The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - NBA Reaction: LeBron, Luka & Lakers take L + Suns, Celtics & Shai’s Thunder cruise

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

Jason Timpf returns to break down all of the action across the NBA on Wednesday night, leading off with Jayson Tatum’s Boston Celtics defeating young superstar Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs 116-103. Jason breaks down how Jayson Tatum has become his generation’s Swiss-army knife, a la LeBron James, and details why the Celtics’ consistency on both ends of the floor could lead to back-to-back NBA titles this year. Next, Timpf dives into Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder beating the Miami Heat 115-101 and explains why the Thunder’s run is indicative of how dangerous this squad can be in the playoffs. Timeline: 4:15 - Intro 5:30 -  Celtics/Spurs 24:30 - Heat/Thunder 30:45 - Lakers/Jazz #Volume #Herd Follow Jason Timpf on social: https://twitter.com/_JasonLT https://www.instagram.com/jtimpf15/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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All right, welcome to Hoops tonight here at the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great week. We're hitting three games from last night as the Boston Celtics get their seventh win and eight tries against the San Antonio Spurs. after that, the Miami Heat are up 10 in the early fourth quarter, and the Oklahoma City

Thunder demonstrate their upside with a dominant 24 to zero run to start that quarter. And then after that, the Lukkah Donchich Lakers suffered their first loss on the road in Utah, a game that mostly just came down to a lackadaisical Lakers effort. But I did think kind of mixed in there were some good examples of the weaknesses of this new Lakers group. So I want to take some time to really get into those at the tail end of the show. You guys know the drill 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 a podcast fee wherever you get your podcast under Hoops tonight. It's also super helpful

if you leave a rating and a review on that front. Don't forget about our new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We're releasing content throughout the year. And last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments so that we can get to them in our Friday mailbag tomorrow. All right, let's talk some basketball. So I thought Jason Tatum just completely dominated the first quarter of that Spurs game, set the tone, built that initial advantage, and it was something that the Spurs just couldn't overcome. On the defensive end of the floor, Boston had a switching group out there that was just doing a really nice job. Just staying attached, shutting down screening actions. Switching puts an emphasis on running action, good action that confuses switching, like three-man action, lots of ball and player movement to try to get guys.

to make mistakes. And then when teams successfully switch, you've got to be aggressive against those switches getting to the basket to get super high value shots or to draw multiple defenders. You can run into a trap where you start settling. And that was what happened in that first quarter. There was a few examples of good action. There was like a little Chicago action, like a downscreen into a dribble handoff where they pitched it back to Julian Champany on the right wing and knocked down a three. There were a couple examples like that, but it was a lot of, lot of like Deeran Fox contested pull-up jump shots. Victor Wembenyama contested pull-up jump shots. They weren't doing a very good job of attacking the switching. And then on the other end of the

floor, in the first quarter, Jason Tatum goes for 14 points, six rebounds and three assists with zero turnovers. Did a ton of scoring in that short to mid-range attacking the Spurs smaller players when they'd get switched onto and mismatches. There was a stretch in the late first quarter where they started spamming a stack pick and roll action with Luke Cornett and Peyton Pritchard, just a ball screen with Tatum and Cornett with Pritchard back screening, generated a wide open three for Pritcher at the top of the key that he happened to miss. He ended up hitting a pull-up three on the right wing when they botched a switch. Again, three-man action is a great way to get teams to botch switches.

And Victor Wembeñamo was basically just sticking with the screen, the guy who was back-screening him in the action instead of dealing with Tatum coming off of that screen. stepped into it, knocked down a three. He finished the quarter off with a beautiful driving kick, like sweeping hook pass over to the left wing to Al Horford. Tatum just immediately looked like by far the best player on the floor. In a game that had two players that are considered top 25 players in the league, in my opinion, and D.R. Fox and Victor Wambiama, and Tatum was just completely outclassing them to start the game. And this is just the groove that Jason Tatum's in right now. During this three-game winning streak, he's averaging 35 points

per game on 61% true shooting. I thought Porzingis was the catalyst of the early second group, the early second quarter group that had some success. They pushed the lead all the way up to 23 points. He was just running the floor in transition. He had a play where he beat everyone down the floor for a dunk. He had another play where he ran his lane in transition on the right wing and hit a three. Throughout the entire first half, he was doing a great job of posting switches the same way that Jason Tatum was getting short range, efficient shots. And then his rim protection was great. This is the Spurs team that can struggle with driving kick decisions. And so if you get Porzingis parked underneath the basket, he can do some real damage

to a team that can struggle to be surgical in the half court. The Celtics really controlled the game throughout. They led by 20-ish for most of the first half. The Spurs did cut it down to eight in the early fourth quarter, but then the Celtics immediately regained control. Christopps Porzingis hit a three. Peyton Pritchard hit a three. Sam Houser hit a three, or excuse me, Sam Houser got fouled on a runout, made two free throws.

they had a couple of really good defensive possessions mixed in there, and then all of a sudden they're back up 16, and the game's basically over. The Celtics seem to have regained their footing, though. They have won seven out of eight after a really uneven couple of months there. They're seventh in offense in that span, third in defense in that span. That's despite a bunch of guys being out of the lineup. Jalen Brown has missed two games in that stretch.

Christops Porzingis has missed a game. Drew Hollidays missed four games in the span. Now, Horford's missed a game. But a couple of guys stepping up, Jason Tatum was just been. consistently great. I've seen a lot of talk about, I've seen a lot of talk of late about, like, a Celtics fans calling Jason Tatum the best forward since LeBron. And when I, when I first heard that, I had this, like, kind of reflex that came up in me that was like, well, what about Kauai? And, like, what about Kevin Durant? And I think Kevin Durant would be the guy that I'd probably still put

over Tatum in the sense that, like, in that, like, 2018 to 2021, stretch. He was just that, like, and that's like spanning with an Achilles injury in the middle. But in that, like, I should say like 2017 to 2021 stretch, he was just so incredibly good on both ends of the floor. I'm not quite there. But I do think he's been better than Kauai. If you like piece everything together, because like, Tatum, what Tatum is to me is he's a Swiss Army knife type of forward in the same vein as a, as a LeBron James. So for instance, like, Kevin Durant has a lot of impact. I think Kevin Durant has arguably just as good of an impact on the defensive end in terms of his ability to protect the rim, defensive rebound, switch out onto the

perimeter. But Kevin Durant has a little bit of a susceptibility to size and strength. We saw that in the Memphis game two nights ago when Jaron Jackson was able to just kind of toss KD around at certain times and he got two easy buckets on him in the post late in the game or an easy bucket and a foul late in the game where I think Tatum's a little bit sturdier for that type of matchup. But I think Katie also is a little bit longer, a little bit better rim protector. So like the two of them are more or less even on the defensive end of the floor. But I do think that Tatum has a certain Swiss Army knife quality in terms of just his ability to keep the ball moving, his playmaking ability. Jason Tatum has become a really, really gifted playmaker in this league.

And so we can debate whether or not Tatum has reached a level that's higher than Kauai or higher than Katie. I'm hesitant to go that far. But what I will say is that Tatum is becoming the Swiss Army knife of this generation, which is what LeBron was in his generation. It's a type of player that I'm drawn to because I think it demonstrates a, first of all, a versatility, but also just a commitment to winning. There's a lot of stuff in there that guys aren't willing to do. A simple example is like as good as Kevin Durant has been defensively, I think he's kind of underachieved on that end over the course of his career, whereas Tatum, you can tell, is maximizing his potential on that end of the floor. I think it's just a testament to the type of leader he is,

the type of competitor that he is. Again, a lot of times we see guys like that that are a little bit more mellow and not as like loud and boisterous with their personality or even guys that are boisterous but that are positive. We think of them as like not competitors because they're not Kobe Bryant type assholes. And the truth of the matter is,

is like the work that Jason Tatum does is a pretty clear demonstration of the type of competitor that he is. And he stepped up big time over the course of this recent stretch. Derek White is finally shooting the ball better again. They've been getting key contributions. Al Hortford was talking about this the other day in an interview, but Luke Cornett has been so good as of late,

getting those backup center minutes, protecting the rim, just being in the right spot all the time, doing his job in ball screen actions on offense. Sam Hauser is back to shooting the ball really well after a rough start to the season. Things are rounding out for the Celtics group finally after an uneven middle portion of the season. Every single time I watch San Antonio play,

their youth and inexperience still just like screams off of the screen. Like I'm watching early in the game and like Jeremy Sohan drives into the lane and Porzingis is right there at the rim and Harrison Barnes is just standing completely unguarded in the right corner. And instead of just making that simple kickout pass to a guy that's one of the best three-point shooters in the league this year, he tries to force his way through Porzingis at the rim and misses. Or like Steph Castle takes a wide open three at the top of the key.

This isn't the early second quarter stretch. like a wide open three at the top of the key he's at the top of the key when you are at the top of the key your job as a guard is as soon as the shot goes up you're back in transition defense remember first two jobs in transition defense are stop the ball and get to the basket right and like literally takes the three at the top of the key porzengis just runs right by him as step castles just in a light little back pedal going back and porzengis gets a dunk like or even victor wem bianama just taking really tough mid-range jump shots early in the clock when he can get that same shot later in the clock. Honestly, right now I hate about half of the shots Wemby takes. Like right after that leakout dunk that Christop's Porzengis got, that put Boston up 20. They were up 20. So, like, you need a good shot to like reset things and get control of the game.

And Victor Wembe and Yama with 19 seconds on the shot clock takes a completely smothered stepback three against Al Horford, one that has like absolutely no chance of going in. Now, to be clear, I'm choosing to view that as more of a pot. positive thing just simply because most young basketball players struggle with shot selection, especially ones that have a great skill talent because they trust their skill in a way that it's like, oh, I can get to this shot whenever I want. So why don't I just take it when there should be a little bit more deliberate process? And that deliberate process comes as you get more experience as a basketball player. So I'm not particularly worried about it. But there is some,

there is some reality to the fact that this team is really young. They've got a lot of young players that still make a lot of mistakes. And it just goes to show you that this is not a like this year type of goal. This is a multi-year journey to try to figure out how to win with this group, which takes me to the big thing I wanted to get into with the Spurs today, which is the reality of what it's going to take for Dearen Fox and Victor Wemignamma to beat teams that switch. Okay. So they ran into a switching look today. We've talked a lot in recent weeks about how the pick and pop works, right? In a pick and pop action, any sort of traditional coverage. where you use the screen defender to contain the ball handler,

either in a deeper drop or up at the level. Anytime you do that, Victor Wemeyama is going to be wide open, popping to the three point line. And whatever they run teams with traditional coverages, they're going to get a lot of great stuff. Why? Because every possession that has Victor Wemianama

standing at the top of the key unguarded with like 16, 17 seconds left on the shot clock, is probably going to end in a good shot for your team, right? But again, When we talk about the ultimate goal of winning an NBA championship, you've got to win four playoff rounds in two months, meaning you've got to be four excellent teams that are probably going to be very different. You're probably going to have to go on the road at least,

like in half to win a must-win game on the road at various points. There are going to be challenges you face along the way. It's inevitable that in that journey, the spurs are going to run into a team that can switch that screen, meaning they're going to have Boston's a great example. having a set of players where they feel comfortable with the guy who's guarding Wemby also guarding Fox and the guy who's guarding Fox also guarding Wembe. So like, again, I was talking about the big picture goal over the next few years of the Spurs

rounding out their young talent, getting the experience they need, improving their decision-making, getting to where they need to win multiple playoff rounds. Part of that journey is going to be Deeran Fox and Victor Wemanniamma beating a switching look. So one of the things that bothered me watching that game last night, was Fox and Wemby attacking those switches, just taking bad jump shots early in the game. I've talked a lot about this as it pertains to the Celtics during the times that they've struggled this year.

When you are matchup hunting against switches, there is an important order of operations you need your attackers to do in those situations, right? You have to generate a shot in one-on-one that is so valuable that it's untenable for the defense. So if you go out there and you shoot 47, 48% on mid-range jump shots, which, by the way, Deer & Fox can do, like the team that's guarding that shot isn't going to overreact to it. Why? Because, like, for instance, Deer and Fox hit two contested mid-range jump shots against

ISOs or against switches early in that game. But from the Celtic standpoint, it's like, that's a shot that's going to be worth less than one point per attempt. Same thing goes for Victor Wembenyama in the mid-range, right? So as soon as you do that, you're making Boston's coverage worth it. As Boston is sitting in their locker room talking about the game plan, they're thinking to themselves. If we can switch all these actions and shut down the pick and pop, we can probably bait Deer and Fox into Victor Wemianama into taking contested jump shots that they're not going to make enough of to beat us. That's the game plan. And so as soon as you start doing that, you're playing directly into their hands. So how do you flip the script on that?

Dearen Fox against bigger players needs to get dribble penetration and get into the short range, where he's much more efficient on those like short range floaters, stuff right at the basket, getting to the foul line. Victor Wembeyanama, same sort of thing, has to get two looks that are closer to the basket. Once you start getting into the 1.1 points per attempt, 1.2 points per attempt, again, those are like 120 offensive rating, that's where it gets untenable for the defense. once it gets untenable for the defense, then they will start sending additional defenders.

If Deer & Fox starts toasting that guy off the dribble and getting dribble penetration and spraying the ball out, now you're getting the defense in rotation, you're going to get a lot of great shots. If Victor Wembeyanama starts drawing double teams because he's doing a lot of damage closer to the rim, now you're spraying the ball out, now you're getting great shots.

Now you're accomplishing the same thing that you accomplish in a pick and pop when you get Victor Wembenyama standing completely unguarded out above the top. the break. That's the ultimate goal when you're attacking a switching defense. You need to get the defense into rotation. If you attack a switching defense just playing one-on-one all night, it's going to be a problem. You have to get so successful in those one-on-one situations that the defense starts reacting and you get them into rotation. Again, we talked about action early. You want to run three-man action.

You want to try to force as many mistakes as possible to generate good looks. But inevitably, you're going to run into an elite, well-coached, well-disciplined defense that can switch the Deer and Fox, Victor Wemianama, pick and pop. And in that situation, it's going to be on Fox and Wembe to beat it with aggression that is untenable for the defense instead of passively settling for jump shots that can get them into trouble. Just something to keep an eye on with the development of that duo over the course of the next few years. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the 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 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. 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 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, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not.

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on to Heat Thunder. Heat defense was giving Oklahoma City a lot of issues early in this game. Andrew Wiggins and Davion Mitchell just were putting a bunch of good ISO reps on Shagos, Alexander, forcing him into tough jumpers. That lineup with Bam and Kelow Ware, too, they can really protect the rim well. And they were awesome on offense to start this game. Miami scored 22 points in the first six minutes. Bam had a bio was cooking Isaiah Hartenstein in one-on-one situations. He dunked all over his head on a baseline drive. Tyler Harrow had it going, had his floater going early in the game. They were getting runouts off their transition defense,

really good early in the game. I also thought the heat were doing a great job of generating paint touches against Oklahoma City's switching by slipping out of screens. Again, that's another example that we were talking just a minute ago about how to beat switching. A great example is like just run up the screen and slip out of it as quick as you can

and you might be able to get little angles for over-the-top passes that generate four on threes without you having to beat somebody off a dribble, right? So the heat ended up going up by 10. They kind of hung around that area until about the middle second quarter. And then they go on another run in the middle second quarter. And they end up going up by 21 points. They had a switch everything group out there with Bam at center,

continued defending really well. The heat defended really well for the most part in this game. Andrew Wiggins got going a little bit. He had a movement jumper going to the left. He scored out of the post. Pella Larson hit a couple of huge threes. They just got going offensively. They ended up getting a bucket off of a Nicole Jovich back door cut out of a Harrow,

Bam two-man game where Bam slipped out of it, four on three, drop off to Yovic, Yovic lays it up, 21-point lead. So looking like they're in complete control of the game down in Oklahoma City. The comeback started in the late second quarter with a little three-point shooting burst as J-Doh, Jalen Williams, excuse me, Lou Dort and Chegillard Alexander each make threes before the end of the half. They cut it back to 11. which again is just a much more achievable type of thing for them to overcome in the second half. They go back and forth throughout the third quarter,

and that's where we end up with this fourth quarter run. So it's 93 to 83 heater up to start the fourth quarter. And Oklahoma City goes on a 24 to zero run over the next five and a half minutes. I want to zoom in on the defensive end because I've been really talking about this idea of like, what does your basketball team present that's an unsolvable problem, something that like every team in the league is going to struggle with to a certain extent. Now here's the thing. The Thunder were great on offense in that stretch. The Thunder scored 24 points in five and a half minutes.

It was a complete explosion. Shea was unbelievable, was hitting a ton of big shots. He was getting doubled a lot and guys were hitting threes off of it. But we know Oklahoma City's offense is a bit streaky. It's a bit prone to cold spells. That's how they ended up down 20 to begin with, struggling against Miami switching. Like their offense has a little bit of a like kind of a rick

to it if that makes sense. Their defense is their ace in the hole. That is their reliably great punch that there isn't much of an answer for from any team in the league. I thought it started with Lou Dort. In the early fourth quarter, Lou Dort just decided enough was enough with Tyler Harrow. He ratcheted up ball pressure and got super physical with him. And Tyler, like, straight up peed down his leg. Like, he couldn't even dribble within five feet of Lou Dort without Dort either just taking the ball away from him, him dribbling the ball out of bounds, or getting into trouble and just throwing the ball away to somebody else in Oklahoma City in a passing lane. Like, Lou Doort is just one of the apex perimeter defenders in this league.

He gives the very best offensive players in this league issues, even guys like Luca Donchich. Tyler Harrow is basically food to a guy like Lou Doort, and he just annihilated him to start the fourth quarter, cut the head off the snake. The other two guys that were super don't. dominant in that stretch defensively. Kenrich Williams and Jay Lynn Williams, Jay Will off the bench, back up center. A couple of bench guys who came in and defended extremely well. Jay Will was protecting the hell out of the rim. Excellent rotations time and time again. He had a big block on a Andrew Wiggins pull up three against a switch. And then Kenrich Williams just erased Andrew Wiggins. Physical absorbing contact, disrupting Wiggins' base and making him play

off balance, which makes his short-range shot making less effective. And the Thunder just took a Miami offense that was lighting them up for three quarters and just put them in a ice grip. And they were completely helpless. And it wasn't like they were just missing open shots. They couldn't get anything decent. And even on the catch-and-shoot looks they got, they were rushed, they barely made it to the rim. They chewed up and spit out that Miami Heat offense in that fourth quarter. And that's really the exciting part. Even dating back to the Dallas, series last year, the way they almost won that series was with their ability to truly make

Luca uncomfortable and to go on these massive defensive runs. I thought last night was one of those regular season moments that you'll look back at as kind of like a defining moment of this Thunder team if they ever do get the trophy. They have become a truly dominant defense. The Thunder are 4.1 points better per 100 possessions in defensive rating than anyone in the league this season. The gap between the Thunder and the second best defense is the same as the gap between the second best defense and the 11th best defense. And that's with Chet Holmgren playing 12 games this year. Seven wins in a row for the Oklahoma City Thunder playing some really special basketball right now. You know, I remember for you Thunder fans, like I remember when I was rooting

for the Lakers in 2020, the year that they won the title. And even the year after that, the defining characteristic of that team was defensive runs. They just, about a dozen times in the regular season, you just see them, regardless of who it was against, regardless of who it was against, where they just be like, hey, we're going to lock in on defense now, and this team's just not going to score, and then we're going to win.

And I get very similar vibes from this Oklahoma City defense this season. All right, let's talk about the Lakers losing in Utah. First and foremost, no reason to overreact to this at all. One, they just beat the living shit out of the same group of NBA players two nights ago. And they were clearly nowhere near as engaged. And that was exacerbated by the fact that they were without two of their most important energy guys in Gabe Vincent and Dorian, Finney Smith. Two, it's like the famous last game before a long break. I shared the story on Twitter this morning, but I remember my last year in college, I was playing NIA up in Phoenix at Arizona Christian University.

at various points in the season, we're top five in the nation. We were one of the best NAA teams in the country. We started the year 12 and O, and we even beat a Division I, like a Division I team scheduled us as a team in the big sky conference called Northern Arizona University scheduled us for like a tune-up game and we just went into their house and handled them, like wire to wire, just controlled the game from start to finish. We were really good at NIA team. NIA was weird because like the age rules are different.

so we like had like a 29 year old point guard and a 31 year old shooting guard. I was like one of the younger guys on the team at 22 at that point. We were just stacked with talent relative to the college level and we were a really good team. But we had a break at winter like for the holidays. And it was like, you know, eight or nine day break. And the week before we went on the break, we had four games in a single week. And in that week we had to play two top five teams or two top 10 teams, if I remember correctly in the country. and like we beat we start the week 3 and oh

and we beat both of the top 10 teams and so we're 12 and oh and everything looks great and we have a game on a Friday I'm trying to remember I think it was called Great Falls I think it was Great Falls was the name of the school but we played a 500 NAAAIA team from the Midwest and they just beat the shit out of us

and we all had flights out of town the next day and I remember our coach we get in the locker room the coach is literally like, the coach is literally like half of you guys were already on the airplane. This is total bullshit. He was chewing us out. And it was just crazy because we started 12 and we were beating all these great teams. And then we ended up losing to a really bad team right before we went on a break. And I think it's just a classic case of like when you get to take it, like, like basketball is such a mental grind when you do it in an organized context. And you can imagine how much harder that is in the pros when you've got all these extended road trips and stuff like that.

But like, it's a grind. It's a mental grind. And when you see it. opportunity to rest. It's hard to get that out of your mind. I think, again, like, lots of teams were playing their last game before the break last night and played better basketball. I'm not saying it's the ultimate excuse. I just think it's one of the factors that led to that crappy effort. And then three, the Lakers have been one of the top teams in the league for a month, and they were kind of do a bad night. Bad nights happen in the NBA. And they really don't concern me unless they become a recurring thing. Like earlier in the year, what you saw last night in Utah was kind of like

once a week, twice a week kind of thing that you'd see from the Lakers. That hasn't been the case over the course the last month or so. So I'm trying to cut him some slack. It was very clear that the Lakers were not close to their best. Luca was awful, which is equal parts, him being out of rhythm and out of shape, but also him just trying to feel out his new teammates.

He hasn't been very aggressive since he joined the team, and I think that that's played a role in him just being out of rhythm. Austin Reeves is hilarious because he's such a dependable big game player. But yeah, you can throw out like an absolute stinker like he did last night against a team like the Jazz. So I'm not worried about it. That said, regardless of who you are. Even if you're a top-tier team in this league like the Celtics or the Thunder, there is value in taking a closer look at your losses just to remind yourself of your own vulnerability.

Even on nights when you have poor effort, eventually, find yourself down big and you're like, hey, let's try to get this game. And you try to assert control, but obviously you lose the game, right? So like, you fail to assert control and you still end up losing. And usually in those moments, there's a weakness or two that you can at least look at and acknowledge exists. Like even, let's just take Boston, for example. A lot of the Boston losses this year, even when their effort has been poor, has had a lot to do with offensive process. They've had some relapses to older versions of themselves where they settle for bad shots and they don't attack, they don't move the ball around, they don't generate great catch and shoot looks.

It's good for the Celtics to be reminded that they're not invincible and that if they don't stay diligent in their offensive process, they can get beat with Oklahoma City. It's like the shooting of their role players and some of their offensive process stuff as well. Challenging rim protectors not moving the ball around. They can go super cold on offense. So here's the thing for last night, even though we all obviously know that if the Lakers had to play the Jazz again tomorrow, that they'd beat them by 20 plus, if they needed to beat them. Like, if it was like, you've got to go beat Utah tomorrow, they'd handle them. But it's still important to acknowledge how the Jazz gave the Lakers issues last night. So here are all the big picture weaknesses that I noticed that were

on display last night that the Lakers need to sharpen up if they want to achieve their big picture goals. First and foremost, point of attack defense. Part of this, again, And last night was some unusual guys playing because Gabe and Dorian, Finney Smith were out like Dalton Connect was getting cooked a lot one-on-one, and he's not going to be in the rotation when he's in the playoffs. But it was some core guys, too. Austin Reeves had a really rough game on both ends, and he was giving up a ton of dribble penetration.

Ruby Hachamura was getting blown by time and time again. Now, here's the thing. During this streak, when the Lakers had been awesome on defense, both of those two guys have been fantastic on defense. but it's just a reminder that those are two guys, really the whole team, has to compete on the ball. They're not so gifted athletically that they can give poor effort. They have to compete on the ball,

and then the Lakers have to support them by shrinking the floor around them, flying around in rotation. And if they don't, this defense can dip into being pretty bad. For a team that was the number one defense in the league over the previous 13 games, they looked absolutely atrocious in that third quarter, as Isaiah Collier was just beating them time and time again downhill, Jordan Clark's and time and time again downhill, and just picking them apart.

Second big thing that stood out to me, Rui tracking shooters. Rui spent a good amount of time matched up on Lori Markinen, and Lori burned him time and time again for helping and just knocking down threes off a skip passes. We all know that Rui is susceptible to that kind of thing when he's not focused. He was the guy that really hurt the Lakers in the first,

round series last year by not tracking Michael Porter Jr. It was just a good reminder last night that Rui can struggle sometimes with tracking shooters, and that JJ might have to account for that by going with a guy like Dorian, Finney Smith, or keeping him in a matchup that doesn't have him tracking shooters around. That was something that stood out to me last night. The third issue, the Lakers are super thin at center. Jackson Hayes has been playing great, but he went down with a facial contusion in the middle of the first quarter, and suddenly it was a large diet of Alex Lynn.

And I got to say, like, I knew Alex wasn't going to be a significant edition. I talked about it when we talked about the signing, like, he's barely played in the last five years. His coaches clearly don't trust him. I thought of him basically strictly as just a big 250-pound body to throw at Yokic from time to time, maybe, and not much else. But my God, Alex Len was awful last night. He quite literally doesn't do anything. anything well, aside from being an okay rebounder for his size. Can't finish at the rim. He can't finish away from the rim. He's awful on defense, both in space, and at the rim. It doesn't offer any resistance there. Like, I don't really know how Alex

Lenn is going to be able to help the Lakers much at all. But maybe I'll be wrong. I thought Christian Coloco did okay, but he also got tossed around by Kessler quite a bit, got beat by Kessler in some vertical spacing situations. It was still clear that Christian Kolo is a two-way type of talent. and not a guy that can be playing big minutes in a big situation. By the way, shout out to Walker Kessler. He absolutely dominated this game on both ends of the floor. 16 points without missing a shot, six blocks. The entire NBA world should be very thankful that Danny Aange did not accept

that Mark Williams package. I had heard from behind the scenes that the Lakers offered that exact same package, Dalton, the 231 first, the pick swap. They offered that to Utah and Danny Aange turned it down. The NBA world should be very thankful that Danny Age said no to that, because if Walker Kessler was on this Lakers team, they would be an absolute force on both ends, and they'd probably enter into that same tier with Oklahoma City and Boston.

But that brings me to the last issue that was on display last night, which is spacing. There's a reason why Kessler was able to protect the rim the way he did and bogged down the Laker office. When Jackson Hayes is healthy, he can beat a guy like Kessler with that vertical spacing, right? That was how they picked apart Utah on Monday. When Dorian Finney Smith is healthy, they can put together small ball groups with Rui and Doreenna Smith and LeBron

where they can still defend and rebound well enough, but they can put Kessler out in space. And that was another way they picked apart Utah on Monday. But without those two guys, one of Jared Vanderbilt or Christian Coloco or Alex Lenn was on the floor at all times. And that allowed Utah to park Kessler underneath the basket, and that really made it hard for the Lakers to generate quality shots.

What this means to me is that the Lakers are one injury in a bad matchup against a team that can protect the rim away from being very vulnerable in a playoff series. Now, fortunately, they have space for another veteran minimum contract before the end of the season. So if there is a big forward that can shoot or a center with true spacing ability, whether it's popping spacing or vertical spacing, if there is a player like that that becomes available, the Lakers getting that guy could make a huge difference in their potential this year.

Just something to keep an eye on. Again, nothing to overreact to, but those were the obvious issues on display last night that the Lakers are going to have to work on improving to give themselves the best chance to win in the playoffs this year. This is a team that has to compete at the point of attack, and they have to support their weaker perimeter defenders with help side on the back, right?

this is a team that like has some young flawed guys in their rotation, guys like Rui Hachamura, that J.J. Redick is going to have to be very delicate with how he deploys him in the postseason to prevent him from being damaging, especially on the defensive end of the floor. Their center depth is an issue. And all of a sudden, Jackson Hayes becomes really important to this team. Dorian Finney Smith becomes really important to this team. Rui Hachamura becomes very important to this team. These big players that can shoot and Jackson vertical spacing are like vitally important. And it's just,

it's just something to keep in mind in terms of their margin for error as it pertains to, uh, the injury front. And like, and again, like they're, they're, this team has to be unguarable offensively because they're not going to be good enough defensively. I think they're better defensively than they showed last night. Again, they've shown that for a month. But like,

if they're going to get to where they want to go, they're going to have to be able to score against everybody. And that means they're going to have to be able to space rim protectors out. And last night, without Jackson, without Dorian Finney Smith, they really struggled to space rim protectors out. That's something to keep an eye on as we're tracking them through the postseason. And again, like I always talk about how the playoffs are about matchups. When I do my series previews,

the Lakers are playing a team that's got a rim protector, and they have an injury somewhere in the front court to where a guy like Jackson, a guy like Dorian, a guy like Ruiz out, that infinitely cuts into the Lakers' ability to be able to withstand a series like that. Just something to keep in mind. All right, guys, that's all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. We will be back tomorrow with some more game breakdowns as well as a mailbag.

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