This is an I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. The Volume. The Volume. The Volume. All right, welcome to Hipstown. I'm here at the Volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Hope all of you guys are having a great week so far. Just a quick show for you guys today. We're going to do instant reactions to three games from last night. As the Detroit Pistons get a huge win on the road against the Charlotte Hornets, we have a huge fight. I don't want to talk a little bit about that happened in the third quarter of that game. That's likely going to lead to several lengthy suspensions. The Cavs come back down again, double digits in the second half to win their second game with James Hardin on the road in Denver against the nuggets. And then a talent to show Lakers Thunder in the evening slate. A demonstration of the gap and talent down the roster between those two teams. So three game breakdowns. You guys know the drill before we can start it. Subscribe to the Hoops tonight YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of our videos. Make sure you like this video and then turn on our post notification so that you guys can help our channel grow. And then last but not least, if you want to get mail back questions into our mail bags, drop them in the comments underneath our full episodes on YouTube. And we'll get to them weekly throughout the remainder of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So Pistons Hornets turned on a huge Pistons run that spanned from the end of the second quarter to the start of the third quarter. So 38 to 14 run. Classic Pistons during that run. Their defense was incredible. Charlotte is a very good offense and they generated a lot of good shots in this game for over various stretches of it. But during this stretch of the game, they were able to tighten the screws at the point of attack and in their rotations, especially around the rim. I thought they're kind of like gapping and help rotations at the rim, like shrinking the floor and making those kick out reads look a little tighter and a little more high risk than they actually were. I thought that was a good idea. But they were kind of tighter and a little more high risk than they actually were. I thought that did a good job of just kind of stifling, especially the Melliball, the Melliball really struggled during that run spanning the end of the second quarter into the early third quarter. Again, they held the Hornets to just 14 points in that 11 and a half minute stretch. And on the other end of the floor, like Jalen Dern only had 15 points in this game, but he did most of his damage during the first chunk of that run. Just with his inside positioning, did a little bit of ISO work on some drives as well, but just was bullying the Hornets underneath the basket until obviously he gets removed from the game for the fight. We'll talk about that in a little bit. And then Cade in that like kind of as we got into the third quarter portion of it, Cade was just especially in that middle third quarter. Just see a ton of damage going towards the rim. Just doing that thing that he always does just relentlessly attacking the rim, getting high percentage shots close to the basket that just created the distance that Detroit was able to ride to the finish line. I think they went up by as much as 16 during that stretch. And the Hornets battled back admirably their offense generated countless wide open threes in that fourth quarter. There were four wide open catching shoot looks for Brandon Miller and Conn Kinniple just in the final minutes of that game that all clanked. So it could have been a very different result if those guys hit those shots. They generated 19 wide open catching shoot threes in this game, which is an insane number, which is a credit to their offense and what they can generate. They hit over 40% of them. They just missed four in a row to end it. And that ended up kind of being the difference in the game. Now, obviously there's some context there Detroit was down their whole center rotation. Obviously, Moose at the Abate was out as well. So a little bit different in terms of the health of the help dynamic at the rim. But I still think that that concept for Charlotte is something that is real to build around. I'm going to talk about this concept even more when we get to Cleveland, but just the idea of running action with a high level shot creator, a role man who can do whatever the role man needs to do in terms of being able to screen slip and then, you know, whether it's making floaters, making short role reads, making dunks on vertical spacing situations, finishing in traffic, all that kind of stuff. When you have that two main game foundation, and you can truly space the floor, like all those wide open looks that Brandy Miller and Conn Canippell got at the end of the game. They came out of the concept of them to being situated on the weak side while the mellow ball is running action. It just makes it so that like if you want to tag rollers, they're going to have to give up an open shot, right? Like if you want to help on a mellow ball drive, you're going to have to give up an open shot and not just to anybody, but to a really high level shooter. This is a team in the Hornets that's been top three in three pointers made and three pointers of the end three point in the game. And so, you know, they're going to have to give up a little bit of a percentage during the nine game winning streak. So like, you know, in a lot of ways, it was kind of what you would expect from this type of fun matchup between two up and coming young teams that are very different types of teams and that are at two very different stages of their development. Right. Like the pistons are further along. They also have, you know, more veteran presences on board. With guys like Tobias Harris and Duncan Robinson. Duncan was also fantastic in this game. And he was a huge shot that kind of helped ice the game late. Like you just have a further along more, even more physically developed like all like Cades, big and strong now. Jalen Duren's big and strong now. So they're just further along. They were able to play a longer stretch of dominant basketball there in that late second early third quarter run. And they dominated using the identity they've built all season. A lot of defense to transition sequences. They had a lot of points off of Hornets turnovers in this game. They're pulling you in the paint at a 60 to 26 points in the paint advantage in this game. That's a margin they always win by like something like crazy. Like 14 15 points a game, but one by 36 or 34 points in that game in Charlotte 14 offensive rebounds. And then Kate Cunningham just being relentless on the attack on the dribble drive. So like that's what you would expect there further along. Both physically and in roster development, more veterans on board. They have a stronger identity that they built throughout the entire season. You expect them to be able to go and get a win like that on the road. And they did the Hornets. They're early in their development and they're a very different type of team. But they still have enormous upside. And we saw that upside get flashed through the game stretches of good defense. They've been an excellent defense in this nine game. When he's sure they were fifth, if I remember correctly, and defensive rating over that nine game span. Their offense can constantly generate good looks for a variety of shooters. And all of that dynamic in terms of the constant threat of, you know, having three, four shooters on the floor at all times creates these help dynamics and screening actions that can open up lanes for their bigs to crash the offensive glass. And they got 11 offensive rebounds last night. I think it's a very athletic Detroit Pistons team. So in that way, it was a game that lived up to the hype and was a really fun showcase for both teams. I recorded a mail bag episode yesterday that's airing later this week where someone asked me about this Hornet stretch and whether or not I believe in it. And I do. I was not super high on the Hornets coming into the season. I looked at them as a team that was like a solid two, three years away from being kind of more serious in that Eastern conference. Just because of how young they were and how flawed they were. At least in my impression of the team to start the year. I was wrong about that. Their way ahead of schedule. They might make the playoffs this year. I think there are almost certainly going to be like a legitimate playoff team in the mix next year. I get into it in a lot more detail in that mail bag episode. But although that was a fun showcase for Charlotte last night. And then a demonstration from the Pistons of why they've been the most impressive team in the regular season this year. Something we talked about yesterday as they've been ten and four this season against teams that are in the top ten and point differential. And 28 of the 30 teams have lost at least eight games against teams that are top ten and point differential. There's one team that's one set or lost seven. The Pistons have only lost four. They've consistently in these big high profile games and Charlotte doesn't necessarily fit that bill in terms of their big picture record a big picture metrics. But a red hot team one of the best teams on league that's been beaten a lot of really good teams in the stretch and Detroit went in there and kind of handled them right now. As we talk about the fight. I have very complicated feelings about this sort of thing. And I'm sure some people are not going to like my answer here, but this is just my kind of perspective on this sort of thing. I'm generally I generally think fighting is stupid. But I also think that it's more complicated. It's complicated because of the emotion of the situation. I do have a great deal of sympathy for the emotion of these types of moments. When your competitive motor is running really hot. It unlocks a part of every human being that is borderline primal. Right. Like there's an energy that flows through you that is very, very different than when you're in a relaxed state. It's that fight or flight response, right? Like you're in a very keyed up fight type of response. I personally have a dark side that comes out of me sometimes on the basketball court. Not so much as I've gotten older. I've had better control over it. As I get into my mid 30s now compared to when I was in like my mid 20s. But still to this day every once in a while. Like someone will challenge me on the court in a way that's either verbally or physically. And I just I just see red and I start being a complete asshole. And I have a lot of these moments where sometimes I'll be sitting at home later. Feeling really bad about the way I acted or the way I treated somebody. The only point I'm trying to make here is that like I do believe it's a lot easier said than done. Then like when it comes to keeping your emotions and check in these highly competitive environments. One of my favorite random examples of this is the Richard Sherman interview. And I think it was the NFC championship game when he got that big deflection on the fade route to Michael Crabtree in the right corner of the end zone. A lot of people who don't know any better were upset at him for the way he acted on national television in that interview. Anybody who's actually spent a lot of time in highly competitive environments knew exactly what was going on there. You stuck a microphone in that dude's face mere seconds after one of the biggest competitive victories of his life. When him and Michael have been John at each other. So he was in a shit talking mood. If you wait 10 minutes and interview him after he's cooled off. He's going to behave completely differently the point being there is this when you're in that competitive keyed up type of situation. It is a lot easier said than done to control your emotions and there is a deep primal part of you that comes out a fight or flight response that is very different than your relaxed state. And this Hornets Pistons game is an even more exaggerated version of that idea like Diabate's reaction for example when Moosa flew off the hand to like that. Jalen Dern was bullying the hell out of the hornets frontline for like 10 straight minutes leading into that. So there's always already like a physical keyed up for spots where you're fighting back against that bully ball attack. And when they face up and they go face to face with each other Jalen Dern straight up grabs him by the face and shoves him. That's wildly disrespectful to do to somebody. So I'm not surprised at all that Moosa saw red and wanted to fly off the handle like that again like I said I very much sympathize with the emotion of the situation. The main thing that I want to get to here is the idea of understanding what you have to lose. There's this idea that great power comes with great responsibility right. Being an MBA player is the modern version of great power right you're a multi millionaire you're a celebrity you live a life that is a dream compared to the majority of the humans in the world but it comes with great responsibility you represent the NBA. And the NBA expects a lot from its players in terms of behavior you're also a part of a team. And your team has goals goals that are far greater than the goals of the individual and so one of the things that comes with being an NBA player is you can't allow your emotions to just dictate your actions with impunity. In other words you have a lot to lose. Even on the low end for a team like the Hornets that may or may not make the playoffs this year you had just one nine games in a row. You're really building towards something special as I mentioned we're going to go do a deep dive on the Hornets in the mail bag episode I think it's coming out tomorrow. In that mail bag I talked about how I do believe in these guys. I do think that the concanipal Brandy Miller Musadir Bhattay core is an excellent foundation and that they're going to be an in the mix playoff team sooner than later. I'm not even really like there are times when I've watched the Hornets during this stretch from like man Lamello ball shot creation in conjunction with this shooting is what's making this work in a lot of ways I'm not the biggest Lamello ball fan but I'm not ready to give up on him in this core either I am buying Hornets stock. In a way that I didn't think I would this year what if moosa has to go miss five 10 games right now. It's a smaller version of stakes. It's a smaller wrench but it's a wrench thrown into the development of this team nonetheless. And again I know it's easier said than done but what moosa needs to do there is when Jalen Duren does that give him a shove in the chest something that I'll never end in this suspension just give him a shove tell him to fuck off. And then let the league handle the face chef send a tape to the league let the league handle it I know it's an imperfect solution but it's the one that keeps moosa on the court with his team which is important when you have these team wide goals and when you're building real momentum to what could be a special air of or it's basketball. And again the stakes do get higher look at the Isaiah Stewart situation now Isaiah Stewart is a very important rotation player for the pistons and we will likely not see him again for a long time because you had a similar incident where he flew off the handle with the LeBron James inadvertent elbow thing. And here's the thing again I sympathize with the emotion I understand why Isaiah Stewart wanted to stick up for his teammates as they've done for him in the past but I would imagine if you went up to Jalen Duren and you know you went up to me and you asked him you're like would you rather have Isaiah Stewart come flying in to settle the score and have your back. Or would you rather have stew hang back because of his history and avoid the suspension that would inevitably follow from something like that because the pistons have bigger goals because the pistons are building towards something special that could immortalize these pistons guys in basketball history we all know what Jalen Duren would say he'd be like stew I'm good hang back I fucked up I pushed him in the face I'm gone already. You hang back we got bigger things that were trying to accomplish though in short it's just not worth it it's not worth it to give in to your emotions in those situations and just like I said earlier the stakes keep getting higher dream on green missed an NBA finals game and possibly could have cost his team a championship because of his inability to control his emotions. I know it's easier said than done as I've said several times but every young basketball player has to find a way to control their emotions when they're running hot competitively if you're playing in college like let's say you have a college scholarship and you fly off the handle in a game and you punch somebody. That could dramatically affect your future you could lose your scholarship it could change the trajectory of your entire life. In other words like I said earlier you have a lot to lose and it's not worth it. And so that requires more self control even if it is easier said than done hopefully for all these guys got suspended from the fight they'll learn a lesson and not make those mistakes in the future. 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All right moving on to Cavs nuggets second game with James Hardin second game with the double digit second half come back win the Cavs closed this game with a Donovan Mitchell James Hardin Jared Allen lineup that had Sam Merrill and Jalen Tyson off the ball. So essentially two excellent shot creators that can both play off the ball because they're both great catch and shoot players an excellent screen enroll partner and Allen and two dudes who have literally made over 45% of their threes this year there was a sequence where James Hardin kind of drove through the middle of the lane. And he throws like a no look where he's kind of like looking at Donovan Mitchell in the right corner but he ends up throwing across his body to Jalen Tyson at the top of the key. And if you watched Donovan Mitchell in the right corner he starts celebrating like fist pumping celebrating right when the pass was made because he knows damn well that Jalen Tyson is going to knock that shot down. Both of those guys on wide open catch and shoot threes are shooting obscene percentages this year. Now paper it sounds impossible to guard right to deadly knockdown shooters to shot creators that are both excellent pick and roll and excellent as catching shoot three point shooters and the screen enroll partner and Allen it sounds impossible to guard and it is in reality as well and the last nine minutes of clutch basketball over these two games and Sacramento and Denver the calves of log day 140 offense of rating it gets even tougher for a team like Denver for example we talked about this in the power rate. And I think that's the way you know there's a lot of like hoop like oh like you want you guys want to know why the nuggets were above 500 without Yoke it's and now they're suddenly two and four with Yoke it's not because Yoke it's is bad for the team or anything like that. It's because he fundamentally changes the way they have to play defense the team got used to playing defense of certain style when Jonas and Yoke it's were both out. And then we're going to have a lot more switching a lot more athleticism on the floor it was a very different defensive scheme is less reliant on help on help and recover more reliant on individual defense and one on one because you were doing so much switching right in these particular looks with Yoke it on the floor they've had to run a lot of zone they've had to run a lot of high drop right in. Let's let's take high drop for example so if I am bringing Yoke it's up to the level and pick and roll that requires a lot in the form of backside rotation so that's been difficult for the nuggets to adjust to anyway respective of the situation that the calves present. The the nuggets are really defending poorly since Yoke it came back because they have to get back into a very different groove defensively that is very much more a help in rotate style of defense rather than a switch in contain style of defense and so the nuggets been struggling with that anyway. Now you add this problem that the calves present right so like if you could just to come up to the level what is the next stage in that defensive sequence right it's a tag of the roller and if you don't like there is a play where Jared Allen caught a you know so James Harden's coming right off the key is getting to his right hand Jared Allen does a good job not only laying the screen but he lingers for just a second to kind of create a larger pocket pass window he holds his screen for an extra like second many rolls James. Harden hits him on the bounce there's no tags or just goes right downhill there was a tag I think it was late and he ends up I think he ended up trying a foul on that play from a recovery but it gets too easy points out of it. You have to tag the roller if you're late on the tag Jared Allen scoring or if you don't tag Jared Allen scoring if you do tag there's four dudes on the floor off of Jared Allen including the ball handler who are all over 40% on catching shoot three so like it's one of these situations where they're difficult to guard under normal circumstances but because of the way the nuggets play defense with Nicole Yoke it's borderline impossible and so there was a tough shot and their James Harden hit a ridiculous step back three on the left way one way probably got fouled. They did a tie in the game but every other bucket was easy easy finishes and fouls for Jared Allen on rolls a layup for Donovan Mitchell on this nasty spin move in semi transition driving down the right side of the floor the move was tough. Once you got past him there's nobody helping because all that shooting on the floor wide open layup wide open threes for Jalen Tyson a two wide open ones one on the right wing or run right at the top of the key down the stretch those are all really easy shots that are built from that dynamic of having to really high level shot creators. A pick and roll threat as a screener that's one of the best in the league and then literally two dudes who make damn near half of their catching shoot threes that's just extremely difficult to guard and it's one of the big reasons why I'm so high on this cab seem and I want to credit the cabs defense down the stretch in this game to James Harden made some key defensive rotations light in the game you had one where he forced Tim Hardaway junior Tim Hardaway had one of those like classic kind of like screen slip sequences with a with Yokech off the top with Jamal Murray coming off and so Yokech dumps it over the top and Harden made a really nice on time rotation got there got a good contest Tim Hardaway just hit a contested floater shout out to him it's tough shot. And he had another one where he forced to turn over on Yokech a Yokech post up there running that like classic kind of post entry two man game with Murray and Yokech off of the left wing and left block. And Yokech goes to spin over his left shoulder hardens season coming rotates gets there in time feet set and as Yokech tries to step through it's no foul because Harden is standing still he throws his arms into hard and it ends up turning the basketball over his huge pivotal stop late in the game like one of the things with James Harden to keep an eye on is that specific kind of thing as it pertains to this team and their potential because James Harden is a much better one on one player defensively than he gets credit for he has been awesome guarding one on one this year. It was one of the big upside things that I talked about in the trade reaction pod compared to a guy like Darry Scarlin who was just getting brutalized in one on once this year James is a better one on one defender. But James can be an undisciplined unfocused off ball defender you can miss rotations you can be late on rotations you can miss box out you can lose shooters you can get back cut all of that kind of stuff. And so James being attentive like that on defense and being on time with his rotations and just being in the right spot in the defensive scheme is the pathway to him becoming a functional quality defender in the best version of this team. I think they're going to need Evan mobility like they have not defended well really in the big picture since since James Harden joined the team in the two games. But I do think that Evan mobility is going to help a lot with that when he gets back into their credit they have a 105 defensive rating and crunch time last night against that awesome nuggets offense. I thought that was a good impressive stretch of defense some really impressive things there was a they eyes a team I thought they defended Jamal Murray really well they forced him into some tough contested shots that he missed the there was this blitz from Keon Ellis and Jared Allen where they forced to turn over on Jamal Murray just with excellent ball pressure where you try to get back to the ball. I'm just I'm buying all sorts of Cav stock right now. You guys will see in my contender rankings with KOC that come out I think on Thursday this week. I have them in my as my favorite to win in the Eastern conference now after the trades I looked at it is very jumbled up but I looked at the nixes my slight favorite before the deadline. I think the addition of Keon Ellis Dennis rotor and James Harden vault the calves above every other team in that group it's all very close like you know obviously we're looking at Detroit New York Boston and and cleanland is the main ones Toronto's kind of like hanging on to the bottom end of that group there. But like I they're all still very bunched up but to me these moves and especially seeing it kind of like come to fruition and just the type of basketball scene from them in the last couple of days. I think I put the calves at the top of that group and they're the team that I have an in that group the one team in that group that I have as a top tier contender in our contender rankings that come out later this week. It's really this simple I think when you add Evan mobility to the mix. There will be a combination of shot creation high level role man play off ball shooting perimeter defense and rim protection a combination of those five things that is sort of unrivaled in the east. They're not a perfect team I'm still a little worried about their front line getting pushed around in certain types of series you know big physical front lines but of all the top teams in the east and all of them are flawed to a certain extent. I think this is the most complete team and I'm just I'm just really believe in and buying in on this calves group as we head down the stretch of this season. Last game for today Lakers thunder not overly surprised by the result here I think the thunder without share just a better basketball team than Lakers without Luca that's not exactly a bold take when you factor in just overall offense and defensive talent. The thunder are the most talented roster in the league when they're fully healthy and if you take Shay off and you take Luca off you find out pretty quickly that the Lakers have a flawed roster by comparison and. It's a little closer than it would look on paper for this type of game just strictly looking at this match up in the regular season simply because the thunder offense completely falls apart without shame their offense straight up can't score without shame relative to when he's on the floor. Lakers as a counter example have only been 2.6 points worse per 100 possessions when Lucas off the floor this year because they still have high level shot creators and they get better defensively by about 2.4 points and so even though the offense is a little better with Luca it's just not as big of a gap because you have Austin and LeBron these two super high level shot creators so in a game like this the Lakers are still capable of replicating some of what they do on offense and they're more or less the same if not a slightly better defense. Team the thunder without shame they usually have a hard time scoring and so that's why even though these rosters after their stars tilt heavily towards the thunder it was a competitive game because the Lakers you know they have more resilience on offense without their superstar because of the way their rosters built. Even when we apply that context. Okay, she just has better basketball players and I thought it was on display throughout the game there's so many individual examples of that difference so like for instance like. You look at the scrappiness of the bigs down to 8 has the ball straight up taken away from him twice down the stretch because he's just completely unprepared for the scrappiness of this environment is an offense of rebound gets stripped has a defensive rebound gets stripped underneath the basket and it leads to a dunk. Chet as a counter example the Lakers in a switching group and up leaving LeBron James on an island out on the perimeter that puts Marcus smart in a situation where he's got a scrap with Chet home grid same dynamic right Aiden got out scrapped by guards right here you have Chet matched up with an even scraper your guard right in Marcus smart one of the scrappiest guards of all time and Chet just beats him to the ball and gets a dunk so like in the scrap Chets better at scoring. And then D Andre in addition to being a better defense player got some huge stops down the stretch including a big ISO stop on Marcus smart driving down the lane but Chet's just a way better basketball player then D Andre and that's not a surprise there right guys like Alex Cruz so and Lou Dort and J Lynn Williams hitting three while Jake Laravia and Jared Vanderbilt are clanking from the corners like that's not a surprise the Thunder have better shooting talent. The Thunder are 15 and catching shoot 3.0 percentage this year the Lakers are 25th the Thunder were 12 for 26 on catching shoot 3's last night the Lakers were 7 for 23 that's in the line with what you would expect from the talent available on these rosters even the perimeter physicality stuff like case and wall is Chet home grid and Jalen Williams all were able to go right at Austin Reeves late in the game for easy to Austin defended every single one of those plays pretty well kept his body in front was competing physically but he's just giving up an athletic advantage against all three of those guys that's an advantage that Oklahoma City has that would not go away even if the stars were available even just Oklahoma City forcing 15 turnovers and scoring 23 points on them case and wall is by the way menace in this game just hounding Austin Reeves up and down the floor getting those big late strips on D Andre 8 and as well. LeBron talked about it after the game there's just a simple difference between these two teams ones a championship contender and one is not he plainly stated that last night. There are levels to hoop in the NBA the Lakers every time they run into this level seem to get exposed so for example in this eight and four stretch where they been top 10 and offense and defense I during the eight and three they were top 10 and offense defense I'm not sure how last night's numbers affected that. But during the stretch where they've been playing their best basketball the season they're eight and four. They're o and three in that stretch against teams that are in the top 10 point differential according to cleaning glass. Just five in 11 this season against teams that are in the top top 10 point differential the following teams have all been better by win percentage against teams in the top 10 point differential the clippers the blazers the jazz the hawks and the hornets. All five of those teams are below 500 in the big picture but they have performed better this season against the best teams in the league so like this is just kind of what it is now the counter that you would hear from some people is like hey well what about if the Lakers get all their stars healthy and again what I would say in that specific context is like is there a chance that the Lakers will compete better against the teams that are in the top 10 point differential if they have all their stars healthy yeah of course they're well I don't think that that's. I don't think that's a good thing to do is to get a to far of a bridge to cross so to speak. But even in that context it's one thing to be better than the clippers blazers jazz hawks and in hornets and it's another thing to actually be ready to compete nightly against the best teams in the NBA and I just think this Lakers team is miles away from that several of the Thunder players I wanted to shout out Alex. He's off the dribble shot creation in this game was huge he's sneaky been really good at it all year when called upon he's run 40 pick and rolls which is super low volume but he's generated 45 points including passes so well over a point per possession. He just hit a variety of pull up jumpers and driving layups and made some passing reads that just felt like found money in a game like this where you only have one of your primary dribble drive guys healthy. I say a Joe first half hot streak I thought that was a huge part of that first bit of separation that Oklahoma City built in the game. Case in Wallace in those picks six is out at half court those are huge momentum plays Jalen Williams. The you know Jalen Williams coming off the bench is always suffering a different shape between those two when I'm verbalizing their names but he's been amazing all year and all sorts of ways for this team just kind of you know obviously he was big during the heart and injury just being another big body for them off the bench. He's just a big smart defender who's always in the right place at the right time and he continues to just hit timely threes for this team hit some huge ones in the fourth quarter last night. I thought Jared McCain's first shift was awesome just came in aggressive looking for a shot which is what the team needs from him right now with all of the injuries and then chat just huge defensive stands down at the rim late in the game in addition to that big offensive rebound put back late. You have to play really solid team basketball when you're down your superstar in the thunder did that and they got a big win and then lastly just Jalen Williams Jalen Williams good to see him back last night held up physically which is good news I was a little worried that they were bringing him back too quick for a soft tissue injury when he's so important to the final version of this team but he looked great last night had some big big buckets late in the game when this team needed him like just just an awesome performance from a team that I believe is going to win the championship this year in the Oklahoma City. All right guys that's all I have for today as always I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the show will be back tomorrow with a mail back this the schedule the rest of this week is a little funky because I have a this is my last like a little break before the home stretch and so I've got a buddy coming in town today and we're going to do some skiing over the next few days so I've got a mail back coming out tomorrow. Today I'm recording contender rankings with KOC that's going to air on Thursday and then we'll be back on Monday with our normal power rankings again as always I appreciate you guys and I will see you tomorrow.