll shoot well he has shot well for the bucks but he was never at any point

A reliable point of attack Defender and the Bucks were relying on him to be that it was doomed to fail and again I understand that the standings look good and the Bucks have the second best record in the East and the you know third or fourth best record in the

League but it’s not about winning regular season games it’s can you beat Boston in a seven game series and right now I think that flaw gets them beat against Boston one last uh one last uh thing on the Bucks Damen Lillard had some comments after the game about his

Offensive role cuz the Bucks offense really struggled down the stretch as well they had a 105 offensive rating in the second half and Dame had this interesting comment after the game basically talking about him being off the ball more and to be clear he’s right

About that like there is a a reality to like when you’re CH when you’re touches change like when you go from feeling the ball in your hands all the time to where like you’re still involved a lot but it’s like a lot more like sometimes I’m

Giving the ball I’m giving the ball to Giannis and Chris a lot Brooke is a guy that’s pretty aggressive offensively so like it’s much more of an equal opportunity type of offense and it is a struggle for Dame and he he’s really struggling he’s cratered again in his

Last you know uh uh in shooting over the last couple of weeks we’ll dive into that a little bit further when we get into the power rankings but like he is right like this is a different role and it does take time and quite frankly they

Need to figure that out because cuz I don’t think this defense is going to be good enough to be the foundation for them to win a championship they’re going to have to enter into that Denver level of inevitability on offense and it’s just going to take time they’ve got

Another 50 games or so but they’re going to have to figure out how to get D comfortable in his new role all right lastly before we get to the power rankings I wanted to talk a little bit about ogan and obi’s first game with the Knicks impressive win as

The Knicks beat the Minnesota Timberwolves uh on offense you saw the benefit of O and Obi right away hit Three Corner threes I talked a lot about how so many Knicks games in recent weeks were ending like it’s like a Tic-Tac toe right like it’s like uh Jaylen Brunson

Makes a play at the point of attack that draws multiple Defenders you know he hits the rle man or hits the guy on the wing who drives and kicks or the roll man you know makes a read out of the short roll and then the ball just ends

Up in RJ Barrett’s hands on the wing and he can’t shoot especially against the close out and so just so many of those possessions would end that way and it’s like ogn and Obi is just a much better both contested and uncontested catch and shoot shooter

And it like he’s going to make the corner threes in a way that RJ Barrett can’t the second big thing that stood out to me is just his athleticism again this is a type of athlete that the Knicks just did not have on the roster like a a an actually

Perimeter quick tall guy they they just didn’t have this right and like you see you saw it in a bunch of different ways specifically they him in the dunker spot a lot where like he would just kind of meander down there when he saw an opening and he has that ability to on

The catch just immediately go up and dunk it with two hands and he’s got the strength to fight through contact which is just a it’s like a release valve in a lot of ways when he’s cutting to the rim he had a cut on like a little banana cut

Over the uh uh right into the middle of the floor where he caught and went up and dunked it with two hands I think he got a foul on that one too like he just has like it’s almost like a real Rim pressure from the off ball positions you

Know what I mean and then as just an athlete in transition he had a big one-handed dunk in transition where he was running his Lane I think he’s just going to make them so much better on the offensive end of the floor and I thought you saw that immediately now defensively

Was a chore he uh they put him on Anthony Edwards to start the game and the Timberwolves are an excellent screening team and OG was really struggling to fight over the top of screens and so ant did get downhill a lot I’ve talked about this before but

Like the Knicks might want to experiment with switching just because of the size of their front line and OG and anobi being a big body that can be easy to screen sometimes and we’ll see maybe uh it’s just one game so I don’t want to overreact and we’ll see what kind of

Scheme ends up working best for them the other thing too is the uh the Knicks as currently constructed are not a rim Protection Team they don’t have like a big old rim protector especially since Mitchell Robinson’s hurt and so an over-the-top chasing kind of on ball

Scheme is serves to funnel and you only really want to funnel when you have excellent Rim protection so it might be interesting we’ll see over a larger sample size but it might be interesting to see the Knicks try to do some more switching because OJ andin noi can guard

Bigger players because they can have like a team-wide help and recover scheme to try to uh help them do okay in mismatches they also have some guards that are like surprisingly big and strong uh and that can be something that is useful in switching as well but we’ll

See in the big picture what they decide to do got in foul trouble too a couple of really bad calls there a rebounding foul that I didn’t like and then he his sixth foul was just an atrocious call he was just fighting through a goar screen and it was pretty innocuous contact and

The ref just took him out of the game something I’m not a huge fan of but it is what it is but overall I thought it was an impressive debut for ogan anobi a clear demonstration of the ceiling raising ability that he has all right moving on to our power

Rankings so we have two teams dropping out this week the Orlando Magic went one and two this this week they’ve lost eight of their last 13 games and they’re 26th in offense over that span so they’re out of the power rankings for the time being also the Dallas Mavericks

They went one and two this week lost seven of their last 11 games in that span they’re it’s weird they’re 25th in offense and 16th in defense over that span but Kyrie Irving is back now that should help them settle down he had played his first game last night looked

Rusty but um with him coming back that should help them get back on track offensively alrighty number 10 the New Orleans Pelicans they’ve won seven of their last 10 games culminating in a quality win over the Lakers on Sunday they’re top five in offense and defense over that span Brandon Ingram

Zion Williamson and CJ McCollum are all averaging over 20 points per game very efficiently over that span they’re rebounding super well they’re third in defensive rebound percentage over that span and on defense couple of guys I want to shout out Brandon Ingram is having a ridiculous stretch of off ball

Defense getting a ton of deflections and blocks and Steals and blowing up plays it’s been a theme All Season those of you guys who’ve been listening to the show have heard me talk about it but recently it’s gone even up a level Brandon Ingram has the tools kind of

Like we’ve talked about with Kevin Durant to be an outstanding defensive player it’s just a question of commitment and there have been stretches where he does and stretches where he doesn’t he’s in a stretch where he has been doing it and it’s made them that much more formidable on defense Jose

Alvarado was a menace in that Lakers game as well just a literal wrecking ball blowing things up um not just the the from behind Steels but also just attacking the basketball when it’s in front of him in transition he was having success there as well Pelicans are

Playing some good ball right now the first time in their P first time on our power rankings at number 10 number nine the Indiana Pacers they’ve won four in a row all four wins against good teams they went down to Houston and beat the rockets in Houston

Not easy to do they went into Chicago and beat a red hot Bulls team that’s not easy to do then they beat the Knicks the Knicks are a good team and then they went into Milwaukee and beat the Bucks like we mention mentioned earlier t uh Tyrese halberton in his last five games

26 points five rebounds and 16 assists with only two turnovers per game on 52% from the field and 40% from three and then I wanted to shout out TJ McConnell he’s just been such a good benchu this year not just not just at the point of attack offensively beating people off

The dribble and making plays but he’s also been a very very good point of attack defensive player and just an overall disruptor and Energizer bunny that just continues the wave the onslaught lot of what the Pacers bring as part of that Tyrese halberton experience and then they even play the

Two of them together and then they just start to pick you apart driving and kicking I I did a lot of Pacers talk earlier in the show for those of you guys are watching the breakout clip so make sure you check out the Pacers BR uh Pacers bucks breakdown from earlier

Today number eight the Denver Nuggets they beat the Grizzlies and hornets but then they got demolished by the Thunder at home now Aaron Gordon was out for that game because of the unfortunate dog bite that he suffered over Christmas but as I’ve said frequently about the

Nuggets you know when it comes to their top five I trust them more than anyone else in the league that’s why they’re my number one Championship favorite at this point but their vulnerability is a lack of depth if you lose Aaron Gordon you’re nowhere near as physically imposing as

You are with him if you lose Michael Porter Jr you’re weak side shooting craters and suddenly it’s a lot easier to throw multiple bodies at the yic Murray 2-man game no contavious pope now you have to play your point of attack Defenders that are nowhere near as good

Offensively same issue you can start to load up on the two-man game no Jamal muray there is no two-man game the offense becomes way easier to guard or at least that that you go to a much lower level two-man game so the point is like this is the best team in the league

But another great example like they I’ve always said that fiveman grouping is the most perfect assembly of basketball talent that I can remember seeing in terms of reaching the uh uh value higher than the sum of their parts right and joic is the best player in the world but

Each of those role players next to him is immaculately a perfect fit for what they need out of that position and I thought I thought the Thunder just destroying the nuggets in Denver was a strong indicator of just how important Aaron Gordon is to this particular team number seven the Sacramento Kings lost

To the Blazers but they beat the Hawks and Grizz uh easier stretch in their schedule so I wanted to just take a second to shout out dear and fox does get nearly enough credit for massively increasing his scoring volume while not dropping in efficiency went

From 25 points per game last year to 30 this year while staying at 60% true shooting and it’s on the strength of him just turning into a dead eyee jump shooter not just that but like a high volume guy who’s hunting those shots like there was a clip going around on

Twitter the other day of uh Daren Fox shooting like an early clock pullup 30-footer I think against the Grizzlies and it was in like the early first quart and everyone’s like oh my gosh what is Daren Fox doing people don’t realize he’s just hunting jump shots now he’s

Attempting 10 threes per game over his last 11 games and hitting them at a 45% clip like not just off not just off the catch either in that span six pullup threes a game six of them and he’s making them at a 41% clip this guy was

Already a Star based on his ability to beat people off the dribble to make that floater some of the mid-range pull-up jump shooting in the finishing at The Rim if this dude is now just like a dead eyee pullup three-point shooter like now we’re talking about a guy that can enter

Into the realm of top tier superstardom he is a capable if not excellent point of attack Defender when he’s locked in this is a dude I’ve seen in the postseason no one can keep him in front off the dribble now he’s adding not just

A good jump shot but one of the BET one of the most effective jump shots in the League this year he’s up over 1.1 points per M uh points per shot attempt attt in both catch and shoots and pull up jump shots this year this is incredibly high

Level shooting paired with one of the best downhill athletes in the league so shout out to dearen Fox uh like legitimately one of the most improved players in the league this year number six the Philadelphia 76ers they beat the magic Rockets rockets and lost to the

Bulls but embiid’s been out but it looks like Joel embiid will be returning tonight against the uh against the Bulls again Tyrese Max’s efficiency is tanked a little bit but he’s still scoring at a high volume number five the Milwaukee Bucks they beat the Nets and the Cavs

But lost to the Pacers Giannis continues to obliterate everyone but Dame is cooled way off again in the last six games 22 points per game 39% from the field and 33% from three as I mentioned in the Pacers bucks uh breakdown earlier in today’s show I don’t think their

Defense is going to be very good and so they need to find a way to get Dame into a Groove a consistent Groove offensively number four the Los Angeles Clippers Kawhi Leonard is back and they are back to winning they have an undefeated week kept off with an impressive handling of

The Miami Heat yesterday 17-5 since November 16th which is the second best record in the league second to the Celtics over that span the offense is coming around remember I was talking about early like the even when they were winning I was like watch out their offense hasn’t even really gotten going

Well they’re third in offense over their last 10 games seventh in offense since November 16th in that 17 and5 stretch James Harden is the guy I want to shout out here what I said before the trade and this is the uh something I feel very strongly about James Harden has

Limitations when we get to the postseason and they’re real can’t finish at The Rim doesn’t make enough pullup threes to be a super efficient scorer really inefficient in his impact on a night toight basis bad defensive player right but he is still one of the very best regular season Innings eaters in

The league and there is real value in there 20 points five rebounds and 10 assists per game since November 16th 47% from the field 45% from three in 2.6 stocks per game excellent basketball from James Harden especially helping to float the ship while uh Kawhi Leonard has been out number three the Minnesota

Timberwolves they’re starting to drop some games in this intense stretch of their schedule they’re s-4 in their last 11 but all the losses are in really tough games at New Orleans tough place to win at Philly tough place to win at Oklahoma City tough place to win

In Madison Square Garden tough place to win I actually think all things considered we knew this stretch was really tough but I think they’ve held up pretty well like I talked about earlier when uh right before this actual stretch of their schedule I I was saying don’t

Expect him to go undefeated but if you’re comfortably over 500 in that stretch it’s a really strong indicator of a championship threat I thought they’ve demonstrated it to that point main concern though is just their half court offense they only score uh uh uh 0 point 99 points per half court

Possession or 0.985 excuse me points per half court possession that ranks 18th in the NBA I would like to see them get that up over a 100 that to me is kind of like a prerequisite to be able to score in the playoffs that’s my main concern

For them at this point you’ve seen it before like teams just can pack the paint on them and force them into taking jump shots and like when ant’s making all of his pull-up jump shots it looks good but they can get into some ruts offensively but holding up pretty well over a tough

Schedule number two City Thunder undefeated week with all quality wins they beat the Knicks the Nets and went into Denver and smacked the Nuggets so we’ve moved them all the way up to number two they have won seven of their last eight games they beat the Nuggets

Twice in that span they beat the Timberwolves they beat the Clippers they beat the Knicks playing excellent basketball Shay gild Alexander is playing like an MVP 326 and six on 55% shooting over that span over that eight game span Chad last eight games 20 points per game 59% shooting in 47 %

From three the dude is exploding I think he’s a superstar in the making I think he has potential to be one of the best players in the league one day and Jaylen Williams just quietly putting up 20 points per game on 57% from the field

And 52% from three this team has a super super bright future 123 offensive rating over the last eight games number one in halfcourt offense for the season according to cleaning the glass number three in half court Defense number one where they always have been or for the

Most part this year the Boston Celtics they’ve had a really weak schedule this week but they handled their business they beat the Pistons the Raptors and the Spurs the Celtics have played a much tougher schedule to this point than both Philly and Milwaukee and despite that they are two

And a half games up on the Bucks and four games up on the Sixers they have the fifth easiest remaining schedule so get ready for a lot more weeks like this and look for the Celtics to run away with the number one overall seed as I said before the season I think you’re

Going to see a hefty gap between them and everybody else by the time we get to the end the only reason it’s looked as close as it has is the Celtics have had a very front-loaded schedule when it comes to the tougher games and their peers the Sixers and the Bucs have

Played two of the easiest schedules in the league fueled in large part because the bottom of the Eastern Conference is super weak but Boston gets to take the benefit of that down the stretch so look for Boston to run away in the standings for the rest of the uh for the rest of

The year uh we will be back tomorrow Big Time game we got Thunder Celtics going to be covering that one couple other games from tonight as well as always I appreciate your guys’ support and I will see you Then

Jason Timpf is back to recap the weekend of games across the NBA as well as drop his weekly power rankings. The Phoenix Suns got Bradley Beal back, who has instantly injected life into the Suns. Jason then breaks down how the Milwaukee Bucks have been so bad defensively, and what they must fix in order to make a run at an NBA championship. Finally, Jason reacts to OG Anunoby’s debut with the New York Knicks in a game where he scored 17 despite fouling out in the win against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Timeline:
00:00 – Introduction
01:19 – Bradley Beal returns to Suns
10:30 – Pacers beat Bucks
14:52 – Major concern with Bucks
21:58 – Damian Lillard’s role with offense
23:13 – OG Anunoby debuts with Knicks
26:48 – NBA Power Rankings
27:23 – #10: New Orleans Pelicans
28:37 – #9: Indiana Pacers
29:45 – #8: Denver Nuggets
31:14 – #7: Sacramento Kings
33:09 – #6: Philadelphia 76ers
33:25 – #5: Milwaukee Bucks
33:51 – #4: Los Angeles Clippers
35:08 – #3: Minnesota Timberwolves
36:23 – #2: Oklahoma City Thunder
37:20 – #1: Boston Celtics

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