The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Steph Curry & Warriors 0-7 on road, Joel Embiid dominates, Lakers beat Durant & Nets

Episode Date: November 15, 2022

Jason Timpf reacts to Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors dropping to 0-7 on the road to open the NBA season after their 122-115 loss to De'Aaron Fox and the Sacramento Kings. He later discusses Joel Embiid's dominant 59-point performance in the 76ers' win over the Jazz as well as the Los Angeles Lakers win over Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets without LeBron James. #volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the 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, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes,

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visit www. www.1-800 gambler.net in West Virginia. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by Fanduel here at the Volume. Happy Monday, everybody. I hope all of you guys had an incredible weekend. Going to keep it real simple today. We're going to break down four games from last night. Warriors Kings, Sixers, Jazz, Cavs, Timberwolves, and Lakers Nets. And then just so you guys know the schedule, the rest of the week, tomorrow night, live on AMP after Grizzlies Pelicans.

It'll be on YouTube later in the night. Wednesday night, live on Amp after Celtics Hawks, and then live on YouTube after Warrior Suns. Thursday, we'll be doing our bi-weekly power rankings show. That will also be live on Amp. That's our second edition of Power Rankings of the year. And then we'll have one last video breakdown on YouTube sometime during the day on Friday. You guys know the drill before we get started.

Subscribe to the volumes YouTube channel, so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT. So you guys don't miss any show announcements, as well as any footage breakdowns. that I do. And then last but not least, for whatever reason, you guys miss one of these videos and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish them. You can find them wherever you get your podcasts under hoops tonight. All right, let's talk some basketball. So, Kings win 122 to 115. They started 0 and 4, but they're 6 and 2 over the next 8 games. A couple of quality wins in there against the Warriors and Cavs, although it's been a softer schedule and the other four wins.

They are fourth in offense during that span, just outscoring teams, 22nd in defense during that span. This was a really interesting game because the Kings actually ended up taking a nine-point lead kind of midway through the fourth quarter against Golden State's bench. Big shock. We'll get to that in a little bit. Then Steph and Dremont checked back in the game,

and the Warriors immediately go on the run, and they take a 113 to 110 lead off of a Dremond layup. And then from there, over the course of four possessions, the Kings took this game away from the Golden State Warriors. On the Dremont make, Darren Fox gets the inbound pass and just runs down the floor faster than everybody and finishes at the rim. Then over the next three possessions,

they just spammed Spain pick and roll. Deren Fox up top, Sabonis comes and sets a screen, Herders underneath the basket. As Fox and Sabonis are working downhill, Kevin Herder relocates to the top of the key. We've talked about that specific play a bunch over the course of the last few months on the show. So I'm not going to get into those details right now. But that's what they were running.

And they got three baskets and three stops. And then the game was over. On the first one, they ended up getting on a switch, Subonis on Lamb underneath the basket. Draymond was guarding Fox on the right wing. Draymond just abandoned Fox to go help Subonis, or help on Subonis, which he needed to do. The kickout pass came to Fox and he knocked down to three, which by the way, Daron Fox is shooting 54% on catch and shoot threes this year. On the second play, Clay actually got over the screen and cut Deer & Fox off and it actually turned into an ISO, but Deere and Fox just went to his

patented little leaning back fadeaway pull-up two, and he knocked that down, which by the way, Deer & Fox is shooting 49% on pull-up twos this year. So a couple of bread and butter plays there that led to high-quality shots that they knocked down. And then on the third one, Deer & Fox actually rejected the screen and went over to the right. So bonus was at the top of the and Draymond was there, and Draymond just fell asleep, and Sabonis just cut right behind him and got an offensive rebound and put the ball back in the basket. So, you know, an unusual, uncharacteristic defensive mistake from Draymond Green that led to that third basket, suddenly you're down six in the game is over. And that's, you know, that's kind of like the

the problem with what the warriors are having with their bench is, you know, their starters can play really well, but they're starting from behind a lot of the times when they're coming back in late in these games like Stefan Draymond checking this game down by nine. So even if you do go on a 15 to three run to take a lead, that should be a 15 to three run that puts the game away. And instead you're only up three and you have a four possession sequence where the Kings run some solid offense and you miss some shots. Lamb missed a wide open catch and shoot three on the left wing.

Andrew Wiggins missed a wide open catch and shoot three on the right wing and the game is over. So we're going to get to the Warriors in a second, but that's just another example of this problem that's been cropping up for them throughout this year. All right, I had three kings that I wanted to shout out before we move on to the Warriors. First, Darren Fox. So he's up to 26, 5, and 6 on 64% true shooting for the season. I went over his jump shooting stats earlier, so I won't do that again. But you're seeing what happens when you're a real downhill threat combined with real jump shooting proficiency. When you can actually make a defender have to make a decision between containing the drive and taking away the jump shot, that's what makes you.

impossible to guard. And we're going to find out over the course of the season just how consistent that jumper is, because if this is the way he shoots, then he's an All-Star. And now we have to kind of change the way that we look at the Kings moving forward. Sabonis, just classic Subonis game,

just bullying everywhere for post-position and rebounding position. Had a bunch of offensive rebounds in this game. Critical ones, too, at the end of the game. He's so good at using pump fakes and body angles and his strength because he's one of the biggest and strongest players on the floor, to find openings and score below the rim, despite not being a great athlete.

Then obviously he's always been a great passer. He did a great job passing out of the post, out of the short roll. Even face-up situations, just grabbing and ripping through to his left and then kick into shooters when guys step over to help. And then Keegan Murray, this was his second 20-point game as a pro. You guys know I wanted them to take Jaden Ivy. I just thought he had higher upside. But I understood the Keegan Murray pick.

What he represents is the perfect type of dude that you love to have around you. stars, a 6-8 wing that can guard up and down a position and that can shoot the basketball and do some stuff attacking closeouts. And he's already really good at those things. This, you know, if you're a young basketball player, especially one that wants to be a good shooter, he's a good guy to watch in terms of his footwork. And the way that he establishes his base before the ball gets to him or before he rises up into a shot. So in spot-up situations, it's as simple as just already being crouched down in a shooting position. But in movement possessions, it's moving low. and having a nice strong base so that when you catch, you can just go straight up instead of having

to dip or do anything crazy to establish your base. There was one play in particular in this game that I want you guys to look up if you're a young basketball player who's trying to be a shooter. He started in the left corner and he came off of basically a double wide pin down and shot a catch and shoot three at the top of the keep. And on the play, look at how low he's running. He's running so low to the ground that when he needs to turn that right foot around and elevate, his legs are already prepared to take on the strength it takes to establish a balanced base off of the move because he's moving low. Watch him in a spot-up situations, he's wading low. Watch him in his movement situations, he's moving low.

He's establishing his base before he gets the basketball, which just quickens his release, which buys you time to get shots off. And he made countless important shots in this game. All right, let's talk about some warriors. So they were up 198 in this game when a bench lineup of Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole, Kavan Looney, and Dante D'Evincenzo, and Anthony Lamb gave up a 7-0 run. And then Steph checks back in the game, and they immediately go on a 15-3 run. And by the way, Steph was great in this game. They were doubling and trapping him all over the floor, just making the right place.

Draymond Green, by the way, continues to be so highly underrated with what he does offensively for the Warriors making reads out of the short role. And especially in games like this when Steph is getting good. double-teamed that when you see it. That's when you see it. Right when he checked in, there was a really nice, like kind of a cross-screen action with Draymond out of the right, out of the left block that got him a three in the right corner. Then he had like a nasty isolation, a step-back three with his left hand on Davion-Mitchell on the right wing.

But you go on that 15 to 3 run, you take a 113 to 1-10 lead, and then four possessions cost you the game, which we went over earlier. I'm not going to go over again. But that's it. Four possessions. And that's the problem that the Warriors are having right now. Their bench is making it so that their starting unit has an incredibly tiny margin for error. A 15 to 3 run, like the one that Stefan Dremont went when they checked in in the middle of the fourth quarter,

that should put teams away. That should end games. And instead it's leaving it, you know, lingering in a range where you can have a sequence where one team executes really well for three or four possessions in a row and you end up losing. they lost the non-steff minutes by seven points in this game. They lost the game by seven points. I'm not going to talk too long about that tonight because I've done that so many times over the course

the last couple of weeks, but their bench continues to be a legitimate problem. You can't keep bringing in your starters with a deficit or losing the advantage that you gain during the earlier stretches of the game. You guys know where I stand? I would trade a couple of the young guys for a veteran wing to bolster the bench, but my guess is they're going to wait a lot longer before they decide to do anything like that.

One last guy I want to talk about with the Warriors, Jordan Poole is having a pretty rough stretch of basketball. His last six games, 13 points, two rebounds, three assists, 35% from the field, 21% from three, 23% on pull-up jumpers, 10 for 18 at the rim, 24 turnovers to just 20 assists, and he continues to be really bad on the defensive end of the floor. I misquoted one stat there.

He's 31% from 3. But really not shooting well, not taking care of the basketball, not creating shots for his teammates, and struggling on the defensive end of the floor. And I thought he really struggled during that 7-0 run that I referenced earlier, the one where Sacramento ended up taking a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter.

He took a bad, quick pull-up three in transition. That wasn't a great look and kind of felt like a bad moment. momentum shot that continued to further the run for Sacramento. And then the end of the run, he took a bad contested three out of the deep corner in the left. And like he held onto the ball for a long time instead of trying to get something else going. He stood there in the corner for a while and ended up just jacking up a shot. And the problem with corner threes is they typically lead to long rebounds. And when they go long, they're always funneling back towards the other way, right?

Because of the backboard. And when you take it corner three, you're a defensive player that is as far as you could possibly be away from your own basket. and it always leads to transition opportunities. Jordan Poole missed a three out of the left corner. Deer & Fox ran out and got a layup. Now you're down nine. Jordan Poole is not going to be traded, obviously. So he just needs to get back on track offensively

to help that bench unit. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it. all embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right what you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to? I do a little Kim.

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS. on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, Sixers Jazz. So the Sixers win 10598. Jolumbed, 59 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists, seven blocks, and he was plus 27, or excuse me, plus 25 in a seven-point win. His perimeter shot was really going in last night. It's really been going in all season. Utah tried everything. Olinick had no chance. He worked Kessler Edwards with like the Rondo fake in the first half. He abused Rudy Gay a little bit in the second half. Lori Markening,

he scored against him. He was hitting shots over Jared Vanderbilt. There's just nothing they could do with him. Most of his blocks, the seven blocks that he got were during his the game when he was guarding Jared Vanderbilt and he just completely ignored him, hung around the basket, which again, when you have a big guy who's able to hang out around the basket because he's guarding a non-shooting threat, that makes it so all your perimeter defenders are able to push up more on jump shooters because they have leeway knowing that Joel Embedde is behind them. And as a result, they locked in, they got enough stops, and they got to win. You guys know my take on Joel Embed, he's not my favorite player.

But for him, everything is about his perimeter shot. When teams pack the paint on you, whether that's through double-teaming or just zoning up or whatever it is they do to make it so that you're playing in too much congestion around the paint. You have to be able to do one of two things. You have to be able to pass the basketball well to make teams pay for doing that, or you have to be a great jump shooter. You have to be willing and able to knock down shots over that paint congestion. You know, for Janice, because the jump shot is just so far away,

it's about the passing, and he's also a very good passer. Janice, like, Joe Lambette is a bad passer, and we're going to get to that in a minute. Janice is a very good passer already. So for him, I'm less worried about the jump shot because his passing ability combined with his ability to force teams to pack the paint, turn him into an offensive engine. For Joel Embed, not a great passer. He had eight assists last night, but he had five turnovers.

For the season, he has more turnovers than he had assists. So with Joel Embed, I'm always looking at the way he's shooting the basketball further away from the basket because that's the kind of stuff he's going to have to do to be effective when teams really pack the paint on him. This season, he's shooting 45 and a half percent outside of the restricted area. Now, we've talked about this a lot over the show, over the course of the last year on the show. You guys remember, in his playoff career, you can basically book him to miss two-thirds of his shots outside of the restricted area. That's just what he does every year in the playoffs.

He makes a lot of perimeter shots during the regular season, and I don't know if it's the fatigue and just how much more demanding the playoffs are on him physically, or if it's the pressure or what the deal is, he can't make shots outside of the restricting. restricted area in the postseason. He also doesn't get to the foul line as much, and he doesn't pass well enough when teams pack the paint. So his impact, Joe Allen Bede is one of those guys who's impact just kind of craters when he gets into the postseason. So a big thing to watch for him over the course of this next phase of his career is how well this perimeter shooting translates to the playoffs. And if you can get that, if he can have a long playoff run where he shoots this

well, it'll lead to team success. And then he'll start entering into those conversations of those who are considered the best players in the world, which right now I don't think he is. I think Joel Embed is clearly outside of that conversation. But 45 and a half outside the restricted area this year, if he can maintain that through the season, through the playoffs, through deep playoff run, now we're talking about a guy who's every bit as good as a Nicoliochich,

who's every bit as good as a Janus or Steph or any one of those kinds of guys. Ladies and gentlemen, the Utah Jats are finally starting to miss some shots. a lot of people have been asking me, you know, like, how are the jazz playing so well to start the season? And I don't really think it's that complicated. They don't have a star, right? Although Lori Markinen's been playing like a star. But they have a ton of ball handling and shooting.

And they like to share the basketball. So it's like a classic concept of, you know, they're running a ton of high pick and roll, but their screeners are guys that can shoot so they're picking and popping, which renders most drop coverage is useless, right? So they're playing teams out of drop coverage or their shooting teams out of drop coverage. And they have such a high, you know, they have so many shooters, ball handlers, and guys who are willing to make the extra pass that they're just generating a ton of jump shots. They're knocking them things down. And they're top five in the league and assists because they're sharing the basketball.

But like that shot making, guys just rising up and knocking down shots has been a huge part of their offensive success to start the season. before this two-game losing streak, they had an effective field goal percentage of 49% on pull-up jump shots, which was seventh in the league. Their last two games, 29% on pull-up jumpers, including 19% on pull-up threes. Now they're 0-2. So as you can see, guys just rising up and knocking down shots for the jazz

has been a huge part of their success. They're also third in the league and catch-and- shoot makes per game. So they just, part of my language, they just shoot the shit out of the basketball, man. And that's really all it takes, you know, modern NBA when you've got enough guys that can do that and put the ball on the basketball, put the ball on the floor. It renders so many of these coverages useless. But maybe this is them cooling off a little bit and maybe they'll consider to start trading some of their pieces soon.

I don't think they want to disqualify themselves from the Victor Wemba sweepstakes. All right, Wolves' Cavs. So the Wolves win 129, 124. The calves were really short-handed. They had no Donovan Mitchell and no Jared Allen in this game, which is arguably their two best players. This was a classic DeAngelo Russell and Carl Towns game. Dilo was just working and pick and roll all night long. In the first half, he was seeing a steady diet of Darius Garland and Raul Netto. And those two guys are just way too slow. So even when they fight over the screen and get a late contest,

Dilo's just not even seeing those guys because they're too small. Then in the second half, they switched Darius Garland onto Jaden McDaniels, and they started giving him a steady diet of like Karras Leverd and Isaac Okoro. But at that point, he was already feeling himself. He already had his confidence in his rhythm, and he just kept hitting those tough shots. And then obviously, Dilo's always been a really good passer at high pick and roll, especially when he's shooting the ball as well as he is,

and it dictates more attention. And then Carl Towns, the usual stuff, hitting pick and pop threes, jab step threes, and like ISO situations. He beat Evan Mobley to the rim off of a pump fake and ripped through late in the game, did the same thing to Robin Lopez out of the right corner. He's one of the best face-up players in the league. But this game, the Cavs is damn near one in any way. the strength of a career high 51 from Darius Garland got crazy hot from three in the fourth quarter.

It was making some really tough shots. Classic, I go out of my way last week to talk about how I'm concerned about Darius Garland's shot making because he's a little bit small. And then, of course, he just goes out and makes every single damn shot to drop 51 against the Timberwolves. I know I've talked a lot about Darius's defensive shortcomings. And they're real. Like, he could not guard D'Angelo Russell in this game. and then they switched him on to Jaden McDaniels,

and even Jaden McDaniels was scoring over the top of him when he would cut to the basket or post-ups and things along those lines. But make no mistake, he's that classic combination of great pull-up shooting with a good mid-range game and the floater and stuff like that that make him a really dynamic pick-and-roll shot creator, especially with as well as he passes the basketball. If the Cavs do decide to make a move on from him to capitalize on the rest of the talent on this roster,

it won't be an easy decision to make, because of how gifted he is offensively. And no matter what, they should absolutely wait until the deadline, because you want to give this group as much time as possible to try to figure out a way to either hide Darius through some scheming thing like pre-switching or putting him on defenders that, like putting him on offensive players like Jaden McDaniels, but maybe, I don't know,

teaching him to front the post and having him work a little bit harder. Just try to find a way to make him functional defensively, so maybe you don't have to make that trade. but here we are and you're sitting at, you know, 8 and 5, and you're 2 and 5 in games that Darius Garland has played. So that's definitely something to keep an eye on as the season progresses. All right, Lakers Nets, big win for the Lakers over a Nets team that had won four out of five games. Katie made two free throws to get it down to 91, 87 in the fourth quarter,

and then Austin Reeves, Lonnie Walker, and Anthony Davis just took this game over. Very next possession, Austin Reeves kind of gets the ball late clock on the left wing and has to rescue a possession. It makes a really nice two-dribble pull-up going towards the left elbow. Did a really nice job of taking a really long step before that last pull-up to get the defender to back off a little bit, rose up. Left it a little short, but got the bounce on the rim. Then on the next possession, he runs high pick and roll with Anthony Davis. This was just, I tweeted a video out of this particular play. Again, you can find it on my Twitter feed at underscore Jason LT.

But he gets downhill and draws help. Now, I said in the video that he made the fourth read in the pick and roll, because the reads in order are if you're coming downhill and you have a layup, you take the layup. If the big man steps up, you have the drop pass to Anthony Davis. If for some reason the drop pass isn't open, it's usually the weak side corner. But on this play, Patty Mills dropped out of the weak side wing to the weak side corner, so the fourth read was the weak side wing. And literally Austin gets downhill, palms the ball with one hand and elevates,

then switches the ball to his left hand and hooks, throws like a hook pass around the help defender that hits Lonnie Walker wide open on the right wing for a three, really, really impressive piece of high-level playmaking from Austin Reeves at a pick-and-roll. Then these were the next four possessions. Lonnie Walker started spamming the pick-and-roll with Anthony Davis. He gets downhill, misses a lay-up Anthony Davis tip-slam. Lonnie Walker gets downhill. gets downhill and does a pullback drivel, gets a ton of separation, knocks down a 15-foot jump shot.

Then he gets downhill and actually makes the layup, and then he missed another one of those pullback jumpers, but Anthony Davis had Royce O'Neill on him and just went right up and dunked it in on the tip. So like four-point game, Katie makes a couple free throws. We're heading towards another Lakers' collapse. And then Austin Reeves, Lonnie Walker, and Anthony Davis just took this damn game over. And then on the other end of the floor, one of the, again, the Laker defense, I said is real, and I believe that truly.

It was real. You could see it on tape. They were stopping good offenses. Then they started 0 and 5, and those dudes quit. And I don't blame them. They weren't winning. You want to be rewarded for your action. And over the course of the last two weeks, their defense was awful.

But last night looked like that Lakers defense that we saw earlier in the season. Anthony Davis had a couple of key stops on Kevin Durant, including a possession where he just straight up denied him the basketball, full court. on a critical defensive stop. And then Katie also missed a couple of short floating jump shots that he usually makes. And then the game was over. Anthony Davis. So first time scoring 30 points in a game since February 3rd, which was last season.

First time scoring 37 in a game since May 9th of 2021. That's how uncommon that dominant performance from Anthony Davis was. Absolutely dominant on the offensive glass. He had 10 offensive rebounds. Some of it was bullying, you know, Nick Claxton, Kevin Durant, a little bit of Markief Morris, but also in the pick and roll switches, just destroying the Nets guards when they wouldn't do their job of boxing out Anthony Davis when there'd be a pick and roll switch. He had a couple of nice post moves in the first half, and then he had a couple of really nice

isolation pull-up jump shots over Kevin Durant in the second half. Just a vintage, dominant Anthony Davis performance. This is why I hold Anthony Davis to such a high standard. he puts up really good numbers on his bad nights, a lot like LeBron. I constantly, when I criticize Anthony Davis or LeBron, I'll have people go like, you know, LeBron had 25, 10, and 8 in this game. How dare you say that he played terrible? And I'm like, LeBron will put up 25, 10, and 8 in his sleep.

Anthony Davis will put up 24 and 13 in his sleep. Okay? So you've got to pay attention to the difference between when they're really impacting the game, the way that you know they're capable of, and when they're sleepwalking. And both of those guys, especially Anthony Davis over the years, has a tendency to sleepwalk. LeBron, those performances are few and far between, but I call them out when they happen as well. Is he, is he, is he Janus? No, he's not going to, he's not going to be the best player in the world.

I think that ship has sailed. He's just not fast enough right now and he's not physical enough. But there's no reason in the world why he can't average 30 and 12th. That's his basement when he's fully engaged. There's no reason he shouldn't be a defensive player of the year candidate, every single year. He is in the heart of the prime of his career. This is not 38-year-old LeBron, who you can understand why he takes a few defensive possessions off. This is heart of your prime Anthony Davis, one of the most physically gifted players in the league. There's no reason in the world he should ever average less than 30 and 12 or be a top three defensive player of the year

vote getter every single season. You know, I wanted to talk about the LeBron AD pairing for just a minute because any hope that the Lakers have of contending in this era depends on those two guys. We talk about a lot of the stuff on the periphery, but those two guys are also not good enough, have not been good enough over the course of the last two seasons. The front office has made it perfectly clear that they don't believe in those two anymore. That's why they didn't make a trade. If they believed in LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Russ would be wearing a different jersey right now. Buddy Heald and Miles Turner would be flanking LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

They are not. The front office doesn't believe. If LeBron comes back next Friday, the Lakers have four full days off now, if LeBron comes back next Friday and he plays the way he did against the Clippers, right before he got hurt, and if Anthony Davis continues to play at this level, the rest of the team will defend their ass off, and they'll make enough plays offensively for them to go on a winning streak. And they're up into a weaker part of their schedule. Their next six games are the Pistons, the Spurs, the Sper's, the Surs, the Paisers.

five and one is absolutely doable with LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the roster and six and oh is possible if you can win a game against the Sons. If you go five in one, now you're eight and eleven. Now Rob Polinka and Jeannie Bus will consider pulling the trigger on that deal.

And then you can go on a run with Buddy Yield and Miles Turner against your tougher opponents. There was this story from Chris Haynes for Yahoo Sports law last week or maybe the week before. where there was like some pretty significant like hints that LeBron James and Anthony Davis want a trade to be made. They were publicly advocating for it through leaks to Chris Haynes.

But Rob and Jeannie clearly will not do so until they believe in that pairing. Now, I think that's horseshit. They should have invested in them before the season started. They set them up to fail by sending them out there against that impossible schedule without enough help on the wing. Robin Jeannie, it was a completely unacceptable approach from them. But that's their approach. So you need to prove to them, LeBron and AD, that you're worth the investment. And if you do, I believe they will invest.

In this next six-game stretch, starting on Friday, we're going to find out a ton about what LeBron James and Anthony Davis are capable of. And then on the Brooklyn Nets front, that was their sixth game in 10 days. Five of those games were on the road, and this was a back-to-back. really sloppy defensively in the fourth quarter. So I'm going to kind of give them a pass here for fatigue. For fatigue. I really like what they're building in terms of their identity. They just need to, they need to find a way to integrate Kyrie, but like a focused version of Kyrie because they simply need the talent and they can't flip him for anything. They don't have any real means

with which to improve the roster. So this is going to be KD's biggest leadership challenge. He needs to get Kyrie back in that locker room and then as his friend and as the leader of the basketball team, beg him to stay on task until the end of June or whenever it is their season ends. Then be like, dude, whatever else you want to do at that point, go nuts. But just for me, man, my friend, please give me this next few months. Let's make a run at this thing. We're good enough. There's a lot of talent on that Nets roster, but not enough if Kyrie's not there and not if he's fully engaged, not unless he's fully engaged. Whatever it was to start the season, all the bad energy and aura surrounding the team, that can't happen anymore. You need him to be fully engaged in this

version of the Nets. All right. That is all I have for today, guys. Like I said, tomorrow night, live on AMP after Grizzly's Pelicans, Wednesday night live on AMP after Celtics Hawks, then live on YouTube after Warrior's Sons, also on Wednesday. Thursday, live on AMP for our power rankings, and then Friday, one more film breakdown, and then we're out of there for the week. As always, I sincerely appreciate your guys' support, and I will see you tomorrow. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey,

or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it.

Listen to The Cliford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you, you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.