Hoops Tonight - Warriors and Celtics pull off comebacks

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a fantastic start to your week. Very very strange game there, but I did expect it to be strange for those of you guys who have been listening to the show over the course of the last couple of days. You know. Um, this specifically is a one game sample size of the way that strangeness can impact any basketball player. Talk a lot about rhythm in the way that uh no, you know, if all two shots are the same, right like, if I've a wide open shot for Steph Curry on the

right wing, why does one go in and one doesn't. Well, a lot of it is like dialing things in and feeling comfortable. And this was the textbook type of wicked curveball of a basketball game. That is the kind the thing that can throw really good basketball players out of whack, and I thought it was super interesting. We're going to dive into the weeds of this game on all fronts.

We are also going to get into Boston Milwaukee a little bit more, and then if you guys stick around form the end of the show, we're gonna go over some of the biggest questions going on in the NBA right now, including reaction to Nicola Yokits winning his second consecutive m v P, and a bunch of other good stuff. So we got an action pack show for you for you guys tonight, I appreciate you coming to hang out. A couple of quick housekeeping notes before we get started.

Make sure you like this video and subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel so that you don't miss any more of our videos. We will be live every day this week, so make sure you come back after every one of our games, and make sure you follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lt. That's the place where I release all of the video content that backs up the things

that I talked about specifically on the show. It's a great way to kind of get a visual representation of some of the concepts that I've been talking about here. But let's get started with Golden State Memphis. So you know, I talked to you guys right after the John Morant injury. I said that I said that the Grizzlies were not a better team without Jaw, but they were a different team.

You know, with John Morant on the floor, it's very heliocentric, it's very him at the top of the key of making every decision, so obviously it impacts other players rhythm on the floor. And then secondly, John Morant is the worst defensive player on this roster, or at least in the rotation by a long shot. Tis Jones, who's, you know, not a fantastic defensive player, is a much better defensive

player than Jaw. And so when you pump all of those job minutes out of the lineup and you replace them with a little bit more Taias Jones and a little bit more size and athleticism, you get a much better defensive team. This season, when Jah was off the floor, the Grizzlies were about five points better per one possessions on the defensive end of the floor. They actually were better in their overall net rating with Jaw off the floor. And again it's not because Jaw is, you know, hurting

the team or the team is better without him. But in the small sample sizes that they went without him actually wasn't even that small. They played twenty five games I think without him this year. But in those games they played a different brand of basketball. It was more bruising, more physical, more defensive oriented, and they ran through a lot of teams this year, a lot of good teams. We saw that Brooklyn Nets team with Katie and Kyrie walk into Memphis without Jaw and get beat towards the

end of the season. They are a really, really difficult team to deal with. They were already one of the biggest and most athletic teams in the league without Job or with Jaw. Taking him out of the lineup and putting another bigger player in there was inevitably going to cause that type of curveball you know that defensive that increased defensive pressure completely through Golden State out of whack. In that first half, Jordan Pool and Steph only played

thirty forty eight available minutes. You know, obviously if both players played the full half, they could have played forty eight minutes. They only played thirty. I thought that was a direct reaction from Mike Brown to the increase in size and then struggling with the physicality. They played Clay Thompson twenty one first half minutes, which I mean, again, even if you are trying to fight the size, I wouldn't have done that. But again, like Mike Brown's getting

tossed into the fire there. He hasn't been coaching the team all season. He's just thrown into that spot. So obviously it's it's tough to hold him super accountable for for that. But I thought that was an interesting reaction to Memphis coming with a ton of size. You saw it directly affect their shooting. We talked about how in game game two the Warriors Stars shot horrible. Step shot horrible, Clay shot horrible, Jordan Pool shot horrible, Andrew Wiggins shot horrible.

Then they all got going in game three, well, this curve ball from Memphis threw them all out of whack again. In the first half. Jordan Pool, Steph Andrew Wiggins, and Clay Thompson were one for seventeen from three, one for seventeen, And there were some good looks in there, don't get me wrong, but a lot of it was you could just tell they were thrown off by the whole rhythm of the game and the way that it changed. They had eleven first half turnovers, which led to nine points

for the Grizzlies. That's, you know, sloppiness, and I'm struggling with some of the length and athleticism that was on the floor, you know. I I thought it was a really really interesting decision to go back to Steven Adams in the lineups line up from Taylor Jenkins. He has been completely removed from the rotation in this playoff run. Obviously. You know, we saw him play I think three minutes in Game two of the Minnesota series before he basically disappeared.

He only played six minutes total in games one through three. Well, they played him twenty seven minutes tonight. Fifteen rebounds, six offensive rebounds. It was plus eleven, just a dominant performance from Steven Adams coming in off the bench and in that big guy role. You know, that's the interesting thing about what Taylor Jenkins did in this specific scenario. Do you guys remember how I was super critical of Doc Rivers for the way that he went about games one

and two in that Miami Philly series. I told you, guys, I thought that they could never hope to play their same style against Miami without Joe l Embiide and when there's never a chance because at that point it's the loss of talent. So I thought it was a terrible idea to go rolling into Miami with your centers, with DeAndre Jordans on the floor, with Paul Reid on the floor, and try to play traditional conventional basketball against a team that just has more talent than you. I thought that

was a really poor decision. I thought their best opportunity to win down in Miami was to go crazy and weird, because in a small sample size, weird can work. And tonight's a great example of that. You know, you when Philly went with all guards and wings, they had a ton of success down there in Miami because it was it's just weird. Eyes don't know where to stand guy's perimeter.

You know, gard guards that are typically guarding you know, perimeter players suddenly are you know, dealing with a bigger wing in the post. You'll have big guys that are traditionally hanging around the basket having to chase a shooter around or having to cover a ton of ground of rotation. It throws everybody off. But instead, you know, Doc Rivers went conventional and got his butt kicked. I thought it was really interesting that Taylor Jenkins was like, no, I'm

gonna go weird. I'm gonna go huge. I'm gonna play Steven Adams, even though I haven't been able to play him at all in this entire playoff run. We're just going to physically mall Golden State in this game, and that's that. That was their best chance to muck things up and get that going the way that they did.

To Golden State's credit, they battled back, and I a lot of that credit I give to Steph you know uh In in that game in particular, as as a result of the way that the thing's got tight, you know, sweaty palms, lots of pressure. You're down by eight to ten points in the second I think they were actually down by eleven at one point, a lot of guys

start pressing. You saw that from like Clay Thompson. It was just like, you know, quick shots and transition, quick tough shots around the rim, over penetrating when you when you're attacking a close out. Jordan Pool like guys. Jordan Pool was so good in Game three as an initial dribble drive creator, getting that like first step on somebody

to get into the lane. But because everyone was shooting poorly, guys were playing off of Jordan Pool like got Jordan Pool would start to kind of mix up with his rhythm dribbles as he's getting ready to attack and the defender's back pedaling, and it's hard because do you take a quick pull up three at the early in the possession when your team's not shooting particularly well, Like that's a it's a it's a It gets in your head a little bit, it becomes complicated, and you could tell

that that was disrupting a lot of what they were doing. It two steps credit. He just came into that fourth quarter and was like, I need to make some plays, and he made some places, got to the rim. I thought it was really smart that he started punishing Steven Adams. Like again, like we talked a lot about how styles makes you know, it's not that you know. I'm a big believer in small ball. That's why I'm a big

believer in this Warriors team. But regardless of if a if a small ball team plays against a big team, the small ball team is not guaranteed to win. The small ball team has to do small ball things really well. Look at like so for instance, like I always talk about the give and take of going small. If a team goes big, you can expect that and you're small, you can expect them to get a lot offensive rebounds.

You can expect them to bully you in specific matchups like driving to the rim through thinner, smaller defenders or posting up thinner, smaller defenders. Like that's part of the deal, right, Like that that's gonna happen. You can expect to face stiff rim opposition, right Like you can expect you can expect when you're attacking the basket against this team and they're big, that you're gonna have to deal with a lot of big bodies around the basket. Those are all

the trade offs, right. But the flip side of that is, you have a massive skill advantage, a massive foot speed advantage, and like quickness, and you have a massive straight line drive speed advantage, like sprinting up and down the floor. You have advantages on the floor. And so what it

becomes is what wins. Is it the big team that's being more physically imposing and winning all those altercations and containing all of the small ball things that you do, because if that's the case, you'll lose to the big team. I personally am a big believer in that small ball style, but it has to be played well. And in that first half, especially through the first three quarters, really Go and Stay just wasn't playing well. They were losing those

physical physical altercations all over the floor. They were struggling in individual matchups. Jaren Jackson Jr. Kudos to him, Like he figured out about halfway through that game that outo Porter Jr. Just could not keep him from getting to the basket, and he just started rip him through and going to the rim and he was getting whatever he wanted. And again, that's always been Jaren Jackson's game, is that

bullyball game. And I don't know what took him so long to understand that that was his biggest advance image in this series. But tonight he got that figured it out. He got that figured out, and he was attacking the basket. But again Memphis was winning the style fight. There were two different styles on the floor and they were playing better. But as the game progressed, you know, and you know,

Golden State. I thought Tim Leigler did a really nice job breaking this down with J. J Reddick on on their podcast that they did the other day, and they were talking about how, you know, Golden State has a tendency to get out of what makes them very good. This is what happened in the two thousand eight team playoffs, if you guys remember against Houston, and its credit to Houston, they did it by switching everything and kind of throwing off all of the split cuts and off ball actions

and on ball actions that Golden State runs. But they got ice so heavy and Katie and Steph both kind of fell into it in that series and they got out of whack. Their ball movement stopped and it became a matchup attacking series and James Harden and Chris Paul were having as much success attacking matchups. Stephen KD were you know, and one of the biggest indicator. Obviously Chris Paul went out and it caused it took that kind

of question out of the equation. But had Chris Paul stayed healthy, that series would have come down to could Golden State have gotten back into their style of basketball? Golden State style bass basketball is movement. It's multiple passes on every possession. It's multiple getting your defense in in a ton of rotations, you know, because as we always talked about, especially against elite defenses, they'll communicate well on

the first action. They might communicate well and engage on the second action, but that third action, that fourth action, that's when you start having guys have tougher responsibilities, more difficult you know, communication type of situations, and they botch stuff and then you start to get open shots, especially

against a young team like this Memphis team. But they go through these extended stretches sometimes where they forget that they did back in two thousand eighteen in the playoffs, and they did it a little bit tonight, and all of a sudden, it was like early shots, quick in the possession. All of a sudden, it was like transition pull up threes. All of a sudden. It's it's difficult shot make, and you know some of it is like like Steph, I've never seen Steph missed that many wide

open shots. Like some of it you gotta. But that gets in your head then, right, and then you start forcing things even more. You start to feel like it's not your night. Especially for guys like Clay Thompson and Georgian Jordan Pool. You saw a lot of that. But to their credit, they reined it in and they got it together in that fourth quarter and they got going.

It's a really really weird game. You know. I don't know how you could say it translates forward, because again it's the the small sample sizes the advantage of the weird team, right Like, obviously, if Philly played a seven game series against Miami with no bigs by game three or game four, Eric Spoelster is going to figure out ways to consistently exploit you for not having any size on the floor. Right, But in that first game or two, you have your advantage. You know, this was the game.

If you were Memphis, you had to win because you made things super weird. If you win this game, maybe you can eat out one more of those in your buzz saw in front of your home crowd. But like at the longer this goes, they're gonna have a lot of time over the course of the next couple of days to dig into the film see where their areas

opportunity were. There's no way in the world that Memphis should get away with having Steven Adams on the floor for more than half the game against your five out attack. It just shouldn't happen. So Golden State's got a lot of stuff that they got to figure out, but they're all readily available adjustments. And again, this is game five, they should have a much better opportunity to um to make Memphis pay for being as big and as slow as they were. A couple of quick shout outs I

just talked about Jaren Jackson. I thought he had a monstrous two way performance. Just you know, that guy's young and he doesn't see the floor super well, and it's it's gonna be hard for him to be as impactful as he's capable of and consistently enough at this phase

in his career. But he's gonna be really good because, like man, there was a moment there in that game where he just suddenly it dawned on him that no one could guard En, and he was just going to the room every time and just quick little rip throughs and stuff and just you know, getting the defender on his hip and then making shots off the glass, you know, extremely tough left handed layup off the glass there and

crunch time. Just an unbelievable performance. And then credit to Tyas Jones, you know his I remember when ty Jones was coming out of college, he was kind of you know, uh, portrayed as the the like prototypical point guard, like the guy that is just the guy who can run a team, you know, which is not a thing that you see too often in the NBA these days, because most guards are high, pick and roll heavy, like really like mechanical decision makers. If he gets caught on the screen, I'm shooting.

If he's kind of caught on the screen, it's still there. I'm gonna drive into the lane further. If I'm gonna get into my floater, I'm gonna get to my pull up shot, I'm gonna get all the way to the rim, and if someone absolutely forces me to, then I'll give the ball up. You know. That's the way most guards are wired in the NBA these days are just aren't many guys like Tyas Jones who can just execute and run a team, and he didn't really nice job of

that tonight, so credit to him. But good, good, good comeback win from from a Golden State. Like I said, Steph in the fourth quarter was incredible. I thought Kevin Looney came in and gave some really important minutes. There was a monster play from Jordan's Pool after defensive stop or he whipped that behind the back dribble and actually threw it way out in front of him and like chased it down and got it and got all the

way to the rim for the layup in transition. That's that freak of nature straight line speed that Jordan Pool has that was so good. Traymond Green had a monster block on Jaren Jackson Jr. On one of the final possessions where he uh where Jaren Jackson kind of forced like a pull up three off the dribble and he

blocked it. Clay Thompson had a big defensive play towards the end of the game on Desmond bain So for for a team that had a lot of guys that had rough nights out of Porter Junior struggled guarding Jaren Jackson Jr. But he was the only guy making shots. You know. Andrew Wiggins had a massive block on Desmond Bay and going down the lane. So everyone had a rough night in a Golden State Jersey, but everybody came through and made the big plays. And that's what the

championship teams do. And I mean again, I still my concerns the Golden State remain the same that they've been this entire playoff run. Like because they're up three one now, they're probably gonna win this series, probably gonna go to the next round. They're gonna face someone like Phoenix or Dallas, right, but consistently in this series, they've struggled a little bit with memphisis size, so that's gonna be their big flaw.

But every team has flaws. Dallas is flaws after Luca, the offensive creation is super inconsistent, and they don't have great defensive personnel, although they've been guarding super well. Phoenix's biggest flies you've seen is when they play against a good dribble drive team like Dallas is all of a sudden, like Chris Paul starts to struggle a little bit guys like Mchail Bridges and Cam Johnson starts to struggle a bit. Devin Booker is really the only guy who's been good

on the road in Dallas. So you're seeing Phoenix is showing some limitations and shot creation against really good defensive teams, which is exactly what happened to them in the NBA Finals against Milwaukee Boston. We just we're gonna talk about them here just a minute. Their offense goes through these extended stretches where they're sloppy. So all these teams have flaws. So I'm not trying to act like Golden States the only team with the flaw. It's just this is their

specific flaw. When they play teams that are very big and physical, it can cause them some issues. Tonight they were able to overcome it. I thought there was a big step for them. Obviously, that will be the matchups are the things that determine these types of outcomes, and we'll see what happens when they move further along. But three one in this there is the only team in the second round that has a three one lead right

now is Golden State. Before we move on to Boston Milwaukee, a couple of quick housekeeping notes like earlier, like this video, and subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel. We're gonna be going live every day this week, so make sure you come back after every big game, and make sure you follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lt. That is the best place to see any video content that breaks down the things that I talked about on the game on the show. So let's talk about Boston and Milwaukee

for a minute. So super super interesting game. You guys, most of you who been following the show for a while, you know where I stand. I picked Boston originally in five, and then when Milwaukee stole Game one, I stayed on Boston. I just thought it would be a longer series. And you know, tell to Janice in particular his credit. He's done an unbelievable job dragging this series out. Boston is the better team. They from January three on they were the number one offense in the league and the number

number one defense in the league. They were the number one defense by a big margin. They had a five point per one hunder possession advantage over the second best team. Boston has like literally utterly dominated that Brooklyn team. And I know everyone wants to slander Kevin Durant, and I know everyone wants a slander Steve Nash and Kyrie Irving, and they're an easy target. But Brooklyn was good when Katie and Kyrie played. So that's how it goes. And

and and Boston ripped him to shreds okay. Milwaukee, on the other hand, was the twentieth ranked defense in the NBA after the All Star break. They struggle like guarding the perimeter. They've only been good at guarding the paint. That's always been their defensive identity. And so that's why I picked Boston. And the series is broken down in a really interesting manner, and your honest to me is the only reason it's as competitive as it has been.

And so it's a credit to him. And like I have to say, I have I have been so unbelievably blown away and impressed by Janice in this playoff run. You know, as I've told you guys many times, I am slow to move guys to the top. It's just the way I'm wired. Big lebron fan here didn't think he was the best part in the league until two thousand and twelve. That's the manner in which that I make these decisions for me personally, I just take it slow.

I give a lot of respect in leeway and margin for error, in benefit of the doubt to the guys that have done it year and year in and year out right. That's just the way I am. But Janice is making it unassailable at this point that he is by himself at the top of the league. He looks comfortable against this Boston defense, which is completely insane. I've said this on the show before and I stand by it. I think Boston is the best sensive team of this era.

They've at any given moment, they always have five good defensive players on the floor. They can guard almost every position. They switch, they can do drop they they double and recover. They're active off the ball there. They can block shots at the rim, they can block shots on the perimeter. They are a frightening defensive team. They make Kevin freaking Durant look lost. And I have never seen Kevin freaking

Durant look lost. Even in his bad playoff moments in the past, he never looked as bad as he did against this Boston defense. And Janice just looks completely in control when he has the ball. Now, again, basketball is a team sport. It's not always gonna manifest as a win. That's why I picked Boston. But I've been blown away by Jhannice is passing. He is now like is he is he Lebron or Yokitchener Luca or CP three with the past? No, but he's in one of the tears

right below there. And that's a remarkable accomplishment for a guy who didn't grow up playing this game, who literally learned it on the fly. It's just unbelievable stuff. He's starting to break down Boston's wall a little bit too. That's Milwaukee's chance to keep this series going longer, is you know, as the series is progressed. At the start, it was Boston's guys were stonewalling on us, and then now it's like, you're honest, is starting to run them

over a little bit. This game, in that second half, he's starting to go right around him, like the Boston players aren't even holding their ground anymore as they're starting to wear down. And that's the impact he had on Phoenix in the NBA Finals last year. It's an impact he had on Brooklyn in the Conference semis last year. That's what he does to you, He just slowly but surely breaks you down because he's the most physically imposing

player of this era, and that's how it goes. A couple other quick notes on Boston's front al Horford playoff career high thirty points tonight just an absolute monster. He's an example of the way matchups and scheming can lead

to a specific player having a ton of success. Do you guys remember in the two thousand fifteen NBA Finals, You Warriors fans will remember this vividly well, But do you remember how Andrey Guadala kept making corner threes and as a result, his scoring numbers were inflated and he was guarding Lebron as the primary defender, so he got a finals m v P. But anybody who was watching the series understood what was actually happening in that series was Steph was running high pick and roll with Dre,

and Cleveland had in their scheme a trap of every staff curry pick and roll. So whoever was guarding Dre like Tristan Thompson, or and whoever was guarding Steph like Kyrie Irving, those two guys would go Steph and they dumped the ball over the top. Excuse me, they dumped the ball over the top to Draymond. Draymond would roll down the lane. Lebron would come over and help and shut off Draymond on the on the short roll, and Draymond would kick to the left corner. Every single time.

Always wide open was Andrea Guadala and he would make the shot. And so the points are going to Andre Gudala. But it's a scheme thing, and it's Steph that was creating that. That's why that happened, right, That's why I thought Steph got so awfully robbed of his Finals MVP that he deserves and that he has in my book. Right, But that's the way scheming can lead to a role player getting fantastic shots and it having an impact on

a series. That's what happened to Al Horford in this series, and it's happened like crazy in the last couple of games.

NBA drop coverage is designed to take away the paint and when you chase the guard over the top of the screen and the biggest waiting in the paint, both of those players are going with the guy who has the ball, essentially, and when you're rolling to the basket with a traditional role man like Clink Capella, You're okay because the guy who's in drop coverage, the big man who's in drop coverage, can guard both the role man and the guard as long as the other guy chases

him and funnels him to the basket. Right. But if I have Al Horford set this screen and I have him popped to the three point line and the biggest still in drop around the basket and the guard is still chasing the other guard over the top of the screen, Horford is going to be open every single time. And so he's been wide open and picking pops all series long, and he's and he's been knocking him down in off

ball situations. If if Brook Lopez, as part of the Milwaukee defense, wants to hawk the paint, then Al Horford just sits in the week side corner and now Jayson Tatum all he has to do is get by Wesley Matthews, apply a little bit of rim pressure so that Brooke commits easy kick pass out to Al Horford in the corner and he's making them. You know again, Like a lot of times, fans, especially fans of a losing team, will focus on shot shot value, right or shot I

should say shot outcome. Oh that they made all their shots. Al Horford couldn't miss tonight. You know, I can't believe Boston's making all these threes. They're wide open. It's shot quality determined shot out for the most part, especially over a large sample size. Yes, in a weird game like Golden State Memphis tonight, you might get some weird outcomes

on open shots. But for the most part, especially when you become familiar with the team, wide open shots for good shooters are probably gonna go in, and they did, and they're gonna keep going in. Boston shot wide open threes in the first round. There were wide open threes through games one through three of this series. I don't know what they shot tonight because I haven't seen the stats yet, but they've made all their open shots tonight.

That's scheming. That's Andrea Guadala hitting corn quarter threes in the two thousand fifteen finals. That's how this works. So credit to Al Horford. I'm not trying to undercut him by at all, but I just think it's super interesting the way that scheming can lead to an individual performance as great as that last touch on this series Jayson Tatum, you know, awful, awful, awful Game three, and the mark

of greatness is bounced back. You know, obviously consistency is the old mint mark of greatness, but not everyone's Lebron. Lebron is Lebron is great in every playoff game. But you know what, He's gonna go down as the second best basketball player of all time, maybe the first. Okay, So that's that standard, and Janice is quickly trending in

that trend did that direction himself. But like Jayson Tatum had a really bad game in game in Game three, and he bounced back, made a ton of big shots at the end of the game that I used to the game. A couple of I thought that the story of the game for Tatum was attacking the paint. It was played early in the game in transition where he put his head down and he dunked on Brook Lopez like you like you wouldn't believe. It was frightening, just

a vicious tone setting message sending dunk. And as a result, he made seven made paint field goals in this game. So gotten to the paint, made seven shots only three in game three. So his relentlessness attacking the basket was a big part of him getting going tonight. Made an impossible lay up down the stretch of that game to ice it too. You know, and and shots a action has been the story of this entire series for Boston.

When they've been able to get out of the half court, excuse me, when they've been able to keep the game in the half court and keep Milwaukee out of transition, they've dominated, but they've lost games in transition. They were twenty points down in fast breakpoints in game one, they lost even in fast breakpoints. In game two they won down ten and fast break points. In game three they lost. You know, that's that's the way that that dynamic shifts

on their ability to keep control of the game. Tatum was a big part of that tonight. I thought his his shot selection was really really smart, much better job keeping his teammates involved the only in one assist in game three at five assists tonight, so credit to Jayson Dante. We did a deeper dive on this game earlier. You can find it on our YouTube stream. Did thirty minutes on this game, got into a ton of the details, So go on to our YouTube page later and you

can check that out there. We're gonna bring my guy Carson on. UM. Make sure you liked this video and subscribe to our channel. Make sure that you guys hang out every night this week. We're gonna be going live after every big game, and make sure you follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lt for video content. We're gonna bring my guy Carson on and we're gonna do five big questions. What's up my guy? Oh, we're good, Jason. Hope you guys enjoyed my big there where nobody could

hear me. Let's go modern technology. It's amazing how this stuff works. Okay, Yeah, I am on your side here. I mean I have said, I think several times on the show that I'm a big Yokich advocate, and I just think it's incredibly difficult to hold the Nuggets relative lack of playoffs success. I mean, they won a series last year, obviously without Jamal and with a roster that didn't compare in terms of talent to the top teams

out west. It was an abysmal defensive Portland team. But it's a regular season award first and foremost, his regular season production efficiency on off data, you know, just the eye tests in terms of how he empowers that offense undeniable, and even in terms of playoff performance, I mean he put up thirty one thirteen and six on fifties out and a half percent from the field. The Nuggets offense was better in the playoffs than it was in the regular season. But it's just a matter of a massive

talent deficits. So I think people are very unfair at times with the Yoka stuff, and I just don't think it's a good way to evaluate a guy's merit looking at an individual playoff series in which the team is totally outclass talent wise and saying, well, that negates a regular season. That just doesn't make sense to me. Yeah, you know, the the whole like best players should win every series thing is kind of like a it's it's a skip any less line of thing thinking. I have

a huge problem with it. To me, it just doesn't it's low brow. It it disrespects the game of basketball and what it actually means. Like talk to guys like Lebron and Steph two guys who are the two most successful players of this era, and they will tell you time and time again that it's their teammates that that have carried them to this point, not carried them, but

that have helped them get to this point. I mean, I'm curious your thoughts, Carson, what do you think of What do you think of my idea that in a field of flawed candidates you default to the guy who was the best player in the league this year I

thought Janice. I do think that that's interesting, But I think kind of the key point is what you also touched on, and that the Bucks, in terms of encourt performance this year, outscored their opponents by less with Janice on the floor than the Denver Nuggets did with Yokich on the floor. And it's like, to me, once you reach that point, it's okay, you know, what more does Yokich have to do? I think that's a sound line

of thinking. But I just think the overachievement in team success for the Nuggets and the relative underachievement for the Box, to me, makes up for that best player in the world kind of default factor. That's a really solid case, Carson. I can't argue with you there. My final thought on it is no problem with Yokich deserving m v P. Don't feel like it's a travesty This isn't Russell westbroke in two thousand seventeen. But it just I personally in

this situation would have gone with the honest. But I don't have any problem with the case. Yeah, and I will say, just to the best player in the series point that you touched on, it's like the Warriors had five of the six best players in that series. You know, Yokich is the loan exception there, so it's very tough to look at that as Okay, one guy is determinative of everything there. All right, now we're rolling Jason, everybody can hear me. We're talking about Yokis. We're feeling great.

Let's talk about a couple of other superstars here, both of whom are maybe in the midst of a comeback here got their series even from down two oh to to a piece. We're talking about the Sixers and the MAVs here, led by Joel Embiad and Luca don Che. So, Jason, who do you think has the better chance of actually

successfully leading that comeback all the way and beat or Luca? Okay, let me before I answer this, let me clearly differentiate between who I think is the better player and who a better playoff player and who I think actually has a better chance of leading to come back. I think Embiad has a better chance of leading to come back because I'm actually picking the sixers at this point. I did a deep dive on this. You guys can find it on our video on our YouTube channel from earlier today.

Did a ton of film study on on games three and game four. The there is a dynamic taking place with Miami that they can't score with Joel Embid on the floor. So Joel Embiid as the defensive ful chrum plus everything. They figured out some really interesting stuff with with his post ups today or yesterday, Like they Miami was doing this really interesting like front backside help things. So they were switching pick and rolls with Embad and happily putting guards on Embiid and happily letting him go

post them up. But they were just fronting him and then helping from the backside, so nothing was open. Well. Philly had some really interesting counters today where they use some player movement and some ball movement to capitalize on those fronts to get easy shots for Joel Embiid. I think they have more chess moves to make in this series because I think they have better players to utilize

in the half court. I thought it was a damn shame that Doc Rivers went down to Miami and tricked off those first two games the way that he did, But I mean all at all, Like Embiad, I think is actually going to win the series now, Luca he has a chance to, but I think Phoenix is so much better that they'll pull it off. My thing is like, like in a vacuum, would I rather have Luca or

Embiid for a playoff series? I value that half court surgery to such a high extent that I'm always going to default to a guy like Luca, Whereas, like for Joel Embiid, maybe for an eighty two game season, his defensive capabilities are more valuable, but and beads more likely to lead to come back because his team has a better chance of winning. But I still think Luca is a better playoff player, if that makes sense. Yeah, I completely agree with you every step of the way there.

And even when Luca is having an offshooting night like he did in Game four, you just feel the pronounced playmaking impact. You see him just effortlessly collapsing the defensive whatnot creating so many open threes so frequently, And I mean the guy is well, maybe he's not the top playoff score ever anymore, maybe he's back down to number two,

but like his playoff production is unfathomably great. But I also agree with you and that the Sixers are I think a better team facing certainly on inferior team in Miami as compared to the Suns, and they're just in much better position. It's really, I think a very tall task to ask Luca to overcome just the talent deficit that they're facing against the Sun's team that is so complete. What do you think he would have to do to actually get them to that point? Like how incredible would

Luca have to be? And what would have to go right around is too he's gotta make shots. I mean, like, what's crazy is Lucas Lucas having a really good offensive series overall when you factor and everything he's bringing to the table. I mean, you have to have a really good offensive series from Luca to be too two with the team like the Suns. But he was one for ten on on his threes again against Phoenix. I think

it was you do you remember that that. Do you remember the exact percentage in your TikTok that that Luca shot on playoffs step back threees? Do you remember off top of your head? I think it was forty six point three? Guys? How insane is that? Like, obviously I think it was coming into that series, are coming into game two or game three that series, But to shoot just under on step back threes in the playoffs is a ridiculous level of efficiency. And he's been shooting like

ship in this series. So like my thing is, like I'm picking Phoenix to win the series. Still my guess is in seven games. But Dallas chance is basically exactly what they're doing. Jalen Brunson getting things going a little bit more, you know, Uh, Spencer Dinwoody spot impact much much better defense. Reggie Bullock and and uh and Reggie Bullock and Dorian Phinnie Smith have been unbelievable on the defensive end. They've gone away from power for a little

bit more. In a little bit more, Maxi kleeb because it opens things up for them scoring in the half court. A lot of a lot of good things going on, and that's how it's too too. But you win this series with Luca going into Phoenix in game five and going seven for ten on step back three is instead of one for ten on step back three. So to me, that will be the because that's kind of like a lot of those difficult shots he takes, the step backs and the turnarounds in the posts and stuff like that.

Those are like the way he bails out the end of possessions when things when they've run their actions a few times and they didn't get an open three out of it, they'll go back to Luca in an io and he'll take those shots. So like they are rescue possessions and they haven't been scoring on the rescue possessions. So if Lucas starts scoring on those rescue possessions, that'll that'll be a wins it. The great example of what

I'm talking about is James Harden last night. Like James Harden last night was making the step back three and as a result, he was able to rescue a bunch of possessions and next thing you know, Philly has a hundred twenty points against a really good Miney defense. Well let's get back to that series for a second here, Jason, because you mentioned obviously these sort of Doc rivers masterclass of messing things up in those first couple of games. But we are back even at two games a piece

now between Philly and Miami. So do you think there's any chance that Doc is actually doing a good job now, Jason? He is? He flat out his Like, I mean, this is this kind of reminds me of the Rudy Gobert situation, where like, if you guys remember with Rudy Gobert, the narrative surrounding him kind of exploded to the point where it wasn't matching what was actually happening on the court. The theory was, oh, you can score on Rudy Gobert, and it was like, actually, no, no, no, you can

score on the jazz. But Rudy Gobert is basically like literally like like R two D two in Star Wars trying to plug all the holes in the in the in the little electrical board, right or I guess that was B B eight, But I'm butchering Star Wars references.

Star Wars reference anyway. My point is is, like Empeed is is uh, Gobert is always plugging all these holes for them, and so he ended up catching the bad rip Tatian for what was basically a roster construction issue, right, you know, And and that's kind of like I'm not under selling docs previous failures, like and I have super critical of what he did to start this series. I

thought he was. I thought, and again, like, it's hard to convince the traditional basketball coach has been around for a long time to do something crazy like bench the two centers you have to play five wings all game long. But that that's just what I would have done. But that's that's Monday morning quarterbacking. So it's it's irrelevant overall, though in this playoff run, I thought he outcoached Nick Nurse that I need to really. I thought it was genius the way that he pushed the ball so much

in transition early in that series. That that's always been a weakness of Phillies and he turned it into his strength. And that's one of the biggest reasons why people were picking Toronto. People like myself for picking Toronto was I thought they'd be able to win the transition battle, and

Philly won the transition battle. They did. Doc did a really good job coaching up on the defensive end of the floor that series, particularly basically just daring Toronto to shoot, and it burned them a couple of times, obviously when they were up three. Oh, but they won a big game in Game six on the road by daring Toronto to shoot and they went ice cold. And then in this series, and I've I've I've broke this down just

a minute ago. I won't go too much further into it, but like his his the dynamics he's been using to counter the way that Miami has guarded and Beat has been really really smart. He's mixed in some zone you know. There there's there's a lot of there's a lot of high level chess moves going on on on behalf of Doc Rivers, and then you gotta give him some credit. Like I've always said on the show, like we have to be critical, like I I there's no universe for where Carson and I can put on a good show

or we're just pandering with propaganda all day long. Like we have to be critical. But the flip side of that is we have to be fair. If if we are critical of players like James Harden or critical of coaches like Doc Rivers when they do play well or coach well, I think it's important for us to call that out as well. And I think Doc has done a really good job in this playoff run. Yeah, I agree with you in the improvement and I think obviously a lot of people keepd in on the DeAndre Jordan playing.

You talked about that a lot. The most hilarious stat to me was that the Sixers were sixty three points per one possessions worse with him on the floor. Very small sample size and three playoff games. But obviously, you know, Doc actually made the move that it didn't seem like he was gonna make. And we haven't seen DJ and they've won back to back games now and there's definitely

progress on that front. Let's pivot to another Eastern Conference series here, one that we already touched on a bit today. Celtics Bucks Who wins Game five? Jason, I think the Celtics are gonna win comfortably. You know, Like I told you guys in the show that we did Saturday night, I believe it was Saturday night, might meant it might have been Sunday. I said that I predicted Boston would

win by ten to fifteen points in Game three. In Game four, which they had a ten point lead late, I'm not I'm not actually sure what the final score ended up being. UM and then I thought they'd go home and win comfortably at home, Like I think they'll feed off the home crowd and not not necessarily a blowout, but it'll be one of those games where they're stiff arming Milwaukee the whole game. And then I think Games six will be a really really close game that I

think Boston will win. And the main reason why is like Boston has a clear cut pathway to victory. Keep the game in the half court, play smart offense. Do the same thing you've been doing for damn near five months now, and that's play the best defense of this era.

If you do that, you're going to win. Every time that the wheels have gone off the rails for Boston in this series, it's been quick threes off the dribble early in the shot clock, quick threas in transition early in the shot clock, driving into the teeth of the defense and trying to finish over shot blocking and getting blocked. I pointed out earlier today, I think there were thirty seven for forty eight or something crazy like that on

two's tonight. So the much better execution to get higher quality two point shots at the rim or near the rim. Everything for this entire series has come down to offensive execution for Boston. Can they keep their ship together long enough to get quality shots often enough to keep Milwaukee out of transition, because when they get in transition, it's Jannest dribbling the ball off the court with the head of steam and no one can do a damn thing

with him. It's like, it reminds me of prime Lebron James all the all the Lebron comps continue with the honest thing. And they're very different players in a lot of different ways. But one of the ways they're very similar is Lebron was one man fast break. When he got a steel or a block or rebound or whatever, and he started running the floor. There was just nothing you can do with him. And and that's what Janice has been doing in this series. And so I think, like,

is it I'm not counting out Milwaukee. You'd be stupid to do so with how good Janice is and and you also would be stupid to count out with Milwaukee with how often Boston has denigrated back into terrible offense. But I would hope at this point, they have enough evidence to show them clearly the way that they need to play, and they'll play that way and get the job done. There's I think there's a very good chance Milwaukee does win in Game six at home, but I'd

still pick Boston comfortably in a Game seven. So I think I think Boston's in good shape at this point. Yeah, I'm with you there. I think that I don't know if I'm ever comfortable taking either of these teams to win comfortably, largely just because of the honest factor in the level he's playing at right now. But the Celtics

are just a better basketball team. There are more complete basketball team, and the half court difference that you've touched on a lot is significant, But the honest factor is frightening. I just don't think it's quite enough. With obviously the Bucks down Middleton all Right played in this series real quick. I think he has done his best in a really difficult matchup. I think that he has emphasized just like the overwhelming physical advantage he has over like I don't

know every other player in the league. I think that obviously, um, it's been really high volume. I think that's been essential though, and Drew has been really high volume two. But they're just are no other creators on this roster, right, It's like everything falls on them when you don't have Middleton. There isn't that release valve. So it's okay, honest, find a way, try and get downhill and playmaking, create a shot for somebody. And he's done that. I mean, the

playmaking has been there, the finishes have been tough. Obviously, the jump shooting hasn't been particularly good. The overall efficiency hasn't been good. Um, But given that, I think he's had as pronounced of an impact as he could have. And obviously there's been huge defensive moments. So I feel like this is really just a testament to his status as I think he's the best player in the world. I know that you've talked about thinking he might just

be in a tear of his own. It feels to me like when a guy is at his worst in terms of, you know, just purely scoring the basketball and shot making to an extent, then you really see what the floor is in terms of impact, and it just feels like nobody has a higher floor right now. And that's kind of what he's proven. So I think it's been impressive, even if like his you know, production and efficiency won't even compare to a normal Janna series. Yeah, I think that he's done about as good a job

as you could possibly do against this Boston defense. Like I I just again, I know, I know, I've been on this Boston defense like NonStop, and I know that that's been kind of like my little hill that I've

been on, but like it's not. It's just based on what I've seen in film, and like there is nothing easy against this this defense, and he has literally he this is like it's like you're in the desert, and in the entire Sahara desert, there's this one rag that at one point, like twelve hours ago, was wet, and it's like sitting on the in Janice is just squeezing every drop of available water out of this thing. Like

that he has. He has hit the absolute peak of what you could have expected from him in this series. And it's too too. And they were trailing in the final minute of Game three and Game one Boston mailed in in a lot of different ways. So like that's just how great Yanna say is. If I if I had one piece of criticism i'd send his way, like the jump shots are just turnovers, Like he's not making nearly enough of them to take them. They always lead to run outs. The other way, I get why he

takes them there to save his legs. So I'm not criticizing him in that regard. My thing is like that that part of his game is still so so, so so far away from being a really reliable piece of his game. Yeah, I think that's a perfectly fair criticism. I think that's a fair criticism of Janice honestly, and almost any series or game that he's played his basketball career, like it feels like he takes them out of a feeling kind of an obligation or like you talked about

conserving that. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I think he's two of sixteen from three now, so I mean you're right, that's those are effectively turnovers. So all right, last question for you here, Jason. The Golden State Warriors are the title favorites at this point? Should they be? Oh? Man, See, what makes this tough is like I think Boston's best punch is the best punch. I think when their defense is locked in and they're running smart offense, no one

can beat them. But one of the reasons why my prediction has been so flaky in this series is they've so consistently gotten out of whack offensively, because that's what you expect from a team that doesn't really have a true point guard, right, Like they don't have they don't have a true point forward point guard guy who's used to running a team. They have Marcus Smart, who's kind of like he pretends to be, but he's not really

that type of guy. And then Jaalen Brown and Jason Tatum, who, to Tatum is obviously better than Brown at passing, but he's not great. I looked down uh, the Philly the Philly Miami series. I think both of those teams are worse than both of Milwaukee and Boston going out west, Like the Phoenix matchup is really tricky with Golden State because they can they can attack some very specific weaknesses

of Golden State. So like I think if I was ranking contenders at this point, i'd have Boston one, Phoenix to Golden State three. So I don't know that I call them the favorite, but I think all three of those teams are very close. Like I'm I think it's a clear one to three for me, but all of them are separated by the slightest of margins. So like, I wouldn't be surprised if Boston lost to Phoenix in the finals, wouldn't be surprised if Boston lost to Golden

State in the finals. Hell, guys, I wouldn't be surprised if Boston lost the series to Milwaukee still just by getting out of whack offensively. So like I, I don't think there's a I don't think there's a bona fide, clear cut favorite in the field. To be honest with you, it is really interesting because it's like the Warriors are an overwhelming favorite in terms of betting odds, but at fandal you have them plus one five, which is really I don't think great value, and then Phoenix plus Boston

plus four ten. It doesn't feel right to me, Like, I don't think the Warriors would be number one out of that group for me. I think that you could argue maybe that they've had the most impressive performance purely in terms of the postseason, and that they haven't really

had like a single let down game. There are a couple of losses, you know, still really highly contested, and obviously they only have two losses in these playoffs, but I I don't know that I would even have them one out of those three, Which of those three teams do you feel like has the most glaring weakness, like the biggest red flag or concern for you? Oh, Man, I it's a toss up between Golden State in Boston. Golden State goes through these extended stretches were they take

really bad shots, so does Boston. Golden State also has a size weakness that would be something that would concern me. I mean, gosh, again, we're talking about very very tiny margins here, because even Phoenix's offense can be really stilted when Chris Paul gets thrown out of whack. So again

it's a small margin. But I would say, yeah, I'd say Golden State probably is the biggest hole there because they go through extended stretches of poor shot selection which can derail their offense, and then they have a size weakness and size where they can get punished. And I thought, what I'm saying is has been very clearly demonstrated tonight

in this Memphis game. I think that's fair. I will always think about and You've talked about it a ton particularly in this series, the offensive decision making aspect with Boston, the lack of that traditional lead guard element like leads scoring and playmaking guard. There was a time earlier this year where I thought like that was going to be

there on wing. You know that the two wings being you guys by so far wasn't gonna work, that they weren't good enough playmakers, and so I do always find myself a bit weary of those lapses in those moments, But I think they've come so far that, you know, for the most part, that is no longer an issue. But I think that those are probably the two weaknesses to identify. I don't think Phoenix can be there unless it's like what we've talked about, where if cpre book

goes down, they don't creation. But other than that, they are pretty incredibly solid. Yeah, to Golden State's credit, they've always kind of like snapped back into gear. They go through these extended stretches, but they always snap back, and that's a credit to their experience, because like I've been critical of Golden State compared to Phoenix in Boston here in the last five minutes, but a lot of it is like comparing very very good teams in the big

leg up that Golden State has his experience with. The big reason why Boston has gotten so out of whack is because they don't have the same amount of experience in these huge moments. They do have a lot of experience. We've talked about it here on the show. They've been to the conference finals multiple times this group, but for the most part, they're like Golden State, clear level up of experience. They've been in probably twice as many playoffs

series over over this recent history. They've been to the finals five times like Golden State has has. Just they've just they're they're not going to be scared by anything like this. I don't think Steph or Draymond were scared of this game tonight. When they were down eleven and that third quarter, they knew what they were up against. And so if there's one leg up that they have on their competition, it's that experience. Yeah, that is all

we have for tonight. I sincerely appreciate your support. Like we said earlier, we're gonna be live every night this week after the big games. At the end of the night, please come hang out with us. Like can subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel, subscribe to our newsletter, and last but not least, follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lt for video content. As always, I'm blown away and I'm so appreciative of you guys coming to hang out with us on these shows, and I will see you

tomorrow night. The Volume