Open Court ~ James Harden, Russell Westbrook & Anthony Davis FULL

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Guys we have a Lance Stephenson citing so excited.
Look at that you barely barely Duncan combat horn ready come on he's all this league is better than the right enjoy happy to be in the flavor that's what I mean there was a room and we thought there'd be no Lance Stephenson Susan true it's true you're welcome to the jump I'm Rachel Nichols that is mr. big shot himself fancy bells again this time you'll be here all season welcome after the be here this is of course the always insightful occasionally grumpy back mostly that hyper boat across the street last night for the rockets lakers game and we saw some things people because I young Laker squad that actually seem to believe in itself we saw James Harden backup 14 assists in the first half but we did not see was the rockets play any form of sound or complement confident defense.
This isn't anything new of course except that for a month now we've been hearing that things would be different that the team was one hundred percent committed to changing things but when the chips were down.
Well the Rockets were outscored 3218 in the fourth quarter.
It's frustrating because personally I have been so excited for this promised Houston revival under mike d'antoni the CJ and hard at the point i mean that's a recipe for fireworks and I like fireworks but i also like teams that win basketball games and I never bought into the popular preseason theory that maybe the Rockets really could just rely on out shooting everyone to win this year the problem with that plan is that sometimes the shots don't fall like last night when used to went 6 for 21 in the fourth quarter even worse how tired the Rockets looked at the game or I can't be the team that plans to run everyone else out of the gym and then start jogging at the three-quarter mile mark now after the game D'Antoni said quote on guys will get into game shape we just got to be better defensively they've been working hard at it and I think we will can see i guess my first question is do.
You believe them and also look it's hard to have 34 points 17 assists is there any way to look at his official debut at the point is a success well they lost the same position being so it can't be that successful however like James Harden.
He's a gifted passer he's not he's not a natural point guard he can really pass the ball.
I said this even when he played in okc he was the best playmaker on the team really has a knack for it however you look at the game last night at some point he's going to go back to what he does really well and score the basketball zero assists in the fourth quarter as 17 a career-high 02 fourth quarter game got tight went back to his instincts try to score back to get on the free-throw line that sometimes a point guard real point guard you're gonna make the right play all game really try to get on the free-throw line for that one play that was a good diet but none of this noise even mad like point guard let's just change the name of the position to do as the ball at I don't care he's always been this kind of player box.
Well I don't you can say that around a point guard you can't behind can do that but what I'm saying is none of this matters if they defend like that it doesn't if they defend like you know you know what they're just never gonna win a lot of games and their defense i talked to mike d'antoni in his office before the game last night I said look the only thing i've heard about how you're going to be a good defensive team as well we hired Jeff metallic just been telling Jeff it's alec and he said look what is just gonna do he's not a wizard he's not a magician like we're gonna have a scheme and we're gonna try to get guys to stick to it they just don't have a lot of good defensive players but any this was something your teams were known for and yes some of it was the skill of the defensive player some of it was that tayshon just had the longest arms in the world but also it was the heart rate it was the effort that you guys put into it the year you won the championship round nose and you're so you're so right rates these fences all about effort desire will you have to want to do that it's a thankless job they don't have players on our team.
Trevor reasons pretty good defender Patrick Beverley who can't play good they want to get around and not gonna get there you're not gonna get that they don't have a guy i mean they're starting the season started is the leader distinct from that.
He's really good but he's not focused on a defensive and didn't ask you guys got a rough schedule and they've been talking about this they're supposedly ready for it each of their first nine games are on the road and you are asking players to buy into a kind of maybe effort or system that they're not quite quite prone to do you think that there's gonna be a little damage here of them losing faith even before they can get started just because they've got this stuff beginning but the good thing about the way that they play they get up-and-down people a lot more energetic on the offensive end they're going to get the ball comes James wasn't delivering match what I will be fun but if we're focusing on defense and you're playing teams in the first two weeks of the season when everybody's face our team is pretty good that can damage some of your confidence no it's not fun losing losing is not forward and and so it actually reminds me like last year we were three games into the season and it was like already clear that the Rockets are gone haywire like I don't think this group I'm not sure this group can like sustain itself if there's if there's tension early we're going to see I think they're like you said road heavy all the way and well then happy preseason so maybe that will push them through we're not very good you have to also talk about the lakers side of this and Mandy Angelo Russell's 420 looked like he was having himself a fall out there nick Young is a new man coupons got Brandon Ingram happy about having to prove himself coming off the bench and here's the Angelo's quote about what all is going on over there he said it's not about one guy anymore it's about sacrificing for the team Colby deserved every bit of attention he got in his last year that's to make sure cover doesn't comfort hit on him but there is some freedom in kobe not being around you happy i agree with them i agree with my hundred percent i mean i just said it last year I wasn't going to i was going to defer my judgment on D'Angelo until Kobe was gone just think about it he comes in the league is 19 is called his 20th season he's been a league since this kid was before he was born.
So when he started falling in love basketball it was probably all about Kobe Bryant now you have an opportunity to play with this guy when you play with what are you going to do I'm going to just pound going to get on with the Fertile so I don't know I I couldn't judge the sky last year he's absolutely right there's a lot more freedom now it's not about the victory lap that Colby was taken it's not about one of the greatest players ever we can all kind of yourselves now you know who took the most shots per 36 minutes last season NBA the most kobe bryant and like shocking what was hot i want a cold yeah i love to call me but it takes a lot of shots thirty-six percent from the field and you're making the most shots in the league that's where they get subjectively ridiculous and now it's like the lakers can ok let's be a team now let's see like what this team can be and by the way Russell was great last night you know looked awesome Julius Randle that was the best she's ever looked in the NBA and I mean look you know cookies line right why would I pass the ball to someone i think in as well as you're shooting thirty-six percent that's why I know but I don't blame them for taking a little shots last year I mean these people paying big money to come see his last game try to get the best so you can get ok get my pass last just last checkup and and like I think I hung out with Luke Walton last night a little bit before the game and he's so loose and it's funny he's so different from his dad right i mean there's this huge personality Lucas so mellow but he relates to the players so well that's not a knock on Byron I think my room was frankly and really an untenable situation last year as a coach but Luke has been able on this team with this squad this year been able to encourage those guys in a way that I think it's making a significant difference is that the cofactor think Luke factors they're all right before we go to break I do want to talk about what happened in Philadelphia last night rnb singer sevyn Streeter says the Sixers kept her from singing the national anthem because she was wearing a jersey that said we matter is what she posted on twitter at the 76 this game is singing the national anthem and the organization is telling me that I can't because I'm wearing whe batters jersey and here was the Sixers response quote the Philadelphia 76er is organization encourages meaningful actions to drive social change we use our games to bring people together to build trust and to strengthen our communities implication for those of you who misplaced your reading between the lines spectacles is that streeter wearing a wee matter shirt is somehow in itself divisive the other implication is that wearing a shirt that promotes discussion and bought my million.
Of people is somehow not quote meaningful action.
Look I have no idea who at the Sixers made this call and I think it's important to note this was not the NBA preventing streeter from singing it was one individual team and it is that teams right to make that decision their home game their anthem performance but man it was a terrible decision and they will be judged for it.
How do we get to a point in this country where a black woman wanted to say that she matters just as much as anyone else is offensive to some people and how did the Sixers get to the point where those are the people they want to side with you know the expression on the wrong side of history.
I promise picking the side of those who want to work something as basic as a person affirming their right to exist and be recognized into some kind of insult to our country or the military that is the wrong side of history saying you're an advocate for social change but only the photo-op kind that doesn't ruffle the feathers of the most racist and sexist corners of society that is the wrong side of history one of the reasons i love the NBA so much is that this week has an incredible legacy of being so much better than that the Sixers would do well to try to live up to that legacy instead of what we saw last night the advantages young milestone that's why they call it track down that's another Dallas turn Ellis lost it man things pick it up with Matthews made a good play the fool Ellis mr. goes up to close the ball this is not.
What the Mavericks really want to do this year that's just that helpful demonstration sit here and let people disparage Dirk Nowitzki at age 30 and I'm not gonna like that and what do you what are you gonna do nothing everybody makes it 1st game jitters first games alright man did you see it let's talk about a good thing did you see anything you did this last night player ever to drop at least 50 points on opening night that wasn't a cozy 50 people that was 50 with 16 board seven steals privacy is four blocks that is some nice companies in with those numbers but guys this team don't lost by five do the nugget I mean this feature for a DJ because this was going to be like this great unicorn transcendent Talent stuck on this team until drew holiday comes back from his personal situation I mean this is just reality I mean he's playing with guys that are no disrespect their backup your backup center starting for the pelicans one player gonna stay and while it would help to have something like he's the best shooter on the floor for them a lot of and like it's just what he rolls to the Hooper has the ball on the posters nowhere from to go there's like nine bodies everywhere I just go back for man is this this guy is such a talent I mean everybody talks about he can stay healthy.
I mean just think somebody's times that he's missed a lot of games he may have been helped yet the internet and just didn't come back to play well here's the thing was so back the hell thank you that's a little bit of my question here you have a guy who is clearly special he's on a franchise that as of yet has not been able to put the right talent and players around him and also frankly has not been able to keep him healthy for the players around him healthy and there have been articles about their medical staff and are they really borrowing too much from the Saints because they share some medical staff from that organization and hate football players and basketball players need different medical care is a little different I mean a is he in an island a place that maybe isn't the best place for him what we talked about the Rockets how it already feels like last year for the Rockets it feels like last year for the pelicans to like half their team has hurt you don't have enough guys and like if they start if you start the NBA like one and eight your kind unlike unless you're awesome you're just not going to get back in the playoff raised and you know they really need your holiday and just other starter level NBA players hands over.
Franchises where you guys as players but no around the don't go there they're not going to take care of you or they're not going to put the team together i'm out there making names yeah there's a few that you you know when you're looking around for years you send no no I want to take care of little better than that.
Thanks but I'm not saying the pelicans are that i'm wondering years where I'm not so I don't know that they are not but I mean it.
Watching him play my place so well with guys that just can't get it done for him just reminds me really ever got it you guys are very familiar with and that's teammates and watch a team at play and in orlando and some of his prime days and the frustration that I seen him come up with because there was no good way to garden.
I mean that makes for 40-something get 15 assists and eight nine rebounds anytime he wanted to it's just I I hope he's not here just wasting his telling away for years in New Orleans when he just doesn't have a chance everyone anyone who knows me well knows that New Orleans is my favorite city in the country so i would want nothing more than to have a successful NBA team obviously i'd like to go there a little bit more often i hope that they can get the town around him and get the health together because he's so special right through 12.
He was already flexing his wrist last night that's what I saw it just be very concerned right let's talk Russell Westbrook he played his first game of the poster an era as expected to do a little bit of everything while dancing 32 points 12 rebounds and lately and take over that led the Thunder 203 97 win.
Philadelphia that song should whisper feel good about this 3 or are you just scrape by the seventy sixers and maybe not so much i think you feel good about any pictures you're like me talking Westbrook you know it's not a shared team anymore as my team and wins matter doesn't matter where you're at me go to philly last night it was electric in there seems all I'm beat I'm sure they had a lot of people here seem a little crazy fan in the front who lost a lot of money in a short amount of time I'm not good for that guy out there should be sure.
Yeah that's like she's thrown about and I was wrong in the first quarter schools face a little bit of you say that's the best thing you did all night was the face tonight.
Did you know I was a bad investment for him going and pan on money no mother gets put out really quick but Westbrook is gonna be frustrated a lot this year he takes on a he's got a lot on his plate this season he's got a lot of new players you look at him last night in some of those faces that he may when he was a little disgusted and didn't go his way.
You know you'll see a lot of this out of hell no you see them play great he makes great faces yeah you seem to get a big numbers a lot of triple-doubles but you're going to see a lot of frustration on him well I want to see how patient he's gonna beat these guys shoot i think last night is like a good example of how they're going to have to first of all you're right any road win out there where Golden State needed a buzzer-beater to win in philly unless you're real twins went but they're gonna have to win ugly this year they don't have a lot of shooting around him all the people was 416 that fits gonna take some time.
They're like a battering ram he's just gonna have to batter them and they're gonna get all million offensive rebounds it's not gonna be pretty but that's how they're gonna have to win games and I think the wind a decent number if you had to give you the one way you think rest his game is going to most change this year without Katie there what would it be.
Maybe post up a little bit more they did that down the stretch last night it's an easy way to get him deep and to get easy passing lanes from to see but you know that's that's that's he still been doing that already right all right we'll look for that meme on the sixer side you're right they do finally have something to be happy about with joellen bday and long-awaited debut and understand 20 points seven boards two blocks remember he was the perfect in the 2014 draft I mean do you look at this zach is like the process is Sam hinkie cheering Stanford it's funny like the process is paying off but Noelle's heard Okafor is coming off the bench Simmons is hurt Michael carter-williams gone like they like but like that this is the whole point though the process is if we can get one or two transcendent guys everything else is noise and like maybe you're welcome BTW is a transcendent i am excited to watch and play can the dude pass once he has no assets and preseason and regular 80 was like I might get an assist by accident if you think that was the whole point that was a distinction that was trying to make earlier I'd say you were just kids selling is unbelievable oh they're not paying on the past first Balzac that's not just want to block shot that has got me sitting up for two years living the NBA like I said I wouldn't ask either shoot the ball look at you looking all looking all look again stream i mean the greatest of all time I my first center position that I've seen this guy's the best i've ever seen i see some similarities are you already imagine someone official that's all along but that's all I can go over here and better go joe klein didn't turn on his TV today and think i'm gonna get on a highlight with hakeem olajuwon got to show what I'm like that I'm god yes yes I mean like it happens you gotta live with it for the rest of your life DUI I do love the way Joe is embracing the process nickname and shown that loyal that's pretty cool i think it's a good nickname if ball here is gonna be the truth why can't he be the process truth is the best nickname of his era I'm sorry it's a goodnight mr. big shot is a good one so that's good but the truth is good your weapon for your arm and I'm just saying something I good nicknames especially i will say that the only reason I I what was done for the truth is the way that Shack stowed it and delivered it which is when he said Paul Pierce's the bleep bleep true they also like the handshaking yeah there was one person that was very good you're favoriting vehicle right on the spot like that it's not that hard questions that lets go the truth it's really good about not what I don't think I don't like big-ticket don't like the big chicken.
Alright it's a big-ticket what is it I don't know but he's a big dick I understand the other minorities in the minority stifle tower people like for Rudy Gobert stifle tower that's pretty good.
Not that i still like some rewrite our music no boy no no what happened all right.
Boom coming up from the jump somebody got paid and vince carter teaches the youth finger to but first i want to go to our distant replay LeBron seven years ago today.
[Music].
Test the first rule provides people i was 2009 he's doing that right now 2006 change same thing.
Under a rock if rondo out of this one is pretty good the eggy black but you know what i did wrong or credit for whom he tried to dunk that I agree to a four-year 70 million dollar extension yesterday that you had him in your most intriguing players to watch column got the better of this one me hot shooter they both made off out all right probably the Hawks a little bit because he's gonna put up big numbers this year and there are a bunch of teams who are going to be looking at point guard the summer he probably would have gotten more than that but look he gets to say i have 70 million dollars coming to me right now I'm not worried about getting injured that money is mine that is big money for all of us and fortunately who played in the area.
Despite the cabin ya gonna shred or 70 million for years.
All right but if I'm Dennis I'm happy about this i'm happy because i was a backup a year ago and i'm not so sure he's not still a backup but either way the way it is for your 70 million you getting a starter months that was a situation where something had to give right sure every one of those guys that yeah you gave away your all-star-caliber point guard got everything know that they feel good about it that's the buzzer maker miss time for maker miss make me there we go creating space to get this down people notice Valanciunas created some distance between himself and Andre Drummond with this elbow last night chance to approve of this methodology here well I mean I've been known to do that a timer to take what you can assure that drumming won't get that close next time which is of course the goal i take it yes you.
Nine-year-old vince carter garbage twenty-one-year-old Andrew Wiggins in the fourth quarter last night he only gets dead two boys.


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