← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Hoops Tonight - BEST OF: Luka’s Debut With Lakers, Durant Reaches 30k Points, Tatum The Best “Swiss Army Knife” In The League
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Nikki Glaser
This is Nikki Glaser from the Nikki Glaser Podcast. Have you guys seen this new commercial from Stand up to All Hate? It's basically Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady going back and forth with reasons that they hate each other. But then when you really listen to them, the reasons for the hate are just so stupid. I don't know. This. This commercial really got me. It's a strong reminder that hate in our country continues to be out of control. So join us at iHeart in standing up to it. If you see hate, speak up. Call it out. Your voice is a powerful tool in this fight. You can learn more by following up with Hate the Volume.
- [02:11]
Sports Analyst
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Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code HOOPS. That's H O O P S. That's code HOOPS for new customers to get $150 in bonus bets. When you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings, the crown is yours. Gambling Problem Call 1-800- Gambler In New York, call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY to 467-369 in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of BO Casino and Resort in Kansas 21+. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void. In Ontario, bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG CO B Ball welcome to the Best of Hoops tonight featuring my top takes from recent shows. Luca's debut with the Lakers a really weird game because the Jazz are just really bad and the Jazz are also a legit like switch everything 1 through 5 no matter what type of team. And so all your ball screen actions are kind of shut down and the only way you're really going to get advantages is by like slipping out of switches, sealing switches or attacking one on one and drawing help, right? And the biggest thing that stood out to me in this game was their ability to consistently get dribble penetration. There was good action too. JJ talked about in the post game presser how they ran a three man horn set with Luca lebron in Austin one time in the game and got a wide open shot for Rui Hachimura and it was they made a so Austin was At the top, LeBron and Luca were at the elbows. Lucas on the left elbow. Austin makes a post entry to Luca and then cuts off of LeBron and when he cuts off LeBron, LeBron sets a good screen that obviously triggers the switch, but Jordan Clarkson was guarding Austin. LeBron just sealed him and created that over the top passing angle. Luka threw it to him. Now all of a sudden, Jordan Clarkson's trapped on LeBron's backside, so there's nobody in front of him. If you don't step up, LeBron's going to go to the rim. Rui Hachimura's man who was in the corner, steps over to help on LeBron. LeBron makes the kick out past Rui, wide open three. That's the type of action that they'll have to run more frequently against some of the better teams in the league when it's just a little bit harder to break down individual defenders. But they did get good stuff out, out of action. There were some other examples, like Rui's first dunk in the game along the baseline. Luka set a screen for Rui along the baseline. Isaiah Collier was guarding Luka and was really hesitant to switch off of Luka. And so he did it. John Collins got caught on the screen. Rui Hachimura got a dunk. Even the lob dunk that Jackson Hayes got to start the second half. Same sort of concept, a little widescreen between Luka and Jackson Hayes. Isaiah Collier did not want to switch off of Luka. He was kind of hesitant on that. But they did switch off of Jackson Hayes. So Luka just threw the lob right up to Jackson and he got a dunk. There were examples of them getting good stuff out of action. And especially against more traditional coverages, they're going to get a lot of stuff out of action. But again, by far, the biggest thing that stood out to me was their ability to get dribble penetration. Luca has this remarkable ability to turn any small gap or small angle into a full blown drive to the rim. And part of it is his incredible ability to use fakes. He just says he's really good at, like, I talk about this all the time when he was in Dallas, but he will sell every part of every move with every part of his body. So, like, I talk about this all the time. Instead of like doing a big sweeping crossover, it makes more sense just to face this way and then completely change direction. If you sell it with your eyes and you sell it with your shoulders and you sell it with your hips, the defender is going to react. Most good defenders don't watch the ball. They watch, like your center of gravity to see where your body's going. And you sell that direction change and then you pull the ball back across right like It's. It's more about those little head fakes and body fakes to get players out of position. He's great with. He's great with pump fakes. He's great with pass fakes. He can do all these things to get guys out of position. And once he gets that tiny little angle, that's where his strength takes over. He's just so big and so strong that he can turn a small gap into like a lumbering drive to the rim because he gets you caught on his shoulder or caught on his backside. And his drives have a. Have a tendency to bring in a ton of help because they are slow. He like rumbles downhill and everybody reacts to it. And because he's such a threat to throw the lob pass, everyone kind of overreacts to stuff in the paint, and that's what opens up those kickout reads. Did you Notice how much LeBron was pressuring the rim last night? A big part of that is because he doesn't have to create every single shot. He doesn't have to worry about burning himself out. He's also clearly very excited right now. That plays a role in it. But did you notice that he was like, on those switches, being aggressive downhill, pressuring the rim? He kind of gets choppy with his feet and tries to get ahead of steam so that he gets his body weight going downhill. And guys just don't want to get in the way of him. Like, there's a certain amount of energy that LeBron can afford to expend on each individual ISO, on each individual post up on each individual ball screen simply because he has less to do on the offensive end of the floor. I thought LeBron was fantastic in this game. He's been great for a while. JJ Redick talked after the game about how ever since the Miami game, they had a talk. If you guys remember, the Miami game was when I had my meltdown and I was like, what the hell is wrong with these guys? You know? And JJ sat down with LeBron, and ever since then, he's been fantastic. I dug into the numbers since that Miami game, he's averaging 26.4 points per game, eight rebounds per game, nine assists per game, 54% from the field, 43% from three, eight 30 point games, four triple doubles. He's playing at a top five level right now, which is what's so exciting about partnering him with LeBron James. With the other talent on this roster, I thought Austin was fantastic again. He had to lead a unit in the early second quarter with LeBron or excuse me, in the late first quarter with LeBron and Luka both off the floor because Luka was on a minutes restriction. Now I would expect that it'll be like all three of them to start games. Then LeBron will come out and it'll be Luca and Austin right in that like mid first quarter stretch. And then one of those guys will come out, probably, probably Luca, and it'll be Austin and LeBron to end the first quarter and then they'll probably start the second quarter with LeBron and Luka. Then LeBron will come out in the middle of the second quarter, it'll be Luka and Austin and then it'll be all three of them at the end. Right? That's probably going to be the normal progression. You're probably always going to have to deal deal with two of those guys. Right? And that's the exciting part about this in the big picture. And I was literally thinking about it last night. Like there's been a lot of time over the course of the last couple of weeks where the Lakers have been playing really good basketball, but over the course of games, teams will ball pressure Austin and ball pressure LeBron and wear them down. And LeBron is 40 and Austin is a little bit susceptible to strength and athleticism from time and from time to time and they will wear down. And they've been playing so great that they've still been winning and Austin still made enough plays in the Pacers game to get the job done. And they, they do what they need to do to get the win. But there's clearly like a little bit of like a, okay, we're running out of gas offensively here, where adding Luca just immediately doesn't just address that, but turns you into the most resilient shot creation team in the league to just be dealing with waves of all three of them. And then Luka and Austin and then Luka and LeBron and then Luka and then all three of them again and it's just going to be LeBron and Austin here and all these just these groups that have so much shot creation on the floor, they're just going to have such a resilient offense. But again, because of Luca's minutes restriction, Austin had to lead a unit by himself. And guess what? He's been doing that a lot this year. And he did it amazingly well again last night in that first quarter stretch. One of the biggest things though that I was excited about after this trade was the play finishing that is on this roster. Okay. Like Luka is An indomitable force. There are a handful of guys in the league that can make him work harder than usual. I think of like Lou Dort, I think of like Andrew Wiggins, who's not even in the conference anymore. But even some of the best perimeter defenders in the league, guys like Jaden McDaniels, right in the Western Conference finals, those guys can't keep him from getting to his spots. As a matter of fact, he kind of gets where he wants to easily against them. That is the superpower that will help this offense when things get really tough. But the other guys do have some limitations, right? LeBron's 40. There's a couple times last night where he tried to like turn the corner on Lori Markkanen and and just couldn't get there. Lori was like blocking him off the glass or forcing him into bad misses five years ago. He's dunking on his head, but he's 40, right? And he can wear down a little bit physically over the course of games. Although to LeBron's credit, he's been fantastic out of late, as of late, and that's the optimism with this group. But LeBron is 40 years old. Austin Reaves, for example, not a great athlete. He can struggle under ball pressure sometimes. Rui, if it's not a dunk under the rim, like he's shooting under 50% on layups, right? And his jumper under. Contests can get a little finicky sometimes. Point being, they're awesome offensive players, but they have some limitations when they're in lead roles for all three of those guys, right? But once you give them an advantage, if you let LeBron have someone sprinting at him and now he's playing driving kick basketball, if you let LeBron slip out of screens to where he can lead a four on three, if you put Austin on the perimeter with a guy sprinting at him where he could show the ball and drive left or right. If you put Rui wide open where he's shooting 53% on unguarded catch and shoot jump shots this year. Field goal percentage, meaning he's making more than half of them with what he can do driving closeouts. Gabe has been playing super well again. He was a big part of that Austin solo unit that did so well. Dorian Finney Smith can knock down an open 3. Jackson Hayes. Like I, I, I talked a lot after the Mark Williams trade went through or fell through about how like not having Mark as like a roll man threat could be a significant hit to this offense. After watching last night, like I thought Jackson did just fine capitalizing on all the vertical spacing opportunities. I believe he was 6 for 6 from the field, if I remember correctly. Like, I think he. He's not as good as Mark Williams, but I think he's going to do just fine unlocking that vertical spacing. The point is, is there's just a ton of play finishing on this roster. So if you have Luka, who, against the very best defenses in the league and against the very best defenders in the league can still create advantages, and LeBron, who kind of looks like he's still doing it for whatever reason, and, and let's say, let's even pretend for a second that LeBron eventually kind of wears down over the course of a playoff run and doesn't look like top five LeBron, but looks like top ten LeBron. Even if that happens, Luca is there to create the initial advantage. Once he creates that initial advantage, LeBron and Austin and Gabe and Dorian, Finney, Smith and Rui, those guys are incredible at this driving kick thing. And. And they're just going to take those advantages and either score out of them or drive them and draw another defender and create an even better shot. There were so many sequences last night where the Lakers continued to break down the defense and would get like a really good look with like two or three seconds on the shot clock. It's like, oh, LeBron's driving on like the fourth driving kick of the possession and whipping a pass back across the court to Gabe Vincent, who knocks it down. Or all of the. The possession is great defense from the Jazz and everything's covered. But Walker Kessler is on Austin in a switch on the left wing and Austin just pump fakes. On a closeout, you get. The end of the possession is you get a short closeout for Austin on the left wing. Against Walker Kessler, Austin shows the ball, Walker over pursues that. That pump fake Austin drives and hits a little bank shot with like two on the shot clock. That is play finishing. I talk about this all the time. When you go into lower levels, it's dramatic. The difference at the high school level, if I let the guys play king of the court with a set defender versus a king of the court with a guy closing out at him, their ability to score like quadruples. When you give them that advantage now, again at the NBA level, it's a smaller advantage. It's more like maybe 20 to 30% more efficient per possession, but that's a substantial increase that you can benefit from because now you have the best set of Advantage creators that are in the NBA. So on the warriors front, I'm talking a lot with respect to LeBron about the concept of belief, right? Like playing championship level basketball is really hard and takes a pretty desperate commitment to work. That's not even necessarily fun. It's fun in the context of winning. But playing championship basketball includes a lot of really difficult things to do on the court, a certain level of exertion that is difficult. And so if you don't actually think you're going to get rewarded for it by actually believing there's an opportunity to accomplish something, it's going to be difficult even for the best players in the world to really get invested in that context. About four games ago, early last week, it became abundantly clear that the warriors were going to trade for somebody. I don't know if it was just the humiliation of missing out on Kevin Durant or what the deal was, but it became clear that they were going to get somebody. In the four games since then, since that intel came down, Steph is averaging 35 points, five rebounds and five assists per game in the two games since Jimmy Butler actually started playing. And making life easier for Steph, he just logged back to back games with at least 30 points on at least 50% shooting for the first time since the Dallas and Oklahoma City wins. Way back in early November, I talked about how the thing I was most excited about this deal. I do think that this warriors team has a small window to maybe capitalize on an opportunity to win a championship here. But more than anything, it went from a team that was most likely not going to play any meaningful basketball. Like without a trade, that team is probably going to lose in the play in just like last year. But with Jimmy Butler in the mix, they're almost certainly going to get out of that mess and get into a first round series, which means we're going to get another opportunity to watch Steph Curry play meaningful basketball. That's what I'm excited about. Steph said after the game. We've got an opportunity to do something pretty special considering where we've been this season. And he's right. There are lineups that they can put together now that have Steph, that have Jimmy, they have Draymond, they have Jonathan Kamingo when he comes back. And it looks like he's probably going to be coming back after the All Star break where they have enough talent now to actually present some problems to some of these teams. And that's like when it comes to the playoffs, so much of it comes down to like, what do we do that the other team sucks at? What do they do that we suck at? What can they capitalize on in terms of weaknesses and vice versa? And just bringing in a weapon like Jimmy Butler just puts them in a situation where they're going to be a more precarious type of matchup to deal with. And like, God, if we can get, if the warriors end up matching up with somebody like the two seed, if they end up getting a Memphis, that's a matchup that they're capable of winning. And how great would it be if we got to see another month of high level playoff basketball out of Steph Curry, even with an opportunity to potentially do more? Like I said, it's not guaranteed. There could be injuries, there could be things that go wrong. They could miss the playoffs. Right. But by virtue of making this deal, I find it far more likely than not that they're going to make it out of the play in tournament and get into a legitimate playoff series and give me Steph, Jimmy and Draymond in a playoff series. And I think that that's going to be a fascinating couple of weeks. And if they win, we could get to see another extended playoff run from one of the greatest players in the history of the game. And that's why I'm excited. It's about belief. Like, Steph looks engaged. He doesn't say that after the game unless he believes that this team can do something. Jimmy Butler, I think, has been an amazing fit. Right away, I, I wasn't worried about it. I know there were some warriors fans that were. I just think Jimmy's too smart of a basketball player. That brings too many complimentary traits to what Steph Curry does. I want to talk a little bit about middle of the floor processing. This is something that I've talked a lot about on this show with respect to, like, mediocre playmakers in the sense that when you're in the middle of the floor, there's just, you can only see, you know, maybe one fourth of what's happening around you. There's always like a lot of moving parts. It can get confusing in the middle of the floor. It's a spot where a lot of players struggle. And it's why, like, when it comes to the mediocre playmakers, you kind of want to clear the side and have them operate so the whole floor is in front of them, just so that they have an easier time making reads. But when you have a player who knows what to do there, when you have a player that doesn't panic. It's like that famous basketball, you know, ism, whatever you want to call it. Be quick but don't hurry, right? If you can get a player that can quickly process without rushing and making mistakes in the middle of the floor, all sorts of good things can happen to your offense. An example from late first half last night against the Bucks, Steph Jimmy two man game, top of the key. Kuzma goes out with Steph. There's two guys on Steph. Jimmy catches in the middle of the floor. When he catches in the middle of the floor, Draymond's man steps up closer to Jimmy. And now there's a two on one that's formed with Draymond underneath the basket. Buddy healed on the wing with Damian Lillard kind of splitting the difference between the two. Jimmy just calmly turns and pivots and looks at Buddy healed. When he turns and pivots and looks at Buddy healed, there goes Dame running out to go to Buddy because he's biting on that head fake or pass fake, whatever. Just, just, just Jimmy acknowledging Buddy's presence gets Dame to jump out. Then he just pivots again and looks and there's Draymond. Boop. Bounce pass, easy layup right underneath, underneath the basket. He just looks so calm and comfortable operating there. Here's why that's important. Last night you actually saw it in some zone. Looks got to get the ball to the middle of the zone, and the warriors consistently got it to Jimmy there. They scored eight points on four zone possessions in that game. And the Bucks just stopped, stopped trying it. You can't, can't run a zone if they're getting two points per possession. But. So that's part of it. But the biggest part, the. The most meaningful part within the playoff context is the Steph Jimmy two man game. When you run the Steph Jimmy two man game, it's going to create advantages in three different ways. One is like that sequence I just told you about. Jimmy sets a screen. Both guys run with Steph. Now Jimmy's the roll man. And it's a four on three where Draymond is absolutely an offensive threat in the dunker spot. Jimmy's a threat to score in the middle of the floor and to play make out of it. And you've got guys like Moses Moody in the corner who has just been fantastic since the Andrew Wiggins injury. It just. Or injury. Excuse me, trade. Since the Andrew Wiggins trade, it's given Moses Moody opportunity and he's just been capitalizing on it as a big Rangy wing on the perimeter that can knock down threes, drive closeouts and play defense and rebound and, and it's just, it's. He's taking advantage of his opportunity and he's crushing. But like you get into those four on threes, if they put two on the ball with Steph, that's where Jimmy can operate in the middle of the floor. The second thing that will happen with the Steph Jimmy two man game is inside position, ceiling on switches. So imagine a guy's guarding Steph one on one, faced up with him and Jimmy, this is the defender Jimmy comes up and screens on the backside and it triggers a switch, okay? If they switch, Jimmy can then seal and create that over the top passing angle. We talked, I believe in yesterday on the Sunday show about just how dynamic Jimmy is in those inside seals at creating a passing angle and high pointing the basketball and catching it. That accomplishes the same goal, the same four on three. So like if, if you screen for Steph and your defender runs out onto Steph, but now you've got Steph's defender sealed on your top side and you get a catch over the top, it is an identical four on three, because when you catch, all of a sudden your defender's behind you, so you can just go right to the rim, which is going to force somebody to step up. There's your four on three. Now you have a three on two on the backside. Once that guy steps up to you after you catch on that inside seal. So you can get four on threes out of getting two onto Steph and just slipping out of it. You can get four on threes out of inside seals on switches. Now what about when they, well, execute a switch so they, they switch, but the guy who's guarding Steph just quickly dives around with some good swim move or something and gets behind Jimmy. Well, who's the guard that's quick enough to guard Steph? Now he's got to guard Jimmy in the post. Wait until Jonathan Kaminga is back out there. And again, it looks like he's going to be coming back. Sometime shortly after the All Star break, Jonathan Kaminga comes back. Where are the athletes at? Where, where are you putting your athletes? Well, if you put your best forward athlete on Jimmy, that means your second best forward athlete is now guarding Jonathan Kaminga, who's going to just be a massive athletic mismatch that you can attack if you have the best forward athlete on Jonathan Kaminga. Now you got your third best perimeter defender overall guarding Jimmy Butler like that's going to put you in a bind in terms of matchups. That's going to make that Steph Jimmy two man game even harder to account for. But again, what unlocks all of it is anytime they put two on the ball, anytime they botch a switch or they gets sealed topside on Jimmy, he's going to be able to operate out of the middle of the floor better than any other player on this roster could. Draymond could do all the playmaking out of that position, but he couldn't bring the scoring out of that position. There are going to be times where Jimmy catches on the roll and everyone stays home and he's going to have to attack the rim and maybe finish in a little bit of traffic or hit something there in the middle of the floor. He can do that. He can do that at a really high rate. But I just think, I think the early returns from this have been beautiful in terms of just demonstrating the simple fact that Jimmy is not only a very complimentary athlete to Steph, but he also represents a gaping hole in the roster that was there before the deal, which is just having a really high level dribble, a guy who can dribble, shoot and pass on the floor that just greases the wheels for everything that you try to do on a you.
- [25:41]
T-Mobile Representative
Can count on T Mobile to help keep you connected from big cities to small towns on America's largest 5G network. Switch the T Mobile keep your phone and they'll pay it off up to 800 bucks per line via prepaid card. Learn more@t mobile.com Keep and switch up to four lines via virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days qualifying unlock device credit service port in 90 plus days with device, device and eligible carrier and timely redemption required. Card has no cash access and expires in six months.
- [26:17]
Discover Representative
Are you still quoting 30 year old movies? Have you said cool beans in the past 90 days? Do you think Discover isn't widely accepted? If this sounds like you, you're stuck in the past. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide and every time you make a purchase with your card, you automatically earn cash back. Welcome to the now it pays to Discover. Learn more@discover.com credit card based on the February 2024 Nielsen report.
- [26:45]
Nikki Glaser
This is Nikki Glaser from the Nikki Glaser Podcast. Have you guys seen this new commercial from Stand up to All Hate? It's basically Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady going back and forth with reasons that they hate each other. But then when you really listen to them, the reasons for the hate are just so stupid. I don't know. This. This commercial really got me. It's a strong reminder that hate in our country continues to be out of control. So join us at iHeart in standing up to it. If you see hate, speak up. Call it out. Your voice is a powerful tool in this fight. You can learn more by following hat's upwithhate.
- [27:19]
T-Mobile Representative
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- [27:54]
Sports Analyst
I was amazed watching Kevin Durant last night. The Suns were an absolute mess. They had several guys playing that probably shouldn't be in the rotation for serious NBA team. They looked incredibly sloppy and undisciplined. One of the worst transition defense performances I've seen. They gave up 20 offensive rebounds. But like a shining light in that darkness was Kevin Durant. 34 points on 18 shots, only one turnover, five blocks. Battling with Jaren Jackson trying to box him out on the glass all night long. And to top it off, in the process he enters into rare territory. Kevin Durant is only the eighth player in NBA history to score 30,000 points in an NBA career. Rarefied air there a group of guys that it's an honor to be associated with. But to me, the most impressive part of all of this is the circumstances he overcame to get here. Kevin Durant suffered the most terrifying injury that a basketball player can suffer, an Achilles rupture right at the peak of his powers. He was playing so incredibly well when he took that little baseline jumper that he knocked down where he originally suffered the calf injury. And then he played amazing in his first few minutes in the NBA Finals before he went down. You can't imagine a more discouraging set of circumstances for a basketball player. And instead of letting that injury be a signal of the end, he came back every bit as good as ever on the other side of the injury. 7,068 of those 30,008 points that he scored so far came after the Achilles tear, and he's done it on higher volume in efficiency than he was doing before the injury. In the five seasons before Kevin Durant's injury, he averaged 26 points per game on just under 64% true shooting. In the five season sense, he's averaging 28 points per game on over 64% true shooting. Any drop in his athleticism, he's more than made up for with a mastery of the modern game as a playmaker and as a floor general. I was really amazed by this in the Brooklyn Nets days as the league kind of shifted to like really good spacing in the spread pick and roll attack. He was so incredibly good at picking teams apart as a pick and roll ball handler with the Nets, and we've seen that extend throughout this late phase of his career. Like he's just the product of a consistent pursuit of excellence. He's got a legendary work ethic. His shooting workouts are the example set for all pros around the world. Still, when I'm talking to the kids that I train in high school, I talk about doing every single rep at game speed. Something that Kevin Durant has been preaching. He's just. KD is one of the best ambassadors to the game of basketball that has ever come into this league and I'm thankful for him. And I just wanted to take a second before we talk about that game last night to congratulate him on overcoming the adversity of his injury and to enter into rarefied air in NBA history. I thought Jason Tatum just completely dominated the first quarter of that spurs game, set the tone, built that initial advantage and it was something that the spurs just couldn't overcome on the defensive end of the floor. Boston had a switching group out there that was just doing a really nice job, just staying attached, shutting down screening actions. Switching puts an emphasis on running action, good action that confuses switching, like three man action, lots of ball and player movement to try to get guys to make mistakes. And then when teams successfully switch, you've got to be aggressive against those switches. Getting to the basket to get super high value shots or to draw multiple defenders. You can run into a trap where you start settling. And that was what happened in that first quarter. There was a few examples of good action. There was like a little Chicago action, like a, a down screen into a dribble handoff where they pitched it back to Julianne Champagne on the right wing and knocked down a three. There were a couple examples like that, but it was a lot of like Dear and Fox contested pull up jump shots. Victor Wembanyama contested pull up jump shots. They weren't doing a very good job of attacking the Switching. And then on the other end of the floor in the first quarter, Jason Tatum goes for 14 points, six rebounds and three assists with zero turnovers. Did a ton of scoring in that short to mid range, attacking the spurs smaller players when they'd get switched onto in mismatches. There was a stretch in the late first quarter where they started spamming a stack, pick and roll action with Luke Cornett and Peyton Pritchard. Just a ball screen with Tatum and Cornett with Pritchard back. Screening generated a wide open three for Pritchard at the top of the key that he happened to miss. He ended up hitting a pull up three on the right wing when they botched a switch. Again, three man action is a great way to get teams to botch switches. And Victor Wembanyama was basically just sticking with the screen. The guy who was back screening him in the action instead of dealing with Tatum coming off of that screen, he just stepped into it, knocked down a three. He finished the quarter off with a beautiful driving kick like sweeping hook pass over to the left wing to Al Horford. Tatum just immediately looked like by far the best player on the floor in a game that had two players that are considered top 25 players in the league in my opinion, and Dr. Fox and Dear and Fox and Victor Wembanyama. And Tatum was just completely outclassing them to start the game. And this is just the groove that Jason Tatum's in right now. During this three game winning streak. He's averaging 35 points per game on 61% true shooting. Jason Tatum was just been consistently great. I've seen a lot of talk about, I've seen a lot of talk of late about like Celtics fans calling Jason Tatum the best forward since LeBron. And when I, when I first heard that, I had this like kind of reflex that came up in me that was like, well what about Kawhi and like what about Kevin Durant? And I think Kevin Durant would be the, the guy that I'd probably still put over Tatum in the sense that like, in that like 2018-2021 stretch, he was just that like. And that's like spanning with an Achilles injury in the middle. But in that like, I should say like 2017 to 2021 stretch, he was just so incredibly good on both ends of the floor. I'm not quite there, but I do think he's been better than Kawhi if you like piece everything together. Because like Tatum, what Tatum is to me is he's a Swiss army knife type of Forward in the same vein as a. As a LeBron James. So, for instance, like Kevin Durant has a lot of impact. I think Kevin Durant has a. Arguably just as good of an impact on the defensive end in terms of his ability to protect the rim. Defensive rebound, switch out onto the perimeter. But Kevin Durant has a little bit of a susceptibility to size and strength. We saw that in the Memphis game two nights ago when Jaren Jackson was able to just kind of toss KD around at certain times, and he got two easy buckets on him in the post late in the game, or an easy bucket and a foul late in the game, where I think Tatum's a little bit sturdier for that type of matchup, but I think Katie also is a little bit longer, a little bit better rim protector. So, like, the two of them are more or less even on the defensive end of the floor. But I do think that Tatum has a certain Swiss army knife quality in terms of just his ability to keep the ball moving, his playmaking ability. Jason Tatum has become a really, really gifted playmaker in this league. And so we can debate whether or not Tatum has reached a level that's higher than Kawhi or higher than kd. I'm hesitant to go that far. But what I will say is that Tatum is becoming the Swiss army knife of this generation, which is what LeBron was in his generation. It's a type of player that I'm drawn to because I think it demonstrates a, first of all, a versatility, but also just a commitment to winning. There's a lot of stuff in there that guys aren't willing to do. A simple example is, like, as good as Kevin Durant has been defensively, I think he's kind of underachieved on that end over the course of his career. Whereas Tatum, you can tell, is maximizing his potential on that end of the floor. I think it's just a testament to the type of leader he is, the type of competitor that he is. Again, a lot of times we see guys like that, that are a little bit more mellow and not as, like, loud and, and. And boisterous with their personality. And we. Or even guys that are boisterous that are. But that are positive, we think of them as, like, not competitors because they're not Kobe Bryant type assholes. And the truth of the matter is, is, like, the. The work that Jason Tatum does is a pretty clear demonstration of the type of competitor that he is. And he stepped up big time over the course of this recent stretch.
- [36:21]
T-Mobile Representative
The volume.
- [36:23]
Sports Analyst
What's up guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting Hoops tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us if you guys would take a second and leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if you could take a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it.
- [36:37]
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T-Mobile Representative
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