Hoops Tonight - Film Breakdowns: Lakers Bad Game Plan, Cade Cunningham’s Turnovers, Nuggets Comeback

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After that, just some brief clips from the Detroit Pistons game to demonstrate the difference in the way that Brunson was attacking versus the way that Cade was attacking that At the tail end of the show, just some notes from the Clippers Nuggets series, specifically how Denver upped their defensive intensity in pick and roll to force the Clippers into making mistakes. So lots of visual examples of the stuff that we talked last night in some takeaways looking

forward in the series. You guys are the job before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops and Not YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore JCNLTS. You guysn't misshow announcements. Don't forget about a podcast feed where you get your podcast on our Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave your rating and review on that front. We have social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook where

we're doing content throughout the year. Make sure you guys follow us there. And then last but not least, keep dropping mail bag questions in the YouTube comments so that we can get to them in our mail bags throughout the remainder of the year. All right, let's talk some basketball. So just real quick upfront, just the surface level stuff with the Lakers game and immediately stood out to me,

just a gap in intensity. I'll show you guys several examples of just the difference between the way that Minnesota was attacking each little element of the game in the way that the Lakers were attacking each little element of

the game. That's why I was so keyed in on what the first half will look like in Game two, because in Game two, I thoroughly expect the Lakers to bring a much higher level of physicality and intensity, and that will we will get to see a better example of what the two teams look like in that type of setting. And that's why if they go into that game and we go into halftime and the Wolves are up by five, six points and still kind of in control, I would take that as a huge sign of concern

for the Lakers. And if the Lakers are as good as I think they can be, they should take care of business. That's really, what it keeps coming down to for me is if the Lakers are the team that I have thought that they are for most of this stretch after the All Star Break, they will go into Game two and they won't just beat Minnesota, They'll control that game throughout, and I think that'll be a really

strong indicator. I think if it looks rough for the Lakers out the gates in Game two, that's a really strong sign that the Wolves are going to get a win. So let's get into some of these film examples so that we can start to see exactly the kind of stuff that I'm talking about. All Right, So in this first clip, I just wanted to call attention to the

specific matchup of Ruy and Mike Conley. So, as you can see here, Lebron is going to throw a post feed to Ruy against Mike Conley, and this is a textbook example of how not to mismatch attack in the post. So Ruey's got a small on him here, and as you can see, as he's attacking, Ant is completely hugged up on Jackson Hayes, so that Rudy Gobert can help on the host up. And so Ruy's already accomplished his goal. Here,

he's effectively caused three Wolves to guard two Lakers. All he needs to do is take one more aggressive dribble towards the middle and throw this kickout pass to Austin Reeves. You've done the job. You've taken the mismatch which is ruy on Mike Conley and turned it into a wide open three for Austin Reeves. What you can't do is settle for a highly difficult two point jump shot, and

that's what he does. He settles for a right shoulder fade, which is a shot he can make, but he's gonna hit it about forty percent of the time, and that's a shot that the Wolves are going to live with. So that was an example of just poor matchup attacking right out the gates there. This was a thought an example of just Austin looking a little out of rhythm early in the game. He's in a ball screen here

with Rudy Gobert going against a drop coverage. He's in the short range here, but he just leaves this alligator arm.

Anthony Edwards. I actually thought, even though Ruy struggled in a bunch of other places which I'll show in the film, Austin really really struggled in that matchup, and Ruy looked a little bit better than him. Something to think about for the matchups throughout the rest of the series. Here's an example of where Jackson Hayes' vertical spacing was not

much of a factor in this game. In order for Jackson to play in this lineup, he's got to do what Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford did, which is be a legitimate spacing window in the pocket and out of the dunker spot. This was a simple ball screen with Lebron and Jackson to a typical drop coverage right, So Rudy Gobert is defending both the ball handler and the roller. Lebron hits Jackson in the pocket. He's got the angle, he's got the advantage. This has to be a make

and Jackson just can't finish over Toy Gobert. That's a lack of vertical spacing there. Julius Randall, I thought, logged a lot of really good reps of individual defense against Luka Doncic and Lebron James. We talked before the series about how that was going to be an interesting matchup. This was very good defense from Julius Randall on Luka Doncic, which I think is encouraging for Wolves fans. That's a

matchup I think they're doing well in. Here's another example that I'll be pulling that clip up later, switching in a ball screen and the Lakers looking to attack that switch with mid range jump shots against again, like.

he's dribbling out against Jada McDaniels. Ruey Hotchimura is standing against Mike Conley and Austin just for no particular reason just throws because of Jaden McDaniels applying some ball pressure. Look at the ball pressure from Jaden. He's up in his face and Austin just throws the ball away. That's just not being ready for playoff intensity. Ruy's not going to do anything with the ball there. You're the point guard.

You need to get the offense organized and get the guys where they want to where they need to be to be successful. And that was just panicking against ball pressure. Here's another example of of Anthony Edwards just doing a ton of damage right at the point of attack with aggressive counter moves. Look at this, so he gets sets up like he's gonna come off the ball screen. Watch the way he just rips to the left on Gabe.

That forces hard help out of the strong side corner and then generates a wide open three for Dante DiVincenzo. A lot of that from ant where he's just like immediately breaking down the Lakers right off the top of the possession. Same sort of thing here against Ruy Hatchamura. Ruy Hatchamura touches the earth here. This was a ridiculous move, a series of switches Ruy's on Ant. He had some good reps on Ant in this game. This was not

one of them. Boom boom, just on the ground. But as you can see, it's like he's coming so hard downhill towards the rim. There are so many more easy opportunities for Ant off of those super aggressive dribble moves. When he breaks you down, that that significantly. You have to find a way to flatten out that drive, make it not so clearly devastating to your defense. This was an example of just Ant taking easy reads that were in front of him. So he's just driving at Rui, right,

But look at where Gabe is. Gabe is at the nail. Right, Gabe's at the nail. He drives as Nas cuts through. Look where Luca is, And I thought Luca made a lot of poor help decisions like this. So look at the paint. We have five lakers that are at or near the paint, right, Luca doesn't need to be this far in on a simple kickout read like this, especially when there's all of this help already easy kickout pass

to Jada McDaniels and he knocks it down. I kind of unders should that one, at least from the standpoint of the game plan. But you'll see some examples later everyones that I don't agree with. They got a really clean look here for Luca after using Luca as a screener. Jaden McDaniels really did not want to switch off of Luca if he could avoid it. So this is something I think the Lakers should explore a lot in Game two, is just using Luca as a screener on the screen.

He breaks Dante off so bad that Jayden has to switch. Then they both run with Austin and that ends up giving Luca wide open three at the top of the key. Something to keep an eye on. This is actually a different example from earlier in the game one of the first possessions where Lucas had a screen for Lebron, same sort of thing. Look, we have a top lock from Jada McDaniels. He does not want to switch Lucas. Hats

a good screen that gets Lebron downhill against Rudy. If Jackson was paying attention instead of spotting up at the three point line and cut. If you to cut just a second earlier, this is a dunk, but because he was late, the window closed up on him. Lebron settles for that tough well. Lebron ends up throwing the lob, but it just was too late for that to ever have worked. Another example I thought of the Lakers just not being ready for playoff intensity. Look at Nasried coming

off the screening action. It's a clear switch, right, They're clearly thinking it's a switch. But nas Reed is a very good offensive player that's gonna look to be aggressive and try to score. He attacks and Rudy meets him way down at the foul line in a passive open stance, and Naz just goes right through him to the rim. Like that's just not playoff intensity from Ruey Haachimura defensively. Very similar example from earlier in the game. Jackson in

a switch with Lebron. So Lebron is guarding Julius Randall, Jackson's guarding Mike Conley. It's an easy switch, but look at how far back Jackson as both of them are way far back and they're basically just conceding that shot. You can see the difference between that and the way that they're pressing up on every Lakers player.

it out sooner than later. Here's another screen, a little screen action.

This is a really tough shot. Austin might hit that forty five percent of the time maybe, and that's just not gonna be a shot that Minnesota is gonna really care about. Similar example from earlier in the game. I told you guys, I was gonna bring this clip back. This is Lebron in a switch against Gobert on the left side of the floor. Same sort of thing, ball screen switch. Minnesota's gonna live with this.

bad defense that is lacking playoff intensity. I thought this was an example of just kind of like foreshadowing the bad process we saw from Lebron later in the game attacking Bigs. When Lebron attacks Bigs in Switches, he doesn't have speed against them anymore because he's too old, and he doesn't have size against them anymore because he's you know, going against biggs, right, so he gets nasried. This is

not a favorable matchup. I don't like this matchup for Lebron, and what does he end up doing walks him down, ends up taking this super contested floater that has no chance of going in. Lebron is not going to successfully beat bigs and Switches anymore. He's not good enough over the top shooter at really at any point in his career, and at this phase in his career, he doesn't have the speed to be going against Bigs and Switches like that.

And you'll see a lot of that when we get into the mid second quarter when the Wolves start to go on their run. This is something for Minnesota to continue to exploit throughout the series. As we can see, we have an action here set up with Austin and Mike Conley and naseried on Jared Vanderbilt actions that involved a guard and a forward. The Lakers were not switching,

at least not switching readily. They were switching after the fact, peel Off switching like hesitantly switching right, and the Wolves were able to get a lot of easy openings just kind of baked into the coverage. So as you can see here we have Austin and Vando off the ball here actually I'm talking about this action here on the left side. So we have Dorian Finney Smith on Julius Randall, and we have Gabe Vincent chasing to kill Alexander Walker.

But they are not switching, and so as a result, they're able to get an a kil going downhill towards the rim because of that baked in drive that comes from the curl. Here's another example from earlier in the game, same sort of thing. As you can see, Gabe is chasing over the top on Dante and Lucas in like a drop coverage. So as a result, nas Reed is basically the pick and pop big who's always wide open, and he's able to get this layup. He just happens

to smoke it. But these are examples of opportunities for the Wolves. If they run any action with a guard and one of their forwards, they're getting a lot of these baked in openings that come from the Lakers not switching. One of the big adjustments I have for the Lakers for Game two is just switch everything, like just actually literally switch everything, because those sorts of openings are giving

runways to better athletes than you. Same exact thing here, nas Reed misses a three, but it's the same type of action you'll see. I believe it's with Dante as well. So once again we have a guard and a forward ball screen. For some reason, they're not switching. Nas Reed is open. He just happens to miss that. They again, that's a peel off switch, says. You can see the Lakers are switching it, but not intentionally, they're switching it reactively. So Gabe went over the screen and then was like,

oh shit, I should switch and then get back. That's where the opening is. If you just cleanly switched that from the start of the possession, you can take away that opening. I thought Jaden McDaniels showed a lot of really impressive scoring ability yesterday. Here's an example attacking Austin Reeves in the post. This is a tough left shoulder fade over the top. He did a lot of really

high level scoring last night. More confusion from the Lakers as to whether or not they want to switch with their forward, same sort of thing Conley and nasried Vando looks completely unprepared for the drive coming off the screen, Like if this is a clean switch, then Vanda will close out on Connolly and engage the ball, but instead look at him.

of rhythm. This is a shot that you will never see Austin miss, Like he probably shoots ninety five percent on floaters inside of like this distance, and he just alligator armed it the time. Austin and Lebron have both always been rhythm players, and they both have always struggled after time off, and they get a week off and they both just look completely unprepared for the game.

shooter who knocks it down. Nas red by the way, forty four percent on unguarded catch and shoot jump shots. It goes down to twenty nine percent when you guard him. So that is like a very simple game plan piece that I'm tying more to JJ Reddick just because I saw so many different defenders make that same mistake last night. As a game plan adjustment for Game two. You can't treat Nasrid the way you treat Jaden McDaniels. That's going

to burn you if you do that. In this series, this was a very clean look for Lebron and pick and pop. These are shots that Lebron's going to have to hit in this matchup, simple ball screen. Conley's chasing what's always open in the pick and pop, what's always open against the drop coverage the pick and pop. Lebron just has to hit that shot. Here's an example of Jaden McDaniels just beating the Lakers to the ball on the other end of the floor. So as you can see,

Julius Randall takes the three in Lebron's face. We have four Lakers surrounding Jaden McDaniels, and Jaden McDaniels beats everyone to the ball. Now, this is where I want to get on Vando because it's like, Vando, the reason why you're out here, literally, the weird reason why you're on the court is what you can do defensively, and on the glass, shot is in the air. Jaden and Jared are more or less in the same position, like Jayden and Vanda are both in position to get this rebound.

The difference is Jaden fought for position and went for it. Vando did it until it was too late, and Jaden got an easy put back.

fades at like seven feet. Instead, he just drives in panics and throws a jump pass to Jackson, who's not really that open, like nas Reed is there, and so it ends up being kind of a tough angle and once again Jackson Hayes not really providing any vertical spacing. Here's another example of the Laker's not wanting to switch with their fours, like we talked about, so we got a ball screen not switching, which allows Jaden McDaniels to

take a drop coverage mid ranger. But look at how every Laker just stands around and watches Jaden McDaniels go get his own rebound, Like, like, what's Lebron doing there? Like, if you're gonna be in a drop, you got to get the rebound. But everyone's just standing around and watching Jada McDaniels get it. Look at Ruie, Look at Rui's intensity. Jaden just beats him.

post entry. Instead it gets deflected, and now Lebron's attacking to kill further out Now, for example, This is the exact same play that I just showed you. Seven seconds left, Nikkeiel Alexander Walker. Lebron finally turns his back and just backs him down, gets to that easy right shoulder fade for eight feed, fucking knocks it down and gets the foul like this. This is basic execution stuff to improve your chances of winning in this matchup, like Austin pass fake,

make a post entry. You have to be very disciplined against this length that Minnesota has. Lebron, your advantage is your size and strength. It is not over the top shooting. It is not trying to use your speed against Biggs. You are too big for these little dudes. That's your advantage. Playoff intensity. Watch the shot go up, watching Nikil al Xander Walker. All these Lakers are in here right, Lebron's

down here, Luka Doncic is in here. Nikhil Alexander Walker is going to lead a runout fast break for an easy bucket while Lebron and Luke are completely uninvolved. Watch this look at that. That's not playing playoff basketball. Nikhil Alexander Walker is just outworking every single one of you guys. Once again, Austin Reeves setting a screen on Dante DiVincenzo. If you're playing playoff basketball, you are hitting Dante DiVincenzo and you are creating separation for Luca. You tell me

what happens here. Dante hit Austin and Austin didn't hold his ground. That is lacking playoff intensity. As a result, Dante's able to stay attached throughout the ball screen and he's able to strip Luca before he can go up into the shot. That is on Austin for not setting a good screen. And by the way, look at Lebron makes an effort in transition. What happens. He was in the corner. Look he's in the deep corner, and he's able to get back into this play because he's making

an ef F in transition. Now, am I asking Lebron to make seventeen chase down blocks a game? No, But if the team makes the efforts in transition, you can keep them under control in the transition game. Minnesota won the transition game twenty three to ten. In this game,

that's not gonna cut it. This is where the wheels really started to come off for the Lakers in the second Tell me what you guys notice here we have Ruby Achimura standing wide open at the top of the key with an opportunity to take a wide open trailer three in transition, which is a three he's practiced a million times, and instead he goes, I'm gonna try to dunk on Rudy Gobert, and that goes about exactly as

you would have expected it. All right, This was an example I talked last night about Luca losing some basic defensive rebound battles. So like, Luca is ignoring nas Reid here, which once again, like we talked about in the game plan, is silly. But as he's ignoring nas Reid, Anthony Edwards takes one of his like forced shots in the game, which he didn't take too many of, but he took a few. You got to get this rebound, then, Luca, like, if you're gonna ignore nas read down here, you gotta

get this rebound instead. As it came off, Luca didn't go get the ball, so Ant got it. Look at where the ball fell. The ball fell right to where Luca should have got it, but he didn't. So now you've left Nasrid open, failed to get the defensive rebound, and now Nasried is open. On the offensive rebound kick out for three. Like, that's a huge momentum play in this game. You get a stop there, you go the

other way. He scores a three point game instead, Now you're down by eight because you're just not matching the intensity of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Lebron just attacking bigs. Okay, you got Nazrie, this is not your matchup. There's a small right there you can attack. There's a small right there you can attack. There are two guys on the floor that you can easily get to the post and get an easy bucket against. Instead, he tries to go at Naserie, doesn't turn the corner on him and gets blocked.

That leads to run out the other way. The Timberwolves get a layup. Okay, go down to the other end. Exact same thing, except for this time it's Rudy. So once again we're they're pre switching to get Nikhil Alexander Walker up into the action. This is what's crazy, So like they're deliberately intention only.

exactly like it does every other time. Lebron is going to drive into the person not be able to turn the corner and get blocked at the rim. This, by the way, led to another runout for another wide open corner three for Nazrid that went in so like multiple repeated foolish attacks with a stupid game plan that just played right into Minnesota's hands, like literally played right into Minnesota's hands, giving them easy transition runouts because you're just

playing stupid basketball on offense. And this is I want to blame this on Lebron specifically because I've heard I've heard JJ talk about how he wants them to attack smalls in tight spaces, not bigs in space. He's fine with Luca doing it. Lebron and Austin that that's not their game. They don't need to be attacking Rudy Gobaer in space. That's not an arrangement that's gonna work for them.

There's another example of a defensive rebound that Luca just should have got, but he just didn't go get the basketball, seat goes up, Luca's got inside position and everything just doesn't make any contact, and Nazrie comes in and bats it out.

he can. That's really quality individual defense from Julius Randall. Here's another example of the Lakers over helping off of Naserie. So you get a screen action that gets the switch. Look at how many bodies already in the paint. So Julius is driving at Luka Doncic, Lebron's in position to help, gave Vincent's there. This is the strong side corner. You do not help here, and the game plan has consistently been Gabe is the guy that's hopping across the lane

line and meeting you here. This is really fucking bad defense. You just allowed Julius Randall to make the easiest passing read in the history of mankind because you vacated the strongside corner to help on a situation that didn't need help. That like, that's just really fucking terrible defense. Luca just giving up a simple backcut to Anthony Edwards. A lot of Luca leaving his feet in this game and getting out of position, like jumping at ball fakes and stuff

like that, just undisciplined. Here's Lebron again, attacking a big in space. He makes this one, but it's like, this is what you're gonna get. You're gonna get these like semi contested mid range jump shots. He's just not gonna make enough of those for that to be a worthwhile method for them to attack. Here's an example of the Wolf was just beating every Laker to the ball again, so the ball shot goes up.

him earlier. But again, that's that is what happens. When you meet the intensity of the moment and you set a good physical screen, you can get openings even against good defense. And frankly, if you do that every time down the floor, it'll be much easier for you to get into a rhythm. First possession of the second half, Let's see if the Lakers took the adjustment properly at the just you know, all of the ass chewing that JJ was delivering at halftime, Let's see if they took

it seriously. First possession, we get a ghost screen, so this should just be a switch. Instead, it's not. They fuck it up again and Austin looks confused as to what's happening. Ruey looks confused, and Ant just drives right downhill, easy kick out to Jada McDaniels. Why is that not just a switch? Why isn't Ruy just closing out on Ant? And Austin closing out to Conley, like like that's a way to shut down these easy driving lanes that are appearing.

All right, just a few more from this game. Look at Ruey hatch Mura's defense on Anthony Edwards. Here we get another couple switches. Now what look at how on the switch you've got you you're guarding Anthony Edwards on a switch and you're not in a defensive stance. You're standing completely upright, and so you can probably guess what's gonna happen next, and it goes right around him. Like that's not basketball, that's not playoff intensity, that's not basketball.

But you are standing upright, not even in a defensive stance on Anthony fucking Edwards, Like are you kidding me?

Lebron on this possession. If you're not going to be in there like helping on the drive or rebounding, then you can't be leaving you Uleius Randall open, so he's just standing around, doesn't get the rebound, and it gets his own rebound, and there's Julius Randall wide open, that three goes in, guys, that three goes in on a possession where Lebron did the exact same thing Luca did on the nas Reid three in the first half, where you're standing in no man's land in the paint, not defending,

not rebounding, conceding a wide open three.

is taken away. Jaden's move his read here is to rack baseline and try to get all the way to the rim, and he does. That's not Jackson Hayes, it's Luka Dancaje at the rim and he's able to finish him over him easily. Here's another example of Austin just making like a sloppy post entry pass and turning it over like these are just like so many unforced errors because the Lakers just weren't ready for the intensity of the moment. Laker's still not switching, so that creating just

easy openings. Once again, why is that not a switch? As a result, there's an easy corner for Dante DiVincenzo to turn. Look as he's coming around Van Doo's in a drop, Austin's chasing, so there's this easy driving lane causing Luca to sink into the paint. Also make Dante Devincenzo and Rudy Gobert connect on the lob here. This is another example of Luca over helping off of nasried and then I just thought this was a really, really

impressive pass from Anthony Edwards. So Anthony Edwards had just seen as the team out of the off ball screen, just generated a look for Nazrid that he made, so he knows nazrij just made a shot. So we're gonna get a ball screen here with Nas and he's gonna attack Luca in the switch. And as he attacks Luca, look at how he reads Jared. He sees Van Dog ignoring Nas once again, the Lakers ignoring Nas to help, just not the right guy for them to be ignoring.

Jared needs to just either signal to Dorian Finney Smith to stay with Nas and then him sit in the paint, or all these other guys need to be helping. It can't be Nas and then as a result to be a Vando helping at the rim, in Ant makes just a really nice feed to Nazria in the corner and knocks it down.

kind of puts you in a tough spot. If he's not able to go physically, then that means it's going to be a lot of Duran, and Duran obviously comes with his own shortcomings. Here's an example of Brunson finding the matchup that he liked. So we get a screen to get us ar Thompson and then you're gonna see og and Obe come up into the action. Notice how methodical br Brunson is to get the matchup he wants.

There he goes now he's got his match up with eight seconds left, uses the double cross to get inside position on Tobias and knock down the floater. I talked about how Tim Hardaway Junior missed like a wide open look during the run, so did Malik Beasley. This is that miss, but on the transition push, look who Jalen Brunson sees in front of him, sees Tobias Harris that little semi transition attack gets by him and draws the end one. I thought this was one of the really

impressive defensive plays that Cat made down the stretch. So we have a double ball screen here, double drag that he gets split, So he has a gets split at the point of attack and Kay gets all the way into the paint, but Josh Hart steps up in help, which forces him to drop the ball off to Jalen Dura. Look at the effort Cat makes to get back into the play and disrupt during at the rim and force

the miss. You can make up for a lot of your shortcomings if you just rotate and then I want this is where I want you guys to see the difference in the execution.

the turnover. And it's like, here's the thing. Is that technically by the book of foul, sure, but that that kind of thing gets let go all the time in the playoffs, And you're not doing yourself any favors by attacking the Knick's best perimeter defender without any attempt to try to get him off of you. And that it's fine. Kate is going to figure that stuff out. My guess is were watching Kate in the playoffs three years from now.

He's the guy asking for three guard guard screens to get a matchup he wants in a big spot like this. But this is part of the growth and this is why teams like the Pistons don't win the series like this in NBA history. And then this was another example of Kate just kind of like panicking under the ball pressure. So Jalen Duran's open on this slip, but look at this ball pressure from Kat just gets up and pressures the ball and forces the turnover. Kate had three turnovers

in this run. All right, let's get to Denver Clippers fun one here. I got about like twenty six clips twenty seven clips from this game, and then we'll be done. So Denver comes out of the time out. This is the timeout that I talked about where Denver really picked up their defensive intensity. So the Clippers get a buckets fifty one to thirty six. We're halfway through the second quarter. This is an example of Yokic kind of forcing the issue like I talked about. So this is a design play,

little cross screen for Yokic coming across from Gordon. But notice how on the catch he just powers through Zoo No matter what. This is a I've made up my mind, I'm going to the rim kind of play. I thought Yokic did a really nice job of mixing that in with him taking the easy reads that were available to keep the Clippers honest. This is the very first defensive possession. Okay, so this is out of the time out. Look at the ball pressure from Yokic and the ball pressure from Gordon.

We're up on the ball, we're pressuring, We're making them uncomfortable. Gordon's up on him. This is this is how you can at least make them a little bit more uncomfortable. Now, Kawhi still breaks free, but we get a contest. It's a miss. Just making them uncomfortable is going to make them more likely to miss and more likely to make mistakes.

he knows it's going to be a switch. So what he's doing is he screens his bottom side and noticees quickly getting inside position, so that Jokic when he comes off, just has to see Harden get on inside of Gordon. As soon as Harden ends up on the inside of Gordon, the lob is there. Watch there, boom, Yokic sees it. Now it's inside position. Easy lobb to Gordon. I think there's a lot of opportunity for the Nuggets to explore

that Jokic Gordon two man game to attack Harden. Here's an example of one of the botched sequences that I was talking about with the Clippers. I talked a lot last night about how the Clippers would get these like simple reading and react sequences and just not pay it off.

of the season. But watch the ball pressure. Jokicic just attacks Powell and makes contact, which leads to a swing pass Powell. Instead of trying to compromise the defense, Palell just got rid of the ball. Why did you just get rid of the ball because Jokic pressured him. Then Kawhi ends up making a mistake throwing into the passing Liane to Christian Brown, Jokic just literally pressuring the ball caused the Clippers to pee down their leg Like That's what I was trying to talk about last night. I

talk about how there's a bracket in ball screens. You need to apply pressure from the front and from behind. This is a great example of that. Watch Christian Brown is attached to Norman Powell. Jokic is at the level. Active with his hands, forces a deflection. When these guys do this, they raise their defensive floor to being okay on defense, which is enough for their great offense to carry them over the top. These are the things they weren't doing to finish the season. Second half, same sort

of thing. Look at the efforts and pick and roll defense, pressure in the ball. Yokic is at the level. Yokic at the level. Again, look at the activity we've pressured the ball where they're on the catch, We're making the rotations. Look at the effort that Jokic makes to get back into the play. All of a sudden it's gone. Look at that Clippers botched it. This should be an easy dunk, right drop off. This should be such an easy sequence

like drop off done, should get a dunk here. The Clippers will botch these sequences if you apply the appropriate pressure. See that, just again, they're open. The openings are there. Harden's able to turn the corner and pick and roll. But just because the effort, Look, they get back to Jokic, or they get back to Zubots and just pressure him a little bit and get him to miss lay up. You just have to bring that requisite level of defensive intensity.

Another good pick and roll defense rep for the Nuggets. Look ball pressure Yokich at the level to the Clippers credit, they made a really nice play here, but you made it more difficult. Look at the tightness of the window that Harden has to fit this pass through. He just happens to. They tag the roller really nicely. Zoo just makes an unbelievable shot. But notice out of all those sequences, they scored on that one, but they didn't on the others because you've made it difficult. And so on the

difficult shots. Zoo, who goes one for two instead of you know, a higher percentage. That's how you can play them into two worse outcomes Morgan. Pick and roll defense from Denver here, Boom at the level. Yo Kich is active with his hands. They're pressuring the ball. These openings are there, but it's harder to get them. They end

up throwing to Zoo. He's already tagged. Zoo sees Powell cutting along the baseline, but Murray does just enough to distract him there, and it ends up the advantage is completely gone now and they can play it into a tough, contested corner three like that. That's really good defense. Yo, kitchen pick and roll gets a steal with activity with his hands, ball screen active hands steal like It's like night and day watching Denver's defense down the stretch of

this game. Compared to what it looked like in the last few months of the season, this bench group for the Clippers really struggled to create space for Kawhi Leonard. They were just basically double teaming him and not worrying about Ben Simmons, and Kawhi just wasn't handling it very well. Kaui ended up having I think seven turnovers in this game. Not a great Quhi playmaking game. Like we talked about

before the series, same sort of thing here. As you can see, we're gonna get to Kawhi Iso against Peyton Watson. Notice how they're just shading into the driving lanes right, And because they're shading into the driving lanes, Kawhi doesn't have the space to really drive, and so he has to settle for this contested mid range jump shot that doesn't go in. It's just tough with Derek Jones and Ben Simmons out there. They just don't have the shooting necessary to really create space for Kawhi.

This is where Christian Brown could do damage to James Harden. Notice James Harden is guarding Brown, but he's just not paying attention. Just a simple backside cut there. Harden's not doing anything easy lay up for Brown. Here's another great example. Pick and roll bracket coverage. Right, so we're over the top, but look at how everyone's attached. Christian Brown was attached over the top, which forced Harden to rush his drive. Jokic meets him at the level Harden ends up fumbling

it out of bounds. Just do enough defensively and the Clippers will pee down their leg. They're not a great playmaking team. Here's another example of Kawhi not really handling the double team. Well, go to Christian Brown, double comes, the flash is open.

But instead Kawhi just does and see the flash and ends up throwing a swing pass to the corner to someone who's not open, and but Tom has to try to basically rescue them with a bailout shot that he misses. I thought this was just a really impressive physical battle that Russell Westbrook won against Kawhi.

The tag is there, but Toom is open. All but Tom has to do here is take a reverse layup. Take a reverse layup here and it's an easy bucket, but instead he drops it off to Derek Jones and throws a little bit of a funky pass. Notice the pass is just a little off target, like down into Derek Jones's left I talked about this so much on the show last night, like so many of these sequences were just slightly botched by the Clippers because they're just

a little slight in their connective playmaking. Derek Jones ends up missing that little hook shot. But again to Denver's credit, I want to show that one more time. Watch Denver's defense on the possession. Watch just the level of rotation and how it plays them into that mistake. So, for instance, like Russ throws a good hard tag, Gordon does rotate that rotation from Gordon and Murray causes Nick Patom to panic and make a mistake. You got to play them

into their mistakes. I thought Russell Westbrook just did a really nice job of his off ball spacing in the Jokic groups down the stretch. So we have Yokic here attacking with a pump fake on Zoo and watch a couple things I want you to look at here. This is an example of the inverted spacing that you get with the Nuggets. So first of all, with the inverted spacing, we have Zoo out on the perimeter guarding Yoki, so there's no rim protection, right, but Zoo pump fakes or

Yoki pump fake. Zoo goes for it. Chris Dunn ends up strong side zoning to help. Now Russell Westbrook just flashes right to the middle of the floor where he can make himself available and goes right up and gets a layup. Really nice work there from Russ And then once again no rim protection because of the inverted spacing from Jokic. They blitz Murray here, which actually works really well, forces it to a Russell Westbrook shot. But the here's

that rebounding mismatch. Here's Aaron Gordon against James Harden, he gets an easy offensive rebound. They get a bunch of offensive rebounds on this possession. A lot of success there down the stretch, same thing Murray misses, but all the athletes are in there. James Harden's not battling, and when Christian Brown gets a piece of it, who's the guy that goes and gets the ball? Aaron Gordon. The Clippers were doing a lot of defending the Jokic Murray two

man game with three players down the stretch. Here was another example of that two man game. Two on the ball, but they're flashing with Dunn that ends up leading to the weak side Skipp being open and too. Yokic's credit, Jokic trusted him. Look at this twenty seven seconds left in the game. You're down by one, and Jokic goes, Russ has got this, and Russ knocks down the big shot. This is another example of Kawhi doing a poor job managing a double team. So Kawhi goes here, the double

team's there. What do you guys see as the opening? As Kristun is cutting through Norman Powell is the opening because Zoo is engaged with Christian Brown. All Kawhi has to do is just throw the over the top pass to Powell, but instead he doesn't actually see the read until right now. At that point, the rotation is already there and it's shut off. Like I would just keep doubling Kawai. I just don't think he's particularly good at it, at handling the doubles. This was really cool, like a

two man game in transition. This is just the chemistry of Yokich and Murray. Notice Jokic runs and then he just sets this brush screen for Murray which creates a drop coverage look right at the rim and transition. I thought this was interesting once again, the setting up the

two man game. They're just straight up, outright double teaming Yokich and Murray out at half court, which leads to this classic little two on one sequence here, and Russ makes a really nice pass to Aaron Gordon who finishes. All right, two more and then we're done. Yokic making an effort to recover to the role man. So Yokic

is at the level Zoo gets behind him. Look at the effort from Jokic again, Like, guys, I know Jokic is capable of being a good defender, and he just wasn't taking that responsibility seriously to start the game or the second half of the season. And then lastly we had our dagger from Christian Brown. More backside help here.

Notice as so if y'oll kitchen the post against Zoo Chris Dunn, we have Powell basically strong side zoning Chris Dunn basically digging down unto us Jokics trust Christian Brown who rises up.

If they can keep these games close and they can get down to the final you know, three five minutes and the game is within three five points, I really like the Nuggets chances to win this series if they can keep things close. As you can see, the Clippers just don't quite have that connective playmaking to consistently break down their defense the way that some of the other higher level offenses around the league can. All right, guys,

that's a long film session, eighty six clips later. I hope you guys got a little bit more information about how those matchups look after game one. A little bit of news for tonight, we are going with Colin Cowherd after the Warriors game instead of doing the normal Hoops Tonight show, so just adds up. Make sure you go over to Colin Cowherd's podcast feed to see our reaction to tonight's games. I will see you guys, then what's up guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening to

and supporting Hoops tonight. They would actually be really helpful for us if you guys would take a second.