Hoops Tonight - LeBron & Lakers down Pelicans, 76ers roll Cavs, Bucks-Celtics reaction

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NBA's All Star Weekend. We are live on AMP, so if you're watching on the YouTube feed or any of our pot cast feeds, don't forget that AMP is the very first place that you guys can get these shows. We have a jam Pack show today. The red hot Calves ran into a red hot Sixers team and the Sixers kind of beat their ass, so I have some

thoughts on that game. We got to see the new look Lakers for the first time ever with Lebron and a D and all the pieces they brought in at the trade deadline, and they looked fantastic, so we're gonna talk about that as well. Um. Then the Bucks in the Celtics played a really weird game on Tuesday night that the Bucks ended up winning. An ot despite the

Celtics being down four starters. I have some thoughts about that game, but I want to just dive into that particular matchup because I'm incredibly excited and hopeful that we'll see them in the Eastern Conference Finals this year. 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

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So let's start with calv Sixers. So the Calves were on a seven game winning streak and they went in and just got absolutely smacked by the Sixers. They were down thirty one to ten before you could even see straight. There's a little bit of a fake comeback at the end, but that tends to happen a lot in the NBA. It was more or less a beat down from the start. Now, I wanted to start with the Sixers defensive scheme because I thought that was a big part of how they

really stagnated Cleveland to start this game. They ran a very exaggerated drop coverage with Joel Umbie hawking the paint, and then they were over helping off of Evan Mobley and Isaaca Cora and more or less just completely ignoring them and conceding wide open corner threes to them. Um in that third, in that first quarter, I think of at least four wide open corner threes for Evan Mobley and Isaaca Cora and they missed every single one of them.

And that's what they're going to do this season on completely unguarded threes when the defenders at least six feet away. Evan Mobley is on threes, Isaaca Coro is thirty four percent.

Sounds okay, but again that's on completely wide open, conceded threes, and that just puts Donovan Mitchell and Darius Gartland in a really tough spot because you know, I've talked about this a lot this season with the Lakers because they've had a lot of issues off ball and we've been covering that team a lot, and you know, I keep saying, like people get on lebron or or Russ or Anthony Davis for settling for jump shots, but like when the

defense is ignoring off ball players and really packing the paint, you kind of only have two options. You can't and swing to that inferior player who's probably gonna miss the shot, or you can shoot over the top of the defense

like you can. You can try to get downhill into the paint with actions and different types of things, but it's gonna be extremely difficult, labor intensive, and difficult to replicate, especially if the refs allow a lot of contact, which the more bodies are around and there, the harder it is to see things, and more contact is going to happen.

And you know, in that first quarter, eventually Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell just started taking tougher shots and they made some Like Donovan Mitchell made a nasty, you know, kind of pull up three on the right wing after the first time out when it was thirty and Darius Garland did like a tough fade away along the right baseline hit another three. Like, they hit some shots, but nowhere near enough to help them hang in the game.

And you know, these offensive limitations I've been talking about the Calves in their small forward position forever. Evan Mobile, it's more or less just he's young. Like I would imagine that three or four years from now, Ivan Mobile is gonna be a very reliable perimeter shooter. I just I trust his work ethic and I trust the level of ability that he has as a naturally gifted perimeter big um. But you know, guys like guys Cora, like that's gonna be an issue until they upgrade that position,

which is something I've been preaching all season. On the other end of the floor, James Harden was magnificent in this game, just absolutely schooled Isaac A. Coro from the start. They put him in that on ball roll, obviously keeping Mitchell and Garland off ball where they're dealing with massive physical mismatches, which is a whole other story. But one of the things that James Harden was doing really good with Isaac a. Coro was flipping screen angles and getting

him to lean one way or the other. I've talked a lot about this on this show. But like I'm guarding the ball, they're gonna come set a ball screen. I can't just key in on James Harden and just slide as he slides. I have to prep for the screen. So, like my big man, who's behind me, So in this

case Jared Allen or Evan Mobley, probably Jared Allen. He's coming up and he's telling me screen left, screen right, right, and so I'm not looking backwards, but I have an idea where this green is coming because the big man is informing me. So if there, if it's an ice coverage, I'm hopping all the way up towards the screen side to force him to reject. But you're not doing that at the top of the floor. You're actually prepping to

run over the screen. So what that is if he if he says screen left, I'm like kind of peeking over my shoulder. I might have to take my eyes off James Harden temporarily to get a feel. I'm sticking this arm out to try to, uh to get a little bit of leverage as I'm starting to try to fight, and I'm picking up this left leg to take a big step over the top of the screen so that i can kind of try to wedge myself in between

and try to beat James hard into that spot. So if James Harden times it right to where right as I'm starting to take that step and starting to work over the screen, if he cuts back this way, I'm engaged with the boss screen. I'm engaged with Joel Embiid there. It's gonna be really difficult for me to then reverse

and fight back the other way. And like you know, Isaaca core is a really good athlete, and he's got really strong hands, and if he gets physical with me at the point of attack, he's gonna be able to have some success there. But if I'm constantly navigating screens and James Harden is keeping distance between us, he's gonna

have a lot of success getting separation from me. Um and then when he did get that initial separation, he was taking big escape dribbles like like uh, you know, when he would get over the screen and Isaac is trailing him, He's pushing out like twenty feet off to the right to really drag the screen defender over so that when Isaac recovers, there's that kickback pass to Joel Embiid or the defense will have to help out of somewhere else if they stay home on Joel embid which

is gonna open other things in rotation. The bottom line is is in that first quarter, James was just picking them apart in pick and roll. I think at the first there was a time out of about the five minute mark or stop it around the five minute mark, and in less than seven minutes to start the game, James Harden had eight points with six assists and zero turnovers. He was awesome in this game. And then towards the

end they started switching. Towards the end of the first quarter, they start and switching, and they put Evan Mobley directly onto James Harden, and he was barbecuing Evan Mobley just a straight I so just killing him with that left to right crossover, getting him to kind of hop over to his right and then uh the bringing it back over to his right hand and getting into the basket and finishing. He only had nineteen points in twelve rebounds.

But I thought James Harden completely dominated this game. And then outside of that, it's kind of a physical it's a physical mismatch in general between these two teams. We we often get swayed by height in the NBA, so we think, oh man, Jared Allen and Evan Mobley, that's two big dudes. But the reality is is Joel and b just sees those guys as too skinny guys that he can bully. And he didn't even have his outside jumper going. And he had twenty nine and fourteen in

this game. And you know, strength, I talked about this a lot on the show. Strength is one of the most underrated abilities in the game of basketball, Like it helps you fight in so many different spots on the floor, Like, for instance, strength helps you win box out battles. Strength helps you fight for position when you're trying to get to a certain spot so you can run a playwright, or to fight for post position, or to set your man up when you're trying to run off the screen.

Strength is a big part of how you leverage guys into those positions. Um strength, driving to the rim, when guys are being physical at the point of attack, you can blow through contact if you have a strength advantage at the rim, finishing through contact as guys are hitting you, and then obviously on the defensive end, when you're allowed

to use your hands a little bit, it helps. Strength was always something that helped me a lot when I was playing in college, because I wasn't very skilled when I was in college, so I was playing more of a big whereas at my older age and like a guard now. But back in college, I was basically a stretch four, and I was a lot stronger than most

guys my size. I was like most six six athletes that you see even in the pros or maybe two hundred and five pounds, and I was two hundred twenty five pounds, and so like I was hanging with all the big strong, you know, six ten centers and forwards that were in our conferences just because I was stronger than them and I and I just used my leverage to get position or to box them out, or to fight two spots on the floor and things along those lines.

It was a big thing that helped me when I was playing, and so it's it's just something that I believe very passionately in as a very important basketball skill. Like young basketball players out there, get in the weight room, you know, like you need to balance that with shooting so you don't get overly tight, but in ply metrics, but get in the weight room. It's such an important part of the game of basketball. Um. But you know, Joe and Be just absolutely bullied Jared Allen and Evan

Bobil in this game. Teen. I also really really like the dynamic of bringing Tyrese Maxie off the bench. Um. Obviously, Tyris Maxi is really good. Uh, there are some nights where he's arguably their second best player. But it's just about the distribution of responsibilities on the floor. Like Tyris max he is so good with the ball in his hands, and he's made himself a good off ball threat as well. But he's so good with the ball in his hands that he brings a ton of value to bench groups.

So if you start him and he plays even just the first six minutes of the game before he subs out, like it's kind of a waste of what he does, especially if you plan on using him, let's say thirty two minutes in a game, wouldn't you rather have six minutes stretch save for the end of the first quarter when maybe James Harden goes to the bench, I mean the early second quarter, when James Harden goes to the bench. Like, there's just a time when it makes more sense to

have him out there. And then if the matchup dictates it, then you can play him in the closing group if he's one of your four best players, which he is, and you need him in that group. But I actually like staggering him and bringing him off the bench. I've been talking about this a lot with the with the Lakers, with Dennis Schroeder, I've always wanted him to come off the bench, but they've been using him as a starter

because Darvin Ham trusts him as a point of attack defender. Finally, last night they moved Dennis Schroder to the bench, much more natural role in the starting lineup. Started cooking because you have a natural off ball player in that position.

So you know, I d Anthony Melton for instance, like that, that's a guy who can do some stuff with the ball in his hands, but he's an excellent off ball player, and so it gives them just I actually like that fit a little bit better with Tyres Maxie coming off the bench, Philly zooming out a little bit. Um. This is a team that I've had a really good read

on this year. Like I again, I always tell you guys when it comes to predictions, like, don't ever judge, you know at basketball, uh talking head or analyst based on predictions, because if we could always just predict everything that happens, we'd be down in Vegas making a ship ton of money just betting on games rather than talking about them. You get the point. But there are teams that I've had a good feel on this year and there are teams that I have not. You know, for instance, Sacramento,

I had a bad feel on that team. I did not think they'd be very good, but they're scoring the ship out of the basketball and so they've been pretty good. I've had a really good read on Philly though I had a feeling James Harden would have a great season. He's had a great season. We'll talk about that in a minute. And I talked about how in December I said if they get and now that they're getting healthy,

I expect them to go on a run in the spring. Well, since December nine, the Sixers are twenty six and seven. That is the best record in the NBA over that span. That's almost half the season. That's thirty four games thirty three games, and that spanned their number one an offense, eleventh in defense, second in net rating. James Harden has been fantastic. We talked about him earlier in this particular game, but he's averaging one point one points per pick and

roll in over seven hundred pick and rolls. He's sixth in the league among forty one players to run at least five hundred. He's averaging one point one two points per ISSO, which is eight out of fifty two players to run at least one hundred ISOs. He's shooting fifty in effective field goal percentage on pull up jump shots UM, which is tenth out of thirty three players to take at least three hundred pull up jump shots. He looks every bit as good with the eye test as he

has been producing on the box score as well. He looks fast, he looks strongly to play. Earlier in this game where he bullied Donovan Mitchell at the rim just kind of shrugged him off and drew Evan Mobiley in help and made a really nice kickout pass. Um. He's getting great lift on his step back three, which is good for him in ISO situations, and like I look at little things like cooking Evan Mobiley and isolation one of our better bigs in the league that can guard

on the perimeter. That's a great sign, you know. I I predicted before the season that this would be a huge bounce back season for James and it absolutely has has been. He's held up his end of the bargain in that regard. Um. Moving on to the Calves after last night, they're now below five hundred against teams that are five hundred are better. We talked about this a lot with the Grizzlies the other day, but they're just like the Grizzlies, but of the Eastern Conference. They're too

small in the backcourt. Um. They're also like a little thin on the front line. We talked about that earlier, so that they can struggle a little bit with some of the bully ball forwards that we have in the league. And they have nowhere near enough offensive skill beyond their two guards to score in the half court against really good defense. Um, so good teams can give them, can give them a lot of problems on both ends of the floor, which is why they're fifteen and sixteen against

teams that are five hundred are better this year. I think they're a prime candidate for a first round exit, unless they can draw Brooklyn in that four five matchup, in which case I'd probably pick Cleveland, but I give Brooklyn a chance. They're like and I wanted to just hit a quick side note on Brooklyn here. Micaal Bridges went off for forty five points in a big win over the Miami Heat last night. I said after that trade, like, just give Micaal Bridges the ball and find out what

he can do as a primary initiator. You get to see it for a playoff run here now too. But I'm really curious to see what he's capable of there because he just hasn't quite had enough of that opportunity in Phoenix. Little stretches when guys get hurt, but not

like serious. Hey, I'm a lead ball handler for a six month period or for an entire season, So I'm really excited to see what he can do and that that's that's what I like about taking UH chances on guys that are former lottery picks that didn't work with their previous team. Now, Michael did work with his previous team, but he worked in his smaller role as like a more of like the Andrew Wiggins role in Golden State, where he's like an aggressive score but more kind of

in the flow of the offense. It's not like you're like really running stuff for him all that frequently. Um The Claxton Dorrian Finney, Smith, Mchaale Bridges defensive trio that we were all super excited did to see has now played a hundred and two possessions and has posted a nineties seven defensive rating, which is outstanding and the Air

outscoring teams by eight points per one possessions. With those three on the floor, turn every Thursday into pay Day with t n T Thursdays on FanDuel Sports Book, it doesn't matter if you win or lose. FanDuel is giving all customers ten dollars in bonus bets every Thursday. Just bet ten dollars or more in the same game. Partlay on any NBA on t NT game same game partys. Let you combine the money, line, point spread, player props,

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your account. If you're new to FanDuel, just sign up with promo code Jason t get ten dollars back every Thursday win or lose with t NT Thursdays exclusively on fandal Sports Book, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, let's move on to the Pelicans and the Lakers. Last night was the most fun I've had watching a Lakers game in two years. There was a lot of things that fell into place, obviously healthy, so there's a lot of talent on the floor. Um Lebron and Anthony

Davis engaged. Not having that clunky Russell Westbrook fit and then Darvin Hamm did. It was almost like I joked with uh, with someone that I worked with. I I joked today that it was almost like Darvin Hamm was reading the Twitter feed, because it was like everything that all the Laker fans were screaming at ever since the deadline, screaming about ever since the deadline, was exactly who he

went with as the starter. He flipped Dennis Shooter for Malik Beasley so the Dennis Shooter could run, run bench groups and put a natural off ball player. I think you could have gone with Malik Beasley or Austin Reeves, they're they're both really good, and then knowing that you need Ruey Hotchamura in the bench group for ball handling and shooting. But that Jared Vanderbilt could take is a

better defensive player who can take perimeter defense assignments. It made a lot of sense to move Jared Vanderbilt into that three and D role, or three and D is not the right answer because Jared I don't even think Jared's attempted three since he came to the Lakers, but I should say that primary wing defender role with that starting lineup and so he went with Dill, Malik Beasley,

Jared Vanderbilt, Lebron and Anthony Davis. And so there's two guys that I want to hit on there because they've been going with Dill, Lebron and A d as the foundational kind of piece ever since the trade. Obviously, with Lebron being out it was a little weird, but Malik and Jared are the two changes, and I wanted to talk a little bit about how that adds synergy to those lineups. So, first of all, Millie Beasley is a great spot up player, even though he's been missing his

wide open three since he came to the Lakers. But he's also a guy that you can run dribble, handoff stuff for and off screen stuff like wide pinned down stuff for, so like um, when you combine that with D'Angelo Russell, who can also do all of that stuff. Delo has always been underappreciated as an off ball player. It's one of the reasons why I actually don't hate that trade. You know, if you have Delo as a

primary offensive folkrum, you're gonna be disappointed sometimes. But in a situation like this where they don't need him to be that um, all of a sudden, his skill set becomes super valuable. But with Delo and Malik Beasley when and one of the weird things that happened in this particular game, and I'm not sure if you guys noticed this, but the Lakers ran a lot more in terms of offensive organization. They were coming down and running multiple interchanges

on almost every single possession. Like and now they talked after the game. It wasn't necessarily by design. It was just basketball players playing basketball. They were, you know, flowing into stuff. Here's a quick dribble handoff flowing into a ball screen. Or here's a wide pinned down with Malik chasing off the screen that a d then turns and catches, which then flows into a dribble hand off with Lebron James.

They were just running interchanges. And one of the big reasons why they weren't running those interchanges before the trade line is you weren't gaining any advantage there. You run sets to gain an advantage. And when all of your off ball players are guys that you can literally run an off ball drop coveragehn meaning have a d S man sag all the way back and just have whoever the guard defender is just go underneath the screen. It's

it's easy to just shut those actions off. But when you have to chase those guys over the top of the screens, now all of a sudden, you're running those dribble handoffs, and you're running those wide pin downs, and you're getting separation for guys, and you're creating openings which are allowing good basketball players to extend that advantage and

then get great shots. Having all that real offensive skill around Lebron and a d led to immediate results and twenty five possessions with that starting lineup last night, the Lakers posted a one forty offensive rating, and just in general, like uh like, because they looked really good too when they went to their bench and you had guys like you know, Austin Reaves come in and make plays, and Marie hud To Murder to come in and make plays, and just you know, when you I play a lot

of pick up basketball these days. Obviously, I'm a former college player who just has that stupid, unrelenting itch to play the game right. And I know there are a lot of you guys who love to play as well. And you know, I'm sure that when you go play

pick up. There are days where you're playing with guys that don't really know how to play, and it can get discouraging because like something will open up and you'll cut back door and the guy who has the ball like won't know what to do so he'll miss you, or like you run up the floor. No one knows how to move without the basketball, or no one knows how to pass and screen away or any of those things, and so your pick up basketball game just gets really

ugly and it's not fun. And I have days where I leave the gym where I'm just super discouraged because I'm like, man, I just miss playing real basketball, you know what I mean. But then there are these days where you play and like today I met up with a couple of my buddies who both played in college, and we played together, and like we know how to

play basketball. So the ball is moving and popping around, and guys were moving and screening and doing all those different things, and like there's almost like this it's almost like a flow that takes place when guys know when to do what they're supposed to do, when to cut versus one to stand still, when to look for their own shot versus when to keep the ball moving, when to uh, you know, how to angle a ball screen and when, like if you're gonna pop to the three

point line or to roll to the basket, based on where there's openings on the floor. Like, having that type of offensive i Q and offensive skill just makes offense

flow in a certain way. Now imagine at the NBA, it's that same effect times a hundred, you know what I mean, Like these are you're going against really good defenses, right, So playing bad offensive basketball or having a lack of offensive skill on the floor can be massively detrimental because you're not playing pick up basketball bench against a bunch of guys that don't know how to play defense. Right,

It's it's even more magnified at that level. So then when you get line ups where you've got a bunch of guys who know how to play together, there's just a rhythm and flow to the offense. Like Lebron. Lebron

came into that game last night. All season long, when he's taking days off and he's come back, he's had to be aggressive because of the lack of offensive skill in his lack of rhythm really shows up there he'll fumble the basketball around, He'll have a bunch of turnovers, He'll miss a bunch of jump shots, like last night he went over five from three, But like he played a great game because like he wasn't taking bad shots.

Everything was in the flow of the game. You took a bunch of workload off of Lebron, so he can ease his way back until he's in rhythm. There's so many advantages that come from having competent basketball players around Lebron James and Anthony Davis. It's something I've been preaching about for literally years at this point, and it was just super refreshing to see last night. Um, Jared Vanderbilt.

You know, so when when they made the Ruey had to merge, right, he talked a lot about using Ruey to guard the other teams hast forward, and I still think they've they've uh done that a handful of times this year. But Ruy's not nearly the defensive player that Jared Vanderbilt is, and so putting Jared Vanderbilt in that specific position it helps you in a bunch of different ways.

First of all, for a match up like Brandon Ingram and Brandon Ingram, was awesome last night, Like he made some tough shots that were heavily contested, perfectly defended, but like he shot below for the first time in the month of February last night, And I think a big part of that is is, like, you know, two or three of those ones that he might make end up being misses because Jared Vanderbilt is six ft nine and has a long wingspan and can actually bother brandon Ingram

in a way that Patrick Beverley can't when he rises up over the top to shoot. You know, he's a little bit thinner and a little bit more wiry, much more laterally quick than Ruey hat to morrow. So he navigates the ball screens and in off ball screens and things like that much better, and you know, you you live with those tough shots. Like there's a version of that night where b I is not that locked in and instead of going ten for twenty one, he goes five for twenty one and the Lakers win by thirty

five points, you know what I mean. Like, it was a really impressive defensive job from Jared Vanderbilt making it hard on Brandon Ingram, and I thought it just was a much more natural fit with that starting lineup. Um, But again, just in general, the the the aggregate offensive skill really popped off the screen. I wanted, I wanted to read one more statu to you and make one more point. So Um. Coming into last night, the Lakers average twenty five assists on forty three made field goals

per game. That's fifty eight percent of their mad field goals. Last night they had thirty two assists on forty four made field goals, which is sevent of their made field goals. So again, it just puts them in a situation where they have to take tough shots less often when they can play basketball with real rhythm and flow and get easier shots within the flow of the offense. The last guy I wanted to shout out there was Austin Reeves.

He's not a very gifted athlete. Um, he's been undersized for his position right, not a lights out shooter like he's shooting thirty seven percent this year from three out pretty high shot quality. But the guy is just an incredible connective piece for any offense. All those things I just talked about about how to fit with a basketball team, those that's his speciality, that's what he does better than anybody else in the league. He's he's like a great

a closeout attacker. He's great at making reads. They can even run some primary ball handler actress. One play in particular in this game is like early fourth quarter, um C Jim McCollum and Jonas Valanciunas are guarding. I believe it might not have been Jonas, but one of the Pelicans centers was guarding Lebron and they set a ball screen. Lebron setting the screen, Austin's coming off and the Pelicans

just switch it. And so when they switch it, Austin comes off, and he's around the free throw line, and you know, Lonnie Walker might just rise up and take a fifteen footer or there. But Austin not really hunting his shot all that often. He only took two shots in the game in like twenty two minutes. There's a quick Rich treat dribble kinda gathers himself and Lebron what does what a lot of teams do when things get stagnant,

He just cuts to the rim. So just backcuts on C. J. McCollum and dust him and Austin because he kept his dribble alive and was paying attention to what was happening around him, was able to hit Lebron in stride with a bounce pass, and he ends up going up to the basket and getting an and one. This idea, this whole concept I've been talking about tonight. You guys have probably heard me talk about this before. In the past,

I referred to it as aggregate offensive skill. But when your aggregate offensive skill rises to a certain level, the game just becomes easier for everyone else. This season, through all the crap, through all the RUSS stuff, through all the in and out of the lineup stuff, through all of the roster imbalances, if you just put Lebron, Anthony Davis, and Austin Reeves on the floor together, they've played four and eight three possessions and our outscoring teams by nine

points per one hundred possessions. Excellent on both ends of the floor. Just a great connective piece. Um. I think he's just as good as candidate for that starting who spot is anybody else, especially if Malik can't get his three point shot going. It's something to keep an eye on. But it's a good win. I mean, I thought the Pelicans through a great punch they played a great game. They made a lot of tough shots, and the Lakers really whooped their ass and it could have been worse.

Like Malik Beasley missed a bunch of wide open shots and he gives two for seven from three in the game. Mo Bamba got a bunch of of wide open above the break threes and he's shooting almost on above the break threes this year, and he went over five, you know, so like he, Uh, there's a version of this that they can even go up to another level. I think as a team that shot in the high twenties from

three this game. Um so. But even despite all of that, they completely dominated the game, put up a one defensive rating, which is excellent. Um and you didn't have to wear anybody out. Anthony Davis played the most minutes out of any starter, and he only played thirty minutes and ten seconds. You know. So, for our first look of the fully healthy Lakers with all their new pieces, I thought it

went pretty damn well. Um Obviously, just one game and now heading into the All Star breaks, so they're gonna have some time to practice and they have a really tough stretch of games right after that. I think they play Golden State right away after. Um, there's some tough games coming up and and you're gonna we're gonna learn a lot more. Uh pretty quickly here about the Lakers. Uh, one last note of the Lakers before we move on.

I had I caught a little bit of flak yesterday, And this is kind of a natural part of the business. Like I did a thirty minute show with Colin Coward, but then a social media clip that's you know, fifty seconds long, goes out and it's completely out of context,

and then and then everybody freaks out. But one of the things I said, we talked a lot about Anthony Davis with Colin Coward, and basically the topic was like, hey, like what if he breaks down again, you know, because he hasn't looked great since he came back from the injury.

There's intel that he might need foot surgery in the offseason. Anyway, Uh, there was another piece of intel that came out a while back that stated that, uh, Anthony Davis, his particular injury is one that many teams would have shut him down for the season for, which is why he needed to get a second opinion when his first UH doctor visit was over like there's a lot of red. There's a lot like Anthony Davis looked fantastic last night. Um, you guys know me, I'm I'm borderline, like I'm like

a hopeless romantic. When it comes to the to the Lakers in the Lebron and Anthony Davis ceiling, all you have to do is listen to the show and hear me talking about how I think they can win a championship despite being twenty seven and thirty two. You guys know how much I believe in Anthony Davis when he's right.

But what I said with Colin was I said, like, hey, like if it goes south again this year, then they might have to consider trading him, and his value might be really low, so they might have to consider using him potentially as a vehicle for the Kyrie Irving trade. Didn't say I want to trade Anthony Davis, didn't say I wanted to trade him for Kyrie. Just simply said they might have to consider it if he breaks down again and again, Like Laker fans have this idea like, oh,

we're gonna be able to flip Anthony Davis for a star. No, you won't, not if he ends the season broken down again. That would be three consecutive seasons where he failed to

finish the season at an m v P level. What team is going to give away a really good young player or a star and high end draft compensation If Anthony Davis is three for three and not being available to play at a high level in the playoffs over the last few years, Like I mean, he hit the Jets and really like messed up the Phoenix Suns twice in a row in the first round of playoffs and then broke down. I'm a huge believer in Anthony Davis is ceiling. But if he can't be there for the

next four months, what's the point. It's like with Zion Williamson, Like there's intel that he reaggravated his hamstring injury and he's gonna be out, you know, probably another month or so or more. Like if he can't return and be in peak shape for the playoffs and then it happens again next year, at what point do you go, Okay, that's three seasons in a row where he's just not

available and he's young, like he should be ready. Anthony Davis is twenty nine, Like this is when he should be It's not gonna like suddenly get better when he's in his early thirties. Not to be clear, I'm rooting for Anthony Davis to get back to form, and last night he was amazing, arguably the best player on the floor. But if they need him to be that all the way through June and and if he breaks down or can't play at that level, then guess what, he doesn't

have a lot of value around the league. And again I'm not upset about it because it's just kind of this is one of the things you'll learn about this business. Does people take stuff out of context all the time. It's kind of just part of the deal. But it comes to Anthony Davis. I want him to stay a Laker. I want him to play like a superstar. If he does, hell no, you're not trading him this summer. You're keeping him and you're running it back with this group next year.

That's what I want. I don't want to trade a d But if he breaks down again, then at a certain point, like you've got to like, how can you plan for the future of your franchise if Anthony Davis is unavailable for you? I pointed out this that yesterday and it's it blows my mind. Jayson Tatum played in a hundred NBA games last year. Since the bubble, Anthony Davis has played in a hundred and sixteen. That's over

three seasons, and they're fifty eight and fifty eight. Because for a lot of those hundred and sixteen games, he hasn't looked like Anthony Davis. There's kind of a recurring theme. It's like he gets hurt, then when he comes back, there's like another month where he's not great, and then maybe if if he can stay on the floor long enough, he'll click in the rhythm and then you'll get that ceiling. And then you're just hanging on for dear life, hoping

he doesn't get hurt again. I'm as big a fan and a believer in the Lebron and Anthony Davis ceiling as you'll find. But the unfortunate reality is last night has been an exception, not the reality of the Anthony Davis experience over the last three years. And when you set those emotions aside and you look at the situation, you might have to make that move if he does get hurt, you take a look at the landscape, you start making calls if you can get something great, then great.

But if you can't get something great, if teams are like two first round picks and you know, maybe a rotation player or two, at what point do you just say, like, Okay, I'd rather have Kyrie Irvitt. You know That's what I meant. And when it comes to Anthony Davis, I do think there's a disconnect for Laker fans between what his actual value is around the league as an injury prone player versus what Lakers fans value him as when it goes to his ceiling, which again we all, we all are

fans of Anthony Davis when he's out his ceiling. All right, before we get out of here, let's talk some Bucks Celtics. So they play on Thursday night. I didn't cover the game because four Celtics starters were missing. You got you guys know me like I'm I, I'm really looking through

everything through the playoff lens um. I think that playoff basketball is so different from regular season basketball, And even when I'm watching regular season games, I'm kind of just trying to pick up little things that I think will translate to the playoffs so that I can help you know that, So that it can help almost covering the teams in the playoffs. Um, but I did watch some of the game. I watched most of the end of it.

The Celtics played really well. They're deep team, they have a lot of talent when you get past those four guys who were out, and so the Bucks had to really grind out a overtime win, largely on the strength of Holiday making a lot of threes at the end of the game. Um, but what I'd rather do today is I'd rather, uh like back out a little bit and just talk about both of these teams in the big picture and talk a little bit about what their matchup will look like in the Fine Eastern Conference Finals

if they get there. So, first of all, with the Celtics, I think they have the higher ceiling, no question, I think they I think they had the most talented roster in the league last year, and both Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown have both gotten a little bit better. Um. The Malcolm Brogden trade was literally the perfect piece to improve their ball handling situation. Derek White is playing some

of the best basketball of his career. Over the last eleven games, He's averaging twenty points per game um, averaging over seven three point attempts per games, shooting on those. He torched the Memphis Grizzlies the other night just by beating people off the dribble. You know they're they're, they're This team is freaking insanely good. Robert Williams will be much healthier in this playoff run. He was on a boky, a balky knee last year. Looking at the Bucks, they're

also really good. One eleven in a row. Janice is averaging six in that span. I saw the Tim Bontemps straw pole come out today and yo Ki looks like he's running away with m v P. Now this is not a Yoki take, because I think Yoki is a deserving m VP candidate, but like Janice has clearly reached the point that Lebron point where people are just numb to his winning impact like this is. This is Janice's

MVP case. The Bucks have a higher winning percentage than Denver this year despite having a lesser roster in my opinion, especially with Chris Middleton being mostly unavailable and Drew Holiday being in and out of the lineup for the season. He's averaging thirty three twelve and six, and he's a much much better defensive player than Nikolayokich. I think he's

by far the best player in the world. So in my opinion, if you're doing an m VP breakdown like it's Johannese and Yokis together and embeat, it's pretty damn close to the idea that Yokis is just heading shoulders above these guys, which again, that train is full speed ahead and there's nowhere near enough time left to knock

that train off the tracks. Like Nicola, Yoki is going to win m v P. He's a heavy favorite on fan duel and Tim Bond taps his uh straw pool poll is like gospel when it comes to the m

v P pick um. But I just don't I I don't necessarily think it's fair, and I think a big part of it is a good chunk of m VP voters lean heavily on catch all metrics, which is something that I passionately disagree with um, and those kinds of things are just not gonna favor a guy like Joel Embide nearly as much, and they haven't favored, be honest in this particular season in a large part, and because I think the Eastern Conference is a little bit tougher,

and his percentages have gone down because of the fact that he's been down all of his spot up guys all season. So I don't think ya should win, but I think you should absolutely have a chance. And I have to be honest with you, if the Bucks finished with the Beckard better record, I would give the awardy on this um. A couple of other notes on the Bucks.

The trio of Janice with Drew Holiday and Joe Ingles is plus thirteen net in three d and seven possessions so far this year, throwing Chris Middleton and their plus seventeen nets and fifty four possessions. So that's a great example of what I've been talking about, which is get real spot up talent, real offensive skill around Janice, and

that makes them completely unstoppable on offense. As for the matchup between the Bucks and the Celtics UM potentially in the conference finals, what I'd like We we know a lot of things from last year. For instance, we know Janice is gonna go super saying and just try to bully his way to the basket every time down. That's

literally what he did last year. We also know that Boston is probably going to guard him with a steady diet of Al Horford and Grant Williams, and those guys did it, did a pretty decent job on him last year. Then on the other end of the floor, the Bucks are gonna keep brook Lopez right under the rim and concede open threes, probably too h al for or leave um Robert Williams unguarded in the dunker spot, and they're going to try to force Boston to make good reads

and driving kick. And if Boston drives in and tries to finish over brook Lopez all the time, they're gonna miss a lot of shots. They're gonna fall down and complain at the refs, and the Bucks are gonna beat them down the floor and transition all game long. But if they drive and kick, they're gonna get a boatload of really good threes and they're probably going to win. So this game is, this particular series will come heavily

down to execution. You know, Boston has to take care of the basketball and get good shots or Janice is gonna get out in transition and just murder them. Um. I remember last year during that series, if you looked at the Dynamics. Like Boston was a much better half court offense than Milwaukee was, but Milwaukee just destroyed Boston in transition and that's how they pushed that series to

seven games. Um, we also have to factor in the Chris Middleton shot making element that wasn't or last year, in his ability to hit the shots over smaller defensive players. We have to factor in Joe Ingles as a real second side creator in a better spot up threat. Like, it's gonna be fun, and again it's not guaranteed. I think that I think that Philly has a decent chance

to beat one of these teams in the second round. Um, fighting for that one seed suddenly becomes super important because you'd much rather face Cleveland in the second round than you would face Philly. So look for a real race between Boston and Milwaukee here down the stretch to face for that one seed. But I'm hoping that we get that in the conference finals, because that is just gonna be a super interesting matchup between two very different styles,

two really really good teams. Um. But at this particular moment in time, after everything I've seen this season, I still lean ever so slightly towards Milwaukee. Mainly just because I don't trust Boston still on the biggest stages to execute properly. UM in their big games this year, I've still seen them struggle just a little bit it and then obviously that was a huge problem for them in the playoffs last year. Al Right, guys, that is all I have for today and all I have for the

rest of this weekend. We might have one bonus video coming out on the Lebron passing Kareem uh in the all time scoring record. We might have a video coming out about that tomorrow. I'm not a percent sure if that's still on target, but we'll probably have something on Monday morning breaking down a little bit of the All Star weekend, and then we're gonna do one last like kind of like zoom out Contender Tears thing, and then we're gonna have a video with Carson when we break

down the top tier draft prospects in this year's NBA draft. UM, But looking forward to taking a little bit of a break here. It's been one hell of a sprint over the last couple of weeks. I'm going to enjoy this time off. As always, I sincerely appreciate your guys support and I'll see you on Monday. The Volume two