Suns are Nuggets TOP THREAT, Warriors SAVE season, Lakers-Bucks WILD similarities | Hoops Tonight

Suns are Nuggets TOP THREAT, Warriors SAVE season, Lakers-Bucks WILD similarities | Hoops Tonight

All right welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume happy Thursday everybody hope all of you guys are having an incredible week it is good to be back had an awesome final ski trip of the Year down in the South Lake Tahoe area skied Heavenly for the first time ever

Unbelievable view going up that Gondola out of the that little strip by where the casinos are you get to see the entirety of the lake and unbelievable conditions we had they got a bunch of fresh powder right before we showed up and just got to have a good little

Kickback one last little bit of fun before we get into the grind of the postseason bear with me a little bit today I was up at 2: a.m. navigating a blizzard through the past there as we headed back into Reno and uh connecting flights in Salt Lake and all that good

Stuff and we’re finally back home a little bit brain fry but I wanted to get some stuff out there from the incredible week of Hoops we had while I was gone so what we’re going to do the plan for right now obviously as we go into the

Weekend there’s a kind of a funky NBA schedule because of the NCAA tournament so what we’re going to do today is I’m going to go over my four biggest takeaways from my time on vacation uh ex’s no’s in the Phoenix Denver game from last night little bit more surface level stuff with

Some other stuff around the league CU obviously I wasn’t watching as closely while I was out of town so we’re just going to do a quick touch on all those things around the league then we’re going to take the rest of the weekend off and then starting Monday grinds time

Power Rankings we’re going to start doing film sessions more regularly going to start building out our our playoff previews from there too should be a lot of fun I’m really excited you guys know the drill before we get started subscribe to our brand new YouTube

Channel mean a lot to me if you guys take a second to scroll down hit that subscribe button don’t forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops tonight it’s also super helpful if you leave a rating in a review on that front don’t forget about

My Twitter feed _ jlt where I leave film threads from time to time as well as show announcements and last but not least keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments so we can start hitting them throughout the week next week all right let’s talk some basketball so my first big takeaway from

My time out of town last week I I guess the last time we recorded a show is with the nerd SES guys last week on Friday so it’s been about a week number one Phoenix is not better than Denver but they are the biggest threat to knockoff Denver in the Western Conference I

Thought even though no it’s not just because of last night’s game I don’t think last night’s game was some sort of big sweeping declaration I saw there’s a Sons guy that I follow that tweeted something along the lines of like oh man we got to start rethinking the MVP race

Now I’m like hold on everyone just chill out for just a second like it’s a it’s a really weird game obviously with Jamal Murray being out and with Yousef nerkach being out it just fundamentally Alters the entire Dynamic of uh of this particular matchup but I do think that

There are some things specifically in that matchup that cused in for some issues which we’re going to talk about which is what I think does translate to that postseason setting and what I think makes them the biggest threat obviously nurkic is just an important element of

This matchup because he’s one of the few guys in the league that can kind of sort of hang physically with y yic which gives Phoenix some more flexibility to defend actions Two on Two And one-on-one uh especially with joic post-ups which can help them stay out of rotation and

Then obviously when you take Murray out of the equation it’s just a huge drop off uh in terms of that second tier shot creation like we know Michael Porter Jr can scale up his offense and honestly he’s been one of the stories the last couple of the months uh for Denver just

How good Michael Porter Jr’s been offensively even on nights when Jamal Murray’s not available but obviously he’s more consistent as a third scoring option than he is as a second scoring option and when you slot him up into that spot and there can be a little bit

More inconsistency he had a little bit of an off night right going from Jamal Murray as your main kind of two-man game option with joic and Reggie Jackson being your backup guard to suddenly Reggie Jackson being your main Twan game partner and then having uh Colin gpie

Out there getting minutes as that backup point guard that’s just big drop off both of those guys Reggie Jackson and Colin gpie both had really tough nights on the ball and again like that Twan game what does that that expression mean Twan game what that means is you’re

Running these actions with these two players bunch of different ways to do it right you can invert it you can run out different spots of the floor you can run it out of the post you can run out of ball screens triple handoffs whatever you call it it’s any sort of like

Two-man action right in that two-man game what makes it a Twan game is that both guyses are a threat and specifically the the Murray joic two-man game the threat there is like you switch a slower footed guy onto Jamal Murray he can beat him with tough ISO Over the Top

Shot making same thing with Nicole yic you switch a smaller player on him you could take him down to the post score in the post or Draw double teams in the post if you run drop coverage Jamal Murray has all the drop beating shots in the book right like there’s a

Two-pronged approach there and on the right night you know you can run more dhos with Michael Porter Jr and he’s got it going and it works on the right night Reggie Jackson can be a reasonable fact simile of Jamaal Murray but obviously there’s a drop off there and so honestly

Between nurkic being out and Jamal Murray being out there’s a lot of this game that doesn’t look very similar to what an actual playoff series between these two teams would look like but what does translate the biggest one to me that by far the biggest thing that stood

Out to me on tape watching this game and obviously it was something that we noticed in their match up a month ago but it was kind of glaring in this game as well is Phoenix can keep Denver in rotation on defense now what does that mean to be in rotation what that means

Is like there is an open man and the other elements of your defense are operating in a manown situation and they’re having to leave their man to go to the next guy in line and vice versa so essentially just to draw it out in a very simple basic way let’s pretend

Kevin Durant’s posting up on the right block and he draws a double from the face side from the the uh the elbow right and let’s say that they rotate around in a windshield wiper rotation they take away that first pass of the wing they’re matched up on the top so

The skip pass is open once that skip passes made no one’s actually matched up there right there’s two guys on KD there’s a guy guarding the guy top of the key guy guarding the guy in the opposite wing and maybe in the opposite dunker spot or in the uh opposite kind

Of like uh uh between the wing and the corner depending on how they have the floor set up right but that corner guy the weak side corner guy he doesn’t have a matchup so as soon as that pass is made somebody else has to rotate there

Which means the next guy has to rotate to his man which means the next guy has to rotate to his man and so on and so forth to put it in a very simple term to be in rotation is to not be matched up defensively which can cause all sorts of

Problems not just with being in constant closeout situations where you’re inevitably just chasing the next guy off the three-point line and but then he makes a nice driving kick read now you’re chasing the next guy off the three-point line in addition to that it also hurts you in rebounding situations

When you are in rotation you are not matched up if you’re not matched up you don’t know who to box out if you don’t know who to box out there’s probably going to be one or two guys having a free run at the basket for instance Phoenix has been a good offensive

Rebounding team All Season why because they frequently draw second Defenders and third defenders in ball screens and isos and post-ups and because of that they have the defense in rotation consistently and so there’s usually a sun somewhere on the floor that is going to get a free run to the offensive glass

And they can have a lot of success that way but like there was three ways in particular I want to dive into the specific uh kind of ex’s and O stuff there are three ways that Phenix was keeping Denver in rotation in this game one was bringing yic up to the

Level of the screen Phoenix has really high level pull-up Shooters and when they pull again it’s it’s a very simple push and pull right we talk about this push and pull all the time on the show you have your on ball guy you have your screen Defender if the screen Defender

Has to come out High and the roller can get behind him now you have to tag the roller which puts you in rotation because now you essentially have two on the wall and you’re bringing a guy over to guard the r man there’s somebody open

On the weak side as long as that ball gets worked around you’re going to be in rotation defensively right if the big guy can drop back and stay with the roller in front of him then you don’t have to tag the roller and that allows you to stay home elsewhere and allows

You to stay matched up and be out of rotation right the problem is there is by leaving joic further back there’s room there in the middle of the floor to operate and those are really good players Devin Booker and Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal that you’re allowing

Operate in that middle area of the floor right so like Phoenix being a team that has the the type of talent that will pull joic out to the level of the screen is an important part of what allows them to keep Denver in rotation defensively

Now we’re going to talk about it in a minute because there’s a case to be made that Denver probably shouldn’t bring yic up to the level but we’ll get there right secondly nail help and ISO doubles I that Reggie Jackson was the main culprit here a lot of like gu guarding a

Guy on the wing and you know uh one of the Phoenix ball handlers makes a drive towards the middle imagine Phoenix ball handler in the right wing Reggie Jackson guarding the guy on the left wing okay and Devon Booker let’s say rips through to the left and kind of gets towards the

Middle Reggie Jackson is sinking way down into the lane and leaving his gu his guy open on the on that wing and so from there it’s just a simple swing pass and now it’s in rotation and this is not in rotation against a team that has lower level offensive talent that you

Can kind of offer a token contest at or a token close out out and kind of chase them off the line Phoenix is just has lasers all over the floor right and so when you’re in rotation against them you can be in in a in a big uh issue where

Whoever you leave open is a is a big time threat to knock that shot down right but yeah Reggie Jackson sinking too far down into the nail and then also like kind of randomly double teaming without much purpose he was getting out of position a lot they were getting into

Rotation off that and then lastly the offensive glass like I mentioned earlier Phoenix is a good offensive rebounding team they get you in rotation a lot but also Denver do you guys remember the offensive glass was an issue the last time Phoenix came to town matter of fact

If you’ve been watching the Nuggets closely it’s been an issue for a little while Denver is 27th in defensive rebounding percentage since the All-Star break now the starters have been fine they’re about 75% defensive rebounding percentage which is good not great but it’s good right that’s fine but basically every other configuration of

Every other type of lineup That Denver’s putting out there right now they’re struggling to rebound and and that’s been a consistent issue now why do I why am I harping so much on rotation it is just really it’s it’s a lot easier to get quality shots playing driving kick

Basketball against a defense that is in rotation that it is to get quality shots in one-on-one in Two on Two situations against good individual Defenders right so for instance what is the advantage why do we s like I still think Denver is the team that I would in a match up

Between these two teams in a postseason Series right most people I think would agree with me why because we believe Denver gets better shots right that’s the whole thing with Denver if I take Denver I’m taking the team that most likely is going to get better shots throughout the course of a

Seven game series and if it’s a lot of Kevin Durant Devin Booker pull-up jump shots like it was last year then yeah Denver is going to get much better shots and on the games when Phoenix makes all their pull-up jumpers they’re going to win but if Phoenix is existing in

Rotation I should say keeping Denver in rotation and getting really good drive and kick looks for really good offensive players all of a sudden Phoenix’s shot quality goes like this and this is not the same team that Phoenix was last year there’s a lot more offensive Firepower on this Phoenix Suns

Team and so that’s the thing is like if they can keep Denver in rotation and their shot quality goes goes up to where the tough shots are more of like counters and coverage beaters whereas the majority of their shots are coming like what you saw in that third quarter

Run where it’s like you know get a stop pushing transition wide open three for somebody get a you know a a bring yic CH to the ball get him in rotation there’s a another wide open Corner three for Aaron Gordon another wide open Corner three for you know Grayson Allen or

Whoever it is like when they’re getting those high quality shots they can kind of mitigate that Gap there right and so that’s what I noticed on on tape that that really kind of that that I think bodess well for Phoenix in that matchup is they can get good shots against

Denver not super tough contested shots they can get good shots against Denver and they’ve had extended stretches of that but we’ve seen Denver also defend them better even in the context of this season namely in the fourth quarter of their matchup the last time Phoenix won

In overtime right and so this is where I’d look at Denver’s adjustments running the deeper drop meaning don’t bring yic up to the level yeah you’re going to have a sacrifice there Kevin Durant’s going to be more comfortable Deon Booker’s going to be more comfortable those guys are going to

Get some some more of those easier pullup jump shots that they can get in those coverages right but in that case you’re helping yourself on the defensive Glass by staying not just keeping jic closer to the rim but also just kind of having everybody more matched up and two

You keep the ball from popping around and getting really easy catch and shoot looks right which I think are going to be more dangerous to Denver than tough shot making from Phoenix I think Phoenix can beat Denver a couple of times on tough shot making I don’t think they can

Beat him four times out of seven with tough shot making right less help like we talked about earlier with Reggie uh Reggie Jackson again staying out of rotation to keep clean rebounding match matchups and making Phoenix speu with tough shot making so again I think there are adjustments that can be made there

Uh but if Denver gets into rotation constantly against Phoenix I think there’s a chance that they could get outshot in the series uh secondly this was another major cut takeaway that I had on the Phoenix side Kevin Durant looks substantially more comfortable working against Aaron Gordon as a

Primary defender in this year than I than I noticed in the playoffs last year now there’s reasons for that like I said Phoenix has substantially more offensive Talent now but a lot of it also has to do with just more variety offensively there’s a lot of pick and roll with

Kevin Durant last year against Aaron Gordon a lot of pick and roll lot of iso Kevin Durant’s attacking so much more in closeout situations now and like he can actually kind of do some damage to Aaron Gordon in space he’s a little quicker than him which I think is interesting

And so I just I I think I I think you’ve seen probably Kevin Durant’s two best games against Aaron Gordon uh in the last couple of years in this season I don’t remember a specific he had a he had some big box score games

I think he had 39 in game three or game four of the of the Denver Series last year but he wasn’t particularly efficient this kind of like efficient shot making and scoring from Kevin Durant against Aaron Gordon is kind of a different thing than we saw last year

And I think that that’s super encouraging and then lastly the third one dadus young looks like a legitimate playoff weapon had six points and nine rebounds in 18 minutes the suns were plus 15 in those minutes so far it uh the D young Kevin Durant front court

With no Center which they went to for a little bit in that uh if I remember correctly was in the early fourth quarter stretch but with those two guys on the floor no Center and just under 50 possessions plus 16 net rating so outscoring teams by 16 points per 100

Possessions great on both ends of the floor that group is uh uh grabbing 37% of available offensive rebounds Thad young himself had four offensive rebounds in that game against Denver he brings an entirely different look than some of these other role players that Phoenix has rolled out there over the

Course of the year the big one to me is that contested rebounding and so there’s a specific play that I wanted to kind of uh talk to you guys about to kind of demonstrate the advantage of having a guy that can help in these particular situations so it’s a fourth quarter

Possession it’s early fourth I want to say Denver’s up or Phoenix is up uh either 9 or 11 at this point it’s right around that double figures Point Aaron Gordon gets Eric Gordon on a switch in the post posting up on the left block and Aaron Gordon kind of

Meanders his way into the lane and he pulls bbow on a baseline double team so B bbo cames over comes over on the Baseline side uh Aaron Gordon identifies Christian Brown as the cutter there hits Christian Brown Christian Brown ends up dribbling out to the three-point line

Taking a three not obviously a great shot out of a double team but a shot however there’s still an advantage there Aaron Gordon still has Eric Gordon on him underneath the basket how many times this season have we seen Eric Gordon do damage on the offensive glass with a

Smaller Defender there because double teams or or mismatches or whatever or or uh switches cross matches whatever it is has pulled the bigger Defenders away from the basket and left Aaron Gordon down there by himself how many times have we seen that that’s a huge staple of Denver’s offense

But here’s the thing that young comes flying in and even though Aaron Gordon goes way over the top of Eric Gordon and he’s there to grab the ball that young just comes in and snatches it out of his hand that’s a huge advantage to put it simply Thad young raises the physical

Profile of those lineups and gives them an option to go to that brings more physicality to the table so now kind of to put a bow on all that again weird game too many important missing pieces to really view that as like an accurate description of what the those matchups

Will look like however I do think Phoenix does present some legitimate issues for Denver their aggregate offensive Talent around the board can really spread Denver out in a way that makes it tougher for them and they have the star talent to get uh Denver into rotation consistently and again Denver

I’ve seen Denver be be really good in rotation I’ve seen Denver run different coverages where they keep y closer more conservative coverages where they stay out of rotation again I would pick Denver to to win a seven game series against Phoenix but I think Phoenix is demonstrating the little things that

They can do that put Denver into some predicaments that give them some advantages and I think it’s worth keeping an eye on as we get into that postseason the thrill and excitement of March Mania is here and draftking Sportsbook one of America’s top rated Sportsbook apps is giving new customers

A shot to turn five bucks into $150 instantly in bonus Bets with any college basketball bet Yukon is currently the favorite to win the title at plus 500 my favorite team Hometown Tucson Arizona Wildcats are currently plus, 1300 plenty of good bets to check out download the draftking Sportsbook app and use code

Hoops that’s ho o o PS new customers can bet five bucks to get $150 instantly in bonus bets only at draftking Sportsbook with code Hoops that’s h o o PS the crown is yours you’ll know real when you get it it’ll say eBay authenticity guarantee and

You’ll feel it because when it comes to your feet eBay has your back maybe it’s a head turning pair for hooping or hot new collab whatever you’re after when you cop on eBay you can trust that your kicks will be checked by experts not just any experts sneaker experts who

Live and breathe the culture real people with real Hands-On authentication experience that’s what the blue check mark represents on our listings eBay authenticity guarantee meaning every inch Stitch Sole and logo is verified authentic through a detailed inspection so when you finally step into those Grail kicks you’ll realize that the

Feeling is unlike any other and with eBay’s authenticity guarantee that feeling of real is always Within Reach ensure your next purchase is the real deal visit ebay.com for terms second biggest takeaway from my time away on vacation going to be a little bit more surface level the rest of the way cuz

Like I said I was um um uh really just trying to take a take the time to enjoy um hanging out with my wife and with her family for a little bit number two the Dallas Mavericks are showing signs of real Championship contention they had a

Little bit of an easy stretch in their schedule last week they had three wins against the Spurs and the Jazz but then they roll up into Sacramento for a super important game for seeding and it’s close for a little over two quarters and then they just beat the living out

Of them now Dallas is in commanding position for the six seed and their Striking Distance of the five seed biggest positive sign though we remember they went on that East Coast road trip and just got sliced and diced by everybody they defended before the trip then they went on the trip and they

Could not guard a soul right then they come home and they had a couple of other bad losses right I think that I think the Pacers ended up getting at home similar type of game but then they go up uh they snap back into form against the

Heat have a good defensive night and in their 10 games since the Miami Heat game 106.5 defensive rating that’s the second best Mark in the league over that span and 12th in defensive rebounding which is one of their better stretches of defensive rebounding that we’ve seen over the course of the Season we’ve

Talked about this with a bunch of different teams around the League this year and there’s a bunch of teams that kind of fit into this mold right Sacramento fits into this mold Dallas fits into this mold the Lakers kind of fit into this mold Milwaukee kind of

Fits into this mold these are teams that like they’re jackling hide on the on the details right if you catch the Mavericks on the right night you’re like man this these guys have some real athletes on the perimeter they got some athletes under the rim their stars are trying

Hard and doing their job like they can defend same thing goes for Milwaukee catch him on the right night when Dame and Malik Beasley are really turning it up at at the point of attack and uh in general they’re just engaged defensively they look really good defensively Lakers

Same sort of thing right Kings gosh the Kings have had some of the most impressive two-way performances I’ve seen in the League this year but again it’s a about consistency and habits and I’m seeing now a 10 game stretch a significant chunk of the Season where the Mavs are really defending and really

Rebounding and this has been an extended stretch now got dating Back to Before the Eastern Conference road trip this has been a thing where more often than not Dallas has been bringing those defensive details to the equation and again like everything about we know we

Know what Luca and Kyrie can do as shot creators we saw what they did to Sacramento in that third quarter run but that’s only one part of this that physical imposition on the game is a massive element there it is a prerequisite you have to do it Denver

Was a mediocre defense a lot of the year last year what were they when they got into the postseason they were an elite defense you don’t win out executing teams on one end of the floor you went out executing teams on two ends of the

Floor right and so I I think that I think that this is just I I always look at habits is the big like the thing that you lean on when the hits the fan right and the best way to establish habits is over an extended span of regular season basketball putting in

That attention to detail and Dallas is doing that that’s a major box for me to check on the path to Championship contention really really impressive showing from Dallas as of late number three this is one that’s going to really piss people off but hey we’re just going to have some fun with

It the Bucks and Lakers are two very similar teams playing into two very different conferences so obviously the both teams are playing well right now the bu went out west and got smashed by everybody but they came home and they got a couple of impressive wins they beat the uh

Thunder and the Suns in blowout fashion at home Lakers currently on a five-game winning streak a huge win in Milwaukee without uh Lebron James and then a big one without Anthony Davis and Memphis uh now they’re making a real run at that eight seed now before anybody says

Anything I know what everyone’s going to say Jason that’s insane the Bucks are two seed the Lakers are fighting for the play in how could you possibly consider them to be similar well I’m going to go with the similarities first then we’ll go into the differences first of all

Both teams have two superstars both teams kind of considered uh both of those Stars considered you know com comfortably top 15 obviously both Dame and LeBron are down a level from where their original reputation was but they’re both considered kind of top 15 and then obviously Giannis is better

Than all of those guys but Anthony Davis and Giannis are both considered in like that Superstar tier right so you both got two Superstar Le teams right you both have massive front lines Giannis and Brook Lopez LeBron James and Davis both teams are weak at the point of

Attack defensively now the Lakers have a good option coming back in Jared Vanderbilt but with Jared Vanderbilt out of the equation they kind of look a lot like Milwaukee at the point of attack right and now Milwaukee has a similar issue with the Patrick Beverly injury the Bucks have 25 wins against

500 or better teams the Lakers have 24 wins against 500 or better teams both teams are Elite against the great teams and mediocre against the mediocre teams for example both the Bucs and the Lakers are top five in net rating against teams in the top 10 in point differential according to

Cleaning the glass the Lakers have 17 such wins against teams in the top 10 in point differential which is the most in the league for comparison the Celtics have only 13 such wins to give you an idea the Lakers have played the toughest schedule in the NBA this year almost 52%

Opponent winning percentage both teams are bottom 12 in net rating against teams in the middle 10 of Point difference IAL so Lakers fans if it felt like to you that the Lakers show up for big games and then all the middle of the pack teams they’re kind of bad or

Mediocre same exact thing Bucks fans have been dealing with they’ve been really good against the top of the league pretty mediocre against the middle of the team uh middle of the league both teams are awesome in the clutch both the Lakers and Bucks are top five in clutch win percentage and total

Clutch wins so a ton of similarities between the Bucks and the Lakers so Jason why are the Bucks the two seed and the Lakers the nine seed because the Eastern Conference is absolutely horrifically bad at the bottom the West has completely an utterly cleaned house against the east in cross-conference

Matchups this year the scheduling is just to give you an idea because you play the bottom teams in your you you play 52 what’s it 52 of your 82 games against your own conference so it makes a a substantial difference in the strength of schedule right to give you

An idea three of the four worst records in the league are in the Eastern Conference and the Bucks are 10-0 in those games Charlotte Detroit Washington bucks are 10-0 the Lakers don’t get to play Charlotte Detroit and Washington that often they just don’t if I’m not

Mistaken I think the Bucs have two more matchups with Washington just this year uh if they’re one of those teams I can’t remember who it is but they have a couple more matchups just this year against those teams the Lakers have played the toughest schedule in the

League this year the Bucs have played the 18th toughest schedule in the League this year to put it more simply the Bucks have 46 wins the Lakers have 41 wins but the Bucks have played an additional five games against below 500 opponents that’s the difference that’s the difference between these two teams

Think about that think about the way the Lakers are perceived I still every single day get countless YouTube comments about how the Lakers are so bad and no team in NBA history would get talked about this much as a nine seed they literally have the most wins

Against top 10 teams in the league they have 17 of them they have one fewer win against 500 better teams than the Bucks they have countless massive National TV wins against really high level teams they’ve played the toughest Le schedule in the league they just have a really

Difficult conference and they went three and 10 for a brief stretch after the inseason tournament when Darin ham literally benched three of their five highest paid players for no reason okay that’s why that’s why the Lakers are perceived the way they’re perceived now do I think the Lakers are

A top tier Championship Contender no but I don’t think the Bucks are either I think they’re more or less the same they’re in that tier below the teams at the top of the league both of them have real Championship potential but they’ve got to improve in certain areas both

Need to get healthy too that that that the the Bucks in the Lakers it’s so funny to me because that is a textbook example of the weakness in the Eastern Conference at the bottom and how that just completely turns everybody into standings Watchers and they miss what’s

Happening right in front of them the Lakers are every bit as good at basketball as the Milwaukee Bucks the difference is one team ratcheted up a bunch of easy wins against Bad teams at the bottom and so they look substantially better in the standings on

The Lakers front uh before we move on I think like this this latest stretch had honestly it was fun watching as a fan on vacation obviously I was actually talking with my wife about this like I uh so much of what I do has you know the

Work element to it right even last year just as a as someone rooting for the Lakers was kind of a pain in the ass having to deal like navigate that while also trying to cover them fairly in the show right and and obviously i’ I’ve never tried to hide from my biases there

Just straight tell you guys I’m a Lakers fan obviously I have a rooting interest there but at the same time I’m not like a the kind of like blind follower in the sense that all you Lakers fans know I’ve been talking endless about the Lakers this year because they’re a team

That frustrates me on so many different levels but one of the things that’s really stood out to me and just getting to watch as a fan was so fun cuz on this trip like I literally was just kicking back you know having a couple drinks with my wife watching the game it just

Was more enjoyable like it was enjoyable in a different way to just do it as a fan and that Bucks game was so much fun like uh just impressive resilience some of the craziest plays I’ve ever seen like Spencer dwy when he couldn’t buy a bucket all game just like pulling up in

Transition uh from the three-point line and sticking that above the break three that was insane Austin Reeves that might have been his very best game as a professional basketball player that was insane the big one to me though that’s really standing out to me about this Lakers team is they’re like

Legitimately just super hard to guard which I I never would have thought I would say this at the beginning of this season because this has been a mediocre offensive team the entire time I’ve known them and I mean the LeBron ad era they were mediocre offensively in

2019 they were okay uh uh to good in the 2020 season but they weren’t particularly good at the half court they were pretty bad in 2021 they were pretty bad in 2022 they were pretty bad in 2023 and they’ve been pretty bad most of this year like that that like that like to

Start this year right that’s that’s what I’ve known watching the LeBron ad Lakers since basically January the beginning of the year they’ve been an awesome offense they’re one of the best three-point shooting teams in the league they have tons of different kinds of shot creation it’s like Austin Reed can

Get hot On Any Given night D’Angelo Russell can get hot any given night ruy haimura in the starting lineup has presented a bunch of issues for teams where it’s like okay I need a big guy to guard Anthony Davis okay here he is I need a a big guy who’s pretty fast to

Guard LeBron James okay cool I need point of attack Defenders to deal with Austin Reeves and d’angel Russell in ball screens okay cool who’s guarding ruie who’s guarding ruie he’s getting guarded by the weakest Defender every single game and he’s cooking teams and and not only on the ball too like

Because he can beat guys in ISO and postup situations on the ball but he also can do it just spotting up like he’s been a really good spot up player this year not just shooting threes but attacking Closeouts he’s been a great transition athlete as well obviously it’s not the ideal configuration and

When Jared Vanderbilt comes back I think he should start and then I would just play Ry similar minutes coming off the bench but like that presents a whole other set of issues for teams everyone’s getting better D’Angelo Russell is a substantially better player now than he

Was to start the season Austin Reeds is a sub substantially better player now than was to start the season he’s looking like even though he’s not quite to the level of production he was at in the postseason last year he is doing at a higher level this year in a more

Difficult role alongside a bunch of other pieces this is not Brute Force spread the floor Austin plays pick and roll he’s doing this in the flow of the offense with everybody Anthony Davis passing out of the post better than ever before LeBron James having a better host

A better offensive season by a mile than he did last year this is a good offense this is a really good offense and again I I don’t think they have any chance to win the title unless they can kind of round some things out defensively Austin

Reeves has been really good at the point of attack even though he’s been given some really tough assignments that he really has no business taking care of but he’s done a good job I thought he did an awesome job on Dame the other night but like when you slot Jared

Vanderbilt in there and put everybody back down in the appropriate defensive roles if they can get their defense to even even in the same Stratosphere as their offense if they can get up in that 10 to 15 range perimeter Defenders that can make Steph work hard can expose the issues that the

Warriors have in down the roster shot creation and I I had a feeling that this stretch would cause them some issues and it did but the last two games are not easy matchups on that front either Miami has athletes on the perimeter that they can throw at Steph the Orlando Magic

Have arguably the best young guard defender in the league and Jaylen sucks and so these were games that I kind of had my eye on as where could have gone really South and and and then to make matters worse Houston can’t lose you know so like it was looking like a

Danger zone and this is where you know I have such an appreciation for guys like Steph Curry and both Steph and LeBron have had stretches like this in the last couple of years and and it’s helped you know kind of reinforce the way that I feel about them as players because these are

Not these are not easy teams to believe in looking back to last year’s Lakers when that team looked dead to wrs and even this year and then this year’s Warriors obviously these are not teams where it’s like you’re not like like when joic is sitting at home right now

He knows like if I hit the Jets and I play to my capability we’re going to get the trophy like that’s the confidence that joic has in his group right and I don’t think LeBron or Steph have any delusions of grandeur I don’t think they’re sitting around in their houses

Going like we got ourselves a real title a real title threat here here I think they think like we can win but man like we got some strengths and we got some weaknesses right and what’s cool about that is like both of them have responded

To that by trying to win anyway it would have been so easy after that last sequence uh to just let go of the rope and no they didn’t even just in that Orlando Magic game Draymond Draymond Green gets uh ejected with four four minutes into the game completely absurd completely unacceptable at some

Point Draymond Green has to understand that his team needs him on the floor and there there is absolutely no excuse to continually be getting yourself kicked out of these games and and and I would imagine Draymond would agree completely unacceptable I totally understood why Steph was so upset but like even then it

Would have been so easy to just be like not our night really good Orlando Magic team on the road tough matchup for us not our night but no that’s not what happened like it was a classic kind of battle too cuz Steph what what he go six

For 18 in the he was obviously made a three at the end of the game that kind of tied that together was even worse before then and they got some huge contributions out of Andrew Wiggins I thought that was probably his best game since the 20122 playoff run really got

Going in the uh with the ball in his hands there in that fourth quarter started with a kickout three Steph got blitzed on the right side of the floor and Andrew Wiggins stuck that above the break three on the left side but after that it was all Wiggins on the ball like

Running those inverted ball screen actions where like again the so Steph sets the ball screen nobody who’s guarding Steph wants to hedge or help or anything because his job is guard Steph at all costs right and so it essentially operates as a really really uh uh great screening action

Because as long as Steph sets a good screen on the on ball Defender there’s nobody that’s going to be waiting on the other side of that screen as a matter of fact Orlando tried switching it late and then Wiggins ended up just bullying his

Way to the basket out of the post it was a really really impressive effort from Wiggins and honestly like that’s going to be the big kind of like swing factor for whether or not Golden State can make a real meaningful playoff run versus something that is less impressive it’s

Going to be that legitimate secondary offensive initiator maybe it’s Wiggins maybe it’s kaminga maybe it’s Chris Paul maybe it’s Clay but like someone needs to become consistent on that front because what ends up happening is if you have a night like that and kaminga is a

Little iffy and Wiggins is a little iffy and Clay’s a little iffy the Warriors just lose they just lose because they don’t have that consistency in that group and so I thought that was a really encouraging sign but again I thought when you saw the emotion from Steph from

When Draymond got suspended or ejected to when he hit the big shot at the end of the game you can tell we might as fans analysts whatever be like this Warriors team don’t really have a great chance and that for the record that’s the truth but stepan Steph isn’t accepting that as

An answer and again like a lot of times we look at the The Mountaintop moments as the defining characteristics of these guys we look at Steph hoisting the trophy KD hoisting the trophy LeBron hoisting the trophy and we’re like these are the moments that define them as

Their best and I tend to disagree I think those are an important part of it but all of these different moments demonstrate a players greatness throughout the entire process from start to finish including like the years where your team doesn’t really have it what are you showing in those situations you

Know this is actually the biggest reason why I’ve said Steph is the best leader of this particular era I don’t think Steph rides the highs and lows as much as other as much as other leaders do he does a good job of keeping an even ke and helping trying to

Bring limited teams up and helping to make sure that a really good teams don’t get overconfident and again like I think that this has been one of my favorite Seasons rooting for him because a lot of has hit the fan in so many different ways and the competition from

Steph has just shined through as he’s tried to make it work I had a radio hit in San Francisco I want to say it was last Wednesday and there was a fan on on the show that just simply asked like hey Jason give me some you know kind of

Silver Lining some sort of like positive thing to hang on to while all of this is crashing down and I said kind of what I said at the top which is this particular stretch of their schedule is really tough tough and they just need to survive it and honestly like getting

Those winds over heat over the Heat and Magic that’s them surviving it now five of their last 10 games are against teams that are below 500 they have head-to-head matchups against the Lakers and Rockets to either secure position or to fight for more position and these guys believe from the coaching staff to

The Stars down the roster they believe and so like again it’s not I I’m not going to sit here and lie to you guys I don’t think that the Warriors have legitimate Championship potential um but I think that they’re capable of having a fun playoff run and I think we’d be

Foolish to count them out simply because of the fact that proven winners at the top are are not going to let go of the rope and as long as they hang on to that rope and they get meaningful contributions from other players down the roster they have the they have the

Potential to Make Some Noise all right guys that is all I have for today like I said we’re going to end up taking the rest of the weekend off to enjoy the NC NC tournament we’ll be back on Monday with some instant reaction content as well as a power rankings video again

We’re also going to be stepping up our our film breakdowns at that point as well I appreciate you guys I will see you on Monday

Jason Timpf reacts to Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns’ 104-97 win over Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. Jason discusses why he believes Phoenix is the biggest threat to take down Denver in the NBA Playoffs, and whether he thinks it will actually happen.

Follow Jason Timpf on social:
Tweets by _JasonLT
https://www.instagram.com/jtimpf15/

Shop the hottest gear in all of sports podcasting: https://thevolume.com/shop-all-new

Follow us on social media:
https://www.instagram.com/thevolumesports
Tweets by TheVolumeSports
https://www.facebook.com/TheVolumeSports

@thevolumesports

Learn more about the Volume:
https://www.thevolume.com

#nba #basketball #sports #denvernuggets #nikolajokic #phoenixsuns #kevindurant #lebronjames #losangeleslakers #giannisantetokounmpo #milwaukeebucks #stephcurry #goldenstatewarriors #dallasmavericks #lukadoncic #kyrieirving #playoffs #championship