Colin’s joined by Jason Timpf, host of “Hoops Tonight” to break down the play-in games and preview the NBA playoffs!
They start with the Warriors surviving the Grizzlies in the play-in game, why their lack of size and supporting cast could prove to be their Achilles heel in the postseason, and why the Rockets could prove to be a tough matchup for Golden State (3:00).
They pivot to Lakers vs. Timberwolves, why facing the Lakers is the worst case scenario for the Wolves, and why the trio of Luka, LeBron and Reeves will overwhelm Minnesota (12:45).
Colin explains why he doesn’t buy the Clippers late season run and why he doesn’t see any chance Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets get bounced in the first round of the playoffs (23:45).
They discuss why the Nuggets quitting on defense is what led to the firing of head coach Michael Malone (28:45) and debate whether Jokic is the greatest big to ever play the game (32:30).
They break down the OKC Thunder’s historic point differential in the regular season, why that might not translate into postseason success and why their young roster could struggle in the playoffs (46:00).
Finally, Colin compares the Celtics to the Spurs dynasty of the past and why he thinks they’re clearly the best team, but Jason offers one caveat (53:00).
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. All right, here we go, Jason Timpf hoops tonight.
We got a lot to talk about. Is the NBA
playoffs start all the odds provided by DraftKings Sports Book,
by the way, when we mention them. So I'm gonna
pick it up set. I'm gonna go Houston Rockets over
(00:21):
the Warriors. And I don't want to do confirmation bias
or recency bias because I watched them struggle against Memphis
and need an inbounds gaff by the Grizzlies to save it.
But the Jonathan Kaminga piece is really a problem. So
we've talked about this. It's a highly sophisticated offense. Veterans work,
Iguidala kd Andrew Bogan, they work, Steph Clay, Draymond they work.
(00:46):
You can be a quirky player like Draymond Green and
still be a catalyst. What doesn't work is Wiseman, Jordan Poole,
DiAngelo Russell, who's a bit squarely when he was younger
and Cominga's productive, But you can't put them on the
floor of this unit. Kerr is it's do not play
coaches decision and they're dying for length. I mean, I'm
(01:07):
watching last night and Zach Eadie is a huge problem.
They don't have any length and here comes Houston. They
defend the three mon Thompson gave Steph Fitz last time
they played length. Now, Curr's the best coach, Curry's the
best player. I am not denying that. But and if
(01:28):
the games are close, Jason, you'll take the Warriors. Their
clutch points are great. They're gonna win these one point
games like last night's just a great example of how
the Warriors can manipulate the clock possessions and get better
defensively when they have to. I don't like this matchup.
I was looking at the odds. I don't like this
matchup for the Warriors. Right now, the Rockets are plus
(01:55):
one sixty five again, odds provided by DraftKings. I'm calling
the upset. You think I'm crazy, size, lack of depth,
Corey dependent, what say you?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I don't want to see you're crazy. I think this
is let's just put it this way. I think that
a defensive minded Rockets team is more capable of beating
Golden State than say, a defensive minded Magic team is
capable of beating Boston. That said, I think that the
other side of the floor is where it's going to
become a problem. I have no doubts that Houston is
(02:31):
going to cause problems for Golden States offense. In their
last four games, they've held them to one hundred and
five or viewer and all four of them they've held
them below one hundred three times.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
They have a bunch of different things that they do
that bother them. They put Alburn Shangoon on Moses Moody,
which is really smart because it allows them to put
all of their three best perimeter defenders on Draymond, Jimmy
and Steph and just switch any action that involves those three.
Aman Thompson is one of the most gifted athletes in
terms of foot speed in the league.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Maybe the best in the series. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Absolutely, and the the Rockets have a zone look that
worked really well against the against the Warriors a couple
of weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
There.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
I have no doubts that the Rockets will be able
to drag the Warriors offense down into the mud. Here's
the problem. I think the war I think the Warriors
defense is nearly as good as Houston's defense, and I
think that they are more capable of doing more damage
to a Shanngoon, Jalen Green, Fred Van Vliet led offense
(03:29):
than the Rockets can do to the Warriors on the
other end of the floor. I would not be surprised
if it's a longer series. As a Lakers fan, I
hope that it's very physical and that it wears them down.
But I just have a really hard time believing that
the Rockets are going to be able to score enough
now to beat the Warriors four times now.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
They have shot better in the second half of the season.
They have they have, So there was here's the thing,
explain the coming a piece. So listen. I was told
this years ago by an NFL executive. He says, be
very careful about the last twenty games of this season.
You're gonna see teams with winning streaks. Half the league's tanking,
and half the league is resting starters for the playoffs.
So the Clippers go on this great last fifteen games,
(04:10):
and the Warriors have that energy when Jimmy Butler arrives
and they're playing bad teams and they're just rolling people,
and you're like, oh my god. And I fell for it,
and I said, oh wait till Kaminga comes back. It
was about three games with Kaminga in this group, and
Steve Kerr's like, yeah, I don't Why doesn't it work
with him? Because I could argue he's exactly what they
(04:33):
need against Houston size, athletic ability, length. They look small
last night against Memphis.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, you know, right when the Jimmy trade went down,
one of my initial takeaways was, this is the end
of Jonathan Kaminga in his time with the Golden State
Warriors in terms of just him being a meaningful contributor
to this team. The thing is is they were banking
on Jonathan Kaminga becoming that player for the Warrior, become
the Jimmy Butler type of player for the Warriors, the
(05:02):
big forward that they could put next to Draymond that
would be the scoring pop alongside the starters. As soon
as they got Jimmy, they no longer had a role
for him anymore. You want to know why Kerr went
with Gie Santos last night, It's because Gi Santos plays
the same position, but he can count on Gee to
not do anything stupid, to just play super hard, to
grab every rebound he can get, and to take a
(05:22):
wide open catch and shoot three Jonathan Kaminga's upside is
on the ball if you clear the side for him
and you let him go one on one facing up
eighteen feet from the basket. He has a lot of
potential in the long term to be very good at that,
but he's not good enough at it now to take
reps away from Steph and away from Jimmy, and so
all they need from him is to play defense, to
(05:44):
knock down wide open catch and shoot threes, and to
play in their read and react in the half court.
And he's not very good at any of those three things.
And so it just is kind of like a death
sentence in that regard for his role here. And I
do think that it's probably in the best interest of
everybody involved after the season is over to look to
move on from Kminga. That said, you made a very
interesting point specifically about this matchup. I understood the case
(06:09):
for the DNPS with Kaminga for the last couple of games,
super important games. You need higher floor, lower ceiling, like
you need fewer mistakes. Yes, you couldn't take a risk
with mistakes in those games. So I understood that case.
Specifically for this matchup with Houston, they are so big
and so athletic that I think it could. I think
(06:30):
it could be a Jimmy Butler and Jonathan kminga type
of series. I think the two of them and their
athletic advantages could be something they have to lean on
a lot, especially if the perimeter defense of Houston wears
Steph down over the course of the series. So if
I was Kerr, I would definitely give kaminga some burn
here in the first couple games of this series, just
(06:51):
to see what he's got. Now, if he's terrible, bail
on him, go back to your rotation that you used
in the last couple of games. But I think he's
an asset as an athlete that you can't afford to
keep in your back pocket for a series like this.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
And the Rockets are first of all, they defend the three,
they got the best athlete in the series, and they
rebound really well. They're gonna get more. If Cominga doesn't
play a lot, they're gonna get second. They're gonna get
a lot of offensive rebound. They're gonna win offensive rebounding throughout
this series. Looney's gonna play a lot. You're gonna have
to play him if you don't play kaminga a lot.
You're giving up. You're gonna give up the glass, and
(07:23):
you can win a series losing on the you know,
in the in the world we play in now, you know,
Boston can lose the rebounding battle and hit twenty eight
threes and they win the game by fifteen. But I'll
tell you I think Houston. I think I think Houston's
really gonna challenge him, and I think they're gonna be
low scoring. I think the one advantage that is clear cut,
(07:45):
and you saw it last night with the Warriors. They're
so good with two twenty to play in a tie game,
they are they just know. I mean it's almost like
I mean the you know, people grabbing and clutching staff
and you have to be more careful late because they
may call a foul. And it's just they just figure
(08:05):
out ways to get Steph really good looks. It's almost
like red zone offense in the NFL, where it's cluttered
and jammed, and yet the good teams find open people.
I mean, he just I watched them, and I like
last night they had a great game plan, jump out
to a sixteen point lead, eighteen point lead, twenty point lead,
but in the end, you're like, they just don't have bodies.
(08:26):
They look incredibly small. Uh, And I just think that
size is gonna make I think they're the close games
Golden State wins, but I'm going to give Houston a
couple of games where they just dominate the glass, the
Warriors look tired and they blow them out. It'll be
a weird looking series. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I said something similar in my series preview, like I
wouldn't be surprised if there was a game either early
in the series, like a Game one, or like a
Game five, with the Warriors are up three to one,
where the Rockets just beat the heck out of them
and win by like twenty five. I have thirty points
that get going in transition, they look super athletic. I'm
with you overall with the Warriors in the sense that,
(09:07):
like there was this stretch post deadline where they were
beating everybody, and yeah, the schedule was weak, but then
they got a couple of impressive wins. You beat a
decent Memphis team, you beat a Nuggets team without Jamal Murray,
you beat that Lakers team that was one of the
biggest wins that they had all season. That was a big,
nationally televised, super important game for both teams that they won.
But then after that it's like, they lose to Houston,
they lose to San Antonio, they beat Portland, but then
(09:31):
they lose to the Clippers at home in a must
win game, and then last night for stretches, they looked
unimpressive as they were trailing in the fourth quarter. So
I'm kind of it up in the air with the
Warriors in general now because it's hard to tell how
good they really are when they killed everybody for like
two months, and then for the last two weeks, they've
looked pretty unimpressive, So I'm kind of up in the
air with them. The main reason why I've been dropping
(09:52):
them down in terms of where i'd rank them among
contenders is I don't trust their shooting. Their shooting can
go ice cold around Steph Curry, and then, as you mentioned,
they're a little bit vulnerable to size and physicality, which
I think can cause some problems for them. I viewed
them as a little bit more of a flawed contender
now than I did two weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
All Right, Lakers, all odds provided by DraftKings are minus
one ninety five against the t Wolves. I think this
is a very favorable Laker matchup, and I think it's
pretty obvious the Timberwolves, outside of Aunt Edwards, he's going
to have to score forty in a couple of these games.
Julius Randall has historically kind of the classic, plays hard,
(10:30):
plays with energy, very successful in the regular season, but
everybody in the postseason plays with energy. And he comes
right back here. The regressions clear. He's a B player
who plays with a energy and that is really valuable
in the regular season, and then you get to the
postseason and everybody's got equal time off and he's a
B player and doesn't create sometimes can get a little
(10:52):
ball selfish. Go Bears, not an offensive player. Mike Conley's
a play initiator but doesn't provide much offense. And the
Lakers are the team I mean, Boston maybe the only
team in the league that does this, that has three
playmakers and three play initiators and at any one time
can have the three best offensive players playing well on
the floor. I don't think it's a good matchup for
(11:13):
Minnesota at all. This was the bad draw in my
opinion for the t Wolves. What do you think?
Speaker 2 (11:19):
I totally agree. I think there's a basic talent argument
you can make for La, which is like, who's better
Ain't or Luca. You're taking Luca. Who's better Lebron or
Julius Randall? Yeah, you're taking Lebron. Who's better Austin Reeves
or a Jaden McDaniels or a Rudy Gobert or Dante DiVincenzo.
You're taking Austin Reeves. So I think I think the
Lakers top three guys are just better, and I think
(11:41):
that that could be enough to make the case. Where
I think it gets really interesting is the Timberwolves' greatest
strength on defense is their combination of perimeter defenders and
Rudy Gobert at the rim, and the Lakers can neutralize that. Unfortunately,
as we saw in the Western Conference Finals last year,
the best perimeter defender on Minnesota, Jada McDaniels, can't guard Luca.
(12:04):
He's too skinny. Luca can just throw him around like
a rag doll. None of the perimeter defenders on Minnesota
make Luca uncomfortable, and the Lakers, with their five out
groups with Dorian Finney Smith instead of Jackson Hayes, they
can space Rudy out to where he cannot protect the
rim without conceding a wide open three. When Rudy's on
the perimeter, he's still a good defender, but he's not
(12:26):
the transcendently impactful defender he is when he can sit
right underneath the basket. So I think they neutralize him there.
On the other end of the floor, the Lakers have
struggled against spread out shooting like against Boston and really
smart teams with speed like Golden State. Those are the
teams that have really caused the Lakers issues post Luca trade.
You know who the Lakers have not struggled with post
(12:47):
Luca trade. Defensively, the teams that they can load up on.
You can load up on the Timberwolves. They are not
a good spot up team. They're a team that you
can put two on the ball with ant and not
get burned. That's the high level playmate. It's just I
look at this as a series where just all of
the strengths and weaknesses line up in a way to
where I think the Lakers just have a big advantage.
(13:08):
This was one of the few series that I picked
in five games. I think the Lakers are gonna beat
them in five.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah, I feel the same way. And the Lakers, I
could be wrong on this. I think they play as
good a defense as they need to. I think that
when I watch them play. There are times I'm like, Oh,
this is one of those games they really care about.
And then there are other times I'm like, they're just
(13:32):
not talking. This is one of those. They either all
went out and had a nice dinner last night and
balba bino, They're just not when I watch them, I
think they're as good as they want to be. Defensively,
I don't think they're great, but like Denver's got limitations,
there's just things. I mean, Jokic, there's just limitations. I
think the Lakers actually have some pretty good lengthened defensive
personnel outside of Luca. I think they'll they'll play good
(13:54):
defense in the playoffs because they'll want to. They'll want
team when they want to. I think they're pretty capable.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah, and you're as good offensively as they've been with
their best groups. And by the way, that group with
Dorian Phinney, Smith and Rui next to Lebron, Luke and
Austin has been torching everybody for a long time. Now.
That unit can really score the ball, so they have
some margin for err on that side of the floor.
It really is about Lebron. Lebron as like the orchestrator
on the back line. He plays that Draymond Green esque role,
(14:21):
just telling everybody where to go, calling out the plays
as they're starting to take shape. And then Jared Vanderbilt,
Ruey Hachimura, Dorian Finney Smith. It's just a lot of six'
nine rangy athletes that can cover. Ground i'm not gonna
Lie colin like The lakers certainly have an uphill, climb
and there are gonna be multiple series where there'll be
an underdog if they get to the third and fourth.
Round but this could not have broken better for them
(14:44):
than it. Did now you only have to play one Of,
DENVER okc and The. Clippers those are three of the
most dangerous teams in The. West they only have to
play one of. Them SO i think it actually broke
really nicely for them. Here if they can take care
of business against The timberwolves and beat whoever comes out
of That War Years rocket, series they're right there in
the in the Against Okay see in the conference, FINALS
(15:05):
i think they've got a really good chance.
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Speaker 1 (16:40):
Audio it's funny WHEN i look So denver takes on The,
clippers and The clippers played very well down the, stretch
and again half the league's tanking half. ARRESTING i did
(17:00):
think the winner of A Golden state was. IMPRESSIVE i
Thought James harden and overtime was. GREAT i Thought kawhi Being.
KAWHI i, mean you never know what he's going to,
play but when he, does he's Still he's got so
many components that remind me of a little bit of
a poor Man Michael. Kobe the hand, size this physical
strength despite not being a heavy, Player he's a very unique.
(17:22):
PLAYER i mean five years, AGO i thought he was
a top three player in the. LEAGUE i was, like
he's a get a, bucket get a stop, guy and
he you, know in the last couple of, weeks you're, like,
wow he is, back and he's just a hard guy
to get a read on. Him that's why Basically pop just,
Said i'd rather not make the. Playoffs i'm not going
to deal with. This he's an. Enigma they don't have
(17:46):
besides their starting Center, zubas they don't have any. Size
i mean their backup Center's Ben. Simmons there's just nothing.
There So yokich is going to have a monster just
a monster. Series and also they're so when The jokers
not on the floor that he's going to play forty,
minutes like they just can't operate without. Him this is.
WEIRD i Thought denver is going to be a. Dynasty they're,
(18:10):
not AND i Knew malone would wear everybody. Out he's
not A spolstra. Occurred he's not the kind of part,
psychologist part. Coach he's a little bit of an old,
school intense. PARKER i want to play. WHO i want
to play battle with THE, gm BUT i don't know
IF i buy The clippers late season. RUN i don't
know IF i do AND i get the world's best basketball.
(18:34):
PLAYER i don't Trust harden in big playoff. SPOTS i
Know i'm supposed to take The, clippers BUT i just
can't See jokic getting run out of THE nba playoffs
in one.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Round so the point you're making about the regular season
results down the stretch is a really important. One it's
really the middle tier that is going as hard as
they can in this, space because the top tier teams are,
like we're just trying to be healthy for our first round.
Series the bottom tier teams are we just Want Cooper.
Flag the middle tier teams are all, like we do
(19:08):
not want to be in the play In so we're
going to go every single game like all these teams
basically from The lakers all the way down through The
suns have been playing must win basketball every single night
since the trade deadline has. Passed that's what happens when
you have the play in tournament in the, mix and
SO i do think there's something to be said about
some of the fake results you could see at this.
(19:31):
Point the only thing that makes it a little more
complicated with The clippers is The Kawhi leonard. Part you
are taking a team that was already a rock solid
basketball culture anchored By James, harden a very great floor
raising perimeter player in THE. Nba zubots has become one
of the top six or seven centers in THE. Nba
(19:52):
you have the elite perimeter defense talent Of Derek Jones
junior And. Christne one of the craziest subplots of the
year is them pivoting From paul Ju, george who averaged
twenty three points a game for them last, year and
then being, like, no thank, you and taking two discounted
perimeter athletes And Derek jones And Chris dunn and basically
getting a better roster out of, it which is just
a huge credit to that organization and them just prioritizing
(20:15):
the right things and the culture they're trying to build,
there but you're adding to that a player And Kawhi
leonard that legitimately at this point is an apex superstar
in this league when he actually has his legs underneath
him the way he's had him, late the ability to
get to his, spots the ability to get. Lyft he
was going On Jimmy butler and making it look, easy
going Against Raymond green and making it look easy at.
(20:37):
It he is at his peak as that type of
gett a, stop get a bucket type of guy right.
Now that is what changes the ceiling for Me with The.
CLIPPERS i look at it pretty. Simply they have four
awesome offensive. Players zoo is like good for twenty points
a game these, Days harden's good for twenty points a,
Game powell's good for twenty points a, game And Kawhi
(20:57):
leonard on any given night can go toe to toe
with the best superstars in the. League you surround that
with a strong defensive, foundation elite perimeter. Defense for forty eight,
Minutes Jamal murray's gonna Have Derek jones And Chris dunn
all over him that entire. Series zoo even is one
of the rare guys who's big and strong enough to
kind of hang hang With jokic a little. Bit jokic
(21:18):
tried to post up Zu bots six times this, season
went one for six from the. Field, NOW i think
he'll do a little. Better he's too good to not
figure that. Out but him posting Up zoo is not
the same as him posting up these other skinny centers
that he posts around the. League it's a little bit
harder for him to win the ground battle. There really
what caused me to pick The clippers in this matchup
(21:39):
was the defense For, denver right, Right The denver's defense
is so far, Gone. Colin it's like so far. Gone
it's like off the reservation. Gone doesn't even slightly resemble
the defense they won the championship with you And.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Jason they're just not close part of. It AND i
really believe defense's effort not to interrupt you. Offense offense is.
Fun defense is. Not you could Tell malone was in
trouble to me WHEN i watched their, DEFENSE i, Thought,
okay they they're not playing hard for the. Coach like
(22:10):
if a team's playing great defense and they're just limited.
Offensively some of that's just lack of talent when a,
team And denver's not a great defensive, Team gordon's very
long and. Athletic but when they stopped playing defense this,
year AND i don't know what the analytics, said but
WHEN i watched, THEM i, mean teams scored. Easily remember
(22:33):
The lakers went down there and just got great looks
for two. Hours i'm, Like, Okay malone's in big trouble
because the great defensive, TEAMS i Mean, boston for as
good as they, are can play. Defense that means they're
in tune With. Missoula defense is coaching an, effort and
SO i think a lot of AND i think the
problem For denver and A, memphis by the, way is
(22:55):
when you lose your coach and now you've got kind
of the substitute teacher who's not as good as the head.
Coach that's the. Difference that's WHY i Think houston they
like their, coach they can hang With Golden state is
they'll just give you an incredible effort every. Night AND
i Think denver's biggest problem is they quit on their.
Coach and when you qut on your, coach you quit
(23:16):
on defense because it's a lot of fricking work in
this league to stop marginal. Players forget the, Stars.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
No, absolutely and it's all about like. Habits and this
is the Thing denver is starting from a position of
disadvantage on. Defense jokic is not a good, Defender Jamal
murray is not a good. Defender Michael Porter junior is
not a good. Defender so when they were at their best,
defensively it was a, combination to your, point of strong
game planning that fit their personnel in a commitment every
(23:44):
day to be, like we're going to be so sharp
in these habits that even though we have these weak,
points we're going to find a way to get enough
stops that our offense can carry us over the. Top
the problem this year is they've let go of those.
Habits and what gets scary is calling like It's april.
Sixteenth too many examples IN nba history of a team
who played bad defense all year who was, like all,
(24:04):
right we got the coach we, want now let's go
figure this. Out LIKE i just have a hard time
believing that they're just gonna snap their fingers and look
like the twenty twenty Three. Nuggets and again they're. Capable
i've Watched Michael porter junior And jamal And jokic play
much better defense than they've played this. Season it's just
hard to just start that engine from. Scratch and so
here's the. Thing maybe they figure it out AND i
(24:25):
can't write them. Off this was the hardest series for
me to Pick colin by, far and right now In,
DraftKings If i'm not, mistaken it's a pick. Them it's
minus one to ten both. Ways, yeah so like it
is as close as it can. Get but the reason
WHY i ended up taking The clippers IS i just
think they're substantially better defensively and closer To denver offensively
Than denver is to them on the other end of the.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Well And tyleru is probably worth a game in the.
Series let's be, honest if you have a coaching, advantage
it's a game in the. Series you make an adjustment
and the other coaching staff. DOESN'T i think football coaching
is more valuable than basketball. Coaching BUT i can go
back to a couple of those That warrior series when
they beat The celtics in the finals and they went
(25:06):
back To. Boston, boy that was a lot of. Coaching
that was great coaching By Steve. Kerr SO i. THINK
i Think tyleru is one of the more. Understated you,
know he's not a guy that needs a lot of.
Publicity he was a grinder as a. Player he's a
grinder as a. Coach but he'll be worth a game
against you, know against the substitute. Teacher he's going to
be worth a game in the. Series SO i. AGREE
i think The clippers are going to win. Too but
(25:26):
it is hard BECAUSE i said this the other. DAY
i had actually somebody come up to me on the
street and he was a Former. Laker it Was sasha
AND i, SAID i, SAID i, said the best Center
i've ever. Seen complete Players kareem AND i grew up with.
Him he was a fourteen to fifteen Time All Defensive
team ran the floor when he was, young, rebound, unstoppable offensive, force,
(25:50):
cerebral prickly but could throw on. Elbow you, know Ask Kent.
BENSON i think the player he went, after he could
give you. Everything he was, wiry but even could be.
PHYSICAL i think because of that defensive, prowess he is
better Than. JOKIC i Think jokic is the second most
gifted center of all. Time now people would Say, wilt
(26:11):
But wilt was. Flaky you didn't know what the effort you.
Got he wasn't easy to play. With you got different
variations Of wilt depending on the night, before And wilt
was kind of Into wilt WHERE i Think jokic is
actually a really good team. PLAYER i just think he's
not engaged defensively all the. Time BUT i outside Of,
KAREEM i mean generally with a, CENTER i can say shack,
(26:35):
power russell, defense a team, FOOTWORK i can say. SOMETHING
i look At jokic And i'm.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
Like, like If, KAREEM i mean If kareem Or Vetas
Sabonis Bill walton had a, Baby it's, like you, KNOW
i Think Bill walton is the one, player very, briefly
not the Old walton with A celtics who was, great
but he wasn't as good as THE ucla or The Portland.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Walton there was a time When Bill walton was like
the best passing big, ever the best mid range jumper
ran the, floor could be super, physical kind of. Weird
BUT i Think jokic IS i just don't Think i've
ever quite seen anything like. Him that's my. DAD i
don't know If i've ever seen anything like.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Him he's the best offensive Player i've ever Seen Colin
wow AND i have watched and rooted for two of
the greats that have ever done that or rooted for.
AGAINST i should SAY i Think lebron is on the
short list of guys who are in that. CONVERSATION i
Think steph is on the shortlist of guys who are
in that. Conversation having rooted For lebron and then being
(27:46):
terrified Of steph and rooting against him over the, YEARS
i know what it's like to be on the other
end of a player who like legitimately creates a great
shot almost every time down the. Floor jokic makes it
look even easier than those guys. Do it's the top
tier playmaking piece that you get From, lebron the inverted
spacing that you get From steph that creates all the
(28:08):
dunks and layups right underneath the, basket but mixed in
with the lack of variants because Like, steph Like steph
will have games where he just can't make a shot.
Right you know that doesn't happen With. Jokic like if
he gets into the five to ten foot, range it's
going in two out of three, times like. Clockwork he's
gonna make it and so there's a lack of, variance
there's a power element to. It he can kind of
(28:30):
audible into different, players like it's, Like, Okay i'm playing The,
Spurs i'm just gonna post up every single time down the.
Floor watching This clippers, series we won't see as Much
jokics post. Ups it's not his. Advantage but guess. What
he can run inverted ball screens and like literally play
pick and roll as the handler out on the. Perimeter
he can run two man game With Jamal. Murray his
versatility and dependability night, tonight mixed with all the inverted
(28:54):
stuff he does with the, SPACING i have never seen
a player make it look easier on offense Than Nikola jokic.
Did like it's it's rooting against him is absolute. Hell
having had to do that over the last couple of.
Years he deserves a good amount of criticism for what
happened to their defense this, year especially in the second
half of the. YEAR i thought he just straight up
(29:14):
mailed it, in and you made some good points about
how that might have had something to do With Mike.
MALONE i agree with. You but even if you just
take that and set it, aside he still had one
of the greatest seasons in the history of the league
because he's the greatest offensive player to ever touch the.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Floor, yeah it. Is you, know it's funny Because luca
and him have kind of similar body types where they're
in great, shape probably you, know relative for the type
for the, type But luca's got a lot of hurk
and jerk and start and stop to his game that gets.
Open he's very good At he's just keeps you constantly
(29:49):
on his hip and off. Balance you're never quite sure
he's not, fast but he is kind of quick for his,
size and he's always bouncing off you never loses kind
of composure or the. Ball why there's, contact but it's
a start stop game that's hard to you, know that's
hard to. Defend jokis just sort of rolls into, you
(30:10):
AND i think a lot of players they're Like draymond
has said, this there's no real book on him because
it's it's you, know in THE, nfl there's always that
they always talk about that bad. Body offensive Lineman Donald
penn was known as this for The. Raiders bad body so,
effective like there was No week's body was weirdly long
(30:31):
and he had a weird ass and his shoulders were,
huge and it was like a bad body offensive lineman
where it's, like, yeah it's just defensive players couldn't quite
figure out a weak. SPOT i think there's nobody else
kind of quite built like, him that plays like, Him
so you, KNOW i, mean there are certain guys in this.
LEAGUE i mean just think about. It if you do the,
(30:52):
silhouette nobody else had a, Skyhook nobody quite moves cardio
wise Like. STEPH i think part of what he does
is no other Big when you play, him it's just,
okay this is there's no warm. Up this is the
only guy that plays like. This And i'm not saying
the league is, similar but there are a lot of, twitchy,
(31:15):
long athletic guys who have similar moves that they learn
from camps and, coaches right and certain step. MOVES i
Think jokic is a disaster to defend the. BODY i
mean a lot of times he just leans in and
you get trapped under him around the. BACK i ever
see this when these big guys get trapped and he
(31:36):
gets like three looks and you just Can't you can't
get your hips aligned to box him.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Out you can't jump when you're connected with. Him that's the.
Thing this is why boxing out is so. Important when
you box a player, out it keeps him groundbound so
that you can come in from behind to get the
rebound elsewhere on the. Floor, Similarly yokic does the same
thing to defensive. Players he's constantly dislodging you and putting
you in these situations where you are are not athletic
because he's disrupted your base so you can't, Jump and
(32:04):
then that, way he just finds these little angles for
these little release. POINTS i love the point you made
about how the league has, changed BECAUSE i foud this
to be really. Fascinating so part Of Michael jordan's dominance
was that the league was so big and, slow and
so he was this lightning quick guard that could just
cut through everyone like. Butter, similarly With, jokic the league
(32:25):
is so thin and, fast yes that he's just a
bowling ball that's just knocking everybody over on his way
to the rim in a weird, way like part of
it is just the timing of the. Era but to his,
credit because this is the, thing there are a lot
of big centers that can't play in THE nba today
because they can't do this or they can't do. That
they struggle with, this they struggle with. That jokic because
(32:46):
he's good enough in all of these other areas to
be a USEFUL nba, player can weaponize his, size and
all of a, sudden it's, like, oh, man there's four
hundred and fifty players in this, league And Joel embiid
might be the only guy big enough to actually deal with.
Him and he's not even healthy all the, time so
he just has a mismatch every single night because of
the era that he plays.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
In, well it's Like Derrick, henry the running back for The.
Ravens as linebackers and safeties have gotten smaller because the
game is. Faster linebackers are two twenty. Five Dereck henry's two,
Fifty so you, know twenty years ago linebackers were as
big As Derrick, henry and now guys can't they Just
derek is a physical mismatch and he gets a running.
(33:24):
Start AND i do think That i've said. It the
league over the last twelve years has become kind of
the skinny jeans Euro, League like it's a lot of
centers that weigh two forty three and he's just a load.
Physically and now for our next, Segment Whiskey, business brought
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(33:46):
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right one final, thing you, KNOW i was talking To
(34:07):
Chris bruceard about this. Today so if you look at
the point, DIFFERENTIAL i think THE okc thunder set AN
nba record historically for point differential at the end of the.
Season they ran a lot of teams out of the,
gym so they have the advantage of they got a dominant,
score so they always know at the end of a,
clock they always know who to go. To they've got,
size they've got, Depth they're well, coached and because they
(34:28):
don't have a trophy, yet they play their ass. Off
this is a team that wants home court. Advantage they're
young enough where they know if there is any disadvantage
in the. Playoffs it's young guys playing road games at
The Chase, center you, know At crypto like. That that's
when they play a veteran team on the. Road that's
where things get. Dicey you don't get those. Calls role
players in the playoffs don't play well in the. Road
(34:49):
they're often very good at, home so they want home court.
Advantage so part of me, Thinks, okay they're a little
overvalued as a team because they really remember That Derek rose.
Teams those teams played so hard they wanted home court.
Advantage they were. Young boston's like sometimes plays better on
the road than at. Home you, know it doesn't really
(35:09):
matter for. THEM i look At okay see AND i, Think,
okay if you take the regular, season they should sort
of roll through. This BUT i watched them about six
times this year in a big game when they played you,
know The lakers or The celtics or The calves or The,
bucks and you're, like when everybody brings the. ENERGY i
(35:36):
don't think they're sweeping. SERIES i THINK i think they'll
struggle a little bit on the. ROAD i, mean they
can get REALLY sga. RELIANT i mean he is And,
ALSO i don't think he'll quite get the. Whistle we've
seen this With, harden we saw it With Karl. MALONE i,
mean they're not getting bounced, early BUT i think it'll
(35:57):
look a little different in the.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
POSTSEASON i agree THE i think THEY'LL i think they'll
kick the shit out of whoever gets the eight, seed
Like sacramento Or memphis or whatever like. That those TEAMS
i think they'll deal. With memphis has been down the
turning down for a long. Time there's actually a long
conversation we could have on another day about How memphis
should probably totally reconsider who they build their team around
(36:19):
because it just looks it just doesn't look even remotely good.
Enough But sacramento doesn't have the horses, Defensively dallas because
of the injury To Kyrie, irving doesn't have the ball.
Handling they're gonna beat whoever they get in that first round,
series but from there it's like they're gonna get either
that Awesome clippers team Or, Nakoliokich and then on the
other side of the bracket they're gonna get most likely
(36:40):
either The lakers or The warriors waiting for them on
the other side there and The warriors have beat The
thunder this. Year, yeah The lakers have beat The thunder this.
YEAR i watched that they have their advantages in that.
Matchup as a matter of, Fact i'd probably picked The
lakers to beat them if they ran into him in a.
Series and so it's one of those things WHERE i
THINK i look back to several of these big games
and the same thing has happened in every single one of,
(37:02):
them which is all of the younger. Stars AND i
like Chet is chet is going to be a PERENNIAL rnba.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Game really good.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
PLAYER j dub is going to be a Perennial All.
Star i'm a huge believer in that roster in the big.
Picture but those are some young, Dudes colin and they
there is something to be said about, Basketball, Aura and
you end up on a court with a bunch of
guys who are more comfortable and more confident and more
experienced than. You and let's say The thunder make it
to the. Finals let's say they get to the finals
(37:32):
and they run Into. Boston how many times IN nba
history it just happened To boston in twenty twenty. Two
you end up there and it's like all of a,
Sudden tatum is just like scared and not playing anything
like he normally, does and they're just succumbing to the
aura of The. Warriors over the course that, series even
the all time Greats Colin steph was pretty rough in
(37:52):
his FIRST nba. Finals lebron was brutal in his FIRST Nba.
Finals it is totally normal when you get to that
stage to be, LIKE, whoa this is. Different there's way more,
media the games feel. Weird there's like it's just a
very different type of. Vibe and SO i think my
concern is that they have two reliable. THINGS i think
their defense is, reliable AND i Think shay is. Reliable
(38:14):
BUT i do think there's absolutely a great deal of
variance in their supporting offensive. Talent and if you have
that kind of, variance you absolutely can lose to The,
clippers you absolutely can lose to The, nuggets you absolutely
can lose to The lakers Or.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
Warriors, WELL i mean we saw it in college. BASKETBALL
i didn't Pick duke to win. It why too many young?
Players you get into these close, games you get into
against more physical, teams and, like if you've never made
a long playoff run and you're really. Talented you can't
believe how fricking physical the conference finals. GET i mean
it is, Noticeable. Jason the referees change the way they
(38:50):
officiate for the conference. FINALS i mean they swallow the,
whistle and you'll notice it a little bit early in the.
Playoffs but a lot of. TIMES i can remember THAT
okc team that Had harden And westbrook And Kevin. Durant
they were really good and they just didn't like they
(39:11):
just quite didn't didn't quite you, know in the regular,
season they fly into, town they blitz. You you look at a
little bit of, film they had too much, offenses, like
what the hell is? This and everybody just kind of you,
know at that, point we didn't know exactly What harden
was going to. BE I i think they're going to
find out in the conference. Final by the second, series
they're going to find out on the. Road it's a
(39:32):
totally different.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
SPORT nba history tells us that this team's like this
thunder team usually win like next year or the year.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
After cleveland two years. Ago we thought was.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Ready it's, like it's just what usually happens is you
take a couple of hard losses in late playoff rounds
and a couple of key players take those losses to
heart and make important improvements in specific parts of their,
game and then they end up in a series where
they're like a two seed instead of the runaway one,
(40:04):
seed and they're there and they're, like we're not losing this,
year and then they rise to the occasion and they
get it. Done it's kind of like what happened with The.
Celtics you have the disappointment of what happened in twenty twenty,
two then it gets even worse in the conference finals next,
year and it's, like, Whoa Jalen brown really needs to
improve as a ball, handler and then all of it
just comes together in twenty twenty, four all of a,
(40:25):
Sudden Jalen brown's Winning FINALS, Mvp like it usually is,
incremental not immediate when it comes to the success of
these younger, Teams and, yeah they'll have, breakthroughs they met upset.
SOMEBODY i wouldn't be surprised if The thunder made it
to the finals this. Year as a matter of, FACT
i still think they should be favored to win The.
West but it's JUST i have a really hard time
believing that if they made it to the, finals they
(40:45):
would be the more comfortable and more confident team Against.
Boston AND i still Think boston has more talent than,
them SO i just would have a really hard time
picking against.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Them, YEAH i think The celtics ARE i think if
you look at the history of THE, nba because aesthetics
matter so much that we love The Shaq kobe, dynasty
The michael, dynasty The katie. Dynasty we didn't love The
spurs dynasty and it was as good as any of
them because it wasn't as much. Fun AND i think
Because boston doesn't have a ton of. Personality Joe mizzoola
(41:15):
is very, quiet Very, christian very much about team and.
Defense he's a wonderful, coach no flash from the. Coach
Tatum is can say he wants to be the face
of the, league but he just doesn't have that. Aura
Jalen brown's probably the voice of the locker, room but you,
know he's almost like, academic and you know he feels
sort of almost respectful when he speaks with. Confidence, Right
(41:42):
porzingis isn't that. Guy Drew holliday is one of the
league's most respected. Players there's not a lot of it's
not a, yeah it's not a dynamic. TEAM i Think
boston's really, good AND i think That's San. Antonio you
had man who's the best six man. Ever duncan's one
of the ten best players. Ever Tony parker was AN.
Mvp they had Excellent Bruce, bowen all sorts of different
(42:05):
players that came in and played great. Roles popovich's top five.
Coach we never mentioned them because esthetically it just wasn't
that much. FUN i went to Ten spurs games BECAUSE
i was In portland at the, time And i've been
TO i went to ten of their, games The spurs
games when they were in The. Dynasty, jesus it was so.
Clinical it was a great surgeon walking, in you, know
(42:29):
winning one oh one ninety, three and it was like
did they break a? Sweat it was just every game
looked the exact. Same and Now boston has very variation
because of their three point. Shooting they have knights when
they're just unbelievable and nights when they missed forty two.
Threes so there's great variables on how they. PLAY i
(42:50):
think THERE'S i, mean they have nine, guys ten guys
who could handle the, ball pass and shoot a.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
Three the only Thing i'll say About boston that's concerning
me just a tiny, bit and it's just something we
should keep on our, radar call in because we could
be having a very different conversation in a week or.
Two Jalen brown got a pain relieving injection and his.
Knee i'm not sure if you saw. That he's been
dealing with knee issues throughout the year and he got
a pain relieving injection when this was about a week.
(43:21):
Ago and So jalen's, Knee let's say that becomes an
issue and then like one Of horford Or porzingis goes.
Down that's where it could end up in a situation
where you're trying to close games with A Sam houser
on the, floor or you're trying to close games with
A Payton pritcher on the, floor and suddenly they become
a little bit easier to, attack a little bit less
(43:43):
dynamic on. Offense i'm just my ears are just a
little pricked, up And i'm a Little i'm paying attention
to their. Health that is one thing to keep an eye,
on just Because Jalen. BROWN i, THINK i think if
you lose one Of tatum Or, brown it just gets
really hard in terms of shot, creation, because as you
saw in The maverick, series it's Just jalen's apex athleticism
is still an important part of the ceiling of This celtics,
(44:04):
team even though he can be a frustrating, player you,
know relative To tatum in terms of his. Consistency so
just something to keep an eye on. There BUT i
do agree with. YOU i just every TIME i talk through,
IT i just have such an easier time discussing flaws
and finding flaws with other teams THAN i do with.
Last that's really that.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
Simple jason timp oops. Tonight good talking to, You, bud
can't wait for.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
It good to see you two. Man i'll see next.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Time the volume
The volume. All right, here we go, Jason Timpf hoops tonight.
We got a lot to talk about. Is the NBA
playoffs start all the odds provided by DraftKings Sports Book,
by the way, when we mention them. So I'm gonna
pick it up set. I'm gonna go Houston Rockets over
(00:21):
the Warriors. And I don't want to do confirmation bias
or recency bias because I watched them struggle against Memphis
and need an inbounds gaff by the Grizzlies to save it.
But the Jonathan Kaminga piece is really a problem. So
we've talked about this. It's a highly sophisticated offense. Veterans work,
Iguidala kd Andrew Bogan, they work, Steph Clay, Draymond they work.
(00:46):
You can be a quirky player like Draymond Green and
still be a catalyst. What doesn't work is Wiseman, Jordan Poole,
DiAngelo Russell, who's a bit squarely when he was younger
and Cominga's productive, But you can't put them on the
floor of this unit. Kerr is it's do not play
coaches decision and they're dying for length. I mean, I'm
(01:07):
watching last night and Zach Eadie is a huge problem.
They don't have any length and here comes Houston. They
defend the three mon Thompson gave Steph Fitz last time
they played length. Now, Curr's the best coach, Curry's the
best player. I am not denying that. But and if
(01:28):
the games are close, Jason, you'll take the Warriors. Their
clutch points are great. They're gonna win these one point
games like last night's just a great example of how
the Warriors can manipulate the clock possessions and get better
defensively when they have to. I don't like this matchup.
I was looking at the odds. I don't like this
matchup for the Warriors. Right now, the Rockets are plus
(01:55):
one sixty five again, odds provided by DraftKings. I'm calling
the upset. You think I'm crazy, size, lack of depth,
Corey dependent, what say you?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
I don't want to see you're crazy. I think this
is let's just put it this way. I think that
a defensive minded Rockets team is more capable of beating
Golden State than say, a defensive minded Magic team is
capable of beating Boston. That said, I think that the
other side of the floor is where it's going to
become a problem. I have no doubts that Houston is
(02:31):
going to cause problems for Golden States offense. In their
last four games, they've held them to one hundred and
five or viewer and all four of them they've held
them below one hundred three times.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yea.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
They have a bunch of different things that they do
that bother them. They put Alburn Shangoon on Moses Moody,
which is really smart because it allows them to put
all of their three best perimeter defenders on Draymond, Jimmy
and Steph and just switch any action that involves those three.
Aman Thompson is one of the most gifted athletes in
terms of foot speed in the league.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Maybe the best in the series. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Absolutely, and the the Rockets have a zone look that
worked really well against the against the Warriors a couple
of weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
There.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
I have no doubts that the Rockets will be able
to drag the Warriors offense down into the mud. Here's
the problem. I think the war I think the Warriors
defense is nearly as good as Houston's defense, and I
think that they are more capable of doing more damage
to a Shanngoon, Jalen Green, Fred Van Vliet led offense
(03:29):
than the Rockets can do to the Warriors on the
other end of the floor. I would not be surprised
if it's a longer series. As a Lakers fan, I
hope that it's very physical and that it wears them down.
But I just have a really hard time believing that
the Rockets are going to be able to score enough
now to beat the Warriors four times now.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
They have shot better in the second half of the season.
They have they have, So there was here's the thing,
explain the coming a piece. So listen. I was told
this years ago by an NFL executive. He says, be
very careful about the last twenty games of this season.
You're gonna see teams with winning streaks. Half the league's tanking,
and half the league is resting starters for the playoffs.
So the Clippers go on this great last fifteen games,
(04:10):
and the Warriors have that energy when Jimmy Butler arrives
and they're playing bad teams and they're just rolling people,
and you're like, oh my god. And I fell for it,
and I said, oh wait till Kaminga comes back. It
was about three games with Kaminga in this group, and
Steve Kerr's like, yeah, I don't Why doesn't it work
with him? Because I could argue he's exactly what they
(04:33):
need against Houston size, athletic ability, length. They look small
last night against Memphis.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, you know, right when the Jimmy trade went down,
one of my initial takeaways was, this is the end
of Jonathan Kaminga in his time with the Golden State
Warriors in terms of just him being a meaningful contributor
to this team. The thing is is they were banking
on Jonathan Kaminga becoming that player for the Warrior, become
the Jimmy Butler type of player for the Warriors, the
(05:02):
big forward that they could put next to Draymond that
would be the scoring pop alongside the starters. As soon
as they got Jimmy, they no longer had a role
for him anymore. You want to know why Kerr went
with Gie Santos last night, It's because Gi Santos plays
the same position, but he can count on Gee to
not do anything stupid, to just play super hard, to
grab every rebound he can get, and to take a
(05:22):
wide open catch and shoot three Jonathan Kaminga's upside is
on the ball if you clear the side for him
and you let him go one on one facing up
eighteen feet from the basket. He has a lot of
potential in the long term to be very good at that,
but he's not good enough at it now to take
reps away from Steph and away from Jimmy, and so
all they need from him is to play defense, to
(05:44):
knock down wide open catch and shoot threes, and to
play in their read and react in the half court.
And he's not very good at any of those three things.
And so it just is kind of like a death
sentence in that regard for his role here. And I
do think that it's probably in the best interest of
everybody involved after the season is over to look to
move on from Kminga. That said, you made a very
interesting point specifically about this matchup. I understood the case
(06:09):
for the DNPS with Kaminga for the last couple of games,
super important games. You need higher floor, lower ceiling, like
you need fewer mistakes. Yes, you couldn't take a risk
with mistakes in those games. So I understood that case.
Specifically for this matchup with Houston, they are so big
and so athletic that I think it could. I think
(06:30):
it could be a Jimmy Butler and Jonathan kminga type
of series. I think the two of them and their
athletic advantages could be something they have to lean on
a lot, especially if the perimeter defense of Houston wears
Steph down over the course of the series. So if
I was Kerr, I would definitely give kaminga some burn
here in the first couple games of this series, just
(06:51):
to see what he's got. Now, if he's terrible, bail
on him, go back to your rotation that you used
in the last couple of games. But I think he's
an asset as an athlete that you can't afford to
keep in your back pocket for a series like this.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
And the Rockets are first of all, they defend the three,
they got the best athlete in the series, and they
rebound really well. They're gonna get more. If Cominga doesn't
play a lot, they're gonna get second. They're gonna get
a lot of offensive rebound. They're gonna win offensive rebounding throughout
this series. Looney's gonna play a lot. You're gonna have
to play him if you don't play kaminga a lot.
You're giving up. You're gonna give up the glass, and
(07:23):
you can win a series losing on the you know,
in the in the world we play in now, you know,
Boston can lose the rebounding battle and hit twenty eight
threes and they win the game by fifteen. But I'll
tell you I think Houston. I think I think Houston's
really gonna challenge him, and I think they're gonna be
low scoring. I think the one advantage that is clear cut,
(07:45):
and you saw it last night with the Warriors. They're
so good with two twenty to play in a tie game,
they are they just know. I mean it's almost like
I mean the you know, people grabbing and clutching staff
and you have to be more careful late because they
may call a foul. And it's just they just figure
(08:05):
out ways to get Steph really good looks. It's almost
like red zone offense in the NFL, where it's cluttered
and jammed, and yet the good teams find open people.
I mean, he just I watched them, and I like
last night they had a great game plan, jump out
to a sixteen point lead, eighteen point lead, twenty point lead,
but in the end, you're like, they just don't have bodies.
(08:26):
They look incredibly small. Uh, And I just think that
size is gonna make I think they're the close games
Golden State wins, but I'm going to give Houston a
couple of games where they just dominate the glass, the
Warriors look tired and they blow them out. It'll be
a weird looking series. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I said something similar in my series preview, like I
wouldn't be surprised if there was a game either early
in the series, like a Game one, or like a
Game five, with the Warriors are up three to one,
where the Rockets just beat the heck out of them
and win by like twenty five. I have thirty points
that get going in transition, they look super athletic. I'm
with you overall with the Warriors in the sense that,
(09:07):
like there was this stretch post deadline where they were
beating everybody, and yeah, the schedule was weak, but then
they got a couple of impressive wins. You beat a
decent Memphis team, you beat a Nuggets team without Jamal Murray,
you beat that Lakers team that was one of the
biggest wins that they had all season. That was a big,
nationally televised, super important game for both teams that they won.
But then after that it's like, they lose to Houston,
they lose to San Antonio, they beat Portland, but then
(09:31):
they lose to the Clippers at home in a must
win game, and then last night for stretches, they looked
unimpressive as they were trailing in the fourth quarter. So
I'm kind of it up in the air with the
Warriors in general now because it's hard to tell how
good they really are when they killed everybody for like
two months, and then for the last two weeks, they've
looked pretty unimpressive, So I'm kind of up in the
air with them. The main reason why I've been dropping
(09:52):
them down in terms of where i'd rank them among
contenders is I don't trust their shooting. Their shooting can
go ice cold around Steph Curry, and then, as you mentioned,
they're a little bit vulnerable to size and physicality, which
I think can cause some problems for them. I viewed
them as a little bit more of a flawed contender
now than I did two weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
All Right, Lakers, all odds provided by DraftKings are minus
one ninety five against the t Wolves. I think this
is a very favorable Laker matchup, and I think it's
pretty obvious the Timberwolves, outside of Aunt Edwards, he's going
to have to score forty in a couple of these games.
Julius Randall has historically kind of the classic, plays hard,
(10:30):
plays with energy, very successful in the regular season, but
everybody in the postseason plays with energy. And he comes
right back here. The regressions clear. He's a B player
who plays with a energy and that is really valuable
in the regular season, and then you get to the
postseason and everybody's got equal time off and he's a
B player and doesn't create sometimes can get a little
(10:52):
ball selfish. Go Bears, not an offensive player. Mike Conley's
a play initiator but doesn't provide much offense. And the
Lakers are the team I mean, Boston maybe the only
team in the league that does this, that has three
playmakers and three play initiators and at any one time
can have the three best offensive players playing well on
the floor. I don't think it's a good matchup for
(11:13):
Minnesota at all. This was the bad draw in my
opinion for the t Wolves. What do you think?
Speaker 2 (11:19):
I totally agree. I think there's a basic talent argument
you can make for La, which is like, who's better
Ain't or Luca. You're taking Luca. Who's better Lebron or
Julius Randall? Yeah, you're taking Lebron. Who's better Austin Reeves
or a Jaden McDaniels or a Rudy Gobert or Dante DiVincenzo.
You're taking Austin Reeves. So I think I think the
Lakers top three guys are just better, and I think
(11:41):
that that could be enough to make the case. Where
I think it gets really interesting is the Timberwolves' greatest
strength on defense is their combination of perimeter defenders and
Rudy Gobert at the rim, and the Lakers can neutralize that. Unfortunately,
as we saw in the Western Conference Finals last year,
the best perimeter defender on Minnesota, Jada McDaniels, can't guard Luca.
(12:04):
He's too skinny. Luca can just throw him around like
a rag doll. None of the perimeter defenders on Minnesota
make Luca uncomfortable, and the Lakers, with their five out
groups with Dorian Finney Smith instead of Jackson Hayes, they
can space Rudy out to where he cannot protect the
rim without conceding a wide open three. When Rudy's on
the perimeter, he's still a good defender, but he's not
(12:26):
the transcendently impactful defender he is when he can sit
right underneath the basket. So I think they neutralize him there.
On the other end of the floor, the Lakers have
struggled against spread out shooting like against Boston and really
smart teams with speed like Golden State. Those are the
teams that have really caused the Lakers issues post Luca trade.
You know who the Lakers have not struggled with post
(12:47):
Luca trade. Defensively, the teams that they can load up on.
You can load up on the Timberwolves. They are not
a good spot up team. They're a team that you
can put two on the ball with ant and not
get burned. That's the high level playmate. It's just I
look at this as a series where just all of
the strengths and weaknesses line up in a way to
where I think the Lakers just have a big advantage.
(13:08):
This was one of the few series that I picked
in five games. I think the Lakers are gonna beat
them in five.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah, I feel the same way. And the Lakers, I
could be wrong on this. I think they play as
good a defense as they need to. I think that
when I watch them play. There are times I'm like, Oh,
this is one of those games they really care about.
And then there are other times I'm like, they're just
(13:32):
not talking. This is one of those. They either all
went out and had a nice dinner last night and
balba bino, They're just not when I watch them, I
think they're as good as they want to be. Defensively,
I don't think they're great, but like Denver's got limitations,
there's just things. I mean, Jokic, there's just limitations. I
think the Lakers actually have some pretty good lengthened defensive
personnel outside of Luca. I think they'll they'll play good
(13:54):
defense in the playoffs because they'll want to. They'll want
team when they want to. I think they're pretty capable.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah, and you're as good offensively as they've been with
their best groups. And by the way, that group with
Dorian Phinney, Smith and Rui next to Lebron, Luke and
Austin has been torching everybody for a long time. Now.
That unit can really score the ball, so they have
some margin for err on that side of the floor.
It really is about Lebron. Lebron as like the orchestrator
on the back line. He plays that Draymond Green esque role,
(14:21):
just telling everybody where to go, calling out the plays
as they're starting to take shape. And then Jared Vanderbilt,
Ruey Hachimura, Dorian Finney Smith. It's just a lot of six'
nine rangy athletes that can cover. Ground i'm not gonna
Lie colin like The lakers certainly have an uphill, climb
and there are gonna be multiple series where there'll be
an underdog if they get to the third and fourth.
Round but this could not have broken better for them
(14:44):
than it. Did now you only have to play one Of,
DENVER okc and The. Clippers those are three of the
most dangerous teams in The. West they only have to
play one of. Them SO i think it actually broke
really nicely for them. Here if they can take care
of business against The timberwolves and beat whoever comes out
of That War Years rocket, series they're right there in
the in the Against Okay see in the conference, FINALS
(15:05):
i think they've got a really good chance.
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Speaker 1 (16:40):
Audio it's funny WHEN i look So denver takes on The,
clippers and The clippers played very well down the, stretch
and again half the league's tanking half. ARRESTING i did
(17:00):
think the winner of A Golden state was. IMPRESSIVE i
Thought James harden and overtime was. GREAT i Thought kawhi Being.
KAWHI i, mean you never know what he's going to,
play but when he, does he's Still he's got so
many components that remind me of a little bit of
a poor Man Michael. Kobe the hand, size this physical
strength despite not being a heavy, Player he's a very unique.
(17:22):
PLAYER i mean five years, AGO i thought he was
a top three player in the. LEAGUE i was, like
he's a get a, bucket get a stop, guy and
he you, know in the last couple of, weeks you're, like,
wow he is, back and he's just a hard guy
to get a read on. Him that's why Basically pop just,
Said i'd rather not make the. Playoffs i'm not going
to deal with. This he's an. Enigma they don't have
(17:46):
besides their starting Center, zubas they don't have any. Size
i mean their backup Center's Ben. Simmons there's just nothing.
There So yokich is going to have a monster just
a monster. Series and also they're so when The jokers
not on the floor that he's going to play forty,
minutes like they just can't operate without. Him this is.
WEIRD i Thought denver is going to be a. Dynasty they're,
(18:10):
not AND i Knew malone would wear everybody. Out he's
not A spolstra. Occurred he's not the kind of part,
psychologist part. Coach he's a little bit of an old,
school intense. PARKER i want to play. WHO i want
to play battle with THE, gm BUT i don't know
IF i buy The clippers late season. RUN i don't
know IF i do AND i get the world's best basketball.
(18:34):
PLAYER i don't Trust harden in big playoff. SPOTS i
Know i'm supposed to take The, clippers BUT i just
can't See jokic getting run out of THE nba playoffs
in one.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Round so the point you're making about the regular season
results down the stretch is a really important. One it's
really the middle tier that is going as hard as
they can in this, space because the top tier teams are,
like we're just trying to be healthy for our first round.
Series the bottom tier teams are we just Want Cooper.
Flag the middle tier teams are all, like we do
(19:08):
not want to be in the play In so we're
going to go every single game like all these teams
basically from The lakers all the way down through The
suns have been playing must win basketball every single night
since the trade deadline has. Passed that's what happens when
you have the play in tournament in the, mix and
SO i do think there's something to be said about
some of the fake results you could see at this.
(19:31):
Point the only thing that makes it a little more
complicated with The clippers is The Kawhi leonard. Part you
are taking a team that was already a rock solid
basketball culture anchored By James, harden a very great floor
raising perimeter player in THE. Nba zubots has become one
of the top six or seven centers in THE. Nba
(19:52):
you have the elite perimeter defense talent Of Derek Jones
junior And. Christne one of the craziest subplots of the
year is them pivoting From paul Ju, george who averaged
twenty three points a game for them last, year and
then being, like, no thank, you and taking two discounted
perimeter athletes And Derek jones And Chris dunn and basically
getting a better roster out of, it which is just
a huge credit to that organization and them just prioritizing
(20:15):
the right things and the culture they're trying to build,
there but you're adding to that a player And Kawhi
leonard that legitimately at this point is an apex superstar
in this league when he actually has his legs underneath
him the way he's had him, late the ability to
get to his, spots the ability to get. Lyft he
was going On Jimmy butler and making it look, easy
going Against Raymond green and making it look easy at.
(20:37):
It he is at his peak as that type of
gett a, stop get a bucket type of guy right.
Now that is what changes the ceiling for Me with The.
CLIPPERS i look at it pretty. Simply they have four
awesome offensive. Players zoo is like good for twenty points
a game these, Days harden's good for twenty points a,
Game powell's good for twenty points a, game And Kawhi
(20:57):
leonard on any given night can go toe to toe
with the best superstars in the. League you surround that
with a strong defensive, foundation elite perimeter. Defense for forty eight,
Minutes Jamal murray's gonna Have Derek jones And Chris dunn
all over him that entire. Series zoo even is one
of the rare guys who's big and strong enough to
kind of hang hang With jokic a little. Bit jokic
(21:18):
tried to post up Zu bots six times this, season
went one for six from the. Field, NOW i think
he'll do a little. Better he's too good to not
figure that. Out but him posting Up zoo is not
the same as him posting up these other skinny centers
that he posts around the. League it's a little bit
harder for him to win the ground battle. There really
what caused me to pick The clippers in this matchup
(21:39):
was the defense For, denver right, Right The denver's defense
is so far, Gone. Colin it's like so far. Gone
it's like off the reservation. Gone doesn't even slightly resemble
the defense they won the championship with you And.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Jason they're just not close part of. It AND i
really believe defense's effort not to interrupt you. Offense offense is.
Fun defense is. Not you could Tell malone was in
trouble to me WHEN i watched their, DEFENSE i, Thought,
okay they they're not playing hard for the. Coach like
(22:10):
if a team's playing great defense and they're just limited.
Offensively some of that's just lack of talent when a,
team And denver's not a great defensive, Team gordon's very
long and. Athletic but when they stopped playing defense this,
year AND i don't know what the analytics, said but
WHEN i watched, THEM i, mean teams scored. Easily remember
(22:33):
The lakers went down there and just got great looks
for two. Hours i'm, Like, Okay malone's in big trouble
because the great defensive, TEAMS i Mean, boston for as
good as they, are can play. Defense that means they're
in tune With. Missoula defense is coaching an, effort and
SO i think a lot of AND i think the
problem For denver and A, memphis by the, way is
(22:55):
when you lose your coach and now you've got kind
of the substitute teacher who's not as good as the head.
Coach that's the. Difference that's WHY i Think houston they
like their, coach they can hang With Golden state is
they'll just give you an incredible effort every. Night AND
i Think denver's biggest problem is they quit on their.
Coach and when you qut on your, coach you quit
(23:16):
on defense because it's a lot of fricking work in
this league to stop marginal. Players forget the, Stars.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
No, absolutely and it's all about like. Habits and this
is the Thing denver is starting from a position of
disadvantage on. Defense jokic is not a good, Defender Jamal
murray is not a good. Defender Michael Porter junior is
not a good. Defender so when they were at their best,
defensively it was a, combination to your, point of strong
game planning that fit their personnel in a commitment every
(23:44):
day to be, like we're going to be so sharp
in these habits that even though we have these weak,
points we're going to find a way to get enough
stops that our offense can carry us over the. Top
the problem this year is they've let go of those.
Habits and what gets scary is calling like It's april.
Sixteenth too many examples IN nba history of a team
who played bad defense all year who was, like all,
(24:04):
right we got the coach we, want now let's go
figure this. Out LIKE i just have a hard time
believing that they're just gonna snap their fingers and look
like the twenty twenty Three. Nuggets and again they're. Capable
i've Watched Michael porter junior And jamal And jokic play
much better defense than they've played this. Season it's just
hard to just start that engine from. Scratch and so
here's the. Thing maybe they figure it out AND i
(24:25):
can't write them. Off this was the hardest series for
me to Pick colin by, far and right now In,
DraftKings If i'm not, mistaken it's a pick. Them it's
minus one to ten both. Ways, yeah so like it
is as close as it can. Get but the reason
WHY i ended up taking The clippers IS i just
think they're substantially better defensively and closer To denver offensively
Than denver is to them on the other end of the.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Well And tyleru is probably worth a game in the.
Series let's be, honest if you have a coaching, advantage
it's a game in the. Series you make an adjustment
and the other coaching staff. DOESN'T i think football coaching
is more valuable than basketball. Coaching BUT i can go
back to a couple of those That warrior series when
they beat The celtics in the finals and they went
(25:06):
back To. Boston, boy that was a lot of. Coaching
that was great coaching By Steve. Kerr SO i. THINK
i Think tyleru is one of the more. Understated you,
know he's not a guy that needs a lot of.
Publicity he was a grinder as a. Player he's a
grinder as a. Coach but he'll be worth a game
against you, know against the substitute. Teacher he's going to
be worth a game in the. Series SO i. AGREE
i think The clippers are going to win. Too but
(25:26):
it is hard BECAUSE i said this the other. DAY
i had actually somebody come up to me on the
street and he was a Former. Laker it Was sasha
AND i, SAID i, SAID i, said the best Center
i've ever. Seen complete Players kareem AND i grew up with.
Him he was a fourteen to fifteen Time All Defensive
team ran the floor when he was, young, rebound, unstoppable offensive, force,
(25:50):
cerebral prickly but could throw on. Elbow you, know Ask Kent.
BENSON i think the player he went, after he could
give you. Everything he was, wiry but even could be.
PHYSICAL i think because of that defensive, prowess he is
better Than. JOKIC i Think jokic is the second most
gifted center of all. Time now people would Say, wilt
(26:11):
But wilt was. Flaky you didn't know what the effort you.
Got he wasn't easy to play. With you got different
variations Of wilt depending on the night, before And wilt
was kind of Into wilt WHERE i Think jokic is
actually a really good team. PLAYER i just think he's
not engaged defensively all the. Time BUT i outside Of,
KAREEM i mean generally with a, CENTER i can say shack,
(26:35):
power russell, defense a team, FOOTWORK i can say. SOMETHING
i look At jokic And i'm.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
Like, like If, KAREEM i mean If kareem Or Vetas
Sabonis Bill walton had a, Baby it's, like you, KNOW
i Think Bill walton is the one, player very, briefly
not the Old walton with A celtics who was, great
but he wasn't as good as THE ucla or The Portland.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Walton there was a time When Bill walton was like
the best passing big, ever the best mid range jumper
ran the, floor could be super, physical kind of. Weird
BUT i Think jokic IS i just don't Think i've
ever quite seen anything like. Him that's my. DAD i
don't know If i've ever seen anything like.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Him he's the best offensive Player i've ever Seen Colin
wow AND i have watched and rooted for two of
the greats that have ever done that or rooted for.
AGAINST i should SAY i Think lebron is on the
short list of guys who are in that. CONVERSATION i
Think steph is on the shortlist of guys who are
in that. Conversation having rooted For lebron and then being
(27:46):
terrified Of steph and rooting against him over the, YEARS
i know what it's like to be on the other
end of a player who like legitimately creates a great
shot almost every time down the. Floor jokic makes it
look even easier than those guys. Do it's the top
tier playmaking piece that you get From, lebron the inverted
spacing that you get From steph that creates all the
(28:08):
dunks and layups right underneath the, basket but mixed in
with the lack of variants because Like, steph Like steph
will have games where he just can't make a shot.
Right you know that doesn't happen With. Jokic like if
he gets into the five to ten foot, range it's
going in two out of three, times like. Clockwork he's
gonna make it and so there's a lack of, variance
there's a power element to. It he can kind of
(28:30):
audible into different, players like it's, Like, Okay i'm playing The,
Spurs i'm just gonna post up every single time down the.
Floor watching This clippers, series we won't see as Much
jokics post. Ups it's not his. Advantage but guess. What
he can run inverted ball screens and like literally play
pick and roll as the handler out on the. Perimeter
he can run two man game With Jamal. Murray his
versatility and dependability night, tonight mixed with all the inverted
(28:54):
stuff he does with the, SPACING i have never seen
a player make it look easier on offense Than Nikola jokic.
Did like it's it's rooting against him is absolute. Hell
having had to do that over the last couple of.
Years he deserves a good amount of criticism for what
happened to their defense this, year especially in the second
half of the. YEAR i thought he just straight up
(29:14):
mailed it, in and you made some good points about
how that might have had something to do With Mike.
MALONE i agree with. You but even if you just
take that and set it, aside he still had one
of the greatest seasons in the history of the league
because he's the greatest offensive player to ever touch the.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Floor, yeah it. Is you, know it's funny Because luca
and him have kind of similar body types where they're
in great, shape probably you, know relative for the type
for the, type But luca's got a lot of hurk
and jerk and start and stop to his game that gets.
Open he's very good At he's just keeps you constantly
(29:49):
on his hip and off. Balance you're never quite sure
he's not, fast but he is kind of quick for his,
size and he's always bouncing off you never loses kind
of composure or the. Ball why there's, contact but it's
a start stop game that's hard to you, know that's
hard to. Defend jokis just sort of rolls into, you
(30:10):
AND i think a lot of players they're Like draymond
has said, this there's no real book on him because
it's it's you, know in THE, nfl there's always that
they always talk about that bad. Body offensive Lineman Donald
penn was known as this for The. Raiders bad body so,
effective like there was No week's body was weirdly long
(30:31):
and he had a weird ass and his shoulders were,
huge and it was like a bad body offensive lineman
where it's, like, yeah it's just defensive players couldn't quite
figure out a weak. SPOT i think there's nobody else
kind of quite built like, him that plays like, Him
so you, KNOW i, mean there are certain guys in this.
LEAGUE i mean just think about. It if you do the,
(30:52):
silhouette nobody else had a, Skyhook nobody quite moves cardio
wise Like. STEPH i think part of what he does
is no other Big when you play, him it's just,
okay this is there's no warm. Up this is the
only guy that plays like. This And i'm not saying
the league is, similar but there are a lot of, twitchy,
(31:15):
long athletic guys who have similar moves that they learn
from camps and, coaches right and certain step. MOVES i
Think jokic is a disaster to defend the. BODY i
mean a lot of times he just leans in and
you get trapped under him around the. BACK i ever
see this when these big guys get trapped and he
(31:36):
gets like three looks and you just Can't you can't
get your hips aligned to box him.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Out you can't jump when you're connected with. Him that's the.
Thing this is why boxing out is so. Important when
you box a player, out it keeps him groundbound so
that you can come in from behind to get the
rebound elsewhere on the. Floor, Similarly yokic does the same
thing to defensive. Players he's constantly dislodging you and putting
you in these situations where you are are not athletic
because he's disrupted your base so you can't, Jump and
(32:04):
then that, way he just finds these little angles for
these little release. POINTS i love the point you made
about how the league has, changed BECAUSE i foud this
to be really. Fascinating so part Of Michael jordan's dominance
was that the league was so big and, slow and
so he was this lightning quick guard that could just
cut through everyone like. Butter, similarly With, jokic the league
(32:25):
is so thin and, fast yes that he's just a
bowling ball that's just knocking everybody over on his way
to the rim in a weird, way like part of
it is just the timing of the. Era but to his,
credit because this is the, thing there are a lot
of big centers that can't play in THE nba today
because they can't do this or they can't do. That
they struggle with, this they struggle with. That jokic because
(32:46):
he's good enough in all of these other areas to
be a USEFUL nba, player can weaponize his, size and
all of a, sudden it's, like, oh, man there's four
hundred and fifty players in this, league And Joel embiid
might be the only guy big enough to actually deal with.
Him and he's not even healthy all the, time so
he just has a mismatch every single night because of
the era that he plays.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
In, well it's Like Derrick, henry the running back for The.
Ravens as linebackers and safeties have gotten smaller because the
game is. Faster linebackers are two twenty. Five Dereck henry's two,
Fifty so you, know twenty years ago linebackers were as
big As Derrick, henry and now guys can't they Just
derek is a physical mismatch and he gets a running.
(33:24):
Start AND i do think That i've said. It the
league over the last twelve years has become kind of
the skinny jeans Euro, League like it's a lot of
centers that weigh two forty three and he's just a load.
Physically and now for our next, Segment Whiskey, business brought
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(33:46):
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right one final, thing you, KNOW i was talking To
(34:07):
Chris bruceard about this. Today so if you look at
the point, DIFFERENTIAL i think THE okc thunder set AN
nba record historically for point differential at the end of the.
Season they ran a lot of teams out of the,
gym so they have the advantage of they got a dominant,
score so they always know at the end of a,
clock they always know who to go. To they've got,
size they've got, Depth they're well, coached and because they
(34:28):
don't have a trophy, yet they play their ass. Off
this is a team that wants home court. Advantage they're
young enough where they know if there is any disadvantage
in the. Playoffs it's young guys playing road games at
The Chase, center you, know At crypto like. That that's
when they play a veteran team on the. Road that's
where things get. Dicey you don't get those. Calls role
players in the playoffs don't play well in the. Road
(34:49):
they're often very good at, home so they want home court.
Advantage so part of me, Thinks, okay they're a little
overvalued as a team because they really remember That Derek rose.
Teams those teams played so hard they wanted home court.
Advantage they were. Young boston's like sometimes plays better on
the road than at. Home you, know it doesn't really
(35:09):
matter for. THEM i look At okay see AND i, Think,
okay if you take the regular, season they should sort
of roll through. This BUT i watched them about six
times this year in a big game when they played you,
know The lakers or The celtics or The calves or The,
bucks and you're, like when everybody brings the. ENERGY i
(35:36):
don't think they're sweeping. SERIES i THINK i think they'll
struggle a little bit on the. ROAD i, mean they
can get REALLY sga. RELIANT i mean he is And,
ALSO i don't think he'll quite get the. Whistle we've
seen this With, harden we saw it With Karl. MALONE i,
mean they're not getting bounced, early BUT i think it'll
(35:57):
look a little different in the.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
POSTSEASON i agree THE i think THEY'LL i think they'll
kick the shit out of whoever gets the eight, seed
Like sacramento Or memphis or whatever like. That those TEAMS
i think they'll deal. With memphis has been down the
turning down for a long. Time there's actually a long
conversation we could have on another day about How memphis
should probably totally reconsider who they build their team around
(36:19):
because it just looks it just doesn't look even remotely good.
Enough But sacramento doesn't have the horses, Defensively dallas because
of the injury To Kyrie, irving doesn't have the ball.
Handling they're gonna beat whoever they get in that first round,
series but from there it's like they're gonna get either
that Awesome clippers team Or, Nakoliokich and then on the
other side of the bracket they're gonna get most likely
(36:40):
either The lakers or The warriors waiting for them on
the other side there and The warriors have beat The
thunder this. Year, yeah The lakers have beat The thunder this.
YEAR i watched that they have their advantages in that.
Matchup as a matter of, Fact i'd probably picked The
lakers to beat them if they ran into him in a.
Series and so it's one of those things WHERE i
THINK i look back to several of these big games
and the same thing has happened in every single one of,
(37:02):
them which is all of the younger. Stars AND i
like Chet is chet is going to be a PERENNIAL rnba.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Game really good.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
PLAYER j dub is going to be a Perennial All.
Star i'm a huge believer in that roster in the big.
Picture but those are some young, Dudes colin and they
there is something to be said about, Basketball, Aura and
you end up on a court with a bunch of
guys who are more comfortable and more confident and more
experienced than. You and let's say The thunder make it
to the. Finals let's say they get to the finals
(37:32):
and they run Into. Boston how many times IN nba
history it just happened To boston in twenty twenty. Two
you end up there and it's like all of a,
Sudden tatum is just like scared and not playing anything
like he normally, does and they're just succumbing to the
aura of The. Warriors over the course that, series even
the all time Greats Colin steph was pretty rough in
(37:52):
his FIRST nba. Finals lebron was brutal in his FIRST Nba.
Finals it is totally normal when you get to that
stage to be, LIKE, whoa this is. Different there's way more,
media the games feel. Weird there's like it's just a
very different type of. Vibe and SO i think my
concern is that they have two reliable. THINGS i think
their defense is, reliable AND i Think shay is. Reliable
(38:14):
BUT i do think there's absolutely a great deal of
variance in their supporting offensive. Talent and if you have
that kind of, variance you absolutely can lose to The,
clippers you absolutely can lose to The, nuggets you absolutely
can lose to The lakers Or.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
Warriors, WELL i mean we saw it in college. BASKETBALL
i didn't Pick duke to win. It why too many young?
Players you get into these close, games you get into
against more physical, teams and, like if you've never made
a long playoff run and you're really. Talented you can't
believe how fricking physical the conference finals. GET i mean
it is, Noticeable. Jason the referees change the way they
(38:50):
officiate for the conference. FINALS i mean they swallow the,
whistle and you'll notice it a little bit early in the.
Playoffs but a lot of. TIMES i can remember THAT
okc team that Had harden And westbrook And Kevin. Durant
they were really good and they just didn't like they
(39:11):
just quite didn't didn't quite you, know in the regular,
season they fly into, town they blitz. You you look at a
little bit of, film they had too much, offenses, like
what the hell is? This and everybody just kind of you,
know at that, point we didn't know exactly What harden
was going to. BE I i think they're going to
find out in the conference. Final by the second, series
they're going to find out on the. Road it's a
(39:32):
totally different.
Speaker 2 (39:33):
SPORT nba history tells us that this team's like this
thunder team usually win like next year or the year.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
After cleveland two years. Ago we thought was.
Speaker 2 (39:44):
Ready it's, like it's just what usually happens is you
take a couple of hard losses in late playoff rounds
and a couple of key players take those losses to
heart and make important improvements in specific parts of their,
game and then they end up in a series where
they're like a two seed instead of the runaway one,
(40:04):
seed and they're there and they're, like we're not losing this,
year and then they rise to the occasion and they
get it. Done it's kind of like what happened with The.
Celtics you have the disappointment of what happened in twenty twenty,
two then it gets even worse in the conference finals next,
year and it's, like, Whoa Jalen brown really needs to
improve as a ball, handler and then all of it
just comes together in twenty twenty, four all of a,
(40:25):
Sudden Jalen brown's Winning FINALS, Mvp like it usually is,
incremental not immediate when it comes to the success of
these younger, Teams and, yeah they'll have, breakthroughs they met upset.
SOMEBODY i wouldn't be surprised if The thunder made it
to the finals this. Year as a matter of, FACT
i still think they should be favored to win The.
West but it's JUST i have a really hard time
believing that if they made it to the, finals they
(40:45):
would be the more comfortable and more confident team Against.
Boston AND i still Think boston has more talent than,
them SO i just would have a really hard time
picking against.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Them, YEAH i think The celtics ARE i think if
you look at the history of THE, nba because aesthetics
matter so much that we love The Shaq kobe, dynasty
The michael, dynasty The katie. Dynasty we didn't love The
spurs dynasty and it was as good as any of
them because it wasn't as much. Fun AND i think
Because boston doesn't have a ton of. Personality Joe mizzoola
(41:15):
is very, quiet Very, christian very much about team and.
Defense he's a wonderful, coach no flash from the. Coach
Tatum is can say he wants to be the face
of the, league but he just doesn't have that. Aura
Jalen brown's probably the voice of the locker, room but you,
know he's almost like, academic and you know he feels
sort of almost respectful when he speaks with. Confidence, Right
(41:42):
porzingis isn't that. Guy Drew holliday is one of the
league's most respected. Players there's not a lot of it's
not a, yeah it's not a dynamic. TEAM i Think
boston's really, good AND i think That's San. Antonio you
had man who's the best six man. Ever duncan's one
of the ten best players. Ever Tony parker was AN.
Mvp they had Excellent Bruce, bowen all sorts of different
(42:05):
players that came in and played great. Roles popovich's top five.
Coach we never mentioned them because esthetically it just wasn't
that much. FUN i went to Ten spurs games BECAUSE
i was In portland at the, time And i've been
TO i went to ten of their, games The spurs
games when they were in The. Dynasty, jesus it was so.
Clinical it was a great surgeon walking, in you, know
(42:29):
winning one oh one ninety, three and it was like
did they break a? Sweat it was just every game
looked the exact. Same and Now boston has very variation
because of their three point. Shooting they have knights when
they're just unbelievable and nights when they missed forty two.
Threes so there's great variables on how they. PLAY i
(42:50):
think THERE'S i, mean they have nine, guys ten guys
who could handle the, ball pass and shoot a.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
Three the only Thing i'll say About boston that's concerning
me just a tiny, bit and it's just something we
should keep on our, radar call in because we could
be having a very different conversation in a week or.
Two Jalen brown got a pain relieving injection and his.
Knee i'm not sure if you saw. That he's been
dealing with knee issues throughout the year and he got
a pain relieving injection when this was about a week.
(43:21):
Ago and So jalen's, Knee let's say that becomes an
issue and then like one Of horford Or porzingis goes.
Down that's where it could end up in a situation
where you're trying to close games with A Sam houser
on the, floor or you're trying to close games with
A Payton pritcher on the, floor and suddenly they become
a little bit easier to, attack a little bit less
(43:43):
dynamic on. Offense i'm just my ears are just a
little pricked, up And i'm a Little i'm paying attention
to their. Health that is one thing to keep an eye,
on just Because Jalen. BROWN i, THINK i think if
you lose one Of tatum Or, brown it just gets
really hard in terms of shot, creation, because as you
saw in The maverick, series it's Just jalen's apex athleticism
is still an important part of the ceiling of This celtics,
(44:04):
team even though he can be a frustrating, player you,
know relative To tatum in terms of his. Consistency so
just something to keep an eye on. There BUT i
do agree with. YOU i just every TIME i talk through,
IT i just have such an easier time discussing flaws
and finding flaws with other teams THAN i do with.
Last that's really that.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
Simple jason timp oops. Tonight good talking to, You, bud
can't wait for.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
It good to see you two. Man i'll see next.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Time the volume
Host
Colin Cowherd
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