April 21, 2025 • 30 mins
Jason breaks down the film on how Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler and the Golden State Warriors were able to beat Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, and the Houston Rockets on both ends of the floor in game one.
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(01:57):
All right, wellcome hoops tonight you're at the volume heavy Monday.
Everybody up all if you guys are having a great
start to here week, we are going to do a
little bit of a deep dive into last night's game
one between the Houston Rockets in the Golden State Warriors.
Off the top, I'm going to go through some of
the metrics that came out of that game, some super
interesting ones that demonstrate the clear skill gap between the
two teams. And then down the stretch, we're going to
(02:19):
go through about thirty five clips worth of film from
that game to demonstrate some of the concepts that I
was talking about in the series preview as well as
during the show last night. You guys know the Joe
before we get started. Subscribed to the Hoops and Night
YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos.
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(02:40):
also super helpful if you leave a rating in a
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guys follow us there. In the last but not least,
keep dropping mail bag questions in the YouTube comments. We
keep getting to them throughout the remainder of the season.
All right, let's talk some basketball. So I'm just going
to off the top here. List off some of the
some of the stats that came out of last night's game. So,
(03:02):
first of all, per cleaning the glass, the gap in
half court offense. Last night between the Warriors and the Rockets,
the Rockets logged a sixty five point five offensive rating
in the half court versus the Warriors.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Last night, the.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Warriors logged a ninety five point two offensive rating, So
a singular half court possession was worth thirty or i
should say, point three points more per possession for the
Warriors than it was for Houston last night. Huge gap there.
Golden State actually won the transition points battle thirteen to eleven.
(03:41):
It was second chance points where Houston was able to
make up some ground. Houston won the offensive rebounding battle
twenty two to six, as we saw, but Golden State
did do a better job of converting those offensive rebounds
into points. The actual second chance points battle was twenty
two to twelve instead of twenty two to six in
offensive rebound meaning Houston was getting one point per second
(04:02):
possession while Golden State was getting two points per second possession.
That allowed them to shrink that gap as well. Did
we only saw four possessions of zone for both teams.
Both teams really struggled. Golden State scored just once in
four possessions against zone. Houston scored zero times in four
possessions against zone. My guess is we see a lot
(04:24):
more zone for both teams over the course of the series.
Rescue shot making Synergy classifies this as any shot that
goes up in the last four seconds of the shot clock.
Golden State got one point two eight points per shot
in the final seconds of the shot clock. Houston got
zero point four to six. Now that's those steph prayers
(04:46):
over Jalen Green or over Then Thompson from thirty five
feet on the light, the out by half court, or
Jimmy Butler sidestep jump shots. The Golden State Warriors are
just so much better at tough show making that in
those late clock sequences. I expect them throughout the series
to convert more of those into points than Houston is
(05:09):
going to be able to. We saw a massive gap there.
Out of bounds plays Golden State one point sixty four
points per possession, Houston zero point eighty six. Overall jump
shooting forty six jump shots for Golden State one point
one to three points per shot, forty four jump shots
for Houston zero point sixty four points per shot. So
(05:30):
like there is just a massive skill and execution gap
between these two teams that was on display and was
clearly showing in the numbers. But on that note, let's
get into some of the things that I noticed on
film during the game during my rewatch this morning. So
one of the things I talked about was the idea
(05:51):
that as you can see here, as we start on
the screen, Shanggon is on Moses Moody, And because Shangun
is on Moses Moody, it makes it so that some
of these pet actions are more switchable for the Rockets. Right,
So as you can see, Fred van Vliet was on Draymond,
Dylan Brooks was on Jimmy Butler, they're now switching this
off ball screen. You have a Men Thompson on Steph.
(06:13):
So the classic Steph Draymond pick and roll, that's just
gonna be a switch. It's just gonna end with Dylan
Brooks on Steph and with the men Thompson on Draymond
Green any sort of three man action, they're gonna switch
wide pin down Draymon and Jimmy. They're going to switch
it shuts down their primary screening actions, and so what
I was curious about is how Golden State would look
to attack that. And one of the things I talked
about last night was they did a lot of work
(06:35):
to try to get Jalen Green onto Steph before attacking
shanng Gooon. In a screening action very first possession of
the game, you see a perfect example of it. We
go to Jimmy Butler up up here, we have Steph
with the men Thompson POD's with Jalen Green. Moses Moody
is getting ready to set this like a screen over here.
Wide as we see, there's an interchange with Stephan Pods
(06:57):
Pods cuts through that gets Jalen Green onto Steph. Then
they set the screen with Moody. Moody makes good contact
and step gets a pretty clean look coming off the screen.
You'll see a lot of examples of that in the
film of the warriors going out of their way to
go at Jalen Green in screening actions. This was the.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Insane Shanngoon dunk on Draymond Green.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
I thought this was just a perfect example of how
to be ice coverage, so I wanted to go over
this for a second so as you can see classic
ice coverage. Notice that Moses Moody's playing the high side.
The way ice coverage works is you're getting ready to
set up all screen, right, and what the Rockets want
to do is they want to get Jalen Green downhill,
going towards the middle of the floor. But what just
about every team in the NBA will do is they'll
(07:38):
ask this guy to massively overplay the middle side and
funnel him back towards the sideline, and then they'll sit
there big in a drop coverage, essentially trying to force
Jalen Green to drive into this gap and take some
sort of stupid mid range jump shot. And then the
ideally you would sync in with these guys to help
on the roll. They didn't sink in very well. Jalen
Green just drives into that gap, creates an easy pocket
(08:01):
feed to Shangun Pods isn't in there, step isn't in there,
and then we just get the body bag on Dream.
That was just an insane dunk from Alpern Shangoon. This
is another example of attacking Jalen Green in screening action.
So we have a Men Thompson on steph. We have
Jalen Green defending pods. As they set that screen, Jalen
Green jumps up. Notice the screening angle from pods. Pods
(08:22):
is not actually trying to screen a men Thompson. All
he's trying to do is trigger the switch and he
wants inside position. He doesn't want a men Thompson to
be able to loop back around to get behind him,
and so he screens on the backside so that when
the switch happens, there's this obvious lane there for pods
(08:43):
to sink into.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
There's the feed. He gets a nice little floater.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
He ends up missing that one, but that's an example
of how they can get clean looks attacking Jalen Green.
I thought Steph was really great in his defense against
switches last night. There was a couple buckets they gave up.
There was a one against Jabari Smith in the post
that will show later, but for the most part, Steph
held up really well.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Here.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Steph just individual defense on Jalen Green. Watch the physicality.
Just immediately puts his hands on him and make sure
that he knows that he's not going that Jalen knows
he's not going to get a runway. He's going to
be physical and make sure that he cuts off that
momentum before he can actually get going downhill. Great defense
from Steph. Force is the miss I talked last night
about the spacing that Shangun was able to provide from
(09:21):
the mid range. This is what we see from like
you know, Isaiah Hartenstein and a bunch of guys that
can shoot these like little short pop shots. Draymond's sinking
down Dylan Brooks on Steph. Well, here's Shanggun just hanging
out by the foul line where he can just shoot
a little shot to space the floor. Identical action to
the first possession of the game for Golden State. Once again,
we have the setup right, We have pods with Jalen Green,
we have Steph with him and Thompson. We have Moses
(09:42):
Moody getting ready to set the actual screen. Right, So
here we go. We get our first screening action with
these two. Notice Draymond's the fulcrum instead of Jimmy like
he was early. We get the first screen to get
the switch. Now STEP's on, uh has Jalen Green on him?
Look at Shangoon, He's sitting in help He's not ready.
Moses Moody's that's a good pick. And so you're attacking
the two weakest defenders on the floor for Houston. This
(10:04):
is a very good look for Steph. Just happens to
miss it. He missed some of the easy ones early,
but these are I've always said this is how you
get your rhythm. There were a lot of easy looks
for Steph early in the game that allowed him to
get his rhythm, which then he got his confidence, got
into his groove, and just started cooking the rockets with
tough shot making as the game progressed. Here's another example
of shanguon mid range spacing. Let's fast forward a little
(10:26):
bit so as you can see once again, a men
Thompson's driving, Draymond's sinking down, Shangun's just kind of hanging
around eight feet from the basket shoots that little short
range jump shot. It's a nice way for Shangun to
be able to space the floor there. Now Shangun's gonna
try to go at Steph in an inverted ball screen
in the middle of the floor. Notice he immediately dives
(10:46):
down and stabs at the basketball. That disrupts his rhythm.
He's now broken Shangun's rhythm here gets the ball back though,
backs down the physicality disrupting the base probably fouls him here.
I mean this is a valley basically like slow and
right on right on the forearmers. He's shooting the hook.
But again, it's playoff basketball. There's fouls that occur on
just about every possession. You need to bring the physicality
(11:09):
and force the refs to make a call, especially in
a seize mismatch like this. Refs are generally gonna let
you get away with a lot of physicality when you
are the guy that has a size and strength disadvantage.
Then on this miss we get a transition cross match,
and this how you can use the chaos from transitions
cross matches to create offense. So in the push, notice
(11:30):
Moody is now being guarded by Jalen Green, which means
Shanggoon is guarding Gary Payton. The Warriors immediately identify it.
Steph hasn't even crossed half court yet. It's fuck everything else.
We're just gonna run a high ball screen. Why because
they're like Gary Payton is one of their guys that
they trust as a screen and roll threat. They trust
Gary Payton, they trust Jimmy, they trust Straymont. They're not
(11:51):
going to run a bunch of spread pick and roll
with Moses Moody because they don't trust him as much
as a read and react threat. But as soon as
they get Gary Payton onto Shangun immediately in fall screen,
boom hits the pocket, Gary Payton gets downhill, Jimmy Butler
cuts behind Tarry Easton. You get your classic tic tac
toet sequence. That's classic Warriors basketball that you can get
(12:11):
because you have your regular traditional matchups that the Warriors
like to attack. Here's another clean I talked a lot
last night about how I thought Fred van Vliet actually
got some pretty clean looks against drop coverage. Here's another
example of that. He gets Draymond Green deep in a drop,
Steph gets hit on the screen, gets a clean look there.
He missed most of them in this game, but I
(12:33):
actually thought Fred got some decent looks that he might
be able to hit over the course of the series.
This is an example of Steph beating a switching scheme
by just going really, really fast. So I want to
play at full speed first. As you can see, Steph
comes off of the curl and gets the tough layup
over Tari Easton at the basketball. Let's look at some
specifics here. So Steph's being guarded by Tari Easton. We
(12:54):
get the screen. Now, watch as Raymond screens Dylan Brooks
is gonna switch. But what I want you to see
is what happens to Dylan Brooks's weight distribution right on
the switch. Watch notice as he's passing off Draymond, his
weight and his body is turned this way towards the baseline.
Look at how Steph's body is turned that way towards
(13:16):
towards the scores table right. What that allows is for
Steph to have that split second of momentum advantage before
Dylan Brooks can get his body turned around. That allows
Steph to get that initial separation. Then no messing around,
just attack quickly. Because Steven Adams isn't actually up to
catch him, He's able to turn the corner on Dylan Brooks.
(13:39):
And then this was the first of several just insanely
tough shots that Steph hitting this game. This crazy scoop
over Tara Easton at the basket man a man look
with Steven Adams early in the game before they went zone.
Very simple progression here, So as you screen the top
man as Steph comes off, you have some nail help
here from Tari Eason, and this is you know, probably
(14:01):
an overhelp from Tarry Easton. But again Steven Adams can
give up some dribble penetration there, so I get it.
Notice what Jimmy does immediately when he sees Tarry Easton's
step up, he just gets ready to drive into that slot.
He gets into the gap. Steven Adams has all of
his momentum going towards the corner, so Jimmy's.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Able to just pop for an easy floater there.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
We talked earlier in the at the beginning of the
show about just how bad Houston's half court offense was.
This is something I would look to go to a
little more. This is against the mismatch and Steph this
little right shoulder fade that he takes. But regardless of
whether or not it's Steph or another. One of Golden
State's smaller players in the regular season, Jabari Smith Junior,
got one point twenty nine points per post up, including
(14:39):
passes lower volume. He only ran forty nine possessions in
the whole season, but that's at least worth exploring a
little bit more as a half court option for Houston
when nobody else on their team can even come close
to generating consistent offense. We get a transition, but this
is right after that made basket. This is that transition
push I talked about last night. Steph just brings the
ball up with pace, and when he does, he ends
up engauging Steven Adams in a transition cross match that
(15:04):
gives him an option for a player he can easily
drive right around. So he drives right around Steven Adams.
And then second insane finish, Shangoon waiting at the rim,
Jabari Smith coming from behind, up and under just ridiculous
shot from Steph Curry. This was Houston's first zone defense rep.
I wanted to show you guys an example of just
(15:25):
how much this zone can move around and kind of
shape shift and become whatever that possession needs it to be. So,
as you guys can see, Aman Thompson and Fred Van
Vliet are the top guys. Steven Adams is underneath, Shane
Gun's in the corner, and Dylan Brooks is in the
opposite corner. Notice as Golden State moves around, how everyone
just kind of moves kind of moves with Golden State's
(15:46):
offense and adjusts and moves. Dylan Brooks started in this corner,
Now he's going to be in the opposite corner. Fred
van Vliet started as a top man, now he's down
in the corner. Shangon started as a low man. He's
now up at the top of the key. This gets
past Dylan Brooks now rises up to the wing. Now
Steven Adams is now in this corner and Shangoon is
the low man. Aman Thompson's up top and Fred van
(16:08):
Bleetz in the corner. See how they can like move
and shift spots to take away openings as the possession
calls for it. All of a sudden, there's six on
the shot clock and there's no advantage in Brandon Pajemski
has to settle for a step back three again. Houston
was they were lower volume because they didn't start running
it till the end of the year, but they were
consistently one of the best zone defenses in the NBA
last year at volume. Here's a Shangoon initiated possession against
(16:32):
Quinton Post attacking at the top of the key. Here,
nice little hook over his left shoulder. When you look
at all of the actual initiated possessions from Shangun. So
if Shangoon ran a post up, if Shangoon ran an iso,
Shanguon ran an inverted ball screen. There were thirteen of
those possessions last night, and the Warriors only allowed eight points.
(16:53):
They actually defended the Shangun initiated actions pretty well. It
was just like catches in the pocket. We talked about
offensive rebounds, some of that mid range spacing that was
where Shane Goon did most of his damage. This was
Golden State's one bucket for the zone and it was
just a classic example of Fred Van Vliet saying darry
to score to Draymond. So like, if this is anybody else,
(17:15):
Fred's matched up, but he's just not guarding Draymond. So
Draymond just drives right down the middle and shoots.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
A little floater.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Here's Golden State's first zone wrap against as a defense
against Houston. Notice it's like a one to three one setup.
The biggest difference between their zone and Houston zone is
they're using this top man to pressure the ball no
matter what. So you know, Buddy Heel's picking up the
ball way out here. Pods is basically responsible for the middle,
and Draymond's basically responsible for the whole baseline.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Pods in.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Buddy switched spot, so very similar to what we talked
about with Houston, with being adjustable depending on what the
possession calls for. Houston doesn't really seem to have any
idea how to attack. They passed to the corner, it
ends up in a double team. The result is a
fading catch and shoot three over a double team in
the right corner. Here's another example, same thing. Notice Buddy
Heels pressuring out top. They just have no idea how
(18:03):
they want to attack. Notice as they're flashing to try
to get catches, Gie Santos is up there. Pods is
literally denying the high post catch. The whole point of
the possession is to get him to dwindle into the
clock because they don't know what to do. Finally, Fred
van Vliet drives and they eventually get a post entry
pass to Jabari Smith, but by the time they get
it to him, it's only seven seconds left, he's completely
surrounded by help defenders and he ends up turning the
(18:26):
basketball over. I thought this was classic Draymond Green gamesmanship.
So we have a Jimmy Butler drive and Gie Santos
is cutting through from the slot through to this corner.
Jimmy Butler is going to rip baseline and drive along
this baseline. Watch what Draymond Green does. Just classic dream uk.
Green literally just fucking throws a block at Jabari Smith's
(18:47):
as he runs right into him. Now, the genius in
this play is it looks like a duck in So
the way he can get away with this is technically,
if Jimmy Butler's driving along this baseline, whatevery big in
the NBA will do is what they call teeing up.
He's going to flash right here to the top of
the charge circle to make himself available for a catch.
(19:08):
Should Jimmy Butler drive through this baseline, he would run
into Draymond Green. So Draymond Green has to relocate up
here naturally as part of the possession. But Draymond Green
uses that as an excuse to basically get away with
throwing a moving screen at Jabari Smith, which gets Gi
Santo's open. Nice little gamesmanship from Draymond Green. I thought
this was a bad decision from Jabari Smith. Junior catches
(19:29):
on the wing here. This is in the zone. Look again,
He's gonna rip baseline and when he rips baseline.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
There's already two rockets there.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
And Jimmy and Draymond are easily equipped to help. As
soon as he gets in there. Draymond just digs in
there and forces a turnover silly decision from Jabari Smith.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
And then down on the other end the floor.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Look at this back door cut pass from Draymond to
Steph Curry. I don't even know how Draymond thought this
was open, Like as STEP's going through, it doesn't look open,
and the ball is like Dylan Brooks's in position. Jabari
Smith is behind, but he just feeds it perfectly into
this super tight window and Steph gets a layup. Just
that's the chemistry you build over a decade playing together.
(20:10):
Another clean drop coverage look for Fred van Vliet that
he misses, and then this is where Fred fucks up.
He ends up gambling on Steph in the back court
and when he does that ends up getting Steph a
clean drop coverage look against Shang Gun that he knocks down.
I talked a lot about how you can do a
better job on defense and double teams by pressuring the
ball so the kickout passes are harder. As Shanegun drives here,
(20:32):
I want you guys to see what happens when the
double team comes. So he drives right here, he sees
he sees the red right. So Pods is there, Moody's there,
they're double teaming. Or excuse me, not Moody. Looney is there,
they're double teaming. He sees Fred as the reed, but
against the pressure, he has to find a passing angle.
And so look, he knows he wants to make that pass,
(20:53):
but Looney and Pods pressure the hell out of him.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
And look at this pass that it forces. It forces a.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
High deflective, looping pass across the court, which gives Pods
a chance to rotate and then force the turnover. That's
why it's so important when you're double teaming to pressure
the ball. If you allow easy kickouts on double teams,
you're gonna get killed. Another botch switched from Jalen Green.
So again, look here early possession. We have Jalen Green
on Steph screen flowing into the handoff. Jalen Green botches it,
(21:22):
get gets disconnected. It's a deeper shot, but because Steph
is disconnected, he knows he can get into his rhythm
and he knocks down the shot once again, though incredibly
difficult shot making from Steph Curry. I thought this was
just a genius off ball cut move from Steph to
get open against some n Thompson. So I want to
play at full speed first, and then I want to
see if you guys notice what I'm talking.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
About here back cut lea. This is the genius of
this move.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Do you guys remember when we did the uh when
we covered the Warrior the Warriors Grizzlies game, how I
talked about the physicality and how Steph was able to
use that push off move against what was his name,
not Luke Canard, the other white dude who plays for
the Grizzlies.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
I'm blanking on his name right now, Conchard, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Conchart was guarding Steph and Steph like kind of shoved
off of him to get open into the screening action.
That's a pretty common move you'll see from shooters around
the NBA, but it's a great way to set up
a backcut. So watch as Steph. I'm gonna play this
in slow motion. Watch how Steph shoves himn That shove
triggers a man thinking he's going to come off of
(22:29):
this screen. Watch how hard a man reacts to the shove,
he goes completely out of position. Then Steph beats him
on the back cut. Really really smart gamesmanship from Steph
Curry to get himself another easy one. A little piece
of tough shot making from Jimmy. Butler hits a little
(22:51):
bright shoulder fade over a men Thompson. Notice that little
shoulder fake is worth everything there on the shoulder fake.
Look at him in A man's got his head turned
and his body takes that whoops, star guys. His body
takes that one negative step way back here to the
second block, and that gives Jimmy the separation and needs
to knock down the shot. Jimmy made six jump shots
in this game, five in the mid range. That was
(23:11):
a huge piece of ceiling raising on offense for the Warriors.
I have no idea what Jalen Green was doing here.
I think Dylan Brooks is also in this action. Let's
get over to the corner here, so we have Jimmy
being guarded by Dylan Brooks and Pods comes up to
set the screen, and I like, Jalen Green just ends
up like just clawing all the way up here to
(23:35):
double team. And my thing is like, let's say that's
a switch. Let's say it's a switch. Make Jimmy dribble
off the screen, sit back a little bit, and if
Jimmy dribbles off the screen, then you pick him up
that way. Dylan Brooks, as he's dribbling off, can drop
back and get inside position on Pods to prevent the slip. Instead,
Jalen Green just throws this bullshit double team and it
just makes the easiest slip pass ever to Pods on
(23:57):
the back door. A lot of defensive mistakes from Jalen
Green in this one. Another stot. Draymond Green gets a
good stop against Shangoon. He won most of those battles
last night, like I talked about. And then we get
this ISO three from Jimmy Butler against the men Thompson
at the end of the clock that puts the Warriors
up twenty. Another nice bit of shot making from Jimmy Butler.
(24:21):
Draymond did this a couple times last night. So they're
trying to set up a high low action here, right,
So Tarry Yeason has inside position on Steph Curry, Draymond
Green's guarding Shanggon, but Shang Goon just shows an unwillingness
to score here, and so when Shangoon throws the pass,
Raymond just drops back and he's able to disrupt and
get the pass. Then on the other end of the floor,
going to fast forward a little bit, you guys know
(24:42):
what happens here, Steph gets Jalen Green on a switch
late in the shot clock. Here's one of those last
four seconds of the clock shots that I was talking about.
One of the most ridiculous shots I've seen Steph hit
in his career.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Boom.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Another example of Draymond getting a steal dropping off the passer.
So notice he's guarding Steven Adams, but he's not worried
about Steven Adams as a scorer. So as the cutter
comes through and men Thompson, Draymond drops back and ends
up getting his steal. Draymond was unbelievable on defense last night.
This was Moses Moody's rescue possession late in the game.
I thought this was really impressive too. So we have
(25:14):
Pods ends up trying to create something. He ends up
picking up his dribble in the middle of the floor.
Moody just flashes right in front of Fred van Vliet,
gets open for like a little catch and shoot seventeen
foot er fading to his left and knocks it down.
I was a big shot in that game when the
game got down to four. This was just an insane
piece of shot making from Steph Curry look running to
his right from about thirty five feet against the contests
(25:39):
from Amen Thompson, just sticks it off the back of
the rim.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Just unbelievable shot.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Alrighty, This was a really impressive help defense sequence from
Brandon Pajemski and Moses Moody. The two of them were
just fantastic down the stretch of this game. So notice
as the drive occurs here Pod steps up first, so
Pods is on Shane Jabari Smith is going to drive
past Jimmy Butler and Pods and Jimmy are going to
execute like a switch on the drive. So notice Pod
(26:08):
steps up, But where's the red right? You have Moody
guarding him Men Thompson here in the right corner. The
next obvious read for Jabari Smith is to drop it
off to Shangoon. Pods catches the drive, Moody makes the
rotation and forces the steel. Jimmy Butler cleans it up.
Really really good defense in that sequence from Moses Moody
and from uh Brandon Pajemski. This was one of the
(26:30):
big time rebounds that Brandon Pajemski had at the end
of the game, just out working Fred van Vliet. Here
after the shot goes up, Moody gets a clean look
but watch so Pods and and Fred are both watching,
but Pods makes the effort gets to the tap and
when he gets to the tap, he occupies both Shangoon
and Jabari Smith, which allows Draymond Green to come in
and clean it up from behind. Warriors attacking Jalen Green
(26:52):
in action again, this time to get two on the
ball and open up.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
The pocket with Pods.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Classic sequence right ball screen A Men Thompson is chasing
Jalen Green, is kind of like hanging out a little
too long that creates the pocket to Pods. He has
a baked in driving lane past Jalen Green, which forces
Shangoon to step up, easy kickout to Moody and knocks
down a much needed three and big for Moody as well,
for as much as he had struggled lately. And then
(27:19):
here we go the dagger from Jimmy Butler, that classic
side step shot that I always talk about. He gets shanggoon.
Watch the side step going to his right. This is
the game. This is the go to move that Jimmy
Butler has now that he can get to and knock
down whenever he needs to. So yeah, as you guys
can see a lot of the stuff that we talked
about last night, Jalen Green being attacked in action, the
(27:42):
Warriors defending extremely well against the Rockets, their zone causing
them issues. There's just such a gap in that skill IQ, gamesmanship,
decision making, playmaking, all of that skews heavily in Golden
State's favor. And as long as they don't completely hemorrhage
points on the margins, they're going to do really well.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
And again they did all right.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
They were so much more efficient on their second chances
that they only lost the second chance points battle by
ten and as a result, they were able to allow
their half court execution to carry them over the top.
All right, guys, it's all I have for today. We'll
be back tonight live on YouTube after the final buzzer
of that Clippers Nuggets game. We also have the Nicks
(28:24):
Pistons game two tonight. We'll be breaking down both of
those games after the final Buzzer tonight. I will see
you guys then.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
What's up guys?
Speaker 2 (28:30):
As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
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And leave a rating and a review.
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As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if
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Really appreciate it. The volume.
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All right, wellcome hoops tonight you're at the volume heavy Monday.
Everybody up all if you guys are having a great
start to here week, we are going to do a
little bit of a deep dive into last night's game
one between the Houston Rockets in the Golden State Warriors.
Off the top, I'm going to go through some of
the metrics that came out of that game, some super
interesting ones that demonstrate the clear skill gap between the
two teams. And then down the stretch, we're going to
(02:19):
go through about thirty five clips worth of film from
that game to demonstrate some of the concepts that I
was talking about in the series preview as well as
during the show last night. You guys know the Joe
before we get started. Subscribed to the Hoops and Night
YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos.
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guys don't misshow announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed
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(02:40):
also super helpful if you leave a rating in a
review on that front. Jackson's doing great work on our
social media feeds Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Make sure you
guys follow us there. In the last but not least,
keep dropping mail bag questions in the YouTube comments. We
keep getting to them throughout the remainder of the season.
All right, let's talk some basketball. So I'm just going
to off the top here. List off some of the
some of the stats that came out of last night's game. So,
(03:02):
first of all, per cleaning the glass, the gap in
half court offense. Last night between the Warriors and the Rockets,
the Rockets logged a sixty five point five offensive rating
in the half court versus the Warriors.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Last night, the.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Warriors logged a ninety five point two offensive rating, So
a singular half court possession was worth thirty or i
should say, point three points more per possession for the
Warriors than it was for Houston last night. Huge gap there.
Golden State actually won the transition points battle thirteen to eleven.
(03:41):
It was second chance points where Houston was able to
make up some ground. Houston won the offensive rebounding battle
twenty two to six, as we saw, but Golden State
did do a better job of converting those offensive rebounds
into points. The actual second chance points battle was twenty
two to twelve instead of twenty two to six in
offensive rebound meaning Houston was getting one point per second
(04:02):
possession while Golden State was getting two points per second possession.
That allowed them to shrink that gap as well. Did
we only saw four possessions of zone for both teams.
Both teams really struggled. Golden State scored just once in
four possessions against zone. Houston scored zero times in four
possessions against zone. My guess is we see a lot
(04:24):
more zone for both teams over the course of the series.
Rescue shot making Synergy classifies this as any shot that
goes up in the last four seconds of the shot clock.
Golden State got one point two eight points per shot
in the final seconds of the shot clock. Houston got
zero point four to six. Now that's those steph prayers
(04:46):
over Jalen Green or over Then Thompson from thirty five
feet on the light, the out by half court, or
Jimmy Butler sidestep jump shots. The Golden State Warriors are
just so much better at tough show making that in
those late clock sequences. I expect them throughout the series
to convert more of those into points than Houston is
(05:09):
going to be able to. We saw a massive gap there.
Out of bounds plays Golden State one point sixty four
points per possession, Houston zero point eighty six. Overall jump
shooting forty six jump shots for Golden State one point
one to three points per shot, forty four jump shots
for Houston zero point sixty four points per shot. So
(05:30):
like there is just a massive skill and execution gap
between these two teams that was on display and was
clearly showing in the numbers. But on that note, let's
get into some of the things that I noticed on
film during the game during my rewatch this morning. So
one of the things I talked about was the idea
(05:51):
that as you can see here, as we start on
the screen, Shanggon is on Moses Moody, And because Shangun
is on Moses Moody, it makes it so that some
of these pet actions are more switchable for the Rockets. Right,
So as you can see, Fred van Vliet was on Draymond,
Dylan Brooks was on Jimmy Butler, they're now switching this
off ball screen. You have a Men Thompson on Steph.
(06:13):
So the classic Steph Draymond pick and roll, that's just
gonna be a switch. It's just gonna end with Dylan
Brooks on Steph and with the men Thompson on Draymond
Green any sort of three man action, they're gonna switch
wide pin down Draymon and Jimmy. They're going to switch
it shuts down their primary screening actions, and so what
I was curious about is how Golden State would look
to attack that. And one of the things I talked
about last night was they did a lot of work
(06:35):
to try to get Jalen Green onto Steph before attacking
shanng Gooon. In a screening action very first possession of
the game, you see a perfect example of it. We
go to Jimmy Butler up up here, we have Steph
with the men Thompson POD's with Jalen Green. Moses Moody
is getting ready to set this like a screen over here.
Wide as we see, there's an interchange with Stephan Pods
(06:57):
Pods cuts through that gets Jalen Green onto Steph. Then
they set the screen with Moody. Moody makes good contact
and step gets a pretty clean look coming off the screen.
You'll see a lot of examples of that in the
film of the warriors going out of their way to
go at Jalen Green in screening actions. This was the.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Insane Shanngoon dunk on Draymond Green.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
I thought this was just a perfect example of how
to be ice coverage, so I wanted to go over
this for a second so as you can see classic
ice coverage. Notice that Moses Moody's playing the high side.
The way ice coverage works is you're getting ready to
set up all screen, right, and what the Rockets want
to do is they want to get Jalen Green downhill,
going towards the middle of the floor. But what just
about every team in the NBA will do is they'll
(07:38):
ask this guy to massively overplay the middle side and
funnel him back towards the sideline, and then they'll sit
there big in a drop coverage, essentially trying to force
Jalen Green to drive into this gap and take some
sort of stupid mid range jump shot. And then the
ideally you would sync in with these guys to help
on the roll. They didn't sink in very well. Jalen
Green just drives into that gap, creates an easy pocket
(08:01):
feed to Shangun Pods isn't in there, step isn't in there,
and then we just get the body bag on Dream.
That was just an insane dunk from Alpern Shangoon. This
is another example of attacking Jalen Green in screening action.
So we have a Men Thompson on steph. We have
Jalen Green defending pods. As they set that screen, Jalen
Green jumps up. Notice the screening angle from pods. Pods
(08:22):
is not actually trying to screen a men Thompson. All
he's trying to do is trigger the switch and he
wants inside position. He doesn't want a men Thompson to
be able to loop back around to get behind him,
and so he screens on the backside so that when
the switch happens, there's this obvious lane there for pods
(08:43):
to sink into.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
There's the feed. He gets a nice little floater.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
He ends up missing that one, but that's an example
of how they can get clean looks attacking Jalen Green.
I thought Steph was really great in his defense against
switches last night. There was a couple buckets they gave up.
There was a one against Jabari Smith in the post
that will show later, but for the most part, Steph
held up really well.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Here.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Steph just individual defense on Jalen Green. Watch the physicality.
Just immediately puts his hands on him and make sure
that he knows that he's not going that Jalen knows
he's not going to get a runway. He's going to
be physical and make sure that he cuts off that
momentum before he can actually get going downhill. Great defense
from Steph. Force is the miss I talked last night
about the spacing that Shangun was able to provide from
(09:21):
the mid range. This is what we see from like
you know, Isaiah Hartenstein and a bunch of guys that
can shoot these like little short pop shots. Draymond's sinking
down Dylan Brooks on Steph. Well, here's Shanggun just hanging
out by the foul line where he can just shoot
a little shot to space the floor. Identical action to
the first possession of the game for Golden State. Once again,
we have the setup right, We have pods with Jalen Green,
we have Steph with him and Thompson. We have Moses
(09:42):
Moody getting ready to set the actual screen. Right, So
here we go. We get our first screening action with
these two. Notice Draymond's the fulcrum instead of Jimmy like
he was early. We get the first screen to get
the switch. Now STEP's on, uh has Jalen Green on him?
Look at Shangoon, He's sitting in help He's not ready.
Moses Moody's that's a good pick. And so you're attacking
the two weakest defenders on the floor for Houston. This
(10:04):
is a very good look for Steph. Just happens to
miss it. He missed some of the easy ones early,
but these are I've always said this is how you
get your rhythm. There were a lot of easy looks
for Steph early in the game that allowed him to
get his rhythm, which then he got his confidence, got
into his groove, and just started cooking the rockets with
tough shot making as the game progressed. Here's another example
of shanguon mid range spacing. Let's fast forward a little
(10:26):
bit so as you can see once again, a men
Thompson's driving, Draymond's sinking down, Shangun's just kind of hanging
around eight feet from the basket shoots that little short
range jump shot. It's a nice way for Shangun to
be able to space the floor there. Now Shangun's gonna
try to go at Steph in an inverted ball screen
in the middle of the floor. Notice he immediately dives
(10:46):
down and stabs at the basketball. That disrupts his rhythm.
He's now broken Shangun's rhythm here gets the ball back though,
backs down the physicality disrupting the base probably fouls him here.
I mean this is a valley basically like slow and
right on right on the forearmers. He's shooting the hook.
But again, it's playoff basketball. There's fouls that occur on
just about every possession. You need to bring the physicality
(11:09):
and force the refs to make a call, especially in
a seize mismatch like this. Refs are generally gonna let
you get away with a lot of physicality when you
are the guy that has a size and strength disadvantage.
Then on this miss we get a transition cross match,
and this how you can use the chaos from transitions
cross matches to create offense. So in the push, notice
(11:30):
Moody is now being guarded by Jalen Green, which means
Shanggoon is guarding Gary Payton. The Warriors immediately identify it.
Steph hasn't even crossed half court yet. It's fuck everything else.
We're just gonna run a high ball screen. Why because
they're like Gary Payton is one of their guys that
they trust as a screen and roll threat. They trust
Gary Payton, they trust Jimmy, they trust Straymont. They're not
(11:51):
going to run a bunch of spread pick and roll
with Moses Moody because they don't trust him as much
as a read and react threat. But as soon as
they get Gary Payton onto Shangun immediately in fall screen,
boom hits the pocket, Gary Payton gets downhill, Jimmy Butler
cuts behind Tarry Easton. You get your classic tic tac
toet sequence. That's classic Warriors basketball that you can get
(12:11):
because you have your regular traditional matchups that the Warriors
like to attack. Here's another clean I talked a lot
last night about how I thought Fred van Vliet actually
got some pretty clean looks against drop coverage. Here's another
example of that. He gets Draymond Green deep in a drop,
Steph gets hit on the screen, gets a clean look there.
He missed most of them in this game, but I
(12:33):
actually thought Fred got some decent looks that he might
be able to hit over the course of the series.
This is an example of Steph beating a switching scheme
by just going really, really fast. So I want to
play at full speed first. As you can see, Steph
comes off of the curl and gets the tough layup
over Tari Easton at the basketball. Let's look at some
specifics here. So Steph's being guarded by Tari Easton. We
(12:54):
get the screen. Now, watch as Raymond screens Dylan Brooks
is gonna switch. But what I want you to see
is what happens to Dylan Brooks's weight distribution right on
the switch. Watch notice as he's passing off Draymond, his
weight and his body is turned this way towards the baseline.
Look at how Steph's body is turned that way towards
(13:16):
towards the scores table right. What that allows is for
Steph to have that split second of momentum advantage before
Dylan Brooks can get his body turned around. That allows
Steph to get that initial separation. Then no messing around,
just attack quickly. Because Steven Adams isn't actually up to
catch him, He's able to turn the corner on Dylan Brooks.
(13:39):
And then this was the first of several just insanely
tough shots that Steph hitting this game. This crazy scoop
over Tara Easton at the basket man a man look
with Steven Adams early in the game before they went zone.
Very simple progression here, So as you screen the top
man as Steph comes off, you have some nail help
here from Tari Eason, and this is you know, probably
(14:01):
an overhelp from Tarry Easton. But again Steven Adams can
give up some dribble penetration there, so I get it.
Notice what Jimmy does immediately when he sees Tarry Easton's
step up, he just gets ready to drive into that slot.
He gets into the gap. Steven Adams has all of
his momentum going towards the corner, so Jimmy's.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Able to just pop for an easy floater there.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
We talked earlier in the at the beginning of the
show about just how bad Houston's half court offense was.
This is something I would look to go to a
little more. This is against the mismatch and Steph this
little right shoulder fade that he takes. But regardless of
whether or not it's Steph or another. One of Golden
State's smaller players in the regular season, Jabari Smith Junior,
got one point twenty nine points per post up, including
(14:39):
passes lower volume. He only ran forty nine possessions in
the whole season, but that's at least worth exploring a
little bit more as a half court option for Houston
when nobody else on their team can even come close
to generating consistent offense. We get a transition, but this
is right after that made basket. This is that transition
push I talked about last night. Steph just brings the
ball up with pace, and when he does, he ends
up engauging Steven Adams in a transition cross match that
(15:04):
gives him an option for a player he can easily
drive right around. So he drives right around Steven Adams.
And then second insane finish, Shangoon waiting at the rim,
Jabari Smith coming from behind, up and under just ridiculous
shot from Steph Curry. This was Houston's first zone defense rep.
I wanted to show you guys an example of just
(15:25):
how much this zone can move around and kind of
shape shift and become whatever that possession needs it to be. So,
as you guys can see, Aman Thompson and Fred Van
Vliet are the top guys. Steven Adams is underneath, Shane
Gun's in the corner, and Dylan Brooks is in the
opposite corner. Notice as Golden State moves around, how everyone
just kind of moves kind of moves with Golden State's
(15:46):
offense and adjusts and moves. Dylan Brooks started in this corner,
Now he's going to be in the opposite corner. Fred
van Vliet started as a top man, now he's down
in the corner. Shangon started as a low man. He's
now up at the top of the key. This gets
past Dylan Brooks now rises up to the wing. Now
Steven Adams is now in this corner and Shangoon is
the low man. Aman Thompson's up top and Fred van
(16:08):
Bleetz in the corner. See how they can like move
and shift spots to take away openings as the possession
calls for it. All of a sudden, there's six on
the shot clock and there's no advantage in Brandon Pajemski
has to settle for a step back three again. Houston
was they were lower volume because they didn't start running
it till the end of the year, but they were
consistently one of the best zone defenses in the NBA
last year at volume. Here's a Shangoon initiated possession against
(16:32):
Quinton Post attacking at the top of the key. Here,
nice little hook over his left shoulder. When you look
at all of the actual initiated possessions from Shangun. So
if Shangoon ran a post up, if Shangoon ran an iso,
Shanguon ran an inverted ball screen. There were thirteen of
those possessions last night, and the Warriors only allowed eight points.
(16:53):
They actually defended the Shangun initiated actions pretty well. It
was just like catches in the pocket. We talked about
offensive rebounds, some of that mid range spacing that was
where Shane Goon did most of his damage. This was
Golden State's one bucket for the zone and it was
just a classic example of Fred Van Vliet saying darry
to score to Draymond. So like, if this is anybody else,
(17:15):
Fred's matched up, but he's just not guarding Draymond. So
Draymond just drives right down the middle and shoots.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
A little floater.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Here's Golden State's first zone wrap against as a defense
against Houston. Notice it's like a one to three one setup.
The biggest difference between their zone and Houston zone is
they're using this top man to pressure the ball no
matter what. So you know, Buddy Heel's picking up the
ball way out here. Pods is basically responsible for the middle,
and Draymond's basically responsible for the whole baseline.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Pods in.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Buddy switched spot, so very similar to what we talked
about with Houston, with being adjustable depending on what the
possession calls for. Houston doesn't really seem to have any
idea how to attack. They passed to the corner, it
ends up in a double team. The result is a
fading catch and shoot three over a double team in
the right corner. Here's another example, same thing. Notice Buddy
Heels pressuring out top. They just have no idea how
(18:03):
they want to attack. Notice as they're flashing to try
to get catches, Gie Santos is up there. Pods is
literally denying the high post catch. The whole point of
the possession is to get him to dwindle into the
clock because they don't know what to do. Finally, Fred
van Vliet drives and they eventually get a post entry
pass to Jabari Smith, but by the time they get
it to him, it's only seven seconds left, he's completely
surrounded by help defenders and he ends up turning the
(18:26):
basketball over. I thought this was classic Draymond Green gamesmanship.
So we have a Jimmy Butler drive and Gie Santos
is cutting through from the slot through to this corner.
Jimmy Butler is going to rip baseline and drive along
this baseline. Watch what Draymond Green does. Just classic dream uk.
Green literally just fucking throws a block at Jabari Smith's
(18:47):
as he runs right into him. Now, the genius in
this play is it looks like a duck in So
the way he can get away with this is technically,
if Jimmy Butler's driving along this baseline, whatevery big in
the NBA will do is what they call teeing up.
He's going to flash right here to the top of
the charge circle to make himself available for a catch.
(19:08):
Should Jimmy Butler drive through this baseline, he would run
into Draymond Green. So Draymond Green has to relocate up
here naturally as part of the possession. But Draymond Green
uses that as an excuse to basically get away with
throwing a moving screen at Jabari Smith, which gets Gi
Santo's open. Nice little gamesmanship from Draymond Green. I thought
this was a bad decision from Jabari Smith. Junior catches
(19:29):
on the wing here. This is in the zone. Look again,
He's gonna rip baseline and when he rips baseline.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
There's already two rockets there.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
And Jimmy and Draymond are easily equipped to help. As
soon as he gets in there. Draymond just digs in
there and forces a turnover silly decision from Jabari Smith.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
And then down on the other end the floor.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Look at this back door cut pass from Draymond to
Steph Curry. I don't even know how Draymond thought this
was open, Like as STEP's going through, it doesn't look open,
and the ball is like Dylan Brooks's in position. Jabari
Smith is behind, but he just feeds it perfectly into
this super tight window and Steph gets a layup. Just
that's the chemistry you build over a decade playing together.
(20:10):
Another clean drop coverage look for Fred van Vliet that
he misses, and then this is where Fred fucks up.
He ends up gambling on Steph in the back court
and when he does that ends up getting Steph a
clean drop coverage look against Shang Gun that he knocks down.
I talked a lot about how you can do a
better job on defense and double teams by pressuring the
ball so the kickout passes are harder. As Shanegun drives here,
(20:32):
I want you guys to see what happens when the
double team comes. So he drives right here, he sees
he sees the red right. So Pods is there, Moody's there,
they're double teaming. Or excuse me, not Moody. Looney is there,
they're double teaming. He sees Fred as the reed, but
against the pressure, he has to find a passing angle.
And so look, he knows he wants to make that pass,
(20:53):
but Looney and Pods pressure the hell out of him.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
And look at this pass that it forces. It forces a.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
High deflective, looping pass across the court, which gives Pods
a chance to rotate and then force the turnover. That's
why it's so important when you're double teaming to pressure
the ball. If you allow easy kickouts on double teams,
you're gonna get killed. Another botch switched from Jalen Green.
So again, look here early possession. We have Jalen Green
on Steph screen flowing into the handoff. Jalen Green botches it,
(21:22):
get gets disconnected. It's a deeper shot, but because Steph
is disconnected, he knows he can get into his rhythm
and he knocks down the shot once again, though incredibly
difficult shot making from Steph Curry. I thought this was
just a genius off ball cut move from Steph to
get open against some n Thompson. So I want to
play at full speed first, and then I want to
see if you guys notice what I'm talking.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
About here back cut lea. This is the genius of
this move.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Do you guys remember when we did the uh when
we covered the Warrior the Warriors Grizzlies game, how I
talked about the physicality and how Steph was able to
use that push off move against what was his name,
not Luke Canard, the other white dude who plays for
the Grizzlies.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
I'm blanking on his name right now, Conchard, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Conchart was guarding Steph and Steph like kind of shoved
off of him to get open into the screening action.
That's a pretty common move you'll see from shooters around
the NBA, but it's a great way to set up
a backcut. So watch as Steph. I'm gonna play this
in slow motion. Watch how Steph shoves himn That shove
triggers a man thinking he's going to come off of
(22:29):
this screen. Watch how hard a man reacts to the shove,
he goes completely out of position. Then Steph beats him
on the back cut. Really really smart gamesmanship from Steph
Curry to get himself another easy one. A little piece
of tough shot making from Jimmy. Butler hits a little
(22:51):
bright shoulder fade over a men Thompson. Notice that little
shoulder fake is worth everything there on the shoulder fake.
Look at him in A man's got his head turned
and his body takes that whoops, star guys. His body
takes that one negative step way back here to the
second block, and that gives Jimmy the separation and needs
to knock down the shot. Jimmy made six jump shots
in this game, five in the mid range. That was
(23:11):
a huge piece of ceiling raising on offense for the Warriors.
I have no idea what Jalen Green was doing here.
I think Dylan Brooks is also in this action. Let's
get over to the corner here, so we have Jimmy
being guarded by Dylan Brooks and Pods comes up to
set the screen, and I like, Jalen Green just ends
up like just clawing all the way up here to
(23:35):
double team. And my thing is like, let's say that's
a switch. Let's say it's a switch. Make Jimmy dribble
off the screen, sit back a little bit, and if
Jimmy dribbles off the screen, then you pick him up
that way. Dylan Brooks, as he's dribbling off, can drop
back and get inside position on Pods to prevent the slip. Instead,
Jalen Green just throws this bullshit double team and it
just makes the easiest slip pass ever to Pods on
(23:57):
the back door. A lot of defensive mistakes from Jalen
Green in this one. Another stot. Draymond Green gets a
good stop against Shangoon. He won most of those battles
last night, like I talked about. And then we get
this ISO three from Jimmy Butler against the men Thompson
at the end of the clock that puts the Warriors
up twenty. Another nice bit of shot making from Jimmy Butler.
(24:21):
Draymond did this a couple times last night. So they're
trying to set up a high low action here, right,
So Tarry Yeason has inside position on Steph Curry, Draymond
Green's guarding Shanggon, but Shang Goon just shows an unwillingness
to score here, and so when Shangoon throws the pass,
Raymond just drops back and he's able to disrupt and
get the pass. Then on the other end of the floor,
going to fast forward a little bit, you guys know
(24:42):
what happens here, Steph gets Jalen Green on a switch
late in the shot clock. Here's one of those last
four seconds of the clock shots that I was talking about.
One of the most ridiculous shots I've seen Steph hit
in his career.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
Boom.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Another example of Draymond getting a steal dropping off the passer.
So notice he's guarding Steven Adams, but he's not worried
about Steven Adams as a scorer. So as the cutter
comes through and men Thompson, Draymond drops back and ends
up getting his steal. Draymond was unbelievable on defense last night.
This was Moses Moody's rescue possession late in the game.
I thought this was really impressive too. So we have
(25:14):
Pods ends up trying to create something. He ends up
picking up his dribble in the middle of the floor.
Moody just flashes right in front of Fred van Vliet,
gets open for like a little catch and shoot seventeen
foot er fading to his left and knocks it down.
I was a big shot in that game when the
game got down to four. This was just an insane
piece of shot making from Steph Curry look running to
his right from about thirty five feet against the contests
(25:39):
from Amen Thompson, just sticks it off the back of
the rim.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Just unbelievable shot.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Alrighty, This was a really impressive help defense sequence from
Brandon Pajemski and Moses Moody. The two of them were
just fantastic down the stretch of this game. So notice
as the drive occurs here Pod steps up first, so
Pods is on Shane Jabari Smith is going to drive
past Jimmy Butler and Pods and Jimmy are going to
execute like a switch on the drive. So notice Pod
(26:08):
steps up, But where's the red right? You have Moody
guarding him Men Thompson here in the right corner. The
next obvious read for Jabari Smith is to drop it
off to Shangoon. Pods catches the drive, Moody makes the
rotation and forces the steel. Jimmy Butler cleans it up.
Really really good defense in that sequence from Moses Moody
and from uh Brandon Pajemski. This was one of the
(26:30):
big time rebounds that Brandon Pajemski had at the end
of the game, just out working Fred van Vliet. Here
after the shot goes up, Moody gets a clean look
but watch so Pods and and Fred are both watching,
but Pods makes the effort gets to the tap and
when he gets to the tap, he occupies both Shangoon
and Jabari Smith, which allows Draymond Green to come in
and clean it up from behind. Warriors attacking Jalen Green
(26:52):
in action again, this time to get two on the
ball and open up.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
The pocket with Pods.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Classic sequence right ball screen A Men Thompson is chasing
Jalen Green, is kind of like hanging out a little
too long that creates the pocket to Pods. He has
a baked in driving lane past Jalen Green, which forces
Shangoon to step up, easy kickout to Moody and knocks
down a much needed three and big for Moody as well,
for as much as he had struggled lately. And then
(27:19):
here we go the dagger from Jimmy Butler, that classic
side step shot that I always talk about. He gets shanggoon.
Watch the side step going to his right. This is
the game. This is the go to move that Jimmy
Butler has now that he can get to and knock
down whenever he needs to. So yeah, as you guys
can see a lot of the stuff that we talked
about last night, Jalen Green being attacked in action, the
(27:42):
Warriors defending extremely well against the Rockets, their zone causing
them issues. There's just such a gap in that skill IQ, gamesmanship,
decision making, playmaking, all of that skews heavily in Golden
State's favor. And as long as they don't completely hemorrhage
points on the margins, they're going to do really well.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
And again they did all right.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
They were so much more efficient on their second chances
that they only lost the second chance points battle by
ten and as a result, they were able to allow
their half court execution to carry them over the top.
All right, guys, it's all I have for today. We'll
be back tonight live on YouTube after the final buzzer
of that Clippers Nuggets game. We also have the Nicks
(28:24):
Pistons game two tonight. We'll be breaking down both of
those games after the final Buzzer tonight. I will see
you guys then.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
What's up guys?
Speaker 2 (28:30):
As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
OOPS tonight. They would actually be really helpful for us
if you guys would take a second.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
And leave a rating and a review.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if
you could take a minute to do that, I.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Really appreciate it. The volume.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
It's a great time of year to get out and
see some of these live events. We've got concerts and
comedy shows all over the country. I got out to
the sphere for a three night set to see Dead
End Company last week. On the NBA playoffs are in
full swing. Lots of good games to see there. The
Major League Baseball season is underway, and this is why
I want to give a shout out to the sponsor
of today's video.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
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Speaker 2 (29:11):
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(29:32):
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Seek geek
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