The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - NBA Trade Deadline Reaction: Knicks big move, Warriors & Lakers stand pat

Episode Date: February 9, 2024

Jason Timpf reacts to the biggest news from the NBA Trade Deadline including the Knicks trading for Bojan Bogdanovic, Patrick Beverley to the Bucks, Gordon Hayward to the Thunder, PJ Washington to the Mavericks, LeBron James and the Lakers standing still, and much more! #volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas. 21 plus age varies by jurisdiction. void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. See dkng.com slash football for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms, and responsible gambling resources. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody. Happy NBA trade deadline day. It was kind of as we expected, a bunch of really small moves, but nothing truly significant. What we're going to do today, I have six different trades

that I want to touch on briefly, and we'll kind of go rapid fire through those. Then I want to talk about the Lakers doing nothing and what that means. And we're going to actually go into much more detail about that tomorrow because we have Yovan Buha from the Athletic coming on to the show to break down in detail the Lakers' deadline strategy and what they're looking at in this summer.

And then I want to talk a little bit about Spencer Dinwiddie. He was one of the more interesting buyout candidates that you'll see in recent NBA history. A bunch of teams I think are going to be looking out for him on that front. And then we have three instant reactions. from last night's games that we're going to get to at the end of the show. We got Pelicans Clippers. The Pelicans went into L.A.

and kind of manhandled the clippers last night. It was an interesting game. Then the Warriors got a blowout win in Philly against the Sixers, obviously without Joel Embed. And then the Boston Celtics and kind of a little bit of a dogfight with the Atlanta Hawks, but they pulled it out late in the game to get the win. So three instant reactions and a bunch of deadline stuff. You guys know the drill for we can start it.

Subscribe to our brand new YouTube channel. I mean a lot to me if you guys would take a second to scroll down and hit that subscribe button. Don't forget about our podcast feed, wherever you get your podcast under hoops tonight. It also is super helpful for us if you leave a rating and a review on the podcast feed. Don't forget about our Twitter feed at underscore Jason LT. That's where I put film threads like the one I did this morning on Pelicans Clippers, as well as show announcements. And then last but at least, keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments so that we can keep hitting them throughout the rest of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So the first of

our six trades that we're going to talk about today, Patrick Bell, to the Milwaukee Bucks. So if you guys remember in the video that I did on Tuesday, where I talked about the five trades that I wanted to see around the league, there were three specific ones that ended up getting addressed just in different ways today. I wanted the Sons to kind of try to get some more defensive oriented wings and forwards, right? I wanted the Bucks to get a new kind of point of attack defender to help them in that back court. and then I wanted the Celtics to go get a backup center.

And we saw all three of those over the course of the last 24 hours, starting with Patrick Beverly to the buck. So Patrick Beverly, in my opinion, he's one of those guys where as long as he's focused into what he's good at, he can be a really useful player. It's when that kind of expands outside of his kind of wheelhouse that you can start to see some diminishing returns there. For instance, when he was with the Lakers,

I thought he did a really good job guarding guards and then struggled when he had to guard bigger forward. Some of that was like he had a reputation as being a guy who could guard bigger forwards, but the truth of the matter is, is that just was never really a good option, right? And that is extended through to this season. I think he's done a really good job on guards. I thought he did an amazing job in that big win against the Denver Nuggets on Jamal Murray. It was Joel Embed kind of denying Nicole Eokic and then Patrick Beverly just harassing Jamal Murray all over the floor. So I think there's some trickiness to it with the Bucks because with Malik Beasley, he's playing with a ton of confidence right now. And he kind of has that starting spot locked down.

And I will be curious to see if they keep Patrick Beverly on the bench for that specific reason. But what I really like is it's an option that you can go to. Like I said, in the event that especially given on the matchups, so like for instance against teams like Boston where they're going to be doing primarily most of their initiation from the wing, you might be able to get away, with playing Malik Beasley. But then, you know, if you're playing a New York Knicks, then you may feel better off putting a guy like Patrick Beverly into the starting lineup to start games on Jalen Brunson and spend more time just ball pressuring and kind of hawking the basketball, right? And so it gives them an option now that they can go to. They can go to a Dame Malik back court that's more

offensively oriented or they can go to a Patrick Beverly back court where they can give Patrick Beverly a high leverage point of attack assignment, which I still think he's capable of, especially against the smaller guards that we have around the league. On the offensive end of the floor with Patrick Beverly, he's one of those guys that, I think in more of a brute force style

where he's getting kind of wide open, catch and shoot looks, he can have some value. It's more when there's a ton of motion involved in an offense that he can be an issue because he's a little bit of a ball stopper. He's a little bit of a guy who likes to catch and jab step and pump bake

before he really does anything. And so, like, I actually like the offensive fit with the Bucks because I do think he'll get wide open catch and shoot threes. And that's kind of the story with him. He's 41% on unguarded catch and shoot jumpers, 28% when they're guarded. So, like, to me, with Milwaukee, he's going to get some really good looks. That, to me, is a good fit. He also has, he's got a little bit off the dribble pop.

He's got, like, a decent little, he'll kind of dribble to the left and stop and then pivot back over his left shoulder for a hook shot that he can make. And then he's also got a decent floater. So he's got a little bit of that higher level close-out attacking stuff. But the offensive end of the floor leaves a little bit to be desired with Pat. But I still think he's one of the better guard defenders in the league. And so the Bucks, without having to give up anything of significance, found an upgrade there at the point of attack.

Our next trade, the Knicks. Finally get off the Evan Fournier contract as well as Quentin Grimes and a little bit of draft compensation for Boyan, Big Don. and Alec Berks from the Detroit Pistons. So I really like the Boy on McDonovich fit, especially in the short term, because you're dealing with a situation where Julius Randall is going to be out for a little while. And I think specifically alongside an OG and an Obie as a really strong athlete at the three, you can get away with having a lesser athlete at the four in Boyan, McDonovic.

He brings a lot more scoring pop to the table, very, very good kind of like second side creators, 55% effective vehicle percentage on pull-up jump shots this season. Excellent close-out attacker, 1.19 points per possession, 80th percentile. Shot creation data is a little iffy, but everybody in Detroit struggled with shot creation, with exception of Alec Berks, actually, we're going to talk about here in just a second. But I think he's just going to help provide an offensive option there at that four-spot while Julius Randall is out. He's also going to bring kind of a similar approach to Julius Randall in this. sense that to me, Boyan Bogdanovich is your textbook matchup attacking forward. He's the guy that can

pick on a smaller guard and take him down to the block and get to a little short right shoulder fade or a little bank shot over his left shoulder, something along those lines. He can get offense out of mismatches, which is a big part of the way that New York attacks. And it brings a physical in position to the position as well because he can attack smaller players, which I think is something that is part of the theme of what the New York Knicks do. And the other thing, too, is he's got a non-guaranteed $19 million, I think, next year, which the Knicks can guarantee, and they can just as easily use a salary filler as an expiring, just like they would attempt to use Evan Fornier as if they had kept him. So to me, this is a great example of a deal,

kind of similar to the OG and an Obie deal that gives them some increased flexibility with their rotation in the short term, while also maintaining their long-term flexibility if they want to make a bigger deal. Alec Berks, once again, kind of a solid second side. He's more of an on-ball guy than Quentin Grimes was, but he is a very good catch-and-shoot player. He's getting 1.25 points per catch-and-shoot jumper this year. He's also a really good athlete at the position. It's actually funny. I can't remember exactly where I saw it, but I remember a couple years ago I saw someone say,

I think on Twitter, that Alec Berks looks like if you were loading an NBA superstar two-guard and then just stopped at 80%. Because if you watch him on the right night, he literally can look like some of the better two guards that we've seen in the league. He just has never been able to maintain the consistency in his NBA career. But to me, like just a good basketball player that you're bringing in, in my opinion, an upgrade of Quentin Grimes in that deal. Also shot 41% on pull-up jump shots this year. His creation data in Detroit was actually pretty solid, ironically enough. 177 pick and rolls, ISOs and post-ups leading to one point, or excuse me, 188 points, which is 1.06 points per possession.

So good comfortable amount over a point per possession. That's quality second side shot creation. So you brought in two really good basketball players. You maintained the salary filler element that you need. An upgrade of a key rotation player in Quentin Grimes never had to give up any sort of truly significant asset. The excellent season from New York upgrading on the margins continues. Our next deal, Xavier Tillman and Jaden Springer to the Celtics. So as I talked about yesterday, or I should say on Tuesday, in my opinion, the Celtics, from what we had heard, had been doing some digging on a backup guard.

They'd been doing some digging on a backup wing, and they'd been doing some digging on a backup center. And one of the things I said was I viewed the backup center position of the biggest importance. I just have a better feeling about Derek White, Drew Holiday, Jalen Brown, and Jason Tatum being healthy for a playoff run than I do Al Hortford and Christop's Porzingis. that to me is where they needed a little bit more margin for error. Xavier Tillman, obviously, he's not as good as an Andre Drummond, but in my opinion, a very solid backup big to go to. This is a guy that slides his feet pretty well and has good anticipation, guarding bigger, stronger forwards around the league.

So, like, I think he's an option that you can throw out the likes of Bametabai or Janus Antenacumpo or Julius Randall for maybe a couple of minutes a half, just to kind of give yourself a decent option in that specific situation. He's one of those guys, too, that like not a high percentage three-point shooter, but we'll take them in a guy that can make them. And so I just thought it was a solid backup option, a more steady backup option than some of the other options that they've gone to and brings a real size and physicality to the position

that I think will be valuable to them in the playoffs. Jaden Springer, outstanding athlete at the guard position. one of the better perimeter defender prospects that we've seen from the guard position in a long time, really limited offensively and has a lot to gain on that end of the floor, but he's only 21 years old. But the defensive end is what is exciting. Last night against Steph Curry, from the opening tip, just ball denial, aggression, physical all over the floor, did a great job kind of taking Steph out of the offense. Now, it was a team-wide scheme from Nick Nurse, which we'll talk about in a little bit.

But I thought it was a really impressive individual performance from Jaden Springer. And here's the thing. I don't think Jaden Springer is going to be some sort of significant weapon for the Celtics this season, but for basically a second round pick to bring in a 21-year-old guard prospect that has the potential to be an awesome defensive player. I really like the move. So good a couple of upgrades for the Celtics. David Roddy and Royce O'Neill to the Sons, two more physical and defensive-minded players

to give them a different look on the perimeter. David Roddy is huge and has a lot of versatility defensively on the front line. Once again, big forwards in the conference. It's just a good thing to have on the roster, which was something that Phoenix didn't really have. When you're going to run into a team like Denver that's going to, you know, we saw it with Miami last year that they just were like,

oh, we're just going to go to Aaron Gordon on the post every time because they don't have a guy who can guard it, right? And so like you're going to see teams like Denver attacking the post need to have a big strong forward as an option there, right? Teams like the Lakers are going to attack in the post, need a big strong forward that you can go to as an option there. Even like something like a Kauai Leonard, having a guy like a David Roddy that just can hold up better under some of the physical approach of a Kauai Leonard, it's a good option. And then Royce O'Neill, he's your textbook 3 and D guard. It's an excellent catch and shoot player when he has space, kind of similar to a lot of the guys on this list where like when they're unguarded,

they're really good, but then when they're contested, the percentages take a dip. But he has a 1.27 points per possession on unguarded catch-and-shoot jump shots, which is excellent. In general, attacking close-out, 67th percentile, 1.11 points per possession. So again, you've given yourself options here. The Sons didn't really have a guard that could credibly defend while also credibly spacing the floor. Now they have that as an option. They didn't have a forward to had some real girth to be able to hold up against some of the bigger forwards in the conference. Now they have that as an option. So a couple of smart upgrades from the Phoenix Suns.

Next, PJ Washington, the Dallas Mavericks. This is a super athletic wing. Once again, kind of like some of the other guys who talked about on this list, can shoot the ball when he's given all day. He's 39% on unguarded catch-and-shoot jump shots. But any sort of close out, he struggles against 0.88 points per possession. spot-up situations, which is in the 22nd percentile, so pretty bad on that front. The Hornets used him a lot as a screen and role player, a lot on the short role. And so I could imagine them using him like that with Luca,

essentially setting ball screens rolling into space as an athlete where you can make some decisions. And just next to Derek Jones Jr., now they can, I kind of view those two guys as a little bit of a redundancy, but now they can bring some athleticism to the table alongside their core guys. so I thought that was an interesting little upgrade. And I know the Dallas was pretty frustrated with Grant Williams in general in the way that he had played this season.

All right. Our last trade, Gordon Hayward to the Oklahoma City Thunder. So this is an interesting example of a stopgap move in the sense that like it was clear that the Thunder didn't quite have their closing five worked out because Giddy's the odd man out in a lot of ways. And it was clear that they needed a bigger forward. But it was also clear that they weren't ready to make some sort of all-in move. like to call Utah and offer them six first round draft picks for Lori

Markinan or something along those lines, right? So I also had heard that O'KC really just wanted to see what this group can do in the playoffs before they decide what they need. I kind of think the need is obvious, but that was their approach. They wanted to make a one-year run at it and then kind of zoom out and make a decision from there. And so on that perspective, Gordon Hayward makes a ton of sense because he's a veteran. Now you actually bring a real.

real, I don't want to say adult because those guys are adults, but like in terms of veteran, actual experience in the NBA, Gordon Hayward brings that to the lineup. And he's just a better option as a fifth guy in the lineup than Josh Kitty. He's a dead eye catch and shoot guy, unguarded catch and shoot jump shots, 1.4 points per possession, which is insane. Also, pretty good at the rim this year, 66% at the rim. And so I like the idea is just like, now you go into the playoffs. You have Chet, Gordon, Jalen, SGA, and Dort basically is your core five that you're closing games with. A little bit more experience and like Gordon has played in the playoffs before.

So just gives you a little bit more experience on that front. I thought it was an interesting option. And guess what? We will learn. We will learn from OKC this year what they are capable of on that stage in a big way. And then we will find out this offseason whether or not they need to do something more substantial. Okay, two more quick notes on the trade deadline before we move on to games. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.

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

A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, CliverTaylor 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 Clivered 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 J.

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 was 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. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. 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. The Lakers doing nothing. I don't want to go too far into this because we're covering the Lakers tonight after Lakers' Nugget. So we'll talk about it a little bit more in the instant reaction after the game. And then like I said, we have Yovan Buha coming on the show tomorrow.

here's all I'm going to say. I always be a little bit of reticence when it comes to criticizing front offices for what they do in terms of trades in free agency because we don't really truly know what was available. There's a ton of smoke this time of year. Reports that serve purpose, serve the sole purpose of basically tweaking the public kind of perception of value and it's a lot of gamesmanship going on. So like, It's really difficult to be like, oh, why didn't the Lakers do anything? It's like, we don't even know if they actually reached agreement in principle on a deal. You know what I mean? Like, obviously, I think it's safe to say that judging by some of these price points, they put a first round pick out there. They could have gotten something back, but it's hard to tell which players exactly would be willing to, would have been achievable with that first round pick.

And then once you take that first round pick off the table, it does limit some of their ability to do something this summer. So I want to be clear, we don't know what actually was on the table. That said, I do know this. I know that the Lakers do not have a single starting caliber two or three that can both credibly defend and is a positive offensive player. They have very one-dimensional guys. They have, you know, Jared Vanderbilt is a guy who can defend on the perimeter but

has some offensive limitations. You know, Austin Reeves and DeAngelo Russell are both excellent offensive players, but they have defensive limitations, right? Like Tori and Prince is kind of considered a two-way guy, but in terms of perimeter defense, he is very much on the average to slightly below average side, not the above average to elite side. So they don't have anybody on the roster that they can throw at a Steph Curry in a playoff series, that they can throw at a Jamal Murray in a playoff series, that they can

throw on a James Hardin in a playoff series. They don't just, they just don't have any options on those fronts. And so basically, like I said before the season, I said this from the very beginning. I said the Lakers are a contender because they have LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Austin Reeves, and they are poised for a mid-season upgrade to address their needs. They did not make any sort of mid-season upgrade to address their needs. And so we're going to do a kind of a revamping of the contender tiers that I do, probably right around the All-Star break during that week off that we have.

I have something specific in mind there. I think we're going to get San Vassini on and kind of dive into it. contender by contender, but I have to drop the Lakers off of that legitimate title contender tier. It's just like NBA history tells us that you have to have these certain boxes checked, not just on the roster, but also in terms of your approach to the regular season. And not only did they not address those roster needs, but they also have, they're 27 and 25. So like at this point, they are what, we, we can't completely write them off with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but they are just an extreme long shot at this point. And the last thing I'll say

about it is I think it'll be a little bit easier to kind of look back on and evaluate fairly when LeBron James retires. But here we are five seasons into this LeBron James Anthony Davis thing. And I would argue two of the five seasons, they straight up just didn't have a chance to win. Kind of like closer to three out of five, pretty much everything after the Russell Westbrook trade. And so given the LeBron James Anthony Davis Foundation, which I maintain they've been top 10 players over the course of this entire stretch at a minimum top 15 players. To have two, let's just call it top 15, to have two top 15 players on the roster and to not be able to maintain a championship contending roster around them is a damning indictment of the Los Angeles Lakers front office and ownership group. Starting from the beginning, letting Brooke Lopez walk, letting Julius Randall walk, letting Alex Crusoe walk. the Russell Westbrook trade, just a complete and total lack of understanding or appreciation

for the way that role players can impact winning, specifically athletes that can compete on both ends of the floor. It has been a pretty depressing job. And as a result, the second best player of all time, LeBron James, has spent most of the tail end of his prime fighting uphill with rosters that weren't capable of competing with the best teams in the league. And it's just, it's just sad. It is what it is. And it's not over yet. They have access to three first round draft picks this summer and they have some salary filler that they can package into a deal and maybe they'll go get somebody. But if you look around the landscape of the league, if a real somebody becomes available, who are the Lakers outbidding? They're not outbidding the Knicks. They're not outbidding the

thunder. There are just way, there are way more teams out there that have way more to offer in the trade market than the Lakers do. And so to me, like, like, it's just, it's looking like once again that we're going to head into another offseason where the Lakers are going to struggle to find two-way players to put next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis. And by the time they actually figure it out, LeBron might be too old for it to matter. And so, like I said, it's just sad. And again, like, we don't really truly know what was available. But in a big picture when you zoom out, I've got five seasons of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. they were a top tier contender, won the title.

2021, they were a top tier contender. Injuries undercut them. Then they traded for Russell Westbrook, and it's been a lot of mediocrity ever since then. They're right around this 500 mark, 50 games into the season, seemingly every year now. And it's just not easy to do that when you've got foundational pieces like LeBron James and Anthony Davis. And so again, just not a good look for the Laker front office. One last note, there is a potential saving grace.

for the Lakers. Spencer Dinwiddie is going to be available in the buyout market. And the Lakers as a first apron team will be able to sign him. And I would imagine there's going to be a lot of teams that are going to be in the running for him, specifically teams that could use a back court athlete. Spencer Dinwiddie is far from the ideal type of athlete for this type of role, specifically the 3&D role that the Lakers so desperately need. He's a guy that has a lot of athletic tools but doesn't really truly commit himself. to the defensive end of the floor on offense. It's a lot of, it's a mixed bag. You catch him on the

right night and he looks like an all star, but like really struggles to finish around the rim. His general rim decision making is is questionable. So like he's, he's a flawed player, but for a veteran minimum, pro rated end of the season buyout signing, you typically can't do much better than a Spencer Dinwiddie. And so he's a guy that if the Lakers could get, I think would be significant. He's a guy that several teams out there. that I think that could use some perimeter athleticism should be looking at. All right. Let's get into our instant reactions from last night.

So we're going to start with Pelicans Clippers. So the Pelicans just absolutely jumped the Clippers early on in this game. They actually won the first quarter, 36 to 19, and pretty much stiff-armed them the rest of the way. There was a little bit of a comeback, like kind of a semi-comeback in the early fourth quarter, but the Pelicans immediately extended the lead again. They put Zion Williamson on Kawhi Leonard to kind of match his strength. which I thought was really smart from a matchup perspective.

It also, to me, is a defensive assignment where you can get some high production out of Zion because it's very singularly focused. They put Brandon Ingram on Paul George to match his length. And then that allowed them to put Herb Jones, Herb Jones, I should say, on James Hardin. And, you know, typically James Hardy can catch some pretty good matchups in his specific role as the third best perimeter player on the team. but the pelicans have the bodies to kind of go body for body with these guys. And they put Herb Jones, Herb Jones on, I always call him Herb Jones. It's Herb Jones.

They put Herb Jones on Hardin, and he just killed him on both ends of the floor to start the game. It was locking him up at the point of attack, forcing turnovers, applying really good pressure on him and pick and roll to make those cross-court passes to like Terrence Man difficult. I clipped a couple examples of this, but when you put, when you're defending in pick-and-roll, ball pressure is so, so, so important because, you know, especially on a team like the Pelicans, that's going to bring Deonis Valenciun is so far out in the coverage out to the perimeter, there's going to be openings on the weak side. And so if I can get that pass over the top on time and on target on a rope to the shooting pocket, my defense is compromised. And Terrence Man's

either going to have a wide open catch and shoot three or he's going to be able to drive and kick out of it and they're going to get great looks. But if I can pressure the basketball and I can force a looping pass or a deflected pass, it buys me a chance to rotate. And Herb Jones is just so good with that active hands, high hands, getting those deflections and bothering those over the top passes. He was also beating Hardin on the other end of the floor just by running his lane in transition, getting out in front of him, putting back door, just really, really active early in the game, dominated that matchup with James Hardin, which went a long way to the early lead for the Pelicans. And then on the other end of the floor, just really high-level driving kick basketball from the Pelicans.

I cut a lot of examples of high-level close-out attacking from the Pels. And I want to give Zion Williamson a lot of credit for this one, because they were using a combination of picking rolls and Zion Isos to basically pull the Clippers players down into help. And when they would pull them into help, quick on-point swing passes and then quick decisions attacking closeouts ended up generating the offense. C.J. McCollum was particularly great early in the game attacking closeouts. Larry Nance Jr. even had one against Plumley, where he drove and kicked to Trey Murphy in the left corner for a three. They converted 26 spot-up opportunities in this game into 30 points. That's 1.15 points per possession, which is obviously amazing. They're at 1.1 for the season, which ranks 6th in the NBA. So it's typically something that they are great at. And like, again, Zion Williamson, just his ability when he's kind of bringing the ball down the floor with some verve and getting into those in and out dribbles, how it just kind of causes everybody to kind of coalesce around him.

And like there was a specific play where Zion brought the ball up the floor in semi-transition. He's right at the top of the key. And I think it was Paul George sinks all the way down to the nail because it's part of the, you know, that's kind of what you have to do against a real downhill athlete. You have to build a wall, so to speak. And when you build a wall, you generate close-out opportunities. and that specific slot closeout is really important. You can imagine ball handler, on ball defender, helper at the nail. So this guy here, not only does he know he has a closeout opportunity, he knows where the angle of the closeout's coming from. Paul George is going to be closing out to his left-hand side and trying to chase him off the line because he's a good shooter. So that is a read that you have to make as the spot-up player

to quickly catch and rip to the right. and if you watch the play and I clip this one and put it in my thread this morning, Zion Williamson makes a swing pass. CJ's already loading up for the writ before the ball gets to him. And then he catches in racks to the right. Paul George has no chance to keep him in front because he's so far out of position. And CJ drives right into the lane. Zubot steps up, but he just stops and pops like a little floater in the lane.

That's really high-level close at attacking. Reading the help defender, knowing where your angle is, stopping short instead of over-penetrating, getting an offensive. foul challenging a rim protector or something stupid like that, the high level finish, which is the high soft floater. But Zion was causing a lot of issues for the clippers with them loading up on him. He had 10 assists in that game. And he kind of closed the deal because the Pelicans went up 36 to 19 after the first quarter.

And they kind of stiff-armed the clippers until a second half when they made a little bit of a run. They actually got it back down to four. And then Zion had back-to-back and ones against Plumley underneath the basket. And then Jose Alvarado hit a three in the right corner. It was like, bang, bang, bang. Next thing you know, they're up double digits again, and the game is over. So really, really impressive two-way game from Zion Williamson.

The Pelicans have won four games in a row. They had dropped three in a row before that to the funder, the bucks and the Celtics, and they didn't really compete in those games either. And that's been kind of a theme this year. Like they just kind of have been getting blown out by some of the better teams in the league. They're three and six before last night against the teams that were in my top five list of contenders. And last night was a big step in the right direction on that front. They went into LA and dominated the clippers, really good on both ends of the floor during this four game stretch.

A 123 offensive rating, a 107 defensive rating, outscoring opponents by 16 points per 100 possessions. So a really impressive stretch of basketball from the Pelicans on the Clippers front. super sloppy. They were getting beat down the floor in transition multiple times earlier in the game. Hawaii Leonard got ripped in the back court for a pick six. James Hardin got ripped in the back court for a pick six. This is all in the first quarter too.

And then on defense, they were overhelping and losing sight of man in ball. And like, here's the thing. This is, this happens in the NBA. It just does. No team is immune to it. Like every team that comes out the gates and kicks everyone's butt, they always have a stretch where they really struggled.

The 22 Warriors, what, they start 15 and 1? And they were, what, one or two seed most of the season? But even before Steph got hurt, they had a stretch where they dropped a bunch of games in a row. It happens, you know, like the, I remember the Lakers in 2020. They started, what, 24 and 3? And then they literally, right around Christmas, lost four games in a row. row. So like it, it's just just about guaranteed to happen because you play 82 games. There's an

inevitable, you know, kind of ebb and flow with your effort and focus and energy and things along those lines. The key is not letting it happen very often. This is one of those things where it's a completely acceptable thing to happen, but you just want to avoid it happening in mass. You want to avoid it happening too frequently, right? Like that kind of thing can't happen. I want to give the the Pelicans credit too. Like they just came out from the opening tip, brought a ton of physicality at the point of attack, a ton of length and athleticism. They can really bother you on that front. They had a really smart offensive game plan and got a big win. All right. Moving on to Warriors Sixers. So kind of a classic Nick Nurse game in the sense

that from the opening tip, he takes Jaden Springer and just tells him to face guard Steph Curry all over the floor. They were doing really physical handoff switches too. We're like Jaden's like hands on step as he's moving around and then if there's a screen that he gets caught on it's like he's almost like passing Steph to the next guy who's immediately got his hands on him and like they're just being physical all over the place and as a result like there's just a ton of space for the Warriors to play four on four basketball off of him right and like and again like Nick Nurse is always into this like kind of janky defensive scheme where he's super aggressive throw the name kitchen sink at your best player and just kind of live with the

on the backside. This was kind of a textbook, Nick Nurse Knight in that regard. But they were blitzing him on ball screens. They were just forcing anybody else to beat them. And they did. I thought Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kaminga sprang the biggest run of the game there in the late second, early third quarter. They just bring wave after wave of athleticism to the table. Like Jonathan Kamingo was just beating them up the floor for transition dunks. Andrew Wiggins, a pushing in transition with the ball in his hands being active around the rim as a cutter and as an offensive rebounder. And then it just that group brought the beginning of the run there at the end of the second

quarter. And they came out in the first quarter and they just like just completely blitzed the sixers. And it was a blowout in no time. And honestly, it's just a really athletic group when you have those two guys out there. And this is something I've been preaching on pretty much all season. after, as we were approaching the deadline. Like, lean on, Draymond Green, Jonathan Kaminga, Andrew Wiggins, as your front line. Because it's your best combination of athleticism and physicality to give you your best bet

at contending in the physical areas of the game because you are not going to be some jaw-dropping offense when Steph Curry is really your only reliable offensive option, like consistent, reliable offensive options. So, like, you need to win games with athleticism. You need to win games with perimeter defense in physicality and speed. And that lineup gives you your best bet. And it was interesting because Steve Kerb had mentioned earlier in the season that he didn't like the Kaminga Wiggins front line and that they had struggled in the numbers. And he wanted to try to make it work, but that it hadn't worked to that point in the season.

Well, over the course of the last 10 games, we have 130. 39 minutes of Jonathan Caminga, Andrew Wiggins, and Draymond Green as the front line. They have a 125 offensive rating, which is off the charts good, and a 97 defensive rating, which is off the charts good. And like, here's the thing. There's going to be moments where Andrew Wiggins has a tough offensive night, and Jonathan Kaminga is just not quite as sharp as he usually is, and the offense will be able to grind down a little bit. That's going to be baked in to some of the limitations of that lineup.

But it gives them the ability to really grind out games in an ugly way. This is a team that needs to get stops and run out in transition. This is a team that needs to bring real downhill force to the rim to try to just muck things up and win ugly with matchup attacking. And I'm just bigger and faster than you type of stuff, right? they don't have a legit number two option. And so they're not going to be some crazy consistent offense the way that like a Denver is going to be. And so I think that lineup gives them their best opportunity

to kind of bring that that athleticism and defensive end of the floor into the equation more frequently. And again, like 139 minutes is a substantial sample size. That's that that's again, it's in a 10 game span, but like they've been kicking people's asses with that group. And that's something super encouraging. And like honestly, the next step here is like Kerr's leaning on it more in general as a lineup. But I think he needs to lean on it in crunch time too.

Because we've seen that the Warriors have had trouble maintaining their success when they get into close games late. That's been a consistent issue throughout the season. What have they lost 18 games this year that have been within five points with less than five minutes left? So it's been a consistent issue. And I think sticking with that group longer gives their best chance, gives them their best chance to contend in the short term during this regular season. I also thought it was pretty encouraging games from Clay Thompson and from Kavana Luni. Both of them have been struggling a lot here in the middle portion of the season.

Looney was super active on the glass and just his usual kind of like physical groundbound game. And Clay Thompson, just a really under control game, took the right shots, contended in the physicality areas. It was a really encouraging night all around for the Warriors. And by the way, they've won four of their last five games. And they've won four of their last five games with that one loss being that lost to Atlanta where they fell apart in crunch time and had all the issues that they had there. So like, there's a lot to be encouraged about on this front.

I still think they have a really good chance to get into the playing. They're only one game back of Utah. They're like, I want to say three and a half games back to get into that eight spot to where they, can only where they get two chances to win one game, which is just a better position to be in in the playing tournament. So big step forward for the Warriors last night. All right.

Last one before we get out of here. Celtics and the Hawks. So it's kind of interesting games. Drew Holiday was out and to Dante Murray was out. So some kind of funky versions of both teams. Celtics went big with Al Horford. Derek White and Jalen Brown, I thought, were the story of the game,

particularly setting the tone early on Trey Young, just bringing a ton of physicality. back pressure and extra efforts in rotation. You can tell with Trey Young when he's struggling, when some of the drop-off passes to Biggs are a little bit off target and when he's missing his floater. Because like when he starts to rush his floater, that's when you can tell you're really bothering Trey Young. And they did a really nice job on him. He had just 20 points on 25 shots. They forced him into four turnovers. Atlanta got some solid contributions on the wing. Sadiq Bay and Jalen Johnson were both great. They combined for four.

in this game. I just kind of kept things close. But then late in the game, Jason Tatum and Derek White helped them pull away. Tatum, it was interesting because it was kind of a microcosm of some of the stuff you've seen from him this season down the stretch because it's like he gets Sadiq Bay on a switch. And he late in the clock ends up settling for like a tough pull-up three. And you're like, why didn't he drive to the basket? And then on the offensive rebound, it gets back out to him. And he is Tray Young on him. And he immediately his eyes light up. And he just through into the lane and just bounces off all these bodies, gets his left-handed scoop shot, probably a foul too, like probably deserved three throws on that one as well. And then I thought the most encouraging sign was he got an Yika Ongu on a switch on the left wing, a few possessions later. And you could see, as he was mixing up those side-to-side dribbles,

he wanted so bad to take that pull-up three, but he didn't settle. He drove left, got right past Ocongu, probably should have gotten an A-N-1 on that one as well, scooped it in. and then late in the game, once again, it was about 30 seconds left, and he had Sadiq Bay again on the left wing, and instead of settling, or on the right wing, excuse me, instead of settling,

just put his head down and tried to get downhill, kind of turned the corner a little bit to the left, and drew in Chris Sop's Porzingis's man, and made his swing pass back out to the perimeter, hit Chrisops, he knocked down the three that basically iced the game. And again, like, it's just going to be a vital importance for that, those types of developments to take place for Jason Tatum. Like the frustration I thought was encouraging.

He was mad when he got that and one after he missed the pull-up three and he was yelling at the refs. And it's like, get frustrated, get irritated, bring that physical imposition to the game. You are one of the best forward athletes in the league. And when you bring that, you make your team that much harder to guard and had a good playmaking game too, had two really nice driving kicks to Derek White in the fourth quarter. really high quality three point shots. Again, that's the name of the game for the Celtics. You can play the volume three point shooting game or you can play the quality three point shooting

game. And if they play the quality three point shooting game, I think they're going to win the title. That's how good I think they are. But like there's, it's getting rid of some of the early clock semi-contested threes for only okay shooters. Those are the ones that they have to kind of get out of their system. And then for Tatum, just in particular, in his matchup attacking, using the stepback three more as a counter. Like this guy's on his heels and giving me space, rather or like late clock situation, I don't have time to drive,

rather than as the shot that he hunts and the drive being the counter, if that makes sense. And then a couple of other things, Jalen Brown, I thought his matchup attacking early in the game, because Jason Taney was in a little bit of a funk early, a little out of rhythm.

Jalen Brown was bringing that just like mid-post, ISO attack that kind of carried them offensively earlier. and then he brought a really good defensive effort and had some really good possessions on Trey Young, which was part of their success in that game. And then I really liked the Xavier-Telman in Jaden Springer editions. I thought that they were a good example of a team that understands. Like, it's so easy to sit there and be like, we're the best team. And it's so easy to sit there and be like, we have the best record in the league.

We don't need to go out and do something. We have our core five nailed down. It's going to be Porzingis, J. Lambert. Jason Tatum, Derek White, Drew Holiday, those are the five guys, right? So like, it's so easy to just be content there. And I've always had an appreciation and respect for teams that, that push their chips in in the sense that they want to buy as much margin for error as possible. It is really hard to win an NBA championship. A lot has to go right for you. This team in particular already is up against it in the sense that Jason Tatum will not be the best player in a series with Milwaukee.

He will not be the best player in a series against, you know, like a Miami, right? Like we've seen, although I feel a little bit iffy about that one because I think, I think Tatum's gone toe to toe with Jimmy Butler more than once in his career. But like, he's not going to be the best player in a series against the Denver Nuggets if they get out of the conference. He's not going to be the best player in a series against the Los Angeles Clippers, right? So like, you need to buy them as much margin for error as possible. and getting a higher quality backup center that's got a little bit more playoff resiliency, that's a good option for you.

I thought it was an example of a failing to be content of truly going after the best possible title odds that you can get within the scope of this season. So shout out to the Boston Celtics. All right, guys, that's all I have for today's show. We are going to be back later tonight for an instant reaction after Lakers Nuggets, live on YouTube. I will see you guys there. The volume.

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