← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Hoops Tonight - Reaction to Pistons-Hornets FIGHT + Cavs impressive win vs. Nuggets, Thunder beat LeBron's Lakers
00:34:34
Loading summary
Transcript23 lines
- [00:00]
Podcast Host
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
- [00:04]
Lavar Arrington
This is Lavar Arrington from Up on Game. This message is brought to you by Apple Card It's a great time to apply for an Apple Card. You'll love earning unlimited daily cash on every Purchase. That includes 3% daily cash when you buy the latest iPhone, AirPods and Apple. Watch at Apple through this special referral offer. When you get a new Apple Card, you can earn bonus daily cash. To qualify you must apply at Apple Co. Get daily cash Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch offer may not be available elsewhere. Terms and limitations apply. Everyone offers free phones. We do too.
- [00:39]
Hoops Tonight Analyst
But AT T Mobile you can unlock.
- [00:41]
Lavar Arrington
Savings that are built to last. With T Mobile's Better Value Plan you can save over $1,000 a year versus Verizon and AT&T save on streaming satellite.
- [00:49]
Hoops Tonight Analyst
And more benefits that they leave out.
- [00:51]
Lavar Arrington
What do you think Drewski?
- [00:52]
Hoops Tonight Analyst
Think switching to T Mobile is a whole complicated thing? Nah, it's easy now. I get all the VIP perks.
- [00:57]
Lavar Arrington
Start saving from day one and for a limited time, get T Mobile's Better Value Plan.
- [01:01]
iHeartRadio Announcer
Stay chill and just switch it.
- [01:04]
Lavar Arrington
Check the math@t mobile.com BetterValue support for.
- [01:07]
iHeartRadio Announcer
The show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures living on a Prayer that song gets everyone singing. And now singing it could get you on a flyaway trip for two to see Bon Jovi live this summer. Enter the iHeartRadio give it a Shot Sweepstakes presented by State Farm. If you want bonus entries, submit your best rendition of the song and possibly have it featured on air or on social media. Enter now at iheartradio.com give it a shot sweeps no purchase necessary. Open illegal US residents of the 50 United States and DC 18/ void or prohibitive sweepsticks ends on 22326 for official rules, visit iheartradio.com giveitashot sweeps the volume.
- [02:53]
Hoops Tonight Analyst
All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at the Volume. Happy Tuesday everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great week so far. Just a quick show for you guys today. We're going to do instant reactions to three games from last night as the Detroit Pistons get a huge win on the road against the Charlotte Hornets. We have a huge fight that I want to talk a little bit about that happened in the third quarter of that game that's likely going to lead to several lengthy suspensions. The Cavs come back down again double digits in the second half to win their second game with with James Harden on the road in Denver against the Nuggets. And then at the tail end of the show, Lakers Thunder in the evening slate, a demonstration of the gap in talent down the roster between those two teams. So three game breakdowns. You guys know the joke before we get started, subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Make sure you like this video and then turn on our post notifications so that you guys can help our channel grow. And then, last but not least, if you want to get mailbag questions into our mailbags, drop them in the comments underneath our full episodes on YouTube and we'll get to them weekly throughout the remainder of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So Pistons Hornets turned on a huge Pistons run that spanned from the end of the second quarter to the start of the third quarter. It's a 38 to 14 run. Classic Pistons during that run their defense was incredible. Charlotte is a very good offense and they generated a lot of good shots in this game for over various stretches of it. But during this stretch of the game they were able to tighten the screws at the point of attack and in the rotations, especially around the rim. I thought they're kind of like gapping and help rotations at the rim like shrinking the floor and making those kick out reads look a little tighter and a little more high risk than they actually were. I thought that did a good job of just kind of Stifling especially Lamelo ball. Lamello really struggled during that run. Spanning the end of the second quarter into the early third quarter again, they held the Hornets to just 14 points in that 11 and a half minute stretch. Then on the other end of the floor like Jaylen Durant only had 15 points in this game, but he did most of his damage during the first chunk of that run just with his inside positioning. Did a little bit of ISO work on some drives as well, but just was bullying the Hornets underneath the basket until obviously he gets removed from the game for the fight. We'll talk about that in a little bit. And then Cade in that like kind of as we got into the third quarter portion of it, Cade was just, especially in that middle third quarter, just did a ton of damage going towards the rim, just doing that thing that he always does, just relentlessly attacking the rim, getting high percentage shots close to the basket. That just created the distance that Detroit was able to ride to the finish line. I think they went up by as much as 16 during that stretch. And the Hornets battled back admirably. Their offense generated countless wide open threes in that fourth quarter. There were four wide open catch and shoot looks for Brandon Miller and Con Knipple just in the final minutes of that game. That all clanked. So it could have been a very different result if those guys hit those shots. They generated 19 wide open catch and shoot threes in this game, which is an insane number, which is a credit to their offense and what they can generate. They hit over 40% of them. They just missed four in a row to end it. And that ended up kind of being the difference in the game. Now obviously there's some context there. Detroit was down their whole center rotation, obviously Moussa Diabate was out as well. So a little bit different in terms of the health, the help dynamic at the rim. But I still think that that concept for Charlotte is something that is real to build around. I'm going to talk about this concept even more when we get to Cleveland, but just the idea of running action with a high level shot creator, a roll man who can do whatever the roll man needs to do in terms of being able to screen slip and then, you know, whether it's making floaters, making short roll reads, making dunks on vertical spacing situations, finishing in traffic, all that kind of stuff. When you have that two man game foundation and you can truly space the floor, like all those wide open looks that Brandon Miller and Con Cannibal got at the end of the game, they Came out of the concept of them to being situated on the weak side while lamello ball is running action. It just makes it so that like if you want to tag rollers, going to have to give up an open shot, right? Like if you want to help on a lamello ball drive, you're going to have to give up an open shot. And not just to anybody, but to a really high level shooter. This is a team in the Hornets that's been top three in three pointers made and three pointers in three point percentage during the nine game winning streak. So like, you know, in a lot of ways it was kind of what you would expect from this type of fun matchup between two upand cominging young teams that are very different types of teams and that are at two very different stages of their development. Right. Like the Pistons are further along. They also have, you know, more veteran presences on board with guys like Tobias Harris and Duncan Robinson. Duncan was also fantastic in this game. Tobias ended up hitting a huge shot that kind of helped ice the game late. Like you just have a further along more even more physically developed. Like all like Cade's big and strong now, Jalen Duran's big and strong now. So they're just further along. They were able to play a longer stretch of dominant basketball there in that late second, early third quarter run. And they dominated using the identity they've built all season. A lot of defense to transition sequences. They had a lot of points off of Hornets turnovers in this game mauling you in the paint. They had a 60 to 26 points in the paint advantage in this game. That's a margin they always win by like something like crazy, like 14, 15 points a game. But won it by 36 or 34 points in that game in Charlotte. 14 offensive rebounds and then Kate Cunningham just being relentless on the attack on the dribble drive. So like that's what you would expect. They're further along both physically and in roster development. More veterans on board. They have a stronger identity that they've built throughout the entire season. You expect them to be able to go and get a win like that on the road and they did. The Hornets, they're early in their development and they're a very different type of team. But they still have enormous upside and we saw that upside get flashed through the game. Stretches of good defense. They've been an excellent defense in this nine game winning streak. I think they were fifth if I remember correctly in defensive rating over that nine game span. Their offense can constantly generate good looks for a variety of shooters and all of that dynamic in terms of the constant threat of, you know, having three, four shooters on the floor at all times creates these help dynamics and screening actions that can open up lanes for their bigs to crash the offensive glass. And they got 11 offensive rebounds last night. And it's a very athletic Detroit Pistons team. So in that way it was a game that lived up to the hype and was a really fun showcase for both teams. I, I recorded a mailbag episode yesterday that's airing later this week where someone asked me about this Hornet stretch and whether or not I believe in it, and I do. I was not super high on the Hornets coming into the season. I looked at them as a team that was like a solid two, three years away from being kind of more serious in that Eastern Conference just because of how young they were and how flawed they were. At least in my impression of the team to start the year. I was wrong about that. They're way ahead of schedule. They might make the playoffs this year. I think they're almost certainly going to be like a legitimate playoff team in the mix next year. I get into it in a lot more detail in that mailbag episode, but I, I thought that was a fun showcase for Charlotte last night. And then a demonstration from the Pistons of why they've been the most impressive team in the regular season this year. Something we talked about yesterday as they've been 10 and four this season against teams that are in the top 10 in point differential. And 28 of the 30 teams have lost at least eight games against teams that are top 10 in point differential. There's one team that's won or lost seven. The Pistons have only lost four. They've consistently in these big, high profile games and Charlotte doesn't necessarily fit that bill in terms of their big picture record of big picture metrics. But a red hot team, one of the best teams in the league that's been beating a lot of really good teams in this stretch and Detroit went in there and kind of handled them. Right now, as we talk about the fight, I have very complicated feelings about this sort of thing and I'm sure some people are not going to like my answer here, but this is just my kind of perspective on this sort of thing. I'm general. I generally think fighting is stupid, but I also think that it's more complicated. It's complicated because of the emotion of the situation. I do have a great deal of sympathy for the emotion of these types of moments when your competitive motor is Running really hot. It unlocks a part of every human being that is borderline primal, right? Like there's an energy that flows through you that is very, very different than when you're in a relaxed state. It's that fight or flight response, right? Like you're in a very keyed up fight type of response. I personally have a dark side that comes out of me sometimes on the basketball court. Not so much. As I've gotten older, I've had better control over it as I get into my mid-30s now compared to when I was in like my mid-20s. But still to this day, every once in a while, like someone will challenge me on the court in a way that's either verbally or physically. And I just, I just see red and I start being a complete asshole. And I have a lot of these moments where sometimes I'll be sitting at home later feeling really bad about the way I acted or the way I treated somebody. The only point I'm trying to make here is that, like, I do believe it's a lot easier said than done than like, when it comes to keeping your emotions in check in these highly competitive environments. One of my favorite random examples of this is the Richard Sherman interview. And I think it was the NFC Championship game when he got that big deflection on the fade route to Michael Crabtree in the right corner of the end zone. A lot of people who don't know any better were upset at him for the way he acted on national television in that interview. Anybody who's actually spent a lot of time in highly competitive environments knew exactly what was going on there. You stuck a microphone in that dude's face mere seconds after one of the biggest competitive victories of his life when him and Michael had been jawing at each other. So he was in a shit talking mood. If you wait 10 minutes and interview him after he's cooled off, he's going to behave completely differently. The point being there is this. When you're in that competitive keyed up type of situation, it is a lot easier said than done to control your emotions. And there is a deep, primal part of you that comes out a fight or flight response that is very different than your relaxed state. And this Hornets Pistons game is an even more exaggerated version of that idea. Like Diabate's reaction, for example, when Musa flew off the the handle like that. Jaylen Duran was bullying the hell out of the Hornets front line for like 10 straight minutes leading into that. So there's always already like a physical keyed up response where you're fighting back against that bully ball attack. Then when they face up and they go face to face with each other, Jaylen Duran straight up grabs him by the face and shoves him. That's wildly disrespectful to do to somebody. So I'm not surprised at all that Musa saw Red and wanted to fly off the handle like that again. Like I said, I very much sympathize with the emotion of the situation. The main thing that I want to get to here is the idea of understanding what you have to lose. There's this idea that great power comes with great responsibility, right? Being an NBA player is the modern version of great power, right? You're a multimillionaire, you're a celebrity, you live a life that is a dream compared to the majority of the humans in the world. But it comes with great responsibility. You represent the NBA and the NBA expects a lot from its players in terms of behavior. You're also a part of a team and your team has goals, goals that are far greater than the goals of the individual. And so one of the things that comes with being an NBA player is you can't allow your emotions to just dictate your actions with impunity. In other words, you have a lot to lose even on the low end. For a team like the Hornets that may or may not make the playoffs this year, you had just won nine games in a row. You're really building towards something special. As I mentioned, we were going to go do a deep dive on the Hornets in the mailbag episode. I think it's coming out tomorrow. In that mailbag I talked about how I do believe in these guys. I do think that the con canipple Brandon Miller Moussa Diabate core is an excellent foundation and that they're going to be an in the mix playoff team sooner than later. I'm not even really like there are times when I've watched the Hornets during this stretch where I'm like, man, lamello ball shot creation in conjunction with this shooting is what's making this work in a lot of ways. I'm not the biggest lamelo ball fan, but I'm not ready to give up on him in this core either. I am buying Hornet stock in a way that I didn't think I would this year. What if Moussa has to go miss 5, 10 games right now? It's a smaller version of stakes. It's a smaller wrench, but it's a wrench thrown into the development of this team nonetheless. And again I know it's easier said than done, but what Moussa needs to do there is when Jalen Duran does that, give him a shove in the chest, something that'll never end in the suspension. Just give him a shove, tell him to fuck off, and then let the league handle the face shove. Send a tape to the league. Let the league handle it. I know it's an imperfect solution, but it's the one that keeps Moosa on the court with his team, which is important when you have these team wide goals and when you're building real momentum to what could be a special era of Hornets basketball. And again, the stakes do get higher. Look at the Isaiah Stewart situation. Now, Isaiah Stewart is a very important rotation player for the Pistons, and we will likely not see him again for a long time because he had a similar incident where he flew off the handle with the LeBron James inadvertent elbow thing. And here's the thing again, I sympathize with the emotion. I understand why Isaiah Stewart wanted to stick up for his teammates as they've done for him in the past. But I would imagine if you went up to Jalen Durk and, you know, you went up to him and you asked him, you're like, would you rather have Isaiah Stewart come flying in to settle the score and have your back, or would you rather have Stu hang back because of his history and avoid the suspension that would inevitably follow from something like that? Because the Pistons have bigger goals, because the Pistons are building towards something special that could immortalize these Pistons guys in basketball history. We all know what Jaylen Duran would say. He'd be like, stu, I'm good. Hang back. I fucked up. I pushed him in the face. I'm gone already. You hang back. We got bigger things that we're trying to accomplish, though. In short, it's just not worth it. It's not worth it to give in to your emotions in those situations. And just like I said earlier, the stakes keep getting higher. Draymond Green missed an NBA Finals game and possibly could have cost his team a championship because of his inability to control his emotions. I know it's easier said than done, as I've said several times. But every young basketball player has to find a way to control their emotions when they're running hot competitively. If you're playing in college, like, let's say you have a college scholarship and you fly off the handle in a game and you punch somebody, that could dramatically affect your future. You could lose your scholarship. It could change the trajectory of your entire life. In other words, like I said earlier, you have a lot to lose and it's not worth it and so that requires more self control even if it is easier said than done. Hopefully for all these guys who got suspended from this fight, they'll learn a lesson and not make those mistakes in the future. Today's show is brought to you by presenting sponsor Hard Rock Bets, the official sportsbook partner of the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic. Thank you. No ball Put your hoops knowledge to the test on Hard Rock Bet. Between the NBA and college, every night is a chance to make a splash and win. And if you want to score a major bucket, shoot your shot at a same game parlay. Stack your picks on Hard Rock Bet and see your odds grow. But if you missed tip off, don't worry. Hard Rock Bet lets you live bet all game long from the first bucket to the final buzzer, so you're never too late to find a winner or grab that player that you had circled. If you haven't signed up with Hard Rock Bet yet, there's never been a better time. New signups can double their winnings on their first 10 bets with the max $50. That's right. If you would have won a hundred bucks on your bet, make that 200 plus. Hard Rock bet offers new promos every single day, so whenever you're listening, just open up the app and check out what you've got. Any day of the week, download the Hard Rock Bet app and make your first deposit today. Day 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, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee or Virginia. To play terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida? Call 1833 playwise 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, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee or Virginia.
- [20:34]
iHeartRadio Announcer
This month, iHeartRadio is celebrating the stars of the 2026 Winter Games. A legend from Sun Valley, Idaho, Hillary Knight is the ultimate captain of Team usa. Entering her record breaking fifth Olympic Games, the veteran forward continues to be a scoring machine and physical form force on the ice. With a resume already packed with gold and silver, she leads a hungry squad into Milano. Cortina Knight laces up her skates with one goal in mind, bringing the gold medal back home for more Winter Games Gold search olympics on the iHeartradio app. Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available at public.comdisclosures this is.
- [22:06]
Lavar Arrington
Lavar Arrington from Up on Game. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. It's a great time to apply for an Apple Card. You'll love earning unlimited daily cash on every Purchase. That includes 3% daily cash when you buy the latest iPhone, AirPods and Apple. Watch at Apple through this special referral offer. When you get a new Apple Card, you can earn bonus daily cash. To qualify, you must apply at Apple Co. Get Daily Cash Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch offer may not be available elsewhere. Terms and limitations apply.
- [22:38]
Verizon Spokesperson
All right, two Truths and a lie. Here we go. I went to college with college football coach Jim McElwain. I began my broadcasting career doing play by play for the Las Vegas Stars, and I've been a Verizon customer for 15 years. Okay, I lied. All three are true. Verizon isn't as expensive as you think. In fact, if you bring in your AT and T or T Mobile bill to a Verizon store, they'll give you a better deal. That's right, a better deal on the best network with the most ways to save on plans, streaming and phone deals. So take that AT and T or T Mobile bill to your local Verizon store today. Get a better deal and start saving based on root metrics. Best overall Mobile Network Performance U.S. 2nd Half 2025 All Rights Reserve must provide recent Consumer Mobile Bill in the name of the person redeeming the deal. Additional terms, conditions and restrictions apply.
- [23:26]
Lavar Arrington
Hi, this is Gronk from Dudes on Dudes. I'm here to tell you about protecting your end zone with wet extra large flushable dude wipes. Unlike dry wiping with toilet paper, dude wipes clear instead of smear wetter cleans better. Goodbye dingleberries. Goodbye itch and irritation. Plus if you take Gronk sized grumpies or as I like to call them Gronkies Baby wipes won't do. You need extra big dude wipes to handle the job. So don't fumble the ball with toilet paper. Stop being an A hole to to your B hole and start using Dude Wipes. Available on Amazon and major retailers nationwide. Dude Wipes Best clean Pants down all.
- [24:10]
Hoops Tonight Analyst
Right, moving on to Cavs Nuggets second game with James Harden second game with a double digit second half comeback win. The Cavs close this game with a Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Jared Allen lineup that had Sam Merrill and Jalen Tyson off the ball. So essentially two excellent shot creators that can both play off the ball because they're both great catch and shoot players, an excellent screen and role partner in Allen, and two dudes who have literally made over 45% of their threes this year. There was a sequence where James Harden kind of drove through the middle of the lane and he throws like a no look where he's kind of like looking at Donovan Mitchell in the right corner, but he ends up throwing across his body to Jalen Tyson at the top of the key. And if you watch Donovan Mitchell in the right corner, he starts celebrating like fist pumping, celebrating right when the pass was made because he knows damn well that Jaylen Tyson's going to knock that shot down. Both of those guys on wide open catch and shoot threes are shooting obscene percentages this year. On paper it sounds impossible to guard, right? Two deadly knockdown shooters, two shot creators that are both excellent in pick and roll and excellent as catch and shoot, three point shooters and the screen and roll partner and Allen, it sounds impossible to guard. And it is in reality as well. In the last nine minutes of clutch basketball over these two games in Sacramento and Denver, the Cavs have logged a 1:40 offensive rating. It gets even tougher for a team like Denver, for example. We talked about this in the power rankings yesterday. You know, there's a lot of like hoopla like oh, like you want, you guys want to know why The Nuggets were above.500 without Jokic, and now they're suddenly 2 and 4 with Jokic. It's not because Jokic is bad for the team or anything like that. It's because he fundamentally changes the way they have to play defense. The team got used to playing defense a certain style. When Jonas and Jokic were both out, there was a lot more switching, a lot more athleticism on the floor. It was a very different defensive scheme. It was less reliant on help on help and recover, more reliant on individual defense and one on one because you were doing so much switching, right? In these particular looks with Jokic on the floor, they've had to run a lot of zone. They've had to run a lot of high drop right in. Let's take high drop, for example. So if I am bringing Jokic up to the level in pick and roll, that requires a lot in the form of backside rotation. So that's been difficult for the Nuggets to adjust to anyway, irrespective of the situation that the Cavs present. The Nuggets are really defending poorly since Jokic came back because they have to get back into a very different groove defensively. That is very much more a help and rotate style of defense rather than a switch in contained style of defense. And so the Nuggets have been struggling with that. Anyway, now you add this problem that the Cavs present, right? So, like, if Yokich has to come up to the level, what is the next stage in that defensive sequence? Right. It's a tag of the roller. And if you don't, like, there was a play where Jared Allen caught a. You know, so James Harden's coming right off the top of the keys, getting to his right hand. Jared Allen does a good job, not only laying the screen, but he lingers for just a second to kind of create a larger pocket pass window. He holds his screen for an extra, like, second and then he rolls. James Harden hits him on the bounce. There's no tag, so he just goes right downhill. There was a tag, I think it was late, and he ends up. I think he ended up drawing a foul on that play, if I remember correctly. But it gets two easy points out of it. You have to tag the roller. If you're late on the tag Jared Allen scoring, or if you don't tag, Jared Allen scoring, if you do tag. There's four dudes on the floor off of Jared Allen, including the ball handler, who are all over 40% on catch and shoot threes. So like it's one of these situations where they're difficult to guard under normal circumstances. But because of the way the Nuggets play defense with Nicola Jokic, it's borderline impossible. And so there was a tough shot in there. James Harden hit a ridiculous step back three on the left wing, one where he probably got fouled that ended up tying the game. But every other bucket was easy. Easy finishes and fouls for Jared Allen on rolls, a layup for Donovan Mitchell on this nasty spin move in semi transition driving down the right side of the floor. The move was tough, but once he got past him, there's nobody helping because of all that shooting on the floor. Wide open layup, wide open threes for Jaylen Tyson, he had two wide open ones, one on the right wing or one right at the top of the key down the stretch. Those are all really easy shots that are built from that dynamic of having two really high level shot creators, a pick and roll threat as a screener that's one of the best in the league, and then literally two dudes who make damn near half of their catch and shoot threes that's just extremely difficult to guard. And it's one of the big reasons why I'm so high on this Cavs team. And I want to, I want to credit the Cavs defense down the stretch in this game too. James Harden made some key defensive rotations late in the game. He had one where he forced Tim Hardaway junior Tim Hardaway had one of those like classic kind of like screen slip sequences with, with Jokic off the top with Jamal Murray coming off. And so Jokic dumps it over the top and Harden made a really nice on time rotation. Got there, got a good contest. Tim Hardaway just hit a contested floater shout out to him. It's tough shot. Then he had another one where he forced a turnover on Jokic, a Jokic post up. They were running that like classic kind of post entry, two man game with Murray and Jokic off of the left wing and left block and Jokic goes to spin over his left shoulder. Harden sees it coming, rotates, gets there in time, feet set. And as Jokic tries to step through, it's no foul because Harden is standing still. He throws his arms into Harden and ends up turning the basketball over. His huge pivotal stop late in the game. Like one of the things with James Harden to keep an eye on is that specific kind of thing as it pertains to this team and their potential because James Harden is a much better one on one player defensively than he gets credit for. He has been awesome guarding one on ones this year. It was one of the big upside things that I talked about in the trade reaction pod. Compared to a guy like Darius Garland who was just getting brutalized in one on ones this year, James is a better one on one defender. But James can be an undisciplined, unfocused off ball defender. He can miss rotations, he can be laid on rotations, he can miss box outs, he can lose shooters, he can get back, cut, all of that kind of stuff. And so James being attentive like that on defense and being on time with his rotations and just being in the right spot in the defensive scheme is the pathway to him becoming a functional quality defender in the best version of this team. I think they're going to need Evan Mobley like they have not defended well really in the big picture since since James Harden joined the team in the two games. But I do think that Evan Mobley is going to help a lot with that when he gets back. And to their credit, they have a 105 defensive rating in crunch time last night against that awesome Nuggets offense. I thought that was a good impressive stretch of defense. Some really impressive things. There was a they as a team. I thought they defended Jamal Murray really well. They forced him into some tough contested shots that he missed. The there was this blitz from Keon Ellis and Jared Allen where they forced a turnover on Jamal Murray just with excellent ball pressure where he tried to get the pass off to Jonas kind of slipping out of the screen. But they just got such great pressure. They got a deflection that led out to a run out the other way. I'm just, I'm buying all sorts of Cav stock right now. You guys will see in my contender rankings with KOC that that come out I think on Thursday this week. I have them in my as my favorite to win in the Eastern Conference. Now after the trades I looked at it as very jumbled up, but I looked at the Knicks as my slight favorite before the deadline. I think the addition of Keon Ellis, Dennis Schroeder and James Harden vault the Cavs above every other team in that group. It's all very close. Like, you know, obviously we're looking at Detroit, New York, Boston and and Cleveland as the main ones. Toronto's kind of like hanging on to the bottom end of that group there but like I they're all still very bunched up. But to me these moves and especially seeing it kind of like come to fruition and just the type of basketball I've seen from them in the last couple of days, I think I put the Cavs at the top of that group and they're the team that I have. And in that group, the one team in that group that I have as a top tier contender in our contender rankings that come out later this week, it's really this simple. I think when you add Evan Mobley to the mix, there will be a combination of shot creation, high level role man play, off ball shooting, perimeter defense and rim protection. A combination of those five things that is sort of unrivaled in the East. They're not a perfect team. I'm still a little worried about their frontline getting pushed around in certain types of series, you know, big physical front lines. But of all the top teams in the east and all of them are flawed to a certain extent, I think this is the most complete team. And I'm just, I'm just really believing and buying in on this Cavs group as we head down the stretch of this season. Last game for today, Lakers Thunder. Not overly surprised by the result here. I think the Thunder without Shea are just a better basketball team than the Lakers without Luka. That's not exactly a bold take when you factor in just overall offense and defensive talent. The Thunder are the most talented roster in the league when they're fully healthy. And if you take Shay off and you take Luka off, you find out pretty quickly that the Lakers have a flawed roster by comparison. And it's a little closer than it would look on paper for this type of game. Just strictly looking at this matchup in the regular season, simply because the Thunder offense completely falls apart without Shea, their offense straight up can't score without Shea relative to when he's on the floor. The Lakers as a counter example, have only been 2.6 points worse per 100 possessions when Luca's off the floor this year because they still have high level shot creators and they get better defensively by about 2.4 points. And so even though the offense is a little better with Luca, it's just not as big of a gap because you have Austin and LeBron, these two super high level shot creators. So in a game like this, the Lakers are still capable of replicating some of what they do on offense and they're more or less the same, if not a slightly better defensive team, the Thunder without Shea, they usually have a hard time scoring. And so that's why even though these rosters, after their stars tilt Heavily towards the Thunder. It was a competitive game because the Lakers, you know, they have more resilience on offense without their superstar because of the way their roster is built. But even when we apply that context, OKC just has better basketball players. And I thought it was on display throughout the game. There's so many individual examples of that difference. So, like for instance, like you look at the scrappiness of the bigs, deandre Ayton has the ball straight up taken away from him twice down the stretch because he's just completely unprepared for the scrappiness of this environment. He has an offensive rebound, gets stripped, has a defensive rebound, gets stripped underneath the basket, and it leads to a dunk. Chet as a counterexample. The Lakers in a switching group end up leaving LeBron James on an island out on the perimeter. That puts Marcus Smart in a situation where he's got a scrap with Chad Holmgren. Same dynamic, right? Ayton got out, scrapped by guards. Right here you have Chet matched up with an even scrappier guard right in Marcus Smart, one of the scrappiest guards of all time. And Chad just beats him to the ball and gets a dunk. So, like in the scrap, chat's better at scrapping than DeAndre in addition to being a better defensive player. Got some huge stops down the stretch, including a big ISO stop on Marcus Smart driving down the lane. But Chad's just a way better basketball player than DeAndre and that's not a surprise there, right? Guys like Alex Crusoe and Lou Dort and Jay Lynn Williams hitting threes while Jake Laravia and Jared Vanderbilt are clanking from the corners. Like that's not a surprise. The Thunder have better shooting talent. The Thunder are 15th and catch and shoot three point percentage this year. The Lakers are 25th. The Thunder were 12 for 26 on catch and shoot threes last night. The Lakers were 7 for 23. That's in line with what you would expect from the talent available on these rosters. Even the perimeter physicality. Stuff like Kayson Wallace, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams all were able to go right at Austin Reaves late in the game for easy twos. Austin defended every single one of those plays pretty well. Kept his body in front, was competing physically. But he's just giving up an athletic advantage against all three of those guys. That's an advantage that Oklahoma City has that would not go away even if the Stars were available. Even just Oklahoma City forcing 15 turnovers and scoring 23 points on them. Casen Wallace by the way, menace in this game just hounding Austin Reaves up and down the floor getting those big late strips on. DeAndre Ayton as well. LeBron talked about it after the game. There's just a simple difference between these two teams. One's a championship contender and one is not. He plainly stated that last night. There are levels to hoop in the NBA. The Lakers, every time they run into this level, seem to get exposed. So for example, in this 8 and 4 stretch where they've been top 10 in offense and defense, I, I, during the 8 and 3, they were top 10 in offense and defense. I'm not sure how last night's numbers affected that. But during this stretch where they've been playing their best basketball the season, they're 8 and 4. They're 0 and 3 in that stretch against teams that are in the top 10 in point differential. According to Cleaning the Glass, just 5 and 11 this season against teams that are in the top 10 in point differential. The following teams have all been better by win percentage against teams in the top 10 in point differential. The Clippers, the Blazers, the Jazz, the Hawks and the Hornets. All five of those teams are below.500 in the big picture, but they have performed better this season against the best teams in the league. So like this is just kind of what it is. Now the counter that you would hear from some people is like, hey, well what about if the Lakers get all their stars healthy? And again, what I would say in that specific context is like, is there a chance that the Lakers will compete better against the teams that are in the top 10 in point differential if they have all their stars healthy? Yeah, of course there will. I don't think that that's too far of a bridge to cross, so to speak. But even in that context, it's one thing to be better than the Clippers, Blazers, Jazz, Hawks and Hornets, and it's another thing to actually be ready to compete nightly against the best teams in the NBA. And I just think this Lakers team is miles away from that. Several of the Thunder players I wanted to shout out Alex Caruso. I thought his off the dribble shot creation in this game was huge. He's sneaky, been really good at it all year. When called upon, he's run 40, pick and rolls, which is super low volume, but he's generated 45 points including passes so well over a point per possession. He just hit a variety of pull up jumpers and driving layups and made some passing reads that just felt like found money in a game. Like this, where you only have one of your primary dribble drive guys healthy. The Isaiah Joe first half hot streak. I thought that was a huge part of that first bit of separation that Oklahoma City built in the game. Kayson Wallace in those pick six is out at half court. Those are huge momentum plays. Jalen Williams, the, you know, J. Lynn Williams coming off the bench. It's always tough for me to differentiate between those two when I'm verbalizing their names, but he's been amazing all year in all sorts of ways for this team. Just kind of, you know, obviously he was big during the Hartenstein injury. Just being another big body for them off the bench. He's just a big, smart defender who's always in the right place at the right time and he continues to just hit timely threes for this team. Hit some huge ones in the fourth quarter last night. I thought Jared McCain's first shift was awesome. Just came in aggressive, looking for a shot, which is what the team needs from him right now with all of the injuries. And then Chet just huge defensive stands down at the rim late in the game in addition to that big offensive rebound put back late. You have to play really solid team basketball when you're down. Your superstar. And the Thunder did that and they got a big win. And then lastly, just Jaylen Williams. Jalen Williams. Good to see him back last night. They held up physically, which is good news. I was a little worried that they were bringing him back too quick for a soft tissue injury when he's so important to the final version of this team. But he looked great last night. Had some big, big buckets late in the game when this team needed him late. Just, just an awesome performance from a team that I believe is going to win the championship this year in Oklahoma City Thunder. All right, guys, that's all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the show. We'll be back tomorrow with a. A mailbag. This the schedule. The rest of this week is a little funky because I have a. This is my last, like, little break before the home stretch. And so I've got a buddy coming in town today and we're going to do some skiing over the next few days. So I've got a mailbag coming out tomorrow. Today I'm recording contender rankings with koc that's going to air on Thursday and then we'll be back on Monday with our normal power rankings again. As always, I appreciate you guys and I will see you tomorrow.
- [40:46]
Podcast Host
Think Verizon is expensive? Think again. Anyone can bring their AT and T or T Mobile bill to a Verizon store today and we'll give you a better deal. So bring us your bill. Walk in, run in, pogo sticking, teleport if you can, ride on the back of a rollerblading yak or flying on the wings of a majestic falcon. Any way, you can bring your AT and T or T Mobile bill to a Verizon store today and we'll give you a better, better deal. On the Best Network based on root metrics Best Overall Mobile Network Performance US Second Half 2025 all rights reserved. Must provide a very recent postpaid consumer mobile bill in the name of the person redeeming the deal. Additional terms, conditions and restrictions apply.
- [41:16]
Lavar Arrington
Everyone deserves to be connected. That's why T Mobile and US Cellular are joining forces. Switch to T Mobile and save up to 20% versus Verizon by getting built in benefits they leave out. Check the math. @t mobile.com switch and now TM T mobile is in US cellular stores. Savings versus Comparable Verizon plans plus the cost of optional benefits, plan features and taxes and fees vary. Savings with three plus lines include third.
- [41:42]
Hoops Tonight Analyst
Line free via monthly bill credits.
- [41:43]
Lavar Arrington
Credit stop if you cancel any lines.
- [41:44]
Hoops Tonight Analyst
Qualifying credit required.
- [41:46]
Podcast Host
So do healthier choices really pay off with prescription plans from CVS Caremark? They do. Their plan designs give you more choice, which gives members more ways to get on, stay on and manage their meds. And that helps you control your costs because healthier members are better. For business, go to CMK Co Access to learn more about helping your members stay adherent. That's CMK Co Access. Hey, did you know Dietz Watson has been family owned for over 85 years? To us that means it's more than a business, it's personal. We make our premium meats and cheeses the right way, even if it's slower or inconvenient or hard. Because that's how you get the highest quality. If it's not good enough for our family, it's not good enough for yours. And while others cut corners, we keep raising the bar. So if you see the Dietz and Watson name, you'll know every slice has my family's seal of approval. Dietz and Watson. It's a family thing since 1939. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.