Hoops Tonight - NBA Reaction: Curry & Warriors DOMINATE Blazers, Durant SAVES Suns, 76ers-Bucks

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see DKG dot co. Slash b ball. All right, welcome to hoop tonight here at the volume heavy Thursday.

the shit out of the Blazers. We're gonna talk about that game, and then I have some thoughts on this year's iteration of the Dame Jannis two man game as the Bucks get a big win over a short handed sixer squad. And then I have nineteen clips for a session of Timpf's tape at the tail end of the show, where I'll give you guys some visual examples of all the things that we've been talking about on the show.

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but more or less a game that the Lakers controlled throughout. Obviously, we have our first game in ESPN Slate with Paul George and Joel and Bierre and Joel nbied are out, which is certainly not a good look after everything last offseason. But we finally got an instant classic between the Suns and the Clippers in the later night slate on ESPN. Brand new arena for the Clippers. Really cool, a lot

of fan engagement. That wall of fans that's on the defensive side of the floor in the second half, that's a really really cool concept. The display, the circle display that goes around, very very cool. Kevin Duran shouted out after the game that it was possibly the coolest arena that he's ever played in. Definitely turned out really good on TV two. It's fun to watch, but really an entertaining game. The Clippers were up ninety nine to ninety with less than four minutes left. We got this really

fun little chess match. As the Suns go small, they put in Royce O'Neill and take use of dirkis out and so it's basically Royce O'Neil Tias Jones with the big three right, and quickly they start matchup hunting on James Harden. Devin Booker ends up hitting a step back three over Harden. It's ninety nine to ninety three. We're gonna talk a big picture in the game in a minute. I just want to kind of focus on this final run that the Suns used to send the game to ot.

James Harden, who was really really good in the second half and for the most part all games, did a nice shot creating shots. You could tell he was really tired and it really started to show down. The stretch settles for like a really deep thirty five footer on the next possession, and then they have really bad floor balance. He's the only guy above the break. Norman Powell's kind of on the right wing but closer to the corner.

In both guys get caught in limbo where when the shot goes up, neither of them crashed, but neither of them turn and sprint either. They both just kind of backpedal, and KD just outruns all of them up the right side of the floor suddenly gets a layup. It's ninety nine to ninety five. Then same sort of thing on

the next possession. James Harden's picking on matchups, picks on Tyas Jones, but he gets down into lane and actually gets a little bit of separation, but he leaves the floater way short off the front of the rim once again because you can tell he's very, very tired going down to the other end of the floor. They commit an off ball foul and Devin Booker he goes one for two from the foul line. All of a sudden,

it's ninety nine to ninety six. And then one of the big, one of the big kind of like subplots of the tail end of this game is when the Suns went small. The Clippers did try to do a lot of force feeding of Zubats and he did draw some fouls in particularly ended up fouling Devin Booker out of the game on a foul that I personally disagreed with. I thought Booker was just kind of banging for position. I didn't think he did anything that was deserving of

him getting ejected from the game. But that's a whole

other side conversation about officiating. And you know, I kind of have this theory that, like a lot of officials, some specific guys from last night, haven't ever played in a basketball game, so they don't know what it's like to like, oh, you have a Seis mismatch and you're battling in the post, and they just kind of lack that basic understanding, and so then they make calls that they that should not be made in basketball games just because they don't understand.

out and steals it. They run out the other way and they get another layup. Now it's ninety nine to ninety eight. Both teams exchange a couple of offensive fouls. Now we're down to just two minutes left, and the Suns make another adjustment. They end up putting Kevin Durant on James Harden. Now, James Harden responds to that by trying to attack Tias Jones on switches again, but he

turns it over. The Sons did a really nice job down the stretch of the game of crowding James Harden when he got into like the short to mid range. There's a lot of contact that you can get away with in there because there's just not a lot of

great sight lines for the officials, right. That was one of the things James Harden on this particular possession complained to the refs after about how he got hit on the arm, and it's like he probably did, but it's just really hard to see when there's all that congestion

in there. They did a great job swarming. They get a stop, go down to the other end of the floor, and then the Sons get a really easy shot for Kevin Durant off of a switch where they have Kevin Durant screen the ball and then slip into open space. Norm Powell ends up on his bottom side, gets right into the lane and James Harden, just a step slow on his rotation, doesn't quite get outside of the charge circle.

Katie runs him over, but he gets a layup and because he's in the charge circle, it's an easy and one. Now we are back to the Suns being in front

by two one oh one to ninety nine. Now James Harden once again attacks Tyes Jones on the next possession, gets a really nice look for mid range and it's kind of like a weird moment of growth for James Harden over the last couple of years to see how like almost everything for him was a step back three or driving into the lane for maybe a floater, but for the most part getting into the lane into layup range, right, And like one of the things you notice in a

game like this is like, yeah, step back three might be a more efficient shot in the large scale where I've got one hundred reps, and yeah, if I make thirty six of them, then I'm gonna end up with well over a point per attempt, right, But like in the small sample less than two minutes left, you need a bucket. You're down by two. Actually what matters is a shot with the higher field goal percentage. And he

ends up working closer to the rim. And again those step back three is when you're trying to get lift in separation from twenty five feet from the basket. It's just really hard to do. But instead he works his way into the lane, gets a nice little foul line jump shot, knocks it down. Easy shot for James Harden right, not to mention this right around the foul line where he's been shooting a lot. When he gets to the foul line, you know, on free throw attempts ties the

game at one to one. This possession for the Suns ends up falling apart just because Kdi slips tries this like crossover move his foot just kicks a way off from under him. It looks like he steps on a banana peal falls. Grayson Allen ends up having to kind of just chuck something up in the basket and he misses. And then on the next possession it's one on one, one o one, James Harden gets Kad with the left

to right crossover and he kind of buckles over. And then James Harden, smartly on that possession, as soon as he sees that KD is compromised, just drives right into his chest and Katie tries to tie up the basketball but gets a bunch of arm ends up being a foul. One oh three, one oh one. Now the Clippers just need one stop and they're getting out of here with

the wind. But Kevin Durant ends up hitting a ridiculous right shoulder fade away as James Harden tries to double team him from the opposite end of the floor, falling down. Crazy jump shot knocks it down. We're tied. James Harden actually got a decent look from float range to try to win it in regulation, but he ends up missing and we're going to overtime, and from there, Kad and brad Beale really took over. They both ended up drawing fouls on like mid range jump shot attempts. Bradley Beal

had a really nice three against drop coverage. He was great all night, but he really stepped up after Devin Booker went out and just tried to just tried to create offense wherever he could, and I thought he did a really nice job. Clippers stayed in it because they got some big stops late in the game and then a couple of big buckets. Derek Jones Junior had a really nice driving layup in transition. Norman Powell had a little bucket against Bradley Beal in an ISO situation, so

they kind of stayed in it. James Harden ends up drawing a foul with five seconds left on That was kind of an iffy call two as he got into the lane, but he ends up drawing the foul goes. The line ends up going one for two once again to sign a fatigue, and the Suns get out of there with a win. For the Suns, the offense functioned when it needed to. They actually only had a one two point seven offensive rating for the game as a whole, but the Clippers are scrappy. I've been talking about this.

I've been talking about this a lot in preseason and even just going into our season previews. You got to see last night why I was so high on the Clippers in the world where Kawhi was healthy. They're just so damn fast on the perimeter. They have so much length, they get into the ball, they pressure their physical They're just a really difficult team to deal with on the defensive end of the floor. James Harden brings such a high offensive floor. It just kind of came apart as

James Harden fatigued at the end of the game. But you can imagine a universe where Quis in there and it just kind of eases off that offensive burden. And we're talking about a really good basketball team here. But they did a good job on the Suns, held them to one two point seven for the game. However, I thought the offense functioned when it needed to. They had several really good possessions throughout the game where they created initial advantage, made good reads and got great shots out

of it. I grabbed a bunch of those and put them in the TIMPs tape segments. So when we get to the film at the end you get you guys will get to see some examples of good Suns offense. They had a sixty six percent assist percentage. Remember that's the benchmark for me that I've been talking about all summer. Anything over two thirds for me, an assist percentage for the Suns is a good offensive performance from them. It means they're turning more good shots into great shots by

trusting each other and kick out situations. Got a lot of three point attempts up. I thought it was a better shot profile for them, And then in eight minutes of clutch basketball a one to seventeen offensive ratings. So once again when they needed to, it came through. They generated some easy shots through smart transition pushes capitalizing on their defense. Again, that's smart. Don't fuck around in the half court if you don't have to get up the

floor and see if you can get easy shots. That Katie and one that he had very simple action taking advantage of a switch where he got inside position and was able to get into the lane and get there before James Harden could rotate some gamesmanship. Both Katie and Bradley Beal drew fouls on mid range pull ups taking advantage of over aggressive defenders and then superstars making superstar shots like Katie hitting a shot over a double team.

There's not really anything you can do about that except for lose. Like that's just the that's just what you're up against when you get into a matchup with the Suns. If you end up in a late game where it's a one or two possession game, you might play great defense and they might just make shots and you might just get to lose. Bradley Beal in overtime that that was a big time shot, that shot that he hit out of drop coverage as Zubach kind of hung back

to the elbow and he knocked it down. Those are superstar shots, and that's how you end up just generating offense in transition when it's smart, a couple of easy baskets out of some smart action, and then superstars making superstar shots. All of a sudden, you have a one seventeen offensive rating. When the game was really up for grabs there in clutch time, I thought the Suns defended really well. Tyas Jones held up well when Harden was non stop attacking him down the stretch of the game.

He also had that huge steal on the post up at Zubach. They did a good job of crowding hardened in ball screens like I talked about earlier, forcing turnovers, and then KD just what a weapon to be able to take one of your back line defenders and put him on the other team's best player at the end of a game. Obviously he got some switches on to Tias,

but Tias held up fine anyway. But also there were several drives on that in that final sequence in crunch time where James Harden tried to probe into the lane against KD and KD just shut him off and James ended up having to pass out the basketball. And so really nice defensive performance from KD. And then when they went small, I thought all of their guys the team did a nice job holding up against Zubach in the post.

And again, aside from a couple of those foul calls that I disagreed with, I thought they did a pretty good job avoiding taking too much damage in those situations. Biggest areas of opportunity for the Suns through the first game limiting turnovers. They had twenty two turnovers tonight, led to sixteen points for the Clippers KD in particular struggle to take care of the basketball and then rebounding. The Clippers had thirteen offensive rebounds for thirteen second chance points.

But some of that is just the reality of going small. You're gonna give up some more offensive rebounds, but you're gonna have more advantages in transition, right, So like they got transition buckets where they were out running Zubach, But then there are also possessions where they give up offensive rebounds. So again, sometimes it's more complicated than just looking at one statistical category. But I thought it was impressive resilience. Like a win is a win as a win, not

all basketball games are the same. Most teams are gonna have to win ugly against the Clippers because of how good they are on the perimeter defensively and specifically from a matchup perspective, they match up well with the Suns because they have a lot of perimeter talent and they have guys that can match up with them right on the Clippers front, You guys, I had a really good look and why I'm so high on the Clippers as a team that can just be scrappy in the regular

season as long as Kawhi Leonard is healthy, the defense is filthy. Harden just gives you such a high floor on offense. He generated thirty two points last night out of ball screens and ISOs struggled at the rim. Otherwise he would have had a great night. I think he was like two for nine at the rim. But they just ran out of gas at the end of the game. And that's the reality. Like Powell and Harden were both

leaving shots short off the front of the rim. Harden in particular just looked completely wiped out by the end of the game. It's just such a heavy offensive load on him.

of games as they start to wear down. Moving on to Pacers Pistons, Pistons played really well to start and led most of the game. Kay Cunningham at twenty eight points and eight assists, all five starters were in double figures. Tobias Harris was great in the first half. The Pistons had a nice little lead to start the fourth quarter, but then an awesome bench shift led by TJ McConnell and Ben Mather and quickly closed the gap. TJ McConnell,

it's like, it's so crazy. Every time I'm watching him, it's amazing how easily he just toasts everyone off the dribble. The main thing that I see with TJ is he brings the ball across half court with pace, gets his head of steam while bringing the ball up the floor, and then he's really good at crossing over or changing direction at full speed, so he'll just come right at you at full speed and then boom right to left,

or maybe just a hard in and out dribble. He just keeps it real simple, and then he just beats you off the dribble going to either side, and he's getting all the way to the rim, or he's making those drop off passes driving layups. To start the fourth quarter. He had another one where he got into the lane and spun and reverse pivoted out of it and hit Ben Mathern a cutting to the basket for a layup.

Ben was great all game. He ended up getting the closing minutes over Aaron Nesmith, which I thought was fascinating. Kind of an interesting offensive option for them there in those situations. He had a couple of huge catch and shoot threes in the fourth quarter, really nice shift from them. All of a sudden, we end up in a close game, and the game got stuck at one to one to one hundred for a while, neither team could score the basketball.

And then finally Pascal Siakam kind of breaks that that kind of like ugly phase of the fourth quarter by hitting a really tough step back jumper over Tobias Harris on the left wing. It's one o three to one hundred. Go down to the other end. Uh. Jayden Ivy actually does a nice job setting Ben Mathern up for a screen. Ben Mathern kind of trips and falls, comes back over the screen, gets into the lane and makes a layup.

It's one O three, one oh two. And then we got to see a classic example of the pick and pop problem that is presented to any drop coverage. The Pacers go down the floor. They run two man game with Haliburton and Siakam. Siakam pops and remember when you're in a drop coverage that pop is always wide open. Tyrese Probes makes the kick back to Siakam. They have to rotate from the weak side. When they rotate from the weak side, because man, you can do it one

of two ways. You can have the big man who's in drop coverage close out, in which case you could give up a drive and to Sam that could be a huge problem. Or you can rotate from the weak side, in which case the swing passes open. They rotate from the weak side. Haliburton swings to Siakam, Siakam swings to Ben Matherin and biggest shot of the game, wide open right wing three out of the pick and pop, Mathurine knocks it down, puts them up by four. They go

down to the other end. Jad and Ivy misses a tough look from the mid range around the right elbow, and then Pascal Siakam outruns everyone down the floor, including Jalen Duran. He was sprinting and ends up getting a dunk and the game is over. So just bang bang bang, a kind of like a four possession sequence where the Pacers had a couple of really good plays on both ends of the floor, all of a sudden the game is over, So good win for the Pacers. To start

the season. They defended really well in the fourth quarter. They had a seventy nine defensive rating in that fourth period after being pretty bad defensively through the first three quarters. They rebounded better too. They got beat up on the glass in the first three quarters. Jalen Dern was doing a bunch of damage to Miles Turner's kind of an impressive Jalen Dern, just physical game with just how imposing

he is. Like you could actually see Miles Turner when he checked out after his first shift, like being visibly frustrated with himself for not holding up better in that particular matchup. They were attacking Tyres Halliburton with off ball action with Tim Hardaway Junior to start the game, just running him through a bunch of screens and having success there. Like they were physically kind of bullying Indiana through the first three quarters, but they held up way better at

the end. The Pistons rebounded thirty nine percent of their own misses in the first half that dropped to twenty six percent in the second half, came together, did what they needed to do to hold up physically, ended up getting a win. Ben Matherin looked really solid, nineteen points, several big shots. I thought he was fining defensively from the play where he tripped on that Jad and Ivy like was just playing trying to set him up for a screen and he kind of overreacted to it and

fell over. But otherwise I thought he held up well. Kind of an interesting option for them. Think of him as like a sixth starter in the sense that, like when they need more offense, they can go to him instead of nee Smith. But when they need someone who's a little bit bigger of a wing defender than Andrew Nemhard, they can go with Knees Smith. Right, But like Matherin just has more off the dribble pop. He's he's just a better offensive player.

both defenses are locked in. It's really difficult to get separation. Having a six ' nine athlete that can hit a step back move to get separation from an elite defender and knock down a jump shot like that is that is an upset that comes from Siakam that you can't get out of skill guards, like a lot of times skill guards like Tyree Saliburn. I mean, we're talking about this with James Harden earlier. You get to the end of the game, gets really physical and intense, and those

guys can struggle to get separations. Sometimes a great counter there is to have a bigger athlete foward that can hunt matchups to create shots in those situations. It's two big plays in this one, the step back over Tobias and then I talked earlier after the Jad and Ivy miss jump shot, that transition runout where he beats everybody up the floor and gets the dunk. That's athletic upside to raise the ceiling of this team. Tyree's had a rough shooting night, but he was his typical efficient shot

creating self. He ran twenty pick and rolls in ISOs, including passes that led to twenty two points. That's one point one points per possession. Pretty solid for a night where he basically couldn't make a jump shot to save his life. So still pretty solid floor for Tyree's. Good start for the Pacers.

containing the ball. That was the big thing that stood out to me in the first quarter, like the Pacers are a team that can really get you in rotation and driving kick you to death. I thought they did a great job containing the basketball and staying out of rotation. That's a testament to their perimeter defensive talent. And then, like we mentioned earlier, they kind of kicked Indiana's ass in the physical areas of the game for the first

three quarters. Their offense just really fell apart at the end of the game. Cad had a big box score game. He had twenty eight to eight, crazy high volume, like he ran thirty three pick and rolls in ISOs and he got thirty seven points out of it, which is a good efficiency number for shot creation in the half court. But at the end of the game he wasn't really

creating quality shots. He had one really nice spin move on Pascal Siakam out of the left corner in like a straight ISO situation that was nice, but just wasn't really generating quality offense down the stretch of the game. It's early, there's a bunch of new guys, but I'm hoping to see more potent offense out of the Pistons before too long. To justify the direction that they went

in the offseason Warriors Blazers. The Warriors start huge. They go Wiggans at the two, Trey Sjackson Davis at the five. Kind of an interesting look, right that lineup really struggled to score. They basically had Draymond run the point guard. They got just eighty eight point five points per one hundred possessions in eleven minutes, So not a good offensive stretch for that group. But they dominated the game physically. With that group, they grabbed sixty four percent of all

available rebounds. That's completely outrageous. They had a ninety six defensive rating, which is obviously very good. The Warriors bench came in and then just immediately kind of turned the game around by forcing turnovers and getting out in transition. Gary Payton had two quick steals. That unit is kind of it was like an interesting unit. It was anchored by like Gary Payton, Brandon Pizemski and Buddy Healed, and

that unit was actually really good. They were plus ten and five minutes a lot of again just forcing turnovers, getting out of transit, getting out in transition. That's the

true identity of this Warriors team beyond Steph Curry. Like the identity of the team is Kerr Curry, Draymond and everything that they've been doing for over a decade, right, But the identity of the team beyond Steph Curry, the identity of the roster in terms of the supporting cast around those guys is they are fastest shit on the perimeter, and they bring waves and waves of these guys in

off the bench that can wreck havoc. On the defensive end of the floor, the Warriors posted a ninety six defensive rating last night that was the best out of any NBA team in their first game, only held their They were the only team that held their opponent below one hundred points per one hundred possessions. They dominated the glass. They grabbed thirty nine percent of their own misses. That's crazy, right, You're getting yourself all sorts of additional opportunities that way.

big and they're taking up space. Underneath the basket. But for the Warriors a lot of times it's because screen defenders have to show. So like if I'm Looney or if I'm Draymond or if I'm Trace Jackson Davis, all guys who had monster offensive rebounding games last night, You set a screen and there's a shooter coming off. So my defender, as the screener, is going to have to show. And so as I roll, I'm not just rolling as an offensive threat on the role, I'm also rolling as

a rebounding threat. And so you get a lot offensive rebounds out of those situations because the big guys who are showing now have outside position and the rollers that have inside position in rebounding situations and they do some damage that way. They forced eighteen turnovers as a team that led to twenty two points. As I mentioned earlier, the Healed Pazemski Payton guard look three guard look was

plus ten and five minutes. Healed has just been such a seamless fit for the Warriors offense all prese and again last night he had twenty two points. It's five or eight on jump shots. He got to the rim three times for layups. He hit his only off screen attempt he had to pull up three out of pick

and roll. One of the big things, you know. I was actually texting with my buddy Samas Fontiri about this morning, Like he pointed out, like, hey, like Steve Kerr is basically the only guy that's been able to produce this kind of production out of Buddy Heeld. Now it's early, but throughout preseason and the first game of the regular season, Buddy Heield has been really.

is Kevon Looney is just such a great screener. And on both of those two plays that I talked about him coming off of the wide pin down out of the right corner and then the ball screen with Looney on the left wing, Kevin Looney set monster screens on both of those plays and got so much separation for Buddy again. One of the most underrated details of the Warriors offensive success since the beginning of this era is

excellent screening. Excellent screening from Andrew Boget, excellent screening from Draymond Green, excellent screening from Andre Gadala, from Kevon Looney, all of those guys just being really, really good screeners is a huge part of what makes Golden State's offense function. I'm going to show you guys some examples of that in the TIMPs tape segment, so you guys will see.

only ten shot attempts. A lot of that classic kind of Warriors tic tac toe action where they end up getting easy dunks and layups out of Steph coming off of screening actions.

Like good perimeter defense, nice transition attacks, just using his athleticism when he sees kind of a gap to hit in transition, hitting threes at the end of possessions. He had a pull up three out of a ball screen at the top of the key. That was a really nice shot. Just kind of a classic good Andrew Wiggins game. And then a really nice first showing for Moses Moody in his first night of the season, plus ten and fifteen minutes. He had fifteen points, two rebounds, and two assists.

He had a driving layup out of the right corner where he showed some real athletic pop and he kind of got into the rim protector's chest and shielded him with his left shoulder and banked it in with his right hand off the glass. This is going to be a fun Warriors team. You know. I kind of look at them as a better version of the Clippers right now in the sense that, like the like, Steph is

just a much much better player than James Harden. But they're similar to the Clippers in the sense that they just have all of these waves of athleticism on the perimeter that you're dealing with right just like it's just there's five or six guys that you're seeing on any given night that are just super scrappy. Andrew Wick and scrappy. Moses movie is scrappy, granted, Brandon pazemskis scrappy, Gary Payton

the second scrappy, the Anthony Melton scrappy. Jonathan Kaminga. You know, he still had kind of an iffy off ball defensive night. I saw a couple possessions of him just kind of getting caught in limbo off ball, but he had a couple of really good on ball possessions defensively. I still think that's when he's at his best is when he's just focused on somebody on the ball, so he gets a singular focus instead of like trying to track multiple things at the same time. But they're gonna be a

really fun team. And like the other big difference between them and the Clippers is Draymond Green is just not only just a better player than Zubats, but a better a much much better defensive anchor at that center position. So gonna be a fun team. Obviously, you're not gonna be playing the Blazers every single night, but that's about as impressive a first night of the season as you can see. The Warriors have been super sharp from the

start of training camp. They might not have as much talent as some of the top teams in the league, but they are in terms of just the quality of basketball they're playing. They're playing some of the best basketball in the NBA right now. Buck Sixer is not gonna spend too much time here. Joel Embiid and Paul George did not play a big talent mismatch as a result, but Dame just continues to look super super sharp, which is encouraging. He was thirty points, nine rebounds, and six

assists on just nineteen shot attempts. Ran twenty eight ball screens including passes, generated thirty seven points one point three to two points per possession. That's incredible. Legit just looks like he has more burst than he did last year, getting more separation on those step back moves, getting more lyft on his movement jump shots, more downhill verve as he's trying to attack out of ball screens. Had some nice kickout passes at Toryan Prince. Really nice first game

for Toryan Prince. He's four for five from three, but it gives him a really nice kind of outlt on those kickout passes when he's operating and pick and roll. Dame was six for twelve on off the dribble jump shots, including five pull up three, so he's at one point four to two points per pull up jump shot. Just really really nice first game from Dame. And then Yiannis was just a complete monster. He ran thirteen ISOs in post ups for twenty two points, including passes one point

six to nine points per possession. I talked a lot in preseason about variations for the dam Giannis two man game involving more dribble handoffs, and I have a couple of clips in the TIMPs tape segment that I'm gonna show you guys to kind of demonstrate this, But they

ran a lot of like interesting drible handoff stuff. There was kind of like a two man game that they ran at the top of the key where they the Sixers were aggressively switching and Jannis like threw of like went like he was gonna do a dribble hand off with Dame and then did a keeper and then I think Caleb Martin was the guy that showed hard on him, but he showed so hard that Giannis was able to quickly just turn the corner on him going to his right hand, got all the way to the rim for

a layup. And it's like aggressive switches are basically like closeouts, so if you attack them quickly, you can get dribble penetration, and you're only going to get those through a You're only going to get an opportunity like that through the size mismatch that comes from a damianis two man game

because they're guarded by such different defenders. And then you know I talked about in preseason the cleared side dribble handoff right ran one of those I'll show you guys, in the film session, Drible handoff to Dame Dame gets the ball off the handoff, both defenders go with Dame Dame floats it over the top to Giannis Jannis ends

up getting an easy finish on the roll. That's the kind of stuff that I'm really excited about in terms of the ceiling for this team offensively when they get into slow down half court environments, if they can perfect that Damianis two man game, that's that's what gives them that championship potential. Right, so good first showing for the Bucks.

Let's get into our film. If you're listening on the podcast Feen, you're going to want to head over to YouTube to see that part to actually get the visual representations of what we're talking about. All right, first clip, Remember yesterday when I was talking with the Lakers about the Finland action that JJ Redick and Lebron James were talking about in the Mind the Game podcast, and all that is is a backscreen for a rim runner that

flows into a shooter coming off of a screen. This was one of the ways that the Pistons were attacking Tyrese Haliburton in off ball screening actions. So I want to show it in full speed first, and then I'll talk about what I was talking about. So Hardaway backscreens for Tobias and then comes off of Jalen Durn and gets a three. Now what makes this action work? The backscreen always causes a reaction from the shooters defender. So watch as Tim Hardaway Junior comes to set the first backscreen.

So as he goes to set the backscreen, watch Haliburton pause, so Hardaway backscreen, Seacam, look at Halliburton. Now Halliburton had as his weight shifted backwards because he's helping on the lob to Tobias. If Tyree stays glued up, then Cade's read changes. Notice we have a cleared corner here, so there's no helper that can come from that side. If tyree'see doesn't hang back, Tobias can come off with the screen and Cade just has to float anything up in

this general vicinity and Tobias is getting a layup. But instead Tyres Aliburton hangs because he hangs back. Now he's completely out of position for this action. Right, Hardaway can come curl off of his screen, and Duran has plenty of space to lay a screen on Halliburton and Hardaway comes right off and knocks it down. So that's an example of what makes that action so difficult to guard for a shooter anybody that can hit a movement jump shot, and also an example of how the Pistons were looking

to attack Tyrese Haliburton. Here's an example of a slot cut from Ben Mathern that I talked about with TJ McConnell that I thought was really smart. So the key here is you've got weak side spacing, right, So Ben Shepherd's trying to clear out to this corner because he knows the spacing is messed up, and Ben Matherin is here. But one of the things that is really smart about this cut, Ben Matherin is going to cut here. And one of the main reasons why is if you watch,

TJ doesn't really have a passing angle. He's getting smothered on this like kind of three quarter side here, and then Malik Beasley is on his front side. It'd be extremely difficult for TJ to even make this kickout pass. So Ben Mathern is making himself available by cutting. TJ can reverse pivot out of it and ends up hitting the cut. And then also notice is that Ron Holland or is that Sasser? I think I can't tell him

this one. I think that's I think that's Holland. But so notice Holland too, like as he's reverse pivoting out his first shot, his first thought is to close back out to the wing because that's where he thinks Matherin is a Mathern ends up capitalizing it on the cut. A really nice example of like a lot of times we think of spacing as like just standing out by the three point line. That's not spacing at all. It's just being a threat. It has nothing to do with shooting.

It's a threat. It could be shooting, it could be cutting, it could be vertical spacing. There's so many different things you can do off ball. Screening is a way to create spacing. That's an example of creating spacing as a cutter. All right, Here is that spin move that I talked about with Kate Cunningham against Pascal Siakam. So we got a cleared side ISO again, kind of a rough shot creating fourth quarter for Kate. But I thought this was a superstar move that he hit on Siacam. Really nice

right to left crossover into the spin. Good contests from Siakam still hits the shot. Here's that pick and pop. That ice is a game. This is the big shot, biggest shot of the game in the Pacers game. Classic example of how difficult it is to guard picking pop. Okay, so we're going to reset the ball screen. We're gonna go to Halliburton. Okay, so we have Tobias Harris. They're not switching right, They're chasing. So because they're chasing and

not switching, we have two on the ball. Pascal Siakam pops. This forces the weak side rotation, extra pass to Ben matth That's what makes the pick and pop so hard to guard. If you ask Tobias Harris to close out, Tobias Harris closes out here, Siakam has an opportunity to drive. But because you rotate from the weak side, you create this two on one here and Ben Mathern gets an easy look. That was the ballgame for you. Here's just an example of how fast the Los Angeles Clippers defense is.

So let's watch as they're running. We have Kai Jones come up to the level of the screen. He switches out onto Tyas Jones. Terrence Man is on the ball, we're gonna get a double drag here with Tias and Plumbley. Just switch aggressive switch from Harden Terrence Man lingers for a second. We have a little bit of a week side opportunity for Tys Jones. Look at the close out from Kai Jones. He's there on the catch. Derek Jones is up on KD, swipes it off of Kd's leg.

I stopped at a bunch of times. I'm gonna run it in full speed. But just watch how fast the Clippers perimeter defenders are and Kai Jones just I have bringing that mobility to that front court spot too. They're just gonna be They're gonna be scrappy, they're gonna be fast. Ball this ball pressure from Terrence Man too. Now we've got Eleven's actions left him. We're way out forty feet from the basket. Really nice defensive possession from the Clippers.

Here's an example of the Phoenix Suns at their best when they play advantage basketball. So we have Katie driving at the top of the key. It's going to be a ball screen with Plumblee, We're going to get two on the ball. So again, this stems from the threat of Katie being able to hit the pull up jump shot. Because of the threat of Katie being able to pull a bump pull it up, hit a pull up jump shot. Kai Jones has to show high. Kai Jones shows high, we get Plumbly on the switch. That's where we get

our week side two on one. I've been talking about this concept a lot in preseason. These week side two on ones are where you generate high quality three point shots. Plumbley then makes the swing to Booker. Derek Jones closes to Booker, we get Bradley be a wide open in the corner. That's the beauty of the Suns when they're playing at their best. It's a guy on the ball that is going to bring two defenders because of his

pull up jump shot. And you're running week side two and ones with two of the best offensive players in the league, and Bradley Beal and Devin Booker, thats just extremely difficult to guard. There's a really cool set from the Clippers that I liked, and it's about triggering switches. So when you're targeting teams that do a lot of switching a lot of times, you can catch them in between switches where they make mistakes. So this whole play is designed to get Derek Jones junior lob on the

weak side. Here's what we're gonna get off of Harden. Here we're clearing out here to the right side corner. And then Kai Jones is gonna set a backscreen for Norm Powell, backscreen for Norm Powell. But the main thing Norm Powell is trying to do here is set a screen on Royce O'Neil, not to get Derek Jones open, but to get these guys to think about a switch. So he goes and hits Royce O'Neil. After he hits Royce O'Neil, he just runs back. And now Royce O'Neill

is thinking, wait, am I supposed to follow him? Or is Booker following him? They don't know. There's a hesitation, there's a miscommunication. And look at Dereck Jones once again. Watch Derek Jones go right as Royce O'Neil gets triggered into the switch. Royce O'Neil thinks, oh, I'm switching. I'm going out. Then Devin Booker's like, no, no, no, actually I got him, but it's too late. Derek Jones is getting full head of steam. Perfect lob pass from James Harden.

We got ourselves a dunk. I'm gonna run it in full speed. I want you guys to watch how quickly this develops off of that fake backscreen. All a decoy backscreen makes you think you're going to pal runs into O'Neil, and then comes back These two bots the switch. Now we get a dunk, another really nice Phoenix Suns possession. This is going to be a clear side two man game between use of Nurkic and Bradley Beal. Let's fast forward a little bit, all right, So here's our clear

side two man game, right. Pick and pop. I talk all the time about how the pick and pop is the best. Is one of the best counters for any sort of ball screen coverage that involves a drop because it actually forces it makes it so that the big man can't guard put both people at once. If he rolls, then he can kind of keep the roleman and the ball handler in front. But Nurkic pops. Now we have two on the ball. This is again the beginning of everything great that happens for the Suns starts with two

on the ball. This forces James Harden. Watch the rotation here James Harden's guarding Tias Jones, but when the two go to the ball, Harden rotates to the popper, same sort of weak side rotation we were just talking about the Pistons game. This triggers a cut from Tias Jones. When Tias Jones cuts, that occupies Chris Dunn. So Chris Dunn sees Tias and goes to the cutter right, So boom. Now essentially bringing two to the ball forces Done and Harden to rotate instead of being on Tias and Royce

O'Neil to being on Nurkicchen Tias. We get our skip pass that goes to Royce O'Neil that forces a mere Coffee to rotate. He makes the extra pass. Now we're getting a wide open three for Kevin Dury. Katie actually misses this shot, but that's really really good offense that once again starts from the simple concept of getting two on the basketball. Love cleared side action. Have always been a big fan of it. One more example of a

really nice advantage basketball possess for the Suns. We get a switch as Booker snakes the ball screen right, so now he's got Zobach on him. Now a lot of times you'll see teams in this situation think I have a favorable matchup. Let me just iso this dude and try to take a contested jump shot over the top of him. That's not what Booker thinks. Booker thinks, Actually, I'm just gonna beat him off the dribble to get the defense in rotation. He just drives, gets into the lane.

Defense collapses. We have our week side two on one. Booker makes the kickout pass swing, swing, easy jump shot for Royce O'Neil. And one of the things too, is like washing out Norman Powell on the drive too. Essentially just tries to double team again. Devin Booker's done his job. At that point, You've collapsed the defense. Just play advantage basketball on the weak side. End up getting a wide up and shot for a good shooter. Here's that possession

of bad Clippers transition defense. So James Harden tired settles for like a thirty five footer. But this is limbo. Shot is up. These two guys are your two guys back. These guys can crash out of the corner. Fine, these two guys have to sprint. Watch both of them just slowly backpedal. That's limbo. None of them are in position now they're able to throw an easy kick add pass to KD. KD ends up getting a layup. That's bad

transition defense. Here's that play that reminded me in the nineteen ninety eight NBA Finals where Tyas Jones like cuts a mere Coffee cuts through on the post entry right, So mere Coffee cuts through. Watch Tyas Jones fake like he's gonna follow him and then be like nope, never mind, and then come right back and steal the post entry pass. Beautiful work from Tyas Jones, end of getting another transition layoup.

Here's that mid range jump shot I was talking about James Harden again, Like instead of attacking the mismatch and trying to hit a really tough twenty five foot step back. It's one and a half minutes left, there's only a handful of possessions. Field goal percentage matters more. James Harden works him into the foul line and gets a nice little look from mid range, knocks it down. Here's that ridiculous Kevin Durant fade away to tie the game. Nice

little like impromptu double team from James Harden. Notice He waits until after Kevin Durant turns his back, so he's kind of in help. He's in help, in help. Katie turns his back, and then James Goes gets a great contest, but kt is just one of the best scorers of all time. Knocks down the jump shot all right. Moving on to the Warriors and the Blazers, here's an example of just how I prefer. This is one of the two wide open threes that Steph Curry missed at the

beginning of the game. I prefer Jonathan Kaminga on the ball because he actually has great tools in these situations, and it's a better situation for him because it doesn't divide his focus. Nice job sliding his feet, not fouling, absorbing contact, and then beating Denny to the offensive rebound.

but a layup. Very nice finish from Gary Payton. Here are the two off screen actions that Buddy Heald hit shots. I want you guys to pay attention to Looney screens. So this first one is the wide pin down I believe if I remember correctly, Yeah, okay, oh no, this is the ball screen. Okay, so we're coming off to Healed here wash the screens from Looney Boom just squares him up and basically forces him to go under. Look

at the screening angle. Look at how he angles it so that he basically can't chase over the top, has to go under. And remember with these shooters, now his rhythm is clean. I talk about this all the time with my young players like you. Once the hand like a good shooter doesn't see your hand. The hand doesn't bother a good shooter. The only way you're bothering a good shooter is if you bother the base or the gatherer. And the only way you're gonna do that is if

you effectively stay attached over the top of screens. Great screen from Looney forces him to go under Buddy hits the shot, and the same sort of thing here on the right side. Look at this monster screen from Looney Wash. The screen from Looney Boom creates plenty of separation and

Buddy's able to come off and hit again. Most underrated part of the Warriors offensive success over the last several years over the last decade is the screening from Looney All right, a couple of quick two man game possessions from the Bucks and then we'll be out of here for the day. So this one is a dribble handoff with Dame and Jannis. Notice how will we get an aggressive switch? So this is again very classic Nick Nurse.

They're not just switching, their aggressively switching. Watch as both Ubre Ubra shoots out on Dame and then Caleb comes way out on Giannis, and that's just not good defense on Giannis because he's so big and strong. Jannis now at this point has you dead to rights because he's just going to go right through you to the basket. So I like that as a way of basically using Dame's defender in a quick switch situation to get Jannis downhill.

Love those dribble handoffs. Here's that classic cleared side dribble handoff that we saw a bunch of in preseason, same sort of thing, Yannis flashing. Sometimes we'll have Yanni's backscreen for Torrian Prince first and then they'll run it. But in this case it's just a basic post entry cleared side Dame comes off the dho, we bring two to the ball. Now we have Giannis rolling, and notice who's on the back line guards. Giannis is going to go

right through those guys every single time. Another smart spacing concept too. This is something the Celtics do a really nice job of. They'll put their centers above the break instead of in the corner. Because see how Caleb Martin is your low man. If that's Yabusele Yabuseli in the low man spot, he's bigger and stronger and is going to present a bigger challenge for Yannis there. But instead it's Caleb Martin. He's able to just power right through it.

All right, guys, that is all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. We are back tonight after the final buzzer of Nuggets Thunder. I'm also going to be doing a mailbag at the tail end of that show, so make sure you guys come hang out, bring your questions.