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This is Adam Promal here with my co host Dan Favallei, and we are
still in the midst of the NBA Playoffs. We have one first round game
left that will be happening shortly after we record this one as the Houston Rockets
in Oklahoma City Thunder battle in Game seven for the right to advance to the
second round. Uh. The other the other teams in the second round are
already set. We have two series already in progress, so we're gonna be
talking about all of it. This is sort of a general we're talking thinking
about the NBA Playoffs episode without without as much structure as some of our previous
episodes, So we'll dive right in after a shout out to our sponsors as
always, Bet Online, Dot AG, Door, Dash, and NFL Sunday
Ticket. So, Dan, how are you doing and what are you most
excited about for Game seven tonight. I'm doing well over here. Thank you
for asking, And I think I'm most excited for the twitter potential in a
missed Game seven, but also after it. I mean, just picture what
the tweets will be like if Chris Paul ends up eliminating the team that traded
him while treating him as the net negative asset in said deal. But also
if the Rockets win, I'm gonna just be here for the probably the troll
jobs done by both the Lakers and the Rockets fans, and then they'll They'll
probably also be some you know, James Harden like related to Chris Paul memes
coming out, so you know, I love that type of content. So
I am very much looking forward to that. What about you, I was
gonna say that sounds like a very That was a very dann answer. I'm
still I'm still riding high from the the experience of the Nuggets Jazz Game seven.
It was. It was a sloppy, fatigue laden game, but it
was it was such an exciting finish. It was such a fantastic series and
above all else, like I just love how Jamal Murray in particular and Donovan
Mitchell in particular, handled themselves off the court throughout that series. The interviews
that they gave were poignant and meaningful throughout Jamal Murray having the presence of mind
and humanity to come and comfort Donovan Mitchell after he collapsed to the floor in
despair after Mike Conley's three point attempt rimmed out like that was. That was
just an incredible human moment, and it's just another example of how the league
is in such a great place moving forward with these these young guys who are
so good on the court and just to get it. So I'm still riding
that high. That was a fantastic game sort of to that point before we
get into that with you know, you're talking about specifically Jamal Murray. Remember
he gave that I called it an impossible interview after Game six, and it
was just borderline uncomfortable where I think it should have ended. After the you
know, he had said that the shoes he was wearing, we're giving him
life, but I do give him credit for what he was able to piece
together in that moment. We're not talking about the strikes from last week.
We elected not to record after those games were canceled. I think there's enough
white males commenting on all of this, and I would recommend just a couple
podcasts to check out if people are interested in hearing more about that. The
Dishes and Dime podcast to de fantastic segment on the entire thing. I think
it began around the twenty one forty five mark on their latest episode, So
I would go check that out. That's a great podcast. Zach Low had
Malika Andrews and William Rodan on that was a great podcast, talk about it.
And then Howard of the Full forty eight and Bleacher Report for Now I
guess had on Jim Jackson. They had a great discussion on all of this,
and so I just wanted to amplify those podcasts or endorse those because I
don't think, at least in this particular setting, that we need people who
look like Adam and I commenting on what happened last week. It was just
an incredible stand by the players, and I think we're both comfortable leaving it
at that, but it was, you know, Jamal Murray is like so
linked to that is because what maybe the interview is so uncomfortable is like it
felt like we were making a spectacle of black pain. And so while I
credit him for the interview that he gave, it was just it was just
all sorts of moving and perhaps in some I don't know, like the wrong
ways. I don't know if I'm wrong there, But the end of that
series in general, the Jazz almost winning on that Mike Conley shot, the
way that Donovan Mitchell and Jamal Murray just seemed to go punch for punch.
Even though Mitchell didn't have that like best last game, it felt like he
recognized what was happening when Gary Harris was in front of him, he was
trying to get rid of the ball. There are you know, I'm interested
to see your thoughts on two things. Here would be what do you give
the you know, just because that series is done, like it was epic,
it was great, but like, how do you view this Nuggets Clipper
series that's about to get underway? And I also don't know if you saw
the reaction of Jamal Murray when he found out he had a play on Thursday
after the post game of Sports Center, that was just that was that was
a great moment. But I'm wondering what type of chance you give the Nuggets
there? And then maybe we should just get into a little bit while we'll
try and do specific look aheads for each team's moving forward, Just like what
this maybe means for the Jazz, Like, can they write off this is
just what we didn't have going on? Bogdanovich, You know there are shots
that we're going to hit that we wouldn't have And Mike Conley missed the first
two games, but they jumped out to a three to one series lead,
So how much does that actually matter? So I'm curious on on that.
But first, like looking ahead to this Nuggets Clipper series, how do you
think Denver matches up with LA and do you give them a chance to come
out of this series? I think that you just pray interview is yeah,
yeah, I cringe. I did cringe. I think that Jamal murray interview
is pretty telling that reaction specifically, because I think the Nuggets know that they're
they're about to run into a rested buzz saw and this series took a lot
out of them. It was an emotional, interrupted series. Every game towards
the back end of the series was a battle. Jamal Murray played his heart
out on so many different moments. I think this team is emotionally drained.
I think we saw the level of fatigue that it had a crewed throughout the
series. In Game seven, in particular, there was a stretch in the
third quarter where it seemed like every shot really that both teams were taking was
hitting the front of the rim, which is usually a sign of tired legs
from a jump shooter. I don't think the Nuggets mash up particularly well with
the Clippers, even when they're totally ready to go. I have a feeling
that Paul George is kind of licking his chops, waiting to take advantage of
the really shoddy perimeter defense that we've seen from the Denver Wings, and he's
ready to get off the schneide if you will. But yeah, yeah,
I just and Murray are are so talented that you have to give them a
shot. But this Clippers team is geared to stop players like Murray and to
take advantage of everyone that Denver has, maybe with the exception of Gary Harris
if he's at full strength. And I don't think it's going to be a
particularly long experience for ten for I kind of agree with you that they don't
match up well. I do think that yoga could end up being a big
mismatch in Denver's favor on the front line, just because I don't think that's
a great matchup if you go with Dress at the five or Zubatch really,
I mean, the Zubos has been but that was the thing where I felt
like it kind of takes away from the edge because he's just moved his feet
so well in the playoffs coming out of the paint, and so like,
can he neutralize any of what Yokich is doing out of there? I still
think it's just this clear advantage. But even if you go to Yokich in
the post, like, I don't actually think that that's a bad matchup for
Zubots there either, And so I'm not trying to say that that's not a
clear win for Yokich there. But if you take what is in fact your
best like mismatch, just because you know that the Clippers have the defensive firepower
to throw at Jamal Murray, you know whether it's gonna be Patrick Beverly's coming
back. So that's another thing Denver has to grapple with. And if they
want, they can put Paul Georgia Kawhi Leonard on Jamal Murray if it comes
to that, and so so I'm not gonna say you're gonna take him out
of the game. But then after that it's they match up well if you
want to play Michael Porter Junior. And then on the flip side at the
other end, it's like, okay, so Jeremy Grant, I assume gets
the Kawai assignment, and so that's going to be He's going to have his
handsful and Kawai has been playing out of this world as he tends to do
in the playoffs. Is what are you doing with Paul George? Is that
who Gary Harris is playing? Do you have to put Tory Craig out there,
maybe because he's a little bit stronger, like for heavier minutes. That
could end up being the mismatch you just said Paul George was looking as chops
and that just might be. That might actually be. Why so I just
don't love this. I think Denver might be okay on offense, but at
the same time because of Jokis. But at the same time, it's like
they just the sheer depth of what the Clippers can do defensively on the perimeter
when they have Patrick Beverly healthy and Marcus Morris is there makes me sort of
uneasy to wear. I'm wondering, if this you know, what's the path
to this going longer than five games? And I'm saying this is someone who
picked the Nuggets to win the title at the beginning of the season or before
the season. You have to stick with it now. But yeah, yeah,
I think the other uncomfortable truth here is that as much as the world
seems to want to, like rush to coordinate Jamal Murray as one of the
new superstars in the NBA, like, we might need to temper the expectations
a little bit because as great as he played, and as much of a
rioising star as he is, I mean, he's he's in the third spot
in NBA in NBAMAS player power rankings at the moment, Like a lot of
what he's doing isn't sustainable, and the Jazz weren't always playing great defense against
him. I mean, in that seven game series, he hit fifty four
point eight percent of his pull up shots and fifty sevenven point one percent of
his pull up threes, And no player in NBA history is capable of maintaining
that level of efficiency on those difficult shots, especially when the Clippers are about
to throw even better perimeter defenders at him, so you know it's he's doing
so much good. But this wasn't like the scoring outburst that indicated he's always
going to be this absolute flamethrower. He made a lot of difficult shots,
and kudos to him, but it's going to come back to earth at some
point. It was very much like a Carrion performance to some extent. Yeah,
I mean, forty percent on contested threes in that series, in addition
to his sixty nine effective field goal percent and jump poll up jumpers. Just
an absolutely wild performance. I do think though, this does lend merit to
Denver's immediate future because Jamal Murray has been kind of a roller coaster. He
had his moments last playoffs, but there are also these vanishing acts and the
fact that those are fewer and further between. Maybe he's just one of those
players that becomes even more valuable in the postseason because they're not going to,
uh, you know, milk him in the way that they do in the
playoffs during the regular season, because I think the knock against him over the
past three years has been like statistically, when you look at his permanent production.
There just hasn't been much change. It's basically been lateral. And so
for someone you just gave a five year max extension, that's not necessarily good
enough. But if you can play not necessarily like this in the playoffs because
this is not this is not a thing, but just the sentiment that he
can, you know, kind of that like CJ. McCullum factor, where
it's like, you know, maybe he's Portland's third best player when use of
Murkis is healthy you're in the regular season, but he's their second best player
in the playoffs, and maybe that's like the type of Jamal Murray factor there.
That's absolutely huge for Denver and I don't want to write them out of
the playoffs so so quickly, but if they lose to the Clippers, they
do just have some interesting decisions to make because you have Jeremy Grant with the
player option, Paul Mills step is going to be a free agent, has
not been good during the playoffs, and Tory Craig's going to be a free
agent. And then there's the whole what would this team look like with another
entrenched star on its roster, Like what if Drew Holiday becomes available. What
if Bradley Bible becomes available? Are you willing to give up MPJ in prospective
deals for that? Maybe that's not something you even look at, or at
least you don't feel obligated to look at if you put up a real fight
against the Clippers, But if you drop in five games or just sort of
six uninspiring games, or of course get swept, like the time is now,
Jamal Murray is twenty three, Yokich is twenty five, That they're still
young, they're under long term deals, like their window is now, and
so you do you have to sort of factor that in, And so I
am sort of fascinated to see what happens this offseason. I'd default to Denver
trying to be like prioritizing mostly continuity. My guess would be Paul millsapp is
not back at this point, but you bring back Jeremy Grant. You probably
hold on to Porter Junior and see if he can be your swing piece.
And that just seems like how they do things there. But it is sort
of a worthwhile question to ask because Yokich is a top ten player right now,
and if Jamal Murray is sort of on the come up. You know
it's great that Michael Porter Junior is as good as he is, but can
you trust him to stay on the floor defensively against opposing starters as early as
next year and then leading into the twenty twenty one postseason. So their offseason
is going to be super interesting, probably more interesting than it typically would be
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Dash. Yeah, I think a lot depends on who becomes available, and
as we've seen in previous offseasons, it's so difficult to predict which star level
players are going to want out of their current situation or are going to be
actively shopped by their teams. If Bradley Beal is available, because the Wizards
see that they have a limited ceiling even with John wallback on the court,
you give up Michael Porter Junior in a heartbeat to go get him. If
Devin Booker gets frustrated that Phoenix isn't making the playoffs and doesn't see that they're
on an upward trajectory and demands a trade, then you give up Michael Porter
Junior in a heartbeat. If it's a lower caliber player, maybe you stick
with it and move him at the trade deadline if necessary. But I don't
after what we've seen in the playoffs, I struggle to believe that he's going
to be a passable defender anytime soon. And he very clearly, just like
doesn't, have an immense level of trust from the Denver coaching staff at this
stage. And that's important because, as you said, the window really is
now, and maybe the window extends further than we typically see for those win
now situations, but they are trying to actively win a championship at this very
moment, and Porters as talented on offense as he is and as detrimental as
he can be when he plays with too much of a green light and shows
a complete lack of awareness on defense, Like he is not the ideal piece
for that pursuit at this moment. Yeah, I'm with you. I'm been
curious though. So you say, Brady Beal that you would definitely do it.
What if it's Drew Holiday? I would, Yeah, would, I
would include him in that tier as well. Interesting, I almost feel like,
because he's going to be a free agent, not that Denver's gonna have
cap space. It well, I'm assuming he's going to decline his twenty twenty
one player option and not that Denver's gonna have cap space. I don't know
if you need like also JJ Reddick as part of that deal, if you
can expand it with salary filler. Just I feel like I would call Drew
Holiday, as much as I love him, probably just the baseline because we
did see sort some of his limitations in the bubble. If he's going to
be your primary score a primary scoring option, and he's he's in that top
twenty five conversation, But I think if you're going to give up on mpg's
upside at this point, offensively, you probably need like that entrenched top twenty
or top eighteen. Gun. I know it doesn't sound like a huge difference,
but it but it can be that's a guy who's gonna contend for all
NBA birth versus Drew Holiday, who's just gonna get that like residual All Star
love. And so he might be the base I would consider it, but
he might be the absolute bassline. And maybe it's a situation where you know,
you have to include, you have to figure out how to get JJ
Reddick two. So I think I'm ultimately with you there. And then there's
always I am curious to see if there's just like and maybe this is a
nice segue into the jazz, is there a player that just becomes available that
we're just not seeing right now because you even try and think outside the box
and it's still really hard. And then maybe that's how they enter the discussion.
And with the jazz specific we know that player is not going to be
Donovan Mitchell because he plans to sign a max extension with Utah. Per Chris
Haynes and now a lot of people were speculating about Rudy Gobert's future, And
so I'm curious as to where you fall on this, as to whether you
assign any real value to the behind the scenes tension that there was even before
the whole coronavirus thing, or if you think the Jazz are going to look
at this loss in the playoffs, even though they blew the three to one
lead and say, you know what, we end up going on Bogdanovitch.
This is the first season and we actually kind of went all in on this
roster because you went out and got Bogdanovitch. You traded for Mike Conley.
You also traded for Jordan Clarkson. You should have, unless you opt to
resign Jordan Clarkson at an amount that's just ungodly. You should have the non
tax player's mid level exception to work with while being able to keep him.
Is this a run it back situation? It is one hundred percent a run
it back situation. I don't really care if there's tension between Donovan Mitchell and
Rudy Gobert in the locker room or outside of the arena or whatever it made.
And we've seen both of them downplay how much tension there is following the
coronavirus situation. I think the tension that might have existed even before that because
of playing styles and touches and all that is more salient. But either way,
they don't play like a duo that has chemistry issues. Donovan Mitchell is
more than willing to share the ball with Gobert. Gobert is more than willing
to fill his role with a plum and because of that, I don't have
any concerns about the long term future for that pairing. So long as Utah
opts to keep it together, I would fully run it back here because the
excuses that you mentioned for this first round defeat are totally legitimate. Losing Boyon
Bogdanovitch, who was their second leading scorer during the regular season, is a
big deal. It completely alters the way that they run their offense. It
forces so much more responsibility onto Mitchell's shoulders, which he capably handled, but
it's still a difficult ask and it would have been so much It's easier for
him to thrive and somehow be even more efficient had Bogged Donanovich been there.
Mike Conley struggled for a lot of the year, seemed to be putting it
together before the hiatus, and then missed the beginning of the playoff series and
played really well once he returned. I don't think that he is in an
imminent decline or anything, even if he's a point guard in his thirties.
So I have faith in the upside of this core as currently constructed. And
as you said, I would look to resign Jordan Clarkson at a reasonable number
and then go get another veteran to add to the peripheral. But you don't
need any substantial changes if you're this jazz team with young in their prime stars,
I would mostly agree with you. I would say I don't know that
rueygobartnescessarily loves his role on offense might be the one aspect where I differ.
And then his loving next contract I do think has to factor into the equation.
You're definitely not giving him the supermax. You're definitely not giving him the
max, or at least you shouldn't mind. You just can't do that with
a big man anymore who's not I don't even know. You know, people
keep citing like a Christops Porzingis type, like it's basically Anthony Davis and Colin
Anthony Town's like that's the line, now, Like that's the bar for if
you're going to rebuild around a big man, And so that's I'm not even
trying to take a shot at Rudy Gobert. If that's the money it's going
to cost you, I guess you could investigate the market, but I would
still tend to default to what you say, because I don't know what you're
gonna get back for him in a trade, because which teams are going to
be tripping over themselves to give up a ton of equity for this player and
then give him a ton of money in free agency. The other thing there,
too is when you're giving up that type of player, it's normally in
a selling situation, and Donovan Mitchell is obviously too good for the Jazz to
be in that position. Their entire roster just scus toward the win. Now.
I don't know that there's a win now, you know, like return
out there, and so you definitely keep reg because he's also very valuable to
your team, and if you are worried about his free agency, I would
just chance it. I know there'll be more caps faced floating around in twenty
twenty one, but I don't know how frothy the market is going to be
for him. Maybe there's a team out there that gives him this a max
over four years, and the Jazz can decide whether they're willing to go that
high. But I would still be a little bit surprised if that happened.
So you play the market game there and maybe try and capitalize on you know,
this one more season. If you guys make it further in the playoffs,
maybe this becomes a non issue. He's happy there, kind of recognizes
his market value. I will be interesting to see where his next contract lands.
But if I were the Jazz, if anything, I'd probably gravitate towards
doubling down where I'm not as confident in Mike Conley anymore as long term as
you might be. There's definitely better chemistry with Rudy Gobert there played better in
the bubble than he did during most of the regular season when he when he
was battling not only the you know, new to the fold issues, but
also hamstring issues. I might look at, you know, does okay,
so you want Conley for Chris Paul, Like that's a deal? Is that?
Is there some framework there that's the type of thing. If I'm the
Jazz, I'd still be looking at because I do think it's a knock against
them for blowing a a three to one lead. It didn't help that Joe
Ingles didn't shoot too well from three over the final three games? Did o
for Jordan Clarkson. Mike Conley didn't shoot that well, you know inside the
arc those those few games, and so too much of the offensive burden fell
on Mitchell's shoulders. But it's like you said, and as I alluded to
before, if you have Bogdanovich, like that's a little bit different. Maybe
he doesn't necessarily give you a ton of extra shot creation, but he's probably
hitting threes at a higher clip than you know, really anybody else during that
three game stretch except for you know, Yang, who shot over the final
three games forty five point five percent from deep. So there are some holes
there and if you, you know, having a healthy Bodanovitch would help.
But if you can sort of upgrade anywhere else, like I would look at
it all and move again. If it's Mike con leave for Chris Paul and
maybe need to sweeten that up a little bit. Like that's something that I
would consider, or maybe the mid level exception just goes further than I'm giving
credit for right now. I don't think you burn it on a backup big,
which a lot of people said that they should do. You know,
it's basically, can you bring in another kind of shot creator in the back
court or just another wing who might might feel that defensively, a guy who
could maybe guard some of the more athletic wings in the defensive matchups. That's,
you know, not something that they related to grapple with in this series
with the Nuggets. But if you went up against the Clippers, like,
you don't look at this roster and say, you know, we have a
Kauai and or a Paul George guy that we feel comfortable with no team does.
You're like, you're not stopping them even when Paul George is bad,
Like he's still Paul George. Still, you know, a Royce O'Neil joe
ingles Like that's just not going to make you feel great in those and so
can your mid level exception get you someone along those lines? Yeah? Ultimately,
for me, it comes down to the stylistic shift that they underwent last
offseason. They made a concerted effort to move away from the more outdated defense
first more lumbering big strategy, by moving away from Ricky Rubio in favor of
Mike Conley, by bringing in Bogdanovich. Now, these moves were all intended
to make Utah more of an offense first team, have more of a potent
offensive upside, and we did not get to see it come to fruition because
of the injuries. They still took a good Denver team to seven games in
the first round. Regardless of what happened in the first four versus the final
three, it was still a seven game series. It's disappointing that they did
blow that three one lead, but this was not the team that Utah was
trying to create, and they still have access to the team they were trying
to create without any significant downward swings expected. So yeah, I mean,
I ultimately like, if you can make a move like trading Mike Conley for
Chris Paul, sure do that. If you can make other upgrades around Mitchell
and Gobet, are fine, but there's no need to blow it up.
No, I'm totally with you there. So I'm just more looking at it
through the lens that you still have to reconcile competing with the Clippers and the
Lakers, Let's say, and so I do think that they need to be
souped up a little bit compared to the roster that they actually have right now.
So let's stick in the Western Conference and move on to the Thunder and
Rockets games seven. So I think that the two obvious questions here are one,
who's going to win this game? And two does the winner have any
chance against the Lakers in the second round. I don't want to necessarily spend
too much time on who's gonna win, just because it's by the time.
I have no idea. I have zero feel for this series, just because
you look at the Rockets. They've been the better team, I think in
net because they're two of their three wins were blowouts. And then I believe
and I should have I should have double checked this, but they held leads
inside two minutes to play of two of their three losses, and so like
you could easily say this series it's not could be over, it should have
been over all right now. I mean, if Westbrook could throw an on
target pass, it probably would be and he is a good passer, and
if he plays with any semblance of control. Then you know, like let's
draw the conclusion here, right, And so it's more interesting to me to
look at, you know, who would be the better matchup for the Lakers
slash what does it mean for the team that loses? And so let's begin
with the Rockets there. I think they're just clearly the better matchup for Los
Angeles because they're going to take the Lakers out of their company its own more,
whereas Oklahoma City is going to sort of like cooks LA into their comfort
zone because they have Steven Adams and that will not only be like fine with
Anthony Davis playing minutes at the five, which he's matchup proof anyway, but
they could get away probably with more dual big minutes there because if you want
to put Anthony Davis on Daniela Gallinari, like that's absolutely fine, and you
know, a Dwight Howard and Steven Adams match up or ja Val McGee Steven
Adams matchup, you know, you give the edge to Adams, but it's
not like you know, it's just not something that's going to scare the Lakers,
and which I think the Lakers are still at their best when Davis is
at the five. So I just feel like if you put Houston in there,
it's just such a different play style because you're the Lakers who do like
to run with Duel Biggs for you know, about half the game and now
all of a sudden, like, I don't think you'd get away with any
minutes of having like Javal McGee, Dwight Howard on the floor with Anthony Davis,
and so that's just make it interesting. And because you have that three
point variants with Houston, where you know, we've seen it hurt them,
but it can also really help them. And the Lakers just don't necessarily have
those high volume three point guys who can knock those shots down consistently, not
more so than ever without Avery Bradley. That that becomes the more interesting series.
To me. There's the you know, pulling out my heartstrings seeing Chris
Paul go up against Lebron after Lebron just went up against Mellow. I totally
want to see it. And I think you could maybe argue that maybe the
Thunder would still have a fighting chance in that series. But I'm curiously what
you think I would say that Houston. While I'm not confident that they're going
to make it out of the first round. I would say that they have
the better chance of really unseating the Lakers than the Thunder would. I'm in
total agreement. I think watching this this Thunder team, it seems like their
floor and their ceiling are like one and the same. The Thunder just the
Thunder, and you know what you're gonna get. It's going to be a
lot of guard heavy lineups. It's going to be a lot of Chris Paul,
who is looking to score more than pass for the most part in the
playoffs, and it's been working for the most part in the fourth quarter,
especially in the fourth quarter, and he has been one of the NBA's best
crunch time players all season long. Him and him and Yokich basically blow away
the field in those in those last minute scenarios. He is slashing and crunch
time in the playoffs, right, I know, it's three games, but
that's all. That's a hell of a split. It's a hell of a
line, and it's a it's a typical Chris Paul playoffs line too. But
yeah, like I don't know, the Thunder would would remain competitive against the
Lakers in each of the four or five games, But I just don't think
they have the ceiling to get past what is a superior outfit. The Rockets
have the high variants results that would at least give them a chance. You
know, sometimes they're gonna miss ninety seven threes in a row. Other times
they're all going to find the net, and they're going to win a game
that is more high scoring than we ever would have expected. The matchups,
as you mentioned, are more intriguing if Houston does win games game seven and
forces the Lakers to deviate from from what they typically do because Mike D'Antoni coached
teams do typically win the style of stick battle and force their opponents to adjust.
I don't think they're as good a team as the Lakers. The Lakers
defense has been fantastic for a while and might be able to slow down James
Harden to some extent. But yeah, it's it's just it would be a
far more interesting series because you never know whether Houston is going to shoot itself
in or out of a game. And that's also what makes Game seven so
compelling in this first round series is that we have no idea, like we
know what they're going to do. We just don't know if the shots are
going to fall, and that's by design, you know, if it's if
it's a bad game, then all of a sudden, we're talking about Mike
D'Antoni going to coach in Indiana or somewhere else, and whether the microball lineups
can work. And if the shots do fall, then they're in the second
round with a puncher's chance against the Lakers, and D'Antoni might be safe and
they might run this back next season with some improvements on the periphery, and
who knows. Like I'm gonna pick the Rockets in Game seven and then to
lose to the Lakers and like, let's say six games maybe, just because
that was my prediction at the start of the playoffs and I haven't seen enough
from the Thunder to convince me that it's wrong, even though with this Houston
team it can go in any direction on any given night. Sunday Sunday Sundays
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use promo code blue Wire. You could almos say the same about the Lakers
though, too, just there's something it's funny that I feel like we've learned
almost nothing about this team over the course of the regular season that we didn't
know coming in. And that's there supporting cast going to hit enough shots to
be viable both when Lebron is on the court or off the court. And
are they going to have that deficit of you know, secondary ball handling.
Is that going to hurt them? That's going to be something to look at
the series. I wouldn't pick would I would pick them over either the Rockets
or the Thunder though right right, and so looking at the Rockets and Thunder,
the fallout should either one of them lose. Actually, I think it's
fairly profound for both teams. So let's say if the Thunder lose. Now
of a sudden, it's like, all right, you guys were like this
cool, quaint, like plucky team that wasn't necessarily supposed to be in the
playoffs, but only because everyone thought you were going to blow it up.
And now it's like, well, do you run it back and try and
improve the roster, resign Gallo and keep going. It's a lot easier to
make that decision, or it's a lot more likely that you do go that
route if you make it into the second round and then put up a fight.
If you lose in the first round. I think that's when we start
to see like, all right, this team was cool, but it's really
not deep enough to punch at the highest level. And they're not going to
get that much deeper over the off season, at least with proven talent,
because they'll they could resign Gallo and maybe have the full non taxpayer MLI to
work with, And that's assuming they're willing to spend on all those things.
And I don't know how much better that makes them. So if they lose
this series, I think it's exponentially more likely that Chris Paul ends up starting
next season on a different team. I have mixed feelings just because this team
wasn't even supposed to be in this position in the first place. I think
we all had the Thunder pegged as a lottery squad going into the season because
we probably undersold Chris Paul's contributions and the impact that he's going to have on
the development of guys like Shay Gil, Just Alexander and Dennis Shrewder. But
the fact that they're here, I don't know if they lose it should change
that much. It ultimately comes down to what the Thunder can do this offseason,
and we just don't know because the market is so topsy turvy, and
the draft is bad, and you know, all those other extenuating circumstances that
they're going to have to deal with. So if they can shop Chris Paul
to the Knicks and get back and intriguing young talent and a draft pick,
then maybe they do that. If they can move him from Mike Conley then
and remain competitive and in the playoff picture, maybe they do that. Maybe
they do run it back, and maybe they go all in for a twenty
twenty one title push by moving one of their four hundred and seventeen first round
draft picks in the next few years for another star. The options for the
Thunder and for general manager Sam Presty are seemingly limitless, and they can skew
in so many different directions that I just I think it all depends more on
what the offseason makes available than what happens in Game seven and their first round
or second round series. That's fair. The market for Chris Paul is what
could really turn it either way is like, maybe the Knicks are there,
but are they going to be willing to offer more than you know they're they
have technically expiring contracts if they guarantee dumb and are you you know as Kevin
Knox and a like A like I don't even like a second round pick,
Like is that the compensation that you're after? Or they want to give up
one of the Dallas picks in a Chris Paul Trey that seems like an overpay
for a team that's not ready to compete. And then you're looking at Chris
Paul and the heat would be fantastic, especially with Groan Dragic entering free agency,
but we know the Heat have designs on twenty twenty one free agency.
And so unless jannat attend to Coupo ends up signing his Supermax this summer,
which he could, he might, He probably will. Whatever you want to
say, I might pull them out of the running. We mentioned the Jazz.
I think one team that should makeup play for him. I don't know
if they would would be Phoenix. Matching salary becomes tough after after you go
from Kelly Wood Brady Junor, who I think is expendable just because of how
well the line up with Kim Johshon at the four played, and now you've
kind of unlocked this Dario sarge at the four stuff. Are you willing to
give up Rubio and that deal? Is that enough of an upgrade because he
played so well for you too. That would be a that might look at
it. But I'm not sure how many teams are going to want to pay
the balance of Paul's deal two years eighty five point six million. I believe
it's at particularly following the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. I think we
overlook one important point too with this conversation and it's just that Chris Paul looks
happy in Oklahoma City, like he is playing inspired basketball. He seems to
have really connected with his teammates. We've seen it in postgame interviews as well,
where he is more than willing to spend his time in front of the
microphone propping up Dennis Struder after he makes a mistake, or supporting the other
young guys around him. We didn't see that in Houston. We didn't see
that at the end of his time in Los Angeles. And if he doesn't
want to leave, I'm not sure that the Thunder would want to deny that
request. And I don't think that enough attention is spent on how he has
felt in Oklahoma City, or at least seems to feel, since we don't
have any dire insight into into his mentality. But you know, just based
on the way he's playing and talking about his guys, the fact that he's
been so fully committed to a team that people didn't believe in, Like,
I think that matters. It definitely matters. But if you're not going to
bring Gallinari back and you're looking at you know, Shrewder and Adam's gonna be
free agents in twenty twenty one, that's gonna he'll want to play for a
team that's more competitive. And I'm not saying Olhomncy would be completely steering out
of it, but I do think he would ultimately prefer to play for a
contender at this stage of his career. I agree with that. But if
he if he tells the front office, like, hey, bring Gallo back
on a one year balloon deal or something like that, like they should do
that they especially if they win Game seven, I will full agreement with you.
The last team I would mention though for him, and I think it
would depend fully on the market for Chris Paul and I have no idea what
that ends up being, because he was he's All NBA this year, like
he's all second team All NBA is where we both had him. But that
money is so much and we just don't know how teams are going to be
feeling after losing the revenue, specifically from not just missed games but not having
fans, and so is it where you know, can you just get save
money like on balance because then Milwaukee can get involved. Where it's like if
you just accept the poop poop ladder of Eric Bledsoe, Iliasova Lopez, who
is a player option to DJ Wilson. Like that gets you there, and
then maybe Milwaukee can throw in like a future protected first round pick, just
because how does Oklahoma say feel about that bloedso deal? But then it's also
like, oh, you're getting Bledsoe, who might kind of keep us competitive
as well, and his deal does stretch longer than Paul's. You can there
are other permutations, but you would have to include George Hill or brook Lopez,
which I think they'd be against. I wouldn't be against including including brook
Lopez because I kind of have a suspicion that his deal is going to age
pretty poorly, which is a thought for another podcast, and definitely not what
looks Splash Mountain is shooting the hell out of the ball inside in Yeah,
so finally, but that would be the team if I could pick the team,
If I could just pick the team, Chris Paul to the Bucks.
It's just so hard to get him there, But I do I do think
maybe I'm ascribing too much value to Game seven, as you kind of so
I'd have said, but if they end up losing, like I find it
hard to believe that Chris Paul is still there. However, I also thought
it was gonna be hard for Chris Paul to finish the season in Oklahoma City
in the first place. And look what happens. Chris Paul is tough to
predict. That's when it ultimately comes down to and Jimmy Butler cut from the
same cloth, where they are both grading and galvanizing. Yeah, I was
gonna say, like, man like, if if Chris Paul and Jimmy Butler
are both playing in Miami, if you are a even relatively unmotivated teammate,
you better get the hell out of there. Then make a pick for Game
seven. I'm not letting you. I'm not letting you get away. My
head says Rockets, my heart says Thunder, which I think is a good
segue into and I picked the Thunder and the official prediction piece that I wrote,
so you could that's the bricy Like, if you're listening to this and
we're trying to keep this big picture, so it's not actually dated. If
the Rockets lose, and this could even be true should they fall to the
Lakers in five games or something, I don't know that they I don't think
that they would. I don't actually think they'll be a bunch of people that
might pick them to win in seven. Still like their situation is precarious.
I would say, particularly again if they lose Game seven, because you're essentially
a tax team next year, because you when you look at what you're going
to pay between Gordon Harden, Westbrook, Covington, and Tucker, you're at
one hundred and nineteen point six million dollars next year. That is going to
be higher than the salary cap. Now. It's going to bring you fairly
close to luxury tax territory within thirteen million, and you'll basically be right there
when you're looking if you keep everyone else on your roster. That's I don't
know how you then improve this team. And I like, I'm still trying
to just struggle with the decision to move to make the trade for Russell Westbrook,
and it's like they unlocked a version of him by going super small.
And I don't know if they would have gotten to this point where they played
without a center, should Chris Paul still been here. But I keep thinking
about it, and I'm like, just imagine this team playing small with Chris
Paul instead of Westbrook. And but look, they have Brook, so I'm
not here to relitigate that trade. But it's what can you do with let's
say the mini mid level exception or even the full mid level exception, assuming
Tilman Frititha is willing to spend it. And like spoiler alert, but the
other thing for me too is like all of a sudden, that Eric Gordon
extension, which just didn't feel great to begin with, Like he has been
bad in the playoffs and like he's provided some value and like resistance defensively,
but now of a sudden, if you can't count on him to shoot,
we average from three, Like you're at this point where it's, oh,
we need to bring Austin Rivers back, and you know Ben McLamore can come
back because you have them on a non guaranteed salary, but you have house.
This team will be missing something. And it's it's regardless of whether they
fall in Game seven or if they just lose to the Lakers again, if
it's an actual fight, then it's like, oh, maybe they're onto something.
Just a little bit of you know, polish on this team, and
it's fine. But like, because the Westbrook fit just feels still so imperfect
just because of the like you just can't count on his efficiency and he's been
turnover prone for much of, if not all, of his career. And
Kevin o'connord a great piece for the ringer where even he's outlining that you know,
James hard historically is not shot well in the playoffs either, particularly in
fourth quarters. Like their needs there's they're almost feels like there's a substantial piece
missing here, not just a small one, but a substantial one. And
it's like, how do you go about addressing this roster? And I know
the popular or trendy sentiment will be, well they need to blow it up,
and it's maybe not trade James Harden, but everybody else. How are
you blowing up this roster? Because let me just throw some numbers at you
here. Russell Westbrook is owed three years and so he picks up his player
option one hundred and thirty two point six million dollars, while the last year
of Eric Gordon's extension is non guaranteed. So I'll just I'll throw it out
the window. Three years and a guaranteed fifty four point seven million dollars.
Robert Covington eminently movable when he's basically two years twenty five million PJ Tucker one
year eight million. It'd be hysterical if they end up signing him to the
extension here. But you know, James Harden's on the same contract as as
Westbrook basically too, so he's owned similar money over the next three years.
You obviously feel a lot better about that. There's no clear path to blowing
up this team for me, because I think two of the players that you
would need to move for that to happen. I don't want to say removable,
but would be tough to move without including sweeteners, which you do not
really have anymore because you gave up so many vis a vis the Westbrook and
also the Robert Comington trades. You know, I'm realizing it, and I
don't know if it's due to my generally sunny disposition or perpetual optimism that I'm
generally team run it back. I just want to see these these these teams
succeed in the manners that they want to, but particularly with the Rockets,
Like you know, this was not the plan from the start. When they
acquired Russell Westbrook, Clint Capella was still on the roster. They were still
going to play a lot of small ball, but this was not the intended
style that they were going to play. It was a mid season on the
fly adjustment where they realize that, hey, we're not getting as much out
of Westbrook as we could. Let's try to maximize him by shifting way further
in this in this direction and then offload Inclint Capella and bringing in Robert Covington.
So this is a makeshift experiment at the moment, and I want to
see it play out over a longer time period where all the players are even
more comfortable with their roles. They have an offseason to add minimum contract veterans
who can shoot around these guys who can playoff on defense. You know,
there are those players who are going to be available and who are going to
want to play for a team where they're afforded a lot of three point opportunities,
like a lot of three point opportunities. So, especially because it is
so hard to blow up this team for all the reasons that you mentioned,
like, I am fully in favor of seeing with this vision fully playing out
and not just as the result of a mid season shift where they were making
do with their personnel and trying to adjust on the fly. I want to
see what they can do with this vision laid out and then moves more geared
towards maximizing that vision. So I actually I agree with you. I'll say
that, but here's the first I think he might be. Here's where I
might diverge. And so let's just look at the who, assuming that they
are going to run it back. The absolute keepers on this roster, Westbrook
Harden, Gordon fully because you can't move him, Roco PJ. Tucker,
Daniel House, Austin Rivers, even even if he declines his player option.
Let's say they bring him back, You're gonna have Ben Maclamore. I'm gonna
include him and the must keeps just given how well he can shoot the ball.
And let's look the I think what people are forgetting too is that they
signed David Nuaba and so they have the team option on him, and he
is like, he give me a really physical defender, and if he's shown
that he can hit like thirty four to thirty six percent of the spot up
threas in the past, ends up being a huge get because he gives you
against certain teams, he gives you defensive optionality across the one through four,
so he's going to be there. And then you know, at this point
it's even like you guys really might need to bring Jeff greenback. So basically,
I'm asking, with what you've seen on this roster, are they a
Mo Harkless or a Paul millsap away from winning the title? Would be my
question, because I think Jake Crowder would be a great fit for this team.
But my guess is, even if the Rockets can tap into the full
mid level exception, my guess is that Jake Crowder costs more than that.
I just feel like he'll be back to Miami on a balloon one or two
year deal and they'll just figure out how to move him later if it's a
long term contract. And maybe I'm wrong, but I just don't Jake Crowder
will be the best of these three. I think I just feel like he'll
he prices himself a little bit out of their range, unless again, get
the free agency market could be wonky. So if you can get a Mo
Harkless, who would be a good fit. If you can get a Paul
millsapp whoy. Also, you know people think of him as a big which
the Rockets aren't playing. But he's also only six seven since the heights have
been adjusted. So are they a Paul Bill sapp as is because he's thirty
five or mohark is away from winning the title? You know, I think
you can throw some other options in there too, Like they could pick up
a Solomon Hill or a Courtney Leer and each one more. You know,
there are those lower level good shooters, But yes, I think they are,
like because this team has that high variance. If they get hot,
they're capable of beating anyone. And I just I still think that if you
have a system that is designed to not wear out Harden as much throughout the
regular season, and if you can rely on Westbrook being effective and carrying a
heavier load than he did for parts of this season, then you're going to
keep Harden fresher for the playoffs. And I do think they have enough pieces.
It's just they have to stay committed to this vision and not tap out
midway through the process because it is a process. Yeah, I would just
still has with that there might be a different coach there, fear, just
based off everything we've heard about D'Antoni. I think they have a lot riding
on Game seven and their performance against the Lakers should they win it. There's
just I'm just not as I understand and kind of agree with your sentiments.
I'm just not as fully there. And I think it has to do with
I've always just been lower on Russell Westbrook as the consensus, and had you
given him a similar roster like this earlier in his career, just around him
with more shooting, like maybe he's more used to it and maybe getting a
training camp helps. So I don't doubt what you're saying. I just for
me, it's just not as cut and dry. But since we are coming
up on the hour mark here, I want to play the are you worried?
Game? Let's start. Let's start with the Bucks and the Heat.
Are you worried about Milwaukee after losing Game one? Not even remotely, And
that will remain true even if they lose Game two. The Heat are not
even remotely even if they lose Game two. Is a little even if no,
no, even if they lose Game two, I'm okay with it.
This Heat team is deep, it's so talented, it's so well coached,
it is able to play it in multiple schemes. And throw opponents off.
Course, it is way more geared towards slowing down Jannisada Kumbo than an Orlando
Magic team missing Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac was But this Bucks team is really
deep and talented too, and I think that over the course of a series
that Jannis is gonna figure some more things out. We're already seeing Chris Middleton
start to hit more shots. Broke Lopez, as we mentioned earlier, is
starting to hit his shots. The pieces are getting healthier. I just I
believe in the talent of this Milwaukee Bucks team, even if it has to
be tested first. I'm just for whatever reason, and I have little analytical
support for this, because this Bucks squad has really struggled since coming to the
Bubble, not just in the playoffs. I just I believe in the talent
here. It It might just be a gut feeling. Getting Eric Letzo back
might help them. I think if there's a reason for concern, it's that
bam Adebayo wasn't even really the primary defender on Jannis, and the Heat were
throwing Jay Crowder, Jimmy Butler, Andre Goodala at him and it sort of
worked. It wasn't just you know, the honesty's shoot better than four of
twelve from the foul, and like that absolutely needs to happen. But they
limited his looks at the rim and they all like the ball was just out
of his hands more often. I think, you know you mentioned Milwaukee's depth.
I almost feel like it betrays them because like Mike Bundle does with Budenholzer
as coach, she needs to stop like this is not you know, like
this is not. Jannis played like almost thirty seven minutes, was removed because
of foul trouble in the first half of three fouls, and I I was
less against him, like pulling Yannis when he had the three thousand a lot
of other people because everyone's sentiment was that doesn't mean you're gonna get your fourth
and like you could trust your best player to be smart in that situation,
but then just play him the entire second half at that point up, I'm
I don't know like if if they're going to make the necessary adjustments to go
after the heat, and like I do think this is the time where like
you really have to I know a lot of people focused on jan It's not
defending Jimmy Butler on the last possession. Yeah, defender, and that's not
how their system works at all. Right, He's that's your criticism. Then
actually watch a game statistically too, he's spent most of the time on the
number three option this year, just because, like you said, he's the
big man defender and there he's gonna be better as the as the helper in
those situations anyway, So that's not even the big thing. It's is he
going to be Like you know, Kyle Korver. I get why he's there
because you need to spacing, but like you know, Kyle Corver was also
I think he was second or no, he was fourth in shot attempts.
Like Kyle Corver was just on the court. It was only for almost seventeen
minutes, and it felt like too long. He tries on defense, but
he's a liability there and like he didn't shoot super well, Like three of
seven from the arc is valuable, but four of nine from the floor.
Overall, you probably need more out of George Hill. Marvin Williams gave you
big minutes. They have so many options that I almost feel like it might
be disingenuous to what they actually need to do, and that's throw out your
best five, and if you think that that includes George Hill instead of Eric
Bledsoe, I'm absolutely fine with that. Just ride them like this is not
the time to, you know, play it conservative with your rotation. So
I'm not actually worried about them. But the Heat are like really a threat
here. Gorn Dragic is sleeping in fireproof pa jamas right now. They're always
gonna find shooting even if they removed Milwaukee neutralized Duncan Robinson and like, the
Heat just still found shooting because they have Tyler hero Jay Crowder is going to
hit his threes three Butler apparently hits his threes now and takes them a little
bit more deliberately. So I do think they're worthwhile match. I just don't
think the degree like how thoroughly it feels like Milwaukee lost Game one and whatever
happens in Game two, I just don't feel like that's how big of a
threat that the Heat actually are. And so I would still pick Milwaukee to
come out of the series. I think I have them in six if you
need to push that to seven for seeing whatever we have seen. But if
they lose Game two or if they end up losing this series and I'm talking
Milwaukee, like all hell is going to break loose. I don't expect your
honest to request a trade at that point. He might even still sign his
Supermax there, but like, I feel a lot less confident about his future
Milwaukee beyond next season if they don't win this series. If for no other
reason than avoiding all of the honest trade talk and speculation, I just I
need them to win this series. But yeah, it's a you know,
the heat. The heat made a lot of tough shots in Game one,
and you have to make a lot of tough shots to beat this Milwaukee defense,
because yeah, if you execute well, then you're still getting a contested
shot. Maybe it's from the spot you wanted, but it's still going to
be pretty heavily contested. And yeah, I just I think that if they
do go down O two in this series, which is a distinct possibility,
that might be what forces Budenholzer to finally make the changes to his playoff rotation
that he resisted for so long with the Atlanta Hawks and is now resisting for
so long with the Bucks. So if anything like it could be good for
their long term outlook. If they do lose Game two, you would think,
but I don't trust him that much. Yeah, I don't either.
I don't either. He's a fantastic coach who needs someone to be like,
hey, hey, Mike, like, let's let's change it up a little
bit. Here are you worried about the Toronto Raptors after they fall behind two
out of the Boston Celtics on the on the like one to ten scale of
worry, with ten being like way worried, I'm probably at about a six.
And it's more of a testament to how good Boston is than anything Toronto
is doing wrong. They're gonna eventually hit more shots, you know. Fred
van Vliet has struggled with his with his touch in this second round series.
We've seen Pascal Siakam be a bit overwhelmed by all the bodies that are being
thrown at him. But this this Celtics team is excellent and that's what they
do make opponents feel that that pressure from all levels, from everywhere. Jason
Tatum has fully ascended into this superstar level. Jaylen Brown is fantastic. Kemba
Walker is starting to feel it, even if his knee is bothering him a
little bit still. So yeah, I'm I'm a little worried about the Raptors.
I'm not panicking because this team has such good coaching and so many good
pieces and so much usable depth. But they definitely they're They're allowed to start
feeling a little concerned. They in no way need to hit the red panic
button, but they can have removed the glass cover if they feel it's necessary.
Yeah, the well, I think what you could probably point to as
almost encouraging is that they're eight of thirty four through three through two games on
wide open threes, and that's twenty three point five percent. They will or
should shoot better than that. But where I think it really does actually get
a little bit unsettling as you look at the length and size of having Jason
Tatum, Jalen Brown, and Marcus Smart and then that could really gum up
with fred Van Fleet and Kyle Lowry are going to do best, and that
puts so much more pressure on Pascal Siakam to create. And while he still
has that ceiling as the primary creator, he's just not there yet. And
so Boston's defense, I don't think I gave him enough credit for how they
can handle the individual matchups here. That being said, Toronto probably isn't counting
on Marcus mart to go absolutely bonkers from three against him. He give five
three pointers in Game two in a span of three minutes in the fourth quarter,
Like, that's just not something that one of which was ann one.
Yes, so like that stuff, maybe it'll normalize. Perhaps it's because we're
dealing with small sample sizes. There's a chance that it doesn't. And if
Marcus Saul is not in foul trouble in Game two, like maybe the outcome
is different there. So I'm not in full blown panic mode yet. I
am wondering if you know, I'm sure Nick Nurse will explore every possibility because
if anything, what you mentioned about Bud is like what Nick Nurse Bloch actually
do is he's going to use the two O defics as an excuse to get
weird or go off the grain. And you know, are we gonna see
like more Siakam at the five with og at the four? Is that something
that like we might get a little bit more of and in these subsequent games.
I picked Toronto to win this series in seven. I won't back off
of it. I think you know, there's high variants to the shots that
Boston is taking but at the same time, with the way that jam Jam
Brown Jason Tayas were able to get to the rim because of the pressure that
they're putting on him on the perimeter, like that's also making me like a
little bit uneasy with my initial prediction. I think my big lesson so far
is that Boston is better suited to beat Toronto than I really gave them credit
for. So hats off to the Celtics and Kemba Walker is just wow,
Like Kemba Walker's just honestly wow. At the same time, I'm not there
to hit the panic button on Toronto yet. And look, you could say,
well, obviously they lose Game three, like that's when you go there,
you're down three zero, But they're they're players, while Boston's defense can
just be like pesky for what Toronto's try to do, you know, if
they're going to cut off transition opportunities, if they're not going to allow and
then you're in this point we have to rely on Lowry and Siakamm and Fleet
to put pressure on the room in the half court, which isn't really their
games to begin with, and then against Boston's defense specifically, it might not
fly. I still just expect those guys are going to shoot better. I
mean, Kyle Lowry is two of twelve from three through two games. That's
six point three eight point three percent. I think I should just look at
the eight point three percent, and I'm as I decided before they miss so
many their wide open threes, and so that stuff to me, for Toronto
might normalize. It's the question of, like, then what happens at the
other end, Like is Boston going to come down a little bit? I
honestly don't know. I'd expect Mark is smart too, but Jason Tatum,
you know, like he's really just he's adapted to what Toronto's defense is doing
to him. And I'm not necessarily sure that that goes away. This still
feels like a series that's not going to be you know, two to Oh
you suggest like, oh, maybe this ends in five somehow or I still
feel like this is one that's that's going to go the distances. So I'm
not pat I'd be more concerned. I'll frame it this way. I'm more
concerned about Milwaukee against Miami than I am Toronto against Boston. Yeah, the
biggest tidbit of information that pushes me to change. My prediction is that Boston
actually won a playoff game that was officiated by Tony Brothers, which historically just
like doesn't happen. They actually managed to shoot thirty eight free throws in Game
two with Tony Brothers as the leader of free which again just doesn't happen historically
for the Celtics. So it might just be their time. But yeah,
I'm sticking with my original prediction of Raptors in in six or seven. I'm
probably leaning more towards the seven at this point because this Boston team is really
good. Look at Raptors win in six. Oh my god, another fource
just gonna rattle off another four straight victories after falling down to very well cook
they very well could. I am more worried about Toronto than Milwaukee, again,
more because of the Celtics than anything else. Also, but as we're
acording this to Zip is worse than one ZIP that as well. That's a
fair point. But yeah, it's just I just expect some regression in different
directions now. As good as Boston's defense is, Toronto has a bunch of
shot makers and can get offense from so many places that I just don't expect
them to continue shooting thirty eight point five percent from the field and twenty six
point three percent from three point range. And conversely, I don't expect Boston
to continue to hit forty one point six percent of its threes against a really
good Toronto defense. So the game two was so close. It could have
gone either way. Maybe it could have gone a different way, had you
know Nick Nurse gotten his way on the Marcus Smart foul slash out of balance
play on Pascal Siakam's drive. But yeah, I just I look at those
numbers. I look at the way these teams play, and I'm not ready
to throw in the towel for Toronto whatsoever? Do you have anything else that
you need to get off your chest for our listeners? Not really, that'll
do it for us. Thank you everyone for listening. As always, Please
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We kind of sort of a little bit promise until next time. Though.
We leave you with the shout out to the one, the only, Robert
Williams the third, just just because that was Adams, one of the favorite
players that during the playoffs, and don't think he's been as much of a
factors as Adam was hoping you would be, So shout out to time word.
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