Hoops Tonight - NBA Trade Deadline Reaction: Knicks big move, Warriors & Lakers stand pat

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and Resort in Kansas. Twenty one plus age varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. See DKG dot com slash football for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gambling resources. All right, welcome to Hoop tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Thursday. Everybody happy. NBA trade deadline day. It was kind of as we expected, a bunch of really small moves,

but nothing truly significant. What we're going to do today, I have six different traits that I want to touch on briefly, and we'll kind of go rapid fire through those.

Then I want to talk about the Lakers doing nothing and what that means, and we're gonna actually go into much more detail about that tomorrow because we have Jovan Buja from the Athletic coming onto the show to break down in detail the Lakers deadline strategy and what they're looking at in this summer and then I want to talk a little bit about Spencer Dinwoodie was one of the more interesting buyout candidates that you'll see in recent NBA history. A bunch of teams, I think are going

to be looking out for him on that front. And then we have three instant reactions from last night's games that we're going to get to at the end of the show. We got Pelicans Clippers. The Pelicans went into LA and kind of man handled the Clippers last night.

It was an interesting game. Then the Warriors got to blow out win in Philly against the Sixers, obviously without Joel Embiid, and then the Boston Celtics and kind of a little bit of a dogfight with the Atlanta Hawks, but they pulled out, pulled it out late in the game to get the win. So three instant reactions and a bunch of deadline stuff. You guys are the joe forour We get started. Subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel.

I mean a lot to me if you guys would take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops tonight. It also is super helpful for us if you leave a rating and a review on the podcast feed. Don't forget about our Twitter feed at Underscore Jason lt That's where I put film threads like the one I did this morning on Pelican's Clippers, as

well as show announcements. And then, last but not at least, keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments so that we can keep hitting them throughout the rest of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So the first of our six trades that we're going to talk about today

Patrick Beverley to the Milwaukee Bucks. So if you guys remember in the video that I did on Tuesday where I talked about the five trades that I wanted to see around the league, there were three specific ones that ended up getting addressed, just in different ways today. I wanted the Suns to kind of try to get some more defensive oriented wings and forwards right. I wanted the Bucks to get a new kind of point of attack defender to help them in the backcourt. And then I

wanted the Celtics to go get a backup center. And we saw all three of those over the course of the last twenty four hours, starting with Patrick Beverly to the Bucks. So Patrick Beverley, in my opinion, he's one of those guys where as long as he's focused into what he's good at, he can be a really useful player. It's when that kind of expands outside of his kind of wheelhouse that you can start to see some diminishing

returns there. For instance, when he was with the Lakers, I thought he did a really good job guarding guards and then struggled when he had to guard bigger forward. Some of that was like he had a reputation as being a guy who could guard bigger forwards, but the truth of the matter is is that just was never really a good option, right and that is extended through this season. I think he's done a really good job

on guards. I thought he did an amazing job in that big win against the Denver Nuggets on Jamal Murray. It was Joel Embi kind of denying Nikole Jokich and then Patrick Beverley just harassing Jamal Murray all over the floor. So I think there's some trickiness to it with the Bucks because with Malik Beasley, he's playing with a ton of confidence right now and he kind of has that starting spot locked down, and I will be curious to see if they keep Patrick Beverley on the bench for

that specific reason. But what I really like is it's an option that you can go to, Like I said, in the event that especially given on the matchups, so like, for instance, against teams like Boston, where they're gonna be doing primarily most of their initiation from the wing, you might be able to get away with playing Malik Beasley, But then you know, if you're playing a New York Knix, then you may feel better off putting a guy like Patrick Beverley into the starting lineup to start games on

Jalen Brunson and spend more time just ball pressuring and kind of hawking the basketball right. And so it gives

them an option now that they can go to. They can go to a Dame Malik backcourt that's more offensively oriented, or they can go to a Patrick Beverley backcourt where they can give Patrick Beverley a high leverage point of attack assignment, which I still think he's capable of, especially against these smaller guards that we have around the league on the offensive end of the end of the floor.

With Patrick Beverley, he's one of those guys that I think in more of a brute force style where he's getting kind of wide open catch and shoot looks, he can have some value. It's more when there's a ton of motion involved in an offense that he can be an issue because he's a little bit of a ball stopper. He's a little bit of a guy who likes to catch and jab step and pump bake before he really does anything. And so like, I actually like the offensive fit with the Bucks because I do think he'll get

wide open catch and shoot threes. And that's kind of the story with him. He's forty one percent on unguarded catch and shoot jumpers twenty eight percent when they're guarded. So like, to me, with Milwaukee, he's gonna get some really good looks that to me is is a good fit. He also has he's got a little bit off the dribble pop. He's got like a decent little he'll kind of dribble to the left and stopping to pivot back over his left shoulder for a hook shot that he

can make. And then he's also got a decent floater, So he's got a little bit of that higher level close out attacking stuff. But the offensive end of the floor leaves a little bit to be desired with Pat, but I still think he's one of the better guard defenders in the league. And so the Bucks, without having to give up anything of significance, found and upgrade there

at the point of attack. Our next trade, the Knicks finally get off the Evan forty eight contract, as well as Quinton Grimes and a little bit of draft compensation for Boyan Magdonovich and Alec Burks from the Detroit Piston. So I really like the boy On Mgdanovich fit, especially in the short term because you're dealing with the situation where Julius Randall is going to be out for a

little while. And I think specifically alongside in ogn and Obi as a as a really strong athlete at the three, you can get away with having a lesser athlete at the four, and boy On Mgdanovich she brings a lot more scoring pop to the table. Very very good, kind

of like second side creators. Fifty five percent effective agle percentage on pull up jump shots this season, excellent closeout attacker, one point one to nine points per possession, eightieth percentile shot creation day is a little iffy, but everybody in Detroit struggled with a shot creation that with exception of Alec Burks. Actually we're going to talk about here in just a second, but I think he's just going to help provide an offensive option there at that four spot

while Julius Randall is out. He's also going to bring kind of a similar approach to Julius Randall in the sense that to me, Boy and Macdonovitch is your textbook matchup attacking forward. He's the guy that can pick on a smaller guard and take him down to the block and get to a little short right shoulder fade or a little bank shot over his left shoulder or something

along those lines. He can get offense out of mismatches, which is a big part of the way that New York attacks, and it brings a physical imposition to the position as well because he can attack smaller players, which I think is something that is part of the theme

of what the New York Knicks do. And the other thing too is he's got a non guaranteed nineteen million I think next year, which the Knicks can guarantee, and they can just as easily use as salary filler as an expiring just like they would attempt to use Evan

Fournier as if they had kept him. So to me, this is a great example of a deal kind of similar to the Ogn Andobi deal that gives them some increased flexibility with their rotation in the short term, while also maintaining their long term flexibility if they want to make a bigger deal. Alec Burks once again kind of a solid second side initiator. He's more of an on ball guy than Quinton Grimes was, but he is a

very good catch and shoot player. He's getting one point twenty five points per catch and shoot jumper this year. He's also a really good athlete at the position. It's actually funny. I can't remember exactly where I saw it, but I remember a couple of years ago I saw someone say, I think on Twitter that Alec Burks looks like if you were loading an NBA Superstar two guard

and then just stopped at eighty percent. Because like, if you watch him on the right night, he literally can look like some of the better two guards that we've seen in the league. He just has never been able to maintain the consistency in his NBA career. But to me, like a just a good basketball player that you're bringing in, in my opinion, and upgrade of Quentin Grimes in that deal also shot for forty one percent on pull up

jump shots this year. His creation data in Detroit was actually pretty solid, ironically enough, one hundred and seventy seven pick and rolls, ISOs and post ups leading to one point er excuse me, one hundred and eighty eight points, which is one point zero six points per possession, so good comfortable amount over a point per possession. That's quality second side shot creation. So you brought in two really good basketball players, you maintained the salary filler element that

you need. An upgrade of a key rotation player in Quenton Grimes never had to give up any sort of truly significant asset. The excellent season from New York. Upgrading on the margins continues. Our next deal, Xavier Tillman and Jaden Springer to the Celtics. So, as I talked about yesterday, or I should say on Tuesday, in my opinion, the Celtics, we from what we had heard, had been doing some digging on a backup guard. They'd been doing some digging on a backup wing, and they had been doing some

digging on a backup center. And one of the things I said was I viewed the backup center position of the biggest important So I just have a better feeling about Derek White, Drew Holliday, Jaylen Brown, and Jason Tatum being healthy for a playoff run than I do. Al Horford and Christops porzingis that, to me, is where they needed a little bit more margin for air. Xavier Tillman, I obviously he's not as good as an Andre Drummond, but in my opinion, a very solid backup big to

go to. This is a guy that slides his feet pretty well and as good anticipation guarding bigger, stronger forwards around the league. So, like, I think he's an option that you can throw at the likes of bam Adebayo or Jannison Tenakumpo or Julius Randall for maybe a couple of minutes a half just to kind of give yourself a decent option in that specific situation. He's one of those guys too that like like not a high percentage three point shooter, but will take him and a guy

that can make them. And so I just thought it was a solid backup option, a more steady backup option than some of the other options that they've gone to, and brings a real like size and physicality to the position that I think will be valuable to them in the playoffs. Jayden Springer outstanding athlete at the guard position, one of the better perimeter defender prospects that we've seen

from the guard position in a long time. Really limited offensively and has a lot to gain on that end of the floor, but he's only twenty one years old. But the defensive end is what is exciting. Last night against Steph Curry, from the opening tip, just bal denial, aggression, physical all over the floor. Did a great job kind of taking Steph out of the offense. Now, it was a team wide scheme from Nick Nurse, which we'll talk about in a little bit, but I thought it was

a really impressive individual performance from Jaden Springer. And here's the thing. I don't think Jayden Springer is going to be some sort of significant weapon for the Celtics this season. But for basically a second round pick to bring in a twenty one year old guard prospect that has the potential to be an awesome defensive player, I really like

the move so good. Couple of upgrades for the Celtics David Roddy and Royce O'Neil to the Suns to more physical and defensive minded players to give them a different look on the perimeter. David Roddy is huge and has a lot of versatility defensively on the front line. Once again, big forwards in the conference that it's just a good thing to have on the roster, which was something that

Phoenix didn't really have. When you're gonna run into a team like Denver that's gonna you know, we saw it with Miami last year that they just were like, oh, we're just gonna go to Aaron Gordon on the post every time because they don't have a guy who can guard it right. And so like you're gonna see teams like Denver attacking the post. Need to have a big,

strong forward as an option there, right. Teams like the Lakers gonna attack in the post, need a big, strong forward that you can go to as an option there, even like something like a Kawhi Leonard, having a guy like a David Roddy that just can hold up better under some of the physical approach of a Kawhi Leonard, it's a good option and then Royce O'Neil, he's your

Textbook three and D guard. It's an excellent catch and shoot player when he has space, kind of similar to a lot of the guys on this list were like, when they're unguarded, they're really good, but then and they're contested, the percentages take a dip. But he has a one point two seven points per possession on unguarded catch and shoot jump shots, which is excellent in general attacking close out sixty seventh percentile one point one to one points

per possession. So again, you've given yourself options here. The Suns didn't really have a guard that could credibly defend while also credibly spacing the floor. Now they have that as an option. They didn't have a forward that had some real girth to be able to hold up against some of the bigger forwards in the conference. Now they have that as an option. So a couple of smart upgrades from the Phoenix Suns. Next PJ. Washington to the

Dallas Mavericks. This is a super athletic wing once again, kind of like some of the other guys who talked about on this list, can shoot the ball when he's given all day, He's thirty nine percent on unguarded catch and shoot jump shots, but any sort of close out he struggles against zero point eighty eight points per possession in spot up situations, which is in the second twenty

second percentile, so pretty bad on that front. The Hornets used him a lot as a screen and role player, caught a lot on the short role, and so I could imagine them using him like that, with Luca essentially setting ball screens, rolling into space as an athlete where he can make some decisions, and just next to Derek Jones Junior, now they can I kind of view those two guys as a little bit of a redundancy, but like now they can bring some athleticism to the table

alongside their core guys. So I thought that was an interesting little upgrade. I know the Dallas was pretty frustrated with Grant Williams in general in the way that he had played this season. All right, our last trade Gordon

Hayward to the Oklahoma City Thunder. So this is an interesting example of a stopgap move in the sense that, like it was clear that the Thunder didn't quite have their closing five worked out because Giddy's the odd man out in a lot of ways, and it was clear that they needed a bigger forward, but it was also clear that they weren't ready to make some sort of all in move, like to call Utah and offer them six first round draft picks for Lori Markinen or something

along those lines. Right, So I also had heard that, okay, see, really just wanted to see what this group can do in the playoffs before they decide what they need. I kind of think the need is obvious, but that was their approach. They wanted to make a one year run at it and then kind of zoom out and make a decision from there and so on that perspective, Gordon Hayward makes a ton of sense because he's a veteran.

Now you actually bring a real I should I don't want to say adult, because those guys are adults, but like in terms of veteran, actual experience in the NBA, Gordon Hayward brings that to the lineup, and he's just a better option as a fifth guy in the lineup than Josh Skitty. He's a dead eye catch and shoot guy, unguarded catch and shoot jump shots one point four points per possession, which is insane. Also pretty good at the

rim this year sixty six percent at the RIM. And so I'm I like the idea is just like, now you go into the playoffs, you have Chet, Gordon, Jalen, Sga, and Dort basically is your core five at your games with a little bit more experience and and and like Gordon Award has played in the playoffs before, so just gives you a little bit more experience on that front. I thought it was an interesting option. And guess what

we will learn. We will learn from Okay, see this year what they are capable of on that stage in a big way, and then we will find out this offseason whether or not they need to do something more substantial. Okay, two more quick notes on the trade deadline before we

move on to games the Lakers doing nothing. I don't want to go too far into this because we're covering the Lakers tonight after Lakers Nuggets, So we'll talk about it a little bit more in the instant reaction after the game, and then, like I said, we have Yovann Buja coming on the show tomorrow. Here's all I'm gonna say. I always feel a little bit of reticence when it comes to criticizing front offices for what they do in terms of trades and free agency, because we don't really

truly know what was available. There's a ton of smoke this time of year. Reports that serve purpose, serve the sole purpose of basically tweaking the public kind of perception of value, and it's a lot of gamesmanship going on. So like it's really difficult to be like, oh, why didn't the Lakers do anything. It's like, we don't even know if they actually reach agreement in principle on a deal,

you know what I mean. Like, obviously, I think it's safe to say that judging by some of these price points, how they put a first round pick out there, they could have gotten something gotten something back. But it's hard to tell which players exactly would be willing to would have been achievable with that first round pick. And then once you take that first round pick off the table, it does limit some of their ability to do something this summer. So I want to be clear, we don't

know what actually was on the table that said. I do know this, I know that the Lakers do not have a single starting caliber two or three that can both credibly defend and is a positive offensive player. They have very one dimensional guys like they have. You know, Jared Vanderbilt is a guy who can defend on the

perimeter but has some offensive limitations. You know, Austin Reeves and Dangelo Russell are both excellent offensive players, but they have defensive limitations, right Like Torrian Prince is kind of considered a two way guy, but in terms of perimeter defense, he is very much on the average to slightly below

average side, not the above average to elite side. So they don't have anybody on the roster that they can throw at a Steph Curry in a playoff series, that they can throw at a Jamal Murray in a playoff series, that they can throw on a James Harden in a playoff series. They don't. They just don't have any options

on those fronts. And so basically, like I said before the season, I said this from the very beginning, I said, the Lakers are a contender because they have Lebron James, Anthony Davis, and Austin Reeves, and they are poised for a mid season upgrade to address their needs. They did not make any sort of mid season upgrade to address their needs. And so we're gonna do a kind of a revamp of the contender tiers that I do right probably right around the All Star break, during that week

off that we have. I have something specific in mind there. I think we're gonna get Sam Vassini on and kind of dive into it contender by contender, but I have to drop the Lakers off of that legitimate title contender tier. It's just that, like NBA history tells us that you have to have these certain boxes checked, not just on the roster, but also in terms of your approach to the regular season, And not only did they not address those roster needs, but they also have their twenty seven

and twenty five. So like at this point they are what we can't completely write them off with Lebron James and Anthony Davis, but they are just an extreme long shot at this point. And the last thing I'll say about it is I think it'll be a little bit easier to kind of look back on and evaluate fairly

when Lebron James retires. But here we are five seasons into this Lebron James Anthony Davis thing, and I would argue two of the five seasons they straight up just didn't have a chance to win kind of like closer to three out of five pretty much everything after the Russell Westbrook trade. And so given the Lebron James Anthony Davis Foundation, which I maintain they've been top ten players over the course of this entire stretch, at a minimum, top fifteen players. To have two, let's just call it

top fifteen. To have two top fifteen players on the roster and to not be able to maintain a championship contending roster around them is a damning indictment of the Los Angeles Lakers front office and ownership group starting from the beginning. Letting Brook Lopez walk, letting Julius Randall walk, letting Alex Crusoe walk, the Russell Westbrook trade just a complete and total lack of understanding or appreciation for the way that role players can impact winning specifically athletes that

can compete on both ends of the floor. Is it has been a pretty depressing job, and as a result, the second best player of all time, Lebron James, spent most of the tail end of his prime fighting uphill with rosters that weren't capable of competing with the best teams in the league. And it's just it's just sad. It is what it is, and it's not over yet. They have access to three first round draft picks this summer, and they have some salary filler that they can package

into a deal, and maybe they'll go get somebody. But if you look around the landscape of the league, if a real somebody becomes available, who who are the Lakers out bidding? They're not out bidding the Knicks, but not outbidding the thunder Like They're just way there are way more teams out there that have way more to offer

in the trade market than the Lakers do. And so to me, like like, it's just it's looking like once again that we're going to head into another offseason where the Lakers are going to struggle to find two way players to put next to Lebron James and Anthony Davis. And by the time they actually figure it out, Lebron might be too old for it to matter. And and so, like I said, it's just sad. And and again like

we don't really truly know what was available. But in a big picture, when you zoom out, I've got five seasons of Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Twenty twenty, they were a top tier contender, won the title twenty twenty one, they were top tier contender, injuries undercut them. Then they traded for Russell Westbrook, and it's been a lot of

mediocrity ever since then. They're right around this five hundred mark fifty games into the season seemingly every year now, and it's just not easy to do that when you've got foundational pieces like Lebron James and Anthony Davis, and so again, just not a good look for the Laker front office. One last note, there is a potential saving grace for the Lakers. Spencer Dinwittie is going to be available in the buy out market, and the Lakers, as a first Apron team, will be able to sign him.

And I would imagine there's gonna be a lot of teams that are going to be in the running form, specifically teams that could use a backcourt athlete. Spencer Dinwittie is far from the ideal type of athlete for this type of role, specifically the three and D role that the Lakers so desperately need. He's a guy that has a lot of athletic tools, but doesn't really truly commit himself to the defensive end. Of the floor on offense,

it's a lot of it's a mixed bag. You catch him on the right night and he looks like an All Star, but like really struggles to finish around the rim. His general rim decision making is questionable. So like he's a flawed player. But for a veteran minimum pro rated end of the season buy out signing, you typically can't do much better than a Spencer Dinwiddie. And so he's a guy that if the Lakers could get I think

would be significant. He's a guy that several teams out there that I think that could use some perimeter athleticism should be looking at all. Right, let's get into our instant reactions from last night. So we're gonna start with Pelicans Clippers. So the Pelicans just absolutely jumped the Clippers early on in this game. They actually won the first quarter thirty six to nineteen, and pretty much stiff armed

him the rest of the way. There's a little bit of a comeback, like kind of a semi comeback in the early fourth quarter, but the Pelicans immediately extended the lead again. They put Zion Williamson on Kawhi Leonard to kind of match his strength which I thought was really smart from a matchup perspective. It also to me is like as a defensive assignment where you can get some high production out of Zion because it's very singularly focused.

They put Brandon Ingram on Paul George to match his length, and then that allowed them to put Herb Jones Herb Jones, I should say, on James Harden. And you know, typically James Hardy can catch some pretty good matchups in in these in his specific role as the third best perimeter player on the team. But the Pelicans have the bodies to kind of go body for body with these guys, and they put Herb Jones, Herb Jones on I always

call him herb Jones, it's Herb Jones. They put herb Jones on Harden, and he just killed him on both ends of the floor to start the game. Was locking him up at the point of attack, forcing turnovers, applying really good pressure on him, and pick and roll to make those cross court passes to like Terrence Man difficult.

I clipped a couple examples of this. But when you put when you're defending in pick and roll ball pressure is so so so important because you know, especially on a team like the Pelicans that's gonna bring deionas Valanchuniz so far out in the coverage out to the perimeter,

there's going to be openings on the weak side. And so if I can get that pass over the top on time and on target, on a rope to the shooting pocket, my defense is compromised, and Terrence Man's either gonna have a wide open catch and shoot three, or he is gonna be able to drive and kick out of it, and they're gonna get great looks. But if I can pressure the basketball and I can force a looping pass or a deflected pass, it buys me a

chance to rotate. And Herb Jones is just so good with that active hands, high hands, getting those deflections and bothering those over the top passes. He was also beating Harden on the other end of the floor just by running his lane in transition, getting out in front of him, hutting back door, just really really active early in the game. Dominated that matchup with James Harden, which went a long way to the early lead for the Pelicans, and then on the other end of the floor, just really high

level driving kick basketball from the Pelicans. I cut a lot of examples of high level closeout attacking from the Pels, and I want to Giveon Williamson a lot of credit for this one, because they were using a combination of pick and rolls in Zion ISOs to basically pull the Clippers players down into help, and when they would pull them into help, quick on point swing passes and then

quick decisions attacking closeouts ended up generating the offense. CJ. McCollum was particularly great early in the game attacking closeouts. Larry Nance Junior even had one against plumb Lee where he drove and kicked to Trey Murphy in the left corner for three. They converted twenty six spot up opportunities in this game into thirty points. That's one point one

five points per possession, which is obviously amazing. They're at one point one for the season, which ranks sixth in the NBA, So it's typically something that they are great at. And like again, Zion Williamson, just his ability when he's kind of bringing the ball down the floor with some verve and get it into those in and out dribbles.

How it just kind of causes everybody to kind of coalesce around him, and like there was a specific play where Zion brought the ball off the floor in semi transition. He's right at the top of the key and I think it was Paul George sinks all the way down to the nail because it's part of the you know, that's kind of what you have to do against a real downhill athlete. You have to build a wall, so

to speak. And when you build a wall, you generate closeout opportunities, and that specific slot closeout is really important. You can imagine ball handler on ball defender helper at the nail. So this guy here not only does he know he has a closeout opportunity, he knows where the angle of the closeout's coming from. Paul George is going to be closing out to his left hand side and trying to chase him off the line because he's a

good shooter. So that is a read that you have to make as the spot up player to quickly catch and rip to the right. And if you watch the play, and I clip this one and put it in my thread this morning, he Zion Williamson makes a swing pass CJ's he already loading up for the writ before the ball gets to him and then he catches and racks to the right. Paul George has no chance to keep him in front because he's so far out of position,

and CJ drives right into the lane. Zubah steps up, but he just stops and pops like a little floater in the lane. That's really high level, closed out attacking, reading the help defender, knowing where your angle is, stopping short instead of over penetrating, getting an offensive foul, challenging a rim protector or something stooping like the stupid like that, the high level finish, which is the high soft floater. But Zion was causing a lot of issues for the

Clippers with them loading up on him. He had ten assists in that game, and he kind of closed the deal because the Pelicans won up thirty six to nineteen after the first quarter, and they kind of stiff armed the Clippers until the second half when they made it a little bit of a run. They actually got it back down to four, and then Zion had back to back and once against plumb Lee underneath the basket, and then Jose Alvarado hit a three in the right corner.

It was like bang, bang bang. Next thing, you know, they're up double digits again and the game is over. So really really impressive two way game from Zion Williamson. The Pelicans have won four games in a row. They had dropped three in a row before that, to the Thunder, the Bucks, and the Celtics, and they didn't really compete in those games either, and that's been kind of a theme this year, like they just kind of have been getting blown out by some of the better teams in

the league. They're three and six before last night against the teams that were in my top five list of contenders, and last night was a big step in the right direction on that front. They went into La and dominated the Clippers really good on both ends of the floor during this four game stretch. A one to twenty three offensive rating, a one oh seven defensive rating, outscoring opponents by sixteen points per one hundred possessions. So really impressive

stretch of basketball from the Pelicans. On the Clippers front, super sloppy. They were getting beat down the floor in transition multiple times. Earlier in the game, Kawhi Leonard got ripped in the back court for a pick six, James Harden got ripped in the back court for a pick six. This is all in the first quarter too, and then on defense they were overhelping and losing sight of man and ball. And like, here's the thing, this is this happens in the NBA. It just does. No team is

immune to it. Like like like every every team that comes out the gates and kicks everyone's butt, they always have a stretch where they really struggle. The twenty twenty two Warriors, what they start fifteen to one, and they were what one or two seed most of the season, but even before Steph got hurt, they had a stretch where they dropped a bunch of games in a row.

It happens, you know, like the U. I remember the Lakers in twenty twenty they started what twenty four and three, and then they literally right around Christmas lost four games in a row. So like it, it's just just about guaranteed to happen. Because you play eighty two games, there's an inevitable you know, kind of ebb and flow with your effort and focus and in things along those lines.

The key is not letting it happen. Very often. This is one of those things where it's a completely acceptable thing to happen, but you just want to avoid it happening in mass You want to avoid it happening too frequently, right, Like that kind of thing can happen. I want to give the Pelicans credit too, Like they just came out from the opening tip, brought a ton of physicality at the point of attack, a ton of length and athleticism.

They can really bother you on that front, and they had a really smart offensive game plan and got a big win. All right. Moving on to Warriors sixers, So kind of a classic Nick Nurse game in the sense that from the opening tip he takes Jaden Springer and just tells him to faceguard Steph Curry. All over the floor.

They were doing really physical handoff switches to where like Jaden's like hands on Steph as he's moving around, and then if there's a screen that he gets caught on, it's like he's almost like passing Steph to the next guy who's immediately got his hands on him. And like

they're just being physical all over the place. And as a result, like there's just a ton of space for the Warriors to play four on four basketball off of him, right and like it like and again, like Nick Nurse is always into this like kind of janky defensive scheme where he's super aggressive, throw the damn kitchen sink at your best player, and just kind of live with the results on the backside. This was kind of a textbook Nick Nurse Knight in that regard. But they were blitzing

him on ball screens. They were just forcing anybody else to beat them, and they did. I thought Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kaminga sprang the biggest run of the game there in the late second early third quarter. They just bring wave after wave of athleticism to the table. Like Jonathan Kaminga was just beating him up the floor for transition dunks, Andrew Wiggins a pushing in transition with the ball in his hands, being active around the rim as

a cutter and as an offensive rebounder. And then it just that group brought the beginning of the run there at the end of the second quarter, and they came out in the first quarter and they just like just completely blitzed the Sixers and it was a blowout in

no time. And honestly, it's just a really athletic group when you have those two guys out there, And this is something I've been preaching preaching on pretty much all all season after as we were approaching the deadline, like lean on Draymond Green, Jonathan Kaminga Andrew Wiggins as your frontline because it's your best combination of athleticism and physicality to give you your best bet at contending in the physical areas of the game, because you are not going to

be some jaw dropping offense when Steph Curry's really your only reliable offensive option, like consistent reliable offensive options. So like you need to win games with athleticism, you need to win games with perimeter defense in physicality and speed,

and that lineup gives you your best bet. And it was interesting because Steve Kerr had mentioned earlier in the season that he didn't like Kaminga Wiggins front line and that they had struggled in the numbers and he wanted to try to make it work, but that it hadn't worked to that point in the season. Well, over the course of the last ten games, we have one hundred and thirty nine minutes of Jonathan Kaminga, Andrew Wiggins and

Raymond Green as the front line. They have a one to twenty five offensive rating, which is off the charts. Good and a ninety seven defensive rating, which is off the charts good. And like, here's the thing, There's going to be moments where Andrew Wiggins has a tough offensive night and Jonathan Kaminga is just not quite as sharp as he usually is, and the offense will be able

to grind down a little bit. That's going to be baked into some of the limitations of that lineup, but it gives them the ability to really grind out games

in an ugly way. This is a team that needs to get stops in runout in transition, this is a team that needs to bring real downhill forced to the rim to try to just muck things up and win ugly with with matchup attacking and I'm just bigger and faster than you type of stuff, right that, Like, they don't have a legit number two option, and so they're not going to be some crazy consistent offense the way

that like a Denver is going to be. And so I think that lineup gives them their best opportunity to kind of bring that that that athleticism and defensive end of the flour into the equation more frequently. And again, like one hundred and thirty nine minutes is a substantial

sample size. That's that's that's again it's in a ten game span, but like they've been kicking people's asses with that group, and that's something super encouraging, and like, honestly, the next step here is like Kurrs leaning on it more in general as a lineup, but I think he needs to lean on it in crunch time too, because we've seen that the Warriors have had trouble maintaining their their success when they get into close games late. That's

been a consistent stint issue throughout the season. What are they lost eighteen games this year that have been within five points with less than five minutes left, So it's been a consistent issue, and I think sticking with that group longer gives their best chance, gives them their best chance to contend in the short term during this regular season.

I also thought it was pretty encouraging games from Klay Thompson and from Kavan Looney, both of them have been struggling a lot here in the middle portion of the season. Looney was super active on the glass and just his usual kind of like physical, groundbound game, and Klay Thompson just a really under control game took the right shots, contended in the physicality areas. It was a really encouraging

night all round for the Warriors. And by the way, they've won four of their last five games, and they've won for their last five games, with that one loss being that lost to Atlanta where they fell apart in crunch time and had all the issues that they had there, So like there's a lot to be encouraged about on this front. I still think they have a really good chance to get into the play in They are only

one game back of Utah. They're like, I want to say, three and a half games back to get into that eighth spot to where they can only where they get two chances to win one game, which is just a better position to be in in the play in tournament. So big step forward for the Warriors last night, all right, last one before we get out of here. Celtics and the Hawks, so it's kind of interesting games. Drew Holliday was out and John tim Murray was out, so some

kind of funky versions of both teams. Celtics went big with Al Horford, Derek White, and Jalen Brown I thought were the story of the game, particularly setting the tone early on Trey Young, just bringing a ton of physicality and back pressure and extra efforts in rotation. You can tell with Trey Young when he's struggling, when some of the drop off passes to Biggs are a little bit off target, and when he's missing his floater, because like when he starts to rush his floater, that's when you

can tell you're really bothering Trey Young. And they did a really nice job on him. He had just twenty points on twenty five shots. They forced him into four turnovers. Atlanta got some solid contributions on the wing. Sadik Bay and Jalen Johnson were both great. They combined for forty four in this game. I just kind of kept things close, but then late in the game Jason Tatum and Derek

White helped them pull away. Tatum was it was interesting because it was kind of a microcosm of some of the stuff you've seen from him this season down the stretch, because it's like he gets Sidiq Bay on a switch and he late in the clock ends up settling for like a tough pull up three, and you're like, like, why didn't he drive to the basket, And then on the offensive rebound, he gets back out to him and he has Trey Young on him, and he immediately his

eyes light up and he just rips through into the lane and just bounces off all these bodies, gets his left handed scoops out. Probably a foul too, like probably deserved free throws on that one as well. And then I thought the most encouraging sign was he got an Yekakongu on a switch on the left wing. A few possessions later, and you could see as he was mixing up those side to side dribbles, he wanted so bad

to take that pull up three, but he was. He didn't settle, He drove left to got right past the congo. Probably should have gotten anan one on that one as well, scooped it in. And then late in the game once

again uh less. It was about thirty seconds left and he had Sadik Bay again on the left wing, and instead of settling or on the right wing, excuse me, instead of settling, just put his head down and tried to get downhill, kind of turned the corner a little bit to the left and drew in Christops Porzingis's man and made a swing pass back out to the perimeter.

Hit Christops, he knocked down the three that basically iced the game, and again, like it's just gonna be it's just gonna be a vital importance for that those types of developments to take place. For Jason Tatum, Like the frustration I thought was encouraging. He was mad when he got that and one after he missed the pull up three, and he was yelling at the refs, and it's like, dude, get frustrated, get irritated. Bring that physical imposition to the game.

You are one of the best forward athletes in the league, and when you bring that, you make your team that much harder to guard. And had a good playmaking game too. We had two really nice driving kicks to Derek White in the fourth quarter, really high quality three point shots. Again, that's the name of the game for the Celtics. You can play the volume three point shooting game, or you can play the quality three point shooting game. And if they play the quality three point shooting game, I think

they're gonna win the title. That's how good I think they are. But like, there's it's getting rid of some of the early clock, semi contested threes for only OK shooters. Those are the ones that they have to kind of

get out of their system. And then for Tatum, just in particular and his matchup attacking using the step back three more as a counter like this guy's on his heels and giving me space rather or like late clock situation, I don't have time to drive, rather than as the shot that he hunts in the drive being the counter, if that makes sense. And then a couple other things. Jalen Brown, I thought his matchup attacking early in the game because Jason Tatum was in a little bit of

a funk early, little aut rhythm. Jalen Brown was bringing that just like mid posts ISO attack that kind of carried them offensively earlier. And then he brought a really good defensive effort and had some really good possessions on Trey Young, which is part of their success in that game. And then I really liked these Avier Tillman and Jayden

Springer editions. I thought that they were a good example of a team that understands like it's so easy to sit there and be like we're the best team, and it's so easy to sit there and be like we have the best record in the league. We don't need to go out and do something. We have our core five nailed down. It's gonna be Porzingis, Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum, Derek White, Drew Holliday. Those are the five guys, right, So,

like it's so easy to just be content there. And I've always had an appreciation and respect for teams that pushed their chips in in the sense that they want to buy as much margin for error as possible. It is really hard to win an NBA championship. A lot has to go right for you. This team, in particular, already is up against it in the sense that Jason Tatum will not be the best player in a series with Milwaukee. He will not be the best player in a series against you know, like a like a Miami

right like we've seen. Although I feel a little bit uh iffy about that one because I think I think Tatum's gone toe to toe with with Jimmy Butler more than once in his career. But like, he's not gonna be the best player in a series against the Denver

Nuggets if they get out of the conference. He's not gonna be the best player in a series against the Los Angeles Clippers, right, So, like you need to buy them as much margin for error as possible and getting a higher quality backup center that's got a little bit more playoff resiliency. That's a good option for you. I thought it was a I thought it was an example of a failing to be content of of of truly going after the best possible title odds that you can

get within the scope of this season. So shout out to the Boston Celtics. All right, guys, that's all I have for today's show. When you're going to be back later tonight for an instant reaction after Lakers Nuggets live on YouTube, I will see you guys there. The volume