MONSTER GAME: Nuggets Vs Lakers, Luka vs. Jokic, Plus AG Is Almost Back!

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This is Nick Gangsta with the Lockdown Mavericks Podcast. This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card. I love that I can run up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase of my Apple Card, which can be automatically sent to my high yield savings account through Apple Card right in the wallet app. With my iPhone, I can use Apple Card with Apple Pay basically everywhere I go. You can apply for Apple Card too, right in the wallet app on your iPhone. Subject to credit approval, savings is available to Apple Card owners, subject to eligibility, savings in Apple Card by Goldman Sachsbank, USA Salt Lake City Branch member FDIC, terms and more at AppleCard.com. This is Wes Goldberg from Lockdown NBA and Lockdown Heat with a message from Dell. Dell PCs with Intel Insider built for the moments that you plan for, and the ones you don't. The moments that you're working from a cafe and realize, every out let's take in, or the times that you're deep in your flow and can't be interrupted for an auto update. That's why Dell builds tech that adapts to you with long lasting battery and built in intelligence that makes updates around your schedule, not in the middle of it.

1:02Find technology built for the way you work at Dell.com slash XPS, built for you. How have the Lakers actually given the nuggets some trouble? We'll tell you why that's been an issue for Nicoli Yokech plus why Aaron Gordon's return could change everything for the Denver Nuggets coming up on Lockdown Nuggets. You are Lockdown Nuggets, your daily Denver Nuggets podcast, part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team, every day. Welcome to Lockdown Nuggets, your daily Denver Nuggets podcast, part of the Lockdown podcast network, your team, every day. Thanks for joining us and making us part of your day. Being in every day or in making us your first listen Monday through Friday, as well as oftentimes on the weekend whenever they've got games then too, we'd be delighted to have you guys with us. Glad for you to join us. Also glad you decided to join our every dayers club at lockdownnuggets.supercast.com.

2:06The link is in the description of this episode if you're listening on podcast or at youtube.com slash lockdownnuggets. You can join the everydayer club and get exclusive content, bonus episodes, scouting report. I'm finishing up the Lakers report as soon as this podcast gets through. You get that, you get access to the discord hanging out with lots of nuggets fans, talk of the game, talk about off season, all sorts of stuff. You're going to enjoy it, sign up to be an everydayer at lockdownnuggets.supercast.com. My name is Matt Moore. I've been covered in every nuggets. This is a credential reporter for 14 seasons, cover the NBA for 18 seasons. Join by Swipe and catch him on YouTube at Swipe.com. He has been covered in every, how long have you been on the nuggets? How long have you been talking nuggets, Swipe? How long? Like online. How long have you been doing shows for the nuggets? December 2020. December 2020. December 23, 2020. December 23, 2020. Six years. Five years. Five years. Between the, the two of us, we have 705 years between us of, of doing this, I've been doing this too long. Go ahead, have you guys with us.

3:06This is your pregame show for the Lakers game. We will have a post game show as soon as I get back from the arena at like 2 a.m. because it's an 8 p.m. start. We'll have a late game for you. The, I love it when all the, the true sick of stay up to watch us. Make sure to check us out at youtube.com slash locked on nuggets. You can catch the podcast in the morning. We'll also have podcasts tomorrow preview in the next game and Aaron Gordon's return with Swipe and Ryan before tomorrow night's game against the next. And then we'll do the post game after that show as well. On today's show, we're going to talk about Aaron Gordon's return. What it means, kind of, complications, what, the, can this be what the nuggets need? Is it going to fix everything? But I want to start with the Los Angeles Lakers and I want to take a little trip down memory lane. Swipe, I want to ask you this. Well, the many games, the nuggets have beaten the Los Angeles Lakers and the Yoka chair. And there have been so many, especially since 2023. Is there one that stands out in your mind is like your favorite? I mean, game four, 23 obviously was a big one. Was it maybe 20, what was that 22? The last Dwight Howard game where Yoka had like 35 and 16 and that was kind of the end

4:09of the Dwight Howard and stop Yoka's talks. I mean, that could have been it. That was the injury season with no Murray, no, no Porter. But man, that's tough, man. There's been so many, I mean, it has to be the sweep, bro, like the first sweep ever and the first time to beat the Lakers ever, Yoka's average 20, but 28, what, 14 and 12 in that series. And Jamal was at 32, 5 and 6 on 50, 40, 90, Aaron Gordon and Jamal had the defensive stop. And that was basically, you know, you asked me, Matt, that was either the first or second best team in the playoffs at the time and they just absolutely walked them. So I mean, it probably was that, bro, LeBron LeBron was still like partial prime, brawn at, you know, at that juncture, bro, and that's serious he had was, honestly, was amazing. Man, I'm not a lot of you, if you ask me, the players that the Nuggets have played over the playoffs over the last since the bubble, I think LeBron has to be the best player they've seen, like over that stretch, like anybody, you say what of anybody of anyone

5:16they played. I'm trying to think individual player that they played man, it's an issue question given all of these could as SGA, obviously, Butler, you know, Katie, Booker, Carl, Kauai multiple times at this point, yeah, Paul George, Respect Rudy, Donovan Mitchell, obviously, Anthony Davis. Yeah, for, you know, for a team to get to cloud for their playoff run, they've quite, they played quite the cast to play or so far. This is pretty interesting. I think that 2020 four series is honestly a little underrated and I understand that it's like they didn't play well, they looked, they was too tight, but it was just kind of hilarious. It was like no matter what they did, they could not beat the Nuggets, like nothing, nothing worked. Jamal Murray made a shot is I think, and just an absolutely iconic moment when we go back and listen to like how this has gone on, I am always amazed at just, it's just so good.

6:20It's just such a great moment. For them to have won the championship beating the Lakers too, for you as a fan, could you have scripted that better to make the finals by sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers? Who was it that said, uh, remember in the windy podcast or the, uh, the hoop collective, when, uh, was it, uh, so it's Tom McMahon, Brian and Bonton. Remember Bonton said, so you're telling me to, Nuggets are going to beat the Lakers. Wasn't, no, it was Dave McMahon. No, McMahon rather, McMahon, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, who I've known, I've known forever, Dave's really good guy, but yeah, I was like, oh, no, Dave, oh, no, it's because it was like, you know, come on, they're going to lose the lake. They're going to lose to the Nuggets, who was the other one, bro, that said, uh, remember he was making fun of the Nuggets fan of not watching, be on a watch the game and the, like, and then he went on altitude sports network and argued with, uh, big in them. That was, uh, he works for sports illustrated, man, uh, manics, it was manics. Yes. And he said, like, oh, Lakers, like, they're about to do this and do that or whatever. I think it was.

7:21It was just like the people thought the Nuggets were like better after the sun series. I was kind of the last straw for people, but I think the Lakers, that series was like, you know, that's when you had your, who I actually like a lot, you know, Nick Wright was like, you know, no way, like LeBron and AD, they're going to, you know, Yocus can't play defense. I remember Yocus had like what 10, 6 and 5 in the first quarter of that game had a 30, 20, 10 game to open the series. And I think the momentum from that point on just kind of like, oh my god, like these dudes might do it, you know. At the level of frustration that LeBron has had with this team, I think it's been an absolute. And it is kind of cool. I don't think he is. I personally don't feel he respected Yocus much when we go back to like 2021, like in the bubble, he was like really questioning, like he was saying, like, well, step curries the MVP and everyone kind of thought it was Yocus, it was 2021. And he was like, well, no, I think it's stuff, but, you know, they're going to give it to Yocus because of reasons we won't get into and I was like, oh, yikes. And so, but since then, I think he's really come to have a, like, he understands how

8:23great Yocus is. They said he's the most complete offensive player ever, like, like, like, Yocus had to earn it from LeBron. Not everybody's had to earn it from LeBron. LeBron, Yocus had to earn it from LeBron, and he has that back to back, though, I don't know. You probably might remember the game. I don't remember what game it was when Yocus and Bra were going back and forth for like in the bubble. Yeah. I remember this. It was like 10 straight for Yocus. Yocus was maybe at the over the top shot over AD was getting downhill, but LeBron was still LeBron, bro. And I'm just watching this like, oh, I think this is so frustrating. Like can someone stay in front of him, please? And the answer was Aaron Gordon. No, that was the answer was Aaron Gordon who came in and changed all that dynamic. Yeah. So yeah, it's been a fun ride. And the Lakers have, have gone three and two over their last five matchups with the Denver Nuggets, two of those without Nicola of the wins. So they are one and three or one and two, I'm sorry, in the JJ Redic era with Nicola

9:28on the floor, but they did show some things last spring. And they've shown an ability and a desire and a willingness to throw the kitchen sink at the nuggets in order to get these wins. This is the most important game for JJ Redic on the calendar. So what's he done? And is it going to work tonight? We'll talk about that coming up on Lock on Nuggets. College basketball is nonstop. Big games, tight spreads, momentum swings every single night. From early tip off to late night West Coast shootouts. There's always action on the board. Now Fandals giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a college basketball parlay profit boost. You can build any college hoops parlay you want, rivalry games, ranked matchups, whatever fits your read. You can mix spreads, totals, and player props to match how you see the slate playing out. So I love conference tournament season. I just think it's so great to have basketball on during the day and be able to watch it and all these like random teams and you can get in there and find and some of these performances, like the individual performances we're seeing this year

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11:29Absolutely terrific. Five Hour Energy Shots give you a boost with zero sugar. They've got a lot of in a flavor innovations plan. And the one that I think I really want to see is more of the apple flavors. I want like a cinnamon apple. That's those are always delicious. Find your new favorite flavor of Five Hour Energy Shots. Available online at fivehourenergy.com or Amazon. We'll be right back on Locked On Nuggets. Back here on Locked On Nuggets. Thanks for joining us and making this part of your day. Appreciate you guys being with us. We've been Matt with you. All right, so let's talk about tonight's game. I'm going over the tape from the one game that we kind of have to actually take some results from. The game earlier this season comes down to Yogech didn't play and the nuggets blew a lot of transition plays. I don't know what it's going to take for them to clean up their transition plays. Cam, but they got to get this better. They just got to get better in terms of transition. You can't be leaving points on the board as often as Denver has the season. Their overall numbers are good, but whenever they lose, I just noticed that their transition efficiency is a problem. That was a major, they scored like 0.75 points per possession

12:31against the Lakers the last time out without Yoge in transition. The whole thing is, oh, we'll run faster because Yogech down here and we're at home and we'll try and push the pace. And then you blow layups in transition. That's a real problem they need to get passed. I think in this one, but let's type it. They're going to put Rui on them. The vaunted, incredible, Rui adjustments. The real combination though here, man, is that since 80 has left, what they're actually doing is they're bringing the weak side guard. Like Austin Reeves came and he was the help defender on the bracket on the lob. They spend so much time trying to get Yogech the ball versus these face-ups. And I honestly think they need to overload weak side a little more where it's like you need a cleaner L-path on the kick where you can pass it to the side and then get the angle that you need. And they just need to spread them out a lot more to make it harder for them to execute this

13:32coverage. The problem isn't Rui. The problem is just like the entry passes. And I know that everybody's like, just make the entry pass. I'm just telling you like it's difficult. And they're sitting there because they don't want to turn the ball over. Like it was Russ. It was Jamal. It was Peyton. It's been everybody having trouble getting the ball into Yogech versus this front from Rui. What are your thoughts on this and how they... Well, let me ask you a question. Do you think here because a lot of what teams are doing, now they're not giving him the nail. They're denying as much as possible at the nail. And Yogech is getting... If you notice where his flailing has come from in the last few games, it's been near the nail area because teams are either grabbing on him, trying to prevent him from getting that ball or if he is getting the ball, they're putting so much contact on his hip that is pushing him off balance a little bit. And he doesn't feel like he can respond in the same way. Do you think that Yogech just needs to really hone in on? If you're going to do this, he just needs to absolutely dominate the middle of the floor, whether that be just from a mid-range area, initiating contact, hitting that little step back that he likes to hit.

14:34He was hitting versus a Minnesota. You just need to drive and try to create as much chaos as possible. How would you, just thematically for Yogech, if you were him individually? How would you actually respond to this? That's a score. I don't know if he's up for it in terms of the map of space and how much work this takes because it's more running. But I do think that a really simple adjustment on this is just bring your picks up higher. They set pretty low picks. They will often have the screenside a little bit inside of the three-point line. Bring them up higher. And that way, when you slip, it makes it that much harder for them to be able to cover that ground. And so if they switch it, that's really like the slip is always a counter to switching it. If they're not going to switch it, if they're going to try and play drop coverage, that gives you even more space for Yogech to get into a mid-range jumper, there's more space to navigate. They have to be able to put a little bit of back pressure on the Lakers. I think this is a schematic problem with the nuggets in general, is that they've got to be able to create more space in the two-man game. Everyone wants them.

15:34Like, there's been talk of like, it's not as good. I don't run it as much. The data says it's not. It says it's still really awesome. But I do think that when they face challenges with it, the counter is to provide more space in that, to get him pick and pop short-catch jumpers, to get him on the roll. So much of this is about quick decision making. This is what bogs them down. And as much as I give them grace, because they are the number one offense in the league, I continue to kind of be like, well, look, as good as you are when you watch them, their number one problem is that they spend too much time trying to get, when they're determined to get into something, it's one, two, three, four, like five seconds tick off. Well, now you don't have time for your weak side actions. So it's like, look, if you have it, pass it. But I also think they've got to move it better to the weak side. And trust the guys on the weak side to make plays, whether it's getting up shots or driving. Tim, where do I junior can do that? It would be better if they had Peyton, because I think Peyton's the best guy at that. I love Peyton as an off-ball spacer who can catch, drive, and score. I love him in that capacity.

16:34They've got to be quicker with their decision making and not get so caught up in trying to win the mini battle and win the overall, which is like, if they're going to play one type of coverage, punish them with the other guys, quit trying to think that like everything has to be what you want it to be, which is a yolk postup. Yes, he's awesome. Break them of that by being quicker with your decision making, because I promise you, they'll over-correct, and you can get it back to Yokehich once you rotate. Yeah, I think this is, wouldn't you attest here, though, and sorry for the back-to-back questions? That's kind of where they're missing their wing sides. Like if they had their wing sides to like, cut, move off the ball, or even just take that pressure off weak side by driving to the basket, and using their athleticism and or passing or finishing at the rim, I think that would help them like a lot. It's just now it's going to be Julie and Strathur, who, too as credit, has been driving the ball well. As of late. And it's going to be Bruce Brown and Tim Hardow, a junior C.B., can do it a little bit, but C.B., obviously, he's still developing at that. But that, to me, is also the other side of this, man.

17:36Like, especially if Cam Johnson doesn't play, I mean, they're really just going to be like in a such a deficit on the wings from a creation standpoint, but even just like a finishing standpoint. So some of this is like I'm watching, and I'm like, Yokehich is getting guarded like this, but Matt, if they just had like an actual four at the rim, also like in these situations, I think like the coverages would just wouldn't work as well. Yeah, I mean, I will say this that it did last year because they didn't have the spacing. So they were like, oh, so we're just going to put three guys. We're going to have, it's going to be Yokehich on the short roll with A.G. and the Dunker, and we're going to put four guys there. Yeah, you know, and so then you have to be able to, but I will also say there are situations in this game last year. Trust is such a huge thing. I talk about this all the time on both ends of the floor. You have to trust. They've got to trust guys. Like, you can't, you've got to be very quick with, oh, there's three guys here. The weak side has to be open. I'm kicking. You just like, you gotta trust it. And, you know, if Christian misses four in a row, you keep passing the ball, you know,

18:37and you either you put in the personnel that you need or you trust him to go two of six. Like, that's going to have to be the mechanisms here because you can't, what you can't get is you can't start second guessing how your offense runs. Tony says that Adam was saying the other guy I need to aggressively go to the rim when they front Yokech. This is absolutely true. I posted this in our discord. If you joined for the Supercaster on the Supercast for the everydayer club, there's a scene from last year where they are running the split action with Yokech. It's a DHO with a split action right next to it. And there's all these complex screening mechanisms that they're doing with aging and Jamal. Well, the Lakers just go under everything, but they're staying high. They're not dropping. It's all, we're just going to go under and stay right up here in this little pocket and we're going to compact everything. Well, that means that on the week side of the floor with one guy, it's Austin Reeves guarding the corner guy who can obviously get past him for a cut underneath and you've got to lay up. Now, you got to make the right pass. That's difficult. I'm not saying it's not easy. This is the NBA. But there is all this space when they do that.

19:37The Lakers want to basically create an entire, they want to flood the zone around Yokech. And so the guys that are not inside that zone have to be ready to shoot. If those guys, if the defenders are sagging off and they have to cut if they're not. And there's got to be more aggression there. I do think a lot of this is not individual decision making. I think this is like their principles offensively to maintain spacing. And I love the opinion of just like, look guys, I get it. You have to be ready for other guys to contribute. I'm not asking for less Nicole Yokech. I am asking for other mechanisms to make the offense a collective greatness. So you're not doing what I think a lot of the offenses get caught up in, which is so focused on getting your best guy, the stats and numbers and scoring efficiency to, you know, we want our best player with the ball because good things happen. I get that principle. But when you're flooding a zone, like the Lakers are and like other teams are, you have to trust the other guys on the court to punish them for easy buckets to get them to be like,

20:38all right, we can't do that anymore. Yeah, again, I'm really curious because if Cam doesn't play tonight, they're going to be starting Christian Brown Julian Strother and Bruce. Yep, or Bal again. I would not mind seeing the double big tonight. Personally, I just wouldn't mind seeing it. How would they play deep into you think? Heavy zone, heavy zone. And then I think, I mean, I get it. I'm not a fan of how the zone is played. They're not as much of a corner three teams. So actually, when you look at it and when you kind of break them down, here's what they're good at. They're going to individual dribble drive offense. It's mostly just Luca Austin and LeBron. That's it. Like they are not a heavy spot up team. They are not a great spot up team. They are below average on both catch and shoot, jumpers guarded and unguarded. This is not a shooter-laden team. They just score off the catch and they're hyper-efficient and you have to be terrified of this.

21:39But I am kind of like, look, if you compact things into a matchup zone and you bring a lot of help on these drives, I don't know that they trust the guys to make shots. And if you get beat by Marcus Smart, making four corner threes and Smart's been good. But if you get beat by that, I think that's preferable. But so much of this tonight is about individual defense. And that's where I think they're really struggling because they're missing, you know, if Cam misses, they're going to be missing three of their top, I don't know, five defenders. Depending on what order you want to put in. Oh. Yeah. So that's why I say zone is like, well, it could be pincher jumps. If you, yeah, that four four of the top six. Yeah. So with where they're at in terms of the guys missing, you know, if you can't guard in man, you've got to guard zone. That's that to me is the idea. Yeah. I mean, what would you, what, what is your, what do you have a better, I am genuinely asking, do you think man they're at man concepts they can do? I don't trust your zone at all,

22:40because they don't have it without, I think honestly, too, zone takes Christian out of what he does best. I think Christian is like, he's a, he's a, he's a, he's seeking missile. Like, I think you have to let him do what he does. But I also think some of this is, too, is like, you know, Yoko's didn't do a bad job backside. Like, like, because they, you know, the Utah Jazz don't have the athletes. And you're, if you're saying like, it's like, Rui Hachimura over there and Marcus Mar, then yeah, Yoko's going to win those matchups. But like, some of this is also like, the amount of space you're giving to Luca, because the more pressure you put on Luca, the better it goes for you. And I just think anything that gives Luca like too much room and like, he's not dealing with physicality, then you're just going to allow for him to get to the most efficient part of this game. I will, I will just continue to say this though. The best thing for you to do is to absolutely just guard Luca and ISO don't bring help and have him score 35 on you for half and freeze out everyone else. He will do it and it will freeze out everyone else. And now you have cold shooters going into a second half in altitude. That is to me is like the best way to go about this. They do have Luke Canard now and that can be a swing factor here

23:42because he's a shooter. Ruiz at 43% from three this season. That's relevant. Bronzine's not going to play. Drew Timmy's probably not going to play. Exmit, Jr's not going to play. I'm going to list. Then we go to Austin Reeves at 37%. And after Austin, your drop off is now to 35%. So when we say they have shooters, they usually don't have more than one on the floor at a time. So if you have good discipline, I think you can maintain that. But do you think they get better? Looks at a from three from zone or from man? Could I I'm worried about the zone looks with Luca. I mean, I will tell you the best looks. I think that teams get is when they play at the level with Yokech when he's not engaged because they get the short roll pass, which then leads to the corner kick. And every time that's how those corner threes happen every time is they beat they beat the at level. And it's either a pass from the weak side all the way to the corner on target, which they have the passers to do that with Luca and Austin and LeBron. Like Luke and LeBron in particular. We'll just jump pass right over that coverage to the corner and everyone's always late on that rotation except for Julian Strother. Mm-hmm.

24:45Or they make the skip pass to the slip underneath. And that's you, you know, it's not going to be Aiden. They'll put LeBron in that action. And then LeBron kicks to the corner. So if you're asking me what's worse, the answer is yes. Like that's the problem is like they don't, you're right that their corner three close outs in zone are terrible. I completely agree, right? Especially too big, it gets very difficult. But I'm also just kind of like you're trying to talk about the best of bad options here with a number of defenders that are out for Denver. Yeah, I mean, we'll see. We'll get to more of that in the other side. I think this is probably the biggest story of season. I think when I tell people like the different between Denver at their best, if Denver suffered losses at their guard position, it wouldn't be as bad as I'm suffering losses at the wings because they depend on their size for offense and defense. Interesting. I mean, I don't think you're wrong on the lighter part at all. We'll talk about that plus. Let's talk about Aaron Gordon's potential return tomorrow before we get a lot more into our tomorrow show. Coming up on lockdown nuggets. I want to say about indeed sponsored jobs today.

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26:47and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. We'll be right back on Lockdown Nuggets. I hope you're enjoying your Thursday before the snow moves in if you're in Denver. We finally are going to get some snow here in the Metro, which is very exciting given the horrendous winter it has been. I am looking forward to I have to finish the scouting report and then I have to build a pillow fort for my kids because my wife's out of town and then I have parent teacher conferences and then I'm going to the game and then I'm coming home and doing all sorts of stuff tomorrow too. Solo parenting while solo working. It's fantastic. All right, so you made the comment before we went to break swipe that you think they would be not as bad off if they had lost the depth of the guard position given that ball handler has been such a sore spot. Are we sure that's true?

27:47Yeah, because they're their entire identity is so contingent on size and I think this has been such an underrated story of Denver for about six years because when they their worst lineups are like Yokech, Baku, Yokech, Montay with, you know, smalls, Yokech with these players that are not like necessary high level defenders. I think the more size you put around Yokech then the better they're often can flow especially towards the basket. They're not getting around to the rim this year almost damn near at all. If you look at the way that they have operated defensively, if they have size then they can play not just at the level they play drop better. They have their rebounding would be better like their clothes out so better. They have more athletes on the floor the transition game is there. But then because they're so big when you hear about other teams they can hunt mismatches all across the floor. So I do think there's something too

28:47like Tim Hardaway Jr's important but Tim Hardaway Jr's primary value is obviously shooting all balls boring. I think there's a lot of there's a lot of things that they need in size is one hundred percent one of them. Yeah, I mean, I agree, you know, and it just sucks that this has happened in this kind of this cluster format. It's one of the reasons why I kind of wanted them to go get a power forward in the buyout market. They're really great. They're really great. They're great. They're great. They're great. They're great. They're great. They're great. They're great. They're great. They're great. They weren't good options. Chris Boucher was talking about a lot but I don't know if he's viable. I mean, I have a lot of issues with those concepts entirely. I do think that in the next season, we'll talk about this a lot in the off season. They're going to need a little bit more redundancy

29:47in the four spot. It's interesting because, like, Peyton has such a high block percentage but Peyton isn't necessarily a great weak side rim protector either. Like, a lot of his blocks come individually in the ice of defense. Like, he just shuts them down. You know, they get around him and he recovers for the chase down. Or he gets, like, like, if there's a hesitation and there's kind of a or an offensive rebound. Those are the type of plays. He's not necessarily like a trigger block type of guy. He's got a lot of options for it though. I think he's really good in terms of his positioning on a lot of these plays. Yeah. I don't know that anybody was going to help slow down Luke at the night. Like, Luke is going to go for 45. That's what he does. The question for me is more. A good one tonight actually is, like, Kim Bruce Brown be effective in. Any capacity on Austin Reeves. Just like any any capacity. I don't know who guards LeBron tonight. It's probably going to be Tim Hardaway Jr. Yikes. Yeah.

30:47That matchup is still the size thing. Yeah, I'm here. I'm with you. He's not as good as he wants was. He could be good once the ever was. Yeah. You know, and there's kind of been this conversation about, like, some of the starting, maybe some of the comments about the starting unit defensively. A weird thing. They actually have really good defensive numbers with Julian and Yoke on the floor. And I would actually tell you that that's not coincidental. That's not variance. So Julian is going to make mistakes. But I've talked about this before. The one thing Julian does really well is he stays. He stays absolutely nailed to the weak side. He is way more concerned about giving up the three point shot on the weak side than the dunker spot. Because I think from Julian's perspective, I kind of agree with this, which is like, I don't know why Jamal helps down. I don't. I'm like, Jamal, they're just going to dunk over you. Yeah. Well, two, two is always better than three. I eat. Remember they lost a cent in Tonyo game to Denver, but still because Jamal helped down too far. Yeah. And Jamal, I understand why Jamal is doing it. That's the assignment. Jamal is not making the bad decision. Yeah.

31:47But I'm just always like, what are you going to do? Like, if it's a power, if they pass it down and it's Ruiha Chimura in that low spot, are you? I will take my chances with a Rui floater versus a corner three from Luke Panard. Yeah. And I will take my chances with a Deandre Aiton. Dunk attempt. Then I will with a Ruiha Chimura. It's the same thing with the Alice Caruso play. Like, when remember, they double Shay, Alice Drow, I'm taking a floater from Caruso over a wide open three from Cason or door to any of the other players. Like, it's just, that's just what you have to do. Like, those are the shots that those offenses are trying to get. I just always think of it from, do you want, like, who wants the Dunker spot score? And the answer is like the nuggets, right? The pistons want it. There's a handful of teams. But like, there's don't want that. They want the three. They actually want the individual scoring is what they want. They want the dribble drive move. A.G. comes back tomorrow. I will tell you I kind of think he should have come back in this one. It's a back to back.

32:47The next game is a non conference back to back game. Your chances of winning that game are poor anyway. The nicks have had their number the last couple of years. I think this one was like a little bit more important. And I would have rather see A.G. in this matchup than I would have than I will tomorrow, even if he's on a minute restriction and trying to take it easy. I would have rather seen him in this one than tomorrow's game. Brother, at this point, I just want A.G. to play. And like as many gamers, you can play fine. You know what I mean? Like maybe, maybe Adam and did it or whoever the medical staff just so Adam and didn't get tricked into trying to play him tonight. And then tomorrow, I'll be like, oh, he's fine. You know, so who knows? Like it could be psychology. Like I have no idea. I just want Aaron Gordon to get on the floor. Feel good. Be comfortable. Call it a call today. Call today. I don't care what else happens. It's just like play the rest of the year. Take your time. You know, we have missed Aaron Gordon now for half the season in the past two seasons, bro. Like it has been. It has been a lot. And the team is way worse for it. Like way worse for it.

33:48Ryan, it's been a one to being right about this about, you know, A.G.s. I guess body if this keeps up. I just didn't think it would be kind of like this. I thought like if it was if Ryan was going to be right to be like, oh, he suffered an injury and had to have surgery. And then he had to come back from surgery. And then he wasn't the same guy. And like he's been the same guy when he's played. Like his play hasn't dropped. He's still incredibly impactful and awesome when he plays. But I just, I don't know. Like, I mean, you talk about explain. He just is such a stop start athlete. I don't know if you kind of get that reference, but like he's super twitchy and like he's so explosive with like his even his movement. Like it steps. So. Unfortunately, it's just the way muscles work sometimes. Like. Stuff can just happen, bro. And he's also six nine, bro. Like it's a massive human being being that agile. And so it's just really, really, really, really, really, really frustrating. Obviously for him and for everybody else, because he's been such a great player. And like the nuggets were so much better when he plays.

34:49But he just even last time he came back. It didn't feel like he was fully healthy. Like because he wasn't moving at the same speed that he normally was before he went down. So what I'm really hoping is that he comes back now. He looks like he did the start the year off. And like that explosion is there. Yeah. I mean, everyone thinks that he's like past that he is as close to. I don't think anybody's going to be a hundred. I think he's like 85 plus because I think he's been ready to go for a while. I think like from what I understand he's been barking up and down. Like he's wanted to play and the staff is like we're not doing this again. Which I want to credit the staff, which I've been critical of. You know, taking the more the more conservative approach is what they needed. Like they just who's a who's the player of the game tonight before we go. Jamal Murray. I don't think they can garden. I don't think they can guard him.

35:50I think they're going to sell out. And I think Jamal is going to kill. Well, if you have a Utah game, then yeah, good luck. Good luck. But I'll say Zignaji. Oh, you and the Zignaji stuff. Okay. All right. Just hey, just eight minutes stretched that they played enough deep in sin. Yoke into in the game plus 12. Jamal Murray into plus eight. Could you know, he got the stagger a little bit and then. It'd be really impressive for him to win player the game. He plays three minutes. That's fine. Hey, look. That's better than nothing. Matter of fact, who starts the second quarter sensor since top of the second quarter? Who's going to be that lineup? Oh, my God. I don't even know. Bro, he asked to play. KJ. Pious. How about how about they lean into what your favorite lineups? It'll be Bruce Brown, KJ Simpson and Ty's Jones. With Jamal Murray, four guards in Val. How about that? How about that? Just like all of the littles. He's going to have to play. He'll play in the second quarter. It's going to be Val. Zeke. Probably. Yeah, you're all right.

36:50And hey, you know, we'll see. We'll see if he gets how he does in the stagger minutes because I will tell you right now the second quarter is going to be a disaster with how they stagger the they're like they have they stagger their guys. So the same problem that you ran into with Rudy go bear and Shay with the best most impact. Not best, but most impactful player playing in the those non yogic minutes. Get me the same thing tonight. So get ready for the second quarter meltdown. Even if the nuggets come out hot. I have a I do I am not on the show. I guess I'm on the show tonight. I do a prediction for the seven game stretch. The Mara is described as maybe the most difficult of the season. I have a prediction for you. What's up? Six and one. If they get everybody. Yeah, if everybody's back, then yeah, then all of a sudden. I think they're going six and one. I'm calling it. Now, I've. It's been better when I said that they're going to be terrible. So I should just say they're going to be one and six. But. I think it starts tonight. I'll do it for locked on nuggets. Appreciate you guys being with us. We'll join you after the game at youtube.com slash locked on. You picture snow wolf. Do what? Snow wolf said he'll be for a real four behind the man to tell me get pictures. Nice. Uh, I'm snow wolf's on my bad list right now for his nickname for me.

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