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All right, welcome to hoops to night. You're at the volume.
Happy Wednesday, everybody hopeful if you guys are having a great week as promised for getting into game one of the Western Conference Finals. In some film today, I'm gonna be zooming in on the second half in the run that Oklahoma City went on. There within that second half run, we saw Oklahoma City Stars, specifically Shaye and Jay Dubbs,
start to win their one on one matchups. And what made this particularly interesting to me was seeing the dramatic difference in the way the two teams are defending each other. Because it's not as simple as Shaye and Jay dubb winning their one on one matchups versus Anthony Edwards and Julius Randall winning their one on one matchups. These two teams are defending each other very differently. We talked about
this a lot in last night's show. It is not a coincidence that Minnesota attempted so many more three point shots than Oklahoma City. That wasn't a process thing from the standpoint of the offense hunting those types of shots. It was a matter of the way they were being defended. You guys are gonna see a bunch of examples right off the front here of how one on one actions for Oklahoma City are getting defended one on one, two on two actions for Oklahoma City are getting defended two
on two. In that situation, the kickout reads aren't there, but there are more opportunities in and around the paint right similar in an opposite manner on the opposite end of the floor.
All the one on ones.
With Ant and Julius, they're getting defended two on one, sometimes three on one. All of the ball screens they're getting defended three on two, sometimes four on two. And so in a way, the way that the series will go down, it's gonna come down to these guys doing their respective jobs against those respective defensive schemes. Meaning, like we saw in the second half of this game, Shaye and j Dub have to win their one on one matchups.
These guys are gonna have to get into the and they're gonna have to finish through a little bit of contact against that defender that's been guarding them the whole possession, or in this case, pick and roll finding the openings for the two on two sequences with Isaiah Hartenstein, whoever it is that's in the action, Kendridge, Williams, so on and so forth right, that's gonna be their specific job for Minnesota.
On the opposite end of the floor.
As crazy as it sounds, they just got to keep trusting that those guys are going to knock down those threes on those kickouts. You're gonna see so many examples in this footage when Julius and Aunt threaten the paint at all, there are three four something like Shay's just straight up ignoring his man and sitting in the paint. Hartenstein sitting in the paint. They are packing the paint
and daring Minnesota to make kickout threes. And so there are some refinements on both ends, right, Like, I don't think Shay's gonna keep getting the whistle that he got in game one, so his approach is going to have to gear more towards shot making than it is towards drifting as the series progresses, Right, there are realities for both of them as it pertains to being efficient enough
on those drives to win that battle. In the large sample, on the opposite end of the floor, there are complications Julius. There are some kickouts that he threw in that second half run or the pass was a little bit off target. Because it was off target, it made for an easier rotation. Because of the easier rotation, tougher shot. You know, guys like Nazaret or Mike Conley were missing threes that were
more contested than they needed to be. So there are some things about like deliberately getting the ball into the paint, drawing the defense in and getting the pass out on time and on target to the right read so that you can make those so that you can capitalize on those opportunities. Anthony Edwards, there were several sequences where he either didn't attack enough to bring the appropriate attention or just early in the clock settling for shots that prevented
him from generating those open catch and shoots. And so again, the job for both stars on both teams is going to be very different over the course of this series. And I want to spend today's film session again it's going to be a way to explain Oklahoma City's run, but I also want to use today as just an example of what we're going to be looking for heading forward in the series for both of these teams to reach the success that they're trying to reach.
You guys, are the trip.
Before we get started. Suscribe to Hoops to Night YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore json lt so you guys don't miss show announcements. I'm forget about our podcast feed, where we get your podcast on our Hoops tonight. It's also super helpful if we leave a rating in a review. On that front, Jackson's doing great work on our social
media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Make sure you guys follow us there and the last but not at least keep getting the mailback questions into the chat so that we can get to them in our live shows after these games. All right, let's talk some basketball. So right away from the start of this film session, here in the early third quarter, I want you guys to see just the difference in the way these teams are guarding each other. So we're gonna head down to
the other end of the floor. Minnesota is gonna get a driving kick from Anthony Edwards.
Here.
Watch what happens when Ant gets into the paint. So Ant, this is just a simple transition cross match. Isaiah Hartenstein has no choice but to pick up Ant. Ant makes a dribble drive move. Watch the way Oklahoma City reacts in the paint. So again, as you can see, by the time Ant gets into the paint, lou Dort has now completely ignored his man. He's in the paint. Shay's completely ignored his man. He's in the paint. Chet has completely ignored Jada McDaniels. He's in the paint. Jadubb has
his back turn to Mike Conley. All five Thunder players are geared towards Anthony Edwards. And so what does Aunt do. He makes a quality kickout pass to Jada McDaniels, hits him right in the shooting pocket, really clean catch and shoot. Look, this is the kind of read that Ant is gonna have to make over and over and over again.
This is if Aunt tries to solve his.
Problems by flying through these five by and trying to finish, it's gonna do. Only all it's gonna do is make things harder for them on the offensive end of the floor. These are the kinds of reads they're gonna have to keep making. Now we're gonna head over to the other end of the floor. And this is actually an example of an overhelp from Julius Randall. But I want you guys to watch the way Rudy Gobert reacts. So we
fast forward. Shae ends up driving out of a ball screen that turns into a switch and peels off, And now it's Rudy Gobert against h Shay Gilds Alexander. But watch Julius help off of Jadub and because of that help, look at all the other guys. The other guys are accounting for their man kick out. You can literally see Rudy Gobert say like, stay out, what are you doing? I got this, I got it under control. We want to defend one on one. You're gonna see some more examples here. Watch the reaction.
We're going down to the other end again on this one.
So one of the things you'll see here because I have a couple other examples in the film. Mike Conley is seeing a very deep drop coverage and so he's able to get some clean looks at pull up threes and floaters and stuff like that. He's gonna have to be aggressive and look to score because Hertenstein is really daring him to look to score. Similarly, here we go another JDub drive. Watch how little reaction there is from
the other four wolves on this drive. There's literally no reaction from the other four wolves as JDub looks to drive. It is very much more of a one on one. We're gonna trust our guy on an island to do his job style of defense. This is an example of
Isaiah Hartenstein with excellent pick and roll defense. Watch how he gets up to the level and gets it to get rid of the ball, but still recovers back to Gobart, which causes Gobert to pick up his dribble early because he's facing pressure from the side that puts him in a really tough spot where the two on one read is over here.
This is his short role read.
He's got to find out which one of these guys is open, but he picks up his dribble early, finds himself trapped by two centers and just pitches it right to shake Gilsis Alexander. But again like this is Isaiah Hartenstein getting up and getting ant to stop, but also recovering back to the ball.
Aunt has to push this just a step further.
He needs to attack a little bit more or drag this off further to the left to get Isaiah Hartenstein further out so that when Rudy catches, he's got more space in here to make a better cleaner read.
We're gonna see a few.
Examples here of Chet looking to be aggressive against some inattentiveness from Julius Randall. The first one here Julius Randall's kind of just floating along the baseline. SHA's driving. Once again, look at the lack of reaction from any other Wolf on on this shade. Drive like Shay's like got Jaden compromise in. None of the other Wolves care. This is a one on one basketball team. You do your job.
We're gonna stay home. But Julius, Look at Julius.
Julius is just kind of standing and Chet starts to sneak along the baseline and gets himself a little post catch here on the left block. Hits him with just a little simple left shoulder hook. Nice work from Chet. Here's another one of those deep drop looks that Conley faces, one of only two shots he made in the game. That's a look that he's gonna be able to get against this defense. Once again, Julius being inattentive on Chet.
See look, he's just not paying attention sinking in simple swing pass from Jdeb to Chet just looks to drive immediately and gets into the lane. Jaden has no choice but to pick him up. I didn't really see a foul here. It looked kind of like Cheches fell over, but there were a few of those in the second half of this game, corner kick from an so Ann had just hit a pull up three on the last possession. Shae comes down, tries to match it, misses. We go
down to the other end. Watch the way Oklahoma City reacts to this ant drive ball screen gets him in jail.
Once again.
Look at the way, Look at the way all of these OKC defenders like Shaye, just like straight up comes over in double teams temporarily and works against jad up again. Look at Shae again, double teaming. Look at the bodies in the pain. This is not going to be a high scoring series for Anthony Edwards. This is not going to be a Julius Randall got You want to know how Julius Randall hit.
A high point total.
They gave him a bunch of open catch and shoot threes in the first half. They took the catch and shoot threes away in the second half. All of a sudden, Julius Randall wasn't scoring. This isn't going to be an open scoring type of series for either of these guys.
On the ball.
Their scoring opportunities will come out of the rotation sequence is after they get rid of the ball and gets in the lane, draws three more bodies on help, kicks it out to Mike Conley just misses this one. He actually knocks down, but again you can see you can see how this process is gonna work for Minnesota. It's gonna be getting into the lane, drawing the bodies and making those kickouts. Now, from this point in the game,
Oklahoma City's up fifty three to fifty. From this point in the game, you guys will see an obvious kind of shift in the way that both teams are accomplishing their goals. Shay and Jay Dub are gonna start winning their one on ones like consistently down the floor and on the other end of the floor, You're gonna see Aunts start to settle for some bad ones. You're gonna see Julius start to make some poor kickout passes. You're gonna see missed kickout threes. That's where things are going
to go off the rails. The two different jobs, very different jobs for the Stars start to tilt in the opposite direction from where they were to start this game. Shae gets an and one here watch the lack of help side reaction.
Again.
Shay's just Shae gets all the way down to his right foot at the bottom of the of the semi circle, and there's very little reaction from any timberwolve off the ball. Shay's able to get a clean step back. Another that was another I mean, I don't know where the foul is, but Sha gets Shae was getting rewarded for a lot of that kind of stuff last night. But you can see the one on one stuff very different on this
end of the floor. Here's a cornerkick from Julius. Watch the difference in the way he's being guarded post Shay's in a strong side zone, completely ignoring his man, so that makes it so that Julius can't hit towards the baseline side.
He's got to go middle.
Hartenstein is right underneath the rim, and even Isaiah Joe is a foot in the paint off of Nikhil Alexander Walker. Just very different in the way that they're defending these actions. Here's the kick that's the job on this end of the floor. Minnesota's got to make these kickouts every single time.
That is their pathway to victory. One detail though, look at how that pass is just high and outside, which kind of makes it for a funky release because now he's got a no dip it and he's got pushed from a normal corner three to a behind the backboard
corner three in the deep, deep corner. So Julius has to be really deliberate about getting this pass right in the shooting pocket so that Mike Conley can take a clean normal catch and shoot instead of a rushed no dip corner shoot in the deep, deep corner behind the backboard. This is another one go down to the other end of the flour JDub straight iso against Nikkeile Alexander Walker against See Notice how Conley is not digging down, He's
getting back. That's the difference in their scheme. Notice Aunt, what was Shae doing on the other end in this exact same sequence. Shae was leaving this guy and stepping up into the lane. Ant is staying put. It's a one on one game for Oklahoma City. Same thing here against Julius Randall. See like Nikkeil Alexander Walker's face guarding Shaye off the ball, Ants staying home in the strong side corner.
It's a one on one game.
Nice shot though from jdeb See how Shane and Jadab are starting to win those matchups like consistently every time down the floor. That's literally when the game started to tilt in their favor.
Here's an example of one of.
Those shots from Dante Devensna that I just really didn't like, twenty one seconds on the shot clock, like a twenty eight footer off the dribble, and it's just that's not the shot you're going.
To regain your rhythm with.
Alright, this time Shay one on one against the Keile Alexander Walker. We did get a late keeloff double team from Dante here, very rare, but once again Shay starting to win that matchup. I thought this was an example of Julius Randall forcing the issue against a triple team, when I think this is the one we just saw something ahead. This is Julius Randall forcing against a triple
team when there were corner kicks that were available. So again, like losing discipline, losing control of the situation, crowds into it. You need to get a good shot. Like in this situation, you've driven, we have a pinon flair from Nikkeiel Alexander Walker. You've got a nas read right here in the strong side corner. If Keson Wallace is going to put a foot in the paint off the strong side corner off of naz Reid. You have to make that pass every
single time. This is not doing your job against the defensive scheme that you are facing. You can see the difference. Okay, see one on one. They're winning those battles all the one on threes, one on twos. These are the situations where Minnesota has to make Oklahoma City pay for this style of defense. Instead, you settle for a tough, contested mid range jump shot over a triple team. Shake gets all the way to the rim.
Here.
You'll see help at the rim, but look at how late the help is because Minnesota doesn't want to help here. Shake gets all the way downhill. The guys come over late, right at the end after Shay has already split it. I really like Shaye, by the way, working one on one against Julius and Nas in this matchup. These are matchups I think he should be hunting more. He can get downhill against those guys or find openings just in basic screening action as they don't want to give up
that switch. But all three Wolves have to leave there try to block this shot, or I should say those two in help. As a result, Shay actually is able to get up and beat them back to the ball and get an offensive rebound. Shay's really starting to win that battle at the point of attack. Now here's one of those post ups transition cross match Nazeri against Jay Dove, straight post up. Ja Doub wins the battle, but just
being physically aggressive. Baseline double See like, look, there's the baseline double team.
These are not one on ones. These are one on twos.
You gotta stop thinking score and you gotta start thinking pass out of these post ups. You're playing right into o Casey's hands by trying to bully Rue and trying to score through these double teams. This was a really weird sequence. Another bad Julius Randall defense sequence. Julius Randall's on the ball, He's on JDub. Jdubb drives. JDub kicks. Everyone's matched up. Dante's on Casson, Nazarite is on Isaiah, Joe ants on, Kendrich Williams, Nikkeile, Alexander Walker is on Shay.
Watch who quits playing. Jadub drives, Julius is on him kick Watch jadab JDub relocates to the top of the key and Julius decides to just point someone else go get him. Well, no one's there, Julius, He's wide open. Now Nikkeile Alexander Walker has to close out JDub ball fake gets into the lane. Really nice acrobatic finish in traffic cornerkick from Julius. But once again, I want you guys to watch it. Watch the location of the pass.
Middle of the floor. There's our double team. Relocate, relocate double team from j dub Okay, there's our kick. If this pass hits nas right in the shooting pocket, it's a comfortable catch and shoot. Instead, the pass is low and because of the low pass, look at where Nasried has to catch it all the way down by his toes, which disrupts the rhythm and slows it down just enough so that case On Wallace can get a good contest
on that shot. Those are those little details like and here's the thing, guys, there's a version of this game where that conleague corner three goes in. There's a version of this game where that nas Re corner three goes in. But you increase your change, like I talked about, variances far down the list for me below processed defense things along those lines. Put the ball in the shooting pocket. You give him a better chance to knock that shot down.
Once again, look at how it looks like a one on one and Nasri doesn't even remotely consider helping until Nikkiel's dead to rights. He's like, Okay, oh shit, Nikkiel's dead to rights. I gotta get over there. And this
is a hell of a defensive play. But it's just to me, it was jarring watching the film this morning when you really got, when you really look at it, just how different these two teams regarding each other, and gets a little one on one here at the top of the key, doesn't get into the pain enough to draw a double team, but you can see the bodies all behind him, goes into a little step back once again, look at Shae Shae. As as soon as Nikhil Alexander
Walker cuts through, Shae's like, I'm done with him. I'm no longer worried about Nikhil Alexander Walker. I'm officially just in a soft zone double team of ANT, right, So ANT in this case needs to just wait for Nikil to relocate, continue to probe in this area and make the kickout pass instead, he settles for a little pull up mid range jump shot, and I like the mid
ranges when you get down to fifteen feet. Once you get out to twenty feet, it doesn't really make a ton of sense to me here on this possession, Ant finally gets some downhill penetration against j dub And in the transition crossmatch. By the way, this is a small group for Oka. See there's no center on the floor. Rudy's kind of got an inside seal on Shay that prevents him from being able to protect the rim. Ant's able to get through into the lane, beats a dig.
By the way, there's a dig from Isaiah Joe and actually gets on the way the rim on this one. There's going to be opportunistic things like that, especially in semi transition situations like that where there's cross matches. But again it's gonna be few and far between. It's gonna be a passing series for Ant and Julius. I thought this was a big time late shot clock kind of
rescue sequence from Kenrich Williams. Dante gets cleanly beat. This hasn't happened often, but when he gets cleanly beat, that forces a help That help puts the defense in rotation. Go Bear's gonna slide over, Nasri's gonna slide over. Dante's gonna end up back on ken Rich. Now there's six seconds on the shot clock, and the best you can get here is this guy's just got to create a bucket against the closeout. Kenrich just boom, pull back, triable bucket.
Here's a quality corner kick from Anthony Edwards to Nikhil Alexander Walker. Once again, I want you guys to pay attention to just the difference in the way he's being guarded. Ken Rich, full on double team, Crusoe, foot in the paint.
Gets him in jail.
Crusoe bails on Nikkeile Alexander Walker entirely, he's in the paint. Shae Yildes Alexander bails on Dante entirely, he's in the paint. Look at this, guys, there's there is no aunt just forcing it through all this shit. That's not that's not gonna be the pathway here. Corner kick the Dante's open corner kicked to Nikila is open. He makes the corner kick, boom,
pump fake. That's a that's that's a you're not gonna like You're not gonna get a better shot forcing through the quadruple team than a Nikile Alexander Walker catching shoot three on the corner when he's been in the forties all year long. On this kind of shot, he just just missed it, just left it short. Here's that picking pop from kenridg Williams. Once again. The hesitancy to not that they don't want to switch knas onto Shay so
to end up on the ball. Ken Rich just hops easy picking pop three knockdown, big shift from Kendrick Williams. In the second half yesterday, naz Reid's gonna force a post up here once again. Watch the corner kick reads that he doesn't make. I think he tries to force it through Chet. Yeah, a little screening action. Tries to go through Chet. There's a man down. Nikaile Alexander Walker is completely unguarded in the right corner. This pass has to be made, and instead he tries to force it
through the rim protector turnover. Shay one on one against Nikhel just beats him. We get another peel off, double little late peel off from Dante. Dante did twice right when Shaye was going up for his shot. Was able to come over and get a contest. And by the way, that's one of the things. One of the things you'll notice, okay Se won a bunch of one on ones in
a row. Now, what's starting to happen now that Okayse's winning those one on one We've seen back to back situations where Shay went to a pull up and Dante did a late peel off double. You, Okasee, by winning their ones, can turn that into opportunity to generate quality catch and shoots as Minnesota starts to overreact to that one on one success. Similarly, Minnesota go down to the other end, beat them, beat them, beat them with those
kickout passes, hit a bunch of corner threes. Do it again and again and again, and you might see those guys start to stay home just kind of inherently because of their basketball instincts, which will create some more opportunities in the paint. Or you might get an audible from our Daginal or he basically goes, it's time to stay home and make these guys scorers. But you've got to beat the base scheme. Oka see beat the base scheme enough times that Minnesota is starting to crack a little bit.
On the other end of the floor, Minnesota is not beating Okay sees base scheme because they're not hitting those corner threes or not hitting those kickout passes often enough. Now down eleven, and this is just losing control of the situation. Tough tough pull up three early in the clock down On the other end, as much as I hate this call, Shae once again just rejects the ball
screen against Ant. Also, I don't think I don't think go Bear needs to be up this high, especially when you're trying tobaate Shane into taking jumpers instead of driving go Beart's got to be further back.
But uh it, it gets beat.
Hate the call, but still a bucket from Shae winning his one on one matchup. So I think there's a pretty clear trend that you guys can see from the film. Oklahoma City's packing the paint leaving shooters open, Minnesota is not.
And whichever team can beat that scheme more effectively over the course of this series is gonna win and force adjustments, force that second layer of of whatever defensive idea Mike Mark Dagenel has or Chris Finch has, and in game one, Minnesota in the second half was unable to crack that scheme and Oklahoma City was and that was the difference in the game.
And it's in Game two.
It's gonna be on Minnesota because Okay, se he's not gonna bail on that scheme.
It just worked.
They held them to forty points in the second half. The only way they're gonna play them out of that scheme is by relentlessly making those reads and knocking down those shots. That's the pathway in Game two, Minnesota can win this series. I think they have the advantages they need, but I just didn't think they were nearly good enough in.
That second half.
All right, guys, That's all I have for this morning is always a sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. We will be back tonight live on YouTube after the final buzzer of Nick Pacers, and then when we are done on YouTube Tube, we'll be heading over to playback dot tv slash Hoops tonight for after show where we'll be taking taking callers and just hanging out watching film things along those lines. Again, as always,
I appreciate you guys for supporting us. We'll see you next time. What some guys always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting hoops tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us if you guys would take a second and leave a rating and a review.
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