Raja Bell
Appearances
The Ringer NBA Show
Thunder Just One Win Away From an NBA Finals Appearance. Plus, Can the Knicks Reclaim Home Court? | Real Ones
1.6.
The Ringer NBA Show
Thunder Just One Win Away From an NBA Finals Appearance. Plus, Can the Knicks Reclaim Home Court? | Real Ones
Welcome back, bro. That man paid his time. He made a mistake. He did his time. He paid his penance.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
I mean, yeah, we're going to give it a shot. Typically, you don't see it as much in the playoffs, but still, the Knicks just have this stick-to-itiveness that is really interesting for me. I could convince myself that even if the Pacers run away 10, 12, 15 at some point because they hit one of these...
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
incredible transition runs and they're just lighting you up, the Knicks are still going to be there. And I like the physicality to win out over the course of time. The more physical football team wins, when they're reffing it like this, the more physical basketball team wins, usually the more physical hockey team wins, the more physical soccer team wins. I'm going to go with that.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Yeah, I think so. I think I'd be, I, you know what? I think he'd be the kind of dude that I'd be entertained by. Like I'd hate him, but I'd probably be cool with him because I, I, I just like his style. I kind of like, I like the, I like people with a little bit of shit about him. And for, you know, for whatever, man, he's got a lot of shit to him, man.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
And I'll tell you like this, you touched on it. I have Brunson as my, like, he, he's the number one closer, but Hallie is like right there. And if there is anybody that would, convince themselves first and foremost, right? Because that's what this is all about. Like, I got to believe that I'm as good a closer as you are.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Like, I don't think there's a piece of Halliburton that doesn't believe he could close like Jalen Brunson.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
If you said, hey, draw a comp to somebody he plays like, it's going to be really hard for me because he's just got this kind of unique flair to his game. I appreciate it.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Um, no, because with the, no, because I always hated those dudes when I was I was too close to it. I didn't have their perspective. I probably would have hated him. Like I would have hated him because he would have been annoying as hell and, and, and I'd want to fight him all the time, but no, I can't.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
I always, I was too deep in the trenches at that point to really have an appreciation for anyone.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Let's keep it a buck. Kobe was like that for me.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
You know who was like that? I use his name a lot. And like Kevin Martin was kind of like that, but Kevin Martin didn't have an arrogance. He was really understated. Like he was, he wasn't like a brash dude, but like, He had a weird kind of herky-jerky game. He was tough as hell to guard. Like, I hated guarding him. And I just had a lot of respect for his game, man.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Like, he's an interesting one for me. Deion Glover? I didn't play Glove. Glove is my guy. I didn't get to match up with Glove too much. Ira Newble?
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
ira's my guy so i played the cba with ira went to went to spurs camp they kept ira who they kept they kept they cut me they kept ira sean l scott and derrick dial and and i had to go back to the cba so those are my guys yeah i gotta tell you there was some calves seasons in there i was like you know i'm not you're gonna throw ira newbell out there for 15 minutes i don't hate it yeah yeah i like ira ira's tough man
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
did okc do enough in that denver series that makes you think of them differently now uh no i thought i mean you know i had them as a tier one western conference uh champion type of team i had minnesota and a few other teams in a slight tier two for me i don't think that's changed um I wasn't really given pause in the Denver series.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Yeah, I mean, it's going to be a really interesting summer for them because it's almost, you know, for me, I was saying a week or so ago, it's like the worst place to be in. If you're the Cavs, Dan Gilbert, and Kobe, it's that – You could make the excuse if you wanted to make the excuse to hang on and not have to shake it up at all. You could very easily hide behind what you said.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
These were things that I thought OKC was going to have to do in real time in terms of learning on the fly, learning how to close, learning how to withstand some turbulence in a series and still figure out a way to sustain game plans, momentum, play, and win series. So I don't think I've been moved either way on OKC. I would just say that
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
I think Minnesota might be closer to the tier than I had originally thought. In this particular series, I think I could make a case for either one of them. So I don't know that it's absolutely as clear-cut for me as it was coming in, but nothing OKC has done has shaken me on that. I just think I might have underestimated Minnesota, to be frank.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Yeah, for sure. And, you know, look, It was the concern we had coming into the postseason with them was if you were going to get the J. Will type of game to support SGA or not, was Chet going to be a viable number two or number three consistently through the playoffs? So if you're going to roll the dice as a team and say, we're taking SGA out of this by sending two... Yeah, I would be concerned.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
You would have to show me that those guys could carry in a way that would produce a win. That's just what it is. That's kind of the Achilles heel and what I still need to be convinced of for OKC. So, yes, they're better defensively, quite frankly, even without that, than Denver was. The zone is interesting because...
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
We had a couple injuries. Things just didn't go our way in terms of health. Having said that, I do think that fundamentally, from a roster perspective, if I could, I would explore what was out there. I... I like their nucleus. The question was posed to me about Garland.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
When you throw that zone and essentially the two top guys are in that double by assignment in a zone, the rotations are a lot clearer behind it. So when SGA gets off the ball, because we are kind of, you know, their assignments in a zone, like there's a little bit more clarity on who's going to make the run to that next pass.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Who's going to make the run to the pass after that, when you're in man, it leaves a little bit more up to interpretation, right? And like, we gotta be really assignment driven behind it. Do you know what I mean, Ryan? Like one person gets this wrong and the whole chain of events on a rotation and we're, and we've given up a wide open three, um,
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
So that could be a little challenge if they decide to do that from a Minnesota standpoint. But I do think if they can execute it, would I worry about OKC a little bit? Yeah, I'd be worried.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
You're being nice. They basically said, the rest of you all can't beat us. Yeah, that's what they said. They were like, yeah, we're not going to let him beat us. And we dare the rest of you to do it.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Dude, I don't know. What was this? When was the Heat Celtics? That was two years ago now? That series was two years ago? What, when it was the eight seed Heat? Yeah. And it was very similar. And I was losing my shit, not using Twitter or X in the right way because I just was venting. I was just... tweeting out, why can't we hit the middle of that zone?
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Why won't they throw the damn ball in the middle of the zone? Why can't we hit a short corner and flatten out the zone? I just couldn't imagine. But there's something to be said. You don't play against it a lot. Nobody practices it. If you don't weaponize it as a defense, as your own team, you're never going to see it in a practice situation.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
And you kind of take for granted that even pros, you tell them to do something and they should execute that. It doesn't always work like that. You have to be... going live against it, but Ryan, I don't know because even in game, what game was that man? Was it game three? Maybe they had, they had figured out like, uh, they had figured out how to like screen.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
That would be the one that if I could see what was out there on the market, that's just me personally, nothing against the player. But if I could find something else out there that made sense and only have to part with something like that, I would entertain it. I'm not a big blow-up guy. I think they're really close to it.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
They were kind of screening the top of the zone and then slipping the screener and they were spraying it quick to the wing. And then you had the middle touch and they did it for like four minutes and it like unlocked the zone. And then they, they never came back to it.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
I agree. I mean, that is general rule of thumb. If my team is not as talented as yours, and I don't think, you know, and you're well coached, so like I can't coach my team into an equal kind of position. Oh, I'm sitting in that 2-3. Oh, we're going to sit here all night. And so I would agree with you. I don't think it's, while I like the physicality,
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
And by the nature of like in the physicality, you're going to get some lower scoring games and some more grind you out type of games. I'm not here to watch teams break, you know, the code that is some of these funky zones that they can design. I don't love that for NBA basketball.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
But that was definitely concerning what happened in that series despite the injuries.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
For them, you know what you're going to get out of Ant. This is a lot of the time. It becomes about the others in the playoffs. It just becomes about what you're going to get consistently from someone else and who gets it more. It's a Team A or Team B. Julius Randle's been fantastic. I think you could...
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
You could make a case that Jalen Brunson's style of play, as great as it is, it doesn't really work for Julius Randle. You know what I mean? Just having the amount of live dribbles that he has in a game. Julius Randle needs touches and needs a little bit of a usage rate. It's just who he is. And you've got to figure out a way to put him with someone
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
who's, who's, who's better because like, he can't be your number one, but at the same time can allow him the breath to have a little bit of a usage rate. And I think they've, they've cracked that code. Um, and he's confident and, and you know, it's, again, this is a really crazy thing, but even professional athletes, um, You know, when they're not confident, they'll look like one player.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
And when they're riding some confidence and some self-belief and they have someone that believes in them can look like, I don't mean a different player, I mean like a polar opposite kind of player. And I think there's a little bit of that going on. So, yeah, he for me is the biggest question in the series from Minnesota's perspective. Which one will you get in this series?
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Yeah, he's a top five player for me. I like everything about how explosive he is. I like how he plays the entire game. I think that he's grown exponentially in the... All right, I'm the focal point of an offense. Teams are going to do X, Y, and Z to take me away, so let me learn how to control the game. I'll...
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
a la LeBron, a la Luka, those guys that have it and are just playmakers because you're not going to be able to score 50 because the defense says you're not going to be able to score 50 tonight. We're watching him grow up in real time.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
I still like him downhill a lot more than I think... I like him... This is weird because I know analytically it doesn't make sense and he's become a much better player because he's kind of streamlined the amount of mid-ranges he gets to. I still think there's space there for middie for him. Maybe not to the degree that it was there, but I still love him in the mid-range space.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
But yeah, one of my favorite players to watch.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Yeah, because of Ant. Because of Ant. I think they go hand in hand, but I would always fire my first bullet. I mean, it's... All right, let's go back. The question always becomes, hey, do you let the guy try to go for 50 and then cut everybody else off that would supplement the scoring, right?
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
So, like, you're going to have 50, but I'm not going to give anybody else more than six because I'm not going to allow you to feed them. And I don't think you can beat me like that. Or... do you, you know, do you make him have to get off of it and make the others beat you? I'm always going to fire at the first, at the ladder.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
I'm going to devise this defense to try to, you know, mitigate what Ant's going to be able to do and see if those guys can, can win games. So I would, my, my defensive strategy wouldn't be because I don't believe necessarily that like they're poor shooters, but I have to take care of first things first, which is, you know, Ant.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Yeah, I think, first of all, he's going to do what he does late in the game, period. So the question is, can you make the rest of those guys have to work in a way that might be uncomfortable for them to get them to that point, striking distance late in the game, right? Like to keep them in it. I think they have a unique formula. They got length and they have... you know, rangy defenders.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Yeah, I think it'll be time. I think it'll be time and situation driven, uh, just like it's been so far. Um, I think SGA is uniquely kind of talented and skilled to be the the exception to that rule that you're talking about that we hunt him five times and we're not going to score five times in a row, like a hot SGA, right.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Can be, can be, if you give me five times on Rudy, I'll give you four buckets real quick, you know, but they're not, I agree with your point, generally speaking, which is like, look, man, first of all, it's taking you out of rhythm of what you want to do offensively. If you're just going to hunt this guy and it's not providing enough to, to, to make it worth the while.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
I do think SGA could be the exception to that, but I think they're more organic minutes for Rudy. Just because of the bigs, because of the personnel that OKC is going to have on the floor. I do think that you'll see situational stuff with him, though. It's got to be. How does OKC play down the stretch of a game in terms of their personnel? We're in a four-point game with three minutes to go.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Now that hunting doesn't always become about... how many you whether you finish five in a row, as much as it becomes about the the the quality of shot you're going to get after milking 20 seconds off of the shot clock. Right. And then we're going to get pummeled on the offensive glass because Rudy's out here guarding SGA in the mid range.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
So like some of those things are going to have to figure out, you know, time, score, situation, personnel that OKC has on the floor. But I do think they're more organic minutes in the series for him.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Yeah, the more you see it as a defender, I mean, you might get us as help defenders the first time, maybe two times you get the switch. But if I see something three times in a row, I shouldn't be out there if I don't have an answer for how I can help my guy. I always tell my son Ty or any player that gets a switch, right?
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
But he's the one that I coach the most, so I wind up talking basketball through his lens and how I coach him. If you hunt it to get it, fine. Don't play around with it. Go get it. Once you get the ball, get after him. Whether that's you get into the bucket or that's you collapsing defense quickly. I use the analogy of a fishing lure, right?
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
When bass see something swimming really slow and methodical, they're like, yo, that's fake. I'm not hitting that. But if something flashes, you're going to have an immediate knee jerk to it. So that's the way I like to attack those mismatches. Just get at him. then you're going to get the collapse. And then you got to realize like, yeah, I got the mismatch, but it's only to ignite the play.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
The finish could be me if the help isn't sufficient and he doesn't do a great job, but the finish might be somewhere else. We just use the mismatch like that. We hunted to, to like initiate it. And like, I think, I don't think enough people follow those rules. So the Celtics hunt the mismatch to dance on the ball and, and then cast up a three.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Like that is not, that's not what we're hunting mismatches for. That's not, that's not the, that's not the essence of why you should do that. Right. And way too many, way too many dudes do that. Luca does that a lot. Where Luka's really good is where he hunts that mismatch.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
He gets deep into the paint two feet, and now he's collapsing stuff, and the ball starts spraying around, and he can knock down that jumper every once in a while. So I think you've got to get to it a little quicker, and I would agree with you. You show it to somebody too many times, they're going to get a beat on that.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Like, Halliburton's a rangy guy. Siakam out there is just as long as you can get. Miles moves his feet pretty well. You know, they have people that in a switch situation can really stay down and stay long. Like, with him, I watch him and... The question is, do you have to get close enough to him to give him your body as a defender?
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Yeah. That's really, that's really interesting. I mean, that's, that's, uh, Yeah, I could see where you're coming from with that. And again, like my guy is a ninth grader who would fall into kind of combo guard status. And the conversations with him are like, look, and this is the way I think it should work, right? Because a true point guard, like a conductor, right?
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
A setup man, an organizer, he's a quarterback, right? What you're saying is we're at the line of scrimmage and we're in this two-minute drill, man. We've got to make sure everybody's where they're supposed to be. I can't hike this ball. I can't start running this play before we have the floor space the right way and guys are where they're supposed to be. That's a learned skill set.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
That's not something that you just roll out and say, hey, you're playing point today because you have a combo guard skill set and I expect you to do all of that shit. It's not really being taught that way at the youth level. It's being taught in terms of... skill level scoring pick and roll reads for sure, but not like the mental side of like playing PG, you know?
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
And so, you know, what, what, what can I interrupt you there though?
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
And once you give him your body as a defender, he's just a master at a bump. Once you get bumped as a defender, you feel like you're at a disadvantage.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Totally. So to continue the analogy, what we're saying is like, look, you gave me the play. I know the progressions in that play, but my pre-snap look is not good for this fucking play. I got to get us into something different because that's not going to work. I know it. You know it sitting over there on the bench, but you're not out here in real time. So my job becomes to organize.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Yo, yo, check, check, check, check. We're doing that. And not too many PGs are being taught how to play in that space, right? They are this combo. They have the skill set. to your point, the predetermined. The skill's insane. It's insane. No, it's insane.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
But like, you know, it's really cool for me because I get to go out and I'm at the UA circuits and I'm at these Pangos camps and stuff like that. And every now and again, I'll see a dude who is like just a, a real general. And you're like, yo, that's pretty cool to watch, man. Like he might have 12 or 15 shit. He might have eight. But his team's always winning. They're always organized.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
He's getting it where it's supposed to go. And I'm a throwback guy, too. I'm a traditionalist. I love that. So as I speak to my boy, it's like, look, man, his skill set, I think, is more natural than kind of combo because he likes to score. He's got a little gifts in that realm.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
it puts me as the defender in a in a survival mode so the next thing you do typically i'm going to react to that so the bump in the head fake and you're getting a lot of people in the air because they feel like they're behind on the play right and so if you don't have to give him your body because you can space him with length and still challenge a jump shot that's the ideal situation for me looking at having to guard brunson and so you know i think they have some pieces um i i think you
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Um, but where, where I always tell him his bread is butter and he just doesn't know it yet is he really can, um, organize like, and, and quarterback, right. And like, have fun with playing it like this right now in high school, dude, like an early in high school, but like you, you're going to become a conductor and you're gonna be able to run a team because that's the, that's the priority.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Like scoring is scoring like shit. Every, every look, you're good enough. You're going to score buckets, but the mental, the mental capacity to like run a team, run an offense, time, score, get us in and out of things that are good. No one, when Ryan needs a touch, cause he's been asleep over there and now he's not defending. Like all of those things are, are, are kind of a lost art.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
And it's a really interesting thought because, you know, I hadn't really put two to two together in terms of like why Ryan, That's a dying breed, but it is. Everyone's a combo. Scoring is consuming a lot of that instruction for these young players, the skills that it takes to score a ball versus the skills that it would take to run a team.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
There are some advantageous switches for him as well, but I think the Pacers have a lot of length out there on the wing that could space him in a way where they don't have to react to all of that bumping and then reacting.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
18, 17, 16, 17.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Yeah.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Yeah, well, so it's a great question. And just to go back a little bit, you talk about TJ picking him up full court. The number one thing is just start to wear on him from the jump ball. You're not going to win this series in game one. So let's just start to kind of a la Houston with Steph Curry. Let's just start to pay the tolls early.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Let's get in front of it and just start to beat him up as much as we can, keep a body on him, make him have to work to bring it up the court. People... People don't realize the toll that that takes on a point guard physically and emotionally just to have to work. That's six seconds of work off every play. If you don't pick him up in the front court, you pick him up in the front court.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
He's working six seconds every play like that starts to take a toll. So starting there, that's important. Game plan wise, staying down is like. It was the same with D. Wade. Force him to screens, because D. Wade was a reject guy, and then stay down. No matter what happens, stay down. Make him have to finish over length.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
He does it very well, but like I learned pretty early in my career, and most people know this, Great offense is going to beat great defense. It's just going to beat it every time. There's nothing you're going to be able to do for a Kobe Bryant basically laying horizontal and shooting a 16-footer over a defensive possession that you felt like you did everything right on.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
So with a guy like Brunson, it's very similar. I'd like to... keep him on the perimeter as much as I could. Like if I could find ways to build those perceived walls as a team defense, that doesn't let him feel like he can get in those cracks and crevices. And then once he's in the mid post, I kind of, I have to be on his body, Ryan. So like that's his wheelhouse.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
I'd like to see if I could keep him maybe settling for, for more jumpers than, than he normally does. I think part of his brilliance as an offensive player specifically for that team is is that he does so much of that work in the paint. Anytime you can get in... This was my beef with Boston. It wasn't that they were shooting the threes as much as they were.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
It was how they decided to shoot them once they get hot. There was no real presence in the paint anymore. These were just, we're never going to explore whether we can collapse your defense and we're just going to cast threes. That's very different than collapsing the defense over and over again, right?
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
So if I can keep Brunson out of the middle of that paint, I'd like to explore every opportunity to do that. And then keep him off the foul line. It's always important. Off the foul line, which goes hand in hand with staying down with him. Once he gives it up, I always felt like if, again, we're playing this five, six game series in our mind.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Every time he gives it up, if I can make him work to catch it again in a spot that he's not the best in, because now he's got to work to get me to the spot where he wants to be. So I can get six seconds in the backcourt of extra work. He gives it up. I can get the couple seconds of, hey, having to pop out somewhere to get it where he doesn't want it.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
And then I get the extra work of having him get me to where he wants to score. That's a lot of work that accumulates on him, right? And this all goes into the game plan. Maybe not a great answer, but those are all things that would take their toll on a guy over the course of a series.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Yeah, well, let's just say, you know, what Caruso did to Jokic is kind of what I was saying that you want to do to any great scorer. When you're talking about chipping, I mean, it's essentially... you described it well in terms of just kind of muddying up the process of getting the ball.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
The way I kind of explain it on top of that is now, you know, because I fought him so hard and I've just basically surrendered to this fight, he's got to catch it three feet away from where he really wants to catch it. Right. And he's preoccupied with this fucking fight now. So now I've got him off of his spot, both mentally and physically. Like I've done my job.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Then it's, then it's up to like, whether or not I do get that second wave of support coming to help me or not. the way I approach that with, with like a cat, if I'm, if I'm anyone else is really a hundred percent predicated on whether or not he's cooking or not. If he's, you know, he's one of those where you'll get, you know, you got to put that fire out like cat.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
I mean, I might not have to build a defensive game plan to accommodate for him right off the bat. He might, he there's a world in that. He's not there. Do you know what I mean? So I think I would, if I were the Pacers, yeah, I'd have a, I'd have a game plan for it, but my primary would be Jalen Brunson. Like I'd expend every, you know, 97% of my scout time on like how we're going to defend that.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
And then, you know, cat, I think if he's working the post more than he's like stretching the floor and shooting, I think I might be all right with that. If I'm the Pacers, you know, if we keep getting that switch and he wants to go down there and play in the mid post and have his back to the basket, I think,
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
he can be more dangerous for them at times when he's spacing and then he's allowing Brunson to be in the middle of that paint and then all those other guys are able to operate around the rim because your big is attached to him.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Yeah. Look at this one. I've gone back and forth on, I was, I was firmly, you know, Nick's over the weekend. I was out at UA with my, my boy in Ohio. And I was, I was like, man, the Pacers can get them out on this highway and just get up and down. Like we, The Knicks could be in a world of hurt. And then I think I've come back to the Knicks, Ryan.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
I think for all the reasons you just talked about, and that's been the theme of this playoffs, right? In terms of the whistle that's being either, you know, gotten or not gotten. Like this has been physical. They've allowed these playoffs from the very jump. They've allowed a level of physicality that's kind of near and dear to my heart.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
Yeah, good to see you too. I didn't know we had self-proclaimed that, but hey. I'm not missing it, if it's the best.
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
How to Stop SGA and Brunson with Raja Bell. Plus, Conference Finals Preview.
I've been watching it and feeling real nostalgic every night on the couch. But if we're going to live in that world, I am taking the Knicks. I'm just taking them. They're physical. They'll grind you out. They just, you know, I don't know what it is, but it's going to sound real cliche. Like some teams just stop believing at some point in a game. Like down 12, late in the third.