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Speaker 1: What is up, fellows, it goes, I am damn Valley

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coming at you with the one, the only, this certified,

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my certified PANTAMTS co host, mister Grant Hughes. We're here

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to talk about how the three heaviest favorites the second

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round of the NBA Playoffs are all totally screwed.

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Speaker 2: It's over.

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Speaker 1: They all lost Game one at home and we were wrong.

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We have to adjust our priors accordingly, and that means

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they are doomed. Their president is doomed, their future is doomed.

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There is no hope. That's not actually what we're gonna do.

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We're gonna talk about which which one of those three

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like it should be on alert the most as we

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move forward. Grant, how the heck are you?

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Speaker 2: I'm doing well? I I said this last time. I'm

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just loving that we've cut the field in half and

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we can spend even more time focusing on fewer games.

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That's a great thing. I don't wanna. I'm not gonna

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We're not gonna jump right into what I think about

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these games and how how panicked we should be, because

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that's that's the that's like the bulk of the content here.

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So I'll tell you I'm doing well, and I'm not

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gonna ask you how you're doing. I'll say I hope

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that you're also doing well, and uh, maybe we should

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just get started.

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Speaker 1: I do enjoy we said this the fewer games thing.

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I'd like kind of like, well, I guess it wouldn't

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be this staggered. But if the NBA ever did cut

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its number of games during the regular season, it just

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like gives you sort of a preview, like yeah, like no,

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this would rule the Knick Celtics, which we picked. Did

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we both pick Boston in five for this series?

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Speaker 2: I believe still alive, still in place.

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Speaker 1: People already doing victory laps in our comments. It is

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technically like, well, yeah, we're rethinking this, but also not

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technically wrong yet.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't.

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Speaker 1: I came away from Game one basically in shock as

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to what I just like the when the Knicks were

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down twenty in my head, I didn't I resisted putting

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it on social media, but I will save space here.

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It wasn't just oh, this game's over, okay, this season's over,

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like this is as I expected, like they'll maybe they'll

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steal one, but this Boston's not even really giving you

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their best punch in your down twenty Yeah, did you

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make Like what are you take you away from this

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game and as it applies moving forward?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I was in the same I don't know what

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place other than that you could really find yourself in

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when the deficit's twenty right, just the way that it

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was shaking out like that, we could talk about some

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of the surprising things that were apparent even at that

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point when it seemed like, oh, Boston's gonna win every game,

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like walking away, like you know, the deficits will always

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be in the twenties, Like there's just no way this

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is going to be competitive. I just I just think

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like there was real cause for concern because it seemed

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very easy when that lead was as big as it

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was and Boston like wasn't playing well, you know, really

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like there were things that weren't going Boston's way and

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it was still just like this is these teams are

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on different levels. Having said that, I don't know how

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you walk away from this game without bullet point number

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one on your like here's my analysis being some version

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of make or Miss League, you know, Like I'm sure

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you've seen various iterations of the stats, like we can

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talk about Boston's process. The result was like they got

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forty five uncontested threes and they made twelve or thirteen,

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I forget what it was.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and it was the ones that were completely unguarded.

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So like the six plus feet away I think were

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twenty four and they were seven of twenty four.

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Speaker 2: Like, if all you knew going into a game, like

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I okay, I'm you're coaching Team X, and I tell

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you Dan, your team will attempt forty five threes that

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will be be termed uncontested, you'd say, like, well, so

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we we won by fifteen or like they're like what

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you If that's all you knew, you would assume you

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won with like a ninety percent rate of certainty.

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Speaker 1: Especially when you go back and look. So in the

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four regular season games that they played, and this is

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with that fourth one where it was kind of close,

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but also includes the first one where the Knicks were

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absolutely drubbed, This were a minus one hundred and seventeen

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from the three point line. So if someone came at

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you with the stat that you just said, knowing.

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Speaker 2: What happened in the first season, yeah, I mean even

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what were the Knicks like seven teen of thirty seven.

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I think from three I got I should know that

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off the top of my head. But even if you

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knew that, and you and you said you were also

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aware that Boston got up sixty and forty five of

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them were really good looks, like you'd still say I

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think Boston still won this by double digits pretty easily, right, Like,

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I just so that I don't want to reduce it

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to that, because I think that that like lets Boston

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off the hook a little bit because of the way

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like not all those threes were, you know, the ones,

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even though they were not really closely guarded like Boston's

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offensive process. This feels like we could pull up a

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clip of us talking about the Celtics and like searching

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for a concern from any point over the last like

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three years, and some version of what we're gonna say

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about this game would would like appear, right because the

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whole settling getting into your actions too late, not attacking downhill,

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not get I think the Celtics also made half of

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their shots inside the arc, so it's.

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Speaker 1: Like, well when they actually took them, yet, like, so.

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Speaker 2: Do that more? Maybe you know, it's all the it's

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all the same concerns or like nitpicks you would make

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about Boston, those were all just on display and that

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that is a problem and it deserves more discussion than

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just like the I mean shot sixty three's you're gonna

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make more than you know that you did and you're fine,

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Like there's some there's a little bit to talk about here,

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so take that, or like just where are you on this,

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like as from a Knicks perspective, like positive, what positives

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do the Knicks take away here? Like what can you

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say other than Boston missed a bunch of shots to

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say to to make the case that the hey, the

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Knicks did X, Y and Z well enough to win.

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I've already requested off for the parade in June's where

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I think. So I do want to take the because

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I think that this applies to the Knicks. When you're

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looking at a lot of the.

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Speaker 1: Three point variability, you don't tend to credit defenses, especially

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defenses that haven't necessarily proven that they're going to be

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the reason that you go into some of these shots.

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What I do think the Knicks did a really good

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job of doing was if you go and I didn't,

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I didn't go back and watch all sixty of Boston's

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three pointers. I watched a lot of the makes, and

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some of those mates were when Boston got New York

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into rotation and they were scrambling. But a lot of

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the other times, like their misses were coming when New

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York either their rotations early on the possession were just

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spot on, or like you didn't put them in rotation

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at all.

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Speaker 2: And so there's a lot of switching by the Knicks,

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right that surprised me.

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Speaker 1: That had to be I'd love to see the date

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on that. Some like that had to be the game

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where they switched the most, Like maybe it was one

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of the other Celtics games earlier in their season, but

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with its core and the other thing that I thought

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they did a really good job doing. So they were

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in the middle of switching, but like they also did

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a good job of continuing to And he had possessions

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where he ended up on Tatum and but Jalen Brunton

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spent most of the time on Drew Holiday. And I

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think unless you want to get if christophs Porzingis is

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on the court, you might ask yourself, like it better

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have a big on Drew Holliday. You can get into

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that but Drew Holliday seems like the smartest one for

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John Brunton, and now you're able to keep him on

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because even though they were switching, there was I think

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it was a possession in the fourth quarter where it's

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like Karenton counts a screen navigation was insane, so he

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switches the initial action but then doesn't get caught off

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by another screen and he goes around it and he

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picks up the guy again. So John Brith was able

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to stay on Drew Holliday that entire possession, and that

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was just I don't want to say it was the

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best defensive performance I've seen from the next this season,

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but in terms of like the variability of what they

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threw out there and the execution of it, I came

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away thinking, like McHale, Bridges, Josh Hart Oji all having

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like that type of defensive game at once. I do

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think what helped them get there is so Christops porzingis

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and the illness like that he is, like when you

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look at the Knicks roster specifically, he's the guy you're

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not say he's always gonna make his shots, but like

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he's the guy the type of big that just breaks

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it and it's just so different when one you're going

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to have, and they didn't perform particularly well in the glass,

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but when it's just out Horford, like, it's different because

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now you don't have the Al Horford and Porzingis minutes

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and it's just different when it's Al Horford out there

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versus when it's just Porzingis out there. You might be

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a little bit better off if you're Boston wanting to switch. Defensively, sure,

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without Horford, I won't argue that, but offensively, like Christaps,

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Porzingis is just more of an anomaly there. Yeah, at

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this point. So I think that helped them. But I

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also think what the the Knicks did a really good

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job of doing is like they got after it after

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Boston's misshots too, and it was like there were still

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some possessions where things bogged down. But if you're gonna

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be able to play with a semblance of pace, like

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Josh Hart really good at setting the pace for them

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and and forcing but like you know, Boston after missus,

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like going up against their defense when it's not set. No,

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I don't think they're gonna make seventeen of thirty seven

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from three, So like that stuff will normalize, but it

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did just give you hope that Okay, there's like there's

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a blueprint here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I see a lot of, uh, you know,

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allusions to all Orlando put the blueprint out, like speaking

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of blueprints, like Orlando is just not switching against Boston

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and for more isolation stuff, staying out of rotation, all

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that kind of thing. Oh the Knick's crib from that,

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I think that that's probably true to some extent. But

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the thing I couldn't avoid thinking, and we've seen it

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in a few other playoff series, what do you think

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maybe like because the idea of like, oh, switch ability

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on defense is like this premium skill, like that's been

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around for a minute, Like you know, the the Draymond Warriors,

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those Rockets teams with PJ Tucker at center, what you know,

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both had hardened slash Curry as like the vulnerable guy

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that's the brunts and roll keep those guys out of

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the action and switch everything else Like that was really

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more designed I think to slow down like a pick

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and roll or a pick and pop or just like

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short circuiting that action that had become so prevalent. I

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wonder now, and the fact that the Celtics got up

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as many threes as they did, Maybe just means this

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is a theory we can debunk immediately. But I also think, like, well,

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if the goal is to stay out of rotations, switching

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solves that. And if the reason you want to stay

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out of rotations is because there are teams that will

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just fire off threes with no you know, no remorse,

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no second thoughts, like Boston does, like that's an interesting

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trend that I think a lot of teams might employ.

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Now Boston is the extreme case because the Celtics shoots

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so many threes, and that's like what they want is

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to get you, you know, closing out late to somebody

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and getting a look that way. But I wonder if

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as the three point like volume had just continues to

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increase around the league, we might see like not a

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return to but like a like a reinvigoration of like,

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all right, we've got to switch everything. And if you

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want to beat us in isolation on two point attempts,

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best of luck, because we're going to shoot a lot

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of threes on the other end. And so it's possible that,

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like I think Game two in this series is going

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to be a phenomenal like I don't know, not a

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litmus test, but like we may get a sense of,

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all right, how committed are you Nix and everybody else

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that's that's trying to switch so much, like is this

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going to be a new like a new thing now

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where just because we're so afraid of threes being just

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burying us, you know, like to circle all the way back,

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you give up forty five uncontested threes, Like you can't

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that that can't happen as a defense like that. That's

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a mistake. And so that's the irony of me praising

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the next switching having given that up I am aware of.

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But like, if you want to get that number down

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against a normal team that's not Boston, switching might just

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do that, like and at least force at least so

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the best thing I would say about the Knicks is

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they forced Boston to like kind of lean on their

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worst instincts. And maybe that changes in game two. But

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I think the switching thing is going to be interesting

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to follow, like as a league wide kind of trend.

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Just let's stop letting teams get open threes because we're

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scrambling and we didn't because we played the pick and

255
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roll straight up makes Does that make sense? Do you

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think that might be thing?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I also just sort of wondered, like how much

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of it could become And I think that applies to

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this series, to more variability. And even so the Knicks,

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like they did place a man in this and I

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just the Orlando blueprint. I understand what people are saying

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about it, but I didn't necessarily I didn't see a

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lot of it. And like Orlando was running these dudes

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all off the three point line right, which the Knicks

265
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were just not doing. So that's almost counterintuitive to think about.

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I do also think that and this is I think

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the Knicks won this game like more than Boston. Like

268
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it was a combin it's always a combination of things

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where I think that maybe this showed that the Knicks

270
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do have more punch in them than we expected against Boston.

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But Boston's process, as you mentioned, was bad, and I

272
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think like one of the low hanging fruits is just

273
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I don't know what was going on with Jason Tatum. Yeah,

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like were they trying to over course correct because of

275
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what happened in the Orlando series, So they're determined to

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get off these threes, but he goes from averaging about

277
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thirteen drives per thirty six minutes in that Orlando series.

278
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So he has seven drives against the Knicks, which when

279
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you factor in overtime, that's like five and a half

280
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drives per thirty six minutes. This is someone who has

281
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the ability to get downhill and not bail out and

282
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draw some fouls. And he had like there were because

283
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the Knicks were switching, Like there were moments when Jalen

284
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Brunson was on him and just like he bumped down

285
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Brunton off him and it was okay. That creates a

286
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separation for your pull up jumper, but that's not falling

287
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right now, like maybe to get to the basket at

288
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that point. I think that they can certainly do more

289
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of that and that will be okay. What because part

290
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of the appeal of Boston is it's not just they

291
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have all these dudes that can space the floor. It

292
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is everyone on the court basically at all times can dribble,

293
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shoot and pass and decision make like however you want

294
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to frame it. And so they just didn't lean on that.

295
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I think the Knicks did a good job of kind

296
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of and that I also kind of wonder in that

297
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sense if the Piston series helped them, because that was

298
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such a physical series and Boston just doesn't play that

299
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way even when they're at full strength. But I think,

300
00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:36,879
like as much as the Knicks gave Boston real trouble,

301
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like Boston really kind of just self sabotaged itself on

302
00:13:40,639 --> 00:13:42,320
so many of these offensive possessions.

303
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you have to do some version of

304
00:13:45,679 --> 00:13:48,720
this in every game that flips, like like Game one did.

305
00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:52,399
But like if I'm apportioning, you know, the Knicks winned

306
00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:54,559
or did the Celtics lose it, I think that the

307
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larger percentage of that weight is on the Celtics lost it.

308
00:13:58,919 --> 00:14:01,840
Just I mean just the shooting aspect of it. That

309
00:14:02,039 --> 00:14:04,039
like that you said, the low hanging fruit that was

310
00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:06,759
just like left unpicked over and over again. What was

311
00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:09,840
I know, I can't remember when in the game it happened,

312
00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:13,600
but Tatum did hit a deep like isolation step back

313
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against the defender he should have taken. It might have

314
00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:18,279
been Cat, it might have been Mitchell Robinson. But then

315
00:14:18,399 --> 00:14:20,799
like there was the one late with like five and

316
00:14:20,799 --> 00:14:22,720
a half seconds left, I think Tatum did have Mitchell

317
00:14:22,799 --> 00:14:24,879
Robinson on him and he shot a deep three, Like,

318
00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,559
I think I'll be stunned in game two if Boston

319
00:14:28,679 --> 00:14:32,759
doesn't and and Tatum specifically, if Boston doesn't make a

320
00:14:32,799 --> 00:14:35,600
real concerted effort to just like get downhill and try

321
00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:37,279
to finish, because I do think the Knicks are going

322
00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:39,200
to stay home a fair amount. That is like kind

323
00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:41,320
of the Orlando blueprint is like just try to finish.

324
00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:45,039
Just you gotta beat us with contested twos. And I

325
00:14:45,080 --> 00:14:48,240
think the Celtics and Tatum specifically and Brown really too,

326
00:14:48,399 --> 00:14:51,080
if you get a big switched out like or Brunson

327
00:14:51,159 --> 00:14:53,399
switched on to you, there's just a lot of ways

328
00:14:53,399 --> 00:14:55,600
to get to the basket, and maybe that opens up

329
00:14:55,639 --> 00:14:57,720
the kickout game and you get your threes anyway. But

330
00:14:57,720 --> 00:14:59,600
it's like I think, I think Boston just needs to

331
00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:02,240
make some lay like or get fouled, because especially with

332
00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:04,960
the Knicks being as thin as they are, like foul

333
00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:07,360
trouble matters more for the Knicks than most other teams

334
00:15:07,399 --> 00:15:09,799
because like Tim's just doesn't want to play a bunch

335
00:15:09,799 --> 00:15:13,000
of guys Like that's that's another bonus for Boston if

336
00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:16,039
it can just quit shooting, quit settling. I guess it's

337
00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:18,000
it's a trite way to frame it, but like that

338
00:15:18,159 --> 00:15:19,159
is what it felt.

339
00:15:18,919 --> 00:15:22,639
Speaker 1: Like, and it's you know what's also fascinating here is

340
00:15:22,639 --> 00:15:24,720
because you mentioned the foul trouble and I find myself

341
00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:28,200
coming away you felt Mitchell Robinson's impact on a lot

342
00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:32,559
of defensive possessions. But they went to mal A Mitch

343
00:15:32,799 --> 00:15:35,559
or what I call it now, Mitch's get stitches will

344
00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:38,360
be and so they went to that he's three of

345
00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:40,000
ten at the foul line. But kar Anthy Towns was

346
00:15:40,039 --> 00:15:43,399
also in foul trouble right like I'm just and they

347
00:15:43,399 --> 00:15:45,039
had to go to precious to Chua and like Josh

348
00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:46,240
Hart was on the court when they did that. At

349
00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:47,679
one point I was like, ah, I thought I thought

350
00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:51,480
this was over, but I don't know, Like what's the

351
00:15:51,759 --> 00:15:54,759
Like how playable do you see Mitchell Robinson being in

352
00:15:54,759 --> 00:15:57,559
this series? It does you would think that if porzingis

353
00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:00,320
is gonna be limited or not available, it's you would

354
00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:03,120
get a lot easier. But if you don't think that

355
00:16:03,279 --> 00:16:05,600
him playing twenty minutes per game in a regulation like

356
00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:07,080
I'm not rid, even like Factory, in a game that

357
00:16:07,159 --> 00:16:09,120
has some overtime in it, if you don't think he

358
00:16:09,159 --> 00:16:11,399
can give you twenty minutes per game, it becomes even

359
00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:14,240
more critical to keep Karl Anthony Towns out of foul trouble,

360
00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:17,639
which did not happen right for much of game for

361
00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:18,279
game one.

362
00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:21,360
Speaker 2: Well, that's the other wild thing. And I short answer, yeah,

363
00:16:21,399 --> 00:16:23,799
like I think if Porzingis doesn't play, that just gives

364
00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:27,080
you more options to play Robinson. But but like another

365
00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:29,960
point in the Knicks favor I guess is that like offensively,

366
00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:33,320
Cat wasn't good and he he had his typical like

367
00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:36,960
you know, handful of dumb Cat fouls. I think he

368
00:16:37,039 --> 00:16:40,720
outperformed expectations defensively, like holding up on switches fairly well.

369
00:16:41,159 --> 00:16:45,360
But like to win a game without Cat really being

370
00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:48,240
like anything close to the best version of himself offensively

371
00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:50,559
and to have been limited by foul trouble, that's one

372
00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:52,879
that's like that's not in the in the like if

373
00:16:52,879 --> 00:16:54,840
you're looking up, like, okay, what are the examples of,

374
00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:59,080
like what are the Knicks games Knicks wins gonna look like? Oh,

375
00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:01,799
Brunson will have fifth or like the Celtics will miss

376
00:17:01,799 --> 00:17:04,519
a ton of threes. Like very few of those hypotheticals

377
00:17:04,519 --> 00:17:07,039
involve Kat just having a bad game offensively. You would

378
00:17:07,039 --> 00:17:09,359
assume that he's gonna have to be great, and they

379
00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:12,440
won a game when he wasn't. Like it's still I'm

380
00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:15,440
not changing my priors, but it's like the Knicks got

381
00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:17,519
this one, and so like now you just they don't

382
00:17:17,559 --> 00:17:21,240
need to get lucky again as often, you know, And it's.

383
00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:23,799
Speaker 1: There's a level of luck involved at every step, but

384
00:17:23,839 --> 00:17:27,119
also does it give you any Maybe it's not confidence,

385
00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:29,240
but sort of like you're gonna stop and say, well, like,

386
00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:32,720
maybe anything more about this series because mkel Bridges and

387
00:17:32,759 --> 00:17:34,920
Kalonton Towns did not I know, mkel Bridges had a

388
00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:37,200
big three that they did not have good offensive games right,

389
00:17:37,519 --> 00:17:40,359
and they both shot like these egregious air balls at

390
00:17:40,359 --> 00:17:43,519
one point. Mikel Bridges always seems like he's actively going

391
00:17:43,559 --> 00:17:47,680
away from the basket. Yeah, and yet you still won.

392
00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:50,480
And so I want to I want to throw flowers

393
00:17:50,519 --> 00:17:52,240
out to two players in this I mean, Josh Hart

394
00:17:52,279 --> 00:17:55,880
was really good too. This is and I promise Raptor

395
00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:57,839
Sans I watched him in Toronto. This is the best

396
00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:00,119
version of og Ananob that we have ever seen. And

397
00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:02,839
it kind of started to creep up before the Brunton

398
00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:05,720
ankle injury, but it really popped off after it, and

399
00:18:05,759 --> 00:18:07,920
they just kind of never went back. It feels like, yeah,

400
00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:10,799
his usage is down, not creating as much with Brunson

401
00:18:10,839 --> 00:18:13,480
there one duh, but two, it does feel like they've

402
00:18:13,559 --> 00:18:15,319
kind of apportioned some of what would have been the

403
00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:19,039
McHale Bridges usage at full strength back to Ojannoby. I

404
00:18:19,039 --> 00:18:21,000
still don't necessarily trust him as a playmaker, but he

405
00:18:21,039 --> 00:18:24,079
had this one finish, like he has Jalen Brown going

406
00:18:24,079 --> 00:18:26,319
one on one, goes to his left I think it was,

407
00:18:26,359 --> 00:18:28,640
and he finishes over Jalen Brown and through Al Horford

408
00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:29,440
and it's like.

409
00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:31,480
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and he finished with the right hand on

410
00:18:31,519 --> 00:18:36,400
the left side with like a hang, yeah.

411
00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:37,519
Speaker 1: This is And then to then just be defending Jason

412
00:18:37,559 --> 00:18:40,559
Tatum for most of the game, which the cell and

413
00:18:40,599 --> 00:18:42,720
this again, I think a lot of this was settling.

414
00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:45,480
But you have to give the credit like to oj Annobe, Mcalbridge,

415
00:18:45,559 --> 00:18:48,039
Josh Hart. The Celtics average point six to three points

416
00:18:48,039 --> 00:18:51,519
per possession on plays in which og Anobe registered as

417
00:18:51,559 --> 00:18:55,319
like the final defender on Jason Tatum, and so to

418
00:18:55,359 --> 00:18:57,920
carry that workload and then do what he did on

419
00:18:58,039 --> 00:18:59,720
offense incredible.

420
00:19:00,079 --> 00:19:00,319
Speaker 2: Yeah.

421
00:19:00,359 --> 00:19:02,599
Speaker 1: And then Jalen Brunson I'm trying to think of who

422
00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:06,079
are the other players in recent NBA vintage that I've

423
00:19:06,079 --> 00:19:09,039
thought of this way, and I think it's probably Dame

424
00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:12,039
and Jokic of where it's just no, I don't like

425
00:19:12,079 --> 00:19:14,319
the Knicks's crunch time process, and I've been pretty vocal

426
00:19:14,359 --> 00:19:17,960
about that, but I just expect every shot he takes

427
00:19:18,319 --> 00:19:20,079
when it matters most to go in now. And I

428
00:19:20,319 --> 00:19:21,680
can tell you I don't think I've ever felt that

429
00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:25,400
way about a Knicks player specifically, Like this is this

430
00:19:25,519 --> 00:19:27,680
is insane, Like some of the shot I mean him

431
00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:29,359
and Aaron Gordon apparently.

432
00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:32,279
Speaker 2: Right, like right, well, yeah, I mean, anybody else but

433
00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:35,599
Brunson you would be surprised. But at this point, it's just, yeah,

434
00:19:35,759 --> 00:19:38,799
it has become the expectation that he's just gonna hit

435
00:19:38,839 --> 00:19:41,160
the big shots and and he I mean this game

436
00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:43,599
was no. I mean, he's nine of twenty three overall,

437
00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:45,519
but he was five and nine from deep six. Is

438
00:19:45,599 --> 00:19:48,880
like he just he shouldn't be able to keep doing this,

439
00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:53,000
like with the sheer workload that he's had to endure.

440
00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:57,519
Is like if anybody is like should have an excuse

441
00:19:57,559 --> 00:19:59,480
for like, ah, he looks a little slow tonight, like

442
00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:01,880
it's him, him and just maybe well him and Steph

443
00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:04,799
I guess after that Rocket series. But like heah, I

444
00:20:04,839 --> 00:20:07,000
agree with you. It's just the expectations should be that

445
00:20:07,079 --> 00:20:10,279
he will hit big shots late and and I don't know,

446
00:20:10,319 --> 00:20:12,519
maybe we need to reevaluate clutch player because like that

447
00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:14,799
just is what he is and we can't dismiss it like, oh,

448
00:20:14,799 --> 00:20:17,599
he won it this year. So uh yeah, I mean,

449
00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:20,519
I think you're encouraged if you're the Knicks for certain.

450
00:20:20,759 --> 00:20:24,000
I think at the same time, unless you think from

451
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:27,880
Boston's perspective that like they'll continue to miss and they

452
00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:30,720
won't change up some of their process and in reaction

453
00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:34,000
to this loss, like I don't I don't feel like

454
00:20:34,039 --> 00:20:37,440
the concern level from Boston's side. Uh maybe it wasn't

455
00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:39,359
high enough to begin the series, but I don't think

456
00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:41,480
it's moving up. But you know, a whole bunch of

457
00:20:41,519 --> 00:20:42,640
notches on the scale.

458
00:20:42,839 --> 00:20:44,359
Speaker 1: I think you can look at this when you say

459
00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:46,640
there's stuff for the Knicks to clean up, it feels

460
00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:48,960
like there's more for Boston to clean up, and they

461
00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:51,720
were still in control of the game at one point.

462
00:20:51,759 --> 00:20:53,440
That's not to take away from what the Knicks did,

463
00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:55,920
but there's there's. First of all, there's no reason to

464
00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:58,400
panic after a Game one, like had the Knicks in

465
00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:02,079
rationally speaking, I shouldn't declare their season over had they

466
00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:04,440
lost Game one to a team that is heavily favored

467
00:21:04,799 --> 00:21:07,480
over them, you can because they're justification there. But no,

468
00:21:07,559 --> 00:21:10,160
I don't think Boston should be panicking. But I will

469
00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:12,720
kind of be looking at and I don't necessarily see

470
00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:14,759
it on defense as much or even some of his drives,

471
00:21:14,799 --> 00:21:17,559
but the Jaalen Brown knee thing, like he was one

472
00:21:17,599 --> 00:21:22,480
of ten from three all year necessarily hasn't looked the same.

473
00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:26,440
So that and then in combination with porzingis but I'm

474
00:21:26,480 --> 00:21:28,599
wondering if, like, okay, is this team just a little

475
00:21:28,599 --> 00:21:31,920
bit more banged up than we gave credit for even still, like,

476
00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:36,079
I think you're gonna see a far more complete game

477
00:21:36,079 --> 00:21:37,799
from Boston in Game two.

478
00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:40,279
Speaker 2: I'd be stunned if you didn't. I think the funny

479
00:21:40,319 --> 00:21:42,759
thing is like if the Knicks had won this game

480
00:21:42,799 --> 00:21:46,000
by forty, I feel like we would more easily write

481
00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:49,079
it off as like Boston shouldn't be concerned than the

482
00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:51,160
Knicks winning a close game, because it would just be like, well,

483
00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:54,519
nothing's valuable from this game because it's just such an outlier.

484
00:21:54,599 --> 00:21:57,599
Like Weirdly, the Knicks winning a close game that involved

485
00:21:57,599 --> 00:22:00,720
a comeback is like more concerning for Boston than if

486
00:22:00,759 --> 00:22:03,160
Boston had just you know, gotten blown off the floor,

487
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:05,480
because either there'd be all these you know, you tried

488
00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:07,279
out all the excuses like ah, they had too much

489
00:22:07,319 --> 00:22:10,519
time off, or you know, they just didn't. Weirdly, a

490
00:22:10,599 --> 00:22:13,359
tight wind that the Knicks fought for and like seized,

491
00:22:14,319 --> 00:22:17,079
it's more concerning for Boston than getting crushed.

492
00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:19,160
Speaker 1: The final thing. I really do think we need to

493
00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:21,359
pour one out for Tom Thibodau because in a game

494
00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:24,960
that went to overtime, he found a way He's scrapped

495
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:27,559
in claude to get Michale Bridges one hundred and twenty

496
00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:28,839
thousand milliseconds of.

497
00:22:28,799 --> 00:22:31,880
Speaker 2: Rest only fifty one minutes played. What restraint?

498
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:35,519
Speaker 1: It's one hundred and twenty thousand milliseconds of rest. That's kudos, Ta,

499
00:22:35,559 --> 00:22:39,079
although actually keep credit him like that was they tried

500
00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:41,960
different things defensively. For everyone wants to talk about adjustments

501
00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:44,839
from Tibbs, he did at least do that. Yeah, we'll

502
00:22:44,839 --> 00:22:47,440
see what happens. Sometimes I wonder if like the foul

503
00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:50,039
trouble forced it, like the was that game won against

504
00:22:50,079 --> 00:22:52,599
the Pistons where Josh Hart was in foul trouble and

505
00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:54,240
so it forced him to make some adjustment. So it's

506
00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:55,720
almost like you need to take the club out of

507
00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:58,039
Tibbs's bag to force him to try and use something else.

508
00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:00,839
Speaker 2: Hey, whatever works, You're on.

509
00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:03,119
Speaker 1: Too, and we'll get you should stay tuned towards the

510
00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:04,880
end because we will pick which of the three heavy

511
00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:09,119
favorites should be most concerned Thunder Nuggets. I picked you

512
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,759
did have you had Thunder and six. I had Thunder

513
00:23:11,759 --> 00:23:14,359
and five. I'm seeing a lot of the Thunder aren't

514
00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:18,640
ready for this moment stuff after game one. I also

515
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:20,319
think that we should probably talk about that. Chet Holmgren

516
00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:22,200
is just a bust at this point, right, like, how

517
00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:23,640
do we how do we do the hot take thing?

518
00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:25,440
What would like the hottest take coming?

519
00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:28,200
Speaker 2: He's not clutched, he's not built for the moment. What

520
00:23:28,279 --> 00:23:32,359
else does Nick Anderson all over again saw that somewhere.

521
00:23:33,519 --> 00:23:36,440
Speaker 1: I don't know what is standing aside from I made

522
00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:39,200
the joke about it like Aaron Gordon, just like, so

523
00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:42,160
the Nuggets are what eight playoff games? When he has

524
00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:44,880
two game winners through it, Like that's incredible.

525
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:47,200
Speaker 2: And like arguably the most incredible game winner we've seen.

526
00:23:47,279 --> 00:23:49,839
And I don't know how long on the on the.

527
00:23:49,319 --> 00:23:52,680
Speaker 1: Hold on Russell Westbrook passing up the chance to try

528
00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:55,319
and get a bucket to give Aaron Gordon though I

529
00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:57,759
thought he was gonna try, and like, shoot, oh.

530
00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:01,640
Speaker 2: That was like prime, I'm throwing myself at the backboard

531
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,880
and like whatever happens happens like vintage Russ, just out

532
00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:07,359
of control. So yeah, you're right that he's the real

533
00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:11,519
winner because he just somehow, somehow saw a way to

534
00:24:11,599 --> 00:24:13,160
give that and it was a great pat like he

535
00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:14,039
made the right play.

536
00:24:14,759 --> 00:24:16,720
Speaker 1: But he made a lot of like his defense in

537
00:24:16,799 --> 00:24:18,200
Game one too, and we could say that I had

538
00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:20,039
a lot of moments during these playoffs, of course, but

539
00:24:20,599 --> 00:24:22,400
like he was, they were moving him around on all

540
00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:26,359
these different attimements. He's been he actually.

541
00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:28,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's a good defender on the ball like that.

542
00:24:28,920 --> 00:24:32,000
I think he still makes mistakes a lot like gambling

543
00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:34,680
or just like you know, off ball stuff, but he

544
00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:38,200
really is someone and like this matters. I guess Brown

545
00:24:38,279 --> 00:24:41,880
fits into this category two for Denver, but like Russ

546
00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:44,039
is a really someone you can put on a good

547
00:24:44,079 --> 00:24:45,960
offensive player as long as he doesn't have to like

548
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:49,119
do too much like processing about like off the ball stuff.

549
00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:51,240
He's like he can do that, and as long as

550
00:24:51,279 --> 00:24:53,599
he doesn't like shoot you out of games or do

551
00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,000
a bunch of dumb turnover stuff or over aggressive stuff

552
00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,000
like he I never thought I'd get here, but like

553
00:24:58,039 --> 00:25:00,880
he's a valuable role player. Like we I think I'd

554
00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:02,759
finally come around on this version of us.

555
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:04,920
Speaker 1: How many years did it take? Wow?

556
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:09,079
Speaker 2: What year of his career is this? So this is

557
00:25:09,119 --> 00:25:13,720
a different situation I think than the Celtics Knicks series,

558
00:25:14,519 --> 00:25:17,880
just solely because some of the things that went wrong

559
00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:20,240
for the Thunder I guess, well, I guess in a

560
00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:22,839
way that's kind of mirroring the Boston shooting stuff. But

561
00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:25,680
like the Nuggets were plus twenty on the boards. I

562
00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:28,519
think they had eight more offensive rebounds. That whole rebounding

563
00:25:28,559 --> 00:25:30,319
thing has been it's a little outdated. That was a

564
00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:34,680
bigger concern for like past Thunder teams and the versions

565
00:25:34,759 --> 00:25:38,000
of them that didn't have centers this year. But to

566
00:25:38,039 --> 00:25:40,680
get bludgeon on the boards and like have that be

567
00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:43,359
a pretty significant reason that you lost this game, Like

568
00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:46,200
that's that's like you put a little pin in that one, right.

569
00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:48,079
I think maybe there's a few other things, but that

570
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:50,000
was the first thing that jumped out to me. Is

571
00:25:50,079 --> 00:25:53,200
like Jokics just playing volleyball on the glass and Gordon

572
00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,279
getting in there for a handful of extra possessions. And

573
00:25:55,279 --> 00:25:58,119
then like, this was not a high scoring half court

574
00:25:58,119 --> 00:26:01,319
offense game for either team except Denver did really well

575
00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:04,319
on second chance opportunities. And I think, you know, if

576
00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:06,519
you're looking for something that swung it, like that's pretty

577
00:26:06,519 --> 00:26:09,599
close to like option one for me. Yeah.

578
00:26:09,799 --> 00:26:13,039
Speaker 1: The thing I also noticed and not that part of

579
00:26:13,039 --> 00:26:16,400
this was so there are two things defensively, I really

580
00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:19,559
thought that Nikola Jokic ended up with small players on

581
00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:22,400
him like too often. If you're okay, I know that's

582
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:24,759
like Oka C's thing. And you were also dealing with

583
00:26:25,079 --> 00:26:27,079
some foul trouble to your bigs, which is what Nikola

584
00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:29,680
Jokic does. And I know this isn't necessarily harram oh,

585
00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,119
but I'd probably like to if you're in that situation

586
00:26:32,519 --> 00:26:35,000
and look, this is perfect. We have Alex Caruso guarding

587
00:26:35,039 --> 00:26:37,519
Nikole Jokic on the screen card photo. I'd probably like

588
00:26:37,519 --> 00:26:40,039
to see you send help a little sooner than we

589
00:26:40,039 --> 00:26:41,000
were seeing from them on that.

590
00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:44,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's so risky though. You send a second

591
00:26:44,799 --> 00:26:47,920
guy and Jokich is gonna dice you up. You know that.

592
00:26:48,079 --> 00:26:49,319
That's the conundrum with him.

593
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:52,839
Speaker 1: He diced you up anyway. That's the other thing too,

594
00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:54,680
is I guess are they looking at it as so

595
00:26:54,799 --> 00:26:57,559
Jamal Murray like after the first quarter? I like, if thunder,

596
00:26:57,559 --> 00:27:00,279
we're throwing more bodies at him. And so it was like,

597
00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:02,559
I guess that worked on Jamal Murray, But is that's

598
00:27:02,599 --> 00:27:05,640
the smartest approach for your overall defense here? I do

599
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:09,680
think the bigger issue for Okac was they got to

600
00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:12,599
be better after their missing shots. On the offensive end.

601
00:27:12,839 --> 00:27:15,519
The Nuggets scored one point one to six points per

602
00:27:15,519 --> 00:27:18,359
possession after an Okac miss. Okay Se had the best

603
00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:20,400
defense in the league in those situations at one point

604
00:27:20,519 --> 00:27:23,440
zero seven points upper possession through the regular season and

605
00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:26,200
the playoffs so far. Like that, there was just a

606
00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:27,759
lot of where it's like, why are you Why is

607
00:27:27,799 --> 00:27:30,599
Jamal Murray so far behind your defense after a miss

608
00:27:30,799 --> 00:27:32,519
on it? Like even if you want to factor in

609
00:27:32,799 --> 00:27:35,880
the long rebound stuff like that was just that was

610
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:38,400
weird and that feels like more than because you can't change.

611
00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:41,400
You can't make chet Holmegrin thicker. You can't make Isaiya

612
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,039
hart and Stein any thicker like you can. That felt

613
00:27:44,079 --> 00:27:45,759
like low hanging fruit they could clean up.

614
00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:48,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean Denver. I think Denver had the best

615
00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:51,799
transition offense in the league. And like, but all we

616
00:27:51,839 --> 00:27:53,920
do all postseason is talk about like, oh that doesn't

617
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:56,319
matter because teams will be diligent about getting back and

618
00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:58,640
certainly the thunder are one that is like you're not

619
00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:01,400
gonna outrun the thunder, you know on the break. Ever

620
00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:04,039
that so that is like that favors the Nuggets. But

621
00:28:04,079 --> 00:28:06,240
I would agree with you that, like I think the

622
00:28:06,279 --> 00:28:09,279
thunder are gonna that's getting cleaned up. I would imagine,

623
00:28:09,279 --> 00:28:11,519
like cause that's all gonna be really conspicuous stuff that

624
00:28:11,599 --> 00:28:13,839
shows up in the film where it's like see this,

625
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:16,440
see that guy in the white jersey that's like ten

626
00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:18,400
steps closer to the basket than you are, Like, maybe

627
00:28:18,440 --> 00:28:20,559
don't let that happen after a miss like that, that

628
00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:21,640
seems fairly easy.

629
00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:24,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, they ran, They were in transition on like forty

630
00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:28,279
five percent. That's never missing, OKC, that's astro. They were

631
00:28:28,279 --> 00:28:30,200
at thirty percent for the regular season, which is a

632
00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:33,240
good number to be over forty percent. Is just like,

633
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:36,839
I like, you don't Denver's Offen is gonna figure out

634
00:28:36,839 --> 00:28:39,279
a way to score anyway because Nicolaiokic just exists. You

635
00:28:39,279 --> 00:28:42,200
don't want to give them those additional opportunities.

636
00:28:42,319 --> 00:28:47,039
Speaker 2: Do you think as a as just in isolation, that

637
00:28:47,079 --> 00:28:50,400
the Thunder are happy with Jokic taking twenty nine shots

638
00:28:51,119 --> 00:28:55,519
uh and making fifteen? Like just do you think what

639
00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:58,440
about game one? What can game one tell you about?

640
00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:01,359
Like how the Thunder it? It's the the old Like

641
00:29:01,519 --> 00:29:04,119
do we want to let Jokic score because we know

642
00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:07,119
he doesn't Like that's not his like that's not option

643
00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:11,079
one on his like programming basically, like is it is

644
00:29:11,079 --> 00:29:13,319
it because he had what forty two got to the

645
00:29:13,359 --> 00:29:16,880
foul line thirteen times? Do you think the Thunder want

646
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,839
him to try to beat them individually and that's like

647
00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:21,920
that's why they played him the way they did or

648
00:29:22,279 --> 00:29:24,680
was this just Jokic like taking what was there?

649
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,559
Speaker 1: Regardless, it sure seems like that's what they want because

650
00:29:27,559 --> 00:29:29,079
if you even meant you said you wouldn't do this,

651
00:29:29,119 --> 00:29:32,880
you wouldn't throw two on Jokic earlier that, yeah, you

652
00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:35,440
don't think that okay, well to just talk about that

653
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:37,000
for a second, you don't think that, okay, is the

654
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:40,319
person out like where maybe you could still if.

655
00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,400
Speaker 2: Anybody does it to them, And we should say there

656
00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:44,480
were moments in this game. I think the biggest lead

657
00:29:44,519 --> 00:29:47,400
was fourteen, but I early it certainly in the first half,

658
00:29:47,799 --> 00:29:50,839
there were moments where it was like, oh, this is

659
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:53,559
like the Thunder can just create like a level of

660
00:29:53,759 --> 00:29:57,279
frenzy that like no other team does, and a lot

661
00:29:57,359 --> 00:30:01,480
of that's Caruso, like he was unbelievable, just so disruptive,

662
00:30:02,039 --> 00:30:03,960
and then like the other thing that happened, Like I

663
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:07,000
had several moments where it was just like because we

664
00:30:07,039 --> 00:30:09,240
talked about like did we overthink the Thunder and is

665
00:30:09,279 --> 00:30:12,000
it just like they're just that team, They're so overwhelming,

666
00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:16,640
And there were Dort Dort steals a Jokic like no

667
00:30:16,759 --> 00:30:19,240
look pass and transition just goes up in two hands,

668
00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:21,079
it like a free safety and it is like, I

669
00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:25,000
sincerely can't remember seeing anyone ever steal a Yokic pass

670
00:30:25,079 --> 00:30:26,880
like that, and so they was just like, well, there's

671
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:30,440
another example of how the Thunder are just different and

672
00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:33,000
there's no way that the Nuggets can win this game.

673
00:30:33,039 --> 00:30:37,119
They're gonna get just ran overwhelmed and like the thunder

674
00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:40,279
did hit levels where it felt like they were unbeatable.

675
00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:44,480
They just there their ice, They're conspicuous in their isolation,

676
00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:46,079
Like how few of those there were?

677
00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:51,200
Speaker 1: I think the yeah, yeah, I did we underthink the Nuggets?

678
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:52,799
Isn't now the question that we might need to ask

679
00:30:52,839 --> 00:30:54,119
because oh.

680
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:55,839
Speaker 2: No, because my only thought on the Nuggets is they

681
00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:57,920
have Yokic and so they're they're well they're.

682
00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:00,359
Speaker 1: Also just we did I think we've done it job

683
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:03,319
of not underestimating this in the past, but like they're

684
00:31:03,359 --> 00:31:05,839
pretty huge, yeah, and so like even if it's it's

685
00:31:05,839 --> 00:31:08,279
not it wasn't a Michael Porter junior game that was clear,

686
00:31:08,319 --> 00:31:11,279
Like the shoulder stuff wasn't great defensively, like Christian Brown

687
00:31:11,319 --> 00:31:13,920
has God and he had some really good straight up

688
00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,400
possessions on Shae Gilga Alexander in this game, Like Shay

689
00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:18,960
had some moments where, especially if they weren't throwing a

690
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:21,160
ton like a you know, being aggressive with him, then

691
00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:23,000
we saw them be a little bit more aggressive with him,

692
00:31:23,039 --> 00:31:25,279
like when it mattered, and it was sort of the

693
00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:28,160
what is it Like the anyone but Shay Approach I

694
00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:31,240
think is like kind of what it was. But Peyton

695
00:31:31,279 --> 00:31:33,079
Watson has a really good side. He was kind of

696
00:31:33,119 --> 00:31:34,519
all over the place this game, but he had some

697
00:31:34,519 --> 00:31:36,960
good moments. Jokich is huge when you're talking about getting rebounds.

698
00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:39,799
Aaron Gordon is pretty big. And if you get one

699
00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:42,839
or both of ok C's biggs into foul trouble, that

700
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:46,480
size discrepancy becomes even more pronounced. And so I'm just

701
00:31:46,519 --> 00:31:49,200
I'm relooking at this series and it's I'm not changing

702
00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:50,839
any of my predictions. I mean, like, do I think

703
00:31:50,839 --> 00:31:52,599
this series is gonna go longer than five games? Yeah,

704
00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:54,000
like fucking obviously. Now I do.

705
00:31:54,559 --> 00:31:58,839
Speaker 2: Ever, I mean, maybe we'll see, well.

706
00:31:58,720 --> 00:31:59,960
Speaker 1: I do the thing that I want to get in

707
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:02,279
because I think, like Denver is, I don't like what

708
00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:04,640
game was it last year? Like was a game four?

709
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:05,440
Speaker 2: Whatever.

710
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:08,559
Speaker 1: They've just flipped a defensive switch. It feels like where

711
00:32:08,599 --> 00:32:10,640
it's like, oh, like they're gonna play, They're gonna be

712
00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:12,279
able to be physical, They're gonna be able to do

713
00:32:12,319 --> 00:32:14,559
a ton of different things. Russell Westbrook is gonna come

714
00:32:14,559 --> 00:32:16,680
out here and just annihilate things. Christian Brown, I feel

715
00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:20,640
like has gotten noticeably better during that stretch. What is

716
00:32:21,519 --> 00:32:23,680
what did you notice about Okac's offense that you think

717
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:25,759
they could do, because you mentioned like, did Okase look

718
00:32:25,799 --> 00:32:27,880
at this and say, we're fine with you Oki taking

719
00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:28,759
twenty nine shots?

720
00:32:28,759 --> 00:32:29,680
Speaker 2: Because yeah, he will.

721
00:32:29,839 --> 00:32:32,079
Speaker 1: He will have nights where he goes fifteen of twenty nine,

722
00:32:32,319 --> 00:32:36,119
but like you said, it's kind of not like, you know,

723
00:32:37,599 --> 00:32:39,559
that's not in his DNA, Like that's not something he's

724
00:32:39,599 --> 00:32:41,319
probably comfortable doing it, but that would not be what

725
00:32:41,359 --> 00:32:43,839
he wants to do. First, What did you notice about

726
00:32:43,880 --> 00:32:46,599
Okac's offense though, in terms of how Denver either was

727
00:32:46,599 --> 00:32:49,039
defending them or what Okac did or didn't do, or

728
00:32:49,039 --> 00:32:52,119
what was it? Oh, we do need to revisit the

729
00:32:52,119 --> 00:32:54,039
problem of what does the offense look like if it's

730
00:32:54,079 --> 00:32:56,680
not shake Gildess Alexander trying to generate it? Or was

731
00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:58,920
this Do you think it was more about what Denver

732
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:00,359
was able to do? Do you think it was more about

733
00:33:00,359 --> 00:33:02,079
some of the shots that Okay missed, because I think

734
00:33:02,119 --> 00:33:05,240
Denver might look at this and say, Caruso and Dort

735
00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:07,599
huge games from three. But you could say what you

736
00:33:07,599 --> 00:33:10,119
said about the thunder and Yokiche if he scores forty points.

737
00:33:10,400 --> 00:33:12,480
We'll live at that. We're gonna try and limit everybody else.

738
00:33:12,839 --> 00:33:14,759
If you're the Nuggets, you're probably like you look at

739
00:33:14,799 --> 00:33:17,079
what shake Yilloslexander did. Had a good line, but like

740
00:33:17,079 --> 00:33:19,119
you made life tough on him, and it's you live

741
00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:21,920
with Alex Caruso and lou Dort detonations in that scenario.

742
00:33:22,079 --> 00:33:25,039
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. I guess like this is another

743
00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:29,240
so in addition to the rebounding issue, I think this

744
00:33:29,279 --> 00:33:32,079
is another Like, oh no, this is one of the

745
00:33:32,119 --> 00:33:35,079
things we were concerned about for a long time, which

746
00:33:35,119 --> 00:33:37,920
is just if if all you do as a Denver

747
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:41,440
defense is make SGA work, you know what, you have

748
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:46,000
twenty six shots for thirty three points and got the

749
00:33:46,039 --> 00:33:50,759
line nine times like that, that's not you know, I think,

750
00:33:51,079 --> 00:33:54,519
all things being equal, you're okay with Shae getting thirty three.

751
00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:57,279
I guess weirdly if you're Denver, but the but it

752
00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:01,279
is just like what was Jadabo's five twenty Chet didn't

753
00:34:01,279 --> 00:34:04,000
make a three? Like I mean, if if Dort doesn't

754
00:34:04,039 --> 00:34:07,799
go four for nine from three, you're you're developed. Probably

755
00:34:07,839 --> 00:34:10,039
what if he shoots I don't know, two for nine,

756
00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:13,239
This game's like not close, maybe down the stretch and

757
00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:17,519
then like I just it's I can't get a whole

758
00:34:17,519 --> 00:34:21,559
lot farther than It still seems like an issue against

759
00:34:21,639 --> 00:34:23,960
good defenses, which I guess Denver is now at the

760
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:27,239
moment for the Thunder to get somebody else that can

761
00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:30,840
reliably create offense, create advantages like all that kind of stuff.

762
00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:33,559
Like even Jadab had moments where like he had a

763
00:34:33,559 --> 00:34:37,000
couple of great drives, again maybe conspicuous for how few

764
00:34:37,039 --> 00:34:39,400
there were, but y had what he had like a

765
00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:42,119
hard drive left pull up that just got blocked. You know,

766
00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:44,119
it was towards the end of the shot clock late

767
00:34:44,119 --> 00:34:47,840
in the game, didn't really hit his threes. What was

768
00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:51,039
he at two for nine? It does feel like the

769
00:34:51,079 --> 00:34:55,119
supplementary offense is still a problem, and again, like we're

770
00:34:55,119 --> 00:34:57,280
not going to overreact. I do think it's like if

771
00:34:57,440 --> 00:34:59,599
if check came, if Chet hit five threes in game

772
00:34:59,639 --> 00:35:02,559
two and Jadab had thirty points on like seventeen shots,

773
00:35:02,559 --> 00:35:05,079
like we would just say, okay, there, that's fine. But

774
00:35:05,519 --> 00:35:10,280
it is an issue when problems you foresee arise, because

775
00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:12,360
like there's a reason that we've been concerned about that

776
00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:13,840
kind of thing for a team as good as the

777
00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:15,840
Thunder as like it's one of the few things there

778
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:20,239
don't consistently excel at. And maybe the samples of like

779
00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:22,039
well as long as Williams is out there with chet

780
00:35:22,119 --> 00:35:25,000
or Hardenstein, maybe those samples weren't big enough and maybe

781
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:27,559
they didn't come and you know against playoff defenses that

782
00:35:27,599 --> 00:35:30,960
are designed to, you know, kind of exploit that that frailty.

783
00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:33,000
I don't know, I don't know. It's we're talking about

784
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:35,719
a one game sample, so nothing smaller than that, but

785
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:38,719
it does. I'm a little concerned for the thunder. I mean,

786
00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:39,360
you sort.

787
00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:41,719
Speaker 1: Of have to be who do you think what would

788
00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:43,679
this series share because this was like also one of

789
00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:47,679
the worst games in terms of watching like two teams

790
00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:50,760
finish around the basket when they got there. If that

791
00:35:50,960 --> 00:35:53,840
becomes a trend in this series, who do you think

792
00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:56,880
that favors works? Like this is ugly around the basket?

793
00:35:56,960 --> 00:35:59,760
So who is ends up better off if that is

794
00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:01,119
what ends up happening.

795
00:36:01,159 --> 00:36:04,320
Speaker 2: If it's uglier, like it's a struggle inside, like they're

796
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:06,840
both like shooting like fifty like sub fifty five percent

797
00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:07,239
at the rim.

798
00:36:07,239 --> 00:36:08,079
Speaker 1: I think I'll double check that.

799
00:36:08,159 --> 00:36:10,559
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say I would probably just say that favors

800
00:36:10,599 --> 00:36:13,360
Denver weirdly, because I just I have visions in my

801
00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:16,440
head of jokicen there missing a short one, getting it

802
00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:18,440
back or tipping it out for an open three. It's

803
00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:20,840
like I think, if if there's a scrum around the

804
00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:24,920
baskets as athletic and mobile and stuffs as the Thunder

805
00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:27,519
can be, I think Jokic is just too big, Like

806
00:36:27,559 --> 00:36:30,639
I think, I think that favors the Nuggets in a

807
00:36:30,679 --> 00:36:33,719
lot of ways, maybe, which like also the Nuggets we've

808
00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:35,480
harped on them all here. Don't want to shoot a

809
00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:37,400
bunch of threes, and don't shoot a lot of threes

810
00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:39,840
if you want to turn this into a two point contest.

811
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:41,480
I mean, that's that's not the worst thing in the

812
00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:42,159
world for Denver.

813
00:36:42,639 --> 00:36:45,039
Speaker 1: I and I understand this is what this is countertruitive

814
00:36:45,039 --> 00:36:47,039
because that jokis. But that's also why I would with

815
00:36:47,119 --> 00:36:49,840
this Okac Thunder group advocate of you can cover in

816
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:52,360
a cold Yokic more aggressively then, And I also I

817
00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:54,639
still don't know how much of that was just all

818
00:36:54,679 --> 00:36:57,400
our guys are in found all hard Yokic foul trouble

819
00:36:57,480 --> 00:36:58,119
right now.

820
00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:00,360
Speaker 2: Which made me the case going forward, all the time.

821
00:37:00,719 --> 00:37:03,480
Speaker 1: That's That's what I want to ask you. What do

822
00:37:03,519 --> 00:37:06,280
you make of the CHET home grin of it all?

823
00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:08,639
And specifically are you looking at ways to kind of

824
00:37:09,039 --> 00:37:11,119
I do think Isay a heartenstein in so far as

825
00:37:11,159 --> 00:37:14,119
anyone did a good job defending Jokic was clearly better,

826
00:37:14,159 --> 00:37:17,440
and even he had his moments where it's again, you

827
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:19,000
could be a little bit more like, let's not give

828
00:37:19,039 --> 00:37:21,400
Jokic like all that space on the above the breakthrough

829
00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:23,480
that we know he's going to take and probably make

830
00:37:23,519 --> 00:37:27,719
because it's one. Yeah, anyway, but are you doing everything

831
00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:30,480
you can to? I've seen there have been some national

832
00:37:30,519 --> 00:37:32,239
hours like oh is this not a CHET series? And

833
00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:34,159
I can't get there? So if this isn't a CHET series,

834
00:37:34,199 --> 00:37:36,760
the Thunder might not win this series, But like, are

835
00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:38,960
you trying to do everything possible so that he doesn't

836
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:41,719
have to spend all this time straight up on Jokic.

837
00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:46,400
Speaker 2: It's fascinating question. I think I think it could. You

838
00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:48,800
might be the people saying it's not a CHET series

839
00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:52,679
might be right if the Thunder are not are going

840
00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:54,920
to have him guard Jokic as much as it seemed

841
00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:56,679
like they did in Game one. I just felt like

842
00:37:56,719 --> 00:37:58,199
every time I looked up, it was like, oh my god,

843
00:37:58,239 --> 00:38:00,119
it's Chet and hard to seign buffe.

844
00:38:00,199 --> 00:38:02,000
Speaker 1: Sacrificial like a sacrifice.

845
00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:05,159
Speaker 2: So here's the thing, if is that plant? Because if

846
00:38:05,199 --> 00:38:07,360
you have Chet on Jokic, your first thought is like

847
00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:09,320
he's not big enough. You got to send two. Well,

848
00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:11,880
then it's like, from the thunder's perspective, you've not only

849
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:14,800
sent a second defender. Chet's your best like back line

850
00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:17,159
mop up guy, and he's not back in that spot,

851
00:38:17,519 --> 00:38:19,119
so like you've taken him out of the play. So

852
00:38:19,159 --> 00:38:21,800
sending two at Jokic when one of them is Chet

853
00:38:22,039 --> 00:38:24,840
feels like you're asking to just get Aaron Gordon backcut,

854
00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:27,079
dunked to death or like think you know, Christian Brown

855
00:38:27,119 --> 00:38:29,760
open three to death. Like that doesn't feel like a

856
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:32,119
viable strategy. So if that's what you're gonna do, then

857
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:35,760
I if Chet's the loan big I think honestly, I

858
00:38:35,760 --> 00:38:38,119
would rather just have Caruso or Dort try to stand

859
00:38:38,159 --> 00:38:40,639
Yokich up on the perimeter and have Chet back, you know,

860
00:38:41,360 --> 00:38:44,480
cleaning up messes on the back line. As bizarre as

861
00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:47,559
that sounds, but we've seen remember the nets against Mbiid

862
00:38:47,679 --> 00:38:49,840
just had two smalls on him. The whole game like that,

863
00:38:50,280 --> 00:38:52,519
Like that that's a thing you can try. I would

864
00:38:52,519 --> 00:38:56,719
almost rather have two wings or two guards bother Yokic

865
00:38:56,840 --> 00:38:59,119
than to have Chet be one of two guys on

866
00:38:59,199 --> 00:39:02,920
him or be an eye, unless the plan is like, yeah, sorry, Chet,

867
00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:05,039
you're just gonna have to eat this one, like you're

868
00:39:05,079 --> 00:39:07,760
the pitcher that we we've taxed our bullpen last night.

869
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:09,679
You're gonna have to give up nine earned runs or

870
00:39:09,719 --> 00:39:11,760
not taking you out because the point is to make

871
00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:14,400
Yokic a scorer. Like if that's the three D chest

872
00:39:14,480 --> 00:39:17,000
that Dagnault's playing, maybe that's why you leave him in there.

873
00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:19,800
But I do think in general, I don't want Chet

874
00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:22,239
on Jokic, and I really really don't want him on

875
00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:25,800
Jokic if it means you have to send a second guy,

876
00:39:26,159 --> 00:39:28,599
just because that feels like it's there's too many compromises

877
00:39:28,639 --> 00:39:29,199
being made.

878
00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:32,000
Speaker 1: It does feel like if you're gonna not it feels

879
00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:33,599
like it should just be Heart and Stein. But you're

880
00:39:33,679 --> 00:39:35,199
that's interesting. I mean, we saw the Clippers do this

881
00:39:35,199 --> 00:39:37,199
a little bit when they decided to put Harden on

882
00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:37,760
Yo Kich.

883
00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:39,519
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can do it. The Lakers did all that

884
00:39:39,559 --> 00:39:42,880
weird stuff, you know, against Jokic this year. I just

885
00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:45,199
don't think Chad is the right guy for that because

886
00:39:45,199 --> 00:39:48,159
he has you can, you're taking away his like a

887
00:39:48,159 --> 00:39:50,280
lot of his defensive value if you're putting him on

888
00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:52,599
a guy that you just he can't guard, you know.

889
00:39:53,159 --> 00:39:54,800
Speaker 1: And the the other thing too is you are then

890
00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:58,280
taking away his offensive gravity if he's in foul trouble

891
00:39:58,320 --> 00:40:00,440
to where it's just like Isaiah Hartenstein, Yeah, okay likes

892
00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:01,920
a screen setter and the stuff he could do in

893
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:04,800
the short role. Sure, but like we even saw, like

894
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:08,760
Jokic will concede those floaters. Is Harner Scibas too? It

895
00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:11,639
forces Denver to think more about its matchups. What is

896
00:40:11,679 --> 00:40:14,039
doing defensively if Chad is just on the floor, and

897
00:40:14,079 --> 00:40:16,239
I think that needs to be a priority. Is keeping

898
00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:18,119
him on the floor because I think that helps optimize

899
00:40:18,159 --> 00:40:18,679
your offense.

900
00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:22,599
Speaker 2: How great are the playoffs where it's like the Nuggets

901
00:40:22,679 --> 00:40:27,159
could be correct in saying our scheme is designed to

902
00:40:27,239 --> 00:40:30,119
give Isaiah Hartenstein the exact shot he wants as often

903
00:40:30,159 --> 00:40:32,400
as he wants it, and somehow that's the right decision.

904
00:40:32,599 --> 00:40:35,159
Like the tactical stuff is so great where it's like,

905
00:40:35,639 --> 00:40:38,480
as a defense, you can concede things that normally during

906
00:40:38,519 --> 00:40:40,320
the year you'd be like, that's insane. Why would you

907
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:42,039
give that guy that shot? He makes it all the time.

908
00:40:42,079 --> 00:40:42,920
Speaker 1: It's like, well, that.

909
00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:44,840
Speaker 2: Means SGA is not shooting it, and that means we're

910
00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:46,760
not giving up three. It's like there's all these layers

911
00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:49,800
to it where when an offense thinks it's getting something good,

912
00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:52,159
it's like, actually, the defense is cool with that because

913
00:40:52,159 --> 00:40:54,960
there are worse alternatives to give up. Playoffs are great, but.

914
00:40:55,199 --> 00:40:57,400
Speaker 1: The final thing on this game and it's more I

915
00:40:57,440 --> 00:41:00,159
guess getting out in front of just Mark Dagnall, the

916
00:41:00,239 --> 00:41:03,400
fouling up three thing, Yes, someone I don't like it,

917
00:41:03,639 --> 00:41:06,039
just get stitches. I don't like, you know, I don't

918
00:41:06,119 --> 00:41:07,639
like the foul. I want that to be like you

919
00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:09,199
can't do it, like there needs to be something to

920
00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:12,880
help prohibit it. My whole thing is just the mistake

921
00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:15,480
that they made was fouling when Jokic was out of

922
00:41:15,519 --> 00:41:17,079
the game and Denver didn't have a time out.

923
00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:22,320
Speaker 2: I have no issue with anything else. Well, sorry, go ahead,

924
00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:24,159
I'm glad you led with that because that is the

925
00:41:24,199 --> 00:41:26,519
one that's like, Ah, even as I was watching, it

926
00:41:26,559 --> 00:41:28,480
was like, you can't do that, but I'm also.

927
00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:30,400
Speaker 1: Kind of a I'm not I'm not a big believer

928
00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:32,559
in stubbornness, but I don't view that like if this

929
00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:36,079
was Tom Thibodeau, it's different. I don't think Mark Dagnault

930
00:41:36,159 --> 00:41:38,639
is stubborn in his principles and it could have just

931
00:41:38,719 --> 00:41:41,199
been like a misque and it's yeah, in retrospec he

932
00:41:41,280 --> 00:41:43,400
admitted it. I think even Jay Tubbt did you see

933
00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:45,000
it was like damn, I didn't even think of that.

934
00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:49,280
Oh really yeah, so it was a mistake. But the

935
00:41:49,840 --> 00:41:52,679
something I always come back to is it's the same

936
00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:55,400
thing with the last two minute reports or if there's

937
00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:58,480
one missed call, something happens late in the game. There

938
00:41:58,679 --> 00:42:02,159
was forty seven and a half minutes another basketball, and

939
00:42:02,639 --> 00:42:04,599
like that's not the des and like that's the whole

940
00:42:05,079 --> 00:42:08,360
It's not to me, and I don't like it's tough

941
00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:10,679
to measure, well, how important is experience? And down the

942
00:42:10,719 --> 00:42:12,960
stretch it certainly looks like, all right, the thunder do

943
00:42:13,119 --> 00:42:14,719
not look like a team that has been to the

944
00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:17,079
NBA Finals together, and the Nuggets certainly do. It's okay

945
00:42:17,119 --> 00:42:18,960
to say that, but like I don't look at this

946
00:42:19,079 --> 00:42:21,480
and say, like, oh, they're not built. It was a mistake,

947
00:42:21,719 --> 00:42:24,400
and if they continue to make them, I just I'm

948
00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:26,719
not a fan of that because it was it was

949
00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:28,960
a mistake. It was jok was half a game. You

950
00:42:29,039 --> 00:42:30,079
came a chance to come back in.

951
00:42:30,199 --> 00:42:30,760
Speaker 2: You didn't need to.

952
00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:34,559
Speaker 1: It was a mistake. But like, I don't know if

953
00:42:34,599 --> 00:42:37,000
they continue to make it or something, But I like,

954
00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:40,480
do you assign any sort of value to like how

955
00:42:40,519 --> 00:42:42,320
the end of the game folded out in that I.

956
00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:47,000
Speaker 2: Would say nitpick like I would if and who knows

957
00:42:47,039 --> 00:42:48,440
what I would do in the moment. I'd probably be

958
00:42:48,480 --> 00:42:50,920
in the fetal position because it's so overwhelming and scary.

959
00:42:51,519 --> 00:42:54,000
Speaker 1: Know that nokitch is like that am I keeping track

960
00:42:54,039 --> 00:42:55,960
of because it's not there's someone on the other on

961
00:42:56,079 --> 00:42:58,840
the bench, presumably that's keeping track of Denver's timeouts?

962
00:42:58,880 --> 00:43:03,199
Speaker 2: Like did they make I'm yeah, yeah, so I think yes,

963
00:43:03,320 --> 00:43:06,920
you could be really nitpicky. It's not super nitpicky, because

964
00:43:06,920 --> 00:43:08,840
it's like, just don't let them get their best player

965
00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:11,199
back in the game for an offensive possession. Like that's like,

966
00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:13,679
all right, we can we can agree that that was

967
00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:17,960
probably a mistake, and to a lesser extent, the just

968
00:43:18,119 --> 00:43:21,079
not burning any time before the intentional fouls like not

969
00:43:21,199 --> 00:43:23,119
going for steals for a few seconds, like.

970
00:43:23,599 --> 00:43:25,639
Speaker 1: They fould they found Aaron Gordon. That was the only

971
00:43:25,639 --> 00:43:27,400
they fouled Aaron Gordon, right, who's like shooting eighty plus

972
00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:29,360
percent right, and you couldn't have tried to get it

973
00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:31,239
and someone else's like force them to get rid of

974
00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:31,519
the ball.

975
00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:33,920
Speaker 2: In terms of like the weight I give that stuff,

976
00:43:34,039 --> 00:43:39,119
I would say that I think it's more informative to

977
00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:43,159
look at the like handful of stretches where the Thunder

978
00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:48,000
were just like chaos personified and were dominating the game

979
00:43:48,039 --> 00:43:52,000
physically and doing all like that provides more like forward

980
00:43:52,039 --> 00:43:55,480
looking value to me than scrutinizing what the last twelve

981
00:43:55,519 --> 00:43:57,760
seconds look like tactically, Like you know what I mean,

982
00:43:57,840 --> 00:43:59,920
Like if you're trying to project forward in the series,

983
00:44:00,159 --> 00:44:02,440
like yeah, maybe we have another tight game like this,

984
00:44:02,559 --> 00:44:04,559
and maybe we don't, and maybe the Thunder puts the

985
00:44:04,639 --> 00:44:07,480
decision to foul or how to do that, or they're

986
00:44:07,559 --> 00:44:11,880
not like the stretch where they dominated, Like I think

987
00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:14,440
that's the clip you show in film before Game two

988
00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:16,159
and be like look what we're doing to this team,

989
00:44:16,280 --> 00:44:18,440
Like look how we're running them out of the gym

990
00:44:18,880 --> 00:44:21,599
and just like playing at you know, we're redlining and

991
00:44:21,679 --> 00:44:24,280
they're you know, they're at like three thousand. Ur like

992
00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:28,119
that that stuff matters more even when you lose. And

993
00:44:28,199 --> 00:44:30,239
I would say too, like I think we would be

994
00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:33,320
talking about a lot of the same things. But like

995
00:44:33,880 --> 00:44:36,840
that Aaron Gordon shot that won it. Let's say that's

996
00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:40,320
a forty shot for him. Maybe it's a little higher

997
00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:42,480
because he's open and it's a trend whatever. It's like,

998
00:44:43,199 --> 00:44:45,639
even down to the last second before that shot goes

999
00:44:45,679 --> 00:44:48,599
in the thunder, were probably supposed to win, like just

1000
00:44:48,719 --> 00:44:50,639
based on the math, Like that's not a fifty one

1001
00:44:50,719 --> 00:44:53,800
percent shot for Gordon. So like it's easy to panic

1002
00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:55,960
and easy to like scrutinize all this other stuff. But

1003
00:44:56,079 --> 00:44:58,840
like even if you give that up wide open to Gordon,

1004
00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:01,159
like you still should win the game because he doesn't

1005
00:45:01,199 --> 00:45:03,239
make that shot half the time, right, I don't know,

1006
00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:05,119
Like that's I think that's we got to keep a

1007
00:45:05,159 --> 00:45:06,519
little perspective on stuff like that.

1008
00:45:07,519 --> 00:45:09,079
Speaker 1: Anything else on this series.

1009
00:45:09,679 --> 00:45:11,559
Speaker 2: Alex Crusso is a monster, that's all.

1010
00:45:12,079 --> 00:45:14,320
Speaker 1: That's why you trade for Alex Caruso. Woul Josh Giddy

1011
00:45:14,400 --> 00:45:18,039
have had this game. We're gonna talk so we did

1012
00:45:18,119 --> 00:45:20,639
already talk extensively about Cavs Pacers Game one, and by

1013
00:45:20,679 --> 00:45:23,000
the time you listen to this, we've already seen game two.

1014
00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:26,119
So but we're doing the which favorite needs to be

1015
00:45:26,199 --> 00:45:29,280
most concerned. I will note go back and listen to

1016
00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:30,920
that Game one episode. I did it with Mort Jensen

1017
00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:33,440
of the NBA Podcast a bunch of different things. If

1018
00:45:33,440 --> 00:45:35,400
Grant wants to fire off any takes, totally let him.

1019
00:45:35,440 --> 00:45:37,119
We love Grant around these parts. Grant, did you know

1020
00:45:37,199 --> 00:45:39,840
that we love you around these parts? I hear it

1021
00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:43,280
a little too much to be honest, but something just

1022
00:45:43,400 --> 00:45:47,440
I'm interested to see the Darius Garland injury. But also,

1023
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:51,519
and we're seeing this now that neither DeAndre Hunter, Evan

1024
00:45:51,559 --> 00:45:54,760
Mobley or Darius Garland participated and shoot around in the

1025
00:45:54,800 --> 00:45:56,840
morning of game two. And Brian Windhorst, as he says

1026
00:45:56,920 --> 00:45:59,199
this quote, typically it's not a good sign if you're

1027
00:45:59,199 --> 00:46:02,320
not participating shoot around. Now, these are the playoffs and

1028
00:46:02,400 --> 00:46:04,039
the games. I know you have a day off in between,

1029
00:46:04,159 --> 00:46:06,280
Like this is like a quicker turnaround for the playoffs.

1030
00:46:06,519 --> 00:46:09,119
I'm not assigning too much value to it, but if

1031
00:46:09,159 --> 00:46:11,320
you were, I'm gonna frame it like this. If you

1032
00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:14,480
were the Pacers one Game one. They are fantastic team

1033
00:46:14,519 --> 00:46:16,840
I've played, been underrated for like sixty plus games. Now, Like,

1034
00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:19,639
clearly I think this series might last longer than five. Still,

1035
00:46:20,119 --> 00:46:22,599
maybe I underestimated them. But if you're gonna be worried

1036
00:46:22,599 --> 00:46:25,239
about the Cavs more so than pointing to anything that

1037
00:46:25,400 --> 00:46:28,880
happened in game one, might just be like the Darius

1038
00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:33,360
Garland injury because it shifts the advantage creation workload most

1039
00:46:33,480 --> 00:46:36,239
onto Donovan Mitchell and Ty Jerome because like, that's not

1040
00:46:36,320 --> 00:46:38,320
really Evan Mobley's game just yet, even though we do

1041
00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:40,159
some of it and it's kind of tougher to do

1042
00:46:40,239 --> 00:46:44,840
I feel like against this Pacers defense specifically, but that's like, wow,

1043
00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:47,119
I'm gonna be very curious to see if they play it.

1044
00:46:47,119 --> 00:46:48,760
I would expect at least two of those guys to

1045
00:46:48,800 --> 00:46:51,079
play in game two, for being honest, but something to

1046
00:46:51,119 --> 00:46:52,039
put a pin in for sure.

1047
00:46:52,360 --> 00:46:54,920
Speaker 2: Oh yeah. It almost puts this series in a different

1048
00:46:54,960 --> 00:46:58,360
category because you're talking about it has injury concerns that

1049
00:46:58,719 --> 00:47:01,840
like could so obviously swing the result that the other

1050
00:47:01,880 --> 00:47:04,119
two series really don't I get. I mean, the Celtics

1051
00:47:04,159 --> 00:47:07,280
have Porzingis's mystery illness and then Jalen Brown and I'll

1052
00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:09,559
looking right and Holidays coming off the hamstring, but like

1053
00:47:10,159 --> 00:47:12,519
the Calves like didn't have like the Calves actually have

1054
00:47:12,639 --> 00:47:15,599
guys that did have not played and that may continue

1055
00:47:15,639 --> 00:47:20,239
to not play. So I mean, like, yes, I would

1056
00:47:20,280 --> 00:47:22,880
rank that I would be most concerned for the Calves

1057
00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:25,039
because of that, like, because it's just well, if they

1058
00:47:25,039 --> 00:47:27,360
don't have Garland alone for the rest of this series,

1059
00:47:27,400 --> 00:47:29,360
then it's like a coin flip at best, right, And

1060
00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:31,079
if they don't have Garland and if they missed a

1061
00:47:31,159 --> 00:47:33,960
game with MOBILEI like, I mean, the Pacers should just

1062
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:38,239
be favored, probably, but I think it's more interesting and

1063
00:47:38,360 --> 00:47:40,000
maybe you may have to, like I don't want you

1064
00:47:40,039 --> 00:47:41,719
to circle back on everything you talked about with more,

1065
00:47:41,760 --> 00:47:46,760
but like the injuries aside, if you assume the Calves

1066
00:47:46,800 --> 00:47:49,079
will just have their full complement of players and they'll

1067
00:47:49,079 --> 00:47:53,119
be at or near like full capacity, anything in Game

1068
00:47:53,199 --> 00:47:57,400
one that stood out as like as a PACER's accolyte,

1069
00:47:57,440 --> 00:48:01,440
which you are, that like really validated your Like I

1070
00:48:01,519 --> 00:48:04,639
think the Pacers, you know, are really a threat here

1071
00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:06,639
anything independent of the injury stuff.

1072
00:48:07,320 --> 00:48:10,519
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, I think it's the fact that Andrew Nemhart

1073
00:48:10,760 --> 00:48:14,159
is like playoff. Jimmy Butler Incarnate is a big.

1074
00:48:14,239 --> 00:48:15,800
Speaker 2: One of the most threes he hitt in Game one

1075
00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:18,239
was like, that guy does not lack for confidence.

1076
00:48:18,800 --> 00:48:20,880
Speaker 1: I honestly, I think it is. And this is probably

1077
00:48:20,920 --> 00:48:24,239
worth a longer discussion about like the state of the

1078
00:48:24,360 --> 00:48:27,559
NBA in general, but the variability with which the Pacers

1079
00:48:27,639 --> 00:48:29,280
can play when you're looking at the pace, when you

1080
00:48:29,360 --> 00:48:30,760
look at some of the things they can do on defense,

1081
00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:33,159
but also the depth. It's where it's like you can

1082
00:48:33,280 --> 00:48:35,440
play I've called it, and people who listen to this

1083
00:48:35,480 --> 00:48:38,159
podcast regularly now for like the functional depth of that's

1084
00:48:38,199 --> 00:48:40,679
not you're not just regular season deep, it's you would

1085
00:48:40,760 --> 00:48:43,199
go to X number of guys in the playoffs and

1086
00:48:43,280 --> 00:48:45,079
the Pacers. I think the Calves are also a good

1087
00:48:45,119 --> 00:48:47,199
case study in this. I think the Rockets in the

1088
00:48:47,280 --> 00:48:49,639
last round were a good case study of this where

1089
00:48:49,800 --> 00:48:51,840
I'm wondering if that becomes more of a thing to

1090
00:48:51,880 --> 00:48:53,360
where it's, oh, like no, depth is going to be

1091
00:48:53,440 --> 00:48:55,800
more important to the playoffs, or where you have different

1092
00:48:55,840 --> 00:48:58,800
guys that are able to like attack in different like

1093
00:48:59,079 --> 00:49:01,760
Aaron Smith that's not someone that you would say, oh,

1094
00:49:02,039 --> 00:49:04,000
he's in it, Oh we need someone who's in advantage, Like, yeah,

1095
00:49:04,039 --> 00:49:05,320
it makes sense they have a bunch of guys that

1096
00:49:05,320 --> 00:49:07,519
could do things with the ball, but that's not what

1097
00:49:07,599 --> 00:49:09,599
he's known for. And yet the fact you can trust

1098
00:49:09,679 --> 00:49:11,960
him to make quick decisions, hit threes, put the ball

1099
00:49:12,000 --> 00:49:14,599
on the floor. He's got these really heady, like shoulder

1100
00:49:14,639 --> 00:49:18,559
prevalent drives. While also he'll just defend anybody. He's defending Giannis.

1101
00:49:18,639 --> 00:49:20,360
Last series, we saw a bunch on Matt like he

1102
00:49:20,360 --> 00:49:23,360
could defend the motion shooters as well. There's just so

1103
00:49:23,559 --> 00:49:26,360
many different buttons for them to push, and I think

1104
00:49:26,440 --> 00:49:29,400
that's what stood out and if I was looking at

1105
00:49:29,440 --> 00:49:33,000
this from the Cavs perspective, aside from the injuries, Donovan

1106
00:49:33,000 --> 00:49:35,119
Mitchell having his second highest usage rate of the season

1107
00:49:35,239 --> 00:49:37,480
kind of proved like, well, that's how much Darius Garland mattered.

1108
00:49:37,639 --> 00:49:39,280
But I think the other thing, and I know part

1109
00:49:39,320 --> 00:49:43,360
of this is like ingrained to their defensive philosophy. I

1110
00:49:43,480 --> 00:49:46,400
think they need to be more aggressive on going after,

1111
00:49:46,559 --> 00:49:48,760
like either running Indy off the three point mine or

1112
00:49:48,840 --> 00:49:52,000
going after like closing out on their shooters because there's

1113
00:49:52,079 --> 00:49:54,440
just too many wide open threes, Like thirty percent of

1114
00:49:54,519 --> 00:49:57,440
their threes Indies were just completely like six plus feet away,

1115
00:49:57,480 --> 00:49:59,880
so not even not even just open like wide open.

1116
00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:02,599
That's too. I know this team isn't when you look

1117
00:50:02,639 --> 00:50:04,800
on paper, it's not the best shooting team in theory,

1118
00:50:05,280 --> 00:50:07,559
but like you got kind of trounced and that was

1119
00:50:07,639 --> 00:50:09,960
with Tyre's Hawerbert and going one of five on wild

1120
00:50:10,679 --> 00:50:12,920
And it's weird for the get a Pascal Siakham game

1121
00:50:13,239 --> 00:50:14,119
offensively either.

1122
00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:16,599
Speaker 2: Yeah, And it's weird for the Cavs too, because like

1123
00:50:16,880 --> 00:50:19,880
as as many sort of imperfect guys as they have,

1124
00:50:20,719 --> 00:50:23,039
like a lot of them skew more towards like Dan

1125
00:50:23,079 --> 00:50:25,159
Wade as an example, a Korro as an example, Like

1126
00:50:25,400 --> 00:50:27,079
you should be able to put guys out there that

1127
00:50:27,159 --> 00:50:29,199
are mobile enough and long enough to kind of shut

1128
00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:31,280
off some of that to run guys off the line.

1129
00:50:31,320 --> 00:50:33,280
I guess to just to put it really simply like that,

1130
00:50:33,679 --> 00:50:35,840
the Calves should be able to do that. I think,

1131
00:50:35,920 --> 00:50:39,360
like I forget who somebody pointed out Mitchell was a

1132
00:50:39,400 --> 00:50:42,840
little gimpy after like something in the second quarter bothered him,

1133
00:50:42,840 --> 00:50:45,639
and he like you know, could he just didn't. Maybe

1134
00:50:45,679 --> 00:50:49,159
it was the workload, maybe it was a combination of things,

1135
00:50:49,239 --> 00:50:53,000
but like he just is gonna have to be because

1136
00:50:53,119 --> 00:50:54,960
like what version of Garland are you gonna get? You

1137
00:50:55,079 --> 00:50:57,159
can't be sure that it's gonna be. I mean, if

1138
00:50:57,199 --> 00:50:59,719
he's out there at all, it helps a ton just

1139
00:50:59,800 --> 00:51:02,599
to have another like shooter, you can't leave another guy

1140
00:51:02,639 --> 00:51:04,719
to pass the ball and make plays all that stuff.

1141
00:51:04,800 --> 00:51:07,760
But Mitchell, like, you know, he got his thirty, but

1142
00:51:08,400 --> 00:51:10,440
he worked he had to work way too hard for it.

1143
00:51:11,079 --> 00:51:14,079
Speaker 1: Well, And that's that's like kind of the one of

1144
00:51:14,119 --> 00:51:16,920
the trickle down effects of not having Darius car on there.

1145
00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:19,280
The other thing, too, is it did see mccas were

1146
00:51:19,360 --> 00:51:22,679
like sort of overreactive to whenever Jared Allen had to switch,

1147
00:51:23,039 --> 00:51:25,239
and I just I understand like that, you don't want

1148
00:51:25,280 --> 00:51:27,519
Jared Allen necessarily going up against Tyrey's Halbert, Like it's

1149
00:51:27,599 --> 00:51:30,360
the entire point of like your bigs is live with

1150
00:51:30,480 --> 00:51:32,599
the outcome of that or no? Is that did you

1151
00:51:32,679 --> 00:51:34,519
think that? Like that was sort of No, The right

1152
00:51:34,559 --> 00:51:36,639
principle is like, oh, we're gonna shade over, like we're

1153
00:51:36,679 --> 00:51:39,599
gonna sag way off. Yeah, like Max Strus in one

1154
00:51:39,599 --> 00:51:42,760
of the situations, we're just veering so far the shooter

1155
00:51:42,840 --> 00:51:45,840
he was tracking and I'm just like, yeah, Tyre's Halburton

1156
00:51:45,880 --> 00:51:48,679
might might get to his floater, but I'm more concerned

1157
00:51:48,719 --> 00:51:50,639
about him sprang out to somebody for three.

1158
00:51:51,360 --> 00:51:53,559
Speaker 2: I'm I'm kind of switch pilled now since we've been

1159
00:51:53,559 --> 00:51:55,239
talking about it so much, where I do think like,

1160
00:51:55,719 --> 00:51:57,559
as long as Allan doesn't give up the step back

1161
00:51:57,639 --> 00:52:00,239
three and as long as as so Haliburton, you know,

1162
00:52:00,400 --> 00:52:02,559
might get by him and get into the lane. I

1163
00:52:02,559 --> 00:52:04,840
think it's a twofold thing that's okay. One and two,

1164
00:52:05,480 --> 00:52:08,239
Don't everybody freak out and leave your assignment to come help,

1165
00:52:08,280 --> 00:52:10,800
because worst case, Haliburn is gonna have to make a

1166
00:52:10,880 --> 00:52:14,360
layup with the mobile and long Jared Allen like chasing

1167
00:52:14,480 --> 00:52:17,000
him down, potentially pinning it to the board or whatever.

1168
00:52:17,559 --> 00:52:19,599
The worst thing you can do is overhelp in that

1169
00:52:19,719 --> 00:52:22,559
situation and then open up the three or the swing

1170
00:52:22,679 --> 00:52:26,559
swing swing three the Indiana wants or swing swing drive

1171
00:52:26,639 --> 00:52:28,559
and it's a wide open layup where Allen's not in

1172
00:52:28,599 --> 00:52:30,239
the play Like, I think you gotta be a little

1173
00:52:30,239 --> 00:52:32,599
more disciplined in that in those situations.

1174
00:52:33,320 --> 00:52:37,280
Speaker 1: Now, let's ask the question which heavy NBA playoff favorite

1175
00:52:37,679 --> 00:52:40,119
in the second round, the Calves, the Knicks.

1176
00:52:40,280 --> 00:52:40,800
Speaker 2: I'm just kidding.

1177
00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:44,920
Speaker 1: The Celtics or the Thunder Calves Knicks Nuggets Thunder, Sorry

1178
00:52:45,800 --> 00:52:51,440
Calves Celtics Thunder. There you go heavy second round favorite?

1179
00:52:51,719 --> 00:52:53,079
Do you think is in the most trouble?

1180
00:52:53,360 --> 00:52:56,440
Speaker 2: I think it has to be Cleveland, just the combination

1181
00:52:56,559 --> 00:53:00,199
of the injuries and Indiana just being better than any one,

1182
00:53:00,320 --> 00:53:03,159
I guess other than you give them credit for.

1183
00:53:03,320 --> 00:53:05,880
Speaker 1: Well, no, I pick Cleveland in five, so I don't

1184
00:53:05,920 --> 00:53:06,920
give enough credit.

1185
00:53:07,440 --> 00:53:09,400
Speaker 2: Right Like, I think it's if the injuries are out

1186
00:53:09,400 --> 00:53:10,880
of it. It's a harder question. But the fact that

1187
00:53:11,000 --> 00:53:13,719
Cleveland has like multiple starters banged up and Garlands already

1188
00:53:13,760 --> 00:53:15,719
missed a game like that, that settles it for me

1189
00:53:15,840 --> 00:53:16,440
pretty clearly.

1190
00:53:17,079 --> 00:53:18,920
Speaker 1: I think that's the right answer. And also, I think

1191
00:53:18,960 --> 00:53:21,039
you can talk yourself into even if you remove injuries

1192
00:53:21,079 --> 00:53:23,480
from the equation, there's still a scenario in which the

1193
00:53:23,559 --> 00:53:27,599
Pacers match up really well with this team. Who would

1194
00:53:27,639 --> 00:53:30,239
you go second? I kind of feel like it's the Thunder,

1195
00:53:30,480 --> 00:53:34,199
which runs counter to me saying maybe we all overthought

1196
00:53:34,639 --> 00:53:37,079
the Thunder. So maybe I'm overthinking the outcome to Game one.

1197
00:53:37,199 --> 00:53:40,880
But when you see so many of the primary issues

1198
00:53:40,920 --> 00:53:43,159
that maybe you didn't think the Jokic thing, you probably

1199
00:53:43,159 --> 00:53:45,320
didn't think they solved, but like, oh no, they won't

1200
00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:48,320
get manhandled on the glass, and like the secondary offense

1201
00:53:48,400 --> 00:53:50,280
isn't that much of a problem, And then you watch

1202
00:53:50,280 --> 00:53:53,000
it's like, oh, okay, maybe maybe we jumped the shark

1203
00:53:53,079 --> 00:53:54,760
there by declaring them solved.

1204
00:53:54,880 --> 00:53:58,719
Speaker 2: Those are yeah, and like not I agree with you,

1205
00:53:59,159 --> 00:54:01,079
But it's also the act that like we're just the

1206
00:54:01,199 --> 00:54:04,079
least concerned for the Celtics because they just missed threes.

1207
00:54:04,360 --> 00:54:07,880
If you really wanted to get maximally reductive, that's what like,

1208
00:54:08,079 --> 00:54:10,280
I don't know, it was a tight game that that

1209
00:54:10,559 --> 00:54:12,719
could have gone either way, and like Boston just won't

1210
00:54:12,800 --> 00:54:13,880
shoot that pat again.

1211
00:54:14,000 --> 00:54:16,159
Speaker 1: If you want to get properly reductive, I would say.

1212
00:54:16,559 --> 00:54:18,639
So it's not like it's not we're not being too reductive,

1213
00:54:18,719 --> 00:54:21,760
it's the Knicks played a hell of a game and

1214
00:54:21,880 --> 00:54:24,639
they still could have and Boston played a terrible game.

1215
00:54:24,679 --> 00:54:26,119
They just still could have lost. They were down by

1216
00:54:26,280 --> 00:54:27,920
Knicks were down by twenty at one point.

1217
00:54:28,000 --> 00:54:30,440
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, this was the only the only well yeah,

1218
00:54:30,480 --> 00:54:32,119
I think it was the only of the options here

1219
00:54:32,159 --> 00:54:34,960
that had a twenty point deficit in which the favorite

1220
00:54:35,039 --> 00:54:35,400
was ahead.

1221
00:54:35,440 --> 00:54:37,280
Speaker 1: So it did look a couple of times and Nuggets

1222
00:54:37,280 --> 00:54:39,760
Thunder though that like the Thunder were gonna run away.

1223
00:54:40,079 --> 00:54:42,960
Speaker 2: I was convinced in the first half, like, osh, this

1224
00:54:43,079 --> 00:54:45,880
is gonna get ugly, and just just didn't you.

1225
00:54:45,920 --> 00:54:47,320
Speaker 1: Have anything else to say or you want to take

1226
00:54:47,360 --> 00:54:49,760
us out of here. But look, that's all best wishes

1227
00:54:49,840 --> 00:54:51,920
to Grant in this difficult time as he gets ready

1228
00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:54,400
for it'll already happen by the time you listen. But

1229
00:54:55,199 --> 00:54:57,920
Warriors Timberwolves Game one, he's going through it right now.

1230
00:54:57,920 --> 00:54:59,199
I don't know if he can on his face. This

1231
00:54:59,239 --> 00:55:01,760
has been appreciate him tough. You know, he didn't miss

1232
00:55:01,760 --> 00:55:02,679
shoot around this morning.

1233
00:55:03,039 --> 00:55:03,440
Speaker 2: A man.

1234
00:55:03,800 --> 00:55:06,199
Speaker 1: He did the work, he got his treatment, and he

1235
00:55:06,480 --> 00:55:07,519
powered through the podcast.

1236
00:55:07,719 --> 00:55:10,960
Speaker 2: I I just just rest assured I will I'll be

1237
00:55:11,079 --> 00:55:13,920
a different person after game one. I can't tell you

1238
00:55:14,000 --> 00:55:15,920
if I'll be better or worse. I'll be different. It

1239
00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:20,480
will have changed me emotionally, I'm already I'm already like

1240
00:55:20,599 --> 00:55:23,519
emotionally hedging really hard. Like, hey, they got they got

1241
00:55:23,559 --> 00:55:25,400
out of the first round. That's pretty good for some

1242
00:55:25,519 --> 00:55:27,559
old dudes, you know, good for them. I'm happy.

1243
00:55:27,599 --> 00:55:31,400
Speaker 1: I'm happy they steph Curry outlasting That's my favorite. That's

1244
00:55:31,440 --> 00:55:34,360
defense at the age of thirty seven is just I'm

1245
00:55:34,400 --> 00:55:36,559
not He's not the only player that's ever had gravity,

1246
00:55:36,599 --> 00:55:38,480
but it's like a thirty seven year old like going

1247
00:55:38,559 --> 00:55:41,840
through what he did and still outlasting it is. It's wild.

1248
00:55:42,000 --> 00:55:45,360
Speaker 2: And Thompson specifically, just like, guess who's cramping up first,

1249
00:55:45,599 --> 00:55:50,400
young fella, not me, It's gonna be you. That was amazing. Yeah,

1250
00:55:50,480 --> 00:55:53,360
So that that whatever happens from here, Dan, I'm fine,

1251
00:55:53,679 --> 00:55:56,840
totally and I totally believe you.

1252
00:55:57,199 --> 00:55:57,800
Speaker 1: You okay good.

1253
00:55:58,360 --> 00:56:00,440
Speaker 2: Thanks everybody for listening, for watching. Hope you're enjoying the

1254
00:56:00,440 --> 00:56:03,239
Plaoffs as much as we are. Please remember to rate, review,

1255
00:56:03,280 --> 00:56:06,159
subscribe during our discord links for that and YouTube podcast description.

1256
00:56:06,280 --> 00:56:09,960
Tell You Tell Your Enemy shouts Franklich Apologies, Share it

1257
00:56:10,000 --> 00:56:10,159
Out