Hoops Tonight - LeBron James leads Lakers in sloppy OT win vs. Timberwolves, Hawks upset Heat

I was just talking with the with the my friends of our production staff before the show about how much more entertaining basketball games are when there's real stakes and urgency. It's why I've been such a big advocator shortening the season.

I'd love to just see more NBA basketball games that are like that, with more of the stars playing to I said to you guys before this game, when we did our preview on Monday, I said, my biggest fear for the Lakers was that they had just played this funky stretch of schedule where four of their final five games were against really bad teams, at least relative to what they would be facing as they had into the postseason. Right, and then they had this one very important must win

game against the Clippers. Right. But the problem is is in that particular game, they were on the back to back third game in four nights, traveling home, just played in overtime the night before, and so they kind of mailed that one in. And so they've been playing bad basketball for basically two weeks now. And I talk about this a lot on this show, But like playing good basketball as a habit, it's not necessarily a talent, it's

a habit. There are talent elements to it, right, like having the ability to handle the basketball, having the ability to shoot, seeing the floor well, and being able to reads, athletic ability, size, strength, all those different things they'll help.

But the actual act of playing good basketball, which means doing all of the little basketball things well, whether that's running the floor consistently in transition both ways, running to try to generate an advantage on offense and to try to minimize an advantage on defense, boxing your man out every single time, good closeouts, understanding the scouting report and what specific players are good at or bad at, and

knowing what your job is within a defensive scheme. On offense, protecting the basketball, making pass fakes, taking care of it with the dribble, Protecting the ball by putting your body between the ball and the man who's ball, pressuring you there's so many different elements of the game that are habitual that are not at all related to what your talent level is or what your physical tools are. And the problem with it is, if you play bad basketball for four or five games in a row, you can

develop some bad habits, the wrong kinds of habits. For instance, Lebron James. And you know, here's the thing. I'm gonna be pretty critical of Lebron James tonight. He is my all time favorite player. I credit him for everything that I've gained from the game of basketball. My parents raised me on football and baseball. I would not be where I am. I would not have had my school paid for. I would not have had my college basketball career or even doing what I'm doing now if it wasn't for

Lebron James. I am not a Lebron hater, But as I try to do with everything on this show, I'm gonna tell you guys exactly how I feel about stuff, and that includes pointing out the good and bad from every single player. That's the purpose of this show. This is not this is not a propaganda show. This is a basketball analysis show. And Lebron James has been practicing completely mailing in the defensive end of the floor for

two weeks. His matchup to start this game was Tory and Prince, who is a you know, a lot of like Jaden McDaniels. For all of the talk about what he does defensively, and he's had a decent season scoring the basketball, but in my opinion as a connective piece offensively, I actually think he's a better offensive player than Jaden McDaniels, and consistently throughout his career he's had a lot of confidence. Like Torrian, Prince's guy who feels very good about himself.

He's going to go into a big game thinking that he's going to play well. And Lebron James was flat out conceding open shots to him, and it was funny because that was the same thing he had been doing for two weeks before, and that kind of trickles down

to the rest of the roster. There's been a lot of talk over the course of the last few days about Anthony Davis and how incredibly frustrated he's been with the overall defensive effort, particular particularly from his from the perimeter players, and you know, Ad has been the one guy I'm so impressed by him, because he's the one guy on this roster that I've seen over there to this last few weeks that seems frustrated and annoyed with

what's happening and is giving the requisite effort. And he was chasing everything down tonight, and he had a million offensive rebounds, made countless big plays as an athlete on the court, of course, one of the greatest offensive player defensive players to ever play the game. And for the second time this season, he fouled a three point shooter unnecessarily at the end of a game, which forced the

Lakers to earn this one. But it's funny, I tweeted out right before I got on the air, I tweeted out a little screenshot of the line score from tonight's games, kind of like a little line chart that shows the team's points increasing as the game progresses, and you'll see Minnesota's scoring go like this, and then suddenly in the fourth quarter it goes like that. Because what did I say coming into this game. I expected the Lakers to fall down early, but I expected them to win because

they're just a better team. Same exact thing happened in Minnesota a couple of Fridays ago, they bs through the first half. If they locked in in the third quarter, they got a ton of stops. Suddenly it looked like Minnesota couldn't score. In the fourth quarter, Anthony Davis lit them on fire and the game was over. But again, basketball is a habit, and this is what concerns me. I was talking with some people earlier today about my predictions that I'm gonna be making for this postseason, and

I'm saving those for tomorrow. We're gonna be having Carson on and we're gonna just kind of go big picture. In the NBA playoffs. We're doing, you know, these series previews that I'll be releasing as the week goes along, But tomorrow we're gonna do kind of a big picture preview or I give my predictions for the entire postseason, and I'm going into that show completely on the fence

in both conferences. I'm completely on the fence in the Eastern Conference between Boston and Milwaukee, and I'm completely on the fence in the Western Conference between Phoenix, Golden State and the Lakers. And I said to some of the people on my production staff earlier today that if I if the Lakers came in and dominated this game that I'd be picking them to come out of the West, and now I'm not sure that I will. And the main reason why is I just I'm not sure that

they're serious about it. There is a level, there is a level of commitment to the details that you need in order to win an NBA championship. This same group in twenty twenty, from the start of the season to the end, very rarely would you see a game like that, and if they did, they bounce back from that game

with four or five magnificent performances. There is an attitude, a locked in approach that you need to have it, and Lebron's been saying a lot of the right stuff, but he hasn't been doing it, and that's been really concerning to me. But there's two elements to it. There's the commitment phase and then there's the building habits phase. I thought they'd be starting this game in the building habits phase because I thought the commitment would have come

before the game. It was not. The commitment wasn't there, And then you can actually see them working through those habits down the stretch of this game. Lebron was much more engaged defensively in the second half, but he still made countless defensive mistakes. There's a play where he helped off a Torrian Prince in the strong side corner, which is one of the biggest no nos in NBA defense, to leave Torrion Prince wide open for a massive three

in the middle of the fourth quarter. Late in the fourth quarter, a shot that could have cost them the game. I think he had just hit a three to tie it at ninety five, and he fell asleep and had to do a late close out to Mike Conley on the right wing. He just happened to miss the shot. That's the that's that gap that he's trying to bridge. Okay, he finally committed there in the second half. That's great, But then you have to build the habits they're in OT.

You could see it. Just watch the film. Go back and watch OT. Watch the way Lebron is chasing around Torrion Prince. Watch watch how he's so much more alert and aware of where he needs to be. And what's concerning to me is they are not a massive favorite against Memphis. I haven't seen the line yet. As a matter of fact, Ryan, if you see the line texted to me, I'd like to see it, but my guess

is it's gonna be pretty damn close. If the Lakers are a favorite, they'll be a very slight favorite, and if Memphis is a favorite, they'll be a very slight favorite. That means this series is going to be determined by the tightest of margins. And so if you spot them at two oh lead because you're not sharp, you that could be the difference in a series like this. It's

a big problem. Now. The advantage is it's funny. I was joking with another one of my friends who's a Laker fan during the game, and he was very down about it throughout the game, and I kept saying, like, no, they're gonna come back. They're gonna come back against They're the better team. They're gonna figure it out. And they finally got a little ugly there where it seemed like they might not be coming back, but they just locked in so intensely on the defensive end there in that

fourth quarter. Just got the line in from Ryan the Lakers are an underdog plus one oh six. Memphis is currently a very slight favorite at one twenty four. So again, Memphis is a very slight favorite. You cannot go into that series. Sloppy, but the advantages having won this game, and I want a credit couple a couple of specific adjustments. I talked a lot in I want to say it was in the Miami Heat, the play in preview. In the Miami Heat segment, I talked about how the Lakers

have some flexibility in their closing group. They start with D'Angelo Russell, right, they go D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reeves, Jared Vanderbilt, Lebron, Anthony Davis. But I talked about how they have some adjustments, like if one of their guards isn't very locked in, they can go to Dennis Schroeder. You saw that tonight. D'Angelo Russell was atrocious in this game. Plug in Dennis Schroeder, He's ready for that environment. Jared Vanderbilt stone hands all game,

was really struggling to catch and finish around the rim. Right, rue hat Chmurau was struggling to hit a three, but he hit a couple of big ones. He Darvin him made the adjustment to go to Ruey hotch mur I like that flexibility. There's a lot of good here. I am a huge believer in what this team is capable of. They've it's not a coincidence that they've been the second best defense in the NBA post deadline. That is a byproduct of amazing defensive personnel, especially on the back line.

Lebron James Anthony David like Lebron again, I've been super critical of him tonight. No, it's not him being old. I'm sorry, it's not. Oh he's old. Oh he just doesn't have his legs. It's one hundred percent giving a shit. Lebron is actually one of the most has actually has one of the most terrifying closeouts that you'll see in the NBA. And when he closes out to a shooter, dude's panic. They won't even try to shoot. He is more than capable of being not just above average, but

a great defensive cog on this team. Jared Vanderbilt and Ruey hotch Mura. One of the big reasons why Ruey's getting those closing minutes you think of it as an offensive defensive sub Rui has been a great defensive player for this team. And then Dennis Roder Like I thought one of the kind of the sub subplots of this particular game was Laker role players kind of struggling under

the intensity of the moment. There's a little touch and go there for Ruey for a minute, but he ended up making a big three and OT But like Austin, Reeves had one of the worst games he's had in weeks, D'Angelo Russell had his worst game in a Lakers uniform. Troy Brown Junior had his worst game in a long time. When Ye Gabriel played a couple of minutes and it became abundantly clear he wasn't capable of playing in this setting.

That's an issue You're gonna find out pretty quickly whether or not some of these guys are capable of playing at this level. So um again, tomorrow, we're gonna do a deeper dive into a lot of this stuff. We're gonna talk who I picked to come out of the West, who I picked to come out of the East, who I picked to win the title. We're gonna talk a little bit about some of the lower level contenders in that list, and talk about some of the stakes that are some of the things that are at stake in

this particular playoff run with Carson. So I'm not gonna go too much longer on this particular game, but it's good. It's a good win for the Lakers. A win as a win is a win. But they have four days now to tighten some things up defensively, and if they don't, they're going to be in some trouble against Memphis really quickly. Before we get out of here, I wanted to talk

a little bit about heat hawks. So this was a textbook example of the advantages, the physical advantages on a basketball court and the way that they can lead to skill advantages not mattering as much. So for instance, Miami actually got more stops in this game than Atlanta if you count missed shots and turnovers as stops. Miami got sixty three stops and Atlanta got sixty stops. So Miami actually stopped Atlanta from scoring a ton in this game,

but they gave up two offensive rebounds. Clint Cappela had eight. You know, I'm a huge believer in switching defense. I've talked about this a lot, and I love the way it stagnates teams. And I'm a big believer that the good elements of switching out way the bad elements. The bad elements you give up mismatches, you give up rebounding position. You give up all these different things, right, but you

also stagnate the opponent, right. You force them to play isolation ball, and you shut down all of their sets. So there's a lot of advantages there. Here's the problem. You have to have a certain type of personnel to run a switching scheme. Every time you switch bam at a bio off of Clint Cappella onto a perimeter player to defend, you now have Clint Cappella battling against four additional players where the tallest player in that group is

Jimmy Butler at six footstep. See the point. In order to run a switching scheme, you need aggregate size in the lineup. That's why I wish the Lakers would do more switching. When you got Anthony Davis, Lebron, excuse me Lebron, James Ruey, Hatch Murra, Jared Vanderbilt, and guards that are six four or six five like d' angel Russell, like De'angel Russell and Austin Reeves, then you have the aggregate size to kind of crash the glass and have success there.

But Miami let PJ. Tucker go and did not replace him, not with a real athletic forward like I like Kevin Love the dudes an NBA champion. He's not fixing that problem. Zeller not fixing the problem, right, And I was looking at the I was looking at the payroll for the Miami Heat after this, a lot most of these guys are locked up. Kyle Lowry's gonna be making a ton of money next year, Duncan Robinson's gonna be making a

ton of money next year. Tyler Harrow's making a ton of money for a long time, and he's not exactly a needle moving type of player. I tweeted out just a kind of like an exercise to people. I said, hey, here's Miami's payroll. What would you do if you were a GM? And I saw a lot of different things, and I didn't see anything specifically that really made much of a difference in my opinion, except for what I would do, which is make one last effort to go

all in around Jimmy and Bam. I'd packaged Tyler Harrow and Duncan Robinson every conceivable draft pick they have, and I'd throw it out Damian Lillard or Bradley Beale and I'd build around the margins there. But they need to need to get bigger and more athletic on the perimeter. I was also just generally real impressed with that Lena's approach.

Quinn Snyder has been talking a lot about spacing, and spacing is, you know, a very important part of the game of basketball that doesn't get talked about it enough. I'll give you an example. What should have been the game winner by Dennis Schroeder Tonight, Lebron drives along the baseline. Tory Prince is a good job of funneling him behind the rim so that Lebron doesn't have an opportunity to shoot. You need to give Lebron a clear outlet, which is

Dennis Schroeder in the corner. Spacing principles are about have you guys in these specific spots on the floor so that you always have a read to make. And if guys aren't in those spots, or if they're congregated to where they're making themselves easy to guard by standing too

close to each other, then you run into problems. Atlanta has gotten really good at positioning themselves in the floor where Clint Capella is under the rim, as as that vertical spacing lob threat right and then they have like cd Bay in one corner or DeAndre Hunter in the other corner, and whichever guard doesn't have the ball on the opposite wing. And so when Dejante Murray beat somebody

off the dribble, it's very straightforward. If you see two defenders on you, and you see Clint guarded, and you see the weak side corner guarded, and you see the wing guarded, you know the opposite corners wide open. You don't even have to look. You can just hook it over there as long as you're spacing. Principles are lined up, and Quint Snyder has done a really nice job of

turning this into a legit driving kick team. Just in general is really impressed with Trey Young and Dejanta Murray embracing their roles as advantage creators and not just hunting their own shots, which got them into a really good groove playing drive and kicked basketball and the heat were in a blender all night long. Again, it's not like they're about to go beat Boston, and I still think that their best bet is to build around their best trait,

which is length and athleticism and size. By flipping Trey Young this summer for some type of wing athlete, a really good scoring wing, since you've already got de Jante Murray as more of a traditional scoring guard, and go in on what you're great at, which is being big. And I think the Hawks are pretty much done with the Tray Young experience. They're heading into a postseason run, and they leaked to the press that the GM has

the approval of the owner to trade Trey Young. That seems like a little bit of a concern to me, But I mean, to Tray Young's credit, he's handled it like a professional and he played a great game tonight, and there's a big win for the Atlanta Hawk. The Heat are in a lot of trouble because whether it's Toronto or Chicago, if they play similar brand of basketball, they could be in some big trouble. I expect Toronto

to beat Chicago if they do same rebounding problem. They are just as likely to go into Miami and get fifteen sixteen offensive rebounds as Atlanta was, and it could be a problem for them all right. Like I said, we're gonna do Lakers fans, I'm gonna be talking a lot more about that Lakers Wolves game when we do our series preview for Lakers Memphis, and then we're gonna

be doing big picture predictions with Carson tomorrow morning. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys, and I will see you tomorrow. The One