The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Jokic unstoppable vs. Blazers, Joel Embiid drops 41, Nets struggle without Durant

Episode Date: January 19, 2023

Jason Timpf reacts to the Denver Nuggets' 122-113 win over Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers and breaks down how Nikola Jokic so effortlessly had a 36-point triple double. He later discusses Joel Embiid and the Philadelphia 76ers' 120-110 win over Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers. Is Philly a legitimate NBA Finals threat? And what is holding back the Clippers from being one of the NBA's best teams? Lastly, Jason reacts to the Nets' struggles without Kevin Durant. #volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We've made it halfway through the week. Today we're going to be covering Nuggets Blazers and talking a lot about Nicola Yokic in the easy way that he dominates basketball games. And then we're also going to be talking about the Philadelphia 76ers. going into L.A. and beating the Clippers. And then I told you guys how I was going to start doing more quick hitters. We have three more quick hitters at the end of this show. John Wall, thinking the 2017 Wizards would have beat LeBron's Cavs.

Definitely have some thoughts there. JJ Reddick and a real basketball work ethic. I wanted to talk about that for a second. And then everyone's acting all surprised that the Nets suck without KD, which is completely absurd to me. So I wanted to share some thoughts on that as well. And then tomorrow night, we're going to be going live immediately after the final buzzer. of Warrior Celtics,

an excellent opportunity for the Warriors to send a message on the road in Boston tomorrow night. 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 for whatever reason you guys miss one of these videos and you can't get 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 this game was with the Blazers and the Nuggets was a little close through about half, but Denver really took over in the second half.

I ended up winning 122 to 113. It's kind of a funny game to watch because anytime you get two players like Dame and Yokic, now Yokic is way better than Dame, but those two players are two players where you're primarily talking about their offensive impact. Like Yokic is more of like an average defensive player. Dame Lillard is a bad defensive player, so they're going to struggle to guard each other. And they kept putting each other in actions and it was kind of funny watching how of them could guard each other. Anytime Yokic had to come out to the level of the screen, Lillard was getting by him off the dribble or if he didn't get out there, he's hitting pull-up jump shots. And then on the other end of the floor, Yokic is running these like inverted pick

and rolls. And literally Dame is just trying to hedge out and switch and do all this hilarious stuff. He just looks completely helpless trying to guard Yokic in actions, which is just kind of the funny thing you're going to see when you see two players of this particular archetype go at each other. But to Denver's credit, they're really locked in defensively in the second half. particularly I thought Bruce Brown did a really nice job switching on to Dame and making his shots more difficult, which inevitably led to him missing some, which gave Denver an opportunity to build a lead. We're going to talk about Denver's defense here in a minute, but I want to talk about Yokic because I thought this game in particular was a perfect example of something I've been saying about him all season.

So he finished the game with 36, 12, and 10, but he was just 13 for 14 from the field. And the only shot he missed was an early second half three in the right corner where the shot clock was winding down and he had to like literally take a running, spinning three in the corner that had very little chance of going in. But he was 13 for 13 outside of that shot. And one of the things I've been talking about a lot this season is that Yokic is the master of easy basketball. I think it's a huge part of why he's so polarizing and why so many people struggle to see his value. They see it look so easy. They don't see anything truly exceptional, and so they undervalue the things that he does on the court. So what I wanted to do is go basket for basket through Yokic's knight to kind of demonstrate to you guys how Yokic can put together a 13 for 14 night for 36 points.

So first of all, he had two offensive rebound putbacks. There was one where Jamal Murray is coming off the screen. Drew Eubanks is up at the level of the screen trying to contest the shot. Shot goes up. Yokich just sprints to the front. of the rim and then taps it in. So two offensive rebound putbacks, that's four points. I had a coach at Arizona Christian University, the last school that I played at when I was in college. His name was Jeff Rudder, excellent basketball coach. He's still there. And one of the things you used to always say

to me was, hey, you can always get 12 points a game. If once a half you get two free throws, either by hard cutting to the basket or setting good screens or crashing the offensive glass, a transition layup just by sprinting the floor and a putback, just by crashing the offensive glass, getting the ball, and putting it back into the basket. If you do each of those things once per half, you can average 12 points a game. And it was essentially his way of saying, like, hey, if you're interested in box score numbers, and he'd say this to all of the players on the team. But he's like, if you're interested in box score numbers, this is an easy way to load up the box score without having to look for your shot within the offense. And for me, in particular, that year, it was an important message for me

because I was playing with two All-American guards. In the previous year, I was in all-conference score. So, like, I was trying to fit as a role alongside two of the best guards in the country, and I needed to look to impact the game in ways that went beyond my own scoring. And so that message always resonated with me. And simple things like Nicola Yokic just battling for offensive rebound putbacks, that pumps up your stats a little bit. I wanted to dig a little bit deeper into this.

So everything for Yokic was in the flow of the offense, specifically 28. of Yokic's 36 points or in the flow of the offense. So check this out. So he had four points cutting back door. So on putbacks like we talked about earlier. Then he had five points in spot-up situations. There was a couple of plays where he caught the ball in the three-point line. Nurkich was sprinting out at him and he just drove around him and drew fouls.

And he made three of the four free throws. And then there was another play in the second half where he picked him pop to the left wing. And then Josh Hart closed out on him and he just drove to the middle and made like a little floater in the lane. He also had four points in transition. There was one where Nurkich took a three and Yokic just ran by him. And then there was another player where a different blazer took a shot and Yokic just sprinted down the floor past Nerkich and got a layup. This is something I've been crediting Yokch for all season. He's still not a great transition defender, but he's trying his ass off to run up and down the floor.

And he's making a lot of plays that way. He had seven points just as a roll man. Nice little floater on a pocket pass from Jamal Murray, a pick and pop three from Jamal Murray. super high percentage shots. And there was a really cool play in the second half where Aaron Gordon and Nicola Yokic ran a ball screen at the top of the key. And on the play, Nurkich switched out onto Aaron Gordon. And so Jeremy Grant was guarding Yokic.

And as Gordon was trying to work off the dribble on Nurkich, Yokic just pinned Jeremy Grant on his left hip and provided an opening at the rim. So when Gordon got to the left and drove to the basket, he just had an easy little drop pass to Yokic, who was still holding off Jeremy Grant catches the ball with his right hand and just feeds it into the rim in one solid motion. Just super, super easy stuff in pick and roll. He had four points just cutting by Yusuf Nurkich. Both plays were giving goes, starting at the top of the key, swing pass, on the swing

pass, just sprint to the front of the rim. It's a thing that usually happens with defensive players that when their player passes the ball, they usually step up out of their stance as an opportunity to relax and save energy. That's a great time to cut. That's why Steph Curry and other guys who are great offball players have a ton of success. They wait and they wait for you to relax and then that's when they move. And it's usually right after they give up the basketball. That's four points just by cutting to the basket.

He had two points on a little pin down jumper starting on the block. Bruce down, Brown goes down and sets a pin down, jogs up to the free throw line. Nerkich gets caught on the screen. Yokic just turns around and shoots a free throw basically. And he's going to make 80% of those when he's that open, right? And then there was two points where Dame fouled him after he grabbed a defensive rebound. So literally just contested a shot from Dame, got a miss, held onto the rebound, and Dame hacked him. That's 28 points without a single high difficulty shot attempt.

28 points. And that's stuff that any NBA player that plays that position can do. Any big can sprint up and down the floor. Any big can learn how to make little pop shots and floaters in the lane. That's what makes Yokic so unique is he's got the skill, don't get me wrong, but he doesn't make it more complicated than it needs to be. He thrives by hunting down the easy opportunities on a basketball court. Even his post-ups and ISOs were easy.

So he added eight additional points in post-ups and ISOs. There was a tough shot, one in particular where he isoed Nurkich in the first half and he took like a spinning hook shot in the lane. Yeah, it's a tough shot. That's a superstar play. That's what you hope for from Yokic. But the other two baskets, they were a post up on Lillard where Lillard got switched on to him, and he just sealed him under the basket. Entry pass, catch, finish, easy basketball. And then in the second half on the right wing, he had a little face-up jumper on Nerkich, where Nirkich was basically conceding him the shot because he was open.

And so that in a nutshell, I wanted to go through all those baskets because that in a nutshell is why I think Nikola Yokic is so polarizing. people don't see anything exceptional. You know, there's the highlight passes from here and then. There's the tough one-legged fade away every once in a while, but everything really kind of looks easy. And I think that that just goes over a lot of people's heads. But you don't get bonus points in basketball for Flair.

Two points, two-pointers are worth two points, threes are worth three, and free throws are worth one. It's that simple. It doesn't seem like Yokic is dominating a lot of games to people, but you look up and it's 30, 10, and 10 for Yokic and the Nuggets win. And that fundamentally is all that matters. And it doesn't matter that he's not hitting all the crazy tough jump shots that, you know, Joe L. Embedit is hitting.

It doesn't matter that he's demonstrating the high-level shot-making that you're seeing from guys like Kevin Durant and LeBron James or Jason Tatum. It doesn't matter because he's so damn big and strong that he can get these easy shots and he just knows how to hunt those easy shots. Nicola Yokic this year is averaging 25, 11, and 10, and the nuggets are plus 367 in his minutes, which is the best individual plus minus in the entire league. So like honestly, Yokic fans should just be running around town

or, you know, running around the internet, just screaming scoreboard at the top of their lungs because that's all that matters. Who cares what you think he looks like? Who cares that he doesn't make the same number of highlight plays as some of his peers around the league. He puts up the numbers, the team wins all of his shifts, and he's winning on the scoreboard better than any NBA player in the league this year.

One last note on this particular game that stuck out to me. I wanted to shout out Mike Malone for just the overall level of offensive organization he's implemented. Everyone is always in the right place. When we look at the Nuggets, we focus a lot on the on-ball actions, right? We look at Murray-Yokch-Pick-and-rolls. We look at Yolkich-Murie-Picking rolls. We look at Bruce Brown, you know, Yokch's pick and rolls. We look at all these different things.

But the reality is, is there's a five-man unit out there that's moving on all these possessions. And we don't give enough credit to guys like KCP and Michael Porter Jr. For always relocating to the perfect spot to give Yokic an opportunity for a kickout. And then a lot of that credit goes to Mike Malone as well. And then Aaron Gordon is just so good at cutting and finding these little soft spots around the rim for him to find quick finishes. They're a well-oiled machine. And that's why they're the second best offense in the least. league. Now, I said before the season, I expected them to be the best offensive in the

league, but they're one-tenth of a point per 100 possession behind Boston, so they've got a little bit of work to do to make me right. And then lastly, big picture with the Nuggets. Last night was rough defensively in the first half, but they were really good defensively in the second half. The Nuggets are third in defensive rating over their last 15 games, and they have now moved up to 17th for the season. Now, if you guys remember before the season, I said that Denver is so damn good offensively that I don't necessarily think they need to be a top 10 defense. But I do think they need to be within 10 to 15 and closer to 10 if possible. And so, you know, and again, I know it's like, oh, who cares? We've been playing defensive late. But the reason why I care about the full season is

there are lots of examples in the NBA of teams for 10, 15 games playing hard and then letting go of the rope on that end of the floor. You know, the Lakers defended incredibly well to start the season and then immediately stopped, even with Anthony Davis. So it's one of those things where like I look at the big picture of the season defensive rating because that tells me over an 82 game sample size, if you're top 10 in defense or for the nuggets, if you're between 10 and 15, that tells me that you put in a good deal of effort and focus to establishing defensive habits and over the course of that 82 game season, you did better than half the teams in the league. that is going to be an indicator to me that when the shit hits the fan in the playoffs,

you've got enough of a backbone of habits and work ethic that you're going to lock in defensively, and that will carry you through spurts when your offense doesn't work. So obviously trending in the right direction, but I'd like to see a little bit more, another 10, 15 games of them playing at this level. Then their defensive rating will click up to 13th, 12th in the league. Then we can start to really look at the nuggets as a bona fide top-tier championship contender. 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, Cliver 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.

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Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.

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All right, moving on to the Sixers and the Clippers. This was a one-point game at the end of the third quarter, and then Tyreys Maxi just completely took over the fourth quarter. He started with a ridiculous step-back three over Nicholas Batum, and then he had two threes against Moses Brown in drop coverage when he was too far behind the screen. Those three pull-up threes basically built the initial margin that determined the outcome of this game,

because suddenly you look up and you're down by 9 or 10, and now James Hardin and Joel and B. come in the game, and it's basically over at that point. You know, we always look at Tyrese as the transition threat. He's one of the best speed guards in the league, but he's actually turned himself into a really great shooter, particularly off the dribble. This year, he's shooting 39% on 6.3 pull-up jumpers per game.

Now, that seems a little low, but he was over 40% last year. I expect him to finish over 40% this year. He just shot terribly in the first several games when he came back from his foot injury, which is to be expected, because like I always say, pull-up jump shooting and all the skill areas of basketball have to be tuned in. You have to build your rhythm, establish that touch, and dial everything in. And so that's why I'm not overly concerned about that.

But even with that, 39% on 6.3 pull-up jumpers per game is great. I mean, to give you an example, like guys like LeBron James and Jason Tatum are in the low 30s. So he's doing really well there. Tyris Maxie is my favorite example to push as far as me and my take that I've had all season that I think Philly has the most talented top four in the NBA. Think about your bench group for whatever team that you root for. Think about the guys that are running your bench lineups. A lot of teams have to keep one of their superstars on the floor at all costs

at the expense of ever having them on the floor together or not having them on the floor together that much because they don't have much talent to run bench groups. A lot of these groups, it's like you're throwing Tyrese Maxi out there with two really good shooters like Shake Milton and George's Neing and Matisse Thibel to help on the defensive end of the floor. Guys like Montres Harrell who are so good as picking and rolling to the basket and finishing around the rim, they can run a bench group like that without James Hardin or Joelle Embed and buy time for those guys to rest and have a good chance to win those minutes because of how good Tyrese Maxie is offensively. then, you know, all of a sudden you're down 10, and here comes James Hardin and Joe Lambede who are going to wear you out with pick and roll

and you're going to lose. And we haven't even got to Tobias Harris and the capability that he has to create his own shot, defend multiple positions, and do all the things that he can do on a basketball court. I think they are the most talented top four in the NBA, and that's a huge advantage for the Sixers. They're not as deep with talent as teams like Boston,

but they're top-heavy, and that is going to give them a lot of advantages in the playoffs this year. I want to talk a little bit about the Embedde-Harden pick and roll because they absolutely torch the clippers last night with it to close the fourth quarter. The issue there is you can't switch it. You've got to put a giant body on Joelle Embedde.

And that giant body is not going to be able to guard James Harden in an isolation situation. And so what that means is James Hardin almost is guaranteed to get over the top of the screen and get downhill. When he does, that is going to force the screen defender to step up. which is inevitably going to force you to help out of the weak side. And so you're seeing a ton of drop-offs to Embed in that short roll and a lot of good stuff out of that.

To give you some numbers to kind of explain how effective this has been. 25 players in the NBA this year have run at least 500 pick and rolls, including passes. James Hardin is fourth out of 25 in points per possession at 1.1, including passes. And that's helped in large part by Embed in the short role. He's the only player in the league that's logged at least 200. roll man possessions. And what's funny is almost every team is bringing the screen because you can't switch. Like I said, they're bringing that screen defender over. They're taking the ball out of James Harden's hands. And then they're bringing a guy over to tag Embed at the free throw line. And what's

happening there is Embedd is taking and making a ton of quick isolation jump shots in that little short roll spot. It's kind of more of like an ISO than it is a short roll thing, but they're logging it as short roll possessions because it's coming out of a pick and roll. But Joe Lambede is so deadly with that short jump shot right around the free throw line that they're just getting a ton of baskets out of that spot. So to give you an idea of just how effective Embedit has been there at the foul line, on pull-up twos this season, or on twos this season, two-point jump shots that are inside of the three-point line. Joel Embed is 97 for 208, which is 47%.

So when Joel NB catches and shoots that short little jump shot around the free throw line, he's making it half the time. And then when you factor in how many times he's able to draw a foul, when you factor in how many times he's able to beat a guy with a pump fake and get to the rim or draw a foul there, that is just deadly. And the counter there is if you stay with Embed and fight him off of that position, James Hardin's able to get downhill because his defender has to chase him over the top of the screen. So even if you manage to survive that Tyrese Maxi onslaught to start fourth quarters, you have that hardened and beat pick and roll waiting for you to close out the fourth, and that makes them like super scary. And that's why I had Philly, if you guys remember before the season, I had my top tier contenders, which was Golden State, Boston, Milwaukee, and the Clippers.

And I've since dropped the clippers off of that list and I put the bucks into that spot. But before the season, I had the Sixers as the best of the rest. I had them at fifth in the league. and the main reason why was I thought that, you know, Mbid dealt with some health issues last year. James Hardin wasn't in shape for most of last year. I was dealing with hamstring stuff. James Hardin's in better shape this year. Joel Embed, hopefully will be more healthy this year.

I expect the Sixers to be a really tough out in the playoffs, and it comes from the talent of those top four guys. One last note on the Sixers before we move on to the Clippers for a minute. George's Kneying. I talked a lot yesterday when we were talking about the Clippers, about the value of high-end, competent wing shooting. And every single time you'd see last night, like, oh, the clippers were jogging back in transition, and they weren't really matched up super well, and George's Nying catches on the left wing

and just nails a transition three. And you're like, oh, crap, like, we literally can't leave him open. And he made another huge three in the fourth quarter shortly after that. And I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, like, that's why. That's why I've been preaching so much about that position for the Lakers and for a lot of teams around the league. We've talked about it for the Warriors off the bench. We've talked about it about a bunch of teams this year. You need to have guys on the wing with real size so that they can navigate physical playoff environments that are dead-eye shooters

because that being a shot that goes in 50% of the time instead of 35% of the time is going to lead to a significant difference in your final result over the course of a game over the course of a playoff series. But again, that's not even one of your top four guys there. And that's a player that's so immensely valuable to that Sixers team. Moving on to the Clippers. I remain not worried. They're the sixth best defense in the NBA.

So that's a classic hallmark of a championship contender. They have matchup versatility because of the wing size that they have and their ability to play both small and big. Now, they do have some issues. They desperately need a backup center. That's going to be a problem. Moses Brown isn't quite up to that task. But the most used lineup that the Clippers have played all season is their starting lineup,

Kauai Leonard, Paul George, Marcus Morris, Reggie Jackson, and Avica Zubach. And they've only played 163 minutes. So for perspective that Portland, Sacramento, Houston, and Chicago, all of their starting lineups have played over 400 minutes together this year. That's a huge part of why their offense is 27th in the league. Offense is about four key factors. Advantage creation, play finishing,

play rescuing, and rhythm and flow. Paul George and Quill Leonard have only played in 53 of the 92 available games for them this year. That directly disrupts your advantage creation because those are your two primary advantage creators. When they miss half the games, you get half as much advantage creation.

That's your two best play rescuers, tough shot makers. If you lose them for half the games, you lost half of your play rescuing. I talk all the time about how just making crazy shots to save possessions is the difference between a 108 offensive rating and a 117 offensive rating or a good offense and a bad offense. You need guys that can rescue possessions. And then for rhythm and flow, if my team's going to miss my stars for 53 of the 92 games,

we're always playing different lineups. Our best lineups only played 163 minutes. We have never had an opportunity to build rhythm and d'n and play. flow. Now, the one thing there that's consistent is play finishing, right? Like, this team has a ton of ball handling and shooting in general on the roster, but that just doesn't matter if you don't have the guys that can create the advantage initially, or the guys that can rescue the possessions when they break down, or have enough of your guys available enough to where you build that rhythm and flow. I talk about rhythm and flow a lot on this show. I have a random little aside,

you guys have probably seen in my background, I've got guitars and a dead-in-company poster, and there's John Mayer and Bobby Weir, point. playing some guitar. I grew up on, you know, all that old blues and rock, Allman Brothers band, Stevie Ray Vaughan, you know, Dead and Company, stuff like that. And I've become a huge fan of Dead & Company because of John Mayer and his ability to play guitar in a way that you probably don't realize because he's always playing with these like pop-type genre music that he's been doing in his mainstream stuff. And they just played a showdown in Mexico this past weekend. And a lot of Dead & Company fans were complaining that they sounded disjointed.

and I've been following Dead and Company for the last half decade or so, and every time they start playing, the start of their tour, they're super sloppy, and then by the end of their tour, they're dialed in, and they're just so damn good. Like if you go to last year's tour and you look at their last show at City Field, they sound amazing, but if you go to their first show, it's a little sloppy. And then, of course, they go down to Mexico,

and they haven't played together in months, and they sound sloppy. And it's because there's literally, I think, six members to the band. There's a bass player, there's two guitars, there's two drummers, and there's a piano player. So when you've got six different moving parts, it takes a while for them to get in sync. And that same concept exists in so many different phases of our life. But basketball is one that obviously directly relates to me a lot. I see that all the time with the game of basketball. There's individual rhythm.

If you're a player that's been out with an injury and you need to, and you're a jump shooter, if you're skill-oriented, it's going to take you a five, ten games to get your rhythm back. Steph came back from injury, he sucked, now he's playing better. Desmond Bain came back from injury, he sucked, now he's playing better. You get the point. That's the natural way that you build rhythm on an individual level. But that extends to the team level. If I've got a drive-and-kick offense with five players on the floor,

there is a rhythm and a timing and a flow to that that you can't build if you don't have your players available. And so that's why the Clippers, despite having, you know, probably a top six or seven roster in terms of offensive skill are 27th in offense. They've lost their advantage creators for a great deal of the season. They've lost their shot possession rescuing for a large portion of the season, and none of their lineups have been able to get enough reps to build a real rhythm and flow. I have dropped the clippers for my top tier of contenders because of that,

but I still view them in that second tier, and I absolutely think they're capable of winning a championship, because all they need to do is get their guys back, get healthy, and have a 20, 25 game stretch where they all play a lot, and they build that requisite rhythm and flow. If they do, then they are a damn sure, absolutely capable championship contender. They have the defense and matchup versatility to thrive in that environment. They have two outstanding advantage creators.

They have tons of shooting and close-out attacking. they have two guys then create their own shot at an extremely high level to rescue possessions and in late game situations. That's all the boxes. I don't know what else to tell you. That's all the boxes. All of their issues, I think, come down to injuries. Yeah, I hope they target a backup center in the trade market, but like a lot, there's a lot of smoke and mirrors out there. There's a lot of people complaining about Tailu. There's a lot of people acting like they're frauds. They're not frauds. They've just been hurt. And yeah, they're not going to win anything if they don't get over that. it's a pretty easy path from there because they have the requisite talent on the roster.

All right, let's get to our quick hitter. So, John Wall, he said, quote unquote, we was going to beat the shit out of Braun. They did not want to see us. Now, for the record, this is not the first time that the 2017 Wizards have talked a bunch of pointless shit about the Cavs. I remember Marquise Morris saying some stuff. This is not even the first time I've heard John Wall say anything. and it's all based on the fact that in a couple of regular season games, excuse me, spanning from 2016 to 2017 and 18,

during that span, the Wizards won some games against the Cavs in the regular season. And that apparently has driven that delusion of grandeur within those guys on the Wizards to think that they could have won that. And I think it's hilarious because a couple things. First of all, the 2017 Cavs bullshitted through that entire season. They did not play any defense. They did not fear anyone in the Eastern Conference, so they didn't care about seating.

The whole thing was just one big practice for the Kevin Durant Warriors. Despite that, they still finished two games above the Wizards in the regular season standings and went two and one against them that season in the regular season. So I just don't understand what he was looking at there that would have incentivized him to believe that the Wizards could have won that series. And to give you an example, regular season matchups almost never translate. to the playoffs, especially when you're looking at teams that have championship pedigree. For instance, the 2015 Hawks, three and one against the Cavs in the regular season,

LeBron swept them with no Kevin Love and with Kyrie Irving missing two games and playing hurt in the other two. You don't think the Hawks went into that series thinking, oh, we got them, we were up 3-1. No, no, no. Like when you get into the playoffs, it's just an entirely different beast. So John Wall is completely living in fantasy land. Last note here, never ever allow yourself to be swayed by regular season results for a defending champ ever. Do you remember the top 10 defense rule?

I've talked about this a lot of my show. You only win a championship if you're a top 10 defense. But in this century, there are two examples where a team outside of the top 10 in defense won the title. It was the Shat Kobe Lakers and the KD. Steff Warriors. But specifically, both of those teams were already defending champs. When you, like, the defending champ goes into that season with less motivation than any team in the league

because they literally have the trophy. That's why I still have the Warriors at 22 and 22 as a top-tier contender for me. There's a lot of precedent there for this sort of thing. Now, I do, the Warriors in particular, I don't think they're talented enough to not have a top-10 defense. So with them, I'm really watching that defensive rating

over the course of this season, but I have not written them off, despite them struggling this year. The 2017 Cavs went 51 and 31. they were below 500 on the road, and then they absolutely obliterated everyone in the playoffs. Then they lost to the most talented roster ever assembled, the KD Steff Warriors,

but they were the only NBA team in the league that year to notch a playoff win against the 2017 Warriors. That Cavs team would have swept the Wizards. I have absolutely no doubt about that. All right, JJ Reddick and his work ethic. So there was a clip that was going around on Twitter. I tweeted it out today, so if you want to see the clip, you can find it there.

but JJ Reddick's on a podcast with Quentin Richardson, and he said one of the biggest reasons that he retired was how difficult his off-season regimen was and that he didn't think his body could handle it anymore. And then he kind of broke down what his off-season regimen was, and basically he did two days Monday through Friday. He'd take Saturday off, and then he would make 342 shots every single Sunday.

And the reason why that resonated with me is I think that there's a disconnect with a lot of young players about working on your game, and a real professional basketball work ethic. And it's a lesson that I wish I would have learned when I was younger. Because when I was younger, I had all the talent. I was, you know, 6-6 without shoes on, 220 pounds of muscle and 6-11 wingspan, 6-10 wingspan, whatever it was.

And if you caught me on the right night, like, I could shoot it and I could put the ball on the floor and make plays. So I scored, I had a lot of really high scoring games. Like I had my career high in college was 31. I had 20 plus like a half dozen times, average double figures for my college career. had all those different things, but I was very inconsistent. So like conference play in Juko, my second year, I'd shoot 50% from three.

And then I transferred to Arizona Christian and I shot 18% from three. So going from 50% from three to 18% from three in literally a year, when theoretically I would have gotten better. And it was because I was actually a super streaky shooter. What I was was a player that had some skill, but I did not have reliable skill. And that doesn't seem like a big gap. But one of the biggest lessons I learned as I got older

was that's a huge gap. In my late 20s was when I finally kind of really realized and learned how hard you have to work at those things to be good at them. And it was way too late. I'm 31 years old now, so it doesn't even matter how good I can play basketball. There's no real outlet for that.

now. And one of the things that I wish I would have learned when I was younger is that specific type of work ethic. In order to be a reliable jump shooter and a reliable ball handler, you have to put in thousands and thousands and thousands of reps over years and years and years. And you are only going to see incremental improvement on a daily basis. You're barely going to notice it in the short term. You're only going to notice it in the long term. and I hope for all of you young basketball players out there that listen to the show, that you learn that lesson now. Don't make the mistake of waiting.

The guys that make it to the league, they learn that lesson when they're teenagers. And they ride that to, you know, getting that vote of confidence from an NBA team in their early 20s, and then they ride it throughout their career to become super skilled and reliable NBA role players. That's how they do that. You know, there's a, it's so easy for a lot of players to say, to blame outside circumstances for not making it to the NBA or not having the best professional basketball career overseas

or the most successful college basketball career that they wanted to have or because they got benched at this school or they didn't get as many rotation minutes as they wanted at this other school and they'll blame the coach and they'll blame this and they'll blame that and they'll blame that and chances are it was probably because you just did. work hard enough. I am not an NBA player and I've never insinuated that I am, but the reason that I'm not an NBA player is I did not work hard enough when I was younger. And I hope you guys learned that lesson of those of you out here, out there who are trying to play. Lastly, Nets without KD. So Kevin Rand has missed three games with his knee injury and the Nets are

0 and 3. And two of the three teams they played are below 500. And the part that's bothering me is everyone's all shocked. It's like, oh my goodness. The Nets are terrible. without Kevin Durant. And this has been the case all season long, which is exactly why I said Kevin Durant was the MVP if the season ended today. Now I think he needs to come back from his injury sooner than later to stay in that discussion.

Otherwise, Yokic is going to run away with it. But the nets this season have been about plus seven per 100 possessions when KD plays and about minus five when he doesn't. It's been an issue all season long. And I've been trying to point that out. And what has happened with Kevin Durant

is he has, so many enemies in terms of like the fans of the game because of, I think, in large part, the LeBron fan bases and the Steph fan bases who have painted Kevin Durant as their enemy instead of just another good basketball player that they should enjoy watching and cheer for. And so Katie went to the Warriors and everyone called him a cupcake and everyone said that his titles didn't count. And everyone said that, oh, he went to Brooklyn and now he's losing when really it has to do with roster talent and Kyrie Irving and not anything that Kevin Durant is doing.

and everyone has just built a massively underrated image of what Kevin Durant is. Kevin Durant is a freaking incredible basketball player. Like one of the 10 best players of all time. And right now is playing better or as well as anybody in the league. And so if you remove him from a team, they're going to be really bad. And that's the same for every single team in this league. That has that level of player. And so if there's one thing that I hope that this season teaches the NBA fans is to just properly respect Kevin Durant.

I don't care what you think about his titles and how much you think they're worth. I don't care what you think about his social media personality. I don't care what you think about his friendship with Kyrie Irvin. When it comes to what happens inside the basketball court lines, he's one of the very best to ever do it. and way too often that gets swept under the rug because people want to, you know, dunk on him in a debate about Steph Curry or LeBron James or something stupid like that.

All right, guys, that is all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate your support. We will be back tomorrow night after the final buzzer of Celtics Warriors. 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 helped make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, 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 I-Heart 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. Either way, the podcast 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.