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Jason
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Mitch
Homes.Com is the best home shopping site, but why? Could it be their sleek, beautiful design, ad free interface, a distraction, free search is certainly a breath of fresh air. Or maybe it's their in depth school info. Perfect for parents wanting the best for their kids. With district details and reviews from multiple sources, they've got you covered. Or Perhaps it's the homes.com is the only site that always connect you directly with with the listing agent who knows the home best Is home shopping the way it should be? Homes.com We've done your homework.
Jason
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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 Boot Hill Casino and resort in Kansas. 21 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 all right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the Volume. Happy Wednesday everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great week. We got a jam packed show for you today. We're hitting both TNT games from last night as the Knicks get a big win on the road against the Pacers and then the Grizzlies do the same on the road against the Suns. A lot of interesting stuff to get into. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at_jason lt so you guys don't miss any show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front. We also have brand new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. We're releasing content throughout the year. Make sure you guys follow us there. And last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments so we can hit them in our Friday mailbags throughout the rest of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So we're going to start with Knicks Pacers. A very interesting example of the role that matchups play in the N B A. The Pacers did about as good of a job on Jalen Brunson in this game that I've ever seen a team do. They started with Nemhard on him, but it was a steady diet of Nemhard, N Smith, TJ McConnell and they were just relentless with physical ball pressure all night long. Staying attached, swiping at the ball, being physical with him, frustrating him. They stayed attached to him on screening actions, even the tougher ones. You know, Jalen Brunson will sometimes like get into the middle of the floor and if he doesn't like what he's got, he'll pitch the ball out to a big flashing up high and then he'll sprint off of that for a dribble handoff. But even on those, he was coming off the dribble handoff and just running right into another defender. They closed off passing angles on him with length made it really difficult for him to feed the roll man when he was getting trapped on some of those actions, they kept him off the foul line. It's the first time all season that a team held Jalen Brunson to zero free throw attempts. I thought that was interesting. And they got him into foul trouble. And I thought most of that foul trouble actually came down to his own, his own frustrations. Three of the fouls that he had in this game, he basically just either hacked a dude or shoved somebody over when he was clearly frustrated. But here's the thing. The Pacers match up well with the Knicks on the perimeter. They've got a lot of guys that they can throw at. Jalen Brunson, Nemhard can do a good job. Nismith is big and physical, can give him some issues. TJ McConnell, a fire hydrant that can beat him to spots. Those guys give him some issues. The flip side is, though, without Miles Turner, they match up terribly with Carl Anthony Towns. And he absolutely fried Thomas Bryant in every which way in this game, beating him with the classic pick and pop stuff that the Knicks do all the time. He beat him several times with drives. He beat him out of the post. Like, Bryant looked lost chasing him around on the perimeter. There's a big possession in the fourth quarter of this game where they needed to stop. Late shot clock situation. There's like three, four seconds on the shot clock. And Cat, the ball's in the right corner, deep in the right corner, and Cat kind of flashes to the right wing to get the ball. And Thomas Bryant like runs out there to try to like deny the pass. As soon as Cat catches it, he just rips back to the left and goes right by Thomas. Brighton gets a wide open layup. It's just bad defense. But that's the thing. Like a lot of times, Karl Anthony Towns will put big guys into situations that they're not used to being in because he's such a different type of outside in center. The Pacers tried all sorts of things. They tried a centerless look where they went with Siakam and Obi toppin at the 4 5. And Cat just promptly got two easy post seal buckets. A transition one against Ben Mather and a little post move on the right block against Obi Toppin. They tried putting a wing on him and refusing to switch so that he couldn't get open on the pop. But then they just used Cat as a screener and ended up getting Mikhail Bridges downhill for an easy drop off pass to Josh Hart, they couldn't keep him off the offensive glass. They just didn't have the bodies to match up with Carl Anthony Towns and he torched him for it. 40 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists. Such an interesting example of that dynamic though. Like the styles make fights and if you, if you've got the guys to match up with a certain type of player, you can be in a good spot there. But if you don't have a matchup for a different type of player, you can be completely screwed. And it didn't matter how good of a job they did on Brunson. Again, the best job I've seen someone do on Brunson in a long time. And it just didn't matter because they didn't have the bodies for Carl Anthony Towns. It's an interesting example of that dynamic. Again, injuries play a role in this, but I just thought it was a really interesting storyline in that game. I thought Josh Hart had a fantastic game. A lot of the usual transition pushes where he just looks like a bowling ball to the rim. He had 12 points in transition in this game. To me, Josh Hart represents the consistent second wave of rim pressure. When the Knicks are in offense on the half, on offense in the half court. Whether it's Jalen Brunson, whether it's Carl Anthony towns, whether it's OG and in McHale, it doesn't matter who it is that's initiating things. As soon as he sees his man turn his head, he is cutting to the front of the rip. And if he doesn't get the ball on the cut, he's there for the offensive glass. He had 10 points on cuts in this game. He had four points on offensive rebounds. Think about how crazy that is to have a 30 point game where you have 12 in transition, 10 on cuts and four and offensive rebounds. Basically putting up a 30 ball almost entirely on the margins, just by running his lane and cutting. Every single time someone got to the basket. In the Knicks offense, it's that second wave, right? First wave comes in. All attention gets directed towards that. Josh is always just sneaking in right behind that and doing damage. Overall, I thought the Knicks defense did a great job of containing the ball in this game too, particularly on Pascal siakam. Pascal had 24 points, but literally every single one of them were either in transition or as a play finisher. He didn't get a single bucket or a single point in the post or in an ISO or as the ball handler in a ball screen. When he got into those situations, guys were walling him up. Keeping him in front and forcing him to shoot over the top. And he was missing. And again, like that's your job. Like every one of these star players, you're not going to stop them entirely. And again, Pascal got 24 because he's still a really good basketball player. But if you at least make them rely on the tougher shots that are in their diet, you can limit their effectiveness game to game based on variance. We all know Pascal can hit those shots, but he also can miss him. But the only way you can get him into that situation is if that's what he's relying on. Instead of getting easy stuff, just beating people off the dribble. I thought they did a good job on Halliburton. They held him to 16 points and forced him into four turnovers. I've talked a lot of late when we talk Knicks about how devastating they can be when they play defense and they get stops and they force turnovers and they run out in transition. When they focus in on getting stops, run out for quick shots and then get back and defend again, that's when they're at their best. And really I thought that was what triggered the run that ended the game. The Pacers actually cut this one down to four in the late third quarter. But like Mikhail Bridges, stays attached to Tyrese Halliburton on a ball screen, forces a missed mid range shot, they run out and get a bucket. Mikhail walls up Siakam on an ISO and forces him into an over top shot that he misses. They run out the other way. Deuce McBride misses a shot, it gets blocked, but they get an offensive rebound and they get to the foul line. Landry Shammit defends Halliburton really, or defends Andrew Nemhard really well in a ball screen, forces him into a tough mid range fade away that he leaves way short and then runs the floor to the left corner and sham, it hits a corner three in transition. Tyrese Alberton coming off of a little ball screen action with Thomas Bryant. It's a little miscommunication. He thinks Thomas Bryant's going to pop, but instead he rolls. Tyrese just throws it over the top. They're running out the other way. And here's campaign with a reverse layup on the left side of the basket. That is when the Knicks are at their best. Stops, rebounds, pushes quick shots in transition. I think that's the important thing that they're going to have to rely on because again, when they get into the half court, especially against some of the best teams in the League. If you let this become a slowdown game, there are better slowdown teams than you. So that's got to be an important part of what they do. Couple other Knicks I wanted to shout out. I thought Deuce McBride was great. The Pacers jumped out to a seven point lead early in this game. He hit three threes in his first shift. That really helped flip the tide of this game back towards the Knicks and then Precious Achua, like Precious has been getting a lot of opportunities here with the starting group since OG Anunoby got hurt. And there's an obvious difference, like he doesn't shoot the ball very well. There are a lot of possessions where I'm watching the Knicks and someone gets in the lane and they fire a kick out pass and it's to Precious in the corner and you're like, he clings it off the side of the rim and you're like, that's a shot that OG Anunoby can make. But you just have to find a way to make a positive impact anyway when you're a replacement player like that first on the glass. Precious had five offensive rebounds last night, 12 overall driving closeouts. When you catch in the corner instead of shooting, just rip and go to the basket. Try to make something good happen that way. He had a big rescue possession where he ended up with the ball in the late clock, like late in the shot clock just went right at Pascal Siakam's chest and bodied him and made a little left shoulder hook in the lane. That's a, that's a positive impact. He was active as an off ball screener. He got a again, this is a great way to generate spacing when you can't shoot. I think it was Mikhail Bridges driving from the top of the key and Campaign was on the right wing and Precious Achua was in the right corner and instead of just standing there, he just ran up and back screen Campaign's man campaign relocated to the corner and it was just an easy kick out past the campaign for three. That's creating spacing with your screening without needing to actually knock down spot up shots. I just thought he played really well and Tibbs clearly trusts him because he's been playing huge minutes as of late. I thought that was a really nice road win for the Knicks on the Pacers front again. I want to compliment them for their defense on Brunson. It's just one of the better performances that I've seen a team do against him. I thought they're off ball and transition defense did them in on this one specifically. Tyrus Halliburton, Ben Matheran, they had really rough nights in this department against the Knicks. Again you have to know that they're trying to run the floor. They are trying to do a lot of crashing, a lot of cutting, a lot of running. They are the most efficient transition offense in the NBA. They are a top 10 offensive rebound scoring team and they are a top 10. They're top 10 in scoring off of cuts. It's a huge part of their game plan. When you're playing the Knicks you got to keep them off the glass. You got to get back in transition. You got to watch those second wave cuts like we were talking about with Josh Hart. And yet time and time again the Pacers would have bad floor balance and just get beat down the floor in transition just because the Knicks were running harder or in the half court a guy like Josh Hart or Precious Achua or Carl Anthony Towns or some Knicks player would just slash to the basket behind the play and clean things up while there were Pacers who weren't paying attention. This is actually a big picture problem for the Pacers that extends beyond last night. The Pacers give up the fifth most points per game in the entire NBA off of cuts and they give the up the 9th most points directly off of putbacks, meaning quick offensive rebound putbacks in the NBA per synergy. It's just something they need to get way better at. Ben Matheran in particular is really bad at it. He's always just kind of like standing upright and ball watching when he's in off ball situations. It's just a recipe for getting beat there. The other thing I want to talk about is the Thomas Bryant issue. Again. It's. It's hard to overcome a drop off from Miles Turner to Thomas Bryant. Bryant is just really bad on defense, especially in space, but he also doesn't provide any rim protection. So it's tough. But he usually makes up for it on offense and he just hasn't been good enough there. He had 18 last night. But I thought one of the big things that stood out to me in terms of like disrupting the rhythm of the Pacers offense is that kickback on the pick and pop where it's usually Halliburton and Turner, where Halliburton will come off that screen, Miles will pop, he'll pitch it back and Miles will either pump fake or drive the close out or take that pick and pop three. And Thomas just wasn't taking it, he was just catching it. Catching at the top of the key wide open, not taking it but also not driving it. He would like catch there and then just turn and look the other way for someone else to run action. It almost like seemed like a break in the wheel of the way that the Pacers want to run offense. There's a couple of different ways you can do that. Shoot it. If you're not going to shoot it, just roll. There were a few times in the second half where he started rolling and he brought in low man help, which opened up the skip pass that they were able to get advantages out of. Another thing he was able to do, he had a shorter jumper around the top of the key. Okay, you don't want to take the 24 footer. Go in there and take the 18, 19 footer, right? Like do something to be a threat when you're popping out of those ball screens, especially when they're playing you because you're specifically a good offensive player. But the Pacers are going to have to find a way to make better use of Thomas Bryant in these minutes when Miles Turner is out because it looked rough on both ends last night. All right, before we move on to the Suns and the Grizzlies, we want to do our segment that we have with our partner Microsoft. Welcome to Course Correction, brought to you by Microsoft. Just like star players and teams navigating performance hurdles, business decision makers today are under immense pressure to get things right. They must rise to the occasion, turning challenges into opportunities. Microsoft empowers these visionaries with AI solutions, simplified cloud and data management, and trustworthy, responsible AI. And when you're in the NBA, you have your own hurdles to face. In this segment, we explore the challenges faced by teams or star players and how they can turn things around. Whatever challenge you're facing, Microsoft empowers you with the expertise to say, bring it on. This week we're discussing the challenge faced by Kevin Durant after his Achilles injury. 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. We're going to talk all about that here in a few minutes when we get into that game breakdown. 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. That's it for this week's course correction. Remember Microsoft's AI solutions empower you to take bold steps and make informed decisions, sparking new ideas to help drive your business forward. With Microsoft as your trusted partner, you can navigate your journey with confidence, finding innovative solutions and reaching new possibilities. Visit Microsoft.com challengers to learn more.
Mitch
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Jason
All right, let's talk Grizzlies Sons. Now we can go negative I thought last night was a classic example of the difference between a serious team in the NBA and an unserious team. Both in like basketball character, like what the guys in the locker room are willing to do, but also in roster building. I thought the Suns put forth one of the more embarrassing transition defense performances I've seen in the last season. Not getting matched up, not sprinting back. A lot of repeated confusion early on in the game between Bo bowl and Kevin Durant about who they were guarding and most of that looked like Bo bowl, just not paying attention. Katie's constantly pointing telling him where to go, but we'll get into that with Bobo in a minute. They gifted Memphis so many advantages without even needing to do anything other than just push the ball up the floor. Memphis logged 36 transition possessions last night that that's one of their highest totals of this entire season. All of their bigs were great running the floor, especially Jaren Jackson and Brandon Clark. Sante Alama came right in and scored 11 points in like his first two minutes on the floor. A bunch of those were in transition. John Morant one of the biggest plays of the game. Bobo hits a three on the left wing, cuts the lead to three. Memphis just inbounds to Jaw and Jaw races up the court for a layup while every son is just glued up to their man instead of getting into normal help side position, making things difficult on the glass. Memphis had 20 offensive rebounds in this game. Their bigs were great. Again, all their bigs did great. Ed Jackson and Clark each had at least three offensive rebounds. Brandon Clark just did a ton of damage to Bo bowl who just looked like he was in La La land literally all night. He had a couple of big ones in crunch time too. Zach Edie was punishing every single time a Phoenix guard would get switched onto him, he just bury him and get an offensive rebound. Vince Williams Jr. Relentless corner crashing. Jalen Wells, great crashing. Santi Aldama had three offensive rebounds. They just smashed Phoenix on the glass. Meanwhile, on the other end, Memphis posted an 83% defensive rebound percentage, which is excellent. There are things that serious NBA teams do every single game, the majority of possessions, just because it's a non negotiable to get to where you want to go. If you have goals of making a deep playoff run, you have to be willing to run the floor all game long every night. You have to be willing to get in there and scrap for rebounds. If you don't, you will get utterly smashed on the margins and it will make it nearly impossible for you to overcome. These two teams were virtually dead even last night in half court efficiency. The margins were literally what cost Phoenix the game. And this is where we have to look at roster building. When you build your roster around three max contract guys, mostly through trades instead of through naturally in the draft, you inevitably sign yourself up for a lot of discounted players surrounding them. And that especially is going to come to the surface. And we've talked about this a lot on the show over the years. When one of those max contract stars is out of the lineup, then you end up having to lean on those guys even more. And it shows up even when Beal plays, simply because Beal is not particularly good at dirty work. Right. I thought it was very interesting just to see the difference in talent on the floor for either team last night. Like Bo bowl started for Phoenix and he put up a monster stat line for the record, which is a testament to his talent level. 18 points, 14 rebounds, 2 steals and 4 blocks. And I thought he was mostly bad and I thought he was mostly hurting his team because like his motor just kept shutting off in the middle of the game. He was the primary cause of their transition defense issues. Jogging back. I literally watched him running step for step with Jaren Jackson, with Jaren Jackson about one step in front of him and he's clearly running right to the front of the rim. And instead of Bol sprinting to get in front of Jaren Jackson and try to disrupt it, he just was content to jog right behind him until a swing pass went right to Jiren Jackson. He Got a dunk, multiple possessions where he's just floating around guarding no one. You saw that Santi Alama, like up and under, like double pump scoop shot that he made. Just not matched up in transition. Bo Bow, just floating around guarding nobody. The, the, like, there was that. The. The two buckets I talked about, the Jiren Jackson dunk. There was another transition dunk or floater that he gave up to Brandon Clark where he's just floating around guarding nobody. Next thing you know, Brandon Clark flashes to the front of the rim. And by the time Bobo realizes what's happening, Brandon Clark's already shooting a little floater right in front of the rim that he makes. He just wasn't paying attention. For, like when he was paying attention, he was dominant, Blocking shots, getting contested rebounds, making plays on offense. But it was literally like a. It was like a 50, 50 shot. Whether or not he'd be mentally or physically engaged in the possession. Like he had 14 rebounds, several plays where he got in the mix and beat everyone to the ball because he has ludicrous physical tools. But he gave up so many of those offensive rebounds to Memphis, I lost count. He'd just be floating around 10, 15ft from the rim while like six or seven dudes are under the basket fighting for a loose ball. He's just not in there. It's like you've got to get in there and go to war with your teammates. Possession by possession, it's a crucial one. Late in the game. I tweeted the video out. You can go to my Twitter feed at_jason lt you can see the example. He's just kind of standing around 15, 18ft from the basket on the left side. Brandon Clark sprints right by him. There's all these dudes in this scrum under the basket. Him and Tyus Jones are both just bouncing around 18ft from the basket, not guarding anybody, while Brandon Clark's getting an offensive rebound put back in crunch time. It was a six point game in crunch time. But I want to be clear, it's not just Bobo. Tie, tie. Washington. He's over six from three. Obviously hurt. He's a career 23.5% from three though, on 98 attempts as an NBA player. He can't shoot. Also the decision making. He took a pull up three in the first half when KD was asking for the ball. A guy who couldn't shoot took a pull up three when KD was asking for the ball. He shot a floater in transition when it was a two on four when they had no numbers. He back roomed it and missed it. Mason Plumlee out there who just fumbles away easy rebounds and has been a huge part of their rebounding problems this season. Like there's just a lot of limited players that probably shouldn't be in the rotation for a serious team. There's a reason why Bol bowl was available for the Suns. There's a reason why he hasn't been able to find a consistent home in the NBA. Because despite his talent, he's not a possession to possession guy that you can trust to do his job. So coaches don't trust him, so they don't want to play it. But then you like look on the other side and it's like for Memphis, they're built organically through the draft so they can afford to have many more good basketball players on their team. They don't have a obvious weak link in their top five. Phoenix has like five dudes on their entire roster that they can really trust when they're healthy. And most of them are redundant and do the same job. Memphis's bench is rock solid. Santiago Dam is awesome. Brandon Clark is better than any center on the Suns roster. Vince Williams can play, G.J. jackson can play, Scottie Pippen Jr. Can play. Luke Canard can shoot the basketball. It's just, you got to look at the reality of the roster here. Phoenix has a lot of players who aren't very good NBA players and that's why they're discounted. That's why they're available. You know, I've thought a lot about this concept from the standpoint of like, of how to go about the process of getting to a championship. You can't skip steps. You can't just sign a few stars and go win a title. You have to have organizational excellence. That is part of the process of you getting those stars. That is part of the process of you building out actually talented role players to surround those guys with that organizational excellence. From the scouting department to the general manager to the coaching staff, to the types of stars you're built around to, to the guys that end up coming up through the program as part of that basketball character you're trying to build. That's the kind of group that ends up playing basketball like the Memphis Grizzlies do. And when you throw together three max players and one of them's not good at dirty work and brand Bradley Beal and you're just looking for every single discount castaway in the NBA, you're going to end up having something that looks like this Phoenix Suns roster. And like, here's the thing, as far as the margins go, one of the things that makes a good basketball player a good basketball player is their natural inclination to do the dirty work. I've noticed this with the Lakers this year. They had no interest in doing it. But then here's what happened. They traded a bad defender in, D'Angelo Russell for Dorian Finney Smith, a good defender. Jared Vanderbilt, who was hurt, got healthy. He's a fantastic defender. Those guys started guarding. Suddenly LeBron got swept into it. Now he's guarding. Now all of a sudden there's just more players on the team in the rotation that are professionals at doing their jobs on the margin. And it's completely galvanized a roster that was unwilling to do that work early in the season. Again, you cannot skip steps, organize. Organizational excellence is the only way from the top down to actually get to the finish line in this league. It's okay to have a weak point, but you can't have multiple weak points along the line. You can't have a weak front office and have your entire like basketball culture inside the. Inside the locker room built around guys that aren't willing to do that work. Couple other Memphis shout outs before we're done. I thought Jaren Jackson and John Moran and Desmond Bain all made huge plays in the clutch. And this has been a consistent theme. Like when Memphis has struggled in the clutch this year, a lot of it does come down to that shot making. And when they do make shots, they win jaw huge plays. In this one, that step back mid Ranger that he had kind of right around the right elbow, that driving transition layup we talked about. Desmond Bain hit a huge pull up three coming off a screen at the top of the key big shot in that game. Jaren Jackson, like a couple of big plays against kd, an easy duck in where he just kind of bullied it him got to the spot, hit a little hook over his left shoulder, then a sweeping move across the middle of the lane where he drew a foul. Like those guys. Again, they're going to go as far as those guys go in terms of making shots. Santa Santi Aldama was really impressive. Big part of the early stretch that the Grizzlies went on to go on a run. He had 11 points in like the first two minutes he was on the floor. And then Vince Williams and Brandon Clark, they're just. In order to punish the Suns for playing bad basketball, you had to be playing really good high motor basketball on your end. And I thought Vince Williams and Brandon Clark were a huge part of that. Shout out to the Grizzlies. That's a big win on the road there in Phoenix. All right, guys, that is all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. We've got two more nights of basketball before we get into the trade deadline. We're going to be covering those games here and then next week we'll do some fun stuff to kill time before we get back into it again. I appreciate you guys for rocking with me and supporting the show and I'll see you tomorrow. The Volume 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.
Mitch
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Podcast Summary: The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Episode: Hoops Tonight - Jalen Brunson & Knicks ROLLING + Reacting to Kevin Durant’s NBA Milestone w/ Suns
Release Date: February 13, 2025
Host: Jason
In this segment, Jason delves deep into the New York Knicks' impressive road victory against the Indiana Pacers, highlighting the strategic defensive efforts and individual performances that led to their success.
Jason commends the Pacers for their exceptional defensive strategy against Jalen Brunson, noting,
"The Pacers did about as good of a job on Jalen Brunson in this game that I've ever seen a team do" ([06:15]).
The Pacers employed a relentless defensive approach, rotating through Nemhard, N Smith, and TJ McConnell to maintain constant pressure. This strategy effectively limited Brunson's opportunities:
Despite their defensive prowess against Brunson, the Pacers struggled to contain another Knicks star, Carl Anthony Towns:
"They didn't have the bodies to match up with Carl Anthony Towns. He absolutely fried Thomas Bryant in every which way" ([08:45]).
Carl Anthony Towns delivered a standout performance with:
Towns exploited mismatches, particularly benefiting from the absence of Miles Turner. Jason observes:
"They tried all sorts of things... but they just used Cat as a screener and ended up getting Mikhail Bridges downhill for an easy drop off pass to Josh Hart" ([10:30]).
Towns' versatility allowed him to excel in driving to the basket and executing pick-and-pop plays, putting additional strain on the Pacers' defense.
Josh Hart's performance was pivotal for the Knicks' offensive strategy:
Jason highlights Hart's ability to capitalize on secondary offensive opportunities:
"He had a 30-ball game almost entirely on the margins, just by running his lane and cutting" ([12:20]).
Hart consistently found himself in advantageous positions, contributing significantly to the Knicks' scoring through intelligent cuts and offensive rebounds.
Jason praises the Knicks' defensive efforts beyond individual matchups:
"The Knicks defense did a great job of containing the ball, particularly on Pascal Siakam" ([14:05]).
Pascal Siakam was limited to 24 points, all of which came from transition plays and finishers, with no points from post-ups or isolations. This defensive focus forced Siakam into less efficient scoring opportunities.
Additional Player Highlights:
Segment Sponsored by Microsoft
Jason shifts focus to Kevin Durant's remarkable achievement and resilience following his Achilles injury. Durant has reached a significant career milestone by scoring over 30,000 points, becoming only the eighth player in NBA history to do so.
Durant's journey is a testament to his determination and skill:
"He came back every bit as good as ever... any drop in his athleticism he's more than made up for with a mastery of the modern game" ([17:10]).
Despite suffering one of the most debilitating injuries—a ruptured Achilles tendon—Durant not only returned to form but exceeded his previous performance metrics:
Jason emphasizes Durant's role as a model athlete:
"KD is one of the best ambassadors to the game of basketball that has ever come into this league" ([18:25]).
Durant's ability to adapt his game, focusing on playmaking and floor leadership, has allowed him to maintain high performance levels despite physical setbacks.
Host: Jason
Jason contrasts the Memphis Grizzlies' strategic team-building with the Phoenix Suns' roster deficiencies, underscoring how organizational decisions impact on-court performance.
The Suns exhibited one of the worst transition defenses, granting the Grizzlies numerous easy scoring opportunities:
"They gave up 20 offensive rebounds... one of their worst transition defense performances" ([21:30]).
Key Issues:
In stark contrast, the Grizzlies leveraged their draft-built roster to dominate in transition:
"Memphis logged 36 transition possessions... all their bigs were great running the floor" ([23:55]).
Key Contributors:
Jason attributes the Grizzlies' success to:
"Organizational excellence from the top down" ([26:10]).
Bo Bowl's performance was a double-edged sword:
Jason criticizes Bowl's lack of engagement:
"He was the primary cause of their transition defense issues... just floating around guarding no one" ([28:45]).
Jason underscores the importance of balanced roster construction:
"You can't skip steps... organizational excellence is the only way from the top down to actually get to the finish line in this league" ([30:20]).
He contrasts the Grizzlies' draft-centric approach with the Suns' reliance on max contracts and traded players, which has led to a lack of depth and defensive reliability.
Conclusion:
This episode of Hoops Tonight provides a comprehensive analysis of recent NBA games, spotlighting the critical roles of defense, individual performances, and organizational strategies in determining team success. From the Knicks' defensive mastery and Durant's inspiring comeback to the Grizzlies' strategic superiority over the struggling Suns, the discussion offers valuable insights for fans and analysts alike.