Hoops Tonight - Warriors take down Lakers in Game 5, Anthony Davis exits game with injury

continuing tonight, We're gonna break down both games. You guys know the joke 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 jsonlt so you guys don't miss any show announcements. And if, for whatever reason, you guys missed one of these videos and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish, don't forget. You

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this week. Download game Time app, enter your email and redeem code Hoops for twenty dollars off your first purchase. Terms apply again and to your email and code Hoops. That's Hops for twenty dollars off. Download game Time today, last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, So the Warriors win? What's that one? Twenty one one zero six to extend this series to a game six back in La I'm not gonna talk too much about the Anthony

Davis injury. He caught an inavertent elbow from Kevon Looney. I saw a lot of Laker fans saying things like like, man, how did Ad get so hurt by that? It looks like he barely got hit? Hey, man, Kevon Looney is a mountain of a human being. I think he's like two hundred and sixty pounds that elbow care. He's a lot of weight. I promise if it hit you, you'd probably

be feeling pretty similar. And then also when it comes to these concussion things, I have one concussion that I got in my life, and it was when I was playing basketball years ago. But I didn't necessarily get hit that hard, but it just caught me at a weird angle and I wasn't really expecting it. And I've taken harder hits that I saw coming that didn't end up being an issue. I think that was part of the deal.

I think Anthony Davis just did not see it coming, caught him at the right angle, hit him on the right spot. Let's hope he's good to go in Game six. I saw Chris Haynes's report that Darvin Ham said that Anthony Davis was already doing pretty well compared to I shook up. He looked when he was leaving the court, and I heard that he took a wheelchair back to the locker room. So let's just hope he plays in

Game six. This has been an outstanding series. I would hate to see it get derailed by having the Lakers' best and most important player missed their best chance to close out the series at home in Game six. So fingers crossed, let's hope Anthony Davis is Okay, that's the last I'm gonna talk about it for tonight. So I thought the big key to the start of this game, specifically for the Warriors was something that has been kind of one of their keys to the series all series long,

but they just didn't extremely well. Did an extremely good job in this particular game, and that was defending like crazy and getting out in transition. They got out in transition eight possessions just in the first quarter. They scored twenty eight points overall in the game. Getting out in transition. I thought Draymond Green in particular did such a great job on makes and misses, just getting the ball and

barreling down the floor. There was a play where Anthony Davis like made a hook shot on Draymond Green in a post up. Draymond's like, get the ball, We're going like it's just a deliberate effort to get out and

transition as much as possible. Remember, as good as this Laker team is defensively in the half court, they are one of the very worst transition defenses in the league because Anthony Davis tends to jog up the floor, Lebron James tends to jog up the floor, and you know how it goes when your stars don't necessarily give great effort in those areas, it tends to trickle down the roster and you need to get back and you need

to get matched up to get stopped. So great job by the Warriors by pushing in transition off of their defensive effort, there was a twenty eight to fifteen advantage in transition points percentergy. That's the difference in the game, right there, Literally the difference in the game. The second big thing that I noticed that I thought really helped the Warriors on offense in this game. And we're gonna talk about the Lakers later, Like that was not a

good Laker defensive effort. It's just a fact. If you've watched this Laker team, any of you guys who have watched you know there's a difference. Even you Warriors fans, I'm sure noticed a difference in the level of intensity that the Lakers brought defensively from the end of Game four and all of Game three versus Game five. But I'm not going to focus on that until the end because there were some tactical things that the Lakers are going to have to deal with as they head into

Game six. So first of all, Steph getting Ad on switches. Now, in Game four, Steph opted to ISO. A lot of that had to do with time and score, So I'm not criticizing his decision making of his late game Your

down one possession, you need to attack. But one of the things that I thought Steph did a really nice job in this game is when he got Anthony Davis on a switch, he did not try to set up or did not try to ISO ad, but rather than that, he tried to get one of his other teammates, particularly his athletes, in opportunities around the basket and post up situations and cuts and things along those lines. Draymond scores twenty points, Andrew Wiggins gets twenty five, Gary Payton gets thirteen.

So that's fifty eight points from your athletes in large part because they didn't have to worry about Anthony Davis at the rim as much because of Steph getting him on switches and all of the times you pushed in transition and attacked before where Anthony Davis got back. I thought Steph Curry, in particular on offense, did a great job attacking in transition. So many of Steph's layups in this game came on plays when Anthony Davis was jogging

in transition. So really good offensive process from Steph Curry in this game. He's been the best offensive player in the series by a mile. The winner of the series is gonna get to say who the best player was because Anthony Davis has been every bit as good defensively throughout, but man, he has been miles ahead of any player Laker or Warrior in this series on the offensive end of the forward. It was another master class from him

tonight for the Lakers. In Game six, I wouldn't do as much switching unless I absolutely had to, so, for instance, like if Steph drags ad off to the side, and Vanderbilt's caught on the screen or Reeves is caught on the screen, And there comes a point where a switch doesn't make any sense, or excuse me, where your traditional coverage doesn't make any sense and you have to switch. They call that a peel off switch, so it's like a read. So it means like we're in this drop coverage.

I'm trying to chase over the screen, but I got caught on the screen too hard, and my big is already up there containing the ball, so I better just roll with the role man here and try to box him out of the lane. That's like a peel off switch.

That's the kind of thing that you might have to do on a possession by possession basis, but in terms of schematically switching, so like deliberately switching, I would wait to do that until the fourth quarter, just simply because at that point it's a little bit easier for Anthony Davis to contain on a few possessions. And then you're also for your back line guys. They don't have to do that all game long, battling with athletes that can maybe just do it for a possession or two here

and there. One last note on the Warriors offensively before we get to some of the defensive players that I wanted to shout out. They didn't run as much pick and roll in this game. I think they only ran twenty four pick and rolls. Steph by himself ran twenty eight pick and rolls in the last game, not counting switches too, so I think it was actually more like thirty two to thirty three pick and rolls or something like that. So I talked a little bit about this

in the last video. But I don't think it's a coincidence that you get fifty eight points out of the other guys, or that Pool and Clay are both in double figures after they've struggled a lot. You got a ton of supporting scoring in this game, and I don't think it's a coincidence when you didn't run as much pick and roll, because pick and roll is in a

weird way, something that stagnates the Warriors. The only guys who really finish in those situations are corner three point shooters and roll men, and they're typically the lesser two offensive players on the floor, and usually the guys like you know, Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins that just get hung out to dry because they're getting guarded off the ball, right, And Warriors fans have always been clamoring like more Steph high pick and roll, more Steph high pick and roll.

And it kind of reminds me of when you hear Lebron fans over the years be like, why does any drive to the basketball? Why does any drive to the basketball? There's a couple of different things. First of all, its stagnates, like if you just do the same thing every single time, it becomes predictable. It disrupts the rhythm and flow of everybody on the floor except for Steph, the roleman and the play finisher, right, So that's one of the problems there.

And then it's a fatigue element. It's just a lot to ask Steph Curry to run a million pick and rolls in a game, have to determine the outcome of every single possession. It's a lot to ask Lebron James to drop his shoulder and barrel his way to the basket. Those of you guys who listened to the show that actually play basketball competitively are used to or play a lot pick up. You guys probably know from your own experience that when you do have an athletic drive to

the basket, it can be exhausted. Sometimes one hard transition sprint can be enough to make you tired. So it's not easy to do. And so I think that this game is a little bit more in line that the way Steve Kerr likes to play. And I know that Warriors fans don't love that idea, but the gist of it is the more motion that you have, the more realistic it is for all your players to get in rhythm.

That said, when push comes to shove, there's no doubt that steph high pick and roll is their best offense, and especially down the end of games, especially if Game six is closed. Down the stretch, you want to see a lot of steph high pick and roll. But I do understand the purpose of mixing in different actions during the rest of the game. Draymond Green was unbelieve this game. I want to shout out a couple of defensive players.

His effort screamed off of the screen right from the jump, being super physical at the point of at the post, in the post up and the point of attack with with Anthony Davis being physical and help sliding his feet taking charges. He was amazing that Andrew Wiggins applied amazing ball pressure on Lebron James to fatigue him, and you saw his jump shot start to miss as the game progressed.

Dante Evincenzo had a stretch there at the beginning of the fourth quarter when the Lakers were kind of threatening, where he played incredible pressure defense to disrupt the Lakers from getting into their pick and rolls. And Moses Moody more at the beginning of the game, I thought brought a really good defensive effort. One last thing I wanted

to say about Draymond before we move on. I saw a bunch of criticism after Game four about him recording a podcast or him being friendly with Lebron's and this has been you know, Warriors fans, and I'm not trying to lump you all together, because every fan base has crazies. That goes without saying. I trust me as someone who's like very close to the Lakers Twitter and Lakers fans, like there are a lot of crazy Laker fans too.

Every fan base I think has crazy fans and kind of more respectful fans, and then I think, like just say, like the Warriors fan base and the Lakers fan base are just so big that it can be so loud sometimes. But I wanted to defend Raymond Green for just a second, because I think it's completely ridiculous that he would ever face criticism for his pursuits off the floor with what he has accomplished on the floor for this team. Have

you ever pursued a hobby outside of work? Many of you probably are pursuing a hobby right now currently outside of work, if not have done so in your life before. Have you ever been friendly with somebody that you're also competitive with, Like, there are a lot of basketball players that I've run into that I've played against on different teams that then were on my teams from transfers, or that I run into when I come home and work

out in the summertime. There are a lot of college athletes and pro athletes that come home in the summer from their overseas contracts or the college that they go off and play to, and we work out and compete and play over the summer. We're buddies, we're friends. You can be friends with people that you're also competitive with, as long as between the lines you are competing. Have you ever ever felt like Draymond Green did not compete

on the basketball court. The dude has left blood, sweat and tears on the floor for a decade, leading to

four championships. Do you understand how disrespectful, how illogical, and how outrageous it is to get mad at him for his off court pursuits with everything that he's done for this franchise on the court, Like to me that, Like there's if you want to say, like, oh, I wish Draymond would shoot the ball more every once in a while, Like I get it, Like there are some real basketball criticisms you can throw at him, Yeah, Like it's not

great that he punched Jordan Poole. He's not a perfect team in being none of us are perfect team in beings. But criticizing him because he has an off court hobby that it is not even a hobby. He gets paid for it, it's an off court hustle. And then he also has a buddy in Lebron James that he just literally went out and destroyed his team tonight. Like I

don't care if Lebron's his friend. He went out and destroyed his team tonight, Like It's just it's it's completely outrageous, and I really hope that that specific segment of the Warriors fan base cuts that shit out because I just

think it's, like I said, illogical and disrespectful. What the Warriors must do to win Game six maintain that defensive effort and push in transition off of turnovers and misses, and then secondly, be very deliberate about keeping Anthony Davis away from the drim On defense as much as possible, preferably through Steph Curry switches. Then you can execute your actions on the back end. It's pretty much the same formula for tonight brought into the next game for the Lakers.

All right, I waited this long to get here. Look, every one of us saw this coming. I said before the game that I expected the Lakers to lose by ten to fifteen points. They ended up losing by fifteen points or seventeen points, something along those lines. Here's the thing. It looked close early, right, Like, I think at one point the Lakers were up forty five to forty two in the second quarter, but it was complete fools gold because it was really early in the second quarter and

they weren't playing any damn defense. The Lakers gave up seventy points in both halves. Particularly Lebron James and Anthony Davis were giving Like Anthony Davis was so freaking talented that even when he gives sixty percent effort on defense, he can still be pretty impactful. But Lebron James at this point in his career, when he's literally just standing with his knees, you know, barely bent off the ball.

Like there was a play sequence in the second half when they were in a good first half where they were in a good spot and on back to back possessions, Lebron James just conceded a three to Jordan Poole and then conceded a three to Andrew Wiggins. Right like they weren't sprinting back in transition, they weren't rotating. Anthony Davis wasn't the force around the paint that we know he can be. They mailed it in. It's really that simple to me. They did the exact same thing in Game

five last series against Memphis. They did the exact same thing in Game five against the Miami Heat in the twenty twenty Finals, and then they came out in Game six and whooped the Heats ass and locked them up. Then they came out in Game six and whooped the Grizzlies ass and locked them up. The problem is, and I do believe the Lakers will win Game six if Anthony Davis is healthy. I believe that they will bring a hilatious defensive effort, and I believe they will win

Game six. But this is not the Grizzlies. And this is not that Miami Heat team that had an injured Goran Drogic and an injured bam at A Baio. This is the defending champion with the best player in the world on the team, and I do not like playing with fire. I actually do, genuinely believe the Lakers are a slightly better team than the Warriors. I believe they've demonstrated that to this point in the series. By punting

a game effectively, you've limited your margin for air. You drop Game six, Golden State wins the series, most likely Game seven at home, the home team almost always wins, almost always wins. I gave you guys that twenty nine out of thirty seven stat for game fives for the home favorite down three to one. That stat and all I'll pull the numbers if we get to that point. But it is like insane how frequently home teams win

Game seven. It's just that they it's impossible to match the effort and all the energy in an arena in that sort of setting the Warriors and what they did to the Kings, that's unusual. That's the exception. And again, they were the better team in that series by a decent margin. So I don't like it. I hate that about this team, but they've been doing it forever and they've responded in the past, and so I believe the war the Lakers will come out with the requisite defensive

effort in Game six. I think they need to, like I said, run a little bit more that high drop and try not to switch Anthony Davis as much through the first three quarters of the game. We'll do I'm gonna rewatch this game at some point in the next two days, and we'll do another film breakdown on what's that Friday morning, kind of like I've been doing just a preview Game six of this series. But yeah, so kind of what I expected. But obviously the other thing

with playing with fire is Anthony Davis. I at the time of me recording this Darvin Ham says he's fine, but what if he wakes up tomorrow and he's not feeling great from the like from a concussion, like, and what if he can't play in Game six? Like that's why you can't punt games. He got injured on a random rebound in the fourth quarter of this game. So

it's just it's it's it's really unfortunate. But I do believe the Lakers will win Game six at this point, all right, really quickly before we get out of here. I just have a few thoughts on heat Knicks. So all of the dynamics that I said needed to happen for the Knicks to win this series took place tonight, and they want comfortably, I said. Julius Randall and Jalen Brunson needed to play like superstars. They combined for sixty

four points tonight. Jalen Brunson just unbelievable shot making. Still hasn't really gotten this three point shot going, but unbelievable shot making everywhere else on the floor played forty eight minutes. Just a heart of the Champion type of effort from Jalen Brunson. They need to knock down their spot up threes. Because they're actually a very good spot up team and have been all season or at least an average spot up team all season. Well, they shot thirty eight percent

from three in this game. Big difference, right, They need to dominate the glass because the Heat are small, and the Knicks have been one of the best rebounding teams in the league this year. Well, they out rebounded the Heat fifty to thirty four. They had fourteen offensive rebounds. I said that the Heat that the nick Guards had to outplay the heat Guard because you've got you know, Jalen Brunson, and you've got Josh hart and and r J. Barrett.

Obviously Emmanuel Quickly's hurt. But like going against guys like Kyle Lowry and and Gabe Vincent and guys that are old and undrafted free agents like you have to win that matchup. And tonight the nick Guards out outplayed the uh the heat Guards. And then again that's your formulattle win game six to travel, you've got to you've got to bring that sane effort and competitiveness on the road.

You need Julius Randall and Jalen bruns and Julius Randall another efficient scoring night Tonight after being kind of inefficient throughout the series. You've got to you've got to have your the play of your stars travel, you've got to compete on the glass. You've got to knock down those spot up opportunities to buy Randall and Brunson room to work.

I think they have a chance. Again. The big reason, like the reason why I gave the Warriors a thirty percent chance to come back from down three to one against the Lakers was because of the championship pedigree of that team, the home court advantage, piece and Steph Curry. But like the problem with this particular and matchup for the Knicks and the Heat is like in theory they have a talent advantage, but it just hasn't bear. It

hasn't really shown over the course of this series. And that's concerning And it's just hard for me to imagine that Jimmy Butler is gonna allow this to get back to New York for Game seven. So I'm gonna pick the Heat now to win in six. But of course the Knicks have a chance. They have the pieces, they have everything they need in that locker room to win that game. They just have to go do it all, right, guys, that is all I have for tonight is always I

sincerely appreciate your sport. We will be back tomorrow with a couple of shows after a couple of games. Sixes for the Sun's Nuggets and six or Celtics. I will see you guys. Then the volume