Hoops Tonight - NBA Power Rankings, Bradley Beal return lifts Suns, Giannis & Bucks MAJOR concerns | Hoops Tonight

nine hundred, Jason Tatum plus eighteen hundred. Download the Draftking sports Book app now and use code hoops. New customers can get one hundred and fifty instantly in bonus bets for betting just five dollars on basketball only on DraftKings Sportsbook with code hoops. The Crown is yours. Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler or visit www dot one eight hundred gambler dot net. In New York, call eight seven seven to eight hope and why, or text hope

and why to four six seven three six nine. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven, or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas. Twenty one plus age varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty

eight hours after issuance. See dkang dot com slash basketball for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources. All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at the Volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody, Happy New Year, Oh ball. The guys are kicking the new year off right, having productive weeks. We got a jam pack show for you today. I wanted to cover Bradley Beal returning to the Suns, but

I wanted to cover a quality the opponent. In doing so, We're gonna hit Magic Suns from a few days ago. The Pacers got another win over the Bucks last night in Milwaukee and really dominated them in the second half, So we're gonna break down that game. I thought it revealed a lot of stuff about both teams. I wanted to talk a little bit about ogn and Obe's debut with the New York Knicks, which was interesting in some

ways while also demonstrating some area of opportunity. And the last but not least, we have our latest edition of the Power Rankings. You guys are the joppopt we get started. Subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel. It mean a lot to me if you guys would take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button. Don't forget

about our podcast feeds. Wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight, follow me on Twitter at Underscore Jason LT so you guys don't miss any show announcements or the film threads that I do. I did a extensive film thread this morning on the issues that the Milwaukee Bucks were having at the point of attack. Also some highlights of the Pacers guards barbecuing them. You can find that

on my Twitter feed. In the last but not least, keep dropping mailbag Russians in the YouTube comments so that we can hit them later on in the week. All right, let's talk some basketball. So there's a concept that I talk about a lot on this show, the concept of aggregate ball handling. What that means is like if you take any five main grouping and you have one outstanding ball handler, but the other four guys can't dribble, Well, you have great top end ball handling, but you don't

have great down the roster like aggregate ball handling. Teams like that that would to demonstrate that would be a team like the Dallas Mavericks, for instance, right where you know where Luka Doncic is this incredible ball handler, but down the roster they don't have great ball handling. One of the advantages of aggregate ball handling is it gives you the ability to make multiple attacks at an elite defense, which sometimes is the best way to beat an elite defense.

A lot of times when it comes to the top tier defenses in the league, your first action is not going to get the job done. Your first action might get you a little bit of an advantage somewhere on the floor, and you need to take that little advantage and expanded into a greater advantage, and so on and

so forth until you get a great shot. And I actually clipped two examples this morning on my Twitter feed at underscore json lt, where you guys can see some video examples of this where it's you know, Katie is running a ball screen and he kind of gets downhill and he makes a kickback pass to Devin Booker on the wing, who then rips to the left and gets downhill and makes a kickout pass to Bradley Beale, who makes one extra pass to the wing to Grayson Allen

who pump fakes and drives to the lane and finishes at the rim. And it's like, if you watch the defense on that possession, it's a very well defended play by an Orlando Magic team that has a ton of athletes and is excellent in help side. That is their strength. That's what the Magic do best. Even in this recent stretch where the Sun where the Magic are really struggling,

they're defending really well. They're huge, they're athletic, they have high motor, they have excellent point of attack defenders, and so you're not going to just get a lot of easy shot right And the Suns just did an immaculate job in this particular game of that high level closeout attacking.

And what helps is like we talk so much about the off ball rolls and we focus so much on shooting, and it's actually a misconception when it comes to spacing where people just think, oh, I need to have a forty five three point shooter on the weak side, well, if you've got a team, especially a defensive scheme that rotates really hard and chases guys off the line, all of a sudden, spot up shooting doesn't mean nearly as much as the actual ability to make reads and attack

closeouts right that it becomes more valuable. And you know what's interesting is guys like Devin Booker and Bradley Beale and Kevin Durant. Those are guys that we primarily see in on ball rolls, but by virtue of having three of them on the floor, you get to see lots of examples of them playing with an advantage. And when you give top tier scorers like that in advantage, like a defense under sprinting at them, they can make the

game look really easy at times. And they and they did as they stiff armed the Magic throughout this game,

even when the Magic. The Magic briefly took a lead in the early fourth quarter where franz Wagner was picking on Chemezzi Metsu and switches and was just beating him off the dribble, and then the Sons had to try to blitz to try to prevent that switch, and then franz Wagner hit the short role man which led to a quick kickout three I think for Gary Harris on the left wing, and they briefly took a one point lead, but then Bradley Beale got a couple of buckets and

the Sons just regained control of the game. Never really felt like they didn't have the more functional half court offense in this particular game, as they ran away with it, and you even saw at stretches after the Sons were

driving kicking them to death early. Then you saw these possessions where it's like Kevin Durant running a pick and roll off of the right wing and getting downhill, and it's Bradley Beal and Devin Booker on the left wing, left corner, and they're guys are just hugged up on them, and so Kd's just working by himself getting into the lane. And on this particular possession he ended up smoking the layup, but he engaged Bitadze at the rim, and so Nurkich

ended up getting a put back. Anyway, But like if you watch Bradley Beal and Devin Booker on the weak side and the magic just aren't helping. There's another one where Bradley Beal is driving off of a left wing pick and roll, and Kevin Durant and Devin Booker are on the weak side on Kevin Durant's on the right wing extended and he's been deadly with above the break three point shooting this year right Devin Booker in the

right wing magic players glued up to him. As a result, Bradley Beal got to get all the way downhill and patiently worked to get a shot off at the rim against Anthony Black. I actually trimmed both of those clips as well. You guys can see them on the Twitter fee. But the moral of the story here is is when you have this much offensive skill on the floor, the game gets a lot easier and again a lot of the struggles that the Suns had earlier in the year.

You take brad Beale out of the equation, you put in a much lesser offensive player. It starts to look more like a traditional two star, you know, configuration like we see everywhere around the league. And suddenly those weak side players they don't seem like they have enough firepower to make it work. Kevin Durant, Devin Booker fatigue. They get into the fourth quarter, the aggressive defense starts to force turnovers. The Suns start to miss even the open

shots that they get, and it can crater right. But then you throw brad Beial into the equation. Even the guys like Rayson Allen and Eric Gordon, Yusuf Nurkic Jamezi Met who's actually been playing a lot for the group lately, those guys suddenly get slotted into more achievable roles. You've got Bradley Beal, Devin Booker consistently working in close out opportunities,

everything looks a lot easier. The other thing I like about brad Beal is he brings a very different type of attack to what Kevin Durant Devin Booker brings to the table. You know, Devin Booker is a good athlete, Kevin Durant is a has a great physical frame. But neither of those guys are like outstanding slashers. But Bradley Beal is actually a top tier athlete for his position when he's healthy, and he brings a lot of downhill

forced to the table. And you know when Franz Wagner went on that run in the fourth quarter as the Magic took the lead, it was Bradley Beal's rim pressure that actually got them back into the lead. There was a possession where he got Wendell Carter Junior on a switch and he was able to just beat him off the dribble, like just toast him off the dribble and get all the way to the rim. That's a downhill athlete. Play like that probably ends up in a pull up

jump shot if it's Kevin Durant or Devin Booker. Right. There was another play where they picked him up full court. It was like the very next possession and they're trying to apply ball pressure. One of the best ways to beat ball pressure is to just be the bigger, stronger athlete and go past him to the rim. And Bradley Beal just toasted him off the dribble and got all the way to the rim. I think that fit makes

a ton of sense. You even saw. One of the things I talked about a lot when the Sons were struggling was that Kd's defense wasn't as good as it can be, and a lot of that came down to workload. I thought KD had one of his best defensive games of the season against the Magic. Early in the game, he had a couple of steals, and just the first few possessions playing in passing lanes, he was bothering a

ton of shots at the rim. You have to have the energy to do that, though, and when he's required to do that much more offensively, you can expect his defensive effort to wane. That's just normal, especially for a guy in his late thirties. And so I thought all of it just seems to make a lot more sense with Bradley Beal in the group, a very very encouraging sign and one of the big reasons why I've been

saying all year. But the Suns, like, my concerns with them are still there as it pertains to the bigger matchups in the Western Conference, right, teams like the Wolves, teams like the Nuggets, teams like the Lakers. But I think writing them off was silly because the entire configuration of the team was designed to involve all three of

those guys. Like they know, they're not as big and strong on the front, but they're gonna have a ton of offensive skill on the floor, more offensive skill on the floor than just about anybody they play, and that's gonna be their advantage if they can play to that advantage. If they can drive and for layups and threes more often than they drive for tough mid range pull up jump shots, and they fit that offensive shot profile that

they need to fit, they have a chance. They have a chance with that kind of talent on the floor. On the magic front, Palo and Franz were both great.

Like I said, Franz had this really cool stretch in the middle fourth quarter where he was picking apart the Suns, particularly attacking him as he met to the major thing that kind of got in the way for them, as Jalen Suggs was really struggling to knock down spot up threes, especially on the wings, and as a result, after he missed a couple, especially in the fourth quarter, the Suns just started ignoring him and then throwing that third defender and two man game or extra defender in ISOs and

they were able to slow down the Magic offense, which the magic offense, which we'll get to when we get to power rankings, is really really struggling as of late. All right, moving on to the Pacers and the Bucks. Classic matchup of speed versus size, a matchup that we've seen a lot over the last couple of weeks between the Ncason Tournament the week after and then last night's game.

And you know, speed manifests in very different ways than speed manifest beating the floor to the team down the floor in transition, and manifests when a guy cuts to the rim, like there's a late cut from Ben Matherin down the stretch of this game, where like when he hit the jets to cut into that opening, it just caught everybody off guard because of how fast he is.

Right like speed attacking the glass, the Pacers performed better on the offensive glass than the Bucks did, which you would expect would be an advantage to the Bucks with their size, but with so much three point shooting in the NBA now, rebounding is gone from a size game to a ball pursuit game, and having speed on the floor helps you pursue the ball easier, as the Pacers outworped the Bucks in many cases. But the biggest example of the speed advantage for the Pacers in this game

was at the point of attack, primarily Tyrese Halliburton and TJ. McConnell, but also Ben Matherin as well. All three of those guys were just consistently nothing fancy, just go down the floor, beat the guy off the dribble, play basketball from there. TJ McConnell in particular, he's been doing this all year. It's so funny because teams have been, you know, I think overlooking him in a certain way as a bench guard, but like TJ McConnell's been one of the best dribble

drive guys. Just beating that first line of defense and getting the defense into rotation, combined with his ability to pass and obviously everything that brings to the table. They were they were running a little interchange there in the fourth quarter where basically Tyres Saliburton would come and do a little dribble handoff to TJ McConnell, and he'd get Malik Beasley on a switch and just barrel right through him to the basket and get all the way to

the ram. He had like a little short turnaround jumper and drew a foul on him that way. He's also like deceptively big and strong. They're just they're just they're just really really fast, difficult to contain, and they have guys that can finish plays and it makes them that much tougher to guard. Tyre's Halliburton in his last five games twenty six points, five rebounds, and sixteen assists with only two turnovers per game on fifty two percent from

the field forty percent from three. They've won four games in a row, all against really good teams. Nobody can keep them from generating quality shots. It's funny because, like a lot of people, you know, we're not gonna talk about the Lakers today, but a lot of people have been going on the Lakers and the Pacers since the n season tournament as both teams obviously by virtue of the tough schedule, they're kind of dipped a little bit. I think people got off the Pacers sent again. I

think people are off the Lakers cent too. You know, as bad as the Lakers have been, they're still top ten in both half court offense and defense. They have a trade to make, and they have two top ten players in the league. I think it's foolish to write them off. I think it's foolish to write the Pacers off. These are teams that in season tournament schedule was brutal, and to turn around and to play a tough schedule the following week. The Pacers took a dip, but they

are a good team. They're not a serious championship contender with the lack of frontline athleticism in size, but there they could be a player in the trade deadline this year, like Tyre's. Halliburton, in my opinion, is an all time great in the making. I've said this on the show before, but I don't look at him as just a guy

who could be a superstar. I look at him as a guy who could be like Steph and Nikola Jokic, as transformative offensive talents that are engines for top five offenses for a decade and a half and just surefire Hall of Famers, guys who could be in the pantheon one day. That's what I look at as Tyres Haliburton. As I know I'm on the high end there. I know some people are a little bit lower on him,

but I think he's that special. He completely picked the Bucks apart down the stretch, just taking a little fifteen foot pull up jump shots over the top of Brook Lopez in his drop coverage. He's just unbelievable and what like we talked about all the time on the show, step one in the process of team building for an NBA Championship is find the guy, and he's got to

be one of the guys. Now, Tyre's Halliburton is not that guy necessarily yet He's got to polish up some things defensively, and obviously we'll see how his game translates to the postseason. But I think he's on a freight train to that level and I'd be shocked if he doesn't get there. It's super, super encouraging on the Bucks front, just a complete and total lack of resistance at the

point of attack. The Bucks had a significant they had were up fifteen in the middle of the third quarter, and it was like, not only did the wheels come off, it was like every single time down the floor, the Pacers got whatever they wanted. It was one of the most like problematic and concerning defensive performances I've seen from a serious champion, a serious championship contender in a long time. I clipped a thread of all the plays this morning, and it's like twenty clips long of like, oh, you

guys got a bucket. Cool TJ McConnell brought the ball up the floor and just beat his man off the dribble for a layup. Oh you got another bucket. TJ McConnell came up the floor, just toasted by Chris Middleton and dropped it off to Ben Mathern at the basket. Like they get a stop here. Here they come down the floor. TJ McConnell attacking Malik Beasley. Again. Here's Tyres Halliburton getting wherever he wants. Oh, Ben matherin left wing

against Damian Lillard, cleared side. I'm just gonna dribble right through him to the basket for a layup. It was kind of embarrassing. And one of the things that I've said consistently with the Bucks is like I view them again. I look at all the teams kind of in tiers, and to me, the Celtics and the Nuggets are in the top tier as teams that, as currently constructed, have

serious chances to win the title. And even though the Bucks have been a very good regular season team, I view a drop off from that tier to the Bucks, to the Lakers, to the Timberwolves to the Suns. That next group, to me is every one of those teams needs to make a trade. They just do. I don't care how many regular season team games the Bucks win. I don't care that the Lakers won the nd season Tournament. I don't care that the Wolves are the number one

seed in the West. To me, the Wolves aren't good enough in half court defense. The Lakers don't have a point of attack defenders that can also score, and the the Bucks have zero point of attack defenders. And so it becomes a serious issue when like every single team you play against, their guards are just comfortable. And again there's a difference because a lot of times people buy

into this like shot result thing. It's like, oh, we made Tyree s saliburt and take contested pull up twos down the stretch of a close basketball game, and you might have your analytics professionals telling you, like, oh, man, contested pull up twos are only worth x points per shot. We'll live with that. But there's again the statistic means have you ever heard the expression the statistic means nothing

to the individual. The statistic means nothing to the individual possession, Like, it's not a contested fifteen footer as one of a thousand contested mid range pull ups that are all the same, all of them are different. Sometimes there's really good ball pressure and the guy has to work really hard to get separation over the screen, and the contest on the mid range is better. Maybe there's back pressure. There's a lot of these things that make him uncomfortable that will

lead to a miss. Whereas if the dude's just walking into pull up jump shots with zero back pressure, with zero physical ball pressure with zero like a very mild contest from brook Lopez coming out of the drop. I don't care what your analytical professionals say. That's a high percentage shot. And he made three of them down the stretch of the game and beat you guys, and you can like again to me like that is why point of attack defense is such a vitally important part of

an NBA defense. Like, it's not just about forcing a team to take the right shots from the opening tip of the game. You have to make the opposing ball handler feel uncomfortable in some way, shape or form. If you do, he'll have to work harder and fight through it, and he'll take some bad shots. He'll not feel as confident. And that's how you can force a guy into a you know, a ten for twenty three night instead of a fifteen for twenty three night. That's the difference, in

my opinion, it's comfort. It's rhythm, like when you go to the gym and you do cone shooting if you're a young basketball player that's working on perimeter shot creation. You know, like when I do my shooting drills, like I will that rip through pull up shooting drill that I've told you guys about on the show before, Like I catch and I rip to the right, and I do a counter move and I go back to the left and I take a pull up jump shot. You know,

it's great. When I'm shooting by myself, it's comfort. I feel like I'm doing a shooting drill right because I'm by myself. When the defense in an NBA game is allowing Tyrese Halliburton to feel like he's shooting in cone drills, he's gonna make shots at a much higher percentage relative to what the giant sample size might tell you over the course of the season because the other pull up fifteen footers Tyrese is taking is against better point of

attack defense. It's a significant issue. To put it simply, you are not beating Boston unless you find a way to make ball handlers more uncomfortable, like Derek Is. Has anybody seen how well Derek White is playing this year. He's killing teams with the combination of beating guys off the dribble and making reds finishing at the rim, and he's shooting his pull up three point shot really really well.

Like that's just Derek White. It's like, Okay, we have Giannis and we have Chris Middleton for Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum. Great who's guarding drew In and Derek White. Like, meanwhile, on the other end of the floor, Derek White is going to be in Damian Lillard's personal space forty eight minutes. Well, however long he plays seven games in a seven game series, see how that one matchup could call it? Like, and what will happen is at the end of the series,

people will be like, Dame didn't shoot very well. It's shot variants And it's like, no, the Celtics are just better at making your guards feel uncomfortable than the Bucks are at making your guards feel uncomfortable. To me, it is a it is a it is a fatal flaw. Like, are the the teams in that other tier, the Suns and the Timberwolves and the and the Bucks and the Lakers. Can they win the titles currently constructed. Sure, but it's a super long shot. You need a ton of stuff

to go well. You need a bunch of guys to play above their pay grade, you need your opponents to shoot poorly. You need a bunch of things to go your way, and it's just unrealistic to expect it to go that way. All those teams need upgrades. And for the Bucks, they need an athletic guard that they can put next to Dame that's at least okay on the offensive end of the floor, to the point where he's

not a liability. That's what they need. A guy that can pick up primary point of attack assignments, that's what they need so that they always are slotted properly. And that everything makes sense. I said in training camp, Malik Beasley can shoot. Didn't shoot well for the Lakers. Maybe he'll shoot well. He has shot well for the Bucks, but he was never at any point a reliable point of attack defender, and the Bucks were relying on him

to be that. It was doomed to fail. And again I understand that the standings look good, and the Bucks have the second best record in the East, and the you know, third or fourth best record, in the league. But it's not about winning regular season games. It's can you beat Boston in a seven game series? And right now I think that flaw gets them beat against Boston. One last thing on the Bucks. Damian Lillard had some comments after the game about his offensive role because the

Bucks offense really struggled down the stretch as well. They had a one oh five offensive rating in the second half, and Dame had this interesting comment after the game, basically

talking about him being off the ball more. And to be clear, he's right about that, Like there is a reality to like when your touches change, like when you go from feeling the ball in your hands all the time to where like you're still involved a lot, but it's like a lot more like sometimes I'm giving the ball, I'm giving the ball to Giannis and Chris a lot. Brooke is a guy that's pretty aggressive offensively, so like it's much more of an equal opportunity type of offense.

And it is a struggle for Dame and he's really struggling. He's cratered again in his last you know, in shooting over the list couple of weeks, we'll dive into that a little bit further when we get into the power rankings. But like he is right, like, this is a different role and it does take time, and quite frankly, they need to figure that out because I don't think this defense is gonna be good enough to be the foundation

for them to win a championship. They're going to have to enter into that Denver level of inevitability on offense, and it's just gonna take time. They've got another fifty games or so, but they're gonna have to figure out how to get Dame comfortable in his new role. All right. Lastly, before we get to the power rankings, I wanted to talk a little bit about og and Andobi's first game with the Knicks. Impressive win. As the next beat the

Minnesota Timberwolves. On offense, you saw the benefit of og and Andobi right away hit what three corner threes. I talked a lot about how so many Knicks games in recent weeks or ended like it's like a tic tac toe right, Like it's like Jalen Brunson makes a play at the point of attack that draws multiple defenders. You know, he hits the role man, or hits the guy on the wing who drives and kicks or the role man you know, makes a read out of the short role

and then the ball just ends up in RJ. Barrett's hands on the wing and he can't shoot, especially against the closeout, and so just so many of those possessions would end that way. And it's like og An Andobi is just a much better both contested and uncontested catch and shoot shooter, and it like he's going to make the corner threes in a way that RJ. Barrett can't. The second big thing that stood out to me is

just his athleticism. Again, this is a type of athlete that the Knicks just did not have on the roster, like an actually perimeter quick, tall guy. They just didn't have this right and like you see, you saw it in a bunch of different ways. Specifically, they worked him in the dunker spot a lot, where like he would just kind of meander down there when he saw an opening, and he has that ability to on the catch just

immediately go up and dunk it with two hands. And he's got the strength to fight through contact, which is just a it's like a release valve in a lot of ways. When he's cutting to the rim. He had a cut on like a little banana cut over the right into the middle of the floor, where he caught and went up and dunked it with two hands. I think he got a foul on that one too, Like he just has like it's almost like a real rim pressure from the off ball positions, you know what I mean.

And then as just an athlete in transition, he had a big one handed dunkin transition where he was running his lane. I think he's just gonna make them so much better on the offensive end of the floor. And I thought you saw that immediately. Now defensively was a chore. They put him on. Anthony I works to start the game, and the Timberwolves are an excellent screening team, and Og was really struggling to fight over the top of screens,

and so Ant did get downhill a lot. I've talked about this before, but like the Knicks might want to experiment with switching just because of the size of their front line and Og and Andobi being a big body that can be easy to screen sometimes. And we'll see, maybe it's just one game, so I don't want to overreact, and we'll see what kind of scheme ends up working best for them. The other thing too, is the Knicks

that's currently constructed or not a rim ptet team. They don't have like a big old rim protector, especially since Mitchel Robinson's hurt and so an over the top chasing kind of on ball scheme is serves to funnel, and you only really want a funnel when you have excellent

rim protections. So it might be interesting we'll see over a larger sample size, but it might be interesting to see the Knicks try to do some more switching because oj and Obe can guard bigger players because they can have like a team wide help and recover scheme to try to help them do okay in mismatches. They also have some guards that are like surprisingly big and strong, and that can be something that is useful in switching as well. But we'll see in the big picture what

they decide to do. Got in foul trouble too, a couple of really bad causes of rebounding foul that I didn't like, and then his sixth voul is just an atrocious call. He was just fighting through a gober screen and it was pretty innocuous contact and the ref just took him out of the game. Something I'm not a huge fan of but it is what it is. But overall, I thought it was an impressive debut for og And and Obi clear demonstration of the ceiling raising ability that he has.

All Right, moving on to our power rankings, So we have two teams dropping out this week. The Orlando Magic went one in two this week. They've lost eight of their last thirteen games and their twenty sixth in offense over that span, so they're out of the power rankings for the time being. Also, the Dallas Mavericks, they went one in two this week, lost seven of their last eleven games in that span. It's weird. They're twenty fifth

in offense and sixteenth in defense over that span. But Kyrie Irving is back now that should help them settle down. He played his first game last night, looked rusty, but with him coming back, that should help them get back on track offensively alrighty Number ten the New Orleans Pelicans. They've won seven of their last ten games, culminating in a quality win over the Lakers on Sunday. Their top five in offense and defense over that span. Branding Ramsign

Williamson and CJ. McCollum are all averaging over twenty points per game very efficiently over that span. They're rebounding super well, the third in defensive rebound percentage over that span. And on defense, couple of guys I want to shout out. Brandon Ingram is having a ridiculous stretch of off ball defense, getting a ton of deflections and blocks and steals and

blowing up plays. It's been a theme all season. Those of you guys who've been listening to the show have heard me talk about it, but recently it's gone even up a level. Brandon Ingram has the tools, kind of like we've talked about with Kevin Durant, to be an outstanding defensive player. It's just a question of commitment, and there have been stretches where he does, in stretches where he doesn't. He's in a stretch where he has been doing it and it's made them that much more formidable

on defense. Josey Alvarado was a menace in that Lakers game as well, just a literal wrecking ball, blowing things up, not just the from behind steels, but also just attacking the basketball when it's in front of him. In transition. He was having success there as well. Pelicans are playing some good ball right now the first time in the first time under Power Rankings at number ten, number nine, the Indiana Pacers. They've won four in a row, all

four wins against good teams. They went down to huge Houston and beat the Rockets in Houston, not easy to do. They went into Chicago and beat a red hot Bulls team, that's not easy to do. Then they beat the Knicks. The Knicks are a good team. And then they went into Milwaukee and beat the Bucks. Like we mentioned earlier, ty Tyres Haliburton in his last five games twenty six points, five rebounds, and sixteen assists with only two turnovers per game on fifty two percent from the field and forty

percent from three. And then I wanted to shout out TJ McConnell. He's just been such a good bench guard this year, not just at the point of attack offensively beating people off the dribble and making plays, but he's also been a very very good point of attack defensive player, and just an overall disruptor and energizer bunny that just continues the wave the onslaught of what the Pacers bring.

As part of that, Tyres Haliburton experience, and then they even play the two of them together, and then they just start to pick you apart, driving and kicking. I did a lot of Pacers talk earlier in the show. For those of you guys are watching the breakout clips, so make sure you check out the Pacers Bruck Pacers Bucks down from earlier today. Number eight the Denver Nuggets. They beat the Grizzlies and Hornets, but then they got

demolished by the Thunder at home. Now, Aaron Gordon was out for that game because of the unfortunate dog bite that he suffered over Christmas. But as I've said frequently about the Nuggets, you know, when it comes to their top five, I trust them more than anyone else in the league. That's why they're my number one championship favorite at this point. But their vulnerability is a lack of depth. If you lose Aaron Gordon, you're nowhere near as physically

imposing as you are with him. If you lose Michael Porter Junior, you're weak side shooting craters and suddenly it's a lot easier to throw multiple bodies at the Yokich Murray two man game. No. Kentavious called well, Pope, now you have to play your point of attack defenders that are nowhere near as good offensively. Same issue. You can start to load up on the two man game. No Jamal Murray, there is no two man game. The offense becomes way easier to guard, or at least that you

go to a much lower level two man game. So the point is like, this is the best team in the league, but great example. Like they I've always said that five man grouping is the most perfect assembly of basketball talent that I can remember seeing in terms of reaching the value higher than the sum of their parts. Right, and Jokic is the best player in the world, but each of those role players next to him is immaculately a perfect fit for what they need out of that position.

And I thought, I thought the thunder just destroying the Nuggets in Denver was a strong indicator of just how important Aaron Gordon is to this particular team. Number seven, the Sacramento Kings the loss of the Blazers, but they beat the Hawks and grizz easier stretching their schedules. So I wanted to just take a second to shout out, deer in Fox doesn't get nearly enough credit for massively

increasing his scoring volume while not dropping inefficiency. Went from twenty five points per game last year to thirty this year, while staying at sixty percent true shooting. And it's on the strength of him just turning into a dead eye jump shooter. Not just that, but like a high vault

guy who's hunting those shots. Like there was a clip going around on Twitter the other day of Darren Fox shooting like an early clock pull up thirty footer I think against the Grizzlies, and it was in like the early first quarter, and everyone's like, oh my gosh, what is Darren Fox doing. People don't realize he's just hunting jump shots. Now He's attempting ten threes per game over his last eleven games and hitting them at a forty five percent clip. Like not just off, not just off

the catch either. In that span six pull up threes a game, six of them, and he's making them at a forty one percent clip. This guy was already a star based on his ability to beat people off the dribble, to make that floater, some of the mid range pull up jump shooting in the finishing at the rim. If this dude is now just like a dead eye pull up three point shooter. Like. Now we're talking about a guy that can enter into the realm of top tier superstardom.

He is a capable, if not excellent, point of attack defender when he's locked in. This is a dude I've seen in the season. No one can keep him in front off the dribble. Now he's adding not just a good jump shot, but the bet one of the most effective jump shots in the league this year. He's up over one point one points per points per shot attempt in both catch and shoots and pull up jump shots this year. This is incredibly high level shooting paired with

one of the best downhill athletes in the league. So shout out to Deerren Fox Like legitimately one of the most improved players in the league this year. Number six the Philadelphia seventy six Ers. They beat the Magic Rogets Rockets and lost to the Bulls, but Embiid's been out, but it looks like Joel Embid will be returning tonight against the against the Bulls again. Tyre Smax's efficiency is tanked a little bit, but he's still scoring at a

high volume. Number five the Milwaukee Bucks. They beat the Nets and the Cavs, but lost to the Pacers. Giannis continues to obliterate everyone, but Dame has cooled way off again in the last six games, twenty two points per game, thirty nine percent from the field in thirty three percent from three. As I mentioned in the Pacers Bucks breakdown early in today's show, I don't think their defense is going to be very good, and so they need to find a way to get Dame into a groove, a

consistent groove offensively. Number four the Los Angeles Clippers. Kawhi Leonard is back and they are back to winning. They have an undefeated week, capped off with an impressive handling of the Miami Heat yesterday. Seventeen and five since November sixteenth, which is the second best record in the league, second to the Celtics over that span. The offense is coming around. Remember I was talking about early like the even when they were winning, I was like, watch out. Their offense

hasn't even really gotten going well. They're third in offense over their last ten games, seventh in offense since November sixteenth, and that seventeen and five stretch. James Harden is the guy I wanted to shout out here what I said before the trade, and this is something I feel very strongly about. James Harden has limitations when we get to

the postseason and they're real. Can't finish at the rim, doesn't make enough pull up threes to be a super efficient score, really inefficient in his impact on a night to night basis bad defensive player, right, but he is still one of the very best regular season innings eaters in the league, and there is real value in there. Twenty points five rebounds in tennysis per game since November sixteenth, forty seven percent from the field, forty five percent from

three in two point six stocks per game. Excellent basketball from James Harden, especially helping to float the ship. While Kawhi Leonard has been out number three the Minnesota Timberwolves. They are starting to drop some games in this intense stretch of their schedule. They're seven to four in their last eleven, but all the losses are in really tough games at New Orleans, tough place to win at Philly, tough place to win at Oklahoma City, tough place to

win in Madison Square Garden, tough place to win. I actually think all things considered, we knew this stretch was really tough, but I think they've held up pretty well. Like I talked about earlier, when right before this actual stretch of their schedule, I was saying, don't expect him to go undefeated, but if you're comfortably over five hundred in that stretch, really strong indicator of a championship threat. I thought they've demonstrated it to that point. Main concern, though,

is just their half court offense. They only score zero point nine to nine points per half court possession or zero point nine to eighty five excuse me, points per half court possession. That ranks eighteenth in the NBA. I would like to see them get that up over one hundred. That to me is kind of like a prerequisite to be able to score in the playoffs. That's my main

concern for them at this point. You've seen it before, like teams just can pack the paint on them and force them into taking jump shots, and like win Ants making all of his pull up jump shots. It looks good, but they can get into some ruts offensively. But holding up pretty well over a tough schedule. Number two Oklahoma City Thunder undefeated week with all quality wins. They beat the Knicks, the Nets, and went into Denver and smacked the Nuggets. So we've moved them all the way up

to number two. They have won seven of their last eight games. They beat the Nuggets twice in that span. They beat the Timberwolves, they beat the Clippers, they beat the Knicks. Playing excellent basketball, Shay Gills, Alexander's playing like an MVP thirty two, six and six on fifty five percent shooting over that span. Over the eight game span chet last eight games, twenty points per game, fifty nine percent shooting and forty seven percent from three. The dude

is exploding. I think he's a superstar in the making. I think he has the potential to be one of the best players in the league one day. And Jalen Williams just quietly putting up twenty points per game on fifty seven percent from the field and fifty two percent from three. This team has a super super bright future. Won twenty three offensive rating over the last eight games, number one in half court offense for the season according to Cleaning the last number three in half court defense.

Number one, where they always have been or for the most part this year, the Boston Celtics They've had a really weak schedule this week, but they handled their business. They beat the Pistons, the Raptors in the Spurs. The Celtics have played a much tougher schedule to this point than both Philly and Milwaukee, and despite that, they are two and a half games up on the Bucks and

four games up on the Sixers. They have the fifth easiest remain schedule, So get ready for a lot more weeks like this and look for the Celtics to run away with the number one overall seed. As I said before the season, I think you're going to see a hefty gap between them and everybody else by the time

we get to the end. The only reason it's looked as close as it has is the Celtics have had a very front loaded schedule when it comes to the tougher games and their peers the Sixers in the Bucks have played two of the easiest schedules in the league, fueled in large part because the bottom of the Eastern Conference is super weak. But Boston gets to take the benefit of that down the stretch. So look for Boston to run away in the standings for the rest of the For the rest of the year, we will be

back tomorrow, big time game. We got Thunder Celtics going to be covering that one, a couple other games from tonight as well as always. I appreciate your guys' support and I will see you then. The volume