The Athletic NBA Daily
Kristaps Porzingis; Ja Morant return | Knicks demolish low effort Nuggets
Tue, 26 Nov 2024
Kristaps Porzingis made his season debut for the Boston Celtics last night in their blowout victory over Los Angeles Clippers. The Athletic’s Law Murray joins Dave DuFour and Es Baraheni to react to the Porzingis’ debut and discuss what went wrong for the Clippers. Also, Es and Dave discuss Kevin Durant’s impending return for the Suns, Ja Morant’s first game back for the Grizzlies, and the Nuggets' embarrassing effort against the offensive powerhouse Knicks. Then, the gang gives their takes on small guards thriving and the next former player who will make the coaching leap.Host: Dave DuFourWith: Es Baraheni, Law MurrayExecutive Producer: Andrew SchlechtAudio Producer: Grayson Moody Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What did Kristaps Porzingis bring to the Celtics?
They beat you that way as well. They defend the three. The Clippers didn't even get 30 attempts up. You know, like they only made 10 jump shots. I'm including the mid range. They only made 10 jump shots the entire game. So, yeah, if a team is going to hit 12 threes, that's the offense. But a 30 point result comes because they lock your ass down as well.
And the Clippers were too stagnant to compete tonight.
Man, I mean, it's funny because, you know, yes, this game had this result. But before this, the Clippers were playing good basketball. That's right. Five in a row. Five in a row. It was written, you know. It was written. Look, I mean, obviously, depending on who you ask, they have played better than much people have expected.
many people expected this team to maybe falter and weather out, but they've been hooping and they've been playing well. I think, you know, the defense has been one of the best in the league this season. They have the personnel to compete on that. And you talked about their offensive struggle so far, but what is it about this team that is allowing them to exceed quote unquote expectations?
I think they just got a bunch of dogs, you know, to be honest, like I hate to be cliche about it, but you know, they were at, and referred often to their preseason expectations externally. And what people dismiss or discount or head coach knows what he's doing.
He's got a defensive coordinator, Jeff Van Gundy, who is very motivated to do what he hadn't done in almost two decades, which is coach day in and day out. They have a guy in James Harden who he's going to absorb incredible levels of inefficiency, but he's also going to elevate the guys around him. James is having a really rough year from a percentage and a turnover standpoint, but
there are a bunch of dudes around him that are hoping because, and that's stuff that doesn't come with just roll the ball out and have a bunch of name tags. You have to get to know guys. You have to, you know, work on details. And you have to be like, these are shots that we can get if we actually take care of the basketball. Norman Powell, he didn't play tonight.
He hasn't played for a week now because of the hamstring. But Norman Powell, he knew that he could kind of accept Paul George's role
Addition by subtraction.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of Kevin Durant's return?
Like guys were going to the sideline chirping at each other. That's when, you know,
what is happening here the thing that the celtics do that people are like you know i feel like people just look at the end of the quarter or the end of the game it's like oh they just took more threes or whatever they do all the other stuff that make the margins count they take care of the basketball they don't value and then when they have opportunities to run they're not your your classic fast-paced team but when they have opportunities to beat you with pace and your sleep
They beat you that way as well. They defend the three. The Clippers didn't even get 30 attempts up. You know, like they only made 10 jump shots. I'm including the mid range. They only made 10 jump shots the entire game. So, yeah, if a team is going to hit 12 threes, that's the offense. But a 30 point result comes because they lock your ass down as well.
And the Clippers were too stagnant to compete tonight.
Man, I mean, it's funny because, you know, yes, this game had this result. But before this, the Clippers were playing good basketball. That's right. Five in a row. Five in a row. It was written, you know. It was written. Look, I mean, obviously, depending on who you ask, they have played better than much people have expected.
many people expected this team to maybe falter and weather out, but they've been hooping and they've been playing well. I think, you know, the defense has been one of the best in the league this season. They have the personnel to compete on that. And you talked about their offensive struggle so far, but what is it about this team that is allowing them to exceed quote unquote expectations?
I think they just got a bunch of dogs, you know, to be honest, like I hate to be cliche about it, but you know, they were at, and referred often to their preseason expectations externally. And what people dismiss or discount or head coach knows what he's doing.
He's got a defensive coordinator, Jeff Van Gundy, who is very motivated to do what he hadn't done in almost two decades, which is coach day in and day out. They have a guy in James Harden who he's going to absorb incredible levels of inefficiency, but he's also going to elevate the guys around him. James is having a really rough year from a percentage and a turnover standpoint, but
there are a bunch of dudes around him that are hoping because, and that's stuff that doesn't come with just roll the ball out and have a bunch of name tags. You have to get to know guys. You have to, you know, work on details. And you have to be like, these are shots that we can get if we actually take care of the basketball. Norman Powell, he didn't play tonight.
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