And now the low post welcome to an unexpected Friday low post podcast because I had to talk
about the nuggets Lakers series after what I thought was a really interesting and maybe
telling Denver come from behind and then hold on for dear life or throwing the ball all
over the gym.
Oh my god, LeBron missed another layup game to win to go up two games to none taking care
of business at home heading to LA for the weekend games and the Lakers are going to
have to win both of these I think.
Oh young Missou Q were on the scene in Denver you're going to head back to your hometown
in Los Angeles.
How are you sir?
I'm doing good.
I'm going to get late very late night last night.
Zach, I cannot remember ever seeing LeBron James blow a dunk like that.
Never.
I was that might be the most stunning thing I've seen in the playoffs.
Well he blew a layup in the first half that he just short rims.
Yeah, then I can like I don't know the dunk.
I mean like to see like you know what he was going for.
He was going to go for that reverse and to see it just fly out of his hands and then
at the end yeah it was a tough layup that he missed.
I but normally makeable for LeBron James it was shocking to me.
Yeah, so he had that one of the first half that surprised me.
He had obviously you know we've seen like great players blow fast breaks they dropped
the ball whatever that that also stood out because it doesn't happen to LeBron and then
you know the nuggets and ultimately in a weird way I'm almost encouraged by it.
They got they got through their first case of the whoa we're here.
We're here on the biggest stage about to take a 2-0 lead but it's getting tense and we're
actually not playing well and this is new for us like the expectations are here.
There's LeBron and AD and he had that steal on the Jamal Murray lollipop that Yokich didn't
come and get and it was a great recovery by Aaron Gordon.
You can see him time it but great recovery aside LeBron James makes that layup eight
times out of ten at a minimum and he didn't make it and and then and then we had this
whole the whole show this morning on get up was like father time is called LeBron LeBron's
old why wasn't LeBron able to bring it he was oh of six from three keeps missing all
his threes and I'm like well first of all LeBron is old like talking about how LeBron
is old is like talking about I don't know it's like the progress of everything in nature
he's old like like we shouldn't expect him to be the same guy he also just put up 22 10
and nine and guarded the freaking two time MVP who by the way is completely unguarded
pretty freaking well for half the game a third of the game and got a bunch of deflections
and strips late in the game to help the Lakers come back and win it I understand everyone's
obsessed with LeBron and yeah he's not the same guy and boy the fourth quarter three
partners that got he played well enough to win like he played well enough for them to
win the game yeah I just think it's so jarring to see him a miss a dunk like that miss some
little miss layups you know settle for the threes short rim all of them you know I we
just he's been so good for so long that I think you just take it for granted and when
you start to see father time creep up on him and then take his normal natural course is
just still a little jarring doing that I by the way Zach I like LeBron James in the
pain battling with the Cole Yokage I liked every second of it I like Darvin ham trying
all these different bodies under Cole Yokage you know the problem is that they just they
could not contain if it was just like a flurry it was an avalanche at the fourth quarter
of the Murray Flurry Murray Flurry yeah yeah but but just start you can't like do the thing
that people are doing where it's like you say all this stuff that you think I'm not even
that LeBron didn't do but just like talking about time and shortcomings in a dunk and then
you like squeeze it in mid clause like you know he did guard Nicole Yokage and then you
go back to the no no that's guarding Nicole Yokage is the most exhausting part of the
whole thing yeah and no one else on his team could do it and he did it pretty darn well
okay here's where we are the nuggets are up to oh they are plus 11 through two games two
tight games you want to have a moral victory parade for the Lakers go ahead I don't think
they're gonna have a moral victory parade a couple notable numbers the nuggets have taken
16 more threes than the Lakers and that's a huge reason why they're ahead and I think
the most eye-popping stat that people are not talking about because it's not a sexy talking
point Denver is plus 26 in total rebounds and the Lakers have nine offensive rebounds
in two games yeah and Yokage had six in the first quarter by himself in game one and they
just can't get any second chance points are actually shooting okay largely 73% of the rim
and all that stuff they just can't get any second chance points Denver is dominating the
glass and here's broadly why I feel it's hard for me to know if I'm biased because I picked
the nuggets in six so I kind of want to feel good about the nuggets but I feel better than
I would typically feel about a home team coming off two close wins for two reasons number
one the Lakers have played a lot of cards already in this series and the nuggets really
haven't played any the Lakers have already changed their starting lineup I think they
might change it again before game three they've already played around with the matchups on
Yokage from AD to okay let's turn AD into a Romer well that will put Ruiana LeBron on
him AD becoming a Romer is the big adjustment so far of the series and LeBron also and this
is my big issue coming into the series on we've seen throughout the season and throughout
the playoffs we know how peak LeBron apex LeBron the guy that father time has come for
why isn't it mother time by the way why does the bad guy have to be father time mother
time can't mother can't be the bad guy it's got to be father time that comes after you
father time we know how that LeBron plays and it's it's when the when things get tough
and things get bogged down he likes to play mismatch basketball in the half court and
we've seen in every round he's been able to just parcel that out using it only in case
of emergency in case of must win game in case like game six at home against the Warriors
got to win that game let me take everybody to the weight room but down by 18 the game
spinning out of our control okay fine I'll assert myself and see if I can drag us back
into the game for a few possessions and I said before the series that's not going to be good
enough against Denver that's not to say he can go 2016 finals ever again he can't he's
old spoiler alert he's old he's played the second most minutes of anyone in the history
of the sport but Denver represents a step up in competition and they're going to need
whatever of that he can give almost every game and he gave a lot of it in game one a
lot these two games he's run 58 pick and rolls total according to second spectrum they are
the second and third most pick and rolls he's running any game in the playoffs are a game
one a game one and two of this series only the play in against Minnesota did he run more
a lot of those were against were aimed at Murray in game one to pretty to pretty good
effect and you saw last night and the numbers back it up there were less of them and they
only came really toward the end of the game when the nuggets had taken a 12 point lead
and he needed to drag them back in the game and that's when you saw LeBron Reeves picking
rolls Reeves got some open threes out of it or not even open three there are tough
threes LeBron got some bully ball out of it and the fact that he's played about as
much of that style of basketball as he can and they've still lost I think is a slight cause
for concern and I do think as hokey as it sounds I do think there's something to the
nuggets that game felt like a moment for the nuggets to me it felt like a moment because
they're down 10 11 12 the Lakers have that game in the mud they have their offense in
the mud they still really haven't figured out the AD is Romer thing quite yet and how to
exploit it how to get their spacing right it's all clunky and clogged and you'll get
just throwing the ball places you don't normally see him throw the ball and they rally and
they fight and they win those minutes that yokech rested very briefly in the fourth quarter
with a 6 0 Murray flurry on two threes and then the stage gets real bright and they're
on the verge of the biggest win I mean maybe in franchise history it's got to be up there
and they get a little tight Michael Porter Jr steps over the baseline whoopsie yokech throws
the ball away again on another turnover whoopsie Bruce Brown goes for the kill shot three up
seven with two thirty left in the game and I'm watching the game on my TV and I'm saying
oh hold just hold that one you're up seven you got the MVP on your team I understand
your shoot well Bruce Brown just hold it take your time Lakers come down and score at the
other end and then of course they have the late turnover by Murray and they survive it
they do just enough to win and it feels like every team that gets further than they've
ever been before has a game where it gets tight where they kind of stare into the mirror
and say oh my god we're here and they either fritter it away the nerves fritter it away
or they survive it and win it and overcome it and that maybe was that game for them last
night Zach I kind of buy into Michael Malone's narrative that he is pounding down our throats
that everybody just wants to talk about the Lakers and not talk about the Nuggets game
one you know look they won the game the Cole Yokech was unbelievable for three quarters
and everybody wanted to talk about who would Lakers found something with really hot tomorrow
on yokech and they had all the momentum coming back in the fourth quarter but you know you
overlook the fact that when they cut a 21 point lead down to three it would have been
very easy for the Denver Nuggets or any other team to fold and just be like what is going
on here LeBron James Anthony Davis are coming at us and this moment is too big and what happens
Michael Porter Jr. of all people dives on the floor to get that ball and it starts a fast
break and they score which might be the biggest one of the biggest plays we will never talk
about in franchise history for the Nuggets because I don't know what happens if he doesn't get
that loose ball I don't know what happens if it doesn't score down they get that fast
break and they score and they push it back up to five so they win that game Michael Malone
then saying hey I find it amusing that you guys are all talking about the Lakers finding
something fast forward to game two once again now it looks like the Lakers are basically
just muddling up this whole game and it looks like they might pull this out even though 80s
going to have 80s having a bad game they still might pull it out and they need you know Jamal
Murray to be just electric in the fourth quarter and you know and Nicole Yolkech I got to say
this he he has been amazing but they he hasn't been as good as he was since the fourth quarter
of game one you know they they've kind of just like I like they were they were turned over
said you just don't see from Nicole you know what I mean like he throws one out to the I
remember he threw one out to the right side it was like the right baseline and I think
it was Daniel Russell that picked it off and I remember turning to David Winan I was
like you don't see that very often where Nicole Yolke just doesn't see someone picking
him off but they won these two games just with grit you know what I mean like they grinded
out these games these are the type of games they need to experience if they're going to
win a championship they have to win these type of games you can talk all you want about
how old LeBron James looks or whatever the Denver Nuggets have grinded these two games
out and I think it's just making them even more confident and then after the game sack
all they talked about was the chip they have on their shoulder that they were like you
know what when we beat the Clippers everybody still talked about the Clippers falling apart
Nick Holle even said this and he never says this when we beat Utah and came back against
them everybody talked about Utah not them and he goes but we don't care you know what
but they do care actually I mean that Michael Malone actually said this the only you could
take this narrative and stuff it in your pipe and smoke it so look I think they're going
to go to LA they understand as you already said the talk is about how old LeBron James
and everything is not talk the talk is not about how good the Denver Nuggets are and then
they know the talk for the next 24 hours is all going to be about how can the Lakers
keep their championship hopes alive I would like to say Michael Malone's whole thing is
wildly entertaining yes and I think he's kind of in on the entertainment I also think he's
half right half right the whole discussion today I was on get up for two hours 90% of
it was I made a whole joke on the show of we we were eight minutes into talking about
the game before we mentioned the nuggets and the fact that the nuggets are good so he's
half right but on NBA today that's a show on ESPN called and NBA is in the title if you
like the NBA should watch it after game one we had a whole big breakdown on like how
yokech was breaking the Lakers defense getting into the X's and O's of it and I haven't checked
our experts picks I picked nuggets in six I believe like eleven of seventeen or twelve
of eighteen picked the nuggets I also think that the media of I believe on votes on most
valuable player and has the media that has ignored the Denver Nuggets and Nicole Yokech
which twice voted for Nicole Yokech is the most valuable player in the league to some
controversy so I think he's half right I think he knows he's half right and he likes
to just sort of play this up a little bit for the theater of it well look he is correct
about one thing last round the Denver Nuggets as a number one seed yet the Phoenix Suns
were favored to not only win that series but odds on favor to get out of the West and
go to the NBA finals everybody's talking about Devin Booker everybody's talking about Kevin
Durant and guess what by the end of that series Nicole Yokech was the best player averaging
a triple double the dude now has four four straight triple doubles and five in his like
six game Zach and the only game he did not have a triple double guess what 53 and 11
assists like he is amazing you know I was thinking about this the other night I think
someone had mentioned to me about the premise of like where Nicole Yokech ranks in the NBA
of all time greatest pastors I'm not ready to he is amazing pastor amazing I'm not ready
to put him at that Magic Johnson Jason kid level yet okay like he is good with him but
I don't think he's better all time better than them okay but I was wondering about this
yeah Oscar Robertson has more triple doubles but and so does Russell Westbrook but I think
Nicole Yokech might be able to get triple doubles easier than anyone in the history of the NBA
and what some little chamberlands up there but his passing ability is unbelievable right
he can score in a multitude of ways very easy the rebounding Zach we just talked about this
is shocking that Anthony Davis is like can't like the amount of rebounds and especially
like Nicole Yokech the little thing where he does what he misses at the rim and then
just taps it back in taps it back in the big temper nobody can stop it it's unbelievable
it is unbelievable how many how many times the koliyokage gets that and so I'm just like
going into the series I felt Anthony Davis has to be the best big man in the series he
has to do it four times and he hasn't been able to do it and I don't think he can't
well he did have 40 in game one you know it's funny the way we do this he was four or
15 last night right okay that's not good like you'd like to be seven or fifteen if he's
seven or fifteen they might win the game if Lonnie Walker or Dennis Schroeder or D'Angelo
Russell did anything they might win the game but all the focus will be on AD and it's why
is he so inconsistent and it's like well his defense is not inconsistent he's been the
best defensive player in the playoffs the whole time he may have had one B minus game
the whole playoffs this entire series not this entire series much of this series and
much of the last series was all about where is Anthony Davis on defense and how can I the
opponent of Anthony Davis minimize the impact of his all-consuming presence on defense
that hasn't changed so guys are gonna have four or fifteen games particularly big guys
who need people to feed them the ball who aren't like AD is not an enormous high volume
self-creator out of the post and then you just sort of like oh yeah you also had 40
in game one it's like that that game's gone it's in it's in the trash can immediately
when he goes for 50 yet 40 in the first game of this series two days ago but Zach what is
more impactful okay the 33 points and triple double and the way Nicole Yochich was as aggressive
as perhaps we've ever seen him in those first three quarters or 80s 40 points as they're
coming back from down 21 and it's a frantic like furious comeback and he's getting a lot
of these floaters and everything in company I think Nicole this statement in those first
three quarters was more impactful because it clearly stated right from the get go you're
not gonna be able to stop me yes you might be able to block my shot and stuff me in the
pain a couple times one on one you are the best so-called elite defender big man in the
league you are not going to be able to stop me no I thought that was a massive message he
said I'm not saying he's been more impactful than you know could she has it yeah and Yochich
is unstoppable there's these just unguardable one on one in the post and to Davis can't
do it and if Anthony Davis can't do it then they might as well try what they're trying
which is where where is Anthony Davis he's roaming okay we got to figure that out and
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and the number one to get started the rebounding I want to go back to because I thought before
the series we might see the nuggets play around with the matchups just the way the Lakers are
and take Yochich off Davis put him on Vanderbilt if he plays much anymore we'll see did start
last game maybe put him on hot chamour they've even played around with putting him on line
you walker here and there put Aaron Gordon on AD and put Bruce Brown or KCP whoever ever
on the brine and see if you can survive that they've done it before I thought they might
try it again I thought they might try it even last night particularly when LeBron was off the floor
and either Vanderbilt or hot chamour is on the floor with Davis that would seem like an easy time
to switch Yochich onto those guys and Aaron Gordon on to AD because there is no LeBron to
worry about against the KCP or whatever and they're not doing that and they're not doing that for
two reasons number one Yochich is doing fine like his defense one on one against Davis he stood
him up and said you're gonna have to make floaters over me and we don't think you can do it enough
his defense on the pick and roll and the Lakers are running a lot of the LeBron
AD pick and roll and they're mixing up drop coverage coming up to the level of the screen
depending on how the Lakers are playing you saw last night as soon as the Lakers got two straight
buckets against the really conservative drop coverage shooter hit a floater and AD hit a pocket
pass floater they went right back up to touch so they're gonna and he's largely been fine he's
kept AD in front of him and made AD make short twos long twos and the second reason is the rebounding
if you take him out of the paint you're going to lose the rebounding advantage that you've built
and he may be the best defensive rebounder in the entire NBA and the bonus of that is not just
that the Lakers have nine offensive rebounds in two games which is like nothing the other
bonus of that is every time the Lakers try for an offensive rebound and don't get it and he does
it's five on four the other way and the Lakers are getting brutalized in transition yeah I mean
that's that's the thing you cannot crash boards against the Nuggets and if you saw in game one
Nicola went back to grabbing the rebound and pushing to pace himself like in in the second round
against Phoenix he didn't do that very often he got the ball out of his hands this time if he had
the ball in his hands off the rebound he was pushing it up the court which I thought was interesting too
Anthony Davis yeah like I was expecting AD to really try to take yokage off the dribble and get to
the rim and I thought he would do it easily and I thought this was the way that the Lakers could
beat the Nuggets because in the first round yokage didn't really have to deal with somebody truly
inside the paint Rudy Colbert he's not that type of guy really that's going to overwhelm him
Kat likes to do his damage from the perimeter second round DeAndre Aiden just wanted to stay
the free throw line extended did not really want to go inside the paint so now I'm thinking oh this
might be the first time I'm not sure DeAndre Aiden wanted to go inside the arena second round but
that's that's either here nor that. Dominate and Zack Dominate but like look you know we thought that
one of the one of the I think one of the fears of the Denver Nuggets was that AD and LeBron were
going to get yokage into foul trouble we haven't really seen that yet last night they dealt with
massive foul trouble but it was to the perimeter players KCP Michael Porter Jr. right off the bat
and Christian Brown so it you know I think like the all the things we thought had to go right for
the Lakers in the in the first two games has not gone their way um
AD on Aaron Gordon is a problem the Nuggets haven't quite solved yet and
and I they're starting to sniff around solutions first of all one of the things that he's just
posting yokage up a lot he posted up 14 times last night we got 14 post touches last night that's
the second most in the playoffs they did not score well out of those plays and part of the reason is
you can see he can back down hot chamora LeBron like there's nothing those guys can't stop him
the help is coming and the help is sometimes a double team and AD lurking around the rim
and the spacing has just been cluttered he's trying these thread the needle passes that aren't
quite getting there but they're getting close and I think as he sees that defense over and over again
as the nugget see it over and over again they're going to get a little more comfortable
um countering it and one of the things they did was they turned Aaron Gordon into like a
screener in off ball flex actions and stuff a back screener he's popping off back screens to
occupy AD get him into the action that way with yokage facilitating and Murray got a couple dribble
handoff threes out of it that kind of stuff we saw them use Aaron Gordon's dream on green on one
possession that was clearly scripted because the minute yokage touched it he flung it to the other
side of the court for a dribble handoff for Aaron Gordon to be like a facilitator um and they also
run this play I looked it up because I wrote about it they run this play a lot where they will give
Aaron Gordon the ball at the elbow we haven't seen this at one elbow yokage will be at the other elbow
Porter and KCP will be in the corners so the paint is totally empty of two elite shooters in the
corners and yokage will set a little rub screen off the ball for Bruce Brown or Murray who was ever
in the game and either you switch yokage's guy onto that guard or that guard cuts back door and
he's open and you turn Aaron Gordon into the facilitator and that plays impossible to guard
and we haven't seen that I'll bet we'll see a little bit of stuff like that so I think
they're gonna figure some things out and the Lakers are gonna have some counters like what do
you expect what do you expect from the Lakers in game three what can they do to write because I
do think they're gonna come roaring out in game three I think they need an aggressive Anthony
Davis to set the tone right from the get-go I'm sticking by that that if the Lakers are gonna win
four games Anthony Davis has to be the best big man on the floor I don't know if it's possible
but it has to happen um you know I I asked Matt Williams this from our great
six stats in info department after game one Zach about what happens when teams try to put a smaller
player on Nicole Yokage to allow a big man to roam like they did with Anthony Davis and you know we
think we saw with PJ Tucker and Joelle O'Bead and Rudy Gobert to a certain extent and Matt gave me
this stat that he said the lung is like to run on ball screen actions where Gordon is in the
dunker spot doing so 86 times this postseason this is after game one and that's tied for third most
on ball screens where particular players in the dunker spot in the playoffs and he says when using
the sequence the nuggets of average 1.30 points per draft uh direct pick well above the postseason
league average of 1.01 and so in game one they ran four on ball screens with Gordon in the
dunker spot and it generated eight points when Yokage was matched up with Davis once the Lakers
switched somebody smaller onto onto Joker and allowed Davis to roam on the five plays that Gordon
was in the dunker spot um it didn't generate a single point so I thought yeah they had to move
Aaron Gordon around to get Anthony Davis to be out of that paint do whatever you can there was one
play I don't think the answer will be putting Gordon in the on the and just having to spot up I
think they did that one on one play late in the late in the fourth quarter and he missed the three
badly um perhaps Michael Porter Jr is the guy that they can try to get in that position later on
but for the Lakers I think it's you know I think they they can look at this and say look we were in
those two games we missed a lot of shots at the end I don't know how much of altitude plays into that
as well with LeBron specifically in the fourth his leg looks tired I mean Zach I'm actually doing a
story like a fun story that's gonna run before game five on the Denver altitude is it real or is
it myth LeBron says it's real um that I don't know if you've seen you you're you're a game ops
guy like I am they lay into it thick in the beginning so have you watched I don't know how much they
show on TV but in the very beginning they put this big warning sign on the screen it's like warning
oxygen levels are low you know Denver altitude you might not you know you'll have shortness of breath
hypoxia could set in right and they do this whole thing for about 25 seconds and then Kyle
Svelar I think that's the PA guy he then reads off the starting lineup as fast as I've ever seen
anyone it's like LeBron James Ford you know LeBron James 23 Anthony Davis three he just goes
through it in like five seconds and back in the day they used to have Rocky the mountain lion
sitting on a beach chair reading a newspaper during the opposing starting class by the way
two minutes remaining yes so did you so I asked him I asked the game ops I was talking to one of
the game ops guys and I was like I like that I like that you read it in like five seconds and he
goes actually we only do that because the whole oxygen level thing takes 25 seconds and we have a
total of 30 seconds to really announce the other team and I go and I go oh so what are you gonna do
when the if you guys get to the finals and it's on TV they're gonna make you guys slow it down you
have to hear their names and he was like oh yeah they'll give us you know they'll probably give us a
little extra time but they actually slowed it down now in the western conference fine you can actually
understand the names that he's saying what he does it but back to the altitude thing you know
Calvin Booth kind of wanted the team to lay into this war to mentally try to get into them to so
it randomly in the fourth quarter during a coaching challenge in game one you hear the announcer
during this long wait just go 5,280 feet he just sends it out of nowhere and Kevin
Garnett said this on the show the other day when he had bones on he was like he's like yeah you
know you hear the announcer saying this while you're in the layup line and I'm like did you just
hear that did you just hear that and he says it starts to really mess with your mental he said
you start thinking about shortness of breath and all these things and I started wondering this in
the fourth quarter when the bronze starts taking its threes and I'm like you know he's got to be
tired he's got to be feeling in his legs and he's making all these little mistakes and I'm wondering
if all these little things might be you know having some sort of impact and this is part of the Denver
home court advantage I can't wait to read that story I love everything about the game ops narrative
you just oh and you'll you'll love this I did ask the game ops guy he said does Rocky ever feel the
altitude especially when he's at the top of the arena you know repelling down and I think he goes
no because Rocky is not human he's absolutely a monster now you're saying this I believe there
was one incident when Rocky repelled down from the arena and like I may have passed out while it
was it was like us kind of a scary see I'm doing this on my head no there was a rocky mishap at some
point look it up people yes so if I'm the Lakers I don't think I'm starting Vando again um I don't
I don't know I understand why they're doing it you put him on Murray you can switch um the Murray
yolkich pick and roll which I think Denver should run more of and will run more of and just Vando
gets into his airspace in a way that the the Lakers guards could not do in game when he got way
too many like easy just let me stroll into this long twos in game one the nuggets also very smartly
realize if Vando is on Jamal Murray we got to run him through a whole bunch of stuff through
through a maze of picks because he's a big guy's not gonna be able to keep up I think the lineup
that they have to ride or die with in this series is Schruder Reeves Hachamara Lebron Davis I think
that's their best lineup in this series I might just go ahead and start it hurt feelings be damned
that lineup is plus 15 and 15 minutes in this series plus 28 in 35 minutes in the playoffs and
I get the size with the Rui Lebron Davis trio and I think size is a big part of why the AD
roaming thing works it's not just AD it's that they're just big all around there's a bunch of
arms in the paint they got to win the paint that way um and I can either put Rui on Jamal Murray
and do the same kind of switching thing or if that's not working and I don't know if that'll work
over a long course of time you put Dennis Schruder back in in that alignment and you put Rui on
Yokech Davis on Gordon and Lebron on Michael Porter Jr I just think Reeves is a must obviously he's
been phenomenal I I don't love Dilo in this matchup that lineup to me just works and I might just go
ahead and start it if I were the Lakers that's pretty interesting um I do like the fact that you
know Vando was pretty disruptive in their passing lanes at times doing everything he could to try
to structure and then of course they I think Denver was a little out of sorts in that first quarter
because of the foul trouble I mean you saw Reggie Jackson come in late in that game um and me late
in that first quarter uh yeah I mean I think you're you're on to something when you said the beginning
like Michael Malone had said this after game one both teams had to show their hands perhaps maybe
a little earlier than expected and now the series really starts to see what the adjustments were
but I do feel like the Lakers have had to make more I don't know I don't want to say desperation
moves but it certainly has kind of felt like it like hey we're trying all these different things
I will say this and I don't know how you feel about whatever the best way you would defend
Nicole Yokich I do think you have to you know bring double teams at weird times to kind of throw
them off a little bit but then he figures it out you have to get physical with him you know I think
at some point he gets a little annoyed sometimes like last night you know I think like Lebron is
trying to put is trying to push him out and at some point Yokich will act like a smaller defender
really shoved him and he goes flying right but after sometimes I feel like sometimes it does
get under his skin a little bit you have to get physical with him and try to bother him because
otherwise there's just no stopping him he figures everything out you throw you send a double team
with him he's gonna make the right pass well and the one thing you can't do these one pass away
threes they're giving up because the second rotation is not there on time or the second rotation is
not made because they don't want to make it they want the guy to double and then get back
you just can't let KCP and Jamal Murray or Michael Porter Jr. walk into those shots and then the other
thing too is like you know teams were always trying to say okay we understand he he doesn't want to
shoot first he's a pass first guy and he's he doesn't want to be aggressive it's against his nature
so let's like let's just let him see if he's going to score right and be aggressive and he's now he's
showing it last series 53 points 53 points and in game one those first three quarters I mean I
I talked to Michael Singer about this the Denver Nuggets reporter and I'm like yo
I don't think I've ever seen Nicole Yolkich put the ball on the floor try to move that fast and be
that aggressive that many times that early in the we saw two driving dunks Zach out of the
collie two you don't even get two dunks in an entire game maybe in an entire series sometimes
for Nicole Yolkich okay for him to have two driving dunks in that spin it was very clear when he
he's he is being aggressive you are going to cover him one on one he is going to take you
I actually think he wasn't aggressive enough last night and that's one of the reasons their
offense hit a rut for about four consecutive minutes late in the game where they almost
gagged away they still frustrates me like crazy Zach when he has that three and then he
pump fakes and then he decides I'm not going to shoot it or then when he finally decides to
shoot it I mean the dude can shoot threes just just let it fly like Michael Porter Jr even said
that he's like I tell him all the time just let it fly man get into a rhythm you know what I mean
because when he's hitting threes it opens everything up for them um and but but you mentioned the
fouls I mean that's one thing that's really changed by Yolkich in the last two or three years is he
you used to be able to bait him into frustration fouls he would just slap people in the back court
after calls and get himself in foul trouble he never does that it's almost like he does that because
he wants to stop the play so he can yell at the rep right you know what I mean well I remember I
mean the last time you know the two years ago when they played Phoenix he got thrown out of the
last game for like damn you're taking campaigns head off yeah on a frustration fell so you mentioned
Vanderbilt and he was disruptive one of the reasons why I would try I like that lineup that I mentioned
whether you try starting it or not that's gonna there's gonna be some hurt feelings on
D'Angelo Russell's part if you start that group is I think they are they were smartly trying to
lean into the LeBron AD pick and roll particularly in game two they ran a lot of it um to test
Yolkich out to test the Denver defense out to see where the soft spots are gonna be and when Vando's
on the floor they just can't get any traction because no one's guarding him the whole lane is clogged
now that may be the case with shrewd or two the the nuggets have shown we're not only gonna drop
back normally the point of a drop back defense which they did about half the time in game two is
we can stay home everywhere else the nuggets to kind of protect Yolkich will drop back and send help
at him in the paint and they're doing that off shrewd or and to a lesser degree hachamur who's
been on fire the whole playoffs all of this has to make the wizards absolutely sick to their stomach
so hachamur are doing this so maybe shrewd or you know he's a 32 percent three point shooter this
year maybe he's he's not a great fit for that but i like them trying that i think they should
lean even more into it and frankly a couple of other things i think ad's leaving some hard
rolls to the basket on the table when he slices hard to the basket i think he can get behind Yolkich
or at least parallel with him maybe draw a foul maybe get a shot at the rim and the other thing
that's right there for the Lakers whether it's LeBron or hachamur from the corner or shrewd or
from the outside when the nuggets load up their defense like that in the paint there are backdoor
cuts and slot cuts that are sitting there for the Lakers to make and they're not making them
we've seen LeBron did that and i think they're going to need to make more of those so there
there's some stuff there's some stuff that the Lakers can do there's also some stuff that the
nuggets can do let me ask you this act because like in the in the second round it was very clear
like LeBron did not handle the ball a lot against the Warriors right he played off ball whether or
not that was like you know to save his legs a little bit more he had to right until he had to
and so i feel like in this temperature like last night there was a point where you know because
like it gets cold and steady he didn't even see LeBron bring the ball up as much right you know
it was like Austin Reeves or d'Angelo Russell last night there was a point where you could hear we
were sitting like right above the hundred level LeBron James clapping the ball and also he's given
the ball to bring the ball so he can bring the ball up port he obviously felt the urgency to have
the ball in his hands a lot to initiate things like that and maybe that's what also wore him down
in the fourth quarter you know what i mean like i don't know i i think i always like having the
ball in the brawn james hands more to have him initiate do pick and rolls with a d and stuff like
that but i don't know maybe they have to figure out a way to try to save him for the fourth quarters
by going back to what they did with golden state and i do think the nuggets in the last
few minutes of the game decided become hell or high water we're not giving you the jamaal
Murray switch if we have to go under which they should be doing i think even more aggressively when
he's shooting jumpers like this we'll go under if we have to chase you over and have jamaal
Murray hedge and get back to his guy yeah he might screw that up now and then he might
literally he and erin gordon collided at one point in game one and the and Austin reeds got a three
out of it we're just not giving you that switch um and i think i think that's smart
the other thing the transition defense i know they're harping on it on on the broadcast
the one where hachamura just let yokich literally walk by him like the best player
on the floor just walked by you into and they're like oh he's open under him lay up
the other one that people should watch the one that drove me bananas the Lakers have a fantastic
possession with about 6 30 left in the second quarter last night in game two lebron speed dribbles
it up the floor austin reves on the left sideline sets a step up screen for him and that's when
it's that fast and that out of nowhere you can't you can't do anything but switch all your other
strategies are taken away by the sheer speed of it they switch lebron i think i think it was jamaal
mari backs jamaal mari down kick to reves on the double team reves shoots a wide open three
jamaal mari runs out to contest it and leaks out reves is watching his shot that's you know
shooters do that on the other wing d'Angelo russell is lifted up to the three-point arc it's his job
to sprint back you know what he's doing instead of sprinting back first he's seized jamaal mari
right in his line of sight he's making the three-point celebration gesture on austin rees behalf
and standing still and jamaal mari leaks out and gets a dunk when the shot misses it's like dude
this is the western conference finals save the cool celebrations for tristan tomsen and the bench
mob over there who are doing like there's like a whole silent movie unfolding with like the
pantomiming on the Lakers bench save it for them they got to clean that stuff up because they're
just giving denver it's not quite that bad because denver's a really good transition team they're
gonna get points but there's like four to six just free points they're handing the nuggets every
game which is dumb dumb stuff like that and look we we can talk about the four points of LeBron
James gave up missing that dunk in the layup you know what i mean but you know look with all that
being said zach they go home to los angeles and that's where role players typically played good so
would it surprise you if d angel or else i mean maybe dandell russell will not have a good game
the rest of series but this is the time for him to do it in los angeles where he will be in front
of his home crowd where he will feel better austin rees has been good and flashes maybe austin rees
will put together a big game for the entire game i think anything davis though it all starts with
him he's got to set the tone he's got to be aggressive he's got to take it to nicole yokech inside he's
got to try to take him off these pick and rolls he's got it one on one he's got to not settle for
that little fade away jumper i mean he's good at it but he's got to take him inside get nicole
yokech into foul trouble and punish him at the rim he's got to make nicole yokech have to defend
guys off the dribble and defend at the rim agreed and that hard role i mentioned is one way to do it
the other thing about dandell russell is defense is just a liability in every series but in this
series they're going at them pretty aggressively and i think they're actually could go at him more
like if he's on kcp they got a couple good looks for kcp on that elbow dribble handoff stuff with
yokech i'd run i would just start possessions with the jamaal murray kcp pick and roll to get the switch
and let let him go to work i don't know him in bruce brown we're jabbering ball game
with the so it's a bruce brown after game one he tells he just volunteers it our goal was to go
at dandell russell he said you know make him move his feet he he's not that good at defense but he
tries you know bruce brown now wanted to let you know he does try then after that michael melon comes
up and melon out of nowhere just says yeah so you know we've seen them show their hand and we showed
our hand because but one interesting storyline that i've seen is that dandell russell didn't play
in the fourth quarter and then he tells the media that's an interesting storyline to follow for the
rest of series and i'm thinking like you clearly are trying to send a message like to get in dandell
russell's head it was like the duggets purposely were just like dandell were coming for you
the Lakers aren't playing you in the fourth quarter could this continue what's gonna happen they were
like trying to play mental games with the end of the session it was amazing from within
it was it was funny and by the way if they put him on michael porter jr if they put any guard on
michael porter jr there's a reason i said before this series it's always a yokech series but i think
more than the previous rounds it's a murray and porter series for denver it's because i just
thought murray would get decent matchups that he could exploit and porter if you're gonna put small
guys on him if you're gonna put dilo on him run his ass around get him pin down three pointers and
we've seen the Lakers defense kind of break apart when you make their little guys go through multiple
screens they get stuck they go under they make mistakes they should make and those guys
um get open for three yeah the dandell russell uh dissension play by michael mollone was uh
was an interesting one so i think here's here's i'm just gonna come out and predict i don't like
to do this because i'll probably be wrong and people will yell at me i think the nuggets are getting
a split in la i think they can smell it um i think the every other day scheduled does the Lakers no
favors i expect the Lakers to come out like gangbusters in win game three and then the and then game
four is the whole thing and maybe not the whole thing because the nuggets have home court i just
the way they went to phoenix and obliterated phoenix in game six was like oh this is serious
team so i am going to lay my prediction on the line home i don't like to do this that much i think
the nuggets are coming back to denver up three one i will say this i thought the same thing going
into phoenix in the second round and phoenix won both games and phoenix they did i thought for
short at denver was going to get one of them at phoenix and devan booger was incredible uh
of course madish bia did the little flop my fellow spartan against nicole yolkich but yeah i thought
for sure denver was going to get one of them so i don't know i wouldn't it wouldn't surprise me
we came back tied to all but i do think there's no no no it would not support let me be clear
nothing labran james and anti-dadevus could do would surprise me they're that good the lakers are
that good they have proven their metal and their toughness as a team their defense is a plus legitimate
let me be clear would not surprise me if they won this series it wouldn't surprise me i just said
because it's fun to make predictions every once in a while i think denver is going to win a game in
law there is a feeling though i got this feeling that when labran james walked off that floor
by the way jamao murray at one point after he hit this big shot gave a little like labran looked at
him labran gave him a fist pound as if like you know respect you hit some big shots and i think
labran walks out of that floor and leaves denver thinking these guys made the plays to win the
game this team like i knew this was a tough team they're tough when they're going to make shots like
that with hands in their faces what can we do what can we do to slow down nicole yolkich and then on
top of that we got to worry about these guys exploding michael porter jr hinting through
bruce brown you know all these guys just coming at him in waves and then he's exhausted on the
other end i i do think there's a feeling that he left there thinking okay yeah see might say look
this isn't the ncw tournament it's not over one game it's the first to four but i think he i think
he was expecting coming in that i think we're probably going to steal a game in denver i did
respect how labran and lots of other players do this and i would do this too if i were a player
and i had to kill time in a media session i like that labran was able to simultaneously kill time
in his q&a and create like a sound bite that was replayed ad nauseam in the last 12 hours
simply by explaining the rules of an mba playoff series in the most literal fashion possible so
yeah you have to win four we haven't been eliminated yet so it's usually the first to four that wins
and it's replayed on every tv show as if he said something relevant i it's i admire it because
all you want to do is get out of there like without saying anything inflammatory so the more time i
can waste by just being like you know we've still got to win four we're going home for games three
and four i'm just reciting the schedule of the series which you guys are all in rapturous
attention to what i'm saying it was very i like it uh can i say this too if they do whatever happens
in these next two games in los angeles there's one game in between games right the rest of the
series they will have one day to adjust to the altitude of 5280 when they go back for game 5
2a they will have spent uh i don't know let's see friday saturday sunday monday
so tuesday almost five days four and a half days in los angeles and then go back and i've heard
some people when i was doing the story say there are two trainings of trains of thoughts when you're
trying to battle the altitude either you show up as early as possible to let your body adapt
or you show up as late as possible and you just play but like i i looked at this one
i looked at the study on sleep and like hyperbaric chamber possible thing to train for this doesn't
have the altitude simulation at his house like maybe everybody maybe he needs to buy one for
everyone else i asked him and he said it's like it's like going from the west coast of the east
coast or east coast of the west coast and you're trying to adapt at a time your body needs time to
adjust you know and the one thing i i asked um i talked to the strength and conditioning coach
philippi eckenberger with the nuggets who's a guy who really kind of helped reshape nicholie
yolkich's body right and by the way for the people who don't know who that is look for the big guy
behind denver's bench going absolutely crazy and he's standing up after every basket he's incredible
he's massive so he was saying like he seen draft workouts where guys almost pass out they look like
they're turning white you know due to the altitude but he did say another impact is that guys can't
sleep they can't sleep in denver because of the altitude it kind of messes with their head and
their body and things like that so these are all things that i wonder you know if the Lakers are
gonna have to deal with when they come back for game five it's just like one more thing they have
to worry about like like let alone nicholie yolkich and trying to slow down jim all murray you know
it's and then of course like you will gonna have the pa announcer being like you know uh danger warning
low altitude shortness of breath what do you you should go to the x-m i would be like players over
37 years of age are particularly susceptible my lones said that i asked melon i know he did not
i asked melon about the i go i go hey you didn't have this in the bubble when you faced the Lakers
now you're in front of your home court but you have the altitude right is it real and he goes he
goes yeah you know we try to we want to run everybody talks with the Lakers we're gonna try to run
and he goes and look LeBron's getting up there in age maybe the altitude we'll have a little more
impact michael melon actually said that he's such a little disturb her i love it not little he's just
disturb her and by the way i'm glad you said the b word bubble because people who have listened to
this podcast for a long time know that before the bubble even happened i was saying i don't want
to hear any asterisk talk about the bubble if anything winning the bubble title i was saying
this before people went to orlando if anything the bubble title may end up being remembered is
almost like a badge of honor in terms of like everybody in the world needed something to watch
it was a horrible time the conditions were weird people were lonely psyches were strained and
and some team will rise up and some team will not rise up a.k.a the clippers and three years later and
i've said consistently do not besmirch the Lakers title like i what i've said is if it were any team
but the Lakers that had won it we would not have all of this bubble revisionism it's just that people
who don't like the Lakers are bitter that or don't like LeBron if miami had won that championship
with people say that was an asterisk's championship i think they would not not to the same level i
don't think i think LeBron and the Lakers bring a different and i've said from the beginning like
look i don't want to hear it that was the only way to do it everybody had to do it the same way
everybody had the same shooting backdrop driven backdrops everyone had the same
no travel everyone had the same psychological demons to battle if you missed your family if
what did whatever um if you felt constricted some teams dealt with it well some teams didn't and
i just i'm glad i'm glad in a way that all four of them being back here is sort of shut that off
because i always use that as like an equally legitimate title to every other title that's ever
been won by any other team just different but equally legit and how about this people say oh
Jamal Murray only was bubble Murray because oh you know the shooting background was probably
perfect for shooters there were no fans to deal with right it was like a shooters heaven well
he's still coming up with big time shots and having these massive games for 20 plus fourth quarters
in the playoffs zach most in NBA history since this was tracked in 1997 Michael Jordan is second with
two and Allen Iverson too Jamal Murray has two more than them that's crazy and if you're a Lakers
fam one of the things you might maybe not hang your head on but some of those shots tomorrow
are already hit last night we're like did you just set a step back over Anthony Davis and then
another one over LeBron James and like they're kind of contested like how what's going on here
yeah that's why LeBron was like i think LeBron said we didn't really have defensive breakdowns
if you look at it like they were contested the only thing i will say is like you know it's
coming though if you're the Lakers you know this is coming you know that Jamal Murray is going to
run around into the paint run into a body make you run into a couple bodies come out get that
handoff from from the cola and he's going to shoot that three you got to find a way to to meet him
before he gets out there you know these are place comes i've seen LeBron James i seen him like
actually move and try to anticipate where Nicole is going to go he knows the play that's coming
and yet the nuggets still score i wonder if you've been sort of throwing an extra body item when
yolk getshes off the floor because you know that's going to be their main hope when yolk gets off
floor and by the way maybe it wasn't a gutsy substitution because nicola probably needed a rest
but that like it was 83 81 Lakers when yolk it was technically 82 81 Lakers when he went out of
the game because it was between two hotchumura free throws and then it was 83 81 and that's a
show of faith like our offense without yolk gets sucked in the first half it died we're going to
be able to manufacture enough buckets to hang in and they paid they pay they don't have to win
them they just have to stay Lakers have Lakers have to waiters but how about this i saw an
enemy today when you showed those three plays that Denver ran in a row they were the exact same
plays and the last one you showed that Anthony Davis even jumped it right to he went to the
LeBron James did the same thing the other night i watched it he did the same thing and yet
Denver still scores they're very good and the Lakers are very good and i expect
games three and four to be absolute thrillers in LA you will be there i will not be there i'm
jealous omiyang with soup go catch your flight thanks for all your coverage we will look for
the altitude story coming up soon breeders jamaal murray story that came out what a week ago maybe
maybe right before this series we've re-run it a couple times but yeah it's jamaal talking about
basically he doesn't want people to think that the bubble was the best of him and that is a different
person he thinks this this is just the beginning no i said today i'm get up i'm not calling him bubble
murray i'm calling him bright lights murray because he because he brings it on the big stage oh thank you
sir go travel i'll talk to you okay
yeah