NBA Recap 11/1-11/16: Surprises, Predictions and Reality Checks

Can you imagine the Golden State Warriors without Steph Curry and Draymond Green? You won't have to, we've got the scoop on how they're holding up, alongside Chris Paul's playmaking prowess. We also spill the tea on the altercation between Draymond Green and Rudy Gobert - a clash you wouldn't want to miss. Plus, the Timberwolves are off to a blazing start this season - we break down their formidable defense and Ant-Man's MVP-worthy performance. Also, keep an ear out for our chat on Tyrese Maxey and how he's changing the game for the 76ers.

The drama isn't limited to the Warriors and Timberwolves. We're serving up a dish of the Los Angeles Clippers' struggles and the future that awaits them after their trade with the Philidelphia 76ers. And while we're on trades, keep an eye out for the Pistons' rookie, Ausar Thompson - we discuss how he's making an impression on the court. To polish off the show, we discuss the Bucks' defensive woes, the Rockets' stunning winning streak, and the outcome for the Nets with the injury of Ben Simmons. Brace yourself for a rollercoaster episode.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the ColourShop Podcast, your weekly sports recap podcast, where we break down the hottest headlines, dissect the latest injuries and serve up our own hard hitting analysis of the past weekend sports. But that's not all. We're not just here to talk about the past, we're here to predict the future as well. On the ColourShop Podcast, we boldly predict the outcomes of the upcoming weeks games.

Speaker 2: 0:22

Hop right into the NBA. We have some news from yesterday. The Golden State Warriors played the Minnesota Timberwolves last night and the first possession of the game ended up getting the strap between Clay Thompson and I can't remember the Timberwolves player. I can't remember what his name was.

Speaker 1: 0:37

Not remembering his name either. Not important anyways, okay.

Speaker 2: 0:43

Well, they ended up getting an altercation. Rudi Gobert came in and tried to break it up, grabbed and Clay Thompson and Dremont Green went straight and Debo and then proceeded to put Rudi Gobert in a choke hold for 30 seconds, ended up getting ejected along with Clay Thompson and now has just been suspended for five games. So what are your thoughts on that, drew, and how do you think the Warriors have looked so far this season with Chris Paul?

Speaker 1: 1:12

So when it comes to okay, that's a multi-part question there. I'm going to try to break it down as quickly as I can. In terms of the fight, I don't know. I think I don't. I don't nothing against our French people. We love our French people that listen to the show and that don't listen to the show. We love our French people in general.

Speaker 2: 1:33

But I'm not sure if I want yeah there we go.

Speaker 1: 1:35

That's who it was. I'm not sure if I want this Frenchman doing a whole lot of fighting, because he has a tendency to start stuff and then just run away and not finish his business or finish his food.

Speaker 2: 1:50

Soft big man?

Speaker 1: 1:50

Yeah, exactly, whereas if you start scrapping with Dreymon, Dreymon, he'll talk, that talk and he'll walk you down as well. Knock your ass out Exactly, so like if I had to pick somebody in a fight, I'd probably pick Dreymon, even though the reach advantage technically goes to Rudy Gaubert there. But that's neither here nor there. He also got him in a nice little, you know anyway.

Speaker 2: 2:13

So the forum was impeccable.

Speaker 1: 2:15

Exactly. But in terms of how it's going with Chris Paul, well, it depends on if Steph Curry's on the court or not, because when Steph.

Speaker 1: 2:25

Curry is not on the court, they look terrible, absolutely atrocious, and even even same thing when it comes to Dreymon Green. When Dreymon Green is on the court, either, they also, I'm pretty sure, have a negative plus minus, and it's I want to say it's close to like negative 20, something mid 20s when, when Chris Paul has been on the court this year. So it's, I mean, it's going about as good as what I thought it was going to, as well as I thought I was going to go now, having Chris Paul out there along alongside a an aging team. So you know, you get what you get when you have an old team and a young league.

Speaker 2: 3:08

So yeah, it's been definitely interesting. I didn't know if he was just kind of trying to find his role or not, but, as you mentioned, without Steph Curry playing the war is kind of abysmal. Nobody on the team's averaging more than 15 points other than Steph Curry's averaging 30. Chris Paul is averaging about eight points and is shooting 20% from the three, so it's been a very tough start for them. Shooting wise Is that bad? Yeah, it's not great.

Speaker 1: 3:34

Yeah, it's not great.

Speaker 2: 3:36

Chris Paul is averaging eight and seven, so he's getting some assist. You know, always known that from Chris Paul. But you know the Warriors have looked up and down. They've beaten some good talent, but they're six and six, currently eighth, right behind the Lakers sitting at six and five. So we'll have to see if they're going to start getting things to click. But, as you mentioned, they're a much older team, so are they going to be able to click? Our entry is going to play a role and you know what's going to happen come, play off time. So I have to wait and see, with that, anything else that you want to get into NBA wise.

Speaker 1: 4:07

I think another thing, too, is how surprising the Timberwolves have been playing this year. They're not only getting it done on defense, but they're also getting it done on offense as well, and Ant-Man has been just showing up and showing out each and every night.

Speaker 2: 4:24

All NBA.

Speaker 1: 4:26

I mean he's he keeps playing like this, he might be pushing for MVP as well, yeah, but the problem, I'm going to say the problem with that is like, as long as NBA and Yoke are still out there, like you still got to go past them, and especially if, if Tyrese Maxi is, you know, dropping 50 burgers like on it on people's head, like that, then that's also going to be another player that's going to get in his way or steal some votes as well. But I do, I do like the makeup of what they've been doing out there. They currently have the highest rated defensive rating when it comes to defensive rating and they're Basically dominate all three levels of the of play, so like in the paint, in mid-range and at three-point range too.

Speaker 2: 5:13

So yeah, the Timberwolves looked great. Anthony Edwards, as we mentioned, has been playing phenomenally, averaging nearly 28, 6 and 5, and has stepped up defensively he talks about during the offseason. That was something that he really wanted to work on and Not only be a non liability on defense but actually be somebody that can lock up players, and that's what he's been doing this week or this year and, you know, everything's been kind of working much better and there hasn't been many changes compared to last teams or last year's team. So it was kind of is a little surprising for me for them to start 8 and 2 when there hasn't been really any changes to the lineup.

Speaker 2: 5:48

So the Timberwolves have been very bright note for the West. Similarly, with the maps to keep talking about and I expected them to eventually, you know, come back to reality, but they're still sitting at 9 and 3 and Luke and Kyrie have looked very good together. Um, rookie lively has been a nice presence in the paint for them. So what have your thoughts been on the mavs and do you really think that they can continue to be one of the elite teams in the West going forward for the rest of the season? I?

Speaker 1: 6:14

mean, I had all the confidence in the world, in the Mavericks and like somebody over here I'm not gonna name any names but yeah, I thought they were gonna be playing team, hmm. But, like I said, like the, in this day and age of the NBA, it is not so much based around defense, like we've seen a lot of the totals this year in like the 230 range and there's even some games are getting up to the 240 range. So Obviously, not a lot of defense is being played. If you, if you're playing games and, and like you know, score in a hundred twenty something points a night, or hundred thirty something points a night, and and that's one of those teams, the Mavericks are one of those teams that's able to just just out yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 7:04

And the, the Bucks, are trying to do that and Doing it very poorly. They're putting up a lot of points but they're not stopping even a nosebleed on defense. So I think that Kyrie Irving has made a major impact, but it's even more of an impact when you have Luca Doncik next to you drop in triple doubles like it's going out of style. So I Think that you know, as long as those two Are healthy and then also, kyrie still wants to play basketball. I guess it before. They're gonna be a dominant threat in the West.

Speaker 2: 7:43

Definitely. Lastly, coming out of the West, one thing I wanted to get into would be the Clippers, since James Harden has joined the starting lineup there Now. Oh and five in games where they've played and it's looked Not that great. They don't know what closing lineup they want to use. They don't know if they want to close with Zubat or not. They don't know if they want to have Westbrook in it or not. They just had a tough loss against the Nuggets where they were up seven points in the fourth quarter and the Nuggets ended up walking them down. Ultimately, tyron Lou decided to try to play small ball against the Denver Nuggets and take Zubat out and play Kauai Leonard and Paul George on Nicola Nicola Yolkic to close out the game, which ended up being barbecue chicken. So what are your expectations for the Clippers? Do you think that they're gonna get things going? We both had them as probably like a three or four seed After the trade, just purely based on talent, but it's not been meshed so far.

Speaker 2: 8:35

Yeah, I'm I'm not concerned, Because when they got, I mean, it's dude, we're in November, like this season goes, and I don't think they're gonna miss the playoffs or anything like that, but like I, this is gonna be a problem. I think they don't have an identity, they don't know what they want to do and how are they gonna stop it? A team like the Nuggets or Lakers?

Speaker 1: 9:00

Oh yeah, and so that's what the rest of the season is for is building up that chemistry, learning from each, each player and what their deficits are, and learning how to play around those deficits to to kind of hide those. One of the main problems is that they, I think, I believe, are top five right now in Isolation points, which means they've just been doing a lot of okay, your term, my turn kind of basketball, instead of Doing any pick and rolls or pick and pops or running actual offense, moving the ball around it's just a lot of dribble, dribble, dribble.

Speaker 1: 9:33

Either post up, step back three, or you know.

Speaker 2: 9:37

No, I would have never guessed.

Speaker 1: 9:41

Exactly so. Right now they're currently oh and four with James Harden. They've lost five straight. Or they've lost five straight when they initially got Westbrook now last year, but then they were able to come back and win a, a Playoff game against the Suns, and so that's one of the reasons why I'm not concerned is that it took so long for them to Jell even just adding in one more core piece in Russell Westbrook, and so you added James Harden right now.

Speaker 1: 10:12

Yeah, sure, when James Harden's off the court, right now they have a plus 14.7 net rating, which you know.

Speaker 1: 10:20

But and then also when when James Harden's on the court, since they've, since they traded for him, they have a negative 5.8 net rating, and Philly's net rating, since trading away James Harden, has been plus six. So Now maybe it's a little bit of addition by subtraction by Philly, but at the same time, I do think that time will ultimately Allow the Clippers to figure, figure their stuff I will say stuff out and build some chemistry, like I said, and learn how to play off of each other instead of just having one player go and the next Player go, because, other than James Harden, paul George is not much of an iso ball kind of player. He's more like pass it around, get a nice, either like spot-up shot off the off the screen or Catching like an open three or you know whatever, and quite a layer. Maybe we'll back down somebody, kick it out to somebody that's open, or spin off towards the baseline Ducan on somebody's head, do something crazy. So I should have line drive three, which drives me crazy as well.

Speaker 1: 11:30

Goes in, but yeah, exactly so.

Speaker 2: 11:34

That's my take on Philly right now.

Speaker 2: 11:37

Yeah, that's fair enough. With the Clippers, I think that you know we talked about last year when they try to incorporate Russ, and they ended up going 0 and 5 with that start to the season. I think that was a little bit more understandable. I think that, like I would probably say that James Harden is a better offensive player at this point in time than Russ. I think that Russ is gonna give you 100% effort every single night. James Harden is, I would probably say, a liability on defense and Offensively is an iso type player, so I'm not exactly sure how they're gonna Try to incorporate all that together. They've already talked about players like bones.

Speaker 2: 12:08

Highland Is probably not gonna be able to see any playing time on the court. Norman Powell's minutes have been reduced. Terrence man's minutes have been reduced. So overall, the chemistry on the team as a whole, it seems like, is getting affected pretty badly, which is probably has to do with them. In these losses as well, people can't really get a rhythm, so I guess we just have to wait and see. They do have a game against the Rockets coming up on Friday, which should be a game that they should be able to win, so hopefully they can get started on the right foot. Any other teams that you wanted to cover in the West or in the East?

Speaker 1: 12:44

No, well, actually yes, but I was looking up this stat, that's why my brain's low off. Right now I'm looking at a zero Thompson for the For Detroit distance yeah, the average in yeah, he's averaging 10.3 rebounds a game.

Speaker 1: 13:01

He is 6-6. I think it's five in blocks too. Yeah, like it's, I don't know it don't. Don't count them out for MVP Rookie of the year. I mean not MVP, but rookie of the year. You know, he's looking a little bit better than than Victor women Yama when it comes to getting rebounds and blocks as well. So I do think that the pistons have a have a nice future ahead of them. It's just they're just so young and experience and they're their core. Their core is is solid, yeah, but they're how would I describe it? They're like, I want to call them like little baby trolls, but We'll call them, we'll call them little seedlings, all right. So like they're not sprouted yet, they're, they're still. They're still little buds. You know there's, they're still in the ground, they're still, we're getting ready to grow. But I think you know, give them, give them year and a half, maybe two, and, and they'll definitely be, I think that they'll at least be a you Five seed, then four seed, a few years. It's just like you're running.

Speaker 2: 14:19

I like the core running down two years Okay, I don't know about all that Currently sitting at two and ten. Obviously, like you said, they're still young. Kate Cunningham is in his second or third season, thompson looks good. Stewart is the center Hmm, is this all a piece during? And they also have Come on Knox as well. And Wiseman, who it kind of got left for dead once he got drafted by the Warriors and now he's just kind of Peace, but fair enough. One team that I am not necessarily surprised with because I did have them as a potential surprise team is the Pacers, who have looked very good. Tyrese Halliburton has had Like a stretch of like some of the most efficient basketball that we've ever seen, with 30 assists, zero turnovers over the past two games, averagen like nearly 25 and 10, 25 and 13, sorry and has been able to carry the Pacers to a top three seed in the East. So did you have any outlook on the Pacers? You talk about potential MVP's? Don't leave my boy, tyrese Halliburton, out there.

Speaker 1: 15:23

I'm just saying so, hey, man, coming into the season, I was the one that was telling you how, how are they gonna be doing this year? And you're like dude, stop it man.

Speaker 2: 15:34

No, you say you were surprised on how high I had the Pacers.

Speaker 1: 15:38

No, I said that I think that they're gonna be good, but how do you have the Pacers?

Speaker 2: 15:44

I had them as my did you seventh seed. Seventh or eighth seed, I think I have to look at that.

Speaker 1: 15:48

Okay, maybe you are. You are a little crazy then. Okay, I thought I thought you had them after you had them outside the playoffs I'm thinking of no different human. But yeah, no, I mean, I I was, I thought I was high on them, but I guess you were higher on them. I don't know you smoking over there, but okay, but yeah, no, I mean one of the things too that's helping them out is like they've they've always been a good transition Defense, but then they're also our defense transition offense and that's how they get a lot of their points. But they're also able to, this year, play a little bit in the half court as well and and create more offense, as opposed to what they've been doing in the end years past, where if they didn't get a steep which they often didn't because their defense was so bad they weren't really getting any points at all. So they're able to turn that around this year too.

Speaker 2: 16:42

Fair enough. Additionally, in the east, boston Celtics not a surprise have looked elite 99 to Philadelphia 76ers have looked great without James Harden. Tyrese Maxi, as you've mentioned, is completely stepped up and it's probably one of the favorites, foremost improved player. Joel and B is also been doing what he normally does as well. I am to buy his hair. It's has gotten a lot more touches without James Harden. As we mentioned, pacers are also sitting at third.

Speaker 2: 17:06

Miami made a little bit of a turnaround. Now they're sitting at seven and four, firmly in the top four seed Milwaukee Bucks on a little win streak here sitting at seven and four. Other than that, some surprises. Of that I would have. His pretty much. Cleveland Cavaliers are sitting at four and six. Jared Allen's been in and out of the lineup as he's been dealing with his injuries as well, so they haven't really had their full array of Of players, but still a little surprised to see them that low. So anything else that you wanted to touch on out of the east yeah, one thing about the Bucks is it doesn't look good, I'm sorry yeah, exactly Talent-wise we're gonna win games but it doesn't look good.

Speaker 1: 17:44

Yeah, it's another one of those things, too, where we were just talking about in this day and age with the NBA, you've got to have solid offense and everything. You've got to be able to score points, but you also have to somewhat be able to stop somebody. On defense. You just literally just swiss cheese out there every time somebody gets the ball on the other team. Just surprising. Like you and I are about to drop at least 15.

Speaker 2: 18:11

Yannis is a good defender. Brick Lope has a good defender. Jay Crouder, off the bench, has been notoriously known as being a good defender.

Speaker 1: 18:18

But a lot of those defenders that you just named are up there in age as well too. Yannis is 28. Well, other than Yannis, obviously. Yeah, fair enough, but I'm just saying they're missing the step for sure. They're currently ranked 24th out of 30 teams in defensive rating. My pistons are above them right now. So yeah, it's, I don't know, and on offense too, like yeah, they're scoring but they're on yeah, they're seventh right now in offensive rating.

Speaker 1: 18:56

But if you're going to be that low in defensive rating, you got to be like the Mavericks, who are second right now in offensive rating, only behind the UR Pacers. So Damn straight, I said, don't you forget it. One underrated thing, too that I like to look at for teams, especially if they have a below average offense, is how do they do on the boards so? Are they rebounding the ball? Are they getting missed shots? Are they preventing second chance points for the other team? And so that's one of the other things too that has been kind of surprising is that they're 25th right now in defensive rebounds. The other team is just oh, we missed a shot, okay, let's get up and get another shot. Oh, we missed that one too. Let's get a third shot. Oh, we missed that one. Again, it's the distance I'm talking about. We missed the end. Let's just get another one up. That's the Zyrtoms and that's getting all these rebounds too, but it's yeah, I don't know. They're a strange team to figure out for sure.

Speaker 2: 20:05

Fair enough.

Speaker 1: 20:08

One last thing too the Brooklyn Nets surprisingly been playing pretty well this far, and at least in terms of the betting market, they're currently covered every single game that they've played in. So I Think, going forward you know, maybe start to look too fade them, because obviously not gonna cover every game, but they have definitely been playing a lot better than what people were thinking that they're going to do. I think that currently Ben Simmons is hurt right now, but yeah, I just came out today saying that he was gonna miss a lot of time because it was confirmed that he has a Nerve irritation in his hip, so he's supposed to be out for foreseeable future.

Speaker 2: 20:53

But you're right, the net time look, and they're always entertaining team. One thing that I will point out you know I thought you were gonna point it out, so I wasn't even gonna say it, but I will give you your flowers after starting the season. Oh, in three. The Houston Rockets are now on a six game winning streak and a six and three, currently Third or fourth in the Western Conference.

Speaker 1: 21:12

They have wins against.

Speaker 2: 21:14

They had the first win against the Hornets, but they have beaten the Kings twice, the Lakers, yeah, pelicans, and they just beat the Buggits. So you know we like that. I can't even like. That's been surprising. They've been some very good talent in competition, so Also.

Speaker 1: 21:32

Also, though, like when they beat the, when they beat the Kings, they didn't have deer and Fox. When they beat the Lakers was on Think of the second night of the back-to-back for the Lakers, so it was. And I think when they, when they played against the Nuggets, they also didn't have.

Speaker 2: 21:50

Exactly so.

Speaker 1: 21:50

you can only play these in front of you, but yeah so I'm just saying like it's, it's like the wins that, the that the Seahawks have, they you know.

Speaker 2: 21:58

Okay, a little bit of competition, okay if you would have told me that the Lakers were playing the Rockets even because they, the Lakers, play when they play the Rockets. We didn't have AD, so we did have LeBron I still would have Favored the Lakers, which is why they were favorite, and the Nuggets were still favorite and stuff like that. But yeah the.

Speaker 2: 22:15

the Rockets have looked pretty good. They've been a very good defensive team over the past few Games on team to around under 100 points, so it's actually been pretty good that if they can just get their their offense going, then that'll make them definitely a more complete team.

Speaker 1: 22:32

I Can't even find them at the bottom of this list right here. Where are they, oh my god In offensively their 12th.

Speaker 2: 22:46

Inline defensively right, they might be blind.

Speaker 1: 22:50

Oh, yep, there they are. Yeah, 12th on on offense, which is kind of surprising, because it doesn't seem like they're 12th on offense based on how they move the ball around, or Defense there for, say so, borderline top 10 in both offense and defense.

Speaker 1: 23:03

So See, the Orlando Magic are another one of those teams to where they they're. They're playing 90s basketball. They're basically just, you know, shooting mid-range shots. I believe they they lead the league and and Are top five as well at points in the paint and they have the third least amount of three-point shots. Taken our attempt, I should say so they're. They're not winning in terms of like the math equation when they go against teams that shoot against three or shoot threes. However, their defense has been pretty stout In terms of the amount of points that they're allowing and stuff, and defensive rating wise, they are currently third right now, only behind the Celtics and the Timberwolves.

Speaker 2: 23:51

So like explain them again on Sunday, will be sure to get our get back. So yeah, that's pretty much it. Anything else that you wanted to get into in the NBA?

Speaker 1: 24:03

No, I don't believe. So you're getting a little nasally over there, so you might have to call it.

Speaker 2: 24:08

Out here, sick COVID sucks all that stuff. Well thank you for listening everybody. This has been the Kali shot podcast, with your host Alex Harrison drew more. You can find us whatever you can find your podcast and if you're watching this on YouTube, make sure to check our links at the bottom of the description for our social medias. Anything else true?

Speaker 1: 24:27

No, that's pretty much. It just making sure that you're liking subscribing. Make sure you download the podcast as well. Share it to all your friends, family and even your neighbor too, if you like them.

Speaker 2: 24:37

If you don't like them you can still share it to them.

Speaker 1: 24:40

Yeah, them, they, them, you know we'll see you next Wednesday. You.