Dave DuFour and Zena Keita react to the Paolo Banchero injury news and the Suns' incredible 3rd quarter against the Clippers. Then, Kelly Iko, Rockets beat writer at The Athletic joins to discuss the Rockets' win over the Mavs. Then, Dave and Zena breakdown Victor Wembanyama's 5x5 performance against the Jazz.Host: Dave DuFourWith: Zena KeitaExecutive Producer: Andrew Schlecht Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What happened to Paolo Banchero?
We got some news out of Orlando. Paolo Bancaro has suffered a torn right oblique. He's going to be out indefinitely and be reevaluated in four to six weeks. He's had a great start to the season, Zena. This is a huge change. blow to the magic in their quest to get back to the playoffs. I mean, right now you have to start wondering, you know, he's 29 points a game, nine rebounds, five assists.
He just had that 50 point game the other night. We got to start thinking, wow, who's going to pick up the slack for him while he's out? This is not exactly the deepest team in the East.
Chapter 2: How did the Magic respond to Banchero's injury?
Yeah, Paolo Bencaro is really at the core of everything that the Magic do offensively. Not only is he a shot maker in his own right, being able to get dribble drives into the basket and find a shot outside. He also is a playmaker for his team, averaging almost six assists.
It's going to be really interesting to see if Franz Wagner can finally have like an all-star campaign and make up for all of the usage that Paolo Bencaro has. Apollo's averaging about a 30% usage rate and Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner are both under 30%. This is their opportunity to step up, start making some big shots, stop, start taking and filling the gap essentially that Ben Carroll's leaving.
Yeah. And you know, they gotta be happy with the way that Suggs has started out because hopefully his offensive production helps him weather the storm a little storm a little bit. Um, the Grizzlies just slapped the buck silly, uh, one 22 99. And, um, The Bucs had no way to stop John Morant from getting to the paint in this game. He had a triple-double.
Zena, we've been talking about the Bucs' defense, and we'll get to that in a minute. I want to talk about the Grizzlies because they've had a weird start to the season. They've lost a few games. I mean, I understand the Brooklyn Nets look like a juggernaut right now with the way that they've been playing.
But John Morant only needed 29 minutes in this game because they just looked so good out there against the Bucs.
You know what's really scary, Dave? Seeing a John Morant walk back to his bench early in the third quarter, smiling, laughing, having a great time, having a ball. That's exactly what he was doing out there. I mean, at one point in the game tonight, Dave, from his bottom, John Morant threw up an alley-oop to Zach Eaddy.
Like, it was surreal how much fun and how quick-paced the Memphis Grizzlies were playing. They just fully overwhelmed the Bucs with their athleticism. And not always is that going to work, but it did against the Bucs because the Bucs looked disjointed on offense and defense.
But it's nice to see that the Grizzlies are taking advantage of their youth, and they're absolutely taking advantage of their pace and their size. That two-man game, whether it was Aldama or Edie, Morant being involved, they couldn't stop it. There was nothing you could stop.
Yeah. Yeah, Ja had 26, 14 assists, 10 rebounds. And honestly, the 10 rebounds to me is kind of an indictment. He's so small and the Bucs, their calling card is supposed to be playing big. But you know what, Zena, they were not very big in this game. Number one, no point of attack defense whatsoever. We know transition woes.
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Chapter 3: What was the outcome of the Suns vs. Clippers game?
Chapter 4: What are the key takeaways from the Rockets' win over the Mavs?
When he's that small ball destroyer in terms of rolling to the rim, downhill force, you saw late in the game he hit that tough mid-range floater in a time where they actually needed that bucket. Just being able to go small, EMA talked about he needed to get more space and he needed to give Fred and Jalen as much room to navigate as possible.
And the only way to do that is by taking off and out of the game.
I'm wondering if Alperin can potentially become a new Nikola Jokic in terms of being able to be a great passer. Because you talk about him being on the block. You want to have an inside-out game. He has the ability to pass. We saw it tonight. He averages about four assists a game. Do you think he can make that jump?
Yeah, I do. I do. Obviously, the key to assists is your teammates have to make the basket.
Facts. And sometimes he gets robbed.
And there are about five or six passes every game where he makes a killer pass and they either miss the shot or they weren't expecting it. But in terms of Al Prince processing speed, He could definitely reach those goals. It might take some time just because, you know, the biggest thing now for Jokic, he still has that three-point shot in his bag, right?
Even though it's not his, he won't rely on it, but he'll do it. He'll shoot if he has to. And you may try to get Alperin more comfortable with spacing the floor, taking those threes, even if it's only like two a game. As long as the defense knows they can't just wall up in the middle, knowing that you're able to step out and hit a three, that's going to be a big thing for him.
In terms of the passing, I think his passing is already pretty advanced for his size and his experience. But in terms of the overall package, like, for example, this season, He may have hampered down on him to become more of a screener. And I think last season, the Rockets scored about 10 points off of his screen assist. That number jumped to almost 17.
And adding Steven Adams, which is arguably the best screener of all time, is going to help a lot in that respect. But Alperin, he lost weight over the summer. He got stronger. And he really dug into the film and saw – Why screening is such an underrated skill in the half court and the angles he can create for all those guys.
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Chapter 5: Is Jalen Green making a leap this season?
Chapter 6: How did John Morant perform against the Bucks?
But it's nice to see that the Grizzlies are taking advantage of their youth, and they're absolutely taking advantage of their pace and their size. That two-man game, whether it was Aldama or Edie, Morant being involved, they couldn't stop it. There was nothing you could stop.
Yeah. Yeah, Ja had 26, 14 assists, 10 rebounds. And honestly, the 10 rebounds to me is kind of an indictment. He's so small and the Bucs, their calling card is supposed to be playing big. But you know what, Zena, they were not very big in this game. Number one, no point of attack defense whatsoever. We know transition woes.
They did not shoot the ball well, and that's what a lot of people are going to point to. but I thought their interior defense in this game was rough too. I mean, number one, yes, John Morant is getting two feet in the paint, almost every single possession. But just two years ago, we watched when Giannis and Brooke were able to cover that up. And I just don't think these guys can do it anymore.
You know, I look, they both maybe lost a step. Now Giannis is still one of the best players in the world. Brooke has definitely lost a step. Um, they're going to have to figure out a way to improve the point of attack defense. Or this team doesn't, again, could be a play-in team. They look so bad.
Absolutely. And I would say that it wasn't just, it could have been just this game because yes, it is hard to track Morant and a Zach Eady in a pick and roll or an Aldama in a pick and roll. But we've seen this in their few games. We saw this against the Celtics. We've seen this throughout the season already where they just do not know how to stop head down dribblers.
And so I'm not sure what the adjustments are going to be, but Damian Lillard is going to have to pick it up. Gary Trent Jr. Is going to have to pick it up. Got to make a shot.
Yeah, that's you. Yeah. Damian Lillard was one or 12, four points. And look, What is your job here? Like, what would you say you do here, Damian Lillard? Your job is to make shots. You're not playing defense, and we know that no one's going to ask you to do that. You have got to figure out a way to make some shots. And, Zena, speaking of making shots,
The Phoenix Suns were pretty ridiculous last night in their game against the Clippers. Now, the Clippers had a huge lead, and I was thinking, okay, we've got a blowout night. Now, we lucked out because the Rockets-Mavs, the Mavs came back. The Suns did come back, but in a ridiculous fashion. They were down 18 after halftime.
15 straight made shots, nine minutes and 20 seconds without a miss to start the third quarter of this game. And so they just tied the game back up. And next thing you know, Devin Booker's got 40 points and they just ran over the Clippers who ran out of gas.
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Chapter 7: What challenges are the Bucks facing this season?
So I think one of the bigger signs of growth from a young team like the Rockets is how to figure out those ugly games late in the fourth quarter where you see you have to withstand a Kyrie and Luka Doncic onslaught, and you're on the road in a tough crowd, and the offense is sluggish and stalling out. You have to figure out a way to crank out a dub.
And I think for the Rockets, and especially for Jalen Green, You're seeing that late in these games, they're putting all of their trust in him to figure things out on the fly. And in year one and year two, he might have taken some bad shots here and there, and he might not have had the most efficient night overall.
And even tonight, it was still a tough night because Dallas set their defensive game plan around Jalen Green, slowing him down. But you saw what Emay did in the fourth going small, opening up the driving lanes for him and allowing him to attack angles with the man Thompson as that small ball screener.
So I think this is a good – the process of the game might not have been great, but from a viewer perspective, that's kind of – it was kind of like a playoff. Oh, it was fun. It was fun, man. The records. It's an in-season tournament. Yeah. It's an in-season tournament kind of game, so it was a good experience.
I'm happy you brought up Jalen Green. We're going to talk about this, the decision to go small in a second, but Jalen Green has been a topic of conversation in terms of making the leap. Is he making the leap this year? Because it's one thing. Sure. You're averaging 28 points, et cetera. Your team isn't winning, but now you're averaging those points. You're closing out games.
You're making the big shots and you're getting big wins for your team. Is this the year for Jalen?
I think so. And this goes back to a lot of the work he put in over the summer to improve his overall efficiency. Now you're seeing, I think he's averaging the lowest turnover percentage he has in his career.
I think it's like seven and a half percent compared to a 31 and a half usage rate, which is telling you that, you know, this guy is taking care of the ball and they're giving him the lion's share of the offense. And obviously you can go back to the three-point shooting and shooting over 12 threes a game and he's hitting like 40%. The effective field goal percentage is up. The true shooting is up.
And he just looks like the game is slowing down. And you want to see that going from year three to year four. Everyone compares it to Anthony Edwards and the leap he took in year four. Now, obviously, it might not be the same because of different circumstances, but Jalen is a guy that...
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Chapter 8: What does the future look like for the Rockets?
And adding Steven Adams, which is arguably the best screener of all time, is going to help a lot in that respect. But Alperin, he lost weight over the summer. He got stronger. And he really dug into the film and saw – Why screening is such an underrated skill in the half court and the angles he can create for all those guys.
So to your point, you know, even if you were to go late in the game, you could still go small with Alperin if he's facing the floor and cutting as hard as he can. So it's really give or take depending on the nightly basis. But I think he's in a great spot.
Yeah, I mean, they've got a lot of options. The other thing is improved offensive rebounding from this team overall. Just see more of a concerted effort there. And certainly, having Steven Adams in the house, it's not going to hurt with that. Kelly Eco, go and read him over at The Athletic. He covers the Southwest Division for us over there. I mean, he really is just covering everything for us.
So go and read him. After the break, we're going to talk about Victor Wiminyama's ridiculous 5x5 game.
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Now, in case you guys haven't figured it out yet, this segment is where I try to unpack something that these guys are doing in the group chat or in our conversations. I'm just like trying to figure out what are their motivations when they're watching basketball. And but with Zena, it has been so obvious to me.
And so I start picking your brain and it's, you know, I know, you know, you played, you played in college and you played in the post. So it's super obvious to me that that's why you're always talking about these bigs. And I was thinking, you know what, what if we took a little time and we just talked about a couple of the bigs that showed out because you're so big.
on Biggs. Yes. Oh, I like it. Big on Biggs. Xena is big on Biggs. Yes, this is going to be like a love letter to Biggs because I feel like there's such an underappreciated part of the game these days. If you're not passing like Nikola Jokic or shooting outside like Joel Embiid or taking the ball up the court like Giannis Antetokounmpo, it feels as if they get forgotten and
And you don't know how important a good screen being set is, Dave. So yes, big on bigs. Let's talk about my favorite bigs of the night. Starting out with Wimbinyama. And not just because he's French and I'm also French. No, no, no. But my Frenchman showed up tonight and he did not the previous night. I know you and S talked about this against Chet Holmgren.
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