The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - 5 NBA Reactions: OKC still lethal on defense, Celtics contenders, Lakers, Wolves, Nuggets ISSUES

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

Jason reacts to the weekend of NBA games and gives his five biggest takeaways including the Oklahoma City Thunder's defense looking dominant as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is close to returning, the Boston Celtics finding every advantage possible to become an NBA title contender, Austin Reaves and his issues for the Los Angeles Lakers, Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves struggling with a specific defensive concept, and the Denver Nuggets having problems since Nikola Jokic returned from injury. All lines presented by Hard Rock Bet.  #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. Help an Acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the ice. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Winning on Clay is an art.

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And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any service. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcasts on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in.

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and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The Volume. Welcome to Hoops out here at The Volume. Heavy Monday, everybody. Hope all of you guys had an incredible weekend. Got a quick show for you guys today. We're going to be going over five big takeaways from this weekend. We will go through our power rankings, but we're just going to list them at the tail end of the show.

Primarily going to focus on the couple of the national TV games from yesterday is the Oklahoma City Thunder got a huge win against the Cleveland Cavaliers without Chey Gildes Alexander and without Jalen Williams, an impressive demonstration of their defensive ceiling. And then the Boston Celtics just straight up outclass the Lakers, really. And I want to dive into several aspects from that game that we'll go to in our takeaways, as well as a quick Minnesota Timberwolves takeaway and a Denver Nuggets takeover. You guys know the joke before we can start. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel. So you don't miss any more of our videos.

Don't forget to like this video as well as sign up for our post notifications. That helps us a lot. And last for not least, if you want to get mailbag questions into our Friday mailbag, drop them into the YouTube comments underneath our full episodes and we'll get to them on Fridays throughout the remainder of the season. All right. Let's talk some basketball. So five big takeaways from the weekend.

Number one, the Oklahoma City Thunder still have an absolutely frightening defensive punch. So we had heard that maybe Shea Gildes Alexander would be making his return after the deadline from his abdominal issue. Taking a little bit longer there. Going into this matchup, obviously a big measuring stick game for a Cleveland Cavaliers team that I'm very high on. I've told you guys, I view this Cavs team as my current favorite to win the Eastern Conference. I just view them as an incredibly complete team. And, you know, specifically as even with Shea Gilded Alexander and J. Dub being out of the lineup, up, I was keyed in on the specific matchup of the Cavs offense versus the Oklahoma City

defense. And one of the things that I like about this Cavs team is that they're incredibly well-rounded offensively. They've got these two excellent shot creators in Donovan Mitchell and James Hardin. They've got a ton of spot-up shooting and jump shooting talent in general. I mean, you guys saw that Sam Merrill run in that second quarter yesterday. They just have a ton of jump shooting talent. Then they have great role men in Evan Mobley and Jared Allen. They just have everything that you need to have a very high offensive floor. Now, one of the things that makes this a particularly different type of matchup is one of the things I've talked about with the Thunder is the kinds of offensive players that give the Thunder issues are generally power players. They tend to be big forwards that can post up their guards or guys like Nicole Yokic who can punish them inside and do damage as a playmaker.

It's usually a combination of big shot creators that can pass, right? we've talked about this a lot this season with respect to the Lakers, with respect to the Minnesota Timberwolves, with respect to Denver over the years, like teams that just have big guys that are bigger than all of Oklahoma City's defenders that can kind of back them down to get to their spots and pass out of it. So this is actually a very interesting different type of matchup where it's kind of predicated on guards breaking you down off the dribble. And that ended up being the determining factor behind Oklahoma City's massive early run. Right. So even if you remove Shay and you move J-Dub, we have.

have this unbelievable Oklahoma City Thunder defense versus this incredibly well-rounded Cleveland Cavalier offense, but an offense that is predicated on guards creating their shots. And oh, my God, did Cleveland completely decompose under that pressure in that first quarter? They had 10 turnovers just in the first quarter that helped Oklahoma City build a 20-point lead that they were able to, again, weather some Cleveland runs and sustain to get a win at home without their two best stars. And I want to specifically highlight two different types of coverage dynamics that were taking place that was causing Cleveland problems. First is this shock and recover coverage that one that we've seen quite a bit throughout the league in recent years, essentially is a variation

of a blitz. So one of the things that happens in a blitz is when a guard comes off of the screen and the big man or whoever it is, if it's a guard guard screen, maybe the second guard, will, you know, both attack the basketball and they'll get their hands up high and they'll attempt to essentially cause some sort of deflection or steal on the ball, right? But the problem is, is that when you get that pass off over the top, it can generate these four on threes. And so one of the things we've seen a lot of NBA teams do in recent years is essentially just throw the blitz for only a split second and then immediately rotate out of it. And the purpose there is most offensive players have an immediate reaction when they get blitz.

They tend to pick up their dribble and hold it up high as they start to look for that next pass. A lot of guys will struggle to maintain their dribble and keep their options open as the blitz comes, right? And so they'll quickly pick up their dribble. And so if you throw a blitz, but then immediately rotate out of it. So let's say I'm Isaiah Joe. And there was an example of this turnover in the first quarter that he got on Donovan. Mitchell. Like I throw the aggressive blitz just until Donovan picks up his dribble and then I immediately rotate out of it. Now Donovan's trying to throw it over the top to that guard that's

slipping out of the action and Isaiah Joe's back and taking the ball away. So you're basically throwing it to somebody that's guarded, but the entire dynamic works because you can get the primary ball handler to pick up his dribble. And there were so many different kinds of turnovers that Oklahoma City was forcing. There were examples where that blitz hung around for a little while because the guard kept his dribble alive and maybe they just have active hands in the pocket and you'd have turnovers on the pocket pass. Both James Hardin and Donovan Mitchell had turnovers like that. Lobb passes. James Hardin had a lob pass turnover in the first half. There was in the first quarter. There was a ridiculous turnover that Chet Holmgren forced in that run,

a transition play. Cavs push the ball up the floor. They get the ball up to the left wing and Evan Mowbly's running up the floor and he's wide open underneath the basket. And here comes the lob pass and Chet just comes sprinting down the lane, jumps off that left foot and just high points it in midair to intercept the lob pass. These are unbelievable defensive plays. And like, again, one of the things that you'll see that happens when you have a truly elite unit is you reach this point where whether it's an offensive unit, it's like these dudes straight up cannot guard us or it becomes like these dudes are completely decomposing on offense, right? And in this particular case, the defensive battle went so heavily towards Oklahoma City that Cleveland decomposed.

They completely fell apart. There was like Jared Allen teeing up underneath the basket. Easy little shovel pass. It just bounces off his hands and goes to the other team. It can get to the point where the defense is so frightening that the team loses their confidence and they start to just make a bunch of unforced errors. That to me is like the hallmark of it. the defense having a more mental impact beyond what they're doing physically is when a team starts to make those unforced errors. And it was just an unbelievable defensive punch from Oklahoma City that Cleveland really struggled to recover from. We'll talk a little bit more calves here in just a minute. But Kason Wallace had 10 assists in this game. This is one of the things that I've talked

about a lot as it pertains to this Oklahoma City team. They're so predicated on dribble penetration, right? It's so dependent on Shea penetrating that first layer of the defense. J-dub, that first layer of the defense, AJ Mitchell penetrating that first layer of the defense. And when those guys are out, the offense has been really bad this year. But there is some budding young talent on the roster. One of the big pieces of that dynamic is Kaysen Wallace.

Case and Wallace, one of the things you'll notice on film, he's always dribbling very low to the ground. He's very low in a very athletic stance as he's chaining together moves. Everything's a protected dribble. Everything's between the legs. And he's just going side to side, just kind of probing into the lane and he's drawing defenders, whether it's just defenders for

an easy drop off to Isaiah Hartnstein in the lane because he just has a little drive off of the corner that causes Jared Allen to sink down into help or whether it's a little probe that causes Lou Dortsman to sink off of him. And here's a little swing up to the top of the key. I think Casin Wallace has become very gifted as an interior passer. He's got like just a good view of like touch and angles with guys cutting and guys rolling to the basket off of actions. really impressive playmaking game for him. I thought he was critically important to Oklahoma City getting the baskets

in the half court that they needed to get in this game. Jared McCain, these little microwave scoring bursts just him coming into the game, constantly moving without the basketball. This is, you know, I've heard a lot of people refer to Jared McCain as like kind of like a Steph Curry light or like an evolutionary Steph Curry. I think that's always going to be blasphemous

when you're talking about a player of Steph Curry's caliber. But one of the things that Jared McCain is doing that is working is he is constantly moving without the basketball. There's plays where he probes through the lane, gives it up, and then just runs out to the corner and he happens to be open in that second attack. And a lot of that is the kind of stuff that Steph Curry kills teams with in terms of the tactical side of it. I think it's a piece of of scoring that most guards kind of leave on the table. They don't take advantage of it, right? Like we talked about this with Damien Lillard over his career. It's one that Anthony Edwards,

words has frustrated me a little bit. I'd love to see Ant add a little bit more of an off ball movement element to his game with how gifted he's become as a jump shooter. But Jared McCain comes in. This is a different way to break down the defense. You don't have to break down the defense through dribble penetration. It's the primary way for Oklahoma City, but it's not the only way. And Jared McCain can help break down the defense just with his shooting threat and running around off the ball to continue to generate situations where defenders can make mistakes. So really, really impressive defensive punch from the thunder last night shook Cleveland in that first quarter and they were never able to recover. Really quickly on the Cavs before we moved on. I still was generally

impressed by them after they settled down. They only had one turnover in the second quarter and they were able to methodically work their way back into the game. You guys saw the Sam Merrill heat check. They started to get some of their two main game stuff going where you're starting to hit Jared Allen around the basket for easy baskets. James Hardin and Donovan Mitchell did have some really good offensive runs in this game. They just kept losing their composure at various points. Like they have that run where they end up going up by one in the early second quarter. And then you get a couple of really bad turnovers and it ends up giving the momentum back to Oklahoma City. That's the kind of stuff that they're going to have to be careful with.

And again, like as we talk about Cleveland, I talked about this even in the Darius Garland construct of the team. I was always worried about them specifically in the Oklahoma City matchup because they depend on the creation of smaller guards, at least in the Darius Garland build. Now, James Harden does have a little bit more size. You know, there were some possessions yesterday where he looked a little too big for Case and Wallace, right? But like, ultimately this team kind of lacks that like matchup attacking forward that can give Oklahoma City issues. You know, just as a random aside, if this was a team that was available for, or that LeBron James considered this offseason, one of the reasons why.

I think the calves would be smart to consider taking LeBron on a veteran minimum contract, even though he can come with some baggage, is the simple fact that he represents something that the calves don't have, which is the big playmaking forward that can give them a different method for breaking down the defense that doesn't necessarily depend on a guard playing and pick and roll. I'm super excited to tell you guys about our partnership with Viori. Those of you guys who are familiar with Viori have noticed I've been wearing it on the show a ton over the last few years.

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We have some big news. What's the news? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts.

Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And, well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes.

I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you

funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. Help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris, every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Genshin win. I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted.

Yeah, she's an outsider to win the French. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lennarabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports.

Number two, big takeaway from the weekend. the Boston Celtics are obsessed with finding every possible basketball advantage. They absolutely dominated the Lakers yesterday, not the first time we've seen the Lakers get blown out by a really good team, but it was the way that they did it that I thought was particularly impressive. They won that game on the margins. The difference in the game was a 17 to 6 second chance points advantage for Boston and a 20 to 6 points off of turnover. advantage for Boston. So I want to zoom in on each of these things individually,

specifically starting with that 20 to six points off of turnover's advantage. One of the things that I thought was really fascinating from that game last night was the juxtaposition and the level of intensity and ball pressure between the two teams. And it goes deeper than just, okay, Boston's picking up full court and the Lakers are not. It is very clearly a cultural dynamic where Boston wants to and holds everybody accountable, to this idea that we are going to be a team that makes your life extremely difficult on both ends of the floor for 48 minutes every single night. There's one particular play that I want to draw attention to in this example, even though obviously this dynamic was taking place throughout the game.

Boston's in the middle of a run. They end up getting a bucket. I think it was off of a turnover. I can't remember exactly what the sequence was. But Luca ends up getting a quick imbound from the Lakers and he starts dribbling it up the floor in front of the Boston Celtics bench and nobody picks him up. And you could literally see multiple assistance, multiple players and Joe Missoula. Joe Missoula is literally like like this at Luca just like pointing at him like, what the hell guys? Why isn't anybody picking up Luca? And then somebody finally runs over and picks Luca up. And I'm sitting there thinking like, this is a team that had been picking up full court all game in an NBA regular season game in mid-February for a team that's literally the second

seat in the east and then really have a ton to necessarily worry about game to game throughout the regular season and they've been playing awesome. They're kicking a good team's ass on their home floor and one possession where someone didn't pick Luke up full court and they're having a conyption fit on the sideline because someone's not doing their job. That's the level of attention to detail, the level of accountability, the level of just care factor that you can see Boston has with respect to these margins. Boston every single night is getting a multiple point advantage in second chance points, in points off of turnovers that is helping them win basketball games. One of the biggest things for me, as I've learned more and more about the game as an adult,

like, you know, obviously when I was in college, I learned certain things schematically. And like, there's obviously a lot that I learned through my time play in the game. But as you get into like really, really looking at the way NBA teams are just trying to find ways to win, this thing that I've become obsessed with is specifically the point. possession battle. Why do we care so much about superstars and what they can do on a points per possession basis in the half court? While that certainly matters, why do we focus so much on that and not the simple fact that if you get extra possessions, that makes up for the fact that you might have a little bit of an advantage or disadvantage somewhere in a points per possession

context. Get more possessions and that buys you more points. And one of the things that Boston looks that their team like is they go, we have this dynamic on offense where we have these big forwards that can create shots, Tatum eventually coming back, Jalen Brown now. We have these pet actions that we can run that can generate threes. We have a high percent. We have a bunch of high, highly skilled three point shooters on the roster. We have a bunch of guys that can drive closeouts, a bunch of guys that can play driving kick basketball. Nicole Ovosovich can beat a post mismatch underneath the rim. You know, Nimi Kata provides your vertical spacing. They have all. these half court dynamics, but that's not the only way they're going to try to win. They also

want to try to win by controlling the margins. And there is a level of effort and intensity that you have to be willing to give in order to do that on a night to night basis. And we watched two teams last night between the Celtics and the Lakers where one of them clearly really cared about being great outside of the context of just their stars creating shots in the half court and another team that almost solely relies on it. And so when Luca had a bad game and Austin had a bad game and LeBron had a bad game, they look terrible because they don't have anything else that they do great. They don't have anything that is part of their basketball identity beyond Luca creating

great shots, Austin creating great shots, LeBron creating great shots. That's why when you look at the Lakers and you look at all their metrics, they have this one strong metric, which is their half court offense, and then they suck at everything else. And it's a big part of why they can't beat any of the good teams because the good teams tend to have a strong base in their half court shot rate. Boston's over a 120 offensive rating this year, the second in the league in offensive rating, right? But that's not the only way they go about winning basketball games. And I just thought it was such a, a brilliant exposition of Boston's basketball culture alongside the Lakers and just seeing the dramatic difference between the two.

That was a team that was kicking the shit out of the Lakers and getting on each other every single time one of them would fail to do their job, even though they were for the most part doing their job. They won that game. Like Jalen Brown missed a lot of shots last night. There were a lot of missed shots around the board last night in the half court, but they got enough offensive rebounds and they forced enough turnovers and scored in transition off of those turnovers that they blew out a very good Laker team. Peyton Pritchard, unbelievable night from him last night. the things that, you know, there was a lot of people complaining about the officiating last night on the Lakers front. And you guys know how I am with that. I just think it's a loser mentality. But like the specific dynamic that the Lakers and Celtics game that we saw in the game was

Boston bringing physical ball pressure, right? And then on the other end of the floor, Jalen Brown and Peyton Pritchard in particular, driving at Lakers defenders with physicality, getting into their bodies and yeah, you're right, pushing off a little. But guess what? It is a known thing around the league that they probably won't call every time you put your hands on an offensive player. They probably won't call every time you drop your shoulder and initiate some contact offensively. The Celtics know that. They know they're fouling. They know that they're using their off farm. They don't care. They're doing the same thing Oklahoma City does. In Oklahoma City, want a championship doing this last year. If we bring

the physicality. Yeah, there will be some foul calls. Yeah, there will be some times where we get overly aggressive and something bad happens. But in the aggregate, they can't call all of them. A lot of them are going to go uncalled. And when they go uncalled, we're going to force turnovers and we're going to get out in transition. When the off arm goes uncalled, we're going to get separation and we're going to get good looks. One of the consistent things that I talk about all the time on this show is it's usually the team that brings the physical aggression that actually ends up getting the better whistle. Why? Because one, like we said, it's impossible to call everything. And two, if you are the physical aggressor, the defensive team tends to be a little bit

out of position, which can lead to fouls. And that's a thing. Like, are there some bad uncalled off arms from last night? Yeah. Are there some bad ball pressure possessions where Luca or Austin got fouled and it didn't go called? Yeah, but that is a known thing that happens in basketball games. You have two options. You can be like Boston and Oklahoma City and be like, this is how we're going to try to help increase our chances of winning every single night, or you can be like the Lakers and complain about it. The Lakers have a physical strength. They are a big and strong team. That is one of their upsides. In a roster that doesn't have a lot of strengths, one of their strengths is their strengths. They could be the team that's initiating contact,

that's playing super physical with their ball pressure. They don't want to. They have no interest in doing that, which is fine, but all you're doing is decreasing your ability to win games. And lastly, just this is where the star power comes down to the equation here. Like when you have a team like the Lakers that depends on it,

Jaylon Brown outplayed Luca last night. Peyton Pritchard out played Austin Reeves last night. You add all that together. That's how you get an embarrassing blowout victory on the road like that from Boston last night. Again, like they've got some big question marks for me in terms of adding Jason Tatum and how well their front court can hold up against some of the higher level teams around the league. But this is a team that is obsessed with the goal of finding every basketball advantage and maximizing their chances to win every single game. That's a big part of

why they sustain success despite roster turnover. You drop Drew Holiday. You drop Jason Tatum. You drop Christop's Porzingis. You drop Al Horford. And you literally are the second best offense in the league, you know, just like fully in the championship picture this year. It's because of that strong basketball culture. Today show is brought to you by presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet, the official sportsbook partner of the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic. What's better than the sound of the ball on the hardwood, sneakers squeaking and the switch of the net, winning on Hard Rock Bet, your home for hoops action all season long.

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In Indiana, if you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-9 with it. In Ohio, call 1-800 My Reset. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Tennessee, or Virginia. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey, Jones? I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. We were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself.

I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jen Chinchin win. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lernerabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now.

And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Number three, Austin Reeves still has another leap to make. So Austin goes for 15 points on four of ten shooting against the Celtics. Now, again, to be clear up front, I thought all of the Lakers stars were bad by their standards in that particular game.

LeBron is 41 years old. He kind of is what he is at this point. He's not going to get better. You know, he might play better, but he's not going to add to his game at this point at age 41. And last week when we did our NBA awards kind of check in, we talked about Luca and his next steps if he wants to become that next level player that is actually competing for MVP's every year. So again, I'm going to focus on Austin here for a minute. The specific trend I'm noticing with Austin actually has more to do with that Oklahoma City

game than the Celtics game. Like in the Celtics game, Austin was primarily being guarded by Sam Houser in a deep drop coverage with Nemeh Kada or Nicola Vucevich on the other side of the screen. Austin typically torches some of these bigger, more upright wings like Samhouser, like my Jada McDaniels is the big one I think about. Like one of the reasons why against all the good teams that Austin's played this year, he's killed Minnesota is even though Jaden McDaniels is one of the best perimeter defenders in the world, he's a little too upright for Austin. Austin can beat him on the ground. He's quicker. He can chain together moves that knock bigger wings off of balance and then he can get past him and get where he wants. I just thought about Austin had a bad game against Boston. Now, that's a bigger picture issue, which we'll talk about in a minute. But I would expect Austin as he's coming back from his injury and regaining his rhythm, he's going to be more prone to bad games. But when there are players that are quicker than Austin and that can beat him to spots and be physical on the ground, he can start to become turnover prone and he can struggle to get that dribble penetration that's so important to him getting his game off. I thought Kason Wallace in the second half of the Thunder game was the best example of that that I can think of off the top of my head.

Now, is this some sort of massive referendum on Austin's career? No. Austin has conquered every demon in his game over the last few years. So we'd be foolish to pretend that he can't figure this out. Like there was a time at the beginning of last year when DeAngelo Russell was still on the team where he looked like Austin was unqualified for this super high usage guard role. And then he made that idea look stupid before the end of the season and put it entirely to rest at the beginning of this season with some of the crazy games that he had. He's struggled with catch and shoot shooting in the past.

He's rectified that in this last season, in this particular season. He, you know, like he's had trouble with physicalities. He's had trouble with certain things defensively over the course of his career. He just kind of solves these things when he works on them each individual offseason and levels up little by little. So like, Austin's going to get in the lab and he's going to figure this out. But he has to find a way to be more productive against these types of matchups. The bottom line is at this exact point in time, Austin is way too prone to bad games

against the top teams in the league. because the top teams tend to be more equipped with the types of quick physical guards that can give him problems. He was bad in both Boston games. I know he put up big numbers in that game in Boston, but it was after the game was already out of reach. He was awful against Jordan Walsh in the opening stretch of that game and the Celtics ended up going up by 20. And at that point, you're just basically playing a full game of garbage time, right? He was bad in both Oklahoma City games. He was bad in both Phoenix game. He was bad in the one San Antonio game that he played in. So teams that have deep cores of perimeter defensive talent that can get up into him,

again, with exception of Minnesota, who probably would have been done better if Chris Finch just took Jaden McDaniels off of him and had Dante Devencenzor or Jalen Clark guard him. But he just has to find a way to figure out how to be more impactful in these matchups. I'd still max Austin. I still buy him as a perennial all-star candidate long term. This is just the next step for him. The world of basketball always will present you with another challenge.

Austin has had a meteoric rise to this point, but there's more for him to figure out this is the next step for him. Really quick before we move on from the Lakers, they're two and three in their last five games. This is the trend, them losing to these very, very good teams at the top of the league. Two and O against a Clippers team that tanked by sitting Kauai down the stretch in a hospital Mavs team,

O and three against the Spurs, Thunder, and Celtics. And again, I know the Spurs game, they benched everybody, but they got, pretty badly outplayed down the stretch by Oklahoma City without Shea. And then that Celtics game was like a start to finish outclassing. Here's a quick breakdown statistically of how they performed by opponent this year. Against the bottom 10 in point differential, Lakers are 18 and 2, tied with Oklahoma City for the best record in the NBA. They have a plus 11 point differential in those games, which ranks 8.

Against the middle third of the NBA, they're 11 and 9. That's the 11th best record in the NBA, minus three point differential in those game. that's 21st in the league. And then against the top 10 teams in point differential, five and 11, that's the 20th best record in the NBA, a minus 13 point differential in those games, which ranks 28th

in the NBA. Only the Nets and the Wizards have been worse. All right, moving on. Number four, the Timberwolves have a quick guard problem. Speaking of Minnesota, struggling with quick guards, Jaden McDaniels against the Minnesota front line, including Jaden McDaniels, as a excuse me,

Jada McDaniels and the entire Minnesota front line. So like we're talking like Julius Randall and screen coverages, things along those lines. Rudy Gobert was out of the lineup yesterday. So they didn't have their traditional rim protector. But they looked stuck in the mud against Tyrese maxi last night. It just cut them to pieces. 39 points 12 for 21 on twos.

Like 39 points with Tyrese maxi only hitting four threes. That goes to show you how much he was winning the battle on the ground. And kind of like what I did in some of the earlier segments. I want to highlight an individual play here that kind of demonstrates what I'm talking about. So Tyrese, second half, hits a little pull-up mid-range jump shot at the elbow, at the right elbow against Jaden McDaniels in kind of a one-on-one sequence. Hits a left-to-right-foot, plants that left foot, right-foot, elevates, gets great lift. Jaden McDaniels is there and offers the contest, but he ends up hitting the shot.

What do I always talk about with pull-up shooters? You have to disrupt their rhythm on the ground. When it comes to the contest, if you're not smothering them to where they have to shoot some janky release, if you're not smothering them, they don't see the contest. These are guys that have been shooting contested jumpers their entire life. That's not a thing that bothers them. If they can get into their bag, into their rhythm, so in this case, if you see Tyrese maxi going left to right cross into a left-right pull-up with his footwork, that is a shot that Tyrese maxi has made in the gym by himself thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of times. And so when you have a

smaller quick guard defender that's on Tyrese maxi that is while he's making those moves connected to Tyrese maxi and using his hands to be disruptive of his gather and a disruptive of his footwork maybe you tangle his feet up a little bit that's the kind of thing that's going to play him into a miss jaden McDaniel's being there but always being a step slow because he's giving up so much in speed to Tyrese yeah he's getting that contest at the end but the entire process. If you just kind of removed Jaden, like, if you used AI to just like take Jaden out of the picture and you

just watch Tyrese, it looks like he's doing a drill in the gym by himself. There's not the speed element with Jaden to be able to disrupt Tyrese's rhythm on the ground. That is a matchup that I've seen consistently be a problem for the Timberwolves

over the years. I mean, even just look back last year in the postseason and how much he struggled with Shegildas Alexander. And then you take a guy like Andrew Nemhard, who's nowhere near the perimeter defender that Jaden McDaniels is in the aggregate, but against that specific type of matchup, Andrew Nemhardt was able to win the battle on the ground a lot with Shea. And that was something that caused Shea some issues throughout that series that Jaden McDaniels was not able to cause for a guy like Shehield or Alexander. It's just

something to keep in mind, like I understand that Jaden McDaniels' role with this team is what it is, but if I was Chris Finch, I would strongly consider going with shorter guard defenders like Dante Devencenzzo or, you know, Jalen Clark in specific matchups like this against the quicker guards around the league. Turnovers were also an issue last night. They had 21 turnovers against Philly. A lot of unforced turnovers like swings and kickhead passes that went right to defenders. Really bad lob pass early in the game from Dante Devencenzzo. That was too low. Both A and Julius had some like over penetration turnovers where they would like drive into a defender that's clearly a nail help or just outright sending a double on the drive and then trying to throw the pass as they're already

in the double, which that's when the pressure is there and can cause problems. And it's like, dude, you're playing against a Nick Nurse team. You know what that means? Nick Nurse teams always are aggressive and they always send hard help on drives. Nick Nurse teams are going to put an emphasis on your ability to identify where the aggression is coming from and pass through it. And I just think Ait and Julius did a poor job of it last night. And it's been an issue all year. The wolves have been a high turnover team in losses. They have the ninth worst turnovers per game number in losses in the entire league,

16 per game. The wolves are also 25th in defense in this four and four stretch, a 128 defensive rating in the four losses. I know Rudy Gobert wasn't there for that Philly game, but he was there for the other three losses. This is just a team right now that is struggling to sustain effort and focus throughout the season. And then lastly today, five, the nuggets are spiraling with Nicole Yokic back in the lineup. They're just four and six

since Yokic made his return. Their defense certainly hasn't been great in this stretch and it's been really bad in crunch time, which we'll talk about in a minute. But ironically, it's been their offense that has risen to the surface as an issue of late. They have just a 113.5 offensive rating in those six losses, which is highly unusual for Denver team that is very rarely struggled on offense over the course of the last half decade. Jump shooting is the primary. It's primary issue that I want to talk about that in turnovers. Their number, like if you kind of dig into it, like Yokic was talking in a postgame presser yesterday about their ability to generate good shots off a ball movement.

You dig into the numbers, like they're throwing about the same number of passes per game when, uh, when you look at wins versus losses in this 10 game span, their potential assist number has been basically the same in wins and losses over these 10 games, but they've been completely unable to shoot jump shots in the win. versus the loss, or in the losses versus the wins. So here are the, uh, the, in the four wins, here is what synergy logged them as points per jump shot attempt. One point four to one point four six, one point one point one nine and one point four eight. So very, very, very good to like, like straight up elite jump shooting in the four wins. In the six losses, the shot well against

okay C one point one eight, but the other five games, zero point eight seven, zero point seven nine, zero point nine, zero point nine five and one point oh. So one of the consistent. in issues is they've been unable to make jump shots in these particular losses. Now, some of that is Yokich and Murray. Like Yokich and Murray have been ice cold from three in those losses, but that's kind of been something that they've dealt with over the years, right? Like both of them are very good three point shooters in aggregate, but both of them are capable of having a two for 10 night from the three point line or a one for 11, you know, Yokich in particular will have these nights where he just pops out of three pick and roll and he just miss, miss, miss, miss. And those two guys being so bad from

three has been a consistent trend in the losses. And then lastly, the turnover battle, they're just getting absolutely rocked in this particular department. In their six losses, they've been spotting teams on average a six point per game advantage and points off of turnovers.

Yokic has been the primary culprit. Here he has 29 turnovers in the six losses. And this is showing up in the clutch stuff. Like five of these six losses took place in crunch time, terrible, terrible defensive rating in those situations, and bad on the offensive end by their stance. I talked about this in the mailbag last week.

This one in particular I'm not overly concerned about because when I have it like a historic trend like year after year after year where a team is great at something and then they're bad at it one year with like mostly the same players. I'm hesitant to overreact to it. I think some of this has to do with Aaron Gordon being out of the lineup as well. He's just such a pivotal player for them on both ends of the floor. He's your best vertical spacer at the four spot and he is your best backline defender off of Nicole Yokic.

and so you remove him from the equation, it just makes things harder. I do think that when push comes to shove and they end up in big spots, that Denver is going to be able to get the stops that they need in crunch time, or just in general, to be able to execute in crunch time the way they need to.

So again, like I mentioned off the top, just listing power rankings today, just for those of you guys who come to our power rankings video every Monday. Again, we just have so much that we need to catch up on from the last three, four nights of games. We're going to be doing that periodically over the course of the next week. And we'll be back to our normal kind of power rankings format next week.

But for this week, number one, the Detroit Pistons. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. Help an Acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades.

Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define, Roland Garris. She's an outsider to win the French fame. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lennar Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubb's tennis podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline.

And we're going straight to the source the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlic. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slicalife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed Human.