The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Jokic & Nuggets big win vs. Celtics, Ja Morant & Grizzlies bully Pelicans & Kings

Episode Date: January 3, 2023

Jason Timpf reacts to the Denver Nuggets' 123-111 win over Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics and shares how Nikola Jokic was able to dominate one of the NBA's best defenses. Later, he discusses Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies going 2-0 over the weekend against the Pelicans and Kings and debates how dangerous Memphis will be in the playoffs. #volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Dial 1-8778-8-Hope-N-Y or text HopeN-Y to 467-369 in New York. Call 1-800-5-22-4-7-0 in Wyoming or visit www.1-800 gambler.net in West Virginia. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by FanDuel here at the volume. Happy Monday, everybody, and happy New Year. This will be the first full calendar year with Hoops Tonight being a... existence. February 1st will actually be one year since we started doing this. Today we're going to be covering the Denver Nuggets and the Memphis Grizzlies. The Nuggets beat the Celtics last night to showdown of the MVP's.

The Celtics had come in winning four games in a row, so it was a really good challenge for Denver, and boy, did they rise to the occasion. And then the Memphis Grizzlies, for all the trash that we talked about them losing four games to Western Conference teams in 10 days, they did win back to back this weekend against two Western Conference playoff teams that have been playing very good basketball lately. So a lot of nuggets and grislies today. Just to give you guys an idea of the schedule for the rest of the week, tomorrow we're going to be doing a video that's going to break down tonight's game. So the Monday night slate you'll see on the feeds tomorrow.

Thursday night after Celtics Mavs will be going live on AMP doing a show there and also breaking down some of the Wednesday night slate. And then Friday night I'll be staying up late to record. It probably won't go on the feeds until Saturday morning. but keep an eye on the feed Saturday morning for a breakdown of Friday nights games as well. 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 the last but not least, for whatever reason, you guys miss one of these shows

and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish. You can find them wherever you get your podcasts under hoops tonight. All right, let's talk some basketball. So the Celtics had come in winning four games in a row. That kind of erased all the memory from that ugly stretch where I think they lost five out of six games. And there were some impressive wins in there. They beat the Minnesota Timberwolves. They beat the Bucks on Christmas Day.

And they beat the Clippers. That was a super interesting game that I watched, that I wanted to talk a little bit about. Kwai Leonard and Paul George were both awesome. And Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown just outplayed them. And the Clippers actually led early in the fourth quarter, and Jalen Brown just completely took the game over. Started with a little fadeaway,

but then he just started getting downhill to the rim and built a double-digit lead, and they never looked back. A little side note on the Clippers, they went two and three on their East Coast road trip, despite Kauai Leonard and Paul George playing some really good basketball. Kaui Leonard is back to that absurd level of efficiency that we've grown accustomed to seeing from him when he's healthy. But the Clippers' defense has fallen up.

And it's kind of an interesting conundrum because if you remember at the beginning of the year, their offense was horrific. But man, they were locking in and they were getting stops. On the five-game road trip, the Clippers gave up 120 points per 100 possessions, which was 27th in the league over that span. So the Clippers are kind of in this weird spot where they got guys playing well. They're starting to get healthy, but the defense has fallen off. And so they're not kind of notching the wins that you want there.

But the Celtics came in riding hot, feeling good about themselves, and a really good challenge for a Nuggets team that needed a signature win. And not only that, it's kind of a bad matchup. You know, when you think about the types of teams that typically give the Nuggets trouble, it's teams with stretch bigs and lots of quickness that can dribble. like driving kick teams, teams are going to force Yokic to guard in space, which can really expose their defense, which has consistently had problems with that over the year. In fact, the Celtics have won six had one, six consecutive games against the Denver Nuggets spanning the last

three years. So this particular matchup has been problematic for the Nuggets on a bunch of different levels, and Jamal Murray was out. But despite all of that, Denver just completely handled them. They led by double digits for about half the game. They led by as much as 18. They responded to every major Boston run. Nicola Yokic finished with 30, 12, and 12 on 13 shots with zero turnovers. Al Horford and Grant Williams were completely helpless in isolation. Every time they doubled him, he made them pay, still got his 30. It's just a ridiculous game.

He was plus 14. This is a wild stat for your Nuggets fans. Nicola Yokic has logged a positive, excuse me, a negative plus minus, meaning he lost his minutes. in just eight of the games he's played this year. He's played in 33 games. So the Nuggets are either winning or tying Yokic's minutes in what's at, 25 of their 33 games this year?

That's insane. For the season, the Nuggets are plus 278 with Yokch on the floor, which is the best mark for any individual player in the league. Second best is Jason Tatum at plus 241, so that's why it's a nice little MVP showdown for you. You know, we've talked a lot about Yokch lately, and I focused a lot in our last Nuggets video on his base and how that affects him as an isolation player

and him winning physical confrontations in the post by knocking players off balance before they can knock him off balance. I don't want to talk about that today. When I was watching the film this morning, there was one particular concept that was really standing out to me. And it's the concept of advantages in basketball. Yokic has a very firm grasp of advantage basketball. In a game of basketball, you might have,

100-something possessions, right? Call it 100 possessions for the sake of it being easy math. During those 100 possessions, there are going to be really easy plays, maybe a run-out dunk, or an easy backdoor cut for a layup, and then they're going to be really hard plays. You know, late-clock situation, fantastic defense,

and you need someone to make a play to rise up and knock down a tough shot. And then everything in between, and all of those 100 possessions are going to fall somewhere on that spectrum. But as a team, the more you can avoid the hard plays and target and capitalize on the easy plays, the better chance you have of being successful offensively on a night in and night out basis.

So you have to hunt those easy opportunities when they're there. And then that same idea works in reverse on the defensive end of the floor. If you can take away as many of the easy opportunities as possible, you can force teams to beat you the hard way, which over a large sample size, like 100 possessions, you give yourself a really good chance to win. So I wanted to give a couple of specific examples from this game to break that down. So third quarter, about eight and a half minutes left. Nicola Yokic is rumbling up the floor in transition, and KCP is on the left way.

And Jason Tatum is guarding KCP, and Jason Tatum is sitting in the gap. So Tatum is basically not paying super close attention to KCP, but he's not doubling either. He's just kind of being lazy. He's taking a possession, not taking a possession off, so to speak, but he's relaxing, so to speak, until he has an opportunity to be more impactful, like if KCP got the ball, if he actually needed to hard double or to rotate or anything like that. Yokic just throws the ball to KCP. Just throws it to him on the wing.

Tatum is out of position, so KCP just rips through to the left and blows by Tatum because Tatum's in no man's land in the gap, and KCP draws help, throws a skip pass to Bruce Brown in the corner who knocks down a three. By the way, Bruce Brown just continues to shoot the laces off the basketball. he made four threes against Boston last night. He's 41% on 3.3, 3.3 points per game this year. He did shoot over 40% last year in Brooklyn, too, but it was much lower volume. But again, like on that possession, there's no reason to run a set.

There's no reason to run an action, like an inverted pick and roll or a dribble handoff or anything like that. You run actions to get an advantage. And if KCP has an advantage already because Tatum is sleeping, then just throw the pass. That's an easy opportunity that's there. If you look off that opportunity, now you have to run an action. Now you have to run a set against Boston set half-core defense, and it might be tougher. That's targeting a hard opportunity over targeting the easy opportunity.

Fast forward a couple minutes. Six and a half minutes left in the third. It's a regular possession. Boston has the ball. Jason Tatea misses a tough little pull-up two-point shot. But it's not a transition opportunity. They miss the shot. Denver secures the rebound.

Everybody moves down to the other end of the floor. In transition, Boston just, because they're being sloppy, forgets to guard KCP in the left corner. Yokic just dribbles the ball up the floor, swing pass up to KCP, knocks down a three. Three minutes later, three and a half minutes left in the third quarter, Yokic flashes to the middle of the floor and catches kind of at the top of the key. Robert Williams is with him, but he's kind of trailing behind, so Yokic just takes like one dribble closer. Now he's past the free throw line, but all he's doing is just kind of examining what's going on around him on the floor. and Derek White is guarding Michael Porter Jr. and he falls asleep. And Michael Porter Jr. just backcuts him.

Wasn't a set, wasn't a play, wasn't anything. Michael Porter Jr., Derek White just forgot to guard it. And Yokic just hits him, and he makes a layup. Every single time you aren't doing the exact right thing on defense, with where you're supposed to be on the floor, Yokic will burn you for that advantage situation. Again, when we're talking about lower-level players, role players in the end. NBA. KCP, all the guys we just mentioned, KCP, Michael Porter Jr., Bruce Brown. In a half-court set, when defenses are locked in and the easy stuff isn't there,

those guys are going to struggle to create against a set defense, because that's not what they're best at. But when you give them an advantage, they can make plays. I talked about this when I covered KCP for the Lakers. He's one of the best close-out attackers in the league. He's got a great one-drable pull-up. Obviously, he's a lights-out three-point shooter, but he's got a great one drum a pull-up, he's an outstanding athlete to extend all the way to the rim because he's such a good one-legged leaper, and he can make kickout passes. So if Tatum's not going to, if Tatum's going to play off of him into the gap, a swing pass to KCP is a really high percentage possession.

Bruce Brown, obviously, set defense, you need him to create shots, he's not going to be an all-star. But the dudes turn himself into a damn good spot of shooter, short role player, dunker spot guy. If you give him advantages, he's going to score. And then the same goes for Michael Porter Jr. The dude can't dribble the basketball. But if you leave him open, he's probably the best up and down

catch and shoot shooter that we have in the league right now. Or at least he's in that conversation. So when you give flawed players advantages, they can beat you. And what makes Yokic so dominant is his ability to target and spot those advantages and make teams pay. A huge part of this is his transition attack.

This is why, you know, you guys know, you guys know coming into the season, I had Yokic and Embed down at, I think, 7 and 8 in my player rankings. And a big part of that was I talked about the fundamental reasons why I dislike slow-footed bigs. One, they struggle to guard in space. So when you put them in driving kick situations or when they have to guard out on the perimeter, they can struggle. But two, bigs don't like to run in transition. They jog up and down the floor, which causes a boatload of problems when the game takes on an open floor feel, when it's transitioned back and forth, and the pace goes up. The stuff with guarding in space is still true with Yokic.

Like, he's going to struggle to guard ball handlers that pull him out to the three-point line. That goes without saying, and we'll see if he can overcome that in this playoff run. But he has turned himself into an excellent transition big. I'm not even talking about the live ball stuff. We've talked about that to death. Yokic gets the rebound. He's bringing the ball up the floor. He's so good at those kick-ahead passes and finding those open opportunities up the floor.

I'm talking about when he doesn't have the ball. Watch the film. When a shot goes up and he misses. Or when the other team shoots and one of his teammates gets a rebound, he drops his head and he sprints like hell up the floor. He sprints better up and down the floor in terms of commitment than most of the stars in the league, counting guards and wings. You can tell he understands and has identified

that one of the ways you can beat him, like many bigger players in the league, is by beating him up and down the floor in transition, and he has no interest in giving those opportunities to you. So on the defensive end, him sprinting back takes away those transition opportunities, but on the other end of the floor, when he capitalizes on a possession where maybe Al Horford doesn't run,

or Robert Williams doesn't run, or Anthony Davis doesn't run, or any of the other bigs around the league, what happens? He gets a cross-match, because in transition defense, you guard the closest guy, not your guy, because usually it's a question of numbers and how many players you have back. How many times in that game last night did you see Yokic just sprint up the floor,

grab Derek White in a transition cross match, and just quickly seal and demand the basketball? And there's a huge difference between the way you have to double team that and the way you double team in a half-court set. If Horford is on Yokic, it's a planned double team where you're expecting, you're basically simplifying the defender's job. You're telling Al Horford, hey, you can sit on that left shoulder because we're going to help right when he puts the ball on the ground or when he gathers the ball from the right side.

It's very planned and you've got a big guy guarding Yokic and there's usually another bigger player that's coming over to double. When it's Derek White on Yokic, it's a panic double. Derek White's not holding him in any spot. Like Al Horford, if you simplify his job, it's like, okay, I don't have to guard Yokic. I just have to force him middle. That's something that's achievable. Derek White's not going to do anything with Yokic in any capacity.

Like even if you attack the basketball, he's so damn strong with the basketball, he's just going to rip it up over his head and go up and finish. So just by sprinting the floor and drawing those cross-matches, he forces these panic double teams that lead to wide-open shots. All of this is why Denver's offense looks so easy all the time. They hunt easy opportunities when they're of events. Lots of NBA teams play tough basketball. They walk the ball at the floor.

Watch the Dallas Mavericks once. And I have to, every time I was joking, I went on with a buddy my combo, Andrew Slollop, who covers the league as well earlier this morning. And we were talking about how, you know, as much as I have to watch the Mavericks as part of my job. And I love Luca as an individual player, but that team is my least favorite watch in the league because every single one of their games looks exactly the same. And they walk the ball up the floor and they play hard basketball.

They don't hunt easy opportunities when they're available. It's hard half-court basketball. They're good at it, but they don't hunt those easy opportunities. And that's kind of a fundamental difference between a team like Denver and Dallas. I wanted to shout out Aaron Gordon for a second because it's funny. When he came into the league, he was kind of like a tweener. And then after a couple years there towards the end in Orlando, he's really trying to become more of like a wing and he's doing a lot of stuff off the dribble.

But here in Denver, he's found his role as a big man. And it's not just in the screen and roll. Obviously, like he had a screen and roll, inverted pick and roll with Yokic yesterday, where Yokic threw it up and he had a reverse dunk. And we've talked a lot about the stuff that he does in the dunker spot, right? Like finding little soft spots in the defense and elevating and dunking behind his head or things along those lines. There was a play in this game.

This is legit big man, higher level big man stuff. It was a regular half court possession where Yokich brought the ball up the floor. And Aaron Gordon has Jalen Brown on him. who is one of the better wing defenders in the league. And he just did that LeBron seal. Have you guys ever seen that LeBron seal where it's like he likes his size advantage? So he just buries him under the basket. And then he'll just get an easy,

LeBron will get two or three easy layups a game like that. Aaron Gordon just buried Jailen Brown under the basket. Jailen Brown at the last second tried to front him. Yokic just perfectly led him over the top to the basket. You know, it's funny. With Yokic more of an offensive initiator operating a lot out of the top of the key, Aaron Gordon's game kind of fits that mold of more of a rim-running center type of

player with his Denver team. And he has the athletic tools. I think he's like 6-10, super long arms, great dunker from underneath the basket. But he also has the higher level skill that gives him the versatility to do more than most bigs do, like he's having a great season shooting the three. He can, on occasion, bail out of possession with shot making at the end because he did have a lot of time practicing being a traditional wing initiator when he was in Orlando. But it's kind of funny because he's basically like a hybrid between a big man and a wing,

and that ironically is like the perfect fit alongside Yokic in Denver. Letting Jeremy Grant go was a big risk, and Jeremy Grant's been great. So you could talk yourself into that being a mistake, but it hasn't been. It's paid off because Aaron Gordon's bigger physical profile has made him actually a better fit. with his Denver team. 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 Cliverts 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 Clivert Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, 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 tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of to stuff to bowl your mind on the iHeart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcast um quick notes on boston they're still playing good ball i don't want to go too negative here they did have an impressive four game streak right before this they still have the best record in basketball although they're only one and a half games up now on denver um but they play an arrogant brand of basketball i was really annoyed watching them on film this morning not to rain on denver's parade here but boston's defense was atrocious in this game

countless mistakes in transition. Talked about them failing to get matched up on KCP, giving up cross-matches because guys aren't running up and down the floor. They botched a bunch of basic screening actions. Like, there was a play in the early third quarter. Yolkich has the ball at the top of the key. Jason Tatum is guarding Michael Porter Jr. in the right corner. Marcus Smart is guarding Bruce Brown on the right wing.

Bruce Brown just runs down and sets a pin down for Michael Porter Jr. Michael Porter Jr. comes up. Smart stays home because he thinks that Tatum's supposed to fight through. Tatum stays because he thinks it's a switch. Wide open three for Michael Porter Jr. That's just sloppy. That's just not coming into a big game against the best team in the Western Conference playing really good basketball and not bringing the appropriate focus.

Boston's defense has been really good lately for the record. They were second in defensive rating in December, but this is another big game, a monumentally important. game against the best team in the West on the road, a chance to send a clear message, and they came in unfocused with a less than great effort. And that's what irritates me the most about the Celtics. They behave like a team that is a multi-time champion when they've never won a championship. You guys know how much I like this Celtics roster.

I actually think top to bottom, they're the most talented roster in the league. I think Tatum and Brown are the best duo in the league. There's a whole lot to get excited about as a Celtics fan as you're looking at that roster. but I came into the season with them third in my list of championship contenders behind Golden State in Milwaukee, and I still have them third. And it's because I do not trust them to put four focused rounds of basketball together. And I hate to break it to you, but the competition's better this year than it was last year. The level of play they brought last year was good enough to get to the finals and lose to the Warriors.

It will not be good enough to get to the finals this year. Not with Chris Middleton coming back. not with some of the other better teams in the Eastern Conference that have Cleveland's better, Philly's better. Yeah, like the top three opponents they will have to face out of the Eastern Conference this year are better than the top three they had to face last year. That's just a fact. So they better get it together.

You know, and that's why I kept saying, even after that Golden State game, like I, the only thing that can change my mind about Boston and their approach is to watch them play in high-stakes environments with the appropriate focus, which I just not have seen them do. and this is the second time this season in a huge game against a Western Conference opponent of where they just where they just came in sloppy. All right, moving on to Memphis. So they were 2-0 on a nice little weekend back-to-back against the Pelicans and the Kings.

They're actually on a three-game winning streak because they beat Toronto on the road last Thursday, but I didn't watch that particular game, but I did watch both of the weekend games. They did a number on the Pelicans, just complete physical domination. We can talk about the physical play of the front line and we did a lot of that last week or two weeks ago with uh jaron jackson junior and stephen adams in terms of their defensive presence on both an offensive presence on the glass protecting the paint things along those lines but i want to talk about their wings for a second because their wings are super physical as well like desmond bane and dylan brooks and even a little bit of david roddy these are big

strong trunky low center of gravity wings and if you look at the pelicans they're very thin on the perimeter see jimicollum trey irb jones these are extremely talented players with a lot of length in athleticism, but they are thin. And the Grizzlies bullied them in this game with ball pressure and with physicality off the ball, stopping them from getting to their spots. Again, I always talk about this. Basketball is a contact sport, and the weight room is one of the most overlooked things for young players in the basketball world.

They forced 19 turnovers. The Pelicans shot just 35% from the field and 27% from three. The front court also did a number on Zion, held him to 6 for 16 with one assist in nine turnovers, although Zion did have some super impressive drives to the basket in this game. Like, when he did go through that physical Grizzlies line to get to the basket, it was really impressive to behold. The game was actually relatively close through three quarters on the strength of New Orleans getting to the foul line a million times. But Jared Jackson completely took over the fourth quarter that he rescued a possession on a baseline out of bounds

with like two and a half seconds left on the shot clock by banking in a three. And then from there, he just lit up with confidence and just started bullying. his way to the rim. He bullied Jackson Hayes all the way to the basket for a lefty layup. He had another lefty driving layup on Zion. He beat Zion on a deep seal for a dunk, and then he beat Hernam Gomez with the spin move back to his right hand on the right side of the room. All of those baskets were in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter. Then the Gris were up 17, the game was basically over at that point. Interesting, that lineup that they killed the pelicans with to start the third had Brandon Clark and Jaron Jackson on the floor at the same

time, which was a really interesting combination of rim protection with the two of them just flying around. It's kind of terrifying to watch. I started digging into the lineup data because I was curious. Ironically, that pairing hasn't been that great this season. I mean, they've been good. They're plus four net. So outscoring teams by four points per 100 possessions over about a 500 possession sample size, but only a 107 defensive rating, which surprised me. I thought it would be a little bit better. But that lineup was great against New Orleans. Then they turned around in Bullied Sacramento, 64 to 44 in the paint in that game, 57 to 47 on the glass, 21 offensive rebounds on their way to a 118 to 108 win over Sacramento. John Morant was fantastic, 35, 8, and 5.

Really was playing his ass off in the third quarter as Memphis was starting to pull away. You know, I've mentioned with John Morant, we talked about his trash talk a little bit last week. I want to be clear, like, I love the mental makeup of that kid. Obviously, I'm not a huge fan of trash talk, and we talked about that. that's a whole other separate conversation. But in terms of his competitive nature in what he's willing to do in terms of just relentless effort

to try to win basketball games, I find him to be one of the most likable players in the league. You know, we had a lot of fun at the expense of Memphis for losing four out of five against Western Conference teams after Joss said that he's not scared of anybody in the West, but quietly, they've now won two straight against Western Conference playoff teams. In Sacramento and New Orleans,

we're both playing really good basketball. And those games, I mean, they were close, for three quarters, but they really pulled away in the fourth quarter of those games. I want to zoom in on Jaron Jackson Jr. for a second, though, because we've talked a lot about other Grizzlies over the course the last couple of weeks. Jared Jackson had nine blocks over the weekend. Obviously, he had the monster fourth quarter against Zion. The Grizzlies were plus 29 in his shifts over the weekend. We talked about how close those two games were really on the surface. His little fourth quarter bursts of

two-way basketball been a huge part of why they've been able to pull away in these games. We talked a little bit about his ambidextrous rim protection in our last Grizzlies video, his willingness to block with both hands, which just gives him more range around the rim. But what I want to zoom in today is on Jaron Jackson's offense, because that was how he stole that Pelicans game. So first of all, he's made a three in all but two games this season. He's shooting a respectable 35% on 4.3, three-point attempts per game this year. That's all about that spacing stuff and those five-out concepts that we talk about. It also credibly allows them to play a lot of two big lineups, whether that's

Jaron Jackson alongside Brandon Clark or Jaron Jackson alongside Stephen Adams. That's a huge part of how they dominate teams on the offensive glass and on the defensive glass and just in general with physicality and protecting the rim. The only way that works is if Jaron Jackson offensively can functionally act as a wing, which he can do. And the other big part of that is what he can do in isolation. And this is Bully Ball, Isso. I remember he talks a lot about this last year, how Jaron was kind of out of control a little bit,

just trying to run people over on his way to the rim. and I was worried about whether or not it would translate to the playoffs, but it did. And I was worried more from the standpoint of court vision. You know, he tends to drop his head, not really see what's happening around him and just plow through people. Like, I think he's only passed out of ISO once this entire season when I was looking at the data earlier today. But in the playoffs, for whatever reason, it just didn't come back to bite him.

And he actually had a really productive, offensive playoff run. But this year he's doing it again. Again, that's what won the game against the Pelicans on Saturday night. It really comes down to he's a supreme athlete with a lot of strength, but he also can credibly dribble the basketball, which allows him to actually functionally get to his spots in ISO. Like him in that game against the Pelicans after he makes the three. Just staring at Jared Jackson, or excuse me,

staring at Jackson Hayes and hitting him with the dribble move to get that little lefty driving lane and then just plowing through the driving lane to get all the way to the basket. There's got to be some credible ball handling there. Jaron's averaging 1.39 points per possession in ISO this year. Check this. That is sixth in the league among players who have attempted at least 10 ISOs this year. The Grizzlies are young and they're immature and they have a lot to learn in order to be more consistent, which is typical for young basketball team. So I'm not talking trash. It's just the reality. And they're specifically having some

struggles traveling with that physicality when they go on the road. But they are ridiculously talented. and winning games in Memphis, especially when we get into the playoffs. Like the physicality that they play with at home, the way they feed off that home crowd, that's going to give them a chance in any playoff series because it's just going to be really hard to beat them at their place. All right, guys, that is all I have for today. You guys know the drill. Remember tomorrow we're going to be breaking down Monday night's games live on Thursday after, I think it's Celtics Mavs. And then Friday night, I'll upload a recording.

They'll probably get uploaded on Saturday morning breaking down the Friday night games. Always, I sincerely appreciate your support, and I'll see you next time. The Volume. 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. 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.

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