The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - Warriors waste Steph Curry’s 60, Clippers-Heat, NBA Power Rankings

Episode Date: February 6, 2024

Jason Timpf reacts to Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers' 103-95 win over Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat. Is anyone in the league better than LA right now? (4:00) Later, Jason discusses the Golden State Warriors falling 141-134 to Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks despite a 60-point performance from Steph Curry. Is Steph getting enough help from Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and the rest of Golden State? (19:00) Jason then drops his weekly NBA Power Rankings featuring the Celtics, Nuggets, Knicks, and more! (27:30) (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements) #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.

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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, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHard Radio app,

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All right, welcome to Hoops and I here at the Volume. Happy Monday, everybody. Hope all of you guys had a great weekend. I got a jam-pack show for you today. We're going to do an instant reaction to the clippers going into Miami and beating the hip. Heat talking a little bit about the hot streak for the Clippers as well as a cold streak for the Miami Heat who have lost eight of their last 10 games. After that, the Golden State Warriors,

here's a crazy stat for you. They've lost 18 games involving clutch situations, meaning the score was within five with less than five minutes left. A big issue for them over the course of this year. They have 25 losses, and 18 of them have involved clutch situations. So we're going to do a deep dive into that after they wasted a 60-point effort from Steph Curry in Atlanta against the Hawks. And then after that, as we always do on Monday, we're going to update our power rankings. You guys know the joke before we get started, subscribe to our brand-new YouTube channel. It means 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's also super helpful for us if you guys take a couple of seconds to rate and review the podcast. That would mean a lot to me as well. don't forget about our Twitter feed at underscore Jason LT. That's where I put film breakdowns in the morning as well as show announcements. And then last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments. We're going to hit a mailbag on Wednesday. It looks like this week. And got a jam-packed week tomorrow morning.

I've got a show that we're going to do going over the five biggest trades that I want to see this season. Then we will actually be going with Colin Coward Tuesday night for the first time this season. So obviously, as you guys remember last year after the Super Bowl, we went pretty regularly with Colin. We're going to be starting that back up again. That's going to be fun. And then we'll be live on YouTube right after the trade deadline on Thursday as well, reacting to what hopefully will be a more interesting trade deadline

than what the last couple of weeks have looked like ever since the Pascal Seaccom trade. So jam-packed week, excited. But let's get into Clippers heat. So the biggest thing that stood out to me from this particular game, and it's been something that stood out all season, and this is going to be a theme that I talk about, The idea of like basketball characters is a concept that I talk about on the show. And to me, that is like the little intangible kind of like effort, energy, focus, discipline, competitiveness things that I think bear out over the course of an 82 game season in our typical hallmarks for a team that goes on to win an NBA championship.

If you look back through NBA history, it's like last year, the Denver Nuggets were the one seat in the Western Conference. We talk about teams like the Lakers and the Warriors teams that can have potential to go on a playoff run. But like the team that kind of wallows around in mediocrity during the regular season typically doesn't win. That's just what NBA history tells us. That doesn't mean it can't happen. Obviously, it's not impossible.

It's just extremely unlikely. And NBA history tells us typically not, right? And you can go further back, the Warriors, they were right up there with the Phoenix Sons at the trade deadline. And then Steph Curry heard his foot. and that's why they ended up a little bit lower in the standings, but they were consistently one of the best teams in that regular season. They were 45 and 19 when Steph Curry played.

The Bucks were a one seed. The Lakers were one seed. The Raptors were a two seed. So this is why we look at these trends over the course of the regular season. It's important to talk about what works in the regular season and what doesn't, what translates in those specific kind of like X's and O's things. But in the bigger picture, if you're not asking, actually trying to build championship character over 82.

Typically, you'll run into some trouble. And we're on an extended stretch here from the Clippers where they've been the best team in the league. Since November 17th, they are 30 and 8. That is the best record in the league over that span. That's basically ever since they started 0 and 6 right after the Hardin Trade, they have been the best team in the league. They're just one game back of the number one seat in the Western Conference. they're trending heavily in that direction.

So this is, the clippers are paying their dues, and you can see it. Like, this is a random road game against the Miami Heat, a tough team to play, well coached, always does the right thing, right? They're gritty. They get games down into the mud and try to expose your weaknesses. And it'd be so easy to just bring a lackadaisical effort and do the bare minimum to try to win that game or maybe punt a game like that. But like, no, I'm watching this game.

And Paul George is like, like, just contending on the, the perimeter against Terry Rozier, getting up in his business and applying back pressure and disrupting the basketball. He was switching on to Bam at a bio and a transition cross match and getting a stop in the post. I'm seeing James Hardin wall up Jimmy Butler in a post up and stripping him clean underneath the basket, like from the top down, from the stars all the way down the roster. These guys are so, so, so locked in on the details. And I think that kind of stuff matters. And when you look at it juxtaposed with some of these other teams where it's like this consistent theme of like conserving energy and like managing your, the regular season and just

trying to survive it versus attacking it. And NBA history tells us it's usually the talented veteran team that attacks the regular season that runs away with it at the end of the day. And the Clippers, again, they've got some question marks. They're not a good defensive rebounding team. They rely heavily on pull-up jump shooting. They have some of those things that could concern you, but they're doing everything they can, at least within what's under their control, to maximize themselves within this season.

They held Miami to just six points from about the 10-minute mark of the fourth quarter to about the four-minute mark of the fourth quarter. On the other end of the floor, James Hardin got his step-back three going. He had three step-back threes, including one going to his left, which is one you don't see too often from James Hardin.

Two of them were and ones. James Hardin's actually been the very best pull-up shooter in the league this year. He's getting 1.17 points per pull-up jump shot. That's a 59% effective field goal percentage. There are 29 players in the NBA who have logged at least 250 pull-up jump shots this season. James Hardin is in first place in this group. So remember, that was where we saw that right around 60, 61% effective field goal percentage. That's where we saw Steph Curry and Kevin Durant last year.

Both of those guys are down this year. James Harden up at that 59% is actually at the highest mark in the league at volume. Another big guy who made a big offensive contribution during that run there at the beginning of the fourth quarter was Norman Powell. Because the heat actually took briefly a lead there. Haywood Highsmith had a layup that put him up by one in the early fourth quarter. And the clippers went on this defensive run and James Hardin was sitting a step back three. And then Norman Powell made a couple of plays out of closeouts in the left corner. He had to pull up three or catch and shoot three, I should say. and then a one dribble pull-up kind of ripping through to his right. And next thing you know, they're up by 13.

And just like James Hardin has been the best pull-up shooter in the league, Norman Powell has been the very best spot-up player in the league this year. He's getting 1.38 points per possession. There are 32 players in the NBA this year that have logged at least 200 spot-up possessions, and he's first place on that list. And, like, again, there's a big difference between looking at spot-up possessions versus just catch-and- shoot shooting. A catch-and- shoot jump shot is an important.

part of being able to attack a closeout because that's the only thing. If you can demonstrate that you can knock that shot down consistently, that's what will get the defender closing out at you hard. But I talk about high level closeout attacking all the time because against the very best defenses in the league, they're typically going to take away most of your open catch and shoot opportunities, especially for your best shooters. And then from there, if you beat a closeout, so if a guy chases you off the line and you rip past him to the rider to the line, left usually help defense is going to come over and take away anything for you at the rim. And so a lot of times that high level close-out attacking is the ability to make a shot

that's in between that catch-and-shoot and the drive-and-kick or the driving layup. And like Norman Powell has just been the very best player in the league this year at not just hitting those catch-and-shoot threes, but reading that close-out defender and slashing off of it and making plays in the middle. Like 1.38 points per possession. how insane that is. That's another level of, but like Michael Porter Jr. last year was one of the best in the league and he was below 1.3. So that goes to show you just how insanely good Norman Powell has been in those spot-up situations this year. But like by the time, Kauai got back into the game in the middle of the fourth quarter, they were already up 13. Game was basically over at that point.

Miami made a little, little kind of fake late run, but they never truly threatened. And then they get out of Miami with the win. And like, again, it is a tough. balance between conserving energy and building good habits. But in my opinion, it is better to aggressively attack the regular season. Obviously, I'm not saying play hurt. I'm just saying bringing effort and energy rather than trying to conserve effort and energy is the way to prepare yourself for what is the impossible grind of the NBA playoffs to win four times out of seven, winning in these two-week chunks, beating a team four times out of seven, and then turning around and doing it again, and then turning around and doing it again, and then turning around and doing it

again against increasingly more difficult opponents, it's a grind. You don't get to take your time and load manage during that stretch. And so again, like actually preparing your body for that type of grind over the course of the regular season, but above and beyond that, even to just the habits and the continuity with your lineups, the discipline to actually make the right decision on both ends of the floor within your scheme, it is an important part of that. And I've just been so impressed by the clippers this year. They've just completely and utterly attacked this regular season since the James Hardin trade, especially unusual considering some of the older veteran players on that roster. Kauai's MVP case starting to gain steam. Again, like we talked about 30

and 8 since November 17th, best record in the span over that span. Kawhis only missed four games all season, shooting 53% from the field, 45% from 3, 89% from the line. That's 64%. in true shooting percentage. That is the highest mark of his career. He's also having the best defensive season he's had in years. As a matter of fact, he's getting 2.6 stocks per game. That steals plus blocks. That's the most he's had in a single season on average since he was with the San Antonio Spurs.

So you're getting a more engaged defensive version of Kauai, another big element of having James Hardin to help with the ball handling load. And then it's showed up in the numbers. The clippers are 12 points per 100 possessions better when Kauai is on the four. floor versus off the floor. Now, will he win the MVP? It remains to be seen. The biggest thing that works against him on that front is that the clippers do have a lot of talent. And when you look around and you see, you know, James Hardin and Paul George on the court, a lot of times that can kind of sway voters. But Kauai's playing some of the best basketball of his career and it very

much belongs in that conversation. And if they keep winning at this rate, I think he has a very good chance to win it. But Zubox is coming back now. He played, came back on a minute's restriction it looked like last night's game. Amir Coffey's another guy I wanted to shout out. Just another example of like kind of a useful two-way wing that they have coming off the bench can really shoot the basketball and is a good athlete. It has some good length and brings some speed to that perimeter defense core that they're already so deep in. Again, their only red flag really is that they still struggle with defensive rebounding and they just rely really heavily on pull-up jump shooting. And so that just adds some variance when they get to the postseason. On the Miami front,

They've now lost eight out of 10 games. They just cannot score the basketball right now. They have a 107.8 offensive rating over this 10 game span. That's 29th in the NBA. Only the Grizzlies have been worse over the last 10 games. And that's despite Jimmy Butler being awesome. Jimmy Butler is shooting 58% from the field and 58% from three over this span. But Jaime Hawkes has been slumping a little bit since he came back from his injury.

Tyler Harrow has been shooting below 40% over this span. Terry Rozier since joining the heat, 33% from the field, 22% from three. So, like, they're just struggling outside of that Jimmy Butler position. Bamadabio is only giving you like 16 points a game over this span. And, you know, some of this is to be expected because when you add a new kind of ball handler into the group, it just disrupts the flow of everybody. And so some of that just needs to be sorted out. Like, do I think Miami is going to be this bad on offense this long?

Probably not, right? But they're also not shooting particularly well. as a team, they're shooting just 34% from three over this 10 game span. That's bottom five in the league over that stretch. So a lot of it will turn around, I think, just as they get a little bit more used to playing with each other, they've added legitimate offensive firepower here. And I do expect this team to be a better offense in the long run. That said, over the span, they're also 22nd in defense and 21st in rebounding.

So a little bit of a slump here. This kind of thing can happen. And we see this like we were just talking about it with the Sacramento Kings. like for most of January, they were pretty mediocre. And then all of a sudden, in the last couple of weeks, they're kind of snapping back into form. This time of year, you see lots of ebbs and flows in teams, especially teams that have made it to the playoffs before

and can struggle a little bit with motivation over the course of the regular season. I can never be out on the Miami Heat, but they're definitely playing some bad basketball right now. 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. Yep, that's me.

Clever Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skis. 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 where 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 with a 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 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 on day, but just so, you know, 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, you're finishing that sentence. Yes. 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, let's move on to the Golden State Warriors. So the Warriors

an absolute heater from Steph Curry losing in Atlanta in overtime. Steph had 60 points. He was just absolutely barbecuing DeJante Murray down the stretch of this game. Was killing him in pick and roll was killing him in ISO there. After he got going, stopped calling for the ball screen. It basically just dribbled up into like a high hesitation. It would just if Dejante was giving him space, he'd step back. If he wasn't, he would just go right around him.

He was scoring at the rim. He was scoring from three. The shot he had that should have been the go-ahead shot in the final minute it was like a floater after he split a ball screen with Dejante Murray. He was unbelievable down the stretch of this game. And he's fully back in form now. His last five games, Steph, 39 points per game, 53% from the field and 46% from three has not missed a free throw.

So Steph, whatever slump he was in there in the middle of the season seems to be coming out the other side of that. But the Warriors still lost that game. And why is that for two reasons? They couldn't get a stop. They had a 171 defensive rating in 7. minutes of clutch basketball against Atlanta. They were really struggling with Trey Young and ball screens.

They tried guarding him straight up just with like a traditional coverage. Jonathan Camingo was struggling with screen navigation. He lost Trey Young for a three. Then they started blitzing the ball screen. Trey was like just dribbling around the blitzer and getting downhill into the lane and making floaters. Then they started trying doubling him at half court and they just made quick reads out of it on the back end to get baskets in those four on threes.

Tremont Green in particular was kind of struggling, splitting the difference between Trey's floater. and getting back to Ineca Ocanglu at the basket, and he actually lost him on layups a couple times and then also gave up a couple offensive rebounds. So, like, that, that to me is less on Draymond and more on the perimeter defense. When your screen defender is constantly having to navigate two places at once,

you're putting him in no man's land, and that's just a really difficult place to play defense. And one of the biggest issues for the warriors right now is they're really, really struggling to contain the ball. This is a big part of why, you know, Steve Kerr, talked about Gary Payton the second and how like he specifically is one of the most important elements coming back post trade deadline is because they just need a guard that can actually stay in front of some of these guys. It's like you go with Brandon Podjemski. He's just not

quite athletic enough, right? You go with Andrew Wiggins. It comes with all these offensive limitations that he's been showing as of late. And so having Gary Payton back could go a long way to help them there. But they just really, really struggled defensively against Atlanta. And that's a bigger picture issue that we'll get to in a second. But the second reason that they fell apart against Atlanta, and this is something I've been talking about all season, nobody aside from Steph can contribute offensively for them inside of these moments. You probably thought watching that game that the warrior offense was great down the stretch, right? Because Steph was sitting all those damn shots. Nope, they had a 100 offensive

rating in seven clutch minutes. And a big part of that is they went cold in overtime. But again, when you're relying on one guy to score and no one else can, when that guy finally, starts missing shots or the defense starts to get the ball out of his hands. If you can't capitalize on the back end, you're going to struggle. And like, if you look at just like, again, that game is a perfect juxtaposition with Trey. And it's, Trey's killing you and pick and roll. But then Bojan Bogdanovich just like, or Bogdanovich just like hits a really nice, step back jumper going to his right along the baseline, right in Dremont's face, perfectly defended, just knocks down the shot. Dejante Murray,

got his revenge after Steph cooked him because tied the game in regulation with the pull-up jumper, jumper hit a few more pull-up jump shots in overtime. You're getting significant offensive contribution alongside Trey Young. That just makes it that much easier. Basketball is all about versatility, not predictability. It's not about being amazing at one thing. You've got to be able to win in different ways. You have to be able to defend in different ways with different coverages and you have to be able to score in different ways because it doesn't matter if the Steph Draymond ball screen is getting you a few step back threes with a few minutes left in the fourth quarter if they make an adjustment they start to chase him off of that shot you got to

have something else you can go to at that point the warriors have now lost 18 games involving clutch situations that's the second most in the entire league only the pistons spurs and raptors are behind them all having lost 19 games in clutch time they have a 116 offensive rating that's very much mediocre and they have a 115 defensive rating. That's very mediocre. And again, this is the concerning part. This is despite Steph Curry being amazing in clutch situations. Think about this. This is crazy. If you take Steph Curry's scoring in clutch situations and you extrapolate it out to a per 36 metric, meaning if you basically looked at the way he's playing in crunch time and turned it into a player who plays 36 minutes a game, he's scoring at a rate of 50. He's scoring at a rate of

50 points per 36. He's literally like Wilts Chamberlain in terms of box score production at the end of these games. Think about how insane that is. He has 47 made field goals in clutch time this year. Second place is Mikhail Bridges at 35. He's 12 more made field goals in clutch time than anybody else in the league. He's shooting 52% from the field in those situations, 49% from 3, 97% from the line. And only one warrior has given him double-digit clutch made field goals in support this year. Clay Thompson. He's made 12 out of 41 shots.

That's 29% from the field. It's become their biggest issue this season. They constantly end up in close games and they can't guard and they can't give Steph any support. and like zoom out a little bit like think about how frustrating this season has been for Warriors fans you have 25 losses 18 of those 25 losses were in

in crunch time am I right about the 25 it might even be 26 I'm going to double check real quick yeah 25 losses 18 of them have been in crunch time so like imagine just just thinking in the perspective of the standings right now you're six games back

of the suns to be out of of the play in. Like, if instead of losing 18 of those games, you lost 15 of those games, you're now three games closer to your three games out of being out of the play in. See how big of a difference that can make? It's a significant issue. And like, it's a defense and rebounding issue too, like we've talked about. They give up an offensive rebound on 39% of their opponent's misses in clutch situations. 39%. That means if they get 10 stops in a five-minute stretch, they're giving up four offensive rebounds.

And like, Kerr started to go small at the end of these games. Like, he used to be that he'd kind of go with Wiggins. Now he's kind of going with Brandon Pizamski a lot in these situations. And I get it like because Wiggins has been struggling so much offensively, although he started to get it going there for a while. I had a rough game against Atlanta. But like my thing is like,

it's not like you're leaning on Pizamski offensively much anyway. So like, why not just give yourself a bigger physical profile? Why not put Wiggins out there just to have, give yourself a better chance to hold up physically. I continue to say that I would lean into Steph Clay, Wiggins, and Caminga and Draymond. And one of the things to Jonathan Caminga this year is seven for 13 in crunch time. So like he hasn't really had much opportunity, but he's scored when he has been given that opportunity. He drew a foul on a post up down the stretch against Atlanta. I would, I would be looking to try to get somebody else involved a little bit more frequently so that when Steph kind of cools

off or when they take the ball out of his hands, someone else is an option available for them to go to. All right, moving on to our power rankings. So much more positive this week compared to last week. Like most of the top teams lost one game, but then won the rest of their games. We did have two teams dropping out. The Philadelphia 76ers, they've lost five out of six. Also, big picture trends here, after their eight and one start, they're just 22 and 17.

for the season, they're just 10 and 11 against teams that are 500 or better. So a lot of it has been easy schedule for them in terms of where they're at in the standings. They have a really tough schedule down the stretch this season. And now Joel Embed is out for an undetermined amount of time due to knee surgery. So obviously, like, we were already starting to see some of these trends form. And now they're in a really tough spot with where they're at with the remaining schedule and with Joe Embed missing at least, what, at least a month of that, if not longer. Now on the Joe Ellen Beat injury front,

it sounds like it's going to depend entirely on how the surgery goes. Like it looks like he could be back in time for the playoffs or he could be done for the season. And in a lot of ways, it kind of simplifies their deadline strategy because it looked for a while there, like they might need to be a little bit more aggressive to try to bring in some firepower. But now there's no need to overpay or to like kind of rush that process.

You can kind of take your time with it, give the keys to Tyrese Maxie, let him run the show here down the stretch of the season, see what he's got there. Find out more about his development over the course of this stretch when he doesn't have a pick and roll partner of the likes of Joel Embed. It's going to be a hard challenge for him, but you're going to find out a lot more about him and what he can mean for you as a foundational piece, whether or not he's good enough to be your second best player or if you're better served for him to be your third best player, you can learn a lot. And hell, if you find a good deal around this deadline, you could jump on it, but you don't have to be the desperate team. And that could give them some flexibility. I personally hope Joel Embate can come back because I won't.

want to see him overcome this playoff challenge that he's been dealing with at this phase of his career. I think he has the potential to be the best player in the world. So I'm hoping that he gets a good outcome from his knee surgery and that he can come back and make a run before the end of the season. But this does simplify some of the urgency surrounding Philly because it's no longer just kind of like a clear runway into the playoffs like you would hope for in a season like this. And then the other team that's dropping out for me is the Indiana Pacers. They've lost eight of their last 13 games. they've lost three in a row against good teams this week. The offense has been mediocre.

The defense has been bad. The rebounding has been worse. We'll dive a little bit more into the Pacers here in the next couple of weeks. But the upside there, they've had 187 possessions with Tyrese Halliburton and Pascal Seacum on the floor together. And in those possessions, they are outscoring teams by 16 points for 100 possessions, a 128 offensive rating, which is like insane off the charts good, and a 113 defensive rating, which is,

perfectly fine. It's not great, but it's better than what they've been most of this season. So without any further ado, let's get to our power rankings. Number 10, the Sacramento Kings, they finally seem to have gotten over their January slump. They've won six out of seven games, mostly on the road. They're also ninth in defense over that span and 10th in defensive rebounding. There's been a pretty consistent theme this year that when the Sacramento Kings actually commit to the defensive end, they win. It's literally that simple. As a matter of fact, Here's a stat for you. When the Kings have held their opponents to 110 or fewer points this year, they are 11 and 3, and then they are 18 and 16 in all of their other games. So that's a trend to

keep an eye on the rest of the way. Very much something that I'm sure Mike Brown has been preaching to them throughout this season. Number nine, the Milwaukee Bucks. So after losing to the jazz last night, bucks are now one in three since Stock Rivers became their head coach. But it's been the offense that's failed them. I actually think their defense, statistically, it's been right where was before the coaching change, right around a 116 defensive rating. But on tape, I actually am seeing some strides, especially from the guards and just overall commitment. I just think they ran into some bad matchups like Denver's the defending champion. Utah and Portland are super young and have super fast guards, which are like specific matchup issues for Milwaukee. It's the offense that has

failed them over this span. They have typically, they're around a 120 offensive rating. They're at a 114 since Doc Rivers took over. Dame was 5 for 18 again last night. He just continues to just put these really putrid shooting nights up. So I'm not really worried about their offense in the long run. So I think this is more of just like a brief stretch of offensive slumping alongside with some bad matchups that have kind of caused that one and three start under Doc Rivers. I tend to agree with Janice.

I know it's not pretty, but I do think better times are on the horizon for the bucks. Number eight, the Phoenix Sons, rejoining our power rankings. Bradley Biel had 43 last night in a win against the Washington Wizards. He's been in the lineup for 20 straight games now, and the Sons are 14 and 6 in those games. And they actually won a game against Houston right before that. So they're 15 and 6 in their last 21 games. Fifth best record in the league over that span. That's a fourth of the season.

That's a hefty chunk of games. They are also second in offensive rating over that span in 14th in defense. Pretty respectable there. defensive rebounding is still a little bit of a struggle for them. I think they're 23rd over that span. Devin Booker also fully back to his superstar form. Last 13 games, 32 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, 54% from the field, 40% from 3 and 87% from the line.

Number 7, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Had a bad loss in Detroit, and then they dropped a tough one to Minnesota, where Anthony Edwards and Carl Towns kind of just out-executed them down the stretch, and their offense stalled against a very, very good Minnesota a defense. But they did get back on track against the Nuggets, actually three and one against the Nuggets this year. And then they beat Charlotte and Toronto as well. The Toronto game in particular was encouraging because Chet, Holmgren, Josh Giddy, and Lou Dort all kind of got back on track

after they'd been slumping for a little while. And Chet in particular has been on track for about three games now. He said 10 threes in his last three games. He's averaging just under 20 points per game, nine blocks over that span and double digit plus minus in all three of those games. In terms of the positive. So Chet seems to be getting it back together, got over that little slump that he was dealing with there in January. Number six, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Undefeated week, lighter stretch of their schedule, but they did on Monday notch a big win against the Clippers. Really, really good defensive effort, really contained Paul George Well, really contained James Hardinwell, got out in transition. We did a whole deep dive, not just on that game, but on everything going on with the Cavs with

Carter Rodriguez from the Chasedown podcast last week on Wednesday, went for like 45 minutes. It was a long pod. We did a lot of deep dive analysis on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Make sure you check that out a little bit further back on our feed. Number five, the Minnesota Timberwolves. So Chris Finch got on them the other night after losing to Orlando, talking about forming some bad habits and behaving like a 500 team.

And if you zoom out, they're like, it's actually kind of funny because I actually look at this as like classic coaching. just like really good motivational coaching trying to like just stay on his team. Because you got to think like Minnesota has been outstanding all season. And they have some specific things that bode really well for them for the postseason. They have a huge front line. They're an elite defensive team. They've got a tier one superstar and in or at least a guy who could be a tier one superstar and Anthony Edwards that can is pretty much unguardable in terms of getting to his spots.

It's primarily decision making and settling for him. He's got a little bit of the Jason Tatumitis where it's like he is the best athlete on the floor, but just takes a million pull-up jump shots and he's not particularly efficient with them. But, like, really, it's been mostly good. And I think what happens is you end up in a stretch like this where it's late January, early February, you drop a couple games, you shouldn't have lost, right?

Like, they lost to Charlotte, that shouldn't happen. Losing to Orlando at home, probably shouldn't happen. Losing to San Antonio probably shouldn't happen. But they've been really, really good. They were really good against a tough schedule for a month before that. This is just classic coaching. Got to stay on top of your guys, got to keep them motivated. make them feel like they're in danger even when they're not.

And that's the best way to get a group to kind of do what the clippers are doing, which is just attack every single regular season game to maintain their habits. One concern, their offense kind of fell apart, again, late in the game against Orlando. Now, part of that's Orlando that has this ridiculous defensive punch. And when they really lock in, they can be tough to score on. But zoom out. So one of my biggest concerns for the Timberworlds all season has been their late game, execution. They are 27th in fourth quarter offensive rating this season. It's been a major

point of concern for me in terms of their playoff potential. Number four, the New York Knicks injuries ended their nine game winning streak against the Los Angeles Lakers who actually been playing some decent basketball as of late. Julius Randall heard his shoulder. Then Oge and Anobi had some elbow inflammation. I actually have a funny story about this. When I was living in Charlotte, so this would have been like 2017. I will never forget. Yeah, we played in like a men's league game and the game went fine. There was no issue. But I woke up the next morning and I went to the gym to go shooting.

And I start my shooting workout just going around the world. Just like shooting from block to block to the foul line. It's just a way to kind of like warm up my elbow. And like I went to shoot from the elbow in my, I just felt this like excruciating pain in my right elbow. And it ended up turning into this huge deal. I had to wear like a brace for a while. It was like really bad inflammation. I think it might have actually been tennis elbow, but like it was gnarly.

And it like straight up made me stop playing basketball for like a couple of weeks. So like when I saw that, I was like, oh, I hope OG's not dealing with what I had back when I was in Charlotte. Because that like legit messed with my jump shot for like the better part of like six months to a year. So I'm hopeful that they just get in front of that and just let his elbow, whatever that inflammation is, subside because it's more important for him to be ready to go for the post. season. I think we've already seen enough from this stretch since OG and O'G. Annobe joined the team to know that they've got a real physical imposition that they can bring to the table, that they're a real playoff threat. So there's no reason to force it back. Take your time. Get healthy. Jalen Brunson, last 10 games, by the way, 33 points per game,

four rebounds, and seven assists on 52, 37, 84 splits. So Jalen Brunson playing at a superstar level right now. He's phenomenal in that Lakers game was drawing crazy double teams. The only way the Lakers won was basically just a gimmick defense, getting the ball out of his hands, as obviously New York was playing with lesser players. But he was incredible down the stretch of the Indiana Pacers game as well. Kind of insane how much of a hit Jalen Brunson was as a free agent signing and how it changed really the fortunes of that franchise. Number three, the Boston Celtics. A couple hard fought wins against the Pelicans and Pacers, and then they drop a game to the Lakers without LeBron James and Anthony Davis. And offense has been the main issue.

in their losses. A 105 offensive rating against Milwaukee, a 99 offensive rating against the Clippers, a 109 offensive rating against the Lakers. And the big thing here is they've just leaned into variance. They're attaching the fate of their season to variance. They attempt 43 threes for 100 possessions that is by far the most in the league. And when they go in, they beat the hell out of you. And when they're not going in, they can be beat. And it's a little, I just would like to see them add a little bit more. variety to the way that they attack instead of leaning so heavily on driving kick basketball and just hunting three point shots whenever they can just because I think it would give them a little bit more

offensive resilience. And I would look at some of these down offensive games, especially against quality opponents as part of the concern there because it's very clear that shooting is contagious for Boston. When they lose their confidence, when teams can kind of get them into one of those rough shooting nights, they kind of sulk and it almost gets worse for them from there. And like, having another punch you can go to is actually a great way to mitigate a rough shooting night. If you can lean into a different offensive identity, whether it's heavy, Jason Tatum in the post, or whether it's, you know, of going to Porzingis in the post or leaning more to pick and pop basketball with Porzingis to try to get more advantage situations, like getting out of just leaning on just driving kick

threes and tough transition threes, making it so that you have less variance could go a long way towards helping them have a little bit more resilience in those matchups. Number two, the Denver Nuggets. Dropped a game to Oklahoma City without Yokits, but they had an undefeated week outside of that. Another classic crunch time game against Milwaukee, they completely out-executed them down the stretch, despite Doc Rivers throwing some pretty smart defensive coverages at them

to try to mitigate their advantages. The Nuggets now have the best clutch net rating in the league. They're outscoring opponents by 23 points for 100 possessions. when the game is within five with less than five minutes left. Specifically on the defensive end, they have been the very best clutch defense in the league this year. And then last but at least, number one, the Los Angeles Clippers. They dropped a tough game on the road to that Red Hot Cavs team like we talked about earlier,

but they bounced back and won the rest of their games. The Clippers, in my opinion, this season, to this point here at February 5th, have showed the best combination of talent and basketball character that I've seen this year. What that means is actual firepower on the roster and commitment to the details from start to finish this season. And I'm not just talking about like playing hard. I'm even talking about playing smart, leaning into their strengths, practicing the things that will lead them home at the end of the day. I've been so incredibly impressed by the Clippers. It's starting to look like kind of a like it's starting to look like it's their year in a lot of ways.

And at this point, I think they belong at number one in the power rankings. I'm like this close to moving them into that top tier of contenders with Boston and Denver. It's just been a hell of a year for the Los Angeles Clippers. All right, guys, that is all I have for today. Like I said, we'll be back tomorrow with our five, the five trades that I most want to see this year. And then we're also going to have a show with Colin Coward tomorrow evening. And then don't forget the trade deadline reaction on Thursday afternoon. As always, I appreciate you guys.

And we'll see you then. 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.

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