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00:00They've won 8 of 10, they've moved into second, they play great at home, they've been average
00:09on the road, average in the division, but I don't think they've had enough of a taste
00:14of in-divisional game yet, and pretty decent overall in the conference.
00:18What is your assessment of how they've jumped into this two-hole?
00:22Well, first of all, Merry Christmas to you too, my friend.
00:26It's good to see you again.
00:27Good to see you.
00:29I think that there's a couple things going on here.
00:32One, their new offense is really fast, and it's really good, and it's caught teams off
00:39guard.
00:40When they played Golden State in that first Emirates NBA Cup game, Draymond Green postgame
00:45talked about how different what the Grizzlies are running is.
00:49I never thought I'd see the day when they were the top-scoring team in the NBA, because
00:53this was a team for years built on physicality and defense, and you knew you were in a street
00:58fight when you played the Grizzlies.
01:00It's not like that anymore.
01:02They brought in a new assistant coach named Tuomas Iassalo, who really has a scheme that
01:06enables everybody to eat.
01:09There's not one guy just scoring 35 and everybody else following suit.
01:13Everybody's getting there multiple nights with seven guys in double figures, over 30
01:18assists a game.
01:19The ball's constantly moving.
01:21They battled through some injuries.
01:23They also caught some breaks on their schedule, let's be honest.
01:25Philadelphia is not what you thought they would be, and they got them early twice.
01:30They got a Milwaukee team struggling early in the season, and now they're back on track.
01:35They did not play particularly well against Brooklyn in their first two matchups, and
01:39they blew a lead against Chicago.
01:42Right now, more than ever, Scotty, and Steve Kerr said it, so I don't want to take credit
01:45for it, but he's absolutely right.
01:47It's never been a more make-or-miss league, and when this team makes more than 10 threes,
01:52they're virtually unbeatable.
01:54They're 18-9 now.
01:55I think they're 17-2 when they make more than 10 threes.
01:59When they don't, they're 1-7.
02:01They just don't.
02:02You're not going to win games, but they're still not 100% healthy.
02:05They got Zach Edie back Sunday in Los Angeles, and he played well, but the rest of the team,
02:10it was just one of those odd nights in an 82-game season that you don't play very well,
02:16and maybe guys are trying to do too much.
02:18Maybe the bright lights of LA, maybe the long trip.
02:20You can drive yourself insane trying to overanalyze it, and you, as someone who's put a little
02:26coin down on teams trying to figure out why they look so particularly bad, you know exactly
02:30what I'm talking about, but overall, they've been very good on both ends of the floor.
02:36It's not just their offensive metrics.
02:38Their defense is good, too, and when they get healthier, they're going to get deeper.
02:42They're going to get Gigi Jackson back soon.
02:44They're going to get their best defender and Vince Williams back.
02:47Jasmin Bain is still figuring out his role in this fast-paced offense.
02:51When he starts shooting the basketball, it's going to get better.
02:55I was pleasantly surprised.
02:56I was kind of looking at the first 25, trying to be around 14-11, 13-12, and then figure
03:01out how this offense really works.
03:04They're ahead of that, and I think they can get better.