← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Hoops Tonight - Reaction to BIZARRE Clippers "part ways" w/ Chris Paul + Celtics smoke Knicks, Thunder beat Warriors
00:40:53
Loading summary
Transcript57 lines
- [00:00]
Podcast Advertiser
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
- [00:05]
Love. The Night Reach for Zyn After Dark, a limited cocktail inspired series for those who get up when the sun goes down. Try Zyn's Mojito Spiced Cider and Espresso Martini Nicotine Pouches. Find them at select retailers. Available while supplies last. Zinn After Dark Bring on the night.
- [00:31]
Warning this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.
- [00:37]
Colin Coward
Get your mother lovin ears on because your big time radio DJs got news. PayPal lets you choose how you want to pay for all the stuff.
- [00:45]
Jason
With PayPal I can pay in store.
- [00:47]
Colin Coward
Pay online, or pay overtime. What's that?
- [00:51]
Jason
You want this translated into song?
- [00:53]
Colin Coward
I hope you're sitting down.
- [00:55]
Jason
You can pay your own way.
- [00:58]
Colin Coward
You keep those ears on, you hear. Don't just pay, baby. PayPal.
- [01:03]
Liberty Mutual Announcer
Learn more@paypal.com if a Lenovo computer for your business is on your holiday list, don't shop around. Just go directly to the source. Lenovo.com youm'll find exclusive deals on the PCs you want for your business, like the ThinkPad X914 Aura Edition and Yoga 7i 2in1. So avoid all that shopping chaos and price comparing and just go directly to the source. Lenovo.com where PCs are up to 50% off. That's Lenovo.com Lenovo Lenovo.
- [01:35]
Colin Coward
Hi, it's Colin from the Colin Coward Podcast. I've been around long enough to know quality when I see it, or in this case, when I taste it. Tito's Handmade Vodka. Good stuff. No flash, no gimmicks. Smooth, clean, tasting. Made the right way. Tito's made in Austin, Texas. Real attention to detail. I like to keep it simple. Tito's Soda one one lime, lot of ice. Refreshing, easy. Summer, winter, spring. Totally versatile. Always works. Listen, Baseball season's here. The perfect time to kick back with some Tito's. It's what I pour. You should too. Distilled and bottled by 5th Generation Inc. Austin, Texas 40% alcohol by volume. Savor responsibly.
- [02:15]
Total Wireless Announcer
This podcast is sponsored by Total Wireless, the official wireless partner of ufc. When you're streaming the fight or sharing those takedown highlights, you need a wireless provider that keeps you close to the action. With Total Wireless, you're covered by the Verizon 5G network, so you don't have to worry about your connection being knocked out at the biggest moments. It's not something you can usually say about a wireless provider, but Total Wireless really does have your back. They're in your corner every second of the day so so you never miss a thing. Visit totalwireless.com or visit your local Total Wireless Store to learn more about how Total Wireless can be in your corner. 5G access requires a 5G capable device and a 5G service area. Additional terms apply. See website for details.
- [03:07]
Podcast Advertiser
The Volume.
- [03:22]
Jason
All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the Volume. Happy Wednesday everybody. Hope all of you guys are having an incredible week. Got a jam packed show for you guys today. We got some wild news this morning when we woke up, very weird morning for me. I woke up to my first like real snow day in Denver. I woke up to over 6 inches of snow around my house. My dogs were going crazy. I don't know if I'm gonna be able to leave the house today. We'll see how that goes. But I've heard good things about the way that Denver cares for their roads, but also woke up to the news that Chris Paul is going to be shipped away from the Los Angeles Clippers at some point in the next few weeks. We got an announcement saying that this is from Lawrence Frank. We are parting ways with Chris and he will no longer be with the team. We will work with him on the next step of his career and then he goes on into some more details that we'll get into in a minute. But Chris no longer with the Clippers. I want to talk about how weird this is, why cooler heads probably should have pro prevailed here considering no one actually is having fun and having a good time when you're getting your butt kicked every night. And then I want to talk a little bit about some specific lineup numbers that point me more towards the stars when it comes to the struggles that the Clippers are having. And then after that we're going to hit a couple of national TV games from last night. So the New York Knicks jumped the Boston Celtics early, but the Celtics pretty much dominate them throughout the remainder of that game. Some really fascinating shot creation from Jalen Brown. Some exciting trends for the Celtics in terms of the simple fact that believe it or not, even though The Celtics are 30th in defensive rebounding percentage, they are winning the rebound margin in a way that I want to dig into thanks to the effort of their athletic wings, guys like Jordan Walsh and Hugo Gonzalez and Josh Minot. So some Celtics talk. Also, if you're a Knicks, if you're a skeptic in the Knicks at any way, shape or form, last night was like just a giant advertisement for every single one of the Knicks issues. We'll dig a little bit into that. Then at the tail end of the show, what was supposed to be just a blowout as Oklahoma City goes into Golden State with Steph Curry out of the lineup, turned into another intense, clutch basketball game where the Thunder just played perfect basketball down the stretch. I want to dig into some of the specifics there, just how good Shake Elder has been in the clutch this season, their role players, their ball movement, their willingness and to make the right play and knock down shots, and some exciting trends with the Oklahoma City Thunder. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. So follow me on Twitter at_jason lt 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 in a review. On that front, Jackson's doing incredible work on our social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Make sure you guys follow us there for more content throughout the season. And then last but not least, if you want to get mailbag questions into our mailbag, make sure you go into our full episodes on YouTube. Scroll down, leave a comment and write Mailbag with a colon. Write your comment or your question and we'll get to them in our Friday mailbags. Obviously we'll have a mailbag coming this coming Friday. One last quick thing. Two last quick things actually. Make sure you like this video helps us a lot, so if you just take a second to scroll down and hit that like button, we'd really appreciate it. And then lastly, we have our first playback stream of the week. We're hitting two Eastern Conference Laker games this week, Lakers Raptors tomorrow night and Lakers Celtics on Friday night. I've reached out to some people who cover the Raptors and Celtics. I'm going to try to get some guests on so that we can get some more joint coverage of the two teams throughout the show from people that are intimately involved with covering the Raptors and the Celtics. But at the very least we will be live on playback Thursday night for Lakers Raptors as well as Friday night for Lakers Celtics. Should be a couple of fun ones there. All right, let's talk some basketball. So this is the latest in a long line of hilarious treatment of stars by the Clippers front office. We all remember the Blake Griffin fiasco and everything associated with that. The crazy meeting, the T shirts that were printed, all of the hoopla and basically fake investment, fake Emotional investment in Blake Griffin and his future with the Clippers before they promptly shipped him out of town. Juxtaposed with the bizarre Kawhi Leonard aspiration fiasco and the fact that he's been getting paid underneath the table millions and millions and millions of dollars, allegedly as part of a cap circumvention scheme that just continues to get more and more crazy. The more details that come out. And then four days ago, the Clippers team account tweets a press conference clip of Chris Paul talking about how much he loves it in Los Angeles. And there's a quote of an actual statement in the tweet from the clippers that says CP3 will end his hall of Fame career at home. Well, not anymore. And you know, we know there's going to be more to this story as Chris Paul has been shipped home and like Lawrence Frank, for the record, has come out and said that he's not blaming Chris Paul. We read the beginning of this quote at the start of the show, but he says, we are parting ways with Chris and he will no longer be with the team. We will work with him on the next step of his career. So they're going to find a new home for him. But he also said, Chris is a legendary Clipper who had a historic career. I want to make one thing very clear. No one is blaming Chris for our underperformance. I accept responsibility for the record we have right now. There are a lot of reasons why we've struggled. We're grateful for the impact Chris has made on this franchise. We ended up just before we started recording, getting some more details. Sham Charania tweeted Chris Paul and his leadership style clashed with the Clippers. Sources tell espn. Paul had been a had been vocal in holding management, coaches and players accountable, which the team felt became disruptive. Specifically, Ty Lue was not on speaking terms with Paul for several weeks. Chris Haynes then ends up tweeting sources. Weeks ago, Chris Paul requested to have a meeting with Tyron Lou to discuss allegations of being a negative presence on the team. Lou refused to meet with him. Lawrence Frank traveled to Atlanta to deliver the news of parting ways. Paul desired a final season to be with the Clippers. Now there's going to be a lot more that comes out about this. That tweet from Chris Haynes is very clearly Chris Paul's perspective on the situation. I'm sure there's more to it. One of the biggest things that I think about there is like they're getting smashed every night. They've lost 14 of their last 16 games. Like, who's going to have a good attitude right now? Who's going to be all hunky, dory, smiley and infusing positive energy into the situation? They are. They suck. They're playing trash basketball. Right? It's going to be really hard to keep a good attitude in a situation like that. We've even seen James Harden and Kawhi Leonard themselves go into post game pressers and essentially be like the team's not good enough and start talking about the role players. It's just weird. And so like, it's one of those things where I kind of just feel like cooler heads should have prevailed and we don't know if what Chris Paul is essentially channeling through Chris Haynes is true that he requested to have a meeting with Tyron Lou, but ultimately like this should have been one of those situations where people get together and they go, look, I know you're pissed. I'm pissed too. He's pissed. We're all pissed. We were a legitimate championship contender last year and now we're a bad basketball team. We're getting our butts kicked every single night, even with our stars healthy. Like, this is just bad. Let's find a way to kind of work this out and try to move forward towards our goals. Especially when you, you know, the last thing the Clippers need right now is fewer good basketball players. So like, on a certain level, I just wish cooler heads would have prevailed, but it's just weird. And I'm sure we're going to get more details. I'm sure we're going to get some sort of detailed reporting that comes out from both sides of the story over the course of the next couple of days. We'll obviously have more thoughts about that as that information comes out. But what has happened to the Clippers to me is pretty simple. It's an across the board decline from their stars in combination with a lack of some key pieces that contributed to the team last year. But I'm always going to point towards the stars when the stars themselves aren't able to leverage their gifts the way that they typically do. Just a very simple stat to demonstrate this. And I know Kawhi and James Harden are putting up counting stats, but the actual shot creation data and especially their effort on the defensive end has not been the same. And there has been a massive drop off in the defensive performance of this Clippers team with which is undercutting any sort of statistical success that James Harden and Kwai Leonard might be having. So in 2025, so last season when Qu Leonard, James Harden and Evita Zubots were on the floor together, they outscored teams by 14 points per 100 possessions. A plus 14 net rating. Super impressive. They had a 108 defensive rating. That's elite. They were elite on the offensive end. They were over 120. It was like right around 121 in offensive rating. That same trio this year, that same group, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and Vita Zubots all on the floor together are getting outscored by 10 points per 100 possessions. They have a 127 defensive rating and their offense is average. So yeah, Jason Kawhi Leonard and James Harden are putting up monster numbers. Their lineups are not scoring nearly as well as they did last season. And of course there's context here. The loss of Norman Powell obviously hurts. I don't even blame the Clippers for that. They were in a weird situation with their timeline where it didn't really make sense to tie up a bunch of salary Norman Powell, the move to kind of pivot to Bradley Peel as a st. Bradley Peel, Bradley Beal as a stopgap solution. It was defensible in the, in the moment. Obviously having no Norman Powell and no Bradley Beal obviously hurts them. Norman was such an important offensive weapon for them. I think the loss of Derek Jones Jr. Has been bad for their defense. Although here's the thing. Even when Derek Jones was on the floor to start the year, it's not like they were guarding in those minutes. And that's why I keep coming back to the stars like Chris Dunn and John Collins and Nick Batum. Is it the same.
- [13:36]
High level role player core that they had last year? It's obviously not due to the injuries and the loss of Norman Powell, but you should still be able to win your minutes with James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Chris Dunn, John Collins and Evita Zubots on the floor and that lineup is getting ran -7 net this season. That five man grouping. When you're getting shit canned with your best three players on the floor with league average role players around them. I'm not going to blame the role players. It starts with the stars. They're not playing any defense, the team as a unit isn't scoring as well as they used to and now they're pouting after games and blaming the role players. To me it's been all of it. It's been the drop off from the core foundational stars. It's been the, the injury to Bradley Beal in the context of losing Norman Powell it's been. It's all of it combined. But in those situations, I always think it's pretty lame to go to the dudes who make very little money in the dudes that have small roles and be like, it's your fault we're bad. When the dudes that are making all the money that are on the floor and they're not doing the same level of work that they did last year, I'm going to. I'm going to always look at the stars in a situation like that. I could not have been more wrong about the Clippers this season. Going to do a prediction check in soon. This is something that I think is fun because there have been, like, several predictions this year that I've been, like, dead on about, and there's been several that I've been dead wrong about. And so I think it'd be fun to kind of go back and look at all of the different predictions I made this offseason and how things are going on those fronts. We're going to do that at some point down the line in the next week or two. But this one in particular, I said I thought that the Clippers, beyond the Houston OKC Denver tier, had the best chance to, like, rack up regular season wins and get that fourth seed or be a team that has home court in the first round. Because I believed in their depth, because I believed in, like, the, The. The compatibility. Excuse me. Of all the different types of players that they have on that roster, literally one of my worst takes ever could not have been more wrong. They're. They're just bad, man. And again, it. It wasn't a Chris Paul issue. And like, I, I just feel like cooler heads should have prevailed here because now you're. You're adding insult to injury, literally. The injury being this basketball team being bad, and the insult being you taking arguably the best Clipper ever and trashing him and kicking him off the team. And it's just. It's just really unfortunate. All right, let's get into a couple basketball games from last night. Today's show is brought to you by our new presenting sponsor, Hard Rock bet. Big news. Hard Rock BET is now live in Michigan. Sign up today and place your first $5 sports bet. If it wins, you get $150 in bonus bets on top of your winnings. And if you're into more casino games, new customers can get up to $1,000 back in casino bonus. If you're not up money after your first 24 hours playing slots, win money or get a casino bonus back plus you get 200 bonus spins. Winnings paid in cash. Want to see what everyone else is betting on tonight? Top picks or parlays across any sport. The Hard Rock Bet app literally shows you. It's another reason to download the app just for the info tap. Discover you can see trending picks and parlays at any time. Hard Rock Bet offers new promos daily plus big legendary rewards drops every Thursday like gifts under the tree. So whenever you're listening, just open up the app and check out what you've got waiting for you. Download the Hard Rock Bet app and make your first deposit payable and bonus bets. Not a cash offer offered by the Seminole Tribe of Florida in Florida Offered by Seminole Hard Rock Digital LLC in all other states. Must be 21 plus and physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee or Virginia to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida? Call 1833 play wise in Indiana. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-9 with it gambling problem, call 1-800- gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee or Virginia. Sports welcome. Offer is payable in bonus bets, not a cash offer. Casino offer issued as non withdrawable site credits. 10 plus dollar deposit required for 200 bonus spins for huffing more puff only up to $1,000 back in casino bonus if player has net loss on slots after first 24 hours. Casino bonus credit has a 1x wager requirement offered by Seminole Hard Rock Digital LLC. Must be 21 plus and physically present in Michigan to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling?
- [18:18]
Podcast Advertiser
Call 1-800-Gambler.
- [18:21]
Love the night Reach for Zinn After Dark, a limited cocktail inspired series for those who get up when the sun goes down. Try Zinn's Mojito Spiced Cider and Espresso Martini Nicotine Pouches. Find them at select retailers available while supplies last. Zyn After Dark Bring on the Night.
- [18:47]
This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.
- [18:50]
Liberty Mutual Announcer
If a Lenovo computer for your business is on your holiday list, don't shop around. Just go directly to the source lenovo.com you'll find exclusive deals on the PCs you want for your business, like the ThinkPad X914 or A Edition and Yoga 7i 2in1. So avoid all that shopping chaos and price comparing and just go directly to the source Lenovo.com where PCs are up to 50% off. That's Lenovo.com Lenovo, Lenovo.
- [19:20]
Colin Coward
Limu, Emu and.
- [19:23]
Liberty Mutual Announcer
Doug Here we have the Limu Emu.
- [19:25]
Colin Coward
In its natural habitat, helping people customize.
- [19:28]
Liberty Mutual Announcer
Their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us?
- [19:41]
Jason
Cut the camera.
- [19:41]
Liberty Mutual Announcer
They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Very underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. Affiliates excludes Massachusetts.
- [19:50]
Total Wireless Announcer
This podcast is sponsored by Total Wireless, the official wireless partner of ufc. So when you're streaming the fight or sharing those takedown highlights, you need a wireless provider that keeps you close to the action. With Total Wireless, you're covered by the Verizon 5G network, so you don't have to worry about your connection being knocked out at the biggest moments. It's not something you can usually say about a wireless provider, but Total Wireless really has your back. They're in your corner every second of the day, so you never miss a thing. They keep you covered for just $25 a month with four lines without sacrificing the essentials like speed. With Total you get unlimited 5G data so you can stay ahead of the action and keep up with every knockout. Total Wireless understands you can't afford surprise blows any more than your favorite fighter can. That's why the price is guaranteed for five years, taxes and fees included. The best fighters don't make it to the Octagon alone. They have all in support along the way and it shouldn't be any different for you. So visit totalwireless.com or visit your local Total Wireless store to learn more about how Total Wireless can be in your corner. 5G access requires a 5G capable device and a 5G service area. Monthly rate on the Total Base 5G Unlimited plan for new subscribers applies only to the monthly rate for your plan. Additional terms apply. See website for details.
- [21:28]
Colin Coward
PCs powered by Snapdragon X Elite processors are made to go the distance with blazing fast performance, next level efficiency and multi day battery life. Snapdragon processors are built to tackle it all, from highlight real editing to intense player research so you can be at the top of your game wherever the day takes you. Learn more@snapdragon.com laptops Snapdragon the heart of your PC. Battery life varies significantly based on device settings, usage and other factors.
- [22:03]
Jason
We'll start with Nick Celtics Really a dominant performance from the Celtics after a hot Knick start. If it wasn't for Mikhail Bridges just being like an absolute laser off the catch even over contests from three Celtics probably win this game by 1520 points and shout out to Mikhail Bridges. He's shooting like 9% better from three this year than he did last year. It's every time he rises up I just feel like it's going in this season. And that has been a big boost to the Knicks offense. But the Celtics, after getting off to a rough start really played some great basketball down the stretch of this game to get a big win versus the Knicks. I thought Joe Missoula showed good patience with his game plan. Like he had a couple of things early on. Like he had Nimi Cada guarding Josh Hart and just sagging off in the paint and Hart was burning him in the first quarter, like hitting threes and quick little drives and little mid range jump shots and it was not working for Boston early in the game. They were sending aggressive help on Karl Anthony Towns. His drives in post up. Soon as he put the ball on the floor there'd be swarming around him trying to turn him over and force him into into bad misses. And that wasn't working for the first like quarter and a half and the Knicks ended up leading by as much as 14 early in the game Cat was scoring sometimes over double in triple teams, Josh Hart hitting shots, Jalen Brunson got off to a good start. Like a lot of things went the Knicks way early and also Jaylen Brown who had a fantastic game which we're going to get into, but he got off to a rough start and so the Knicks ended up getting off to that 14 point lead but the Celtics just kept playing hard and they kept to their game plan like Cat the rest of the game. He had a nice box score game because he did a bunch of damage off the ball, like some offensive rebounds, a couple of like driving kick sequences where he just ended up wide open underneath the basket. And the Celtics ended up going centerless for the majority of this game which I which ended up also benefiting Cat in some of those like dunker spot offensive rebound sequences. But as far as his one on ones went, or I should say his individual attacks, those isos in his post ups over the course of the game he just kept trying to shoot through double teams and he was turning the ball over and having some bad misses and overall I thought that their coverage in set half court situation started to work pretty well against Cat and then Josh hart misses last three threes and over the final three quarters of the game was a minus 13. So the game plan there ended up working as time went on, albeit in some stretches without a center on the floor. But Jalen Brown eventually found his footing and he ended up having just a really, really nice shot creation game. Just completely picked apart the Knicks defense, mostly with methodical matchup attacking, relentless, attacking Jaylen Brunson in action early in the game, the Knicks were willing to essentially concede that switch and let Jaylen work against Jaylen and, and Jaylen Brown just bullied him. And he's been so incredibly comfortable in the mid range this year. Just kind of making some sort of aggressive move to get down to that like 10 to 12 foot range and then just little quick step backs or little short right shoulder fades and little step through short jump shots and floaters and things like that. And he's torching teams on that. He's shooting 55% this season, 47 for 85 on jump shots inside of 17ft. And Jalen Brown scored directly on Jalen Brunson one on one five times in this game, including a nasty blow by Duncan transition where he got him with a little crossover and went up and dunked in traffic. He picked on Tyler Kolik on a little transition drive, beat him to the basket, just bullied him with his left shoulder, got all the way to the basket. He picked on Mitchell Robinson in a switch, mixed him up with a series of off the dribble moves and hit a little mid range pull up. He was picking on Cat in ball screens, beating him in deep drop coverage. He had him in a ISO one on one off the right wing and Cat was just sagging off and he just did a little methodical, little slow jab step, rose up and hit a three. Just consistently beating the weaker Knicks defenders in space over and over again. He made it abundantly clear through those first three quarters that he was going to be deliberate about hunting New York's weakest defenders and scoring on them. So as a result, down the stretch, when Jalen Brown started hunting Jalen Brunson and screens again in the fourth quarter, the Knicks just started blitzing and hard doubling. And so Jalen just kept hitting the short roller. And then we got some really fascinating four on three sequences led by a lot of good short roll passing from Jordan Walsh and from Josh Minot. And the Celtics ended up getting wide open threes every single time out of those Jaylen Brown blitzes and doubles. They made several of them and they ended up winning the game. And that, that's, that's, that's the impressive piece of this, it's the game management from Jaylen Brown that's the growth that you're excited to see. If you're a Celtics fan. Obviously an exciting game box score wise. The I think he only had four assists. That doesn't tell the full story when you're getting trapped and they're playing four on three and the assist is going to the short roll. Man. Some really high level playmaking. It was impressive game management because of that deliberate method with which he was attacking. We talk about this a lot but like having intentionality on offense instead of just playing for the sake of playing where it would drive me crazy when I'd watch a team like Orlando and it's like why is Paolo isoing bam out of bio on a switch? Like that's just bad process. Like even if you want to get to your mid range game, like do something early in the possession so that you're not attacking the other team's best defender. Like it just doesn't make a lot of sense. That's a lack of intentionality. Right? And like that is really the big difference. If Jalen Brown goes like I'm just going to try to score on Mikhail Bridges over and over again, it ain't going to work out right. There was a level of intentionality, the attacking of the weaker Knicks defenders in space, doing it in the middle of the floor where it's hard to double team having the spacing set up, especially when the blitzes started coming so that you can quick capitalize on the four on three. Just really deliberate high level offensive basketball from Jaylen Brown. And again this is a Celtics team that over. I think they're 7 and 2 in their last nine games and they have like a 126 offensive rating in those nine games. And Jaylen Brown deserves the lion's share of the credit for that, for the damage that he's done. Matchup attacking and getting them into their driving kick sequences that can unlock their high level three point shooting. And Jalen's last 14 games he's averaging 31 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Just doing phenomenal work. He's. I was looking at some shot creation data. He's been the fourth best high volume ISO guy in the league this year. There are 12 players in the NBA that have run at least 100 ISOs, including passes already. He's fourth on that list. Only Luca Shea and Julius Randle have been better. He's been getting just over 1.1 points per possession on ISOs, including passes. Jaylen Brown fueled again by that high level shooting there in the mid range. Derek white poured in another 22. You remember how like inefficient he was to start the season. He's 18 points per game in his last eight games on 58% true shooting. So way more efficient than he was last year in this stretch, or I shouldn't say last year to start the year. And that 18 points per game number is actually ahead of where he was last year in his scoring volume. So finally starting to kind of find his comfort in his more, you know, high usage offensive role in this particular team construct. But I want to zoom in on the Celtics role player wings for a minute, specifically Jordan Walsh, Josh Minot and Hugo Gonzalez. So obviously their size, athleticism and activity are vital to the Celtics because of their lack of a center rotation. Right. Like K has been good for the Celtics this year, but it's been rough once you get past that. And so the Celtics have started to go a little bit more and more into centerless looks. They're actually, they've run lineups without a center for 312 possessions this season according to Cleaning the Glass. And they have a plus nine net rating in, in those minutes without a center. All offense, by the way. They're, they're, they're scoring 135 points per 100 possessions in those center list groups. Just spacing the floor with tons of shooting and allowing Jalen Brown to hunt matchups as they get the defense into rotation. The Celtics ended up playing centerless for 27 of the 48 minutes last night. So definitely something to keep an eye on with Boston is they're going to kind of lean into that more and more. When you're small, that's going to dictate swarming, right. Like you're, if you're smaller, you have to be faster and you've got to cover a lot of ground in rotation to feel bigger than you actually are by being able to like double a guy like cat sandwich, rebound, do all these different kinds of things. And it just puts a lot of emphasis on covering ground. Right. And like having athletes that play hard, that's the way that you get this done, right? And again, like the, the Celtics are have not been necessarily winning games with defense, but you have to get a certain number of stops to win games and those guys deserve a lot of credit for that. Like they're getting major on ball assignments. Jordan Walsh saw a ton of Brunson in this game and did phenomenal work. Played him into an inefficient shooting night. The swarming of cat in like help and double team situations, rotating out the shooters off of it, that is a lot of Those role player wings doing the work. And most importantly, I want to actually move to the other end of the floor here. Those guys are killing teams on the offensive glass. Just those three guys. Jordan Walsh and Hugo Gonzalez and Josh Minot had eight offensive rebounds last night. Just between the three of them, they had 12 points just on easy little putbacks. It was literally the difference in the game last night. Like shot goes up and Jordan Walsh just runs right by Jalen Brunson for a put back. Or Josh Minot just runs right by his man for a put back. Or Hugo Gonzalez just runs right by his man for a put back. Like they're turning misses into layups because those guys keep beating everybody to the ball. And again, the Celtics shoot a lot of threes, which means a lot of long rebounds. They consistently corner crash. They beat teams to those long rebounds. And I've actually found this to be a really fascinating trend with the Celtics because the Celtics are the worst defensive rebounding team in the league. They're 30th defensive rebound percentage, which is to be expected, right? They don't have the front court talent for it. Like Nimi Cada is, I guess you could call him a starting caliber center, but certainly in like the bottom third of the league in terms of starting caliber centers. And then you don't have another guy who's really a quality rotation level center. You don't really have a traditional power forward. You have a bunch of bench level dudes that are playing that power forward role. You don't have the front court talent to be a good defensive rebounding team. Yet they're still grabbing just under 50% of available rebounds because they do so much damage on the offensive glass. They're rebounding 33% of their own misses, which ranks ninth in the NBA. And again, there's a different dynamic that's taking place here. So many of these Celtics offensive rebounds are dudes crashing out of the corner or off the wing and literally getting layups. Like easy grab it, put it right back in underneath the basket because they space you out so much and then they crash. There's not, there's like runways, legit runways for these forwards to run in and grab an offensive rebound and put it back on the other end of the floor. The Celtics are certainly trying to get defensive rebounds. They're swarming. And so there's a lot of plays where like a big dude underneath the basket gets an offensive rebound on the Celtics, but he's immediately surrounded by three dudes and he either throws up a putback that he misses or has to kick the ball out. And if he kicks the ball out, the Celtics can reset their defense and they have a better chance to get a stop compared to one of those put backs. And so this is the most fascinating stat about the Celtics rebounding that demonstrates this concept of the Celtics getting a lot of offensive rebounds that are easy put backs and then making sure the offensive rebounds that concede are in swarms that are leading to either misses or kickouts to where they can reset their defense. The Celtics are winning the second point, second chance points margin.
- [33:50]
The Celtics score 17.6 second chance points every game. Their opponent score 17.1 second chance points every game. They are winning the second chance points margin.
- [34:06]
It's, it's, it's unbelievable to me. It's such a fascinating like little bit of basketball, like margin play. And I want to shout out Joe Missoula on this because like you're sitting there and you're, and you're trying to determine how you're going to win basketball games and how to construct lineups and, and you know, obviously every team it's, you know, in the same way that in the NFL you're looking at like offense, defense, special teams and limiting turnovers. Similarly in the NBA you're looking at like your half court offense, your half court defense, your transition defense, and you're looking at margins. Are we going to do damage as a turnover for turnovers, get out and transition kind of team? Are we going to do damage on the offensive glass? Are we going to do damage by, you know, winning the free throw margin by not fouling and by getting to the foul line a lot? Like there's all these like different little margins you're looking to hunt. And if you were the Celtics coming into the season and I, and I, and I, if you're a Celtics fan and I just went up to you and I was like, you guys are going to literally win the second chance points battle this year. You, none of you would have believed me because they don't have the front court talent to be a good defensive rebounding team. And they're getting destroyed on the defensive class. Like it's a problem. And yet they're turning that into something in their favor by having these high motor wings that are consistently crashing and capitalizing on the attention that their stars draw. And they're getting these runways to just grab the ball and put it right back up in the basket. It's a really fascinating trend. And again, like, just shout out to Joe Missoula for that again, the Celtics 7 and 2 in their last nine games, number one offense in the NBA. And that span of 126 offensive rating, just some really impressive work from them on the Knicks front. Again, I don't want to overreact to a single regular season game, but that was quite literally the embodiment of every single negative Knicks talking point. Every single. So for instance, the easy entry points into their defense. Boston was able to easily just attack Jalen Brunson, scoring him one on one a bunch and then draw second defenders that unlocked open shots as the defense was in rotation. Not just that, but like targeting Carl Anthony Towns in action, beating him in a deep drop coverage, beating him one on one the way that Jaylen Brown did. We've talked about cats mistake making on defense like Jalen Brunson. Jalen Brunson ended up making a lot of mistakes last night himself. He ended up missing a lot of those box outs that led to easy putbacks. But generally speaking, in like a big playoff game, Jalen Brunson is like pretty attentive. And it's more just like he has physical limitations. But then you have this other type of bad defender which is like the mistake making like pays no attention to the defensive game plan type of defender and catch. And we saw a bunch of examples of that last night. Cat was hilarious to watch on defense in that game. He just feels like he's freelancing all the time. Like there was a sequence of ball screens at the beginning of the game that I thought were a good example of this. So Derek White comes off of a ball screen off the top, one of the first possessions of the game. And Cat's just like, go ahead, shoot it. He's sagging way back. He's like back almost at like this, the charge circle. And he's kind of just standing there and he just lets Derrick White take a pull up three off of a, off of a ball screen. Derrick White misses the shot and then the very next two ball screens Derek White, Nimi K to ball screens that Boston runs. Cat like on the first one comes up in like a catch hedge. So he's like not quite up at the level but pretty close and easy. Easily lets Nemi get behind him. Derek White just pitches it over the top. Nimi gets a dunk and then on the third one he, he like closes out at Derrick White. Like Derrick White comes over the top of the screen and he like sprints out at Derrick White who then just throws it right to Nimi Keda and gets a Dunk. So we got three ball screens between Derrick White and Nemikeda and we got three completely different coverages from Kat to start the game because there's no game plan discipline. He's just doing his own thing. It's, it's freelancing in crunch time, which again, because Mikhail Bridges made every damn shot he took. The Knicks were right there. They were within three late in the game. And like there were just a couple of these hilarious mistakes from Cat. There was this play where Jalen Brown gets downhill in a screen off of, off of a little spin off of Jordan Clarkson and he loses his balance on the move. And so he's like falling down and he's like drifting away all the way out kind of past the left block. And he's just kind of throwing up like a bullshit little right handed floater that has like no chance of going in because he's falling over. And Cat is not there. Cat's kind of back around the basket. He had stunted up at Jalen Brown which made him make a counter move and Jalen had kind of gotten away from him. But again Jalen was falling over and so Cat's there and he has a decision to make. He can either turn around and box out Jordan Walsh and get it, get the rebound after Jalen misses this crazy one leg floater that he's taking. Or he can do what he ended up doing, which was take a step towards Jalen where he's not even close to Jalen, like he's not in position to contest the shot at all. Jumps over towards Jalen, just kind of goes like this, just like waves both of his arms up in the air, gets himself out of position. Jordan Walsh, boom, put back. And it's like, it's those kinds of little decisions hurt the team. Jordan Walsh has made three corner threes all season on nine attempts. There's a play where he catches it open in the left corner and Cat chases him off the line like he's Steph Curry, goes flying out to the corner, jumps out of his shoes. Jordan Walsh just easily rips the clothes out and gets a layup. You're like, what are you doing? And it's like when you combine that the legit mismatches that you can hunt, which involves both Cat and Jalen Brunson. But also when you have a guy that's legitimately one of the most mistake prone defenders I've ever watched, with absolutely no discipline within the defensive game plan, it's really difficult to overcome. And all of that was on display last night against the Celtics. On offense we saw some of the other things too, like Jalen Brunson kind of struggling to score efficiently against more of like a swarming athletic perimeter look, Carl Anthony Town struggling with double teams, teams putting their center on Josh Hart and daring him to shoot, which again the the Knicks ended up burning in the first quarter, but not for the rest of the game. Again, if it wasn't for Mikhail Bridges, that, that, that's probably a blowout last night, a 15 to 20 point win for Boston. Now to be clear, none of this necessarily changes my opinion as it pertains to the Knicks. The dec. The, the decline, excuse me, of Cleveland has just kind of made it look like every team at the top of the east is flawed in one way or another. So you know, I don't want to just sit here and pretend like the Knicks are the only team at the top of the east that has issues. They're not. All these teams have issues and I would argue that they have as good a chance as anybody to win this conference. It's wide open. It's basically there for anybody to win. But like every year when I start to buy into the Knicks a little bit, the same three or four issues come up to the surface and it just is one of those things that I think is like a insurmountable barrier between them being one of these like second tier teams in a legitimate team that you feel like has a shot to win the title.
- [41:13]
Podcast Advertiser
Love the Night Reach for Zyn After Dark, a limited cocktail inspired series for those who get up when the sun goes down, try Zinn's Mojito Spiced Cider and Espresso Martini Nicotine pouches. Find them at select retailers. Available while supplies last Zyn After Dark Bring on the night.
- [41:39]
This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.
- [41:42]
Liberty Mutual Announcer
If a Lenovo computer for your business is on your holiday list, don't shop around. Just go directly to the source lenovo.com youm'll find exclusive deals on the PCs you want for your business, like the ThinkPad X914 Aura Edition and Yoga 7i 2in1. So avoid all that shopping chaos and price comparing and just go directly to the source lenovo.com where PCs are up to 50% off. That's lenovo.com Lenovo, Lenovo.
- [42:13]
Jason
Limu Emu and.
- [42:15]
Liberty Mutual Announcer
Doug Here we have the Limu IMU.
- [42:18]
Colin Coward
In its natural habitat, helping people customize.
- [42:21]
Liberty Mutual Announcer
Their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual.
- [42:26]
Colin Coward
Fascinating.
- [42:27]
Liberty Mutual Announcer
It's accompanied by his natural ally Doug Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.
- [42:33]
Colin Coward
Cut the camera.
- [42:34]
Liberty Mutual Announcer
They see us.
- [42:35]
Jason
Only pay for what you need@liberty mutual.com.
- [42:37]
Liberty Mutual Announcer
Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Very underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. Affiliates excludes.
- [42:42]
Total Wireless Announcer
Massachusetts this podcast is sponsored by Total Wireless, the official wireless partner of ufc. So when you're streaming the fight or sharing those takedown highlights, you need a wireless provider that keeps you close to the action. With Total Wireless, you're covered by the Verizon 5G network, so you don't have to worry about your connection being knocked out at the biggest moments. It's not something you can usually say about a wireless provider, but Total Wireless really has your back. They're in your corner every second of the day, so you never miss a thing. They keep you covered for just $25 a month with four lines without sacrificing the essentials like speed. With Total you get unlimited 5G data so you can stay ahead of the action and keep up with every knockout. Total Wireless understands you can't afford surprise blows any more than your favorite fighter can. That's why the price is guaranteed for five years, taxes and fees included. The best fighters don't make it to the Octagon alone. They have all in support along the way and it shouldn't be any different for you. So visit totalwireless.com or visit your local Total Wireless store to learn more about how Total Wireless can be in your corner. 5G access requires a 5G capable device and a 5G service area. Monthly rate on the Total Base 5G Unlimited plan for new subscribers applies only to the monthly rate for your plan. Additional terms apply. See website for details.
- [44:20]
Colin Coward
PCs powered by Snapdragon X Elite processors are made to go the distance with blazing fast performance, next level efficiency and multi day battery life. Snapdragon processors are built to tackle it all, from highlight reel editing to intense player research so you can be at the top of your game wherever the day takes you. Learn more@snapdragon.com laptops snapdragon the heart of your PC battery life varies significantly based on device settings, usage and other factors.
- [44:57]
Jason
All right, before we get out of here tonight, I wanted to talk briefly about what the Thunder ended up doing to the warriors in crunch time last night. So Thunder warriors went about as you would have expected in the first half with Steph Curry out. But then the warriors ended up catching fire in that second half. The you know we got a Pat Spencer show. He was getting like one on one buckets like hitting tough shots. He like a little Right shoulder fade away over Chet Holmgren on the right block. That was an insane shot. Draymond Green's hitting threes, Gary Payton's hitting threes. Pods hits like a bomb to end the third quarter, like a leaning, drifting bomb from like 30ft. Jonathan Kaminga is getting in on the action, hitting threes, running action with Seth Curry. Seth Curry ends up getting hot all of a sudden. The warriors had a four point lead in the kind of like early ish part of the, like middle part of the fourth quarter. And then the Thunder just played perfect basketball from there and ended up winning by 12. The warriors went zone during this stretch and it briefly flustered the Thunder, but then they methodically broke him down in crunch time. They got a little pass to the middle to Case and Wallace and Chet just kind of relocates right to the top of the key. Pitch it back to Chet, he knocks down to three. A.J. mitchell beats the zone just by driving off the wing and hitting like a little left. A left handed scoop shot over Draymond Green. Then the warriors bail on the zone and they go one on one or man on man to man. Excuse me. And Shade just starts relentlessly hunting Buddy. Healed, walks him down for a couple little elbow jumpers there on the left side. Hits like a nasty step back three off of the right wing. That step back has become just such a reliable shot for Shay at the end of the game. Something I want to talk about in a little bit. He had a really nice piece of advantage creation where he gets Buddy out on the right wing snatch, left, right crossover, just toast him off the dribble. The entire warriors defense just kind of rotates right low man steps over, they rotate on the weak side. The left wing is open. J Dubs there, Shea just whips a cross court pass that hits J Dub right in the hands. Extra pass, Isaiah Joe in the corner, he knocks down at 3. J Dub himself got in on the action with like a really tough driving right handed layup that he scooped high off of the glass. And then on the other end of the floor, I mean, albeit against the limited warriors lineup, just stop after stop after stop after stop. And the Thunder end up winning like 12. Yet another game. Again, like as the schedule has gotten tougher for okc, they've ended up in a bunch of these clutch games and yet another time where they just look unbeatable in that setting. They've played in 10 clutch games so far this season. They're nine and one in those games. The one loss of course being the Portland game. They have a 137 offensive rating in the clutch, a 95 defensive rating in the clutch. Shake elders. Alexander is 25 for 46 from the field in crunch time this season. That's 54%. He's hit six clutch threes. He said a bunch of them in every one of these games. Hit a huge one against Minnesota, hit a huge one against Phoenix. Hit a huge one again last night over Buddy Healed on the right wing. He's just getting into his bag and he can either go to that little pound dribble with his left hand, step back or that like little sidestep with his going towards his right like the one he hit over Buddy Healed. And he's just really confident. He's trusting it right now. It's made six of them so far this season in crunch time, hitting 40%. Most of those misses were earlier in the season. He's been in a great groove as of late. Nine assists to just one turnover in crunch time. And like, you want to be like, okay, you gotta send doubles. And the warriors were pretty content to let Shay just work one on one against Buddy. But at the same time, like, guys are hitting shots. We talked about the clutch three that Chad Holmgren hit. Isaiah Joe hits a big clutch three last night. On the season, if you leave Kayson Wallace open for three in crunch time, he's three for six. You leave Chet Holmgren open for three in crunch time, he's three for five. Like they're just, they're burning you when you help. And like and, and it's one of those things where we've seen teams manage to keep it somewhat close against Oklahoma City for one reason or another. And then down the stretch it's just Shay Gil, just Alexander looking like far and away the most comfortable player on the floor. But it's not just his one on one play. It's the awesome passing sequences, the, the methodical ball movement through the zone. It's the role players knocking down catch and shoot threes, having guys like A.J. mitchell and J Dub who can hit a gap and create some dribble penetration and get something up off of the rim that they can score on in crunch time and they just look unbeatable. And again, if this keeps up, like we're going to do our contender rankings again in a month. You know, we did our first contender rankings update like a week ago or so and I think it was just last Friday. And in that contender rankings for the first time, I moved OKC back up to the number one spot. But I still have them in the same tier with OKC and or with Denver and Houston. If this keeps up, like if they're sitting in a similar spot a month from now, I like it starting to look to me like Oklahoma City's in their own tier. I see a separation building. Houston and Denver are really good. There are a couple teams too that are trade away. Like if Detroit makes some sort of big splashy move for scoring forward or if the Lakers get someone like Herb Jones, there are teams that might be able to move up into that tier. But to me that tier is beginning to look like a tier that is beneath Oklahoma City as yet again they get a big win in crunch time last night. All right guys, that is all I have for tonight or today I should say. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the show again. Remember, we have playback streams coming the next two nights Thursday at I want to say 4pm Pacific Time against or no, it's 4:30pm Pacific Time. Toronto Lakers Raptors again. I'm going to be trying to get a Raptors guy to come on and join us for that one. And then Friday night 4pm Pacific Time, Lakers Celtics also going to try to get a Celtics guy for that one. Come hang out again. Playback TV slash hoops. Tonight we'll have a live watch along party for both of those games. Well obviously more content coming this week too. We'll have a show tomorrow as well as a mailbag on Friday. Again, as always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the show. Have a good rest of your day and I will see you guys tomorrow morning.
- [51:22]
Colin Coward
PCs powered by Snapdragon X Elite processors are made to go the distance with blazing fast performance, next level efficiency and multi day battery life. Snapdragon processors are built to tackle it all, from highlight reel editing to intense player research so you can be at the top of your game wherever the day takes you. Learn more@snapdragon.com laptops Snapdragon the heart of your PC. Battery life varies significantly based on device settings, usage and other factors.
- [51:56]
Podcast Advertiser
Love the night Reach for Zyn After Dark, a limited cocktail inspired series for those who get up when the sun goes down. Try Zinn's Mojito Spiced Cider and Espresso Martini Nicotine Pouches. Find them at select retailers available while supplies last. Zyn After Dark Bring on the night.
- [52:22]
This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.
- [52:25]
Liberty Mutual Announcer
If a Lenovo computer for your business is on your holiday list, don't shop around, just go directly to the source lenovo.com youm'll find exclusive deals on the PCs you want for your business, like the ThinkPad X914 Aura Edition and Yoga 7i 2in1. So avoid all that shopping chaos and price comparing and just go directly to the source. Lenovo lenovo.com where PCs are up to 50% off. That's lenovo.com.
- [52:56]
Colin Coward
Hi, it's Colin from the Colin Coward Podcast. I've been around long enough to know quality when I see it. Or in this case, when I taste it. Tito's Handmade Vodka. Good stuff. No flash, no gimmicks. Smooth, clean tasting. Made the right way. Tito's made in Austin, Texas. Real attention to detail. I like to keep it simple. Tito's Soda, one lime. Lot of ice. Refreshing, easy. Summer, winter, spring. Totally versatile. Always works. Listen, baseball season's here. The perfect time to kick back with some Tito's. It's what I pour. You should, too. Distilled and bottled by 5th Generation Inc. Austin, Texas. 40% alcohol by volume. Savor responsibly.
- [53:36]
Podcast Advertiser
Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first.
- [53:55]
There, the last one.
- [53:59]
Enjoy a Coca Cola for a pause that refreshes.
- [54:06]
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [54:08]
Jason
Guaranteed Human.