Nick Wright reacts to Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, and the Golden State Warriors' 95-85 win over the Houston Rockets in Game 1 of their NBA Playoffs series. Is Nick ready to change his pick from Houston to Golden State? Later, Nick reacts to LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and the Los Angeles Lakers' 117-95 loss to Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Are the Lakers in more danger than Nick originally thought? Nick then breaks down Pistons-Knicks, Clippers-Nuggets, and more from the NBA Playoffs! #Volume
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in What's Right with Nick Right somewhat emergency reaction
Episode two, Day one of the NBA Playoffs Saturday and Sunday.
I guess Day one and two, But game ones across
the board eight games three and a half interesting ones
is to my eye. Maybe you could say three and
(00:21):
three quarters interesting ones, depending on what you think of
Pacers Bucks. We're gonna start with Warriors Rockets. We will
then get to the Lakers getting absolutely unraveled by the Timberwolves,
and then probably the best game of the weekend Clippers Nuggets.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
With a few minutes on the.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Four other games, most notably Nicks, Pistons, Warriors, Rockets. Watched
it live last night, rewatched the bulk of the second
half this morning, and there are some things that should
not surprise you at all. The Rockets defense being as
(00:58):
advertised all year. That's a good thing for them. The
Rockets offense being as you worried about once the playoffs
got going, that's a bad thing for them. Both of
those showed up. This is my pick in this series
was Rockets in seven. And I'm not going to lie
to the audience that that game didn't shake my faith
(01:21):
in the fact that the Rockets can go blow for
blow with the Warriors.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
It did shake my faith a bit.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
And if this team gets to a game seven, do
they have anyone that is going to be able to
make shots now the Rockets or if you didn't watch
the game, the Rockets are not going to be six
of twenty nine from three throughout the series. And you
did see how the how limited the Warriors offense is
(01:53):
outside of Steph and Jimmy. But the outside of Stephan
Jimmy doesn't matter when the the Warriors defense, which has
been the number one defense in basketball since they got
Jimmy Butler, can suffocate the Rockets, holding him to eighty
five points.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
And when Steph.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Curry, who the last time the Warriors played the Rockets
scored three scores thirty one. And so my biggest takeaways
from this game in no particular order, Shingoon's got to
be even more active, and Shingoon has to be willing,
(02:30):
and he was in this game to his credit.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
If Draymond is going.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
To give you those eight to fourteen footers, you just
got to take them I E. And now Shingoon made it,
took and made that one end of shot clock three.
This is a guy who on the year only you know,
he took just over one to three a game and
was twenty three percent. It's not his game. He almost
(02:55):
has to be willing to take one or two of
the game, not just end of shot clock, because they
are giving him so much space and maybe that can
open things up. Obviously for the Rockets side of things,
they need Van Vliet to be better. Van Vliet hit
the one shot late, and that's what was so interesting
(03:17):
about this game. Rockets found themselves down by twenty four
after the Warriors avalanche twenty three to twenty four steph
hits the insane three, and then they punched back and
they got it all the way down to four points
with Fred van Vliet finally hitting a three after starting
(03:38):
the game one of ten. But they weren't able to
get over the over the hump. They had used a
bad challenge earlier in the game or in the fourth
quarter on a block charge, which just unless you are
one hundred percent like those aren't getting overturned. And because
of that, they weren't able to use their challenge on
(03:59):
an out of bounds call when the ball went off
Draymond down four late in the fourth they can't challenge it.
Warriors inbound it. Steph hits a rainbow three from thirty
feet and all of a sudden.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
You're down seven. And they never got closer.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
So they had their opportunities. But Jalen Green is going to.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Have to show up.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
And the concern for the Rockets on the Jalen Green
front is and I understand it's a weird spot because
they had everything locked up. He wasn't playing big minutes.
But Jalen Green now his last four games five point
seven points, two point seven points. That's your leading scorer
on the season, and so he's going to have to
(04:44):
get going. Amon Thompson seems shell shocked by the game.
That's fine, second year player, first playoff game. He's going
to have to be more impactful defensively because because the Rockets,
despite aim In Thompson not having his typical aim In
(05:08):
Thompson esque impact on the defensive end, the Rockets will
sign up for the Warriors scoring ninety five points in
every single game. It was the Warriors defense combined with
the Rockets total inability to score that allowed the Warriors
to control this game. And now on the Warriors side
of things, credit where credit is due. Jimmy was excellent
(05:32):
on both sides of the ball again, twenty five seven, six,
five steals, only one foul plus minus can be misleading
in this instance, it wasn't plus fourteen in Jimmy's minutes
and Steph after I think starting zero for three then
(05:54):
at one point made eleven of his next twelve or
eleven of his next thirteen, and just those backer Layton
shot clock, good defensive possession. The Warriors did a good job.
I'm sorry, the Rockets did a good job staying attached
to Steph. These weren't practice shots by any means, and
Steph made them pay anyway. If so, I know, I
(06:20):
game ones are tough because you don't want to underreact,
but also you're you're prone to overreact. Steph and Jimmy
combining for fifty six points is something the Warriors will
sign up for every game the rest of the series.
That's great production. The fact that they combined for fifty
(06:42):
six and the rest of the Warriors combined for thirty
nine is something the Rockets will sign up for every
single game the rest of the series. And I think
the Warriors only hitting twelve threes is not really going
to be an out liar for this series because the
Rockets are that good defensively. The question is can the
(07:06):
Rockets find anybody who seems comfortable taking tough and big shots.
And there's one other element that I haven't even discussed
that's one of the biggest stories of the game, which
is the Steven Adams minutes the only person on the
Rockets with a positive plus minus. And again I'm not
trying to lean too much on plus minus, but it
(07:28):
passed the eye test. When Adams was out there, he
not only was the biggest player on the court, but
he looked even bigger than he actually is. So we'll
get to Steven Adams in a minute. The player for
the Rockets that I would be looking at and saying, hmm,
(07:49):
could he be a guy who does more for us
this series is a guy who they took third in
the draft a few years ago and has kind of
stayed the same level player since his rookie year. He's
been a thirteen and seven eight guy as a rookie,
(08:12):
and he's a thirteen to seven and seven or eight
guy as a third year player. And that's Jabari Smith.
Jabari Smith is six to ten guy that can shoot.
When he was drafted that high, the hope was that
if he can develop his shot and again after being
(08:34):
I think a thirty percent free throw or three point
shooter as a rookie, he's around thirty five percent. Could
he be Michael Porter Junior, worst jump shot, better defense,
but a really tall guy who presents matchup problems who
can hit threes. Again, Michael Porter Junior is probably a
bad comp because even in those same height, Porter Junior
is a huge defensive liability and a great shooter. You
(08:57):
hope Jabari Smith can be a good defender and a
good shooter. But Jabari Smith in this game, the only
guy who's hitting all his free throws hit is three
shots from the field. H is won three. Can he
do a little bit more? And the other question for
the Rockets is Steven Adams, who is in this weird
(09:18):
place where he's in year thirteen, but he just turned
thirty one. I think can Steven Adams play not just
twenty minutes, but thirty minutes? Because the Steven Adams minutes,
the Warriors look tiny and Quinton Post has nothing for him.
(09:39):
Quinton Posted out there just to shoot threes. The Warriors
don't want to play Looney. They have put Jonathan gaminga
totally on ice, and so can't Are the Rockets comfortable
playing a lot of minutes with the two bigs. Here's
the thing, and this is the problem with losing game one.
When you're the home team and you're the young team,
(10:00):
it's not going to matter the long series adjustments if
you don't respond in game two with a great shooting
performance and bounce back. Because what I do know is this,
even though I think the Rockets are a better team
than the Warriors, they lose the first two at home,
that series is over, and so they are. I would
(10:23):
they are tiny favorites in game two, two point favorites.
That is we do you know, silly must win on
the TV show. That is definitionally a must win for
the Rockets. I still think this is a seven game series.
My faith in the Rockets being able to get to
(10:45):
one hundred points in a game seven, even in their
building wavering a little bit after that performance. Now, speaking
of faith wavering, the game I was most excited for
that was a good game for about a quarter and
a half, and then an absolute route. Timberwolves won seventeen,
(11:08):
Lakers ninety five. Now some folks are going to say, well,
Timberwolves go twenty one to forty two from three nas
Reed and Jaden McDaniel's combined for almost fifty, you're just
gonna lose that game. That's not my analysis of it.
(11:29):
I wish that was my analysis of it. If a
team has an outlier shooting night and they barely beat you,
or it's a close game like the Warriors did to
the to the Lakers about three weeks ago, that one
I can chalk up to. Okay, one team made shots,
the other team did. That is not the game that
(11:53):
I saw Saturday night, because yes, the Timberwolves had an
outlier shooting night, but they blew the Lakers out.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
And yeah, the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Made a slight rally late like maybe are they going
to make a game? The answer was no, they were
not going to make it a game. And I said
on Friday that I thought Anthony Edwards was going to
average thirty to a game in this series, because I
(12:25):
thought the Lakers were simply going to take their medicine,
that he was going to have matchup advantages. They would
stay home somewhat on shooters and say listen, aunt have
at it. But you're not going to beat us two
points at a time. That is not at all what
they did, not even close. What they did they being
(12:50):
the Lakers, was packed the paint what you expected, and
then also send help to Aunt who just sprayed the
ball all around the court and it led to the
Timbrels starting the game twenty one to forty from three
before the bench came in. The Lakers will lose if
they keep that up. I think the Lakers are a
(13:10):
better team. I think that there are a lot of
pieces on the Lakers offense side we can get to.
But the Lakers choosing because we don't have rim protection,
we're going to leave shooters rather than because we don't
have rim protection, we're just gonna take our medicine. If
(13:31):
Anthony Edwards goes crazy, I think that is the wrong
fork in the road to take. I think that you
cannot let all of these Minnesota role players feel good
about what's going on, be more engaged on defense because
they're seeing the ball go through the hoop and approach
(13:54):
it that way. I also think that the Timberwolves approach
defensively on Luca was a smart one, which was Luca,
if you get forty you get forty, you are not
going to generate a million open threes. And that's why
(14:18):
Luca had thirty seven points and one assist. I thought, listen,
Luca was the one Laker who I thought played quite well.
I didn't think his defense killed him. The one assist
was because things were not available. The idea that that
Luca took other guys out of the game, I don't
buy that. So I and the Lakers got blown out
(14:47):
in the non Luca minutes. They didn't do great in
the Luca minutes, but then Luca's off the court for
eight minutes, they lose those. By god, I don't even know,
ten points in eight minutes. Like so that is Luca
bears the least brunt of the blame here, but.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
They the Timberwolves.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Defensive approach to the Lakers needs to be more of
the Lakers defensive approach to the Timberwls. Now, I understand
if people are listening and they're like, well, the Timberwlves
have Rudy Gobert and because of that they can stay
home with shooters today have a improtector.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
I understand the Timbrels are expected to be a much
better defense than the Lakers, and they are a better
defense than the Lakers. I get that, but there needs
to be more of a There needs to be an
adjustment in the Lakers defensive approach, and there also needs
to be an adjustment on if you think Jackson Hayes
is you know, I wouldn't necessarily change the starting lineup
(15:52):
in Game two of the playoffs, but if he's only
playing eight minutes, there's not really much of a reason
to play him any minutes.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
And if you just want to start really small. The
one thing that grim Wolves.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Didn't do was take advantage of the lakers lack of
size by letting Gobert get involved on lobs or jump hooks,
anything like that. Gobert two shot attempts. They just wouldn't
pass him the ball. But Gobert was effective. He had
some good defense on Lebron Drives, some good defense on
Luca Drives, and you give him credit. Now, am I
(16:26):
panicked if I'm the Lakers? No, I'm not panicked.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
And we did see and you know during the bubble, they.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Lost Game one to Portland, won the series in five,
lost Game one to Houston, won the series in five.
They this does not feel like those series felt. But
there are obvious adjustments. One is Lebron being more aggressive
from the opening tip. Now we've seen Lebron in Game ones,
(16:53):
we know that that is not really his mo and
he kind of got it going a bit in the
second quarter. But him being more aggressive early and the
other thing, and this is no shocker, Austin Reeves has
to play better. Austin Reeves was the lakers worst defender
and probably their worst offensive player, so none of that
(17:16):
is gonna work. So everything bad that the Lakers could do,
they did in this game, which is why they lost
by twenty. What I will tell you is the Timberwolves
and they shouldn't be are not scared at all. And
the Timberwolves and Anthony Edwards, a team that stared down
(17:37):
Kevin Durant and Devin Buoker last year, and that stared
down Nikola jokicch and Jamal Murray last year and walked
them down into Game seven, are not intimidated by Luke
and Lebron. I thought it was disappointing that the Lakers
were not able to attack Mike Conley Moore, and I
(17:57):
thought some of the Lakers' defensive disadvantages should have been
muted to a degree by the fact that they shouldn't
have needed to guard Gobert because the Timbrels just wouldn't
give Gobert the ball. Now, another small silver lining for
(18:19):
the Lakers. If you think this, you know, if you're
not writing them off after game one playoff. Julius Randall
does appear to be here, had some dumbfouls, seemed to
be in a weird machismo thing with Lebron, had a
half dozen turnovers, and yes, he hit his threes, but
(18:40):
not much else, And so that's something to watch for.
How aggressive Lebron comes out to open game two is
something to watch for. And do the Lakers trim down
Jackson Hayes's eight minutes to even less.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
I don't know that you really can.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I don't know that that's their plan, but I almost
feel like it needs to be zero or it needs
to be fifteen. But eight minutes doesn't make a hell
of a lot of sense to me. So it's not
panic time for the Lakers. But you cannot chalk that
game up to add they were the Timberwolves were hot.
(19:25):
There were bigger issues than that, and Lebron's got to
be better. Austin's got to be way better. And any
game that Luke has one assist, Lakers are gonna lose.
And again, be clear, I don't I'm not putting the
blame on Luca there. But when the Timberwlves have twenty
nine assists and the Lakers have fifteen, that feels accurate.
(19:48):
And typically the team with more assists might also have
a bunch of turnovers because the balls popping around the court.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
That wasn't the case here.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Only had ten turnovers, and again Julius Randall had almost
all of them. Everyone else who was handing the wall
and Timbrelves did a great job. So Lakers got to
fix that quickly. And I think they have to adjust
what they're doing defensively as far as listen, take your
medicine with Anthony Edwards. Don't let those shooters have I
(20:22):
think of their forty two to three point attempts, I
think thirty five of them, maybe thirty seven of them
were open or wide open. All right, get to the
other games quickly, But let me remind you the NBA
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(22:27):
so the other games Nuggets Clippers was a game it
felt like to me the Clippers needed to steal. And
it's not steel as in they had been thoroughly outplayed.
(22:47):
It was far from that. But because that game was
in Denver, because you put forty plus minutes on Kawhi
and Harden, I know it went to overtime, but that's
more damaging for them than I think for other teams
because just as you know the schedule works out, they
(23:10):
they are they are playing tonight, so they don't get
the two days off everyone, but you know, I shouldn't
say everyone, but half of these teams are going to
end up with multiple days off. Clippers Nuggets draw the
short straw on that one, which is more damaging because
the game went to overtime and so you got the
(23:35):
full Russell Westbrook experience. I'm not breaking news on that
he made the huge three. He also made some insane decisions,
including not getting a shot off late and that you know,
as time expired in regulation, the driving to the basket
on a critical possession when he just needed to pull
it out. And he also took seventeen shots. If you're
(23:59):
the Clippers, you are thrilled that he took seventeen shots.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Thrilled.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
And if you're the Clippers, I think you are preparing
for a lot of Russell Westbrook out there because they
put Michael Porter Junior on ice in that game. I
talked about the minutes minutes for the Clipper for the Nuggets,
Gordon forty six, Jokis forty six, Murray forty eight, Brown
(24:29):
forty five. It was another way. The biggest winner of
this weekend really was Oklahoma City, and they earned it.
They they played a leisurely twenty minutes, annihilate the Grizzlies
in historic fashion and get real evidence. Nuggets Clippers is
going to be a war. They're gonna have a week
off before Round two starts, and these the Nuggets just
(24:54):
once you put Michael Porter Junior on ice because he
doesn't have it. In some concerning comments from Joker after
the game, I don't know he was talking about him
or not where He's basically like, listen, if you're not ready,
you shouldn't if you're not. I don't want to misquote him,
but the jokicch quote after the game about staying locked
in or something seemed odd, and it seemed like it
was maybe about Michael Porter Junior. You're gonna get a
(25:15):
lot of Russell Westbrook. Now, his rebounding was excellent, his
energy was excellent. He made the huge three. But you're
gonna live with Russ. You're gonna die with Russ. I
do like the Nuggets in this series. I said that
before the series, Clippers, if they could have stolen that
one could have shifted a lot. I am curious at
(25:41):
altitude the legs of both of these teams, but notably
Kawhi and Harden just forty eight hours after a forty
plus minute game. Jokicch and Murray have been playing these
forty plus minute playoff games forever. Gordon seems fine and
Christian Brown's young. I think Russ, I'm sorry, I think
think that Kawhi and Harden are the guys to watch
(26:04):
the I would imagine. I haven't looked at the line
for this. Yeah, it's basically pick them Clippers by one.
I expect this to be a seven game war. Game
one going to overtime only confirm that the other. Listen,
three of the games are totally irrelevant. The Grizzlies don't
(26:25):
want to be there. The Magic put up a good fight.
I shouldn't say irrelevant, but the Magic put up a
good fight for a half. And then the inability to
score is gonna hurt you. Yes, I mean we had
three teams this weekend not break ninety, and the Grizzlies
didn't break. They scored eighty and allowed one thirty one,
(26:46):
the Magic, who had thirty seven second half points, and
then the Rockets. We talked about earlier scary moment with Tatum,
but it looks like his wrist is fine. Heat calves
going into the fourth, It's like, Oh, are the heat
gonna make these guys work?
Speaker 2 (27:01):
The answer was no. And then the Knicks.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
After looking really shaky for the first three quarters, have
their best run of the season, Garden on fire, Michale
Bridges on the bench, something to watch, and they go
twenty one to nothing. And the Pistons, who are thinking,
are we gonna steal a game when k doesn't even
play that well, the answer is no. I'm gonna be
(27:27):
at the Knicks Pistons game tonight, at least I think
I am. And we'll be back with the regular pod
with de Monsey Tuesday morning. We might do a bunch
of these quick hitter kind of thirty minute bite sized
reaction pods after the great games or weekends of a
ton of games. Please like, rate, subscribe review that way
you know when the extra pods come out. Thank you
(27:49):
to Paul for work an extra for us, and see
you guys Tuesday with Demonsey reacting to Game two of
Clippers Nuggets, Game two of Pistons Nicks, and even deeper
dive on the Warriors, Rockets, and the Lakers Timberwolves.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
What's right
Welcome in What's Right with Nick Right somewhat emergency reaction
Episode two, Day one of the NBA Playoffs Saturday and Sunday.
I guess Day one and two, But game ones across
the board eight games three and a half interesting ones
is to my eye. Maybe you could say three and
(00:21):
three quarters interesting ones, depending on what you think of
Pacers Bucks. We're gonna start with Warriors Rockets. We will
then get to the Lakers getting absolutely unraveled by the Timberwolves,
and then probably the best game of the weekend Clippers Nuggets.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
With a few minutes on the.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Four other games, most notably Nicks, Pistons, Warriors, Rockets. Watched
it live last night, rewatched the bulk of the second
half this morning, and there are some things that should
not surprise you at all. The Rockets defense being as
(00:58):
advertised all year. That's a good thing for them. The
Rockets offense being as you worried about once the playoffs
got going, that's a bad thing for them. Both of
those showed up. This is my pick in this series
was Rockets in seven. And I'm not going to lie
to the audience that that game didn't shake my faith
(01:21):
in the fact that the Rockets can go blow for
blow with the Warriors.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
It did shake my faith a bit.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
And if this team gets to a game seven, do
they have anyone that is going to be able to
make shots now the Rockets or if you didn't watch
the game, the Rockets are not going to be six
of twenty nine from three throughout the series. And you
did see how the how limited the Warriors offense is
(01:53):
outside of Steph and Jimmy. But the outside of Stephan
Jimmy doesn't matter when the the Warriors defense, which has
been the number one defense in basketball since they got
Jimmy Butler, can suffocate the Rockets, holding him to eighty
five points.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
And when Steph.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Curry, who the last time the Warriors played the Rockets
scored three scores thirty one. And so my biggest takeaways
from this game in no particular order, Shingoon's got to
be even more active, and Shingoon has to be willing,
(02:30):
and he was in this game to his credit.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
If Draymond is going.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
To give you those eight to fourteen footers, you just
got to take them I E. And now Shingoon made it,
took and made that one end of shot clock three.
This is a guy who on the year only you know,
he took just over one to three a game and
was twenty three percent. It's not his game. He almost
(02:55):
has to be willing to take one or two of
the game, not just end of shot clock, because they
are giving him so much space and maybe that can
open things up. Obviously for the Rockets side of things,
they need Van Vliet to be better. Van Vliet hit
the one shot late, and that's what was so interesting
(03:17):
about this game. Rockets found themselves down by twenty four
after the Warriors avalanche twenty three to twenty four steph
hits the insane three, and then they punched back and
they got it all the way down to four points
with Fred van Vliet finally hitting a three after starting
(03:38):
the game one of ten. But they weren't able to
get over the over the hump. They had used a
bad challenge earlier in the game or in the fourth
quarter on a block charge, which just unless you are
one hundred percent like those aren't getting overturned. And because
of that, they weren't able to use their challenge on
(03:59):
an out of bounds call when the ball went off
Draymond down four late in the fourth they can't challenge it.
Warriors inbound it. Steph hits a rainbow three from thirty
feet and all of a sudden.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
You're down seven. And they never got closer.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
So they had their opportunities. But Jalen Green is going to.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Have to show up.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
And the concern for the Rockets on the Jalen Green
front is and I understand it's a weird spot because
they had everything locked up. He wasn't playing big minutes.
But Jalen Green now his last four games five point
seven points, two point seven points. That's your leading scorer
on the season, and so he's going to have to
(04:44):
get going. Amon Thompson seems shell shocked by the game.
That's fine, second year player, first playoff game. He's going
to have to be more impactful defensively because because the Rockets,
despite aim In Thompson not having his typical aim In
(05:08):
Thompson esque impact on the defensive end, the Rockets will
sign up for the Warriors scoring ninety five points in
every single game. It was the Warriors defense combined with
the Rockets total inability to score that allowed the Warriors
to control this game. And now on the Warriors side
of things, credit where credit is due. Jimmy was excellent
(05:32):
on both sides of the ball again, twenty five seven, six,
five steals, only one foul plus minus can be misleading
in this instance, it wasn't plus fourteen in Jimmy's minutes
and Steph after I think starting zero for three then
(05:54):
at one point made eleven of his next twelve or
eleven of his next thirteen, and just those backer Layton
shot clock, good defensive possession. The Warriors did a good job.
I'm sorry, the Rockets did a good job staying attached
to Steph. These weren't practice shots by any means, and
Steph made them pay anyway. If so, I know, I
(06:20):
game ones are tough because you don't want to underreact,
but also you're you're prone to overreact. Steph and Jimmy
combining for fifty six points is something the Warriors will
sign up for every game the rest of the series.
That's great production. The fact that they combined for fifty
(06:42):
six and the rest of the Warriors combined for thirty
nine is something the Rockets will sign up for every
single game the rest of the series. And I think
the Warriors only hitting twelve threes is not really going
to be an out liar for this series because the
Rockets are that good defensively. The question is can the
(07:06):
Rockets find anybody who seems comfortable taking tough and big shots.
And there's one other element that I haven't even discussed
that's one of the biggest stories of the game, which
is the Steven Adams minutes the only person on the
Rockets with a positive plus minus. And again I'm not
trying to lean too much on plus minus, but it
(07:28):
passed the eye test. When Adams was out there, he
not only was the biggest player on the court, but
he looked even bigger than he actually is. So we'll
get to Steven Adams in a minute. The player for
the Rockets that I would be looking at and saying, hmm,
(07:49):
could he be a guy who does more for us
this series is a guy who they took third in
the draft a few years ago and has kind of
stayed the same level player since his rookie year. He's
been a thirteen and seven eight guy as a rookie,
(08:12):
and he's a thirteen to seven and seven or eight
guy as a third year player. And that's Jabari Smith.
Jabari Smith is six to ten guy that can shoot.
When he was drafted that high, the hope was that
if he can develop his shot and again after being
(08:34):
I think a thirty percent free throw or three point
shooter as a rookie, he's around thirty five percent. Could
he be Michael Porter Junior, worst jump shot, better defense,
but a really tall guy who presents matchup problems who
can hit threes. Again, Michael Porter Junior is probably a
bad comp because even in those same height, Porter Junior
is a huge defensive liability and a great shooter. You
(08:57):
hope Jabari Smith can be a good defender and a
good shooter. But Jabari Smith in this game, the only
guy who's hitting all his free throws hit is three
shots from the field. H is won three. Can he
do a little bit more? And the other question for
the Rockets is Steven Adams, who is in this weird
(09:18):
place where he's in year thirteen, but he just turned
thirty one. I think can Steven Adams play not just
twenty minutes, but thirty minutes? Because the Steven Adams minutes,
the Warriors look tiny and Quinton Post has nothing for him.
(09:39):
Quinton Posted out there just to shoot threes. The Warriors
don't want to play Looney. They have put Jonathan gaminga
totally on ice, and so can't Are the Rockets comfortable
playing a lot of minutes with the two bigs. Here's
the thing, and this is the problem with losing game one.
When you're the home team and you're the young team,
(10:00):
it's not going to matter the long series adjustments if
you don't respond in game two with a great shooting
performance and bounce back. Because what I do know is this,
even though I think the Rockets are a better team
than the Warriors, they lose the first two at home,
that series is over, and so they are. I would
(10:23):
they are tiny favorites in game two, two point favorites.
That is we do you know, silly must win on
the TV show. That is definitionally a must win for
the Rockets. I still think this is a seven game series.
My faith in the Rockets being able to get to
(10:45):
one hundred points in a game seven, even in their
building wavering a little bit after that performance. Now, speaking
of faith wavering, the game I was most excited for
that was a good game for about a quarter and
a half, and then an absolute route. Timberwolves won seventeen,
(11:08):
Lakers ninety five. Now some folks are going to say, well,
Timberwolves go twenty one to forty two from three nas
Reed and Jaden McDaniel's combined for almost fifty, you're just
gonna lose that game. That's not my analysis of it.
(11:29):
I wish that was my analysis of it. If a
team has an outlier shooting night and they barely beat you,
or it's a close game like the Warriors did to
the to the Lakers about three weeks ago, that one
I can chalk up to. Okay, one team made shots,
the other team did. That is not the game that
(11:53):
I saw Saturday night, because yes, the Timberwolves had an
outlier shooting night, but they blew the Lakers out.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
And yeah, the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Made a slight rally late like maybe are they going
to make a game? The answer was no, they were
not going to make it a game. And I said
on Friday that I thought Anthony Edwards was going to
average thirty to a game in this series, because I
(12:25):
thought the Lakers were simply going to take their medicine,
that he was going to have matchup advantages. They would
stay home somewhat on shooters and say listen, aunt have
at it. But you're not going to beat us two
points at a time. That is not at all what
they did, not even close. What they did they being
(12:50):
the Lakers, was packed the paint what you expected, and
then also send help to Aunt who just sprayed the
ball all around the court and it led to the
Timbrels starting the game twenty one to forty from three
before the bench came in. The Lakers will lose if
they keep that up. I think the Lakers are a
(13:10):
better team. I think that there are a lot of
pieces on the Lakers offense side we can get to.
But the Lakers choosing because we don't have rim protection,
we're going to leave shooters rather than because we don't
have rim protection, we're just gonna take our medicine. If
(13:31):
Anthony Edwards goes crazy, I think that is the wrong
fork in the road to take. I think that you
cannot let all of these Minnesota role players feel good
about what's going on, be more engaged on defense because
they're seeing the ball go through the hoop and approach
(13:54):
it that way. I also think that the Timberwolves approach
defensively on Luca was a smart one, which was Luca,
if you get forty you get forty, you are not
going to generate a million open threes. And that's why
(14:18):
Luca had thirty seven points and one assist. I thought, listen,
Luca was the one Laker who I thought played quite well.
I didn't think his defense killed him. The one assist
was because things were not available. The idea that that
Luca took other guys out of the game, I don't
buy that. So I and the Lakers got blown out
(14:47):
in the non Luca minutes. They didn't do great in
the Luca minutes, but then Luca's off the court for
eight minutes, they lose those. By god, I don't even know,
ten points in eight minutes. Like so that is Luca
bears the least brunt of the blame here, but.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
They the Timberwolves.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Defensive approach to the Lakers needs to be more of
the Lakers defensive approach to the Timberwls. Now, I understand
if people are listening and they're like, well, the Timberwlves
have Rudy Gobert and because of that they can stay
home with shooters today have a improtector.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
I understand the Timbrels are expected to be a much
better defense than the Lakers, and they are a better
defense than the Lakers. I get that, but there needs
to be more of a There needs to be an
adjustment in the Lakers defensive approach, and there also needs
to be an adjustment on if you think Jackson Hayes
is you know, I wouldn't necessarily change the starting lineup
(15:52):
in Game two of the playoffs, but if he's only
playing eight minutes, there's not really much of a reason
to play him any minutes.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
And if you just want to start really small. The
one thing that grim Wolves.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Didn't do was take advantage of the lakers lack of
size by letting Gobert get involved on lobs or jump hooks,
anything like that. Gobert two shot attempts. They just wouldn't
pass him the ball. But Gobert was effective. He had
some good defense on Lebron Drives, some good defense on
Luca Drives, and you give him credit. Now, am I
(16:26):
panicked if I'm the Lakers? No, I'm not panicked.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
And we did see and you know during the bubble, they.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Lost Game one to Portland, won the series in five,
lost Game one to Houston, won the series in five.
They this does not feel like those series felt. But
there are obvious adjustments. One is Lebron being more aggressive
from the opening tip. Now we've seen Lebron in Game ones,
(16:53):
we know that that is not really his mo and
he kind of got it going a bit in the
second quarter. But him being more aggressive early and the
other thing, and this is no shocker, Austin Reeves has
to play better. Austin Reeves was the lakers worst defender
and probably their worst offensive player, so none of that
(17:16):
is gonna work. So everything bad that the Lakers could do,
they did in this game, which is why they lost
by twenty. What I will tell you is the Timberwolves
and they shouldn't be are not scared at all. And
the Timberwolves and Anthony Edwards, a team that stared down
(17:37):
Kevin Durant and Devin Buoker last year, and that stared
down Nikola jokicch and Jamal Murray last year and walked
them down into Game seven, are not intimidated by Luke
and Lebron. I thought it was disappointing that the Lakers
were not able to attack Mike Conley Moore, and I
(17:57):
thought some of the Lakers' defensive disadvantages should have been
muted to a degree by the fact that they shouldn't
have needed to guard Gobert because the Timbrels just wouldn't
give Gobert the ball. Now, another small silver lining for
(18:19):
the Lakers. If you think this, you know, if you're
not writing them off after game one playoff. Julius Randall
does appear to be here, had some dumbfouls, seemed to
be in a weird machismo thing with Lebron, had a
half dozen turnovers, and yes, he hit his threes, but
(18:40):
not much else, And so that's something to watch for.
How aggressive Lebron comes out to open game two is
something to watch for. And do the Lakers trim down
Jackson Hayes's eight minutes to even less.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
I don't know that you really can.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I don't know that that's their plan, but I almost
feel like it needs to be zero or it needs
to be fifteen. But eight minutes doesn't make a hell
of a lot of sense to me. So it's not
panic time for the Lakers. But you cannot chalk that
game up to add they were the Timberwolves were hot.
(19:25):
There were bigger issues than that, and Lebron's got to
be better. Austin's got to be way better. And any
game that Luke has one assist, Lakers are gonna lose.
And again, be clear, I don't I'm not putting the
blame on Luca there. But when the Timberwlves have twenty
nine assists and the Lakers have fifteen, that feels accurate.
(19:48):
And typically the team with more assists might also have
a bunch of turnovers because the balls popping around the court.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
That wasn't the case here.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Only had ten turnovers, and again Julius Randall had almost
all of them. Everyone else who was handing the wall
and Timbrelves did a great job. So Lakers got to
fix that quickly. And I think they have to adjust
what they're doing defensively as far as listen, take your
medicine with Anthony Edwards. Don't let those shooters have I
(20:22):
think of their forty two to three point attempts, I
think thirty five of them, maybe thirty seven of them
were open or wide open. All right, get to the
other games quickly, But let me remind you the NBA
eighty two game grind is done. Now the real fun begins.
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(22:27):
so the other games Nuggets Clippers was a game it
felt like to me the Clippers needed to steal. And
it's not steel as in they had been thoroughly outplayed.
(22:47):
It was far from that. But because that game was
in Denver, because you put forty plus minutes on Kawhi
and Harden, I know it went to overtime, but that's
more damaging for them than I think for other teams
because just as you know the schedule works out, they
(23:10):
they are they are playing tonight, so they don't get
the two days off everyone, but you know, I shouldn't
say everyone, but half of these teams are going to
end up with multiple days off. Clippers Nuggets draw the
short straw on that one, which is more damaging because
the game went to overtime and so you got the
(23:35):
full Russell Westbrook experience. I'm not breaking news on that
he made the huge three. He also made some insane decisions,
including not getting a shot off late and that you know,
as time expired in regulation, the driving to the basket
on a critical possession when he just needed to pull
it out. And he also took seventeen shots. If you're
(23:59):
the Clippers, you are thrilled that he took seventeen shots.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Thrilled.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
And if you're the Clippers, I think you are preparing
for a lot of Russell Westbrook out there because they
put Michael Porter Junior on ice in that game. I
talked about the minutes minutes for the Clipper for the Nuggets,
Gordon forty six, Jokis forty six, Murray forty eight, Brown
(24:29):
forty five. It was another way. The biggest winner of
this weekend really was Oklahoma City, and they earned it.
They they played a leisurely twenty minutes, annihilate the Grizzlies
in historic fashion and get real evidence. Nuggets Clippers is
going to be a war. They're gonna have a week
off before Round two starts, and these the Nuggets just
(24:54):
once you put Michael Porter Junior on ice because he
doesn't have it. In some concerning comments from Joker after
the game, I don't know he was talking about him
or not where He's basically like, listen, if you're not ready,
you shouldn't if you're not. I don't want to misquote him,
but the jokicch quote after the game about staying locked
in or something seemed odd, and it seemed like it
was maybe about Michael Porter Junior. You're gonna get a
(25:15):
lot of Russell Westbrook. Now, his rebounding was excellent, his
energy was excellent. He made the huge three. But you're
gonna live with Russ. You're gonna die with Russ. I
do like the Nuggets in this series. I said that
before the series, Clippers, if they could have stolen that
one could have shifted a lot. I am curious at
(25:41):
altitude the legs of both of these teams, but notably
Kawhi and Harden just forty eight hours after a forty
plus minute game. Jokicch and Murray have been playing these
forty plus minute playoff games forever. Gordon seems fine and
Christian Brown's young. I think Russ, I'm sorry, I think
think that Kawhi and Harden are the guys to watch
(26:04):
the I would imagine. I haven't looked at the line
for this. Yeah, it's basically pick them Clippers by one.
I expect this to be a seven game war. Game
one going to overtime only confirm that the other. Listen,
three of the games are totally irrelevant. The Grizzlies don't
(26:25):
want to be there. The Magic put up a good fight.
I shouldn't say irrelevant, but the Magic put up a
good fight for a half. And then the inability to
score is gonna hurt you. Yes, I mean we had
three teams this weekend not break ninety, and the Grizzlies
didn't break. They scored eighty and allowed one thirty one,
(26:46):
the Magic, who had thirty seven second half points, and
then the Rockets. We talked about earlier scary moment with Tatum,
but it looks like his wrist is fine. Heat calves
going into the fourth, It's like, Oh, are the heat
gonna make these guys work?
Speaker 2 (27:01):
The answer was no. And then the Knicks.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
After looking really shaky for the first three quarters, have
their best run of the season, Garden on fire, Michale
Bridges on the bench, something to watch, and they go
twenty one to nothing. And the Pistons, who are thinking,
are we gonna steal a game when k doesn't even
play that well, the answer is no. I'm gonna be
(27:27):
at the Knicks Pistons game tonight, at least I think
I am. And we'll be back with the regular pod
with de Monsey Tuesday morning. We might do a bunch
of these quick hitter kind of thirty minute bite sized
reaction pods after the great games or weekends of a
ton of games. Please like, rate, subscribe review that way
you know when the extra pods come out. Thank you
(27:49):
to Paul for work an extra for us, and see
you guys Tuesday with Demonsey reacting to Game two of
Clippers Nuggets, Game two of Pistons Nicks, and even deeper
dive on the Warriors, Rockets, and the Lakers Timberwolves.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
What's right
Host
Nick Wright
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