Hoops Tonight - Kevin Durant's Suns debut, Warriors massive comeback, Lakers & Celtics' big wins

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Happy Wednesday, everybody. We are live on AMP. Don't forget if you guys are watching on the podcast feed or on YouTube that AMP is the very first place you guys can get these shows. We have an unbelievably jam

packed show tonight. We're going to talk about Kevin Durant's debut with the Phoenix Suns, the Boston Celtics getting a dominant win over the Cleveland Cavaliers that I think is very telling about the one seed race in the Eastern Conference, and then the Golden State Warriors ripped off three consecutive wins without Steph Curry or Andrew Wiggins to rise up

to the fifth seed. And a shocking come from behind victory against the Portland Trailblazers last night, and so much more NBA talk from around the league that we're going to be getting into. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribed to the Volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lt so you guys don't miss any show announcements. And for whatever reason, you guys miss one of these videos and you can't get back

over to YouTube to finish, don't forget. You can find them wherever you get your podcasts Under Hoops Tonight, and last but not least, before we get started, you guys have heard me talk about game Time, the fastest growing ticketing app in the United States. If you're looking to get out to any NBA games, an NHL game, a college basketball game, a concert, or even a comedy show, game Time has amazing last minute deals on tickets to all of these. Kevin Durayant looked amazing with the Suns tonight.

I've got to get up to Phoenix to check him out. Like I've said so many times, i just don't get many opportunities down here in Tucson, Arizona to see that type of professional athlete of close and personal. I'm gonna get on the game Time app there. It's super easy to use. I know they're gonna take great care of me. I know I'm gonna get a good deal. I know I'm gonna get a good seat. It's a great experience and I highly encourage you guys check it out no

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All right, let's talk some basketball. So you know, one of the things that everyone is always said about Kevin Durant, which is absolutely true, is that he's the best plug in play superstar in the league. And I really think it comes down to two reasons why. Offensive versatility and defensive versatility. It's that simple. What does versatility mean. It's the ability to play different ways right, or to not just play different ways, but to be good or effective

in different ways. On the defensive end of the floor, you can ask Kevin Durant to guard on the permitter. It's not his best strength, but he can do a decent job of it. And you can ask him to protect the rim in a pick and roll type of role, or you can ask him to be a backside help, kind of like Loman type of responsibility, helping out of the week side corner. He can do a bunch of different things. He can switch onto a bunch of different

types of offensive players. He has versatility there, but that extends to the offensive end of the floor, and I thought that that was immediately apparent in him playing with the Phoenix Signs. Coming into the game, I had three predictions.

I thought that you would see josh Akogi end up being the fifth starter, just because I thought he had demonstrated he is their best point of attack defender over the course of this recent stretch of the season, and that was the specific need that they need out of that fifth starter position, and that ended up being true. And then I thought that Kad would primarily operate in an off ball roll to try to make a seamless transition into him coming on board with this Phoenix Suns offense.

And then lastly, I thought he'd be super active on the defensive end, which he was. He had two blocks in his first shift. But I thought that that specifically, that offensive versatility plugging into Phoenix's offense was immediately apparent. His first shot that he took, he missed it, but it's just a little shot off of a wide pin down. I means he's kind of started in the corner, worked his man down to the block, caught a down screen I believe it was from Deandreyton, came up to the elbow,

caught and shot a little fifteen footer. He ended up missing it, But that's movement shooting. It's really easy to plug the movement shooting into any offense in the NBA. Kevin Durant amazing at that. There was a play where he dribbled up the left wing in transition and had a lot of space to rise up into a Hesitantitian pull up three. That's a great example of Kevin Durant being able to succeed in the transition elements of the game.

When he came back in his second shift with Devin Booker and Chris Paul both off the floor, Charlotte came in in his zone and Kevin Durant knocked down to three on the right wing and a gap in the zone. That's a weapon, a zone beater in the form of a seven foot tall, sharp shooting wing. Kevin Durant Cotton knocked it down easy. Then they went back to man demand and they posted up Kevin Durant. As soon as he posted up on that left block, Damian Lee cut

down the middle of the floor. Kevin Durant hit him for a layup, and then later in that shift he transitioned into an on ball pick and roll role and immediately knocked down two pull up jump shots in pick and roll as the lead ball handler. Now there's a side conversation to have eventually on the biggest stage. I think that Kevin Durant needs to be primarily featured in that on ball type of role. I really I predicted that he would primarily operate off ball to start with Phoenix,

just because that's Kevin Durant's personality. He doesn't want to rock the boat. He wants to fit in, and he's so versatile that it's honestly the easiest way to quickly be good is to have Chris Paul and Devin Booker play the way they're used to playing, have Campaign play the way he's used to playing and have Kevin Durant slot into that mcale bridges role. But the thing is, Kevin Durant is the best pick and roll ball handler in the NBA this year on a points per possession basis,

so unbelievably good at the pull up jump shot. He's an entire stratosphere above everybody else in the entire league literally that As a result, he's been consistently drawing multiple defenders in that action and his team has been getting great stuff. So in the long run, I think they're gonna have to lean on that a little bit. But it's I do understand why he's going that way to start with Phoenix, just to make the transition easier, but

they were always going to click quickly on offense. We're gonna talk about this a lot tonight, specifically this idea, but a natural basketball fit. You know, everyone talks about like building chemistry and that continuity and things like that, and that stuff does matter. Make make no mistake, it absolutely matters. But it is easier to quickly generate that continuity in chemistry when there is a natural basketball fit

than when it's more difficult. Russell Westbrook, he might have played three straight consecutive good games with the Lakers, maybe twice or maybe three times total in the year and a half. He's three for three with the Los Angeles Clippers. Now, they lost all three of those games, but not because of Russ, and Russ has been good in all three games. Why natural basketball fit. They needed somebody to operate with

the ball in his hands. They have tons of jump shooting around him, so he has more space to get to the rim, and he's been impactful pushing the pace and generating quality shots. You're seeing that immediately with Kevin Durant too. He could become a facsimile of Mikail Bridges and easily just slot into that position. But then at the same time, you could put him on the ball and he's going to generate a bunch of high quality

shots there and then on the other end of the floor. Defensively, he's just capable of filling any specific defensive role, and

that's why you've seen that immediate natural fit. The first four games of their schedule are pretty damn easy to get to win against Charlotte, they play the Bulls on the road next, then after that they have home games back to back against the MAVs and the Thunder, So it's a good opportunity for them to build up some defensive chemistry before they go into a stretch of really

tough games. They play the Kings, they play the Warriors, they play the Bucks back to back to back, which should teach us a lot more about them on the defensive end from a personnel standpoint. That's three completely different high powered offenses. That's a dribble drive, pick and roll attack from Sacramento that's going to really test their point

of attack defense and their pick and roll defense. Then there's the Golden State Warriors, which are much more of like a blender of offensive sets, and it's really going to test their ability to lock and trail as shooters are flying off of screens or if they're gonna end up switching those actions will end up seeing. And then when they play Milwaukee, that's your powerful rim assault that janis dropping his shoulder going through you time and time again.

Drew Holiday a power guard in the backcourt. It's going to be a different type of matchup there. So we're gonna learn a lot about the Suns here in about a week and a half when they go through that tough stretch against the King's Warriors and Bucks. But they've got a good stretch here in the next three games to continue to build some of that chemistry and continuity, which I expect to be easy for them. All right,

let's move on to that ESPN early game tonight. The Celtics first the calf So you know, I was having a conversation. I want to say it was it was either yesterday or the day before, but I was talking with a buddy of mine who was a Celtics fan, and I had made the point that I thought that you guys have heard me make this point on the show, but I think that the Sixers are a monumentally more dangerous second round opponent than the Cleveland Cavaliers. Like I

don't even think it's remotely close. I think that Milwaukee and Boston would handle Cleveland. I'd give them no chance to win, but against the Sixers, like I give them a legitimate puncher's chance to win, Like if and Bade comes in and plays really well, and Harden plays really well,

I think they can win. And this particular Celtics fan disagreed with me and said that he thought the Calves were a bigger threat because the Celtics had struggled with their guards earlier in the season, and he's mainly referencing the two overtime wins at the beginning of the year when the Celtics lost. But my counter to it was, you know, the Celtics weren't really playing great defense at

that point in the season and in a series. I keep looking at it tactically as the problem of the Calves in their front court offensive skill with Jared Allen Evan Mobley, and they've been playing a lot Isaac Coorro at the small forward position. With that specific lineup, it's just too easy for them to load up the paint, which makes the job of your perimeter defenders guarding Darius

Garland and Donovan Mitchell so much easier. And I thought you saw that specific gap and offensive skill manifest itself in this game as it progressed, because early in the game tonight, the Calves hung tough, in large part because Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland made a lot of really

tough shots. They were playing incredible basketball. Like I've said, the predicament that Cleveland is in is their guard are either going to kick to shooters that cannot make the shot at a high clip, or they're going to have to opt to take higher difficulty shots themselves. And when you're on that type of shot diet, many times this season they've opted to take those shots, which I totally understand.

I mean, eventually, as a ball handler, you're gonna get sick of kicking to a shooter in the corner that can't knock down the shot even if he is wide open, and you're gonna think to yourself, I've got the best chance of converting this play. But the problem is, over the course of a game, it's really difficult to continually make those extremely difficult shots. So they hung in for

a half, but they're in that third quarter. You sought shift quickly, and I thought it was really interesting Boston put one of either Al Horford or Robert Williams on Isaac Okoro or Chetty Osman, whoever it was that was in that three spot. They put one of those guys on him the entire game and then just sat them

on the block. So if like the balls on the strong side that's called the right side of the floor, and the choros in the left corner, then Robert Williams the hofer is just sitting on the block the entire game, stepping into the lane, stepping out of the lane, stepping into the lane, stepping out of the lane to avoid that three second call, and he's effectively zoning up at the rim, which just makes everything so much more difficult

for Cleveland's guards and so much easier for Boston's perimeter defenders. And you know what's funny is, for the most part during that third quarter, they just weren't even trying to hit him when he was open Isaac Acoro, and when they did, Akoro was over three. And then on the other end of the floor, Boston's shot quality was sky high. Jalen Brown really set the tone to start the third quarter,

driving the ball to the basket. He had an aggressive move on Darius Garland and semi transition, got to the rim and threw a pass into the corner. I believe

it was Marcus Smart who knocked down the three. He had another play where he missed the layup at the rim, but it occupied the rim protectors and opened I think Jason Tatum ended up getting an offensive rebound put back, and then Tatum had one of his better offensive quarters in a while because he's been slumping just a tiny bit as of late hit a couple of step back threes.

Had a really nifty play to start the half where he cut back door on a design play in the lob was off target and he somehow corralled the lob and through his slave shot pass Al Horford in the week side corner for three really cool improvisational play, got to the rim and finished over Jared Allen attacked the offensive glass on that play, a referenced earlier with Jalen Brown, and pretty quickly, when you have that type of gap in shot quality wide open catch and shoot threes, big

strong athletes finishing at the rim versus small guards taking extremely difficult shots over contests, or bad shooters shooting wide open threes, eventually you're going to see that shot quality shift. It's that classic small sample versus large sample size. As the sample size increased over the course of the game, it turned in Boston's favor and they turned a one point lead into a twenty point lead in about seven minutes of game clock, which was a really really impressive turnaround.

And that's what I would expect to happen in a playoff series. I don't think it would get any easier for Cleveland in that setting, especially as the series progressed. To be honest, I think Boston or Milwaukee would both beat Cleveland in five games or less. So that's like, there are predictions that I don't feel great about, and there are predictions I feel great about. I feel great about the fact that Boston or Milwaukee would dispatch of Cleveland very quickly. I I just don't think it's a

good matchup for them at all whatsoever. Philly not so much. You know, I'd pick Boston, and I picked Milwaukee to win that series, but I think it'd be a much

tougher series. And so this is where it brings us to the race for the one seed, because Milwaukee ended up taking the one seed earlier this week, and now Boston's a half game back, and so I think this race really matters because that Milwaukee Boston Conference finals matchup is going to be a blood bath and it's going to be extremely demanding physically, and so I think it's going to be very important to secure that one seed to lock yourself up a much easier second round opponent

in Cleveland. So we're gonna be watching that very closely down the stretch. All right, let's move on to the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors are the five seed in the Western Conference. Can you believe it? It was. It was looking really bad when they got rolled by the Lakers a little while back, and they had slipped I believe they had slipped into the play in actually, and obviously was Steph still being a week away from coming back.

It didn't look good. But then they beat the Rockets, you know, in a game that they were supposed to win. And then they came from behind to win a tough game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. And then they turned a twenty three point deficit against the Trailblazers into an eighteen point win in a wild game last night. They fell down big early in the game, in large part because Clay Thompson and Jordan Pool were both ice cold and

everybody for Portland was knocking down shots. I want to say they were like eight for nineteen from three in the first half. But you know, there was a couple of specific things that I wanted to hit on as part of their comeback. First of all, right, before the half, they won on a little bit of a run, not much of one, but they got it from twenty three to seventeen. There's a player where lay Thompson was able to draw foul and get two free throws. Jordan Pool

had a late driving layup right before the half. They got a couple of stops. You go into the half down seventeen, which makes it seem so much more achievable. You know, this happened with the Lakers the other day. They were down twenty seven or whatever, but they got it down to fourteen at the half, which made it so that in the second half they could make the necessary adjustments. Again, the coaching staff can make adjustments in the halftime period in a way that they can't during timeouts.

If you're down twenty three twenty four, those adjustments aren't going to have that much of an impact. It's just too big of a hole to dig out of. But if you get it relatively close, you give your coaching staff and your players a fighting chance. And you know, not only did you establish hope, but you gave Steve

Kerr to make an adjustment. And the big adjustment that Steve Kerr went with in the second half, as he went all in on his three two zone, he ran it every single time that the Warriors had a dead ball situation or off of a made basket, and it was extremely effective. So they ran their three two zone on just nine possessions in the first half. They ran it on twenty four possessions in the second half. In

Golden States, three two zone is super interesting. You don't see a lot of three two zone because it's a much more difficult zone than a two three zone. If you think of it as a two three zone, you have a center directly under the basket, your other two forwards on the wing, and your guards up top. Your center can linger around the basket. That's your least mobile player that doesn't have to move very much. When you invert that into a three two, it's kind of like

a five out zone. All five players have responsibilities at the three point line, as opposed to in a two three zone, the center is never going to come out except for maybe to contest a shot around the semicircle or around the free throw line. Right, So in a three two zone you're much more you have much more mobility responsibilities to cover ground out to the three point line. When the ball's on one side of the floor, like if the ball gets into the right corner and Draymond

Greens in the bottom of the zone. Draymond Green has to go out to the corner and Kemon Luney has to get all the way over under the basket. If they reverse it, Kemon Luney has to rotate all the way out to the three point line and Draymond Green has to come over. It's a very difficult zone to run, but when you run it right, it has it can be really impactful, especially with Looney and Draymond at the rim when they're in those rotations, because you've taken away

the three point line. And in the modern NBA, there just aren't that many players these days that are comfortable working out of the middle of the floor, and the three two zone has a gaping hole right around the free throw line where people can go to work if they're comfortable there. You just don't see too many guys

there now. That'll be interesting when they play the Clippers, I think tomorrow night, because the Clippers have several guys that are comfortable operating out of the middle of the floor. So I'll be curious to see how much Steve Kirk can go to the three two zone in that specific game, but it was really really impactful against Portland. They were completely flummixed. None of those three point shots were open.

Nobody wanted to attack the rim, nobody wanted to work out of the mid range, and they fell apart quickly. Portland scored just eleven times in thirty three chances against Golden States three two zone, and I thought that was a huge part of how they got back into the game. Then on the other end, in the third quarter, Clay Thompson and Jordan Pool finally started making shots and thing he turned around really quickly. Also, special shout out to

Klown Luney. He was super aggressive towards the raim in the third quarter. He had a really nice fake, drible handoff all the way to the rim. He was crashing the offensive glass. The Warriors cut the lead from sixteen to two in less than two and a half minutes. It was a very remarkable come back and they rode that wave to a comfortable victory. I also wanted to a shout out Jonathan Kaminga. He had sixteen points on ten shots in this game. Obviously he had the two

monster dunks. Obviously we saw the one on social media. Everywhere where. He rose up over you know, Shaden Sharp and somebody else I can't remember who, but that nasty down the lane dunk kind of reminded me of DeAndre Jordan over Palcasol and Andrew bind him. Some of you guys might remember that one. But then he had another dunk shortly after there where he ripped through the baseline and rose up and went up of one off of

one foot and dunked it with two hands. He's kind of starting to come to terms with the fact that when he elevates, nobody is actually capable of jumping with him, and it can get pretty scary once you mentally accept that, because then you're just gonna aren't jumping, you know, even when like you're gonna be way less timid around the rim, which I think is gonna open things up. But he had a really he had a really, really nice play in the late fourth quarter that I wanted to highlight

real quick. There was like something like two minutes left and it was garbage time. The game's basically over. But this is just a demonstration of the basketball IQ that Jonathan Kiming is gaining, specifically kind of operating as a big man on the offensive end of the floor. So Golden State runs a set and involves a cross screen out of the post. Essentially like imagine two post players on the block. One post player sets across screen that allows the other post player to come across the floor.

One of the main reasons why you do that is because a lot of times people will fight post mismatches by fronting the post. But if I have to trail you through a screening action, it's impossible for me to front the post. I've now just given you lock and trail position, which is going to give you the ability to seal me. Right, So Jonathan goes out there and he gets a seal, but Moses Moody doesn't make the post entry pass, and so the Blazers defender I can't

remember who it was. I think it might have been Reddish, but I can't remember. But he fights around coming and actually fronts him and in that position, like a lot of players would just quit on that play. No, Jonathan cominga like, turned and switched his leverage back towards the rim, and then Anthony Lamb flashed to the high posed Moody hit him, and now that high low action is open. You flipped the angle, the ball reversed. Now that guy

who's fronting you is suddenly on your backside. They dropped it off to him and he got another dunk. I think it's really interesting how Golden State has converted Jonathan Cominga into basically a center or a big man on the offensive end of the floor while deploying him as a wing defensively. It's allowed them to turn a player that might be several years away from being an impactful offensive wing to being someone they could use right away

in specific matchups as an offensive big. The Warriors are in great shape. He could not have asked to be in better position, and was Steph returning. They've got this tough game against the Clippers tomorrow. They're gonna be hungry for a win. It's gonna be a really hard one

for them to win. I'd give them a very small chance, but Steph is supposed to return in the upcoming road trip, so things are starting to look up for the Warriors, and I just wanted to take this chance to make a little tip of the cap to Clay Thompson, to Jordan Pool, to Draymond Green and Cavon Looney and the others for the work they've done over the course of this stretch of the season, these two stretches of the season where they've been down their guys in floating the

ship and giving them a real chance to go on a stretch run. Lineups this year that have had Draymond Green, Cavan Looney, Clay Thompson, Jordan Pool with no Steph Curry and no Andrew Wiggins are plus zero point three points per one hundred possessions. Doesn't sound like much, but being positive with that group is insane to me. That's championship level will to win. So tip of the cap to those guys. They are set up in a great position

to make a stretch run. Bet the NBA on TNT with a no sweat same game partlay from fan Duel, America's number one sports book. It doesn't matter if you're new to fandel or already have an account. Every third Thursday night, you'll get bonus bets back if your same game parlay doesn't hit. NBA Same game parlays are the perfect way to combine your bets for a chance at a bigger payday. Build your own or choose from one of the popular same game parlays already made for you

in the Fandel Sportsbook AP. My favorite bet on Thursday Night this week is the Clippers on the road in Golden State. They're only a three point favorite, but they are desperate for a win oh and three with Westbrook. They're uniquely equipped to attack Golden States three two zone and they have a lot of perimeter size advantages, So I like the Clippers minus three in that game. However you want to play, you can bet the NBA on TNT every Thursday night with a no sweat same game parlay.

Just head to FanDuel dot com slash Jason t to download Fandel today and get in on the action. And if you're in Massachusetts, get ready because FanDuel is coming soon. Make sure you check out FanDuel dot com slash mass and take advantage of their great pre live offers. Make every moment more with FanDuel, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, let's move on to the Lakers. So just gonna talk about them for just a minute. They.

I was genuinely confused when I saw that Anthony Davis was out tonight. All the reports said that he was painfree. Apparently this was planned rest, which I understand, but at the same time, like this is a must win game and a game that they very well could have lost without Anthony Davis. They trailed by I believe eight points or seven points in the third quarter of this game on the road. It could have gone south for them quickly. So I was confused by this strategy of resting a

d But that gamble paid off for the Lakers. A bunch of guys made big plays. Ruey Hatchamura had a great game, one of those games that you don't really look at the box score four because he was really impactful defensively and on the glass, and just a handful of really smart, savvy offensive plays. Austin Reeves and Dennis Schroeder took over ball handling responsibilities in an excellent way. I thought that when you in Gabriel had a great game,

just dirty work as the backup center. They grinded out a win against Okay City, Oklahoma City, which was a big time and it helps him a lot in the standing to specially considering you just bought Anthony Davis two days of rest before a game in Minnesota where they're going to need him to be fantastic. But what I wanted to briefly touch on in this particular segment was the Grizzlies game. You know, I talked to Colin Coward

last night. For those of you guys who haven't seen it yet, Colin and I went for about forty five minutes and talked just a shit ton of NBA around the league. Check that out if you haven't done so yet. It's on the Volumes YouTube channel. But in that conversation, we talked a lot about the Memphis Grizzlies, or excuse me, about the Los Angeles Lakers. And one of the things I said to Colin was like, all is not lost. Now.

The D'Angelo Russell injury was unfortunate. We're gonna talk about that here in just a second, but he's coming back on Friday. This team is a good basketball team without Lebron James. Now, that is one of the advantages of the job that Rob Polinka did at the deadline. Nick. We've talked about it. They paid a dear price for that. Lebron All reporting says that he suffered this exact injury in January opted to play on it rather than resting it.

As a result of the predicament the team was in in the standings, and he literally floated the ship during that stretch. The only reason the Lakers have a chance is because of what Lebron James did during that stretch in late December, January, early February without Anthony Davis. So he deserves a boatload of credit for that. But one of the advantages of net gamble is they've now built a talented roster that is capable of winning games without

Lebron James. The problem is is they will not be able to beat good teams unless the Angelo Russell is available. And you saw that in that Grizzlies game. I tweeted after the game that I thought the Lakers had really good half court defense in that game, and I thought they lost it in transition. But I didn't get a chance to see the data until today, and it was exactly what happened. They held the Grizzlies to a ninety two point two offensive rating in the half court, which

is great for perspective. The Charlotte Hornets have a ninety two point two offensive rating in the half court all season, which ranks twenty ninth in the NBA. So the Lakers did their job in the half court. But without D'Angelo Russell and without Lebron James, all the ball handling responsibilities fell. They got slotted improperly. Now Schroeder is a primary ball handler right now, Austin Reeves is a secondary ball handler. You know. Now Lonnie Walker is getting a lot of

ball handling responsibilities. And they just couldn't take care of the basketball. They had twenty six turnovers, gave up forty one points off of those turnovers. According to Synergy, they had thirty six points in this game just in transition, which is the story of the Memphis Grizzlies all season. Keep him in the half court, you can stop them. Let him get out in transition and they'll kill you. And that's what happened in this game. But De'angelo Russell

is supposed to return Friday. That should slot everybody properly. Now, De'angelo Russell's a primary ball handler, which he's capable of being. Not for a great team, but he can be that for a good team, which is all the Lakers need. While Lebron James is out of the lineup, that puts

Dennis Shrewder in a secondary ball handler role. That puts Austin Reeves in a tertiary ball handling role that puts Lonnie Walker in a position where you hopefully don't have to start any possessions with him, which which were rough in this particular game. So it should slot everybody properly and give them a much better chance to fight through this next stretch of their schedule. All right, let's move on to the Clippers. So they're owing three without Westbrook.

But I think Russ has been good in all three games. This isn't like what it was with the Lakers, where the fit was clunky. You know Lebron James as an on ball shot creator. He can work off the ball, but his best impact is on the ball. That's the opposite of what the idea is with the Clippers. Kawhi Leonard can work on the ball, but he's best if he fights for position down in the post and someone makes a post entry and he can finish plays as a score in specific matchups and specific spots on the

floor with specific spacing. That's when Kawhi is at his best. That flipped dynamic makes a much more natural fit for Russ as a point guard. Right, you saw the opposite of that effect with the Lakers, he was operating much more off the basketball, so his weaknesses were highlighted, whereas with the Clippers, his strengths have been high lighted, and I think that's a big part of why that fit

has been so good so far. He is not responsible for why the Clippers have lost these three games in a way that he was responsible for a lot of not directly responsible, but he did have a lot of bad games with the Lakers that helped contribute to losses. I don't think he's had a bad game yet with the Clippers. We'll see what happens in the long run, but I think it's been a good start so far. My only gripe with the Westbrook thing is Tyler's closed

with him twice and we've seen what happened. We saw what happened against the Kings last night. He took a bad shot late in the game in an isolation against Mike Conley, just went rogue and took a wonderable fade away one like fade away over Conley and just barely graze the left side of the rim. Like those are the things that they're going to have to sort out. But I don't blame Russ for that. I blame Tylu. The book is out on Russell Westbrook as a closing player.

They have to figure that out. That's on the coaching staff. The reason why I want to talk about the Clippers

tonight is Paul George. He had a super insightful interview with JJ Reddick that gets released on all platforms tomorrow, I believe if I was reading the social media correctly, but they released a little clip and it was a really insightful, you know, four or five minute bit with JJ and Paul talking about the transition from him being a basically the guy in Indiana to playing alongside a star and Russell Westbrook with the Thunder, to playing alongside

a star in Kawhile Leonard with the Clippers, and now two stars technically with Russell Westbrook and Kawhi Leonard, and just what that transition has been like. He talked a lot about how, you know, how good the game of basketball has been to him, and how he's made tons of money and now he just wants to win, and how he doesn't have an ego and he likes being in that secondary role and I appreciate the sentiment. I do. And there's some truth to that idea, particularly at the

end of games. But the basketball has changed so much that there's no such thing as like who's the one and who's the two. How many times over the course the last few, you know, five six years, have you heard like, oh, man, Chris Paul is gonna go play with James Harden. There's only one basketball. How's that going to work? It worked great? You know, Oh, Kevin Durant's going to the Suns. It's him, Chris Paul and Devin Booker.

There's one basketball. They looked awesome on offense tonight, right Like, So it's just one of those things where as the game of basketball has changed and it's become so much more about like advantage creation and you need multiple ball handlers on the floor. It's no longer about we have one basketball that collective talent only it's like a rising tide that floats all boats. And and so I never

really have bought into that specific concept. And right now, regardless of what Paul George views as the psychological dynamic of the team, they need more out of him. The Clippers are two and five in their last seven games, and Paul George is averaging just twenty four points per game on below forty five percent shooting. That's just not good enough for the level of talent that Paul George is, and on film it stands out in a couple of specific ways. In my opinion, it's all about his approach

and his mentality on the ball. He went up a level in the twenty twenty one postseason. Some of you guys remember that that was when he pulled out that Utah Jazz series without Kawhi Leonard and then took the Suns to six without Kawhi Leonard. And a big part of that specific playoff run was Paul George was bought into the physicality, like imposing your will physically on the offensive end of the floor. He was attacking the rim

like crazy. In that playoff run, he actually averaged three point one restricted area makes per game, which is a higher mark than I think he's ever hit during a regular season, at least in recent in his recent career history. So he just had a very clear approach, which was I am going to get to the basket and build everything else on my game off of that. I think that that's gone the opposite direction in this particular season when I'm watching Paul George now he's taking a lot

of really tough shots when he doesn't need to. Now, there's a time in a place for tough shot making, right Like if you're in a groove, like you've made a couple in a row and you're in a rhythm, Hell yeah, man, go to work that. Take your step backs, take your tough fall away twos, and and you're difficult off the dribble threes. If you're in a position where you have to rescue a possession, yeah, there's no choice,

nobody's open, there's two seconds on the shot clock. Yeah, uncork one of those really difficult shots that you work on. But for Paul George right now, those shots are just a regular part of his shot diet, and I think that's partially why he's struggling to really get into a rhythm.

And the problem is is those shots, even for the best players in the world, those really difficult like two three dribble combination into a step back contested to No matter how good you are at those, it's like thirty seven percent shot thirty six percent shots, So you're gonna miss a lot of them. And that thing can that can compile with your and your confidence in your rhythm and lead to a bad shooting night. I'll give you

guys an example. So in that game against Denver the other night, Kawai is going off in regulation down the stretch and Paul George isn't really involved. He he took one late pull up jump shot that he missed. But we get into ot, he just like takes some early clock behind the back dribble contested three, like a really difficult shot that he missed and led to a runout for Denver where Jamal Murray hit a three because they didn't get matched up in transition, and then he had

a turnover on the following possession. But like that shot is a great example of the approach that I'm talking about. I want to say, there was like twelve or thirteen seconds on the shot clock. There was no immediate need for him to take that shot. He wasn't in rhythm offensively at that point. It was just I'm gonna put this up and live with the result. And chances are

statistically that you're going to miss that shot. If he's made a couple in a row, now all of a sudden, he's in a groove that ticks up into a fifty percent shot because he's confident and he's feeling good about himself and that sort of thing. I've always believed that sort of thing really matters with shot result in the NBA. I know all the nerds don't believe in in the hot hand theory, but I very much do. And so I think that that's a specific thing with his approach

that he needs to address. When he's attacking the rim primarily and using his tough shot, making his a counter to that, he's a bona fide two way superstar, but when he's not, he's much much less than that, and he gets away from that way too frequently. I understand it, you know, like you, I've worked really hard on those shots over the course of the last four or five years in my life, and I use them a lot

when I play. And there's a tendency when you've worked on that kind of thing because it's easier, not in shot result, but it's easier to just take a contested shot than it is to physically impose your way to the rim. So I get it where it's like sometimes it's almost like a curse of your own skill that you'll as of almost like a laziness take the tougher shot.

I understand it, but the bottom line is that's not going to be his best chance to win a championship, which, according to his interview with Paul with JJ Reddick, is this primary concern. So I really want to look over the course of the home stretch of the season at Paul George being more physically aggressive to the rim. I think that would turn things around for him, all right, really quickly. Before we get out of here tonight, we're gonna talk a little bit about the Sixers in the

Heat and their little home and home. So the Sixers went into Miami tonight without Joel Embiid and got revenge for their close loss. Harden and Maxie combined for fifty points. They put together excellent defensive effort and they won comfortably. But I don't want to talk about that particular game. I want to talk about this game the other night, just an absolute rock fight of a game that the Heat won in Philly one o one to ninety nine.

And the reason why I want to talk about it is this, to me, is a great example of what a rock fight looks like. And you see a lot of rock fights in the playoffs, and I think it's very interesting how teams win those games. So I wanted to kind of break it down a little bit. So Philly was down big in the middle of the fourth, I think they were down eleven. Both teams are running a ton of zone. Philly got really hot for just a second. Tyrese Maxie hit a three, He had a

couple of transition runouts. They got it back to a close game, and then there was a lid on the rim for both teams and down the stretch. I think the last like four or five minutes of the game, neither team could make a shot and no one was feeling comfortable. And to me, that is the foundational aspect of what a rock fight is. And those of you who have played basketball at any level, we'll know what I'm talking about. There is a type of basketball game.

It's usually extremely physical, but it's the type of game where no offensive player on the floor feels good about their perimeter game. Right. So like the pull up shooters don't feel comfortable going into their pull up shots. The you know, catch and shoot guys all have sweaty palms and they don't feel comfortable going into their shots. No one's feeling confident, nothing feels good, and it kind of

gets stagnant and nobody knows what to do. In those environments, it becomes a rock fight, and in that environment, it's so much about just forcing the ball into the basket by any means necessary around the rim, and I thought it was really interesting. It came down to a final possession. It was I believe ninety eight and Jimmy Butler had the ball with just over a minute left and the Sixers were in their two three zone, but Jimmy Butler got it on the right wing and it kind of

functionally turned into like an ice coverage because PJ. Tucker basically sat back like he was a pick and roll big. And I believe it was d' Anthony Melton, who was the top guy in the zone, who was kind of sitting on Jimmy's high side, and he calls Caleb Martin

to come over and set a screen. But Caleb Martin can't set the screen because he's effectively icing it, which means you're denying the ball handler the ball screen, right, You're forcing him towards his help on the baseline, So he's in this awkward position where he can't drive to the left around the screen because d' anthony Melton is just literally waiting there for him. PJ. Tucker's waiting under the like like four or five feet off of him

in the short corner, none of the like. Yeah, there's some shooters open on skip passes, but nobody feels good about their catching shoot shot. We just talked about that it's a rock fight, those shots probably aren't going in. And Joel Empads waiting directly under the rim, so you would think, like driving to the rim is an extremely low percented shot, but this is rock fight basketball, and Jimmy Butler just does a heart dribble to his left,

does a hard spin move like steps on PJ. Tucker's foot, almost sprains his ankle like like in the spin move, loses control of the basketball a little bit and beads there. He goes up in under he literally as he's trying to finish on the other side of the rim, the ball is disconnected from his hand temporarily and he somehow manages to regain control and just flip it up into

the basket and it's the lead changing shot. The other end of the flour, James Harden tries to bully his way to the rim, leaves it short on the front rim, they get a stop, they go down the other end. Joel Embiad tries to take bam At a Bio off the dribble and bam At a Bio just smothers him and blocks him along the baseline. Then on the final possession, Jimmy Joel Embiad actually did a really nice job navigating a double team and hit James Harden at the top of the key and he had a wide open three.

I shouldn't say wide open. It was kind of a chase contest and he had a pretty decent look. But he had a decent look and he missed it. But like I said, in those environments, those types of shots just don't go in. And that's why I wanted to talk about this particular game because it's not again. The Sixers got revenge tonight. They went in and kicked the Heat's ass without joe El Embiid. And you guys know me,

I'm way higher on the Sixers than most people. I think they have a real chance to win the Eastern Conference if James Harden and Joel and Bed both play well. But I just I wanted to talk about that particular game and what happened down the stretch, just because that, to me, is such a great example of what a rock fight is. And I often talk about how you have to win in different ways in the postseason. Different

games take on different feels. Sometimes the final scores ninety three to eighty seven, sometimes the final scores one seventeen to one thirteen. There's different stuff, like, there's different styles, and so much of it just depends on how people feel on any given night. Does your pull up jump shot feel good? Do your skill players feel comfortable? Or is everyone off? And now it's a fist fight. And the teams that can win both of those ways have the best chance to make it far in the postseason.

And say what you want about the Miami Heat, and they've got a boatload of personnel shortcomings, way too many undrafted guys and buy out guys and guys that people around the league didn't want. But they've got amount a bio and they've got Jimmy Butler, and the two of those guys are two of the best rock fight basketball players that we have in the NBA. And their ability to win that type of game will always keep them a threat no matter what their regular season record is,

no matter who their postseason matchup is. I didn't give them any chance to beat the Celtics last year, and Jimmy was one shot away from getting them to the NBA Finals. And that's why I just can never get off to Miami Heat bandwagon. Alright, guys, that is all I have for today. Gosh, that was a lot of basketball to get into. We are taking tomorrow off and then on Friday, we're gonna be doing five Big Questions

with Carson. You guys seem to like that show last week, so we're gonna do that again, and then we'll get back into our instant reaction stuff this weekend. As always, I sincerely appreciate your support. We'll see you guys next time.