Hoops Tonight - Game 3 Reactions: Celtics/Magic & Pacers/Bucks

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Void in Ontario, new customers only. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkang dot co slash audio. All right, WELLcom hoops tonight you're at the VAULU. Youmemt me Saturday, everybody hope all you guys are having a great start to weekend as promise. I just want to quickly touch on the other two games from last night that I did not get to hit thanks to the live stream I was doing for Pezas and the Lake

Film Room. Guys, we're gonna hit Celtics Magic off the top very briefly on that game. A lot more interesting stuff that I want to get to into the Bucks Pacers game in the second half of the show. You guys are the joke before we get started. To subscribe to Hoops and O YouTube channels. You don't miss to you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lt so you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about a podcast feed wherever

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All right, let's talk some basketball. So after Game one, if you guys, remember I said that I felt like the magic we're capable of doing enough to get a game at home in this series, so I didn't see it ending in the sweep, and they did. Franz and Pallo were both incredible and this game, Franz ended up being the hero late after the Celtics went on this

crazy run to tie the game. Two buckets off the dribble against Chris tops porzingis a really nice nasty spin move with his left hand and then a driving move with his right hand. And ultimately, if you look at the way this game kind of took shape, it was

like these individual scoring runs. Palload going a scoring run, Franz would go on a scoring run, Tatum went on these like crazy scoring runs that Tatum will just come down and hit a couple pull up threes in a row and another tough fadeaway jump shot just completely would flip the tone and tender of the game. But the Magic just consistently had a response as they were able to use their defense to as they were able to use their defense to reassert control of the game. That's

the story to me is Orlando's defense. They executed their switch and contained scheme perfectly. They conceded just six unguarded catch and shoot jump shots to the Celtics in the entire game. That is tied for the lowest number that any defence has held the Boston Celtics to this year. Just six unguarded catch and shoots. The Celtics scored just fourteen points total on spot up opportunities. That's less than half of their season average of thirty. Just an elite

defensive performance from the Orlando Magic. They're leaning into their physicality, they're leaning into their size. They are doubling on occasion on specific types of Tatum actions, particularly when he's got his back to the basket, but they're rotating quickly off of that and taking away the easy catch and shoots out of those sequences, turning them into tougher, rougher catch and shoot opportunities. Just an elite defensive performance from the

Orlando Magic. And it's really just turning into that type of matchup attacking game going both ways. Like you know, this is gonna be a tough series for the Celtics to generate clean catch and shoot looks. The Magic are big and strong enough to hold up pretty well on an island anywhere on the floor. They're holding up well

against porzingis and switches. They're holding up well in general in the aggregate against the Jays in isolation, they're doing really well, and then they're rotating out of the occasional double teams that they find themselves into based on like a certain type of matchup or something along those lines. And that's why defense to transition is going to be such an important part of this series for the Celtics as they try to end things as soon as possible

to try to get themselves some rest. Like, for instance, you kind of let krisps Porzingis sit on an island against Franz Wagner late, Like, this is a team that can't make jump shots. In Game two and in game three of the series, the Orlando Magic got less than zero point eight points per jump shot over those two games. So there is an opportunity there to force these guys to knock something down from the perimeter instead of allowing Franz the comfortable right at the rim working in isolation,

Franz passes the ball. Well, I'm not trying to take that away, Like Polo's a guy that you feel a little bit more comfortable offering help against. But this is a team that can't make jump shots. Make them actually take and make jump shots in those sorts of situations. A simple way to look at it is just the

way the transition battle is played out. So like in Game one the Celtics had thirty transition points, They've had thirty four total in the last two games combined, and so just upping that defensive intensity, making them play in a crowd more frequently, and then getting out and running so you can start your driving kick sequences based on transition principles rather than having to do it and post up in isose situations where the magic probably aren't going

to bring as much help in those situations, because they feel pretty good about those guys defending on an island. And then the last thing that I wanted to say that there's a huge narrative surrounding the physicality in this series. Jalen Brown apparently has got a dislocated left index finger kind of ended in a weird clutch lineup where you have Pritchard out there because Drew Holliday's out with his hamstring strain and Jalen Brown's out with this index finger thing.

And there is definitely like a certain amount of war of attrition element to these types of series, right, And there's a kind of a stacking of there's a stacking of injuries that the Celtics are dealing with, Threw Holliday's hamstring, Jalen Brown's knee, and his finger, Jason Tatum, Jason Tatum in his wrist, Like there's just all this like little stuff that everyone's dealing with, but you just gotta survive. This is the most physical team you're gonna play in

this playoff run. By far. It actually reminds me a little bit about of what the Lakers are dealing with with Minnesota, where it's like, if by some chance, you can survive this series. Now, Minnesota is a substantially larger challenge for the Lakers than this Orlando Magic team is, but it's a similar kind of concept in the sense that, like the teams waiting for you in the future rounds are not as big and strong positionally across the board

as this Orlando Magic team is. They know that their best chance to win is to drag this into the mud. And as far as some of the narratives surrounding the series involving physicality, like I've been talking about this NonStop in this playoff run, just I don't know why everyone's complaining It's literally the way that it's been played in every single series. The Knicks Piston series. People are bitching about physicality, the Magic Celtics series. People are bitching about physicality.

People are bitching about Jokic getting calls. People are bitching about Steph Curry getting calls, people are bitching about the officiating in the Timberwolves Lakers series. Like, this is playoff basketball, guys, It's not gonna change, like in regardless of whether or not we think it maybe is a little too physical. And I would argue that, like it's gotten a little over the top kind of like across the board in the playoffs. But at the same time, it's consistent. This

is the way it's been in every series. And so it's not about complaining, it's about surviving. If you can survive this series, there are better, easier matchups waiting on the horizon as you get away from Like what the Orlando Magic are like when you came into this series, Celtics fans, what did you expect? This is the Orlando Magic. They're huge, they're strong, they can't shoot. This is their best way to try to win games is to try to muck it up with physicality. Try to wear on you,

try to win the mental battle. And to me, every time you complain, every time you go into a press conference and talk about how they're beating you up, I think you're playing into that a little bit. Lean on your defense. You can do more damage to them than they can do to you. Get out and transition, dispatch of them quickly, get them out of here in five games. Then you can have some time to rest and recover while you prepare for the next round. But this is

just the way it's going to be. No one's gonna come save you. You got to find a way to get through the series physically, and you can do it through the strength of your defense. Let's move on a PACER's Bucks. So the Pacers led fifty nine to forty seven in the early second half and the Bucks go on a sixty six to thirty two run to completely

flip the game into a blowout in Milwaukee's favor. And it basically came down to the Bucks winning with two different types of groups, a group that they had struggled with for most of the series, the Brook Lopez units. Those It's have been minus twenty seven in the first two games of the series, but Brooke was on the floor for the first part of the big run that the Bucks went on to start the second half. Talk about that in a minute, and then there are other

groups that are built around switching in. Bobby portis at center right, so let's start with the Lopez group. The big change was going from Torrian Prince to Gary Trent Junior. Torrian Prince was taken out of the rotation entirely. This is a change that myself and many others were calling for. Torrian's just not fast enough to be playing a large role on a serious team anymore, especially in this type of matchup against a team that is so incredibly fast.

So going to Gary Trent Junior immediately pays dividends. Gary Trent hit seven threes in the second half, almost all of them off of pacers, double teams of Giannis on post ups and drives. I talked about this after Game two. Yiannis is consistently getting double teamed in the post. That's your initial advantage. Surround Giannis with play finishing guys that can capitalize on those double teams. You're going to give yourself a good chance to win. Over and over again.

Gary Trent was able to get clean looks off of Yannis double teams and repeatedly pay them off. And by the way, Gary Trent's been shooting the piss out of the basketball all season long. This is something that he can do to help this team in a larger role. I do want to shout out Kyle Kuzma because I thought he was actually the guy who triggered the start of the run. I understand that Kyle Kusman has worn out as welcome with Bucks fans. There's a lot of

reasons for that. He can be a perplexing decision maker from time to time. His jump shot has just been completely non existence, non existent, which has been a huge pain. And there's another conversation to have about why in the world, this late in the Kyle Kuzma's career he hasn't figured out how to turn himself into a more reliable jump shooter. Didn't have an amazing box score game in this game.

He had bought nine points, three rebounds, and two assists, but he made four plays at the beginning of the run in the early third quarter that got the Bucks going. Started with a nice cut off of the right wing off of a Brook Lopez post up Brooke got my else Turner super deep on a post up. They brought a double team with Andrew Nemhard. Kuzma really smart cut through the slot, caught it, got an easy lay up there.

Then he was guarding Aren Nemhard along the left side of the floor on the other end, and he got a nice clean stop against Adrea Nemhard that led to a runout the other way. As a team, they contained the ball better. We'll talk about that in a minute, but a nice defensive play from Kuzma. Then he made a beautiful connective pass out of a Yannis double team. Giannis gets doubled passes to Kuzma, Gary trentz wide opening the skip on the corner. Kusma identifies it and throws

a perfect pass over the top. Gary Trent knocks down the three. That's that connective playmaking piece that turns a double team into an open shot out of a rotation situation. And then lastly he got another bucket on another cut off of Brook Lopez, this time off of an offensive rebound. Lopez just beat Turner to the ball. Kuzma cut right off of the left wing, got a little floater right there in the lane that was what really got the

engine running. So again, even though Kuzma didn't play a massive role in this game, I did think he made some big plays at the start of that third quarter run that helped kind of got to get things going. And then in order for that lineup, the Brook Lopez at center lineup, in order for that lineup to function on defense, brook has to drop or be at the level but focus on the ball is my point in ball screens, and that means they have to concede the

pick and pop to Miles Turner. And Miles Turner got two completely unguarded top of the key pick and pop threes during that early third quarter run that he missed. So like, that's a little bit of good fortune, right, And that's a certain scheme reality about having Brook Lopez on the floor that like, in order for it to work, you need their pick and pop big to be missing threes, and he was in that particular unit. But then the Portis and the groups with Bobby Portis at center ended

up actually finishing the run. This group did a lot of switching and did a great job of containing the ball.

This was the best stretch of defense I've seen this Bucks team play all season long, such competitiveness to flatten out drives, to slide their feet, beat people to spots, take contact in the chest without fouling, contain the ball, to pressure the ball with physicality like it was jarring to see the difference in just ball pressure that Milwaukee was applying to Indiana in that third quarter compared to what it looked like for the majority of this series.

Even Damian Lillard was like picking up the ball out thirty feet away from the basket with physicality, trying to rush guys. You could literally see Indiana get uncomfortable and get out of rhythm from that level of intensity, closing out really hard at the three point line, getting good contests, competing on the defensive glass, just a substantially better defensive effort across the board in their switching group there in

the middle of the third quarter. It was very different from the fake comeback in Game two, where the Pacers were just missing wide open threes every time down the floor. There were a couple mistakes, a couple of bots switches, one involving Kevin Porter Junior and aj Green where they left Aaron Nee Smith wide open in the left corner.

Another ball screen at the top of the key where Kevin Porter Junior I think it was KPJ and Giannis or Portus, I can't remember exactly what was but Siakam ended up slipping the screen and he ended up getting a wide open layup, and the Pacers made him pay for those mistakes that happened. But there weren't very many mistakes other than that. They defended super well and they were able to keep that Indiana offense under control. And I just want to stay focused on Giannis's playmaking for

a minute. I thought he was surgical in that stretch, consistently drawing those post up doubles that created the advantage opportunities. He was also making great passes out of drives. I saw one of the more advanced reads I've seen Gianna s make where he drove along the left lane line engaged to the rim protector, which left Portus open, and then he looked off the low man because he had been making those because the Bucks had been hitting some threes.

There was a shooter in the right corner, and he looked him off just enough to be able to create space for Bobby Portis to be wide open under the basket. Yanis just continues to just show really high level playmaking compared to what we saw from him earlier in his career. And then to start the fourth quarter with Giannis off the floor, the Bucks get three quick threes off of driving kick sequences for Damian Lillard and aj Green, and that was enough to build the separation that put this

game away. And so it's pretty clear what the best pathway is for the Bucks. I mean, it was pretty clear early in the series. We talked about it. Lean into Giannis and surround him with play finishing. Everything should be built around Giannis's ability to draw two to the ball and the fact that you can surround him with a ton of aggregate shooting and ball handling, attacking closeouts

and stuff. Off of that, right, that's your pathway on offense and then on defense, switch contain the ball, be competitive, show that intensity, and you give yourself a decent chance to beat this team. They that was an extended dominant stretch from the start of the third quarter throughout the end of the game, where it wasn't just that they were causing the Pacers problems. They kick their ass. They literally outscored them in that run, sixty six to thirty two.

They doubled them up. So that is a capability that they have that is in there if they compete. Now on the pacers front, I thought they really succumbed to the ball pressure. I thought they looked a bit cut off guard by that sudden intensity. They were just a little rattled as they were trying to get to their spots and trying to get into their offense. They need to generate dribble penetration. They have to win that battle

at the point of attack. I was talking about this with Petzs in our playback room last night, regarding Ruy Hatchi Mura and Julius Randall, and the idea that like Julius is gonna attack your shoulder right as he's trying to drive around you, You're gonna slide and he's gonna hit you on your shoulder, and that it becomes a battle, the battle being if you give ground and he can blow through that shoulder, he's going to get around you

and get to the basket. But if you can hold your ground, and a lot of that has to do with where he hits you. If he hits you on the edge of your shoulder, he's gonna go right through you. But if he catches you closer to the middle of your chest, you're gonna have an easier chance of holding

your ground as you're sliding your feet right. And that's the battle that all these dribble drives are starting with, whether it's Aaron Nesmith or like AARONI Smith trying to drive, Andrew Nemhard trying to drive Tyre's Halliburton trying to drive TJ.

McConnell trying to drive in the switch scheme again, when it's the ball screen attack that they use with the Brook Lopez units, there's a lot of these baked in rotation opportunities and picking pops and skip passes things along those lines, right, But as soon as they start switching, it becomes a battle of like Siakam attacking guys in the post and can these guards beat these dudes off the dribble, And as soon as they start beating them off the dribble, that's when they can get them into

rotation where the bucks can be really sloppy as they start trying to fly around. But if you can contain the ball versus getting dribble penetration, that's going to be the dynamic that is going to flip these Lopez off portis at center groups. If the Pacers get dribble penetration, they're going to control the game. If the Bucks can

contain dribble penetration, they're going to control the game. And so it's very, very important for the Pace to bring that requisite level of pace and intensity on their drives to beat people off the dribble, and then they need to dominate the Brook Lopez minutes. This depends on Miles Turner's ability to make brook Lopez pay for the coverage that they're running. He's got to hit those threes at the top of the key. That is a like an

absolute mandatory part of that coverage working. If you allow brook Lopez to defend Tyres Aliburton two on one and allowing the other guys to be able to stay home, it's going to be difficult for you to score. And so that's that dynamic. I've talked a lot about this coming into the series, the brook versus Turner dynamic. Turner wasn't able to bring that level of shot making today

and it ended up hurting their offense. So again, it's really we can kind of see how this is settling in right This is settling into the Pacers core regular lineup versus these Bucks small ball groups, and the Bucks small ball groups, if they can contain the ball, Giannis is going to consistently draw double teams. They'll be existing in rotation. But if the Pacers can get dribble penetration, they're gonna be in their driving kick. They're gonna be

keeping the Bucks in rotation. And so that's the dynamic. Whoever can con If the Bucks can contain the ball, they've got a good chance to win the series. If they can't, the Pacers are gonna win the series. That's the dynamic we're looking at there, that Milwaukee perimeter defense. All right, guys, let's get out of here. We're gonna get the ten eighteen. We literally already have our first game started for the day here in Tucson, So I'm gonna get to the TVs and start watching the games.

We'll be live on YouTube tonight after the final buzzer of Rockets Warriors for a breakdown of all of today's games. I will see you guys, then, what's up guys. As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting oops tonight. They would actually be really helpful for us if you guys would take a second and leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if you could take a minute to do that, I really appreciate it. The volume