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Speaker 3: This is the Baseline discussing the hot button topics.
Speaker 1: Of the NBA.
Speaker 3: Welcome everybody here, Tune to the Baseline Cali Warrenshaw discussing
Speaker 3: the hot button topics of the NBA And we are
Speaker 3: finally here.
Speaker 1: The table is set. NBA Finals is.
Speaker 3: Now upon us and it will be Indiana Pacers taking
Speaker 3: on the Oklahoma City Thunder. And I am sure the
Speaker 3: NBA pundits those who are about the big ratings when
Speaker 3: it comes to watching NBA Playoff Basketball, NBA Finals, basketball
Speaker 3: sports entertainment are just shrugging their shoulders and are just
Speaker 3: kind of like, WTF. But you know what, Sean, I
Speaker 3: we here for it. And I'm pretty sure that if
Speaker 3: you were watching the whole NBA Playoffs run for both
Speaker 3: of these seams, respectively, you would be here for it
Speaker 3: as well too. And it's only apropos if we come
Speaker 3: to this point of the of the NBA season, it's
Speaker 3: culminated that it arguably would be the two best playing
Speaker 3: teams that are going into the NBA Finals, and not
Speaker 3: simply because of the names.
Speaker 1: So let me go and rot the red carpet. I'm
Speaker 1: my right hand man.
Speaker 3: Www, dots that that net big OUNIPNC, My man ister
Speaker 3: wone shar ripping out of Fort Laidale, Florida.
Speaker 1: What's good? My brother?
Speaker 3: That smirk on your face is telling me that you
Speaker 3: about about it. So I'm supposing that we're gonna feel
Speaker 3: good about our discussion in previewing the NBA Finals.
Speaker 2: I just love basketball, and I love the surprises that
Speaker 2: this NBA season has has given us and bestowed upon us.
Speaker 2: For what I'm calling the unexpected NBA Finals and and
Speaker 2: that's not to be dismissive in any way. I just think,
Speaker 2: you know, the betting odds makers did not have Indiana
Speaker 2: and Okay see as your NBA finalists. Like just there's
Speaker 2: just it just didn't happen. So the internet pacers have
Speaker 2: gone on to you know, really prove me wrong, you know,
Speaker 2: in a variety of ways over the course of the season.
Speaker 2: And it's fun. Like I'm excited about, you know, the
Speaker 2: opportunities here. So uh, I just listen, I'm just excited
Speaker 2: to talk basketball, the NBA Finals or upon us. It's
Speaker 2: been a long, long and very interesting and peculiar season,
Speaker 2: and I think there's this apropos, if you will, that
Speaker 2: we're getting something that we didn't expect as the NBA
Speaker 2: Finals here in the jew.
Speaker 3: Look, you're my boy, right, We've been doing this for
Speaker 3: quite some time. And I don't want to be labor
Speaker 3: our conversation because I do want the attention to be
Speaker 3: on the things that we are looking forward to with
Speaker 3: regards to this matchup, which I really think is about
Speaker 3: as intriguing a matchup as you will probably get over
Speaker 3: the last five years. As far as the dynamics of
Speaker 3: what these two teams bring to the table. But I
Speaker 3: know that you've been saying, hey, you know, they proved
Speaker 3: me wrong. Look, you just weren't a believer in the
Speaker 3: Indiana Pacers and the makeup of this team in comparison
Speaker 3: to what we essentially have said were among the better teams.
Speaker 3: But what I am appreciating about what the NBA has
Speaker 3: done through the course of this year and what we're
Speaker 3: actually seeing with the implementation and the way that things
Speaker 3: have changed and evolved.
Speaker 1: They want there too.
Speaker 3: They want parody, right, And while a lot of people
Speaker 3: are pulling the idea of it, this is why you
Speaker 3: want the parody, and you want the parody kind of
Speaker 3: as a precursor. You want it, you know, reflective in
Speaker 3: what we're seeing as you're going through that process of
Speaker 3: watching an NBA season. I don't think you would have
Speaker 3: just instantly said the Indiana Pacers given what they showed
Speaker 3: us at the beginning of the season to what they
Speaker 3: look like at the end of the season with minimal changes.
Speaker 3: It was more of like it was a wake up call.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: So I'm not gonna sit there and let you just
Speaker 3: basically be like yo, Shaw, you know, yeah, that's right,
Speaker 3: you were completely off on it, or whatever the case
Speaker 3: may be. They had a lot of proving to do right,
Speaker 3: because I think a lot of people had a right
Speaker 3: to feel like this was kind of an overrated team
Speaker 3: or maybe they overachieved because they just did not come
Speaker 3: out looking like the team that surprised this last year.
Speaker 3: And it's not like we haven't seen that before. Now,
Speaker 3: with all that being said, we were kind of questioning
Speaker 3: whether or not, okaysee, was that team right because they
Speaker 3: underachieved last year. Right, people didn't buy into them being
Speaker 3: that number one seed. They come out to Gate, they're
Speaker 3: among the best teams going, and they hit a stump
Speaker 3: in a road a couple of times when they dealt
Speaker 3: with the Cleveland Cavaliers. People believed that the Cleveland Cavaliers
Speaker 3: were the best team.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: When we saw that matchup earlier this year and we
Speaker 3: start the Cleveland Cavaliers, it's basically take them to the
Speaker 3: tool shed at the land and then OKAC showed us
Speaker 3: their resiliency. They showed us that they learned from their mistakes,
Speaker 3: they learned from the losses that they took. They came
Speaker 3: back and they just basically put a spanking on Cleveland,
Speaker 3: and then we said to ourselves, oh wow, Now the
Speaker 3: question is, are the Boss and Celtics, you know, in
Speaker 3: a position where they can actually repeat because it just
Speaker 3: looks like, if Okac is that kind of team, are
Speaker 3: the Celtics really about being that type of team to
Speaker 3: defend their championship?
Speaker 1: So there were so.
Speaker 3: Many storylines going on, Shaw and this is what I
Speaker 3: love that we have gotten it to this point where
Speaker 3: we can truly say, you know what, when it was
Speaker 3: all said and done, when we wipe all of this
Speaker 3: down and you take off all the injuries and all
Speaker 3: the excuses. The Pacers were one of the hottest teams
Speaker 3: in the second half of the season, and they carried
Speaker 3: it into the playoffs and they won the games that
Speaker 3: mattered the most to get them to this point, the
Speaker 3: Oklahoma City Thunder. For them to be as viable as
Speaker 3: a finals participant, they had to go through a roadblock,
Speaker 3: and that roadblock was one of the former champions into
Speaker 3: Denver Nuggets. I think that series proved to us that
Speaker 3: if they go out and do what they were put
Speaker 3: together to do, they would be one of the best
Speaker 3: teams in the NBA and would be one of the
Speaker 3: participants in the NBA Finals.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he said a lot. And I'll actually want to
Speaker 2: throw it back to the aspect of these two teams
Speaker 2: doing what they needed to do Keith Smith front of
Speaker 2: the show, and a lot of I think of the
Speaker 2: smarter NBA podcasts and ones that are not just kind
Speaker 2: of like clickbaitio case to b. They've latched onto this
Speaker 2: tweet by Keith Smith where he indicated that this is
Speaker 2: going to be the first NBA Finals in the luxury
Speaker 2: tax era, that both teams were not luxury tax players.
Speaker 2: So this is smart team building, rafting, coaching, player development,
Speaker 2: all of the things, and none of these teams and
Speaker 2: it's not they won't be this way forever, but as
Speaker 2: of this NBA Finals, none of these teams, neither of
Speaker 2: these two teams are luxury tax players. That is amazing,
Speaker 2: and that is amazing, and I think you know, okay,
Speaker 2: see and Indiana, they they made really smart trades obviously, Okay,
Speaker 2: see getting SGA in Paul George trade. There's the Paul
Speaker 2: George angle down a lot of NBA twitter is hanging
Speaker 2: on to as well too. These are two or two
Speaker 2: former Paul George teams as well. But then the Halliburton
Speaker 2: for Sabona trade you know, from Indiana, then they get
Speaker 2: Siakam the next year later, or what are the case
Speaker 2: they be? Like really well constructed teams who deserve to
Speaker 2: be here. And I'm not taking anything away from them
Speaker 2: anymore at all in any aspector or or any way
Speaker 2: for them because I love I love basketball. I love
Speaker 2: that these two teams represent basketball. And while it's not
Speaker 2: the air quot sexiest finals in terms of market size
Speaker 2: or what are the cases be, these are the two
Speaker 2: best teams standing. And that's what you will.
Speaker 3: Listen for all these people out there that love, you know,
Speaker 3: to inject you know, quote unquote the the trash talking
Speaker 3: aspect of what we what we do and what I'm
Speaker 3: what I'm talking about is you look at these teams
Speaker 3: and they don't exhibit quote unquote the star power that
Speaker 3: I think people are trying, you know, to elevate when
Speaker 3: we attach ourselves to the NBA and the marketability of
Speaker 3: the NBA.
Speaker 1: But look at these two teams.
Speaker 3: Shaw, these are thoroughbreds, right The Oklahoma City Thunder have
Speaker 3: proven that they can run with any team if they
Speaker 3: want to. Notice I said, if they want to. But
Speaker 3: they don't have to. They believe that they're good enough
Speaker 3: that if you want to go half court, we can
Speaker 3: half court you. You want to go all out track meet,
Speaker 3: we can run with you. And we'll run with you
Speaker 3: fifteen deep if we have to write. They're players that
Speaker 3: showed up in this Western Conference Finals that you probably
Speaker 3: have not heard their names up until they got into
Speaker 3: the playoffs and their dagonault and you know, you can
Speaker 3: clearly tell that he's elevated himself as a coach and
Speaker 3: when he is implementing and deploying the roster and what
Speaker 3: he needs his guys to go out and do, and
Speaker 3: they're going out and doing it. The caseon Wallace's the
Speaker 3: Kendrick Williams. These dudes, you don't hear them all throughout
Speaker 3: the but he's played them. He's played them if you
Speaker 3: were paying attention to them, and they found minutes. He
Speaker 3: found minutes for them critical situations where it was needed,
Speaker 3: not about just giving guys a blow, not out of
Speaker 3: necessity or desperation, but out of the strategic aspect of
Speaker 3: what the OKC thunder needed to do for them to
Speaker 3: win a game or win a series. And that to me,
Speaker 3: it speaks bothers. And I give the same credit to
Speaker 3: Rick Carlisle when he felt like a matchup was not
Speaker 3: in his favor, even if he had marginally playable guys,
Speaker 3: he still put them out there with confidence that they
Speaker 3: are doing something that is going to benefit them when
Speaker 3: it came down to closing out that series against the
Speaker 3: New York Knicks, And that, to me is the kind
Speaker 3: of things you want to see coming into an NBA Finals.
Speaker 3: Were all of these components that you're measuring up and
Speaker 3: trying to say who has the advantage of this that?
Speaker 3: And the third if it's not being shown or implemented
Speaker 3: any course through their run, it will always be a
Speaker 3: question mark and will always probably be against them if
Speaker 3: it's not being displayed at some point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's another great point. These are also
Speaker 2: the two deepest teams left and that's important, and that's
Speaker 2: I think on purpose, right, These coaches went deep into
Speaker 2: their bench. They went deep into their bench all season long.
Speaker 2: They and in some cases they were forced. You know,
Speaker 2: Check and Hertenstein all missed injuries, you know, various times
Speaker 2: things J. J. Williams this some time as well to
Speaker 2: both J. Williams actually you know in O ca see
Speaker 2: Nate Smith missed time, them hard miss time. So I
Speaker 2: think they, the Pacers and the thunder understood the need
Speaker 2: for a deep bench, but ultimately that allowed them to
Speaker 2: be trustworthy to those guys eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve.
Speaker 2: You know, Thomas Ryant three threes, and you know in
Speaker 2: the close out game of Game six, you know, basically
Speaker 2: getting out of the doul drums of the Miami bench
Speaker 2: where he just wasn't getting any run and his big
Speaker 2: threes and thats since I kind of sent the tide,
Speaker 2: especially in that first half. Like listen, I respect the
Speaker 2: roster construction, I respect the organizations that are in this
Speaker 2: NBA Finals, and I think I'll pick it back off
Speaker 2: of you what you said one more time. You know,
Speaker 2: be damned what any of all dependents are saying. Be
Speaker 2: damned what NBA fans are saying, like, Oh, this is
Speaker 2: gonna be a boring finals. I'm not gonna watch, cool,
Speaker 2: don't watch. I think you're gonna miss out on some
Speaker 2: great basketball. But if that's your choice because you don't
Speaker 2: have the air quote mar Key guys or names that
Speaker 2: you're used to, this is exactly what the NBA wanted.
Speaker 2: They wanted the aspect of trying to bring in new
Speaker 2: blood and now having these small and mid market teams
Speaker 2: in the NBA Finals is an amazing case. VB. Is
Speaker 2: he overrated at this point? What more can you say?
Speaker 2: He's made it to the NBA Finals with the team
Speaker 2: that is extremely well constructed, but it's definitely built in
Speaker 2: his image and his likeness and terms of his leadership
Speaker 2: and getting getting the pace up and down.
Speaker 3: Absolutely Golly Warren Show based on NBA podcast our NBA
Speaker 3: Finals preview. I mean we were just right out the gate.
Speaker 3: We were just all about talking about it, right, you know,
Speaker 3: forget a plug.
Speaker 1: You people know who we are. You know what we've
Speaker 1: been doing.
Speaker 3: We've been doing it all season long and for all
Speaker 3: twelve plus years, right like, we've been doing this, right,
Speaker 3: So you know where to find is, you know where
Speaker 3: to catch is.
Speaker 1: One thing.
Speaker 3: And then you know, obviously we're gonna you know, drop
Speaker 3: it to a quick break and then we'll get into
Speaker 3: the into the gist of you know where where we
Speaker 3: think the keys to the game is, you know, to
Speaker 3: who might actually have an advantage, may have a disadvantage,
Speaker 3: and then ultimately we'll you know, give our picks one
Speaker 3: thing that I think I'm really really really looking forward to.
Speaker 3: What is intrigued me about this series is the way
Speaker 3: that both of these teams are manufacturing their points. Okay,
Speaker 3: let right now, like a lot of the really high ended,
Speaker 3: well respected analysts are looking at this as an offensive
Speaker 3: versus defensive matchup right like, because the Indiana Pacers are
Speaker 3: the kind of team that can run up one hundred
Speaker 3: and thirty points. But I want people to really understand
Speaker 3: the Oklahoma City Thunder as equally as well too. We're
Speaker 3: are scoring north of one hundred and twenty something points,
Speaker 3: and a lot of it comes down to what they're
Speaker 3: forcing the other teams to not be able to do.
Speaker 3: And what we saw in this last series with the
Speaker 3: Indiana Pacers is they are finding ways for them to hit.
Speaker 1: Those quote quote unquote.
Speaker 3: Those quotas right of them hitting those one hundred and
Speaker 3: twenty points, but they're doing it at the expense of
Speaker 3: the opposition's mistakes, which is making them as equally a
Speaker 3: formidable team as the Oklahoma City Thunder. I think what
Speaker 3: it does now come down to is are the Pacers
Speaker 3: able to consistently do that to win four of seven games?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 3: Because I don't think there'll ever be a question about
Speaker 3: what OKC is capable of doing. They have been doing this,
Speaker 3: and they do it with consistency. Now, there'll be times
Speaker 3: where you know, somebody cracks the Da Vinci code on
Speaker 3: the OKC Thunder defense, and there are times where the
Speaker 3: OKAC Thunder offensively get too kind of hung up on
Speaker 3: their own. But I want to see can the Indiana
Speaker 3: Pacers as equally reflect that same level of defensive intensity
Speaker 3: on a team that equals them when you look at
Speaker 3: the matchups and the way that they're situated and how
Speaker 3: these these offenses are executed, because to me, that could
Speaker 3: very much be a toss up, and then it really
Speaker 3: comes down to basketball IQ execution and better shot selection
Speaker 3: and decision making, which I will say I question the
Speaker 3: Indiana Pacers a lot more than I probably do the
Speaker 3: Oklahoma City Thunder. But I'm gonna leave that part for
Speaker 3: you try to kind of kind of weigh in and
Speaker 3: chime in on, because through there we'll segue into where
Speaker 3: we see these X factors and the matchups and who
Speaker 3: probably has the advantage over who when it comes to
Speaker 3: the total roster, and then giving our picks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean I think, you know, it's a
Speaker 2: great it's a great opportunity for us to understand the
Speaker 2: machinations of all of these teams. So both these teams
Speaker 2: twelve and four, you know, getting into and I think
Speaker 2: the twelve and four are looked very different obviously in
Speaker 2: terms of how we got here. Okay, see, as you
Speaker 2: said before and as we've said, forged by fire with
Speaker 2: the Denver Nuggets in that series, while the Pacers more
Speaker 2: or less have been able to i'd say truly dominate
Speaker 2: almost every one of their matchup six games, very close
Speaker 2: six games, and the game will probably turn that series
Speaker 2: around for them ultimately when the New York series or whatever.
Speaker 2: But you know, they they haven't been they haven't faced
Speaker 2: elimination yet, right, And I think you know that's that's
Speaker 2: just a different situation than than Oka. See. But again,
Speaker 2: we still get here with twelve and four records, both
Speaker 2: teams who are offensively capable, defensively capable. In the end,
Speaker 2: I really turned up to the defense on this next
Speaker 2: team and it's forced a lot of turnovers. And that's
Speaker 2: something that I think when when we come back to
Speaker 2: the break, something that will be a great part of
Speaker 2: the conversation to kind of figure out, you know, who's
Speaker 2: more reliance on their defense to turn into offense or
Speaker 2: who should be ultimately and who will be able to
Speaker 2: just kind of be able to sustain their normal offense, right,
Speaker 2: you know, can they run the half court offense and
Speaker 2: execute in a way that will be efficient enough in
Speaker 2: essence to get w's in this series? So cannot wait
Speaker 2: dive into that conversation. But again, two teams twelve and four,
Speaker 2: very different, different different looks, but same results here NBA Finalists.
Speaker 3: Your tune to the baseline Cali warn't Shaw discussing the
Speaker 3: hot button topics of the NBA are special edition of
Speaker 3: the Baseline NBA Finals Preview Indiana Pass Oklahoma City Thunder
Speaker 3: coming up, Sean, I will break down some of those
Speaker 3: nuances where the advantages play for other team and then
Speaker 3: ultimately we got to pick a winner, right, so you
Speaker 3: don't want to miss it here on the Baseline. We're back,
Speaker 3: Cali Warrenshaw based on NBA podcast NBA Finals Preview Oklahoma
Speaker 3: City Thunder, Indiana Pacers, and just before we hit our Breakshaw,
Speaker 3: you alluded to one of the things that I think
Speaker 3: was really important is which team is gonna have to
Speaker 3: heavily rely on their defense to.
Speaker 1: Allow them more.
Speaker 3: Opportunities for shots, allow them to force the other team
Speaker 3: to really appreciate the amount of shot attempts that they
Speaker 3: will have to be efficient in order to maintain and hang.
Speaker 3: And I think it's a really great way to kind
Speaker 3: of look into you know, have the Indiana Pacers caught up?
Speaker 3: We can safely say throughout the course of the run
Speaker 3: for the Oklahoma City Thunder, their defense really and I'm
Speaker 3: sure that there will be, you know, metrics that will
Speaker 3: speak to it on historical levels. I don't want to
Speaker 3: go as far as to say they were among they
Speaker 3: are the greatest defense that's ever played. I'm not really
Speaker 3: buying that because I think when you look at who
Speaker 3: you're playing against, the level of the competition that you're
Speaker 3: playing against, I think that speaks volumes.
Speaker 1: I will say that they are definitely one of.
Speaker 3: The most effective defensive teams that we have seen in
Speaker 3: recent history, with the way that all of them have
Speaker 3: had an intricate part in being able to affect those numbers.
Speaker 3: The Oklahoma City Thunder, without question, to me, would be
Speaker 3: the team that offers the most consistency to come out
Speaker 3: and play defensive, intense basketball for forty eight minutes through
Speaker 3: and through, and even though the results may not speak
Speaker 3: to saying, Okay, you're holding a team to seventy points
Speaker 3: eighty points, it's the quality of shot and the amount
Speaker 3: of opportunities they're giving themselves in order for them to
Speaker 3: beat the other team that I think resonates with me.
Speaker 3: And it's something that I wonder this series that we
Speaker 3: saw with the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks.
Speaker 3: While the Indiana Pacers definitely improved as far as what
Speaker 3: they showed excuse me, defensively, I wonder if whether or
Speaker 3: not a lot of it as well too, just came
Speaker 3: down to who they were playing against and the fact
Speaker 3: that they weren't a tentative to details in not making
Speaker 3: themselves turn the ball over. So I wonder, now with
Speaker 3: this Oklahoma City Thunder team, do they nullify that aspect
Speaker 3: with the Pacers.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I'll throw a couple of numbers at you.
Speaker 2: These are, you know, two obviously the two last teams
Speaker 2: in the NBA, and the numbers are going to skew
Speaker 2: towards them because of just kind of like where they're at.
Speaker 2: But Oklahoma City really relies on defense and defense and
Speaker 2: essence deternament the offense, as I was saying before the break,
Speaker 2: so roughly twenty four points per game in the playoffs
Speaker 2: are they're getting based off of turnovers? Like they're scoring
Speaker 2: those points off of turnovers twenty four of those points.
Speaker 2: Indiana conversely getting nineteen points off off of turnovers. So
Speaker 2: what I'm interested to see here is that the fast
Speaker 2: breaking style of Indiana, while their pace, hasn't necessarily reflected
Speaker 2: everything that we think to be true about them, because
Speaker 2: right now they're at a pace off only ninety nine
Speaker 2: throughout the course of the playoffs. Okay, see he's actually
Speaker 2: playing at a faster pace in the playoffs and roughly
Speaker 2: like one hundred point one. But in theory, Indiana is
Speaker 2: running up and down. Will that negate the opportunities for
Speaker 2: okac in as sin As to swipe, to strip, you know,
Speaker 2: to really stand guys up if you will, to double
Speaker 2: and you know, come from the weak side and strip
Speaker 2: a miles Turner if you think he's going to go
Speaker 2: over that right shoulder or whatever the case may be.
Speaker 2: That's something I think that the Indiana Pacers and Carli
Speaker 2: Will will look at heavily. Do they really need to
Speaker 2: turn it up right? But sometimes you can play too fast,
Speaker 2: and playing too fast and also obviously lead to turnovers,
Speaker 2: so they won't be live ball turnovers maybe in essence,
Speaker 2: which Okaye obviously rely thries off of as well. But
Speaker 2: are they throwing the bounds, throwing the ball out of
Speaker 2: bound so to speak, and now all of a sudden
Speaker 2: not getting as many possessions. That's something that I think
Speaker 2: will be a really really de dremning factor into how
Speaker 2: the playoffs or this finals will actually finish out. Conversly,
Speaker 2: though Indiana has been able to pick things up, and
Speaker 2: I think with them Hart and Nie Smith playing as
Speaker 2: well as they are at the point of attack, are
Speaker 2: they going to be able to force SGA to kind
Speaker 2: of give up the ball right and then will guys
Speaker 2: be available in the passing lanes. This is a different
Speaker 2: series from Miles Turner, you know, I don't know if
Speaker 2: if it's more of the heart and sign or if
Speaker 2: he's going to be more on chet and then also
Speaker 2: Okay See likes to play you know, kind of like
Speaker 2: Chet out the five sometimes and then you know, allow
Speaker 2: them to have more spacing, you know, with some of
Speaker 2: those smaller guys because they just they're not worried about
Speaker 2: giving up things defensively. That's where I'm just, I'm just
Speaker 2: I'm so intrigued at the cross matching of what Indiana
Speaker 2: is going to do defensively here to see if they
Speaker 2: can still get a leg up in the defense that
Speaker 2: I think has been much improved from where they were
Speaker 2: in December and January. Like, this is a much different
Speaker 2: team than they or you know, five months ago now,
Speaker 2: and will that be able to turn okay, see over
Speaker 2: and turn fast rate points in the favor of the
Speaker 2: Indiana Pacers.
Speaker 3: I want to be positive about the Indiana Pacers, So
Speaker 3: I apologize to you Shaw and to anybody who's probably
Speaker 3: gonna be listening to this and thinking I'm like hating
Speaker 3: on the Pacers when I say this, Okay, I'm concerned
Speaker 3: that the matchup with the Indiana Pacers and the New
Speaker 3: York Knicks will give the Pacers this foolish idea that
Speaker 3: they can go out and defensively execute the way that
Speaker 3: they did with Jalen Brunson and the rest of those guys.
Speaker 3: I don't think you can get away with that with
Speaker 3: this version of what we see with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Now,
Speaker 3: I will say this, if Nemhart can hang with SGA
Speaker 3: and if whether or not Nie Smith is going to
Speaker 3: have the responsibility of handling SGA more or maybe handling
Speaker 3: Williams more, because I see that being more of a
Speaker 3: matchup where athleticism plays into Nie Smith kind of bodying
Speaker 3: up Williams a little bit more and forcing Williams to
Speaker 3: probably be more aggressive, maybe take more shots. Only if
Speaker 3: Nemhart can hang with SGA. And this is why it's
Speaker 3: such an intriguing matchup Shaw. The way that SGA plays
Speaker 3: his ball handling skills are so dynamically different than Jalen Brunson's.
Speaker 3: Shade gillis Alexander. Everyone is he. He's the free throw
Speaker 3: merchant and all that other stuff. I want people to
Speaker 3: really understand and pay attention. He is the kind of
Speaker 3: guy who is much more decisive about going to where
Speaker 3: he wants to go in a north south fashion that
Speaker 3: that will put Nemhart and whoever is going to be
Speaker 3: on him on their heels. And if the Oklahoma City
Speaker 3: Thunder is moving like they are, Hartenstein, home Grin all
Speaker 3: those guys, that means that the Pacers have to be attentive.
Speaker 3: I mean to the last person moving and cutting, because
Speaker 3: when SGA gets inside, there is not a lot of
Speaker 3: room for ERA. It's not a question of you know,
Speaker 3: baiting and getting fouls. It's knowing that if SGA has
Speaker 3: gotten past who you have as your primary defender, all
Speaker 3: hands have to be on deck. It's even Halliburton, and
Speaker 3: I'm not saying Halliburton is a compromise defensively, but all
Speaker 3: of these guys can wind up getting cheap fouls because
Speaker 3: SGA will deliberately get to a place that will, though
Speaker 3: will make your defense vulnerable. And that's what I'm intrigued
Speaker 3: by because there is a maturation process that gets elevated
Speaker 3: now because you're not dealing with the same kind of
Speaker 3: backcourt play that you just finished playing in the six
Speaker 3: game series with the Indiana Pacers.
Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting because you know, I'm gonna not jumped
Speaker 2: from your point, but I think when we talked about
Speaker 2: it in the first half of the show, the overall
Speaker 2: depth of this, right, So the depth is also going
Speaker 2: to come in the cross matching and then how much
Speaker 2: do the true starters play and do those cross matches
Speaker 2: take effect? Right? Like who does heard signed really guard,
Speaker 2: you know, with in the Inna on the Indian the side,
Speaker 2: if it's Turner, awesome, right, but if a great sorry,
Speaker 2: is Ischet a great match up for I don't I
Speaker 2: don't know, right, So I think that might be more J. J.
Speaker 2: Dubb who probably takes that assignment on on a more
Speaker 2: regular basis. And then that's does not allow Check to
Speaker 2: hang out on like uh like a Nie Smith per se,
Speaker 2: like you know what I mean. So those are things,
Speaker 2: but they remember they're gonna play a majority of those guys,
Speaker 2: So who wish minutes are really gonna are we gonna
Speaker 2: see in terms of the cross matching. So the top
Speaker 2: end is in the game for Indiana, who's he guarded? Right?
Speaker 2: You know? Unfortunately Jaris Walker looks like he's going to
Speaker 2: be out for them for this final series, right, But
Speaker 2: does does that force you to play Thomas Bryant who
Speaker 2: wasn't looking so great in the first part of the
Speaker 2: Knick series? And then is that something? Okay? See can
Speaker 2: on the other side, so and the Thunder Conversely, they
Speaker 2: feel like all their guys can guard everybody exactly, case
Speaker 2: of Wallas is out there, you know, Caruso as stout
Speaker 2: as he is As a defender, He's obviously very switchable.
Speaker 2: That's where I think okay See seems to have the advantage,
Speaker 2: especially when you go to the bench, because once you
Speaker 2: get past that first that front five, so to speak. Now,
Speaker 2: I think the defensive side for Indiana switches towards okay
Speaker 2: Cee's favor because I just don't think they're as versatile defensively,
Speaker 2: although they are very versatile offensive.
Speaker 3: Watch if Dagona unleashes Caruso on Halliburton. I feel like
Speaker 3: Talaris Halliburton's gameplay to me is so important.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: One of the things that was interesting, you know, with
Speaker 3: Pascal Siakam winning the Eastern Conference Finals MVP. I thought
Speaker 3: that that was I thought it was apropos. I thought
Speaker 3: it was necessary. And if you're in the Indiana Pacers,
Speaker 3: you're happy about that. You need an aggressive Pascal si
Speaker 3: I know everybody's focused on, you know, the the rising
Speaker 3: stardom of Tyrese Haliburton and his clutch playmaking. But you're
Speaker 3: talking about playing a seven game series, hopefully against the
Speaker 3: Oklahoma City thunder right. If you're going to have any
Speaker 3: chance of winning, you need that version of Pascal Siakam
Speaker 3: that came out in games was it two?
Speaker 1: Games three?
Speaker 2: Two?
Speaker 1: I think two four and game six?
Speaker 3: Right, you need that Pascal Siakam, That Pascal Siakam is aggressive,
Speaker 3: that Pascal Siakam creates matchup nightmares for the front court.
Speaker 3: That Pascal Siakam in transition is the kind of person
Speaker 3: that the Oklahoma City Thunder were hoping they weren't seeing
Speaker 3: from Julius Randall in that series that they just came
Speaker 3: from who didn't show that.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: So if you are the Indiana Pacers, you know how
Speaker 3: it is. Sometimes you got to nudge someone to be like,
Speaker 3: I need to see the hulk in you, bro.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: I want I want to see you kind of Bruce
Speaker 3: Banner your way through this thing. And Pascal Siakam could
Speaker 3: easily do that, but he just at times he disappears.
Speaker 3: He cannot afford to disappear in this series. He to
Speaker 3: me is the X factor that I think people really
Speaker 3: need to pay attention to because he is the one
Speaker 3: person on top end, bottom end that can really affect first, second,
Speaker 3: and third levels of the Oklahoma City Thunder on both
Speaker 3: sides of the basketball. It doesn't mean that he's got
Speaker 3: to go out there and shot block or whatever.
Speaker 1: The case may be.
Speaker 3: But rebounding, creating disruption, creating length, creating a shot, being
Speaker 3: a shot deterrent. That has to all come in play.
Speaker 3: And I'm not saying it's only Onle. What I'm saying
Speaker 3: is Siakam's energy and Siakam's being included in that. To me,
Speaker 3: it's just so important if we think that the Pacers
Speaker 3: have an opportunity to win this series.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'll counter only with the notion of you know,
Speaker 2: talk about Okay, see, we haven't really dove into the
Speaker 2: SGA aspect of it yet, but even sticking on the
Speaker 2: defense is like Dort, So Dort has that opportunity to really,
Speaker 2: you know, try to Dfacam, I think at times alongside
Speaker 2: Jail and Williams, and that's where I'm just I'm just
Speaker 2: very concerned about what OKAC like their ability to consistently
Speaker 2: switch and throw guys and not worry about it.
Speaker 1: Not.
Speaker 2: I feel like they're they're getting like they're they're that
Speaker 2: they're that they're at a disadvantage just because this ex
Speaker 2: defender is on them, whether they're smaller or not. Caruso
Speaker 2: Dorr Williams, it doesn't really matter case I Wallace like,
Speaker 2: they just will find guys and feel like, you know what,
Speaker 2: we can live with this, And I think that's where
Speaker 2: Indiana's going to be different. So while Siakam has to
Speaker 2: play well, I think that's not to say a given,
Speaker 2: but it's kind of one of the you know, sticking
Speaker 2: points of the series. I think it does become like,
Speaker 2: well where else can Indiana get consistent play? Because if
Speaker 2: you feel like the main guys are gonna struggle, you know,
Speaker 2: even even if it's just efficiency per se, maybe they'll
Speaker 2: still get their numbers, but efficiently they may not. Then
Speaker 2: that's when Miles Turner comes into play. That's when Aaron
Speaker 2: Smith comes into play. And the last one is it
Speaker 2: two three games of the series Benedict matthe and coming
Speaker 2: off the bench. You know you talk about a freato
Speaker 2: merchant you was getting through the line kind of that
Speaker 2: nauseum and was really been able to be really impactful.
Speaker 2: So is that something you know, Carl aland the Pacers
Speaker 2: can tap into. Offense will be when their main guys
Speaker 2: presumably are going to really be facing a very a
Speaker 2: tough sledding for the entire of these series just because
Speaker 2: of okay, switchability defensively, So I've been looking for Nie Smith,
Speaker 2: Turner and Mathurin to really really figure out ways to
Speaker 2: step in here, you know, and have some games. And
Speaker 2: that's the beauty I think about the Indiana Pacers. It
Speaker 2: doesn't mean they all have to go off at the
Speaker 2: same time, but can one of them have a good
Speaker 2: game and you know, while the other one is like,
Speaker 2: all right, tonight's an off night. But the Smith pops
Speaker 2: Likeing did in game one eight threes, which is obviously,
Speaker 2: you know, miraculous, But does he you know, give you
Speaker 2: seventeen to eighteen and another night Turners, you know, giving
Speaker 2: you almost twenty eights. That's where I think Indiana is
Speaker 2: really going to have to figure this out topping played
Speaker 2: well in Game six, especially in the second half, and
Speaker 2: I think that's where I think the Pacers have some
Speaker 2: symbls of an understanding. But I don't know if all
Speaker 2: their main guys are going to be able to go
Speaker 2: off in this series because I think, okay, see just
Speaker 2: so top heavy defensive way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so real quick, And then Sew, I want you
Speaker 3: to kind of give me your take on who are
Speaker 3: gonna be the rain makers? You know in this series,
Speaker 3: like dudes that are just you know, they're looking, they'll
Speaker 3: probably have an opportunity to really to go off. One
Speaker 3: of the things that I spoke about, and I even
Speaker 3: you know, I kind of mentioned this on on X
Speaker 3: platforms and stuff like that, Like there were times where,
Speaker 3: you know, watching the Pacers and the Knicks play was
Speaker 3: to me was just kind of unwatchable. Not because I
Speaker 3: didn't like either of the teams, because I technically don't.
Speaker 3: But the reason why I was unwatchable is because shot
Speaker 3: selection and basketball IQ at times was just I you know,
Speaker 3: I just couldn't understand it. Like I guess it's like
Speaker 3: neither one of these teams wanted to win. You cannot
Speaker 3: do that against this Oklahoma City Thunder team. You just
Speaker 3: you just cannot. You have to be at the highest
Speaker 3: level of your understanding of the game and when a
Speaker 3: shot is a good shot and when a shot is
Speaker 3: not a good shot, because you're not going to be
Speaker 3: afforded too many opportunities to have those make or miss situations.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: My concern he or again, what I've seen from the
Speaker 3: Oklahoma City Thunder is that these guys are are executing
Speaker 3: at a high level because they're reading and understanding the game.
Speaker 3: They know and they understand the moments of you know,
Speaker 3: when I should be get basically getting two points, or
Speaker 3: why I can go ahead and shoot that transition three.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying, Like they feel and understand
Speaker 3: where the momentum shifts and changes, and they if they
Speaker 3: roll the dice and take a risk on it, their
Speaker 3: confident is saying, you know what, we own that that's
Speaker 3: on us. But they like throughout the course of their
Speaker 3: playoff run. What's impressed me about Okay se Shaws. I've
Speaker 3: never looked at them with this level of saying, oh
Speaker 3: my god, like are you serious? Like this is exactly
Speaker 3: what you think you're gonna supposed to be doing, like
Speaker 3: at this moment in time, is if like this is
Speaker 3: meant to like you wanted this to happen, Like no,
Speaker 3: Like you're gifting the opposition a chance to probably win
Speaker 3: a game that they have no business.
Speaker 1: Winning, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: And I felt that numerous times in the series against
Speaker 3: the Indiana Pacers, where you work so hard you stole
Speaker 3: two games from the New York Knicks, and yet your
Speaker 3: level of execution down to stretch you even almost gifted
Speaker 3: it back to them. And I'm just like, you cannot
Speaker 3: do that against a team that really understands who they are,
Speaker 3: who they had to go through to get to this point.
Speaker 3: I'm just saying, like, if I want to buy into
Speaker 3: the Indiana Pacers making this a series, they can't pull
Speaker 3: the kind of stunts that they were pulling in this
Speaker 3: last series in the Eastern Conference finals now.
Speaker 2: And I get that, right. They they know that they're
Speaker 2: going to be the underdogs and that they're going to
Speaker 2: out to play and I say, perfect basketball, but a mistake.
Speaker 1: Less basket payer, Yeah, don't use mistake free.
Speaker 2: It's just like, yeah, I mean it has to be
Speaker 2: limited because I think, you know, you have to understand
Speaker 2: the beachha going up against okay See is going to
Speaker 2: turn you over, right, But just how many of those
Speaker 2: are like, as I said in the beginning, how many
Speaker 2: of those are live ball turnovers, you know versus like,
Speaker 2: all right, you know, shot clock violations or whatever the
Speaker 2: case it be, you know, are throwing the ball out
Speaker 2: of bounds per see. You know, I don't want the
Speaker 2: anti passers to become timid in the series at all.
Speaker 2: I think they need to inherently need to be who
Speaker 2: they are and try to run the basketball and not
Speaker 2: go up against Oklahoma studies, you know, set defense on
Speaker 2: a record basis, but again you have to do that
Speaker 2: with a certain level of care and caution. And I
Speaker 2: think that's what the depth of this team really does
Speaker 2: kind of come into play that gives them more than
Speaker 2: a punch of Shanson. I think some of the oddsmakers
Speaker 2: are going to say in this situation, what I want
Speaker 2: to kind of like switch gears to real quick though,
Speaker 2: is just your thought on Indiana and their ability to
Speaker 2: stop SGA, Like what are you looking for for SGA
Speaker 2: in this series to be brilliant? And I could ultimately
Speaker 2: to an OKAYC championship.
Speaker 3: If SGA believes that he can basically beat Indiana's backcourt
Speaker 3: off the dribble, then ride that until they show you differently.
Speaker 3: I mean literally ride that, because I think it just
Speaker 3: opens up the floodgates. Let's remember, too, right, like again
Speaker 3: that the Indiana Pacers have had more of a wolf
Speaker 3: pack mentality defensively, which I think has afforded them the opportunity.
Speaker 3: And you could also make the argument in some respects
Speaker 3: that the New York Knicks kind of kind of gifted
Speaker 3: that for them, like baited themselves because of their style
Speaker 3: of offense. They had way too many half court oriented
Speaker 3: guys weren't really good in spacing, and then when those
Speaker 3: opportunities came for them to make those half court shots,
Speaker 3: it was in the hands of people that just were inconsistent.
Speaker 3: I don't think you'll have that kind of problem if
Speaker 3: I'm OKAC, But it's all predicated on the aggressiveness of SGA.
Speaker 3: And when I say aggressiveness, I'm saying he doesn't have
Speaker 3: to take twenty shots in order for that to kind
Speaker 3: of happen. It's all about if he's beating his man.
Speaker 3: One of the things that I was impressed by that
Speaker 3: I thought would have given the Minnesota Timber was a
Speaker 3: chance in that series was the level of aggressiveness that
Speaker 3: you saw from Alexander. From Walker Alexander and then also
Speaker 3: from Anthony Edwards, there was a level of intensity of
Speaker 3: really getting up in SGA and forcing him to dance
Speaker 3: with the ball more rather than moving north south. If
Speaker 3: SGA has made up his mind to go north south
Speaker 3: and he gets past one the first defender, or maybe
Speaker 3: even gets around the screen to the second defender, that's
Speaker 3: putting guys like Siakam, guys like Turner on their heels.
Speaker 3: And I'm not saying that they're great defensively, but it
Speaker 3: will marginalize what they can give you defensively because they're
Speaker 3: not great front court stretch out extensive defense defenders. Once
Speaker 3: the guard gets past their back their their own their
Speaker 3: teammates back court. So that's that's where I'm concerned. But
Speaker 3: if I get an aggressive Sga, I mean he can
Speaker 3: basically have lunch all all day long in the paint
Speaker 3: with the with the Indiana Pacers because he can be
Speaker 3: that kind of guy if he chooses to.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think the foul down is going to
Speaker 2: be something that we need to watch, especially on Dananda side.
Speaker 2: You know, OKAC is known for their physical defense and
Speaker 2: they seemly kind of get away, you know with some
Speaker 2: things here and there. But conversely, can you make sha work?
Speaker 2: Can you run him through multiple screens without them being legal? Right?
Speaker 2: You know, I can see Siakam and Turner trying to
Speaker 2: do something and then you know, sticking a leg out
Speaker 2: too far and then get a call for those illegal screens.
Speaker 2: But you gotta run you know, Sga around on the
Speaker 2: defensive side to make him work and you know, maybe
Speaker 2: that will hopefully tire him out on the offensive side
Speaker 2: where he's maybe not as potent. I don't know that
Speaker 2: that will actually happen, but I think it's something making
Speaker 2: an attempt to do, you know, at different points throughout
Speaker 2: the course of the series, because I'd much rather lose
Speaker 2: this series if I'm Indiana, you know, with Jason Williams
Speaker 2: and ched Holm Grant and guys like that, you know,
Speaker 2: going off as opposed to Esga doing his MVP dance
Speaker 2: on me kind of throughout the course of those other
Speaker 2: game series. So they got to make ishe work on
Speaker 2: the defensive side of the basketball as well, And I
Speaker 2: think they have enough depth in guys and this will
Speaker 2: they be able to do that. Not necessarily great one
Speaker 2: on one guys, I don't think them hard and the
Speaker 2: Smith are these guys you know, just try to take
Speaker 2: you off the trouble per se. But again, you know,
Speaker 2: putting him putting is sha in action with whoever he's guarding,
Speaker 2: because I think he's going to be guarding probably the
Speaker 2: lesser of the offensive. Uh, you know, stars if you
Speaker 2: frow Ondianiana side, but you got to get him involved
Speaker 2: one way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, all right, seaw real quick, and then
Speaker 3: we have to make our predictions. Who is your reigin
Speaker 3: maker for both the Pacers and for the Oklahoma City
Speaker 3: Thunder Aside from the star players, the SGAs and the
Speaker 3: Tyrese Halliburtons, who do you feel like has an opportunity
Speaker 3: need to be a rain maker in this series?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm going to go back to the aspect of
Speaker 2: it's two guys for Niana really for me, you know,
Speaker 2: And I don't want to discredit what TJ McConnell's been
Speaker 2: able to do in terms of when he comes in
Speaker 2: and changes the pace for the Pacers, you know, as
Speaker 2: a backup point guard. But Turner should have a much
Speaker 2: better series here. Chet and Heartenstein are not They're not Kat.
Speaker 2: And while you can say that might be good for
Speaker 2: some reasons, Kat decided that, you know what, Turner, you
Speaker 2: cannot guard me on the perimeter, like you have to
Speaker 2: respect my jumper and away. But if I decided to
Speaker 2: put on the floor, you have no hope. Chet and
Speaker 2: Heartstein don't have those types of chops. These not off
Speaker 2: the bounce. So I think Turner can have a more
Speaker 2: impactful series in this, and then I think conversely on
Speaker 2: the the other guy on the Indiana side too, I
Speaker 2: think as aforementioned math room whish, I don't need to
Speaker 2: kind of really gate that too. So I think those
Speaker 2: two guys from Niana have to play well. The Pacers
Speaker 2: are going to you know, make this a long series.
Speaker 2: And then conversely for okay, see it is not necessarily
Speaker 2: an offensive thing for me, I think they can they
Speaker 2: can maintain this same level of defense with Caruso on
Speaker 2: the floor in case I Wallace on the floor, Like
Speaker 2: is the defense there's truly no drop off when you know,
Speaker 2: the the Indiana offensive guys like the top ends and
Speaker 2: the maxmins kind of come in. Can they still get
Speaker 2: that same level of defensive production, not from their starters
Speaker 2: per se. So that's where it's like, it's kind of
Speaker 2: a tale of two teams really where I think Indiana
Speaker 2: needs to figure out a way to tap in even
Speaker 2: more into their offensive chops, which I think is going
Speaker 2: to be a tough defense. Well, okay see he needs
Speaker 2: to dig down into what they do best, but their defense,
Speaker 2: especially with some of their supplemental and auxiliary guys.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I like what I like where you were going
Speaker 1: with that one.
Speaker 3: I'll just throw in one because you you kind of
Speaker 3: already mentioned from the Indiana side, I'm gonna go with
Speaker 3: chet Holmgren for the Oklahoma City Thunder as a rain maker.
Speaker 3: I really believe that he has an opportunity one to
Speaker 3: extend Miles Turner if he had if Mos Turner has him,
Speaker 3: or maybe even Pascal Siakam. I think chet Holmgrim is
Speaker 3: moving quite you know, nicely. Throughout the course of this
Speaker 3: NBA Playoffs. He's given you a few twenty something put
Speaker 3: us point performances hitting the three and then also from
Speaker 3: a defensive perspective, bro averaging two blocks per game essentially, Like,
Speaker 3: I just feel like if he is on one and
Speaker 3: he is really complementing what we're expecting to see from
Speaker 3: SGA and j Williams, that's going to be a problem
Speaker 3: for the Indian pacer. This is way too much firepower
Speaker 3: coming from all aspects, you know, every dynamic of the
Speaker 3: Oklahoma City Thunder.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 3: So with that being said, Shaw, well you got how
Speaker 3: many games?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm struggling, you know, conventional wisdom and the oddsmaker says,
Speaker 2: you know, this could be a good series, but maybe
Speaker 2: not necessarily a long one right, and I think you'd
Speaker 2: say maybe okay see in five or six because you
Speaker 2: want to show respect to the pacers or whatever. I
Speaker 2: don't know, man, I'm just at my I'm at my
Speaker 2: tipping point. I'm tired. I'm tired of doubting Indiana. I'm
Speaker 2: not so tired where I'm going to pick them to
Speaker 2: win the series. But I think they're going to have
Speaker 2: a better showing in this than many of the odspeakers
Speaker 2: were giving them. So I'm gonna tip my toe in
Speaker 2: the waters here and say, okay see in seven, in
Speaker 2: a in a in an NBA finals and unexpected AMI
Speaker 2: finals that we didn't expect to be a classic. But
Speaker 2: I think Indiana is gonna show up prove in a
Speaker 2: way that many are probably still dotting them a little
Speaker 2: bit before. But I still got the Thunder winning the
Speaker 2: NBA Championship. But I'm gonna put okayee in Southern Yeah.
Speaker 1: Man, you're gonna have me. You're gonna be hay have
Speaker 1: me on an island.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. It was that dunk tank.
Speaker 3: Everyone's gonna basically have me just swimming in the waters
Speaker 3: just by myself, right, Just look, man, I've I've been
Speaker 3: a fan of the Indiana Pacers as far as their resiliency,
Speaker 3: what they've shown. And I'm not gonna I'm not gonna
Speaker 3: pooh poo what they've done to get to this point.
Speaker 3: I am gonna say, though, I don't know if they're
Speaker 3: gonna be able to hang with this Oklahoma City Thunder team.
Speaker 3: I just I'm just watching this team, bro, And you know,
Speaker 3: forget all of the the oh, you know, just the
Speaker 3: first championship that you know there since the KD Westbrook
Speaker 3: and Hardened not forget all all of that. They understand
Speaker 3: that this is their time. They understand that. I truly
Speaker 3: feel that they truly understand that. And I think if
Speaker 3: they don't get into you know, in their own heads,
Speaker 3: they know that they are really the better team in
Speaker 3: this in this series. Ultimately, what they cannot afford to
Speaker 3: do is what the Knicks allowed the Pacers to do.
Speaker 3: And I told you this, right, do not let the
Speaker 3: Pacers take one on the road, right, don't let them
Speaker 3: get one in MSG, because if you do that, it's
Speaker 3: a wrap.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: And not only do they take one, they took it twice, right,
Speaker 3: they took them twice.
Speaker 1: Okay, Pacers are one of the best teams on the road.
Speaker 1: That being said, Oklahoma City understands this moment. They are
Speaker 1: not going to give the Indiana Pacers any level of
Speaker 1: needed oxygen except for what they can generate on their own.
Speaker 1: So they're gonna have to work for it. They're not gonna.
Speaker 3: Sit there and you know, be subject to the choke
Speaker 3: jobs or nothing like that. You're not gonna see that
Speaker 3: with this OKAC thing. So me shaw, I'm gonna say,
Speaker 3: OKAYC in six. But man, I really would not be
Speaker 3: surprised if it's a gentleman's sweep. I really would not
Speaker 3: be because, to me, defense wins championships, and the Oklahoma
Speaker 3: City Thunder, to me, have proven throughout this playoffs their
Speaker 3: defense is for real against the teams that they have
Speaker 3: been playing against. And I just don't know. Kyle's gonna
Speaker 3: have to pull out a masterpiece to get these guys
Speaker 3: to break what the OKC Thunder has basically been thrown
Speaker 3: out here so far in this NBA Playoffs.
Speaker 2: I have nothing, I have no notes, So I was
Speaker 2: where my heart really wants to go. But I just
Speaker 2: feel like.
Speaker 3: It And the only reason why I'm saying that is
Speaker 3: The key is the first two games in OKC.
Speaker 1: If the Indiana Pacers show that.
Speaker 3: They will hang around, they will throw it right back
Speaker 3: at OKC, then this is gonna be a long series.
Speaker 3: But if OKAC goes out and does what they basically
Speaker 3: have done to teams in those first two games of
Speaker 3: holding their home court or against teams who are base
Speaker 3: matched up like them, say like the Minnesota Timberwolves, this
Speaker 3: will be a quick series because it's just such a
Speaker 3: it's a tough hill to climb, man, when a team
Speaker 3: is locked in defensively, you don't have the luxury of
Speaker 3: turn suddenly just figuring it out of how you're gonna
Speaker 3: basically stop them from doing what they were able to
Speaker 3: come out and execute that they've been doing all series long.
Speaker 1: And that's the reason why it's as hard not to
Speaker 1: buy into that.
Speaker 2: What can ultimately happen, you know, in Indiana's favor is
Speaker 2: if they can actually run partnsteign yes off the court.
Speaker 3: They've got to run them exactly, they got to run
Speaker 3: them thin. They have to run run them to the
Speaker 3: point where you're forcing OKC to have to figure out
Speaker 3: offensively how to turn things up, which is out of
Speaker 3: their element. I'm not saying that. Okack again, I'm not
Speaker 3: saying they can't score. But what I'm saying is they
Speaker 3: know they don't have to score one hundred and twenty
Speaker 3: points for them to beat you. So if you're figuring
Speaker 3: out a way to push them to think that you
Speaker 3: got to score one hundred and twenty points, you may
Speaker 3: actually have the edge. And we'll see if the Inana
Speaker 3: Pacers can do that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we'll be great to see two great coaches,
Speaker 2: you know that, and Carlisle, two great point guards, elite guards,
Speaker 2: and Halliburn and and SGA and role players and supplemental
Speaker 2: stars and and j Dubb and Chad and Holmgren and
Speaker 2: like there's just there's a lot of great storylines, the.
Speaker 3: Great This is one of the great team basketball matchups
Speaker 3: of NBA finals that we have seen in the last
Speaker 3: seven years. And and I'm glad that one of these
Speaker 3: teams will deserveably hoist the trophy for the first time,
Speaker 3: you know, you know, either for the OKC Thunder or
Speaker 3: at all, like Nana Pacers having not won an NBA championship,
Speaker 3: right yeah, so uh yeah, not not that I not
Speaker 3: not the A B A since if they were a
Speaker 3: BA right, Okay, yeah, so again and the Thunder don't
Speaker 3: claim the Sonics Championship, so we'll be the first Thunder
Speaker 3: championship for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, watch this series, fans like, just watch it and
Speaker 2: and top in. I think it could be better, better
Speaker 2: than expected, but you know, maybe ultimately the outcome is
Speaker 2: pretty determined, so to speak. But I think the Spacer's
Speaker 2: team is going to surprise some folk. Share in the
Speaker 2: semifinals a little bit too. Shout out to Halliburton, man,
Speaker 2: and shout out to Holly's did a little bit too.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, welcome back, man, welcome back.
Speaker 3: Awesome show man, awesome preview, and listen man, we definitely
Speaker 3: want to hear your thoughts.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: We appreciate everybody who's been riding with us through this
Speaker 3: incredible wave of NBA performances and games and playoffs, and
Speaker 3: now that we're here with the NBA Finals and know
Speaker 3: we're just that much closer, but hopefully you'll continue to
Speaker 3: enjoy our ride with us for the baseline. Cali Warren Shall,
Speaker 3: We appreciate you guys. You know, we do enjoy the
Speaker 3: NBA Finals and we'll catch up with you next time.