The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Julius Randle leads Knicks to 8th straight win, Jokic & Nuggets beat Grizzlies | Hoops Tonight

Episode Date: March 4, 2023

Jason Timpf breaks down the Knicks beating the Miami Heat 122-120 to win their 8th straight game. He discusses how Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle played like superstars in the 4th quarter, and what that means for their playoff ceiling. Later, he discusses the Nuggets beating the Grizzlies, the Celtics "worst loss of the season" and the Warriors winning their 5th straight game with another monster performance from Klay Thompson. #volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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. 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 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 tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule. of two. Listen to Stuff to Bole Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The volume. It's Hoops Tonight, presented by Fanduel. The NBA season is kicking into gear, and there's no better place to get in on the action than with Fanduel. The app is safe and secure.

Getting your money out is super easy. You can jump into the action at any time during the game with live betting, and I love building those same game parlays. And Fandual is now live in Ohio. So use promo code Jason T and download the FANDUIL app today to start making every moment more. 21 plus in select states, gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit fendool.com slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, Virginia, and Ohio. Call 1-800 next step or text Next Step to 533442 in Arizona. Call 1-8-88-78-9-77-7-77 or visit C-E.

P-C-P-G.org slash chat in Connecticut. Call 1-8009 with it in Indiana. Visit KSgamblinghelp.com in Kansas. Call 1-877-7-770 stop in L.A. Visit www. W.W.mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Dial 1-8-7-8-Hop-N-Y or text Hope N-N-Y to 4-6-6-1.4-6-1. 37369 in New York.

Call 1-800-522-470-0 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 Saturday, everybody. I'm recording this at 1227 a.m. here in Tucson. I've watched so much basketball tonight. I can hardly see straight, but it was a highly entertaining night of basketball. We were going to hit on six different games tonight. Knicks Heat, Grizzlies Nuggets, Nets Celtics, Pelicans, Warriors, wolves, Lakers, and Sons, Bulls in that order.

So tons to get into. 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 if for whatever reason you guys miss one of these and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish, don't forget you can find them wherever you get your podcasts under hoops tonight. And last but not least, before we get started, you guys. You guys have heard me talk about Game Time, the fastest growing ticketing app in the United States.

If you're looking to get out to an NBA game or a college basketball game or an NHL game or a baseball game or a concert, even a comedy show, Game Time has amazing last minute deals on tickets to all of these. We're about two months away from Dead & Company going on their final tour. My dad raised me on Blues. I've always been a big fan of Blues guitar. And John Mayer, you guys probably know him from his mainstream stuff, but the best place to see him play Blues guitar is with the Grateful Dead and they're doing their final tour this year. I have tickets as of right now to go see four of those shows. We'll see how many of them I actually end up making

it too. But I highly recommend if you guys are into that sort of thing, get on game time. Find a ticket to one of those shows. Go find a basketball game to go to. You're going to find a great deal. It's a super easy to use experience. The app is great. You know exactly where you're going to be in general. They're going to take great care of you. No matter where you live, get out and have some fun this week. Download the Game Time app. Enter your email. and redeem code Hoops for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, enter your email and the code Hoops.

That's H-O-O-O-P-S for $20 off. Download game time today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk some basketball. So if you were waiting for Julius Randall and Jalen Brunson to cool off tonight was not that night. On the road in Miami, Randall started red hot. Brunson had it going to, but the heat made a run.

in that fourth quarter and actually took a lead on Caleb Martin three to go up 107-106. And we did a show that went on the feeds yesterday talking about the Knicks. And I told Carson, and I've said this throughout the season, that when we're discussing the ceiling for the Knicks, it really is as far as, or as high as Jalen Brunson and Julius Randall can take them. If they can produce like offensive superstars, that absolutely changes their ceiling to the same level as the teams that we see at the top of the league. It all falls on those two guys, just like it does for all the teams at the top of the league. If Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum

weren't superstars all of a sudden, the Celtics wouldn't be as good. If Janice Antenacupo didn't play like the best player in the world, the Bucks wouldn't be as good as they are. That top-tier superstar level production from the players on the best team in the league is what separates them. And Randall and Brunson playing the way they've been playing is exactly why they've been winning the way they've been winning. I wanted to go play by play down the stretch of this game just to talk about how Julius Randall and Jalen Brunson pulled this out with that superstar level shot making.

This was a tough environment. Down the stretch, Julius Randall was getting a steady dose of Jimmy Butler, like pressuring the hell out of him, attacking his handle. You even caught Bame at a bio on a specific possession down at the end, which we'll talk about. Jalen Brunson was getting a steady dose of Victor Al-A-Dipo, and, you know, Victor has fallen off in a lot of ways, but one of the things he can still do at a high level is guards around the NBA,

and he had that matchup. But the heat go up 107-106 on a Caleb Martin 3, and down the stretch, every single big, important play, was Jalen Brunson or Julius Randall making a tough play over good defense? So it's 107-106, and Jailel Blunson runs a pick-and-roll with Mitchell Robinson on the right side of the floor. And BAM is kind of in like a high-drop coverage, and Brunson comes over the top of that pick, gets downhill,

and knocks down a floater in the lane. And you're going to see a chess match kind of take place over the next several possessions. So they get a stop. Knicks are still up 108, 107. They run that same action that Brunson-Robinson pick and roll, and this time they switch it.

So he's got Bam at a bio on the switch. He actually drives on Bam at a bio, and Bam's defending him pretty well, but out of nowhere inexplicably, Victor Oladipo leaves Mitchell Robinson to help Bam when he doesn't need help. Julian Brunson makes the right read and makes a nice bounce pass in the lane to Mitchell Robinson for a dunk.

They're up 110-107. Then Caleb Martin makes a couple of free throws to get it back to 110-10-10-10. They go right back down to that exact same action. This time, they switch it again and bam out of bios on Jalen Brunson, but they set a second ball screen with Josh Hart this time to get Caleb Martin switched onto Jalen Brunson. And from there, he goes straight ISO and knocks down a really nifty spin. spinning fade away over his left shoulder. So you can see that progression of the coverage,

right? So like they're in a drop coverage. He gets the floater. That's too easy. So next time they switch. Well, they get a basket out of it, but Jalen Brunson knows, well, it was really because Victor Oladipo made a mistake. It's not because I was beating bam off the dribble. Let's not do that again. So let's run a second ball screen. I like my chances against Caleb Martin better. He gets that spinning fade away, knocks it down. That's that that chess match that takes place at the end of games. And for the record, the only types of players that force defenses to make those types of adjustments are the superstar level players. And that's the advantage of having players that can warp defenses to that extent. When you have Eric Spolstra having to kind of reach deep into

his bag to come up with strategy to slow you down, that's when you know you're performing at a high level offensively. So they're up 112.109. Jimmy Butler draws a couple of fouls on the next two possessions. He goes three for four that ties the game. Jimmy Butler was awesome in this game. He's such a warrior. I tweeted after the game. Like, are there many players in the league that you'd rather have in the trenches with you in a must-win game than Jimmy Butler? Like, it must be so awesome to be that guy's teammate. But anyway, so it's 112, 112, 112, and the Knicks run that exact same action, the Jalen Brunson pick and roll with Mitchell Robinson on the right side. Spolstra's next move now that this has been a problem is he just says, screw it, let's get the ball at

of Jalen Brunson's hands. So they blitz the ball screen, both of Victor Oladipo and Bametabio to start pressuring Jalen Brunson. He takes a retreat dribble and swings it to Julius Randall. Julius Randall has it in a late clock situation, and he just backs Jimmy Butler down to the foul line, just below the foul line, and knocks down a really nice little left shoulder fade in the lane to put the Knicks back up 114 to 112. The Knicks get another stop.

Next possession down, Jalen Brunson doesn't want the blitz. So what's the best way to avoid the blitz? Don't even bring the second defender into the play. He just goes straight ISO on Victor Oladipo, kind of hits him with the hesitation move and gets into the lane. It makes a really nice, tough floating bank shot off the glass to put the Knicks up 116 to 112. Then the heat go on another run.

Bam gets an alley-Upe from Tyler Harrow. Then Jimmy Butler gets a putback, screams to the crowd. It's 116, 116. There's 103 left. Nix call a timeout. This is another interesting chess match piece here. So Tom Thibito takes Mitchell Robinson out of the game for this possession to go all in on offense, right? This allows Eric Spolstra to put Bam at a bio on Julius Randall now because he doesn't need Julius Randall to contend with Mitchell Robinson on the glass, right?

That's like a little side effect of going to offensive subs as you opened up a bigger defender to put on to Julius Randall. But Randall literally just went right at Bam at a bio on the right block back. him down and hit him with that shoulder in his chest and spun over his left shoulder and hits an and one fade away on the baseline to put them up 119 to 116. Then the heat come at him again. Tyler Harrow goes on a personal 4-0 run, puts the heat up 120 to 119. And on the ensuing possession, the heat trap Brunson again, who throws a bad pass to Julius Randall. He has to like retreat back to half court, bibles it. He gets it and he secures the pass with eight seconds on the game clock and he's out at half court and he rips through jimmy butler in this situation

opts for ball pressure so he's attacking the hell out of julius randall he's swinging at the ball he actually picks it clean but it bounces back to julius randall he somehow composes himself and takes a step back three on the right wing with tyler harrow all up in his grill and he knocks it down the toughest shot of the game and the game winner time and time again down the stretch of this game no matter what punch Miami threw offensively to get the lead or to get back into the game, no matter what coverage Eric Spolstra threw at those guys, those two guys made superstar offensive plays every single possession down the floor. That's what superstars do. They make tough shots over good defense. And why do I talk about that all the time?

Because when you get to the playoffs, it's always good defense. You might get lucky and catch a flawed opponent in the first round. But as soon as you get to round two, the rest of the way, everyone's good at it. Everyone's good defensively. And then the deeper you get into the series, they're ahead of all your actions. They've guarded you 70 possessions already in that series, and they know all your moves. And it comes down to good defense and guys having to make shots over that defense. That's why I talk so much about that half court shot creation. That's why I talk so much about your star talent. You absolutely have to have it. It is a prerequisite to score when you get to the late rounds of the NBA playoffs. And it's super encouraging to see a game like tonight

where Miami plays damn near perfect defense down the stretch of the game with good defensive players, but you just go down and make tough shots in their face to win the game. Now, is this recent stretch real from the Knicks? I don't know. We're going to find out when we get to the playoffs, but I can tell you that I'm very excited to find out. And I absolutely think they do have that chance. And I'm, again, I want to wait until we get to April, but I'm like this close to saying that they beat the Cavs in that first round series. So we'll see what happens over the course of the next few weeks.

All right, let's move on to Grizzly's Nugget. So Memphis threw one hell of a punch in this game. I was really impressed with their defense. They were swarming Nicolioch and did a really nice job rotating on the back line to make sure they didn't give up too many of those wide open threes on the backside. of the court. They held that high-powered Nuggets offense to just 50 points in the first half. But they also, you know, Denver, to their credit, also battled through that whole stretch, and they did a nice job defending and keeping Memphis in the half court, preventing those

fast break opportunities that they get so frequently. Memphis only had 12 points in transition in this game. It's far cry from the 36 points in transition that they scored against the Lakers on Tuesday. But that's how we ended up in a close game going into the fourth quarter. excellent Memphis defense, excellent execution from Denver to prevent turnovers and getting out in transition. And then in that fourth quarter, Jamal Murray, who had been kind of locked down by Dylan Brooks for most of the game, finally shook loose, made four shots in the quarter. And all of them were high degree of difficulty. Two of them on Dylan Brooks and straight ISO, who's one of the best defenders in the league, he had a spinning step back jump shot on the right wing. he had a play where Dylan was kind of pressing him on the left wing and he just kind of held the ball out to his right

and did kind of like an inverted jab step where he kind of faked like he was going to go left and went into the middle and made like a little push shot. You know, he set up Dylan Brooks really well on an off ball screen for a curling layup. Like setting up your man is the key to succeeding in those off ball situations. He just kind of got physical with him and pushed him out of position and then came off the screen.

That was what allowed him to get open. And then he sealed the deal with the dagger was a kind of a chaotic play that ended up with him on Xavier Tillman on the left wing, and he just, tough shot making, a jab step three right in Xavier Tillman's face, and you combine that with a ridiculous defensive half from the Nuggets. They held the Grizzlies to just 39 points in the second half, and that's how you end up with a very, very comfortable win against a very good team at home, revenge for the loss in Memphis.

I think it was earlier this week or last week. I can't remember exactly where. Yokic has another triple-doubly at 18 points on just 10 shots, 10 assists, 18 rebounds really quickly on the stat patting stupid storyline that was going around from Kendrick Perkins. I don't really have an opinion on it because it's just wrong. I have never seen a single basketball possession where Nicola Yokic made an unnatural basketball play in pursuit of a stat. I just have never seen it.

And like, I haven't seen every single Nuggets game. like Nuggets fans, but I watch the majority of them because they're one of the teams that I'm covering closely, and I've never seen him do it. When Russ was, you know, Kendrick Perkins was making the point like, oh, well, everyone called Russ's stat pattern. Look, I didn't, I believe in the legitimacy of Russ's statistical achievement. I thought it was remarkable, but yeah, he was doing some janky stuff. I'm sorry. Like, I watched Thunder games where Stephen Adams would have a rebound right in front of him and deliberately not grab it. Russ could come in and grab it.

Like, that's where that narrative came from. It wasn't from people just hating on Russ. It was what we saw when we watched the games. Like, Russ was doing unbelievable things that year, but he also was going out of his way to accumulate stats. That's not what Nicola Yochkich is doing. If anything, I would argue that Nikola Yokic's impact is not properly quantified by a box score.

It goes far beyond the box score. I think he's the best offensive player in the league or right there with Steph, and he took 10 shots tonight. So you're not going to see that type of impact in 18 points on what he does to a defense, warping it and creating quality shots for his teammates. Last thought on that game, Brandon Clark went down with what looked like a lower leg injury early in this one. I really hope he's all right because not only does that suck for him,

but that's a very, very important piece for Memphis. So prayers up for Brandon Clark. I hope that he's all right. 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-Hart 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 I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Clivert 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 Cliverts 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 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 with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 was big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in America. in history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Net Celtics. So the Celtics led by 28 in the middle of the second quarter and ended up trailing by 16 in the fourth in what was probably their worst loss of the season. There's two things I want to hit from this game. First of all, switching defense. This is something I've talked about forever and something that I was specifically excited about

with this Nets team, which is struggled, obviously, because they don't have a ton of offensive skill. But they do have a ton of defensive versatility. And, you know, one of the things that I always have loved about switching defenses is the way that they stagnate teams and force them to create off the dribble for themselves against a, excuse me, against a set defense. And they stagnated the hell out of Boston down the stretch in this game. Boston scored just 41 in the second half. And when you look at those lineups, like the primary lineup, Spencer Dinwiddie with Dory and Phine Smith, Mikhail Bridges, Cam Johnson, and Nick Claxton. There's just not really an easy target to go after.

But again, you have to beat switching defenses in one of two ways. You can either use complicated screen actions to try to confuse the switching defense, right? So like ghost screens are a great example. There was a play in this particular game where I believe Jalen Brown got a dunk. And J.J. Reddick, who's obviously one of the best people in our business. I think he's the very best at what he does. he did an amazing job breaking down for the people listening to the broadcast how a ghost screen works. And basically all the ghost screen is is you take usually a perimeter player who the ball handler is also a perimeter player, but the screener is the perimeter player.

And you have him run just right behind the defender as if he's about to set his screen, but then just run right past him to the three point line. And you're hoping that those two defenders hesitate or miscommunicate as to where. or not they're supposed to switch. And on this particular play, I think it was Royce O'Neill was guarding the screener, and Royce O'Neill did not switch at all, but the defender guarding Jalen Brown, which I believe is McHale Bridges on this play, thought a switch was coming, and Jalen had an opportunity to drive. So you need to use actions like that to try to confuse switching. Another great way to confuse switching schemes is a three-player screening action. So like any sequence of screens that involves three players in rapid secession because then it's not just a, I take your man,

you take my man. It's like, which one of those two guys am I getting? And that guy's thinking the same thing. And that guy's thinking it just gets, it's like an order of magnitude above the decision-making process of a normal switch, and you can hope to get some mistakes there. But if you're not going to do it through the screening actions, you have to beat the switches by applying rim pressure. I talked about this a ton in that Lakers Mavericks come back. In the first half of that game, Dallas is switching everything, and LeBron James and Anthony Davis weren't pressuring the rim the way they were supposed to to get the defense and rotation that gets you the open shots. Because again, in a switching scheme, as soon as you draw

help, now you're playing normal basketball. Now it's drive and kick. Extend the advantage. Find a good shooter with an open shot or an easy opportunity at the rim. But the only way you're going to draw multiple defenders against a switching scheme is by driving to the basket. If you're taking off the dribble jump shots, you're not going to be bringing multiple defenders in. That's when you start to get stagnant, when you're just taking difficult shots over the top of isolation defense, and you're not drawing multiple defenders. In the second half of that Mavericks Lakers game, LeBron James and Anthony Davis just

bullied the Mavericks to the basket every single time, and they either scored at the rim or move the ball around for an open shooter, right? That's the way you have to attack a switching defense, but the Celtics could never regain control of this game. They could never get the requisite rim pressure and before you knew it, the game was over. Mikhail Bridges in this game. Went for 38, 10, and 4 in 8 games since joining the Brooklyn Nets,

25, 6, and 3, 53% from the field, 50% from 3, 92% from the line. That's a 67% true shooting percentage. percentage, 43% on five pull-up jump shots per game, and two stocks per game that steals plus blocks. So not only do you get a big win strategically over a good Celtics team, but McHale Bridges continues to flash that high-level scoring. Now, they do have, there's a couple of specific things that he has to work on to get to the next level to go from being the guy who can score the basketball to the guy who's an all-star. That next step for him is getting to the rim and finishing. He's still low volume at the rim for a wing and low efficiency at the

rim for a wing. He's below 70%. And I think he's like 2.2 restricted area makes per game. I always like to see that for wings up above three makes per game and up over 70%. That's where he needs to get to reach that all-star level. And then the other thing is he needs to get better at making plays for his teammates. That assistive turnover ratio isn't where it needs to be. But the scoring is real. And when you combine that with what he can do defensively, you know, the Nets have a serious star from that Kevin Durant. deal. And when you combine that with all the draft compensation and all the other three and D wings that they got at the deadline, they're in pretty good shape in the long run, in my opinion.

All right, Pelicans Warriors. So keeping with the trend, the Warriors dug themselves in a 17-point hole before going up by double digits in the fourth quarter for a comfortable win. I'm not going to spend too long on this game because Sunday is definitely Warriors-Lakers' day since the two of them are playing each other. They will be the focal point of our show on Sunday, and we're going to be going live on AMP right after the final buzzer of that game. But I wanted to shout out Clay Thompson again. And I know I've done that a lot lately, but he's been incredible, and he's one of my favorite players, and honestly, he just deserves it. He did an absolute number on C.J. McCollum on both ends of the floor down the stretch of this game.

I'm going to go play-by-play down the stretch like I usually do. So the Pels were up for middle fourth quarter on a pretty tough fadeaway from Brandon Ingram on a deep post-heel. I think it was over Jordan Poole, if I remember correctly. Then Anthony Lamb hits a three to get it back to one. And then Clay Thompson checks back into the game. And from there, he demonstrates once again high-level half-court shot creation, which again continues to be the revelation of this season for Golden State. One of the main reasons why they've been able to float in the standings,

despite being down their two best players for most of the season, it's Clay Thompson, half-court shot creation on the basketball, which is such an unusual thing compared to what we've seen from him over the course of the rest of his career. So Trey Murphy misses a three, and Murphy's guarding Clay Thompson on the other end of the floor. Again, no point in taking on a better defensive player if you don't have to. He calls for a ball screen from Jordan Poole to get a switch on to C.J. McCollum.

As soon as C.J. McCollum switches on to him, He just confidently steps into a 30-foot pull-up three and knocks it down in C.J's face to put the Warriors up, too. So then Brandon Ingram comes down and he makes a nice play out of a double team that leads to a foul under the basket. Pelicans split the parents back to a one-point game. Same thing down the floor. Clay Thompson on the right wing calls for the ball screen from Jordan Poole to get C.J. McCollum on a switch. Clay Thompson just drives by C.J. McCollum to the right, draws more. multiple defenders, makes a nice kind of hook pass out to Jordan Pool on the left wing,

hockey assist over to Dante DiVincenzo, top of the key, knocks down the three. Again, perimeter initiation is not necessarily about making the assist or making the basket. It's about drawing multiple defenders. It's about getting the defense into rotation. Offensive initiation is about that initial compromising, and then you're counting on your teammates to further the advantage and get the great shot. That's what you're asked to do. possession after possession after possession.

It doesn't always have to be you scoring or making the play. And this was a great example of that. Gets into the lane, draws Zurb Jones and help, makes a pass to a kind of open teammate who makes the right play to the wide open teammate, who is the original player who helped on Clay Thompson's drive. So the Warriors were up for at that point. And again, like, just so you guys know, Clay's half-course shot creation has been off the charts all year long.

He's 80th percentile in pick and roll ball handling this year. That's 1.05 points per possession. He's 91st percentile in isolation. That's 1.2 points per possession in 60 possessions. He's even scored 22 points on 21 post-ups, which is considered above average. And all of those are including passes. This is no longer just, oh, he's doing pretty good for an offball player in a small situation when we've needed him. No, no, no.

He's actually just been really damn good at a number. initiating offense with the ball in his hands. So tip of the cap to Clay. So from that point, Brandon Ingram makes another tough fadeaway. He was, Brandon Ingram's so damn good. He makes another tough fade away over Dante, gets it back to 98-96. And they go down and Golden State tries to run the exact same play again. And on this play, Draymond Green actually loses control of the basketball.

And when he loses control of the basketball, that allows Erb Jones to kind of fight through Clay's position and deny the basketball. So then Draymond has to audible and he goes to Jordan Pool. Jordan Pool takes like an extremely difficult step back three and misses it, but Dante DiVincenzo, who all year long has been a monster on the offensive glass, just comes flying in and grabs the rebound and his Jonathan Kaminka cutting down the lane for a dunk. But from here was what I thought was Clay's best moment of the game.

So on a crazy offensive rebound after C.J. McCollum misses a pull-up three. Clay Thompson gets switched on to CJ. And CJ tries to ISO Clay, just like Clay's been going to work on him. And Clay literally just completely swallows him up, just sits in his stance, arms out wide, sliding with them everywhere. CJ doesn't know where to go. Eventually, CJ literally retreats and goes all the way back out to the top of the key and just throws like an aimless swing pass over to Trey Murphy who misses the three. They go right back down the floor.

Clay Thompson calls for the same damn ball screen from George. and pool, gets back on C.J. McCollum and just walks him down to the foul line and takes a step back right in his face and knocks it down to put the Warriors up six, effectively the dagger, to win the game. Again, like, especially when I'm starting, that's when you really know Clay's back is when he's got that perimeter defense element of his game going. I think he's one of the better perimeter defenders in the league when he's right physically. I've said this before, but I think his individual defense on Jalen Brown in the NBA finals was one of the huge swing factors that swung things back towards Golden State in games four, five, and six.

He's one of the best in the league at that. And to see him doing what he's doing on the basketball too, like I've said before, just just an absolute, just sheer willpower and just a refusal to lose games, allowing them to win five games in a row without Steph again this year. And Steph's coming back against the Lakers on Sunday. Steve Kerr said after the game that he thinks the team has turned to corner and I agree. I think they are much more poised for a stretch run than I would have expected at this point, given the injuries.

And man, like if you're a Warriors fan right now, you've got to be feeling great about the way things are falling into place after how nightmarish this year has been on so many different levels. All right, Grizzlies Lakers. So everything broke right for the Lakers on the schedule tonight. the Blazers got their ass kicked, the Jazz got their ass kicked, the Pelicans lost, the Clippers lost. So the Lakers had a chance to move into a tie in the lost column for the seven seed, but they had to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves. And I had a feeling they would really struggle in this particular game.

Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards, as I've talked about so much on this show, are arguably the best two like perimeter defense pairing in the league. And they go through these defensive runs where they can, shut down even some of the best players in the league. And when you take LeBron James out of the equation and DeAngel Russell out of the equation, and look, here's the thing with Delo. Like, I'll be honest, I'm really confused as to how an ankle tweak that he continued to play on is keeping him out for this long. I mean, I understand it from the standpoint of like he's in a contract year. And I get that he probably wants to be 100% healthy for his own sake. And I do

understand that to be clear, but like it is so unfortunate for the Lakers that he's not available because they cannot beat, even play in level teams with that level of ball handling on the floor. Dennis Schroeder is not good enough. Guys like Austin Reeves and Lonnie Walker, they're, I really like Austin Reeves, but you can't have him in this type of high usage role. You need him slotted in a position where he's a little bit more selective, right? Same thing goes with Dennis. He's better off leading bench units, not being your primary guy. And so as soon as DeAngelo Russell's out of the lineup and LeBron James is out of the lineup, everybody is slotted into a position that they're underqualified for, and it's going to go poorly.

Like the Laker guards were in absolute hell tonight against Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels. It was an extremely impressive defensive performance from them. Rudy Gobert was awesome. Nas Reid hit a bunch of really important threes. You know, it was just Minnesota's been playing decently well here in their last couple of games. but I was really impressed with them on the defensive end of the floor tonight. Anthony Davis, he had 38 points, got to the foul line a ton. But he just, the thing with AD is he can't really manage a basketball game in like a high usage role,

the way that some of his peers around the league can. His winning impact when he's alongside that complementary ball handling star, his winning impact is every bit as high as the best players in the league when he's locked in and he's got that complimentary star. But when you take away that complimentary ball handling star, his impact just tanks because he's not the guy that can start 50 offensive possessions in a game. He doesn't dribble the ball well enough. He doesn't pass well enough.

He had six turnovers tonight to just two assists. He takes way too many high difficulty jump shots without necessarily needing to. And it's frustrating because, again, it's like, Anthony Davis had 38. How ridiculous do I sound, like talking about Anthony Davis having kind of an uneven night when he had 38 points. But that's the Anthony Davis experience. I've been talking about this forever. Like, that dude can fill up the box score like nobody's business because of what he does on the glass and his ability to finish around the rim and all of that stuff. But like for whatever reason, like, I'm sorry, but like I always say Anthony Davis is one of the

best players in the world when he's right. If I take one of the best players in the world, healthy and right, and I drop him into that game, he's winning that game. Janice is winning that game against Minnesota. You know, like, I even think Jason Tatum has a chance to go win that game against Minnesota. It's just because he's a perimeter initiator. Like, that's the thing that's tough with Anthony Davis is like he is absolutely one of the guys, but he absolutely has to be next to a complimentary ball handling star to unlock that level. of winning impact.

Like, if Delo doesn't play on Sunday, I don't think they can beat the Warriors either, even at home. It's just too hard to do without the requisite ball handling. All right, lastly, before we get out of here tonight, Suns Bulls. And I only watched the first quarter of this game,

so we're not going to talk too much about it. Suns pulled away late, beat the Bulls by 21. KD was plus 24 and 31 minutes. But I have two takeaways that I wanted to get into. First of all, I liked how much switching the Suns did. They switched every single action that involved Kevin Durant, DeAndre Aden. And the bull scored on them a few times.

Like DeMard de Rosen hit a couple of pull-up jump shots on DeAndre Aten. Vucevic had like a deep seal, little hook shot over Kevin Durant. But it takes Chicago out of the flow of their offense. Like, again, with switching, it's always a give and a take. You're going to give some easy shots and some matchups. You're going to give up some offensive rebounds. There are going to be some miscommunications. But the upside is, is you take an NBA offense that is used to a certain rhythm and flow,

and you completely screw that up. And now all of a sudden it forces them to play, like we talked about earlier, about the Nets and the Celtics, a specific type of switch attacking offense. And it throws a lot of teams out of whack. And so I like to see that the Sons aren't leaning too heavily on drop coverage and they're doing some switching with their front court players. That I thought was encouraging. The other thing I really liked was just how many easy shots that specifically Devin Booker got off the ball because the Sons were running a lot of their actions with Kevin Durant in the action.

which I thought was interesting because I've talked a lot about how I expected him to be more off ball. But Booker got some wide open catch and shoot threes earlier in this game. And I think that's a big part of why he went for 35. Like I always talk about like building your rhythm. Like if you're a tough shot maker, like in my, as I've gotten older, I've worked really hard on off the dribble shooting. And so like most of the guys in town like are expecting me to take a certain amount of, you know, fadeaways over both shoulders or step back threes. or pull up twos or pull up threes off the dribble.

But if I go into a game and just right at the start, just start taking really difficult fadeaways and step back threes, like, it's going to be, I'll be lucky to make a bunch of them and get into a rhythm. But if I build my rhythm by attacking the rim or getting a couple of catch-and-shoot threes in the flow of the offense, to where I feel good about myself and I feel like I have my touch dialed in

and then I take a fade away or a step back, that shot has a higher percentage chance of going in. We talked about this a lot with Paul George yesterday with Carson, but you want to build your rhythm with easy shots and then take the tougher shots. And that's what's so scary about this Phoenix offense in particular. Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, DeAndreight, and Chris Paul, these guys are all going to get a boatload of easy shots

within the flow of the offense that are going to help bolster their rhythm. Those rhythm builders are going to help lead to more explosive scoring nights like Devin Booker having 35 tonight. The Suns have a couple more easy games before they get into that tough stretch like we talked about. I think it's Sacramento and then Golden State and the Milwaukee. That's going to be when we learn the most about them. All right, guys, that's all we have for tonight.

We're going to be covering, I think it's Sixers Bucks tomorrow night. So Sixers Bucks tomorrow night we're going to be covering as part of the time. of that show on Sunday when we talk Lakers Warriors. So keep an eye on my Twitter feed. I'll keep you posted as to when we'll go live, but it's going to be right after the final buzzer of Lakers' warriors. As always, I sincerely appreciate your guys' support, and I'll see you on Sunday.

The Volume. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygle 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. 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. 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 tauntons 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. Guaranteed human.