The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Luka Leads Lakers Past Suns, OKC Continues Dominance, Magic Stun Cavaliers

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

Jason breaks down a trio of weekend games including Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves leading the Los Angeles Lakers to a win over Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns, without LeBron James. He also discusses the Oklahoma City Thunder holding down Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, as well as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander having another MVP-level game. Finally he discusses the Orlando Magic with a surprising win over Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Timeline 4:15 - Start 5:30 - Lakers/Suns reaction 21:30 - Thunder/Bucks reaction 41:00 - Magic/Cavs reaction (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) #Volume #Herd Follow Jason Timpf on social: https://twitter.com/_JasonLT https://www.instagram.com/jtimpf15/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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 ice. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcasts presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip.

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After that, we're going to talk about the Oklahoma City Thunder getting revenge on their in-season tournament performance by going into Milwaukee and really handling the bucks. I want to focus in on some elements of the OKC defense that I think are separators for them from their peers around the league. And then after that, the Orlando Magic gets some revenge after they took a beat down from Cleveland at home a little while back. They went into Cleveland and stole a game, a really interesting game on a bunch of fronts, showed some of the big picture upside for the magic, also revealed some of the weaknesses in that Cleveland roster. We're going to talk about that game from the perspective of both teams as well.

You guys know the Joe before we get started, subscribe to the Hoops Tonight 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 show announcements. 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. We also have brand new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, where Jackson's been doing some incredible work, putting together some film breakdowns and stuff like that.

Make sure you guys follow us there. And then last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments and so we can keep hitting those mailbags throughout the remainder of the year. All right, let's talk some basketball. So the Sons are not a good matchup for the Lakers in a bunch of different ways. The big fundamental thing that makes it really difficult for the Sons to guard this version of this Lakers team is they don't feel comfortable switching with their fives, with their centers. That puts you in a really tough spot dealing with Luca Dantzich in pick and roll.

We've talked about this a while. J.J. Reddick has mentioned it in the post-game presser, like running drop coverage against Luca Donchich is death. And I look at that as like, you know, drop coverage can mean a lot of different things. But basically all that means is anytime you're chasing Luca over the top of the screen and the big man is waiting on the other side either up at the level and what they call high drop or further back and what they call a deep drop, that sort of coverage makes for these really easy reads for Luca that he's been immediately great at. in a Lakers jersey. What's been interesting is, like, they've struggled a little bit against switching for a lot of different reasons.

Luca wasn't in shape for a lot of those tough switching teams that they faced earlier in that stretch. And as a team, they haven't shot the three ball well, in large part because they're playing super, super hard on the defensive end of the floor and adjusting to the new types of three-point looks that they're getting as part of the Luca Donchich offense. And so their offense, even in the wins,

has sputtered at times against teams that can switch with their five-man. But again, with this Phoenix Suns team, with Nick Richards, with Mason Plumley, they're just not doing a lot of switching with their five men. And so that just allows Luca to play read and react basketball with baked and dribble penetration. And we've got over this a million times, but it's a simple set of reads. If the low man and the screen defender stay back, Luca gets to just work his way into the lane until he can take a little floater off the glass. If the big steps up, it creates a simple read behind it with the low man.

if the low man steps over and tags the roller, he's skipping it to the weak side. If he doesn't tag the roller, then he can hit Jackson Hayes run underneath the basket. That was the big thing that Phoenix kept messing up in this game. They were running a good mix of high and low drop, but a lot of high drop early in the game, and they weren't tagging Jackson Hayes.

And part of this is like, I've been talking a lot about how the sons lately look to me like a team that has basically quit trying to be the best basketball team they can be, in large part because they know that, their best isn't good enough to beat the best teams in the league. And so there were a lot of weak side possessions with Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, and KD, all three of them, where they just didn't bother to tag Jackson Hayes or some really sloppy tags.

I saw both Devin Booker and Bradley Beal have tags where they just kind of like ran up to Jackson. So what you're supposed to do on a tag, if they come up to the level of the screen and Jackson Hayes is rolling hard to the rim, your job is the low man is to literally get between the roll man and the rim and hit him so that he can't throw the lob up to the basket. He has to post. And usually some teams will counter that by posting there

or by skipping the ball to the weak side, right? You've got to literally put your body on the line as a small against a rolling big. It's a hard job. And the sons just weren't really interested in doing it last night. And so you'd see them kind of like run over to Jackson and like put their hands on him, but they're not really doing anything to make him feel uncomfortable.

and he's just catching and finishing. Here's an easy little stat to demonstrate that for you. He had 19 points. Jackson Hayes, 19 points in this game, 17 of which were on cuts and rolls. He has had 19 points twice so far with Luca. He had 19 points one time total in the entirety of the rest of his Lakers tenure. That goes to show you the benefit of Jackson Hayes in this system. I have been talking a lot about this concept lately,

but the idea of like your value as a basketball player is kind of unique to the system that you're in, right? Like there are guys that are deeply valuable in a certain system that would be less valuable in another system, whether it's like Aaron Gordon in Orlando as like a swing forward star type of player looks really underqualified for that job. But you put him in Denver where he can operate on the back line because their center kind of inverts their spacing. All of a sudden he becomes immensely valuable in that type of role. right? Like everybody's value is unique to their individual system. And Jackson Hayes, specifically when Luca Donchich is on the Lakers, is immensely valuable because Luca is one of the best passers in the league at making teams pay by hitting a vertical spacer. I mean, there were a lot of issues that have gone wrong for the Lakers in the four game losing streak, most of which have come down to injuries. I mean, you're down, you're starting front court literally. If you're down LeBron, Rui, and Jackson, it's such a difficult thing to overcome. But, it's funny to say Jackson Hayes is so valuable because it felt so different in previous iterations of the Lakers, but on this version of the Lakers, Jackson Hayes is incredibly valuable to this

offense because he is the guy that allows them to function in four-out one in spacing. I've talked a lot about this concept. When you're running a lot of motion, ball flowing side-to-side, everyone's involved in the action. It's like a five-out spacing concept, right? You got ball handlers on the wings, guys in the corner. and then a big man at the top of the key who's functioning as like this passing fulcrum, screening fulcrum out at the top of the key. This Lakers team is very much going back to the old version of their offense way back when they were the Western Conference final team in 2023, where it's like we're spreading the floor, we're running pick and roll. It's a lot of that sort of thing.

And in those situations, you don't want five out spacing because in five out spacing, when the gaps on the perimeter shrink to get pretty small. and it gets harder to drive as defenders are able to gap into driving lanes and stuff like that. And so the way you prefer to set up your spacing when you're more of a matchup attacking spread, pick and roll type of team is four out one in spacing. You want your shooters in the corner, you got a shooter on the wing, and you're basically occupying either the dunker spot with a dunker or a screen and roll threat where the roller is occupying that spot when he rolls to the basket. And so guys like Jemison, guys like Jared Vanderbilt, even Christian Coloco, he botched two lobs last night in the first half where it's just the easy dunks that he's struggling to make because he's got a little bit of an issue catching and finishing sometimes. You can see just how incredibly valuable Jackson Hayes is to the Lakers as a vertical spacer in this version of the team.

They did a lot of damage on that son's back line in this game. And after in the early third quarter, they generated yet another easy lob dunk for Jackson Hayes, kind of like a behind the back lob, a ridiculous pass from Luca. And from that point forward, the Suns basically just decided to blitz him and double team him all over the floor. And so the Lakers were able to play with an advantage. And they were able to stiff arm the Suns the rest of the way. The Suns fought back. They've been, they've been resilient. This has been a consistent theme for the Suns in the last month is like they'll get off to an ugly start. And then rather than get humiliated, they'll like suddenly

start competing really hard towards the end of the game. And it's the, you Lakers fans are familiar with this concept from last year. It's the fake comeback concept, right? Because that Laker team used to have a very similar personality last year. But KD had 17 points in the second half and they kind of battled a little bit, but they never got any closer than eight the rest of the way. A couple of Laker concepts that I want to hit before we move on. Lucas is rapidly improving as a shot maker. This is a concept that talked a lot about after his first few weeks with the Lakers. He just wasn't shooting as well as he typically is capable of. And, you know, he obviously had that really bad night in Brooklyn, but even including that game, in his last eight games,

he's averaging 32 points per game on just 22 shot attempts, shooting 41% from 3 and 11 attempts per game. And he's getting to the foul line 10 times where he's shooting 80% from at the free throw line. So he's really starting to come around as an offensive player, which is helping this team start to have a little bit more resilience on that end of the floor. He's also averaging over two steals per game in that span. He's sliding his feet really active on. the perimeter active and help side, functioning as a cog in that defensive system. Austin Reeves is starting to look like himself again. He commented after the Nets game that he needed to be better with LeBron out in order to help his

team. He's averaging 31, 7 and 7 on 52% from the field, 44% from 3 and 94% from the line in his last three games, which is just outrageous. JJ Reddick talked after the game about Jordan Goodwin and the tone that he set early. He was spot on about that. one of the very first, I think it was literally the first possession of the game. KD was guarding him. He was ball watching.

And I think Luca ended up missing a jump shot short. And he just shot like a cannon into the lane, got the offensive rebound and put it back in. He was excellent with his ball pressure and with his back pressure. He had a couple of rebounds. He had a couple of block shots. Really, really impressive game from Jordan Goode and ended up getting a start in this game. Nice win for the Lakers. They got some help over the weekend, two, in the standings.

Memphis got crushed at home by the Cavs. Denver toasted off a game to the Wizards on a crazy game winner from Jordan Pooley. He shot like a 40-footer in Russell Westbrook's face. That ends up leaving the Lakers tied in the loss column for the two-seat, despite dropping four consecutive games earlier with an injury-ravaged roster. I think that's a win no matter how you look at it, to drop four in a row like that and to still really be in position to potentially get that two-seat. And the Lakers, the Nuggets, the Grizzlies, and the Rockets.

It's a four-way tie, are all tied with 25 losses in that spot. And I think the Lakers have a good chance to win that race and just get the two-seed as long as they can get healthy soon enough. Allegedly LeBron's about a week out. Rui, I would imagine, we'll come back, not tonight, but probably in the game on Wednesday night. It shouldn't be too long before they get healthy. And like, I mean, we're going to talk about this a little bit, especially when we get into our mailbag, which is releasing on Wednesday this week.

But like, the Lakers might just be better than all those teams. And so they might end up coming away with the two-season. seat just because they're better. And so they're in a good spot now. They made a good call, a smart call to rest, Rui, rest Jackson, rest LeBron, make sure those guys get the rest that they need. And we'll see. I think they have a chance to end up coming out with the two seat anyway. We'll see how they can close the season. The big thing, the big swing factor there for me is Denver. And I, I just can't get a read on the nuggets. They look so bad sometimes. They're so, so, so bad on defense. But there's this big part of me that just can't believe that they're actually that bad and that

they're that they're just kind of going through the motions a lot now NBA history tells us those teams always lose but it's hard to say at this point they're the they're the team that that's in that group of four with the Lakers that I can't really get a read on where they kind of land among the top teams in the league. Hey it's us the Jonas brothers and guess what we have some big news what's the news news huge news we created our own podcast called hey Jonas we invented a podcast well we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts.

Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it

one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about, thing, a bit for the podcast where people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman helped make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and

friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where sports slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down,

give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris.

Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jenschen went. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open.

Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of I Heart Women's Sports. All right, let's talk some Thunder Bucks. We've talked a lot this year about the strength of Oklahoma City being their defense. And we've got over all the reasons why. They have a ton of good perimeter defenders that they can keep cycling into the game to wear out ball handlers. They can apply excellent ball pressure for 48 minutes. They have these aggressive game plans that suit their team speed really, really well.

It's the right type of game plan to go with with the type of roster that they have. They're super sharp in rotation on the back end to make these like perceived openings disappear in a flash. Their rim protection is legit with Chet Holmgren on the floor. But I want to zero in specifically on the concept of defending superstars for a minute. Because like superstars are scheme breakers. They're personnel breakers. Like, oh, you have Anthony Davis.

He's in my opinion, the best defensive player in the league. league when he's healthy and in shape. Well, it turns out he can't guard Nicola Yolkich. So the Lakers' greatest defensive weapon was basically neutralized and it led to a few years of dominance in that matchup, if you guys remember. Oh, you have Jada McDaniels. He's one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. Well, it turns out he can't guard Luca Donchich. So in that matchup in the Western Conference finals last year, the strength of Minnesota's perimeter defense was neutralized and the Mavs ended up thrashing the wolves. This is a thing that can happen. a superstar can break a scheme.

A superstar can break even personnel strengths. One of the non-negotiable barriers that stands between any great team in a championship is the ability to go head to head with the best players in the world and come out on top. For the Thunder in the West, you've got Nicola Yokic, you've got Luca Donchich, LeBron James before his injury was playing at near that level, not quite that level, but near that level. Steph Curry is coming on strong. Anthony Edwards is a type of threat that you have to face in the Western Conference. In one of the traits of this OKC defense, something that makes them so dangerous,

is their ability to match up with the top players in the league. They've had their issues with Yokic over the years because it seems like nobody can guard that guy, but he's literally the best player in the world, and OKC can have success against him on the other end of the floor. Even the game they dropped to Denver the other day a week ago or so. It was a weird game. Well, in the first half, had a lead, dropped 73 points. J-dub gets hurt. They double team Shea every time he crosses half court.

It allows them to gimmick their way into a win. But, like, that's a matchup that they've done pretty well against. They have one of the best players in the league to match up against Luca, LeBron, Kauai, Jason Tatum, those big, strong matchup attacking forwards. Lou Dort is literally one of the very best options in the NBA for that type of matchup. He's uniquely strong enough to keep his base. Most of the success that those players have comes down to bullying and dislodging defenders from their base so they can get separation and get great shots.

Lou Dort, in many cases, is the guy dislodging them from their base and forcing them to play off balance and causing them to miss a lot of shots that they normally make. It's a huge asset to have specifically in the Western Conference with the types of teams you have to face coming out of there, and for a potential Boston matchup with Jason Tatum. And then in this game against Milwaukee, they demonstrated that they have athletes for two of the other types of world beating stars. They held Damon Janus to just 40 points and held both of them to below 50% from the field. They held Janus to his lowest field goal percentage game of this entire season. They have excellent guards to match up with all the different types of

star guards in the league that you can run into in any playoff matchup or any regular season game. I thought Kaysaun Wallace and Alex Crusoe were both fantastic in their reps against Damian Lillard last night, applying ball pressure up and down the court, staying attached in screening actions and pressuring the ball from behind, swat and getting hands on the basketball, great contests on everything. Dame of his 19 points managed just seven points on the ball. 12 of his 19 points came off of spot-ups, meaning one of his other teammates made a play that got O KC in rotation,

forced Kaysen or Alex to help, which allowed Dame to get an open catch-and-shoot look or on a random weird play. There was a random play where Caruso stripped Damian Lillard clean underneath the basket, and the ball just happened to pop right back into Dame's hands and he drew a foul, and then Dame got fouled on a jump ball

and just like him and Alex wrestling for position off the ball. But like they had him strapped up in the on-ball situations. If you hold Dame to seven points on the ball, you're going to give yourself a really good chance to stop that Milwaukee offense. And like that's not just a Dame thing, whether it's Steph, it could be any of the great guards in this league. They are built to handle those guards really well.

And then I thought Isaiah Hardinstein did about as good a job playing positional defenses against Janus as you can't. Again, when I say positional defense to me, that's positioning yourself between a player in the rim and at least forcing them to make over the top shots. Defense against these types of players is very

different than, think like Palo Boncaro, for example, or LeBron James, for example, these like big bully ball forwards that aren't super comfortable shooting jump shots. Now, LeBron has become much better at that over the year, so maybe he's a bad example, but you get the point. like these big bully ball players that you kind of want to take jump shots and floaters and

hooks and stuff like that, just position yourself between that player in the rim and you're doing your job. Any time he got anybody else on him in this game, it was a double team, easy skip pass, in rotation, getting great looks. Janis was able to consistently generate great stuff against anybody that wasn't Isaiah Hartenstein. But Hardinstein has that combination of a little bit of mobility, and he's big and strong as a center to where Janus isn't looking at him like I can go right through him. With Janus, like, he doesn't even really have to make a move to get by most people because he's so big and strong. If he just rips through, even if the defender slides his feet, there's usually just a tiny bit of an opening, and Janus is going to hit that with

physicality and get his shoulder in there. He has that move too where he'll gather in like chicken wing with his arm as he goes to the rim. He's impossible to guard when you're giving up that much size and weight because even if you get in front of him, he's just going to get his way around you by using his physicality. But Isaiah Hartenstein, because he has that mobility and size and strength, Yannis actually has to make a good enough move to force Isaiah Hartnstein to lunge out of position

in order for him to get all the way to the basket. And so that allowed Hartinstein to do a really nice job on you. Yon is forcing him into those over-the-top shots. Again, in last night's game, Hartnstein and the Thunder as a team held Yonnes to below 47% from the field. It was literally his least efficient field goal percentage game of the entire season. And I haven't even mentioned the fact that Hartnstein had 24 points last night. He had 22 on cuts.

He made five of his patented floaters. He had a great game. I've been consistent on the record that I have concerns about OKC's offense in a playoff context. I do think they have a tendency to get into these extended stretches of ugly basketball and that into the floor that makes them more vulnerable than their record would lead you to believe. But make no mistake, this defense is legit and not like cute 2021 Utah Jazz regular

season legit. They are versatile playoff ready, able to hand. handle the types of challenges that await them in the Western Conference playoffs type of legit on the defensive end of the floor. It's going to keep them in every series. Like I don't think, even if OKC loses, this isn't going to be a sweep or a five game series. Their defense is so good, it's going to keep them in any series. They're going to be very, very difficult to beat four times in a two-week span. A couple other shoutouts from this game. I thought Kenrich Williams was amazing, kind of similar to what we talked about with Jordan

Goodwin earlier. I thought he just helped set the defensive tone right away early. Flying around in rotation, making extra efforts. He was a guy in many cases that was rotating to Brooke Lopez and pick and pops, which is a foundational release valve for the Bucks offense in one of the hardest actions to guard, but it just requires a good amount of speed on the weak side. He locked zero points in this game and only one steal, and I thought Kenrich was awesome in his minutes. Chet was really great on offense in this game. He continues to hit threes. He had two last night. He's made five of his last 10. And it caused some overreaction from Milwaukee's defense. Both Tori and Prince and Janus bit on pump fakes on kickouts to Chet that led to

Tos he drove on Torian and got a floater on the honest one. He ended up drawing a foul. He gave up the Thunder ended up getting an easy dunk on a play where Chet kind of relocated up to the right wing. And Torian Prince, who should have been the low man, instead of protecting the rim, overplayed Chet at the three point line and gave up a dunk. That's all a product of the fear of Chet's shooting because of how well he's been shooting the ball over the last couple of games. He also did some nice work in action too. The two most common actions they'll run with him is like a two-man game right around the foul line, the middle of the floor with him in Hartnstein, trying to bait,

trying to force big bodies to guard in screening actions. And then they'll run a lot of wide pin down stuff or they'll like set him in the corner and have a guard screen down for him so that the team doesn't want to switch and try to see if they can get him coming downhill with the ball catching on the move going downhill. he's really starting to blossom into an incredible player. I thought he was fantastic. And last shout-out, SGA is becoming one of the greatest shows in the league. I've seen a lot of people complaining about his foul grifting or like shoving people off

with his off-arm. And like, the grifting is a league-wide problem. And yeah, Shay is better at it than most. But like, I'm never going to judge the players for that because to me, it's a competitive advantage. And Shay's just, like, imagine being Shay, you're on a team with a bunch of super young players and so much of the offensive workload falls on your plate. You've got to find a way to get some easy points in there.

And foul grifting is the way he's doing it. And again, everyone has access to those moves. He's just better at it than most. And eventually the league, I hope, will legislate it out. But it is part of the game at this point. The off-arm stuff, this is where I think the complaints from people are ridiculous. all throughout NBA history, we've had players

that use their physical advantages to dominate. Like, Shaq bully balls everybody. LeBron bully balls everybody. Janice bully balls everybody. Luca bully balls every. Yokic is just rumbling, stumbling to the rim nonstop.

We have to be okay with it from guards too. And the thing with Shea is he's really good at getting a defender out of position to where they're leaning back. And you see it. He did it again. Kuzma a couple times last night where it's like he sees Kuzma in a retreat,

positional defense stance. And so he just drives really hard and gets that shoulder into him and bumps him off a little bit. And by the way, he does get called for offensive fouls occasionally when he really extends that arm. But a lot of times he doesn't extend the arm. A lot of times he just kind of gets you with his shoulder and he's so strong on his base that he'll bump you with his shoulder and get plenty of separation. And I have no problem with that at all because that to me is what the game of basketball is. It's physical. It's a contact sport. It gets even more physical when you get into the postseason.

And all throughout NBA history, we've allowed these big strong dudes to throw people around. I have no problem with Shea doing it too. But even if you set that stuff aside and you just watch him play, he's starting to break people off with these dribble combinations that are sending defenders into a different area code.

And it's because he can chain together multiple dribble combinations, multiple pieces of footwork. I've talked about this concept before. He doesn't go into a sequence like telegraphing what he's going to do. He starts with just a hard drive in one of the directions, whether it's that hesitation between the legs dribble going left

or the hesitation between the legs dribble going right. You kind of slowly do the between the legs dribble, and as soon as it hits his driving hand, the hand that's on the strong side that he's driving to, he'll just explode forward. He has a lot of that hesitation quickness. It's like a first step combined with a change of pace kind of thing. but he's just going to go.

And then if you cut off that side, he's pulling it back through the legs and he's going the other way. And if you cut him off that side, he's pulling it back through the legs and he's going the other way. It's all just like a relentless change of direction, but he's just so good at using that pullback dribble

between his legs. And in those situations, he's generating contact a lot of times and bumping guys off, that it's kind of just like, do I need to do it once, twice, three, or three times to get to my spot. Well, regardless of how many times you defend it right, I'm eventually going to get to my spot.

And like, again, there are some of these guys that he's going up against and they're biting so hard on one of the moves that he's getting like 10, 12, 15 feet of separation on that pullback dribble. It's wild to me. And again, like, it's not just fun to watch. There's a lot of good stuff in there for young basketball players to emulate that will help you get to the next level. That, getting that shoulder contact and then quick scissor dribble between your legs is an excellent way to deal with ball. pressure or to get separation when a defender is pressuring you. It just takes a lot of that contact ball handling ability, the ability to dribble while you're dealing with contact. And again, like, it's just all of it is just super tight handle, super tight footwork. And the ability to chain

every single move together with hesitation dribbles just ties together this player that is like entirely unpredictable and extremely difficult to keep in front. And I've really, really enjoyed watching him over the course of this season. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it.

We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And, well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down?

Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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 eye heart. radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsClyce brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsClyce on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris.

Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jenchian win. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world. right now and I actually can win on any surface because if she's serving, well,

good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Magic Kaz before we get out of here for the day.

A bit of a weird game. Both teams shot catastrophically different than their typical efficiency. Orlando is by far the worst jump shooting team in the league. They get seven fewer points per 100 jump shots than the 29th ranked wizards. That gap is the same as the gap between the 29th ranked wizards and the 13th ranked bowls. They are a god-awful jump shooting team. And last night they got 1.24 points per jump shot. Cleveland is the number one jump shooting team in the NBA, and they got 0.75 points per jump shot. So it was kind of just like a weird jump shooting game. It played a roll down the stretch of the game, too.

like it was a shot making game down the stretch and a couple of 32% three point shooters and Anthony Black and Palo Boncaro hit three clutch threes and Donovan Mitchell, a player who's hitting 49% of unguarded catching shoes, a catch and shoots missed back to back wide open threes above the break in the clutch. Max Truce hits 48% of unguarded catching shoots. He missed an open corner three in the right corner late. So like obviously it was kind of a shot variance game. It turned into a fun little chess match down the stretch two for Palo. The last two buckets that Orlando got were just inverted ball screen action with Palo and KCP on the left wing. And it's the exact same sequence of events that most teams have to deal with in inverted ball screens.

They don't want to switch because they don't want to leave a smaller player defending a big bully ball player. So they opt for a hedge and recover to try to prevent the switch and prevent the drive, but it concedes a slipping three. So KCP comes up, slips out of the screen to the left corner. Palo briefly gets two on the ball. He whips it over the top. KCP hits the corner three. Very next possession, they're like, well, we don't want to give up that open corner three to KCP, so we might as well switch the action.

Now D'Andre Hunter is on KCP, but Donovan Mitchell's guarding Palo. And Palo just hard dribbles into the middle of the floor, just bumps Donovan Mitchell off with that shoulder, and then rises up right there in the middle and knocks down the huge shot at the elbow that ended up giving them the lead. And so like a shot-making type of game from the three-point line that swung in Orlando's favor and then a nice little chess match sequence from Orlando with KCP and Palo down the stretch to get the win.

Now, here's the thing. I'm never going to get too worked up about a regular season result. You guys know that about me. Weird stuff can happen in basketball games. But I did think this game was revealing of some of Orlando's big picture playoff upside and some of the weaknesses in Cleveland's roster. Orlando's size was a consistent problem for Cleveland in this game.

And I know people are going to say Evan Mobley didn't play, but neither did Jalen Suggs, and I actually thought it manifested mostly with Cleveland's perimeter players. Mitchell and Garland combined for 27 missed shots and eight turnovers in this game. And a big part of that was them struggling to shoot over good contests or trying to pass in traffic. The two main ways this manifested from Orlando's defense was that bracket that I always talk about, and pick and roll. And then some of the problems they had

was switching. Focusing on the bracket, I've talked about this concept a lot, in a drop coverage, when you've got a guard chasing over the top and a big up at the level,

when you are staying close to the ball handler, you bracket them appropriately. When there's distance, if the guard gets caught on the screen and the big is too far back, there's an open bracket,

there's space in there to operate. That's where guys like Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland can barbecue you with just comfortable shot making in the mid-range, right? Orlando had a very tight bracket in this game, but they had a very tight bracket with size, and that's where it can become

really problematic. And this is one of the strengths of Orlando's roster, whether it's Jonathan Isaac, or it's Anthony Black, or it's Contavius Caldwell Pope is one of the smaller guys you're dealing with there. But Palo and Franz spent some time in the ball. Wendell Carter Jr. and Goga Patazza, they are big dudes. They are huge on the ball. And it made those guys consistently shoot some tough contested shots that were over tight contests. You could tell they're putting extra arc on, the turnovers we talked about earlier, it costs problems for Cleveland. This is why it's always way too simplistic to just attribute a game to shooting luck. Again, it plays a role. There is shooting variance in a game, but usually it is connected in more than one way to the way the game is

being played. For instance, Cleveland only generated nine unguarded catch-to-shoe jump shots in this game. It's one of their lowest totals of the season. And it's not the first time. It's not the first time. Orlando has done this to them. Orlando in the blowout game where Cleveland shot super well, only three of those catch and shoot threes were unguarded in that game. They typically generate Cleveland 14

unguarded catch and shoots per game. This is an issue they've had in the Orlando matchup. Now again, they missed some looks, some wide open looks that they normally make at a high rate. We talked about Mitchell and Struz. Sam Merrill missed a bunch of great looks in the third quarter. It was kind of bizarre. They were all like wide open and he was just missing

and they were like not necessarily close either. But Orlando did help play them into that kind of night by wearing them down with their size, making them play in a crowd, and by getting great contests in rotation. It's also worth mentioning, Orlando allows fewer made threes than any team in the entire NBA. That is a strength of their defense.

A big part of that is their length on the perimeter and the physicality they play with all game long. They held Cleveland to 0.85, points per half court possession. That was their third lowest mark of the entire season. So again, shout out to the Orlando defense. And focusing on Orlando for a second, this is their big picture upside. If their young players ever learn to shoot more consistently, and if they can continue to improve over the years, if they can get Jalen Suggs back and get healthy, they can be a very dangerous playoff team because of their size and strength and their ability to wear on you.

I notice it with Palo. Palo has that really ugly jump shot that he misses so frequently in the mid-range and like that part drives me crazy, but he gets a ton of separation in there. Like if he ever does put that together to where he becomes a 52-55-percent mid-range jump shooter, like he's going to feast on teams in that part of the floor

because he's just so big and strong that he can get to his spots there so easily. There is a lot of big picture upside with Orlando. that I thought was on display. There were a couple of things that stood out to me on the Cleveland front in this game, though. Again, I talked about this a lot with the Lakers during this phase when they were struggling

even in their wins. No matter how good you are, even if you happen to win, I always think there's value in taking a closer look at why you struggled during games or stretches of games where you struggled. And again, the two things that I noticed from Cleveland in this game, one, the size. Cleveland, even with Mobley, isn't exceptionally,

exceptionally big and strong. They can wear down against size. It happened against New York two years ago. It happened in the Orlando series last year as they were trailing big in game seven. It is something to keep an eye on and then switching. There was a switch look from Orlando in the second quarter where they had Goga off and Wendell Carter Jr. off. And that led to the first big magic run of this game. They shut off the baked in dribble penetration. They got from ball screens. They forced Cleveland to play a lot of one-on-one. and we have seen Cleveland struggle at times against these kinds of looks in the regular season, especially against Boston and Oklahoma City. This is why it's so important to keep an eye on the Boston matchup specifically.

Cleveland has a couple of wins this year against a shorthanded Boston Celtics team, but when they're healthy, and they go Drew Holiday, Derek White, Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum, and Al Horford, they're bigger and stronger than Cleveland, and they can switch one through five. And again, this is an incredible Cavs team that's winning at a historic pace, but the Boston Celtics are like the final boss for them in a video game. It's going to attack their biggest weaknesses, and it's going to be a hell of a show. I can't wait to see what happens.

All right, guys, it's all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. We are going live tonight on YouTube after the final buzzer of Nuggets Warriors. I'll see you guys then, and then our next daytime episode will be coming out on Wednesday in the form of a mailback. The volume. What's up, guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting hoops tonight.

It would actually be really helpful for us if you guys would take a second and leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys. I appreciate you. If you could take a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe.

I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. First people to do podcasts.

We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel 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.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season, and I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was funny. You just understood. That's how personal it got.

Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark, keep coming to you. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be?

I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered Conversations from Nass. night sweats to futas, to scheduling sex. Wait, what sex? Is it just me or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes? They say we can't polish a turn, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can it be with Diana Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.