Speaker 1: This is the Baseline, discussing the hot button topics of.
Speaker 2: The nb A.
Speaker 1: Welcome everybody, your tune to the Baseline. Cali Warrnt Shaw
Speaker 1: discussing the hot button topics of the nb A very
Speaker 1: very busy episode of the Baseline could be somber, could
Speaker 1: be as what the Mexicans called the Day of the Dead.
Speaker 1: But we're gonna put in some double work, man, because
Speaker 1: a lot has happened in the last forty eight hours.
Speaker 1: But as always, man, always great to do with my
Speaker 1: right hand man, brother from another brother, my brother Warrant Shaw,
Speaker 1: repping out of Fort Florida, Deville, Florida. What's good, mister Shaw?
Speaker 1: How are you feeling? What was that movie? I think
Speaker 1: it was our generation. It's called Flatliners? Is that that? That?
Speaker 1: That real interesting? You know what I'm saying? Uh, noir type?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's it's always real somber. You know,
Speaker 2: when you're in this line of work and then you
Speaker 2: have to go and you know, bury somebody you love
Speaker 2: and you know that day has come upon us, you
Speaker 2: know here on the Baseline MBA Podcast, as our beloved
Speaker 2: you know, is one of the teams that will be
Speaker 2: autop seats. This this afternoon. So it's a really, really
Speaker 2: somber note. But the job must be done, the show
Speaker 2: must go on. You need to do the thing that
Speaker 2: we would ordinarily do for any other team. Despite the
Speaker 2: displeasure that I'm going to take it, I'm actually.
Speaker 1: Well, see you have level of displeasure for this, But
Speaker 1: I actually am very intrigued, very intrigued, Like I am fascinated.
Speaker 1: I it's one of like it's like one of those
Speaker 1: mad villains. It's like, you know, I don't know if
Speaker 1: I should feel bad, but I am fascinated on where
Speaker 1: we might allow this to go because there's so many
Speaker 1: different directions that could be taken from what transpired, and
Speaker 1: I think one thing is definitely for certain Shaw the
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference has proven to us yet again that you're
Speaker 1: going to have more questions than answers about these teams
Speaker 1: and the way that these teams were eliminated. So if
Speaker 1: people are not cluing in, clearly our autopsy is going
Speaker 1: to be covering the Boss and Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers,
Speaker 1: no surprise there, But it's also going to elevate the
Speaker 1: questions on the validity of how strong these teams are
Speaker 1: because if you really think about it, sew in this generation,
Speaker 1: I don't think you can honestly say that there is
Speaker 1: a dynastic franchise in the making anytime soon. Now we
Speaker 1: can deliberate between what's going to cause that, what's triggering that,
Speaker 1: what the effect of that is. But I can honestly
Speaker 1: say that when you look at the talent of the rosters,
Speaker 1: it's hard for me to imagine that there is such
Speaker 1: fragility and lack of sustainability in the evolution of greatness
Speaker 1: in some of these teams that have been constructed. And
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's because of the player themselves,
Speaker 1: if it's the organization, or if it's because of what
Speaker 1: other teams are doing in order to strategically counter the
Speaker 1: style of play or the culture of how that team
Speaker 1: operates within. Again, it's something that can extend itself on.
Speaker 1: But if you want too legitimate test cases for us
Speaker 1: to have to question whether or not there is another
Speaker 1: run left in these teams if you kept them as is,
Speaker 1: I challenge you to say whether or not that will
Speaker 1: it will not be the case. And I think this
Speaker 1: we're going to be speaking to in our edition of
Speaker 1: the Baseline this week.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, there's a lot of different
Speaker 2: threads to kind of to pull on for both of
Speaker 2: these teams, two of the elite teams in the Eastern
Speaker 2: Conference in terms of record, and then what expectations were
Speaker 2: going into the playoffs. And I think the playoffs themselves
Speaker 2: are weird because, as I think you're indicating, the aspect
Speaker 2: of truly billing dynasties is really hard and there's a
Speaker 2: lot of reasons for that. I think primarily in the
Speaker 2: case of Boston is going to be the aspect of
Speaker 2: the finances. You end up being a second apron team.
Speaker 2: You're paying X amount of dollars. Can you keep this
Speaker 2: team together? You know when it's going to cost you
Speaker 2: literally double and triple the actual salaries that you're paying
Speaker 2: out just because of the punitive taxes that are involved
Speaker 2: in there too. So Adam Silver's NBA is upon us,
Speaker 2: as many on X have said, you know, parody is
Speaker 2: here in the NBA in a very very real way.
Speaker 2: And yeah, there's some conversation whether that's that's good or not.
Speaker 2: But two to really struggling sorrys, two teams that really
Speaker 2: struggle here in the second round are ultimately we're eliminated,
Speaker 2: and as we're recording, we don't know the outcome of
Speaker 2: a Game seven for the number one team in the NBA,
Speaker 2: you know, with the Oklahoma City Thunder as well too, So
Speaker 2: by the time this comes out, we will have that
Speaker 2: answer whether or not they get to move on. But
Speaker 2: really interesting that teams that were dominant in the regular
Speaker 2: seasons are now kind of falling to the middle of
Speaker 2: the pack, if you will, in terms of the regular season,
Speaker 2: which also means maybe the regular season doesn't matter as
Speaker 2: much as we thought it did. Yeah. Yeah, so a.
Speaker 1: Lot of interesting, you know what I'm saying, threads to
Speaker 1: pull out. Very excited for us to be able to
Speaker 1: kind of dig into that, unfortunately at the expense of
Speaker 1: our team, you know, as one of those teams that
Speaker 1: we're putting on the slab this week in the autopsy report.
Speaker 1: And then also, you know, it's important, man, we got
Speaker 1: to cover the Eastern Conference Finals, right right. The ECF
Speaker 1: is now been set between the Indiana Pacers and the
Speaker 1: New York Knicks, So we'll kind of give our perspective
Speaker 1: on that and give our takes about who's going to
Speaker 1: advance to the NBA Finals. As a representative of the
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference, so a lot to get into. As always,
Speaker 1: we appreciate you and yours for hopping on board with
Speaker 1: us this week. Be sure to get on my manshaw
Speaker 1: at the Warrenshaw and you can get at me at
Speaker 1: game face lead to show Twitter handle at NBA Baseline
Speaker 1: available in all the major platforms you know where to
Speaker 1: find this. You can go to www dot Thebaseline NBA
Speaker 1: dot com in order to check out not just this episode,
Speaker 1: but also all of the episodes that we got rolling out.
Speaker 1: And if you're catching us on the YouTube channel and
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Speaker 1: middle of the screen, you know that we rocks with
Speaker 1: the nineteen Media Group family. So we'd like to say
Speaker 1: hello to you and yours, so our visual listeners, and
Speaker 1: you can always check out the great content of creators
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Speaker 1: only check us, but the family of great content creators
Speaker 1: that have been rolling out and doing that thing as
Speaker 1: part of the nineteen Media Family only does so. Before
Speaker 1: we get into our digs of the coveted autopsy report,
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Speaker 1: Run your game coming up, Sean, I put the teams
Speaker 1: on the slab. You know it's time for them autopsy report.
Speaker 1: Don't miss it here on the Baseline. We are back.
Speaker 1: Calie Warrenshaw. The Baseline NBA Podcast time now for us
Speaker 1: to do the coveted autopsy report, and the first team
Speaker 1: that we're gonna put on the slab shaw is going
Speaker 1: to be the reigning defending champions. I figured, you know,
Speaker 1: it was interesting. I was saying to myself, should we
Speaker 1: start with the Calves or should we start with the Celtics?
Speaker 1: And I think it's only right that we start with
Speaker 1: the Boss of Celtics. Not because they were the last
Speaker 1: team to get knocked out as part of our discussion
Speaker 1: for the autopsy report, but they are the def champions.
Speaker 1: And I think that there's a lot of threads that
Speaker 1: have to be pulled out when you look at the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics, because if you go back a year, right,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people questioned the validity of
Speaker 1: the championship that the Boss and Celtics won. Now I'm
Speaker 1: not questioning it, and I know you weren't questioning it,
Speaker 1: but we were certainly not going to go out on
Speaker 1: a limb and say, among the great Boston Celtics teams,
Speaker 1: you were among one of the greatest. They may have
Speaker 1: put up really impressive numbers, right, numbers that for this
Speaker 1: generation may spark some kind of a debate about how
Speaker 1: legitimately great, they could have been right in comparison to others,
Speaker 1: but I think in the grand scheme of things, we
Speaker 1: understood this was a well built team built to win
Speaker 1: today's NBA championship. Okay, they literally had a strategy. They
Speaker 1: literally had a counter for every team that was out
Speaker 1: there if and went healthy. I think going into this
Speaker 1: season how we really wanted to find out the level
Speaker 1: of greatness that this team can possibly ascend to. And
Speaker 1: it wasn't a question of whether or not they were
Speaker 1: going to win another championship for us to have that conversation,
Speaker 1: I think it was a question of how dominant could
Speaker 1: they be in the regular season and how dominant can
Speaker 1: they be against any of the teams that we all
Speaker 1: still have question marks about who would actually still be
Speaker 1: able to be able to compete and legitimately hang with
Speaker 1: the Boston Celtics. And I think we focus a lot
Speaker 1: of attention on teams on the Western Conference because that
Speaker 1: was a toss up more so than what we were
Speaker 1: worrying about with the Boston Celtics. But I think as
Speaker 1: we watched this regular season playout, shaw it was very
Speaker 1: evident that the Boston Celtics clearly were not the team
Speaker 1: of last year, and I don't think that they clearly
Speaker 1: are the team that I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: thought that with the evolution of Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum,
Speaker 1: that this is the equation of that dynamic duo that
Speaker 1: will be the building block of multiple, multiple championships, you know,
Speaker 1: moving forward. I think a lot of that now has
Speaker 1: been brought to light because of the way the Boston
Speaker 1: Celtics performed in this playoff run.
Speaker 2: I mean, where to start, uh with this? With this
Speaker 2: organization that I'll buy most people's accounts was at least
Speaker 2: had the second best ozs of whin the NBA Championship.
Speaker 2: So the playoffs started, and you know, there was something
Speaker 2: that wasn't quite right. So I don't want to get
Speaker 2: lost to Melo Sauce because a lot todd pack here, right.
Speaker 2: Let me even go before the playoffs. The regular season
Speaker 2: ended and they were looking like kind of like themselves
Speaker 2: from last year. They finished the season kind of regularly dominated,
Speaker 2: if you will, But there were times in the season
Speaker 2: you're like, oh, they don't look quite right, but they're
Speaker 2: the Shams. SNT worry about them. They'll turn it on.
Speaker 2: They'll turn it on, they'll turn it on. I think
Speaker 2: they took the Knicks too lightly, I you know, and
Speaker 2: I think we can't have this conversation without crediting New
Speaker 2: York for what they were able to do and coming
Speaker 2: back in the first two games and then ultimately put
Speaker 2: in the nail of a coffin in an emphatic way
Speaker 2: in game six. But the Celtics seem to take their
Speaker 2: regular season and success against New York to some level of,
Speaker 2: you know, of advantage, and they took it for granted,
Speaker 2: and then in those first two games got basically surprised,
Speaker 2: and now we're playing from behind on their heels, and
Speaker 2: then you put yourself in a position where you're having
Speaker 2: not necessarily play harder because you're always playing harder in
Speaker 2: the playoffs, but there's there's a lot of stress now
Speaker 2: when trying to do what you were trying to do
Speaker 2: in terms of terms repeating. Tatum goes down unfortunately now
Speaker 2: for a very very long time with the Achilles injuries.
Speaker 2: And then yeah, they have a great showing, if you will,
Speaker 2: in terms of some pride in game five, but ultimately
Speaker 2: just get Wax and mulliwopped in game six to me
Speaker 2: where Boston struggles here now is in the terms of
Speaker 2: their longevity of who they ultimately want to become, because
Speaker 2: the questions is like, well, Isola is Mossoula really a
Speaker 2: great coaches has now come back up? Are the are? Are?
Speaker 2: Can you keep this team together? Is ultimately kind of
Speaker 2: coming up? Is Jenna Brown? I'm that guy at fifty
Speaker 2: million dollars. Everything is now in flux. When last year
Speaker 2: we were like, hey, this is a great team that
Speaker 2: might be on a two or maybe even a three
Speaker 2: year run. That timeline now is absolutely thrown out the window.
Speaker 2: It is branched off into some ugly multiverse situation here
Speaker 2: now that not even Brad Stevens could have predicted it's
Speaker 2: going to take place.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not going to give them a pass for
Speaker 1: what they did in this this playoff series with the
Speaker 1: New York Knicks, but I am not going to lean
Speaker 1: in on this was the only incident that we've seen
Speaker 1: regarding this, this Bus and Celtics team. I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: on this all because you know how I am about this.
Speaker 1: I've been about this about this life when it comes
Speaker 1: to what wins championships, and people can sit here and
Speaker 1: argue with me up and down, we can agree to
Speaker 1: disagree on certain things. I understand the goal is to
Speaker 1: score the basketball, but the other goal as well too
Speaker 1: is to prevent the other team from scoring more points
Speaker 1: than you. And if you have already sablished that you're
Speaker 1: scoring more points than the other team, it is your
Speaker 1: role to ensure to win the game that at the
Speaker 1: end that team doesn't score more points than you. Okay,
Speaker 1: so we can sit here and we can you know,
Speaker 1: act like this isn't something that hasn't been a trend
Speaker 1: with the Boston Celtics. But you and I have been
Speaker 1: distressed about what we've seen from this Boston Celtics team
Speaker 1: going back to last year. This inateability to look like
Speaker 1: you're gonna go out and to use your terminology, you
Speaker 1: just use mollywop. Teams establish twenty three, twenty four, twenty
Speaker 1: five point leads and then suddenly between the third and
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter you allow a team to suddenly find
Speaker 1: their way. It's almost as if they stop scoring the basketball,
Speaker 1: they lose all sense of self. And I've been saying
Speaker 1: this even from when they win that championship against the
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks to their prosperity, wasn't gonna be about how
Speaker 1: statistically nice they look and shooting the threes and everything.
Speaker 1: It was what they were doing defensively. And I'm saying
Speaker 1: to this, I'm saying this now, Shaw, because this is
Speaker 1: why I think it's creeping up about questioning whether or
Speaker 1: not this team can stay together. I think the elixir
Speaker 1: that the Celtics afforded themselves having was a real great
Speaker 1: floor general in a Drew Holiday going out there and
Speaker 1: leaning on the things that he knew the Celtics needed
Speaker 1: to keep consistent and elevate in order for them to
Speaker 1: give themselves a chance to win that championship. You saw
Speaker 1: Drew Holiday this season take a step back. I think,
Speaker 1: by all accounts, Derek White took a step back defensively.
Speaker 1: And I think the Celtics as a team, even though
Speaker 1: the numbers may speak to that, they were still like
Speaker 1: a top five team defensively. And we can use defensive
Speaker 1: rating and all that stuff, Shaw, nothing excuses you putting
Speaker 1: a twenty point mark on a team and then you
Speaker 1: go into the second half and you inherently lose the
Speaker 1: third and fourth quarter because you stopped defending. Not that
Speaker 1: you stopped scoring, you stopped defending, and that is my
Speaker 1: biggest bass. They both they stop defending and sing. But
Speaker 1: I think it's connective shaw. I think once the shots
Speaker 1: are no longer falling for them, they and listen. This
Speaker 1: is very reminiscent of what we've seen with the Golden
Speaker 1: State Warriors during their heyday. They stopped scoring the basketball,
Speaker 1: and as all of a sudden, they just stopped stopping teams.
Speaker 1: It wasn't as if, you know, when you were shooting
Speaker 1: the lights out of the place, that you completely demoralize
Speaker 1: a team. If a team figures out a way that
Speaker 1: they can start scoring the basketball, it has to be
Speaker 1: that defensively, you are I guess, imposing your will. And
Speaker 1: I just saw that this Celtics team lacked that level
Speaker 1: of imposing their will. Defensively. They leaned too much on
Speaker 1: the fact that if we drop them down, you know,
Speaker 1: drop twenty three pointers on them, they'll just kind of
Speaker 1: fade away into the sunset, you know. And to your point,
Speaker 1: you play against a team like the New York Knicks,
Speaker 1: who are realistically as good as they are off, they
Speaker 1: are a slow momentum gathering offensive team. They don't find
Speaker 1: their mark until they get to those middling second quarter,
Speaker 1: third quarters and to me, I think it was egregious
Speaker 1: on Joe Mizzula's part to not point out to that
Speaker 1: Celtics team when you're playing against teams like that, you
Speaker 1: have got to win the third quarter. I'm gonna leave
Speaker 1: it at that part because I know that there's more
Speaker 1: that we want to go at this. But if you
Speaker 1: really look at this across the board, Shaw and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna harken this back to win the Celtics during the
Speaker 1: eight to the twelve seasons. What killed them from winning
Speaker 1: those championships when they played against the better teams They
Speaker 1: did not win the third quarter. They lost the third
Speaker 1: and eventually evened out or lost the fourth quarter. And
Speaker 1: you cannot afford to do that against teams in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: And if you practice those habits in the regular season,
Speaker 1: they will doom to repeat and haunt you in the
Speaker 1: most critical times, which in this case would be the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Boston is going to maybe they'll take the high road,
Speaker 2: and I'm not going to let the mufflelog either. But inevitably,
Speaker 2: this is not a healthy team. And you needed health
Speaker 2: and you needed luck, and we said going into this
Speaker 2: that porzingis needed to be healthy. They weren't going to
Speaker 2: be able to fly through the playoffs without of porzingis
Speaker 2: like they did last year. I don't know what is
Speaker 2: going on, you know, with his respiratory infectioning, the long COVID,
Speaker 2: whatever it is, but he was a literal walking zombie
Speaker 2: out there on the floor.
Speaker 1: That was the liability, absolute liability.
Speaker 2: Then there's the aspect of Jaylen Brown's need and so
Speaker 2: there's things schematically that I'm I'm going to struggle with,
Speaker 2: you know, understanding. But if Jalen is not healthy, and yes,
Speaker 2: he's raising his hand because he is the guy, the
Speaker 2: fifty five sixty million dollar guy. Now, especially with Tatum down,
Speaker 2: his ability to try to slow down to Jelen Brunson
Speaker 2: is not what it was. One because he's now compromised.
Speaker 2: Two because Jaylen Brunson is a different type of shifty
Speaker 2: than Luka Doncicche last year. Because obviously bigger, it doesn't
Speaker 2: have as much bounce and wiggle Jalen Jalen Brunson stop
Speaker 2: and go is just like it's very hard for somebody
Speaker 2: who's going to be taller, you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: and maybe not less as mobile. And I thought that
Speaker 2: was why I commend Massula and Brown for maybe at
Speaker 2: least wanting to try to do that. I don't know
Speaker 2: that that was the right matchup, but White was also
Speaker 2: getting cooked. Holiday was also getting cooked. So let me
Speaker 2: finish because it also leads me into the aspect that
Speaker 2: Missoula doesn't have a counter. They didn't have the zone
Speaker 2: to kind of fall back into to try to force
Speaker 2: New York to do something else. They just say, this
Speaker 2: is what we know, this is what we do. And
Speaker 2: the difference from this year to last year is that
Speaker 2: even in that series, like, yes, they shot a bunch
Speaker 2: of threes last year, but Tatum obviously is a big
Speaker 2: part of what they did last year. But they stopped
Speaker 2: shooting threes and started going to the basket and had
Speaker 2: better ways in essence to counter defensively even if they
Speaker 2: were sticking in man demand. Those things didn't exist for
Speaker 2: them this year because of the injuries, and they just
Speaker 2: didn't really know what to do once what they did
Speaker 2: all the time wasn't were no longer available to them
Speaker 2: and no longer Okay.
Speaker 1: So I wanted to I didn't want to interrupt you, Shaw,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to make sure because when you got
Speaker 1: to the point about Drew Holliday. I think to me
Speaker 1: that is also key because I think last year the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics. Again, I say this not to say can
Speaker 1: they find their way back if everyone is essentially healthy. Possibly,
Speaker 1: I think the caveat here to your point is Kristaps
Speaker 1: for Zingis. But I'm gonna harken back to this thing
Speaker 1: with Drew Holliday. Okay, I don't know what happened last
Speaker 1: year with this year, but Jew Holliday does did not
Speaker 1: look like and feel like the same player he was
Speaker 1: last year, the same kind of impact player. A lot
Speaker 1: of the plays that we saw in a series like
Speaker 1: this against the New York Knicks, Jew Holliday would have
Speaker 1: been in the middle of Okay, remember Jew Hollide was
Speaker 1: not coming in here to give you, you know, fifteen points
Speaker 1: per game, whatever, But he was making key plays, making
Speaker 1: key defensive stops. Tell me at what point in this series?
Speaker 1: Tell me at what point even in the Orlando Magic
Speaker 1: series he was ever relevant for the Boston Celtics. And that,
Speaker 1: and again that concerned me because this is not just
Speaker 1: about the playoffs. It's literally been through the whole course
Speaker 1: of the year. Now I know that he's been struggling
Speaker 1: through some injuries. But even when he's come back off
Speaker 1: of those injuries, you can clearly see that he had
Speaker 1: been compromised. He'd missed point blank layups. You know, he'd
Speaker 1: get in early foul trouble. You know. So my thing was,
Speaker 1: to your point, if you're Joe Moszula and I'm not
Speaker 1: giving Missoula a pass, what I'm saying is it would
Speaker 1: have been easy because you could just basically put Drew
Speaker 1: Holliday on a Jalen Brunson, knowing that Jalen Brown was
Speaker 1: not one hundred percent and his knees are not gonna
Speaker 1: hold up with the kind of shiftiness that you see
Speaker 1: in a player like Jalen Brunson. But you cannot tell
Speaker 1: me that even Missoula didn't have as much confidence to
Speaker 1: be able to let Drew be Drew, because he's never
Speaker 1: been that way really through the course of this year,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. Yeah, And so all of
Speaker 1: these things now kind of come together. But to your point,
Speaker 1: it's on Missoula to find a counter. He has got
Speaker 1: to find a counter. Now. I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: deploying another player out there, reaching desperately deep into the
Speaker 1: bench if you had to, absolutely possibly. I find it
Speaker 1: kind of interesting that Troy Craig is on this roster
Speaker 1: and the only time that I see him is when
Speaker 1: they're instagramming him wearing you know, numbers in dedication to
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum. But at no point was he being utilized
Speaker 1: or being deployed to help take some of that pressure
Speaker 1: off that the Celtics I think would have utilized and
Speaker 1: needed for that body to hold off runs or whatever
Speaker 1: the case may be. So to your point, I just
Speaker 1: think that there's a lot of it's very discombobulated in
Speaker 1: our ability to properly assess the Celtics.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is what you call organized chaos,
Speaker 1: so that at the end of it, if they knew
Speaker 1: they weren't gonna win, and this is what you could
Speaker 1: throw out of us. But hey, man, I ain't booney
Speaker 1: fool fool man, I am not being fooled by this.
Speaker 1: I was disappointed by how they took for granted the
Speaker 1: level of greatness they could achieve themselves to be because
Speaker 1: I think they were misguided on what got them to
Speaker 1: where they are, and they failed to stay disciplined in
Speaker 1: the things that really shown people why we were saying, hey,
Speaker 1: they really could be a great roster altogether because of
Speaker 1: how great they could all be flexible and multiple depend
Speaker 1: defenders get on multiple guys and things of that nature.
Speaker 1: But if it's going to be compromised because guys are
Speaker 1: not one hundred percent healthy, if it's going to be
Speaker 1: compromised because guys have different motivations or different agendas about
Speaker 1: what they're trying to do through the course of the
Speaker 1: regular season and not really keep their eye on the prize. Here,
Speaker 1: they did themselves a disservice, especially with the way they
Speaker 1: got ousted and especially on how they made things more
Speaker 1: challenging than it needed to be. And that goes all
Speaker 1: the way back even to the Orlando Magic series. That
Speaker 1: series became more challenging than it needed to be because
Speaker 1: they were just determined to just be who they are
Speaker 1: and not make adjustments when necessary.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'll challenge that notion somewhat. In Orlando. I
Speaker 2: think Orlando played them in a very physical way that
Speaker 2: they're not used to, and that adage that you can
Speaker 2: just roof up the Celtics. You know that they were
Speaker 2: able to respond and the games were probably closer than
Speaker 2: they should have been. But I think in some ways
Speaker 2: they did try to adjust a little bit there in
Speaker 2: terms of the physicality and overcoming that. Where they didn't
Speaker 2: able to respond in the New York series was almost
Speaker 2: kind of like the elitist mentality that they kind of
Speaker 2: walked into the series with. And then when they got
Speaker 2: literally punched in their mouth two times in the row,
Speaker 2: we're like, oh no, we're not the mighty Celtics, and
Speaker 2: people won't cow down to us because they're down twenty
Speaker 2: Oh all right, well what's next? Right? But then they
Speaker 2: won Game three kind of playing the same style. A
Speaker 2: bunch of threes kind of went in. You know, Tatum Brown, awesome,
Speaker 2: they do their thing, But the entirety of this time
Speaker 2: they've been compromised. And I believe what they say in
Speaker 2: terms of the locker room chemistry that there's not like
Speaker 2: agendas and egos that have clearly been a part of
Speaker 2: previous Celtics locker rooms. This comes down to heart, a
Speaker 2: better next team at a better next team in general,
Speaker 2: and then schemes. We do need to transition now to
Speaker 2: what's next as opposed to what was here for Boston.
Speaker 2: So you're looking at this payroll, which is immensely inflated.
Speaker 2: Hartford is a free agent, Lou Cornett is a free agent.
Speaker 2: You're kicking in the contract now, even of Sam Hauser,
Speaker 2: which you know he was injured and compromised in the
Speaker 2: latter part of the season, and these playoffs as well too.
Speaker 2: Then you have this cascading payroll and luxury tax that's
Speaker 2: coming aboard with new ownership, you know, into lurking. I
Speaker 2: just think we're at the stage where Boston with Tatum
Speaker 2: being out what will probably be a nine or ten
Speaker 2: month injury, so in a good part of all of
Speaker 2: most of them, not all of next year, the twenty
Speaker 2: five to twenty six season from a championships perspective, seems
Speaker 2: to be I don always say lost, but there's a
Speaker 2: there's not a high likelihood that would be the case.
Speaker 2: And then do you wait now for Tatum to come
Speaker 2: back the following year and feel like we can we
Speaker 2: can keep Holiday, we can keep Porzingis, can keep why?
Speaker 2: I'll give you my my my short answer to that.
Speaker 2: The answer to that is no. I think what ends
Speaker 2: up happening is Porzingis and and Drew Holliday get moved
Speaker 2: in some semblance of packages to maybe get back some
Speaker 2: draft capital. I don't think they're not gonna tank. They're
Speaker 2: still too good to tank. But I think if you're
Speaker 2: looking for for to save payroll, Holiday and and and
Speaker 2: Porzingis are the pieces in essence that goes maybe out
Speaker 2: comes back a super super team friendly deal. Maybe he doesn't.
Speaker 2: You know, if you're looking at his his body language
Speaker 2: on the bench at the end of the game six,
Speaker 2: it looked like he was soaking in like all right, yeah, mofos,
Speaker 2: like he's gonna remember this and he's gonna want revenge.
Speaker 2: I think in some pace, But why what number do
Speaker 2: you bring him back? And then I think it's a
Speaker 2: matter of do you keep you know, Xavier Tillman and
Speaker 2: guys like that. I mean, all these are like supplemental
Speaker 2: pieces that are just kind of like not really doing
Speaker 2: much for you. But to me, you're building around Brown,
Speaker 2: You're building around Derek White. I think he's still too
Speaker 2: good that you're trying that you're not trying to move
Speaker 2: on from him. And then obviously wait for Tatum to
Speaker 2: come back, and in twenty six twenty seven, you have
Speaker 2: the bones of a really, really good team that can
Speaker 2: still be championship level with some supplemental pieces behind.
Speaker 1: It, So you don't think that there's any any likelihood
Speaker 1: that they can move pieces in order to get some
Speaker 1: of the pliable, you know, free agents that are out there.
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm just wondering if whether or not, like, hey,
Speaker 1: there's that window of opportunity maybe to see if they
Speaker 1: can pull a Kevin Durant. Right, you may still have
Speaker 1: a one two year window and you don't have to
Speaker 1: be as much in a rush, so to speak, to
Speaker 1: bring back Jason Tatum could possibly pair well with the
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown, Right. I somewhat agree with you. I'm a
Speaker 1: little I'm a litter Larry about the the Derek White thing.
Speaker 1: I guess in my sense, I think Derek White is
Speaker 1: a great player, and I still think there clearly can
Speaker 1: be a window if you're intended to say he is
Speaker 1: the trifecta. I think that, to me is the big question.
Speaker 1: What is the trifecta for the for the for the
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics. And if that trifecta, it does it entail
Speaker 1: keeping a Derek White or is it a tail going
Speaker 1: to get someone? And Derek White now becomes like that
Speaker 1: fourth person because he's been such a good lead guard
Speaker 1: for them in things of that nature that you can
Speaker 1: make it expendable. I just think it's gonna be an
Speaker 1: interesting situation for the Boston Celtics in the off season
Speaker 1: because I cannot imagine that they want to I don't
Speaker 1: think they want to rush Jason Tatum back, But at
Speaker 1: the same time, I don't think they want to be
Speaker 1: in a position where they lose out on a quality season,
Speaker 1: especially with the money that you just gave Jalen Brown.
Speaker 1: I will say this though, I'm a little surprised that
Speaker 1: the level of aggressiveness that Jalen Brown I thought would
Speaker 1: have exhibited given the circumstances of what happened in the
Speaker 1: offseason with the US men's basketball, the Olympic basketball situation.
Speaker 1: And you know, I didn't want to say much of
Speaker 1: anything because I think, you know, you make too much
Speaker 1: of it if it's all about Jason Tatum, and you
Speaker 1: know what he did this year, which has been phenomenally great.
Speaker 1: But I saw the edge come off of Jalen Brown.
Speaker 1: I saw more of a quiet, very you know, subdued,
Speaker 1: not as aggressive Jalen Brown that I saw going into
Speaker 1: the playoffs last year when they fully had their eye
Speaker 1: on the prize about winning this championship, and I just
Speaker 1: think it'll be interesting to see what kind of off
Speaker 1: season Jalen Brown decides to take. I wanted to pull
Speaker 1: out one of the he said, Yeah, losing to the
Speaker 1: Knicks is like losing is like death. I'm like, all right, well,
Speaker 1: if you feel that kind of way, right, then you
Speaker 1: know that the Celtics and the Knicks don't love each other.
Speaker 1: So going into this off season, is the motivation about
Speaker 1: the revenge? You know what I'm saying factor that you
Speaker 1: lost to the New York Knicks because last year that
Speaker 1: wasn't really an issue. The New York Knicks wasn't even relevant, right,
Speaker 1: So my thing is, Okay, what's the motivation going into
Speaker 1: this offseason? Because listen, one can argue the Celtics can
Speaker 1: easily be another top three team in the Eastern Conference again,
Speaker 1: and whether the Knicks are gonna truly be that team
Speaker 1: as well too. I'm just saying that to me. I
Speaker 1: just want to see a much more aggressive Jalen Brown
Speaker 1: in the off season, putting in that work. And regardless,
Speaker 1: this is the window now for you to really say,
Speaker 1: even when Jason Tatum comes back, I'm like, that guy
Speaker 1: all around guy that I'm the big dog in the
Speaker 1: yard that like does look what does that mean?
Speaker 2: I think I think like we all need to define
Speaker 2: that to some degree. And I liked how the way
Speaker 2: he played in Game five, where he was more of
Speaker 2: a point forward. He didn't feel like I needed this
Speaker 2: hore forty, you know, like, hey, I can get and
Speaker 2: be official with my shots. I can drive and kick,
Speaker 2: you know, and make the extra pass. Like you could
Speaker 2: literally see his brain working in real time in that game, like, no,
Speaker 2: this isn't the best shot. Let me take one drouble in,
Speaker 2: draw the defense and then spray back out and then
Speaker 2: when those shots are falling from the perimeter are awesome.
Speaker 2: I think if that semblance to Brown is who we
Speaker 2: get awesome. I'm gonna this is not gonna make sense,
Speaker 2: but I'm gonna say it anyway. Remember in the days
Speaker 2: of Stephan clay and everyone was like clay can be
Speaker 2: a number one guy. Clayton and Jaylen Brown are not
Speaker 2: the same, Like they're they're fundamentally different people. But the
Speaker 2: roles and this is where I'm utilized in the comparison
Speaker 2: we will now get to see in a very real way,
Speaker 2: could Jalen Brown be a lead guy, and that lead
Speaker 2: doesn't necessarily mean he has to score forty even thirty
Speaker 2: five a night. Can it be in a way where
Speaker 2: he's sufficient and ends up really getting the other guys involved.
Speaker 2: And it has to come at the expense of him
Speaker 2: learning how to dribble better. We're X amount of years
Speaker 2: into where his handle looks shaky, especially under duress in
Speaker 2: the middle of the paint. Yes, you'll have a couple
Speaker 2: of nights and moves has a decent euro step as well,
Speaker 2: but that handle has got to be better, especially going
Speaker 2: into next year. And I would contend that if you
Speaker 2: bring this team back as currently constructed, don't make any moves,
Speaker 2: they can still be a top top four to five
Speaker 2: team in the Eastern Conference, especially with the way the
Speaker 2: Eastern trending right now. I believe that not one or two,
Speaker 2: but they can definitely be four. File about the play
Speaker 2: in line, if you strip it down some now, I'd
Speaker 2: be like, all right, this is a team that's probably
Speaker 2: going to be fighting for the play in six maybe
Speaker 2: seven type of situation if you move person and holiday
Speaker 2: depending on what you get back. But Jalen Brown's next
Speaker 2: year is going to determine truly the long term future
Speaker 2: of this Boston cell sixteen, whether or not he should
Speaker 2: be pair alongside Jason Tatum when he comes back, because
Speaker 2: at this number, and I know we don't like to
Speaker 2: talk about it him in that way, but at this number,
Speaker 2: you've got to be able to show the chops of
Speaker 2: being a true leader who can do things that doesn't
Speaker 2: always just mean scoring a bunch of flour.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, you're tuned to the baseline Cali Warrenshaw discussing the
Speaker 1: hot button topics of the NBA. Coming up, we'll focus
Speaker 1: our attention to the team who probably should have been
Speaker 1: in the Eastern Conference Finals, but yet again they fall short.
Speaker 1: We'll be talking about the Cleveland Cavaliers on the other side.
Speaker 1: Don't go anywhere. We're back, Cali Warrenshaw, basedline NBA podcast,
Speaker 1: continuing our coveted autopsy report. Time for us to talk
Speaker 1: about the Cleveland Cavaliers. And there's not much that can
Speaker 1: be said. Man, this is like now, this is becoming
Speaker 1: a trend, and it's kind of disheartening because I so
Speaker 1: much want to believe in the fact that Spider Mitchell
Speaker 1: and the Cleveland Cavaliers, you know, they have they have
Speaker 1: essentially mostly not all the pieces to get you at
Speaker 1: least to the finals. Okay, there's no question about that.
Speaker 1: And this season, I mean across the board, what can
Speaker 1: what more can be said? The only thing that's missing is,
Speaker 1: you know, them having somebody legitimately being an MVP candidate.
Speaker 1: But you know, you can make the argument Spider Mitchell
Speaker 1: literally was, you know, playing at an MVP like kind
Speaker 1: of level with how he was able to galvanize and
Speaker 1: make this team essentially better, elevate them to another space collectively,
Speaker 1: as his team was about as dangerous as you could
Speaker 1: possibly have, a team like we were talking about the
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City Thunder, you know, so to get knocked out
Speaker 1: by the Indiana Pacers, and I think to your point,
Speaker 1: shall we just talked about this with the Celtics. I
Speaker 1: just feel like this team took for granted what they
Speaker 1: showed through the course of the regular season and just
Speaker 1: did not make the necessary adjustments to show the versatility
Speaker 1: of what the top team in the Eastern Conference should
Speaker 1: be doing against the lesser teams that they managed to
Speaker 1: just beat the breaks off through the course of the
Speaker 1: regular season, and you don't have the luxury of waiting
Speaker 1: two weeks from now to figure it out, man, or
Speaker 1: you know your next matchup is two months from now.
Speaker 1: It is a seven game series and you only have
Speaker 1: four chances to get it right and you squander two
Speaker 1: of those chances on your home court. Really resonates with
Speaker 1: me because it's just speaking to the fact that they're
Speaker 1: just not getting it now. I said all of that
Speaker 1: because it sounds really harsh, But now I want to
Speaker 1: liken this to what we were just talking about with
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown. How long did it take
Speaker 1: before we started seeing them really starting to figure it out.
Speaker 1: I mean, everyone one's gonna say, yeah, it literally took
Speaker 1: Lebron James to leave the damn Eastern Conference for them
Speaker 1: to actually figure this part of it out. But look
Speaker 1: how long it literally took them before they actually began
Speaker 1: to see quote unquote the fields of graneur right to
Speaker 1: get to the NBA finals, Because the question for them
Speaker 1: wasn't how good they were to get to the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference finals? Can they get over the hunt to get
Speaker 1: to the finals and look how many Look look how
Speaker 1: long it took to do that? Right? Are we thinking
Speaker 1: that this is gonna be the same thing with this
Speaker 1: Cleveland Cavaliers team.
Speaker 2: Listen, I didn't even say the number in the previous segment. So,
Speaker 2: but Boston has a two hundred and twenty seven million
Speaker 2: dollars pay roll next year, right, and that was without
Speaker 2: without Hornet, Cornette and Harford on it. Cleveland's pay roll
Speaker 2: is two hundred and seventeen million dollars next year. So
Speaker 2: Mobley's extension kind of kicks in here. Now you're already
Speaker 2: paying Garland and then obviously he had just resigned out
Speaker 2: individuals well too. I'm concerned, you know that this is
Speaker 2: finals which he has opening knowledge and doesn't duck at
Speaker 2: the or shy away from it in any real way.
Speaker 2: The Calves lost three games on their home floor in
Speaker 2: the second round, like that is egregious, Like like it's
Speaker 2: it's egregious. And when you work that hard get that
Speaker 2: many that amount of wins, And yes, they have a
Speaker 2: similar situation to Boston. Garland was battling turf toe. You know,
Speaker 2: Mitchell had the ankle injury, Mobile had you know, a
Speaker 2: nagging injury as well too. I just feel like they
Speaker 2: still should have had enough I think with that to
Speaker 2: beat India. Truly gut checked time in terms of this organization.
Speaker 2: They sacrificed. They they looked like Boston of last year,
Speaker 2: where roles were being understood, this is what we need
Speaker 2: to do. They increased the volume of three. Donovan Mitchell
Speaker 2: took a step back. I don't need to score thirty
Speaker 2: a nine or whatever his minutes were down. Everything is
Speaker 2: mobile that we've been wanting to see, all the things happen.
Speaker 2: They just destroyed the mind heat in the first round,
Speaker 2: and I think maybe that gave them a level little
Speaker 2: air of confidence, like, all right, we'll be good, but
Speaker 2: well we'll let him rest. Yikes, bro Yikes. None of
Speaker 2: these things went the way that they thought it was,
Speaker 2: and why I don't think they are going to be
Speaker 2: They're not going to fall into the doldrums of the
Speaker 2: Eastern Conference because the East is still the very East.
Speaker 2: They'll have a very very good regular season record again
Speaker 2: next year. And I don't think they're going to make
Speaker 2: any fundamental changes a full year of the andred hundred
Speaker 2: you know, into the into their scheme. And I don't
Speaker 2: have any real constructive feedback for them in terms of
Speaker 2: roster construction right now other than this is about heart
Speaker 2: and determination at this point, and that's what they're going
Speaker 2: to need to do is guts that time next year,
Speaker 2: and hope, as I said in the last couple couple
Speaker 2: of weeks ago, I hope it's not the same back to
Speaker 2: match channel for them because they're better than what they
Speaker 2: showed in this year's playoffs.
Speaker 1: Listen, seaw like, all of this is relevant, right, I
Speaker 1: think all of it is relevant. That it's hard for
Speaker 1: you not to want this roster as it's constructed for
Speaker 1: them to run it back. I think they do need
Speaker 1: to run it back. But I I'm very leary of
Speaker 1: the stigma that tends to kind of hang over a
Speaker 1: team like this, that is this this successful okay, partly
Speaker 1: because I don't they're not used to this level of prosperity,
Speaker 1: you know, not since Lebron, not since you know, and
Speaker 1: and the last time that they did that. That's where
Speaker 1: most of these teams tend to go. They go backwards
Speaker 1: and say, you know, man, we'll never see it like
Speaker 1: them days when we had Lebron and Kyrie and Kevin
Speaker 1: Love or you know, back in the Chicago days when
Speaker 1: we had Derrick Rose and you know, Jokeim Noah and loud, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't want that to be the case because you
Speaker 1: have to appreciate the circumstances of how this team was
Speaker 1: constructed and how this team built. Remember the Cleveland Cavaliers
Speaker 1: in the thick of the Night stole Donovan Mitchell from
Speaker 1: going to the New York Knicks, right, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like, I don't think Donovan Mitchell even understands
Speaker 1: like the ramifications of how he changed the quote unquote
Speaker 1: narrati of what Cleveland Cavaliers basketball is like or going
Speaker 1: to be like post the Lebron era, You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. And so I think fans have to be
Speaker 1: a little bit more patient. But I also think as
Speaker 1: well too that this is now going to be up
Speaker 1: to Kenny Atkinson because I think this is a new
Speaker 1: space for him. Remember he's usually the person to go
Speaker 1: in there and fix and elevate things. He comes in
Speaker 1: there and immediately takes this team that is quote unquote
Speaker 1: you know, a respectable playoff team into oh snap, these
Speaker 1: guys should be one of the Eastern Conference finalists. So
Speaker 1: to fall short of a yes, very disappointing. But he's
Speaker 1: got some leeway because I don't think that we've seen
Speaker 1: Kenny Atkinson in this space. He's usually at the beginning
Speaker 1: stages of things, before organizations, you know, get all up
Speaker 1: in their feels and try to get slick, and then
Speaker 1: they move them all and move on from him. I
Speaker 1: want to see what he does with this. I want
Speaker 1: to see how he takes what happened here and uses
Speaker 1: this Like we see what Mark Dagnault was doing with
Speaker 1: the Oklahoma City Thunder. You know, he could have easily
Speaker 1: taken what's going on last year. And you know where
Speaker 1: everyone's saying that they are one trick pony team or
Speaker 1: their you know, their paper number one contenders. I think
Speaker 1: people may have that same kind of sentiment, but I
Speaker 1: think it's a little bit more believable when you see
Speaker 1: the elevation now of Evan Mobley, when you see the
Speaker 1: elevation of Jared Allen, and you now see that they're
Speaker 1: making moves like getting at DeAndre Andre. I think things
Speaker 1: are still in pace. I think people need to be
Speaker 1: just a little patient. I know it's hard given in
Speaker 1: this climate in the NBA, but the people have to
Speaker 1: be a little bit patient. Where I am concerned, ough
Speaker 1: Shaw is now we get to this point with certain players,
Speaker 1: and I said this at the beginning of the year
Speaker 1: that I wondered about the combination of Donovan Mitchell and
Speaker 1: Darius Garland. Okay, I need to see another level from
Speaker 1: Darius Garland. Okay, he is very much a part of
Speaker 1: why this team is successful. He was also very much
Speaker 1: a part of the reason why the Cleveland Cavaliers could
Speaker 1: not get past the Indiana Pacers. And the Indiana Pacers
Speaker 1: knew that. Indiana Pacers knew that. You know. And so
Speaker 1: you're Darius Garland. You got to go into this offseason man,
Speaker 1: and you have got to give people. You got to
Speaker 1: put him on notice. Last year we saw that with
Speaker 1: Derek White and how he improved in so many different ways.
Speaker 1: And then you add Drew Holliday and his veteran leadership
Speaker 1: and him his counseling allowed Derek White to essentially be
Speaker 1: the number one guard that the Celtics needed, Right, And
Speaker 1: so I need to see that kind of evolution from
Speaker 1: Darius Garland, right if that happens, because I still see
Speaker 1: that lack of aggressiveness, that lack of of I still
Speaker 1: feel like things still have to go through Donovan Mitchell.
Speaker 1: I would rather see Donovan Mitchell Shaw to be the
Speaker 1: the the the Swiss Army knife guard. He can come in,
Speaker 1: he can do the point guard thing, but I still
Speaker 1: feel like he still has to take over. And I
Speaker 1: think that if your daily Darius Garland with that kind
Speaker 1: of speed, with the ability for you to break defenses down,
Speaker 1: you have to be more aggressive. You have to you
Speaker 1: have to rely on the fact that you are going
Speaker 1: to set the rest of your guys up. And I
Speaker 1: understand he had turf toe, but I did not nearly
Speaker 1: see Even with the turf toe show, I still didn't
Speaker 1: even see the level of aggressiveness I would have expected
Speaker 1: to see. And the Pacers knew that. And so I'm
Speaker 1: just saying, when you're playing against your rivals, when you're
Speaker 1: playing you know, the regular season is a great opportunity
Speaker 1: for you to get a little bit of shine on
Speaker 1: and carry that going into the playoffs, because there's going
Speaker 1: to be a good coach who's going to find a
Speaker 1: way to counter your Your number one Plan A. Garland
Speaker 1: has to be Plan one AA in a sense, if
Speaker 1: they're gonna all, you know, collectively, be that team that
Speaker 1: I think we're thinking that they're capable of being.
Speaker 2: He's the next guy, in other words, is what I'm
Speaker 2: saying I would disagree, I think with the offensive notion.
Speaker 2: To be honest with you, I think for Cleveland to
Speaker 2: take that next step that you're thinking about, I think
Speaker 2: it's incumbent upon Garland and Donovan Mitchell both to kind
Speaker 2: of lean in more into that defensive side, you know,
Speaker 2: as the aforementioned Celtics were. I think Udoka really made
Speaker 2: Round and Tatum understand that you need to play on
Speaker 2: both sides of the basketball and not worry about taking turns.
Speaker 2: So we got the offensive side kind of figured out
Speaker 2: this year on Cleveland because of Kenny Atkinson's team schemes
Speaker 2: and you know that delineation and democracy that came through
Speaker 2: the Cleveland offense and the evolution of Evan Mobley. But
Speaker 2: where teams felt like we could so look our tops
Speaker 2: a little bit is in that backcourt pairing on the
Speaker 2: other side, Well, Garland and Mitchell are going to give
Speaker 2: it to you there might give up just as much
Speaker 2: because they're just not as prolific defensively. And that's where
Speaker 2: I think that both of them, collectively as a backcourt tandem,
Speaker 2: need to focus on what does it mean to stay
Speaker 2: in front of guys or truly steer into the help
Speaker 2: of those twoin towers when you have Mobley an Allen
Speaker 2: back there, and so you're not always necessarily getting beat
Speaker 2: off the dribble and have it to have all that
Speaker 2: defense kind of help or then be available for drop
Speaker 2: offs in the dunker's font and things of that nature.
Speaker 2: So that's where, you know, where you talk about aggressiveness,
Speaker 2: that often comes at the offensive side of things. And
Speaker 2: I don't have a problem what Garland did offensively really,
Speaker 2: even with the turf to so to speak. It's just
Speaker 2: that that defensive side for them is kind of a
Speaker 2: glaring liability. And hence when I got the one hundred
Speaker 2: hunter as well too, to try to help shore some
Speaker 2: of those things up, because right now at this point,
Speaker 2: Isaaca Korro's is pretty much unplayable. Ti Jerome when he
Speaker 2: is playable, isn't doing anything defensively. So that's where they
Speaker 2: still have some holes, even though they still in defensive
Speaker 2: rating as a team this year.
Speaker 1: Okay, because I was gonna say, like, you know, not
Speaker 1: to to you know, be hypocritical or nothing like that,
Speaker 1: or make it seem that it's hypocritical. We're leaning into
Speaker 1: the fact that they were a top team, top ten
Speaker 1: team defensively, right, but you still saw flaws defensively in
Speaker 1: them them specifically. Okay, yeah, so, and look, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna argue with that particular point. I think it is
Speaker 1: a legitimate point. I think where I'm just making more
Speaker 1: of the emphasis is not from again a scoring perspective.
Speaker 1: I think it's the ability to break defense down. I
Speaker 1: think maybe I just saw more of him relying too
Speaker 1: much on a shot or taking shots so to speak,
Speaker 1: rather than breaking defenses down, getting in in the middle
Speaker 1: and mixing up things. I felt like it seemed like
Speaker 1: they were waiting more for that to happen through Donovan
Speaker 1: Mitchell than it was from Darius Garland. And I well,
Speaker 1: to your point, I will say Darius Garland got into
Speaker 1: some silly fouls, you know, got into easy foul trouble,
Speaker 1: really made himself unavailable. But to me, I think he
Speaker 1: is best equipped to really elevate the plays of guys
Speaker 1: like Mobley and Allen and even DeAndre Hunter with their length.
Speaker 1: But if he can get into the interior, get into
Speaker 1: the paint more, he can set those guys up to
Speaker 1: do what the offense allows it to do. Because if
Speaker 1: you're only gonna allow Donovan Mitchell to do that. Now
Speaker 1: you're relying on Darius Garland to space out to shoot,
Speaker 1: which I'm not as confident of a person to see
Speaker 1: Darius Garland shooting the basketball some empty times if it's
Speaker 1: not to penetrate in the paint and get to the
Speaker 1: So that to me is where I'm coming from from
Speaker 1: that perspective. But I agree with you. I do think that,
Speaker 1: especially if you're going to keep them on the floor,
Speaker 1: they have got to be a better backcourt defensive tandem
Speaker 1: against whoever their opposition is if they're gonna give themselves
Speaker 1: a chance to compete in the Eastern Conference finals.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Garland one fifteen defensive rating, Donovan Mitchell one thirteen
Speaker 2: defensive rating, Max Shrew's one fifteen defensive rating right. Meanwhile,
Speaker 2: Multi Allen at one a wight. So they're clearly bolstering
Speaker 2: the defense and cleaning up for honestly, those three guys
Speaker 2: who were just not at the level that a championship
Speaker 2: level team needs to be. But still I'm not saying
Speaker 2: they didn't try this year, because they did make strides.
Speaker 2: But if you're talking about that next step, that's where
Speaker 2: it needs to come from from Cleveland. So for me,
Speaker 2: And like I said, there's just there's not a whole
Speaker 2: lot of roster construction and rebuilding that needs to be
Speaker 2: done here. They just got to get it done. Like
Speaker 2: they just just got to get it in and figure
Speaker 2: it out because they have the talent, especially with Hunter here.
Speaker 2: Now again, I'll say for a full season, and ultimately
Speaker 2: they need to decide what they're gonna do with tyger O.
Speaker 2: If I was going to truly, truly truly nitpick at this,
Speaker 2: you know when we talk about Garland is well, then
Speaker 2: who truly is who's the real backup point guard on
Speaker 2: this roster that you trust? You know? And I think
Speaker 2: it's you know, playmaking comes from Donovan Mitchell in a
Speaker 2: very real way. But is that what you want him
Speaker 2: to be doing? You know, you know, when Garland is
Speaker 2: out of the game, so to speak, so like who's
Speaker 2: the next guy? So could they use somebody else? I
Speaker 2: think so they can use a backup point guard? If
Speaker 2: I was going to be truly nitpicky up a stid
Speaker 2: the roster.
Speaker 1: Interesting stuff, man. But yea again, great season all around
Speaker 1: for the For the Cleveland Cavaliers. Our settlement is don't
Speaker 1: do anything, but you got to get better. You gotta
Speaker 1: get better, and you can't be this good and get
Speaker 1: knocked out, you know, in the second round, Like it's
Speaker 1: gotta be championship finals, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, especially next year with Boston looking like they're going
Speaker 2: to have a down year, right, I mean, well, we
Speaker 2: don't know if it's gonna happen there right now. I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, the East truly is for the taken. And
Speaker 2: despite this Knicks run, despite this Pacers run. I look
Speaker 2: at them, as I said with Boston last year, don't
Speaker 2: look at them and like, oh my god, we can't
Speaker 2: beat them. There's there's there's no there's nobody looking at
Speaker 2: that right now. I think Cleveland and Boston are kicking
Speaker 2: themselves in their ass right now, Like yo, they could
Speaker 2: very cold. Yeah, and I think the rest of the
Speaker 2: East wills well too. I mean, you look at it again,
Speaker 2: we talked about Orlando and whoever whoever you think is
Speaker 2: next up Detroit, even to may Les, It's like, Yo,
Speaker 2: a couple of the right moves here. We can really
Speaker 2: be right in the thick of this. So Cleveland has
Speaker 2: no reason to think, since they didn't, they're not gonna
Speaker 2: lose Mitchell for the entire of the year, like Boston
Speaker 2: is gonna lose Tatum like this this the East could
Speaker 2: be theirs. Honestly, Milwaukee, you know, might be fundamentally changed
Speaker 2: with Giannis out of the conference. The Cleveland Cavaliers have.
Speaker 1: Your point, they're fundamentally changed because Lillard is gone, right,
Speaker 1: like he's out for most of the year, and they
Speaker 1: were the second best team in the in their division.
Speaker 1: Right So now you might make an argument, Okay, that's
Speaker 1: the opportunity to pas well, yeah, I mean just in
Speaker 1: the context that through most of the year it was
Speaker 1: basically the Bucks and then the Pacers, you know, had
Speaker 1: that come up. But you're not looking at this Pacers
Speaker 1: team saying, oh, they're their next team that's gonna score,
Speaker 1: that's gonna give you like sixty wins. They're good, they're
Speaker 1: a solid team, and if somehow they find them, they're like,
Speaker 1: oh man, we're we're the lucky We're the lucky losers man. Mac.
Speaker 1: You know, if they if they get and we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about the Eastern Conference finals real quick. If they
Speaker 1: get through and they get to the finals, hey man,
Speaker 1: this could be it for them. This really could be
Speaker 1: it for them, because we just don't you just don't know.
Speaker 1: With the way teams are structured in the Eastern Conference,
Speaker 1: you don't know whether or not you're gonna get another
Speaker 1: crack at it. You literally just don't You're too to
Speaker 1: the baseline. Cali warren Shaw discussing the hot button topics
Speaker 1: of the NBA coming up Eastern Conference Finals preview. Shaw
Speaker 1: and not give our takes, and then we also give
Speaker 1: our predictions. You don't want to miss it here we're
Speaker 1: back Cali warren Shaw based on NBA podcasts. That was
Speaker 1: a good autopsy. Shaw And I don't know about you,
Speaker 1: but I guess when talking about the dead so much,
Speaker 1: sometimes it's just good therapy.
Speaker 2: To Yeah, it's been a rough week. And like I said,
Speaker 2: we care about one of those teams, maybe more than
Speaker 2: the others. But at the end of the day, you know,
Speaker 2: we're trying to make sure we do what we do
Speaker 2: here and and we're equitable, you know, in our assessment,
Speaker 2: and I think we were able to accomplish it.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, absolutely, But and listen, credit to these teams.
Speaker 1: They set the standard, so it's only right, like we
Speaker 1: have to make sure that we scrutinize them, you know,
Speaker 1: as much as possible. You know, I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people look at what happened and are instantly thinking,
Speaker 1: you got to shake things up. No in the Cavaliers. No,
Speaker 1: you don't need to shake it up, but you should
Speaker 1: demand better of them. This is like, all right, now,
Speaker 1: this is year two that they've They've done this right, Okay,
Speaker 1: year three, no excuses? Right, So there you go. All right, Sean,
Speaker 1: let's get right into the Eastern Conference Finals. New York
Speaker 1: Knicks Indiana Pacers. You know, a lot of people are
Speaker 1: trying to get at this. Oh it's revenge time, you know,
Speaker 1: giving what happened with the Pacers knocking out the Knicks
Speaker 1: last year in the semi finals, you know, doing what
Speaker 1: they did in that Game seven, all this other kind
Speaker 1: of stuff. You know, Sean, I'm looking at this from
Speaker 1: a completely different perspective, and people might be thinking I'm
Speaker 1: being petty or you know, feeling some kind of way
Speaker 1: about it. If you're both the Pacers and the New
Speaker 1: York Knicks, you think you're lucky stars, that you've got
Speaker 1: some really good players and things just lined up as
Speaker 1: well as they did for you to make sure that
Speaker 1: when the opportunity presented itself, you did not squander it
Speaker 1: so that you can get yourself here. This is the opportunity.
Speaker 1: If you're the New York Knicks, you've got to get
Speaker 1: to the finals. There's just there's Listen. They are a
Speaker 1: better team on paper, legitimately have a better team than
Speaker 1: the Indiana Pacers. However, I've seen the Indian and the
Speaker 1: Pacers play better team basketball on both sides of the
Speaker 1: ball the course of this playoff run, and I don't
Speaker 1: see anything changing of that. So if I'm if I'm
Speaker 1: Tom Thibodeau, if I'm Brunson, and them the guys, I
Speaker 1: have to be very careful about what my number one
Speaker 1: motivation needs to be about getting the job done to
Speaker 1: get to the finals. This does not have to be
Speaker 1: anything about more than if Brunson and Bodega and Bridges
Speaker 1: and Anobi and Harden, all of them do what they're
Speaker 1: capable of doing, they should be able to get past
Speaker 1: this Indiana Pacers team. They should be what I might
Speaker 1: be dreaming.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm interested to see how any Innercar's cat That
Speaker 2: I think has been something that teams have been trying
Speaker 2: to like, Hey, well gard him small, and you know,
Speaker 2: take our chances with that, because you don't feel like
Speaker 2: he's gonna bully ball his way into any Cat's really
Speaker 2: about He's really interested in celebrating. I didn't realize that
Speaker 2: about him. He's really interested in celebrating every basket. So
Speaker 2: he's he's got to tone that down here because it's
Speaker 2: like it's it's winning time, right, like you're supposed to
Speaker 2: swor the basketball so relaxed. And so how Indiana now
Speaker 2: decides to do that? Do they, you know, stick a
Speaker 2: knem hard on him as opposed to a Siaka, which
Speaker 2: would be the more more natural matchup, because I think
Speaker 2: what ended up happening likes, particularly in the Boston series,
Speaker 2: is that they didn't want to have a big on
Speaker 2: them because well then Cats is taking your big away
Speaker 2: from protecting the rim, so to speak. And I think
Speaker 2: obviously that's how Indiana would want to play with Miles
Speaker 2: Miles Turner. So do you put Miles Turner on Josh Hart,
Speaker 2: you know? While and or do you know you do
Speaker 2: you try to put him on whatever big is going
Speaker 2: to be roaming around? Like, I don't know what Carlile's
Speaker 2: going to do, but I think Carlile's probably best suited
Speaker 2: and as is to try to scheme his way to
Speaker 2: an Indian and victory in this Eastern Conference Finals because
Speaker 2: they are getting a production throughout the entirety of their bench.
Speaker 2: You know, even with Mathurin taking a little bit of
Speaker 2: a step back to the hot start he had in
Speaker 2: the regular season, you know, we've seen him kind of
Speaker 2: tail off, but now kind of reduce that reduce, but
Speaker 2: settling into more of a bench role, even a guy
Speaker 2: a bench shepherd coming off the bench and contributing, even
Speaker 2: Thomas Bryan a little bit. But to me, that guy
Speaker 2: who has just been ridiculous as a playoff performer. And
Speaker 2: I know, I know Tyers Haliburton is a guy here,
Speaker 2: but but Nemhard, he's just he's locked solid, lock solid,
Speaker 2: He's locked in, and he's really got this team, you know,
Speaker 2: playing at a level alongside Halliburn and the great work
Speaker 2: of Siakam as well. That gives us pictures of dimension
Speaker 2: that I didn't necessarily see coming or believe in going
Speaker 2: into the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So well, you're welcome, Shaw, but listen, if you're the
Speaker 1: New York Knicks, you have to be concerned because we're
Speaker 1: talking about how guys like Nemhart, guys like Miles Turner.
Speaker 1: They're all having their moment, and while Sam he is quietly,
Speaker 1: quietly doing a lot of the dirty work. He's he
Speaker 1: is quietly having a really really solid playoff. Let's remember
Speaker 1: he is an NBA champion, right, he might be ready
Speaker 1: to do his best work in this Eastern Conference finals,
Speaker 1: and this is exactly the reason why the Indiana Pacers
Speaker 1: brought him over to this team. Remember I said it
Speaker 1: was very intriguing to see the Indiana Pacers go after
Speaker 1: and bring in Pascal Siakam, right, whether that was a
Speaker 1: knee jerk motion because of how the Pacers are overachieving
Speaker 1: in what they did a couple seasons ago. But now
Speaker 1: you're starting to see when all of these components start
Speaker 1: to come together, what it's supposed to, what it's supposed
Speaker 1: to look like, and what it's supposed to mean. One
Speaker 1: thing that I am going to say that I think
Speaker 1: is going to be interesting, especially when you see how
Speaker 1: Rick Carlile it deploys his roster and how Tom Thibodau
Speaker 1: deploys his roster. Rick Carlile has a lot more confidence
Speaker 1: in the depth of his roster than you will see
Speaker 1: with Tom tibb Right, I want to see if Tom
Speaker 1: Thibodeau doesn't wait until it's absolute desperation time for him
Speaker 1: to start using the rest of that bench when certain
Speaker 1: situations deem it that he has to make an adjustment
Speaker 1: for that he has to counter for you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. I've seen Carlile do it through the course
Speaker 1: of his playoffs already. He did that against the Cleveland Cavaliers, right,
Speaker 1: And so I want to see if whether or not
Speaker 1: Carlile forces Tips to make a play, forces him to
Speaker 1: go deeper than just Duce McBride, you know, and a
Speaker 1: couple of other guys that Tom Thibodeau sparingly uses. And
Speaker 1: it's not because of injury Shaw, It's because of execution.
Speaker 1: And so that to me, is going to be the key.
Speaker 1: You can see that Carlile can still ask of his
Speaker 1: guys to go out and execute, even if they may
Speaker 1: not score at the same rate that his starters are scoring.
Speaker 1: He knows that from either a defensive or an offensive perspective,
Speaker 1: he's getting what he's getting from his role players. And
Speaker 1: I think that, to me is going to be the key,
Speaker 1: because this, to me, is going to feel like an
Speaker 1: even longer seven game series than what happened last year
Speaker 1: with the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers, just
Speaker 1: because it's gonna come down to the sheer will of
Speaker 1: whether or not your starters are ready.
Speaker 2: For the long haul. Yeah, something that's interesting about the
Speaker 2: Pacers when you talk about the depth, they don't have
Speaker 2: a twenty point per game guy. Here in the playoffs,
Speaker 2: there's not one guy on that team averaging twenty. So
Speaker 2: it truly is you know, depth death by the depth
Speaker 2: that they have right now. Siakam leaves them in eighteen
Speaker 2: point eight, Halliburn's at seventeen and a half, but guys
Speaker 2: are just sharing the basketball and getting and done. Neie
Speaker 2: Smith is uptick to scoring to fourteen point six, and
Speaker 2: you know, I think he'll have the primarily brunts and assignment,
Speaker 2: so maybe some of his offense might go to, you know,
Speaker 2: go to the wayside as he tried in the guard
Speaker 2: and stay in front of Budson to the majority part
Speaker 2: of the series. You know, I think alongside them part
Speaker 2: as well. But that to me is something where Indiana
Speaker 2: has a clear advantage of this. They trust more guys
Speaker 2: and I think, you know, even as you're alluding to
Speaker 2: with with Thibodeaux and induce Smitbride. Can you still get
Speaker 2: the same level of production? Due played very well in
Speaker 2: the semi finals against the Celtics. He played very well,
Speaker 2: I think it was in the Pistols season Piston series,
Speaker 2: but a lot better in the in the Celtics one.
Speaker 2: So can you see that level of aggression and consistency here? Otherwise,
Speaker 2: like you said, you're going to kind of look down
Speaker 2: that bench and say it's like, all right, cool, who
Speaker 2: else can we bring in here? Can Mitchell Robinson continue
Speaker 2: to be healthy knockdown free throws if they go to
Speaker 2: the hack of Robinson strategy, but also get those second
Speaker 2: second chances because that's where the Knicks killed Bosson And
Speaker 2: on the offensive boards, you know, in this Indiana is
Speaker 2: not a poor offensive or not a poor rebounding team.
Speaker 2: So I think, you know that could be a little
Speaker 2: bit more even. But Mitchell Robinson gives a dimension to
Speaker 2: New York, especially if they go double bigs, that a
Speaker 2: lot of teams would have some troubles with. So Thibodeaux
Speaker 2: has some things at his disposal. I think Carlisle has more.
Speaker 2: But the overall talent level in New York is a
Speaker 2: little bit higher. So that's what makes Face a very
Speaker 2: intriguing series to me to kind of see which one
Speaker 2: of those is are going to be the depth or
Speaker 2: the talent that wins ultimately.
Speaker 1: All right, so who do you have lined up for
Speaker 1: this for this series?
Speaker 2: Yeah, as much as I it's begrudging for me, you know,
Speaker 2: I am going to pick the Knicks, and I think
Speaker 2: it will be a seven game series. I think that
Speaker 2: they are very evenly matched. And this is me even
Speaker 2: getting off my soapbox of kind of like the Indiana
Speaker 2: Indiana distaste that I have. I think they've more than
Speaker 2: acquitted themselves in these playoffs, and I do think it's
Speaker 2: a toss up, like it really could kind of go
Speaker 2: either way. But I'm just gonna lean on the clutch
Speaker 2: ability of Gelen Brunson and the grit that the Knicks
Speaker 2: have shown within this. The Pacers have not been challenged
Speaker 2: like they have not been challenging this despite you know,
Speaker 2: and I maybe saying that's just how good they are
Speaker 2: because they both raised the Cleveland Cavaliers, but I think
Speaker 2: they need to be. They haven't gone through the wars
Speaker 2: that the Knicks have, you know, even in these two
Speaker 2: series where they have been challenging that first yeries still
Speaker 2: could have went either way with Detroit, like, I don't
Speaker 2: get any about it, says like it could have went
Speaker 2: either way. And then they really kind of, I say,
Speaker 2: didn't dominate Boston, but they grew up against Boston in
Speaker 2: a way that I didn't see coming. So I got
Speaker 2: NIX and seven I have.
Speaker 1: I have the Knicks in seven, but I'm gonna say this,
Speaker 1: if the Indiana Pacers win one of the first two
Speaker 1: games in the Garden, I think the Indiana Pacers going
Speaker 1: taken in six. And I feel more strongly about the
Speaker 1: Pacers probably winning in six than I do about the
Speaker 1: Knicks winning. But again, I just think that the Knicks
Speaker 1: have better clutch players when when asked off, it's a
Speaker 1: question of people they be healthy enough and will they
Speaker 1: be in a position to to to to be able
Speaker 1: to show that they're capable of doing those things. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be a tough series, man, It's gonna be a
Speaker 1: tough series. I think that it's no less than six
Speaker 1: or seven games. But if I'm the New York Knicks,
Speaker 1: I really would not like to be in a situation
Speaker 1: where I'm giving up any of the home court advantage
Speaker 1: city Indiana Pacers at the early outset of this playoff series.
Speaker 1: If you do that, I think you run the risk
Speaker 1: of you getting knocked out by the Pacers. And the
Speaker 1: Pacers have proven that they can go out there and
Speaker 1: they can win on the road, you know.
Speaker 2: I mean, but so of the Knicks though. So that's
Speaker 2: where I don't know home court means as much as
Speaker 2: it used to. But I understand where you're going. I
Speaker 2: just feel like both of these teams are very good
Speaker 2: road teams that we don't necessarily need to worry about,
Speaker 2: even in Indiana where the Steel game one or two
Speaker 2: in the garden, I hear you.
Speaker 1: Here's where I kind of differ with where you're coming from.
Speaker 1: The New York Knicks prove that they can come from
Speaker 1: behind against a team that allows teams to come from behind,
Speaker 1: the Indiana Pacers. And I think where I'm saying is
Speaker 1: is if the Indiana Pacers get on top of the Knicks.
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about this being like a two three game,
Speaker 1: you know, wired, you know, tight game going into the
Speaker 1: final minutes. I'm saying, if the Indiana Pacers go out
Speaker 1: there and molly wap the Knicks in the early outset.
Speaker 1: The Knicks are not coming back to win that game.
Speaker 1: The Indiana Pacers, I just think, as far as an
Speaker 1: offensive team goes, I think they're just too good to
Speaker 1: allow a team to just suddenly just come back out
Speaker 1: of the woodworks and then they lose that game. I
Speaker 1: think Carlisle will figure out and find a way to
Speaker 1: make sure that even if the Knicks go on a run,
Speaker 1: they ain't going on a run to knock out like
Speaker 1: they did the Celtics. The Pacers will figure that out.
Speaker 2: But what I'm saying is that they have more dimensions
Speaker 2: to their offense.
Speaker 1: No, they do. But what I am also saying is
Speaker 1: well too when it comes to the New York Knicks,
Speaker 1: the New York Knicks cannot let this get out of hand,
Speaker 1: right because then the Pacers get in the Knicks heads.
Speaker 1: The flat out is just a fact. The Pacers are
Speaker 1: that kind of team. They have got to be up
Speaker 1: in you. They gotta be chirping, they gotta be all
Speaker 1: up in your headspace, you know what I'm saying. And
Speaker 1: I don't know if the Knicks want to be messing
Speaker 1: around playing those kind of head games with the Pacers,
Speaker 1: you know, But if I'm the New York Knicks. I
Speaker 1: have to make sure that I make a statement, and
Speaker 1: I have to make sure that they understand that it's
Speaker 1: not going to be easy to just get wins in
Speaker 1: the Madison Square Garden. The MSG like to me, it's
Speaker 1: not about just the sacred ground of MSG. It's about
Speaker 1: the fact that you're the New York Knicks, and you
Speaker 1: are you effectively have home court advantage because you're the
Speaker 1: third best team in the Eastern Conference. Therefore, there should
Speaker 1: be no reason why you're going to allow the Indiana
Speaker 1: Pacers to destroy you on your own home court. And
Speaker 1: we have seen where the Indiana Pacers go out there
Speaker 1: and blitz teams to the point it makes them question
Speaker 1: whether or not they can hang in that series. And
Speaker 1: that's what I don't want to see. But it can happen,
Speaker 1: and it's happened.
Speaker 2: I mean ask you one final final question here, Where
Speaker 2: do where does? Where? Does Brunson spend the majority of
Speaker 2: his time defensively? You know, do you think he ends
Speaker 2: up guarding nemhard or or or nice Smiths Because I
Speaker 2: think the cross matches on New York side. In my head,
Speaker 2: I'm figuring it out. I think will start out on
Speaker 2: Turner and nobody's going to be guarding Siakam. I think
Speaker 2: they'll put Bridges on Halliburton, right, and then that allows
Speaker 2: them is going to be on right, And I think
Speaker 2: what ends up happening Bridges and and sorry Bridges and
Speaker 2: Nie smith will probably alternate on Brunson, you know, cross
Speaker 2: matching with the case it b But I think on
Speaker 2: the flip side is where does Brunson spend the most
Speaker 2: of his time trying to hide? You know? And yeah,
Speaker 2: you're right, it might it might be it might be
Speaker 2: Nie Smiths. But you know, this is why we play
Speaker 2: the games. Man. I'm I'm over, you know, the Celtics
Speaker 2: loss per se. Now I can just kind of focus
Speaker 2: on what is basketball without any rooted interest and and see,
Speaker 2: you know what I think will be a race series
Speaker 2: between Indiana and New York.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, man, great show all together, man, I mean we
Speaker 1: covered a lot. We buried two teams, and then we
Speaker 1: found a way to talk about two teams that are
Speaker 1: staying alive, right so, and one of those teams eventually
Speaker 1: is going to be a participant in this year's NBA
Speaker 1: Finals and we are definitely here for it. Man.
Speaker 2: So awesome show all together, brother, absolutely so, please continue
Speaker 2: to tap in with the Baseline NBA podcast. You know
Speaker 2: we got those goods for you, exciting and siding conversations.
Speaker 2: You know we'll ramp up, we'll covers you a little
Speaker 2: bit as we get into the Conference finals and the
Speaker 2: NBA Finals ultimately, but enjoy, man, enjoy where there's still
Speaker 2: a lot of great basketball ahead of us. We got
Speaker 2: the drafts coming up as well, two special guests coming
Speaker 2: up on the base line and in a couple of
Speaker 2: weeks too. Great time to be a live brother, and
Speaker 2: a great time to be rocking and rolling with you.
Speaker 1: Like absolutely man So for the Baseline Cali warren Shaw,
Speaker 1: we appreciate you guys, Thanks for having over with us
Speaker 1: this week. Enjoy the Eastern Conference Finals. Catch up with you,
Speaker 1: m hmm,