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redick and suggests. More

2:04

finest on this one.

2:07

This morning I when

2:09

to. High

2:12

see just over us all the

2:14

time. It's dishonest. have. Obeyed

2:17

I'm here I'm happy or exciting basketball

2:19

game. Servers are weird. I will give

2:21

a nod to the guys because of

2:23

it's sure he would have said is

2:25

today it's a one of Luke Dodges

2:28

a of the Edwards, Jason Tatum or.

2:30

Tires Halliburton is going to win a

2:32

championship. They. Were

2:34

yeah that overall. These

2:37

playoffs to some degree the

2:39

entire season. It. Feels like

2:42

a passing of the torch now. Is.

2:44

Denver had one. And.

2:46

We're here today. You know they're still

2:48

the possibility yolk. it gets his repeat.

2:50

but we're not there. Were.

2:52

Not there. There's gonna

2:54

be a new best player.

2:57

On the best team that wins

2:59

a championship right? Ah, there's

3:01

not many those guys that are active. Joke

3:04

it's added to the list last year. And.

3:06

Will have another one this year. Ah

3:08

so it is truly gonna be a passing

3:11

of the torch moment. Ah rather here we

3:13

are. Date I did our arms or reactions

3:15

last night to the game Savage. I agree

3:17

with you game sevens are always weird. They.

3:21

I said the. Minnesota. Denver

3:23

series in general was strange. He was

3:25

just a strain series. It was hard

3:27

to digest. Are. Not digest, but

3:29

sort of predict what was going to happen.

3:31

Game to game. Ah, but

3:33

let's start with that series. The.

3:36

In terms of the Western Conference finals, Dallas.

3:39

Mavericks beat. okay see in six

3:41

games, Minnesota goes on the road.

3:43

Beats. Denver it a game seven where

3:46

they're down twenty points in the second half. Ah,

3:49

I think there's a lot of interesting things

3:51

about this series. Ah, but I

3:53

just want to start in general. With.

3:56

What? do you think the sort of

3:59

one or two biggest keys to

4:01

you are for either

4:03

team or just an overall matchup

4:05

that you're particularly zeroed in

4:07

on? Uh, I think it's

4:09

going to be which team can establish our identity

4:11

defense comes to mind for me with both of

4:13

them because of the ways that they have gotten

4:16

to the conference finals, establishing

4:18

their defense on either end of the

4:20

floor. I think it's ties back to

4:22

something you said a lot during

4:24

these playoffs. You got your Batman's, you got

4:27

your Robbins, you need your Alfred's. This

4:29

is a series where, Hey, we have Batman's, we have Robbins,

4:31

but the Alfred's are going to have to show up. My

4:34

mind is more intrigued to see how each

4:36

team tries to defend each other, what

4:39

they start out with and what they land on. So

4:41

what is Minnesota going to start out with? Is it

4:44

going to be just drop with Rudy? Is Kyrie going

4:46

to have space and he's going to be able to

4:48

operate and he's done a really good job, especially in

4:50

that OKC series balancing the playmaking and

4:52

the shop making, how do

4:54

they treat Luca? Is Kat going to switch on to him? What

4:57

does that open up for Dallas on the other end?

5:00

Anthony Edwards, are you going to show help? Are you

5:02

going to be able to rotate like you did against

5:04

Oklahoma city? How

5:07

does Kat get loose is probably what I'm thinking about

5:09

as well, because he's so important

5:11

to that Minnesota offense. And so does

5:13

he get the same switches? Does he

5:15

get double teamed? Is he able to

5:17

catch in the right spots? That's

5:19

where my mind kind of starts with because

5:22

I think we know both teams

5:24

can defend. Only one of them

5:26

is really going to impose their will in this series. And I

5:28

just want to see where they start with and how they get

5:30

there. I'm glad you start with the defense

5:32

because that was the first thing I sort of wrote down

5:34

was I feel, uh, and

5:37

the playoffs because of pace and because of a

5:39

lot of the physicality, uh, it's,

5:41

it's felt like, uh, outside of,

5:43

uh, a few games here and there in

5:46

each series, it's felt like a defensive playoffs.

5:48

Right. And I think this probably

5:50

encapsulates these playoffs more than anything

5:52

because I look at this as

5:55

a defensive series Dallas,

5:57

of course, number one defense,

5:59

you Know, The N B A the last twenty

6:01

games the regular season. Ah, we've watched

6:03

them against the clippers. We've watched them

6:05

against. Okay, see. They. Do a lot

6:07

things really well. Ah, They have a

6:10

lot of size. They have a lot a length

6:12

of get the engagement from kick tyree and look

6:14

up. Jha. Screen off the bench

6:16

providing the ball pressure component which I want

6:18

to touch on and a second. Ah! It

6:22

of course Minnesota who you know I

6:24

think the I have is has been.

6:26

I've heard realizes people saying it's been

6:28

the greatest defense they've ever seen. I'm

6:30

not going to go that far but

6:32

certainly best defense in the and be

6:34

a the season and ah a a

6:36

very formidable. Ah, group.

6:39

Some of it is personnel, some of it is schemes.

6:42

But as. A defensive Sears I don't

6:44

expect us to be. Ah,

6:46

A a high paced high scoring

6:49

series. Luca always does a good

6:51

job of controlling pace Dallas I

6:53

think with Aids in pace. During.

6:56

The regular season. So they do look

6:58

for opportunities to run. The

7:01

biggest thing for me for both teams? Is.

7:05

How. Do we get to on the ball? That.

7:08

Is the biggest thing for made you You

7:10

bring up the drop stuff with Rudy. Sort.

7:12

Sort of like when I am

7:15

what I look at matchups I

7:17

think. I would

7:19

expect Jade Mcdaniels to start on Luca.

7:22

Ah, And I probably

7:24

would expect and to the edwards

7:26

is not starting on Kyrie to

7:28

take. Some. Of that cut

7:30

those Kyrie matchups. Ah my.

7:33

calmly as well. Of course, So.

7:36

With. Look up. Ah,

7:39

You. Know you think about let's say the

7:41

Clipper Series where they were a drop.

7:44

And. They. Did a really

7:46

good job of cutting off drives. Terrence

7:48

Man for most of that series was.

7:51

In. The ball didn't allow Luca turn

7:53

to put him in jail and

7:55

put a minute this advantageous spot.

7:58

Jade. mcdaniels is going to have his hands

8:01

full, but again, you've got Rudy there

8:03

on the back line. So Luca

8:07

and I thought at times in the OKC series,

8:09

he did get two on the ball. Uh,

8:12

and you know, it's PJ Washington in

8:14

the corner, right? It's they're playing

8:16

out of rotation. Josh Green gets a drive. They get

8:18

a lob, right? So if

8:21

Minnesota can stay

8:23

out of rotation and

8:25

just basically say, we're going to trust

8:27

Jaden McDaniels, uh, we're going

8:30

to trust Anthony Edwards. We're going to trust Mike Conley.

8:32

We're going to trust Nikhil Alexander Walker, uh, to

8:35

guard these guys and make life

8:38

miserable, then

8:40

I think Dallas

8:42

at times will have trouble to score. And

8:44

that's not to say Luca

8:46

Kyrie are not going to make ridiculous shots. Luca

8:48

Kyrie are not going to have 40 point outburst

8:51

against this defense. I'm not saying that they're two

8:53

of the greatest offensive players in the world. But

8:57

if Minnesota can stay out of rotation

8:59

and not put two on the ball

9:01

against this team, what does that do, Steve?

9:04

It's the other guys shut

9:06

that water off. And

9:10

that's going to be the big one. And now based

9:12

on what you said, my mind is thinking, okay, what's

9:14

the, what would the adjustment be? Do we now just

9:16

put other guys in action? Do we try and get

9:18

Anthony Edwards to switch and make him navigate? Do

9:21

we try and get Luca to switch on calmly and get a post

9:23

up that way? Uh, now the importance

9:25

of Kyrie to where, okay, that guy can

9:27

make those shots to where we don't feel

9:29

as comfortable with that. Do we,

9:32

do we see that? Like, I feel like Minnesota is

9:34

at their best when they are able to defend with

9:36

conviction. And if Dallas is in

9:38

that kind of standpoint, like you'd mentioned, where they can

9:40

trust their guys to stay home. And

9:43

now the kickouts are there, but we can close back

9:45

out. We have help points guys. We can help off

9:47

of Rudy's can protect in

9:49

the paint. That's where Dallas has to avoid in

9:52

this series. They can't let Minnesota defend with

9:54

that level of conviction. Um, and

9:57

so I'm trying to, I'm trying to think like. If

10:00

Luke is able to score

10:03

in the post and make plays in the pick and roll,

10:06

I think it gets really tough for Minnesota. If

10:09

he can cycle through their personnel, I think it gets really tough.

10:12

Okay. Uh, so let's

10:15

assume for a second that, uh,

10:18

Carl Anthony Townes, maybe

10:20

he's on Derek Jones Jr. Let's

10:22

assume, um, Anthony

10:26

Edwards, Mike Conley, one of them is on

10:29

P.J. Washington or vice versa. Cats on P.J.

10:31

Washington. One of them is on Derek

10:33

Jones Jr. So whether

10:35

it's just in space or it's

10:37

to create a switch, Luca brings

10:39

one of those guys up, he

10:42

then gets Jayden McDaniel's Anthony Edwards off of

10:44

him. Maybe he likes the Anthony Edwards at

10:46

matchup as this series progresses. But again, you

10:49

use the first screener and you

10:51

can do it in space or you can do it

10:53

just to manipulate the matchup. Um,

10:56

I didn't want to talk about this yet. Uh,

10:58

cause I wanted to do this in the Boston

11:01

indie thing. But

11:04

dang it. Uh, something

11:11

really bothered me during

11:13

the indie, uh, Nick

11:16

series, particularly game six

11:18

and seven, just cause I called those games and I

11:20

was, you know, courtside watching it and

11:23

it's going to be interesting in that series. And

11:25

we'll get to Halliburton's defense in his shows in

11:27

a second, but Joe Mazzu is going to, he's

11:30

going to go after Halliburton, right? Um,

11:33

let's, let's say, let's say it's Jason

11:36

Kidd and, and Luca say, all right, we want to

11:38

go after this guy and they

11:41

have some success with it and they're like, all right, we're going to,

11:43

we're going to hedge your wearing a show. Um,

11:46

what New York was doing with

11:49

Halliburton's man on those screens is

11:51

they were holding the screen. And

11:54

Halliburton in particularly in six and seven

11:56

did an excellent job of rerouting the

11:58

basketball. The screens. were so high that

12:01

Jalen Brunson was coming off at

12:03

35, 40 feet. And

12:06

because Halliburton did a good job on the

12:08

show and because they were holding the screen,

12:11

there was enough time for

12:13

Neesmith, whomever it was to get back

12:15

in front. And

12:18

it was bugging me because

12:22

the reason teams don't hedge

12:25

anymore is because all

12:27

you have to do is slip behind

12:29

the defense or ghost screen it

12:31

and you've created a four on three and

12:34

it was driving me crazy. It

12:37

was driving me crazy. There

12:39

was one time in game seven where

12:41

Josh Hart literally was like, Oh, I can

12:43

slip behind and then Jalen,

12:46

he likes Jalen didn't pass the ball. So then he

12:48

stopped Jalen, threw it to him. And

12:50

then he went to a D H O and Neesmith ran

12:52

through Josh Hart and his foul. But my point is whether

12:56

it's Kat not wanting to switch on

12:58

to Luca potentially Mike Conley, though I

13:01

think, I think they'll trust him initially

13:03

in this series. Um, there

13:06

are opportunities if you're going to be in a

13:08

hedge and you're going to be in a hard

13:11

show to bring a player

13:13

up and create a four on three, the

13:15

advantage that Luca has and advantage that a lot

13:17

of these bigger wings and bigger ball handlers have

13:19

is that they can see over the top of

13:21

the defense. Right. So they

13:24

can make that pass with a simple

13:26

jump pass, um, a direct

13:28

pass, a little floating pass, now

13:30

all of a sudden you've got a guy going

13:32

downhill four on three. So

13:35

that's another just little

13:37

X and O thing that I'm like, will

13:40

Minnesota be in a show if he does

13:42

the thing we're talking about, which is target

13:46

a specific guy to then get into

13:48

the main action. And

13:50

then it ties back to, Hey, there's two on the ball.

13:52

Now they're having to rotate. And, uh, I'm glad you mentioned

13:55

the cat matchup, because in my mind, if he's

13:57

on Derek Jones Jr, if he's on PJ Washington

13:59

and. theory, does that now unlock

14:01

them as screeners and rollers? And

14:04

now you're able to create an advantage that way and

14:06

get them on a short roll, get a cake. Rudy's

14:08

obviously done a good job in the paint and stunning,

14:10

but I'm intrigued by kind of the

14:13

little gap styles can find. Anthony

14:16

Edwards, how

14:18

much do you think Anthony Edwards looks to attack

14:20

Luca and Kyrie in the series? Yeah,

14:23

I would say, I would say he will

14:26

look to attack them for sure.

14:28

And you know, as that sort

14:31

of series progressed with

14:33

Denver, he

14:35

was comfortable with whatever matchup

14:38

he had. And part of

14:40

that was Denver was

14:42

double teaming him so much, right? So

14:44

I think the thought process

14:46

there was, if I'll go

14:49

target someone and bring them up into a pick and roll,

14:51

where they're just going to double team me. Right?

14:54

So, you know, it was

14:56

interesting because there was some stuff

14:58

last night as I was watching the game and

15:00

following along on Twitter, because that's unfortunately

15:03

what I do sometimes when I watch games. There

15:07

was some stuff talking about his reads, right? And

15:10

I think this potentially, regardless

15:12

of if they double team, if

15:14

they blitz, I think this potentially

15:17

is the biggest thing for

15:19

Minnesota in this series. No,

15:22

Anthony Edwards didn't have seven great games

15:25

against Denver, but

15:27

he averaged 28 on 50%

15:30

shooting, 30% from

15:32

three. Like he had a great

15:34

series, right? His

15:38

ability to make

15:40

reads against the length of

15:43

Dallas, whether it's

15:45

on his drives, trying to hit a weak side,

15:47

whether it's in a double team, whether it's in

15:49

pick and roll and Gafford or Lively is in

15:51

a drop. That to

15:54

me is a key part

15:56

of this offense for Minnesota

15:58

because Dallas throughout out

16:00

the playoffs, they have used the

16:02

length to create deflections, turnovers,

16:05

get out and transition. And again, if you're

16:08

talking about half court offense

16:11

and half court defense, this is going to be

16:13

a bloodbath at times in this series as, as

16:15

teams make adjustments. They're, you know, there's

16:17

always the weird game. There's always the weird game

16:20

where there's an adjustment or somebody has

16:22

a high shot variance, but

16:25

I think overall in the half court, it's going to be tough to score.

16:28

Um, even though these teams have unbelievably

16:30

good players on the offensive end, so

16:33

Edwards ability to make reads and not turn the

16:35

ball over against this length of Dallas, I think

16:38

is huge. I think it's

16:40

key to, uh, the shot making is key. The

16:42

playmaking has been huge. I think the willingness to

16:44

make the reads, depending on the help you're showing

16:46

has been big. Yeah. If he, if Minnesota's able

16:49

to get stops and Anthony Edwards is able to

16:51

attack and transition or early offense, that opens up

16:53

a new layer. I think for

16:55

Dallas, one thing you mentioned the size and the

16:57

length, I'd love the timing on their rotations to

16:59

where they've been able to just kind of shorten

17:01

windows for you, where you think a play is

17:03

there. Now there's a big here. They're releasing and

17:05

kind of rotating that way. So he's

17:07

going to have to make sure he makes the right reads. I'm

17:09

very intrigued as I think about Dallas

17:12

in rotation, Carl, he sounds

17:14

a little bit different. Okay. See,

17:16

couldn't necessarily find the bl the balance

17:18

between driving, taking, driving score and

17:20

cats got that ability to, well, I can just shoot this

17:22

or I'll drive, make a play. Um,

17:24

the big, big passing that you can have with Rudy in

17:27

this series could be interesting. Um, but

17:29

I would, when it comes to

17:31

Edwards, he, again, if he's able to feel

17:33

comfortable with those match-ups and now Dallas has

17:35

to feel like they have to show more

17:37

help, that's where it gets tricky. Like

17:39

my mind is trying to think about how

17:42

much does Dallas want to put two on the ball as well? What

17:45

are they? Why, when I brought it up, when I

17:47

brought it up, I was talking basically about Luca and

17:49

aunt. Yeah. For sure. For sure. It's both, it's both

17:51

sides of that. Yeah. Because in my mind,

17:53

Dallas was able to settle in, in both of those two

17:55

series with, Hey, this is what we're giving you, but

17:58

do they get uncertain? If Kat

18:00

has it going, is that now you have to

18:02

post them double. It's different rotation and striving is

18:04

the help going to be there. So

18:07

that's where it's like, okay, if Dallas gets ding there,

18:09

we have a whole different ball game. Yeah.

18:13

Um, Luca

18:16

is clearly banged up. He

18:19

has had a few,

18:21

I would say a few Luca

18:23

S games where he's

18:26

distributing playmaking scoring

18:28

efficiently. Um, but

18:30

overall it's, it's very clear. I mean, I

18:33

was watching the game the other night, they

18:35

listed four things that he's dealing with, right?

18:38

The ankle, shoulder, elbow, wrist, you

18:40

know, Achilles, whatever. It's just, he's

18:42

banged up, right? He's banged up.

18:44

Um, and I think

18:47

you could make an argument that

18:50

Dallas has one against

18:53

the clippers and Dallas has one against

18:55

the number one seed, Oklahoma city. Without

18:58

Luca being at his best. So

19:01

a question for you. Can

19:04

Dallas win this series if

19:07

Luca is not at his best? They

19:12

could avoid and could be easy. I

19:15

think the difference is if Luca is

19:17

not his best, Minnesota is now able

19:19

to stay out of rotation and trust

19:21

their defense, as you mentioned earlier, and

19:24

stick in that drop and contest Luca

19:26

shots. And now how much

19:28

of the playmaking is opening up? How

19:30

much is he creating for everyone else? I

19:32

don't think Dallas likes that version of the series. You know,

19:34

they were able to kind of survive some of those moments

19:37

against OKC when Luca didn't have it going. And you could

19:39

tell the moments where Luca was trying to, okay, I need

19:41

to hit this shot or I need to go for this

19:44

miss OKC point which is they're gone. I

19:46

don't think that Minnesota, I

19:48

mean, I don't mean, I don't think that Dallas survives

19:52

a bad Luca series against this

19:54

defense because where do you, where are

19:56

you going to go? Unless Kyrie just goes nuts. that's

20:00

going to be a really tough thing because they need Lucas

20:02

scoring and they need to open things up. Yeah.

20:05

And I'm glad you mentioned Kyrie because I think

20:07

to me that that's sort of, there

20:09

you, you look in a series and you're like, all right,

20:11

what's the swing here, like what, what

20:13

can swing a series one way or another?

20:16

And to me, I mean,

20:18

this seems obvious, but I think it's

20:21

important because Kyrie wasn't the

20:23

best version of himself against Oklahoma city either. Right.

20:26

And he was certainly efficient, but

20:28

in terms of volume and

20:31

what he was at during the clipper series and what

20:33

he was at all season, it wasn't

20:35

the best version of himself. I thought he played well. It's I'm

20:37

not saying he didn't play well. Um, but

20:40

I think his, his scoring, his

20:42

aggressiveness, even at volume, I think

20:45

is really important in this series. Um,

20:48

like this could be a series where you're

20:50

just like, Kyrie, we, we actually need you

20:53

to take 20 to

20:55

25 shots a night, uh,

20:57

particularly if all that

21:00

rotation stuff is not happening. Right.

21:02

We're, we're asking you, Rudy Go

21:04

Bears in a drop. We're asking you to go create, right?

21:07

For yourself, right? We're a

21:09

little bogged down. We're asking you

21:11

to go create an isolation for yourself.

21:14

And he has to be more than comfortable

21:16

to do that. Cause I think that could

21:18

ultimately, maybe it's not every game, but ultimately

21:20

swing a game where Dallas

21:22

gets a little bogged down offensively.

21:24

Harry does his

21:26

magic. Right. Um, the

21:28

other, the other thing on this series, I think

21:31

is just interesting. Um,

21:34

is, is just the bench and you brought up the

21:36

role player stuff. And I talk about this all the

21:38

time, the Alfred's blah, blah, blah. Um,

21:42

Nas read so massive

21:45

in that game, seven second half

21:47

last night, just that

21:49

stretch, uh, we talked about on the, uh,

21:51

on the live reaction last night with me

21:53

and RJ, like it goes from 85 82 to

21:55

92 82. Uh,

22:00

because Naz Reed makes four straight plays, right?

22:04

Uh, so he's massive. The

22:06

Kila, Alexander Walker is massive. Um,

22:09

talk about his defense. Look, he's

22:12

a guy who is more

22:14

than capable. He's, you know, he's been a

22:16

little inconsistent playoffs. Of course, he's more than

22:18

capable of going four for five from three

22:20

in a game. So he can swing

22:23

a game on the other side, Derek

22:25

lively, uh, and his

22:27

ability offensive rebound defend the,

22:30

defend the paint, Tim

22:32

Hardaway Jr. You know,

22:35

throughout his career has had these sort

22:37

of massive swings in efficiency where, uh,

22:41

for four or five games, you're like, Oh, he's in a

22:43

shooting slump and then the next seven games, you're like, Holy

22:45

shit. Uh, that's

22:47

the second coming of Vinnie Johnson. I love it.

22:50

You know, so, um, he's

22:52

going to be, he's going to be huge as well. I

22:55

look at the benches and think

22:58

what games and how these

23:01

teams can create an advantage through that. I

23:04

think Nas read probably is, is sort

23:06

of the biggest swing or X factor

23:08

when we talk about the benches. I

23:12

would agree with that. I think Nas read his ability

23:14

to drive is going to be huge in this series,

23:16

uh, especially without Dallas flex to defend. So if he's able

23:19

to get paint touches and finish that way, it's big. I,

23:22

what Dallas has bench, it feels like they

23:24

needed Tim Hardaway Jr. series. They

23:27

need his shooting. Uh, they need his spacing. If

23:29

he's able to also be someone who makes them

23:31

into something to think, um, that

23:34

gets really interesting. Uh, I know Derek Jones Jr.

23:36

Not a part of the bench, but if he

23:38

can continue to make defenses pay, that's

23:40

just the story for Dallas. Can we make, can we make you pay

23:42

for how you want to defend us? Yeah.

23:45

Yeah. Um, yeah, both PJ and Derek

23:47

Jones Jr. They're shooting and catching

23:49

shoot stuff off the ball. And

23:52

truthfully at times, you know, attacking closeouts, I

23:54

thought, I think both, both those guys in

23:56

both the series have had some really nice

23:59

moments attacking closeouts. making plays. The

24:01

big thing, last thing I mentioned, because

24:03

it's the last thing on my notes for this

24:05

series, was just, you know, with

24:09

Lively and Gaffords, a big part

24:11

of the Dallas

24:14

half-court offense is the threat of

24:16

them behind. And for a

24:19

lot of the Clippers series,

24:23

they were unable to get behind, you

24:26

know, in that Oklahoma City series at times,

24:29

you know, you think about Chet, by the

24:31

way, in that game six, how many times

24:33

did he get behind the defense? So

24:35

I think with Gobert, I think

24:38

it was Gobert, you know,

24:41

where he's positioned, these

24:45

guys may just have to buy into,

24:47

like, we have to

24:49

get every offensive rebound and nothing

24:51

can happen at the rim. Like, we have

24:53

to, like, we, that is our,

24:55

that is our job, this series. It's

24:57

not, I just don't envision it where

25:01

Gobert all of a sudden is like, I'm gonna be way up

25:04

and I'm gonna allow Gafford and Lively

25:06

to get behind and there's a vertical

25:08

lob threat or it's, we're in rotation.

25:10

I just don't see Minnesota, you

25:13

know, unless these guys are, you know, shooting 70% through

25:16

three games and just absolutely torturing these guys,

25:18

I just don't see Minnesota making

25:20

that adjustment. I think Gobert is gonna be in

25:23

that heavy drop and again, it's gonna

25:25

go back to, okay, how do we manipulate some

25:27

matchups here? Let's move on to Indy

25:30

Boston. I gotta

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be honest, I've always admired Mike Breen

25:34

for his play calling and service to

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Express terms of I learn more at

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American Express. Dot Com/with an. Just

27:11

some overall thoughts from

27:13

you on Boston's

27:17

playoffs so far. They've

27:21

done their job. Taking care of

27:23

business. Everything they need to

27:25

do in those series, they accomplished. I think, you

27:27

know, there's probably going to be some adversity talk,

27:30

but they did lose game two of each of

27:32

those series and immediately had to go

27:34

snatch it back. It's gonna be

27:36

a different adjustment, but Jason Tatum has been able

27:38

to make plays, make reads and drive. Jalen

27:41

Brown has been really, really good in

27:43

this playoffs. I hope people realize

27:45

the numbers that he's put up and

27:47

you mix in Drew Holliday. And Derek White and

27:49

their impact on both ends. So I just think it's

27:52

been a taking care of business run so far. This

27:54

is gonna be a different series for both these teams though.

27:58

How so with Indiana? I

28:01

think with Indiana, my mind comes to one, Boston

28:05

has stronger defensive personnel to a degree,

28:07

in which we feel, or in theory,

28:09

they could feel comfortable with a lot

28:11

more switching. And

28:13

I think Boston offensively on the other

28:15

end, they can attack Indiana in different

28:18

ways. To where Indiana's defense, not

28:20

known for it, but they've been active. And as the

28:22

series has gone on, they've found different ways to impact

28:24

things that made adjustments. Once they key in on things,

28:26

they've been pretty good. When Boston

28:28

has the full weight of their lineup, we

28:31

can just kind of toggle different things. And

28:34

your help points are now, okay,

28:36

we're leaving Derek White, or we're leaving Drew Holiday, or

28:38

it's Al Orford, or Chris Dotts when he comes back.

28:41

Boston can keep Indiana in rotation, and

28:44

Boston can also kind of mix and match

28:46

and attack different items if they have that

28:48

right mindset offensively, which is always the question

28:51

for me in Boston. But if

28:53

you think about, okay, we don't want to switch

28:55

Tyrese Halliburton onto this matchup. That

28:59

works, but that's Drew

29:01

Holiday potentially short roll. That's Derek White potentially

29:03

on the short roll. They can

29:05

make those plays, they kick out, look who's catching

29:07

the ball. That's where Indiana's now

29:09

gonna have to sustain defense in a different

29:11

way. So I just think in

29:14

my mind, can Indiana

29:17

find the gaps offensively? Because they're gonna play, they're

29:19

a collective, they play with great pace. But then

29:22

defensively, if Boston does what they need to do,

29:24

are they gonna be able to sustain their defense

29:26

over the course of the series? Yeah,

29:28

I think, well, I

29:30

want to talk about Indy's offense

29:33

versus Boston's defense. But

29:36

I think it's less important to,

29:39

can Indy stop Boston? That's

29:42

the question mark. You

29:45

go sort of even

29:47

really down the line with Boston. And

29:51

I feel like there's a lot of

29:53

favorable matchups that they have.

29:57

And. to

30:01

get teams in rotation. And I

30:03

think specifically about this series, uh,

30:06

Missoula, I've been, I brought, this is why I brought

30:08

it up earlier with, with the

30:10

hedges with Halliburton. So whether it

30:12

is a straight pick and roll,

30:15

whether it is, um, they're sort

30:17

of V2 horns to action where they

30:20

go to that triangle rip screen slip

30:22

to get behind. Um, they're,

30:26

they're going to get behind the defense. Like

30:29

if, if Halliburton, whether he's switching

30:31

or not, they manipulate

30:33

these screening angles so well. And

30:36

you've got Al Horford space. You've

30:38

got Jalen Brown space on the weak side,

30:40

whoever drew holiday. So

30:43

the communication's got to be excellent.

30:47

How they guarded, uh, New York in

30:49

terms of physicality being

30:51

up to touch, uh,

30:54

the off-ball defense on divan cenzo,

30:56

particularly games four through six.

30:59

That stuff is going to be massive, but this

31:01

is a very different team to guard. It

31:04

just is. And the, the

31:07

sort of marker for me, I think

31:09

about what makes these two offenses.

31:12

Great. For

31:15

me with, with indie, it's,

31:17

it's their ability to

31:19

spread you out, have

31:22

multiple actions, create

31:24

multiple close outs, and eventually they're

31:26

going to score in the paint number one team in

31:28

the league and points in the paint. And

31:30

a lot of that is because they are

31:33

playing so fast, even off of makes

31:36

that it's hard to set your defense. They

31:38

just flow right into actions using throw

31:40

ahead passes, get ahead passes, whatever. So

31:44

that's them with Boston. I

31:46

think the marker for me, this series is going

31:48

to be the rotations

31:52

and the three point volume. Like

31:55

can Indiana win the math game against

31:58

Boston? That in

32:01

some ways is, is I think

32:04

as important as any matchup or whatever,

32:06

uh, any strategic thing, it's like, can

32:09

we limit the three

32:11

point shots? Can we limit

32:15

the defensive errors that cause

32:17

a breakdown and into

32:19

rotation? Uh, and

32:22

so sometimes I think, look, I

32:24

think, think sometimes when you play Boston, you gotta be like,

32:26

Hey, Hey, we're kind of

32:28

willing to live with Jason Tatum, Jalen

32:31

Brown, you know, taking ISO

32:34

tough tennis, taking

32:36

ISO tough step back threes, like

32:39

we, you, in some ways you have to be

32:41

willing to live with that against a favorable matchup.

32:44

Do you know anything about that? Yeah. Yeah.

32:46

Otherwise you're just in rotation. They're going to, they're just going to rain

32:48

threes or they're going to score at the rim. And

32:52

I think that's where it gets interesting. How much footing does

32:54

Indiana want to do? What do they want to live with?

32:57

Do they employ pressure just to kind of

32:59

get Boston to start their sets later? Because

33:01

in my mind, if there's a concern, if you're

33:03

Boston, which way do you go? What's

33:06

the way the Pacers played? Do you get trapped into

33:08

that to a degree where now you're

33:10

taking some quicker shots? You mentioned the three point

33:12

volume, which type of threes you generating are these

33:14

pull ups or these quick ones off pick and

33:16

roll, are these the ones where Indiana is in

33:19

rotation and they've had to defend and they're trying

33:21

to recover. Do you

33:23

slow down too much? And now it's okay. We,

33:25

we, we feel comfortable with Tatum attacking this

33:27

matchup or Brown attacking this matchup. There's 16 on

33:29

the clock. We've just started our action. They

33:32

only had to defend one pick and roll and they stayed

33:34

at home to your point to try and get you to

33:36

take a tough two. And

33:38

now we miss Indiana zooms the other way.

33:41

Is that where the series could get shaky,

33:44

but can Indiana put Boston in that zone

33:47

over the course of seven games? You know? Yeah.

33:50

I'm glad you brought up the ball pressure. Cause

33:52

I was actually thinking about it this morning and

33:55

obviously we'll, we'll, we'll find out, we'll find out.

33:57

That's the beautiful thing about sports. We can sit

33:59

here. talk and we're just like, Oh,

34:01

that's what they were thinking. Okay. All right. You

34:04

know what I mean? But I was thinking about

34:07

the ball pressure component and there's two

34:09

teams that have pressured

34:11

more in the back court significantly more

34:14

than everybody else in the

34:16

playoffs. And it's the Minnesota Timberwolves and

34:18

the unit of Pacers. Uh, there was a

34:20

ton of possessions in this series against New York where

34:23

the Pacers had not one, not

34:25

two, but three defenders in the back

34:27

court. And if you look across the

34:29

board and these NBA playoffs in the tracking era, I mentioned

34:32

this in game six on the broadcast, there

34:34

have been more possessions with

34:37

back court defensive pressure on

34:39

average across the league than in

34:41

any other playoffs in the tracking era.

34:44

And it's not an insignificant margin. It's

34:46

36 possessions, you know,

34:48

on average this season versus, uh, I

34:51

think the second was like 28. So

34:55

this is a key thing. So

34:57

you bring up the pace, how fast does Boston

34:59

want to play? And

35:01

there are times I

35:03

fucking, they're an awesome team and they're great.

35:05

But there are times when

35:08

they get a little bit slower and

35:11

a little bit less decisive and

35:14

can get bogged down. That

35:17

is, that's been the case,

35:20

whether it's been Brad Stevens,

35:22

email, Yudoka, uh, Joe

35:24

Bazzula, like that has happened.

35:27

All right. So if

35:30

indie pressures, does that

35:32

slow them down a little bit? Does that

35:34

make them more deliberate? Um,

35:37

if Indies then try

35:39

to play in a track meet, does Boston then

35:41

try to play in a track meet? Um,

35:44

so you know, stuff like Jalen Brown in transition,

35:46

right? He was one of the best players in

35:48

transition in the NBA. Like how

35:51

much can he get loose in transition? NCAA

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37:42

piece on this that I wanted to just talk about is

37:44

it is remarkable

37:46

in a... It

37:51

should be intuitive but we don't talk about it enough.

37:54

It's remarkable in a league where everybody is always like, it's a make

37:56

or miss league, it's a make or miss league. For

37:58

sure it is. The

38:01

statistics this post-season on

38:04

the rebounding battle where

38:06

the teams that win the rebounding battle

38:09

have won something like 55 games

38:11

and they've lost 13 or

38:13

14 games. There's

38:16

a massive disparity and

38:20

Indy in that mix series they

38:24

lost every game they lost the rebounding battle but

38:27

there was a toughness and a

38:30

pursuit of the basketball that

38:32

I thought was really important and

38:34

it's going to be important again. It's

38:37

the little stuff the Aaron

38:39

Neesmith keeping a ball alive

38:41

getting a second possession for Boston

38:43

it's Peyton Prichard crashing out of the corner

38:46

like you look at these little swing things

38:48

and they happen all the time end of

38:50

quarter starter quarters a star

38:53

getting a rest all of

38:55

a sudden TJ McConnell comes in they

38:58

go up five more points in three minutes

39:00

right these type of little

39:02

stretches in games and little plays in games

39:05

are not insignificant and so I

39:08

think the rebounding battle will be important in this it's

39:10

always is but I think it'll be really important in

39:12

this Boston Indy series. I agree

39:17

and you know the data backs it up it'll be

39:19

interesting I mean Boston can't

39:22

Boston has to find a way to crash the glass

39:25

Indiana can't give those up but

39:27

for some reason while you were saying that I was trying

39:30

to think about how Boston defends

39:32

Indiana and how different of a

39:34

series that's gonna be for them

39:36

and can Indiana make those plays

39:38

where they are able to get rebounds

39:40

offensively and now they get some of

39:42

those easier threes like I'm just

39:46

it's not it's not a purely a pick

39:48

and roll series like we know Indiana has

39:50

pace and tempo and ball movement player movement

39:52

Boston's got sustain sustain their defense and

39:55

they're gonna have to find a way to continue to

39:57

make those efforts and make those rotations in a way

39:59

they haven't two in the playoffs so far. You know,

40:01

in my mind, I was like, Hey, if Miami can

40:04

find their movement, they couldn't. If Cleveland can find their

40:06

movement, they just didn't have enough people. If

40:09

Boston is now constantly in rotation and

40:11

they're reacting on defense, what does this

40:14

series look like? Or does Boston

40:16

find a way to say, Hey, we're going to switch. We'll

40:18

bog you down that way. We feel comfortable

40:20

with these people guarding Tyrese. We feel comfortable with

40:22

these people guarding Pascal. We're going to take

40:24

away my house turner, take

40:27

him off the table. So he can't hurt us in multiple

40:29

ways. Like he's done during this post-season.

40:32

That is where it gets interesting because if

40:34

Boston can sustain their defense and play it

40:36

at a high level, I

40:38

think Indiana's past the victory. It just, the

40:41

margin slim. I'm

40:43

curious to see how Joe matches up. Um,

40:46

cause he, I think he has some options, uh,

40:49

in particular, the who, who guards

40:51

Siakam. Um, does

40:54

he use drew as a

40:56

little bit of a roamer as

40:58

he's done at times this season? Does

41:01

drew take the Siaka matchup? Um,

41:04

you know, how much is drew on

41:07

Halliburton? And I would expect Derek

41:09

white to start on Halliburton, but

41:11

how he uses drew this series defensively is going

41:13

to be interesting to me. It's one of the,

41:16

one of the fun things all season about Boston

41:19

is, you know, you, certain games, you're like, Oh,

41:21

Drew's got the primary guy. And then

41:23

you're like, Oh, Drew's got the fifth guy. Let's

41:25

see what creative stuff Joe does with

41:28

drew. So fascinating stuff.

41:30

Uh, I'm so excited for both these

41:32

series. I really am. Uh, Steve, thank

41:35

you as always. Um, the

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guys, we missed you, but we managed. If

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you like the old man of the three,

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43:02

Marchand, still too soon. Each week on Althunder

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video.