The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Steph Curry & Warriors blown out, Lakers lose vs. Mavs, Knicks edge Nuggets

Episode Date: March 19, 2023

Jason Timpf reacts to Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors' blow-out loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. Is it time to worry about the Warriors? Later, he discusses Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers' 110-111 loss to Kyrie Irving and the Dallas Mavericks in a game without both LeBron James and Luka Doncic. Lastly, Jason breaks down Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks' 116-110 win over Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. #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 I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontans and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule. of two. Listen to Stuff to Bole Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you get your podcasts. The volume. It's Hoops Tonight, presented by Fanduel. The NBA season is kicking into gear, and there's no better place to get in on the action than with Fandual. The app is safe and secure. Getting your money out is super easy. You can jump into the action at any time during the game with live betting, and I love building those same game parlays. And Fandual is now live in Ohio, so use promo code Jason T and download the Fandul app today to start making every moment more. 21 plus in select states, Fandwell is offering online sports wagering in Kansas

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Enjoyed a couple of good nights away from the game of basketball, but I'm excited to dive back into it. We're going to hit three games from the last two nights. The Golden State Warriors dropping their 11th consecutive game against the Memphis. who were super impressive on both ends of the floor, so I want to spend some time talking about the Grizzlies today. The Los Angeles Lakers lost a heartbreaker to the Dallas Mavericks on the back of Maxi Klibe and an awesome fourth quarter from Kyrie Irving.

We're going to dive into that game from the perspective of both teams. And then last but not least, we're going to go over to the Eastern Conference. The New York Knicks won their third consecutive game in very impressive fashion over the Denver Nuggets. So lots of good basketball to get into. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our video. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT, so you guys don't miss any show announcements. And if for whatever reason you guys miss one of these shows and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish,

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Enter your email and redeem code hoops for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, enter your email and code hoops. That's H-O-O-P-S for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, let's talk some basketball. So Memphis just absolutely bludgeoned Golden State's defense last night.

They scored 133 points. They shot 55% from the field, 47% from three, and had 60 points in the paint. And, you know, it's interesting because the Grizzlies have always been good without John Morant. But usually it's because of the physicality areas of the game. This is a great defensive team. John Morant is one of the weakest defensive links in the entire league. So when you take him out of the equation and put a bigger, stronger guard in Tyos Jones into that spot.

And when you're playing more wing talent, you're just going to get a better, more physically imposing team. What's been really impressive in this particular run, and they're five and three since John Morant went out, is offensively. They've been getting a lot of high-level production from guys. Tice Jones has been amazing. He's got excellent pick-and-pop chemistry with Jared Jackson Jr. that we're going to get to in a little bit. Desmond Bain's been playing at an extremely high level. Dylan Brooks is finally starting to hit some shots after a rough start of the season. He hit a bunch of huge threes in this particular game to swing things on the offensive end of the floor.

And so with everything that they're getting out of that group, they're actually scoring at a pretty damn effective level. Jaron Jackson, Jr., 31 points last night, hitting threes, attacking closeouts. Like I said, he's running that pick and pop with Tias Jones a lot. And what it's helping there is he's attacking guys like Kavanaughn with an advantage. And when Kavanaughn, you know, one of the things that he's a very good defensive player, but one of the things that he doesn't do a lot is have to close out to shooters. And it's just completely different footwork.

and Jaron Jackson has been really good driving closeouts this year and getting into the lane. He scored 10 points just in pick and pop stuff with Tias Jones in this game. And, you know, since John Morant went down, they've needed extra scoring punch out of him. And he's been great, shooting 50% from the field and averaging 22 points per game up from his typical average, which is around 17, right? So everybody's stepping up and they're really impressive on both ends of the floor right now. You know, when I was watching the film this morning, the most impressive thing to me was Memphis's, interior defense. You know, a lot of Golden State's actions, you know, we always talk about

Steph's gravity, but it's kind of like their whole system and the gravity that it generates between Steph Clay and Jordan Poole, where guys are flying off these dribble handoffs and offball actions, and you get a lot of slips to the rim for guys like Kvonne Luni, for guys like Draymond Green and for guys like Jonathan Kaminga, right? But like all night long, Jared Jackson Jr., Xavier Tillman, just digging down at the basketball disrupting things before they go up to the rim, then contesting high above the rim. This is a crazy stat. Golden State missed 26 shots just in the paint in this game. They were 22 for 48 on field goal attempts in the paint in this game.

That is an insane level of defensive impact from Memphis's front court. And again, you got to remember, that's with most of their defense extended out to the three. point line dealing with all the Golden State shooters. So like the job that those two guys did cleaning up everything around the basket was extremely impressive in this game. Jaron Jackson, Jr., man, every single month just takes a little bit of a step towards becoming that perennial all-star that we know he's going to be. So, you know, shout out to Memphis. Like, I, good, like, here's the thing. Memphis is not my favorite team. You know, like, I really don't like Dylan Brooks. I, I have no patience for somebody who actively tries to hurt basketball players. And I've seen a lot of Memphis

fans be like, oh, but it's like Draymond. No, no, no. Dremont has a lot of hard fouls in his career, and he's done some janky stuff. But it's not the same. Dremont Green was never going to close line a guy on a breakaway dunk and break his elbow. That's just Dylan Brooks. Dremont Green isn't going to deliberately do extra barrel rolls on the ground to roll up into a guy's ankles and knees. That's just Dylan Brooks. You know, Draymond Green is never going to shove a cameraman for no particular reason other than to just be an asshole. That's a Dylan Brooks thing. So don't compare those two guys to me. They're not the same. Like, yeah, yeah, Dremont's a little bit of a, he's a guy that plays an extremely physical brand of basketball and he does some janky stuff that's

outside of the rules, not in the same stratosphere as what Dylan Brooks does. So stop comparing them. You know, don't like Dylan Brooks. Yeah, it bothers me that they talk a bunch of shit for a that hasn't really accomplished much. So there are some things that I dislike about the team, but I'm not like just a blind hater. I know they're good. I know Memphis can play. Their defense is an incredible foundation for them to build on

over the course of the next couple years. My pessimism surrounding them as a playoff team stems from just the way that I look at basketball teams in what I think they need to be good at to succeed in the playoffs. I think you need to be excellent defensively, particularly in the front court. They have that box resoundingly checked. Jaron Jackson, Jr., to me, is absolutely a guy who can be a foundational defensive piece for a championship team.

You need to have excellent perimeter defense. Dylan Brooks has been doing a number on stars around the league all season long. They've got that checked. Really, John Moran is that one little weak entry point, but I don't think that necessarily would be enough to get them beat if they had everything else checked. The reason why I'm not super high on Memphis is shot creation. Their half court shot creators are a little bit limited. Yes, John Morant's really, really good.

Desmond Bain's really good. Tias Jones is really good. In every playoff series in the later rounds, they're going to be going against higher-level shot creators. That's an issue. And then off-ball, they're one of the worst spot-up teams in the league. So their shot creators are generating shots for guys that can't knock them down. They are less than a point per possession on spot-up possessions this year.

That's 26th in the league. So yeah, I dislike Memphis, but I also think they're good. But at the same time, like, I don't put them in that list of eight teams that can potentially win the title simply because I don't think they have the shot creation or the off-ball shot finishing to be able to score well enough to win the title. I look at them as Cleveland of the Western Conference. Like, yes, if John Morant goes absolutely insane in the playoffs, they have a chance to win. But it's extremely slim.

If Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland Go absolutely insane in the playoffs They have a chance to win But it's very slim And Cleveland has more shot creation And is better as a spot-up team So like I actually think Cleveland's a better version Of Memphis and the West

So yeah, I'm not a fan of the Grizzlies But there is a basketball reason Why I feel the way that I feel about them On the Warriors front It was a frustrating game because they really competed And you know, they got within two In the fourth quarter is 108, 106 And then Dylan Brooks comes down

and takes and makes a transition pull-up three. That sucks. It happens. Big-time shot. Like I said, Dylan Brooks was a huge swing factor in this game on the offensive end of the floor. But then there were two absolutely critical errors from Jordan Poole from the 11-106 point that I thought cost the Warriors the game. There was a play where at 11-106 where Jordan Poole gets downhill, drives to the basket. And Clay Thompson is wide open in the left corner. Like, just completely unguarded.

Desmond Bain, I believe, is guarding Steph on this particular play, panics and leaves and is like going to Clay because he thinks he's going to get that shot. And he would have been too late. If Jordan would have made the pass, he would have knocked it down. But instead, Jordan throws up this like crazy wild left-handed layup that had no chance of going in. Clay Thompson's super discouraged, kind of jogs back in transition defense. They go down the other end. I think Luke Kinar gets a wide open three.

He misses it. But David Roddy gets an offensive rebound in large part because they're not matched up and he gets fouled under the rim and he makes one of the free throws. Two possessions later, Jordan Pull just dribbles the ball at the floor on the right wing and just throws an aimless skip pass across the court and gets picked off and goes the other way for Desmond Bain to hit a three in the corner, which effectively was the dagger.

Steph hit a three after that, but then Desmond Bain hit a three right after that, where Steph kind of ran into Dylan Brooks, and Dylan Brooks like fell on the ground almost into Clay Thompson's legs, Clay Thompson stopped running. Steph is looking at the refs instead of paying attention, and Desmond Bain comes off free and clear and hits a three. They just were so not sharp in the details defensively in this game. But those two, those two, uh, a rim read from Jordan Poole and that skip pass, I thought were the two plays, because it, it was right there for the taking. And again,

like with the Jordan Poole thing, I've always said, like, his limitations just come to the surface in a bigger way when you're dealing with issues with personnel. When you're, you have your full roster, you can contend with some of those issues. But when the, when the personnel limitations are there, Jordan Poole's decision-making issues come to the surface. Jordan Poole's issues defense and in defense and rebounding situations, they come to the surface more. It's just, it's just the unfortunate reality of their predicament. Like, I mean, I told you guys this from the beginning. I know what, what this core is capable of. But when you take Andrew Wiggins, out of the equation and you take Gary Payton out of the equation.

They are too small and too unathletic to consistently win on the road. At home, they just play with a ferocity in front of their home crowd that can overcome those issues to a certain extent. But on the road, they can't match that effort differential and the personnel issues shine to the surface. And, you know, here's the thing. I can never write them off completely because they're going to be in the play. And my guess is it's going to end up being something like Lakers Warriors kind of

similar to 2021, where they're Lakers Warriors playing in that 7-8 playoff game. That's just my guess. But, like, you know, I can't completely write them off because as long as that group is there, we know what they're capable of. And if Andrew Wiggins comes back, you know, like, I've heard some Warriors fans complaining about the vibes. And yeah, they're bad vibes. The team doesn't seem happy.

Everyone seems pissed at Jordan Poole. Everyone's, you know, showing bad body language. But that's just everyone overreacts to that stuff. Who likes to lose basketball games? Seriously, show me the person who likes to lose basketball games. They've lost six out of eight. They're not going to be running around stoke, tie-fiving each other and acting all happy.

That's not how it works. And like, yeah, if Andrew Wiggins comes back before the end of the season and they win two, three games in a row, all the energy of the team is going to turn over. That's why I can't completely write them off. But make no mistake, it looks bleak. Because there's certainly no word coming that Andrew Wiggins is on his way back. Like, they're hoping, but there's no, there's nothing substantial there.

There are only one and a half games up on the 11th seed. So they could just as easily miss the play in if they don't come together and win some games. And looking at their schedule, there's some easy ones in there, but there's also some hard ones. At Houston. Houston's beating everybody right now. They just beat the Pelicans and the Lakers. the Celtics back to back to back at home. They're hard to beat in Houston. You're playing on the road. They're a big, they're a lot more athletic on the perimeter than you think. And they actually

present some physical mismatches. That's not an easy game. I'd pick Golden State to win, but that's not an easy game. At Dallas. Now that Kyrie Irving's back in playing, now that Maxi Kleba's back in point, Maxi's been back for a little while. But Maxi Kleba just kind of, we're going to talk about this a little bit with Dallas when we talk about the Lakers, but he resolves just, just enough of their front court issues on both ends of the floor to make them a serious basketball team, even though I don't think they can win the title. Like, that's not an easy game. Okay, then you come home, but who do you play? Philly.

That's not an easy game. Then Minnesota, and maybe if you're lucky, Anthony Edwards is still out with that ankle injury at that point, and you still have a chance to win that game. Then Pels and Spurs. So there's three easy wins there at home, probably. But then you go right back on the road to Denver. not an easy game. Then you have Oklahoma City at home.

That's probably a win. But then you go to Sacramento, not an easy game. To Portland, not an easy game. Maybe if you get lucky Sacramento's resting players in that game. But look, they could just as easily go below 500 in that stretch if they don't get it together. 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 suits. 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-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 a little kill? 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 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 you 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. Now you're 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. Everything comes down to Wiggins as it pertains to their ceiling. But they're never getting to that ceiling if they can't. a playoff spot. And they aren't securing a playoff spot unless they just lock in and win some of these games. They've got to get a few of these games.

All right, let's move on to Mavs Lakers. So the Mavs win 11 to 110. Akeye was just unbelievable in this game, especially down the stretch, making reeds and making little floaters and getting to the basket and drawing free throw attempts. He had 38, 6, and 6. On the other end of the floor, the Lakers were running good stuff. But DeAngel, they, it's so funny. And this is just shot result. Man. Some of this stuff, some of this stuff is just the way it shakes out over an 82 game season, right? Like, DeAngelo Russell got several wide open shots in the fourth quarter of this game.

He just couldn't make a single one of them. And then down the stretch of the game, in spite of all that, because Dennis Schroeder made some big plays. You know, Anthony Davis made a couple of big plays. They were defending well. they were still up by four with less than a minute left, and three crucial mistakes from Anthony Davis cost them the game. Losing Maxie Kleba off ball and making a reckless close-out. We talked about this a lot in that Minnesota game against Brooklyn,

if you, like a week ago, execution wins and loses basketball games. You know, it's funny. I've played in so many basketball games in my life at so many different levels. and every time you lose a game, it haunts you, right? And when I think back to games that I've lost in my life, what haunts me is always a little thing. It's always like a missed box out here. Or like one play towards the end

where you didn't quite sprint back in transition and you gave up a lap. Or, you know, a bad foul, a missed defensive rotation, a play where you had a chance to make a play and maybe you held back. There's always these little things that end up swinging basketball. It's one of my favorite things about the game of basketball.

I love that complex nature of it. I love that chess match. But, like, it can be painful. It can cost you. And we talked about against, in that Minnesota-Brooklyn game, overhelping on contained drivers. A contested shot has significantly less value than an uncontested shot regardless of where it is at the floor.

These are pros. They make them. So if Rudy Gober is contesting a really tough Spencer Didn't what he stepped through, you've got a better chance getting a stop there than if you overhelp and give a wide open shot to Roy SoNeil like we talked about.

Or when Rudy Gobert helped off of Doreen Phiney Smith, that cost them a game that they should have won. And you saw the same thing in this Lakers game. The Lakers played better. They were in position to win, up forward less than a minute left, containing the ball. They had Kyrie carralled, but they abandoned

Maxie Cleavey off the ball, Anthony Davis. And he's one of the best, he's one of the best defensive players in the history of the league. So it's just bizarre, and that's what makes it such a brutal loss for the Lakers, was you do everything right, and it wasn't a personnel shortcoming. It wasn't you did everything right, but then they stuck their center on Russell Westbrook, and suddenly you couldn't score and you lost. It wasn't you did everything right, but you generated, High quality shots for bad shooters, and so personnel caught.

No, no, no. You had all the right guys. You did all the right things. And your very best player toasted the game away at the end with three mistakes. It's just, it's super unfortunate. He fouls Maxi Kleba on a three at the top of the key. Maxi goes to the line, makes all three. Underrated element of that, Maxi Kleba makes all three of those free throws.

He gets his rhythm and he's now practiced his release three times immediately before the game winning shot. Then on the final possession, double-teamed. The only open pass is the skip pass. And Anthony Davis drops way down into the lane, leaves Max Cleepo open, just eerily reminiscent to the game they lost against the Pacers earlier this year when LeBron James made the exact same mistake and overhelped on a contained ball handler, leaving, I believe, Andrew Nemhart wide open on the left wing. I will say on the Dallas front, you know, obviously Kyrie brings in that shot creation again. And Kyrie's one, A lot of games, I think this is at least the third that I can think of this year,

where Kyrie's won a game without Luca because of what he can do as a shot creator. Like, it's just so funny to me how every time we have discussions about Kyrie Irving, everyone just massively glosses over just how damn good he is at basketball. Like he outplayed Anthony Davis in that game. I said, just as an idea with Colin Cowherd, if Anthony Davis got hurt, they might have to consider using him to get Kyrie and everyone lost their freaking mind. And I wouldn't even necessarily do that. I was just pitching that as like, hey, like, if he gets hurt three years in a row, maybe flipping him for a star wouldn't

be the end of the world because you're like, you're not getting a star. You never get a star. You always get picks and young prospects. Like, whatever it is you do, even if you want to say that I'm wrong. And you know what? For the record, I probably wouldn't do that. I was just presenting the idea. But at least can we be honest in the conversation? Kyrie's freaking good, man. He's really, really good. And that's what he's capable of as a ceiling-raising player. Couple that with Maxi Klebo, which gives you just a really good defensive front court player that can guard switches onto the perimeter and can guard big strong forwards, can compete in the physicality areas of the game and a legitimate pick and pop threat on the other end of the floor.

Just bringing him back into the fold. I think it's been about a month that he's been back now. Just bringing him back into the fold just makes so many things make sense for Dallas on both ends of the floor. Again, it's not enough. They have massive depth issues on the front line that will cost them. I do not think this team can win a championship. But just getting Klieba back and having him play like that on both ends of the floor,

just kind of makes everything makes sense more for Dallas. I want to talk a little bit about Anthony Davis for a minute because, like, the Lakers have lost three at a four now, and this is what it went, this is what went down. He got resoundingly outplayed by Julius Randall and mightily struggled in the fourth quarter against Isaiah Hartenstein in a loss against the Knicks. At the time, I kind of glossed over it.

Why? Because he had been playing great pulling into that stretch, right? And so it was just like, hey, like, 80 had a bad night, first bad night in a while. Let's not think too much about it. Then he goes into New Orleans and just obliterates the Pelicans. It has like 20 points in the first half just kills him. Then he has to sit out a game against Houston, which directly costs them a game. They give up 70-something points in the paint.

And then he botches the end against Dallas. And all of that adds up to one in three. And here's the problem. Everyone else in the West is flopping all over the place. Losing games. Clippers losing games. Warriors losing games. Minnesota losing games.

Everyone's losing. And so there's, like, if Anthony Davis plays against Houston and they win that game and he doesn't make those mistakes against Dallas, the Lakers are now the sixth seed. They would be the sixth seed right now. with a favorable upcoming schedule and be in great position to avoid the plan. And lucky for them, they still have a chance because everyone keeps losing and they might still get up there. But they are blowing opportunities here.

And what's unfortunate is a lot of this is coming down to Anthony Davis. And it's funny, I was talking with some of the guys on my team here at the volume, just kind of like bouncing the idea of kind of players that remind me of Anthony Davis because it's such a bizarre experience. Comes to L.A. And in 2020, just start to finish dominance. From game one to when they hoisted the trophy, Anthony Davis was fantastic the whole damn time. I think I ranked him the fourth best player in the world at that point.

And he deserved that recognition. He was incredible. His defensive performance in game six of the NBA finals was one of the best defensive games I've ever seen a player play. Completely shut Miami's water off. but since then it's been a recurring theme these escalations and then a complete drop-off there's no maintaining that top level of play

2001 or excuse me 2021 he gets back in time for the playoffs just obliterates Phoenix twice in the playoffs you're up two games to one you're in great shape 80 they just have no answer for anthony davis and then he pulls us groin can't finish the series. 2022 is just a disaster of injuries.

Here's how bad 2022 was. AD never even managed to score 30 points three games in a row, which is something he's done three times already this year. But comes back into 2023, gets up to that ceiling twice. He did earlier this season and just recently. But he can't stay there. Earlier this year, culminating in a 50-point game in Washington, just a month of just incredibly dominant MVP-level basketball.

Then he leaves the next game sick. Then he gets into foul trouble against Joel Embed and really struggles. Actually, he has a chance to win that game at the line, misses another clutch free throw. And then he gets hurt and misses a month and a half. So we got there and just couldn't stay there. And then, again, this recent stretch, dominant nine and four post-trades, playing great basketball.

and then you drop three out of four games because you get badly outplayed by two inferior players against the Knicks, can't even play on the back-to-back in a must-win game against Houston and crucial mistakes down the stretch not paying attention to cost you a game the other night against Alice. And so it's like he gets there, but he just can't stay there. And it's really bizarre because, like, I can't think of another player that I have seen come through the NBA.

that their ceiling is best player in the world, but no team would probably take him as a foundational piece to try to win a championship because he can't stay there. It's a really interesting conundrum. Again, they'd be the six seed right now if they get two of those games. It's not over. Like I said, they still have plenty of chance, an opportunity here down the stretch.

Like I said, Golden State has no wings because of Andrew Wiggins. They're going to keep falling. Their schedule was tough. Dallas. Yeah, Maxie Klebe is playing great. but they don't want the front court depth. Anthony Edwards just sprained his ankle that helps on the Minnesota front, although hopefully he's not out for too long because I really want to see Minnesota play in a playoff series. Oklahoma City keeps resting Jalen Williams and Shagelders-Alexander

randomly as like a pseudo-tank job. But they're not going to gain any ground on that group unless Anthony Davis gets it together. And this isn't even a health issue. He's just not playing well enough. He needs to get back up to that level. And there's a specific reason why I think the Lakers to finish at least eighth. One gives you two chances at the playing. If you're in the eight seat or the seven seat and you lose that game, you get another chance. If you're in the 9-10, it's single elimination from the start and you have to win two games. So it's a significant better position.

Also, if you win the 7-8 matchup, then you get to play the two-seat, which is likely going to be Sacramento in a much easier opponent in the first round than Denver, in my opinion. They're one of the worst defensive teams in the league. And if you can get up to seven, you get home court for that playing game. And if you get up to six, you get out of it entirely. So there is still a lot of incentive for the Lakers to try to claw their way up that stretch of the standing. And I'm curious to see if they can put it together. All right, let's move over to the Eastern Conference a little bit.

The New York Knicks beat the Nuggets 116 to 110 yesterday. A super interesting game is a chess match down the stretch on both ends of the floor. When the Knicks had the ball, they were relentlessly attacking Jamal Murray. Nicolioch, which was actually doing a really nice job in drop coverage, protecting the rim in this particular game. They were funneling pretty well. But they just kept, you know, it was funny. You'd see Jalen Brunson dribbling on the right wing, and he'd be being guarded by Contavius Caldwell Pope. And you'd literally hear Tom Thibito screaming from the sideline, two, two, two, which I'm assuming was him asking for a two-one ball screen, which means the point guard.

is your one, right? And your shooting guard is your two. And in this case, I want to say it was a manual quickly, but he was being guarded by Jamal Murray. And he's just calling for a ball screen to try to get a switch. And then Jalen Brunson would get onto Jamal Murray and then just immediately go to work. I think he scored on him three times down the stretch of this game, including icing the game by getting him up in the air with a pump fake and getting to the foul line. Then on the other end of the floor, it was a steady diet of Murray Yokic's pick and roll. And it was It's kind of an interesting adjustment from New York because Yokic was killing them in the role. Just Jamal Murray dragging that second defender around, dropping off to Yokich.

Yokic just doing that hard power dribble into his spin move back towards his right hand to make that little floating hook shot that he makes. And they were having a lot of success there. But then Julius Randall just started completely ignoring Aaron Gordon and parking in the paint. So then Yokic's adjustment was to pop to the three point line. And out there, the first time, like, Jamal Murray just didn't even look at it. at Yokic and shot like a floater over a double team that he missed. Some of Jamal Murray's late game decision making hasn't been great.

And then on another one, they kicked it out to him, and he pumped faked and he missed a three. So that little adjustment from the Knicks got them the two big stops that they needed at the end of the game. And you're starting to see a lot of teams now really ignoring Aaron Gordon, really ignoring Christian Braun, really ignoring Jeff Green in the weak side corner. The Knicks were doing that the entire second half. And, you know, guys like Christian Braun and Jeff Green, they're making.

shots, but teams aren't guarding them. And that fundamentally changes the way that it feels offensively with congestion in the paint. And then Contavius-Caw-W-Pope is just kind of gone cold. And he missed several wide-open looks in the second half of this game that would have changed the dynamic. And KCP is one of the most reliable guys in the league. So some of that's just bad luck. But you know what? You can't take bad luck to the standings. It's a loss at the end of the day. The Knicks have won three straight. Really nice response because they won nine straight. Then Jalen Brunson gets hurt and you lose three tough road games in the Western Conference.

But then you just get it together. You get a big win over the Lakers the other night. And then you rip off a three-game winning streak culminating with that really impressive win against Denver. So that's, you know, what's that 12 out of 15? It's an impressive streak from the Knicks. Their identity really is really starting to make sense to me. they're an outstanding perimeter defense team. They went on a run early fourth quarter with Yokic on the bench,

in large part, once again, because Josh Hart, Emmanuel Quickly, R.J. Barrett, just containing the ball in really causing issues for Denver's offense. They're lucky they got a three out of Jeff Green and Christian Braun on skip passes because if those shots didn't go in, they would have been in big trouble in that bench run. but that's a big part of New York's identity defensively. Outstanding perimeter defense. They are ninth overall in defensive rating over their last 15 games,

which is impressive for a team that doesn't have a great defensive front court. They're pushing in transition a lot on misses and steals. They're not turning the ball over. They're not turning other teams over that much because they're more of a slide your feet, keep the ball in front type of team instead of a gamble and be aggressive type of team. but they are pushing, and they're 10th and fast break points per game scored over their last 15 games. And then in the half court, they're just attacking matchups. It's just Julius Randall and Jalen Brunson picking on your weakest defender every time down the floor,

which has worked well for them because both of those guys can get to pull up jump shots in the mid-range. So some of the spacing concerns from off-ball shooting and Mitchell Robinson don't really bother them as long as they can get to their spots and their pull-up jump shots. Julius Randall has run over 500 ISOs this year. over a point per possession. He's isoing seven times per game. Jalen Brunson, 240 isos this year, four times per game. 1.18 points per possession on ISOs for Jailen Brunson. That's third best in the league out of the 20 players to attempt at least 200.

So he's one of the very best high-volume ISO players in the league. So they're defending, they're running when they can, then when they get into the half court, it's a steady diet of matchup attacking with Jalen Brunson and Julius Randall, and then they're crashing the hell out of the offensive glass. Julius Randall, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Mitchell Robinson are all top 28 in the league in total offensive rebounds this year. Josh Hart, there are two guards in the league this year that have at least 100 offensive rebounds. It's Josh Hart and Josh Giddy, who's 6'8. So they're just extremely relentless on the offensive glass as well.

They have an identity. And again, everything comes down to Julius Randall and Jalen Brunson making enough plays offensively in the playoffs. But it's cool to see their identity forming. And you can see Knicks basketball becoming a cultural thing that they can build on. by supplementing with talent moving forward now. It's fun time to be a Knicks fan. The Nuggets have now lost five out of six with their only win being against the pistons.

When I started recording this video, they were up double digits in Brooklyn in the tail end of a back-to-back, so they might be getting right today, we'll see. But they're 29th in defense over that span. And again, we've talked a lot about Yokic. And again, the Yokich thing is just a lot of conversational. It's been heavy as a conversational topic,

but the reality is that has to do with MVP. and comparing him to MBEed and Janice. Like, one of the biggest defensive weaklings for the Nuggets right now is Jamal Murray. This has been something I've been talking about all season, but he's one of their biggest entry points. And he was getting targeted nonstop down the stretch of this game. And he hasn't been playing well enough offensively to cover for it, although he did get going offensively against the Nix

and made a bunch of big plays until he missed that late floater. The Nuggets are also struggling to rebound. They're 24th in defensive rebound percentage. they're losing 30% they, 30% of the time they force a miss, the other team is getting the offensive rebound. That's a problem right now. But here's the other thing.

They usually cover for all that stuff with offense, and they're 15th in offense over this span. Big part of that is KCP and Jamal Murray cooling off from three. That's a big part of their offensive punch. Yokic, I think, you know, again, it's hard to be super critical because he's averaging 29, but they're still, I think, that when the team is struggling to make shots,

that Yokic needs to try to be a little bit more aggressive. It kind of reminds me of early LeBron. And LeBron's much better at this now, and I'm sure Yokic will be in his future. But there comes a time and a place where making the right play is no longer the option. And now it's, yeah, I know that guy's open, but I'm Nicoliyokic, and these dudes can't guard me,

and I need to score a little bit more. And that's the thing. Like, I'd like to see Yokic hit that higher gear in stretches like this. Try to get up to 34, 35 points per game. and try to carry the offense until guys start making shots again. Then you can kind of settle back into the background. And then something to keep an eye on, again, is teams are ignoring that weak side corner.

They're conceding shots to guys like Aaron Gordon and Christian Brown and Jeff Green. And again, like I said, sometimes they're making them, but it's not just about that. It's about the way teams are guarding you and the way that disrupts all of your other actions. Hopefully they'll get back on tracking against Brooklyn today. But they have a tough schedule. In the next two weeks, they play the Bucke.

the Sixers and the Sons. And, you know, one last thing I'll say about the Nuggets, because a lot of people are saying like, hey, it's an urgency thing. They had a big lead. Like, even after all of this, they're just three losses, or they still have a three loss advantage over the Kings

with like 11 games left or whatever. So they're still in pretty solid shape, right? But like, I don't necessarily buy that as an excuse, particularly because of what Denver needs. Denver has personnel shortcomings when it comes to rebounding in defense. That's just a fact. so they need to be extremely sharp on the details to get enough stops and to secure enough rebounds to win in the playoffs. So details do matter for them. Habits do matter for them.

And them not being sharp going into the postseason is a very bad omen for them. So I would be, I'm going to be paying very close attention to Denver here down the stretch just to see if they can get sharp in time to be ready for. that playoff run. All right, guys, it's all I have for tonight. We're taking another day off tomorrow. The NBA schedule is a little weird here around the NCAA tournament. They don't have a lot of nationally televised games. It's a lot of lesser matchups, but things pick up again during the middle of the week. So these next two weekends are a little weird, but we're taking tomorrow off. We're going to be doing a show on Tuesday morning that covers Monday night's games. And then we're going to be working Wednesday night, I believe, after the final buzzer of Suns Lakers.

So see you guys on Tuesday. As always, I appreciate your support. The volume. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

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