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Arby's app. Hello

1:51

and Welcome

1:55

to group chat. I am Justin

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Barriere and joining me big wise.

2:00

No rama only tonight for we got

2:02

the two boys year for the slobber.

2:04

Knock her between the walls and the

2:07

nuggets. What's up was. A

2:09

Good Man. Odds literally just reeling

2:11

from that game. That was an.

2:14

You know, opening match up? Just

2:16

a slugfest. really. The whole game

2:19

was just super close the entire

2:21

time. These guys trading shots are

2:23

shaped like strategies. Adjustments being made

2:25

in. this is this game. One.

2:28

Really? Cool to see. Yeah. So

2:30

we're going to get to game seven, preview

2:32

of the magic and tabs because that can

2:34

be happening early on Sunday. are also going

2:36

to do what we think we know after

2:38

the first round. so kind of like a

2:40

look back look ahead at some of the

2:42

big things that are we haven't discussed. Yeah,

2:44

but we have to start with. Goddamn

2:46

one of the best playoff games not to

2:49

second round teams and I've seen in a

2:51

very long time. I think I knew and

2:53

I tweeted this out that it was a

2:55

slob er nok or that this was kind

2:58

of everything we had hoped for when not

3:00

as read gets to the park kits and

3:02

just don't sit like easy and edwards and

3:05

I was like oh we're on here I'd

3:07

This was incredible. A. Yeah, it was.

3:09

It was really something the ah the

3:11

first Saf of course. Minnesota.

3:14

Just came out they jumped out

3:16

on the Denver Nuggets. I'm. Eight

3:19

scenes of for at one point them

3:21

because it's arm out and it's like

3:23

oh man like these guys series Denver

3:25

look like the you know they just

3:27

came off by hangover from a first

3:29

round series and sort of finding their

3:32

way through this game in Minnesota. Just

3:34

jumped out on M R. Edwards was

3:36

just he had everything worked in. he

3:38

didn't have a cop yet the mid

3:40

range working on very early on he

3:43

let these guys know that you know

3:45

Ah. K. C P. Jamal

3:47

Murray These guys are going to be a

3:49

little bit too skinny to deal with what

3:52

Edwards is bringing the bear and that was.

3:54

Made. Played from the start he was a

3:57

big part of getting them off to that

3:59

great start. And in, of course, Denver

4:01

comes all the way back in that it's like I

4:03

said, it just becomes a slugfest. Yeah. There

4:05

was a real reminiscent thing to this game

4:07

where it looks a little bit like the

4:10

Lakers series where the wolves through the first

4:12

punch in the not looked pretty days in

4:14

a it was a big part of that

4:16

seemed like a north of six the early

4:18

start or this is just what the nuggets

4:20

are gonna do. this post is and whether

4:23

easing into a match ups and then they

4:25

so we take over. Well we got to

4:27

the point late in the game where the

4:29

nuggets should take over. unfortunately it was there

4:31

and we talked about this before to seems

4:33

like whatever juice the Lakers lacked. That

4:36

maybe because they had tired legs, because they

4:38

are so over reliant on a thirty nine

4:40

year old Le Bron. Whoa, bubbles have fucking,

4:42

he has any Edwards and he looks like

4:45

the best goddamn player in the league right

4:47

now. Forty three points, seven rebounds, three assists,

4:49

two blocks, one assist. I I

4:51

I mean there's acted. does it come up

4:53

with so many hyperbole that this pointed to?

4:56

Talk about hands doing. but I. What?

4:58

what? What do you think to

5:00

me as like how he could

5:02

stop runs by just getting a

5:04

great a great look in the

5:06

looks city's getting see is creating

5:08

so much space and it's fourteen.

5:10

Fifteen foot is that at this

5:12

point in his career are essentially

5:14

automatic. I thought he was. He

5:16

played a nice defensive game of

5:18

when the floor was sort of

5:20

spread and valleys t at a

5:22

nice day soft game as well

5:24

like. Men: Only

5:26

one turn over today legs and deal

5:29

with the amount of uses that he

5:31

had to study at a nice floor

5:33

game is is just zebra was uses

5:35

like been on and his physicality that's

5:38

what I thought was the difference was

5:40

when I'm watching the Lakers won Big

5:42

difference is nowhere near to the levels

5:45

is not the salad sit up and

5:47

down the roster as Minnesota's is. But.

5:50

Sue. On. A

5:52

ball as great as Le Bron

5:54

is, He checked consistently to beat

5:57

people up from the perimeter exit

5:59

down. Will enforce Nino Denver to

6:01

commit extra resources to stop him. What

6:03

he's doing at the cops armies this

6:06

you know. thirty nine, four years old.

6:08

he's not able to do that anymore

6:10

at Edwards. you know a sense when

6:12

the prom of his life he can

6:15

do that with consistency. and when apps

6:17

when that wasn't working you know that

6:19

courthouse had a nice third third quarter

6:22

stretch where he jumped like seven buckets.

6:24

some of them would like subsides. Soft

6:26

runners like they were as good a

6:28

good from everywhere. Early. Your men. it

6:30

was so cool. I think the biggest

6:33

compliment you can get from Denver's defense is

6:35

when Aaron Gordon just picks you up. They

6:37

say especially way in a game we need

6:39

Aaron Gordon to just kind of shut this

6:41

guy down in skis. done that allied to

6:43

the last post season. it a little bits

6:45

in the Lakers series but when it stopped

6:48

on a dine with. Gordon. Basically

6:50

in his shorts for that pull up

6:52

that look dare I say Mj ask

6:54

and wasn't asleep saying that As ridiculous

6:56

as sound is, sound looks exactly like

6:58

I was like goddamn like, what do

7:01

you do against this guy Because your

7:03

boy Kenny is just doesn't have the

7:05

house with special when as a pet

7:07

esteem and Gordon's dislike. There's not much

7:09

you could do about that when you

7:11

have a step back like that. Yeah,

7:14

I. Gordon actually is obviously strong enough

7:16

to deal with a with. I don't

7:18

know that the. Lateral movement is. you

7:20

know this disguise. Lightning quick. like this

7:22

is a next level first step right?

7:25

We're not sorghum. Bought a Paul George

7:27

Oracle. Why Leonard? You know older guys

7:29

who you know they need a little

7:31

thinking. Maybe get a little step, recreate

7:33

some separation, but it's not gonna be

7:36

that much. They did not son in

7:38

a corner guys anymore. The way it

7:40

is in a digital. have a great

7:42

matchup. Them up the big do different

7:44

things clouding his vision and make even

7:46

a little bit more difficult. but even

7:49

then. You know they were helping.

7:51

They. Were helping off of Gods like not

7:53

read one pass away and it would make

7:55

a quick decisions. So is not just said

7:57

he's killing his guy when he gets his

7:59

one on one match up. It's also that

8:01

like he recognized looks when they try to

8:03

load up on me. I just need to

8:05

get get rid of the ball, just that

8:08

my teammates are going to make the right

8:10

place and up and and and and he

8:12

did that tonight. Yeah the seem to be

8:14

the game plan and he only had three

8:16

assists but you're right, he was moving the

8:18

ball, he was making the right reads who's

8:20

making the that's easy passes that he should

8:22

and it just seemed like everything was flowing

8:24

from their services from Kirk Colds. bury their

8:26

Visa. The players that have score thirty five

8:28

plus points in three straight playoff. Games at

8:31

age twenty two were younger Lew

8:33

Alcindor. Koby. Bryant. Le.

8:35

Bron James. Anthony. Edwards.

8:38

This. Is kind of uncharted territory and so

8:40

I mean did probably have a larger discussion

8:43

we could have at some point about like.

8:46

Kinda. Wolves win a title when you're

8:48

guys this young but like this is the

8:50

first time or I'm even like entertaining those

8:52

idea that someone at this stage of his

8:54

career might be able to vault not only

8:57

past the nuggets, but even get into the

8:59

finals and beyond. Look. If

9:01

he's gonna play like this since if

9:04

he would be this locked in. They.

9:06

Can add, so we win the championship with

9:09

a player this young like, you know, I

9:11

it's his beats being a long series it's

9:13

organ we'll. If you know

9:15

these guys are able to maintain this, but if

9:17

he's going to play like this that man it's

9:20

gonna be tough. So on the other into this.

9:22

Nickel Yolk. it's has a mere

9:25

thirty two points, nine assists, eight

9:27

rebounds. how hum stuff you know

9:29

front for the probably three time

9:31

Mvp. Unfortunately, Seven turnovers pretty

9:34

a typical than they look pretty sloppy

9:36

and for yogis to be bit sloppy

9:38

is like honestly startling. Minus twelve and

9:40

and the game and I think this

9:42

brings us back to your friend. Rudy.

9:45

Go bare. Who was air? I say

9:47

magna feet. In this as.

9:50

They can do this without really go

9:52

bear on this is. Worry.

9:55

Go Bare was as instrumental.

9:57

His aunt was Minnesota's often

9:59

me. Able to work consistently tonight.

10:02

Really? Go Pear or Defense made everything

10:04

have been the Nuggets. Been not one

10:06

of these teams that want to get

10:08

up forty forty five three the game

10:11

the not the Celtics. They actually. Best.

10:13

We want to try to score inside

10:16

as then. When. seem start

10:18

loading up would on their paint stuff's

10:20

been they stop for spraying out service

10:22

shooters, boots and night reads as they

10:25

just weren't not getting to the paints

10:27

and when they were they weren't getting

10:29

great looks and at the culminated ultimately

10:31

at the ended a game you know

10:34

under four minutes to go. Joe.

10:36

Kids, he's driving down the lane.

10:38

Rudy is given a myspace. That.

10:42

Tight knit sake slaughtered that he'd be

10:44

seen in due time and time in

10:46

time and time again. To

10:49

Eric Gordon for the slowest she goes

10:51

for. Rudy reads it, smacks it out.

10:54

You know, arm as he had three

10:56

consecutive possesses. We're. Smack. That

10:58

out. See. Stoned basically stole your

11:00

kids on out on a isolation post

11:02

that was jokes aside, discourse on a

11:04

left shop cook ware. He he missed

11:07

it. Really? you know he took a

11:09

shot, missed it, got his old put

11:11

back. scored that. Then of course you

11:13

know that the icing on the kick

11:15

that ridiculous bagshot that he made some

11:17

the free throw line arm air is

11:19

going to get all that. A highlights

11:21

tonight and and I think he deserves.

11:23

but Rudy is right there in terms

11:25

of importance in the outcome of this

11:27

game. Were joking before we came on.

11:29

That bank shot looked like really was

11:31

taking a beer pong shot. seven

11:34

was one of the most ridiculous been recent

11:36

some perks her think i've ever seen both

11:38

sneer i used as insult to injury joke

11:40

is had some success the on post ups

11:42

on i'm early on but like joke it's

11:45

is just gonna do that is only so

11:47

much you could do against yolk it's but

11:49

like manic i just kept thinking throughout this

11:51

game like tim connelly's had a blueprint man

11:54

he knew like what he was gonna stop

11:56

and the collective size across the board the

11:58

point where like nods read put in

12:00

that center and it was like a Reed

12:03

Anderson front court and the announcers

12:05

are like oh they're going small I was like small

12:08

Reed is like 270 pounds

12:11

he's a stretch five and so just like to

12:14

see just all the bodies that they could throw

12:16

them Gina McDaniels was pretty quiet in this game

12:18

but just like the length that they have to

12:20

be able to like interchain on these guys it's

12:22

like I don't know

12:24

what you do at this point especially as we should

12:26

mention with Jamal Murray who was hobbling yeah

12:28

Jamal Murray looked a little bit hobbled looked a

12:30

little bit limited some of the shots that he

12:32

did make with like his hardest shots I

12:35

thought he was able to generate some decent

12:37

looks and just straight-up didn't make it some

12:39

of it maybe he's uncomfortable maybe some of

12:41

the you know the arms and the limbs

12:44

that he's being showed is you

12:46

know rattling him a little bit but

12:48

Murray would look he didn't look like himself

12:50

tonight and Porter jr. like

12:52

I think this is about as good as

12:55

you can expect from him you know six

12:57

is 13 he put up seven threes like

12:59

this is this is the Porter junior

13:01

night they're like I think this is

13:03

a good Porter jr. game and

13:05

you know to go back to your kids he

13:08

took nine threes which he doesn't really want

13:11

to do only made two of them

13:13

he's got to make he's got to be willing to

13:15

like they're not gonna win this series

13:17

without your kids having

13:19

a superlative performance like

13:21

he has to be the best guy

13:23

on the floor he has to attack

13:26

be hyper aggressive trying to score he has

13:28

to be willing to take and make those

13:30

threes he has to make Minnesota's defense

13:33

a little bit more honest and

13:35

yeah man they're in for a dogfight I

13:37

thought this thing would go seven going in

13:39

I thought ultimately Denver would be

13:41

able to pull it out with some

13:43

of their you know obviously their continuity

13:46

cohesion there they've all been

13:49

there before together but matchup

13:52

wise I've been saying it all year this

13:54

is their toughest matchup and man

13:57

game one proved that to be the

13:59

truth Whenever Jokic takes

14:01

more shots than he typically

14:03

does, you could tell that something isn't quite

14:05

right. And oftentimes, honestly,

14:07

he's able to find a solution

14:10

just by being the score. Unfortunately,

14:13

in this game, and I wonder if this

14:15

is kind of the big thing to take

14:17

away going forward, is if Murray isn't quite

14:19

right, and we should mention, at

14:21

the start of this game, he was very not right.

14:23

I think he was 0 for 5 in the first

14:26

half. I think that's one of the only times that's

14:28

ever happened. He just seemed not only off, but

14:30

just disengaged in a way that, like, I guess

14:33

he was toward the end of that Lakers series,

14:35

but he managed to come back. In this game,

14:37

he did manage to kind of rally back in

14:39

the second half. I wonder if

14:41

he's preserving himself in certain ways. Maybe he's,

14:43

like, pacing himself out. Maybe this is just

14:46

what the Nuggets do where they peek after

14:48

halftime. I have no idea. But you're right.

14:50

He was making incredibly difficult shots. So on

14:52

the one hand, like, maybe

14:55

the injuries persist. On the other hand, I think

14:57

you have to give the Wolves some credit here,

14:59

because it just seems like they were making things

15:01

so difficult for him, where the only things he

15:03

was even getting were those difficult off-balance

15:05

shots, the ones where he was giving a

15:07

taunt afterward, even though, like, for some reason,

15:09

Ant got the tech, but he did not. It

15:12

was just kind of, he was off there.

15:14

And that's kind of like the big swing

15:16

thing for me in this series. Yeah.

15:18

They're able to, again, make him uncomfortable. I

15:21

think, I don't think he's going to have

15:23

to have a series where he averages like

15:25

25, 28 a game. But

15:28

when he does get his opportunities,

15:30

because he's going to have space

15:32

to operate. Like, the Wolves are

15:34

not dumb. Yo' Kitchen

15:36

is going to be the center of

15:39

gravity, right? Like, he's going to pull

15:41

defenders towards him, just

15:43

by glint of him being out there. And

15:45

Murray's going to have some space. He's

15:48

got to execute, though. Like, he needs

15:51

to, you know, knock those midrangers

15:53

down. Don't hesitate. As

15:55

soon as you get the airspace, pull up, shoot. the

16:00

three. I think a lot of

16:02

the shots that Yoke was getting in this game

16:04

was, you know, towards the end of the shot

16:06

clock where it's like, oh man, okay, now I

16:09

have to do it. It's not within the natural

16:11

flow of what they're trying to do. Yeah, man,

16:14

they definitely got to go back to the

16:16

drawing board and try to take Minnesota out

16:18

of, you know, how they

16:20

want to, you know, deploy

16:22

their resources. Are we making Yoke

16:25

a thing? Did you make that

16:27

up? I stole that from Adam Morris.

16:29

Yeah. Yoke. Yeah. All right. We'll

16:31

have to use that down the road here. I thought

16:36

at halftime that this is

16:38

going to be a classic and is

16:40

the only one showing up offensively for

16:42

Minnesota sort of game. And I think

16:44

early in that third quarter, Aaron Gordon

16:46

really got into it with towns and

16:48

towns did the classic, I'm going into

16:50

cry baby mode, let's just call

16:53

it what it is. And I was like, oh no,

16:56

this is where this game turns. I think he

16:58

got two quick whistles. All

17:00

of a sudden was a four point play on Murray.

17:03

I'm just like, Oh no, this

17:05

is, this is a typical wolves

17:07

experience. Right. But I think you have to give it

17:09

credit to towns. I don't think he had a good game. I think

17:11

at halftime, and had something

17:13

like 26 points in the

17:15

entire rest of the roster had 15. Like

17:17

it was clearly all and nothing else, but towns

17:20

did show up when they needed to. Didn't have a

17:22

good game overall, I would say, or not a great

17:25

game overall, but he had enough of what they needed

17:27

from him. Yeah. I

17:30

like that as soon as they tried to

17:32

start putting some of these guards on him,

17:35

which in the past, if you remember Memphis

17:37

was very comfortable putting smaller guys, guards on

17:39

him, being like, all right, we're going to

17:41

dare Karl towns to put the ball on

17:44

the floor and try to make a play

17:46

on the drive. And teams that had success

17:48

with him in the past. But today, when

17:51

they were putting guards on them, Karl towns was

17:53

making them pay. And again,

17:55

these are the things they're going to need.

17:57

Like when they do have matchup advantage. their

18:01

best guys are gonna have to come through and

18:03

I thought he did it enough again everybody on

18:05

the Wolves on offense pulled their

18:07

weight just enough Mike Conley just

18:09

enough right Nasri

18:11

was horrible on both ends of the floor in

18:13

the first half and in the second half he's

18:16

making the threes he's you know

18:18

he's killing scrambling defenses on closeouts

18:20

like he's doing just enough with

18:22

the 16 points I thought the

18:25

ancillary guys outside of Ant

18:27

did just enough to

18:30

keep this thing afloat and and I think

18:32

again just to bring it back to their

18:35

defense Denver's in the in the

18:37

half court they had a 97.5 offensive rating

18:41

any other team that's pretty freaking good

18:43

for the playoffs but for Denver to

18:46

only have a 97 and a half offensive

18:48

rating in the half court first shot

18:50

offense they

18:53

better strap up man I

18:58

thought this was almost the Nasri game at

19:00

least toward the end there so he

19:02

had 16 points overall he had 14 points in the

19:07

fourth quarter alone six for seven two

19:10

for two for three he was minus 17

19:13

at halftime but even in that

19:15

third quarter plus five I thought like just

19:17

they found the right lineup combinations to at

19:19

the very least play to his strength and

19:22

this is what we've always talked about those

19:24

non-yokits minutes and I thought that the Wolves

19:26

did something very shrewd as I referenced before

19:28

going a little bit in air quotes smaller

19:31

in order to at least gain an offensive

19:33

advantage in those minutes and I do think

19:35

like when yokich is off the floor they

19:37

had enough to push the buttons in order

19:40

to extend the lead or at least not

19:42

get it to the point where it was

19:44

gonna be insurmountable I just

19:46

thought like he was incredible it was a very much

19:48

like yeah this is the sixth man of the year

19:50

who could probably be starting on a lot of teams

19:52

and I don't want to be reductive enough to be

19:54

like this was the swing point of

19:56

this game but like you know Reggie Jackson had

19:58

some moments of this game But like it

20:01

really was kind of yokich and whatever

20:03

else you can get from mpj and so

20:05

like The wolves just

20:07

oddly enough have so many other options

20:09

to get Offense

20:12

from where it's like it's

20:14

almost like the reverse of what you typically think of the

20:16

wolves so the wolves just

20:18

have a better bench like Alexander

20:21

Walker has just turned himself into

20:23

a very high quality

20:25

defender like he is in guys

20:27

his shirts He's

20:29

super athletic. He's instinctive like he's

20:31

just a plus defender now And

20:34

you can't like he was one of five today And

20:36

I think he's one of the guys you got to

20:38

concede to but he's not a guy that you could

20:40

just ignore a closeout on right and

20:42

so He's a

20:44

god Monty Morris, you know only three minutes didn't

20:46

really do much today But I think he's gonna

20:49

get in the game and Kyle Anderson I don't

20:51

think this is a Kyle Anderson series because of

20:53

his lack of shooting and Denver's gonna do a

20:55

lot To ignore him and help off of him

20:57

and do stuff like hide yokich on him and

21:00

stuff like that but Their

21:02

bench all of that being

21:04

said is better than Denver's right? Denver

21:08

is relying on Christian Brown, of course

21:10

who I like Peyton Watson Justin

21:13

Holliday I Didn't

21:16

expect him to get 16 minutes today But

21:19

that's a thing that happened like, you know, Reggie Jackson

21:21

had a couple of moments in the first half where

21:23

he looked nice But

21:25

yo it's The

21:29

nuggets I think everybody assumed

21:31

this team's this year's team would be worse

21:34

Because the bench would not be as consistent as

21:36

it was throughout last year, especially in the playoffs.

21:38

Um, I thought today

21:40

was kind of indicative of that right? Um,

21:42

when you compare it to the wolves, so

21:45

Nothing surprising there either the

21:47

margin for error just seems a lot thinner

21:49

for the Nuggets and especially if this Calf

21:52

injury or whatever is happening with Jamal Murray

21:54

is going to persist throughout the series and

21:57

then beyond just feels like they're going to

21:59

need some of these other guys. I thought

22:01

Christian Brown actually played pretty well, especially defensively.

22:03

Peyton Watson, I'm sorry to say was, I

22:06

don't know. I don't know if this is a

22:08

Peyton Watson here. This was not a Peyton Watson

22:10

game. No, it was not. Oh man. It might

22:12

have been like a year early there, but you

22:15

know, good things down the road for

22:17

him. One of the shots that he took, he

22:19

was pretty damn wide open and air balled it.

22:21

I think the moment might have

22:23

gotten a little bit too big for

22:25

him here in game one when he

22:27

got a taste of this level of

22:29

playoff physicality and just

22:32

like holy smokes, like athleticism

22:35

that got thrown at him. He didn't have a good, it

22:37

was not his best showing. Again, I

22:39

think that's why the holiday minutes were

22:41

what they were. I think Mike Malone

22:43

was like, look man, Justin Holiday is

22:45

a vet. He's

22:47

going to execute my stuff at least, even if

22:49

he gets beat, at least he's going to be

22:51

in the right places and not completely throw

22:54

up on himself. So yeah, that's another thing to

22:56

monitor. The bench was the number one thing that

22:58

people pointed to as this

23:00

team's weakness coming into the season. I

23:04

think Denver was just like, look, our young guys are in

23:07

development mode and they'll be able to, the growing

23:09

pains will happen, but they'll paper over

23:11

these shortcomings. But yeah, I

23:13

agree. This is something to monitor. So

23:16

do you think any differently about this series than

23:18

you did going into it? I know you said

23:20

he thought it was going to go seven regardless,

23:23

but are you like, now if you're the

23:25

predictive political needle that the New York time

23:27

uses, are you like a little bit more

23:30

toward the wolves after this one? I

23:32

think the only thing

23:35

for me is that they

23:38

never really bothered Ant too

23:40

much. So that,

23:42

I am a little bit surprised that

23:44

they couldn't bother him at all, but

23:47

everything else seemed obvious

23:49

to me. Like the

23:51

wolf staying home on your kitchen and being

23:53

like, yo, the last thing we're going to

23:55

do is send two at you. You

23:58

know, we'll send a late. help late

24:01

contest Rudy style when he's roaming

24:04

off of the play but all of

24:06

that stuff seemed pretty obvious to me as to what

24:08

they were gonna do when they could

24:11

they guarded the pick and roll with

24:13

two guys it's like man this is

24:16

what I expected honestly it just and

24:18

just looked way better than I than

24:20

even I could have anticipated yeah

24:23

it was meteoric tonight and so

24:25

like even like a more

24:27

muted version of that if he scores

24:29

30 then obviously this is a different

24:31

ballgame but man that the Murray minutes

24:33

and just like his lack

24:36

of dynamicism I think I just created

24:39

a word he wasn't very dynamic and

24:41

this one it worries me down the

24:44

stretch because the wolves just look spry

24:46

in like ferocious dare I

24:48

say in the way that like the Nuggets

24:50

just having this entire postseason I go back

24:52

to what we talked about in

24:54

the last podcast where it's like

24:56

yeah those comebacks were absolutely bulletproof

24:58

and like dramatic in a

25:01

clear indication of what the Nuggets made them

25:03

so good in the first place right it's

25:05

like yeah they kind of

25:07

got themselves in those situations in the first place and

25:09

if they're gonna keep playing with their food like that

25:11

I guess the guy like ant who

25:13

could explode in the fourth quarter and has

25:16

like these legs that not only just like

25:18

go toe-to-toe with them but excel like

25:20

it's gonna be tough it's gonna be

25:22

tough they're gonna need to be laser

25:24

focused all game long you

25:26

know going down 14 at home guys

25:29

in the first quarter you're

25:31

going to have to come out and

25:34

treat this like the dogfight that

25:36

is that it is razor

25:39

focus razor sharp focus from

25:42

the tip take

25:44

care of the ball make

25:46

the wolves play and have court make

25:49

this an execution contest that's

25:52

the only way they win this series y'all yep

25:56

anything else from this one or should we should we

25:58

go to our big thing here Yeah,

26:00

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recording this, not sure if Jared Allen is

26:33

gonna play, but the home team has won

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an Arby's near you or order ahead on the

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Arby's app. Alright so

28:21

we're calling this Things We Think We

28:24

Know After Round One.

28:26

Round one technically doesn't finish until tomorrow's

28:28

10 a.m. tilt between the calves and

28:30

the magic but just bear

28:32

with us here. These are there's kind of basically

28:34

the things I think I know I actually did

28:37

add one in from Wise that I think he

28:39

thinks he knows based on my algorithm just

28:41

being a lot of your tweets especially when you

28:43

tweet a lot in a given night because I

28:46

think we're just tethered together here online at this

28:48

point. The first one

28:50

I have down the Knicks are one

28:52

of the biggest winners of the playoffs regardless

28:54

of what happens from here on out and

28:57

I think just what they've showed both

29:01

from a team standpoint but

29:03

also like what it says to the rest

29:05

of the league and like just like the

29:08

basketball community at large is

29:10

important because not only did their

29:12

crowds storm Philly and take over

29:14

to the point where the owners had to buy a bunch

29:16

of tickets right. You had Embiid getting

29:19

told to fuck off repeatedly at MSG and

29:21

he's like damn that was nice how fun

29:23

is this but also Jalen

29:25

Brown isn't just a guy he's

29:27

a dude like you're a guy if you're

29:29

like an all-star I think dude is like

29:32

all NBA and I think like he has

29:34

shown this postseason that he is that dude

29:36

and so if I'm like a perspective free

29:38

agent if I'm like one of these guys

29:40

that are looking for a new home we're

29:42

hearing like Jimmy Butler rumors all these other

29:44

guys are in the ether now I'm like

29:46

damn what if I could just go be

29:48

the guy that is an outlet for him

29:50

we could play off each other all of

29:52

a sudden this becomes super easy and we

29:54

get to do this at MSG

29:56

in front of this incredible crowd and

29:58

so I'm like this is the This is

30:00

the best sales pitch for the Knicks since,

30:03

goddamn, I don't know, since the Garden Reseda, I guess.

30:06

Man, so the thing about

30:09

that first round and Jalen

30:12

Brunson in particular is that it's

30:15

not like he's playing with

30:17

a bunch of complimentary talent

30:20

that is allowing all of his

30:22

skills to shine. The man

30:24

is just getting it done possession

30:27

after possession. When

30:29

the other team knows exactly what tips is running,

30:32

give the ball to Jalen Brunson, set a couple

30:34

of screens. Hopefully it works out. Right. And

30:37

these are things that only bonafide

30:40

true stars do on

30:42

a consistent basis. So the fact that he

30:44

did that and announced himself

30:46

as that kind of dude, like, no,

30:48

I'm an actual bonafide

30:51

all-star player. You know,

30:53

that to me is the win. Now, as

30:57

far as getting disgruntled guys to force their way

31:00

to New York, or if New York can just

31:02

put up a dope package together to bring in

31:04

a different guy, that's one thing,

31:06

you know, I think that's nice.

31:08

I think the Brunson thing specifically for

31:11

me is like, he's

31:14

just shown that this isn't some

31:17

nice little story, right? This

31:19

isn't like, you know, I always use this example.

31:22

I remember when Tibbs had the, like the ball

31:24

scene with Nate Robinson was the, like the

31:26

fulcrum of the offense. And

31:29

we all knew it was like, obviously a little engine

31:31

that could, but it was a joke. Right. Like they

31:33

were just playing harder than everybody. Uh, you

31:35

can't do something with Nate, right? Like this ain't that, like this

31:37

guy is a star. He

31:40

was better than MB'd on a bunch of

31:42

nights. MB'd, this guy's MVP,

31:44

he was playing like the MVP before

31:46

his initial injury this year. He

31:49

cooked him again. We know MB'd was limited,

31:51

but this guy was incredible.

31:53

And so going forward, just knowing

31:55

that you have this guy and,

31:59

you know, even Even if it just means

32:01

they upgrade the ancillary talent, maybe

32:03

they don't get a star just, but

32:06

what they do is they upgrade the

32:08

guys around him, you

32:11

know, that it could just be higher

32:13

quality than what

32:15

they're getting at power forward right now. Julius

32:19

Randall's not even playing much. You

32:21

know, like if they could just upgrade

32:23

the quality, it'll still be pretty

32:25

cool, even without a star because this guy

32:27

has shown himself like he is legitimately the

32:31

shit. Yeah, I

32:33

guess I was saying Jalen Brown. This just

32:35

goes to show you how I'm not used to talking this

32:37

much. I know. I

32:40

obviously meant Jalen Brunson. Just

32:42

to show you like how far we've

32:45

come in such a short span, I

32:47

want to just go over recent Nick's

32:49

history. So seven years

32:52

ago, not that long ago, I

32:54

think I had already moved back from New

32:57

Orleans to Los Angeles. I know a lot

32:59

has happened since, but like just seven years

33:01

ago was when they parted ways with Phil

33:03

Jackson. And in that same year is when

33:06

they banned Charles Oakley. Okay, that was seven

33:08

years ago. Five years ago, Katie

33:10

and Kyrie spurned them for

33:12

Brooklyn because they're like, we can't touch

33:15

this place. Like I don't want

33:17

anything to do with James Dolan. I

33:19

don't want to listen to JD in the

33:21

straight shot. All this stuff. That place was

33:23

toxic. It's four years ago. Do

33:25

you remember when they got into it with

33:27

Spike Lee where they're like, you have to

33:30

go through another entrance and they put out

33:32

a press release. We're like, this

33:34

guy is lying. Like what the fuck

33:37

is he talking about? And

33:39

then three years ago, make the playoffs for the

33:42

first time in eight years. Last year

33:44

even get bounced in round two. We're all like,

33:46

God damn, this is it. This is all for

33:48

them. Because Randall plays poorly again. We're like, the

33:50

team probably topped out. How many fucking segments did

33:53

we do where we're like, when are they going

33:55

to get a star? This seems like this is

33:57

just a certain point. I just feel like. Things

34:00

have shifted so quickly to now

34:02

where I'm wondering like if we're

34:04

talking destinations, like I

34:07

think this has like the perfect combination

34:09

of a team, a culture and identity

34:11

and obviously that big ass market that

34:14

everyone wants to play in. Yeah,

34:16

it's so funny Justin because

34:19

this would have always been

34:21

obviously the case if they

34:23

could ever just string together years of

34:26

competence like they did in the 90s,

34:28

right? It's

34:30

just never been consistent. Donnie

34:34

Walsh had a nice stretch, then

34:36

they forced his hand on the Melodil, forced

34:38

him out and they just

34:41

spent years in the wilderness and God

34:43

bless him, I'm not going to front.

34:45

I've been one of those people that

34:47

was skeptical of the CAA alliance

34:51

and you notice I did that every single

34:53

person that ever comes through the building has

34:55

to be CAA connected and this whole La

34:57

Familia thing and the media blackout and all

35:00

of this stuff. I was definitely skeptical. You

35:03

have to give it up for them, man, for what

35:05

they've put together here. There's

35:07

just no other way to it

35:09

and the fact of

35:11

the matter is they got jail and

35:13

brunch into town. That

35:15

was their move for that

35:17

amount of bread, 25 million per

35:19

or 27, whatever it is. Leon

35:23

Rose, World Wide West, those guys got to

35:26

get their flowers for putting this thing together,

35:28

being patient, not throwing

35:30

the baby out with the bath water to

35:32

get Donovan Mitchell, not jumping

35:35

out at the fastest, easiest,

35:37

quickest superstar trade that was

35:39

out there doing something drastic for Zach

35:41

Levine or somebody else. They

35:44

stayed the course and

35:48

obviously the way things shook out in the East

35:50

with the injuries to the Bucks and the Sixers

35:52

and played in their favor, but guess what?

35:54

You have to be in it to win it. You

35:57

can't create this sort of opportunity.

36:00

for yourself if you're not already doing

36:02

all of the right things on the

36:04

way. And so, yeah,

36:06

man, these guys, they

36:09

did win. I think they're going to blow

36:11

the doors off the Pacers. Honestly, I'd

36:13

be surprised if this thing went six

36:15

games because I think they're just going to guard

36:17

the hell out of them. And

36:20

the Pacers defense, we know, is highly

36:22

problematic. But, man, our

36:24

conference finals for

36:26

the New York Knicks, what?

36:31

Yeah, madness. They had

36:33

to hit the Jalen Brunson double

36:35

and turn it into a triple, if

36:37

not a ground roll. What is it?

36:40

Inside the park, home run. Clearly,

36:42

I haven't watched a lot of baseball lately. But

36:44

not only that, but then just getting the Villanova

36:46

guys to create almost like

36:48

a vibe where it's just

36:51

like, this seems fun. Like

36:53

the atmosphere just seems different

36:55

in a way. Like everything just seems cordial and

36:58

not tense anymore. Because even when they had certain

37:00

good teams, like they weren't fun. Like the Mellow

37:02

team had its moments, but a lot of that

37:04

was just like trudging through Mellow's bullshit. And like

37:07

just finding enough just to make it to a

37:09

first round series where you're ultimately going to get

37:11

beat by a Heat or something like that. So

37:14

things are different. Also, the thing about

37:16

the Mellow team with JR and Tyson

37:19

Chandler, there wasn't this sense of discovery.

37:23

I'm learning something new about Hartenstein's

37:25

game every single day. I'm

37:27

learning something new about Dudes McBride every

37:29

single day. Jalen Brunson, he's

37:31

had great moments in the postseason, but

37:35

that last year in Dallas in the second

37:37

round, like Carlisle wasn't giving him that much

37:39

takes. So even Jalen Brunson has

37:41

been a bit of a revelation as just

37:44

like getting the keys to the car. That's

37:47

what's been cool about it. It's so

37:49

revelatory on this stage. So

37:52

that's what I think is carrying

37:54

this to even a higher level.

37:57

Even OG, who's a known quantity, but

37:59

him doing it, it in this context,

38:02

it just feels so much different than what

38:05

started to get stale in Toronto, right?

38:07

It just feels like it's discovery,

38:09

man. There's Bing Bong and Happening,

38:11

where you're saying, you're saying, fuck Trey Young, even

38:14

though they're not even playing the Hawks anymore. But

38:17

you mentioned the 90s back there with the Pacers.

38:19

I think it hearkens back

38:21

to one of the classic clashes

38:23

in recent history. I have to ask, do you

38:25

have like a Carl Kani Jean jacket that you

38:27

could break out for this one? Yeah,

38:31

maybe a Forest Bias 05 jersey. Perhaps

38:35

if I could interest you in that. Yeah,

38:37

man, I love it. Nick Spacer's, man,

38:42

the Tyrese Maxi was, you know,

38:44

that evoked some Reggie Miller memories,

38:46

man. That's seven points in 29

38:48

seconds. He

38:52

better call some of the games too. Reggie?

38:55

Reggie, yeah. He's so instrumental

38:57

to that 90s legacy,

39:00

man. All of those fights,

39:02

the yelling at Spike, the

39:04

choke and gesture, ewing the

39:06

finger roll. There's so much

39:08

history between these

39:11

two franchises. So

39:14

yeah, the nostalgic factor is there. I just

39:16

wonder what the Pacers have in them. Because

39:18

against a severely cooked Bucks team,

39:22

they had some moments where I was like,

39:24

golly, good golly, Indiana. You guys

39:26

look like a mess, like a joke right

39:28

now. Halliburton specifically is

39:31

just bad. He's just bad.

39:34

So I wonder if they're even going to put up a

39:36

fight, but you know, stranger things have happened.

39:38

Yeah, on the one hand, they're going to be

39:40

able to score even if Halliburton doesn't even cross

39:42

into the three point arc. But

39:45

at the same time, you saw some of these

39:47

games go down to the wire and they need

39:49

to turn to someone. And typically Halliburton has been

39:51

that guy. But I don't know whether it's being

39:54

in his first postseason, whether it's the injury,

39:56

it's probably a little bit of both, if

39:58

anything, is probably more of the injury. just

40:00

like doesn't really have it

40:02

especially when he's getting harassed on the perimeter

40:04

and so that feels like a Moment for the

40:07

Pacers just to make it to the second round

40:09

because they've come a long way in such a

40:11

short time Just since they got Halliburton, but this

40:13

probably feels where it ends I would be surprised

40:15

if this got more than six games. I would

40:17

say what do you think? Yeah,

40:20

six games would be a lot for me

40:22

specifically I mean even because even when the

40:24

Knicks are not playing their best they playing

40:26

their asses off on defense So

40:29

I don't see like one of

40:31

these games in Indiana Just likes them up from

40:33

three because Indiana doesn't have a lot of shooting

40:35

themselves Right like

40:37

between them hard and Neesmith and

40:39

you know Pascal see I'd like

40:41

these aren't shooters TJ

40:44

McConnell like they're going to be two

40:46

pointing the Knicks to death here

40:48

So I anticipate every game to be close and

40:51

when the Knicks, you know Get their thing rolling

40:53

when they're forcing turnovers and then making a couple

40:55

of threes and Brunson is good He's got the

40:57

thing rolling. I could see them winning this

40:59

thing in five quite easily they're

41:01

just The team like if

41:03

you look at what the Knicks

41:06

had to do to get here the level of hoop

41:08

They had to play to get to

41:10

the second round as compared to the level that Indiana

41:12

showed Against that depleted

41:14

and diminished Bucks team. I I feel

41:16

like they should be an overwhelming favorite

41:18

here. Yep. I agree number

41:21

two on my list here Daryl Morey

41:23

was right to bet on chaos

41:25

this offseason and Now I

41:28

have said multiple times Pretty

41:30

much since last offseason What the hell is

41:33

the plan in Philly because he's just opening

41:35

up a ton of cap space and kind

41:37

of hoping for the best Harden

41:39

didn't really return much. Maybe like a pick in

41:41

here. We'll see if that becomes anything But

41:44

really it's Joel and

41:46

a hope and a prayer at this point

41:48

Obviously maxi proved himself in this postseason. He's

41:50

gonna get brought back but they just have

41:52

this lump of space to mold into something

41:54

and To the point where really

41:57

Joel is the only contract on the books at this

41:59

point And I was like,

42:01

what do they do? Who comes? Who even

42:03

comes in cab space anymore? But as we're

42:05

seeing slowly but surely as teams kind of

42:07

go off the board here, it

42:09

seems like they actually might have their pick

42:11

of the litter. At this point, I just

42:13

jotted down the teams that are expected to

42:15

face upheaval. Just this offseason, I have the

42:17

Clippers, Heat, Cabs, Bucks,

42:19

Suns, Pelicans, the Sixers themselves, if they don't

42:22

actually get anyone, the Warriors. I could probably

42:24

name a few more than I'm just missing.

42:26

The Jazz are probably going to be the

42:28

mix because they have a lot of assets,

42:30

teams like that. But it

42:32

seems like something good could happen for the

42:35

Sixers. Does it seem the same way for

42:37

you? Yeah, I

42:39

mean, the flexibility is awesome.

42:42

And obviously, Darrell's been pretty

42:44

creative about getting transactions done, right? And

42:46

like, with this much flexibility, you know,

42:48

he's ran like 50 million

42:51

different scenarios of what they could

42:53

do, you know, their ability to

42:55

not just sign, you know, try to go

42:57

after a free agent, like, you know, pie

42:59

in the sky, LeBron James or Paul George,

43:01

but their ability to just trade somebody into

43:03

their space, you know, that's

43:05

another possibility, or trade multiple people into

43:08

their space, you know. And so the sky's

43:10

kind of, I don't want to say the

43:13

sky's the limit, but they have a lot

43:15

of options as to how, you know, you

43:17

never know, maybe they do get Tobias Harris

43:19

back on a fair deal or something. Like,

43:22

we don't know. But I think

43:24

they are well positioned to

43:27

come back with a better, more

43:29

well-rounded roster next

43:32

year. And yeah, Philly fans

43:34

should definitely be excited and anxious to see

43:36

what the GM is able to cook up

43:38

in the summer. On the one hand,

43:40

I'd be excited if they just did a mea

43:42

culpa and brought Jimmy back. On the other hand,

43:44

it's like the amount of, like, shit you'd have

43:47

to take just to kind of rewrite recent history

43:49

and just go back to that would be something

43:51

else. Although I do think if Jimmy, Maxie, and

43:53

B would be a lot of fun. I don't

43:55

know how long of a runway they'd have, but

43:57

like, at least for the next two seasons. That

44:00

would be fun. I kind of brings

44:02

me to a to be that I have here, which

44:05

is that Paul George has to go somewhere else.

44:07

I Can't

44:09

do this again with the And

44:14

I hope our friend Paul Recognizes

44:16

the thing because sludging through those

44:18

last two games against the Mavs

44:20

without Kawhi. It's just like Dude,

44:23

you might just be doing the same thing. Yeah, yeah, um, I Don't

44:29

know man, uh He

44:32

spent so much time Early

44:34

on in his career trying to get

44:36

himself to Southern California pom-dale

44:39

finest pom-dale finest

44:42

and the idea That

44:47

he's not going to

44:50

Take The

44:53

money if bomber offers it to him,

44:55

you know offers him the 170

44:58

million or whatever it is. I just

45:01

find that hard to believe man Like

45:03

like if they offer him the four

45:05

years 180 170

45:07

to stay with the Clippers. I

45:10

feel like this is what he wants. This

45:12

is where he wants to be And

45:16

he's gonna run it back and and the thing is

45:18

the Clippers are incentive Like if the Clippers were stupid

45:20

enough to be like, you know, we don't give a

45:22

damn We're just we're done with this core and we're

45:25

gonna try to do something else That

45:27

I don't think they don't have that option.

45:29

So they're gonna offer them the money. Maybe

45:31

he takes it With

45:33

an understanding like yo, man, if this goes south, can

45:35

we try to move me somewhere? Maybe

45:39

But it feels like they're on a

45:41

collision course to come back to each other I

45:43

agree The Clippers don't have

45:45

a choice but to pay him and probably hardened

45:48

too So why would he leave if he

45:50

can't get the same amount of money on

45:52

the other hand? I and I also think like in the Clippers

45:54

benefit like him leaving and us being

45:57

left with just hardened in Kawhi would

45:59

somehow be worse than what we just experienced.

46:01

So like maybe we should be rooting for him to come

46:03

back. But here's

46:05

my idea for him. He's already

46:07

tried to go home to LA. Why not go

46:09

home again to Oklahoma City?

46:11

Yeah, so again. Now

46:16

on the one hand, Russ isn't there, although you maybe

46:18

just bring Russ with you. What the fuck else is

46:20

Russ going to do? So

46:22

but he doesn't have the same like party

46:24

to go to at Russ's place, which apparently

46:26

just completely changed his mind. But

46:29

I do think he would it would

46:31

be in his benefit, especially considering his recent

46:33

injury history. And the fact that Paul George

46:35

quietly 34 years old, doesn't look

46:37

like one of these old dogs that we talk

46:39

about all the time. But like he's getting up

46:42

there and age. So this contract is going to

46:44

be his last. He's probably going to start showing

46:46

signs of ages, especially considering the defensive load he

46:48

typically takes on on the wing there. Why

46:51

not go be the old guard, kind

46:54

of ushering in this new group

46:56

in OKC. And now on the one

46:58

hand, you're thin, like you are committing to a lot

47:00

of wings in that case. But like Shay,

47:03

Dor, J Dub, Paul

47:06

George, chat. Good

47:08

God. Yeah, I mean, I love

47:10

that as a wing rotation, of course, I

47:12

think he'd be forced to start playing the

47:14

four in that point. And some

47:16

people might say, well, maybe Paul George should be transitioning to

47:18

the four. I think he's still a little skinny to be

47:20

doing that full time. Right. But

47:23

I mean, if anybody can make

47:25

it work, it's OKC with with

47:27

Dagnall and his creativity and

47:29

just, you know, that would

47:31

give them the ability to just run

47:34

guys off for the floor on offense.

47:36

However, you know, the problem of their

47:38

thinness up front will not be solved

47:40

by something like this. So I

47:43

wonder about that part of the equation,

47:45

but they would absolutely, you know,

47:47

now turn into one of the

47:50

league's offensive juggernauts. Right. And

47:52

I think their attack, man, I was saying this

47:54

the other day, like the way that they play

47:56

right now, where they make you guard the

47:58

rim all the way out to the three. three-point line

48:00

with the guys that they have on the

48:02

driving kick game and the shooters that they

48:04

could bring to bear. They

48:09

stretch people out as well as anybody in the

48:11

league right now. Again, I just

48:13

wonder if Paul George at his age wants to

48:15

go back to the prairie. It just seems like

48:17

that's a young man's idea

48:20

of NBA life and not a

48:22

proven veteran who, again, has a

48:26

bag of money probably sitting in

48:28

there waiting for him in Los Angeles. You

48:30

could do some fishing. You know

48:32

what I'm saying? You could probably build a man-made lake

48:34

out there with that kind of money. Yeah,

48:37

it just seems like he fits what they want

48:39

to do. Clearly, Giddy,

48:42

for whatever Gordon Hayward has given them, it seems

48:45

like they want to go in that direction where

48:47

they have attacking things in the perimeter. He would

48:49

fit that. You always have a J Will in

48:51

reserve. You can always go out and get another

48:53

big to fill out the heft and get you

48:55

through the regular season. I think it would be

48:57

interesting. Speaking of OKC,

48:59

we should talk about that series. What I

49:01

have down here for number three is the

49:03

Mavericks are who we thought they were because

49:06

they did show what you wanted from them

49:08

in that game six against

49:10

the Clippers. They snuffed them out toward

49:12

the end of that one. On

49:15

the one hand, it looks pretty good,

49:17

especially when Kyrie is clicking and playing with

49:19

seemingly positivity and this whole new mindset of

49:21

his that he won't stop talking about. On

49:25

the other hand, Luca, a little hobbled, had

49:27

the illness, had the knee injury, Cleber, it

49:30

turns out, might not be there for maybe

49:32

the rest of the postseason based on this

49:34

A-C joint issue. Big shots in this series,

49:36

too. He was really good. Clearly Jason Kidd

49:38

leans on him. He's just one of those steady

49:41

vests that Luca has always relied on as well.

49:43

On the one hand, I want to believe in

49:45

the Mavs going into the series against OKC because

49:47

they have the heft that is going to

49:49

stay on the court in the way that

49:51

Valantunas didn't for the Pelicans. On the other

49:54

hand, if you're starting to drop some guys,

49:56

Luca isn't quite right, then it gets a

49:58

little bit dicey. But what do you think

50:00

about going into the series? I

50:02

think Luke could not be unable to find

50:04

his shot and then still, you

50:07

know, basically obliterating the Clippers speaks to

50:09

two things. One their defense actually is

50:11

real. And

50:14

that's what carried the day towards from

50:16

the All-Star game on right. They played

50:18

at a top four, top five defensive

50:20

level in Dallas from the All-Star game

50:22

on in the Clippers offense. I get

50:25

it. Not the more they

50:27

didn't, you know, they obviously didn't have Kawhi Leonard.

50:29

And even when he was out, like it's not

50:31

like their offense was like extremely complex

50:33

and complicated and things of that nature.

50:36

Right. But it don't matter.

50:38

The Mabs snuffed them out. They

50:40

played incredible elite defense. I wonder if they're

50:42

going to be able to carry that into,

50:46

you know, the next round. But you know, if

50:48

you're saying like they are who we thought they

50:50

were yet, Kyrie and Luca can

50:53

get you quality looks on a

50:55

pretty consistent basis. And the defense is

50:57

not a slouch or a pushover in ways that

50:59

they have been in the past. And

51:02

so, you know, Luca, look, he

51:05

was not his best self in the Clippers series

51:07

and they were still able to basically dominate. He's

51:10

going to have to be a lot better to be OKC.

51:13

And so, yeah, I echo your

51:15

sentiments like this is a team that's very

51:17

Luca centric. But you know,

51:19

I think he I think Luca it's

51:22

reasonable to think he gets to a level

51:24

that could beat OKC in this round. So

51:26

he's four for twenty seven from three over

51:28

his last games against the Clippers. On the

51:30

one hand, takes a lot of tough shots

51:32

and was able to find other stuff. His

51:35

playmaking was like top notch at times during

51:37

that series, especially him and Kyrie playing off each other

51:39

and kind of activating some of these other guys that

51:42

we're talking about. On the other hand,

51:44

if that is partially due to the knee or whatever illness that

51:46

he had, then it becomes a

51:48

dicey or preposition. I would I might still

51:50

pick the Mavs in seven in this one.

51:53

I think I'm like I kind of am

51:55

kicking myself because I think I'm simultaneously discounting

51:57

what OKC has done. But like. I

52:00

want to see Chet and some of these, dare

52:03

I say, scrawny or younger guys actually

52:05

do the same thing they did in the first round against

52:07

some of these other thumpers that the Mavs have. Do

52:10

you have a prediction for the series? I'm

52:13

leaning Mavericks and this is just

52:15

my bias against young guys. I

52:18

don't think their roster is more

52:20

talented, but I do think, you

52:22

know, Jason Kidd is a damn good

52:24

coach. They're going to come up with

52:27

coverages and ways to bother Chet and

52:29

what he's doing and they're going to

52:31

make it so that these other guys,

52:33

the J-doves, the Chets, the Isaiah Joes,

52:36

like they beat the Mavericks. And

52:39

I wonder if those guys are going to be up to the

52:41

test in their very first real life

52:43

playoff test because the Pelicans were

52:45

without their best player, All-Star Zion

52:47

Williams. So I'm leaning Mavericks, but

52:50

I don't feel confident in it

52:52

at all. I could see

52:54

OKC taking this thing as well,

52:57

but I'm definitely leaning Luca, Kyrie,

52:59

their collective playoff sort of experience

53:01

and clutch experience and, you know,

53:03

basically getting it done execution wise

53:06

throughout the course of that series. OK, this next

53:08

one is for you because I

53:10

saw you were very vocal about this.

53:12

Darvin Ham was the biggest

53:14

problem in L.A. So

53:17

I see the problem is the Denver Nuggets.

53:20

I'm sorry. Like they like there's

53:22

no coach. And I hear people's

53:24

argument that Darvin Ham's rotation early

53:27

in the year, not playing the conference

53:29

finals lineup of Rui,

53:31

D-Lo and Austin Reeves sticking with

53:34

them. And that

53:36

fluctuation messed up their season, put them in

53:38

a position to get the seven seed, put

53:40

them in a position to play the Nuggets.

53:43

That's cool. However,

53:45

nobody thinks this roster was on par with

53:47

the Nuggets. And you

53:49

saw what Minnesota just did with to the Nuggets

53:51

today. Nobody thinks this roster

53:53

is on par with Minnesota and what they're

53:55

doing. The roster was

53:57

very compromised and limited. I

54:00

think Darvin Ham in both playoffs, this

54:02

year and last, got about as much

54:04

as you could have reasonably expect from

54:06

that group of players. Now, do

54:08

I think Darvin Ham is the next Phil

54:11

Jackson? No. But the

54:13

idea that on the pecking order of

54:15

why the Lakers season turned

54:17

out the way that it did, I felt like Darvin

54:19

Ham was pretty low on that pecking order. I don't

54:21

know where you're at with that. Yeah, I

54:24

think not turning to the lineup that they ultimately

54:26

leaned on, especially down the stretch there, was

54:28

kind of reasonable, because they were

54:30

trying to strike a balance. Right? Like, at a certain

54:33

point, they had to turn all offense because that

54:35

was the only way that they were going to win

54:37

games. And D-Lo just happened to round

54:39

into form where he just couldn't miss a shot

54:41

at certain points. And so, like, I get the

54:44

experimentation that he did early on. I think the

54:46

thing that really kind of soured

54:48

a lot of people there, especially seeing

54:50

LeBron James and some of the biggest

54:53

stakeholders for that team, was just some

54:55

of the in-game adjustments, the lineup decisions,

54:57

the tactical adjustments. Clearly, he needs some

55:00

progress there. I mean, I wouldn't

55:02

be surprised if he got another job. I tend

55:04

to agree with you. I think that the roster

55:06

was flawed. And I even said that going into

55:08

the season. I just don't think they had the

55:10

ceiling that some of the other teams that we're

55:12

seeing just kind of take flight even had. Even

55:14

the Wolves just seemed like they had another gear

55:16

to reach, where it's like the Lakers were really

55:18

setting themselves up to try to

55:20

be the team that they were last postseason, which

55:22

got blown out of the Western Conference

55:25

Finals in four games against the Nuggets. And so,

55:27

this seemed inevitable for me, especially at the

55:30

trade deadline, where they basically said, we're going

55:32

to hold off and try this at the

55:34

trade deadline. I think where I would kind

55:36

of push back slightly is how much of

55:38

this is LeBron versus Polinka in the front

55:40

office, where it's like, by all

55:43

indications, the Rust deal was a LeBron

55:45

thing. Oh, yeah. But you got

55:47

to be a strong enough front office to not do that. Maybe.

55:50

So, to me, it's both. And

55:54

to be clear, I'm not going to shed a tear

55:56

for Darvin Ham. If you lose the locker room, you

55:58

lose your players. You're way easier

56:00

to get rid of than the players are.

56:05

Obviously, I think there's a

56:08

delicate balance. Every coach has

56:10

to walk the tight rope where you

56:16

don't wanna be too buddy-buddy with

56:18

these guys, but where

56:20

they're walking all over in you and

56:23

you're not established in a pecking order,

56:25

a la Adrian Griffin in

56:27

the Bucks. You don't wanna do that, but

56:30

you also can't just lose the locker room straight

56:32

up. And

56:34

that's the job of the coach, to

56:36

strike that delicate balance. That's what you

56:38

get paid millions for. That's why your

56:40

contract is guaranteed. That's the pressure that's

56:42

put on you when you voluntarily take

56:44

a job that LeBron James is the

56:47

focal point along with Anthony Davis and losing

56:49

those guys with Darvishims, don't fall. So I'm

56:51

not gonna cry for him, but to pretend

56:53

that he's the one that tanked the season,

56:55

I just, I don't buy it. Coaching

56:58

LeBron might be the hardest job in the NBA. Let's

57:01

just say that. When it's like this, I

57:04

agree. Well,

57:06

also like a roster that LeBron

57:08

kinda has ends with that

57:10

extend beyond just the Lakers on, like it's

57:13

not just Lakers on your chest. It's also

57:15

like it's clutch for a lot of these

57:17

guys. And like for AD and LeBron, they

57:19

clearly wield so much power on that team.

57:22

Like when Ham was just like in that

57:24

last game where he just didn't have a

57:26

timeout because he conceded to AD, I was

57:29

like, this is like his

57:31

issue in microcosm. And now they got

57:33

that challenge that AD barked for and

57:35

they did win it, but ultimately left them without

57:37

a timeout toward the end. So it was kinda

57:39

to feed the purpose. And just like, it's

57:42

such a, it spirals out of control because everyone

57:44

is looking to LeBron and like really nobody has

57:47

done a good job of it since

57:49

Spoh other than Tai Lu. And

57:51

like Tai Lu, it did what you

57:53

were saying, right? He did kinda stand up

57:55

to LeBron in a lot of ways and

57:57

Kyrie in particular, but like the. He

58:00

was LeBron's guy to start with and that's kind of why

58:02

he came up underneath from blast. So like man

58:05

I it's a no-win proposition for Pam

58:08

or whoever is gonna come next but we'll

58:11

see what happens. I tend to agree with you overall though

58:14

Last thing here For me

58:16

at least going into tonight. I might might

58:19

feel differently now nothing About

58:21

my finals prediction because at the

58:23

very least on the Eastern side of the bracket Chris stops

58:25

can just go on vacation Until

58:27

the finals and I don't think anything's gonna change The

58:30

West might be a little different now, but like

58:33

I guess I would still lean nuggets if only

58:35

for the institutional knowledge, you know Yeah, that's it.

58:37

That's that's it. They're there in for a dogfight,

58:39

but I I do lean nuggets because You

58:42

know They've done it before and that

58:44

tends to count a lot in the

58:46

playoffs in terms of the mental fortitude

58:48

on a night-to-night basis But yes still

58:50

Celtics nugs right now. Nothing in

58:52

the East that has you know Persuaded

58:55

me to think otherwise. Okay real quick

58:57

before we go here Hopefully

59:00

you're catching this before the game actually

59:02

starts because game seven of Mavs Cavs

59:05

magic starts at 10 a.m For

59:07

some reason on a Sunday where no other

59:09

games are happening like I appreciate the afternoon

59:11

and evening off in the middle of the

59:13

playoffs but like very

59:16

weird Yeah, it's

59:18

in the Mavs. It's fine I guess

59:20

I'm surprised they didn't put it on NBA TV

59:22

But for me a lot of this comes down

59:24

to Jared Allen's health. It was so weird in

59:27

that game six where the

59:29

Magic seemed like they were stuffing as many

59:31

centers or an air quotes center types into

59:34

a lineup and the Cavs were Simultaneously going

59:36

small and as we know at this point,

59:38

I've been mobily probably better off as a

59:40

center But like dude needs 50 to 70

59:43

pounds in order to really go to it

59:45

too That's why you saw Tristan Thompson so

59:47

much. That's why Marquis Morris doesn't then to

59:49

give him a little bit of extra ferociousness

59:51

I think if Alan's there though, I

59:54

lean Cavs if he's not Good's

59:57

pretty dicey. What do you think? I

59:59

don't know Oh man, after game six, like I

1:00:02

was, look, the, the, the

1:00:04

magic's are completely capable of on the road

1:00:06

in a game seven, not being able to

1:00:08

make a single shot. And,

1:00:11

you know, cause they do have limited shooting and,

1:00:13

you know, the paints back against them and they

1:00:15

just don't get it done. But at

1:00:17

the bottom end of that game, the way the Cavs

1:00:19

look to be so stuck in the mud and

1:00:22

basically in, you know, second gear

1:00:25

and the magic looked like they could run

1:00:27

back another game immediately after that with the

1:00:29

fresh young legs and the athleticism. I'm like,

1:00:31

man, that feels like that could carry the

1:00:34

day going

1:00:36

into game seven, even with the youth, even being

1:00:38

on the road, being at home

1:00:40

in game seven is a massive advantage. And

1:00:43

also I just want to will this into existence cause

1:00:45

I think there's just a much better matchup for the

1:00:48

Celtics than the

1:00:50

Cavs are. Cause this predictable ass offense

1:00:52

and just like, you

1:00:54

know, barely got, like they have

1:00:56

four playoff rotation players, man. The

1:00:59

rest of it is senior, senior

1:01:03

getting, look, Caris Laverde is just done.

1:01:05

Bigger Savage is like, I'm finished with

1:01:07

this kid. I know. You

1:01:09

know, George Niang, it's like, they

1:01:12

have four rotation guys, man. The

1:01:15

Celtics will make quick work of these cats.

1:01:18

And so, you know, I just, if only

1:01:20

just cause I hope Orlando can pull this

1:01:22

out. I think

1:01:24

Donovan Mitchell's 50 piece might've

1:01:26

been this saddest 50 point

1:01:28

game I've ever seen. Just

1:01:31

like no one was excited about it. Seems like

1:01:33

he just decided at a certain point that he

1:01:36

was going to do it all himself. He scored

1:01:38

the last 23 points or something crazy like that

1:01:40

for a team. All 18 in the fourth. Which

1:01:43

is crazy and like what a heroic feat, but

1:01:45

on the other hand, like that didn't

1:01:48

matter. That's what it is about your

1:01:50

offense, yeah. And again, the way that

1:01:52

you're doing it with this one-on-one, like

1:01:55

the defense doesn't feel compelled to get

1:01:57

engaged. You have to expend so much.

1:02:00

energy to do this, like,

1:02:03

even when you're scoring, you're playing into the

1:02:05

defensive hands. And so I think the magic

1:02:07

is going to clip them, you know,

1:02:10

maybe I'll look like an idiot, but I think

1:02:12

the magic is going to get them out of

1:02:14

here. Young boys going to the second round. I

1:02:16

think it means more to Orlando than it does

1:02:18

Cleveland at this point. We'll

1:02:21

probably be watching Donovan Mitchell's last game in

1:02:23

a Cleveland Cavs jersey. Most

1:02:25

likely. I think it comes down to Alamo. At

1:02:27

a certain point, what's the point of keeping this dude around if you

1:02:29

can't beat the magic in the first round? Like

1:02:32

this experiment is a dud. You

1:02:34

tried, it didn't work, move on. I

1:02:36

appreciated the idea. I thought it was

1:02:38

interesting, but like things just don't

1:02:40

line up right. I wouldn't be surprised if you

1:02:42

get rid of Mitchell. Like, do you start worrying

1:02:44

about Allen who, Allen, let's just say outright, probably

1:02:46

the second best player. Even

1:02:49

though Mobley and Garland have so much more

1:02:51

upside, but like they're your next wave. Like

1:02:53

they're the future. And honestly, it wouldn't be

1:02:55

the worst thing if you want Mobley to

1:02:57

be your center to like

1:02:59

throw him into the fire. So he's not

1:03:01

just like getting brutalized in game six of

1:03:03

a closeout game that you needed. He get

1:03:06

rebounds, man. It was tough for them to

1:03:08

get rebounds. He just is not tough enough.

1:03:10

I hate calling guys soft, but like, God

1:03:13

damn, like he just needs to build

1:03:15

some calipers. Like he's getting

1:03:18

switched off onto Paulo or he's guarding

1:03:20

front and he's at the perimeter. The

1:03:22

ball goes up. What's he gonna do

1:03:24

when, you know, he's tough.

1:03:27

Yeah, just needs to get bigger. All

1:03:30

right, let's wrap it there. Thank you to

1:03:32

Isaiah Blakely. Thank you to Ben Cruz. We'll

1:03:34

be back on Wednesday, same time, same place.

1:03:36

So after those games, Rob

1:03:38

will be back. We'll all be back. True.

1:04:03

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