Quickley out for series | Where do Raptors go from here?

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Bald Lie podcast. This one a playoff version, an important games version. The last time we talked, myself and Lewis Assman, who co-hosts over there, I co-host over here, we were thinking of ways for the Raptors to you fix and solve what the Cavs are doing. They came up with some answers. Some of what we touched on, some things that we didn't. Uh, and they're going to have to keep on coming up with answers mostly in who they put out there and how they use them rather than introducing Emanuel Quickly back into the series. We just got news today that he is not going to play in the series against the Cavs. A lot of wait, a lot of we'll see. Kenny Atinson sat across from all us game one. He said, "I'm assuming IQ is playing tonight." Well, he won't play at all. Lewis, with all this news, how are you doing? And also this episode is a presentation of Tony Bet online sports book casino. Thank you to everyone for tuning in. Lewis, how you doing?

>> I'm wonderful, thanks. Um bummed about the Emanuel Quickley news.

>> Yeah.

>> Uh that could have given him some gas, you know, but uh hope his hamstring heals up and they certainly found some gas regardless. So at least we have the subject of gas to discuss. Gas is flowing in this series despite the straight of horses being close. It's uh I wonder if straight of horses just saying that will like tank the the stream or something like this. Political content, you can't do that. Anyway, it's a sports podcast. It's Raptors podcast. We're here to talk about it. I have a bunch of film allocated for things that the Raptors did. Um but we can talk about some of the big time adjustments. I'll let you take first blush at this, Lewis. Uh first, uh what did you think the Raptors did better in game three and what did you think were the big lynch pin decisions?

>> Honestly, you know, in my mind, the thing that I really wanted that happened came on the offensive end, but you have to start with the defense. Like that was where the real improvement came. And one thing that I really Baldi is beautiful. One thing that I was really impressed with is the Raptors could have looked at their laurels and rested and said, you know, shot quality was good. >> We just don't think James and Donovan are going to shoot like that again. They did not. They they really um really came out swinging. Now, you and Trey obviously looked at a lot of what they did defensively. The matchups were different. Um, they obviously were very, very strong behind the play. Um, as you said, and I think maybe my favorite part of your podcast with Trey was that they forced the, uh, orbital guys to be playmakers rather than play finishers. That's a profound statement. Offensively, guard screening, Jacobe Walter is a screener. Really, really impactful stuff. Stuff we thought we'd see more of in the series. Um, those are really my my major uh first blush comments. I'm sure we'll get into more, but it's, you know, I feel like we've had our finger on the pulse. We'll see what comes next, but uh yeah. Well, how about you? You save any save any adjustments you want to discuss? You didn't mention trick.

>> I I didn't save any really. Like I'll talk about some of the granular stuff with the film uh aiding me going through it. Like there's there's a couple tweaks that they went through. Like there's a really a couple unique uses of Yakob that I said that they probably would try to do things that would be easier with IQ, but that they accomplished with R.J. Barrett. An incredible job by R.J. kind of being a faximile of IQ. Um, but also just kind of like these uh really trying to move Evan and Jarrett around and trying to have Yakob was not only a floater defensively with his new matchup, you know, getting out of James' favorite role partner and going on to Moy so you can switch and you can do all that kind of stuff. And also, you know, there's some a little bit of film in here of R.J. doing a much better job of standing up against Harden. Like everything coalesced in a positive way for the Raptors. All the decisions they made worked well. They got all the turnovers. They got uh more shots, you know, to other players. They got more creation from guys like Mobley instead of Harden. And on the offensive side, so much worked. They were floating Yaka Purtole around and that's how they got their usage out of him. And also, of course, I mean, Colin Murray Boils uh is transcendent too big a word. I don't think so for a rookie doing what he's done. Incredible. Uh, I had a tweet which I will bring up at some point, but uh, I'll let you What do you think of actually what do you want to look at first? What What I have I have filmed for so much of this stuff. I I have five little film packages I've prepared. That's why the podcast started three minutes late.

>> I feel so blessed.

>> Yeah. So, okay, we'll put we'll put Colin stuff on screen. So, tell me your diagnosis of Colin before we get into it. You always talk about playoff risers and a lot of the discussion in the in the in the broad, you know, media landscape and fan landscape is just field goal percentage. You know, guys who can hit shots under pressure, which is meaningful. You know, everyone wants Deon Booker for a reason. He is a phenomenal player. But there's a lot more to not only existing in the playoffs, subsisting, but also being able to bend the situations which change um not only fitting within them, but bend them around you. And Colmary Boils has done that. I It's in obvious ways he is enormously strong. He is stronger than anyone around him. He's he's what he's 21. I think he he might still be 20 and a bunch

>> 20 or 21. That's preposterous for a man of his age, a boy of his age in some parts of the world. Um to be stronger than these 7 foot men opposed to him, but he truly is. You see it in the finishing. Um and he unlike Yaka Purle has been able to drive the the drop in the paint. Um, not always. Sometimes he's looked it off, but he he has been phenomenal at driving, finishing outside his body, which you mentioned. It's just he has had answers. Uh, it's come in the form of offense because defense there were no questions. We all knew what the defense was going to look like. One of my favorite plays was uh he was defending a James Harden drive. The lob was available behind him. It looked like a broken play. This was last night, game three. He tracked the ball on a James Harden lob pass, tipped it away. I believe it turned into a uh RJ Barrett corner three maybe or maybe a Jameson Battle three. It was a three on the other end.

>> We We have the defensive side of it. I've clipped a lot of stuff here.

>> But the defense, we knew the offense is how he's been able to be better in in the playoffs than the regular season. He he outscored his careerhigh last night, game three, his regular season careerhigh. Uh, one number I wanted to give before I let you roll roll the package. Uh, obviously single number metrics I don't love. They're purely descriptive. I think I really don't like them as predictions. They're very context based, but BPM is just the first thing I found. Players who've played over 50 minutes per game or 50 minutes total in the playoffs. Yeah. Uh, number one, Jaylen Williams. Number two, Royce O'Neal. He shot like 100% on threes. Uh, number three, Jillen Brown. Number four, Shagilius Alexander. Five, Carl Anthony Town. Six, ONobi. Seven, Colin Murray Boils. Um, Scotty Barnes checks in at nine. It's He has been and not just a role player, he's been a star. He has bent the series in three games.

>> Yeah. The big thing with I mean BPM loves Colin Murray Boils even going back to his uh his college stuff. I loved Colin because of I watched so much of his film. I mean my coverage is on the channel and I just I felt like so much of what he did could translate but for a lot of the buzz around him uh as a prospect it was just because if you referenced his BPM against other guys of similar sizes his uh peers were Zion Williamson and Draymond Green. and he was actually better than uh Draymond in terms of BPM in college despite being younger and not staying as long. He was uh so his game clearly is friendly to collecting box score plus minus. Some players have it more than others. You know, Nicola Joic is the all-time leader in defensive box score plus minus just for, you know, it's in that metric a center getting assists qualifies as good for defense because there's some they decide to correlate in in whatever way. This is we're getting farfield. Um, you said he's a boy, but he's also strong. He is the the boy that Daniel Plain View from There Will Be Blood is talking about, [laughter] but he is he is also Daniel Plain View, who is taking milkshakes for his own. And that's a lot of what we're gonna talk about here is that the aggression that he showed or has been showing in the series I think has been a stark contrast to what was going on in the regular season. And I asked him about this, you know, is Trey's first credentialed regular season game or in the locker room after they lost to Detroit. And I'm asking, you know, CNB about playing a little bit more lately and where some of that driving stuff from South Carolina is. Has it been tabled? What's going on? And he said so much of what he was doing is trying to play in such a way that he can fit with Yaka Purle. And so he is doing some things to make that work. But then also on top of that clearly we see unburdened by needing to agree to anything and with a new I don't know let's say gumption invigorating him he decides to drive two of the best defensive bigs maybe the best defensive front court in the NBA and to do it repeatedly to the tune of incredible efficiency. So CMBB in this series averaging 186 and two to the tune of 74% true shooting. R.J. Barrett 265 and four to the tune of 75% true shooting. Scotty Barnes 278 and three to the tune of 66% true shooting. Playoff risers. We will start with uh Colin Murray Boils. So, a huge thing that's happening is this play is uh it's kind of the Raptors have run this a bunch of different times for a bunch of different boards, but what they're doing here for audio listeners is they're trying to get Dean Wade off of Brand Ingram. That's what this play is for. The Raptors have run this so many times over the course of the season. What wasn't happening during the regular season was CMBB freestyling as a driver to punish teams that want to overplay the actions at hand. Now, you can see, and credit to Brandon Ingram, he gets the switch. You know, Keon Ellis has switched on to him. I believe Evan Mobley shades that way. And CMBB, who wouldn't and didn't do this in the regular season, is like, "Let me drive him then. You won't respect me." Boom. I'm going to hit it. Shoulder go up. That is probably an and one if he's in year three and Evan Mobley isn't like defensive player of the year. You know what I mean? It's a it's a great take and you can see like this by the way is a a super big credit to Scotty Barnes and his playmaking because again they're running this play. You mentioned guard screens and this is a nice CMBB play in terms of the finish but this is all Scotty Barnes. Jacobe plants it and Scotty is noticing that Jared Allen is creeping over, right? So CNB creeps in and this is unorthodox basketball and unorthodox spacing for the year 2026. However, the Raptors between a rock and a hard place. Necessity is the mother of invention. They're working to get their way in. Right. So he grabs it. Boom. Meets him up. Extends out in the shoulder. Finishes over top. Jared Allen has no chance of blocking it. It's simply up to CMBB to finish with touch. And he certainly does. A great play by Scotty as well. This one too is just Scotty driving again. Another guard screen between he and RJ and CMB being the man, grabbing boards, putting it back up. Probably another end one that he was asking for. This one too. Again, creeping in the dunker, playing in 5-0 fashion. Jared has to come over. Credit to Sandro who didn't who only played 11 minutes, but good drive. Brings it over. Dean almost got him, but the ball goes down. The ball goes in. I just want to put this one in here because it's a huge dunk. and CMBB looked so limited in what he wanted to do with his thumb and with playing in the Raptors like form and fashion. The aggression wasn't super high during the regular season. The aggression has been so high in the playoffs. Do you have any thoughts of this first pack of film? Everyone always talks about hands on defense. It's important. He palms the ball on every finish. his he would be not nearly the finisher without his hand size. It's incredible. Uh I want to answer there's some really good questions here. YG, we're gonna we're gonna get to what the Cavs do. Adjustments from Cleveland. I really want to get to not quite yet. Also Tim W. Um yeah, some interesting uh CMBB Scotty lineup numbers. Um overall they are minus 7 per 100 possessions. With Brandon Ingram off, they are plus 27 per 100 possessions. Um, another number I wanted to point out, he leads.

>> It's the Brandon stuff keeps This is what you do. You come on a podcast and you just say they're better. [laughter]

>> Yes. Um, he leads the uh playoffs in possessions finished with a cut at 17 through three games and he is scoring uh 1.7 points per possession on Um, yeah. Insane. No turnovers. He He just He has been incredible. Like in a lot, it's not just aggression with the ball, it's aggression without the ball. You saw in that play, you said the unnatural spacing, that pass from Scotty, which was really impressive. He has taken that Yaka Purle skill of forming up around the play, making himself available cuz that's not a cut the way you think of. It's not like a 45 cut, not a corner cut, but that's a cut. Like, that's a really impressive skill to be available before you catch the ball. It's there's so much more going on beneath the surface that's led to this playoff moment.

>> I think that's exactly why like Scotty is doing so he's shooting way better than expected for one and Scotty has a huge opportunity uh because again they're going to the guard screens. He has a lot of opportunity to attack smaller guys, push pace. I think he he scored the ball extremely well. I like I tip my cap to him. Um, but finishing cuts has not really been what Scotty's been doing, but RJ and CB have both been doing so much of their work offball. And for a Cavs team that does a lot of work at the front and aligning their bigs to take the first thing away, the thing that they become susceptible to for certain is cuts from uh players with guile and you know someone said Samson gumption folk the gumption to finish at the rim and challenge their bigs because uh if you had gone by just the the regular season tape of Colin Murray Boils I I really don't think you would have expected him to be the guy who's constantly trying to climb to the mountaintop and and kick one of, you know, Moy or Allen off of it, but he continues to challenge them, you know,

>> uh he doesn't want to let anybody play him, which which is great, which is fantastic. You know, Tim Wearing says Scotty works best with guys who are great cutters, and that's RJ and CB and not so much Brandon. Well, I mean, that's that's exactly right. You know, we we've talked about this stuff before. You know, Brandon the Well, we've talked to what Brandon has provided on this channel. We can we'll table it now. But uh Scotty, you know, even in this package, you can see that there's a clear recognition of when the floor tilts to a side, when there's an opportunity for an unorthodox thing, and when the play should just move on rather than rather than uh trying to play within the framework that's given, he's just going to make the play that he understands to be good basketball. Uh where do you want to go next? I mean, we could talk about Scotty, we could talk about Harden, we could talk about whatever.

>> Let's talk Scotty. He said last night on the podium, he was like, "Yeah, you know, I feel like I read the game." Okay. It's like, "Yeah, brother. You do. You read the game."

>> That's I would like obviously he has tremendous physical gifts, but I think I I would think that Scotty the greatest asset that he has is his ability to read the game. Uh it's he he sees things very fast. He reads it, you know, as if it were a, you know, a fourth grade book in front of him. Are we going uh scoring or playmaking first? as you just take a glass of water.

>> Uh you you surprise me. It's it's it's all

>> right. Let's let's talk about let's keep it with reading. So there's a few things, you know, there's guard screens. The Jameson battle stuff didn't go good or go well, I should say, proper grammar in the first stint. And I, you know, I applaud Darko for going back to him because as much as people thought that you just get to play Jameson Battle and it works out perfectly. He's had like four stints over the course of a full season where that actually really was the case. And he had a bunch of quiet games that people don't really remember where maybe the ball didn't drop in or he didn't have the compete level defensively. In this game, we won't be going over Jameson Battle's defensive tape. I thought he hung in brilliantly firstly, but also he was the kicker at the end of so many plays. And we'll go through a couple of these things. Uh, one is in the RJ package, one is in the Scotty package. It's uh it's the hot stove screen, you know, uh, the the Cavs guards. It's crunch time. I was talking to Bob and I was like, we haven't and I don't know if it's crunch time. They're up 14, but I was like, I want to see what these guys run when the game is on the line and when teams are looking for advantage and stuff like that. And just a ghost screen, a hot stove to Jameson, it it's it's so easy. It's above the break. And even if Jameson doesn't want to take this one and he wants to continue the play further, he can move it on to Ingram. He could drive this close out. The floor is shifted. Maybe even with the pacing because the Cavs guards, especially Donovan and James, are perfectly comfortable to leave themselves out of plays. You go downhill, maybe it's a drop off to CMBB, etc., etc. Like there's just these plays that are wide open that if Quickly was there, you get it for like 32 minutes of the game. In this case, especially if they're going to put one of the uh weaker guard defenders on Jameson, you could almost start out every single set down the floor with like a hot stove go screen from Jameson and see how they respond to it because the points per possession on an open catch and shoot three for Jameson Battle is is through the roof. This obviously is a replay of this this great read from Scotty to get the ball middle. Unorthodox spacing, but gumption and aggression makes it work and touch. This too I really really like. This is another unorthodox spacing thing. So the Raptors put Yaka Purle in the corner. Why the hell would the Raptors put Yaka Purle in the corner? Well, it's because they want to actually mess up the Cavs uh idea of their own defense because now they think they're not guarding anybody in the corner. And Mobley says they don't worry about the nail. They're pressing up on RJ Barrett. They don't care about it anymore. They don't need a nail help. They can blitz the ball at the front end. They don't worry about having, you know, a guy check in on the role. They'll just commit a guy to the role. Yakob is a secondary roller, a light roller, flashing to find space. This is how you make use of them. This is how you get a guy to go. This is how you punish teams that are very comfortable helping from one place or another is you really focus on what can we exploit here. This is not accidental by the Raptors. This is on purpose. This is what they're trying to do. They want Sandro to come middle and even if Yakob doesn't shoot this, they wanted to create this twoman game where there's a hyo to Sandro or if they check down too much, they crack back too much, YaKob can make the read to the corner to Jacobe. Yeah. All because they dashed or stashed Yakob in the corner and the Cavs oriented their defense as if he was going to stay there because that was comfortable and that was like, oh, we can really lock down this pick and roll. Then he reemerges in the play. And guess what? You know what I mean? It's It's not so bad. I mean, listen, 10 foot push shots, you don't want the whole offense to be that. But, uh, any anything you've noticed so far? We still have a little bit more, Lewis.

>> No, I mean, so far, none of this is like a brilliant Scotty play. It's just heads up, see the play in front of you type of stuff. Um, I think a lot of when you wrote the piece, right? He's not a point guard, his playmaker. When people say point Scotty, they think open court. Like that's the Magic Johnson comp is open court. But in the half court, his advantages are not so much run a pick and roll, get downhill, create. It's he will make the right read. Like he's not going to create, but he will make the right read every time.

>> Yeah. I also think like the Scotty even though he ended up with what 33 and 11 the most fantastical plays that he made were probably more so as a scorer in this game and he can compile assists. It's it's in a similar vein to Tyresese Hallebertton who outside of his jump passes the the stylized expectation of his assists are maybe more fantastical when in reality he's just exceptional at making the read in front of him and beating guys in cat and mouse games. And Scotty does not have the three-point shot to move defenses in the same way, but he wins a lot of cat- and-mouse games. And you can just see that here. This too, you can see again, this is the Raptors. This is a play for Branding Ingram. He's waving because he wants to get the ball entered from the wing so that he can, you know, get his his touch on Sam Merrill. But what happens is again Scotty A sees that Evan Mobley is cheating to this this post up and the ball goes into CMBB and he's like, "Okay, I'm just going to go to the rim. You're in motion. You're moving. Are you going to meet me there? What does that look like?" And the ball goes right there and hell yeah. Bob's your uncle. Becky's your aunt. The ball goes in. Now, in terms of his aggressive scoring, we have this. I mean, just walking [snorts] walking Mobly down. big bump finish over top. This is quite reminiscent I think of his the style in which he finished in his rookie season a lot. Now, of course, in this package, we're going to see a lot of his fadeaways and things of that nature, but like this just shoulder the Statue of Liberty finishes. When I watched every play he did as a rookie and I tracked it and did that, you know, that big piece, there were so many finishes just like that and it made me really intrigued about his touch and where he could go with his game and as an isolation player. He has gotten more comfortable rather than that with the little baby fade. And we're going to see that too. But I loved seeing that. I love seeing that kind of stuff. Um here again, little baby fade, getting to a spot, getting comfortable. it it's everywhere, man. And you can see like this is the buzzer beater. Not a baby fade, just like a big old pullup. You can see there's tons of guard screens in this package. And it's Scotty finding smaller guys, getting to his position, and making it happen. Now, the Cavaliers, this might be chalk going into game four. They might say Scotty hitting Faders, while it was an avalanche in game three, maybe it won't be quite as significant in game four. we might keep trying to to register this kind of stuff and we might be okay with letting this happen as a defense, but the truth of the matter is Scotty did a hell of a job scoring the ball. And if the Raptors can keep getting these looks, they'll probably get them because it isn't the Scotty scoring in these plays that really moves the Raptors defense along. It's his ability to if the Cavs take one toe out of line in the secondary, if they take one toe out of line, you know, in nexting or something like that, uh he'll attack the right seam and he'll create plays for his teammates. And I think he has game three was his magnumopus of the series so far, maybe the the best game of his career potentially considering the stakes. And it's just it's incredible. I think it's fantastical. Cleveland would be making mistake to not change anything to play chalk Barnes for a long time, especially last season, not this last. Uh, a lot of the pull-ups were much further, 3, four feet further than the pull-ups in game three because they weren't off of drives. They were from the post. He is driving 16 times a game. He is sixth in the NBA in drives per game. He's shooting over 50% on drives. A lot of those shots you showed were really intentional. Drive, pick and roll, switch, post, drive, sixfoot fade. That's not the same thing as the type of post fades he was taking last season.

>> It's true.

>> And to just accept that. Yes. To just accept um you know their pull-up shots. Let's continue not sending help. I think he could score 30 again. It's the types of shots he's getting are not to me um super high variance shots. The threes obviously fell, the free throws didn't. He's a really strong free throw shooter. There's variants that could go either way, but I actually really liked his shot diet, even though the tracking camera would say, you know, pull-up jumper. Uh, SP 007 says, "Last season was practice." I got news for you. This is practice. Everything's practice. Nobody is a finished product, brother. Go put the work in. I hope you're practicing right now while listening to this podcast. Um, James 092 says, "We need the same type of Scott and R.J. again Sunday." I mean, that would be great. Do you want to talk about R.J. then and what he's provided?

>> Okay. So, this is uh, you know, yeah, you talk about practice. That's the thing. Yes. Okay. So, RJ Barrett has been like averaging close to what Scotty's put up in the box score, only his true shooting percentage is like 10% higher. And his three-point shooting, they're less of the prove it threes perhaps that Scotty has been seeing. And we'll actually see a couple of them in this this RJ package, but he's just kind of balling the hell out. I don't know how else to say it. Like uh a huge thing here is again is this play for RJ Barrett? Tell me what you what you guys think. Lewis, I'm curious what you think too if you think this was on purpose if the Raptors are looking at the coverage that the Cavs are wanting to run here because they chase over top and R.J. makes sure to land the screen, right? But CMBB makes sure that he tucks into Ellis because they want to create this one-on-one between Mobly and Shed. Now, you might be asking yourself, why do you want a one-on-one with Moy and Shed? Well, I'll show you why. Because they want CMBB to pin Ellis and then they want to give it back to R.J. And they want R.J. to now drive the paint with CMB controlling Ellis down low and with Mobly not as a guy under the rim. And CMB basically effectively Gort screens him under the basket, pins, and R.J. gets to go finish at the front of the rim without much of a contest. Is this galaxy brain or is this just open flow? What do you think, Lewis?

>> Probably just flow. I I think the the a point at which CMB turns his role into the body, it's pretty natural flow from there. To have scripted the the role in such a way as to end up in that shot would be really really impressive. You know what real NBA coaching looks like better than I do. I don't know if that's the type of specificity you get, but to me on purpose,

>> incredible. But really like whether it's scripted or flow, really really good play from R.J. and call in there.

>> Yeah, I think I think it's scripted to get the switch of CMBB and Ellis because the Raptors have to attack differently. Um, and I think

>> you know how you know it's scripted?

>> Cuz Brandon's not calling for the ball. That's funny. Uh, yeah, I think this is scripted. I think why they're running this action for the most part because they are never they're probably not running a screen for R.J. to pop open and take an above the break three is the first option. They're probably not looking for Jamal Shed to attack Evan Mobley. And the fact that CNB he's already doing it. He's already turning it. He could have. If you're trying to open up your ball handler, Jamal shed, you would actually plant this and give him oodles of space. But what you do is you seal them off and you take them and you say, "I'd love a switch." Now, maybe they wanted the ball to go down to CMBB and attack that way, but it actually ended up this way. Uh, just like great use of the players. Now, this is something I was ringing my hands about and saying, "God, I would just love I would love if uh Quickley was back in this series because uh then the fact that the [laughter] look at this, man. It's it's an absurdity for audio listeners. Everyone is in the paint." Okay, almost everyone is standing on the charge circle. Three Cavs defenders, three Raptors. As Yakob stands, no man is an island above the damn near above the break with the ball in his hands and and his other hand up in the air saying, "Would somebody like to come help me, please?" And what you do is if a team is going to provide that much dropping space, it means that you get to create as the screener mountains of space by just making sure that you stick your man. If this were Emanuel Quickley, the Raptors would be running this like 26 times a game because he's such a good shooter and you'd want to punish the drop. And so R.J. says, "I'm going to put on my Emanuel Quickley cap. I'm shooting about 64% from downtown in the series. Why can't I just take a hand off going uphill, let Yakob do the work, and drain a triple?" And he did. Well done. Another prove it three. Another very important thing. Again, the Cavs, they're getting a two-on-one because CMBB and RJ are both really good pick and roll players and Allen has to poke because he doesn't want to actually let this two-on-one come to fruition. Everybody going downhill, he doesn't want to allow it drop off. And Harden is also pinching in on CMBB to make sure that this doesn't happen. So, what are the Cavs allowing on this play? They are going to allow a three for Scotty Barnes. Approve it three. It's really important that he makes these shots in the same way that it was really, really important that R.J. gets uphill and hits this one. The Cavs are banking so much of their defense on just being able to disrespect the Raptors players. And when the Raptors shot what, 24% from downtown in game two, you can see why. And they shot over 60% as a team, 14 of 23 in game three. You can see how it went much worse. This is something I don't know if the Cavs will give up on this. Do you think that they will just continue to live with variance in this form and fashion?

>> Yeah, one game is not enough at least. Raptors get to two, like if they get to three, of course not. But one, no, I think you're just happy to say they're not going to do it again.

>> Yeah, I I think so, too.

>> I Vegan Grass has a question here that I actually really want to answer.

>> All right. Um, so I asked because on that last the last time Colin went in, I was writing like this fever dream piece and [clears throat] Scotty like bodily hurled him from the bench to the scorers table to get in there and I really wanted to ask about that moment. Um, I take a lot of uh pride in the artistry of question asking. I really think about the wording uh and I I the wording was really terrible. I screwed up the question. I wasn't It was because the site was down. I was There were other things going on, but [laughter] um I wasn't wrong in my insinuation because my insinuation was unintentional. I I don't even know what I could have been wrong about. I wasn't trying to make a claim. I was wrong in that it was a terribly asked question, but I got what I wanted anyway, which was an interesting comment. He was like, "I have no idea what he was trying to do." Like, it wasn't even a dead ball. That's an interesting comment about that. So, I got something from it, but yeah, it was just a really poor I should have just been like, "Yo, that was weird. What was going on there?"

>> That would have been a much better wording than what I stumbled into.

>> You know, CMB, uh, if you get him on the right time, he's incredibly good as a quote. But then again,

>> you get him on the wrong time. [laughter]

>> Yeah. But then he's like 20 and sometimes he's like, "Oh my god, I have to do media again." Which I totally understand. I I can as a media member and you as a media member, we can we can hope and pray for great quotes and praise players who are, but I will never really complain about a player who isn't cuz it's like I mean you just

>> you just have to do that. Um, okay. Anyway, what the hell were we talking about? Oh, yes. Uh, just playing basketball. You want to answer a question? So, again, this is another thing. This is why it's the fact that RJ's been hitting floaters. the fact that CMBB has been so competent. These are the conditions that these plays are run under. You know, CMBB's resiliency as a finisher, his his screen craft appears to be much better, too. By the way, I he's really been sticking. This guy just leveled up in every way that I can conceive of. And this type of like patience of putting his man in jail, just walking down, hanging out, pump faking, baiting constantly. A lot of players, and I mean a lot of NBA players, are just they're not comfortable. They're not comfortable doing this. And R.J. so much of his value is not, "Oh, I have a skill set that's unbelievably dominant." It's the fact that R.J. is so damn comfortable in whatever situation you put him in. He's not going to take pull-up mittis really. But this is a guy who was thrust into stardom with the, you know, Canada national team. He beat USA almost, well, not single-handedly, but he was the number one motivator. He's a huge part of Canada's national team. He went to New York, the the mecca of basketball. Many people say it, where the media is insane, and the fans are nuts. And some of it's in a great way, some of it's in a bad way. And he was the number three overall pick in what was deemed as a, you know, a topheavy draft. All the expectations. He comes to Toronto. You know, there's a quote about his his contract being a toxic asset. There's this guy's never good enough. The Raptors don't even run an all-star campaign for him. You know, half the anytime he goes online, he probably sees people just use putting his contract in the trade tracker or whatever constantly. So, and he doesn't get the ball. They say, "You're not the star here. Work off of other guys." And he just the duck keeps turnurning. Takes it in stride. Also, this one too, this is uh basically just an offshoot of what the Raptors are doing with their guys, but it's how you attack this Cavs team since they don't want to move their bigs from the the middle and because they basically have one wing defender and his name is Dean Wade, Jaylen Tyson, all these guys are too small and you want to involve their guards is you run a lot of actions like this where you you confuse and you make it unknown about how the Cavs want to guard these types of actions. Are you going to stay connected? Do you switch? What happens? So you just get an offball screen for Scotty going downhill and you say, "How are we going to guard this?" And since the Cavs sit low on everything, then you just back up another pin down on top of that and you say, "Jameson Battle come loose." And uh Donovan Mitchell plays really bad defense on that possession, gets lost, gets gets caught up. And there you go again. RJ just offball stuff running around. And this also is a huge lynch pin for this series, man. I gotta tell you there it happened twice where Yaka Purle got a post up on Sam Merrill because the Cavs were like, "Okay, we have to we have to switch some stuff. We have to do some things." It's incredibly important that Yaka Purle said, "All right." Like there's no there's no hesitation here. As soon as he catches it, he gears up and he's like, "I'm not letting Sam Merrell or Max Streuse meet me at the top. I'm going to go finish." And R.J. is the guy stirring the drink on all these possessions. And his stats are insane right now. And he's proud as hell to be playing for his the team he grew up loving and watching. And it's a wonderful, beautiful story. And uh he he's been through a lot as a player and he just he sits on the other side. Pretty impressive in my estimation.

>> Yeah. No kidding. Um RJ Barrett's 14 pick and rolls, 18 points. Like he is basically the number one halfcourt weapon through three games. And it's it's he he gives that and he gives the cutting and he's given shooting and he's given putbacks. He's just he will find his way in whatever context in like just like you said he's he has been everything for the Raptors.

>> Um really really nice screen craft with Colin in those possessions.

>> They've got a they've got a real feel for each other.

>> I it just makes you wonder about like oh the future what what happens in the future. How good how could how good could this be? Because again, I talk to, you know, anytime you talk to a coach or a former player or even a player, you know, especially off the record, like you ask about certain players around the league, why things stagnate, you ask about players who have had a lot of success and players will, you know, coaches are usually a little bit different, but players always seem to have the contention that, you know, it's in your control as a player. And like when you when it's media and it's on the record, everything is like, you know, everything is a little bit of this, a little bit of that. But off the record players are just like, yeah, some guys just don't work and that's why they don't get better. They're just in the league. They're just churning water. They're treading water, I should say. And R.J. is a guy who has not treaded water at all. He he works feverishly to improve at his craft. And clearly, he's a far better offensive player, both in the decisions he makes and the skill sets he's been able to bring. Uh, the it's just been he's improved a lot. It's been fun.

>> You manual are absolute opposites in a lot of ways. Not in the effort in the work. That's not what I mean at all. This is not meant at a slight at Emanuel.

>> Yeah.

>> But the comfort in the middle of the floor to me that's Emanuel's biggest weakness. That's R.J.'s greatest strength. Um movement shooting is Emanuel's greatest strength. That's R.J.'s biggest weakness. Uh, it's they they really have uh different proclivities of the like with the ball, different proclivities without uh really really interesting the ways in which and I think you have questioned the ways in which Emanuel can impact a playoff game because he needs the game to come to him in a lot of ways. But R.J. We've talked so much about how he will have usage falling into his lap in a way that Emanuel almost never will because he doesn't the game doesn't need to come for him. He doesn't find flow. The flow is there because he has so many different means of access, so many different doors he can walk through. Yeah, I honestly I think that uh the skill set would seem to determine that IQ has so many doors to walk through, but uh I think that like his good games all look relatively the same. And he plays IQ comes into every game with like a relatively similar performance on the things he struggles with. I think very rarely do I see IQ persevere through a weakness and he has on his face and it's the reason why IQ was deemed the centerpiece of the OG Anobi trade. why the Raptors uh were very quick to pay him and you know dedicate to that and uh why I suspect there will be more humming and hawing about R.J. as well is that IQ has the on its face like this is more efficient, this is more future facing, this is more X, Y, and Zed. But what R.J. does is, and I love the way SP7 put this, R.J. like CB are tactical problem solvers on offense. He knows when to quote interrupt a play.

>> I I think that's a great way to put it. RJ is reading the floor extremely well to supplement his teammates and to always make sure that he's of value. And uh it's just IQ does not have the same feel, but IQ makes things easier because again in a lot of these plays you see that Brandon Ingram's gravity does assist things and you can see how it helps um through no fault of his own even sometimes. And the same thing with IQ when he has he's such a strap on him. He has so much shooting to leverage that you're going to run into positive impact and he does offensively. I mean RJ you can see the work is there non-stop. IQ was also a guy who the Raptors were much better in their half court offense with him on the four. Guess what? If you can pull up, you got a strap on you, you can hit movement shots, and you're just comfortable moving the ball from one side to the other, you you can find your way on a team. Like, for sure, for sure. Um,

>> he brings a big gun to the gunfight, man.

>> Yep. He certainly does. I have Harden's turnovers, a few of them queued up here because I kind of want to ask about or ask you about like if you think the Raptors defense is something that they can repeat. I guess I want your your first blush of that.

>> He felt sped up. He like game three, he felt sped up.

>> That's it.

>> That's my first blush. That [laughter] you didn't want my second blush.

>> I'd love a second blush. Do you have anything else for me?

>> Yeah. So, you know, I think he uh keep in mind I was I put like a 2,000word gamer about a peyote trip, so I wasn't 100% keyed in on like the tactical experiences >> of game three.

>> Um I think James Harden was looking for passing windows that were wider in games one and two.

than they were in in in game three. His pace, which was available to him in those games, was no longer there in game three because Toronto's defense was very different. He was playing a game that was no longer in front of him.

Now, there were moments certainly, like he had a really impressive floater and one where he like ran past the ball and drew a foul before the like the ball was almost in the. It was really weird, but really cool. Like I've never quite seen that finish before.

Um, now obviously the jumper wasn't wasn't there. He still, he, I mean, he's still an incredible player and he still presented a lot of problems, but yeah, Yseph, I mentioned that lob pass tracking that was amazing. But you know, I just, I, I think, um, Colin is the answer in many ways to Harden. Yes, obviously Scotty switching on to him is a big deal. Do not like if he gets 60 touches instead of 90, that's a huge win for Toronto. But when he does get those touches, when he is in the lane, Colin has been a really significant answer. He's, uh, yeah, it's, it's been really fun to watch.

Uh, okay, wait, before I do this, by the way, actually, I got to, you guys got to hear about beer really quick. Okay, everyone. Beer. Basketball can be stressful, people. But your choice of beer, it doesn't have to be. Coors Light delivers mountain cold refreshment. Okay. When the mountains turn blue, the beer is as cold and refreshing as the Rockies. Coors Light is cold-lagered, cold-filtered, and cold-certified for a smoother finish. Celebrate responsibly. And of course, you must be of legal drinking age to partake. Do not imbibe if you are not. As such, no underage drinking not allowed. Find Coors Light near you. Visit coorslightshop.ca. Again, only if you are of age.

Okay, everyone. As Yseph says, chill as if. AF. That's right. Okay. So, we have the Harden turnovers here. We have all this kind of stuff and we're going to go through this and then I'm going to ask Lewis about the spiritual, uh, experience that he had at the game. We're going to lean on that.

Okay. So, this one, I and credit to Jamal Shed and I think you made a great point when you said he was playing a game that's not in front of him. This is, I mean, it's incredible the way that James Harden reads players and reacts to it typically in this play. You know, you're getting a, you're getting a really hard hedge from, uh, RJ Barrett and James wants to make a play against this hedge and get the ball out. He's reading RJ and he's reading Mobley. The guy he forgets about in this is he's not reading Jamal Shed. And Jamal Shed's pursuit is not to dig down on, uh, to not to dig down on Harden. It's to keep pursuing the ball after the ball gets lobbed up. It's just a, it's a play where he doesn't read his primary defender and his primary defender stays in the play. These types of plays, I don't know if the Raptors will be able to recreate them, you know, one by one. And I think James will have a better playmaking game than eight turnovers in game four. But this kind of disruption is incredibly important. And these things here where, you know, RJ Barrett has a couple really strong stands against James Harden and James is like, damn, I'm not getting where I used to against RJ Barrett. And he's still like, RJ isn't dominating these possessions, but he's just giving more fight, right? And the Raptors, as much as you want to do the tactical thing and, you know, as much as on the offensive side we say like they're sorting out their alignment so they can manipulate where help comes from. So a drive is a drive, but there's an easier way to drive the basketball if you can move Jared Allen, you know, to position Y instead of position X. Some of this stuff is just like, are you able to hang in? Can you give me one more day, brother? What will it be? And the Raptors fight and compete and really just stick to the intuitiveness that they had, I think in game two off-ball where they were so well connected and the, the, the Cleveland Cavaliers shot quality was in it, just tanked from game one. I think that they ratcheted up even their on-ball stuff for game three while maintaining that thing on the back end. And what they did, I didn't clip any of this, but you know, the throw-ahead dribbles that Evan Mobley is doing, cutting through the lane and dropping off these, you know, dunker spot passes. And, you know, Max Strus having to, you know, pump fake two dribbles and then make a decision rather than just spotting up one pass away. And Sam Merrill not being able to just come off a screen and do something like that. You know, Jaylen Tyson was forced, I think he had four assists, to put the ball down and continue the play. The Raptors, they're far in a far better position, even if they're catching up back into the play of forcing everyone into more mistakes and a worse shot diet overall if they don't let it be James Harden and Donovan Mitchell making every decision down the line, 'cause that's the how you lose. And they moved the ball on. They got the ball out of the stars' hands in Cleveland and I think they deserve the utmost respect, uh, in terms of what they were able to do there. I was so impressed with what they did defensively.

Lewis, >> the walk into a floater or a lob just wasn't. He had what, like eight possessions of those in games one and two? >> 10. It just wasn't there. He, he had zero in in game three. That man, that's a lot of points you can take off the board. >> I love taking points off the board, man. And honestly, like the decision to move RJ onto a big and then to move, you know, Jakob onto another big and then also to get funky with everything they're doing. We saw shades of it, like it was in my piece. We talked about it after game two. We even saw it a little bit in game one is suddenly, you know, the Cavs are trying to run a double drag and RJ Barrett is guarding Jared Allen and the Cavs are like, "Whoa, what the hell?" You know, what am I looking at here? And it's not that, you know, RJ suddenly guarding Jared Allen means that you can't beat it. It just means that it's different and the flow and your expectation of how that play is going to go is, it's no longer there. Like something as simple as a pocket pass for a lot of players is an automatic read if they're getting a show. And so players just immediately start forming their body up into that little pocket pass. And rollers know, hey, we're seeing a show from these guys. Find the, the pocket to receive the pocket pass immediately. But you can disrupt that. Let's say if you have a guy who's going to dig into the pocket pass. If your players are automatically going to that read, you can get some pick sixes this way. You know, OG Anunoby used to do this all the time as a Raptor. He does it currently as a Nick. Change the reads, change the automatics, and suddenly you've got second-guessing, suddenly you've got mistakes, and suddenly you've got less of a framework for players to play within. And I'm really interested to see how the Cavs respond. I can't predict that type of stuff. I mean, Kenny Atkinson, God bless him. I don't know what he's going to decide to do. I don't know how they're going to change the look. They probably will. I'm sure they felt offensively they didn't make the reads they needed to. I'm sure they felt like that the Raptors hit more threes than they will normally, that they gave the Raptors 22 turnovers to run off of, and that they missed too many shots that they got to run off of as well. And that the defense will come under control a lot easier if the offense starts making shots. That's how this team is built. That would be my expectation, but I can't wait to see what they do, Lewis. I just can't wait.

Yeah, 100%. Uh, one thing I think could really be impactful for them is to move Mobley off Barnes. I don't think he's bothered Barnes as much as a primary as Cleveland expected. Obviously, I mean, he's very strong. Like he, this isn't criticism, but I think if like the, that whole, uh, Rudy Gobert doesn't guard Nikola Jokic, like, uh, Karl-Anthony Towns guards him and Gobert can bother him behind the play, they might, I think want to try something similar with Mobley and the Raptors have non-shooters you can, you can stash Mobley on, like that's, that's [laughter] not a problem. Uh, so they, they can play things around there. I think they also probably just want to, like, same thing, speed Toronto up. I think Toronto, like Barnes was playing on an island a lot in game three, the number of possessions. I mean, you could even in the tape he rolled where he was able to put down 10 dribbles or something on one guy. It's like, yeah, you're an All-Star. You're kind of going to score if you get that many dribbles against one dude. He's enormous. If you are allowed to just push and push and push, you're going to get deep. And I think they just need to make sure that they're defending not one person on one person. It's, they need team defense. Now, that's hard obviously with Harden and Mitchell just like not cracking into the play at some point. So, you know, it's not just scheme. There has to be better execution, but there's certainly levers to pull for Cleveland.

Yeah, bully drive initiator wings are really something else in in the playoffs. I mean, Kawhi didn't necessarily bully drive. He did on occasion, but he liked to operate more north-south than that. But you see guys like, you know, uh, Julius Randle is always so effective in his, in a pinch creation from Minnesota. Jimmy Butler bully-drove and like comfortable in the middle of the floor his way to two finals with the Heat being the main cog. Uh, Scotty Barnes, playoff riser. Pascal just won Eastern Conference Finals MVP, right? Like these big wings who are, if you let them put down dribbles as they ease their way to the basket and all of them can playmake. I mean, the names like Randle is probably the weakest of them, but even he's still a plus playmaker. You know, Pascal, Jimmy, Scotty, these guys when they get attention, they can playmake against it so easily. And it's just that, that momentum of size coming downhill. Teams are really, they have a really tough time navigating that even if you have Mobley and Allen plotting away, uh, in the paint. So Scotty has an advantage here because of his strength, his his brutishness. And, uh, yeah, like you said, there might be something for the Cavs to do to make his looks different in the same way that, uh, the Raptors were able to change James Harden's. Uh, I'm really excited for it now. I've talked so much on this podcast because I'm running film. I want to hear, you were there, man. You, you know, what did you make? It's the return to the playoffs. It's game three. It's the first home game. You know, looking from outside, from within, you know, the shirts, the T-Rexes, all of it. Or the Raptors. Jesus. Anyway, go ahead.

That felt cool, man. I honestly, I texted you when I got there 'cause, you know, we have one seat for the two of us. We have to figure out who's there. And, uh, we were being polite about who who goes. When I got there, I was like, "Oh, this is pretty exciting. This is pretty cool being here."

>> You, you were trying to, you were trying to be like, uh, like I, I don't need it, you know? You're. And I was like, "No, man." I was like, "In Cleveland, I went to Cleveland. I saw it. You should like, you have to go to a Raptors playoff game this year." And I'm so glad you did. I'm so glad you got to write the a fever dream piece at the playoffs.

>> Yeah. There's some pieces that a lot of people use attendance to write things they couldn't write otherwise because of access. I use attendance to write things I couldn't write otherwise because of spirit. >> Environment. >> It's just the, yeah, the feel that you are there. I just can't recreate that from my couch. I guess I could. I, I've tried. Sometimes I'll listen to two different songs at different wildly different BPMs just like make my experience so jarring that it forces you to write like really crazy stuff. There's ways. There's ways. Syncopated Brown song. >> You want a toe? I can get you a toe. But, uh, yeah, it, you know, it was weird like that game and I wrote this at the end of my piece. These teams could play each other 100 game series, thousand game series. You're never going to see that game a second time. That was a one-of-one game. Brandon Ingram fell down, fell ran out of bounds, dropped the ball 10 times in the first half and you look up, it's like one turnover. It's like, what the heck is every play is a safe play. So many of them ended up in Colin layups or RJ Barrett threes or it was just, it was an insane first half and they really settled in. They played good basketball in the second half, but that first half was just preposterous. It was, uh, you hope for organized chaos. There's nothing organized about the chaos that was happening. They found it in the second half, big time. You know, SP7 says the BI distraction game. I don't know what would be distracting him, but, uh, the BI stuff. Uh, we don't have to rehash it. Like, man, I had a, I had like a, I had I complained for like four minutes about it straight on the last podcast. You know, I, I made, I compared it to an Omaré Greek tragedy. You know what I mean? So, it's just like, >> we don't, we don't have to go there. But I'm so glad you got to go there. And I'm excited to be there for game four. Drink it in. And honestly, I really hope it goes to seven 'cause then we're going back to Cleveland again. And in the same way that I will enjoy the Raptors environment, the, the Cleveland environment was so good, man. The fans were incredible. Their game ops, I've never seen better. I covered finals games. I've never seen better than what the Cavs are getting up to. And they have like, in the air tonight playing their slow black and whites. Like the, the, the mood that they're able to set in that arena is unbelievable, man. I'm excited to see how the Raptors do it in game four, but man alive. Basketball. Basketball that matters. Let's go.

We're at the back end here. I got, I, I think there's a game ops revolution coming. Game ops feels like a truly unexplored territory. Not to criticize the people running these things, but the level of innovation in the game ops world between now and 10 years ago, 20 years ago, it's not that much going on. The, the technology available to us, it's like, okay, hold your phone up and we can make all your phones turn the same color. It's like, brother, you can do cooler stuff than that. I think I think there's experience coming to us. It shouldn't just be like Snapchat filters, you know. >> No, it should not. >> It should not just be that. >> Yeah. Uh, the YouTube expert says Dean Wade also someone you don't really have to guard out there. Yeah. That's why I think the number one, uh, adjustment that the Cavs can make if they don't, if they view offense as a bigger, >> play Max Strus. Yes. Um, and again, like the, the Cavs played chalk through three games. We'll see. We'll see what's happening. Yseph says, "Dream bigger, brother." Yeah, bigger than >> bigger filters. >> Yeah, this is so good. Everyone's big on screen, you know, fully. Oh, I, Yeah, game ops. I don't know, man. I, there's so much you can do. Also, yeah, nobody wearing the shirt at the game. Put on the shirt. I got to say, you and Trey, I think, sold the arena experience a little short being there. It was loud. That like the fans were in it from jump. >> Do you remember how it used to be though? >> Yeah. No, no, no. I'm not saying. Yeah. Yeah. It's not. It's not 2019. >> Can we not ask the fans to revolutionize in the same way that we hope and pray that game ops may. >> We all next year in bigger Jerusalem? That's what I always say. [laughter] [clears throat] The thing is, the big thing Joey Hoser says, "Not enough bald guys on the Raptors." This might be it. I just like, man, Tim Wearing says the Raptors used to be a better team, though. They were a better team once upon a time. I >> once the, once the ball's in play and you're up like you're on a 70 run in the fourth quarter. I don't think the quality of the team really decides the, you know, like if, if you're in the playoffs and you're making a fourth quarter run, doesn't really matter if you're one seed or a four seed or an eight seed. The, the crowd's in it if they're a good crowd. Yeah. Um, yeah, I think so. Also, is there anybody bald on the Raptors? >> I mean, I don't want to be mean, but Sandra. >> It's not mean to be bald. It's an immutable characteristic. We shouldn't even be made fun for it. That's >> I'm allowed to say that. >> Yeah. Oh, true. Yes, we're doing. But wasn't that like, didn't you see there was that case in the UK where the a bald guy got made fun of and he won a sexual harassment claim 'cause he's like, "This immutable characteristic, you can't comment on it." This happened, by the way. Well, he shouldn't in that case. >> Well, all the bald guys pumped their fists quietly in the background. Yes, finally something on just one bit. [snorts] >> Yes. A lever to pull. Um, our, our Max Strus adjustment. Um, can this is the last thing I want to talk about. The YouTube expert, I'm glad to have an expert over here, by the way, says, "Other than Vince, who are the best bald Raptors?" Great question. Who are the best bald Raptors besides Vince? Who are the bald Raptors besides fans? >> Well, no, nobody was as dedicated to it as Charlie Villanueva was just by happenstance. >> Yeah. Yeah. He had LJ. >> Was TJ Ford? Was he a be-haired man? >> I think TJ Ford was bald. Yes. >> Is there anybody? Oh, Serge. But Serge had hair. He just, it was just so close. >> Yeah. >> Who's bald and good? I can't, my, you know, my memory for these things. >> I got nothing. >> Okay, you're no fun, man. >> I, I wanted, I wanted to go deep on the ball thing. Okay, then. Uh, we did a million hours of film. We've talked to no end. Uh, I'll let you close out the podcast on a, on a >> Whoa, hold on. Hold on. We're not quite done yet. >> Okay. Uh, when we did No Off Days, >> uh, we would always ask each other at the end, did this game change how you felt about the series? Do you have different expectations now? I want to ask you that. No, I don't. This didn't make me think that the Raptors are going to win the series. I would love to. And I had so much fun talking about what the Raptors changed and why it worked. My expectations are not nearly as important as my work after things happen. My job is not to be right about things necessarily. I hope that I am, but it's to accurately assess what happened afterwards. And I, I really, the fact that I don't expect the Raptors to win this series does not mean that the future work is valueless or that like the Raptors won't or whatever the hell. It's just I'd be, I'd be surprised if they won the series. I can't wait to cover a team that wins this series though. And if they do, hell yeah. I can't wait to see how it happens. That's that. How about you?

>> Yeah. Your job is to just predict who the Raptors are going to pick in the draft. >> CMB saved my life. >> I, I was becoming known for the Grady thing, man. Oh, >> I didn't know he couldn't shoot. I was shocked just as much as everyone else was. I was as shocked as the Raptors were. Dan Tolman can get paid however much money and be wrong. Please, a little gracious for your boy Samson. Please, please. [laughter] Uh, I'll give you some grace. I'll give you some grace. We can do that for each other. >> Sure. >> Scoot Henderson, by the way, that's a scout that you were high on. He just had a game. >> He did. I liked Scoot a lot. I was, I was pretty, he, so much craft in the pick and roll and he just, it did it didn't come in like his ability to change speeds and comfortability with size has not been the same, but it was in game two, I tell you that much. >> Oh, I have one last. I forgot this in the Scotty thing. I had a whole point prepped. He changed speeds driving. >> Are you thinking about the one on on Jared? >> Yeah. Yeah. He always stays in second gear. He doesn't go faster. He doesn't go slower. It's pretty easy to guard. Uh, but he went from first gear to second gear, back to first. He actually had a little bit of manipulation and you can do that, you know. Uh, Yseph with another bomb, dude. My job's to enjoy the team. Business moving. That's incredible. Um, and and Brandon Roy made a whole career out of that. First gear, second gear, first gear, second gear. You, you can have some manipulation without going fast. And I was really impressed with with just a touch of that from Scotty. Anyway, uh, I don't close pods. That's not what I'm paid to do. I write run-on sentences. Take us home, brother.

>> That's, uh, Okay. So, I'm the closer. >> I have you, I have you at my mercy. I close the game until I see fit. Okay. >> Uh, thank you to everybody for tuning in. I don't know how many people are in there, but after we do one of these, you people are so reluctant to click like. There's like, there's always hundreds of people in here. Always. Every time. And yet afterwards, what is it like? There's like 20 people who deigned to click like. It's free. And you just sat with us for about an hour. Cost you nothing. Quit withholding the likes. It's a bad look. I'd love to hear D Larry David's thoughts on this. He'd be like, "Why the hell do I want people liking my stuff?" Anyway, um, yeah, like the video before we get out of here. Hype it if you want. I know that's a very abstract idea, but you know, we live in this world. And uh [laughter] thank you everybody for tuning in. Whether you got into it in the morning or at night, from myself and Lewis, have a blessed day and goodbye.