The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Kevin Durant erupts, Suns sink Jokic & Nuggets in OT, Celtics collapse, NBA Mailbag

Episode Date: March 7, 2024

Jason Timpf reacts to Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns' OT win over Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. Jason explains how Kevin Durant took over late in the game and in overtime to defeat the NBA champs in what was a rare bad night for Jokic. Jason then breaks down the Boston Celtics' collapse to Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Is this cause for concern for Boston, or just a slip up in the midst of a dominating regular season. Timeline: 04:00 - Introduction 05:34 - Suns take down Nuggets in OT 010:03 - Suns defense steps up 12:47 - Kevin Durant takes over 14:55 - Rare bad night for Nikola Jokic 21:00 - Celtics collapse vs. Cavaliers 38:18 - NBA Mailbag #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 IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to.

Listen and learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. The volume. Get in on the action with Draft King's Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. New customers who deposit $5 or more can get a no-sweat bet up to $1,000 back in a bonus bet. I was looking at NBA futures this morning. The Golden State Warriors are plus 5,500 right now on Draft Kings to win the title. So if you believe in them, that's a big number. And Denver, I have Denver is my championship favorite.

And they're still the second best odds on Draft Kings right now at plus 450. So lots of good NBA bets to look at over the course of the end of the season. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app now. And use code hoops. New customers can get a no-sweat bet up to $1,000 if your first bet loses. Only on Draft King's Sportsbook with code hoops. That's H-O-O-P-S. The Crown is yours.

Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or in West Virginia, visit www.1-800 gambler.net. In New York, call 8778, Hope N.Y, or text Hope N-Y to 467-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-78-9-7777, or, visit ccpg.org.

Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas. 21 plus age varies by jurisdiction. Boyd in Ontario. One no sweat bet per new customer issued as one bonus bet based on amount of initial losing bet. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. See dkng.com slash promos for deposit, wagering, and eligibility restrictions, terms, and responsible gambling resources. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the volume.

Happy Wednesday, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great week. We've got a jam-packed show for you today. We're going to be hitting that insane, just an awesome NBA regular season game last night between the Suns and the Nuggets. Got to see kind of a peak Denver type of run down the stretch and then P.D. and Bradley Beal just snatch it back, not just with shot making, but with incredible defense on the other end of the floor.

Super interesting game. We're going to break that down from the perspective of both teams. after that Boston had the first loss in what 12, 13 games, however long it's been against the Cleveland Cavaliers last night, blowing a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter. We're going to break that game down from the perspective of both teams. Also, I've got a lot of people asking for film-related breakdowns, and we're actually experimenting with that today.

I recorded something this morning. We're working it up as we speak. So at some point, either today or tomorrow, we will have a film breakdown on our YouTube channel of the Boston Collapse so we can learn some specific X's and O's things, but we are going to go over it in this video today. After that, we've got a mailbag, and then we'll be out of here.

We'll be back tonight on YouTube live after the final buzzer of Bucks Warriors. You guys know before we get started, subscribe to our brand of YouTube channel. I mean a lot to me if you guys would take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast under hoops tonight.

It's also super helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LTs. You guys don't miss show announcements or the film threads that I do from time to time. And then last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments so we can keep getting to them throughout the rest of the year. All right, let's talk some basketball. So this was a crazy game between the Sons and the Nuggets. A fun one last night.

Back and forth early. Phoenix goes on a big run in the second quarter. KD goes on the first of two hot streaks that he has in the game, hits a bunch of tough shots in a row. They start forcing turnovers and getting out in transition and getting easy baskets there. and then Grayson Allen, it goes eight for eight from the three-point line to start the game, really capitalizing on the issues that Denver was having in their defensive backline. Denver runs like two different kinds of pick and roll coverages. And basically it's either Nicole Yokic up at the level where he's active with his hands and that kind of puts their backline into a position where they've got to be really sharp

or against teams that aren't as good with pull-up shooting. They'll have Yokic drop much further back. And then they can kind of do a better job as staying home on the weekend. side. But Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant in particular, they just bring such a high level of off the dribble pop from the perimeter that it does bring Yokic further out. And from there, it's just so imperative for that low man to be able to tag the roller, but also to be able to rotate back out to the weak side. And Phoenix can put you in some predicaments where you have, you know, Grayson Allen, who's been, I mean, one of the very best, if not the best spot up players in the league this year out there.

And usually whoever else is over there can shoot the basketball, at least when they're in their lineups. Obviously, they have some stretches of the game where they have some weaker offensive players out there, but against Phoenix's best lineups, like, it's a tough team to deal with on the weak side with all the shooting that they have out there. I did not think Denver was very sharp on their back line until the fourth quarter. Then when they got sharp at that point, then it turned into more of a shot-making contest. And so Denver started to methodically work their way back into the game, classic Denver offense on one end, but then their backline gets sharper. So they're starting to take away the easy catch and shoot opportunities. Grace and Allen

starts missing shots. They stopped giving up offensive rebounds. And then KCP and Aaron Gordon just did a really, really good job on Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal getting really good contests and forcing them into really tough shots. And Denver just starts working their way back and working their way back. Bradley Beal hits a pull-up three to put them up 99 to 90 with about four minutes left. And after that, Denver just goes on this magnificent 12-0 run to go up 102-99. It was perfect basketball on both ends of the floor.

Arguably could have been better too because Yokic got stripped by Bradley Biel on like a fake dribble handoff as he went towards the basket on the right side of the floor. But they scored on every other possession that they had. And then Jamal Murray hits a crazy ISO jump shot over Royce O'Neal. The last couple possessions, Phoenix goes with Royce O'Neill on Yokch and they switch the Murray Yokic pick and roll. Jamal Murray just picks on Royce O'Neal hits a really tough jumper. They're up 102.99. you're like, here we go again. Denver just Denvered their way into winning this game after being down by 22 points. And then Kevin Durant just hits a really tough, perfectly contested by Aaron Gordon, pull up three on the left wing.

Kevin Durand had been one for eight from the field in that fourth quarter. Makes that one on the other end of the floor. Yokic misses a really tough runner along the baseline and we're going to overtime. And in overtime, all those same tough shots, the difficult. shot making that was actually putting Phoenix in a predicament there in the fourth quarter, all of them started going in all of a sudden. But Kevin Durant was hitting that pull-up jumper. And then KCP made a couple of big mistakes. He had a bad close out on Bradley Beale at the top of the key where Beal beat him to the left and had a drop-off to Drew Eubanks for a dunk.

And then he was flat-footed on an offensive rebound. Royce O'Neill, they blitzed Kevin Durant pick and roll. Royce O'Neill was the short roll man, pass over the top. Royce O'Neill went down hill and missed a floater. Yokic had to come up to contest, though. The shot came short off the rim, and KCP was just standing there. He was in a position to grab it, didn't grab it. Royce O'Neill got his own rebound, kicked it to Bradley Beale. So KCP was a double whammy because not only did he not get the rebound, but then he also wasn't home on the shooter on the weak side. They kick it to Bradley Beale. He knocks down the three. On the other end of the floor, Yokic had Drew Eubanks on him, but really wasn't looking to score at all, which we're going to

talk about in a minute. Michael Porter Jr. and Jamal Murray missed some really tough shots against some great individual defense, and Phoenix ends up winning comfortably. Super, super entertaining basketball game. Got to see the best of both teams and the worst of both teams in this particular game. By far, the most impressive element, though, that I wanted to hit on was Phoenix's defense. After the Oklahoma City game, I talked a lot about them needing to be scrappy. The little stretch where they had their comeback against O.C., when they took the lead, involved them double-teaming, Sheikilded Alexander, just doing a much better job of rotating around and chasing guys off the line.

Because one of the things that Phoenix has is they don't necessarily have outstanding defensive talent. But what they do have is they have a lot of speed. They have a lot of speed and they actually do have a decent amount of length. When you look at like, so Neil has long arms, Kevin, Iran has long arms. They're guards. They're not, they're not like, you know, short guys. They're just, you know, six four, six five guys that are pretty fast players.

And so when they really fly around, they can be impactful defensively. And the reason why this is so important is because there's a level of inconsistency in Phoenix's offensive approach. When you take a lot of really difficult pull-up jump shots, you're going to have stretches where they go in, like overtime, and then you're going to have stretches where they don't, like the fourth quarter. That inconsistency is baked into that shot profile, right? Especially, like, it's one thing when you're getting the defensive rotation, you're getting wide open catch and shoot threes, but as Denver showed, they're down the stretch. when you're sharp on your weak side rotations,

you can kind of chase guys out of those sorts of shots. And the ball will end up back in your star's hands and they're going to have to take really difficult shots over the top. So if there's inconsistency baked into your shot profile, you can't also be inconsistent on the defensive end of the floor. That has to be your consistency. So that when you go cold, you can weather that storm on the defensive end of the floor.

And that was what carried it. Bradley Beal did an amazing job digging down on Yokich all night. talked about his big steel coming out of the right corner there towards the end of the fourth quarter in O T. He was ignoring Contavius Caldwell Pope off the ball and digging down into all of the roll angle. So like when Yokic would throw the little dribble handoff, he rolls into the middle of the floor there. And Bradley Biel was just digging down and taking that pass away. And Jamal Murray wasn't, you know, willing to make that skip pass to KCP to make them pay. So KCP's just standing useless on the other end of the floor.

That's how they forced those guys and just trying to score on an island. and then guys got stops. Grace and Allen, big stop on Jamal Murray in overtime. They're forcing him into a travel in a post-up situation. Their defense was the thing that carried them through in this game while their shot making was inconsistent. But like, I thought it was their best defensive game of the season. Yusuf Gertich and Drew Eubanks were both super physical with Nicole Yokic. They had five offensive rebounds between those two guys. It was just a really, really impressive defensive performance. And then here's the thing. Kevin Durant, that's always a capability that he has.

I talked a lot about how over the course of the season, how you can defend your way into making guys feel uncomfortable, and they typically will have harder nights where they have to work harder and it's more likely that they'll miss. Like, there's a great example that. I think KD had 35 points, but he took 34 shots to get them, right? That's a great defensive game. But as cold as he was in the fourth quarter,

KD always has the capability of getting hot the way that he did in OT. And once he made that big shot to, uh, to send it to OT, he just was in rhythm at that point. And then it didn't really matter where Aaron Gordon's hand was. There's another bad defensive possession in there where KCP was guarding KD at the top of the key. And then he just died on a screen. And so a KD came off and Jamal Murray was kind of back in a drop and he was just way too far back and he knocked it down. Katie, Katie was magnificent. And then Bradley Biel, you know, his ability to beat people off the dribble continually is, uh, is something that kind of brings a different element to Phoenix's offense.

And I thought he made a couple of huge plays down the stretch of this one, too, just with his overall speed creating shots. On the Denver front, Yokic having a bad night really kind of threw everything off. Nerkich, it's interesting, Nurkich is big enough to kind of bang with him in a way that makes him work a little bit harder. I saw a lot of guys on Twitter saying, like, oh, like, Yokic succeeds just because there's no big guys in the NBA. And it's like, hold on a second.

Like, there aren't that many people that big in the entire. world. And you can't play in the NBA unless you're that big and you can do a lot of other things. Why is Yusuf Nerkich and Ivika Zubach and Nicole Yokic in the game? Why are these like big, you know, rumbling, stumbling centers still in the game? It's because they are super skilled, right? And so that's a thing. Like there just aren't that many people like that. That is a credit to Nerkich. The fact that he can be a physical archetype that's super rare while also being so good at all these things to be the best player in the world. That's a compliment to him. However, when he runs into some of these matchups like this,

it does make things a little bit more challenging for him when he can't just completely physically overwhelm Yusuf Nerkich. That said, there were tons of possessions where Yusuf Nurchich was off of Yokic from the OT period when he had fouled out and he had drew Eubanks on him the entire quarter. He had, there's the possessions down the stretch of the fourth quarter. He had, there's the possessions down the stretch of the fourth quarter. Royce O'Neill on him. Straight up, Royce O'Neill on him. And he just wasn't even looking to score.

And so, like, you know, every once in a while, every player has bad games. Nicole Yokic is kind of in that LeBron James territory where he's so incredibly efficient and he doesn't rely on tough shot making. So, like, even his bad games are like extraordinarily rare. Like shot making types, even the great Michael Jordan, like he'd have a 10 for 30 night, you know, every few games, right? That was a part of what happened with his kind of shot profile, right? Like his, there was more variance kind of baked into it. For these guys like Yokic, guys like LeBron, guys that are like offensive engines that rely on bully ball, like closer to the basket, it's extremely rare for them to have bad nights.

But what did the bad LeBron games look like? What did the bad Yokich games look like? They look like this. It's when they are not aggressive enough. It's when they're too willing to just make the right play, when they're too willing to just keep the ball moving around. And I thought that Nurkich and the rest of the group with their swarming mentality did a really nice job of just getting Yokic into a mode mentally where he didn't trust a lot of his shot-making ability. And so he was more willing to be passive and look to move the ball around.

But again, extremely rare to see a bad game out of this type of player. But this is what it looks like when that sort of thing happens. And as a result, because Yokic wasn't being very aggressive, it turned into Murray and Michael Porter Jr., controlling the majority of these possessions. and they rely on tough over-the-top shot-making. So just like KD, they can go cold. It went cold after they went up 112 or 102 to 99, and they weren't able to make up for that. KCP, I just thought had a bad night.

He's a guy that is a super reliable role player. And, I mean, at the same time, he made some big shots. He had that huge three on the left wing that actually put them up 100 to 99. But like, I didn't think that, and also I want to blame Murray a little bit in the sense that he should have identified

that Bradley Beale was dead. digging down off of him and been more diligent to get the ball to KCP. But on the defensive end of the floor, I thought it was not KCP's best crunch time, especially there in OT. And so that's something that they can build off of. And then lastly, bad backline help and recover situations. Like that was what killed them when they went down by 20 plus. And it's just really hard to dig back.

And they did. And they actually had a three point lead. Like Denver looked magnificent in the last quarter and a half of this game before before they went into OT, but like they just dug themselves in such a big hole that KD really only had to make one shot or two shots. He made that one little drifting fade away in the lane and then he hit the pull up three. Those two shots he made were really all they needed to get to OT because of the hole that they dug themselves in. So, you know, just a bad night. This sort of thing happens. Credit Phoenix, they defended extremely well. Like Yokits was like losing

rebounding battles too. That's something that you're just not usually accustomed to seeing just a bad a bad Denver night, credit Phoenix for the win, a lot of fixable stuff there on the Denver front. 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 IHard 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. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations,

stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 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. 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 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'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 finishing that sentence. Yes.

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 American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, moving on to Boston, Cleveland. So just a crazy comeback, down 22 points in the fourth quarter. Dean Wade gets crazy hot.

It's a couple of shots on Luke Cornett and then gets comfortable, gets kind of into a rhythm. him. And then from there, like, Dary Scarlin and Carus Leverts did a really nice job of finding Dean Wade when he was open from there. He hit a couple of shots in transition, hit a couple of shots just relocating off the ball. He was just scalding hot and Boston kept losing him and he shot them back into the game. I wanted to credit George's Nying, two. He had two massive ones, had a relocation three on Jason Tatum, where Tatum turned his back for a second. He kind of went to the top of the key, knocked it down, had a three where he ran his lane in transition. George's Neing also defended really well down the stretch had a couple of big help defense possessions.

There was a shot that Porzingis made over the top of him in the post where he defended it really well. There was a pick and pop where he made a chaotic rotation to get back out to him. It was actually kind of funny because he's so awkward sometimes on defense just because of his body type. But he was stumbling all over the place, but he was playing his ass off and made a bunch of big plays on both ends of the floor to get them into it. And then the final possession, the game winner for Dean, Wade, he just once again identified that Boston was ball watching, Drew Holiday was on him and he wasn't paying attention. He just snuck

right along the right along the left elbow kind of slot cutting through the lane. Darius Garland smokes a left-handed layup off the glass, but Dean Wade comes in and dunks it and puts the calves up one. And then on the other end of the floor, the guy I have to shout out is Darius Garland on the

defense event because Boston was really trying to pick on him. They kept bringing him up into ball screens and he was hedging and recovering and just doing a really nice job of sticking that hand out there to stop them from turning the corner and then sprinting back to the shooter to get a late contest. He had a big defensive rebound possession against Luke Cornette where Tatum missed a layup off the glass and he shoved Cornette under the rim to stop him from getting the rebound. He stopped Derek White on a drive or Derek White got downhill on him and he literally sprinted back to get in front

of Derek White to force him to spin. Derek White ended up stumbling and losing his balance and he missed a shot. And then on the biggest possession of the game there at the end of regulation up by one, he gets switched on to Jason Tatum and holds his ground and forces him into a really tough left shoulder fade away. Just really, really good defense from the guy that they were trying to target down the stretch of the game. And again, I wanted to just credit Cleveland, like they baited Boston into their worst tendencies.

They threw that hedge and recover, put them in a situation where Boston was kind of baited into taking repeated catch-and-shoot threes above the break, which they have a tendency every once in a while, even though they're a very good shooting team. they have a tendency to go cold. Big time win from Cleveland, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat

and did it without Donovan Mitchell once again on the strength of their defense. And honestly, their defense hasn't been very good as of late. And so I thought this was really encouraging just to recapture some of that identity. On the Boston end of the floor, I had a Boston fan message me last night

on Twitter saying like, hey, go easy on us. You know, we, you know, this kind of thing happens to everybody. And I agree, for the record. Like, this kind of thing happens to everyone. It's an 82 game season. You're going to have ugly moments. Denver, just last night, had a nightmarish game on both ends of the floor,

particularly their offense fell apart and clutch time. Yokic had one of his worst nights of the season. So like, yeah, you're right. This kind of thing can happen. However, important checkpoints to getting to the promised land, which is the Larry O'Brien trophy, is having the self-awareness to look in the mirror, identify what you're bad at and get better at it, so that when you get to May and April and June, you don't make those kinds of mistakes.

So we're going to do a quick little, I'm going to quickly just go over what I noticed on tape. By the way, we are working up currently a film breakdown version of this. So you should see that on the YouTube feed soon enough with some footage to break it down. But first of all, on the defensive end of the floor. The first two shots that got Dean Wade going, I didn't think there were anyone's fault. 22 point game. Luke Cornett's guarding him. Big guys in general have a tendency with shooters to not be as desperate to chase them off the line.

and it's just kind of not naturally in their defensive kind of instincts, right? And then you're down 20. Like, you're not really like playing the hardest defense you've ever played in your life, right? So the first two three's Dean Wade hit were on Luke Cornett on short closeouts where cornets there, but he's more just taking away the drive and like, and Dean Wade had missed a bunch of threes earlier in the game. And so he's just trying to see if he'll make it, right? So he makes a couple of threes.

From there, though, now Dean Wade's hot. A lot of ball watching. like you would see like there's a critical possession late in the game the game that the shot that put him up 102.99. Jalen Brown is on Dean Wade on the right wing and he's just completely back turned to Dean Wade staring in the lane while Darius Garland and Jared Allen

are running a two-man game. Porzingis and I think it was Porzingis and Derek White have it like completely under control. They have the possession completely defended. There's no advantage there. And Jalen Brown is just standing standing standing. staring at the play, Jared Allen gets the ball and ends up throwing the swing pass out to Dean Wade and he knocks down the three. Another big one and we're going to talk about their

offense in a minute, but some bad offensive possessions led to transition runouts and they weren't getting matched up in transition. George's Neing hit a left corner three, not matched up in transition. Dean Wade hit a transition three trailing the play on a dribble handoff from Darius Garland. Christop's Porzingis was sprinting back in transition, got below the three point line, didn't realize he was matched up with the best shooter on the floor and lost him. You know, like Drew Holiday lost Dean Wade on a key three at the top of the key when he wasn't paying attention in transition. So like it was a lot of, a lot of ball watching, a lot of just like, like I talk about like help and stay home decisions a lot on this show.

When you are driving into the lane and your on ball defender is in position to force him into a tough shot and there's another help defender that's in a better position to do something and you leave a shooter from a different spot, you're not helping anybody. You're not actually causing that shot to be a lower percentage. All you're doing is giving an outlet. That's how you force teams into turnovers. You force teams into turnovers by defending actions one-on-one and two-on-two

and staying home off the ball, at least close enough to the shooter that you're always back in that position, and you want to play the passing lane. Because then what happens is when you shut the action down one-on-one or two-on- to whoever has the ball has to get rid of it somehow. And usually they're looking to get it back out to the perimeter. And when you get them into tough spots where they're rushing, they'll force a pass out there. And if you're in the passing lane, you can force the turnover. When you're ball watching, all you're doing is watching your guys do a good job defensively

on the ball while conceding an easy kickout opportunity. And it's just, it's one of those things where the offensive approach we're going to talk about in a second. That's an important part of Boston's issues that they have to rectify. But none of it matters if they defend so damn well that there's just a massive margin for error. And like, again, we've talked about that a lot on this show, but like Boston's defense is so much more under their control than their offense, and they just got really, really sloppy off the ball down the stretch on the offensive end of the floor. One of the things I've talked about, and I've been harping on nonstop over the course the last month, is Boston needing to find a way to generate offense on the interior when their

jump shots stop falling. From the nine minute mark, when Boston was up by 20, they missed every single jump shot they took down the stretch. By the way, that can happen. That is a thing that happens in basketball games. That is a thing that has happened to Boston a bunch of times this season. So it doesn't matter over the 82 if you're the best three-point shooting team in the league. It doesn't matter over the 82 if you have the most volume of three-point shots. It doesn't matter if in that individual game you have.

gone cold. The Celtics made five shots during that run. Those five shots were all physically aggressive moves towards the rim. What are the four ways that I talked about for Boston to generate points in the paint? Posting up with aggression towards the rim, right? Crashing the offensive glass, running in transition for layups and dunks, and then cutting off of the three point line instead of constantly spotting up. Their five made baskets during the 22 point blown lead was a Luke Cornett offensive rebound putback. Al Horford making an aggressive move in the post to a hook with his right hand.

Christopps Porzingis making aggressive move in the pose to a hook with his right hand. Drew Holiday cutting off of the weak side wing instead of spotting up and getting a layup and Christops Porzingis running his lane in transition for a layup. So that is why I harp on that concept. When this happens, when the defenses ratchet up, the intensity gets crazy, maybe your team loses some confidence from the three-point line and the shots aren't falling, that has resiliency. Attacking the paint has resiliency in that environment.

You're jump shooting, you might make them, but you might not. And when it gets in the team's head and the palms get sweaty, you're probably not going to make them. You missed every single jumper you took during that run. The biggest problem with it too, they were running actions that are actually designed to generate above the break three point shots.

For example, Horsingas pick and pop. They ran a couple of, they ran I think two Horsengas pick and pops down the stretch of this game, two or three of them, but two of them led to three point shots. And on them,

like it is exactly what you expect, like ball screen, you know, George's kneeing helps, recovers back out. Christop's Prasengis catches and shoots like a 26 footer. Here's thing. Chris Hopsfordinga shoots 39% on above the break threes.

But that means he misses him 61% of the time. And in a game like that, when it's super physical and when there's nerves and there's sweaty palms and all that stuff, it's actually even more likely that he'll miss. It doesn't matter what the shot value is over the 500 of them he might take in a season or whatever it is. All that really matters is that specific possession in that specific game, can you get a high percentage shot?

And like that is, that action is going to lead to a shot that Porzingis is going to miss probably two thirds of the time in a big sample size, but in that sample size, it's far more likely that he's going to miss just because that's the way the game is going. Also, they were picking on Darius Garland. And the idea behind it is set a ball screen,

let me get Darius Garland switched on to me. If I get Darius Garland switched on to me, then I can be aggressive. But they couldn't identify that Cleveland was hedging and recovering. So if Darius Garland is hedging and recovering and you're sitting guard, guard screens, they are going to result in above the break threes because you're going to come off that ball screen. Garland's going to hedge. You're going to have to pull back as you pull back. The shooter is slipping into the three point line. You're going to throw it to him and you're

going to get a three point shot off of it, right? Jason Tatum missed and above the break three off of a pick and pop. Drew Holliday missed and above the break three off of a pick and pop. They were running actions that were leading to that specific type of shot. Why it's concerning is they were actually able to get better matchups and get opportunities to attack the rim, but even when they did that, they either couldn't sustain it or they rushed the situation. First, not sustaining it. There was a stretch there at the beginning of the run where Drew Holiday and Al Horford were running pick and roll. They were trying to pick on Sam Merrill. This was before the starters came back into the game. They

were on a ball screen. Al Horford gets Sam Merrill switched on to him. He immediately backs him down in the post and gets an easy right-handed hook over his left shoulder and he banks it in. Very next possession, they get the same switch. They get the same post touch on the left elbow this time. Forford doesn't even look at the basket. He turns and runs a dribble hand off with Jason Tatham. Just immediately bails on it. They just got it to work and they immediately bailed on it.

That's one of those things where the really smart teams in the league will go, this is our advantage. Let's keep going to it. And then the second one is when they got advantages rushing the situation. I talked about Darius Carlin stopping Derek White on a drive. Derek White comes off the ball screen. He was out of a horn set. Darius Garland is a really nice job beating him back down the floor.

Cleveland goes home. Everyone stays home. George's kneeing had rotated, but he sprinted back out to the perimeter. He is on an island with just Garland, not a defender within eight feet of him. And instead of slowing down, turning his basket and taking his time bullying Darius Garland into the basket, he rushes a spinning shot and he loses his balance and falls over. and misses the shot. And then that actually led to a transition runout for another bucket.

Then there's another one, big possession late in the game. They run a ball screen. They get a switch. It's Georges Nying on Tatum, Jared Allen on Khrastops, Porzingis. Jared Allen, they just run the switch. Jared Allen is still right next to Tatum with George's Neing. Tatum has the switch he wants. Instead of pulling it out, there's tons of time on the shock clock.

There's like 14 seconds on the shock clock. Instead of pulling it out and going further to the side, to create some space, maybe even clearing the corner and working on the empty side and trying to beat him off the dribble and get to the basket to the layup, Tatum spazes out, like just spazes and immediately starts trying to drive on, on George's kneeing. Jared Allen's right there. And so guess what happens? Porzingis, because he didn't move over far enough, Jared Allen's in this position where he can help and then get a good close out on Porzengis. So Tatum drives into Jared Allen, throws the ball back out to Porzingis, and we get another contested

above the break three. If he literally just would have chilled for a second and took it two or three steps off to the right, now if he drives and gets Jared Allen to help, it's a wide open three for Khrasksh, not in a movement situation where he's sliding out of a ball screen, but he's standing squared up to the basket. Or maybe you can turn the corner and Jared Allen doesn't help enough and it stays home on Porzingis and you get some kind of layup. But it's like there's no patience. diligence. There's no like, let's be super particular about getting the right shot in this situation. It's the same kind of free flowing offense that you see in the meat and potatoes of the game. And again, they'll have cold stretches like that in the meat and potatoes of the game too,

but it usually doesn't matter because they'll get hot at a different time, make a bunch of shots and win. But in these late game situations, when the shots aren't falling, they have to do a better job of identifying where their advantages are and being super diligent about getting the ball to the right spots. for the right shots. And again, it's just a bad night. Bad nights happen. They've been kicking everyone's ass. They've been the best regular season team in the league this year.

But we know this is what it looks like when Boston loses. They have to identify these things and fix these problems before they get to the postseason. 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 which I'm 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. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 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-tapped 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? Do a little kill. 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 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on 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 American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, really quickly, before we get out of here, let's get to the mailbag. First question, has Peyton Watson shown enough this season for you to think he could be a sixth man's starter, slash starter for Nuggets Dynasty. Love the show.

I've been watching for a while. Thanks for supporting the show. I think he's incredible on the defensive end of the floor. You saw a little bit of his issues with the jump shot last night, especially in that second half where just guys are leaving him open

and that can be a little bit of an issue in the long run. I think he can get better at that. Also, like cutting more like Aaron Gordon does is a big part of that. Peyton has had a lot of stretches this year where he is super active as a cutter. I think that's a big way that he can

kind of mitigate some of the issues with his jump shot. similar to what Aaron Gordon does. But he's so damn good defensively. That one-legged block that he had on Bradley Beale, and Bradley Beal tried to bury him under the basket. It was such an impressive defensive play. He had a bunch of blocks against the Lakers in the Laker game, too.

Like Peyton Watson is just insane. I'm a big believer in him. I absolutely think he is capable of being not just a sixth man, but like he's one of those guys where if there's a version of this two, three years from now where you lose Aaron Gordon, and Peyton Watson has to slide into that four spot with a few more years of player development, I absolutely think he could slot into that role.

Next question. How do you think about the defensive impact when ranking top players in the league? For example, Yokic versus Yonis, Luca versus SGA and Tatum. So here's the thing. I do think defensive impact matters. I think it's more important to call out guys

who are bad defensive players. Guys like Yokic and Steph Curry, for instance, guys who have worked hard enough on the defensive details to at least not hurt your defense. those guys while also being top-tier offensive talents are guys that I'm always going to gravitate towards. By the way, this is what makes LeBron the second greatest player of all time is like when he was at his peak, he was probably the best defensive player in the world and the best offensive player in the world.

And that's kind of like the thing that kind of sets him apart. But when it comes to guys that have some offensive limitations, so guys like Janus, who can struggle a little bit and a half court offensively, guys like Jason Tatum, who can struggle a little bit and a half court offensively with late game execution. Them being awesome at defense to me isn't enough to make up for their offensive limitations. For me, like ideally, I always am going to weigh offense a little bit more. And I'm always going to be more willing to overlook a defensive issue as long as those guys work hard enough to not hurt their defense because at least you can construct a good defense

around them. I've seen the Warriors and Nuggets construct championship defenses around Nicole Yokic in a round Steph Curry. That's the question. Can you build a championship defense around a guy like Luca Donchich? That's what we're going to find out

in the long run. Next question. You mentioned the variance of the Celtics offense as it's reliant on a lot of jump shooting in the past. I feel this is way more easily reflected last season with many bad losses,

whereas this year only one in any game against someone under 500. Can it be the variance as lessons do the added pieces in KP and Drew as well as long as long as as long as Marcus Smart's inconsistent offense? or is that attributed to a much larger margin for error than last year? Them beating bad teams is all about the margin for error.

They're so damn talented that they're just not going to lose to bad teams, the vast majority of the time, right? The variance to me is it's not so much in them relying on jump shooting. I think they should be a team that takes a lot of jump shots. They have a lot of really good jump shooters. It's just they've gone comically so far in that direction. Up until late, as of late, they've been much more active in the paint. But they've gone comically so far in that direction

that they've added variance to a larger extent than it needs to be. That's really all I'm asking for. I'm just asking for balance. I'm just asking for a little bit more balance. And then more like a read the room kind of thing. The best teams in the league like Nicole Yokic, let's take Yokic or LeBron, for instance. LeBron knows when it's the kind of game where he needs to be a passer.

And LeBron knows where it's the kind of game where he needs to be more aggressive as a score. Nicole Yokich, last night notwithstanding, is one of those kinds of guys too. those offenses, in the best offenses of the league in general, they know what their advantages on that given night and they lean into it. Boston needs to kind of be better at that specifically. Hey, tonight the jumpers aren't falling. We need to adjust into more of this play style. Or, hey, our jumpers are falling.

Everyone's confident. Let's keep hunting these things. Let's get 50 of them up in this game because we're going to make 25 of them, right? Those are the kinds of kind of adjustments that Boston needs to get better at. Next question. Big fan of the show and your breakdowns. Seen you say before that your big, playmaking forward like LeBron or Luca is your favorite archetype of player.

Do you think that this type of player inherently has more value than the big two-way forward like Kawhi-Kati-Tatim? LeBron at his peak was obviously an elite defender too, but if you had to compare peak Luca or Hardin guard but big and control pace, for example, to peak Katie Kauai Tatum, which has more value to build a perfect roster around in your opinion. Here's the tough one. Luca and Hardin are, they are like Luca's a big playmaking forward, but him and Hardin, they both play such a heliocentric style.

that there's another conversation to have about their heliocentrism. So, for instance, not this last Pacer's game, but two Pacers games ago. By the way, Dallas is falling apart. They can't get a stop on anybody. But two Indiana Pacer's games ago. Tatum had Ben Mathuron on him, and he straight, I soed him five consecutive times to start the game. Tyree didn't even touch the ball for like three minutes. And I remember watching that, and I'm like, this is weird basketball.

And I love Luca. Like, Luca, I think is an incredible basketball player. and I'm a huge believer in his ability. And for both Luca and Hardin, I find things as a basketball fan that I'm drawn to, specifically footwork stuff. Hardin, I have stolen most of his stepback footwork stuff that I use myself. Luca Donchitz,

like I use him as an example when I'm training my high school kids about the advantages of selling every move with every part of your body and how it's less about whipping the basketball around and more about selling things with your body language. There's a lot to learn from those two guys, but their play styles to me are very different from the LeBron. When I think big playmaking forward, I actually think more like Yokic and LeBron,

as in like they're guys that have like a ton of offensive versatility. They always keep all their teammates involved, not just with catch and shoot threes and dunks, but with actual actions and they operate as screeners and rollers. And like to me, the LeBron Yokic archetype is the one that I'd take over the Kauai Kady Tatum. The Luca Hardin archetype, You know, I think I think Luca is going to make the adjustments in the long run and get better at this,

but I think they're a little bit different. And they're kind of a new archetype that we're still learning about. And for the record, we have not seen yet a heliocentric player like Luca Ardardin win, a championship or even make the finals for that matter. Next question. Three more quick ones. Just the two guys I've been waiting for. Can I get a segment on five reasons why you guys were wrong about trading Delo? I remember what you said. This was a comment in the Laker video. I had to hit this one because this is one of my biggest pet peeves. Like, sometimes new information comes to the table and then I changed my mind. That's all this was.

I didn't switch up on Delo. I didn't, I wasn't wrong about Delo before and then wrong again about him now or whatever it is. What happened was is since Delo rejoined the starting lineup in the last 23 games, he's averaging 23 points in seven. assists on 47% from the field and 44% from 3 on massive volume. Before that, in 35 games, he averaged 15 points and 6 assists on 46% from the field and 39% from 3. He is a much better basketball player now than he was before this stretch. He's playing the very best basketball of his career. I wasn't wrong about DeAngelo Russell. I'm just not a stubborn idiot who won't

change my mind when new information comes to the table. I don't have an invested in interest in being disrespectful or mean to DeAngelo Russell. That's not the case. I talked about the basketball player he was when he was averaging 15 and 6, and I talked about how they should trade him because he wasn't good enough in addition to being a redundancy with Austin Reeves to not justify using his contract to improve the roster. Now he's playing way better, and it's a completely different conversation. Like this kind of thing, it drives me crazy because like all the time we're getting new information. The Bucks sucked at defense the entire

year. Now they're awesome. I'm excited to watch them against Golden State tonight. Let's find out what the new stuff is. And let's learn from it. And then by the way, if you said the Bucs defense sucked and then suddenly the Bucs

defense gets great and they win the title, you're not wrong for saying Milwaukee's defense sucked. Yes, it did. And then they changed. that kind of thing happens. DeLo is averaging eight more points, significantly more efficiently, and another assist per game compared to the way he started the season,

and he's defending better. Like, he's just playing way better. That is why I feel differently about DeAngelo Russell. I am not married to any opinion. I will always respond to new information. Next question. What is Derek lively's ceiling? What does he need to improve to get there?

I look at Derek Lively is like a Tyson-Channler type of archetype. I think he's three things that I think he could get better at. One, help and stay home decisions. So just being better at identifying, kind of like we were talking about in the Celtics game, when you're on ball a guy has things under control and you're more important to stay home and get the defensive rebound versus one of guys compromise and he needs to help. Becoming a master of the role, not just the vertical spacing, but also the short roll passing out of it. And then lastly, against teams that switch, it'd be really nice if you could add a little left shoulder, right-handed hook to just quickly hit a shot over the top when teams try to switch on him.

Last question before we get out of here, why isn't anyone talking about the absurd season? Janice is having, averaging 31, 11, and 6 with 2.3 stocks on an insane 62% field goals. Only Karim has averaged 30, and 5 on 50% field goals. Yonis did so last year on 55 and is now on pace to be the only player in history to average 30 points on 60% field goals. Now people may say that he only dunks, but they only, but they forget that not even Shaq did this.

I think in some years to come, we will look back and realize that this may have been the most underrated individual season of all time. So I said this on the show a couple of weeks ago. Nicole Yokic is going to win MVP. Nicole Yokic has a huge fan base among the media. And so that's a big part of why he's going to control MVP voting for a while, I think. And it's very possible that he racks up a bunch of them. But I actually, even though I think Yokic is the best player in the world and I think Yokic

is better at basketball than Yonis, I think Yonis has had the most impressive regular season this year. I said it on the show a few weeks ago. I would give the MVP to Yonis. like I think on a team that has had some significant personnel limitations in the back court, Janus has just been a wrecking ball trying to overcome those issues. And I think he's mostly been awesome this year. I think people that say that Janus just dunks the ball are silly. I mean, the reason why I think Janus is not the same level as a guy like Nicola Yokic

is just in that half court slowdown environment, Janus still struggles when he has to kind of do everything as the offensive initiator, We saw that again against Miami last year, although he was injured. He did not play well in that environment. He still hasn't developed a go-to over-the-top shot. So these are limitations that I think of in the big picture of player rankings, but I 100% agree with you. I think Janus is having a massively underrated season,

and I personally would give him the MVP. All right, guys, that is all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show. I will see you guys tonight live on YouTube after the final buzzer of Warriors Bucks. 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, S&L'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. 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 IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all?

You're listening to learn the hard. with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your

podcast. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human