Hoops Tonight - LeBron James hacked on no-call, Lakers fall to Celtics, Embiid explodes on Jokic

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Happy Sunday, everybody. I hope all of you guys are having a great weekend. I just got back into town last night, flew in from Reno. We were skiing at North Star in California by the Lake Tahoe. It was my first time ever skiing in that Lake Tahoe area. Was a lot of fun, a lot of really good runs. I feel like I got a lot better. Uh. Skiing is like my second favorite thing to do in the world, behind basketball, so I always enjoy getting out of town

on those trips. I leave again on Friday to go up to Breckon Ridge for my second to last trip of the year. We have a special trip in April from my wife's thirtieth birthday. We're gonna be going up to Canada. But doing a lot of skiing this season. Like I said, one of my favorite things to do today. We're gonna keep it really simple, talking Laker Celtics and that wild game last night, and then Joe l MB delivering a SmackDown to Nicola Yoga's a lot to get

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Hoops tonight. And lastly, 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 n NBA game, or an n h L game, or an NFL game, or comedy show or anything, game Time has amazing last minute deals to all of those. My wife and I are going on Thursday night to see Oregon play at Arizona and Michale Center. Very very much excited for that. When we went through the process. The

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o O p s for twenty dollars off. Download game Time today, Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Okay, So, what a great game between the Lakers and the Celtics last night. And intensity, especially as the crowd was kind of working off of each other, where the Laker fans are getting loud and then the Celtics fans are trying to match that. There was a special intensity in that game. I was watching it in the Salt Lake City Airport while we were preparing on a layover. Uh, it's still

a little bit of a funky game. Like Anthony Davis and Ruey Hatch and Muruver is still coming off the bench. A d is still nowhere near what he was before his injury, Like he played thirty four minutes and only managed sixteen points and ten rebounds, although I thought he was very good defensively. And then Marcus Smart wasn't playing for the Celtics either, So it's just kind of like a weird game in a lot of different ways. Um,

the Lakers really controlled it, led throughout. I thought they deserved to win, and then they got burned by three. Things is down the stretch once again, Darvin Hamm refusing to foul when up three on the final possession. Now again, I understand as a basketball mind how you might feel like I trust my defense to get a stop here, but all of the data clearly suggests that you have a better chance to win significantly if you foul up

three on the final possession. Then if you play it out defensively, And it would be one thing if it was kind of on the fence and it was a matter of ideology, I'd understand. But when the data that is that clear about fouling when you're up three, I think that refusing to take that strategy is leaving opportunity on the table. They end up getting burned by a offensive rebound by Jalen Brown and then Patrick Beverley kind of hacks him over the top of the head. The

game is tied. Um then at the end of the game that there was a really bad misscall on Lebron. You guys have all seen it's been the biggest story in the league over the last twenty four hours. Lebron gets all the way to the rim, left hand at the rim, gets hacked on the forum. He missed it. It was an atrocious missed call. I don't know what else to say. I mean, the ref's that were in that moment should be ashamed. There was a ref on the baseline that had a clear view of the call.

But at the end of the day, that's why a lot of guys settled for jump shots at the end of games. I've been saying this on the show for a long time. Everyone thinks it's so easy, like, hey, why did you settle? Put your head down, try to go to the rim. There is a distinct reason why players take a lot of pull up jump shots at the end of games one. It's a lot harder to send help and double team when you're working off with the live dribble from the perimeter than it is when

you're driving to the basket. And two, when you drive to the basket, you put the outcome in the ref's hands. It even goes further than getting a shot off. It's like kind of like that Russell Westbrook play on Joel Ebid. He's getting fouled on his way to the rim and he lost control of the basketball. So you might not even get a shot off, let alone get to the rim and have a chance to finish where you might

get fouled there as as well. When you drive to the basket, you put the outcome in the hands of the refs, and the refs in many cases don't want to be involved with changing the outcome of the game. The reason why so many calls get uncalled on the final possession at the rim is they'd rather let the basketball players dictate the terms of the game, which I get. Now, there should be a line like if you're getting clearly hacked right in front of the ref on a layup,

then yeah, you should blow the whistle. But you've got to understand human nature. Yes, it makes sense. Hey, if we drive to the basket, I might be able to get a driving kick opportunity I might be able to get a higher percentage shot at the rim, but we know through human nature that you're much less likely to get a call, which means you have to score or pass through physicality illegal physicality that's not going to get called.

So that's why it's like, Hey, why don't I take this pull up jump shot, or why don't I go over this ball screen and shoot this three or take this turnaround fade way out of the post. The reason why is in that situation, the outcomes in my hands. The ref can't take it away from me. The defense is gonna have a hard time even doubling. My best player is going to get a shot that at least he's going to make or miss, and we'll live on that outcome. That's why a lot of guys do that.

So I'm not saying that there's a right or wrong answer, but it's a lot easier for us Monday morning more Monday morning quarterbacking from the couch to be like, oh, you should have driven, or oh he should have taken a jump shot, when really, at the end of games, there's no good option. You can drive and get fouled and it probably won't get called, or you can take

a lower percentage fade away. In both cases, it's tough, which, by the way, is exactly why throughout NBA history, in the last second possessions, everyone's field goal percentage tanks, like everybody does poorly in those situations. You might have outlier seasons where one guy shoots really well for a year, but all league wide percentages go down in those situations because of that specific conundrum that I just broke down

for you. And then, lastly, the third big mistake for the Lakers in overtime, Darvin Ham inexplicably and inexcusably went back to Russell Westbrook. Despite the mountain of evidence both in data and visual evidence on tape that Russ cannot close, Darvin went back to him. It predictably messed up l A's offense. They managed just seven points in o t and they lost. On the Celtic side of things, Jalen

Brown and Malcolm Brogney were both magnificent. Jayson Tatum once again kind of had an uneven night on a big stage. He did get over thirty points, but he was just eight from the field. He had more turnovers than assists.

There was that weird moment I mean that that last play with Lebron was really weird because Tatum clearly hacks him on the left arm, like the one of the worst miscalls at the end of a basketball game I've ever seen, and he turns and like runs up the floor holding one finger up like he just saved the day, which was bizarre behavior. And now he did technically, but he saved the day by doing something that should have actually cost him the game. So it's just kind of

another yeared on even night from Tatum. But every single time that has happened over the last couple of years, Jalen Brown has been the guy who's been aggressive, who's been confident, who stepped up and made those big plays. Um that that's been a consistent theme over the last couple of years. Made all the plays down the stretch to send it to Ot, including the offensive rebound put back, and then Inot just bulling his way to the rim, hitting pull up jump shots. He's their late game assassin

in a lot of different ways. And it's not a matter of skill, because I think Jalen Jayson Tatum is a better player than Jalen Brown. The Jayson Tatum has a little bit more of a passive persona and is less confident in those situations. And Jalen Brown is completely laser focused on on looking for his own shot and and using his physical tools to get higher quality attempts at the rim. He does everything right in those late game situations that you want from Jayson Tatum and then

Malcolm Brogden. I've been from the minute they made the trade that last summer. I said it was a home run trade. It's specifically addressed one of their biggest weaknesses. And you saw again last night what happens when you put the basketball in the hands of a very smart player, who is very skilled, who's going to make good decisions

at the end of games. He had eleven points and two assists in the fourth quarter in overtime, massive pull up three and pick and roll towards the end of regulation where the I can't remember whether whether it was Dennis or Path, but one of the guards goes underneath the screen. He just steps back and hits the three, really nice left handed finish in traffic off the glass and o t to put the Celtics up by six. Um.

Malcolm Brown is just playing. I I said to you guys, like a week or two ago that in smaller doses because his minutes have been somewhat limited, he's been giving you superstar level production, Like on a per thirty six minute basis, He's doing what superstars do with shot making and being the offensive engine and making those decisions and

keeping their offense moving. So I mean I tip of the cap to the Celtics for making that aggressive move this offseason, not being complacent when you were that close to an NBA championship, because he makes them so much better. Darvin ham and the refs, obviously, with that missed call, left a little bit of a crack in the door on a night when the Lakers were a better basketball team, and Malcolm Brogden and Jalen Brown just smashed that door

open and got the win. I want to talk about Russ and overtime for a minute, because at four minutes left in ot even though he had played poorly all game, and even though he really has been playing poorly for most of the last two weeks, Darvin Hamm went back to Russ and it was it was funny. I was watching it in the in the airport in Salt Lake City, and I remember literally thinking in the moment, I'm like,

I can see what his reasoning was. Like Jayson Tatum and Jitalen Brown were starting to give Dennis Shirter and Patrick rever Leys some issues with their size because they're bigger. I think he wanted to have a larger player out there that could do some more individual defense stuff on Tatum and Brown. And for the record, that was like the one thing he did pretty well in that crunch time period was you know, I think he forced two turnovers he stripped and Tatum clean once. He's a good

isolation defender. That's a fact about Russ. But there's all the bad stuff that comes with it, and he's on the offensive end. We know three things about Russ and crunch time situations. They're going to put a center on him, so if he's off the ball, he's gonna have to take catch and shoot threes, which he won't be able to make. And if he's on the ball, the center is gonna back off and try to bait him into driving into him at the basket where he's gonna struggle

to finish over that size and physicality. And then third decision making, Russ is not a good late game decision maker. And all three of those things were on display down the stretch of this game. But what's funny is I remember sitting there in the Salt Lake City Airport thinking, this is Darvin playing Roulette, because Russ is a very

much a Roulette type of player. He's a good playmaker and he's a bad playmaker, and if you play the game in a large sample size, there's gonna be more good than bad, especially if he plays a lot in the middle portions of the game, which has been the story of the season. There's been more good Russ than bad Us, but most of that good is taking place in the middle portions of games. At the end of games.

It's a completely different dynamic. But if when you play roulette, sometimes you pick red three times in a row, and sometimes it lands on red three times in a row. And it's funny because that's how it started. Because the Russ checks into the game and Lebron misses a driving layup and Russ just comes flying in and gets an offensive remail put back and gets fould and you're like, whoa, there you go. Big time play from Russ. MS is

the free throw, but a couple of possessions later. Jayson Tatum picks on Russ on a switch and Russ just strips Jayson Tatum clean. Anthony Davis gets the ball, pushes it ahead to Russ. Russ goes the length of the floor and draws a foul on Malcolm Brogden goes to the line and makes both free throws. Boom. We're making plays. Three good plays in a row from Russ. That's hit

and red three times in a row. But what happens when you're playing roulette and you hit red three times in a row and you pick red on the fourth one, Sometimes it goes back to black, and then sometimes it goes back to again, and now all of a sudden, you're in a worst position than you were when you started. Boston starts guarding Russ with Luke Cornett a center, in a strategy we've seen all season beat the Lakers. Lebron drives to the basket. Luke Cornette is ignoring Russ in

the left corner. Lebron makes the kickout pass to Russ in the left corner. He misses the three. If that's Ruey Hatchamura, the player who should have been in the game in that point, he's a forty two corner three point shooter, one of the better corner three point shooters in the league, and he has a much better chance of making that shot. Russell Westbrook is a twenty eight

percent corner three point shooter. So Boston is loving that shot because even if even if he manages to make it, you'll probably take two or three more of him and miss him. And Russ predictably missed that shot. Very next possession, Russ catches in the right corner, this time Al Horford's guarding him. Al Horford concedes the shot to us, but Russ doesn't take it. Why because he's a twenty eight percent three point shooter on wide open attempts. Again, that's

the big disc differentiator. It's not on Boyan Bogdanovitch's shot profile. It's on stands still completely unguarded threes. Like many of you watching this show probably hit wide open threes at a higher percentage than Russell Westbrook. That's the concern. So he looks at Al Horford doesn't shoot it, instead of working it around to Lebron who's on one all game long, or Anthony Davis who's not having a great game but is a better player than Russ. What does Russ do.

He does exactly what the other team wants him to do. Attempts to bully a center to the basket, and al funnels him behind the backboard and he ends up throwing it up off the bottom of the rim. Meanwhile, Lebron is relocating to the right corner in his wide open asking for the basketball. That's why teams guard Russ with centers. They can give space, and when he tries to bully their way to the rim or his way to the rim, they can swallow everything up around the rim because they

are bigger and stronger than him. I want to be clear, Russ has played well enough for long stretches this season to be a net positive. I said that earlier. I'm gonna say it again because I don't want to be slander us here. But one of the biggest reasons that I remain a big advocate for trading Russ at the deadline is Darvin Ham has a blind spot for him. He does not see those problems in crunch time. And we wondered earlier it was like, Okay, Russ is playing

a lot in crunch time because of injuries. Well, now everyone's healthy. He had Lonnie Walker as an option. He had Ruey Hatchimura as an option, he had Troy Brown Jr. As an option. All three much at our options, then Russell Westbrook in the crunch time group, and he went with Russ anyway. This season, when Russ plays in crunch time,

the Lakers are eight and thirteen. This season, when Russ does not play in crunch time, the Lakers are four and no. We have a mountain of data, both in the numbers but also in the visual evidence that's on film of what happens when he's in crunch time and

Darvin does not see it. And so even in the beautiful you know Lakers fan dream scenario where a d gets back to m VP form and they make a trade for a shooter at the deadline and everything's clicking, and you're in the second round of the playoffs and it's Game five and it's two to two and it's one oh five, one oh five, and O T. Darvin will play Russ again and it might cost them the series. The only way to stop that is to get him off the rock, Sir. It is now incumbent on Rod

Polinka to save Darvin Ham from himself. I don't believe they will, and I believe that this will continue to be an issue throughout the remainder of the season. But I think that the actual solution itself is pretty simple. Look, it's a heartbreaking loss for the Lakers, and heartbreak is heartbreak. It happens to every team. It's a natural part of the eight two game season. You're going to lose games because of bad calls. You're going to lose games because

a wild shot making from a random opponent. You're going to lose games because you have for a half dozen different reasons over the course of an eighty two game season. But if you're the Celtics and your thirty six and fifteen, say Lebron makes that left handed lay up at the buzzer and the Lakers win, Lakers feeling great, But let's focus on Boston. They're looking at that, and they're thirty five and sixteen, and they're like, man, that sucks. We

lost Lebron in a final possession. He beat us, damn it, in a rivalry game national television. That sucks. Okay, But if we turn around and we went on Monday, now we're thirty six and sixteen, we still have the best record. In the league and who cares but Rob Polinken. Jennie Buss sent the Lakers out undermanned to start the season at key positions and kept Ross on the roster despite

the clunky fit. And so they're twenty three and twenty seven now, so it's a lot harder for them to cope with this sort of thing because they desperately need wins. And look, I understand a lot of Lakers fans are focusing on the refs, and I understand, I think they're being a little dramatic. I can only think of two games in particular where I thought they were flat out robbed. Some of the other games it was just missed calls that could have gone either way, and even in that situation,

it doesn't guarantee the outcome of the game. The two games. I look at her last night because Lebron got fouled as the buzzer was sounding on a layup and should have gone to the line to win the game. And I don't care how bad you are three throw shooting, he's gonna make one of two. And then the man X game when he did the exact same thing on Christian Would. I think it was either at the end of o T or the end of regulation drives baseline

buzzards about to sound. He's at the rim and Christian would just hacks the hell out of him on his arm. Should have gone to the line, should have made them. That's two games, guys, that's two games out of a d two. That should not dictate your season. You should just be like, oh, crap, I can't believe it happened to us twice. But who cares because we're a good basketball team and we can weather that. But the Lakers have done so much additional damage to themselves that that

hurts even worse. Again. Four, No, when you close the games without Russ should have been five. And though if Lebron gets the call that he wanted because Russ was out of the game for crunch time in that part and eight and thirteen when they closed with Russ, there's data there. You're ignoring data. That's self sabotage. You can't

blame the refs for that. That self sabotage. You lost a half dozen games this year just because you simply did not have forwards on the floor, and you continually gave up offensive rebounds to bigger, taller players and you love ust. That's not on the refs. That's on Rob Bolinka. So like I, I don't like. That's why I don't like blaming refs when we talk about this kind of stuff and you can point it out, Yeah, missed call, you're right, Yeah, the Lakers should have one. Lebron got robbed.

The Lakers got robbed. But that's a natural part of the game of basketball, especially in a larger sample size, and you should be able to weather that. And if you can't, you probably have a lot bigger problems than getting calls at the end of games. On a glass half full level, for the Lakers, the Lakers are good. I would imagine that there are even skeptics out there who are who have been watching these videos, who have been thinking I was ridiculous all year, who are starting

to acknowledge that the Lakers are good. They're in every single game, regardless of who they're playing, even with all of the disaster in all of the tricked off games, they are still twenty one and seventeen since they're too intense start, and they just added Anthony Davis back to the lineup and a really good lottery pickful word. So they're good. But they've got to get out of their own way. They need to get rid of Russ to

save Darvin Ham from himself. I still think they need that one more shooter to really tie things together offensively. And here's the other glassful thing. A D was really good last night defensively, and he grabbed some key contested rebounds. But A D is not even close to back to form. He's going to continue to get better and better over the next few weeks. So there's a lot to get excited about there. All right, let's talk Denver, Philly. I

watched this game in Reno. Um. You know what's kind of funny about this game is through three and a half quarters, it was kind of the perfect description of why Yokich is the better player, right, Like, he was controlling the game the way he usually does. He was only shooting when it was in the flow of the offense, just creating advantages all game long and being that engine that makes everything works. Nothing special was happening, but the box score numbers were there and the nuggets were up,

kind of textbook Denver nuggets. But then Joe l embiid happened, and in the same way that the first three and a half quarters were evidence of the way that Yokich is better. That last half quarter was evidence of y I am Bead is better. Just an onslaught of high level pull up jump shooting, most of which was in Nicola Yokich's face, making him look silly. Joel demonstrated in that stretch all the things that he can do that Yokis can't do, and he looked helpless while Joel snatched

the game away from him. So what I want to do here is I want to come at this game from the angle of the who's better and beat or Yokis debate, because I think it's super interesting. First of all, it's super subjective. Everybody's entrenched, everybody's on their side, and I'm not even gonna change anybody's mind, obviously, But I do want to take a look at it from that angle because I think it's an interesting example of different archetypes of players and the way we have to evaluate them.

So even if we even just looking at yesterday's game, it's easy to be like, and Bead whooped yoki Is asked, therefore he is better? And for the record, that's what happened yesterday. Yoki or and Bead whooped Yoki's ass. That's

what happened yesterday. But last year, Yokis went into Philly, same type of game, didn't do anything extraordinary, box score wasn't anything magnificent, but the Nuggets got better shots all game long than they want and that I remember in that particular game, Yokis was killing them in transition with his transition passing. But like again, like if you look at one specific game, it's just gonna be about what what ended up happening. Yokis played Yoka style last year,

they won. This year and Bead made all his pull up jump shots they won. You see the difference between their two archetypes, and that's why I want to start here. So, yes, they are both centers, but they are incredibly different. Yokich is an advantage creator that can score. Joel Embiide is an assassin score like he is a top tier dominant score. That's what he does better than most of the players in the league. That's not what Yoki does better than

most of the players in the league. He is a offensive engine, creates advantages, scores within the flow of the offense. Very different like Yoki can score and be does that for a living and be it's also a better defensive player, but at the same time, he has some of the same limitations that most centers do. He struggles in transition, he struggles in space, needs to be kept around the rim for him to have the same amount of defensive value as some of the better defenders in the league.

So what does that mean? As soon as we start comparing box score numbers with these guys, we've lost the plot and we can't make any progress here because they're just completely different. They impact the game in different ways. They approached the game offensively in different ways defensively, they have different levels of impact. So I just the box

score just doesn't serve any purpose. You have to look at the way that they're controlling the outcome of the game on the ultimate scoreboard, Like, what does a yokis great game look like? Like? What you saw barely take in any shots? Like I'll give you some examples of the difference in their offensive approach. Uh Nicol Yoker has run fifty four ISOs this year. Joel Embiid has run three hundred and one ISOs this year. It's pretty different

offensive approach. Joel Embiad has posted up two fifty three times and only passed out of it in nine six times. Yokis just posted up four hundred and three times, but he's passed out of it a hundred and eight times. He's posting to pass every bit as much as he's posting to shoot, as opposed to Himbiad, he's posting to shoot three times as much as he's posting to pass.

You can see the difference. But like when you look at him, beads great games they look exactly like it looked like at the end of the game yesterday, and Beads great games are shot making and pull up jump shot after a pull up jump shot, and I just throw you the ball at the free throw line and there's nothing I can do to stop you. That's what a yoke and Be good game looks like. The Yokis good game is much more subtle. It's much more possession

by possession impact. And so you're gonna either be the guy that sees all that stuff and targets that or sees all the shot making and gets wowed by it and allows that to sway your opinion. That's why this is such a subjective debate. My take on it, I've always thought that scores are better stealing razors and offensive

engines are better floor raizors. So, for instance, I think Lebron is a much better player than Kevin Durant all time, And if I needed a player for a playoff series tomorrow, I'd take Lebron in terms of their like equal primes right like both take both of them at age thirty three, for instance, But on a night where Katie's jumper is really going, like where he's just on fire with this pull up jump shot, Lebron's never going to beat him in that game. Because Lebron's impact is more of a

possession by possession. We get higher all of these shots on both ends of the floor type of game, whereas Kevin Durant it's like otherworldly pull up jump shooting, and some nights he goes ten for thirteen on pull up jump shots, and the next night he might go for for thirteen on pull up jump shots, right, And then in the aggregate it ends up being around on pull up jump shots. But the night in night out, possession

by possession impact is different. And what you saw last night is the Mbi Yoki's version of that Ike had coming into the season Yokich at seven and then bat at eight. That means I viewed them as very close. But the reason why I gave Yogas the edge is I believe he has more possession by possession impact game in and game out over an eight two game season

in order over a playoff run. But make no mistake, if Joel Embi is going to make pull up jump shots the way he did last night and do it through four rounds of the playoffs, he's absolutely better than Yoki. He might be the best player in the world. That's why I've been saying so consistently that his pull up jump shot is everything for this team in the a season.

If that shot is going in that little fifteen footer at the elbow off of seventeen different dribble combinations, no one's gonna be able to guard the guy, and the Sixers are going to win the trophy. That's what's going to happen. But it's not like that every single night, and and Joel, Joel has a little bit of a reputation for his jump shot, in particular, falling apart when

he gets to the postseason. I said last year he made Joel and beating his two thirds of his shots outside of the restricted area last year in the playoffs, and that's been a consistent theme throughout his career. So when his ceiling raising isn't there, his overall winning impact is lower. Whereas with Yokich, even if he's not making his ice so jumpers, he does so many other things offensively on the court to keep his team going than on a night and night out basis, it's more consistent.

So that's why I have Yokich is slightly better than embed But I'm never gonna sway you because they're two completely different players. You either prefer one type or you don't. And you guys know, I've been consistent. I've always preferred the playmaker archetype over the scoring archetype. I've been consistent

with that since the beginning. Whether it's me favoring Luca over players, favoring Yoki over players, favoring Lebron over players, it's always been my that's just my opinion on it, and I'm just breaking down why I feel that way. But regardless of how you feel about this debate, make no mistake and be busted. Nicola Yokis asked on national television for the world to see last night, and it was it was a cool moment. I'm happy for him, beat and make no mistake like I'm not married to

any take. Yes, I think Yokich just slightly better now. But if Embiat plays like this through the end of the regular season and goes into the postseason and is hitting pull up jump shots and goes on a deep playoff run where he's in the conference finals or later, and Yokich loses in the first round because he's not aggressively looking to score, then that means embiads better. You know. I saw a lot of Nuggets fans in particular, saying, like, man him, I need Yokis to shoot more. Why isn't

he shooting more? That's not his game. He's not gonna go shot for shot with Joel Embiat if and beats hitting those pullup jumpers. Yoki isn't just gonna come down and mix him up off the dribble for a pull up jumper of his of his own. That's not his game. And that's why it looked so jarring last night to watch him. Bead repeatedly punched Yo Kitch in the face proverbially with basketball while Yokis went on the other end and seemingly did nothing. That's just it's not his style.

He can't. He'll never be able to meet and beat on that ceiling when he's got it going like that. But that's what makes this kind of thing complicated. And if it was easy, we'd all be on the same side and he would be boring to talk about. But it's interesting because it's it's debate, it's you know, it's difficult, and there is a lot of personal opinion involved. But damn, that was a good basketball game. All right, guys, that is all I have for today, and we will be

back tomorrow breaking down today's games as always. I sincerely appreciate your guys support, and I'll see you the volume