Hoops Tonight - NBA Reaction: What's wrong w/ Celtics? Westbrook THRIVING w/ Nuggets, Suns are back?

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Void in Ontario, new customers only. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG dot co slash audio. All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at the volume heavy Monday. Everybody off. All of you guys had an incredible weekend. We have a jam pack show for you guys. There's a ton of pessimism surrounding the Boston Celtics, even though they're five and two in their last seven games.

I want to give my thoughts on that. Some of the reality of some of the things they've been struggling with, but also why I'm not particularly concerned ad to that the Denver Nuggets have won seven out of nine. We're gonna do a little deep dive into them, and the resurgence of Russell Westbrook having the most efficient scoring season

of his career. After that, a little bit about Bradley Beale going to the bench for the Phoenix Suns, and some stuff that I noticed watching some Suns film over the course of the weekend, and then at the tail end of the show like we do every Monday, although we did not do last Monday because I was out of town. Our power rankings going over the top ten teams in the league, a bunch of new faces there as a couple of red hot teams, the Detroit Pistons,

the Sacramento Kings, and the Indiana Pacers making appearances. Also getting into the rest of the teams in that list as well. You guys did the job before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops to Night YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at Underscore JCNLTC. You guys don't miss announcements. Don't forget about a podcast feed where you get your podcast O Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave a

rating and a review on that front. We also have brand new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook where we're releasing content throughout the year. Make sure you guys follow us there, and the last but not least, keep dropping mailback questions and the YouTube comments that we can keep getting to them throughout the remainder of the season. A right, let's talk some basketball. So is there something

wrong with the Boston Celtics. They've actually won five out of seven, but as you zoom out, a couple of disappointing losses in there, right, Like you get kind of bludgeoned in the second half against Oklahoma City. There's that embarrassing loss at home to the Kings without beer and Fox. And if you zoom out even further, they're seven and six since December nineteenth, so a thirteen game span where

they're basically playing five hundred basketball. The weird thing is is they're actually top five in both offensive rating and defensive rating in that span. One of the many reasons why I'm not super concerned is that every single time Boston kind of comes out and plays pissed off. They don't just win, they beat the shit out of people.

And that's what's influencing those advanced metrics to steal and to still appear good despite the seven and six record, Right, But again, like that's kind of part of the natural pullback that I would have expected to see this year with the defending champion. So before we get into any more detail about the specific things that Boston struggling with, I want to give my take, my take on this

whole situation. I'm not concerned in the big picture about slippage with the Boston Celtics, our Oklahoma City and Cleveland legitimate threats to them, yes, But we knew that coming in before the season, right, like different teams, Like we all knew Oklahoma City would be in that mix, but we thought maybe it was going to be in New York, Maybe it was going to be a Denver or somebody like that, Right, We didn't know who was going to

be that that was in that mix. But we knew that there was going to be more competition with Boston this year. We knew that in general, that this was a year that they were going to face more adversity because I mean, even though they were an extremely dominant team last year, they got some favorable matchups on the way through the playoff picture, they're probably going to face some tougher teams this year. Everyone knew, including Celtics fans, this year's probably going to be tougher than it was

last year. And if you look at teams like Cleveland and Oklahoma City, it's impossible for Boston to keep up with them in the standings. Why, Like those two teams are simply more motivated on a night in, night out basis. Right now, Boston knows the ultimate goal. They know what they're about to run into when they get to April, May and June. They know they probably have a full month of two playoff series to get tuned up before they even run into a team like at Cleveland should

they run into them in late May. Right, So, this is kind of a natural pullback that you'd come to expect. Like Jalen Brown has a Finals MVP Trophy, He's not going to be attacking things on the defensive end of the floor with the same level of intensity as players for the Cleveland Cavaliers that feel like they're on the verge of something special. Boston's at a different phase of their development, So to be clear, I think most of this is just typical regular season malays, and Boston will

have plenty of time to get right. They'll have probably two full series against teams they'll be heavily favored over in order to get kind of their habits and principles back to where they need it to be. So before we go any further, I don't think Boston should be panicking. I think they need to have the appropriate amount of fear of their opponents, something we've talked about a lot over the last couple of weeks. But I still feel more or less the same way than I did before

the season. But let's talk what are the differences between the Celtics this year and last year. First, let's take a look at the facts. They are shooting the ball very well. As a team. They're shooting thirty six point two percent from three, that's fifteenth in the NBA. Last year, they were thirty eight point eight percent from three, which

was second in the NBA. Of the eight guys who were in their playoff rotation last year, which we remember is Derek White, Drew Holliday, Tatum and Brown, Porzingis, Horford, Howser, and Pritchard. Those are the eight core guys that carried the Celtics to a championship last year. Obviously with some spot performances from guys covering for Porzingis or as the leads got out of hand at certain parts of games,

but that was the core eight. Seven of those eight guys are down or down year over year, and they're three point shooting in. Five of those guys are down significantly. Drue Holiday is down eight point six percent year over year from three, nowhere near the knockdown guy in the corner that he was last year. Jalen Brown down three

and a half percent. Horford's down five percent, Porzingis two point eight percent, Derek White one point seven percent, Tatum down one point seven percent, Sam Houser down four point eight percent. Prichard's the only guy who's up year over year three point shooting compared to last year. As a team, they're converting spot up possessions a whole five points per one hundred possessions worse than they did last year. The

weird thing is is they're taking more threes. They're taking seven additional threes per game compared to last year as a team, but in terms of unguarded threes percentergy, they're only generating one additional unguarded three. They're also generating four point eight fewer points in the paint per game and taking two additional pull up jump shots per game compared to last year. What does all that add up to? That's textbook settling, right, like what is the Celtics offensive process?

The Celtics offensive process is what took off for them between the twenty twenty two season and the twenty twenty four season, where they went from a team that was immensely talented that was underachieving to a team that kicked everybody's ass and won the trophy. The fundamental thing that changed was specifically Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, but also

Derek Why. Everyone was involved to various extents, but the primary shot creators in particular became advantage creators, which formed a brand of driving kick basketball, meeting people playing off of that advantage and just getting wide open, unguarded catch and shoot threes and easy attempts at the rim, or creating so much space in these iso and post up situations where they can bludgeon teams, and by the way,

like they're still very very good at that. Jason Tatum's having one of the best iso seasons in NBA history. Jalen Brown's having one of the best post up seasons in NBA history. Jalen Brown is just getting so incredibly good at positional ceiling, like instead of like catching in the post just to take a fade away over either shoulder, which by the way, he's great at, and he's gonna do a lot of that when they get to the postseason.

He's got really good at like fighting for the types of post position that lead to direct layups, so like and whenever someone tries to three quarter front or front him creating good sea angles for and over the top pass making physically aggressive moves towards the basket instead of relying on that fadeaway. He's up over like one point

four points per possession in post ups. Even in the catastrophe against the Kings, it was like Kean Ellis Jalen Brown bludgeoning him in the post, bludgeoning him in the post, bludgeoning him in the post, over and over and over again. Like that's there's so much good that they do there. But again, the primary like end result of the best possessions that Boston generates with their offense are wide open catch and shoot threes and easy layups at the basket.

That's actually the target. These like ISOs in post up sequences for Tatum and Brown, you'd actually prefer for them to be few and far between. Right. So, like now, if we take a simple psychological look at what's happening with the Celtics compared to the Thunder and the Calves, there's a the level of physical intensity that's not there for Boston that's there for the other two teams, again to be expected. Oklahoma City, Yeah they were the one seed last year, but they were barely the one seed

this year. They're a runaway one seed that feels like they're doing something special. Right, just kick the shit out of the Knicks the other night. They're riding high Cleveland. They're at a seventy one win pace, even after losing to the Pacers last night. Those two teams are on trajectories where every regular season game feels like another opportunity to add to this special story they're telling. Boston could

give a shit about any of this. They just want to be ready to go in June when they need to get the trophy. So that's naturally going to lead to like a little bit of a drawback in terms of physical aggression. How is that going to manifest? Settling? Right?

Because it vantaged creation. Actually drawing multiple bodies requires a certain amount of physical exertion, whether that's beating your man cleanly off the dribble, aggressively fighting for post position so that you can get the kinds of inside seals that Tatum and Brown get that generate those four on threes off of the over the top pass from a guy like Derek White. There's a physical aggression element to advantage creation.

And when you're being lazy as a shot creator, you're settling for jump shots in a lot of those situations. And so the numbers pretty clearly say because points in the painter are down, pull up, jump shots are up, everyone's three point shooting is down even though the volume is up. That screams we're settling. Okay, that's a certain amount of like to be expected under the circumstance. The question is will they be able to snap out of

it when the time comes, And I believe they will. Again, I think most of This is about Boston with their eyes on the prize more being just not very much in the moment, whereas Cleveland and Oklahoma City are living very much in the moment right now. And so again it's just leading to a little bit decline in the sharpness for Boston. But I believe that when push comes to shove and they get into these serious situations, that brand of basketball is still in there. And here's the

thing we talk about it. It might take them falling down into playoff series, like they're gonna almost certainly be on the road for the Eastern Conference finals, and then if Oklahoma City wins the West, they will almost certainly be on the road in the NBA Finals if they are to make it to that point, right, So, like that's to be expected that you're gonna be playing on

the road. You split, or they get one, or they get both at home, you could be sitting to down to one in a series, and Boston very well, it may take them getting down two to zero in a series before they snap out of it. Obviously, if you do that, you play with fire, and anytime you play with fire, you could go cold and you get yourself beat. Boston is not a runaway championship favorite. They're the slight favorite.

They are absolutely beatable, but when push comes to shove, if they engage themselves, they still have the most versatile personnel on both ends of the floor that everybody that anybody in this league has. If you go down the line, Derek White, Drew Holiday, Tatum, Porzingis Horford all very good defensively, passing, shooting, ball handling. All of them can do everything so well on both ends of the floor that there's just so many different configurations that they can win with in terms

of their style on both ends of the floor. It just gives them a lot of versatility when they get into the postseason. That still is their trump card. That still is the thing that makes them so scary when they get into that situation. So I've remained positive. Now. One guy I want to say I'm a little tiny bit concerned about is Jaylen Brown. I don't particularly like the brand of basketball he's been playing as of late. For starters, He's been flat out bad on defense for

long stretches, floating around taking bad gambles. He had a really bad gamble off of Keegan Murray and Crunch time of the King's game where he gave up a wide open three on the right wing. He's had stretches where, like almost every bad Celtics defensive stretch starts with Jalen Brown kind of doing the bare minimum at the beginning of these possessions in his ball pressure situations. That's been part of it. I also haven't loved his offensive approach

as of late. He's had some success, like we talked about, he just destroyed Keon Ellison the post to start the King's game, but he's been kind of playing a bit on an island. What I mean by that is like it disrupts the rhythm and flow of the other guys on the team, a lot of co opting possessions, dribbling the air out of the basketball on ISO's over penetrating, turning the ball over again existing on an island instead

of playing the role that he played last year. And again, it's weird because, like then, he'll also have these stretches where he's driving and kicking and he's doing some of his best playmaking work that I've ever seen him do, like mixed in with otherwise frustrating basketball. And again, I think most of it has to do with that same concept we were talking about earlier. Jalen Brown is a

Finals MVP. He literally has the Bill Russell Trophy at home. Okay, like that's going to change your perspective on these January games when you're playing on the most talented roster in the league. That's why I'm not particularly concerned. So when you combine that with the fact that he's also just not shooting the ball well from three. He's just twenty seven percent from three in his last thirteen games, that's

caused for some iffy basketball from Jalen Brown. It's been part of the problem for the Celtics as of late. Tatum has been pretty consistently great and has been kind of the foundation that's maintained stability in this stretch. I thought he was incredible last night in the Pelicans game, pulling that one out. He struggled with turnovers a little

bit in the Sacramento game, just sloppy. He's throwing the ball out of bounds a couple of times, just didn't see health defense coming and was just getting surprised by stuff. Just kind of a bad game on that front. But again, I thought he was amazing in the Pels game and so as we kind of zoom out look at the big picture for the Celtics, Yeah, the Celtics are not as sharp as the thunder and the Cavs are right now. Yeah, they're settling a little bit and they're not shooting the

ball very well. But most of this is to be expected because the Celtics are in a different phase of their development, in a different phase of their motivational kind of outlook heading into this part of the season. As long as they clean things up in time for the playoffs, I still think they have the most versatile playoff talent in the league. All Right, Moving on to Denver, They've won three in a row, seven out of nine in this nine game span. They're second in offense, eighth in defense.

Nicole Jokic in this stretches averaging thirty four points, fifteen rebounds, and eleven assists. I pulled this stat yesterday. Like, in this stretch, Jokic has basically been putting up the same numbers as Jimmy Butler and bam Adebayo in their combined season averages. This year. Just goes to show you the type of statistical, just sheer production that Jokic is putting

out there. Aaron Gordon came back from his injury in a bench roll, kind of like a minute's restriction type of deal versus the Mavericks yesterday, and he was awesome. Like Dallas really jumped the Nuggets early. And again I keep telling everybody, I think Dallas is pretty good. Like even with al Kyrie and Luca, I just think they have one of the best rosters in the league. So much defensive talent, so much additional ball handling. You saw what Spencer Dinn, what he can do when he's just

given the keys to that Dallas offense. It's like he's born to play in that offense. But they kind of jumped Denver early. But Aaron Gordon was a huge part of their comeback. And Russell Westbrook is the main guy that I want to talk about today. He's averaging seventeen points, eight rebounds, and eight assists on fifty six percent from the field. The efficiency for him this year is at an all time high. I was surprised to see this

morning that Russ had never posted an effective field goal percentage. Again, effective field goal percentage is just your field goal percentage with weighted for threes. That's all It is doesn't include free throws. It's not tru shooting percentage, just field goals

waited for threes. He's never posted a season over fifty percent in effective field goal percentage is in his entire career Before this season, He's at fifty two percent in EFFECTI field goal percentage fifty four point three percent in true shooting percentage, which is the fourth highest mark of his entire career. The big thing that's swinging that in

his favor is his finishing at the rate. Russell Westbrook in his last season with the Lakers before getting traded in the twenty twenty three campaign, in fifty two games, he shot fifty one percent at the rim perc energy. He's shooting sixty five point two percent at the rim this year for the Denver Nuggets. That's again, fourteen percent higher than he was his last season with the Lakers, ten percent higher than his full season that he had

with the Lakers. Another big thing that's driving this is just his cutting to the basket off of Jokic post ups. In particular, he had just ten cuts in those fifty two games, and that twenty twenty three season with the Lakers, he's had twenty eight cuts in thirty eight games for the Nuggets this year. That's makes on cuts so ten made baskets in fifty two games last season for the Lakers, twenty eight made baskets on cuts in thirty eight games

with the Nuggets so far this year. One of the big reasons why cutting off of post ups is so important, and part of this is like what makes Jokic such a unique player and how he can kind of breakdown defenses. You know, there was a lot of posting up that was taking place with the Lakers in particular, but their

spacing principles weren't very good. And one of the things that would happen in particular too is like when Lebron would post up, Anthony Davis just wasn't a perimeter threat, so it would cousse some like kind of spacing issues in the middle of the floor that didn't make things easier for us. Again, anytime this kind of stuff happens, it's always a combination of factors, right, Like, do I wish Russ would have cut more? You bet your ass.

I really wish he would have been a more active participant off the ball, moving screening, just trying to be a threat when he didn't have the ball in his hand. He's definitely doing it more now. Some of that is Russ's fault, but some of it is also Mike Malone and the Nuggets. They're just a more organized offense, especially in post up situations with their motion. A lot of Lakers post ups end and guys just kind of standing

around on the perimeter. Some of that is a team wide kind of issue, right, And then the third part of it is Jokisch. Like as good as Lebron James has been in his late career here with the Lakers, I don't think Lebron's had a case to be the best player in the world since like maybe that first stretch right after they won the title in twenty twenty, but like he hasn't been at that level really in the twenty twenty two or twenty twenty three seasons, Like there was a drop off for him. And so like

Yo Kicch is better, that makes life easier. The Nuggets are more organized, That makes life easier. Russ has also improved in his participation off the ball cutting, which is getting in more of those situations. But again, one of the reasons why cutting off of post ups is so valuable is because usually the guy being posted up is being guarded by a big defender. So if Yo Kicch is being guarded by a big rim protector, think of

it like a gafferd er Lively or something along those lines. Like, And there were even stretches where they put centers on Russell Westbrook in that game yesterday, which I thought was interesting,

and that was kind of what was causing problems. Russ Westbrook got two cuts, easy ones right at the rim because they were doubling off of him, Like he passed the ball to Yokich and then just cut to the front of the rim and be wide open, right, and like that's part of the the issue with doubling off of the passer is like typically that ends up giving up a wing three. But if you cut off of it,

you can get layups out of it as well. But again, if you imagine if you're cutting into the lane in a normal circumstances where a rim protector's waiting on you, it's just really congested and it can be an issue. But if the rim protector is accounted for in the post up, then if you cut behind it, you have an opportunity to finish where there's less traffic. That's why cutting off of post ups is so important. Russ has been just doing a really good job of it this year. Also,

shooting three is a lot better. Russ is hitting thirty six percent of his unguarded threes this year perc Entergy, one point zero nine points per shot. He was at just thirty one percent in twenty twenty three with the Lakers zero point nine to three points per shot, thirty two percent in his full season with the Lakers in twenty twenty two zero point nine four points per shot. So he's like getting an extra fifteen points per one

hundred Russell Westbrook spot up possessions when he's unguarded. That's a substantial difference. Like, there's two parts to playing basketball when your guard like Russell west there's playing on the ball and playing off the ball. In this case, let's look at it within the context of Jokic playing off

of Jokic or playing with Jokic. When he's playing off of Jokic, meaning when Yokic is posting up, or when he's running two man game with a different player on the floor, it's about cutting and finishing and hitting wide open threes. He's cutting more than ever, finishing better than ever, and he's hitting his wide open threes. That is the thing that he's doing that is making this work. And then playing with Jokic, it's about him bringing downhill force

in the two man game. When he's attacking in those ball screens or in those dribble handoffs, he gets downhill. When he gets downhill, he engages Jokic's defender as a drop coverage big. When he engages Yokic's defender as a drop coverage big, he can pop the ball back to Jokic as he's trailing the play in the middle of the paint. That's where he gets to his floaters. As a matter of fact, Jokic just hit ten floaters this year directly off of Russ passes in pick and roll.

It's been a big part of their success in the two man game. The easiest way that I could describe the Russell Westbrook experience, I did not enjoy rooting for Russ when he was a Laker. I'm not trying to be critical, I'm not trying to be unfair. I'm telling you guys, how it literally felt like when I was watching the Lakers rooting for him. I wanted Russ to succeed and and it just was bad. He just wasn't the same player. And there was it was, it was.

There were positive moments. I don't want to pretend like it was all bad. Russ did have good games when he was with the Lakers, but it just felt like more bad than good. And it wasn't a fun experience. And I'm not alone in that. If you ask us other Laker fans, the vast majority of them will tell you that rooting for Russell Westbrook was kind of a chore. I really have had fun watching Russ this year. I've

enjoyed watching him play basketball. I've enjoyed like watching him kind of experience a little bit of a renaissance, and like, if there's anything to be said here, one of the things that I think is really interesting about competitors in general is like I always am interested to see how you respond to the down times, how you respond to losing, how you respond to things going poorly right, Like, just as a Lebron fan, one of my favorite things about

his career is just his ability to bounce back, Like kind of had a rough season in the Western Conference finals year, he had broken. He had that issue with his foot, if you remember correctly, couldn't make a jump shot to save his life. Kept saying after the season, like, Man, the Lakers need Lebron to hit jump shots. Man went into the gym that summer, worked his tail off and came back as one of the best jump shooters in

the league as a thirty nine year old. Like, that's what has made Lebron as great as he's been in his career. It's been an unwillingness to accept playing poorly and a desire to become that kind of like weakness free basketball player, if that makes sense. It's been a rough go for us as of late in the last few years. It's been a mix of bad and good. It's been a lot of slander. A lot of it's come from me, some of it most of it deserved

because of the way he was playing right. But the truth of the matter is is like as those times were going poorly, Russ had two options. He could either blame everybody else and pout on his way out of the league, or he could adapt and try to make better of it. Now, in his press conference comments, he's still done a good amount of blame shifting. But in terms of his work, in terms of his work behind the scenes and what he's doing on the court, it

is clear that he's addressed some of his weaknesses. Teams were leaving wide open. He needed to knock down shots. He's been knocking down shots. He needed to do more work as an off ball scorer because he's not going to operate on ball as much as he used to. He's done that work and he's become a better off ball scorer and he's made himself a better basketball player as a result. And again, the easiest way that I can quantify it is I enjoy watching Russell Westbrook play basketball. Now.

One't like that a few years ago in the past. Peynon Watson was great yesterday too. He's plus thirty and thirty three minutes, played a lot with Aaron Gordon on his minutes restriction, had a gigantic corner three and crunch time on a kickout. A lot of big shots this

year in big spots. Another play too, by the way, on that play, Russell Westbrook cut into the lane and when he cut into the lane, he didn't get the ball, but Klay Thompson, who was guarding Peyton Watson came in to kind of help on Russell Westbrook's cut, which is what made the skip pass open. Again, like positive returns that don't show up in the box score, Russell Westbrook being active as a cutter creating that open corner three for Peyton Watson. The Nuggets are last guy I want

to shout out Michael Porter Junior. He had a rough shooting game, but he had a couple of huge offensive rebounds, including a clutch put back at the end of that one, And in this nine game stretch he's been great. He's at twenty points per game on fifty two percent from the field and forty three percent from three. The Nuggets are a weird team because they haven't really looked dominant at any point this season, like even last night they were down big to the MAVs without Kyrie and Luca.

Albeit again I think that's a good roster. There's some weird first half second half splits, like they're nineteenth and first half net rating getting outscored by three point two points per one hundred possessions. They're second in second half net rating blowing teams out. They're outscoring teams by eleven points per one hundred possessions, second only to the Oklahoma City Thunder and second halves of games, and they're fourth in clutch net rating with a one to twenty six

offensive rating. And that's what makes them so hard to quit. They seem to be digging themselves in a bunch of holes and like not really looking like a super sharp team every single night. But then they just kind of figure it out and at the tail end of games, they lean on the stuff that's been working for them for years and they just keep getting wins. And that's why I can't ever write this team off. It's just

it's the Jokic factor. It's the continuity factor. You still see Jamal Murray coming off of an action late in a game and it just feels like that SHOT's going in Aaron Gordon. It just continues to do damage on both ends of the floor. Like, you just can't quit these guys because they're capable of beating anybody, even if it doesn't look like they're at any sort of world

beater at this point in time. So like again, Nuggets starting to turn the corner a little bit, still missing that like signature stretch this season, but it very well could take place here in the next couple of weeks really quickly on the Suns. A lot of talk about, you know, just in general pessimism surrounding the Suns. I've talked about this before, but like like everyone was out

on the Lakers, including myself, after that ugly stretch in Miami. Right, and they've kind of bounced back a little bit, although they took a couple of bad losses on a road trip recently. It feels like they haven't played in ages because of the the fires in Los Angeles, right, But like the Lakers were down big, the season's not over for them. The Warriors have been down big at various points this season. I still think they're just in the

mix like anybody else. Sacramento, oh man, the season's over. That was such a terrible loss that they had. I think it was to the Jazz at the end of that losing streak. Bam, they want seven in a row. They're right back in the mix. The like like there there's a Minnesota Timberwolve, so another team this year that got off to a really bad start, but they've had

at various points looked very good. So like part of it is like the Western Conference and just some of the realities of how these teams that are in that I think. I think Dallas and Denver are clearly a level above. Like if you look at OKAC number one, and then you have your two young athletic teams right so Houston and Memphis, but then you've got Denver in Dallas.

Those are the teams that are clearly not as talented as like the top tier talented teams in the league, but they're right below that tier still with a lot of talent and led by APEX superstars that are capable of beating anybody in a playoff series. So like Denver and Dallas are like a level above. And once you get to that next tier like Lakers, Clippers, Timberwolves, Sons, Kings, Warriors, Spurs, like all the teams in that group I kind of think are more or less in the same tier. They're

kind of in the right order. Like, yeah, I'd put the Lakers and Clippers and Wolves towards the upper end of that tier, and I'd put the Suns and the Kings and the Spurs and those guys in the lower

end of that tier. But they're all really close and they're gonna jump up and down week to week based on when they're winning games, and like based on their schedule, based on injuries, based on when they decide they want to play some better basketball, right, And like, as I'm looking at the Suns, everybody was burying them, I'm like, look at their schedule coming up. Look at their schedule coming up. They're gonna bounce back. They've already won three

games in a row. Bradley Beal's coming off the bench for them now, I think for five games. I wanted to talk just briefly about the Bradley Beal thing because I'm trying to remember which game it was that I watched that they won the other day. It was the I think it was the first game that it came off the bench. I can't remember which game it was that I watched. I did a whole film session on ed on my Twitter feed. I clipped like twenty five

clips from this game. But the big thing that stood out to me with Bradley Beal is something that first started to pop on the numbers and then was something that stood out to me pretty starkly on film, which is he's just a really bad off ball defender, Like a really, really bad off ball defender. So the Sun's defense is six points worse per one hundred possessions when Bradley Beal is on the floor versus one he's off.

And the main thing that I noticed is like just consistently ending up in like closeout situations, consistently ending up in situations where guys are running right around him for offensive rebounds because he's standing upright and not paying attention off the ball. This is kind of like a thing that happens with a lot of like primary ball handler types that are guards that transition into smaller roles. This is the same sort of thing that Russell Westbrook used

to struggle with really bad. It's when you're an on ball guard that has a high usage rate the way that Russell Westbrook did most of his career, the way that Bradley Beal did for most of his career in Washington, you end up saving energy on the defensive end of the floor, and as a team you kind of prepare for it. The coaching staff prepares for it. They account for it with the other players that are on the floor.

It's kind of an understanding like we're not gonna get as much on the defensive end from this guy because he's carrying everything for us on the offensive end of the floor. The problem is, is it beads. It breeds really bad habits when you get into a situation where suddenly you're playing a smaller role and that offensive load is just not as big as it used to be.

And that's the thing is, like, all of a sudden, it's like you can't afford to have Bradley Beal standing around off ball, leaving shooters, ending up in bad closeout situations, giving up offensive rebounds when he's not the folk point of your offense. Now, it's like you need him to do role player stuff. And like you know, in the game that I'm I'm speaking, it's absolutely killing me that I can't remember which game it was that I was covering after I spent all that time watching the film.

It was the Atlanta Hawks. It was the Hawks game the other night. So in the Hawks game in particular, like brad Beil was awesome on the offensive end consistently, it was one of the guys that was generating separation, generating quality shots for the Suns. He's important for their rim pressure. There's so much that Bradley Beal does good on the offensive end of the floor, but he undercuts it with a lack of attention to detail on the

defensive end of the floor. And like, one of the things we're seeing with the Sons is like when they start to anchor Kevin Durant Bradley or Kevin Durant and Devin Booker with role player talent, they're having more success when it's also a guitar, when it's Ryan Dunn, when it's Grayson Allen out there with those two guys, they're kicking everybody's butt because why Grayson Allen is just going

to do his job on defense. Meaning like Grayson Allen's entire career, just like every other role player, it's been like I'm sure as hell better do my job on this defensive possession off the ball, or my ass is gonna be sitting on the bench, right, Like that's gonna lead to a certain level of attention to detail over the course of his career. That's not gonna be there for a ball dominant guard, right And then Ryan Dunnanoso

guitar are literally professional athletes. They're professional Let's just be big, tall and fast and be wrecking balls on that end of the floor. Also, he's doing a really good job as a roleman. As of late they're anchoring Kevin Durant Devin Booker with role player talent and having more success that way. Part of the thing that's helped turn them around as of late two is Devin Booker is just playing a lot better after he had been slumping pretty bad.

And then still every time I watch, including in the Hawks game, just every time they need to really leverage themselves defensively, Kevin Durant can just step up and make all the big defensive plays that they need to make. And then last night in the win, it was just the elbow post ups with KD just drawing that just shooting over the top, drawing that extra defender that ends up getting the defense in rotation that ended up in that corner three for Royce O'Neil that ice the game.

But so I'm not ready, like everyone just in general, this tier of teams, this Lakers, Clippers, Wolves, Spurs, Suns, Kings, all the teams in that group, Like none of them should be written off entirely after a bad week or two, but none of them should be taken seriously after a good week or two. Either. The only way any of those teams I'm going to take seriously is if they can separate themselves from that tier. And the only way they're going to separate that selves from that tier in

the standings is by winning games. And the only way they're gonna do that is by either improving the roster improving their attention to detail. Are both for most of those teams, right, So, like again, the Bradley Beal thing mostly came down to off ball defense in my opinion, it's also allowing him to come into the game and just look to be aggressive, which is easier for him

with his offensive rhythm. But again, like with this team, just like anybody else in that Western Conference, let's try not to overreact to any one or two week sample as we wait to see if there's any team in that group that can separate. All right, let's get into our power rankings before we get out of here for the day. Again, all of our odds are provided by our partner Draft Kings number ten the Detroit Pistons six and one since our last power rankings nine and two.

In their last eleven games, several quality wins. They beat the Wolves, the Kings, the Lakers, and the Suns in that span eighth in offense, twelfth in defense, sixth in net rating. On the offensive end of the four kad Is averaging twenty five points, five remounds and nine assists on fifty six percent through shooting in that span. Had

seventeen assists against the Rafters the other night. Just did a great job hunting his spot up guys again, Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Junior just bring like green light

spot up shooting, like any space spot up shooting. Those guys went eleven for thirteen from three against the Raptors, in large part because Kage just kept hunting them whenever he could get a chance to get them a look, even a big shot late in the game, a clutch shot, just a dribble handoff to Malik Beasley at the top of the key, where Kage just threw the handoff, threw a little shoulder in there, got Moleik enough space for

him to knock down that shot. Doing a lot of work just methodically in ball screens getting into the middle of the floor. One of the things that makes Kay Cunningham so difficult to guard is his short range shot making. He's shooting forty seven for ninety four on jump shots that are inside of seventeen feet. That's fifty percent. So he's hitting half of his jump shots that are inside of seventeen feet. He's also fifty seven percent on floaters,

fifty three percent on hooks. This is the kind of thing that I've been talking about a lot with Jokic. This is like kind of a baby version of it, that's more of like a perimeter version of it, because Yoka just percentages on those shots are all like sixty seventy percent, right. But this is what causes k to be a very reliable bull shot creator in these types of situations. Kaid's score percentage. Remember score percentage is just a percentage of possessions that end in points, Okay. Caid's

score percentage on post ups is fifty six percent. A Caid post up, if you ran one hundred of them, they're going to score at least one point on fifty six percent of them. That's the reliability that comes from short range shot making. Short range shot making is going to have shooting percentages that are higher than fifty percent, which is going to be less you know, dependent on the variance that can come into the equation when it comes to any sort of jump shooting type of situation, right,

that's a huge part of it. The CAD just brings that physicality to Bias. Harris doubles down on the physicality, had a big driving layup at the end of that Toronto Raptors game. Tobias has basically been fifty to forty ninety in this stretch and it adds to the physicality that the front line brings. Jalen Duran he actually ran an inverted ball screen the other day where he I think it was in the Warriors game where he got a screen from Cad and just went right downhill and

dunked it with his right hand. But it's just the Isaiah Stewart brings that level of physicality. Jalen Durham brings that level of physicality. You've got the athleticism of Ron Holland and Aasar Thompson that comes into the equation. It's layers of athleticism in every phase of the game. But the shock creation in particular of Caid but also with Tobias just hunting these smaller guards, and that's part of it too. I was talking with a buddy of mine

earlier today. I saw the Warriors start Dennis Schroeder on CAD. I wonder if teams need to start bigger defenders on CAD because of how easily he's getting to where he wants to on the floor. But yeah, again, things starting to turn around for the Pistons. They're also top five and rebounding during the stretch, playing some really good basketball.

Tough schedule coming up though right now. If you want to bet on the Pistons, there plus ten thousand to win the title and plus six thousand to win the East. Number nine. The Sacramento Kinks seven game win streak, seventh in offense, third in defense. They're grabbing fifty four point four percent of available rebounds on the stretch, bludgeoning teams

on both ends of the floor on the glass. So Bonus had twenty eight points against Boston, or excuse me, twenty eight rebounds against Boston the other night, Trey Lyles had five offensive rebounds in the same game, so thirteen offensive rebounds just between those two guys did a ton of damage. So Bonus was just thrown around Porzingis and Horford in that game. A lot of high quality wins in the seven game stretch, all seven wins Dallas, Philly, Memphis,

Golden State, Miami, Boston, Chicago. Those are all really impressive wins. The Boston game in particular, super impressive. No Deer and Fox in that one. They competed throughout, kept the game close with their defense and the rebounding, and then they went on a crazy run to start the fourth quarter. So Joe Mizzoula ends up putting Chris tops Porzingis on

Devin Carter to start the fourth quarter. All game long, they house or excuse me, all game long, Missoula put centers on to Devin Carter to try to make him uncomfortable and just you know, see if he's willing and able to make them pay with over the top shooting, and he hit a three on Cornette early when they put a center on him, and then to start the fourth quarter back to back bombs over Porzingis that forced them to switch the action. So then all of a sudden,

Prichard was on Devin Carter. They ran the exact same action with Trey Lyles pick and popping to the top of the key. Porzingis didn't want to help because he was worried about the pick and pop, so Devin Carter just went right around him and I think it was an and one, but it might have just been a layup, but he gets a layup, So Devin Carter eight quick points to start the fourth quarter. Keegan Murray hit three

huge threes. He was beating nail help and low man help all night long with like long above the break threes on the wing. Demarta rose in two just brought the game home with the shot making. He was having a brutal shooting night, like especially in that second quarter, was like he couldn't hit a shot to save his life. But he had twelve points in the fourth quarter. He hit a couple threes as well, some really tough contested shots that ended up helping to carry things home for

the Kings in their big upset win. So Bonus was doing a ton of damage to Porzingis and Hordford, not just on the glass but also picking and popping. He had three threes in the game, two pick and pop threes early and then also hit a big clutch three. I think it was on an offensive rebound kickback. Just an absolutely monster road win to legitimize the King's win streak.

The win string has mostly been about the Kings winning on the margins though, Like they're forcing sixteen point one turnovers per game that's third in the league, twenty one points per points off of turnovers per game that's third in the league. Fourteen offensive rebounds per game in that span, that's third in the league. Sixteen point four check a second chance points per game in that span, that's third

in the league. Then on the opposite end, they're top ten in opponent points off of turnovers, top ten and opponent second chance points, top ten and opponents fast break points, and top ten and opponent's points in the paint, So

they're taking away the easy stuff in the paint. They're turning their opponents over and getting out in transition while not turning the ball over themselves and keeping their opponents out of transition, while doing a ton of damage on the offensive glass while not letting the opponent do a ton of damage on the offensive glass. That's it. That'll

go a long way towards turning things around. Just destroying teams on the margins the way that they have in this span, and then the offense was finally clicking with

all the talent that they have in this roster. Darren Fox is averaging an efficient twenty nine in the seven game win streak, although he's been out for some of the games, and the Malik Monk Demartin Rosen both over twenty points per game, so bonus in this span twenty seventeen and seven on sixty percent from the field fifty nine percent from three time and time again is hitting

big three point shots at the end of games. The Kings of the latest Western Conference team that looked completely dead in the water but then successfully resuscitated their season and why I'm pretty much unwilling to write anybody off at this point. They are plus nine thousand to win the title, plus thirty five hundred to win the Western Conference. Number eight the Indiana Pacers, winners of six in a row,

twelve of their last fifteen. They are now all the way up to fifth in the Eastern Conference, and last night they pulled off one of the most impressive wins of the season, just dominating the Cavs in Cleveland in the second half, shutting down their offense. They outscored the cast sixty eight to forty in the second half and

did it almost entirely with ball pressure. In the third quarter, they just started pressuring the hell out of Cleveland in the back court and playing those kick ahead passing lanes that Cleveland lives on a lot of the time, and it just completely discombobulated the Calves. They had seven turnovers just in the third quarter that led to twelve Pacers points, and then in the half court when they did get up the floor, they just looked kind of sped up

and out of control. The Pacers ended up grabbing that game by the reins and never let go. In the streak, the Pacers are third in offense, eighth in defense, eighth in rebounding, and you don't need to look too much further than that. Like a lot of things are going right for Indy, like Siakam's playing great, Andrew Nemhard being back has helped a lot, Like they're sixteen and eight when he plays this year, in five and ten when he doesn't, so when he was injured for that amount

of time, it really hurt things. Jars Walker's become one of my favorite young role players to watch. It's really starting to blossom into a useful ford. He had a couple of huge poke away steals. He'll get aggressive from behind on steels like he gets beat or if he's in chase like trail position on anything, he just starts swiping at the basketball with his long arms. He had a couple of big poke way steels in the second

halfingains Cleveland. He's been a high steels guy per minute all season and really all of his career, shooting forty percent from three. Run some legit action, like he had a ball screen in the third quarter with Thomas Bryant, whre he put his defender in jail and brought over the rim protector and dropped it off to Thomas got

an easy bucket. All the pick and roll reps that I've watched with Jaris Walker this year, he's just done a really nice job of using his size, like using all that means there is like if a ball screen comes and the guy chases over the top, if you run it right, like where if you actually make shoulder to shoulder contact and time everything properly and set your man up for the screen, you're gonna get him in

trail position. Once he's in trail position, if you're bigger, then you can just methodically work to whatever spot you want by just kind of reverse post ups. We talked

about that with Luca in the Timberwolve series. It's like a reverse post up because as you come over the screen, the defender gets on your backside and then you're kind of just posting him but forward, like you're ceiling him behind you while you methodically work your way forward to try to either bring a help defender over so you can throw a pass, or if they sag back, that's when you can go to your short range shot making, which by the way, is pretty good at the shot making.

Piece two. He's actually run sixty three ISO's pick and rolls and post ups this year, including passes that have led to sixty four points, So that's over a point per possession for a second year forward who is, you know, a role player type of prospect. Like, it's really really impressive stuff from him. So again, terres Walker's great, Nemhart's back playing great, Sachem's playing great, Halliburton's been really good as of late up until the injury, which we'll talk

about in a minute. All that's good, and all that's great, but the main thing that's driving this turnaround for the Pacers is their defense and rebounding. Before this fifteen game stretch where they've won twelve out of fifteen, they are twenty fourth in defense, twenty seventh and rebounding. In the time of the fifteen game stretch, where they're twelve and three,

eighth in defense, eighth and rebounding. That's really it, Like they have to compete on the margins to give themselves a chance, especially when you're as undersized as they can be on the perimeter, Like you've got to leverage yourself athletically on both ends of the floor, running up and down the floor at that pace that makes the pacer so good. By pressuring the ball by trying to force turnovers.

They don't really force a ton of turnovers, but that was a big part of how they beat Cleveland, and in the last few games they've been forcing more turnovers, which has helped things. Again, like by ball pressuring, you can discombobulate your opponent and cause it to be more of an up and down type of game, and an up and down type of game is going to favor the Pacers more often than not. One big bummer, though, tyres Alliburton had been looking a bit more like himself.

He in this stretch, this fifteen game stretch was averaging nineteen points and ten rebounds on forty nine percent from the field forty one percent from three to eighty eight percent from the line. But then he left at halftime with hamstring tightness, and obviously, with everything that we know about Tyres Alliburton's history, that's obviously super concerning. So hopefully we get some good news on that front sooner than later. Pacers right now plus ten thousand to win the title,

plus three thousand to win the Eastern Conference. Number seven the Memphis Grizzlies. They've dropped three out of five. They still have the six best record in basketball, though in spite of that, it's kind of an un even stretch, really impressive win in Minnesota against the Timberwolves where they were playing one of those top ten defenses that Taylor Jenkins has been talking a lot about, and they not only lit him up but also got a big win.

Jaron Jackson was incredible all night, and then John Morant ended up stealing the game with two crazy crunch time buckets, including this impossible kind of like leaning floater fadeaway thing that he hit over Ant that ended up winning the game. But that was after a disappointing game against Houston where their offense really sputtered. They turned the ball over a ton Taylor Houston just butchered them in transition off of it.

And again, like Taylor Jenkins before that game, had said that he viewed these two games in particular as important tests because they were against top ten defenses. And again they failed the first test, but then they passed it. In the Minnesota game. They had a one to twenty five offensive rating in that one. Minnesota's currently sitting sixth in defense, So I wanted to look at that top ten defens's piece since Taylor Jenkins was kind of concerned

about it. So what did the numbers say about Memphis versus top ten defenses. They've played nine such games this season. They have a one to twelve offensive rating in those games that actually ranks ninth in the NBA. It's not bad, right, So their offense has been fine, but they're three and six in those games, and a good part of it has been bad possessions that end in transition runouts. And this was something that I didn't even realize up until

this point. But Memphis lets defenses get our offenses get out and transition seventeen point two percent of their possessions according to Cleaning the Last, which ranks twenty sixth in the NBA. So like they can get beat in transition is what happened in that Houston game in particular, and it's one of the things that's happening to them against these better defenses when they start to turn the ball over and give up live ball situations where they can

get compromised. The Grizzlies are also six and ten in clutch games this year and have only posted a one oh six point one offensive rating in forty seven clutch minutes this year. That to me comes down to teams packing the paint. Again. Memphis generates by far the most spot up attempts in the league, in large part because of John Morant. They generate thirty five point four spot up opportunities per game. Denver, as a comparison, only generates

twenty point three. Just to give you guys some perspective there, but Memphis only converts spot at possessions at one point zero four points per possession, which ranks nineteenth in the NBA. They're shooting sixteen percent five for thirty one on threes in the clutch, which ranks dead last in the NBA, So again that's part of the things, that's part of the thing that's been causing some issues for them on offense. Just something to keep an eye on Memphis right now.

Plus twenty eight hundred to win the title, plus eleven hundred to win the Western Conference. Number six the Denver Nuggets. We hit them in the opening segments today, So if you want more Denver Nuggets analysis, if you're checking this out on the Power Rankings breakout clip, just go to our full episode. They are plus thirteen hundred to win the title, plus five point fifty to win the West. Number five Houston Rockets a really impressive win in Memphis

for their third straight win. The other night, Shan Gun was just absolutely frying every single Grizzlies big. They had brought in their third string center Brandon Clark midway through the first quarter, just trying something to get it like Jay Huff couldn't handle and Zacchiet he couldn't handle. It was just a problem really, Like it was one of those things too where Shane Gun part of the issue too. And I'm confused about this as it pertains two opponents.

Everyone's biting on Shanegun's pump fake in the middle of the lane every single time, when, like the numbers say, that's not necessarily a super efficient shot for him, But he was just getting those guys just by showing them the ball and then going right around him, getting wherever he wants. Even did some damage Jared Jackson in that game as well. But the more impressive part of that game was Houston's defense, which just completely discombobulated Memphis offense.

They had thirty one points off of turnovers in that one. And then one of the big stories that I've been talking about all year is like Jalen Green and Fred Van Vliet, when they produce offensively, this team looks like a championship contender. When they don't produce offensively, they look like a mediocre team. In the Memphis game, those guys gave you forty nine points, the Wizard's game forty eight points,

the Lakers game forty eight points. So you're averaging forty eight points between those three consistent or those two guys consistently over the last three games. That's been the swing factor their offense. When the Rockets score at least one hundred and fourteen points this year, they're seventeen to one That's the main key for them, and that's why they seem like such a prime candidate for that type of superstar. Trade is like, get somebody who can consistently bring in

that type of production. You could have a very dangerous team here. Rockets are plus fifty five hundred to win the title, plus eighteen hundred to win the Western Conference. Number four the New York Knicks, they had lost four out of five before the win over the Bucks yesterday, just completely let go of the defensive rope again. As of late in the four losses, they had a one

to twenty two defensive rating. The thunder game in particular, was gnarly in that second quarter stretch, like or it was actually late first quarter when it started, Shay was just dribbling up at Michale Bridges and just going right around him every single time and just getting right to the rim or getting great separation on his step back. It was honestly pretty embarrassing what Shae did to those guys. The Knicks did get back on track though, with the

win over the Milwaukee Bucks yesterday. Brunson lit them up right out the gates in the first quarter. He finished with forty four, did a ton of damage to Brook Lopez in space. Was not a good defensive game for Brooke. But the Knicks are not going anywhere if they can't get some more consistent effort on the defensive end. Again, a one to twenty two defensive ready, that's just them letting go of the rope again and again. They're gonna compete with Boston. That has to be their calling card

in a real way. The Knicks are plus nine hundred to win the title right now, plus four hundred to win the conference. Number three the Boston Celtics. We also hit them in our opening segment tonight, so again if you want to see more Celtic stuff, just go to our full episode. They're plus two to fifty to win the title, plus one ten to win the conference. Number

two the Oklahoma City Thunder. We talked about Shay cooking Mchal Bridges earlier, but on the other end of the floor, the Thunder did a great job switching and containing the ball against the Knicks. Only allowed nine unguarded catch and

shoot jump shots all game. Remember that's a team that allowed just three wide open or unguarded catch and shoot jump shots against the Calves in that law or excuse me, in the second half of the Celtics game when they beat the Celtics, so like, we know that they can really strangle the life out of you and take away those open spot up opportunities. That's a Knicks team that

has been picking people apart. Again, only nine unguarded catch and shoot jump shots allowed in that game, two blowout wins to bounce back the Thunder from their loss in Cleveland. We did a deep dive on both of the Thunder games last week. We did Thunder Celtics and Thunder Calves in a lot of detail. If you haven't seen those videos yet, make sure you go back into our feed. We did a bunch of analysis there. The Thunder right now plus two sixty five to win the title, plus

one thirty to win the Western Conference. In the last, but not least number one, the Cleveland Cavaliers dropped a game to the Pacers that we talked about earlier in the Pacers segment. So I won't get too much further into that, but one other thing I wanted to point out. I don't think ball pressure is going to stifle their offense the way it did against Indy. That said, we

have talked a lot about Cleveland's shooting. They generated thirteen catch and shoot jump shots in the second half and made just one of them in that game against the Pacers. Six of them were unguarded, they were one for six. Seven of them were guarded, they went zero for seven. Sam Merril and Dean Wade in particular, got some pretty good looks that they just didn't hit. And obviously making shots is a huge part of what makes the Cavs so good, so it was just interesting to see what

it looks like when they don't make shots. Although it's not something I'm concerned about in the big picture, I do have one last Cavs bit. They're plus eleven hundred to win the title despite Boston being at plus two to fifty in Oklahoma City being at plus two sixty five. I think that's absurd. I think they're very clearly on the same tier. They've beat them both once this year already, the record that they have, they're at a seventy one

win pace. Guys, that's not something to overthink. Now. The case for why the odds are different is Cleveland would theoretically have to beat Boston and then also beat Oklahoma City, but the same could be said for Boston, they would

have to beat Cleveland and then beat Oklahoma City. And I obviously think I think people are overlooking the middle of the West too, Like Denver's gonna be an issue, Dallas is going to be an issue, Memphis is gonna be an issue, Like I think Oklahoma City's gonna a harder time getting out of the West than it would appear at this point in time, because I think everyone over or underrates that middle tier in the Western Conference. So the point is is, like I just don't understand

the gap in the odds. If I was ranking the contender, I'd have Boston one, I'd have Cleveland two, and i'd have OKC three. But if you're giving me plus two fifty for Boston plus two sixty five or Oklahoma City and plus eleven hundred for Cleveland, that's just an excellent opportunity in terms of the betting price there. And like I think the issue there is everyone is just underrating

Cleveland's talent. We all have preconceived notions of Darius Garland and Evin Mobley about the players they used to be, and the truth is they're just better basketball players now, and we need to recalibrate the way that we look at that team there. I think that that's just an insane number there to get the Calves at plus eleven hundred to win the title. Again, all of our odds

are provided provided by our partner, DraftKings. That's all I have for today, guys is always sincerely appreciate you guys for rocking with me and supporting the show. We'll be back tomorrow with more game reaction. Probably get into it. We're gonna start shifting gears into some trade deadline stuff here as as of the next few weeks too, so keep an eye on that. Again. I appreciate you, guys, and

I'll see you tomorrow the volume. What's up guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting Hoops tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us if you guys would take a second and leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if you could take a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it.