Speaker 1: Welcome back in Drive time on a Friday afternoon Orter Larson,
Speaker 1: Andy Larson. It's Larson and Larson edition of the Drive
Speaker 1: Spence Checkets.
Speaker 2: We'll be back with.
Speaker 1: You on a Monday, but we're recapping the first round
Speaker 1: of the NFL Draft. We'll hand it over to the
Speaker 1: second round in the five PM hour talking some PGA Tour,
Speaker 1: NBA playoffs, and more. Our next guest will switch gears
Speaker 1: a little bit and talk some NBA playoffs, Jazz offseason,
Speaker 1: and go from there. It is Zach Harper at Talk Hoops. Zach,
Speaker 1: how are we?
Speaker 3: My friend?
Speaker 2: Of the playoffs is always exhausting, but thankfully we had
Speaker 2: some of these teams willing to bow out early to
Speaker 2: ease up the schedule on some of us.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, there's there's a few series that
Speaker 1: are Last night it was it was looking iffy with
Speaker 1: Memphis and Oklahoma City, but a big comeback by the
Speaker 1: Thunder to kind of keep that one. I would say,
Speaker 1: decided three to zero lead for Oklahoma City. So no
Speaker 1: no questions there, Zach. First off, I do gotta ask
Speaker 1: what is your what does your playoff coverage look like? Obviously,
Speaker 1: the the eighty two game slate to me, feels longer
Speaker 1: and longer every year. It feels like getting through the
Speaker 1: regular season is less of fun and more of a
Speaker 1: chore to get to the postseason. It seems like this
Speaker 1: is more accurate year by year. What changes for you
Speaker 1: serious XM doing the the NBA stuff once we really
Speaker 1: get in zero dark thirty motives? I think Lebron used
Speaker 1: to call it playoff playoff time. What's it looked like
Speaker 1: for Zach Harper?
Speaker 2: I think this might be a perspective thing when you're
Speaker 2: when you're dealing with like a teardown and then a
Speaker 2: rebuild versus like, you know.
Speaker 3: Just covering everything.
Speaker 2: I think it gets longer when you're dealing with, you know,
Speaker 2: a sixteen win team versus dealing with everybody. Because I
Speaker 2: felt like the season flew by this year for me,
Speaker 2: where and sometimes it feels like a little bit of
Speaker 2: a slog at certain points, but I felt like it
Speaker 2: flew by and then all of a sudden, it was
Speaker 2: the playoffs. It's weird because you know, we have a
Speaker 2: lot a lot fewer games now, obviously, but it's it's
Speaker 2: felt so intense over this last week that I feel
Speaker 2: like I'm working more even though I'm working way less and.
Speaker 3: So I've been more.
Speaker 2: Exhausted, and I don't know why. I think it might
Speaker 2: just be more emotionally invested in all of this for
Speaker 2: some reason. Also, you know they're horseheads now involved in
Speaker 2: this with thanks to the wall at the Into It Dome,
Speaker 2: and that's that's kind of terrifying. It's you know, Godfather,
Speaker 2: you know, flashbacks and everything.
Speaker 3: So I just I think.
Speaker 2: The intensity of it all, seeing Kawhi Leonard back, seeing
Speaker 2: what Denver has gone through, seeing comebacks, and seeing the
Speaker 2: intensity of what like Nick's pissed, is like the coverage
Speaker 2: it feels more tiring to me now than the regular season.
Speaker 2: Regular season was actually kind of a breeze this year
Speaker 2: for some reason.
Speaker 4: Well, like I've talked a Will Hardy about this a
Speaker 4: lot too. Like just playoff basketball is a different thing.
Speaker 4: Like the amount of like matchup changes and adjustments and
Speaker 4: teams going into different zone coverages and shading off the guys.
Speaker 4: I mean, it just is tactically a different thing. And
Speaker 4: so like for me watching playoff basketball, it's really fun
Speaker 4: to notice all of those things on a possession by
Speaker 4: possession level. But like also it's a lot more taxing
Speaker 4: because you're just there is so much going on at
Speaker 4: a strategic level that is just you know, you don't
Speaker 4: usually see in the regular season, say for like a
Speaker 4: few matchups every year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it feels like you like in the coverage
Speaker 2: of it, you have to recognize it quicker and pay attention.
Speaker 2: Like it almost feels like you're you're deeper into these
Speaker 2: series covering it where you know, when when the when
Speaker 2: the Clippers go into kind of the zone, or you know,
Speaker 2: they're playing Ben Simmons at center now, and so you
Speaker 2: have to see, like, well, how are they going to
Speaker 2: defend Yokis with this? And he's just not going to
Speaker 2: murder everybody. And so when you're trying to figure out
Speaker 2: how they're covering this thing, or you're figuring out when
Speaker 2: you know, the Pistons go into kind of a pseudo
Speaker 2: zone against the Knicks whatever, like you're you're trying to
Speaker 2: figure out in real time, and it's you know, me,
Speaker 2: I'm a lazy person. So this is an exhausting formation.
Speaker 4: Let's talk about that. Where these playoffs are your stand
Speaker 4: I mean to me, I guess maybe the easiest way
Speaker 4: to look at it is which of these series are
Speaker 4: over and we're just waiting for them to play out
Speaker 4: and which of them are still competitive and could go
Speaker 4: either way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we can call it on Calves heat.
Speaker 2: I think we can call it on Celtics Magic. I
Speaker 2: think we can call it on obviously on thunder Grizzlies,
Speaker 2: you know, especially thunder Grizzlies, like maybe the Heat grab
Speaker 2: a game. Maybe maybe the magic grab a game because
Speaker 2: the injuries that the Celtics are dealing with, But I
Speaker 2: think all those are are done. The Rockets Warriors one
Speaker 2: is probably the most interesting to me because this Warrior's
Speaker 2: team wasn't any good for fifty one change, you know,
Speaker 2: like they were just kind of an average team with
Speaker 2: Steph Curry being awesome and Draymond Green being really good,
Speaker 2: and then Jimmy comes and now it's, oh my god,
Speaker 2: like this team could maybe win a title. Like you
Speaker 2: start seeing, you know, this this thing forming in front
Speaker 2: of your eyes, and all the stuff that Jimmy's done
Speaker 2: over the last five years and making Miami, you know,
Speaker 2: relevant on a playoff level, and obviously what the Warriors
Speaker 2: are capable of doing when they.
Speaker 3: Have a third guy with Steph and.
Speaker 2: Draymond, and so you see all that, you know, happening
Speaker 2: in a short amount of time. You're trying to figure
Speaker 2: out is this just a bump or is this like
Speaker 2: a championship contender bump in a really good conference. And
Speaker 2: then on the other side of that, it's a Houston
Speaker 2: team that is too young to realistically do anything in
Speaker 2: the playoffs. And at the same time, that defense is
Speaker 2: so elite and they do have stuff to kind of
Speaker 2: blow up what Golden State wants to do. And then
Speaker 2: Jimmy takes that hard fall in Game two, and now
Speaker 2: you don't know what.
Speaker 3: It's going to be.
Speaker 2: You don't know, you know what his pelvit contusion is
Speaker 2: going to do to affect the series. So I went
Speaker 2: from thinking, I think the Warriors can win the West
Speaker 2: two we don't know if they're gonna get out of
Speaker 2: the first round. And so I think that's super intriguing.
Speaker 2: I think the Clippers taking that, you know, the Clippers
Speaker 2: forever it was ah, they can be healthy. You know,
Speaker 2: we've we've done that conversation so many times that it's
Speaker 2: the boy who cried wolf, And now I think it's
Speaker 2: an actual situation where they're healthy. I've been saying for years,
Speaker 2: like I think Kawhi Leonard's season should like they should
Speaker 2: just hold him out until January first, right, like all
Speaker 2: that load management stuff is. You know, he's been the
Speaker 2: poster boy port but it's not that he doesn't want
Speaker 2: to play. It's that he's hurt. It's at his knee
Speaker 2: and his body can't hold up. And so he's his season,
Speaker 2: you know, at least for a game started on January
Speaker 2: fourth this year, and look at him, like, this team
Speaker 2: looks legitimately great, and so I think like they can,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe dispatch Denver quicker than we thought. And
Speaker 2: I think those two are the most intriguing series out
Speaker 2: there because of just just how many different ways they
Speaker 2: can go.
Speaker 1: What options does Denver really have. It seems like they've
Speaker 1: kind of thrown a bunch of stuff at the wall.
Speaker 1: Obviously a new head coach in the last month, which
Speaker 1: doesn't make playoff adjustments over the course of a seven
Speaker 1: game series all that easy. But it just seems like
Speaker 1: the Clippers have all the cards in this series. And
Speaker 1: and for Denver, you're kind of just waiting and hoping
Speaker 1: that Nikolayokich has forty point triple doubles and keeps you
Speaker 1: in these How do you see the remainder of maybe
Speaker 1: scheme shifts happening over these next four games.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's it's tough. Like I think their
Speaker 2: best option is just Yokic is great, but great in
Speaker 2: a way that gets Zubos into sound trouble early, right, Like,
Speaker 2: like I don't I still don't know how many people
Speaker 2: know outside of you know, LA and basketball, and there's
Speaker 2: like how many people know how great Zubots has been
Speaker 2: this year, Like he's truly been an elite center, especially defensively,
Speaker 2: and so if he gets into foul trouble, like they
Speaker 2: really it's Ben Simmons and it's you know, whatever's left
Speaker 2: of Drew Eubanks, Like that's those are their options regarding Jokic,
Speaker 2: And so if you can get Zubos into foul trouble early,
Speaker 2: then I do think it sets off, you know, a
Speaker 2: chain of events throughout the rest of the game where
Speaker 2: the Clippers really have to scramble. But if that doesn't happen,
Speaker 2: then you're just trying to match Toron Lou you know,
Speaker 2: schematically throughout And yeah, like if Aaron Gordon's hitting corner
Speaker 2: threes and if Michael Porter Junior is engaged and Jamal
Speaker 2: Murray has that two man game going, and you know,
Speaker 2: Christian Brown's like out in transition, Like, yeah, there's stuff
Speaker 2: that they do really well. And we saw in the
Speaker 2: first two games how even that matchup can look. But
Speaker 2: I still think we need to remember, like this team
Speaker 2: was a mess a month ago, right, Like this team
Speaker 2: was such a mess they fired their coach with three
Speaker 2: games to go, such a mess internally, and like the
Speaker 2: Wings were coming in because you Kis is the best
Speaker 2: player in the world, but you can, like they're not
Speaker 2: a deep team. You can you can pull on that
Speaker 2: thread and get them to fray. And so it's possible
Speaker 2: Jokicic just is a superhero and pulls them through the
Speaker 2: round and beats a really good Clippers team. And it's
Speaker 2: also possible they lose the next two games and all
Speaker 2: that craft from the owner, you know, saying I want
Speaker 2: them to play with joy and we got to rediscover
Speaker 2: our joy, Like this isn't eighth grade basketball, like this
Speaker 2: is this is the NBA, Like this isn't I just
Speaker 2: don't think they really understood what they were doing. If
Speaker 2: you want to fire Michael Malone, fine through the All
Speaker 2: Star break, or do it when you're eliminated. Like doing
Speaker 2: it when they did it is just does it doesn't
Speaker 2: make sense?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean do it when you first had starting
Speaker 4: having those conversations with him and his coaching staff and
Speaker 4: everyone else, like at the in the off season. But anyway, Zach,
Speaker 4: did you have a did you have a vote this year?
Speaker 3: I did? Cool? So did I.
Speaker 4: So that's fun. I had spots they did.
Speaker 1: They didn't ask the college football pre game hosts.
Speaker 4: I had Zubats on my All NBA third team this year.
Speaker 4: Like he's been that good and that critical for uh
Speaker 4: for what the Clippers do, and he is, like the
Speaker 4: advanced stats love him. The advanced stats have him as
Speaker 4: like the top twenty player in the league.
Speaker 3: Yeah he didn't.
Speaker 2: He didn't make my l NBA thirteen, but he was
Speaker 2: one of the first ones left off like he that
Speaker 2: was a really tough mission for me. He was, he
Speaker 2: was my most improved player. He was All Defense second
Speaker 2: team for me. I mean, he's just spectacular, like I
Speaker 2: he he didn't just anchor one of the best defense
Speaker 2: in the league. They run so much offense through him
Speaker 2: right like and through secondary actions and he's a good
Speaker 2: playmaker for them. It's not just all right, you know
Speaker 2: we're gonna dump it off to you. Let's let's finish
Speaker 2: high and and keep your hands tie and everything. Like,
Speaker 2: he is an exceptional big man who whether it's whether
Speaker 2: it's advanced stats, whether it's the eye test, I mean
Speaker 2: he is. He's one of the five six best big
Speaker 2: men in the league this year. I mean he's been
Speaker 2: he's been incredible. And I don't think, I don't think
Speaker 2: it's crazy to to say he's he's all NBA thirteen.
Speaker 2: Like I was right there and just ended up edging
Speaker 2: a couple of people over him. But yeah, I mean
Speaker 2: I think, you know, I thought Norm Powell should have
Speaker 2: been their All Star.
Speaker 3: Over James Harden. But if you're gonna.
Speaker 2: Tell, you know, ask me who was their best player
Speaker 2: all year? It's easily Zoobots for the entirety of the season.
Speaker 2: I mean he's he's been the guy that's carried them.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's and you know, carry them to where they
Speaker 4: are in the West. Speaking of awards, I want to
Speaker 4: ask you one kind of general question based on what
Speaker 4: we learned yesterday, and then a jazz specific question. Who
Speaker 4: did you end up voting for a DPO.
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 1: For me?
Speaker 4: I took Aman Thompson.
Speaker 3: I took Mobiley. I just thought wired to wire.
Speaker 2: You know, it was crazy to me when when when
Speaker 2: he was still the option right before his season was ended.
Speaker 2: He was such a heavy betting favorite. And look, he
Speaker 2: was great, don't get me wrong. Like the block number.
Speaker 2: He still led the league in total blocks despite missing
Speaker 2: the last two months. Like that's how far ahead he was.
Speaker 2: He still led the league in total blocks. He was
Speaker 2: great defensively, but he would go through waves even throughout
Speaker 2: games where he was just slow. The effort was, you know,
Speaker 2: he was kind of still learning how to keep his
Speaker 2: energy high. I thought Mobley was right there with him
Speaker 2: throughout that entire season until Wemby's season ended. It's really
Speaker 2: hard for me to give it to a guard, give
Speaker 2: it to a wing over a big man because of
Speaker 2: the responsibilities. I'm not saying it's impossible, it's just really hard.
Speaker 3: I thought Thompson.
Speaker 2: Was great, he's all He's on my All Defense first team.
Speaker 2: But I just thought Mobley had the most consistent season
Speaker 2: throughout because of the responsibilities, because of what he meant
Speaker 2: like in the past past seasons, it was he was
Speaker 2: really good defensively. But if Jared Jared Allen was on
Speaker 2: the floor, you know, they fell off a cliff defensively.
Speaker 3: Now it's the opposite.
Speaker 2: Now it doesn't matter if Jared Allen's on the floor,
Speaker 2: they're great defensively when he's on, and then if if
Speaker 2: he's off the floor and Jared Allen's on, they're like,
Speaker 2: they're terrible. So I just I thought that that consistency
Speaker 2: throughout it just belonged to motly. But but I like,
Speaker 2: I don't have a problem with Doan Thompson getting votes
Speaker 2: like he was.
Speaker 4: He was awesome, and it like for me it was
Speaker 4: eva mob we played so well and the Cavs defense
Speaker 4: was so great at the beginning of the year and
Speaker 4: then just kind of fell off a little bit at
Speaker 4: the end of the year. Yeah, that that, you know,
Speaker 4: kind of pushed me to go and end up in
Speaker 4: a different direction. But and then the kind of the
Speaker 4: Jazz Award question I wanted to ask, is all rookies
Speaker 4: second team or heck first team? Did you give any
Speaker 4: consideration to Kyle Philipowski or Isaiah Collier. Uh, the two
Speaker 4: rookies here that I thought had a had a realistic
Speaker 4: shot at it.
Speaker 2: I didn't really consider Philipowski I just I like, he
Speaker 2: was fine, but I didn't think, like for the entire
Speaker 2: of the season that he was really in the mix with.
Speaker 3: The other guys.
Speaker 2: I thought he had, you know, a good push at
Speaker 2: the end, but I just I didn't think it was
Speaker 2: consistent enough. Collier, for sure was was in the mix
Speaker 2: for me. I'm trying to remember if I picked him man,
Speaker 2: Like I'm looking, I'm looking it up because I know
Speaker 2: he was. He was on the edge for me at
Speaker 2: the at the end, and I'm I'm trying to fill
Speaker 2: time as I get to the same that the downloaded
Speaker 2: a full time for you.
Speaker 4: Like, So the way this works is you get we
Speaker 4: got this media ballot, and we had like sixteen hours
Speaker 4: to actually fill it out, so which is actually not
Speaker 4: a ton of time. And then once you fill it out,
Speaker 4: and like for me, I like crammed into the last
Speaker 4: ten minutes, right, So I'm I'm trying to fill out
Speaker 4: all these form fields in the last ten minutes and
Speaker 4: I finally get it in at like four oh one.
Speaker 4: I'm not even trying made the deadline. And then once
Speaker 4: it's done, it gives you like a PDF at the
Speaker 4: end so you can save and remember your results. For
Speaker 4: moments like this when you talk about him on the
Speaker 4: radio later. But I mean it's like that, the fifty
Speaker 4: different players to you know, fifty different slots to choose
Speaker 4: from here, no joke, And so I absolutely do not
Speaker 4: blame you for not remembering your all rookie second team
Speaker 4: and the worst you know, rookie class in recent memory.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, my last two spots because it was between
Speaker 2: three guys, and Kyllier was was one of those three guys.
Speaker 2: But my last two spots did go to Bub Carrington
Speaker 2: and it went to Donovan Klingon. I thought Klingon had
Speaker 2: had a slow start to the year, but I thought
Speaker 2: he was excellent the second half of the season just
Speaker 2: for what they needed him to do, Like they were
Speaker 2: pretty good defensively, and they were good when he was
Speaker 2: on the floor. I know Bub Carrington didn't shoot well.
Speaker 2: I thought he played really well, and I know the
Speaker 2: Wizards were disaster, but I actually thought.
Speaker 3: Like when he was on the.
Speaker 2: Court for what they were trying to do development wise,
Speaker 2: I thought he was really important to how the rest
Speaker 2: of the young players played. Kyllier was really was really
Speaker 2: good distributing the ball. I didn't see a whole lot
Speaker 2: outside of that, right, and I don't know if I
Speaker 2: can just give it based on like he racked up
Speaker 2: some assists, I know, like the whole angle of oh
Speaker 2: Brooke John Stockton's record, which sounds great until you, like
Speaker 2: you put some context to it. I think if Collier
Speaker 2: had had thrown, I think Collier Collier had you know,
Speaker 2: just been a little bit more consistent making shots throughout
Speaker 2: the year, some of the decision making had been better
Speaker 2: throughout the year. I think he I think he gets
Speaker 2: that spot over Carrington. I think Klingon probably makes it
Speaker 2: no matter what, but it was right there between between
Speaker 2: those three for those last two spots.
Speaker 4: I will say this, Bob Carrington is a legend here
Speaker 4: in Utah because of him making the game winner in
Speaker 4: Game eighteen and pushing the Jazz down to be the
Speaker 4: worst team in the league, guaranteeing the top five pick
Speaker 4: in this year's draft.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think I think if you if
Speaker 2: that puts him over the top for Collier All Rookie
Speaker 2: second Team, I think you've got to think. I think
Speaker 2: Jazz fans will take that.
Speaker 4: Right honorary Jazz Man for life.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Carrington.
Speaker 1: The other the other tough part about these like full
Speaker 1: season awards, is that you're, especially in today's age, you're
Speaker 1: being asked to evaluate players based on an eighty two
Speaker 1: game regular season slate where a lot of the best players,
Speaker 1: literally a lot of the best players are waiting until
Speaker 1: game fifty sixty seventy to really turn it on. Which
Speaker 1: I've always thought the all the All NBA, the MVP,
Speaker 1: like the big awards, should be like a full season
Speaker 1: thing after postseason. But that's a different conversation, Zach. I
Speaker 1: do want to I do want to ask a kind
Speaker 1: of a two parter relating to this, the the MVP Award.
Speaker 1: I think it's Shay's. We'll see how it goes. I
Speaker 1: do want to ask you how that how that broke
Speaker 1: down in your ballot. But it's it's a two part
Speaker 1: question because I want to I want to get your
Speaker 1: read yes on the MVP Award, but also on another debate,
Speaker 1: another conversation around uh, who might be the best player
Speaker 1: in the world today? Because I listen, I know nikolea.
Speaker 1: Jokic has held that crown, I think kind of undisputedly
Speaker 1: for the last couple of years. Before that, it, if
Speaker 1: we're being honest, was probably fifteen years of Lebron James
Speaker 1: and right now, as of today, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: Nicola still has a really really good argument. I don't
Speaker 1: know if the way he played defense pretty much all
Speaker 1: year can really allow you to give him that label.
Speaker 1: But I'll just lay it out for you. Who is
Speaker 1: your MVP and who is as of today twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: the best basketball player of the planet, because those are
Speaker 1: two different things.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Shaye won MVP for me. I like, look, Jokic
Speaker 2: was phenomenal. He had a historic season. Shay also had
Speaker 2: a historic season. No one, no one's ever had the
Speaker 2: season that Shay had, and that's yeh. Something that I've
Speaker 2: tried to keep into context is every time I had
Speaker 2: a conversation with someone, whether in the league, whether friends,
Speaker 2: whether colleagues, whatever, people like, man, but jokicch no one's
Speaker 2: ever done this, I'm like, yeah, but no one's ever
Speaker 2: done what she's doing, right, And so it's it's just different.
Speaker 2: Like a thirty point triple double, this is incredible.
Speaker 3: Like the shooting numbers, the.
Speaker 2: Three point percent, Yeah, it's all great, Like, don't get
Speaker 2: me wrong, but when you also break down what she's doing,
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about historic seasons. We like it
Speaker 2: all matters, right, Like, so it's just valuing certain things
Speaker 2: in certain ways. And to me, I didn't really fault
Speaker 2: Jokic for the defense. I don't really put that on him,
Speaker 2: like he had so much responsibility. He's become a good defender,
Speaker 2: he had so much responsibility trying to drag a poorly
Speaker 2: put together team with so many injuries through that Aaron
Speaker 2: Gordon played forty eight games, like there's only so much
Speaker 2: he can do, right, And I just didn't like, I
Speaker 2: didn't put like he's proven at this point in the
Speaker 2: last three four years he's a good defender, Like he
Speaker 2: used to be an atrocious defender.
Speaker 3: He's a good.
Speaker 2: Defender now, not even like he can get by, Like
Speaker 2: he's a good defender. I didn't put that on him
Speaker 2: this year, So I didn't I didn't penalize him for that.
Speaker 2: Something I've gotten away from the last two years is
Speaker 2: that hypothetical stuff of like if you swapped them, hif
Speaker 2: you did it, Like those are dumb. Those are dumb
Speaker 2: arguments to me, Like if you want to do that,
Speaker 2: that's fine, but I no longer do that, because like
Speaker 2: what we should just deal with what's in front of us,
Speaker 2: the reality, right, Like, that's how I'm I'm choosing to
Speaker 2: do it from now on, like and because it just
Speaker 2: it it brings in too much muddying of the waters
Speaker 2: and murkiness and everything, and I just like, we've got
Speaker 2: enough to to parse with this. I don't need to
Speaker 2: bring in fantasy way of what if, what if?
Speaker 3: Left and right?
Speaker 2: And so to me, I felt like they were pretty
Speaker 2: much even as players and season or seasons that they
Speaker 2: were having, just in very different ways. And so then
Speaker 2: what's the tiebreaker? I think Shae's team won.
Speaker 3: Eighteen more games.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like, so it's like if that, if the players
Speaker 2: are pretty much equal in terms of the seasons they're having,
Speaker 2: then ty goes to who's had more team success because
Speaker 2: that should matter, Like that should matter on some level.
Speaker 2: And so to me, that's the reason Shay got it
Speaker 2: over Yokic is because I do think we should reward
Speaker 2: winning and I do think that has to matter on
Speaker 2: some level. As in terms of like who's the best
Speaker 2: player in the world.
Speaker 3: It's Jokic. It's not close.
Speaker 2: It's just like I don't know, I don't know anyone
Speaker 2: who can do what he does. I don't think Giannis
Speaker 2: is close. I don't think Shay's close. I don't think
Speaker 2: any of these guys are close. You know, it'll be
Speaker 2: Wendy couple of years, but it's not him yet. I
Speaker 2: just I don't know how anybody affects the game the
Speaker 2: way that he does. Like it is, he is the
Speaker 2: strongest player in the league. He is maybe the most
Speaker 2: skilled player in the league. He's the best shot maker
Speaker 2: in the league. He's arguably the best passer in the league.
Speaker 2: In the league, you know, with some pretty elite all
Speaker 2: time passers. I mean, he is just special in every
Speaker 2: single way. He's become an elite three point shooter. The
Speaker 2: way that you stop him is if you you destroy
Speaker 2: the team he plays for in the eight minutes he
Speaker 2: doesn't play like that's how you beat him, Like that's
Speaker 2: that's how good he is. Like, I just I don't
Speaker 2: think there.
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't think the defensive slippage this year is because
Speaker 2: he can't do it anymore. I think it's because he's
Speaker 2: a huge Like we stretch, we put him to the
Speaker 2: limits of his of his being a human.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Zach, one more question before we gets you out
Speaker 1: of here. We'll get back to a little bit of
Speaker 1: playoffs and set you loose. You're la guy now, but
Speaker 1: of course got some some history in Minnesota. That series
Speaker 1: is tied at one to one. They're back in action
Speaker 1: tonight seven thirty pm Mountain Time. It feels like in
Speaker 1: the second half of Game one, and of course in
Speaker 1: Game two, the Lakers really found something defensively against Anthony Edwards.
Speaker 1: And once you solve that, it seems like you got
Speaker 1: a pretty good recipe to beat Uh Minnesota, Is that
Speaker 1: how you saw it playing out? And and uh, what's
Speaker 1: the what's the next move from Minnesota to try to
Speaker 1: reverse that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, yeah, they found something. I think a
Speaker 2: lot of that is just early recognized, early recognition decision making,
Speaker 2: and not just with ant but as he makes that
Speaker 2: initial pass, the Wolves just have to move right like
Speaker 2: they have to They have to be on the move
Speaker 2: catching the ball, have already made the decision of what
Speaker 2: they're doing. Like it's all about just kind of these
Speaker 2: early decisions or these predecisions. As as they can't react
Speaker 2: to what's going on, they have to be proactive. When
Speaker 2: they're proactive, they demolish everybody. Like they're so proactive when
Speaker 2: they play Denver because they seem to know what Denver
Speaker 2: is going to do next defensively, and so it's why
Speaker 2: they're so successful against them. I think they can get
Speaker 2: there against the Lakers in the series, but they can't.
Speaker 3: Wait four or five games to do it.
Speaker 2: They did it in Game one for the most part,
Speaker 2: and they looked great. I think the key is still
Speaker 2: how they utilize their size. They were bullies. They were bigger.
Speaker 2: I mean, they are bigger than LA, but they were
Speaker 2: bullies in Game one. They were physical, and they utilize
Speaker 2: that to their advantage. You know, you don't just, like obviously,
Speaker 2: just go post up Rudy against anybody because he's bigger.
Speaker 2: It's going to come with like backtaps on offensive rebounds
Speaker 2: and keeping possessions alive and the scramble that that creates
Speaker 2: at the three point line and how they knock those
Speaker 2: down and everything. If they don't turn the ball over,
Speaker 2: I don't think the Lakers can keep them from scoring efficiently.
Speaker 2: And then in that case, it's just, you know, can
Speaker 2: you end those possessions enough on the other end, which
Speaker 2: I think they can because their defenses is still really elite.
Speaker 2: I think whoever wins tonight is going to win the series.
Speaker 2: I think it's probably gonna go six er or it's
Speaker 2: I think it's most likely gonna go seven. But I
Speaker 2: think whoever wins tonight will have control of the series.
Speaker 2: We do know that Minnesota is really good at keeping
Speaker 2: that that calm throughout a series if it's going back
Speaker 2: and forth. We saw that against Denver. I do think
Speaker 2: Anthony Edwards with his three point shot is a different
Speaker 2: animal than what we saw last year against Dallas. But
Speaker 2: Luca loves the torture Rudy, So you know, that's the
Speaker 2: factor that I don't know that Minnesota.
Speaker 3: Can solve yet.
Speaker 1: That is Zach Harper. You can find him at Talk
Speaker 1: Hoops and find them, I'm sure doing a bunch of
Speaker 1: serious XM satellite radio stuff. Of course Cinophobe with with
Speaker 1: our other friends here on the network. Zach, let the
Speaker 1: folks know what's what's to be released in the near future.
Speaker 1: Maybe just a playoff coverage've gotten in the next couple weeks.
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Speaker 3: Zach Harper appreciate your.
Speaker 2: Time, dude. Thanks, Thank you guys any time.
Speaker 1: Always fun chatting with our guys. Zach Harper of The
Speaker 1: Athletic always appreciate his time.