Speaker 1: Privee with Spence checkets.
Speaker 2: This is k A L L North Salt Lake k
Speaker 2: x R k HD three ESPN seven hundred and ninety
Speaker 2: two to one.
Speaker 3: F M S.
Speaker 4: Messing me up my whole head season me just like
Speaker 4: Tita did.
Speaker 1: Now look at what you got, ol boy crushing it
Speaker 1: in or the host, the whole world see it. It's
Speaker 1: what you can't my peoples.
Speaker 3: They can play no.
Speaker 2: NBA basketball tonight. I don't even know what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 2: Conference finals start tomorrow and they continue on Wednesday. Happy
Speaker 2: Monday to our guy Tom Haberstrow, who joins now to
Speaker 2: talsing Ball.
Speaker 1: Tommy, what's going on? Man? Hello? Tom? Tom Averstrow, All
Speaker 1: right here.
Speaker 3: I had myself on mute. I was it was a
Speaker 3: rookie move. I had myself on mute and I was talking,
Speaker 3: and you were like, hey, can I hear you? When
Speaker 3: I was like, is my take that the last of
Speaker 3: Us episode that I watched that I can't watch tonight?
Speaker 3: Do you have any last of US takes? Are you
Speaker 3: watching that show?
Speaker 1: I am not? You have you made your way through
Speaker 1: righteous Gemstones?
Speaker 3: So that's on my to do list this offseason. I know,
Speaker 3: I know, just don't just don't. I know it. Everybody,
Speaker 3: all my buddies are I can't believe because, like, if
Speaker 3: you did an algorithm of like things that I like,
Speaker 3: comedies shows, HBO shows, whatever, it would all point to
Speaker 3: the Righteous Epstones. And I haven't started it yet. And
Speaker 3: I'm sorry. I apologize. That is number one on my
Speaker 3: big board.
Speaker 2: You do not have to apologize to me, but you
Speaker 2: can count me among the people were not best buds.
Speaker 2: But it does seem like righteous Gemstones would be right
Speaker 2: down your alley. I mean, I'm a like anything McBride does.
Speaker 2: I'll give it a chance, you know, vice principles, whatever
Speaker 2: it is, I'm gonna watch Danny McBride.
Speaker 3: Well, I think I think right now the NBA it's
Speaker 3: it's a great time to be an NBA fan because
Speaker 3: we've got some new fresh blood. We've got the whole
Speaker 3: Cooper Flag dynamic. There's a lot of storylines with the
Speaker 3: Luka Doncic stuff. We've got some new blood. But I
Speaker 3: got to say, at this point in the postseason, I
Speaker 3: think everyone deserves a little bit of a beat, a
Speaker 3: little bit of a break. And so last night having
Speaker 3: no game and then tonight not having a game I
Speaker 3: think it's good for all. I'm not saying it's Aaron Gordon.
Speaker 3: Where Aaron Gordon is now after losing saying we need
Speaker 3: more rest in the postseason. I'm not saying I'm taking
Speaker 3: a page out of Aaron Gordon's book. I'm just saying, Look,
Speaker 3: I think for everyone's health and their their families and
Speaker 3: their loved ones, it'll be good to get some FaceTime
Speaker 3: with them this evening. I'm just saying that.
Speaker 2: What if you're single and your only child is twenty three,
Speaker 2: living in New Canaan, Connecticut and not in Salt Lake.
Speaker 2: What if you have literally nothing to do and no
Speaker 2: family to interface with.
Speaker 3: You're asking for a friend.
Speaker 1: Yeah no, not me, not me, Tom, just a buddy
Speaker 1: of mine.
Speaker 3: Well, you know what, you can pull up some bold clips.
Speaker 3: You know, you can pull up whatever you want. And
Speaker 3: that's a great thing about the NBA is there's a
Speaker 3: plenty of libraries there on NBA dot Com or if
Speaker 3: you want, on all the streaming platforms, there's lots of
Speaker 3: content you can watch on the NBA if you need
Speaker 3: to fill that void in your life.
Speaker 2: Or could you do me a favor and go to
Speaker 2: the archive of the Staples wreckers and see if you
Speaker 2: can give me nineteen ninety four New Canaan at Staples
Speaker 2: Spence check its versus Pete Van Sicklin.
Speaker 1: Can you can you do that?
Speaker 3: What is a website error message for roh or not fun?
Speaker 3: That's that's what that is. I don't know what you're
Speaker 3: talking about.
Speaker 2: A fair enough All right, Tom, I've got of a
Speaker 2: loaded question, but you'll be good with this. I started
Speaker 2: the show off today with you know, we're about to
Speaker 2: have our seventh NBA champion seven years. When you look
Speaker 2: at some of the teams that have won championships, it's Milwaukee,
Speaker 2: it is Denver, and ultimately this year we have Minnesota,
Speaker 2: we have Oklahoma City, we have Indianapolis, all in the
Speaker 2: final four, which means this era of parody should benefit
Speaker 2: teams at play in cities such as ours.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: The problem is the Jazz are not ready to capitalize
Speaker 2: on what other teams have been able to position themselves
Speaker 2: to capitalize on. The new CBA expires in five years.
Speaker 2: We had Bobby Marks on last segment. We kind of
Speaker 2: walked through this so explained to us why we have
Speaker 2: seen this parody manifest itself in pro basketball and how
Speaker 2: the Jazz can position themselves to capitalize on this era
Speaker 2: the way that other small, small market teams have.
Speaker 3: He's how you do it. Build up your medical staff.
Speaker 3: There's no cap on your medical staff. And this parody
Speaker 3: era is lipstick on a pig. The parody label is
Speaker 3: a nice, warm propaganda term to say, all our stars
Speaker 3: are injured these days, and that's what's dictating these non
Speaker 3: repeats and new champions every year. Because guys like Jason Tatum,
Speaker 3: or if it's Jiannis, or if it's Kevin Durant in
Speaker 3: the twenty nineteen NBA finals, or it's Klay Thompson in
Speaker 3: the twenty nineteen NBA Finals, if it's Chris Middleton with
Speaker 3: the Milwaukee Bucks, if it's Drew Holliday this year in
Speaker 3: Jason Tatum, these repeat quests are more a result of
Speaker 3: stars getting injured. Then I think what's being led on
Speaker 3: and we can say this is the era of you know,
Speaker 3: the CBA, that the second Apron and the Big three
Speaker 3: era is done. I would argue that this is more
Speaker 3: of a function of NBA stars are getting hurt and
Speaker 3: not on our TV screen than it is more of
Speaker 3: this like good competitive balance measures. And I think that's
Speaker 3: not a fun story to tell, it's an important story
Speaker 3: to tell. It's an accurate, accurate story to tell that
Speaker 3: the repeat champions or the reigning champions, I should say
Speaker 3: in that seven years are more injury riddled than not.
Speaker 3: So when we look at the Boston Celtics and why
Speaker 3: they they felt in that series, there's two reasons. One
Speaker 3: they got really cold shooting, and two they had no
Speaker 3: Jason Tatum, a banged up Drew Holiday who was missing
Speaker 3: playoff games earlier in the series. In the playoffs, he
Speaker 3: had also Christaps Porzingis, who was a shell of himself. Right,
Speaker 3: the Knicks were healthy, they played great, but the Boston
Speaker 3: Celtics are not repeat champions, mostly because of the fact
Speaker 3: that they didn't shoot well and that they weren't healthy.
Speaker 3: And that really is the big story here is when
Speaker 3: you're talking about parody in the NBA, it's not a
Speaker 3: thing of competitive ballots, no matter what they sell you.
Speaker 3: It's more about three point shooting has taken over the
Speaker 3: league and because of that, there's more variance in who
Speaker 3: wins in a series. And if you look at every
Speaker 3: series this postseason, almost all of them have been won
Speaker 3: by the team that shot better from Downtown almost every
Speaker 3: single one. And so when you have the three ball
Speaker 3: mattering this much and injuries mattering this much in the postseason,
Speaker 3: I just wrote a column for Yahoo Sports that injuries
Speaker 3: in the postseason have increased sevenfolds since the late nineteen nineties.
Speaker 3: Injuries to star players, all star players have increased sevenfold
Speaker 3: since the late nineteen nineties and fivefold since as recently
Speaker 3: as two thousand and eight. So that is why we're
Speaker 3: not having these repeat champions. As much as we want
Speaker 3: to say it's about, oh, everyone's got a chance, Well
Speaker 3: everyone's got a chance because stars that matter more in
Speaker 3: basketball than any other sport, star players are not being
Speaker 3: available because of injuries and three point shooting, and so
Speaker 3: I think that's more of a reason. And if you're
Speaker 3: a Utah Jazz, say and I would say, make sure
Speaker 3: your training staff is as good as the New York
Speaker 3: Knicks is one, because they just got the Trainers Award
Speaker 3: this year. The Traders Association Athletic Trainers Association give out
Speaker 3: the Athletic Training Association Award and going to the healthiest
Speaker 3: or the best training staff in the league, and it
Speaker 3: just got awarded to the Knicks today and they got
Speaker 3: Casey Smith from the Dallas Mavericks, which is one of
Speaker 3: the reasons why allegedly Luka Doncic was moved at the deadline,
Speaker 3: was because Casey Smith, who was one of the best
Speaker 3: and most well regarded training staff head athletic trainers in
Speaker 3: the NBA. That was as close to Dryk Dabitsky as
Speaker 3: anybody who was a part of the staff when they
Speaker 3: won the twenty eleven NBA Finals against the Miami Heat.
Speaker 3: That guy just got the award for the New York Knicks.
Speaker 3: And I think that this is an important storyline for
Speaker 3: the franchises that are in Charlotte, where I'm based, and
Speaker 3: in Utah and in Memphis and New Orleans. You gotta
Speaker 3: ramp up your medical staffs because that is the most
Speaker 3: important ingredient when it comes to winning championships. Is not
Speaker 3: just having stars, yes we all know that, but making
Speaker 3: sure those stars are healthy and well supported by your
Speaker 3: performance of medical staff. That's gonna dictate as much as
Speaker 3: getting the star is making sure that they're able to
Speaker 3: play in June, in May, and in April. And that
Speaker 3: is a big storyline that no one's talking about.
Speaker 2: Well, Tom, I didn't invite you on to completely sabotage
Speaker 2: my rundown of the show today. Okay, so you're not
Speaker 2: necessarily wrong. The problem with talking about that through the
Speaker 2: prism of where the Jazz file themselves is all due
Speaker 2: respect to the current roster, none of them really have
Speaker 2: to stay healthy for them to do anything special. So
Speaker 2: I guess I'll try to change maybe the angle in
Speaker 2: the direction. But I do want to get back to
Speaker 2: what you just said, because I'm wondering what your thoughts
Speaker 2: are and why we're seeing this. But when it comes
Speaker 2: to the jazz perspective, is there anything that we can't
Speaker 2: ascertain from the current landscape of the NBA that is
Speaker 2: positive for this fan base to look at through the
Speaker 2: prism of what Okac has built, and Minnesota has built,
Speaker 2: and Indianapolis is built, and Milwaukee winning a title and
Speaker 2: Denver winning a title. Is there anything about all of
Speaker 2: that that this fan base should look at as a
Speaker 2: positive piece of news for the future of this organization
Speaker 2: as they continue to try to roster construct.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I mean it's good news that we have
Speaker 3: injuries to star players, because if you don't have a
Speaker 3: great team, or if you're trying to rebuild and you
Speaker 3: know strike it hit the lottery not and sorry the
Speaker 3: draft lottery. We don't have to revisit that from last week.
Speaker 3: But the point is, if you are a mid tier
Speaker 3: title contender like the Indiana Pacers or the Minnesota Timberwolves
Speaker 3: that were not in my top tier all season long
Speaker 3: at Tomdefiner dot com, you have a better shot in
Speaker 3: today's era when Jason Tatum and Jamian Lillard tear their
Speaker 3: achilles in the postseason, like you have a better chance
Speaker 3: at making a run and having things break your way
Speaker 3: if star players are getting into your more so, if
Speaker 3: the Utah Jazz want to look at this era and say, hey,
Speaker 3: it's a shorter path because of this, I would agree
Speaker 3: with you. I would also say that when you have
Speaker 3: a guy like Will Hardy who believes in three pointers
Speaker 3: and has a shot profile of you know, having smart
Speaker 3: taking your shots from smart places on the floor, rim
Speaker 3: get to the free throw line, and three pointers. This
Speaker 3: is the modern way to play. And you're seeing that
Speaker 3: games are being dictated by three pointers a lot more.
Speaker 3: And he believes that like Will Hardy is wise to
Speaker 3: the importance of the three point shot. That doesn't mean
Speaker 3: that he he is okay with Walker Kessler taking tad
Speaker 3: threes a game that we saw a little cameo of
Speaker 3: that at the end of the season, and we might
Speaker 3: know why that was happening. But I think when you
Speaker 3: look at the Utah Jazz and this more open playing
Speaker 3: open season for the championship, it might not be as
Speaker 3: long of a runway as it was in previous generations
Speaker 3: and the thunder or evidence of that. And I also
Speaker 3: think that the Indiana Pacers, you remember they were in
Speaker 3: the Webby sweepstakes like they were gonna be a team
Speaker 3: that was going to tank and they kind of were
Speaker 3: too good for that. It wasn't long ago that the
Speaker 3: Indiana Pacers were considered Vegas's the lowest number in the
Speaker 3: over unders by by Vegas. There was only a couple
Speaker 3: of years ago. And so now they are one of
Speaker 3: the last four teams remaining for a second straight year.
Speaker 3: And I think there's a good lesson there for Utah
Speaker 3: Jazz that this can turn around quickly.
Speaker 2: So we talked to you, I think our first NBA
Speaker 2: guest after the bad news that the Jazz did not
Speaker 2: get a little luck last week and they a cheap
Speaker 2: hesitating to say they fell to five because the percentages
Speaker 2: said that was the best possible out or not. The
Speaker 2: most likely possible outcome was four or five. So that
Speaker 2: was their floor. So they didn't get the luck, but
Speaker 2: they actually landed where the numbers said they probably would land.
Speaker 1: Here's my question, Tom, because we've already seen.
Speaker 2: A couple of reports, one from our local b rider
Speaker 2: here the desrat News, Sarah Todd indicating the Jazz are
Speaker 2: going to do whatever they can to try to move up,
Speaker 2: and they're going to try to be bold. They've got
Speaker 2: all the assets. You will see how that looks or
Speaker 2: what it looks like. But who in the top five
Speaker 2: we can remove Dallas? Because Patrick Dumont was like, we're
Speaker 2: keeping one. We're drafting Cooper flag No Nico, you can't
Speaker 2: trade it. So that's already kind of done. So if
Speaker 2: we move Dallas, who in front of the Jazz is
Speaker 2: most likely to move up? And you think the Jazz
Speaker 2: can get something like that done.
Speaker 3: I'm looking at San Antonio. San Antonio at number two.
Speaker 3: They already have Dared Fox and Stefan Castle and Dylan
Speaker 3: Harper is considered the favorite to go number two before
Speaker 3: the draft lottery, And we'll see what happens and if
Speaker 3: the San Antonio Spurs moved down right, would they want
Speaker 3: someone on the Utah Jazz roster right now in to
Speaker 3: trade down from two to five, And would they be
Speaker 3: willing to part with let's say Lowry Markinen or John
Speaker 3: Collins or another veteran that would be appealing to a
Speaker 3: team that's trying to win, as we saw with Daron
Speaker 3: Fox acquisition, They're trying to win now. And if if
Speaker 3: it's gonna be lowry marketing on the table for Dylan Harper,
Speaker 3: I don't know. I think the Utah Jazz would be
Speaker 3: very wise to try to go get a Dylan Harper,
Speaker 3: but if it comes to the cost of marketing, I
Speaker 3: can understand why he would be very appealing to the Spurs,
Speaker 3: and why Dylan Harper would be very appealing to the
Speaker 3: Utah Jazz to get like their point guard, whether you
Speaker 3: want to say hybrid guard of the future, that would
Speaker 3: make sense from a personnel standpoint. I just don't know
Speaker 3: if the Utah Jazz would move marketing for Dylan Harper.
Speaker 3: I don't know if he's that much of the knockdown
Speaker 3: or a home run draft prospect, But in terms of
Speaker 3: the needs of the San Antonio Spurs as getting a
Speaker 3: knockdown three point shooter. A big like Harrison Barnes is
Speaker 3: like a poor man's version of Lowry market In. Larry
Speaker 3: Markin is a star version of Garrison Barnes, a big
Speaker 3: guard who can shoot the rock and play multiple positions.
Speaker 3: When you got like Larry Markinen and Victor Webbin Yama
Speaker 3: next to each other, that's really impressive. That's a really
Speaker 3: tough to guard front line. They're big and you don't
Speaker 3: need as much shot blocking if you're Larry Marketing when
Speaker 3: you got Wemby right there behind you, He's like a
Speaker 3: suit up version of Walker Kessler back there. So that's
Speaker 3: I would ask for more if I'm the San Antonio,
Speaker 3: if I'm the Utah Jazz, if I'm gonna move Larry Markinen.
Speaker 3: But that seems like two teams that are on different trajectories,
Speaker 3: and you could imagine them trying to move up. But
Speaker 3: I can't imagine the San Antonio Spurs are going to
Speaker 3: move down for John Collins or something like that. So
Speaker 3: it would be tough for me to see the San
Speaker 3: Antonio Spurs unless Larry Markin is on the table.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 2: Moving over now to teams that are still playing, and
Speaker 2: I wonder and I've talked to Bobby about this and
Speaker 2: you'll get it, you know. Visions of Charles Smith missing
Speaker 2: four layups in a row.
Speaker 1: No, he was not fouled.
Speaker 2: Visions of Anthony Mason literally throwing an in bounce pass
Speaker 2: to Reggie Miller, who stepped back and hit a three
Speaker 2: when Greg Anthony fell down. Visions of Patrick Ewing's finger
Speaker 2: roll bouncing off the back of the rim against the Pacers,
Speaker 2: John Starts going three of eighteen and pat Riley refusing
Speaker 2: to just take Rolando Blackman off ice for a minute.
Speaker 2: All of those things dancing through my Nick fan head.
Speaker 2: So no part of me thought we were going to
Speaker 2: see a blowout on Friday night, Yet we did. What
Speaker 2: stands out most, Tom, outside of the Tatum stuff, which
Speaker 2: we know has to be brought into the equation, but
Speaker 2: the way the Knicks have been able to do this
Speaker 2: and build this roster that brings them back to the
Speaker 2: conference finals, what stands out most to you.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's Jalen Brunson. This guy is unreal. The
Speaker 3: way that he has dominated in fourth quarters this postseason
Speaker 3: and in clutch time, it's remarkable. It's a testament to
Speaker 3: Leon Rose and Tom Thibodeau and Worldwide West, and the
Speaker 3: fact that they believe so much in Jalen Brunton to
Speaker 3: tamper whatever you want to call it, hire his father
Speaker 3: to the coaching staff under Tom Thibodeau, and send a
Speaker 3: whole fleet of people to go watch that game that
Speaker 3: they thought it was about Donovan Mitchell when it's more
Speaker 3: about Jalen Brunson. To go and acquire that guy and
Speaker 3: then say, not only is he going to be an
Speaker 3: All Star for us, but he's going to be one
Speaker 3: of the best, if not the best playoff performer in
Speaker 3: a couple of years. Because that's the level that Jalen
Speaker 3: Brunson has been playing this postseason, averaging twenty nine points
Speaker 3: per game and in the fourth quarters. In fourth quarters
Speaker 3: this postseason, Jalen Brunson has over one hundred points. He
Speaker 3: has one hundred and fourteen points this postseason and the
Speaker 3: next highest guy I has seventy six. So Jalen Brunson
Speaker 3: in the fourth quarter shooting fifty one percent from the floor,
Speaker 3: forty eight percent from downtown and has more points than
Speaker 3: anybody by forty by by by about forty points. That's
Speaker 3: insane and He's not a big dude, and so I
Speaker 3: can understand why people looked at Jalen Brunson and said
Speaker 3: he's undersize, he's not athletic enough. But the dude's a
Speaker 3: winner and he's proven time and time again that he's
Speaker 3: been able to step up and last postseason against the
Speaker 3: Indiana Pacers getting hurt and just not being able to
Speaker 3: finish the season. I can't wait for this series. I
Speaker 3: can't wait to see how Karl Anthony Towns is leveraged
Speaker 3: in this In this series, we got two five out
Speaker 3: teams with Miles Turner and Karl Anthony Towns being two
Speaker 3: of the best three points shooting bigs in the league.
Speaker 3: We've got a lot of bad blood between these two teams. Historically,
Speaker 3: we're gonna see Reggie Miller on the mic for TNT
Speaker 3: and their last postseason on the broadcast. There's a lot
Speaker 3: of dynamics here that are really excited. But my favorite
Speaker 3: thing is that we have the potential for Tyree's Halliburton
Speaker 3: to do the choke sign against the New York Knicks.
Speaker 3: I'll at Reggie Miller with Reggie Miller in the building
Speaker 3: in Indiana, like if that happens WWE ain't got nothing
Speaker 3: on this series. We even saw Tyree Taliburton and Jalen
Speaker 3: Brunson in WWE, and it wouldn't top the theatrics. If
Speaker 3: the Indiana Pacers win a clutch game in Indiana against
Speaker 3: the New York Knicks and with Reggie Miller on on
Speaker 3: the broadcast, Tyre's Haliburton busts that out, like, I am,
Speaker 3: I am, I am here for this series.
Speaker 2: You know what PTSD is, Tom, you know the definition
Speaker 2: of that.
Speaker 3: There.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, okay, So, like, of all the interviews you're
Speaker 2: gonna do this week, this is the only one you
Speaker 2: didn't need to do that.
Speaker 3: You realize that, right, I am sorry to do that
Speaker 3: to you.
Speaker 1: All good?
Speaker 3: At first, I start off by having the mute button
Speaker 3: on and then I do that. See you come on, man,
Speaker 3: if you hung up on me, I would not blame you.
Speaker 2: I would never do that to you, especially at my age.
Speaker 2: When my son is visibly embarrassed watching me text. He's like, Dad,
Speaker 2: why does that take you? So I'm like, just leave
Speaker 2: me alone. I'll get it done just real quick. Who
Speaker 2: do you give the advantage to nick Pacers?
Speaker 1: Just early on?
Speaker 3: I think it's the Pacers and the way that they
Speaker 3: get up and down the floor, the shot making that
Speaker 3: they have. They are the best shooting team in the
Speaker 3: postseason so far. They've got about eight guys in that
Speaker 3: series shooting fifty percent or higher against Cleveland. They are
Speaker 3: a team that I think could give the next real
Speaker 3: problems when it comes to that up tempo. They move
Speaker 3: the ball crazy way more than the Boston Celtics. The
Speaker 3: Indiana Pacers are having more passes per game this postseason
Speaker 3: than any team since twenty fifteen. It's been a decade
Speaker 3: plus since we've seen a team move the ball this
Speaker 3: much per game than the Indiana Pacers. And as we
Speaker 3: saw against the Boston Celtics, the switching that they do
Speaker 3: sometimes they can get vulnerable. You're going to try to
Speaker 3: limit the passing by switching a lot, but they're not
Speaker 3: a good switching team, and so are you going to
Speaker 3: see Tom Thibodeau in that very overload strongside defense, and
Speaker 3: the Pacers are going to try to pick that apart
Speaker 3: by getting them in rotation and getting open baskets. This
Speaker 3: is a really good Pacers offense and a team that
Speaker 3: has the best win percentage in the Eastern Conference since
Speaker 3: January one. They're legit, It's not gonna be an easy series.
Speaker 3: I picked the Boston Celtics over the Knicks in five games,
Speaker 3: so I'm obviously over underrating the New York Knicks historically,
Speaker 3: but I just think the Indiana Pacers play a brand
Speaker 3: of basketball that can be really tough for the Knicks.
Speaker 3: So I got the Pacers in that series.
Speaker 2: Out this way okay, see dispatches of Denver in Game seven,
Speaker 2: and man when they turn it on, it just look
Speaker 2: there might be a little pressure on OKAC with Boston out,
Speaker 2: with Cleveland out, with Lebron out, with Stephen Curry out,
Speaker 2: and I could keep going. They are the Vegas favorite
Speaker 2: to win, not just against the Tea Wls, but the
Speaker 2: NBA Championship.
Speaker 1: Now Minnesota, I think they deserve a lot.
Speaker 2: More credit than most people are giving them, and maybe
Speaker 2: we should have paid more attention to them because they
Speaker 2: did finish the season well. But before I say you lose,
Speaker 2: who do you like out this way in the West?
Speaker 1: Okasee or Minnesota? And why?
Speaker 3: I think it's okay? See and their defense is so
Speaker 3: smothering and so physical and so intense that I could
Speaker 3: see it giving you know, Rudy Gobert a lot of problems.
Speaker 3: I see. Julius Randall has been as good as I've
Speaker 3: ever seen Julius Randall play in this postseason. But the
Speaker 3: way that they kind of bait you into trying to
Speaker 3: go one on one and then they had like three
Speaker 3: guys swarming you and swiping at the ball, I could
Speaker 3: see that going very sideways for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Look,
Speaker 3: this Golden State Warriors team was cooked without Stephen Curry.
Speaker 3: Jimmy Butler was injured, could not muster up enough to
Speaker 3: lead that team with any sort of fight against the
Speaker 3: Minnesota Timberwolves. And I think this Thunder team is way different.
Speaker 3: Their way younger, youngest title can any team ever Alex Caruso.
Speaker 3: The fact that they were able to get him in
Speaker 3: the trade which for Josh Giddy and then turn him
Speaker 3: into a Yokich stopper, that was insane and I got
Speaker 3: okay see. I've had to okay see all season long.
Speaker 3: I've been on this program saying that I think they're
Speaker 3: going to run through the postseason. Denver did a great
Speaker 3: job giving giving them a real battle in that semi finals.
Speaker 3: I think it's over in six games against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Speaker 3: I understand why Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves on rest
Speaker 3: would seem to be a popular pick. But I got
Speaker 3: OKAYC in that series. But I want to hand it
Speaker 3: to Julius Rando. He's proven me wrong this postseason. I
Speaker 3: did not think he was going to be a good
Speaker 3: postseason perform and you know, watching the Knicks as much
Speaker 3: as you do, that he can be very frustrating and
Speaker 3: the way that he plays isoball and just puts the
Speaker 3: blinders on in a taxi. But in some of those
Speaker 3: series Man against the Lakers and the way that they
Speaker 3: were trying to go small against the Timberwolves, like sometimes
Speaker 3: you need that bullyball. Sometimes you need that against the
Speaker 3: Golden se Warriors that are basically playing five guards out there.
Speaker 3: Julius Randam has been excellence this postseason. But I think
Speaker 3: against a huge, intense, physical thunder team, I think I
Speaker 3: think it's just gonna be too much of a test
Speaker 3: for the Minnesota Timberls. And I got Okac in sixt One.
Speaker 2: More thing, Actually, I want to kick the tires real
Speaker 2: quick because you reference the next trainer, you know, being
Speaker 2: awarded the the you know, the training staff of the year.
Speaker 1: I would just wonder if you're watching the same.
Speaker 2: Way I am, Like, I get Tom's I get Tom
Speaker 2: Thibodeau's ethos, like known him forever, he was Jeff's assistant.
Speaker 2: But when it's one hundred and ten to seventy four
Speaker 2: with five minutes left and Jalen Brunton is fighting over
Speaker 2: Xavier Tillman picks, don't like, at what point do you
Speaker 2: put aside who you are and sit your guys to
Speaker 2: make sure they're ready for the next round.
Speaker 3: Man is a tiger trait changes straight. I know, I mean,
Speaker 3: I know it's We've seen it. Unfortunately, we've seen this
Speaker 3: horror show, the Boogeyman. What happens at the end of
Speaker 3: these runs. It happened last year. They've I don't want
Speaker 3: to ran on their parade like absolutely they should celebrate
Speaker 3: since two thousands haven't made the conference finals. An incredible
Speaker 3: and incredible performance against the Boston Celtics. But that stuff
Speaker 3: makes me nervous, man, it does. And you know, with
Speaker 3: Jaylen Brunton being banged up this postseason and or at
Speaker 3: the end of the regular season that ankle, it just
Speaker 3: takes one. It just takes one weird freak play for
Speaker 3: that ankle to be rolled and then it's it's you know,
Speaker 3: the Tom Thibadou story all over again. But man, they're
Speaker 3: playing so well. Mitchell Robinson coming back from injury, the
Speaker 3: way that he's performed. It's a seven man rotation, and
Speaker 3: let's see what happens against the Indiana Pacers that are
Speaker 3: going to try to run them out of the gym.
Speaker 3: It's going to be a really, really fun series. I
Speaker 3: can't wait.
Speaker 1: Where can people go? Get the work?
Speaker 3: Tommy Oh, Tomdefinder dot Com, Yahoo Sports, the Big Number
Speaker 3: that I do with Dan Devine as well as the
Speaker 3: KOC show that I appear every week. We're gonna do
Speaker 3: a postgame show Thursday night after Minnesota, OKC. On Thursday night,
Speaker 3: We're gonna do a live show over at Yahoo Sports.
Speaker 3: So go check me out there and of course, pack
Speaker 3: your knives. Top Chef Recap show in full season right now.
Speaker 3: If you're a Top Chef fan, thanks so much.
Speaker 1: Bench All right, buddy, talk to you soon.
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