Celtics shut down 76ers reaction, Boston on FIRE + Jokic vs. Steph & Durant debate | Hoops Tonight

Celtics shut down 76ers reaction, Boston on FIRE + Jokic vs. Steph & Durant debate | Hoops Tonight

All right welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume happy Wednesday everybody hope all of you guys are having an incredible week got a fun show for you guys today the Sixers and the Celtics squared off last night Boston got a big win we’re going to break that game down

From the perspective of both teams then while I was skiing yesterday up in northern Arizona we had that mailbag on Monday if you guys remember and someone asked me to compare Nicole jokic’s ceiling to or his Peak to Kevin Durant and Steph Curry and I said that I

Thought joic was above both of those guys ended up in a whole bunch of drama on Twitter as a bunch of people disagreed a bunch of you guys in the comments actually had interesting counter points so in the end of the show today I took like about like seven or

Eight different counter points from you guys arguing against my take about yic and KD and Steph and so we’re just going to go argument style there at the end of the show kind of diving deeper into that particular tag so sixer Celtics off the top yic at the end and then later

Tonight after the final buzzer of Lakers Clippers we’ll be going Live on YouTube to break that game down you guys know the drill before we get started subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel it would mean a lot to me if you guys would take a second to scroll down

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As well as the film threads that I do from time to time in the mornings and then last but not least keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments we’re going to be doing a mailbag in Friday’s show this week also have any of you guys ever had a bad

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A half of regular season basketball and obviously the playoffs coming up a lot of older stars around the league guys like KD and Steph and LeBron that aren’t going to be in the league that much longer and these could be some of our last opportunities to see them in person

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Redeem code Hoops that’s ho o o PS for $20 off download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed all right let’s talk some basketball so uh six or Celtics really interesting game the beginning of the game was an excellent example just kind of a Showcase of how great Boston’s perimeter

Defenders are Philly was running this dribble weave which is like literally one of my least favorite forms of offense th those of you guys who are Arizona wild cats fans like me will remember that Shawn Miller used to run this a lot uh uh in their halfcourt offense and it basically just just

Imagine all the guards just running dribble handoff after dribble handoff and they’re constantly trying to find an opportunity to turn the corner but the problem is is the vast majority of guard guard screens or really any sort of perimeter player perimeter player screen it’s just a switch and so these they

Just end up handing like as the offensive players are handing the basketball off the defensive players are just handing their matchup off and they’re able to kind of stop guys from turning the corner and they were doing a really good job containing the basketball really on everybody except

For Tyrese Maxi who by the way no one in the league can really contain Tyrese Maxi but the two guys in particular that were having a lot of success on the perimeter to start the game were Derek white and Jaylen Brown I’m really going to be diving into this Concept in

Today’s show especially as we get uh to more towards Boston’s defense later on in this segment but like Derek white and Jaylen Brown their combination of Mobility strength and length can really cause problems for perimeter players when they’re trying to drive a lot of possessions where Philly players like a

Buddy heeld or Tobias Harris would be trying to turn the corner and their chest to chest and they just keep their hands exposed out out to the side so they don’t draw a foul and they’re just sliding with them and bumping them along and then as soon as they expose the

Basketball they’ll down they’re forcing turnovers getting out in transition off of that Jaylen Brown was so aggressive in the paint in this game especially early on he only took three shots outside of the paint all game long he drove a close out to get to the rim he

Used a ball screen at the top of the key to get down he and dunk with his left hand even in the post like Jaylen Brown is one of the best fadeaway jump Shooters in the league if not the best and we were actually talking about this

The other day like even even the most efficient fadeaway jump shooter is not as efficient as a shot in close to the rim and there was a possession where he was posting up in the middle of the floor had a size mismatch and instead of going to the right shoulder fade he went

To a left hook there in the lane right at the rim and made it and I was like that’s a great example of a physically aggressive move that doesn’t mean you don’t use the fade away the fadeaway is a valuable shot to have in your bag and

Again jaylen’s so good at it that it makes sense for him to take it but I like a good mix a physical aggression in there and looking at Jaylen Brown’s shot chart in this game was just a great example of what I’ve been preaching for a long time which is just directing more

Of your resources towards physically aggressive basketball in the paint because that is what translates to the postseason again this paint aggression thing has been a theme for this show in our coverage of the Celtics over the course of the last couple weeks and it’s been a theme for the Celtics over the

Course of the last couple of games back-to-back games against the Knicks and the Sixers where the Celtics just completely dominated the paint now there’s obvious context there right like the Nicks front line was injured right ogan adobi Julius Randall and Mitchell Robinson all out Joel embiid’s out for

The Sixers the Sixers also are a team that prioritizes defending the three-point line especially since Joel embiid went down and so some of that is matchup related but there’s a lot of really good process stuff in there I pointed out these four things that the Celtics needed to do to increase their

Paint output uh about a week ago on the show and it was running in transition for layups and dunks instead of Threes right if you guys remember they are a team that is a heavy run for three-point shots type of Team they’re a bottom half team in the league running in transition

For two-point shots they were running out for layups and dunks all night against the Sixers Jaylen Brown in particular was devastating in transition in this game and then post aggression was the second piece talking about taking post moves more aggressively towards the rim instead of constantly fading away we talked about that earlier

With Jaylen Brown and then cutting instead of spotting up and crashing the offensive glass now these weren’t as prevalent in the Sixers game but very much so in the Knicks game those are two additional ways to drive offense and they were really active cutting and crashing the offensive glass against the

Knicks and as a result we’re seeing them have fewer jump shots attempted per game more points in the paint scored per game in the last couple of games as a matter of fact in this particular game the Celtics only took 32 jump shots against the Sixers ju toose that with the Bulls

Game you remember the Bulls game they took 57 jump shots in that game and again some of it is related to the matchups but it’s also about playing a more physically imposing brand of basketball it’s about being more deliberate about hunting those paint opportunities Philly

Went on a late run in this game in the early fourth quarter to get the game close uh the game stayed close in the first half Ty Maxi was just incredible we’ll talk about him in a minute but Boston ended up going up by 14 in the

Late third but then Philly got it back to too and it was a lot of jumpers they went through a little short stretch where Boston did get Jumper happy and they weren’t going in and then campaign came in for the for the Sixers there in the early fourth quarter and had a

Little scoring burst at a couple of jab step threes next thing you know it’s a two-point game but Boston immediately responded Al Horford holed off campaign in an ISO heat check situation you know campaign’s looking to make a three he was sitting on his left-handed drive cuz

Campa again is the kind of player that like if he can get to that strong left hand he can make that scoop shot off the glass from basically anywhere he made some impossible scoop shots in this game but if you can funnel him back towards his right he’s more likely to take a

Jump shot baited him into a really tough step back going towards his right and got him to miss it missed it badly way short so Horford cools off campaign and then Al Horford and Luke cornette both had big deflections during that span that led to runouts going back the other

Way now Boston’s back going in transition Drew holiday also hit a couple of big jump shots in that stretch and the Celtics ended up winning comfortably but I wanted to talk about the defensive end for a little bit because a lot of the abas and success in

This particular game came off of their defense and we talked about their perimeter Defender core earlier and how that kind of like manifested in this particular game as they were able to slow down the perimeter options for Philly even Tyrese Maxi who if I’m not mistaken only had two points in the

Fourth quarter of this game the defense for Boston is their margin for err whatever you say about you know Boston’s half court EX ution which we’ve obviously talked about ad nauseum on the show their defensive Personnel is capable of building more margin for error on that end even than they’ve

Demonstrated now defensively they are great in the metrics they’re top of the league again this year just like they were last year just like they were the year before in that like top tier of teams but there’s a difference between where they were at in 2022 versus where

They were at this year and last year and you can just see it in the numbers in 2022 their defensive rating was 4.4 points better than it was in 2023 and it’s actually the same this year than it was in 2023 so even though by ranking among the other teams in the league

They’ve been an excellent defense this year they haven’t been the other worldly defense that they were in 2022 and I do think that’s still in there obviously Robert Williams was a big part of that unit but Chris Ops porzingis brings similar length and rim protection to this unit but if you

Remember that 22 playoff run it was their defense that got them there how did they beat the Nets they beat the Nets because they locked up Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving they like Giannis actually fatigued over the course of that series missed a lot more shots than you’re accustomed to seeing Giannis

Missing and in game seven was completely out of gas and ran and was run down when Boston ran away with that Series right they had devastating stretches of Defense versus Miami had multiple games where they shut Jimmy Butler down and then that was how they took the early

Lead against Golden State it was the strength of their defense like that that to me is where they can make an additional Improvement to buy margin for error for some of the shortcomings that they have on the offensive end of the floor take Jaylen Brown for instance like there’s

So much focus on his offensive shortcomings right like can he dribbled with his left hand what happens when his pull-up jump shots missing you know how else can Jaylen Brown impact winning in those environments well when he’s competing on defense the way that he is

As of late like in this last couple of weeks and he’s that devastating transition freight train that he’s been as of late he doesn’t have to be a deeply impactful offensive player in the half court because he’s that kind of deeply impactful athlete in the other

Areas of the game just guard guard as well as you possibly can and be that transition freight train and it won’t be it won’t matter as much the other issues that he can have from time to time on the offensive end of the floor that defensive end for me for

Boston like especially especially as of late we’re seeing just a little bit more competition on that end of the floor that to me is something I’m going to be keeping an eye on because if they can get that defensive rating down a little bit closer to where it was in 2022 that

To me is a strong indicator that they’re poised to reach their ceiling on that end of the floor when they get to the postseason on the Philly front tyres Maxi I was just so impressed by him in this game he had 32 points felt like it

Should have been more too like he had several that went in and out he had a step back three right before the half where he got great separation and it went in and out he had a turnaround jumper on Drew holiday in the lane that

Went in and out it felt like he could have had more but he seemingly got buckets against every single Celtic he was able to turn the corner against their best perimeter Defenders was scoring against every single coverage that Boston threw at him he was making good kickout passes even competing on

Defense there was a stretch here in the middle of the game where Jaylen Brown was really trying to attack Ty Tyrese Maxi and is so and he forced him into three turnovers he drew a charge and a post up he picked him clean twice like like he’s competing on that end of the

Four now he’s got his limitations there and I uh I I actually struggle with some of Philly’s approach in the sense that like I don’t necessarily agree with playing buddy heeld in the starting lineup next to Tyrese Maxi because I think you kind of dip below a certain

Amount of perimeter defense talent and I kind of like him more as a bench weapon that you use a lot with Joel embiid and dribble handoff situations and things like that I actually would prefer DeAnthony Melton to start in that spot maybe he will in the long run it could

Just be a product of the situation right now but I just was so incredibly impressed by Tyrese Maxi he’s a warrior and and and to me he’s he looks like a legitimate number two a guy that you can legitimately build around with Joel embiid and have a championship caliber

Roster 12 games since Joel embiid went down Tyrese Maxi 27 points four rebounds and six assists on 57% true shooting and a twoo .5 assist to turnover ratio and then one last guy I wanted to shout out on the Sixers was Ricky Council the fourth this is a guy

That stood out to me when I was I haven’t watched a ton of Sixers since Joel embiid went down for obvious reasons they’re just way less of a factor in the landscape of the NBA right now and I mean especially as you look at Philly kind of sliding down the

Standings in the reality of it already being February 28th and you look at Joel embiid potential like the only way that Philly wins the title is if Joel embi comes back and just kills everybody right but that’s difficult to imagine happening this season when he’s going to

Have to come back in like mid to late March and like come from a really low seed and potentially have to play a really good team in the first or second round like to me it just doesn’t feel like this is the right season right and so haven’t been covering the Celtics

Super closely I mean you don’t have to look any further than the show uh our our feed to to see that but Ricky Council I fourth has been a guy that has really stood out to me in the games that I’ve watched with Philly really athletic High motor competes on

The glass can put the ball on the floor and make plays happen he’s actually like a good slasher that generates some Rim pressure I was looking at his per 36 numbers he’s scoring at a rate of 24 points per 36 minutes in eight rebounds per 36 minutes on 62% true shooting a

Really interesting bench Wing that darl mury has found for the Sixers get in on the action with draftking sports book an official sports betting partner of the NBA new customers who deposit $5 or more can get a no sweat bet up to $1,000 back in a bonus bet I was looking

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Deal visit ebay.com for terms all right let’s talk about yesterday’s Fiasco so it was funny because I was skiing and uh all that happened is we got a mailbag question right so Monday show we’re doing the usual thing we did a game breakdown Pacers Mavs we did a a power

Rankings and then a mailbag question somebody just asked would you take like where does yic just pee rank with Kevin Durant and Steph Curry and I answered the question authentically with what I believe to be the truth which is that Nicole iic’s Peak is higher than Kevin Durant and

Stephs has ever been and I broke down why I explained like Nicole joic is kind of like uh a like the consensus best player in the world right now and I just don’t think that ever was even remotely the case for Kevin Durant or Steph Curry

And we kind of got into it a little bit but it was a short little response and a mailbag question well we uh our staff clipped it and put it on social media and it was like a complete show on Twitter it was everyone was disagreeing all the Kevin Durant and Steph Curry

Fans were super upset I obviously am not going to get into that kind of side of things because the internet’s a nasty nasty place and I’ve talked about it on the show but like player stands are like some of the worst uh uh elements of basketball discourse these days because

They feel they need to just defend their player at all costs and it just leads to some really unfortunately um bad basketball disc course but I do think there’s an interesting basketball question or basketball debate to have here and a lot of you guys you uh listeners of this show who are well-meaning

And and obviously want to have a real discussion about it made really interesting counter points and I have let’s see 1 two three four five six seven eight different counter points that you guys made in the YouTube comments and so what I thought would be fun is obviously my stance is yit’s Peak

Was higher than Kevin Durant and Steph Curry’s therefore like you know based on the fact that he’s the best player in the world and his dominance in this stretch is just kind of better than what those guys did that’s my stance you guys disagree here are some counterpoints

Let’s argue about it so I figured that’s what we would do in this segment so first comment listening to how joic is by far the best player of this generation baffles me how many championships does he have so that’s the first clarification it was strictly a question

Of who had the higher ceiling in this particular era right so obviously Steph and Kevin Durant are over joic all time Kevin Durant’s a two-time champion two-time Finals MVP Steph Curry is a two-time MVP and a four-time NBA champion you know obviously what Steph did in 2022 moved him way up in my

All-time list I think I have Steph fifth among all perimeter players in modern NBA history so like obviously I don’t have joic above those guys all time but strictly looking within the ceiling their peak of their career and how much they dominated the league in their Peak

I do have joic over those two guys so that’s the first clarification second one that’s a weird take saying that joker is better than Steph because he’s considered the best player in the world now when there isn’t a prime LeBron to compare him to unless you would also say

That joker is now better than LeBron six or seven years ago so here’s the thing LeBron’s Peak versus J Peak is an interesting discussion to have now I would lean LeBron because I think LeBron had a better combination of like inevitable halfcourt shot creation while also being this supremely gifted athlete

That could cause so many problems on the defensive end of the floor and in transition and things along those lines like for instance like the case for joic is he’s arguably the best halfcourt playoff basketball player on the offensive end of all time arguably like that’s his thing like in the half court

Slow down environment five on five offensive basketball is there a guy better than Nicole jic at creating and finishing super high quality shots that’s Up For Debate and like I would actually even accept if you said joic was slightly above even LeBron in that regard but LeBron was also really good

At that like when you look back to like like really that stretch from about 2014 to like 2018 because he was really good offensively in the early Miami Heat years but like LeBron ball where you like spread the floor and he’d beat his man in in one-on-one or kick out to

Shooters or hit the lob man underneath the basket that really kind of took on towards the end of the Miami Heat run when Chris Bosch moved to Center and then in the Cleveland Cavaliers years right and especially like peing in 2018 2018 LeBron if you left him on an island

He was scoring and if you helped he was making the right play out to the right player to finish that play right so like now was he as good at that as Prime joic was was or is I don’t know I probably lean ever so slightly towards joic just

Cuz joic had this inev has this inevitability around the rim where like he literally is making shots at like a 65 70% clip and even LeBron at his Peak wasn’t that efficient as a scorer around the basket but even though it’s close in that regard LeBron obviously was one of

The very best defensive players in the league at his Prime and even in the that later stretch from 2014 to 8 he could still be this deeply impactful defensive and rebounding athlete and so I lean very slightly towards LeBron in terms of the ceiling but jokic’s that’s where I

Want to be clear here I think jokic’s ceiling is in the same Echelon as the LeBron’s and the the the Kobes and the MJS and and that group of guys that’s the level that I think Nicole yic is at right now now as it regards as it

Pertains to Kevin Durant and Steph Curry and their circumstances having to be underneath LeBron this is a conversation I’ve had a lot on this show it mainly centers around LeBron James and MJ because a lot of LeBron fans will be like why are we giving MJ Credit for

Being dominant in the 90s when he was just way better than everybody and there weren’t any legitimate Stars you know like legitimate Superstars that could challenge him and that that’s that’s what LeBron fans will say right they’ll be like you know like Charles Barkley was his best

Opponent during that stretch or you know these big guys like Patrick Ying or Shaquille O’Neal or hakee alanan these kinds of guys like there just was nobody in the 90s that could step to Michael Jordan and my thing is like even if we do even if we do accept that as

Partially to be reality that’s not your circumstance your circumstance is your circumstance and it’s really difficult to quantify that how much is the way we view Charles Barkley and the way we view those centers in that era it like how how much Clyde Drexler how how much of

That is actually related to the fact that MJ just won all the time like if MJ didn’t play at all in the 90s would we view Charles Barkley the way we view magic and Larry and Steph and Katie and LeBron or Steph and LeBron would we view

Him like that cuz what if what if Barkley got four titles in the 90s because MJ wasn’t there right like like it’s all convoluted and really difficult to quantify so to me the way all you can do is dominate your peers you going across eras gets too complicated it’s within the realm of

Your era your NBA that you play in and how you stack up to your peers there and here’s the thing Katie and Steph they had to play in the LeBron James era that is true but I personally don’t think they were on the same level right that’s

Just the reality we look at joic now it’s a different league right we have older LeBron older KD older Steph but we also have Giannis we also have Luca we also have Joel em beat we have we have Jason Tatum we have we have all Kawhi Leonard we have all these guys and

Yic is steal Head and Shoulders above all of them so even though we I I I first of all reject that idea outright just from the standpoint of like it’s convoluted and difficult to quantify the different eras right but regardless within this era in a league that has Giannis and

Luca and embiid and LeBron and KD and Steph and all these guys joic is way better than them at least substantially and clearly definably better than them so to me that is the Difference Maker for joic like I I I I I think that when we’re looking at ceilings it’s really

Difficult to quantify the different eras but we can quantify that current ERA and to me joic is better in his era relative to his peers than KD and Steph ever were relative to their peers in their era next question our next comment or counter point I should say Steph is 6’2

Comparing him to a seven-footer is not even or fair I mean here’s the thing basketball is basketball there’s not a trophy for short players and a trophy for tall players it is a testament to how incredibly great Steph Curry is that at 6 foot2 he’s in the conversations

That he’s in but the reality is no one walks out onto the floor in game six of the Western Conference semis last year and goes everybody add 15 points to the Warriors because Steph’s 6’2 that’s not how it works your height is your height that’s your circumstance within the game

Of basketball if jokic’s height is something that gives him an advantage then he has an advantage that’s just how it works and again to me it’s a testament to Steph that he’s had as much success as he has at his side size next comment as a Denver fan who

Works at the arena I agree with everything you said except who cares about polling fans most of them are biased and many are uninformed how about if we pull a 100 Scouts GMS or coaches yic would probably win that poll by an even greater margin and it’ matter far

More than the fans first of all I do agree that if you pulled 100 Scouts GMS or coaches the vast majority of them probably 9095 of them would say that yic is the best player in the world I do push back a little bit in the sense that

Like I think fans are smart basketball fans too I I think it depends like there are some that are not and there are some that are but like I do think p a fan opinion does matter and I think like that’s a big part of why I do uh uh uh

Interact so much with you guys in the comments is like I I legitimately think a lot of you guys bring really interesting perspective to the table and I do think that there’s value there next comment Steph in 2016 was definitively the best in the league until he got injured in the playoffs man

Was hurt throughout the uh and man was playing hurt throughout that postseason so here’s the thing Steph had a case to be the best player in the world in 2016 he probably I would say that was probably when he peaked on that conversation in the sense that like during the 2016

Season there was probably a higher percentage of fans and people that thought Steph was the best player in the world but even then it certainly was not definitive and the majority still felt like it was LeBron there just there was a point in time there around 2016

Especially in the regular season where a good like third it felt like felt that way now all Warriors fans have felt that way like there’s no doubt like I I know Warriors fans are super high on Steph Curry they think he’s been the best player in the world from like 2014 to

Now you know like I know a lot of Warriors fans feel that way but in the overarching CT of public opinion for basketball in 2016 was probably Steph’s peak in the way that he was regarded and in that phase I still think the majority of fans and in NBA Personnel thought

LeBron was better than him and so I would mainly just push back on the word definitively there there was no stretch ever where definitively Steph was the best player in the world meaning like 75% plus of fans and 75% plus of League Personnel thought Steph was the best

Player in the world I don’t think that that ever happened next comment according to Jason’s own logic it’s unfair to compare a center to a wing SLG guard as the game is vastly different for each category joic at his best is comparable to Peak Giannis at the moment

He passes both the ey test and stats and stats test to be the most dominant big player in the generation but unless y does a similar run as Steph in 2022 or Dirk in 2011 I would never consider his Peak better than Steph who in 2022 beat

One of the best defensive teams in the era without a top 30 co-star if you want to make the deduction that yic is better from the fact that Denver is currently better than the Warriors fine let’s not ignore that Denver has the best fiveman lineup in the league while the Warriors

Do not have even a solid secondary scoring option so a bunch of different stuff here and some interesting points like for starters the wing guard vers Center thing I agree it’s really difficult to compare the two they basically play different positions but to me that more applies to historical conversations because like nowadays

Centers do function more as perimeter players like embiid and joic basically run their entire offense like that was not the ca like even take like a dominant post player like aim aajan in like the mid 90s he was not getting super high volume assists and running the offense outside of him looking to

Score down there that was not the way bigs were used back then so like pre the like pre the super modern like last you know seven eight years before that stretch centers really did fundamentally play a different sport but like nowadays it’s like Giannis to me is kind of a perimeter

Player Nicole yic kind of is a perimeter player Joel embiid kind of is a perimeter player so now it gets more convoluted just because of the way basketball has changed even embiid now who is so limited as a passer is taking massive leaps as a passer because

They’re using him as a passer like that that is just fundamentally how the game of basketball is changing so like I do feel that way when it comes to ranking like Tim Duncan and Shaq and and aim alanan and all these guys compared to like Kobe and LeBron and MJ but like jic

Giannis and beid these These are modern bigs and modern bigs are much more like normal basketball players as the league has become more and more position as time goes by um joic at his best is comparable to Peak Giannis that I disagree with Giannis had Giannis is

Incredible and I think for a brief stretch there in the early 2020s you could say he was the best player in the world but it was up for debate and specifically in that 2021 season it was a weird season it was postco all of the teams that made it to

The later rounds in the 20 uh 20 season all struggled right like even the Miami Heat who have had the Bucks number every single year outside of that like struggled in that season the Nuggets were out injured the Lakers were out injured right like everyone was down

Right in that 20 even that Celtics team was really bad in in 2021 in that year we had a Trey young Le Western Conference Team finalist we had a Paul George Leed EAS uh Western Conference finalist and we had a Sons team make the finals that was led by Chris Paul and

Devin Booker and was just not nearly as good as some of the other Championship contenders we’ve had in recent NBA history does not mean that Championship doesn’t count just mean that just means that Giannis kind of hit his Peak so to speak where kind of where he kind of

Took that number one spot in the league during kind of a Confluence of events where where he where he was able to take that spot but then he immediately lost the spot as the Lee got deeper and joic surpassed him and to me joic last year like ripping through the uh the KD

Booker Sons ripping through the uh the LeBron ad Lakers ripping through the Jimmy bam heat like that was just another level in my opinion and so to that other uh question does he would need to have a similar run to Steph’s 2022 run or Dirk’s 2011 run I think jokic’s run is

Every bit on that level absolutely unquestionably now the point about uh Steph not doing it or the Steph doing it without another top 30 co-star that’s where it gets complicated because here’s the thing your value to your value as a basket basketball player is strictly

What your value value is is in your role for your team that’s all that really matters right so for instance like Jamal Murray Jamal Murray on the Nuggets because they have the defensive Personnel to give him an achievable defensive role because he can focus on shot making on the offensive end because

Of what everything else the Nuggets offense can do he impacts winning for the nuggets at a top 20 Level and I reflect that in my player rankings right but like to me Andrew Wiggins and what he did in that 2022 playoff run is highly underrated in a different way how

Did the Warriors win in 2022 it was Steph’s greatness but what was another big chunk of it it was Andrew Wiggins kind of shut Luca donic down or at least made him way less efficient Andrew Wiggins kind of shut Jason Tatum down definitely made him way

Less efficient like that was a big part of it Andrew Wiggins in his on ball defense against the best players in the world in that stretch was a huge part of Golden State winning the title in addition to him giving you the the legitimate secondary shot creation and BigTime rebounding and downhill

Athleticism and matchup attacking like Andrew Wiggins was great in that run like it that this uh this last Point here let’s not forget that Denver is the best fiveman lineup in the league Golden State in 2022 was a similar type of deal I don’t think they were for the record I

Do think that that Warriors team was not quite as it as the Nuggets were which by the way the Nuggets were uh um uh the Nuggets were more dominant the warriors were actually threatened a couple of times during that run right the that Warriors team had a really well-fitting starting

Five Klay Thompson came back Klay Thompson locked up Jaylen Brown in the finals down the stretch right talked about everything Andrew Wiggins did Draymond Green’s one of the best defensive players in NBA history like they they were similar to Denver in the sense that they didn’t have star power

Beyond their Superstar but all of their guys were stars in their roles and so to me like Steph’s 2022 run has some similarities to Nicole yic in the 2023 run but to me Nicole jic was definitively better than everybody in the league and has clearly put a a bit

Of separation between him and his peers in a way that Steph has not been able to do uh two more yic is 29 years old not 26 he’s Unstoppable but I doubt he’ll get another season MVP award my is Shay an Luca and Tatum are the next contenders for the award however johnar

Went healthy and drama drama free can also win the MVP so this is actually really funny I I have no idea how I lost track of time but when I I legitimately thought yic was like 27 28 years old or 26 27 years old like clearly like I’m wrong

About a lot of things on the show you guys know that trust me there’s certain people who listen to the show who will never let me live it down whenever I’m wrong about something but like that was legitimately hilarious when I read that cuz I was like oh my God like how much

Of a how much of a of a brain fart is it for me to not remember that Nicole yic is older than that but I was surprised by that and it does affect his long-term potential so like if he wanted to pass KD and step all time he needs to

Continue to accumulate accomplishments and if he’s 29 years old it’s just harder to do than if you’re 27 years old for instance so that might affect him in the alltime conversations but that doesn’t to me affect anything having to do with his ceiling also I do think he’s going to

Win in the MVP this year he’s the favorite um I think Shay is like plus 250 and there’s a chance if the Nuggets really kind of let their foot off the gas here down the stretch that he could uh that he could get it but I do think

Joic is gonna the guys joic is going to win his third MVP in four tries and the one he didn’t win last year he straight up punted he was the leader most of the season and at the end of the season he basically let embiid get the award so

Like like he was this close to getting four consecutive MVPs that’s the level of dominance we’re talking about guys like I get it I understand that it’s a little bit of like a recency bias thing I understand that there’s like you know uh I’m I’m usually Mr give Credence and

Respect to the guys that have been there and by the way that I do reflect that in my alltime list I’m not here saying yic is the fourth best player of all time I’m just saying we are witnessing right now a level of dominance that we have

Never seen from KD or Steph that’s what I’m saying I’m saying the level of dominance is more on par with what we’ve seen out of the guys at the top of the NBA history guys like LeBron guys like MJ guys like Kobe so on and so forth all

Right guys that is all I have for today uh for today’s show uh in the afternoon we will be back later tonight on live on YouTube after the final buzzer of Lakers Clippers I will see you guys then a

Jason Timpf reacts to the Boston Celtics’ 117-99 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Jason explains how the Celtics have been so dominant the entire season, and if Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are ready to take that next step towards winning an NBA championship. Jason then debates whether Jokic is better than prime Steph Curry and Kevin Durant as he impacts the Nuggets in so many ways.

Timeline:
00:00 – Introduction
02:55 – Celtics lock down 76ers
04:33 – Jaylen Brown dominates inside
06:20 – Celtics embracing physical basketball
07:47 – Celtics late surge ends game
09:02 – Boston defense elevating
12:23 – Tyrese Maxey dominating
14:01 – Young Sixer impressing
17:07 – Jason’s “Jokic vs. Curry & KD” take
20:08 – Jokic peak vs. LeBron peak
26:19 – Height doesn’t matter in this conversation
28:03 – When was Steph best player in world?
29:34 – Comparing centers to guards/wings
31:55 – Peak Giannis vs. Jokic
33:13 – Jokic’s all-time run
36:17 – Jokic nearly had 4 straight MVPs

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