Hoops Tonight - Warriors-Lakers Game 4 Reaction: LeBron James & LA spoil Steph Curry's big night

so you guys don't miss anyhow announcements. And if for whatever reason, you guys miss one of these show and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish, don't forget. You can find them wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight, Last but not least before we get started. You guys have heard me talk about game Time, the

fastest growing ticketing app in the United States. If you're looking to get out to an NBA game, or a Major League Baseball game, or concert, or even a comedy show, game Time has amazing last minute deals.

play baseball. And if you want to go see your favorite artists, like I'm going to see John Mayer in his final tour with Debt and Company here on the twenty third when he comes to Phoenix, go on game Time. You're gonna find a good deal. You're gonna have a great experience. They're gonna know exactly what you're getting yourself into. You're gonna get a great seat. They've taken great care of me in the past. I know they're gonna take great care of you guys. Recommend you, guys give it

a try. No matter where you live, get out and have some fun this week. Download the game Time app, Enter your email and redeem code Hoops for twenty dollars off your first purchase. Terms apply again. Enter your email and the code Hoops. That's Hops for twenty dollars off. Download game Time Today, last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk some basketball. Such an unusual game.

I predicted that the Lakers would win in a close one, but like I said, it when nothing like I expected.

dynamic that the entire series hinges on. You're gonna see random outlier performances across the board, right Like you get a bagel from Jordan Poole, but you get a pretty great night from Moses Moody, right Like, that's completely random. The Lakers get absolutely nothing from D'Angelo Russell in this game, one for ten from the field, but they get this

incredible performance from Lonnie Walker. Those sorts of things are super random, super difficult to project forward in the series, so I don't really see the point in focusing on them from an adjustment standpoint. We will talk about them, but I want to focus on this Anthony Davis versus Steph Curry thing, because, like I said, that's the dynamic that's actually determining the outcome of this series, and it starts with this progression of pick and roll coverages.

to look for in this game. One, They're gonna put Gary Payton in a ton of ball screens. I played in the same junior college conference from Gary Payton, and I'm super familiar with this game. And he's an outstanding passer. He won conference Player of the Year the year after I left that conference in large part because of his ability to dissect defenses with the pass. That's one of the strengths in his game. And he's a great athlete that can roll hard to the rim and force the

defense to collapse. So it's another guy that you're trying to bait Anthony Davis into guarding because he's a non shooter, so that you can bring him up into ball screens. It was a super interesting adjustment. Another big adjustment well, and I also thought they put Gary Payton in the lineup to try to force more turnovers and get out in transition. It's like going all in on defense to

try to get turnovers and get running. They had seventeen fast break points in this game after just four in Game three, so I thought the Gary Payton adjustment was a really smart one from Steve Kerk. Another adjustment just

in terms of execution from Steph Curry. So in this coverage, it's again, I got into an argument with somebody about this yesterday about what the coverage is called, and to me, that's so irrelevant because even just calling, even within specific labels on specific teams, the rules changed from team to team. It doesn't really make any sense. Each coverage is unique to each team. But call it a high drop, call it a hedge caught, whatever you want to call it.

Anthony Davis is coming out to the level of the screen to dissuade Steph Curry's pull up jump shot and then recovering back to the role man as the guard is chasing over the top of the screen. And in game three, Anthony Davis was getting a boatload of deflections on that pocket pass and it was blowing everything up

for the Warriors and pick and roll. So one of the adjustments that you saw from Steph Curry in this game is when he got the ball screen, he dribbled laterally like to the sideline, usually to his right hand, to drag Anthony Davis with him, so that he's so far away from the role man that Steph could throw

a looping pass over the top. He could do whatever he wants because he's a massive window to throw Gary Payton too, because no longer is it a cluster of players that he's trying to slip a pocket pass through. He's now dragging Ad so far over and Austin Reeves so far over that Gary Payton's just standing completely unguarded in the middle of the lane.

He had two looks at the end. We're gonna get to that in a second. He was just barely short of the goal of tying up the series, So that dynamic very easily could have gone the other way if he's thirteen for thirty, or he's fourteen for thirty or four for fourteen from three, So it could have been so much worse. But I thought Steph absolutely destroyed the

Lakers in pick and roll. Then at halftime, Darvin Ham tries to switch Anthony Davis onto Andrew Wiggins in hopes of just putting a different role man there that's maybe not as good of a decision maker. They got a few more stops, but I thought I thought for the most part, the Lakers improve defensive effort in the second half mostly came down to better effort on the back line, Guys just making better rotations and be like Lebron being more active, everybody being more active in their rotations on

the back line. And then the other thing that Steph was doing that I thought was smart, as he was having Andrew Wiggins in particular, slip the screen, so by slipping the screen, you can catch ad while he's still running up and slip it past him before Anthony Davis gets up into a position where he can actually get a deflection. It was such an interesting, just genius offensive performance from Steph Curry that goes so much further than the than the box score, what do you have like

thirteen assists? Like literally, if he shot any better, he would have just completely decimated the Lakers in this game. I thought it was such an unbelievable performance from Steph Curry. But down the stretch, remember what I said, there are three ways to guard the Steph Curry pick and roll. You can run drop coverage and hope your guards get over the top. You can come up to the level of the screen and open yourself up to the short role. And what's the final option. It's the switch. This is

where Anthony Davis just says, screw it. I'm taking Steph. Whoever gets screened by Draymond Green or Andrew Wiggins or Cavon Looney or Gary Payton just run with him down to the basket and we leave Steph Curry on Anthony Davis on an island to determine the outcome of these possessions. And there was a possession early in the game where they ended up in a switch and Steph hit a

step back three on Anthony Davis. There's another possession in the second half where he drove past Anthony Davis and ad he actually kind of forced him into a bad pass. To Lebron, but it like bounced right back into STEP's hands and he laid it in. But those are the only two seat switches they ran that I can remember in the first three and a half quarters or so. There's a reason why teams don't want to switch Anthony

Davis onto Steph. I would imagine it's about trying to prevent back end action, right, so Steph is guarding Anthony Davis out at the rim, then you can run all your shit on the back end with no Anthony Davis. And we know how bad the Lakers defense is without

rim protection. And the second thing is offensive rebounding, right, So you end up with Austin Reeves on Draymond Green on that final possession, the second to last possession, and Anthony Davis gets a stop on Steph Curry, but Raymond Grae just jumps over the top of crabs an offensive rebound kicks it back. So those are the reasons why most coaches don't like to switch as much as they can.

It's also just a lot of work for Anthony Davis to slide his feet, but they had no choice but to go to it at the end of the game, and we end up in a possession where it's a one point game, and we have our clash of superpowers. Right, So I just have broken down in great detail how Steph Curry's superpower nearly murdered the Lakers tonight, right, and then he had a similar game in game two. And then we have two heroic Anthony Davis performances in Game

one in game three. Obviously, Anthony Davis was amazing offensively in Game one, but defensively was where Anthony Davis controlled the game in Game one. In game three, so I've got Steph Curry's offensive superpower versus Anthony Davis's defensive superpower in a game that I believe was the one that was gonna determine the outcome of this series. And we're gonna get to this in a second. I do not think this series is over. But that said, the Lakers

are into commanding position. This was the one they had to win, right, So everything came down to that possession, and Anthony Davis forced Steph into an extremely difficult step back one leg at three and he gets a stop in and out too, like it was right there. I mean, against the quality of defender that Anthony Davis is Steph, I'm sure likes that look. And then on the offensive rebound kickback, I thought it was super interesting Steph settled for such a difficult step back. What was that like

a thirty footer or so? Thirty five footer or so off the dribble against Anthony Davis. That goes to show you that he thought that was the best he could get under the circumstances. So when the clash of the superpowers at the end of the game, even though Steph I thought out played Anthony Davis throughout the night, Anthony Davis made two plays at the end with the superpower

overcoming Steph Curry and the Lakers get to win. We're gonna talk more about the Lakers and their adjustments with pick and roll here in just a minute, and how I expect him to go the rest of the series, but I wanted to start with that because I thought that was the most interesting dynamic in the game. Lonnie Walker. After Game three, I was extremely upset with myself because I noticed Lonnie Walker and what he did in the game defensively, but I didn't talk about it on the show.

A lot of times, especially when we go live on AMP. This one's not live. But when we go live, I'll typically on many nights go without notes because we're going right after the final buzzer, and so I'm just going off the top of the head. I might have like three or four things written down. It's not the same as when I do those full shows in the morning, right And I just forgot to get to Lonnie Walker, and so I was super pissed off. And I get on Twitter later that night and I'm like, man, forgot

to talk about Lonnie. Loved the work he did defensively, Glad to see him in the rotation. I want to talk about Lonnie Walker tonight because this has been such an incredible story and an example of this Laker team and their basketball character throughout this season. The team that I didn't really like their basketball character last year in some of the mood, in things that some of the dynamics that were going on in that locker room. This team has had so much more fight and ziliency than

that last year's team. Lonnie Walker was removed from the rotation because of his offense. He was a guy that routinely had bad shot selection, and he was a guy that was not a very good defensive player at least he wasn't engaged enough on that end as he needed

to be. He ended up losing his rotation spot after the trade deadline, in large part because you brought in two additional guards in Malik Beasley and D'Angelo Russell and Troy Brown Junior actually was really good in the middle of the season and kind of took that specific a spot as like their best know perimeter defensive guard that they would kind of unleash in that bench unit. Right, So Lonnie Walker falls out of the rotation, but it largely had to do with the defensive end of the floor.

So in Game three he gets into the rotation because he's so damn fast. We noticed this a lot in that Sacramento King series, but Lonnie Walker's speed reminds me of some of the stuff with Malik Monk and darreon Fox and just them just sprinting like crazy. Davion Mitchell round chasing these Warriors guards around. And he did a great job in game three, locking and trailing, staying attached, did great work on Jordan Poole, had some great possessions

on Klay Thompson. It was just an excellent defensive performance from Lonnie Walker. What's so interesting is I have been hearing behind the scenes, I say, just from all the people that do great work covering the Lakers that Lonnie Walker during this entire stretch where he's been out of the rotation, has just stayed extremely diligent with his work and he's actually been like a pretty solid spot up shooter for the Lakers this year when they've needed him

to be. But what's so interesting to me is not only does he make a monumental three to start the fourth quarter that turns a seven point game into a four point game, and you could tell visibly engaged Lebron in that quarter as he's a quarter assistant. On the next four points, I think to tie it, but he starts hitting off the dribble jump shots again. One of the weird plot lines of this particular Laker playoff run is Lebron James and a. Anthony Davis have been super

unaggressive offensively for long stretches. They've just been willing to give the ball to the guards, usually Dennis Schroder, D'Angelo Russell and o Ausin Reeves set ball screens and get out of the way and LR It's a couple of different things. Anthony Davis is carrying a massive defensive load and Lebron James just doesn't have a ton left in the tank, and so he's picking his spots, and so they need their guards to be a certain amount of aggressive.

It's actually something that I'd like to see them eventually flip if they're going to try to win this series. We'll get to that later, but when they've needed somebody's step up and get and generate quality shots. In this game, it was Lonnie Walker fifteen fourth quarter points. He had a baseline out of bounds play where he flew off of a screen and knocked down at eighteen footer on

the baseline. He hit multiple pull up jump shots over the top of the over the top of contests, including I think at least two over steph Curry in isolations. He just whilled that ball into the basket. And so what's so interesting to me about the Lonnie Walker thing is it's such a great example for any young basketball player for how to be a professional in any locker room, your offense will come and go. It's part of the

basketball player's journey. Look at Lebron James, he's the second best basketball player of all time cannot make a jump shot to save his life. You're gonna have struggles, but there are things that you can control, particularly on the defensive end, particularly with rebounding and effort execution shot selection.

Lonnie Walker got his opportunity with what he can do defensively, and then through the natural flow of the game, it gave him an opportunity to demonstrate the hard work that he's been putting in behind the scenes on his jump shot, and it rose to the surface in what is just an iconic playoff moment, completely out of the rotation two games ago, iconic playoff moment fifteen points in the fourth quarter of a pivotal two one series league game between

the Lakers and the Warriors that puts the Lakers in a commanding position to win the series, where now the Warrior have to win three games consecutively to win the series.

that fourth quarter. He had a four point run after the Warriors went up like ninety four to ninety you know, pull up jump shot and pick and roll, similar type of thing Lebron and Ad kind of standing around waiting for somebody to make a play.

areas of his game are failing him. He was struggling to score in the post over Steph Curry, couldn't make a jump shot to save his life. Still just wheeled his way to twenty seven points. It's funny. I tweeted this out during the game, and I truly believe it's so funny as we've painted this series, and not we

in particular. I was anti this right from the series preview, but so many media personalities and TV shows and stuff have painted this as versus Lebron or as some sort of like rubber match between Lebron James and Steph Curry. And it's so silly because Steph Curry's at the absolute peak of his powers. He had a bad shooting night and still was masterful offensively. He has complete command of

the game right now. Lebron James is a shell of himself who's just trying through sheer force of will basketball IQ and whatever he's got left in those legs, trying to will himself to helping his team win games. And in that effort, twenty seven, nine, and six, attacking out of the post, attacking steph in switches, getting opportunities, going to the rim hard in the short rolling to the rim. That was a big element in his offense tonight. You saw that and one that he got on the baseline

I think it was with an Austin Reeves screen. He had another one in the first half where he got downhill, like just screening and rolling to the rim, like hey, shit, I can't make it. I can't make a damn jump shot. My post up hook shots are missing. Let me do something to help the team. I'll just screen and roll hard to the rim because I'm still big as shit and I'm still strong and i can still finish around

the rim with the best of them. Like it was just it's just sheer force of will from Lebron James in this particular game, attacking the offensive glass when he

had every when he had an opportunity. I just that's like a straight up heart of the Champion type of game from Lebron, And you know, we got to enjoy it for as long as we can because the end is near with Lebron playing at nearly this level and he's given us everything he's got left in the gas tank right now, probably because he thinks this team has a chance to win a championship. One last note, I want to hit before we go to an adjustments, before we call it a night. There's a downside to relying

heavily on Steph pick and roll. And I would imagine if you asked Steve Kerr with trucierum, because Warriors fan's been begging for this forever and I'm a big believer in like, do it when you have to. But there's a downside to spamming high pick and roll, and it stops the Warrior motion offense from keeping the other offensive players engaged in the game. Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole will go a combined three for fifteen from the field

for nine points. Jordan Poole was a bagel zero for four. So, like when you go Steph high pick and roll, you allow your guys to stay glued up to Klay Thompson off ball and he's not involved in screening actions. He's just spotting up. So he's just uninvolved in the offense. Now, Clay is just such a ridiculous, you know, confident shooter that he still made a massive clutch three in the

right corner down the stretch. I don't know how he made it without how out of rhythm he was, but then he had a missing one on the left wing later, like one of the downsizes. You just put a lot of pressure on Steph to make shots because Clay's not going to be able to help you just as a spot up guy when they can stay glued up to him. Jordan Poole has been just a nightmare offensively in this entire playoff run relative to last year, where he was

basically a fifty to forty ninety guy. And so it comes down to Steph shot making and when that's all you rely on, you live with the result. And he went twelve for thirty, and he went three to fourteen from three, and so that's what ends up happening, as as ugly as that is. And again that all I'm doing is explaining the reason why I believe Kerr goes that route. I still think that's the best chance for the Warriors to win. We go looking two adjustments moving

forward for the Warriors. I think you got to stick with the Steph II pick and roll and just hope for a better shot result, which you're almost certainly going to get at home. As a team, they were twelve for forty one from three. Again, you're consistently pulling Anthony Davis away from the rim, and I think that gives you your best chance to win, even defensively. I thought the Warriors were great. You're Alannie Walker hot shooting performance away from being in a tied to two series, you know,

and again it doesn't it doesn't matter. You know, the the Memphis Grizzlies, where a Lebron James layup away from being two two in the series, they don't get to go back and get that win.

the lake front. Here's the thing, none of your pick and roll coverages are working except for the switch, and ideally you don't want to switch all game. And I again, I still think we got five Steph points on Forest eighty switches if I remember correctly. Off to go back

and look at the film tomorrow. But like, there's no good solution, so I would stick with the high drop for now and go to switching at the end of the game for Anthony Davis and just hope to God that Steph doesn't play as well as he did tonight, and hope to God he doesn't make more shots. I think that's their best chance guarding and pick and roll

more Lebron James and Anthony Davis post ups. I thought the the guards tonight for the Lakers were really really uneven offensively, and I get it from a fatigue standpoint with everything Anthony Davis has on his plate and everything

that Lebron James is dealing with physically. But again, even if you're not shooting, go to Lebron in the post, go to Anthony Davis in the post and run dummy post like like decoy action, meaning like have Lebron just pound pound draw that second defender, then swing out to whoever's on the wing and let them attack close outs to do something to warp the defense other than just running these pick and rolls with these Laker guards that have just been so inconsistent. There was a play on

the left wing where Dennis Roeder gets the ball. It's an offensive rebound situation. He gets the ball. Anthony Davis has dream On Greene in the post and is calling for the ball. Dennis looks him off, drives middle, and just throws it behind the back pass out of bounds. Like again, like you're gonna get so much more bad with the good. With the Laker guards.

You get an extremely poor shooting night from the Warriors on what I thought was good looks twelve for forty one from three, you have one of STEP's worst shot making performances of the postseason. He goes twelve for thirty three for fourteen from three, and you get this random Lonnie Walker heater at the end of the game. He

scores fifteen points. There's a version of this exact same game where the Warriors win by twenty and so, even though the Lakers are in commanding position and it's extremely difficult to be any team in the playoffs three consecutive times, I still think the Warriors have a good chance. I wouldn't say a fifty to fifty chance. I'd say like a thirty percent chance that the Warriors can win this series.

And it's this simple. You demonstrated tonight that you can get better shots than this team for a full forty eight minute game by a significant margin. Go home in Game five and do that and win. Then it's all the marbles. In Game six, you're gonna get a hillacious Laker defensive effort. It's gonna be extremely difficult. You're gonna need an all time great Steph game. But he can do it. We've seen him do it. He did it

in Game four against Boston last year. If he wins that game, then it's Game seven at home or you're gonna be favored. So the Lakers won the game they had to win. They're in commanding position. I'd give them about a seventy percent chance to win the series. Right now, I'm sticking with my pick of Lakers and six. But if you're a Warriors fan, there is a lot to be encouraged by even in the loss tonight, and it's

gonna be extremely difficult. The deck is stacked against him, but they absolutely still have a chance to win the series. All Right, guys, that is all I have for tonight. We will be back tomorrow night after the final buzzer of Nuggets Suns Game five. As always, I appreciate you, guys, and I'll see you then.