The NBA Playoffs | LeBron James and JJ Redick | Mind the Game

all right where at

24747 yep we're all good baby how is it

how we looking make my mom proud

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[Music]

yep welcome to episode five of mind the

game with LeBron James and JJ reck

brought to you by uninterrupted and 342

Productions today's episode is a very

special episode it's a two-part episode

LeBron and I lay the groundwork for the

NBA Playoffs what makes them different

what the experience is like as a player

going through it and we are also joined

by LeBron James's high school basketball

coach coach Keith damr coach damr

coached for 40 years at the college and

high school level he was the head coach

at Central Michigan akan and of course

his latest stop Duane where they made

the NCAA tournament and won their first

round game coach damr is now retiring

just a fascinating conversation we have

with him again this show is about

basketball and we are going to cover all

aspects of basketball uh including

College High School Youth Development Fe

IBA the WNBA uh I know we spoke uh at

length last week about the icons in

women's college basketball so awesome to

get coach Keith D's experience expertise

and insight uh through his lens and of

course through his lens what it was like

to coach a freshman and sophomore LeBron

James in high school there are a few

different concepts that we talk about in

episode five perhaps most importantly is

something called top locking and I want

to be very clear on this because there

tends to be some confusion particularly

from Jason Gallagher it is not top

blocking it is top locking top locking

is an off-the-ball defensive scheme

where you force the shooter the

offensive player coming off of a pined

down or at any sort of off ball screen

and you force him towards the basket you

get on his high side or his top side and

you force him back towards the basket or

the Baseline all right let's say the

ball is right here Defender there let's

say there is a shooter in the corner and

there is a big guy that's going to

screen away for the shooter as he comes

down to

screen this big would drop to protect

the basket and a top lock is simply when

the shooters man gets all the way on the

outside forcing him back towards the

basket the protection again comes from

this big or whoever is guarding the

screener who drops back again top

locking not top blocking oh real quick

on the top locking thing which again

this is a little bit of a cheat code for

the Boston Celtics let's say say that

this is Chris STS porzingis and let's

say this is Jaylen Brown at any point in

time if Chris STS porzingis goes to set

in a away screen on Jaylen Brown and

Jaylen Brown's Defender gets into a top

lock and Chris stops porzingis Defender

drops back to provide support Jaylen

Brown can just go set a screen right

here and you've got christops porzingis

popping into space for an open three

that's sort of the counter if you have a

shooting big also similar to top locking

uh another concept that comes up in the

conversation is icing or Downing icing

or Downing a pick and roll is when the

defender guarding a ball handler on a

side pick and roll gets again on the

high side or the top side and forces it

towards the Baseline the big man who is

covering the screener drops back towards

the Baseline uh towards the basket to

give support to the defender on the ball

handler again the defender on the ball

handler has completely opened up gotten

on the ball Handler's tops side and is

forcing the ball down towards the

Baseline we've got two offensive players

here the screener goes into a pick and

roll over here on the side of the Court

as that's happening the big Defender

would shout ice or down again some teams

have color concept for this but ice or

down he would then drop to provide

support and the guy guarding the ball

would jump on the high side of the

offensive player of the ball handler and

force it down towards the Baseline that

is an

ice or down uh motion offense motion

offense is simply uh a a fiveman

offensive scheme uh that relies on

screening action uh ball movement and

body movement motion offense typically

is very free flowing there's not a set

action that leads to another action at

least that's how I was taught it motion

offense just means you're running pin

Downs away screens you're moving the

ball side to side again You're Just In

Motion you know how I was taught motion

offense uh was three out two in so three

offensive players outside the

three-point line and and two offensive

players inside the three-point line and

again motion offense could be any one of

these options you pass to the wing and

you go screen away and replace as that's

happening maybe you get a cross screen

here and you replace let's say none of

that works ball was over here on the

right side ball goes back to the top of

the key again motion offense let's say

you can run a pin down here run a pin

down here that's just motion offense is

ball body movement pin Downs away

screens cross screens motion offense uh

Flex offense is another offense we talk

about Flex offense uh very simply uh is

a halfcourt offensive scheme that relies

on a baseline screen and then a pin down

and that is a continuous offense uh a

lot of high school teams run it college

teams still run it remember Boston

College when we played them and I was at

Duke uh coach Al Skinner that is

literally all they ran offensively was

the flex offense Gary Williams and

Maryland also ran the flex offense a ton

this is uh just a basic Flex offense so

you'll have five offensive

players and a lot of times a ball

handler will enter it this way he would

pass to one of the men up top and make

some sort of cut off the other high

guy once that happen happens we are in a

flex alignment and this all it is is a

baseline screen looking for a layup into

a pin down and again once you pin down

you go back out to the corner again this

can be continuous Baseline cut pin down

some teams that still run this once this

first pin down happens a lot of times

this is a big this is a guard he would

then just come back and set a high pick

and roll and you play out of that so you

can run Flex to get into other actions

or you can make Flex continuous as

always thank you for listening and

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discussion points and my new favorite

thing my new favorite thing from mind

the game podcast is when I'm watching a

game and I happen to be on my Twitter

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appreciate youall and uh this is episode

five of mind the game

[Music]

uh endgame game two one of your most

iconic

shots what game game two 2009 Conference

Finals oh yeah

orando I have a question about that play

because that is an example of a you know

off off ball movement catch and shoot

three y so if I remember

correctly um Mo was taking it out yep

Dante

set like a flare screen for elskus yep

right right here I think it was

pavlovich just kind of ran to the ball

yep and you were over here on this elbow

you actually never got a screen on that

play no cuz I was supposed the play was

for to fake up and go back door for the

lob and Turk played it and Turk played

it per perfectly okay so I faked up and

I tried to go back for the lob and I

said it's not open it's not open

so I just came to the ball and and Turk

that up yeah my only issue on

that play I didn't even see Rashard he

had a hell of a contest yes he was

guarding the ball he was guarding Mo

yeah yeah he was guarding the ball I

didn't see until after the fact I never

saw them I never saw them but you only

saw Turk I only saw

Turk do you remember do you remember

your first playoff game my first playoff

game I do what do you remember about

it I was nervous as that's what I

remember this was third year this was

third year third year yeah and I don't

and I don't know I mean we can look it

up and figure out when was the last time

to C in the

postseason but that was just like my

first year okay I was like establish

myself in my first year second year we

missed the playoffs by maybe one or two

games and it's like okay I'm here to

like play ball but I want to make the

next step I got to get this franchise to

the

postseason and my third year we finally

made the postseason and we our first

game was against Washington at home I

was nervous as hell my stomach was hurt

in all goddamn long all day until

literally until to the ball jump why do

why do you think like what have you

reflected on that why why do you think

you were more

nervous for that game than any other

game well it's two games my first ever

game and Sacramento and then I I didn't

want to lay a

AEG I think OB everybody was watching

this is not a narrative podcast I just

want to be clear on this but I think

what you're admitting here is that you

you you felt the burden you felt the

pressure yeah for sure yeah yeah for

sure pressure who's under more pressure

yeah who is that what's pressure what is

pressure no I didn't want to lay egg man

I was what 20 20 years old got the team

to the

postseason I don't want to go out there

and the bed I was maybe 21 maybe

but like I didn't want to the bed

first playoff game you know look out

there's Gilbert Arenas and Antoine

Jameson and Karan Butler and those guys

they were playing great ball that year

we're inexperienced as

hell I didn't want to lay an

egg what' you have

[Music]

32111 I late an EG all right oh man and

they Locker R yeah I think I think don't

quote me on this I think it was like 35

seven and six or 357 and seven or

something well for the whole series for

the whole series yeah oh not bad no

not bad not not bad for for the first

one you've played in uh a ton of playoff

games obviously you you've won

championships

um there's a lot that's

different about the playoffs in the

regular

season what is it what is

different about the playoffs in general

or for me in general we'll get to you

specifically in general

um as you know as you've played him a

lot of postseason games too one

possession can lose you to

series and compared to the regular

season you can get away with some

slippage you can get away it's four and

five nights tired you know it's

a cold ass Tuesday night in

Milwaukee you know you're like holy

not this Milwaukee team I mean obviously

you get up for those guys

but in the

postseason one bad

stretch it could be a 60 run it

could be a turnover here it could

be you didn't top you didn't top lock JJ

when we told you we topl locking him all

series and now he didn't seen one go

in even if you there's s like where you

you know you could win a playoff

game and because the way you finish the

game you already lost the second

one you don't let you don't let that

guy or that person get into a

rhythm in the fourth quarter because you

decided you didn't want to lock in for

eight to nine more minutes and yes we

won the game but now we may lose the war

yeah the mental side of the playoffs by

the way thank you yeah

particularly uh against a really good

opponent yeah I think it was in episode

one you said the further you go into

playoffs to win you have to be a high IQ

team yep it's

uh it's obviously emotionally draining

MH because of

the there is pressure it's different you

feel more more with each win and loss M

you get to two losses in a series you

get to three losses in a series an

elimination game it's you're down three2

you've got to go on the road to San

Antonio they won the championship last

year you've got to muster up enough to

beat them to get back home yep that

emotional toll is a lot the physical

toll of course playing but to me like

the mental side of it I think that is a

huge separator because often times

mental mistakes within a

game can lead to

a series loss for sure I think about one

I

made I was in Orlando we were playing in

the Conference finals against Boston and

I had played a good game and there was a

timeout let's say there was 29 seconds

there was a a five or six second

difference between shot clock and game

clock and go to the time out I know we

have a timeout I know we have a timeout

we get to stop I get the rebound you

dribble first no first I looked at Stan

mhm and I'm not saying it was his fault

I looked I knew there was a timeout I

knew I was I should have called a

timeout and I looked at him and he

didn't do anything so then I just

instinctively put the ball on the floor

and then he called a timeout yeah and

now you can't Advance the ball so now we

got three seconds and we got to take it

out three4 qut opposite foul line yep

and we didn't get a good shot

off now we were down I don't know that

we we win anyways but that's an example

of like a mental mistake I'll give you

another one and this one has bothered

me for four years and I'm not throwing

this guy under the bus because I think

his intention was

right um 2020 playoffs Conference Finals

you guys are up 1 on

Denver and you're down at the end of the

game you've got the ball underneath the

basket yep Mason PL plumy checks in the

game y to guard Anthony Davis

you are on the left elbow Anthony Davis

is on the right elbow Danny Green makes

some cut or whatever and Anthony Davis

runs to the left wing you never set a

pick in fact your back was turned to

Anthony Davis and Mason plumbley correct

because I was just looking at do like

give me the ball I know and Mason

plumbley Point switched Point switched

and Anthony Davis hit the game winning

three yeah now you're down

20 like that stuff the little tin plays

it's weird cuz in the playoffs I would

say the little plays get Amplified more

does that Mak sense yep versus a regular

season you go through 82 games it's it

doesn't feel the same way yeah that's

why my body language is so bad

throughout the regular season because

I'm trying to gear them up for the

postseason

cuz don't understand some guys don't

understand like

it's one play like you're saying one

play could be the difference between

your ass going home and going to Cabo or

Cancun or wherever the hell you

going or going to Disneyland or Disney

World with the trophy in your

hand do you think

the the sort of game within the

game of coaches is different

meaning like but I don't know Bob Myers

maybe never didn't originate this but I

know that he said it at some point there

are 82 game players and then there's 16

game players

right do you think that in some ways

there are regular season Co like good

regular season coaches versus good

playoff coaches like how much does

coaching matter in the NBA in the

playoffs it matters a

lot

preparation prep how much prep are you

getting going into a series to

win you get out there and you're kind of

ready

for you know everything that's going to

be throwing at you and obviously

everybody makes adjustments and then you

got the great players that don't matter

what type of game plan you got

on them they're going to exploit it no

matter what but as much as you can be

prepared going out for a series and you

know you know it changes you know that

game one it's kind of like the filler

game you know you almost like tell your

players just go out just play

like just go out and play game one don't

think too much because if you start

thinking too much now you can't even

just like be you can't even just be a

player no more because now you're just

trying to think the game but me

personally I I I I I want I want

overload you want overload I want

overload I I want all the information

everything everybody every

individual every pros and con and I

don't do that throughout the 82 game

regular season I'm not I don't have the

time to do that I don't have the time

the the league has changed a lot with

practice time shoot around time amount

of time you spend in the film room it

just has yeah it has and you know I was

I was fortunate I would say

five of my first six years I played for

Stan I also played for him my La you

know my last year in New

Orleans when you talk about the

preparation it was interesting to me

that he prepared for a regular season

game the same way he prepared for a

postseason game yeah so we're in shoo

around for an hour and a half we got

knee pads on we're going live he would I

remember at the end of shoot rounds he'd

be like all right these guys haven't run

this play in five games this is an atto

but they haven't run it in five games

but just I want to be prepared for it

let's go through it oh you guys didn't

do it right let's go through it again

that's the Rous tree 100% that's the

Rous tree Expos the same way so when we

got but my point is when we got to the

playoffs it didn't feel any different

right cuz you PR for a playoff for sure

that's suppose the same way that's the

Rous

tree you know you come from that Pat

Raley tree that's just you prepare every

day like it's your last for

sure you you mentioned the word

exploitation again

how

much mental

energy in a playoff series playoff game

are you spending on exploitation how to

exploit the other team you personally 48

minutes yeah and if it if we need 53 or

58 the whole game how can you CU I'm

trying to generate easy

buckets easy buckets and I want to get

my guys in a rhythm and how can we we

exploit the matchups and the players

that's on the

floor sometimes I get a little

disrespectful to it as well certain guys

come on the floor I I'll say it right on

the free throw line while we shooting a

free throw they're shooting a free

throw yo we putting him into action Thum

thumb down him

yeah I want him to know that like you

know we going we going at him

in the postseason I'm glad I never

played against you in the

postseason well I guess I did nine

minutes n minutes game to

2009 um I think the other the other

thing for me in in playing and in

watching

is can you create good offense down the

stretch that's true of course in any

basketball game yeah I think it's harder

and harder the further you go in the

play

plays yeah it is I mean obviously the

the the IQ which I always come to the IQ

from the coaches to the players heighten

and get better as you go on and on and

on and

on and once the players get better too

as well I feel like being able to

execute certain certain guys are able to

execute better than others and teams or

whatever the case may

be because

nothing nothing bothers them in in the

pressure

moments sometimes the lights are too

bright yeah for certain

individuals you know

I I would say this though here's the

thing that's a fair point not

disagreeing not

disagreeing for my career I think I shot

41% in the regular season from three for

my career in the playoffs I think I shot

over 37% yeah but that's not because of

the pressure no no no but hold

on often times our our our opinion on

things are are shaped by our own

experience is that fair that's fair you

and I have had different experiences as

basketball players let hear your

experience so later on in my career once

pretty much once I got to LA and was

like a starter and third or fourth

option on

offense you get to the playoffs they

treat you like a first option yeah for

sure you do you know what I mean by that

like they they've come up with a very

specific game plan the same team for

game one game two game three MH through

game seven y they've come up with a

specific game plan for you so Utah Jazz

2017 we are going to top lock him as

soon as he crosses half court I mean Dr

Rivers said to me after game one he said

this is not your series I need you to

stand in the corner right a terrible

series it's the worst series my in

my in my

like playing career of when I was like

actually a player not not like a bench

guy but like it was the worst series of

my career but he's like you got to go

stand in the corner they're literally

we're playing four on four without you

like all right right the

Closeouts so if I do create separation

or if you do make a mistake in the kick

the Closeouts are different in the

playoffs yes so my catch and shoot time

to get a clean release is

different I'm not making excuses I'm

just telling you it is the truth what I

experienced so do you think because of

that by the 7% is not horrible no hell

it's not good it's not good for me I

mean for you it's not terrible for you

ter it's terrible for you terrible I

mean for the average guy they were

I'm embarrassed they might get a

Max contract over that but for you you

should yeah but that's why I I believe

certain guys wants the postseason start

because they've been guarded a certain

way for what September to Mid April a

certain way you know you have certain

games that that gets you know circled on

the calendar that certain coaches get up

for certain players get up for but at

the end of the

day you've been guarded a certain way

and then in the postseason like you said

the Closeouts are

different the preparation is different

guys guys

are they're they're not allowing you to

do what you do best because at the end

of the day if certain guys get off on a

team

you're definitely going to

lose if I'm playing the Clippers you got

okay you got to deal with Blake and his

points in the paint and his rolls and

his pocket passes from CP you got to

deal with CP you got to deal with Jamal

coming off the bench and and doing what

he does Off the

Bench if we allow JJ to get five or six

threes the series is over if you shoot

if you're getting five or not not

making five or six threes if jjj's

shooting five or threes we're going to

lose yeah the the Spurs series in 15 I

remember dude we come out game one we're

in La we've got the three seed they got

the six seed even though we had the same

amount of wins and kawai's guarding

me and I'm like you're like what did I

what did I do I do to deserve deserve

this why are you guarding me and for I

don't remember maybe the first four or

five games of the Season he started on

me Danny started on CP then they

switched that in game six I think it was

G I know game seven Danny was on me um

and at the end of the series we win and

like I didn't have a great series but I

had big moments in the series you know

and at the end of the series chip

England came up to me he's like man our

our entire thing was like we got to we

can't allow you to get off see I wasn't

the kitchen sink to you I wasn't even

part of it I've seen pop in the

postseason I've played against him

multiple times in finals appearances

there was one time where where soon the