The volume. It's the most wonderful time of the year for getting in on all of the hoops, football and hockey action at Draft Kings Sportsbook. In the season of giving, we're being gifted college football and basketball, Pro football and basketball and pro hockey too. Almost twenty four to seven. So many games every day, so many opportunities to place your first bet. Try betting on something simple like picking a team to win. Go to the Draft Kings sportsbook Gap and place your bet. Current Super Bowl winners on DraftKings right now the Detroit Lions at plus two to sixty and the Kansas City Chiefs at plus four to twenty five. And here's a gift for all new customers. Bet five dollars to get one hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your bet wins. Download the Draft King Sportsbook Gap and use code hoops that's h oops. That's code hoops for new customers to get one hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your bet wins. When you bet just five bucks, Happy Holidays from DraftKings. The Crown is yours. Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler in New York call eight seven seven eight hope and why, or text hope and Why to four six seven, three six nine. In Connecticut, help us available for problem gambling called eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort in Kansas twenty one plus. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction void in Ontario. Bet must win to receive award. Bonus bets expire one hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For additional turns and responsible gaming resources to dkang dot co. Slash b ball. All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at the volume heavy Thursday. Everybody in Happy New Year. I hope ball. If you guys had a great celebration, got a jam pack show for you today. The Cleveland Cavaliers off the top are three and zero so far in the West Coast road trip. They're riding an eight game winning streak where they've won every single game by double figures. Really impressive basketball from them. We're going to do a deep dive into them off the top. I've been really keyed in on the calves over the last couple of weeks as their schkeed jewel has gotten tougher and I got a lot of stuff that I want to get into on that front. I'm also finally I told you guys I wanted to watch more games. First, I'm finally ready to officially place the Cleveland Cavaliers in my contender rankings. We're going to do that at the tail end of that segment. After that, I want to talk about the Milwaukee Bucks. I had a big impressive comeback win on Tuesday against the Indiana Pacers. I want to talk a little bit about Giannis and some stuff with the guard rotation. After that, Golden State Warriors fans are depressed right now, and I want to help offer some perspective as someone who's been equally depressed about my team at an earlier point in the season and talk about why I still believe that team is worth investing in. And then the Los Angeles Lakers at the tail end of the show, I just want to talk briefly about their showdown with the Cleveland Cavaliers and some of my takeaways. You guys know the job before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops and Night YouTube channel. You don't miss any more of our videos, follow me on Twitter and underscore JSNLT so you guys don't miss announcements. So forget about a podcast for you where you get your podcast under hoos Tonight. It's also helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front. We also have brand new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We're releasing content throughout the year under the Hoops Tonight banner. Makes sure you guys follow us there. In the last not least, keep dropping mail back questions in the YouTube comments. Schedule's gonna be a little weird over the course of this weekend because I'm going on my first ski trip of the year Sunday through Tuesday, So I'm probably going to work on Saturday and maybe even Sunday morning as well. But then we won't be working on Monday and Tuesday, so the mail bag might not be on Friday this week. It might be on like Saturday or Sunday. I'll let you guys know, but make sure you guys keep dropping mail back questions in those YouTube comments. All right, let's talk some basketball. So, as I said, I've been really keyed in on the Cavs over the course of the last two weeks as their schedules gotten tougher. It's just tough. They had been playing the easy literally the thirtieth ranked schedule in the league. Just part of that's the Eastern Conference. Part of that's just the way things kind of broke. They were on some tough travel schedule at times, but like in terms of the quality opponents they were playing, they were playing a lot of lesser teams out in the East, and they've played a bunch of really good teams as of layer. I shouldn't say they haven't played the great teams, like the top tier teams like Boston and Oklahoma City, but they've played a bunch of really good teams in the last couple of weeks. They played the Bucks, they played the Sixers, albeit down Stars, but they played the Nuggets, they played the Lakers, they played the Warriors, and they've just been ripping through all of them. They're three to zero on the West Coast road trips so far. They've won every game of this eight game winning streak by double figures. In this eight game span, they have a won twenty four offensive rating, which is best in the league. One oh seven defensive rating in that span, which is fifth best in the league. I want to zoom in on Darius Garland to start, because he's just become one of my favorite players to watch in the league this year. He has this confidence about him now that wasn't there in years past as it pertains to getting to his spots. And remember, getting to your spots is very much like a combination of a bunch of factors, right, Like it's vector of your a combination of like your athletic traits, like are you big and strong? Are you mobile? Like a combination of those sorts of traits. Right. Darius Garland in particular, is incredibly quick footed. He can start, stop, and change direction incredibly quickly, right, and so that allows him to get to his spots. The second piece of it is like ball handling, the ability to control the basketball while you're getting to those spots. And then the third piece of it is footwork, right, that's the ability to actually weaponize your athleticism to get to spots. Right. Great example of that is like in the Lakers game, every when he did that step through move where he like kind of pivoted like he was going to shoot over his left shoulder, but then he stepped back through to the left and then took that extra step to engage ad just to drop it off to Jared Allen so that he could get a dunk. Like that's a footwork piece that allowed him even though the defender cut him off, it allowed him to get even more penetration into the lane to engage the rim protect protector for him to get a drop off pass. I have really enjoyed watching him because it actually kind of reminds me of watching like a really really good running back in tight space environments. The way he can kind of like just change direction and just weave through those situations and get where he needs to go. And that's been one of the primary driving forces of the calves, getting defenses in rotation all the time, which is a great which is a great driving force behind the quality three point shots that they get, as well as the quality rollman touches that they get. And it's kind of funny because, like, there are a dozen reasons why the calves are so much better now than they were last year, and we're going to talk about a bunch of them today. But if I had to simplify it down, if someone said Hey, Jason in one sentence, won quick sentence, tell me why the Cleveland Cavaliers are so much better this year than they were last year. I would just say Darius Garland and Evan Mobley are both way better than they've ever been. That is a influx of talent that has turned this into like a two rock solid player team. Because Jared Allen's rock solid. You know, it's like a role player center. Although he's kicked eights ass again and he keeps out playing some of the better centers in the league. So there's that that we have to contend with. Maybe Jared Allen is just needs to be ranked a lot higher among centers, right, But Jared Allen was rock solid. Donovan Mitchell was rock solid. But it's just kind of like Mobiley and Garland and just kind of depended on the night With those guys, right, both of them have become way more reliable and their ceilings are higher. That is the simplest way that I can describe the improvement in this team. I want to start with Darius. So, Darius is at sixty three percent true shooting this year. That's four percent higher than he's ever been in his career. In this eight game stretch, twenty one points and eight assists per game, with one point eight steals per game, fifty one percent from the field, forty four percent from three. That's a sixty five percent true shooting percentage. His efficiency is off the chart. And again, what stands out to me on film, and this is the part that I enjoy watching so much, is his ability to get to his spots. I'm watching him against good perimeter defenders a lot of the times, like you're seeing athletes in front of Darius Garland, and he's just confidently, almost like with a pep in his step, dribbling past these guys and getting wherever he wants to on the floor. Once you have the ability to get wherever you want to on the floor, it becomes about two things. The ability to make shots and the ability to make the passing reads. And he's always been a great passer, but his shot making has been the piece that's been inconsistent with him in the past, and his shot making is on another level this year. Listen to some of these numbers, it's crazy, Like I said, four percent higher and true shooting percentage than any season in his career, forty six percent on catch and shoot jump shots field goal percentage forty six percent. He's making almost half of them forty two percent off the dribble waited for threes. He's getting one point one zero points per shot in off the dribble situations. Out of the thirty two players in the league to attempt at least one hundred and fifty pull up jump shots, Darius Garland ranks fifth out of those thirty two guys. He's become a deadly pull up jump shooter. This is the crazy one. He's shooting sixty four percent on floaters. That's Jokic territory. He's fifth in the league in total floaters made. By the way, for those of who are curious, Jalen Brunson's number one total floaters made, LaMelo balls number two. Interesting one here Jared Jackson at three and then Darren Fox at four before we get to Garland at five. But sixty four percent on floaters is ridiculous. He's a little lower at the ram. He's like fifty four percent at the rim, but that's somewhat to be expected with a small guard. But the shot making is vital to opening up the passing reads. Right Like in the past, Darius Garland used to be the kind of guy you could run a deeper drop coverage against because one he was a capable pull up shooter and a capable floater maker. But he was a little more inconsistent and the aggression wasn't always there. It wasn't always willing to take those shots. That's been a big part with Kenny Atkinson. He's getting him to be more willing to take that pull up three when it's there, even if it's a little bit earlier in the possession, right, But like the aggression in the shot making is there. What that has done is forced teams to come up to the level. And like you want to know why Jared Allen is always wide open on the pocket. You want to know why his roleman efficiency is up. You want to know why he's fourth in the entire league and role man field goals made A big part of that is Darius Garland is now bringing aggressive pick and roll coverages out to the perimeter because of his shot making. He had Anthony Davis out at the perimeter that entire game. Every time he hit Jared Allen in the pocket, He's rolling downhill and it's like Max Christy on the back line, or you know Lebron at times who you know doesn't make those rotations all the time during the regular season, and he's just bigger and he's just finishing over those guys. But the only way you're pulling Anthony Davis out to the perimeter there is if you are that scoring threat. Darius Garland has been the second pick and roll ball handler in the entire league this year with a minimum of four hundred reps. Number one is Tyree Slliburton. Number two is Darius Garland. He's become one of my favorite players to watch in the league. It's a joy to watch him dribble around the floor and get wherever he wants. He's picking teams apart right now while scoring on him to can't say enough about Darius Garland. Well, Evan Mobley. It comes down to two things. It's a change in the way he's been used on offense. We talked about this a lot in the earlier part of the season. Right Like, his roleman touches are down, which is good because he's not very good at the roleman touches, and then his ball handling touches are up, which is good because he's a good playmaker, and he's at his best when he's trying to get his momentum going towards the rim with the ball in his hands. Off the dribble. He's run eighty eight ISOs and pick and rolls this year, including passes for eighty nine points. That's over a point per possession, so he's generating offense there. And then the big one is his spot up shooting. He's shooting fifty percent on threes during this win streak, this eight game win streak on three point four attempts per game, that's pretty solid volume, and he's up to forty three percent on the season. Teams are leaving him open and he's just making them, and he's making them at a great rate. So as a result, you're getting real offensive firepower out of Evan Mobley. Nineteen points per game that's functional both on the ball and off the ball, with four assists per game during this eight game streak, that's a real uptick. And then most importantly, both Evan Mobley and Darius Garland have addressed their biggest weaknesses, which are weaknesses that got them beat in the pass. Like with Mobley, it was how do we use this guy on offense right when he was in pick and roll, his shortcomings and making decisions on the role became a problem. Now where he's still getting the occasional role man touch, but now that he's doing more of his work offensively as a spot up guy and hitting shots and on the ball generating shots, it's made him into a useful offensive player in a way that he wasn't in years past. With Garland, it was two things. It was can he be aggressive as a scorer and successful as a scorer in big spots, which we'll talk about in a minute, and then the defensive end of the floor. And here's the deal. Teams are attacking Darius Garland. They are, but he's fighting and he's not as easy to target as he looks. I think he's at his best when he's trying to be disruptive. When he can be passive, it can be an issue with his size, But when he's aggressive and he's attacking the basketball, he can force turnovers and speed guys up. That's the real Those are the reps that I see with him that look best. But on offense, he's demonstrated a clear step forward, but the next step is doing it in the postseason, and this is Cavs fans worry about this sometimes, this is what a lot of people around the league are thinking about, right Like, the next step is doing it in the postseason. He's averaging fourteen points per game inefficiently in seventeen playoff games in his career. That said, I am optimistic. I think Darius Garland is gonna have a very successful playoff run this year. The main reason why is because there are clear signs that he's just improving. Like, he's way better in the postseason. He was way better last year than he was the first year, right like in the knixt Series he was so bad, then not as good as you want him to be in the Orlando Series, but better. And then he's obviously way better this year than he was last year. So there are these clear signs of improvement, which to me are like a clear sign that the guy's working his ass off behind the scenes, and that to me means you're destined for improvement. So my guess is we get another big leap forward for Garland this year in the playoffs. Does that mean he's going to be just as efficient in volumess with the scoring as he was in the regular season, not necessarily, but I think he's going to be better than he has been. Now. Obviously, we focused in a lot on Darius Garland and Evan Mobley today, but I want to talk about some team wide stuff and then I want to talk about Donovan Mitchell and how he fits into all this. First of all, this is one of the hardest playing teams that I've seen in my entire time watching the NBA. Do you know how hard it is to win eight consecutive games by double figures with the EBB and flow of effort in the NBA? And when teams do finally kick in with desperation late and they can get a game close, it's that fake comeback thing that all of us fans have seen with our favorite teams right like, it is hard to do this. The main reason why is they have incredible running habits on both ends of the floor. When the possession ends either way, whether they get a stop or they miss a shot on offense, all five guys quickly disengage from whatever they're doing and they start sprinting their lanes. This is how they generate somebody transition threes. This is something I've been talking a lot about they're shooting forty four percent on transition threes this year, and I think they're third in makes in terms of transition threes per game. And a big part of that is everyone's running their lanes so that when they throw those kick ahead passes or when the ball handler attempts to pressure the rim, there are kickout options. If you don't run the floor, there are no kickout options, right, And like a lot of times, these are rotation situations. Driving kick basketball is how we get wide up in threes, right, Like, oh, beat this guy off the dribble, draw help kick. Oh he gets a close out, but you make an extra pass, so that guy drives a close out. There's another guy someone's wide open finally and they shoot the three. Right. That's how you do it in the half court. In transition. It's the same concept. You throw a kick ahead pass, that dude drops it off to the trailer, guy closes out at himy pump fakes and he rips. There needs to be a guy in the right corner. There needs to be a guy in the corner ready for that kickout pass, and if he misses, there needs to be another or if he gets closed out at there needs to be another option, right, Like those options are available in transition when you run the floor, and it is just habitual for this team. Everybody runs all game and most importantly, they do it every possession of every game. This is why most of their games end in blowouts. Teams no Cleveland likes to run, so they start games all sharp and focused and they're playing hard and they're getting back in transition and they hang around, but the onslaught never stops, and eventually that team like, let's go of the rope, and then the Calves blow you out because they just keep running. The Warriors game was a great example of that. The Warriors were hanging for the most part, and then in that third quarter stretch they let go of the rope for a minute. It was like bam transition, three, bam transition three bam transition three. Oh shit, we're down twenty. The game's over, right, Like that's what they do. The second reason I wanted to talk about is the shooting. The Calves are shooting preposterously well, two percent better than anyone else from three, two percent better than anyone else on wide open threes, five percent better than anyone else on clutch threes, and they're making the most opthagibble threes in the league. Now I want to focus more on what the Calves themselves can control. There's gonna be a lot of discussions surrounding will Cleveland make threes when they get to the playoffs, And that's a real factor, right, Will they make threes could play a huge role in whether or not they end up getting where they want to go. But I find that conversation kind of pointless because we don't know. It's all speculation and there's only one way to find out, which is let's go to the playoffs and let's see what happens. Right, But we're not gonna be able to do that for the short term. I think it's important to discuss the way that Cleveland generates their threes. And there's two things that I want to get into there. First of all, is the transition piece. Right, we already broke that down, running your lanes, kick ahead passes, pressuring the rim, playing quick driving, driving kick sequences in the chaos of the transition situations. But it's also in the half court. This team is addicted to making the right reads, making the extra pass, and hunting the great shots. On every single possession. Talked to earlier about transition, their top five and transition threes generated and number one and transition three percentage. But over the course of games, they generate twenty point four wide open threes per game, that's ninth in the NBA. And they generate fifteen point three open threes per game. So wide open is defender at least six feet away. Open is defender between four and six feet away. So all threes where the defenders at least four feet away. They're generating thirty five point seven per game, which is in the top ten in the NBA. They do that through their decision making. They do that through making the extra pass. They do that through hunting the right closeout reads no one is there. It was so funny watching that Lakers Calves game because you'd see Ruy Hachimura drive and Evan Mobley disengage off of Day and Finney Smith and come to double Ruey Hachimura from behind, and he just doesn't see it, and so Evan Mobley blocks him. Now the Calves are running out the other way, Whereas every single time a Laker would offer help in a situation like that, the Calves are making that extra pass they're making that kickout pass. It was stark to see the difference between the guys like Ruy Max Christy Dalton connect on their driving kick reads compared to the driving kick reads that guys for Cleveland were making. It was really stark and that's something to call out because that's part of the identity of this team. Lastly, the defense. Calves aren't a perfect defense. They're currently eighth in the NBA. They have some entry points that you can attack. They still struggle on the defensive glass from time to time like they have in the past, but they compete. This actually reminds me of Boston in the sense that there's an organizational pride to where every individual competes defensively, even the lesser defenders. When they get hunted, they take it personally and they compete in the slide their feet. You see Georgia kneeing sliding his feet in trying to get stop. You see Sam Merril sliding his feet. You see Darius Garland sliding his feet. Those guys do their best, and then schematically they're really smart with their help and recover. When they see a ball handler has his back turned or he's now seeing the floor. They're digging, they're doubling, they're being aggressive, but they stay home when it comes to the easy kickout reads, which is a big part of how they force turnovers. Again, they're one of the best. They're second in the league in scoring off of opponent turnovers. All of those things are team wide details that Cleveland is excellent with every single night, which always gives them a great chance to win the game. Again, if you look at a basketball team as a combination of like your talent, what they're capable of, and then the basketball character the brand of basketball you're playing. Even if we just remove talent from the equation, which, like we talked about, Darius is awesome. Excuse me, Donovan's awesome, Jared Allen's awesome, Darius Garland's way better than he's ever been. Evan Mobley's way better than he's ever been. It's like a big four. So they're talented. I'm not trying to undercut that. But on the side, they're also just playing the best overall basketball. Like, irrespective of talent, they're playing the best basketball that anyone's playing in the league right now. And what that's done is it slotted Donovan Mitchell as the perfect tip of a spear that you need him to be rather than asking him to do too much. I've loved his role on this team. His usage is the lowest it's been since his rookie year. He just gets to pick his spots. I thought the Warriors game was the perfect example of this. He's kind of just floating through the game, letting things go the way they're going to go. And then in the third quarter the Warrior the Calves are up like eleven or something like that, and Donovan Mitchell's like, I smell blood in the water. I think these dudes are about to quit if I hit a couple of big shots here and he gets hyper aggressive and he hits two or three pull up threes in a row, all of a sudden, you're up twenty and the game is over, right, Like that's the type, Like that's a great way to use Donavan Mitchell is as this tip of a spear who can be hyper aggressive in these shorter spurts, but you're not depending on him to be Luka Doncic for the entire game. Right. So, as I look at this team in the big picture, I think I'm ready to place them in my contender rankings. Finally, before the show, I had Boston number one, Oklahoma City number two, in Dallas number three. I want to move them above Dallas. I think they represent a better version of Dallas in a lot of ways. Like they also have excellent rimp protection in the front court. I think Mobiley and Allen is just a better front court than like PJ. Washington, Derek Lively and Daniel Gafford. They have two great shot creators. Now, obviously Luca and Kyrie is a better duo for sure than Donovan mitchell On and Darius Garland. But I do think I like Cleveland's overall offensive skill more. They have more shooting. I think Ty Jerome is a better backup backup guard than going with someone like Spencer Dinwoodie for who's been getting a lot of those reps for Dallas as of late. In general with Lavert too, like I just think Cleveland's overall ball handling is better. I think Luca is also a bigger weak point in a defense than Garland. The main reason why is one Garland competes more on the defensive end, and two Garland is fast enough for some schematic flexibility you can't hedge and recover with Luca because he's too slow. You can hedge and recover with Darius and try to avoid him getting into switches because he's fast enough and capable of closing out and existing in that rotation type of situation where you're sprinting around. And then lastly, the basketball character piece. I think Cleveland is a sharper basketball team. That's no offense to Dallas. They're the sharpest basketball team in the league when it comes to details and execution. No one's doing it better than Cleveland right now. So I want to move them above Dallas, and then I want to move them above OKAC. And the main reason why there is their shooting. I think Cleveland's offense is more resilience. As a matter of fact, between all the units Cleveland's offense, Cleveland's defense, Oklahoma City's offense, Oklahoma City's defense, I think Oklahoma City's offense is easily the least trustworthy of any of those groups. We've seen just too many times how Oklahoma City's offense can literally bog down into nothing. Shay I think is a better player than Donovan Mitchell, but I think the overall shot creation is also better for Cleveland. Like, take Shay and Donovan out, who do you trust Darius Garland, Ty Jerome and a Karris Lavert or Jalen Williams who's really young, and Chet Holmgren who's really young. Right, Like, That's why I lean, now Oklahoma City can end up making a trade and making this more complicated. But I think I trust Cleveland's shot creators more too. Now I'm not ready to move them ahead of Boston because I think Boston still has more versatility on both ends of the floor. They have more defensive looks they can go to in more ways. They can attack you on offense by virtue of them having five dudes who make thirty million dollars a year, that's just kind of their talent advantage, right. I also think Boston schematically has the ability to turn Allan Jared Allen into more of a dunker spot guy than a roleman. This is the Jason Tatum luxury, right. He can guard and make that action switchable, which could force Cleveland into using Evan Mobley as a roleman more, which is something that we know that he can struggle with at times. And so I actually think that Boston still has some significant advantages there. Now, I will say this, and this is a message to the Boston Celtics. The Cleveland Cavaliers are coming for you. They're addicted to winning, and at this specific point in time, they're playing better basketball than the Celtics. That's not really up for debate if you just look at the results. I'm not saying they're a better team, but right now they're playing better basketball. And while Cleveland has been attacking this season from start to finish, the Celtics have been relaxing and playing some of the worst basketball that they've played in this era. Now here's the deal. You are better than Cleveland. The Celtics are better than Cleveland. You have more talent, you have more experience, but Cleveland right now is sharper than you. The question will be, is your talent advantage bigger than the deficit you have and how sharp you are compared to Cleveland. If the Cleveland Cavaliers are sharper to a greater extent than you are more talented, they will beat you. Right now, I lean Boston, but Cleveland absolutely can win that series. And the challenge, and this is the challenge, like Boston has to take this seriously because if they don't, they need to have the appropriate amount of fear, is my point. You have to have a goal now between now and April of becoming sharper to minimize that gap so that your talent gap can carry you over the top. And that sort of matchup again, it's just a challenge. The Boston Celtics deserve to be favored, but they need to have the appropriate fear of this matchup. But shout out to the Cleveland Cavaliers at this point second place in my contender's list. All right, let's go on. I want to talk briefly about that Indiana Milwaukee game. The late game chess match was really interesting to see the way the two offenses were playing all ball screens for Giannis but like on ball, so he was running like ball screens with Bobby Portis and really picking on Miles Turner. It's been fun watching Giannis's playmaking continue to level up over the years. One of the things that Miles Turner was doing is he was kind of like showing up high to stop Giannis from turning the corner as so that he wouldn't get ahead of steam in those ball screens, forcing him to kind of like come up with a hesitation dribble rather than just attacking. But in the process he would then turn around and then run back to Bobby Portis or Brook Lopez and Jannis got brooked with it once and Bobby with it once, but literally just as soon as Miles Turner would turn his head, Jiannis would then throw the pass just right over his head, right to the role man and get a layup. And I'm like, that's such a cool little like like a development in Gianni's playmaking where it's not even just about reading where the defender is, but whether or not the defender's paying attention. That's a huge difference, Like the like, if a defender is not paying attention, that's the best time to throw that pass because you have that split second before they even realize what's happening and can try to make a rotation or try to get an arm up or something along those lines. But there's a lot of that. It was also a lot of inverted ball screens, a lot of like aj Green screening for Yannis and then slipping out of it, Damian Lillard screening for Yannis and slipping out of it, and Giannis was doing a ton of damage there. But then on the other end of the floor, the Pacers were running the exact same thing every time. They were running a pick and pop with Turner in Halliburton. And as I've told you, guys, the pick and pop is always open against the drop coverage. It's just quite literally always open. So Milwaukee had no choice but to rotate from the weak side. So basically, like the Pacers were just running the pick and pop, pitching it back to Turner, Milwaukee was rotating. Then they'd swing it to the Wayne and Andrew and Emhart whoever it was that was over there, and then they would just play driving kick out of it. And so they were consistently having those advantage situations. So it kind of turned into this interesting contest of like Yannis surgical in the half court versus like, how well do the Bucks rotate when they're dealing with all these guys driving and kicking on them? And you know, I have to say, like I thought, the Bucks did a really good job in their defensive rotations the entire second half, even in their zone. Look when they were getting pulled into all these different directions, guys are just sprinting and making those efforts even guys that were not making those efforts earlier in the season, like Damian Lillard and Gary Trent Junior. They were making those efforts and then kind of came down to this like crazy sequence where Gary Trent ends up saving the day with a couple of rescue possessions. He hits like a off of this crazy sequence. He hits a catch and shoot three on the left wing, and then he hits like a smothered, wonderable like push shot out of the right corner that he knocked down that ended up being kind of the dagger in this one. But then Yannis the other thing that was big in the fourth quarter, Jannis is off the dribble shot making. He hit like a turnaround jump shot over his right shoulder during the stretch of the game where he was just absolutely frying Jaris Walker, and then he had a won like fade away over Jarifs Walker he hit to ice the game. He had like this nasty step back jump shot out by like the left elbow extended that put him up by seven in the final minute. The biggest thing that stood out to me there was his confidence, like he's talking shit, he's hunting those shots, and it didn't even feel like settling. It felt like the right balance to what he was doing off the dribble in those situations, like he was attacking in those ball screens and getting downhill NonStop. But it was such a good balance between not over penetrating when the coverage dictated it and making the right passing raid like those passing raads in pick and roll, the ending late clock situations with off the dribble, shot making when he needed to, getting downhill to the rim, and being that wrecking ball that we all know that he can be. It was such a magnificent offensive second half from Giannis as he pulled them back. He just refused to let his team lose that game. And then again, one of the big things that's been standing out to me all season is the Bucks having kind of like an interesting guard rotation now in a way that was a huge problem all of last year and looked like a problem to start this year. And they have so many options right like aj Green's the best shooter, and his shooting was huge in the second half of this game. He had like this crazy three off of an offensive rebound in the off the left wing that was like a twenty eight footer hit a big right corner three in another chaos situation. Late, AJ's your shooter. Andre's your best athlete and your best defender. So like, if you just need a wrecking ball at the spot, Andre's the way to go. Gary Trent Junior is probably the best overall offensive player in terms of ball handling and shot making. He ended up getting the nod late in this game, right, and it was the right call. Doc has all season long, has had a great feel for like, am I going with Gary Trent or am I going with Aj Green? Am I going with Andre Jackson, am I going with Bobby Portis, or am I going with Brook Lopez? Right? Like, He's had a great feel for that all year. Even Ryan Rolin seems to be kind of an interesting future option for the Bucks at that two guard spot. He's a good perimeter athlete that can shoot the ball. He's shooting really well and catch and shoot situations. This year, I've seen him make some pretty impressive athletic plays. He had this play where he was against the Bulls where he's chasing Kobe White over the top of his screen and blocked him on a rear view contest. He had this kind of a garbage time play against the Wizards where he got Alex sar in Iso and just hit him with the between the legs crossover, toasted him off the dribble, and just dunked all over him with his left hand, like he's an interesting option for the future. They just have a lot more options in those spots than it appeared to be at the beginning of the season, and certainly a hell of a lot more than last year. You anchor that with how these guys have been playing like since the n Season tournament ended their three and three all three of their losses. Jana stam Or both were out for those games. They're fourth in defensive rating over that six game span, a one zero six defensive rating, which means even when their talent has been out, they've been competing. And again, and I talked about their defensive rotations against Indiana, they are committed. That's the most exciting development like the Bucks to me, look like a team that is now fully committed to the work. They are bought into the daily process of being the best basketball team that they can be. And so I really want to shout out Doc rivers, Damian Lillard and Jannison Tannakoombo. All three of them have just been so locked in and doing some of their best work. And again, like I talk about this all the time, but this is a non negotiable part of the championship process, especially for teams that don't have overwhelming talent. Milwaukee's a lot more talented than I thought they were to start the year, but they are not overwhelmingly talented, like Boston has been relaxing a lot this year, but they have a huge talent advantage. And even with Boston, I feel like they're playing a dangerous game with respect to Cleveland, like they if they're not sharp enough, Cleveland can beat them. Like sharp sharpness is the difference in a lot of cases. The team that runs and rotates and executes and is the right thing every single possession puts themselves in a position where their talent can push them over the top, especially when you have guys like Giannis and Name. I've just been really impressed by them. And again, like it could not have looked worse than it did in that two and eight start, but this team looks completely engaged and completely bought into that process. All right. A couple things I wanted to get into before we get out of here. The Warriors. I've since a lot of negativity for Warriors fans. I did a radio hit in the San Francisco area on Tuesday where there was quite a bit of negativity as well. Like I understand the sentiment, like this is a remarkably long slump. You were twelve and three at one point in time and now you're five hundred, Like, I get it, But I do really think that mostly this is a slump, like nobody is playing well for the Warriors right now. The team as a team against Cleveland was oh for fourteen on wide open threes, meaning the defender was at least six feet away. They were oh for fourteen. Steph Curry and Buddy Heeld, your two best shooters, were oh for seven on wide open threes. Even if you think Steph is losing his step, Even if you think he's not as capable of getting separation as he used to, He's gonna shoot better than oh for four on wide open threes like he did against Cleveland. Buddy Held will play better, Andrew Wiggins will play better. Gary Paynon, the second will get healthy. Role players will make more shots. A lot of this is just the reality of the nature of the regular season in the Western Conference. Denver just had a stretch where they lost three out of five and things were looking bleak. Now they've won three in a row. They have the seventh best record in the league. Earlier the season, the Nuggets lost seven out of eleven. Here's where they're at now. So there have been two separate points already this season where I've seen Nuggets fans, Nuggets fans that I follow and talked to, are like, this shit looks bleak. Now it looks good again. The Lakers. You remember I had a complete meltdown three weeks ago about the Lakers, and they've currently won five out of seven and things have stabilized for them. This is the nature of the Western Conference. You're always two good weeks from being the five seed, in two bad weeks from being the eleven seed. That is how this goes. You're in one of the downstretches right now, and exceptionally downstretch. I get it, but that's all this is. It's a downstretch in my opinion. The Golden State Warriors right now are three games back from the seventh best record in the league. You're two good weeks from the seventh best record in the league. But Jason, we can't beat the tough teams in the league, so why should we try to improve this roster. Well, first of all, that's a loser mentality. If the cases we can't beat Boston, Cleveland, or Oklahoma City then or those three teams are obviously better us, then twenty seven teams in the league should just pack it up and quit. That's foolishness. You go for it because anything can happen. A star gets hurt, a team gets upset. What if a lesser team gets out of the East, like a team that's not Boston or Cleveland gets out of the Eastern Conference, and then suddenly it's like, if we beat Oklahoma City, we have a chance to win the title. You guys have all seen how Oklahoma City's offense can crumble. Milwaukee is a team that if you ask Golden State fans, like, how much better is Milwaukee than you, most of you guys aren't going to think they're that much better. They've had big down stretches this year. Milwaukee handled Oklahoma City because they're veteran, they're older, they're more experienced than they were able to defend the way they needed to do. You think Golden State's older in experience and capable of defending the way they needed to. I think everybody in the Western Conference is beatable. Oklahoma City's offense can fall apart. We talked about that, so can Memphis is because they're spot up shooting. Their ability to convert spot up possessions is really poor in this league. Houston's offense sucks. Denver is the weakest they've been since twenty twenty one. Dallas has injury issues. I like Dallas, but they have injury issues. The Clippers are depending on James Harden and Kawhi Leonard. The Lakers are depending on forty year old Lebron and still don't have a starting two guard. Minnesota, their entire three, four five just can't shoot. So now follow this through with me to conclusion. What if you make a deal for a higher level offensive player and that comes in and helps screeze the wheels for you offensively. Now, for the record, before you say, Jason, why are you trying to trade Jonathan Kaminga? This is an important clarification because I've seen this on Twitter and on YouTube comments. I am not advocating for the Warriors to trade Jonathan Kaminga. I am advocating for the Warriors to make a trade like Jonathan Kaminga. As good as he is, he is young, he's mistake prone, he's inconsistent. That doesn't mean you just get rid of him. If you can make a deal, if you can go get if you can go get a good offensive player and not include Jonathan Kaminga by all means do it. I'm just saying, if that's the if that's the sticking point, you got it, include it. The numbers are pretty clear. As good as Jonathan Kaminga is, he doesn't really impact winning that much at this point in his career. He can't consistently knock down spot up shots, and he's a bad off ball defender. Those are two things that will be crippling in a postseason series. If you're getting lost off the ball and you're not following the game plan defensively, and you can't knock down a wide open shot when a defense is daring you to do it, those are things that are going to be a problem in a postseason matchup. As good as you I have a big believer in Jonathan Kamina. In the big picture, I don't even care that he's mistake prone. He's a young forward. He's a young athletic forward who is raw. I would love for him to have an opportunity to go to some team or even with the Warriors, to have lots of usage, lots of shots, to make a lot of mistakes and learn to play on the fly and not have that kind of pressure. That's not this situation. You're on a roster with Steph Curry and Draymond Green. He's not gonna get that leash here. So my thing is, if push comes to shove and a team goes, yeah, you can have this player, but you gotta give us Jonathan Kaminga, I would give him up. That's all I'm saying. I'm not saying you give him up just because I'm not saying you trade him just because you want to get him off the roster. If you can have his upside and play him on the games he's playing well, and sit him in the games he's not, that's the ideal outcome. But I'm just saying, if it push comes to shove and the team goes, we want Jonathan, you gotta include Jonathan. But follow me through this. Through with this to conclusion. If you make a deal for a higher level offensive player, that guy comes in and helps squeze the wheels. What if Steph starts playing better, which I believe he will. What if that reinvigorates your defense and you get to the level you were at earlier in the season. What if that creates smaller roles for everyone else that they can suddenly thrive in. I know it's hard to imagine right now, but remember this isn't the only Warriors team we've seen this year. This same group went into Boston and beat the Celtics. The same group went into Oklahoma City and beat the Thunder. They are capable. You're seeing the bottom version of them right now. Now Again, Jason, it's insane for you to think that they're a championship contender. I don't think they're on the same level as Cleveland, Boston or Oklahoma City. But I think if they make a trade, they can get into that second tier. And if you're in that second tier, anything can happen. And as a competitor who has Steph Curry on their team, you owe it to him to give him that shot, especially when you're destined to tank no matter what I've said this before, but the Warriors offense with kaminga off the floor and Steph on is dogshit, it's terrible. You're not going to compete in the Western Conference post Steph, not unless you trade Steph and get a boatload of good players back, and that's not gonna happen. You're not trading Steph. So I do think that this team is better than they look right now. I do think with the right trade, they could enter in to that second tier of contention. I do think with the second tier of contention, anything can happen, and you might find yourself in that spot. I do think Steph is better. I will be better, and I think that Steph is still a guy that can be difficult to contend with in a playoff setting. And yes, if it came down to trading kaming guy, I would do it. That doesn't mean I would do it just because. Lastly, before I get out of here, just had a couple thoughts on the Lakers. Two thoughts from the Caves game. One one of my biggest fears going into that game is the Lakers are not used to running that much, and what ends up happening is like as a competitor, you end up in that situation and you do. And by the way, I'm proud of the Lakers as a fan for the way they fought that entire that entire game. They never let go of the rope. I pulled this. I saw this stat earlier the Calves had. I'm gonna try to pull it up right here so I can give you the exact numbers. The Calves had scored over thirty points in transition in like five consecutive games going into that matchup. I'm pulling it up right now. But they were running everybody out the gym, and the Lakers were the first team to kind of contain them in transition. To their credit, they had here. I got the numbers right here. They had thirty six points in transition against Philly, thirty two points in transition against Utah, thirty six points in transition against Denver, thirty points in transition in Golden State, only nineteen against the Lakers. They battled, They did their job. But one of the problems there is the Lakers couldn't make shots. And it's because the Calves are used to running all damn day and making shots while doing it. The Lakers are not. And when you start running like that, you lose your legs. When you lose your legs, you don't make shots. Point being all I'm saying, I don't think the Lakers are capable of being better than the Calves. I think the Calves are a better team. My point is, hey, Lakers, if you play like that every day, if you play that hard, You're going to condition yourself to be able to play in that setting and to make shots and give yourself a better chance to compete. It's just something to keep in mind. That's why you practice playing championship basketball every day instead of playing it only when you feel like it. And then, lastly, I thought last night that game was another great example of why they need that upgrade at the two. One just way too comfortable Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell getting to their spots, and then two, how many possessions like that late kickout three to Cam Reddish in the left corner. It's like, as I'm watching, I'm like, I just wish that was a better player than Cam Reddish. The biggest issue for this team is they need a starting caliber two that can defend at the point of attack and be a functional part of their offense. That's why I'm keed in on a guy like Bruce Brown. I've seen some other examples. I had a buddy pitch me an idea for a trade for like Robert Williams and Anferny Simons and Fortiez. Simons can't really defend it's a move towards offense, but like there's a bunch of different directions they can go there. But you need a higher level player at the two than what they've had access to over the course of this season. That's something that they have to address. All right, guys, that's all I have for today. As always, a sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show. Will be back tomorrow with a breakdown of a jam of Jam packed a Thursday Night Slate. I will see you guys then the volume. What's up guys. As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting Hoops tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us if you guys would take a second and leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if you could take a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it,