A Rough Go Out West For The Milwaukee Bucks | Green And Growing

A Rough Go Out West For The Milwaukee Bucks | Green And Growing

Hey it’s C Sparky F 1250 AM The Fan along with my guy Nathan marzion you can follow me at Sparky radio on Twitter or X whatever we’re calling you Nathan Marion Nathan marzion uh and of course don’t forget the pami Sports Book Pro Hoops postgame show on after every Bucks

Game now on 12:50 a.m. the fan we started that last Monday so we’re four shows in and uh of course we start with a Clippers game at five form in which the Bucs win and then out onto the West Coast trip they go uh with these late

Night starts they go zero for the first two on the west coast uh and then they figure out a way to win on Sunday afternoon against the Clippers one left to go in Sacramento uh coming up on Tuesday night one and two so far on this trip still no Chris Middleton and M

Middleton is listed as questionable for the game Tuesday against Sacramento so we’ll have to wait and see if he plays uh the question is simple do the buck struggles out west concern you Nathan Mars not too much um and they had that I mean because if you look at they they had

That West Coast trip um a little bit earlier right when doc took over where they had Denver Portland and then they went to Dallas and they had Utah and Phoenix um and they only won one of those so but again that’s that came that first West Coast trip came at a you know

Unfortunate time with them just firing the coach Doc just coming in like of course it seems like they’re going to struggle a little bit with that um That Jazz game that they lost was on the second night of a back toback and they played pretty well in that game the Suns

Game that they played was you had no Chris or Dame for pretty much that entire game because Chris that was the game he got hurt Dame wasn’t playing so it was kind of unrealistic to expect them to win that one um but like they hung with the Nuggets they beat the Mavs

The Blazers one was the only one that was kind of a concerning loss of those five games and then these last three you know they get dest by The Warriors which I know this is hindsight but like I I truthfully going into that game I was

Like I don’t think they’re going to win you know even if Giannis plays I don’t think they’re going to win because Warriors had two days rest coming off of the worst loss of the season for them you know got blown out by Boston of course they’re going to come out a

Little bit sharper a little bit more motivated um and it just felt like a game where I was like yeah they’re we’re kind of do for a bad game coming up here we’ve won six in a row starting a West Coast trip and the Warriors are due for

A bounce back game and they’re getting everyone healthy for the first time in a while so I wasn’t overly concerned about that loss and then the Lakers one was super frustrating but I thought it was more frustrating than concerning it was just one of those games where it’s like

Man they should have won that game they had a lead late couldn’t keep it even before that they just were took so long to get over the hump they finally did blew it late you know a couple possessions where Dame doesn’t score but still it wasn’t a a game where I was

Like came out of it super concerned or thought that they played terrible um d’el Russell went crazy and just it was just like okay they lost that game but it wasn’t a super concerning one good to see them bounce back and beat the Clippers I know they were short-handed

But um it’s still you know that’s a good team still and so it was nice to see them come through in the clutch and win that one so we’ll see what happens with the Kings game tomorrow either way you know it’s not going to be a good record

Um out west for them this year but again I don’t think that many of these games were overly concerning I think that in several of them the defense looked better you know especially in that first West Coast trip right when doc took over you know they had several games there

Where the defense played better they didn’t win because again they were missing some players in that stretch they missed Brooke for a couple of those games and now they’re missing Chris like that doesn’t help but I just think none of these have been super super concerning losses um and I just think

They’re playing better I I think that even in the losses you see deanis and Dame playing Better Together you see the stuff that’s going to matter come playoff time it seems to be a little bit better um I know the defense hasn’t been quite as good the last two games but um

Or the last few games I should say but I still think it’s better than it was before um and I just think that like when I look at this team as far as how it can translate to the playoffs and their outlook for the playoffs it feels better now that Dame’s playing better

Dam and Giannis are playing Better Together down the stretch of these games they’ve just looked like they know what they’re doing they have purpose they are running actions that are smart and just like run through Damon Giannis all the time um that’s the stuff that to me is

Like hey that that’s going to matter later like that that’s big you know even no matter win or lose the game that Lakers game was super frustrating but I was like man they looked great down the stretch offensively they just couldn’t get a stop on D’Angelo Russell stuff

Like that just makes me optimistic and not feel too bad about the the poor record outwest um you know and again it came at it these these have come at inopportune times with Doc taking over and having that first one and then now without Chris for any of these games

Still it’s tough to have a really good record in these games I’ll tell you what I’m frustrated by I’m frustrated by doc at the end of that Lakers game I me I don’t and I said it on the air I I don’t understand why you don’t double D’Angelo Russell right

Away I I just that doesn’t make any sense to me I mean the man was killing you all night you did not much of anything uh to really try and slow him down and get the ball out of his hands at any point uh and you allowed him to

Dribble his way and do what he wanted against Damien Lillard who is I don’t know we’re Bucks fans we’ll be J we’ll call him average an average Defender at best um and he gets a shot that he wants and then there was miscommunication between him and Brooke on the switch or

Whatever so you had that going on but that that never should have even got to that point it should have been if he gets the ball we’re doubling him and we’ll deal with the Fallout after that if he’s able to make a pass out of that

And somebody else takes a shot but you don’t want that dude who’s killed you the entire game getting that shot opportunity at that moment to me that’s on Doc that’s not on that’s not on anybody else that’s on Doc Rivers and when we start talking about winning a

Championship and Giannis and Dame and so forth I’ve been saying from the jump they’ll have to overcome Doc and that there was a coaching moment where you point at and you go come on man like we got to be better than that we we can’t have obvious things that should be

Happening not happening in big moments at the end of a game and that’s not on the players that’s on him not making that call in my opinion Nathan it was that was and yeah that was probably the only thing that um yeah that I was really FR like I mean there

Was so much I was frustrated by but um that was a concerning thing I guess that I took out of that game was like yeah why did they you know for me it was like why didn’t why did you even leave dam in the game like you had a timeout where

Okay you know you know the Lakers are getting the ball tied game or was it tight was it tight at that point or were they down one I don’t even remember but you know you know that the Lakers are getting the ball think the buck were up

I think the Bucks were up one at that point yeah they were so you know Lakers have the ball down one 20 seconds left and it’s like you like at that point I would take Dame out for that possession you know I don’t think anyone’s gonna be

Like why wasn’t Dame in for defense you know it’s like put Patrick Beverly on him if he can score on Patrick Beverly that’s a it’s tougher to do than scoring on Damen Lillard so um you know I was confused why Dame was in the game in the

Game for that possession um and so yeah like that was that that was something that I definitely was like you know again frustrated by irritated by didn’t like but when I just looked at these games as a whole and I mean again you can blame DOC for

That but I also was looking at the other side of the Court saying man doc did a great job with this crunchtime offense making sure they were always had the ball in their best players hands and they got a good looks constantly over and over and over again um down the

Stretch of that game that you know got them that six-point lead with two minutes left and again they just could not close it out um so it was just like it was frustrating but again wasn’t overly concerning to me um there’s always going to be concerning stuff when

You lose like if you lose that means something some bad things had to have happened yes of course but just looking at again you know Giannis and damee both played really good in that game and then they did it again last uh yesterday so it’s like to have some some games now

Where these guys are looking more like a a Duo together more like and just playing off each other better you can hear them talk about it and hear them um you can see it on the court just them more comfortable with each other like again that’s what we’ve wanted to see

And that’s what we knew we needed to see going into the playoffs was like okay like those guys are going to need to to play together Dame’s gon have to start playing like Dame for them to have any chance to win this title we’re seeing that now and so that’s you know again

Even though they lost that game I was like I’m glad that Dame had you know 28 and 12 in that Lakers game looked great was you know just looked like Damen Lillard um running the offense out there even though they didn’t you know they made a couple mistakes late didn’t

Didn’t end up getting the win it was still like hey we can still take something positive out of this and you know again I just these last two games it’s like I now am very confident it’s not always going to work but just like five minutes left in a playoff game you know

Tight playoff game like I’m confident in this offense I just the way they’ve looked the last couple games and when they just go to this Dam Hest thing over and over I’m confident they’re going to get a good shot do we know they’re always going to make it no do we know

It’s always going to result in a win no but I just think that lately we’ve seen them getting you know executing really well down the stretch and it’s like I don’t know if there’s a team that besides maybe Denver that can get consistently good looks down the stretch

Of games like the buck can just running this action and having those two guys on the same team and you’re going to add Chris to the mix too which will help things so um you know again still some positives to take for me even with the

Losses it’s like I just am confident in this offense I uh I never thought about taking Damen Lillard off the floor in that situation at the end of that Lakers game never crossed my mind never thought about it once I get on the air I’m doing the postgame show and I saw people

Bringing it up and my first reaction was okay quickly here can I think of anybody that was a superstar that was pulled in big gay moments for defensive for a defensive replacement I couldn’t think of one it doesn’t P ja gets pulled because it’s hacka Shack right so he

Would get pulled all the time because you want to avoid hacka Shack or whatever the case may be okay fine from that perspective sure but as far as like who gets pulled that’s at that level top 75 player of all time I just don’t think doc will ever pull him in that situation

Regardless of what happened because of who he is and they’ll live with whatever happens out of the defensive situation that occurs but because of the respect that they have for him they aren’t going to put him on the bench in a big situation A I think

Lillard would lose his damn mind if that were to happen uh and be and then you have to fall on the ramifications of all the media members now talking about it the entire next day on TV about oh my God you see Liller got pulled for

Defense at the end of that game it becomes a whole Sid show talking uh point I don’t disag agree that I rather would have had Pat Beverly in I’m with everybody on that yes I rather would have had Pat Beverly than Dame Lillard in that situation I agree but because of

The way the league is and the superstars and all of that stuff I I just I don’t think you’ll ever see it happen I really don’t and it will never happen it it there’s been times it happens with players when they’re bad at defense and

I it you have to throw Pride out of the way a little bit when it’s when it’s something like that where you have a timeout beforehand now if it was you know okay we were on offense missed a shot they got a rebound went down and scored on Dame that’s completely

Different because it’s like well you’re not you didn’t have a timeout to change the lineup you didn’t have a you didn’t have that that break where you could have made the change like I’m not I’m never gonna have a possession offensively where Dame’s not on the

Court but if you have a timeout and you know you’re on defense for one you need one stop yeah you can take out Damen Lillard like I I don’t think anyone would be I don’t think anyone would really criticize that I don’t think media would freak out about that because

That’s not that’s a pretty like normal basketball thing of like hey you know I mean we love Dame but Dame’s not a good Defender so like there’s nothing wrong with taking him out no matter how big his name is no matter how good he is as a basketball player I think most people

Would agree like yeah having Patrick Beverly on there would help the defense so um you know and I don’t even think Dame would have a huge problem with it I know we can think he he might but if it’s just for defense and like I don’t I

Don’t see why there’ be a problem when he knows he’s not a great defender I’ll tell you right now he gets pulled out and Beverly gets put in regardless of they get the stop or not does not matter after the game Dame Lillard will be asked Dame you weren’t in there on that

Possession what happened you know you are you okay with getting pulled in that situation and then he’s going to have to answer it and Doc is then going to get questioned about man you pull Damen Lillard off the floor for you say and then okay and then you say and then if

You’re doc you say who do you think is a better Defender Patrick Beverly or Damen Lillard nope you can’t put Daman Lillard out there like that yeah but you can’t put Damen Lillard out there like that everyone knows their strengths and weaknesses you can have weaknesses and

Be a great player jannis Yannis will tell you he’s not a good shooter that doesn’t mean it’s a it’s a oh my God Giannis Yan like if Doc Rivers comes goes and says oh we didn’t want to get the ball and giannis’s hands late we wanted it in Dame’s hands because he can

Shoot better that’s not a criticism of Giannis that’s a basic fact of like Dame’s a better shooter than Giannis just like there’s wrong that’s totally different no no no that’s totally different because what you’re what you’re saying then is okay in a big situation down three don’t trust Giannis

Out there so he’s going to sit on the bench and I’m going to put a bunch of Shooters out there with Dame you think Giannis is gonna be okay with that do you think he would ever do that no it’s not yes it is that’s not his strength

You’re down three that’s not his strength I’ve got four other guys that can shoot it better so you’re G to go sit down and we’re gonna play these four other guys instead to try and shoot a three if you’re down three with five seconds left I don’t mind taking Yannis

Out of the game why would I mind that I I no I’m not asking you if you mind that I’m saying do you think DC would do it and do you think Giannis would be okay with it and both answers to that absolutely I think Giannis would be okay with it and I

Think that most people would be like yeah that makes sense five seconds left you need a three you’re going to put five three-point Shooters out there to try to get a three um yes it makes sense I agree I don’t think anyone I don’t just because he’s Giannis doesn’t mean

He has to be in every situation just because he’s D do mean he has to be in every situation it I mean when you are a superstar in face of one of the face of the league in Yiannis yes you’re not coming off the floor in big

Moments I don’t care what the score is I don’t care what the situation is you’re not getting pulled off the floor and if you’re D the top 75 player of all time you’re not getting pulled off the floor late in a game there there are times this happens where I’m pretty sure like

Yic has been taken out for defensive purposes late I’m pretty sure Steph Curry has been taken out for defensive purposes late I would love for you to point that out to me and then I will retract everything I said about pulling I don’t know I don’t know if it’s those

Guys specifically Curry I would love to hear that one I know it’s happened before where there you’ll watch a game and be like it might have been like Donan Mitchell too where I’d be like oh wow like Don Mitchell’s out this game like oh no it’s the last seconds of the

Game he’s on the bench because they want to stop like that makes sense I don’t I’m not going to criticize that like I would love to if you if you could find me examples of that that would be wonderful I would love to see the examples I think it would be a major

Story they pulled Lillard out at the end of a game especially if it happened in say a postseason game where same scenario happens and Beverly comes in with everybody watching on TNT or whatever the case may be and Lillard’s over there watching his teammates play defense do you remember when Lillard got

Here and everybody’s making such a big deal about how good Drew holiday was and how bad Dame Lillard was and all this other stuff and Lillard’s like no I’m not Drew holiday but I’m not that bad of a Defender right I mean he went right away went to defending himself

Defensively in that situ ation so again maybe I’m wrong maybe Lillard would be fine sitting on the bench watching his teammates try and get a big stop at the end of a game but I I really don’t think I me Dak Rivers played in this league he knows he’s been around Superstars

There’s just no way he’s pulling that dude off the floor regardless of what the situation is I don’t think speaking of Dame Lillard there’s been a rule change and uh it apparently has caused Damen Lillard a bunch of free throws this year and we’ve talked about that

Nonstop on this podcast we’ll talk more about that because there’s some numbers out there and our numbers guy Nathan Maran is all over that we’ll talk about that next here on greeting Gro back in the great and growing podcast Steve Sparky f for 1250 ath fan.com Nathan marzion follow him on

Twitter at Nathan Marion follow me at Sparky radio and of course download the green and growing podcast on your Odyssey app whenever you download your favorite podcast at check us out live streaming most of these on the Odyssey Sports YouTube page as well so a rule change was made Nathan

Maran and they brought it up a little bit in the last game against the Clippers uh and it’s absolutely affected you know Damen Lillard as far as how many free throws he’s getting uh and being able to get to the line and you can see the frustration on his face

Throughout this year and you said there’s been some numbers that have come out to justify uh what Lillard is kind of frustrated by right now yes and real I just quickly looked up there were times there was a time in the playoffs joic got pulled for defense late and he

Was there was several times in the regular season he has too so okay so yic is a good example then good thank you very nicely um and obviously and and real just real quick on that last thing but you’re going to get a little criticism for that people are going to

Be like oh wow they have to take Dame out for a possession you know oh my God I don’t care like I don’t think they worry about criticism I think it’s about Dame’s pride and ego dealing with standing over there on the sidelines mean the man was been the star in

Portland he never came out Portland that that’s my saying is my thing is do you risk pissing him off by pulling him in a big possession that that’s that’s my point and you know can you then get his trust back and so forth when you go oh

Man sorry Dame you know maybe it’s a conversation you you have where you say Hey you know if we’re in a position like that again like are you okay being pulled for one possession defensively you know and if he’s really like no then it’s like okay obviously you’re not

Going to do it but at least have a conversation and say Hey you know we think you know is that is that something you’re willing to do anyways that’s you’re absolutely right yeah to the um Damen Lillard you know free throw shooting stuff and really this is a

League free throw shooting thing where they the league has kind of in the middle it’s it’s weird in the middle of the Season kind of changed how they’re officiating things a little bit and calling fewer fouls not awarding the you know foul baiting um as much and there

Not just D that this is happening to but he has had it just based on how like they there’s a stat that is free throw attempt change after January 31st so the last month and a half um your free throw attempt per game before and after that

Um January 31st date and Dame has dropped off he’s shooting three fewer free throws per game which is the most out of anyone and Curry’s at 2.7 Trey Young’s at 2.3 Fox is 2.2 there’s other guys in there but um those are kind of the the guys like Dame the the small

Guards um Curry Trey young Darren Fox KY have all taken more than two fewer um free throws per game now than they are than they were before January 31st and so you know it’s just something that I think he’s I like that it’s happening now than happening you know when the

Playoffs start because you have some time to adapt to it I think he’s already had you know had some time to do that and kind of realize like I’m not going to get these calls all the time and I’m gonna have to find other ways to to

Score or just not not rely on that and so um you know before Jan 31st he was taking eight free throws per game and now he’s taking five and um you know again I it’s not the biggest deal in the world as long as it happens consistently

With every player you know if this was just Dame that wasn’t getting these calls then yeah you’d be like well that’s a you know you’re kind of putting us at a little bit of a disadvantage here you’re really taking away an advantage for us but you know if you’re

Going against a you know again a Trey young uh Darius garlands on this list Tyrese halberton like all those guys are getting fewer calls but again I think it’s just happening to Dame even more than those guys a little bit more than those guys because of you know again the

Way he plays and he has that move where he you know will drive by a guy and you know they’ll kind of be right up against him or bump him and he sells the contact goes up tries to get a shot off and they’re either not calling it or they’re

Calling it on the floor instead of calling it in the air and it’s just like it’s just leading to few free throws for him now he’s still gonna get you know the the five free throw attemp per game is still you know since January 31st is still you know pretty much double what

Curry has it’s basically on par with what Trey young has it’s more than fox has it’s more than Kyrie has that’s still a nice number like for your point guard to average five free throut times per game but it’s not the eight that he was averaging before it’s it’s not that

Um you know very high number but again it’s just something he’s going to have to adapt to I’m glad that he’s going to have some time to do that and they have to find other ways to either get into the line or just kind of he’ll have to just be like I I

Got to not play to draw fouls anymore I got to just you know not kind of take that out of my game right now because it’s not going to get caught so which one do you think it is here do you think it is the NBA was sick of watching these

Guards do what they’ve been doing forever essentially this isn’t something I just started this year Cassell was doing this crap back when he played for the books so I mean this has been going on forever and now all of a sudden you decide you don’t like it now why would

You decide you don’t like it you don’t like it because fans are upset about it you don’t like it because you don’t like as many free throws in a game because it stops play so you know what is the reasoning of why all of a sudden you

Would do this and I think it’s kind of both but as I sit here and I think about this and I listen to you talk and I listen to all of these star players that you’re mentioning all getting screwed by this this rule change and getting the

Free throw line more I just wonder if there’s not a part of Adam Sila and company that really don’t like all these free throws in these games that really don’t like stoppage of play all that much and their Min are thinking look if they’re not stopping playing taking free

Throws these games will get done a little bit quicker and the games get done a little bit quicker we’ll be able to keep you know some of these people that you know can’t focus on anything for more than five minutes uh in this country uh a little bit longer kind of

Like baseball you know did with their pitch clock and everything else and shorten games by a half hour I I’m just wondering whether or not in their mind they’re trying to figure out how to take away some of these free throws and some of these stoppages in play with the

Whistle during the course of games to maybe help speed up the game a little bit and be able to let it have a little bit more flow than it has when you have a bunch of whistles and a bunch of dudes going to the free throw line all the time

Nathan yeah and I think it also is I think some of it is they are they’ve been talking about how they want to or maybe that scoring has has gotten too high you know that that scoring has become too easy offense has become too easy and they want to balance that out a

Little bit I think maybe they look at it and say you know one of the ways we balance it out is just to to kind of take this these calls away where you know again they are foul baiting a little bit where guys are these guards are driving and selling contact and you

Know they’re just saying no we’re not going to give th give them those free throws anymore because that should you know it’s not gonna take tons of points off the board but it’ll take enough that it can balance things out a little bit and and shift things a little bit back towards

The defense of like okay you know not not to be too unfair to the offense and totally allow scoring to to go crazy um which I don’t know I mean because because part of you is like you know is it do you want to see sometimes defense

Be better and and there to be more defensive games yeah but at the same time like does anyone not enjoy watching a guy go for 70 points does anyone not enjoy no no hold on so okay I’ll be the old guy here I I’ll I’ll participate in

This conversation old guy and I’m not saying I want that like I’m not saying I want that to be the normal but like to me I didn’t look at Luca scoring 70 and beid scoring 70 as like a bad thing it was like man that’s really cool like Giannis had 64 I

Know he should had a ton of free throws but like he had 64 points it’s just like if that was happening regularly I mean then I could see it being like okay like scoring 70 is not even a big deal anymore but it’s like okay it happened a few it happened three times

Like it’s not to me it’s like I I just I mean I don’t know I I I’m trying to think of a reason why they would want to like really decrease scoring or like limit that stuff and to me I’m like if you’re the commissioner of the league and you want people to

Watch and you want there to be hype and you want it to be entertaining would you look at it and say oh I actually want fewer big big scoring performances I actually want there to be I don’t know you have to remember who does he who does a

Commissioner of a sport answer to like who does Roger Goodell answer to who does Adam Silver answer to the answer to the owners right who are the owners bunch of old dudes right and if the owners are looking at this going this this is ridiculous like scores in 130s

120s this is this is embarrassing there’s no defense being played on either side of The Ledger right now with all the points being scored and we need to fix this we we’ve got to get this back to being having games around 105 110 and get away with this but the other

Part about it is and again I’m gonna be old man get off your lawn or get off my lawn okay I hate 45 three-pointers in a game hate it 40 three-pointers a game drives me absolutely insane come down Chuck come down Chuck it calm down Chuck

It that stuff I hate it like I absolutely hate it um you got rid of hand checking right well when you got rid of hand checking now these guards can go wherever they want to go when they want to go there if they’re quick which most of these guards all are

Because of how athletic and quick they are at this point I think part of this is the owner simply not enjoying the product as much and wanting to see the scoring come back down to where they think is a reasonable number to a certain degree and the commissioner of

Basketball answers to the owners plain and simple and if they feel like this isn’t the NBA they want to watch then they’re going to change it just like back when what was it the ’90s or whatever it was when scores were like 85 to 82 were finals and the NBA ratings

Were falling they realized that oh crap this is out of control we need to be back over a 100 again regularly so let’s get rid of hand checking let’s take some of the physicality out of the game and now I think they got to the point where

Maybe they went too far over the top and now they’re trying to figure out how to bring it back in again to get these scores not not you don’t want them in the 80s but if these scores are like 110 105 somewhat consistently then that’s good but if everybody in the league is

Averaging 110 115 uh you know scores on a night to night basis are 125 to 120 and that type of stuff I don’t know I mean I I guess maybe for the younger generation that’s great I don’t know if it plays the same way with the older

Demographic I get it but I mean again it just feels like uh there there’s no reason to to change it other than oh it feels like it’s too high to us it’s like well I don’t care it feels too high to you like if if players are better and

They figured out more efficient ways to score and offenses are smarter now and guys can shoot threes better okay there’s going to be higher scoring games okay you’re going to have bigger scoring performances okay the got the scor is going to be in in the 120s that’s a bad thing like that’s a

There it’s a bad thing that that we’re having more points and we’re seeing the ball go in the hoop more like I I just I I don’t know I I think you can take some stuff you say the offense is better you say the offense is better but the

Opposite side side says there’s absolutely no defense in the NBA to the playoffs that’s the opposite side that says no defense in this league it’s the playoffs I very much disagree like I I I see that take a lot and people that don’t watch the NBA a lot of times say

They don’t play defense and it’s like they play defense the offense is just really freaking good like it it you know I don’t it I I I just I don’t agree with that I don’t agree that there’s no defense being played now again I’m not saying that I hate them taking this away

I’m not saying that because again it’s a pretty small thing it’s not something that’s going to drastically change scores and you know drop scores by 20 points per game but um you know and I don’t mind them it depends how you’re taking it away like I I think you still

Need to be you know if a guy gets fed a guy gets fed you’re not gonna you can’t be taking that stuff away but I’m fine with taking away some of the foul baiting stuff and the exaggerating contact stuff or the um stuff where the offense initiates the contact and stuff

Like that like I don’t I don’t mind that stuff getting taken away like even if it affects Dame a little bit it’s like I can understand type stu stuff like that for trying to get the scores back down a little bit is like okay let’s not give the offense obvious advantages by

Rewarding every flop rewarding every exaggerated you know contact and every time a guy drives to the rim he just yells and gets a call like again I understand that I’m fine with them making small adjustments like that or bringing back hand checking a little bit to an extent you know being more lenient

With that um I’m fine with all that stuff I just I see all these talks about too high of scoring and trying to get points back down and I’m like again I don’t mind them bringing it down a little bit but like I don’t want

This to get to a point where we think that like it has to get down to you know like you were talking about like 105 a game like it doesn’t like it’s okay that that scoring goes up it’s okay that offenses are better now it’s okay that

That teams have just figured out more efficient ways to score the basketball like that means that our game is progressing that means that we’re developing as a you know as teams as players as everything like they’re just figuring out how to be more successful at the game of basketball next podcast

Uh I I wanted can we do we haven’t done a Twitter poll in a while can you throw up a Twitter poll on your massive huge followers that you have on your Twitter account and just say you know but figure out whatever the NBA scoring average is

Now uh you know NBA scoring is up the average is blah blah blah blah blah you think it’s due to a more well executed offense or however you want to phrase it uh or B uh defense declining in the NBA those two options of you know why is

Scoring up is it because the offense is just that much better or is it because the defense is just that much worse give them the both options and then let’s just see what it looks like I will I will and again obviously obviously it is a combination of both but to me it’s

Like when you when you went from an era where teams were constantly shooting mid-range shots and that was a shot that was like preached as like be good at this shot practice this shot focal point of our offense is getting to the mid-range you’re not going to be as

Efficient as you are now where teams have figured out that like shooting threes is way more efficient you can make 33% of your threes and that’s the equivalent of making 50% of your twos like it teams figure that out and players figure that out and it’s like

It’s of course you’re going to be more efficient you’re going to score more points when you realize that and when you all of a sudden the analytics come into play and that’s what the analytics said was like Hey like even the best mid-range Shooters are shoot 45 you know

50% you can just shoot average from three you’re going to you’re going to outscore that points per possession wise like that’s just like just statistically it makes more sense um and so it’s like I don’t know I I don’t know how people can really argue against it being

Smarter offense and and better offense because just look at how like just look at how teams have adapted to the three-point line look at how teams have adapted to you know saying hey let’s eliminate some of the bid range and we’re going to focus on threes and rim

Because those are the two most efficien shots like there just it’s there’s more data available there’s more everything available to make your offense as efficient as possible and um you know again I just think we’re seeing the product of that and again I’m I’m not saying I don’t mind I’m not saying that

I I I I want them to never change any rules and continue to give offense every Advantage possible no but don’t go too far back where you’re really trying to hurt the offense and like penalize the offense for doing what you know the the offense’s job is is is they found easier

Ways to score the basketball he has Nathan marzan follow him on Twitter at Nathan marzan look for that poll to come out you can follow me at Sparky radio thanks for tuning in to another edition of green and growing don’t forget pamy Sportsbook Pro Hoops postgame show after every Bucks game

Including the next one coming up Tuesday night late night probably on the there like 11:30 to 1:00 a.m. like I have been for the other two that were on the west coast look forward to talking to you make sure to dial it up put the phone

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Nathan Marzion and Steve “Sparky” Fifer of 1250amthefan.com discuss the Bucks west coat road trip which they are currently 1-2 on.