Hoops Tonight - Luka, Kyrie & Mavs down 76ers, how Warriors are winning, what's wrong with Clippers?

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the volume. Happy Friday, everybody. We are live on AMP. Don't forget if you're watching this on YouTube or on one of our podcast feeds, that AMP is the very first place that you guys can get these shows. We have a jam Pack show today. We're bringing my guy Carson on and we're gonna hit five big questions around the league, just like we did last week. You guys seem to like that, obviously. I always love talking basketball with Carson. We're gonna be hitting on a ton of teams.

That incredible offensive explosion between the Dallas Mavericks and the Philadelphia seventy six ers. We're gonna talk a little bit about what's wrong with the Los Angeles Clippers, and then we're gonna hit some Eastern Conference teams, a lot of Celtics a lot of bucks of the New York Nicks on a seven game winning streak with some impressive wins, and we're talking a little bit of the Warriors as well.

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my guy Carson on. Carson, what's up man? I'm excited to talk some basketball with you man, as am. I grate to be back on as always, And as you said, we're gonna start by talking about a really exciting game that we saw last night between the Sixers and the MAVs. Dallas ended up winning one thirty three one twenty six. We saw forty plus from both Luca and Kyrie. Who do you think that game said? More about Jason Philly or Dallas, So I'm probably gonna go a direction that

you guys won't expect. I feel like that game was the perfect encapsulation of what this season would look like for the Dallas Mavericks. I've said a lot over the course of their struggles here since Kyrie and Luca have been playing together that I think that their limitations in front court size and personnel, just defensive personnel, dirty work personnel in general, are going to make it so that Luca and Kyrie have to be out of their minds offensively to give them any chance to beat good teams.

And make no mistake, it was an impressive win yesterday, but that was the high end of the shot variants equation there. They shot fifty two percent from three fifty five percent from the field. Luca and Kyrie seemingly made every single one of their difficult pull up jump shots there was. There was just an element of shot result there that I don't think you can dependably count on.

And I want to be clear, I'm not trying to shape this entire Kyrie trade around this topic, because that particular move was made in a way that made it extremely difficult for them to contend within this season because of the way it depleted them. I'll give you an example. When the Lakers made the trade for Anthony Davis, they gave up everything, like literally everything. Every good basketball player on the team that was not named Lebron James went

out the door. But they had a full off season to target players that would compliment them and to fill the specific holes they would need with that particular pairing. And again, it's gonna be a little tougher for Dallas because they're gonna have to work more on the margins in terms of like the mid level exception and maybe a trade here there. They've got a few draft picks they can use, but this summer they'll be able to go into it with, Hey, this is our core. We've

got Kyrie and Luca. Let's put you know, this specific type of personnel. You know, I think they can forego some offensive skill set with the role players and prioritize defense just because of the level of offensive skill that

Luca and Kyrie have. But last night it would concern me because they could not have possibly played better offensively and Philly was still hanging tough, like even when they threw that punch to start the third quarter, right there at the end of the third early fourth, they got cold for a little bit and Philly was back into it like that. So I do think that that was a little bit concerning. I don't know that they'll be able to shoot that well to beat any good team

four times out of seven. What do you think. I really like the angle that you've taken here. I mean, this is, in a lot of ways an encapsulation of

the Dallas Mavericks experience this year. It was one of the best collective backcourt performances I can remember in my life, and through three quarters it was like the MAVs were effectively playing perfect offensive basketball just because of unbelievable pull up jump shooting from Luca and Kyrie, who were a combined I think thirteen of twenty in this game or something like that's absurd from beyond the arc, and then their ability to get the defense in rotation and to

find shooters who were unbelievable. I mean, they were twenty five or forty eight from deep in this game. We know that's what they're capable of. At the same time, there's a reason that they're four and five since Kyrie's debut, and that reason is that they're twenty fifth and defensive rating and they have maxie Klibaback, now, which is nice. He does. I mean, he is their best defensive option

in multiple situations. He's the best guy for them to go small ball five, certainly against a lot of big wings. He's their best option. But as you said, he's not enough to correct just a glaring deficiency in terms of front court in overall defensive talents. So this is why I don't view them as a legitimate contender this year. It's as you said, they have to be perfect offensively to beat good teams, and I just don't think it's sustainable.

Luca and Kyrie may be the most talented scoring back or we've ever seen, but bottom line, they can't score forty plus every night, and you can't trust Reggie Bullock in the supporting cast to shoot as well as they did. What I will say on the Philly front is I don't think there's as much to take away. This isn't as much of like a quintessential wow, look at the highs and the lows as it is for the MAVs.

This was, though, I thought, a good point for the argument that you have made many times about the value of bigs being diminished in today's NBA because of their exploitability defensively, and I thought that's why the MAVs had such a great offensive game. Of course, shop making, right, you have to make twenty five or forty eight threes, but man, a lot of those forty eight threes were wide open because of their repeated exploitation of Joel Embiid

in space. Whether it's not a pick and roll him dropping them shooting right over that, or if it's just his inability to recovering contest shooters at all. I mean, and Beid got embarrassed in this game, and that's why. Obviously he's a great rim protector, but he is in a lot of ways exploitable defensively, like a well, I'm not gonna bring up yok, but you know right, he's not the kind of complete, great defensive big man that

like a Jaren Jackson junior is. So I don't think it's any coincidence that the six or seventeen old run they got them right back into this game was them going smaller and beat on the bench Paul read out there because they could finally actually guard a five out offense.

So I don't think that Dallas is gonna face enough teams that have that sort of exploitable center, and who are I mean, really, it's Yoki's right who they could go out in a playoff series, but I think Yoki just too complete offensively and the Nuggets are too good offensively and better defensively than the MAVs. So I don't think that that matchup exploitation is enough for them to like make it through. But it does show you that, man, if you're gonna play a traditional big out there, the

MAVs can absolutely kill you. And it also says I think the Sixers are lucky that there isn't really that kind of insane pull up jump shooting team out east. In that same way, because the mav scored thirty two points in the paint and they scored one hundred and thirty three points, it doesn't matter that Joel Embiid is a force in there. They're not even going in there. They're just shooting right over and they're going around him

over and over again. So that would probably my big takeaway, on top of what you already touched on, that's a super interesting element that I haven't really even thought about. And I'm really glad you brought that up, Like matchups are everything in the NBA playoffs, and you're right, like Boston is not a good pull up jump shooting team, Miami's not a good pull up jump shooting team. The

Waukee's not a good pull up jump shooting team. They're like, really, the only team that would be capable of consistently get causing Philly problems in that type of situation is Cleveland, and I don't think they'll face them. I think I think it's an extremely low percentage chance that they'll end up in that type of matchup. Now that that could be a problem when they get out of the Eastern Conference for sure, but it is super interesting how that

matchup element has to be factored in. I want to give Embiat some credit, like some of it was shot making, Like I mean, Luca hit a couple of step back thories on Joel that he contested really well, it's not so much even to me. It was the drop coverage in rotation, drawing that second defender and then easily getting wide open shots on the back line. That is a consistent problem we see with drop coverage bigs, with their inability to be impactful in pick and roll defensively when

they have to really come out from the rim. And again, that's just been one of my fundamental basketball ideologies forever. It's why I've always had Embeat and Yokich kind of further behind the perimeter guys that we have around the league. It's not that I don't see their value. I think it's more just a product of the way the game of basketball has changed, and just the sheer amount of footspeed and offensive skill on the floor and the way

those things can be exploited really quickly. Before we move on on the Dallas front, you know this idea, you know, I've always said pull up because we're gonna We're gonna have a very similar conversation here in a minute about the Clippers. Pull Up shooting is monumentally important as a playoff skill, as like a ceiling raiser, But in my opinion, it cannot be your foundational ability as a basketball team.

You have to have an identity that extends into the physicality areas of the game, whether that's you're an excellent defensive team or you're a team on offense that can relentlessly punish the rim. Because those things can be depended on on a night in, night out basis in the postseason in a way that pull up jump shooting cannot. I mean, last year the Brooklyn Nets are the perfect example. They were by far the best pull up jump shooting

team in the league. Kyra Irving and Kevin Durant, We're damn near fifty percent on pull up jump shots through that entire regular season. And then they got into Boston and suddenly their pull up jump shooting dropped into the mid thirties and that was their only identity. Suddenly they

got swept. And so I think that's just something that we can learn from these teams, is that, like we have to look at that high level skill as a ceiling raiser and it cannot be a foundational skill, which we'll get into a little bit more here With the Clippers, I agree with that point completely, and I think it's something that we've seen bite the Clippers in meaningful situations the couple times that we have seen them in the playoffs, and now they've got bigger problems than just pull up

jump shooting there oh and four with Russell Westbrook, they continue to slide in that fight for the five six seven spot that they're in with Golden State in Dallas. So, Jason, what's wrong with the Clippers and how concerned are you? So there's several problems in my opinion, I used to say this a lot about the Lakers, but when you're underachieving to this extent, when you have that kind of talent on the roster, it's usually a bunch of different things.

I want to be clear here upfront too, because we're not going to talk a lot about Russ today. I don't think Russ is the problem with this recent losing streak. I think he's played fine. I think his good has outweighed his bad at least to some extent. He had a rough second half last night, and he wasn't too great in the second half against Denver. But for the most part in his shifts, he's been I think a

positive impact player, and he's been a decent fit. I think there's a I think there's a couple of key problems, and the one I want to focus on here to start is that exact same thing we were just talking about with the Dallas Mavericks. Did you know that the Los Angeles Clippers are twenty ninth in points in the

paint scored. So like, I think this is a basketball concept that we lose sight of all the time, where it's like we'll see Marcus Morris as like the seventh best player on the Clippers or whatever, hit like a really nifty pull up jump shot in the middle of the lane, and then you'll see Norman Powell like like come off of a dribble handoff and rise up and knockdown at three, and then obviously everything that Paul George and Kawhi Leonard can do off the dribble, and you

go like, man, this team just has an insane amount of offensive skill. And they do, but once again, the vast majority of that offensive skill is predicated on perimeter ball handling and perimeter shooting. They do not have a downhill presence. They well, they do with Russ Now, but they haven't been able to weaponize that yet. They do

not have a consistent paint presence. And that to me goes back to our conversation from the beginning, if you're not otherworldly defensively, which we Strangely enough, the Clippers have not been very good defensively as of late after they were great to start the season. I think there's another conversation to have about being too wing heavy, because as much as wings can help in a bunch of versatility

type situations, they are not great at the point of attack. Typically, like there is a making no mistake, there's still a place for guards in the NBA. Guards are very quick, they have low centers of gravity, they can slide their feet, and they can contain ball handlers. There's a point where you have too many guards on the floor and suddenly you're you start to lose other areas of the game. But you do need to have the ability to contain

ball handlers on the perimeter. There are a lot of guys in the Clippers rotation that are are lengthy and tall and skilled and can shoot, but do not have quick feet, and that causes them problems getting caught in rotation on the defensive end of the floor. So they do not have that high end defensive ceiling we're hoping for, and offensively, they don't have an identity that lives in

the paint that they can rely on. So really with the Clippers, it's like, are they hitting their perimeter shots and they haven't been as of late, and you've seen them losing as a result. And the last thing I want to say is just Paul George in his last nineteen games, twenty one points per game, forty six percent from the field, thirty six percent from three, not a minute's restriction thing. He's playing thirty four minutes a night.

He's not getting to the ram. Norman Powell is averaging more restricted area makes than Paul George over that span. His shot selection in general has been really just shitty. In my opinion, He's just taken a lot of really difficult off the dribble jump shots is just a part

of his normal shot diet. The way I look at it, he had that interview with JJ Reddick and he's like, oh, yeah, you know, I'm comfortable sliding into the second role, and like I admire the psychology of that, like the selflessness and all that and the willingness to buy in. But the reality is is that's not how basketball works anymore.

Like you can have two sometimes even three as long as their complimentary skill sets go to guys, like there's no reason for you to have to withhold things offensively. And Paul George is not being the aggressive, assertive superstar that he's capable of being, and it's actually hurting the

team right now. And in the twenty twenty one playoffs when he took them to the ceiling that he did nearly making the finals without Kawhi Leonard, he was a relentless rim attacker that used his pull up jump shooting as a counter to that, and that has completely flipped on its head, and I think has led to a lot of his recent struggles. So they've got a lot of things wrong with him, But I think in large part it starts right now with offensive approach being perimeter

first as opposed to paint first. I think that's a great point that you make about PG and that has that many times been like the determining factor in what Paul George are gonna get. Are we gonna get Paul George, who sure is a great pull up jump shooter but is settling consistently, or are we gonna get eight free throws a game downhill force, therefore enhancing his playmaking impact. Two. That's the best Paul George when he blends those two, And I agree he hasn't done that well enough recently.

But yeah, I think there's a lot of concerns with this team, and I agree completely with your reliance on pull up jump shooting and overall jumpshooting. Point, we have seen to a t the Clippers manufacturer at least the first couple of years of the KAUAIPG pairing all time regular season offenses, all time shooting teams, and then in the three playoffs series they've won, they've shot about forty

percent from deep. In the two playoff series they've lost, they were under thirty four percent from deep in both. It's like there isn't a counter, there isn't an alternative, There isn't a Hey, we can have a Lebron just impose as well in the game and get downhill over and over again, eat up sixteen free throws right create shots for others by being in the pain, attacking the paint they don't have. So I agree that is a

big problem that this team is facing. I will say, though, I'm very concerned about the defensive regression that we've seen from them since January first. They're twenty third in defensive rating, and I do not think these small ball lineups that they're trotting out are tenable in playoff situations. I think, as you said, they've lost something at the point of attack. Like I think even Pat bev Right was an upgrade compared to anything that they have on this roster in

terms of guarding, like dynamic guards. And so if you're putting Russ out there, who is not a good defender, and now with Russ out there as well, I will say I do think that he hurts this team. Like, yes, he has played well in a vacuum. When he has the ball in his hands, he's been good, I'll say, because he has so much space to work with here, he's attacking open paints, he is shooting all around him. Yeah,

there's been some turnovers. Yeah, he's been baited into some mid range pull ups that aren't great, But overall he's been productive there. The problem is when you look at down the stretch in that King's game, or when you look at late in this Warriors game and teams literally are not guarding him because he shoots thirty point seven percent on wide open threes. Now you have a guy

who's completely ineffective away from the ball. His athleticism is playmaking doesn't matter because he doesn't even have the opportunity to get downhill because nobody's guarding him. Like that, to me, is just really problematic when you also don't have good enough defensive personnel. Overall that Yokis matchup, they were fronting him the entire game, and he gave him a forty point triple double. Like I just think there's too many

flaws here to consider them a legitimate contender. What we've talked about offensively, I do think the rust fit bottom line, in crunch time minutes, you don't want a decision making liability. You don't want him taking the ball out of the hands of Peg and Kauai, and he's a liability away from the ball, and yet we've still seen Tyler play him in crunchtime minutes in three of these four games. So I think there's a lot to be concerned about with LA and I do not see them as a

top like contender. I think they get out physical in a lot of matchups. I think their pull up shooting reliance hurts them, and I don't think their defense is good enough. We've just seen a lot of regression there. So you had some Warriors points you wanted to hit on from this game. They're now better than five hundred without Steph this year and have had a couple of incredible third quarters just this week, So what's your take

on them? So really quickly, I just want to say, I do agree with what you're saying about Russ, But to me, that's the late game situation, which is what I've been saying this whole time. Don't play him in those specific situations, and then you can benefit from the positives without as many of the negatives. I will say, though, their offense has struggled just as much when he's been

off the floor. So that's particularly why I've been defensive of him in this particular situation, is like he has been brought in to assist in specific areas and they're struggling everywhere else, and so he's becoming like the easy narrative target in this particular situation. So I you know, and as far as the Clippers as a threat, I

one hundred percent agree. They cannot beat Denver, which means they need an extremely fortunate path to get out of the conference, which would would then in turn expect them to beat all of those particular teams, which I don't necessarily think they would. So I view them like in that tier with like Memphis and Cleveland and teams that are like interesting and talented, but don't really have that

much of a significant chance to win the title. So I just wanted to really quick shout out Steve Kerr because you know, he went jankie last night with Draymond Green just completely blatantly ignoring Russell Westbrook sitting down in the paint. And then a couple nights ago against Portland, and I actually misinterpreted this in my first rewatch. I was watching and I was so hyper focused on Kavan Looney and Draymond Green operating on the back end that

I thought it was a three two zone. It actually was a box in one. Shout out to some of the people in the comments on our video that corrected me on that the boxing one is a super janky thing that you might not be able to get away with seven times in a series, but it helps you win that one game in a must win situation with Steph Curry out Andrew Wiggins out a that is a regular season just outwitting your opponent and finding a way to get a win when you're down twenty something against

the decent talented team in Portland. And then last night, same thing. Like I thought before that game that the Warriors had little to no chance of winning because of how much talent the Clippers do have and how desperate the Clippers were for a win, and then their perimeter size advantages that they have over the Warriors, and I was I was flat out wrong and incredibly impressed with the way the Warriors grind it out a just literally

a chess match type of win. And what I appreciated so often during the regular season, you'll see coaches just stick with their base scheme because they almost look at each game as effectively a practice and they're trying to build like habits and tendencies for the postseason. And what I appreciate about what Steve Kerr has done is he's like, nah, screw that we have ground to make up in the standings. This is playoff basketball from out till the end of

the season. We are coaching every single game as if it is a must win situation. Now, Steph Curry's coming back on Sunday against the Lakers, so they can probably slide back into a more traditional model from there. But I just to me, that is that level of like absolute commitments to making the stretch run that you like to see, and it's making me want to put the Warriors up on that top tier of contenders, which we'll talk about here in this next question. I agree completely.

There's been urgency, it's been really fun to watch, and the battle for seating for them does matter. It could be the difference between playing the Kings in the first round and the Nuggets if you fall into that play and you know, you lose your first playing game, or of course you can miss the playoffs entirely. I don't think that'd be likely, but it's possible. So it's been very fun and the Dubs are looking better for sure.

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get ready because fanduels come in soon. Make sure you check out FanDuel dot com slash mass and take advantage of their great prelive offers make every moment more With FanDuel an official sports betting partner of the NBA, nobody looking better right now than the Milwaukee Bucks Jason who have won fifteen straight games. Given that, should they be the title favorites, I think so, I think again, Like I had them as my second favorite coming into the season.

We'll talk a little bit more about Golden Stay here in the second My main skepticism there is just their playoff path and just how difficult the next few months are going to be in just what that means for an old veteran team that has some guys that have been in and out of the lineup this year. But in terms of every team, when you factor in their current predicament in the standings and what they look like as a basketball team, the Bucks check the most boxes.

They are the number one defense in the league. They have the best player in the league in my opinion, and Janis. They have championship pedigree, so they know what it takes at every single level. They've experienced the pain of loss and the joy of the final goal. They understand that up and down nature of the NBA playoffs.

Their half court offense has actually been pretty good. That's been one of the big knocks on the Bucks throughout the regular season, but this season, when Chris Middleton, Drew Holiday, and Janis are on the floor together, they have one hundred and one offensive rating in the half court, which is fine. It's perfectly fine. It's not Denver with Yokitchen, Murray and Porter, but it's a good half court offense, good enough. They're spot up shooting and spot up a

close out attacking has improved. They're all the way up to twelfth in the league for the whole season now, which was one of their biggest weaknesses early on. Shout out to Joe Engles, Shout out to Chris Middleton coming back and helping in that specific department. And I think out of all of the teams that we consider top tier contenders or really anybody that we consider to be a potential contender, I think they're the best equipped team

in the league to win rock fights. And way too often we see these games a Denni grate down into rock fights when everyone My favorite example of this was the other night when Philly was playing Miami, where like even the skill players on the floor completely lose their jump shot just because the game is so physical and everyone's at a rhythm and it's just super disjointed, and it's like, hey, do you have a guy that can just barrel into four people and make a layup? Oh? Heait?

Jimmy Butler did, and Philly didn't, and so they ended up losing, right Like, I think Milwaukee's uniquely equipped for those specific types of battles. So I think that that inherently puts them as my championship favorite right now. I do only have Boston as the other top team in that tier, but I am extremely tempted to put Golden State back in that tier. They beat another good team

last night without their two best players. They're in kind of in a sneaky good position in the standings with an outside chance of getting especially if they can kind of time things out to get the sixth seed to catch Sacramento in the first round. I really like how that would line up for them going Sacramento, Memphis, Denver, or whoever is in the one seed through the rest of the conference. They also check I think as we're going down boxes, I think they check the most boxes

out of the Western Conference teams. Like I do think Steph is a better playoff player than Nickel Yokich. I think they're a better defensive team when they're completely healthy and put together. With Andrew Wiggins healthy and playing like the top tier perimeter defender that he is, I think they're better defensively. I think they've got more experience. I'm just extremely tempted to put them back in that tier. And Denver is starting to fall back off on the

defensive end. They have started to let go the rope. They're just a little bit. They've slipped down to fourteenth in the league after getting up very close to getting into that top ten. But I will say this, if Golden State keeps winning at the way they're right they're winning, they could end up falling into a Phoenix matchup in

the first round, and that could be extreme. Well, first of all, extremely interesting for us because can you imagine Kevin Durant with his newest super team versus the Golden State Warriors in a seven game series in the first round. It just be incredible for us. So I wouldn't be surprised if they try to kind of meander their way down to the sixth seed, just because that's a much easier playoff path. But again, when I'm comparing that to the Bucks, it's just so much more has to go

right for Golden State. And then with Boston, I still have some concerns about their execution on the playoff stage. So I think Milwaukee's the safest bed. I agree, and this is the side that I've been on. I also agree that it is still a top tier of Boston and Milwaukee. I think they're honestly two of the most talented teams of this century. I do like Golden State a lot, and the depth has also come along with them, right, I mean, Devincenzo for twenty plus games has been great.

Kamingo's looked his best, you know, He's not necessarily battle tests that are polished for that stage, but improving. So I still think though it comes down to me basically to a faith in Yannis versus Tatum in a lot of ways, I think both of these rosters are absolutely loaded, having incredibly high two way ceilings. But I think you put it well, the rock fight environment, the hey, I will get mine no matter what right you can build,

the wall, you can double me relentlessly. I might not even have, as we saw last year, my best perimeter shotmaker on the floor. I'll get my thirty four and seven with solid efficiency and dominate the game. On the other end of the floor, that's Yannis. And when both these teams have great supporting casts, I have to favor that over sometimes decision making, liability, sometimes over really relying on the jump shot, the difficult shot making that may

not go his way. With Tatum, I do think that that does matter when again, both these teams are so strong top to bottom, and I think the ingles and the crowder editions on the wings are hugely important. I think this Bucks team is better than the team that won the title, and they're gonna have a tougher path. I think Boston's better than anybody who they played in that run, and they might have to face Philly two right before they even get out of the East. Like,

that's a really, really tough path. This is the best top three out East of this century too, I would confidently say. But I do believe that they're cut out for it. They have an elite shooting ceiling. They are going to be elite defensively. They have a three headed monster at the top with the best player alive, and they have great depth on the wings that can be physical. They're big, they have dynamic shot making. I think that they have it all and Boston has a lot of

it too. But yeah, that Yannis, that physicality factor does mane lean Milwaukee. Okay, let's talk about another team out East. It has been really the second hottest in the league as of late, and that is the New York Knicks, who will continue to climb in those standings up to the five seed now and creating separation with the rest of that field. Out East. What's their ceiling? Jason, how

seriously should we take them? You know, everything comes down to Julius Randall and Jalen Brunson, as I've been saying all season, and you know, during this seven game winning streak, it really is this simple. They're doing all the same things they've done all season, but Julius Randall and Jalen Brunson have produced like superstars on the offensive end of the floor during this stretch. All year long, They've been

a pretty good defense, not a great defense. I kind of look at them like the Memphis of the Eastern Conference from the standpoint of like their physical profile, like they are going to kill you on the rebound, on the glass, on both ends of the floor, They're going to be a good defensive team. They don't have that same defensive ceiling as Memphis. But honestly, Mitchell Robinson starting to flash some of that high level shot blocking and rim protection that you get from a Jaren Jackson. So

you're starting to see a little bit of that. But they've always struggled when the game slows down. They haven't been a great half court team on either end of the floor. They've got too many entry points on offense, and when they're on offense, their stars are somewhat limited, right, but during this specific stretch, those stars have been incredible. During the seven game winning streak, they're seventh in defense. What you would expect, best rebounding percentage in the league

by mile, over fifty five percent of available rebounds. But both Jalen Brunson and Julius Randall Brunson twenty eight points per game on fifty three percent from the field forty three percent from three, Julius Randall twenty seven seven and four on forty nine percent from the field thirty nine percent from three. And suddenly they're super tough to beat. And then they've been just racking up the wins, back to back road wins in Atlanta and Washington, which are

not easy. I mean that they're not great teams, but they're not easy wins to get. Then they come home, they eat the shit out of the Pelicans, and then they got the signature win against Boston, which I watched yesterday, albeit without Jaylen Brown. But Julius Rando just came right out the gates and was gunning over the top with pull up shooting from three and was knocking shots down. Mitchell Robinson was locking down the paint and now Boston was missing a lot of their open threes in that

particular game. But I always, I always want to give some of the credit for that sort of shot result to physical teams, because lyft is a huge part of jump shot result, And when you're battling the best rebounding team in the league and they're you know, beating up and playing physical on the defensive end of the floor, I do believe that sort of thing directly leads to shot result in some cases. But that's not to say, like, obviously I'd picked Boston over New York in a series.

But the point is is like when they defend that way and they rebound that way and they get superstar level production out of their stars, they suddenly become very good. Now the question what is their ceiling. It's entirely up to those two guys. If they are efficient twenty seven point per game scorers in the playoffs, they can beat anyone, end of story. But the reality is is, you know, the NBA playoffs notoriously exposed basketball players for who they

really are. And my guests as to what will happen is that when they get into the postseason and the physicality ratchets up and the defense is ratchet up another level, that they'll come back down to their realistic level, which is low twenty point per game scoring on moderate efficiency, and I think from there they'll have some issues. But last thing I'll say, I you know, it's kind of shaping up with the way the standings are coming along, that they might end up facing the Calves in that

first round series. I give the Knicks a real chance to win that series. I think the Calves are an extremely flawed team on their own, and I think specifically their flaws play into New York strengths, especially with the Tom Tivotau and his ability to ignore shooting to help around the paint, and the way that's going to make things difficult with Cleveland in their lack of front court offensive skill. So I give them a puncher's chance, a real chance that I'd say, I'd have to think about it.

I might even pick the Knicks to win that series, but I would give them no chance to beat Boston. I mean, as we're discussing, as we're discussing their ceiling, I agree with you. I think that that is shaping up to be a really interesting looking series, because I do think that there are clear advantages that the Knicks have right significantly better depth, better wings, and as you said, when they have that dynamic star tandem, then they can

easily go toe to toe with Cleveland. I mean, they may not have the defensive ceiling, but they have other things that can compensate for that. Outside of that, though, yeah, I really don't think just because of how good the top of the East is, there's any world in which I can see the Knicks making like a conference finals run. They are so much better than the team two years ago that everybody, I think really overhyped, like that was

a bad offensive team. We knew that all year. People just decided to ignore it because it was exciting, and it was like, yeah, they're overlying on Randall. They can load up on him and if his jump shot isn't consistently falling, they'll get dismantled by the Atlanta Hawks. And you know, this team is in an entirely different stratosphere right now because of Jalen Bronson, and also, I mean the role guys are improved like quickly. Josh Hart, those

guys are first Team All Role Player right now. They are doing their jobs exceptionally well. This bench is really good, but it's Brunson man. Like you said, I mean, he's been one of the best guards in the league in this calendar year. He's been unbelievable. And he's an incredibly skilled, versatile pick and roll score, high level shotmaker on all three levels, good playmaker, good leader, competitor. He's the difference maker.

He's the reason that this is now a team do you look at and say, yeah, they're a legit playoff caliber team. And Randall has been much better after another slow start of this year, and his jump shots actually come back to some extent, like not quite at two years ago level, but also better than last year where it was like, oh my god, is this guy literally just exactly the same jump shooter he was before and

there were no fans in the stands. He's at a happy medium where he's like thirty five percent from deep, forty two percent from mid range, and when he's at his best, when he's physical, when he's making good decisions with the ball, when his jump shots falling, Yeah, he

can be a really impactful top two guy offensively. So I think we view this team very Similarly, I just don't think when you're comparing them to the top three, right, those teams have more star power, they have really strong depth, They are more gifted on both ends of the floor. Right. It's just there's a different level that I don't think the Knicks can get to in a seven game series.

But they've been really fun. They've overachieved my expectations, and that Brunson deal, which I wasn't sure about, is clearly a massive difference maker, and you know, gets them one step closer to where they would like to end up. He's done the work. I mean, he's flat out done the work, So shout out to him. But I mean it's really the simple Take the top two guys out

of every one of these teams. Take you know, Randall and Brunson out, Take the Jay's out for Boston, Take Drew Holiday and Janis out, and who has the better roster. It's Boston and Milwaukee by a mile. So you're asking is for Jalen and Julius to dramatically outplay Jannis and True Holiday or the two js, which is just too much to ask. So it's just it's just the reality

of their predicament. Those two guys. Are you know Brunson's better off is probably the second or third best player on the team, And same thing with Julius Randall if you're looking to win a championship. Yeah, And I still have current concerns about Randall's offensive consistency and efficiency. And RJ you know, is a beast of his own. He doesn't have that sort of expectation, but he does get a significant volume in this offense, and that can be

pretty ugly at times. Yeah. Absolutely, the most. He is the most predictable offensive player I've ever watched in terms of driving, direction and shot selection, Like you, I feel like watching the TV. I know what he's going to do next every single time. Yeah, and a lack of skilled shot making like the intermediate game is, it's not there. Let's talk about one more Eastern Conference team who we

have touched on here within these conversations. The Celtics have been quite CONSI instantly right at the top of the league this year. I mean literally from the jump last year obviously made the finals, slow start, incredible, finished the regular season. Jason, Is this Boston team better than last year's I think, I think I think they're much better. Yeah, their defense isn't quite as sharp as it was last year. They're giving up about five points more per one hundred possessions.

I do think a big part of that is them kind of buying into the long view of the NBA regular season, like Man Boston Boston night in and night out.

Their effort during the springtime last year and the regular season was off the charts, and I don't think it's realistic to expect them to do that again, especially when you understand, like once you've you've seen this with all the veteran teams around the league, once you like thoroughly embrace and understand that from mid April to mid June, you're going to be going through this incredible physical grind, like you do, bank some energy there. So I don't

really hold them over the accountable to that. I do think that they'll be able to reach the same defensive ceiling when they get to the season. But they are a much better offensive team than last year. Malcolm Brogden has been a home run trade to bolster their decision making and ball handling. To me, in general, their guard corps I think is sneaky, one of the best guard corps in the league. And it goes completely under the

radar because of the focus on the two Jays. But they're a much much better clutch team and execution team than they were last year. So this is crazy. Check this out. Last year, the Celtics were the second worst win percentage in the entire league in clutch games. They were thirteen and twenty two in the postseason. We saw

that specific problem rise up time and time again. They lost five clutch games in last year's postseason, which was more than everybody else, albeit they've played longer, but even above and beyond that, we just know from watching the games that last year they struggled with execution in ball handling, but in this particular season, they've completely flipped the script. They've been the second best clutch team in the league.

They are twenty one and eight in games that have been within five points with less than five minutes left. They have almost a two to one assist a turnover ratio and clutch situations this year. So that speaks to them just taking better care of the ball. They've just been sharper in those areas. But the problem is, and you talked about this a little bit when we were talking about contenders, but the league around them has gotten a lot better. Milwaukee I think is not only much

better than last year, but I agree with you. I think they're a much better version of the championship team that won a few years back. Albeit that team was very much a war of attrition, last man standing type of team, which is a credit to you. They're a deserving champion, but their path through the playoffs was bizarre to say the least. Right, But like Milwaukee's much better, Philly I think is much much better than they were

last year. And then the Western Conference, you're either going to get a Golden State team that is the defending champion that somehow gets right in time and peaks and gets out of the Western Conference, a Denver Nuggets team that is a matchup nightmare. When we were talking about half court offense earlier, did you know that Michael Porter, junior Jamal Ali and Nicola Yokich have an offensive rating in the half court of one eleven this year, which

is just unbelievable. That's like ridiculous, like static set defense environment scoring one hundred and eleven points per one hundred possession, So that presents a whole other monster. It's like or maybe you'll get lucky and it'll just be Lebron James and Anthony Davis and Los Angeles Lakers, you know, or Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. It could be or Kevin Freakin, Durant,

Devin Booker, Chris Paul and DeAndre Ayton. Right, So, like it's just the Western Conference is going to spit out some ridiculously good team at the end of all of this, and you've got a tougher challenge up at the top of the East. So like this is by the way, Well, I've always been such a big believer in repeatedly loading

the deck, like don't give up upgrading your roster. I give the Celtics a ton of credit for the Malcolm Brogden trade, you know, going for Mike Mascala, you know, the going being aggressive to try to improve on the margins. I think has served them well because if they play as well as they did last year in the postseason, they'll lose in the conference finals. But they have given

themselves a fighting chance. I still think they're the most talented team in the league, So if they do play to their actual ceiling on both ends of the floor, I think they'll get the trophy, but you always have to bake in their kind of inexperience from a ball handling perspective, and that obviously gives That's why I'm leaning towards Milwaukee. But I do think that Boston is significantly better than they were last year. I agree completely. They

have been from the jump. I mean, who isn't better on this team than they were last year? Right, Like Tatum has been more consistently great. Brogen obviously has been an awesome edition. Derek White is like an entirely different player. You know, Derek White was a problem at times in last year players he couldn't make a shot. He just averages like twenty and six in an entire month while

playing the Lade defense. I agree with you completely. I think money just also say there's a lot of nights, a lot of knights where I think Marcus Smart is the third best like true guard on this team, right, because I considered Jason and Jalen Wings, they're their own category. Derek White and Malcolm Brogden are incredibly talented basketball players, so complete versatile. Yeah, in a lot of ways, they are like the thing that scares me most about picking Milwaukee,

because that's the new dynamic that this team has. But yeah, it's even like you talk about the back end of the rotation, just specific matchup guys who are competent, you know, adding like a Muscala, you know, Howser actually becoming a decent player this year, Blake. I don't know if that really matters, but it certainly doesn't hurt. And then I agree with you. The lack of consistently defense compared to last year doesn't concern me because their personnel is identical

and we know the ceiling that they're capable of. So I think this team is loaded, and as I've said, I think that this is the most talented top two out East of this century. I think that we are in for an absolute war in the conference finals. And as good as the West is, I still do view whoever comes out of the East as a significant favorite because I think they have by far the least question marks and they've consistently shown US elite elite basketball and

have incredibly high ceilings. Yeah, the only team that would come out of the West that I'd be really tempted to pick over either of those teams would be Golden State, just because Like again, it was all like conventional wisdom going into last year's NBA Finals, screamed Boston just just knowing everything we knew about them from a talent perspective,

and I picked Golden State for that specific reason. Just there, they just that team for whatever reason, You're just always going to get their absolute best punch, whereas with some of the other teams around the league, it's like, well, which team are we getting tonight? You know what I mean? Um, But yeah, I you know, I'm glad you brought up specifically Derek White and Malcolm Brogten because those two guys,

their their offensive creation has been just through the roof good. Um. Both of them are good point of attack defensive players. I think that they're I mean, Carson, you could tell

me if you think I'm wrong. Is there any team in the NBA that's got a better two um individual defenders for Yannis and Grant Williams and Al Horford, Like I mean, I would go maybe Draymond Green as an individual, but like in terms of like a duo, like how how great is that off the bench to have a weapon in Grant Williams that you can deploy on Jannis who can competently at least make him work harder in

those situations. But so much of this though, it's like it's so funny because we were talking about this with the Nicks earlier, But like you the whistle gets swallowed.

Everyone's offensive fouling and defensive fouling. Everybody a ton of content like you're you're weirdly allowed to like travel around the basket and stuff in the postseason when every when everything just gets and it's like, I want the football player in that situation, and that's Yannis and that's just that one big wildcard that just screws all of this up is just they won't be able to load up on Jannis the way that they did last year because

of the spot up shooting that's going to be around him. And as that series progressed, as good as Grant Williams and Al Horford were, Johanna started to go through them like tissue paper when it mattered. Yeah, all right, guys, that is all we have for today. As always, we sincerely appreciate your support. We will be back tomorrow morning. I'm staying up late tonight to record on all of tonight's games, but that will be uploaded first thing in

the morning on Saturday. I appreciate you guys rocking with us and we'll see you next time. The volume