Hoops Tonight - LeBron James & Lakers eliminate Stephen Curry & Warriors in Game 6

for various stretches. Just an all around really impressive performance from the Lakers. We're gonna dive into that. We're gonna dive into a little bit of a look ahead for the Lakers into the next round. I'm not gonna do a full series preview yet, but we're gonna look ahead a little bit and then talk a little bit about this Steph Lebron rivalry and a brief look ahead for the Golden State Warriors, which just got a little bit more interesting because of a report that just dropped from

Sean Sharania. So lots to get into. You guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe 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 last but not least, 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, All right, let's talk some basketball. So the reason why I picked the Lakers to win in six and didn't go off of that pick is I've grown very familiar with this team covering them over the course of the season, and they have a tendency to conserve energy for these like big defensive bursts. And Game four in particular, was kind of concerning at first when I was watching it live, felt like their offense really got bogged down. They were really struggling and pick and roll.

But I'm a big believer in trusting film. The film is where you learn more about the game because you can stop and watch the same possession three or four times in a row and pick up on all the little rotations and all the little details that take place on a possession. And when I went back and watched Game four or again, I was super encouraged on the Lakers front, because I did not think they brought a

great defensive effort. As a matter of fact, as we look back through the series, they'd have these like weird quarters and halves where they'd give up a ton of points, but then they'd have these halves at a time where they would lock in and over the course of the series, after the first half of Game six, they ended up holding the Warriors under fifty points and a half five

times in a series, and so in the series. So when I looked at Game five and just kind of the way they were defending in that first half, I felt pretty good about them in there in front of their home crowd, bringing the requisite defensive effort and closing the deal that set they made it a Darvin Ham had a very interesting adjustment. He moved Dennis Schroeder into the starting lineup for Jared Vanderbilt in large part because

that was their best lineup in this series. The three guard lineup has been an issue for the Lakers a lot over the course the last couple of years because of Lebron and Anthony Davis kind of coasting through games and not really engaging themselves physically to cover for the lack of size. But in this series that's actually been one of the best lineups coming into the night. They were plus five not net, but plus five total on

the scoreboard in eighteen minutes. And so he leaned on his best lineup and that lineup absolutely dominated the Warriors in the first shift to start this game, and then again towards the end of the first half, and then again to start the second half before Dennis Schroeder got ejected. So it was smart for Darvin Ham to lean on his best guys that set. It only works if you get a vintage effort out of Lebron James to go with the consistent effort you've been getting out of Anthony Davis.

And you know what's funny, And like, we don't talk a ton about my kind of history of being a fan of Lebron on the show. We kind of just focused on the basketball, right, But like, Lebron is the player that got me to fall in love with the game of basketball, as I've told you guys before, and for me personally, what's been so interesting about rooting for him?

And I'm sure you Warriors fans have felt a little bit like this with Steph over the years, but I always felt like going into a big game that Lebron James was gonna play great. And it's been, like I said, a super interesting experience as a fan because it's kind of it kind of gives you like a little bit less anxiety heading into these bigger types of games. Right, and we're talking about a postseason run where Lebron James is averaging under under twenty three points per game for

the first time in his playoff career. He's shooting a percentage nine points below what he shot in the twenty twenty playoff run. He's going through an uncharacteristic jump shooting slump. So many things not going well for Lebron. The only thing I really noticed on tape is he's definitely trying

to conserve energy as much as possible. I think that stems from the foot injury and him just realizing that he's going to have to do so much down the line and his team is talented enough to carry him through these certain stretches of the game, so he holds it in reserve. You saw that a lot in this game, right, first shift to set the tone of the game. Atacking Andrew Wiggins in the post. He's getting downhill, he's scoring at the Rami's creating shots for his teammates. Super aggressive,

twenty seven to ten lead. Rest of the first half, he kind of just chills. And I've grown to notice with him that that's how he kind of conserves energy. Second half, all half, just attacking in the post, attacking by bringing Steph up into high pick and roll, by bringing Jordan Poole up into high pick and roll, pushing

at every single transition opportunity. He had absolutely dominating the defensive glass and flying around just in general in his rotations to make plays, closing out to shooters on the weak side, offering help at the rim. It was just an unbelievably dominant Lebron James performance. Thirty points, nine rebounds, and nine assists on fourteen shots, his first thirty point game of the postseason. You don't think this game mattered

to Lebron James a lot. First thirty point game in this postseason when his team needed it most, wasn't settling for stupid. I thought he took two tough fadeaways in the first half. Other than that, I loved every single shot he took in this game. And the craziest part is that I just believed going into the game that

that's what he was going to do. How insane is that that, in twenty seasons, with all of this mileage and undergoing the type of circumstances he's been dealing with in this playoff run, that I just knew Lebron was gonna play great. And to me, that's a testament to Lebron's greatness and what he's been able to accomplish in this league. The most dependably great playoff player in the

history of the NBA. He's less reliant on shot variants than anybody else in the NBA, And the most interesting thing with this particular team is he's been able to evolve into whatever the team needs him to be. He can, for twenty minutes at a time just be a screener and roll to the rim, did a ton of that in Game four, But then when his team needs him to take on on ball responsibilities, he can. He's done it a lot out of the post in this series.

But there at the end, and you saw it a little bit at the end of Game four when he kind of setting up Lonnie Walker on Steph Curry, but just at the top of the key, calling the guy that he thinks is the worst defender on the floor into the screen and just either getting downhill or getting the little hedge. There was a three pointer that Lonnie hit in the fourth quarter where he brings Steph into the screen and Steph is literally begging for Klay Thompson

to come over. As Steph is hedging and trying to recoverage, throws it behind the back pass to Lonnie knocks down the three. Those are little surgical things in the half court to generate good shots against an elite defense that make him the type of reliably great player that he can be. And then on the defensive end, he can switch out on to Steph Curry on the perimeter, he can rotate on the back end of shooters, he can

control the defensive glass. He's the ultimate Swiss army knife, and it's just insane to me that he's still He was by far the best player on the floor tonight. It wasn't close, and he didn't need to be that for the first five games, but when he needed to be that tonight, he was able to tap into that.

And I just can't believe it. And again, like I've been critical of Lebron a lot over the course of the last couple of years, just by nature of the way that the show works, right, Like we're gonna talk about the basketball. Lebron is my one big blind spot with the NBA. Grew up a Tucson I'm not a fan of any particular team. I root for the Lakers

because I'm a fan of Lebron. And so when we're on the show, and what do I do with everybody, Like every player, regardless of who they are, what team they're on, they're playing well, gonna point it out, playing poorly, gonna point it out. And there have been long stretches over the course of the last few years where Lebron

is coasted or left meat on the bone. And I think we can look back in retrospect and say that it's just all about conserving energy for when he thinks he absolutely needs it, because that was one of the most dominant two way performances I've ever seen, and he's just has not been at that level at all in

this playoff run. Before that, just unbelievable stuff from Lebron were gonn get into him a lot more as we get into the series preview for Lakers Nuggets that I just wanted to give him a shout out tonight again. You knew he was gonna be great tonight and that's what sets him apart from really anybody else in NBA history, and he's got a chance to gain even more ground as time goes on. Anthony Davis I thought was the

best player in the series overall. Obviously, Lebron James demonstrated that he can tap into that for any brief stint that they need for one game here, one quarter like he did in the fourth quarter against Memphis in Game four. He's shown the ability to tap in when he needs to, but in terms of the night in and night out, dependently great. Like I said on a game to game basis,

Anthony Davis was the best player in the series. I told you guys after Giannis lost in the first round that that best player in the world title is up for grabs. To me, Anthony Davis is in the pole position. I know Nikola Jokic has been great, but I have a rule, don't call a guy best player in the world until he has the Larry O'Brian Trophy. End of story for me. And Anthony Davis has a Lario O'Brian trophy.

He did it for sixteen wins in the twenty twenty bubble, including against Nikola Jokic, So for me, I'd be happy to give Yokic that recognition once he has the Lario b he does not. Anthony Davis just took the title

away from Steph Curry. In my opinion, I think you have to call set Anthony Davis the best player in the world right now, which is crazy, crazy redemption from being so down on his luck with injuries, where we were on pace for three consecutive seasons, where he probably was like where you were as a Laker fan, you were sitting there like he's this, dude's not going to be available again. Going from there to being, in my opinion, the best player in the world. What a turnaround and

every again. And Colin Coward and I talked about this, I think a week and a half ago or so, but I think it's a super interesting concept. Every adjustment in this series had to do with Anthony Davis. Every Warrior adjustment was to try to pull Anthony Davis away from the paint. Every Laker adjustment was to try to keep Anthony Davis in the paint as much as possible. That was the chess match of this series. Every move had to do with Anthony Davis, and that's what made

him the best player in the series. And we're gonna talk about Steph here in a minute. I thought Steph had an extremely difficult task throughout this entire series, and we'll get to that. But you know what, Like, I'm a big believer in rewarding guys for winning, and Anthony Davis I think deserves a recognition for now. Laker guards Austin Reeves, great defense all night, timely scoring, timely playmaking an incredible half court heave that completely changed the tone

and tenor of the first half of this game. The Warriors are like, just I will say this Warriors fans. Obviously, I've never rooted against Lebron, so I don't know what that's like. But I have never feared a basketball player or team as with rooting interest the way I feared

that Golden State team. I was joking with my wife, I was like the nineteen in the fourth quarter and I'm still nervous, Like it's crazy, and I just I have so much respect for that franchise, the number of punches that they were down twenty seven to ten and got it back to five. Like everything was going the Lakers way. They dominated the offensive glass, They forced the Lakers into turnovers, They packed a paint, forced them into bad shots, got out, got going in transition. Dante DiVincenzo

had a run. I am just so blown away by how good and how well run and coached that Warriors team is. And we're gonna talk about them a little bit more in a minute as it pertains to their future, but I can just say definitively, I'm so glad that that series is over because that was that was a hell experience for the one team that I have a rooting interest in in the NBA, which is the Los Angeles Lakers. Man. But Austin Reeves was awesome that he

I thought changed the tone from that first half. D'Angelo Russell up and down as he usually is, but he made some big shots. Dennis Schroeder again one of the worst ejections I've ever seen in the history of sports, with him talking a little bit of trash to Draymond Green and getting kicked out of an elimination game as Steph Curry's primary defender, but I thought he did a great job defensively on Steph Curry for two and a half quarters, and then Lonnie Walker some timely three point

shots during that run after Dennis went out. Obviously not the same defensive player that Dennis is, struggled a lot defensively over the course of the last two games, but made enough shots to make sure that the game kept that tone of being kind of like stiff armed distance rather than being really really competitive. One of the underrated things about the Laker guards is, for instance, Lebron James

and we saw this was Steph Curry. So Steph Curry gets targeted on defense the entire game, right, and in that those stretches, it's easy to be like, oh, Steph, weak defender getting targeted, you know, And don't get me wrong, like when you're attacking the Warriors and the other guys on the court are Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green, like it really is your best bet, you know, to target Steph Curry just because he's the smaller guy that's

not as good of an athlete, right, even though he has turned himself into an average too above average defender. He's just your best option. But the bigger part of it has to do with his workload. The only chance the Warriors ever had to generate a quality shot against that Laker defense was through Steph Curry. That's an incredible amount of pressure offensively and an incredibly large workload offensively, and so he needs to save energy and he's doing

that on the defensive end. I mean, a lot of people have been critical of Lebrono with that over the years, but I've said the same thing with Lebron, Like on some of these teams where you know, Anthony Davis is hurt and Lebron's out there playing like he has to conserve energy defensively because he's their only hope to score on the other end. So I'm not going to be critical of Steph in that specific situation, but Anthony Davis

and Lebron that's the opposite form of that dynamic. Austin, Dilo Dennis and Lonnie bring enough offensive punch that Anthony Davison Lebro James can literally focus on the defensive end of the floor. Anthony Davis was pretty much not involved in that game offensively, so he was able to save all of his energy for the defensive end. That's a luxury brought on by a really talented guard corps from

the Lakers looking forward. For the Lakers, like I talked about with Denver, they just check a lot of boxes that I look for in championship contenders. I'm going to pick them over the Nuggets probably in six games. I'm gonna do a deeper dive into the film before I finalize that, but that's where I'm leaning, and the main

reason why is they literally check all the boxes. They have an outstanding perimeter defender and Dennis Schroeder, an outstanding wing defender in Ruy hatch In Jared Vanderbilt, a power wing defender in Ruy hatcha Murray that you can throw a bigger, stronger guys, and they have the best defensive player in the league and Anthony Davis in a Swiss army knife in Lebron James alongside him and the other guards just do good enough right, kind of like what

Jamal Murray does for the Nuggets. They just do good enough defensively. On the offensive end of the floor, they generate high quality shots through rim pressure, which is consistent in something you can generate from game to game, and they have two different types of complimentary superstars. They can

run action together similar to Murray and Jokic. They both can operate out of the post to get shots close to the rim, and as Lebron James is demonstrated, when the chips are down, he is able to go to a level offensively that allows him to run the offense almost entirely. And so they check a ton of boxes and they have every bit as good a chance to win the title as anybody else does remaining in this field.

Looking at the Steph Lebron thing. So I tweeted before the game, I joked that this was the talking Head Bowl. And the reason why I said that is this game tonight. This series is inevitably going to be used as fodder by you know, debate shows, everybody in your social media feeds, just when you're talking sports at the bar, at the water cooler. This is going to be the series that

colors the way that this rivalry is discussed. Now. For me, it was already said in stunt I thought Lebron James was a better basketball player than Steph Curry in twenty sixteen.

In twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, twenty twenty, in twenty fifteen, like I, the only time I ever thought Steph surpassed Lebron was in that brief window there from twenty twenty one forward, after Lebron started to decline a little bit physically, right, I just thought Lebron was better, and I thought that the Warriors won because they had better teams, and then Lebron obviously got twenty sixteen from them before Kevin Durant joined the town. I thought that

was pretty clear. I think most people outside of the Golden State Warriors fan base agree with that, but Steph fans feel differently. I know most Steph fans think that Steph was better than Lebron in twenty fifteen, as good as Lebron in twenty sixteen, as good as Lebron in twenty seventeen eighteen, better than Lebron in twenty nineteen. Better. Since I know and look like everyone, this is not

something that's just really easy to measure. Every Everyone's got their own beliefs, right, But for me, it was already set in stone. So the way I was always going to remember this Steph Lebron rivalry is that Lebron was the better player in the era and during those years. But at this phase, now that Steph is thirty five, I think he is the better player. And you know, like when you actually look at the schemes and what was taking place in that series, Steph played better basketball

in this series and Lebron did for six games. Now in game six, Lebron is best player in the four by mile, and he deserves all that recognition. But to me, whatever happened in this series was not going to change that dynamic. But on those debate shows, it was going to change everything. If Steph wins this series, it's he's four and one against Lebron. You know, that's your talking point for the end till the end of time. Right.

Whereas Lebron wins the series, it's Lebron's two to one against Steph without Kevin Durant and his one loss was when Kevin lov and Kyrie Irving both got hurt. Right, So that stupid low brown analysis. You guys know how much I hate that stuff, But that's how this game was always going to color that rivalry. Inevitably, whoever won was going to have those bragging rights. So what really

happened here. Like I said, I believe Lebron James, the second best player of all time, was better than Steph throughout the Warriors dynasty in the late two thousands tens. Right since then, Lebron has aged a lot, he's injured, not the same player. I think Steph's a better player than Lebron now. But now Lebron has a better team, and you saw that the better team won the series.

And that's why it's so stupid to make those arguments during those years when Steph has Kevin freaking Durant and Andre Gudala and Klay Thompson and Draymond Green and all those guys on the team. It just doesn't make sense to make those arguments because you put yourself in a situation where now those arguments come back to bite you in twenty twenty three when Lebron James, when he's oldest shit, has a better team and he beats you. That's why I hate talking about this stuff on the show. That's

why we don't do that. What do we do on the show? We talked about the past catball, the better basketball team won this series, just like the better basketball team won in twenty fifteen, seventeen eighteen, and I thought the better team won in twenty sixteen when all the Cavs players were healthy. It's a team sport. Lebron and Steph have both contributed to those teams a great extent.

I think Lebron's a better player, brings a great deal of offensive manipulation and scoring, and he can dominate games defensively. He was just a level above what Steph could do. I think Steph is my second favorite player ever. He's been the second best player in this era. I think he's clearly better than Kevin Durant, for instance. So it's not an insult to Steph. He's just up against the

dude who's in the same conversation with Michael Jordan. How many guys are in conversations with Michael Jordan's zero except for Lebron. So there's no shame in the way this all went down. But I'm not going to be making sweeping declarations about this rivalry because to me, the rivalry already was what it was. Lebron's a better player of Steph. I've had better teams like that. To me, that was the rivalry. And here's the thing too, I'm not going

to convince you, guys. I've never had a conversation with a Steph Curry fan. I talked with the half dozen Warrior fans or so on Twitter that I've met over the years and never had a single one of them have a conversation with me and then go, oh, you know what, You're right, Jason, Lebron's better. I'm not changing your mind. You guys feel the way you feel you should rooting for Steph. Rooting against Steph was freaking terrifying. Like, I get it. I understand why so many people are

a big fan of him. I'm a huge fan of him, but no one's changing anybody's minds. I'm just glad for Lebron's sake that he won this series, because I do think it would have provided fodder for people to try to misrepresent what happened over the course of this era. All right, looking forward to for the Warriors. Like I said, I was terrified the whole game. Steph Curry's ridiculous. I've never seen a player of Warp of Defense the way

that he does. But they need some help. I know that's the random word that we throw out a lot in this debate, but It's just the truth. You couldn't get anything out of Clay Thompson down the stretch of the series, couldn't get anything out of Jordan Pool in the entire series, and too often the Warriors were stuck in a predicament where they had to play defensive personnel

at the expense of their spacing. We also know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that if you give Steph space, no one can keep him in front without throwing multiple defenders at him, and no one can take away threes from him without throwing multiple defenders at him. So moving forward, for the Warriors, you have to understand the value of what you have there. Like Anthony Davis is the best player in the world, now, Steph is right there next

to him. So if you have that guy and you have the pieces with which to build a roster around him that makes him a championship contender, you were obligated to do so in my opinion. Now, Shamsherrannie reported immediately after the game that the Warriors are leaning towards bringing back Draymond. Great news. Guess what you did, Straymon? You immediately lose your championship contention. Been talking about that all season. You cannot win a title without legitimate rim protection. Draymond's

that guy. He's done it four times. It's not his fault that this series went the way it did. It's the rest of the roster. So you got to bring Draymond Green. Draymond Green back, and I'm glad the Warriors have noticed that Klay Thompson apparently is considering taking a pay cut to stay on board. That's great news. I still think Klay Thompson can help. I just don't think you can run your offense through him against higher tier defenses as you saw like you wouldn't really get in

good looks in this game. But you know, if you can get him to stay on at a discount, and makes sense to keep him there. Andrew Wiggins obviously still a vitally important piece. So who are the odd men out there? As we look at the young guys. I think Moses Moody demonstrated that he can be an impact role player in the NBA playoffs. Defends at high level play super physical was just dead eye with his corner threes.

Moses Moody I think is worth keeping. But Jonathan Kamina and Jordan Poole are the two guys that I come back to. Look, Jordan Poole was amazing Lastro's postseason run. As Klay Thompson said, you don't win the title without Geordan. I want to give those guys, you know, I want to make sure that he's remembered properly as a champion. That said, he's declined, especially on the defensive end of the floor, and by virtue of the way his salary is structured, he's your best bet to try to bring

in higher quality role players. So I think the move is you got to package any draft compensation that you have and Jordan Poole and Jonathan Kaminga and bring back two way role players, players that can both shoot and defend at their position, so that you can give Steph the space to operate. If you this tiered system where you always have one big on the floor, either Looney or Draymond, that works. It's when they have multiple non shooters on the floor that the Lakers were really able

to stagnate them offensively. There were possessions in this game where like Ad would end up on Moses Moody and Steph is getting a Jordan Poole's beating dudes off the dribble and making layups. You can space good defenses out. You just need the right personnel. So I'm glad to hear that they're prioritizing the right guys. But it's time to go all in. We talked about after last year they held some chips back because they thought they had enough. At the time, I didn't think they had enough. I

was wrong. Joe Lacob is right. They won the title, but this year it has been become clear that they don't have enough. So if you've got one of the best players in the world and you've got assets at your disposal, you're obligated to surround them with the talent he needs to compete for a title, and so I

hope that they do so this summer. You know what, I'd love to see Lakers Warriors again in the playoffs next year, and then maybe we can have one more giant legacy debate on all the talking head shows for a full day. All right, guys, that is all I have for right now. After I record this, I'm gonna be recording a video on Nick's heat that'll be up tomorrow morning when you guys wake up, So keep an eye on that. And your feeds. As always, I appreciate

you guys. Sunday, we're going with Colin after Game seven of Celtics Sixers, and then probably sometime on Monday morning, I'll have your first series preview in the Western Conference and for the Conference Finals involving the Nuggets and the Lakers. I appreciate you, guys, and I'll see you tomorrow. The Volume