Clippers-Warriors Reaction: Harden & LA shock Steph Curry & Golden State on road | Hoops Tonight

Clippers-Warriors Reaction: Harden & LA shock Steph Curry & Golden State on road | Hoops Tonight

All right welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume happy Wednesday again everybody for those of you guys who weren’t here earlier today we did a uh a breakdown of Kings Suns as well as well as a mailbag in tonight’s show we’re going to do an oldfashioned episode of

Hoops tonight we’re going to be breaking down a bunch of games from around the league Clippers Warriors Warriors looked like they had that one in the bag and then a crazy offensive run in the second half from the Clippers uh comes back from behind to to steal that one in

Golden State we’re going to talk heat Sixers and a little bit about Miami’s leaning into zone defense this season and then after that Lakers Jazz Lakers finish off the stretch before the All-Star break with a a big couple of wins in a back-to-back going into Utah

Utah’s a tough team to beat at home without LeBron James they go in there and get a big win the offense looks great again we’re going to talk a little bit the early returns from the Spencer dwy buyout signing and how that is panned out and then lastly tonight we’re

Going to talk a little bit about the report that came out this morning that the Warriors tried to paral LeBron James with Steph Curry on the Warriors in the middle of this trade deadline cycle I guess in the final 20 hours before the deadline so we’re going to talk a little

Bit about that at the end of the show unlike what we did last time instead of doing a mailbag at the end of the show I really really want to dive into a game I did not get to see tonight which was Kings nuggets as the Kings got another

Win over Denver their second in a row and I I just kind of want to dive into that film at some point before the before we go off for the uh the All-Star break so tomorrow morning I’m going to do just a breakdown of King’s nuggets

And then I’m going to do the mailbag at the tail end of that show before we do the nerd SES guys on Friday so drop mailbag questions in the YouTube comments of this video and we will hit them at the tail end of tomorrow morning’s show you guys know the drill

Before we get started subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel would 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 feed wherever you get your podcast under hoops tonight it’s also

Really helpful for us if you leave a rating and a review on that front don’t forget about my Twitter feed _ Jason LT so you guys don’t miss show announcements as well as film threads and then last but not least like I mentioned earlier keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments all

Right let’s talk some basketball so huge win for the Clippers I mean this was a tough game against a RedHot Warriors team in Golden State Kawhi Leonard out you know one of the big things that stood out to me is it reminded me a lot of what happened especially that

Offensive run that they went on they down the stretch where they were just consistently generating these good looks for good three-point Shooters in the corner it reminded me of the stretch that the Clippers went on in 2021 after Kawhi Leonard went down when Paul George and Reggie Jackson kind of led a similar

Type of run where they were just able to consistently either beat their man off the dribble and get all the way to the basket or Draw in that help Defender and make the the kickout passes that would lead to the driving kick basketball that would lead to a wide open opportunity

For a highlevel spot up player and like this is where I want to talk about the upside of building a system versus relying solely on Talent this is where we got to give some credit to Tylo you know when we talk about the best coaches in the league we typically talk about

Eric spola we typically talk about Steve Kerr but to me tyloo is pretty close to those guys and one of the things that I’ve consistently talked about with tyloo in his time in the NBA is I think he has some of the best spacing principles in the league he knows the

Best way to put his stars in a position where they can play easy basketball where they’re either on an island having an opportunity to take advantage of their great gifts or the same types of kickout opportunities are there throughout the season everything is so well established that it almost becomes

Second nature to these guys and again like like that’s what happens you you lose Kawhi Leonard in the middle of a playoff series against the Jazz and Paul George and Reggie Jackson are able to lead them through anyway and then they even got Within two wins of the NBA

Finals and what did they lose a close game on a didn’t they lose a close game on like a DeAndre and lob at one point in that in that series like that series was really close they were that close to being a team that made it to the NBA

Finals without Kawhi Leonard and that that to me it’s it’s a credit to tyloo this is a team that has a a certain brand of basketball that they play night in and Night Out regardless of who was in the lineup this is one of the upsides

By the way of having a plethora of shot creation one of the upsides of bringing a James Harden into the equation if everything is slotted differently like for instance not a lot of Russ on the ball at the end of the game he did have a big offensive rebound crashing along

The Baseline and he had a big driving kick uh driving kick play where he hit Amir coffee in the right corner for a three so like he had a couple of possessions where he impacted winning down the stretch but like he didn’t have to do a ton with the ball in his hands

If James Harden is not in the equation maybe Russ is getting a lot of those possessions maybe it goes different right like bringing in James Harden just gives you another layer of a it’s an example of where redundancy can be a good thing because then when one of

Those Stars has to miss it’s like hey Paul George James Harden we need you guys to consistently break down the defense possession after possession after possession they can do that that is not asking them to do too much A lot of times in the league when you see a

Star go down all of a sudden everyone has to step into a role that they’re not qualified for and then you can start to see a lot of of downturn you start to see role players struggle even at role player things as they are asked to do

More offensively and that’s kind of the upside of adding James hardt into this system down the stretch he’s able to break Brandon psky off with a crossover and get the defense in rotation that generates a wide open Norman pal 3 and then the second half of it and again

Like we talk about all the three phases of of offense when it comes to like Advantage creation there’s the initial Advantage then there’s extending the advantage and then there’s play finishing the initial Advantage is getting the defense in a rotation that can be done by either running pick and

Roll in a way that’s successful enough that you have to bring a third Defender over it could be running a postup where you bring a second Defender over or a double team it could be a face up or an ISO where you have guys digging down

Really hard and you’re able to make a swing pass to generate a spot up opportunity doesn’t really matter how you do it but that first step is getting the defense in ration what that means is somebody’s got to leave their man to guard a different man and now everybody’s running around everybody is

Basically in this like chaos form of defense and there you know the really good defenses in the league can still have some success defensively in rotation but even the best defenses in the league are not as good in rotation as they are when they’re actually able

To stay on an island and stay with their man and so step one is getting that defense into rotation step two is the advantage extension which is basically getting the ball to the finishing play that means if you don’t have an open three if you don’t have a wide-open

Driving layup it’s your job to extend the advantage by ripping through and getting into the lane and drawing another defender in so that you can maybe get a higher quality spot-up opportunity but that last piece is arguably the most important one it’s the play finishing piece you got to have

People whether it’s a vertical spacer that can dunk a lob Above the Rim whether it’s a guy that can uh beat a specific matchup because a team you know in rotation ended up with a small guard on a big player and and he has an opportunity to go one-on-one around the

Basket or it’s an elite shooter you got to have a guy that can finish that playoff right this has been a huge part of what’s made the Denver Nugget so successful over the years it’s not just the Jamal Murray Nicole yic Twan game or their ability as individuals to beat

Switches in one-on-one coverages it’s their ability to when those extra Defenders come into the equation to get the ball to players that can convert those spot up opportunities at an incredibly High rate that’s what creates the real pick your poison type of problems that the elite offenses in the

League can can cause Norman Powell is the very best spot-up player in the league this year among 48 qualifying players who have had at least 200 spot-up opportunities he’s number one he’s converting them at 1.4 points per possession that’s insane that’s like off the charts Good Michael Porter Jr was

The guy who’s basically the best in the league at it last year he was about 1.3 so he’s another level even above that a 10 10% rough a little bit a little bit less than 10% that’s a significant that’s a significant weapon to have on the weak side Amir coffee hits that

Corner three out of the right corner on the Russell Westbrook kickout he’s at 1.23 points per possession in spot-up situations this year that’s really really good that’s what the Clippers do best they convert those opportunities but there’s the two phases to it you’ve seen it before so out against Minnesota

When they don’t have good Advantage creation games the spot up opportunities aren’t as high quality and those numbers can take a hit but if they can get those if they can get guys like Paul George and James Harden to get the defense in rotation they don’t have just guys who

Can make plays on the weak side they have absolutely deadly you cannot afford to leave this guy open type of guys that’s the problem that Denver presents for for teams and now you’re seeing the Clippers do the same thing I mean those last two threes that Norman Powell hit

Look at the close out there was one from uh Brandon psky in the left corner and one from Draymond Green in the right corner where literally they were flying into the play because they knew if I don’t chase him off the line he is going

To make it and he had the wherewith all to somehow like hump fake and then like lean forward and make those shots it’s just again again that’s the that’s the the kind of combination that’s the secret sauce there for the Clippers Elite Advantage creators the total aggregate ball handling on the floor to

Extend advantages and then top tier play finishers that can convert those the end of that sequence at an incredibly High rate and a head coach that puts them all in the right positions and I mean hell half the time when Kawhi Leonard’s out there and they’re all healthy a lot of

Those spot-up opportunities are coming to James Harden to Paul George to kawhai himself and that and that’s what makes this team so special and then there was one other key stretch in this game that I wanted to talk about it was right at the end of the first half Warriors went

Up 15 and James Harden led a little mini like 80 run that completely changed the dynamic of the game had a set up and pick and roll for zubot that got him two free throws he actually blocked Steph Curry on a step back three and then he

Himself hit a step back three turned a 15-point game into an eight point or into a seven-point game going into halftime completely changed the dynamic made a couple plays early in the third quarter I think Paul George got an and one at the start the third quarter next

Thing you know it’s it’s kind of a dog fight and I know the Warriors made their run and like here’s the thing like there’s a there’s a harsh reality when it comes to winning these types of games I think a lot of fans in particular have a certain expectation like Hey we’re

Better why don’t we just go in there and kick their ass but that’s just not how it works the Clippers have one of the best records in basketball this year they basic have been the best team since the 0 and six stretch after the Harden trade and so they can’t afford to lose

In Golden State tonight and it’s not a big deal you drop that game you go home you’re like hey we gave him a good fight you know we had that little run there at the uh middle of the game where we kind of made it close they they got us at the

End of the third quarter whatever like it is what it is right Kawhi Leonard was out we live to fight another day the Warriors needed this game like like they they are trying to CLA out of the 10 seat and so like and you’re on the road

So like it’s it’s unrealistic to expect a Clippers team to just walk in there and to just dominate you have to do what really good teams do in these situations which is weather runs stay in invested emotionally and physically in the game so that when you see your opportunities

You can take advantage Kawai is the force multiplier that makes you a champion but like that that level of commitment from the STP down whether it’s the perimeter defense whether it’s the the the kawaiian or excuse me Paul George and and James Harden just staying emotionally invested

Even when they’re down double digits on the road in Golden State even just the emotion you saw from the coaching staff or from Mason plumbley in this game like those are the kinds of things that I think are really important benchmarks for Championship contenders yeah I I I I talked about

This when we talked about the Clippers in the past but like generally speaking in NBA history the there are these check marks that you want to see for a team that has a real chance to win a championship it’s like can they really defend yeah it’s a big one do they have

Versatile shot creation meaning like they don’t rely on one kind of shot creation like where I I if that starts to fail they fall apart you want versatile shot creation you want multiple high level role players that are good at the little things they have that too you want a coach who’s great

With the adjustments and with setting your players up to succeed and can bring the best out of that roster that’s great too but one of the big check marks is are they attacking the regular season on a night in and Night Out basis even on nights where it seems like it’s okay to

Kind of let go of the Rope a little bit and again like I just I I just think that the Clippers keep passing these tests with flying colors and and and it’s going to be really interesting to see if they can actually put it all together this year when they get to the

Postseason on the Warriors front you know one of the biggest driving forces of their recent success has been their defense and a big part of that has been like I’ve been talking about wave after wave of perimeter athleticism whether it’s a guy like Brandon pmy who’s pretty

Good guard Defender for a young player right or even all these Wing athletes that they have guys like Jonathan kaminga guys like Andrew Wiggins guys like Moses Moody bringing in Gary Payton into the equation when you combine that with the ability that Draymond Green has

To be a backline anchor for you you can be an excellent defense and we’ve seen that consistently from the Warriors but in this game they just completely lost control of the uh of the point of attack and they were just constantly in rotation just breakdown after breakdown

And it’s just I don’t care how hard you’re rotating I saw Brandon psky and and Draymond Green make just ferocious rotations to try to Chase Norman pal off the line but they’re just too out of position and they’re out of position because they’re having breakdowns at the

Point of attack and like again like it’s hard to be too critical because that’s specifically been a thing they’ve been good at as of late but again like that’s that’s part of the thing is it’s one thing to do it against the lower level competition you’ve got to do it against

The best teams in the league and in a big way the Warriors perimeter defense kind of failed to test today but like the question is do you think Andrew Wiggins and Gary pton and Jonathan kaminga and Moses Moody and Brandon pmy do you think these guys are capable of

Defending well enough on the perimeter to succeed at the highest levels I think they are I don’t think the Warriors are going to lose this year in the playoffs because of perimeter defense I think if they do it’ll probably be because offensive creation after Steph Curry that like drop off whenever Steph isn’t

Making everything is pretty significant for this team and I think that will end up if they end up losing at some point this season that will be what ends up doing it and so in a lot of ways like you kind of just have to to cross it off

As a bad day uh but it certainly is disappointing when you have a test like this and not only that you build yourself a significant margin and you have an opport Unity to put put them away with your textbook Warriors third quarter run and you can’t do it so

Definitely a discouraging day they’ll live to fight another day um obviously the Jazz lost today so it’s not like they’re in some sort of troubling position in the standings but like it’s just it’s just it’s definitely discouraging but I I I don’t think perimeter defense is going to be a big

Issue for this Warriors team in the long run and there was there was some encouraging stuff in there as well like I I I I really do see upside uh in the athleticism that the Warriors have like how many threes did Steph Curry hit tonight that were off of these like

Chaotic plays where like Andrew Wiggins or or pmy or Jonathan Kingo would get a deflection and all of a sudden the ball would just be rolling around on the floor and guys are diving on the floor and next thing you know Steph has a wide openen three and Steph is like the best

Player in the world at converting chaos into into offensive success he’s like he’s like he he he like turns chaos into lemonade or whatever the hell the the the basketball version of that expression is and like and there’s a lot of upside there there’s a lot of good

Tonight but you got to close the deal got to play All 48 minutes especially against the best teams in the league and they let go of the Rope at the worst possible time and they just could never regain control of it after that run to start the fourth quarter all right so

We’re going to hit on two additional games from tonight we’re goingon to hit heat Sixers and Lakers Jazz so heat Sixers I wanted to zoom in on the zone defense this is a big zone game for the Miami Heat ran 37 possessions of Zone holding the Sixers to just 27 points on

Those possessions which is 0.73 points per possession what one of the things that Eric spoler will do because they run Zone I believe I was looking it up earlier tonight I think they’ve run it they run it about 11 times per game on average and they’ve

Leaned into Zone a lot more this year uh Miami Heat teams under expulsure have typically used a lot of Zone it’s been a big part of Eric spoler kind of coaching strategy of keeping teams off balance and we’re going to talk more about that in a minute but but like one of the

Things that specific specifically has led the heat to lean so much into Zone this year is Personnel you know like you they’re playing a lot of guys between guys like Kevin Love and Tyler Harrow and and Duncan Robinson guys that that don’t necessarily have a a ton of

Defensive Talent right and so put putting them in a position where they have a more achievable role within a Zone scheme where you’re kind of counting a lot on the intellectual side disrupting the offense like you can kind of get some good results there and the

To give you an idea the Heat have run 625 possessions of Zone this year only the Jazz have run more 726 and obviously uh uh the Jazz have a very kind of different team as well in terms of the amount of guards that they play and they’re kind of in a similar

Predicament with defensive personel but to give you an idea the third most frequent Zone team is the Philadelphia 76ers at 340 possessions which is about half what the heat run and for them similar type of thing they’re trying to keep him beat at The Rim in their two3

And they’re dealing with some difficult you know perimeter Personnel that they’re trying to to get stops with but like especially now with Jimmy Butler out with Terry rier out hopefully his knee’s okay with Josh Richardson out like most of your perimeter defense Talent is unavailable and so leaning

Into that is a is kind of a necessity and one of the things that sporster will do too and I I I learned this firsthand in the Lakers game a few weeks ago but like when he smells blood in the water like when he goes like oh these guys

Can’t handle this like when he had identifies like they don’t know how to score against the Zone cuz Philly scored just fine against Miami’s man-to-man defense tonight they were up over uh up over a point per possession in the half court which is you know not a great

Number for a defense uh but in the half court with their Zone base they did a really good job and he ran uh what is it 22 possessions of Zone in the second half uh which is like a crazy frequency and and and just it held the Sixers to

Just 42 points in that period it was like a now spoler run a bunch of different types of Zone this year he’s run some odd man fronts he’s run some even man fronts a lot of two3 in this particular game but the way he was doing

It which I thought was interesting is he was really active out of the corners so it almost like takes on like a 4-1 type of of look where they’re trying to keep bam at the basket no matter what and even when the ball would go to the high

Post they would keep bam back in a lot of cases and if they did rotate to the middle of the floor they would do it out of the corners which just kind of allowed them to it helped them rebound because bam was closer to the basket and

In general it just kind of disrupted Philly’s flow because they didn’t really know how to attack it from there with how active they were being out of the corners even when they tried to screen the top man of the Zone instead of getting into an open space in the middle

They were running into one of the lower guys and I thought was really interesting and you know from there they just made enough shots Tyler Harrow hit a couple of huge pull-up two-point shots going to his right hand side uh Duncan Robinson hit a couple of massive threes

H HZ had this really smart offensive rebound where he was uh uh in the dunker spot on the right side of the floor and Kelly UB had his back turned and he just kind of snuck right around the backside and went on the other side of the rim

He’s basically playing the odds there he’s like well Kelly will get the ball if it goes to the right but if it goes to the left it’ll go to me and the Miss came to the left it fell right into his hands and he popped it right into the

Basket and put him up 10397 was a huge play in this game because no one could score the damn basketball and like in this Rock fight game where Philly struggling to score against the zone and you know obviously Miami has some shot creation issues without Terry roier and

Jimmy Jimmy Butler you know it’s a lot of Tyler Harrow and Duncan Robinson just flying around screens and and and and get getting into the lane but running into better athletes and having to make kick out passes and like like a small play like that from hakz ends up being a

Gigantic uh uh swing in the game and ended up being enough for them to win but like I thought it was really interesting because they only ran three possessions of Zone against the bucks but then they ran 37 against the Sixers and it’s a great example of like you

Know it’s a tool that you can use in two different ways you can use it as a method with which to win individual regular season games based on matchups which is smart right now not only do you get 37 reps of practice to get all your

Guys kind of more locked in on the details of how to work inside their two3 but you also are giving yourself an opportunity to win a regular season game against a tough team like the Sixers especially when they’re at home like they got a lot of speed like buddy hee

And and and Tyreek Maxi are flying around shooting shots you know um Paul Reed had a had an efficient scoring game in this one like they they have guys they have guys they can cause problems for you if if you’re not especially in Philly in a regular season setting and

And it was just a great way to kind of squeeze a a win out and then the second piece of it is as a rhythm breaker and like you know Eric spuler is so good at this he practices The Zone again 625 possession possessions over the course

Of the Season like com like almost a dozen after tonight I’m sure it’s close to a dozen possessions per game those guys are practicing it so much that when they end up in a first round series and it’s game one in the middle of the fourth quarter and it’s you know 82 to

77 and the heat are down he’ll go to zone for six possessions and just throw a giant wrench into things disrupt the Rhythm maybe he can turn a five-point deficit and do a two-point lead then he’ll switch back to man and team is more engaged and has momentum and he’ll

Ride that home and then randomly he’ll bring it out out of a timeout and he’ll disrupt and like that to me is like there’s a lot of meat on the bone on the coaching side of things that a lot of coaches around the league don’t really

Tap into and Eric spuler is just the very best in the league when it comes to finding all those tiny little advantages that a coach can find in a game through through the Tactical side of things to bring the best out of his roster just I

Thought it was just a fun a fun example of that on the Miami Heat side all right Lakers Jazz so uh Laker offense came out red hot again in this game they built a pretty significant lead in the first quarter and then in the second quarter they just kind of let

Go of the Rope defensively and it turned into this very up and down game but they’re able to stay into games because they can score the basketball they had 70 points in the first half of this particular game and like you know we talked about this earlier with the

Clippers this concept of Advantage creation Advantage extension and play finishing the Lakers they those guys for them don’t have a ton of defensive Talent the way the Clippers do like the Clippers are getting that and Paul George is an excellent Wing Defender and Kawhi Leonard is an excellent Wing

Defender right like they have wave after wave of offensive talent that also can play on both ends of the floor and that’s why the Clippers are one of the best teams in the league and that’s why the Lakers are 30 and 26 but like I did

Think you know that game was really just this recent stretch from the Lakers is an excellent example of just how gifted this team is offensively when they have the uh the the type of Rhythm and flow in the in the ball movement and player movement that they’ve had over the

Course of this last month and like you know uh ruy and ruy haimura in particular was one of the big benei beneficiaries of this tonight he had a career high I think 32 I think his previous career high was 30 but like he kept getting small guards on matchups

You’d get konay George or Jordan Clarkson on a on a postup and the L like the Lakers would break away from their five out stuff to give the ball to ruie they’ clear the side for him so is working with an empty block so that he doesn’t have to worry about seeing too

Much of the floor that’s a concept I’ve talked a lot about with the Celtics and and and to to uh ru’s credit he didn’t settle he was making physically aggressive moves towards the basket using his physical advantages to get easy shots at the rim and and you know

In general I I’ve talked about this before but like for the Laker offense in particular I’ve been completely blown away by how much things have turned around for them over the course of the last month or so because like like literally early in the season when they

Would run their five out stuff they were so so bad and then they kind of leaned more into the four out stuff and they kind of a lot of the same stuff they were running last year right like a lot of heavy LeBron James Anthony Davis

Postup attack a lot of spread pick and roll for Austin Reeves to get into the middle of the floor and make plays like and then suddenly out of nowhere they went back into this like heavy heavy five out attack here in January and it’s just clicked for whatever

Reason and like I I’m I’m sure continuity plays a part in it I’m sure just like repetition and practice has played a part in it but like it’s really come around in a big way I think part of it too is at the beginning of the Season

D’Angelo Russell and and Austin Rees in particular just weren’t playing well and now both guys are just playing at a significantly higher level and like when you’re two skill guards that are on the ra roster for the sole purpose of being skill guards and and they’re not giving

You high level offense like obviously your team is is going to be in a position where they underachieve because all of a sudden the thing you’re supposed to be good at you’re bad at right and like one of the things I kept saying at the beginning of the Season

I’m like there is shooting on this roster like tan Prince can shoot Austin Reeves can shoot D’Angelo Russell can shoot the ruy hamura can shoot these guys can shoot they’re just not playing good offense and now you’re kind of seeing it all come together in a lot of

Ways I thought uh Spencer D Woody’s first two games were really really impressive um I didn’t like the way that uh Darin used him in some rotation situations today which we’ll talk about in a minute but the actual basketball fit makes a ton of a ton of sense right

Away had a couple lobs tonight to Anthony Davis and to Jackson Hayes he had two self-created threes he had a jab step three out of the right corner that he hit and then in the second half he had a pull up three and pick and roll

Where he got the defender kind of pinned on his backside and Rose up right at the top of the key and knocked it down you’re seeing some of that like higher level athlete shot creation which is something that like Austin Reeves and D’Angelo Russell are coverage based shot

Makers what that means is like they can hit shots when the coverage dictates it like they get a Defender pinned on the screen they’re working into the middle of the floor the team’s guarding it two on two instead of three on two so the big man’s in a drop coverage and he’s

Going back towards the rim to worry about Anthony Davis and here’s this opening in the middle of the floor that he can capitalize on you know and then like Austin Reeves has some grift in where he can get some stuff done in ISO just by getting Defenders out of

Position and making plays but they don’t really have like a guy that can like get to his spots on the perimeter and like rise up in knockdown shots other than LeBron James and and that’s where that’s where Spencer didn’t what he is like a huge addition and then secondly he can

Just beat people off the dribble like the Anthony Davis lob in the first half that was an ISO play where he just kind of powered through his man and then got the rim protector to step up got the I think it was Lorie marinan got the pass over the top and ad

Was able to dunk it in like that’s an element to the offense that just hasn’t really been there having a guard that can just beat his man off the dribble to then draw in that help Defender to then make a play and I think in specific situations that’ll be really valuable

Like we’ve talked about this a lot last year remember in the Dallas Mavericks game where LeBron heard his foot how the Dallas Mavericks were doing a ton of switching and in the first half LeBron and AD weren’t being super physically aggressive so it wasn’t working but in

The second it was like LeBron 80 post-ups every time down the floor bullying their way to the rim like this gives you another option there like now in the switching scheme you can use Spencer to help beat switches because again Austin and DLo are more they they

They they do better in screening actions it’s kind of similar thing to like Duncan Robinson and Tyler Harrow like Duncan Robinson and Tyler Harrow when they can come off of screens and kind of take advantage of the stuff that’s baked into the coverage they’re really really good but then against a switching scheme

Where it’s more important for them to beat people off the bounce they can struggle a little bit D’Angelo Russell and uh and Austin Reeves kind of fall into that same category and Spencer dwy to me is just a more physically imposing version of that type of guard Darin ham

There’s a stretch in this game where I thought the Lakers were going to blow it um they were up big most of the first half and then in that second quarter stretch they kind of let go of the Rope defensively but they were at least scoring most of the time down the floor

And one of the things that I talked about in the Spencer dwy signing video that I did was the idea of the potential of a three guard lineup and specifically Austin Reeves D’Angelo Russell Spencer Den witty in combination to LeBron James and Anthony Davis is just a ton of offensive

Skill but specifically what makes that work is the Lakers don’t really have a great option at the three because Jared Vanderbilt’s out right like torian Prince is not that good defensively like there will be nights where it makes sense to play him there but like there will be nights where it doesn’t right

Then you ruy hamura certain matchups especially against switching schemes or teams that don’t have a ton of perimeter Talent on offense where he doesn’t have to chase a ton of players over to the top of screens he could be useful there but maybe in a different matchup you

Want Max Christie there because maybe you’re playing against a team and you need someone to chase Steph Curry around all night all night long right like that three man is is going to be very match up dependent but you can get away with a smaller player there in certain matchups

When you have LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the floor in this particular game the Lakers started ruy at the four torian Prince at the three and then Darin in the late second quarter right before the half he tried to go find a reason to get Spencer dwy on the floor

In a three guard lineup now the obvious solution there is put Spencer in for torian Prince you put Spencer in for Toran Prince you maintain your size on the front line ruy Hur is a huge huge forward that can help you on the glass that can help you uh just in general

With your overall physicality and you have Anthony Davis right and against a smaller Jazz team that can work and I mean here’s the thing the Jazz are actually bigger than you’d think because they were going massive in the front line with like John Collins Lori marinan

And Walker Kessler in this game and in this particular lineup stretch I think Kessler and marinan were both on the floor but what end up happening is instead Darin goes no we’re going to take ruy out of the game and so we’re going to play this three guard lineup

With one of the least physically imposing Wings in the league in Toran Prince at the four now you’re just preposterously small you have no chance torian just finished getting barbecued by Jordan Clarkson in the middle of the second quarter now he’s in this match up with Lori Markin in where he has

Absolutely no chance Lori gets a quick four points and all of a sudden it’s a one-point game going into halftime and there was absolutely no case for it like toan was not having a good game he had this weird play where he uh was driving along the right side of the floor and

Transition and like Spencer dwy was completely unguarded in the right corner just like completely unguarded and instead he drove through to the left side ignored Spencer and turned the ball over uh he either turned it over to thrw a bad shot but like basically the no Advantage was created he

Uh uh had several other offensive possessions where he made poor reads and then on the defense of the end of the floor he was just not playing well like he wasn’t playing well on either end of the floor there was no case at all whatsoever for torian be given that

Opportunity at the four over ruie who by the way had like was literally walking around engulfed in flames he was redh hot in that first half career high scoring night and in a stretch to end the half Darin goes like actually we’re going to go with tan at the four when

There’s no reason he hasn’t been playing well enough to deserve that opportunity makes no sense from the standpoint of lineup construction you have Lori Markin in and Walker hesler in the floor way too small in the front line it was one of the most confounding lineup decisions that I’ve ever seen

And at one point in the second half the Lakers were up by like 12 and tan Prince was a minus six and like one of the reasons why it concerns me is like Darin is and this has been something we talked about all season Darin very clearly is

Attached to Toran Prince not the most unheard of thing in the world every coach has like a specific player that they’re uh that they’re very invested in I had Warriors fans telling me on Twitter today like it reminded them of Anthony Lamb with the Warriors last year

Where Steve CER was just play him all the time and like so it’s not entirely unheard of but the problem is in this particular situation is toan’s consistently playing over way better players and when that happens you’re cutting into your margin and this is not a team that has a significant margin for

Error one of the things they talk about all the time is like playoff series swing on Tiny sequences that like even a five game uh gentleman sweep or a six-game series can can actually kind of come down to a handful of tiny sequences where games swing one way or another and

The entire Dynamic of the series changes that type of mistake made against a good team could cost you a series or rather it could cost you a game which could in turn cost you a series and like one of the things that I talked about a lot around the trade

Deadline is like I don’t know even if the Lakers were to make a deal if if Darin wouldn’t just play tan Prince anyway he started him more than twice as many times this year as he did in the previous as other teams did in the previous three years combined it’s very

Clear this is an outlier type of relationship that we’re seeing from these particular two and like one do you guys remember when I did that rant um God I can’t even remember which team I think it was with the Kings might have been this morning but I was talking

About like falling back on habits like you have this like your your deeper elements of your character are what shine through when the hits the fan it’s a big part of why I talk about habits and discipline in the regular season because in my opinion if you’re a

Team where your habit is to play defense a certain way to communicate to make extra efforts to play with physical Force when that is your habit then all of a sudden when it’s game three of a one-1 series and it’s all of a sudden your team gets punched in the mouth by a

Run and you’re down by seven in the early fourth quarter when the hits the fan you guys will look around at each other and you’ll defend and you’ll lean on those habits that’s why I think that stuff matters so much those things are what carry you when you get into the

Precarious situations down the line what scares me for the Lakers is Darvin his default when he doesn’t know what to do he goes to Toran and Toran is not one of the Lakers five best players and so that will in some situations on the matchups

It’ll work but in a lot of situations it won’t and it could cut it cut it could cut into the margin for error for a Lakers team that is already super thin last note on the Lakers they’ve got to find a way to connect this offensive success they’re having with the

Defensive potential we know they need to have as good as this Laker offense has been it’s not as good as the Denver Nuggets were last year and if you’re not going to be as good as the Denver Nuggets were last year by the way for all the talk about the Denver Nuggets

Defense they defended pretty damn well when they got into the postseason and they’ve been an even better defense this year than they were last year in the regular season but like the Lakers don’t even have as much margin for don’t even have close to as much margin for error

On defense as the nuggets have they have to be a good defense in addition to being a good offense and so post Allstar break really really going to be zeroing in on the defensive end of the floor for the Lakers to see if they can make the necessary strides there before they get

To the postseason all right before we get out of here so we uh I think it was Ramona shelburn for ESPN report reported this morning with Adrian morowski that uh basically the Warriors had some pretty high level conversations to the point where the owners were involved about potentially trading LeBron James to the

Golden State Warriors apparently Jeanie bus forwarded the Warriors to Rich Paul LeBron’s agent and apparently LeBron and his team were like No And so it ended up not happening but I wanted to kind of dive into it a little bit because obviously I I think that LeBron is going

To stay with the Lakers but there is some small chance this summer we don’t know what but there is some small chance this summer whether it’s through free agency opting out you know signing for a mid-level exception somewhere or it’s a a trade or or who knows what the dynamic

Will be but there’s some small amount of chance that LeBron if things go really South this year for the Lakers that he could decide to that he wants to play elsewhere and the Warriors are on the list of teams that would be considered there there are other teams on that list

As well some other teams that might even be more realistic but the Warriors are on that list and so I wanted to kind of dive into the concept for just a minute because I saw a lot of people kind of talking about it online today and like

To me this is not something that needs to be overthought the basketball fit is very simple you were taking Steph Curry who is probably like the only player in the league that will consistently draw a blitz and pick and roll like like he gets two to the basketball every single

Time even down the stretch against the Clippers tonight Draymond Green ball screens he’s rolling off to the weak side both Clippers are running with Steph you’re combining a player that consistently draws multiple Defenders away from the basket with LeBron James who in my opinion even at this age is

The best combination of downhill force in playmaking that we have in the league there are other great Playmakers in the league Nicole yic is is the best in my opinion LCA donic incredible right Trey young incredible none of those guys bring like actual straight line downhill

Force the way that LeBron does and so when I Envision like an offense centered around LeBron James Steph Curry ball screens it is frightening to me you can’t switch it because anybody who’s strong enough to stay with LeBron has no help no no hope in Hell of staying in

Front of Steph Curry off the dribble anybody who’s fast enough to stay in front of Steph Curry off the dribble has no hope in Hell of staying in front of LeBron James posting them up on the week side you know like if they kick it back

Around and he posts up right like if you trap Steph Curry LeBron James is going to be the best short rle player that Steph has ever played with and then if you run a traditional coverage Steph is gonna pick you apart with pull-up shooting like I can’t imagine a more devastating two-man game

Than Steph Curry and LeBron James except for maybe Steph Curry and Nicole yic which literally is just because LeBron’s old but like I don’t think we need to Galaxy bring ourselves around what the obvious basketball fit is which is nearly perfect like the only rub you could put

On the basketball fit is LeBron is old that’s it and here’s the reality even at LeBron’s old age he is still firmly playing at an all-nba level like we don’t need to overthink that side of it the second piece of it to me you would be combining the two greatest competitors of this

Era i’ I’ve talked about this before in the show but I think there’s a big difference between loving basketball and hating losing and specifically hating losing I think pushes a human being to to make extra efforts when they’re completely and utterly exhausted that other people aren’t willing to make a love of

Basketball might get you in the gym a lot might have you working on your game might make a very polished and skilled basketball player but a hatred of losing makes the type of savage competitor that is impossible to beat when you get into these situations and like to me you’re

Taking not just the two greatest competitors of this era but basically the the two most successful basketball players of this era and you’re putting them together of course I’d love to see it it’d be so much fun if you’re a basketball fan and you’re not like yeah LeBron James and Steph Curry playing

Together that would be fun I I can’t relate to you like and even if there’s some unrealistic element to it like it’s like it’s really that simple to me the basketball fit is easy and you’re combining the two greatest competitors of this era I have a hard time believing that it wouldn’t

Work out for a positive basketball result even with LeBron’s old age even if we can agree that it’s unlikely at this point all right guys that is all I have for tonight like I said tomorrow morning we’re gonna hit Kings nuggets in a mailbag make sure you guys get some

Mailbag uh questions into the YouTube comments I will see you guys in the morning

Jason Timpf reacts to Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and the Golden State Warriors’ 130-125 loss to James Harden, Paul George, and the Los Angeles Clippers. Jason breaks down the biggest highlights from the game, and discusses the outlook for both teams moving forward as the NBA Playoffs approaches. Later, Jason breaks down the Los Angeles Lakers’ win over the Utah Jazz, the Miami Heat’s 109-104 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Warriors pursuit of a trade for LeBron James.

Timeline:
00:00 – Introduction
02:14 – Clippers stun Warriors
17:23 – Heat beat 76ers
23:58 – Lakers take down Jazz
37:50 – LeBron James to Warriors?

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