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Dan Flores (18:49)

The American west with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network. Hosted by me, writer and historian Dan Flores and brought to you by Velvet Buck, this podcast looks at a West available nowhere else. Each episode I'll be diving into some of the lesser known histories of the West. I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian Dr. Randall Williams and best selling author and Meat Eater founder Stephen Rinella.

Historian (19:19)

I'll correct my kids now and then they'll say when cave people were and I'll say it seems like the Ice Age people that were here didn't have a real affinity for caves.

Dan Flores (19:29)

So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th where we'll delve into stories of the west and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today.

Jason (19:41)

Listen to the American west with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Host (19:49)

I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Advertiser (20:04)

Across the country, cops called this Taser the Revolution.

Host (20:08)

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Jason (20:11)

Cops believed everything that Taser told them.

Host (20:14)

From Lava for good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season one Taser Incorporated.

Co-host (20:30)

I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad.

Host (20:36)

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1 Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes 1, 2 and 3 on May 21 and episodes 4, 5 and 6 on June 4 ad free at Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.

Advertiser (20:59)

On November 5, 2018 at 6:33am, a red Volkswagen Golf was found abandoned in a ditch out in Sleep Hole Valley. The driver's seat door was open. No traces of footsteps leaving the vehicle. No belongings were found except for a cassette tape lodged in the player. On that tape were ten Vile no.

Jason (21:28)

No no no no no no no no.

Advertiser (21:31)

Grotesque.

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Oh my God.

Co-host (21:35)

Oh my God.

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Horrific stories that to this day have been kept restricted from the public until now. You feeling this too? A horror anthology podcast. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Jason (21:58)

Now the Thunder, they have the combination of that maximizing their talent and the absurd on paper talent. That's why they're such a substantial favorite to win the title at this point. But I think that what the Pacers have done and what the Thunder have done are an example or is the example that everyone should look to follow. Now this is where the advantage creation piece steps in, because capitalizing on low hanging fruit can only get you so far. One of the things we talked about a lot over the course of the last couple couple of years is like the ideal construct for a NBA basketball team. And obviously there's so many unicorns out there that like, like you can't talk about a an ideal construct surrounding Jokic. There's no one else in the league like Jokic or Steph. There's no one else in the league like Step or Giannis. There's no one else in the league like Giannis. But there are simple concepts within the within the modern NBA that theoretically every player can capitalize on right in a ball screen. If they're in a low drop coverage and you set good screens, there are opportunities to score against the drop. Pull up threes, floaters, mid range jump shots, things along those lines, or you're in a deep drop coverage. The pick and pop should in theory be open every single time you come up to the level. Now the roll to the pocket pass should be open every single time they're tagging the roller. Well then the skip pass should be Open every single time. Oh, you're switching. Okay, well then now I've got a big guy on my Tyrese Halliburton guard or I've got a small guy on, you know, a Turner or a Siakam around the basket. And so we talked about these concepts. A skill guard, a player that can consistently make the reads within those pick and roll situations based on what the coverage is dictating and then having. What's one of the. The position groups that I always talk about, the matchup attacking forward. This is a player that is primarily kind of like a tip of the spear. He's not a guy that's going to be running a ton of on ball action. But the result of action, whether it be transition cross matches or a ball screen that forces a switch, is going to end up in a lot of situations where Siakam or your matchup attacking forward gets to attack a player who's either too small to guard him or too slow to guard him. And that's what the beauty of the Pascal Siakam trade was for the Pacers. Tyrese Halliburton was the ideal skill guard. The player that relentlessly hunted advantages, the player that could score against drop coverage, that could make all the reads against aggressive pick and roll coverages and when his hamstring is healthy, is a deadly switch beater. And that has made him the quintessential kind of like on ball skill guard in the NBA. Right. But what they were lacking was a player they could pitch the ball to on the other side of those actions, a player that could be like, okay, their bigs are defending well on switches. Tyrese is having a rough shooting night. He's five for 16. He's three for 10 from three. He's having a little bit of a hard time beating Mitchell Robinson on switches. Well, who's the guy you can go to that is an on an island get a bucket guy that can either bully Smalls to the basket or can beat bigs with quickness and speed. And that's what Pascal Siakam is gets going in this game with transition leak outs. Just that relentless kick ahead passing that Indiana uses. And then just countless times, just like last year against Josh Hart, just beating up Josh Hart against Switches, drawing fouls against Carl Anthony Towns in space. The ability to either get big guys out of position or get small guys into a situation where they can't handle how big he is. He just can score. And that was not working for the Pacers in the first game. That's one of the Things that's so crazy about this one. The Knicks looked like they were in control of the Pacer bigs in mismatches in game one, not in this game. They got torched.39 points for Pascal Siakam. Just an absolutely monster night. And then in the fourth quarter it was the pick and roll ball handlers. I thought TJ McConnell had a brilliant stretch to start the fourth quarter. That was where the first margin was. You look at this game is very back and forth. No team was really separating. The Knicks or the Pacers finally built a little bit of separation in the early fourth quarter off TJ McConnell ball screens. They ran a drop coverage. He beat it with a little mid range jump shot. Then they started blitzing him or showing at the level and he just beat Robinson and Cat over and over again. Just making simple reads like four or five times in a row to start the quarter. Generated a great shot for his team on the other end of the floor. Mikhail Bridges was a little bit cold to start the fourth quarter. He did hit a few mid range jumpers in the middle of the fourth quarter, but Mikhail couldn't keep up. All of a sudden we had a little bit of margin. And then when Tyrese Halliburton came in, just a steady diet of that textbook high ball screen attack, attacking the bigs, attacking Brunson. He had multiple driving kicks against Brunson making Mitchell Robinson pay for sagging off of Miles Turner or sagging off of Pascal Siakam. Just beating them with the same, the same, same decision making tree that he's been using his entire NBA career. And once they built that margin, it just ended up being too much for the Knicks to overcome. They had, they almost pulled a little bit of magical comeback of their own there down the stretch, but ultimately it's just really difficult to make to make up for a 10 point deficit in the final minutes like they were dealing with. The Knicks have a little bit of a problem when they play Carl Anthony Towns. They're nowhere near good enough defensively to keep up with this Pacers team. They got rolled with Cat on the floor tonight, even with him having extended stretches of successful offense, especially in the first half. But then with Mitchell Robinson, even though he brings a ton of good in a late game situation, it's like, well, he can't shoot free throws and he's got a little bit of a tendency to sag off of shooters. He got burned by Siakam and by Turner in the fourth quarter of this game. So on the one hand it's frustrating because I don't think they have an answer for this series, but I think there's some reality to the proof of concept that this has been in this postseason run, which is I think Mikael Bridges and OG Anunoby and Josh Hart is fly around forwards that can rotate and wreck havoc defensively and OG Anunoby is a weak side scorer and Mikhail Bridges is a guy who can run action. When Jalen Brunson's off the floor and Jalen Brunson proving himself over and over again over the last few years as one of the more reliable playoff shot creators, all of that is fine. But they need to have an option at center that can anchor all of this defensively, and that's where it gets tricky. I don't know that Carl Anthony Towns fits into the theoretical championship version of what the Knicks can be, but I think we've seen enough out of Mitchell Robinson, a extremely talented but flawed player, that if they get a legitimate center that all of a sudden this makes a lot of sense. And I think that's something that they need to look into this summer as a vehicle with which to improve this roster. Can the Knicks come back to win this series? They certainly can. The Pacers, after winning the first two games in Cleveland, came home and got their butt kicked and game four, you know, obviously they come out and utterly dominate the Cavs. It's going to be really difficult to get this done, but the Knicks have shown an ability to win on the road in this postseason run. I do think switching is their best option. When they switch, it puts the onus on matchup attacking. I like that as an option more than blitzing like they did for stretches of the fourth quarter or high drop, low drop, any of those sorts of things. I would switch and then you've got to contain the ball and you've got to rotate. But at this point, like I thought coming into the series that the Pacers were just better than the Knicks on both ends of the floor. I thought they were a better offense and I thought they were a better defense and I think they've pretty clearly shown that to this point through two games. And now you've got to beat them four times out of five, with three of those five games being in Indiana and it's just going to be a lot for them to overcome.

Advertiser (30:38)

T mobile stats are as impressive as your favorite athlete's highlight reel because T mobile helps keep you connected from the heart of Portland to right where you are on America's largest 5G network switch. Now keep your phone and T Mobile will pay it off at the $800 per line via prepaid card. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com KeepAndSwitch up to four lines via virtual prepaid card. Last 15 days qualifying unlock device, credit service port in 90 plus days device and eligible carrier and timely redemption Required card is no cash access and expires in six months.

Dan Flores (31:08)

The American west with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network. Hosted by me, writer and historian Dan Flores and brought to you by Velvet but Buck, this podcast looks at a West available nowhere else. Each episode I'll be diving into some of the lesser known histories of the West. I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian Dr. Randall Williams and best selling author and Meat Eater founder Stephen Rinella.

Historian (31:39)

I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say when cave people were here. And I'll say it seems like the Ice Age people that were here didn't have a real affinity for caves.

Dan Flores (31:49)

So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th where we'll delve into stories of the west and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today.

Jason (32:00)

Listen to the American west with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Host (32:09)

I know a lot of cops and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no.

Advertiser (32:24)

Across the country, cops called this Taser the Revolution.

Host (32:28)

But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Jason (32:31)

Cops believed everything that Taser told them.

Host (32:34)

From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multi billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season one, Taser Incorporated.

Co-host (32:49)

I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really really bad.

Host (32:56)

Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season 1 Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts binge. Episodes where 1, 2 and 3 on May 21 and episodes 4, 5 and 6 on June 4 ad free at Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.

Advertiser (33:19)

On November 5, 2018 at 6:33am, a red Volkswagen Golf was found abandoned in a ditch out in Sleep Hole Valley. The driver's seat door was open. No traces of footsteps leaving the vehicle. No belongings were found except for a cassette tape lodged in the player on that tape were 10 vile.

Jason (33:48)

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Advertiser (33:51)

Grotesque.

Jason (33:52)

Oh my God.

Co-host (33:54)

Oh my God.

Advertiser (33:56)

Horrific stories that to this day have been kept restricted from the public until now. You feeling this too? A horror anthology podcast. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Jason (34:18)

All right, Jackson's gonna come on and we're gonna take a a couple of questions before we get out of here for the night.

Co-host (34:23)

Let's do it. Let's do it. We got a couple super chat questions to start with. First one super chat from Kobus. Hi Jason, do you think the Knicks offense is too isocentric? It feels like they've relied too much on cat and sort of expand on that. If they do end up moving Cat, do you think that helps that problem or hurts that problem?

Jason (34:43)

So I think that there's a certain amount like both teams did more switching with their fives tonight, New York more than than Indiana did. Miles Turner was doing more of like kind of like a read and react switch. Mean like he kind of exists in a higher drop and then if the defender got or the on ball guy got wiped out by the screen, it would just turn into appeal switch or if the defender got over the top then he would like try to recover. But inevitably with the amount of switching that that the teams do, there's going to be a certain amount of of ISO ball that's just part of NBA basketball. Also like when you really get into it, Jalen Brunson when he's got that left shoulder fade going the way that he had it going tonight, like there's a certain point where like that's some of their most reliable offense is that sort, that sort of thing. There are opportunities to attack in driving kick situations. The problem is is it's always going to bog down when you have non shooters on the floor. So for instance, McHale bridges just continually being incapable of hitting catch and shoot threes in this postseason run, that's going to kill a drive and kick attack. Josh Hart being a guy that's a little bit hesitant to take catch and shoot three point shots that can kill drive and kick attack, right. And so one of the things that makes the Indiana Pacers ball and player movement work is every dude on the floor will take that shot and will take it and make it. And so it, it allows their rotation sequences to work better. There's a lot of sequences with the Knicks where you're like I kind of want Jalen Brunson taking this ISO jump shot because otherwise it's going to be Mikhail Bridges unnaturally jumping super high and kicking his legs on a random catch and shoot three like, like he's getting chased off the line. And so I think there are some realities to the Nick Knicks roster. My thing is like in general you want to keep everybody involved in that ISO attack. But also down the stretch of this game, Tibbs wasn't trusting Cat and really down the stretch, if you guys really get into it, Brunson was scoring. It just they couldn't get stops when they needed to. What did they give up? 60 something points in the second half?

Co-host (36:46)

Yeah, it's, it's a sort of a tough problem that they have. It is their best option but you can't do it too much. It's like that, that balance is sort of the ever existing question for all of these sort of heliocentric players and teams, honestly.

Jason (36:59)

Exactly.

Co-host (36:59)

Another super chat question, this one from John. Huge Knicks fan. But as soon as Giannis got eliminated, I immediately thought about a Cat for Giannis trade thoughts. Obviously, as everyone said it was responding to John in the chat. The Knicks would need to add a lot to their side of the deal. But just as like the Bucks are probably going to trade Giannis and the Knicks may want to trade Cat sort of mind. Mind space.

Jason (37:23)

Yeah, it'd be really difficult because of just all the different salaries involved. Like you'd almost want, you'd want Kat and you'd want one of their wings and it's just really difficult to make all of that work. But just in theory, like I love the idea of having just a monstrous defensive forward kind of like anchoring all of this. But to me, like with Brunson being a big time pick and roll player and with the overall rotational ability that they have at the forward position and I honestly think that Brunson and OG and McHale is plenty of scoring ability. I'm not necessarily worried about that. I would be targeting more of like a traditional center. I would want like a 7 foot tall, switchable rim protecting, kind of like mobile big a guy that can be a vertical spacer. I do think we underrated just how much Isaiah Hartenstein. Like we're going to talk about this, you know, like, like we were talking about this at the beginning of the show in terms of low hanging fruit like Isaiah Hartenstein unlocked a whole back cut game for the, for the Thunder this year. There was a big one in our film session this morning where Shea back cut, Hardenstein hit him. It generated a wide open three for Lou Dort. Like, there's a certain amount of. Of skill that you want at that position, too. Like, that's why I think the cat Mitchell Robinson dynamic has been super fascinating. If you could somehow take some of Cats offensive viability and combine it with Mitchell Robinson as a defensive weapon, all of a sudden, this whole thing makes a ton of sense. And in order to make that happen, like, you need a starting caliber player at that center spot right now. There's another way you can look at it, too, is, like, from the standpoint of payroll, you can't have Brunson making a ton of money, OG making a ton of money, McHale making a ton of money, and a center making a ton of money. And so they might have to make an even bigger picture decision about which one of the forwards kind of fits into that mix. But I like the idea of Brunson being anchored by, like, a monstrous defensive center. I think it just covers for a lot of their weaknesses on that end.

Co-host (39:32)

There's, like. Because of the Mavericks roster, everyone is designing fake trades around Daniel Gafford or Derek Lively, and for good reason, because I think those guys are exactly what you're describing. It would be very, very helpful for a lot of teams, including this one.

Jason (39:47)

It's just a. It's like a floor raiser. You know what I mean? And, like, yeah, there's. It's tough because you can't have, like. Like, we. We saw Miles Turner, for instance, like, really struggle for extended stretches of. Of game one right there. It needs to be a certain type of center. I've seen, like, Nick Claxton is the name that gets thrown around a million times this. Over the course of this, this season. And like, Nick Claxton to me is like the bottom. Yeah, any player below Nick Claxton's level. It doesn't make sense to be paying that much for that type of player. But, like, I would be probing all over the place. I'd be. I'd be. I'd be calling on. I. I'd be calling on Nick Claxton. I'd be calling on what's his face. I'm blanking all of a sudden. This is how brain fried I am through the postseason run. But what's his face from the Jazz?

Co-host (40:37)

Walker Kessler.

Jason (40:39)

Walker Kessler. Excuse me. I'd be calling on just, like, dudes that are in that kind of mid to late twenties that are just, like, rock solid centers that you could potentially anchor with this group. Because I think. I think. I think there's been enough that we've seen from their core players that this can work. They're just clearly not good enough defensively with Carl Anthony Towns on the floor, and that's a death sentence.

Co-host (41:03)

All right, let's move a little bit to the Pacer side. Question is, given the Pacers depth and Halberton's ability to run the offense without turning it over, aren't the Pacers the best team? The team that's best equipped to beat okc?

Jason (41:18)

The problem is, is I view it all through the scope of matchups, right? Every is like we were talking about it earlier with like Golden State versus Minnesota or versus Oklahoma City. You know, like there's a certain amount of like one team might be perfectly equipped to beat another team, vice versa. The I talked about going into the postseason like there's a certain amount of perimeter size and playmaking and shooting that you need to beat Oklahoma City. And really the only teams that I thought had that combination, like legitimate size advantages at multiple positions, the ability to process quickly against a, like a swarming defense, and to knock down the catch and shoot threes that you get out of it. The only three teams that I thought had great chances to beat Oklahoma City were Denver, the Lakers and the Celtics. Because The Lakers have LeBron and Luka that can attack their smalls, their elite processors and they could put out lineups that could shoot the Celtics, Tatum and Brown. The ability to attack size mismatches, the ability to space the floor and shoot. Denver through Aaron Gordon and through Nicola Jokic and even Jamal Murray to a certain extent. The size and strength positionally, the processing ability to get the ball out in, the ability to shoot. And all three of those teams are eliminated. And you know, it's like, like all of them were flawed in their own ways to begin with as we look back. And so honestly, the problem for the Pacers is they have the processing and they have the shooting. They don't have the size. They don't have the size to cause Oklahoma City problems on the perimeter. I see it being a series where Neesmith, Nemhard and Halliburton are just literally in jail all series long because you could not conceptualize a more well equipped defense to handle all of their speed on the perimeter. This is the other team that loves to run more than anybody else in the league. They're switchable, they're well coached, their attention to detail is fantastic. They don't turn the ball over. They're. They're never going to let go of the rope the way the Knicks do. Like to me, essentially the the, the Thunder are just a substantially better version of the Pacers and a deeper and more versatile version. So like, I, I'm going to be honest with you guys, I would be stunned at this point if the Thunder didn't win the title. Like, absolutely stunned if they didn't win the title.

Co-host (43:40)

Another sort of question about the Pacers. How sustainable do you think this playstyle is for the long term? Do you think they can be the new team to beat in the east with Boston seemingly falling off? Or is this sort of run and gun style going to either get scouted out? Is there, are there players going to not going to be able to hold up? Do you think this is sort of a long term big picture formula for the Pacers to sort of be the kings of the East?

Jason (44:03)

I think they're going to be near the top of the east year in, year out. Like a team that's consistently like a conference finalist kind of kind of situation. The problem is, is like, when it comes to the simple art of just getting buckets against elite defensive players, like, let's look at the Thunder series, for example. Like, I think in order to beat the Thunder, you've got to be able to have a guy that like, they simply cannot guard. And like, we saw that like when we'd watch the Lakers against him, it's like they cannot guard Luca. When you watch Jokic against him, it's like they cannot guard Nicole Jokic. I'm not sitting here saying like, Pascal Siakam can't score on the Thunder. Of course he can. But is he going to be 39 points on 23 shots against the Thunder? Probably not. You know, like, Tyrese Halliburton is a capable switch beater, but is he going to be able to stare down Chad Holmgren and Lou Dort and K's on Wallace and like get tough buckets over and over again the way that you need to. I just don't think so. And so, like, I think ultimately Indiana's ceiling is based on the fact that they don't have a singular top tier bucket getter type of dude that like is invincible to a certain defensive scheme. Like, I think the Thunder will most likely end up just doing a great deal of switching against Indiana and just live with the results and believe that their defenders are going to do just fine against Siakam and Halliburton. In order for Indiana to like, truly be what I would consider to be like a top tier contender in this league, I think they would need a better version of Siakam. Like if it was like a truly indomitable offensive force at the forward position, like, let's just say it was like a Kevin Durant, LeBron type of guy at the 4. Now I'm looking at that as a team that can like legitimately beat the very best teams in the league in the championship round. But I, I, I'm just concerned about their ability against, against an Oklahoma City defense to, to really create shots when things bog down.

Co-host (46:18)

Yeah, you need a better version of Siakam or you need Ben Matheran to become this like super versatile scoring machine. Basically.

Jason (46:27)

Yeah, a better version of Andrew Nemhardt. Like a version of Andrew Nemhard that is like to the point, indomitable. So like if Ben Matherin became like somewhere around the 20th to 25th best player in the league and played at the two next to Halliburton and as an, as a freaky athletic guard was kind of there, this is the guy that no one can stop him from getting to his spot. And like, you just kind of have to hope he misses kind of thing like that. Like that's, that's where it gets tough. I'm just, There's a lot of Indiana, A lot of what Indiana does capitalizes on natural openings that occur in basketball games. And the Thunder just don't give you a lot of natural openings. The one thing that will be interesting, and I'll say this just up front, the Thunder are very much like a load up. The strong side ball pressure, aggressive defense and Tyrese Halliburton is an excellent over the top passer. So I am curious to see how Mark Dagenault actually structures his defensive game plan. Because we have seen coaches like Chris Finch go like, we're going to play our base regular season scheme against the Thunder. And even though it's like legitimately the exact opposite of what Denver just showed us works. And if Mark Dagonal does the exact same thing and Tyrese is just throwing skip passes to Siakam and Nismith for the entire first two games of the series and they get a bunch of wide open threes, then yeah, like they, they can steal a game or two. But like, I think ultimately Dagnutt will, will read the room and be like, what we really need to do is kind of stay glued to everybody individually here and trust that our individual defenders are too much for them to be able to handle for sure.

Co-host (48:05)

Last question for tonight's YouTube stream. Thoughts on home court advantage in the playoffs. It seems like it hasn't mattered very much so far.

Jason (48:14)

I think you know, I've seen a lot of talk about this. I, I don't have a real feel for what is causing it because statistically, I, I shouldn't even say statistically. It's just in the win, win losses. There's an obvious reality to the fact that road teams are more comfortable now than they used to be. I don't have like a reasoning for it though, because the game is more predicated on jump shooting than ever. So in theory, like comfort shooting at home should play an even bigger role. But if I had to, if you, you know, like said, okay, you've got to assign it to something. I would assign it to the physicality. I think the overall physicality increase in the playoffs in the last couple of years has in general dragged every game closer and lower scoring, which has made every game a little bit more of a coin flip than some of the game. The kind of like trading off blowouts that we saw in years past. And then also before we're done here tonight, I had a buddy of mine shout out to NMZ Hoops, a guy that does great work covering the league on Twitter sent me this question. He said at this point, and this is a question from the Minnesota series, should Minnesota abandon Rudy Gobert setting picks and go to more guard to guard action? Rudy can hold space in the dunker spot. All he'd have to do is catch and finish rather than make decisions in the short roll. Have Ant target Shay for fatigue and foul trouble using more threatening screeners. So a couple things. This is a really interesting question. We talked a little bit about this last night with the ghost screens. They were getting clean looks or clean ish looks for Dante DiVincenzo in particular slipping out of ghost screenshots, targeting Shea in particular. It like the. The specific emphasis here from NMZ is that threatening screeners part because they are hedging and recovering with Shay. So it's not like Ant's gonna be able to just pick on Shay and switches and just look to attack him one on one. At least not as easily as it could happen from like a transition cross match or some other, an offensive rebound cross match, something along those lines. But there are openings that they can get by having guards slip out of screens. Not just with Dante or whoever it is who's being guarded by Shea, but also inverted because they ran some inverted action where like Dante would get screened by Ant and and then pitch it back to Ant. Oklahoma City has a little bit of a natural tendency to linger on the ball with their second defender. Anyway, Kind of regardless of who it is, it's just part of their kind of basketball identity as a very aggressive, turnover forcing type of team. So I think you could even get Ant some initial advantages from him slipping out of inverted ball screens. But my thing is like, I think the only chance that the Timberwolves have to win this series is to attack off the catch with Ant, to attack off the catch with Julius. Those clean catch and shoot looks Julius got in the first round or first half of game one. Ant in general in this postseason has been so deadly, attacking off the catch. The only way you're going to do that is early in the possession to get into your drive and kick because you can't be pitching it to the corner with four or five seconds on the shot clock. The ball will never get worked back around. So getting the ball up the floor quickly with pace and then using a guard screen as a simple example of to. To his point, instead of having Rudy trying to operate out of a four on three, which has been an absolute disaster, have a more skilled player start your four on three. So for instance, let's say that Dante screens on Ant's right side and quickly slips out of it to the left wing. Shea lingers for a second. Pitch it to him. Dante needs to rack left immediately. Right on the catch. Beat the hedge. The hedger recovering in this case. Shay, now you're in an advantage creating situation. I do trust Dante to make the next read. From there it's on Ant and Julius to quickly figure out their spacing and get to a spot where they can attack on the catch. And I do think from there they can have some more opportunities. But to NMZ's point, like, I am 100% in agreement, like, get the guy who's leading the 4 on 3 to be a higher level offensive player than Rudy Gobert. And so having those guards slipping out of screens is a simple way to get those attacks. They just need to not immediately settle for the three because there was a little bit of a tendency in game two for them to slip out of the ghost screen and take the movement three, which is not a terrible shot, but it's a tough shot and I wouldn't necessarily lean on that unless there's, you know, five seconds on the shot clock attack off of that, get into your drive and kick, try to generate some more off the catch opportunities for Anton Julius. All right, guys, that is all we have for tonight on YouTube. We are heading over to Playback Again. That's Playback TV slash hoops tonight. No Jackson tonight. It'll just be me over there. We're going to be taking some callers and watching some film again. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting us and supporting the show. I will see you guys on playback here in just a few minutes. 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.

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