The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Luka Doncic drops 41, Mavericks big win vs. Kevin Durant & Suns

Episode Date: February 24, 2024

Jason Timpf reacts to Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and the Dallas Mavericks' 123-113 win over Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and the Phoenix Suns. Jason discusses what has led to the improved Mavericks defense and what goes wrong for the Suns offense when Bradley Beal is out of the lineup. Later, Jason breaks down Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics' 129-112 win over the Chicago Bulls and clarifies why he is slightly concerned about Boston's offense heading into the NBA Playoffs. Lastly, Jason responds to JJ Redick's criticism on the state of sports media and shares why he believes the industry is in a great place. Timeline (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements): 03:00 - Introduction 04:39 - Mavericks beat Suns 11:46 - Mavericks defense has been great 20:58 - Suns mediocre without Bradley Beal 27:23 - Celtics blow past Bulls 31:09 - How concerning is Celtics lack of interior offense? 41:19 - Responding to JJ Redick's take on sports media #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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 Friday, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having an incredible week. Got a fun show for you guys. We're going to be hitting Suns Mavs from last night. Super interesting game. I'm going to talk a lot about the new additions for the Mavericks and how they're helping them. I've had that game circled on the calendar for a while because it's our first opportunity to see the Mavs against a quality opponent post trade deadline. After that, we're going to go into the Boston Celtics and the Chicago Bulls. Big win for the Celtics pulled away in the early.

second half in that one. I also wanted to clarify some of my thoughts because I've had some pushback from Celtics fans surrounding the kind of dynamic between their paint attack and how much they post up. And I want to kind of dive into that a little bit. After that, at the end of the show, there was a debate that went around, I think on Wednesday last week or this week, Tuesday or Wednesday, involving kind of JJ Reddick in the state of modern sports media. And I had some thoughts on that front because it's been a super fascinating thing to me as I've been trying to build this show out. Obviously, I'm very new into this industry and I've been learning a lot about it. And I just had some thoughts on that front.

So we're going to save that for the end of the show. You guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel. It mean a lot to me if you guys would take a second to hit that subscribe button. Don't forget about our podcast feed, wherever you get your podcast under hoops tonight. Also, it's helpful if you leave your rating and review on the podcast front. I would appreciate that. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT.

so you guys don't miss the film threads that I do from time to time in the mornings as well as show announcements. And then last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments. We're going to have a couple mailbags over the course of the next week or so. All right, let's talk some basketball. So like I said, had this game circled on the calendar for a while. The Mavs had won six games in a row,

but they had played a couple of injury riddled teams. I think it was the Sixers and the Knicks, and then they had played a bunch of bad teams. And also, they had a big, massive win against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but PJ Washington and Daniel Gaffer did not play in that game. So I wanted to kind of get a feel for the Mavs against a really good opponent. Now here's the thing. The Sons didn't have Bradley Biel, but even without Bradley Biel,

there's still a really good basketball team. I think Royce O'Neill has kind of added to their physical profile on the perimeter and giving them a better option there. Royce actually had a bunch of contested rebounds last night where even though he didn't shoot particularly well in that game, I was watching him, and I'm like, this is something that's going to be important for them when they get to the postseason, like a, a, a wing player that is a plus offensive player, but that also is going to, like, win some physical

battles for them. And so, again, like, I love that pickup. And in general, even without Bradley Beal, I still think the sons are a really good team. And they controlled the game early. Devin Booker came out and he was red hot. You could tell he was just hunting his shot, stepped into like a pretty contested transition three on the right wing in the early possessions. And you could just tell, like, he was gunning for it. As a team, they shot eight for 17 from three in the first half. Dallas wasn't super sharp defensively in that half, particularly in their pick and roll coverages. They were given away some easy swing swings for catch and shoot threes on the perimeter. Hyrie was incredible in the first half for Dallas to keep them in it. He had his three ball going.

He had that kind of like tough transition three going. It's a footwork thing that I work on with the high school kids that I train too. Like whenever you're shooting a movement shot, you want to try to get the end result to be up and down, which is all about leg strength. And if you watch Kyrie on those shots. Like he's sprinting up the floor in full speed, but he gets that left right footwork down. And he goes pretty much straight up and down. There's a little bit of a forward movement, but it's pretty balanced on that shot. A lot of people don't realize that, but that movement shooting, that pull-up shooting, almost all that comes down to leg strength. It's like your base is one of the most important parts of that type of shooting. But it was

close game, 6360, I think, at halftime. And then Luca just utterly assassinated them to start the third quarter. Got crazy hot from three. It, uh, Catch and shoot three on the right wing, then he hit a couple of pull-up threes. He actually hit one off a sidestep to his right, which I don't think I've ever seen Luca do before. Like, Luca, when you shoot as a right-handed player moving towards your right, you kind of have to square up in mid-air. Like, JJ Reddick has done a bit about this on his show, I think with Cam Johnson from the Nets, about like the idea of squaring up as a right-handed shooter moving towards your right.

And that's more of an athletic play, right? and Luca's a little bit more of a ground-bound shooter. That's why, like, so many of his host-up fadeaways are spinning over his right shoulder, so his feet are kind of more naturally square. Or his step-back is usually stepping back to his left with his right shoulder already in position to take that shot. And so it was kind of interesting just to see Luca kind of demonstrate that he's got that in his bag, too. It just goes to show you how good he was feeling in this particular game. They built a quick lead.

They did lose it for a second. Luca got a little carried away, started attacking Kevin Durant in ISO, which, I kind of cooled him off. And, like, again, that's the last guy on Phoenix that you want to attack in ICE. Especially for a guy like Luca, because Katie just has the length to kind of bother him on those shots. As a result, Suns made some shots on the other end. Royce O'Neill hit a three on the left wing, got it to 8180. But Dallas regained control pretty quick from there.

Good team effort when Luca was off the floor at that point. Daniel Gafford was super active. He generated two extra possessions just being active on the offensive glass. There was one where he kind of caused a loose ball. crashing on the baseline side and forced Royce O'Neill to, like, go out of bounds to save the basketball. And then Josh Green made a nice athletic play swiping in from the weak side wing to get that steel. Led to a Kyrie Irving catch and shoot three that put them back up by four. Then Kyrie actually drew a foul after that to get to the foul line.

KD started attacking Maxi Kleber in ISO, and Maxi was holding up super well, which became a theme even as we get into the fourth quarter. We're going to talk more about Maxie and a lot of the Dallas defensive personnel here in a little bit. Daniel Gafford had a big block and help side defense. I also thought Tim Hardaway Jr. had some good stretches on defense against Evan Booker, just getting late contests as he was coming over the top of ball screens. And then some good driving kick possessions. He had a driving kick to a corner three on the right side.

And then he also had a kind of transition driving layup where he hit a bank shot. A good team effort, beautiful basketball on both ends. Dallas kind of regains control. But we go into the fourth quarter, and it's a five, point game. And then the MAVs close it out with efforts on both ends of the floor. They start with a Luca post up on the right block. On that possession, Pady zones up and comes over on the opposite side of the block to help. And Maxi just slipped right in front of the rim. Luca hit him. He had a layup. After that, KD tries to ISO Maxi Claibah again and he gets another stop in ISO. After that,

they push in transition. PJ Washington catches on the right wing, rips through to the left, gets a left-handed layup, and it's a nine-point game. So pretty quickly, Dallas regains control. There was a cool sequence at the end that I wanted to hit on as it pertains to Phoenix's offense, which we'll talk about here in a second. So Katie hits a tough turnaround jumper in the lane, then Luca drives on Grayson Allen draws a foul. Still a nine-point game.

It's 102 to 93. So at that point, there is an open double of Kevin Durant on the perimeter. Dallas sends two defenders, no ball screen or anything. They just send Max Clave over to just double team Kevin Durant on. the perimeter. And there was this really interesting possession where, you know, Nasir Little and Josh Okoji are running around trying to find an opening. Grayson Allen's just like standing in the left corner. Might as well have had his hands in his pockets. He's not doing anything. Royce O'Neill's kind of floating around the perimeter and they can't find a way to beat a blatant

on-ball double team. And it ends up leading to a to a Josha Koji turnover. And that's when Kyrie Irving got the ball and had that ridiculous sequence where he did like the behind the back dribble that then went into that nasty spin move and went right it up at the rim and laid it up and they were up by 11. And from there, the Mavs basically stiff-armed them and won by double figures. But I thought it was super interesting on a couple of different levels. One, Dallas's defensive rotations, which we're going to get to in just a second. And then two, Phoenix's offense, when Bradley Beale is not on the floor and how they can struggle, especially in fourth quarters, to deal with double teams and traps and stuff like that. That has become a consistent theme

throughout the end of the season. And I thought that was just kind of like an interesting play sequence in that game that kind of demonstrated both teams and some consistent themes that we've seen in the past for Phoenix and what I expect in the future for Dallas. Excellent defensive rotations and backline athleticism for Dallas, or spacing principles, and a kind of like a Mendoza line of offensive talent that Phoenix can dip below when Bradley Beale's not out there that makes it easy to double team the ball

out of their star's hands. So I want to start with Dallas's defense. Let's get there first. They have the number one defense in the league over this seven-game winning streak. Now, there's a lot of bad teams in there, like I said. I don't think Dallas is actually a number one quality defense, but they absolutely look like a team that can reach a level defensively that is good enough to give them a chance to make a run in the playoffs.

And so let's get into why. I want to start at the point of attack. I thought PJ Washington did a really good job on Kevin Durant. kept beating him to spots, chesting him up and taking that contact, and then he used his outside hand to swipe down and disrupt the shooting pocket. And, you know, he also just has the length to be a nuisance on KD, which not very many players in the league can do. Like, there was an early fourth quarter possession on the right wing

where Kevin Durant had PJ Washington in an ISO, and he tried a jab step jumper. And Katie had a bad miss. It was far to the right, and he hit it off the heel of the rim, and it went over the back of the rim. And if you watch the play, like PJ Washington is just sitting in defense, and he's kind of like not conceding the Jap step jumper, but there's a reason why Katie took it.

Like he had the space to do it. But PJ was able to close and get a really good contest because he had the length there. And if you look at Dallas's perimeter defenders before that trade, they got guys with length. They got guys that can guard on the perimeter. But their length was like a skinny or shorter guy in Derek Jones Jr. Or a fire hydrant guy in Josh Green.

PJ Washington brings like actual size to that position defensively that they didn't have before, which I thought was really interesting. But it extends down the roster because Derek Jones Jr. is a very good defensive player. I thought he had some really good defensive possessions on Katie as well. He actually blocked him on a pull-up jumper in this game. How often do you see a perimeter defender block Kevin Durant on a jump shot, right?

And then Josh Green just kind of brings a different kind of of athlete to the table. Like I said, Josh Green's more of like that shorter, stockier, fire hydrant type of defender that can beat people to spots and bring kind of like a physical strength to the position, right? Derek Jones Jr. is like, freaky athleticism in length, right? And then PJ Washington's more of like your stereotypical, traditional big forward that can guard on the perimeter. So they have different types of players

that they can bring in that situation, which allows them to give different looks on the ball. So they can actually make sure that they have multiple perimeter defenders to throw at multiple different perimeter options for the other team. And again, like, that matters because you're going to get cooked sometimes, but more often than not, if you make a superstar work harder,

you can kind of limit his effectiveness enough to give yourself a better chance to succeed. There are going to be guys, the top tier guys, that can cook you even when you play perfect defense. But more often than not, you're going to get a better result when you have better perimeter defense personnel that can make the other star work harder

over the course of the 48 minutes. We talked about this last night with Austin Reeves. I was talking about all of you guys who play basketball who are ball handlers. when you walk onto the court, when your local pickup run or your local men's league, or even if you're playing in college, when you go to practice, when one of your teammates is on you and you're like, oh yeah, this dude has no chance to guard me. He doesn't have physical tools.

I'm bigger, I'm stronger, I'm faster, whatever it is. You have that tool. From the beginning of the game, you just know, I'm going to be comfortable against this guy. I'm going to get to my spots. Whereas we all know that guy, we all have a guy. We're like, when he steps on the floor and you guard you, you're like, well, this is going to be a pain in the ass. You know, and it's like you can still have some success, but you're going to have to work harder to do so. And like Dallas just has more guys now, an additional guy in the form of PJ Washington,

that gives them another option to make opposing stars feel uncomfortable, which I think is valuable. And again, all three of them can help on the offense to bend of the floor. Josh Green has shot the ball really well the last two years. Like, this was a guy that you could leave open in the playoff run in 2020. And like the last two years, he's been a dead eye spot up shooter, which is a testament to how hard he's worked. and has made him a much more useful player for them, especially as a 3-&D guy. Derek Jones Jr.

He's not as accurate of a shooter as a guy like Josh Green, but he's actually a more efficient spot-up player. One of the main reasons why is he's really good at that slashing drive off of the wing. There was actually a play like this in the first half of this game. Luca's working, it was either I saw or a post up on the left elbow extended, and Derek Jones Jr.'s guy digs down to the elbow. and when the off-ball defender digs down to the elbow, there's a baked-in driving lane.

It's baked into the coverage because if you throw a quick swing pass and you quickly rip to the right, that defensive player is not in position to beat you to the spot. And if he does, he's not going to be able to slide. He's going to have to turn and run, in which case you can make a counter move towards the middle and easily cross him over and get back into the lane.

And Derek is really good at reading those driving lanes and attacking quickly off the catch and getting to the basket in a spot-up situation. Again, this is something I talk about all the time on this show. Three-point shooting is only one part of being an effective off-ball weapon, having the ability to cut without the basketball, be an offensive rebounder, and then also driving closeouts. Those are ways to be effective spot-up players. Derek Jones Jr. has been, I think he's like 1.09 points for spot-up possession this year. That's above average.

That's a plus offensive player that you have there. And then PJ Washington, he's a solid shooter when he's wide open. He was 39% on unguarded jumpers when he was in Charlotte. That's a field goal percentage. So waited for three is obviously considerably. higher. I could live without the random transition pull-up threes that he took in this game. I think he was one for two, but I just don't necessarily think that needs to be in his game right now. But he can do the slot drive thing as well. He had a big one in the fourth quarter coming off

the right wing where he got to his left hand. He had a couple others in the game. He's also good at identifying when he has a mismatch. PJ Washington will like find, like whether it's through a switch or a scramble situation, he'll find a guard on him. And rather than just going to stand in the corner, he will duck down into the lane and create a good passing angle and you can throw a pass over the top. The maps have good, you know, post-entry passers, catches the ball and he'll just rise up and dunk. And he's already had a few of those with Dallas where he can get a deep seal and score in there. But the point is, Dallas now has a pretty deep and solid two-way perimeter defender core at different position groups too, right? Like PJ Washington brings it more as a forward

and Derek Jones Jr. is kind of more of a wing and Josh Green can bring it more as a guard. But Like, they just have like a lot more options there than they did before the trade. The next layer of Dallas's defense is their backline. The addition of Daniel Gafford gives them two really good athletes at the center position. I like that they started Derek Lively. I mean, at least to this point, I think Derek Lively's playing a little bit better. I think you see that in the plus minus numbers too. Ironically, he could be their best option, which is crazy for a rookie, right?

And it just goes to show you how one, you know, really smart draft pick can change the, uh, of a franchise, right? But between Daniel Gafford and Derek lively and also Maxi Kleba and his ability to defend in switches like he did against Kevin Durant, they have a pretty athletic and versatile front line. But the big thing I'm going to be keeping an eye on moving forward is the rebounding piece. So in the four games since Daniel Gafford joined the team, they have a 72.7 defensive rebound percentage. That's considerably higher than where they were before that stretch. As a team before that stretch, 69.4%. So again, small sample size.

but I want to keep an eye on it because having just some more athletes and also healthy, being healthy, I think has helped. But I'm just curious to see if they can rebound better over the course of the end of the season because that was a big problem for them early in the season. And then two other pieces on the defense event, they rotate really well. How many times did you see in that game? We talked about that one possession with the double team of Kevin Durant where they didn't leave any openings. And if you watch the other three guys, they're constantly positioning themselves,

kind of splitting the difference between options, making it so that whichever guy they passed, two, they can rotate to, right? But how many times in this game did you see a trapper, a double team of Devin Booker or Kevin Durant coming off of a ball screen? And then a scramble situation where Phoenix moves the ball around and they get the ball to like Yusuf Nurchich in the post or something like that. But by the time they get it there, there's already a defender who has rotated back and is positioned behind Yusuf Nirch and the advantage is gone. Or it gets worked around to an open Eric Gordon on the weak side, but they're able to chase Eric Gordon off the line. And now that buys you the time to make another rotation.

Really sharp rotations are especially important for teams like Dallas that have good defensive personnel but not like outstanding defensive personnel. A team like Dallas that's going to have in all likelihood two or three, depending on the lineup, kind of iffy defensive players on the floor, defensive rotations are going to be a key part of their success and they were really, really sharp against Dallas.

And then lastly, you need Kyrie Irving and Luca Donchich to at least put in the effort and to do their jobs. which is what they are doing. And that's the formula for them. Incredible offense with playoff resiliency that you get from Luca and Kyrie and then two-way athletes around them that can finish plays and do the dirty work. I thought it was a really impressive first showing in a quality matchup for Dallas with their new additions. They are heading out on a four-game road trip now.

They're at Indiana, at Cleveland, at Toronto, and at Boston over the course of the next week or so. So we're going to learn a lot about Dallas over that stretch. All right, Phoenix looked like so many games from earlier in the season when Beal was hurt. They start out hot, and then teams start bringing super aggressive coverages in that late third quarter, fourth quarter stretch on Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, just double teaming them, and then their offense falls apart. And it trickles down into every area of the game. Then they start to not rebound as well. Then they start to not defend as well.

And that's why they've been so mediocre without Bradley Beal on the floor this year. Handling double teams is the big thing that stands out when Beal is off the floor. When Beal is out there, they usually only have one or maybe even zero negative offensive players on the floor. And so they can really quickly operate out of those aggressive coverages. But when Beal is not out there, all of a sudden it's like at least one limited offensive player on the floor, if not two. And that's how you end up with that early fourth quarter stretch when Dallas blew the game open. Josh Okoji and Nasir Little were both on the floor together. They were getting in each other's way in the middle of the floor because both of them kind of wanted to short roll into that area.

area as a result or roll or cut into that area because they know they have limitations as shooters. They kept ending up above the break too, like multiple times for both of them. And they're just bad above the break shooters. I think Okoji's like 29%. And I think, if I'm not mistaken, I see her little is like 31% above the break. So like they're guys that you just don't have to guard out there. That's below a point per shot. And so that lineup just, again, like I said earlier, just dips below a certain like mandatory minimum amount of offensive talent to be able to deal with the aggressive coverages that Kevin Rand and Devin Booker get. And then the other part of it is I think they can get a little stagnant

in terms of their offball player movement. Like that play that I talked about, I clipped this play. It's on my Twitter feed out underscore Jason LT that you guys can find. But the double team that led to the Josh Kogi turnover, which led to the Kyrie Irving, nasty spinning lay up the other end of the floor. Watch Grayson Allen in the left corner. It doesn't move. And like again, when everyone on the floor is a laser from three

with some of their better lineups, you can get away with standing still because ball movement and red hot shooting will get you through that moment. But when the lineup offensive talent just kind of dips below that level, I think they do need to be more creative to make themselves harder to guard. There needs to be more player movement. You need to have Grayson Allen at a position where he's closer to the basketball so that he can help be a release valve in those situations. I think they just have to do a better job of making themselves harder to guard in those situations.

But big shock, they need Bradley be able to win. 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 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. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football,

or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and news. 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 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-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 to do with Little Kim?

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a 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 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. 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.

That's not a criticism of Phoenix. That's the same for every single team in the league that has a real shot to win the title. You know, not even just stars, even extending down to role players. Like you need an injury to a significant rotation piece is going to make it significantly harder for any of these teams to win and certainly is the case with Bradley Biel. All right, Celtics Bulls.

So I talked about, you know, last week, the idea of the Celtics having so much margin for error and being able to try stuff. Right, because they're going into last night, they were, what, six games up on the two seed in the east and then four games up on the one seed in the west. So they just have a comfortable margin to work with, right? And they also have a super easy schedule down the stretch of the season. Well, you saw that a little bit in the first half. Like they straight up ran five possessions of that three two zone that they've been working on as of late.

And they got cooked in it. I think they gave up nine points in the five possessions of the three two zone. Chicago got in a rhythm. They had 39 points in the second quarter. Kobe White made like a drifting three on a kind of a breakdown defensive rotation situation where he had a drifting three on the left wing put him up by three, 62-59 going into the half. But in the second half, Boston tightened the screws in their man-to-man defense for one quarter and the game was over. And again, that's the flexibility that they have with their talent and

with the margin that they have in the standings. And they were really sharp in their extra efforts on defense. They had several blocks at the rim. The Celtics had 11 blocks in this game. As a matter of fact, they're second in the league in blocks. There's so many athletes. There was this play, Alex Crusoe got to steal and threw like a two-handed overhead bounce pass that hit. I think it was Ayur Dissoumoo in transition. And he was ahead of the field.

But Jalen Brown and Derek White were trailing the play. And I remember as I'm watching it, and I don't even know what's going to happen yet. I'm like, this is a bad idea. Like, you might as well pull this one out. And like Derek White and Jailen Mbrown both just sky way above the rim and block the Sunimu at the rim. Also, the Celtics broadcasters were talking about Vucevich

and how he was kind of killing them in the first half. And I think it was Scalibrini mentioned like they have to do a better job on Vucevich's rolls to the rim of digging down and making it harder for him to catch there or harder for him to elevate when he gets there. And they were just doing a better job when Vucevich caught there in the second half of digging down from the weak side and disrupting the basketball. Drew Holliday had to dig down from the left wing where he actually knocked the ball loose and caused a turnover.

They just did a much better job defensively. And then again, helping off of iffy shooters. The Bulls are 24th and 3-pointers made per game. So that's the team that you want to pack the paint on. They got it going on the defensive end, which led to success on the offensive end as well. And then they pulled away in that third quarter. Obnoxiously good jump shooting in this game.

The Celtics made 19 pull-up jump shots. They scored 50 points on 34 attempts. Comes out to 1.47 points per shot. Think about how insane that is in pull-up jump shooting. anything over one point is good. The Celtics average slightly over one point in pull-up jump shot situations. But like again, pull-up jumpers are the reason why just barely over one point is good there when like a 120 offensive rating is more like what you want in a grand scheme of a game.

Most of the time, pull-up jump shooters are like coverage beaters or rescue possession type situations. The Celtics actually can lean on them in high doses in nights like this when they're making them at such an insane clip. Jalen Brown was just insanely hot in the. the first half. The Celtics were running horn sets, where they have two players at the elbow, two players in the deep corner player up top. They were running horn sets to get Jalen Brown with Nicola Vucevich switched on to him. And then he would just beat Nikola Vusovich with like a hard downhill move into like a step back three. He also hit like a left shoulder fade over Alex

Caruso out of the post. We're going to talk some more about that here in a minute. But he had a really, really nice stretch in that first half. He had 20 points to kind of keep them in the game while their defense wasn't as locked in. And then in that third quarter run, Jason Tatum and Derek White got their pull-up jump shots going. Houser ended up hitting a big three in transition on the left wing. All of a sudden, they're up 14, and they never looked back. Really sharp performance to start the Celtic season out of the break. I wanted to, I'm going to stay on Boston for a minute because I wanted to clarify some comments

that I made earlier about Boston's lack of an interior attack. This is something I've been talking a lot about. I've been harping a lot on Boston's offense because I think it's the main thing that is going to be the determining factor of their success in the postseason. and Boston is an elite offense, elite of the elite. But they've been elite in the large sample. They have also had a tendency to go really cold in individual games, especially in high profile games,

and their offense has fallen apart in those situations. And so I've been talking about them needing to have a counter, something that they can do that is more physically aggressive towards the rim when the jump shots aren't falling. I've had a lot of Celtics fans since I've been kind of getting on that wagon talking about how the Celtics are actually, they actually post up more than any team in the league. For the record, it's true.

Boston posts up more than every team in the league except for Denver. Denver's the one team that posts up more than them. And they're the most efficient post-up team in the NBA. Boston scores 1.15 points per post-up, including passes. But all of their post-up offense, including passes, only amounts to 12.8 points per game. Denver is also really good post-up team, right? They're number one in post-up frequency,

but they're also number two in points in the paint per 100 possessions. Boston is 27th in points in the paint per 100 possessions. Why? Because posting up is only one way to get into the paint. There are many, many different ways to get the basketball into the paint. Just like driving is only one way to get in the paint. Remember when all the talk was going on about the Lakers and their fasts, Al discrepancy and how they drive less than any team in the league.

People think that driving is the only way to get in the pay. That's not how it works. The Lakers make the second most shots in the restricted area per game in the NBA. 56% of the Lakers shot attempts come within eight feet of the rim, despite the fact that they don't drive the basketball very much. Why is that? They are top 10 in points scored on cuts. Boston is 21st.

They are first in two-point field goals made on rolls to the rim. Boston is 26th. Boston is mainly a pick-and-pop team. They take a lot of threes in pick-and-roll, right? Boston is 24th in field goals made on offensive rebound situations. Even in transition. Boston is second in transition three's made per game, but they are 17th in transition two's made per game. They run the floor for threes, whereas the Lakers are third in transition two's scored per game. I'm not trying to compare the Lakers of the Celtics.

Celtics are way better than the Lakers. They'd kick the shit out of them if they played in a series tomorrow. I'd pick them in four or five games. What I'm trying to make a point about is about the offensive versatility. Yes, the Celtics posts up a lot, but they do not generate nearly enough points in the paint, which is a more resilient form of scoring and what happens when we get to the post season.

Again, even if you look at their postups, they're a post-up team that takes a lot of fade-away jump shots out of the post. They had 18 post-ups versus Chicago last night, 11 of them either ended up in fade away jumpers or kickout jump shots. Like they're, they post up for jump shots too, which is why their points in the paint are so limited. I'm not worried about it in a large sample. Boston, like to steal a phrase from my friend Sam Vassini, who came on the show last week, like they're ass kickers, they're total ass kickers on the offensive end of the floor.

They are by far the best regular season team in the league. And I think they'd easily dispatch in the playoffs all but a small handful of teams. But we know one thing for sure. Boston can go cold. They went cold against Denver, they lost. They went cold against Milwaukee, they lost. They went cold against the Lakers, they lost. They went cold against the clippers, they lost.

It's not the large sample I'm worried about. It's the small sample size that I worry about for Boston. In the event that they find themselves in the Eastern Conference semis or Eastern Conference Finals against Milwaukee or New York, and the series is tied at two, and game five is in Boston, and it's a super physical rock fight type of game, what happens if they go cold? What do they do next?

Because we've seen in all those games, I just mentioned the Denver game, the Milwaukee game, and the two L.A. teams, in those games, it wasn't like they were cold for a half, and then they got hot. It was a consistent theme throughout the game. Even when they made a couple, they weren't able to sustain it.

And a big part of that is, that's just how these types of games go. This has been an overarching theme of my kind of basketball philosophy for a long time. The more important the basketball game is, the more physical it becomes, the more intense it becomes, and the more the skill-oriented parts of the game

become difficult. Which is why I am so, you know, high on teams that have interior physicality. Just go back through NBA history. Like, last year's Denver Nuggets team, biggest, strongest player on the floor, Nicole Yokic. Now, the Warriors in 2022, it's Steph Curry.

He's the greatest small perimeter player in the history of basketball. So he's the exception that proves the rule. You can't use him as evidence of what you can do. Nobody on Boston is even remotely in the same stratosphere as a shooter as Steph Curry. So that can't be your approach, right? 2021, Janice and Tentenikoumbo, biggest, strongest player on the floor most of the time. 2020, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, big, massive physically imposing front line. 2019, Kauai Leonard, big massive physically imposing forward.

That is the way you win most of the time. And again, like I was literally, you guys know I coach high school basketball here in town. I was watching our kids playing a playoff game on Wednesday. They ended up, they were up by one with less than a minute left. And then the other team made a couple of plays. They ended up winning by four and their season's over now. But in the game, it was interesting because I once again, watching the game, super, super intense.

Both teams season on the line, both teams bringing crazy. crazy, crazy level of effort on both ends of the floor. You know what wasn't happening? A ton of three-point shots. And that's not to say that that's not an important part of the game. Of course, it's an important part of the game. And before you say, this is how we've been playing and it's been working, that's not the case.

In 2022, when the Celtics made it to the NBA finals and got within two wins of hoisting the trophy, they were eight in three-point attempts per 100 possessions, not first. They were 15th in points in the paint per 100 possessions, not two. 27th. They were a much more balanced scoring team in that 22 season than they were now. They have gone so, so, so far in that direction to the point where now they've attached their fate to variance. Last night in Chicago, they scored 129 points. Only 30 of them were in the paint. They attempted 57 jump shots in that game. Again, it's not about Chicago.

It's like, it's not about the 82 game, regular season. This is 100% about a seven gamer against a healthy Knicks team, against a healthy Bucks team, against a healthy Bucs team, against a healthy Clippers team. That's the lens that we have to look through the look through. By the way, I have Celtics second is my list of championship contenders. I think they're the most talented team in the league. Why I'm harping on this is this is going to make or break their season,

in my opinion. There is a chance that they just go. go into the playoffs and they make their threes five to six times per series and they just beat the shit out of everybody. That's a chance. I'm not trying to say that that's not possible. Of course that's possible. But winning an NBA championship is hard.

Winning four series in two months is hard. And they have made themselves beatable in the sense that if you can play them into their worst tendencies and you play a super physical brand of basketball, you can get them to go cold and you might be able to steal a series

from them. If Boston loses, that's what it will look like. A way to prevent that from happening is to be more active in those specific areas. Run in transition for layups and dunks whenever you can, take the threes when they're an option. Stop running for the purpose of taking threes. Roll to the basket harder more.

Jalen Brown, Drew Holliday, and Jason Tatum. When you're posting up, stop settling for fadeaways every damn. Like, Jalen Brown is the best fadeaway jump shooter in the league this year. Outstanding athlete. He can go over both shoulders. excellent fadeaway jump shooter. Even the best fadeaway jump shooter in the world

is not close to as efficient on that shot as Nicole Yokic is on a hook in the lane. Forget about that. It's not even close to as efficient as Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum can be in physical bully ball post-up possessions. So like crashing the offensive glass more, running in transition for layups and dunks,

hosting up with physicality towards the rim instead of finesse away from the rim, rolling to the basket more in pick and roll situations. Those are all cuts to the basket off the ball instead of constantly spotting up, maybe taking advantage of a defender being out of position by cutting to the basket. These are all ways that Boston can add points in the paint to make their scoring more resilient. That 22 Boston team, that's a great mark to be. Eighth in three point attempts per 100 possessions, 15th in points in the paint.

that is an analytically sound approach. You were taking advantage of high value shots on the floor while making sure that you have some more resiliency when the shots aren't falling. Boston was able to win ugly better in that season than they were this season. And again, I don't want this to come off as Celtics criticism. That's not what I'm trying to do.

We're nitpicking here because we're talking about the very best of the best. Like, if I wanted to talk about the Lakers, I'd have to get into 17 other massive issues before they'd even have a chance to be in these conversations. conversations, right? Boston has everything else checked. If they can figure this out, they will hoist the trophy. That is why I'm viewing this as such an important swing factor for them this season. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced

games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what 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 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 Jay 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 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 So 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, before we get out of here, I want to talk about JJ Redick and the state of sports media. So the backstory here, for those of guys who missed it, JJ Redick criticized Doc Rivers

on, I think, Monday or Tuesday, because Doc won't stop criticizing his players. even though he's got his own set of issues. I didn't have any problem with that criticism. Honestly, it's like nice to see players be authentic, honestly, because so many former players get out and they, you know, are just always on the defensive of NBA players or NBA coaches and they kind of just take the company line on everything.

And so I appreciated the authenticity in that situation, right? But then JJ came on the next day on first take, and he talks about how fans don't want to be educated about basketball. And he provided an example. And he basically said, I did a deep dive on Zion Williamson and him being on the ballmore. Those of you guys who listened to this show, we did a similar conversation, not as deep, but we had a conversation about the Pelicans and Zion playing better,

being on the ball more and generating close-out opportunities for the Pelicans off-ball players or perimeter players and how they've been really killing teams with that. JJ did a far more in-depth version of that where he talked about specific actions that the Pelicans are using, namely empty corner pick and rolls with Jonas Valachunis and just in general, like transition. pushes and sweeping drives from Zion ghost screens too with guys like Trey Murphy and stuff like that. Really, really well done by JJ Redick.

I want to be clear. This is my disclaimer. I think JJ Reddick is the very best in the world at what he does. He's someone that I look up to a lot, someone I strive to be like. He's a hard worker. He's super knowledgeable. He's an excellent communicator. He brings that former NBA player perspective.

He's awesome with interviews, color commentary, studio shows, everything. I think he's the best. But I disagree with his take about the current state of sports media. So I wanted to talk about it for a second. First of all, I am super optimistic about the current state of sports media. The ecosystem and the tools that we have at our disposal are incredible. You can, these days, if you have a MacBook and an iPhone, due to, I think it's called like,

I can't remember what the technology is called from Apple, but you can actually use your iPhone as a webcam now. That's what I do when I travel. When I go on ski trips with my wife or whatever the hell I'm doing, I set up my phone and I can make a high quality video on the road with a little handheld microphone that I got on Amazon that I think was like 20, 30 bucks a long time ago. Like, then I got that one before I even started working with the volume.

Like, it is easy to come up with the equipment to make quality content now. In addition to that, you can distribute it extremely easily between free tools like YouTube, social media, and the algorithms that are behind that, the algorithms that promote content based on watch time. As a result, we have a ton of options. We have incredible team-specific pods, national pods, draft guys, film guys, CBA guys, like, you name it.

We have everything under the sun now. Like, if you go back, like, 10 years, think about the kind of niche basketball analysis that was available 5, 10 years ago versus now. It is skyrocket. I am so optimistic about the state of sports media. But the take JJ had, he said, when I made that Zion Williamson video, it only got 54,000 views. When I criticized my former head coach, it went viral and had tens of millions of impressions. This is where I think we have to be realistic.

I think it's unrealistic to expect a ton of engagement from niche content like that, like the Zion video. Like a guy like me, it's going to be super interested in a video like that. all of you guys who listen to this show, you're going to be super interested in something like that. But there's no doubt that like shorter attention span type of content, that sort of thing is going to perform better in the masses. Like lower brow or lowbrow is probably not the way to phrase it, but like more surface level content is easier to digest by the masses.

It's no different than like if I was talking to my wife about the grateful debt. And she's like, I like Scarlet Begonas. That's a cool song. And then I was like, well, let me talk to you about the chord progression of this song. And then the differences between, you know, this tour versus last tour and the tone that John Mayer was using and the kind of like vibe that he's going with with the way he's playing over it. And like the way that they use Jeff Chimentee is the piano player in Franklin's Tower now versus like I can get into the weeds about that shit. Carly's not going to care.

Why would she? She doesn't care about that. Right. Like there's different levels of interest in this kind of thing. There are basketball fans that get invested in the playoffs and will turn on a broadcast and they'll watch superstars play. And then there are basketball fans that want to get in the weeds. And so to me, like, I don't necessarily understand the comparison there. Like, JJ Reddick criticizing his coach on first take, or I don't even remember which platform he originally did it on.

But that being talked about is going to be a significantly larger, you know, audience that's going to be interested in it. Like, I could get, let's invent a fictitious person that's the very best basketball analysis, analyst, in history of mankind and give him all of the top of the line, you know, production tools that are available to him and give him, you know, the world's biggest YouTube channel to post it on. Pose it on freaking, I don't know what Mr. Beast's channel or something like that. And pretend all of them are basketball or people that are interested in sports in some way, shape, or form. If he did the Zion Williamson video and posted it there, it's not going to perform as well

as some surface level of content. That's just the reality. So that is where I think we have to be more realistic. that doesn't mean we can't be better. And I do think that what JJ's getting at in the big picture is important. I think specifically game broadcasts. We can get so much better. It's so much more important for the color commentators that are on those broadcasts

to be able to actually explain to fans what are happening on the court. JJ Reddick does a great job of this. Stan Van Gundy does a great job of this. Even local guys, like one of my favorites on leak pass is Antonio Daniels, who covers the Pelicans. I think he does such a good job of breaking down some of the X's and O stuff that is happening on the floor. But why do I care about broadcasts? Because broadcasts are where we go to get the games.

Everything else, it's you can go where you want. Like, I never have understood people who complain about first take in it being like surface level. Why are you watching it then? Like, who's making you turn on ESPN? I haven't watched live first take in, I don't, I think it's, in 10 years. I'm not interested in it. So when I want to watch a piece of sports media content,

I personally like in-depth basketball analysis. I like to learn from in-depth. I like to learn from other basketball minds. And so I will try to find a team-specific pod or a national pod that I like. And I'll find a guy whose opinion and basketball intellect I respect and I will listen to that person. If you're choosing to listen to ESPN and you don't like ESPN,

that's a you problem. But game broadcasts, they're where we go to watch the NBA. That's where I think we need to do better. More guys doing color commentary, like the guys I mentioned, that primarily focus on explaining to fans what is happening on the court.

A big one to me, two, studio shows, pre-game, halftime, post-game shows. I'd love to see better panelists that do a better job of explaining the X's and those to the fans that, that are watching the games. Way too often between color commentary and studio shows, we get

surface level analysis. You know, and here's the thing. Shows like inside the NBA, they're legendary in the industry. That's a huge part of me growing up as a basketball fan. But like, yeah, it's not exactly the most

tactically proficient show out there, right? And I think it would be beneficial for basketball fandom or whatever you want to call it to have better, you know, better game breakdowns and explanations of the tactics in those settings because I think we can make smarter casual fans that way. But like, again, like to me, I don't understand how like, like first take to me has

nothing to do with the realm of basketball analysis. It's just, it's there for their audience. My show's here for my audience. JJ's shows, the JJ's show is there for his audience. You can go where you want to go. There's no reason to watch a show that you don't want to watch anymore. And then again, at the end here, viewership tells us that there are topics that have large audiences, and there are topics that have smaller audiences.

At the end of the day, this is a business. I talk about this on my show. It's a big part of how this show is structured. I'll get in the weeds, but you bet you're out. If there's a LeBron topic, I'm going to hit it. You bet your ass if there's a Steph topic, I'm going to hit it. You bet your ass I'm going to cover the major markets. Why?

Because I'm competitive and I want to win. I want this show to be the best. And the only way I'm going to do that is if I do both, if I bring the in-depth new stuff and I make sure that I hit bigger picture topics. And I don't think it's fair or realistic to pretend like we're above the bigger picture topics. I still remember even when I was younger when I was playing. basketball in college. Like after practice, before practice on the bus, you don't think we're having first take style debates about LeBron versus MJ or stuff like that. That's also an important part

of the sports media space. That's never going away. Will it shift a little bit? Will debate shows get a little smaller or maybe a little bigger? Who knows? Like, yeah, there will be shifts, but there's always going to be a spot in sports media for that kind of thing. That's an important part of the business. And I'm thankful that we have a format here where we can do both. no one's stopping me from spending 15 minutes talking about this because I have the freedom to do so thanks to this new ecosystem. 15 years ago, if I happen to be working at a television company, I'd have timelines and I have to be out by this commercial break.

And like, you bet, like, I might only have 30 minutes in a show or one hour in a show minus commercial time to figure out how to fit everything. And I might have to be way more picky and I might have to focus on some of the... No, I don't have that problem anymore. If I want to tell Paul's early producer, I wanted to tell him on Sunday, like, I want to do 20 minutes on, you know, some random college basketball game. They're not going to stop me from doing that. I can do that now.

That's a beautiful part of the way the sports media space has changed. I think it's better than ever. I'm super, super optimistic about it. And I don't have any problem at all with folks who make a living on more of the surface level stuff. It's an important part of the space. If they can retain an audience and make money on it, good for them. I don't have any problem with that. And I think a lot of those people are super, super, super, super talented.

Guys like Stephen A. Smith, guys like Shannon Sharp, they are incredible talents. And I don't believe in minimizing that necessarily. Here's the bottom line. I think JJ's very good for sports media and basketball media in general. And I think he is one of the guys that's going to help address some of those problems that I talked about earlier. But debate shows in surface level content, they have a place to. you can choose what you want to watch. And this is what like Nick Wright,

Nick Wright kind of went after JJ on Twitter and was talking and kind of pointing out some of the, some similar things to what I was talking about. And one of the things he said that I thought was, was a good point is he goes, why would you go on first take? Take the check, like take the payment, agree to be on the show,

and then be critical of the show. That I don't understand. Because like, that's literally what that space is. Nobody turns on first take expecting Zion Williamson film breakdowns. That's an unrealistic expectation, right? And so I guess what I'm trying to say is like, I'm a big believer in like the core belief system that's driving JJ in this endeavor.

I just don't necessarily think it has anything to do with first take at all whatsoever. To me, like, JJ has an opportunity to improve some specific areas of basketball media for the better. and I think those conversations are worth having, but I'm not a big believer in being critical of people who just do a different kind of sports media because that's what they do. They're just a different kind of sports media. I remember a while back,

this was the last thing I'll say, and then we'll get out of here. I was talking about a fan base, and this was years ago. This was like, I want to say like 2018, it was well before I was even doing podcasts. And I was being critical of some fan, I think. And then Sam is Fondon.

are he was become a friend of mine pointed out about how pointless it is to be fan police because why would I think that like my version of being a sports fan is the right way to be a sports fan it's just not that that's ridiculous there's so many different ways to be a sports fan you can be passionate you can be vocal you can be quiet you can be a content creator you can be a content consumer there's like a million different ways to be a fan why would I act like my way is the only way to do it or that there's a wrong way to be a fan. The only wrong way to be a fan is to be violent or abusive, right? Like that stupid couple who called Katie a bitch and then tried to be nice to his face right after. Like, I have no respect for that shit. But like, there is no wrong way

to be a fan. But I feel the same way about sports media and media in general. I don't want to play media police. There's not a right or wrong way to do it. This ecosystem allows everybody to do it their own way. It's been so good for the space. We have so much better content as a result. I'm a huge fan of the direction we're going. And as I said, I am an optimist about where we're headed. All right, I'm off my soapbox. I appreciate you guys for listening to the show. The game plan for this weekend, we are taking tomorrow off. But I'm going to be uploading a video after the Sunday afternoon game, which I think is Lakers' sons, if I remember correctly. And then the Sunday evening game, I believe, is Nuggets Warriors.

That one, we're going live on YouTube after. So two shows on Sunday. No show on Saturday. I will see you guys on Sunday. 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, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away. such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.