The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Klay Thompson drops 42 in Warriors Win, Russell Westbrook's Clippers Debut

Episode Date: February 25, 2023

Jason Timpf breaks down Russell Westbrook's Clippers' debut as they lost 176-175 in double OT to the Sacramento Kings. He discusses the good and the bad from Westbrook's night and the one mistake the Clippers made with him. Later, he discusses Klay Thompson scoring 42 points for the Warriors in a 116-101 over the Rockets. He also breaks down the limitations Golden State has without Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins on the court. #volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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feed that AMP is the very first place that you guys can get these shows. Quick show today. We're just doing two games, that ridiculous game between the Clippers and the Kings last night. They went to double O T and the Warriors getting back on track with a win against the Houston Rockets. 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 you happen to miss one of these shows 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, before we get started, you guys have heard me talk about Game Time,

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purchase. So download Game Time today. Last-minute tickets, lowest price. price guaranteed. All right, let's talk some basketball. So this game was unbelievably bizarre. I missed it last night. I had a date night with my wife, but we ended up, I ended up watching it this morning, and I'd kind of seen what had happened. I looked, and it was like, well, we're heading into O.T, and both teams are in the 160s? Like, that's super weird. And I'm like looking at the box score and, like, Kauai and Paul Georgia having these incredible games. And, you know, Russell Westbrook has 14 assists. And I'm like, man, is anybody playing any defense? in this game. And so when I watched the footage, that's pretty much exactly what happened.

Neither team had a real rim protector. Zubak was out for this game. And so essentially, you had Plumley on one end. And Subonis on the other end, Subonis is a great offensive player, but he's not exactly the best drop coverage big in the world. And so it's just steady diet of a lot of really good ball handlers running ball screen actions with nobody that can slow it down on the back end. And then from there, everyone got comfortable. And you know how that goes. Like I talk about this all the time. but when you have super talented offensive players, once they get into a groove, even when the defense picks up the intensity, it just doesn't really matter because once they're confident and their muscle memory is down and they've got their release dialed in,

those shots are just going in, even if you can test them well. And down the stretch, there were a lot of plays where Deeran Fox and Kauai Leonard and Paul George were taking these tough contested pull-up jump shots, but they were just going in because they had already found their rhythm. and the result after the dust settled was a 176 to 175 king's win. The Clippers blew three consecutive, huge late leads. They blew a 14-point lead more than halfway through the fourth quarter in regulation. They blew a six-point lead in both overtimes.

In regulation, when the Clippers were out big, lay deer and Fox really turned up the ball pressure. He picked Russell Westbrook clean, then he picked Paul George clean. for a runout the other way. Then all the King's guards picked up their ball pressure, and the clippers got super passive and didn't get into their offense until way late in the shot clock and didn't get any good shots. And then on the other end of the floor, just guys make him plays. And on that final possession, 153, 150, I've talked a lot about this,

but Russell Westbrook has a tendency to freelance off the ball on defense, and he was guarding Malik Munk. And for no particular reason at all, he just stopped guarding him. and Malik Monk relocated to the opposite end of the floor, and Deerun Fox hit him for the game-tying three. And then fast forward to double O.T. Paul George, or excuse me, they take Paul George out of the game because of a minutes restriction, which was super weird.

Then Russell Westbrook fouls out with the clippers up six, and so they end up going to Mason Plumley down the stretch, and they run a lot of Kauai Leonard Mason-Plumley pick and roll, so the Kings, smart, just trap Kauai Leonard on every one of those. Both times, Kauai hits Plumley on the short roll, and both times Plumley turned it over, because that's just a tough, he's not exactly a playmaker in the short role. So the weird circumstance surrounding Paul George and Russell Westbrook, leaving the game, kind of led to bizarre, weird lineup combinations, and the Kings took advantage of that.

And on the other end of the floor, Malik Monk hit a huge movement three, headed to his right, squared up in midair, knocked it down to get him within one, and then Deer and Fox hit the pull-up two that ended up. up being essentially the game winner. And then the Clippers had a really disjointed final possession that ended in a Nicholas Petum Hive on the left wing and the game was over. So like I said, it was a really weird game, kind of anti-climactic for as up and down and crazy and star-powered as it was for it to end with, you know, Mason Plumley turnovers, Paul

George and Russell Westbrook on the bench and, you know, a couple of Kings plays to win the game. Deird Fawks and Malik Monk just absolutely barbecued the Clippers defense. I think the Clippers really missed having Zubak out there just as a, And he's not the best rim protector in the world, but he's much better than Plumley. And too often had to go to small lineups too. And then Chmesi met two was killing them on the offensive glass. But Deer & Fox and Malik Monk took advantage of that.

They combined for 87 points on 51 shots. I would imagine if you could have gone to those two guys when they were in a Kentucky locker room back in the day and told them like, hey, you guys are going to be teaming up and just lighting teams on fire in the future. I think that would be a pretty cool moment for those guys. Malik Monk is such a pure score. I've always thought of scoring as a skill that goes beyond ball handling and shooting. Obviously, ball handling and shooting is the method with which you go about that scoring. But there's such an improvisational element that I think goes beyond what people think.

It's so much more about your instinct and your touch on weird shots as opposed to, you know, I think guys that are very rigid and rely too much on their muscle memory really struggle with scoring the basketball because they don't have that little bit of wiggle in their game and that improvisational thing. You know what's funny is I don't really think it's something that can be taught. I think you either have it or you don't. And Malik is one of those guys that very much has that natural scoring instinct and improvisational touch. And I covered him when he was with the Lakers last year. And he was a rare bright spot for the Lakers.

Obviously, he had his limitations, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. Not even so much for a lack of trying. He's very thin and can be pushed around. We've seen this a lot around the league. It's kind of a Jama problem too. if you're a guard and you're also easy to move around physically, it just is tough to guard. But either way, his offensive skill and his synergy with guys like Austin Reeves and LeBron James last year led the Lakers to be pretty damn good for the most part. Their better stretches of the season were when it was, you know, Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Malik Monk, Austin Reeves, that kind of group.

Malik was a rare bright spot. And it was actually kind of depressing for Lakers fans because they knew they would never be able to afford to keep him after the season. because of how well he played. And it was a great get for the Kings with their all-in approach to offense. But that's what this is. And let's be clear, like this is an all-in approach to offense. Like the Clippers, they're a solid defensive team that has a defensive ceiling, and they just struggled in this game because they didn't have their rim protector.

And I'm pretty sure they were a top 10 defense before last night's game. So, like, at least with them, you kind of look at it as an outlier and a matchup thing and Zubach being out of the lineup. But with the Kings, this is what they do. They try to outscore you every single night. They're 24th in defense on the season. But you know what's interesting is even when you look at their wins, they're winning by outscoring you.

If you took every team in the NBA's defensive rating just when they win games, the Kings are dead last in the NBA, allowing 113 points per 100 possessions. They're one of my favorite teams to watch. Their offensive skill and high-scoring games lead to just a great television product, and I've enjoyed watching them this year. but they eventually need to get serious about defending to have any real chance of going on a long playoff run, which I've said a half dozen times this year

for those of you guys who listen to the show. Kawhi Leonard looked fantastic through three quarters. Caught a heater there in that third quarter, no one can stop him. He was hitting post-up fadeaways over his right shoulder. He was bullying his way to the basket for a little hook shots and he had like a disgusting step-back three, I think on Malik Munk.

And he was just showing everything. And really just looked like classic robot, Kauai. I think at one point he had like 29 points on 11 shots, and that was before he went crazy in that third quarter. So a lot of encouraging stuff there, but then he was pretty bad down the stretch, and in both overtime periods, particularly leaving his jump shot short and didn't look like he was getting a lot of lift in separation the way he was in the previous three quarters. And obviously it's a weird game, a high-paced game, a lot of shots going up, so some weird circumstances, but that's always going to be my concern specifically with Kauai.

is in a really long playoff run where you've got to play 24 games in two months or potentially more, is his leg, his quad issues that he's had, his knee issues that he's had, is his leg going to be able to hold up under a long postseason run? Because those, like I talk about this all the time with young players. When it comes to stepbacks, fadeaways, real shot making, it's all your legs. it's all lift, getting separation and lift. Because really, once you get to your spot and you elevate, there's a muscle memory thing that kicks in there.

Obviously with a little bit of that improvisational shot making that I talk about, that touch that I talk about. But the guys that have that touch and have that muscle memory down, it's really just can they get to their spot and get the requisite amount of lift. It all comes down to legs. And you saw Kauai's legs fail him down the stretch of that game. And that's obviously concerning for them. but if he's going to play the way he did through the first three quarters and hold up physically,

then none of this matters, and they're going to be really damn good. I just am concerned about whether or not he's going to be able to hold up. The Russell Westbrook debut with the Clippers went just about exactly as I expected. A total roller coaster of good and bad plays. The good plays were like a hefty level above what they were when he was with the Lakers, which I predicted. I said the Lakers were the worst shooting team in the league, and Russ is a three-point shot creator, right?

And so putting him with that Clippers team that just has a ton of professional jump shooters, he's going to generate them a ton of quality looks. And he did. He generated a bunch of wide-open threes, including for Paul George and Kauai, which is so important to helping them build their rhythm. And I thought that was a really natural fit. He finished with 14 assists. I'm always going to be a big believer in rim pressure alongside complementing the perimeter skill that the clippers have.

And I think that's a big part of why you saw so many positives from Russ last night. He also pushed the pace really well. There was a play in the first half where, like, the king's got a layup. And they inbound the ball to Russ, and Russ just sprints up the floor, throws a quick shovel pass to Marcus Morris, which forces a rotation, gets swung to Kauai Leonard in the corner, and he makes a three. And I'm sitting there thinking, like, that's easy. That's easy basketball that the clippers really were never getting before this move,

and Russell Westbrook is adding that element to their offense. but it did come with a bunch of bad plays. Like he missed three point-blank layups, two of which led to quick transition baskets for the Kings. Russ's missed layups are almost like turnovers, and then he had seven turnovers, a couple of which were pick-sixes that led to quick baskets the other way. But overall, I thought the good plays outweighed the bad plays significantly,

and I thought that was reflected in him winning his shifts, and the clippers were up six when he fouled out of the game in double overtime. My one complaint with the Russell Westbrook thing last night, and this is something I've talked about a lot is they did close with him, so they rode that up and down roller coaster in the home stretch of the game. And, you know, there's a couple of specific side effects of that. One, the Kings ignored him a lot and double teamed him off the ball. There was a specific play at the end of the first overtime where Paul George was trying to go to work off the dribble

when the game was tied in the final possession to win the game. And Russell Westbrook was there on the left wing, and Russell Westbrook's man completely ignored. Russ, just hard-doubled Paul George, and Paul George ended up, like, taking some janky, like forward-leaning jump shot in the lane that he missed. And then, obviously, they're that last player regulation. I said to you guys in my breakdown of the Russell Westbrook fit with the clippers, I said, when he's on ball, he's been very good defensively this year, actually kind of a weapon for the Lakers. But in off-ball situations, he's a freelancer, which is good and bad.

So, for instance, there was a game against the Pacers a few weeks ago where on the final possession, Buddy Heald turned his back and drove towards the baseline, and Russell Westbrook impromptu double-teamed Buddy Heald. And on that play, it ended up being something that worked out because Buddy Healed picked up his dribble. He looked around. He didn't see a good passing angle, and he threw up a very difficult shot along the baseline, and he missed it. It was a random freelancing play that worked. But last night, you saw the flip side of that coin. He freelanced off of Malik Monk on the final possession in a three-point game, and Malik Monk got free and knocked down a three. And that's the thing that gets tough with freelancing.

At the end of games, execution becomes the most important. So it's actually better to have somebody that does their job on every single possession. And my question for you guys is, and I'll leave this open-ended, do you think in a pivotal game five of a second round series for the Clippers, in Denver on the final possession, their final few possessions, can you trust Russell Westbrook to do his job on the defensive possession? Can you? Or do you think he would freelance and go off script and potentially make a mistake or make a good play?

And think about that dynamic and whether or not that is going to get the Clippers beat. And I don't know. And like I said, I'm going to leave that open-ended. I think that's where you start to look at it as like, would you be better off going with someone like Terrence Mann in that situation understanding you're not going to get the rim pressure and the high-level shot creating from Russ, but you have that baseline, that higher floor that comes from Terence Mann's ability to just do his job on any given defensive possession.

Overall, I thought it was a good debut for Russell Westbrook, and I do think he's a good fit for the clippers who can help them. I just personally would not play him at the end of games, and I'm really curious to see if Tyron Loo is going to do that over the course of the season. All right, before we get out of here, let's move on to Warriors' So this is a good tune-up game for the Warriors. This was the one they had to win. I didn't think they could win that Lakers game.

The Warriors won 116 to 101. Clay Thompson hit 12-3s on his way to 42 points. That's the 10th time in Clay Thompson's career that he's hit at least 10-3s. He's the second-best shooter of all time. I've always said that his height combined with the quickness of his release and his ridiculous muscle memory, and just when he gets that release dialed in, every shot seems to go in, you know, he actually, when he gets hot, his hot streaks are every bit

as effective as Steph Curry's hot streaks. Now, obviously, his floor is nowhere near as high as Steph. Steph's a million times the player. But when it comes to shooting and getting hot, there's not many guys in NBA history that do it the way that Clay does it. Poor Tari-Eason caught the match-up for most of this game, and Clay just put him in a blender, running off the screens and moving without the ball. Clay got switched on to senders a couple of time and scored out of ISO. He got Frank Kaminsky with a stepback three in the first half, and then a really nice hesitation pull-up three against Uzman Garuba on a switch in the second half. Clay's last 22 games, 26 points per game on 44% from three on 12 three-point attempts per game. And so, you know, I've seen a lot of people

overthinking the warrior struggles this season when in my opinion so much of it just comes down to Andrew Wiggins and Steph Curry have missed too many games. Like I was pulled up some numbers today. The Warriors have had to play 2,412 possessions this year with both of Steph and Andrew Wiggins off the floor. That's their two best players. And they're not doing well in those possessions, 112 offensive rating, which is not good,

and 117 defensive rating, which is not good. And they're getting outscored by five points per 100 possessions. It's really this simple. Like, without Steph, Jordan Poole is their only on-ball creator. So when teams pack the paint and overplay their shooters and force them to back cut in their off ball actions, they just don't have the audible of going to on ball actions enough. Because it's just a lot to ask for Jordan Poole to do that as the only onball creator on the team, really, that can really do it at a high level.

And so it just puts them in a tough position. And then it really just compounds because they can't set their defense. And so, yeah, you think, okay, we're going to lean on Draymond Green, Kavanaughn and our defensive identity to carry us through games. But if you can't score the basketball, you can't get your defense set. You're constantly dealing with transition cross-matches and fast break points and things like that. And your defense falls apart. And it's just been really hard for them to float that.

And I don't want people to lose side of the plot here. It really is that simple. Sometimes it's not more complicated than our best players are missing too many games. I mean, even Andrew Wiggins is a guy who can like apply real rim pressure just by dropping his shoulder. and ripping through and going to the rim. And that element to their game is just missing right now. Everything will be slotted properly when they get back and when Gary Payton II joins the fray.

Like I saw a lot of debates on Twitter. I follow a lot of Warriors fans on Twitter. And I've seen a lot of debates lately. It's like, oh, well, like, we should play Patrick Baldwin, Jr. over Anthony Lamb. And, you know, yeah, I agree. like Patrick Baldwin Jr. brings like a really interesting size element, although he doesn't rebound super well, which is kind of an issue. Anthony Lamb's actually a better rebounder, even though he's shorter.

But like Patrick Baldwin Jr. is one of those guys where it's like, he has the size. He's got the perimeter shot. He confidently rises up into these shots. Like, yeah, I'm for it. Give it a try. You know, try something to try to get something going when Steph and Andrew Wiggins are out of the lineup. but like what's the point? Like the reality is is that when everyone gets healthy, your nine-man rotation is Steph, Clay, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, Kvonne Loonie, Jordan Poole, Dante DiVincenzo, Jamichael Green, and probably a little bit of Jonathan Kaminga. I don't think you're going to be worried about whether or Anthony Lamb or Patrick Baldwin Jr. are going to be playing those minutes. And like, I saw this a lot with Lakers fans where they would complain about rotation details. And like I had specific things where I'd be like

I'd be annoyed about a specific guy in the starting lineup or specific. combination of players. But more often than not, it was like, okay, but Anthony Davis is hurt and they don't have any forwards. And so really, you're asking a bunch of veteran minimum contract guys to fill roles that are typically filled for good teams by guys who make 20 million a year. It's just a lot to ask. And so slotting becomes a problem. You take a max player like Andrew Wiggins and you remove him and now you're putting a guy into that spot that's nowhere near is talented and he probably's better off the bench, but now he's starting, and then the guy coming off the bench for him is a guy who's a fringe NBA player. Like, it's just, you're asking

too much. There's very few teams in the league to have that kind of real depth to be able to survive in those situations. And even when they do go to their depth, there's going to be some limitations. Andrew Wiggins and Steph Curry are the best players on the team, and without them, they're going to struggle to win. That's just a fact. But you've got to get the ones you can get, the ones like that Houston Rockets game you've got to get and just float it as best as you can and then when everyone comes back, you've really got to hit the jets and just cross your fingers

and hope everyone stays healthy. All right, guys, that's all I have for today. We have Sixers Celtics tonight. We're not covering that tonight, but we are covering it tomorrow after the final buzzer of Mavericks Lakers. So we'll be hitting Mavericks Lakers, Sixers, Celtics, and I'll look around at this schedule and see if there's one or two other games that are worth covering.

As always, I sincerely appreciate your guys of support, and I'll see you next time. The volume. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast'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. or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all?

You're listening to Learn the Hardway 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.