Lakers Tonight - Why the Celtics deserve to be title favorites

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I told you guys, coming into this playoff run, I thought it was gonna be one of the best playoff runs in the history of the NBA because of the incredible amount of talent that we have in the league and the way that the matchups worked out, and it was something that I was very, very very excited for, and as a result, when I was trying to put all my thoughts together, I was like, there's just way too much to get into here, and so I think the best way for us to do this tonight is

to do it a little differently than we have Ben. We're gonna bring my guy Carson on and we are going to get into the ten biggest questions of the night. I think that will give us our best opportunity to touch all of our basis. So let's get Carson on and we're gonna get right into it. Yeah. Well, Jason, I think that the appropriate running point here is with what I think has been maybe the most anticipated and a really interesting first round series, and that is Net Celtics.

Celtics went up two oh Nets, had a lead going into the fourth, ended up squandering at score just seventeen in that quarter, and Katie had a really rough shooting night overall four of seventeen from the field, also had six turnovers. Still managed twenty seven points because the guy made eighteen free throws. But that's executive subpar shooting performances from him. He's under in the series. So how much

is he to blame for tonight's loss? For Brooklyn, That's a loaded question because he's not to blame in the sense that the scheme from Boston was completely, completely surrounding shutting Katie down and shutting Kyrie down and making other guys make decisions. To Katie's credit, all over the place over the last two days and all the talking head shows and everybody who's been breaking down this series, there's been a lot of pressure on Katie to have an

amazing bounce back game too. You heard talk of him having a playoff career high fifty something, and you've heard people talking about hammering the over with his points in this game. And you know, to Katie's credit, when Boston came out from the from the opening jump, they had a very clear strategy. We're not letting Katie have that kind of night. The only time he ever was not facing a double team was when he had a live dribble out past the three point line when he was

crossing half court. But the second he put the ball on the floor and tried to get past anybody, here came the double. The second he came for a ball screen, here came of the double. Anytime he was moving around off the ball, We're beating the hell out of him on every single off ball action. We're grabbing him, we're

holding him. All the same stuff that we talked about after Game one, and I actually thought Kevin Durant was magnificent in the first half at not buying into that pressure, sure to try to produce offensively as a score, but just playing basketball and taking what the defense was giving him. And Jayson Tatum actually really struggled in his first shift in the first quarter with that exact same problem. He

was getting a very similar coverage from Brooklyn. There there were four stars in this game, right, Kyrie k d Jayson Tatum, and Jalen and Kyrie Katie and Jayson Tatum were all facing that same coverage, just crazy sellout double teams every time they got the ball with any threat near the basket, basically as soon as they would get inside the three point line. And to start the game, Jayson Tatum was pressing and forcing and driving into traffic and and just throwing stuff up at the rim instead

of making the right reads. And that was in Meanwhile, Kevin Durant was just playing basketball and making those right reads, and as a result, the Nets got off to a really good start. But as the game progressed, Jayson Tatum finally settled down and started taking and making the right reads as the As the game was progressing, and then the second half Boston look like so I would I would attribute it to two things, because Kevin Durant absolutely

fell apart in that second half. He's over eight from the field, he had, he had a bunch of sloppy turnovers, He's been mishandling the basketball, and a bunch of situations, which is super uncharacteristic of a player as skilled as Kevin Durant is. But the way I look at it,

there were two things that played a role there. One was the fact that when you're playing the role of the facilitator and you're making reads all game along, I think he only in the first quarter and a half he had only attempted four shots, so like in the as the game was progressing, his own rhythm was suffering as a result of his playmaking. This is just the

reality of the way basketball works. One of the advantages of double teaming a star and getting the balls at the ball out of his hands is he's going to struggle to get the rhythm when he does have opportunities to score. And I had a feeling that over the course of the game, Boston's defense would soften a little bit on him because of how well, he was passing, and he actually did get some looks. But then what happens.

Even the good looks you get are tough to make because you don't have your rhythm because you haven't been getting easier looks to start the game. I complained about this with Laker fans all the time. They'd be like, Oh, I can't believe another guard came in here and shot the lights out again. And it's like he did because they let him get comfortable at the start of the game. So he felt confident, he felt in his rhythm, and he was knocking all the shots down, and the exact

opposite thing was happening to Kevin Durant. And then the second part of it. You gotta credit Boston's defense when they are roughing up Kevin Durant to that extent, it makes it so that when he gets to those spots, he's fatigued. Now all of a sudden, you're you're not getting as much you're ordinarily accustomed to getting on those jump shots. You also start to kind of feel ghost pressure. Right, Like, Kevin Durant is seven ft tall and he's getting to

those spots. But when you're constantly in this swarm of bodies. Even when you get to your spots and you're raising up, it's in the back of your mind that maybe Tatum's coming from behind you to try to take the ball away, or that someone you might not have seen is coming. Because one of the things that was happening with k D is heat on the catch. Tatum would gamble around his body like if he caught the ball on the

post somewhere. Tatum would gamble around his body and try to knock the ball away, and then Katie would turn, and then as soon as he would turn, like there'd be Al Horford right on it, like they were swarming him everywhere on the floor. So you've got to give out Horford a little bit of credit, or excuse me, the Celtics defense in general, a little bit of credit for how much they disrupt him. Disrupted him, and it

was by design. And so you know, if you're if you're Boston and you're sitting in the locker room after the game and you're watching some film, the way you gotta look at it is our game plan was to take Kevin Durant at this game. He beat us with the past in the first half, and then he fell apart in the second half, and that's the way it's gonna go in a lot of cases. You know, this is you know, I used to be clear. I still think Kevin Durant's the best player in the world right now.

I have the utmost respect for him and what he brings to the table on both ends of the floor.

But from two thousand twelve to two thousand twenty, no matter how many times someone would bring up another name, whether it was k d in two thousand fourteen, or whether it was stepth from two thousand fifteen to two thousand sixteen, or Katie again in two thousand seventeen two thousand eighteen, or if it was Kawhi Leonard in two thousand nineteen, every time I'd always step up and I'd be like, hey, guys, let's chew out a little bit.

These guys aren't as good as Lebron is. And one of the reasons why is because Lebron is essentially impervious to the type of game that Kevin Durant had tonight. Because if you try to rough him him up up the off the ball, he's gonna win that matchup. There's never been not since the Pistons in two thousand seven, have you seen the team kind of successfully rough Lebron up with physicality. That's the thing that's a that's a

situation that he thrives in. And then in addition to that, and this is something you saw with all the Stars today,

with Kyrie, with Jayson Tatum and with Kevin Durant. They're wired his scores, but they've progressed as playmakers enough in their career that they do start to make reads that are there because they're they're improving in those areas of their game, but their natural identity as a basketball player defaults to scoring, and so they're gonna go off that script often and they're gonna try to do what they

like to do. Lebron's the exact opposite. That's why he's received criticism in his career for not taking certain shots in that environment, in that crazy environment, with that that that over aggressive defense, Lebron will persistently make the right read every single time down the floor to a fault, sometimes to the point where he won't take advantage enough

of scoring opportunities. And and and I, but you have to take every time a defense is aggressive, there isn't opening somewhere on the floor, and you have to take advantage of that. That's why I've been preaching about that with Nikolavuseovitch in this Bucks Bulls series, Like, if they're going to sit and drop coverage all game long and take away the paint, you have to take threes. You have to do something to shoot them out of that coverage. And you saw that tonight a lot with Katie and

Tatum in particular. They would get off script and they would try to do their own thing, even though there were opportunities there to con in you to make the

defense pay. And that's that's one of those situations that I hope people in retrospect have appreciation for why Lebron James has been so dominant and consistent as a playoff player in his career, because it centers around that the ability to thrive in the physical the physical environments, the ability to consistently make defenses pay for being over aggressive, and and this is the crucial part. He can do

the Katie and Kyrie stuff too. He can he has high level shot making and he's done it on the biggest stages time and time again. That's why I always was drawn to him It's why I thought he was the best player. Katie's the best player now, but that's one of the shortcomings in his game, and that's why you saw that. You saw that pop up tonight and

become a problem in that second half. Yeah, I mean, like you said, I think this is a loaded question and it's a difficult one to answer, and I think you're absolutely right about how stellar the Celtics were defensively on Katie and how much of a priority he was, and really outside of the free throws, there wasn't really an easy look on the table for him tonight. And he's obviously, you know, an all time difficult shot makers,

so you expect some more of those to fall. But there's lots of situations where he's facing multiple defenders and he is still trying to get that shot up. So I think the one component here in which you can say, yes, as tough as that matchup was and part of it just shots not falling, where he does probably need to be held accountable, is just from the perspective of you're not gonna get many offensive games like this from the Nets role players. I mean, Bruce Brown was tremendous with

twenty three on eight of twelve. Seth was pretty good tonight with sixteen. Drag had another really productive game off the bench with eighteen on eight of four teen shooting. So yes, that's interrelated with all the attention that Katie is drawing. And obviously he and Kyrie are the only reason the Nets are the basketball team they are to begin with. But when you have a chance like that, you think a couple more of those tough shots have probably got to go. Because it's Kevin Durant that we're

talking about, and that's just the expectation. Yeah, Kevin Durant Kai recombined for one made field goal in the second half. That can't happen now, regardless of how you feel about Boston's defense, which we'll talk a little bit more about in a second, regardless of how you feel about that, they simply have to be better. And I actually thought Kadi got a handful of decent looks in that second half that just weren't even close, leaving him short, missing

left and right. And then again, I think it was just a weird night. It was a weird night on that front. Both guys just had really really rough nights. Mention it, we gave Katie's numbers, Kyrie ten points on four thirteen shooting. So overall, would you say that tonight was more about bad offense from the Nets are good defense from the Celtics. I thought it was good defense from the Celtics. We're gonna talk more about, I mean outside outside of the shot making, the shot making from

Kadi and Kyrie, the turnovers, the mishandling the basketball. That's stuff they just have to get better about. But that's not a game plan thing. That's not something you can go and like, let's watch tape and figure out how we can start. No, you just have to make those shots. That's a short that that's just something that they have to be better about, right, So I I look at it more as putting the onus and the and the

credit on Boston for disrupting them to that extent. Like how many times have you seen Kevin Durant shoot a pull up jump shot in his career and be blocked. It's happened I think at least twice in this series, both from Jayson Tatum. Like that's just a relentless pursuit from Tatum on a lot of these possessions. Katie's coming over a ball screen or something and getting separation from

Tatum and then going up into a shot. But Tatum's applying what's called back pressure, like flying over the top of the screen knowing you're a bit out of the play, but that Katie eventually is gonna have to slow down to get up into a shot, and that's your opportunity to recover and make a defensive play. And he did that a bunch tonight. This is a really really interesting

situation that's happening in the NBA. And I started to pick up on this just a little bit back in that Phoenix Suns Lakers series last year in the first round. I started to know notice that teams were starting to

figure out because of the overall lineup speed. As the game has changed and teams have gone with more wings and fewer bigs and prioritized speed and ball handling, every team has become a lot faster and as a result, they're able to cover more ground, which has allowed them to pressure stars more, not just in double teams, not just in traps, but also in help side defense. And I noticed in that Laker Sun series, like every time Lebron had the ball, there were just three bodies kind

of positioned in his driving lanes. You're seeing that with johannas Antenna compo in this series with the Bulls, You're seeing it with Katie and Kyrie. You're seeing it even with Jayson Tatum. The League is dangerously close to figuring out how to stop superstar players with these double teams. Jayson Tatum had a really rough night, he also made some big shots at the end. To his credit, he also I thought Katie, Kyrie, and Jayson Tatum all made

big plays as playmakers. But you're the league is starting to figure out how to disrupt these stars. And I think the natural counter, and this will be a really interesting thing over the next couple of years, is you're gonna have to play guys like Patty Mills and Seth Curry and got Because the reason why this series is close, even though the Celtics defense is so so, so much better than Brooklyn's, is because Brooklyn is playing guys off

of Katie and Kyrie that can punish you. You just mentioned it, Carson, when Katie and Kyrie had this rough night, it came with Curry making big plays. It came with Patty Mills making a big shot. It came with Bruce

Brown having a big night. Even Andre Drummond had some moments attacking out of the post, right, So, like you're seeing that the value now of having skilled basketball players around your stars, because defenses are figuring out, we have the foot speed now to effectively double team a star and rotate out of it and not give up wide

open looks anymore. That's a really interesting conundrum, and I'm genuinely curious over the course of the next three four years how the because the league always adapts to itself. You know, a big offensive change happens, here comes the defense catching up, a big defensive change happens, here comes the offense catching up. I'm really really curious to see over the next couple of years how this changes. Because that game tonight was unlike any basketball game I've ever seen.

How many times have you seen all of the stars suck? And there was one star that did well and it was Jalen Brown because he was in single coverage all night. So like, that's a really interesting conundrum and I'm curious

to see how it affects basketball over the coming years. So, now that the nets are sitting here and they're down out two when they seem to just continue to underachieve what expectations were, certainly when this duo was put together on paper ahead of last year, or you know, when Katie was actually able to play basketball last year for the first time. Steve Nash is catching a lot of heat. Do you think that's fair or unfair? So I've seen this and and I disagree. I I I get it.

I get that the nets look like pick up game offense, But like I think it's a little bit shortsighted to think that running a set or running sets more frequently is going to solve this problem. And this is not a take that I have recently had. I've been telling you guys this forever, all of you guys that are listening, that have listened to my show over the last couple of years. I've always said that the value of sets becomes massively diminished in the postseason, and the reason why

is physicality and switching. That's why I never cared that the Lakers were a bad half court offense in the regular season. Regular season half court offenses always are gonna favor the teams that run sets really well. But in

the postseason it becomes brute force. Look at the way Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are having trouble navigating off ball in off ball screens, Like, for instance, when they have Kevin Durant underneath the basket and he's being guarded by Jayson Tatum, and they have Nick Claxton come down to set a pin down screen on Kevin Durant. What happens. You have Jayson Tatum hugging Kevin Durant literally and he's

got to fight him off. Then as soon as he comes off of that screen, here's Grant Williams or outle word, whoever it is, that's on Nick Claxton. He grabs Katie too. There's I shared a clip. You can see it on my on my Twitter fad. You guys can see the specific play literally now Katie is fighting through, moving, hugging whatever, Like cut check from from Grant Williams before he ever gets up to get the basketball. Like that's what it's

like trying to run actions in the postseason. It's not I'm not saying that you can't do that to some extent, but like the reality of the way postseason basketball works is it's such a ship show off the ball with the physicality that sets don't work, not to mention with scouting that if you have a set that's working, by the time you get to the game the next game

in the series, all of a sudden it won't. So like for me, where where Steve Nash has to figure this out and he's got to figure out floor positioning, where guys have to be on the floor so that when Katie gets doubled, so that when Kyrie gets doubled, you can make quick decisions out of it and easily

compromise the defense. So it's less about sets and more about floor positioning, finding thoughts on the floor that a guy can be a threat so that when Kevin Durray or Kyrie makes an easy pass out of the double team, it's a quick you know, bang bang read to get an easy shot out of it. That that is Steve Nash's job over the course of the next few games of this series. I don't think it has anything to do with running set. So I disagree with some of

the criticism that's been thrown his way there. I think the Nash dynamic is an interesting one because I totally agree with your fundamental point there, and I would argue that that's a lot more true, even when you're talking about the devaluing of sets when you have two of the greatest isolation shot makers of all time, and it's like, yeah, you and trust your best players with the keys to

just go make plays and create your offense consistently. I will say, though, I don't know that there's much that I think Nash does exceptionally well as a coach. I think that it's obviously tough to get inside like any team's culture, but there's been a lot of weird stuff going around the nets, and sure he has had to balance some of the wackiest personalities the league has. And yeah, they've been able to reach a higher level defensively in

the playoffs when it matters most. But I don't know how much to treat that to him versus just the players being more engaged. I would lean towards the ladder. So, like, what do you think on that? From Like, I agree with you and that he's not actively, you know, hurting them in terms of offensive scheme and whatnot, But like, do you think Steve Nash is a good coach? It's hard to say. Man, he's got a really tough job.

But I've always I've always thought that, specifically with veteran teams that are laid in with superstars, it's primarily more important for a coach to coach up the defensive end of the floor. This has always been the way that I felt like, you can't bring a like a super smart, young, you know, ambitious, offensive minded coach that loves to run sweet motion offense and and put him in a room

with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving. Those guys are gonna shrug that dude out of the room, you know, like that, That's just not a realistic approach. Like I feel like Nash's job is more to manage personalities, man his late game situations like tie mouths, and and drawing up specific sets for very specific scenarios at the end of game and then the and then the defensive end of the floor. And I'll give you guys a very quick example like like and this is this is an example of a

set that works really well in the postseason. I take advantage of where the defense is throwing extra attention. In Game one, in the second to last possession email, Udoka knew that the Nets were overplaying Tatum and doubling him on every single screen, so they had Tatum run way off to the left wing. We've talked about this play

a few times on the show. The Tatum run way off to the left side of the wing, and then they had Al Horford come up and set his screen for him, an off ball screen, and Nick Klaxton and Kevin Durant both followed him up there, and as a result, the paint was completely vacated and Jalen Brown had an easy attack to the basket and only Gore and Dragics was there on the back line. Those are the kinds of things that the nets have to figure out. Now.

I would do stuff like have Katie and Kyrie run off ball action, out of sight, out of mind, and have opportunities for Seth Curry and Patty Mills to go to work, or Gore and drag just to go to work. Do something to try to punish the Celtics for their overaggressive defense. But it's this is an impossible job, guys. It is. It is a really, really difficult job. With

these brute force offensive teams that rely on superstars. The coaches are more like figureheads than they are actually strategists, you know what I mean, Like a guy like Nick Nurse has a much bigger role within the Raptors and their success than a guy like Steve Nash does for for this Brooklyn team. Yeah, I think that's unequivocally. I just do think the interesting part is when you highlight his fundamental responsibilities, I just don't know that he's done

those things particularly well. Like personality management. You know, is players actively hated each other, like James Harden stuff. You know, Kyrie, he didn't play a majority of the games this year and obviously is constantly demonstrating some level of discontent. So I think that you're absolutely right, and that it is ultimately kind of a figurehead position, and it's just about like do the guys like him? Are they comfortable with

him there? And as long as that remains the case with Katie and Kyrie, Steve Nash will be in Brooklyn. But I don't think he's like an actively limiting factor. I just kind of shrug, and I'm not really he doesn't have the power to do anything either. That's the issue, Like he's not great positive, he doesn't have the power over the players. Yeah, it's a very very strange dynamic. I think. I mean, you make a fair point when you say it kind of is an impossible job. It's

very strange and a very strange first head coaching job too. Okay, So here we are now with the nets down to oh, is there any chance they come back in this series? There's a chance, but I'm off them. I picked the nets and seven I'm off that pick. I think Boston's gonna win this series, probably in five games, and I think Boston's gonna win the championship. I'm all in. I'm all in on Boston. This is the best defensive team

I have ever seen. I think they're better than the Toronto defensive team two thousand nine because that defensive team relied a little bit too much on small guards guys like Kyle Lowry and Fred Van vliet Um. Obviously, I think, you know, Kawhi Leonard is the better defensive player than anybody on either of those two teams. But just in general,

this is the best defensive team I've ever seen. And you're seeing, like some of the postseason reps that all of these guys have had in Boston over the years,

it's showing in their confidence. Like Jalen Brown has been amazing in these two games, and when you look at the predicament that Boston was in tonight in that fourth quarter, especially when when Brooklyn took that lead there, uh in that game, Like there's a ton of pressure there, and there's a lot of reasons for Jalen Brown in his specific role to get discouraged and to shrink from that moment. And he like grabbed that game and just took it home. And and even Jayson Tatum made a bunch of huge

plays at the end of the game. He had an awesome little like push shot in the lane, and he had a a jab step three that he made at the end of the shot clock there at the end. Like, these guys are not scared of these moments. They've gone toe to toe with Lebron freaking James in a Game seven of the Conference finals when they were rookies. They made it to the conference finals in the bubble. These these guys have played in big game after big game. I I'm I would have picked Phoenix to win the title.

But I'm terrified of this brand. This Devin Booker hamstring injury. I think this this hamstring thing is super finicky. Hamstrings are super super easy to re injure. This Pelicans team is way better than a traditional eight seed, and then they got to go through Luca in the next round. I'm not counting the Sun's out. Let me be clear there, but I'm changing my pick to win the title. I think we're gonna talk a little bit more about this later,

but I don't think. I don't think any either of the Bucks or the Bulls could beat this Boston team. This Boston team has like two thousand four Pistons energy mixed with like a player that is ascending into flat out superstardom and Jayson Tatum and a bunch of guy eyes that aren't scared and that played their roles perfectly. This Celtics team, I think is the best team in the NBA, and I think they're gonna win the title

this year. That's obviously super high praise, and I will say, I mean, they continue to look exceptional, and I thought they would be more impacted by the Robert Williams loss and just his vertical spacing offensively, having that dynamic interior athlete, how efficient he was, and then obviously defensively such an exceptional ring protector. But defensively they haven't lost a step. They just keep chugging along. So are you just like

completely moved on from that? And like, how impressive is that that here they are having lost a guy who felt really important what they were doing for so much of the year, and you're saying they're your title favorite. He still is important. It's the and this is a

credit to Al Horford. Like Al Horford has been unfreaking believable in these first two games, in huge minutes, and so like the silver lining for Horford is the way you got to look at it if you're him, is like Rob's coming and when he gets here, I'll be able to play fewer minutes and devote my energy in a little bit of these shorter bursts. Right, But he is emptying the freaking tank for this series, and it's and it's completely making up for the Robert Williams injury

at this point. His perimeter shooting has been a dynamic component of the way that it's a it's punishing Brooklyn for helping his He's got like some of the best hands defensively in in help defense that you'll ever see. Like he doesn't even have to reach up to contest. He's just really good at poking the ball free from guys down low. Al Horford has been the reason that Rob Williams's loss is not hurt the Celtics yet. And and and they he played some three on three today

and he's been progressing well. They're not even counting him out necessarily in this series, although I doubt they'll play him now that I think they're going to control Brooklyn. But like that that I I I put a I put the vast majority of that credit on Al Horford. He's just been an absolute monster. But yeah, I I've seen enough Like I. You gotta you gotta pay attention to what's in front of your eyes. Kevin Durant did not. Kevin Durant didn't shrink from the moment tonight. Katie was

ready for that game. Katie was ready to put his imprint on that game. What happened was the Celtics would not allow it to happen. How many defenses in NBA history can do that. We're talking, you know, two thousand four Pistons on Shack and Kobe. We're talking you know, two thousand nineteen Raptors on Steph Curry. But they're just there aren't that many examples in NBA history of a of a defense completely disrupting a star like this, and

it's a five man effort. And it's not criticism with Kevin Durant, Like I said, I think he's the best player in the world. Boston has just shut his ass down, and it is it is. It is just you have to pay attention to what your eyes are seeing. What we're seeing right now is all time defensive greatness and and that that carries teams in the playoffs. And I'm concerned Boston's half court offense a little bit, but like I keep saying, they have margin for error, and their

margin for error is in their defense. And if Jalen Brown is gonna play like this, and if Jayson Tatum is gonna keep playing like this, it doesn't matter. They're just gonna beat everybody. Yeah, I mean, I think you said that. The Celtics have undeniably been extremely impressive, and there's been another team out East that has looked pretty darn good and took a three oh advantage today definitely the tightest game of the series thus far by a lot, but the Sixers snuck out with one in Toronto on

a really remarkable, not quite buzzer beater. I think there was point seven seconds left, but turnaround three from Joel Embiid off an inbound. He finished the day with thirty three. How the hell did he get that shot off? Well, the way that he got the shot off, specifically was the fact that Joe Limbiad is so good at drawing fouls that guys are paranoid to reach in or to contest jump shots. And so there's kind of like a philosophy with him bid you just let him shoot and

you hope for the best. And he hasn't been the most efficient jump shooter in the world overall, like his field goal percentages below, which is really unusual for a for a center like him, right, But as a result, like that little freedom that he gets from guys being paranoid about fouling him, he can turn around and shoot. But at that in combination with his size is what

allowed him to get the shot off. I gotta I gotta say that bit of shot making from Joel Embiid, just in general down the stretch of that game was was one of those like career highlight type of moments, Like when we look back at Lebron's career and you think about the two thousand seven Pistons game. And you think about the two thousand nine Orlando Magic game, the two thousand twelve Boston Celtics game, the two thousand thirteen

San Antonio Spurs game. Got there's a whole lot of those games, but you think about those games that are like these iconic NBA history moments that define Lebron's aga. See and and Joe Olmpi doesn't have a lot of those games yet, and this was his first one. And you know, when you look at what happened down the stretch of that game, they were getting absolutely nothing out of James hard and he got a weird I mean

down the stretch. At least he had an okay game over the course of the game, but he, James Harden, wasn't giving you anything offensively other than a BS foul call down the stretch. At the baseline, you weren't getting a ton out of Tyres Maxie. You weren't getting a ton at Georgia. Nie wasn't hitting his shots down the stretch. I'm specifically talking about crunch time, and you had a

little bit out of Tyres Maxie. Like Tyres Maxie had a really nice play at the end of regulation where he attacked the close out out of the right corner and hit a one der but pull up along the baseline that was massive. He had two huge shots and ot at a a little reverse layup right at the start of ot where he beat Franan lead to the basket with just a blur of speed. And then he had another play later in overtime where he made a

really really nice floater off the glass. But for the most part, the Sixers weren't getting anything out of anybody else offensively, and when Embiid was close to the basket, just like Nick Nurse has been doing all series, the Raptors were throwing the kitchen sink at him and he was struggling a little bit with that, at least within the traffic. And the game really came down to rescue shots, shots at the end of the shot clock that save

your team. And it started with a couple of of little jack step pull ups that he made in the late fourth quarter. Then there was like that late shot clock towards the end of the fourth quarter. He had a late shot clock three along the left wing where he was like fading away shot clock winding down, just just chucked it up while falling backwards and just hit

nothing but the bottom of the net. And then you get into the play right before the end of regulation as the buzzer was sounding, same spot on the floor, gets a great look and he left it just short. It was dead on straight when it hit the rim. I immediately started thinking about the game. Seven Kauai shot that was dead on straight. Eight hit the front of the rim, went right up in the air and bounced on the rim a bunch of times and went in. I was like, uh, is this the one? And it

just ended up landing short. But Joel embiid With had sent the game to ot effectively with three rescue shots in regulation, and then you go into the fourth quarter or excuse me and O T He had a move on O g N and Obi at the high post that was amazing. It literally looked like Kyrie Irving. He did like a hard dribble pivot spin, like didn't even get his body all the way turned around before he shot it and put it in the net. I I tweeted it out the clip because I was like, what

the hell are we even watching here? I just watched like a damn near three hundred pounds seven foot tall center hit a kyrie irving move in the middle of the lane over one of the best wing defenders that we have in the league at O Gann and Abe.

And then at the end of the game, once again, you're drawing up a time out, there's two seconds left and you just got a seven foot guy on the floor that everyone's scared the foul that that he can turn around and shoot off the wing and he and he knocked it down and what a cool moment and the first iconic moment of Joel Embiat's playoff career. Now it remains to be seen they that the Sixers still

have some issues overall. You know, I I was wrong about this series, and I was actually before the game even went to O T I was texting the you guys, the producers. I was like, I was like, I'm off this this Raptors team, and there were a couple of things that I highly underestimated. You know, my whole theory for this series and the Raptors having a chance had to do with the fact that they could get stops

and get out in transition. Because in the half court we all knew their offense would really struggle, and you saw their half court offense was disastrously bad down the stretch of that game at home, and honestly, there they had some rescue shots on their end that carried them when their offense fell apart. Gary Trent hit some tough ones you had. I think O g An and Obie hit a huge three in the left corner. There were a bunch of like big time shots that guys hit

when really they weren't able to get anything. And I think the loss of Scottie Barnes ended up being really really hurtful for this specific Raptors team because the problem was was when when Philly switched Joel Embiid onto Pascal Siakum,

and Pascal Siakum lost confidence in his jump shot. When those two things happened, and then Pascal suddenly realized that he couldn't drive by Mbad because Embiad was giving him enough space that he could compensate for the lack of speed and stay in front of him and turn Pascal into a jump shooter. And then simultaneously Fred van Lee completely fell apart with his confidence in his jump shot.

Everything fell apart offensively, and what Scotty Barnes has been for the Raptors all season has been just that other release valve, because he's got a really good hook shot in the lane, and he's got a good handle, and he's huge, and so they would just go to him, and you can't if you're guarding Pascal Siakum would Joel embiid. Then that means you don't have another big body, another big enough body to put on Scotty Barnes, and so Scotty Barnes being out of the series really hurt them.

I just agreed with some of the strategy things that that Nick Nurse did, but at the end of the day, I was just flat out wrong. The Sixers team was better than I expected them to be, even even Joel Embide within the chaos of the way Toronto was swarming him. He had thirty three and thirteen tonight on the road in Toronto because his shot making was so magnificent that the crazy defense that Toronto was throwing his way just simply didn't matter. So that that's a credit to him.

And like I think one of the interesting kind of subplots moving forward for Philly is Tyrese Maxi. He's just better than James Harden right now, James Harden's playmaking is is his biggest asset that he brings to this team. He's still very important though when push comes to shove, Tyres Maxie can create his own shot with his speed getting to the rim and James Harden just can't right now.

And so, but Tyres Maxie has been awesome. You when you're talking about the the hierarchy of this series and your ranking players, if you wanted Toronto to win, the way it had to go was it had to be and Beat is the best player in the series, and then either Sam or Van Vleet is the second best player in the series. And then you know James Harden somewhere down like three or four, and then guys like Scottie Barnes and the other one of the Siam van Vleet trio or duo is in there somewhere, and then

you get to a Tyrese Maxie. But no, Tyrese Maxie has been hands down the second best player in the series, and that that little influx of talent changed the dynamic of the series. And so yeah, like I I it'll be interesting to see how it it amounts to them as the playoff run continues. But that I was flat out wrong about this series. Philly is better than I thought they were, and they took it to Toronto and that was a really, really impressive win on the road there.

So are you buying the Sixers as legit contenders? Then I know the thing is is as good as as good as they've looked in this matchup, and they have a very good draw moving award right, because they're gonna end up catching Miami in the next round, and I think Miami is a pretty flawed half court offense team as well. That will be a really interesting dynamic. They're they're better than Toronto, but they have some similar half court offense issues that have played them all year, even

in the regular season. They're just they're much better defensive team, and they'll be able to throw some defensive things that m Beat and Hardened that Toronto could not, particularly being at a bio and the dynamic that he brings as a guy that might be able to guard Joel em Beat in single coverage. So that's like an interesting dynamic there. But they haven't they have an easy path. They're gonna

probably make it to the conference finals. But like I was talking about earlier, I still think Boston is the best team in the league. Look at look at that swarming defense that Boston used tonight. That's that's gonna have

a lot of success against Philly. Now, the one dynamic that Philly brings that will be interesting is like I was talking about with Seth Curry and with Patty Mills, when you're a crazy aggressive defense, it's your off ball players that bring more advantage, right, and Tobias Harris and Tyrese max He certainly bring that to the table. The different dynamic is though, uh, Boston absolutely had to double kd and absolutely had to double Kyrie because they couldn't

guard those guys in single coverage. They won't have to double James Harden, they won't have to double Tyres Maxie, so they'll only have to double Joel m b which I think will free them up to play a little bit more traditional defense, and in that regard, I think they'll have more success. So I'd still pick Boston. Philly definitely has more of a puncher's chance than I originally expected, and that was just me and probably, and I'll be honest with you, it's a little bit of bias there.

I hate this freaking team, man, I hate the way they play. I hate the foul grifting. It was a pleasure to watch Joel Embiad play real basketball down the stretch of that game. That that what, that's what. That's when I'm a Joe elaim bead fan is when he's just making shots like a basketball player instead of doing the jankie stuff. But so by bias, I think got in the way a little bit there, But I'm still

gone with Boston. You mentioned how great Maxi has been, and I mean, obviously this series he's more than thirty a game, which is unsustainable production, but post All Star Break he was nineteen a game on better than sixtentury shooting,

really a remarkable scoring skill set overall. So like, if he continues to play at this level, does that raise your confidence in Philly or beyond that, any one thing that you can think of that they could really do or prove to you where you would maybe elevate them to that legitimate contender status. Oh that's a really good question, Carson.

In order to elevate them to that status, I think I would have to see a little bit more out of James Harden because the issue with Tyrese Maxie is he's faster than everybody on Toronto right now, and Toronto is sloppy in a bunch of different ways because they're young, right, and they're gonna run in to some teams like Boston and mill Water Boston in Miami that are more grown

up type of basketball teams. And with that specific predicament, I don't think I think it's gonna I think they're gonna need James Harden to to be a better perimeter player than he has been. I don't know, man, That's

that's a really good question. I think. I think if Joel embiad is gonna make jump shots like this too, that's another wrinkle, kind of like Anthony Davis and the bubble with the Lakers, Anthony Davis suddenly just transitioning into a shot maker because going into that bubble, the fear was the Lakers half court offense, same type of problem, right, And since James Harden came to Philly, their offense has not been great overall, and so it's kind of a

similar type of concern. But then there was just this random ascendence of of Anthony Davis into a Kevin Durant esque high post jump shooter and it kind of became like a release vout for the Lakers, right, And so if that happens with Joel Embiad and he shoot perimeter jump shots like this, that could be another wrinkle that elevates Philly to that status. But I don't know, man, Boston.

Boston looks like a once in a generation type of of mix of basketball ability that I think is such a bad matchup for everybody around the league that I I don't know, man, I I I haven't seen anything like when I saw from Boston tonight, and I've been watching a lot of basketball over the last couple of decades, So I I I don't know. I don't know that

Philly is capable of getting to that level. All right, Let's touch on another team that has certainly been thrown into that tier of contenders out East, and you have harped on some of their issues, particularly defensively throughout the regular season, and that's the Milwaukee Bucks, who I think a lot of people expected to really cruise against the Bulls team that struggled for so much of the second half of the year. Game one was ugly. They dropped game to one, one ten and just to pour some

salt in the wound. Coach Bud says that Chris Middleton, he has been told, has an mc ile sprain and they will get an m R I tomorrow row. So given all that context, are the Bucks in trouble? Jason, Yes, they were in trouble before that injury. I saw Chris Middleton go off to the locker room, and I was worried about what specifically had happened. But that's extremely concerning because they're having problems on both ends with him. You know,

there's an old standing NBA rule. In that rule is if you're not a top ten defense by defensive ratings so points allowed per one possessions, you don't win the

title unless you have an absolutely overwhelming talent advantage. So we're talking Katie Steph Curry, Clay Thompson, Draymond Green, andre A Guadala or Prime Shaquille O'Neil and Prime Kobe Bryant or Achimu la Juan and Clyde Drexler like at the top of their games with m J out of the league like they're there, there are is there are very rare circumstances where you can be an exception to that rule. But generally speaking, that's the that's the that's the rule.

If you don't crack the top ten and defensive rating in the regular season, you don't win the title, because that that defensive rating in the regular season, to me, is the best indicator of your commitment to establishing defensive habits. And when you're back is against the wall when things when the ship starts to hit the fan, you lean back on your habits. Your identity as a basketball team is the one thing you can rely on when everything

goes south. And so if you don't have that defensive set of habits established, you're gonna find yourself with your back against the wall and nothing to fall back on. And so we're gonna They've been bad on both ends of the floor. We'll talk about the offense here in just a second, but their defense has not been good.

And it's jarring to watch that Boston defense in the way that they disrupt everybody all over the floor, the way they f i around in rotations, the way that they don't rely on stupid vintage coverages like drop coverages that Boston only runs the drop coverage with Daniel Tyson on the floor because they don't want to have him and switches against guys like Kyrie and Steff against guys like Kyrie and Kevin Durant, Right, But they're doing they're

doing a ton of switching there. They they're packing the pay, but they're rotating around on the back end. Then you look at Milwaukee and it's a very stubborn traditional approach to to offense, something that we've talked about incessantly over the course of this year, or to defense. Excuse me, they're packing the paint for the sake of giving away those wide open jump shots. And so what happened all freaking night tonight. It was a combination of zach Lavine

and Demarta Rosen getting to their spots and making shots. Carson, We talked about this a lot after Game one of this series. Demarta Rosen and zach Lavine and Nicolavusevich all had absolute nightmare game ones as shot makers, absolute nightmare game ones, and they were right there, a couple of

possessions away from winning that game. And they did it with their defense, which we're talking about in a second, but in this game, suddenly, with pretty much the same strategy, they didn't even do as many pick and pops with Nikolavusevitch as I wanted, and when they did, every time they got a wide open shot, I simply don't understand why they don't just do that incessantly to punish the Bucks for having a Lopez and and and Janice camp

around the basket. The one run that the Bucks went on and this game was late third quarter, and it was because they switched Janice onto Nikolavusevich and started running a drop coverage with Janice under the basket, and he was blocking everything, and when he was getting blocks, he was getting out in transition. And so when teams play into Milwaukee's defense's strengths, which is just driving into the teeth of the defense for no reason, they have success.

But outside of that specific uh um situation, when they have teams that successfully driving kick and hit shooters are on the wing, and when they have guys that get to their jump shots in the mid range, they have a ton of success. And suddenly the Bucks can't get stops. And so that takes me to the offensive end of the four from Milwaukee, because this is the this is the conundrum that has surrounded this team incessantly over the

course of the last few years. For whatever reason. It worked out in last year's postseason run, in large part because Chris Middleton was fantastic and Janice went extra nuclear and their defense was better, so they weren't living in the half court all the time. But they have consistently struggled relative to some of the better teams in the league at half court scoring because Chris Midleton, as good of a three level score as he is, is not a superstar. Because Drew Holiday, as good of a scoring

guard as he is, is not a superstar. And Jannice for being the absolute superstar top tier on the same level as Lebron and Kadi as he is, still not a fantastic half court initiator, right, And so when they get in those settings, they struggle. In Game one, they won, but the dirty little secret there's the Bulls were missing a bunch of shots they normally make, and the reality was is I think they only had ninety nine points in that game, so they were struggling to score. And

He's of that again tonight. They Bucks could not get stops because Chicago is getting everything they wanted on offense. As a result, Chicago is consistently set on defense, with exception of that run in the third quarter in Milwaukee went on when they were getting out in transition, and your honest was just putting his head down and go into the rim every single time in transition. Outside of that, they were stuck in the half court, and when they were,

they were struggling to create shots. And that's persistently going to be an issue for them. I keep telling you guys that my biggest thing that I watched with the honest is his ability to playmate, his ability to drive into the teeth of the defense and make passes consistently. Because I've never cared about his ability to knock down a jump shot outside of maybe just getting some rest in the middle of the game by settling for the sake of saving your legs. But I've never cared about

that specific skill. I've always cared about just can he make reads? Can you loosen up the defense by making passes? And he's okay at that, He's okay, but he's not good enough to be that perimeter that initie that that you know half court surgeon, right, and that and that that limitation without a bona fide second superstar next to Janice is what kind of limits the Bucks in the half court it always has, which wasn't a problem last

year because they were so freaking good defensively. Now they are not, and as a result, they can't get enough stops to buy them the margin for error that they need to succeed in the half court. This is why I was so terrified about the prospect of Joanna's ending up in Dallas with Luca, because when you put somebody with your honest that perfectly compliments his weaknesses, that also has the superstar moxie, that that would have been an

unbeatable combo. There's nothing anybody in the league could have done with that duo. We were We were very fortunate as basketball fans, for the sake of parody that that did not happen. But instead there is a lot of onus on Jannae to be that permit that a half court creator. The Bucks defense isn't good enough to buy them that margin for error, and I think they're gonna get beat this bulls Suddenly this series looks very much up in the air. I'm still picking Milwauk, but it's

a lot closer than it looks. So you've touched on the brilliance of the Celtics defense. You've touched on some of the half court limitations with Janice as that lead initiator. If they do get to that Boston matchup, how does Janie fair in that matchup? So, when I came to terms with the reality of the situation tonight, which is that Boston's gonna beat my, uh Brooklyn. And this was before I saw Chicago upset Milwaukee today, but I do

still think Milwaukee is gonna win that series. I've been thinking all night about this very thing, Carson, what it will it look like to watch Janice go against this Celtics defense. And when you look at so thinks specifically about what Boston did. Now, one wrinkle here is Boston's relying a lot on roughing up Kyrie and KD. And Kyrie and Katie are both very thin in Okay, So that's the weird dynamic. You're not gonna be able to rough up your honest, he's gonna do better in that

specific setting. But the swarming is what troubles me. K D could not even put the ball on the floor half the time without having like two dudes swatting down on it. That we talked about that earlier in the show, the way that Boston was attacking him on the catch and then finding out where he would, They'd send Tatum to one side and then as soon as he pivot, here'd be another guy right in his face. That kind of thing Janice is gonna struggle with. And again, like

what you're seeing a lot like with Brooklyn. Brooklyn is desperately reliant right now on guys like Seth Curry and Patty Mills to make plays off the ball. Bruce Brown is another great example that, right that's where the onus is gonna be on guys like Drew Holiday and on Chris Middleton. Because Boston is the same thing, to be honest, that they're doing to Katie. They're going to try to

just completely remove him from the series. He's gonna have a little bit more success in transition because he's the biggest, strongest athlete on the floor then, so he'll have more transition success than a Katie or a a Kyrie. He's gonna have more success in off ball pins and duck ins. Right so, like any time that he does a quick seal under the basket, there are gonna be little things like that that Boston won't be able to handle. So he's gonna have a few extra punches that he can throw.

But the reality is that there's also gonna be punches from Katie and Kyrie in this series as it progresses as shot makers, you know, like Katie's not gonna go over eight in the second half the whole series, right, So, like Janice doesn't have that specific punch, so I but I do think Janice is gonna be turned into a playmaker in this series. And when that happens, it's gonna be on guys like Drew Holiday and Chris Middleton to make shots. So obviously the Chris Middleton injury becomes super

impactful and that specific decision. And then Drew Holiday has been an inconsistent playoff performer in his career, has been

great this year. But that's gonna be the that's gonna be the conundrum is they're gonna require other guys to make plays, just like we were talking about earlier, really quickly, like we were talking about earlier, with the way basketball is changing, there is a ton more responsibility on your off players to create and there's a lot more traditional off ball spot up guys in Milwaukee, Guys like Wesley Matthews. He's not a closeout attacker. Guys like Pat Connaughton in

Grayson Allen, they're not great closeout attackers. They're not the guy. They're more of a traditional old school basketball spot up and shoot corner threes type of guys. So like it's a it's a completely different dynamic and and I think it's a bad matchup and and another reason why I think Boston has got the red carpet laid out for

them to win this whole thing. Alright, Well, another element in that dynamic playing out for the Celtics that you did touch on a bit earlier is the Devin Booker injury, and we saw him obviously go out with the hamstring issue in game to the reporting is now that he is unlikely to play in games three and four, And like you said earlier, there's always the potential that this is a lingering potentially impactful things. So given that can the Suns win the West without Devin Booker, No, not

at all, no chance. There's no way they're beating Memphis or Golden State without him. This is something that I'm very concerned about for Phoenix sake. There's not even I would still pick the Suns to beat the Pelicans without Booker, but I think it's going six or seven games like there. If Devin Booker doesn't play in Game three and Game four, which he's basically been ruled out of those games, the Pelicans are getting one of those on the strength of

their home crowd, in their athleticism most likely. So it's coming back to Phoenix too too. I would expect the Phoenix Suns to be able to win Game five in Phoenix and then Chris Paul Game six chance to close out. I would probably pick Phoenix there, But moving forward, as we progress through this playoff run, it doesn't get any easier and more than likely they'll end up losing to someone like Olden Stator Memphis. So this is where the

hamstring thing gets tricky. So Devin Booker's dealt with a bunch of hamstring injuries in his career back before the Suns were really relevant. That was like his most common injury, at least from what I remember anecdotally. In Like, there was that footage that went around on social media after that game. You see him pull up after trying to block Jackson Hayes on that transition run out dunk and he kind of slaps the ball at Chris Paul mutters

something to him. Chris Paul immediately turns to the ref and calls time out, walks over the bench, sits down, slaps the hell out of the chair, and looks utterly dejected. And then at another time out, you literally see Jay Crowder asked the question you if you're a lip reader, you see him say like, you pulled it, and you see Devin book Or nod, and you see Jay Crowder kind of like turn and shake his head and walk away right all dejected like. And so some of this

reporting around this feels overly optimistic. Again, I don't know anything other than what I've seen, but like, I just pulled hamstring, Like Devin Booker, if he thinks he pulled his hamstring, he's gonna be out a little while. It's the reality of it. Hamstrings are one of the weirdest

injuries for re injury. I've pulled my hamstring one time and it was it was the year before I started a playing in college, and I reinjured that thing twice before I gave it the requisite rest, came back in one week, immediately pulled it again, came back like two weeks later, immediately pulled it again, and I was like, I'm not gonna let this happen again. So I sat

out like a month and then I was fine. But like, hamstring injuries are extremely finicky, and so like, there's a very realistic chance, Like would you be stunned, Carson if I told you that Devin Booker is gonna be out for three weeks. And if he's out for three weeks, even if they managed to beat the Pelicans, they could be down to oh in a series in the next

round by that point. So like, and even when he comes back, there's gonna be a hesitancy from Devon to push himself because he's nervous about that hamstring going again, just like you saw with James Harden and last year's playoff run. Look at how limited James Harden was basically not driving to the basket towards the end of that series because of his hamstring injuries. So that it's a man like I feel so bad for Sons fans because you do everything right all season long and then this happens.

I feel really bad for Devin Booker too, But at the end of the day, injuries happened. This is why, like, I hate when the Lakers and Sons have been trading jabs over the A d injury and the Chris Paul injury and talking ship to each other. It's like, guys, guess what, Like, you gotta be lucky to win, so when you win, be respectful because I understand that you probably had some luck along the way. The Suns had a lot of luck last year. They faced an injured star.

I think in every single round of the playoffs. Even joannest in the post in the finals had was coming off of that hyper extended knee. So they got all the luck last year and this year they're on the down side of that then. But man, I'll tell you, if Chris Paul can somehow carry them for a month, that would be that that would obviously, you know, this is this last thing I'll say about it. The Sons, I've been saying, Oh, you're the most talented team in

the league from top to bottom. Micaal Bridges is awesome, Cam Johnson is awesome, Campaigns an excellent backup point guard. DeAndre Ayton is a star in the making at the center position. They have a ton of talent. So the onus is gonna be on those guys. Mical Bridges is gonna have to be more aggressive as a score. DeAndre Ayton is gonna have to be more aggressive with this

ace up game, and with this post up game. There's gonna be a lot of pressure on those guys to kind of carry the load because on this team, Devin Booker has been their outlet, their release valve, there guy who can create his own shot, and without him, those

other guys are gonna have to fill that void. I think that you touched on what to me was really the key glaring things just in terms of the structure of this team is the Sons have obviously been phenomenal dominant to a team impressive depth and such balance and such a clear identity and cohesion and all these things. And like, if you look at on off numbers, there's still statistically a good team with Booker off the floor

this year. But I completely agree with you and that you have to look to those other guys now obviously, and I don't really like the remaining Sons personnel in terms of shot creation, Like Bridges is phenomenal because he's an incredibly cerebral cutter and a great shooter and impacts the game in so many ways without the ball in his hands, and eight and obviously is feeding off of offense created for him, and Crowder is you know, primarily

just taking catch and shoot threes. Like I think that the guy they turned to for like actually initiating more offense might have to be like Campaign, And I don't feel very good about that, you know, Like, I just think without Devin Booker, who was so important to greasing the wheels of the offense in so many ways as the most dynamic shotmaker and you know, certainly a top two guys just in terms of creating offense for himself and others, I just don't think they're built to actually

overcome that particular loss. So I agree with you. I don't think that there is really any chance. I mean, with how the Warriors are playing right now, and I think, you know, a healthy Memphis team, there's just a gap there in terms a creation that I think is really gonna be too difficult to overcome if book isn't himself or isn't out there. The Campaign element is interesting. They did that a little bit in the playoffs last year.

They play Campaign and Chris Paul together to try to get some shot created creation with Devin Booker was off the floor, I would hope, because there's been stories written about this, and I believe it, like Entred And didn't get the Joel embid treatment. Not for the record, DeAndre and is not Joel Embiid, but he didn't get to go to a terrible tanking team and do the stuff that Joel Emba got to do when he was a rookie,

which is basically whatever he wanted, you know. And so what you and Michael Bridge is kind of a similar predicament. He didn't get to be brandon Ingram with the Lakers, where he went in on a bad team and he just got to work with tons and tons of game reps, building out the offensive ends of his game, the offensive details of his game. Again, Micael Bridge is not brandon Ingram.

But what I'm saying is is, well, you have to hope is that over these years those guys have been working on some of that and that they will be able to unleash it when they need to. And again I'm with you, like they're not. It's not the strengths of their games. Michael Bridges offense primarily comes out of attacking closeouts and in transition, right, and then you know DeAndre and De'll take the occasional jab step little you know, face up shot or like a pin hook shot in

the lane and stuff. But you have to hope that he has some post moves in there, because the thing is is Chris All with his age and his hamstring, has been known to go from on top from time to time. Right. What you have to well, you have to do here is you know, Chris Paul can still do what Chris Paul does. He's been magnificent you know in game in game one of the series in particular.

Well you have to hope though, is that Chris Paul when he needs rest, when he gets fatigued, that he can throw the ball the ball to somebody else and create shots. I know, campaign like to your point, can apply rim pressure and at least get that first that first rotation started where the defense has to come over and help. And that's where the onest will be on guys like Cam Johnson and Michael Bridges to make plays. And Cam Johnson has some scoring punch as well. He

might have to get into that bag a little bit. Absolutely. I mean, all of these guys have their flashes. It's just like they're gonna have to really do it by committee. Then they're gonna have to do it pretty darn well. And I do think campaign becomes really important in that equation if Book isn't out there or is not himself.

All right, final question we have here, Jason got to do a little bit of Lakers because right at just sixty years old, announced today that he is stepping down from the Villanova job where he has obviously been so successful for so long. Should he come coach the Lakers? Hell? Now? Absolutely. I don't know how many times we have to see

the college dude who goes pro. It's you know, this is not like a you know Nick Saban slash, you know Bill Belichick type, like you know a guy that's young and grinding, you know that that's failed in other places, are failed in the in the pros at some point that's coming back into this type of environment. No, like, this is a guy who's accomplished it all at the

college level. The ambition is gone. And we've seen this on a bunch of different levels in NBA history where and in the NFL, like we just saw it with um. Now I'm blanking on his name the coach of from Ohio State. Um, it's killing urban Meyer, thank you. I get weird with names sometimes, but urban Meyer coming go into to Miami and then you find out that he doesn't even who von Miller is or whatever. It was like like it's one of those things where like the grind,

they're not grinders. And that's the problem is, you know, for the Lakers, they've got to find a mix of established personality that has enough cash a that he can capture Lebron and Anthony Davis's attention and respect, but at the same time that has the ambition to grind still. And a guy who's coached in college for twenty one years and his one national championships and has had all all the stuff on his resume doesn't need that now from what I understand what the reporting, he's not interested.

But that's an example of a guy that the Lakers need to stay a million miles away from. It's just that, like what there was that due to coach at Michigan who went to the Calves for a while, same problem that came in, tried to run the program like a college program. All the players were super turned off by it walked in there like he was the big shot. NBA players kind of like with David Blatt when he coached the Calves. NBA players don't give a ship. Well

you accomplished in your other gigs. They don't care what you did in Europe. They don't care what you did in college. Hell like a Like I've seen eye roll ish comments from from Kyrie Irving about Steve Nash in years past, like, and Steve Nash is one of the greatest point guards to ever play the game. So like NBA players are are more interested in in that. They they respect very specific types of coaches, So you've got to kind of tow that line between respect and ambition,

if that makes sense. Yeah, I totally agree. And Jay Wright is just such a college basketball coach just in terms of like being a culture center nova. He always develops players into being those really valuable, versatile third fourth year guys. I do think he's a really good XS and O S schematic coach and gets guys to always

play both ends. Like I mean, it's really hard to find nova basketball players who don't kind of overperform expectations in the NBA because he just turns out like smart, good, versatile basketball players, but he does not feel like an NBA coach to me, Like he's a guy who owned a program for two decades, run things how he wants to. Isn't gonna get the highest profile recruits, but it's gonna make those guys what they are in a college basketball context.

And I agree with you and that it just doesn't feel like it would translate to the NBA. And you certainly do not want a guy cash and checks and you know, just clocking in and out, especially certainly not for the Lakers given where things are at right now. So I agree, Yeah, the type of the type of coach that would succeed making that transition is kind of like the Brad Stevens archetype, Like the guy that is still young and is ambitious but also steps into coach

a young team. That's the key difference there. Like there were some vets on that Boston team, but they were like guys like Al Horford that were extraordinarily respectful and professional, you know, or like a role player that doesn't really have the cachet to speak up, like a Marcus Morris, right, Like, for the most part, it was Marcus Mark Jayson Tatum, Jalen Brown, guys that were very deferential to Brad Stevens because of the fact that you know he They're like,

they don't have the egos yet from being in the league long enough to be like, I don't give a crap about this this college coach that's coming in the room. So I'm not saying it can't be done at all, but he's certainly not the type of archetype who would All right, guys, that is all we have for tonight. I sincerely appreciate your guys support. Like always, a wild show. There's still a ton to get into on both of

these games. But with the Bucks game and with that Sixers game, I didn't get to watch the whole thing because I was so glued into that that Celtics NETS game. So I need to go back and watch some film and tomorrow night we will get into further detail on these series, is some of the XS and O stuff. As always, I appreciate your support. We will be back after the final buzzer of the last game tomorrow night, and I'll see you guys then. Volume