The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Anthony Davis & LeBron James lead Lakers to win over Giannis & Bucks, Warriors beat the Bulls

Episode Date: December 3, 2022

First (3:00), Jason Timpf reacts to Anthony Davis and LeBron James leading the Los Angeles Lakers to a 133-129 victory over Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. He also discusses Russell Westbrook's role in the big win in "his best game as a Laker.” Later (23:00), Jason breaks down the Warriors taking down the Bulls and the Celtics beating the Miami Heat. #Herd #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by Fanduel here at the volume. Happy Friday, everybody, or happy Saturday morning when you're actually listening to this. I hope all of you guys had a great week and that you got big plans to relax this weekend. Just going to be hitting on two games in this show, the Warriors and the Bulls, and then that epic overtime game between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics. And then for those of you who were interested in a breakdown of the Bucks Lake game. I did a separate instant reaction video to that that you can find a little bit further back in the YouTube feed. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the volumes YouTube

channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT, so you guys don't miss any show announcements. And then last but not least, if you guys miss one of these videos and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish, you can find them wherever you get your podcasts under hoops tonight. On that note, let's talk some basketball. So for the Warriors tonight. That was three quarters of easy, breezy, dominant basketball. Never truly threatened. Steph kind of pulled back his usage a little bit and seated the reins to Clay and to Jordan Poole to get a bunch of shots up and that's exactly what they did. Of course, Jordan Poole got going, which was exactly what he needed. He had a really good game, I thought, against Dallas,

particularly as a passer. It's so important for Jordan Poole to be making reads and to like primarily focused on shot creation rather than necessarily shot making. But you need to have both, and it was good to see him have a good shot making game. Made a bunch of threes, made some tough shots. Those confident Jordan pool shots that you know are so important to him when he's really, really in a group. So, you know, the nature of this game kind of allowed them to force-feed him and let him get going.

Clay was really just jacking shots up and took a lot of bad ones, particularly in the fourth quarter. But to Clay's credit, he made a couple of huge. plays at the end of that game. He drew a post-up foul on Goran Drogich and made two free throws, and then he hit a nice pull-up jumper at the foul line that basically iced the game. But that kind of fast and loose nature, the first three quarters went away in the fourth quarter. And the fourth quarter to me was all about the Chicago Bulls going on runs against laziness from the Warriors, but then the Warriors taking back control of the game with their execution

on both ends of the floor. The first run, the Bulls get it back within four, and Javante Green actually goes to the free throw line after an and one with a chance to get it back within three, and he misses the free throw. So they're still up four. But this stretch, the Warriors did it with offensive execution. You guys might remember a play that I drew out. Well, didn't draw, but I showed you guys on my Twitter feed. And then in our last show, or was the show earlier this week,

where the Lakers, or the Warriors, excuse me, run like a five-out set, where they have Kavanaughn-on-Luny on the left kind of like elbow extended up to the three-point line. and Clay Thompson on the right elbow extended up to the three-point line, and then the other two players are on the right side, right wing, right corner, spotting up. And Steph starts all the way on the left, and he comes, he drags off the two screens on the top. And then Clay Thompson comes off of Kvon Looney or Draymond Green, whoever the big is, off to the left wing with like a clear side. It's kind of like the Warriors version of a Spain pick and roll that they'll run.

Most times Spain pick and roll, the shooter will start under the basket. This time they're just having Clay start up atop the key. but they ran it against the Minnesota Timberwolves in that game that I was talking about earlier, and Clay attacked a close-out and got a floater. So those of you guys who watched that video I put on Twitter will know exactly which play I'm talking about. But the Warriors spanned this play two times in a row,

right when the Bulls got it back within four. The first time, both guards stayed with Steph Curry. Clay Thompson had a wide-open three, like one that was so wide open that he got to take a free dribble to get the laces right and get his rhythm and knocked it down. then Levine goes down and travels. Next time down the floor, they run the exact same thing. Both players stay with Steph, or excuse me, Clay's man stays with Clay this time.

And as a result, Steph gets downhill on the screen. He gets into Vucevic's body and makes a right-handed layup. Now they're back up by 8. So again, Bulls go on a run. The Warriors settle down. They execute an offense. They get a stop. All of a sudden, it's back to 8.

But then the Bulls went on another big run. Vucevich hit a tough jumper with Looney's hand. in his face. Javante Green had a nice little backdoor cut with a layup, and then Zach Levine hits a three. All of a sudden, it's 110 to 109. And it's a one-point game, and it feels like the game's up in the air. And then the Warriors utterly and completely locked in on defense.

In Chicago didn't score again until a meaningless drowjic layup with a few seconds left at Golden State conceded. Not only did they not score, if I'm remembering correctly from watching that game, they only got one shot off. They attempted four and three of them were blocked. So they leaned on their defense to put the game away after they got it back within one. Draymond Green hit a massive three that wasn't really all that open. Then Kavana-Lunay timed the Derozen pull-up.

Derozen does like a hard hesitation dribble before he goes into that pull-up. So if you jump too early or if you jump too late, he can get it off. But if you time it right, Loonie's got so much length on him there, he could get to the shot and he blocked it. Then Clay Thompson posts up on the left wing. They originally ran it as a post-spit cut, but they ended up pulling it out and trying to throw the ball into Clay in the post. This is what's wild. Clay Thompson has scored a grand total of four points on post-ups this year.

And instead of just allowing Clay Thompson to catch the ball and attempt to shot over Goran Drogich, Drogich got overzealous while the Bulls were in the penalty and fouled Clay on the post entry, and he was able to go in and make free throws. Then Draymond Green blocks Zezerner. Jack Levine at the rim on the play that got challenged. Then Clay goes down and sticks that pull-up jumper at the foul line.

Then they go down and Draymond Blocks and Alex Crusoe 3 with a closeout. And Draymond Green's always been one of the best players in the league at closing out. Then the game was over. So like the Bulls barely could even get a shot up once they got it back within one. But that's the Warriors for you. Like they can mess around. Things can get tight. But when it comes to offensive execution and defensive habits, they're just better than most teams.

And they're going to be able to close you out there. So it's a really nice win against a reeling Bulls team. The Bulls are now four and nine in their last 13 games. People were throwing out trades earlier today in the last couple of days involving De Rosen and Vucevic, including the Lakers, potentially trading Russell Westbrook for those two guys. If it gets much worse, they might have to consider it, not necessarily the Rush trade, but consider blowing this thing up.

The tough part for Bulls fans is they don't really have a ton to be excited about. Aside from, like, I mean, I really like Ayodasun Mu as like a defensive guard that can do some stuff offensively. And Patrick Williams, you know, if you watch them on the right night, looks like a two-way wing. But neither of them look like stars, you know, neither of them look like, you know, stars in the making. So it's a tough spot for the Bulls fans to be in.

But when you do stuff like that, when you make a trade for a guy like Vucevic and when you go out of your way to get a guy like DeRosen, you're going all in on that particular core working. And as a result, they just don't have a ton to work with now that that seems to not be working. Although the Bulls have a couple of signature wins this year. so they're always a threat if they can get things right.

I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about Draymond Green because in addition to the massive three-point shot that he hit and the two blocks that he had at the end, he had 13 points, nine rebounds, 10 assists, and was a team best plus 20. And so the reason why I bring that up is, you know, one of the keys to this season really turning around for the Warriors has been Steve Kerr doing what I asked earlier,

which is no more hockey, you know, line changes, just stagger your starters with your subs. And one of the keys to this particular season has been staggering Draymond, particularly with Jordan Poole, not just with the bench, but with Jordan Poole. Coming into tonight, when Jordan Poole has played without Dremont,

the Warriors have had a minus 12 net rating, many of they've been outscored by 12 points per 100 possessions in 757 possessions, pretty big sample size. But when they play Dremon with Jordan Poole, the Warriors are plus four in 500. and 16 possessions, which is also a pretty big sample size. You know, just having Draymond there, one, so that when they run their screening actions, you have a real high IQ player that can capitalize on that attention that Jordan Pool commands.

And then also just kind of reins in Jordan Pool's decision making. Having a really smart player on the floor, I'm a big believer in aggregate anything when it comes to a skill set. Aggregate shooting, aggregate quickness, aggregate size, aggregate length, aggregate basketball IQ. You get a bunch of smart basketball players on the floor, good things usually will happen. Jordan Poole can be a little fast and loose with his decision-making sometime, getting him a guy like Dremont in there to just kind of calm him down and get him in the right spots and getting him to help him make the right decisions

goes a long way. And then defensively, Dremont can just make any unit work. It was really fun watching him guard Demard de Rosen tonight, picking him up full court sometimes, applying a bunch of pressure, making him feel uncomfortable. His really long wingspan bothers him on that pull-up shot. Kind of reminded me of when Dremont switched on to Jalen Brown in the NBA finals. see this is the type of versatility that comes with Draymond,

and it's why he's one of the best defensive players in the league. It's not just the defensive anchor stuff and the backline stuff and the intensity and the vocal leadership. He can straight up switch and guard some of the best perimeter scores in the league, and that's a big part of what makes him so valuable. You know, Jonathan Kaminga had a rough night tonight, but I want to see him get more reps alongside Draymond at the four. I tried to talk about this a little bit on Tuesday night,

but we were having all those technical difficulties. in that Dallas game, Steve Kerr, for the first time this season, tried a lineup of Draymond Green with Dante Divencenzo, Jordan Poole, Jonathan Caminga, and Anthony Lamb, and that lineup was plus 12 in nine minutes against Dallas. As a matter of fact, this season,

when Draymond Green and Jonathan Caminger are on the floor together, with no Jamichael Green, no James Wiseman, no Kivan, no Kavanaugh and no Andrew Wiggins. So when Cominga can truly play the four, rather than playing the four, three where he's got to have more ball handling responsibilities. When he's truly at the four

and Dremont is truly at the five, they've actually had a lot of success. They've in 57, excuse me, in 57 possessions with that group, which is a small sample, but not nothing. It's half of a basketball game's worth. In those 57 possessions with Dremont and Kaminga at the four, five, the Warriors have a 130 offensive rating and a 92 defensive rating. That's plus 38 points per 100 possessions. A big part of it is, you know, Dremont Green's offensive IQ that could put him in those positions where he's in the short role, which then tucks Kaminga in the weak side corner, where he doesn't have to make decisions. He just has to, if Dremont's roll into the rim, cut back door for the dunk or the lob, you know, the drop off or the lob, or crash the

offensive glass. It simplifies his decision-making process. And then Jonathan Kamingga's defense has been the thing that separated him from the other young players on the roster. and it makes him an exciting prospect. He's just surprisingly big and strong, super long arms, freak athlete, moves his feet well. He's a good defensive player. So the Warriors are back over 500, and they have three winnable games coming up.

They play the Rockets at home, the Pacers at home. Then they have a somewhat tough game on the road in Utah, but if they win all three of those, they're in a good spot heading into a couple of really tough matchups with the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks back-to-back. All right, let's move on to this Heat Celtics game. This was a really entertaining game. I just caught up on it here in the last half hour or so.

So the heat won 120 to 116. Tatum had a nightmare shooting night, but I went back and watched all his shooting attempts. He was 5 or 18 from the field and 0 for 7 from 3, but I actually thought he got pretty decent shot quality. It kind of just felt like a nightmare game for him. You know, Bam had a bio in his post-game presser was talking about how, you know,

they're just going to live with the result with Jason Tatum taking tough shots. And I get that, and I get that from a shot from a philosophy. And don't get me wrong, if you're guarding Jason Tatum, You've got to live with some of these stepback threes that he's taken. But, I mean, Tatum missed at least, by my count, five layups, like right around the rim, like easy layups that he does not usually miss. You know, this has been Tatum's best rim finishing season of his career by far. He clearly worked a lot this season on finishing, or offseason, on finishing through contact,

and he's been hitting in like the mid-70s on high volume around the rim. Just a bad night. It happens. You know, Jimmy Butler, once again, just has the Celtics number. Anytime you put him in a big game like that, he's just about guaranteed to play really, to play really well. He had a massive jumper to almost seal the game in regulation and then actually hit the one that ice the game in OT made all sorts of huge defensive plays, including a huge block on Jalen Brown at the rim in OT. Heat fans in general just have to feel good about

having him back because he solves so many of their problems. But the real hero that I want to give a bunch of attention to right now is Bam at a bio. So he had 28 points tonight on 18 shots. He's scored 28 or more in three of his last four games. For the season, he's averaging a career high 21 points per game on 59% true shooting. And he's just, in general, finally starting to be aggressive looking for his own shot, rather than just trying to play within the flow of the offense, which is something that I've been begging for. You know, the heat have a sign—they have a lot of guys that can dribble and can shoot.

But, you know, athleticism and physical tools are such an important deal, especially when you get into postseason environments. Like, I always talk about, like, the mismatch attacking force. forward. And, you know, with this heat roster, one of the weaknesses for them is their guards can't really create shots unless they're coming over screens and getting advantages. And so they really only have one forward who's Jimmy Butler who can like consistently create his own shot against a mismatch. And that's been a severe limitation for them. And even with that limitation, they damn near won a title. They were one shot away from making the finals last year. So that's, I mean, obviously,

it's not the same as getting the trophy, but that's relatively close. So, you know, realistically, having Bam become another one of those guys, another big forward that can consistently attack a mismatch, that goes a long way towards solving a lot of Miami's offensive issues. You know, they need not just ultra-versal, one of the best defensive players in the world, BAM, they need two-way BAM. They need more Anthony Davis than Rudy Gaubert, if that makes sense. They need what they got tonight. So, like, it's 112, 112. Jimmy Butler just blocks Jalen Brown at the rim,

like a ridiculous block with his left hand extended out and snatches the basketball. They run down. And they clear out and isolate Bamabio on the right block against Grant Williams. And Grant Williams is a great defensive player. This is a guy who was guarding Janice and doing a pretty damn good job last year in the playoffs. And he just backs his way in on Grant,

turns over his left shoulder, and knocks down a jump shot. A tough fadeaway jump shot over his left. shoulder. That's difficult, high-level shot-making, and that ended up giving the heat the leap. You know, like that, that's the thing that's going to put Miami over the edge. High-level shot-making from BAM, legit mismatch attacking from BAM, especially since for him, and, you know, a lot of the shot making that he displayed tonight was relatively close to the rim in that, like, five to seven-foot range. That could be something that's really reliable in a playoff series. Look at the Lakers tonight with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. At the end of that game,

they won with shot making at the rim, like making shots like five, seven feet away from the basket. If Bam can get that stuff nailed down, that could be like Tim Duncan-esque, reliable go-to scoring at the end of games or in big, you know, pivotal stretches of pivotal playoff games. Looking at some of the data, Bam has scored 50 points on 52 post-ups, which is below average,

but he's been very good in isolation. He scored 71 points on 68 ISOs, including passes, which is in the 67th percentile in the NBA. Now, the heat still desperately need a legit two-way front court option just to add some depth there. My guess is they'll be very, I mean, they were literally playing Eudanus Haslam in these games. Like, that's a problem, you know.

They're going to need to target somebody either in the trade market or in the buyout market to bolster that front court. But if this scoring burst from BAM is real, and I hope they keep feeding him all season to try to develop that further and further, there's some real LeBron AD type potential here. You know, what makes the LeBron AD pairing so devastating? It's not just that Anthony Davis and LeBron can combine for 72 points or whatever they did tonight. It's that on the other end of the floor, LeBron was guarding Janice,

and Anthony Davis was guarding Janice, and AD was protecting the rim, and they were grabbing all these contested rebounds and making all these pivotal defensive plays. That's the key. You need the two-way pairing of superstars, you're seeing that with Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum. That sort of thing is such a valuable playoff weapon. And if Bamadabio can meet Jimmy Butler in that true two-way superstar level, that changes the way we have to evaluate the heat. But massive win. I mean, I was talking about the Lakers earlier tonight because they had a massive road win against the second best team in the league. This was the Miami Heat getting a massive

road win over the very best team in the league. So shout out to the heat. Shout out to Bamato Bio. Might have to start talking about the heat a little bit more, which could be fun, because they're a fun team to watch. And Jimmy Butler is one of my favorite players. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement

to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or we're you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot,

or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of to Stuff to Bole Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, what a huge win for the Lakers. If you guys remember what I said on Thursday, I said they've won six out of eight, really should be seven out of eight. You're up 17 with nine minutes left against the Pacers at home. You should win that game.

They choked it away. They paid dearly for it. But their schedule was weak in that stretch. and a lot of people are going to point to the schedule, which is normal. And honestly, it's the reality of what happened. They beat some bad teams during that stretch. But they also played some good basketball. That's a decent Blazers team, even without Dame,

with a lot of wing size and athleticism that they beat handily on Wednesday. That Pacers team that they were up 17 on, that's a decent basketball team. They were playing good basketball, but they needed a signature win something to legitimize it. And, you know, it kind of reminds me of the King's situation. If you guys remember when the Kings went on that long hot streak, I pointed out the simple fact that they hadn't played many good teams

and that they were basically just beating up on weaker competition. But I said they will have a chance to prove it, and they did. They went out to Atlanta, Boston, and Phoenix, three games in a row, and lost all three of them. So when they had an opportunity to prove the legitimacy of their recent good play, they couldn't do it. Now, I expected that with the Kings because they weren't defending well. The reason why I thought the Lakers actually had a decent chance to continue this momentum is LeBron James Anthony Davis and the seventh best defense in the league that actually is the second best half-court defense. They're just an atrocious transition defense. I thought they had the capability to keep this momentum going. But this was a really difficult first challenge. This Bucks team, I think, is the second best team in the league. Is the second best team in the standings. There were my second chance.

championship pick behind the Golden State Warriors. They were 11 and 2 at home this year coming into tonight, and they were the best paint defense in the league, giving up just 44.5 points per 100 possessions in the paint, which was first place in the entire NBA. And this is a Lakers team that is very dependent on getting into the paint. They are fourth in paint points per game. And obviously, LeBron James and Anthony Davis do the majority of their damage in the restricted area.

So with Chris Middleton coming back, with Pat Conanty, I think this was his fifth game back. This was a really difficult road game and an excellent opportunity for the Lakers to prove that they've been playing some good basketball. And they did. They controlled this game, really, you know, there was a little bit of a back and forth at the beginning. And then the Bucks actually took a brief lead late before the Lakers took it back and won the game. But the Lakers pretty much controlled this game.

Kind of stiff-armed the Bucks out to that, you know, five, six points through most of that second half until the Bucks got it close. And so it was a really, really impressive win, especially when the Bucks made 17-3s, you get a 40 piece from Janus and you still win. It's really impressive. And again, for that best paint defense in the league, giving up just 44.5 points per 100 possessions in the paint, yeah, LeBron, Russ, and Anthony Davis butchered them for 70 paint points in this game. But that's the power of all-world talent. You know, when I would talk about the Lakers coming into this season and everyone makes their jokes about the roster, get it, dude. I've been talking about the roster, too. But the reality of the situation was

is Anthony Davis wasn't available for most of last season. And when he was available, he didn't look like Anthony Davis. He looked like a lesser version of Anthony Davis. He looked like Clint Capella with the occasional really nice dribble move and a jump shot, although he'd shoot like below 20% on jump shots. That's the type of player you were getting earlier on in the last two seasons with Anthony Davis. And then LeBron James wasn't playing very much on the defensive end. He was just scoring the basketball efficiently last year, and Russ was a disaster last year. But if Anthony Davis plays like the Anthony Davis that helped the Lakers win the title in 2020, and if LeBron James plays like LeBron James, then you have to scrap all of that. Do they

need to make a deal, a trade to become a true contender? Yeah, of course, because it's too much to ask for LeBron James and Anthony Davis to go out and score 70 points every single game. But this is the power of all world talent. This is why it's worth investing, and this is why I've been pushing them to push their chips in in the middle. So what I want to do with the Lakers tonight is I just want to focus on their three stars. So let's start with AD. 44 and 10 with three blocks. I thought he soundly outplayed Yannis, who did most of his damage in transition against that horrific Lakers transition defense. I thought they actually defended Yonis really well. well in the half court. Anthony Davis made nine shots outside of the restricted area in this game,

which is reminiscent of bubble AD, because that was what bubble AD did, really was good in that mid-range with his pull-up jump shot. He had a critical driving layup past Brooke Lopez late in the fourth, grabbed a bunch of critical contested defensive rebounds. He just was dominant all game long. You know, this is, I keep talking about the difference between like regular Anthony Davis, what I jokingly called the better version of Clincapela. I keep comparing the difference between that version of Anthony Davis and this version of Anthony Davis. And this is why.

Like 25 and 8 where the Lakers lose and he jogs back in transition a bunch and I'm screaming from the mountaintops like Anthony Davis is not playing well. And you know, Anthony Davis fans would be like, he had 25 and 8. Yeah, he had 25 and 8. That's not good from him compared to what he is capable of. Look what he's done in this last two and a half three weeks. Like when Anthony Davis is actually locked in on both ends of the floor and has that level of shot making that he has when he's in shape, in rhythm,

and actually polishing his skills, he's a top five player in the NBA. That's how good he is. That's why I hold him to that standard. And what happened was is he won the trophy and just let go of the work. showed up to camp. It was widely reported that he showed up to camp each of the next two seasons out of shape

which directly leads to things like injuries. And when you're out of the gym and you're not working on your game, guess what happens? Your jump shot stops falling. He let go of it. But, you know, as I was hoping coming into the season,

the humiliation of the previous two years would be enough to whip AD back into shape and that's exactly what's happened. He's been incredible this year, just like I expected him to be. Moving on to LeBron. In the first half, it was a lot of really good individual defense on Janus. I've always joked about how if you were picking the perfect defenders to guard Janus,

the two names that come to my mind are Draymond Green and LeBron James. LeBron just has that unique combination of mobility and legit, powerful strength that not many players in the league have. And then the same thing goes for Draymond, and he's not quite the athlete that LeBron is, but he just has incredible defensive instincts. so he's good at picking up cover. Like LeBron got caught on a late screen for Janus that led to an and one layup. That is like one of those things where LeBron's physically equipped for that,

but he just didn't anticipate it well enough. Draymond Green's going to be on top of those sorts of things. Those are the two guys that I've always thought of as the perfect Janus defenders, and I thought LeBron did a really nice job on it. Like I said, he got a few baskets. He had a spinning dunk in the first half. He had that and one layup. In the second half, he had two pull-up jump shots that he knocked down in Lebron's face.

right around like the top of the key. But for the most part, I thought LeBron did a good job. Most of Janus's damage came in transition and against those two funky lineups that Darvin Ham ran with no LeBron James and Anthony Davis off the floor while Janice was on and Janus just bullied his way to the rim. I'll have to look at the numbers later, but I think the Lakers, the only reason this game

wasn't a 10-15 point win was because of those specific stretches of the game. I'll have to look at those when the data updates. But like you also had like a really nice stretch there in that second quarter, he got some good pick and roll chemistry with Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis ended up getting a dunk in that sequence. And then in the second half, it was just pure shot creation, including a masterful fourth quarter with countless pivotal baskets,

like some huge jump shots and layups and feeds for other important shots. He had that really nice pocket pass to Anthony Davis in the early fourth, right when the Bucks got it back to, I think it was right after the Bucks tied the game. finished the game with 28, 8, and 11, and he didn't even shoot that well. I think he was 12 for 27 from the field. You know, it's funny, I was thinking at the end of the third quarter, I think I actually drafted out the tweet and ended up not sending it. But I was thinking, this is a winnable game. And LeBron's had a bad season by his standards for the most part, although he's had some really good games as of late. And this is an opportunity to send a message and to get a monumentally important win for his team. I was curious what he would do in that fourth quarter, and he was incredible.

Down the stretch of that game, the Lakers spammed LeBron-Anthony Davis pick-and-roll out of a triple threat with a cleared side lower to the basket, almost down at like 17-18 feet. And I wanted to talk about that from a couple of different angles. So first of all, the LeBron A-D pick-and-roll is deadly when teams don't switch it. The problem is, is the vast majority of teams will switch that action because they'll just put a big forward on AD and a big forward on LeBron. So who cares about the matchup, they'll switch it. and they probably feel like they can force both of them to settle for jump shots,

you know, at least try to if they switch the action. But the Bucks were guarding it with Janus and help, you know, or sometimes Janus was on Anthony Davis when Brooke was off the floor, but they primarily put Brooke on Anthony Davis and Drew Holiday on LeBron, two very different types of defenders, so they weren't switching the action. They were in a legit drop coverage. Towards the end, Drew really tried to ice the coverage,

trying to force LeBron towards the baseline, but he just used pivot moves and re-screening to get back towards the middle. But there's a couple different interesting things there. Why they cleared the side is simple. You push it to that side. It simplifies your reads. You don't have to look both ways to see if there's a helper coming out of the corner. Instead, you just have to see the one side of the floor.

Also, by clearing the side, you push the whole action over a bit. Now the help defenders have to come further off of their shooters, which either puts them in more of a position where, they have to make a more difficult decision. Am I going to abandon a shooter to help or am I going to stay home? And then the reason why they started low is it simplifies the shot making piece of it all. So if you run the high pick and roll and Drew gets caught on the screen but they're digging over on the roll man and Brooke is containing LeBron as he's driving to the basket, he might have to make some

tougher pull-up jump shots. He might have to make a pull-up, you know, 18-footer or a tougher floater or something along those lines. but when you move the action inside that far, once LeBron got over the screen and Drew Holiday was on his backside, he's already at like 10 feet. And so from there, if he has a step, it's one extra step to the rim for a layup. If he doesn't have the step and Drew fights over,

now he can just go to like a short little jump hook. And LeBron made a couple of really nice little short-range jump shots in there. Just by moving the action in, it made it so that the shot-making piece of the ball handler and pick-and-roll was not pull-up three, pull-up, you know, long two, it was hook shot or lay-up. It just simplified the shot-making piece. I thought it was really smart. And that's the kind of thing that LeBron James, you know, he's just a chess master in those sorts of situations. I also thought, like, just by starting at 18 feet allowed LeBron to start with a triple threat

rather than with a live dribble, if you go with a live dribble, Drew Holiday can punish the handle, which is one of his best gifts. Work it out of a triple threat. Now Drew Holliday, they can't get into the handle. LeBron's working with rip-throughs and he's protecting the basketball. It's just a lot easier for him to manage Drew's ball pressure at that point. I really thought that was an interesting basketball chess match. So at some point next week, probably on Monday or Tuesday, I'm going to do a video breakdown of that LeBron AD low pick and roll out of triple threat. I thought that was a really interesting sequence. But what an amazing two-way performance from LeBron. And exactly the type of thing that this team

requires in order to beat the best teams on the league, or excuse me, on the road in the league. That was vintage throwback LeBron. It's fun to watch. All right, let's talk about some Russ. What did I say after Wednesday? He was 4-4-14 from the field and only had four assists, but I said it was one of his best games as a Laker because he limited his mistakes, he got consistent dribble penetration, and he played solid on the defensive end. When he does those things, he can still be a damn effective NBA player. And he went out and did all three of those things again tonight to an even higher level in what I thought was his best game as a Laker. Some Laker fans are going to point to, I think it was the Hornets game last year where

he had like 33 or something like that and he won the game with some big time shot making. But that to me is a relative. It was a bad team on the road. LeBron and AD were out. You were just kind of like, okay, go ahead, Russ, try to win this game and he did. But this was like high stakes, team with real expectations, seasons still very much in play, on the road, second best team in the league. LeBron and AD are out there playing great, and they need Russ to find a way to contribute to the two stars that are playing at the top of their games on this night. They needed him to supplement that. And the only way he could do that is, once again, limiting mistakes, getting consistent dribble penetration and playing solid defense. And that's exactly what he did.

He had five assists on his first five offensive possessions. I'm not sure I've ever actually seen that before. It was like, it was like Russ assist, Russ assist, Russ assist. Like it was unbelievable on his way to an 11 assist night. And he limited his mistakes. He only took two shots I didn't like. There was a one-leg fadeaway over Drew Holiday. I think it was in his first shift that he actually made. That was like early shot clock where I was like,

eh, we probably don't need that shot, but he made it. And then the second one was the two-for-one that he went for the pull-up three. And the general idea there is you go for the two-for-one because of the math of it all, right? Like, okay, if I have two possessions and, you know, I run these two actions and I get on average one point, whatever points per possession, And just by math, I'm going to have a better chance of scoring, you know, whereas if I go one possession and they go one possession, just the odds are less in my favor.

But, you know, it's all about shot quality because a pull-up early Russ three early and the shot clock has like what a 10, 12% chance of going in. So when you really look at the points per possession on that possession, it's so low that you're actually better off running a really good sound offensive possession. But those were the only two shots I like. He didn't like. He had zero turnovers. That's two games in a row with zero turnovers after he had 12 in the last two games. But yeah, so like I'd say, what, two mistakes total? And he played just under 30 minutes.

Like that's a great way to contribute. And then he played a great defensive game. You know what? I got to hand it to him too. Like that diving play where he dove at the ball when Chris Middleton went to the ground and he kept the ball alive that led to the runout dunk from LeBron to AD, that was a game-winning type of play. You know, it's funny with Russ.

He has so much like moxie and audacity that like when he sees those opportunities to make those pivotal momentum plays, he always goes for it. And sometimes it can hurt him when he does something, like shooting that late pull-up jump shot that he did against the Blazers in the third game of the season. Like he felt an opportunity to ice the game there and he just couldn't help himself. you know what I mean but like in this version of Russ when he's measured a little bit more

and he's a little bit more calm when he goes for those types of plays you know that's the type of play that you put your heart on the line for the way that he did and just an unbelievable performance from him tonight like I said I thought it was his best game as a Laker

I was talking to one of my co-workers at the volume and I said to him you know I'm like I still think at this exact moment in time that, you know, the Russ's salary, because of the vehicle that that provides you to bring back multiple larger salaries, I still think that that's the way to go in terms of the trade market. But it's because these performances like these last two games have been more the exception. He's had like probably four or five games where they've met this

standard that I think really helped the team. And then another four or five where it was kind of a mixed bag and then there's been some bad ones, right? But if he puts together like three or four more like this in a row where it becomes like consistent that he's figured out how to fit within this group. Like he's being so productive that at that point you have to keep him. And so if he puts three or four games like that in a row over the course of this road trip, I will start to think or consider the idea that maybe a Patrick Beverly, Kendrick Nunn package targeting one mid-level salary is actually a better option. It all depends on how good Russ is.

And if he's going to be this good, then that changes. that math. The Lakers have a classic trap game on Sunday. They're on the road in Washington. I believe that game starts at 3 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. So it's kind of like an early start. It's off of a big win. So it's tempting to bring a sloppy effort. It's like a letdown type of game. They need to keep their foot on the gas to keep building momentum. Why? Because they are 9 and 12, and they've banked too many losses. They don't have room in the standings to mess around. A couple notes on the bucks. I need to look at the film, but it looked like a rough half-court game for Yannis. like the vast majority of his damage was in transition, and then, like I said, against those

non-Lebron AD lineups, but I need to look back at the film, so I will dig back into that a little bit, so keep an eye on my Twitter feed. And then again, like the Lakers are a good half-court defense or the second-best half-court defense in the league. So with a team that struggles to score in the half-court, like the Bucks, and a player generally struggles to score in the half-court in Yannis against a really good half-court defense, you know, that's kind of, that thing's the kind of thing that's going to happen. But once again, in transition, he was completely unstoppable. I bet you, he's scored on every single runout. I don't even think he played all that well, and he had 47 and

5 on 70% shooting. He is so clearly the best player in the world to me. Chris Middleton, I said that I liked this as a first matchup for him because of the overhelping from the Lakers, which he got some good three-point looks from. He made three out of four-threes, and then the shorter Laker wings. I gave him good options to shoot over the top. He had 17 points and 27 minutes, and I thought his playmaking was the most impressive thing that I saw tonight. And I think that's really going to help the Bucks in their half-court offense moving forward. He finished with seven assists. You know, like as a Bucks fan, the way you got to look back at this is like just tip the cap to LeBron and AD. Because look, how did the Lakers win the 2020 title? They won it because LeBron was the best

player in the world. Anthony Davis was something like the fourth or fifth best player in the world. Two top five players playing at the top of their games, you're going to have a really hard time beating them when they're like that. Now, one of the reasons why I don't have the Lakers as my championship favorite, and instead I have, you know, the Warriors Bucks and Celtics is because I trust Janice and Drew and Chris to be good almost every single night. And I trust Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum to be good almost every single night. And I trust Steph Curry and those guys to be good every single night. Like, this is the first time in a long time that LeBron and AD have been this dominant together. I would need to see them demonstrate that over months.

and months for me to really believe in the ultimate ceiling of the Lakers. So as a Bucks fan, you just got to tip your cat. You know, LeBron and AD came in tonight, and they both played like top five players, and you got beat, and it was this close anyway, in spite of all of that, and that just goes to show you how good your team is, and so you've got to be feeling good about where you are. All right, guys, that's all I have for tonight. As always, I sincerely appreciate your support.

I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your weekend, and I will see you on Monday. The Volume. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. On Humor Me with Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel

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