Speaker 1: We're back on the drive with ESPNS Dave mcmanimon joining
Speaker 1: us for today's NBA Daily Assist Eastern Conference Finals Game one.
Speaker 1: Tonight's world's most famous arena, Midtown Manhattan for Penn Plaza
Speaker 1: Nicks Pacers, which brings up a lot of a lot
Speaker 1: of emotion, a lot of memories.
Speaker 2: The West got going last night.
Speaker 1: Will bring a little lightness to what's other otherwise been
Speaker 1: a very heavy show with some of the local news
Speaker 1: around here. Dave mcminnimon is our guest. According to the
Speaker 1: Hoop Collective, Dave is the slowest of the NBA riders
Speaker 1: to file his pieces at ESPN dot com. Dave, do
Speaker 1: you care to confirm or deny?
Speaker 3: Wow, I just want to know who dropped that line
Speaker 3: on me. It will depend on my answer.
Speaker 1: It was McMahon and then and then cooperated by win
Speaker 1: Horse and Bontemps, that you by far the slowest to
Speaker 1: file your pieces.
Speaker 2: Is that true?
Speaker 3: I may just have more of an art and a craft,
Speaker 3: you know, they might be up in burgers and I'm
Speaker 3: putting together a meal for my readers. So that would
Speaker 3: be my response to that. So McMahon left buy what
Speaker 3: seven or eight minutes prior to me yesterday, and he's
Speaker 3: taken a victory lap for that. Okay, good for you too.
Speaker 2: So the real question is in general, who is the slowest?
Speaker 3: I mean, it might be true, that might be true
Speaker 3: on the slowest. Yeah, you know. I also think I
Speaker 3: have more of a vocabulary rolodex in my mind to
Speaker 3: flip through than they do.
Speaker 2: So I love it. Where do we Where do we
Speaker 2: find you? On this fine Wednesday?
Speaker 3: Dave Oklahoma City, digesting what was a fun first half
Speaker 3: and a avalanche of a thunder wing in the second half,
Speaker 3: and wondering what type of series we're going to get. Certainly,
Speaker 3: the Wolves were pretty confident group today at practice, but
Speaker 3: that's underteam. It's not like they played their best either.
Speaker 3: Shay Gillis yells and Shay Gilders I was inner starts
Speaker 3: off in Game two for thirteen. They still win by
Speaker 3: twenty six points, So we'll see how this series goes.
Speaker 1: Acknowledging that I do not live in the center of Milan,
Speaker 1: I will ask you what does one do on his
Speaker 1: day off?
Speaker 2: In Oklahoma City?
Speaker 3: Worked? And then actually McMahon and I found a little
Speaker 3: pickup game with some of the OKC writers. So's play
Speaker 3: a little hoops and then do a little slow writing
Speaker 3: after I'm done with you, and then I watch the
Speaker 3: next game.
Speaker 1: You don't sound to be too thrilled to be in
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City? Am I reading this directly?
Speaker 3: That's okay, It's okay. It's a bit of a hike
Speaker 3: to get to, not a Delta direct type of city,
Speaker 3: and so you know, that makes it a little bit
Speaker 3: more cumbersome. But it is a great atmosphere for the games,
Speaker 3: and I'm here for the games. So yeah, no, no
Speaker 3: real complaints there.
Speaker 2: Would you rather be an Okay See or salt Lake?
Speaker 3: Well, a direct and a lot closer. So I'll go
Speaker 3: salt Lake all day.
Speaker 1: Outside of the route, Dave, outside of just your flights,
Speaker 1: it's not bad living around here, man, outside of just
Speaker 1: your delta mind.
Speaker 3: I enjoy where I stay. You know, actually, there's I've
Speaker 3: expanded my palette. There's a few marriottes. I'll stay in
Speaker 3: downtown salt Lake now, and I do enjoy the walk
Speaker 3: to the arena and back, and you know some of
Speaker 3: the spots I've been to over the years. So I
Speaker 3: enjoy salt Lake in the city. No shade being thrown
Speaker 3: by me right now.
Speaker 2: The best you can do.
Speaker 1: I enjoy the walk to the freaking arena, he says,
Speaker 1: two blocks from my marria. You know what, challenge Dave,
Speaker 1: next time you're here. I don't know when that will be.
Speaker 1: Hit me up and I'm going to show you the city. Okay,
Speaker 1: there are plenty of things about Salt Lake you need
Speaker 1: to experience it. Clearly you have and if your best
Speaker 1: part is the two block walk to the arena.
Speaker 3: Down, I'm absolutely domb for that, because yeah, I'm trying
Speaker 3: to like think of I've been red Iguana of course,
Speaker 3: which a very you know, that was very good Mexican meal.
Speaker 3: I do do PF Changs a lot in Salt Lake City,
Speaker 3: which I'm not knocking Pfchangs, but I'm sure there are
Speaker 3: some better non chain restaurants that you guys have to offer.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I'll take you up on that.
Speaker 1: Did you just drop a PF Chang's on me? What
Speaker 1: are you going to Chili's before for lunch?
Speaker 3: It's on the route.
Speaker 1: Gosh, Day mcminimon's Salt Lake City fan because he gets
Speaker 1: PF Changs on his walk to the Delta Center. My goodness, Dave.
Speaker 1: All right, we can move on. So look, last night
Speaker 1: an example of something that we've all seen. Dude, I
Speaker 1: don't know that anybody left has that ceiling o case
Speaker 1: he hits when they hit that ceiling. Now, we know
Speaker 1: that the first half wasn't great, but when they really
Speaker 1: turn it on defensively, their defense was good in the
Speaker 1: first half because it always and then all the attention
Speaker 1: was more on the shot making in the second half.
Speaker 1: But Minnesota is a capable offensive basketball team with varied pieces.
Speaker 1: When Okac really dials in on defense and Shay is
Speaker 1: doing the Shay thing, their ceiling, Dave to me, is
Speaker 1: higher than anybody left, and honestly, I'm not sure it's close.
Speaker 2: Give me your thoughts.
Speaker 3: I agree with you on that assessment. I think the
Speaker 3: team and I've shared it with you before that I
Speaker 3: thought had the highest ceiling was the Celtics, but obviously
Speaker 3: they're out one and two. Before they go out, they
Speaker 3: got injured, So I give that title along with you
Speaker 3: to Okay. See, there was a video clip of a
Speaker 3: kind of a bird's eye angle of the action last
Speaker 3: night that I saw on some OKC blog, and it
Speaker 3: was tracking Alex Caruso fighting through screens and basically you
Speaker 3: can't run pick a roll when he's involved, because he
Speaker 3: fights through and gets over every screen. And so you
Speaker 3: have someone like that who is one of three or
Speaker 3: four wing defenders that they have like that, it makes
Speaker 3: it really hard to get any offense going. And then
Speaker 3: beyond that, not just a perimeter defense, they have really
Speaker 3: disciplined interior defense. Or Edwards was saying every time he
Speaker 3: got through a pick of roll scenario out on the perimeter,
Speaker 3: he turned the corner and he was looking at three
Speaker 3: or four people in the paint. He only had one
Speaker 3: shot attempt in the paint last night. And beyond that,
Speaker 3: you know, this is where I think there certainly is
Speaker 3: room for growth for the Wolves. They shot terribly five
Speaker 3: to fifteen from three hundred thirty percent on the shots
Speaker 3: that we track at ESPN as quote wide open looks.
Speaker 3: So you think that theoretically can come up a bit, right,
Speaker 3: But I think you look at the other side, you say, well,
Speaker 3: Shay Gillis at Vender didn't really have all that good
Speaker 3: of a game, and it mused with Jalen Williams and
Speaker 3: it wasn't like it was a light time game from
Speaker 3: Chad Holger either. So it's like, I don't know, I
Speaker 3: think it could be pretty tough for the Wolves to
Speaker 3: win here. That doesn't mean I think it's gonna be
Speaker 3: a short series, because certainly, you know, the Wolves have
Speaker 3: a pretty darn good home court advance a target center
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 1: So I'm a little bit conflicted on the foul stuff
Speaker 1: with Shay because I find it to be a bit
Speaker 1: of an art form when you're able to manipulate the
Speaker 1: game a little bit to draw fouls and get to
Speaker 1: the free throw line, especially in the postseason when free
Speaker 1: points like you know, like free throws and layups and
Speaker 1: dunks are such a premium. And he's developed this ability
Speaker 1: as a six', eight big body dude who has great
Speaker 1: handles and understands angles to really bait defenders into legitimate.
Speaker 1: Fouls and, yes they are the screenshots of nobody touching
Speaker 1: him and him going to the, line AND i understand.
Speaker 1: That but over the, years, man we can talk about
Speaker 1: the greatest of all, Time Michael jordan becoming a bit
Speaker 1: of a foul merchant.
Speaker 2: HIMSELF i know that's kind of a swear word these.
Speaker 1: Days so and, look there are moments where like When
Speaker 1: harden kind of kind of was able to develop his
Speaker 1: swing through.
Speaker 2: Stuff it felt like it was.
Speaker 1: CHEATING i hate it When Donna mitchell throws his head
Speaker 1: back without being touched and gets the. Call jokic has
Speaker 1: developed this thing where he hooks you under his armpit
Speaker 1: and then. Flails there are some things that are irritating
Speaker 1: and straight up. Cheating So i'm not really sure Where
Speaker 1: i'm at with The shay. Stuff part of me respects the,
Speaker 1: endeavor and then part of me wants the refs to
Speaker 1: call it in a way where you, know you don't
Speaker 1: necessarily reward guys that are trying to cheat the. Game
Speaker 1: but what's your take on this conversation Surrounding shay after
Speaker 1: last night with fourteen free?
Speaker 2: Throws, well he had.
Speaker 3: Eleven excuse, me he had seven free throws in the
Speaker 3: first five minutes of the game and the thunder had
Speaker 3: eleven while the wolveshad zero in the first. Quarter you, know,
Speaker 3: like is this? Really is that really a fair? Whistle he?
Speaker 3: Had it was fourteen for the, game which is not
Speaker 3: an absurd, Amount but when he's struggling to find his
Speaker 3: shot off of real field goal attempts and seemingly is
Speaker 3: only able to find a rhythm by getting to the
Speaker 3: foul on that consistently you're, LIKE i don't know a
Speaker 3: cal fair is this? Right and, obviously ever since you,
Speaker 3: know anecdotally About All Star break of last season of
Speaker 3: twenty three twenty, four the refs started to swallow the
Speaker 3: whistle a little, bit seemingly in response to the league
Speaker 3: seeing the public apathy towards some of these inflated box score,
Speaker 3: numbers you, know where it's one thirty one forty at
Speaker 3: the end of the game because both teams are shooting
Speaker 3: forty to fifty free throws and that's carried. Over it
Speaker 3: seemingly become intensified in the playoffs where it's kind of
Speaker 3: let these guys. Play and so if the majority of
Speaker 3: the players on the court are being officiated that, way
Speaker 3: and then you have one guy who is just that
Speaker 3: good at selling it who isn't quite ketting this same,
Speaker 3: WHISTLE i think it stands out a little bit. MORE
Speaker 3: i think he drew thirteen fouls last. Night one of
Speaker 3: them was reviewed and taken, away ends up with. Twelve you,
Speaker 3: KNOW i think you probably say half of them absolutely completely,
Speaker 3: legitimate and then half are judgment. Calls AND i don't, know,
Speaker 3: like if you're from The minnesota side of, things you
Speaker 3: want the judgment to go your, way and if you're
Speaker 3: with the okay see side of, things you say, no,
Speaker 3: certainly that's THE mvp of the. League he should be
Speaker 3: getting a good. Whistle SO i don't think it sullies
Speaker 3: his game to the point you can't enjoy watching. HIM i,
Speaker 3: actually you know now seen him play about ten times this,
Speaker 3: year and he is really really good to get into
Speaker 3: his thoughts and really really skilled at you, know that
Speaker 3: little snashback dribble that he has with fall out extended
Speaker 3: like that is one of the most insoftful moves into HIS.
Speaker 3: Nba so you tip your cap, There but you, know game,
Speaker 3: flow it was never as good as it is when
Speaker 3: there's less free.
Speaker 1: Throws speaking of SAID, mvp two part, question your thoughts
Speaker 1: ON sga receiving the award and do you have any
Speaker 1: insight as to why we were all waiting for weeks
Speaker 1: to get this.
Speaker 3: NEWS i was disappointed in the league for not announcing.
Speaker 3: IT i, mean how many times have we Had, well
Speaker 3: first of, all let's start with. This the, LEAGUE i
Speaker 3: think it was seventeen eighteen is when they started to
Speaker 3: revamp the awards process and they starting then would announce
Speaker 3: the finalists, Right so the only reason we knew that
Speaker 3: the finalists Included jokic And Shi Jos. Alexander obviously logically
Speaker 3: we knew, that but the only way we knew it
Speaker 3: empirically was because the league announced it back In. April
Speaker 3: so then if you're already giving the public the information
Speaker 3: and then the bracket works out so that you actually
Speaker 3: have two of the top three finalists playing one another
Speaker 3: in a playoff series with a trip to The Western
Speaker 3: conference finals for, them why would you not announce it
Speaker 3: during That AND i haven't heard an explanation for. IT
Speaker 3: i think in our sensitive society it was, probably you,
Speaker 3: know some politicking from maybe both, sides worried if the
Speaker 3: guy wasn't gonna win it and how it could affect the.
Speaker 3: Series but quite, frankly you, KNOW i think it will
Speaker 3: be much more compelling to watch that, thing you, know
Speaker 3: the night After shaye gets the award And Nicola jokus
Speaker 3: has something to say about it in the. Series that
Speaker 3: would have been great to. See so that's disappointing in
Speaker 3: terms Of shay winning. It it was a tough vote for,
Speaker 3: me BUT i did vote for. HIM i think The
Speaker 3: cooliochus is a better PLAYER i also believe that sixty
Speaker 3: eight wins is a. RARITY i, mean, obviously only seven
Speaker 3: teams have ever won sixty eight wins or more in
Speaker 3: the regular SEASON nba, history and that's proving your value.
Speaker 1: There SO i got to reward that you referenced the
Speaker 1: comp efidence Of minnesota during practice today and according TO i,
Speaker 1: believe it WAS Espn stats And info eleven of thirty
Speaker 1: nine on open. THREES i will say a lot of
Speaker 1: those open threes were pushed, Back LIKE i do Think
Speaker 1: Oklahoma city's defense just continues to be, really.
Speaker 2: Really difficult to.
Speaker 1: Crack but what sort of adjustments do you expect for
Speaker 1: them to try to make so they can attempt to
Speaker 1: go back home tied at one to.
Speaker 3: One, well interesting thing in a, moment and the end
Speaker 3: was last night said THAT i need to play off
Speaker 3: the ball more And i'll be the guy getting those
Speaker 3: cuts and shoot opportunities because they're going to continue to
Speaker 3: pack the. PAINT i Asked finch about that today and
Speaker 3: he actually backed it. Up he, said, well you, know
Speaker 3: we want to whether he has the ball in his
Speaker 3: hands or he's getting it from a, teammate we just
Speaker 3: want to create more movement and so you know whether
Speaker 3: that is a higher screen that they're setting to get
Speaker 3: him a chance to get downhill with the balls in
Speaker 3: his hands or. Quit, frankly if you're already conceding, that
Speaker 3: we're not going to have driblel pennantation To. Delane, anyway
Speaker 3: this is the best three point shooter in the league
Speaker 3: this year in terms of three point. Volume so, yeah,
Speaker 3: like let's just Have Mike conley take a couple of
Speaker 3: pro dribbles and kick out To ant versus the. Opposite you, Know,
Speaker 3: Conley Tante DiVincenzo nas, read all these, Guys NIKHIL i
Speaker 3: was Gonna. Walker none of them could make a shot last.
Speaker 3: Night so if you, say, hey what's the worst that
Speaker 3: could happen If ant takes fifteen, THREES i think there's
Speaker 3: probably some wisdom. There SO i think that's the one
Speaker 3: thing you're going to. See And Rudy gobert was putting
Speaker 3: it on, himself like saying he couldn't remember the last
Speaker 3: time he had two thousand in the first two, minutes
Speaker 3: and he felt like that compromised their defense a bit as.
Speaker 3: WELL i, mean the paint scoring disparity was egregious In game,
Speaker 3: one and that was a strength obviously of the Wol
Speaker 3: they beat The warriors by just completely owning the paint
Speaker 3: in that. Series AND i recognize as they hard Seeing
Speaker 3: Chet homern are a little bit different than you, Know
Speaker 3: Kevon looney and you know the other big sit the
Speaker 3: words who trapped me out. There BUT i do think
Speaker 3: that's something that they're gonna want to take advantage. Of
Speaker 3: so you, KNOW i, think, yeah look for a little
Speaker 3: bit more off ball action From edwards and you, Know
Speaker 3: Rudy gobert doing his jobs at the established past.
Speaker 1: RIBBLE i know you're younger THAN i, am but not by,
Speaker 1: much SO i can ask you this Favorite Nicks pacers
Speaker 1: playoff moment historically.
Speaker 2: SPEAKING.
Speaker 3: I eight points in nine. SECONDS i think what comes
Speaker 3: to mind? IMMEDIATELY i probably. That, honestly they're all kind
Speaker 3: of an amalgam to. ME i couldn't, say, well that
Speaker 3: was ninety, four and that was ninety, one and that
Speaker 3: was you, know ninety. Five BUT i think just the
Speaker 3: warm fifty of tone MEMORIES i have OF NBN Nbc
Speaker 3: sunday afternoon at The garden a, motorshod that sideline Potential
Speaker 3: hattime report had a, Storm PETER, vessi you, know breaking
Speaker 3: down the Latest Antonio daniels you know practice report that he.
Speaker 3: Has you, know those those battles were, great so anywhere
Speaker 3: from you, know say ninety to ninety, NINE a lot
Speaker 3: of great memories of those two teams playing.
Speaker 2: One another BEFORE i set you? Loose do you have a?
Speaker 2: Lien you know we were talking about this.
Speaker 1: EARLIER i listened to a bunch of different, pods including
Speaker 1: your guys run you down for no reason while you
Speaker 1: were catching, strays AND i watched a bunch of different.
Speaker 1: SHOWS i really feel like this is. SPLIT i don't
Speaker 1: know that there's a, consensus like everyone's on The knicks
Speaker 1: or The.
Speaker 2: Pacers do you have a? Lien as far as how
Speaker 2: you think this thing is going to?
Speaker 4: Go part of me feels like this is like one
Speaker 4: of those things where The pacers are completely getting overlooked
Speaker 4: because the story for The knicks and the history behind
Speaker 4: that franchise is so strong and for various, reasons.
Speaker 3: You, know not just, ratings but JUST i think you
Speaker 3: still the scene In New york after they clinched the conference,
Speaker 3: finals like that is that's, Awesome like that's what sports
Speaker 3: is that makes it so, compelling and to see that
Speaker 3: continue to grow from a conference finals to The files
Speaker 3: is SOMETHING i think a lot of us are rooting.
Speaker 3: FOR i Think nixon seven BECAUSE i think my heart
Speaker 3: is kind of with The knicks, there but my head
Speaker 3: says that The pacers are not an easy.
Speaker 1: Out all, Right, David now you got to get going
Speaker 1: because you have to file a story in seven, Hours
Speaker 1: so we'll set you loose so you can slow play
Speaker 1: your piece and appreciate the.
Speaker 2: Time man ENJOY. Okc, yeah, thanks that's talking so