Hoops Tonight - LIVE: Lakers Even Series vs. Timberwolves + Pacers Go Up 2-0 On Bucks

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So we're gonna be focusing on Bucks Pacers and Lakers Wolves tonight, and then, like we did last night, at the tail end of the show, Jackson's gonna come on and we're gonna take you know, ten to fifteen minutes worth of questions. So make sure you guys stick around. All you gotta do is subscribe to the channel and then drop your questions in the chat and then we'll hit them at the end. You guys know the job before we get started. Subcribe to the Hoops and Oight

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the remainder of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So, as I mentioned after Game one, after I rewatched the game and I went down and I took the time to really sift through the tape, the number one thing that stood out to me there were some schematic things, like, you know, over helping off of nas Red in particular nas Reed, the specific offensive approach of focusing on attacking bigs,

particularly with Lebron versus attacking in the post. There were a couple like things that stood out to me, but by far the biggest one was just the intensity. They just did not meet the moment. They didn't look ready for playoff basketball, and so we all knew the Lakers were going to bring the requisite intensity coming into Game two, and so honestly, coming into tonight, I didn't have a

good feel for what tonight was gonna look like. I viewed tonight as kind of more of like an introductory look at what it looks like when both of these teams are playing with insane intensity and what it looks like, and it turned into just an incredibly ugly basketball game

and a knockdown, drag out fistfight of a game. And I'll lead with this because I said coming into the series that I thought this was a good matchup for the Lakers on both ends of the flour and this is going to be the first series that I'm gonna just admit that I'm wrong already. I don't see any Obviously, the Lakers could theoretically could win both in Minnesota and then come home and close it out and win five. I would be shocked if the Lakers won this series

in five games. I think if the Lakers get it done, it's going to be more like a six or seven game type of series. This is definitely not going to be easy for either team. The reality is is that when the Lakers really tighten the screws defensively, Minnesota struggles to score. But as we saw at least through two games, when Minnesota really tightens the screws, the Lakers really struggle to score. And that's really the give and take that

I always talk about in these series. Which team can cause more problems for the other team, and I've seen plenty from the first two games to feel like Minnesota can cause some real problems for this team really on both ends of the floor. And so with that being the case, I think this is gonna be just an absolute knockdown, drag out, two week long fistfight of a series.

And this is where if you're rooting for the Lakers, it's an upside that you ran into this type of matchup in the first round because you have a little bit more rest, right Like, as the series drags on, that rest becomes a little bit harder to come by, but you have two days off now between tonight in Game three, So like Game three is your opportunity to try to regain home court off of two full days of rest that they're gonna get, or at least one full day, but if they practice on the other day.

And so I think it's gonna be one of those things where if you're a Lakers fan, you gotta be thinking about surviving this series in a way that when you run into let's say it's Golden State in round two. Golden State's an elite defense, but they're substantially smaller, and you run into potentially an OKC in the Conference finals.

They're an elite defense, but they're substantially smaller. The specific problem that the Lakers are running into is that they're a little bit they're having a little bit of a problem compromising the size mismatches on the floor. Now, there's a certain element to this that we can get into involving the process.

to Nikkeile Alexander Walker. That was a play where he knocked him over, and as as Nikil fell over, it just caused Lebron to lose his rhythm and then he ended up shooting that awful looking super short jump shot. But like Lebron pretty much hasn't gone to that. My working theory is that it has to do with the specific way that he heard his growing if you remember he heard his groin on a pivot move against Al

Horford in that Celtics game. And so there might be a certain amount of Lebron just not trusting is groin to post up. But it's very possible, especially if Minnesota wins this tug of war over the course of the next few games, that Lebron has to take that out of the bag and that Luca has to take it out of the bag. Luca talked after the game Taylor Rooks asked him about attacking Gobert and the crowd getting all hyped, and he's like, you know, I love to

attack centers, and it's like that's great. But you know, over the course of that game, go Bear held up pretty well at times, and they were bringing late help to the Wolves, were bringing like right at the last second, if Luca got into the short to mid range just right as he was going up with the shot, someone else would come in. He ended up drawing a foul on one of those early in the game. But there's a certain amount of right now, this Lakers approach of

hunting the Minnesota bigs in space. You scored ninety four points tonight, there were some highlights. You know, Luca at one point looked over at the Minnesota bench and started yelling about how you need a sub him out of the game, and it's like, overall the strategy is still from Minnesota, making things difficult at a certain point. I think Lebron and Luke are gonna have to make a more concerted attempt to attack the Minnesota smalls a little bit closer to the basket where their size is more

of a factor. I mean, even when you factor in just the way this series is playing out physically, it would just be easier if you didn't have to, you know, take those extra bumps and bruises on ISOs against Biggs, But if you were taking those against a player that's, you know, forty to fifty pounds lighter than you, it's something to look into just in general. But yeah, again, like my first series prediction that I want to change, I don't think the Lakers are winning this thing in five.

I think it's going to be much more of a knockdown, drag out fight type of series. And that was just a misread on my part before the series, not accounting enough for just the unrelenting physicality that Minnesota brings to the table. I brought it up so many times during the regular season too. It's probably just a little bit of fangoggles there from Jason, but the Lakers strategy a couple of interesting things.

Timberwolveh scored over ten points. And so going back to what we saw in game one, just on a real basic level, strategically, just look at the total of points. You just were able to hold Minnesota down, even though Aunt and Julius were more comfortable over the course of the game. But even within that context, there was a lot of mixing up coverages, a lot of zone defense.

I shouldn't say a lot, but there are a few possessions of zone defense mixed in, a few random doubles mixed in, but the majority of it was just meeting the moment with the requisite intensity right right out the gates.

The Lakers finally showed up to the playoffs physically, and as you saw over the course of the series or over the course of the game, Minnesota does have substantial strength advantages in a bunch of different spots on the floor that are manifesting with wearing them down at times. But the Lakers obviously have this clear aggregate skill advantage. The Lakers just have a little bit more at every

position in terms of skill. Lebron is just a smarter, connective playmaker, just an overall smarter player than Julius Randall, Lucas just a more polished half court surgeon than Anthony Edwards, like Austin Rui, these guys, they're a little bit better offensively, and so that's going to be the tug of war of this series. As the Lakers match Minnesota's physicality, They're going to be able to take control for stretches right

as Minnesota's physicality overwhelms the Lakers. That's when Minnesota will take control of the series, and that's going to be the tug of war. And that's one of the big reasons why I talked about earlier the specific cadence of the first round as an upside for the Lakers in

this particular series. But again, like as I talked about in the episode that we did last night talking Clippers Nuggets, like, so much of this is not about coming up with some game plan adjustment, Like, yeah, the staying home, letting Aunt and Julius have a little bit more space. That was a strategy that had some positive impact tonight, the

mixing up coverages that had some positive impact tonight. But the reality is they could have gone with the exact same game plan from Game one, but brought this level of intensity and it could have worked better, you know what I mean. Like, ultimately, especially when you're looking at the difference between those two performances for the Lakers, most of it came down to them just inevitably getting to the point where they showed up in the series physically

and started to compete. Austin Reeves, really I was impressed by what he did in the second half, specifically with just finding ways to score. He did a lot more work. He did score finally on a couple of switches. He was able to get nas Red on one. He's able

to get Rudy gop Bear on one. He just kind of dances with the ball on the perimeter until there's an over commitment one way or another, and then he's hitting that gap hard and getting out extended with that right handed finished before the rint protector can get there. He was able to get a couple there. I thought he looked specifically comfortable against nas Reed again over the course of this series. That's really how things will will

sort out for the Lakers offensively. They have to find pet actions in different phases of the game based on the lineup. So, for instance, in the first shift, I'm okay with Lebron attacking go Bet in a drop coverage the way he did for that first lob to Jackson Hayes that he made it was a drop coverage look. That makes some sense. I'm okay with Luca attacking bigs

in space. That works right with that unit. With the starting unit, it makes sense to lean heavily on Luca attacking fives and mix in some Lebron attacking and drop coverage, right, But as you go through different phases of the game, your approach needs to change, and so it's like, Okay, early fourth quarter, Austin has this matchup with nas Reed. This is the time where Austin can look to attack fives and switches like, Okay, early second quarter, early fourth quarter,

this is when Nikil Alexander Walker's on the floor. This is when Lebron needs to start looking to post Nikil Alexander Walker. You got to find the pet actions that you can run in different parts of the game to get comfortable, and that's gonna be That's gonna be the chess match on the Lakers front for the Wolves, it's

so much just about maintaining that physicality. If the Wolves just maintain the physicality that they maintained over the course of the majority of the first two games, they're gonna give themselves a great chance to win the series. Because the Lakers chance to win the series depends entirely on them hanging onto the rope for dear life, Like, as a Laker fan, did you feel like you kind of

survived that game tonight? Did you get out of that and to just take a deep breath and go a good God, that was a fucking nightmare, right like that. But that's that's what it feels like when you're in those situations where they're bigger, they're stronger, and are trying to meet their physicality and meet them at that level. You can do it, but you are going to fatigue. You're going to fatigue faster. The Lakers will let go of the rope for stretches of this series. That's when

Minnesota is going to gain heavy amounts of ground. And so again, Minnesota, like the biggest factor for them in this series in terms of their ability to win is just to maintain that physicality and capitalize on the stretches when the Lakers let go of the rope and start to give up those like transition opportunities. A classic example late third quarter, just a couple of bad Luca possessions and easy three on two to two on one fast breaks, layups, and all of a sudden, it's a sixteen point game

when it was twenty one a few possessions earlier. Like that's the they can make up ground so quick, whereas the Laker bleed building process feels more slow and methodical. A couple other specific things with Laker role players. I heard a lot of people talking about wanting more Jackson Hayes in this game. I have no seeing the upside there. I think Jackson is just a really poor decision maker time and time again. He doesn't really know how to

be physical without fouling on offense. It's inconsistent in terms of like his ability to set screens without setting illegal screens, his ability to be a vertical spacer on defense. It's the fouling, but it's also like he'll just do what he did on that Julius or that it was either I think it was nas Reed who took that little floater in the lane and Jackson comes flying in in volleyball spike sitting. Everyone in the arena is like, what the hell are you doing. It's like this is a

series where mistakes. Look at the Scots ninety four to eighty five. These games are really low scoring. I don't think mistakes are going to be something that they can withstand in those Jackson A's minutes. So I didn't blame JJ for holding his minutes down. Again, Ruby Hatchamura only took two threes in this game, and I thought there were at least like three or four of them where

Rudy was closing out. But like, that's playoff basketball, Ruy, like, you gotta be able to take a three against the closeout. You got to be able to take a three with a hand in your face. If I was the Lakers coaching staff, I'd spend the next two days and get somebody one of those long arm like pads, and I'd have r Ruey shoot a bunch of catch and shoot threes against a tall man contest, because he is getting

good looks and he's turning them down. And then what ends up happening is the Lakers get into a late clock sequence, and when they're in there that late clock sequence, they're struggling to get openings as Minnesota starts to leverage their athleticism more so, I really think Ruy's gotta be more aggressive in his catch and shoot situations. For how open he was as often as he was tonight, only two three point attempts isn't going to cut it as far as the bench group goes. I thought most of

it worked relatively well. The Jared Vanderbilt stuff, same sort of thing. Jared's active, but he's just a little mistake prone right now. All in all, the story for this series for the Lakers is going to be finding those pet actions. They've got to find different spots in the game where they can go to a specific action that works effectively and then spam it over the course of

the series. You do have an IQ advantage in this series with your starting groups if you make the better adjustments over the course of the series in terms of how you attack offensively. I'm less concerned about Aunt and Julius being able to solve those puzzles at a higher rate than you are. It's a battle of physicality versus IQ, and that is going to be the puzzle for the Lakers to solve over the course of the series. On the Wolves front, there's some really encouraging stuff there. Julius

Randall and I talked about this before the series. There's this reputation that Julius Randall has as like a bad playoff player, when every single time I've watched Julius Randall in his career, he's been a guy that, like if you give him a long runway, like when he's played twenty regular season games in a row and he's like

got his legs, his conditioning and his rhythm. He can be a really impactful all NBA level player, but then when he gets hurt, even when he comes back, it just takes him a long time to find his rhythm. It's not entirely uncommon. I feel the same way about Lebron. I feel the same way about Austin. There are guys like that, especially Lebron at this age in his career when he's not his athletic right. But like I think it's I think it's a great sign for Minnesota fans.

How Julius Randall has looked through these first two games, he looks fantastic. I think he looks fantastic on both ends of the floor. Luca did finally get him once with a scoop layup tonight, but he continues to hold up really well on switches. He's doing a ton of damage in the middle.

this series. It's going to be arrested Lakers group obviously, that mattering with Lebron and with Luca not being in the best shape of his life right now, that Game three is going to be the one where I see as a good opport unity for the Lakers to try to steal home court back. Where it gets tricky is if the Wolves do get Game three, it's a really

quick turnaround before Game four. I think it's only one night off, so that Game four becomes all of a sudden a must win game for the Lakers, and they would be playing two nights after another one of these knockdown, drag out fights like they had in Game three. So I think it's not a must win per se, but I think that Game three in Minnesota is the one that the Lakers got to get if they're going to

remain in control of this series. All right, let's talk a little bit of Bucks Pacers, and then we'll get to our mail bag and then we'll get out of here for the night. So the main adjustments I noticed from the Bucks they started switching almost everything, especially with Lopez with Brook Lopez and ball screens with Tyres Halliburton.

With Damian Lillard, they used basically kind of a switch in scram scheme, so like if Dame ever ended up on a big whether it was Siakam or Turner or someone like that, they would just basically have him rotate out of it and bring another one of Milwaukee's bigger wings to come in and rescue Dame out those mismatches and the Pacers just absolutely fried every single coverage the

Bucks tried in this game. Tyreese went absolutely crazy against Brook and switches, and like that sort of thing would only work with Brook Lopez if you are a strong backside rotation team, and the Bucks just aren't. They haven't been a strong backside rotation team all year, and he

just started cooking. Brooke immediately drove right past him on an early possession, kicked to the corner for Nie Smith for an easy bucket, had like a really nifty step through Lefty Scoop shot off the glass on a switch against Brook Lopez had a play where he kind of hesitated and looked at the rim like he was going to take a jumper, and Brooke took like two steps out to the top of the key and Tyree's just went right around and made it literally made him look

like he was stuck in the mud, had a dunk. He blew by him for a drop off to Siakam in the second half. Finally, late in the game, Brooke was like, I can't keep getting beat off the dribble, so he just played way back and then Tyre's burned him by hitting a three right in his face at the top of the key, so like that didn't work. The Pacers even looked super prepared for the scram switches, and this is something I want to credit the Indiana

coaching staff, Rick Carlisle and his guys. We saw the Bucks do that with Dame quite a bit in the regular season, and so they clearly scouted it and they were ready for it. There was one where Dame scrammed out to the left corner to get Obi topping, but right as he was scramming, right as he was sprinting over there, Obi just cut back door through the lob

and he got a dunk. There's another one where he was sprinting like literally he was in the process of sprinting to go to Nie Smith in the right corner. The Pacers identified it immediately. Swing swing hit Nee Smith in the right corner. He knocked down a three. They were going at Dame just one on one. They realized that he can't get a great contest on pull up jump shots, so they were hitting pull up jump shots in his face. They just were prepared for every single

thing that the Bucks tried to do. Still did a lot of just just damage in transition in this game. Out of their one hundred and eight possessions, forty five of them were logged by Synergy as pushing the ball with pace, and on those possessions they logged in one twenty four offensive rating.

point two to two points per jump shot. In game two, they have just consistently burned the Bucks every single time they've made a mistake. And that was, honestly the larious part about the late game comeback. Right, So the Bucks actually cut this lead down to three, I believe late it was at least as two or three. I think they actually cut it to two. It was one fifteen to one to thirteen. A couple of things that were working offensive the same Giannis offensive rebound, put backs around

the basket. Bobby Portus hit a couple threes, Dame hit a big three at the top of the key. They hit some shots, but on the other end of the floor, pacers were still getting great looks and they just missed them. Like Tyres Halliburton got a wide open look in that stretch that he missed, Miles Turner got a wide open look in that stretch that he missed. Pascal Siakam got a wide open look in that stretch that he missed. They were just open looks that the pacers were missing.

And so what was funny is Dame hits the shot that cuts it to three, and then on the very next possession they leave Pascal Siakam wide open again and this time he makes it and effectively ends the game. Is a really weird kind of like double low man

look from Bobby Portis and Kyle Kuzma. Miles Turner was sitting around the right block and Kuzma went way inside of Miles Turner, and so Portis and Kuzma were both standing inside of Miles Turner while Siakam was outside of Miles Turner way out at the three point line, just to try to kind of set up the geometry for you guys, like, and it was as good a look

as the Pacers got all game. And so it's one of those things where like it felt more like a fake comeback there from the Bucks late because they were still conceding the same shots they had been conceded all game. They were just hitting on one end of the floor and the Pacers went cold for a little bit on the Bucks front. It's really hard to come up with real solutions. There isn't really a coverage they can run with Brook Lopez that that works. Like if you run

a drop coverage, that's suicide against Tyrese Haliburton. He's got all the mid range and floater shot making right if

you run a high drop coverage. Tyrese is arguably a top three or four pick and roll passer in the league, probably closer to two or three pick and roll passer in the league in terms of just making basic reads on where the low man is and where the screen defender is, and if you come up and put two on the ball with him, whether it's a high drop or a blitz or anything like that, he's going to pick you apart with the pass. Then if you switch. He's just way too slow footed to be able to

handle Haliburton in space. And the team doesn't really have a backside kind of like rotational fly around athleticism element to copy to compensate for the dribble drives that Lopez is going to give up, so they don't really have a coverage there that works. Portis and Kuzma aren't exactly defensive answers. Like I talked about it, the Pacers were

still getting open looks. I would probably still go with them and still switch like they have been, especially with as well as Bobby Portis has been shooting the ball Kyle Kuzma did. Finally, I felt bad for Kyle early in the game. He smoked two wide open layups. No,

I shouldn't say wide open laps are tough layups. He had a kind of like a step through layup against a small attacking mismatch, and then he had a pass from Giannis where he was right at the rim that he just smoked, and it looked like it was going to keep spiraling, but he just kept being aggressive and he did finally manage to bring some scoring pop to the table. I do like the idea of leaning into those two more and switching. Most of it is going to be about process from there. You have to run

good offense to avoid precarious transition situations. So like someone tell Kevin Porter Junior that he shouldn't even look at taking a shot unless there's like three seconds on the shot clock, or if it's like a wide open shot in the coverage, like it's a drop coverage and they stay with Giannis and you've got a layup, or they die on the screen and you've got like an all day a pull up three something like that. That's fine,

but there were way too many possessions. There was one where like Giannis was calling, like demanding the ball on the block and Kevin Porter Junior took a pull up three on the right wing, and the Pacers just ran out and got a bucket off of it. Like there's there's certain like offensive process stuff that you have to do in order to avoid those transition situations, and then just in general just setting up your floor spacing in a way that you still have guys that are back

and ready to contend with the pacers in transition. The Dame thing is interesting. I thought Dame was an absolute nightmare on defense tonight. He ended up providing what like fourteen points on thirteen shots if I remember correctly. I don't have the box score up, but he wasn't exactly a super efficient score. I get it, like you almost

feel like you have to play Dame. I don't know how you explain to Dame or to your fans the idea that like you're to like sit him or limit his minutes in a series like this, because if you lose and you have Dames just sitting on the bench, that's a really, really tough pill to swallow if you're a fan, right, But it's just tough because Dame is out of rhythm clearly, and he brings a lot of defensive issues and so honestly, it's just a gamble.

little bit more damage than good. And so it's just honestly a really, really tough position to be in if you're Milwaukee, And as you dig into it, it really just comes.

a lot of uncalled fouls. But it was one of those games where there was like at least a dozen fouls on like every possession, like everyone's just getting hacked all over the place. And I do think that favors Minnesota. But at the same time, like that is playoff basketball, and so at the end of the day, like that

is the challenge for the Lakers. And I mean, if you can somehow survive this series, even though Golden State in round two or Houston, like Houston I actually think presents similar problems to the Lakers that that Minnesota does. But if you get a Golden State, if you get an OKC in later rounds. Those teams don't have the sheer size that can cause problems for you. But Minnesota. Minnesota definitely is benefiting from the whistle.

fantasy land. But as you if you do any even just like a little bit of basic research on the Laker foul disparity thing, it's completely horseshit. It's just fantasy land from other fan base.

really good defense tonight. He had a huge sequence late in the game too, where he had i'll help side rotation at the rim and got a stop and then leaked out in transit the other way and got a.

you know, vandover like even less. So if you really dig into it, thirty minutes of the game, you have five shooters on the floor. So as a result of that, there's less help at the basket on some of these Luca drives compared to what you're seeing from the Lakers. And that's how it looks like Lucas getting there easier. But most of this is schematic, yeah for sure.

do a like a basic ratio type of calculation. So let's say the Lakers scored ninety four and in a typical regular season game, it's more like, you know, one fourteen to you know, uh to like one oh four or something like that. If you count, if you account for that, that increase in scoring volume. That night from Anthony Edwards isn't a twenty five point night, It's a thirty two point night at that night From Julius Randalls. Not a twenty seven point night, it's a thirty two

point night. Like I thought, Aunt and Julius were great tonight. The key there is Jaden McDaniels missed the threes that he took in game one, Mike Conley missed the threes, Nas Reed missed the threes like nikiel Like, they just didn't shoot as well. And credit to Lakers, like, I mean, what did I say after Game one? I said, if you're just sitting here cross from your fingers hoping the Wolves are gonna miss, it's not gonna happen. You have

to bring the requisite intensity to force misses. And it goes both ways, Like you want to know why Lebron's leaving jumpers short and Luca's leaving jumpers short and no one can make anything and both teams shot twenty twenty one percent from three. It's because the game is so damn physical that everyone's legs are fucking exhausted and no one has the power or the energy to knock down shots.

That's usually how it goes. It's just like there were a few more shots that went down for the Lakers tonight. It's literally the difference in the game but I actually thought Aunt and Julius both played really well tonight.

his fault. It's shot making, a lack of shot making, but combined with those more intense closed outs from the Lakers. But that's if the Timberwolves want to be at as close to optimal offensively as they as they can be. It's twenty five thirty points ran and five plus assists. It doesn't need to be nine every game, I don't think for them from their win the series, but it's got to be more than zero.

but yeah, like I I didn't think. I all, we're gonna do a film session tomorrow morning, and whoever it is that asked that question, if you come back tomorrow, I will make a pointed effort to dig into Minnesota's offense better and see if I can't find some more detailed answers for you about how to go from there.

Shout out to the chat for those arguing and debating on both sides, but just in general, your take on why some of these guys who feel like they can be contributors because of a specific skill they might have, but why are they not getting more playing time or any playing time you know in Connects case?

it one point. And then Jackson Hayes blocking a shot that literally would have been a miss that would have led to another transition possession going the other way, Like that was a huge swing there, and a four point swing or whatever in a game that finished ninety four to eighty five. The field literally it's like a touchdown.

It's like when you watch it's like when you were watching that Houston Golden State game, Like every step three feels like a shotgun blast to the chest because the score is so low that, like relative to what we look at as regular season scoring, those are massive shots in the game, Like Fred van Vliet finally hits a three at the end of the game, and all of a sudden, it's close because there's no real margin, there's no real separation because of how physical and how intense

these games are. But yeah, like I like, do I think that Dalton Connect is gonna suddenly step into this obscenely physical series and just suddenly bring a bunch of pop. No, like, you bring him out the same way you would, like

we talked about with Jonathan Kminga for Golden State. If it's Game three and it's mid third quarter and you're down seventeen, and there's a clear guy who's really struggling, like let's say Dorian Finney Smith is just straight up not having a good night on either end of the floor, then yeah, by all means, throw Dalton out there, you know what I mean. But like, I don't think Jackson Hayes is the answer. I don't think Dalton Connect is

the answer this. This feels very much like a six and a half man rotation that the Lakers actually trust, and it's basically the core five with Dorian Finney Smith gave Vincent a little bit of like Jordan Goodwin, Jared Vanderbilt, whatever you want to call that extra guy.

Look at the minutes Ruy thirty four minutes with a with a facial injury that took him out for his normal early second quarter shift, Lebron forty, Luca forty two, Austin forty three, Dorian Finny Smith thirty nine. Like you're going down with those guys. Those are the guys you got to look for.

worst player on the floor. And it's why Jordan Goodwin is getting minutes, not that he's getting a lot, but he's getting some minutes over a guy like Dalton connect He's not obviously the offensive player that Dalton Connect is, but you're not picking on him in a way that you would, you know, someone like that, someone Connect.

annihilated Andrew Wiggins. Like, that's what you gotta hope for, is that Lebron's just saving that for a late series punch, and the advantage there would be if you if Lebron breaks that out and breaks it out effectively in like a pivotal Game five or something like that. It could literally be something that happens late enough in the series that the Wolves don't have enough time to really game plan or adjust to it. But I tend to think

more urgently. I tend to think, like, let them figure out how to adjust to it, but let's throw our best punch early. That's more my philosophy. But who knows, it could literally be the growing Like we don't know what's going on with Lebron mentally and what he trust him, what he doesn't.

Like there's some obvious signs for concern. But the more I thought about it, Uh, it could almost be a blessing in disguise if it gets Tatum to take less jump shots, you know what I mean, Like, like if it if it turns into a thing where Tatum goes like man like I don't really trust my jumper or further away from the basket because of this wrist issue, and he just becomes a physical bullyball playmaker, it could still manifest Well.

Tatum's games. Like, so the reality is is like Tatum doesn't necessarily need his jump shot to be great, and so I'm less concerned about him in his wrist, if that makes sense.

It's hard, it's tough. I hope it's not. It doesn't become this this cloud over the postseason run, Like, well, if only Tatum's risk was healthy, you know what I mean, Like, I it's tough if they if they are able to get a sweep here without him and he gets some time off hopefully, I'm hoping it just is not a non issue.

worse now than it ever has. It lingers, and it it's like, thankfully it's my non shooting hands, so it hasn't had that big of an impact, but like there are so many different little things that I'll try to do and it hurts, and I'm like, fuck, this sucks, Like it's just such a pain in the ass, Like wrist injuries. They just linger and they linger and they linger. Like it's very possible that he's dealing with this for the rest of the playoff run. It's at least worth considering.

I'm just if there was a star in this league that could withstand something like that, it'd be Tatum because of his versatility.

without Yannis. The I don't think the answer is like, like people focus on this like coming off the bench like were to me, like doing that with Dame doesn't solve the problem. You can stagger to deal with that. So like for instance, you could have Dame come out at like the seven minute mark of the first quarter, bringing Kevin Porter Junior, then bring Dame back in to start the second quarter when Giannis comes out, or something

along those lines. There are ways to work around it so that you can still keep Dame with bench units without necessarily having to bring him off the bench.

good this Minnesota and LA these two teams are. If you told me right now, like OKAC or the field in the West, it's pretty much a coin flip to me. So, like, I still think there's a pretty solid chance that we don't see Okace in the finals.

would I think okay See would handle Cleveland. I think they'd deal with him in you know, five or six games.

both are are substantially below. It's just it's more just all of them, like Minnesota, La, Golden State, Denver Clippers. One of those five is going to survive this mess and end up in a knockdown, drag out fight with OKC that could go either way, is the point, and that that's where I see it, as like the field has an advantage there. I shouldn't even say advantage, I mean coin flip, but you get the point.

see if I can find some missed opportunities there. We'll get a film session in and then we'll be back tomorrow night. For Golden State Houston Game two. As always, I appreciate you guys for supporting us and for supporting the show.