Hoops Tonight - Steph Curry & Warriors fall to Nuggets, Kyrie Irving shines, Tatum & Brown Top 10?

your money out quickly. Use promo code Jason T and download the FanDuel app today to make every moment more This NBA Season twenty one plus in president Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana. Permitted parishes only, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Virginia or West Virginia. First online real money wager only. Refund issued as non withdrawable site credit that expires in fourteen days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sports book dot FanDuel dot com.

Gambling problem called one eight hundred, next step or tech next step to five three three four two in Arizona one eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org slash chat in Connecticut one eight hundred Gambler or visit FanDuel dot com slash

RG in Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey. In Virginia one eight seven seven seven seven zero stop in Louisiana one eight hundred to seven zero seven one one seven for confidential help in Michigan one eight seven seven eight hope and why, or text hope and Why to four six seven three six nine in New York. In tennessee redline dial one eight hundred eight eight nine nine seven eight nine in Tennessee, visit www one dot one eight hundred gambler dot net

in West Virginia. All right, welcome to Hoops to Night, presented by FANDOL here at the volume. Happy Saturday, everybody. I hope all of you guys had an incredible week and that you have big plans for the weekend. We're gonna touch on six games this morning and varying capacities. Some games I watched the whole game, Other games I was only able to catch crunch time. You guys know the drill when there's that many games going on in

one night. We're gonna open up with the Warriors losing at home to the Denver Nuggets, and what was a fun game. UM Denver played extremely well. Golden State not as well as they're capable of, uh, still made it close at the end. Clay Thompson had a pretty decent look at the top of the key to send the game to ot. We're gonna dive into that game. UM Brooklyn notched a very important way in that home over the Toronto Raptors to kind of change the tenor of

the start of their season. Phoenix and Land had a really entertaining overtime battle. Damian Lillard had his first great game since coming back from injury. UM the Boston Celtics had an impressive win on the road in Miami against the Heat that will touch on. The Utah Jazz go into Minnesota to go up to two and oh in a game that had to have felt good for a lot of people that work and or play in the

Utah Jazz organization. And then Bradley Bill demarda Rosen had a battle that led to the Washington Wizards going up to two and oh. So we're gonna touch on all six of those games in some capacity. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channels you don't miss any more of our videos, follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lts you guys

don't miss any show announcements. And then, last but not least, for whatever reason you guys miss one of these videos, you can always find them wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight. So this game was all about shot making in my opinion. Um you know, on any given night, for any given team, there's a spectrum of performances right um on, in every facet of the game, Like your defense can range from whatever their best version is to

their their worst version right and everything in between. Or from a shooting perspective, some nights you make your wide open three. Some nights you don't. Some nights you rescue a bunch of possessions making tough shots. Other nights you don't.

It's a maker misleague. You guys have all heard that expression before, and I think it can be used as a cop out sometimes because I do believe that you have some control over those things, Like if you make a team feel uncomfortable from the opening tip, I just think it's statistically less likely that they'll beat you with shot making because they'll all be uncomfortable and they'll all have, you know, a lower end of their spectrum type of

shooting nights because you did a better job defending. So I don't think if you're a Warriors fan or a Warriors player, excuse me that you can just go back to the locker room be like, oh, they made all their shots like that. It is what it is. But at the same time, like, this was an impressive shot making performance from Denver um. So obviously on the wide open shots, Denver was eight for fifteen on wide open

threes that means defender at least six ft away. Golden State was six for nineteen, so obviously a little bit of shot variants there. But man, I was watching the game and it just felt like time and time again Denver Nuggets were making massive important shots to stemy runs or to to you know, seed, or to regain momentum in the game, and a lot of them appeared to be difficult shots. And so I went into the tracking

data just to check. Denver was nine for fourteen in this game on tightly and very tightly guarded shots according to NBA dot Com. That's that's some impressive shot making, you know. I didn't think either team defended exceptionally well. Um like Denver in general, is gonna struggle guarding Golden

Golden State just because of their footspeed and quickness. Golden State, I thought from the start, didn't quite have the same level of defensive intensity and ball pressure that they usually have, which, like I said, well typically lead to teams feeling more comfortable and making shots. Specifically, at the end of the first quarter was where this one went off the rails, and specifically Dante DiVincenzo needs to be better guarding in ball screens, getting over the top of screens and applying

back pressure because man Bones Highland. He went on one hell of a run to and the first quarter. He scored or assisted on sixteen points in that quarter, just spamming high pick and roll, making jump shots, pull up jump shots off the dribble, finishing at the rim, making reads to shooters. Jeff Green hit a couple of big shots, and then on the other end of the floor, Jordan Pool kind of had a little bit of a rough night. He did have uh seven assists, but he had only

seven points and had four turnovers in the game. That was how they got their early lead, and then the rest of the game was just kind of a combination of Golden State clawing back and making it a game, and then Denver making shots and and getting the lead back up, and then Golden State making a run and making it a game, and then Denver making shots and getting the game back to a point where they were comfortable.

And there were a lot of players for Denver who made key shots or key plays during those runs, Like Aaron Gordon couldn't make a three in this game. I think he was over five or over six, but man, he made some really important twos. There was like a a post up on the left block where and I looked up the numbers just to check, because I never really thought of Aaron Gordon as a as a a

successful post up player. And he was right around point nine points per possession and post ups, which honestly isn't bad,

but it's nothing exceptional either. And he hit like one of the toughest shots in basketball, which is a turnaround fade away for a for a right handed shooter over your left shoulder, because on that shot, you have to square up in mid air, especially when you're spinning, so like you're planting your foot with your right foot behind your left foot, but you have to finish with your right foot in front of your left foot, because most right handed shooters like to square up with their shoulder,

right shoulder a little bit further forward. And he just rose up and he knocked the shot down. And I'm sitting there like, man, like this is just one of those nights. I guess like it was just a big time shot from Aaron Gordon to sign me run. Cantavious called what Pope just time and time again making huge plays transition threes, attacking closeouts. I covered him when he was with the Lakers, and I always referred to him as one of the best close out attackers in the league.

And there's really like, there's four things you have to be able to do to be a good close out attacker. Okay, you have to be able to knock down spot up threes, which Contavious called what Pope does really really well. You have to be able to be quick to the basket, meaning like if you are like if you need to gather really well to explode to the rim, guys are going to rotate and be able to get to you.

Cantavious called will Pope is an amazing left leg jumper and single leg jumping is the best way to extend out in front of you rather than slowing your momentum down to jump off of two feet. And he's just really good at even either knocking down that jumper, ripping through and going all the way to finish with his right hand. He's got a wonderable pull up that he

can knock down. That's the third thing. He had a really nice, uh wonderable pull up in the fourth quarter where he was in the left corner pump fake ripped through, rise up at seventeen feet and he knocked it down. And then you have to be able to make reads, meaning if you ripped through and the one drible pull ups not there and the stuff's not there at the basket, it's swinging to the next guy in the cycle to continue that driving kick. KCP is one of the best

at that in the league. In in in general, is just a really dependable role player. I it's so funny, like Lebron has to be missing this guy, and you know, I knew the Russell Westbrook trade was a bad idea when it happened, but I never in a million years would have suspected that he was the third best player in that trade, and both Kyle Kuzman and kendaveas called Pope are just simply better than Russell Westbrook right now, which is absolutely wild, but a really really impressive game

from him. One of the biggest things with KCP that he does super well is transition threes, and we talked a lot about movement shooting on this show and how it's so important to be able to get your feet set and to go straight up and down when you're on the move, because the vast majority of quality looks that you'll find, especially in an NBA environment, are going to be on the move, and k CPS is really good at sprinting to the corner, catching and rising and

firing on balance and knocking shots down. That is why I thought it was one of the most underrated pickups of this summer and why he's such a natural fit with Nicola Yokes. Bruce Brown was incredible in this game. He made clutch shot after clutch shot after clutch shot. He had like a a spinning, fading floater that he

hit in the lane over Draymond Green. At the end, he had a really nice driving layup past Steph that was heavily contested, but he just went up with power and finished at the rim um and then he hit that huge three on the left wing, and that like transition pressure possession where Nicola Yokis found him. He the between KCP and Bruce Brown. Just a couple of really smart moves from the Denver front office to bring in players that naturally fit with Yokis that help raise their

defensive ceiling. Just really really smart moves from them, and both of those guys made huge plays. Michael Porter Jr. Obviously made a lot of big shots. You just gotta you gotta kind of tip the cap if you're a Golden State, like, yeah, you didn't play good enough defensively, Dante Devin Chenzo needs to do a better job in general. Your defensive pressure from the start of the game needs

to be better to make guys feel uncomfortable. But I think Denver's the best offense in the league, and they are going to have a lot of games where they get hot and they make a lot of shots and you kind of feel helpless. Um one last note on

on on Denver. There was a play where and the helter skelter wild sequence at the end of the game where they got it down from ten to one on the where they trapped Bones Highland in the corner and he threw that hook pass and and uh um, I think it was Jordan Pool came in and stole it and made the layup. Right as the ball came through the net, Yoki's just ran out behind the base line and flicked a baseball pass to Bruce Brown that hit him in stride for dunk. Just an incredible play from

Yoki from the standpoint of awareness. And if you think about what that is. In a situation like that, you get the ball in, you owl the other teams on an eleven to two run or whatever it was in the last minute, the crowd's gonna be insane. Those are high pressure free throws that change the dynamic of the game. But instead you were able to basically skip those free throws by making that incredible play, getting the inbounds and flicking flicking it down the court to Bruce Brown for

the dunk clay shot at the end. I saw, you know, Steve Kerr had some comments about it in some Warriors fans didn't particularly like it. Here's the thing you gotta acknowledge time and situation. So for starters, UH, when you're up by three, Uh, there's always a chance that they're going to value, especially if they feel like it's a safe spot. You know, like if you happen to catch and you don't appear to be looking for a three point shot at that specific moment in time, the hack

you quick, they send you to the line. Now you don't even get your opportunity to tie the game. So that that's always in there, like you might not even get a chance to shoot a three. So like when you happen to catch, even if you're thirty ft way from the basket and you turn and there's nobody around the value, that might actually just be your best chance. So I wanted to defend that. And then also, like Clay Thompson is an all time audacity shooter. This guy

takes and makes bad shots all the time. And the Warriors have one basketball games, important basketball games on Clay Thompson's wild shot selection many times in the past. I'll never forget. You know, you guys probably all remember the game the game six performance against the Golden State Thunder.

Attend the Golden State Thunder against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Uh, there was a play late in that game where I think Russ had a turnover on Andre Guadala and uh, they were I think it was the game was either tied or they were down by one, and Clay ran up the right wing and they flung a transition pass to him and he just caught an elevated from like twenty seven feet on the right wing and stuck it and that ended up being the shot that effectively determined

the outcome of that game. And in this particular game, he had just made a three on the right wing. So he's already got a little bit of a rhythm, he already feels good. He just saw one go through the net. It's a decent look. You're worried about whether or not they're gonna value and he's Clay Thompson. Man. You gotta let him be wildly confident and to take those types of shots. UM, but yeah, entertaining basketball game, say the least. Well, I'm never gonna be worried about

this particular matchup for Golden State. UM, as far as Yokich matchups go, you can't do much better than Cavan Luney and Draymond Green. UM. Kevin Luney in particular, had a rough night guarding Yokis tonight, but I've seen him do a really good job on Yo Kitch in the past, so I like that matchup. And then man, what a what a throwback performance from Draymond Green in that second half, making all sorts of defensive plays. This was a I told I talked to you guys a lot um, you know,

right after the Draymond Green fight incident. I talked to you guys about how there there's there's this this tendency with Warriors fans to focus on the negatives on the offensive end of the floor for Draymond. And and what I told you guys was, there are good offensive games for Draymond, and there are bad offensive games for Draymond. He has to look to score a certain amount, right, Like, he's got to show at least some willingness to shoot

the basketball just for teams to treat him honestly. Right, he needs to make smart decisions with the pass right, and he's to crash the offensive glass, and he he needs to make good decisions in the short role. When he

does those things, he's a very good offensive player. But then he can have nights where he's too passive and he's making mistakes with the pass, and those nights it can be especially glaring because then you're watching Steph right around with two guys chasing him all over the place, and Draymond won't shoot the basketball. Like, Yeah, it gets a little frustrating in those moments, but this was a vintage Draymond Green performance. Controlled the game on the defensive

end of the floor. He basically ran point guard for them all night. He at nine assists with only one turnover just to throwback. Performance, really really impressive. The last reason why be worried about this particular matchup for Golden State is we all know what it's gonna look like when they get to the playoffs, Like this is going to be you know there. First of all, they're running. The starters looked great in this game, and they were

all positive. Um, you were leaning it on some funky lineups and some players like I'm not sure Jamichael Green is gonna play much when they get into the postseason. I think it's gonna be a shrunken down rotation. I think it's gonna be Moses Moody a lot. I think i think it's gonna be you know, Dante DiVincenzo because they trust him more offensively. I don't think it's gonna be a lot of Jamaicael Green in particular, Um and some of the other guys that they played in that

bench group. I don't even know how much you'll see Wiseman when you get into the postseason. And then also, they're just gonna spread the Denver Nuggets out and they're just gonna spam high pick and roll, and Steph is gonna try to drag Yokis away from the basket and then beat him off the dribble. We just we've just seen this movie before. But still, that said, a very impressive win for Denver and a really nice bounce back UM from that disappointing season opening game against Utah Jazz.

So Brooklyn Toronto the the next five games we're gonna hit on pretty quickly. Um. This was a really tough game for Brooklyn to win. I talked about how it kind of reminded me of the Lakers situation, where it's like, you get these two incredibly difficult matchups to start the season in your team that doesn't really know who you are yet. Brooklyn has brought in all these new players and there's a lot of negative energy surrounding the team,

obviously with the Kevin Durant trade situation. And then I've got this Lakers ship show basically for lack of a better term. And you're going against two teams that know exactly who they are, they know exactly who their best players are, they know exactly who they want to play. It's really easy to fall down to. Oh, just ask the Los Angeles Lakers. But the Brooklyn that's shrunk down the rotation, they played all their starters, big minutes. They

treated this as a must win. They leaned heavily on the stars. Kyrie Irving played forty one minutes and they still got punched in the mouth several times by Toronto, gave up leads several times, but each time they responded Uh. Kyrie in particular was magnificent. Obviously, a lot of your your classic Kyrie Irving shot making, ridiculous pull up jump shots off the dribble. He got his three point shot going.

I talked to you guys about how in the opening night game he had ten looks that were classified as open or wide open and he only made two of them. His shot quality was good. If you if he continues to get that kind of shot quality in their offense, he's gonna make him well. He ended up making him last night. But he also passed the basketball extremely well,

had seven assists in this game. And then k d um had had an okay game shooting the basketball, but he ended up making the biggest one, that pull up three at the top of the key that ended up being effectively the dagger that ended that game. You know, Um, I talked a lot about how for the Lakers. You know, I still believe in what they can do as long as Lebron and a d are great, right, Like, yes, I want them to make a Russell Westbrook trade to bring in more shooting, and it's some more you know,

offensive skill from the role players. Right. But the reality is is, even with this current roster, if Lebron James and Anthony Davis play like top ten players, then they're gonna win a lot of basketball games. Still, here's the problem. A D played like a top ten player in the first half against Golden State, and then he was pretty bad in the second half against Golden State, and then he was pretty bad in the first half against the Clippers, and then he was pretty bad in the second half

against the Clippers. I know he had twenty five points and eight rebounds, but ad gets a lot of garbage buckets just as a product of their offense. But in general, he was doing a poor job screening and rolling to the basket. He wasn't He got absolutely bullied by zoobots on the on the offensive glass. He um settled for a lot of bad midrange jump shots that he missed.

Like in general, just wasn't a great game. And then Lebron was fantastic in the first game, but was great as a passer in the second game, but he's pull up jump shot failed him. He only had twenty points in the second game. So like, at best, I'm getting like Lebron's playing like a fringe top ten player right now, and Anthony Davis is playing like a top twenty player right now. That's not going to be enough when the tail end of the roster is as weak as it is.

Brooklyn is in a similar predicament. They don't have, you know, um, some of their officers, some of their line up slack shooting. You're playing Ben Simmons and Nick Clackston. It's a little bit of an imperfect set of role players, right, and we talked a lot about how their toughness was in question after getting absolutely bullied by the New Orleans Pelicans.

They have some similar issues. I think Brooklyn is a lot more talented than the Lakers, but some similar issues there the differences when last night, when Katie and Kyrie both played to the top of their ability, they were able to overcome that Kyrie played like Kyrie Irving, the real Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant played pretty damn good.

Not great by his standards, but pretty damn good, made timely shots and they gotta win, like at the end of the day, Like I don't know, I don't know that Lebron and a D can be too critical of their supporting cast at this point when they're just not

playing good enough. Yet they have to play better at the end of the day if you end up losing that game, if you're Brooklyn, at least you can look in the mirror and say, hey, like our guys played well, we just need to play better around them, right, Like control what you can control. Kyrie and KD were regardless of what's going on with the roster, you're two of the best players in the world. You need to play

like that to give yourself a chance to win. And Lebron and a d need to get that memo, particularly Anthony Davis. Um one note on Toronto there. Scottie Barnes was incredible in this game. He was jawing back and forth with Katie. I love his competitiveness that you saw this a lot over the summer when he was playing pick up, just going at everybody in the league. Um but he's got like a lot of a lot of

attitude and I really like that. Um O. G and Anobi, Pascal Siakam and Scotty Barnes combined for sixty four points in this game. That's gonna be something to keep an eye on for Brooklyn, just their ability to defend the bigger, stronger wings that can shoot over the top. Particularly Pascal's yach him in this game was just time and time just going over the top of the defense to knockdown shots.

All right. Phoenix, Portland, Uh, Portland was clinging. I watched just the end of this game, about halfway through the fourth quarter, through the overtime, Portland was clinging on for dear life against the eight and pick and roll down the stretch of that game, they were giving up switches way too easily, and then you kept ending up with like Damian Lillard or Anthony Simon's guarding eight and download in the post and they'd immediately dump it down there

and score. They tried a bunch of different things to try to get away from that. They put They tried putting Jeremy Grant on Chris Paul so they could just switch it, but then Chris Paul just rejected the screen once and went right by Jeremy Grant all the way to the basket for a layup. Their best success trying to stop that Phoenix pick and roll was actually going to zone, which they were only able to do out of stoppages. But the two times I saw them do it,

they gotta stop. And then the second time, uh, there was a foul call on Michale Bridges, the one where he went to the line to get it to one oh two to tie, because he went one for two, which I didn't actually necessarily think was a foul. So that was an interesting kind of mix up from them defensively to try to stop that eight and pick and roll.

Dame Lillard finally had a great game coming back from the abdominal injury forty one um, but he got kind of he kind of cooled off towards the end of the game and he needed someone else to make shots,

and there was Anfrony Simon's. He made a huge three on the right wing and then that hook shot over Michael Bridges like man like with with the angle that he had driving through the middle and the defense angle that Michael Bridges took to get to that ball, and Michael elevated off his off of his right foot and tried to meet him at the spot with his left

hand on a contest. The only way he's getting that shot off is by going with that high hook, which is a damn near impossible shot, and he stuck it. It's kind of like shaping up to be an interesting team because you've got Nurkics. And then they leaned on a lot of Josh Hart and Jeremy Grant at the end, basically doing the dirty work on both ends of the floor, although Jeremy Grant's capable offensively, and then you're leaning on a steady diet of Dame and uh Um and Anfrey

Anthony Simon's to make plays offensively. It's kind of it's kind of an interesting team. A good start for them. Um, Devin Booker made three really solid plays at the end of this game that didn't go his way. So you gotta be feeling good if you're a Phoenix. UM. He missed a his last three possessions of the game for Phoenix. He missed a pull up jump shot at the free throw line that was just barely short. That was a

great look for him. Then he drove on the right wing to the baseline, got all the way into the paint and barely missed a short floater. And then on the last play of the game, he made a really nice read to DeAndre at And who got fouled and should have gone to the line to make both free throws and send that game to double ot and he just missed them. So this is a great late game execution team in Phoenix. They did execute very well at the end of the game. You gotta live with the results,

though in a maker misleague. Devin book missed two shots that I think the pull up jumpers that the kind of look that he got on that shots about a fifty look for him. And then that floater that he missed that's about a seventy percent look for him. And then obviously Eighton is a good free throw shooter who more often than not is going to make those free throws. So good. Just you gotta you gotta understand an eighty two game season, you're gonna have some games that don't

go your way. This one didn't go your way. Portland is eighth in defense so far. Um, that's impressive, so they're competing. Um, And uh, say what you want about Sacramento. They are a good offensive team. So they've played two good offensive teams and have done a good job defending so far. Uh, Damon's, Damon Anfredy Simon's both look great.

And then for Phoenix, you know, for all the drama, for all the stuff I've said about how bad Aton looked defensively in preseason, they look pretty solid through two games. Damian Lee in particular, has been a great pick up for them. In both games that I've watched Phoenix play, He's been everywhere making play is as a supporting player, like contested rebounds, spot up shooting, and made another huge

left corner three at the end of this game. Just uh, running the floor and transition, just just getting his nose, in his chin, in the in the right spots, and help defense. Just really good basketball from Damian Lee. UM. I really like his fit there CP three. That's the one thing that would concern me if I'm Phoenix right now is he's been completely ineffective as a score so far through two games. Really touch, really quick touch on

Boston Miami. I had this game on on a second screen and I was just kind of periodically checking on it. Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown combined forty seven, so back to back outstanding games to start the season for both guys. I've said frequently if the two of them play like top ten players, then they are the best team in this league. It's just they're typically not consistent enough. But they're hey there. Two for two into the season, Boston has the number one offense here in the early going.

Miami's offense on the other end, not going well. I believe they're twenty four. Um. They really messed up this summer by not getting more aggressive trying to bring in a little bit more offensive talent. I would have moved mountains to try to get Donovan Mitchell. I even read a report the other day that Donovan was working out in Miami under the impression that he might be going there. Um So, that seems kind of like a missed opportunity.

Utah Minnesota. Um So, first of all, Minnesota's fifteen and defense early on with Rudy Gobert against two teams that are, you know, talented but limited in talent relative to the rest of the league. Right um, the Okay se Thunder and in the Utah Jazz. Maybe that's playing down to your competition, but definitely not great so far. Really comes down to covering ground on the perimeter with Rudy Gobert and UH and Karl Anthony Towns on the floor at

the same time. Specifically, it was Kelly Olynnock that was giving them issues tonight, just in terms of the geometry of the floor because they kept talking him away at the three point line. And now Carl Towns is like his natural instinct is to get sucked into the paint to help because he's been playing big his whole life. But then he kept getting they kept making him pay.

Kelly made five threes in this game when you in the Utah Jazz, specifically because Lori Marketing can shoot so well and because Kelly Olynnik can shoot so well, and because you know, um, uh blinking on his name right now, the big forward that's that plays for them. It will come to me in a second anyway. Um, but he's super active in athletics, so he's a little bit more different than your typical lumbering big man that's hanging out in the dunker spot all game long. Um, but they

space you out. And when Jordan Clarkson is shooting the way he is, I think he was seven for twelve from three in this game, Mike kindly was shooting the the way that he was. You've got these two huge, big big forwards you know link in marketing that can shoot the shift out of the basketball. And then I've got these two guards that are knocking down all these pull up jump shots. And then I've got, uh, leave me. I can't think of his name. The big four that's

running around making all these plays. Um, they're just they're just gonna They're gonna beat you if you don't bring your a game. That's just the reality of the situation. And uh in Minnesota played the fire all night long and they ended up getting burned. Lori Marking and in

particular was so impressive in this game. He had a shot at the end of regulation where he did uh a move on Rudy Gobert on the right wing and uh and when he made the move, Rudy's left foot slipped out from underneath him and he came this close to falling down and he left the shot just barely short. And man, would that have been an embarrassing and to that particular game for Rudy Gobert to get crossed up by one of the trade pieces from the tanking Jazz to nail a shot in his face to win the game.

But hey, it came around at the end of overtime. He made a really nice fade away jump shot on the left elbow that he left just barely short, but he ended up getting the bounce. Lorie Mark and in. He's huge, he can move and he can shoot, and that makes him a super interesting player. I've wanted the Lakers to try to get him shortly after the Donovan Mitchell trade, but then um it became quickly apparent that Danny Ainge wanted to keep him. And I don't blame him.

He's a really really interesting young basketball player. Look, Utah is not going to be an easy win. He's there, it's it's it's going to be a tough matchup, especially early in the season before Danny Ainge decides to sell these players off. It's gonna be tough to beat them. You're gonna have to bring your a game. You're gonna have to treat them as though they are a playoff type of team, because if you don't, they've got the

right types of pieces to burn you. The Lakers have them on the schedule twice here in the next couple of weeks, and at this point in the year when they still are playing all their guys again, it's not going to be easy, So Lakers might have some trouble on their hands there. Um, the Bulls and the Wizards

just saw the very end of this game. Bradley Bill and to Marta Rosen had a really fun battle um Bradley Beale at the end of the game, attacking the rim, a really nice finish um getting into Vusevitch's body at the rim, and then there was a driving floater that he hit right before the one that ended up actually being the effective game winner. Demarda Rosen pulled up a late three up on the right wing and it went in and out. Could have gone either way too, and

O for the Wizards to start the year. Um, if you remember, they were really good last year before everyone got hurt. I say really good. They were a solid, you know, play like lower seed playoff type of team last year before everyone got hurt. It's a simple formula. You've got a really good player leading the way, and Bradley Beale, who's willing to pass the basketball and had another really good playmaking game last night, was very conservative with his shot selection. And then you just got a

bunch of good role players around him. You know. Kyle Kuzuma played amazing last night. I'm a huge fan of Ruby, Hatch and Murray. He's one of my favorite young players in the league. Just a gigantic wing that can make plays. Um. Fun Wizards team. They're not again, they're not gonna make any real noise. But anytime you surround is one of the themes of this day. As we learned from the Denver Nuggets earlier. Anytime you surround a star player with

good role players, you're going to be competitive. Because role players are more important than ever in the modern NBA. You need them to capitalize on attention thrown at your stars. Aggregate, offensive skill set down lineups is immensely important. And the Wizards just have a lot of really good role players on the team, so they're gonna be interesting throughout the season. So all right, that's all I have for tonight. Guys. You can all roast me in the comments for forgetting

who that forward is that plays for the Uh. It's killing me. I keep I keep wanting to say Jaden McDaniels, But that's the other guy who played for the UM. It's killing me. Uh, it's the other guy who played for Minnesota last year. UM. Alright, So here's the plan for this weekend. The Warriors and Lakers both play on Sunday. We're gonna be covering both of those games. Uh, Jared Vanderbilt, Yes,

I finally got it. All right, We're gonna be covering all of Sunday Nights games on Monday morning, kind of similar to what we did today, and then we're doing a live show on Tuesday night and a live show on Wednesday night. Sometimes maybe on Monday. I'll update you guys on the schedule for the rest of the week. All right, that's all I have I sincerely appreciate you guys support and I will see you on Monday. The volume