Stop Nunn, Still Lose? Game 5 Breakdown vs Panathinaikos | Players Corner w/ Elijah Bryant

Arena where you're playing has a lot to do with what you should do in this play. I was calling switch. Moving forward, I would never switch that. Oh, for sure foul. What up guys, welcome back to the Player's Corner. Today we're going to watch some clips from the game, and if you're a fan, this video is not for you. This is actually for students of the game who are trying to learn and grow. And me myself, I'm a student as well, so we are here to learn. There's no judgment here, we all make mistakes, but that's why we're watching it, to learn from our mistakes, because you never lose, you only learn. So the mindset going into this game was obviously Game 5, win or go home. But for me personally, I think your emotions are energy in motion, right? And if you allow them to get you too riled up, then you can't even focus on what you're doing. So going into a Game 5 like this, or essentially all playoff games, I like to come in with the calmness. During the game, you might see me scream, and the thing is, I don't talk trash. All that screaming is for myself. It's for no one else. I don't say anything. You can ask anyone when I play, I don't talk trash. But anyways, let's get into it and stay till the end to get the deep talk in the locker room. Let's go. So here our initial attacking point is we're trying to attack, uh, Wancho, also known as Bo Cruz, to make him have to guard and put him in a position where he just can't be out there. Crazy thing is, just for context for you guys, let me go back a little bit. So right here is where the families used to sit, but now Game 5, they put some Gate 13 people right here who are going crazy. They— we have a glass thing protecting the players, and then you have security there as well. So just to paint the picture of what the environment was like. So this right here, they always tell me you have to give the big space to run. Adamon's team, all his teams always tag hard, don't allow the roller to go. But yeah, no comment. You don't see me react at all. You know, it's early in the game, I'm just trying to stay present, stoic. Right here in this position, I'm last guy on the double side. I'm responsible for the roller, but then Grant does a great job of no-look at me. So in my head, how I'm thinking is a layup is 100%, a 3 on a closeout, we have fouls to give. Okay, 3, best shooter, 50%, whatever, but I can foul, I can do all that stuff. But the biggest thing for me is I can't give a layup up. I mean, surprised that didn't go in. So I think the biggest thing is here is taking the ball out of bounds is always risky. It's all about the preparation, right? It's all about knowing exactly what your options are. So here, whatever the play is, I know every option. And as you notice, I see Erjan late, but I don't look until the last second. Look, I didn't box out. Watch and look. That's 2 points. So we're forcing Nunn, right, to play to his non-dominant hand. And I got to create better spacing here. I can't be here. I need to be in the corner to give Shane better spacing. Arena where you're playing has a lot to do with what you should do in this play. I was calling switch, which in hindsight I shouldn't have because he can't hear anything I'm saying. Moving forward, I would never switch that. See, they're ball watching. This is another thing. Usually the rule of thumb is if you shoot it, obviously you should get back. But look at all them ball watching. None. Only person boxing out is Gabriel. Jetty's ball watching, Grant's ball watching, Wancho's ball watching. I was the only one who crashed. You see that? The rule is either you crash or you get back. I gotta create better spacing. I need to be in this corner right right here to give Darius more room to operate. It doesn't seem like much, but imagine if he could— instead of going here, he can go here. Now he has to make a decision. Now he has to make a decision. Still good take, good rebound, D.O. Right here, they're trying to hit the short roll. Boom, hit one in. I need to be out. So here they're not hedging or anything. His job is to bump him. He is just up, so the pass is here. I don't feel comfortable, I can keep him caged, but they're not hedging. They're like up to touch, but aggressive up to touch. This is all growth for me, but I need to be more here. That way He cheats it, I can backdoor. I gotta give myself more options. So here I gotta go level of the screen so he can't get through as easy. This is the one I was talking about, the charge. If you notice, I take account of that and I use that to my advantage later in the game. I gotta contest there, and like, even though I know I'm late, I still have to get a contest. Oh. That was a nice look. That's what I'll be in the gym working on all summer— catch and shoot. Could have even shot that one, but felt like Vinnie hadn't got touched in a while. Nice lob at the rim is easy one. Foul, maybe, who knows. Oh, for sure foul. This one's tough because you want to keep them right, but it's so high. Might be better to go under, but then that means the rule of thumb going under allows him to get back to his left. So now we're back in front. Okay, we're good. So this is the next also evolution of my game, is knowing that I'm drawing such a crowd and I know I should be passing this here, but that's the next evolution. Spot up and seeing this pass as a playmaker, seeing this pass, because once I start doing that, then my drives will open up even more. Here we're, we're pressing, trying to create some chaos, muck up the game like we talked about. Freaking Derek's military hat on, diving on the floor. And as you know, if it gets to 16, that's a violation, it's our ball. So just this little me putting my hand up here creates a tip, extra second, out of bounds violation. That's why I'm saying like I have to also add into my habits of I'm late on a closeout I have to make sure to remember to still put a hand up because it's the little things, right? Okay, keep them right. T-Board sets the screen. So the reason T-Board comes in— if we push Lucas right and he— Wancho back cuts, my responsibility is to stunt on T-Board. But if I stunt and he keeps the ball, then Wancho is going to be wide open. So basically, since T-Board can shoot, it puts us in a predicament. But luckily, Tibor— and I, I know Tibor, so I know what he wants to do. He's more dangerous in the pick and pop, so I'm not letting him get the ball. Cross-court pass, bring it back. Oh, mismatch, time to go. But he's closer. Layups, higher percentage than a 3. And more people touch it so they feel involved. Like right here, I'm like, okay, he's definitely gonna drive. But type of game and series he was having, I actually had to step up and play real defense. Wrong hand contest. My coach, Giannis, who's a coach at Red Star, taught right-hand shooter, left-hand contest, left-hand shooter, right-hand contest. So I messed up on this, but a contest is better than no contest. So I think the key to guarding very good offensive talent players is reacting late and knowing their tendencies. So obviously we know Kendrick Nunn's a great player, MVP this year, congratulations again. But I know in this series his 3 is not feeling as confident compared to, let's say, when he played Monaco and he— I don't know how many 3s he hit. But so right here, the mentality on defense is I want to keep active on the ball to make sure he's staying alert, but also know I want to force him inside to the right, knowing he can't overpower me, knowing I can contest all his shots without fouling. I just can't let him get a good look. Is he going to hit some shots? Yes, but you want to make it as difficult as possible. And knowing that he takes 15 shots a game and his teammates don't even take 10, you know what I mean? So he's getting this off. So I want to make it as hard as possible. Keep him right, right-hand contest with the left-hand shooter. That was better. Okay, first of all, I gotta put a body on someone or I gotta get out in transition. I can't just be watching. That's first of all. Second of all, the ball goes to their best shooter, the MVP of the league, and I don't even go out and put my hand up. It's a bad habit I have to fix. Very bad habit. So here, usually rule is of thumb in basketball situation, I'm late I get hit on the screen, we should switch. But knowing who it is, knowing time and score, knowing the urgency— Drew Holliday does this a lot. Follow the ball, keep following. Don't leave Vinnie on the ball, don't leave Vinnie on the ball. We'll figure it out on the other side. But I gotta get out because I can't expect Vinnie to get out there. That's me. Vinnie comes at the screen, 2 on the ball. He gets behind the line of defense. Now it's him to make the decision. It's 3 versus 2. He has to make a decision. Is he going to come up and stop the layup? If he does, he can back cut or just stay corner for the 3. This was perfect. Good shot, Rollins. Here, going to his body. Here to here. Going to his body to create space if I want to shoot it, but going full speed at the same pace allows him to catch back up, you know what I mean? Good shot. Oh, this is the one, this is the one. So remember before, and earlier we talked about, I got the charge. So now I know Nunn has 3 or 4 fouls here, and I know he's gonna flop. I know he's gonna flop. So instead of going into him on the second bump, I'm going straight up to my shot. I didn't create the contact to go that way, so how could he flop that way? Luckily the ref didn't fall for it. See here, he can help because he's not a shooter. So what I'd rather happen is Vinny go and screen for Shane because now Shane is wide open. So here, knowing psychology, Jay just missed his last two, so he's not gonna be as aggressive. But knowing he's— his next attribute is getting to his right hand, So here I'm gonna go under so he can't go full speed downhill, and knowing he's going to reject going right, so I'm going to reach. But where I mess up, and this is where I need to grow, is I'm reaching with my right hand across my body. I need to reach like this, about to slap it like that, because I reach like this, if he really handles, he could take the other hand and yank, and I could potentially fall. And be Shaq than a fool. Anyways, you've made it to the end. You've watched the full video. Now you've entered the locker room. Locker room is where I kind of break down how I felt after the game, how I'm feeling now, what I've learned, that type of stuff. So I think after the game there was a sense of like disappointment because of how bad we played and how close we were. And a sense of gratitude because of what we did to get there. You can say, oh, but what about your bonus? What about this? At the end of the day, you play basketball like to win games. Yeah, you're gonna make money and stuff like that, but you started playing basketball because you love it. And my biggest motivator now with basketball is how, like I said before, how good can Elijah Bryant be? And that's what motivates me every summer. That's why I work so hard in the summer. It's not about the money. It's about how good I can be. And I think if you take the whole picture objectively, I think I made a step in the right progress this year. But specifically this game, I mean, if you tell me Sloukas and Nunn play horrible and you live with Jetty beating you and turning into Kobe to win, what can you do? Tip your hat and you say, shake their hand, good game. So that's life. And Grant hitting double pump fake threes. And I mean, you expect— we executed the game plan. Stop Sloukas, stop Nunn, don't let them beat you. And other guys stepped up and beat us, and they deserve to move on to the Final Four, and I wish them nothing but the best. Another thing I want to talk about is like the fans screaming. Now I get it, you're there to enjoy the game. There was one— someone commented on my YouTube saying, oh, I saw you did a heart to some fans at the end when like the game was over. Because at the end of the day, like, it's basketball. Like, you screaming, you telling F me, F my mom, all that stuff, like, I think it's super disrespectful, but I don't I don't really care because these are the same people that are going to ask for autograph outside and the same people that are going to be cheering if I'm wearing a Pana jersey or if I'm wearing their team's jersey, you know. So I think as a player you can use it as motivation, but to be down and take offense to people saying, you know, F your mom, F you, I hope you die, that type of stuff, that's how it is in Europe. But I'm glad you guys stayed to the end to join me in the locker room. I will be doing more of these now since EuroLeague is over. Let me know in the comments what kind of stuff you guys want to see in terms of what videos you want me to review. And maybe we'll even do like a live stream where you can like put your film, I don't know, in the Discord in the chat, and we can break down certain people's films live. But again, like I always say, it's faith plus consistency, and we'll see you guys in the next one. Love.