← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Hoops Tonight - Lakers-Timberwolves Reaction + Steph Curry Goes for 56
00:39:37
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T-Mobile Representative
You 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 heap 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 and eligible carrier and timely redemption. Acquired card has no cash access and expires in six months.
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AT&T has a new guarantee because most things in life are not guaranteed like getting through self checkout by yourself. Not guaranteed in a world where Nothing is guaranteed. AT&T is bringing something new to the table. AT&T is introducing a guarantee with connectivity you depend on, deals you want and service you deserve or they'll make it right. Learn more@att.com guarantee@&t connecting changes everything. Terms and conditions apply. Visit att.comguaranty for details.
- [01:11]
Steph Curry
Make some noise for the Greatest Shooter of All Time Steph Curry we went live from All Star Weekend for a new podcast called Goat Greatest of Their Era and we ranked our top five shooters from the 2000s.
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Podcast Co-Host
Paja 5 Dirk 4 Asia is alone.
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Steph Curry
You won't believe who Steph left off his list.
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Podcast Co-Host
That's so tough. That's why we have these conversations.
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Steph Curry
Yes, absolutely.
- [01:33]
Podcast Co-Host
Love it.
- [01:33]
Steph Curry
Listen to Go G O T e Greatest of Their era on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [01:41]
Minnie Driver
What if you asked two different people the same set of questions? Even if the questions are the same, our experiences can lead us to drastically different answers. I'm Mini Driver and I set out to explore this idea in my podcast and now Mini Questions is returning for another season. We've an entirely new set of guests our seven questions, including Jane Lynch, Delaney Rowe and Cord Jefferson. Listen to Mini questions on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. 7 Questions Limitless answers.
- [02:17]
Mark Seal
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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 Boothill Casino and resort in Kansas. 21 plus. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontari. 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 Thursday everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great week. We're going to be hitting two games from tonight's slate as the Lakers survive a physical athletic onslaught from the Minnesota Timberwolves. Then the Golden State warriors after getting shot out of the gym in the first half against the Orlando Magic. Get some a return back to normalcy from Orlando. Orlando's jump shooting in the first explosive scoring game of Steph Curry's season. A lot of really encouraging stuff on the warriors front. And then at the tail end of the show, a brief shout out that I have for Russell Westbrook. 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 underscore jasonlt so you guys don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you get your podcast 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. We're doing some more film stuff on those platforms as well, so make sure you guys follow us there. And the last but not least Keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments. We can get to them on Fridays throughout the remainder of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So I talked a little bit about after the game, right before the All Star break with the Timberwolves, about how they're one of those teams. I'm always looking at teams in the regular season and trying to find out what I think translates to the postseason. And there's always like a certain amount of like sometimes the young athletic teams, there's a little bit of a ceiling that they run into when they get into the postseason, when all the vets kind of up their level of intensity and the game planning gets a little bit more intense and young players tend to have more weaknesses and they can run into some issues. Right? There are some young teams. Near the top of the stain is classic example. This year's teams like the Houston Rockets, right? That like, I don't think they're as good as their record is in terms of the type of threat that they represent in the postseason. But then there is a layer to that, especially on teams that do have more talent, more actual veteran, experienced talent. Teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves, where their size and physicality can manifest in the postseason in a way that it doesn't manifest in the regular season because they're allowed to get away with more, because their size and physicality wearing on a team over the course of a seven game series. The Timberwolves last year, what they did to the Phoenix Suns, what they did to the Denver Nuggets was a perfect example of that. And if you guys remember, I talked about it in the, in that stretch right during the All Star break, like with Minnesota, I take them more seriously than their record because they just have a bunch of big strong athletes with veteran president presences with enough shot creation talent to where they can just drag you down into the mud. And when you're down in the mud with them, they can make a lot of your players play beneath their capability. You can start to experience some injuries as you get banged up in that environment and it can go south for you pretty quickly. And even without Anthony Edwards in that second half, I thought the Wolves presented an excellent challenge for the Lakers in terms of that physical imposition that they presented. Terence Shannon in particular was just ripping through the Lakers transition defense. Lakers have been really good on defense, including in transition for a while. That was not their best transition defense effort. Terence Shannon made them pay consistently by just ripping through them. One of the things that I want to talk about Is like the Lakers have a flaw that's been consistent throughout this season, which is that teams are going to ball pressure the hell out of LeBron and ball pressure the hell out of Austin. And they ball pressured the hell out of DLO when he was there. And as games progressed, those guys would wear down and get fatigued, and they'd start to get sloppy with their passes. They'd start to miss a lot of jump shots. Look at how many badly missed jump shots you saw from the Lakers in that second half. And one of the big things that I was really excited about in the Luka Doncic trade is he's like literally the antidote to that problem. He is a guy that can eat up an enormous amount of that usage in terms of bringing the ball up the floor with standing ball pressure, making that easier. The difference is, is that Luka, when he's at his best, brings a level of shot making that he can use to defeat that type of pressure. He can get guys on his side and work his way downhill, get into that 10, 15 foot zone and make a bunch of shots. You actually saw a taste of that in that first quarter stretch, which was the stretch where Luka looked his best offensively. And so on the one hand, I thought the Wolves exposed the reality of the Lakers weaknesses in terms of wearing down under ball pressure. But the reality is, is that when Luka gets into form, he should be able to handle that better. Luka is still having a hell of a time making jump shots at this point. He came into tonight 11 for 51 on jump shots in a Lakers jersey. He ended up making the most ridiculous shot he took tonight. The interesting kind of a late clock sequence where LeBron was kind of caught the ball in the post against Nas Reed and then he was like, you know what? Like, I don't see the point me posting up Nas Reed. So he pulled him out to the perimeter, but his jumper was kind of out of rhythm. He had missed a few early in the fourth, so he tries to drive on him and Nas does a really nice job shutting off the driving lane kind of traps him along the baseline. LeBron throws basically just an escape pass to Luka on the left wing. Nikhil Alexander Walker is smothering it the whole way, and Luka just bumps him a little bit with that shoulder and leans back and shoots a one leg fade away from like 27ft. Nothing but the bottom of the net. It's funny, I had a Mavs fan tweet at me after that that basically said all Mavs fans knew that shot was going in. And it's just an example of the. The Luca magic that Mavs fans grew accustomed to during the beginning stretch of his career that Laker fans are going to see a lot. To me, Luke is not close to where he needs to be as a shot maker. To me, it's obvious because so many of his misses are outside the rim. An easy way to think of it is the basketball rim can actually fit two basketballs on the inside, right? So like there's kind of like a dialing in process. When you're out of rhythm. You're. You're, you're getting a little bit closer on your misses. You're making more shots, right? And like right now I don't think Luca, like, I don't think Lucas Luka might have a good game here or there as a jump shooter, but I think he's a ways away from actually like regularly just notching really good shot making games because his jumper's way off right now. He's missing most of them well outside the rim. He's missing a lot of his short range shot making like short in front of the rim. Like he's not even like getting it over the front of the rim. So it's going to be a while, I think. I think we're probably still at least a few weeks out from Luca really looking like Luka as a shot maker. But he should help solve that problem for the Lakers in terms of wearing down under that type of ball pressure. Because even with Luca as he can wear down, as we saw like in the Celtics series, for instance, LeBron James should be able to help anchor him on that end by giving him a release valve. Austin Reeves as well, I think Luca is going to be an antidote for that problem in the big picture. But you did see that get exposed quite a bit in this game as a weakness for the Lakers on the defensive end. Dealing with Anthony Edwards, there's another completely different type of offensive matchup that the Lakers personnel had to deal with that JJ and his coaching staff had to come up with a game plan for. The game plan that they had for Ant was pretty simple. They just had whoever was guarding him on the ball basically force him towards the sideline. So play entirely on his inside shoulder and force him to drive towards the sideline. And then they use what's called a strong side zone. Basically taking a. Think of it like this, normally if a defender were to sit in the paint and he's not guarding anybody, he would get a defensive 3 second violation, right? We saw a couple of those tonight, one on each team. But in that event, one of the counters for that is like guys will sometimes be all the way on the opposite side of the paint and they'll step in and they'll step out and they'll step in and they'll step out. But a way to avoid that entirely is what if you just have that guy go all the way to the opposite side of the paint and literally just. That's why they call it a strong side zone, because that defender is not actually guarding a man anymore. He's actually effectively a one man zone who's in help right outside the block on the strong side of the floor where the ball handler is, right. So essentially it's like a soft double team event. You're playing his strong side shoulder or his, his middle side shoulder so that he can't just like easily take pull up threes and you're trying to force him to drive right into the teeth of the defense. I actually thought Ant handled it really well. I mean the game plan more or less worked the way it was supposed to. They, the Lakers did get a lot of stops in this game, but I thought handled it pretty well. He got into paint quite a bit. He was using his slowdown step to deal with help defenders. He was using screening actions to try to get his defender caught on the screen by like, like screening and then re screening to get the dude caught on the underside so he could get a decent look at a pull up three. He got guys off of him with pump fakes, you know, ants. Just freakishly talented. That's what he's going to do. He made some really nice skip passes to beat the strong side zone. But then it got worked up and there was a sequence that was kind of like a bang bang play where he drove at Gabe Vincent and like clearly shoved him off with his right arm. And like, yeah, when Gabe was falling, his left foot came up a little bit and kicked Ant in the back of the leg. But like the ref didn't call it. You want to know why the ref didn't call it? Because he saw Ant push him off and, and it was just kind of like a bang bang play where he didn't think it was worthy of a whistle and fell down and loses his mind, gets into it with the ref, gets himself ejected. Now he's suspended for tomorrow as well. So like that's really unfortunate and like one of those things where like I get, I could see watching that game how you could be frustrated As a Wolves fan or as a Wolves player, the Lakers were getting some ticky tack calls in that game is one of those ones where like, like Austin was getting hit on the forearm. It's like really light, but at the same time, like you guys know if you've ever played basketball, if you shoot a jump shot and a guy taps you on the forearm when you're shooting, it can cause the shot to go off by feet because it just affects your follow through. That's all the power that you're transferring into the basketball. Right. But like, I can understand that it's a frustrating officiating game for the Wolves. My thing is like you're on the road in the arena with a group of players, specifically Austin and Luca, who are like famous foul grifters. You know you're going to be on the wrong end of some calls. You got to show some mental toughness to get through that so that you can stay available for your team. And, and got him, got himself ejected from there. The Wolves were just like, hey, we got one chance here. Let's muck this up, let's get super physical, let's make a mess of this game. Let's get out and transition. And they did, they made it a game. But the Lakers, just like they did in the Dallas game, they were able to lock, lock in down the stretch, get enough stops, get enough good looks and they ended up pulling away and winning relatively comfortably. I thought LeBron was absolutely magnificent all around in this game, but especially on defense. It was ironic after JJ Redick touted his all defense level of play over the course of the last six weeks after the Dallas game, I thought this was his best defensive game of this entire stretch. His rotations all over the floor were amazing. His closeouts to the three point line going flying into a row of chairs, his back line rotations around the rim. There were like a half dozen deep catches for the Wolves in the paint in this game where LeBron just like appeared out of nowhere to disrupt the player on the catch and force a miss. Clean up the defensive glass after that miss. He was incredible on the defensive glass all night. I think he had what like 16, 17 rebounds. So many contested rebounds that he came away with. There was even that one, I think it was with Terrence Shannon where both guys had a grip on the ball and they ended up in a wrestling match over it. And LeBron somehow got away with that one as well. He was in groups of three bodies and tapping it out to other Lakers for rebounds. He was just amazing. All over the floor, on the defensive end of the, of the ball, getting stops and finishing possessions with the defensive rebound. And then again on a night where Luka couldn't buy a shot, Luke LeBron brought the scoring. All night long. He was downhill to the rim all night long. He was dominating in the paint. It was just another game where LeBron was playing at an MVP level in a nearly two month stretch where he's consistently been playing at that level. The one last note I have on the Lakers front here, there are some realities to this team with their depth. This is something I talked about in the, if you guys remember, in the, in the after, in the immediate aftermath of the trade, there are some realities just in the number of like reliable rotation players they have. There's like eight if you include Jackson, Hayes, right, it's LeBron, Austin, Luca, it's Rui and Jackson. And then it's Dorian Finney Smith, it's Jared Vanderbilt, it's Gabe Vincent. After that it gets shaky. Right? Like you get into that Dalton connect phase. Like I've been kind of lower on Dalton connect than most Laker fans all year. He just, I think he's going to be a good player in the big picture, but right now he's a shooter that can't make shots and is a really bad defensive player. Like I, I don't think he's even really capable of being a consistent rotation player for a good NBA team right now. Right? Like Jordan Goodwin, absolute scrapper. He's such a good piece to have for a regular season, but he's not a guy that you're going to be able to like rely on for significant minutes in a postseason setting. So you got eight guys. And here's the thing, like eight guys is enough. That's what you want in a playoff rotation. You want seven and a half, eight guys that you trust to do their job on both ends of the floor. But there's no margin for error there. As soon as, like just tomorrow night, for example, you take Rui out of the picture. Rui went down with a knee sprain in this game. Dorian Finney Smith slots into the starting lineup in all likelihood if everyone else plays. But it's very possible the Lakers hit a bunch of guys tomorrow. We'll see. But like, let's just say Ruiz out long term. Like, let's say Ruiz out three, four weeks. Dorian Finney Smith is starting. You got one forward coming off the bench, Jared Vanderbilt. Like now it's going to be, are we going big? Is it's going to is it going to be a lot of Alex Len? You know, that's, that's a huge drop off from a player of Rui Hachimura's caliber. And so again, like, I want to be clear about this Laker team. I think they absolutely have a championship ceiling. They are proving once again, another night where they held a team that, that Wolves offense was top 10 in offense in offensive rating over the previous 15 games. The Lakers held him down just like they held Dallas down, just like they held Denver down, just like they've been holding everybody down since the middle of January. The defense is real. Luca getting back to being Luca will anchor this offense at a higher floor. I still think they're shooting well below their shot quality right now. A big part of that is just every game has been super physical and I think also Luka getting back to form will start to generate better shot quality. But, like, I think they're gonna be fine on the offensive end. They have absolutely a championship level unit on both ends of the floor. They're rebounding really well with this group. Everything's great there. However, the margin for error as it pertains to their injury luck is extremely low. It's extremely small. Rui sprains his knee in this game. Jackson Hayes hurt his hip in this game. Luka grabbed at his knee after going knee to knee with somebody. LeBron looked like he was a little banged up at the end of the game. There's definitely a very small window here in terms of they need to get through a really brutal stretch of basketball here with their, with their roster intact. And so again, like, I think it's important. Every time you see a team struggle, like I talk about, it's always important to at least acknowledge what's making them struggle. It's like, oh, ball pressure and physicality. Well, yeah, Luca should help with that. But like, oh, also down the stretch you ended up having to play. You could go to your closing group with Rui because Rui's hurt. Okay, so the reality is this team has eight men that can, that they can trust, but after that it gets a little sketchy and it's just something that's a reality of something that they're going to have to deal with as the season progresses.
- [20:25]
AT&T Representative
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- [21:11]
T-Mobile Representative
You 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 heap 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 and eligible carrier and timely redemption required. Card has no cash access and expires in six months make some noise for.
- [21:48]
Steph Curry
The Greatest Shooter of All time, Steph Curry we went live from All Star Weekend for a new podcast called goat greatest of their era and we ranked our top five shooters from the 2000s.
- [22:00]
Podcast Co-Host
Peja 5 Dirk Ford.
- [22:02]
Steph Curry
Peja is a loop.
- [22:02]
Mark Seal
Okay, okay, I'm mad at him. I left him off my list, but I still like my list.
- [22:08]
Steph Curry
You won't believe who Steph left off his list.
- [22:10]
Podcast Co-Host
That's so tough. That's why we have these conversations.
- [22:13]
Steph Curry
Yes, absolutely.
- [22:14]
Podcast Co-Host
Love it.
- [22:15]
Steph Curry
Steph talked about what separates the truly.
- [22:17]
Podcast Co-Host
Elite NBA shooters when you have a scouting report and you're on the list as not just a shooter, but we have specific rules for how we guard you. There's a fear factor that's associated with anytime you're wide open. Like, you might as well just count that and get back on defense.
- [22:34]
Steph Curry
Listen to Goat G O T e Greatest of Their era on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
- [22:42]
Tisha Allen
I'm Tisha Allen, former golf professional and the host of welcome to the Party, your newest obsession about the wonderful world that is women's golf, featuring interviews with top players on tour, like LPGA superstar Angel Yin.
- [22:56]
Mark Seal
I really just sat myself down at the end of 2022 and I was like, look, either we make it or we quit.
- [23:02]
Tisha Allen
Expert tips to help improve your swing, and the craziest stories to come out of your friendly neighborhood country club.
- [23:09]
Nikki Glaser
The drinks were flowing, twerking all over the place, vaping. They're shotgunning.
- [23:13]
Tisha Allen
Women's golf is a wild ride, full of big personalities, remarkable Athleticism, fierce competition, and a generation of women hell bent on shanking that glass ceiling. Welcome to the party with Tisha Allen is an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Listen to welcome to the party. That's P A R T E e on the iHeartRadio Applause Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast presented by.
- [23:39]
AT&T Representative
Elf Beauty, founding partner of I Heart Women's sports.
- [23:54]
Mark Seal
All right, moving on to Warriors Magic. This was an interesting matchup that I had my eye on for the new look warriors because the Magic are just a much bigger team. It was going to test the warriors in the paint and on the glass and I actually thought they held up pretty well on that front. They only gave up 11 second chance points while getting eight of their own. And it was actually the Magic down the stretch who weren't able to secure a defensive rebound that Jimmy Butler beat everyone to the ball once. Draymond Green beat everyone to the ball once. So I actually thought it was a relatively successful night on that front. And again, when you have a disadvantage like that, like, oh, they're bigger than us, it's not like you're going to go and just play bigger than them. It's about just minimizing that advantage. If you can minimize their size advantage and maximize your speed advantage, you can win that fight again. It's like there's that expression styles make fights, but the way I look at it is like which style wins the fight for really fast guy and a really big guy get into a fist fight. Like it really just depends on who weaponizes their advantage better, right? And like it just felt like in this game the warriors held up pretty well under Orlando's size. The flip side of the Magic being this massive team is that they can't shoot. And I mean they really can't shoot. They are far and away the worst jump shooting team in the NBA. They're so bad that the gap between them and the 29th ranked jump shooting team, the Washington Wizards, is seven points over seven points per 100 jump shots. As a matter of fact, the gap between the Magic in the 29th ranked jump shooting team Washington Wizards is the same as the gap between the 29th ranked team in the 14th ranked jump shooting team in the NBA. That's how bad the Orlando Magic are at making jump shots, but not in that first half. Orlando shot the seams off the ball to start this game. They got 1.53 points per jump shot in the first half. That's close to double their season Average. But the warriors didn't overreact. They stuck to their game plan and Orlando cooled off in the second half. They got just 0.82 points per jump shot in the second half. Now, again, like I always talk about with shot result, there's two different ways to look at it. Yeah, there's absolutely some variance in jump shooting, but there are also a lot of controllables if a team is shooting well, if you start sharpening up your closeouts, making them a little bit more uncomfortable, it's more likely that they'll get out of rhythm and that they'll start missing. They like. Did you guys notice a dynamic where the warriors were like in the second half blocking shots in the right corner, like threes or forcing really bad misses out of the right corner on threes. They kept putting two on the ball as the Magic kept attacking out of that left wing in a simple dynamic was being generated where because they were occupying the dunker spot, there was usually nobody on the right wing. There's someone in the right corner and there was a defender. Sometimes it was Moses Moody, sometimes it was Jimmy Butler, sometimes Draymond Green. That defender would have to tag the roller as they're putting two on the ball, but then also be accountable for that shooter in the corner. Their rotations in the second half were fantastic. Sprinting out there, Draymond and Jimmy had several great closeouts forcing bad misses. Moses Moody had a play where he tagged a roller at the foul line and somehow got all the way back that his man made the pass and he got all the way back to the right corner and blocked a three point shot over there. He's just been fantastic on defense consistently since his role has become more clarified for him. The warriors defense was great all around in the second half. I thought it was a great matchup for Quentin Post because he was able to kind of hang back by the rim and he had several great contests blocks there. Like, he was just really impactful as a rim protector in this game. We talked about the defensive rotations from guys like Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Moses Moody. I thought Brandon Pajemski was awesome on defense in that second half with his ball pressure just delaying Orlando getting into their offense. He also had some great rear view contests. Again, that's when you're in ball screens and the screener screens. You. You have to chase over the top, but you have a drop coverage defender or somebody that's helping on the other side of the screen. Your job is to bother from behind, swipe at the Basketball. He had some great rear view contests. He had a block in a situation like that. He's been fantastic on defense all around since the Jimmy trade like him and Moody, they've had their roles crystallized and they're just hooping on both ends of the floor with what the team is asking him to do. Gary Payton the second had one of the biggest plays in the game. The Magic cut it into a close game late. He off of an offensive rebound. Cole Anthony drove the baseline out of the right corner and it looked like he was going to have a chance there to cut the lead to a one possession game there. Gary just stayed attached from behind, just swatted it out of there and it actually led to a fast break going the other way. It was a huge defensive play from Gary Payton. They've been second in defensive rating in the entire NBA in this eight game stretch since Jimmy Butler did join the team. They're fast, everyone is doing their job. I was talking our new producer Jackson, he's a really smart basketball mind. We were talking before the show about how like how the game has changed so much over the course of the last few years in terms of teams are existing in rotation a lot. All these great pull up shooters, you got to put two on the ball. All these great superstars that are great at attacking mismatches, you got to put two on the ball, you're in rotation a lot. And one of the things that Jackson was talking about before we started recording and I think he's spot on with this is like having intelligent defenders that make the right types of decisions in these situations really matters. If you're in rotation and there's two shooters on the opposite end of the floor, a guy on the wing and a guy in the corner and one of the guys is a guy that like if you close out at him short, he won't shoot it, but the other guy's just a burner. Then you need to close out to the better shooter. Passing lane closeouts, that's another thing that really advanced defenses will will do where like the pass goes to the wing or the pass goes to the corner, instead of closing out to the shooter, you close out in between them because it like makes the shooter think that you're closing out at him. So hesitate for a second. But then when he looks to make the extra pass, guess who's in his way? You, because you're in the passing lane. Different like bait and switch type of things where you might stunt at a guy to make him hesitate and then get back the Moses Moody block, a great example. He stunted, I believe. I think it was Goga Patazi who caught on the roll on that play. He like stunted at Goga and it made him hesitate, which bought him a second for him to make that extra rotation to the corner. And like Andrew Wiggins, as we've talked about, he is obviously a better, just like, pick up the ball, full court type of defender, right? And that was a huge part of how they won the title. But Jimmy Butler has a level of defensive playmaking to him that is a ceiling raiser that Andrew Wiggins isn't capable of. We talked about earlier, that intelligence piece. A lot of that is reading plays. There's a play the other day, I can't even remember which game it was, where he's like tracking a different player on a baseline cut. Jimmy Butler is coming through to the right side of the floor, but a different player got back cut on the warriors and Jimmy identified it and peeled off and jumped the passing lane. Got it and went the other way. Steph Curry, in my opinion, has always been a very smart defender. Game plan Discipline is a huge part of success in the modern NBA. Your coaches will spend hours pouring over film. Usually there's someone on the staff who's scouting a game three, four games down the line. Hey, you're in charge for scouting this game. This guy's in charge of scouting that game. They're pouring over film. This is a guy we close out short on. This is a guy that doesn't ever shoot a jump shot when he drives to the right, but he always will shoot a jump shot when he drives to the left. This is a guy that we do this for. This is a guy that we're doing that for. There's so much information there in the scouting report. And a lot of times we see defensive breakdowns and we blame the coaching staff. A lot of times it's a player who's just not obeying the game plan or not sticking or being disciplined to the game plan. The warriors have a lot of really, really smart defensive players out there, and it's a big part of how they've put together consistently a top 10 defense this season. But now they're showing an elite defense over the course of this recent stretch of games. But there was another end of the floor in that second half. An end of the floor where Steph Curry Went for 35 points just in the second half. Started with a half court heave right before the buzzer. At halftime, they cut the lead to 14. He cut some favorable coverages to start the third quarter. They were bringing Paolo and Wendell Carter Jr. Into the screening. And those guys were just sitting back and letting Kentavius, Caldwell, Pope just chase Steph over screens. And so he got a couple of really easy looks to start the third quarter. One that he made and one that he missed. But it actually got Steph into a groove. And so then when Orlando started to up the pressure, he was already on one of those classic Steph hot streaks. Cause he's hit a three, just hit a bomb in the first half. He's already in a groove there. I think he had what, 21 in the first half. There was nothing they can do at that point. He's already in the groove. These things are usually connected. Like a lot of times, if you play sloppy defense in an early portion of a game, a guy will get confident in a rhythm. It doesn't matter how tight you get on him in the second half or the rest of the game. These are some of the best shot makers in the history of the sport. Right? Steph is the best shooter in the history of the sport. He was getting downhill and he was stepping back in the mid range. He was getting guys with pump fakes to get separation. He had guys running out his base, drawing fouls. He drew five fouls in this game. He fooled Paulow several times in the second half, got him on a pump fake and got him on a foul where he ran out his base. KCP was just getting fried all night as Steph's primary defensive assignment. I thought KCP looked a little slow in this game, but that's another story. This is all super encouraging for the warriors because Steph had looked pretty rough before the Jimmy trade. Before Jimmy suited up, he was averaging 23 points per game on 43 from the field and 39 from three in the last eight games. With Jimmy Butler, he's averaging 31 points per game, 51 from the field and 43 from three. In other words, the Steph Curry that we've grown accustomed to for well over a decade now. But the one thing that was missing, even with everything having to do with the averages, was the explosive scoring nights. The crazy Steph's on another heater. Guys, everyone get to your TV type of moments. Steph didn't have a single 40 point game yet this season. Last year he had six. Last time he had a similar roster before the Jimmy trade in 2021, he had 1040 point games. Obviously a younger player. This is this explosive scoring night. Getting 56, getting like an otherworldly type of performance out of step against a good defense is a really, really strong indicator of what this team is capable of moving forward. It's a big part of why I believe in this team. Like, the defense was there all year. Jimmy just brings it up a level. Then you get Steph. A legitimate offensive co star in Jimmy. Then you get night to night greatness from Steph back. Now you're getting a real Steph explosion. There's an awesome quote from Jamal Mosley in the postgame presser. He was asked, coach, aside from Steph, because he's capable of doing this from time to time, what was the difference? He said the man had 56 points. There is no aside from Steph. And like, that's the exciting part. Like, if you're looking at this team as a playoff threat, it really is simple. They're an elite defense with a bunch of really smart players and a great head coach. And on the other end of the floor, it's Steph Curry. Except for now. You can't throw the entire kitchen sink at him because Jimmy Butler's out there too. And oh, by the way, Jonathan Kaminga is not too far behind. We would be, we, we can't write this team off when they're this good on defense and they're led by one of the greatest offensive players in the history of the sport. And he finally has someone that he can share that load with. Last note on the Warriors. I would be remiss if I did not mention Quinton Post's scoring in this game. I mentioned his rim protection earlier, but he poured in 18 points too. He had a couple of threes. By the way, Quinn Post is hitting 51% of his unguarded catch and shoot attempts so far this year. 1.53 points per attempt. That's amazing. Like, one of the big things that happens with shooting bigs is there's like the shooting big, the guy that's going to hit 35, 36% of like, to quote Dorian Finney Smith, butt naked, wide open threes that teams are just conceding to them. And then there's this guy's got a burner. We have to account for him. I was watching a little bit of Nuggets Bucks tonight and like Jokic is so good on the pick and pop. Teams are rotating from the weak side. They're guarding the pick and pop with three players because they can't afford to leave him open. There are a lot of bigs, guys like Miles Turner, guys like Nikola Vucevich, There are a lot of guys that are like, yeah, we'll live with him shooting out there. Quinn Post seems to have a burner. He looks like the kind of guy you can't leave out there, but I also thought he showed some impressive footwork in this game. He had a couple of buckets in the paint. He had a pick and roll switch where he buried a small under the basket, created a passing angle, quick finish over his left shoulder. He had another playoff of a cut. I think it was from Draymond. It might have been from Jimmy, actually, where he just really patiently handled a kind of a swarm of players around him and showed some good footwork with a pump fake, step through a little layup on the right side of the rim. He's just a really solid player. There's a lot to be excited about in the bay right now.
- [38:18]
AT&T Representative
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- [39:04]
T-Mobile Representative
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- [39:39]
Steph Curry
Make some noise for the greatest shooter of all time, Steph Curry. We went live from All Star Weekend for a new podcast called Goat Greatest of their Era and we ranked our top five shooters from the 2000s.
- [39:53]
Podcast Co-Host
Peja 5 Dirk Ford.
- [39:54]
Steph Curry
Paja is elite.
- [39:55]
Mark Seal
Okay, okay, I'm mad him I left him off my list, but I still like my list.
- [40:00]
Steph Curry
You won't believe who Steph left off his list.
- [40:03]
Podcast Co-Host
That's so tough. That's why we have these conversations.
- [40:06]
Steph Curry
Yes, absolutely.
- [40:07]
Podcast Co-Host
Love it.
- [40:07]
Steph Curry
Steph talked about what separates the truly elite NBA shooters.
- [40:11]
Podcast Co-Host
When you have a scouting report and you're on the list as not just a shooter, but we have specific rules for how we guard you. There's a fear factor that's associated with anytime you're wide open. Like you might as well just count that and get on back on defense.
- [40:27]
Steph Curry
Listen to Goat G O T e greatest of their era on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [40:35]
Bobby Bones
Everyone's forgotten who runs this valley. Time to remind them.
- [40:39]
Nathan King
Yellowstone fans, step into the Yellowstone universe. Our family legacy is this ranch.
- [40:45]
Bobby Bones
My protector of my life.
- [40:48]
Nathan King
Hosted by Bobby Bones, the official Yellowstone Podcast takes you deeper into the franchise that's captivated millions worldwide. Action Explore untold behind the scenes stories, exclusive cast interviews and in depth discussions about the themes and legacy of Yellowstone.
- [41:07]
Bobby Bones
You know, the first students to settle this valley fighting was all they knew.
- [41:12]
Nathan King
Whether you're a longtime fan or new.
- [41:14]
Mark Seal
To the ranch, welcome to the Yellowstone.
- [41:17]
Nathan King
Bobby Bones has everything you need to stay connected to the Yellowstone phenomenon.
- [41:22]
Mark Seal
I look forward to it.
- [41:24]
Nathan King
Listen to the official Yellowstone podcast Now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [41:32]
Bobby Bones
Let's go to work.
- [41:46]
Mark Seal
All right, quickly before we get out of here tonight, welcome to Course Correction brought to you by Microsoft. Just like star players and teams navigating performance hurdles, business decision makers today, they're under immense pressure to get things done 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 your challenge is facing, whatever challenge you're facing, Microsoft empowers you with the expertise to say, bring it on. This week we're discussing Russell Westbrook and his resurgence with the Denver Nuggets. I thought Russ was great in the Bucs game today. He was doing a lot of damage just getting steals and starting transition sequences for the Nuggets. He was attacking off of those. His man was the guy that was rotating to Jokic on a lot of those pop situations. The transition for Russ from MVP of the league to role player has been far from smooth. He was traded to the Lakers in a deal that sent out so much role player talent that there wasn't much role player talent left on the roster. When Russ got there. I've often said after that deal and after that whole era that it's not Westbrook's fault that that era went poorly. But it is the Westbrook trade's fault because it gutted the roster. It put Russ in a position where the Lakers like desperately needed him to be a Swiss army knife. Yeah, they needed him to be a shot creator and lead units when LeBron was off the floor, but they also needed him to play off the ball with LeBron and AD they needed him to be active as a cutter and a screener. They needed him to work on his catch and shoot game so that he could be more impactful in spot up situations on defense. They needed him to be like an apex perimeter defender. They needed him to box out, to track shooters, to be consistently attentive to the game plan. And he really struggled with those things somewhat to be expected. When you're an alpha dog, MVP level shot creator like he was for most of his career, it's unreasonable to expect him to just be great at those things that role players get paychecks for. That's why they're in the league. I think we're seeing a similar struggle from Bradley Beal right now with the Suns. He's transitioned from being one of those guys with Washington to now in Phoenix. Like they need him to be a really good rebounder and they need him to be a really good point of attack defender and it's just not something he spent most of his career doing. It didn't go well in LA for Russ. It even led to a lot of animosity with fans. And I'm not trying, like I'm not alleviating myself of guilt here. I was super critical of Russ during that phase as well. The point is, is it got pretty dark. There's a lot of adversity for Russ there. But Russ has completely reinvented himself with the Denver Nuggets as an extremely useful role player. He's already had an excellent demonstration of a two man game with Jokic. One of the things that makes it work with Russ is he brings real downhill force. One of the most valuable things that Jokic brings as a score is it's not just post up stuff in ball screens. When he rolls into the middle of the floor, he's got one of the deadliest little floaters that you'll see in the league, makes over 60% of them. But in order for Jokic to get that catch in the pocket, the ball handler has to engage the screen defender. The guy who's guarding Jokic. And the only way that's going to happen is if that player is a threat. And the Nuggets haven't had anybody other than Jamal Murray over the years who can be a consistent enough threat and a good enough passer to generate those opportunities for Jokic on the roll. Now Jamal did it more with like shot making, a little bit of floater stuff, a lot of like mid range pull up jump shot making, that kind of thing. Russ is doing it with downhill force. He's bringing that force, engaging Jokic's defender, setting him up with those pocket passes. But by far the biggest change that I've noticed is how much more willing he is to cut to the basket off the ball. He already has more buckets on cuts this year than he did his entire full season with the Lakers in 2022. As you saw in the first bucket against Milwaukee, his first bucket, the cut that he had, Jokic popped. Russ's man had to rotate. What did Russ do? Instead of just standing there at the three point line, he immediately saw his man leave him and he cut down the lane in that gap. Got a catch there, got an easy layup like that. That is a huge element of just being a threat off the ball that he wasn't really utilizing before this era. He's put in way more work behind the scenes to improve as a jump shooter. He's shooting the third highest percentage on threes for a season in his career. A rust catch and shoot jump shot has been worth 1.04 points this year. That's perfectly fine for a half court possession. He was at 31% his last year with the Lakers or just 0.93 points per shot. It was kind of untenable. He's put in the work. He's devoting way more energy to the defensive end where he's been a big defensive playmaker for the Nuggets, getting them going in transition, forcing turnovers. He's averaging the most steals per minute that he has in his career since 2019. Six years ago, guys, he's become a very nice complimentary piece for a dead serious championship contender, which seemed impossible a few years ago, and it's just a testament to his competitiveness and to his resolve. I've genuinely enjoyed watching him this season as a basketball fan. That's it for this week's course correction. And remember, Microsoft's AI Solutions empower you to make 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. All right guys, that's all I have for tonight. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. We will have another episode out on Saturday morning covering a slate of games from Friday night. I will see you guys then. 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.
- [48:26]
Nikki Glaser
This is Nikki Glazer from the Nikki Glazer Podcast. On a more serious note, I'm still thinking about that commercial with Tom Brady and Snoop Dogg hating on each other. Because when you listen to the reasons for hating someone or something, you realize just how stupid they really are. There is too much hate in this country and it's gotta stop. So join us at iHeart in standing up to it. If you see hate, speak up, call it out and you can learn more by following oupwithhate.
- [48:53]
Steph Curry
Make some noise for the greatest shooter of all time, Steph Curry. We went live from All Star Weekend for a new podcast called Goat Greatest of Their Era and we ranked our top five shooters from the 2000s.
- [49:06]
Podcast Co-Host
Peja 5 Dirk Ford.
- [49:07]
Steph Curry
Peja is a loop. You won't believe who Steph left off his list.
- [49:11]
Podcast Co-Host
That's so tough. That's why we have these conversations.
- [49:13]
Steph Curry
Yes, absolutely.
- [49:14]
Podcast Co-Host
Love it.
- [49:15]
Steph Curry
Listen to Goat G O T E Greatest of Their era on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [49:22]
Mark Seal
I'm Mark Seal.
- [49:23]
Bobby Bones
And I'm Nathan King.
- [49:25]
AT&T Representative
This is Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli.
- [49:27]
Mark Seal
The five families did not want us to shoot that picture.
- [49:30]
Bobby Bones
This podcast is based on my co host Mark Seals best selling book of the same title. Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli features new and archival interviews with Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Evans, James Caan, Talia Shire, and many others.
- [49:43]
AT&T Representative
Yes, that was a real horse's head.
- [49:45]
Bobby Bones
Listen and subscribe to Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [49:53]
Minnie Driver
What if you ask two different people the same set of questions? Even if the questions are the same, our experiences can lead us to drastically different answers. I'm Minnie Driver and I set out to explore this idea in my podcast. And now Mini Questions is returning for another season. We've asked an entirely new set of guests our seven Questions, including Jane Lynch, Delaney Rowe and Cord Jefferson. Listen to mini questions on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Seven questions limitless answers.