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- [00:00]
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- [02:32]
Analyst 1
Good.
- [02:33]
Analyst 2
Morning and welcome to the NBA Daily for November 19, 2024. Coming up, Joel Embiid played for the Sixers and it did not go well for the Sixers. We got Kelly Eco to talk about the Rockets right after their loss to the Bucks and we're going to take a look at the Pacers and figure out what is wrong with Tyrese Halbert. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, S. Welcome back to the show. People are freaking out over the Philadelphia 76ers. This rightfully so. Rightfully so. Joel Embiid was a late decision. Literally 21 minutes before the scheduled tip. I texted S. I said, hey, looks like I'm. Pete's gonna play. They tried to sneak attack, I guess, the Miami Heat, and it did not work. It just didn't work in very Nick.
- [03:31]
Analyst 1
Nurse type of thing to do.
- [03:32]
Analyst 2
By the way, they're gonna do this to us all year, S. It's gonna get annoying already. They've been fined once for the delayed announcement of the lineups. I don't know if this will happen again because apparently he was dealing with an illness and it looked like it when he was on the court. The Sixers, they lost a game by 17 that they led by as much as 19. And S. Embiid is the biggest story for the Sixers all season. He's the biggest story from this game. He looked bad in the game. I think he lacks confidence when he's out there, which is an odd thing to say about a guy who, you know is an mvp. Yeah, defensively, he's. We expected him to struggle a little bit and not to look like he had any condition, but there was not much effort there. He was like spinning around in circles sometimes, looking like he didn't really even know what to do. It's. It was confusing to me. I guess they're trying to let him play himself into shape. That's an awful way to win basketball games. And now they're 2 and 11 like this, getting late. Although luckily they're in the East.
- [04:35]
Analyst 1
Yeah, Exactly. I mean, 2 and 11 makes them, I don't know, like four games back of a playing spot, which is just wild to consider. You're right about Embiid. I thought they. They found a way early to try and get him going, right? Like empty side stuff, get him in the post, try to get him some easy looks.
- [04:54]
Analyst 2
Right.
- [04:54]
Analyst 1
Because that's what you need when you're dealing with an illness and coming back from injury. Like, let's just try to spoon feed him some good opportunities. It worked initially, and that's how the Sixers climbed and got that lead, that 17 point lead. But then in the second half, and especially in the second quarter, they just collapsed. I mean, I think part of it is the fact that their offense, which is now 30th in the league, right. Dead last in the league offensively, is predicated on, okay, Joel Embiid is going to have so much attention around him, they're going to have to send help to guard Joel, especially in the post, mid high post, especially that nail area. And then the shooters will be able to knock down these shots. But Eric Gordon, one of four tonight, Kelly Oubre, one of four tonight, who has been really, really bad this whole year, Kyle Lowry, who continues to play heavy minutes for them, just really hasn't had anything to provide on that end. And that's, you know, that's Raptors legend Kyle Lowry. And I'm truthfully saying, like, he is, he is look the greatest this year at all. So, so the shooters that they expected to knock down their shots, Caleb Martin, another guy, two of six tonight, Paul George. Right, Paul George, movement shooter, one of the best.
- [06:02]
Analyst 2
What you're supposed to do, that's what.
- [06:04]
Analyst 1
He signed up for. And he was one of seven from three tonight. So, like there is. The offense is really, really bad and it's. And part of it is just the fact that the Sixers complimentary guys that they signed, that they spent big money to go out and get, have not been doing their jobs.
- [06:22]
Analyst 2
Yeah, I mean, look, again, they, they, they built this team and we haven't really seen it at full strength. And it's. Yeah, we're going to all say this the same stuff, but it doesn't change the fact that they're 2 and 11 and that they blew a 19 point lead in a game that Paul George and Joel Embiid both played in. Yeah. Inexcusable. After the game, the, the Sixers, I mean, again, 13 games into this new team and they're having a team meeting. This is. Nick Nurse described it as a little meeting. It took them over an hour for Nick Nurse to even just make it to the podium in the post game. And you know how the media, our friends in the media, they, they were not happy about that. Of course, rightfully, it's an east Coast. It's late over there.
- [07:05]
Analyst 1
Yeah.
- [07:05]
Analyst 2
And apparently this meeting was player and coach driven. So, you know, not just the player zone only meeting, which I, I don't know why, like, why do you need the coaches in there? Yeah. What are they even gonna do? Like, let's be honest, wouldn't that just do.
- [07:20]
Analyst 1
If it's a player and coach meeting, wouldn't that just be a regular meeting, like film session?
- [07:25]
Analyst 2
I mean, maybe you guys should have these. Schedule them, do them a little bit more often. Try to get on the same page. Look, the, the bright side here is this is another game where Jared McCain looks good. Totally and, yeah, but, you know, all this is going to do, in my opinion, we're going to start asking all these questions. Okay, so this team, does it look to you like this is a conference finalist?
- [07:47]
Analyst 1
I mean, true. No, no, not really at all. I mean, there hasn't been many teams in the Eastern Conference that has convinced me they could be a conference finalist right now. For what it's worth, the east has struggled. There's two. It's just Boston and Cleveland. But that being said, like, looking at what this team could even potentially be, I don't know, man two and 11. And you look at, like, they really need Tyrese Maxey back. They really need the creation juice of Tyrese Maxey. And yes, Jared McCain is doing his thing, by the way, I think we talked about it before about Maxi and McCain, and should they start those guys together? Just commit to it. At this point, when you have your.
- [08:26]
Analyst 2
Five best guys, that's exactly with the way things have gone for them so far. And I think, look, you can point to Cleveland and you can say you can make this work, especially if. If Joel Embiid winds up getting himself into shape and can be an elite defender. We know Paul George can do that. They can throw another guy out there. There's no reason why you shouldn't play your. Your five best guys. And I think Jerry McCain right now for sure is one of them. I think you can make an argument for, from Nick Nurse, when they get Maxi back whenever that's going to be like, we still don't even know what the timetable really is going to be for him coming back from a hamstring. So when they get him back, I actually think Jared McCain could help them quite a bit because the bench units, which we saw in the game last night, like, the bench did really, really well with Jared McCain. And that was where they. They sort of built that lead. I don't know how much of that was. Hey, they had a really good bench run or it was. Joel was off the court. Andre Drummond was out there in better shape and just looked better, which he did. Drama does to the. It says.
- [09:22]
Analyst 1
Yeah.
- [09:23]
Analyst 2
And so, like, they just played better out there. It's hard to tell. But again, man two and 11, that.
- [09:30]
Analyst 1
If I told you this two months ago, 11 losses.
- [09:33]
Analyst 2
Unbelievable. All right, well, again, I think we were gonna. There's gonna be a lot of meat on the Sixers bone. We're gonna be eating off this on the heat side.
- [09:42]
Analyst 1
On the Heat side, I will say Jimmy Butler came back, dropped 30 points. Look good. Was you know now Tyler hero can step into a better. Tyler hero by the way has been incredible all year for them. So like maybe, yeah, yeah, maybe the wheels start working for me.
- [09:56]
Analyst 2
Maybe. Let's. No miracles here guys. Sometimes, you know, look, we, we make mistakes here on the show. So I'm issuing our first correction on the podcast. This is actually, you know, it's kind of a big deal. We described the Jew or I, I should say, let me, let me.
- [10:15]
Kelly Eco
We all did.
- [10:15]
Analyst 1
We can lean in.
- [10:16]
Analyst 2
Okay. I described the Julius Randall game winning push off maneuver a. As a, as an offensive foul. Well, the NBA went back the last two minute report, which we love S. They went back and look, he didn't actually push off. He traveled. So I apologize to everyone. I'll never do that again. As luckily for me, in my embarrassment that we got another controversial end of game call in Sacramento. The Kings lose to the Hawks. This is a huge win for the Hawks. Darren Fox has just been on fire and he gets shut down with what we can only describe as a buzzer beating steal by who else?
- [10:58]
Analyst 1
Dyson.
- [10:59]
Analyst 2
Dyson Daniels. Okay, so the controversy here as did he foul.
- [11:05]
Analyst 1
So man, I don't think he fouled him. And I think there is the benefit of the doubt of like how good Dyson Daniels has been defensively that refs aren't going to call that a foul. You think of the deflections, you think of the steals. What he's been doing on that end, I don't, I don't think the refs would call that. That being said, there is a version of this where he stepped out of bounds after he stole the ball. There's a couple of different angles of that. Maybe he did step out of bounds. Maybe it would have give the Kings another opportunity. That's more interesting to me than the foul in my opinion. But I mean, look, I feel bad for Kings fans because every time.
- [11:45]
Analyst 2
Just tune in tomorrow, we'll update you guys on.
- [11:48]
Analyst 1
We'll just become the athletic last two minute report. Yeah, that's what we said.
- [11:52]
Analyst 2
Yeah, stick around guys. We got Kelly Eco hanging out after the break. Just about every NBA podcaster last night was watching Rockets Bucks because they had the panic meters ready, they had the panic streamers ready. We were all ready to bury the Milwaukee Bucks and then Damian Lillard bails them out with a game winning layup that I don't even know how he got to against that Houston Rockets defense to give them a 101 to 100 win over the Rockets. Killing the Rockets five game win streak. S We, we are, we're jinxing teams now. It sucks. We're potting enough that we're jinxing teams when they're on these win streaks. And we also got our guest, Kelly Eco, our regional reporter, our regional beat writer covering the Rockets and a bunch of other teams. Kelly, you, you're there in Milwaukee. You're. You were at the game. This was, this was a game that, number one, I felt like the Rockets were going to win going in. They just, they're on this, this win streak. They look really good. This is sort of defense that has bothered the, the Bucks in the half court. And this is the sort of team that gets out in transition and tends to really push the pace, which the Bucks struggle with. And they had a nice lead. They blew that lead, but I always knew they were coming back. They just, they just felt in control of this game, and then they gave it up at the end, Kelly. And if you, you know, I was watching the end of that game very closely, and I saw IME Odoka essentially sprint walks down the tunnel, and he just looks pissed. So I want to start there. What, what had IME so mad about the end of that game? Because, look, man, Damian Lillard, he, he hits game winning shots all the time. What about this one had him so mad?
- [13:39]
Kelly Eco
I think the biggest thing why IME was mad was because the lack of communication defensively. There were too many breakdowns. They allowed Brook Lopez to catch fire. A guy that came into this to the year shooting 30% from three, and a team like Milwaukee that is pretty even across the board in terms of their shots at the rim, shots from three. It's kind of tricky when you, when you want to scheme and trying to figure out what you want to take away. Do you want to form a wall on Giannis? Do you want your line to cook and then keep everyone else at home? This was a game where you kind of see a number of breakdowns in communication. They either switched too late or they didn't switch at all. And they try to let guys go one on one. And that led to further breakdowns, and you just see a compounding of mistakes, and that's why you saw it. You may just storm off the game. It felt like a playoff game. Like, it felt like they lost game one at home, and it's like they lost that homecorn advantage. But it's, it's, it's mid November, and that's, that's kind of telling you the level of urgency that Rockets have in terms of trying to set the tone from a defensive standpoint and also trying to put them in. In that Western Conference hierarchy.
- [14:43]
Analyst 1
They've been so, like, lenient in terms of the matchups that they run and like, the closing lineups that they go with. Jabari Smith Jr tonight didn't close right. And it was a man Thompson in place for him. Only played 24 minutes tonight. Some nights it's Tar Eason stepping in and closing with them. What do you think it is about this team that one allows them to do that? And maybe is that. Is that nipping him in the butt a little bit? Like, is that hurting them on that side to. To not have that guaranteed closing lineup to go?
- [15:11]
Kelly Eco
It's a gift and a curse. You know, IME is a guy that's going to roll with the hot hand, and if he sees pretty early on that someone doesn't have it, he's going to, you know, look for the bench, for options. We saw tonight, yeah, he tried to play Reed. Reed wasn't going. Jabari wasn't going. So he brings in Aaron Holiday, he brings in, you know, Jeff Green for a little bit, and then he. He ends up going the distance with Amin Thompson and Ty Eason. But one of the keys for Houston defensive this season has been the reliance on Alper Shangun. His emergence as a rim protector, his emergence as a guy that can be on the floor for long tricks. We know as a rookie and even up until last season, there were times where he was played off the floor because he didn't have the conditioning or he didn't have the, you know, the skill set to defend in space or defend guys. Now we're seeing him being placed on guards, being placed on wings, being placed on big, and he can, you know, he can kind of do it all. So in a game like this, where you're looking for that fifth guy to close and we saw. I think they went. I think they went 1 for 9 in the last four minutes of the game. Yeah, it was like a sluggish. Exactly the kind of game that the Bucs wanted. I know that's the kind of game that Doc Rivers wanted for sure. And put the ball in Damon Johnson's hands to win the game. But for a Houston standpoint, they want to get the best shots they can, especially for a team that doesn't shoot well from three at all. And we saw it might have been tired legs. This was the sixth game in nine and nine days, so that could be that it was just one of those.
- [16:35]
Analyst 2
Things where, listen, I'm not going to give them that excuse, Kelly, I think they're a little too young for us to say that they got tired legs, you know, but when I'm watching this game down the stretch, it's. You just kind of pointed this out. I'm thinking to myself, who's the guy that's going to go get him a bucket? You need that guy if you're going to be. If you're going to be a home court advantage team in the play, if you're going to win a first round playoff series, you know, maybe make a conference finals run, I mean, this defense I think is going to be playoff ready, but you need a guy. And I think Jalen Green, he at least fits that mold. If you squint right and you're looking at him, he's the guy.
- [17:07]
Analyst 1
He had a good fourth quarter too.
- [17:09]
Analyst 2
Great fourth quarter. I mean, you know, why didn't they maybe, you know, run more stuff for him, get him in Shingoon operating a little bit more together in two man game. I mean, down the stretch of. Is there. Is it a trust issue or is it just a function of playing out there with veterans?
- [17:25]
Kelly Eco
I think it's a bit of both. I. I think it's something where you. And if we're being honest, you know, this is in Illinois. No, Fred V. Had an event for. For kids bringing out. He. We saw what he did last night in Chicago. You know, he wants to take it to them, you know, because he's from Rockford. Rockford is halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee.
- [17:45]
Analyst 2
Yeah.
- [17:45]
Kelly Eco
You know, he has, I think he official 26 tonight. It's a number of things. And then you're playing in Milwaukee where it's like at any given point Giannis can go super turbo nuclear. So it's like you're trying to figure out on the fly in real time in a tough environment. It's a very hard place to play in Milwaukee in physical form and the game is just drawing out and you could tell very early on that if you weren't going to play through Alperin and they did it for a little bit and then they went away from me. And the problem with Houston offensively is that they have so many options. It's like a jack of all trades and a master of none. Like you can play through so many different options, but at some point you're gonna have to find some consistency, especially in the fourth quarter late in the game when it's winning time, you're gonna have to find a system to go through.
- [18:29]
Analyst 2
What's their idea yeah, what identity, Kelly? Right, like what, what do they have to go to when it, when it gets tight? And I'm. Listen, I'm not holding them to too high of a standard. There are a young team and they're going to figure this out. But I'm just curious, like right now, like, what would you say, like what, what's the butter for to their bread and butter? You know, I think the bread and.
- [18:48]
Kelly Eco
Butter should be the two man game between Alpern and Jalen. But everything should start with Alpern in terms of getting him on the low block, getting me in the mid post and allowing him to dictate depending on what the defense is giving to him. Now, on games like this, where he kind of starts off slow, you have to go through your plan B and C. Plan B is, let's see what Fred has tonight. Can they get it going? Because he's a guy that wants to defer off the rip. So can he turn up or not? To get it going in Plan C is seeing if Jalen, you know, can find a rhythm because he's a rhythm guy. We saw it in the fourth quarter where he hits what I think like five in a row and then kind of teeters off. It's just a give and take. Like they have too many options and, and I think that lack of a true identity is what's going to be the most detrimental thing. Come down the road because they have a defensive identity. Yeah, they're going to swarm, they're going to be aggressive, they're going to be in your physical. Physical offensive is another issue and I think it's going to take some, some time and more reps under eme and more, you know, trial and error for games like this to kind of figure out, okay, what do we want to do on any given night.
- [19:50]
Analyst 2
Yeah, if we're judging them by tonight, I'm just going to say this team does not look ready to make a push for the NBA Cup. That's, that's what I'm going to say. So they are not ready right now. Kelly Eco, go and read them over at the Athletic. He's going to write about this all season long. This team is a team to watch and Kelly got to read. Coming up after the break, we're going to take a look at the Pacers and specifically what's going on with Tyrese Halberd. Ask the Toronto Raptors. Your Toronto Raptors ended their losing streak. They were lucky. You know, the Pacers decided they were going to have an off night in Toronto. And so the, I mean, the Raptors just, just really just boat raced them in this game. But you know, my big takeaway from, from watching this game and the last couple weeks, what is going on with Tyrese Halberton? I mean, he just, there's nothing on his three ball at all. It almost looks like he's just flicking it up like there's nothing behind it. Yeah, there's no way to get into the paint. Yeah, yeah. He doesn't look right.
- [21:07]
Analyst 1
Yeah, well, when you're watching the game tonight, it just felt like he was a step slow for certain things. And you think of the pace that Halliburton plays with, you think of how frenetic it is. You know, the last year's Pacers and the way they're just kind of running and gunning. It doesn't feel like it's to the same degree. The shooting is interesting as well. He's 2 of 9 tonight from behind the arc. He's now shooting 29% on the season on threes. And so to your point about not having his legs under him, I do think that's factoring into the three point shot because that's what made him so deadly.
- [21:44]
Analyst 2
Right.
- [21:44]
Analyst 1
Especially at the start of last season, it was weaponizing the pull up to get two to the ball. Then an advantage is created and boom, that's the Pacers offense pretty much. While, you know, especially during that in season tournament run, it just hasn't looked the same. And you know, truthfully, like, Pascal Siakam has been their best player this season, you know.
- [22:03]
Analyst 2
Well, hold on now. Pascal Siakam was their best player last season and I think that, yeah, as soon as he got there, he was the best player on the team. But the engine that drives that offense is Halliburton. It is the pull up threes. It is. I mean, it's making threes too, but also it's, it's paint touches, it's getting two feet in the box and finding a guy to kick out to. I mean, even his assist numbers are down. He's down to eight and eight and a half assists a game. That's a big deal, you know, and I don't know how much of that is noise in that. Maybe his teammates are missing more shots than usual. I'm not looking at the advanced tracking numbers there, but that matches the eye test to me. And most of that is, I feel like it's pass pass instead of a direct pass from, from Halliburton because he's just not able to break down the defenses in the same way. But this is not the Pacers team that we expected, you know, this offseason. We thought this Pacer team maybe had an improved defense, might be pushing like a conference finals, maybe they could break through. Yeah. And get to the finals. But man, they don't look like a contender at for what it's worth, it's.
- [23:08]
Analyst 1
Not just this game. I mean yes, Yaka Pertle and RJ Barrett were great. You know, shout out to those guys.
- [23:14]
Analyst 2
Yeah, it was a trend.
- [23:15]
Analyst 1
It wasn't just this game. It's been a trend for the Pacers. I think it was a game we were watching together against the Orlando Magic where they just looked a step slow. They weren't able to establish anything offensively and maybe it's because there's two contrasting styles. Caitlin Cooper obviously is excellent when it comes to writing about the Pacers. She was writing about how one half of the roster is fit to play this transition style and the other half is more built to work in the half court. And it's, it's kind of clashing right now.
- [23:44]
Analyst 2
Those Pascal Siakam post ups are at opposition completely to what I want to do Burton with the pull up jumpers in transition. But I mean the east stakes, although they did pick up three big wins tonight, taking away from 15 to 18 on the season.
- [23:59]
Analyst 1
So Magic Hawks winning a game.
- [24:03]
Analyst 2
That's right.
- [24:03]
Analyst 1
So good on the come up man.
- [24:05]
Analyst 2
No, wouldn't go that far. That's going to do it for today's show folks. Thank you guys for tuning in for esperaheny. I'm Dave DeFore and this has been the NBA Daily. Thank you guys for waking up with us.
- [24:56]
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- [25:21]
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- [26:15]
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- [26:45]
Kelly Eco
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Analyst 2
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