What is Krak a lack and bellow thermondic Pierre Efforts. I am Dan Valley,
coming at you with a brief introduction. Brian Taporak, a good friend
of mine who works for Bleach Report, covers the NBA for Forbes and also
the NBA Podcast, did a joint It's not really a home and home.
We're not gonna split it up, but it was over a two hour episode
that we're going to post on both our feeds. I figured though, I
would throw it up and split it into two parts for this podcast, because
we did a Mavericks Thunder preview and a Nick Pacers preview. So that's what
you're getting today on a Sunday. I know it's not a long podcast like
everyone who listens to this is used to, but you know, thirty five
plus minutes, forty minutes. I think that's good enough, and I might
still attach this to the end of the other one. If people want to
watch listen to the full two hour episode, which I think I will drop
on Monday. But I want the previews out there because that stuff will be
dated. One of the things I said was dated while we were recording.
Actually, I was talking about MAXI Kleeba and some of those lineups, and
we all know he had that shoulder injury. I didn't know it was a
full on dislocation, and as I was talking, the notification I think came
from ESPN's to McMahon that he has just just flat out dislocation and so we'll
be shocked to see him in that series. So something on data is I
was talking about, so we might as well get this up. I thought
Brian had some really interesting thoughts on both these series. Everything I say is
obviously so interesting, so we'll throw that out for you. I hope you
enjoy those if you're listening to this for some reason the first time and having
subscribe Bose already. If you are subscribed, I know we ask you to
share these. We're going to double down on that now that were my accounts.
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it, tell people about it, share it links like, share the links,
go on YouTube, comment the hell like write comments, help the algorithm,
maybe push us a little bit further. We were really appreciate it,
but let's get to some We're just gonna get right into it. There will
be no intro. The full episode will have an intro with him with Brian,
but let's talk to Brian about we start with Knicks Pacers and then it's
on to thunder Mats. Should we spend just a couple of minutes on the
playoff series that are Yeah, we have been actual basketball? Yeah, yeah,
yeah, let's do it. So Nick's Pacers starts on Monday. What
is your I guess maybe this is the best way for us, Like what
is your biggest just question or thing that you're watching sort of leading into this
series. I want to set an over under on the number of rebounds that
Miles Turner gets in this series, and I guess it depends on how many
games it goes, So maybe we should do rebounds per game instead, But
what like four and a half? Is that a fair over under? I
mean, that's that's the big concern I think for the Pacers. They were
not a great rebounding team during the regular season, the eighth in the league
in terms of total rebounds per game, and as we saw we saw it
last year with the Knicks against the Cavs in the first round. We thought
this year against the Sixers, and the Sixer would have a freaking seven to
two Joel Embiid even though he was on one knee. They are just such
a physical rebounding team. Honestly, I think the thing that I would be
concerned about as a Pacers fan is that you know the series against the Jannis
Liss Bucks and like hobbled dameless Bucks. I don't want to take anything away
from them. You play who is in front of you. It's awesome for
the Pacers who have taken care of business. I think it took a little
longer than it should have, but good on them from advancing. The Knicks
just emerged from an all out war in the first round, like they Those
series are just very different tonally, and I think the Knicks are just more
ready for this type of grueling, physical matchup that they're going to try to
drag this down to. Honestly, I think it's gonna be such an interesting
contract at styles because the Pacers are just gonna get out and run as much
as they possibly can. Yeah, but I don't think the Knicks are gonna
let them do so, because they're such a good rebounding team, So it's
who who wins the battle of styles might be the biggest question of this series.
Yeah, that's definitely the thing I'm looking for too, Because the Pacers
after even as I'm using post Sakham trade, they were second in average possession
time, So the second fatch team only Washington was faster. The Knicks were
thirtieth, so dead last average possession time. And so you're looking at a
team that wants that will more likely than not slow things down. We've seen
the Knicks they'll get out and run on some of the live ball stuff,
but that's very much like Josh Hart dependent. It sort of feels like And
then if you're the Knicks, though, can you keep the Pacers they've been
like, especially after live rebounds, the Knicks have been pretty good at preventing
teams from getting out in transition. Can you do that against the Pacers team
that is going to look to run. But part of the Pacers being able
to do that is can they get the defensive board to get out and run
so good on the offensive glass? And do you sell out any part of
your transition offense to try and put extra bodies to keep the Knicks like from
getting those, because I guess the thing with the Pacers, they'll they'll run
anyway, even on like the dead, Like after a score of the other
team, they'll get out and run anyway. Like if you're gonna give the
Knicks an opportunity to get their defense set, it's just gonna be harder for
you to do that. And so this team, more so than that Bucks
team, you're gonna have a hard time, harder time ending possessions. The
other thing I'm kind of looking at is, I mean, I'm always just
looking at what is Jalen runs and gonna be able to do? Is just
the sole focal point, Like how aggressively will the Pacers defend him? I
assume we saw a lot of it in the regular season, like Andrew Nemhart
on Jalen runs in will be the Maybe we'll see some Nie Myth on him
a little bit, maybe McConnell at points, But I assume nem Hard will
get the primary assignment. But how else are you going about that? Is
there anyone I know there are players? Like how how much will the Knicks
sell out to try and go after tyres Haliburton, like to hunt him in
the half court and then how much is Indian turn gonna sell out to prevent
that from not happening. But well, we're gonna send two to the ball
right away or something and make these other guys beat us. And then finally,
just because we've never seen it, at least they didn't play each other
because Og got injured. I don't think right like Og versus Siakam. I'm
just assuming that those are just that's how they're gonna match up, like on
both ends of the floors against each other. That's just gonna be really fun
to see. And I'm I'm curious, who do you give the edge too
in just the NBA defense isn't even offense are so complicated, it's never just
gonna be Og versus Passcal. But who do you give the advantage to in
that primary matchup? Yeah, it's a great question. I mean you would
think on the surface Pastcal, he's a more well rounded player, but definitely
more dynamic. Yeah, we just saw Og hold his own against Joel and
b I mean not just straight one on one. He had a lot of
help. But you know, he has a lot more size than like Siakam
is big and physical, but he's not as big and physical as Joel Embiid.
So I think Og is gonna be able to at least hold his own
in that matchup defensively. And you know, to your point, those guys,
Lloyd knows, they probably went against each other in practice for a number
of years in Toronto. So this might just be like Nick Nurse might just
be having flashbacks watching this series, just thinking back to all this Toronto days.
But yeah, I mean to your point on Brunson, I don't know,
like the Sixers tried a lot of different stuff on him, and they
had a lot of different wings they could throw at him. Tobias got switched
on to him a lot, like Kelly Oubray, Nick Patoom Melton didn't play
a ton in that series, but he would have been another option. They
doubled him. Brunson. I mean, it took him two games to kind
of figure it out, but after that it was just game on. I
mean they could do nothing to stop him. He has. You know,
I don't know how you stop the little hesitation like him driving to the basket
and then just stopping, Like if he beats you off the dribble, he's
going to draw a foul on you because he just he knows how to manipulate
his body and his driving such that he will stop and you are going to
keep running and you're gonna come flying over his back. So if you can,
I guess that's the key. If Indiana can stay out of foul trouble
or just stay out of foul trouble. With regard to Jalen Brunson, don't
fall for I don't want to call it like grifting or foulbating because like,
especially for someone who covers the Sixers, like I recognize the irony and Sixers
people complaining about Jalen Brunson's whistle. Joella beatd Kyle Lowry are the kings of
this, so you know, like kudos to him. But that is something
that the Pacers are going to have to be very much aware of in this
series, that he is going to be trying to draw that kind of contact
and he's very good at drawing that type of contact. And also, I
mean, if you have Miles Turner playing in draft, like Brunson has that
mid range game that I mean every superstar needs, but he the floater especially,
really seemed like he got more and more comfortable with that throughout the Sixers
series as well. Do I'm not. I just don't know if Indiana has
as many options to throw at him defensively as the Sixers did, and even
that wasn't enough to stop him after games one and two. Yeah, I'm
It's just so it's such a contrast in styles to where you look at it
and I'm wondering. And the Knicks did get up more threes post trade deadline,
but they're seventeenth and three point ten th eight out of the twenty teams
that made the play in since the end of the regular season, And so
you look at how many threes Indy made just during that, and that's with
Tyres Haliburton shooting very poorly from three sub thirty percent again, which is another
thing to track, by the way, like Haliburton not seeming to get as
deep when he's like attacking. And then also just he's putting up the threes,
it feels like I does feel like he's settling actually, but they're not
going into as high clip. So you look at it and just so both
of these things last six game, the Pacers end up making in their series
eighty four threes. The Knicks made seventy one against the Sixers. But because
the Knicks are on the offensive glass and they're a team that can get to
the foul line, whereas the Pacers that's not really something that they rely on,
which gives more like what's gonna be the bigger offset or are we gonna
have to see one team? And I would argue that if there's gonna be
a team that has to sort of change their style, it might be the
Knicks more than the Pacers, just because the way the Pacers play feels like
it's easier to dictate terms with now the Knicks in the offensive glass, that's
something that they could absolutely But in terms of their shot selection, maybe are
they gonna have to, you know, get up some more threes in this
series? And that's where it's you know, when you kind of look at
it, Oh, is this a Dante DiVincenzo where Josh Hart or not?
I mean it's not even Josh Harst is never gonna come out of the game.
But it's like, how much run is Dante DiVincenzo getting and doesn't need
to be more because he's someone that you can station out ultra deep and he'll
get them up. Josh Hart did a good job of taking the threes.
But I'm assuming that's what that's the guy and he's still gonna continue to I
would guess help or send help from as Josh Hart when he's on the floor.
And then I think, and this is a I'm interested to see,
like, just because it's been so long, the Knicks were basically playing six
guys by the end of the sixer series, because like deuced bake Bride would
he played eleven minutes in game six and he's has some really good moments.
Do we see any burnout whatsoever? You can tell me the Knicks are conditions
for this, It's fine. I'm just curious. It's so many minutes.
We're in May, like they've been. These dudes have played so many games.
Is there any sort of burnout there? And I don't expect Tims to
expand his rotation, like he's just gonna play seven. It's gonna be seven
guys. But Donovich is injured. And by the way, that's another kind
of interesting subplot. I know he wasn't playing a lot, but he added
floor spacing and breaking case of emergency shot creation. They don't have that.
Al Berks isn't playing and so did the Knicks. Like, the Knicks won
that sixer series and they had some really high offensive moments. But is their
offense like even worse off in the series even though they're going against an inferior
defense, Then what's the just because Philly has in Beid is able to throw
at you because you're dealing with guys playing so many minutes and now it's just
it's just brunt, Like you don't even have another lever to pull unless you
want to break open Alec Burk's are overstretched. Duce who can do a little
bit of that? Yeah, Although does Josh Hart continue to shoot like Steph
Curry or does he start shooting like Josh Hart? Again? That would be
I mean, that would be like that's like the flip side of does Tyres
Haliburton continue to shoot like we think Josh Hart does? Yeah, And like,
you know, credit honestly credit to Josh Hart because he, I know,
early in that series he said, like I knew this was the strategy
coming in, and I spent the entire week leading up to that series,
uh, you know, just jacking up threes in practice, Like I knew
they were going to target me and he was able to. But I think
to your point, they are absolutely going to continue leaving him open. Like
if they're gonna double Jalen Brentson, it makes sense to double with Josh Hart's
man. So do they continue to do that? Does he continue to make
them pay? Here's my thing is then, does it though? Because you
like it's you need bodies on Josh Hart once that shot goes up to prevent
just like the offensive rebound, like because he's just everywhere defensively offensively, like
like a magnet to the ball. And so do you kind of like,
well, should we maybe just chance helping off of just literally anybody else because
we need to keep him from getting these getting these like second chance opportunities or
ending our own possession just because he's so good at getting the defensive boards as
well. It's just I'm so I'm most fascinated by Nuggets Timberwolves in the second
round, but like because of just you've said it, the contrast and styles
here, Knick's first pacers is really just peeking. I mean, and obviously
my Knicks ties for sure, but it's peaking my attention six ways towards Sunday.
I can't wait for that series to start, do you have a prediction
for this one. This might be disrespectful to the Pacers, but I just
feel like the Knicks role here, I could see it. I think it
might make n You did mention this at the top. They have this maddening
tendency to play worse against worse opponents, and like the Knicks are a better
team than that version of the Bucks. So I'm sort of kind of wondering,
or are they gonna rise to the occasion here because the Knicks are a
better team and it feels like it would almost feel like a Gianni's been available
that series, that the Pacers might have been on their A game more often.
They might have lost, but they might have just been on their A
game more often. I'm gonna go Nixon six here. I ultimately just don't
think you mentioned this already too. I don't think that there's many buttons for
Rick Carlisle to push here in this series. And I think if they do
beat the Knicks, we look back on it as the offense for the Knicks
just fell flat because they ran out of guys who could not even just generate
their own shots but make shots aside from Brunson, and then also we saw
Pascal Siakam go full what he was the first two games in that Bucks series,
or Tyres Haliburton shooting starts to look like Tyre's Haliburton again. Yeah,
And like Mitchell Robinson, I know, came back in that sixer series,
still themes pretty banged up. So if he leaves again there, we're gonna
We're absolutely having a game, especially if the Knicks make it to the conference
finals where Tims doesn't sub anybody out and maybe it's like my borderline necessity because
mcdonovitch is already out and Mitchell Robinson needs to miss another game and then you
know what, I'm just not gonna play deuce tonight. So we're just gonna
roll with these five the entire time and they might still win. That's what's
sick. I honestly, like, I have nothing but respect for what the
Knicks have built over the last couple of years. And they found the right
brand of Sikos for Tom Thibodeau. Like it's really it's an impressive alignment that
we don't often see between front office, coaching staff and players. But they
found the right type of guys to buy into the identity that Tibbs has and
like I think this Knicks team, especially after the Og trade, when they
were just bum slaying for like, it was like a month or so before
Randall and Og got hurt and then they kind of like fell onto the radar.
But like, I think they went under the radar, which is a
weird thing to say about the New York Knicks. It like they never go
under the radar. But like, I don't think people really appreciated how good
this Knicks team is. I think they are for real. I think they
could be even scarier next year if they do the Paul George thing that we
talked about earlier, make some sort of big acquisition with Randall and bgdonovich.
But I mean, I like they I don't think people should discount them.
And even if they win this series and move on to presumably play Boston Conference
finals, Like, I don't think Boston is just gonna blow the doors off
of the Knicks. I think it's gonna be a hard fot series. I
don't even know. I'd have to dig deeper as to who I would pick
for that one, but I think there would be some people who are prepared
to be like, well, this is like the knickses Atlanta Hawks run in
twenty twenty one, like that's they just caught the right matchups. The hobbled
Sixers a Pacers team that just is fine, and it's like, no,
like this team, there's definitely something more to this. There's definitely stuff they
need to add, but it's this is not like an aberration when you're looking
at what they're able to do. So I'm gonna go Nixon six, but
I really just there's just so much variance to how the Pacers play. I
don't feel great about it. Yeah, the only thing I'd be like fairly
surprised by is a Pacers in five or Pacers in four, like I could
there are definitely worlds in which the Knicks just like totally run out of gas
and the Pacer would win the series. But I think it would be a
longer series, Like I think, I think the Knicks are going in as
the better team. They are a somewhat heavy favorite on the odds market,
so I could see, you know, a Knicks sweep. I could see
Nixon five. I could see a long series either way, but Pacers winning
in a short series would be surprise to me because I do think the Knicks
just have a clear advantage in terms of talent, and I just keep coming
back to the physicality, man, like the rebounding. It sounds so stupid
to Hartbond, but the Sixers would have won that series if not for the
rebounding. I mean they oh, no, go ahead, Sorry, I
didn't mean it was game one, like they got a rebound by twenty and
it's like every every fourth quarter it felt like, you know, Game four
especially was they just got destroyed at the end, like and even Game six,
I think there were a couple of key ones late where the Knicks just
continue to generate these possessions out of thin air that they should not be getting,
and it allows them to build these leads. And honestly, I could
also see just the wild swings that Nick Sixers series, the Game two ending,
the Game five ending, you know, them getting up so big in
Game six, and then giving up the whole lead by halftime, going down
ten points in the third quarter, coming back from that, going up late,
giving that whole lead back up like they I think that just tested them
in a way that the Pacers did not get tested in the first round,
and it's going to prepare them for what's coming more than the Pacers might be,
and I would say it's not stupid to harp on the offensive rebounding When
they boarded it was like basically thirty six percent of their own misses for the
series, and they were like stretches where at the end of it was Game
six, they rebounded fifty six point two percent of their own misses. In
the first quarter of Game six, the Slickers actually rebounded forty six percent of
their own misses. I think in that quarter fifty percent for a twelve minute
stretch is fucking wild. I'm honestly just proud of the Sixers for not totally
letting go of the rope because when they were down thirty three to eleven,
and I was like, you know, that game started nine o'clock, so
I'm telling my wife like, yeah, actually, maybe I will go to
bed with you halftime, like maybe, And then you know, they had
already taken back to the lead by halftime, and I went up to That
series was so epic. It was I think the most entertaining first round series
for me since you remember that what year was that the Clippers Spurs where it
came down to uh was it? Chris Paul hit like the game winner.
It was in Game seven, like basically hit the buzzer at that that.
I think this was the most entertaining first round series I've seen since then,
was that twenty fourteen? I think so around there? Yeah, yeah,
yeah, it was like I should be more upset about it, and I
honestly I'm surprised that six Ers. I guess Sixers fans had just already moved
on to like arguing about Jimmy Butler versus Paul George versus branding Ingram versus two
stars and three stars whatever, so like no one's really fixated on it.
If anything, I think it just kind of solidified that Tyrese Maxie is that
dude, and that really is that dude. That's all that matters from the
season, honestly, because that was their biggest the non Harden question coming in
was is Danny's Maxie the clear number two? Yes, question answered. Now
we can move on. But yeah, like I mean, the entire series
being decided by a margin of one point. I just I loved the Nick
Durson's coment four Game six was just so fitting where he was just like nothing
matters. Did you see the meme I posted about that. It was from
oh man, why am I blanking? On the What's that show? From
Netflix? With Jason Bateman based in Missouri, oh Ozark And the meme is
I don't know, I don't know fuck about ship or shit about fun And
that's basically what Nick Nurse said. I was like, I respect it.
This is a level of Neilism that is so relatable, uh that I love
it. I was gonna ask, do we have a few minutes to spend
on just Thunder uh before we go? Before we go, I'm about to
forget who the Thunder playing Thunder MAVs? What are your initial thoughts like heading
into this series, And like we're kind of fresh off as we're recording the
the MAVs bouncing the Clippers, so I haven't dug super deep into it,
but it's kind of another fascinating matchup too, where's just like like Dallas plays
I think understatedly super huge to where it's okay, you have Dancic just massive
for a point guard. And then now they've just run these lineups where it's
Derek Jones Junior, PJ. Washington and then Gafford or Lively or it's you
have PJ. Washington Maxi Kliba, and we haven't seen them really play with
another big with that, but like PJ Washing Maxi Kliba with a Derek Jones
junior, so they could just be super big, which that's still a weakness
of the Thunder. I don't think you need to go out and get sizes,
and they didn't at the trade deadline. But it's kind of like fascinating
to where you don't view Dallas as this physical team, but the four on
three situations they can create in the half court with their pick and rolls.
I do think we'll stress test, Okay sees defense for sure. Yeah,
I mean we'll see. But I know injured the shoulder last night. I
think as we were recording, I saw Sean's notification about like, I think
it's a full dislocation. If I saw that, Oh I didn't see that.
I think I might have read that wrong. So I apologize and advance,
uh third degree dislocation. This is from Tim McMahon of ESPN. Third
degree dislocation of the AC joint in Maxi Kleebler's shoulder. So, oh,
he's done. I don't mind. Definitely, perhaps the remainder of the Mavis
playoff runt and that's like that's a kind of big deal for this that's a
huge deal. Well because now it's like everything I just said, it's just
like it's negated, so they're not as huge, but like you still have
the Derek Jones junior PJ. Washington big look, and that fared really well
for Dallas against the Clippers. The with the PJ. Washington, Gafford and
Derek Jones junior front court. Their offense actually wasn't great, but they still
scored the Clippers by five point one points per one hundred possessions. And now
you add Lively in there instead of Gafford, uh, and it was plus
twelve point two points per one hundred possessions. And again that's without the offense
kind of being elite. And I think that's maybe the sacrifice you make is
that you have these three. You have a non shooter at the five and
then two shaky shooters relatively speaking, and PJ. Washington and Rick Jones junior.
But like they their defense is real and like I don't know how they're
gonna do against the Clippers. Are they were never truly five out and like
the Thunder just five out basically what forty eight minutes a game. There's like
there's no unless they're gonna you know, un cork bismock biumbo for the series.
For some reason, it's just gonna be. So I think they will
be a team. And he shot a trillion percent from three against the Pelicans.
They're gonna more egregiously not defend Josh Giddy, I think than a lot
of like then like other teams might, Yeah, for sure, And like
I know everyone fixates on Okacs size and the rebound in general as being their
achilles heel. They are, I mean, Chut seven to one. Gidea's
six' eight. Sga is also a jumbo point guard at six' six,
Jalen Williams is six to five, and lud Dort sixty three, but
he's i mean, got a huge wingspan. It's just the lockdown defensive threat.
Like I think the Thunder actually match up kind of well defensively other than
the potential of them just getting bullied. But like, do you know who's
like kind of their skeleton key for that? I mean, and this is
not like it's lou Dort just because you mentioned he's six three, six'
four and It's like I would rather see him defend Luka Doncic than Kyrie Irving
because he's just built like a brick house. And I'm not saying he's gonna
get the best of that matchup, but if you look at how much you're
gonna need to pressure THEO and set extra bodies at Luca, you just I
think with the Thunder, even if you want to use J Dubb in those
situations, they will, but way like you just because of those two dudes
like J Dub versus Kyrie, like those are just I'm not saying you're gonna
leave those guys alone the entire time, but you might because you can,
like that's an option that you just have. And yeah, you can like
honestly switch interchangeably between Dort Williams SGA. You probably don't want Giddy on either
one of those guys if you can avoid it, but like you know,
even he can switch on to them if you were just switching everything. So
yeah, I think Under actually have the personnel to match up. Kind of
like no one's gonna stop Kyrie, not this version of Kyrie I saw someone
created if Kyrie had Qui's personality, which is basically just don't do or say
anything. He'd be the most likable player in NBA history because of the aesthetics
of his game. And I was trying to think, like, who's a
flashy player that had like this understated, non controversial personality, and like the
answer is just Nicole Jokic. It's just like he's he's super aesthetically to watch
him. So I digress on there. I was gonna ask you, though,
like do you think this sounds counterintuitive? I don't think it's true,
But because of how physical Luca is, do you think like sort of the
going after Chet's guy, like screening that and like trying to get Luca onto
Chet to where okay, Like Chet, Yeah, we know he's mobile,
we know he's a fantastic grim protector, shot block or whatever. But will
Luca feel more confident in that matchup just because he has like just stronger shoulders
and backside. Where is that a matchup that you would see the mavericks.
I want to say attacking, because I don't think Chet's a liability, but
maybe being more willing to allow to happen or go at just because of that,
or is it just is my my overthinking that I could see it.
I mean, I can certainly see the rationale behind it. I think Chet
also just has the length and like the foot speed to recover that even if
Luca blows by him, especially like Luca's got on his blocky knee. I
know he's still dominating, but like he looks, he looks fast, right
like, that's never his selling point. He's it's always just his size and
his physicality and his control of his body. But he looked even slower than
usual right now. So I do wonder if Chet might be able to like
it blow You know, you can blow by Chet, but it doesn't matter
because that's gonna be able to recover by the time you get to the rim
that he's gonna block your stuff anyway. So, like, I fully expect
Luca and Kyrie to continue. You know, it's not like they're gonna all
of a sudden score ten points a game or like pull. Will Lucas shoot
better than sub twenty four from three point range in this series? Yeah?
Man, that was rough last night. I mean, he was He's not
even close, And that's that's why I wonder how much the need is affecting
him. And it kind of because of that has me leaning okayc in the
series, Like, if if we had fully healthy Mavericks and Mexic Liba was
not probably done for the playoffs, I think it'd be probably to a coin
flip. But if we're gonna get like eighty percent Luca and we're not gonna
have Kleeba, so now they don't have as many five out options as they
otherwise would have. It just makes me wonder where it's coming from, Like,
where's the offense coming from for Dallas if it's not Luca and Kyrie and
or just you know, there was guys kicking out to open three point shooters
and if PJ. Washington and Derek Jones Junior are knocking down their threes?
Cool. Do we know about Tim Partaway's status for this series, by the
way, no, just see, I mean I don't think they want to
play him, so I don't really like, I don't even know if I
view it as like it. I guess if they want the three point shooting
out there, but I haven't seen anything more about his status since he's been
dealing with what was it, he's the ankle injury. So yeah, this
I will say PJ. Washington like because we know Derek Jones junior, they
will have him on one of the Thunder's primaries. This becomes like a huge
PJ. Washington's here because just this version of the Clipper, I mean,
he did a good job against the Clab, like the mass defense was suffocating,
but like this is different when you look at J dub or Shay specifically,
Like those are two completely different players. Whoever he winds up guarding more.
But I'm so interesting how Dallas's defense holds up against OKC. But I
think right now I'm leaning, especially now that you told me about this Cleve
injuries were recording, I didn't realize the shoulder and he was that surious.
I'm gonna go OKC in six, and honestly, because Lucas dealing with the
knee stuff, I think Dallas's defense is resilient enough to win two even with
that. It just wouldn't shock me if this was an OKAC in five.
I still think people underestimate just how dominant the Thunder are, Like they're terrifying.
I think the MAVs obviously have more more buttons to push than that version
of the Pelicans that we saw, But I think you can make the case
that who are the best Shay Gil just Alexander defenders in the West. It's
probably Herb Jones and or Jayden McDaniels, and so like the MAVs just don't
have a Herb Jone. They have Derek Jones Junior and PJ. Washington and
Antexum and that's just not the same. Yeah. Yeah, I mean it's
like hard to read into the first round series from the Thunder because there was
no Zion and but I mean they you know, Game one was close and
then they kind of just toyed with the Pelicans for three games, and I
don't think they're gonna have that luxury against the Bavericks unless one of Luca or
Kyrie missed time. And hopefully that isn't the case. But I'm with you
and leaning okay. See, I selfishly hope it goes seven, just because
I think it's gonna be a really fun series. The one thing I'm not
looking forward to is all of the m v P discourse between SGA fans and
Luca fans, and I think it's gonna be probably more. Does it matter
Jokic will be named the m v P. I think what is it Tuesday
or am I missing? When's the date on that whatever? Yeah, hopefully
it's soon because that would kind of put it to bed. I hope so.
But yeah, well, then do we have the O this guy should
have been number two and this guy should have been number three, and he's
like I think there's just gonna be a lot of pissing over which who better
Luca don Chic or Shake Gilds Alexander. I'd love to find about who's the
better loser or non winner, who's the better non winner for this award,
who's the better all for fort team All NBA player, who cares they're both
great? Then you're not gonna win MVP because Yoki should still here. So
I don't I don't want to. I'm just gonna like unplug from those conversations.
But I as a basketball fan, I'm going to enjoy the hell out
of seeing two of the best players in the NBA going hand to head against
one another, and it should be I'm excited that we're gonna have three super
tantalizing second round matchups. I just can't bring myself to care about who this
said, like Calves, Magic Bugget, like Celtics in five, Like it's
just I want the Magic. I want the Magic to win, just because
I I think they could be interesting. I'm not saying they're gonna like give
a real scare to Boston, but with you know, Mitchell st banged up
and Jared Allen I missed the last two games of the Rim thing, who
knows if he plays Sunday. I think the Cavs are just too injured to
really put I think, yeah, Orlando's defense could maybe do some stuff to
gum up Boston's offense, especially with they might have more points of like,
oh, we can sacrifice here to go here if Christos Porzingis isn't isn't healthy.
But I mean, I don't know if we're watching Donovan Mitchell in that
game against the Magic in Game six, just in every single point for the
Cavs in the fourth quarter. So it's just he's still I don't know how
he got this reputation just someone who doesn't rise to the occasion of the playoff.
He has some epic postseason performances, So I don't know where people are
just like, oh, like this is someone who just always disappears when it
matters. I'm like, where the hell is that? Actually, some people
don't traffic in any sort of reality. I mean, it was the Bubbles
series with him and Jamal Murray. I was like one of the best one
on one showdowns we've seen in recent years. Right, he is like now
I think second or third all time in playoff fifty point games. Wow,
total, because he has three and I think there's he's in the top five
already and he needs all active players. By the way, so in a
in a league that has Lebron James and Kevin Durant like still playing, obviously
they didn't make it deep this year, his three fifty point games the leader
among all active players. Well, now you just gave me something for Tyrese
Maxi to look forward to in about six years. All Right, I think
I took a place for us to wrap up. So Dan, thank you
for coming on or thank you for hosting me, because we're gonna have this
go live on both of our podcasts, and I wish you the best in
the series against the Pacers as much as I really, I genuinely don't even
hate the Knicks like that, I think as the finest compliment I could pay
coming out of a playoff series. I know Knicks fans got a little excited
about their taste of playoff success, which I get you haven't had a ton
of it in recent years, so go, will you beat the seventh seed?
Congratulations? But I do think I do think they are for real.
I do think there's a lot to build on moving forward, and I think
you know they should. I hope to see them against Boston in the conference
finals, and I hope we get a competitive series there. Thank you.
And I do know I'm so far like separated from my psychotic fandom when I
was younger, just because being in the business for so long does kill at
least some of it for you. I don't hate Joel Embiid. I enjoy
him. I love Tyros Maxie. I thought Philly put up a hell of
a fight, but they were not. I will say in defensive Knicks fans
who should act like they've been here before. Now you want a playoff series
last year, it's like, let's add like you're in the second round.
Congratulations. This is the burden of expectations, because if you lose against the
team that's clearly worse than you, even without Julius random Bydanovic, there would
be questions. They answered but like, let's act Knicks fans, let's act
like we've been here before, because now now we have I will say,
Philly was not your typical seventh seed. No, that was like the stuff
that they were doing with Tyrus Maxi and Joell Ebid at the beginning of the
year. So that was a fun series. Thank you so much for having
me Slash, Thank you so much for coming on. It was my pleasure
on both glens and honestly, everyone follow us both on Twitter. You can
find at the NBA Pod and then download this episode twice at both of our
This on the NBA Pod, go subscribe to Hardwine KNOCKX. If you're listening
to this on Hard One Knocks, go subscribe to the NBA Pod. Honestly,
for NBA Pod subscribers, Dan and Grant do a ton of great work
and pump out way more stuff than we do, so please go subscribe to
them if you want a ton of great NBA coverage. Dan, for your
sake, I hope that you don't do the every team preview this year because
I know how much time that takes. But I know I'm thinking about I'm
thinking about digital this year. But people love it. Rest Ashore. If
I do it, I'll need you for the sixers. So I know you
might be planning like a hiatus or something, but you're not getting it from
this podcast. Is not happening. What's just hope Dryl Morey makes his moves
early in July. I am keeping my fingers crossed that, like, by
July fifteenth, I can walk away from that'll be done, especially because now
that I think teams will, even though they would have had a hole on
it to begin with, Now that you could talk to your own players after
the final, we're just gonna see moves line up like big bag boom,
even faster than it's like. Oh, free agency is done five minutes into
its starting. How did that happen? Well? Because Lloyd note the teams
never talked to their free agents before this year. No, never unless DeAndre
Jordan gotta make sure. Nuggets got to make sure that you have DeAndre Jordan.
They never got panalized. I'm still mad it broke at six o'clock.
What are we doing? Did you write the League office? I wrote an
article about it? Of course you did. Yeah, Well, that's why
you cancribe to the NBA pod. You and more can go like you can
make the bulls sound compelling, more can make the bulls now compel. I
enjoyed the I enjoyed the All NBA discussion where you two couldn't decide and you
were just like fucking throw beyond there then. Honestly, I mean he's fully
pivoted into being a Spurs fan, and I think it's the correct call.
And if there are any other both bands listening out there where like you need
long term viability, it's the Spurs and Thunder. Brian and I will be
having a spin off where recover only the Thunder since it seems like localized contents
a lot more popular than what we do now in terms of podcasting anyway,
So look forward to us launching our Thunder podcast in the near We're coming for
you the uncontested and okay see topic Thunder whatever they're called, and there's other
what's the one at the Athletic We're coming for all you. Has no one
claimed thunder Buddies yet, we need to just claim it before we're the thunder
buddies. I already have the LLD set up. We're perfect, good,
good, good, all right, well, thank you dad. It's always
fun chopping it up with you, and we will. We will definitely catch
up soon because Yeah, I absolutely want to debate this three star, two
star, three max stuff at some point because I think it's honestly, I
think that is the biggest conversation that needs to be across the NBA this off
season. It seems like fans are starting to catch on, but I think
it's it's gonna be that into the dividing line looking forward and we're gonna turn
and see them, and yes, we have to do that. Thank you
for having me. It's a funny slash thank you for coming to me.
That was good.