April 22, 2025 • 52 mins
The nerds react to a pair of epic Game 2 battles, as Nikola Jokic & the Denver Nuggets take on James Harden, Kawhi Leonard & the Los Angeles Clippers, and Cade Cunningham & the Detroit Pistons respond with a big win over Jalen Brunson & the New York Knicks.
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00:00:23 - Clippers-Nuggets
00:27:40 - Pistons-Knicks
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
No, no, oh my god, how could he do that?
Watch what Charles Darwin? The nerves is where it's at.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Welcome everybody back into Nerd Sash as always, I'm Carson Breber,
and alongside me is Logan Camden, and you already know
the drill. We've got two game twos to talk about today.
They were both phenomenal, but one Logan stood above the other,
and that was the Los Angeles Clippers getting a huge
(00:44):
win over the Denver Nuggets to even up that series,
a series which I'm gonna say at this point is
on like a best first round series of all time
kind of trajectory, just like unbelievably wired to wire competitive
basketball in both these games, so high quality stuff, and
it ends up being Kawhi Leonard Logan who carries the
(01:05):
Clippers through thirty nine points with four missed shots from
the field. It is the seventh most efficient thirty five
point playoff game ever in terms of true shooting percentage,
and of course he hits the dagger to put the
Clippers up one oh five one oh two and hold
on to win this game. As somebody Logan who has
(01:27):
been a Clippers doubter and who has denied that Kawhi
would even be healthy for this playoff run. What do
you have to say for yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, of course you had to be on some hater
shit to start us out.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I know. Yeah, you are the one who's been on
hater shit with the Clippers all year.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, but you gotta bring it up, dude.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
This is one of the best basketball games I've ever
seen a person play in the playoffs. Kawhi was unstoppable tonight.
I ain't got nothing bad to say, bro, Like we're here.
I never doubted that Kawhi could play it this good.
I doubted that it was gonna be here. Like I'm
I'm in disbelief. This guy looks unstoppable. He was the
basketball terminator tonight, and he was the best player on
(02:02):
the court. That was the difference to me. The Nuggets
could have won this game. I thought that the way
the supporting piece is played, with what you got out
of MPJ tonight, what you got out of Westbrook, how
they collectively rebounded and hustled, how Jamal played, I thought
the Nuggets very well could have won this game, and in.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
My opinion, needed to.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I just think all these games in this series are
going to be super crucial, and to lose this one
in crunch time like this, I thought it was a
very uncharacteristically poor Yokic performance. Yes, in the clutch man
seven turnovers, I thought he just had some really bad
uncharacteristics the right word man, just like careless turnovers and
(02:46):
careless moments in this game where I was scratching my head.
He struggled from the free throw line, and I thought
Harden played below his expectations. I thought you got an
incomplete game out of Norman Powell in so Oh. I
just thought this was a very winnable game, and I'm
kind of disappointed at Yokichen what we got out of him.
Down to stretch man, I thought the Nuggets had this
(03:08):
one in their hands and in their grasp, but Kawhi
put them over to finish line man. Kawhi was not
going to be denied tonight. Kawhi was the best player
on the court in like No Lie. Like that is
one of the best playoff performances I've ever seen by
any player ever.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
It's one of the best scoring performances, especially like this.
Dude shot fifteen of nineteen from the field, and I
believe he had a one field goal attempt that was
not a jump shot. He had one attempt at the rim,
so he was fourteen of eighteen on jumpers. That is
so stupid. Actually, I think he might have been fourteen
(03:46):
to seventeen because he missed a layup, So, like, what
do you even do with that? Man? He is cooking
Jamal Murray early in this game, but he's destroying everybody
in single coverage, like it really doesn't matter. There is
nobody who is physical enough on the planet, nobody who
is strong enough to knock him off his spots, nobody
(04:07):
who can speed him up in single coverage, and then
he's just gonna rise up and shoot over top of
you and Logan. I don't know how many times I've
given this spiel about Kawhi Leonard over the years, but
he's one of the greatest playoff scorers that we have
ever seen. I recited these numbers so many times, but
from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty three in the playoffs,
Kawhi gave you thirty points per game on almost sixty
(04:29):
four percent true shooting. That is counting numerous deep playoff runs,
and the consistency year to year is honestly unmatched among
all playoff scorers in that time period. I would say
that Jokic is the guy who makes the best case
in terms of a scoring resume up against that. But
when you can't speed a guy up, when he is
(04:50):
always going to be stronger than you, and in a
playoff environment, that is such an advantage, when they allow
more physicality, when he is so precise with his handle,
and when he is that big and that insane as
a jump shooter, like there's just nothing you can do.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
So he's just marching guys down to his spots and
yet rising above him like it's it's actually unstoppable.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Zero wasted movement and one of the most efficient scores
that we've ever seen, one of the most unaffectable scores
that we have ever seen in this game. So when
he gets in that mode, like you literally just have
to double every possession. I'm not just talking blitz him
out of pick and roll, that's obvious. I'm saying, if
he is looking at a dude in isolation, you double,
(05:32):
and you force him to make a decision, and you
leave Chris done and you force the Clippers to beat
you with a four on three because like, I'm just
not letting a dude who is shooting eighty percent from
the field continue to get whatever he wants against me.
And honestly, if I'm the Clippers, like I don't think
you need to have Kawhi running much pick and roll
because you just make it easier for Denver to bring
(05:53):
that second defender into the action and pressure him and
send two at him, like let him cook an isolation
because he's getting whatever he wants every time down. But
I gotta say, man, the fact that they let him
get a one on one look, even though it's against
Aaron Gordon on that possession where he doesn't ice this game,
but he scores the final bucket of the game, I
(06:14):
just would have done anything to force the ball out
of his hands. I'm sending two defenders at him, like
you cannot let him be the one to put you
away as a score. Because he struggled again with the
double teams and the blitzes in this game. It maybe
wasn't as bad in the first game when he had
seven turnovers, but still he's uncomfortable at times against those looks,
and I thought that it was a mistake to let
(06:35):
him put them away and that's exactly what he did. Man.
It's truly one of the great scoring performances that we've
seen in the playoffs. And I agree with what you
said about Jokic. This just was one of the sloppiest
games that I've seen from him in a high stakes
moment like this in the postseason. The three ball was
money for him, and that was huge. We've talked about
(06:56):
how key that's gonna be in this series for him,
right pulling Zoo out into space, not feeling like he
has the sort of normal advantage that he does out
of the post, because Zoo was the best Jokic defender
there is, so he's inclined to play more from the perimeter.
They're gonna give him some of those pick and pop looks,
and like he was hitting those, but honestly, that was
the only thing that was really going at peak Jokic level.
(07:18):
I thought his decision making was bad. There are a
number of turnovers of which he had seven that are
just like really inexcusable decisions, and you just have a
couple of mental errors, like after he got the offensive rebound,
forcing that shot up, not understanding the shot clock, like
that's so uncharacteristic for Jokic that was costly.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Though.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
I just didn't like a lot of Denver's late game
execution in this one. I mean MPJ coughing up the
rock in transition and then that leads to a three
ball that they give up, and Yeah, before I forget,
I just wanted to say, dude, on the final possession,
I don't know how you felt. The fact that the
Nuggets got up two shots and Jamal Murray didn't take
either of them really just didn't sit well with me.
(08:02):
Man Like, to me, he has earned the respect and
he has the I think Jamal Murray is just one
of those clutch guys that in the in the big
spots of games, I want him. I don't think Brown
should have shot the ball, man Like, I get that
it's open and it's in rhythm, but I just would
have rather Yeah, he got.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
The rhythm, I mean he passed up the initial open it.
This was kind of fake.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
He was off balance at the top of the key.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I just didn't and they end up getting it back
and Jokic has an attempt, But I just wanted Jamal
to get one of those shots. Man. I think it
was a lot of Again, Man, I think Denver just
had a lot of mistakes, man, that just weren't liked
them in this game.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Definitely. They wanted to go fast, obviously, and Brown felt
like he had a shot, but you see the hesitation
with him that has been a thing in his entire
career with his three point shot, and he ends up
taking a tougher look than the one that he could
have had initially. But I do put a lot of
this on Jokic, man, because I think a lot of
the dudes around him did their jobs to win this game.
I thought that Jamal didn't have it going in the
(09:05):
fourth quarter, but still had a really productive scoring game
overall and was nails as a pull up shooter. Michael
Porter Junior did a complete one point eighty from his
Game one performance where his effort was apathetic. They closed
with him off the floor. He has fifteen rebounds. I
bet you that's a playoff career high for Michael Porter Junior.
He had six offensive rebounds, so he goes from being
(09:27):
the lowest effort guy on the floor to the guy
who's attacking the glass most aggressively, and that's a huge
advantage for Denver in this matchup. We obviously saw that
really decide Game one down the stretch, and then they
again cleaned up on the offensive last they were plus
eight there. So he did his job. He was efficient
as a shooter as well. Russell Westbrook, God bless him.
Dude knocks down those two huge corner threes. That's all
(09:51):
he has to do, man Like, if he doesn't hit
those shots, the Nuggets are literally playing four on five offensively,
because they will send two to the ball on every
pick and roll. They'll send to you at Jamal, they'll
surprise double Jokic like, they will just attack the Nuggets'
best players to leave Russell Westbrook wide open in the corner.
(10:12):
But he made both of those shots and then he
attacks the clothes out on the next possession. So like
he did his job in those minutes. It's just some
of the decision making from Jokic, some of the turnovers,
like he forced a lob to Peyton Watson when he
had a mismatch that was just way off target. There
were a couple times where he spun into a surprise
double and he turned it over. Then there were a
(10:34):
number of times where I just wanted him to be
more aggressive as a scorer, like I think when Iviza
zubats is not on the floor, Jokic has to be
a killer as a scorer. Man, Because I thought that
the Clippers were gonna play a backup center. I thought
they played Drew Eubanks in this series, and I'm very
glad for their sake that they haven't, because Ben Simmons
(10:55):
is a way better basketball player and like Jokic isn't
trying to attack their lack of size. Not that Drew
Banks would really make a difference, Like, I think they're
right to play Simmons no matter what. It's just in
the regular season they consistently played a backup center in
the non zoom minutes. But Jokic walked Ben Simmons to
the rim on one possession and did not look to
score other than that, except he got one mismatch on
(11:16):
a post up and basically flopped and drew a foul.
But like he has to go. He has to really
punish them for being small in those minutes. But it's
the last possession too, man. I mean, there's just a
few spots where you feel like he doesn't really have
a great sense of the spacing around him. Just a
little bit chaotic, just a little out of control and
basically throws the ball away and then he's also bad
(11:39):
from the line as you mentioned. So if Yokic plays
his best game, if Yokic plays a normal game of his,
Denver wins because the dudes around him all played pretty
darn well and he was just uncharacteristically sloppy.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
I mean, that's the exact point that I was going
to get to. Man, Is it like that's what makes
this Denver loss so disappointed? I think is every other
factor I feel like for Denver went right in this game.
I felt like Jamal Murray pulled his weight, MPJ, as
you said, did his job. Aaron Gordon could have played
a little bit better offensively, admittedly, but God's yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I thought did his job tonight.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
And like some of the other role players, like I
thought this was a good game from Peyton Watson and
we got some good Jalen Picket minutes like Westbrook was good.
Jokich is the reason, uh, I feel like Denver didn't
get this one done. Man. Like you know, obviously Jokic
has a great game by like normal standards, but by
Jokic standards, if we're holding him to his standard, I
(12:38):
felt like this was a pretty bad Yokic game and
I didn't feel like the Clippers do their best punch either.
I'm still waiting for the Clippers to have a really
good shooting night, Like Norman Powell has yet to really
put a game together end to end. Bogdanovich has yet
to really shoot well.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
In this series.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Like, I feel like I'm waiting for the Clippers to
play better too, and the Nuggets leave this one in
the balance. I think this one's gonna go seven. Man,
this is my favorite series so far, Dude, I think
that and I gotta admit it too. We got a
super check Carson talking about Kawhi be and one of
the best in the world. Look, I'm not gonna lie,
(13:17):
Like the level the Kawhi has been at is a
top ten level, Like I can't deny that. Like, it's
only the health with Kawhi that's only been the thing.
And the level that he's at is he's there. I
don't have to question that, man, And it's got to
be scary. Like the Clippers are a real deal contender.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Man.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
I feel like whoever comes out of this series is
gonna be hell to deal with, man, because they are
gonna be battle tested.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I agree, dude. I mean, Denver looking like a more
serious defensive team. That's obviously been the battle that they
have been fighting all year. Well, they haven't really been
trying that hard, but now these last couple of games,
they've picked up their level to where they're at least
a respectable defense. And then I've just been really high
on the healthy Clippers, and I think we got to
start talking about Kawhi and James Harden as a top
(14:04):
five duo in basketball logan. I mean, we did that
list a few months ago. I'm just happy that I
had them on there because at the time, I mean,
Kawhi had just come back, and it was kind of
a bet on him reaching the level that he has
now because I'm a huge Kawhi believer. I just think
he's so so special, especially in these playoff environments. But
James Harden's been playing like a top twenty ish player
(14:24):
for several months. Even though this was he didn't have
his best game, but he still was very solid, exactly
still creating good offense out of pick and roll. I
still think him and Zoo such a potent duo, and like,
you got to give props to Zoo for his play
making off the short role. I thought the Nuggets did
a nice job of blowing up a couple plays, making
a couple of catches difficult for Zoo, intercepting a pacc
(14:48):
that he tried to make off the short role. But like, overall,
he's so dependable. He is and some really impressive hook
touch shot making in this one where he's just so actual.
He really is a phenomenal third player for them. But
it's that duo man, Like, if I were to ask
you right now, do you want Jason Tatum and Jalen
Brown to start your team from scratch? Or do you
(15:10):
want Kawhi and Harden? Likes it for a game? You're
saying for a playoff, Yeah, I would hear.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
I would hear you for Kawhi and Harden.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
I think the level of consistency that you get from
Kawhi is just so different, manwhy's.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Dude you said it earlier?
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Bro, He's so efficient, Like he doesn't waste time, he
doesn't waste if he's got the ball in his hands,
Like he's just decisive and he's unstoppable. It's crazy, bro,
Like he's so damn good when available.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
He is one of the greatest players, would.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Like top six, top seven.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Like to me, it's like him and Lebron is what
I'm debating between or like him in a steff, I
think is like the line where I'm drawing with Kawhi.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Like Pete, you're saying in the right now, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
I'm saying that's about the line that I'm drawing.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
I still think I'm I still think I'm probably taking
both of those guys, though.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yeah, it's tricky because, like I do think that Kawhi
is not the player that he was a couple of
years ago, right. I think he still has his really
high moments defensively, and he's certainly a plus there overall,
but not a dominant defensive player, not getting to the
rim or the line at the same rate. So for
those reasons, I would say that, like he's in that
(16:32):
top twelve group that is locked, right, because I just
think that there's twelve dudes who are playing at a
top ten level. I would say that top six or
seven that's probably a little bit high, like the level
STEP's been playing at. The level I think Anthony Davis
is at as a two way force one fully healthy.
I guess see in him close back on that it's close.
It is close. I mean he's in all those conversations,
(16:53):
and like when it comes to just playoff scoring outside
of Jokic, Shay, I don't know if I can take
anybody over Kawhi Leonard just as a pure playoff score
like Luka is obviously going to make his case, but
he hasn't been consistently at his best as a scorer
(17:14):
this year. The dude is just an absolute machine. He
is so dependably productive and so dependably efficient. So he's
the hero of this game. Obviously, he's the leading man
for the Clippers. The other dude who I need to
shout out as Chris Dunman because what a fucking defensive
game he played. He is so phenomenal, not just as
(17:35):
a point of attack guy, but where I thought you
really felt his impact in this game is as a
free safety, I mean, just blowing shit up on the
back end, surprise doubles on yo Kic, making plays as
the low man when Yokic is trying to spot cutters,
like just shrinking the floor and being destructive and being
unpredictable as a defensive weapon. He's really really good And
(17:58):
I know that you were talking about the offensive issues
in game one, and you saw them again in this one, right.
I mean, he is a guy who the Nugget should
be very very comfortable roaming off of. And I still
think he's worth having on the floor. I'd hear the
case for Nick Patum closing over him because Batum is
so good. But I thought Chris Dunn was a clear
positive in this game even with his major offensive issues,
(18:21):
because he made so many huge defensive plays.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I tend to agree.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I mean, he's still a liability offensively, but you got crazy,
stupendous defensive play.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Making from Done in this game. And what I like too, man.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Is like little stuff like the timing of when he's
blitzing Jokic at the free throw line and stuff like that, Like.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
He's just so smart.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
It's hard that you can't teach defensive instincts like Dunn has,
and the Clippers have a lot of good defenders. Man.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
That's what I like about all the Clippers role players.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
You know, there are distinct archetypes, but they're all really
really valuable.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
You know, even if it is Ben Simmons or Chris Dunn, And.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
While their liabilities offensively, they still have decent playmaking instincts
offensively even though their tendency isn't to shoot, and then
they're really impactful defensively. And then you know the shooters
that they have, Norman Powell and bogged On Bogdanovich. Like again,
I'm still waiting on those guys to really shoot consistently.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Well.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
I get Powell gets it going late, I still think
he can play way better.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Both of these teams are really.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Terrifying at full health. Man, I'm I'm really impressed. I'm
really impressed at.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
The level that both of these teams are at in
this series.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Man, And it's never Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
I can't get a read on it, man, on what
I think the rest of this series is going to
play out like, Because it's so neck and neck, it's
so close between both of these teams.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
I would bet that this goes seven. I think that
Jokic can be better in all of the areas that
we laid out, more aggressive, especially when Zoo is off
the floor. Just has to make better decisions, take better
care of the basketball. Twenty turnovers for the Nugget in
this one just absolutely killed them, as it did for
the Clippers in Game one, and a lot of that
(20:05):
was on Kawhi. He had seven turnovers in that game.
I think you feel good about the fact that MPJ
is engaged again. If you're the Nuggets, I think you
feel really good about the level that Aaron Gordon has
been at because he was so great in Game one
and was still really solid in this one. I think
both teams honestly should just be feeling good about the
basketball that they're playing. I think that James Harden is
(20:29):
capable of having more big performances that are closer to
Game one than Game two, because I truly do not
think the Nuggets can stay in front of him greed
and so I just think his scoring ceiling is a
lot higher than what he showed in this one, and
his finishing was great in Game one. He misses a
layup in this one, but the floaters going the three
(20:51):
ball is mostly.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Going to stay aggressive man like in attack mode because
when he is like he's he's hard to stop. I
don't think the Nuggets have a good answer for him
on ball.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
They do not.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
The one guy for the Clippers who really hasn't played
up to his potential is Norman Powell, who made a
couple big shots in the fourth quarter of this one,
but just his decision making has been pretty suspect. I
thought it was worse in Game one. But he has
some really dynamic offensive potential as an off ball scorer
that I don't think we've really seen fully unlocked. But
(21:25):
they've just got a nice rotation.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Man.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
I mean, Batouma is still giving you phenomenal minutes good
defensive performance in this one, he hits another no dip three.
Bogie's the other guy who really hasn't played very well,
Like he's not making shots and he's a target defensively.
But I feel the same way that I did coming
into this series, which is that it's just a little
(21:47):
bit harder for the Nuggets to slow down the Clippers
than vice versa. That margin has shrunk even a little
from where it was before the series to me, because
the Nuggets have just been more engaged. I think this
has been some of the better defense that we've seen
from them. But I still think that the Clippers have
the higher two way ceiling and that's gonna be the
(22:08):
reason that I think they narrowly get through this series.
But I say it's on a best first round trajectory
that we've seen, like it's there, man, they keep this up.
You think Nick Sixers last year. You think MAVs Clippers
in twenty twenty one that was absolutely electric. You think,
of course, Bulls Celtics in two thousand and nine, You
(22:29):
think clip Spurs in twenty fifteen. Those are like the
first handful that come to mind for me. But just
the quality of basketball and how tight these first two
games have been, and just the stars on the floor, man,
Kawhi and Hardin and Jokic all playing at such a
high level. It's really really phenomenal stuff to watch. We've
(22:49):
got another super chat, this one from Stringer flopping in
the NBA is hiring first Brunson now yoke. I think
we'll get to the Brunson talk. This was a nasty
shelling from him. Jokic also just throwing his body around
in this one. I mean, definitely trying to elicit calls.
I wouldn't put them in the same category because what
(23:11):
I would say is Jokic is just emphasizing contact. He
is dramatizing contact so that officials see it. Brunson is
going out of his way to create contact that is illegitimate,
that is unnatural in terms of being a actual shot
attempt a natural basketball motion that to me is more problematic.
(23:32):
Both of them are flopping. One of them is really
really foul grifting, though, and that's Bronson.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
I'm okay with it.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Like when a guy pump fakes and gets a dude
off his feet or something like that, and if he
gets into where he was going to jump into, I know,
I don't like.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I don't ever like when a guy is just jumping
into someone or.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Like one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
The difference is like when it's super deliberate.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Honestly, the worst offender to me that come to mind
is like Reeves.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Austin Reeves is the first.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Guy that I always think of about doing it, and.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Then Trey Young, And my argument is always.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
If he's in that top tier man he is.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
If you want them to stop doing it, then the
ref just have to stop awarding the players for playing
like that. Then guys will stop doing it. Like then
you just let them turn the ball over and then
they can complain about it, but they'll learn. Like I
just don't think you should reward that style of play.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
I completely agree. The official said years ago that they
were gonna stop rewarding those sort of unnatural launch angles
by offensive players and they haven't done that obviously, So
I just thought that sucked. I couldn't agree with you
more man Like, if you pump fake a dude and
he jumps into your landing space, that is obviously a foul.
(24:52):
That's good crafty basketball. When you pump fake a dude
and then you lean and jump forward into his space,
that is not a defensive foul, and we have to
stop calling that a defensive foul. And Brunson got two
big ones of those in the fourth quarter. So sometimes
I think like the foul baiting narrative is overplayed when
(25:16):
people complain about it, But listen, it's certainly more prevalent
in today's NBA than it ever has been before. And
Brunson is like truly one of the nastiest grifters that
there is, and this was a really nasty performance from
him on that front. And we'll talk about that after
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Slash audio.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Nick's Pistons logan. This is another series that has a
vibe to it that I'm really enjoying. It's nasty, it's gritty,
it's tough, and the Detroit Pistons went out there and
they even things up, just like the Clippers. So we
got both these series sitting at a game a piece.
This was a bounce back performance from Caid Cunningham. Logan
(28:05):
struggled in game one, comes out in this one, puts
up thirty three points, goes eleven of twenty one from
the field. What did you think made the difference for him,
and how huge was that for Detroit in this one
and potentially going forward.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
I mean, I thought Cade was the difference in this game.
I thought he was the best player on the court.
And I feel bad for doubting if Caid's game was
gonna scale to the playoffs. I mean Caid was clanging
and banging in this game. I mean just going through
the chest repeatedly of bridges of heart, attacking downhill, dominating
(28:41):
in transition, consistently staying aggressive. And I really thought he
weaponized his strength well and then he was killing him
with his pull up shooting in his intermediate game. I
liked how he adjusted to Ojan Andobi guarding him on
ball as well. I thought he was trying to beat
him more with deception and quickness and speed in this game,
(29:03):
and he did beat him with his strength as well too.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
And that's why Cad is just one.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Of the premier building blocks in the NFL, in the NFL,
in the NBA.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Man in the league Lab could be man six to seven,
big dude.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
I don't know, man, if you throw him out there
wide out, but he's he's just gonna keep getting stronger.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Man and He's brilliant.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
He's got such great feel, he's a plus defender, and
he was so impactful on the glass in this game.
But he was way more poised in this game than
Game one, and he's only going to get more comfortable.
He's got such a promising future. I'm so excited for Detroit.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
That they got their guy. But I've got more points
to talk about.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
But Caid was the best player on the court in
this game, man, And I'm just so impressed, dude. I
couldn't be happier with the level that we've gotten out
of Caid and the level that we've gotten at a
polo early in these Man, I'm so impressed with these
young guys.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
It was a much improved performance from Cade, and that
wasn't a coincidence. I thought that he and the Pistons
made a number of adjustments that made life easier on
him offensively, because in game one, where did he really
struggle Kat consistently coming up to the level him seeing
two defenders these aggressive pick and roll coverages out of
(30:24):
a lot of stagnant pick and rolls. He was turning
the ball over. He looked uncomfortable, he looked out of
his element. And then he was struggling to really beat
Og one on one because Og is an excellent man
defender and Kate doesn't have the strength advantage against Og
that he's used to. So it was those couple of
areas in which he really struggled. And I thought that
(30:47):
the Pistons and Cad approached this game in a way
that minimized how much he had to deal with those
couple of things, and like just created easy opportunities for
him elsewhere. Like you especially saw this in the first half.
They have a number of handoffs that flow into pick
and roll, so you can get Kad a running start
versus Og. So now he's already headed downhill and you
(31:09):
have an advantage, just easier for him to create separation
to get a step when you give him that head start. Also,
so many guards setting screens for him, especially Jalen Brunson's man,
which is just good process. Man involved Jalen Brunson in
the action because they can't switch that or they don't
(31:30):
want to a vast majority of the time at least
because that's barbecue chicken for KD. So Brunson is like showing,
but he's not really getting a body on cade, right,
he's just like showing so briefly and then he's running
out to make sure that the guard who screen doesn't
get an open three off the pot. But like nobody's
really in front of Cad initially after the screen, so
(31:52):
he's able to get a pretty good runway into some
pull up jumpers. That was easier offense for him if
he had a guard screen for him, and then he
got the Josh Hart or the mckel bridges switch. He
was aggressive working in isolation against those guys who he
does have a size and strength advantage against, and he
was successful in doing so. And maybe the biggest thing
(32:13):
man playing fast. He had ten transition points in this game.
That's his most in a game in the last month
and a half. So you're not facing a set defense
that is fully engineered to stop you, that is more
worried about you than anybody else. You're getting those opportunities
in the full court, clean spacing with the head of steam.
(32:34):
And so I just thought he was able to hunt
much easier offense. It's not like he suddenly just was
able to cook og one on one. You mentioned the
deception stuff. I did think he did a nice job
of setting him up a couple of times, rejecting screens
like it was a really crafty game from kid. But
for the most part, like it's just finding the easier opportunities.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Man.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
What I always say is you don't get style points,
the tough ones don't count for more like find easy
offense where you can in the NBA, and I thought, Man,
I think did a significantly better job of that in
this one.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I think long term, I'm just I'm excited, like he's
so strong already, and I just don't think there are
gonna be many guys in the NBA that are gonna
be able to deal with Cade one on one specifically,
what I like, not to the level of Paolo, And
that's why I prefer I think building around Paolo long term,
because he's even more of a physical freak, but very
(33:26):
much so in the fact that he's gonna be stronger
than a lot of guys garden him, even those like
good defensive wings that are thinner like a macal Bridges,
but he's gonna be faster than a lot of guys
on ball too. And a lot of these lineups though,
like you're talking about with Jaylen Brunson, if you've got
a small guard and that's the matchup that Cage's drawing,
or if you can get that switch like it's just
(33:47):
something he can attack every time, and he's not a
weak point on defense.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Like I just I'm so excited about Kate long term. Man.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
I'm I'm so excited the trajectory that he's on and
how far along he already is, and how impactful he
is in winning basketball games at such a young age man,
and the fact that Detroit has just put good basketball
players around him and the difference that it really has made.
I also do want to give credit to Detroit's defense
(34:19):
in this game, though I think the Caid played a
really great game.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
I think that he was the best player on the floor.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
But I thought the Pistons really made life difficult on
New York in this game, and specifically dominated the glass.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
They win the defensive they win the.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Rebounding battle forty eight to thirty four total. But during
Cad Tobias Harris, all of them I thought put in work.
They were winning the hustle and energy plays, and I
was a little bit confused.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Carson.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
I thought the Knicks should have played more Mitchell Robinson, man,
I didn't really get that you only get twenty minutes.
I don't know when they're beating you so physically, and
this is a game where Detroit does don't even have
Isaiah Stewart out there, So I just thought that, I
don't know, man play more Mitchell Robinson, move Kat.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
To the four.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Like, I just thought they could have used a more
physical presence, a guy that can set the tone and
be a little a little bit more physical down there.
And I was disappointed with the Knicks offensively too, but
I think you got to give credit to Detroit and
how hard they played.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
On that end.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Also, the one complaint I have for Detroit and the
the one maybe it's an X factor for Detroit, and
I think it is. It's probably the biggest difference maker
is just going to be their ability to close out
these games. New York goes on a twelve to two
run in the fourth quarter for four minutes and the
Pistons offense just out last New York. We touched on
(35:47):
this briefly last episode about this game. But I think
the guy that's gonna make this difference is Dennis Schroeder.
I think he is probably gonna be the difference maker.
He has nine fourth quarter points. He has two fourth
quarter three and he's got a super clutch three in
this one, And the Knicks could have very easily won
this game as well. Bridges and Brunton missed some open
(36:08):
clutch threes.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
But while I.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Mentioned that too, Malie Beasley also misses an open corner three.
But the Pistons played better ball, you know, through three quarters,
and I thought they did last game too. I mean
the scoreboard said so as well. It's just gonna be
who can execute more in these higher leverage moments. I
thought the Knicks let him off the hook in this one.
I thought Brunson could have been a little bit better.
(36:32):
I was disappointed with kat. Kat does not attempt a
field goal in the fourth quarter. He gives you ten points.
Bridges goes oh four in the fourth quarter, So I
thought the Knicks could have executed better. Brunson has six
turnovers on the game. I thought he could have protected
the ball a little bit better. But who's gonna be
able to execute better offensively in these clutch moments. I'm
(36:55):
looking to Dennis Schroeder if I'm Detroit, and I think
there's a lot to I think there's a lot to
look better in the rest of the series.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
For the Knicks offense, I'm kind of just like, why
am I not looking to Kid Cunningham. I thought Detroit's
clutch offensive process was super weird, man, Like, especially once
it gets back to being a really close game in
the last couple minutes, the two possessions before Shrewder hits
that big three, why is the ball not in Kate's hands,
(37:26):
Like og is denying him off ball. But if Kid
really wants to, he can go get that ball. Like,
I just think those are his plays. Man, That's where
you need your best player to go out there and
be dictating, and he didn't really seem to want to.
And then on the possession that led to there's the
(37:46):
Shrewder possession, and then you have the possession where Cad
draws two, makes the right play fine Shrewder, and then
he finds Beasley for a wide open three, which Beasley missed.
But like, that was a good kid possession. He made
the right decision, he had the ball in his hands.
But I just want him to be aggressive in those spots,
and like, I'm a little bit nervous when the ball
(38:07):
is out of his hands and Shrewder is definitely the
most capable guy to step up, but I still would
just rather that be Kate Cunningham. So that was kind
of my nitpick of this kid performance. Also, still five turnovers,
didn't take great care of the basketball in the first half,
but like, just step up, man, this is your moment.
There's a reason that you're entrusted with so much offensive responsibility,
(38:27):
and I felt like he kind of shoed away from
that and the Pistons got away with it. Shrewder made
a big shot, but it was very dicey there.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Well, I mean, in you know, Kate is the reason
that they were in the spot that they were in.
But I agree with you, he's got to step up
and take him across the finish line and not.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Not be afraid.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Also, the Pistons have got to shoot better, and they've
got to help Kate out and relieve some of this
pressure on him by shooting better. I thought the Knicks
did a good job of trying to take away some
of those shots, but easily going one of eight. You know,
I just think you need guys a round k to
to help him out and shoot a little bit better.
But this was the classic Detroit recipe. Man, it was defense,
(39:09):
muddy the water, make it nasty, make it gritty. I
thought they out gritted New York and out physical to them.
I thought this was a you know, Detroit's identity I
thought was on full display in this one man, and
they they imposed their will on New York in this
game like they was. They They're playing some East Coast
basketball in this one man, really physical, really nasty, and.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Playing some Detroit Pistons basketball man for real and Greatstons
teams we've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
I'm happy for the Pistons as well.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Man, this snap's a fifteen game drought, the longest I
think in the NBA, but a seventeen year playoff drought. Man,
they hadn't won a playoff game since eight.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
Believe it or not. Andre Drummond is not getting you
the bro.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
You're talking Mark Sanchez like, yeah, Seattle Mariners territory.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Man, you don't want to be there.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
No, you do not want to be there. I did
think the shooting was bad for sure, thhj Elik easily
going one to fourteen combined his brutal but like Shrewder
did step up. He made some perimeter shots. He was
able to consistently get penetration and like they needed his
twenty points in this game. Tobias Harris another productive day
as a scorer and on the glass, And I thought
(40:20):
Jalen Duran was really good, I mean phenomenal on the glass.
And I thought that offensive rebounding advantage was huge for
Detroit in this one. Yeah, and then also protected the
grim really well.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
He had that clutch roll to the hoop, where like
if they don't play the I thought Og didn't play
that coverage right. I thought he should have tagged the
role man instead of going with the ball handler because
they were they were switching well, and I'm like, there's
nobody on the backside who can blow that up except
for you.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
So I thought that was a mistake on his part
in the clutch. But Durn's you know, he's.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Solid and when he can be impactful as a rim
protector and as a rebounder at such a high level,
even though he's just a simple play finisher, you gotta
have you gotta be there because if you're not, if
you just leave him open, he's gonna.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Make you pay. Man.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
He's impressive too for being as young as he is.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
Yeah, And he's got a little passing feel as well.
This has been a good showing from him so far
in this series. I think he's improved defensively this season overall.
And the other dude who I think deserves a shout
out for his defensive performance is a Sar Thompson, man
who I thought was given Jalen Brunson fits was getting
in his head. And I said, coming into this series,
like he has the exact profile of the ideal Brunson defender.
(41:30):
You want the guy who was bigger, more athletic, longer
but still super quick can stick with him. Like those
are the guys who can just force Brunson into really
really difficult shot diets. And I thought he was doing that.
It's a bummer that he fouls out of this game
because I thought a couple of the calls I didn't love.
I mean the one after the inbound where I don't know,
(41:52):
I thought Brunson was hooking his arm and then obviously
he fouls out on Brunson jumping into him. That was
just nasty work. But like a Sar is really well
equipped for this matchup.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Also, his cheeky man, he's cheeky.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
I didn't like when he he definitely hooked the hell
out of the Sar's arm.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Man, that was I'd be I'd be a little hot
if I was a SAR.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
And then he threw up the six when he fouled
him out. I was like, all right, bro, is this
really a flex Like you're doing whatever it tastes to
get this dude out of the game because he's giving
you fits.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
I mean, and they lost, so they'd end up losing.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
I did not think this was a very good Jalen
Brunson game, even though he got his numbers. Like, it's
not that it was unethical, because like that's annoying. I mean,
it doesn't affect the performance.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
I'm more disappointed in Cat and Bridges in this game. Though.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
Here's the thing, Man, Brunson iced everyone out of this game. Like,
I don't know how much blame to put on Cat
for not being more aggressive, which I thought he absolutely
should have been. At the same time, Brunson is playing
extremely selfish basketball. There's a couple of times where he
just missed Cat wide open off the and the six
(43:01):
turnovers were ugly. Man and Jalen Brunson is normally a
very low turnover player, but he's trying to at times
force the handle when he's got two on him, or
he's driving into traffic with his head down and he's
getting tied up, or he's losing the ball in those spots.
So he had his great stretch in the fourth quarter
where like he got them back into the game because
(43:23):
he makes four straight shots, he draws two fouls, and
then he finds Josh Hart off the double team. That
was a really really great brunts and stretch, But overall
he wasn't efficient individually. The team offense wasn't efficient, and
like nobody else got involved in the half court because
Brunson really wouldn't let them, and the Pistons did a
(43:44):
good job on him, like Asar was doing a really
good job before he fouled out. But just overall, like
they have the sort of length and they have the
athletes they give Brunson trouble. Shrewder is a really good
brunts and defender. It was just a weird game from him.
It felt like an I don't trust my teammate kind
of game, and it felt like he was trying to
prove something at times and just like force his way through.
(44:06):
I just thought it wasn't a good offensive approach for
the Knicks in this game, and I do put some
of that on Brunson, even though he was the guy
who was productive as a scorer. Kat, it's just frustrating
that he wasn't more involved. And again, like I don't
know exactly how much blame to put on who for that,
but he's got zero points on zero three shooting in
(44:27):
the second half, and it's just so peculiar because I
thought he was phenomenal offensively for the first game and
a half of this series. Because their gardening with Tobias
Harris Man, I mean, they want Duran on heart so
he can row him off and he can be consistently
a presence in the paint. And Kat has obviously big
physical advantages over Tobias Harris and he was getting buckets. Now,
(44:50):
some of them are like tough runners and whatnot, but
Cat's pretty damn good at those shots. I felt like
he was under control. I thought that he was doing
exact catching the ball pretty deep, right. It's not those
Cat ISOs where it's oh, let me catch the ball
at the three point line and I'm gonna dribble eight
ten times, and then things can start to get out
of control. It's like, no, I'm gonna catch the ball
(45:12):
within twelve fifteen feet. I'm gonna get to one of
my bread and butter moves if it's the runner. He
had a possession of this game where he literally just
walked Harris down four dribbles into an easy little post hook,
Like I love those shots for Kat, and you have
to punish them for putting Tobias Harris on you, and
he just totally stopped. So I was disappointed. I was
absolutely disappointed in Cat. They need more out of him
(45:33):
and they have to figure that out collectively going forward.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
Well that's the point to me. Don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
I think Brunson's a better player than Karl Anthony Towns.
But Towns is the guy that can exert his physical
advantages over other players on Detroit more easily, right than
you better matchup exactly. You would understand why Brunson would
struggle in a matchup like this where he's going up
against the Nasar Thompson, where he's going up against the
(45:58):
Cad Cunningham. This is gonna be hard series for him.
So that's why I am more disappointed in Cat. It's like,
Cat is the guy that has not the easier job,
but the chance to abuse his mismatch more easily. I
don't think Tobias Harris can hold him. I think that
if they keep putting him on there, I'm feeding him
the rock and I'm playing off of that, and I'm
(46:19):
gonna and again, I think the Detroit defense did a
good job overall that, Like in general, they just they
played a really good game and they dominated the glass
and I think that was a massive difference in this
game too. Where again, I don't know if that's Mitchell Robinson.
I don't know if that's anenobian. Bridges just need to
be better there. I'm probably going more Mitchell Robinson for sure.
They have to be better on the glass. But Cat's
(46:42):
got to be better, man. He's the X factor to me.
He's the guy that can make the difference for the
Knicks in this series. I know what I'm gonna get
out of Brunson, and he might be a little bit inefficient,
he might turn the ball over. He's gonna give me
the volume scoring. I need Kat to need Kat to
pull his weight, man, And I like I've turned a
corner on Man. I'm rooting for Cat and so I'm
just a little bit disappointed after this game.
Speaker 3 (47:04):
Yeah, it's a disappointing performance from the Knicks overall, like
from basically everybody. I think the positive takeaway is you
have these weird games from both of your stars. You
shoot twenty eight percent from three, and still at the
end of this like you had the shots to steal
this game. Michel gets a great look from three to
(47:25):
tie it, and he had another great look in transition
a minute or two before that, and then like, even
when they're down four and they're not in a great
position to win the game, but Brunson gets a wide
open three off the ato and just misses. So I
do think they have more margin. I do think they
have more offensive talent. I do think that they're the
better team, and I do think that their stars can
(47:47):
play better going forward. So like, I wouldn't be ringing
the panic alarm here if I'm the Knicks. But it's
definitely big for Detroit to steal a game. It's definitely
big for Cad to look more comfortable. Cad wasn't impactful
as a playmaker as he often is. It felt like
he honestly wasn't really that fell facilities deliberate.
Speaker 1 (48:06):
That felt deliberate by the Knicks, though, and that also
felt deliberate by.
Speaker 3 (48:10):
K uh huh. Yeah, yeah, so we'll see. I do
still trust Brunson to produce more in this matchup than Cade,
and I do think that Kat has a favorable matchup.
He just has to maximize it, and like they have
to be comfortable giving him more than a handful of
post ups a game, because that's where he's gonna really
have his biggest impact in this series offensively.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
Yeah, but I mean when we were previewing this series,
I was closer to Nix and seven than I was
Nixon five. Man, I think the Pistons are here. I
think they're here to battle, man, Like, the Pistons are
out to make a statement, and.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
This is a team tough as hell, tough as nails.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
Man, They've got an identity, they've got their leader, they've
got their rock.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Like I just like, I like what the Pistons have
going for him right now.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
Man, They're they're on the rise, and they're again they're
not gonna make this easy for New York. Man.
Speaker 2 (49:04):
They're not just gonna cave.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
I do think that late game execution is what's gonna
make the difference in this series. It's gonna be a
test for Kate, and maybe Kate passed the test and
knocks the Knicks off, and maybe Schroeder can give them
enough in these big moments that'll put the Pistons over
the top and their defense and Kate will carry them through.
But I'm betting on Brunson to out execute them in
(49:26):
the big moments. I'm betting on Cat to play better.
I'm betting on the Knicks to shoot better too. I
think the Pistons will shoot better than they did in
this game as well. I thought this was a bad
shooting night for both teams. But I'm gonna bet on
the Knicks to execute a little bit better than Detroit.
And they need to play Mitchell Robinson. Man, I'm telling you,
twenty minutes to me is not enough in a series
(49:46):
like this.
Speaker 3 (49:47):
Well, it's just tough when you have a center who
you want to play thirty five plus minutes. I think
the double big.
Speaker 2 (49:55):
That's why I think you look at them. I think
talents works at the four.
Speaker 3 (49:59):
Yeah. I think that Mitch has been impressive. I think
he's such a good defensive player. I think he's really
good on the glass. There was one possession where you see,
like Tobias Harris is able to use his quickness advantage
when the Knicks are in the double big look, just because,
like you know, if you have that sort of speed
on the perimeter, you can take advantage of two slower
footed guys on the floor. But I don't really think
(50:20):
the Pistons are the team to do that overall, So
I like the double big looks. I would agree. I
don't think twenty minutes for Mitches agreedious, though, I mean
he got out there a good amountain he made his
impact on this game. One thing for the Pistons just
broadly got to take better care of the basketball. It's
mostly Kate, honestly, but it's everybody. Like the first game
(50:42):
that was a huge problem. This game, they have fifteen turnovers,
some of them in transition, just like sloppy with the basketball,
just mistakes that you can't really be making. Like I
do think that for a majority of both of these games,
they've been the better team, and yet they lost Game one,
and they were dangerously close to losing this one just
(51:03):
because of some of those execution things and some of
their offensive issues and just not being as reliable on
that side of the ball. Those are advantages for the Knicks.
Anything else that you want to say before we wrap
this puppy up?
Speaker 2 (51:19):
Logan nas Reed?
Speaker 3 (51:22):
Nas Reed plays basketball tomorrow against the Los Angeles Lakers,
and is it true, Logan, that we're gonna be back
here after that game? Is it true we're gonna talk
about that game and all the action tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (51:32):
I think I heard the same thing I read about that.
Speaker 3 (51:35):
Man, totally crap. That's gonna be awesome. I cannot get
enough of these two series with the LA teams, man,
I really can't. I think that these are both so
unbelievably fun and can't wait to see what all these
teams have in store for us the rest of the way.
If you want to join us for the rest of
this journey throughout the NBA Playoffs, then you know where
(51:56):
to find us. On YouTube. You can find all of
our full shows, all of our post game recordings live
of course, and you can see all of our video
essays and video breakdown content that we do. You can
also listen to the podcast across all audio platforms, and
you can follow us across social TikTok and Instagram at
nerd Sessh and Twitter at nerd Underscore Sash and if
(52:16):
you want to be part of our community, you can
join our discord and chat with the gang there. So
with that, as always appreciates you guys. I've been Carson
Braber
Speaker 1 (52:26):
I've been Logan Camden, and this was nerd Sash
The volume.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
No, no, oh my god, how could he do that?
Watch what Charles Darwin? The nerves is where it's at.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Welcome everybody back into Nerd Sash as always, I'm Carson Breber,
and alongside me is Logan Camden, and you already know
the drill. We've got two game twos to talk about today.
They were both phenomenal, but one Logan stood above the other,
and that was the Los Angeles Clippers getting a huge
(00:44):
win over the Denver Nuggets to even up that series,
a series which I'm gonna say at this point is
on like a best first round series of all time
kind of trajectory, just like unbelievably wired to wire competitive
basketball in both these games, so high quality stuff, and
it ends up being Kawhi Leonard Logan who carries the
(01:05):
Clippers through thirty nine points with four missed shots from
the field. It is the seventh most efficient thirty five
point playoff game ever in terms of true shooting percentage,
and of course he hits the dagger to put the
Clippers up one oh five one oh two and hold
on to win this game. As somebody Logan who has
(01:27):
been a Clippers doubter and who has denied that Kawhi
would even be healthy for this playoff run. What do
you have to say for yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, of course you had to be on some hater
shit to start us out.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I know. Yeah, you are the one who's been on
hater shit with the Clippers all year.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, but you gotta bring it up, dude.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
This is one of the best basketball games I've ever
seen a person play in the playoffs. Kawhi was unstoppable tonight.
I ain't got nothing bad to say, bro, Like we're here.
I never doubted that Kawhi could play it this good.
I doubted that it was gonna be here. Like I'm
I'm in disbelief. This guy looks unstoppable. He was the
basketball terminator tonight, and he was the best player on
(02:02):
the court. That was the difference to me. The Nuggets
could have won this game. I thought that the way
the supporting piece is played, with what you got out
of MPJ tonight, what you got out of Westbrook, how
they collectively rebounded and hustled, how Jamal played, I thought
the Nuggets very well could have won this game, and in.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
My opinion, needed to.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
I just think all these games in this series are
going to be super crucial, and to lose this one
in crunch time like this, I thought it was a
very uncharacteristically poor Yokic performance. Yes, in the clutch man
seven turnovers, I thought he just had some really bad
uncharacteristics the right word man, just like careless turnovers and
(02:46):
careless moments in this game where I was scratching my head.
He struggled from the free throw line, and I thought
Harden played below his expectations. I thought you got an
incomplete game out of Norman Powell in so Oh. I
just thought this was a very winnable game, and I'm
kind of disappointed at Yokichen what we got out of him.
Down to stretch man, I thought the Nuggets had this
(03:08):
one in their hands and in their grasp, but Kawhi
put them over to finish line man. Kawhi was not
going to be denied tonight. Kawhi was the best player
on the court in like No Lie. Like that is
one of the best playoff performances I've ever seen by
any player ever.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
It's one of the best scoring performances, especially like this.
Dude shot fifteen of nineteen from the field, and I
believe he had a one field goal attempt that was
not a jump shot. He had one attempt at the rim,
so he was fourteen of eighteen on jumpers. That is
so stupid. Actually, I think he might have been fourteen
(03:46):
to seventeen because he missed a layup, So, like, what
do you even do with that? Man? He is cooking
Jamal Murray early in this game, but he's destroying everybody
in single coverage, like it really doesn't matter. There is
nobody who is physical enough on the planet, nobody who
is strong enough to knock him off his spots, nobody
(04:07):
who can speed him up in single coverage, and then
he's just gonna rise up and shoot over top of
you and Logan. I don't know how many times I've
given this spiel about Kawhi Leonard over the years, but
he's one of the greatest playoff scorers that we have
ever seen. I recited these numbers so many times, but
from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty three in the playoffs,
Kawhi gave you thirty points per game on almost sixty
(04:29):
four percent true shooting. That is counting numerous deep playoff runs,
and the consistency year to year is honestly unmatched among
all playoff scorers in that time period. I would say
that Jokic is the guy who makes the best case
in terms of a scoring resume up against that. But
when you can't speed a guy up, when he is
(04:50):
always going to be stronger than you, and in a
playoff environment, that is such an advantage, when they allow
more physicality, when he is so precise with his handle,
and when he is that big and that insane as
a jump shooter, like there's just nothing you can do.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
So he's just marching guys down to his spots and
yet rising above him like it's it's actually unstoppable.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Zero wasted movement and one of the most efficient scores
that we've ever seen, one of the most unaffectable scores
that we have ever seen in this game. So when
he gets in that mode, like you literally just have
to double every possession. I'm not just talking blitz him
out of pick and roll, that's obvious. I'm saying, if
he is looking at a dude in isolation, you double,
(05:32):
and you force him to make a decision, and you
leave Chris done and you force the Clippers to beat
you with a four on three because like, I'm just
not letting a dude who is shooting eighty percent from
the field continue to get whatever he wants against me.
And honestly, if I'm the Clippers, like I don't think
you need to have Kawhi running much pick and roll
because you just make it easier for Denver to bring
(05:53):
that second defender into the action and pressure him and
send two at him, like let him cook an isolation
because he's getting whatever he wants every time down. But
I gotta say, man, the fact that they let him
get a one on one look, even though it's against
Aaron Gordon on that possession where he doesn't ice this game,
but he scores the final bucket of the game, I
(06:14):
just would have done anything to force the ball out
of his hands. I'm sending two defenders at him, like
you cannot let him be the one to put you
away as a score. Because he struggled again with the
double teams and the blitzes in this game. It maybe
wasn't as bad in the first game when he had
seven turnovers, but still he's uncomfortable at times against those looks,
and I thought that it was a mistake to let
(06:35):
him put them away and that's exactly what he did. Man.
It's truly one of the great scoring performances that we've
seen in the playoffs. And I agree with what you
said about Jokic. This just was one of the sloppiest
games that I've seen from him in a high stakes
moment like this in the postseason. The three ball was
money for him, and that was huge. We've talked about
(06:56):
how key that's gonna be in this series for him,
right pulling Zoo out into space, not feeling like he
has the sort of normal advantage that he does out
of the post, because Zoo was the best Jokic defender
there is, so he's inclined to play more from the perimeter.
They're gonna give him some of those pick and pop looks,
and like he was hitting those, but honestly, that was
the only thing that was really going at peak Jokic level.
(07:18):
I thought his decision making was bad. There are a
number of turnovers of which he had seven that are
just like really inexcusable decisions, and you just have a
couple of mental errors, like after he got the offensive rebound,
forcing that shot up, not understanding the shot clock, like
that's so uncharacteristic for Jokic that was costly.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Though.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
I just didn't like a lot of Denver's late game
execution in this one. I mean MPJ coughing up the
rock in transition and then that leads to a three
ball that they give up, and Yeah, before I forget,
I just wanted to say, dude, on the final possession,
I don't know how you felt. The fact that the
Nuggets got up two shots and Jamal Murray didn't take
either of them really just didn't sit well with me.
(08:02):
Man Like, to me, he has earned the respect and
he has the I think Jamal Murray is just one
of those clutch guys that in the in the big
spots of games, I want him. I don't think Brown
should have shot the ball, man Like, I get that
it's open and it's in rhythm, but I just would
have rather Yeah, he got.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
The rhythm, I mean he passed up the initial open it.
This was kind of fake.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
He was off balance at the top of the key.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I just didn't and they end up getting it back
and Jokic has an attempt, But I just wanted Jamal
to get one of those shots. Man. I think it
was a lot of Again, Man, I think Denver just
had a lot of mistakes, man, that just weren't liked
them in this game.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Definitely. They wanted to go fast, obviously, and Brown felt
like he had a shot, but you see the hesitation
with him that has been a thing in his entire
career with his three point shot, and he ends up
taking a tougher look than the one that he could
have had initially. But I do put a lot of
this on Jokic, man, because I think a lot of
the dudes around him did their jobs to win this game.
I thought that Jamal didn't have it going in the
(09:05):
fourth quarter, but still had a really productive scoring game
overall and was nails as a pull up shooter. Michael
Porter Junior did a complete one point eighty from his
Game one performance where his effort was apathetic. They closed
with him off the floor. He has fifteen rebounds. I
bet you that's a playoff career high for Michael Porter Junior.
He had six offensive rebounds, so he goes from being
(09:27):
the lowest effort guy on the floor to the guy
who's attacking the glass most aggressively, and that's a huge
advantage for Denver in this matchup. We obviously saw that
really decide Game one down the stretch, and then they
again cleaned up on the offensive last they were plus
eight there. So he did his job. He was efficient
as a shooter as well. Russell Westbrook, God bless him.
Dude knocks down those two huge corner threes. That's all
(09:51):
he has to do, man Like, if he doesn't hit
those shots, the Nuggets are literally playing four on five offensively,
because they will send two to the ball on every
pick and roll. They'll send to you at Jamal, they'll
surprise double Jokic like, they will just attack the Nuggets'
best players to leave Russell Westbrook wide open in the corner.
(10:12):
But he made both of those shots and then he
attacks the clothes out on the next possession. So like
he did his job in those minutes. It's just some
of the decision making from Jokic, some of the turnovers,
like he forced a lob to Peyton Watson when he
had a mismatch that was just way off target. There
were a couple times where he spun into a surprise
double and he turned it over. Then there were a
(10:34):
number of times where I just wanted him to be
more aggressive as a scorer, like I think when Iviza
zubats is not on the floor, Jokic has to be
a killer as a scorer. Man, Because I thought that
the Clippers were gonna play a backup center. I thought
they played Drew Eubanks in this series, and I'm very
glad for their sake that they haven't, because Ben Simmons
(10:55):
is a way better basketball player and like Jokic isn't
trying to attack their lack of size. Not that Drew
Banks would really make a difference, Like, I think they're
right to play Simmons no matter what. It's just in
the regular season they consistently played a backup center in
the non zoom minutes. But Jokic walked Ben Simmons to
the rim on one possession and did not look to
score other than that, except he got one mismatch on
(11:16):
a post up and basically flopped and drew a foul.
But like he has to go. He has to really
punish them for being small in those minutes. But it's
the last possession too, man. I mean, there's just a
few spots where you feel like he doesn't really have
a great sense of the spacing around him. Just a
little bit chaotic, just a little out of control and
basically throws the ball away and then he's also bad
(11:39):
from the line as you mentioned. So if Yokic plays
his best game, if Yokic plays a normal game of his,
Denver wins because the dudes around him all played pretty
darn well and he was just uncharacteristically sloppy.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
I mean, that's the exact point that I was going
to get to. Man, Is it like that's what makes
this Denver loss so disappointed? I think is every other
factor I feel like for Denver went right in this game.
I felt like Jamal Murray pulled his weight, MPJ, as
you said, did his job. Aaron Gordon could have played
a little bit better offensively, admittedly, but God's yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I thought did his job tonight.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
And like some of the other role players, like I
thought this was a good game from Peyton Watson and
we got some good Jalen Picket minutes like Westbrook was good.
Jokich is the reason, uh, I feel like Denver didn't
get this one done. Man. Like you know, obviously Jokic
has a great game by like normal standards, but by
Jokic standards, if we're holding him to his standard, I
(12:38):
felt like this was a pretty bad Yokic game and
I didn't feel like the Clippers do their best punch either.
I'm still waiting for the Clippers to have a really
good shooting night, Like Norman Powell has yet to really
put a game together end to end. Bogdanovich has yet
to really shoot well.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
In this series.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Like, I feel like I'm waiting for the Clippers to
play better too, and the Nuggets leave this one in
the balance. I think this one's gonna go seven. Man,
this is my favorite series so far, Dude, I think
that and I gotta admit it too. We got a
super check Carson talking about Kawhi be and one of
the best in the world. Look, I'm not gonna lie,
(13:17):
Like the level the Kawhi has been at is a
top ten level, Like I can't deny that. Like, it's
only the health with Kawhi that's only been the thing.
And the level that he's at is he's there. I
don't have to question that, man, And it's got to
be scary. Like the Clippers are a real deal contender.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Man.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
I feel like whoever comes out of this series is
gonna be hell to deal with, man, because they are
gonna be battle tested.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
I agree, dude. I mean, Denver looking like a more
serious defensive team. That's obviously been the battle that they
have been fighting all year. Well, they haven't really been
trying that hard, but now these last couple of games,
they've picked up their level to where they're at least
a respectable defense. And then I've just been really high
on the healthy Clippers, and I think we got to
start talking about Kawhi and James Harden as a top
(14:04):
five duo in basketball logan. I mean, we did that
list a few months ago. I'm just happy that I
had them on there because at the time, I mean,
Kawhi had just come back, and it was kind of
a bet on him reaching the level that he has
now because I'm a huge Kawhi believer. I just think
he's so so special, especially in these playoff environments. But
James Harden's been playing like a top twenty ish player
(14:24):
for several months. Even though this was he didn't have
his best game, but he still was very solid, exactly
still creating good offense out of pick and roll. I
still think him and Zoo such a potent duo, and like,
you got to give props to Zoo for his play
making off the short role. I thought the Nuggets did
a nice job of blowing up a couple plays, making
a couple of catches difficult for Zoo, intercepting a pacc
(14:48):
that he tried to make off the short role. But like, overall,
he's so dependable. He is and some really impressive hook
touch shot making in this one where he's just so actual.
He really is a phenomenal third player for them. But
it's that duo man, Like, if I were to ask
you right now, do you want Jason Tatum and Jalen
Brown to start your team from scratch? Or do you
(15:10):
want Kawhi and Harden? Likes it for a game? You're
saying for a playoff, Yeah, I would hear.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
I would hear you for Kawhi and Harden.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
I think the level of consistency that you get from
Kawhi is just so different, manwhy's.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
Dude you said it earlier?
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Bro, He's so efficient, Like he doesn't waste time, he
doesn't waste if he's got the ball in his hands,
Like he's just decisive and he's unstoppable. It's crazy, bro,
Like he's so damn good when available.
Speaker 3 (15:44):
He is one of the greatest players, would.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Like top six, top seven.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Like to me, it's like him and Lebron is what
I'm debating between or like him in a steff, I
think is like the line where I'm drawing with Kawhi.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Like Pete, you're saying in the right now, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
I'm saying that's about the line that I'm drawing.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
I still think I'm I still think I'm probably taking
both of those guys, though.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Yeah, it's tricky because, like I do think that Kawhi
is not the player that he was a couple of
years ago, right. I think he still has his really
high moments defensively, and he's certainly a plus there overall,
but not a dominant defensive player, not getting to the
rim or the line at the same rate. So for
those reasons, I would say that, like he's in that
(16:32):
top twelve group that is locked, right, because I just
think that there's twelve dudes who are playing at a
top ten level. I would say that top six or
seven that's probably a little bit high, like the level
STEP's been playing at. The level I think Anthony Davis
is at as a two way force one fully healthy.
I guess see in him close back on that it's close.
It is close. I mean he's in all those conversations,
(16:53):
and like when it comes to just playoff scoring outside
of Jokic, Shay, I don't know if I can take
anybody over Kawhi Leonard just as a pure playoff score
like Luka is obviously going to make his case, but
he hasn't been consistently at his best as a scorer
(17:14):
this year. The dude is just an absolute machine. He
is so dependably productive and so dependably efficient. So he's
the hero of this game. Obviously, he's the leading man
for the Clippers. The other dude who I need to
shout out as Chris Dunman because what a fucking defensive
game he played. He is so phenomenal, not just as
(17:35):
a point of attack guy, but where I thought you
really felt his impact in this game is as a
free safety, I mean, just blowing shit up on the
back end, surprise doubles on yo Kic, making plays as
the low man when Yokic is trying to spot cutters,
like just shrinking the floor and being destructive and being
unpredictable as a defensive weapon. He's really really good And
(17:58):
I know that you were talking about the offensive issues
in game one, and you saw them again in this one, right.
I mean, he is a guy who the Nugget should
be very very comfortable roaming off of. And I still
think he's worth having on the floor. I'd hear the
case for Nick Patum closing over him because Batum is
so good. But I thought Chris Dunn was a clear
positive in this game even with his major offensive issues,
(18:21):
because he made so many huge defensive plays.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
I tend to agree.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I mean, he's still a liability offensively, but you got crazy,
stupendous defensive play.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Making from Done in this game. And what I like too, man.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Is like little stuff like the timing of when he's
blitzing Jokic at the free throw line and stuff like that, Like.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
He's just so smart.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
It's hard that you can't teach defensive instincts like Dunn has,
and the Clippers have a lot of good defenders. Man.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
That's what I like about all the Clippers role players.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
You know, there are distinct archetypes, but they're all really
really valuable.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
You know, even if it is Ben Simmons or Chris Dunn, And.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
While their liabilities offensively, they still have decent playmaking instincts
offensively even though their tendency isn't to shoot, and then
they're really impactful defensively. And then you know the shooters
that they have, Norman Powell and bogged On Bogdanovich. Like again,
I'm still waiting on those guys to really shoot consistently.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Well.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
I get Powell gets it going late, I still think
he can play way better.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Both of these teams are really.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Terrifying at full health. Man, I'm I'm really impressed. I'm
really impressed at.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
The level that both of these teams are at in
this series.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Man, And it's never Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
I can't get a read on it, man, on what
I think the rest of this series is going to
play out like, Because it's so neck and neck, it's
so close between both of these teams.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
I would bet that this goes seven. I think that
Jokic can be better in all of the areas that
we laid out, more aggressive, especially when Zoo is off
the floor. Just has to make better decisions, take better
care of the basketball. Twenty turnovers for the Nugget in
this one just absolutely killed them, as it did for
the Clippers in Game one, and a lot of that
(20:05):
was on Kawhi. He had seven turnovers in that game.
I think you feel good about the fact that MPJ
is engaged again. If you're the Nuggets, I think you
feel really good about the level that Aaron Gordon has
been at because he was so great in Game one
and was still really solid in this one. I think
both teams honestly should just be feeling good about the
basketball that they're playing. I think that James Harden is
(20:29):
capable of having more big performances that are closer to
Game one than Game two, because I truly do not
think the Nuggets can stay in front of him greed
and so I just think his scoring ceiling is a
lot higher than what he showed in this one, and
his finishing was great in Game one. He misses a
layup in this one, but the floaters going the three
(20:51):
ball is mostly.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Going to stay aggressive man like in attack mode because
when he is like he's he's hard to stop. I
don't think the Nuggets have a good answer for him
on ball.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
They do not.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
The one guy for the Clippers who really hasn't played
up to his potential is Norman Powell, who made a
couple big shots in the fourth quarter of this one,
but just his decision making has been pretty suspect. I
thought it was worse in Game one. But he has
some really dynamic offensive potential as an off ball scorer
that I don't think we've really seen fully unlocked. But
(21:25):
they've just got a nice rotation.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Man.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
I mean, Batouma is still giving you phenomenal minutes good
defensive performance in this one, he hits another no dip three.
Bogie's the other guy who really hasn't played very well,
Like he's not making shots and he's a target defensively.
But I feel the same way that I did coming
into this series, which is that it's just a little
(21:47):
bit harder for the Nuggets to slow down the Clippers
than vice versa. That margin has shrunk even a little
from where it was before the series to me, because
the Nuggets have just been more engaged. I think this
has been some of the better defense that we've seen
from them. But I still think that the Clippers have
the higher two way ceiling and that's gonna be the
(22:08):
reason that I think they narrowly get through this series.
But I say it's on a best first round trajectory
that we've seen, like it's there, man, they keep this up.
You think Nick Sixers last year. You think MAVs Clippers
in twenty twenty one that was absolutely electric. You think,
of course, Bulls Celtics in two thousand and nine, You
(22:29):
think clip Spurs in twenty fifteen. Those are like the
first handful that come to mind for me. But just
the quality of basketball and how tight these first two
games have been, and just the stars on the floor, man,
Kawhi and Hardin and Jokic all playing at such a
high level. It's really really phenomenal stuff to watch. We've
(22:49):
got another super chat, this one from Stringer flopping in
the NBA is hiring first Brunson now yoke. I think
we'll get to the Brunson talk. This was a nasty
shelling from him. Jokic also just throwing his body around
in this one. I mean, definitely trying to elicit calls.
I wouldn't put them in the same category because what
(23:11):
I would say is Jokic is just emphasizing contact. He
is dramatizing contact so that officials see it. Brunson is
going out of his way to create contact that is illegitimate,
that is unnatural in terms of being a actual shot
attempt a natural basketball motion that to me is more problematic.
(23:32):
Both of them are flopping. One of them is really
really foul grifting, though, and that's Bronson.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
I'm okay with it.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Like when a guy pump fakes and gets a dude
off his feet or something like that, and if he
gets into where he was going to jump into, I know,
I don't like.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I don't ever like when a guy is just jumping
into someone or.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Like one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
The difference is like when it's super deliberate.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Honestly, the worst offender to me that come to mind
is like Reeves.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Austin Reeves is the first.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Guy that I always think of about doing it, and.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Then Trey Young, And my argument is always.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
If he's in that top tier man he is.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
If you want them to stop doing it, then the
ref just have to stop awarding the players for playing
like that. Then guys will stop doing it. Like then
you just let them turn the ball over and then
they can complain about it, but they'll learn. Like I
just don't think you should reward that style of play.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
I completely agree. The official said years ago that they
were gonna stop rewarding those sort of unnatural launch angles
by offensive players and they haven't done that obviously, So
I just thought that sucked. I couldn't agree with you
more man Like, if you pump fake a dude and
he jumps into your landing space, that is obviously a foul.
(24:52):
That's good crafty basketball. When you pump fake a dude
and then you lean and jump forward into his space,
that is not a defensive foul, and we have to
stop calling that a defensive foul. And Brunson got two
big ones of those in the fourth quarter. So sometimes
I think like the foul baiting narrative is overplayed when
(25:16):
people complain about it, But listen, it's certainly more prevalent
in today's NBA than it ever has been before. And
Brunson is like truly one of the nastiest grifters that
there is, and this was a really nasty performance from
him on that front. And we'll talk about that after
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Slash audio.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
Nick's Pistons logan. This is another series that has a
vibe to it that I'm really enjoying. It's nasty, it's gritty,
it's tough, and the Detroit Pistons went out there and
they even things up, just like the Clippers. So we
got both these series sitting at a game a piece.
This was a bounce back performance from Caid Cunningham. Logan
(28:05):
struggled in game one, comes out in this one, puts
up thirty three points, goes eleven of twenty one from
the field. What did you think made the difference for him,
and how huge was that for Detroit in this one
and potentially going forward.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
I mean, I thought Cade was the difference in this game.
I thought he was the best player on the court.
And I feel bad for doubting if Caid's game was
gonna scale to the playoffs. I mean Caid was clanging
and banging in this game. I mean just going through
the chest repeatedly of bridges of heart, attacking downhill, dominating
(28:41):
in transition, consistently staying aggressive. And I really thought he
weaponized his strength well and then he was killing him
with his pull up shooting in his intermediate game. I
liked how he adjusted to Ojan Andobi guarding him on
ball as well. I thought he was trying to beat
him more with deception and quickness and speed in this game,
(29:03):
and he did beat him with his strength as well too.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
And that's why Cad is just one.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Of the premier building blocks in the NFL, in the NFL,
in the NBA.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Man in the league Lab could be man six to seven,
big dude.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
I don't know, man, if you throw him out there
wide out, but he's he's just gonna keep getting stronger.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Man and He's brilliant.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
He's got such great feel, he's a plus defender, and
he was so impactful on the glass in this game.
But he was way more poised in this game than
Game one, and he's only going to get more comfortable.
He's got such a promising future. I'm so excited for Detroit.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
That they got their guy. But I've got more points
to talk about.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
But Caid was the best player on the court in
this game, man, And I'm just so impressed, dude. I
couldn't be happier with the level that we've gotten out
of Caid and the level that we've gotten at a
polo early in these Man, I'm so impressed with these
young guys.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
It was a much improved performance from Cade, and that
wasn't a coincidence. I thought that he and the Pistons
made a number of adjustments that made life easier on
him offensively, because in game one, where did he really
struggle Kat consistently coming up to the level him seeing
two defenders these aggressive pick and roll coverages out of
(30:24):
a lot of stagnant pick and rolls. He was turning
the ball over. He looked uncomfortable, he looked out of
his element. And then he was struggling to really beat
Og one on one because Og is an excellent man
defender and Kate doesn't have the strength advantage against Og
that he's used to. So it was those couple of
areas in which he really struggled. And I thought that
(30:47):
the Pistons and Cad approached this game in a way
that minimized how much he had to deal with those
couple of things, and like just created easy opportunities for
him elsewhere. Like you especially saw this in the first half.
They have a number of handoffs that flow into pick
and roll, so you can get Kad a running start
versus Og. So now he's already headed downhill and you
(31:09):
have an advantage, just easier for him to create separation
to get a step when you give him that head start. Also,
so many guards setting screens for him, especially Jalen Brunson's man,
which is just good process. Man involved Jalen Brunson in
the action because they can't switch that or they don't
(31:30):
want to a vast majority of the time at least
because that's barbecue chicken for KD. So Brunson is like showing,
but he's not really getting a body on cade, right,
he's just like showing so briefly and then he's running
out to make sure that the guard who screen doesn't
get an open three off the pot. But like nobody's
really in front of Cad initially after the screen, so
(31:52):
he's able to get a pretty good runway into some
pull up jumpers. That was easier offense for him if
he had a guard screen for him, and then he
got the Josh Hart or the mckel bridges switch. He
was aggressive working in isolation against those guys who he
does have a size and strength advantage against, and he
was successful in doing so. And maybe the biggest thing
(32:13):
man playing fast. He had ten transition points in this game.
That's his most in a game in the last month
and a half. So you're not facing a set defense
that is fully engineered to stop you, that is more
worried about you than anybody else. You're getting those opportunities
in the full court, clean spacing with the head of steam.
(32:34):
And so I just thought he was able to hunt
much easier offense. It's not like he suddenly just was
able to cook og one on one. You mentioned the
deception stuff. I did think he did a nice job
of setting him up a couple of times, rejecting screens
like it was a really crafty game from kid. But
for the most part, like it's just finding the easier opportunities.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Man.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
What I always say is you don't get style points,
the tough ones don't count for more like find easy
offense where you can in the NBA, and I thought, Man,
I think did a significantly better job of that in
this one.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
I think long term, I'm just I'm excited, like he's
so strong already, and I just don't think there are
gonna be many guys in the NBA that are gonna
be able to deal with Cade one on one specifically,
what I like, not to the level of Paolo, And
that's why I prefer I think building around Paolo long term,
because he's even more of a physical freak, but very
(33:26):
much so in the fact that he's gonna be stronger
than a lot of guys garden him, even those like
good defensive wings that are thinner like a macal Bridges,
but he's gonna be faster than a lot of guys
on ball too. And a lot of these lineups though,
like you're talking about with Jaylen Brunson, if you've got
a small guard and that's the matchup that Cage's drawing,
or if you can get that switch like it's just
(33:47):
something he can attack every time, and he's not a
weak point on defense.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
Like I just I'm so excited about Kate long term. Man.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
I'm I'm so excited the trajectory that he's on and
how far along he already is, and how impactful he
is in winning basketball games at such a young age man,
and the fact that Detroit has just put good basketball
players around him and the difference that it really has made.
I also do want to give credit to Detroit's defense
(34:19):
in this game, though I think the Caid played a
really great game.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
I think that he was the best player on the floor.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
But I thought the Pistons really made life difficult on
New York in this game, and specifically dominated the glass.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
They win the defensive they win the.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Rebounding battle forty eight to thirty four total. But during
Cad Tobias Harris, all of them I thought put in work.
They were winning the hustle and energy plays, and I
was a little bit confused.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Carson.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
I thought the Knicks should have played more Mitchell Robinson, man,
I didn't really get that you only get twenty minutes.
I don't know when they're beating you so physically, and
this is a game where Detroit does don't even have
Isaiah Stewart out there, So I just thought that, I
don't know, man play more Mitchell Robinson, move Kat.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
To the four.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Like, I just thought they could have used a more
physical presence, a guy that can set the tone and
be a little a little bit more physical down there.
And I was disappointed with the Knicks offensively too, but
I think you got to give credit to Detroit and
how hard they played.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
On that end.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
Also, the one complaint I have for Detroit and the
the one maybe it's an X factor for Detroit, and
I think it is. It's probably the biggest difference maker
is just going to be their ability to close out
these games. New York goes on a twelve to two
run in the fourth quarter for four minutes and the
Pistons offense just out last New York. We touched on
(35:47):
this briefly last episode about this game. But I think
the guy that's gonna make this difference is Dennis Schroeder.
I think he is probably gonna be the difference maker.
He has nine fourth quarter points. He has two fourth
quarter three and he's got a super clutch three in
this one, And the Knicks could have very easily won
this game as well. Bridges and Brunton missed some open
(36:08):
clutch threes.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
But while I.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
Mentioned that too, Malie Beasley also misses an open corner three.
But the Pistons played better ball, you know, through three quarters,
and I thought they did last game too. I mean
the scoreboard said so as well. It's just gonna be
who can execute more in these higher leverage moments. I
thought the Knicks let him off the hook in this one.
I thought Brunson could have been a little bit better.
(36:32):
I was disappointed with kat. Kat does not attempt a
field goal in the fourth quarter. He gives you ten points.
Bridges goes oh four in the fourth quarter, So I
thought the Knicks could have executed better. Brunson has six
turnovers on the game. I thought he could have protected
the ball a little bit better. But who's gonna be
able to execute better offensively in these clutch moments. I'm
(36:55):
looking to Dennis Schroeder if I'm Detroit, and I think
there's a lot to I think there's a lot to
look better in the rest of the series.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
For the Knicks offense, I'm kind of just like, why
am I not looking to Kid Cunningham. I thought Detroit's
clutch offensive process was super weird, man, Like, especially once
it gets back to being a really close game in
the last couple minutes, the two possessions before Shrewder hits
that big three, why is the ball not in Kate's hands,
(37:26):
Like og is denying him off ball. But if Kid
really wants to, he can go get that ball. Like,
I just think those are his plays. Man, That's where
you need your best player to go out there and
be dictating, and he didn't really seem to want to.
And then on the possession that led to there's the
(37:46):
Shrewder possession, and then you have the possession where Cad
draws two, makes the right play fine Shrewder, and then
he finds Beasley for a wide open three, which Beasley missed.
But like, that was a good kid possession. He made
the right decision, he had the ball in his hands.
But I just want him to be aggressive in those spots,
and like, I'm a little bit nervous when the ball
(38:07):
is out of his hands and Shrewder is definitely the
most capable guy to step up, but I still would
just rather that be Kate Cunningham. So that was kind
of my nitpick of this kid performance. Also, still five turnovers,
didn't take great care of the basketball in the first half,
but like, just step up, man, this is your moment.
There's a reason that you're entrusted with so much offensive responsibility,
(38:27):
and I felt like he kind of shoed away from
that and the Pistons got away with it. Shrewder made
a big shot, but it was very dicey there.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Well, I mean, in you know, Kate is the reason
that they were in the spot that they were in.
But I agree with you, he's got to step up
and take him across the finish line and not.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Not be afraid.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Also, the Pistons have got to shoot better, and they've
got to help Kate out and relieve some of this
pressure on him by shooting better. I thought the Knicks
did a good job of trying to take away some
of those shots, but easily going one of eight. You know,
I just think you need guys a round k to
to help him out and shoot a little bit better.
But this was the classic Detroit recipe. Man, it was defense,
(39:09):
muddy the water, make it nasty, make it gritty. I
thought they out gritted New York and out physical to them.
I thought this was a you know, Detroit's identity I
thought was on full display in this one man, and
they they imposed their will on New York in this
game like they was. They They're playing some East Coast
basketball in this one man, really physical, really nasty, and.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Playing some Detroit Pistons basketball man for real and Greatstons
teams we've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
I'm happy for the Pistons as well.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Man, this snap's a fifteen game drought, the longest I
think in the NBA, but a seventeen year playoff drought. Man,
they hadn't won a playoff game since eight.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
Believe it or not. Andre Drummond is not getting you
the bro.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
You're talking Mark Sanchez like, yeah, Seattle Mariners territory.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Man, you don't want to be there.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
No, you do not want to be there. I did
think the shooting was bad for sure, thhj Elik easily
going one to fourteen combined his brutal but like Shrewder
did step up. He made some perimeter shots. He was
able to consistently get penetration and like they needed his
twenty points in this game. Tobias Harris another productive day
as a scorer and on the glass, And I thought
(40:20):
Jalen Duran was really good, I mean phenomenal on the glass.
And I thought that offensive rebounding advantage was huge for
Detroit in this one. Yeah, and then also protected the
grim really well.
Speaker 1 (40:31):
He had that clutch roll to the hoop, where like
if they don't play the I thought Og didn't play
that coverage right. I thought he should have tagged the
role man instead of going with the ball handler because
they were they were switching well, and I'm like, there's
nobody on the backside who can blow that up except
for you.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
So I thought that was a mistake on his part
in the clutch. But Durn's you know, he's.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Solid and when he can be impactful as a rim
protector and as a rebounder at such a high level,
even though he's just a simple play finisher, you gotta
have you gotta be there because if you're not, if
you just leave him open, he's gonna.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Make you pay. Man.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
He's impressive too for being as young as he is.
Speaker 3 (41:08):
Yeah, And he's got a little passing feel as well.
This has been a good showing from him so far
in this series. I think he's improved defensively this season overall.
And the other dude who I think deserves a shout
out for his defensive performance is a Sar Thompson, man
who I thought was given Jalen Brunson fits was getting
in his head. And I said, coming into this series,
like he has the exact profile of the ideal Brunson defender.
(41:30):
You want the guy who was bigger, more athletic, longer
but still super quick can stick with him. Like those
are the guys who can just force Brunson into really
really difficult shot diets. And I thought he was doing that.
It's a bummer that he fouls out of this game
because I thought a couple of the calls I didn't love.
I mean the one after the inbound where I don't know,
(41:52):
I thought Brunson was hooking his arm and then obviously
he fouls out on Brunson jumping into him. That was
just nasty work. But like a Sar is really well
equipped for this matchup.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Also, his cheeky man, he's cheeky.
Speaker 1 (42:03):
I didn't like when he he definitely hooked the hell
out of the Sar's arm.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Man, that was I'd be I'd be a little hot
if I was a SAR.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
And then he threw up the six when he fouled
him out. I was like, all right, bro, is this
really a flex Like you're doing whatever it tastes to
get this dude out of the game because he's giving
you fits.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
I mean, and they lost, so they'd end up losing.
Speaker 3 (42:25):
I did not think this was a very good Jalen
Brunson game, even though he got his numbers. Like, it's
not that it was unethical, because like that's annoying. I mean,
it doesn't affect the performance.
Speaker 2 (42:36):
I'm more disappointed in Cat and Bridges in this game. Though.
Speaker 3 (42:40):
Here's the thing, Man, Brunson iced everyone out of this game. Like,
I don't know how much blame to put on Cat
for not being more aggressive, which I thought he absolutely
should have been. At the same time, Brunson is playing
extremely selfish basketball. There's a couple of times where he
just missed Cat wide open off the and the six
(43:01):
turnovers were ugly. Man and Jalen Brunson is normally a
very low turnover player, but he's trying to at times
force the handle when he's got two on him, or
he's driving into traffic with his head down and he's
getting tied up, or he's losing the ball in those spots.
So he had his great stretch in the fourth quarter
where like he got them back into the game because
(43:23):
he makes four straight shots, he draws two fouls, and
then he finds Josh Hart off the double team. That
was a really really great brunts and stretch, But overall
he wasn't efficient individually. The team offense wasn't efficient, and
like nobody else got involved in the half court because
Brunson really wouldn't let them, and the Pistons did a
(43:44):
good job on him, like Asar was doing a really
good job before he fouled out. But just overall, like
they have the sort of length and they have the
athletes they give Brunson trouble. Shrewder is a really good
brunts and defender. It was just a weird game from him.
It felt like an I don't trust my teammate kind
of game, and it felt like he was trying to
prove something at times and just like force his way through.
(44:06):
I just thought it wasn't a good offensive approach for
the Knicks in this game, and I do put some
of that on Brunson, even though he was the guy
who was productive as a scorer. Kat, it's just frustrating
that he wasn't more involved. And again, like I don't
know exactly how much blame to put on who for that,
but he's got zero points on zero three shooting in
(44:27):
the second half, and it's just so peculiar because I
thought he was phenomenal offensively for the first game and
a half of this series. Because their gardening with Tobias
Harris Man, I mean, they want Duran on heart so
he can row him off and he can be consistently
a presence in the paint. And Kat has obviously big
physical advantages over Tobias Harris and he was getting buckets. Now,
(44:50):
some of them are like tough runners and whatnot, but
Cat's pretty damn good at those shots. I felt like
he was under control. I thought that he was doing
exact catching the ball pretty deep, right. It's not those
Cat ISOs where it's oh, let me catch the ball
at the three point line and I'm gonna dribble eight
ten times, and then things can start to get out
of control. It's like, no, I'm gonna catch the ball
(45:12):
within twelve fifteen feet. I'm gonna get to one of
my bread and butter moves if it's the runner. He
had a possession of this game where he literally just
walked Harris down four dribbles into an easy little post hook,
Like I love those shots for Kat, and you have
to punish them for putting Tobias Harris on you, and
he just totally stopped. So I was disappointed. I was
absolutely disappointed in Cat. They need more out of him
(45:33):
and they have to figure that out collectively going forward.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
Well that's the point to me. Don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
I think Brunson's a better player than Karl Anthony Towns.
But Towns is the guy that can exert his physical
advantages over other players on Detroit more easily, right than
you better matchup exactly. You would understand why Brunson would
struggle in a matchup like this where he's going up
against the Nasar Thompson, where he's going up against the
(45:58):
Cad Cunningham. This is gonna be hard series for him.
So that's why I am more disappointed in Cat. It's like,
Cat is the guy that has not the easier job,
but the chance to abuse his mismatch more easily. I
don't think Tobias Harris can hold him. I think that
if they keep putting him on there, I'm feeding him
the rock and I'm playing off of that, and I'm
(46:19):
gonna and again, I think the Detroit defense did a
good job overall that, Like in general, they just they
played a really good game and they dominated the glass
and I think that was a massive difference in this
game too. Where again, I don't know if that's Mitchell Robinson.
I don't know if that's anenobian. Bridges just need to
be better there. I'm probably going more Mitchell Robinson for sure.
They have to be better on the glass. But Cat's
(46:42):
got to be better, man. He's the X factor to me.
He's the guy that can make the difference for the
Knicks in this series. I know what I'm gonna get
out of Brunson, and he might be a little bit inefficient,
he might turn the ball over. He's gonna give me
the volume scoring. I need Kat to need Kat to
pull his weight, man, And I like I've turned a
corner on Man. I'm rooting for Cat and so I'm
just a little bit disappointed after this game.
Speaker 3 (47:04):
Yeah, it's a disappointing performance from the Knicks overall, like
from basically everybody. I think the positive takeaway is you
have these weird games from both of your stars. You
shoot twenty eight percent from three, and still at the
end of this like you had the shots to steal
this game. Michel gets a great look from three to
(47:25):
tie it, and he had another great look in transition
a minute or two before that, and then like, even
when they're down four and they're not in a great
position to win the game, but Brunson gets a wide
open three off the ato and just misses. So I
do think they have more margin. I do think they
have more offensive talent. I do think that they're the
better team, and I do think that their stars can
(47:47):
play better going forward. So like, I wouldn't be ringing
the panic alarm here if I'm the Knicks. But it's
definitely big for Detroit to steal a game. It's definitely
big for Cad to look more comfortable. Cad wasn't impactful
as a playmaker as he often is. It felt like
he honestly wasn't really that fell facilities deliberate.
Speaker 1 (48:06):
That felt deliberate by the Knicks, though, and that also
felt deliberate by.
Speaker 3 (48:10):
K uh huh. Yeah, yeah, so we'll see. I do
still trust Brunson to produce more in this matchup than Cade,
and I do think that Kat has a favorable matchup.
He just has to maximize it, and like they have
to be comfortable giving him more than a handful of
post ups a game, because that's where he's gonna really
have his biggest impact in this series offensively.
Speaker 1 (48:33):
Yeah, but I mean when we were previewing this series,
I was closer to Nix and seven than I was
Nixon five. Man, I think the Pistons are here. I
think they're here to battle, man, Like, the Pistons are
out to make a statement, and.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
This is a team tough as hell, tough as nails.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
Man, They've got an identity, they've got their leader, they've
got their rock.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Like I just like, I like what the Pistons have
going for him right now.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
Man, They're they're on the rise, and they're again they're
not gonna make this easy for New York. Man.
Speaker 2 (49:04):
They're not just gonna cave.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
I do think that late game execution is what's gonna
make the difference in this series. It's gonna be a
test for Kate, and maybe Kate passed the test and
knocks the Knicks off, and maybe Schroeder can give them
enough in these big moments that'll put the Pistons over
the top and their defense and Kate will carry them through.
But I'm betting on Brunson to out execute them in
(49:26):
the big moments. I'm betting on Cat to play better.
I'm betting on the Knicks to shoot better too. I
think the Pistons will shoot better than they did in
this game as well. I thought this was a bad
shooting night for both teams. But I'm gonna bet on
the Knicks to execute a little bit better than Detroit.
And they need to play Mitchell Robinson. Man, I'm telling you,
twenty minutes to me is not enough in a series
(49:46):
like this.
Speaker 3 (49:47):
Well, it's just tough when you have a center who
you want to play thirty five plus minutes. I think
the double big.
Speaker 2 (49:55):
That's why I think you look at them. I think
talents works at the four.
Speaker 3 (49:59):
Yeah. I think that Mitch has been impressive. I think
he's such a good defensive player. I think he's really
good on the glass. There was one possession where you see,
like Tobias Harris is able to use his quickness advantage
when the Knicks are in the double big look, just because,
like you know, if you have that sort of speed
on the perimeter, you can take advantage of two slower
footed guys on the floor. But I don't really think
(50:20):
the Pistons are the team to do that overall, So
I like the double big looks. I would agree. I
don't think twenty minutes for Mitches agreedious, though, I mean
he got out there a good amountain he made his
impact on this game. One thing for the Pistons just
broadly got to take better care of the basketball. It's
mostly Kate, honestly, but it's everybody. Like the first game
(50:42):
that was a huge problem. This game, they have fifteen turnovers,
some of them in transition, just like sloppy with the basketball,
just mistakes that you can't really be making. Like I
do think that for a majority of both of these games,
they've been the better team, and yet they lost Game one,
and they were dangerously close to losing this one just
(51:03):
because of some of those execution things and some of
their offensive issues and just not being as reliable on
that side of the ball. Those are advantages for the Knicks.
Anything else that you want to say before we wrap
this puppy up?
Speaker 2 (51:19):
Logan nas Reed?
Speaker 3 (51:22):
Nas Reed plays basketball tomorrow against the Los Angeles Lakers,
and is it true, Logan, that we're gonna be back
here after that game? Is it true we're gonna talk
about that game and all the action tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (51:32):
I think I heard the same thing I read about that.
Speaker 3 (51:35):
Man, totally crap. That's gonna be awesome. I cannot get
enough of these two series with the LA teams, man,
I really can't. I think that these are both so
unbelievably fun and can't wait to see what all these
teams have in store for us the rest of the way.
If you want to join us for the rest of
this journey throughout the NBA Playoffs, then you know where
(51:56):
to find us. On YouTube. You can find all of
our full shows, all of our post game recordings live
of course, and you can see all of our video
essays and video breakdown content that we do. You can
also listen to the podcast across all audio platforms, and
you can follow us across social TikTok and Instagram at
nerd Sessh and Twitter at nerd Underscore Sash and if
(52:16):
you want to be part of our community, you can
join our discord and chat with the gang there. So
with that, as always appreciates you guys. I've been Carson
Braber
Speaker 1 (52:26):
I've been Logan Camden, and this was nerd Sash
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