Hoops Tonight- Suns and Heat cruise in Game 1

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help in Michigan one eight seven seven eight Hope and Why or text hope and Why to four six seven three six nine in New York. In tennessee redline dial one eight hundred eight eight nine nine seven eight nine in Tennessee visit www one eight dot one eight hundred gambler dot net in West Virginia. Let's get started with the Dallas Mavericks. Now. I bet on FanDuel before the game on Phoenix to win this particular game. Even though

I picked Dallas two I picked before the series. I expected Dallas to drag this series out to six games, five or six games, because I trust Luca and his greatness to be able to figure stuff out over the course of the series. He's just too good of a player not to figure something out and figure out a way to win a game against this team. At least, I think we will see you over the long run.

If Phoenix's talent turns out to be too much because you're watching that game tonight and it's like just so many incredibly good basketball players wearing Phoenix Suns jerseys all season long. I said they were the deepest team in terms of overall talent down the roster that's in the league right now, and that kind of thing is just really really killing basketball teams in the modern n b A with how important it is to have talent off

of your stars. But I thought the story of this game up was the Mavericks and the way that they struggled with Phoenix's defense, specifically at the start of the game and then really badly at the end of the third quarter when things really got out of hand. And this is the reason why I made the bet specifically tonight on Phoenix, because you know, I have a long standing basketball philosophy that you grow your habits accustomed to

the competition that you're playing. Some one of the hardest things that I've had to deal with having I used to playing college right and now I play pick up basketball in Tucson, Arizona, a town that has run around a million people in the metro area, but it's not a ton of basketball players in a city like this, So I'm playing against lesser competition a lot of the time, and you know, I'm just I'm I'm just going up there to get a workout in in my habits and

my the what I'm used to in terms of defensive attention and athleticism that I face goes way down. And so when I do go play against real basketball players, which only happens a handful of times per year, there's usedly an adjustment for me because in the first you know, a few games that I spent playing, the length and athleticism is so much better that I have to make adjustments with my own game. I have to be more careful,

more tight with my handle, less risky. Like certain things that I do against lesser competition works well, but then things that I do against the better competition, maybe I need to get more separation. I can't do this specific move, I have to do a more difficult move, and so on and so forth. Like those are the the the details that come become a factor as you adjust two

longer athletes on the defensive end of the floor. We've talked at length on this show about how bad the Utah Jazz defense was, uh specifically on the perimeter Rudy Gobert, I think is a top three or four defensive player in the world. A lot of this slander that's thrown his way as inaccurate. It's just as as a result of his specific situation with the Utah Jazz, with guys like Jordan Clarkson and Mike Conley and Donovan Mitchell and who just they just cannot guard on the perimeter or

they're unwilling to for whatever the reason is. It's just a really bad defensive team that got absolutely and utterly annihilated by a injured l A Clippers team last year, and then they got manhandled by the Jazz or by the Mavericks without Luca for the first three games, and then Luca came back and continued to annihilate them. So

their defense was fraudulent. And Phoenix, I think is pretty safely the second best defense in this playoff run, behind Boston, and so they're going to be a significant leap in defensive capability compared to what the Jazz were doing specifically on ball because Luca in that series against the Jazz, you know, he's kind of taken his pick of pretty

weak defenders just about every trip down the floor. And then yes, some clutch time situations, Rudy was able to give him some issues, but he wasn't really having any trouble getting wherever he wanted to on the floor tonight. It's like, here's Michael Bridges. You know, we're gonna guard you with a bunch of different bodies. We're gonna throw Chris Paul at you, We're gonna throw Jay Crowd at you,

We're gonna throw Cam Johnson on you. But the the initial assignment was Michail Bridges and Michael Bridges he is probably the best defensive wing that we have in the league. He's like Anthony Davis at the wing position, just an unbelievable combination of length, athleticism, finesse, and instincts. That's why he was in the running for Defensive Player of the Year this year, and that's what makes him so devastating.

There's a play in this game, a freak athletic play where he was on the right wing and he blocked the dude in the left corner off of a single swing pass and he just covered an insane amount of ground and jumped out of his shoes and blocked the shot. Is one of the most amazing defensive players I've ever seen. That's the type of raised athleticism and defensive talent that Luca was dealing with tonight, and you could tell it

caused a lot of trouble for them right away. The Sons got off to a nine zero start, which just sets a tone for the game. That's the type of game it's going to be a couple of specific things in the way that they were guarding Luca that were very interesting. So one of the things that uh, Luca does extremely well is positioned himself when he's using ball screens. He almost always gets downhill on a ball screen. That's just something he's very good at because he's so big

and wrong right. But against the Utah Jazz, because they're a bad perimeter defense team, those guards were dying on the screen almost every single time. Whether it's Mitchell or whether it was like Royce O'Neil or whether it's Mike Conley, they would hit the screen and just die. And so Luca would just start working his way downhill against against like Rudy waiting for him or whoever whoever it was that was in help, and he didn't have any back pressure.

Back pressure is what the guard is supposed to do in a traditional drop card. So teams like the Suns and the and the Jazz with DeAndre Ayton and Rudy Gobert run what's called a drop coverage. We've talked about it on the show before. All it is is the big positions themselves between the ball handler and the rim and they never let the roller get behind them, and so the guards job is to chase over the top

of the screen and apply back pressure. So theoretically, if the guard does his job right, he will funnel your guard the ball handler into the defender waiting under the ring. And when it's done right, it's a very effective way to guard pick and roll in two on two. It's just extremely difficult to do and it's extremely difficult to find guys that can do it right because it's so easy in the flow of an NBA game to die

on screens. And from the start, Michael Bridges was getting over every single screen and just staying glued to Luca's back. And Luca has all these little mid range shots, right, these little push shots and fade aways and floaters and hooks and things like that that he gets to and right around the ten footmark. And what makes those shots a lot tougher is when you've got a guy who's one of the best perimeter defenders in all of basketball glued to your backside, and you've got DeAndre at and

waiting for you underneath the basket. And so what was really hurting the Mavericks, especially early on, was Dwight Powell was the guy who was setting those screens and rolling to the wrint. And the issue is Dwight Powe's not a shooting threat. He's a rolling threat. And when you have Michael Bridges applying back pressure and you have DeAndre at and he's a great back line defender underneath rim

just nothing was open. And so you saw the quick adjustment from Dallas to start was they quickly sub Dwight powal out Rocks, brought in Maxi Cleber. Maxine Cleber was then popping instead of rolling on those on those pick and rolls. And a pick and pop is the perfect counter to a drop coverage because if the guard is chasing over the top of the screen and the big man is waiting under the basket, who's guarding the guy

who pops the three point line? Nobody? And so Maxine Cleber got going in that first quarter, they started to figure some stuff out and they started to uh hit some threes and get the game back to the point where it was competitive. But then the Sun's really turned the screws again in that late third quarter, and as a result of that, they just couldn't score. Next thing,

you know, they're down twenty. Game is over. They're gonna have a lot of adjustments that they can make over the course of over the course of the next couple of days to prep for the next round. I think they have a lot of things that they'll be able to figure out. This was a textbook game one. You're taking a massive a jump in level of competition. There's going to be a ton of sloppiness. It is what

it is. The last, uh, the last note that I had about Phoenix defense, and I thought was really interesting. One of the most common plays that NBA teams run to try to make their pick and roll more complicated is what's called a Spain pick and roll. Basically, all that you do is you run a normal pick and roll, but you put a shooter underneath the basket and then as the big man sets the screen and rolls to the rim, your shooter comes up and sets a backscreen

on the role. The guy who's guarding the rollman theoretically will either let the rollman get open or the guard will have to help on the rollman, and now the shooter that's popping to the top of the key is going to be wide open. It's a play that a ton of NBA teams run. They're run at a ton of times. It's very very difficult to guard, and Phoenix

was doing this incredibly nifty way to cover it. They would just have the guy who was guarding the screener just stay glued to the screener they have eight and just grab Dwight Powells he's going and then literally the guards would just switch, so whoever was guarding Luca would just switch to the shooter who's popping out, and then the guy who was guarding the shooter would just run

out and guard Luca. And again when it's Cam Johnson and Michael Bridge is making that type of switch or not giving any ground, and it's like, here's another six eight guy for you to deal with Luca. But again, Phoenix is just incredibly sophisticated. They know exactly who they are they know exactly what they want to do, and

they have the defensive talent to do it. And most importantly, they have players and Chris Paul and Devin Booker who in theory should not be great defensive players, you know, very small Chris Paul, Devin Booker offensive oriented. Look around to the other guys in the league to see Jim mccollins and the Bradley Beals, the guys that are kind of considered the same archetype of Devin Bookers, that super

versatile three level score at the two guard position. None of those guys give a shit about playing any defense. Devin Booker in the last couple of years has taken leaps and bounds as a defensive player in addition to becoming a better offensive player. It's actually genuinely impressive the way that Devin Booker went from kind of being on the same level as those guys to making a massive leap and now he's definitively on a tier way ahead

of those guys. And you know, I know that Phoenix is really good, and I know that they have a ton of talent, and I know that bolsters a lot of what Devin Booker does. But if you watch the games. Even if you factor in the talent advantage, even if you factor in the fact that Devon's playing on arguably the most talented team in the league, he's also just better at basketball now than he used to be. And it's a big part of the reason why Phoenix has been so dominant. That he also has this like this

edge to him. He's talking a ton more ship than he used to. He seems like dead set on destroying everybody on the court. He looks like a man on a mission right now. Very very impressed by Devin Booker and Jarring to watch the difference between Devin Booker sitting down in a stance and locking up Jalen Brunson. When I watched Jalen Brunson take Donovan Mitchell and literally barbecue that dude for six games, Like that, just just the massive chasm and all it is. Donovan Mitchell has more

athletic talent then Devin Booker. He's quicker. Laterally, he's stronger, he's quicker for he's more athletic. Vertically, it's just about care. You just have to care enough to want to do it. And for whatever reason, there are a lot of guys in the league who don't. And it seems to me that the guys that are consistently vying for the Damn Trophy are the guys who want to do it. And Devin Booker wants the Damn Trophy and he's doing it, and that's a big part of what's caused him to

take this leap. Last note on this specific game, UH, Jalen Brunson and Spenter Dinwoodie, we've talked a lot about. You know, there's two main reasons why, uh, we've there's two main reasons why uh, Dallas has been so much better this year than they haven't years past. Part of it is they've been better defensively, although Phoenix exposed them in a bunch of different ways. I want to get

into the film on this tomorrow. So if you want to hear more about Phoenix on offense against Dallas's defense again, follow me on Twitter tomorrow morning. I'll dive into this because I want to. This is one of those things that's tough to really go over immediately after the game.

I need to see more film. But I was worried about because Dallas makes up for a lot of their defensive shortcomings in terms of personnel with scheming and effort, and unfortunately, when you run into another team that has superior talent and they're also incredibly smart, they can find ways to expose you. And in Dallas's defense was horrific tonight. They can never get a stop when they needed it. I thought Luca was a problem there as well. Um,

they got to find better ways to hide Luca. He's just he looks like a sore thrum thumb in Dallas's defense in terms of foot speed, those are little details that they'll have to work out. But back to uh Dinwoodie and Brunson. You know, the other reason why I thought Dallas was better this year, in addition to their defense, was the fact that Luca had a better secondary ball handler in Jalen Brunson getting better. Jalen Brunson has been

much better this year than he was last year. Really really struggled against the Clippers in the playoffs and struggled frequently during the regular season compared to this season. He's made a lot of money for himself this season. Go look at his contract right now. He very much deserves the money, but he has to be better than he was tonight. He carried them he was the hero in the first three games of that Utah Jazz series, so you have to expect that he's got a better punch

than he throw through tonight. Again, a lot of that has to do with the job that Devin Booker did on him, So credit to Devin, but you've got to get more at a Jalen Brunson and Spencer Din what he you know, Spencer did, he did what he was okay against the Jazz. Specifically, he made a lot of big shots, momentum shots, momentum isolation plays towards the end

of games. But when you look at the counting stats and the points per possession, stuff like didn't what he just has not done well enough and he's really struggling to finish around the rim, which is bizarre because he's like the best combination of size and athleticism of those three guys that are initiators for UH for Dallas, so you would expect him to be a better rim finisher the finisher than he is, but he's really struggling there.

Spencer Dinwoodie and Jalen Brunson are going to have to be better in order for Dallas to win enough games to have a chance to win this series, and they just did. They just didn't bring enough tonight. So that's gonna be the big thing that they're gonna have to look at over the course of the next couple of days.

I think, you know, Luca in particular is so gifted at just figuring things out and getting his rhythm naturally, Like him walking into game four of a playoff series after not playing basketball for you know, three weeks and

just immediately being the best player on the floor. Luca is gonna be hind So set up some stuff early in the game and game too to get Jalen Brunson going find out a way to get his rhythm going first and have Luca feed off of that, because you know, Lucas going to figure out he's not gonna have any problems there at all. All Right, We're gonna move on

to Philly in Miami. So, um, we knew coming into tow these first two games that Embid was not gonna be available, and we knew that that a couple of things that we figured out, like uh, over the course of of this last couple of months with the Sixers, we knew definitively on tons of evidence that James Harden just is not quite the guy, not not even quite, not close to the guy that he was when he was in Houston, and so it was gonna have to

be a team effort with the Sixers team. I talked to you guys a lot about how their best chance to steal a game here in Miami and games won Game two was Tyrese Maxie and Tobias Harris getting going, and they did to a certain extent. Tobias Harris had a monster night, but Tyrs Maxie was rough. He had nineteen points on six and fifteen, shooting only one of six from three. They're definitely gonna have to find a way to get him going to have any chance. James

Harden struggled, but that was what we expected. Like James Harden given you as many assists his turnovers. James Harden given you I think he had four made field goals in the game. Like that's just that's not gonna be enough if he's gonna be your central focal points. So he almost needs to become more of like a supporting character at this point. Tobias and Tyrese just have a

better chance to create advantages. I thought the story of this game, and it's you guys are gonna have to bear with me here for a minute, because this has been one of my personal soap boxes for the last couple of years. As I've told you guys, you cannot play traditional centers in the modern NBA in the playoffs at all. I don't even like using them in the regular season. Now. There are a lot of teams out there that like to use them to eat innings in

the regular season. Why because when you can have a rim protector linger around the basket, even if it gets you beat on the odd night in the regular season, on a night and night out basis, it's an excellent way to eat innings. It makes things easier for your perimeter defenders when they know they have a big guy waiting for them under the basket. I get why teams like doing that. There they can vacuum up defensive rebounds and things along those lines. But every other part of

the game they struggle. They struggle as roll men because NBA coverages are too sophisticated now to to to consistently let you know, an average traditional center have success as a rollman. They struggle in transition running up and down the floor and then any team that figures out how to get you into five out setting is gonna barbecue

with you. Your barbecue you with your lack of foot speed. Well, DeAndre Jordan's happens to be not only a traditional center, but in my opinion, far and away the worst traditional center in the NBA right now. Probably shouldn't be in the lead. Fantastic human being, Probably should be an assistant coach on the staff somewhere, friends with all the top players in the league from all of his time with Team USA. Great guy, too old now, not quick enough to do any of the jobs that you need from

the center position. Does not belong on an NBA roster anymore, doesn't belong playing minutes anywhere in the league. That's just the reality, you know how I know? I covered the Lakers for the last two years. Okay literally, when DeAndre Jordan's was on the floor, with Lebron, A d and Russ, Lebron and Anthony Davis together, they could only score ninety seven point six points per one possessions. Without Jordans on

the floor, there were twelve points better. Even with Russ and all the trouble that he brought to the table. He just he ate up a ton of space, was a complete non thread around the basket and got destroyed on the defensive end because he can't move his feet. I saw tons and tons of minutes of it because Frank Vogel was insistent on starting him every single game to start the season. So I have a very intimate

relationship with watching Andre Jordan play basketball. And I tweeted out before the game, I was like, we all know because we got the report. Uh, someone reported that the Sixers were gonna start DeAndre Jordan. I immediately tweeted out that we all knew that the only chance that Philly had to try to go steal a game in Miami was to ditch DeAndre Jordan altogether and to play there.

Just go five out and give up a ton of about defensive rebounds, or give up a ton of offensive rebounds, give up a you know, some physical mismatches, give up some hook shots, the bamant a bio in the lane, but thrive in the five out stuff, and maybe you can squeeze out a win and then bring Joel and be back and go to your traditional rotation. Well, it went exactly as you could have expected. Seventeen minutes of DeAndre Jordan, he was minus twenty two, minus twenty two.

I cannot wait until all the advanced metrics get updated so I can show you guys on a per possession basis just how bad it was. But that is going to be utterly disastrous. Rivers after the game said, quote, we like DJ. We're not gonna We're gonna keep starting him, whether you like it or not. End quote, just stubborn into the It sounds sounds exactly like the type of stuff that you would hear from Frank Vogel. People be like, hey, Frank, all of this data, this overwhelming evidence just shows us

that DeAndre Jordan should not be in the rotation. You know, why is he still playing? And Frank would be like, yeah, yeah, we've seen the numbers. But you know, we like the things that DJ does out there, so we're gonna keep going with him. Okay, well, then you're gonna keep losing because, like you know, and I get it, there's there's an ego that comes with coaches. That's to be expected. There's an ego that comes with every single profession. You know, it is what it is like if but but for

whatever reason, specifically with NBA players and NBA coaches. There's this ever growing schism that's happening that splits them from the general public and their idea that like, we have no idea what the hell we're looking at, and they know exactly what they're looking at. And you know what's funny, I played in college. That has no thing to do with the fact that I know the game of basketball.

There are many of you listening who probably don't play, never played, but you have a great understanding in the game of basketball because you have spent a great deal of time studying the game of basketball. I have met basketball players, like good basketball players who don't know the game. There are NBA players in the game right now, like good NBA players that don't understand the game of basketball really well. And then there are average to blow average

NBA players that are geniuses of the game. Your understanding in the game of basketball has very little to do with whether or not you can put basketball shoes on and go out and actionally, actionably do it. It has to do with study, and obviously some people are just have a propensity to understand it more than others. Okay, you there is overwhelming evidence from everybody who's paying attention in presenting this evidence that when you play this guy,

bad things happened. Take it a step further, when you play his archetype of player, bad things happened. We said the same thing about Steven Adams in the Sas round. We said the same thing about Jonas Valanciunas in the last round. Playing these big plotting centers bogs down the game for your team. Very rarely can they do enough good to make up for it, and it ends up hurting you. And this prideful stuff from these guys in the league, lying in the face of evidence is killing them.

You know what was bizarre right or at the end of the first half, they ditched DeAndre Jordan and went with five wings, played like it was like Georgian Neing. It was like Maxi Harris Harden kneeang, and then I think they went with theble, so it was like five wins basically, you know, three wings and two guards, right, and they were dominant. That lineup was dominant. They got them back into the game and they had a lead

at halftime. So we had overwhelming evidence in the first half bad with DeAndre Jordan's okay with Paul Reid and great with neither, and they did not play that line up in the second half. By the end of the third quarter, the game was over. The entire third quarter was Paul Reid and DeAndre of Jordan's. So he had evidence within this game, just within this game. Forget about all the numbers that I just showed you. They had evidence within this game that they were way better without

DeAndre Jordan's. They were okay with Paul Read, but even better when they went away from Paul Reid and just played five out basketball. When they played that five outstretch, James Harden was getting to the rim, Tobias Harris was getting to the rim, Tyrus Max he was getting to the rim, getting out in transition. Guys were hitting shots, They had flow. Did they give up offensive rebounds, Yes, they give up seven offensive rebounds in the first half.

That's gonna happen. They had areas of the game where they paid for their lack of size, but the aggregate of that group was damned effective because they spaced everybody out and all of your stars feel feel comfortable. This is one of the biggest issues with like assigning a number to any specific basketball play. How do you factor in comfort? How do you factor in the fact that James Harden is more comfortable in a five out role

than he is with DeAndre Jordan on the role? How do how do you how do you factor that in when you're trying to to to study the game like that. That's an important part of this, you know, and most importantly, and this is the part that pissed me off about it in terms of like Philly kind of shaving points. Essentially Bam had twenty four and twelve anyway, Like Bam at a Bio torched you anyway, even though you stayed big the vast majority of the night. So, like, I

get it. If it was like, hey, when we have DeAndre Jordan out there, we're having success in these areas. No no, no, you bought you put him out there to do big guy stuff, and he's terrible at the big guy stuff. So you might as well have a small guy out there who's good at the small guy stuff and struggles with the big guy stuff. Then the guy who's bad at the big guy stuff anyways and

can't do the little guy stuff. It's just simple logic here, And you know, and again, like I'd like to come up here and tell you, like, hey, Philly has some stuff in the film that they can look at that end of the second quarter, they looked really good with no centers. Maybe that's their way to try to steal game too. Sorry, guys, quote from Doc Rivers quote we like DJ We're gonna keep starting in whether you like it or not. End quote. Sorry, Sixers fans, It's gonna

be more of the same in game two. And I will be stunned if DeAndre Jordan goes out there and is a positive in game two. And if he is, it'll be because the other four guys around him were running around like Madnan. It just was genuinely confounding that they decided to go that way. A couple of things that I liked from Philly that I think will give them a chance to try to stay competitive. They did a ton of switching, which disrupted a lot of Miami's actions.

They're interchanges that they do all the gribble handoffs and screens and stuff to try to get their movement shooters going. But they did a really nice job of mixing in zone defense. Zone defense is tricky because you can't really do zone defense in the sense that you can't. UH, you can't really do zone defense in the sense that UH teams will eventually solve it. But I like doing it in little short bursts because it's a great way

to disrupt rhythm. The most important thing is rhythm and basketball. Guys are feeling good or they're feeling not good, right, they get to a couple of possessions in a row where they're feeling good, you throw a couple of possessions of zone. Adam throws them off before they have a chance to solve that. You switch back. It's a great way to keep teams off balance. There's there was a lot of good in there to where maybe, just maybe, if if they would get ditch these DeAndre Jordan minutes,

they'd have a chance. But it just makes me feel really pessimistic about Philly in this series because now I just have a feeling they're gonna lose game too anyway, And what's the real point? Last note on this series Miami, and I apologize sincerely to Miami fans upfront. I would love to talk more about Miami and get into the weeds with them, but they played the by far the

worst team in the first round. Atlanta was the worst of the sixteen teams, and now they're playing this like shell of a Philly team without Joel embiide Like, it's just hard for me to accurately judge them. Obviously, Philly packed the paint and tried to make them shooters. Tyler Harrow was four for six from three. Everyone else on the heat was five for thirty from three. They're bad

three point shooting team. In some of their specific players that they have to play in NBA Playoffs scenarios, Guys like p J. Tucker, guys like Uh, Jimmy Butler, guys like Damn at a Bio, it puts them in spacing conundrums that can cause some problems. The other thing, I don't really understand the Victor Oladipo minutes. I know that Kyle Lowry is out and he's kind of filling that role, but Victor Oladipo is just a shell of what what

his former self was. And hopefully before too long they'll be able to get Uh, They'll be able to get Kyle Louvery back. It's just hard for me to really take a judgment call about Miami until I see them play with em Bead and we hopefully we'll get to see that in game three. Al Right, before we bring on Carson, I just want to hit the housekeeping notes really quick. Make sure you liked this video and subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel. Check out our newsletter. There's

a link in the description to this video. It's a great way to keep up with all our content, and this is the place to get all your dream on green content. He had reacted to his technical foul call earlier. Incredible stuff. He just broke down game to a preview game two fi series and gave some predictions for the other series. And last but not least, don't forget to follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lt to see my film breakdowns on the mornings after the game. Alright,

we're gonna him. I got Carson on and we're gonna dive deeper into the series. Is from yesterday. Hey buddy, Hey Jason, how are you doing? I can't complain, man. Yeah. Well, let me just say I love the Volume newsletter as well, big fan. I happened to put it together myself, so

I would highly recommend I do. Yeah. I've got many many hats that I wear here, Jason, many hats, all right, We're gonna play a game called what We Learned, So we're gonna look back at yesterday's games and talk about some of the biggest takeaways from each of the teams who we saw in action. We're gonna start with a team that you have been very high on. They dropped Game one. But Jason, what did we learn from the Boston Celtics in that game yesterday? This game was even

more interesting after I dug into the film. Um, you know, I I could see there was some bad body language stuff with Boston after the game, and I get that because you kind of got punked a little bit, and we're talking a little bit about it in a minute. But I thought Janice played a little bit of a

role in that. You know, one of the things I said in the show last night was it looked to me on the surface, before I could get a look at the advanced stats, that Boston defended extraordinarily well in the half court and their offense put them at a massive disadvantage in a bunch of transition scenarios and they struggled. Well, we got to look at the data and it's exactly

what you would expect it. So, according to Cleaning the glass that these are absolutely bonkers numbers if you're a Celtics fan and you've just got to be kicking yourself at the level of self sabotage. So the Bucks only managed zero points seven six points per half court play zero point four three points per transition play off of a live rebound. So when they played normal offense and got a shot attempt up and either made it or

missed it, they defended astoundingly well. But on there on the plays where they turned the ball over, So when Milwaukee gotta steal, they averaged a whopping two point three three points per transition play. So literally, as I said in the show last night, Boston gave this game away in transition, and that's exactly what happened, And it came down to what they did on offense. They just just we're incredibly flum mixed from the start with the different

look that Milwaukee was going with. You know, Brooklyn was doing some similar things in terms of aggression on the perimeter and having help underneath the basket. But there's just another level to rim protection when you're dealing with Janice and brook Lopez versus dealing with Nick Klaxton, Andre Drummond and Kevin Durant. They're just not on the same stratosphere

as rim protectors. You know, Brook Lopez was a defensive Player of the Year candidate a couple of years ago, so he's every bit as capable as Joannice at protecting the rim. And when you put the two of those together, puts you in this weird predicament where when you run ball screens, it's like, cool, you got Yannice up at the ball screen, so you get him away from the paint, but Brooks down there, or you get Brooke out there and you beat Brooke to the basket, but Janice is

down there. And it really really flu mixed Boston when I looked into it. It had a lot to do with shot selection. So only they took fifty threes, only twenty two of them were wide open, so many of them were like quick fires, like coming down the floor

off the dribble. Somebody says the ball screen, you know, Brook or j Honese is a touch too low, and they just decide to fire even though there's like seventeen seconds on the shot clock, and they they literally everybody not named Jayson Tatum was zero four eleven on pull up jump shots, so that one about exactly as you

could have expected. A lot of plays too, were like guys would dribble the ball off the floor and you know, there'd be a guy kind of playing the passing lane one passed away, and so the shooter would be kind of open but not really and instead of like driving to the basket and really collapsing the defense, they'd like swing it and then the guy would just catching fire with like seventeen seconds on the shot clock. And I mean it's it's not a heavily contested shot, but it's

not wide open, and it's rushed. It's early in the clock, and you didn't really make Milwaukee's defense work, and you certainly could have gotten something better. When when Boston generated catch and shoot opportunities, they actually did pretty well. They were one point to two points per catch and shoot opportunity. That's a really good number. But it primarily came down to just rushing shots, doing a lot of things that were uncharacteristic to the way Boston typically has run really

mature offense. Over the course of the last half of the season, so stuff that they got to figure out. Jalen Brown in particular, I love Jalen Brown. He was a monster in the first round, absolutely dominated Brooklyn in the fourth quarters of those games by putting his head down and going to the rim, taking advantage of his physical size in the in those matchups against all those tiny players. For Brooklyn, well, Milwaukee just has bigger, stronger athletes.

Some of those opportunities aren't as good. They're cutting him off from the rim, and he's been throwing the ball

all over the court. I think he had eight turnovers in the game, but some of some of the like he really really struggles with making basic reads and the amount of times that he would have like Grant Williams wide open on the wing and force a shot, or like pick up his dribble and look around and and not know where to go even though there was a wide open shooter there, like Jalen Brown in particular, and he probably knows this. He doesn't need to hear this

from me. Jyleen Brown knows it. But he's got to be way, way, way better. In Game two, I thought Jayson Tatum was actually pretty good. You know, he struggled in some specific areas with the defense, but you're seeing a consistent theme in this playoff. Run that the best player on your team is struggling statistically and just about

every game. Johanna struggled in game one. Tatum struggled a lot in the last round in terms of his counting stats and his efficiency because of the fact that defenses are throwing the kitchen sink at your first start and it's just making things really, really hard. So what's the pathway for Boston. Run smarter offense. You have a clear cut weapon to win this series. That clear cut weapon is your half court defense. When you got Milwaukee in the half court, they only scored zero point seven six

points per possession. That's an incredible number. That's something you can take to the damn bank. So run smarter offense, don't turn the ball over, take higher quality shots. Just by doing those three things, you avoid all these chaotic transition possessions where you got killed in the last but not least giving up two point three three points a

transition play is terrible. So when you do turn it over, spread back, spread back, there are way too many plays where like Marcus Smarter, Jalen Brown or Jayson Tatum would like turn and complain to the refs while everyone's running down the other way. That's how you give up awful transition possessions that end up killing you on the other end. So little stuff like that they just have to get

way better at. So before we move on to Milwaukee, because I wanted to talk a lot about how good they've been, I want to show you guys some shot charts just to demonstrate just how crazy the dispersion is between these two teams. So I'm gonna show you Milwaukee's shot chart first. Take a look at this. So look at the variety. Look at those dark circles and all the different spots they are on the floor. You've got

turnaround jump shots from Bobby Portis in there. You have longer hook shots from Bobby Portis in there, you have mid range jump shots from Janice, one leg fade aways, you have uh, you know, Drew Holiday making floaters and things in the lane. There's variety in there. And when you're playing against an elite defense, you have to come with variety. If you simplify your deep, your offense down to one or two things, then the defense can really key in on those one or two things and it

can cause problems. I'm gonna show you, guys, Boston shot chart here in just a second. But I wanted to bring Carson back on so he can respond. Yeah, Jason, Well, just when you address some of the issues that stood out for Boston in Game one, who is the guy who you think is most important to them ultimately coming out on top in this series? Is there a single swing player who stands out to you on their roster?

That's Jalen Brown. It has to be like, if you were ranking players in the game yesterday, you're probably doing Janice first. You're probably doing Drew Holiday second, Tatum third. So Tatum's gotta be a little bit better, but you expect Tatum to be better, Like that's just gonna happen. Tatum's Tatum's that level of player now. But then you're like getting to like Bobby Portis and brook Lopez and Grayson Allen and then maybe Al Horford, and then we're

going further down. I'm probably going to Pat Connaughton. Like Jalen Brown was like the tenth or eleventh best player in the game yesterday, That's just not gonna cut it. He was the swing factor against Brooklyn. All those games were close in the fourth quarter, and Jalen Brown's want to pulled away and got the job done. Jalen Brown has to be better a couple of different ways. He has to give you some of that midrange scoring. We're gonna show you guys the Celtic shot chart here in

just a second. But like he's got to be able to get two spots on the floor to generate offense when things break down. He gave you absolutely nothing in that area of the game. And then most importantly, just smarter decision making. Like again when the when they got paint touches by driving the ball to the basket and then kicked two shooters, everything went really well. When they started to freelance and do stupid stuff, things went poorly.

So like just playing smart basketball, being that legit number two option that just plays smart basketball, makes smart decisions and gives you some of that scoring pop is really all they need from Jalen and that's what they that that's the swing factor in my opinion. All right, well, I'll let you do your Celtics shots chart spiel. I'm in tregue. Okay, guys, let take a look at this Boston Celtics shot chart. This is the Milwaukee one, So this is Boston. So look, do you see any variety.

Do you see any dispersion. I don't even see a longer too. I don't even see like a hook shot in the lane. It's layups at the basket and three point shots. Now, analytically, that's fantastic. If you're uh, like one of those you know dudes who's all about shot value, You're gonna look at this and think that's the ideal outcome. But I actually look at it the other way. That makes you easy to guard because I now know that if I chase you off the three point line, you're

not willing to try to score from the midrange. You're going to drive into the teeth of the defense. There were a lot of plays, you know, we were talking last night about, like, Okay, you beat somebody in the basket, like Tatum splits the Lopez pick and roll. Janice is coming over to help. What do you do? Do you kick to Grant Williams in the corner. Yeah, that's what

I think you should do. But if you are trying to build your rhythm as a score and look for shots for yourself over the course of the game, so that you're not only kicking out to shooters all night long. That's where it's like stop short and take a floater over Janice and like or stop take a do the thing that Devin Booker does when you feel the defender coming behind you from back pressure. Just take like a hard dribble to the right and like take a pull

up fifteen foot or something like that. Do something because that's a wide open shot in that role when you've got separation working towards the basket. Just anything other than going right at the guy who won Defensive Player of the Year last year or two years ago, whatever it was. Like, you can't just walk into that trap consistently and expect good results. Like you've got to do something to mix

things up. It can't just be we're gonna take the threes that are there and we're gonna drive into your shot blockers and get blocked all night Look ten for ten for thirty four on twos, Carson ten for thirty four on twos in that name. Yeah, yeah, I think it was the second fewest made two's in any playoff game ever. Like really just a crazy dynamic, and I mean they do have the personnel right when you talk about the pull up mid range shot making Jayson Tatum

for basically his career until this year. One of the gripes I would say was he was overly reliant on the mid range and whatnot, and Jalen has that in his game, So it'll be interesting to see if they can figure that out and adjust. But totally with you on the predictability element. And I mean it's really interesting, like that is kind of Milwaukee's desired shot chart, right, I mean, that's exactly what they want. They're giving you

fifty threes on purpose kinda. And like you said, I mean, the pain is packed and it's tough to score in there, all right, So let's flip him a wat. Yeah, go ahead. I was just gonna do, Like what if if you look at their shot chart, it's not like they took thirty seven mid range jump shots. It's just enough to keep the defense, honest, it's just enough today, man straight,

that you are willing to shoot there. Which and again, if you're willing to shoot there, maybe instead of Janice waiting directly under the basket, maybe he has to come out a little bit and help. And now you've opened up a cut on the back door. Now, great Williams doesn't have to take a three if you're willing to shoot the float or willing to shoot the pull up two. Now the defender has to come just to step up from the rim and it opens up the back door

cut from the week side corner. Just you have to have variety in your offense. It can't it can't be that basic. But going on to the rest of the stuff. With Milwaukee like there, first of all, their transition defense was incredible. We just talked about Boston and then getting just barbecued in transition defense. And again, transition defense is really simple. Sprint back. Everybody sprints back to the paint. Then when you get to the paint, you turn around

and you look at who's coming wherever, whoever's there. Somebody stays under the rim. Everyone else sprays out to shooters from there. So rule number one is give up at least a jump shot. If you're gonna give up a shot, make sure it's not at the rim. And then rule number two is, once you get to the paint, spray out. Like transition defense is thousand percent about effort and focus. Giving up two point three three points per transition opportunity

office steals for Boston, that's inexcusable. That's just laziness. That's sloppiness, that's barking at the refs. That's not playing real basketball. Check this out. Boston had eight live ball steals against Milwaukee, so the same types of opportunities that Boston was giving up two point three three points per possession on. Boston had eight of those opportunities going the other way. They scored on zero of them, zero of them. Milwaukee sprint back on every single one of them and shut the

rim off. There was a play that I I showed on my Twitter feed that you guys can find, be honest, like completely out of the play, turns the ball over to Tatum on a pass. Tatum is twenty ft past him, just turns and sprints and tries to block him off the glass. As a result, Tatum rushes the lay up a little bit and misses it and they get a stop.

Little details like that those are If you can get those numbers down from you know, two point three three points per transition opportunity down to that, then you're giving yourself a fighting chance in a game like this because of how well you defended in the half court. A couple other notes drew Drew Holiday's shot making. He had I think six made field goals that were unassisted that were difficult, like create your own shot types of moments.

Everything that I was just talking about with Jaylen Brown, that they needed, just those little punches of offense that are so so so important against defense of this caliber, like Drew Holiday was giving you that he was just early in the game. I thought there was a huge a sequence where Boston was scoring and I think they had eight points quick early and Drew Holliday came down

and hit two threes. He had a transition pull up three off of a steel and then he had another three where he came off of a ball screen on the right side of the floor and Al Horford was way too low as the as the guy guarding the screen, and he made two threes, just monstrous threes that just settle you down, you know, like if you if Boston gets stops on those two possessions, now it's like maybe Milwaukee's calling a time out and they're down twelve to two,

and the entire dynamic of the game is different. The crowds into it. It turns into this like crazy helter skelter environment where Boston's like frantically feeding off of the crowd. No, Drew Holiday made monster play after monster play that just stiff armed Boston and kept them away from having any real control over the basketball game. Just I thought he was definitively the second best player on the floor last night.

A very first possession of the game, Marcus Smart is just trying to bring the ball up the floor, and Drew Holiday just like slides right in front of him like a stone wall, stops Marcus Smart and hits the ball out of bounds. And you're just like, oh, it's gonna be that type of night. Like Drew Holidays like I'm going to make your life a living hell tonight. And he did that to Marcus Smart all night long.

Just incredibly impressive performance from Drew. You know, I said towards the end of our buck segment yesterday, and I thought you honest for some things. I went back and watch the tape and I actually have to go back on that. I actually disagree, Like I think that Janice is relentless rim pressure even he went nine him consistently driving into all that traffic, even though he was smoking layups right and left, and again I had people in

in my mentions being like Joannice won't shoot that Portland. No. No, he was taking incredibly difficult shots over like triple teams around the basket. They were low quality shots. I'm just saying that what I noticed over the course of the game is that war Boston down. The intensity that it takes physically to build the wall on Janice and try to deter those room attempts is exhausting, and Janice perpetually

doing that had a wearing effect. And I actually think over the course of the series, if he keeps doing that, he'll have monster statistical games later in this series. So credit to you, Honest. I take back what I said it was important for him to keep doing that. And then last note with you, honest, and this is something

I've I have not seen this since Lebron. You know, like in the like around five six years ago, there was this thing that would happen with Lebron where he had this aura when he would step into the arena for a play off game. Even great players on the other team would get flustered. You'd have guys that would have fantastic seasons, like in the m v P conversation type of seasons and they would fall apart, like at

the seams against Lebron. You even saw it from like all time greats like Steph Curry two thousand fifteen and two thousand sixteen played well below in the finals, played well below his regular season averages. In a big part of that. Clay Thompson struggled in both of those series, you know, like literally, like Draymond Gray was a monster in two thousand and sixteen. That was when he was hitting every single three that he took out the game, had like thirty five, twelve and seven in Game seven

or whatever it was. But like Stephan Clay in particular really struggled. Demarta Rosen and Kyle Lowry used to like consistently like just fold under the pressure of Lebron. You saw that in the two thousand eighteen playoff run, where like guys like Victor Oladipo just suddenly fell to pieces. You know, Demarta rozen again in that playoff run, fell to pieces fourth quarter of Game seven in Boston, Tatum

and Brown like falling apart. Lebron just has this aura on on his peers when he was at his peak.

I got that feeling from Janice last night. Man, it just felt like it felt like he was so clearly the best player on the floor that it's psyched everybody out for Boston, and it had this like effect on them where guys like Jalen Brown in particular and Marcus smartin particular just played garbage basketball games compared to their usual capabilities, and it just seemed like they were psyched out by Honest, and it was just it was a unique thing that I haven't seen in a really long time.

And it's a credit to the Honest. Yeah, that is a really interesting point, and there's some interesting dynamics with the Honest because it's like from some there seems to still be like a hesitancy to crown him as the best guy alive or firmly in that conversation. And I don't know if it's like a skill biased thing or whatever, but I mean, right now, he's very clearly I think, playing at that level. All right, let's move out west, Jason to the other series we saw yesterday, Grizzlies Warriors.

It was a pretty thrilling game. Memphis ended up falling by one. They had a look from to maybe win it, but it did not fall. What did we learn from the Grizzlies in that game. So a couple of things. Memphis actually was better than Golden State in the half court They average zero point nine three points per half court play compared to zero point eight five for Golden State. That's a good sign for Memphis, especially with how well they generate extra possessions by crashing the offensive glass. A

couple of things they got to clean up. They allowed too many offensive rebounds. For as dominants, they were offensive rebounding, they had sixteen. They also gave up sixteen. So those are things that they're going to have to specifically clean up. Golden State. A couple of quick notes. There's a lot of talk including you know, I talked about I know that the Warriors are better with Draymond, but I talked about how I liked some of the lineups that they

used without Draymond and some of the dynamics there. Well, just so you guys know, with Draymond on the floor yesterday, they had a hundred nineteen offensive rating, hundred and eight defensive rating, and they were plus eleven net. With Draymond off the floor, they had a hundred and twelve offensive rating, hundred and fourteen defensive rating and they were minus two nets, so they were definitively better with Draymond off the floor on the floor, so we can go ahead and ditch that. However,

there was one specific lineup that they used. I think it was in the in the third quarter where they went with Clay Thompson, Jordan Pool, Auto Porter, Jonathan Comedica, and Gary Payton Jr. Yesterday's show, we broke down specifically what they were doing, but that group was plus five and six minutes, and I thought it was a huge part of why they were able to win in the

second half without Draymond. What do you do with that? Well, the way I look at it is, I think you gotta keep playing Draymond his normal allotment and use that lineup when he's off the floor. There's gonna be a tendency to want to go to Luney there that I would actually play Luney alongside Draymond as much as you can, because Draymond actually likes that dynamic and it will help

you against Memphis attacking the offensive glass. And then when you have Draymond off the floor, that's when I'd go small. That's when i'd go with Clay and Pool Auto cominga and and Gary Payton Jr. Because that lineup was just super, super versatile offensively. It had so much space for Jordan Pool and Clay Thompson to operate that they were dominant in there. And the last specific note on this series before we move on, Golden State was plus ten in

eleven minutes without Steph Curry. That's a great sign because obviously that's been something just Steph Curry teams and lebron teams consistently over the last couple of years have always struggled when that guy's off the floor, and a big part of that is there literally, Carson, you and I got into this argument a while back, but like, they are the two guys that I thought were the premier

offensive engines in the league. So obviously when you take them off the floor has a damaging effect on your offense. But for you to go plus ten and eleven minutes without Curry, a big credit to that is that specific lineup I was just talking about. But that's a great sign looking forward. If your Memphis, it's trust your half court offense. You know you've been a little bit better than Golden State. You just got to clean up some

of the details and you'll be in good shape. Yeah, I think that half court comparative success from Memphis isn't interesting because I would not expect them to be the better half court offense overall. Obviously, Jaw is the one driving that, and he's had a trusting post season so far. He had a monster to statistical Game one, but overall hasn't had like the most efficient scoring post season. But at the same time, you know, can collapse the defense

at will get downhill. So given how Game one went, what kind of series are you expecting from Jaw overall? That's a good question, you know. I thought Job was actually pretty damn good, especially down the stretch. Um Golden State did a good job on some specific possessions, the game winning possession, and then they got two additional stops on in late fourth quarter where it seemed like when they when they left him on an island, Jaw got whatever he want wanted when they crowded him more, that's

when they were able to get some stops. You know, the biggest thing with Jaw is gonna be, you know, continuing to be relentless with that rim pressure. It does so much good for them on a bunch of different levels. Not only does it open up things for the shooters. Desmond Baying had a rough game in Game one. You've got to find a way to get more looks for Desmond Bay. But most importantly, like we've talked a lot

about Memphis, his offensive rebounding. Memphis would get an offensive rebound on thirty three of their offensive possessions this year, which was number one in the league. That was their bread and butter was crashing the offensive glass with guys like Steven Adams and Brandon Clark and just relentless, you know, athleticism around the rim. Well, huge part of that is jaw. You know, when John gets into the lane and goes flying in there and throwing up layups. It occupies shot blockers.

And so when you're when you're Draymond Green and you're you know, uh, you know kevn. Looney has to come over to try to block the shot. It basically takes a body off of Brandon Clark. It takes a body off of Jaren Jackson Jr. Now they get free rim runs and that's when they can really have that uh that effect. If I'm John Moran, just aspire to have the cumulative wear and tear effect like putting your head down and getting to the basket is I've we talked

about this a lot with Russell Westbrook this year. If there was one good thing that Russell Westbrook did as he was missing everything just about every layup, it seemed he was getting to the rim. And there is unquestionable positive offensive impact by getting to the rim. It just collapses, the defense occupies shot blockers, opens up things for offensive rebounders and for shooters. It is like one of the most basic basketball concepts. So that's John Rand's biggest impact.

Shot really well made four I think it's four for ten from three or four for nine from three or whatever it was. You know, Jaren Jackson made six threes eleven. Yeah, Jaren Jackson made six threes. My thing is like that's fool's gold. You can't depend on job making four threes every game. You can't com depend on what you can depend on his rim pressure and Jaren Jackson Jr. For the record, we talked a lot about his shooting. He was a monster attacking mismatches in that game, getting to

the rim. So like those are the things that are like translatable, like the things that are going to continue to win over the course of the series. And again, like we talked about it, the skill teams always dominate the beginning of a series, and the physical teams always

dominate the end of the series. It is if you're a Golden State fan, it's not a must win, but it's pretty important for you to to try to steal Game two as well, because the longer this series goes, the more wear and tear on Draymond, the more wear and tear on Kevan Looney. There's matchups elsewhere on the

floor where they're small. There's a lot of Clay Thompson on Brandon Clark at the end of the game, there's a lot of Andrew Wiggins on Jaren Jackson Jr. Those are significant size mismatches that they have to figure out, and they are the easiest way to figure it out is get him out of here quickly, like like if you lose game to make sure you win Game three and four, take a three one lead, like you've got to end this series as fast as possible to avoid

the inevitable physical onslot that comes from Memphis. Alright, Well, Jason, now that we've touched on every series at least a bit. We're gonna play a game. It's called Fast break Fast Take. You're gonna have one minute to make the case for each team that lost Game one as to how they could actually end up winning this series. We're gonna start with the Dallas Mavericks. You're on the clock. Oh man, let's ho this isn't a disaster, all right, So if you're Dallas, got to figure out a way to get

stops again. Your whole scheme this entire season has been taking limited personnel and figuring it out with like scheming, double teaming, and specific spots, really smart and savvy rotations, a lot of effort to make up for a lack of personnel. You can do that against Phoenix. You've just got to take a look at the film tonight and see specifically what it did. Specifically, find ways to hide Luca. Luca I thought started to fatigue over the course of

the game. Gotta find ways to make things easier for him. Also, different looks. Do what Philly was doing. Mix in some zone, mix in, you know, do random doubles and traps, and then go away from that, leave him in single coverage, because then they'll be out of rhythm, do things to mix things up. Jalen Brunson and Spencer Dinwood. He have to be better. They have to be able to create shots. If Luca is leaned on as the sole offensive initiator in this series, he's not gonna have the juice to

get it done. But if Jalen and Spencer can carry you for extensive stretches along the way, it gives Luca the legs to get done At the end, Who do you think is the most important player outside of Luca for the MAVs in this series. I'm gonna go with Spencer din what he because I Jalen's going to figure it out. Jalen had a rough night, but Jalen is going to figure it out. He's too good of a player. I thought he I thought he was a little bit

wigged out by the length and size. We talked about at the beginning of the show, about that adjustment period. I think that Dallas is going to perform significantly better offensively in Game two now that they know what they're up against in terms of the defensive length. Spencer has been bad offensively for pretty much this whole playoff front. They need more out of him. We've talked about Dallas

being a dark horse title contender. The only way that's materializing is that Spencer didn't what he gets back to the point where he can be a relatively efficient, like seventeen point a game guy, and he just hasn't been that guy. Yeah, I agree, Brunson is so steady din what he is volatile man. Just the inconsistency of the jump shooting is it's very dangerous. All Let's talk about the Sixers now, Jason, make the case for them. You have a minute. Somehow I gotta get rid of DeAndre

Jordan's from the lineup. I don't know if that means you've got to kidnap doc Rivers, you know, find a way to like fake a positive COVID test or something. You've got to find some way to get Doc Rivers out of the room so that DeAndre Jordan is out of the lineup. Then from there a lot more switching, a lot more like kind of alternating between that and zone to try to just jank things up in Miami

and then lean heavily into your five out attack. Lean heavily on going with five guys that can all shoot and dribble. From there, it just makes you infinitely harder to guard. That gives you your best chance to try to have a James Harden renaissance. That gives you your best chance to try to get Tyrese Maxie going. Most importantly, you weren't even getting stops with DeAndre Jordan's. So if you get more stops with your smaller lineups, that gives

you more transition opportunities. That's where Tyrese Maxie gets going. That's their best bet. And then, last and not least, you gotta get Joel and be back on the court. Man. Joel embiat Is, you know, top four or five player in the world, and you're just not winning the series without him, So do whatever it takes to get him back out on the court as soon as possible. What would be your favorite possible way that the Sixers could just get rid of DeAndre Jordan's Because I feel like

there's a lot of good options. I don't know that he wants to be there that badly. Okay, hack into one of his social media profiles and start d m ng other players girlfriends on the team. That's that's gonna be my go to call. Russell. Yeah, I feel like you can maybe just offer the guy like an all expenses paid cruise and he'd be like, yeah, all right, I've had enough of this. I don't know. The DJ Dynamics are hilarious. Okay, let's move on to the Celtics. Jason,

make the case for them. You have a minute. Everything comes down to decision making. Every we talk a lot about on this show, the cascading effect of the way that every play kind of is leans on the play before it and after. You have to get your defense set, because we know that when your defense is set, you get stops. You're giving up less than point eight points per possessions in the half courts. You've gotta find a way to keep Milwaukee in half court as much as possible.

The best way to do that is to limit bad offensive possessions, early shot clock threes that are contested, or that aren't as good as what you can get when you drive and kick turnovers, things along those lines. Trust your half defense, half court defense to carry you through your cold spells. Trust your shot quality. Last, but not least, don't be scared of Janice. Don't get wrapped up in the the the the aura that surrounds him. Jayson Tatum is also a top tier superstar. We've talked a lot

about that on this show. You've got an alpha dog too. If all of you don't play scared, you've demonstrated you've been the better team for the last six months. If you lean into that, that will be what carries you to the title. So you already touched on Jalen's issue a bit earlier, and I think that's totally interrelated with the decision making. I don't know if there's a more underdeveloped playmaking wing of his caliber and you touched on that.

But like, as good as the Celtics have been when he is their number two guy, could that be like the thing that limits them and holds them back is just if he isn't where he needs to be as a playmaker and decision maker. Again, it's hard to say, Carson, because like I said, like there's there's just that is that is one of the few skills that has so much to do with just the type of guy you are,

and not like skill development. Like again, Jayson Tatum, Jayson Tatum is clearly on that trajectory that Janie and Katie and Paul George and all those guys have been on, which is the trajectory that's like I will get to the point where I consistently make good reads. But the next level of that above that, that elite playmaking is just rarefied air. And for a guy like Jalon Brown, and there's a lot of guys like this around the league,

it's no different than like a Jordan Clarkson type. There are guys that just are tunnel vision scores, and there are ways to weaponize those types of guys. But you've got to find a way too. You've got to find a way to make things easy on them. At least.

It's the turnovers a kill you. So like if he's gonna get into the lane and he gets stopped for some reason, just tell him, like, hey, we're better off with you shooting here, Like if you get stopped like trying to get a shot up, or like here's your release valve, get out and then reset. But it's where when he gets into the lane and he just kind of just looks lost, and he looks he's so indecisive as well, and again he's always struggled with that. He's

not going to get better. But you've got to find a way to coach him into situations where he doesn't have to make decisions. Clear the side, Clear the side, get him the ball in the post, like, get him sits, get him in situations where you're like, hey, you have tunnel vision. That's great. Go be tunnel vision, Jalen. This is where you're your opportunity for successes. All right, last, but not least here, Jason, the Memphis Grizzlies, please make

the case. You have sixty seconds. Beat them up, Beat the crap out of him. That's your best chance. It's just like Cleveland in two thousands sixteen, Oklahoma City in two thousand and sixteen. The Warriors are more skilled than you. If you play skill basketball with them, you're gonna lose. Your best opportunity is to wear on them physically, relentlessly

over the course of the series. Run on them in transition as much as possible, crash the offensive glass as much as possible, Do everything you can to attack their smaller guards with mismatches. Just and understand that even if you lose battles earlier in the series, it will win you battles later in the series. Also, fox out. They got killed on the offensive glass by Golden State that has to be an advantage for them, not a weakness. Another area that I thought that guy killed was a

shot fakes. Clay Thompson and Jordan Pull in particular day would just pump fake and get a wide open shot every time because the guy would go flying by. Pump fakes will disrupt rhythm if you don't jump, but if you do jump, it gives them a chance to gain the rhythm. And then, last but not least, get Desmond band going way less, Dylan Brooks way too much, Dylan Brooks io in that game, get stuff for Desmond Bine.

How possible do you think it is? The Memphis rallies and you know a lot of those keys and actually does come back and win the series after dropping Game one at home, It's very likely. I'm I'm picking Golden State to be clear. I think I think they're gonna win probably in six is my guests or seven, But like Memphis has a real chance. It's just the biggest thing that makes me worry about them is they have on paper all of the advantages necessary to win this series.

But there's a reason why Minnesota was literally in commanding leads of second half, massive commanding leads in five of the six games in the first round and lost. It's because Memphis was the better team, but they were very unfocused and on significant stretches of important games would just kind of float and behave like a regular season team. And so my thing is like, if you're gonna beat Golden State, you have to be perfect, you can't make mistakes,

you have to be the smart basketball team. And they've just demonstrated that they're the young basketball team. And that's not that's not an insult to them, it's just it's the same thing that every young, great team that has has gone through in their rise through the league, just like Golden State dealt with in two thousand thirteen and two thousand fourteen, just like the Thunder dealt with in two thousand ten and two thousand eleven. It's part of

the journey. But that's where Memphis is at right now. So like expecting them to behave like veterans is unlikely. So they have a chance, it's just unlikely because who who do you expect to act more like a responsible adult over the rest of the series, Golden State or Memphis? You know what I mean? Right, our guys, that is all we have for tonight. As always, I sincerely appreciate your support. Game two of the two series from yesterday,

coming back tomorrow, very very excited for that. Obviously a lot on the line for my Boston is the best defense of this era take I could be going down in flames around this time tomorrow, if, if, if, Boston doesn't get the job done. So we will be back after the final buzzer of the final game tomorrow. As always, I sincerely appreciate your support. Don't to get to follow me on Twitter for film breakdowns. We will see you guys tomorrow. The volume