Sweep the Deer

without cable. There's no cost and no commitment. Try for free at foobotv dot com Slash Calves. The Cleveland Cavaliers have won their fourteenth consecutive game with a comfortable win over the Milwaukee Bucks. A good test for them, one of the few teams that they are still measuring themselves up against, a potential second round matchup for them, and they.

I'm sipping on a Mystic Mama from Jackie O's I'm in a great mood, and the Cavs certainly have done nothing to hurt that fourteen wins in a row, and it felt to me justin I don't know if the matchup mattered as much as much as their approach to the matchup mattered. You know, I think they've proven everything they probably want to prove against the Bucks in the first couple games of the year. But they you know, we joked on our last podcast that admit it. You know,

a thirteen game win streak. Were they slumping a little? And I felt like this game really was a demonstration of what a focused Cavs team can do even when they're not playing that well, because I thought they outplayed the Milwaukee Bucks for forty eight minutes last night. Do you feel that they didn't play that well last night or they didn't shoot that well?

And I jumped on to the Fear of the Sword playback a live stream just to kind of react to the game in real time with Tony Pesta talking about, oh man, yeah, it's having a great game, and all of a sudden, I look at the box scorers, like twenty six points on twenty shots. Oh, it's not that good. You know, like they really trusted their own process us

in this game, and it made it. They just kind of ground Milwaukee down to a dust until and then Jarrett kind of puts the puts the finishing touch with that poster on Brook Lopez and and it looks it's just a walk away victory, even when Donovan goes four to fifteen, Darius goes four to thirteen, combined two of fifteen from three from those guys, and it just didn't really matter.

you know, Jalen Brunson, all those guys. If we're in a series against them, there is a chance that someone on the Caves is the best player in that series. I think Giannis is one of those guys that he's just going to be that best player no matter what, and for the Cavs to win the yannest minutes in every single one of these matchups, or at least it feels like that. I know that was the case for the first two and then he didn't play the third.

But in everything they did, they definitely won the minutes with Giannis in the third matchup where he didn't play, Yeah, yeah, we did terrific there in those minutes. But you know, to outscore the Bucks by thirteen in honest's minutes again, Like that's really really encouraging because he is tough to handle.

He's going to get his own he's going to test your defense, and I don't think every team is built to handle what Yannis is capable of doing offensively, the way that he plays with so much force, going to the basket with such relentlessness, the way that he's able to get his own rebound and second chance opportunities, and the Cavs have bodies to throw at him, right, Like DeAndre Hunter can do a good job. Dean Wade does a good job. Max Deane has always done a good job.

And I thought he really battled in this game because normally he does a good job of kind of baiting Giannis into his worst habits, and Giannis was not having it, Like he was going through his chest as much as he could. And you know, when you're Dean Wade and you just don't have the physical advantages there. You just got to hang on pe to your life and hope the help comes. I thought he did. He didn't change. You know, again at the beginning I said it was

really steadfast the game plan from the cab. I think that was really emblematic in the way Dean was guarding. You know, He's like, I'm just going to do my best. I'm not going to go crazy. I'm not going to reach I'm not going to try to I'm not going to change what I'm doing. I'm just going to trust that eventually it's going to take him one more bump to get through me than he wants, and we're going to be able to bring help and we're going to get the stops we need.

You can get by name, Like you're he's going to allow very easy penetration. It's not shooting over you're getting by him. Gary Trent Junior I thought had a tough game. There were times that he was a little bit pesky and physical, but he's one of those guys that's going to gamble a little bit too much and create opportunities. And so they prints at the two just as not also do not. It's just not enough foot speed. Yeah, for this Cavs team, they really are lacking foot speed.

And when you look at the shot quality for the Calves in this game, it was staggering. Like they got a lot of open threes. They took twenty three wide open threes without a defender within six feet. They went ten of twenty three on those, so good but not you know, great, not one of their best shooting nights. But then they also went seven of twenty on kind of those late contest threes where a defender is within four to six feet, so not wide open, but you're

getting a clean look in those spots. And they felt and they felt rhythm. You know, that's where the tracking data can show you is are they lightly contested pull ups or are they lightly contested swing? Swing swing in the rhythm of the game. You know, ball, you know, hitting the shooter's pocket and able to rise up like that stuff.

feel validating. It was a comforting win because they've struggled recently, right, Like, they've had close games against lesser teams and you're never sure, right because there are the ebbs and flows of a season of are they in a rut and you know this is something that they have to work their way out of, or is this a little bit of human nature of hey, we're not really playing for anything at

this point. We are eight games up on the Boston Celtics. Well, we're like, what we're really competing against is Cavalier's history. Can we get the win record, can we get you know, the number one seed in the NBA Finals and keep pace with the Okay? See, but you know, if you're playing a shorthanded Chicago Bulls or the Charlotte Hornets, you're not going to be able to get up for those games in the same way that you would for a

matchup against Boston. But you also can't take for granted the fact that, hey, we can just turn this on when we need to, especially with basketball being such a rhythm game. And even though they didn't have their best shooting night, I felt that the intensity was there throughout the entire night. I thought the ball movement was spectacular. I thought it was a really really fun team effort.

And the thing that I really enjoy about it is, you know the kind of old adage that role players play well at home, they don't necessarily play well on the road. This was one of those games where the Cavs depth and the role guys really stepped up.

Kevin Porter scored two, and that was really it. And in the you know, in the competitive portion of the game, the depth that the Calves can play is just, you know, so overwhelming, and they I think Danny Cunningham said it best on his podcast un Lockdown Calves, where he goes I felt like this was like closer to a Caves thirty point win than it was to a Bucks win. Yeah, they just looked like they were on a different level that they could absorb a Yannis a game because the

honest is also guarding pretty well. It's just, you know, they just didn't have the personnel. Like I think there's you know, you look at like the Bucks in a matchup against the Celtics or something. I feel like their positional size could help them a little bit. You know, they could be okay, but they just don't get the foot speed for these guards and the Calves machine as well.

It's not just the guards speed with the ball, it's them getting into the paint, getting in rotation and the ball just moves so well for this Caves team that it's just you're just so far behind. Yeah, And I think one of the toughest things for Calves opponents is, especially when you look at Milwaukee, it's okay when Dame and Giannis are out there, they have a fighting chance at playing the Calves to a draw, right like, they're

able to, you know, maybe hang around. If Dame gets hot or you know, gets a few enough trips to the free throw line, they can maybe play that to a draw. Whereas with the Calves, it's okay, our starting lineup is very good. Now you know, Donovan and Mobili are going to the bench, you have to deal with Alan and Garland with a bunch of very productive role players that are going to play well. Then Donovan and Mobili are going to come in refreshed, ready to go.

Then we're going to come back and going to hit you with that closing lineup right like. It reminds me of the Omniman meme of look what they have to do to mimic a fraction of our power.

just think he's gonna play who's playing the best. You know, it's just gonna be a form thing. You know, on a night where DeAndre Hunter just doesn't have it, he only plays nineteen minutes and that's fine on you know, in Okoro, who I honestly think could have used a lot more run than he got. Needed was going to pick up a lot of those minutes. Like, I just feel like they have so many options, dude, I'm just

so grateful over this season. Man, They've won fourteen games in a row and lose that game to Boston to go to forty and ten, and they respond by ripping off fourteen straight wins. Dude, Like, and I just kind of who told you that there was a winning streak around the corner. You're good, pal, justin You're never wrong. You're just late, buddy, I'm just early. Sorry, never late, never late. You've never been late on a Cav's optimistic, right, Yeah, if I've never been the last one to the table,

that's concerning. That would be very concerning. People need to do a wellness check on me at that point. But you're right, man, Like the death is a strength. But to me, like, the interesting conundrum is, right now you're able to go ten to eleven deep and figure out who the hot hand is among the bench.

giving the run. I just think that's because the series is a small sample. But it's like one of those things where you have to kind of throw out a sample size and just be like, what's working, what's not? And if through four games into a series, one lineup is just getting run off the court, I do think you got to adjust.

they can, rather than some deficiency they have within their game. I don't think it's I don't think that's an important distinction to make when you're coaching in a playoff series. I think it is like when it's the latter, it's Hey, from the start, we know that this is going to be a bad matchup, Like if George Nang was still on the roster, you would know that, Hey, Boston's going to be a tough matchup for him, or okay, so

he's going to be a tough matchup. When you had Channing Fry, you knew, Hey, I can't really play him against the Warriors. That's different than you know, giving Isaacle corel run. And if he's turning down shots and he's not playing confidently on the offensive end, hey, it's a little tough for us to get him out there, even though we value what he's doing defensively. I think that that distinction does matter. It matters for team building, but

not for Kenny Atkinson. That would be my argument is, Okay, whether it's an archetype problem or a confidence problem, eventually you're gonna have a guy who's just it's not their series. I agree, and it's I think you need to in that tie, especially under duress, like if you're in the first round and you're you're up, you know, three to one. You know, maybe you don't need to make that change.

But if you're like on the ropes, yeah, if it's five and two to two or game six and you're down three to two or something like that, Like that's where it's like, I don't care what it is, We're just not gonna We can't afford to let you work through this right now, whether it's a if you just hit that shot, you know, because here's the thing. Channing

had opportunities in those Warriors series. You know, he got chances to play and got run and had shots, and if he had hit those shots then he would have played more, you know, like it was a hard matchup for him. But there were good switchy teams that Channing played well against for US. But like ty Lu didn't have the luxury of being like, well, let's just give it a couple more games. It's like, no, we're losing. We gotta we gotta make changes now. And like, I

do think the playoffs voist that on you. So that is why I don't think the distinction matters. Do I think I think every player on this roster could help in every matchup. Okay, so were to be very clear, but but the chance of a of a team just being like, hey, we're going to blow up every Sam Merril off ball action.

go down with a ship with those guys. But like you know, with your seven, eight, nine, ten in the rotation, those are those fungible minutes that you might just have to swap out and see what changes under duress. Okay, I think we're actually on the same where it's like game one and two. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think game

one and two. You know, first half you play a deeper rotation, see who has it, see who doesn't, see kind of what you feel out the matchup, right, Like those first two games of a series are always a little bit of a feeling out process, and then you can make those assessments, right, like, hey, we probably can't

keep playing Ricky Rubio in this series. We have options here, right, And I think if you would have asked me a couple of weeks ago, I probably would have sat here being like, you know, I don't know if Sam can play against Boston. I think we have enough depth. I think we can kind of make that assessment going in. But with the way he's been playing, like especially now that the shots falling, like you know, he's doing the

main thing he's been holding up defensively. I thought, you know, when he got put on Dame of a couple times last night, I was like, eh, that's a little too much dip on that ship. He killed Boston the other or Boston Milwaukee on the other end of the floor, so.

ones end up working. But to start the series, I think you almost have to go ten at least in the first half, and then in the second half it's all right, this is our eight that we're running with. In the second half, we're going to you know, we're going to give you know. What the advantage of that is, too, is you're giving your core guys and your starters a little bit more rest in the first half so that they can go harder in the second half so that

they can close games. You're not playing back to backs in the playoffs, you're not playing three and four nights with travel. You have the opportunity to do that. So I think going a little deeper, not only to assess what lineups are working and what kind of looks that you feel good about a relative to the opponent that's putting them in the tough spot, you have that ability to then play your guys a little tougher in the set and half when you want to close out those games.

And I do think that does reflect the sea change, at least for me in terms of what I would do if I were Kenny, because if I'm being honest with myself. I was looking forward towards the playoffs and I was thinking, it's going to annoy me if Kenny tries to run ten guys. M I was thinking, I was like, he'll I was expecting him to, and I wasn't going to be excited about it. I was going to be like, I'd just rather you pick the nine and you know, and really and really pare it down,

you know, again we want a title with TYLERU. So like there's some muscle memory here of you know, pairing down and being cool with that. Yeah, But I think that's the change is I now am of the opinion that playing those ten, at least in the first half, is so representative of what the team's culture is and of what of how they play and how Kenny five figures out who to play over the rest of the game that I am now I'm now going in aligned with that idea that he'll play ten. Now he might

surprise us in play nine. I mean, we don't know. We're doing as we're guessing and we're doing prognostication. But again I went and expecting to be like, h I wish he wouldn't. And now I'm like, yeah, it's cool if he does.

different flavor. They're bringing a track record of success within the season, and when you have that track record of success, you feel more comfortable with it, just like I feel more comfortable with zoo Mai Companion because only you can do your best work harder, zoo Mai Companion can help you do the rest, like automatically taking notes, answering meeting questions,

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But then you know, the offseason moves ended up not mattering as much as they do in that transaction cycle. And you know, I think maybe the cast standing pat led this sum doubt there, but they have far exceeded those expectations. And you know that I think that ties into the depth. Like looking at last night, it was really really cool to see so eight lineups played or sorry,

three lineups played at least eight minutes last night. The starting lineup basically played Milwaukee to a draw twenty four to twenty six. They just got outscored by two in ten minutes. You had the Jerome Mitchell, Merrill, Hunter and Mobiley lineup that played eight minutes that played Milwaukee to a draw twenty two, twenty two. And then you had the lineup that was the most productive last night, Garland o'coro Struce Way to Allen, which in eight minutes outscored

Milwaukee by eleven twenty five to fourteen. You know, that really was the biggest kind of differential on the night. And you know, it was so cool about the Garland o'coro Streuceway to Allen lineup. To me was like there's so many ogs in there, you know, there is like that felt like, I don't know, it's funny. I think it was Chris fiedor or maybe it was Joe Varden on the Athletic they talk about like what a wacky lineup that was, and I was like, that was what

they ran. That was their team like two years ago for a lot of minutes. So it was just like kind of funny to see them and like those are guys who have just been on this team. You know, Strus obviously in year two, but it feels like an older I know, but Garland's year five of Coros four. No,

maybe Garland's six, I don't remember. Either way, those guys have just been here since this They a lot of those guys got here when this team wasn't good yet, and it's really really cool to see them out there, Like it almost felt like like kind of like a comfort thing, like I was watching an old movie I've seen a hundred times and watching Kevin dwer Junr was on the floor for the Bucks last night, and what three four of those guys were on the same team as him at one point, So it just yet it

felt like, you know, cuddling up to watch your favorite movie you've seen a hundred times, which is why it's funny that you know, you saw a few people talk about, oh that that lineup one. I'm like that those guys together have won the GAVs a lot of games and are really crucial in this renaissance, and you know they're not getting to this level without those, especially those four guys. I mean, obviously Stews has been amazing, just hasn't been

here quite as long. And yeah, those minutes just felt really really fun. And I mean how many times are were we're like, oh if only we can get Okoro and weighed on the floor with one of the bigs. No one's going to score on us because you know, we've just wanted them all to be healthy and in form at the same time. Kind of feels like we're getting that right now. Yeah, and you know that is a really good defensive lineup, right, Like DG's been working

his butt off defensively. I thought he had a great defensive game against Milwaukee, really really felt his presence there. Of course, what Acoro does kind of goes without speaking. Max, I'm on record, you know, he's one of my favorite role players, maybe my favorite role player that I've had watching the Cavs. I just love his energy and what he brings to the table. He was great, wads terrific

against Gianness and Jared. Obviously we know what he does on the defensive end, so it's no surprise that that lineup really stepped up. And you know a Korro in particular, what he's done to Damian Lillard. He's guarded Dame more than any other player the last two years. He spent forty minutes over forty minutes guarding Dame the last two seasons, and in that time Dame is seven to twenty one

from the field. And while that percentage, you know, we're talking about a small sample size here, twenty one shots, the percentage is terrific that you know, that indicates he's playing really good defense. I think the more significant thing is twenty one shots in forty minutes for a very high volume player that's able to get a shot off against a lot of guys. That goes to you know, a coorro's ability to suppress shots, to make guys uncomfortable, to get him out of his spots. He does a

terrific job on Damian Lillard. And you know, I'd be very embarrassed if I was a podcaster that recently said Calves have no one that can guard Dame, I would be too, And thank god, that wouldn't be our podcast. I particularly if that same podcast or recently or after the Okac loss said that our insanity run is over, that would be really really embarrassing. As the Calves are on the verge of another fifteen game winning streak, certainly

again could not be this podcast. I just think Okoro is one of those guys that you're really really glad that the Calves have hung on too, because in one of the reasons why I think both of us were angsty about losing him in the off season or doing a sign and trade even for a good player back as his name is bounced around the transactional circles, is he does do a thing no one else in the team does as well as him. Yeah, I would rather have him on Dame Lillard than anyone else in this roster.

You know, Mobley is a better defender overall, obviously, you know, I would probably put Alan above Oquaro as well, but for this one chore, this one task, putting him on a six foot six y one guard, Yeah, it's so nice, you know, And I feel like in a Knick series, it'll matter. In in a in a Bucks series, it'll matter, you know. I don't know if Boston is the perfect

series for Ice. That's that's the funny thing, because Drew Holiday and Derek White, like Derek White is the Calves killer, but you know, not in the way that Ice, right, it's not you know, solo isolation. Let's put him on and try to you know, shut off the flow of the offense. Usually, like Derek White is almost a barometer of how you know, when their offense is rolling, the ball is swinging getting to Derek White, and he's and he's hitting kind of those knockout punches rather than he's

going to be the guy that's running the offense. No, their offense runs through all right, let's find a mispatch and play isolation basketball. Yeah, And that's where it just unless you just don't give up the switch, which, by the way, Okorra was part of them not doing that

against Boston. So I'm not saying it's not a good matchup, but those the Knicks and the Bucks specifically are just like the perfect Even if he's not starting, you can you can just kind of muck up their rhythm for a bit and and you know, maybe turn a game in a five minute stretch. So I feel like Ice is really, really in good form. And I don't know if I've hit on this on the pod. I can't remember, honestly,

so you'll just have to hold me accountable here. But I feel like I have to hold an ol a little bit with Ice because we talked about it on the pod in the summer, we talked about it last year, where you know, we've kind of always been at odds on this where you've always said, hey, man, like, parking him in the corner isn't going to get what you

need out of him structurally. And I always said, well, he's got to do more with the times he does get the ball if he wants to get the ball more and get to do more like because involving a player in an action is an inherently costly thing, you know, it's a resource thing. If Isaac is the one setting the screen, then Evan or Jared is not the one setting the screen, you know.

And to your point that you've made a billion times, you're just not as reliant on the three to go in for him to have a good game.

Like this is something that we would occasionally see. Remember the game against Miami last year where o'coro was the role man was instrumental late in the fourth quarter of getting great looks and getting those wins. But I think kind of the kind of crisis situation that they were in from a health perspective last year, it was tougher to you know, let's explore some things with o'coro. Let's let him, you know, stretch his wings here, let's you know,

experiment with other guys on the roster. The focus was let's get Darius back on the right track. Let's Evan's coming in back off a knee surgery. Let's try to get him reintegrated. Oh yeah, we went eighteen and two and now we're missing Donovan for the rest of the you know, the regular season, like there is always some sort of issue going on and made it tougher. And I think one of the other things that's made this easier for Ocoro coming back is since he's come back

from the injury. Now DeAndre Hunter's on the roster, that means he's able to play almost exclusively as a shooting guard. And I think that guard to guards, screening and the ways that Kenny's using him are so much easier as a shooting guard. That was the spot that you know, Bruce Brown really excelled as I'm basically like functioning sometimes as a power forward at the shooting guard position and he has more gravity as a result of that. I saw the openness ratings for three point shooters so far

this season. Dean Wade actually has a higher openness rating than isacle Coro. Oh that's a great stat that's a great pull, brother, And I think a large part of that, you know, him shooting better is part of it, but I think part of it is when you're playing as a shooting guard, the defender has to stay connected.

It's both what I wanted to see and it's also producing the kind of supplemental production that you really wanted to see to continue justify giving him those minutes, Yeah, for sure, and Brandon and the YouTube chat just also just made a little extra comment that you know, Okoro in action does make the Dames and the Bronsons and the tray Youngs of the world have to guard for twenty four seconds. Yep, there's just all these knock on

effects that make his life a little bit easier. And you know, and that is the one thing I will press on Kenny a little bit is I don't think against Milwaukee Ocoro should be playing basically twelve competitive minutes.

I think that's a twenty minute a game matchup. And I would take minutes from the DeAndre Hunters, the Isaac I'm sorry, the Dean Wades, the Sam Merrill's of the world to find ice those minutes because I think he is so singularly impactful against the most volatile element of the Bucks attack.

that's you know, that's one of those tricky conundrums because I typically would agree with you. But I think one of the kind of trickle down effects that we're dealing with now when you're looking at it from a rotation standpoint, is if this was a month or two ago where Merrill's playing good defensively but the shots not falling, Okay, that's an easier kind of transition to make now that the shots falling and he's playing well balanced basketball. You when you have a team this deep, it needs to

be merit based. And I think that Kenny is doing the right things here. And I understand how different shooting the crap out of the ball. I didn't realize how good It's been three of seven, three of five, one of two, four of four, three of five in the month of March. And you're not losing anything with him on the court, right Like, he stands up defensively, his

screen navigation, his footwork is terrific. There Basically the only spot when you look at like Basketball Index is a great resource for this kind of thing where it breaks down the different defenses. The only spot where he's going to have issues is in isolation. I think they rate him at it like a great amount of C minus there. But every he's doing his part, he's playing good team defense.

So I think it's great that Isaac is playing so well and we're having these conversations because the other thing that we've talked about, just reflecting on, you know, years of Isaacle coorl conversations is hey, you know, when he starts off the year and he's in a reduced role, you don't feel his impact, You don't notice him out there. And it's yeah, it's great that when he steps in as a starter he plays really really well, but can we get this in a reduced role, can he play

an impactful fifteen to eighteen minutes? And I think what we're seeing is he came back from the injury and immediately was doing that. That to me speaks to a confidence in his role. And I think credit needs to go to the coaching staff of really defining exactly what they want from him when he's out there on the court. Very very fair justin we got to talk about Max. It's a disservice that we took this long to get to Max, who killed mel in this game, absolutely killed them.

He was moving, he was really attacking the boards. He had four offensive rebounds seventeen and nine. Everything about his game last night was reflective of what I love about him as a role player. He read space, He had only two assists. He had a few unbelievable reads that did not lead to buckets. I think he is You know, that starting group has come under fire the last week or so just because they haven't been starting particularly well,

even either half. Really the lineup usn't been playing that well. If we're really being honest with ourselves, Max has been playing very good basketball. And I just you know, even in that Orlando series last year where he couldn't hit the broadside of a barn, no one could, but I loved his then too. I just think he is a winning player, and all the things I loved about him as a free agent signing I still love. I just think he adds an edge to this team. He adds

a professionalist professionalism to this team. I think he is part of the whirling dervish of movement that they can kind of provide and put teams in that blender. I just I am so appreciative of his place on this roster. And I feel like with all the fun of the core four and then the Ty Jerome renaissance and the DeAndre Hunter mid season acquisition, I feel like sometimes he is kind of the underdiscussed player on this roster. Yeah, I feel like he has just been the Metrome man.

He is so reliable to play good basketball every night. Now, sometimes the jumper goes in at a really high level. Sometimes it doesn't, but it doesn't impact the way he plays general. And I'm just very appreciative of him. Yeah,

he plays very intelligent basketball. And I think, you know, I joked about this with you last night where I said, I just don't understand how the fan base that came to love and adore j R. Smith can't, you know, sometimes embrace a streak shooter that does a lot of other things really well, right, Like Jr's passing in his defense, you know, was great. Like I think he was a very underrated defender in his time with the Cavs. I

think he's a better defender than Max. I think, you know, he was a more dynamic shooter, but Max brings a lot of that same stuff to the table. And I think his chemistry, his ability to reliably run a two man game with Alan and Mobley is a huge asset.

And you know, when you play a team like Milwaukee, Man, I don't want to be disrespectful saying this, but when you are a team that sometimes gets disorganized defensively, that's the exact type of team that maxters can kill because he is so intelligent in finding those passing lanes, finding those pockets off ball to get those shots up. Those

crawl around jumpers from the corner were absolutely absurd. And you know, there's a reason why when you dive into the kind of advanced analytics on his shot profile, he always rates out as a better shooter than his percentages because of his shot difficulty. You know, I think that's

something that you have to take into consideration. I would also say at the same time, sometimes that shot difficulty is based on his choices as a shooter, Like you know, it's not always hey, you know, he's being clamped down.

Sometimes he's going to take some ridiculous threes. But I think you need a guy like that and I think once now that you know, we have DeAndre Hunter in the mix, now that Dean Wade is back and playing well, you have Samui, you have Isaac Corral, all these other guys that are bringing other things to the table, being a little less reliant on Max and having alternatives on

those evenings where it's not working. Just like, it almost frees me up to enjoy it even more because I really do think what he brings to the table is valuable and it's going to matter in the playoffs. Yeah, I just think he's a guy I would go to war with ten times out of ten. And I pulled up his basketball reference and I was like, I wonder other numbers are actually looking because I haven't just looked in a while, I actually look. Can I guess what

his three point percent is at go ahead? He shot the thirty five last year? Is he at thirty eight this year? He is at thirty eight point one, I'm sorry, thirty eight point three. And he's up to three point volume by about one three point ten per thirty six. He's shooting a little bit better from the field three

percentage points better from three. The free throw rate is down, which makes sense, but here's a little factoid, because remember last year, we were so excited about his playmaking, the fact that he was averaging just under five assists for thirty six and we were like, man, we didn't know he could do that, But we were kind of like, is that going to play a lot of ball handling minutes? Yeah, because Darius and Donovan were hurt so much of the year, they didn't have ty Jerome like he had to run

a lot of offense. So it was one of those things where we were glad the assist numbers were up, but were like, maybe that's not Maybe that's reflective of the roster situation more than anything. Yeah, his assists for thirty six have stayed almost even. Four point six last year is at four point four this year. You know, And this is a much, much, much smaller example, but you know, considering we have another game coming up against them recently and we played them, it's the examples fresh

in my mind. But last year, when Memphis had all those injuries, they let Jaron Jackson explore the space and really paid dividends when they got healthy. I think that's reflective in Max's playmaking, right, and he's not being forced into those spots he was last year when he had.

We've talked about it. I literally didn't exist last year. Yeah, right, Like I just I'm shocked that that is in fact the case. But yeah, I think, you know, that's a great poll. I think that's a great example of you know, him just being kind of that connective player. And you know, I one thing that I want to point out because on the last podcast, I mentioned how DeAndre hadn't played any minutes with the Core since his first you know

game with the Calves. The last two games, Kenny has got him second half minutes with the Core four, So that's at least encouraging. I'd like to continue to see that. But you know, this current kind of balance is working pretty well. DeAndre has been terrific as they stagger. If I look at the cleaning the glass numbers, Carter, you're going to laugh at this. This is this is how

reliable Kenny is when it comes to rotations. But we know that Garland and Allen is the main pairing so far with DeAndre Hunter, they've played one hundred and fifty nine possessions. Mitchell mobleyan Hunter without Garland and Allen have played one hundred and sixty three possessions. It's almost down, baby. And you know you look at the Garland, he's got a guy and the staff. That's just his rotations. Guy.

been good recently. I think a lot of that has been effort based, like they have not seemed as locked in. The Other part is, you know, the Guards are going through a bit of a slump. Darius had a couple of games where it looked like, you know, was coming back. I thought Miami was pretty good Charlotte even though he went four of ten, it's still twenty points on ten shots because he got.

Who do you think leads the NBA and plus minus in the last ten games?

they need. And as we said at the time of the trade, I was excited to see the trickle down effects. I was excited to see Moro Kora at shooting guard. I was excited to see, you know, having that alternative to Dean weight Like, it just feels like it's been such a bounced roster and it's no surprise that DeAndre has had that kind of an impact and you know, I think, just reflecting on the last couple of years here, if Darius and Donovan were having a stretch like that,

things wouldn't be going well. Even in twenty two to twenty three, I remember there was a January where neither of them was shooting particularly well. I think the flu was running through the team, and then went five hundred for that month. Now you can kind of have this, you know, a stretch like this where the shots aren't falling. But I feel like both of them are still playing pretty good basketball. Like I just think a five hundred month would probably give you as many losses as we

have this season pretty much. But like you know, when it comes to Darius and Donovan, even when they're not shooting well, I still want to see those thirteen to fifteen attempts, right, Like, don't press beyond that. But you're good enough shooters, keep taking the right shots. I thought the only game where Darius was like jacking up shots and it felt bad with Chicago. Outside of that, I feel like he's taking the right kinds of shots right

and Miami and Charlotte. I was very good with his games. Donovan, even though he's not shooting all these last four games. He's up this playmaking. He's generating opportunities for guys. He's getting ten, generating ten assist opportunities per game over that stretch, Darius thirteen. That's what you want to see. They're both playing hard on the defensive end. You know, they're they're chipping in on the glass. It's it just feels like, you know you're able to weather that storm a little

bit more. And for you to play a game against the Bucks regenerate good looks. Your guards don't shoot particularly well. The you know, big time score that you brought in in DeAndre Hunter doesn't have a good shooting game, and you still comfortably win against a Bucks team that's had won nine of its last eleven games. That's a pretty damn good feeling. It absolutely is, buddy, And so is

fourteen in a row. And I got to ask you, I know we're getting near probably near closing time here, but when does this streak end?

saving time, which just sucks. I'm going through hell right now everydow. You don't have children. I don't want to talk to you. You're not allowed to talk to me about this.

travel month, especially with a big schedule challenge month. Yeah, after Brooklyn they have two days off. They don't have two days off the rest of the month. They are playing every other day, and they are flying between every single one of those games. So I'm going to go ahead, and I'm actually gonna say I think they're due for a national TV stinker, and I'm going to pick Sunday against Orlando.

I mean't really anything out anymore with these With these dudes. The fun thing is, man like, seventy is still kind of possible, you know, they if they all it's more than kind of they're on pace for sixty nine.

two games and kind of lost the momentum there. But with Brunson, you know, missing some time here and the Bucks being hot, it's at least a possibility that those two flop in the stantics. Who would you rather play in the second round? I don't Luckily I don't have to worry about it, both narratively and basketball. I would like to beat the New York Knicks. I don't like I don't like that the embarrassed is two years ago.

I think the only way to really wash the stench out of an ass kicking is to go get them back. And I think this team is so well built to get that next team back. And I don't think they're meaningfully more talented than the Bucks, no, Like I I think I kind of trust the Bucks more.

can guard us on the perimeter. I think we're well suited to guard Jannis, and all due respect to cal Kuzma, him being there instead of Chris Middleton does not make me fear them more.

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