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at the volume. Happy Saturday, everybody, congrats on making it to the weekend. Today we're gonna be shouting out Mr Lebron James. You're on his thirty eight birthday, put up a forty seven, ten and nine in his twenty season to win a game on the road against the Atlanta Hawks. We're gonna be do two videos today, this one and then we're also gonna do a video breaking down the Warriors winning their fourth consecutive game without Steph. We were supposed to have today off and then Monday. We got
big plans. We're gonna be covering Lakers, excuse me, Clipper Celtics. We're gonna be covering uh Celtics Nuggets, that m v P matchup between Tatum and Yokich, a bunch of other big games from this weekend. We're gonna be getting all that on Monday. Like I said, we're supposed to have today off, but Lakers and Warriors are two biggest fan bases and they're both riding high off of a couple of big wins, so we wanted to touch on them today.
You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at Underscore Jason Lts you guys don't miss any show announcements. Then, last, but not least, for whatever reason, you guys miss one of these episodes and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish, you can find them wherever you get
your podcasts. Under hoops tonight. All right, So Lebron forty seven, ten and nine on the road to beat the Hawks eighteen for twenty seven shooting once again, they were plus twelve with him on the floor, minus three with him off. Since returning from the groin injury in eighteen games, Lebron is averaging thirty one, eight and seven and the Lakers are plus eighty one when he's on the floor minus eighty six when he's off. That is m v P
level on off production. In the nine games since Anthony Davis went down, counting the Nuggets game, which he missed the majority of they are four and five. Think about all of the roster limitations of this Lakers roster. There literally is not a guy on the team that can dribble with his head up that's at least six ft six not named Lebron James. That's the type of roster limitations they're dealing with. And they are newly five hundred
since Anthony Davis went down. In that nine game span, the Lakers are plus forty four with Lebron on the floor and minus sixty three with him off. In that nine game span, he's averaging thirty four points per game on fifty eight percent shooting. This is all time great, special stuff that we're seeing from an all time great player, and the degree of difficulty is completely off the charts. Teams are not guarding the spot up shooters, they're packing
the paints, sending multiple bodies at him. Go look up the highlights from that Atlanta Hawks game and look at his shot profile in that fourth quarter. It's long threes off the dribble that are contested, it's dunking in traffic, it's and one layups around the rim when he's surrounded by three defensive players. He hit multiple difficult drifting fade aways along the baseline. Everything is an extremely high degree of difficult alt right now. You know, forget about the
highlights for a second. Just winning his minutes. The way he has been with this roster has been incredible. Like I said, not a single player on the rosters over six five that can dribble that's not named Lebron because of the Anthony Davis injury. This is truly special stuff we're seeing. At a minimum, Lebron is the second best player of all time. Some people think he's first. I don't have him second. He's very clearly still near the
peak of his powers. If he's not completely there, he's lost some stuff, but he's still contributing to winning at a very high level, and he's pouring his heart and soul every single night in the stretch without a d to try to win these basketball games. Meanwhile, his front office in his ownership group are sitting on their damn hands despite having the tools to give him a better chance.
They've had those tools since the offseason and they've neglected to use them, with the excuse that it's not worth it. They don't think this guy who's literally the second best player of all time, who's playing at a top five m v P level right now, they don't think he's worth it. I tweeted out the other day that like it's getting sad because every single night Lebron comes out and plays well, and every single night it gets more and more depressing to watch him flounder with the team
that doesn't really have a real opportunity to compete. You know, it's shameful because you know what Rob Polinka and Jennie Buss have done shepherding this final phase of Lebron James career is really a dark chapter in NBA history. And I know Lebron has made some bad suggestions to the front office during that time, But what is the front office is job? It is their job to be completely up to speed on what works in the modern NBA. Those of you who follow this show, you know how
much film I watch you. All of you guys as fans watch a great deal of NBA basketball games. Do you, guys feel like you have a pretty solid idea of what works and the modern NBA? What are the things we've seen we talked about five out spacing, right, we talked about the value of switching defenses versus drop coverage, and we talk about the value of players between six six and six nine that can dribble, shoot and pass
and defend a little bit. And everyone in the league seems to see the value there and to be targeting those players. And Rob Polinka, now two seasons in a row, has completely neglected that position. It's gross levels of incompetence.
And I don't care what Lebron suggests. The NBA g MS responsibility is to take in those bits of input and to make educated decisions based on his expertise with NBA personnel, and Rob Polinka has proven time and time again to be completely incompetent evaluating NBA personnel in building
NBA rosters. Between that and Genie Buss's inability or unwillingness, depending on whether it's the fact that she's poor compared to the other owners or just unwilling to invest in this group has left financial opportunities on the table, like letting Alex Cruz so Go, refusing to make trades because of long term money coming back, the fact that she might have to pay a luxury tax in the future. Again.
It's a dark chapter in NBA history because this again is the second best player in NBA history, pouring his heart and soul out to try to carry this team while his leaders are not doing the same. He's doing everything he can to make it work and they are not doing everything they can. It's just said. And so I hope he gets another chance before the end of his career to play for a good basketball team again.
And honestly, if Rob and Genie do leave him hanging again this year, I hope Lebron makes them suffer the humiliation of him requesting a trade, and I hope and any Davis joins him. And for Lakers fans out there, and I know that's really kind of depressing to think about, but you're not going anywhere as long as these two are in control. And the only way things will change is if they get bad enough for even the yes men that are surrounding them to not have a leg
to stand on. And and I don't think Jennie bust will ever sell the team, and that will always handicap this franchise to some extent, but at the very least, there needs to be a change in the in the basketball operations department to find somebody that is that actually cares about getting to know what works in the modern NBA. I feel like Rob Polinka looks at roster building from
the standpoint of personality management. He's been more interested in catering to Clutch Sports and this partnership with Clutch Sports, then finding basketball players that contribute to winning in the modern n b A and and that, and that's that, that's the that's the reality of that situation is that there needs to their need to be an absolute catastrophe, like Lebron James requesting the first trade of his career
out of the Los Angeles Lakers. It might take that to see the change is necessary for the Lakers to have consistent success in the future, because they will not have consistent success in the future until they figure this out. And right now, Rob Lincoln Genie Buss are fumbling an era with one of the greatest athletes of all time for one of the greatest franchises of all time. It is an all time fumbling of the bag. All right,
I'm off my soapbox. Obviously, we're not going to dive too much into the Lakers from a team perspective, because there's just not a lot to get into until Anthony Davis comes back or they make significant roster changes. But I tipped the Capital Lebron for at least trying to keep them afloat in the standings. In the meantime, the Golden State Warriors won again for the fourth consecutive time over a good Portland team at full strength behind Jordan's
Pool's big nights. So we're gonna be breaking that down in this video, and then we have one other video coming out today, just a quick little shout out to Lebron James, who had what seven, ten and nine on his birthday in his twentieth season, is thirty eight birthday, so obviously a couple of our larger fan base has had some big moments. So we're gonna do some quick
videos today. Uh, Clippers Celtics was another big game that I wanted to get to, but we're gonna do Celtics because they played Denver tomorrow night, so we're gonna do that on Monday, so I'm just gonna push that until Monday. So Monday we're gonna cover Clippers Celtics, Nuggets Celtics, and a bunch of the other teams around the league, as you can guys. As you guys can probably tell, we've been partitioning the shows out a little bit to target
our specific fan bases. So Lakers Warriors today, getting back to the rest of the league on Monday. You guys are 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 Jason Lts you guys don't miss anyhow announcement. Then, last, but not least, for whatever reason, you guys miss one of these videos and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish, you
can find them wherever you get your podcasts. Under Hoops tonight. So the Golden State Warriors beat Portland's one eighteen to one twelve at home. They jumped out to a huge lead in this game and then portantly kind of methodically worked their way back into the game and actually kind of took control. They were up one ten to one out two with less than five minutes left, but a bunch of Warriors made big plays down the stretch. That one of the biggest plays was the one that started
that run. At one ten to one out two, Anthony Simmons came over his screen and shot a pull up jump shot and Jordan Pool stripped him on the way up, which led to a turnover, a little semi transition break, and then Jordan Pool hit the rondo fake that fake behind the back to go up and make a layup
that got it to one ten, one oh four. Johnathan Cominga then got a dunk on a backdoor cut to get it down to four point lead um and then you know, some high level shot making, which is gonna be something we're gonna talk about a lot here, because
we're gonna talk a lot about Jordan Pool today. But Jordan gets Dante DiVincenzo and kind of like a triple that a triple threat situation on the right wing with his right foot of it as his pivot, kind of does a little jab step to the left and then rises up and knocks down three to get it back to one. But there's an angle if you guys saw on the broadcast the camera behind Jordan Pool, and it's kind of an interesting little, uh skill set thing for
young players to pay attention to as well. When defenders have to prepare to chase somebody over a screen there's a lot of prep work there. You need to have good awareness of what's happening around you, where the screens are coming from. Obviously, when the screen is coming you need to be prepared to have your hands ready to fight through the contact. There's a footwork, a big long step you have to take over the top of the screen.
There's a lot of prep work to fight over the top of screens, and so on this play, I can't remember who it was, it was either Draymond or Looney, but a warrior was coming up to set a screen on either side of Jordan Pool and Josh Hart is looking around like this, trying to identify where the screen is coming from, right as Jordan Pool is rising up.
And so that's that's why rejecting screens works really well, because that guard is getting ready to fight over the top of that screen, and that's a great time for to catch him off balance or in general, and in a situation like that rising up to shoot, when the defenders getting ready to chase over the top of the screen, those are great ways to find little opportunities to either drive to the basket or to take pull up jump shots.
Johnny Comico gets another runout transition dunk to make it one eleven to one ten and then Clay Thompson flying off of a dribble handoff on the right wing, just just just a high audacity pull up three to put them up one fourteen to one ten um. And then the final play of the game was a little ghost screen action with Jordan Pool and Dante DiVincenzo. He comes up fake setting the screen slips out to the three
point line. Damian Lillard, not a great defensive player, doesn't stay attached to Dante DiVincenzo easy swing pass knocks down the three and from there the game is basically over. But there was lot of defensive plays in that sequence. To I talked about the Jordan Pool strip that triggered
the beginning of the run um. There was a play where Dante DiVincenzo was applying back pressure on Damian Lillard and pick and roll worked him across the floor and Dame had to take a really difficult fade away kind of near the left elbow that he ended up leaving short. Really good defense from Dante DiVincenzo. We had another one
of those Draymond Green. Those of you guys who remember when we were talking about the Utah Jazz game, Draymond Green blowing up two on one pick and roll situations, Damian Lillard coming downhill, there's guy cutting out of the I think it was you Banks cutting out of the dunker spot there for a lob. Draymond just attacks the basketball forward up on Dame and blocks his lot pass.
The third time in the last two games where Draymond Green just blows up a like clear layup or dunk opportunity in a two on one situation with an outrageous defensive play. And then there at the end of the game, right before the Dante Devincenzo go screen, Damian Liller trying to protect the bat basketball exposes it for just a second and a triple threat Dante DiVincenzo just reaches over the top and pokes the ball away for a steal.
You know, when when Stephen went down, it was obvious that they were gonna need to defend at a really high level. And for the record, during this four game winning streak, during the win streak meaning literally have not lost in four games, they are twenty seventh in offense. Think about that, winning every single one of those games while scoring at a rate that is at the bottom
of the league, and that's to be expected. Steph Curry, I've called him on the show many times one of the best offensive engines in any an NBA history, if not the best offensive engine in NBA history. You can't replace that. That's out of your control. But if you're gonna try to manufacture wins without Steph, there's gotta be something you can control. And the defensive end is a huge part of that. They are seven in offense during this four game winning streak, but they are for in defense.
No one is allowing fewer points over their last four games than the Golden State Warriors. It's a lot of Draymond Green. We talked about him a lot, Jonathan Comingo, who has been a great wing defender. They're bunch of guys are contributing as well. The other one I wanted to shout out those Dante DiVincenzo like to be able to throw him on Damian Lillard, one of the best offensive guards in the league, and have him do a really good job as a bench player filling in for
an injured team. Super super impressive stuff. But the guy we gotta shout out tonight or today, I should say is Jordan Pool is in eight games since Steph's injury, He's now averaging twenty nine points per game from the field from three percent from the line on eight point one attempts per game. That's a sixty percent true shooting percentage. So this is an efficient twenty nine point per game scoring. And then again that eight point one free throw attempts
for game is super impressive. I talked about this a little bit the other night, like those are those Those free throws are such a great way to kind of give your defense an opportunity to get set. You're far more likely to get a stop out of a out of a static free throw situation than you are in
an open floor situation. He's playing some really, really good basketball, and for the season now and pick and roll he's only averaging zero point nine seven points per possession on three pick and rolls, which is only slightly above average. But he's having an outstanding is so season. When Jordan's Pool shoots or passes out of ice so this year, the Warriors are averaging one point one three points per possession, which is ninth in the entire league among players who
have run at least fifty of them. That's super impressive stuff. And the driving force behind this is that Jordan's is fast, extremely fast, and that's what kind of makes him different and unique compared to Stephan Clay, because Clay's obviously second gradest shooter ever, not really much of a downhill threat um, but has a good mid range game, he does a bunch of other things, and I'll be so we we're gonna talk about him in a minute, because he also
had a great game tonight. But Steph Curry gets to the rim a lot. But Steph Curry's rim presence is primarily a factor of the threat of his thought a shot, excuse me, the threat of his shot, the uh, his quickness. He's got very quick feet and he's can handle the basketball extremely well. He weaponizes those things to get to the rim. But what step is not is a lightning quick athlete in terms of straight line speed. Steph is
getting to the rim, but he's not. It's not like he's blazing past people in a hundred miles an hour. That's where Jordan Pool brings a super unique um, like a dynamic to this offense. He gets a ton of straight line drives just by beating people off the dribble that engages help defenders, which makes high quality kickout opportunities for shooting for shooters when Jordan Pool passes out of ice.
So the Golden State Warriors average one point three three points per possession, which is second in the league among players who've done it at least twenty times this year, behind Joe l em Beat. That's a huge part of that one point one three points possession and ISOs in totality. And again that that quickness, that speed, that that downhill linear speed just brings a dynamic to this offense that the Warriors really haven't had. I mean, even the answer
Barboza not so much. You gotta go back to because there Barboso was older when he was playing for the Warriors. You really got to go back to like Monte Monte Ellis to find a player that was as fast downhill as Jordan Pool has been. And then lastly on Jordan Pool, he's got that classic audacity. You know, you guys probably remember a playing crunch time of this game where um, there was a play and I think it was in the Charlotte game where he tried like this nasty like
fake spin behind the back dribble. Uh that got all the way to the rim and and I think it was Mason Plumbly that was guarding him and he just completely buckled him. And he tried that exact same move and crunch time again. At it was with less than a minute left in a two point game, and dribbled it out of bounce. It was big mistake, and obviously
that's a big mistake. Probably reminds you a lot of Stephen Curry trying behind the back pass to Clay Thompson in Game seven of the two thousand and sixteen Finals. But only a psychopath would try something like that in
a moment like that. And obviously you saw the downside the turnovers from Stephen with Jordan's, But there's a ton of upside to having that level of audacity, to having the confidence to try things like that in those big situations, because when things really slow down at the end of basketball games and defenses locked in and they get in front of your actions and all the open stuff isn't
there anymore. You need a guy who's crazy enough and confident enough and skilled enough to rise up and knock down tough shots like that jab step three against Josh Hart, the one that we talked about earlier, where he was looking to navigate the screens. That shot is a difficult shot in a late game situation against a locked in half court defense. To win at the highest levels, you need guys who are confident enough to take it and skilled enough to knock it down, and Jordan Pool is
one of those guys. He's still young, you guys know, I've been critical of him sometimes this year for being a little two tunnel vision and defensively he's still a real mixed bag. But with Steph out, the only the only hope the Warriors had was if Draymond Green and Jordan Pool played like all stars in Both of them have done exactly that, and as a result, they've been what two games above five hundred since the staff injury.
That's really impressive, now, elastic. Clay Thompson thirty one of his own points, um that huge shot on the dribble handoff to put the Warriors up for defended. Really great. Great. There was a big play at the end of the game where Jeremy Grant tried to take him off the dribble towards the baseline, and and and uh. Clay Thompson just kind of pushed him and and funneled him below
the behind the backboards where he couldn't do anything. Uh. That's kind of becoming a theme too with Clay Thompson is he's not quite the defensive player he was when he was younger, but he's still really good, particularly against
big power wings. He's very good at anticipating which direction that they're gonna drive, beating them to spots, riding their hips, and then he's deceptively strong and really difficult to push off of his spots defensively, and more often than not he's cutting people off or moving them off of their driving lanes. Some really really high level basketball from Clay since December two, twenty three points per game on true shooting, last three games, eight points per game on from three
on thirteen attempts per game. So really like it's it's got to be really encouraging for Warriors fans after everything that happened to start the season for them to be finding their identity as a team that's really grinding out games on the defensive end of the floor without Steph Curry, and when Steph comes back and that offense takes off from there, they're they're they're going to go on a run. Alright, guys, alright, guys.
Like I said, we're taking the rest of this weekend off and we will be back to our normal cadence on Monday. All of you guys who were sticking of the Lakers Warrior stuff, don't worry. We're going to get back into the rest of the league on Monday. As always, I sincerely appreciate your support and I'll see you guys. Then the volume