heatcheck

Luka Doncic scored 45 points on 50% from the field and he had 12 rebounds and 8 assists with it. But even with this phenomenal game that he had, the Phoenix Suns are not only ok with it, but in fact, they have the Mavs, right where they want them. Let me explain. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. First of all, we all know how Dallas destroyed Utah on these switches with Gobert. When the Jazz tried to help him out, the ball started moving, found the shooter in the corner and splash. Well, things were a bit different with Phoenix. 1- they have guys like Bridges and Crowder who will fight hard on screens to recover, and the Suns were comfortable playing drop coverage with Ayton to force Luka to hit the midrange. But on the rare occasions when there was a full on switch with the big man on Doncic, check out the defensive rotation here on this play, as the Suns recover on every single spot, and the ball eventually gets back to Doncic for a stepback from way downtown that misses. Here’s possibly the craziest example of that. Bridges comes over to help his center. Luka swings it to Brunson and at this moment you see that Crowder goes there, and Bridges immediately sprints to the corner. Dude is such a crazy athlete that he got all the way there and actually blocked the shot. Amazing. Even with all of this, Dallas had a best case scenario in this game. They hit 16 threes on 41% and Doncic had a 45 point triple double- almost. And they still lost. That’s why I said, Phoenix got them right where they wanted them. MONTY DEFENSE INTERVIEW Brunson and Dinwiddie aren’t just blowing by like they did past Mitchell, so in this game they were held to 9 for 24 that’s 37% from the field. You can see right here CP3 on an island against Spencer, but he straight up snatches the ball away from him. Cam Johnson is big enough and quick enough to contest this drive without fouling, and all of a sudden you take away Dinwiddie’s ability to hurt you inside. Similar thing with Brunson. There’s no chance in the world that he could overpower Crowder on this post-up, so this ugly fling ends up as a miss. He did miss some open shots that he would normally make, so I expect some more help from him in the next games. But most of all, the size that Phoenix has on Dallas is going to be a problem in this series. This is easy money for a big guy like Ayton and you can see how he punishes the smaller guys on him. And to make it even more difficult, if you’re Kleber right here, you gotta jump out on the hand off, otherwise it’s a straight line for Booker for the layup or the midrange pop. So Maxi stops that but then immediately has to go back because Deandre is left down low with Doncic. Great effort but not quick enough as you can see the lob and the dunk. The Suns were +15 on the rebounds further cementing my point that the size is an issue, but as Monty Williams said it himself, they were +11 when it comes to assists and that’s a lot of problems if you’re the Mavs, so they need to go back to the drawing board and make adjustments for game 2. Either someone from the role players really steps up, or Doncic needs to go for 60. Let me know in the comments if you see a way out for Dallas. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

Last night the Warriors put the Nuggets to sleep in what was a hard fought game down the stretch. Steph Curry scored 9 of his 30 points in the last 3 and a half minutes including the dagger with this layup all around the Denver defense. Steph is leading all players in total clutch points in the playoffs so far, but let’s checkout who were the cold blooded killers in the regular season. What up everybody my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check, let’s get into it. Number 5 - Kevin Durant At number 5 we got the easy money sniper averaging 3.9 pts in the clutch. (Clutch - Last 5 minutes of games within 5 points) Durant played 28 tight games this season and scored 109 points total when it mattered the most. The most impressive game by KD was the battle of NYC when he dropped 7 of his 53 points in the last minute securing the win for the Nets. He almost got away with the game winner against the Mavs but then, at the last second Spencer Dinwiddie shocked everyone at the Barclays Center. Number 4 - Nikola Jokic The Joker balled out last night against the Warriors too, scoring 11 points in a row for Denver in the finish but wasn’t able to prolong the season for the Nuggets. However during the regular season, he was killing it, scoring 4.0 points per game in crunch time on 49.5%. Nothing represents this better than these classic takeover games against the Clippers and the Pelicans twice. Jokic scored 20 of his 49 points in the last 3 minutes of the 4Q and overtime and willed his team to the victory over the Clippers. And he single handedly outscored the Pels twice this season. On December 8, 17 - 14 in the last 3 minutes of the 4th Q and overtime. And again on March 6, 24 - 20 in the clutch for yet another win. Number 3 - DeMar DeRozan Coming in at number 3 we got the master of the mid-range - Demar Derozan. Deebo averages 4.1 points in the last 5 minutes of games that went down to the wire. During crunchtime Demar scored 157 points total on an amazing 53.5% shooting. Talking about amazing stuff, Derozan had himself a pretty amazing back 2 back game winners on the road against the Pacers and the Wizards. He’s not a great 3 point shooter, but somehow managed to nail these tightly-contested threes and secure his name in the clutch conversation. Number 2 - Joel Embiid In a game against Charlotte earlier in the season, Embiid scored 13 out of the 16 points that the sixers had in the 4th quarter and overtime. 13 out of 16, that’s proper hero mode. And it’s hela clutch. Joel had an even bigger game against Minnesota, dropping 20 clutch points in a double overtime thriller but unfortunately for him, Philly lost that one at the end. Embiid had 4.4 clutch points this season at 47.0% from the field and he’s second on this list. Number 1 - Ja Morant And finally, at number 1 we got Ja Morant. I guess he is not the first to come to mind when it comes to most points in the clutch but at 4.6 points in the last 5 minutes of close games, Ja led the league in this category. Against Phoenix he had a game winner that was pretty much the same play call as the one from game 5 from a few days ago. And against Cleveland he scored 10 points in the last 4 minutes of the game to secure the win for the Grizzlies. At 42.0% however Ja is on the low end on this list when it comes to efficiency but you can see that some of these shots are extremely tough so I give him the benefit of the doubt. Let me know in the comments who surprised you the most in the top 5. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

This was one of the most insane finishes we’ve seen in this year’s playoffs, so let me break down how these 2 final plays were drawn up and also give you a few extra smart plays from last night’s games. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. First we gotta start with the game tying three. With KAT being 5/7 from downtown, you know the attention is on him, but on the inbounds, he quickly hands it off to Mclaughlin who can now raise up from three or go inside for a quick 2. However with the defense watching the ball handler, Mcdaniels goes outside to set a back screen for Edwards who slides to the corner. As we play it slowly, you see that moments before that happens, Morant knows that the play is for Ant and tries to go there, but it all happens in the blink of an eye, and Edwards got just enough time to let it fly over the great contest from Clark, and knock it down. Great play call from Chris Finch. And this would have taken it into overtime but you know what happens next. With 3 guys on the baseline, Anderson clears out and Morant initially goes to set a pick for Jones, but then immediately goes up top and gets a screen himself from Bane. This was just a slight bump, enough to get Edwards trailing, and as Ja gets the ball, Ant makes a big mistake by trying to go for the steal on the outside, instead of trying to recover inside and be in front of Morant. So with him out of the play, Ja has a straight line to the basket, a good contest by Vanderbilt but the incredible acrobatic finish by Morant giving Memphis the win and a 3-2 lead in this amazing series so far. We had a few more interesting plays from the other 2 games, so let’s quickly go through them as well. On the out of bounds play, initially this could look like something for Oladipo as he starts his motion. But then he stops midway through and screens for Strus, who as he’s coming out of that, has another screener in Adebayo waiting for him. So Strus runs to the corner, fires away and buries it. And here’s another quick one. Follow Vincent on the inbounds quickly turning and setting a screen for Strus. You see that Max should curl all the way out here and get the handoff from Bam. And since the Hawks switch that, look at all that space that now Gabe has to cut to the basket, the bounce pass, and the finish through contact. Crowder did a similar thing on this play for Johnson, but he didn’t even set the screen, rather slipped it, and cut straight to the rim. And as we let it roll, you see just how open he found himself for the easy 2 points. Talking about this game, I gotta give a major shoutout to Mikal Bridges, who despite scoring 31 points on 12 for 17 from the field, he did a phenomenal job defensively as you can see on these examples. Bridges guarded CJ McCollum on 36 plays and held him to 10 points on 3/11 shooting and defended Brandon Ingram for 34 plays, held him to 7 points along with 3 turnovers. Incredible. On the topic of defense, I also wanted to show you the phenomenal job the Heat did defensively in the final seconds, as they didn’t allow Atlanta to even get off a shot at the end. So Miami wins 4-1 and advances to the second round. As always, let me know in the comments which one was your favorite. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

With 5 minutes left in the season, this was the level of urgency for Kyrie Irving. Dude was chillin with his hands on his hips watching KD fighting with every ounce of energy he had left. Irving has a history of mentally tuning out of games, and he did it again in this game. Let me show you what happened. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. On the rebound, if we stop it right here, you see that at this moment Kyrie is pretty much in line with all of these players. But while they all hustle on the fast break, as we let it roll, notice how Kyrie trails behind and ends up being the last one in the back, leaving Durant to do the work. And that was the story throughout this entire game. While KD wanted to go down swinging and took 31 shots, and was clearly aggressive in wanting the ball- you can see Irving on all of these examples just watching in the corner, and barely even moving. It wasn’t even the fact that he went 6 for 13 in an elimination game when he should have been attacking more, but this type of standing around is a horrible look for your superstar player. Right here the Celtics are obviously loaded up on Durant to deny the ball, Kyrie doesn’t even try to get the ball, despite having the much slower Al Horford on him. Boston would gladly let Brown be the one who beats them, and this ends with a miss. This is even worse. With KD on the bench, you know who needs to provide for the Nets offensively. But instead, watch him stand around here and just observe this 2 man game between Curry and Blake that got nothing for them and with no better idea Griffin launches this 3 that misses. It’s so strange because Irving was phenomenal in game 1, but ever since then he was nowhere to be found and the Nets offense was basically 4 guys watching KD go hero mode and take tough shots against different Celtics defenders. This is a deeper issue for them, and it has to do with Durant himself, how the roster is constructed and probably even the coaching staff and their strategy. Speaking of the team as a whole, what in the world were they thinking in this situation. First of all, why is Kyrie rebounding with Blake Griffin outside? Why would you not even give yourself a better chance to get the ball? And since they don’t get it, why isn’t the trap or the foul coming right away from these 2 players, but rather Dragic comes from way out here and leaves Smart alone in a fast break opportunity. And in a scramble situation, you see how that ends with Horford sealing the deal for Boston. As I said, Brooklyn has a lot to solve in this off season. In terms of strategy- both offensively and defensively, then they need to make some roster changes and add some size, but lastly, the attitude definitely has to improve and you can’t have 1 of your superstar players just disappear midway through the series, and not even be interested in the closing game at home. For a player of Irving’s caliber, to me that’s unacceptable. Let me know in the comments what you think is the biggest thing that the Nets need to improve. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

This was a perfect execution exactly how Doc drew it up. And last night there were a few of these plays so I wanted to break them down for you. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. I love this play call from Boston. On the hand off, we see that this is a double screen for Tatum to come out here, but he curls middle on the first one, and as Drummond jumps to protect that driving lane, at the same time Theis rolls to the rim, the great find by Tatum and the layup. Check out once again this slick pass from Tatum to the rolling Theis. Again, Tatum drives right but as he’s double teamed, he sees Williams all the way on the other side, and as he throws the pass, Smart is also aware of the situation and sets a back screen here so that Grant has an open look for this shot and he knocks it down. Grant Williams played a huge role in the Celtics win last night. Check out the value of a big man who can stretch the floor for the Bulls. On this high pick, Vucevic pops out and you see that Giannis doesn’t want to leave him open so he jumps over there. This leaves Patrick Williams over here with an open lane to cut inside and get an easy bucket. Caruso dished out 10 assists but this was the most beautiful one. And another play for Vuc, as we stop it right here, you see that Caruso sets one pick, and Zach Lavine is over here and will come over to set another one for Vuc to curl along the baseline and come out here, so when he gets it, Lopez is trailing behind, unable to close out, and this shot for NIkola goes in. Vuc chipped in a huge double double to help the Bulls get the win. Right here we see that Embiid is double teamed so he’ll pass out of it creating a 3 on 2 on this side. And I like that Maxey fakes the corner pass, and tries to sneak one in the middle, so now Boucher has to come back under the basket, and when Milton finds Niang, this is too much back and forth for Boucher so there’s an open shot and Niang hits the three. Again check this great ball movement by Philly for Niang’s 3 in full speed. The Nets are down 2, a surprising win for the Bulls and a sweet revenge game winner by Embiid, let me know in the comments If you expected any of this to happen. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one, peace out.

Down by 8 in the second quarter, Steve Kerr pulled the ace out of his sleeve and went ultra small, reminding us of that legendary death lineup that Golden State had a few years ago. The result was a 22-6 run in just 5 minutes, to completely turn things around and take control of the game that they kept until the end. The Warriors with Curry, Thompson, Poole, Wiggins and Green so far have been unguardable, and the statistics are hard to believe. So let me show you what makes them deadly. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. Having Draymond as the center setting a high screen for the best shooter in NBA history, and with 3 other great shooters spread out on the perimeter, means that Jokic is left on an island picking his poison between the 3 or the drive. Steph blows by him, and the help defense is reluctant to fully help off of the shooters and you have an easy layup. Again, with Klay backing down the much smaller Morris on the block, if we stop it here, we see that he can take his time because everyone else is a knockdown threat, except for Draymond of course, but a help off of him would leave him with a straight line to the basket and probably a dunk. So, Thompson has this opportunity just for himself and uses it. And to avoid another situation like that, if we stop it right here on the Klay screen for Curry, you see that Morris wants to stay on Steph, but he’s already too far behind so this would have been an open shot. Gordon has to jump in and switch, and the poor defensive communication allows Klay another easy layup. So now take a look at the insane numbers. During the first 2 games, this lineup has played together only about 6 minutes per game but this has been the most efficient group for them by far, scoring 23.5 points per game on 77.3% from the field and 87.5% from downtown. The Nuggets are not a defensive juggernaut as it is so they’ve really had trouble handling this 5 men group. The key to being able to play these guys at the same time is of course Draymond’s unique ability to guard much bigger fives than him. As we roll this highlights, just check out the fight that he’s showing against what’s probably going to end up being the MVP in Jokic. Some of these shots are heavily contested, making things very difficult for Nikola. Of course, you can not completely stop the serbian, especially as an undersized big man, but you can see the phenomenal defensive effort that Draymond displays is making a huge impact during these minutes of small ball for the Warriors. All in all, we see that Steph and Klay are getting into a nice rhythm and Poole can be the X-factor that they’ve hoped that he can become. So in a situation like this, although I had them in 6 games, I’m afraid that this series might turn out to be a shorter one, as the Warriors are getting back to their early season form again. Let me know in the comments what do you think? Are they finally back? Or can the Nuggets even things out on their home court? That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

This is the moment that decided everything. In a scramble situation, on the kick out, Tatum goes to the basket for what he thinks would be a shot by Smart, but his defender KD gets caught up watching the ball. And just moments later, this loss of concentration by Durant gets punished with an instant classic moment and the game winner by Tatum. However, as memorable as this would turn out to be, it was actually the Celtics defense on Durant and overall against Brooklyn that won them this game. And I’ll break down everything for you. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. This is pretty much what the game plan was for the Celtics defensively. Have Grant Williams as the primary guy, but then as soon as Durant puts the ball on the floor, have everyone else shrink and close the driving lane. Make somebody else take the shot. This was even more obvious in this example when Kyrie wasn’t in the game. On the handoff from Dragic as we stop it right here, you see Williams attached to the hip, and Al Horford closing the driving lane. At the same time, notice how White is watching Dragic, meaning that he’s ready to rotate over there if there’s a pass outside, and Tatum is splitting the difference between his guy out here, and Claxton, so that he’s ready to rotate down here if the pass goes to the big man. As we let it roll, KD takes a contested shot which of course he can make, but this execution is all that you ask from the players if you’re Ime Udoka. Again, on the drive, Kevin is swarmed by Boston players, and check out the textbook example of going vertical and contesting the layup cleanly. The body contact, no foul and another miss. (AL Odbrana 1, pa snimanoto od 3Q pa snimanoto od 4Q) And I gotta give a major shoutout to Al Horford who as an almost 36 year old did a phenomenal job on multiple switches against Durant. To be able to keep up with one of the deadliest scorers in NBA history at his age is unbelievable, and this is just a stunning possession. As you can see Kevin has Horford on an island way out here, with room to go both left and right. But check out the incredible defense by Al, literally hounding Durant all over the perimeter, eventually forcing a tough fadeaway with the shot clock expiring and a bad miss. This was absolutely amazing. The Celtics have a lot of long and athletic guys to throw at KD, whether that is Tatum like in this situation, or Brown right here following the action and getting another block, they really made it difficult for him. Even with all of that however, Kyrie still went nuclear on Boston, and the Nets almost won the game. This is going to be the story for the rest of this series, as the Celtics will have to pick their poison and shut down 1 only to have the other guy explode. But as long as they keep playing this type of defense, and the size advantage that they have, they are in a good position. Before the series I picked the Nets in 7 and although they almost won game 1 on the road, I’m much higher on the Celtics right now. Still there’s no switching and I’m staying with my pick. Brooklyn in 7. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

On this play, the Clippers decide to trap Brandon Ingram and take the ball out of his hands, but what he thinks instead is a crossover and a drive along the left side. Ingram does just that, but at this moment we have 3 Clippers defenders all over Ingram. That doesn’t matter to him because he’s going to raise up above all of them for this phenomenal one legged fadeaway that swishes. We saw last night both with Trae and B.I. that when they decide they’re going to score, there’s literally nothing that will stop them. Let me show you what makes them unguardable. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. Look at the beautiful movement here by Brandon. The little hop, the bump to create separation, the stepback and the bucket. Amazing. You can see that Ingram is such a freak athlete that whenever Terrance Mann is on him, it just feels like practice, like shooting over a chair. We saw examples of that both against Mann, and also against Reggie Jackson and even Norman Powell who seemed to at least pressure Ingram the most. But still, the result was always the same. Bang. And you can see how he blows by bigger guys like Batum in this situation all the way for the jam, and the exact same thing happened with Covington on this possession. It’s really unfortunate that PG couldn’t play as of course he would have been the perfect matchup for him defensively. So now the only option for the Clippers is to trap Ingram and get the ball out of his hands, but you can see how that opens the entire floor for the rest of the Pelicans. Right here in the clutch we got 2 straight possessions with that double, and Ingram passes out of it, so now we have a rotation that eventually ends with a C.J. midrange in this first clip, and right here, the pass, the swing to the shooter Trey Murphy who fires away aaaand gets the friendly bounce. And if you thought that this was unstoppable, what can you even say about these shots from Trae. Seriously, is the big man supposed to come up way out here to contest this shot? Because if he doesn’t you see exactly what the punishment is. Btw, out of sheer desperation, Lauri Markannen had to do that on these switches, and you can see how that resulted. With a blow by on the first step and a drive inside either for the floater or the layup. In the second half Trae Young scored or assisted on 43 out of the 56 points that Atlanta scored. Meaning that this was a hero taking matters into his own hands and doing literally everything he possibly could to get the win for his team. These are the games where heroes are born. When it’s the toughest, and it matters the most. These 2 superstars showed that they can take the pressure on their shoulders and deliver big time. Their reward unfortunately are the number 1 seeded Miami and Phoenix respectively but let them enjoy their playoff berth at least today. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

On the pick and roll, look at where Galinari gets the ball. He’s at the three point line. Meanwhile, the Hornets are so distracted by Hunter moving out to the corner, that they literally won’t notice one of the slowest guys on the court limping his way to the basket. And as we let it roll, you see Danilo, slowly but surely drive completely uncontested for the dunk. It seemed like Charlotte did not come ready to play the most important game of the season for them, as this was some of the worst defense that I’ve seen from them all year. You gotta see some of this. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. In transition, as we stop it here, you see that Capella is slipping this pick. But that’s enough to catch Rozier on the wrong foot, as he wasn’t even planning to try and fight through it. No effort whatsoever, so Young just blows by him, and obviously now we have a 2 on 1 situation with the big man rolling to the rim, and Trae’s no-look pass adds some extra sauce on this and we got another dunk. Again, this is unacceptable. In transition, Rozier allows this quasi screen to take him out, and there’s no communication for a switch so Trae just runs past 2 defenders straight through the middle, and you know the rest, the lob and the jam. Here’s another display of matador defense. Young takes off and has a free lane without any bump or contact by Ball. Rozier is somehow more worried about Capella at the three point line, so as Young gets to the paint, now there are 4 players around him and he can literally pass it to whoever he wants. He fools all 4 Hornets with this no look bounce pass to the sneaking Hunter, and another easy finish. We got a similar situation, and another miscommunication by the defense. On the ghost screen by Bogi, both Washington and Martin go after him, 1 thinking it’s a switch, and the other sticking to his man. So look at all that space for Trae to get into a rhythm for his patented floater, and of course this goes in. Even the commentators noticed it during the broadcast and they all agreed that the Hornets did not display any sense of urgency during this game. Although this was the main issue for Charlotte, I also feel like the matchups didn’t go their way. On this play, as Trae Young brings the ball up court, and we stop it right here, this looks like a single double action for Huerter. Meaning, a single screen on this side, and a double on this side for him to pick where to come off of. But thing is, Trae geniuosly recognizes that Kevin has the much smaller IT on him so he scratches the entire play and just lobs it towards the basket. And Huerter just easily catches it and lays it in. And while this is an obvious example with Isaiah being one of the shortest guys in the league, this happened on multiple positions. Deandre Hunter straight up bulldozed through the defense a few times, and look at this monster rebound and the putback, as if he’s playing against children. But then again, he got some very easy buckets as well courtesy of the defense. Like this transition, where he’s the trailer but nobody even sees him. All 5 Hornets are in the paint, so when he catches the ball, check out all this time and space for him to get set, lick his finger and check the wind before firing away and knocking it down from outside. This is not how you play defense, especially in the play-in tournament. Atlanta is 1 win away from the playoffs so let me know who you got between them and the Cavs. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

On the pick and roll, look at where Galinari gets the ball. He’s at the three point line. Meanwhile, the Hornets are so distracted by Hunter moving out to the corner, that they literally won’t notice one of the slowest guys on the court limping his way to the basket. And as we let it roll, you see Danilo, slowly but surely drive completely uncontested for the dunk. It seemed like Charlotte did not come ready to play the most important game of the season for them, as this was some of the worst defense that I’ve seen from them all year. You gotta see some of this. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. In transition, as we stop it here, you see that Capella is slipping this pick. But that’s enough to catch Rozier on the wrong foot, as he wasn’t even planning to try and fight through it. No effort whatsoever, so Young just blows by him, and obviously now we have a 2 on 1 situation with the big man rolling to the rim, and Trae’s no-look pass adds some extra sauce on this and we got another dunk. Again, this is unacceptable. In transition, Rozier allows this quasi screen to take him out, and there’s no communication for a switch so Trae just runs past 2 defenders straight through the middle, and you know the rest, the lob and the jam. Here’s another display of matador defense. Young takes off and has a free lane without any bump or contact by Ball. Rozier is somehow more worried about Capella at the three point line, so as Young gets to the paint, now there are 4 players around him and he can literally pass it to whoever he wants. He fools all 4 Hornets with this no look bounce pass to the sneaking Hunter, and another easy finish. We got a similar situation, and another miscommunication by the defense. On the ghost screen by Bogi, both Washington and Martin go after him, 1 thinking it’s a switch, and the other sticking to his man. So look at all that space for Trae to get into a rhythm for his patented floater, and of course this goes in. Even the commentators noticed it during the broadcast and they all agreed that the Hornets did not display any sense of urgency during this game. Although this was the main issue for Charlotte, I also feel like the matchups didn’t go their way. On this play, as Trae Young brings the ball up court, and we stop it right here, this looks like a single double action for Huerter. Meaning, a single screen on this side, and a double on this side for him to pick where to come off of. But thing is, Trae geniuosly recognizes that Kevin has the much smaller IT on him so he scratches the entire play and just lobs it towards the basket. And Huerter just easily catches it and lays it in. And while this is an obvious example with Isaiah being one of the shortest guys in the league, this happened on multiple positions. Deandre Hunter straight up bulldozed through the defense a few times, and look at this monster rebound and the putback, as if he’s playing against children. But then again, he got some very easy buckets as well courtesy of the defense. Like this transition, where he’s the trailer but nobody even sees him. All 5 Hornets are in the paint, so when he catches the ball, check out all this time and space for him to get set, lick his finger and check the wind before firing away and knocking it down from outside. This is not how you play defense, especially in the play-in tournament. Atlanta is 1 win away from the playoffs so let me know who you got between them and the Cavs. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

In an elimination game where Karl Towns only played 24 minutes due to constantly being in foul trouble, and with the Clippers having a 10 point lead in the fourth quarter, how in the world did Minnesota win this game? This was a coming out party for Anthony Edwards, and a confirmation of Chris Finch’s system. Let me break it down. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. Offensively it was all about Russell and Edwards for the Timberwolves. They looked for their opportunities out of the pick and roll and I love that their attitude was to attack. You can see on these clips that both D-Lo and Anthony were able to penetrate the defense and finish inside the paint. Right here I love the patience by Russell, he calls and waits for the screen, then he snakes the pick and roll and keeps his defender on his back, Zubac drops to watch the roller, which leaves space for this nice little floater. Again, the patience in this situation as well, he attacks the switch initially, but then as the defender is closing in on him, watch this bump to create the separation and step back for the jumper. Swish. Moving on to Edwards, look at how strong this drive is. He had a bunch of those and for a sophomore playing in a pressure type of game he was phenomenal. 30 points and 5 rebounds on 10-21 from the field and 5-11 from downtown. The wolves fans look for the future in him and he did not disappoint in his first high stakes game. BTW Minnesota completely outhustled the Clippers and finished the game with 10 more rebounds and as you saw, 12 more points in the paint. That’s exactly how they made a comeback from down 10 with 9 minutes to go. This is where Minnesota really put the clamps on them forcing 6 turnovers in the final stretch. Look at this effort, the intensity on defense, that got them back in the game and eventually the win. And we can not talk about defense and effort without mentioning Patrick Beverley. Dude was all over the floor forcing turnovers, right here look at him fighting on defense against the much taller Paul George and impacting his shot, and take a look at this 1 on 1 defense against Batum on the fast break and dude got a block on him. Unbelievable. You know how people say about some smaller players that they play much bigger than their size? Well not only that but Pat Bev also plays much bigger than his talent level in my opinion. For a guy having a modest statline, he finds ways to always be impactful strictly by his effort. And I absolutely love it. After the game, it was madness in the Target Center with Beverly and Edwards jumping on the scorers table, people crying and overall a crazy atmosphere. And it didn’t stop there, as you can probably imagine Pat had something to say in the postgame as well. A lot of people hoped to get a shootout between the young teams of Memphis and Minnesota and now we got just that. I’m super excited for it as well, and it all starts on Saturday. Let me know in the comments who you got in this matchup. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

In an elimination game where Karl Towns only played 24 minutes due to constantly being in foul trouble, and with the Clippers having a 10 point lead in the fourth quarter, how in the world did Minnesota win this game? This was a coming out party for Anthony Edwards, and a confirmation of Chris Finch’s system. Let me break it down. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. Offensively it was all about Russell and Edwards for the Timberwolves. They looked for their opportunities out of the pick and roll and I love that their attitude was to attack. You can see on these clips that both D-Lo and Anthony were able to penetrate the defense and finish inside the paint. Right here I love the patience by Russell, he calls and waits for the screen, then he snakes the pick and roll and keeps his defender on his back, Zubac drops to watch the roller, which leaves space for this nice little floater. Again, the patience in this situation as well, he attacks the switch initially, but then as the defender is closing in on him, watch this bump to create the separation and step back for the jumper. Swish. Moving on to Edwards, look at how strong this drive is. He had a bunch of those and for a sophomore playing in a pressure type of game he was phenomenal. 30 points and 5 rebounds on 10-21 from the field and 5-11 from downtown. The wolves fans look for the future in him and he did not disappoint in his first high stakes game. BTW Minnesota completely outhustled the Clippers and finished the game with 10 more rebounds and as you saw, 12 more points in the paint. That’s exactly how they made a comeback from down 10 with 9 minutes to go. This is where Minnesota really put the clamps on them forcing 6 turnovers in the final stretch. Look at this effort, the intensity on defense, that got them back in the game and eventually the win. And we can not talk about defense and effort without mentioning Patrick Beverley. Dude was all over the floor forcing turnovers, right here look at him fighting on defense against the much taller Paul George and impacting his shot, and take a look at this 1 on 1 defense against Batum on the fast break and dude got a block on him. Unbelievable. You know how people say about some smaller players that they play much bigger than their size? Well not only that but Pat Bev also plays much bigger than his talent level in my opinion. For a guy having a modest statline, he finds ways to always be impactful strictly by his effort. And I absolutely love it. After the game, it was madness in the Target Center with Beverly and Edwards jumping on the scorers table, people crying and overall a crazy atmosphere. And it didn’t stop there, as you can probably imagine Pat had something to say in the postgame as well. A lot of people hoped to get a shootout between the young teams of Memphis and Minnesota and now we got just that. I’m super excited for it as well, and it all starts on Saturday. Let me know in the comments who you got in this matchup. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

Luka Doncic got injured and this changes everything, the Lakers are firing Frank Vogel, Jrue Holiday got a 300.000 dollar bonus to only play 8 seconds, and Kevin Love scored 32 points and 10 rebounds in 14 minutes. Wait what?! The last day of the NBA season turned out to be the wildest one. Let me break down everything. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. Luka Doncic got a technical 2 days ago, that was supposed to be his 16th of the season and with that be suspended for the final game of the year. However, that got reviewed and rescinded by the NBA so he was eligible to play, and contrary to all the unwritten rules about playing your stars in meaningless games, he was on the court. And the worst thing that could have possibly happened, really happened for the Mavs. Luka suffered a strained calf, an injury that could change everything for Dallas. Players who got that same injury this season, rested for 16 days on average. The quickest turnaround was 3 days however so of course that’s what Dallas fans are hoping for but judging by how Doncic was helped off the floor, and especially judging by what can happen if you rush and come back too quickly. Just ask KD, he wasn’t fully healed from his calf strain in the finals, and we all know the rest. We’ll see if Luka misses games in the playoffs, and how he looks when he actually plays. Moving on, this right here is Jrue Holiday at tip off, and as the Cavs secure possession, he goes and commits a foul, and subs himself out just 8 seconds into the game. As you can see they are all smiles on the bench and guys are even congratulating him. The reason for this is that Holiday had a bonus in his contract for a minimum of 67 games played, and this was his 67th game of the season. So he literally stepped on the floor to secure the bag, and didn’t want to risk anything beyond that. None of the Bucks were playing anyways and Giannis was messing around offering popcorn to the refs, so it was all fun for them on the last game of the season. Wayne Ellington vs Facu Campazzo might be the most bizarre fight ever, but Ellington threatened publicly with this tweet after the game, and honestly he has a good reason for it. Campazzo blindsided him with this hit and sent him straight to the floor. He got an ejection for it btw. And literally 1 second after the final buzzer sounded for the Lakers, Woj tweeted this, announcing that the Lakers will fire Frank Vogel. Vogel himself had a spicy response as he was asked about it in the postgame. The fact that Woj even got the info, and that he got it before Vogel, that guy that should have known first, to me this confirms what I’ve been saying for a long time now in my videos. The Lakers dysfunction runs a lot deeper than just the coach, or just 1 player. This is not how you run a franchise, and this is definitely not how you announce a coaching change. Ok let’s move on to more positive news. Kevin Love was blazing hot last night, dropping 32 points and 10 rebounds while playing just 14 and a half minutes. That’s crazy. ANd he didn’t even need to play any more as the Cavs blew out Milwaukee who as we saw, played with their end of the bench guys. This isn’t strange for Love, if you remember back in 2016 he went God mode scoring 34 points in 1 quarter. And finally this is a fitting stat for the end of the season, teams from the east had a winning record in games against the western conference teams. A narrow victory of 226 to 224. This is just the second time it happened in 23 years which is stunning how dominating the West has been. The fun part starts soon, so tomorrow we’ll go deeper into the play in and playoff matchups. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

Luka Doncic got injured and this changes everything, the Lakers are firing Frank Vogel, Jrue Holiday got a 300.000 dollar bonus to only play 8 seconds, and Kevin Love scored 32 points and 10 rebounds in 14 minutes. Wait what?! The last day of the NBA season turned out to be the wildest one. Let me break down everything. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. Luka Doncic got a technical 2 days ago, that was supposed to be his 16th of the season and with that be suspended for the final game of the year. However, that got reviewed and rescinded by the NBA so he was eligible to play, and contrary to all the unwritten rules about playing your stars in meaningless games, he was on the court. And the worst thing that could have possibly happened, really happened for the Mavs. Luka suffered a strained calf, an injury that could change everything for Dallas. Players who got that same injury this season, rested for 16 days on average. The quickest turnaround was 3 days however so of course that’s what Dallas fans are hoping for but judging by how Doncic was helped off the floor, and especially judging by what can happen if you rush and come back too quickly. Just ask KD, he wasn’t fully healed from his calf strain in the finals, and we all know the rest. We’ll see if Luka misses games in the playoffs, and how he looks when he actually plays. Moving on, this right here is Jrue Holiday at tip off, and as the Cavs secure possession, he goes and commits a foul, and subs himself out just 8 seconds into the game. As you can see they are all smiles on the bench and guys are even congratulating him. The reason for this is that Holiday had a bonus in his contract for a minimum of 67 games played, and this was his 67th game of the season. So he literally stepped on the floor to secure the bag, and didn’t want to risk anything beyond that. None of the Bucks were playing anyways and Giannis was messing around offering popcorn to the refs, so it was all fun for them on the last game of the season. Wayne Ellington vs Facu Campazzo might be the most bizarre fight ever, but Ellington threatened publicly with this tweet after the game, and honestly he has a good reason for it. Campazzo blindsided him with this hit and sent him straight to the floor. He got an ejection for it btw. And literally 1 second after the final buzzer sounded for the Lakers, Woj tweeted this, announcing that the Lakers will fire Frank Vogel. Vogel himself had a spicy response as he was asked about it in the postgame. The fact that Woj even got the info, and that he got it before Vogel, that guy that should have known first, to me this confirms what I’ve been saying for a long time now in my videos. The Lakers dysfunction runs a lot deeper than just the coach, or just 1 player. This is not how you run a franchise, and this is definitely not how you announce a coaching change. Ok let’s move on to more positive news. Kevin Love was blazing hot last night, dropping 32 points and 10 rebounds while playing just 14 and a half minutes. That’s crazy. ANd he didn’t even need to play any more as the Cavs blew out Milwaukee who as we saw, played with their end of the bench guys. This isn’t strange for Love, if you remember back in 2016 he went God mode scoring 34 points in 1 quarter. And finally this is a fitting stat for the end of the season, teams from the east had a winning record in games against the western conference teams. A narrow victory of 226 to 224. This is just the second time it happened in 23 years which is stunning how dominating the West has been. The fun part starts soon, so tomorrow we’ll go deeper into the play in and playoff matchups. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

Lebron James was all smiles and filled with confidence when talking about the doubters at the start of the season. Among those doubters was ya boi as well, as I made a video immediately after the Westbrook trade, titled The Lakers made a horrific mistake where I explained all their issues and pretty much predicted what happened this season. So let me show you how James himself actually took responsibility for the destruction of this team. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. In that same interview, at the beginning of training camp, Lebron himself took credit for constructing the roster, confirming the long time meme of him being LeGm. The Lakers had a deal in place to get Buddy Hield, a knockdown shooter, for Kyle Kuzma, pretty much straight up, but at the last second, at James’s command, they changed their decision and gave away Kuzma, KCP and Harrell to get Westbrook. LA also pretty much let Carusso go, meaning that they gave away both shooting and defense, to give minutes to Westbrook and Anthony, guys who didn’t give any effort at all defensively. And what happened? They fell from number 1- the best defense in the league to 23rd, the 7th worst in the league. And you know that you cannot win games without defending. Even if you have a flawless offense. And the Lakers were light years away from that. Mostly of course due to their age and the injuries that come with it. The big 3 of James, Davis and Westbrook played only 21 games together, and even then, they weren’t impressive at all, going 11-10 in those games. D said in his last interview that the reason for the disappointing season were injuries and that they had more different lineups than wins, in fact the Lakers went out with 39 different starting lineups up until now. So, as the ship started to sink, I had a funny feeling that Lebron would get some type of nagging injury that would prevent him from playing. Lebron is famous for mailing it in when he senses that the team doesn’t have a chance to win. I even went on record saying it on Dom 2k’s podcast on March 1st. That’s a whole month ago. I was that certain of it. Whether I just guessed it by accident, or I knew, or whether the injury is really serious…who knows at this point. All I know is, when he decides to play, he gets his points, which by now is the only thing that it appears he’s playing for. To win the scoring title at age 37. So yeah, as great as Lebron is, this year will go down as a failure for him, both as a player as well as a GM, and this infamous tweet will live forever even tho Lebron quickly deleted it. Do you think the Lakers keep the big three, and if not, do you think there’s a suitable team for Westbrook in the NBA? That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

Lebron James was all smiles and filled with confidence when talking about the doubters at the start of the season. Among those doubters was ya boi as well, as I made a video immediately after the Westbrook trade, titled The Lakers made a horrific mistake where I explained all their issues and pretty much predicted what happened this season. So let me show you how James himself actually took responsibility for the destruction of this team. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. In that same interview, at the beginning of training camp, Lebron himself took credit for constructing the roster, confirming the long time meme of him being LeGm. The Lakers had a deal in place to get Buddy Hield, a knockdown shooter, for Kyle Kuzma, pretty much straight up, but at the last second, at James’s command, they changed their decision and gave away Kuzma, KCP and Harrell to get Westbrook. LA also pretty much let Carusso go, meaning that they gave away both shooting and defense, to give minutes to Westbrook and Anthony, guys who didn’t give any effort at all defensively. And what happened? They fell from number 1- the best defense in the league to 23rd, the 7th worst in the league. And you know that you cannot win games without defending. Even if you have a flawless offense. And the Lakers were light years away from that. Mostly of course due to their age and the injuries that come with it. The big 3 of James, Davis and Westbrook played only 21 games together, and even then, they weren’t impressive at all, going 11-10 in those games. D said in his last interview that the reason for the disappointing season were injuries and that they had more different lineups than wins, in fact the Lakers went out with 39 different starting lineups up until now. So, as the ship started to sink, I had a funny feeling that Lebron would get some type of nagging injury that would prevent him from playing. Lebron is famous for mailing it in when he senses that the team doesn’t have a chance to win. I even went on record saying it on Dom 2k’s podcast on March 1st. That’s a whole month ago. I was that certain of it. Whether I just guessed it by accident, or I knew, or whether the injury is really serious…who knows at this point. All I know is, when he decides to play, he gets his points, which by now is the only thing that it appears he’s playing for. To win the scoring title at age 37. So yeah, as great as Lebron is, this year will go down as a failure for him, both as a player as well as a GM, and this infamous tweet will live forever even tho Lebron quickly deleted it. Do you think the Lakers keep the big three, and if not, do you think there’s a suitable team for Westbrook in the NBA? That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

If you look closely after this made basket, you’ll see this little guy, Jose Alvarado from the Pelicans sneaking from out of bounds, tip-toeing behind the ball handler and getting a steal that would ultimately lead to a layup for his teammate. What you’re about to see is how Jose Alvarado became popular in the NBA in just a few games by literally playing hide and seek with his opponents. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. After the made three pointer, you can see him in the corner, literally hiding behind the bench guys, so as the Bulls inbound the ball, he sneaks from behind and surprises Carusso which causes a traveling violation. This is exactly how Jose got the nickname Grand Theft Alvarado. Dude is always hiding, lurking from behind, being a constant threat for the ball handlers. As you watch some more of his greatest hits so far in his young career, let me just point out that he started out his rookie year as an undrafted player in the G-League. He was on a 2 way contract with the New Orleans Pelicans, and occasionally got some playing time due to players being in health and safety protocols. So Alvarado made the most out of that opportunity. By always playing hard, and leaving everything on the floor, not only did he become a popular player among New Orleans fans, but eventually the team recognized the effort and passion that he plays with, so they gave him a 4 year deal worth 6.5 million. That did not change anything about his approach however since he’s always aggressive, and putting pressure on his opponents. Also, Jose doesn’t get intimidated from the much more famous and accomplished players that he goes up against. D'Angelo Russell legitimately did not know who he was guarding so he asked the coaches but before they could answer, Alvarado told him himself. And back in January he got into a little back and forth with Joel Embiid, so they got a double technical. But Embiid loved the feistiness and actually paid Alvarado’s fine. So not only does he get recognition from the fans, the media, but the opponents as well. Jose has been getting more and more playing time, so the past 10 games, he’s up to 20 minutes per game, averaging 8.5 points and 3.9 assists and 1.5 steals in that time. He is becoming a real contributing piece to this team, and has had a significant impact in the Pelicans push for the play-in tournament. At the end, I gotta mention that his sneakiness reminds me of Pablo Prigioni, who was the oldest rookie in NBA history, as he came into the league from Europe at 35 years of age. All of that experience that he had, he used it to catch players by surprise and get a ton of steals off of inbounds. Up until now, Prigioni was the undisputed king of this category, but I guess there’s a new GOAT in Jose Alvarado. As a little guy myself, I’m so happy that hard work and effort paid off, and that he got a nice contract from the Pelicans. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

If you look closely after this made basket, you’ll see this little guy, Jose Alvarado from the Pelicans sneaking from out of bounds, tip-toeing behind the ball handler and getting a steal that would ultimately lead to a layup for his teammate. What you’re about to see is how Jose Alvarado became popular in the NBA in just a few games by literally playing hide and seek with his opponents. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. After the made three pointer, you can see him in the corner, literally hiding behind the bench guys, so as the Bulls inbound the ball, he sneaks from behind and surprises Carusso which causes a traveling violation. This is exactly how Jose got the nickname Grand Theft Alvarado. Dude is always hiding, lurking from behind, being a constant threat for the ball handlers. As you watch some more of his greatest hits so far in his young career, let me just point out that he started out his rookie year as an undrafted player in the G-League. He was on a 2 way contract with the New Orleans Pelicans, and occasionally got some playing time due to players being in health and safety protocols. So Alvarado made the most out of that opportunity. By always playing hard, and leaving everything on the floor, not only did he become a popular player among New Orleans fans, but eventually the team recognized the effort and passion that he plays with, so they gave him a 4 year deal worth 6.5 million. That did not change anything about his approach however since he’s always aggressive, and putting pressure on his opponents. Also, Jose doesn’t get intimidated from the much more famous and accomplished players that he goes up against. D'Angelo Russell legitimately did not know who he was guarding so he asked the coaches but before they could answer, Alvarado told him himself. And back in January he got into a little back and forth with Joel Embiid, so they got a double technical. But Embiid loved the feistiness and actually paid Alvarado’s fine. So not only does he get recognition from the fans, the media, but the opponents as well. Jose has been getting more and more playing time, so the past 10 games, he’s up to 20 minutes per game, averaging 8.5 points and 3.9 assists and 1.5 steals in that time. He is becoming a real contributing piece to this team, and has had a significant impact in the Pelicans push for the play-in tournament. At the end, I gotta mention that his sneakiness reminds me of Pablo Prigioni, who was the oldest rookie in NBA history, as he came into the league from Europe at 35 years of age. All of that experience that he had, he used it to catch players by surprise and get a ton of steals off of inbounds. Up until now, Prigioni was the undisputed king of this category, but I guess there’s a new GOAT in Jose Alvarado. As a little guy myself, I’m so happy that hard work and effort paid off, and that he got a nice contract from the Pelicans. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

This was almost the exact same shot for KD as game 7 of the playoffs. Only this time, if you really look closely, you’ll see Giannis jumping to double him and actually leaving some space for a bullet pass to Dragic and the game winning layup. But this was not the problem for the Nets of course as I will always live with this shot from one of the deadliest scorers in NBA history. Milwaukee exposed a much bigger issue for Brooklyn, and we gotta talk about it. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. Stopping Giannis is almost impossible as it is but then watch this: Right here KD is matched up with him, Matthews just walks up here and there’s literally no effort whatsoever from Durant to fight over, instead he just leaves Antetokounmpo to the much smaller Curry, and just watch how that ends. Easy 2 points. Then, Kessler Edwards was left on an island 2 times in a row, despite clearly not being able to handle Giannis on his own. On this 2nd play, we got the same situation of switching way too easily. James Johnson is the best they got when it comes to defending Giannis so for this switch to happen that easily, it’s unacceptable and you can clearly see the result. This is exactly what I’m saying. See how Johnson can at least provide some resistance on the backdown? That forces Giannis to throw it back out to Jrue but then look at this. Kyrie is just standing here, no communication for him to watch the screen coming, instead this is a casual switch and now Irving is left with Antetokounmpo under the basket and automatically we got the lob, the slight bobble but eventually another finish inside. You can see that all of these are dunks or layups. The Bucks had 16 more points in the paint, 15 more second chance points, provided by the 16 more rebounds that they got against Brooklyn. And you can see that this is the achille’s heel for the Nets. Their defense is straight up bad, but in a potential matchup against Milwaukee- they’re simply too small for them. Look at Seth Curry hanging on for dear life against Jrue Holiday here. Jrue manhandles him all the way to the paint he turns and floats this one in. And right here if I’m him, I’m not coming to double in this situation. I’ll take my chances with KD on him. It’s not that Curry could change much if he comes over. Instead, now the shooter is open in the corner, Antetokounmpo finds him and he knocks it down. Having that huge size disadvantage and not working hard to make up for it is a recipe for disaster. Even with all of this however, the Nets had a 7 point lead with 2 minutes to go, but credit to Giannis for being super clutch, first with the 3 pointer to tie the game in regulation, and then in overtime the 2 free throws to win the game for Milwaukee. A monster game of 44 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists, exposing the Brooklyn weaknesses in the process. I can’t wait for the playoffs to start for yet another potential 7 game series between these 2 teams. If this game was any indicator, it’s about to be crazy in the postseason. Let me know in the comments who you got in a potential matchup in the playoffs. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

This was almost the exact same shot for KD as game 7 of the playoffs. Only this time, if you really look closely, you’ll see Giannis jumping to double him and actually leaving some space for a bullet pass to Dragic and the game winning layup. But this was not the problem for the Nets of course as I will always live with this shot from one of the deadliest scorers in NBA history. Milwaukee exposed a much bigger issue for Brooklyn, and we gotta talk about it. What up everybody, my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. Stopping Giannis is almost impossible as it is but then watch this: Right here KD is matched up with him, Matthews just walks up here and there’s literally no effort whatsoever from Durant to fight over, instead he just leaves Antetokounmpo to the much smaller Curry, and just watch how that ends. Easy 2 points. Then, Kessler Edwards was left on an island 2 times in a row, despite clearly not being able to handle Giannis on his own. On this 2nd play, we got the same situation of switching way too easily. James Johnson is the best they got when it comes to defending Giannis so for this switch to happen that easily, it’s unacceptable and you can clearly see the result. This is exactly what I’m saying. See how Johnson can at least provide some resistance on the backdown? That forces Giannis to throw it back out to Jrue but then look at this. Kyrie is just standing here, no communication for him to watch the screen coming, instead this is a casual switch and now Irving is left with Antetokounmpo under the basket and automatically we got the lob, the slight bobble but eventually another finish inside. You can see that all of these are dunks or layups. The Bucks had 16 more points in the paint, 15 more second chance points, provided by the 16 more rebounds that they got against Brooklyn. And you can see that this is the achille’s heel for the Nets. Their defense is straight up bad, but in a potential matchup against Milwaukee- they’re simply too small for them. Look at Seth Curry hanging on for dear life against Jrue Holiday here. Jrue manhandles him all the way to the paint he turns and floats this one in. And right here if I’m him, I’m not coming to double in this situation. I’ll take my chances with KD on him. It’s not that Curry could change much if he comes over. Instead, now the shooter is open in the corner, Antetokounmpo finds him and he knocks it down. Having that huge size disadvantage and not working hard to make up for it is a recipe for disaster. Even with all of this however, the Nets had a 7 point lead with 2 minutes to go, but credit to Giannis for being super clutch, first with the 3 pointer to tie the game in regulation, and then in overtime the 2 free throws to win the game for Milwaukee. A monster game of 44 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists, exposing the Brooklyn weaknesses in the process. I can’t wait for the playoffs to start for yet another potential 7 game series between these 2 teams. If this game was any indicator, it’s about to be crazy in the postseason. Let me know in the comments who you got in a potential matchup in the playoffs. That’s it for now, subscribe and talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

Ya’ll remember this epic dunk from Antony Edwards, Yuta Watanabe sure can’t forget it, as yesterday he had a real flashback on this play as Naz Reid cuts to the basket and dunks all over him. Poor guy must be having nightmares with Wolves, I mean Timberwolves. That’s one on me to get you all started, now let’s check out the smartest plays from yesterday. What up everybody my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. Let’s start things off with Lamelo Ball, he gets the screen, drives and drops this gorgeous pass behind his head to Plumlee for the dunk. Staying with the Hornets for another behind the head pass from Cody Martin, this time to PJ Washington! Man the Hornets are fun to watch! We got 2 more passes like these! I guess it was that kind of night! Luka Doncic continued his wizardry last night as well, as he flings this pass to Kleber for the open 3. And we wrap this behind the head compilation with the Ish Smith assist for Daniel Gafford! Now we have 2 incognito plays, on the first the basketball disappeared, and on the 2nd the player. Doncic snakes his way to the basket and comes in front of the length of Moses Brown, doesn’t get the look but swoopes the ball behind him as Brown turns around wondering what happened as Luka scores this warm up shot. We gotta see this again closely, Luka is out there balling right now! It’s officially a thing now, Jose Alvarado did it again, as he hides in the corner and strips the ball from Kris Dunn before delivering the assist to Trey Murphy. This goes out to everyone not playing for the Pelicans, you better watch out cuz Jose might be hiding in the corner. Ok you had your laughs, let’s focus on basketball now. The Wizards executed this beautiful heads up play for KCP. As we stop it right here it looks like a double screen for KCP to switch sides for the 3. Halfway through Sato passes it to Rui, but Pope curls around Porzingis and goes to the rim, Hachimura expected this so the pass is right on the money. Boston staged this little decoy and finished with the easy dunk by Big AL. We got 2 screens here, one for Smart with the ball, and another for Tatum as he is supposed to come outside and get the ball here, that’s what Herro and PJ believed as well as they leave the lane open, Smart sees the opening and flips the pass for easy 2 points. The San Antonio Spurs really confused the Grizzlies here on who is coming out of the screens for the 3 pointer. Richardson gets the ball to Poeltl and goes to screen for Murray who should get out here for the 3, but instead he turns around shoves Bane and both him and Poeltl now are screening for Josh, as he comes out gets the ball and hits the 3. The Phoenix Suns stayed calm as Mikal Bridges shoots this one while in the air to beat the shot clock. And I must include this Marbury-like assist from Tyrese Halliburton in the open fast break.

Ya’ll remember this epic dunk from Antony Edwards, Yuta Watanabe sure can’t forget it, as yesterday he had a real flashback on this play as Naz Reid cuts to the basket and dunks all over him. Poor guy must be having nightmares with Wolves, I mean Timberwolves. That’s one on me to get you all started, now let’s check out the smartest plays from yesterday. What up everybody my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check. Let’s get into it. Let’s start things off with Lamelo Ball, he gets the screen, drives and drops this gorgeous pass behind his head to Plumlee for the dunk. Staying with the Hornets for another behind the head pass from Cody Martin, this time to PJ Washington! Man the Hornets are fun to watch! We got 2 more passes like these! I guess it was that kind of night! Luka Doncic continued his wizardry last night as well, as he flings this pass to Kleber for the open 3. And we wrap this behind the head compilation with the Ish Smith assist for Daniel Gafford! Now we have 2 incognito plays, on the first the basketball disappeared, and on the 2nd the player. Doncic snakes his way to the basket and comes in front of the length of Moses Brown, doesn’t get the look but swoopes the ball behind him as Brown turns around wondering what happened as Luka scores this warm up shot. We gotta see this again closely, Luka is out there balling right now! It’s officially a thing now, Jose Alvarado did it again, as he hides in the corner and strips the ball from Kris Dunn before delivering the assist to Trey Murphy. This goes out to everyone not playing for the Pelicans, you better watch out cuz Jose might be hiding in the corner. Ok you had your laughs, let’s focus on basketball now. The Wizards executed this beautiful heads up play for KCP. As we stop it right here it looks like a double screen for KCP to switch sides for the 3. Halfway through Sato passes it to Rui, but Pope curls around Porzingis and goes to the rim, Hachimura expected this so the pass is right on the money. Boston staged this little decoy and finished with the easy dunk by Big AL. We got 2 screens here, one for Smart with the ball, and another for Tatum as he is supposed to come outside and get the ball here, that’s what Herro and PJ believed as well as they leave the lane open, Smart sees the opening and flips the pass for easy 2 points. The San Antonio Spurs really confused the Grizzlies here on who is coming out of the screens for the 3 pointer. Richardson gets the ball to Poeltl and goes to screen for Murray who should get out here for the 3, but instead he turns around shoves Bane and both him and Poeltl now are screening for Josh, as he comes out gets the ball and hits the 3. The Phoenix Suns stayed calm as Mikal Bridges shoots this one while in the air to beat the shot clock. And I must include this Marbury-like assist from Tyrese Halliburton in the open fast break.

Milwaukee ran this genius play in the clutch for the impressive alleyoop slam by Giannis. Look at that reach - Boom! Middleton comes around Giannis as if he’s going to get a screen for the 3 pointer, instead he just hops around him, goes back and screens for Holiday. Niang must help on the drive which leaves the greek freak rolling to the rim, the super extension and the dunk! The defending champs open today’s most interesting plays in the NBA, let’s see who else is on it. What up everybody my name is Stefan and this is Heat Check, let’s get into it. Look closely as Kyrie Irving is gonna get 4 screens on his way to the basket. Let’s watch it again. First there is the double screen by KD and Drummond, as Kyrie goes for the ball outside, then on the handoff Brown sets the third pick which opens the lane for Kai, now follow Andre again as he bumps Marvin Bagley before he can interrupt the layup. We stay right here on this game, for another much simpler play involving Drummond. Under the basket we got a back pick from the big man and the Pistons immediately switch that out of fear from KD’s lethal shooting. And that leaves Drummond right at the rim with the great seal on the much smaller Saddiq Bey. KD thought about shooting it first, but this is easy money underneath. The Wizards play this nicely, and get an open shot that Hachimura trades for a drive and a layup. Satoransky will curl around the 2 screens up top, and since Thompson doesn’t switch, Green comes out trailing the Wizards guard. This means that on the penetration the help has to come, leaving Hachimura in the corner. Good rotation by Coby White but I still think Rui could have shot it, which doesn’t even matter since he finishes this inside. And staying with Washington again, look at this beautiful weave that ends up with a layup for KCP. Sato passes it to him and he gives it back, seemingly as a drive around Porzingis. But midway through Satoransky turns around and Pope gets a screen from Porzingis, accelerates along the middle, and lays it in. Moving on to the rest of the plays for today. We got Antetokounmpo again, as we stop it right here there are 4 Philly defenders around him, notices that Allen is alone in the corner, the pass, the shot, nothing but net. Luka did all sorts of magic against the Lakers including this amazing lob for the dunk by Dwight Powell! Next is Reggie Jackson with the snake dribble and the pullup late in the 4th quarter. Giannis makes his 3rd appearance, this time with an assist for Lopez who sneaks along the baseline and dunks this home. And finally this nice connection by Dragic and Claxton who slips the 2nd screen and gets the 2 hand jam on the alleyoop.